A Messy Reunion

Shattered Souls

Chapter 3: A Messy Reunion

It had been about a week since Duskfall and Spike had moved into the palace the Tree had conjured up. Neither Spike nor Dusk had talked about it, but the palace felt sterile. It felt more sterile than a just built house, hell, more than your average hospital. Both were becoming increasingly less comfortable and it was weighing on their minds.

There wasn’t even a room to set up a proper laboratory! It was like the Tree didn’t know Twilight at all. It also meant that instead of working towards getting Tom and Twilight back, Duskfall had spent the entire week repurposing the biggest room in the palace and ordering equipment to replace what had been lost in Golden Oaks.

To that end, Dusk was expecting a delivery of Twilight’s library from Canterlot in a day or two. Given Twilight’s habit of buying every rare tome she came across, ignoring her already prestigious backlog of books she had yet to read, it was quite possible there was something in one of those books that could help Duskfall.

At that particular moment, Dusk was looking to take a nap. Even after a week, it was hard to hide the wreck her conscious mind was, with Tom and Twilight’s memories clamoring for attention every waking moment. It was a miracle she had been able to only refer to herself as Tom or Twilight three times over the course of the week.

She was just settling down on the new bed that would one day belong to Twilight, or maybe Tom, when Spike burst into the room. Duskfall let out a groan.

“Spike, the fuck do you want?” Duskfall groaned as she hid her head under a pillow.

“Celestia sent a letter for you,” Spike said apologetically, holding out the missive for Duskfall to grasp in her magic.

“Dear ~~Twi~~ Duskfall,

I have been in contact with Sunset Shimmer and she has reason to believe that Equestrian Magic is still active on that side of the portal. I hate to ask this of you, but as you and Luna are the foremost experts on the portal and Luna is needed here, would you mind too terribly going to the other side and seeing if Sunset’s worries are warranted?

Yours,

Princess Celestia”

A paranoid part of Duskfall’s mind supposed that Celestia was just trying to distract her, much in the same way Celestia had with Twilight when she first sent the then Unicorn to Ponyville. However, Dusk knew that even if that were the case, if Sunset needed help, she couldn’t very well ignore a request for aid. She may not be Tom or Twilight, but she had inherited many of their morals.

“Spike, will you be able to hold down the fort while I pop over to Sunset’s world? I doubt this will take more than an afternoon, but it wouldn’t be the first time unforeseen circumstances got the better of well laid plans,” Duskfall sighed as she began the arduous task of pulling herself off the very inviting bed.

“I can do that, but are you sure you don’t want me coming along?” Spike asked.

“It’s nothing world ending and you did get kidnapped last time,” Dusk pointed out. Spike grew a sheepish look.

“I, uh, I suppose that did happen…alright, I’ll stay here and let everyone know where you’ve gone,” Spike promised.

“Thanks Spike,” Duskfall felt marginally better about the whole thing knowing Spike would take care of the home front.

In short order Duskfall had packed her saddlebags with as much equipment as she could fit for detecting and measuring magic and was stepping through the portal. The wild screaming colors and the feeling of being stretched like a noodle were exactly as Tom and Twilight remembered. Getting violently thrown out the other side was new, however.

“Twilight!” A group of familiar, yet subtly different, voices called out. Duskfall picked herself up, brushed herself off, and turned to give a winning smile to the girls that were the counterparts of the Elements and Sunset Shimmer.

“I came as soon as Celestia told me something was up, but first, Sunset, can I talk with you in private?” Duskfall steadfastly ignored Rarity’s tittering.

“Oh! Uh, sure thing. Can you girls go ahead and set everything up in the music room?” Sunset requested.

“Of course, Darling! We’ll run along while you two have your little… chat~” Rarity ushered the rest of them away, thinking herself oh so clever.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Sunset asked.

“I- well- the thing is- I don’t know. It’s just-” Duskfall was floundering with how she wanted to start, especially considering Sunset might have a crush on Tom. Thankfully, Sunset put a finger over her mouth to calm her spluttering.

“‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’,” Sunset quoted. Duskfall’s eyes grew huge.

“Philippians 4:7? How do you know that verse?” Dusk questioned.

“I wanted to read the story of Alma for myself. So I did some digging and found it was actually something from religious text. After that I just kinda read the whole thing out of curiosity,” Sunset shrugged.

“Ah…if you know it’s from religious text then you probably also know…” Duskfall trailed off.

“That you’re not Twilight Sparkle, denizen of the religionless Equestria? Yeah, I figured,” Sunset replied. Duskfall’s shoulders slumped.

“It’s a whole lot worse than that, but at least that gives me a starting point,” So Dusk told Sunset everything, about Twilight summoning Tom and about how the battle with Tirek brought about her.

“Oh, you poor thing,” Suddenly Dusk found herself wrapped in a hug. Her first instinct was to struggle away, but Sunset’s hug was firm and warm. It was different from when Celestia had wept over her. Maybe it was because Sunset was hugging Duskfall and not the memory of Twilight Sparkle.

Suddenly it all hit her at once. The lying to everyone’s faces, the pretending she was alright, the constant noise of two competing sets of memories. Duskfall melted into Sunset’s embrace and started sobbing, ugly tears streaming down her face.

“You can lie to everyone else, but please, I think you need at least one person to confide in,” Sunset whispered in her ear.

“You don’t know what you’re offering,” Duskfall protested hoarsely.

“So I’m not offering to be the confidant to someone who is clearly about to self-destruct if she doesn’t let off some steam soon?” Sunset asked teasingly.

“…Maybe you know some of what you’re offering,” Dusk admitted, “Let’s head in before Rarity starts thinking we’re out here making out or something.”

“Rarity is already thinking we’re making out,” Sunset assured her.

“If only it were true, we might give her a heart attack,” Dusk snarked.

“That’d only happen if we did it in front of her,” Sunset returned.

The pair entered the music room to a number of different reactions. Rarity’s hopeful smirk. Rainbow Dash’s teasing smirk. Applejack’s knowing smirk…there was a lot of smirking.

“OK, so if you’d be so kind as to show me this rogue Equestrian Magic that has Sunset so worked up?” Duskfall requested. The girls picked up their instruments and started singing. Soon thereafter they started growing pony parts. Duskfall’s jaw dropped.

“I- how- what- HUH?!” She shouted.

“Now you see why I called you in,” Sunset remarked.

“But how-? Unless-? But even then-?” The combined might of Twilight and Tom’s intellects were processing the data faster than Dusk’s mouth could keep up with, “I need to set up my equipment! Keep playing!”

Dusk scurried about setting up sensors and meters to capture the Magical emissions. She swore under her breath a few times, wishing desperately for some of the gear that had been lost in Golden Oaks, but she could make do. Soon the data was coming pouring in.

“OK, you can stop playing!” Almost as soon as they stopped the pony appendages vanished.

“So, egghead, what’s the sitch?” Rainbow asked.

“Before I start explaining, I want to make sure we’re all on the same page. You’re all aware that on the other side of the mirror you have counterparts who are ponies, yes?” Dusk inquired.

“Sunset mentioned something to that effect,” Rarity replied while the others all nodded.

“Alright, so, the pony versions of you are all chosen bearers of extremely powerful artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. The crown Sunset stole was the Element of Magic. The others are Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, and Laughter. Now, normally, this wouldn’t matter to any of you. Despite similarities in appearance and personality, you’re all unique individuals. However, in the struggle to get the Element of Magic back, something unforeseen happened,” Duskfall started to explain.

“Yeah, that was the first time we grew pony ears and such,” Applejack noted.

“Right, well, this is only an assumption, but when the Element of Magic was turned against me, its bearer, it resorted to emergency measures. The Elements are all linked, so I’m guessing the Element of Magic was able to reach out to the other Elements through the portal and register you five as secondary users, thus allowing us to use Harmony Magic against Sunset’s demon form. However-”

“There’s always a ‘however’ isn’t there,” Rainbow grumble.

“Equestrian Magic isn’t compatible with Humans, even Humans that are a part of a parallel dimension to Equestria. So, to continue the computer analogy, the Elements corrupted your DNA and possibly added a few lines of code to your Souls. So you’re able to use Equestrian Magic without horrifying consequences now,” Duskfall relayed to them.

“That doesn’t sound healthy,” Fluttershy noted with concern.

“Well, if the Elements only corrupted your DNA, then that’s cause enough for worry. I don’t know for certain if they modified your Souls in any way. I’m not licensed to practice Soul Magic nor Necromancy, so if we want to get a solid yes or no on that, you’re all going to have to come with me to the other side to see a professional,” Dusk told them as their faces grew more afraid.

“Is it likely to hurt them now?” Sunset asked with concern.

“In the short term almost certainly not. Even when you perverted the very nature of the Element of Magic, it only turned you into a demon and you reverted back easy as you please. I don’t know if the Elements are even capable of actively harming anyone. In their recorded use they’ve always purified, petrified, or banished. However, I’m running off the idea that they’re comparable to a low functioning synthetic consciousness. So then the question becomes ‘are they programmed to be able to modify DNA and Souls correctly’? I’m going to assume not, so whatever they did to you would be a haphazard solution that may or may not cause… issues,” Duskfall finished sheepishly.

“Issues?” Dash asked worriedly.

“One of the least of which would see the genetic alterations cause a cascading mutation that would turn you all into ponies,” Duskfall just ripped the band-aid off.

“WHAT?!” The room erupted in shouting.

“You said that was one of the least things that could happen! What could possibly be worse?!” Rarity demanded to know.

“Well…let’s just say there are some things worse than death and leave it at that,” Even Dusk felt a bit queasy at some of the possibilities.

“What do we do?!” Applejack yelled.

“Relax! Heaven above, this isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. I don’t even know if anything will happen. Without closer study, it’s perfectly possible that you’ll suffer no ill side effects from what the Elements did. Hell, it’s possible that the alterations could benefit you! We won’t know anything until I can assemble a proper team of experts to come over and study you thoroughly. Which we have plenty of time to do. So everyone take a deep breath and relax!”

“From inciting panic to soothing the masses. You are a real leader,” Sunset quipped.

“Piss off Shimmer,” Dusk sulked quietly enough that only Sunset could hear. Sunset favored her with a cheeky smile.

“Sunset Shimmer to the principal’s office! Sunset Shimmer to the principal’s office!” Suddenly the voice of Vice Principal Luna came over the PA system.

“Oh, is someone in trouble again?” Pinkie asked with wagging eyebrows.

“I have done nothing wrong since the Fall Formal. I’m innocent!” Despite saying that, Sunset still felt the same guilty conscious everyone felt when going to the principal’s office.

“You all go on ahead, I’ll stay here and make sure I crunched the numbers right,” Dusk waved them off. They all followed Sunset out the door without further prompting and Dusk took a seat to start reviewing the readings.

She didn’t get very far, as a blue haired young man poked his head in the door soon after the girls left.

“Oh! Uh, are you Twilight Sparkle?” He asked hesitantly.

“I am,” Duskfall lied.

“Great! I’ve been hoping to talk to you ever since the Fall Formal! I’m Flash Sentry!” He introduced himself.

“Why would you want to talk to me?” Dusk asked.

“I was wondering…if you’d like to catch a movie or something with me.” Flash offered.

Dusk’s brain flatlined. The size of this boy’s balls was enormous! Dusk’s first impulse was to laugh in his face. But that wasn’t something Tom or Twilight would do.

“You are aware that I’m a pony princess from another dimension, yes?” Dusk questioned.

“I was aware, yes,” Flash confirmed. His answer caused Dusk to arch an eyebrow.

“You are exceptionally brave, Flash Sentry,” Duskfall observed.

“Brave?” Flash asked with his head cocked to the side like a puppy.

“You come in here, unprompted, looking for a date with an alien. You don’t even know what my tastes are. You don’t know if I find Humans to be charming simians or disgusting apes, yet you came asking anyway. So yes, you are very brave,” Dusk elaborated.

“Oh. So does that mean..?” Flash trailed off.

“Can you give me an hour to think about it? Just giving you my kneejerk reaction wouldn’t be fair to either of us. Also, even if I do say yes, you have to realize I have responsibilities and such back home. I don’t think it’ll ever go beyond one date,” Duskfall warned.

“That’s fine. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?” Flash said hopefully, “I’ll just leave you to it then.” He exited the music room, leaving Duskfall alone again.

Dusk was ready to put the whole thing from her mind. But then a wicked idea started to form in her mind. Tom and Twilight were both disasters when it came to romance. So, why not give them a helping hand from someone who knew them both best? Dusk didn’t even notice a grin that was too big for her face starting to form.

Twilight had caught Shining and Cadence kissing on the couch when she was a young filly and declared them ‘icky’. Just about every little kid does this at one point or another, but Twilight hadn’t grown out of it. Instead of admitting she was wrong once she got older and that she might actually want to try kissing and this or that, she simply told herself and everyone around her that she was asexual.

Duskfall knew better. She knew exactly what Twilight found attractive, both physically and emotionally. Hell, her own tastes were pretty much a cut and paste job mixing Tom and Twilight’s. If anyone could pick out the perfect mare, stallion, man, or woman for either of them, it was her!

Tom wasn’t nearly as bad as Twilight, but he had only ever had one girlfriend back in high school and that disaster had ended after two months and hadn’t progressed past a couple of pecks on the cheek!

The facts of the matter were that both her originals were sad, lonely virgins and it was up to Duskfall to fix it! She didn’t hear herself start to cackle maniacally. After all, one was supposed to leave a site better than they found it and what was Duskfall but a squatter in Tom and Twilight’s lives?

But that brought her to a problem. Both Twilight and Tom were virgins. That meant she was a virgin too. How would she find the perfect partner if neither knew what they wanted out of sex? Duskfall supposed that the best she could do was to find a few people to have sex with and approximate what Tom or Twilight might enjoy based on her experience.

Duskfall could already hear Tom complaining about premarital sex, but she and Twilight both agreed that it was patently silly. How on Earth is anyone supposed to know they’re compatible in every sense before marriage if they don’t fuck at least a few times beforehand? Tom had heard more than a few married couples complain about their sex life when they didn’t think Tom was listening. If you’re gonna get hitched for eternity, you damn well better be compatible in more than just personality.

Dusk understood that there had to be a balance. A purely physical relationship or “Friends with benefits” had ended in heartbreak too many times when one or the other began to crave an emotional aspect that the other didn’t want to fulfill. Likewise, a purely platonic romance that wasn’t between two asexual people was doomed to feelings of dissatisfaction. Just about every living creature had a desire to procreate, thus a desire to have sex.

It was only through a relationship that was both physical and emotional that any lasting bond could be formed, romantically speaking. That is what Duskfall believed. Just look at Tom’s paternal grandparents! They were both over 85 yet they still kissed and made eyes at each other and were supportive of each other. In short, they were both still very much in love.

Duskfall heard the voices of the others coming down the hall. She’d have to think this over more carefully when she was back in Ponyville. For now she turned to greet the returning friends.

“So, what did the principal want?” Dusk questioned.

“She wanted me to show some new transfer students around the school. I don’t know, something just felt off about them,” Sunset shook her head.

“How so?” Duskfall asked.

“They were kinda acting like my aunt,” Rainbow noted.

“What does your aunt have to do with anything?” Sunset wondered.

“She’s…ah…she’s an ‘adult entertainer’ if you catch my drift,” It didn’t take a genius to parse the innuendo.

“I’m almost certain pony Rainbow’s parents are both only children. Interesting where these differences pop up,” Duskfall remarked idly.

“I guess Rainbow has a point. They did seem older than they appeared. Probably just us over thinking things,” Sunset shrugged.

“Lunch is gonna start in a minute. Wanna grab something to eat Twi?” Pinkie asked.

“Lunch? I thought it was after school!” Duskfall squawked.

“Half day with lunch served!” Rainbow smirked, “Next best thing to a day off. School let out an hour ago officially, but a lot of students are hanging around for clubs and to hang out and stuff…also lunch.”

“Sure, why not? I could stand to eat something before going home,” Duskfall remarked.

“That’s silly Twi! You’re supposed to sit when you eat in the cafeteria. Unless you ponies don’t do that?!” Pinkie gasped.

“Us ponies sit to eat just like you do, Pinkie,” Sunset assured her. So they all moved to the cafeteria, none the wiser of what was about to happen.

Not long after the group sat down to eat, what appeared to be three young women burst into the cafeteria and started singing. Duskfall and Sunset instantly knew something was off.

“That’s not a Heartsong,” Dusk muttered.

“It’s not any regular singing either,” Sunset agreed.

“Why’s everyone acting all nutty all of a sudden?” Rainbow asked as the rest of the school started bickering with one another.

“Let’s see, things that specialize in vocals. We have banshees; unlikely as those things kill with their screams or are warnings of death. We have mermaids, sirens, and the rest of the world’s feminine sea monsters; temptresses who used their beautiful voices to lure sailors to their deaths. I suppose fairies, but they mostly stick to instruments. Anything I’m missing? Oh yes, the Muses of Greek Mythology. Given what these three are doing, it wouldn’t surprise me one lick to find out if they’re some kind of mermaid or siren,” Duskfall rattled off.

“I thought mermaids were aquatic?” Rarity asked.

“Well, technically the original sirens were depicted as half bird women, who mutated over time to being half fish which then descended into mermaids. Hang on a sec,” Duskfall pulled out one of her sensors and it quickly told her what she needed to know, “That’s definitely Equestrian Magic they’re using. If they came through the portal or something similar, then it isn’t strange that the journey changed them. Actually now that I think about it T- I’ve read a book about Starswirl the Bearded, a famous Mage of ancient times, dealing with a trio of sirens by banishing them to another world. I wonder if these are the same sirens or if they’re the descendants of those sirens?”

“So what are we gonna do about it?” Applejack wondered.

“First order of business should probably be alerting Celestia and Luna. We can kick them to the curb all day, but if the administration keeps inviting them back, nothing will get solved,” Duskfall pointed out.

With everyone in agreement, they headed to the principal’s office, only to discover they were too late. The Dazzlings, as they called themselves, had ensnared Celestia and Luna before making their debut in the cafeteria. Knowing they’d find no help there, they left.

“We should blast these Dazzlings with the rainbow and once their hold on the school is broke, send them on their way!” Rainbow suggested.

“I like where your head is at RD, but I’m not about to head into such a confrontation unprepared if I can help it. It’s time to call in the cavalry!” Dusk declared.

“Horse joke, nice,” Fluttershy giggled. Duskfall snickered herself when she realized what she had said.

“I’ll pop back through the portal, gather up the Elements, and be right back. You girls should see if you can find a place we can corner them,” With these instructions Duskfall headed for the portal.

“Hey, Twilight!” Before she could exit the school, Dusk was stopped by Flash.

“Sorry, as you may or may not have noticed, there’s another magical catastrophe brewing here at CHS. I’m in a bit of a hurry. However, I’ll probably be free on Saturday, around noon, if that works for you?” Duskfall asked. She may not know much about his personality yet, but as far as looks go, he’d score a solid 8 on Twilight’s meter.

“Oh, yeah! Sure! It’s a date!” It was almost adorable how smitten he sounded. But Duskfall didn’t have the time to dwell on that. She reached the portal and jumped in.

“Dusk, you get everything sorted out?” Spike looked up from a comic he was reading when he noticed the portal light up.

“We’ve got troubles on all fronts. The girls on the other side of the portal have been exposed to potentially dangerous magical transformations and there are Equestrian monsters running amok in the school. Can you send a letter to Luna while I gather the Elements?” Dusk requested.

“Sure I can! One urgent message for Luna, coming right up!” Spike dashed out of the room to find a quill and parchment.

“You’re the best, Spike!” Dusk called out as she teleported to Rarity’s boutique.

“Darling, you do realize you can knock, yes?” Rarity deadpanned as Duskfall appeared right in front of her.

“Sorry, we have an emergency! No time for social niceties. Do you know where the other Elements are?” Duskfall asked quickly.

“Fluttershy is at her cottage, Rainbow should be with Pinkie baking something or other at Sugar Cube Corner, and Applejack is at Sweet Apple Acres,” Rarity listed off.

“You have just saved me half an hour of teleporting around town looking for them. Thank you!” Duskfall said gratefully as she teleported Rarity to the room with the portal in it.

Sure enough, everyone was where Rarity said they would be and soon enough they were all gathered.

“I’m sorry to call on you on such short notice, but there’s an Equestrian menace threatening the other side of the portal. They appear to be sirens and if I’m right then we’ll be cleaning up a mess left behind by Starswirl,” Duskfall announced to the gathering.

“The sirens? Truly?” Luna asked.

“What, are you gonna tell us they’re long lost friends of yours too?” Rainbow teased. Luna snorted.

“Hardly, the sirens and I have a bloody history. One I would have no issue reopening with a solid hoof to Aria’s face,” Luna grinned darkly.

“Well that answers the question of if they’re the originals or descendants…” Duskfall muttered to herself, “OK, so, when you go through the portal, you’ll all be transformed into Humans. Please try to keep your freak outs to a minimum as time really is of the essence.”

“I am familiar with the workings of such portals. You needn’t worry about me,” Luna promised as she stepped through the mirror.

“This is gonna be fun!” Pinkie chirped as she pronked through the mirror after Luna.

“We’re not going to have… never mind,” Duskfall sighed. Soon the rest of the Elements and Spike filtered through the portal, with Duskfall last to enter.

Thankfully, those going through the portal were semi-functioning adults. None of the Equestrian natives flipped their lids and started screaming or anything like that. After a bit of stumbling about by the other Elements, they quickly got the hang of walking on two legs.

“This is so weird not having my wings,” Rainbow complained.

“Darling, how do you think I feel without my horn?” Rarity returned.

“You know the lay of the land, Duskfall. Lead the way,” Luna instructed.

“Before we do that, we should figure out a way to tell each of you apart from your counterparts of this world. I’d ask why the portal made you all the same age and wearing the same clothes as your counterparts, but at this point I’m just going to assume everything hates me and that’s why,” Dusk pouted.

“How could you possibly mix up my awesomeness for anyone else?” Rainbow teased.

“They’re either going to kill each other or it’s gonna be an echo chamber,” Spike snarked.

“I should’ve brought name tags. I’m slipping,” Duskfall mused.

“If there should come a need to distinguish who is an Equestrian, just ask them who raises the sun. If they look at you with a blank expression, then they’re native to this side of the portal. Except for Sunset, of course,” Luna suggested.

“Hopefully we won’t be here long enough fer that to be a problem,” Applejack remarked. When the two groups met, Duskfall resolved to call the Equestrian natives their name followed by a P just for keeping things orderly inside her own head.

“Twilight, you’re back!” Sunset called out as Dusk led the ponies into the music room.

“I have returned with the promised reinforcements!” Immediately the ponies went to mingle with their Human counterparts, but Duskfall had come prepared with an air horn, “You all can socialize later! Right now we have to take out the Dazzlings and free the school, capiche?”

“The Dazzlings are probably going to be overlooking the pre battle of the bands party. If they aren’t in the gym right now then they’ll definitely be at the battle itself,” Sunset relayed.

“Then let us not tarry! It’s been over 1500 years since I’ve had a chance to fight a siren!” Luna was sounding way too eager in Dusk’s opinion, but given she had very sincerely tried to kill Tirek a week ago, she couldn’t talk.

The group made their way to the gymnasium and sure enough, everyone who was participating in the battle of the bands was there, even the Dazzlings. Her prey spotted, Luna made a beeline to them. As she drew close, she tapped the one with purple hair on the shoulder.

“Oh, Vice Principal Luna, what can we do for you?” She asked in a silky smooth tone. A confident smirk was on her face.

“Hello, Arianna,” Aria’s face barely had time to morph into a look of shock before Luna decked the siren across the face, sending her to the ground. The gym was suddenly deathly silent. “That was for the Battle of the Depths.” Luna sneered as she shook her hand to dispel the aftereffects of the punch.

“Princess Luna?!” The one with poufy orange hair shouted incredulously.

“Adagio, Sonata, how lovely to see you again,” Sarcasm was thick on the Princess of the Night’s voice.

“HOW?!” Adagio shrieked.

“That’d be me,” Duskfall stepped up, “Hi, Twilight Sparkle, newest Princess of Equestria. I also brought along the Elements of Harmony.”

“There are more of you?” Sonata asked in surprise.

“You didn’t really think Starswirl would just banish you and not maintain some way of keeping an eye on you, did you?” Dusk taunted. They didn’t need to know it was pure serendipity that one of the only portals that still survived just so happened to lead to the world they were trapped in.

“That bastard!” Adagio swore, “Not content to banish us to this sorry world, he had to spy on us too?!”

“Well, seeing as how we have fresh Equestrian Magic, the Elements of Harmony, and two Alicorns, you seem quite thoroughly outnumbered. So, I’m going to make you an offer you really shouldn’t refuse. Release the people from your spell and try to learn to get along with others with the long term goal of returning to Equestria in peace or we drag you all back to Equestria right now and throw you in Tartarus. You see, we’ve had a bit of a jailbreak from Tartarus recently and we’re all eager to test the new, improved, and…unpleasant security,” It felt good to hold all the cards, even if there was a little bit of bluffing involved.

“That bitch punched me!” Aria finally recovered enough of her senses to cry out indignantly.

“And this bitch will happily do it again!” Luna growled.

“Aria, shut up!” Adagio barked before pulling the other two sirens into a huddle. The rest of the gym was still in shock, not the least of it because suddenly there were duplicates of AJ, RD, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

It took about five minutes of heated whispering between the Dazzlings, but eventually their huddle broke. Adagio, apparently the spokesperson, stepped forward.

“We agree to the terms of our surrender,” It was clear the siren wasn’t happy about it, but even a fool could see they had little choice in the matter and Adagio was no fool.

“But how are we gonna feed?!” Aria shouted.

“If the Changelings can learn to feed on Love without forcefully draining people, I’m sure you can manage much the same,” Luna remarked dryly.

“The Changelings are back?” Adagio asked with no small surprise.

“They’re valued members of society now,” Dusk confirmed.

“Far out!” Sonata giggled.

“According to the book I read, you all feed on negative psyonic energy, correct?” Dusk questioned.

“That is correct,” Adagio confirmed.

“Have you tried eating angst? This is a high school, after all. I’m sure there’s enough to go around,” Duskfall snarked.

“I…don’t know. My sisters and I have always eaten anger, hatred, and other emotions born of direct conflict. We never saw a reason to try anything else,” Adagio shrugged.

“Well, try that for now. If that doesn’t work, I’m sure we’ll figure something out. But for now, how about releasing those under your spell?” Duskfall reminded. The Dazzlings slumped in defeat. The spoke a few words and the oppressive atmosphere caused by the spell suddenly broke.

“There, it’s done,” Adagio grumbled.

“Excellent! Now, I’d suggest you hang around Sunset Shimmer. She’s the resident recovering power addict, after all,” Duskfall giggled.

“Gee, thanks,” Sunset deadpanned.

“I love you too, Sunny!” Dusk then let out a yawn she failed to stifle in time, “I’m sure you all want to spend some time here getting to know each other, but I personally need a nap. I was going to take a nap before this whole thing started, but it got interrupted. Luna knows how to control the portal, so feel free to stay as long as you like. I’ll catch you all later.”

However, before Duskfall could make her escape, she found herself in the center of a massive group hug featuring all her pony friends and human ones. She let herself be hugged until they dispersed naturally. Holding back another yawn, Duskfall made her way to the portal.

“I hope you realize the sirens are plotting their revenge as we speak,” Luna remarked, standing next to the portal.

“Oh, I’m sure they are, but they won’t be able to do anything for quite some time. By then, hopefully the Magic of Friendship will have converted them. After all, Kindness, Compassion, and Friendship can grasp at one’s Heart just as insidiously as any Dark Magic,” Duskfall smirked.

“That is an…interesting way of looking at it,” Luna allowed.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was serious about needing a nap. See you later, Luna. Oh, and before I forget, I’m gonna need your help gathering up Necromancers and Soul Magic practitioners. We’ll also need a doctor or two specializing in genetics. The human versions of the Elements were magically modified and I want to make sure they’re safe,” Duskfall reveled.

“It will be done. Pleasant dreams, Duskfall,” Luna departed back into the school and Duskfall walked into the portal.

Duskfall expected to find an empty room when she returned. She did not expect a brown stallion with a darker brown mane. She also didn’t expect the supremely contrite look on his face.

“Duskfall…I’ve come to apologize,” His voice sounded somewhat like a Trottingham accent at first blush. Now Dusk had reason to believe it wasn’t even close.

“You lying son of a bitch. Tom asked you to your face if you were The Doctor and you told him no,” Duskfall was supremely unimpressed.

“Well…I wasn’t technically lying. When I came to Equestria I tried to put The Doctor behind me. I wanted my adventuring days to be officially over,” The Doctor, for that’s who it was, tried to defend himself.

“If you think I’m in any kind of mood to argue semantics with you right now you have another thing coming,” Dusk growled.

“You have every right to be angry with me. I could’ve stepped in at any time during that mess with Tirek. I simply convinced myself it would be OK. Everything in Equestria always works out, I told myself. The truth of the matter is that I’ve become lazy and a coward. I’ve forgotten why I took the mantel of The Doctor,” The Doctor said sadly.

“It’s a little late for your moment of self discovery. Unless you mean to tell me you’re going to pluck Tom and Twilight out of time at the last second ala Chrono Trigger?” Duskfall asked.

“If I could do that I already would have. Souls don’t behave the same way as Minds and Bodies in relation to Time. When their Souls fused and were observed to be fused into you, it sent a ripple across the wibbly wobbly timey whimey stuff. Think of it like Schrödinger’s Cat. Once you were observed to be one Soul, it became nearly impossible to view your constituent Souls as anything other than parts of a greater whole,” The Doctor explained.

“Then why are you here? If you’re just here to apologize, then get out of my sight so I can take a nap. I may or may not accept your apology later,” Duskfall moved to walk past The Doctor.

“Wait! I can’t bring them back, but I can give you a chance to say goodbye,” Dusk froze. She knew this was a bad idea. She knew this was just begging for additional heartache. But against her better judgment, this opportunity was just too much to pass up.

“Take me to them,”

Tom was in an excellent mood. He and Twilight had just caught the first Canterlot showing of Hinny of the Hills. Now he was inside a bar that Shining Armor had recommended to Twilight. He wasn’t going to drink anything besides water, but Shining had promised their fish and chips were to die for.

Tom was nursing his first cup of water while discussing Hinny of the Hills with Twilight when a pony with a familiar shade of purple fur sat down on the stool next to him. Tom and Twilight’s good moods evaporated in an instant.

“Let’s grab a private booth before we send all of Canterlot into a panic,” He suggested and the Twilight doppelganger was easily led to an out of the way, soundproofed booth. There he summoned the body double for Twilight before he spoke. “So, he really is The Doctor, that lying bastard.”

“Rule number one of The Doctor,” The doppelganger began.

“The Doctor lies,” Tom finished, “So, given how he is about crossing personal timelines and that interesting case of heterochromia I’m going to assume Twilight and I don’t make it. I’m also going to guess we aren’t going to remember any of this. So you might as well lay it on us, how’d we die?”

“Long story short, you died heroes. You were battling a monster named Tirek and you both Surged at the same time. It caused your Souls to fuse, resulting in me,” She replied sadly.

“And who is you, uh… you know what I mean,” Twilight grumped. She just found out she had died, cut her some slack, alright?

“The name I’ve taken for now is Duskfall Sparkle,” Dusk answered, “It’s only been a week since I came to be.”

“Pretending to be Twilight during an emo phase? I approve,” Twilight glared at Tom.

“I do not have an emo phase!” She barked.

“Not yet you don’t!” Tom argued before realizing what he said. Twilight wouldn’t get a chance to have an emo phase.

“Don’t worry! I’m rebuilding the lab and I’ll have you back before you know it!” Duskfall promised. Tom and Twilight shared a look. Duskfall knew that look and it made her feel sick to her stomach.

“Rebuilding the lab?” Twilight contented herself with asking.

“Well…Golden Oaks was destroyed in the struggle,” Duskfall admitted.

“Was anyone hurt?!” Twilight demanded to know.

“No, the only one around at the time was Owlowiscious and Tom was able to save him at the last second,” Duskfall told them and both sighed in relief. Tom and Twilight looked at each other again before Tom nodded minutely.

“Duskfall, do you have any leads for getting us back?” Twilight asked gently.

“No, not yet,” Duskfall hated admitting that, “But it’s still early days! I will figure something out! I have both of your brains! I won’t give up!”

“Dusk…maybe you should give up,” Tom said quietly.

“If you do bring us back, what happens to you?” Twilight questioned. Duskfall felt as though she had just gone into freefall.

“It doesn’t matter what happens to me! I shouldn’t exist to begin with! You’ll come back, Tom will get his own body, and you’ll live happily ever after! You have friends who miss you, family who are mourning you. I’m just a nothing wearing Twilight’s face,” Duskfall felt tears welling up.

“You have to have some kind of desire to live!” Tom nearly shouted. Dusk fixed him with a glare.

“I’m not a Nobody who is going to become jealous of their Somebody just for existing. Or are you suggesting I “live” like you did after you caught Samantha cheating on you?” Tom reeled as if punched. Twilight wasn’t sure what Duskfall was talking about, but she could see the effect.

“Duskfall, you don’t mean that,” Twilight said sadly.

“I will get you back and nothing you can say will stop me!” Dusk nearly screamed.

“Duskfall, what if there came a time when we were apart?” Tom suddenly asked and it felt like Dusk had been doused in icy water.

“As long as we are apart together, we shall certainly be fine,” The words came unbidden to her lips.

“But if we weren’t? If we were separated by insurmountable circumstances, if Twilight and I were somewhere else?” Tom continued.

“But you couldn’t be. I would be…quite lost without both of you,” Tears were starting to escape from both Tom and Duskfall, “Who would I call on those days where I’m just not strong enough? Who would I call on those days where I feel all alone? Who do I call on those days when I just want it all to end?”

“Well, actually-” Tom began.

“Who would I go to for advice, when I don’t know which way to turn?” Duskfall’s voice took on a pleading tone.

“Dusk, we-” Tom was interrupted again.

“We? We simply wouldn’t be! I’d be alone, a stranger in a strange land!” Duskfall sobbed.

“Oh Dusk, if ever there’s a tomorrow where we aren’t together then there’s something you must remember,” Tom told her firmly.

“What could I possibly remember that would soothe this pain in my Heart and Soul?” Duskfall needed to know.

“You’re braver than you believe. You’re stronger than you seem. You’re smarter than you think. Finally, you’re never alone. Even if Twilight and I fade to naught but memories, we’ll always be with you. Always and forever,” Dusk couldn’t take it anymore. She scrambled over the table separating her from Tom and Twilight. To her surprise, she could feel Twilight’s body double, but that fact was quickly pushed aside as the three of them held each other tightly and wept freely.

The next thing Duskfall knew, she was waking up in her bed in the palace. The Doctor’s calling card on the bedside table proved it wasn’t a dream. Duskfall was more determined than ever to bring Tom and Twilight back!

Author's Notes:

So, quite a lot to unpack here. Let's start with the Sirens.

Twilight refusing to bring the ponies along to CHS was one billion percent plot contrivance. So here the sirens are stopped before any lasting damage could be done with strength of numbers and a convincing actor. I personally feel the sirens have a lot of potential, but they won't come into the spotlight much until Book 3 probably. I also think it's funny to imagine Luna and the sirens having a long and storied past involving them getting into drunken barroom brawls more than once.

Flash Sentry:

I was perfectly content to completely ignore the Vile Waifu Stealer in this chapter. Then Duskfall got an idea and dragged Flash into it. As much as I personally want to get to Starlight, Dusk has basically commandeered next chapter for her Shipping Scheme. Speaking of Shipping Schemes

Duskfall's Views on Romance:

This is largely a mirror of my own thoughts on the matter. I was told growing up that I'd go on a mission, come home, get married, and produce children from that union. The only reasons it would be acceptable to not have a kid were either reasons of sterility or financial difficulties. Doesn't matter if you and your partner are sexually compatible! If you aren't, just suffer through it as many times as it takes for a kid to pop out!

Fuck. That. Bullshit.

I have heard and seen way too many marriage horror stories to even be remotely close with OK with that plan. The prime examples being my own parents.

My Church leaders have encouraged not going steady with any one girl with one breath and insisting we get married by 21 with another all the while insisting that we don't have sex before marriage because it isn't like sex is anything more than banging your male bits against the lady bits until something happens, RIGHT?! It's not like physical intimacy requires a great deal of emotional trust and support for a lot of people or anything, RIGHT?! IT ISN'T LIKE GOD MADE THE ACT OF SEX SUPPOSED TO BE ENJOYABLE OR ANYTHING, RIGHT?!

Fuck, it's a mess.

This isn't even considering that I'm an introverted Schizoid with a number of other minor mental health issues who's never so much as held a girl's hand, never mind kissing! What girl wants to go on a date with the psychotic kid? Even if I could trick a girl into going out with me, if I did wind up liking her, there's no way in hell I'd ask her to marry me! Even beyond not wanting to inflict myself on someone I like, I wouldn't want to risk trapping her in an unfulfilling relationship. Is there the chance that we'd be great in bed together? Of course, but is it really worth risking something so permanent over a maybe?

So looks like I'll just die a single virgin. This has caused me untold amounts of angst since I was 13 and first started noticing girls. I just can't bring myself to do anything about it.

The Doctor:

The Doctor won't be seen too much over the course of the story. Now that he has a catalyst for returning to his job of saving the universe, he's going to be off world quite a bit.

The Meeting:

Yes, I cried while typing this. I know how this story ends and I still cried. For anyone who doesn't recognize it, the exchange between Tom and Duskfall is a modified version of: Silly Old Bear

Also, it looks like Duskfall got the complete wrong idea from her meeting with Tom and Twilight. Or maybe she got the right idea..?

How To Get a Nerd a Date

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 4: How To Get a Nerd a Date

Duskfall closed the door behind her and threw every warding spell she knew around the room. Not even Discord could be allowed to know what was about to go on inside that room.

Duskfall had just returned from her date with Flash Sentry and it had gone…poorly. Flash was a fine date and a nice guy, but he was painfully boring to someone with Twilight’s disposition. Any partner for her would either have to be able to somewhat keep up with her mind or offer support for her emotionally. Ideally it would be both, but Duskfall wasn’t looking for miracles.

So with stacks of parchment and many bottles of ink, Duskfall began to contemplate everyone she knew and who would maybe make a good match for Tom or Twilight.

Big Mac: Rumors he’s dating Cheerilee, but those are unconfirmed and unlikely. Applejack probably would’ve said something. Big Mac was nice and a stallion of few words, but the words he did have been surprisingly wise. Someone like that could definitely help keep Twilight grounded. Twilight found Big Mac attractive, just about every straight and bi mare did. He would also almost certainly be supportive of Twilight when duty called and she had to go halfway around the world. However, any relationship with Big Mac would certainly mean some farm work and that left the question of if the Twilight Sparkle who spent long nights reading or researching would be able to handle farm life.

The Doctor: Why the hell would I set up Twilight with that jerk? Even if he were looking for a casual romance, Twilight is likely a few centuries too young. He’s certainly capable of matching Twilight’s intellect and he’s always been shown as willing to teach, which is a big plus for an info-vore like Twilight. If I had the time to cultivate a relationship with The Doctor before setting up him and Twilight on a date maybe, but I don’t so there’s one more candidate off the list.

Blueblood: Fuck No.

Pharynx: Seems to have a thing for Rainbow. His brother Thorax likewise has a thing for Fluttershy. I don’t even know how Changelings deal with romance and the like. I think it’s best to put Changelings in general on the backburner until I have more information.

Discord: I am now really appreciating how badly skewed the male/female ratio is in Equestria. Good thing Twi is bi. Any relationship with Discord would probably involve a lot of kinky transformation stuff; a big plus for some people, but Discord doesn’t have the emotional IQ for any serious romantic relationship.

Cheerilee: Rumors of dating Big Mac unconfirmed and unlikely. My originals had little direct contact with Cheerilee, but word on the street is that she’s kind, nurturing, and strict but not harsh. She’s also a teacher, which is a big plus for both Tom and Twilight. Cheerilee won’t be winning any beauty pageants, but she isn’t homely either. She’s a solid 6 on just about anyone’s attractiveness meter, which speaks to the strength of her general appeal as opposed to one stand out feature attracting a certain crowd. I’ll have to do a little more personal observation, but I think I could easily set up Cheerilee with a date for either of my originals and they’d be perfectly happy.

The Elements: I could go over each of them individually, but they all share a common issue: Twilight would probably freak out over either Tom or herself dating one of her closest friends. This is a shame. Tom has expressed interest in Fluttershy and I’m sure if I could convince Twilight and Rainbow or Pinkie to go on a date she’d have fun at least. Applejack runs into the same problem of farm life as her brother and Rarity I fear would stretch herself too thin if she tried to juggle a serious romance with everything else in her life.

Cloud Kicker: Athletically attractive in a similar way to Rainbow Dash, Cloud Kicker has a reputation as a party animal. Between herself and her best friend Berry Punch, it’s rumored they’ve laid over 90% of Ponyville…including the Changelings. She’s a strong candidate for helping me in my own sexual experimentation.

Berry Punch: High functioning alcoholic. Instant turn off for Tom. From what I’ve observed of her Berry Punch doesn’t take anything seriously except her daughter Ruby Pinch. She doesn’t seem like the type to be tied down to a formal relationship. I’m not entirely sure how comfortable I’d be banging a mom. Neither of my originals had MILF fantasies and I didn’t grow one myself.

Derpy Hooves: The Doctor’s current ‘companion’. Utterly devoted to her daughters Dinky and Amethyst Star, known in the Hooves household by the nickname Sparkler, no one is quite sure who the father of either filly is. Digging through some old photos I discovered that Derpy and The Doctor have been around each other for years. He probably knows the identity of the father or fathers. If I really want to go conspiracy theorist, maybe they’re The Doctor’s spawn or maybe he even loomed them! Ha! Nah, that’s just too silly to be true… then again most would consider me to be too silly to be true…

Coco Pommel: A precious cinnamon roll who I inherited a strong desire to protecc from Tom and Twilight. Really, Coco is just too sweet. I could probably spend days just basking in her presence without the need to say a word. If I could fix up a date with either Tom or Twilight, I can easily see them devoting every waking moment to making Coco feel like a princess.

Moon Dancer: Moon Dancer needs support right now, not romance. That likely won’t change before it’s time for me to go.

Luna: No one is exactly sure of the nature of Luna and Chrysalis’ relationship. No one has been brave enough to ask. Luna is definitely a 10/10 in the looks department, but I wonder if she carries too much of a burden of her past for anyone not at least a couple of centuries old to be able to deal with. The same likely applies to Chrysalis, which is probably why they’re so good for each other, even if they aren’t actually dating.

Sunset Shimmer: I’d have to be really sneaky if I wanted to set up a date with her for Tom or Twilight. It’d probably be worth it though. She’s attractive, driven, and intelligent. That ticks off a lot of boxes for Tom. Twilight too, if she’d admit it to herself. I think either of them would be quite the power couple with Sunset if they took the plunge. On a completely unrelated note, that leather jacket she likes to wear is so hot.

Celestia: No. Just no. Twilight entertained a minor crush on her when she was younger, but I can’t see any attempted relationship with Celestia ending well. Too much baggage and too used to be in control for either Tom or Twilight. Strangely, I could easily see someone like Fluttershy working out a good romantic relationship with Celestia.

Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Minuette: Don’t know them well enough to make a call either way. Twilight has gotten closer to them over the past months, but they’re all still busy with their own lives.

Lyra and Bon Bon: I wonder how serious they were being with their flirting? I should ask them.

Lyra and Bonnie were just sitting down for a late lunch when there came a knock on the door. Lyra went to open the door and on the other side stood a purple Alicorn with a smile that was just slightly too big.

“Hi Lyra, hi Bonnie!” Duskfall chirped.

“Dusk, to what do we owe the pleasure?” Bonnie asked.

“Well, I was wondering how serious you were in your flirting with Tom and Twilight!” Duskfall said excitedly. Bonnie and Lyra shared a look that said a thousand words.

“We were pretty serious, but neither of them would ever take us up on it,” Lyra said dismissively.

“I know! That’s the problem! I need to know what I want out of a romantic and physical relationship so I can set Tom and Twilight up with proper dates so they can stop being sad, lonely virgins! I know I’m not Tom or Twilight, but would you mind too terribly teaching me for their sake?” Duskfall grew puppy dog eyes.

“Yeah, sure, I don’t mind,” Bonnie replied.

“I don’t mind either,” Lyra agreed. Duskfall’s face lit up like a firework.

“Thank you so much! I’ll find a way to make this up to you!” Duskfall pronked out of their house, happy as a clam.

“Her Heart is gonna break when she realizes she can’t get them back,” Bonnie predicted sadly.

“You don’t know that’ll happen,” Lyra’s protest sounded weak to her own ears.

“We both know what happened was a one in a trillion freak accident. Even with someone of Duskfall’s no doubt incredible brain power, some things are simply impossible,” Bon Bon shook her head. They had to face reality.

“She’s going to need more than just a good fuck every Friday night or whatever,” Lyra pointed out.

“Do you know what you’re suggesting?” Bonnie asked.

“Hey, my parents already disowned me. They can’t double disown me for starting a herd,” Lyra snarked. Bonnie snorted in amusement.

“They might just take you back if they hear you started a herd with a princess,” Bonnie teased.

“Bleg. Well, sometimes sacrifices have to be made,” Lyra made a face. Bonnie went to nuzzle her marefriend.

“How noble of you,” She quipped sarcastically, “But I agree. We can watch over her and love her until she’s ready to find her own Love.”

“And if she decides that Love is with us?” Lyra wondered.

“I can think of worse fates. If we don’t do this, who will? No one else can do this, unless Fluttershy has been harboring feelings for Tom or Twilight and suddenly decides now would be the best time to act on them. Duskfall said Tom and Twilight were lonely. I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine she is as well,” Bonnie reasoned.

“And that loneliness might kill her in her heartbreak,” Lyra didn’t want that to happen.

“Then we’re agreed. We love her and protect her in her time of need until she no longer needs us.”

Broken

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 5: Broken

The day had started off normally enough. Spike had prepared breakfast, Moon Dancer was working on her magical endurance, and Duskfall was ramming her head against a wall.

“You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that,” Moon Dancer remarked.

“I’m an Alicorn. Anything I do to myself will heal,” Duskfall replied stubbornly.

“That is a very unhealthy way of looking at it,” Moon Dancer noted.

“I’m just trying to think of a way to-”

“To get Tom and Twilight back, I know,” Moon Dancer interrupted her.

Truthfully, Duskfall had an idea already fermenting in the back of her mind. If getting Tom and Twilight back was beyond the means of even Discord, then it only made sense to escalate the problem to a higher authority. The problem with that was the barrier Discord and the Tree had erected around Equuis.

So her idea was to circumvent that barrier on a night that might have very strong connections to a greater power. Thanks to Tom’s knowledge on myths and legends, she even had a date picked out: The Winter Solstice. If anyone could help, it would be someone related to something as all encompassing as Death, right? It was certainly possible she’d wind up with someone related to Life, given that the Winter Solstice was also associated with Rebirth, but without knowing the Pony equivalent Samhain it was the closest she could get.

Of course, she wasn’t going to tell anyone her plans. They’d almost certainly try and stop her from getting in contact with a higher being and that was absolutely unacceptable. Dusk didn’t care how dangerous it was, she’d still do it!

Well, she’d still be looking into other means of bringing back Twilight and Tom, but it was always nice to have a backup plan. Even if it was slightly extreme. No risk was too great in completing Duskfall’s mission!

Duskfall’s brain bashing was interrupted by the table in the middle of the room suddenly flashing to life. What looked to be a holographic representation of Equestria appeared and mini icons of the Element’s Cutie Marks floating around a small town out in the middle of nowhere. A moment later and Dusk felt a tingling around Twilight’s Cutie Mark.

“That’s new,” Moon Dancer deadpanned as she, Spike, and Dusk all looked at the pulsating Cutie Mark.

“If this is more of the Tree’s fuckery I want nothing to do with it,” Duskfall said sourly.

“I don’t know how much choice in the matter you have, Duskfall,” Suddenly Discord appeared in a flock of flaming doves.

“And why can’t I just tell the Tree to take a long walk off a short pier?” Duskfall just knew she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Since her last scheme to orchestrate the lives of mortals failed so spectacularly, she’s been sulking,” Discord revealed.

“Two people die because of her and she’s SULKING?!” Duskfall screamed. Discord shrugged.

“This is her attempt at being more direct. Apparently there’s some kind of trouble brewing in that town right there that if left unchecked could, and I quote, ‘Threaten the stability and Harmony of all of Equuis for generations to come’.” Discord rolled his shoulders sarcastically.

“Can’t you pop in and deal with it? It’d be a nice way to get your groove back after that incident with Tirek,” Duskfall remarked. Discord laughed.

“While you are right in that I need to redeem myself for getting tricked, I’m afraid I’ll have to pass on this one. The Tree is already in a sour enough mood and I’d rather not start a real fight with her. Last time we properly fought things got…messy. Besides, even if that weren’t the case, if I did every little thing for you, how would you ever grow?” Discord asked.

“You make excellent points. Damn the Tree and her vague, non-specific portents of doom,” Duskfall grumbled.

“I think since only the Element’s Cutie Marks are displayed that means the Tree only wants the six of you to go,” Moon Dancer noted. Suddenly there was confetti and streamers everywhere.

“Give the girl a prize! She’s absolutely right!” Discord cheered. Just then the rest of the Elements came into the room.

“Uh, so does anyone know why my butt is glowing?” Rainbow asked.

“Apparently the Tree of Harmony is summoning us on some kind of mission to keep Equuis safe,” Rainbow opened her mouth angrily, but Duskfall cut her off, “I’m not happy with accepting quests from the Tree either, but if the world really is in danger…again…then we have to do something.”

“I think given everything that’s happened to you, you’re completely excused from having to save the world,” Rarity remarked.

“Your words are appreciated, Rares, but neither Tom nor Twilight would shirk their duty and neither will I. Come on, let’s see about travel methods,” Duskfall sighed.

As it turned out, the fastest method of getting to the asscrack of nowhere was by taking the train to the very end of the line. Once they had disembarked they still had to walk two hours to finally reach the town the Tree had sent them too.

The town looked almost like some kind of prison camp to Duskfall’s eyes. There were two identical rows of houses and a single lone house at one end.

“I swear to God if the Tree sent us out here to deal with a prison break I’m going to chop it down myself!” Dusk growled.

“I would be most agreeable to helping you, Darling. The trek here was not kind,” Rarity complained.

“Maybe we should save threats against extremely powerful beings until we actually know why we’re here?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Bah, if she were all that and a bag of chips, she’d be out here herself dealing with this mess,” Duskfall sulked, but otherwise didn’t argue with Fluttershy.

The group cautiously approached the town, with Pinkie leading the way in full ‘spy master’ mode. Duskfall found it utterly adorable, once she got over the panic of seeing Pinkie squashed beneath a boulder.

“This is where the Map sent us? It isn’t even a prison town. What possible world ending threats could there be here?” Rainbow questioned.

“It looks like just a bunch o’ folks goin’ about their business,” Applejack agreed.

“Well, this place is certainly a crime against fabulosity. The architecture is so painfully drab. Every house is the same!” Rarity complained, “At least the apartment buildings in Manehatten have some personality. They also aren’t the only type of building in the entire city.”

Duskfall thought about making a comment about Human Suburbia, but wisely chose not to get into it.

“I think it’s lovely,” Fluttershy opined.

“I don’t like it! I don’t like it one bit!” Pinkie declared, “I know smiles, and the smiles those ponies are wearing? They’re more like Twilight Freak Out smiles than any natural smile!”

“Forget the smiles, look at the Cutie Marks!” Duskfall pointed and the others all noticed that everyone’s Cutie Mark was an equal sign.

“OK, suddenly the Map sending us here makes a whole lot more sense. Something is seriously wrong here,” Rainbow was very much weirded out.

“Do ya’ll think it’s some kinda Cutie Mark eatin’ monster?!” Applejack cried. Everyone else turned to look at her funny, “What? It could happen.”

“And people accuse me of being random!” Pinkie huffed.

“You are random, Pinkie,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Aw, you say the sweetest things, Dashie!” Pinkie chirped.

“I don’t think we’re going to learn much more by just standing here. Let’s meet the Stepford Wives,” Now they were all looking at Duskfall funny, “Human thing, don’t worry about it.” They shrugged and headed into town.

As soon as they walked into town they were greeted by just about everyone saying ‘welcome’ in a happy near monotone. Even the kids were doing it!

“This must be the most pleasant place in Equestria,” Fluttershy sighed happily.

“If by ‘pleasant’ you mean ‘fucking creepy’ then yes, I agree,” Duskfall quipped sarcastically.

“Welcome!” Another Unicorn stallion greeted, “Pardon my forwardness, but are you an Alicorn?” He asked of Duskfall.

“I am,” Dusk replied.

“She’s the Princess of Friendship, Duskfall Sparkle!” Applejack added.

“Oh, well you’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for friendship,” Dusk shuttered at the almost sexual way he said the word.

“What brings you to Our Town?” An Earth Pony stallion asked.

“We’re not entirely sure,” Duskfall admitted, ‘Although I have an idea’ went unsaid.

“I see, well all are welcome in Our Town!” He said overly cheerfully, “My name is Double Diamond and this is Party Favor.” He introduced himself and the Unicorn.

“Uh, well we’re Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. I already introduced Duskfall,” Applejack replied.

“And you all have your unique Cutie Marks,” Double Diamond said as he inspected their flanks more closely than necessary.

“Have you had any troubles recently?” Dusk asked, fighting an instinct to smack Double Diamond in the face.

“Oh, well, I don’t think we’ve ever had any troubles in Our Town,” Double Diamond replied.

“It’s true! You’ll see,” Duskfall was really starting to hate the way Party Favor spoke.

“Maybe you’d like to meet our founder, Starlight Glimmer?” Double Diamond suggested. The Elements all had to fight a case of the giggles. Who knew Starlight Glimmer was the name of a real pony? Duskfall resolved to tell Cadence about it when this was all over.

Although, given the way most, if not all the villagers were following them, that might be harder than Duskfall would like. The group entered the house that was sitting at the end of Our Town.

“Starlight, we have visitors!” Double Diamond called out.

“Be ready to fight,” Dash hissed to her friends, “We don’t know what will come out that door!”

The door opened and out came a surprisingly normal looking Unicorn mare. Duskfall idly thought she was rather attractive looking and her voice, when she greeted them, was a welcome change to the happy monotone the rest of the villagers used. Double Diamond introduced the group to Starlight.

“Excuse me, but I’m assuming you’re a princess?” Starlight asked Duskfall eagerly.

“Princess of Friendship, that’s me,” Dusk lied, “But just Duskfall or Dusk is just fine.”

“We don’t get many Alicorns out here,” Starlight noted. “So! How did you hear of our little village?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Dusk answered.

“Try me,” Starlight requested.

“An uppity Tree with no regard for mortal life told us there was some kind of trouble afoot here and we were needed to take care of it,” Dusk replied bluntly.

“Alicorns truly do live a life apart from the common pony,” Starlight quipped, “Well, as you can see, nothing is wrong here! You’re all welcome to stay as long as you like. We’re always welcoming to anyone who wants to experience true friendship!”

“If you’re having town wide orgies, you don’t need to use the euphemism,” Dash commented.

“RAINBOW DASH!” Fluttershy squeaked, scandalized.

“I didn’t even know you knew the meaning of the word ‘euphemism’,” Duskfall snarked.

“I’ve been reading more than Daring Do…” Rainbow pouted.

“No euphemism here, just true, pure friendship, just as it was always meant to be!” Starlight beamed.

“And just what does this ‘true, pure friendship’ look like?” Applejack asked skeptically.

“That’s what makes Our Town so special! Instead of flaunting our Special Talents, we simply don’t have them in the first place!” Starlight explained gleefully.

“Is that why you all have the same Cutie Mark?” Duskfall inquired.

“Maybe it’ll be easier to show you if I gave you a tour of Our Town,” Starlight suggested and launched directly into a Heartsong.

“Fuck, they’re all damn dirty commies,” Duskfall snarked.

“Say wut now?” Applejack asked as she watched the parade.

“Human socio/political/economic ideology. Also it isn’t accurate of me to say. This little cult is spitting the face of many communistic values, but I couldn’t help but make the joke when they’re all goose stepping like that,” Duskfall explained.

“Uh, alright then,” Applejack didn’t know what Dusk was rambling on about and didn’t particularly care. The song was creepy enough on its own, even if Fluttershy seemed to enjoy it for some reason.

Pinkie, on the other hoof, looked like they were insulting her grandmother. The sheer loathing rolling off Pinkie shocked her friends. When the song ended, Rainbow burst into laughter, but Fluttershy quickly scolded her.

“You shouldn’t buy what they’re selling, Flutter Butter, those are the smiles of pain and suffering!” Pinkie shouted.

“So what exactly is your goal here, Starlight?” Duskfall asked.

“No goal,” And Duskfall was Discord’s uncle, “Each of us was once confused, blinded by the false promise of our Cutie Marks.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, is she for real?” Rainbow asked.

“True friendship can only be found when we are all equal!” Starlight firmly stated, “Maybe you were sent here by that Tree you spoke of so we could help you?”

Duskfall needed to know more. Without knowing if there was mind control at play, what method of mind control if so, and how they had made all their Cutie Marks the same, it was too soon to act.

“Well, think it over. In the mean time, Double Diamond will take care of your needs. Won’t you, Double Diamond?” Starlight ‘asked’ the Earth Pony.

“Of course, Starlight!” Double Diamond exclaimed as Starlight walked away.

How was this possible? A Cutie Mark is a physical echo of a Pony’s Soul. It shows what that Soul is best at, their talents and skills and passions. How could anyone just change it?” It had taken the full power of the Elements of Harmony to swap around Cutie Marks the day before Twilight had ascended. The Tree was right to send them if whatever was going on matched the power of the Elements.

Duskfall was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn’t even notice Sugar Belle placing a number of overcooked muffins on the table, nor Pinkie force feeding her one. At least not until the taste registered.

“EW! What the fuck are you feeding me Pinkie?!” Duskfall cried out while trying to get the taste off her tongue.

“Muffins,” Pinkie claimed.

“I’ve tasted cement that is more palatable,” She wasn’t even exaggerating. Tom had once licked wet cement on a dare when he was 10. Pinkie ate one of the abominations herself.

“It’s not that- BLEG!” Pinkie spat out the ‘muffin’ before putting on a fake smile, “Er…yummy?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m not a very good baker. At least, not better than anyone else in Our Town. Is your friendship ending? You seemed very upset just now,” Sugar Belle inquired.

“Why would our friendship end just because Pinkie force fed me? Usually when she does that, it’s with her own baking. Everyone is bound to make a mistake sooner or later,” Dusk waved it off.

“You mean that overbearing, conflicting, different personality isn’t destroying your friendship?” Sugar Belle asked with great confusion.

“It isn’t overbearing when I do legitimately forget to eat and Pinkie is kind enough to force food down my unwilling throat. Friendship is about harmonizing the differences between us, not forcing us all to play a single note over and over.” Twilight had been saving that line for months. Dusk felt a little bad about stealing it, but it was a great line. Sugar Belle still looked confused as she went to reenter her bakery.

“Come inside before you go! Meet me downstairs!” Sugar Belle hissed at them before ducking inside with a panicked expression.

“OK, that was pretty weird,” Rainbow commented.

“At least that lowers the likelihood of it being mind control. Just your regular fanatical cult, I guess. Even if they do have some serious power backing them up,” Duskfall observed.

“We’d better see what’s what. If anyone wants out of this crazy farm, we gotta help ‘em,” Applejack said resolutely.

“But how do we meet with Sugar Belle without raising suspicion?” Rarity wondered.

“I think we need Pinkie to eat all these muffins,” Applejack replied calmly.

“WHAT?! Why me?” Pinkie whined. Dusk, having eaten the muffins, sympathized with her.

“Ya’ll have the strongest stomach of any of us. Iffen Spike was here, that might be a different story. He did eat those baked bads, after all,” Applejack shrugged helplessly. Pinkie whimpered like a kicked puppy, but ultimately started eating. Duskfall couldn’t bare seeing Pinkie suffer like that alone, so she steeled her nerves and started eating as well.

“Ah can’t believe the two of you ate all our muffins!” Applejack pretended to be outraged once the pair had polished off the last muffin. Both mares were green in the face and ready to puke at the slightest provocation, “We’d best go inside and get some more!”

The group entered the bakery and quickly found the stairs to the basement.

“One of you is gonna have to do the talking. I don’t trust myself to open my mouth,” Dusk warned quickly as she felt some of the muffins rising in her throat.

“Sugar Belle?” Rarity called out into the darkness. The mare stepped out of the shadows.

“Thank you for coming,” The mare said.

“Why’d ya’ll want to see us down here?” Applejack asked.

“So nopony could see what’s about to happen,” Sugar Belle said sinisterly.

“WE’RE GONNA GET CUPCAKE’D!” Pinkie screamed in terror. Two more ponies appeared from the shadows. One was Party Favor and the other was an unknown Pegasus mare. Everyone tensed for a fight.

“Are you really the Princess of Friendship?!” Party Favor asked in a normal sounding voice.

“Do you know Princess Celestia?!” The Pegasus questioned.

“I love your Cutie Mark!” Sugar Belle gushed over Pinkie.

“How can you be friends with different Cutie Marks?!” The Pegasus asked eagerly, “Don’t you end up hating each other?”

“Oh, look at this one! This one’s great too!” Sugar Belle swooned over Fluttershy’s Cutie Mark, “I’d love to have my Special Talent back, even for a single day! I used to be able to make more than those disgusting muffin shaped travesties.”

“Is there something stopping you from taking your Cutie Marks back?” Rainbow asked.

“Daydreaming is one thing,” Party Favor began, “But you mean actually having it put back on? That seems extreme…”

“If having your own Cutie Mark is extreme, then you don’t want to know anything about my worldview,” Duskfall couldn’t help but snark before feeling queasy again. She made a note to herself to learn a nausea relieving spell.

“I’m not sure Starlight would like that. She wants us all to be happy in our sameness,” Sugar Belle demurred.

“Darling, how did Starlight take your Cutie Marks in the first place?” Rarity asked the question Duskfall had been dying to ask.

“The Cutie Unmarking is a beautiful experience!” The Pegasus said happily, “Starlight uses the Staff of Sameness to magically take them away and replace them with these Cutie Marks.”

Dusk was torn. On the one hand, ‘Staff of Sameness’? Really? On the other hand, it was Equuis. If anyone had thought of naming such a powerful artifact something so dumb, it would be someone on Equuis. Or a campy Saturday morning cartoon. Or Discord if he was feeling supremely unoriginal.

“Nobody should take your Cutie Mark away from you!” Rainbow insisted.

“Oh, it’s not like they’re kept prisoner or anything,” Party Favor clarified.

“They’re up in the Vault, in a cave overlooking Our Town,” The Pegasus told them, “We can visit them any time we like to remind us of the heartache of a life with Special Talents.”

The Elements all had the same thought. They needed to see this cave for themselves. So they got Starlight to lead the way and fortunately in that time Duskfall and Pinkie’s stomachs had settled down.

“I’m delighted you’re interested in our Cutie Vault!” Starlight said happily as she led them toward the cave. Duskfall wanted to snark about that name too, but restrained herself. At least this name she could blame Starlight for with some certainty, “We hope someday everypony in Equestria will make a pilgrimage here to Our Town to have their Cutie Marks removed too!”

Duskfall was rather forcefully reminded of a certain cartoon Tom had watched as a child. ‘You’re messing with the Order! You don’t go messing with the Order! EAT ME!’ It was a strange cartoon. It doesn’t change the fact that Starlight Glimmer was certainly messing with the Natural Order. The feeling of existential dread she was feeling was almost entirely Twilight’s fault for reading Horror late at night when she was a filly.

Fluttershy had her own thoughts on the matter. On the surface level, she thought it was absolutely lovely that everyone seemed to get along and there was no strife. But Fluttershy took care of many critters for a living. Even when the skunks and the otters got into fights that didn’t mean Fluttershy should remove the skunk’s spray glands or remove the otter’s teeth. Those were things that were used in conflict, yes, but they were also simply a part of who that animal was. Diversity, even when it brings conflict, should be nurtured. If all there were was predators, who would they eat? If all there was were prey, then their population would quickly grow out of control.

It was frustrating to Fluttershy. It was a seemingly perfect society only achievable by taking away something of the utmost importance to them, even if they didn’t realize that themselves. Fluttershy still remembered what had happened when that spell had swapped her Cutie Mark for Pinkie’s. She had been utterly miserable but had no idea why. If simply swapping Cutie Marks could do that, then what about taking them away wholesale? Pinkie was right. The smiles of the villagers were fakes and most of their eyes spoke of torment.

Before Fluttershy could continue her thoughts, they arrived at the Cutie Vault. It was jaw dropping to say the least. There were dozens of rows of Cutie Marks, just floating inside glass compartments. Some primal part of Fluttershy found the sight horrifying.

“And here we have the Staff of Sameness! It was one of the Great Mage Meadowbrook's nine enchanted items!” Starlight proudly displayed the artifact. That instantly set off red flags in Dusk’s mind. Meadowbrook only enchanted eight items! As one of the only Earth Pony enchantresses, Twilight had written a report for history class on her once! In typical Twilight fashion, she had exhausted every revenue of information before the report. So where did this Staff of Sameness come from?

“I’m curious, who mentioned the Cutie Vault to you?” Starlight asked.

“We wanted to know how their Cutie Marks had been changed. They told us that they hadn’t been changed, just removed, which led to a mention of the Cutie Vault,” Duskfall replied smoothly.

“I see…such a strong sense of…curiosity,” Starlight lingered on the word like it was coated in honey, “Haven’t you ever heard the saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’?”

“But satisfaction brought it back!” Pinkie instantly countered.

“Regardless, that curiosity is dangerous. Let’s just…relieve you of it, shall we?” Starlight twirled the Staff of Sameness and on that command, the villagers stepped out of the shadows of the cave.

“How’d they all get here before us?!” Duskfall shouted in surprise.

“Don’t matter now, we gotta get outta here!” Applejack returned. Starlight took advantage of this momentary lapse in concentration to zap Duskfall with the Staff of Sameness.

It was pain unlike any Duskfall, Tom, or Twilight had ever known before. As suspected, the physical Cutie Mark wasn’t really what was being targeted. It was simply a gateway to a pony’s Soul. It was like when Tom and Twilight had Surged and fused, only in reverse and Duskfall didn’t have the rage fueled adrenaline to shrug off the pain. Duskfall could feel pieces of her Soul becoming unwound. Fragments of what made up who she was forcefully torn away.

When it was complete, Duskfall passed out. The villagers quickly snatched up Duskfall’s body.

“Surrender or we kill your friend,” Starlight said simply. Killing an Alicorn was supposed to be impossible. Then again, so was stealing Cutie Marks, but the proof was before them. None of the Elements wanted to risk Dusk’s life like that.

They were roughly dragged to a prison house and tossed in. They even had the nerve to start pouring in propaganda through the speakers already installed in the house. The Elements decided to sit tight while waiting for Duskfall to awaken. In the meantime, they discovered just how insidious the Cutie Mark theft had been. Rarity lost her fashion sense, Fluttershy couldn’t understand animals nor shift into Flutterbat, and Applejack couldn’t even make countryisms anymore.

Eventually Duskfall awoke, but instead of relief, the others only felt even more dread. Duskfall was trembling like a leaf in a hurricane, muttering to herself so quickly none of them could make out the words. Fluttershy suspected there weren’t any words at all, simply muttering for the sake of hearing the sound of her own voice. She hadn't acted like this since the day she was 'born'.

That wasn’t the worst of it, however. Instead of one eye of dull green and one eye of dull purple, both of Duskfall’s eyes were slate gray.

“What happened to her? None of the rest of us are actin’ like that!” Applejack said her voice full of worry.

“Dusk’s Soul was made from two Souls. Maybe she had more to lose?” Pinkie suggested.

“Whatever the case, we have to do something to get Twilight’s Cutie Mark back to her!” Rarity declared.

“How? We’re trapped in here and our resident egghead is out of commission!” Rainbow hated how powerless she was.

The group simply stewed in their thoughts until the next morning, when the door opened and they were forced outside. Even Duskfall was hauled to her hooves and roughly shoved out the door.

“Well, now that you’ve had a night to think it over-” Starlight didn’t get any further. Duskfall pounced on Starlight like a wild animal.

“GIVE IT BACK!” She screeched to put a banshee to shame. Unfortunately, she was soon dragged off of Starlight by the villagers and thrown back into the house. The others were made to follow, but then an idea struck Fluttershy.

“Wait! I want to join you!” She called out.

“Oh?” Starlight arched an eyebrow.

“I can’t condone violence. If my so called friends resort to such crude means, then maybe I’m better off with you,” Fluttershy lied for all she was worth. Starlight seemed to buy it. The villagers cheered as they made plans to construct a new home for Fluttershy. In the meantime, she’d be staying with Starlight.

That night, Fluttershy saw Double Diamond deliver all of the Element’s Cutie Marks to Starlight and discovered that Starlight still had her own Cutie Mark! Fluttershy had to let the villagers know the truth! But how? If Fluttershy just went around telling people that Starlight still had her Cutie Mark, nobody would believe her.

The makeup Starlight was using to hide her Cutie Mark was water soluble. That was an extreme risk, but when trying to hide a Cutie Mark, almost every type of makeup was dissolved by the Magic that made up the Cutie Mark. Starlight likely didn’t have a lot of options out here in the middle of nowhere. So Fluttershy concocted a plan. She knew everyone would be at the prison house tomorrow. There was no better place to expose Starlight. All Fluttershy needed was a bucket of water.

The next morning everything was prepared. A bucket of water was ready and the villagers were all gathered. The other Elements were led out, with the exception of Duskfall. While Starlight was distracted with trying to get them to join her cult, Fluttershy slipped away and grabbed the bucket of water. While Starlight’s back was turned, Fluttershy dumped the water on her!

There was no hiding the Cutie Mark as the makeup dribbled away.

“You backstabbing bitch!” Starlight snarled. The villagers all gasped, “What are you looking at?”

“How could you?” Party Favor sounded heartbroken.

“You said Cutie Marks were evil!” Double Diamond shouted. Pinkie Pie privately thought anyone who bought such an obvious pack of lies deserved to be lied to.

“Cutie Marks are evil! They’re the root of all suffering in the world!” Starlight cried out in a panic.

“Then why would you take ours and not give up your own?” Sugar Belle asked like a child who had just been told the Tooth Fairy didn’t exist.

“I had to you fools! How could I collect your Cutie Marks without my Magic?!” Starlight demanded to know.

“But I thought it was the Staff of Sameness that took our Cutie Marks!” The Pegasus Mare from before called out.

“Oh, there is no ‘Staff of Sameness’! It’s a dried up hunk of wood I found in the desert!” Starlight snapped, “It’s my Magic that makes all this possible! You’d still be living your sad, delusional lives thinking your Cutie Marks somehow made you better if it weren’t for me! I brought you friendship! I brought you equality! I CREATED HARMONY!”

“Harmony is made of multiple notes, not a single note played over and over,” Pinkie Pie quipped.

“SHUT UP!” Starlight roared.

“Either all of us are equal or none of us are,” Sugar Belle said softly and the rest of the villagers agreed. They tried to surround Starlight, but she forced them away with her magic and sprinted for her house. The villagers were more concerned with getting their Cutie Marks back, but the Elements were still worried for Duskfall.

“Girls, our Cutie Marks are with Starlight in her house. Go get them quickly. I’ll stay here and watch over Dusk,” Fluttershy said while she brushed some stray hair aside with her wing.

Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie went to try and break down Starlight’s door but they were still powerless.

“Stand back everypony!” The Pegasus mare who had still neglected to introduce herself, shouted before flying down and easily breaking the door. They soon discovered Starlight was trying to escape with the Element’s Cutie Marks. Applejack rushed back to tell Fluttershy.

“Starlight is makin’ a break for it towards the mountains!” Fluttershy made a snap decision. She picked up Duskfall and flew her towards the mountains. Normally carrying a single pony wouldn’t be a huge issue, Fluttershy was used to working with large mammals, after all. She was perfectly capable of carrying Harry under normal circumstances. With her Cutie Mark still gone, she had to fight for every flap of her wings. But Fluttershy wouldn’t give up. This was too important.

Meanwhile, Double Diamond, the nameless mare, Party Favor, and Sugar Belle were doing their best to chase down Starlight. Being reunited with their Cutie Marks gave them a surge of energy unlike any they had felt before. Starlight tried, but she was overwhelmed by the rejuvenated mares and stallions just before she could escape. The Element’s Cutie Marks were freed and they flew towards their owners.

For Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, the Cutie Marks simply reattached themselves to their flanks. Nothing could be simpler and the five felt alive again.

Twilight’s Cutie Mark hovered around Duskfall a few times. The color of her coat and eyes went back to normal, but then Twilight’s Cutie Mark just fell to the ground and shattered with the sound of breaking glass.

Duskfall stared dumbly at the pieces that were once Twilight’s Cutie Mark. A second later, and all present would swear till their dying day that they heard the sound of something else breaking.

Author's Notes:

Yeah, the Tree is getting burned to the fucking ground once Duskfall manages to scrape together enough pieces of her shattered psyche. No, I don't care that it's made of crystal. That POS is gonna burn.

This scene was one of my founding ideas as well. From the very beginning this idea festered in my brain. Why would Twilight's Cutie Mark return to someone who isn't Twilight?

I can already hear people saying "Oh, but Duskfall is half Twilight!"

I hope I made this clear in the chapter, but in this story, Cutie Marks are reflections of a critical part of a pony's Soul. Duskfall's Soul may have components that were once Twilight, but you have to consider that there are also pieces that were Tom along with the unique bits that make Duskfall be Duskfall. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Thus Twilight's Cutie Mark is completely incompatible.

Next chapter is probably going to be super hard for me to write. Hopefully I'll have it done at the regular time, but don't be surprised if it takes me a couple of days.

A New Addition

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 6: A New Addition

Starlight got away, but no one cared. They were all staring at Dusk and the shattered Cutie Mark on the ground. Those that saw her face saw her slowly going wall eyed, her pupils shrinking and an impossibly large smile grow on her face. Then the laughter started.

It started out as a chuckle. It then progressed into a giggle. Next she was throwing back her head in full body laughter. Finally it became a shrieking, hysterical noise that only had a passing resemblance to laughter. Dusk wrapped her forelegs around her body as if hugging herself while she laughed her unearthly laugh.

Rainbow felt a tremor of fear run through her. Duskfall sounded exactly like what she had always imagined that Batmare villain, the Joker, would sound like. It was just the right amount of disturbing to keep everyone rooted to their spot.

Rainbow had joked right along with Pinkie when the party planner had come up with the nickname Midnight Sparkle. Now she was deathly afraid that it would actually come to pass. What was anyone supposed to do in this situation? Would Dusk even hear her if she tried to talk to her? Was it best to approach her or give her space?

Rainbow’s panicked thoughts were silenced by a metallic clang. Pinkie was standing above an unconscious Dusk with a metal shovel, panting as though she had just run a marathon.

“Pinkie, how could you?!” Rarity was the first to snap out of her shock.

“I just- I couldn’t- I mean- that laughter,” Pinkie shuttered with revulsion as she sank to the ground and put her hooves over her ears, “I couldn’t stand that sound. I thought the smiles of the villagers were bad! But that noise! Coming from my friend! I had to stop it, I just had to!”

That hellish sound was stuck in her Mind, etched forevermore on her Heart. Pinkie had foolishly thought depression was her antithesis. Now she knew better. That sick, twisted mockery of laughter and all it represented, that was her antithesis. It was as if someone had killed Laughter and was wearing its skin in some kind of sick mockery.

“We’d better get her to a doctor,” Fluttershy finally said. The closest doctor was in Canterlot. It was a long, silent trip.

Duskfall slowly crawled back to consciousness. She wondered briefly why she felt like she had been forced to watch Tom and Twilight die over and over again. Then she remembered what happened. She felt her mind threaten to break again. Duskfall just lay there forcing herself to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth. With agonizing slowness, the panic grasping at her heart lessened its hold and the fissures in her mind closed slightly. Duskfall didn’t know how long she lay there, forcing herself to use this breathing exercise.

Once her mind wasn’t on the verge of shattering like so much glass, she did a quick check of her memories and feelings. Tom’s memories…check. Twilight’s memories…check. Her own memories…check. The feelings on the other hand…it felt like Tom and Twilight’s memories had…lost vibrancy, if that made sense? It felt like there was a degree of separation between her and those memories. Realizing this nearly caused her to start crying, but she beat the feelings into submission. She would never be alone…right?

Eventually she opened her eyes and instantly wished she hadn’t. For one terrible, heart stopping second, Duskfall thought Twilight Sparkle was standing at the end of her bed. But despite her name, Twilight had never actually sparkled.

“You insensitive fucking cunt,” Dusk snarled, “You better have a damn good reason why I shouldn’t destroy you!”

“You-” Dusk cut the Tree off.

“I don’t mean that crystal thing in the Everfree, I mean you personally,” Despite Duskfall’s threats, the Tree’s avatar seemed unfazed.

“You seem upset with me for choosing this avatar. I thought a familiar visage would comfort you?” The Tree’s avatar cocked its head to the side.

“Oh yeah, I’m totally gonna be comforted by you puppeteering the image of one of my dead originals. SOMEONE WHO DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!” Duskfall screeched. The Tree’s avatar pinned its ears to its head.

“I apologize. I did not come here to cause renewed strife with you,” The avatar’s form became static before reforming into an Alicorn about the same size as Twilight, but with the looks of a Crystal Pony with white fur, a flowing rainbow mane like Celestia’s and eyes that were shimmering like a rainbow kaleidoscope.

“Then why did you come here?” Duskfall’s temper demanded she continue screaming at the Tree. The morals she had inherited from Tom and Twilight told her to forgive. She settled for icy indifference.

“I came to apologize to you, Duskfall, and to all those who were chosen by the Elements I was gifted. I sensed your distress and felt when Magic’s Cutie Mark was shattered,” The Tree explained.

“Her name was Twilight,” Duskfall snarled.

“Yes…Twilight…even now it is difficult for me to remember mortal names. I did not intend offense. Discord…I have never seen him truly angry before. When he came to me after Laugh- Pinkamena knocked you out, he was furious almost beyond words,” The Tree’s avatar began to look distinctly uncomfortable, “He made me see that I was behaving no different from the being of Order all those millennium ago that cursed Equuis. I had forgotten to care for the ones that create Harmony instead of just Harmony itself.”

“And what do you intend to do about it?” Duskfall asked coolly.

“If…it is acceptable…I would like to take on a vessel of Flesh and Blood, that I might better learn to appreciate mortals. I would follow Discord’s lead and become more active in my day to day dealings with the inhabitants of Equuis,” The Tree said hesitantly.

“You’re not going to possess anyone, are you?” Duskfall questioned.

“No, my powers may not be as geared towards physicality as Discord’s, but even I can craft a vessel for myself, provided I have sufficient samples,” The Tree reveled.

“Samples?” Duskfall prompted.

“A few strands of hair or a vial of blood from maybe half a dozen ponies and I should be able to craft a body to my liking. I hope it would not be too forward of me to ask yourself and the others chosen of the Elements to be the sources of those samples?” The Tree asked. Duskfall really hated the inability to hold a grudge she had inherited from Tom. She tried to summon up the needed spitefulness to tell the Tree to fuck itself, but just couldn’t do it. The damn Tree had stumbled upon her one weakness: an apology.

“I suppose I have no issue with it. You’ll have to ask the others if they want to give you anything. I may not be able to hold much of a grudge, but that doesn’t mean the others don’t feel differently,” Duskfall remarked.

“Of course, as Discord reminded me, mortals are all unique and deserving of the same respect I would offer my counterpart. Duskfall, I may not be able to directly help with your resurrection of Ma- Twilight and Tom, but if you ever do discover a method by which to revive them and it becomes an issue of power, I will gladly give you as much as I am able. It is the absolute least I can do to make amends,” Any lingering resentment melted away. Dusk couldn’t carry any negative feelings for anyone who would help in her crusade to bring Tom and Twilight back.

Dammit, Duskfall wanted to be angry so badly, but between her recent mental trauma and the inherited inability to stay angry for any longer for an hour or two in extreme cases, she couldn’t muster the feelings. Why couldn’t she just go back to wanting to mix thermite and bathing the Tree in it? The Tree certainly deserved some sort of punishment, but Duskfall just couldn’t find the will to carry out any kind of sentencing.

“Alright, any penance the others see fit to have you do is enough for me. Ah, would you happen to be able to get in contact with gods and whatnot? We were going to ask you earlier, but became somewhat distracted,” Duskfall requested.

“Doing so would place great strain upon the barrier Discord and I enacted so long ago. It is not impossible, but I would need approximately a year’s time to reinforce the barrier to ensure it does not shatter upon my reaching out,” The Tree said apologetically.

“That’s fine,” Then Duskfall’s plan to reach out during the Winter Solstice was still a go.

“Uhhh,” A doctor or a nurse, Duskfall couldn’t tell which, had entered the room and was looking slack jawed at the Tree’s avatar. Duskfall rolled her eyes.

“Can you tell Celestia, Luna, and whoever else is waiting for me that I’m awake and I’m back to not completely losing my shit?” The Unicorn nodded her head and left the room.

“I suppose I will have to get used to some reactions like that when I begin to walk amongst mortals more regularly,” The Tree mused.

“Speaking of, we’re gonna have to call you something other than ‘Tree’ all the time. Not only are there scores of ponies with names containing ‘tree’, but it doesn’t really denote who you are, just what you are,” Duskfall noted.

“I see the wisdom in your words. Harmonia will do for now. She was my direct superior, once upon a time,” The newly dubbed Harmonia decided. That name choice certainly tickled the part of Duskfall that had been Tom. It was the name of the Greek goddess of harmony and concord. It was also N’s middle name.

A moment later, the Elements, Moon Dancer, Luna, Celestia, and Chrysalis all entered the hospital wing. Most of them stopped short upon seeing Harmonia.

“Duskfall!” Pinkie was not most. She darted directly to Duskfall’s bed and clung to Duskfall like a life preserver, “I’m so sorry I hit you! I didn’t mean to! I mean, I did mean to, but I didn’t do it to hurt you! You have to believe me!”

“Pinkie, besides Fluttershy, you are the least likely pony on Equuis to attack anyone with malicious intent. If you hit me, I’m sure it was with the best intentions,” Duskfall snarked. Pinkie only seemed to wilt more.

“I didn’t! I just wanted that horrible insane laughing to stop!” Pinkie sobbed. Duskfall’s memories of her flirtation with delirium were foggy. Only a sickening, toxic feeling in her gut remained when she thought about it.

“Well, I’m back to being just regular crazy instead of ‘oh my God, kill it with fire’ crazy, so all’s well that ends well,” Duskfall tried to comfort the pink mare. She just smiled a watery smile at Dusk, but didn’t say anything.

“So, uh, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that’s the Tree?” Rainbow finally asked. Anyone who claimed to see Celestia’s mouth twitch at the bad pun would be tried for treason.

“That is correct, Loy- Rainbow Dash. I have chosen to go by the name Harmonia for now,” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“And what are you doing with Dusk?” She growled.

“She came to apologize to me, well, to all of us, actually. Apparently Discord chewed her out something fierce from the moment Discord heard what happened. How long was I out anyway?” Duskfall asked.

“You’ve been unconscious for nearly three days while the doctors soothed your Mind as best as they were able,” Luna revealed.

“And Discord spent every moment of it letting me know exactly how shameful my conduct had become,” Harmonia remarked in a neutral voice.

“Ah’d never thought Ah’d see the day Discord was settin’ someone straight,” Applejack drawled.

“Even a broken clock can be right twice a day,” Discord, ever one to make an entrance, appeared to be photocopied into existence, “I feel like I should apologize as well. Had I known the end result, I would have never let you go alone.”

“You aren’t omniscient Discord. Every little thing that goes wrong isn’t your fault and you had a legitimate reason for not coming along,” Duskfall cased a sideways look at Harmonia.

“Duskfall is correct. I pressured you into not going when it was neither my business nor right to do so. If this tragedy is anyone’s fault, it is mine alone,” Harmonia owned up to her mistakes.

“I could still hunt down Starlight, as easy as teaching a fish to fly,” Discord offered. Duskfall had to take a deep breath before answering.

“Let her be for now. What she was doing was wrong on so many levels and given what I overheard about her being responsible for removing the Cutie Marks, she’s quite dangerous to boot. However, I also think she’s exactly the type of villain to pull a Dr. Claw,” Duskfall remarked. Discord smirked.

“I’ll get you next time, Sparkle!” Discord said in a voice that sounded like Starlight if she had gargled rocks for her whole life. Dusk couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Exactly, she’ll come to us and I’ll hopefully be in a better state of mind to deal with her,” Duskfall decided.

“I think we should have Discord summon her up and turn her into a smear on the ground!” Rainbow said angrily.

“Patience Dashie, it’s supposed to be a virtue. Humans were endurance predators, thanks to Tom I know the value of letting one’s prey wear themselves out before truly beginning the hunt~” Duskfall wished she had a human’s dental structure as she toothily grinned. It would’ve made- oh, Discord seemed to have given her a little help.

“Really? A primate species that were endurance predators?” Fluttershy asked curiously.

“You’ve seen the humans on the other side of the mirror. While not exactly like Tom’s humans, they’re built similarly enough. Lack of fur covering their entire body allowed their ancestors to simply sweat off excess heat instead of needing to pant, thus letting them keep up with prey for hours,” Duskfall explained.

“That’s fascinating!” Fluttershy gushed, not noticing the other Elements becoming uncomfortable from Dusk’s new set of chompers and the discussion on hunting. Duskfall snorted good naturedly and unwound Discord’s Magic, returning her teeth to normal. One of the perks of being around Discord so much was that Duskfall was slowly learning how to dispel Chaos Magic. She couldn’t cast it and she was sure that if Discord wanted something to stick, there would be little she could do about it. However, for anyone of lesser stature than the Greater Spirit of Chaos who could dabble in Chaos Magic, Duskfall was sure she could best them.

“So we’re not gonna lay a smackdown on Starlight or destroy the Tree- sorry, Harmonia?” Dash was disappointed. Now she had all this pent up aggression with nothing to spend it on.

“‘Forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven’,” Dusk quoted.

“Stupid Human philosophy,” Rainbow grumbled.

“That isn’t to say I’m not going to open up a royal can of whoop-ass on Starlight when I next see her, but that’s more gonna be the Nanoha Takamachi School of Friendship rather than any malice,” Duskfall assured.

“My, Duskfall, I had no idea you felt that way about Starlight,” Discord snickered while wagging his eyebrows suggestively. Duskfall maturely responded by blowing a raspberry at him.

“You know what I mean, Discord!” Duskfall pouted.

“I’ll prepare the Orbital Friendship Cannon with the Starlight Breaker. Oh! That name’s doubly appropriate!” Discord cackled as he faded away like the Cheshire Cat.

“What on Equuis are you two on about?” Chrysalis finally asked.

“I believe they are referring to The Ace of Aces’ habit of blasting her foes with extremely powerful lasers directly before befriending them,” Harmonia remarked, causing Duskfall to look at her funny, “Not unlike how the Elements tend to operate, now that I think about it.”

“I understand the reference humor from Discord, but why do you know that?” Duskfall questioned.

“I would think that were self-evident, given Tom being dragged between dimensions. Multiverse is no mere theory. My teacher introduced me to a version of The Ace of Aces…Nanoha… when I was only a few centuries old. She is quite sweet… and would be deeply disappointed in me, given my behavior these past few millennium,” Harmonia explained, wilting slightly at the end.

Duskfall required a second or two to process that, but now that she thought about it, Multiverse made absolute sense. The goddamn Doctor lived in Ponyville for crying out loud! It also meant there were things potentially more frightening than Lovecraftian Horrors running around…It almost made Duskfall wish for the sweet release of insanity once more.

Author's Notes:

Yeah, I blame this entirely on Discord. He went full Fire and Brimstone on the Tree and I had to listen to it for over 24 hours. Despite all his complaining and snark, I'm starting to wonder if Discord doesn't see Harmonia as a sister of sorts. Well, whatever the case, Discord surgically removed Harmonia's head from up her ass.

Tom's and subsequently Duskfall's inability to hold onto anger is similar to myself. I can get into an apocalyptical rage, but half an hour later I'll be back to neutral and I won't feel angry about whatever it was anymore. The only exception is for rape or child abuse. Those I have the Hulk Treatment for "That's my secret, I'm always angry".

The crew will eventually have to deal with the wider Multiverse. It'll be fun!

When Duskfall mentions things "more frightening than Lovecraftian Horrors" she's talking about Weeping Angels and Species 8472. Tom watched the Voyager Episode with Species 8472 in the dead of night when he was 10. It scared the piss outta him. I'm not entirely sure why he's so terrified of Weeping Angels tho. Sure, they're kinda creepy, but they aren't anything particularly special imo.

Home Again

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 7: Home Again

Duskfall trudged wearily into the palace. She was flanked by everyone sans Celestia. Even Harmonia was happily holding genetic material from all the Elements as she entered the palace she created. How Harmonia had managed that, Duskfall wasn’t sure and she had seen it happen!

“Welcome back!” Spike chirped from the table room. The group entered it and Spike’s eyes were quickly drawn to the new addition.

“I’m going to guess this is the Tree?” If looks were capable of killing, Harmonia would be taking a dirt nap.

“Spike…” Duskfall started, but Spike walked right up to Harmonia.

“You killed my sister. I will never forgive you,” Spike stalked out of the room before anyone could stop him.

“Probably better he got that off his chest before he saw Duskfall’s flanks,” Rainbow quipped.

“I fear I will be suffering the fate of becoming his snack for a little while,” Harmonia mused, causing much blushing and wing boners.

“Choice of words!” Rarity squealed.

“What is wrong with what I said?” Harmonia asked blankly.

Duskfall snorted. She had flirted with the idea on the ride from Canterlot, but now it was official. Harmonia was the group’s Yuki Nagato. Although, that made her wonder if Harmonia knew a version of Yuki. That would be a question for another time. For now, there was a more important question staring her in the face.

“So, Harmonia, what’s the deal with that table?” Duskfall asked. Was it her imagination or did Harmonia seem embarrassed?

“It is a direct link and physical manifestation of a fragment of my consciousness. I intended to use it as a means of directing yourself and the Element Bearers as I saw fit to enforce Harmony across the land. As the Tree of Harmony, one of my abilities is observing the Weave of Fate. It gives me insight into things that are going on all across Equuis. For example,” The table sprang to life with the image of Equestria and then zoomed in on Manehatten, “There is a young couple who just broke up due to an argument. It is sad to see young love die out like that, but it ultimately won’t affect the rest of Equestria. So I wouldn’t have notified you of it, as it would’ve been a terrible waste of resources.”

The map zoomed in on a rural town called Oakvale on the eastern coast of Equestria.

“Here there is a mother and daughter having a bitter argument. It is possible that this argument spirals completely out of control and eventually drags the rest of the town into the bickering, but the chances of that is only .0943% and even in the worst case scenario it would never leave the city limits and die down in a few months,” Harmonia shrugged, “Clearly not a wise use of your time either.”

The map zoomed in on Canterlot next.

“Here there is a father/daughter team that has just opened a restaurant. In a month or two, it will have a 67% chance of breaking the horrible monopoly Restaurant Row has on Canterlot cuisine. IF they can be made to see that bits often follow passion, given enough time. I would have likely sent Lau- Pinkamena and Rarity to assist them in a month’s time. Pinkamena for her passion for life in general and Rarity for her head for business and people skills,” Harmonia mentioned.

“Why would you care about Restaurant Row? I agree the food is terrible, but surely a Greater Spirit would have more important things to worry about?” Luna asked.

“Dear Luna, have you ever heard the expression ‘the quickest way to a stallion’s heart is through his stomach’? It is true of almost all creatures that a good meal will improve their mood. A happy stomach leads to a happier heart which in turn leads to a more positive environment for all. It may seem minor, but every small thing helps. Even if my motivations for potentially sending Pinkamena and Rarity there in the future are drastically different from what they would have been a few days ago, the end results and goals are the same,” Harmonia explained. Duskfall nodded in agreement.

“Human scientists have studied such things. Bacteria that live in a human’s gut can play a huge role in a human’s general mood and can even go so far as to affect mental health. I have no idea if that’s true for ponies or not but it is an interesting thing to note,” Duskfall remarked.

“It is not as true for ponies as it is for humans. A pony’s natural magic tends to mute the effect of similar bacteria found in their own digestive tracts,” Harmonia noted, “That isn’t to say there is no effect at all, however.”

“Wow! That’s super cool that you want to help ponies succeed and be happier!” Pinkie chirped. Harmonia scoffed.

“My motives were not nearly as pure as you are suggesting. I simply desired Harmony for Harmony’s sake. I had taken to viewing mortals as little more than numbers in a calculation. I don’t know when exactly I started to think like that, but it happened so slowly that I didn’t notice until Discord very forcefully shoved my face into the fact,” Harmonia fluffed her wings awkwardly.

“So…you can see tha future or somethin?” Applejack asked.

“Not exactly, it is more akin to pattern recognition taken to an extreme. The future itself is eternally in motion until the exact moment it becomes the present and once that moment fades into the past, it isn’t a solid as many believe. However, with the Weave of Fate, ones who can comprehend certain planes of existence can see the…habits of the Concepts that help create the past, present, and future. It is a crude way of putting it, but the best I can do. Using the knowledge of these habits, I can tell the likelihood of certain events coming to pass. However, there are a number of X factors that make this little more than a glorified guessing game. Free Will and the interference of high level entities being chief among them, but Lady Luck is far and away the most likely to disrupt any potential future at the last second,” Harmonia explained.

Before any more questions could be asked, the doors burst open to reveal Lyra and Bonnie.

“We heard you were back and… who the fuck is the new Alicorn?” Lyra rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

“I’d like to know that too, but there is a more important question here,” Bonnie said with forced calm.

“Really? What?” Lyra asked her marefriend.

“WHAT IN TARTARUS HAPPENED TO YOU DUSK?!” So much for trying to remain calm. Lyra’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as she followed Bonnie’s gaze and saw Duskfall’s blank flanks.

“Oh, you know, nothing major. I misplaced Twilight’s Cutie Mark and when I found it the silly thing went and shattered! Imagine that! Ha ha ha!” It was not the most ideal situation for people to find out, but Twilighting here wouldn’t help anything, even if it would feel really good. Duskfall bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood. The few strands of her mane that had popped out of place smoothed back down.

“I- you- did Tirek steal your magic?!” Bonnie demanded to know.

“No. If I didn’t beat his face in if he escaped to try such a stunt, Discord would certainly take a chunk out of his hide,” Duskfall said seriously.

“She wasn’t kidding about Twilight’s Cutie Mark shattering, it was quite disturbing, truth be told,” Rarity shuttered.

“Twilight’s Cutie Mark was forcibly disconnected from Duskfall’s Soul, taking some of her Soul with it. The same happened to the rest of the Elements, but they got their Cutie Marks back. Unfortunately, Duskfall’s Soul is not Twilight’s, so Twilight’s Cutie Mark was incompatible, thus leading to her current state,” Harmonia explained.

“Don’t think you guys are off the hook about the new Alicorn,” Lyra remarked.

“She’s a temporary avatar of the Tree of Harmony she’ll be using until she can create a flesh and blood body to host her consciousness. Call her Harmonia. Anyway, I’m fine. I absolutely wasn’t fine when it happened, but I’m fine now,” Duskfall insisted.

“You lost one of the only connections to your originals and you’re ‘fine’?” Lyra asked skeptically. Bonnie nailed Lyra in the ribs for her insensitivity. Duskfall felt a fresh twinge of pain in her Heart. She forced it away. Twilight had years of learning how to cope with her own freak outs. Something Duskfall wished to take advantage of at the moment. Using the breathing technique Cadence had shown Twilight, Duskfall steadied her Heart.

“This just means I’ll be spending more time with the Crusaders…yay!” Duskfall tried to joke. Bon Bon and Lyra looked at each other. They trotted over to Duskfall together.

“I’m sure it can’t replace what you’ve lost,” Bonnie began as she pressed her forehead against Duskfall’s.

“But we’re sure you’ll have your own Cutie Mark in no time. You’re a smart filly, you’ll figure it out,” Lyra comforted as she rubbed up against Duskfall’s side. Dusk was surprised by the contact of the two mares, but didn’t find it unpleasant so saw no need to extract herself.

“Lyra. Bon Bon. A word. Outside. Now,” Rarity sounded extremely upset about something, but for the life of her, Duskfall couldn’t figure out what it was as Rarity, in a surprising display of magical strength, carried both mares out the door with her.

“What on Equuis was that all about?! Teasing Duskfall like that, how could you do such a thing?! Especially at a time like this!” Rarity didn’t snarl. Ladies didn’t snarl. Lyra and Bonnie might argue that point though.

“We weren’t teasing her,” Bonnie protested mildly.

“WEREN’T TEASING HER?! Oh, well excuse me for the mistake! Then what do you call rubbing up against her like that?! Darling, you have to remember who her originals were! Tom, a human who had no idea the nuances of pony body language and Twilight Sparkle, repressed mare extraordinaire. Dusk isn’t equipped to handle such shameless, meaningless flirting!” Rarity ranted.

“It wasn’t meaningless, Rarity,” Lyra said plainly. Rarity looked shocked.

“I beg your pardon?” She asked.

“We know most conventional means of showing affection would end in disaster with Tom and Twilight informing her worldview. We have to be as direct as possible, but still give her a chance to learn. If we just walked up to her and said ‘hey, you wanna be our marefriend’ she could miss a valuable lesson,” Bonnie remarked.

“Well, she’s already asked us to teach her about sex, so I’m not entirely sure what Bonnie’s getting at, but yeah. We wanted to see how she responded to romantic affection before spilling the beans,” Rarity’s brain short circuited. She could practically smell the burning fuses in her neocortex.

“WHAT?!” Rarity finally shouted.

“Duskfall came to us a day or two before you left on your mission. She asked us to teach her about physical relationships. Lyra and I agreed she needed more than that. Seeing Twilight’s Cutie Mark has been destroyed, that only reaffirms my resolve. What Duskfall needs, more than simply friends, is someone, or in this case someones, to fill that part of her that craves a real, romantic relationship. As you said, Twilight repressed herself like no other and I can’t imagine it was easy for Tom to suddenly be trapped in the body of a mare while surrounded by a completely alien species. Duskfall needs this Rarity and I don’t know anyone else who could give it to her. Do you?” Bonnie pointedly asked.

Rarity didn’t know what shocked her more. That Duskfall had asked for lessons on sex? That Lyra and Bon Bon, the two famous for being absolutely devoted to each other, would willingly make their couple a trio? That Rarity thought they were right and Duskfall would indeed benefit immensely from a real romance? It was all so confusing and suddenly Rarity felt a strong desire for a nap.

“As much as I hate to admit it, you are right. I can’t think of anyone else who could better guide Duskfall through her first romance. I would if I could, but alas, I only have eyes for stallions and Duskfall deserves better than someone whose Heart isn’t in it. I know you will, but I find it needful to say it out loud just for my own state of mind, but please be careful with her. You didn’t hear her after Twilight’s Cutie Mark shattered right before her eyes. Duskfall is…extremely fragile right now,” Rarity warned.

“We will be as gentle and slow as we can be,” Lyra promised.

“And as strong and sure as we need to be,” Bonnie said with conviction. Lyra nodded along with her marefriend’s words. Rarity was surprised by them, but when she turned them over in her head, her Heart suddenly felt more at ease.

“Thank you, both of you. Words can’t express how grateful I am for your generosity,” Rarity smiled at the pair.

“We ain’t doing this just for the sake of generosity,” Lyra snarked. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

“What my sweetheart means is we wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t what we both wanted. It doesn’t hurt that Duskfall is so adorable I could eat her up with a spoon~” Bonnie smirked. Rarity just arched an eyebrow at them before leading them back inside the palace.

A Chat and a Gift

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 8: A Chat and a Gift

Duskfall knew this moment was coming from the moment she had regained lucidity after realizing Twilight’s Cutie Mark was gone. She had just got done with yet another Town Hall Forum, because she frankly couldn’t be assed to maintain an illusion spell over her flank and to tell everyone that Harmonia would be joining their little community of insanity.

So it was that she was staring down the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they vibrated like dualshock controllers with the motors broken. Really, she didn’t want to deal with them. Duskfall knew her Special Talent would likely be something to do with Magic, if she cared enough to get a Cutie Mark. Running around with the Crusaders would be a waste of time. At least they were being polite enough to wait for permission to speak.

“OK, just get it out of your systems before you explode,” Duskfall finally sighed.

“YOU’RE A BLANK FLANK JUST LIKE US!” The cried together.

“You don’t say?” Dusk’s sarcasm bounced off the three filly’s excitement.

“Now ya’ll can come with us crusadin’!” Apple Bloom shouted happily.

“An Alicorn member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Sweetie Belle looked like she was about to faint from happiness.

“The only thing that would be cooler is if Rainbow Dash could be a blank flank while keeping her Cutie Mark!” The other two Crusaders looked at her, “What?”

“Ya’ll do realize that’s kinda mutually exclusive?” Apple Bloom asked with an arched eyebrow.

“I mean, if someone can steal Cutie Marks, then who knows what’s possible?” Scootaloo countered.

“Fair ‘nough,” Apple Bloom acceded.

“I’m glad this has taught you all that ‘impossible’ is merely a word,” Duskfall couldn’t stop herself from snarking. Was she bad with kids? She felt like she was bad with kids. Which was slightly odd, given Twilight was great with kids and these three in particular.

“Well of course impossible is just a word,” Scoots snarked back.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it, you sassy struthionidae,” Duskfall smirked.

“I’m not even going to try and repeat what you just said,” Scootaloo admitted defeat.

“That was a really big word, Dusk, what does it mean?” Sweetie Belle asked. Duskfall turned it over in her head. How much tree sap was the enlightenment of the CMC worth?

“Look up a scientific paper about ostriches. That should tell you what you want to know,” If the castle wound up filled with tree sap, well, maybe it was equal parts retribution on her and Harmonia.

“You know, when an adult tries to weasel out of an answer like that, it’s usually because they know the kid won’t like the answer,” Scootaloo deadpanned.

“Well aren’t you just the cutest little cynic. I’ll leave you to your research so you can decide if you want to declare a blood feud with me or not,” Duskfall happily exited the building.

“Real sporting of you, Duskfall, putting one over on three young fillies,” Discord remarked, appearing beside her as she walked to the castle.

“Sometimes you gotta remind the younger generation where they stand in the pecking order,” Duskfall replied unrepentantly. Discord chuckled.

“And I’m sure it has nothing to do with you being butthurt about the three of them just wanting to help get you your own Cutie Mark,” Discord sounded decidedly unimpressed. Duskfall had to bite her tongue. She almost said she didn’t want or need a Cutie Mark because she wouldn’t be around long enough to get one. But she was supposed to be a “healthy” fusion. She couldn’t go around saying stuff like that. They’d lock Duskfall up faster than Celestia eats cake on her birthday.

“I’ll make it up to them later. I can run around wearing one of their capes and adventuring with them if they want. Just as soon as Scootaloo decides she doesn’t want to murder me in my sleep,” Duskfall said instead.

“Alright, far be it from me to actually lecture you on friendship. I suppose everyone needs to let off some steam once in a while,” Discord remarked as he poofed a teapot with his face into existence that was spewing steam from the spout.

“Yeah, but there are better ways than scholastically dunking on a trio of fillies,” Duskfall grimaced.

“I don’t think you scholastically dunked on anyone, Duskfall. Maybe Scootaloo if you squint,” Discord said mildly.

“I used a word I was sure they wouldn’t understand on them,” Duskfall protested.

“There are two things to keep in mind. You pointed them in the direction to educate themselves and if all anyone ever used were words everyone was familiar with, no one would ever speak at all,” Discord pointed out.

“From admonishing to supportive in the same conversation… I do believe I’m actually proud of you, Discord. You’re growing into an excellent friend,” Duskfall complimented.

“That is kind of you to say, Dusk, but if you all didn’t believe in me as you do, I wouldn’t have had a reason to improve myself. I feel sorry for the Discords that are treated with mistrust by the Elements. I feel pity for the ones who choose the path of villainy,” Discord mused.

“At least you know there are other versions of you scattered across the Multiverse. I can’t help but feel I’m a one of a kind freak accident. It’s a pretty lonely feeling,” Duskfall sighed with melancholy.

“Why, of course you’re unique! Everyone is unique, even clones of the same person! Just because I share a Name and identity with others doesn’t make them me or I them. That’s the beauty of it! Every sapient being in all the Multiverse is blessed with their own Free Will. Even if I do choose the same things for the same reasons as another Discord, those choices are still mine and mine alone. Everyone has influence over everyone else, Duskfall Sparkle; it is the internalization of those influences that let us know that we’re not as alone as we think.”

Dusk and Discord had parted ways not long after that. He had given her much to think about. So she had decided to chew it over in her mind while reading a book on High Ritual since neither Spike nor Moon Dancer was home.

“The Doctor is approaching the castle,” Harmonia popped her head into the room Duskfall was reading in.

“Aren’t you busy with constructing your new body?” Duskfall asked.

“I can multitask and The Doctor seems agitated for some reason. I felt it needful to give you a…what do the mortals call it? A heads up?” Harmonia wondered.

“You are correct. The term is a ‘heads up’,” Duskfall answered as she hid the book away. Harmonia seemed pleased with herself as she dismissed the avatar.

Duskfall made it to the front door as The Doctor knocked.

“Good day, Doctor, to what do I owe the visit?” Duskfall asked politely. He was clearly bothered by something or other. Dusk hoped it wasn’t anything world ending. Instead of returning her greeting, The Doctor pulled something out of his saddlebags.

“Here,” He shoved a thick stack of papers towards Duskfall. She arched an eyebrow at The Doctor before looking at the papers. Her eyes grew huge as she read what was on them.

“Is this…data on the Universe before the Time Lords created the Web of Time?” The Doctor squirmed a bit.

“While the Web of Time imposes order on the Universe, the underlying principles of the reality before are still intact. Better you have that data and not need it than it sitting uselessly in the TARDIS’ data banks when it could be helpful,” Duskfall was shocked.

“I…thank you Doctor. I wouldn’t have expected this from you, of all people, given your distaste for Magic,” Duskfall noted. The Doctor snorted in amusement.

“In the dimensions where my adventures are television they quite often underplay my near Rhabdophobia. Some of my alternates and previous Regenerations have Rhabdophobia straight out and are utterly paralyzed in the face of Magic. I grew up on horror stories of the Madness that reigned before the Web of Time, many caused by Magic. When I gazed into the Untempered Schism I looked through Eternity’s Eye and one of the things I saw the worst of that time. That is one of the reasons why I ran and never stopped running. When I first crash landed on Equuis all those years ago and discovered the entire world was bathed in Magic, I will admit I had a minor panic attack,” The Doctor told Duskfall.

“‘A minor panic attack’?” Duskfall needled. The Doctor pouted.

“I wandered into Ponyville, saw someone doing Magic, and fled back into the Everfree, where my TARDIS had crashed. Happy? I spent many months trying to fix the TARDIS so I could escape this misbegotten world and during that time my supplies slowly dwindled. I didn’t trust the plants of such a Magic rich world nor my new body. This was long before Zecora moved in, of course. Eventually I began to succumb to starvation induced delirium. That’s when Roseluck found me.

“Roseluck? As in the Flower Triplet Roseluck?” Duskfall asked in surprise.

“The very same. When those three are together, they can panic over any little thing, but get any one of them alone and they are capable of some remarkable feats of bravery, but I digress. She found me in the Everfree and took me to her home and nursed me back to health. I rambled like a madman most of the time I was under her care, but having two hearts is hard to argue with,” The Doctor joked.

“Leave the jokes to the professionals, Mr. Time Lords Victorious,” Duskfall snarked. The Doctor’s ears splayed back.

“That was not one of my prouder moments…Anyway, when I didn’t spontaneously combust after Roseluck had a Unicorn doctor look me over, well, Roseluck started helping me see how irrational I had been about the whole thing. I’m still not completely comfortable with Magic, strictly speaking. Almost 2000 years of habit is hard to unlearn, but with the help of Roseluck, Derpy, Dinky, and maybe especially Amethyst, I’m getting better. Part of that is what I’m doing right now. I have faith that you won’t misuse the knowledge in those documents,” The Doctor smiled awkwardly.

“Thank you, Doctor. I don’t know what else to say. I’m honored you’re entrusting me with this,” Duskfall felt an impulse to hug The Doctor and followed it. She only hugged him briefly before letting go.

“Yes! Well! I’ll, uh, just leave you to it then!” He marched stiffly away for a few steps before turning around, “If you ever fancy a taste of adventure or just a really nice view, my TARDIS is open to you.” And then he left.

“I suppose he isn’t so bad,” Duskfall snarked to herself before settling in to read what The Doctor had given her.

Author's Notes:

D'aww, The Doctor is making an effort.

I wonder how The Doctor's enemies would react if they ever learned The Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, screamed like a little girl and fled in the face of cute pastel ponies.

A little bit of elaboration on this particular Doctor's history. I thought it was good, but maybe I'm just flattering myself.

I personally think the CMC are old enough to be able to handle the light teasing Duskfall used on them. She's just being super hard on herself for no reason.

I was pretty surprised when Discord butted in to talk philosophy with Duskfall, but I'm quite pleased he did. I've been reading Your Human and You as well as Discord's Pride and they gave me some interesting perspectives on how one can interpret Discord, hence my Discord's line about feeling sorry for and pitying certain other Discords.

What is Right and What is Easy

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 9: What is Right and What is Easy

Moon Dancer, Luna, Chrysalis, and Duskfall were all discussing the implications of the data The Doctor had dropped off yesterday when Harmonia notified them that a lone filly was approaching the castle.

“Is it one of the Crusaders, come for bloody revenge?” Duskfall asked jokingly.

“It is not. I do recognize the filly, but I have not yet familiarized myself with the names of Ponyville,” Harmonia said apologetically.

“I’ll take care of it, you guys keep talking,” Duskfall removed herself from the chair she had been sitting on and grimaced as she discovered her back right leg had fallen asleep.

Dusk made her way to the front door and opened it to see a small pink filly. It took a second, but Duskfall recognized the filly. Diamond Tiara if Dusk didn’t miss her guess.

“Oh! Uh, Princess Duskfall, were you just leaving or..?” The filly asked.

“I came out to see who it was that was coming to the castle. Diamond Tiara, right?” Duskfall asked to make sure.

“Yes, Princess,” Tiara told her.

“You don’t have to stand on formality with me. Now, what brings you to my doorstep?” Tiara’s eyes flicked about while she worried her lower lip. It was clear that whatever it was, it was bothering Tiara greatly, but Duskfall knew better than to rush her.

“Can I…would it be too much to ask if I could talk with you in private?” Tiara finally spat out.

“Of course. Follow me,” Duskfall instructed. She led the filly to one of the myriad of empty rooms and for good measure threw up a host of privacy wards, “Now, what is it you want to talk to me about?”

“You don’t have your Cutie Mark!” Tiara shouted. The small filly then flinched as if expecting to be smote. Duskfall forced herself to take a deep breath before responding.

“What does my lack of Cutie Mark have to do with whatever’s bothering you?” Duskfall inquired.

“I…I don’t know how to put it into words, I guess,” Tiara wilted, “Sorry for wasting your time.”

“No, whatever it is, it’s bothering you enough that you sought out royal help instead of going to your parents or friends. I’m perfectly willing to wait while you get your thoughts in order. Even if it doesn’t come out perfect or you don’t know the right words to use, as long as it comes from a place of sincerity, I think we can figure it out together,” Duskfall told her gently.

“It’s just…I’ve always been told a pony’s value comes from their Cutie Mark. That Earth Ponies are better than Unicorns or Pegasai. That because of who my parents are I’m better than everyone else. Yet you, well, Twilight, was born to a minor noble family of Unicorns, went on to become Princess Celestia’s student, and then an Alicorn Princess in her own right. Even now, after you’ve lost your Cutie Mark, you still have your friends, your princesshood, and your happiness,” Duskfall chose not to mention how happy she actually was nor her brush with madness after Twilight’s Cutie Mark shattered.

“I’ll admit I don’t know Filthy Rich all that well, but that doesn’t sound like him at all,” Duskfall noted.

“I love my dad and you’re right, he’s never said anything like that. He’s just…never home enough,” Tiara said sadly.

“Ah, the great debate of providing for your family vs. spending time with them. I guess then all those things you just listed off come from what your mother has told you? Speaking of, I don’t think I know who your mother is,” Which was odd. Twilight might not be Pinkie Pie levels, but she knew most of the citizens of Ponyville.

“I have the oddest feeling you’d hate each other if you met,” Tiara snarked.

“Well if she’s preaching tribalism to her kid, then I think you might be right. But I think we’re getting off topic,” Duskfall remarked.

“Yeah. I guess what I wanted to ask was, what’s the point of a Cutie Mark? All the other species of Equuis get on just fine without one. What do they even mean? I got mine for being a bossy, bullying, brat. Is that all there is to it? I…I guess I’ve taken a look at my life and…I’m not happy with where I am. If all my Cutie Mark means is being good at pushing people around I- I- I’d rather be a Blank Flank!” Tiara started crying.

“You’re a little young for the existential crisis, but you’ve stumbled onto something philosophers have been debating since the dawn of time. ‘What is a Cutie Mark’? ‘Is there more than one meaning to it’? People have been trying to identify the meaning or meanings of every individual Cutie Mark for as long as Cutie Marks have been a thing. I could tell you what Twilight believed, if you’d like,” Duskfall offered.

“I think I’d like to hear that,” Tiara said quietly.

“She believed that every Cutie Mark had at least two meanings. Let’s take Applejack’s Cutie Mark as an example. A trio of apples pretty plainly states that her Special Talent has something to do with apples. In her case, it’s working her family’s apple farm. However, her three apples are arranged in a triangle and not a flat line. Triangles are a strong geometric shape, six of which create a hexagon, the strongest geometric shape. This could be taken to mean Applejack is strong or stable. Indeed, Applejack is often the voice of reason amongst the Elements. There are other things one could note, such as how Applejack’s Cutie Mark consists of whole, red apples, but I’ll content myself for now,” Dusk lectured.

“Then what do you think my Cutie Mark means?” Tiara asked hesitantly.

“Well, let’s start with the obvious first. Headgear like crowns, coronets, and tiaras are considered to be worn by leadership. Queens or members of the royal family, things like that. What you call ‘pushing people around’ can easily be redirected into becoming a motivational leader, if you learn to care about those around you. Use your talent the right way and you could earn great loyalty from others. People would flock around you because you know how to inspire action and give encouragement,” Duskfall began.

“That sounds really nice,” Tiara sighed wistfully.

“Tiaras are worn by a bride or married women in tradition. This could symbolize a loss of innocence. However, this loss of innocence is not to tragedy, but to love. In your Cutie Mark, it could mean that you have the potential to love deeply, holding nothing back. Is there any cause you feel devoted to or anyone you feel attached to?” Dusk questioned.

“NO!” Tiara instantly denied.

“Diamond Tiara, this is a safe place. Nothing said here will get back to your mother if you don’t want it to. I suspect you’ll feel much better once you speak the truth,” Tiara squirmed for a bit before speaking.

“I…I have a crush on my best friend, Silver Spoon. I’ve had this crush for a long time, but I know it won’t work out. Silver is only interested in colts. I can’t help it! Everyone just assumes she’s my little lackey, but when we’re alone she’s just…breathtaking. She’s smart, she’s sassy, and she’s beautiful… I don’t know why she hangs out with me. I just drag her down. She would’ve been perfectly happy to ignore the Crusaders, but I made it a point to bully them. I’m a terrible pony!” Tiara fell to her stomach in remorse.

“You have done and said some pretty terrible things to the Crusaders. I won’t try and sugarcoat it. Even so, recognizing what you did was wrong, of your own volition, is a huge step in becoming a better person. We cannot go back and undo the mistakes of our past. That’s why we have to make amends in the present and work to not repeat those mistakes in the future,” Dusk said soothingly.

“But what if they don’t accept my apology? What if my mother finds out?” Tiara asked piteously.

“We can’t control what others do. As far as the Crusaders, I think once they have a little bit of time to wrap their heads around the fact that their arch nemesis is apologizing, they’ll accept you. As for your mother… there comes times in everyone’s life where they must choose between what is right and what is easy. For some, this choice is only once in a lifetime. For others, they have to make that choice every day. What do you care for more? Is it the wrath of a mother who has done her best to fill you with toxic thoughts and ideas or doing what you know to be the good and decent thing to do?” Duskfall interrogated.

“I…I want to be better. I’m tired of carrying around all this hatred. I don’t even know why I was holding on to it in the first place. I want to let go of it,” Tiara decided.

“I personally believe that is a very good choice. You are young yet. You still have your whole life ahead of you. You will continue to face struggles, but I am confident that if you surround yourself with good friends, you’ll conquer them all. A few final words before we end here, if you don’t mind,” Duskfall said.

“Of course not,” Tiara said instantly.

“First, while things may not work out between you and Silver Spoon, that’s just how it is sometimes. You just have to find it in yourself to move on and find someone who will return your love. As I said, you are young and will have plenty of time to find that special someone. It could even happen in the last place you expect. Talk to Lyra and Bon Bon if you don’t believe me. Lyra had come to Ponyville for a school project and literally ran into Bonnie. To hear the two of them tell it, it was love at first sight,” Duskfall chuckled.

“I…I think I will talk to them. No offense, Princess, but even I’ve heard you aren’t exactly the Alicorn of Love,” Tiara snarked.

“Cheeky little- after I lend an ear to your woes, this is how you repay me?” Duskfall fake growled. Tiara giggled.

“Don’t worry Princess, I won’t tell anyone about your lack of romance skills,” Dusk huffed in false annoyance.

“Well, before I kick you out for your insolence, one final thing. If there should ever come a time where you fear for your safety, be it physical safety or emotional safety, and your father is unable to help, come directly to me. I don’t care what time of day or night it is. I’ll see to it you get the help you need,” Duskfall instructed.

“But I- my mother isn’t abusive,” Tiara protested weakly.

“I reiterate I care just as much, if not more, for your emotional health as your physical. Someone doesn't have to be directly abusive to be a toxic person. I would personally prefer if you came to me if you ever felt your mother was being anything other than loving and supportive, but if I did that, then any minor argument in a family would be grounds for child protective services to step in. So I’ll just have to content myself with saying that if you feel threatened by your mother in any way then come directly to me. Understood?” Duskfall asked pointedly.

“I just…she’s my mom, ya know?” Duskfall’s heart broke for the vulnerable filly, “How can I turn her in like that?”

“I haven’t met your mother, so I can’t say. Maybe she believes she’s teaching you what’s best with her tribalism and insults. Maybe she just enjoys the feeling of control she has over you. What I can say is that, whatever her reasons, it is clearly putting you under a lot of stress. That is never OK. Maybe you should have a talk with her. Let her know what she’s doing to you. She may not even realize what she’s doing,” Duskfall counseled.

“I don’t know if I’m brave enough to confront my mother like that…” Tiara said timidly. Duskfall thought that just Tiara’s fear of her mother was grounds enough for removal from her mother’s care. However, she didn’t have the full picture, so she restrained herself.

“If you feel the need, I can be with you when you talk to her,” Duskfall offered.

“But you’re a Princess! Surely you have better things to do with your time!” Tiara protested.

“I am a Princess that is true. However, I believe a Princess should be the servant of her people. What kind of servant would I be if I ignored even the least of my people? I can’t be everywhere, but when I can be somewhere, there I will be. I can make the time to be with you when you talk with your mother, if you so desire,” Duskfall wasn’t going to budge from her position.

“Thank you,” Tiara said in a quiet voice, “I think I will talk to my mother and I’d like you to be there…when I work up the courage.”

“And I’ll be waiting for you when you do. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?” Dusk asked kindly.

“No, not right now at least. I need to go apologize to the Crusaders…and come clean to Silver,” Tiara looked filled with trepidation, but also a growing feeling of DETERMINATION

Duskfall watched as Tiara headed back into Ponyville proper as the sun was just beginning to set.

“Harmonia?” Duskfall called out. Harmonia materialized an avatar next to her.

“Yes, Duskfall?” She asked promptly.

“I hope your Weave of Fate doesn’t show any crisis needing me in the near future, does it?” Duskfall inquired. Harmonia was silent for a moment while she consulted the Weave.

“No, Duskfall, there are no pressing issues for at least two weeks. However, I would like to send Pinkamena and Rainbow Dash on a more…personal mission,” Harmonia confessed.

“Oh?” Duskfall was intrigued.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash has long harbored a desire to correct a perceived wrong concerning her Loyalty. An opportunity to do so has presented itself. I am unsure of how much I should tell Rainbow Dash before sending her on this mission. Do I tell her nothing at all except that she might be needed in Griffonstone? Do I tell her exactly why I am sending her, but risk damaging her personal growth? I am at a quandary,” Harmonia said helplessly.

“That is a tough one. If you want my opinion, then you should give these options to Rainbow. Tell her she has a chance to make amends, but learning more could make it harder for her to do so with pure intentions,” Duskfall offered.

“I see the wisdom in your suggestion. I should not take the ability for Rainbow Dash to exercise her Free Will away from her just because I believe I might know better. As history has proven, I clearly do not know better,” Harmonia looked disappointed in herself; as if she felt that she should’ve come up with that solution on her own.

“You’re learning and that’s the important thing. How’s your body coming along?” Duskfall inquired.

“It should be completed in three day’s time. I hope you all will find it appealing,” Was it Dusk’s imagination or was Harmonia blushing?

Author's Notes:

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, but Spoiled Rich isn't a homophobe. She's probably be fairly pleased if DT brought SS home as a marefriend, given Silver's family seems to be pretty well off and possibly high on the Ponyville social ladder. I'm not the type to reuse every old note. Just some of them.

Also, if it wasn't obvious, Crusaders of the Lost Mark isn't happening. I personally really like the episode, but having Duskfall losing her Cutie Mark be a catalyst of self reflection in Diamond Tiara was simply too juicy to pass up. Now I just need to figure out how to get the CMC their Cutie Marks without that episode... Oh, I just had an IDEA~!

If everything goes according to plan we'll have Griffonstone directly followed by Magic Sheep. Once that's dealt with, we'll see a certain salvage effort pay off.

After that we should have:

Scare Masters

Make New Friends but Keep Discord

Appleoosa's Most Wanted

Slice of Life

Brotherhooves Social

Canterlot Boutique

The Mane Attraction

Tanks for the Memories

And finally Hearth's Breakers.

Starlight will be dealt with probably between Slice of Life and Brotherhooves Social. The final chapter of the book will take place while the Apples and Pinkie are off doing their thing in Hearth's Breakers, because that will be the Winter Solstice.

Of course, there's going to be a number of chapters that will come out as inspiration strikes me as has always been the case, but this is a rough outline of events as pertaining to the show's timeline.

False Idol

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 10: False Idol

It was a quiet mid morning in Ponyville. Right up until a Rainboom shattered the sky. Most of Ponyville was used to such an event every now and again, so paid it no mind. What did get the attention of the citizenry is when a second Rainboom cracked the sky.

“Oh look, Rainbow’s taught Rainbow how to Rainboom,” Spike snarked.

“I’d be surprised, but they’d both probably say something about how awesome they are if I asked,” Duskfall sighed.

“Well, yeah, it is two Rainbow Dashes,” Spike said as if Dusk’s thoughts hadn’t even been worth vocalizing.

“I am unsure as to how to deal with this. How to I refer to Rainbow Dash and not insult Rainbow Dash?” Harmonia wondered.

“I don’t think pony Rainbow would be too upset if you called her Loyalty while her human counterpart is here,” Duskfall suggested.

“That may be the best solution,” Harmonia didn’t look happy about it, “I am calling for Loyalty and Pinkamena now.” The map flickered to life, Rainbow and Pinkie’s Cutie Marks hovering over Griffonstone. Harmonia looked concerned for some reason.

“What’s the matter?” Duskfall asked.

“I did not power on the map. I merely called out for Loyalty and Pinkamena. This is…bothersome,” Harmonia complained.

“Why? Is something the matter?” Duskfall inquired.

“Not as such. The map acting without my conscious command is merely a source of consternation,” Before their conversation could continue, both Rainbows arrived at the castle.

In pony form, it was fairly easy to tell human Rainbow and pony Rainbow apart. While the mirror messed with age for Equuis denizens going to the human world, it seemed to leave age untouched for humans visiting Equuis.

At 22 years old, it was quite easy to tell pony Rainbow was a full grown mare. Her body proportions in concert with her exercise routine gave her a hard edge, but not enough to be considered stallion-like. Her wings, while slightly bigger than an average Pegasus mare, were fully grown and all her adult feathers were in.

At 17 years old, human Rainbow was just ever so slightly not fully matured. Her face had yet to lose that final bit of softness around her muzzle that was indicative of puberty. Her wings were very slightly stumpy looking next to pony Rainbow, due to not having finished their final growth spurt. She was also shorter than pony Rainbow by two or three centimeters.

“So, what’s up? Another world ending villain to stop?” Elder Rainbow asked.

“Nothing so dramatic, Loyalty,” Elder Rainbow’s ears twitched but otherwise didn’t comment, “I was merely hoping to send you and Pinkamena to Griffonstone for personal reasons.”

“Gilda?” For the hard time people liked to give Rainbow about not being book smart, she could be very intuitive when she wanted to be.

“I…yes. I know how much what happened between the two of you bothers you. Gilda will be at the center of a minor harmonic dissonance event. Truly, if it were not for who was involved, I would not have brought it to your attention at all. Getting involved in mortal politics is something I will leave to the Alicorns,” Harmonia’s dislike for politics was plain on her face.

“Wait, you’re friends with Gilda?” Rainbow the Younger asked in surprise.

“Former friend…I kinda helped chase her out of town and I’ve felt awful about it ever since,” Elder Rainbow confessed, “What’s she like in your world?”

“We used to go to the same school until she got accepted to Crystal Prep and I went to Canterlot High. We never really spoke to each other before then, but we were aware of each other at least. Then Gilda fell in with a bad crowd, started smoking and drinking and vandalizing. Eventually she got caught and last I heard she was in juvie. She’s become something of a legend in the school district,” Rainbow the Younger explained.

“The kind of girl you tell horror stories to your kids about to scare them straight,” Duskfall quipped.

“Sounds about right,” Rainbow the Younger nodded, “So how’d you wind up friends with someone like that?”

“We met in Pegasus flight camp in Cloudsdale. Er, that’s where young Pegasus fillies and colts are sent to learn the basics of flight and weather control. Gilda is a Griffon, so that instantly caught my attention. She should’ve been at a Griffon flight camp, even if half of them are shitty drains on taxpayer bits,” Elder Rainbow growled out that last bit, “Anyway, she was bullied by some of the others and we both know how we feel about bullies. So I stepped in to defend her, got half my primary feathers plucked off, and the rest is history.”

“Rainbow! You never told us you got plucked in flight school!” Duskfall exclaimed. Rainbow looked embarrassed.

“It isn’t something I like to talk about. It’s about the most embarrassing thing someone can do to a Pegasus. To help out someone getting bullied? Totally worth it,” Elder Rainbow said confidently.

“That sounds just as badass as when I broke my arm protecting Flutters,” Rainbow the Younger said with a smile. The two Rainbows hoofbumped.

“What’s up fillies?!” Pinkie burst into the room with her usual subtlety.

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to head out to Griffonstone and restore Rainbow’s friendship with her old friend Gilda,” Duskfall joked, “As usual, should any of your party be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your existence. This message will self destruct.”

Rainbow the Younger started snickering, but the two ponies didn’t get it at all. Harmonia shook her head good naturedly.

“That is an accurate summation, even if you could have delivered it without the joke, Duskfall,” Harmonia lightly rebuked.

“Alright, Pinkie and I will be ready to go in a couple of hours,” Elder Rainbow stated and started to walk out the door.

“Wait! Can I come too?!” Rainbow the Younger suddenly asked, “It’s a long weekend and I have nothing better to do!”

“Have you finished your homework?” Duskfall asked.

“Ugh! Yes, mom, I finished my homework!” Rainbow the Younger grumbled.

“Well, this is pony Rainbow’s show. As long as your homework is finished and she says yes, you can go,” Rainbow the Younger instantly turned the full force of her puppy dog eyes on her elder counterpart.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Elder Rainbow started hesitantly, “But wouldn’t it be weird if two Rainbows showed up in Griffonstone? I don’t want to freak everyone out.”

“Everyone already knows the Changelings are living in Ponyville. If anyone asks, just tell them she’s a Changeling who’s a super big fan of yours,” Duskfall shrugged, “Do you have any problems with this, Harmonia?”

“While certain missions may be delicate and require the ones I pick and no more, this is not one of them. If the human Rainbow and Loyalty agree, then I see no reason to stop them,” Harmonia responded.

“YES!” Rainbow the Younger cheered.

“If you’re me and you’re gonna be hanging around Equuis for any amount of time, we were gonna get you your first adventure sooner or later anyway,” Elder Rainbow quipped.

So that was how, a day later, the Rainbows, Duskfall, Moon Dancer, and Pinkie came into Griffonstone. Duskfall couldn't deny the part of her that had been Twilight. Twilight had always wanted to travel abroad and the Griffon Empire was top of the list. Moon Dancer had tagged along mostly because Duskfall had asked, but she wouldn't deny she wanted to see the former seat of the Griffon Empire.

“This place is a dump!” Pinkie declared.

“Griffonstone has been a mess ever since they lost the Idol of Boreas. The Griffon Empire moved their government to Whitestone and has all but declared that to be their new capital,” Moon Dancer remarked.

“I knew it was bad here, going off what Twilight has heard from the Griffon ambassadors, but seeing it for myself is something else,” Duskfall sighed, her inner scholar and historian heartbroken by the fall from grace Griffonstone had suffered.

“How could anyone stand to live like this?” Elder Rainbow asked sadly.

“Ever since the local economy collapsed after the death of King Guto, the Griffons of Griffonstone have been locked in a cycle of self pity and anger. They’ve refused help from Celestia and their own government. They’re just content to wallow in their misery. Not that Griffons are the happiest bunch at the best of times,” Duskfall remarked.

“So much history, so much culture! All lost over some wounded pride,” Moon Dancer grumbled. It was probably for the best that neither Moon Dancer nor Duskfall would see the state of the local library.

“Well, we’re not gonna find Gilda by standing around,” Rainbow the Younger pointed out. So the group entered Griffonstone proper and bore witness to countless small acts of bickering and strife.

“Wow, this place almost reminds me of Detroit,” Duskfall snarked, “No, wait, that isn’t fair. This place is still way better than Detroit.”

“You’ve been to Detroit?” Rainbow the Younger asked.

“Not me, personally, but one of Tom’s cousins lived in that God forsaken city and he visited once. It was exactly as miserable as you might expect,” Duskfall tried to clear her head of the bad memories.

“It still strikes me as very strange how Earth cities and Equuis cities share a lot of very similar names, even if the difference often comes down to a bad pony pun,” Moon Dancer observed.

“Yeah, but Detrot is a pretty nice place, going off Twilight’s memories. Detroit is a post industrial revolution boom town that’s devolved into a hive of scum and villainy. OK, I may be exaggerating, but not by much,” Before their conversation could go any further, a voice called out.

“How are there two of you?!” The group turned to see none other than Gilda. The Rainbows shot each other a look.

“Hello Gilda. Come play with us~” The Rainbows said in sync. Speaking of weird differences between Equuis and Earth, how did they have a Kubrick but not a Spielberg? If anything, Duskfall would’ve assumed the opposite to be true.

“Fuck that shit!” Gilda tried to get away so quickly she tripped over her own feet. Elder Rainbow flew over to her.

“Sorry about that, the setup was just too perfect to resist,” Elder Rainbow said as she helped Gilda up. The Griffon glared daggers at Elder Dash.

“That doesn’t explain why there are two of you, you fucking creep,” Gilda growled.

“That one is a Changeling who’s a huge fan,” Elder Rainbow explained.

“Drone #25947532 reporting for duty!” Dashie the Younger chirped happily.

“She does realize all the Changelings have names right?” Moon Dancer whispered to Pinkie and Dusk.

“They also have serial numbers,” Pinkie pointed out. The other two looked at her.

“How do you know that?” Duskfall asked.

“I asked, silly,” Pinkie giggled as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“What do you losers want?” Gilda huffed.

“We’re actually here for you,” Elder Rainbow confessed.

“What, so you can run me out of Griffonstone too?” Gilda sneered.

“No! Gilda…I fucked up. I fucked up real bad. I treated you like shit that day and there’s no excuse for it. I would like to know why you yelled at Fluttershy though,” Gilda wilted a bit.

“I don’t know. She was just walking along, minding her own business when she bumped into me by accident. It wasn’t even a hard bump. I just completely freaked out for no reason. Then she ran off in tears before I could talk to her,” Gilda looked at the dirt beneath her, “You were right to run me off. I really am just a jackass.”

“Hey, none of that! Doesn’t matter if you’re a jackass, you’re my jackass, got it?” Rainbow Senior asked as she got into Gilda’s face.

“I would’ve thought jackass would be a racial slur or something,” Rainbow the Younger whispered to the others.

“Jackass isn’t used to refer to a male donkey on this side, so no racial connotations. So while not offensive in that way, the term is considered quite crude. Think calling someone a limp dick and you’re in the general ballpark,” Duskfall explained.

“Ah, got it,” Rainbow Junior nodded in understanding.

“Even if you’re here saying that, I’m sure Fluttershy hates me and never wants to see me again,” Gilda sighed.

“Gilda, you know Fluttershy! We spent so much time together at flight camp. She’s just about physically incapable of hating anyone. If you don’t believe me, come with me back to Ponyville and talk to her yourself!” Rainbow the pony offered.

“I can’t,” Gilda held up a claw to forestall Elder Rainbow’s protests, “You caught me in the middle of something. I’m going to find the lost Idol of Boreal!”

“ARE YOU INSANE?!” Elder Rainbow exploded.

“How else am I supposed to fix this shithole? The only other thing I’m even good at is making those scones Grampa Gruff taught me how to make and everyone hates those things!” Gilda snapped.

“You can fix the scones! You can’t fix your broken neck if you go into the Abysmal Abyss!” Elder Rainbow argued.

“What’s so dangerous about this Abysmal Abyss, aside from being in serious need of some rebranding?” Rainbow the Younger asked.

“Powerful winds that will send even the strongest flier into jagged outcroppings of rock, that’s what! If you want to be a kebab, Abysmal Abyss is your one stop shop for your funeral needs!” Rainbow Senior spat angrily.

“I grew up around here, Dash! I know it’s dangerous, but I’m not gonna fly like an idiot!” Gilda reached into her saddlebags, “I have rope and rock climbing shit. I’ll be fine.”

“Yes, just like the dozens of other brave explorers who have tried to reclaim the Idol of Boreal? I’m sure the bloody smears they left behind will cheer you on as you succeed where they failed,” Duskfall’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“You wouldn’t understand. I have to do this,” Gilda sighed.

“Usually when people say ‘you wouldn’t understand’ that means the reason they do have isn’t a good one,” Moon Dancer noted.

“Why?! What have these assholes ever done for you that you feel the need to KILL YOURSELF trying to help them?! I know I’m supposed to be Loyalty and all, but Loyalty needs to be reciprocated or it dies. Just because they’re all Griffons like you are doesn’t mean you owe them anything, especially not your life!” Rainbow Senior shouted.

“What am I supposed to do, Rainbow?! I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did, but if this town doesn’t change that’s exactly what’s going to happen, over and over again! Griffons around here only care about themselves and their bits, but I can change that if I find the Idol! If you’re not going to help me then get out of my way!” Gilda moved to walk past Elder Rainbow when she nearly plowed face first into Pinkie.

“Is a hunk of gold really gonna make these Griffons happy? I think you already know the answer to that,” Pinkie said without her usual manic energy. Rainbow Junior looked like she was seeing a horseman of the apocalypse.

“Maybe, maybe not. It’s not like it’s gonna hurt anyone if I do bring it back,” Gilda’s face was set in grim resolve.

“We’ll help you,” Pony Dash finally decided, “It’s a damn fool thing to do, but I’m not abandoning you again.”

“I, uh, I dunno how much help I’ll be with the climb, but I can make cakes and stuff to celebrate when you return!” Pinkie promised.

“We don’t have cakes,” Gilda noted.

“NO CAKES?! OK, then muffins,” Pinkie declared.

“None of those either,” Gilda seemed to be getting a sadistic glee out of Pinkie freaking out over lack of baked goods.

“THEN WHAT DO YOU HAVE, YOU DEPRAVED ANIMALS?!” Pinkie shrieked like the damned.

“Scones,” Gilda held up one of the offending “baked goods”. Pinkie glared at it suspiciously before gobbling it up.

“WHY?! First those muffin shaped sickness inducers and now rock cakes that aren’t nearly as good as real rock cakes!” Pinkie sobbed.

Was Pinkie talking about some kind of rock cake she made on the rock farm? Or perhaps Pinkie was spending too much time with Discord.

“You’re staying with Pinkie,” Elder Rainbow instructed Dash the Younger.

“What?!” Rainbow Junior protested. Old lady Rainbow pulled the young whippersnapper closer.

“You’re not as strong a flier as I am yet and you’re nowhere close to familiar enough with a pony body to go rock climbing,” Loyalty’s Bearer explained.

“I guess you have a point,” Human Rainbow pouted.

With that decided, Gilda, Duskfall, Moon Dancer, and Elder Rainbow purchased the extra supplies needed for their expedition and headed out to Abysmal Abyss.

“Alright, so Moon Dancer and I will be trying to curb the wind as much as we can while also reinforcing the rope,” Duskfall explained.

“Even if the rope winds up more magic than rope,” Moon Dancer muttered. It couldn’t be denied that the rope they had bought looked horribly frayed, “Anyway, I’ll be staying up here, both to serve as spotter and to help Duskfall anchor the spells along the rope and the canyon. Any questions?”

“Nah, I think we’re good,” Rainbow said as she tightened her helmet around her head.

“Sorry for dragging you into my mess, Rainbow,” Gilda apologized.

“Forget about it. What kind of friend ditches at the first sign of trouble?” Rainbow asked as she secured herself with the rope, feeling it tingle from the mana being forced through it.

Soon the trio of Gilda, Dash, and Dusk were descending into the Abyss. Even with Duskfall and Moon Dancer fighting against it, the savage winds of the Abyss threatened to blow them away at any second. It was also a lot more difficult than it could have been, since Dusk had to focus on the descent and maintaining the spells. However, with only the two of them, this was the only way to ensure the spell matrixes remained stable.

“Rainbow,” Duskfall panted, “I’m going to need you to help me brush up on my physical education after this is all over.”

“Sure thing, Dusk,” Duskfall couldn’t see Rainbow’s face, but she knew the prismatic mare was smiling.

The wind howled and Duskfall swore the rope would break at several points, magical reinforcement or not. Eventually, the made it to an outcropping of rock and there they found a huge skull.

“Well I’ll be stuffed, the Arimaspi was real,” Gilda breathed in surprise.

“You live in a magical world with manticores, dragons, and ponies that move the celestial bodies, yet the Arimaspi is what tested your suspension of disbelief?!” Duskfall couldn’t resist the urge to snark at that.

“Ah, shaddup ya magical pony princess,” Gilda sulked.

“You’re only proving my point~” Duskfall sang.

“So, if the Arimaspi is here, then where’s the Idol? Did it fall further into the Abyss? Did we miss it on the way down?” Rainbow questioned.

“Well, good thing you brought me along. I can cast a spell to…OH COME ON!” There, on the ledge opposite the skull, was the Idol of Boreal.

“Who’s the suicidal lunatic now?!” Gilda crowed.

“You are, featherbrain,” Rainbow huffed.

“Fuck you too, Rainbow,” Gilda laughed.

“Maybe we can joke about this after we’re safely out of a very deadly abyss?” Dusk suggested as she lifted the Idol in her magic and placed it safely into her saddlebags. That was when a sound came up out of the Abyss. At first it sounded like a strong gust of wind, but soon resolved itself into a bone chilling howl. The trio looked at each other.

“Good plan!” Rainbow squeaked.

“Let’s go!” Gilda agreed.

They scrambled back up the Abyss faster than was completely safe, but they weren’t of a mind to risk whatever made that howl coming up to get them.

“So…how many explorers do you think that thing has eaten, whatever it was?” Duskfall asked darkly once they reached the top. Moon Dancer was shivering slightly while warily eyeing Abysmal Abyss.

“Dude, not cool,” Rainbow groaned.

“We’ve gotta show everyone that we got the Idol of Boreal back!” Gilda exclaimed. With a quick teleportation, they were back where they had left Rainbow the Younger and Pinkie. What they did not expect was the flock of Griffons swarming the pair.

Pinkie and human Dash had apparently been quite busy while the others were away. They had set up a baking stand and seemed to be selling baked goods of all kinds, including scones. Judging by the Griffons acting more like locust, they rather liked the baking. Suddenly all four of the expedition felt very weary.

“I’m just going to give this dumb thing to Grampa Gruff later. I guess the pink menace was right. Maybe the happiness was there all along, they just forgot how to express it,” Gilda sighed.

“Gross oversimplification, but none of us are psychologists. If anyone has the power to teach someone else how to smile again, it’d be Pinkie,” Duskfall noted.

“Is that other me cooking?!” Sure enough, Dash the Younger was currently whisking together what looked to be icing and she looked to be having a grand old time.

This was doubly strange when the extent of pony Dash’s cooking skills was ordering takeout. Elder Rainbow was pretty much banned from the Cake’s kitchen and not even Applejack’s baked bads stunt had managed that! Whenever Twilight had asked about it, Rainbow and Pinkie both clammed up. Rainbow of Loyalty walked up to the stand.

“How are you cooking?!” Dash Senior demanded to know. Human Dash looked at her like she had grown a second head.

“I love to cook..? I do it all the time with my folks. Don’t you?” Human Dash asked confused.

“Our Dashie can’t cook her way out of a paper bag! It’s super weird! Not Sweetie Belle setting orange juice on fire weird, but still kinda weird,” Pinkie chirped.

“How did Sweetie Belle set orange juice on fire? I’m pretty sure our Sweetie Belle isn’t that bad!” Human Rainbow exclaimed.

“Not even Discord knows how Sweetie Belle manages her cooking catastrophes. Sometimes I wonder if an extra dimensional demon of some kind possesses her whenever she cooks. Yet I have no proof, and so I must cling to my bed sheets at night and tremble in fear for what might be lurking just around the corner,” Duskfall droned in her best eerie voice.

“You are a fucking dark pony princess,” Gilda noted.

“Trust me, if you knew, ‘dark’ wouldn’t even begin to cover it,” Duskfall let out an evil chuckle.

“OK, if more ponies were like you, they’d be alright,” Gilda snarked, “So, how’d you get the whole damn town to come out for your snacks?”

“Well, we started by adding baking powder to those scones,” Pinkie began.

“Then I threw in a dash of cinnamon for good measure,” Teenage Dash added.

“After we started baking them, a couple of Griffons wandered by to see what the good smell was,” Pinkie continued.

“We fed them a fresh batch of scones and they kinda went wild. Almost like they’d never had anything edible before in their lives,” Young Dash quipped.

“That’s probably closer to the truth than you think,” Gilda pointed out.

“Well, once the Griffons were hooked on the scones, I thought to myself ‘Pinkie, you can’t just let this be a one hit wonder’, so I pulled out all my emergency cooking supplies and with Lil’ Dashie’s help, we’ve been fixing up cakes and muffins and even some fresh made bread!” Pinkie happily exclaimed.

“Yeah, before we knew it, word of mouth had hit the whole town and we were flooded,” Rainbow the Younger said as she pulled a tray of cupcakes out of the oven.

“This is great and all, but what happens when you all have to go home? Sure everyone is happy now, but it won’t last forever,” Gilda said with no small measure of frustration.

“Good food encourages conversation. Conversation encourages friendship. Friendship encourages people to help each other and hopefully fix up Griffonstone! I’ll just teach you how to bake, Gilda. Then you can spread the love to your people just like you wanted to!” Pinkie offered.

“Yeah, I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” It wouldn’t be an easy road, but it was one Gilda was determined to walk. If she could make things even a tiny bit better for someone else who was in a situation like she had been in, then it was absolutely worth it.

Author's Notes:

A few interesting things here.

One is that I'm going to have the human 5 and Sunset pop up in Equestria from time to time. Now, having the human 5 be copy and paste of the Mane 6 would be fantastically boring. So I'm going to be adding in some, hopefully, unobtrusive differences that help set them apart as individuals. For example, Pony Dash can't cook to save her life. Human Rainbow has cooked dinner with her family for almost as long as she can remember and found a small passion for it.

Gilda's change in motivation reflects closer to what I had Dash think about back in A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake. Also added in the fact that Gilda knows Fluttershy, because if they went to flight school together, then no duh Gilda knows Fluttershy. Even if they weren't friends directly, Gilda would know that Flutters is Dash's friend.

I'm sorry it took me so long to write this chapter. Honestly, I'm just feeling kinda under the weather and bone tired. Kinda killed my usual writing speed. I'd try to sleep it off, but between insomnia and being blackmailed to watch my baby brother's puppy every day, I haven't gotten more than 2 hours sleep per day over the last 4 days.

(You think I'm joking about the blackmail, but I'm not.)

The price one pays when you're naturally nocturnal and have insomnia besides. Trying to keep normal people hours is a real fast way to make one want to commit not alive.

Redecorating

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 11: Redecorating

Over the last couple of weeks, Duskfall had gotten more or less used to the castle. It was still an eyesore, in her opinion, but with friends regularly stopping by along with Moon Dancer and Spike living there with her, it was tolerable.

Tolerable didn’t mean much though. When she had brought up the issue of how sterile everything felt in the castle, Harmonia had just shrugged.

“I will not claim to be particularly imaginative. I just thought a place where Twilight, her staff, and her guards could live would suffice. I didn’t put any more thought into it than that,” Harmonia apologized.

“I don’t know why, but the idea of Twilight having cute little maids and buff royal guards amuse me for some reason,” Duskfall snarked.

“And her own personal guard would be called the Twilight Vanguard,” Harmonia delivered her joke in a flat voice.

“I was always partial to the Rising Dawn myself…or Coming Dawn. Either works for me,” Duskfall quipped.

“It does help that her name directly correlates to a time of day. Alternatively we could call them the Friendship Fighters,” Even Harmonia couldn’t keep a straight face after that suggestion.

“They’re supposed to be guards, not a two bit silver age superhero group,” Duskfall jokingly complained.

“Ah, then perhaps I shouldn’t mention I’ve been privately referring to the Elements, Spike, and Discord as the Counsel of Friendship,” Duskfall gave Harmonia a look.

“You’re being serious…” Duskfall arched an eyebrow.

“Well, if it was only you Elements, then I would’ve been content to refer to you as such. Since the inclusion of Spike and Discord and to a lesser extent your immediate circle of friends, I felt it needful to call you something all encompassing,” Harmonia explained herself.

“I mean…it isn’t the worst thing you could’ve called us,” Duskfall admitted.

“In any event, would you mind gathering everyone? I believe I am ready to unveil my new body,” Harmonia sounded very nervous, but Duskfall couldn’t blame her.

Ten minutes later and the whole crew were gathered in a corridor in the castle. Harmonia had told them all that the door would open when she was ready and they were all waiting with baited breath. Eventually, the door opened.

There were a few things about Harmonia’s new body that immediately stood out to Duskfall. Firstly she was an Alicorn…obviously. Duskfall would’ve been infinitely more surprised if Harmonia had chosen to inhabit any of the other tribes. Secondly, she was about a full head shorter than Dash. She was clearly a full grown mare, but if ponies had such a thing, Duskfall might’ve called her a toy breed of pony. Then there was her Cutie Mark, a rainbow twisted into an infinity symbol. Finally, her wings were about twice the size one might expect on a pony of her size. Harmonia opened her new eyes.

“Do you…like it?” Harmonia asked hesitantly. Coco, Fluttershy, and Rarity were instantly in love.

Harmonia’s mane was the same rainbow coloration as Dash’s, but with Fluttershy’s volume and body. Her fur was the same marshmallow white as Rarity’s and as smooth, but it was closer to Applejack’s in length. Harmonia’s facial structure was a cross between Twilight and Rarity’s, but the nose was all Pinkie Pie. Speaking of Pinkie, Harmonia’s overall body type was Applejack’s generally trim form with a splash of Pinkie’s softness. Her horn was shaped like Twilight’s but with Rarity’s length. Harmonia’s wings were huge, but took after Fluttershy in general shape. Finally her eyes started Rainbow Dash’s magenta and transitioned smoothly into Twilight’s purple.

“Well, I’m just going to say what’s on all our minds. She’s weirdly hot,” Rainbow remarked. Harmonia bushed furiously.

“Rainbow! At least let her have a chance to get her thoughts in order! I can’t imagine how it must be to squeeze your consciousness into a single body,” Fluttershy said sympathetically.

“It is fine, Fluttershy. I intentionally designed this body to be attractive. What Rainbow Dash says tells me I was successful,” Harmonia was still blushing, but was also smiling, “As for confining myself, I have not really. It is difficult to explain, but I did not create a second, lesser consciousness to place into this body nor have I compacted myself to fit. I am no less complete like this than I was before inhabiting this body; it is simply another aspect of my being, if that makes sense?”

“I don’t fully understand, but if you say it isn’t hurting you or anything, then that’s good,” Fluttershy accepted the explanation.

“Oh, just think of the dresses we can make for you!” Rarity finally squealed.

“We should definitely start with something to compliment her wings. They’re so eye catching on their own, we’d only need to add a few accents,” Coco murmured to herself.

“Truly, you have crafted a fine form for yourself, but if I may ask, why limit your stature?” Luna asked.

“I am so used to being…well, maybe massive is not the right word. All encompassing? My essence can reach most of Equuis. I felt being in a smaller form would help reinforce the idea of changing perspectives that I am aiming for. It is certainly an experience to have to look up to most ponies,” Harmonia noted.

“Hey, you know what would be a great idea?!” Rainbow suddenly exclaimed, “How about Dusk takes you around town so the locals can get used to your new bod?”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, darling!” Rarity added.

“Oh, yes, the bonding time sounds lovely,” Fluttershy encouraged.

“OK, lay off you guys. I’m genre savvy enough to tell that you all just want me out of the castle for some reason. I’ll trust you all to not discover a way to burn down the castle made of crystal,” Duskfall snarked, “Come on, Harmonia.”

“I would also be appreciative if you did not burn down the castle. I am not entirely sure I can make another for quite some time,” Harmonia remarked and followed Duskfall out into Ponyville proper.

“Now the question becomes where to take you first..? Anyplace you want to visit first?” Duskfall asked the smaller Alicorn.

“This is all so new to me. The feeling of the ground beneath me, the light breeze through my mane, I want to experience everything! I avail myself to your greater experience,” Harmonia replied.

“Technically I’m only a couple weeks older than your body,” Duskfall pointed out.

“You also have the points of view of two different species distilled into your mind,” Harmonia countered.

“Yeah, that’s true. I think we should first grab something to eat. It is lunch time and you haven’t eaten anything in your new body, have you?” Duskfall inquired.

“No, I have not. Previously I was sustaining this body through pure Harmony Magic, but now that it is active, that is no longer an option. Even if it were, I would still want to partake in food,” Harmonia explained.

“Alright, since you might very well go full Aximili on me, we should probably hit up a low key establishment first. I’m thinking the Hay Burger. They’re already used to Twilight being messy, so probably won’t bat an eye if you are too,” Duskfall reasoned.

“Very well, lead on,” The pair made their way to the restaurant, garnering the interest of the citizenry along the way. So they stopped to talk with those that crossed their path, from Twinkleshine to Amethyst to Caramel. Eventually they reached the Hay Burger and sat at a table to await their order.

“I wonder how the others are doing,” Duskfall said to herself before casting a scrying spell.

“Well…they have not burned the place down…” Harmonia noted as the food was placed before them.

“I have to wonder if they’re all high as kites. Luna at least should’ve stopped them from going that far,” Any further thought along those lines was quickly dismissed as Harmonia did indeed go full Aximili.

“Applejack, what exactly was your plan behind bringing dirt into the castle?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t rightfully know. I thought ‘homey’ so then I thought ‘farm’ and then I thought ‘crops’ which led me to ‘dirt’,” Applejack admitted sheepishly.

“I can see where you were coming from, Dame Applejack, but please leave the dirt outside in the future,” Luna requested.

“And your recreation of the night sky above the map, Lulu?” Chrysalis teased.

“Nobody likes to look at an empty ceiling. I may have gone slightly overboard,” Luna giggled.

“Yeah, Ah agree. It’s nice to look at and all, but it’s a mite distractin’.” Applejack opined, “Maybe it’s tha lightshow an’ explodin’ stars.”

“Rainbow, aren’t these your trophies?” Fluttershy questioned.

“Well, yeah, they have my name on them, but I’m giving them to Dusk. I figure Twilight’s won a spelling bee or a dozen. If her ribbons and stuff went up with the library, then maybe these will make Dusk feel better,” Rainbow answered.

“An admirable attitude, Darling, but I’m not sure how much Duskfall will appreciate having a constant reminder of Twilight’s accomplishments shoved in her face,” Rarity pointed out, “The poster idea, however, is rather clever, even if she would probably prefer posters of scientific equations and philosophical quotes.”

“I...uh…I probably shouldn’t have brought the animals. Duskfall already has Owlowiscious, even if she did inherit him from Twilight,” Fluttershy murmured to herself.

“Well, this place is a grand old mess right now. Either we can start from scratch or start removing things until we start seeing some kind of cohesive whole from this mess,” Chrysalis suggested just as a party canon went off somewhere.

“Don’t look at me. I may be a top tier interior decorator, but that’s a matter of taste,” Discord remarked, “Duskfall would probably want a place to relax while she studies and experiments, same for Moon Dancer here.”

“This is supposed to be Duskfall’s castle. I’m only a guest,” Moon Dancer said modestly.

“You’re much more than a guest, as I’m sure Duskfall would say if asked. You are a valued friend and this will be your home for as long as you want it to be. So, you should have a say in how it looks,” Fluttershy encouraged.

“Speaking of people who live here, Spike, you’ve been awfully quiet,” Rainbow noted.

“Hey, I’m living in an edible castle. The only thing I’m really worried about is keeping any case of the munchies under control. If Dusk and Moon Dancer want to dress the place up, then I don’t have a problem either way,” Spike shrugged.

“I think it’ll be best if we just start from scratch. I reckon we’ll all just start fightin’ about what should stay and what should go,” Applejack said reasonably. The other ultimately agreed.

Eventually Duskfall managed to drag the deliriously happy Harmonia out of the Hay Burger.

“Ah, that was wonderful~ I may have embarrassed myself, but I am unable to bring myself to care,” Harmonia sighed happily.

“Now we know how to get you to behave in the future: just offer you good food,” Duskfall teased.

“I am your loyal puppy now,” Harmonia squeaked. This got Dusk to crack up.

“Well, if you think that’s good, I’ve got a pair of sisters to introduce you to,” Duskfall started walking in the direction of the spa.

“Aloe and Lotus? Oh, I cannot wait!” There was a special warm feeling to introducing Harmonia to the joys of a physical existence. Must be how Rarity feels every day around Coco. That warm feeling died a horrible, screaming death when they walked past the ruins of Golden Oaks Library. Harmonia picked up on her companion’s sudden mood dip.

“If you want to kick me in the face or something, I’ll understand. It was my fault Tirek got far enough to destroy Golden Oaks, after all,” Harmonia offered herself up willingly.

“What good would that do? An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind. You’ve apologized and I’ve deemed you to be genuinely sorry for what happened, we can all move on. Except Tirek, because if that bastard shows his face around here again I will kill him,” Duskfall growled, “Also, you’re my puppy now. What kind of shitty person would I be if I kicked my puppy?”

“I think we’re making real progress here,” Luna remarked.

“Your idea to give everyone a separate room to work on and then work together on the map room was simply inspired!” Rarity complimented.

“I know all too well how frustrated talent feels. This way we each get to show off what we think Duskfall and Moon Dancer will appreciate most and provide a united effort as friends,” Luna was quite pleased with herself.

“Hey, Luna, the room I got assigned is locked! I don’t recognize some of these spells!” Moon Dancer called out from in the hall. Curiosity piqued, Luna made her way to the indicated door.

“I recognize most of these spells,” Luna said after analyzing the door, “But what I find most odd is that there are spells here specifically designed to keep myself, my sister, Discord, and even Chrysalis out of this room. What on Equuis could Duskfall be so dead set on hiding?”

“What, do you think she’s hiding bodies in there or something?” Rainbow asked sarcastically.

“Hardly, Dame Rainbow, but the sheer vigor with which she is securing this room is cause for concern. I wish to trust Duskfall, but at the same time, she has stated multiple times that she wishes for nothing more than the return of Tom and Twilight. Could that desire have led her to practicing Necromancy in secret? I could understand being impatient with the bureaucracy, but if that is the case we will need to give Duskfall a stern talking to,” Luna sighed wearily.

“But what if it’s just her porn stash and she’s embarrassed by it? I’d lock it down too, if I could,” Rainbow argued.

“You are correct, Rainbow Dash. If it is just something innocuous that she is embarrassed by then breaking into the room would be a serious breach of trust. I suppose we will just have to wait for Duskfall to return home and ask her directly if she is doing anything illegal in this room before jumping to conclusions,” Luna decided.

“In the mean time, I’m gonna go find another room to spruce up,” Moon Dancer said as she walked away to do just that.

The sun was beginning to set and Duskfall and Harmonia were approaching the castle after a day of food, spas, and mingling with the townsfolk. When they entered the castle itself they saw the halls decked in royal purple and emerald green.

“Surprise!” The whole crew popped out and cheered.

“So that’s what you were all doing before. I’m glad to see you managed to fix the disaster area before we got back,” Duskfall snarked.

“You, ah, saw that, did ya?” AJ asked.

“I used a simple scrying spell. One eyeful was enough for me,” Duskfall grimaced.

“Well, we hope you will be pleased with the improvements we’ve made,” Rarity said hopefully.

The group then led Duskfall on the grand tour. The Kitchen was now well stocked with loved pots and pans and had sunflower wallpaper courtesy of Applejack. The library had posters of books, equations, and famous quotes, which was Rainbow’s doing. Fluttershy had placed stuffed animals in the bedroom. Discord had created a holodeck, even if he denied that’s what it was. Moon Dancer had painted a room in soothing blues and set up a couple of loveseats for comfortable reading. Chrysalis had somehow created a sauna in the palace and wasn’t telling how she managed it. Luna had created a night sky that would respond to the will of whoever was in the room, showing meteor showers, zooming in on certain stars, things like that. Pinkie had forgone a specific room in favor of planting surprises throughout the castle. Coco and Rarity had teamed up to create something not unlike Rarity’s inspiration room; just a place Dusk or Moon Dancer could come to try something new.

“Thank you, all of you. This is amazing,” Duskfall said happily as the returned to the map room.

“We are glad you like it, but before we all retire to our homes, there is one thing we must ask, Duskfall. What are you hiding in that fortified room?” Luna questioned.

“It’s none of your business,” Duskfall instantly replied.

“Duskfall…” Luna trailed off warningly.

“Look, it’s nothing illegal; it’s just personal, OK? Am I not allowed to have some privacy or do you want me to spread my legs for you too?” Duskfall asked shortly.

“Told ya it was her porn stash,” Rainbow quipped.

“You know what? Fine, it is my porn collection and where I keep my smutty fanfics. Can you all go now?” Duskfall suddenly just really wanted to hold tight to one of the stuffed animals Fluttershy had given her and ~~cry herself to~~ sleep.

“We apologize, Duskfall. It wasn’t our intention to offend you,” Luna said remorsefully. Dusk took a deep breath.

“As princess, you have a certain right to be concerned about the people and what others might be doing to harm them. I can’t fault you for being concerned over a suspiciously well guarded room. Just…I need some time to myself right now,” Duskfall headed directly to her bedroom, locked the door, buried herself in stuffed animals, and cried.

Author's Notes:

Well... I hadn't intended for that to happen... poor Duskfall

Anyway, a few things to note in my personal life.

My laptop's keyboard has suddenly started losing keys. I'm sending it in for repair, as it is still under warranty. Unfortunately, that means for the next two or so weeks that the repairs take, I'm going to have to do all my writing on my desktop.

I know know about most people, but I personally value my comfort quite highly when I write and sitting in a chair for longer than an hour is a good way to make my very antsy. So while I'll try and keep a steady pace of chapters, I may fall behind.

As far as the puppy situation goes...

I've managed to get my dad on my side. He agrees I shouldn't be basically holding a full time job of dog sitting a dog that isn't mine with no compensation. Most of the world considers dog sitting a service and it was a service I was doing out of the kindness of my heart for no compensation. That stops when it starts to impact my health, physical and emotional.

Then I learned my little brother views me as his own personal slave. I wanted to cut back on the amount of time I watched the puppy. I'd still be willing to do it for free, but only 3 days a week. We even suggested that on the days he still had work he could drop off the puppy at a dog daycare for 15$ a day. My little brother said, and I quote:

"It is your responsibility to watch my dog when I'm at work. It's not my fault you're a pansy ass bitch and I'm not going to pay someone to watch my dog. It's not like you do anything all day anyway."

It took every shred of self control I had to not deck him then and there. The fact that he called it my "responsibility" is what really pissed me off. As if I were somehow obligated to watch his dog. I can accept being called names. I can even accept that he called me, essentially, a lazy layabout, even when I write (obviously), manage my own let's play youtube channel, and do script writing for another youtuber.

If I suddenly drop off the face of the earth, it'll be because I'm in jail for murdering the little shit.

The Funeral

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 12: The Funeral

Duskfall wanted to be anywhere but where she was at that moment. It was a small venue in the courtyard of Canterlot Castle. Everyone was wearing black. Neither Tom nor Twilight had ever been to a funeral and now Duskfall was attending theirs. It made her feel sick to her stomach and lightheaded at the same time. She could barely focus as Celestia took her place at the podium.

“Friends and family of Twilight Sparkle and Tom Williams, it is with a heavy heart that I must officiate this funeral service. Given the circumstance of their death, we will move directly to opening the floor to any who wish to speak. Please remain orderly and respectful,” Celestia requested as she stepped to the side. The first to speak was Night Light, Twilight’s father.

“There are few things in this world more terrible than when a parent has to bury their child,” Night Light began, “It seems like only yesterday that Twilight had earned her Cutie Mark. She was so full of life, so beautiful. And now she has been taken from us in a cruel twist of fate. I know that if she were here, she’d tell us not to grieve for her. Yet it is the nature of the living to mourn for those who have been lost.

“I did not know Tom very well, but my heart aches for him all the same. He had friends and family from his home and none of them could be here for his funeral. Those who knew him best are unable to say words of farewell. Although he was only here for a few scant months, he proved himself to be a good friend and together with Twilight, they made the ultimate sacrifice for not only Equestria, but all of Equuis. I am sure neither of them wished to die, but if they were given a choice in the matter, I am sure it would have been either this or to go into that eternal slumber in the embrace of their friends. Thank you,” Night Light stepped down. Shining Armor took his place.

“As I’m sure you all know Twilight was my little sister. At first, I saw Tom as only a stranger, but as time went on, I began to think of him as a little brother as well. Both were vibrant, full of life. Over the course of my tenure as Captain of the Guard, I have had to deal with loss, both those directly under me and of those out in the furthest corners of Equestria. I have grieved for every lost life, yet the death of my younger siblings hits me harder than any before. Maybe it was because there was a degree of separation before, but I would not wish even a fraction of this hurt on anyone.

“I am sure they would wish for us to stand together in this trying time. Through our bonds with each other, we are made stronger. I know the hole in each of our Hearts may never heal. Some days we will feel it more keenly than others. We will endure, because that is what they would want. Thank you,” Shining Armor gave the floor to Luna.

“Twilight Sparkle and Tom Williams were both extraordinary. Twilight heedlessly braved the Everfree Forest to confront the Nightmare and with the help of five others, she freed me from it. Shortly thereafter, Twilight was the one who gave me the push I needed to start acclimating to these modern times. Time and again trials were presented to her and she triumphed over them, big and small. She stumbled, as we all stumble, but with the strength of her friendships she was able to pick herself back up.

“Tom being brought to Equuis was partly my own doing. Had I thought to clean out my old room in the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight would have never found that summoning ritual and would likely still be with us today. As for the human himself, Tom would have been entirely in his rights to hate us, to curse our names with every breath. He did not. Instead, he chose to make the best of a bad situation. He made friends and worked hard to let Twilight have her body back. Tom would have been justified if he had decided our problems were our own and not lift a hoof to help. Yet he dove headfirst into helping us even at his own cost. He could be reclusive, irritable at times, but he strove to always make time for his friends. Both of them were more wonderful than I can put into words. I can only hope they rest in peace. Thank you,” Luna backed away from the podium. Chrysalis took her place.

“I owe Twilight and Tom more than I can put into words. When they needed me most, I was unable to help them. I hope to never fail that way again as that debt passes to what most would consider their next of kin, Duskfall. Without Tom and Twilight, I may have very well fallen to madness. They sent my best friend to me when I needed her most. After what happened at Cadence’s and Shining’s wedding, I would have expected resentment at the very least from Twilight. Yet she reached out in friendship. It is not by perfection that she became Princess of Friendship, but by her willingness to forgive.

“Tom was a stranger in a strange land. He was isolated from all he had ever known. Instead of lashing out, he adhered to what he believed in, even with no one to hold him accountable. Both Tom and Twilight were scholars and they shared their love of learning with those around them. I desperately wish I had one last chance to see them smile or to hear them laugh. All I can do now is trying to help share the burden of our grief. Thank you,” Chrysalis stepped down. Twilight Velvet stepped up next.

“My baby girl is gone. It feels like my Heart has been ripped from my chest. Someone I was beginning to see as a second son is gone. I’ve cried until no more tears would come. My Heart will continue to break and I will continue to cry, but I know I have to remain strong for those who are still here. My husband, my son, and my granddaughter. Thank you,” Velvet returned to her seat. A Changeling took her place.

“I am Drone #13458604 but I am also called Royal Flush. I know many of you won’t recognize me, but I begged Queen Chrysalis to come. I was assigned to Ponyville prior to the wedding. I observed Twilight and the other Elements for almost a month. I saw them struggle and I saw them triumph. Twilight was quick to take action, a beacon all could rally around. The way she cared for her friends was something special. I was not present at the attack in Canterlot, so I remained at my post in Ponyville.

“Soon after Twilight ascended to an Alicorn, I noticed something odd about Twilight. On the surface, her behavior seemed the same, but something about her word choice and the way she held herself seemed off to me. Soon thereafter, I learned from Queen Chrysalis that this mysterious difference was due to Tom inhabiting Twilight’s body. I learned that the mare I had come to admire was, in part, responsible for saving our queen.

“I call Tom and Twilight our champions. Not only for their actions in rescuing us from our hunger and our Darkness, but for saving Equuis from a terrible threat. If not for their sacrifice, many of us would not be here. Changeling culture is pragmatic, generally speaking. We bury our dead and move on. I find myself unable to do that. I did not know either of them personally and now I know it was a terrible mistake to not try and do so. My hesitation to act cost me friendship with two very special beings. I hope we can all avoid similar mistakes in the future. Thank you,” Royal Flush bowed out. Applejack was next.

“Ah had foolishly hoped, when Ah was younger, to never attend another funeral after mah parents passed away. Now Ah stand here speakin’ at the funeral of one of mah best friends and one who was quickly becoming another. When Twilight first came to Ponyville, Ah’ll admit, Ah was somethin’ of a workaholic. Ah knew everyone in Ponyville, but Ah couldn’t honestly claim to be close to any of ‘em. Twilight and the others helped me learn ta stop and smell the roses. Now Ah have friends like Junebug, Carrot Top, and more recently, Octavia. That’s in addition to the other Elements. Truly, mah life is richer fer knowing Twilight Sparkle.

“When Ah first met Tom, Ah didn’t think much of him. He was just someone who had unfortunately gotten caught up in one of Twilight’s experiments. During his first couple o’ weeks, he was quiet, subdued. Maybe it was his way o’ dealin’ with the grief of losin’ everything he’d ever known. After we came back from the Crystal Empire, somethin’ began to change. He was still generally quiet, but he started ta open up. He could be sarcastic, bitingly so, but was never malicious about it. He was always willin’ to go the extra mile fer a friend. Ah feel that Ah didn’t have enough time to truly know either Twilight or Tom. Now, I’ll never get the chance. Ah’ll still miss both of ‘em something fierce, but they’d want us to be strong. Thank you,” Applejack left the podium. Rainbow decided to go next.

“I’m not so good with words and I know I put my hoof in my mouth a lot. Tom and Twilight, they saw past that. I’ve done some pretty dumb things and I’ve said things that might be worse. Twilight has gotten me out of more than one tight spot, even if I dragged her into them and they were my own fault. I…I’m gonna miss her telling me off for practicing stunts too close to town.

“Tom and Twilight both helped me so much when it came down to my Wonderbolt’s exam. If not for them both and all of Ponyville helping out, I would’ve flunked for sure. I’ve been a leader of the Ponyville weather team for a few years now. I like to think I know a thing or two about leadership. Twilight, when the chips were down and all hope seemed lost, she was the one to step up. She was a real leader.

“Every leader needs support. Twilight found that support in her friends, but these last few months, I think she was getting more support from Tom than anyone else. I guess that makes sense, now that I think about it. They were in constant contact with each other. I can only imagine how many times Twilight almost self-destructed after the accident but Tom brought her back. I think Tom was great second-in-command material, even given the circumstances he and Twilight found themselves in. I can only imagine how the pair of them could’ve taken the world by storm once they separated. I’m really gonna miss them. Thank you,” Rainbow walked away. Moon Dancer chose to move towards the podium.

“I’ve probably known Twilight for the longest of anyone here, save her family and Celestia. We went to CSGU together from a very young age. As the two at the top of the class, we were constantly pushing each other to be better. For a long time, that was all that mattered to either of us, learning as much as we could. To this day I’m still shocked Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Lyra Heartstrings put up with us. Then, on little more than a whim, I decided to host a party. I wanted all my friends to be there and wound up looking forward to it more than I expected.

“When Twilight was a no show I felt betrayed. If I wanted anyone to come, it was her. I would learn much later that she had been off saving Equuis from certain doom, but she hadn’t even sent me a note saying she wouldn’t be at the party. I shut myself away. Books couldn’t betray me.

“A full year went by and my hurt festered and grew into something much darker. I cut all contact with my other friends and all but locked myself in my house permanently. I only left for food and books. It was pure serendipity that Tom and Twilight ran into Lyra on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration. It was Tom who spotted the warning signs of my behavior. He confronted me and refused to leave until I proved to his satisfaction that I wasn’t destroying myself. Of course, I was able to prove no such thing. I had been destroying myself. I don’t remember exactly when it started, but eventually I was cutting myself just to feel something.

“It was only by Twilight’s kindness that I’m here and not in a psychiatric ward. Tom readily admitted to me that his first choice would have been to have me in the care of professionals. I don’t know why Twilight decided to take a risk on me and now I’ll never get the chance to ask. Whatever her reasoning, I’m glad that both of them have helped put me on the road to healing. Thank you,” Moon Dancer traded places with Duskfall.

“I know some of you may find it disrespectful for me to speak here, wearing her face and using her voice. It might be more disrespectful of me to say nothing at all. I wouldn’t be here if Tom and Twilight were still here and I wish more than anything that I wasn’t here. If I could have had a choice I would have spared you all this terrible heartache. I didn’t have a choice and I’m sure just the sight of me brings a lot of you pain. Even so, I would like to say a few things about my originals.

“Tom was a theater nerd. He enjoyed learning so that he might teach others. He had a wicked sense of humor. I’m sure I’m not telling anyone anything new. Maybe what you didn’t know was that his favorite color was forest green. His favorite song was Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce. His favorite poem was the epic Beowulf. I know many would have reacted with fear or anger or panic if what happened to Tom happened to them. Instead, he took it on with a steady Heart. He did not rail against the Heavens, but took comfort in them. ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path’. Tom chose to trust and in the short time he was here on Equuis, he found joy.

“Twilight started as a very anti-social pony. Why spend time with others when she could be reading a book? Even those she spent time with she didn’t consider friends. Twilight lived a life of little to no passion before moving to Ponyville. Everything had become a dull, gray, lifeless cycle of repetition. Then she found the foretelling of the Mare in the Moon returning to Equestria. A wild idea took root in her mind. The story had to be true! There were so many little crumbs of evidence she could point out to prove her case, but if anyone knew anything about the Mare in the Moon, it would be Celestia. Celestia directed her to Ponyville.

“What once was gray was suddenly assaulted by a rainbow of color, in some cases literally. Even at what many might consider one of her lowest points, the strength of her personality caught five other mares in a desire to save the world from eternal night. At first Twilight saw them as annoyances to be tolerated. Adversity has ways of drawing people together. Almost every step of the group’s journey was harassed by the Nightmare, yet together they were able to overcome. Twilight saw the first spark of the Magic of Friendship in her life and the rest is history.

“Both Tom and Twilight were thrown together without warning or fanfare. They had their struggles, but they worked together, finding a way to survive and thrive in their new circumstance. I believe that is the most important thing they could have taught. Together, we are stronger than the sum of our parts. We may have lost them but their memories and lessons are still here for us to learn from. Thank you,” Duskfall walked off. After a few minutes of no one else stepping forward, Celestia returned to the podium.

“Before we finish today’s ceremonies, I would like to say a few final things. I taught Twilight for years. She was a joy to teach, always absorbing her lessons like a sponge. At the same time, I was distant with her. I didn’t want to admit to her how much I had grown to love her in such little time. I was repeating the same mistakes for different reasons.

“Ever since I saw her Cutie Mark, I started grooming her to take the position as Element of Magic and eventually a princess in her own right. I never asked if she wanted any of these things, instead thinking that I knew best. If I had asked, I believe she would have taken up the Element of Magic, but Twilight had no desire to navigate the mires of politics. That is something I forced upon her knowing she would likely wish to continue her life with her friends in Ponyville.

“Twilight helped to return my sister to me. I repaid her with duplicity. I asked her to solve problems she had no right being asked to solve. An incident with a dragon shortly after her stay in Ponyville began springs to mind. I sent her on dangerous missions with little to no help. Despite everything, she and her friends always came out on top. She was a good mare despite me, not because of me.

“For the first month or so Tom was here in Equuis, I fear I treated him rather abominably. I suppose a part of me just saw him as another Nightmare, threatening to spirit away Twilight for a thousand years. There is no excuse for what I said and did, yet he forgave me. One apology and it was as if it never happened, save a sarcastic remark every now and then. I have heard it said that holding onto a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. If anyone took those words to heart, it was Tom.

“Though they are gone, they will never be forgotten. I am sure they would appreciate the outpouring of love you all have shown. Thank you all so much and good night.”

Author's Notes:

Internet cookies for anyone who guessed Dusk was chanting "I will get Tom and Twilight back" in the back of her mind all chapter long.

I'm not entirely sure how well I represented this portion of the funeral. The only one I've been to that I was old enough to remember was my grandfather's and seeing how my favorite person on the face of the earth had just died... I was distracted.

A number of you are probably disappointed that I didn't state over and over again how people are sobbing and wailing and so on. There are only so many ways I can say it and it's kinda implied, since it's a funeral and all. I just didn't feel the need to put in thousand of ellipses and dashes. It would work if this were a TV show, but in text it would just look cluttered.

As for some characters not speaking, they just had no desire to do so. I poked and prodded the crew and those who wanted to speak did so. Would I have liked to have Pinkie talk on the subject of grief when her Element is Laughter? Sure, but she flat out doesn't want to talk right now and I'm not gonna force her. I may be dumb, but I ain't that stupid.

The Crime of Self-Hatred

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 13: The Crime of Self-Hatred

If Luna had thought she deserved this nightly torment before, it was nothing to how she felt now. The funeral service had been two days ago and Luna couldn’t shake the depressive feelings the event had brought to the surface. It was all Luna’s fault. She had come back from the moon only to make things worse again.

So it was as Luna prepared herself for her jailor after a night of tending to the Dream Realm. The punishment never lasted long. She had crafted the Tantabus to deliver just enough suffering to sting, but not enough that it would impact her whole day. Chrissy would have her head if she found out about the Tantabus.

Luna was self aware enough to realize that what she was doing wasn’t penance, just a hurtful expression of self-loathing. That didn’t mean she could bring herself to stop. Truly, she was a pitiable creature.

On tonight’s menu there were the ghostly forms of twin Alicorns. Tom and Twilight.

“You could’ve taken on the burden of the Magic, you know,” Twilight’s ghost taunted.

“You could’ve at least tried to stand up to Tirek,” Tom’s wraith commented.

“Shouldn’t you have known that I was a creature of curiosity? You were the same way once. Would you have poked around an ancient castle to find long lost secrets?” Twilight’s specter asked. Luna knew the answer, but couldn’t speak it out loud.

“Poor Luna, thinking all this time she was chosen by Magic. Ha! You were only the delivery girl. If you had been worthy of Magic, you would’ve been able to stop Tirek without relying on Discord,” Tom sneered.

“How could you send two untested combatants against a threat like Tirek? Neither of us had combat experience!” Twilight shrieked.

“Throwing all your problems at Twilight and hoping she’ll fix them. Nothing changed when I got involved, you simply lumped me in with her,” Tom growled.

“Maybe you and Celestia are really the Alicorns of Delegation,” Twilight said cruelly, “Can’t be bothered to deal with anything other than whiny nobles.”

It hurt so much, but Luna just shut her eyes and bore the pain. Nothing they had said was wrong. Truly the truth can cut deeper than any sword.

“We forgive you,” Luna’s ears perked up in surprise.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Luna cast her senses around her Dreamscape. The Tantabus was missing! She forced herself awake.

“How is this possible?!”

The Elements were enjoying a quiet moment grooming their pets in Rarity’s boutique. Well ‘enjoying’ may be overstating things. They were all exhausted. It didn’t take them long to realize they had all had nightmares involving a blue smoke monster.

“How much you wanna bet Coco and Moon Dancer had nightmares too?” Duskfall wondered.

“No bet. Too many coincidences like this happen around us,” Rainbow scoffed.

“Coco did seem more weary than usual, but when I asked her about it, she said she was fine,” Rarity noted.

“I wonder why I didn’t have any nightmares? I slept great!” Spike exclaimed.

“Maybe whatever it is only goes after pony dreams? We should probably tell Luna. The Dream Realm is her thing, after all,” Duskfall suggested. Soon the group plus Coco and Moon Dancer stood outside Luna’s home. They knocked and a frazzled looking Alicorn of the Night opened the door.

“Oh, friends, what brings you here?” Luna sounded as frazzled as she looked. They explained about how they all had a nightmare involving blue smoke.

“Do you know what it is, Luna?” Applejack asked. Luna sighed.

“The Tantabus is a creature of my nightmares. It escaped from my Dreamscape yesterday. I have been trying to track it down ever since. I simply do not know how it escaped. It should not be powerful enough for such a feat, and yet here we are,” Luna was frustrated with her own lack of understanding.

“So why has it targeted us and not the entire town?” Fluttershy questioned.

“I can only presume the Tantabus wishes to gain power as swiftly as possible. That makes the Elements a prime target for feeding. As for Coco and Moon Dancer, I can only assume the Tantabus wishes to cause me the most pain it can. It is a small mercy that it does not yet appear strong enough to invade the dreams of non-ponies. Still, we must act swiftly; lest it gain enough power to plague all of Equuis with nightmares,” Luna warned.

“Aren’t you in charge of the Dream Realm? Can’t you, I dunno, just squash it?” Rainbow wondered.

“Just because I shepherd the Dream Realm does not mean I am all powerful there. There is also a slight possibility that if the Tantabus gains enough power, it could break into the Waking World,” Luna warned.

“Lovely, how slight is this possibility?” Duskfall inquired.

“I can’t say for certain. As I said, it was never supposed to be able to break out of my own Dreamscape. There is no telling how much it has mutated in the time since then,” Luna answered.

“So what are we gonna do about it? If everyone is having nightmares all the time, there’ll be no time for making everyone laugh and that’s serious business!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Luna laid out her plan. That night they all gathered and were ready for Luna to hunt in their dreams. Thankfully Luna had come prepared for those who would be unable to sleep due to anxiety with one of her patented sleep spells. Soon everyone was in bed. Luna cast the spell.

“Fair hunting, Good Hunter,” Duskfall couldn’t stop herself from whispering as she faded into sleep.

Luna was unsure of where exactly to begin until she began Dream Walking. She felt a fleeting echo of the Tantabus in Rarity’s dream, so there she went. In Rarity’s dream there was Coco, Sweetie Belle, and Rarity’s parents. They appeared to be enjoying a quiet picnic.

“Oh, everyone, do eat up, I brought enough macaroni and cheese for all!” Rarity exclaimed happily, a dozen or so bowls of mac and cheese appearing. That was when the Tantabus struck. Suddenly scalding hot pasta was blasting from every bowl.

“Rarity, make it stop!” Sweetie Belle screamed in pain.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity cried out.

“Dame Rarity, it is only a dream!” Luna called out as she blasted a bowl out of the air, sending the Tantabus scurrying.

“Oh… oh right, it is a dream!” Rarity summoned a barrier around her family, protecting them from further noodle assault. Seeing its attempts to terrify had failed, the Tantabus fled to another dream.

“Are you able to handle yourself here?” Luna asked.

“So long as this is the worst of it, I can maintain this shield for as long as needed. Don’t worry about me, go catch that brute!” Rarity waved Luna on and Luna dipped back into the Dream Realm before entering the dream of Pinkie Pie.

“I have tracked the Tantabus here, I-” Luna was cut off by a sudden change in scenery.

“Sorry, I can’t help it! A dream idea just pops into my head and away we go!” Pinkie called out.

“I suppose I should not be surprised that you of all ponies are a lucid dreamer,” Luna remarked.

“You really shouldn’t,” Pinkie agreed as she went to bite into a dreamed up cake. The Tantabus tried to spook Pinkie by giving the cake and all the pastries in the current dream setting vicious fangs and horrible faces. Pinkie just giggled at the ghosties. She opened her mouth impossibly wide and swallowed the savage sweets in one go.

“I feel slightly disturbed,” Luna confessed as the Tantabus made its getaway.

“Poyo!” Pinkie chirped happily. Luna just shook her head and adopted the ‘it’s Pinkie Pie don’t question it’ mantra. The Tantabus still had to be captured.

Coco was relaxing as she listened to Octavia play her cello masterfully, as she always did. There was a simple pleasure in listening to the classics after a long day of sewing. It soothed and rejuvenated the mind so new ideas could spring forth. Really, Coco didn’t tell Octavia enough how much she appreciated these private performances. She could almost drift away to the sound until something made a ‘thunk’ sound next to her. Coco opened her eyes and saw a cello bow planted in the ground like an arrow.

“I don’t remember this part,” Coco said dumbly before rolling out of the way of another shot, “Octavia, stop!”

Luna burst onto the stage and knocked the cello away from the dream Octavia’s hooves.

“Fear not, Coco, this is only a dream!” Luna called out.

“Oh…right. A dream…” Coco barely had time to gather her wits when the booths around the stage were filled with dozens of dream Octavias, all armed with cellos and bows, “Eep.”

“The dream only has as much power as you allow it, Coco! Fight back!” Luna ordered as she saw the Tantabus fleeing in to the next dream.

“I’ll try,” Coco replied timidly as the Lunar Alicorn resumed her chase of the Tantabus.

Fluttershy had spent so much of her life taking care of others. She didn’t regret a second of it, but sometimes she wished that, like now, she was the pet, the one to be taken care of. If only she could find the one who could take care of her unconditionally while she took care of her animals. Fluttershy pushed such gloomy thoughts away as she enjoyed the giant Angel Bunny combing her mane. Then something wet splashed the back of her neck. Fluttershy looked up and saw Angel Bunny had been transformed into a monster. Fluttershy froze in shock, but was saved by Luna just in the nick of time.

“Thank you for saving me,” Fluttershy said demurely.

“Think nothing of it, Dame Fluttershy. I just wish I knew how the Tantabus is still gaining power!” Luna huffed in frustration as she spotted the thing slither away back into the Dream Realm.

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” Fluttershy encouraged.

“I appreciate your confidence in me,” Luna said fondly before resuming her chase.

What could be more perfect than this? There was a soft snowfall outside, family gathered around the fire, and drinking warm cider. This was what bliss truly was to Applejack. She took a sip of cider and snuggled closer to her mother. Applejack closed her eyes, just for a moment. When she opened them again everything was fire. Smoke was billowing out the sides of the house.

“MA! PA!” Applejack screamed. She tried to run into the burning house, but someone stopped her.

“You cannot change history, Dame Applejack. This is just a nightmare,” Luna said softly.

“Dammit all,” Applejack swore as tears escaped her eyes.

“Would you like me to take you somewhere happier?” Luna asked gently.

“No. Ah’ll be alright. Just…let me watch,” Applejack requested.

“Very well,” Luna stepped away and back into the Dream Realm.

“Captain Rainbow Dash! Land ho off the starboard bow!” Pharynx called out from the crow’s nest.

“Arg me hearties! Today we be digging up the treasure of Cotton Candy Beard, the most infamous pirate of the seven seas. After meself, of course!” Rainbow crowed in anticipation.

“Aye Aye, Captain Dash ma’am!” Her crew shouted back.

“Quartermaster Fluttershy, how look our supplies?” Rainbow asked.

“Supplies are good for another two months, captain!” Fluttershy eagerly answered.

“Good, now all ye landlubbers get ta yer rowboats! We have treasure to plunder!” Rainbow roared and soon thereafter, they made landfall and before they knew it, the treasure was unearthed. With a huge grin on her face, Rainbow opened the chest.

“I love you, Rainbow!”

“I love you too!”

“Oh, me too, me too!” Suddenly Rainbow was besieged by a swarm of mini-Pinkies all declaring their love for her.

“AHHHHHH!” Rainbow shouted in terror, but they had her wings pinned before she could escape.

“BEGONE!” Luna blasted away the fake Pinkies, freeing Rainbow.

“OK, I’m going to need to get a piece of that Tantabus. I’M GONNA MAKE IT PAY!” Rainbow screamed in rage.

“No time for that now, I have to capture it first!” Luna replied as she dove after the Tantabus back into the Dream Realm.

“What the fuck is this..?” Luna had no words for what she was seeing. Apparently the Tantabus, which was hovering on the other side of the arena, was thinking similar things as it just hovered there.

In the arena itself stood Duskfall, wearing an old fashioned tricorn hat, a gray duster coat, and brown leather boots on each of her hooves, and a reddish brown bandanna covering her face. In her magic she held what looked to be a saw attached to a shaft of wood.

None of this is what shocked Luna and the Tantabus. No, what stopped them both dead was the appalling amalgamation of rotting flesh and bone that dwarfed Duskfall’s size many times over. Duskfall was sprinting around the arena at a full gallop, sliding around the monstrosity’s attacks and lashing out with the saw at the same time. Luna couldn’t see Duskfall’s muzzle, but her eyes held a look of savage glee. She was having fun facing down this terrible thing!

“Duskfall, what is that?!” Luna finally gathered the wits required to shout.

“My just desserts for thinking I could be clever before your sleep spell took hold!” Duskfall called back without missing a beat, “Allow me to introduce The One Reborn, one of the ugliest things to ever grace the Human Consciousness! Tom never actually got around to playing Bloodborne, but his friends were crazy about it.”

“So you’re alright to deal with this…thing?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, this is fun! Even if it does get out of hand, Twilight taught herself to lucid dream almost immediately after your return. Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be hunting, Good Hunter?” Duskfall nodded towards the Tantabus. Her lapse of focus almost got her squashed, but she dodge rolled at the last moment.

The Tantabus, seeming to realize it was being talked about, slipped once more into the Dream Realm. With one final shudder as she looked at the grotesque creature, Luna followed.

Moon Dancer was alone. Had she ever known the company of another? She couldn’t remember. All that existed was her room and her straightjacket. Maybe that was all that ever existed. There was something soothing in the isolation. There was calmness in not being able to move, to hurt herself. What had she been worried about again? It all seemed like a story she had been told once when she had been only half paying attention.

“They abandoned you,” A voice called from the void.

“Who’s there?” Moon Dancer’s own voice surprised her.

“You are worthless,” The same voice said.

“Stop it!” Moon Dancer cried out. Suddenly her straightjacket felt like a prison. She wanted to run away from the voice.

“Who could ever love a pathetic excuse for a mare like you?” The voice continued.

“SHUT UP!” Moon Dancer screamed.

“Moon Dancer, you have friends that care about you! You are stronger than you believe!” Luna burst onto the scene. Suddenly everything came back to Moon Dancer. Her friends, the good times she had with them. The straightjacket fell away and Moon Dancer stood on her own four hooves.

“I locked myself away. I won’t make the same mistake twice!” Moon Dancer swore. Suddenly her world exploded into colors and on the horizon she could see all her friends waiting for her.

The Tantabus was threatening to swallow the whole of the Dream Realm. No longer content with a mere handful of ponies, it was now exerting its influence on all of Ponyville. Luna could sense the fabric between the Waking World and Dream Realm beginning to wear thin as the Tantabus pressed against it. It was time to take desperate action.

Focusing every scrap of power she had, she reached out to every dreamer in Ponyville and brought their dreams into a single shared dream. This had the desired effect of trapping the Tantabus in that dream, but with so many dreamers, Luna could only barely maintain the dream.

Duskfall was the first to catch on to what was happening. She offered a quick word of thanks that she had been able to kill The One Reborn just before the dreams had been merged. Everything in this shared dream was exceptional. Discord would’ve had a field day with this place, if he dreamed the same way mortals dreamed. Duskfall smirked as she spotted Lyra and Bonnie.

“A little on the nose, isn’t it?” Duskfall asked the conjoined mares. Lyra answered with a raspberry.

“Jealous, Dusky?” Bonnie teased.

“Hmm, maybe~” Duskfall snarked back.

“Oh, right, before I forget, you are coming to our place on Friday, got it missy?” Lyra ordered.

“Yes ma’am!” Duskfall saluted. Before they could appreciate this wonderland of imagination further, Luna called out.

“Everyone, heed me!” The populous gathered around Luna, who was in a bubble and clearly straining to keep the dream in one piece, “A terrible force known as the Tantabus is threatening to break into the Waking World and plunge it into eternal nightmare! Here it comes!”

The Tantabus, once a small wisp of magic, was now a huge blob threatening to cover the town. Luna tried to blast it, but was only able to weaken it slightly before the strain threatened to unravel the dream. The people of Ponyville fled, but the Elements, Chrysalis, Spike, Coco, and Moon Dancer gave chase.

The Tantabus flew around town, turning the buildings into monsters, causing further panic. Just trying to chase the Tantabus around with their small group wasn’t going to achieve anything. Duskfall amplified her voice.

“Everyone, this is a dream! The only limit here is your imagination! FIGH BACK!” Duskfall bellowed. Her message had the desired effect. The Tantabus made its first bid to escape the Dream Realm, but was quickly stopped by a Kaiju Derpy with a gallant knight Spike on her back.

Seeing their success, the rest of Ponyville stepped up. Suddenly the Tantabus was swarmed by golems created by Diamond Tiara. It was assaulted with a stream of bits courtesy of Filthy Rich. Thunderlane took on the role of a Greek god and sent masses of thunderbolts at the Tantabus. Alicorn Big Mac barreled into it using his Earth Pony strength, Pegasus flight, and Unicorn magic. Applejack summoned a pair of six shooters and unloaded into the Tantabus. Chrysalis became an Ursa Major and tackled the Tantabus. Carrot Top produced a giant carrot and used it as a baseball bat.

“Well, I’m not gonna sit this one out,” Duskfall’s grin turned vicious as she ditched the Hunter attire and instead donned something with way too many zippers and belts. Her saw cleaver was replaced with Two Become One, “CHARGE!”

All of Ponyville was on the attack, but the Tantabus seemed to only treat the assault as minor annoyances.

“I can’t hold the dream together much longer!” Luna warned, “If I fail, all of Equuis will be doomed and it will be all my fault!” Suddenly the Tantabus surged, knocking away everyone and growing even bigger.

“Am I crazy or did it just get bigger after Luna said that?” Spike asked. It was quite an astute observation from the young dragon.

“Luna, that thing is feeding off your negative emotions!” Duskfall exclaimed.

“Mayhap that is how it escaped my dreams in the first place. I created the Tantabus to give myself nightmares night after night. It was at first to punish myself for the damage I had done leading up to and during my time as Nightmare Moon. Then it served another purpose after Tom and Twilight’s death,” Luna confessed.

“Lulu you stupid bitch!” Chrysalis screamed at her friend, “How is this any different from Moon Dancer cutting herself?! IT SERVES NO PURPOSE!”

“I know… I just couldn’t bring myself to stop,” Luna sobbed.

“We can all yell at Luna for this later! For now we have a crisis!” Duskfall turned to the crowd, “Everyone get behind me! I’m gonna try something dangerous and I’d rather there not be any collateral!”

The residents of Ponyville obediently got behind Duskfall as she summoned a clone of herself. She then created a small red orb and passed it onto the clone.

“Raising Heart, set up,” The clone commanded.

“Standby ready…set up,” a metallic feminine voice called out. In a flash of light, the clone was clothed in a white dress with red and blue accents.

“Barrier Jacket…100%”

“Mana Pool… 100%”

“Set up complete. Awaiting orders, my master,” The red orb finally transformed into a long white and gold staff.

While this was happening, the original was pointing her keyblade directly at the Tantabus and muttering something over and over. Those closest to her could barely make it out.

Break the Bond

Cut the Fabric

Cleave the Stone

Stop the Magic

A stream of magic poured from her horn and turned black as it gathered at the tip of her Keyblade. The clone opened her mouth to speak as she pointed the staff at the Tantabus also.

“I summon the light of destruction down upon my prisoners. Stars, gather, and become the light which pierces everything. Tear through everything in a blaze of light!”

“FIRE!” Both shouted at the same time. A pale pink laser and a pitch black one were unleashed together, orbiting around each other before fusing just as they came into contact with the Tantabus.

The Tantabus screeched in pain. It lost shape and size at an incredible rate until it was once again barely more than a wisp of magic. The clone dissipated and Duskfall collapsed in a heap.

“Duskfall!” Everyone who could rushed to her side.

“I’m fine. Not doing that again anytime soon,” Duskfall groaned as she tried and failed to stand up.

“Now that the immediate threat is dealt with, Luna, what the fuck were you thinking?!” Chrysalis shouted.

“I have nearly brought doom to Equuis again…why can I do nothing right?!” Luna cried.

“Who fucking cares?! I’d be more worried if Equuis wasn’t facing a world ending threat at least once a month!” Duskfall barked, “So you fucked up a couple of times, so what?! Everyone forgave Twilight after the want-it need-it incident! Everyone forgave Trixie after the Alicorn Amulet incident! Everyone forgave Applejack for the Baked Bads! I could go on!” Duskfall forced herself to stand up with the strength of anger and marched herself into Luna’s face.

“Luna. I! FORGIVE! YOU! It was never your fault to begin with! Everything was just a series of unfortunate events! Now please give yourself some measure of forgiveness so we can get rid of the Tantabus and get you an appointment with a therapist. I hate to break it to you, but spouting pretty words was Twilight’s forte, not mine,” Duskfall’s strength spent once more, she fell over again.

“Is it really so simple?” Luna asked meekly.

“It can be,” Moon Dancer shrugged, “We were doing the same thing for different reasons. Either way, it ultimately boils down to self-hatred. Can you remember the things that make you great, Luna? Your humor? Your willingness to help others? Your Loyalty? Your good Heart?”

“All this may seem insurmountable, Lulu, but you’ve made it this far. You can’t give up now,” Chrysalis pleaded. Luna started to laugh weakly.

“Look at me…almost four thousand years old and I still need to be lectured like a foal. Aren’t I pathetic? But you have a point. I can’t simply give up now. I have to keep fighting. For my sister, for my friends, for my people, I will keep fighting,” As Luna stated her resolve, the Tantabus dissolved completely. With the mission completed, the shared dream came to an end. Now all that was left was to look forward to a new dawn.

Author's Notes:

OK, so everything's worked out so I only have dog duty 3 days a week.

This chapter was hard to write. I had to think of different things the crew would be dreaming of that would reflect them but not steal from the episode. Except Fluttershy's dream, because that was perfect as is. Pinkie's I left more or less intact because I think whoever thought Pinkie Pie of all ponies would be afraid of cake must have been smoking that dank kush. 420 blaze it... Kids still say that, right?

The Star vs. The Forces of Evil season 4 might have been a dumpster fire to end all dumpster fires, but given the series finale was the only time I could understand the Whispering Spell and didn't have to rely on guesses that's what I used. It doesn't hurt that the finale version of the Whispering Spell is kinda sexy sounding.

Duskfall wielding Two Become One was so obvious I couldn't do anything else. If I had chosen anything else I would be eternally disappointed in myself. You guys would've been disappointed in me. Now that it's over and done with What Keyblade would you choose for Duskfall? Comment below!

I know a lot of people don't care for this episode. Hopefully I put it in a context that was at least tolerable.

Nightmare Night Shenanigans

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 14: Nightmare Night Shenanigans

Fluttershy would likely never claim Nightmare Night as one of her favorite holidays. However, a lot had changed in the last year since the last Nightmare Night. She could sing in front of crowds, she had performed at the Equestrian Games, and one of her best friends had died. Looking at all that, it was hard to be afraid of something as innocuous as a holiday. Still, Fluttershy had no intention of going outside that night. Just because it wasn’t scary didn’t mean she was completely comfortable with it yet.

That was until Angel Bunny announced he was out of carrots. Why he hadn’t brought that up sometime during the day or when he had noticed his carrot supply running low, Fluttershy had a fair idea. Fluttershy sometimes worried that if Angel applied any more ‘tough love’ she’d wind up with bruises.

So that was how Fluttershy wound up walking the streets of Ponyville just as the finishing touches were put on the Nightmare Night decorations. She’d just get the carrots and return home. No big deal, right?

“Fluttershy? What are you doin’ out and about on Nightmare Night?” Granny Smith called out as she spotted the Pegasus.

“Angel ran out of carrots and decided to wait until now to tell me. Speaking of food for Angel, would you mind if I took a little bit of your hay?” Fluttershy asked politely.

“Sorry Fluttershy, we need all of it fer the Apple Family Haunted Maze!” Granny Smith replied, “It’s the scariest maze that ever was! Who knows what lurks inside?!”

“Granny Smith please…” Fluttershy protested weakly.

“Is that a mummified pony that just leaped out at ya?!” Granny suddenly shouted, startling Fluttershy, “And what’s that crunchin’ sound beneath your hooves? The bones of those who didn’t make it, perhaps?!”

“Granny, quit pickin’ on Fluttershy!” Applejack trotted up, just before Fluttershy could go full panic mode.

“I ain’t pickin’ on nobody!” Granny grumbled.

“Anyway, strange to see ya’ll out on Nightmare Night Fluttershy,” Applejack remarked.

“I had some last minute errands to attend to,” Fluttershy responded as she fought to get her heart rate under control.

“Well, now that yer here, why not come with me to the castle? Everyone is gonna be there, if you catch mah drift,” Fluttershy had to think about it a moment before realizing what the apple farmer meant.

“How did Duskfall manage that? Human Fluttershy is even more timid than I am,” Fluttershy noted.

“I dunno. You’ll just have ta ask her,” Applejack shrugged. That was incentive enough to get Fluttershy to follow Applejack to the castle.

“OK, now that everyone, including pony Fluttershy, is here we need to establish a single ground rule!” Duskfall called out to everyone gathered in the cavernous library. There were a few groans at her statement, “Relax, it’s nothing bad. It’s just my inherited OCD can’t stand the idea of saying ‘pony’ or ‘human’ before each of your names. So, one of each pair is gonna have to choose a new name for themselves. The only thing I ask is you put a little more thought into it than simply naming yourself something like Applejack 1 or Rainbow Dash Alpha.”

“Oh! Can I be called Prisma?!” Human Rainbow asked excitedly.

“Like the app?” Sunset asked.

“No! Like a feminine form of Prismo!” Human Rainbow corrected.

“Like the Adventure Time guy?” Human Pinkie asked.

“Yes!” Human Rainbow nodded energetically.

“That makes a strange amount of sense that you’d want to be called that…any objections?” Duskfall surveyed the room. No objections were raised, so the motion carried.

“Alright! Now the best pickles in the Multiverse will be mine!” Prisma cackled.

“I don’t know this lunatic,” Rainbow deadpanned.

“Who’s next?” Duskfall surveyed the room.

“I wouldn’t mind being called Artemis,” Human Fluttershy offered.

“Goddess of wild animals? What a fitting nom de plume for any Fluttershy,” Discord remarked approvingly.

“Well, shoot, I ain’t no good with names, but maybe ya’ll can call me Appletini?” Pony Applejack suggested.

“Now there’s a name we haven’t heard in a long time,” Pony Pinkie quipped.

“Sounds like there’s a story behind that name,” Human Applejack observed.

“To make a long story short, the Elements ran into a magic plant that had various physical effects on them. Applejack was shrunk down to the size of a mouse, so Spike nicknamed her Appletini,” Duskfall explained.

“Well, that’s three down, two more to go,” Chrysalis remarked.

“Well, I already go by Pinkie Pie,” Pony Pinkie began.

“But my full name is Pinkamena Diane Pie,” Human Pinkie continued.

“So do we start calling one of us Pinkamena full time?” Pony Pinkie wondered.

“Or does one of us get called Diane?” Human Pinkie finished.

“We could just call one of you the Pink Lord of the Sith,” Sunset snarked.

“Too wordy,” Both Pinkies dismissed the idea.

“If you really wanted to be on the nose, then we could call one of you Cotton Candy,” Lyra joked.

“Not happening, harp butt,” Human Pinkie dismissed the idea.

“It’s not a harp, it’s a lyre!” Lyra pouted. Bonnie giggled before pecking her marefriend on the cheek.

“We could call pony Pinkie Full Moon,” Moon Dancer chuckled.

“Are you implying something, missy?” Pony Pinkie fake growled.

“You could stand to cut back on the sweets, sweetie,” Human Pinkie smirked.

“Betrayed by my own sister slash interdimensional doppelganger!” Pony Pinkie clutched at her heart dramatically.

“What about Sakura as a name? Their petals are pink,” Luna offered. The two Pinkies mulled it over for a second.

“Sounds good to me,” Human Pinkie decided.

“Same here, but now we have to choose who gets the new name,” Pony Pinkie noted.

“How does a round of Rock-Paper-Scissors sound?” Human Pinkie suggested, “Winner takes the new name?”

“I’m down,” Pony Pinkie agreed. Before anyone could ask how they planned to play a game meant for hands with hooves, they had already preformed the ritual chant, “I win!” The newly named Sakura cheered.

“Dang it,” Human Pinkie grumbled.

“And then there was one,” Harmonia stated.

“You can’t rush perfection, darling,” Pony Rarity complained.

“And if one of us is going to give up our name, it has to be perfection,” Human Rarity agreed.

“It’s not like it’s a permanent thing,” Sakura said reasonably.

“Only when we’re with our counterparts,” Artemis reminded.

“Still, how often does one have an opportunity to rebrand oneself?” Human Rarity asked.

“Even if it is only a part time thing, we still have to put our best hoof forward,” Pony Rarity said firmly.

“Aphrodite?” Artemis suggested.

“I’d rather not be named after an unfaithful shrew,” Human Rarity said flatly.

“I suppose one of us could go by Bella,” Pony Rarity mused, “It is similar enough to the second part of our name.”

“That just smacks of unoriginality and I don’t think either of us could stand that,” Human Rarity remarked.

“I might have an idea,” Duskfall spoke up.

“Is this going to be a Twilight worthy name or naming after a goddess?” Discord taunted.

“Surprisingly neither,” Duskfall replied drily, “Anwyn, a derivative of Anwen, Welsh meaning ‘very fair’ or ‘beautiful’. It’s both fitting and not a particularly common name.” Both white Unicorns turned it over in their heads.

“I can get behind that,” Human Rarity decided.

“Yes, it has a certain appeal,” Pony Rarity agreed.

“Why do you know a Welsh name?” Prisma asked.

“A book series called Children of the Red King got Tom interested in Welsh things for a while when he was younger. Fun fact, King Arthur’s first appearance was in Welsh mythology,” Dusk answered happily. Sharing knowledge was fun.

“So, who gets the new name?” Sakura asked excitedly.

“We could play Rock-Paper-Scissors,” Human Rarity giggled. Pony Rarity rolled her eyes good naturedly.

“I will think of a number between one and ten. Whichever Rarity is closest in their guess will receive the name Anwyn. Is this acceptable?” Harmonia asked. Both agreed to the terms and after a moment of thought, chose their number.

“Nine,” Human Rarity decided.

“Four,” Was pony Rarity’s choice.

“The number was five. Pony Rarity is hereby dubbed Anwyn,” Harmonia announced.

“Really? Five? You had a wealth of choices and you chose five?” Discord heckled.

“You simply fail to appreciate equilibrium, Discord,” Harmonia huffed.

“Now that all that is out of the way, it’s time for scary stories!” Both Pinkie and Sakura shouted.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy whispered to herself.

“I’ll go first!” Sakura happily chirped.

“It was a Tuesday in Ponyville-”

“Ahh!” Half the room fake screamed.

“That’s not the scary part, you goofballs!” The irony of a Pinkie calling anyone else a goofball was not lost, “Anyway, it was just a regular day in Ponyville. A certain pink party pony was going about her usual baking routine when she noticed her baking soda had gone missing.

“‘That’s odd’ she said to herself. She had made sure everything was properly measure just like always before starting. Then she noticed a white trail on the floor. Licking it, she discovered it was a trail of her missing baking soda! Nose to the ground, she followed the trail all across Ponyville and eventually found herself at the burnt out ruins of Golden Oaks. There she ran headfirst into someone. She looked up to see who it was. Where a face should have been was an empty void! IT WAS THE SLENDER MARE!” Sakura shrieked.

Fluttershy flinched away as the rest of the room broke into fake exclamations of fear and giggling. Artemis noticed her counterpart’s distress.

“I need to use the bathroom. Would you show me where it is, Fluttershy?” Artemis requested. Fluttershy seized the opportunity and the pair left the library.

“You don’t really need to use the bathroom, do you?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“You looked like you weren’t having fun. So, what’s wrong?” Artemis asked gently.

“It’s Nightmare Night. I know I shouldn’t be afraid after everything that I’ve done and seen, but I can’t help it!” Artemis looked curiously at the frustrated mare.

“Well, why don’t you tell me what’s so bad about Nightmare Night. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays,” Artemis revealed.

“It is?!” Fluttershy was shocked.

“I love all the cute costumes and adorable bats and spiders. I also have a bit of a sweet tooth, so even after I outgrow trick-or-treating I have the day after candy discounts to look forward to. I know Nightmare Night and Halloween aren’t exactly the same thing, but they seem pretty similar to me,” Artemis shrugged.

“But ponies are constantly out to frighten you. Doesn’t that bother you?” Fluttershy asked, mystified.

“My Rainbow- er, Prisma, I guess, made sure I could handle a few jump scares. I don’t enjoy scary movies at all, but on Halloween when it’s all in good fun? I’m fine with it. Didn’t you grow up with your Rainbow?” Artemis questioned.

“I did, but my Rainbow is usually gentle with me, even when we were kids,” Fluttershy answered.

“And Zephyr Breeze has never tried to scare you so you’d hide in your closet and lose your morning bathroom time?” Artemis inquired.

“Oh, he tried that…once,” Both Fluttershy grew wicked grins remembering what they had done to their respective brothers for that stunt.

“I guess we both have our hang-ups. You enjoy singing, but even with the Rainbooms I’m terrified of going on stage. I enjoy Halloween, but you hate Nightmare Night,” Artemis observed.

“I’d still like to have fun with our friends. I’m already here. Leaving now would just feel like a waste,” Fluttershy confessed.

“I feel the exact same way about playing in the Rainbooms,” That decided, the pair returned to the library.

“So, who’s ready to change into our costumes?” Anwyn asked the crowd. There was a great cheer and they all headed to her boutique. In short order the ponies, Discord, Harmonia, Chrysalis, Thorax, and Pharynx were in their preplanned costumes. Now all that was left were costumes for the visiting humans, Sunset, and Fluttershy.

“I wanna be a ninja!” Prisma instantly called out. Such an easy request was simple to fill.

“Can I be a gorgon?” Artemis asked hopefully. In short order a Greek toga and fake snakes were assembled.

“Ah’d like to be a tin man,” Applejack requested.

“Hmm, that was supposed to be Appletini’s costume next year…” Anwyn muttered.

“Ah don’t mind. Ah can go as Toto instead,” Appletini shrugged.

“One day you are going to run out of Wizard of Oz characters to dress up as,” Anwyn quipped.

“But today ain’t that day,” Appletini chuckled.

“I want those bell bottom pants!” Pinkie squealed and shook her head to turn her mane into an afro.

“I knew I was going to regret sewing this the moment I decided to do it,” Anwyn grumbled as she gave the item of clothing over to Pinkie.

“It could’ve been worse, darling,” Rarity snickered, “She could’ve asked for a polka dot skirt.”

“Small mercies,” Anwyn sighed, “What will you be choosing, dear?”

“A naval captain, perhaps? Just perfect for being seduced by a pretty mermaid,” Rarity teased as she selected a captain’s hat and uniform. Both Raritys tittered at the joke. While everyone was either laughing or weirded out, Sunset simply picked out a gas mask and a red jumpsuit.

“Well, that leaves just you, Fluttershy. What’ll it be?” Anwyn asked.

“My first thought is to go as Flutterbat, but that feels a bit lazy,” Fluttershy frowned.

“You could play it up a bit as more vampiric, but I see your point,” Anwyn acceded.

“Your Fluttershy can speak with animals, yes?” Rarity asked suddenly.

“I can,” Fluttershy replied. Rarity squealed and snatched up a fancy ball gown.

“Disney Princess!” Rarity held up the dress for inspection.

“That makes a silly amount of sense,” Prisma commented.

“If you all think so, then I don’t mind,” Fluttershy said and soon she was wearing the dress.

With costumes all chosen, the party moved to Sugar Cube Corner. Sakura and Pinkie worked together to set up games like pin the horn on the Nightmare, bobbing for apples, and musical chairs. It was a nice, low key affair to help ease Fluttershy into regular Nightmare Night activities. Surprisingly, Luna managed to avoid taking an out of season swim.

As those activities were winding down, Pinkie and Sakura dug out bags filled with everyone’s favorite candies.

“I even managed to get some Every Flavored Beans for you, Discord~!” Sakura exclaimed.

“On the one hand, I know you can buy those in the human world. On the other hand, I wouldn’t put it past you to have somehow acquired the real thing. Now the question becomes: Do I want to dive into that rabbit hole?” Duskfall mumbled to herself. Ultimately she decided the headache wasn’t worth it.

“So, Fluttershy, is there anything you’d like to do tonight?” Discord asked as he popped a bean in his mouth.

“I know you’ve been going easy on me tonight, so maybe I can return the favor and try and scare you all?” Fluttershy said hesitantly. Neither Rainbow could stop from laughing at the idea of Fluttershy trying to scare them, but quickly shut up after receiving a room full of dirty looks. Fluttershy told the group to meet at her cottage in an hour and slipped away.

“This should prove interesting,” Lyra remarked.

“It’s always the quiet ones…” Bonnie trailed off ominously.

“I look forward to her attempts, whatever they are,” Discord stated confidently, not telling anyone that Fluttershy had asked for his assistance.

“Just so long as she doesn’t go full yandere on us,” Duskfall snarked.

“I do not believe such a thing is in Fluttershy’s character, even as a joke,” Harmonia noted.

“Who would she even go yandere for? Rainbow?” Chrysalis wondered.

“That’s an interesting question,” Artemis said neutrally.

An hour later and the crew arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Oh, this is wonderful. I’ve always dreamed of living in a place like this,” Artemis sighed happily. Duskfall opened the door and two things were immediately obvious. First, Fluttershy had expanded the room to accommodate the number of guests, likely with Discord’s help. Second, the large table was set as if for a tea party.

“Welcome, friends, to Fluttershy’s tea party~” Fluttershy’s voice drifted across the room, but it was difficult to tell where exactly it was coming from. Everyone sat at the table.

“If someone would use the sugar?” Fluttershy requested. Anwyn lifted the bowl of sugar with her magic and put a small amount into her own cup, “Oh no! The sugar is actually cyanide! Anwyn has died!” In a flash of light, suddenly Anwyn had vanished.

“Always the quiet ones!” Bonnie reminded.

“This just got very entertaining,” Discord quipped as he took a bite of a cucumber sandwich.

“The cucumber sandwiches were dipped in ricin! Discord is no longer among the living,” Another flash of light and Discord was gone.

“Trust nothing, message received,” Duskfall smirked.

“Behind you!” Fluttershy suddenly called out. Everyone turned and saw five life sized pictures drop from the ceiling.

“Fluttershy, have you been taking manga from the other side of the portal?” Artemis asked.

“Uh… no? Why?” Fluttershy sounded confused. Artemis got out of her chair and pointed at each of the figures.

“Ranma Saotome, Bulma, Utena Tenjou, Rei Ayanami, and Usagi Tsukino,” Artemis listed off.

“Well this just got existential real quick,” Duskfall groaned, “I shouldn’t be surprised at the parallels, and yet I am…wait, I know why I’m surprised! Pony media is only the equivalent of the 80s! The Equestrian version of The Shining only came out two years ago! Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon, and Evangelion all came out in the mid to late 90s! This requires research!”

“Down, Duskfall, maybe the Neighpan entertainment industry is ahead of its Equestrian counterpart? Whatever the case, it’ll keep until tomorrow,” Moon Dancer soothed Duskfall back into her seat.

“‘Sailor Moon’ did you say?” Luna’s ears perked in interest.

“‘In the name of the Moon, I will punish you’,” Artemis giggled.

“I must know more!” Luna demanded.

“I think you are all getting a little distracted. After all, Rei did pull out a knife and kill Artemis when she approached,” Fluttershy sighed in faux disappointment and Artemis vanished in a flash.

“Right, murder stuff going on,” Prisma reminded herself. A small dog then walked out of the gloom.

“Aw, look at the cute puppy!” Thorax went to pet the dog, who happily licked the Changeling.

“Thorax has been mauled to death by a vicious animal,” Fluttershy announced.

“Dang it,” Thorax said before vanishing.

"Why is my brother such an idiot?" Pharynx lamented.

“So how long is this gonna go, Flutters?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, I won’t be killing all of you…tonight anyway. Just as many as it takes to make the lesson sink in,” Suddenly the chairs they were sitting in began to melt into the floor. Those with wings were quickly in the air. The Pinkies took a wild guess of ‘the floor is lava’ and jumped to a nearby couch. Sunset used magic to levitate above the ground. Moon Dancer chose to teleport to join the Pinkies on the couch. Appletini, with her trusty rope, lassoed a ceiling beam and shimmied up to safety.

“Well, shoot, I ain’t in the right costume fer meltin’ away,” Applejack complained mildly as she, Coco, Bonnie, Lyra, and Rarity disappeared into the floor. Bonnie and Lyra were hugging each other as they met their dramatic doom.

“Not even trying to save your friends? For shame~” Fluttershy rebuked the survivors, “I think that calls for an extra special final elimination round.” Suddenly a bolt of lightning caught Rainbow and she vanished. A volcano appeared and erupted, coating both remaining Changelings in fake lava before they vanished.

“Everyone to the couch!” Duskfall ordered. Harmonia, Luna, Appletini, Sunset, Prisma, and Duskfall joined the Pinkies on the couch, “Now create a shield with every defensive shield you know!”

The shield sprang into existence not a second too soon, as acid rain started to pour down, followed by meteors and a swarm of locust. Just as suddenly as the calamity started, it ended.

“Congratulations to the eight of you for surviving. You win Nightmare Night!” Suddenly everything was restored to normal and everyone, even Fluttershy was gathered in the expanded room.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Rainbow shouted.

“Fluttershy, darling, that was truly inspired!” Anwyn complimented.

“Oh, I can’t take all the credit. Angel Bunny gave me a few ideas,” Fluttershy demurred, “And of course I couldn’t have done any of it without Discord’s help.”

“I only supplied you with the Magic. It was you who turned it into something special,” Discord said warmly. The clock on Fluttershy’s wall chose that moment to strike midnight.

“Tonight was a fantastic night, but I think it’s about time to get everyone home,” Sunset remarked.

“Sorry we ran out of time for your family’s maze, Appletini,” Fluttershy apologized.

“I’d take somethin’ as fun as this over a maze any day o’ the week. Ya’ll don’t need to apologize for it!” Appletini insisted.

“Can we expect something like this in future Nightmare Nights?” Anwyn asked.

“I don’t know about that. I had a lot of fun doing this,” Fluttershy began.

“Future yandere serial killer,” Bonnie snarked before getting ribbed by Lyra. Fluttershy ignored her.

“However, I’d still prefer to have a quiet night with my animals, if that’s OK?” Fluttershy confessed.

“Whatever makes you happiest, we’ll all support you,” Chrysalis replied and everyone else made noises of agreement.

“Come on denizens of the other side, tomorrow is a school day. I wouldn’t want you falling asleep during first period,” Duskfall teased as she led the humans and Sunset back to the castle with Harmonia following behind.

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief as the last of her friends exited her cottage and the dimensions returned to normal. She was exhausted, but as she headed up to bed and pulled up the covers, Fluttershy fell asleep with a smile.

Author's Notes:

Discord was dressed as a Tree, Harmonia was dressed as a Draconequus and if asked, they'd both say they were dressed as trash. Yes, it is a reference to an Undertale comic, no I am not sorry.

Luna was dressed as a Paladin, Chrysalis was dressed as Celestia, Lyra and Bonnie were dressed as a ketchup bottle and mustard bottle respectively, Moon Dancer was dressed as the Fourth Doctor, Duskfall was dressed as the Nostalgia Critic, Thorax was dressed as a jackalope, and Pharynx was dressed as a Changeling Drone (wet blanket that he is). I think that's everyone who I didn't directly address costumes for in the chapter.

If the EQG crew and the Equestrian crew are going to spend any serious amount of time together, the name thing had to be sorted out sooner or later. It was so hard to scrape by just with Human Rainbow together with Pony Rainbow. I hope the name choices were at least acceptable. Also, while making all the humans or all the ponies choose new names would've made things easier, it also would have come off as incredibly racist/speciesism.

The main thing I want to bring attention to is how I view the two Fluttershys.

Both Fluttershys are timid by nature. However, pony Fluttershy has borderline Avoidance Personality Disorder, probably due to the bullying she suffered during flight school. Human Fluttershy is just generally timid and is capable of standing up for herself, somewhat. The reason I think this is due to the scene in the first EQG movie where human Fluttershy talks back to Sunset. Season 1 pony Fluttershy would have never done something like that.

As of this moment, I don't know how exactly I'll get each of the pony/human pairs to have one on one time, but I do plan on having them all have a nice chat with each other or doing something to showcase a difference sooner or later.

I'm sure no one is surprised to hear this chapter was a btch to write. Having to juggle the vast majority of the cast in a single chapter, especially with all the moving parts of Fluttershy's little death game, was exceptionally difficult. I had to make a spreadsheet just to make sure I wasn't forgetting anyone.

Also, I suck at writing horror except for psychological horror. So forgive me if Pinkie's little creepypasta about the Slender Mare was underwhelming. I take full responsibility for that.

A Nerd's First Date

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 15: A Nerd's First Date

Duskfall was nervous. There was no getting around that fact as she walked up to Lyra and Bonnie’s place. She had, of course, seen the pair while helping Luna with her science project gone wrong and two days ago on Nightmare Night. Yet now there was a feeling of trepidation in her Heart.

Well, there was no helping it now. Duskfall had arrived at the door of the two secret agent’s shared living space. Duskfall knocked on the door before she could wimp out.

“Coming!” A muffled voice called out and a moment later Bonnie opened the door, “Duskfall! Come in!” Duskfall was quickly ushered into the house.

“Alright, Dusky, I’m sure you’ve had an idea as to why we’ve called you here,” Lyra began.

“I did ask you to teach me sex things, so yeah, I had an idea,” Duskfall snarked.

“Well, luckily for you, we’ve decided to go above and beyond the call of duty,” Bonnie smirked.

“Since you have zero dating experience-” Lyra started to say.

“Actually, Tom dated for a couple of months…that ended poorly. OK, zero experience,” Duskfall pouted.

“Lyra and I are going to teach you how to form a relationship and date and all that jazz,” Bonnie promised.

“Oh…should I go get dressed up? Are we gonna have dinner and a movie?” Duskfall wasn’t sure if she liked where this was going, but she was willing to find out.

“I know dinner and a movie is stereotypical first date stuff, but honestly, that’s more like, fifth or sixth date material. Bonnie and I both agree a first day should be more one-on-one focused, or in this case two-on-one. Instead of a dinner date at a restaurant and all the pressures that come with that, we were thinking more a nice picnic where we can talk about our day and share our interests and stuff. Just a low key getting to know each other a little better,” Lyra explained.

“That sounds really nice, actually,” Duskfall admitted.

“Yeah, I think going to the movies as a first date is a bad idea for two reasons. Firstly, you can’t talk during the movie and a first date is a bit fast for hoof holding and/or kissing. Secondly, it puts a lot of pressure on the person picking the movie. Will the other person like the movie? What if I like it but the other person hates it? What if it’s the opposite? Can we talk about the movie like civilized people afterward? Will we talk about it at all? That’s not even considering the inevitable question of who’s paying, which is also a problem with a dinner date. I’ve heard of more than a few arguments starting over who’s going to pay,” Bonnie sighed.

“Which is just silly, I think. When Bonnie and I were just starting to date, we agreed to take turns paying for the date, if it wound up being something that needed to be paid for. I know here in Equestria it’s usually considered the mare’s duty to pay or in the Griffon Empire it’s the stallion or cock’s duty to pay, but that always seemed kinda sexist to me,” Lyra remarked.

“Well there’s a parallel I recognize from Tom’s home. In those couple of months he was dating, he was always expected to pay for everything,” Duskfall observed.

“Yeah, it works fine for some couples, but I’ve always thought that if relationships are supposed to be partnerships, then it doesn’t make sense for one party to always be the one paying. For as long as I’ve known the Cakes, they’ve just avoided the issue completely by having special baking dates where they’ll choose a recipe they haven’t tried before and make it together,” Bonnie revealed.

“That sounds really sweet, no pun intended,” Duskfall opined.

“Yeah, it really is. But that the point we’re trying to make here is that the first couple of dates should be as low stress as possible. Dating in and of itself can be stressful enough. A lot of people get stressed over money, so avoiding that as much as possible is a good idea, in my opinion,” Lyra stated and Bonnie nodded in agreement.

“So where are we going for this picnic?” Duskfall asked.

“Whitetail Woods seemed like a nice, out of the way spot where we can enjoy ourselves without too much risk of being interrupted,” Bonnie replied.

“I avail myself to your superior dating knowledge,” Duskfall said with a smile. Lyra floated a picnic basket out of the kitchen and they were soon underway.

“So, Duskfall, how have you been since Nightmare Night?” Lyra asked.

“I have nothing particularly interesting to report. I just feel like my research has hit a dead end. I can’t help but get the feeling there’s some core concept we just don’t understand that’s keeping us from making that final breakthrough,” Duskfall sighed.

“Would you like to try and explain? Sometimes all you need is a fresh perspective, even if neither of us are experts in the field,” Bonnie offered. Duskfall turned the problem around in her head for a bit, trying to think of a good way to explain it.

“Well, Equuis has known about Souls for almost as long as sapient species have practiced magic of any kind. I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s some function of the Soul that no one has realized yet,” Duskfall made her best attempt at an explanation.

“Well, a Soul is a Soul, isn’t it? It’s a metaphysical entity tied to the Body that plays a large role in dictating who we are as people. What more could there be?” Lyra questioned.

“That’s just it. Fragments of Souls have been taken from people to little appreciable effect and I’m a conglomerate of two Souls. Common logic would dictate that I would be an exact copy of all of Twilight and Tom’s personality traits. I have inherited a lot from them, but there are also things that are unique to me. Just for an example, Tom and Twilight were both great with kids. I’d rather shoot spit wads at the little twerps,” Duskfall answered.

“I dunno if you’re being completely honest on that one, Dusk. You did help Diamond Tiara quite a bit from what I’ve heard,” Bonnie protested.

“There’s a difference between actually being a responsible adult and just pretending to be one. If Diamond had come up to me and tried brown nosing like she did with Tom and Twilight, I would’ve probably dunked her head in a toilet and given her a swirly,” Duskfall said casually.

“If you say so,” Lyra clearly wasn’t buying it.

“Anyway, there’s clearly something afoot that we don’t understand. I wonder if this is how Einstein felt before he discovered the general theory of relativity?” Duskfall mused, “How have you two been doing recently?”

“I’ve been trying to incorporate a few new flavors into my candy shop,” Bonnie reveled.

“And as taste tester in chief, I can say they’ve mostly been successes,” Lyra piped in happily.

“Yes, mostly,” Bonnie giggled.

“We don’t talk about the black licorice taffy,” Lyra tried to frown, but couldn’t quite manage it.

“You tried to use black licorice? And I thought you were a proper candy maker Bon Bon,” Duskfall teased. Bonnie swatted Duskfall with her tail.

“Oh, hush you. Luna likes my black licorice lineup and so does Chrysalis,” Bonnie huffed as they arrived at the spot in Whitetail Woods and began to set up the picnic.

“Yeah, well, Luna and Chrysalis are both weirdos,” Duskfall shrugged.

“I dare ya to say that to their faces,” Lyra challenged.

“I will, but you’ll have to pay for my hospital bills,” Duskfall quipped.

“Deal,” Lyra accepted.

“No trying to get each other killed,” Bonnie said in a put upon voice.

“Yes Mom,” Lyra and Dusk chorused. Bonnie just rolled her eyes.

“So what’s new with you, Lyra?” Duskfall asked.

“I’ve started getting back in practice with my lyre. Vinyl, Octavia, and I have been getting together to jam every now and then. It’s been really nice,” Lyra admitted. Bonnie moved to nuzzle Lyra.

“I don’t tell you enough how much I appreciate you helping me run the shop,” Bonnie said lovingly.

“Why wouldn’t I want to spend more time with the smartest, kindest, most drop dead sexy mare on Equuis?” Lyra flirted as she leaned in for a quick peck on Bonnie’s lips.

“Lyra!” Bonnie squealed cutely. Duskfall would be lying if she said she didn’t want a little of what Lyra and Bonnie had for herself. They were just so sweet. The best she could do would be to set up something for Tom and Twilight when she got them back, so no change in plan there.

“So, Duskfall, what do you do for relaxation?” Lyra asked as she plucked a sandwich out of the picnic basket and started eating.

“I’m not really sure. All my time has been devoted to research,” That wasn’t entirely true. There was one activity Duskfall had taken to doing when no one was around to blow off steam. She just didn’t want anyone else to know about it.

“You’re going to burn yourself out if all you ever do is study,” Bonnie warned. Duskfall stopped herself from saying the first thing that popped into her head.

“I’ll be sure to find something. Maybe I can try baking with Pinkie? Isn’t the ability to cook a desirable trait?” Duskfall asked flippantly, “Tom and Twilight were not great in the kitchen.”

“If that’s what you want,” Bonnie said neutrally. It was clear she was not a fan of Duskfall’s reason for wanting to learn to cook.

“You should do something because you enjoy it, not because you think it’ll make you more attractive to someone. That’s kinda the whole point of doing something for relaxation,” Lyra pointed out.

“Bettering myself is relaxing,” Duskfall said stubbornly.

“OK, five things that you like about yourself,” Bonnie ordered.

“Now you sound like a therapist,” Lyra and Bonnie both looked expectantly at Duskfall, “Fine! I like how purple I am… I guess I like the sound of my own voice, even if it isn’t my voice…I’m working with Rainbow to get in shape, so I like I’ve been sticking with that…Being an OP Alicorn is pretty cool…I’d say my friends, but honestly they’re Tom and Twilight’s friends who are taking pity on me, so…I like my sense of humor, even if it sounds egotistical to say I make myself laugh.”

“I feel a sudden, overwhelming desire to hug you,” Lyra stated just before she glomped onto Duskfall.

“I share this sudden inexplicable desire,” Bonnie said before she joined in the hugging. Duskfall knew she wouldn’t escape, so surrendered herself to the feels trip.

“OK, since I had to suffer through my damaged self-esteem, you two have to as well,” Duskfall insisted as she telekinetically lifted and peeled a banana.

“I like my musical talents, I like my minty green goodness, I like my ability to make Bonnie happy, I like being able to give fair and constructive criticism, and I like that I was finally able to tell my parents where they can stuff it,” Lyra quickly rattled off.

“I like the work I do as a secret agent, I like being able to share sweet treats with everyone around me, I like being able to make Lyra happy, I like my ability to keep an open mind, and I like my ability to keep a level head,” Bonnie replied just as quickly after Lyra had finished. Both mares smiled up at Duskfall.

“Well, I think I hate both of you now,” Duskfall grumped. Both Lyra and Bonnie smirked.

“It isn’t a crime to have a healthy self-esteem,” Lyra chuckled.

“My first decree as pseudo-princess, all the lunatics happy in their own skin shall be banished to the moon!” Duskfall tried to sound cross, but couldn’t quite pull it off around the grin fighting to appear on her face.

“Hey, Bonnie, doesn’t a vacation to the moon sound nice?” Lyra asked sweetly.

“Hmm, we could pretend to fly in low gravity and you could pretend to be as strong as an Earth Pony. Sounds like an interesting getaway,” Bonnie mused.

“Don’t make me use my considerable brain power to think up a truly horrible punishment,” Duskfall threatened in her best menacing voice. It lost what little effect it would have had given she was currently being snuggled to death by two adorable mares.

“Aw, Dusky, you wouldn’t want to get rid of us, would you?” Bonnie asked in a jokingly pleading tone.

“Who else would you get to teach you the ways of the world?” Lyra taunted.

“I could always ask Cloud Kicker,” Duskfall suddenly found herself pinned to the ground.

“No,” Lyra said simply.

“Absolutely not,” Bonnie agreed.

“Kicker would chew you up and spit you out,” Lyra warned.

“OK OK, I was only joking!” Dusk yielded immediately. Honestly, she had already deduced from asking around town that Kicker would take great pleasure in throwing Duskfall into the deep end and watching her sink or swim.

“Alright, we’re going to let you up, but only on the promise that you speak not of such foolishness again,” Lyra said with a pointed look.

“I promise I shall never speak of Kloud Cicker again,” Duskfall swore.

“I suppose that’s the best we’re going to get,” Bonnie sighed dramatically before she and Lyra allowed Duskfall to return to a sitting position.

“Now, I say we finish off this picnic before it gets too late. What say you, my lovely companions?” Lyra asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Bonnie said agreeably.

“I’ve certainly had enough depressing introspection for one night,” Duskfall quipped. Lyra and Bonnie rolled their eyes and the rest of their picnic date was spent in companionable silence.

Author's Notes:

My only excuse for this not being up yesterday is because I somehow got 18 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Although that isn't that uncommon for me. I tend to subsist on a couple of hours a night for a few weeks and then completely crash. My current record is going a month and a half with 2 or so hours of sleep a night before crashing for a whole 36 hours.

Anyway, I thought this chapter was pretty cute. Feel free to roast me mercilessly in the comments on how you think Bonnie and my own thoughts on what a first date should be like are completely and horribly wrong and that everyone's first date should be taking a girl to prom because it isn't like prom night is stressful or anything!

Take this with a grain of salt. Again, I have zero dating experience. For all I know dinner and a movie is a perfect first date and I'm talkin' outta my ass.

In other news, I've kinda been wanting to write a Displaced fic. Which is odd considering I don't particularly like the genre. It's not that I hate the concept. Truthfully I really like the concept, it's just the Displaced genre seems to attract lazy writing...maybe that's not the best way to put it. There are themes that could be touched upon that are just kicked out in the cold. It's fine when not every idea is explored fully, but dangling a buffet of potential themes before my eyes and saying I can't eat is torture.

There's so much potential in the concept, yet my favorite Displaced fic is pretty much Displaced in name only. The Mare of the Stars by XYZDreadnought if anyone is curious. I don't hate most of the Displaced fics, they just don't grab my interest like I feel they could do, if that makes sense? I have also yet to come across a Displaced fic where the main character is happy to be in their new life. Like, I can understand wanting to say goodbye to friends/family and missing aspects of your old life, but moaning about it for more than a chapter feels like overdoing it. I fully accept that I am super biased on this, but you just got turned into a fictional character with varying levels of badassery. Do you know how fucking overjoyed I would be to go to a con and get Displaced? I could be Displaced as Darla Dimple, one of my most hated characters, and I'd still be fairly happy. I fully admit to having a few screws loose.

Maybe I just haven't come across the right kind of Displaced fics. Maybe that's why I want to write my own? I mean, I probably wouldn't write a "real" Displaced fic because I honestly don't want to bother with arranging crossovers with other people and the mess of pseudo-lore those lunatics have to adhere to, but the general premise would be the same.

I think I might just write a couple of chapters and if I feel inspired to continue I'll start posting it. I do know what character I'd want my Displaced to end up as, but I'm not entirely sure what kind of long term plot I'd want to go with. I'm not even sure on whether I'd want to use the anthro tag or not. I mean...I could just make it a silly rom-com...nothing wrong with a bit of fluff to offset the normal doom and gloom of my writing. A silly, slice of life rom-com with no higher stakes than anything that happens in the show and who winds up married to who...

Something to consider during the downtime between Shattered Souls and Book 3. Fair warning, if I do go for a rom-com I'm an absolute sucker for 'everyone got to be with who they wanted' endings. Usually known as the harem ending.

Grand Galloping Rave

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 16: Grand Galloping Rave

Duskfall was in something of a quandary. The Grand Galloping Gala was days away. That normally wouldn’t be a problem. It became a problem when Luna, Chrysalis, and Moon Dancer all decided that attending the triple G would be good for Duskfall.

Duskfall had, of course, protested but was quickly overruled. So, trying to make the best of a bad situation, she decided to surprise Lyra and Bonnie with tickets. Only to find out that Lyra had gotten tickets months ago. That was why Duskfall was moping around town with two extra tickets and nothing to do with them.

“Maybe I can give a ticket to Sunset? Of course, it’s quite likely she hates the Gala as much as I do…” Duskfall sighed. Twilight had always secretly hated the Gala, but never said anything for fear of hurting Celestia's feelings. Sunset would have had little issue stating her thoughts on the matter back when she was Celestia's student.

It looked like misery was the order of the day, because Duskfall spotted Discord languidly floating into town from the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. Well, misery did love company. With that in mind, Duskfall approached the Draconequus.

“Oh, hello, Duskfall…” Discord’s voice wasn’t even literally dripping with melancholy. That’s how sad he was.

“So, wanna swap sob stories?” Duskfall asked. Discord took the invitation.

“Fluttershy is bringing a friend from out of town as her plus one to the Gala. Tree Hugger or something like that. I’m happy she’s been able to make new friends, but I feel left behind. I don’t even want to go to the Gala! Heavens knows I’ve attended enough of those yawn factories as a statue to last me the rest of eternity. I hate feeling like this,” Discord complained.

“Well, as for me, my usual study buddies have decided I need to socialize more and sent me out into the world to find a date for the Gala. I thought I was being clever by getting tickets for both Lyra and Bonnie, but of course Lyra had already gotten tickets! She loves the Gala! How could I be so stupid?! Now I’m just a fool with two extra tickets. I could go as one of their plus one, but I’ve been intruding on their relationship too much as it is,” Duskfall moaned. Then the two had an idea.

“I need a ticket,” Discord stated, a smirk growing on his face.

“And I need a plus one,” Duskfall matched his sinister smile.

“I do believe we can solve each other’s problems in one fell swoop!” Discord crowed.

“Might as well give the last ticket to Harmonia, let her join in on the suffering that is the triple G,” Duskfall mused.

“Why just attend a boring party when we can give it life and soul?!” Discord shouted excitedly.

“And they’re all going to love us!” The pair of them began cackling madly. The residents of Ponyville were just glad the Gala was taking place in Canterlot.

The stage was set. Octavia and Vinyl had been recruited into the plan. Now all that was left was perfect execution.

“I feel like I should be stopping this and yet I feel an undeniable curiosity as to where this all is going,” Harmonia remarked from beside the plotting duo.

“Oh, don’t worry, your curiosity will be well rewarded~” Duskfall purred.

“I think everything is in position and most of the guests have arrived. Are you ready to show these boring nobles how to really party?!” Discord asked as he readied his talons.

“Let’s light this candle,” Duskfall responded as she started weaving her assigned spells.

Everything went pitch black for a moment. The guests, unaware that anything was about to happen, began whispering amongst themselves. The orchestra, sans Octavia, was teleported into the crowd. Unable to see anything, no one noticed everything around them changing. The dance floor was replaced with a disco style light up floor. Alternating banners of Discord and Duskfall’s faces unfurled from the rafters. A disco prism appeared dangling from the ceiling. The walls and floors all turned to a jell-o like substance. Finally, various decorations sprang to life with every shape and color imaginable.

With the changes complete, a spotlight shone on the stage, revealing Duskfall and Discord.

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Discord called out.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled snooze fest to bring you a real party!” Duskfall announced.

“We’ll be your Masters of Ceremony for the night! I am Discord, Lord of Chaos!” Discord introduced himself.

“And I’m Duskfall Sparkle, pretty pony princess of Friendship!” Duskfall squeaked like a chew toy.

“Without further ado, DJ PON-3 and her marefriend, Octavia Philharmonica!” Discord shouted excitedly as the lights came back on and the pair started to play their music.

“THIS IS AMAZING!” Pinkie Pie’s voice carried over the sound of music and the crowd.

“You’re amazing too, Pinkie!” Duskfall couldn’t resist yelling. The joyful look on Pinkie’s face as she bounced around the room made any possible punishment so very worth it. Although, the amused look on Celestia’s face probably meant that any punishment would be a slap on the wrist, if that. Then Duskfall caught sight of a second Pinkie in a different dress. From up on stage she couldn’t tell which was Pinkie and which was Sakura.

Eventually Octavia and Vinyl’s first song number came to a close. Some of the more stuck up nobles had been trying to escape, but when everything was more bouncy than the best trampoline they were having a hard time of it. Everyone else seemed to be cautiously optimistic with the way things were going.

“Round of applause for the first song of the evening, but if you think we’re sticking to just musical numbers and bouncy house fun, have we got a show for you!” Discord announced.

“What my dear mad god is rambling on about is we’re going to hold a bit of a raffle,” Duskfall floated a wheel of paper tickets towards herself, “Everyone who wishes to participate, write your name on a ticket, we’ll put it in Discord’s handy dandy infinite probability tumbler, and whoever gets their name picked out will receive a…prize,” Duskfall chuckled evilly.

“Don’t let my melodramatic partner scare you away! Anyone who’s brave enough need not fear what we have in store for them,” Discord promised. His wicked grin probably wasn’t helping as much as he thought it was, “But don’t dilly dally! You only have until the end of the song after next to submit your name!”

Instantly the CMC were in line to have their names thrown in the raffle. Duskfall at least had the courtesy to look at their chaperones for permission before throwing their tickets into the tumbler. Both Pinkies were naturally right behind with Rainbow a close runner up. Seeing national heroines throw their names in seemed to be what the others needed to see, because soon a steady stream of party goers were collecting tickets and writing down their names.

“Dare I ask what skullduggery the two of you have planned?” Luna asked as she wrote her name on a ticket.

“You should know, Lulu, that a magician never reveals their secrets,” Chrysalis teased as she playfully bounced around.

“Chrysalis is right, Moonbutt, we aren’t telling until the prize is administered,” Discord replied with a smirk. Luna let out a put upon sigh.

“Well, just try not to break reality too badly,” She was not encouraged by the way both of them grew shark-like grins.

So it went for about fifteen minutes until the third song of the night began to wind down.

“Alright, that’s where we’re cutting it off folks! It’s time to spin the tumbler and see who Lady Luck favors tonight!” Duskfall took the handle of the tumbler in her magic and began to spin it vigorously. It sparked and threw off delightful wisps of Chaos energy that tickled the senses. For the sake of what passed as sanity in Canterlot, only Discord and Duskfall could see the insides of the infinity probability tumbler. After both were satisfied the candidates were sufficiently tumbled, Discord spoke.

“Now, before I pull out the winner, we should specify what the prize actually is. What we’re offering is a three day tailor made vacation to the Chaos Realm! You want adventure? Team up side by side with lifelike copies of your favorite action heroes! You want to relax on a nice beach? We have that too! Just about anything your heart desires from casinos to mountain climbing can be yours! You’re also welcome to bring a plus one, make it a romantic getaway with that significant other! Now, it’s time to find out who our winner is!” Discord reached into the tumbler and pulled out a ticket before handing it to Duskfall.

“The winner is…MOON DANCER!” If Duskfall didn’t know any better, she’d have thought Discord had rigged the thing. Then again, if he had rigged it, Fluttershy would’ve won despite not even entering her name. Still, of the ones who had actually submitted their names, she couldn’t think of anyone who deserved a bit of R&R more than Moon Dancer.

“I won?!” Moon Dancer had just entered on a lark, thinking the prize would be a toaster or some such silly thing. It would be perfectly in keeping with Discord’s sense of humor, at least, to hype something up only for it to be something ‘mundane’. For the thing to actually be serious and a vacation of all things was shocking to say the least.

“Go on, Moony, accept your prize,” Minuette encouraged. With that gentle push, Moon Dancer walked on stage.

“Congratulations, Moon Dancer!” Discord cheered as confetti and banners with her name and Cutie Mark appeared, “We can discuss the particulars of your vacation later, but for now both Duskfall and I wish to offer our heartfelt happiness for you.” Duskfall and Discord both grinned like a pair of dopes at Moon Dancer.

The rest of the night was spent just having fun and goofing off. More than one epic dance battle was had, Discord summoned pillars of marshmallow fire that hurt the brains of everyone that tried to think about it too hard, and Duskfall along with backup from both Pinkies made sure the catering was on point all night long. Vinyl and Octavia even got into a musical duel at one point. Of course, all of that paled in comparison to when Harmonia took to the dance floor and to be honest, her dancing skills were as if every sufferer of the Sparkle Family Dancing Curse had been distilled into one mare. Duskfall knew it was wrong to laugh, but Harmonia didn't seem to mind.

It was a night of fun, chaos, and stuffy nobles being forced to relax for a change. As it began to wind down, Duskfall excused herself from the stage to find Celestia standing backstage with a warm smile.

“You do realize I’m going to have to ‘punish’ the both of you for your stunt tonight, right?” Celestia asked playfully.

“I’m ready to serve my time as a pigeon poop receptacle,” Duskfall snarked.

“It won’t be anything like that. I’ll just have to cut your cake stipends for a week or two,” Celestia winked, “But seriously, this has probably been my favorite Gala ever and there wasn’t even any property damage this time.”

“Happy to help, tonight was a lot of fun for me too. However, my introvert batteries are drained dry,” Duskfall couldn’t suppress a yawn, “If you don’t mind too terribly, I’d like to head off to bed.”

“Of course not, pleasant dreams, Duskfall,” Celestia bid. Duskfall nodded her head in acknowledgement. A quick note to Discord and she found herself on the roof of the castle in Ponyville. Duskfall was tempted to just sleep on the roof, but thought better of it and lazily made her way to her bed before falling fast asleep.

The Shattered Mind

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Author's Notes:

TRIGGER WARNING

This chapter was legitimately painful to write. Not because it was hard to write. I wish. No, it was all too easy to type these words.

For anyone who thinks what you are about to read is unrealistic, well, I wrote from my own personal experience. I have written down or otherwise recorded a number of my own psychotic episodes. It is shocking how I was able to go from sounding completely normal and reasonable to absolute insanity in less than a single sentence.

If not for Lyra and Bonnie, Rarity would have found Duskfall singing in a pool of her own blood. Very small comfort, but that's the only thing I can offer right now. This is also the pay off for not Rickrolling at every opportunity. Yay.

I think I might take a few days off from writing. I need to get my head back together. This is, without a doubt, the most fucked up thing I have ever written and I've written some fucked up things. I suddenly feel the need to review my meds with my psychologist.

I planned for this chapter to be dark from the beginning. I didn't expect it to jump headfirst into a goddamn black hole! Fk me. I feel like Hitler now if Hitler knew he was evil.

Shattered Souls

Chapter 17: The Shattered Mind

It had occurred to Rarity that Duskfall had never actually been to the spa. With Spike out with the Crusaders, Moon Dancer off on her vacation, and Luna, Chrysalis, and Harmonia out at the Castle of the Two Sisters talking about possible renovations, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to invite the purple Alicorn to the spa.

Rarity’s first hint that something was off was when, as she entered the castle, she felt something similar to the time she had been near Vinyl’s subwoofers when the DJ had been performing a stress test. Someone was playing something with a heavy bass and the only one who that could be was Duskfall.

As Rarity got closer to the source, she could start making out a beat and rhythm. It was not unlike that one song about being an animal Tom had shown off. Why would Duskfall be listening to such depressing music?

Rarity was standing outside the door that had to be where Duskfall was. The bass was shaking her bones and just under the music and vocals she could just barely pick out Duskfall singing. Curiosity bid Rarity to enter the room.

“…I’m radioactive, radioactive!” Duskfall was facing away from the door and didn’t notice Rarity come in. Duskfall took a second to catch her breath before lighting her horn and a new song started to play.

Where the last song had been heavy on the bass, this song was almost gentle and the lyrics soon gave a reason as to why. It was bad enough that the song was about heartbreak and suicide, but hearing Duskfall sing alongside it as if her own heart had shattered…it was almost too much for Rarity to bear.

Before Rarity could try to interrupt Duskfall, the Alicorn had started another song and soon Rarity was captivated by this one as well. The music started out as a purely piano piece, then the lyrics started and Rarity’s heart nearly stopped. It was almost as if someone had made a song specifically for Duskfall. A small part of Rarity had been suspicious of Duskfall’s seeming acceptance of everything that had happened, but hearing the Alicorn lay her soul bare with this song confirmed her fears in the worst possible way.

The end of one song led directly into another, keeping Rarity spellbound. This one had a lot more bass to it than the last song, but it was smoother and accompanied by strong drums. “I’m just an empty shell, another’s friend, transformed to someone else” Rarity shivered as she heard those words. It was like some kind of sick cosmic joke. Words to express Duskfall’s feelings almost perfectly, if her passionate singing was anything to go by, woven into different songs from Tom’s world. The song came to a close.

“FUCK!” Duskfall angrily stamped one of her forelegs before starting up yet another song. It was instantly much angrier sounding than the sorrow of the last three. Duskfall wasn’t so much singing these lyrics as screaming them, which Rarity found oddly appropriate.

Rarity knew she had to do something, but what? Stop Duskfall? She wasn’t hurting herself…yet. Go get the others? Just slip away like a thief in the night? Her indecision paralyzed her as Duskfall started up the next song.

This new song started with what sounded like violins to Rarity’s admittedly untrained ears before moving into electric guitars and drums. It sounded like a song about desperately missing a loved one, but it was all too easy to realize who Duskfall was singing that song for. A desire to comfort Dusk was making itself known in Rarity’s bosom. Duskfall started the next song as the current one died.

Somber piano and haunting vocals characterized this song. Every word was lovingly, slowly expressed. Duskfall would know all about telling the easy lie of “I’m alright” even when she was a shattered mess. Rarity couldn’t believe how blind she had been. Why had it taken her until now to realize how much pain the Alicorn was in? Rarity beat herself up with recriminations as Duskfall started her next song.

This song hit Rarity the hardest. This wasn’t just a song about suicide. This was a song about the singer themselves committing suicide. Rarity saw the teardrops hitting the floor even as Duskfall poured everything she was into her singing. Terror unlike anything she had ever known shot through Rarity. If this song reflected even slightly on Duskfall’s true feelings… even the triumphant ending took on a dark tone when Duskfall sang it.

“Oh, Duskfall,” The Alicorn spun violently and Rarity barely caught the look of absolute panic on Duskfall’s face before she teleported away.

It was just another boring day of officiating the Day Court. The Gala had been fun, but now it was back to the regular and tiresome grind of the day to day running of government. Celestia found herself wishing for a little excitement. Her wish was seemingly answered as a scroll from Spike appeared before her. At the very least a missive from Ponyville would be worth a few minutes of decent distraction.

As Celestia read the letter she immediately regretted her cavalier attitude. Rarity had found Duskfall singing about suicide. Now she was missing. They had turned all of Ponyville upside down but hadn’t found a single trace of her.

“Raven!”

“Yes, your Highness?” Raven responded.

“Cancel everything! Duskfall has gone missing and…she’s strongly suspected to be a suicide risk. I can’t lose her too!” Without waiting for a response, Celestia teleported away.

Raven didn’t know where her princess had vanished to, but as she set about letting the proper parties about the sudden emergency, her own thoughts were awash in worry for the youngest Alicorn. Raven had been serving the Princess since she had been old enough to take care of the duties required of her. That meant she had watched both Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle become Princess Celestia’s personal students. She had been the one to watch over Twilight on those rough days where bullies had been picking on her and Celestia had been unavailable for one reason or another.

With the weight of her experience behind her, Raven made her way up to the tallest tower of Canterlot Castle. What most referred to as ‘the Attic’ had been untouched for centuries... except by one young filly that needed a safe space away from prying eyes.

Twilight Sparkle was only part of who Duskfall was. There was no guarantee she would be there. Yet as Raven climbed the long staircase she knew that there was no harm in checking. Her diligence was rewarded as she heard the sounds of a living pony drifting to her ears as she opened the trap door leading to the Attic.

Exactly where they had been left, a crying Alicorn was wrapped in Twilight’s old security blanket and clutching a doll like a drowning mare held onto a life preserver. Duskfall was clearly trying to hold in howls of pain and sorrow but was only partly successful. Choked sobs and gasps escaped her lips as tears streamed from her firmly shut eyes.

Raven was rather uncomfortably reminded of a young filly from near the beginning of her tenure. It had come to light that her father had regularly beat her. One of the triggers for those beatings had been the little filly screaming and crying with night terrors. So she had simply learned to weep in silence. The only reason Raven knew that was because she had found the filly in the midst of a night terror the day after her rescue from her abusive father. To this day thinking about it made Raven’s blood boil.

Raven lay down next to Duskfall. The Alicorn’s eyes snapped open as she registered Raven’s presence.

“Raven…Raven…” Duskfall sounded so lost. Those were the only coherent words Dusk spoke as she let out a wail of anguish. Duskfall scooted closer to Raven, planted her face in Raven’s mane, and started sobbing her heart out in earnest.

Time ceased to matter. The only thing that mattered was Raven offering what little emotional support she could to Duskfall.

“I want to die!” Duskfall screamed, “But I can’t because if I die then Tom and Twilight go with me! But it hurts so much Raven! I shouldn’t exist and every second I do is agony! I just want to die! Please, someone, anyone, bring them back so I can die in peace. I don’t care anymore. Just end my suffering. No one would miss me. I’m just an imposter wearing Twilight’s face. They’ll be happier if I’m gone! They wouldn’t have to see me wearing their dead friend’s flesh and using her voice! Yes! Twilight is dead and this BITCH IS JUST PRETENDING TO BE HER! Just let me go quietly into the night. Rarity already saw a glimpse of the true me…I’m sure she was disgusted. I’m just filth, a parasite who stole two good lives. I’m so tired Raven. I’ve been lying to everyone. I can’t do it anymore. Kill me. Failing that, just bury me alive. I wonder how it would feel to suffocate to death over and over and over? It’s no more than trash like me deserves. Oh! I could offer myself to Twilight and Tom’s friends! Let them kill me as many times and in as many ways as they like! Yes! It’s the only way to make amends! Rainbow had a rough day of Wonderbolts training? I’ll let her slit my throat and watch as I drown in my own blood! HAHAHA! Fluttershy wants to treat someone else like a doormat for a change? She can hate fuck me and then choke me to death before feeding me to her animals and then burying me alive in her backyard for a few days or until someone else wants to use me! Don’t you see Raven? I can’t bring Tom and Twilight back and I don’t know how to kill myself yet, so the least I can do is be a toy they can break as many times as they want!”

Raven could do nothing more than listen in shocked silence as Duskfall almost lovingly described all the ways she could be killed and otherwise used. Caving in her skull, poison, ripping out her still beating heart, becoming the town’s cum dump that could be fucked as roughly as they desired and never worrying about going too far with her because she could simply come back for more! Was she orgasming just from talking about it?! This wasn’t Twilight just flirting with madness, this was true insanity.

“Hey Raven, wanna be the first to kill me?" Duskfall asked in a darkly seductive voice, "Celestia wasn’t really clear with Twilight on how long it would take to revive. Wanna find out together? We’re all alone and I don’t think anyone else would look for me here. Just a simple overcharged bolt of magic and my head will explode in a beautiful gory mess and you’ll be the only other pony to know you took my death virginity~!”

Despite never teleporting before in her life, Raven Inkwell managed to do so just to escape the insane mare. Reappearing in an empty hall in the west wing, Raven started trembling violently with too many emotions to name. Still, she had a job to do. She had to tell Celestia. Celestia was the only one who had any hope of getting through to Duskfall now.

“Oh, Hi Celestia! Do you want to kill me? I’m sure you have some pent up anger over how I’m parading around in your daughter’s skin like I own it! I asked Raven if she wanted to kill me, but she teleported away and I didn’t know she could do that! I mean, I could just throw myself off a tower or something, but I want someone else to kill me the first time. Make it special, you know?” Celestia had hoped Raven was exaggerating. It was clear she hadn’t. Celestia could see a fire of manic madness in Duskfall’s eyes that put even Discord at his worst to shame.

“Duskfall, you’re not in your right mind. Come with me and we can get you help,” Celestia said gently but firmly.

“Help?! Why would I need help?! I finally figured out how I can be useful! I’ve never been happier! If you won’t kill me, I’ll find someone else who will. Maybe I can convince Trixie to light a firework in my mouth? Oh! I bet I could find a dragon to eat me! I wonder how being digested would feel?” Duskfall rambled happily. She shivered with pleasure at the thought.

“You are coming with me. This is not up for debate,” Duskfall’s smile just grew wider.

“You can’t stop me. Tom was able to melt the null magic ring. Everything Tom and Twilight were capable of, I can do too. Sure, you could beat me into submission; maybe even accidentally kill me once or twice if we're lucky. But how long would you be able to keep it up? Days? Months? Years? I will fulfill my purpose. I have all of eternity. You’ll see I’m right sooner or later. Eventually you’ll get so fed up with dealing with me that you’ll relish killing me and everyone will be happier for it. So, you can either give into the inevitable now or drag it out for a little while. The end is the same. I will become a fuck toy/stress ball for all of Equuis. Even if the idea of being your eternal sex slave and stress reliever is appealing, I have to make myself available for the masses. Maybe one day I’ll even figure out how to kill myself permanently. Well, I probably won’t look too hard for that option. After all, I wouldn’t want to deprive everyone of my unique disposition just because I was being a bit selfish,” It was horrifying just how…logical Duskfall sounded about the whole thing. If Celestia hadn’t heard the words, she’d have thought Duskfall was talking about tax reform or something from her tone.

Celestia quickly fired off the strongest stunning spell she knew and Duskfall flopped lifelessly to the floor. She had to have known it was coming, yet Duskfall hadn’t resisted. She had been so sure she was right in her madness she hadn’t seen a point in resisting at that moment. For the second time, Celestia wept freely over Duskfall’s body.

A Gamble

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 18: A Gamble

“Are you sure whatever you have planned is a good idea?” Celestia asked worriedly. The Doctor looked up from the TARDIS’ control panel.

“A good idea? HA! No, this is a terrible idea. It’s also the only idea we have. If Duskfall is going to have any chance at all, this is the only course of action. Even the best Mind Healers can’t do anything now. Hey, maybe we’ll be lucky and she’ll snap out of it after her first death,” The Doctor tried to sound optimistic, “After all, I’ve heard Regeneration can do a body good. It’s the same basic principle, right?”

“You mean like your ‘friend’ The Master?” Celestia asked skeptically.

“That was a special case!” The Doctor grumbled.

“So what, exactly, is your plan?” Celestia questioned.

“We’re going to jump ahead in time about a hundred thousand years and dump her on a lawless rock where she can live out her twisted fantasies until she burns out,” The Doctor shrugged. Like he said, it wasn’t a good plan.

“What?!” Celestia sounded outraged. Good, she should be outraged. It meant she still cared.

“As I said before, maybe we’ll be lucky and her first death will snap her out of it,” The Doctor tried to placate her.

“And if we aren’t lucky?” Celestia wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer, but had to ask anyway.

“I fully expect her to start cataloguing all the different ways she can think of to die and/or be sexually used, employ them all, make a list of her favorites, and proceed to do those favorites over and over again for at least two centuries, while picking up the occasional new and exotic idea to try, just to keep things interesting” The Doctor answered bluntly. Celestia’s back legs gave out.

“How did it get so bad?” Celestia whispered.

“Duskfall is a very convincing liar. You wouldn’t have known what to look for and I took for granted that ponies are generally terrible liars. It completely slipped my mind that she’s half human. She’s also fiendishly clever. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she had devised a way to hide herself from Harmonia’s Weave of Fate as soon as she learned it was a thing. There are few things more terrifying than a smart human utterly devoted to a goal. This is a smart human/pony hybrid utterly devoted to a goal, although what that goal is I have no idea,” The Doctor sighed tiredly.

“Do we really have to do this?” Celestia asked.

“Duskfall’s Mind is currently consumed by the fires of insanity. For most other species I know a drug or two that could possibly help them. We simply don’t have the time to study Alicorn biology long enough to discover similar drugs. Not while Duskfall is such an active threat to society and herself,” The Doctor desperately wished he had spent more time learning and less time goofing off since he had come to Equuis, “The best thing we can do is drop her off somewhere she can do minimal damage to society.”

“What do you mean a threat to society? She hadn’t expressed a desire to harm anyone beside herself,” Celestia pointed out.

“Let’s just say it would be very bad if people got it into their heads that they could kill without consequence. That’s basically what Duskfall is offering. A free taste of murder with no strings attached. Hell, she’ll probably even thank whoever kills her, if they stick around long enough. Definitely not the sort of thing you want spreading around any civilization,” The Doctor’s face crinkled as though he had eaten something particularly sour.

“I had not considered that,” Celestia admitted.

“Nor should you have! It’s one thing to fight monsters that are intentionally looking to destroy everything you hold dear. It’s quite another to try and help someone who is self-destructing and threatening everything around her by accident,” The Doctor replied wearily.

“Do you have a destination in mind for her?” Celestia hesitantly asked.

“Yes. The world doesn’t have an official name anymore, but most refer to it as ‘Hell’s Armpit’. It was originally a pony colony, but over the years it’s become a hive of scum and villainy for a lot of species. Duskfall will have little problem getting what she wants there. Everything from muggings turned murder to people more than willing to sexually prey upon a cute looking mare like Duskfall Sparkle,” The Doctor’s voice was colored with disgust.

“I don’t want to do this,” Celestia confessed.

“Neither do I,” The Doctor agreed, “But unless you can somehow figure out how to use the Elements without Magic and have them target Duskfall, this is our best bet. Sometimes the best way to show kindness is to be cruel. I’ll have the TARDIS monitoring Duskfall. The second she regains some semblance of sanity, we’re pulling her out, OK? Plus, perks of owning a time machine, we can just pop from the moment we drop her off to the moment she’s ready to be picked up.”

“I feel like I should bear witness to every second of Duskfall’s trials, but I don’t think I’m strong enough for that,” Celestia sounded immensely disappointed in herself.

“Better you realize that now. We don’t need two Alicorns running about in fits of insanity. We won’t have nearly the same amount of freedom with your treatment. Your immortality is tied to Equuis’ sun. If we took you too far away or some time before it was born or after it died, you’d simply be a powerful mortal… unless you gave yourself over to your goddesshood and figured out how to link with another sun, of course,” The Doctor mused.

“That is something Harmonia is still working on,” Celestia remarked.

“Yes, so as I said, you’re not allowed to go insane before then,” The Doctor said faux sternly.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Celestia said tiredly. A minute later and the TARDIS had landed.

“If there’s anything you’d like to write in a note, now is the time to do so. She likely won’t be seeing you for a few centuries,” The Doctor said grimly. Before she had the chance to over think it, Celestia scribbled down a short note and placed it in the saddlebags she and the Doctor had prepared for Duskfall. She then placed the saddlebags on Duskfall’s unconscious form as the TARDIS’ doors opened. Celestia levitated Duskfall outside.

The TARDIS had landed about .4 kilometers out from the nearest town, barely visible through the heat haze of the desert the TARDIS had landed in. Celestia double checked the contents of the saddlebags one last time. There was money, pen, paper, a few note pads, a regular journal, and a canteen. Celestia had wanted to add a favorite book or a few personal tokens, but The Doctor had shot her down. What he didn’t say was that he fully expected her to lose the saddlebags upon entering town. The cynic in him predicted she’d find her first death almost immediately after they left in a mugging. No sense bothering Celestia with that knowledge.

“Well, come along Celestia. No sense dallying here now,” The Doctor ordered. Celestia cast a slow acting awakening spell and joined The Doctor in the TARDIS once more.

Author's Notes:

I'll post the next chapter after the side story The Road to Healing is approved. When exactly, I don't know, because Life has decided I needed another dicking after the emotional wringer I've been through the last couple of days.

You know how I'm only supposed to watch the dog 3 days a week? Well the car broke down. So now I have to watch him every day until the car is fixed. Man, the Universe must really want me to commit not alive! So if the next chapter doesn't show up for a week, it's either because I'm in a mental hospital for a psychotic episode that lasted long enough for my parents to actually notice (So probably a full two or three days), I'm in jail for killing the dog, or I'm dead. Those are the three most likely reasons.

It was really very easy to write the first chapter of The Road to Healing because I can feel that exact same Insanity bubbling away in my own brain! EXCEPT I DON'T GET A RESPAWN OPTION!! Fuck me sideways with a sonic screwdriver...

The Alicorn Returns

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 19: The Alicorn Returns

It was good to be back. Even that eyesore of a castle didn’t look like so much of an eyesore to Duskfall’s eyes. According to The Doctor, it had only been three days since her initial freak out. To Duskfall, it had been over 350 years ago. She could remember it like it was yesterday. She could hardly believe she had acted so childishly. Insanity was a fine wine you sipped, not some bottom dollar beer you guzzled from the tap.

Well, Duskfall wasn’t back just to wax philosophical. She hadn’t seen her friends in far too long. Yes, Duskfall could finally admit they were her friends just as much as they were Tom and Twilight’s. She didn’t quite grasp the why yet, but that was unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Now the question was how to go about gathering everyone?

The question was quickly answered by a small Alicorn popping into existence in front of Duskfall and pulling her through a second teleport back to the map room.

“Hello, Harmonia,” A name that hadn’t passed her lips in centuries still slipped from her as naturally as breathing. Harmonia turned to face Duskfall, a host of emotions playing across the Greater Spirit’s face. Finally the smaller Alicorn marched forward and planted her head against Duskfall’s chest.

“Stupid, stupid Duskfall,” Duskfall could feel a few hot tears sliding down her coat.

“So you know?” Duskfall asked quietly.

“I found and broke down your spell after you left with The Doctor…” Harmonia replied.

“Are you going to stop me?” Duskfall inquired calmly.

“The Weave is a mess. I cannot see anything past the Winter Solstice. Even if I did want to stop you, none of us could. I will save us all the struggle and heartache. I will keep your secret, Duskfall Sparkle, even if it ruins you,” Harmonia answered sadly.

“Thank you,” Duskfall said gratefully, “Now, I would really like to see our friends again, so if I could bother you to summon them?” A pulse of Magic answered Duskfall’s request. Harmonia left the room to greet the incoming.

A few minutes later, once everyone was gathered, Harmonia let them all into the map room.

“DUSKFALL!” The purple Alicorn found herself in a not unexpected group hug from all her friends. She was content to remain that way for as long as they wanted. Several minutes of warm embrace passed, and eventually they all let go.

“Hello, everyone. I’m sorry I worried you. Especially you, Anwyn, you walked in on me at a bad time and I reacted poorly,” Duskfall apologized.

“Pfft, what are you talking about? I wasn’t worried!” Rainbow tried to deny, but her body language betrayed her. Even now she was hovering closer to Duskfall than was strictly polite and visibly trying to not reach out and touch the Alicorn, just to make sure she was real.

“Rainbow, if you keep acting like a tsundere, I’m going to have no choice but to kiss you~!” Duskfall teasingly threatened. Rainbow instantly bolted to the other end of the room.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Rainbow’s face was blushing and her wings were noticeably stiffer. Duskfall had to fight to keep her smile to normal proportions.

“Why wouldn’t I want to kiss a super adorable mare like you?” Duskfall knew her gaze had turned predatory. She forced herself to turn off the flirting before Rainbow exploded. Teasing your tsundere was all well and good, but you had to be careful, lest they overheat. Even if Prisma was laughing her ass off at her doppelganger's misfortune.

“Where have you been?” Lyra asked in an attempt to save Dash. Something was very different about Duskfall, and it wasn’t just her casual flirting. It took Lyra a second to put her hoof on it, but she soon realized that there was a feeling of contentment coming off of Duskfall that had been utterly missing before.

“The Doctor was kind enough to take me on a bit of a journey of self-discovery,” Duskfall casually made to walk towards the throne with Twilight’s Cutie Mark on it, giving the whole room a good look at her flanks.

“You’ve got your Cutie Mark!” The room once again exclaimed as one. Duskfall looked back at her flank in faux-surprise.

“Really? When did that get there?” Duskfall decided to be intentionally hammy in her delivery.

“If The Doctor took you then...?” Bonnie started to ask.

“Yes, I was gone significantly longer than three days. Getting my Cutie Mark was actually what made me decide I was ready to come home,” Duskfall confessed.

“I’ve never seen a Cutie Mark like yours,” Fluttershy observed.

Duskfall’s Cutie Mark was broken into parts. First, there was a large black ring. Well, saying it was black would be like saying the sun was warm. The ring seemed to simply devourer all light that approached it. Inside the ring sat a heart shape with a flur-de-lis at the bottom outlined in red. The shape itself was also black, but not to the intensity of the ring. Finally, in the middle of the heart, was a strange shape that felt ever so slightly wrong to look at. It bore a resemblance to a triangle, but no triangle on Equestria had ever looked like that.

“It’s been eons since I’ve seen a Penrose Triangle…” Discord mused, “Even I’m not sure what your Cutie Mark could possibly mean.” He didn’t like admitting that. Duskfall just smiled mysteriously.

“Sorry, for now all the nitty gritty is going to have to stay top secret. Don’t worry, Luna, I’m not going to swarm Equestria. I’m not even sure they’d listen to me at the moment. As I said, I only got my Cutie Mark very recently. Less than a full day, actually,” Everyone except Luna, Discord, Harmonia, and the humans plus Sunset were confused as to what Duskfall could possibly be talking about.

“Less than a day?!” Sakura shouted, “That means I can plan your cute-ceañera! This is gonna be AMAZING!”

“Oh, I am definitely going to look forward to a Pinkie Party,” Duskfall replied happily.

“Um, how long were you away?” Fluttershy asked.

“How could that knowledge possibly benefit you?” Duskfall returned warily.

“And what purpose would you have in hiding it?” Luna shot back.

“I’m not trying to hide it…I just don’t think you’ll like the answer is all,” Duskfall shrugged.

“I think we should be able to decide that for ourselves,” Chrysalis said mildly. Duskfall sighed in defeat.

“Very well, I’ve been gone for just over 350 years,” Predictably, the room entered a state of shock.

“Why would you leave for 350 years?” Anwyn asked numbly.

“It took you 350 years to get your Cutie Mark?!” Rainbow exclaimed, earning a bunch of dirty looks from the others.

“The circumstances behind the duration of my…sabbatical are private and that is something I am not negotiating on. The only ones who I might tell are Luna and Chrysalis, but not until they are sworn to secrecy. Please, I don’t want to fight just after I got back. Can we drop it?” Duskfall begged.

“Of course. Today should be a happy day of reunion. I apologize for pressuring you,” Luna replied.

“So let’s party!” Sakura pulled out a party cannon from Pink Space and fired it off.

“I wanted to apologize to you again, Anwyn. What happened wasn’t your fault,” Duskfall told the Unicorn quietly during the party.

“What did happen?” Anwyn asked.

“When I’m stressed I like to sing. I usually sing one or two happy songs and one or two dark songs. Since I had the castle to myself that day, I just decided to devote the whole day to singing. Obviously, you caught me during a dark stretch. You’re a bright mare, I’m sure you noticed my mental state wasn’t exactly rock solid. So when you found me trying to detox, it shattered what little composure I had. I didn’t stay away because of anything you did. I stayed away because of what I might do,” Duskfall answered.

“That’s all I’m going to get out of you, isn’t it?” Anwyn asked with a touch of melancholy in her tone.

“At least until you become an Alicorn with a few centuries under your belt,” Duskfall agreed.

“I might just look into that, just to know everything. If you were hurting so badly you needed more than three centuries just so you could tolerate being around ponies again, you clearly need to at least talk about it. A burden shared is a burden halved, after all,” Anwyn was actually being serious. Sure, being an Alicorn was a fanciful idea in and of itself, but if devoting the time and effort would help a friend…

“Anwyn, I appreciate the thought, but if you do decide to try for Alicornhood, then please be careful,” Duskfall nearly begged.

“You almost make it sound like doing so would be dangerous,” Anwyn noted.

“I can fully admit this is me being paranoid and my experiences are in no way indicative of what most ponies would go through, but just because you expect to be an Alicorn of something, doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll be an Alicorn of,” Duskfall explained.

“I’m not entirely sure what you’re getting at, Duskfall,” Anwyn confessed.

“OK, well, Twilight was an Alicorn of Magic under the categorization of Friendship. Tom was going to be an Alicorn of Magic, even if they weren’t sure what aspect of Magic he was going to be an Alicorn of. You’d think I, being a fusion of both of them, would wind up as an Alicorn of Magic too. Tell me, Anwyn, does this Cutie Mark look like it belongs to an Alicorn of Magic?” Duskfall asked, motioning to her Cutie Mark.

“Maybe an Alicorn of Dark Magic…” Anwyn trailed off at the arched eyebrow Duskfall was leveling at her, “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

“Becoming an Alicorn, even through such unusual methods that I was created, means a core part of your being is laid bare and brought to the surface. It defines something about you, much more than any Cutie Mark could hope to do. I spent literally centuries fighting against my core nature. I just don’t want you to go through that, even if the chances of that are vanishingly small,” Duskfall explained.

“I’m flattered that you think there’s enough of a chance for me to become an Alicorn that you’re worried about this,” Anwyn giggled.

“I expressly wiped my memories any time I heard something that might be related to any of my friends. So I don’t know for certain what happened to you all in the future. You might have become an Alicorn for all I know. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to learn that the use of the Elements have granted you, if not full immortality like Alicorns enjoy, then at least eternal youth. I mean, if the Elements helped propel Twilight into Alicornhood, then who’s to say the rest of the Bearers can’t use them to similar effect,” Duskfall mused. This wasn’t the first time such thoughts had entered her head.

“I had not considered that,” Anwyn turned the idea over in her head. Everyone has had some dream of eternal youth and beauty, but even ignoring the mare right in front of her, Luna and Chrysalis were clear indications that long lives came with some definite drawbacks.

“I do not wish to sound insensitive, but why is such a cursed emblem a part of your Cutie Mark?” Luna finally asked the question. Duskfall had to keep from snickering to herself. She also had to bite her tongue to keep from saying the first thing that popped into her head. Luna and/or Chrysalis might very well send her to the moon if she started shamelessly flirting. Being insulted and degraded, even unintentionally, was still a massive turn on for Duskfall.

“This particular variation isn’t a cursed emblem, as you put it. It carries some of the same ideas, but with more of a thinking, feeling force behind it as opposed to the pure, emotionless instinct the mark you’re thinking of represents,” Duskfall answered, “And like I said, I literally got this Mark yesterday. I don’t know if I can even control the Heartless or if this is more a representation of general Darkness in a symbol I know and understand.”

“You raise a fair point, Duskfall. Still, you seem to be fairly confident you know at least some of the details of your Cutie Mark,” Luna noted.

“And I am,” Duskfall readily agreed, “I’m pretty sure the Heartless Emblem represents my connection to so called ‘Wild’ Darkness. The primordial Darkness from which all Life sprang and to which all Life will ultimately return. The ring is the Healing Darkness, that which soothes and protects the Soul, usually with the power of Sleep.”

“And that bizarre triangle?” Luna asked.

“That I’m not ready to share. I will do so, eventually, probably after it has bitten me in the ass, but until then, please just leave it alone,” Duskfall requested.

“Very well, I will control my curiosity on this subject. I am, however, strongly considering taking that vow of silence to find out why my sister thought it needful for you to take a 350 year vacation from Equuis,” Luna admitted.

“Celestia, The Doctor, and Starswirl all have one thing in common. They like to put things in boxes and hope the problem fixes itself, without directly intervening. Sirens? Throw those in the alternate dimension box. Renegade Time Lords? Throw them into a vault until they prove they can kinda sorta maybe be trusted. Semi-feral dragon taking up residence too close to Ponyville? Throw that in the ‘Shit for Twilight Sparkle to fix’ box. I’m not bitter or anything. Heck, I quite enjoyed my ‘vacation’ for the most part. But it is a pattern of behavior that sometimes spectacularly backfires. I just don’t want you to look too poorly on Celestia for what I forced her to do. I made her deal with a problem and she dealt with it in one of the ways she knows how,” Duskfall shrugged.

“You don’t get to be as old as I am without learning a thing or two about euphemisms. You say ‘vacation’ where most would say ‘exile’. I have traveled a time or two with The Doctor myself. The experiences are fun, yet often terrifying. I would never refer to them as ‘vacations’ even as a joke or euphemism and to travel with him for 350 years? I can’t help but wonder if you weren’t just dumped on some world for some reason,” Luna speculated.

“You are far too intuitive for your own good, Luna,” Duskfall complained, “Yes, I was dropped off on a fairly isolated world for more than three centuries. That’s all I’m telling you without that vow.”

“And you will have it sooner rather than later. However, that does bring up another question. Why have you not grown into your full Alicorn stature?” Luna questioned.

“This is just a guess, but I think I didn’t change because I hadn’t yet acquired my Cutie Mark. Without that tying my Magic together, I simply didn’t grow,” And that was even mostly the truth, based on Duskfall’s research. Killing herself and/or being murdered, sometimes multiple times a day, resetting her biologically also probably had something to do with it, but Luna didn’t need to know that just yet.

Although, to be honest, Duskfall was planing on just using transformation magic to remain close to her current size and shape. As much as Celestia might be viewed by many as the 'perfection of beauty', Duskfall had absolutely no desire to look anything like her. Especially given the alabaster Alicorn had confessed to finding her own size to be a point of frustration. Being so much larger than the majority of your subjects made one very much an outcast, even if that outcasting was just the isolation of a pedestal. That just wasn't Duskfall's thing.

“Moon Dancer, I’m just gonna come out and say it. I missed you quite a lot during my time away,” Duskfall said happily.

“That’s nice, but I’m not fucking you,” Moon Dancer had such a good poker face, Duskfall couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.

“I’m getting a feeling you’re upset with me,” Duskfall observed.

“Yes, I am very upset with you. Tom and Twilight saved me from my depression. You continued to offer that same kindness even when your own life was crumbling around you. I just…I wish you had been able to talk with me,” Moon Dancer said sadly.

“Moon Dancer, I’m glad you wanted to help me, but stewing in each other’s Darkness wouldn’t have been healthy for either of us. If we drove each other to suicide, I would’ve died and come back. You would’ve stayed dead. I know a burden shared is a burden halved, but neither of us was healthy enough to take any kind of burden in the first place. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?” Duskfall asked gently.

“Yeah, I do, even if I don’t want to,” Moon Dancer sighed.

“Hey, we can still share angsty poetry if you like,” Duskfall teased. Moon Dancer just gave her the stink eye.

“Hello, Sunny, I take it you’re not happy with me either?” Duskfall slid up next to Sunset Shimmer.

“You said you would confide in me,” Sunset huffed.

“I actually never said any such thing,” Duskfall continued before the glare Sunset leveled at her could melt her face off, “I did confide in you, a little bit, and you were a large part as to why, when I did explode, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.”

“‘Not as bad as it could have been’?” Sunset asked skeptically.

“Yes, I could have easily traumatized many people for life. As it is I’m pretty sure I still traumatized Raven. Actually, that reminds me, I need to find a way to make it up to Raven…” Duskfall trailed off as she started thinking of things she could do for the poor Unicorn who had suffered through her initial bout of Insanity.

“So the reason part of your Cutie Mark is the Heartless symbol?” Sunset asked.

“Riku fangirl,” Duskfall quipped.

“Fuck you, I bet you get wet for Aqua,” Sunset stuck her tongue out.

“Oh, water pun for the water named girl. How clever of you. Also yes, but I wouldn’t mind letting Larxene step on me either,” Duskfall countered. Both mares started snickering.

“You might as well gather up all the other human girls. I’m sure most, if not all of them, have the same question you do,” So Duskfall waited for the human 5 to be rounded up.

“OK, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I have the Heartless Symbol on my butt. Do you all know what Cutie Marks are?” Duskfall asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah, we know all about that special talent mumbo jumbo,” Prisma said dismissively.

“Even if it is strange we humans have the same icons, even if we don’t have any reason to,” Fluttershy noted.

“Right, well, I’m not here to get into any more existential crises. I reserve the right to not deal with those for at least a century after what happened. Anyway, I’m sure at least one or two of you recognizes this particular variation of the Heartless Symbol,” Everyone, even Rarity nodded their heads, “Alright, so to put this simply, I am a wielder of Darkness in a similar vein to Riku. Only difference is I don’t get retconned to be afraid of my own Darkness whenever the plot demands it. Although, truthfully, I suspect the kind of Darkness I use is very different to the one he uses.”

“Oh, oh, does this mean you’re gonna have a Dive to the Heart?!” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“I certainly hope so. Being a Keyblade wielder would be super badass,” Duskfall grinned.

“And then you could perform the Inheritance Ceremony on us!” Prisma buzzed her wings with glee at the idea.

“You do realize that, even on the off chance I do get a Keyblade, a different Keyblade would still have to select you as a worthy wielder. That’s without getting into any of the host of different head canons that could dictate circumstances of the Ceremony,” Duskfall noted, “I mean, Riku’s Keyblade getting passed on to Sora doesn’t make a lick of sense, if it was just a matter of Riku falling to Darkness, then why the heck does Xehanort have a Keyblade and what about-”

“OK, we get the picture. You’re a massive nerd,” Sunset interrupted with a cheeky smirk.

“Because I know for a fact that you, Sunset Shimmer, someone who has a hunger for knowledge at least as great as Twilight’s, has never once tried to logic their way out of the mess that is the Kingdom Hearts lore,” Duskfall snarked.

“Busted,” Sunset admitted.

“I just like looking at the cute monster designs,” Artemis put in.

“And you totally aren’t crushing on Sora, Ven, or Vanitas, are you,” Prisma ribbed. Artemis just turned red.

“No one has ever accused Square of not being able to design some very good looking men and women,” Duskfall noted idly, “On the presumption they inspire the alternate universes and the alternate universes don’t inspire Square’s artists somehow…or the infinite monkey theorem is in play.”

“Alright, mah curiosity is satisfied. I don’t need ya’ll makin’ me feel like a backwards hillbilly with yer fancy theories and whatnot,” Applejack cracked a self-depreciating smile.

“Aw, so you won’t be marching an army of Heartless to conquer your enemies?” Pinkie sounded disappointed.

“Again, I have no clue if they’d even listen to me. Commanding a whole horde is something for the far flung future, if it happens at all,” Although Duskfall couldn’t deny wanting to keep a Shadow as a pet.

The party was winding down and it was just about time for everyone to return home. However, Sakura had one final announcement.

“Before I forget, Matilda and Cranky are going to have their wedding in a few days! Look forward to that!” Sakura looked like she was about to explode from sheer joy. A wedding was, of course, a joyous occasion. Except for the part where you had to pull a wedding gift out of your ass for people you don’t know all that well…Duskfall didn’t want to buy them cookware, but that might be what ended up happening.

Author's Notes:

OK, a couple of things.

1.) I am unreasonably upset that the moderators still haven't approved The Road to Healing. I really wanted to have that go live before posting this chapter.

2.) I have found some small reason to live again. A random Youtube video popped up in my feed from a channel I'd never heard of, as you do. I clicked on it and well... let's just say stupid people being unironically stupid is quite amusing to me. That's all I'll say because I don't want a political shitstorm in my comments section.

3.) I have an unhealthy love for making Dives To The Heart. As in, I have like 10 different variations on the three choices offered at the beginning of the Dive. If I give Duskfall a Dive to the Heart and you thought I was going to use the boring old sword/shield/staff, then you clearly don't know me very well.

4.) Duskfall's Cutie Mark. I hope I described it well enough to get the picture. As I've said, I have no ability for art. If someone wants to draw it for me...
The exact meaning behind Duskfall's Mark will be reveled at a later date, at least what I haven't already revealed in this chapter.

5.) The kinds of Darkness my sleep deprived brain can think of right now

Wild Darkness

Healing Darkness

Sleeping Darkness

Chaotic Darkness

Tamed Darkness

Corrupted Darkness

Darkness of Evil

Darkness of the Void

Darkness of Insanity

I think that's all of them, but again, I haven't slept in 36 hours again, so my brain is bye bye.

Fragmented Experience

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 20: Fragmented Experience

The people of Ponyville awoke to what they thought was the day before Cranky and Matilda’s wedding. This all changed upon receiving the mail from one Derpy Hooves.

“LULU, WAKE UP!” Chrysalis roared into the house.

“What do you want, Chrissy?” Luna asked blearily as she entered the living room.

“The wedding is today!” Chrysalis exclaimed.

“Today? I can’t remember the last time I slept a whole day away…” Luna muttered to herself.

“You didn’t! Someone got the dates mixed up!” Weddings were, unsurprisingly, a big deal for Changelings. The outpouring of love was something that simply couldn’t be missed. While the Changelings weren’t starving anymore and even Chrysalis’ holes were almost completely closed up, it was still a beautiful thing every Changeling was looking forward to.

“So who messed up? Is the wedding today and we’ve been told the wrong date until now or the other way around?” Luna wondered.

“Well, let’s go find Cranky and Matilda and ask what they’re going to do!” Chrysalis decided. A few moments later and the Changeling Queen and the Alicorn were out the door.

“This is a code red! Emergency! Emergency! We need all Arwings in the air now!” Discord shouted.

“How could this have happened?!” Pinkie yelled.

“I like Chaos just as much as the next Draconequus, but wedding day disasters are strictly in poor taste,” Discord huffed.

“We have so much to do! So much to get ready! I need to find Cranky and Matilda!” Pinkie cried. She opened the door to Sugar Cube Corner and was immediately greeted to the sight of a Bugbear, “Aw, snickerdoodles.”

“I’m such a fool!” Derpy lamented, “I had one job and I screwed it up!”

“To be fair, it was Featherweight who actually made the mistake,” The Doctor noted mildly.

“I’m still the one who hired him so it’s still my fault! I just thought he could do it since he’s done such a good job with the Foal Free Press,” Derpy sighed.

“Come on, Mom, it isn’t the end of the world. This can be fixed. It’ll just take a bit of legwork,” Sparkler comforted, “Speaking of legwork, Dad, is your suit ready?”

“Suit? What suit?” The Doctor asked blankly.

“Oh my stars Dad, your suit for the wedding!” As much as she loved her parents, sometimes they drove her nutty.

“Oh…that suit…would you believe I lost it fighting Daleks?” The Doctor asked hesitantly. Sparkler just glared at him.

“Daddy’s in trouble~!” Dinky giggled.

“I’ll just go find myself a new suit. How hard could it be?” The Doctor really should have been old enough to know better than to utter those cursed words.

“Lyra, I need you to run down to the market and pick up a few things! I didn’t expect to have to finish all the catering today!” Bonnie could work under pressure. She had to be able to do so as a secret agent. She wasn’t panicking. That didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the crunch time.

“Yes, ma’am!” Lyra saluted crisply, grabbed a list in her magic, and bolted out the door. Unfortunately, it seemed like the day’s worries were just beginning. As Lyra approached the market, she saw the Elements battling a Bugbear.

Well, maybe ‘battling’ was overselling it. Bugbears were powerful creatures in their own right, but Duskfall and Rainbow seemed more concerned with playing with it than actually defeating it. Small blasts of Darkness from Duskfall sending the Bugbear reeling before Rainbow plowed into it from whatever direction she chose.

“Hey, AJ, I’m gonna need about two bushels of apples,” Lyra requested of the farm mare.

“Yeah, I figured as much. Follow me back to tha cart. Stars know those two don’t need any help,” Applejack sighed.

“They do know today is the wedding, right?” Lyra asked.

“I dunno, pair of foals, treatin’ a Bugbear of all things like it’s a punchin’ bag,” Applejack then muttered a few unflattering things about her friends.

“Well, so long as Bonnie doesn’t find out about it, they should be fine,” Applejack shot a questioning look at Lyra, “Oh, Bonnie seems to think all Bugbears are out to get her.”

“Ah see… let’s just get you those apples. Ah’m sure it’s urgent,” Applejack ushered Lyra along and she followed.

“Shining, the wedding hasn’t even started yet,” Cadence sighed as she and her husband got off the train. It was just fortunate happenstance that they had decided to arrive a day early.

“I know, but every time I think about it, it’s just so sweet! Someone searching for the love of their life for years on end and just when they’ve give up hope, they find their love! It’s so beautiful!” Shining started tearing up again.

“The way you’re acting, you’d think you’re the one who’s pregnant,” Cadence teased.

“Speaking of, do you think Mom and Dad have told Duskfall yet?” Shining wondered.

“On the one hoof, I want to have faith in my in-laws. On the other hoof, I know how your family is. We should probably tell her after the wedding,” Cadence decided. Shining just chuckled sheepishly.

“We don’t have the flowers in for the wedding!” Roseluck shouted.

“The Horror! The Horror!” Lily cried.

“What are we going to do?!” Daisy wailed.

“The only thing we can do, Daisy…the only thing we can do…” Rose said dramatically.

“Not that?” Lily whispered.

“I’ll be back with flowers even better than what we would’ve had!” Rose declared and charged off in the direction of The Doctor’s house. If interstellar flowers wouldn’t do the trick, then Rose didn’t know what would!

“If those two don’t wrap up soon, they’re going to miss the wedding,” Fluttershy worried.

“On their own heads be it,” Rarity sighed. It would be such a shame too. Rainbow was going to wear a tuxedo and Duskfall’s midnight blue dress would have been divine. Now they might not wear them at all.

“Hopefully they’ll realize the time soon. I’d hate to stop them when they’re having so much fun,” Coco murmured.

“I’ll go pick up their wedding gifts, just in case. By the way, has anyone seen Harmonia?” Moon Dancer asked.

“Last I saw her, she was in Town Hall. It’s her first wedding and I think the poor dear is a little overexcited,” Rarity couldn’t help the smile on her face. Harmonia could be absolutely adorable when she wanted to be…or unintentionally, as was the case here.

“Vinyl, where’s my bowtie?!” Octavia was definitely panicking.

“Around your neck, babe,” Vinyl always found it amusing when she was the voice of calm reason. Everyone usually assumed Octavia was the rock in the relationship, but as soon as the heat turned on, it was almost always Vinyl calming down Octavia.

“Oh. Right, thanks sweetie,” Octavia said as she felt her bowtie around her neck.

“Seriously, Octy, stressing out over this isn’t gonna help anyone. Just go with the flow of the music, remember?” Vinyl said soothingly.

“Flow of the music. The tempo and rhythm, in and out,” Octavia chanted.

“Atta girl, you’re gonna knock this outta the park, just like you always do,” Vinyl nuzzled her marefriend and pecked her on the forehead.

“You’re right. Thanks Vinyl, for everything,” Octavia smiled as the weight lifted from her.

“That’s what I’m here for. Besides, I couldn’t just let your first wedding gig be some bog standard affair! Cranky and Matilda deserve better and you deserve being able to show off your talents!” Vinyl replied firmly.

“Speaking of, how are we going to move your equipment to the wedding in time?” Octavia asked.

Vinyl just smirked.

“Oh, why didn’t we ask Big Mac to carry the cake?” Mrs. Cake wondered as she and her husband tried to haul the wedding cake to town hall.

“We did, back when we thought the wedding was tomorrow,” Mr. Cake reminded.

“Right… at least the twins are old enough to behave themselves,” Mrs. Cake sighed. Indeed, both Cakes had one twin on their backs and they were being little angels. Of course, that all came to a screeching end as Vinyl, Octavia, and half the town bore down on them in some kind of wheeled contraption or other.

Fortunately, it was all over very quickly. The cake even managed to survive. Someone in their path had dropped a very odd looking cane, causing the whole contraption and everyone on it to go flying through an open window.

Harmonia just smiled contently as she felt the oncoming Chaos that, for once, had nothing to do with Discord. Upon seeing the catastrophe about to happen, Harmonia nudged a few outcomes with her Harmony Magic, causing everyone to land exactly where they needed to be. After all, this was her first ever wedding. It wouldn’t do to have it ruined.

“Luna?” Luna knew that look. Celestia wanted something from her.

“Yes, sister?” Luna asked warily.

“Would you, perhaps, be willing to share wedding gifts?” Celestia put on her most winning smile.

“You forgot yours in Canterlot, didn’t you?” Luna deadpanned.

“‘Forgot’ is such a strong word…yes I forgot it,” Celestia drooped.

“You know, you could just give it to them later,” Luna pointed out.

“You make a compelling argument,” Luna just buried her face in her hooves. Her sister could be so stupid sometimes.

"Doctor, hurry!" Derpy called out. Her best friend was running full tilt. Having to go bowling just to procure a new tie and then having to swing around the galaxy just to pick up some flowers had really eaten up the time.

"Are the kids inside?!" The Doctor shouted back.

"Yes, you're the last one!" Derpy replied. The Doctor ran up the steps to Town Hall. He was panting heavily, completely out of breath.

"Well, my dear Derpy, let's get a seat before I collapse here," The Doctor suggested. The pair walked inside, found seats next to their daughters and the ceremony began.

“Ladies and Gentlecolts, we are gathered here today for one of the greatest reasons. Today we celebrate the joining of Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda in holy matrimony. Life is made of joy and sorrow, but both the good times and the bad are made so much sweeter by sharing them with another. Together, you will build each other up and you will strengthen each other’s flaws. In sickness and in health you will love and care for one another.

“None here can doubt the strength of your devotion to one another. Though once separated, you persevered until you could be reunited. Now the only thing to do is make it official. To bind you together in the eyes of the law, so that it may reflect the truth in your Hearts. So, Cranky, do you take Matilda to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“You bet I do,” Cranky said eagerly.

“Do you, Matilda, take Cranky to be your lawfully wedded husband?” Mayor Mare asked.

“I do,” Matilda stared lovingly into Cranky’s eyes.

“Then I now pronounce you Jack and Jenny!” The newlyweds kissed and the room erupted in cheers and happy sobbing.

“Dammit,” Rainbow sulked.

“I was really looking forward to wearing that dress,” Duskfall pouted.

“Well, there’s always the reception,” Rainbow reminded.

“To the boutique!” Duskfall teleported both of them to Rarity’s place so they could get dressed. They may have been a pair of idiots, but the true test of intelligence is how you stick the landing!

“When did you get your Cutie Mark?!” The day was over and Duskfall, Shining, Cadence, Moon Dancer, Spike, and Harmonia were all sitting down for dinner.

“Didn’t I..? Wait…no, I did not. Dang it,” Duskfall facehoofed, "And I haven't told Mom and Dad either."

“Sparkle family curse,” Cadence giggled with amusement.

“Speaking of, have Mom and Dad told you that Cadence is expecting?” Shining asked.

“Expecting? Expecting what?” Harmonia, Spike, and Moon Dancer all gave Duskfall a look, “Oh, that kind of expecting. WHAT?!”

“Yeah, the doctors are saying it’ll still be a couple of weeks before the baby bulge starts showing, but I’m definitely pregnant,” Cadence confessed.

“Congratulations!” Spike cheered, “I’m gonna be an uncle!”

“Have you thought about names yet?” Moon Dancer asked.

“I look forward to seeing the end result of procreation,” Harmonia noted.

While everyone was being happy for Cadence and Shining, no one noticed Duskfall wrapped up in her own dark thoughts.

Author's Notes:

OK, so two things.

One, Steven Magnet got himself uninvited for stressing out Matilda. That kind of tactlessness is UNACCEPTABLE!

Two, during my meltdown, I wrote the first chapter of that displaced fic I was talking about before. For those of you who haven't seen it yet: Romancing the (Martial) Artist

As much as I love this episode and how gooey marriages make me feel in fiction, the longer I'm on this earth the more convinced I am of certain things.

Such as the fact that monogamous marriage was, quite possibly, the dumbest thing Humanity has ever created. Yes, I am including atomic weaponry and yes, I do mean Humanity created it. That "Marriage is between one man and one woman" quote is taken so far out of context it might as well be in Klingon.

In happier news, next episode we'll be seeing Starlight Glimmer and Duskfall face off. *Duel of the Fates plays*

After that the CMC should be getting their Cutie Marks either next chapter of the chapter after. I still have to remember to schedule in the human 5 for their checkup.

Intertwined Part 1

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 21: Intertwined Part 1

Duskfall was wandering around Ponyville with no particular goal in mind. Ever since Shining and Cadence had told her that they had a baby on the way a week ago, she had taken to solitary strolls. A part of her was tempted to kill herself a time or two to get her mind off things, but she had zero interest in freaking out her friends. Duskfall was familiar enough with Murphy’s Law to know the second she tried to become a Manticore snack or something, someone would spot her and she’d never have a moment’s peace.

“Princess Duskfall, there you are!” Only one person called her that.

“Hello, Pharynx, why are you looking for me?” Duskfall asked.

“My brothers have discovered and captured a highly suspicious pony!” Pharynx reported dutifully. Suspicious pony? Who could they possibly mean? Unless…

“Take me to them,” Duskfall ordered. A few minutes later and Duskfall spotted a pile of about 20 Changelings or so. The only thing betraying the fact that there was a pony underneath was a single pale pink front hoof. Centuries of scheming and plotting came to the forefront of Duskfall’s mind. Her Darkness demanded retribution while her Insanity lovingly described how to go about getting what was due. With an effort of will, Duskfall shut them both down. She was in control, not the other way around.

“At ease, boys. If you’d be so kind as to gather up the others?” Duskfall requested and a moment later, she was alone with Starlight Glimmer while the Changelings went to fetch the whole crew. The Unicorn was still dazed from the dogpile, but Duskfall wasn’t in the mood for any surprises. A brief moment of focus and Duskfall shrouded Starlight’s horn in Darkness. By the time Starlight figured out how to cast around the Darkness, it wouldn’t matter one way or the other.

Soon everyone was gathered. The general atmosphere was almost murderous. Even Fluttershy seemed to want to give Starlight a piece of her mind. There was no nice way to say it; Starlight had violated people on a fundamental level. That included the Element Bearers. Duskfall sent a quick jolt to Starlight’s system to snap her out of her daze.

“What happened? Where- oh…” Starlight gulped audibly as she realized she was being stared down by almost a dozen ponies, three of which were Alicorns, a Changeling Queen, and a Lord of Chaos. They all looked quite upset with her. Starlight’s first instinct was to teleport away, but found her magic unresponsive. She wasn’t dumb enough to try and run either. Starlight realized she was well and truly screwed.

“Starlight Glimmer, I must say, you have quite a lot of nerve showing your face in Ponyville of all places,” Princess Luna commented. The Night Princess’ eyes promised much suffering. Duskfall stepped forward.

“You are guilty of practicing Soul magic without a license and performing what might be the most heinous act one pony can do to another. You will not be charged for the residents of Our Town, as you did receive their permission to do what you did, even if they were misinformed. However, you forcefully removed the Cutie Marks of myself and the other Elements of Harmony. This also resulted in the destruction of my own Cutie Mark. You owe a great debt to society, Starlight. I will personally be taking that first payment out of your flesh,” Duskfall snarled.

“Don’t hurt me!” Starlight squealed.

“Hurt you? Perhaps, but I’m not a savage. I’ll even give you a chance to defend yourself. I’ll just-”

“If I may?” Discord interrupted, “Instead of worrying about collateral, why don’t we stage this in my home of the Chaos Dimension? No worrying about hurting anything as you avenge yourself on Starlight as you see fit.” Starlight did not like the wicked grin that Discord and Duskfall now shared.

“An excellent idea, Discord. Let’s move there then, shall we?” Discord snapped his talons and they were all relocated to the so called Chaos Dimension. Discord was even kind enough to whip up a level field about the size of a football field for Duskfall and Starlight to do combat on. Duskfall dispelled the Darkness around Starlight’s horn.

“On 3, agreed?” Duskfall asked calmly. Starlight nervously nodded, “One. Two. Three!”

Both ponies shot bolts of raw magic at each other to gauge the other’s strength. In normal circumstances, Duskfall’s bolt would have overwhelmed Starlight’s. Not by much, Duskfall wasn’t looking to kill Starlight, but enough to send a message. The Chaos Dimension is not normal circumstances. In a flash of light, both Duskfall and Starlight were gone.

“Maybe holding this contest in the Chaos Dimension wasn’t my brightest idea…” Discord said sheepishly.

“Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck!” Duskfall had been swearing for the last two minutes, ever since she had awoken somewhere in the Everfree with no one around, “I knew I should’ve just killed that bitch! FUCK!”

On her last expletive, a burst of Wild Darkness escaped from her. It was completely uncontrolled and lashed out at everything around Duskfall. Her anger only grew when she cast out her sense for Harmonia’s Tree, but felt nothing. Either she was so deep in the Everfree that she couldn’t risk teleporting for fear of getting more lost or she had been dumped someplace that was not the Equestria she knew.

“Starlight, when I get a hold of you, I’m going to wring your neck!” Duskfall swore then sighed, “Now what? Wait for Discord to find us and bring us home? Who knows how long that’ll be and as mad as I am at Starlight, I can survive with little to no food. She can’t. So my top priority is to find that sociopath and maybe ask the local Discord for help, assuming there even is a local Discord. I just got back! Did someone just make it their life’s mission to fuck me over?”

“I don’t know about fucking you over, but definitely fucking you~” Duskfall nearly jumped out of her skin. How stupid could she be to let something sneak up on her in the Everfree?! She whirled around and came face to face with Nightmare Moon.

Author's Notes:

My original plan was to make this one long uber chapter. Then I realized it might wind up being over 10k words just on this arc alone. I have to cover the Nightmare Timeline, the Crystal War timeline, the Changeling Timeline, and a random spat or two between Duskfall and Starlight in the middle of all that. Then there's the final confrontation between Duskfall and Starlight. So that's like, 3 or 4 chapters easily. I'm not going to make you guys wait weeks for an update just because I'm a lunatic.

I'm not going to half ass it like the show. Duskfall isn't allowed to leave a Timeline until she's contributed in some major way to fixing it, if not fixed it outright.

In other news, I've gone and traumatized myself again. I thought about just leaving it at that, but since I'll be discussing politics on Romancing the (Martial) Artist sooner or later anyway, you might as well hate me sooner rather than later.

I watched a documentary named The Red Pill. It cause me to cry. Not just like, shed a tear or two, but to out and out weep. It was like I was trapped in the solitary confinement of my own mind with propaganda pouring in to my cell at all hours. Then suddenly I realize for the first time IN MY LIFE that my cell isn't in solitary after all! There are people who are in idea jail with me who share some of my opinions!

It's like, do I agree with everything they say? Fuck no! But they're approaching me as an actual person and not a living strawman. Even if I disagreed with everything they said, which I don't, the fact that they had an open and honest discussion about these topics that I have been wrestling with my whole life just blew my mind. How sad is that? I have to go to people who have been, wrongly, called a hate group to hear a calm and measured conversation that doesn't devolve into yelling at the top of their lungs in the hopes that volume makes them right.

So yeah, I spent all night crying instead of sleeping. People I have been told to hate over and over again have indirectly treated me better than every single adult in my life. I don't know about you, but I think that's fucked up.

Intertwined Part 2

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 22: Intertwined Part 2

Rule one of finding yourself in an alternate timeline or universe: find out what’s different from your home reality. As much as it irked Duskfall, the best way to do that was to try and not antagonize Nightmare Moon. This decision was only reinforced by the fact that, while powerful in her own right, Duskfall was doubtful she could stack up to Luna’s millennium of power and experience. Duskfall didn’t know how much of Luna’s power the Nightmare could draw upon and she still didn’t know how to properly kill an Alicorn.

“You look quite a bit like Twilight Sparkle,” The Nightmare noted idly. Duskfall’s heart stopped, “Yet she certainly isn’t an Alicorn, her Cutie Mark looks nothing like yours, and she isn’t heterochromatic. I’d think you were a Changeling, but even the most incompetent drone wouldn’t fuck up their disguise this badly. So, who are you?”

“My name is Duskfall Sparkle,” There was really no point in lying, “I hail from an alternate version of Equestria. Whether it’s simply a matter of timeline jumping or ending up in an entirely different universe, I’m not sure yet.”

“What are your relations to Twilight Sparkle and her family?” Duskfall had to wonder why Nightmare Moon was so concerned with Twilight.

“Twilight Velvet and Night Light consider me a granddaughter, of a kind. I’m the result of one of Twilight’s experiments gone wrong,” Technically still the truth. If Twilight hadn’t accidentally kidnapped Tom, she wouldn’t exist to begin with.

“How on Equuis would a cloning experiment result in an Alicorn?” Nightmare Moon was baffled.

“The Twilight of my home was an Alicorn at the time, so I presume that had something to do with it,” Duskfall replied, carefully choosing her words to let the Nightmare to draw her own erroneous conclusions.

“Twilight? An Alicorn? That is quite…interesting. What are you and she Alicorns of?” Nightmare Moon inquired.

“She’s the Alicorn of the Magic of Friendship. I am the Alicorn of Darkness,” That brought the Nightmare up short. Duskfall wasn’t going to risk letting the Nightmare know she was also the Alicorn of Insanity.

“Ah, I see, she must have been successful in her quest to stop me with the Elements of Harmony. Did she ascend immediately thereafter?” It was very odd to hear the Nightmare make polite conversation, given Twilight’s memories of her painted her as a raving, egomaniacal lunatic. Maybe it had just been a bad case of stir crazy? As soon as she had that thought, something felt right about it. Was part of her being an Alicorn of Insanity being able to identify the insanity in others? That was certainly something Duskfall would need to think about later.

“The Elements ascended her about a year later,” Duskfall responded, “A few days after that she began her experiments. A couple months later, I was born or made or whatever term you want to use.” The best lies were coated liberally with truth.

“Well, I look forward to getting to…getting to know you better,” There was a sensuous note to the Nightmare’s voice that sent a thrill up Duskfall’s spine, “But for now, perhaps we should return to my castle.”

The Nightmare draped a wing over Duskfall. Duskfall was getting some strong sexual predator vibes from the Nightmare. Well…hopefully Starlight could survive long enough for Duskfall to get fucked by the Nightmare. The two began to walk with the Nightmare leading the way.

Duskfall thought it over and internally groaned. It was partly her fault the silly bitch was stuck in an alternate timeline/dimension. She couldn’t enjoy getting laid with that on her mind.

“Nightmare Moon, have you seen a Unicorn mare, pink fur with a purple mane with a green streak through it?” Duskfall asked.

“As a matter of fact, I have. She’s currently occupying a cell in the dungeons. My guards found her poking around where she ought not to have been. A friend of yours?” Duskfall wasn’t fooled by the Nightmare’s neutral tone.

“Not in the slightest. I was actually trying to punish the bitch when the accident sent us here. I’m content to let her languish in a cell for a bit while I try to figure out how to get us home,” Duskfall shrugged.

“You are certainly more vicious than Twilight,” Nightmare noted.

“I reiterate, Alicorn of Darkness. If you thought I was gonna be puppies and rainbows and shit, you clearly don’t know Darkness very well,” Duskfall said shortly.

“Celestia can’t have been a fan,” Nightmare Moon remarked.

“It’s none of Celestia’s business. If she were really so concerned with what Twilight was doing, she would’ve never let her do those experiments to begin with! She’d rather be up in her ivory tower playing games with the nobles!” Anyone with half a brain cell could guess an easy way to get in with the Nightmare was to seem hostile to Celestia. Injecting her words with the tiniest bit of real hurt Duskfall felt for being largely ignored by the alabaster Alicorn just sold the act. Duskfall understood ruling a country was busy work, but it didn't stop the feelings.

“You almost sound like you regret existing,” The Nightmare said curiously.

“I think a little bit of regret on something like that is natural. I don’t regret the ‘how’ of my creation. Sure it was a bit different to how most beings are born and I have Twilight’s memories jammed in my head, but I can’t find it in myself to be mad at her for it. Say, I never asked Luna, but how did you come about? I don’t know how much I believe Celestia’s propaganda,” Time to find out if this was an alternate universe or just an alternate timeline.

“From what I have seen of my sister’s tales, they are mostly accurate. Alicorns command vast wells of power, enough that the rules of physics and magic can behave strangely if not properly controlled. I was indeed born of Luna’s jealousy and anger, but I am not a completely separate entity. I am her and she is me. It will continue to be so at least until Luna is ready to face the world once more. Until then, I will rule in her rightful place,” The Nightmare in her world had been a child of Nyarlathotep. Either this Nightmare was lying or Duskfall was indeed in an alternate universe. Duskfall couldn’t detect a note of deception on the other Alicorn’s voice.

“That’s a noble sentiment,” Duskfall complimented.

“You give me too much credit. If you hold Twilight’s memories, then you know I was not always so high minded. At first I simply wanted everything around me to experience the pain Luna felt. Eventually her better nature won us both over and I began to properly take care of our subjects. It is a pity eternal night simply isn’t feasible…” The Nightmare sighed.

At last the Nightmare’s Castle came into view. It looked like she had taken over the Castle of the Two Sisters and remodeled it. Duskfall and Nightmare Moon walked through the front doors and everyone went silent for a moment. Duskfall didn’t know if that was typical of when the Nightmare entered a room or if they were all busy staring at her. Judging by this universe’s version of Rarity looking straight at her, it was at least some of both.

“Rarity, please fetch Twilight Sparkle. As you can see, we have an interesting guest~” The Nightmare purred.

“At once, my Queen,” Rarity bowed and trotted off.

“My Queen, why have you brought a Changeling here?!” Duskfall instantly recognized that voice. She turned and saw Rainbow Dash dressed in a guard outfit, except her eyes were different. They were the same almost rose red color, but they were draconic in nature. Was Rainbow a Thestral?!

“Really, Rainbow, have a little more faith in me. Would I really be fooled by a Changeling who couldn’t even get their disguise right?” The Nightmare sounded hurt, but her smirk and eyes told another story. Rainbow gulped nervously. Did the Nightmare bang her guards too?

“No, my Queen, sorry, Queen Nightmare,” Rainbow fidgeted nervously. The Nightmare walked over to Rainbow and bent down to eye level.

“Don’t worry, my loyal little Thestral, you can make it up to me later,” Nightmare Moon seemed to be a sex fiend and Duskfall was OK with that.

“You summoned me, my Queen?” It was painful to look, but Duskfall’s whole narrative would fall apart if she freaked out now. Twilight Sparkle entered the room. She was wearing a very seductive looking, tight fitting white button up shirt that wasn’t buttoned all the way up. She was also wearing her mane up in a loose bun and had glasses. She was dressed like a sexy office worker/librarian! Twilight froze when she spotted Duskfall.

“Hi, Mom,” Duskfall played it cool. Even if just under the surface she was completely losing her mind. This wasn’t her Twilight. Kidnapping her wouldn’t help anything. Also, this Twilight looked to be about five years older, so there was that. It wasn’t easy to tell with Rarity or Rainbow because they were dressed, but Duskfall had seen that face in the mirror for centuries. It was easy to pick out the changes.

“MOM?!” Twilight squawked, “I- I think I’d know if I had a baby!”

“There’s more than one way to have a child, my pet~” The Nightmare taunted. Duskfall decided to have mercy on Twilight.

“I’m the result of one of your experiments in an alternate timeline,” Duskfall explained. Lying to Twilight’s face hurt a lot more than Duskfall expected, “I’m Duskfall Sparkle.”

“Just think, Twilight, we could be looking at our future child!” The Nightmare squealed. Twilight predictably blushed like a tomato. Duskfall was tempted to point out that Alicorns weren’t born, but she didn’t know how things worked in this universe so kept her mouth shut.

“I doubt any child of ours will look almost exactly like me,” Twilight pointed out and the Nightmare pouted.

“She’s an Alicorn of Darkness. If that doesn’t just scream our child, I don’t know what does! Although, I have always wanted to try twins…” There was a special place in Hell for Duskfall for finding that idea attractive. Although, Duskfall was already doomed for her centuries of debauchery, so what were they going to do? Double damn her?

“My Queen, please!” Twilight pleaded and Nightmare Moon just cackled.

“I’m down,” Both Alicorn and Unicorn snapped their attention to Duskfall, “I do want to get home eventually, so before I leave I’ll let you do whatever you want to me.” Truthfully, if Duskfall wound up stuck here for more than a few days she’d likely see if the Nightmare wanted to bang just for stress relief. Still, an incentive to be as helpful as possible was never a bad thing.

“WHAT?!” Twilight was one step from completely flipping her lid. Duskfall couldn’t contain the desire to see if she would snap. She walked closer to Twilight until their lips were almost touching.

“Come on, Twilight, I have all your memories. You can’t tell me you were never curious,” Duskfall huskily whispered. The Nightmare experienced a very potent wing boner and Twilight stuttered for a few seconds before fainting dead away.

“That’s a shame,” Nightmare licked her suddenly dry lips.

“Yeah, Mom won’t let me kiss her either, but I’ve never had that reaction before. She just fidgets and acts all guilty if we’re alone,” Now that the possibility was presented to her, the idea of making love to Twilight was all she ever wanted. Yes…make love…calling it anything else was sacrilege in Duskfall’s mind. She knew her Insanity was acting up, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

Something caught Duskfall’s eyes that distracted her. Twilight’s Cutie Mark was different. It was exactly the same except one of the outer white stars was missing. How could that be possible?! Twilight’s Cutie Mark was six stars to denote the six Elements of Harmony! If one of them was missing, what did that mean? Did one of the Bearers simply not exist in this universe? Was there one less Element? Did this have something to do with the Nightmare not being defeated? Why was Twilight’s Cutie Mark nearly the same if things played out like this?

No, Duskfall was only going to be here long enough to find a way to leave. As much as it irked her, these mysteries could stay mysteries. There was no point in getting involved in this world.

“Might someone show me the way to the library? I know Starswirl did some research into time travel, so hopefully his notes will prove useful,” Really Duskfall wanted to see if the basic Laws of Magic were comparable to what she knew.

“Of course, I will have Rarity escort you,” Suddenly the white Unicorn was beside Duskfall. The Nightmare scooped up Twilight in her magic and departed.

“Follow me,” Rarity said primly and started walking off. Duskfall promptly followed and soon they arrived at the library.

“Thank you, Rarity,” Duskfall said gratefully. Rarity didn’t respond. Duskfall just shrugged and turned to get started on the books when Rarity spoke.

“What was it like?” It was barely more than a whisper.

“How long has it been since the Nightmare took over?” Duskfall returned.

“A little over five years…” Rarity responded.

“Do you really want to know? I don’t think our worlds are comparable and knowing what may have been will only make you miserable,” Duskfall warned.

“Is she happy? Is Sweetie Belle happy?” Rarity was crying now, begging for that one answer.

“Yes, Sweetie Belle is still looking for her Cutie Mark, but otherwise very happy,” A great weight seemed to be lifted off of Rarity’s shoulders. A small smile before she schooled her features back into her impassive mask.

With that, Duskfall started scanning the bookshelves for possibly useful tomes. She noted a lot of standard books were missing, but simply chalked it up to alternate universe shenanigans. Once she had a sizeable selection, she sat down and started to read.

Light falls to Darkness.

Darkness becomes Light.

Light burns the Truth

Darkness obscures Lies

Only by restoring Truth and exposing Lies will you be free.

Duskfall shot up in bed, gasping for air. The words seared into her mind. There was no mistaking their intent. Those mysteries would not be allowed to remain mysteries, not if Duskfall ever wanted to get home.

Intertwined Part 3

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 23: Intertwined Part 3

Duskfall was in a very foul mood. She hadn’t been able to get back to sleep once the dream or vision or whatever it was had woken her. So she had stewed in her room all night long. It was just about time for breakfast, fortunately, so Duskfall was ready to give up on sleep and return to the library to find out what madness was going on in this dimension. Before Duskfall could leave her room, however, there was a knock on her door.

“Come in!” Duskfall called out, supposing it was the Nightmare.

“GOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING DUSKY-WUSKY!” Loud enough to be a physical force, Pinkie Pie burst into the room and Duskfall fell out of bed.

“Pinkie, I’d ask what you’re doing here, but I’m almost afraid of the answer,” Duskfall said honestly.

“Silly Duskfall, did you really think even in an alternate universe I’d be killed off by off screen shenanigans?” Pinkie smiled brightly.

“That’s not what I was concerned about Pinkie. Although now I’m very concerned as to why your mind jumped to death,” Pinkie arched an eyebrow.

“Duskfall, sweetie, do you really want an answer to that?” Now Duskfall was legitimately terrified. The only time Pinkie called someone ‘sweetie’ was when they were in deep shit. Like the time Duskfall had tried to smuggle Dash into a kitchen to see her cook. Either this Pinkie was jabbing at her suicide streak or she was implying the reason Twilight’s Cutie Mark was different. Neither outcome boded well for Duskfall’s stay in this Dimension.

“Pinkie, I-”

“Queen Black Snooty wants you to join her and Twilight for breakfast,” Pinkie left as suddenly as she had appeared, leaving Duskfall feeling very shell-shocked. Well, no point in dallying in her room. Duskfall wasn’t sure how the Nightmare might respond to her being late.

“Good morning,” Duskfall greeted as she entered the dining hall.

“Did you sleep well, Duskfall?” The Nightmare asked kindly as Duskfall took a seat opposite of Twilight.

“I slept horribly, but for good reason. Something gave me a clue as to how to get back home. So I’ve been up all night just thinking about it,” Duskfall answered truthfully.

“Oh?” Both the Nightmare and Twilight perked up in attention.

“I need to find some sort of truth. Fuck if I know what that means. Truth about myself? About this world? About how I want to bend Twilight over a table?” Duskfall shrugged as Twilight blushed. Duskfall wasn’t even necessarily playing stupid. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be searching for.

“Trust prophecy to be vague to the point of uselessness,” The Nightmare sighed.

“The prophecy about you was fairly accurate,” Twilight noted. The Nightmare turned to Twilight.

“That was no true prophecy. Merely a notice created by my sister,” She pointed out.

“Oh, right,” Twilight splayed her ears back.

“In any event, the library is free for your use. Twilight, pet, if you think you can survive being with Duskfall unsupervised, I’d suggest you help her in her search,” Nightmare Moon suggested/ordered. Twilight looked warily at Duskfall.

“Of course, my Queen,” The rest of the meal passed in silence and the pair of purple ponies made their way to the library. Once there Duskfall cast a few discreet privacy wards to make sure they wouldn’t be overheard.

“What happened when you went to confront the Nightmare five years ago?” Duskfall asked. Twilight must have been expecting this question, because she answered readily.

“I told Celestia that Nightmare Moon was on the verge of returning, but she sent me to Ponyville to make friends and oversee the Summer Sun Celebration preparations. There I met Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity. The Nightmare returned and upon reading of the Elements of Harmony, I decided to try and find them. The others came with me. At first it seemed fine, but when a Manticore attacked us everything fell apart. We fought it off, but Applejack died in the struggle. She saved us. We pressed on, but then we found out that the six Elements each required their own bearer and there were only four of us. That was the end of our little rebellion,” Twilight recounted sadly.

Fluttershy was missing. The how and why might be important, but this change along with Rainbow being a Thestral, pointed to a much deeper difference to Duskfall’s home. Duskfall couldn’t think like this was a fanfic and someone had made Rainbow a Thestral just because they thought it was cool. There had to be a reason.

“Twilight, do you have birth records and newspapers from about 26 to 28 years ago?” Duskfall asked.

“Why do you ask?” Twilight responded.

“In my world, there was another who joined you on your quest to stop Nightmare Moon. A Pegasus by the name of Fluttershy. Rainbow is also a Pegasus on my world. If Flutters is missing and Rainbow is a different species entirely, then that might have to do with the truth I’m supposed to find. I need to know if Fluttershy was born at all,” Duskfall responded.

“Rainbow Dash was a PEGASUS?!” Twilight squawked in surprise.

“And you’re an Alicorn,” That seemed to really fry Twilight’s brain. Duskfall decided to indulge her Insanity a bit and peck Twilight on the forehead. It had the desired effect of snapping her out of it.

“Stop that! You’re supposedly my daughter from another world! Why do you keep making sexual advances?! Is the other me some kind of sexual deviant?!” Twilight demanded.

“The other you is dead,” Duskfall responded flatly, “And life is both too short and too long to not indulge in a few taboos. I’ll never be a cradle robber, but you, my dear mare, are fair game.”

“What do you mean dead? How do you kill an Alicorn?” Twilight seemed both frightened and intrigued by the idea.

“A powerful Surge merged her Soul and the Soul of another to create me. This was her body, but it’s mine now. All that’s left of her is her memories in my head. Mom and Dad and Shiny didn’t even get a body to bury. Also, I meant what I said about you not being able to lie to me about being curious. I wonder if it’s an intelligence thing? Wondering what it’d be like to have someone able to keep up with you in every. Possible. Way,” Duskfall smirked and licked her lips as Twilight tried to splutter something. It was adorable.

“Anyway, those papers I was asking about?” Twilight gathered herself enough to levitate a bunch of documents and newspapers over to the desk they had claimed as their own. A simple Ctrl + F spell Twilight had developed when Tom had mentioned the function to her and two slips of paper floated out of the pile. From their size alone, it wasn’t hard to guess what they were. Duskfall forced herself to look anyway.

Name: Fluttershy

DOB: 4/23/979

Sex: Female

Place of Birth: Cloudsdale, Equestria

The other slip of paper read as follows.

Name: Fluttershy

DOD: 4/25/979

Sex: Female

Place of Death: Cloudsdale, Equestria

Cause of Death: Malformed heart.

Fluttershy had died a scant two days after being born. Without Fluttershy to tame the Manticore, Applejack had died defending the others. A piece of the puzzle fell into place in Duskfall’s mind. Unfortunately, this was a 10,000 piece puzzle and she only had one.

“Do you know what a Sonic Rainboom is?” Duskfall asked.

“Yes, the last reported Rainboom happened a little over fifteen years ago preformed by a filly named Lightning Dust,” Twilight replied promptly.

“Lightning Dust did the Rainboom?! I mean, I would’ve been surprised if Rainbow had done it, given she’s a Thestral in this world, but Lightning Dust of all people? That’s messed up,” Another piece, but this one Duskfall had no idea where to put it.

“Why do you say that?” Twilight questioned.

“Rainbow preformed the Rainboom as an early expression of her connection to Harmony via the Element of Loyalty. The Lightning Dust of my home world is loyal to no one except herself. Not the most harmonious of ponies. Do you know anything about the Lighting Dust of this world?” Duskfall wondered.

“She’s a living legend. As soon as she preformed the Rainboom, she was inducted into a special Wonderbolts training program. When Nightmare Moon took over, she was made Captain of the Shadowbolts. Ever since she’s been ruthless about weeding out dissenters and nobody wants to be on the wrong side of her ‘interrogations’,” Twilight shivered.

“What about Cadence?” Duskfall questioned.

“Who?” Twilight asked blankly.

“Mi Amore Cadenza?” Duskfall tried again.

“That name sounds familiar… died about 900 years ago during the war with the Crystal Empire before it disappeared. She was the Princess of the Crystal Empire and martyred herself to protest King Sombra’s reign,” Duskfall was very much shocked at this news. Cadence wasn’t almost a thousand years old! She was…she was…Duskfall nor Twilight had ever heard anyone discussing Cadence’s age. Alicorns were immortal and Cadence was an Alicorn of Love, but her Cutie Mark being the Crystal Heart denoted that the majority of her power was channeled through the artifact. Why was her Cutie Mark the Crystal Heart if she had never seen it? A pony’s Cutie Mark universally held iconography that in some way, shape, or form held meaning to them.

Twilight’s own Starburst was simply a manifestation of the Sparkle Family Crest and the amount of prestige her ancestors had obtained through their magical accomplishments. Twilight’s ancestry was important to her. If Cadence had no idea what the Crystal Heart was, it wouldn’t be a part of her Cutie Mark. Most likely, her Cutie Mark would have been the more traditional type of heart. Of course, it was possible that Cadence had dreamed of the Crystal Heart at some point before receiving her Cutie Mark, but that seemed unlikely to Duskfall.

Duskfall shook her head to clear it. She was supposed to be finding a truth about this dimension, not going down a rabbit hole concerning her own. Still, if Cadence had never babysat Twilight and had never been part of Canterlot nobility that suggested a change even further down the timeline.

“Twilight, I need a history book. Preferably one that goes back about 1000 years,” Twilight complied readily and Duskfall sat down to read. Even passing the books through a filter for propaganda and comparing it to the history of her world, the history books didn’t paint a pretty picture.

The Elements weren’t gifts to Harmonia from Concepts. They were forged by Starswirl and what were referred to as the ‘Pillars of Harmony’. The Tree of Harmony simply didn’t exist. There wasn’t even an account of which sister wielded which Element against Discord, if that even mattered at all. What really grabbed Duskfall’s attention was what happened during and after the events of Nightmare Moon’s duel with Celestia.

Apparently the conflict on this world had extended beyond a single night. It lasted for a full month and during that month the Nightmare used blood alchemy to give birth to the Thestral race. They hadn’t existed before that point in this world’s history. Luna had been missing the tiny sliver of support she had received from the nocturnal race in Duskfall’s own world.

Something inside Celestia must have broken during the conflict, no matter how brief it was. The Thestrals were hunted to near extinction once the Nightmare was sealed. Those that survived fled to the darkest corners of Equestria, where they found mates and raised their children in secrecy for the duration of the Nightmare’s banishment.

Celestia vanished from politics for five years, grieving her sister. When she returned, Celestia started passing new laws. They were seemingly little things at first. No one was allowed to talk about Luna or the Nightmare. Understandable, given they were Celestia’s sister and the wounds were still fresh in the public mind. All blood alchemy was banned. It had created the abominations known as the Thestrals, after all. Things like that.

Once the generation began to change, Celestia started to enact more invasive laws. No one was allowed outside after sundown or before sunrise. Astronomy was banned. School attendance was compulsory from ages 5 to 16 no exceptions except in case of sickness.

Things just got worse from there, culminating in literal book burnings and “reeducation camps” for ponies who received “troubling” Cutie Marks. Duskfall looked up at Twilight, who was engrossed in her own reading. Had the Nightmare even had to tempt her with more than the promise of being able to read whatever she wanted?

Whatever the case, Duskfall still needed more information. However, she had the beginnings of a plan. Duskfall needed the Elements of Harmony. They had all worked for only Celestia before. Hopefully they’d work for a single Alicorn again.

Intertwined Part 4

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Shattered Souls Chapter 24

If Duskfall was going to co-opt the Elements then there was one huge obstacle in her way. That obstacle being Rainbow Dash. Without knowing exactly where her loyalties lie and how deep they ran, Duskfall couldn’t dare make a move against the Nightmare. Not without knowing exactly how the Elements worked in this world. If there was a greater than zero chance Rainbow could fight for control of Loyalty then Duskfall had to deal with it.

There was also a matter of securing Magic. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that it would simply recognize her as close enough to Twilight and that would be that. Still, Twilight’s own loyalties were very much in question. All of Duskfall’s interactions with this world’s Twilight had indicated she was very much like the pre-Ponyville Twilight. How this Twilight had maintained such purity while being the Nightmare’s sex pet was unimportant. If Duskfall’s Twilight had been forced to endure Celestia’s tyranny, she would’ve jumped ship for the Nightmare with very little provocation.

The other Elements were, thankfully, non-issues. Pinkie would almost certainly go along with anything. Applejack and Fluttershy were both dead. Rarity…Rarity actively hated the Nightmare.

The Nightmare had mostly been working to dismantle a lot of the laws Celestia had passed in her absence. However, there was one law that the Nightmare was actively holding over Rarity’s head. Ponies that didn’t discover their Cutie Marks by age 13 were taken from home and gathered in camps where they were ‘mentored’ until they received their Mark. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom were all being held at one of these camps, as Duskfall had discovered two days ago. The only reason Sweet Apple Acres hadn’t gone under was government hired workers had taken over most of the work.

Duskfall had been in this world for almost two weeks, making sure she had a clear lay of the land and working on a spell to break Celestia out of her prison on the sun. As much as it had pained her, Duskfall had refrained from getting intimate with the Nightmare. She needed to look at the situation with as clear a head as possible.

There was also the outstanding issue of Lighting Dust. Duskfall was becoming increasingly certain that the Pegasus intended to either murder or rape her. Possibly both and maybe in that order. Lightning Dust did work directly as the enforcer of a sex fiend, so who knew how perverted she was? Just thinking about it got Duskfall a bit hot and bothered. Still, Duskfall was trying to keep a clear head, so Lightning Dust needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

Duskfall was almost ready to move. The only question now was if she should go after Twilight or Rainbow first. She had a good idea of where the Elements were being kept and she could free Celestia at a moment’s notice. Still, Duskfall was hesitant to bring back the monster that looked like the Celestia she knew. If it wasn’t for the possibility that the Elements would only let her use them once, Duskfall would have preferred to divide and conquer both sisters.

There was also a faint sense of worry in the back of Duskfall’s mind. If this had been back home and she were using those Elements, she wouldn’t have worried at all. She was an Alicorn of Darkness and Insanity, not Chaos. The Elements of her world knew to make that distinction and wouldn’t attack her regardless both because of her friendship with Harmonia and her relationship to Twilight. The Elements of this world had been crafted by Starswirl. There was no telling how simple or complex their programming was or what they were programmed to do.

Duskfall hated how much of her plan relied on gambling and suppositions, but her only other option was to somehow overpower the Nightmare and then Celestia without the Elements and hope she could force them both to see reason. Short of that, her only option was to somehow kill both of them, assuming they weren’t as immortal as she was. Duskfall was beginning to think the Nightmare wasn't as powerful as the Luna she knew back home, but to pick a fight on an unsubstantiated guess that could lead to death and destruction was something Duskfall very much did not want to do.

Deciding to work from what she knew best, Duskfall elected to go after Twilight first. Fortunately, it was easy to get her alone under the pretense of studying. If Twilight noticed Duskfall placing more privacy wards than normal around them, she made no comment. Taking this as a good sign, Duskfall began.

“So, Twilight, you were Celestia’s student before the Nightmare. How’d you wind up as Nightmare Moon’s personal sex bunny?” Duskfall asked.

“I wish you wouldn’t say things like that…” Twilight groaned.

“What does it matter what I call it? Concubine, fuck toy, mistress, they all mean the same thing,” Duskfall said unrepentantly, “The question still stands.”

“Well, what better way to prove your domination than to take someone precious from the other? I like to pretend Celestia cared for me at least a little, even if I know that’s a lie. I was her ‘most faithful student’ just because I had a bigger mana font than anyone else. She was raising me to be an attack dog that could make nice with the public, nothing more. I couldn’t live like that but unlike Sunset Shimmer, I didn’t have the strength to break away,” Twilight looked depressed.

“Where could you have run to? You spent most of your life under her watchful eye. I don’t want to think about what she would have done if you had tried to escape and were unsuccessful,” Duskfall comforted.

“Your Celestia loved your Twilight, didn’t she?” Twilight asked morosely.

“Celestia loved all her students, but she had a special place in her Heart for Sunset and Twilight, even if it took several years and a kick to the rear to make her realize just how much she cared for Sunset,” Duskfall confessed.

“You’re half Twilight. Is it any surprise to you I’d take the Nightmare over Celestia? If we have to be intimate, then that’s a small price to pay,” Twilight said resolutely.

“You have to realize the Nightmare isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue either,” Duskfall noted.

“She’s infinitely better than Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed.

“I’m not arguing that point, but this isn’t just trying to break away from an abusive lover. This is all of Equestria we’re talking about. You can’t just settle for the lesser of two evils,” Twilight gave Duskfall a fish eyed look.

“And what? Are you suggesting you’d make a better ruler of Equestria?” Twilight asked in an accusatory tone.

“Hardly,” Duskfall scoffed at the idea, “For one thing I want to go home as soon as possible. For another, I have zero leadership skills and certainly don’t have the patience to lead a whole country. However, there is a way that might knock some sense into both the Nightmare and Celestia. The Elements of Harmony.”

“That’s impossible! We don’t have Kindness or Honesty! Loyalty is loyal to the Nightmare! How exactly would you use the Elements on the Nightmare or Celestia?” Twilight questioned.

“I’m an Alicorn. I can probably use them all by myself, at least once. I just need to know you and Rainbow Dash aren’t going to fight me for control of Magic and Loyalty,” Twilight gazed into Duskfall’s eyes for a moment, searching for something.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Twilight whispered.

“Absolutely. Even if it didn’t need to do this to get home, I can’t in good conscience let this world continue down the path it currently is,” Duskfall’s voice had steel in it.

“I don’t know how you plan to convince Rainbow, but I won’t fight you. Do you have a plan for if the Elements fail?” Twilight asked.

“Seal them or kill them, then stick around until you people figure out a way to move the sun and moon without them,” Duskfall decided brutal honestly was best.

“A part of me wants to insist there has to be a better way… but I grew up with Celestia and I’ve been around the Nightmare enough to know that, if the Elements don’t work, there is no other option. I’m so jealous of you, Duskfall. Not only do you have a loving Celestia and a caring Luna waiting for you at home, but you have the strength to do what needs to be done. I’m such a spineless wimp compared to you,” Twilight beat herself up.

“You survived Celestia with your Heart and Soul intact. You’re not weak. There are all kinds of strength, Twilight Sparkle,” Following her instincts, Duskfall leaned in and gently kissed Twilight. Duskfall’s heart nearly exploded when Twilight didn’t immediately pull away. The kiss was soft, gentle, and Duskfall didn’t feel the burning need that usually accompanied her kisses. This kiss was much more an expression of love than lust. Eventually, the two broke it off.

“Duskfall…” Twilight whispered.

“I’m weak too. 350 years and I still can’t let you go,” Duskfall shook her head, “I’m sorry, that was selfish of me. I can’t stay here and love you like you deserve. But don’t doubt you do deserve to be loved. You’re a wonderful person and who would know better than someone who is half Twilight Sparkle herself?”

“You’ve promised me the moon, Duskfall. Please, save this world. I don’t know if I can go back now that I know there’s something better,” Twilight begged.

“Then I better go find Rainbow. We’ve got to get this show on the road,” Duskfall couldn’t stand the idea of disappointing Twilight.

It was not a terribly difficult thing to get Rainbow Dash alone. Duskfall had been observing Rainbow these past two weeks and it was clear that this Rainbow was a creature of habit. Up with the sun, breakfast in the mess hall, a couple hours alone in the gym, starting her guard shift where she patrolled both in pairs and alone until almost midnight, and then starting it all over again the next day.

Duskfall decided to corner Rainbow in the gym. As Duskfall approached the Thestral she started casting some privacy wards. Duskfall was grateful she had taken the time to learn how to cast without lighting her horn. It made casting a lot more difficult, but it made it almost impossible for anyone without a fairly high magic sensitivity to tell she was casting at all.

“Hello, Rainbow,” Duskfall greeted the Thestral, who was lifting weights with her wings. The Thestral glared at the Alicorn and Duskfall idly thought it was such a shame this Rainbow had her mane buzzed short. Seeing that long, messy rainbow mane was a weakness for Duskfall. If only she could get her Rainbow to grow out her mane even longer…no, Duskfall was letting herself get distracted again.

“What do you want?” This Rainbow sneered.

“Well, I have a Rainbow Dash where I come from, but she’s a Pegasus and you’re a Thestral. So I’m wondering what that was like, seeing how Thestrals in this world were created by the Nightmare,” Duskfall charged ahead.

“And what are Thestrals like in your world?” Rainbow was doing her best to sound disinterested, but Duskfall knew her tells.

“They’re a subspecies of Pegasus, nothing more complicated than that. Back at the dawn of Pony history, sometimes a Pegasus mare and a Dragon drake would mate and the results, on the rare occasion fertilization did occur, was a Thestral. Eventually this happened enough times for the Thestral population to become self-sustaining. They’re much rarer than any of the three main tribes, but you have at least a family or two in every town,” During Duskfall’s explanation, Rainbow had slowed to a stop.

“Thestrals aren’t…hated in your world?” Rainbow asked quietly.

“The average pony thinks Thestrals are super cool, with their draconic heritage and all that. I know one or two who live in Canterlot who loved playing up the ‘mare of mystery’ angle that came with being a rare subspecies. Little Twilight loved them dearly; they were always willing to answer her questions about Thestrals. So no, Rainbow, Thestrals aren’t hated,” Duskfall replied.

“Growing up was hard,” Rainbow started talking, “My folks and I lived about three miles outside of what eventually became Appleoosa. It was just us, hunting and gathering our food while Mom had a small garden groundside. It wasn’t bad or anything, with just the three of us, but eventually the loneliness got to me. Once I turned 13 and got my Mark, we went to annual gatherings, of course, but that wasn’t enough for me. Didn’t help I’m mostly into mares and everyone tried to keep forcing me to be with stallions. So when I turned 18 I packed my stuff and moved to Ponyville. I was even willing to drink that awful potion that made it so I could pretend to be a Pegasus. When the Queen returned and I realized it was really, truly her, I was just so happy…”

“I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you. If you’re anything like the Rainbow I know, you don’t just thrive on attention, you need it,” Duskfall had a brief internal debate before proceeding, “I don’t know what dreams you had as a filly, but my Rainbow made it into the Wonderbolts.”

“She did?! Wait, of course she did, if she’s me then obviously she’s awesome,” It was so adorable to watch Rainbow preen over her counterpart’s accomplishments as if they were her own. Rainbow then deflated a little, “Look, I’m not a complete idiot. I know you want to do something to Queen Nightmare. She’s given Thestrals everywhere everything they’ve dreamed about for a millennium. I can’t help you. She’s the one who created the Thestrals and has always done her best for us. I know you’re an Alicorn and can probably make me a smear on the floor, but I’ll fight you if I have to!”

“Rainbow, I don’t want to fight you or hurt the Nightmare. I will admit that it’s a last ditch resort, but I’d much rather heal the rift between the Nightmare and Luna. If I can get Celestia to pull her head out of her ass at the same time, all the better. What Celestia did to the Thestrals is unspeakable. My Celestia would probably do everything in her power to strike down your Celestia if she ever learned of what happened. But I’m not here to institute a bloody revolution. I just want to help make everyone’s lives a little bit better if I can. I’m not asking you to stand with me, I’m just asking you don’t stand against me,” Duskfall pleaded.

“You mean it? You really only want to help the Queen?” Rainbow pushed.

“She told me herself she only plans to be here until Luna is ready to take back control. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s that simple. So I’ll use the Elements to help. I don’t know what that help will look like though. Ideally it’ll merge Luna and the Nightmare back into a single personality. They might go so far as to craft a completely new body for the Nightmare to inhabit. I don’t know how powerful or how exactly these Elements function. I can only hope for the best,” Duskfall sighed.

“How do you plan on using the Elements? If ya hadn’t noticed, Honesty and Kindness are both missing!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Celestia was able to use the Elements solo when she banished the Nightmare and Luna to the moon. I’m an Alicorn too, so I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to do the same,” Duskfall said with more confidence than she actually felt.

“If you’re really serious about helping the Queen…I suppose I won’t stop you. Or, well, try to stop you anyway. I don’t think I’d actually stop you. But if you do have to…have to…hurt…or even kill the Queen… I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!” With that, Dash bolted out of the gym.

With Rainbow and Twilight more or less on her side, that left one last thorn in Duskfall’s side before she was ready to move with her plan. It was time to neutralize Lighting Dust.

For this mission, Duskfall decided to cloak herself in some stealth spells and observe the Pegasus more directly. From the outset it was easy to tell that where Rainbow was a soldier, Lighting was a warrior. Lightning didn’t waste a movement and had an aura of command about her that many lesser ponies would immediately bow to. None of that fixed her truly dreadful personality.

The Rainbow Dash Duskfall knew was rude in a rapscallion sort of way. Not quite a jackass with a heart of gold, but somewhere in that ballpark. It was endearing rather than off putting. She didn’t say rude things just for the sake of being rude, usually, she just had a very poor brain to mouth filter.

Lighting Dust wasn’t just rude. She was out and out cruel. Duskfall watched as Lighting Dust took sadistic pleasure in making the daughter of one of the maids cry. It set Duskfall’s teeth on edge and her blood boiling. Now it was just a matter of what Duskfall was going to do about it. Fortunately, she had a plan, even if it did go against her usual tastes. Lighting Dust deserved nothing more to be so humiliated she wouldn’t be able to show her face for a week at least.

Life was good for Lighting Dust. She was the head of the Shadowbolts, uncontested arbiter of the Nightmare’s will, and sexiest mare alive. Everyone else was lucky to bask in her presence, to hear her voice as she corrected their miserable lives. Still, it was nice to have some peace and quiet now and again. Even someone as great as she was needed her rest.

Lighting entered her room and went about removing her Shadowbolts uniform, throwing it on the bed with the Alicorn on it before hopping in the shower. A few moments later Lighting Dust’s brain caught up with what she had seen and bolted out of the shower without drying off.

“What are you doing here?!” Lighting demanded to know. Duskfall looked up at the other mare with her best wide eyed innocent expression.

“I’ve seen you looking at me with those lustful eyes, Lady Dust. I know I’m not the one you really want. You want Twilight, but I can’t help it. The way you look at me turns me into a hot mess. You’re just so beautiful I can’t help myself. Please, would you settle for me tonight?” Duskfall said in a simpering voice. Lightning Dust took the bait hook, line, and sinker. The Pegasus grew a wicked grin.

“So, you want to be my Twilight surrogate, do you? She’s the one thing I’ve always wanted but could never have,” Duskfall almost snapped then and there hearing this bitch refer to Twilight as a thing, “A Twilight with wings? I’m going to ruin you for anyone else~”

“Oh, thank you Lady Dust!” Duskfall cried. The bait had been taken. Now it was time to reel her in and snap the trap shut. Duskfall lay on her back and opened herself up while Lighting climbed up onto the bed, still dripping from her aborted shower. Duskfall didn’t move until Lighting Dust placed her marehood directly over her face.

“Lick Bitch,” Lightning ordered. Normally such an order would drive Duskfall wild, but from Lighting, she felt nothing. Still, Duskfall had expected this and was prepared to play along until she could turn the tables. Arrogant pricks like Lightning who thought they were so much smarter than everyone else were so easy to manipulate. Drawing upon her experience, Duskfall began to eat out Lightning.

Duskfall was going to spare no effort in making Lightning turn into a quivering mess. Subtly using transformation magic to make her tongue longer, Duskfall made sure to quickly find Lightning’s most sensitive spots. Duskfall hated to use sex as a weapon like this, but if anyone deserved it, it was the cunt above her. She felt no pleasure from hearing the squeaks and moans of Lightning Dust. Soon, Lighting had her first orgasm of the night.

“You’re not half bad. Almost worthy of becoming my personal cum dump,” Lightning Dust taunted around some light panting. Duskfall made her move while Lightning was still coming down off the high of her orgasm. In a single movement Duskfall was on top of Lightning, pinning her to the bed with her superior Earth Pony strength. While the Pegasus was struggling, Duskfall gave herself a cock. It wasn’t fully functioning, Duskfall didn’t want to make Lightning pregnant, but Lightning didn’t have to know that. Lightning Dust froze in shock as her struggling caused her to brush up against Duskfall’s new appendage.

“Y-y-y-you didn’t have that before!” Lighting squeaked. Honestly it was surprising how many of these so called ‘doms’ flipped into perfect little subs as soon as someone applied a little well placed pressure.

“Oh, Lighting, you’ve been a very bad girl. How many little fillies have you sent crying to their mothers? Does it make you feel powerful? Do you touch yourself at night thinking of all the awful things you say and the pain you cause? I’m afraid I’m going to have to break you of that nasty habit~” Duskfall cooed.

“A-answer me, dammit, why do you suddenly have a dick?!” Lightning feebly shouted.

“Are you sure you’re in a position to be making demands?” Duskfall smiled to reveal predatory teeth, sharp and ready to tear into meat, “I taught myself some transformation magic a while ago. You smell so good, Lightning Dust. I don’t know if I want to eat you or make you have my foals~”

Lightning Dust tried to struggle free with renewed vigor, but it was no use. Duskfall was just so much more powerful than she was. Lightning didn’t want to be impregnated by some half-stallion mare that looked like Twilight! Lightning didn’t want her to breed her and make her the mother of a bunch of snot nosed brats! Lightning only like mares! ONLY MARES, GOT IT?! As if reading her mind, Duskfall giggled.

“I think a little bit of motherhood is just what you need to fix that awful personality of yours,” WAS SHE READING HER MIND?! Duskfall lit her horn and secured Lighting with magic, “You know, I think I will eat you, at least a little, before filling you up with my baby batter.”

Duskfall slid down and bit into Lightning’s teats. Lightning screamed in a horrible mix of pain and pleasure as Duskfall’s teeth barely broke skin. The Pegasus trembled as Duskfall seemingly lovingly lapped and slurped at the blood she had drawn.

“Stop! Just fuck me and get it over with!” Lightning begged as she continued to writhe.

“What was it you said to me earlier? You were going to ruin me for anyone else? Turnabout is only fair play, isn’t it? I’m going to break you and make it so you think your only purpose in life is to please me and bare my children. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?” Duskfall was lying, but her Insanity pulsing so close to the surface made her words sound all the more believable.

“NO! No, I’m sorry! I swear! I’ll make it up to everyone I’ve ever treated like dirt!” Lightning was going to say anything to get out of her current perceived situation. Duskfall was fully aware of this and equally aware of the Pegasus’ lack of sincerity.

“You’re not really sorry…but you will be,” Duskfall in one swift motion captured Lightning’s lips with her own. Unlike the kiss she had shared with Twilight, this one was purely animalistic. Duskfall dominating Lightning’s mouth with her changed tongue left the Pegasus feeling things she had never felt before. With a wing, Duskfall gently swept her feathers over Lightning’s teats and cunt. Centuries spent making others feel good were now paying off. Duskfall used her wings and hooves to pay attention to every sensitive spot Lightning Dust had, all while continuing to make out with the Shadowbolt. Duskfall took great care to keep Lightning just at the very edge of orgasm.

Eventually, deciding Lightning was lust addled enough, she broke off the kiss. Duskfall was pleased to hear a needy whimper from her victim. They had been at this for almost a full ten minutes. Lightning wasn’t in any real danger of breaking. Such conditioning took months or even years without spells and even spells wore down over time. However, this wasn’t something the average layperson knew. If Lightning believed she was becoming conditioned to be a good little slut then that would be sufficient punishment. Duskfall placed her dick in Lightning’s face, lightly smacking the Pegasus with her length.

“You know what to do,” There was a grim sort of satisfaction watching Lightning obediently take the Alicorn’s shaft into her mouth. In her years of sexual debauchery Duskfall had given many, many blowjobs. Yet she had been on the receiving end significantly less. Even so, Duskfall could tell Lightning had no clue as to what she was doing. It was almost painful how hard Lightning was trying to suck down her cock. Still, acting like she enjoyed Lighting’s effort was no strain on Duskfall’s acting abilities. Gently guiding Lightning’s head so as to not hurt her, Duskfall began to face fuck the Pegasus. Duskfall took great care to not push past Lightning’s uvula, so it was greatly unsatisfying, but that wasn’t the point of this exercise. Lightning was so out of it that she tried to mumble something around Duskfall’s meat.

“Yes, Lightning, you’re doing an excellent job,” The lie fell effortlessly from Duskfall’s lips. Duskfall almost felt disgusted with herself for the pleased look her answer evoked in Lightning. Then she remembered all the times in just the past two weeks Lightning had forced a maid to sleep with her and that feeling of guilt vanished. Deciding not to suffer Lightning’s oral skills any further, Duskfall self-triggered an orgasm, sending impotent spunk down Lightning’s throat. Duskfall pulled out to allow her unwitting partner a chance to breathe. It was almost cute how concerned she was with swallowing as much as possible. Duskfall almost wanted to stay until morning just to see the look on Lightning’s face when she realized that she could, in fact, still think for herself and that her every thought wasn’t consumed with Duskfall.

Putting those thoughts away with a promise to herself to leave a recording enchantment before she left, Duskfall moved her still semi-hard cock down towards Lightning’s snatch. There she kept it hovering, barely kissing Lightning’s lower lips and sending spasms through the Pegasus. She had been denied for so long she was already on a hair trigger.

“Beg me for it,” Duskfall commanded in a husky growl.

“Please, mistress, give me your cock! I need it so badly!” Duskfall barely managed to avoid bursting out in laughter at such a line. She had a role to play and would continue to play it until Lightning passed out from pleasure.

“As you wish, my good little cock sleeve,” Duskfall purred, content to exchange cheesy line with cheesy line. She then buried herself to the hilt in Lightning Dust. Lightning screamed, the sudden insertion such a shock to her system that she came then and there. Duskfall was no stranger to the feeling of a female having an orgasm while she was inside with a cock. Sadly the feeling, one Duskfall usually associated with her joy of making others feel good, was completely lost as she stared into Lightning’s face.

As Lightning rode out the orgasm, Duskfall began the usual pumping motions. Using one wing to tease Lightning’s clit and the other to more firmly brush against her teats, Duskfall made sure to make Lightning feel as good as possible. This was supposed to be punishment, true, but that didn’t mean Duskfall had to be a barbarian about it.

Lightning mewled and moaned under her like a horny teenager experiencing their first time. Duskfall supposed it might very well be the first time her partner was actually devoted to her pleasure as opposed to doing the minimum out of fear and disgust. As unlikely as it was, there was also a non-zero chance Duskfall was also the first cock Lightning had ever taken.

Duskfall bit Lightning gently on the neck, drawing blood and sending Lightning into another orgasm. Duskfall could sense Lightning was very close to her limit and no matter how unskilled Lightning’s techniques were, pounding a pussy was almost certainly going to get a positive reaction. By Duskfall’s estimation she and Lightning could orgasm together and then Lightning would either pass out completely or be so out of it that she might as well be asleep.

“Lightning, I’m almost ready to give you my seed. I’m going to paint your womb white. But first, I need to hear you tell me one more time how much you want it,” Duskfall whispered as she nibbled on Lightning’s ear.

“I want your foal inside me! I exist for no other reason than to serve you and be a brood mother to your children!” Lightning Dust screamed pathetically.

“What about the Nightmare? Aren’t you supposed to be her enforcer, loyal only to her?” Duskfall needled.

“NO! Only you! You are my everything! Please, Duskfall, I will follow you anywhere, give you my all, just make me the mother of your babies!” To Duskfall’s eternal surprise, she felt Lightning mean every word. Not just in a lust addled begging for Duskfall to finish breeding her, but the first embers of true loyalty. Duskfall was so fucked. Duskfall had made a mistake a miscalculation. If Lightning truly became loyal to her then Duskfall couldn’t stand the thought of abandoning the Pegasus. Duskfall had to finish this quickly and hope Lightning forgot in the morning.

“Here it comes,” One final push and both ponies made noises of release as their orgasms overtook them. Just as Duskfall had predicted, Lightning fell asleep almost immediately afterward, mumbling something incoherent. Duskfall untangled herself from Lightning and returned her body to normal before getting off the bed and moving into the shower. As the water washed away the evidence of her depravity, she thought.

Duskfall didn’t know how she wanted to play this. Should she remove all evidence and hope Lightning thought it was all a dream? No, that kind of thing only worked in cheap fiction. Should she stay with Lightning? That was problematic in its own ways. What kind of message would it send if Lightning woke up to see Duskfall the morning after? Assuming Lightning remembered her burgeoning feelings of loyalty, seeing Duskfall sharing a bed with her would probably only reaffirm those feelings. Duskfall’s only hope was to go back to her own room and hope the temporary feelings of abandonment might break these feelings if they did indeed exist in the morning light. Duskfall hated herself for it, but it had to be done. This was certainly the last time she’d use sex as a teaching tool. Duskfall simply didn’t have the disposition to be cruel enough to use such a method effectively.

Nightmare Moon was having the best fortnight she had had in a long time. Duskfall Sparkle was just proving to be more and more interesting. The poor child thought she was being subtle, but her behavior was geared towards deceiving Luna, not herself. If the Nightmare had indeed been Luna, Duskfall’s schemes would have no doubt gone without notice. The Nightmare’s self-satisfied grin only grew again as she recounted that morning’s breakfast.

It had started off normally enough, but then Lightning Dust of all ponies had entered the dining hall unannounced and promptly sat beside Duskfall without a word. The poor Alicorn had very nearly contained her panic, but the Nightmare had caught a glimpse enough to tell. Really, subverting Twilight to her cause was one thing. The two were mother and daughter, after a fashion, even if Nightmare Moon very much doubted Duskfall was telling her the whole story. Yet claiming the loyalty of Rainbow Dash was a great surprise to the Nightmare. The Thestral clearly still loved her Queen, but Rainbow had never been the best at hiding her emotions.

That left the unmitigated shock of Lightning Dust’s loyalty changing. The Nightmare had been certain the arrogant Pegasus was truly loyal to no one but herself, yet a single night had been enough to get Lightning to defy the Nightmare, however subtly, in service of another. The Nightmare was dying to ask Duskfall how she had secured Lightning Dust’s loyalty, something which she had failed to do, but for now she was content to let Duskfall play her little game until the very end.

That was why the Nightmare was waiting patiently in the vault that held the Elements of Harmony. She was certain they were Duskfall’s end goal. Whether to try and make a way back to her home world or to turn on herself, the Nightmare wasn’t sure. Sure enough, the Nightmare’s patience was rewarded as the smaller Alicorn slipped past the security as if it wasn’t there and entered the vault.

“Magic, Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter. I wish I had more time to study you, but I don’t. I have to risk it all on this gamble or things might get very messy,” Duskfall lifted the Elements in her Magic and unsurprisingly they responded. They rose out of their stony prisons and began to circle around Duskfall. She let out a sigh of relief and the Nightmare decided to play her hand.

“And what might you be doing with those, dear Duskfall?” The Nightmare asked, dropping her stealth spells. Duskfall froze in surprise, “Don’t stop on my account.” Duskfall slumped her shoulders. She knew the jig was up.

“I’m going to blast you with these Elements and see if we can’t get Luna back. I would’ve liked to wait until I retrieved Celestia and blasted you both, but I suppose this is just another gamble,” Duskfall placed a determined look on her face, ready to being the firing sequence for the Elements when the Nightmare held up a hoof.

“There’s no need to be so dramatic, Duskfall. I told you when we first met that I was looking forward to the day Luna returned. I am willing to wait while you summon our sister and blast all three of us. But perhaps we should do that away from the castle? I have no idea what state Celestia will be in and I’d rather not have collateral damage,” The Nightmare remarked.

“If you have a place in mind, I’ll gladly follow you. I’d rather avoid anyone getting hurt too,” Duskfall replied agreeably. The Nightmare nodded and teleported them both to a clearing far away from civilization.

“Would you like to free my sister or should I?” The Nightmare asked.

“You’re the one who put her in time out. I’m just an outsider butting into other people’s business,” Duskfall remarked.

“Sometimes a little bit of meddling can go a long way. As much as I like to pretend otherwise, I am not the Queen my people need. It is only Luna and Celestia, working together and in their right minds that can heal the ache that the people suffer. Prepare yourself!” With that order, the Nightmare began to free Celestia from her captivity. A minute or so later and a ball of light landed in the clearing and soon resolved itself into Celestia. Duskfall kinda wished there had been more fanfare, but there was no helping it now.

It had been more than five years since Celestia had been banished. Why was she back on Equuis? She blinked to clear her eyes while her mind dispelled a fog. She cast her gaze around and spotted the Nightmare and…a small purple Alicorn.

“Twilight..?” Anger suddenly flared in Duskfall’s gut and before she could stop herself, she was smacking Celestia across the face.

“You do not get to use that name,” Duskfall snarled. Duskfall knew it was utterly irrational to feel fury over all the horrible things this Celestia had done to her people and to Twilight specifically, but then, Duskfall was the Alicorn of Insanity.

“You are to submit yourself to the Elements. Otherwise, things my get very messy,” The Nightmare said dispassionately.

“I- What is the meaning of this?!” Celestia shouted.

“You are a tyrant, plain and simple. Curfews, banning scientific fields, burning books and other censoring, forcing your government regulated drivel down pony’s throats like the benevolent dictator you were, and ‘reeducating’ those with Cutie Marks you didn’t like. So, I’m going to hit you with the Elements, see if that doesn’t help you out. If it doesn’t I don’t mind beating the shit outta you for a little while. I don’t want to kill you, but if it comes down to it, I’m willing to do so. Make no mistake, Celestia, your days of evil are behind you one way or another,” Duskfall stated plainly.

“How dare you speak to me that way Twi-” Duskfall snapped her wings open and flooded the area with her Darkness tinged with some Insanity for good measure.

“I don’t know how powerful you Alicorns think you are, but I’ve yet to find any evidence that you’re more than puffed up normal ponies with a longer lifespan. Hi, I’m Duskfall Sparkle. Unlike you, I’m an actual goddess. I will speak to you any way I damn well please. Now you can either shut up and behave yourself and let me hit you with the Elements alongside your sister, or I can hit your unconscious body with the Elements. Either way works for me,” A sunny day had gone black as night and false images flitted about in the Darkness. What unnerved Celestia the most was the sound of radio static that seemed to be getting louder and louder.

“Twilight, what-”

“I. AM. NOT. TWILIGHT! And I’m not going to let you see her again until I’m sure your head has been removed from your ass! You’ve hurt her enough. You’ve hurt everyone more than enough. So again, shut up and submit or I’ll make you,” The static was deafening, yet Celestia could still hear Duskfall’s voice clearly. The Elements of Harmony were spinning around her at such speed Celestia couldn’t distinguish one Element from another. The look in the smaller Alicorn’s eyes promised pain and bloodshed should she not comply. Even staring down Discord had not filled her with such dread.

“The Elements will do nothing to me, so I see no harm in submitting to them,” Celestia said, trying to ignore how dry her mouth was. Duskfall’s mouth twisted into a cruel smirk.

“We’ll just see about that, won’t we? Stand together you two, I don’t want to have to fire these puppies twice if I don’t have to,” Duskfall instructed. Both Celestia and the Nightmare moved to be at each other’s side. With one final stabilizing breath, Duskfall fired the Elements of Harmony.

Everything went rainbow, the world was just a sea of those colors and nothing else. When the colors faded, the Elements had done their work. A young looking Alicorn with a periwinkle blue mane was lying unconscious on the ground. A large white Alicorn was looking off into the distance, eyes unseeing and mind trying to comprehend the scope of her crimes. A wispy looking black Alicorn, as if she weren’t entirely there to begin with was frozen in place, afraid that if she moved she might vanish like so much mist in the sunlight. A smaller purple Alicorn looked over them all with no expression on her face, hiding the unimaginable pain of the Elements trying to unmake her. They hadn’t distinguished between Darkness, Insanity, and Chaos after all.

“Well, this looked to be a rousing success. You OK, Nightmare?” Duskfall asked. She was no stranger to pain.

“I…appear to be so,” Nightmare Moon replied hesitantly.

“You done being a royal bitch, Celestia?” Celestia didn’t respond and Duskfall muttered something unflattering under her breath, “She’ll be fine in three day’s time at worst.”

“What should we do about Luna?” The Nightmare wondered.

“She was like that after the Elements hit her in my world. She’ll be pretty weak for a couple months, but after that she’ll be ready to move the moon and take up her dream walking again. I’m going to have to count on you as her twin to take care of her and help her adjust to life in the here and now. In a month’s time she’ll look more or less like she did a thousand years ago, with the ethereal mane and everything. Heaven knows I can’t count on Celestia for this. Even my Celestia bungled it a bit,” Duskfall shook her head.

“Of course I’ll watch over her! You don’t even need to ask!” The Nightmare shouted. Duskfall smiled at how earnest she was being.

“Well, using the Elements all by myself took a lot out of me. I’ll wrap things up tomorrow; make sure Celestia is back on the path to the straight and narrow. Oh, and Nightmare? Unless I’m very much mistaken I’ll be leaving soon. I still intend to have that threesome with Twilight and you. Goodnight,” Duskfall teleported to her room and collapsed onto her bed. Summoning what few scraps of Darkness were left within her, Duskfall created a cocoon of Healing Darkness around herself and let herself drift off to sleep.

Two days after the use of the Elements, Duskfall was preparing to leave. She had had the threesome with the Nightmare and Twilight last night and was now ready to return home. There was one minor problem. Duskfall didn’t know exactly how or when to trigger her return home. There was also the issue of Lightning Dust following her around like a lost puppy.

“I will follow you even into death, Lady Duskfall!” Duskfall didn’t know how to take this sudden fanatical devotion, but if she could guide Lightning into becoming a better person, then it was her moral obligation to do so. In any event, there was one person to talk to who could probably help her: Discord.

So it was that Duskfall, Starlight Glimmer under a sleeping spell, and Lightning Dust all teleported to the statue garden in Canterlot. It was easy to find Discord and feed a little bit of Insanity into his prison and shatter it like so much glass.

“I’m free! Finally, after all those long, boring centuries!” Discord crowed. Immediately he began warping and twisting the fabric of reality. Lightning tried to put up a brave front, but the creature before her terrified her. Duskfall simply rolled her eyes and let out a pulse of Wild Darkness. To her surprise, instead of merely sending a message, the Wild Darkness devoured the Chaos Magic, returning everything back to normal. Was this Discord playing around or was he weak from his imprisonment? The draconequus snapped his attention to Duskfall.

“Hello, Discord,” Duskfall greeted neutrally.

“And who, pray tell, are you?” Discord was really trying to play up his menace, but Duskfall was unimpressed.

“Duskfall Sparkle, Alicorn goddess of Darkness and Insanity. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, greater spirit of Chaos Discord,” Duskfall replied diplomatically.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I am Lord of Chaos! All is my domain, to do with as I please!” Discord boasted.

“You literally just saw me smack around your Chaos Magic with nary an effort. Are you just not taking this seriously or are you seriously this weak?” Duskfall taunted.

“Lady Duskfall, why are you antagonizing him?” Lightning whispered in Duskfall’s ear.

“Because Discord is a sad, lonely old fart and the sooner he realizes this, the better for everyone involved. Dissy, you need a friend whether you want to admit it or not,” Duskfall was starting to strongly suspect she had been dumped in a relatively low powered world. Without a Fluttershy to tame this savage beast, Duskfall just had to charge straight ahead the only way she knew how.

“I do not need friends, little pony,” Discord growled, “Perhaps you need to learn to respect your betters!” Discord reached out and poked Duskfall in the head. She could feel him try to infuse her with Chaos Magic, but he might as well have been trying to soak her with an eye dropper. Even just her Healing Darkness was enough to neutralize his Chaos passively. Duskfall was sure that if her Discord could meet this disgrace he’d have some colorful words.

“Are you quite finished?” Duskfall asked a moment later, “Something you don’t seem to realize is that I come from a pond with much bigger fish than you. You’re trying to put out the sun with a matchstick. You look and sound like my friend, but your attitude and your power are nowhere close. You’re just a pale mockery.”

Discord was livid beyond words. How dare this pony claim he was inferior in any way! He would put her in her place! Discord gathered his power and lashed out with pure Chaos. Reality howled in protest and everything in the blast’s path became twisted or unmade. Even his best effort was swallowed whole by Darkness. Discord was shocked. Who was this Alicorn? He had easily played with Sunbutt and Moonbutt, yet this unknown was taking everything he could dish out with seemingly no issue.

“Before there was Chaos or Order. Before there was Life or Death. Before there was even Light, there was Darkness. Don’t feel too bad, Discord. Even if we were closer to the same power level, I’d still be able to consume your Chaos. It would certainly be harder and take me longer, but since I have two others I need to be watching over I don’t have time to play with you. And just so you don’t feel too bad, the Discord I know would’ve been able to keep up and my Celestia can still snuff me out like a candle. Like I said, I just come from a rougher neighborhood,” Duskfall said apologetically.

“How exactly is that suppose to make me feel better?” Discord sulked.

“It means you can improve yourself. Chaos isn’t the antithesis of friendship and mixing the two has proven to be very successful for my Discord. The Elements are more or less defunct for the moment and I have no intention of slapping you back in stone. So you now have a choice. A choice to do better, to be better, to rise up and be everything you can be! I have faith in you Discord and if you can’t believe in yourself, then believe in the me that believes in you!” Duskfall couldn’t resist.

“Did you just…reference at me?” Discord blinked owlishly, complete with owl head.

“There’s more to me than meets the eye,” Duskfall was full on smirking now.

“You’re crazy,” Duskfall thought it was rich that Discord of all people was calling someone else crazy.

“I did mention being the Alicorn of Insanity,” Duskfall said mildly.

“And what’s to stop me from taking my rightful place as ruler once you leave?” Discord asked.

“Because if you push her, I’m pretty sure the Nightmare is up to using the Elements to put you back in stone. Failing her, Luna could do it. But beyond any of that, what do you have to lose by doing it the friendship way? I mean it, what do you lose?” Duskfall asked pointedly.

“Freedom,” Discord replied simply.

“Being locked up as a statue is freedom?” Duskfall shot back, “What is Chaos without Order to appreciate the difference? Any brainless animal can smash their head into something. It takes intelligence and creativity to work in and around rules.”

“Respect,” Discord tried again.

“Respect is earned. I think you’re confusing respect and fear. Fear can be an effective tool, I admit. However, fear is not a universal constant. What frightens one might not frighten another and even fear can become fury. Fury that will ruin you. I believe that you will find true respect to be much more satisfying than any amount of fear,” Duskfall shrugged, “I’m not saying anything new here. This is just basic Social Contract stuff.”

“I…suppose there’s no reason to not at least give it a try,” Discord muttered, “If I don’t like it, I can simply conquer them all.”

Duskfall considered mentioning that apparently some power higher than either of them had taken some kind of interest in this world, but decided against it. Discord was fully capable of behaving himself without a sword hanging over his head.

“Before you head off on your new quest, let me write you a letter of introduction, just to smooth things over,” Duskfall offered.

“If you think that will help,” Discord said warily, “Why are you helping me?”

“Promise to myself, being compelled by both halves of my personality, wanting to see every Discord make something of themselves, take your pick,” Duskfall answered absentmindedly as she scribbled down a note. It wasn’t a long note, so she finished quickly, “Alright, there you are. I wish you the best.”

“You are a very strange pony, Duskfall Sparkle,” Discord remarked as he took the note in his claws.

“We crazies gotta stick together,” Duskfall answered simply, “That’s the best answer I can give without wasting a couple hours writing a sermon. For now, I have to figure out how to get home and I suggest that after you give that letter to the important ponies, you go find Pinkie Pie. I think you two will get along just fine.”

“Have fun with that. I’m going to see if this is all it’s cracked up to be!” Discord then literally cracked up and blew away on a stiff breeze.

“Are you sure that was wise, Lady Duskfall?” Lightning asked worriedly.

“His captivity wasn’t going to last forever. I’m merely trying to reduce the damage he’s going to do now that he is free. The Nightmare should at least treat him fairly and that’s really all he needs. Now, what about you, Lightning?” Duskfall inquired.

“What about me, m’lady?” Lightning asked innocently. Duskfall didn’t buy it for an instant. Duskfall was also under the impression Lightning was being so formal just to be a tease.

“If you come with me then it’s very unlikely you’ll ever come back here. Everything you’ve ever known will be gone. Are you sure you want to follow me?” Duskfall asked.

“I swore to follow you to death itself. I’ve never felt this way about anyone else in my entire life. What do I have here that’s so great? I have no family, no friends, no one who will so much as spare me a second thought other than ‘thank goodness she’s gone’. I’ve packed up everything I need. I’m ready to fulfill my promise,” Well, if she was that sure, Duskfall wasn’t going to stop her. Duskfall felt bad for what would happen to Lightning once the Winter Solstice came around, but hopefully Tom and Twilight would be able to pick up the slack and take care of the Pegasus for her.

“Well, I say all that, but I still have no idea how long it’ll take us to-” As Duskfall was talking a portal of some kind sprang to life before them, “I think that’s our ride…”

“Well that’s convenient,” Lightning quipped.

“Come on, the sooner I get home the sooner I can get Harmonia to get me in contact with the higher powers and the sooner I can rip someone a new one for this stunt they’ve pulled,” Duskfall grumped. She lifted up Starlight in her magic, “Ready?”

“Of course,” Lightning replied and together they went through the portal.

Celestia, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Maud Pie, and Applejack were all huddled around a map discussing their next move when suddenly a portal popped into existence and expelled a blur of purple that slammed into one of the walls of the castle.

“Fucking ow! That’s the last time I try thinking with portals!” The purple Alicorn complained as she peeled herself off the wall. The other occupants of the room were in silent shock. The purple Alicorn shook herself off and cast her eyes around the room.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” She asked jovially.

“TWILIGHT?!” The room exploded.

“Aw, fuck,” Was the only real response the Alicorn could give.

Breakout Part 1

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 25: Breakout Part 1

Duskfall was feeling mighty awkward. Lightning and Starlight were both MIA and she was being stared down by a bunch of ponies who thought she was Twilight. So she wasn’t home and following her recent string of luck, she was going to get called upon to fix whatever shit was going on here. Hopefully she wouldn’t pick up another follower. One was enough.

“I’m not Twilight Sparkle,” Duskfall decided to just get it out of the way.

“But you look-” Rainbow began.

“Exhibit A,” Duskfall presented her Cutie Mark, "Exhibit B,” She pointed to her green eye, “Need I continue?”

“Then who the heck are you?” Rainbow demanded.

“Duskfall Sparkle, Twilight’s daughter after a fashion and Alicorn of Darkness and Insanity. I’m from an alternate dimension,” Duskfall introduced herself. Most of the room tensed at her declaration.

“Ooh, oh! What’s the Scouter say about your power level?!” Pinkie suddenly asked.

“It’s over 9000!” Duskfall shouted in her hammiest voice.

“She’s clear,” Pinkie announced.

“Really, I’m specialized in Healing and Wild Darkness, not the Darkness of Evil. As for Insanity, well, you get along just fine with Pinkie and my days of being more extreme than she is are more or less behind me,” Duskfall assured them, “So, uh, what the heck happened to Rainbow’s wing?” Duskfall would never claim tact to be one of her strengths.

“Sombra happened,” Rainbow snarled.

“Well that’s an interesting divergence point. How the heck did Sombra not get destroyed by the Crystal Heart?” Duskfall asked.

“We couldn’t find the Crystal Heart,” Maud answered in her usual monotone.

“Twi just up and vanished, along with Spike, while lookin’ fer the Heart. Nopony has seen them since. Eventually Cadence’s shield fell and Sombra took over the Crystal Empire. Those of us that got out were lucky to get out alive. Shining Armor didn’t make it,” Applejack reported.

“He…killed…Shining? He might’ve killed Twilight and Spike? Remember what I said earlier about not going crazier than Pinkie? I lied. I’M GOING TO KILL SOMBRA!” Duskfall roared and tried to leave on her mad quest of vengeance, only to be trapped in a golden aura.

“I think you need to calm down,” Celestia said in an infuriatingly serene tone.

“LET ME GO! I NEED TO AVENGE MY FAMILY!” Duskfall thrashed and expelled as much power as she dared while not hurting those in the room. It was to no avail. Celestia was clearly feeling the strain, but she was still able to contain Duskfall. Eventually Duskfall gave up her struggling. She could almost certainly break free, but it would mean killing everyone in the room.

“Are you finished?” Celestia asked patiently.

“For now,” Duskfall answered petulantly with a pouting scowl on her face. Before the conversation could continue, the unmistakable sound of a rainboom exploded into existence.

“What’s going on?! The rainboom is my thing!” Rainbow protested. Judging from the intensity and direction of the sound, along with the residual wash of Magic, Duskfall guessed it had come from Ponyville. At least that was probably Lightning Dust. Still, her rainboom was most certainly not Harmony Magic. Duskfall did recognize the Magic that Lightning's rainboom used, but couldn't quite put a name to it. Brain farts were always frustrating and this was no exception.

“The answer to your question should be arriving in 3…2…1,” Lighting Dust burst into the room and halted her supersonic speed with almost as much grace as Duskfall’s Rainbow.

“Lady Duskfall, I felt your distress!” Lightning exclaimed.

“You what now?!” That was certainly unexpected, “Are you part Changeling or something and forgot to mention it?”

“My great grandmother was a Changeling, why?” Duskfall felt a sudden need to bash her own brains in. She had tried to punish a descendant of a Changeling with gentle sex! Duskfall didn’t know how the Changeling blood affected Lightning, but clearly she could at least sense emotions. That meant her whole charade with pretending to hate fuck Lightning had been pointless! At least Duskfall knew what kind of Magic Lightning used in her rainboom. Somehow she was using Changeling Magic.

“You knew the whole time, didn’t you?” Duskfall had to confirm it.

“What makes you think that, Lady Duskfall?” Lightning replied coyly. Duskfall preformed a few breathing exercises before responding.

“I can deal with this later. Do you happen to know where Starlight is?” Duskfall asked.

“No ma’am,” Lightning replied.

“Fuck, I gotta track down that trouble making bitch all over again,” Duskfall swore.

“Would you care to introduce your friend, Duskfall?” Celestia interrupted.

“Oh, right, this is Lightning Dust. She’s from another world too, a different one from mine. Apparently I did something so monumentally stupid that she decided to tag along and left her home world behind,” Duskfall was silently thankful that Sombra had taken over before this Rainbow could meet this world’s Lightning Dust. That was some bad blood Duskfall wasn’t of a mind to deal with at the moment. Of course, she’d have to deal with it eventually when she got home with Dusty in tow.

“You shouldn’t talk about yourself like that, Lady Duskfall. It wasn’t stupid, just misguided,” Duskfall would’ve almost believed Lightning was sincere if it weren’t for the smirk trying to break out on her face.

“I don’t need your pity,” Duskfall huffed.

“Whatever you say, m’lady,” Lightning’s smirk had made a successful jail break.

“Don’t mind her, she probably just uses the overly formal address to annoy me,” Duskfall shot back.

“Why, I would never do such a thing, Lady Duskfall,” Lightning teased.

“Upgrade that ‘probably’ to a ‘definitely’,” Duskfall deadpanned.

“If you two are done flirting, we were actually in the middle of something,” Rainbow grumped.

“Oh shit, Rainbow is a Pegasus! That’s fucking weird,” Lightning remarked.

“How do you think I felt when I saw your Rainbow was a Thestral?” Duskfall asked.

“I’m a Thestral?!” Rainbow exclaimed in shock.

“We’re getting sidetracked again,” Maud pointed out.

“OK, one last tangent before we get down to the business of wreaking bloody vengeance upon Sombra. Where are Rarity and Fluttershy?” Duskfall asked.

“Fluttershy should be in the hospital wing caring for her patients. Rarity is currently in a meeting with some armor manufactures,” Celestia replied. Duskfall guessed this war must have been going on long enough for Fluttershy to get a degree and become a full doctor. Good for her.

“Our plans are going to have to be redone to account for a substantial increase in firepower,” Maud noted, “A second rainboom capable Pegasus alone shifts the balance of power considerably.”

“I don’t know how I feel-” Celestia began.

“The only person I’m interested in killing is Sombra. I’ll try and keep it non-lethal with everyone else,” Duskfall promised.

“Y’all better, cuz Sombra’s troops are all bein’ mind controlled,” Applejack informed the purple Alicorn.

“Mind control, huh? Dark Magic mind control, I wonder…” Duskfall trailed off. Duskfall was still young to her powers, but she was wondering if it wouldn’t be impossible to hijack the mind control with her own power of Darkness. Capturing an enemy soldier jumped up on her priority list. After all, there was no guarantee the mind control would dispel just because Sombra died.

“I’m not sure getting involved in this conflict is the best thing to do, but if Lady Duskfall wishes it then I shall do all in my power to assist,” Lightning Dust voiced her own concerns.

“We’ll have to deal with it sooner or later anyway. Starlight is a single pony and we don’t have the resources right now to launch a full scale marehunt. Helping stop Sombra isn’t only the right thing to do, but it’s also the most expedient method of getting us the help to track down Starlight. That’s even ignoring that I’ve seemingly been assigned janitorial duties by some higher power,” Duskfall reasoned.

“Maybe it’s a training program,” Lightning suggested, “Doesn’t have to be a negative thing.”

“Fair point,” Duskfall conceded.

“Duskfall, how do you rate your leadership?” Celestia asked.

“I’m a terrible leader. I mostly prefer solo action or being a follower,” Duskfall answered honestly. Too many centuries cooped up in her own head and playing sex doll for others use.

“And you, Lightning Dust?” Celestia inquired.

“In my home world I was Captain of the Shadowbolts, so I’d like to think I have some leadership skills,” Lightning boasted.

“Wait, Shadowbolts?” Trust Rainbow to pick up on that sort of thing.

“Due to some unfortunate events, in Lightning’s world, the Nightmare conquered Equestria. When we left the Nightmare, Luna, and Celestia were all recovering from being blasted by the Elements,” Duskfall explained.

“We can swap stories another time,” Celestia put a stop to going down that rabbit hole for the time being, even if she was very much curious as to why this other version of her needed to have the Elements used on her, “How about your combat prowess?”

“I’ve trained for all my life in most martial arts and have studied the art of war,” Lightning replied readily.

“I’m not particularly versed in combat magic. I want to say I can probably aoe sleep spell a bunch of ponies, but given we’re dealing with mind control, I can’t say that with confidence. Actually, most of my actual strength lies in Darkness and Insanity and neither are particularly safe to mix with mind control, given I’ve only had these powers for three weeks. So if I have to rely solely on magic and what little martial arts I know, I can probably take out 50 or so ponies before I wear myself out,” Duskfall said apologetically.

“But Twilight could take out a whole swarm o’ Changelings!” Applejack said in surprise.

“A huge chunk of my magical strength was converted to Darkness and Insanity. Twilight, even before becoming an Alicorn of Magic, was still connected to the Element of Magic. True, if this were immediately after I was born, I would still be comparable in magical strength to Twilight, but it isn’t so I’m not,” Duskfall explained.

“Alicorn of Magic?!” Most of the room shouted. Celestia was predictably stone faced. Duskfall was slightly sorry for the accidental spoiler, but it wouldn’t matter if this Twilight was dead.

“Yeah, she ascended using the Elements about three months or so after Sombra was defeated in my home world. She and Spike found the Crystal Heart pretty much right away and none of this war stuff happened. Oh, before I forget, I do have one pretty big tactical advantage when it comes to a fight: I’m immortal. Not the kind you’re thinking of, Celestia! I mean the kind where I can die and come back to life. So if you have any suicide missions you need done, I’m your mare,” Duskfall saw no harm in telling them this. It’d save on any ‘it’s too dangerous’ arguments in the future.

“You never mentioned this to me,” Lighting Dust commented.

“Before or after the whole 5 hours we spent in the same room after I secured your loyalty?” Duskfall replied dryly.

“So when you say die and come back..?” Rainbow trailed off.

“I mean my body can regenerate from anything. Slice my head off, slice me open like a sardine, dump me in a volcano, I’ll just reform sooner or later. Depending on the method of death, it’s usually about an hour or so, but for more devastating deaths, like complete incineration, it’ll be four or five hours,” Duskfall explained, trying to sound as clinical as possible and not give away the fact that dying was still a huge turn on for her, even after all these years.

“That is both disturbing and remarkably convenient,” Celestia said candidly. Duskfall did her best to ignore Lightning drilling holes into the back of her head with a stare. Duskfall wasn’t going to be able to wriggle out of a long conversation with Dust later.

“Well, considering all that, I believe we can begin reconstructing our plans,” Celestia announced and everyone gathered around the table. The conflict with the Crystal Empire was going to start anew and hopefully the end was close at hand.

Breakout Part 2

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 26: Breakout Part 2

Duskfall was quickly realizing that for all her power, the only thing she knew how to do with it was brute force. Sure, she knew all the spells Twilight had known and many more besides from her exodus, but she had been supplementing her Magic with Darkness for so long she had very nearly forgotten how to cast without Darkness. Duskfall couldn't remember when she had started casting with Darkness because she hadn't even realized she had been doing it until almost the very end of her exodus.

In almost any other circumstance, that would have been a non-issue. Even in places that claimed to be warded against Darkness, they typically were only warded against Evil and Chaos type Darkness and sometimes only Evil type. But mind control, without knowing exactly how it functioned, threw everything into disarray.

Duskfall was worried that if she used her Darkness or Insanity on any of the mind controlled soldiers one of three things would happen. One, her power would override the mind control but not break it; leaving her with a servant she had no idea how to free. Two, her Darkness or Insanity could come into conflict with the mind control and shatter the pony’s Mind, Heart, Soul, or a combination of the three. Three, her Darkness in conjunction with the Darkness that fueled the Dark Magic would harmonize and overwhelm the pony, resulting in the creation of a Heartless.

Of course, there were a myriad of other, lesser concerns Duskfall had, but those were the big three Duskfall worried about the most. Thus for the past three days she had been splitting her time between getting back to basics with her Magic and being taught how to fight by Lightning Dust.

Speaking of Lightning, she had been surprisingly quiet ever since Duskfall had revealed that she could die without permanent repercussions. The Alicorn had expected Lightning to immediately jump on the subject, yet the Pegasus had yet to bring it up. Duskfall knew the other shoe was going to drop, but was content to wait for Lightning to make the first move.

“Come on, Lady Duskfall, if you don’t do it like you mean it, you’re just going to get in the way!” Lightning taunted as she dodged a kick from Duskfall.

“I’m not trying to hurt you!” Duskfall shot back.

“That’s cute, you think you can hurt me without your magic,” Lightning smirked, “I’ve been in more than my fair of scraps, Lady Duskfall, with Earth Ponies a lot stronger than you. I can take a hit, assuming you can even land one m’lady.”

“Don’t underestimate me!” Duskfall put all her speed into a full body lunge at Lightning. The Pegasus easily dodged and Duskfall ate dirt.

“Maybe don’t shout your intentions to attack, Lady Duskfall?” Lighting suggested.

“I know that,” Duskfall pouted, “This isn’t a shonen anime, after all.” Lightning didn’t get what Duskfall was talking about, but that wasn’t too unusual.

“Maybe we should look into getting you a weapon? I don’t think you’ll be able to improve enough to be more than combat fodder for a few weeks otherwise, m’lady,” Lightning suggested.

“That would somewhat bypass my magical issues. It would need to be something blunt, maybe a mallet?” Duskfall considered.

“I was thinking more along the lines of a bokken. Ideally it’d be made of oak to absorb enemy magical attacks at least somewhat,” Lightning said as if that were just common sense.

“Oak wood absorbing magic? That’s odd, because ash wood is the only wood that has any kind of innate magical properties in my world. It’s used for absorbing Dark Magic and that’s it,” Duskfall noted.

“Every tree in my world had some kind of magical relevance. Hmm, if we’re going to make you a bokken, we should probably check what kinds of wood have what properties,” Lightning mused to herself.

“Lightning, Duskfall, get ready! We’re ready to march on the enemy!” Rainbow appeared to interrupt their discussion.

“OK!” Both mares chorused. Lightning bolted off to equip some light armor she had gotten prepared while Duskfall started weaving those few defensive enchantments around herself she was confident she didn’t need Darkness to cast. Of course Duskfall could have gone into battle with nothing, but while dying and coming back would shake Sombra, it would also send Equestrian morale into a nosedive. So Duskfall was trying to mitigate the chances of her dying on the battlefield.

An hour later and Duskfall was exceptionally nervous. She had never taken the battlefield as an active participant before. The closest she had gotten was the one time she had gotten involved in a turf war between three of the biggest gangs on the planet she was on. However at that time she had been mostly screwing around and had had full access to her Darkness to subdue anyone who was getting too rowdy. Duskfall had also been free to die whenever she felt like it.

Duskfall cast her eyes around. She could just make out Lightning already in the air, Sombra’s mind controlled troops on the other side of the clearing, and a bunch of nervous ponies all around her. It was a pity that little, if any, of Tom’s knowledge of ancient battles was applicable when the enemy was mind controlled and everyone was the cavalry, after a fashion.

Everyone had their marching orders. Given this was more or less just a minor skirmish over a supply line; neither Sombra nor Celestia was here. Duskfall privately wondered at what point during a multiyear war the leaders started running out of rousing speeches. She was thankful she’d probably never get called on to give such a speech.

Some might wonder as to the wisdom of sending Duskfall to participate in such a battle when she could be used as a stunning trump card. Celestia was of the opinion that it would be better for the army to get used to Duskfall, both her presence and fighting style, and for Duskfall to get a taste of real combat before entrusting her with anything too major. After all, if Duskfall shocked the army too greatly that would be very bad. If she was utterly incompetent in combat, that would be an issue as well.

Still, all these thoughts were just window dressing for Duskfall. Something to get her mind off the fact that she was really very nervous and wondering when exactly the fighting was going to start. Was there a signal? Was someone going to yell ‘charge’ like in one of those old movies? It wasn’t like everyone was carrying shields to shove against the opposing army like something out of ancient Greece. Were they just going to run at each other and try to take out whoever got in their face? Duskfall was suddenly of the opinion that three days wasn’t enough prep time.

“ATTACK!” A moment or two of being shoved by the ponies around her and Duskfall finally got her own legs working again. A wall of mind controlled ponies charged to meet them. In a snap decision, Duskfall went full speed ahead, trusting her Alicorn durability to see her through.

Being mindful of her horn, Duskfall plowed into the frontline of Sombra’s army. It was panic, chaos, confusion, in a word…insanity. Duskfall was feeling things she had never felt before. It was invigorating, empowering. Submersing yourself in Darkness without hurting people was a relatively trivial matter. Doing the same with Insanity was virtually impossible. Even now ponies were in pain around her yet Duskfall had never felt more alive.

Her euphoric high died a painful death when Duskfall spotted something that made her instantly sick to her stomach. It was a young child with one of Sombra’s helmets on. Duskfall wasn’t quite able to tell if the child was filly or colt, but that didn’t matter. The purple Alicorn broke from the fight, spread her wings, and flew at top speed for the child. She grabbed up the filly, for she was definitely a filly, and teleported back to base camp.

The filly was struggling like she was possessed by the Devil himself, which wasn’t far from the truth when Duskfall thought about it. Still, the strength of a young Crystal Pony was no match for Duskfall. As much as Duskfall hated to do so, she placed the filly in a bubble and returned to the fight. She wasn’t about to start experimenting on a child and that meant she needed someone else to serve as test subject. Well, no matter the outcome of this particular battle, Duskfall was somehow even more motivated to bring down Sombra.

Author's Notes:

Uh, I'm slowly getting better, but my head still feels like melted cheese, so hopefully this is at least serviceable. I wanted to make this a pretty long chapter with Duskfall observing the filly she's captured and some other stuff, but honestly I'm just going to leave it here for now. It'll still probably be three or four days before I'm back to 100% and I'd hate to leave you guys hanging that long.

Also, I suck at fight scenes, so I thought I'd be clever here and get around that subject by focusing on how being immersed in the Insanity of real army-on-army combat would set Duskfall off a bit.

In other news, I'm frustrated with myself. I won't go into details, but there's this one author who's an egotistical sexist jerk but I can't stop reading their work and I hate myself for being of such loose morals that I can't put my foot down and say "I love the work but I won't read it because this person is an asshat".

Finally, I've started some role playing again. It's something I've always enjoyed doing even if I rarely get to indulge. I know huge shock, the guy who literally has his characters arguing in his head 24/7 enjoys acting out as those characters. I even enjoy doing canon characters. My one weakness is that RP makes me a bit... thirsty and so the kinds of RP I want to do reflect this. I'm perfectly capable of doing wholesome/friendship role plays, but they aren't my favorite.

I'll do my best to not let my RP get in the way of my writing these stories, but if things slow down a bit then that's why. Apologies in advance.

Breakout Part 3

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 27

The past month had been quite eventful for Duskfall. As much as she had discovered a love for fighting, she preferred to keep it to the level of bar brawls. There was a nagging sense of guilt that came over her whenever she came down off the battle high and realized someone had died while she was having fun.

With the boon of morale along with the help of Duskfall and Lightning the tide of the war was turning in favor of Equestria. Just the ability to drop Rainbooms in two separate theaters of battle was such an overwhelming tactical advantage that Sombra’s mind controlled troops were being pushed back. Celestia and her military advisers were planning the first stages of the siege of the Crystal Empire due to the pressure being generated.

Thus, for the past week, Duskfall had been keeping herself almost exclusively in the lab with the rest of the R&D team. It was always nice to go back to her roots. That particular morning found Duskfall entering the lab to once more check up on the filly she had rescued.

“Good morning, Snowfall,” Yes, Duskfall had named the Jane Doe filly after herself. Sue her, it was a cute name.

“You know she almost certainly can’t hear you,” This world’s Moon Dancer and fellow researcher commented from her seat. At the moment Moon Dancer was running some calculations to see if it was feasible to crack the helmet and see if damaging or destroying it would free the trapped pony.

“But on the off chance she can hear me, I gotta talk to her,” Duskfall replied resolutely.

“Are we ready to try experiment #465?” Deep Thinker, a stallion with a lime green coat, sky blue mane, and a beaker as a Cutie Mark asked.

“I dunno Deep, if any of our experiments thus far are gonna end up in catastrophic failure, it’s that one,” Moon Dancer said hesitantly.

“As much as I hate to say it, science isn’t always safe. If we don’t figure this out somehow, then there’s a real chance all these ponies are going to be doomed to a non-life unless we get lucky and they’re released on Sombra’s death. Does Sombra seem like the type of evil overlord to not take as many people down with him when he’s beaten?” Duskfall asked pointedly.

“I know you’re right. I guess I’m just a bit squeamish about hurting someone in a way we can’t fix,” Moon Dancer admitted.

“Caution isn’t a bad thing. There has to be someone asking if we should do something rather than if we can. I just think in this circumstance we definitely should do everything in our power to find a way to free these Ponies. If it does come down to someone dying or worse, then all we can do is ensuring their sacrifice isn’t forgotten,” Deep Thinker remarked.

“And this may be a bit egotistical and presumptuous, but if we could ask these people what they want, I think they’d say they want to help free their friends and family in any way they can,” Duskfall added.

“I understand. Ultimately we can go round and round with justifications or reasons why we shouldn’t do this but at the end of the day there is a whole empire’s worth of ponies who need help and we can do something about it,” Moon Dancer agreed.

Test Subject 68 was brought into the testing area. Fortunately Sombra’s troops were docile when not receiving direct orders. Still, there was no sense in needlessly endangering everyone, so the captured troops were kept in reasonably comfortable cells.

“Experiment #465, Duskfall infusing the subject with Healing Darkness in an attempt to override the Dark Magic’s corruption. Start at 25% saturation and begin when ready, Duskfall,” Deep Thinker stated. Duskfall complied and soon Duskfall’s Healing Darkness came in contact with the Dark Magic.

It was an interesting feeling. Before coming to this World, Duskfall hadn’t experienced her Darkness interacting with the Darkness of another. Even if this was merely Dark Magic and thus diluted, it still gave her an odd echo-y feeling. At 25% saturation, her Healing Darkness was lapping at the Dark Magic like waves on a beach. It would dissolve it in time, but at this speed that timeframe might be years, even decades.

“No good guys. It’s working, but the Windigos will return and bury us all in snow before we finish freeing Sombra’s troops,” Duskfall reported.

“Try upping saturation to 50%,” Moon Dancer suggested.

“Roger,” Duskfall responded and complied. With more Healing Darkness in the subject’s system, it began to rally and was now trying to engulf the Dark Magic entirely. Was the Healing Darkness trying to devour the Dark Magic or merely contain it? Despite using Darkness passively for hundreds of years, given that she had only recognized it recently, there was so much Duskfall didn’t know. It was quite frustrating to Duskfall to be recognized as the Alicorn of Darkness when she was ignorant of so much.

“Status?” Deep Thinker asked.

“The Healing Darkness is trying to wrap itself around the Dark Magic. To what end I’m not certain, but it doesn’t have enough juice to do so,” Duskfall replied.

“What’s the subject’s status?” Moon Dancer inquired.

“Seems stable, but I’m not sure pushing it is a good idea. I can only sense his Heart. I don’t know what the sudden influx of Darkness is doing to his Mind or Soul,” Duskfall warned.

“Like we agreed earlier, this is something that needs to be done for the good of everyone,” Moon Dancer said resolutely.

“So long as we’re all on the same page,” Duskfall pumped more Healing Darkness into the subject. Saturation reached 75% and it became clear to Duskfall that her Darkness was trying to devour the Dark Magic in its entirety. However, as if sensing a true threat to its existence, the Dark Magic began to lash out. The subject began to thrash about wildly.

“What’s happening?!” Deep Thinker demanded to know.

“The Dark Magic is reacting violently! If this keeps up his Heart will definitely shatter! I’m crushing the Dark Magic here and now!” Duskfall declared and pumped as much of her Healing Darkness as she dared into the subject’s body. The flood of Darkness worked to quickly extinguish the Dark Magic. The subject collapsed and the helmet split cleanly down the middle, letting the researchers see his face for the first time.

“How is he?” Moon Dancer asked.

“I think I got to him just in time. His Heart is really weak right now. If I had used anything other than Healing Darkness he would’ve been done for. I’ll leave him as is for a minute or two just to be sure my Darkness has cleansed the Dark Magic from his system. Then I’ll leave a few traces of Healing Darkness in him to hopefully speed along his recovery. I wouldn’t expect him to wake up for some time, if not fall into a coma completely,” Duskfall said ruefully.

“Even so, I’m cautiously optimistic. We won’t know exactly what kinds of side effects there are until this poor sap wakes up, but at least we’ve proven it is possible to break the Dark Magic in a controlled environment. It might even go better if next time you flood them immediately and crush the Dark Magic before it has a chance to hurt the subject,” Moon Dancer observed.

“That’s certainly a possibility, but ideally we’ll figure out how much Darkness I need to use to exactly defeat the Dark Magic without the subject suffering any damage from it. I’m worried flooding it all at once will cause some serious damage,” Duskfall fretted.

“It’s also possible that the long term exposure to Dark Magic has inoculated them somewhat to what you’re worried about,” Deep Thinker pointed out.

“We won’t know until we try,” Duskfall sighed. Still, today they had taken a major step forward in defeating Sombra. Soon the Evil King’s reign would be over.

Breakout Part 4

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 28: Breakout Part 4

Duskfall and Lightning had been in this version of Equestria for nearly 3 months now. Duskfall had all but perfected the ability to free people from Sombra’s mind control. She was finally feeling confident enough to free Snowfall from her prison.

The only annoyance in Duskfall’s mind was that she couldn’t free more than three ponies at a time. Her fine control simply wasn’t great enough to manage more than that without consequences. Thankfully her Alicorn nature granted her enough endurance to be able to keep freeing ponies for several hours before needing a break. Since it only took a couple of minutes to free each batch, it would probably only take a week to free all of Sombra’s troops.

It was just a shame the Elements were defunct. They’d been defunct since Twilight went missing. Duskfall’s working theory was somehow the Dark Magic on the door had slipped through Twilight’s connection to Magic and the Elements shut down to protect themselves. Of course, Duskfall hadn’t had the time to test that theory, but it was a theory that didn’t require Twilight being dead to function. All Duskfall knew was the one time she had tried to interact with the Elements she had gotten laid up for over a day with a crippling headache. And that was with her Healing Darkness helping out.

“I bet you’ll be happy to finally learn Snowfall’s real name,” Moon Dancer quipped as Duskfall prepared to free the filly.

“But Snowfall is such a cute name,” Duskfall pouted.

“Maybe she’ll adopt the name in gratitude,” Deep Thinker joked. Duskfall stuck her tongue out at him.

“Just a shame she won’t be waking up to her family,” Moon Dancer noted.

“Assuming she has a family to wake up to,” Deep Thinker was immediately treated to twin glares from the mares in the room.

“Don’t say things like that!” Duskfall barked.

“Really, for such a smart pony you can really say some dumb things,” Moon Dancer agreed.

“What? Refusing to talk about the possibility doesn’t remove the possibility,” Deep Thinker pointed out.

“A while ago I might have agreed and said any notions of bad luck were ‘unscientific’. That was before I became a living embodiment of a primordial force of nature and bad mental health,” Duskfall deadpanned.

“That’s fair,” Deep Thinker conceded.

“Anyway, I’m ready to roll, so let’s light this candle!” Duskfall carefully infused the prerequisite amount of Healing Darkness into the filly and she relaxed as the Dark Magic dissolved as per usual. The helmet came off as expected and Duskfall had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. It looked like Apple Bloom was somehow a Crystal Pony in this world. She had even been wearing the bow under the helmet.

“Someone you know?” Duskfall’s reaction hadn’t gone unnoticed by Moon Dancer.

“Maybe? Something strange is going on either way. Can you two watch her while I go grab Applejack?” Duskfall asked.

“Applejack? Why do you need-” Deep Thinker didn’t get to finish his question as Duskfall teleported away, “I hate it when she does that.”

“Hmmm… where am I?” The filly opened her eyes.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Moon Dancer said not unkindly.

“Who are you? Why do you ponies look funny?” She asked.

“Well, you’re a Crystal Pony and we’re both Equestrian Unicorns,” Deep Thinker answered.

“And generally it’s quite rude to tell ponies they look funny,” Moon Dancer added.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” The filly apologized. Just then Duskfall returned with Applejack and Apple Bloom in tow.

“Well Ah’ll be, she is real,” Applejack muttered.

“Told you I wasn’t high on my Insanity,” Duskfall pouted.

“Cool! Ah got a twin!” Apple Bloom chirped.

“Why do you look like me?” The young Crystal Pony asked.

“Wait, before we go any further, can we have your name kid?” Duskfall asked.

“Opal Bloom,” She answered.

“Ah’m Apple Bloom!” The young Earth Pony said excitedly.

“Pleased to meet you, I think? Isn’t that what the adults say?” Opal questioned.

“It’s certainly polite to say something like that,” Deep Thinker replied.

“So, Applejack, did you ever have any family from up north?” Duskfall asked.

“Granny Smith’d know fer sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me none if we did. A thousand years ago was a long time,” Applejack answered.

“You look like my sister, Opaljack, but you sound different,” Opal said curiously.

“Opaljack?” Applejack asked blankly.

“Opium-jack,” Duskfall snickered, quickly getting swatted by Moon Dancer. Applejack didn’t look particularly impressed either.

“Wha’s opium?” Bloom asked.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Deep Thinker tried to deflect.

“But-” Bloom tried to protest.

“Apple Bloom, please just drop it fer now. Big sister request?” Applejack nearly begged.

“Fine,” Bloom pouted.

“Where is my sister anyway?” Opal asked. The three researchers suddenly got very apprehensive. Applejack picked up on this and quickly realized the reason.

“Yer sister is…trapped. And we’re tryin’ ta rescue her!” Applejack explained as tactfully as she could.

“What?! Where is she?! How soon until I see her again?! She’s all I have left after our parents died!” Opal started crying. By some sisterly instinct, Applejack and Apple Bloom both moved in to comfort the distressed filly.

“Hopefully ya’ll will see her soon. We’re just about ready to go after tha varmint that has her,” Applejack told Opal. Opal gave a watery nod, “You can stay with mah family until we get yer sister back, all right?”

Duskfall just quietly watched. How many families had Sombra torn asunder? How many sisters would wake from their brainwashing to find their siblings dead? How many fathers would mourn the loss of their sons? Duskfall prayed Opaljack was still alive. No matter what happened, Duskfall would take joy in ending Sombra’s reign once and for all.

This was it, the final assault on the Crystal Empire. The siege had been going on for three days and the all important anti-teleport ward was just about ready to crack. At the moment, Duskfall really was high on her Insanity and more than eager to snuff out Sombra once and for all. If it wasn’t for Lightning forcefully reminding her that she needed to save her strength for the confrontation, Duskfall would have been pounding against the wards herself. As it was, Celestia and Luna were pushing themselves to near exhaustion. A corrupted Crystal Heart was proving to be quite the power source.

“Ready to go, Lady Duskfall?” Lightning asked once again.

“I’m a lot more ready than I was three days ago. Being on a low key permanent Insanity high for three days makes it a lot easier to tell what’s reality and what’s my madness,” Duskfall admitted.

“I don’t envy that one bit, Lady Duskfall. Having to constantly question what’s real and what’s not while fighting? You’re lucky you’re immortal, that’s all I’m sayin’,” Lightning remarked.

“Yeah, speaking of, you’ve been awfully quiet about that. I-”

“We’ll talk about it after we’re done fighting a damn war, m’lady,” Lightning responded surprisingly shortly. Was she upset with Duskfall or just stressed over the war and wanted to give the subject her full attention?

Before Duskfall could follow up, the royal sisters and the team of mages finally managed to break the defensive wards. Immediately Duskfall’s bloodlust shot to the forefront of her mind. Fortunately, that was already accounted for in the plan. The army would keep Sombra’s troops busy and Duskfall would confront the stallion himself. Ideally he’d be in the throne room, but Duskfall was more than willing to hunt him down like a dog.

Duskfall used Twilight and Tom’s memories of the castle to teleport directly to the throne room. Much to her frustration, Sombra was nowhere to be seen, even if Duskfall could sense his Darkness of Evil permeating the room.

“FUCK!” Duskfall shouted.

“You shouldn’t swear like that, it’s unbecoming,” Duskfall felt a chill run down her spine. From behind the throne walked Twilight Sparkle. Duskfall could recognize her anywhere, even with the changes. Darker coat, a black streak through her mane where the pink used to be, and most jarring, a pair of sickly looking black bat wings set this Twilight apart from any of her counterparts. Then Duskfall saw her eyes. Red with green sclera.

“Fuck, you’ve been ‘Norted,” Duskfall swore.

“If you don’t watch your tongue, I’m going to have to remove it from your head,” Twilight threatened calmly.

“Twilight, you don’t have to do this,” Duskfall said the first thing that came to mind as she forced herself down from her Insanity high.

“Why not? Sombra’s the only one who would tell me THE TRUTH!” Twilight screamed suddenly, her bat wings flaring.

“And what truth would that be?” Duskfall felt bad for burning time like this, but recovering Twilight took top priority every time.

“No one cares about me. I was just a useful tool. I still am, but at least he’s honest about his desire to use me! Celestia groomed me since I was a filly to be a soldier! Someone to save her sister or die trying! She didn’t care about my anxiety attacks or my OCD, just so long as she had her weapon to wield the Elements with. Then Sombra told me about Starswirl’s final spell. What it was supposed to do…” Twilight trailed off as she became overwhelmed by her fury.

“Twilight, I-”

“And you’re living proof he was right! Celestia wanted to make me an Alicorn, a princess, for her own inscrutable reasons! To make me her perfect little toy for all eternity! Tell me, how do you survive? What’s your secret, other me? I probably would’ve tried to kill myself a month or two after being made a princess,” Twilight’s tone turned conversational.

“I’m not exactly you, Twilight. I’m only half you,” Duskfall tried to deflect from the question. During her exile, a dark question of what would have happened to Twilight if Tom hadn’t come into her life immediately after her ascension had plagued her. What if her Twilight had never grown out of the fanatical loyalty, near worship, of Celestia? Duskfall was no fool. She knew how Twilight handled stress. Or rather, how she didn’t handle it.

“They got you to replace me, so you’re clearly close enough to me to be able to answer the question,” Twilight said icily.

“They didn’t get me to replace you! I’m just bumbling through the multiverse at the moment and happened to end up here and because some cosmic being is demanding I stick my nose in where it doesn’t really belong, here I am,” Duskfall snapped before sighing, “But there is no secret. The Twilight that went into making me didn’t get a chance to be a princess. Twilight performed a summoning ritual and wound up trapped in her own body with the other person that eventually became me in control. I can’t argue with any of what you’ve said. Celestia loves you like a daughter. But it’s a selfish sort of love, toxic to its core. My Celestia was getting better about it when I left, but if things had continued on course… I fear you might be right. Twilight would’ve had an episode and gone full villain like you have or would have been ground to dust by the pressure.”

“Then why are we fighting? Celestia is a terrible pony content to ruin the lives of everyone around her for her own selfish desires! It isn’t just me; she did and continues to do the same thing to Luna! ‘I feel bad for what I did to my sister’ not ‘I was a terrible pony and ignored what my sister needed from me’,” Twilight sneered.

“I don’t want to fight you! In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m fairly steeped in Darkness myself!” Duskfall flicked a wing, sending out a wisp of Darkness, “I’m here to kill Sombra for what he’s doing to these ponies and especially what he did to Shining.”

“And Spike…” Twilight whispered, but not quietly enough for Duskfall to miss it. She felt a stab in her Heart. Seeing Twilight had made her hope Spike was alive too. Apparently that had been a foolish hope.

“Right, so let’s kill Sombra and then we can sit Celestia down and air your grievance together. She’s an egomaniac, but she’s not beyond hope,” Duskfall offered.

“I…don’t know…I can’t claim Sombra’s been good to me, yet he’s offered me more decency than Celestia ever did. I’m not the Twilight Sparkle I was years ago. Maybe it’s the conditioning talking, but I like who I’ve become. I’m not as prone to stress, I can finally manage my OCD and it doesn’t rule me anymore. I know I’ve been party to something terrible. He killed Shining and Spike and got a lot of other ponies killed. Is it strange that I feel like I owe him something?” Twilight sounded so lost.

“I’m really not the best person to ask that question. I’ve done some pretty bad things myself and formed…attachments that weren’t particularly healthy. I still look fondly on one or two of them, even if I know it’s absolutely not healthy to do so. I’m going to kill Sombra regardless. I’d rather not have to go through you to do so, but I’m capable of doing so. I’m not asking you to slit his throat or anything. Just to stand aside,” Duskfall pleaded.

“I…can do that,” Twilight sounded like she was in pain as she folded her wings to her sides, “I guess your me was a lot stronger than I am. That door beat me. I failed so Spike and Shiny are dead. I’m fully aware that Celestia should get a lot of the blame for setting up this whole mess as a ‘test’, but logic and emotions have a strained relationship more often than not.”

“Twilight, I have a version of your memories, if what the door did in this world is anything like mine, I hardly blame you. Although, why didn’t your Spike snap you out of it?” Duskfall questioned.

“How could Spike have snapped me out of it?” Twilight asked, sounding confused.

“Twilight went to the door alone, leaving Spike at the top, and she encountered the door alone. Ah, you both went down together, didn’t you?” Suddenly it made sense.

“Why would I leave my number 1 assistant behind? What a difference one little choice can make…” Twilight shook her head ruefully, “It’s so funny I think I might laugh until I cry.” She didn’t laugh. She just stood there with a miserable expression. Duskfall hated seeing that look, so she did something about it in the form of a hug.

“Isn’t this just so sweet?” Duskfall and Twilight could practically feel the condescension dripping from that voice and Duskfall had the question of where Starlight had gotten off to answered in the worse possible way.

“Fuck off Starlight!” Duskfall barked as she broke the hug with Twilight. Standing at the door to the throne room was the source of all of Duskfall’s woes. She’d obviously taken a hit of Sombra’s Dark Magic, but thankfully she hadn’t sprouted wings yet. Even if Duskfall wasn’t sure if those were some kind of twisted Alicorn wings or just constructs of Dark Magic yet.

“Now why would I go and do a thing like that when I’ve finally leveled the playing field with you, Duskfall?” Duskfall couldn’t help but burst out laughing, “What’s so funny?!”

“You’re a powerful Unicorn, Starlight. With Dark Magic boosting you, you’d certainly be a match for me, hell, probably smear me against wall…300 years ago,” Duskfall grew a smirk.

“300 years?! What are you talking about?!” Starlight demanded to know.

“Yeah, while you were screwing about after you shattered Twilight’s Cutie Mark, I legitimately went insane. I was too powerful to contain and too mentally unbalanced to let be free. So Celestia and a guy with a time machine dumped me off on an isolated planet in the armpit of the galaxy sometime in the far flung future. They hoped I’d burn myself out and come to my senses. What actually happened was I learned to embrace my Insanity alongside my Darkness and became the Alicorn of both. That process took a little over 350 years and I grew stronger with every year. Unlike with the troops, I don’t have to hold anything back. So come on, let’s see how ‘level’ the playing field actually is!” Duskfall taunted.

Starlight gave a wordless roar of anger and fired off a blast of Dark Magic. Duskfall threw up a barrier of Wild Darkness and the two canceled each other out. Duskfall was surprised at this outcome, but didn’t let it show on her face. How much visceral hatred was Starlight holding onto? Her Dark Magic shouldn’t have been that powerful!

“Starlight, that’s enough!” Twilight shouted.

“NO! IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH! This bitch took everything from me! Now I’ll do the same to her!” Starlight swore as she stamped her hoof, dozens of inky black tentacles of Dark Magic springing up around Duskfall in an attempt to either capture or crush her. A quick teleport for some distance and Duskfall let loose with her own blast of Wild Darkness. Starlight responded with a pillar of crystal to bounce Duskfall’s attack back at her. Duskfall simply absorbed her Darkness back into herself.

“Starlight, stop!” Twilight tried again. Starlight apparently had enough and attempted to fire a laser at Twilight. She countered with a crystal of her own, refracting the laser into the walls, leaving trails of destruction where they struck, “Well, that changes things.”

Twilight coated herself in Dark Magic and charged Starlight who tried to throw up a kinetic barrier to stop her, but Duskfall shattered it with a quick spell, allowing Twilight to plow into the Unicorn.

“You really don’t know how to quit when you’re ahead, do you Glim Glam?” Duskfall noted as Starlight disengaged from Twilight by teleporting to the other side of the room.

“I haven’t come this far just to fail now!” Starlight screeched and let loose a torrent of Dark Magic flames from her horn. The heat of it was such that the carpet and other fabrics adorning the room burst into flames themselves. Twilight and Duskfall both cast spells to counter it and Duskfall had to take extra care to make sure her Darkness didn’t eradicate Twilight’s spell along with Starlight’s. Together the pair’s might made quick work of Starlight’s fire, but the Unicorn was by no means done. When the area cleared of the leftovers of the spells, there were more than a dozen Starlight Glimmers, some Shadow Clones, others illusions.

“Had to be Shadow Clones,” Duskfall murmured before shaking it off.

“I’ll destroy you while you waste time trying to find the real me!” Starlight boasted. Duskfall just smirked. As much as she couldn’t stand using Shadow Clones herself these days, she did know how to break them and illusions as well. A pulse of Void Darkness took care of them, even if using such Darkness left Duskfall feeling a bit lightheaded.

Twilight and Duskfall together advanced on Starlight, both glowing with power.

“No! NO! This isn’t fair! I have all this power and I still couldn’t beat you!” Starlight started crying with despair.

“You’re the idiot who dragged Twilight into our fight,” Duskfall pointed out.

“I-I-”

“Sleep,” With that command, Starlight collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“What did you do to her?” Twilight asked.

“Healing Darkness and Sleeping Darkness are very closely related. It was a simple matter for me to force her to sleep after she wore herself out a bit. She won’t awake until I allow it, I don’t think. Still kinda new to this,” Duskfall admitted sheepishly.

“So you’ve turned one of my pawns against me and incapacitated the other. Color me… mildly impressed,” From out of the gloom of the destroyed throne room, Sombra coalesced. Duskfall felt a fury begin to bubble in her gut, but noticed something that stopped her cold. Sombra hadn’t remodeled his body into a golem of Dark Magic like everyone had been assuming. At some point he had become a living mass of Darkness of Evil.

Did this make him a Greater Spirit of Darkness? Was that even possible? What would that mean for the fight? According to Discord, her power should be greater than a Greater Spirit, but that also hinged on her being fully connected to her goddesshood. In any event, Duskfall was looking at the fight of her life.

“You have been a pain for some time now, you and that Pegasus. Freeing my soldiers from my control, you have almost singlehandedly turned the tide of this war. However, you are the only one capable of doing so. Once I crush you I can begin recapturing my troops and eventually march to conquer all of Equuis!” Sombra gave his evil speech. Duskfall at least appreciated he made no offer for her to join him.

“Haven’t you read a book, Sombra? The daring heroine with a need to avenge her fallen family always defeats the evil overlord!” Duskfall exclaimed with far more confidence than she felt. If real life were like a book, she wouldn’t have existed to begin with.

“Well, we will just have to see if reality reflects fiction, won’t we?” Sombra purred. Both Sombra and Duskfall marshaled their strength, black auras forming around them both, but around Duskfall a sort of TV static seemed to also come into being around her. That was Duskfall’s ace in the hole, her Insanity.

Twilight decided to make herself useful by dragging Starlight’s sleeping body away from where the carnage was about to happen. Truthfully, Twilight wouldn’t be surprised if the two leveled the whole castle. She knew she was going to regret this but Twilight teleported to the Equestrian camp with Starlight in tow. Not a moment too late, as a powerful blast of Darkness shot out from the throne room and destroyed a few of the pillars of the castle.

“TWILIGHT?!” Of course Celestia had to be the first one to find her. Twilight was not in the mood to deal with her former mentor without someone to mediate for her. Celestia rushed up to her and crushed her in a hug.

“I thought I had lost you. Oh, thank the stars you’re alive!” A long time ago, Twilight might have been touched by something like this. She knew better now.

“Let. Me. Go,” Twilight ground out.

“Twilight, what-?” Celestia gasped as she looked down, directly into Twilight’s red and green eyes. She gasped and stumbled away.

“What’s the matter, Celestia, I thought you’d be glad to see me?” Twilight asked sardonically.

“What happened to you, Twilight?” Celestia asked in a horrified whisper.

“Well, let’s think about it, what do you think might happen when a young adult mare with more power than common sense is held prisoner by an evil tyrant for almost five years? I’m clearly not dead, so I’m pretty sure you can fill in the rest!” Twilight spat, “Five years of being beaten, assaulted, and used as a plaything for his amusement. Do you know what the most galling thing is? For all that he did to me; he still treated me better than you ever did.”

Celestia reeled as if struck. How could Twilight say something like that?! Celestia loved Twilight like a daughter! How could Twilight compare her and someone by her own admission had physically, mentally, and maybe even sexually assaulted her!

“And look, Celestia, you got exactly what you wanted in the end,” Twilight spread her leathery wings, only increasing Celestia’s horror, “The only good you’ve ever done me wasn’t even intentional. It was when you forced me to go to Ponyville to become the Element of Magic and I wound up finding some real friends. Not that you cared. All you wanted was your sister so you could go back to controlling her like you controlled me!”

“I don’t control either of you!” Celestia protested, “Luna, tell her!”

The younger Alicorn’s silence was damning.

“Luna..?” The Alicorn in question started fidgeting.

“You can…at times…be somewhat…overbearing, Sister,” Luna admitted.

“But I’m not-”

“OH REALLY?! Then why were you trying to make me an Alicorn princess?! If you knew me at all you’d know I would’ve hated every second of it! But you also know I would’ve never said a word against you. So which is it? Do you only know me as the loyal lapdog that would have done literally anything you asked of me without question or do you know me as the pony that had OCD and an extreme anxiety disorder? Either way there’s no excuse for wanting to make me a princess. So, Celestia, why do it?” Twilight’s fury had turned cold as she bored into her former mentor with her gaze.

“Twilight, I… I thought you would’ve been happy to spread friendship across Equestria,” Celestia said weakly.

“So I was just a lapdog after all. Does the word ‘introvert’ mean anything to you? I’m perfectly capable of enjoying time with my friends, but I need time to myself too. If you had used those words on me back then, if you had told me I was supposed to spread the magic of friendship to all of Equestria, I would have killed myself trying to do it. Maybe literally but definitely emotionally, day in and day out forcing myself to attend more social events, forcing myself to take on more work. That’s on top of whatever monster-of-the-week or world ending event was happening. Do you not see where that might be a problem?” Twilight asked.

“But your friends would have helped you!” Celestia protested.

“HA! I wouldn’t have bothered my friends for something you assigned me with. Even if I did, where would they find the time? Applejack takes care of her farm, Rarity has her business she was trying to expand last I heard, Pinkie has to take care of Pound and Pumpkin Cake on top of helping out around Sugar Cube Corner, Rainbow was training for the Wonderbolts and managing Ponyville’s weather, and Fluttershy has a more than full schedule taking care of her animals. Have you ever stopped to think how much trouble they go through just for being the Elements of Harmony? Whenever duty calls they have to drop everything and go or the world could be doomed. Yet they haven’t seen a single bit of compensation last I knew. So no, my friends wouldn’t have been able to help me,” Twilight countered sourly.

Celestia was stunned. No one witnessing her argument with Twilight even took note of the half the castle collapsing from Duskfall and Sombra’s duel. Where things really as bad as Twilight had said? She had never heard complaint from the other Elements.

“Twilight, are you being truthful? Heroes of the Realm are due a certain amount of recompense and a number of privileges and even a noble title in their own right. You received none of these things?” There was a dangerous note in Luna’s voice as she looked at her sister.

“Luna, some of those practices fell out of favor-”

“THEN I WOULD HAVE GLADLY REPAID THEM WITH MY OWN FINANCES! AM I NOT A PRINCESS?! I WOULD HAVE GRANTED THEM THEIR DUE MYSELF!” Luna exploded into the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“And the law concerning financial compensation for labor lost when called to arms was still on the books five years ago,” Twilight noted, “I checked after the Discord incident, so we should have received compensation when called on to deal with him. Technically the way the law is written means we could also be eligible for when we went to fight Nightmare Moon, but that would be up to the others if they wanted to pursue that.” And there went the rest of the castle.

“Sister, you had better have a very good explanation for this,” Luna said coldly.

“It slipped my mind! We were so caught up in making sure everything went back to normal after Discord that I forgot! I’m not perfect!” Celestia tried to defend herself.

“That’s all you had to say,” Twilight sighed, “But none of that gives a reason as to why you wanted me to be a princess in the first place. So, what was that defining moment? That train of logic that dropped you off at the station that made you think it was a good idea?”

Celestia knew she was very much in trouble. At this point Luna would absolutely murder her when she learned what Celestia had been planning and Celestia was starting to suspect Twilight would piss on her grave. At the same time, trying to hide her intentions now would never work. These two were on to her and trying to weasel something past Luna at this stage had never ended well for Celestia in the past.

“I suppose I’ll tell you when Duskfall returns from battling Sombra. This probably involves her as well, after all,” Celestia could only hope Duskfall would help reign in her sister and Twilight. That cooler heads would prevail… Celestia was asking for the Alicorn of Insanity to help others be reasonable…she was so screwed.

“Don’t think I don’t realize this is a stalling tactic, but I’ll allow it. You are right in that Duskfall should probably hear this,” Twilight conceded.

“Oh, and Celestia, should you try and duck out of this, I will be telling everyone about the Dark Stone incident,” Luna promised.

“YOU SAID YOU’D TAKE THAT TO YOUR GRAVE!” Celestia shouted in surprise.

“And that makes it perfect blackmail to keep you from flying off into the sunset and pretending this conversation doesn’t need to happen,” Luna replied dryly. Before Celestia could reply, the rubble of the castle was encased in an orb of Darkness and when it vanished all that was left behind was a crater.

“Holy shit,” One of the nearby ponies uttered. That just about summed up almost everyone’s thoughts. It looked as if the castle and the area around it, just barely missing the residential area, had been surgically removed from existence.

“Lady Duskfall!” Twilight barely heard the shout, but she definitely heard the rainboom that came after. Given Rainbow would likely never refer to someone else as their ‘lady’ and the contrail and magical signature were completely different, Twilight made the easy assumption that it was the other rainboom capable Pegasus that had come along with Duskfall. A moment later she returned with Duskfall on her back.

“I’m gonna feel that in the morning,” Duskfall moaned and flopped onto the ground bonelessly. Arcs of black electricity skittered across her body.

“You OK? What happened to Sombra?” Twilight asked as the Pegasus started to fret over Duskfall. Lightning something, wasn’t it?

“I ate him, I think?” This answer was obviously met with cries of shock, “He tried to possess me as I was running low on juice. Jokes on him, while we fought for control my Wild Darkness started eating away at his Darkness of Evil. By the time we noticed, I was strong enough to trap him in me, but, well, he had one last hurrah in him.”

“The crater?” Celestia asked.

“Yeah. I think a few of my internal organs have ruptured, so if you could find me an out of the way place before I die, that’d be great,” Twilight gasped.

“You can’t die! You have to yell at Celestia with me! Where’s a medic?!” Twilight shouted.

“Relax, Twi, death’s not an issue for me. I’ll just pop back up right as rain in about an hour. Lightning, I’m starting to fade. Put me somewhere quiet and I swear to God if you do anything funny to my body I will know and I will make you pay for it,” Twilight was shocked at how uncaring Duskfall was about her impending death. Was she really going to revive just like that? The look on Lighting’s face spoke of apprehension, which definitely didn’t reassure Twilight. But according to Duskfall it was already too late for her.

How surreal was it to watch someone else who had your body die? Twilight could now answer that question. She regretted following Lightning to the place the Pegasus intended to let Duskfall die and just standing there quietly as Duskfall’s body became still in death. With her eyes closed and her mouth shut, it was disturbingly easy for Twilight to see her own dead body on that bed.

“So, does this ever get easier?” Twilight tried to make conversation.

“This is the first time I’ve seen her die,” Lightning answered, “The first I ever heard of her ability to die and resurrect was when we first came to this dimension. I’m still not sure it isn’t a crazy delusion she’s convinced herself is real somehow. Yet there she is, completely dead, so I guess we’ll find out in an hour.”

Over the course of the hour, a couple of ponies came through. Celestia and Luna probably would’ve been among them if they weren’t busy trying to get the ‘hibernating’ troops to a place Duskfall could hopefully free them. Assuming she did revive like she claimed she did. But Lightning and Twilight stood vigil over her body. As the end of the hour drew closer, they became more and more agitated.

“What if she’s really dead? What do we do? What do I do? I’ve devoted my life to her. I’ve only known her a couple of months but something about her makes me want to be better than I was. I’m part Changeling. I don’t need emotions to survive like a full-blood one, but I can still taste them. Before Lady Duskfall, I was awful. I gorged myself on fear and terror and hatred. Then she showed me kindness and compassion is so much better. The funny part? She did it while pretending to give me a taste of my own medicine, forcing me into bed with her. Of course, being able to read emotions, I was able to see through her, but for a moment I was so scared and I thought ‘is this what everyone else felt’? It’s one thing to be eating emotions. It’s another to be the source of those emotions. It really opened my eyes,” Lightning confessed.

“Now I kinda feel inadequate. I’m just here because she promised to help me yell at Celestia. I guess we both kinda fall into the same category. We end up following the first people who show us kindness. For me it was my Ponyville friends and now Duskfall. For you it’s Duskfall again,” Twilight noted.

“And she doesn’t think she has any leadership skills,” Lighting and Twilight shared a giggle over that. Leadership came in many different forms, after all.

“Who’s besmirching my good name?”

“Duskfall!” Both mares exclaimed. Both then tried to smother Duskfall with hugs.

“I told you I’d be fine, didn’t I? Geez, have a little faith,” Duskfall tried to sound sour, but failed miserably.

“I was never worried, Lady Duskfall,” Lightning lied through her teeth.

“So that was a ‘welcome back, sweetie’ hug, was it?” Duskfall teased, “What’s your excuse, Twi?”

“You try watching a body double die and see how that affects you,” Twilight huffed.

“I do have video recordings of me killing myself, but I am the Alicorn of Insanity, soooo…” Duskfall trailed off, “Did you get to talk with Celestia while I was down?”

“We started, but someone destroyed the entire Crystal Empire,” Twilight teased.

“Last I recall, I was able to keep the blast to just the castle,” Duskfall deadpanned.

“Still a fucking big explosion,” Lighting remarked.

“Alright, well, do you wanna have your ‘talk’ with Celestia now or wait until after I break all the mind control?” Duskfall asked.

“I…ugh, wait until after you’ve freed everyone. I’ve held these grievances for about five years now, what’s a little bit longer?” Twilight grumbled.

Luna, Duskfall, Celestia, and Twilight all sat around a table in a private chamber in Canterlot Castle. The last of the mind control had been broken by Duskfall yesterday. Celestia knew this day was coming. At least Twilight had her normal purple eyes again instead of the Dark Magic red and green.

The past week had been draining on everyone, but Duskfall most of all. Freeing all the Crystal Ponies and POW from Sombra's control had taken a lot more out of her than she had expected. Yet the look on Opal Bloom's face when she reunited with her sister had been well worth it. Still, before the week could properly finish, there was one last order of business to take care of.

“So, let’s pick up from where the conversation ended. Why did you want to make me a princess?” Twilight jumped straight into the issue, no formalities.

“I’ve had time to think it over. My reasons were not as pure as I thought they were… I wanted to make you a princess, Twilight, because I thought it was time for someone new to take over ruling Equestria,” Celestia admitted.

“Sister, did you misspeak? I’m sure you meant to say you were ready to step down and wanted to make Twilight a princess so she could rule beside me, correct?” Luna’s voice was perfectly even, but her body was radiating fury.

“No…I thought it would be best to give Twilight a fresh slate. As I said before I thought her friends would assist her, but reflecting upon that I realize how foolish that was. Traveling back and forth from Ponyville to Canterlot would be draining on anyone, even if the tickets were free. But I have reflected and now I wonder if I didn’t just want a vacation so badly I decided you were my ticket to freedom and nothing more, Twilight,” Celestia was honestly ashamed of herself.

“That sounds distressingly similar to something my Celestia might have thought once…” Duskfall murmured.

“And how did you intend to make me step down, Celestia?” The near absolute zero depths of space held more warmth than Luna’s voice.

“I…probably would have tried to browbeat you as I have before,” Celestia admitted. Luna stood up and stormed from the room.

“I suppose it’s nice to finally have confirmation. I just hate that I had to go through all this to get it,” Twilight said in a disconnected sort of voice, her bat-like wings fidgeting.

“What are you going to do now, Twilight?” Duskfall asked.

“I’m tempted to just pack up and see if I can’t leave with you. But my parents don’t deserve that and neither do the girls. Luna will probably need some help in the near future too,” Twilight shot a dirty look at Celestia, who wilted, “I’m not even sure if I’m a real Alicorn or not and besides that I have to stick around to try and fix the Elements.”

“Well, I’ll try and help where I can, but I don’t know how much longer Lightning and I will be here. Hopefully we’ll get to go home soon, but I doubt we’ll be that lucky,” Duskfall sighed, “If Lightning and I vanish from our beds and Starlight is missing from her cell, just presume we’ve been called on to our next mission none of us asked for.”

Twilight got out of her seat to hug Duskfall.

“You may not have asked for it, but you were certainly needed. Thank you, Duskfall and tell Lightning I said thanks too if I don’t see her again,” Twilight said.

As Equestria slept that night, three mares vanished from that world without a trace. Yet their impact would be felt for a long time to come. When Duskfall, Starlight, and Lightning awoke, they’d find themselves in the Everfree once again.

Author's Notes:

I am so sorry this took as long as it did, but there's a reason for it. Even if that reason is so stupid I can hardly bare to think about it.

So, I've mentioned before I have insomnia. Two days after I posted the last chapter and when I was about half done with this chapter, I had a pretty nasty bout. I was up for about 38 hours before I finally managed to sleep. Then I was awoken AN HOUR LATER by my father telling me to clean our cat's litter box. The litter box I had just cleaned before going to bed.

This was basically what's been happening this whole week. In the last 5 days I've gotten about 3 hours of sleep. That's why this took so long. I was having such a hard time focusing that I could barely type a sentence at a time.

Some masochistic part of me is just glad I managed to finish this within my self-imposed weekly deadline. I feel like that attitude is pretty self-destructive...

So that's why the last segment is a bit weaker than it could've been. I'm just losing all will to live until I get a solid night's sleep at least. Ideally I'll pull the same stunt I did when a sleeping pill forced me to stay awake for 3 days straight and somehow my parents will let me hibernate for 2 days. Ha. Not likely...

Consumed Part 1

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 29: Consumed Part 1

“Yo, Lady Duskfall, wake up,” Duskfall cracked open an eye at the sound of Lightning’s voice.

“Oh goodie, I was right, no portal required,” Duskfall grumbled around a yawn.

“I’ve secured Starlight as best I could, but her inhibitor ring didn’t come with us,” Lightning reported, pointing at the rouge Unicorn.

“Then we better hope that either this is my home or Starlight doesn’t start building up an immunity to Sleeping Darkness,” Duskfall sighed.

“Is that possible?” Lightning asked.

“For a regular Unicorn, absolutely not, but it’s theoretically possible her Dark Magic will convert from fueling itself with Evil/Chaotic Darkness to Sleeping Darkness. So while that would be a lot healthier for Starlight overall, it’d also mean I can’t pull the force sleep trick on her anymore. Darkness is Darkness, after all, it just comes in different shades," Duskfall replied.

“Careful, Lady Duskfall, it almost sounds like you care about her,” Lightning teased.

“Hardly, but I don’t want to see her dead or anything either. I’m still pissed at her, but there’s only one person I can think of who gets all my hatred and I’ve already told him that if I ever see him again I’m killing him,” Lightning was curious as to who Duskfall was talking about, but decided to leave it alone for the moment.

“So…I still want to talk to you about your immortality, m’lady,” Lightning started hesitantly.

“We can talk while we walk. I don’t want to stay in the Everfree longer than needed while we have an invalid to worry about,” Duskfall picked up Starlight in her telekinetic grasp and started walking, Lightning close behind.

“So, how are you immortal to begin with?” Lightning asked.

“In my home dimension, Alicorns are more than just long lived ponies with the magic and where applicable, body parts, of the three tribes. When we become Alicorns, a fundamental part of our existence is altered. We become tied to something, draw power from it. Essentially we become goddesses, even if none of us have figured out how to tap into our full potential yet. But as for my immortality, as long as an Alicorn is tied to the source of their power, they can revive infinitely. For Celestia it’s the sun, for Twilight it was Magic, etc. For me, I bummed off Twilight’s connection to Magic for a long while until Darkness and Insanity took me in. Since Darkness is one of the primordial forces of creation, I never have to worry about going out of range or it being destroyed,” Duskfall explained.

“How does it feel to…die?” Lighting wondered hesitantly.

“I can’t answer that question in a way that won’t make you think I’m crazy,” Duskfall replied.

“Said the Alicorn of Insanity,” Lightning snickered.

“Fair,” Duskfall admitted, “Dying, for me, is something sexual. Not killing, mind you, dying myself is what gets me turned on. It’s not the only thing that turns me on, of course, but I’ve, ah, had more than one orgasm after killing myself.”

“Hang on, after killing yourself?” Lighting asked.

“Yeah, my consciousness sticks around for a little while after my body fully dies. It’s pretty wild to be over the edge of where you’d normally orgasm but physically can’t because you’re dead,” Duskfall said happily.

“I’ll, uh, take your word for it, Lady Duskfall,” Lightning was simultaneously disturbed and aroused. For someone who had been a sadist in the worst possible way, the idea of someone who could not only take as much punishment as she wanted to dish out but thank her for it later was very enticing. Lightning idly wondered if that was a healthy way of looking at it, but given she was potentially dating/friends with benefits/serving under Duskfall, the Alicorn of Insanity, maybe such concerns were irrelevant.

“You better just take my word for it, I can’t practice necromancy,” Duskfall quipped. The two continued walking, talking about nothing in particular with Starlight in tow. Eventually they came to the edge of the Everfree and what they saw shocked them.

“What happened to Ponyville?!” Duskfall cried. Indeed, the town was in ruins. It looked as if no one had lived there for months, if not years. Buildings were damaged or outright destroyed, plants already reclaiming the area.

“Looks like another alt-world,” Lightning commented.

“I hope so,” Duskfall said fervently.

“Do we head out to Canterlot and hope someone’s there?” Lightning asked.

“No need, look,” Duskfall pointed at Mt. Canterhorn. All that was left of Canterlot was a little bit of rubble sticking out the side of the mountain.

“So what do we do now?” Lightning wondered.

“Civilization seems to have crumbled, so we either wander around until we find some pockets of life or we can go set up base at the Castle of the Two Sisters and I can set up a magical flare for Celestia or Luna to find us, assuming they’re still alive,” Duskfall laid out the options she could think of.

“Might as well set up a home base so we can keep Starlight under control if worse comes to worse and she does wake up,” Lightning opined.

“Alright, so back into the Everfree we go,” It was mildly frustrating as they had passed closed to the Castle of the Two Sisters on the way out, but there was no reason to assume everything had gone to hell in a hand basket either.

Soon the two and their captive were once more walking through the Everfree. However, not far into the forest, Duskfall and Lightning noticed something was off.

“I count 6,” Duskfall noted.

“Yeah, 6 or 7,” Lightning agreed.

“We look like the villains with Starlight tied up, don’t we?” Duskfall asked.

“A little bit, m’lady,” Lightning agreed again. Duskfall sighed.

“You can come out now!” Duskfall called out. At her invitation, 6 ponies came out of the gloom of the forest with camouflage body paint and spears pointed at Lightning and Duskfall. One of these ponies was Fluttershy.

“Let the pony go, Changeling scum!” Fluttershy demanded.

“I mean, I can’t exactly refute that statement when I’ve got you next to me,” Duskfall ribbed Lightning.

“Lady Duskfall~” Lightning pouted, “I may be part Changeling and I may even be scum, but I’m not Changeling scum.”

“I said LET. HER. GO!” Fluttershy tried again, the ponies with spears advancing.

“She’s staying where I can keep an eye on her, thank you very much. This idiot has caused me enough headaches for one century,” Duskfall huffed.

“Then die,” Fluttershy said simply. The ponies tried to jab their spears into Duskfall and Lightning, but none of them were strong enough to thrust their spears when Duskfall was holding them telekinetically.

“You guys need to calm down. I’m not a Changeling, she’s only part Changeling, and this moron is a criminal with charges of attempted murder, Cutie Mark theft, and Cutie Mark destruction,” Duskfall informed them calmly.

“How the fuck does someone steal a Cutie Mark, let alone destroy one?!” One of the mooks asked.

“It’s a Changeling, of course she’s lying!” Another shouted.

“Why would I lie about something so utterly ridiculous to your understanding of the world?” Duskfall countered.

“And if we really were trying to deceive you, why would Lady Duskfall admit to my heritage?” Lightning continued. The grunts started to look at each other uncertainly.

“Further, if I were a Changeling bent on destroying you all, then why haven’t I done so already? I’m holding your spears in place and am holding a conversation with you as if I’m doing nothing more than standing here. I’m clearly capable of tossing you about like rag dolls if I so desired. That I haven’t should say something, at least,” Duskfall concluded.

“Unless you’re trying to gain our trust to find our stronghold,” Fluttershy responded suspiciously. By this point, Duskfall had a fairly good idea what had happened in this dimension. Chrysalis had succeeded at Shining and Cadence’s wedding. It also seemed this Chrysalis wasn’t as warm and cuddly as the one she knew.

“Fluttershy, if I wanted to do that, I could pluck the information from your mind,” Duskfall couldn’t really read minds. At least, not with any accuracy, but this Fluttershy didn’t know that.

“How do you know who I am?!” Fluttershy demanded to know. That was interesting. Did this Chrysalis not believe in information gathering? Why else would Fluttershy be surprised at what she thought was a Changeling agent knowing her name? It was also possible this apparent resistance was extremely incompetent and didn’t understand the concept of espionage.

“I know who you are because I’m an alternate reality version of Twilight Sparkle,” Duskfall again wasn’t being completely honest, but she needed an in.

“Prove it, tell me something only Twilight would know,” Fluttershy challenged.

“I feel the need to point out such a question is utterly pointless as I come from an alternate reality and there’s no telling what points of divergence there could be between our two worlds. Special moments I have shared with my Fluttershy could have absolutely no relevant counterpoint to your own experience,” Duskfall noted.

“Well, you certainly sound like a Twilight,” Fluttershy deadpanned. Duskfall almost made a joke about impersonations, but decided it might be counterproductive to joke about something like that to someone worried about Changelings.

“That would be because Lady Duskfall is one,” Lightning replied haughtily and Duskfall was grateful she was quick on the uptake.

“Duskfall?” Fluttershy questioned.

“I went through some emotional upheaval. I didn’t feel like I deserved to be called Twilight anymore,” Duskfall chose her words carefully.

“So if you’re from an alternate reality, how did you wind up here?” Fluttershy asked. From her body language, it looked like she was starting to come around.

“Did Discord happen in this dimension?” Duskfall asked and received a nod, “Well, long story short I let my temper get the better of me and wanted to crush Starlight here in a magical duel. The setting of this duel was Discord’s Chaos Dimension. Not my brightest move, in hindsight, but again, I was very angry with someone who had stolen and destroyed my Cutie Mark.”

“Er, ma’am, maybe we can talk about this somewhere where we might not be ambushed by Changelings?” One of the grunts suggested.

“I…suppose there’s little reason to believe you’re with Chrysalis at the moment,” Fluttershy conceded and Duskfall released the spears before following them all to their home base.

“So, what was the massive fuckup that let Chrysalis take over at the wedding?” Duskfall asked. Fluttershy ears went flat.

“No one believed our Twilight until it was too late. We later found her body along with Cadence’s in a cave system in Mt. Canterhorn,” Fluttershy replied sadly.

“And I’m guessing Changelings running around as Twilight is a common tactic to screw with your heads?” Lightning guessed.

“Yes, although none of them have been dumb enough to pretend to be an Alicorn Twilight,” Fluttershy quipped.

“Funny, Nightmare Moon said something similar when I met her two dimensions ago,” Duskfall observed.

“Which was my home dimension,” Lightning chimed in. Fluttershy looked like she wanted to say something, but was bowled over by Duskfall.

“So, do you have any idea where Chrysalis is so that I may begin raining hellfire down upon her?” Duskfall inquired as if asking after a sick relative.

“Uh…no? We don’t know where she is,” Fluttershy felt suddenly concerned.

“Don’t worry about Lady Duskfall. She doesn’t take kindly to anyone who hurts family, even interdimensional family,” Lightning tried to sooth Fluttershy’s worries. She didn’t quite succeed.

“That’s understating it a bit, don’t you think, Lightning? I did just kinda-” Lightning stuffed a hoof in Duskfall’s mouth.

“Time and place, Lady Duskfall,” Lightning chastised. Duskfall rolled her eyes but made no further struggle.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any Unicorn suppression rings about, would you?” Duskfall asked hopefully when Lightning removed her hoof.

“I’m afraid not,” Fluttershy said apologetically. Duskfall just let out a frustrated sigh.

“I might as well just wake her up and send her on her merry way to run into Chrysalis and somehow learn Changeling magic right now!” She grumbled.

“It isn’t…impossible that Starlight will remain asleep,” Lightning said hopefully.

“I’m insane, not stupid; I know full well Murphy’s Law is waiting right around the corner to ram it up my butt. Foresight is just the lube that makes it all feel not quite so bad,” As Duskfall complained Fluttershy turned more and more red.

“Dear Fluttershy, what is this I see? Have our number of survivors gone up by three?” Zecora asked as she stepped out of a hut.

“Hi, Zecora, and not really. We’re just here to squash a bug and hopefully be on our way home,” Duskfall answered.

“A fallen specter of the dead? Or maybe something else instead?” Zecora inquired.

“I’m from an alternate dimension and I seem to have been assigned fix-it duties. Although why they thought I was a good choice when I just got over being a complete mess myself is anyone’s guess,” Duskfall wasn’t interested in keeping more secrets than she had to.

“Well, if we are to receive an Alicorn shaped boon, then I say we most certainly have room,” Zecora welcomed.

“It may not be under the best circumstances, but I look forward to working with you,” Duskfall and Zecora shook hooves, cementing the alliance.

Author's Notes:

I am a dumb, dumb, dumb piece of trash. So I finally gave in and started watching RWBY. Then I made the even greater mistake of listening to the writer's commentary. I found the writing to be so aggressively bad (to use a polite word) that I couldn't stop myself from writing the first chapter of a fic rebuilding RWBY from the ground up.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13699286/1/Dimension-Travelers-RWBY

This is a rough draft and I'm thinking about making an overhaul to the narrative style, but this is what I punched out in the last 3 days. Any feedback is appreciated. The general idea is to take some of the scenes and throwaway lines of the first handful of episodes and see if I can't run with them all the way into a full plot. For example Ruby's obsession with weapons and building Crescent Rose + Ozpin's comment about Crescent Rose being one of the most dangerous weapons = Ruby is now a kind of Technopath who can upgrade weapons and tech beyond what Remnant thinks should be possible.

Beyond that, I hate writing for Zecora because I am utterly unable to rhyme. It took me longer than I care to admit to come up with her lines.

Consumed Part 2

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 30: Consumed Part 2

“Lady Duskfall! Lady Duskfall! Wake up!” For the second time in two days, Duskfall was awoken by Lightning. Unfortunately, Duskfall could already guess why Lightning was so urgent.

“She escaped, didn’t she?” Duskfall asked, not even bothering to open her eyes.

“Yep,” Lightning replied.

“I told them on several occasions yesterday, didn’t I?” Duskfall groaned.

“And we both watched as Zecora fed her some potion that was supposed to keep her asleep even if she did start consuming your Sleeping Darkness,” Lightning reminded.

“I’m starting to think someone is actively making my life harder than it needs to be in retribution for what I did while I was crazy…er,” Duskfall finally pulled herself out of bed.

“It hasn’t stopped you thus far, m’lady,” Lightning pointed out.

“True, although the thought of breaking her legs when we find her is becoming more appealing,” Duskfall admitted.

“Would be easier and more affective to snap her horn,” Lightning suggested.

“We’re barbarians, not savages,” Duskfall snarked.

“I am glad to see you in such a good mood, despite us losing the object of your feud,” Zecora noted as she came into the tent Lightning and Duskfall has slept in.

“This is fine, isn’t it? Starlight finds Chrysalis sooner or later, somehow weasels her way into learning Changeling magic, the whole swarm shows up, and we ambush them. Sounds like a good plan to me,” Lightning said happily. Zecora gave them a look.

“Don’t look at me; I’m just the book smart one… also the dumb muscle. I’m a mare of many talents but strategy is not one of them,” Duskfall admitted, “If Lightning has a plan, I’d at least listen to her.”

“If you are sure of this plan I can only hope it does not shorten our lifespan,” Zecora murmured.

“Oh, don’t you worry, the only lifespan that’s gonna be shortened is Chrysalis’,” Lightning grinned sinisterly.

“Are you sure you’re not a villain? Should I tell the others to hide the wives and children?” Zecora said with such a straight face that neither Duskfall nor Lightning could tell if she was joking.

Lightning may not be able to use much active Changeling magic, but she had learned enough to be able to teach Duskfall how to throw up decoys that would trick the Changelings into thinking the base would be sleeping when they launched their attack.

Of course, this was all on the supposition Changeling military protocol was similar to what she knew. Changelings only attacked as a swarm at night due to their dark carapaces. That was just the logical thing to do whenever possible. If Chrysalis had destroyed Equestria, she at least deserved the benefit of the doubt.

So the next couple of days were spent with Lightning teaching the resistance and Duskfall what to expect, useful tactics against Changelings, and other useful things the resistance hadn’t yet learned through trial and error.

“So, what are the odds Starlight died in the Everfree, do you think?” Duskfall asked conversationally one afternoon, about 4 days after they arrived. Lightning snorted in amusement.

“Can you imagine? All the crap she’s put you through and she ends up Manticore crap herself,” Lightning shook her head in bemusement.

“We’d only get that lucky if the Manticore in question then took a dump on me,” Duskfall joked.

“Aw, don’t say that, m’lady. There’s being optimistic and then there’s just being silly,” Lightning smirked as Duskfall whapped the Pegasus upside the head with a wing.

“Duskfall! Lightning Dust! The Changelings are coming!” Fluttershy shouted as she burst into the encampment along with the 3 other ponies in her recon squad.

“ALRIGHT EVERYONE, YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!” Lightning roared with her best impression of the RCV.

The whole camp started scrambling, rushing about to do this and that in preparation for the fight. As Lightning had hoped, the invasion would arrive just as night truly fell.

An hour later, everyone was prepared and the advanced infiltration squad approached the gate. A few random looking ponies, but surprisingly there was a Changeling pretending to be Applejack as well. They were allowed in and soon thereafter Zecora and Fluttershy greeted them.

“Applejack, is that you..?” Fluttershy’s acting skills were nothing to scoff at.

“Howdy, Flutters. Been awhile, hasn’t it?” As an outside observer who knew the facts, this was quite an interesting conversation. Whoever was playing Applejack was doing an excellent job. It was the slight hesitation in her voice, the note of hopefulness, and a number of other quirks of voice and body language.

“How did you escape?” Fluttershy asked.

“They thought we were…all used up. Ah ain’t gonna lie, we got plum lucky,” ‘Applejack’ answered.

“Applejack, I’m so glad you’re OK!” Fluttershy cried with fake tears in her eyes. She rushed forward towards ‘Applejack’, who dropped the act just as it seemed too late for Fluttershy. Joke was on the Changeling, Fluttershy had a knife hidden in her wing that quickly found itself in the Changeling’s throat.

“Your reign of terror is over,” The Pegasus hissed as she removed her knife and the Changeling fell to the ground, disguise dropping and choking to death on his own blood. The other Changelings, shocked at this turn of events, stood stock still for several moments. Under other circumstances it would have been the perfect time to dispose of them, but they were still useful to Lightning’s plan while alive.

Eventually, they came back to their senses and fled back out through the still open gate, screaming for help. A mere minute later and the sky was darkened with the swarm. Or would have been darkened, had it not already been a new moon night. The only thing denoting the swarm was there at all were the ominous buzzing and the stars going out.

Duskfall very much wanted to start blasting the drones out of the sky, but Lightning’s plan didn’t call for that. The swarm fell upon the camp and realized too late it was one big trap. The drones ransacked tents in search of the ‘sleeping ponies’ and they were met with a host of death devices.

Once the swarm was in disarray, the resistance attacked, sweeping over the Changelings before they were able to get their feet back under them. With the help of Duskfall and the handful of Unicorns in the resistance, they were able to mask their emotions from the Changelings, nullifying a major advantage of the enemy.

With these advantages along with Lightning’s Rainbooms and Duskfall’s sheer firepower, everything looked like a done deal. That was, at least, until Starlight and Chrysalis took the field. The pair cut swaths through the resistance forces to announce their presence.

The big cheese spotted, Lightning banked hard and revved up for another Rainboom. Chrysalis was ready and fired off a bolt of magic to try and make Lightning abort her run, but Duskfall had been keeping an eye on her partner too and threw up a barrier to protect the Pegasus.

Starlight, with surprisingly quick thinking, created a defensive bubble and was able to bear the brunt of the Rainboom. Duskfall followed up with a shield breaker spell to pop the weakened spell. Starlight retaliated by firing off a fusion of Dark and Changeling Magic that Duskfall was able to match until Chrysalis started lending her own power to the struggle.

Duskfall disengaged with a teleport as Fluttershy came in on a bombing mission using explosive concoctions Zecora had made. Starlight and Chrysalis separated to avoid the attack, allowing Lightning to plow into Starlight, creating enough distance for Duskfall to corner Chrysalis.

“Who are you?!” Chrysalis spoke for the first time. Duskfall considered saying something overwrought and dramatic, but decided against it.

“Duskfall Sparkle, alternate reality version of Twilight Sparkle. You killed her, so I’m going to ruin you,” Duskfall snarled.

“Do you think I’m afraid of a little Alicorn? I defeated Celestia in one-on-one combat!” Chrysalis boasted, “Surely you know who I am, even if you are from an alternate dimension!”

“I don’t know you. I know a better version of you. Someone who came so close to breaking, but didn’t. The Chrysalis I know is a mother in the best way. Kind, caring, supportive, always there for you, my Chrysalis is an inspiration. She suffered for so long and came out the other side a better person, which is more than I can say for myself. You’re just a pathetic funhouse mirror that I won’t mind shattering,” Duskfall dosed out her strength and let loose with a bolt of Wild Darkness and Magic. Just as she hoped, Chrysalis met the attack with a blast of her own Changeling magic.

“Like teacher like student,” Chrysalis sneered, “This is how I defeated your precious Celestia!”

“Oh, poor deluded Chrysalis. Did it never occur to you that Celestia might’ve been holding back in a crowded room full of innocents?” Duskfall taunted.

“What?!” Chrysalis exclaimed. Apparently it hadn’t occurred to her.

“Now, I’m not sure about the local power level, but either your Celestia is close enough to my home’s Celestia that she might’ve accidentally incinerated the whole room if she went all out or I’m far enough ahead of the power curve that I can squish you like. A. Bug. Let’s find out, shall we?” Duskfall poured on the power, Magic, Darkness, and Insanity. Chrysalis, for her part, held on surprisingly well. Her Changeling magic doing its part to even the odds and because she had been glutting herself on the captured Equestrian populace she actually did stand something of a chance. If Lightning and Fluttershy hadn’t been checking Starlight, things could have gotten very messy very quickly.

“How. Is this. Possible?!” Chrysalis grunted out as Duskfall slowly overwhelmed her. Duskfall was sweating profusely as she answered.

“What can I say? If you had real love, you might’ve beaten me! But you’re a cruel, sadistic tyrant and your kind will always fall eventually!” With a final burst of effort, Duskfall ended the duel. Chrysalis fell backwards, unconscious, in a way fittingly similar to how Twilight’s memories of the wedding played out for Celestia.

With their leader defeated, the rest of the Changelings started to either flee or surrender. While the resistance started cleaning up, there was still the outstanding issue of Starlight to deal with and Duskfall didn’t have the juice to just outmuscle her like she had done to Chrysalis.

“You look like you could use some extra juice,” Zecora offered a potion to Duskfall, “Now get out there and pluck that annoying goose.” Duskfall gave Zecora a look for the questionable verse, but gladly drank the proffered refreshment. The potion was meant to work for Unicorns and thus only restored her Magic, but hopefully it would be enough with the help of the others to capture Starlight once more.

Duskfall joined the fight just as Fluttershy got a few primaries clipped by one of Starlight’s attacks. Duskfall blocked another shot that would’ve taken her whole wing off. Fluttershy landed next to the purple Alicorn.

“Thanks!” Fluttershy said.

“DAMN YOU!” Starlight screamed upon seeing Duskfall, unleashing a torrent of Dark Fire. Having to rely on a purely magical barrier meant both Duskfall and Fluttershy felt the infernal heat. Luckily, Lightning Dust was on the case and distracted Starlight with a hail of thrown weapons.

“Can you still fly?” Duskfall asked as the flames died down.

“She only got the tip of my pinions, I should be fine,” Fluttershy assured as she demonstrated by returning to the sky.

With a concussive blast, Starlight scattered the throwing weapons still in the air and on the ground, forcing her opponents to dodge lest they get hit by Lightning’s own weapons. By this point, everyone was running on fumes save for Duskfall, who was limited to only Magic and her physical fatigue was hampering that as well. Even in spite of that, Starlight was still dangerous enough that the rest of the resistance were still following Fluttershy’s orders to keep back.

“Starlight, it’s over! Stand down!” Duskfall tried to order.

“NO! Not again! I’LL DIE FIRST!” Starlight swore, her desperation fueling a renewed infusion of Darkness to feed her Dark Magic. Black crystals haphazardly erupted in a radius around her, one even managing to spear Duskfall in the gut.

“Lady Duskfall!” Lightning was instantly by her side.

“I’ll live long enough to finish the fight, nothing overly critical got hit,” Duskfall said through grit teeth, magically keeping her innards inside, “How much magic you got?”

“Not enough for another Rainboom, if that’s what you’re asking,” Lightning answered.

“I just need you and Flutters to have enough between you to catch Starlight in a little turbulence. Doesn’t have to be stronger than a dust devil, any amount of wind will do. Can you manage that?” Duskfall asked.

“I think I’ve got just about enough for that,” Lightning replied, mustering up every bit of confidence she possessed. She took to the air to inform Fluttershy of the plan while Duskfall slowly bled out.

Between the two Pegasai, they were able to muster up a decent whirlwind around Starlight. She was so feral at this point she didn’t even care about the minor meteorological event. That proved to be her downfall. Tapping into the Dark Magic pool she had gained from whatever it was she did to Sombra, she let loose, turning the whirlwind into a tornado of Dark Magic made stones. Like getting caught in a localized hail storm, Starlight was pelted with these stones until a particularly large one slammed into the back of her head, knocking her out.

With the Changelings and Starlight dealt with for the moment, Duskfall allowed herself to slip away.

Duskfall awoke in a tent with Fluttershy and Lightning waiting for her.

“I trust things didn’t go right back to hell during the hour or so I was out?” Duskfall asked.

“Holy shit, she’s alive!” Fluttershy gasped.

“Better than that, I convinced a number of the Changelings to go turncoat. Nice kid named Thorax helped. Don’t know why a worker drone like him was with the swarm, but it made things a lot easier for me,” Lightning shrugged.

“Pharynx probably dragged him along,” Duskfall remarked.

“Someone you know m’lady?” Lightning asked while Fluttershy was still trying to come to grips with the immortal pony.

“Yeah, I know my home’s version of Chrysalis, she’s ‘best friends’ with Luna. So I knew some of her kids too and among them are Thorax and Pharynx. Thorax is just a big old softy, very much a quiet philosophical type and Pharynx used to make it his life’s mission to toughen up his baby brother. Fortunately he’s learned to calm down and both of them were quite happy last I knew,” Duskfall explained.

“Sounds like Thorax could be a good ambassador, assuming we separate the Changelings and Chrysalis,” Lightning observed.

“Partner him up with Fluttershy,” Duskfall suggested.

“WHAT?!” Fluttershy shouted.

“Look, Fluttershy, you might be the last living Element. Of all the Elements, this world needs Kindness the most right now. The war is, hopefully, over and it’s time to rebuild. It is only through kindness and forgiveness that the embers of resentment do not reignite into war once more. Please, Fluttershy, find that part of yourself, buried for so long, and reclaim it,” Duskfall begged.

“I…I’ll try,” Fluttershy promised.

“That’s all we can ask of you,” Duskfall replied, biting down on a baser instinct to quote Yoda.

The rest of the day was spent making sure Starlight was secure until the next jump, checking up on the captured Changelings, and waiting for Chrysalis to wake up. During this time, Fluttershy met Thorax and thankfully the two hit it off quite well, not that Duskfall was worried, no sir, not worried at all. Duskfall was just thankful that even after years of war Fluttershy wasn’t the type to hold a grudge against a grunt.

“Lady Duskfall, what are we going to do about Starlight? If she picks up any more power, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to stop her next time,” Lightning said worriedly.

“If there was any justice, we’d be able to stick around long enough for me to pick up Changeling magic too. As we both know, justice got shanked in an alley the moment I decided fighting Starlight in the Chaos Dimension was a good idea,” Duskfall grumbled.

“The option to snap her horn might still be open?” Lightning tried to sound optimistic.

“We both know at this point she’s capable of either casting without a horn, putting her horn back on and repairing the damage, or flat out regrowing it. Fuck! How many times did we turn down learning Changeling magic because ‘our research took priority’?! Fuck, we were all so fucking stupid!” Duskfall snarled, Lightning losing the conversation half way.

“Lady Duskfall, when did you pick up dissociative identity disorder?” Lightning questioned. Duskfall paused in her ranting.

“Didn’t I-? No, I didn’t. Fuck. What was the lie I was telling again? Oh, right, the clone story. Lightning, I’m not actually Twilight’s clone. This body, at least, is Twilight Sparkle. Just after she ascended, she performed a summoning spell and wound up pulling someone else through the multiverse and into her body. His name was Tom and he was a human. Tom wound up with control of Twilight’s body and she was reduced to a voice in her own head. Over the course of a few months, they learned to coexist and were making plans to give Twilight her body back and making one for him as well,” Duskfall started to explain.

“So what went wrong?” Lightning asked.

“A monster by the name of Tirek went about stealing all the magic in the land. To protect the Alicorn magic, it was all put inside of Tom and Twilight. Thanks to that power, they were able to fight Tirek on more or less equal footing. But it also proved their undoing. When Tirek threatened their friends, they surged together, unified in purpose. That’s how I was born. The surge fused their Souls together into me. The only thing proving Tom ever existed at all is this eye of mine,” Duskfall placed a hoof under her green eye, “And that’s my story. I’m not a clone; I’m a fusion of the souls of Twilight Sparkle, Pony Princess and Tom, a regular Human, housed in the body of Twilight Sparkle.”

“And here I was thinking the eye was just a cloning glitch,” Lightning tried and failed to make light of the situation.

“That was really bad…but I appreciate it, Dusty,” Duskfall wrapped Lightning in a wing hug.

“Er, excuse me, but Chrysalis is waking up,” One of the messengers of the former resistance reported.

“She couldn’t have waited for a few more minutes?” Lightning and Duskfall complained together. Nevertheless, they headed to the cell the Changeling Queen was being kept in.

“Why haven’t you killed me?” Chrysalis asked.

“I could, very easily. It’s also very tempting to crush your carapace under my hoof for what you did to Twilight and Cadence. I don’t for two reasons. Firstly, I’m not the one you hurt, at least not directly. Once everyone is freed and recovered, I’m sure they’ll have you tried like a proper war criminal. Maybe they’ll execute you, maybe they won’t. I’m fine leaving it up to them. Secondly, you’re powerless now. I’ve dropped some Changeling detection spells off with the former resistance and your hive is turning against you as we speak. You have nothing and letting you go free with death as opposed to forcing you to live with your new weakness? Sorry, you’re going to have to suffer,” Duskfall answered.

“What kind of Equestria went into making you, I wonder,” Chrysalis said with a rueful chuckle.

“Doesn’t matter, but hey, if you survive your trial, maybe you’ll learn to change? If this world is lucky, you’ll be half as good as the Chrysalis I know. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for what you’ve done, but it isn’t my choice what happens to you, so I guess it doesn’t matter,” Duskfall shrugged.

“We’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out,” Chrysalis agreed.

“Well, happy trails, bug bitch, by this time tomorrow, Lightning, Starlight, and I will likely be gone. Oh, and speaking of Starlight, how’d she get you to teach her Changeling magic?” Duskfall asked.

“It’s not every day a pony makes a point by almost killing a quarter of the swarm. Nor does one usually have such a burning, succulent hatred for a single mare. I was curious as to what she’d do if she had just that little bit more power to maybe defeat the object of her loathing. Looks like it wasn’t quite enough. Oh well,” Chrysalis shrugged.

“I suppose there are worse reasons than simple curiosity,” Duskfall couldn’t help but admit. Lightning and Duskfall took their leave of the Changeling Queen who almost succeeded.

The three displaced mares found themselves in the Everfree once more. Only this time, they didn’t have the luxury of waking up by their own accord. A powerful explosion rocked the area, instantly jolting Duskfall, Lightning, and Starlight awake.

“What the fuck was that?!” All three shouted. Their question was soon answered in the form of a hulking red and black centaur.

“TIREK!!!”

Author's Notes:

So wraps up the Changeling Timeline and I don't imagine the Tirek Timeline will be long for this world.

Sorry the chapters have been so slow recently. My insomnia has been 7 kinds of fucked recently and it's doing a number on my concentration. I've been flitting about typing a few sentences in way too many word documents that are likely never going to see life past the conception stage.

To try and combat this, I've been trying to pull my focus back in by playing some RTS games. Specifically I bought the Command and Conquer bundle on Origin that has most of the C&C games for 20 bucks. It's helped in the past when I've had these sorts of fits and I forced myself to play Darkest Dungeon, so I'm hoping it'll eventually work again. Of course, back then I wasn't worried about juggling 3 (4) stories, so my mileage may vary.

So, I think that's everything important. A chapter of Duskfall going apeshit on Tirek, a chapter in the Dead World, and then Duskfall's back home and I can start gearing up for the closing of Shattered Souls.

Losing Control Part 1

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 31: Losing Control Part 1

Of all the times in all the Multiverse to plop them in, the Powers That Be decided to place Duskfall, Starlight, and herself right in the middle of a rampaging monster that her Lady said she had major beef with. Lightning was at a loss for what to do. Starlight was glaring murder at Duskfall and Duskfall was glaring murder at Tirek and given they had all just come off of an exhausting battle yesterday none of them were really in a shape to do anything.

When Duskfall flared her wings for takeoff, Lightning did the only sensible thing and bit her tail to keep her from flying away to get squished like a bug. Sure, her Lady would recover, but it certainly wouldn’t be helpful to any of them if the only one of them capable of actually challenging the monster spent her time and energy reconstituting herself from bloody paste.

“LET ME GO! I’LL KILL HIM! TIREK!” Duskfall was so enraged but at the same time so exhausted she couldn’t even manage to teleport herself out of Lightning’s grasp. Lightning was also eternally grateful that for whatever reason Starlight, just sitting there, staring angrily at them, was letting the struggle play out. Lightning could only guess she was so tapped out herself she couldn’t muster the energy for a single bolt of any kind of magic.

Ultimately Lightning’s endurance won out over Duskfall’s and the Alicorn slumped to the ground as Tirek stomped away, deeper into the Everfree Forest, utterly unaware of the trio. Angry, frustrated tears started to escape from Duskfall. Old Lightning may have enjoyed seeing another suffer like this, but currently Lightning hated seeing her Lady suffer like this. Lightning forced herself to watch as Duskfall cried, ears pinned against her head.

“Dammit…dammit, dammit, DAMMIT! That son of a bitch has killed another Twilight, hasn’t he? WHY?! Why am I here again? WASN’T ONCE ENOUGH?!” Duskfall screamed in anguish, staring hatefully at the direction Tirek left, the trees of the Forest now obscuring their vision of him. Her wings fluttered restlessly at her side, but Duskfall was so utterly spent that it was all she could manage.

“The fuck is she talking about?” Starlight finally spoke. A glance told Lightning that Duskfall was too wrapped up in her own pain to have even registered the question. Lightning turned to face Starlight, looking the Unicorn in the eyes, forcing her ears to stand at attention. She briefly considered moving over to Duskfall and offering a supportive wing, but decided against it. Despite the months they had known each other, they very rarely talked about themselves. Now Lightning wished she knew if Duskfall would appreciate physical contact or not.

“That thing, Tirek, killed the Twilight of Lady Duskfall’s home dimension. I think she blames herself for not being able to save her,” That was all Lightning was comfortable saying without Duskfall’s permission. Another stolen glance at the pained Alicorn told Lightning that Duskfall wouldn’t be in a state to give permission for a little while at least.

“What? That doesn’t make any sense! I know this idiot had some kind of meltdown after her Cutie Mark shattered, but if a Princess of Equestria had really died, there would’ve been some kind of announcement! I don’t care what she likes to call herself or what delusions she’s made for herself, she is Twilight Sparkle!” Starlight protested, stamping at the ground. If they were going to lie, at least make it convincing! The Alicorn hadn’t so much as bothered to change her mane style, for crying out loud! Starlight snorted in derision.

“I don’t claim to understand it all myself. I only know what Lady Duskfall has told me. Maybe I’m foolish for taking her word, she is the Alicorn of Insanity and if a Pegasus like me can feel it, I know someone like you can feel the power of that Insanity when she uses it. Yet take her word I do,” Lightning shrugged, her wings hanging loosely at her sides to mirror her indifference.

“Then you’re a fool,” Starlight spat, ears splayed to each side, a snarl on the Unicorn’s face.

“I’ve been called worse by people whose opinions I do care about,” Lightning said without a care. Lightning returned to giving Starlight her full attention, “So what’s your story? Lady Duskfall’s said you’re a lunatic cultist but didn’t go into much detail. Although if you did shatter Twilight’s or her Cutie Mark, I’m not surprised she didn’t want to talk about it.”

“She would say something like that,” Starlight sneered at the sobbing Alicorn, “I free her from that Cutie Mark and she immediately goes out and gets another. It’d almost be funny if it weren’t so sad.”

“Not helping the ‘crazed cultist’ image,” Lightning pointed out mildly, folding her wings tightly to her sides. Starlight growled in frustration. What was so hard for other ponies to understand about her philosophy?! Starlight started pacing around the small clearing they found themselves in. Suddenly the trees felt like iron bars to Starlight, caging her.

“Cutie Marks are suffering, plain as that. They enslave us and cause us to come into needless conflict with each other. The only reason I still have mine is so I can free others of their Cutie Marks. I used to have a nice little town where I got everypony to give up their Cutie Marks. We were happy. Then Twilight and her merry band of meddlers destroyed it, making ridiculous claims that our differences are what make Harmony. The ponies I had made so much better revolted, turned their backs on me! She took everything from me again and I can’t even properly kill the bitch because she’s immortal,” Starlight spat angrily, her eyes narrowed at Lightning. Really, she wasn’t mad at the Pegasus. Lightning was just another fool deluded into following a lunatic like Twilight.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t be playing around with a force of nature?” Lightning suggested, referring to both Cutie Marks and Duskfall. If she cared at all about Starlight’s glare, she didn’t show it through the tight military pose she had adopted.

“Fuck you, neither of you know what it was like! She’s had everything given to her on a silver platter! She doesn’t know what suffering is!” Starlight shouted. That was exactly the wrong thing to say. Duskfall slowly, deliberately stood up and turned her head towards Starlight.

“I don’t know suffering?” Duskfall asked in a dead voice before a manic grin split her face and she started laughing, “I don’t know suffering?!” If Starlight had any sense of self-preservation, she would’ve noticed the way the world around her started losing definition and the ringing noise in her ears like a bad television signal. The trees became blurry, the grass losing color, the sky seeming to glitch out. Lightning saw all of this and more, but Starlight was oblivious.

“That’s right, you pampered, holier than thou BITCH!” Starlight yelled, all four legs spread slightly more apart than usual and her ears pinned all the way back, “You wouldn’t understand real suffering if it bit you in the ass!”

Lightning wasn’t even the focus of Duskfall’s… attentions, yet she feared for her Soul. Duskfall stood up and stalked towards Starlight. There was no other word to describe Duskfall’s movements, which were distinctly un-pony-like. Her face was distorted, grin impossibly wide, teeth definitely not belonging to an herbivore, and eyes…those eyes defied Lightning’s description. The closest she could come was demonic. All around Duskfall the world continued to dissolve into television static. Where a small clearing in the Everfree Forest once was, there was now just black and white dots skittering around them from every angle. Lightning couldn’t even tell trees from sky anymore. Starlight finally picked up on these things.

“Wh-what are you doing?! Stay back! Get away!” Starlight tried to flee but no matter how much she tried to backpedal she didn’t actually move. Starlight tried to turn and flee, but again she didn’t move. Duskfall continued her slow, purposeful approach until she was face to face with Starlight, so close their noses almost touched.

“yOu SaID i Don'T know SUFFerINg? LET's put tHat TOO a liTTle TeSt, ShaLL wE?” Duskfall offered, her voice distorted in a bone chilling way. It sounded as if a whole legion spoke with her, different voices fading in and out as her words spilled from her mouth.

“What are you doing you lunatic?!” Starlight shrieked, her body refusing to obey her commands. Not even something as automatic as a flick of the tail happened. The only thing Starlight could move were her mouth and eyes.

“lET's HavE A liTtLe mEMORy swaP! i'LL ShoW YoU my _{TRAgic baCkstorY} and ^{YOU'lL sHow me YOurS},” Duskfall would have almost sounded cheerful if it weren’t for the hellish legions speaking alongside her. Duskfall’s ears were perked, seeming to share in their owner’s sadistic glee.

“NO! DON’T!” Starlight begged.

“WHat'S ThE MatteR?^{I THoughT i WoulDN'T KnOW SUFFERING} iF It biT mE In the A$$? iF POOr STarliGHt reaLLy DiD SUffeR, THen My _{pidDDlinG litTle HarDshIP ShoulD bE}noTHING fOr you. RIGHT?!” Somehow, impossibly, Duskfall’s insane smile grew even wider; her ears remaining absolutely still, but now Duskfall had her head slightly cocked to the right.

“Stop! Please! I’ll do anything!” Starlight was crying now.

“_{WHeN dId yoU THinK} ^{You goT A SAy iN AnY} oF ThiS? YOU're sO SIlly STArLIghT! i'M GOINg TO GivE yOu MY memORieS In EverY. LOVeiNG. DETAil. GoT It?” Duskfall never lost that damn grin nor her energetic cadence as she pressed her horn to Starlight’s and started casting. Lightning could only assume Duskfall was performing the cross memory download.

Starlight’s eyes went blank. Staring unseeingly into Duskfall’s own terrifying eyes, a moment later Starlight’s body began to tremble weakly. Second by second this shaking grew and grew until Starlight was shaking violently. Duskfall finally cut off the spell.

“iSN'T THIs GReat ~~StarLIGHt~~?! NOW We KNow EVErYThinG aBOut EacH OthEr! ANd You'LL REmembER EvERY lasT secoND of IT FOREver! THis IS WONDerfulL! IsN't IT, ~~StarliGHT~~?! isn'T it?! ISn't It?!” Duskfall continued to stare into Starlight’s eyes, impossible grin, overlapping and mind torturing voice, and the world around them had vanished into nothing but static. Ignoring all that, Duskfall almost sounded like a young filly in a candy store. Starlight collapsed to the ground, shivering and twitching without rhyme or reason.

“Oh stars…I- I- I-” Starlight tried to speak, but words refused to form properly.

“Go on Starlight, break! Let the Insanity claim you! You’ll be so much happier if you do! No more of that pesky worrying about Sunburst! You’ll be free to enjoy my memories with me for as long as you live!” Duskfall giggled with insane delight as she sat there, observing Starlight, dropping the voice affects for the first time since this began.

“I- I’m sorry!” Starlight finally managed to force out. Like a flip had been switched, Duskfall’s bubbly insanity vanished from her face. Reality snapped back into existence in an instant. Duskfall’s visage returned to normal. Save for the sobbing mare on the ground and the angry Alicorn, it might not have happened at all.

“Oh no, you’re not sorry. Not yet, Starlight Glimmer, but you will be. With God as my witness…” Suddenly, only for a moment, those terrible eyes and Soul chilling voice returned, “YoU WILl bE.”

It was too much for Starlight. With a final gasp of fear, she fainted dead away. Duskfall glared scornfully at Starlight before trying to walk away, only to also collapse in a dead faint.

Lightning had heard Duskfall refer to herself as the Alicorn of Insanity before, but it was only now Lightning began to appreciate what that truly meant. Unbidden, a terrifying thought came to her: This was Duskfall at possibly her weakest point. What was she capable of unleashing at full potential?

Losing Control Part 2

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 32: Losing Control Part 2

Lightning returned to the small, dank, stone cave she, her Lady, and Starlight had been staying in for the last week while Duskfall recovered her strength. It was barely more than a hole in the side of a hill, but it served to protect them from the elements and the single time Tirek had come stomping around the area. Lightning had needed to use every ounce of sway she had with her Lady to keep Duskfall from trying to fight Tirek before she was back to 100%.

Because Duskfall needed to recover and Starlight had been all but comatose since Duskfall had burnt the last of her energy to terrorize her, it fell to Lightning to go out and be a good hunter/gatherer. Honestly Lightning had been nervous about leaving Duskfall and Starlight alone, worried she’d come back to find Duskfall dancing on Starlight’s corpse. For now it seemed Duskfall was content to ignore Starlight’s existence completely until the Unicorn snapped out of the funk Duskfall had put her in.

“How are you feeling, Lady Duskfall?” Lightning asked, placing some wood she had found onto the small fire they had going in the middle of the cave before fanning it with her wing to help the wood catch fire faster.

“I should be back to full strength tomorrow. Then I can kill Tirek and we can get out of here. Hopefully this is our last stop before heading home,” Duskfall sighed. To Lightning’s eyes, Duskfall looked defeated. Her wings drooped listlessly at her sides, eye lids at half mast, ears not quite fully perked, and a small list of other tells in her body language.

“Are you sure, m’lady? We can continue resting if you need it,” Lightning offered, a note of pleading in her voice. Her wings fluffed at her sides as though trying to express their owner’s inner desire to hug the Alicorn.

“Lightning, did I do the right thing?” Duskfall asked. Lightning had expected this question a few days ago and couldn’t help but wonder why her Lady had delayed so long in asking. Lightning sat down, one ear bent to the side as she thought about her answer.

“How do you normally handle traitors in your Equestria?” Lightning inquired, pretending to tend to the fire so she didn’t have to look Duskfall in the eyes.

“We don’t get many, but when it does happen it’s usually banishment. There have been times when the traitor has been executed, though,” Duskfall admitted, ears drooping lower. She knew what Lightning’s follow up question would be so answered it before the Pegasus could ask, “In a case like Starlight’s…before this whole multiverse mess, she would’ve probably been banished. Now, with a body count to her name? 7 confirmed kills and 15 suspected…she’d be deemed too dangerous to banish. She might get sent to Tartarus, I suppose, but given she actively assaulted royalty and national heroes the public outcry if her crimes came to light would almost assuredly see her receive the death penalty.”

“Under your power as Princess, would what you did to Starlight be seen as punishment for her crimes?” Lightning asked, both ears turned towards Duskfall as she continued to stare into the fire.

“As the princess who was attacked, I would have final say in her fate and depending on her behavior after she recovers, I’ll probably just sentence her to community service around Ponyville or something,” Duskfall shrugged, her wings fanning out as she stretched them.

“Then I don’t see the issue. If her other likely option was death, then I think you were possibly merciful, given what she’s done to you and everyone else she used that Cutie Mark removing magic on,” Lightning opined before taking three recently caught fish and spearing them with a stick she then placed over the fire to cook.

“Depends on your point of view, I suppose. On one hand, death releases you from your suffering and responsibilities on this mortal plane. At the same time, I personally believe that if I were to kill Starlight now, her Soul would end up in a Very Bad Place. So is it more merciful to let her live and suffer through what I’ve done to her while also giving her some small chance to become a better person? Or is it more merciful to release her from this suffering and gamble on if she goes to Hell or not?” Duskfall tucked in her wings and rolled on her side listlessly, looking at Lightning for answers she didn’t have.

“I don’t know the answer to that, Lady Duskfall. I think only time will decide if your actions were for the best or not. Speaking as someone who used to believe in my own absolute moral superiority, it’s good you can question your own actions. Maybe I’m being naïve, given I don’t know exactly what kind of memories you forced on Starlight, but given they went into making you the Alicorn of Insanity, I’m sure I don’t want to know,” Lightning said as she continued to monitor the fish, sneaking glances at Duskfall while doing so.

“I gave her everything, Lightning; from the moment of my birth to the very second we began trading memoires. I reinforced her mind to be able to handle it as I wanted to make a point and not leave her a drooling husk, but every iota of pain, of misery, of suffering, of masochistic glee; it’s all there in her mind now and will be forevermore. She violated my very Soul, so I violated her Mind in return,” Duskfall looked like she was on the verge of crying. They weren’t tears of sorrow, but anger. Where that anger was directed at, Lightning wasn’t sure, but given the Alicorn was glaring at Starlight, it wasn’t hard to hazard a guess.

“As far as I’m concerned, she got a taste of her own medicine. She violated all the Element Bearers at the very least, if you ignore the townsfolk as ‘consensual’. I don’t know, as a sadistic bitch, I don’t think I have much room to talk about morality. I just think those who like to say ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind’ are just turning their own eyes from the fact that for some things people absolutely do need retribution. Call it justice or vengeance or whatever, but all I know is that if you hadn’t tried to give me a taste of my own medicine, I would still be harassing maids into sleeping with me and being an all around shit person,” Lightning remarked as she judged the fish to be ready. She took one over to the Unicorn in question, who quietly took it in her magic and started eating, still acting as if the world around her only existed as a mere suggestion. Eyes deadened, ears drooped lifelessly to either side, shoulders slumped, and propping her lying form up against one of the cave walls as if keeping herself upright was too much effort to do on her own.

Once the trio finished eating, they sat in silent vigil as the fire burnt down to embers before drifting off to sleep.

Either she had had a great night of sleep or her conversation with Lightning had lifted a weight from her mind, because as Duskfall awoke, she felt pretty good. She was certainly good enough to end the life of a certain demonic centaur. A growl from her stomach suggested she eat breakfast first. As an Alicorn, she was perfectly capable of letting herself starve to death and simply reviving, but there was no sense giving herself a handicap like the distraction of hunger.

Duskfall stretched out her entire body and was about to go find breakfast when she noticed Lightning staring quietly at her, still laying on the stone floor of the cave.

“Morning, Lightning,” Duskfall greeted as she continued stretching, making sure her wings were fully functional.

“Good morning, Lady Duskfall,” Lightning returned, standing up herself and moving her neck to try and get a crick out of it that had developed in the night, “How are you feeling, m’lady?”

“I’m actually feeling pretty jazzed. I’m gonna eat and then go hunt down Tirek. If you want to come watch, I recommend you do it from a distance. I don’t know how messy the fight is gonna get,” Duskfall shrugged, walking over to the small cache of food Lightning had managed to gather and picking out some nuts and berries to eat.

“I want to come,” A voice weak from disuse spoke up. Duskfall and Lightning snapped their attention to Starlight. She still looked like a miserable ruin of a pony, but for the first time in a week, Lightning saw some small measure of life in her eyes. Lightning cast a subtle glance at Duskfall to see if another bout of Insanity was oncoming. It was with some measure of relief that Lightning saw only cool indifference on Duskfall’s face.

“And why would you want that?” Duskfall asked, forcing her voice to remain even and her body language closed off. She had already meted out Starlight’s punishment. Whether she received more was entirely up to the Unicorn.

Starlight recoiled at being directly addressed by Duskfall. Eyes closed tightly and ears pinned back as if afraid of being struck. Lightning almost felt sorry for the mare, but no matter what misgivings her Lady might have, Lightning was sure Starlight had brought everything that had happened upon herself.

“I…Tirek…you…” Starlight tried to force out the words. They were raspy and drier than crisp autumn leaves. Starlight looked every bit terrified that Duskfall might punish her for wasting time, but Duskfall remained impassive as she waited for Starlight to spit out whatever she was trying to say.

“Tirek…made you. I want to see…you unmake him…” Starlight finally managed to explain, her whole body trembling with the effort to say those two sentences.

“You want to see the one responsible for the creation of your worst enemy suffer, is that it?” Duskfall asked shrewdly, an eyebrow arched, “I didn’t think I damaged your brain, but maybe I was wrong.”

Starlight didn’t say anything, either to defend herself or to confirm Duskfall’s assessment. She just silently stared at the ground. Duskfall stared intensely at Starlight for about thirty more seconds before letting out a long, slow sigh. Duskfall turned to Lightning, something unreadable in her eyes.

“Keep the troublemaker safe. If she tries anything, do whatever you feel is necessary,” Duskfall instructed and at Lightning’s brisk nod, the trio left the cave in hunt of Tirek. Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to find a mountain sized centaur that had set up shop in what had been Ponyville. Lightning and Starlight set up shop on the edge of the forest while Duskfall almost too eagerly flew on to confront Tirek.

“TIREK!” Duskfall bellowed as she approached. Maybe it was foolish of her, but she wanted him to get a good look at the one who was about to kill him. Tirek turned to the source of the voice and his mouth dropped open in shock.

“Impossible! I killed you myself, wiped the blood from my own hands!” Tirek protested. Duskfall landed, the ground around her becoming corrupted as her fury fueled her Insanity and Darkness. A bubbling sickness turned dirt into black sludge, grass mutating into miniature tentacles, but Tirek didn’t notice this as his attentions were squarely on the purple Alicorn.

“Correction, you killed Twilight Sparkle. I am Duskfall Sparkle. I am your executioner,” Duskfall’s voice was frosty but her hate filled glare was aflame. Her wings were fully flared, arcs of Dark electricity skittering over her feathers, begging to be released.

“Ha! No matter, I’ll simply drain you of your Magic like all the others before killing you as well!” Tirek opened his maw, trying to feed on the magic of this stray Alicorn. Yet nothing happened, “WHAT?!”

“Oh, I made sure to make myself immune to that little trick a long time ago. Although, I do admit to some curiosity as to whether you’d even be able to drain my Darkness and Insanity, as neither of them is Magic fueled by those things, unlike Discord’s Chaos Magic,” Duskfall very much enjoyed the look on Tirek’s face, the mix of surprise and incomprehension.

“All power in this world is Magic! I have the power of all of Equestria, including its Alicorns! I will simply crush you with it and take your Magic from your corpse!” Tirek roared as he tried to do just that, Magic gathering between his horns and then being unleashed upon Duskfall. Duskfall watched the oncoming attack with no more care than one would watch an oncoming housefly. Thanks to the interaction her Wild Darkness had had with the Chaos Magic of that Discord from Lightning’s home dimension, Duskfall had since discovered Wild Darkness could do some interesting things with Magic in general.

A swirling vortex of Wild Darkness appeared between Duskfall and the blast. When the Magic hit the Wild Darkness, it was consumed and unmade. Over the course of her experiments to erase Sombra’s Dark Magic, Duskfall had discovered that while Magic could affect Darkness, it was only if the Darkness allowed it to do so. Just as she had told that Discord, Darkness was the Primordial Power and no other could directly challenge it alone, save perhaps Void. Tirek just stood in silent horror as his blast amounted to nothing. Sure, it took a lot more of Duskfall’s Darkness to pull off the stunt than she would be willing to admit, but Tirek didn’t have to know that.

“You’re a one trick pony, Tirek, and unfortunately for you, I’ve got your perfect counter. So go on, pour every last thaum of Magic you possess into your next attack. It won’t matter. Today is your day of reckoning. So kindly stand there and D_iEYOu ^BAstARd!” Duskfall screamed the last three words and power pulsed out of her. The whole of what used to be Ponyville became twisted with Duskfall’s Darkness and Insanity. A gray fog enveloped what was left of the town, cutting it off from the outside Reality. Where Starlight had simply been treated to the world fading out around her, Tirek would suffer much worse.

Lightning and Starlight watched as things their minds refused to register the appearance of approached Tirek. Lightning could only assume Duskfall was shielding them from the true horror of what she was unleashing on Tirek. Whatever they looked like, they must have been truly disturbing, because Tirek tried to flee from the abominations immediately, screaming and sobbing in pure terror induced hysteria from a single look.

Tirek’s attempts to run amounted to nothing. Whatever Duskfall had done, Tirek went charging off into the fog, only to reemerge coming in the opposite direction and running straight into the terrors Duskfall had created. Duskfall watched as her creations drove Tirek to madness, an impossibly wide, sadistic grin on her face. She alone could grasp the true nature of the things without suffering for it, after all, she was already Insane.

It didn’t take long for Tirek’s sanity to crumble like a sandcastle. Duskfall was content to stand there for a little while, reveling in the newfound madness and the fact she had created it. The sound of his lunatic ramblings and laughter was music to her ears. The only thing that could’ve made it better was if somehow he started speaking in profane tongues, but Duskfall supposed she couldn’t have everything.

Still, Duskfall had a job to do. She dismissed the abominations and restored Ponyville to the world around it. She slowly walked up to Tirek, who had collapsed on the ground in a heap, staring off into nothing, a shell of his former self. Now the only question was how to go about killing him. As much as Duskfall wished she could perform some over-the-top Mortal Kombat style fatality, the Alicorn had pretty much blown her load already. A simple beheading would have to suffice. With a simple horizontal slash with her horn at the right angle creating a thin blade of Darkness to decapitate Tirek. A moment later and his boulder sized head crashed to the ground.

With his death, the Magic he was holding hostage was free to return to the proper owners. Duskfall had to force herself not to cry when she felt seven familiar signatures fizzle out into nothingness. She wouldn’t grieve for her fallen friends and dead Twilights until she was home. No sense mourning if there would just be more death around the next corner.

“Lady Duskfall, are you OK?” Lightning asked as she and Starlight approached. Duskfall turned to greet Lightning after making sure her mouth had returned to normal pony proportions. She carefully tucked her wings away before answering.

“I’m better than I could be, worse than I should be. Revenge felt good, but now I’m tired. I’m tempted to just crawl back to our cave and wait for whatever power to take us away. Yet I feel a burning need to yell at Celestia. Decisions, decisions…” Duskfall sat and put a hoof up to her chin as she pretended to think about what to do next.

“No need to be coy, Lady Duskfall, we all know you can teleport us to Canterlot to express your displeasure with little effort,” Lightning remarked. Duskfall pouted at her companion. How strangely easy it was for Lightning to divorce the ‘incarnation of Insanity’ Duskfall from the ‘cute and cheeky’ Duskfall.

While Duskfall was pouting at Lightning, she spared a glance to Starlight. The Unicorn seemed to be deep in thought, her ears absolutely still. The only tell that Starlight hadn’t slipped back into her semi-comatose state was the way she was staring at Duskfall. The Unicorn was staring at her like one would stare at a particularly complex puzzle that had only just started to make sense.

Duskfall was content to ignore whatever was going on in Starlight’s head in favor of teleporting them to Canterlot. The trio appeared directly in the throne room and sure enough it looked as though Celestia, Luna, and Cadence had just been disgorged from Tartarus. The three Alicorns were brushing themselves off of the filth Tartarus had left them with to try and be presentable before the public saw them when they turned to the sound of Duskfall’s teleport.

“Twilight!” The three called out happily. This joy quickly died when their eyes met Duskfall’s icy glare.

“Twilight, what’s wrong?” Luna asked with concern, standing up to try and approach Duskfall.

“You stupid bints,” Duskfall snarled with teeth bared, her eyes narrowed dangerously, ears pinned back, and her wings threatening to unfurl. Luna backed up in surprise, “You go on and on about ‘the Magic of Friendship’ but when the chips are down, you dump all your problems on Twilight. Well guess what? It finally came back to bite you in the ass! Congratulations, you dumped all your Magic into a 23 year old Alicorn who had yet to even come into her own power, let alone the ability to handle all of it and expected her to beat Tirek! Oh my God, I know it was Celestia’s idea, but you two dumb cunts went along with it! So, good job, Twilight’s dead and so are the rest of the Element Bearers, Spike, and Discord. I hope you’re all proud of yourselves.”

“But-” Cadence tried to speak up, but Duskfall interrupted her by turning her body to present her Cutie Mark.

“Name’s Duskfall. I’m not Twilight, I’m just the thrice damned cleanup crew. Fuck, why is it every Celestia I meet is either incompetent or evil? I just wanna go back home. My Celestia’s an idiot too, but at least she’s trying to work on it! Even if my Twilight died for this exact same fuck up! At least in my home dimension there was some rhyme and reason for trusting Discord, he didn’t betray us like yours probably did, and she technically had help with all that power, not that it meant much in the end!” Duskfall was working up a fine head of steam and all three Alicorns were wilting under her verbal assault.

“Are Twilight and her friends really…dead?” Celestia whispered in horror.

“Oh yes, it seems to be quite a common theme in the multiverse for Twilight to end up dead or screwed over because of the various versions of you, Celestia. Just the dimensions I’ve seen we have 3 dead Twilights, one corrupted by Dark Magic, and one made into the Nightmare’s sex slave,” Luna’s face became a mask of disgust as Duskfall mentioned that particular Twilight’s fate, “I can’t stand to look at you three anymore. Good luck with your next world ending threat, because with any luck I won’t be having an encore performance.”

Making a point to turn her back on the shocked and dismayed Alicorns, Duskfall teleported her group back to the cave they were staying in and promptly curled up to sleep. When next she opened her eyes, all around her was a barren wasteland.

Author's Notes:

I thought I was only going to use the Insanity Voice one more time in Shattered Souls but then my brain hit me over the head and told me having Duskfall not use it at all on Tirek was really quite dumb.

Is Duskfall being uncharitable to Sunbutt, Moonbutt, and Heartbutt? Yes. But she's also so far past done with these Multiverse adventures that she doesn't particularly care either.

Good thing for her that next chapter should be the end of the Multiverse adventures and then we return to our regularly scheduled Equestrian shenanigans.

In the final bit of news for this Author's note, I seem to have developed some sort of mental block with Lightning's name. In this chapter alone I had 9 instances of calling her Lighting instead of Lightning. That God for the ctrl h function.

Going Home

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 33: Going Home

Duskfall, Lightning Dust, and Starlight Glimmer awoke to find themselves in a desolate wasteland. The sky was overcast, the landscape was nothing but dirt and rocks, and to Duskfall and Starlight, the world felt dead as it looked. As if there was no more Magic to be had, if it even existed in this dimension at all.

“What happened here..?” Lightning asked as she cast her eyes out over the devastation. There was no telling where on Equuis they were, but given their history, it was likely this had once been in or near the Everfree Forest.

“I don’t like this place,” Duskfall murmured as she stood, fluffing her wings to get the dust and dirt off, “And how the hell am I supposed to fix a world like this? I think everything’s dead!”

“Fortunately, that is not your concern,” The trio snapped to the sound of the voice. Standing in a spot where they were sure no one was before were now two figures draped in black cloaks. One looked equine but the other seemed to be bipedal. Whoever they were, they had POWER. Even in what Duskfall presumed was a resting state, she felt like a 20 watt light bulb before UY Scuti, the largest star known to mankind. She couldn’t tell how much power was coming from each of the figures, but it was staggering nonetheless.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?!” Starlight asked fearfully, her ears pinned against her skull and taking a few steps backwards.

“Do not fret, we mean you no harm. Young Starlight, my companion wishes to speak with you. Duskfall, you are the one I have a message for,” The bipedal figure stated. The equine one beckoned Starlight forward nonverbally.

“Well, given you can likely squish us with barely a thought, I don’t see how we can refuse, right, Starlight?” Duskfall glared at the Unicorn. Starlight looked like she was about to protest, but sagged her head and shoulders and followed the hooded equine.

“Should I go off someplace?” Lightning asked hesitantly. She was watching Starlight walk off and wasn’t sure if any of this would be for Duskfall’s ears only.

“You may stay, Lightning Dust. Your own path has been irrevocably altered. Trying to hide the truth from you now would be pointless. Of course, if Duskfall wishes you to leave, that is her prerogative,” The bipedal figure said plainly. It was impossible to tell if they were moving under that cloak or even if they had a specific sex.

“I’m fine with Lightning staying, but what do you mean, ‘her path has been irrevocably altered’?” Duskfall questioned, a puzzled frown appearing on her face.

“It may make more sense if I deliver the message and explain to you who I am. Duskfall Sparkle, the contract is complete,” They said.

“Contract? What contract? I don’t remember- FUCK! Time travel bullshit, isn’t it?” Duskfall gazed skyward, frustrated and trying not to express her annoyance any further lest she annoy the super powerful being.

“To your mortal understanding of Time, yes, I believe this would fall under ‘time travel bullshit’,” The being sounded slightly amused.

“Do I get to know the terms of the contract or when I actually make it?” Duskfall asked, an eye turned towards the being as she continued to try and hold in her displeasure.

“No. If I were to tell you any more than I already have the contract would become void. Even this notice was only agreed upon because certain people felt you needed to know all this trouble actually amounted to something,” It almost sounded like this being wasn’t pleased with this, but who could possibly have the ability to bargain with someone of this level of power?

“Didn’t you say something about introducing yourself?” Lightning suddenly spoke up and Duskfall felt a surge of affection for the Pegasus. Maybe a few things could be pieced together with the name of this being.

“You are correct; I did say I would do that. Very well, I am Lady Fate and before you ask, no, that is not merely a pretentious name. I am the personification of the concept, one of the cornerstones of all creation,” Fate introduced herself.

“Oh, so the thing about Lightning being off her path would be-”

“The path I had preordained for her, correct,” Fate interrupted Duskfall, “But that is simply the nature of the beast. I am merely an end point that can be averted, unlike my sister Destiny who is an inevitable choice or choices all must make in their lifetime. Many of my fellow Concepts are quite interested in you, Duskfall Sparkle.”

“I almost don’t want to know how I ended up involved with the Concepts…” Duskfall groaned, laying down and burying her head under her hooves.

“But you will find out, maybe someday in the far flung future, centuries from now or maybe next week. The simple fact of your existence makes it so. It has nothing to do with myself or my sister. Who and what you are assures that you have garnered our attention. What you do with that attention…” Fate trailed off.

Duskfall didn’t know how to take Fate’s vague words. Fate seemed to be hinting at something to do with the Winter Solstice, but Duskfall couldn’t decide if Fate was suggesting she would succeed or fail with that ritual. Maybe this was Fate’s way of getting even with whoever had forced her to deliver the message about the contract? Sending Duskfall’s mind into turmoil over the outcome of the ritual would nicely cut off any sense of relief over the stress she had accumulated over the past 5 months being worth something in the end.

“In any case, I do believe you wish to be sent home as soon as possible. I’ll send you on your way once my associate finishes her little chat with Starlight,”

Starlight was hesitantly following the robed equine away from her…enemies? Friends? Frenemies? Starlight wasn’t exactly sure what her relationship was to the Alicorn and Pegasus was anymore. Having over 300 years of memories jammed into your head with all the subtly of a sledgehammer was a good way of making you question everything you’d ever known or thought you knew, especially when those memories were as…flavorful as Duskfall’s.

“You’re a really stupid bitch, you know that?” Starlight was startled out of her thoughts by a voice that sounded entirely too familiar. Out of eyesight of the others, the figure Starlight had followed pulled back her hood to reveal…Starlight.

“I- You- WHAT?!” Starlight exclaimed, pointing in shock at the other Starlight. She looked almost identical to her except for an eye patch over her left eye.

“Only proving my point,” Other Starlight remarked with a decidedly unamused glare.

“Well how am I supposed to react when an interdimensional doppelganger insults me?!” Starlight demanded, stamping her hoof in anger.

“Do you want to guess how this world ended up like it is?” Other Starlight asked suddenly, completely ignoring Starlight’s anger, instead turning her gaze out towards the horizon.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Starlight demanded to know. A part of her was almost angry enough to march right into Other Starlight’s face, but the overwhelming power difference between them encouraged her to exercise caution.

“Everything. I’m the one who destroyed this world. I was in Canterlot during Tirek’s attack; I saw how everyone he drained lost their Cutie Marks. So, I decided to teach myself how to do the same. I miscalculated. Instead of just ponies, I drained the whole world dry. Nothing on this world was capable of surviving for more than a few days without magic. Because of me, this Equuis is nothing more than a ball of rock hurtling through space. For my hubris and crimes, I was cursed with an immortality not unlike Duskfall’s and bound to be a servant of Fate for… probably until the End of Time,” Other Starlight explained before letting out a hearty sigh, her face turned down in shame.

“That’s…a sad story and all, but I still don’t get what that has to do with me,” Starlight said rudely, a skeptical expression on her face.

“Because you’re exactly the same kind of arrogant, self-important, delusional twat I was. I’m lucky. Every time I die I only get raked over the coals a few times before being sent back and I might be able to earn redemption one day. I’ve seen plenty of other Starlight Glimmers who weren’t so lucky and most of them haven’t even come close to what I’ve done. Still don’t see what this has to do with you? Think about how easily you picked up Dark and Changeling Magic. You’re a sponge, Starlight. The two wisps of your Cutie Mark? Unlike most versions of Starlight, those wisps aren’t leaving the starburst, they’re being sucked in. Just. Like. Mine,” Other Starlight’s stare bored into Starlight’s very Soul. Starlight gulped involuntarily.

“Why are you telling me this? Aren’t there other Starlights who ‘have it worse’?” Starlight asked, a slight note of challenge in her voice, as if she didn’t believe she needed this talk at all.

“If I had a choice, I’d have left you alone until you met your own sticky end. Unfortunately for me and luckily for you, your dimension is about to change radically. A whole host of different kinds of Magic are about to be made known on your Equuis and Lady Fate and a few others have decided you’re too much of a risk. So they gave me a chance to smack some sense into you and finish what Duskfall started. I’d suggest you listen to me. A few of the Concepts are quite…imaginative in their punishments,” Other Starlight warned with a dark smirk now on her face as if imagining the various possible fates Starlight might endure.

“So, what, be a good little girl, stay in line, and I’ll be fine?” Starlight asked with an arched eyebrow. Other Starlight laughed, as if Starlight had just told the world’s funniest joke.

“Because that worked out so well for Duskfall!” Other Starlight cried out as she was clutching her sides, gasping for breath. Suddenly a memory of a certain unintentional performance floated through Starlight’s mind.

“Then what, do you want me to go insane too?!” Starlight yelled angrily, stamping both front hooves in rage.

“Oh, honey, insanity isn’t all pumpkin bombs and prostitution. Most of us Starlights are some level of crazy, generally Antisocial Personality Disorder. You’re already insane, so it’s just a matter of learning to control it before it’s too late like Duskfall has or letting it control you and being destroyed for it. She gave you everything you need, every lesson she learned about her own Insanity. Obviously it isn’t one-to-one applicable, but it’ll point you in the right direction,” Other Starlight remarked, her ears swiveling backwards at some sound Starlight couldn’t hear.

“What if I don’t change?” Starlight asked and Other Starlight just chuckled again.

“Starlight, if you were a lost cause, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Other Starlight said bluntly, her ears returning to a forward facing position.

“It was all for nothing? Everything I’ve done…Sunburst…just pointless?” Starlight questioned, a feeling of being lost creeping in on her.

“You’ll find the answer to that eventually. Whether it’s before or after it’s too late…that’s up to you. Anyway, we should wrap this up. The boss is done talking with Duskfall and she’s very anxious to return home. Any last questions or worthless curses you want to throw my way?” Other Starlight inquired as she started walking back in the direction they came.

“Why are Duskfall and her little friends considered the ‘good guys’?” Starlight asked petulantly. Other Starlight glanced over her shoulder.

“Are you sure you want the answer to that or are you just whining? Because that sounds an awful lot like my whining voice,” Other Starlight remarked before continuing on. Starlight muttered under her breath something vaguely insulting with a scowl on her face, “Hey, if it makes you feel better, Duskfall is fixing to do something astonishingly dumb and will be punished accordingly should she go through with it. So at least you can probably laugh at her later. Misery loves company, after all.”

Starlight wasn’t sure if that was comforting or not, especially when this ‘astonishingly dumb’ thing could end up with her as a target. She was also getting the strong impression Other Starlight was done with the conversation, and so kept her mouth shut as they walked. Soon, they met back up with Duskfall, Lightning, and Fate.

“Are you all prepared?” Fate asked the trio as Other Starlight took her place beside her mistress. Duskfall and Lightning looked at her in shock for a moment before snapping out of it.

“Yeah, I just really want to hug my friends and then crash in my own bed for a week,” Duskfall replied honestly, “I just wanna make sure Starlight isn’t going to cause trouble right off the bat if we have to sleep first.”

“You will be transported directly into the crystal castle and you will be awake. However, I do not believe Starlight will give you too much trouble,” Fate seemed to gaze at Starlight, who felt the oppressive weight of her power.

“I’m on trouble making hiatus,” Starlight decided. Duskfall looked Starlight over, as if trying to find some small tell that Starlight was lying.

“Alright, well, you’re still getting community service, but you’re also staying in the castle where I can keep an eye on you,” Duskfall told the Unicorn in a tone that brokered no argument. Starlight was tempted to roll her eyes, but given there were two people perfectly capable of destroying her and the fact that Duskfall had bested her in the past, Starlight choose to save her insolence.

“Very well, I shan’t keep you any longer,” And just like that, suddenly the trio found themselves in the crystal castle. A moment later, a small white Alicorn with a rainbow mane appeared.

“DUSKFALL!” Harmonia plowed into the Purple Alicorn with no regard for anything other than some desperate idea that by clinging onto Duskfall she might prevent her from being pulled away again.

“Oof!” Duskfall gasped as Harmonia knocked the air out of her, “I’m glad to see you too, Harmonia.”

“You were gone for three weeks and everyone was starting to give up hope and I couldn’t find you on the Weave and stop leaving us!” Harmonia didn’t release her death grip on Duskfall as she babbled on.

“Only three weeks? It was a little over five months for me,” Duskfall shouldn’t have mentioned that. Harmonia pulled back just long enough to look Duskfall in the eyes before her own bugged out and somehow her hug got even tighter.

“I just called everyone; they’ll be here soon…welcome back, Duskfall. We missed you and we all have a lot to talk about,”

Home Now and Forever

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 34: Home Now and Forever

Harmonia continued to hug Duskfall for a few moments before turning her attention to Starlight. Duskfall had never seen Harmonia mad before, so seeing her downright furious was certainly a sight to behold. Harmonia’s outward appearance was calm, but anyone with even the slightest amount of empathic ability could sense the Greater Spirit of Harmony was boiling with rage. So of course Starlight didn’t notice anything was wrong other than a tiny Alicorn looking at her funny.

“Do anything to take Duskfall away from us again, to harm her in any way, and I will end you,” Harmonia promised as she flared her wings and released a pulse of power to demonstrate how serious she was. As someone from a lower level playing field, Lightning was still trying to get used to how casually some beings could toss around that level of power. Given this was going to be her new home, Lightning decided it was high time to put some training in to get more in touch with her Changeling heritage. She wouldn’t be able to skirt by with just her emotion sensing around here.

Starlight couldn’t miss the obvious threat and bowed submissively.

“I’m content to keep my head down for awhile,” Starlight said meekly, her eyes closed as she awaited Harmonia’s judgment. The Greater Spirit paced around Starlight, observing her top to bottom. Finally Harmonia glanced to Duskfall, who just shrugged.

“I’ve punished her somewhat and she knows if she causes further trouble she’s toast. I’m sure the others are all gonna want to yell at her too, so laboring the point doesn’t seem worth it,” Duskfall remarked. Harmonia made a frustrated face before sighing.

“I suppose you’re right. Speaking of, they should be arriving any second now, so I hope you’re ready to catch Rainbow when she spots your new friend,” Harmonia warned as Starlight resumed standing upright.

“Huh? Me? Why would Rainbow come after me?” Lighting asked blankly. She looked from Duskfall to Harmonia for answers.

“Didn’t I… dammit, Sparkle Family Curse,” Before Duskfall could elaborate, the doors to the Map Room burst open, admitting everyone, even Celestia and Cadence.

“DUSKFALL!” Predictably, the purple Alicorn found herself buried under a sea of ponies and humans turned pony, a few Changelings, and a single young dragon. Lightning had the common sense to get out of the way before impact. Starlight, not so much and ended up squished against a wall.

“You know, if I wasn’t immortal, I’d almost be worried about suffocating to death,” Duskfall snarked from somewhere under the living tide. The crowd sheepishly backed off to give Duskfall space. That was when Rainbow spotted Lightning.

“What’s she doing here?!” Rainbow shouted.

“Before you lynch her or Starlight, let me explain what I’ve been doing recently,” Duskfall tried to placate them.

“And maybe explain to me why this Rainbow looks ready to pluck my feathers, Lady Duskfall?” Lightning asked hopefully.

“‘Lady Duskfall’?” The room at large repeated.

“All will be explained,” Duskfall promised with a hoof raised in a calming gesture. Once everyone had gotten comfortable, Duskfall told the story of what she had been doing on her latest forced vacation. Most might have edited out or skirted over what Duskfall had done to Starlight and Tirek, but she gave it to them straight, only leaving out the exact appearance of the things she assaulted Tirek with.

“So, I’ve had a fun five or so months. How have you guys been?” Duskfall asked pleasantly at the end of her tale. She had the sweetest ‘butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth’ smile too. Lightning, who had lived through most of it, was the first to react by covering her face with a hoof.

“Lady Duskfall, I will be the first to admit you have little to no tact, but I also like to think I know you well enough to know when you’re being intentionally obtuse,” Lightning groaned.

“But if I can’t take the piss with my favorite people in the multiverse, who can I take the piss with?” Duskfall asked innocently, a dumb puppy look now on her face as she turned to Lightning.

“You’re insufferable,” Starlight said with a glare, but no bite in her voice or energy in her ears.

“And you’re a bitch. I think I come out ahead,” Duskfall easily replied, not even bothering to look in Starlight’s direction.

“Well, despite you somehow managing to invoke Fate herself, I still think it’s appropriate to apologize for suggesting you and Starlight settle your differences in the Chaos Dimension,” Discord said, holding his paw and claws in front of him.

“I agreed to it and like you said, Fate somehow got involved, so who knows what predestination fuckery was going on,” Duskfall waved him off with a wing, “Honestly, the whole thing sucked and I’m glad it’s done with, but I’m not completely sorry it happened either.”

“Nice save, m’lady,” Lightning snarked, casually flipping her off with a wing. This just caused Duskfall to giggle.

“Anyway, now that my story time is over, I cede the floor to whoever wants to tell me what you all have been up to,” Duskfall said diplomatically with appropriate gesture of bowing away from the now open floor.

Watching Duskfall’s overblown display, a memory tickled in the back of Luna’s mind.

“Duskfall, if you’re that exhausted, you should sleep first,” Luna chided.

“Pfft, exhausted? Who? Me?” Duskfall tried to laugh it off, but soon her laughter gained a tinge of sadness, “Old habits die hard, huh? You caught me. I’m pretty much dead on my hooves. Still, I won’t be able to sleep if I’m constantly wondering if Rainbow set up Prisma on a date with Fluttershy.”

“Nothing quite that…flavorful has happened,” Anwyn assured while holding a hoof over her mouth to try and hide her giggles at the Rainbows and Fluttershys’ embarrassed expressions.

“Still, the point stands, I’ll sleep better if I’m reasonably caught up on current events,” Duskfall said firmly, trying to stand at attention to keep them from forcing her to bed. Maybe some of them bought it, but Celestia, Luna, Discord, and Harmonia certainly didn’t. Duskfall was just glad they didn’t force the issue.

So the others stepped up and began telling them what had happened in the three weeks of their lives since Duskfall and Starlight had vanished. The CMC had gotten their Cutie Marks while helping a stallion named Trouble Hooves. The Humans had finally gotten tested and they seemed to be stable with room to grow naturally in the future and they were also preparing for some kind of competition called the Friendship Games with a rival school. To wrap things up, Anwyn was preparing to open a second location and a fundraiser was happening in Ponyville with a fairly famous pop star coming to perform.

“Anything else can wait. To bed now, Duskfall,” Luna all but ordered.

“You’re not my Mom! You can’t tell me what to do!” Duskfall pouted petulantly. By some united brainwave, they all, save Starlight, turned to Duskfall with pleading faces.

“Please go to bed, (Lady) Duskfall,” In the face of so much concentrated cute, even someone who like to think of themselves as coldhearted like Duskfall fell in the face of the onslaught.

“Fine! I yield! Don’t expect me to wake up for at least a week!” Duskfall threatened, but as she turned to walk away, a small smile was on her face. It was good to be home again.

Meeting the New Neighbor

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 34: Meeting the New Neighbor

The group watched as Duskfall exited the room. The majority then turned their attention to Starlight and Lightning. One an intruder, the other a traitor, yet both had somehow come to a level of understanding with Duskfall.

Lightning still wasn’t sure how she was supposed to be behaving. She wasn’t sure why this dimension’s Rainbow was glaring daggers at her. She was even less sure why a younger version of Rainbow was standing nearby but not looking nearly as hostile. A lesser Pegasus might have balked under the combined gaze of so many, regardless of the fact four of them were Alicorns. Not Lightning Dust, she stood proudly at attention. Starlight was not so resolved.

“So, uh, what happens now?” Starlight asked, nervously looking around, maybe for an escape route, maybe just because she fidgeted when she was nervous.

“Mischief, Mayhem, and Murder, oh my!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Y’all killed Duskfall too. What do you think is gonna happen?” Appletini asked with a raised eyebrow.

“But she likes dying!” Starlight tried to protest.

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow asked in confusion. Suddenly something slipped into place for Lightning. Duskfall hadn’t told her friends about her dying kink. Well, to be fair, most people wouldn’t accept that kind of thing. Lightning had to act.

“Throwing oneself into battle to stop megalomaniacs like you doesn’t constitute a love for dying,” Lightning pointed out and if she were talking about anyone other than Duskfall, she was sure it would be true. Starlight spun to Lightning, her jaw dropped in shock.

“I- but- you- SHE TOLD YOU!” Starlight screeched, trying to get into Lightning’s face, but Celestia froze her in place with her magic.

“Told me what? I think Lady Duskfall’s memory dump scrambled your mind more than we assumed,” Lightning remained standing at attention the whole time, presenting the image of a disciplined soldier against the raving, crazy sounding Starlight. Despite how little the group trusted her, they trusted Starlight even less.

“I think we should get you fitted for a restraining ring,” Celestia decided, carrying the still screaming and protesting Unicorn out of the room. Lightning just barely avoided letting a self-satisfied smirk appear on her face. Was it petty? Maybe, but Duskfall had already gotten some measure of revenge against the pain-in-the-ass Unicorn, so Lightning felt it was fine if she got her turn.

Of course, the one downside to taking Starlight out of commission was now the whole room was focused solely on her. The elder Rainbow stalked up to her, never losing that suspicious gaze.

“What’s your game, Lightning?” She asked, eyes narrowed, as if trying to see the deception in her very Soul.

“Which game are you referring to? I’m told I have a mean poker face,” Lightning quipped. This got a few snickered, but the Rainbow before her looked supremely unamused. With a slight eye twitch, she continued.

“You know what I’m talking about! You’re a selfish, arrogant, self important, egomaniac! What’s all this shit about ‘Lady Duskfall’? What are you scheming, Lightning?” Rainbow growled.

“I would like to mention I came from a different dimension entirely, but I also can’t deny anything you’ve said about me. As Lady Duskfall mentioned when she brought up why she felt the need to ‘punish’ me, I was the lowest of the low. Lady Duskfall simply showed me there was a better way and I wished to follow that path with her. Nothing more complicated than that,” Lightning was being as honest as she felt comfortable being around virtual strangers. Sure, she knew most of these faces, but these specific individuals were new to her. Although, with her new lodging in this dimension, that likely wouldn’t remain the case forever.

“And you’re also part Changeling,” Chrysalis noted. Lightning felt it difficult to get a reading on the Changeling Queen. She had known other full blooded Changelings, but Chrysalis was like a mire of emotions Lightning couldn’t quite taste. Lightning imagined this was how other species imagined tasting emotions would be like, a fog of ephemeral flavors that didn’t exactly have a true taste. It didn’t seem to be a trait of this dimension’s Changelings as a whole either, as Lightning had no real issue properly tasting the emotions of the two drones.

“I am whether that helps or hurts my case-” The Pegasus was cut off by a Changeling Queen pouncing on her for a hug.

“You are real living proof that a Changeling/Pony hybrid is feasible! I must know everything! Do you know what you represent?!” Chrysalis squealed as she continued to hug Lightning.

“Uh, not really?” Lightning was baffled and mildly uncomfortable with the spontaneous and ongoing hug.

“What Chrissy is trying to say is that in this dimension, there’s never been a chance to see if Changelings and Ponies could reproduce,” Luna explained, a slight smile on her face, “It has been weighting on her mind quite heavily recently.”

“I should think so! More than a few of my children have started falling in love with Ponies!” At Chrysalis’ words Fluttershy and Thorax blushed slightly, “Of course it’s important to know if they can produce viable offspring and it’s even better to know those offspring will be fertile! By merely existing, this Lightning Dust has shown we can avoid so much heartache!”

“Um, can you let go?” Lightning asked, her wings and ears fidgeting. Chrysalis either didn’t notice her request or ignored her as the Changeling Queen kept giggling happily.

“She just gets like this sometimes. Best to ride it out,” A crème colored Earth Pony remarked before inclining her head, “Coco Pommel, pleased to meet you, Miss Dust.”

“Uh, charmed, I’m sure?” Lightning was terrible at that high society stuff, not made any easier when being snuggled to death.

“Bug Horse, I do believe you should let the poor Pegasus go before she pops something,” Discord snarked, conjuring and then popping a few balloons in Lightning’s color for emphasis.

“You’re not the boss of me,” Chrysalis pouted, but released Lightning anyway. Everyone in the room could sense Chrysalis wanted to keep hugging, her overflowing energy betrayed by her buzzing wings. Lightning felt a surge of gratitude towards this version of the Lord of Chaos before being beset upon by a mint green Unicorn and a grayish green Earth Pony.

“So…you and Duskfall, huh?” The Unicorn asked, beginning to circle Lightning.

“I know she was gone for 350 years, but she never really told us what she got up to,” The Earth Pony remarked, joining the Unicorn in circling her like a pair of sharks.

“But apparently, somewhere along the way, she learned how to make whoopee good enough to win hearts and minds,” The Unicorn continued.

“Do you remember, Lyra, that cute, awkward mess we knew not so long ago, from our perspective?” The Earth Pony asked.

“I do indeed, Bonnie. She seemed so innocent back then, but I suppose 350 years is a long time. It just never really sank in before now, I guess,” Lyra sighed.

“We were ready to upend our lives for that girl, but in the end she went and grew up without us,” Bonnie remarked, a bittersweet smile on her face.

“Uh, if this is all some sort of hazing ritual to see if I’m ‘worthy’ of Lady Duskfall, I can assure you I have no intentions of betraying her,” Lightning tried to interrupt. Something about her statement caused Lyra and Bonnie to crack up.

“Oh, we’re under no illusion that Duskfall needs us to help her take care of herself,” Bonnie snickered.

“And you’re way off the mark with thinking we see Duskfall as our daughter or anything like that,” Lyra assured Lightning, a wide grin on her face.

“No, what we want to know is…” Bonnie began.

“What was it like?” Both mares asked together. Before Lightning could formulate a response, the two Pinkies snuck up behind them and hit them on the heads with inflatable baseball bats.

“Go to horny jail, you two! There are minors present!” One of the Pinkies declared.

“My birthday’s in two months!” The younger Rainbow protested, "And Duskfall literally just got done spilling the beans on what she did while she was dimension hopping! There's no innocence to protect!"

“Minor,” The Pinkie said simply with her counterpart nodding in agreement. The Rainbow made a very frustrated noise, but dropped it.

“Don’t think this conversation is over, missy,” Lyra threatened, pointing menacingly at Lightning.

“And next time, we’ll be talking to you and Duskfall together,” Bonnie giggled, also menacingly. Lightning was about to question how they had managed that, but thought better of it.

“So, I guess Duskfall found someone to confide in,” An amber Unicorn noted, a tinge of hurt that would be undetectable to most coloring her emotions.

“Could’ve found someone better to do it with, Sunset,” Elder Rainbow grumbled. Lightning felt that was entirely fair. Duskfall probably needed someone accepting and grounded to share her darkest secrets with, not a fellow psycho like Lightning.

“I’m just glad she felt she could talk to someone at all. Although, I guess by that metric, she’s also confided in Starlight,” Sunset laughed without mirth.

“For a given value, I suppose you are correct, Sunset,” Luna agreed, her disgust clear on her face and body language, “And a good confidante keeps the confidence of the one who trusts them.”

Lightning couldn’t help but feel nervous after a line like that. She tried not to show it, but her ears refused to stop flicking about. It sounded distinctly like Luna had seen right through Lightning’s attempted redirect with Starlight. The Pegasus was distinctly not looking forward to when the Lunar Diarch decided she wanted answers from herself or Duskfall.

“Well, at the end o’ the day, Duskfall is home, and that’s the important thing,” Appletini remarked, to the agreement of the room.

“Yes, Duskfall’s journey by no means short or easy. It is not something we should expect to full digest and come to terms with in a single afternoon,” Harmonia commented, her tail flicking about.

“Aye, and Duskfall will no doubt wish to have more intimate conversations with some of us based on certain things that she saw and heard,” Luna observed, gaze sweeping over Chrysalis, Discord, and the door where Celestia exited.

“Imagine such a snot nosed punk version of me running around, it’s embarrassing really,” Discord chuckled dryly.

“Poke around long enough, Discord, and you’ll find plenty of embarrassing versions of yourself,” Harmonia remarked and Lightning couldn’t tell if the Greater Spirit of Harmony was being serious or joking.

“In any event, tomorrow I will be heading out to Canterlot to open my new boutique,” The older Rarity announced, “Rainbow, Lightning, you are both welcome to come.”

“Wait, what?!” Rainbow knew all too well how Anwyn operated. This wasn’t an invitation, it was an order, “Anwyn, you can’t be serious!”

“Serious about what, Darling? My invitation? Of course I am,” Anwyn chuckled. Rainbow knew it was already too late and resigned herself to the inevitable. The last time Rainbow had tried to weasel out of an ‘invitation’ like this from Rarity, she had set both Pinkies on her.

“Why do I suddenly have a feeling of dread?” Lightning wondered.

“That’s because you don’t get through two wars without some kind of survival instinct,” Rainbow snarked, her face wearing a sour expression.

“Oh, come now, I’m sure it will be delightful!” Anwyn wasn’t even trying to pretend she wasn’t kidnapping the pair of Pegasai anymore.

Rainbow sulked as no one thought to come to their defense. Bunch of traitors…

Author's Notes:

Oh wow, this chapter felt a lot better. It was a bitch to write, but now that it's on the page and I've read it as a complete chapter, it just feels infinitely better than last chapter.

Other than that, this week has been mighty stressful. My debit card got hacked, so I had to fix things with my bank to send me a new card. Fortunately, they only stole about 45$ when I caught it, so no real damage done other than waiting a week or so until my new card arrives. Which is still annoying because I really wanted to go grocery shopping, but oh well.

On top of that, my Insurance decided to split my medical and pharmaceutical providers without telling me. So imagine my surprise when I went in to buy my anti-psychotics and I was being charged 500$. It took me a good 6 hours on the phone being looped around to 3 different agencies the whole time to finally figure out what had happened. To make matters worse, I can't remerge the plans so I have to tell all my doctors to resubmit all my prescriptions to the new pharmacy. Because I can't just transfer my meds over either.

Although the pharmacy thing might have been for the best, seeing as I had a clear head to write this chapter with, so count my blessings, I guess.

Struggling Fashion

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 35

Everyone had probably suffered from some kind of awkward situation involving travel. Bumping into an old bully on a morning flight and pretending you don’t hate each other as you ‘catch up’. Getting into a fight with your family or significant other and having to spend the rest of the wagon trip in uncomfortable silence. Lightning’s current predicament was closer to the later in her eyes but probably closer to the former in Rainbow’s eyes.

Rarity, Coco, Rainbow, and Lightning were all on a train bound for Canterlot. The Unicorn and the Earth Pony were chatting away merrily as if there wasn’t a worry in the world. Rainbow kept alternating between pretending to ignore the world, trying to nap, and shooting dirty looks in Lightning’s direction.

At least Lightning had gotten Fluttershy to tell her why Rainbow regarded her with such hostility. Honestly, if what the soft spoken mare had said was true, Lightning wanted to give her utterly undisciplined counterpart a piece of her own mind. What kind of moron just sends what sounded like an EF 2 tornado flying off in whatever direction they feel like? Now the only problem for Lightning was figuring out how to prove to Rainbow that she wasn’t the same as this dimension’s version of her. Preferably a method that didn’t involve the weeks or months it might take to track her counterpart down and verbally rip strips off of the idiot’s hide.

Lightning briefly wished again that Duskfall had accompanied them, but last Lightning had known the Alicorn was still sleeping. Lightning knew how light a sleeper Duskfall could be even when utterly exhausted and had no desire to rouse her. Still, it would have been nice to have an intermediary between herself and Rainbow. Especially given Rarity seemed to have decided her role started and ended with forcing the two Pegasai into the same space until they worked out their differences.

For two people who tended towards vocal expression, that may have very well worked. Unfortunately, Rainbow was sullen and Lightning wasn’t inclined to poke the bear. So they both kept their mouths shut for the whole train ride. If this threw a damper on Rarity’s schemes, the Unicorn didn’t show it.

Once they arrived in Canterlot, it wasn’t long before the group made it to Rarity’s new boutique.

“Thank you all every so much for agreeing to help,” Rarity said with practiced false sincerity as she fluttered her eyes. Neither Lightning nor Rainbow wasted the energy to point out Rarity had all but shanghaied them both.

“So, what are we supposed to do? I don’t know anything about fashion, you know that, and I doubt Lightning here knows much more than I do,” Rainbow pointed out.

“You wouldn’t expect a trio of poor, delicate fashionistas to do any heavy lifting, now would you?” Rarity asked, already walking towards the door.

“Trio? There’s only you and Coco,” Rainbow pointed out, but Rarity opened the door to reveal the third pony.

“Rarity, I’m here!” A Unicorn mare with orange and yellow in her mane and a powder blue coat, announced. She was also wearing some sort of dress, but as Rainbow had said, fashion was not Lightning’s area of expertise. If they weren’t dress blues, Lightning didn’t know the first thing about dressing up.

“Sassy Saddles! You’re just in time, Darling!” Rarity exclaimed, “Say hello to the manager of my Canterlot Boutique!”

“Burst my buttons, you must be Rainbow Dash! It’s such an honor to work with two of the Elements of Harmony!” Sassy exclaimed, a huge smile on her face.

“When I saw Sassy’s resume, I simply had to hire her! She’s worked at all the finest boutiques in Canterlot!” Rarity sounded very proud of herself for snatching up such talent, but something about the way that was said pricked Lightning’s ears. Sassy didn’t look any older than she did, yet according to Rarity, the powder blue Unicorn had held multiple jobs. That could mean either one of two things. Either Sassy was just that good and could bounce from job to job without worry because her talents were in such high demand or Sassy had been fired over and over.

Well, Lightning supposed there was a non-zero chance Sassy was some kind of industrial spy. As ludicrous as that may sound, well, she was from an alternate dimension and consort (?) to one of the three Alicorn Princesses of this Equestria. Hanging around Duskfall made Insanity the order of the day every day. So Lightning resolved to keep an eye on Sassy whenever possible.

Sassy then went on to explain how she planned to help Canterlot Carousel. Firstly was making sure the boutique itself was up to snuff visually, something that had thankfully been done prior to their arrival. Stage two had been getting an ear to the ground and finding out what was popular at the moment. According to Sassy, it was the Princesses, inspired by ‘Twilight’ going dark and mysterious with her new name.

“Every poll Sassy took, Duskfall was the most popular princess!” Rarity added.

“I’m sure she’d be thrilled to hear that,” Rainbow and Lightning snarked at the same time. The Pegasai glanced at each other briefly before looking away again. Rarity sighed a bit before moving towards a dais in the room.

“I know, I know, but the public wants what it wants,” Rarity said apologetically, “To that end, I have developed sister fashion lines, one representing Duskfall and the other Twilight.”

The curtains pulled back, revealing a pair of dresses. Lightning couldn’t opine on the ‘fashion’ part, but she was very familiar with a particular version of Twilight. The color schemes were what really sold it in Lightning’s mind. One was primarily a lighter mulberry, a few shades brighter than Duskfall and Twilight’s coat. The rest of the dress followed this theme, graduating into a light cornflower blue, a light turquoise that was similar to Lightning’s coat, and finally coming together in Twilight’s starburst as a sort of crest on the chest.

For the sister dress, it too started out in mulberry territory, but instead darker than Twilight and Duskfall’s coat. From there it headed into a dark phthalo blue, veered into a dark blood red, and was tied together by Duskfall’s Cutie Mark on the chest.

“Gotta hand it too ya, Rares, I may not know about all that fancy frou-frou stuff, but I think you hit the nail on the head,” Rainbow complimented.

“Thank you, Darling, but I can’t take all the credit. I was at my wit’s end trying to figure these dresses out when Coco suggested I use their Cutie Marks on the chest,” Rarity gazed on the Earth Pony warmly, who blushed and looked away.

“I’m sure you would’ve figured it out eventually,” She kicked at the floor bashfully, but a smile on her face betrayed how happy she was.

“Polls also suggested that Ponies are more likely to buy a dress if someone famous is wearing it,” Sassy remarked and the three fashionista looked at Rainbow.

“I’m not wriggling out of this, am I?” Rainbow asked, already muttering curses under her breath that only Lightning picked up.

“I’m afraid not, Rainbow. Think of it for penance for the time you got canned cheese all over my latest design,” Rarity said as her hopeful smile turned predatory and Rainbow deflated. She knew karmic punishment when she saw it.

“Well then, I do believe it’s finally time to open the doors to the public! Oh my stars, I can’t believe it’s finally happening!” Rarity squealed as she went to open the door and announce the grand opening. However, before Rarity could get a word out, Sassy shouted out to the crowd that Canterlot Carousel was open for business. Rarity was less than pleased by this turn of events.

“What was that?!” Rainbow spluttered in outrage, “She totally stole your thunder!”

“It’s…fine,” Rarity said, even if her face screamed it was anything but fine.

“Rarity, are you ready to reveal your collection?” Sassy asked eagerly. Lightning felt Rainbow tense up beside her, but the prismatic Pegasus must have decided that if Rarity wouldn’t say anything, she would hold her tongue for the moment. So Rainbow was herded off by Coco to put on the Duskfall dress.

Rarity returned to the dais, clearly a bit nervous. Whether that was from the crowd, a fear of Sassy upstaging her again, or both, Lightning wasn’t sure. She wouldn’t be surprised in any event. Thankfully, Sassy stayed out of the way this time and allowed Rarity to pull back the curtain on her whole lineup of dresses. The Duskfall and Twilight ones, Lightning had already seen, but there was also one inspired by Luna, one for Celestia, and one for the city itself.

Then Sassy got overeager again and took the mannequins in her magic and started floating them about the boutique. It was a nice effect, but because Rarity hadn’t been expecting it, the surprise threw her off her game when a stallion who was smiling with a few too many teeth who Rarity recognized as Fashion Plate of Cosmare magazine. Lightning vaguely recalled such a magazine her mother used to read before the Nightmare had cracked down on gossip rags.

That was when Lightning overheard something quite interesting. Apparently the Cosmare stallion was only here because Sassy had informed them about a hot new boutique opening. That was odd on a number of levels. Not only did it imply Sassy’s word in the fashion industry was good as gold, but it also sounded like the paparazzi didn’t consider a national heroine opening a boutique noteworthy enough on its own. It was possible he was just saying it like that to gaslight Rarity, but Lightning didn’t think so. She filed it away under things to ask Duskfall later.

In any event, as Rarity’s impromptu interview went on, Lightning got a clearer and clearer picture of at least part of the reason Sassy bounced from job to job. Now the question became: what was Lightning going to do about it? Old Lightning would have tormented and tortured a new recruit acting the way Sassy did until they either dropped out or got their shit together. Clearly that wasn’t an option. So Lightning kept her thoughts to herself as she watched Rarity recover and get into the flow of Sassy’s display.

That flow came to a screeching halt when Sassy decided to deviate from the script she had just finished writing. Rarity was about to reveal the Twilight Dress which would then lead up into the Duskfall Dress worn by Rainbow. Yet Sassy claimed the Twilight Dress was ‘too complicated’ and skipped right over it, stealing the spotlight and directing the attention towards Rainbow in the Duskfall Dress.

Poor Rarity looked torn. On the one hand, she was glad that the public seemed to really like the Duskfall Dress. On the other, it wasn’t hard to see that the Twilight Dress was also near and dear to Rarity’s heart and she wanted it to have a chance to shine beside its sister. Even Lightning could draw comparisons to Celestia and Luna’s fight and what was happening now. One sister being thrust into the spotlight and the other forced to languish in the shadows. Sure, these were dresses while Celestia and Luna were people, but the meaning they held to Rarity was real enough.

“Everyone, follow me and you can place your orders for the Duskfall Dress!” Sassy called out. The dress was a smash hit. Everyone said so. Yet Rarity looked almost defeated. Her shoulders were slumped, her ears drooped, and she could barely make eye contact with the Cosmare stallion. There was no ‘almost’ in how exhausted Rarity looked when Sassy presented over 100 orders for the same dress to Rarity.

“A hundred orders?! For the same dress?! AT THE SAME TIME?!” Rarity exclaimed, her face a mask of panic.

“According to my pattern, the next piece is the success of the signature dress! So, I don’t see a problem,” Sassy remarked. Rarity was deeply displeased, glaring at Sassy with a noticeable eye twitch.

“Sassy, I would have appreciated it if I had handled the reveals of my collection,” Rarity ground out, doing her utmost to keep a polite tone yet anyone with ears should have been able to hear her patience was near breaking point.

“But Rarity, the two dresses were so similar, they would have simply hurt each other in the long run,” Sassy waved it off. That was most certainly the wrong thing to say. Rarity opened her mouth as if to yell at Sassy, but snapped her jaw shut and stormed off at the last second.

Lightning couldn’t blame Sassy for such a remark. At the end of the day, as far as the public were aware outside of Ponyville, Duskfall and Twilight were one and the same. To the average person, paying tribute to both sides of “Twilight” in a single lineup of dresses, while interesting, might not have been the most rewarding visually. To those who knew the truth, that knew Twilight was dead and Duskfall was her own person, it was so much more than just a color scheme. It was a small mark of who Twilight had been and who Duskfall had become. It was a tribute to a fallen friend and a mark of acceptance of the one who had been forced to take her place.

It was amazing what five months hanging around someone like Duskfall could do for your introspection skills.

Two days later and Lightning knew she had to step in. Rarity and Coco were both working themselves ragged. Rarity looked dead on her hooves and while Coco seemed to have the endurance of a champion, there were little things in her posture and movement that a career soldier and warrior could pick up on that betrayed Coco was more tired than she let on. Somehow, between the two of them, they had completed 68 dresses in those two days.

Yet it wasn’t enough. Sassy had all but locked Rarity and Coco in the back room to sew the Duskfall Dresses while Sassy deliberately went out of her way to encourage more orders of that dress while discouraging orders of any other dress. Lightning would never claim to have been close to the Rarity of her home dimension, but even she knew that creating the same thing over and over was anathema to Rarity. This Rarity seemed to be no different in this regard.

“Miss Saddles, I’d like a word, if you please,” Lightning requested.

“But I’m with a customer,” Sassy protested, gesturing to the pony in question as if Lightning were blind.

“I’m aware. I want to talk to you now. Either finish with the customer or ask them to wait,” Lightning ordered.

“Can’t it wait?” Sassy begged.

“Now,” Lightning repeated, taking an aggressive stance to show she meant business.

“I’m, uh, I was just getting ready to leave!” The other pony said nervously before bolting out the door.

“Well what was so important that you had to scare off a customer?!” Sassy demanded, trying to match Lightning’s antagonistic posture. Lightning wouldn’t have been intimidated by a civilian even before meeting Duskfall.

“Tell me, Sassy, do you want to keep this job or are you aiming to lose it just like you’ve lost every other job you’ve held in the fashion industry?” Lightning asked, completely ignoring Sassy’s hostile tone.

“What on Equuis are you talking about?!” Sassy shouted, stamping a hoof, “I’m making this boutique a success! Why would I be fired?”

“The exact same reason you’ve always been fired. You forget who the boss is. You think you’re showing initiative. Well, allow me to enlighten you. What you’re doing isn’t showing initiative, it’s being insubordinate. You take something that’s supposed to be special, unique, and you try and turn it into a bit-a-dozen, flash in the pan fad. As if that wasn’t bad enough, you simultaneously choke the creative life out of the artists who originally made the dress you’re so insistent on turning into a mass produced brand!” Lightning exclaimed with her wings flared. As much as people like to joke about tins soldiers, you don’t get to be above the rank and file without knowing and appreciating everyone’s uniqueness. Lightning was the Captain of the Shadowbolts. She and the Nightmare picked every candidate individually. They only took the best of the best and that naturally meant they were all unique ponies. Yet one thing unified them all: a drive to succeed. Lightning couldn’t stand by and watch as Sassy choked Rarity’s drive out of her.

“What are you talking about?! I’m helping this boutique succeed! Soon the Duskfall Dress will be a household name and we’ll have enough bits to buy a factory of workers to sew Duskfall Dresses day in and day out! The doors to Sassy’s boutique will never close!” Sassy yelled. After an outburst like that, there was really only one thing to do. Lightning slapped Sassy across the face.

“Whose name is on the sign? Whose name is on the deed to this building?” Lightning growled, her teeth bared and her ears splayed back.

“Rarity’s?” Sassy asked dumbly, holding a hoof to the cheek Lightning had slapped.

“Then where the fuck did you get the idea this was your boutique? You haven’t sewn a single stitch nor put forward an original design. At best you’re a PR mare with delusions of grandeur,” Lightning sneered at the Unicorn.

“But- but- but I’ve put so much work into this boutique!” Sassy protested.

“Even if you had done half the work you seem to believe you did, that still wouldn’t entitle you to claiming any amount of ownership!” Lightning barked getting in Sassy’s face, “You are an employee. You are paid to do the job asked of you. If you go above and beyond the call of duty, you may receive a raise or be promoted. It is not so different from being a soldier. You perform your duties and if you do well or if you prove yourself in some way, you move up in the ranks. But do you know what happens if a mere private tries to take command of a battalion without being ordered to do so and there are no extremely extenuating circumstances, they are charged with insubordination at the very least! If you were one of my soldiers and you tried to pull with me what you’ve been pulling with Rarity you would have been drummed out of the force with a dishonorable discharge inside a week!”

“Insubordination? But I’ve done nothing but help!” Sassy continued her denial. Lightning had had just about enough of this mare, but in the interest of trying to be a better person, Lightning decided to try one last avenue of attack. Lightning physically dragged Sassy to the door to the back room and cracked the door open to allow them to peek inside.

“Take a good long look at Rarity and Coco. Tell me, Ms. Saddles, does either of them look like they’ve been ‘helped’?” Lightning asked. Anyone with eyes could see the pair was miserable. Rarity had abandoned all pretenses at posture, hunched over her sewing machine and looking more like an old crone than a mare in the prime of her life. An impression only enforced by her frayed mane and bags under her eyes.

If Rarity was bad, Coco was awful. She was jittering and shaking, murmuring under her breath, and her pupils were dilated. It was almost like she was on the verge, if not already having, a nervous breakdown.

“No…oh my stars…did I do that to them..?” Sassy was aghast and rightfully so in Lightning’s opinion.

“Do you see anyone else demanding they, between the two of them, sew over a hundred dresses each? The exact same dress, over and over, I might add. Yes, Sassy Saddles, their current state is your doing,” Lightning’s voice was kept carefully neutral as she gazed at the Unicorn. Lightning was only mildly surprised when Sassy pushed the door fully opened and entered the back room.

“I’m sorry,” Sassy sounded genuinely contrite, “I…I’m not sure how or when it happened. I was just so obsessed with success…I’ve done a terrible thing…”

“Sassy, you’re not making sense,” Rarity said, confusion clear on her visage.

“Then allow me to translate,” Lightning suggested, “Sassy has seen the negative effects her demands have had upon you and is apologizing for her cruelty and insubordination.”

Sassy flinched at the word ‘cruelty’, but made no attempts to deny it. She just mutely nodded in agreement with Lightning’s assessment of her misdeeds. Rarity and Coco glanced at each other in silent conversation.

“Ms. Saddles, my first inclination is to forgive you and let bygones be bygones,” Coco began, “But that wouldn’t be fair to either of us. Before I started working for and with Rarity, I worked for a mare named Suri Polomare.” The name held no meaning to Lightning, but a flash of anger in Rarity’s eyes and a look of shock on Sassy’s face made it clear to Lightning this Suri mare was not some nobody.

“You were the one..?” Sassy said hesitantly, unsure how to continue her sentence without being rude.

“The one who was abused and taken advantage of for a little over five years, yes that was me. I won’t lie. Being forced to put together so many dresses in such a short period of time in an assembly line style brought back some memories I had hoped were buried forever. If I had never been saved from Suri, I would have probably put this whole incident from my mind and tried to never think about it again. But part of my healing is recognizing I do have worth and that when I have been wronged it is OK if I get upset and want justice,” Coco said, her eyes closed as if gathering her thoughts.

“…I understand. I’ll leave quietly,” Sassy said sadly, her eyes cast downward and preparing to slink from the room like a dog that had just been scolded.

“Leave? Where do you think you’re going?” Rarity asked and Sassy froze in her tracks, “We fully expect you to pay back your debt to us by continuing to work here at Canterlot Carousel, only from now on you will be held to my standards instead of you holding us to yours. Am I understood?”

“I…I…yes…yes! Crystal clear! Oh, my bursting buttons, you won’t regret this, I promise!” Sassy exclaimed before taking Rarity’s hoof in hers and shaking it wildly, “Oh, thank you!”

A day later and Rarity, Coco, Lightning, and Rainbow were on the train back to Ponyville. Coco and Rarity were both asleep. As much as Rainbow and Lightning had been able to help with getting the store reorganized, Coco and Rarity had been the ones to handle the bulk of the work involved with getting Sassy up to speed on how to properly run Canterlot Carousel. Lightning was just looking forward to being by her Lady’s side once more.

“Hey, Lightning?” Suddenly Rainbow spoke up. Lightning turned her head towards Rainbow to show she was listening, “I, uh, overheard that little talk you had with Sassy. The Lightning of this dimension wouldn’t have done something like that or said those words. I…well, I’m sorry for giving you the cold shoulder.”

“No hard feelings, Rainbow. I heard what happened from Fluttershy. I’m not exactly thrilled with my counterpart’s actions either and I’m not even really friends with any of you,” Lightning remarked, turning back to look out the window, believing the conversation over.

“We are now,” Rainbow said, snapping Lightning’s attention back to her.

“How do you mean?” Lightning asked.

“Friends, you and me, if you want,” Rainbow offered, holding out a hoof. Lightning regarded the gesture of friendship for a moment, emotions warring inside her, primarily shock. Finally, she accepted the hoof and gave it a hearty shake.

“I would like that,” Lightning replied, a wan smile on her face.

“And not just because it’s what Duskfall would want,” Rainbow teased, a grin blossoming from her.

“If lies make you happy,” Lightning snarked and the two Pegasai spent the rest of the train ride getting to know each other better.

“Oh, Duskfall, you’re awake!” Cadence noted with mild surprise as she entered the kitchen. The purple Alicorn still looked weary, despite having slept for almost 3 days straight.

“My body woke me before I could die of starvation, otherwise I’d probably still be sleeping,” Duskfall admitted around a wide yawn. Duskfall began scavenging in her kitchen for food, “It’s just as well I met you, Cadence. I’ve got a question I’ve been meaning to ask.”

“What’s that, Duskfall?” Cadence inquired, her ears perked in curiosity.

“How old are you, really?” Duskfall inquired. Whatever question Cadence had been expecting it hadn’t been that. Cadence hesitated a moment too long for any sort of lie to be believable and they both knew it.

“What brought this on?” Cadence wondered idly as she walked up to the counter and sat down.

“While I was out and about on my travels, I came across multiple mentions of you dating back to the original fall of the Crystal Empire. It also occurred to me that your Cutie Mark contains the Crystal Heart. We both know that while the exact lore and reasoning behind the iconography of a Cutie Mark may not always be clear to the owner of the Cutie Mark, the Pony will always recognize what is contained in that image. If I didn’t know what a Penrose Triangle was, no such thing would have appeared on my Cutie Mark and some other, similar thing would have taken its place,” Duskfall replied while digging out the components for a sandwich.

“I was born, oh, 15 years or so before Sombra took over the Crystal Empire about 1,000 years ago. I actually grew up in one of the Empire’s satellite villages. I was a Pegasus raised in an almost entirely Earth Pony community. This and that happened, there was an evil enchantress who was jealous of our happiness, she tried to destroy it using an artifact that caused strife, and when I overcame the power of that artifact I had become an Alicorn and gotten my Cutie Mark,” Cadence revealed as Duskfall sat down next to her to begin construction of her sandwich.

“So why pretend to be a teenager and go through high school again?” Duskfall wondered. There was no judgment or anger in her voice, just simple curiosity.

“Put simply, I didn’t want to grow up. After the Empire went missing thanks to Sombra, Celestia and Luna took me in and I ended up wandering Equestria. I’d pose as a regular teenager of one of the 3 tribes for 5 years or so, leave to ‘seek my fortune’, and do it all over again somewhere else. As much as I’d like to, I really can’t give you a better answer. Maybe I was afraid of responsibility, maybe I had itchy hooves, maybe I was in love with being eternally youthful, or maybe it was none of those. Obviously the next question would be: what got me to settle down? At first it was Celestia. She knew the time of Luna’s return, as well as a bunch of other ticking 1,000 year clocks and so asked I stick around Canterlot as my true self just if the worst happened. Get the public used to me if it turned out Luna was beyond saving,” Cadence sighed at the memories of those long talks with her adoptive aunt.

“And then you met Twilight and Shining,” Duskfall noted as she swallowed some of her sandwich.

“And then I met Twilight and Shining,” Cadence agreed, “I had seen romantic love before, of course, helped it grow where it could and pruned it where it couldn’t. Yet the only type of love I had experienced myself was familial and friendship. That wasn’t really what I was an Alicorn of. When I met Shining in all his awkward, dorky, cuteness, my heart skipped a beat. This was the sort of Love that I represented. It was the fiery, passionate love of romance that lights the way in darkest night and keeps you warm in the winter of your life. I finally had a real reason to stay in one place. Someone to be my anchor that I didn’t even realize I needed until he appeared. A few days later, I met quite the special little filly named Twilight Sparkle and that was that. Even if I wanted to leave, to continue my nomadic ways, it would have simply been impossible. I knew that even spending a few days apart from Shining and Twilight, pretending things could have continued the way they had been, would have been torture. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Duskfall was silent as she finished her sandwich, contemplating what she had learned.

“I’m glad you came into her life,” Duskfall finally said, “And she was glad you came into Shining’s life. Tom didn’t know you as long, of course, but he thought you were a decent sort too. Have you told Shining any of this?”

“Of course, relationships are built on trust. I told him the truth before we agreed to go steady,” Cadence replied, a small smile appearing as she remembered Shining’s reaction to her admitting to being over 1,000 years old.

“That’s good…that’s good…” Duskfall yawned again, her eyelids already flagging as she struggled not to fall asleep in the kitchen, “I’m going back to bed, thanks for taking a weight off my mind.”

“Rarity and the others will be back soon. Don’t you want to stay up to greet them?” Cadence asked, despite already knowing the answer.

“I would if I could, but I’m…I’m…*yawn*…barely staying awake as is. I’d hate to fall asleep and topple onto the tracks,” Duskfall said sleepily.

“Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been sleeping for 3 days and are going right back to sleep,” Cadence said worriedly.

“My trip left me very stressed and I drained myself dry twice in quick succession. I’ll be fine, I just need to sleep a little more and my Healing Darkness will be back to self sustaining levels. After that I should be able to resume normal hours of operation, even if I’ll still probably be lethargic for another week or so,” Duskfall hated how close she was cutting it with the Winter Solstice, but she needed this time to recuperate.

“If you’re certain, then sweet dreams, Duskfall,” Cadence bid. Duskfall gave her a tired smile and a weak wave of her wing before returning to her bedroom and falling back into a dead sleep.

Pure Music

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 36: Pure Music

Organizing a charity event was just the thing Duskfall had needed to get back into the swing of things. At least, that’s what she told everyone. And why wouldn’t they believe it? Duskfall was, after all, half Twilight and Twilight had loved to organize things. Really, with the Winter Solstice a mere week and a half away, Duskfall had already written up her farewell note. Not that she expected anyone to read it in the joy of being reunited with Twilight and Tom.

So Duskfall, together with Applejack, helped the Ponies and Changelings preparing for the charity event. The idea was it being a concert with a bunch of musical talent from anywhere they could find it. The proceeds from the tickets would go to something not dissimilar to Toys-For-Tots back on Earth. The Rainboom had desperately wanted to be a part of it, but with Christmas and end of term exams to deal with they hadn’t been able to participate.

“Everybody, guess what?!” Pinkie suddenly burst onto the scene, shouting loud enough to wake the dead. As per usual of Pinkie Pie, she was vibrating with poorly contained energy.

“What’s going on, Pinkie?” Duskfall asked as she kept one eye on the ongoing construction of the stage, “Starlight! Watch where you’re carrying that plank! You don’t have magic, remember?! Sorry, you were saying?”

“I managed to book the biggest, the bestest, the hottest Pony Pop Idol in Equestria!” Pinkie squealed.

“How’d you manage to book Sapphire Shores?” Duskfall asked curiously.

“Sapphire Shores?” Pinkie asked before blowing a raspberry, “I said the biggest. Sapphire Shores is only the second hottest Pony Pop Idol. How do you not know this?!”

“Do you want a list in alphabetical or numerical order?” Duskfall deadpanned, an eyebrow arched and a slight smirk pulling at her lips.

“If it makes you feel better, m’lady, I don’t even know who Sapphire Shores is,” Lightning commented as she flew overhead, holding a bucket of nails in her hooves.

“It doesn’t but I appreciate the sentiment,” Duskfall remarked as she looked at Pinkie, “One reclusive bookworm plus a second reclusive bookworm does not result in a fad chaser. Further, as Lightning has no doubt reminded you, I’ve kinda been away for awhile.”

“Ah, right, sorry about that,” Pinkie apologized sheepishly. This apology was slightly undermined by the fact she was still clearly very excited to share her news, “Anyway, I booked COUNTESS COLORATURA!”

Everyone except Duskfall, Lightning, and Applejack seemed suitably impressed.

“Who the hay is Coloratura?” Applejack asked, her question echoing Lightning and Duskfall’s thoughts. Applejack might as well have asked about how well a plot to murder Celestia was going by everyone’s reactions.

“Didn’t I just go over this? She’s the biggest, bestest, hottest Pony Pop Idol in Equestria!” Pinkie exclaimed before marching over to Applejack, literally running her down “I can understand Duskfall and Lightning not having any idea, but how, how, how do you not know?!”

“Don’t know,” Applejack replied as she pushed Pinkie off of her, “Although I did know a gal named Coloratura way back when Ah was a filly. Wouldn’t it just be the funniest thing if this Coloratura and that Coloratura was the same pony?” AJ asked with a snorting giggle.

“Well, there goes Chekov’s Gun,” Chrysalis quipped drily, a bemused look on the Changeling Queen’s face.

“Do you mean to tell me you know Countess Coloratura?” Pinkie asked in an uncharacteristically serious tone and her face looked equally stony.

“I don’t think they’re the same pony. My friend wasn’t any sort o’ high faluting countess,” AJ tried to wave it off. Those more genre savvy shared a look.

“Do you happen to remember her Cutie Mark?” Pinkie inquired with the tone and demeanor of a cop interrogating a perp.

“Sure do, a golden star surrounded by 5 colored notes,” AJ replied readily, a slight smile as she recalled her friend.

“You mean like this Cutie Mark?!” Pinkie whipped out a picture of Coloratura’s Cutie Mark, tapped over her own Cutie Mark.

“Well, fancy that, that looks exactly… My friend is a famous star? Well if that don’t beat all…” AJ murmured as she processed the fact that she had been friends with a famous person… completely excluding the fact that she herself was famous and friends with Princesses and Element Bearers and the like. Pinkie was less than pleased at this revelation.

“Do you know how many hoops I had to jump through to get her to perform at this event?!” Pinkie screeched as she bore down on AJ again. AJ just mutely shook her head, “A WHOLE LOT OF HOOPS! That pony is very demanding!”

AJ then told the others that this didn’t match up with the pony she had known as a filly.

“Well, I for one think it’s completely understandable. We artistes require certain necessities in order to do our best work,” Rarity noted and she wasn’t wrong either. A lot of creators and entertainers needed to be in the right headspace to do their thing and some of them had rituals they went through to get them in that headspace consistently. Tom had known a man who insisted on being upside down for 15 minutes before every performance in order to ‘let the creative juices get to his head’.

“Aw, not Rara, she was as down to earth as anyone,” AJ waved her off; unaware of the outcry she had just sparked.

“RARA?!” Almost everyone shouted in shock.

“God works in mysterious ways indeed,” Duskfall muttered under her breath. Although, given she had just recently met the personification of Fate itself, maybe she should be more mindful of what she said concerning the Man Upstairs.

“She didn’t much care for her full name neither. S’why I always called ‘er Rara,” AJ explained. Applejack then reminisced about the time they spent as camp as fillies and Rara singing the Equestrian National Anthem.

“Are Ponies in this dimension all so casually racist?” Lightning whispered in Duskfall’s ear, Duskfall gave a rueful chuckle.

“Not all of them, but a fair few,” Duskfall assured with a whisper of her own, leaning in close to Lightning, “Don’t worry, Twilight wasn’t one of those and neither am I, my lovely part Changeling.”

Before Lightning could respond to her Lady’s flirting with anything other than a blush, Pinkie gasped loudly, “THERE SHE IS!”

Sure enough, Countess Coloratura was now among them. Duskfall was almost certain her Insanity was acting up again when she saw the four stallions walking up with a crystal looking thing that opened up into…well, Duskfall wasn’t sure how to describe it. It had all kinds of sharp angels and lights and a stereo system. In the blooming middle sat Coloratura in a seat that had her Cutie Mark on the back.

“Are you guys seeing this?” Duskfall asked after a quick check suggested it wasn’t her Insanity, so she settled for rubbing her eyes in disbelief.

“What? The overly complicated mechanical platform thing Countess Coloratura just showed up in? Unfortunately, yes,” Chrysalis sighed, although, there was something strange in the taste of Coloratura’s emotions, the Changeling Queen noted. It wasn’t quite depression. Apathy didn’t fit either. Was that dissatisfaction? Coloratura had just arrived! What was there to be dissatisfied about! Wait…that wasn’t outward dissatisfaction…that was inward dissatisfaction. That was very interesting indeed.

The Pony herself, an Earth Pony mare with a light aquamarine coat, was dressed up in faux-leather, spiked bracelets, and had a vale over her face. Her mane and tail were mostly lavender with streaks of darker purple and they were also extremely long. Her tail dragged along the ground with plenty to spare.

“COUNTESS COLORATURA IS HERE!” Pinkie screamed and fell to the ground in a dramatic ‘faint’, which also led to her getting walked on by Coloratura’s crew. While that might seem bad at first, well, Pinkie was clearly still awake and capable of moving. She simply chose to be walked all over for her own Pinkie Pie reasons.

Applejack, naturally confused at this transformation of her old friend, went to find out if Coloratura even remembered her.

“Uh, Hi…remember me? We met at Camp Friendship? I gave you the nickname Rara?” AJ offered as she walked up to the pop star.

“AJ, it’s been awhile,” Coloratura turned to smile at Applejack. The farmer’s whole body lost its tension. Her friend did recognize her! “So, you’ve been busy since I last saw you. You’ve been in the news at least four times in the past year and a half.”

“Aw, shucks, ain’t nothing to really brag about,” AJ kicked a hoof in embarrassment, modest as usual. Even so, she couldn’t stop a small smile knowing that, even if they hadn’t been in contact directly, Rara had kept up with a small part of her life.

“AJ, you’re a hero! All I am is a silly Pop Idol, you’re-” Coloratura was cut off by a stallion with a bushy salmon pink mane whispering in her ear. Coloratura visibly wilted before slapping on a smile so forced you had to be blind to not know it was fake and AJ wasn’t blind.

“Rara-” AJ was cut off by Coloratura suddenly planting a stamp on her cheek, leaving behind a small red hoof.

“Hoovsies!” She exclaimed, affecting a vapid airhead tone before walking away to give out more ‘Hoovsies’.

“Well that wasn’t weird or anything,” Rainbow snarked as she touched down beside Applejack, “What the hell was that about?”

“I concur, you were reconnecting and then suddenly she completely shut down,” Rarity, ever one to pick up on social cues, noted as she walked up with her ears flattened, “I can only imagine it was something that stallion said, but what on Equuis could cause a pony to behave like that?”

“Ten bits says he’s holding her family hostage,” Duskfall quipped, gazing over at the line that had formed for the Countess. She really must have been fairly popular.

“Oh please, Lady Duskfall, hostage taking is almost always more trouble than it’s worth. I say he has photos of her in a compromising situation and is threatening to release them to the media unless she plays the part of the bimbo songbird only good for her voice,” Lightning opined, a glare directed at the stallion, her mouth halfway curled into a sneer. The avarice pouring off of him was utterly distasteful for most Changelings and Lightning was no exception.

“Would you please not use such crude language?” Rarity requested, shooting a stink eye at the Pegasus, but Lightning was utterly unrepentant.

“Funny thing is that word was originally Italian for ‘baby boy’ and a derivative of ‘bambino’ which means ‘child’. Then it immigrated and changed meaning in slang to a brutish bully before somehow ending up slang for a brainless female sex toy,” Duskfall noted as everyone turned to stare at her, “What? Language history is still history, even if Tom’s first love was mythological history.”

“Thanks for the lesson, professor, but that doesn’t exactly help us know what we’re supposed to do,” Rainbow pointed out, fluffing her wings in agitation.

“Do? What do ya mean, ‘do’?” AJ asked arching an eyebrow and looking at the Wonderbolt.

“Well, obviously, your friend is in some kind of trouble or something and since she’s your friend that means you’re worried about her and that means we need to help since we’re your friends,” Rainbow explained as if it were the simplest thing in the world waving her wings about the whole time.

“And even besides that, we have an obligation to investigate potential blackmail,” Duskfall noted mildly, a small smirk playing across her face as she looked forward to playing detective.

“Duskfall is correct; we must root out villainy wherever we find it!” Luna declared in an over-the-top manner, wings spread and hoof raised into the air.

“Was it really that boring without me around?” Duskfall asked teasingly, nudging up against the larger Alicorn. Luna favored her with a flat look.

“I will neither confirm nor deny any accusations of that nature,” Despite Luna’s ‘denial’, Chrysalis was cracking up right next to her, a hoof in her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

“So, how are we gonna go about finding out if Rara is bein’ blackmailed?” AJ asked, her face showing she was already wary of introducing her long lost friend to Ponyville’s brand of hijinx and shenanigans.

“We could always do the reasonable thing of getting Coloratura away from that stallion and asking her in private,” Pinkie suggested. Everyone turned to her with varying levels of horror in their expressions. Pinkie responded with a wicked grin, “Am I not allowed to be reasonable every now and again?”

“NO!”

“Anyway, I’ve gotta deliver this stuff to Coloratura before she does her practice performance,” Pinkie, utterly unfazed by everyone’s shout, walked off with a wagon of various things. It was quite interesting to watch the stallion inspect the cherries and gems and whatnot in his snobbish way, but what really caught everyone’s attention was what happened after that.

“Somehow, your demands have all been met,” He said with a condescending grin directed in equal parts at Pinkie and Coloratura. For those who had to rely strictly on visuals, it was hard to tell what Coloratura’s expression was under the veil. For those who could sense emotions, Coloratura’s disgust with him couldn’t have been clearer.

Whatever Coloratura’s thoughts on the stallion she was working for, she got up on stage and sang. Duskfall and Lightning could appreciate how she had gotten to be the Top Idol. Her singing voice was strong, clear, and beautiful, but the thing that would really sell her to the masses was the spectacle of it. Duskfall likened it to the pop stars of Tom’s home and they even had magical auto-tuning. Once she was done with her warm up, the crowd burst into cheers.

“Ah, she’s alright, I guess,” Starlight the contrarian muttered next to Lightning. For some reason, Starlight was pouting and had her front legs folded. Lightning and Duskfall shared a look. Was Starlight tsundere for Coloratura?

“Oh, my shining star, thanks to the sparkling costumes, dazzling choreography, and brilliant vocal effects that I designed, your performance was spectacular!” As the stallion completely glossed over her own talents, even the non-Changelings could feel a spike of killing intent coming from Coloratura.

“Why, thank you, Svengallop!” Coloratura said after some false giggling, following him off the stage.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but that whole spiel sounded more like he was complimentin’ himself rather than Rara,” AJ noted, a very displeased frown on her face. It may not have been her preferred style of music, but she could at least appreciate the hard work that had gone into all the performances, Rara’s included. She had learned that lesson with Trixie.

“No, you’re absolutely right, and I’ll only be mildly surprised if we find his corpse before the end of the charity event,” Duskfall said as she stretched out a bit, a few joints popping, “From the sound of it that Svengallop guy has been taking advantage of and talking down to Coloratura for quite some time. People can only take so much of that before they either break down in defeat or they snap in some way. Given the anger we felt, she’s probably closer to the latter.”

Duskfall’s words were only confirmed a moment later when Pinkie announced to Coloratura that she had a meet and greet scheduled with the school children. Svengallop tried to suggest Coloratura ditch the event, but Coloratura was all for it and openly stated that meeting the kids was one of her favorite parts of any event. As Coloratura walked away to see the kids, more than one person noted the dark look on Svengallop’s face. They all knew Coloratura would pay for her act of defiance.

Part of this payment came in the form of Svengallop outright bullying Pinkie. He was demanding things like 500 peeled and cored apples in 24 hours and premium oats from Appleoosa. If they weren’t provided then he’d pull Coloratura out of the event, regardless of the fact Coloratura had just promised the kids a chance to sing with her if they won a little contest.

“So, Lady Duskfall, should I break his legs or do you want to do the honors?” Lightning asked casually after AJ and Pinkie informed the rest of this little stunt by Svengallop. That Duskfall actually gave the question serious thought made the rest somewhat concerned.

“Leave his legs unbroken for now, we might need leverage over him later,” Duskfall decided with a hoof still to her chin.

“I was defeated by a pair of sociopaths,” Starlight groused, sinking to the ground while trying to glare at Duskfall and her inhibitor ring simultaneously.

“Better a sociopath than a psychopath,” Duskfall shot back, not even bothering to look at Starlight, “Even if neither is technically recognized by mental health professionals.”

“And reasonably of the two of them only Lightning might qualify for antisocial personality disorder,” Chrysalis added before everyone gave her funny looks, so she explained, “I’m taking a correspondence course in psychology. I doubt I’ll ever go into being a therapist, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.”

“Huh, Changeling therapists…wait, we’re getting off topic. We need to find out exactly what kind of hold Svengallop has over Coloratura,” Lightning decided, a wing pointed in the direction of Svengallop’s trailer.

“Duskfall and I will ask for a private word with her. I highly doubt someone as sleazy as Svengallop will deny the direct request of two Princesses,” Luna observed and upon everyone’s agreement, she and Duskfall walked towards the trailers.

“Even if we get her alone, there’s no guarantee she’ll spill the beans,” Duskfall pointed out as she fell into step with her fellow Princess, but Luna just smiled reassuringly.

“You and I both know Coloratura is probably chomping at the bit to vent her woes. I doubt it will take much pressure for her to confess everything, even if Svengallop is holding some kind of scandal against her. Even if she isn’t, I’m sure that between the two of us we can find some way to make a convincing argument,” Luna chuckled mirthlessly. The pair walked up to Svengallop’s trailer and Luna knocked. A moment later and Svengallop appeared.

“Oh! Princesses! What can I do for you?” He was the perfect picture of a humble servant of his country. A pity his acting skills were only put to use to deceive those directly before him, never mind anyone off to the side who could easily see the cracks in his visage.

“Young Duskfall wishes to meet Countess Coloratura in a more private setting,” Luna stated, pushing the younger Alicorn forward slightly with a wing. Duskfall took this as her que to put her own acting skills to use.

“I, um, it’s just I’m a huge fan of her and I’ve always wanted to meet her…but, well, between my schedule as a Princess and associated societal expectations, I can’t very well, er, ‘fan girl’ in public,” Duskfall fluffed her wings, looked awkwardly away, moving her ears to both sides as she blushed slightly. All to paint the image of a young woman with a celebrity crush. Svengallop took the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Svengallop’s face took on a look of sympathetic understanding, but Luna saw a pit of greed behind his eyes, “Oh, of course Princess, I understand completely. The spotlight can be so demanding. I’ll let the Countess know you wish to speak to her outside of the limelight.”

“Your help is appreciated,” Luna lied with the all the grace her millennia of life had granted her. Her distain for him carefully hidden beneath a mask none but those most familiar with her could see through. Even a Changeling would have been exceptionally hard pressed to detect her feelings of malice for the stallion before her.

“Anything for the Princesses,” Svengallop replied with a proper bow before walking off to inform Coloratura of the meeting.

“A little warning might have been nice,” Duskfall said, but her teasing grin and lidded eyes spoke of no hard feelings.

“I trusted you to be able to think on your hooves. The blushing fangirl was a nice approach, definitely gave you a much weaker feeling position,” Luna complimented.

“I did spend over three centuries acting as a ‘dream girl’ for almost everyone I ever met,” Duskfall pointed out, her ears and face forward as she waited for Svengallop to return.

“Wait…do you mean-?”

“I wasn’t able to shapeshift into Celestia for obvious reasons, but other than that, yes. Someone in power lusting over something he has power over? That’s his thing, although there was remarkably little physical lust attached to it, he’s just in love with the intoxicating feeling of having power over others,” Duskfall replied as if she were talking about the weather. Luna turned to her.

“Are you sure you’re not the Alicorn of Lust as well?” Luna was only mildly joking as she poked Duskfall’s cheek with a wing.

“Love does make people crazy,” Duskfall answered, causing Luna to freeze.

“Surely you can’t-”

“Use my connection to Insanity to see what would literally drive someone mad with lust and then tone my appearance and adopted personality down to a less mind-breaking level? Took me a long time to realize that’s what I was doing, but I’ve been doing it for about 100 years,” Duskfall said in a voice that was just slightly too calm. A visible tremor ran through Luna’s body. Whether it was of fear, horror, shock, disgust, or something else, even Luna couldn’t say. Her next words came unbidden.

“And if I asked…?” Luna was afraid to finish the sentence, but Duskfall craned her neck to whisper in Luna’s ear. Luna, having dealt with nightmares for as long as she could remember, was reminded of the fact that there was more than one kind of terror. It was easy to break through other’s problems. Being confronted with your own was a completely different sort of beast. The idea that Duskfall could exert that kind of power over her was downright chilling.

Fortunately Luna didn’t have to dwell on that for too long as Svengallop returned and directed them to a small clearing a little bit away from the trailers. As if that nightmare inducing conversation had never happened, Duskfall was back to her fangirl mode until they were sure they were out of earshot of Svengallop. Thankfully Duskfall didn’t return to the conversation once she dropped the act and Luna wasn’t about to start it back up herself.

A minute or two of awkward silence later and Coloratura joined them.

“Svengallop said you wanted to speak with me?” Coloratura asked, halfway between wanting to appear like her happy stage self for a ‘fan’ and simply not having the energy to care. It was heartbreaking to see someone who had a passion for their craft having that love squeezed out of them mercilessly. Luna had seen it before and would no doubt see it again.

“Yes, we were hoping to have a word with you concerning Svengallop. What sort of hold does he have over you exactly?” Duskfall inquired. Coloratura blinked in surprise before letting out a long, weary sigh.

“I could very easily plead ignorance, but you’d no doubt find out anyway. It’s not like it’s a matter of any secrecy and even if it was a Princess asking would get answers regardless. The long and short of it is when I was first starting out and didn’t know any better, I simply signed the first contract offered to me and didn’t understand the fine print. I signed away everything. My copyright, my likeness, my voice, and so on is held by my recording company which is in turn owned by Svengallop. When I started to make it big, he assigned himself as my ‘personal manager’. When I tried to walk away after I found out how much of a jack- er, bad guy he is, he brought out my contract and explained to me the exact terms of it,” Coloratura explained, looking at the ground with shoulders drooped and ears flattened.

“Would you happen to have a copy of your contract available? I’d like to go over it,” Luna requested with Duskfall nodding in agreement, “I’m guessing Svengallop has kept you from any sort of legal aid?”

“He might as well have, given the schedule he has me on I just don’t have the time to seek out a lawyer. Although, truthfully, I doubt you’ll find anything illegal in the contract,” Coloratura sounded exhausted and angry as she weakly pounded the ground with a hoof. Even under the veil, it wasn’t hard to see she was gritting her teeth in frustration.

“Just because the letter of the contract is legal doesn’t mean the contract itself is legal,” Luna moved to sit beside Coloratura and draped a wing over her. This was one of Luna’s strengths, comforting people. Sure, she usually did that in the Dream Realm, but a waking nightmare was still a nightmare in her mind.

“I hope you’re right, Princess,” Coloratura replied, looking up at the Alicorn, “I’m tired of living like this. I’ll go grab my copy of the contract.”

As Coloratura walked off to grab the paper Luna and Duskfall sat there, looking at each other. Luna felt somewhat awkward, but if Duskfall felt the same she didn’t show it.

“I confess, as much as Tom loved crime drama, the subject of contracts didn’t come up all that much. What are you going to be looking for, Luna?” Duskfall asked conversationally.

“I think the most likely solution would be a Clean Hooves defense,” Luna answered, “Which means that Svengallop is acting unethically while still in the technical confines of the contract.”

“You mean the rest of what Coloratura told us could still be legal?” Duskfall asked in surprise. Having someone take legal ownership of something like a voice sounded very dodgy to Duskfall.

“Depending on the wording of the contract, given that Coloratura probably wasn’t under undue stress to sign the contract in the first place, it could be perfectly legal,” Luna replied, “Another possible avenue of attack would be an Efficiency Breach. Suggesting Coloratura can make more money if she broke contract and paid damages and then continued working as a pop star as opposed to continuing under the contract. Although, given the boom and bust nature of a pop star, that would be quite tricky to prove in court. The final most likely case to be made would be a Breach of Condition, meaning that Coloratura is denied the main benefits of signing the contract in the first place.”

“Isn’t there some kind of mental health exception? Coloratura is clearly miserable working under the contract,” Duskfall pointed out as her ears flicked about.

“Not unless the courts find some kind of mental deficiency in Coloratura. Simply being miserable isn’t quite enough, unfortunately,” Luna answered as she turned to see Coloratura returning with the contract.

“Is it wrong that I feel very odd asking a Princess for legal counsel?” Coloratura asked as she gave the contract to Luna.

“As a Princess, we technically are the highest law in the land,” Luna noted, “I’ll read this over with all due haste. By the end of the day you should know if there’s any hope of getting out of your current situation.”

“Thank you very much, I don’t know how I can repay you,” Coloratura bowed deeply.

“Think nothing of it. You are a friend of Dame Applejack, it is my pleasure to help where I am able,” Luna waved her off with a wing.

“Nepotism at its finest,” Duskfall snarked as she waved a hoof in the air. Luna shot her a dirty look.

“You don’t need to say it out loud,” Luna huffed, but her eyes betrayed a bit of good natured ribbing.

“Well, I’d best be getting back before Svengallop gets suspicious anything is amiss,” Coloratura sighed before visibly putting her mask back on, “Laters!”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re plotting something?” Duskfall asked Luna as they watched Coloratura walk away.

“Because you’re old enough to know that with age comes a certain amount of stubbornness. I’ve agreed to help Coloratura and help her I shall, even if that means buying out her contract. You should also ask Pinkie if Svengallop signed anything agreeing to let Coloratura into this event if certain conditions were met. Asking for 500 cored and peeled apples is almost certainly a violation of impossibility, Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie notwithstanding,” Luna shrugged before rolling her shoulders, “I’ll be at my place, reading this contract if anyone needs me.”

The rest of the setup for the charity event went smoothly. The other acts arriving and the stage were finished all on time. The event would start tomorrow night. True to her word, Luna finished her inspection of the contract just as the sun was beginning to set.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Chrysalis asked as she lounged on a couch.

“Svengallop is almost certainly in violation of the terms of contract. Even ignoring the fact he’s using intimidation in Coloratura’s name, he’s in clear violation of any Unconscionable Dealings law I can care to name. He preyed upon a young no-name talent with terms that so heavily favor his recording label that any reasonable judge would award Coloratura the case on the spot. I will notify the appropriate parties and have this contract dissolved by the time of the concert. If Svengallop wishes to pursue the matter further, he is of course welcome to bring the matter to court,” Luna announced, sitting down next to Chrysalis, “Although, if I might speak plainly, it took me far too long to parse what exactly was being said. I thought lawyers a thousand years ago were bad about making their contracts understandable.”

“I wouldn’t know, I was locked up too, remember? Although I don’t doubt it, a snake that has had a thousand years to improve its venom will no doubt have a more potent venom at the end of it all,” Chrysalis mused as she levitated a cup of water to herself and took a drink.

“True enough,” Luna sighed as she teleported a copy of the contract and a note to a law attorney she knew and was reasonably trusted in such matters, “It hurts that those I have sworn to protect can suffer just as much from those within the law as those outside of it. The laws I have sworn to help uphold.”

“Lulu, no system is perfect. There will always be those looking to take advantage of others and sometimes the laws are written in such a way as to be exploitable. Sometimes those exploits are even necessary to keep the law from being unjust in and of itself. Even so, it’s better to have a system with flaws like these than to have absolute anarchy or absolute tyranny,” Chrysalis opined as she wrapped a leg around Luna.

“You are correct, of course. That does not preclude me from wishing I could make the system better,” Luna rubbed at her eyes, tired from translating the legal jargon.

“And it shouldn’t, it’s a tightrope we must walk. How much effort can we reasonably put into something before we realize that nothing more can be done by us personally? I’m sure if you went over every law on the books with a fine tooth comb, you’ll find a host of ways to improve them, but how much energy can you dedicate to such an endeavor? Even if you aren’t living in Canterlot, you still have your duties as a Princess to take care of and there are only so many hours in a day. To take care of others, one must first take care of themselves,” Chrysalis said, leaning into Luna. Luna looked at the Changeling Queen.

“When did you go and get so wise?” Luna asked, a warm smile and a nostalgic feeling washing over her.

“I am a Changeling of hidden depths, as befits my species,” Chrysalis snarked with a wide grin and a teasing look. The two ancient mares laughed together before a comfortable silence enveloped them. Soon thereafter, both Changeling Queen and Alicorn Princess were asleep.

Things wrapped up remarkably quickly after that. Late in the afternoon a lawyer posted notice of the contract’s dissolving with Svengallop. He was, naturally, furious. However, he also had the good sense not to cause a scene where two Alicorns were watching. So after a declaration of vengeance and later court dates, the stallion marched off with his things in tow.

“As good as it is to see the back end of him, what am I going to do now? I still need to perform, but Svengallop took care of the effects and things. Now that he’s gone, I don’t have access to any of that,” Coloratura worried.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head. I anticipated something like this and made some alternative arrangements, if you would like them,” Duskfall offered.

“Alternative arrangements? Don’t you mean ‘alternate’ arrangements?” Coloratura asked, arching an eyebrow.

“I would if I had only prepared one alternative. Being friends with both Octavia and Vinyl is incredibly helpful when you have a music based problem,” Duskfall said happily, looking very pleased with herself.

“Rara, you may have been a star with all that fancy magic and lights, but Ah know that you, as a pony and as a singer, even without all the bells an’ whistles, are the brightest star Ah’ve ever seen shine. So get out there and sing how you want to sing!” Applejack encouraged.

“That’s sweet, AJ. If I have people like you in my corner, I think I’ll be alright,” Coloratura hugged AJ, “I think I know what I want to do for tonight’s performance.”

Vinyl and Octavia, despite their usually conflicting tastes in music, adored every time they got the chance to compliment each other’s style. Such was the case now, as Coloratura sang a heartfelt soul song about discovering who she was under the glitz and glamour. It was backed up with a symphonic rock track provided primarily by Octavia’s local orchestra friends and synthesized with Vinyl’s equipment.

The crowd had been deeply surprised when Coloratura had walked on stage without her usual clothes and makeup, but they quickly fell in love with her singing. Applejack couldn’t help but smile as a whole mass of ponies discovered something she had known all along. Rara had an incredible singing voice, no add-ons required.

Farewell to Friends

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 37: Farewell to Friends

Duskfall was a bundle of nerves and even her best efforts hadn’t kept her friends from noticing. And why wouldn’t she be nervous? She was about to fully live up to her title as the Alicorn of Insanity and willingly orchestrate her own inexistence. The true mark of her madness was that she wasn’t afraid of that oblivion, but only fearful that she might fail to make it happen.

To make matters more complicated in these final days before the Winter Solstice, apparently Rainbow Dash hadn’t gotten the memo that tortoises hibernate during the winter.

“Rainbow, I swear to God, Tank’s fine! You’re overreacting!” Duskfall tried to assure the prismatic mare, but to no avail. Her own stressed tone no doubt putting Rainbow on edge as well.

“I’m going to Fluttershy for a second opinion!” Rainbow insisted as the pair flew towards the animal lover’s cottage. Duskfall was doubtful they’d even find her there, given she was likely to be helping the local wildlife prepare for their own hibernations.

“Oh yes, because heaven forbid a conglomerate being of Twilight Sparkle and Tom Williams know what they’re talking about in an area of academia. Further, let it not be construed that said conglomerate being knows anything about reptiles when SPIKE IS A REPTILE!” Duskfall was in fine snarking form and her eye rolling was sublime.

“Spike’s a dragon,” Rainbow retorted, her own eyes rolling while clutching Tank for dear life.

“Mother- He’s a dragon, which makes him a lizard, which makes him a reptile! I KNOW YOU’RE NOT THIS DUMB RAINBOW AND I’M NOT IN THE MOOD TO PLAY GAMES!” Duskfall yelled. She wasn’t quite sure why she was yelling, but yelling felt good so she did it anyway.

“People can be dumb about their pets,” Rainbow replied reasonably and Duskfall would swear in a court of law that she saw the Pegasus’ lips twitch in amusement.

“I’m going to cuss you out in a couple of alien languages now, RD,” Duskfall informed her in a tone that belied just how close to absolute breaking the Alicorn was. The purple pseudo-princess even had a twitch under her right eye.

“Go right ahead, I’m still taking Tank to Flutters,” Rainbow answered with infuriating calm as she looked ahead as she flew. Her 350 years on a backwater shithole planet had gifted Duskfall with quite a repertoire of swears and other profanity and thus she was still going strong when they arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. To Duskfall’s surprise, the meek Pegasus was indeed home.

“What can I do for you today?” Fluttershy asked kindly as she let her friends inside, ushering them to take a seat.

“Tank’s been acting kinda weird and sluggish. Can you check him over to make sure nothing’s wrong?” Rainbow requested, holding out the tortoise in question hopefully, complete with doe eyes.

“Of course I’ll give him a checkup Rainbow. We need to make sure he’s healthy for his hibernation,” Fluttershy nodded in what she thought was understanding. As Fluttershy floated about gathering her things for the check up, Duskfall turned to Rainbow. Rainbow absolutely hated how smug the Alicorn looked.

Dash muttered darkly just out of Fluttershy’s earshot during the whole checkup. Her subject of ire was Duskfall, who still hadn’t lost that shit eating grin. Rainbow was becoming sorely tempted to try and strangle the madmare, except there was a chance that Duskfall would enjoy it. Even if Duskfall wasn’t that type, the Alicorn had more than enough ability to squish Rainbow like a bug if the Alicorn of Insanity and Darkness got serious. So all she could really do was mutter impotently. Judging from her continued demeanor, Duskfall knew that too.

About ten minutes of this and Rainbow was mercifully free to go with Tank having a clean bill of health. Aside from the hibernation thing, of course…in her Heart of Hearts, Rainbow knew she had no one to blame but herself for this hibernation thing being a shock. Rainbow had only skimmed through those pet care manuals she had been given by Fluttershy when she first adopted Tank as her pet. It was enough to keep Tank happy and healthy, but clearly a few key facts had eluded her.

Even still, there was a phrase from that poem Tom had been talking about months ago…back when he and Twilight were still alive. ‘Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light’. Rainbow wasn’t ready to let Tank go into that good night without exhausting every possible avenue!

Thankfully for Rainbow’s mental health, Duskfall had decided to check up on Lightning and various other preparations for winter. So the Pegasus was allowed to plot in peace… for better or for worse.

At first, the solution seemed obvious. Tank was hibernating because of the colder weather. Unfortunately, Rainbow couldn’t just pack up and move south for the winter. Despite her feathers, she wasn’t a migratory bird. So then the next best thing would be to stop winter from coming at all! Rainbow Dash didn’t even realize she was growing a grin that would put the Grinch to shame.

Thus began Rainbow’s one mare campaign against the changing of the seasons. Naturally, such actions as stealing whole clouds and leading flocks of geese astray couldn’t happen without someone noticing.

“Do you think we should tell her Tank needs to hibernate for health reasons and not just because it’s a little chilly?” Discord wondered as he sat in a lawn chair, looking up at the sky with Duskfall and Harmonia next to him on either side.

“This is going to blow up in her face sooner or later. We can enlighten her after she learns a valuable lesson about not playing with forces beyond her control,” Harmonia opined.

“I’m going to have to agree with Harmonia. Let RD stew in her own mild insanity for a day or two until she somehow gets a cosmic kick in the rear and then tell her the truth,” Duskfall agreed.

“It is quite a nice Heartsong she’s singing,” Discord noted as he stretched, making noises that were definitely not the popping of joints.

“Will wonders ever cease? Discord has finally gained an appreciation for something as harmonious as a Heartsong?” Harmonia teased her fellow Greater Spirit, a smirk on her face as she poked him with her tail. It spoke volumes to how much their relationship had improved over the last few months that Discord didn’t do anything except swipe halfheartedly at Harmonia in retaliation.

“You know, with a bit of modification, this would be a killer love song,” Duskfall said mildly, “I’m actually more concerned about when Rainbow realizes that a single Pegasus, no matter how driven, can’t actually stop winter.”

Deciding to act on her worry, Duskfall went to find Rainbow just as the Heartsong finished.

“For every hoof step back, they go three or four hoof steps forward!” Rainbow complained while on a cloud with Tank. Then Rainbow’s gaze turned to Cloudsdale and she verbalized her intention to essentially vandalize the weather factory. Duskfall cleared her throat and Rainbow nearly jumped out of her skin.

“You know, Rainbow, I’m torn,” Duskfall began, landing on the cloud beside her friend and settling down.

“Torn? Torn about what?” Rainbow asked in confusion, eyebrow raised and head cocked to the side.

“Well, as the Alicorn of Insanity, I feel like I should be supporting you in your lunatic desire to damage government property, get sent to jail, and get kicked out of the Wonderbolts. However, as your friend, I have no desire to see you get sent to jail or to see your dreams crushed. I mean, all of Ponyville banded together to make sure you passed that exam, remember? Sure would be a shame if you pissed all that work and community bonding down the toilet,” Duskfall’s voice when she said this did make it sound like she was genuinely torn on what to do. One didn’t need to be a Changeling to tell Duskfall had absolutely no inclination of encouraging Rainbow in her quest to vanquish winter. The reality of her situation crashed into Rainbow hard.

“WELL WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! I DON’T WANT TO LOSE TANK!” Rainbow screamed, tears forming in her eyes, threatening to spill at any moment. To Rainbow shock, Duskfall started laughing. It was far too similar to the sort of laughter Duskfall had made after Starlight shattered her Cutie Mark.

“Rainbow, I know as well as anyone the grief of losing someone you love. For starters, I wouldn’t even exist were it not for the death of Tom and Twilight. During my time off world getting my Cutie Mark, I had lovers and, if I had been in a better state of mind, friends pass away. Some may argue that your situation is better, that since yours is only a temporary separation you have no reason to be feeling the grief you do. I say more fool them. Saying goodbye to anyone is hard. Saying goodbye to someone you love with all your heart and knowing you probably won’t see them again for 5 months? That’s even harder. It might even be more torturous, from your point of view, because you still believe you have some kind of power to stop his hibernation. What you’re feeling right now, Rainbow, is valid. But even so, I could hardly call myself your friend if I didn’t stop you from ruining your life over this,” Duskfall said gently, draping a wing over Rainbow.

“What do you mean, ‘I believe I have some kind of power of his hibernation’? Won’t he stay awake if winter never comes?” Rainbow asked, already knowing the answer as tears started leaking out. Duskfall shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow, but tortoises like Tank don’t just go dormant for the cold. They need to hibernate for their health too. Yes, there are some species of tortoise that stay awake all year around, but Tank isn’t one of those. Forcing him awake, even if you moved to somewhere it’s always hot and sunny, would just hurt him,” Duskfall informed her. In response, Rainbow pulled Tank close, leaned into Duskfall, and started sobbing in earnest. Through it all, Duskfall and Tank both gave Rainbow what emotional support they could.

“What can I do to make sure Tank has the best hibernation ever?” Rainbow asked quietly when she finally calmed down.

“I can help, but I’m certain Fluttershy can point you in the right direction better than I can,” Duskfall replied. A tortoise of Tank’s age needed to be starved for nearly a month. By then Duskfall would be long gone. Fortunately, she knew that between Fluttershy, Tom, and Twilight, Rainbow and Tank would be well taken care of.

It was two days until the Winter Solstice. Duskfall was sitting silent vigil in the Map Room. Every second was painfully slow. Every minute was an agonizing eternity. Yet even tapping into the full power of her inherited OCD, one could only go over preparations so many times before even the OCD was satisfied that any further inspection was pointless.

So Duskfall sat, alone, having sent Spike, Lightning, and Moon Dancer off to have fun while Starlight was performing community service under Harmonia’s watch. If Duskfall wasn’t so tense, she might have laughed over how she was thinking like a kid at Christmas time, given it was actually Christmas time.

Suddenly Duskfall’s peace was interrupted by a pink and yellow Pegasus mare bursting into the Map Room.

“Duskfall! Come quick! Sunset!” Artemis babbled, for that’s who it was.

“Artemis, calm down! I can’t understand you,” Duskfall stood from her seat and walked over to try and calm the panicking teenager down. Artemis took a deep breath before starting again.

“There’s a social media account spreading sensitive information and pictures about us at the high school. Rainbow and AJ think it’s Sunset doing it, but I convinced them to wait until I get you before making any decisions,” Artemis explained. The poor girl looked so nerve-wracked that Duskfall instantly put her own problems to the side.

“Well then, we better not tarry here,” Duskfall declared and soon the pair were standing outside Canterlot High. Not letting the cold bother her, Duskfall marched straight to the music room and found the Rainbooms sitting around looking miserable. Their heads all turned upon Duskfall’s entrance.

“Duskfall!” They cheered.

“Alright, please present the evidence. I’m 90% sure you’re being dumb, but there’s a 9.9% chance she’s being brainwashed or blackmailed,” Duskfall admitted with a shrug as she held out her hand and was given Pinkie’s phone.

“And the other .1%?” Sunset asked wryly. Duskfall was happy to see she still had some good humor in her.

“Well, obviously, it would be remiss of me as a scientific mind to declare anything other than a non-zero possibility you’ve played us all for fools before seeing the evidence,” Duskfall quipped in return as she gazed at the ‘evidence’, “Are you people for real?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Teen Rainbow asked, but there was no heat behind her words. Instead they were colored with relief. She hadn’t wanted to believe Sunset betrayed them, but once the idea had been presented Rainbow had let her paranoia carry her away.

“First off, ‘Anon-a-Miss’? A Sunset Shimmer who’s spent her whole life drinking bleach could come up with something cleverer. Second, instead of using the default avatar, this person went with a profile picture that was vaguely Sunset-like in shape. Does that sound like the cunning manipulator who destroyed your friendships by making you believe the worst of each other? Third, and most importantly, what would Sunset stand to gain from this? As my presence here shows, I and everyone else in Equestria is just a short walk away if Sunset truly did lose her mind and go back to her wicked ways,” Duskfall pointed out as she handed the phone back to Pinkie.

“I’d like to think I’m motivated by more than my own self-interest,” Sunset snarked as she leaned up against a piano.

“You are, evil you were not,” Duskfall replied simply.

“So then where did this Anon-a-Miss get her hands on Sunset’s private photos?” AJ wondered.

“She hacked the cloud storage most likely. I suppose whoever did this might’ve hacked Sunset’s phone directly. Sunset, do you mind if I look at your phone?” Duskfall requested and the young woman easily handed over her phone. Duskfall stared at it dumbly for a few moments when she hit the power button, “Sunset, why does your phone have no password?”

“…I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass one day,” Sunset grumbled as she buried her face in her hands, “I bought that phone not long after I first got to this world and at the time it never occurred to me to actually put a password on it and I just never put a password on it through sheer inertia.”

“Actually, this might be a stroke of luck. Pinkie, would you happen to have a fingerprint kit?” Duskfall asked of the hyperactive girl. To no one’s surprise, Pinkie dug out one such kit from the depths of her hair, “If whoever did this physically stole your phone, there should be fingerprints.”

About 20 minutes later and Duskfall’s suspicions had proven correct. An unidentified set of fingerprints were on Sunset’s phone. Normally, that wouldn’t tell them all that much, but these fingerprints had something noteworthy about them.

“My, my, Anon-a-Miss, what small thumbs you have~” Duskfall giggled as the prepubescent fingerprints revealed themselves, “So, this narrows it down quite a bit and maybe I’m being a bit hasty here, but Snips and Snails don’t have the brains between them for a scheme like this and the only other pre-teens Sunset is around even semi-regularly are Sweetie, Bloom, and Scoots.”

“I think yer crazy! Why on earth would those three do somethin’ like this?” AJ exclaimed.

“First, I did mention the whole ‘Alicorn of Insanity’ thing, yes? Second, I have no idea why they’d do this and I may even be wrong, but a moment to get their fingerprints and then another moment to see if they match and we’ll know for sure,” Duskfall replied casually. No one could argue that this was some invasive process and it would get results one way or another.

After that, the whole thing unraveled fairly quickly. Sweetie’s fingerprints were a match and the human CMC spilled the beans. They had been jealous of Sunset, feeling she had been monopolizing their sister’s time.

“We’re sorry!” The trio cried and unlike most brats their age, they were actually sorry for what they did instead of just being sorry they were caught.

“Well, I suppose no real harm was done and it’s my own fault for not locking my phone…so sure, I forgive you,” Sunset told them with a wan smile and she soon found herself subjected to a triple tackle hug.

“Well, the day is saved, which means it’s time for this lone stranger to head off into the sunset…I probably could’ve chosen a better turn of phrase…” Duskfall realized what someone could interpret her words as only after she had said them.

“Why Duskfall, I had no idea,” Sunset had a wide, teasing grin that was mirrored by the rest of the Rainbooms.

“Oh for the love of- you idiots have fun with your little competition in a few days, I’m going home!” Duskfall pretended to storm off in a huff. It was almost a shame she’d likely never know the outcome of the Friendship Games.

Author's Notes:

It is amazing what having your youngest brother suddenly turn homicidal will do to your will to write. Which is kill it completely.

To make a long story short, I always thought my youngest brother was a psychopath and not in the meme way. A few days ago, he finally lost his marbles. I won't go into exactly what triggered his violent temper, but the end result was my whole family being held hostage at knifepoint and then he waved the knife at the cops. You can imagine how well the cops took that.

So if this chapter feels a bit shaky, that's why. My mental state is... I want to say scattered.

Next chapter is the finale of Shattered Souls. As I want to finish strong, I'm likely not even going to start writing it until I can pull myself together. So if the final chapter is delayed, I apologize, but it's due to circumstances beyond my control.

Rebirth

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Shattered Souls

Chapter 38: Rebirth

It was cold and dark, but that was to be expected. Duskfall was sitting alone overlooking her runic array in the unprotected courtyard of the Castle of the Two Sisters. The Winter Solstice was fast approaching. Only a few more minutes now…

Duskfall was acutely aware of every beat of her heart. It was funny to her, how hard it was working to keep her alive when she was intending to end her life. She had long overstayed her welcome. She shouldn’t have lived 6 months, never mind over 3 centuries.

When Duskfall had left the castle in secret an hour ago, she had seen Harmonia. The Greater Spirit of Harmony watching her leave with sad, baleful eyes. Even so, Duskfall didn’t stop. Harmonia would be happier to have Twilight back. Happier to have the proper Bearer of Magic returned to the land of the living.

It was only one minute now, before midnight and the Winter Solstice. Duskfall stood and made the final preparations. 15 seconds…it was finally, finally over…10…9…8…7…6…5… Duskfall prepared the ritual knife to spill her own blood into the runes…4…3…2…1.

Duskfall’s eyes snapped open. It only took her a moment to realize something had gone wrong. Or maybe it had gone right? All around her, all Duskfall could see was a white void. Was this what non-existence was supposed to be like? There was a lot more ‘intact sense of self’ than she was expecting, if that were the case.

No. Duskfall had to face facts. She had somehow failed. Worse yet, she was either unconscious, in a coma, or this void was some sort of divine punishment. Duskfall felt tears forming and then escaping from her.

“Dammit…DAMMIT!” Duskfall screamed, her eyes screwed shut and her ears pinned back as she put everything into that anguished shout.

“There’s no need to be so loud,” A masculine voice said. Duskfall sprang back in surprise. Suddenly there was a bipedal figure in a black cloak with a hood that completely shrouded his face. Somehow this figure felt even more powerful than Lady Fate.

“Who…” Duskfall felt tongue tied. She tried to force more words out, but they wouldn’t come.

“You did try to summon one of my subordinates, did you not?” The figure asked before turning and walking a short distance before what looked like an old wood desk appeared for him to sit at.

“Death?” Duskfall asked hesitantly. How had she overshot a god and gotten Death himself?!

“One would have supposed, with how spectacularly your Twilight Sparkle’s summoning backfired, you would have been more cautious at the very least. Instead you cast your net for any powerful being with even a passing association to me. I am aware of your connection to Insanity, but Insanity is not the same as stupidity,” Death said pointedly and Duskfall got the impression he was glaring at her. Duskfall wilted under the oppressive feeling of the Concept’s ire.

“I’m sorry…” Was all Duskfall could think to say. Any words to defend herself with turned to ash in her mouth.

“Fortunately, your recklessness was anticipated. There will be consequences, of that make no mistake. But Equuis will be spared the worst of your foolishness. In the mean time, the contract has been written up and signed in your blood,” Death told her and Duskfall dared to perk up.

“You mean…I didn’t fail? Tom and Twilight can come back?!” Duskfall asked hopefully, rushing up to Death’s desk.

“Yes, they will return. I will even have one of my top lieutenants take care of the details,” Death promised and waved a bony, skeletal hand that peeked out from under the cloak. A portal opened and from it floated what looked to be a young man, human, who was asleep. Yet Duskfall knew there was more to him than met the eye. Even asleep his power was palpable to Duskfall. Not as strong as Death, but not completely outclassed either.

Getting a better look at him, he had a mop of unruly black hair, was probably a little over 6 feet tall, and was wearing a white t-shirt and gray sweatpants. He was clean shaven and he looked like he kept in shape with a thin, decently muscular frame. Given he was asleep, Duskfall couldn’t see his eyes.

A snap of Death’s fingers and suddenly there was a bucket hovering over the sleeping figure. Duskfall could see where this was going and couldn’t suppress a wicked grin. The bucket poured its contents, cold water, onto the young man.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” He screeched at his abrupt return to the waking world. He turned to snarl at Death, “DO YOU HAVE NO DECENCY BOSS?!”

“No,” Death replied bluntly.

“Motherfuc- you could at least have had the decency to use hot water! Or better yet, lava! You know how I feel about cold water!” He ranted, as if he weren’t talking to the Concept of Death itself. A flash of intense heat evaporated the water off of the young man.

“Do I? I’ll have to make a note of it for the future,” Death replied blithely, evoking a frustrated grow from his lieutenant who put his hands on Death’s desk and leaned on it.

“So what was so important that you couldn’t even wait for me to wake up?” The young man demanded. Death pointed at Duskfall, who suddenly felt like a deer caught in the headlights. He turned and Duskfall was greeted to eyes such a deep royal purple that they were almost black.

“A Twilight Sparkle? You dragged me out of bed, away from Setsuna, woke me up with a bucket of cold water, for a… wait a second. Is this that Duskfall everyone’s been talking about recently?” He came closer to Duskfall, inspecting her with interest.

“She is and as such I’m giving you a special assignment. You have four objectives. First, restore Tom Williams and Twilight Sparkle. Second, teach the Alicorns of Equuis how to properly connect with their goddesshood. Third, defend Equuis from whatever or whoever Duskfall’s foolishness has brought upon them until such time as you think they are ready to stand on their own. Fourth-”

“What would Equuis need defending from?” Duskfall asked warily, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“To explain it as simply as possible, when you preformed your ritual, it shattered the barrier Discord and Harmonia had set up. Given the amount of various arcane energies it has stored over the eons, when it broke, it caused quite the disturbance. It was enough of a disturbance to alert almost the whole of Creation to Equuis’ location. Anyone with sufficient means will almost certainly be visiting in the near future. Heroes and Villains, Monsters and Demons, potential allies and sworn foes, all those and more will be arriving on Equuis’ doorstep. Congratulations, Duskfall, you’ve just vaulted your entire world onto the interdimensional stage,” Death informed her calmly, steepling his fingers.

Duskfall froze for a moment as she processed what he said. Then she began trembling, feeling the beginnings of a panic attack coming on. Her breathing was shallow and quick, her vision blurring. How could she have done something like that?! The whole world was in danger because of her! Before she could spiral out of control, she felt a hand on her head, gently petting her.

“Easy there, kiddo, sometimes things go bad, but going to pieces isn’t going to help anyone,” The young man said in a soothing voice as he continued petting her, “Things can’t go back to the way they were, but we can keep things from going to hell, at least.”

“Which brings me to your fourth objective,” Death said before Duskfall could reply, “Keep Duskfall Sparkle out of further trouble.”

“Understood,” The young man replied, standing up, “Anything else I should know before I head out to start working on getting Twilight and Mr. Williams back?”

“Yes, one last thing. You are authorized to use whatever means you deem necessary to protect Equuis. If any of the other Concepts have issue with that, I will deal with them directly,” Death informed him. The lieutenant gave an appreciative whistle.

“It’s been a long time since I had full clearance. I know this Equuis is strategically significant, but all this?” He sounded surprised. Duskfall couldn’t help but wonder what he meant by ‘strategically significant’.

“The selfsame cascade of released energies that caused this to be necessary also upgraded this Equuis from a Class B to a Class S,” Death replied quietly. If the lieutenant was surprised before, now he was downright shocked.

“Right then, the chips are really down on this one. I’ll try and keep the usual shenanigans to bare minimum,” The lieutenant promised.

“And I’ll let Fate know that her usual antics will not be tolerated, at least not until you’ve established yourself on Equuis,” Death replied in turn, “You have your assignment and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to do this properly. I’ll arrange with Lady Time to give you enough room to do whatever you need to do in regards to getting Twilight and Tom back.”

“You know me, Boss, nothing less than my best,” The Lieutenant snapped his fingers and suddenly a door appeared. It looked like it wouldn’t be out of place on a Star Trek style space ship, except the frame had runes on it Duskfall couldn’t recognize, “Come along, Duskfall. Just because we have limitless time doesn’t mean we should waste it.”

Duskfall felt so far out of her depth she followed without a word. Really, what other option did she have when being told by beings as all encompassing as Death that she had fucked up in such a fantastic way? Duskfall had half a mind to ask she be allowed to remain a little longer to at least try and repair what she had done. Yet it seemed the wheels were already in motion. Duskfall felt like an insignificant speck before these titans. She had asked for their help and had graciously agreed to do so. Who was she to make further demands? She felt bad leaving things as they were for Tom and Twilight to clean up, but if these beings had decided her end would be enough of a punishment for her deeds, then so be it.

Duskfall entered the door and to her great surprise, the room looked like some kind of foyer. It was almost indistinguishable from something she might find on Earth for a particularly well to-do townhouse. The almost came from technology that certainly wasn’t 21^st century Earth that was visible on the walls.

“Welcome, Duskfall Sparkle, to my home away from home,” The Lieutenant said grandly. She got the impression he enjoyed showmanship and leaving a lasting first impression.

“Thank you, mister..?” Duskfall trailed off. He facepalmed in response.

“Right, didn’t introduce myself. Name’s David Thomas. Obviously, I’m one of Death’s Lieutenants and that’s the only relevant title for right now,” David introduced himself.

“Do you have many titles?” Duskfall asked teasingly.

“When you live to be a little over 17 million years old, you tend to pick up at least a few monikers,” David replied drily, with a smug grin. Duskfall blinked a few times, but otherwise remained composed. Then his word choice began to wriggle in her mind.

“What do you mean ‘live’? Aren’t you a god or something? Or are you just using the term to set me more at ease?” Duskfall inquired, her head cocked in curiosity.

“Nope, I was born mortal and I still am mortal. My hearts beat red blood and everything,” David’s grin grew even wider when he saw Duskfall pick up on another word used.

“Hearts, as in plural?! Are you a Time Lord?!” Duskfall demanded, evoking a chuckle in David.

“There are plenty of other species with more than one heart. However, you are in the same galactic ballpark,” He admitted, leaning up against a wall.

“You’re not going to tell me until I guess right, are you?” Duskfall asked petulantly, crossing her forelegs as she pouted.

“That would be extremely unfair as I find it exceedingly unlikely you’ve heard of my species. And yes, I do know about your little sojourn to your future where you encountered quite a few different species. I’m just keeping both of us amused while we wait for someone,” David confessed and before Duskfall could ask who he was waiting for, what looked to be a magnezone, as in the pokémon, of all things floated into view! It beeped and booped at David for a moment.

“Yes, I know. The Boss Man needed me for a special assignment involving that very thing. Are any of the C-class Labs in use?” David asked of the steel/electric type that Duskfall couldn’t believe she was seeing. It beeped some more.

“I’ve been meaning to have a chat with them, but that can wait. Lady Time wouldn’t care for us dilly dallying. We’ll be in Lab 3-F if anyone needs me,” David informed it and with a few more beeps, it hovered away, “Well, let’s get going.”

“Was that a magnezone?!” Duskfall exclaimed while following David down a hallway.

“Yes, yes, I know, most people would choose a metagross or a porygon to keep their household in order. But that magnezone has been with me almost since the beginning and I’ve never regretted putting it in charge. It does, however, have four metagross and a baker’s dozen porygon that answer to it, so it isn’t doing everything by itself,” David explained as they stepped into an elevator, purposefully misinterpreting Duskfall. So the young Alicorn tried another track.

“So what’s a living mortal doing working for Death? Especially given that, well, you don’t feel exactly ‘death-like’ to me. Actually, come to think of it, you feel more like a souped up version of me with all that Darkness and Insanity wafting around you!” Upon Duskfall’s shouting, David’s smile turned from one telling a joke to one you might see on a teacher proud of their student. A smile Twilight had seen on Celestia’s face often enough to recognize it.

“You are exactly correct. If I were going purely off of my own alignments, Darkness would have most likely been my patron Concept, with Insanity coming a close second. Truthfully, there are a number of Concepts that fit me better than Death. Chaos, Laughter, even Life would have been a better match for me, purely off of what powers I align most closely with. Yet I choose to continue in my service to Death. Sure, the perks are nice, but that’s not why I do it. It’s not even because at this point I’m almost certain the whole of the bureaucracy would come crashing down without me. The reason I continue to be Death’s Lieutenant is because I feel it’s the right thing to do. Much like how you felt you were doing the right thing when you preformed your summoning ritual,” Somehow David’s little speech coincided with the elevator opening to let them off. It felt suspiciously well timed, but Duskfall let it go.

“So is this a ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ lesson or a ‘do what you think is right, no matter what’ lesson?” Duskfall asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

“Well, that depends. Knowing the consequences of your actions, would you repeat them?” David asked as he led her down another hallway.

“I…does it make me a terrible person to say I would? I mean, at the end of the day, Tom and Twilight are coming back and you’ll be around to protect Equuis from whatever Pandora’s Box I’ve opened. So, yes, I would do it again,” Duskfall decided as they walked.

“Well then, going off of what I’ve heard about you and what little observations I have, then I’d say you shouldn’t torture yourself for doing what you believe to be right,” David replied as he stopped at a door with a hand scanner. He opened the door and the pair walked in. Along the back wall there seemed to be a trio of large tubes, easily big enough to even fit someone of Celestia’s size. Near them on an adjacent wall was a vat of what looked to be disturbingly familiar crystalline hearts. There was also various computer interfaces and technology along the walls. In the center was an admittedly comfortable looking reclining medical table. Feeling the moment of her end was close at hand, Duskfall decided to be selfish one last time.

“David…how many pokémon do you have?” Duskfall asked as she took a seat on the table. If David was surprised by the non-sequitur, he didn’t show it.

“Probably every pokémon you know of and a couple hundred you don’t. Why do you ask?” David wondered as he started typing something into a computer.

“I was wondering if I could hold a mew before…the end…” Duskfall’s voice grew unsteady as she finished her request. He turned to her with a slightly baffled look on his face.

“The end? The end of what?” He asked with clear confusion.

“The end of me! When you pull Tom and Twilight’s Souls apart and I cease to exist!” Duskfall shouted. Comprehension dawned on him and was mirrored in his expression.

“Oh! You thought- but why wouldn’t you? You can relax, Duskfall. You’re not going anywhere for a long, long time. There are different ways Souls can fuse together and you’re one of the ones who will stay stable even after I separate Tom and Twilight out of you. I can still ask Mew if she’ll let you cuddle her,” David offered as if he hadn’t just shattered Duskfall’s worldview. She was going to survive? She wouldn’t have to sacrifice herself to bring back Tom and Twilight?

“I think…I still want that cuddle…” Duskfall admitted as tears started spilling from her. She didn’t know if they were tears of relief or shock or what. She was grateful he didn’t comment as he pulled out something that looked like a smart phone and put it to his ear.

“Hey, Mew? I’ve got someone who’s in desperate need of cuddles…. We’re down in Lab 3-F… Thanks, love, I know she’ll appreciate it,” With that he hung up.

“‘Love’? You don’t sound British,” Duskfall joked, but was admittedly also very curious.

“It’s probably salient to tell you my species now. Technically we’re called Galfionians, but no one’s called us that for eons. Heck, we don’t even call ourselves that unless we’re being extremely technical. Our much more common name is Pokémorph, short for Pokémon Morpher. We’re a species of shapeshifters who descended from a mew fucking up a teleport bad enough to wind up on a planet over 250 million light years away from Earth and a few billion years in the past. That mew quickly died in the alien environment, but their DNA ended up contaminating the genetic soup that hadn’t yet evolved beyond single celled organisms. Fast forward and you have a species who at base can transform from a humanoid base to 1 to 3 pokémon forms. We can train ourselves to be more comprehensive shapeshifters, if we so desire. Given that, I should hope it’s not surprising that taking pokémon as mates isn’t all that odd for us. They are sentient, after all. S’not like we’re breeding with animals or anything,” Duskfall hadn’t said anything to suggest that, but it sounded like this was a mild sore spot for him.

“So then this Mew is your wife?” Duskfall asked as David used a needle to draw blood for some reason.

“No, and don’t tell Cadence I said this, but Pokémorphs don’t do marriage. There are a whole host of reasons the kind of bond marriage implies just wouldn’t work for us. Marriage is the practice of binding two Souls in love forevermore. Or at least, that’s what it’s supposed to be. It’s a promise to have and to hold, to be loyal, etc and so forth. One of the most prominent issues with this, for a Pokémorph, is that it is extremely common to be shunted without warning from dimension to dimension. So if we tried to strike up the kind of relationship one would find in a healthy marriage, but then suddenly find ourselves in another dimension with little hope of ever seeing that loved one again… it would just cause a lot of pain on both sides,” David answered as he injected the blood into the ports of two of the tubes.

“Then what is Mew to you?” Duskfall asked.

“The closest translation of the word would be ‘Life Mate’. It is a promise that no matter where we go, who we meet, or if we never see each other again, they will always have a piece of our heart and a place in our thoughts. It is also an understanding that a Pokémorph will love again, because being Life Mates isn’t a chain that binds, but a string that connects us all through eternity,” David replied, his words filled with a sort of happy conviction.

“That sounds kinda sweet, when you put it like that,” Duskfall replied, her own thoughts turning to romance. Now that she didn’t have a guillotine hanging over her head, might not she find her own love? Her thoughts turned to a certain Pegasus.

“I’ve had a lot of time and reason to think on it. I’ve also been told I can get a bit flowery when the mood strikes me. I’m just eternally grateful I’m in a position that allows me to stay in pretty regular contact with Mew in particular. It’s rare we don’t see each other at least a few times a millennia. She is the oldest of my living Life Mates, both in terms of age and how long we’ve been together,”

*I heard that crack about my age!* Suddenly a telepathic voice cut in and Mew appeared.

“You were supposed to,” David replied cheekily while not looking away from the computer screen he was working on. Mew responded by whacking him upside the head with her tail, “I’m working here!” He protested.

*If you’re working so hard, then you wouldn’t have time to comment on a woman’s age,* Mew replied primly, floating over to Duskfall, *I heard someone needs cuddles?*

“Er, this isn’t rude or anything is it?” Duskfall asked hesitantly, her face betraying her sense of wonder at seeing the adorable pink pokémon.

*Of course not! This is completely consensual cuddling. Besides, you were afraid you were going to die because someone neglected to mention this procedure would include absolutely no danger to you,* Mew shot a sideways glance at David.

“That is completely fair and I take full responsibility for the miscommunication,” David replied just as two fully formed purple Alicorn bodies plunged into the tubes… cloning tubes, to be more specific. Mew floated into Duskfall’s reach and the Alicorn began to cuddle. If anyone had asked Tom what pokémon he would have wanted to interact with, it would have been swampert. Twilight would’ve answered with Eevee, had she known of the option. But for whatever reason, Duskfall was partial to mew and despite it no longer being her dying wish, she was glad for the physical comfort the small legendary provided.

“So, I know why you’re cloning an Alicorn body for Twilight, but why are you making a second for Tom instead of a human male body?” Duskfall asked as Mew playfully nuzzled her head under Duskfall’s chin.

“The long and short of it is a paperwork snafu. Tom ascended in the body of a female Alicorn, so all the paperwork says he’s a female Alicorn, goddess of Magic and Willpower,” David replied, sounding exasperated.

“Paperwork? Can’t you, I don’t know, fix it?” Duskfall asked indignantly.

*We only call it paperwork to make it easier to understand. It’s a frame of reference most people can grasp. The truth of the matter, which you’ll be better able to comprehend once you fully get in touch with your goddesshood, is much more complicated and a lot more fragile,* Mew answered.

“Reality is held together by chewed bubblegum and duct tape. Trying to change something as integral to Reality’s functioning as the status of a god or goddess is delicate at best, disastrous at worst,” David replied apologetically as he continued typing, “As much as this sounds cold, trying to fix something as minor as species and sex would be grossly irresponsible.”

*Fortunately, there are alternatives, once Tom is properly settled into his new existence. Shapeshifting spells, while not perfect, will at least let him use his old form for a majority of the time, should he so choose,* Mew comforted.

“And how long would that take?” Duskfall asked warily, petting Mew from the top of her head down her spine.

“Best guess is about 500 years, but it could be longer or shorter depending on the state of his Soul after I separate you,” David replied. Duskfall bit down on her initial outraged response.

“Is that the best you can do?” She tried hard to keep any accusation out of her voice.

“Souls are delicate business. Souls that have been converted from Mortal into Immortal are even more so. Tom is going to need a stable physical vessel to anchor him for a long time,” David answered softly as he stepped away from the computer and towards the vat with the Hearts.

“Tell it to me straight; is it my fault their Souls are in such a bad state? Did my Insanity hurt them?” Duskfall asked with a notable warble in her voice. She didn’t want to believe it was true, but why else would they be hurt?

*It wasn’t your Insanity, no. It wasn’t even your Darkness. It’s just the fact that they’ve spent so long together that they’ve somewhat ‘forgotten’ how to be apart,* Mew comforted with words and action. It actually did make Duskfall feel better to know that she hadn’t directly hurt them, even if her bout with madness and the resulting exile likely hadn’t helped.

Meanwhile, David popped the top on the vat of Hearts and fished one out. He inspected it closely before holding it out to one of the cloned bodies, the Heart vanishing into it. He then grabbed a second Heart, but was clearly displeased with something about it. David then whistled as if summoning a dog and a Shadow Heartless appeared!

“Share this amongst yourselves,” David instructed as he gave the Heart over to the Heartless. The Heartless seemed to look at the Heart and then back at David.

“Yes, I’m fine; I think I’m just going to have to rebuild this thing from the ground up. This is the third dud Heart it’s created in the last few years, even with the other maintenance I’ve done with it. Thank you for the concern though,” David replied. The Shadow gave him one more look before dissolving into the ground, taking the apparently worthless Heart with it.

“You can talk to Heartless?!” Duskfall exclaimed as David pulled out a third Heart and found it to his liking.

“Only Purebloods and even then the vast majority of them are still hostile. It’s really a generally useless party trick, all considered. It’s much easier to just bend the Heartless to your will, but I tend to enjoy the conversation when I get lonely,” David admitted, a sheepish smile on his face.

“And people call me crazy,” Duskfall giggled before pulling Mew closer. She could never cuddle like this with Owlowiscious and if she tried it with Spike…well that was just a lot of awkwardness waiting to happen. The stuffed animals Fluttershy had gifted her with were nice, but there was nothing quite like holding a living being close.

“Well, in any case, their Bodies, Minds, and Hearts are ready. All we need are the Souls and the Memories to complete the work. Unfortunately, while I can handle the Souls, Memories aren’t my strong suit. It’ll be a few days local time before I can get an expert in here to do the job properly,” David informed her. Duskfall let out a long sigh.

“I’ve waited this long, what’s a few more days?” Duskfall finally replied. It stung, but it would give her more time to play with pokémon before she had to go back to Equuis and face the music.

“Alright, I’ll just get the Souls taken care of and we’ll be done for the moment,” David assured her. He put a finger on her forehead, directly on her ‘third eye’. As he pulled the finger away, two motes of light followed. As what Duskfall guessed were Tom and Twilight’s Souls left her, she suddenly felt very tired.

*You’re fine, Duskfall, you’ll just need a bit of rest and you’ll be feeling back to normal this time tomorrow, I promise,* Mew said, picking up on Duskfall’s weariness and the spike of fear that came with it.

“If you say so…” Duskfall then yawned, “I’m just…I’m gonna…sleep now…” Duskfall curled up with Mew and fell asleep.

“Thanks for coming on so little notice,” Duskfall heard David say. Duskfall guessed the Memory expert was finally here.

“Don’t mention it, I’m always happy to help,” Replied a feminine voice that Duskfall was sure she recognized. Sure enough, as Duskfall rounded the corner, she was face to face with someone who could only be Naminé. This Naminé was much older, looking to be in her mid 30s, but unmistakable as the Memory Witch of Castle Oblivion. She was even wearing her classic one piece white dress.

“Duskfall, Naminé, Naminé, Duskfall,” David said by way of introducing the two to each other.

“Pleased to meet you, Duskfall,” Naminé said politely, with a small curtsey. Death had said all of Creation would know about Equestria. Duskfall supposed this was her wakeup call that things were about to get very interesting on Equuis.

“Pleased to meet you as well, Naminé,” Duskfall replied with barely contained excitement.

“Well, let’s get started putting those memories back where they belong,” David said as he opened the lab and the trio stepped in.

“Oh, speaking of Memories, are you sure you’ll be able to handle my more…extreme memories?” Duskfall asked with worry. She didn’t want to break Naminé with her Insanity fueled memories, after all.

“Your concern is appreciated, but unneeded. Not to sound like I’m bragging, but I am a Level 5 Memory Witch, I’m one of the best at what I do in all Creation,” Naminé replied. Something about hearing the quiet self-confidence from Naminé as she sat was immensely comforting to Duskfall.

“This isn’t going to take a whole year, is it?” Duskfall questioned as she sat back on the medical table.

“We should be done in an hour or two. You’ll be talking with Tom and Twilight soon,” Naminé promised and they got to work. When all was said and done, Duskfall felt it was surprisingly painless. Naminé did most of the heavy lifting, sifting through memories and determining who owned what.

Then came the discussion of what should be done with Duskfall’s memoires. Naturally, Duskfall wanted to keep her dirty secrets just that, secrets. Unfortunately, both David and Naminé insisted that some memories had to be passed on for the sake of stability. Fortunately Duskfall was able to convince them both to keep her 350 year long exile out of Tom and Twilight’s memories.

Once they were done, the liquid emptied out of the tubes and they opened. David lifted them both out telekinetically while also summoning towels to dry them off. As they were being toweled off, the pair began to stir.

“Oh, my head…what happened?” Given her voice was slightly higher than Duskfall’s own, Duskfall assumed that one was Twilight. She sounded disturbingly similar to Harley Quinn, minus the played up Brooklyn accent.

“Last thing I remember is Tirek threatening the others,” Said probably Tom, given the voice was slightly lower. He sounded almost identical to Raven of Teen Titans. The pair slowly opened their eyes. Sure enough, the one with higher pitch had Twilight’s purple eyes and the Raven sound alike had Tom’s green. Duskfall couldn’t hold herself back.

“YOU’RE ALIVE! You’re alive! Oh my God, you’re alive!” She cried as she jumped at the pair and wrapped them in a bone crushing hug.

“Duskfall! Need! Air!” Twilight gasped. Duskfall loosened her death grip on the pair, but not by much.

“What the heck is going on? Where are we? How did we get separated? Why do we know your name?” Tom asked in bewilderment.

“Try poking around your memories a little more, sometimes it takes a few minutes for them to settle fully,” Naminé suggested, drawing attention to her. Tom and Twilight gaped at her for a moment.

“Twilight?”

“Yes, Tom?”

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“If you’re seeing a blonde woman who bears a striking resemblance to an older version of one of your video game characters, then yes,” Twilight replied. Naminé just giggled in response.

“That isn’t an uncommon reaction. But I can assure you I’m the real Naminé, or at least, a real Naminé. The multiverse is a big place, after all,” Naminé told them with a gentle smile.

“I can vouch for her; she’s even managed to touch my memories, which shouldn’t be possible,” David spoke up before approaching the pair of freshly cloned Alicorns.

“But only when you let me,” Naminé countered modestly, clasping her hands in front of her.

“This is still impressive because I can’t even Obliviate myself and heaven knows there have been plenty of times I wished I could,” David clarified for the group as he pulled out that phone device and started scanning Tom and Twilight.

“So why do Tom and Twilight sound different?” Duskfall asked curiously as she continued to hug her originals, who were still in a state of mild shock.

“As amusing as it would have been to make you all identical, I didn’t want to make your lives more difficult than it needed to be for the sake of a joke. I modified the genetics a bit to lower Tom’s voice and raise Twilight’s. Unfortunately, that and the eyes were about all I could get away with,” David apologized as he continued his scan. What he was looking for, Duskfall didn’t know, but it seemed the results were good thus far. Suddenly Twilight choked on air.

“Twilight?!” Duskfall asked in concern. Was something wrong with her?! Had the cloning process glitched?! Fear gripped Duskfall’s Heart once more.

“Duskfall…why do I remember you doing the dirty with an alternate version of me?” Twilight asked hesitantly, her face turning red. Tom looked shocked before his face too became red.

“That did happen, didn’t it?” Duskfall felt like a child who was just caught in the cookie jar. She also couldn’t bring herself to regret what she had done.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?!” Twilight, stamped her hoof in frustration. This was Insanity! Twilight had no idea how to handle this.

“That version of you was a pretty good lay?” Duskfall said, being purposefully unhelpful. Maybe it was her Insanity talking, but Duskfall felt she had always expressed herself best through Song and Sex. She refused to be ashamed of that part of her.

“I can’t be the only one here who thinks this is wrong!” Twilight polled the room. She sounded on the verge of a classic Twilight freak out. Duskfall wanted to hug her to try and calm her down, but given the subject matter, that was almost certainly going to be taken the wrong way.

“I’m still processing all of this…ask again in 10…15 minutes,” Tom replied, his eyes unfocused as he tried to take in the totality of the memories they had gotten from Duskfall. Twilight turned to David.

“You are asking someone from the wrong species to find incest morally objectionable. Incest taboos are a byproduct of the genetic instability that comes from inbreeding. That’s not an issue for us; otherwise we would’ve gone extinct a long time ago. Even still my species is counted in the millions. And how do you think the human race propagated? Adam and Eve had two sons. Even if you claim Adam and Eve doing it wasn’t incest, given Eve was created from Adam’s rib, there’s still the issue of the next generation. Either they had an unnamed daughter or, well, you get the picture,” David pointed out, adding even more existential horror to Tom’s current healthy dose of it.

“I’m afraid I don’t have a leg to stand on either. I was made from Sora and Kairi. Technically that would make me their daughter and I had a pretty bad crush on Sora once upon a time,” Naminé shrugged helplessly. Twilight blew a gasket.

“I AM SURROUNDED BY CRAZY PEOPLE!” She yelled, her mane and tail exploding into flame.

“Duskfall is the Alicorn of Insanity,” Tom noted after Twilight literally burned herself out. Twilight just muttered darkly under her breath.

“Sounds like the three of you are going to need to have a nice, long talk about a lot of thorny subjects. Unfortunately, I need to get you three back to Equuis ASAP. Lady Time is an impatient woman and I doubt she’d appreciate being held up for your heart to heart. Since Tom and Twilight both have a clean bill of health, I can’t justify keeping you here any longer. So I’ll just go fetch my companion and we’ll be off,” David informed them and walked out of the lab.

“Companion?” Duskfall asked. She had noticed David had a habit of being choosing what words he used when deliberately. Especially when he had used similar words in the past…a companion would imply a long and trusting bond. It could also be defined as a long term sexual partner that they weren’t married to. But he had also used the word mate to describe people he cared about and had had sexual relations with.

“There is only one being in all creation David would refer to as ‘companion’. His most trusted friend and loyal partner. They’ve known each other longer than even Mew has known David,” Naminé replied, savoring the buildup of the reveal.

“Tell us, woman!” Duskfall exclaimed, unable to take the suspense.

“His very first pokémon, a pikachu nicknamed Pikablue, for his family’s unique blue eyes,” Naminé told them, a smile playing across her lips.

“A pikachu? How is he still alive? David said he’s 17 million years old and I might buy Mew living that long, but certainly not a pikachu!” Duskfall protested and Tom was voicing his own disbelief.

“There’s a certain ritual that can bind the Life Force of a Pokémorph and a pokémon. So long as I live, barring the complete incineration of Pikablue’s body, Pikablue too shall live. Unfortunately, it only works between a Pokémorph and a pokémon and even then only those that trust each other absolutely. It has tried and failed to be adapted many times,” David answered, leaning in the doorframe with a blue eyed pikachu perched on his other shoulder. He then hopped off to stand before them.

“I am the pikachu who walks through the ages! My clan is that which gave birth to the first Alolan Raichu! Know my power and tremble in fear!” The electric mouse pokémon then cackled manically.

“Why are you like this?” David pretended to groan, but his snickering was too obvious.

“They do say pets take after their masters,” Naminé noted with a look of pure innocence.

“I’m/He’s not a pet!” They both shouted. To Duskfall, this sounded like a well worn argument.

“Of course, of course, he’s your most faithful companion, how silly of me,” Naminé giggled, “And not at all an emotional support animal~”

“Naminé, you are exceptionally lucky we don’t have time to continue this. Thanks for your help and don’t let the door hit you on your way out,” David growled, but his eyes betrayed his amusement. Naminé walked out of the room, but before she vanished, she pulled down an eyelid and stuck her tongue out at David.

“I swear she gets more impudent every day,” Pikablue huffed, trying to keep his frown from flipping upside down in vain.

“You would know about impudence, wouldn’t you?” David poked his pikachu’s cheek, “Anyway, that’s enough banter for now, let’s get going.”

The trio of purple Alicorns, all deep in thought, followed the pair of aliens. Tom had stumbled upon the memory explaining why he was still a female Alicorn. He didn’t like it, but he had survived like this before and now it truly was his own body. It was tolerable. He glanced at Twilight. It wasn’t hard to guess she was still obsessing over what Duskfall had done in the alternate dimensions, both in bed and otherwise.

Tom, much to his surprise, found he wasn’t too fussed. Sure, he found the sex with the alternate Twilight squicky and he certainly could have lived without the actual memories of the deed, but Duskfall was her own person. The fact she had survived the extraction of himself and Twilight was more than enough proof of that.

The thing that really had Tom’s attention for the moment was the centuries Duskfall had apparently lived that he had no memories for. Why would they leave an intact, if muted, memory of the abominations Duskfall had sent against that version of Tirek but completely remove a whole chunk of memories spanning such a long time? Tom intended to find out.

The group made it to the door of David’s domain, it opened and on the other side was Equuis, the Castle of the Two Sisters. Unfortunately, it was not as Duskfall had left it. The runic array was, of course, seared away into uselessness. That wasn’t the issue. The true issue was the small army of Ponies, Changelings, a Greater Spirit of Chaos, and a Greater Spirit of Harmony who were there as well.

“I am going to have some serious words with Lady Time later,” David sighed, “Unlimited time my ass.”

Other than David and Pikablue, it seemed time was, in fact, still frozen. The three purple Alicorns took in the sight of their friends and their friends took in the fact that there were now three purple Alicorns.

“Tom..? Twilight..?” Pinkie was the first to speak, her voice filled with a terrible, fragile hope. She took one step closer, then another.

“Hi, Pinkie,” Tom replied softly, his throat constricting with emotion.

“It’s been awhile, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight greeted warmly, tears spilling at the sight of her friend safe and sound. Her sacrifice, no matter how unintentional, was not in vain.

That broke the floodgates. Suddenly all three purple Alicorns were swarmed with people looking to reunite with friends thought lost. No words could hope to convey the overwhelming joy experienced that day. The dead had been restored back to their proper place amongst the living. Unfortunately, even joy such as that could not last forever.

“Tom, Twilight, how did you come back to us?” Celestia asked as the jubilation died down.

“And does it have anything to do with our barrier shattering like so much glass?” Discord inquired, his body wrapped around the group like an overlong snake.

“Ask that guy over there,” Twilight pointed to David, “He’s the one who made us our new bodies and extracted our Souls from Duskfall.”

“Don’t give me all the credit. I wouldn’t have been able to do a thing had Duskfall not taken that first, suicidally idiotic step,” David deflected the conversation onto Duskfall for the time being.

“For a long time now, I’ve been intending to summon some sort of god of Death to break me back into Tom and Twilight. I chose the Winter Solstice since I didn’t know when the Equestrian version of Samhain was. Only instead of a god, I wound up catching the attention of Death himself. He then called forth David to restore Tom and Twilight as well as help clean up my mess,” Duskfall confessed. She felt bad for the secrets and deception, but seeing the end results, she couldn’t bring herself to regret her actions.

“You intended to die then..?” Luna’s voice was glacial, but a sliver of hurt still came through loud and clear.

“Luna, stop, I know what you’re going to say and-”

“How is this any different from my Tantabus?” Luna’s whispered words pierced Duskfall’s heart. Still, she fought on.

“My suffering had purpose! I intended to give myself for two who deserved life so much more than I ever did!” Duskfall snapped.

“Is that really how you’ve felt this whole time?” Moon Dancer asked, her own voice pained and her face trembling with sorrow.

“This is different! Your parents didn’t die to give birth to you! They had a choice! A choice to meet! A choice to get together! A choice to get married! A choice to have sex! A choice to carry you to term! But Tom and Twilight NEVER HAD A CHOICE!” Duskfall screamed.

“Duskfall Sparkle you are not a rape baby,” David suddenly spoke up, his words like icy water splashed on them all. Duskfall in particular reeled as if slapped.

“But- Tirek… Twilight and Tom…they didn’t have a choice…” Duskfall couldn’t finish her words for her sobbing.

“‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends’.” David quoted.

“John 15:13,” Tom noted, surprised for a moment but then realized he shouldn’t have been. 17 million years would have been a long time to not hear about one of Earth’s most famous books.

“You may have been born of rage, Duskfall, but that rage was in turn born of a love for friends. Was the sacrifice unintentional? Yes, it was. Would they do it again, known for certainty that this time there would be no going back?” David asked, looking at Tom and Twilight.

“Of course,” Tom answered instantly. He still remembered his promise to Shining Armor. Now that he and Twilight were separate, he may no longer be bound by the letter of it, but he fully intended to continue following it in spirit.

“Obviously we hope it never comes to that, but if it does, then I would be willing to die for my friends,” Twilight responded, standing firm in her resolve. It was too much for Duskfall. She drunkenly stumbled over to Tom and Twilight, pulled them in close, and cried her heart out. It didn’t take long for a chain reaction to start and soon there was a weeping dog pile.

“You know, there’s nothing stopping you from joining in,” Pikablue said mildly, easily able to read his trainer and friend after so long. David shook his head.

“It is far too soon for me to have a place in this picture. No matter how much I would like to be there comforting Duskfall with them, I am still an interloper, I would be an intruder. You know this as well as I do,” David rebuked gently. Thus, they stood quietly by as the group cried themselves out. In time, the group dissipated and with no new drama to keep them distracted, attention turned to the alien.

“We thank you for returning two of our number to us, but who are you?” Celestia asked of David as she resumed the demeanor of a ruler, even if the tear tracks on her face somewhat ruined the image.

“He’s one of Death’s, as evident by his power and what Duskfall has said,” Discord observed, a pair of binoculars over his eyes.

“Allow me to introduce myself as properly as I can in a reasonable amount of time. I am David Thomas, Lieutenant of Lord Death, Head of the 13^th Clan of the Galifonian People, Master of the Keyblade, and a whole host of less salient titles I have collected over the 17 million years of my life. It is by my Patron Concept’s orders that I restored Tom Williams and Twilight Sparkle. It is also by his orders that I prepare Equuis as a whole for the imminent storm that Duskfall’s shattering of the barrier will bring upon you,” David was the perfect picture of formality, standing at attention and opening his introduction with a bow.

“What is this storm you speak of?” Luna asked, concern on her face and in her tone.

“When Duskfall shattered the barrier, it announced Equuis’ location to almost all Creation. Anyone with the ability and a speck of curiosity will be on your doorstep soon enough. Beings of all shapes, sizes, languages, creeds, and more will come. Thus, until you are able to defend yourselves from those who wish you harm and stand on even footing with those who would be ally, Equuis will be my home,” David explained. Could he have done it more concisely, more bluntly? Certainly, but in situations like this, he felt a little pomp and circumstance was called for.

“I see…if what you say is true, then all the leaders of Equuis must convene to decide how to deal with this. How much time would you say we have?” Celestia asked. Her face was rigid and her stance was tight, both ears facing forward.

“If we’re lucky, we have three days tops. If we’re not, we might have four hours minimum,” David answered promptly. Celestia let out a long sigh at that response.

“In either event, there is no time to gather us all before the first arrivals. Mr. Thomas, it seems regardless of what happens in the future, we must rely upon you for our safety for now,” Celestia finally said, with Luna nodding in agreement.

“Well, that’s what I was sent here to do in the first place. I have no intention of shirking my duties until they are complete,” David’s stuffy demeanor broke as he gave the sisters a small, comforting smile, “We’re all gonna be alright, you have my word.”

“We thank you for all you have done and all you will do,” Luna replied respectfully.

“It’s my pleasure, now, if you’ll all excuse me, I need to start setting up a home base. Is there any place you’d prefer I set up? Because while I usually set up shop about a klick north outside of Ponyville, given the more militaristic and diplomatic bent of my mission here, if you want me someplace else, I can be flexible,” David inquired. Celestia and Luna thought it over.

“It’s probably best you do keep close to Ponyville. That town is a hotbed for trouble and I’m sure it’ll only get worse,” Celestia answered hesitantly. If this was the strength of their defender, then what was the power of their adversaries?

“Thank you, that’ll also let me be better able to keep an eye on Duskfall,” David remarked and Duskfall groaned. He grew a smirk as he elaborated, “The Boss wasn’t happy with Duskfall’s little stunt so I’m babysitting her for the foreseeable future.”

With plans made, the group started the trek out of the Everfree and back to Ponyville.

“If you think you’re wiggling out of our little chat, missy, you’ve got another thing coming!” Twilight glared at Duskfall. To say Duskfall was unaffected would be a lie, but she was also nowhere near as intimidated as Twilight was probably hoping. Even so, Duskfall agreed that she, Twilight, and Tom needed to talk. Duskfall wished they could have had a moderator, but the only one she’d think of to trust those kinds of secrets would be someone who already knew them and David was likely going to be busy.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Mom,” Was Duskfall being petty? Probably. Was Twilight’s shudder of disgust worth it? Definitely.

“Now sweetie, you shouldn’t tease your mother like that,” Tom’s voice was remarkably even for how much of a shit eating grin he was wearing while he said that. Their back and forth was eliciting some giggles from those gathered.

“You two are impossible!” Twilight cried, looking skyward for comfort.

“But at least we’re impossible together, right?” Duskfall said as she nudged up against one of her originals.

“Oh, I suppose. But I have my eyes on you, missy!” Twilight growled, but this time it was more playful. Duskfall rolled her eyes.

“You have sex with a look alike one time and you’re marked for life. Relax, Twi, I try and limit my partners to the consensual kind. You have the memory of how it blew up in my face last time I did otherwise,” Duskfall noted as the group continued walking.

“I’d like to think I’m a rather pretty explosion,” Lightning snarked from her position in the air.

“Maybe I’m hearing this wrong, but that almost sounds like you’re saying your Rainboom looks better than my Rainboom,” Rainbow noted as she shot her fellow Pegasus a challenging smirk.

“I guess we’ll just have to do a side by side comparison, won’t we?” Lightning replied and the two Pegasai took off for higher elevations.

“Will those two ever learn?” Rarity sighed fondly as Rainbooms quickly cracked the sky.

“I do not believe it is in either of their natures to turn down a chance to show off. Just as I do not believe it is possible for me to go on any longer. Carry me, Duskfall,” With no further warning, the pipsqueak Alicorn teleported herself onto Duskfall’s back.

“The millennium old Greater Spirit of Harmony is a needy, clingy child. Duly noted,” Duskfall teased as she adjusted herself to better carry the new weight.

“It is your fault I am like this, Duskfall Sparkle. You have left without warning one too many times. I will stick to you like glue until I am satisfied you will no longer leave us,” Harmonia replied petulantly, her face a perfectly childish pout.

“And I’ll be assisting you in that endeavor. Duskfall is clearly a trouble magnet and needs to be minded for her on protection,” David got in on the ribbing, an easy smile on his face.

“So sayeth the King of Trouble Magnets,” Pikablue couldn’t resist getting his own jabs in when the chance arose.

“Um, would it be OK if I..?” Fluttershy trailed off hopefully, having been gazing longingly at the pikachu ever since she had assured herself that Tom and Twilight were indeed really there.

“I’ll do you one better. I have a whole menagerie of pokémon for your perusal, should you so desire,” David offered, knowing full well offering something like this to someone like Fluttershy was like offering crack cocaine to a drug addict.

“And I don’t mind the extra attention either,” Pikablue assured. With an eager squeal, Fluttershy snatched up Pikablue and began gushing about how adorable he was. Naturally the lagomorph adored the praise heaped upon him.

The group traded banter and just generally talked all the way to the edge of the Everfree Forest. Once they were clear of it, Celestia preformed her duty of raising the sun. Just as it was a dawn of a new day, so too was it a dawn of a new chapter in their lives. Where the night before a single, shattered soul walked into the Everfree, now friends old and new exited. There was no telling what lied ahead, but they would be able to face it so long as they were standing united.

Author's Notes:

Thus ends Book 2. I honestly expected this chapter to be a lot longer than it was, but then I realized about 3,000 words of it were just info dumps I could save to sprinkle about in Book 3 and then another couple of thousand words that had no business being anywhere but Book 3 to begin with.

Throwing subtlety out the window for a second, Book 3 is currently being planned with a title of Standing United! I'm not sure when I'll start writing it. As with Book 1, there will be some post book snippets and bonus scenes.

I hope I've made it clear enough in the past that the Multiverse will come knocking on Equuis' door sooner or later. I just didn't specify how violent that knock would be. I mean, I'd like to think I was pretty blatantly arming Chekov's Gun when Harmonia mentioned that she knew Nanoha way back when.

Which leads us to who I'm afraid will be a controversial character: David. He is my original OC from way back when I was 10 and didn't have the first clue on how to properly devise an alien species and culture and whatnot. I'd still say, 15 years later, I don't have the first clue on any of those things, but I've gotten better at pretending I do, at least.

Anyway, given the role he's slated to play, he's going to be showing up a lot. The story will primarily be around Duskfall, Twilight, and Tom and how they deal with issues at home, abroad, and extraterrestrial. I just hope I can keep him at 'wise, reliable mentor with a silly side' and not 'overbearing presence that smothers the main cast'. There are certain things about his experiences and culture that will influence how he gives advice and what advice he gives. Telling this exposition without being clunky will probably be my greatest challenge of Book 3.

In other news, for those of you who thought Duskfall banging the NMM dimension's Twilight was going to be without consequence... THINK AGAIN! For my own personal opinions, incest is a no-no only insofar as doing so might hurt the offspring and as I've made clear before, anything that intentionally hurts children is on my shit list. Otherwise, while I might find it strange and mildly disturbing, I'm not here to judge who you find attractive. Fun Fact: Moses was an incest baby.

Also, also, I was reasonably proud of the scene with Luna calling out Duskfall. Especially since it reveals a key point of Duskfall's whole tangled mentality. She's always seen herself as the unwanted child of two people who were forcefully assaulted. Naturally it isn't a one to one comparison, but it was close enough in Duskfall's mind that it ate away at her subconsciously.

My closing thoughts overall will be posted in a blog post sooner or later. Some time before I begin work on Book 3 at least. Until then, I thank you all so much for sticking with me through thick and thin. Mere words can't describe how grateful I am to have built such a loyal fanbase. I love reading the comments and seeing faces both old and new.

Well, I've rambled here long enough. Until we meet again in the snippets, this is The Dimension Traveler, signing out.

A Game Most Foul

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Shattered Souls

Bonus 1: A Game Most Foul

The school was recovering from the Anon-A-Miss incident and the Friendship games were tomorrow. Winter Break started the day after the Games ended. Given the start of Winter Break was also the Winter Solstice, Sunset was naturally worried that some sort of magic was afoot when Rainbow sent out an emergency text.

There was a mix of relief and frustration when she and the others found out the ‘emergency’ was just a broken guitar string. Sunset parted with her last spare guitar string and the others slipped inside to amuse themselves with Rainbow’s musical performance. Taking a moment to herself, Sunset penned a quick note asking how Duskfall was doing. Maybe Sunset was being paranoid, but when a response wasn’t forthcoming, she got worried.

Sunset knew there was every possibility that Duskfall was out, or studying, or experimenting, or even taking a nap. Still, she couldn’t shake a foreboding feeling in her gut. Just as she was debating if she should pop into Equestria to check up on things, she spotted what looked to be a young woman dressed in a non-descript hoodie and jeans with the hood up poking around the portal with some kind of device.

“Hey!” Sunset called out, the figure turning, but all that got Sunset was seeing a pair of black glasses, “What are you doing?!”

In hindsight, Sunset probably should’ve approached the girl before calling out, because upon realizing she had been discovered, the mysterious girl fled like a bat out of hell. She even recklessly crossed a busy street to avoid letting Sunset catch her. Regardless of Rainbow’s false alarm, something was afoot after all.

All of Twilight Sparkle’s life, she had been hailed as a prodigy. Not of art or of sports, but of the hard sciences. Mathematics came to her as easily as most breathed. Astronomy was a passion inherited from her father. Biology seemed as simple to her as riding a bike. But her true love, the subject that set her academic heart aflame was physics.

It was this love of physics that had led her to an almost heretical theory. Voicing her suspicious could very well seen her laughed out of just about any scholarly circle, never mind her school of Crystal Prep Academy. Twilight Sparkle believed in the existence of Magic.

Not Magic as the source of some author’s plot convenience, but as an observable, measurable, force in the universe. A force with rules and laws that might seem alien at first glance, but upon sufficient inspection makes perfect sense in the context of the greater whole. After all, any sufficiently analyzed magic was indistinguishable from science.

Thus Twilight had dressed up in such a way to conceal her identity, caught a bus to Canterlot High, and turned her latest invention, a device to measure the theoretical EM frequency of Magic, on the school that had had quite an interesting history these past few months. If Magic was going to be found anywhere near Twilight, it was going to be at CHS.

Sure enough, upon reaching the school, her scanner had almost instantly reacted. Twilight could almost taste the magic in the air. With this discovery, her name would go down in history alongside names like Newton and Einstein! Her existence would be worth something…

She got so caught up in her excitement that she didn’t even notice a student sitting on the steps of CHS as she examined the statue that was pouring out quite a hefty amount of magic. Her heart nearly stopped when she heard the voice call out to her. Twilight ran as if her life depended on it. She knew the silly rivalry between the two schools meant her snooping around would not be treated lightly if she were caught. She couldn’t afford to have her scanner destroyed with its precious data!

Desperation fueled an unusual burst of both athleticism and recklessness as she bolted across a busy street and caught a bus that had luckily just rolled up to its stop. Even the greatest of minds should never dismiss the contribution of sheer, dumb luck. Flopping onto the backmost seat of the bus, Twilight lowered her hood, breathing heavily.

Twilight resisted the urge to cradle her scanner like a baby. It might have soothed her shot nerves, but outside of her padded bag, the chances of it being damaged were exponentially higher. So Twilight settled for the next best thing in holding her backpack close to her chest the whole bus ride.

20 minutes and one transfer later and Twilight was back in the safety of her lab. She fed the data into her computer and quickly got to work cannibalizing the parts of the scanner for her magnum opus: a device that could collect magic. If she had done her math right, that is. Twilight really hoped she had done her math right.

“She was definitely doing something to the statue, or was going to,” Sunset relayed to her friends and a trio of troublemakers as she paced back and forth in the library.

“Can’t have been for the portal. You people are too dumb to even know magic exists on this side of the mirror,” Aria said dismissively as she leaned back dangerously far in her chair with her arms behind her head.

“Maybe she came from the portal? Or at least was from Equestria originally,” Fluttershy suggested.

“If she came from the other side, it wasn’t recently. She was holding some kind of device I couldn’t recognize and I doubt it came from Equuis,” Sunset shook her head.

“It’s entirely possible whoever or whatever they are has been here awhile. Us Sirens have been here for a couple thousand years and we certainly didn’t have smartphones when we came over back then,” Sonata said blithely.

“I think I might know who our mystery gal is. Or at least, where she came from,” Rainbow announced as she reappeared from behind a shelf with a book in hand.

“Well, don’t leave us in suspense,” Adagio entreated, a look of an adult humoring a child on her face as she looked up from doing her nails.

“Oh, was it a nighttime statue cleaner?! A magical portal maintenance maintainer?! A gardener?!” Pinkie threw out her suggestions with her usual high energy as she presented books that were disturbingly relevant to her words.

“Seeing how they got off a bus from the city and then got back on a bus to the city, I’ll bet they go to-”

“Crystal Prep Academy,” The human girls said with disgust.

“Even if she does go to school, that doesn’t mean she can’t also be from Equuis. Unfortunately, we’re proof of that,” Aria grumbled sourly as she dared gravity to make her chair fall backwards.

“But it would give us a place to start looking regardless,” Rarity pointed out reasonably as she pulled a reference book from the library shelves.

“With the Friendship Games starting tomorrow, they’d totally try and prank us by defacing the Wondercolts statue!” Rainbow insisted as she clutched her own book.

“Assuming this girl is another exile from Equuis, I’d make a quip about ‘how the mighty have fallen’, but I don’t suppose we’re in much of a position to talk,” Adagio hummed as she inspected her nails, “Pink or blue?”

“Blue!” Sonata instantly replied.

“Hot pink,” Aria countered. Whether she actually thought pink would be better or just wanted to be contrary was anyone’s guess. The others ignored them.

“Assuming she is a normal high school girl, why would anyone take a bus all the way from the city just to deface a statue?” Sunset asked with a look of confusion on her face.

“Because the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts are our biggest rivals,” AJ replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Because that’s just what the students of Crystal Prep would do,” Rarity huffed with folded arms.

“Those jerks beat us in every event and they still feel the need to rub it in by vandalizing our school!” Rainbow sneered as she displayed the photo evidence of both Crystal Prep’s victories and their past destruction of public property.

“Don’t you humans have anything better to do with your short, miserable lives?” Adagio asked as she painted her nails black.

“I’m sorry our conduct isn’t up to your standards, m’lady,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her words.

“But isn’t this sort of thing what we feed on Dagi?” Sonata asked with all the innocence of a 7 year old asking what game mommy and daddy were playing in their bedroom, “Why would we want them to stop?”

“Because we’re suppose to be playing, eugh, nice,” Aria curled her lips at the word as if it left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth.

“So that wasn’t y’all who’ve been feedin’ some o’ tha local strays?” AJ asked with an arched eyebrow and a teasing grin.

“Sh-Shut up!” Aria barked, her face flush with embarrassment. This elicited a round of chuckling from the group.

“In any event, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m sure we’ll all feel pretty silly if we go bug Duskfall and the others and it turns out to be nothing more than a schoolgirl bent on a prank,” Sunset said brightly, hiding the fact that her paranoia wanted nothing more than for her to rush through the portal right that very instant.

“If Crystal Prep thinks they can get away with trashing our statue this time, they’ve got another thing coming!” Rainbow exclaimed, a wicked, scheming grin on her face, “I have a plan!”

“Will wonders never cease?” Adagio snarked as she blew on her nails to dry them. Rainbow’s face scrunched adorably at the insult, but refused to divulge her plot.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long to find out what Rainbow was cooking up. At a school assembly reminding them all what they already knew about the Friendship Games, Rainbow and the school band preformed an inspiring little Heartsong to get everyone pumped for the Games. The real highlight came when Rainbow Ponied Up to finish the song in the air.

“Rainbow Dash, that was amazing!” Fluttershy complimented as the group met backstage.

"I'd give it an eight for music, six for lyrics, five for choreography, and a zero for those flash cards. Was that supposed to be us?" Adagio asked with a deeply unamused glare.

“I thought it was super accurate,” Sonata opined, her usual happy smile in place as she rocked on the balls of her feet. If her fellow Sirens were currently shooting daggers with their eyes, well, what else was new?

“Is anybody else wonderin’ how Dash Ponied Up without playin’ her guitar?” AJ questioned.

“We always knew the magic was going to grow and evolve. It makes sense that eventually the transformations wouldn’t need all of you to do it at the same time,” Sunset said as she put a hand to her chin, “But that doesn’t answer how it was triggered. Maybe just her singing a Heartsong with the band was enough?”

“Well, it would be nice if you girls could get a handle on it,” Luna spoke up from behind them, “We’d like to keep magic as far away from the Friendship Games as possible. No reason to give them an excuse to accuse us of cheating.”

“Magic is a talent, no different than someone being born with a quick wit or gifted a winning smile with good genetics,” Adagio argued, garnering some surprise from the group, “Magic may be exceptionally uncommon on this side of the mirror, but using the gifts you were provided is not cheating in the same way the use of performance enhancing drugs are and I refuse to hear the two lumped together.”

“You make a good case, Ms. Dazzle, but not everyone will be as high-minded about this as you are. As you said, magic is almost a complete unknown on this world. Unless all parties are aware and agree upon its inclusion, it would still be cheating. Further, the widespread knowledge of magic would likely disrupt the student’s lives in ways that, as someone responsible for their education, I am loathe to permit,” Luna countered.

“I…suppose I can see your point,” Adagio replied, looking as though she had just swallowed a particularly sour lemon.

“Anyway, we don’t need magic to beat those hoity-toity Crystal Prep students,” Rarity scoffed with bravado, her hands waving dismissively.

“Be that as it may, I would still feel better if Sunset and perhaps our extra-dimensional friends can examine Rainbow and the others to make sure this new surge of magic will not disrupt the Games,” Luna requested, her face stern and impassive.

“I’ll take care of it,” Sunset promised, “I’ll ask Duskfall if she’s free to come over too.”

“Thank you, Ms. Shimmer,” Luna responded primly before walking off to attend to her other duties.

Sunset decided she’d best get to work and left as well. Friendship Magic, and by extension Harmony Magic, were sometimes tricky to follow. While not the ever-changing quagmire of Chaos Magic, Friendship Magic was prone to staying the same for a long time and then experiencing sudden bursts of growth and change. These changes could be almost as random as Chaos Magic, but always beneficial in some way.

The crux of the issue was that, until the trigger and extent of this ‘power up’ were determined, the Friendship Magic could fire off at any time and until properly tamed, have all kinds of effects. Given the girls had gotten their magic via the Elements; it was also extremely likely that the others would start showing signs of this power up in the very near future.

Sunset penned a quick note to Duskfall, letting her know the state of affairs. Her heart sank as she went to bed with no response that night.

Twilight sighed in exhaustion as she walked down the halls of Crystal Prep, jostled about by her so called classmates. Twilight was used to it. Why should people go out of their way to avoid a nobody like her? She’d just have to get better at maneuvering around others…even when they expressly targeted her.

It didn’t matter. Soon Twilight was back in the safety of her lab. Her own private Fortress of Solitude. She even had her own Krypto, her loyal dog Spike. As always, he was just as happy to see her as she was happy to see him.

“I’m so close, Spike. All our hard work will soon be worth it!” Twilight told him as she scratched him under the chin. Twilight smiled fondly at his happy dog noises. Not only was she on the edge of proving magic existed, but also of being accepted into the Everton Independent Study Program.

“Tomorrow I’ll go back to confirm my findings,” Twilight decided, eliciting a growl from Spike, “I know you don’t like me going over there, but it’s my best chance of escape- I mean, of furthering science,” Twilight corrected herself. Speaking candidly to Spike might cause her to slip in front of others.

The other students already thought she was haughty, lording her intelligence over them. No need to add fuel to the fire, especially not if she ended up being denied entry to the Everton Program. As horrifying as it was to think of, Twilight was a realist. She knew there was always a chance of failure, no matter how unpleasant that thought might be.

A knock on the door to her lab rang out and was the only warning Twilight got before Cadence opened the door.

“Twilight, you know you’re not supposed to have pets in school,” Cadence rebuked tiredly. This was an old argument between the pair. Cadence was sympathetic to the young scientist and Cadence knew Spike was Twilight’s emotional support animal in all but documentation, but as dean, she had to uphold the rules. As the years had gone by, Twilight’s excuses had gotten thinner and thinner.

“He’s not here as my pet, he’s here as the latest subject in my research!” Twilight blatantly lied. Cadence was tempted to call her out on it, but decided she’d rather hear Cinch complain about the dog for the umpteenth time than cause Twilight any more problems. Sometimes Cadence really hated her job. It seemed all she was able to do was make the lives of the few good students harder and have no effect on the bullies who torment those students.

“Well, Principal Cinch wants to see you and we both know how she gets when her dog allergies flare up,” Cadence sighed as she plucked one of Spike’s shed hairs from Twilight’s blazer.

“I’ll, uh, slip into a clean shirt,” Twilight said sheepishly, an awkward smile on her lips, “Maybe she wants to talk about my application to Everton?”

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that, actually. Are you sure that’s what you really want?” Cadence asked with concern. Cadence knew Twilight had her issues dealing with others, but she didn’t think retreating was the right thing to do. Of course, Cadence was equally aware that Twilight didn’t have a lot of other options. She had been denied the chance to go to college early amidst concerns that, due to her age, she wouldn’t have the ‘emotional maturity’ to deal with college. Cadence thought that was a bunch of baloney, but at the end of the day, she was just a dean.

“Cadence… this is my chance to be free a whole year earlier than I could have hoped. No more nasty whispers. No more disdainful glares. No more getting jostled in the hallways. No more getting my head dunked in a toilet after having my glasses stolen by Fleur and her gang. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It won’t break me to spend another year here, but knowing I had a chance and threw it away would be quite painful, I think,” Twilight answered quietly, looking more tired than any 17 year old girl should look.

“You’re right. I’m sorry for asking,” Cadence apologized, looking away and forcing herself not to clench her fists. Crystal Prep prided itself on its excellent reputation. That was the problem. ‘Ask not what Crystal Prep can do for you, but what you can do for Crystal Prep’. Twilight was destined for so much more than these halls could offer and everyone knew it. For that crime, she was ostracized, demonized. It was all Cinch could do in her attempt to tame Twilight, turning the student body against her all the while claiming that she alone had Twilight’s best interests at heart.

Cadence awkwardly exited the lab and closed the door behind her to give Twilight the privacy to change her shirt. Once that was taken care of, the pair made their way silently to Cinch’s office. Cadence was just grateful Twilight could see through Cinch’s attempts at gaslighting her.

All that said, Twilight was surprised by the presence of Shining Armor in Cinch’s office, dressed in one of his old Crystal Prep uniforms.

“Shining Armor, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Principal Cinch thought that, as an alumnus, Shining could provide some unique perspective,” The words were ash in Cadence’s mouth. As much as she loved Shining and as much as she knew he cared about Twilight, there were certain things in which he was woefully blind.

“Perspective on what?” Twilight asked, naturally confused, her eyebrows scrunched behind her glasses.

“Perspective on the Friendship Games, of course,” Principal Abacus Cinch said as she turned her chair to face the room like some stereotypical Bond villain, “You competed in the Games, did you not, Shining Armor?”

“I did,” Shining confirmed with a proud smile.

“And you happen to recall who won?” Cinch pressed. Shining chuckled, completely unable to read the room.

“Crystal Prep did, of course!” He replied eagerly, “We always win.”

“‘We always win’,” Cinch repeated as she stepped out from behind her desk.

“Why did you ask to see me?” Twilight already had a fair idea, but held onto a faint, foolish hope she was wrong.

“I’ll be honest. It doesn’t matter whether Crystal Prep wins or loses,” Cinch began as she plucked a trophy from her shelf, “The important thing is that we are expected to win because Crystal Prep has a reputation. It is that reputation… my reputation that is responsible for everything we have here. It is responsible for all the books in the library and all the…equipment that we use.”

Twilight’s mouth went dry. Twilight had bought as much of her own equipment as she could for this very reason, yet a teenage girl not yet out of high school could only afford so much, prodigy or no. Yet the question remained as to why Cinch was choosing to play her hand straight over something as trivial as the Friendship Games?

“Why did you ask to see me, Principal Cinch?” Twilight asked hesitantly. Something definitely wasn’t right here and it was putting her on edge.

“You are the brightest student this school has ever seen, Twilight,” Cinch began, “What I can’t understand is why my best student wouldn’t want to compete.”

“Why would I want to participate in the Friendship Games?” Twilight asked.

“Look, Twily, I know it’s not your thing, but representing the school is kinda a big deal,” Shining intruded on the conversation, “Plus they really need your help.”

Twilight didn’t hold this against Shining. She knew he was loyal to a fault and that loyalty stretched to Crystal Prep. A word here about the school’s team needing a bit of a boost, a mention there of helping break Twilight out of her shell and Shining would’ve been putty in Cinch’s hands. That didn’t make the emotional blackmail hurt any less.

“It would seem Canterlot High is undergoing something of a renaissance. Their scores in every field have been up: Test scores, athletics, general grades, etc. You see, they are developing something of a reputation. I felt it only reasonable we bring our own renaissance woman to the Games. After all, reputations must be maintained,” Cinch remarked, something in her eyes that made Twilight very uncomfortable.

“With all due respect, Principal Cinch, I’m far too busy to be participating in the Friendship Games, I have to prepare for-”

“For the Everton Independent Studies Course?” Cinch asked, her fingers interlaced and a predatory look on her face. Twilight’s blood froze in her veins. So this was her game, was it? “Shining, Cadence, could you find my contact sheet for the Everton Course?”

“Of course,” Cadence said promptly. She could see the writing on the wall as clearly as Twilight. Staying here and causing a fuss now wouldn’t do either of them any good.

“It would seem you’ve applied to the Everton Course without my input…” Cinch trailed off as she pulled out the folder she had just asked Cadence and Shining to fetch, “But I am not an unreasonable woman. The perks of having a reputation such as mine are that I hear things and in turn the things I say are heard. So let me make you a deal, Twilight. In return for contributing your agile mind to the Games, I will use my influence to guarantee your application is approved. Though I suppose I could also have it…denied. What do you think I should do?”

Twilight knew she was trapped. Cinch had always held all the cards and now she was playing her hand to devastating effect. After all, if Twilight tried to accuse Cinch of blackmail, well, Cinch’s precious reputation would protect her. Thus there was only one answer Twilight could give: She would participate in the Games.

The next day, Twilight, along with Spike hidden away in her backpack, joined the other students to ride the school’s buses to Canterlot High. It was off to a swimming start when Twilight somehow ended up at the front of the line. You’d think high school students would be mature enough to not get upset over who got on the bus first, yet here they were. Twilight was sitting in the back of the bus while the others made no attempts to hide their glares and hurtful words.

It wasn’t all bad. She ended up sitting next to Lemon Zest, probably the only girl in school who was more hated than she was, for the exact opposite reason. Lemon Zest was a laid back party girl in a school of uptight overachievers. Twilight wouldn’t say they were friends exactly, but they were fellow outcasts and Lemon had come through for her more than once.

“Hey Twi Pie, whassup?” Lemon greeted, pulling her headphones off and hanging them around her neck, tunes still blaring, “I thought you said you weren’t gonna compete?”

“I didn’t know I was going to compete until yesterday afternoon myself,” Twilight replied as she slumped into the seat beside her.

“Ah, the Cinch decided the team couldn’t do without your big brain?” Lemon asked in understanding.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Twilight sighed as she unzipped her bag to give Spike a bit of air.

“Yo, Spike my dude, long time no see!” Lemon happily scratched Spike behind his ears, the dog lapping up the attention.

“Well, it may not be ideal, but I look forward to having you as my teammate, Lemon,” Twilight held out a hand. Lemon smiled and took it.

“Likewise, Twi, likewise,” Lemon replied.

Between her failures to figure out what had triggered Rainbow’s spontaneous transformation and the continued silence from Duskfall, Sunset was really starting to feel the pressure. It would have been one thing if Sunset had had a week at the very least, but the Friendship Games were today.

It was almost a pity the Sirens only ate the magical resonance created by negative emotions instead of the emotions themselves. Sunset could have done with a little less frustration in her system. This feeling only became stronger when Rainbow rushed into the band room with a panicked look on her face.

“I can’t find them!” Rainbow shouted.

“Can’t find who?” Sunset asked, but her heart was already plummeting to her stomach.

“The Equestrians, not even Harmonia or Discord! I flew all around Ponyville and even hit top speed to Canterlot! They’re all MIA!” Rainbow was in full panic, her eyes wide and Sunset could almost hear the athlete’s heart pounding away in her chest. It was infectious. Sunset forcefully clamped down on her own rising panic. She was an adult, for whatever that was worth. If there was ever a time to act like it for once in her life, now was it.

“Rainbow, we all know Equestria faces crisis from time to time. We all knew it was likely only a matter of time before our troubles overlapped. We can work through this. Do you trust me, Rainbow?” Sunset asked as she took a firm grasp on Rainbow’s shoulder. Rainbow took a deep breath.

“I trust you, Sunset,” Rainbow decided and like that the icy grip of fear and panic was loosed. It wasn’t gone completely, but it was manageable now.

“In the end, what does this really change? We know the Equestrians can take care of themselves. Sure, it sucks that we can’t ask them for advice on exactly how the magic is evolving, but I don’t doubt we can figure this out, Games or no Games,” Sunset said with a lot more confidence than she actually felt, looking Rainbow directly in the eyes.

“Yeah, you’re right. Hopefully it’s just the dumb Games and nothing else to worry about. Even if it isn’t we’re still awesome enough to handle a solo mission,” Rainbow smiled.

“You all keep telling yourselves that, sweetie,” Adagio smirked, casually leaning against the piano.

“Thank you, I will,” Rainbow replied primly, not about to let the Siren get under her skin.

“Well, nothing helps inspire new confidence like a new wardrobe!” Rarity exclaimed and suddenly the band room was full of a whole rack of new outfits for all of them, even the Sirens.

“Rarity, where on earth did you find the time to make these?” Sunset asked in bewilderment.

“I’ve been working on and off for months, darling. The Friendship Games are a big deal and I wanted all of us to look our best,” Rarity demurred, “Since we didn’t know what events there were going to be, I just had to make an outfit for every conceivable situation.”

“Rarity, you are scary sometimes. Brilliant, but scary,” Rainbow said honestly as she plucked one of the outfits of her rack. Rarity tittered with pleasure at the remark.

Twilight’s heart was filled with anticipatory jitters as she made to exit the bus once they had arrived at Canterlot High. Those jitters were soon replaced by a sudden, extremely brief feeling of vertigo as someone placed their hands on her back and shoved her out the door. She was airborne for only a moment before she crashed into Sunny Flare, sending both of them to the ground.

“Seriously?!” Sunny growled at Twilight as she picked herself up.

“Sorry,” Was the only right answer Twilight could give, even if it hadn’t been her fault. Sunny glared at her before walking away. Twilight then stood up, but ended up directly in front of Sour Sweet. Twilight apologized again.

“You’re such a sweetie!” Sweet exclaimed, “I am watching you!” Sour declared before stalking off. Last off the bus were Lemon and Sugarcoat. Lemon had likely been too wrapped up in her music to notice they’d arrived until Sugarcoat had pointed it out to her.

Sugarcoat was another odd one. Twilight was baffled how someone with such an inability to be tactful had ended up hanging around with Sunny Flare’s group. Stranger yet, Sugarcoat had seemingly made it her life’s mission to make sure Lemon Zest made it through high school with nothing lower than a C+. Lemon herself had been strangely tight lipped when the subject had come up on the relationship between her and Sugarcoat.

“You’re being kinda a doormat right now,” Sugarcoat informed her, as if Twilight didn’t already know of her own passivity. Before Twilight could get too down, her scanner started to pick up readings! Her lust for knowledge overrode her desire to not get in trouble, so she slipped away from her classmates to investigate.

Her first stop was the statue, the readings seemingly of the charts. She popped open her scanner and sure enough, a trail of energy exited the statue and entered her scanner. She then popped the clamshell design shut and headed into the school proper.

“Hi, Twilight,” One of the girls coming down the steps greeted, but the words barely registered to her, hyper focused as she was on her scanner. However, as she walked down the halls and seemingly everyone knew her name…even Twilight couldn’t ignore something utterly bizarre was going on. Had magic given the entire school some kind of precognition? Then things somehow got worse when she plowed into a young man with electric blue hair and carrying a guitar.

“Duskfall? I almost didn’t recognize you,” He remarked as he helped her up, “When did you start wearing glasses?”

Duskfall? Who was Duskfall? That sounded like a name she might pick for herself if she ever went through an emo phase… had magic created a dark doppelganger of her?! Would the Friendship Games culminate in a climatic duel to the death with her evil twin?! Or, well, at least a scholastic duel with the fate of the world at stake.

“Where might I find this ‘Duskfall’?” Twilight asked as she blindly looked around for her glasses.

Flash, for his part, almost thought Duskfall was playing some sort of prank. But once he put her glasses on, looking directly into her eyes, Flash knew the truth. Duskfall would never turn her green eye purple. Either this was pony Twilight somehow back from the dead or, more likely; this was their world’s version of Twilight.

“Duskfall? Who’s Duskfall? I don’t know any Duskfall,” Never let it be said that Flash was a good liar. Twilight pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose while giving him a skeptical look. Twilight decided to channel her inner Sugarcoat.

“You are remarkably bad at lying,” Twilight didn’t like it when people withheld information from her. Especially with information that might be as critical as a dark doppelganger. Flash flinched at the accusation.

“I’m just going to…go now!” He tried to escape, but the school was only so big and despite not liking physical education, Crystal Prep’s curriculum was exacting and absolute. Twilight managed to just barely keep up with Flash.

“You…are going…to tell me…everything!” Twilight panted, her hands on her knees to try and keep herself upright.

“Flash, Duskfall, what’s going on? The whole schools been talking about how you two have been running across the whole building,” Twilight turned to the new source of possible information, unaware of the predatory gleam in her eyes.

“earth'syay ilighttway!” Flash exclaimed, as if Twilight wouldn’t know Pig Latin. But what did he mean, ‘Earth’s Twilight’?

“Flash, if that’s true; do you really think she wouldn’t at least be familiar with Pig Latin?” The new girl asked, putting a hand over her face.

“…Sorry Sunset…” Flash said, looking appropriately embarrassed for his blunder.

“What is going on here?! Magic, evil twins, Pig Latin! Did I suddenly end up at Hogwarts instead of Canterlot High?” Twilight asked, her arms flailing around with renewed energy. Unfortunately, before any of her questions could be answered, Principals Celestia and Cinch appeared.

“Duskfall, Flash, don’t you both know better than to run in the halls except in emergency?” Celestia asked, a mildly bemused expression on her face.

“Duskfall? This is my student, Twilight,” Cinch said, confusion evident on her face. Fortunately for all, Celestia was quick on the uptake.

“Oh, of course, my mistake. We have a drama student named Duskfall who likes to do costumes. I thought this was her,” Celestia replied smoothly.

“I see…well, come along, Twilight. You need to be check in with the rest of your classmates,” Cinch then ushered Twilight away, her burning curiosity unfulfilled.

“Principal Cinch, you have to let me go back, I need answers!” Twilight pleaded, clutching her scanner like a lifeline.

“Twilight, I don’t care what personal projects you get up to, but while you’re here and the Games are going on, I, and indeed all of Crystal Prep, need you to be absolutely focuses. After all, those who are not focused tend to let things…slip away,” Cinch warned.

Twilight gulped, Cinch’s message received. As much as it might torment her, she would have to push her curiosity aside for now. Something made practically impossible by the curious looks and friendly waves she was receiving from the Canterlot High students.

“How on earth are you so popular with these Canterlot kids?” Lemon asked in bewilderment as the Shadowbolts started signing in.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Twilight sighed listlessly. The answers were right there, begging to be uncovered. Yet she was being denied, her mind forced to spin its metaphorical wheels coming up with wild theories just to keep occupied.

“Try me,” Lemon encouraged.

“A girl, who goes here, Duskfall, apparently looks enough like me that we’re being confused for each other. I further have reason to believe this Duskfall is not of this world, going off some of the comments I’ve heard and have been directed at me,” Twilight replied, bracing herself for Lemon’s inevitable disbelief and dismissal.

“Duuude! Are you saying some alien chick is wearing your face?! That’s wild!” Lemon’s face was the picture of child-like wonderment. Twilight blinked owlishly.

“You…you believe me?” Twilight was stunned.

“Twi, you’re smarter than the rest of us put together. If you think aliens and junk exist, I’d at least give you the benefit of the doubt. The fact that this whole school seems to know your name is enough evidence for me that something is up,” Lemon replied firmly. This response made Twilight feel odd, but before she could parse her feelings, her scanner started floating and snapped open. A smoky trail of energy started flowing into the scanner before coalescing into a white, pearl sized orb in the heart of her scanner. The scanner then snapped shut.

“Why did it activate on its own like that?” Twilight asked worriedly. She had had experiments go rogue before, but she prayed this wasn’t one of them.

“What was that?!” Lemon exclaimed, after she had picked her jaw up off the floor.

“Abnormal electromagnetic frequencies I’ve tentatively dubbed ‘magic’,” Twilight admitted quietly. She played with her hair, a bad habit she had picked up when nervous.

“I get the feeling I’m gonna need to reexamine a lot of things by the time these Games are over,” Lemon eventually said, shocking Twilight.

“You…you believe me?” Twilight’s voice was filled with fragile hope, “You don’t think I’m crazy?”

“Twi, we go to school with Sour Sweet. If you’re crazy, it’s the good kind,” Lemon smiled at her and it made Twilight feel odd again.

“Thank you, Lemon Zest,” Twilight said, her voice thick with emotion.

“Besides, aren’t genius and madness two sides of the same coin or something?” Lemon asked, her smile turning into a teasing grin.

“The difference between genius and madness is measured only by success and failure,” Twilight agreed with a slight chuckle as they made it to the gym. Already the atmosphere was tense. It was supposed to be a welcome party, but it looked more like party lines had been drawn and war was about to break out.

“This party is kinda lame,” Lemon complained as she looked around. The students who weren’t actively glaring at each other were limply eating snacks or aimlessly wandering around.

“I know, right? Something is definitely missing,” It was there, in the gym, that the pair met the oncoming party hurricane, Pinkie Pie. Life would never be the same again, “Private Zest, Captain Twilight, I’m going to need your help!”

Without so much as a ‘by your leave’, Pinkie grabbed both their arms and snatched them away. Together, they pushed two boxes wrapped like presents into the gym. Lemon and Twilight were struggling to push one while Pinkie pushed the other.

“What is in these things?” Lemon wondered as she shoved.

“Party Canons, of course!” Pinkie exclaimed as if that were the most normal response in the world.

“How do you know our names?” Twilight asked as they finally got their box into position.

“Because you looked just like my friend Twilight and my other friend Duskfall,” Pinkie Pie replied, causing Twilight to be shocked. There was a third entity with her name and face? “As for Lemon Zest…the Universe has noticed her.”

“Well that’s not going to cause me existential nightmares at all, no sir,” Lemon laughed nervously. Without replying, Pinkie vanished in a blur of speed. Suddenly she was everywhere, laying out better snacks on the tables, giving the DJ real music, hitting the lights for a disco ball, and then back at the Party Canons.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Twilight asked with worry as Pinkie grabbed the firing strings for both canons.

“Absolutely!” Pinkie exclaimed as she pulled. The force of the canons going off knocked Lemon and Twilight away and a moment later it was raining confetti and streamers.

“I think that girl might actually be part Looney Tune,” Lemon said with a mix of awe and dread in her voice. Then Pinkie began to glow before floating into the air, growing pony ears, and her hair suddenly growing longer.

Twilight’s scanner went nuts, pulling at her neck before opening and absorbing what must have been some kind of transformation magic right out of Pinkie. The party girl looked exhausted, but otherwise unharmed, much to both Twilight and Lemon’s relief.

The magic within Twilight’s scanner then sparked, causing some kind of portal to open under the bleachers. It only stayed open for a moment, but it was enough for Lemon and Twilight to see some kind of forest on the other side. Twilight forced the scanner shut and turned it off, hopefully to keep it from happening again.

“Magic, aliens, and now portals to other worlds…Twi, do you think curses are a thing? I think we might’ve gotten hit by that old Chinese curse ‘May you live in interesting times’,” Lemon asked shakily.

“I am not prepared to dismiss anything at this time,” Twilight answered, but before she could elaborate, Cinch brought the party to a screeching halt, accompanied by the screeching of microphone feedback. With but a few words, the students who had been enjoying themselves and even starting to get along were back at each other’s throats.

A few minutes later and the Friendship Games were officially set to begin. The first event would be an academic decathlon. Twilight wished she could be as laid back about this as Lemon. If Twilight messed up here, she’d be…subpar for any athletics events in the future. Lemon, at least, both didn’t care about the Games and was such a superb athlete that any failings in the academic challenges could almost certainly be made up for in the athletic events.

The rules were simple. Across the decathlon, students would be awarded points for their performance. The decathlon started with both schools having twelve students each, but only the top six from both schools would move on to the next event. The first test was, fortunately, chemistry. It was a nice, easy way for Twilight to relax into the competition.

The next leg of the decathlon was home economics and required baking a cake. Twilight was capable of cooking, it was just following instructions after all, but she had never grasped the subtle art of cooking her father had. Of course, neither of them would likely ever be able to bake a cake with a perfect replica of the Mona Lisa in the middle! Twilight was starting to wonder if Pinkie Pie was an alien as well.

For some insane reason, Cinch was ‘displeased’ with her students for being unable to copy a literally impossible feat. It was emotional abuse at its finest. It made Twilight sick to her stomach.

The next leg happened to be woodshop. This event was fairly simple for the ‘by-the-numbers’ Crystal Prep students. Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat had even managed to add some impressive flare to their birdhouse.

Afterward was a spelling bee. Ultimately both teams were eliminated down to just Twilight and Sunset. As a reward for passing the spelling bee, Sunset and Twilight went head to head in mathematics.

Twilight felt her heart pounding in her chest. Even something as normally calming as trigonometry failed to ease her tension. But even at her worse, Twilight wasn’t about to lose in anything related to math. Problem after problem were solved correctly by both girls until eventually Sunset slipped up.

With that, Crystal Prep had won the decathlon. It was a testament to how much the school hated her that, even when she brought them victory, their applause was lukewarm at best and mocking at worse. Lemon excluded, of course.

Twilight watched as Sunset was congratulated even in failure. Earnest smiles and friendly teasing…watching them made Twilight’s heart hurt.

In any event, the six students from both schools who would be going on were announced. From Crystal Prep: Twilight, Lemon, Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet, Indigo Zap, and Sunny Flare. From Canterlot High: Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack Apple, and Rarity Belle.

The two schools then disperse for the rest of the day so they could be well rested for tomorrow’s events. Twilight and Lemon decided to see if they couldn’t glean anything from watching the six girls who were their competition and seemingly the most heavily involved in the magic around the school.

Twilight’s eyes lit up when she spotted one of them break away from the rest and revealed a cat in her bag. Pets were an easy, fairly safe topic. So Twilight approached.

“Hello, would you like to give her a treat?” Fluttershy asked the approaching Twilight and Lemon.

“Guess I’m not the only one to smuggle a pet to school,” Twilight admitted as she and Lemon sat down. Fluttershy giggled.

“Not just one,” She opened her bag to reveal a bird, a rabbit, and a hamster in addition to the cat.

“Oh wow, all I have is Spike,” Twilight replied as she freed her canine companion. Fluttershy picked him up.

“It really is uncanny…” Fluttershy murmured to herself, “Does he talk?” Twilight and Lemon shared a look.

“Not that I know of..?” Twilight hesitantly said as she adjusted her glasses.

“So what planet are you from where dogs talk?” Lemon asked bluntly, fixing Fluttershy with a look between interrogating and curious.

“Oh, um, oops…” Fluttershy flush with embarrassment, “I’m from Earth, but I suppose it’s a little late to claim nothing odd is going on.”

“A little, yes,” Twilight agreed, eager to finally get some answers.

“I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to tell you,” Fluttershy confessed as she started petting her cat, “Would you like to cuddle with Angel Bunny?”

“Um, sure?” Twilight hesitantly accepted as Fluttershy presented the lagomorph. His fur was soft and he was admittedly adorable.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Twilight asked, “I just beat your school in the decathlon,” Twilight pointed out.

“Aside from your friend, the rest of your school didn’t look too thrilled with your winning. It wouldn’t be very kind of me to leave someone who’s upset in their misery if there’s something I can do about it,” Fluttershy answered. She then began to glow yellow before floating up like Pinkie Pie had. She too grew pony ears and her hair grew longer, but unlike Pinkie, she also grew wings.

Inexplicably, Twilight’s scanner activated again, even though it should have been powered off! It also started opening up portals around them. Through one of the portals came a jackalope of all things. Spike growled at it and it retreated, but Spike gave chase. This chase ended when Spike got caught directly in the stream of magic.

“Spike!” Twilight cried with worry. Using all her strength, she forced the scanner shut, ending the drain. She rushed forward to pick up her beloved dog.

“Are you sure you aren’t an alien?” Lemon asked of Fluttershy while Twilight held Spike close.

“I’m so, so sorry Spike. Are you alright?” Twilight asked as she cuddled him protectively.

“Um, I think so,” Everyone froze. That voice had come from Spike.

“AHHHHHH!” Spike, Twilight, and Lemon screamed in panic. Fluttershy may have tried to calm them down, but between her exhaustion after the drain and the trio’s panic, she went unheeded. They all bolted into the school before their panic calmed and they tried to figure out what exactly had happened.

Unfortunately, Twilight and Lemon’s investigation of Spike was cut short when Cinch appeared and Twilight had to shove her dog into a locker. Lemon was then treated to a front row seat of Cinch’s attempts at manipulating Twilight. It was honestly one of the most revolting things the young woman had ever seen in her life. Cinch wanted Twilight to ‘befriend’ the competition to learn their secrets. If Twilight didn’t comply, she’d be punished via the rejection of her application. A teacher, a principal no less, directly blackmailing a student? That was just all kinds of wrong.

“Man, she’s just the worse!” Spike exclaimed as he exited the locker, “What are you going to do, Twilight?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said weakly as she leaned against the lockers and slid to the floor. Lemon sat down next to her.

“Damn girl, I knew Cinch was a bad egg, but seeing it first hand is something else. Has she always been like this with you?” Lemon asked.

“She used to be a lot more subtle, but yes. From my first day at Crystal Prep, Principal Cinch has been trying to control me. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say she tries to control everyone and I’m something of a ‘special project’,” Twilight sighed before burying her head into her arms.

“That’s fucked up,” Lemon replied, shaking her head. Suddenly her Crystal Prep uniform felt dirty.

“That’s why I’ve been trying so hard to get into the Everton Independent Studies Program. I’d finally be free of Cinch, of Fleur’s gang, of Crystal Prep…” Twilight sounded on the edge of tears. Lemon wrapped an arm around her.

“You’re gonna get that application accepted one way or another! I’ll make sure of it! And after you’re free, don’t forget to keep in touch, yeah? We’re friends, after all,” Lemon told her. Twilight’s head popped up.

“Friends?” She asked as she looked at Lemon.

“Uh, yeah?” Lemon replied and suddenly she had a crying Twilight on her hands. Lemon did the only thing that made sense. She hugged Twilight close and let her cry herself out.

The next day came the athletics events. For this, the six students would form pairs. Two for the motocross, two for the shot track on rollerblades, and two for archery. As much as Twilight wished otherwise, she was terrified of riding a dirt bike and terrible on skates. That meant that while Lemon was teamed up with Sunny Flare for the shot track, Twilight got stuck with archery with Sour Sweet.

It was perhaps both a blessing and a curse they were matched against Fluttershy and Applejack. Fluttershy, for her part, had never so much as held a bow before in her life. If Twilight had been privy to such information, she might have appreciated the irony of someone who had chosen the name Artemis not knowing how to wield a bow and arrow.

In any case, Fluttershy’s grappling with the bow gave the Shadowbolts a huge early lead. A lead Twilight quickly squandered with her struggles against the obstacle course that came directly before shooting the arrow. By the time she reached the platform with the bow and arrow, Sour Sweet looked capable of murder. Feeling her glare boring into her back threw Twilight off her game. Archery was the one sport she actually didn’t hate, but Twilight was cracking under the pressure Sour Sweet was putting on her.

As the pressure grew from just Sour Sweet’s glares to the glares of the whole school, Twilight felt herself breaking down as images of her denied application floated in her mind. Then, like an angel, Applejack appeared. The other girl managed to calm Twilight down and with a few instructions; Twilight was finally able to land a bull’s-eye.

“That’s my girl!” Spike appeared to shout, completely freaking out Sour Sweet. While Sour Sweet fled, Twilight hugged AJ.

“See? I was telling you the truth,” AJ said and then she started to glow and transform. Her scanner reacted with a hereto unknown strength, almost physically dragging her along. She tried to fight back and eventually managed to close it, but the sudden lack of force pulling at her caused her to stumble backwards, trip over Spike, and send the scanner flying. It then popped open and a shockwave of magical force emanated from it.

Portals began opening and worse, vines came through those portals. One of the vines wrapped around Twilight’s leg and began to drag her away while other vines started invading the motocross track. Was this her fate? To never amount to anything more than plant food? To go down as the girl who brought botanical ruin upon the great family of man?

Thankfully, such was not her fate. Rainbow Dash became empowered with the transforming magic, growing wings. While Rainbow fought the vines, Lemon and Spike rushed to Twilight’s side, freeing her of its grasp and allowing her to force shut the locket, banishing the vines from whence they came.

In the chaos, Canterlot High had secured victory in the event. Twilight’s conscience forced her into apologizing to the girls for what she had inadvertently done, even as her scanner acted up again and drained Rainbow.

“I’m sorry! I don’t know why I can’t stop it! I tried turning it off, but it just won’t stop!” Twilight shouted

“What do you mean you don’t know?!” Sunset shouted angrily, marching towards Twilight.

“Hey, back off! It’s not like this thing came with an instruction manual!” Lemon got in Sunset’s face. Before it could devolve into a full fight, another errant streak of magic escaped the scanner and opened a huge portal above them, displaying a night sky.

“It’s also been doing that, making random portals, I’m not sure how,” Twilight said, a tone of panic in her voice as she tried and failed to force the scanner shut.

“Aren’t you the one who built it?! Is there anything you do know, like how to fix the portal to Equestria?!” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Sunset slammed her hands over her mouth.

“Equestria?” Lemon, Spike, and Twilight asked.

“Sunset, ya’ll need to simmer down a mite. Twi here is just as lost as we are,” AJ told her as she put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. All the fury drained out of Sunset, leaving her feeling hollow. Seeing Sunset was calming down, AJ moved to use her superior strength to force the scanner shut, incidentally closing the portal.

“I’m sorry…” Twilight said morosely, looking downtrodden.

“I may not know what’s going on, but you girls have answers, don’t you?” Lemon asked as she took position by Twilight’s side.

“Yeah, we do. Sorry for snapping at you, Twilight. It’s not a good excuse, but I’ve had a lot on my plate recently,” Sunset apologized, looking extremely disappointed with herself.

“No, it’s my fault. I’ve been trying to figure out this magic stuff by poking it with a stick like some dumb child. I could’ve gotten people hurt or killed,” Twilight started playing with her hair again.

“Sometimes tha only way you can learn is by burnin’ yer hand on the stovetop,” Applejack said wisely, “Ya’ll just gotta try and be more careful in the future and Ah don’t see any reason why we can’t help.”

“Mostly Sunset though, and the other Equestrians when we can get ahold of them,” Rainbow noted as she literally tried to shake off the effects of the drain.

“So what is Equestria?” Twilight asked curiously.

“My home country in another dimension,” Sunset answered, “There magic is a lot more commonplace than on Earth.”

“I miss being able to eat all the magic we wanted,” Sonata sighed wistfully, looking in the direction of the portal.

“Wait, you eat magic?!” Lemon exclaimed.

“Only the Sirens eat magic, silly,” Pinkie giggled.

“Sirens? Like the Greek mythological creatures that lured sailors away with their looks and voices?” Twilight blinked owlishly.

“You’re looking at the source of those myths,” Adagio informed her with an amused smile.

“But that would make you…” Twilight’s eyes widened in shock.

“About 3,000 years old? Older than that, actually, we’ve just lived on Earth for about 3,000 years. If you want an exact age, well…don’t you know it’s rude to ask a lady her age?” Adagio giggled, her eyes seemingly those of a predator and Twilight suddenly felt very much like prey.

“Don’t mind her, she’s all bark and no bite,” Rainbow said as she smirked at the Siren.

“Talk to me on your 18^th birthday and then we’ll see who has no bite,” Adagio gave a grin that was remarkably shark-like and Rainbow’s bravado seemed to waver.

“So you’re, like, a billion years old in doggy years!” Spike exclaimed, having been trying to figure out how old the Sirens were himself and not even noticing the tension around him.

An hour later and the two schools were gathered for the tie-breaker event. Two pendants would be hidden in the school and the first to find them would be the winners. Cinch, given what had happened at the last event, was now certain that Canterlot High was cheating with magic. She also somehow knew that Twilight’s scanner was containing a hefty amount of magic in it.

The gray, overcast skies seemed to reflect Twilight’s troubled heart and Cinch bore down on her. Upon discovering Twilight had magic, the other students also began to pressure her to use it. If she didn’t she’d never get into Everton. If she did, she risked…Twilight wasn’t sure exactly what might happen, but it certainly wouldn’t be good and almost as certainly be life threatening.

Cinch and the students caged her in, forcing her back against the wall as they demanded she unleash the caged magic. Twilight could only catch a glimpse of Lemon, Suri Polomare and Fleur holding her back. Seeing Lemon in trouble, something in Twilight crumbled.

Sensing victory, the students parted, allowing Twilight to walk to the center of the courtyard. She began activating the purging sequence. By the time Sunset realized what she was doing, it was too late.

The pent up magic exploded outward before reforming into an orb. It and Twilight then began to steadily rise. Twilight tried to escape, but it was no use. The orb grew larger and larger.

“HELP ME!” Twilight begged. Lemon, bless her, tried to jump up to reach Twilight, but by that point, she was already too high up. The orb consumed Twilight and for a brief moment, it just hung there, swirling with mystical power. Then it flashed white and collapsed, blinding everyone for a moment.

When everyone could see again, they saw Twilight flying in the air. But she was different. Huge, black feathered wings like some sort of fallen angel adorned her back. A huge, sharp horn protruded from her forehead. Her eyes and mask-like apparitions around her eyes were a whitish-blue. Her hair was done up in some sort of wild mockery of her usual tight, orderly bun. Her clothes had even changed to some sort of tight fitting dress that brought out the best in Twilight’s figure.

Lemon couldn’t help but think there was something darkly seductive about her friend’s transformation. Of course she was worried for her safety and well being, especially after she started talking, but in the back of her head, a thought wouldn’t go away: ‘damn, Twilight’s hot’.

“Oh, I didn’t understand magic at all before, BUT I DO NOW!” Twilight crowed as she blasted the horse statue of Canterlot High to rubble. Where it stood, a gap in the fabric of spacetime opened up to reveal Equestria on the other side. It showed Ponyville, to be more exact.

The portal spawned a fissure of damaged spacetime and another blast from Twilight opened up another portal, this one to Rainbow Falls. More blasts, more portals, more damage to reality. Soon portals began to open even without Twilight’s direct intervention.

Cinch fled the scene of her crime yet her students, for the most part, stayed. They had helped push Twilight to this point. It was only fitting if they could try and find a way to help.

“Twilight, stop! You can’t do this!” Sunset shouted to Twilight.

“Why not?! There’s a whole other world right there and it’s filled with MAGIC!” Twilight exclaimed before blasting open another portal.

“But you’re destroying this world to get it!” Sunset protested.

“Why should I care about this miserable world?! I’ve known nothing but pain and suffering here! I couldn’t even do anything about it! I was trapped, caged, and powerless! But now I can be free and have absolute power! If this world burns as the pyre for my ascension, then I say it can’t burn fast enough! There is nothing in this world for me!” With those words, Twilight fired another blast, creating the largest portal yet in the ground, under the feet of several students.

“Nothing? Not even me?” Lemon called out to Twilight.

“Or me?” Spike asked from Lemon’s arms. All around them, students were helping keep each other safe from falling into the portals. Sunset was getting together a plan using Twilight’s scanner. All she needed was for Lemon and Spike to buy just a few seconds.

“Lemon…Spike…I…I can’t…I won’t! I can’t let Cinch control me anymore! But I don’t want to hurt you! PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME CHOOSE!” Twilight screamed in agony as she clutched her head. Then she stopped, her arms falling limply to her sides, “Why do I have to choose? I’m powerful enough to have you all!”

“Twilight, this isn’t the way!” Sunset shouted, “I know you feel unstoppable right now, like you can do anything! I’ve been where you are! I’ve made the same mistake your making! Yes, it was for different reasons, but the end results would have been the same! I stole a crown and just like you, I was overwhelmed with magic! I thought it could get me everything I wanted!”

“You’re wrong! Unlike you, I can have everything I want! Power, Freedom, Knowledge, Spike, and Lemon! Nothing else matters!” Twilight declared.

“Well, you’re almost better than I was,” Sunset gave a mirthless bark of laughter, “At least you still want people by your side, even if it’s been corrupted by possessiveness. Twilight, if you still care about Spike and Lemon at all, you’ll listen to them!”

“Twi, you know this is all way above me, but I don’t want you to destroy the world! My friends, my family, and everything I have are in this world! If you destroyed it, then they’ll be gone too!” Lemon called out.

“What about Shining and your folks, Twilight?! Are you gonna destroy them too?!” Spike demanded.

“I…but I…I can’t…I CAN’T!” Twilight screamed again, “Don’t make me go back!”

“Twilight, we can help you, but you have to let us,” Sunset entreated, “With the values of Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, and Kindness, we can heal you,” As Sunset listed off the Elements, their power gathered into the scanner once more. Sunset then was lifted up much as Twilight had been before throwing the scanner to the ground, smashing it and releasing the magic.

Sunset didn’t fight or fear the magic. She embraced it as it poured through every fiber of her being. A long, flowing dress, wings of pure light, and her own horn appeared on her.

“You’ve already started down the path; all you need is a little push, some healing, and a guiding hand. Let us show you the Magic of Friendship,” Sunset request and with little more than an expression of her will, she sealed the portals with ease.

In a fit of rage, Twilight attacked, but her Heart was no longer in it. Sunset easily overwhelmed her and the next thing Twilight was aware of, she and Sunset were alone in a blue and white void.

“Take my hand, Twilight. We can show you there’s a better way. Just as someone once did for me,” What little resistance Twilight still had in her crumpled instantly. She slowly reached out her hand and felt Sunset’s magic purify her. Suddenly, both Twilight and Sunset were back at Canterlot High, both human again.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen…” Twilight said, unable to look Sunset in the face.

“I know, and going by my own experience, they’ll forgive you,” Sunset said with assurance before taking Twilight’s hands and pulling her into a hug. A hug that was joined a moment later by Spike and Lemon.

“Twilight Sparkle don’t you ever worry me like that again!” Lemon shouted while clutching her friend for dear life.

“What she said!” Spike agreed as he jumped on Twilight’s head.

With the danger passed, Cinch decided to try once again to stir up trouble.

“Principal Celestia, on behalf of Crystal Prep, I demand that you forfeit the Friendship Games!” Cinch shouted, looking furious, “Clearly CHS has had unfair advantage for quite some time and it’s certainly obvious that your students have been using magic for their own benefit!” If Cinch noticed the disapproving glares from everyone who had stuck around, she didn’t react to them.

“I’d like to think that saving the world benefits us all,” Celestia replied cheekily, earning more than a few chuckles from the gathered.

“At least they didn’t manipulate and emotionally abuse Twilight into releasing all the stolen magic and turning into a power crazed magical creature that tried to tear the world apart just to win a game,” Sugarcoat said with her usual bluntness, “Nor did they have two other students physically restrain Lemon Zest to keep her from supporting her friend.”

“Wow, that’s a lot to take in when you say it all at once,” Pinkie observed.

“That’s ridiculous!” Cinch denied, earning her scornful glares all around.

“Nope, that’s pretty much how it happened,” Spike spoke up from his spot in Twilight’s arms.

“Actually, we’re all to blame,” Sweet said sadly, feeling guilty for their actions, “Mostly it was her,” Sour growled.

“Obviously my students have been infected with your magic! But I plan on taking all of this up with the SCHOOL BOARD!” Cinch shrieked.

“Good. I’m sure they’ll be very interested to hear all about the magical students with wings,” Celestia looked entirely too bemused for her own good.

“Oh, and the portals to different dimensions,” Luna decided to join her sister.

“And don’t forget to tell them about the talking dog,” Cadence helpfully suggested.

“Because that would never ruin your reputation,” Spike hit Cinch right where it hurt. Cinch looked like she was about to snap and do something stupid, but incredibly she managed to restrain herself and marched off, joined by a few of the students who also lacked a soul.

When all was said and done, it was decided that this year’s Friendship Games were a wash. Called on account of world-ending cataclysm, but no one seemed to mind overmuch. Twilight was sitting on the steps of the school, Spike on her lap and Lemon beside her. Cadence then came to sit next to them.

“Well, Twilight, looks like you’ll be getting into Everton soon. I doubt Cinch will want you around after everything that happened,” Cadence noted lightly as she smoothed out her skirt.

“Actually, Cadence, I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t think I want to apply to Everton anymore,” Twilight revealed while adjusting her glasses.

“Really? Why not?” Cadence asked. She had thought Twilight would be chomping at the bit more now than ever to get into Everton.

“It’s recently come to my attention that, while I am proficient in the hard sciences, I need to round out my knowledge on the soft sciences,” Twilight replied, “And I feel the best way to do that is to transfer to Canterlot High School for my remaining high school education.”

“You want to make more friends?” Cadence asked in surprise. This was great news!

“Yeah, if Lemon and Spike hadn’t been there to cause me to hesitate…things could have gotten messy. I figure finding a few more friends can’t hurt,” Twilight said, favoring Cadence with a wan smile.

“I’d like to transfer to Canterlot too, Dean Cadence,” Lemon suddenly spoke up and judging from Twilight’s reaction, this was a surprise to her too, “I can’t very well let Twi deal with all this magic and friendship nonsense on her own, now can I?”

“I will be transferring to Canterlot as well,” Sugarcoat appeared out of seemingly nowhere to announce.

“Sugar, you don’t have to-” Lemon started to protest.

“If you think I’m going to stop looking out for you just because you’re transferring schools, you have another thing coming. Or perhaps you were hoping to get away from me?” Sugarcoat asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Sugar, you know that’s not true!” Lemon exclaimed.

“Then there shouldn’t be a problem. Dean Cadence, I trust you will handle the paperwork?” Sugarcoat inquired.

“The three of you will be missed at Crystal Prep, by me if no one else, but I understand. I’ll talk to Principal Celestia right away,” Cadence promised and went to do just that.

The sun was preparing to set and the Rainbooms, alongside the Sirens, were lounging near the destroyed statue.

“So, I feel rather silly,” Sunset announced from her position leaning up against the base of the statue.

“And why’s that, bacon hair?” Aria asked, seated on the ground.

“The girls were ponying up when they displayed the qualities of their Elements. Really obvious, in hindsight…” Sunset sighed.

“Took you long enough!” Aria barked, “Seriously, it took you this long to figure it out?!”

“Isn’t one of those vaunted Friendship Reports you had us read on asking for help when you need it?” Adagio asked teasingly. Sunset suddenly felt a very strong urge to crawl into a hole and hibernate for the winter.

“Speaking of, any word from Duskfall?” Fluttershy asked, standing next to Sunset.

“Unfortunately not, but that might not mean all that much. With the portal down, it’s quite likely time has desynchronized between dimensions again. That’s also assuming the journal still works with the portal completely shut down. In any event, Duskfall is sure to notice the portal’s broken sooner or later and fix it. For now, it’s nice to know we can solve our own problems. We can’t expect them to always be around to help us,” Sunset replied as the group noticed Celestia walking towards them with Twilight, Lemon, and Sugarcoat.

“But maybe we can help?” Twilight hesitantly offered.

“It seems we have three new Wondercolts here at Canterlot High!” Celestia exclaimed happily.

“I’m not sure how much help we’ll be, but I for one would like to try,” Twilight offered.

“I may not be as book smart as Twi, but you can count me in too!” Lemon said eagerly.

“Someone must keep these two overexcited, reckless teens in check. I suppose the burden will fall on me,” Sugarcoat sighed, but if one looked close, they might see the faintest ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

“Then welcome to the club!” Sunset said warmly and the Rainbooms hugged their new friends.

“Oh, group hug!” Sonata cheered and joined them.

“Oh look, Aria, new playmates,” Adagio snarked.

“As if we needed another annoying purple girl in our lives,” Aria grumbled, but her sour attitude was ineffectual.

For Twilight Sparkle, the past few days had been quite strange. Magic was real, there was a portal to an alternate dimension in easy travel distance, and she had made new friends. To add a cherry on top of this sundae of weirdness, Sunset had offered to let her meet the version of herself from that alternate dimension…kinda? Twilight still wasn’t clear on the details. Something about a Soul Fusion, but that Twilight, apparently named Duskfall, would soon be here and Twilight could ask her questions.

As promised, a few minutes later the portal rippled and out came someone that looked intensely familiar to Twilight, save for her clothes. Twilight thought she was mentally prepared, but she quickly discovered she was not prepared for a version of herself dressed like a punk rocker.

Apparently, Twilight wasn’t the only one surprised by the wardrobe choices, as the doppelganger looked herself over with a mildly confused look before the portal rippled again and expelled another Twilight. This Twilight crashed into punk rock Twilight and the two fell to the ground in a tangle.

This new Twilight was dressed much more similarly to how Twilight expected her counterpart might dress. It was similar to her own clothes, but with mild variations. A pure blue blouse instead of one with lines, a pleated skirt with no pockets, and tall boots were this version’s attire. Something odd Twilight noticed was that neither of her counterparts was wearing glasses.

Before either of the Twilights could get off the ground, the portal rippled a third time and out came yet another Twilight Sparkle. Now the trio was stuck in a tangle of limbs that made it hard to discern the newcomer’s attire, which consisted of a beret, baggy turtleneck sweater, and plain blue jeans.

Twilight turned to the Rainbooms, looking for some kind of support, maybe a vain hope that this was somehow normal to them. Judging by the range of shocked, confused, an oddly hopeful looks on their faces, this was indeed not normal for them.

Then, as if determine to break any and all sense for the strange and bizarre Twilight might still posses, a shower of sparkles appeared next to the fumbling trio before resolving into yet another Twilight, this one wearing a sailor fuku that looked painfully similar to a certain magical girl anime Twilight had watched as a little girl.

“I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for love and justice! I am Sailor Twilight! In the name of the Stars, I will parody you!” She even did the pose and somehow kept a completely straight face!

“Are you for real right now?” Punk Rock asked from on the ground, looking at Sailor Senshi. Senshi looked down at her attire.

“I mean, I could’ve used my Ranger Morpher. It’s been a good century or so since I’ve used that. But, well, the joke was already baked in with the Senshi transformation and I’ve never been one to let low hanging fruit deter me from making a joke,” Sailor Senshi demurred.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!” Punk Rock groused as she struggled to get free of the other two Twilights.

“Weren’t you in Canterlot with Celestia and Luna?” Costume Swap Twilight asked as she wiggled free.

“Yes, Celestia just sent out word to gather all the diplomats. She has some rather nice lavender tea,” Sailor Senshi noted mildly.

“Then I suppose you can be in multiple at the same time?” Theater Nerd asked as she stood up and brushed herself off.

“You know, Discord never give a straight answer on how he’s able to do that, though I suspect some form of quantum entanglement. Maybe I can ask you?” Costume Swap asked. That was the most Twilight thing Twilight had heard any of them say thus far.

“I’m always happy to feed inquiring minds,” Sailor Senshi replied. Her expression, like that of an amused cat, might be off putting to some, but to a Twilight hungry for knowledge, it would take more than that to discourage her.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!” Sunset finally exploded, “Duskfall doesn’t answer the journal, we find out the principal of Crystal Prep is emotionally manipulative and abusive, this world’s Twilight got pressured to the point of breaking by her classmates and principal, she was corrupted by our magic to nearly destroy reality, and now YOU’RE DOING A COMEDY SKETCH?!”

“Um, wow, I didn’t even think to check the journal. As you can see, a lot has been going on,” Punk Rock admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck with embarrassment.

“I thought it was cute,” Adagio opined, a smirk on her face and her arms crossed under her chest, likely just trying to be contrary.

“So I can make a wild guess and say a miracle happened, but that should mean there were three of you. So who’s the extra?” Rainbow asked, nodding towards Sailor Senshi.

“I’m a shapeshifter. It’s a bit of a story, which I’ll let these three tell you, but when I’m female, please call me Natsuki, male name’s David, but whatever you do, please don’t call me late for dinner,” Sailor Senshi cracked. She seemed disgustingly pleased with herself for that joke too. A few treacherous giggles escaped Twilight while AJ was just straight out laughing alongside Pinkie Pie and Sonata. Theater Nerd buried her face in her hands, Costume Swap was valiantly struggling against her own snickers, and Punk Rock was laughing like a madwoman. Everyone else was groaning as if the joke had physically hurt them.

“That joke was awful, you should consider never attempting humor again,” Sugarcoat suggested.

“Why, Sugarcoat, you wound me!” She smiled as she became a he and lost the Senshi outfit, “But I am actually here for reasons other than making bad jokes of the dad variety and otherwise. One of those reasons is congratulating Sunset on her ascension.”

“ASCENSION?!” Several people exclaimed in shock. Sunset fell onto her butt from sheer shock.

“Yep, goddess of Hope and Healing, I just got the notification. I know you’ve wanted this for a long time, so I’ll just get out of your way and uphold the second reason I’m here: to tell the nations of this world to expect visitors,” David replied.

“What? Why?!” Came many shocked exclamations.

“You mean besides the fact that Canada has been playing host to foreign dignitaries on and off for the past few months without the proper diplomatic channels being notified?” Punk Rock snarked, “Yes, there is another reason and it’s totally my fault.”

“What did you do, Duskfall? I presume it has something to do with how you got Tom and Twilight back?” Adagio asked with curiosity as Sunset suffered a full meltdown, “What forbidden Black Magic have you delved into?”

“It wasn’t Black Magic, just a homebrew summoning spell that had some…unintended side effects,” Duskfall replied, folding her arms petulantly. David wandered off to do whatever it was he needed to do.

“She caught the attention of Death, forged a contract with him, and in the process alerted all reality to Equuis’ location. Since our two dimensions are so closely bound, I don’t find it hard to imagine at least a few people who are looking for Equuis ending up on this version of Earth instead,” Costume Swap informed them.

“Thanks for ratting me out, Twilight,” Duskfall pouted, “I could have broken the news so much more gently.” This got Theater Nerd to start laughing.

“I don’t think you and gentle go anywhere in the same sentence unless there’s a bed involved,” Theater Nerd ribbed Duskfall. The former Shadowbolts and Fluttershy flushed at the raunchy insinuation.

“You’re just jealous because you haven’t gotten any, Tommy boy,” Duskfall shot back. Tom did the mature thing and stuck out his tongue.

“I ascended?” Sunset finally spoke, still sounding dazed.

“Yes, Sunset, we’ve covered this. Tom and Twilight are back from the dead, I’m being babysat by Death’s right hand, and you are now an Alicorn goddess of Hope and Healing, apparently,” Duskfall told her friend with all that gentle tact she had just been talking about.

“I…I…I gotta tell Mom!” Sunset then dove through the portal without another word.

“I hope someone remembers to take pictures,” Duskfall noted idly, looking at the now still portal.

“I will be deeply surprised if Raven doesn’t have a camera on her at all times,” Twilight’s most direct counterpart opined.

“How long do you think she’ll spend freaking out over her new wings?” Tom wondered, “I’m betting five minutes.”

“Care to put something on that wager?” Duskfall inquired with the grin of a card shark.

“So uh, not to interrupt, but who are you people? Like, I get you’re all supposed to be Twilights from another dimension or something, but one of you is a punk rocker,” Lemon spoke up.

“I’m not a Twilight,” Tom corrected.

“Like hell you’re not!” Duskfall shouted vehemently, “Twilight’s a Twilight, I’m a Twilight, you’ve been stuck with both of us long enough that you’re a Twilight, got it?!”

“Duskfall…” Tom was surprised, taken aback really, by how adamant Duskfall was in her protests, “Alright, if you say I’m a Twilight, then I’m a Twilight.”

“Are you recruiting?” Adagio asked sarcastically with a sardonic smile.

“Sorry, but Tom’s only getting in through extenuating circumstances. Better luck next time, Dagi,” Duskfall replied airily. She then skipped forward towards Twilight herself, “So, you’re our new recruit?”

“Duskfall Sparkle, don’t you even think about it!” The Other Twilight barked.

“Mom! Really? She’s underage! I’m not a total degenerate!” Duskfall turned to Other Twilight and sulked with her best pout. Duskfall’s words brought up some very important questions in Twilight’s mind, so she decided to focus on the one with less potential to scar her forever.

“’Mom’?” Twilight asked of the trio. Duskfall returned her attention to Twilight and grinned wickedly.

“Gather ‘round, children, and let Auntie Duskfall tell you a tale! A tale of Misery and Woe! A tale of Madness most pure! It all began when Mama Twilight fucked up a spell…”

Author's Notes:

Lots of things to say, lots of things to announce, let's get down to brass tacks.

First, I had no intention of doing anything more than a dumb scene with that 'Twilight meets Twilight' moment at the very end of the movie. Then I realized I was being dumber than usual and did the whole movie. During the writing of this chapter, a certain side side character caught my attention and my imagination and got the Lightning Dust treatment.

Then when Lemon Zest got tapped for a bigger role, she insisted on dragging Sugarcoat along with her. So I guess we'll just have to see how those two pan out in the future, but I have high hopes.

Second, as much as I hate to admit it, I absolutely can not continue the 'once a week' schedule going into Standing United. I want it to be as perfect as it possibly can be and that sort of thing takes time.

Speaking of schedules, I had intended to get this chapter out in November, but then Thanksgiving happened and I decided to try and take some time off until my birthday, January 9th. Since you're reading this author's note, you know how well that plan went. I still would've had this out earlier, but I've been binge watching Supernatural. Curse you Flutershyfan3030, you've entrapped me in another fandom.

With this chapter, I think everything mission critical to Shattered Souls has been posted. It's been requested I do the R-rated scene between Duskfall, Nightmare Moon, and that dimension's Twilight. I might do that, might not, still undecided. Other than that, I'll be thinking about silly scenes, mayhap one or two involving a certain Flutterbat~

I don't know when exactly Standing United will be posted. It'll likely be sometime after my birthday. I have the cover art for it, I have the general outline in my head for what I want to happen during the first chapter, I just want to make sure everything's settled in my head before starting to put word to document.

I figured since A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake and Shattered Souls both had different artists do the cover art, I might as well make that a thing and hired someone else to make the cover art for Standing United.