> Ponemurdered
>  by The Gentlecolt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter The First: I Couldn't Think Of Anything So I Just Words [Arcainum]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle woke up, as protagonists are wont to do of an introduction. After briefly considering writing the day off and going back to sleep, she sighed and pulled herself out of bed, blinking in the bright morning sun. She brushed her teeth. She combed her mane. She made a light breakfast of toast and eggs. She made her bed. She had one of those moments where you look at a picture frame and it’s sort of wonky so you re-jig it but it’s still not quite right and you end up spending five minutes just moving a picture frame back and forth until you give up and let it bug you all day. She performed various other mundane tasks that were necessary to create verisimilitude but detrimental to the flow of a narrative when overused. After establishing herself as an active entity and kicking Spike out of bed (metaphorically, as to visit physical violence on Spike’s person would be out of character), she began to busy herself with the deeds of the day, which primarily involved lists.

As the clock struck midday, she ticked the final item on her checklist of things to check against her checklist of things on her checklist to check against and felt a whim overtake her. Spike, after returning from his morning errands, had insisted that it was a beautiful day, and Twilight was suddenly feeling like walking, in the sense of embarking on a leisurely stroll rather than being acquitted of a crime of which she was clearly guilty. That had been last week, after Celestia had dealt with the fallout from the Please Do Not Eat Bacon In The Library Incident.

After putting her papers in order, she opened her door and strolled outside, taking great pleasure in the warmth of the distant sun against her skin. She thanked the heavens, as she did every day, that she lived on a largely temperate planet rather than a ball of flame several hundred thousand miles wide. She decided to take her walk into town.

An indeterminate period of time later, thanks to the conceptually-malleable geography of Ponyville, she arrived in the town centre. Ponies of many colours, and several of exactly the same, went about their business in town, the very picture of both hustle and bustle. Twilight took a seat at one of the tables set outside her favourite snack place in town, Horse Pun. She looked about her, taking in the atmosphere, and smiled, wondering what her friends were up to.

And then the town hall exploded.
> Chapter Two: The Road Not Taken [Blueshift]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight screamed as the town hall exploded into a blazing inferno. A fireball rose out of the ground, consuming it and everything at ground zero into a broiling mass. Immediately the outrush of heat hit her, and she braced herself against the earth as the grass turned to ash and all around her ponies blackened into cinders. Everything was black, black and red, seemingly frozen forever in one terrible instant.

After a few more moments screaming, Twilight realised that everything was frozen. She frowned, checking her hooves first for any signs of harm. She was fine. Nothing else was. Ponyville was devastated; flames frozen in place as they licked around the wailing, dying ponies that were scattered as if in some bizarre tableau.

“Am… am I dead?” She finally brought up the courage to speak, her voice echoing around the macabre scene. “Was that it?”

“No my faithful student.” Twilight turned as the figure of Celestia appeared from thin air beside her, wrapping a comforting wing around her side. “This is but a glimpse of the future that can happen – will happen – if you fail in your mission.”

Twilight’s mouth dropped open. “Mission, Princess? What do you mean? What could cause this terrible disaster?”

Celestia’s eyes took on a faraway gaze, as she looked out towards the centre of the terrible fireball. “Equestria is in danger, Twilight Sparkle.  Already the Enemy is moving their pawns in a strategy even I cannot fully comprehend. Princess Luna is currently battling to stop a second moon from rising from beneath the sea and shining its terrible light over the land. Princess Cadance is attempting to stop the Coal People from fusing themselves into a new, more evil form of crystal. So it is up to you, Twilight, to stop the Enemy from using the Elements of Harmony. You must – “

“What?” Twilight gulped hard. “You want me to get my friends together and battle this mysterious foe?”

“No.” Celestia sunk her head. “I do not yet know what the Enemy plans, but he or she has incredible powers. That is why I have frozen time in this sliver of an alternate reality to talk to you. If you tell anyone of your mission, if you even think about the reasons for your mission for any instant once time has restarted, the Enemy will realise what we are up to, and what you see here will come to pass.” She scuffed a hoof sadly in the ashes of a desiccated pony.

“And my mission?” Twilight asked in a quivering voice.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia was at once commanding and yet sympathetic. “It is a heavy task I ask of you. To prevent the Elements of Harmony from being twisted and used for evil, you must kill your friends. I call this Operation: Ponemurdered.” She raised a hoof to silence a horrified Twilight. “I will restore them to life once the crisis is over and the Enemy defeated. But until then, they must be removed from this earthly plain, and death is the only answer. Do you understand?”

Tears prickled at the edge of Twilight’s eyes, and she gulped, the fire and brimstone all around her casting terrible shadows. “A-and I can’t tell them why I’m doing it, or even think about the real reasons?”

Celestia shook her head. “No, my faithful student. The risks are too high. If you do, the Enemy will at once realise my strategy and what you see will come to pass. But they will be restored, I promise you.”

Twilight stepped forwards into the frozen conflagration. This was the future if she didn’t act. She knew that. “I’ll do it, Princess,” she finally replied. “I’ll kill my friends.”

“Thank you, Twilight.” Celestia faded, and before Twilight’s eyes the ruined centre of Ponyville vanished, to be replaced by the bright happy midday sun and the sight of dozens of cheerful ponies all around her. She swallowed hard.


***


A party, that was what the stranger had ordered. Vinyl Scratch didn’t care much for their attitude, but money was money, after all, and the bits in her hooves allayed any doubts about the odd request. Normally someone would request her DJ services for an event or party, some sort of special occasion. But this pony just wanted her to set up her equipment in the park and play a certain record.

It was very weird. Even weirder was the fact that as she tried to recall the earlier conversation, she couldn’t remember what the stranger looked like. Not even if it was a mare or a colt. She shrugged as she put the finishing touches to her turnstiles. “Fillies and gentlecolts!” she shouted to no-one in particular. “I have been asked to perform the latest in musical taste, all the way from Canterlot!”

The record the stranger had given her was heavy in her hooves. It felt cold and clammy, not like what she was used to. Ignoring the uncomfortable sensations, she placed the record on the turnstile and hit play, hoping that this wouldn’t damage her reputation too much. The music began to blare out through the loudspeakers and into the park.

It sounded like screaming.


***


“Why, Twilight!” Busy Bumble the shopkeeper looked up from his desk and smiled at the determined looking purple unicorn that stood before him. “I’ve not seen you in a while! You’ve never popped into my store before, what can I do for you?”

Twilight kept her mind clear. She needed to stay focussed, not let her thoughts drift for one moment. She had seen the shop many times before. It was nestled in between ‘Sofas and Quills’ and ‘Fans and Whistles’. Twilight never had a reason to enter ‘Chainsaws, Quicklime and Binbags’ in the past.

She smiled sweetly at the shopkeeper. “I’d like to place an order, please…”
> Chapter 3: Harmadik fejezet: A Démon Újratöltve [Zay-el]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweat ran down the side of Twilight's face. Her heart was beating like crazy, as if it was downright trying to burst out of her chest. She let a hoof run along the side of the jagged blade of her first chainsaw, feeling the cold metal. Nothing ever felt as heavy as when she had to bring this machine out of the shop, especially knowing its eventual purpose.

She gulped and lifted the chainsaw into the air once more, while peeking into the instruction manual that came with it. Skipping right past the clause stating warranty became void if the chainsaw somehow got stuck in bone, she arrived at the actual operating instructions, which were about as detailed as she expected from a machine so simple:

Pull cord and apply to object.

She frowned at the lack of an illustration or a list of troubleshooting options, but she didn't have the luxury to go back and ask for the Extended Version she had seen on the shelves. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the cord.

The chainsaw immediately blared up, ready to slice through just about anything. Twilight savored holding it with her magic and waved it around a little. It was heavy, clunky and carried a dangerous amount of momentum. She spun around her axis and while it followed the movement perfectly, it pulled her along. After a forceful meeting with the ground, the chainsaw followed suit, embedding itself in the ground, just a few inches from her.

“I'll need to be more careful with it.” She stood up and let the machine cool down while she ran through her options.

Pinkie Pie was far deep in town for her to do it without anypony noticing. Rainbow was too fast, and while Rarity seemed like an easy prey, bringing magic other than her own into the equation was a little too dangerous right away. This left her with either AJ or Fluttershy, both secluded enough to be offed without much difficulty.

Twilight's throat ran dry as she realized herself. “What am I doing?” she whimpered, her lips quivering. “I'm thinking about them like they were... bugs or something! They're my friends, my best friends. I... I can't do this...”

She slumped to the ground, feeling sick. Whatever unseen enemy Celestia was dreading, even the thought of killing her friends for the good of Equestria was something so wildly unbelievable, that she hoped to everything this was just a cruel dream. And yet, she agreed to it and she had always been loyal to the princess. She could almost hear them scream in the back of her mind; their dying whimpers mixing together with the most horrible bass tune possible.

Her chest heaved as she took a few deep breaths to calm down. She set her teeth and swallowed, her resolve gaining strength. Regardless how horrible it was if it was for the betterment of Equestria, it had to be done.

Twilight adjusted her saddle, the quicklime container and the binbags nestled safely in the pouches. The chainsaw sprung into the air, the blade reflecting the solemn look on her face. No more self-doubt and no more hesitation. It was time to cut to the chase and commence Operation: Ponemurdered.
~ ~ ~

“Worst album ever!”

Vinyl lifted the muffled from her ear, only to find the infernal screaming was still echoing from her speakers. There was no rhythm, rhyme or reason to this tune, just mindless blathering, incoherent monologues and screaming, haphazardly scrambled into a tone that would have had her kicked from Master Blaster's School for Prestigious DJs. It was horrible.

And yet her audience seemed to love it. Wherever the stranger got this from, it seemed to be an instant hit as the dozens of ponies standing around were all rhythmically bobbing their heads to it. Some of them were downright drooling to it, which she found just plain insulting.

“Maybe Octavia's right and I'm the last pony who still likes this,” she said to herself, convinced nopony would hear it over the music anyway. She slumped behind the turntable, sighing.

All her efforts, all the eardrums she has split, the entire salt mines she helped empty out and every single record she ever smashed after the end of a particularly wild gig flashed before her eyes, fading and rusting into oblivion. She felt old and seething with pathetic anger over a new brand of music she simply could not understand.

“So this is what being Octavia is like,” she mused, ignoring the prickling feeling in the back of her brain.

She flinched as a pony appeared in her peripheral vision, slowly walking up towards her and the turntable. Normally she would have been happy to greet them, maybe even let them spin her around for a brief dance, but her mood was crushed and her legs cramped. Carrot Top moved closer, her mouth hanging loose from the beautiful music. She was crying from joy, messy black streams of thick tears messing up her otherwise pretty face. Vinyl made a mental note to tell her black really wasn't her color.

Carrot Top loomed over the unicorn, a guttural growl rumbling out of her throat. She snapped her jaw a few times, her eyes spinning wildly in their sockets. She trembled and whinnied, stretching her jaw as wide as possible, drool overflowing from her mouth.

“Ew, gross!” Vinyl kicked her legs out right, causing Carrot Top to gobble a mouthful of dirt instead. While dazed, her would-be prey stood up with a hurtful look on her face. “If you want me to go, just tell me, you don't have to spit at me like that!”

With that, she turned around and left without another word. Enjoying the music was in no way a crime, but she wasn't about to be ridiculed like that. She got her shades and cut through the mass of crying ponies, heading straight for home. No money was worth this kind of humiliation.

The record she left on the turntable ran its course and dissolved into the pile of black goo. As the ponies behind her erupted into a series of nerve-wracking howls, cries and growls, Vinyl sniffled just a tiny bit.
> The Chapter Numbered 4: Vinyl Dies At The End [Alexstrazsa]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl never expected her extended karate and jiu jitsu training to ever have a practical use. It had just been something she did on the side, to keep her occupied when she wasn’t DJing. Sure, she advanced quicker than most of her classmates. Sure, she received an honorary black belt in the minimum amount of time possible. And sure, she might have won a tournament or two, but all in all, it was just a hobby.

A hobby that became frighteningly practical when a roaring chainsaw and the unicorn attached to it tore out from a dark alley and nearly took the DJs head off. Using her honed sense of agility and perception, Vinyl sprung backwards just as the whirling blades passed her head. As she landed and slid across the ground, she noticed one of her carefully crafted mane spikes had been sliced through. They were going to pay for that.

Stumbling out of the opposing alleyway and wielding the loud, bladed weapon was none other than Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, and the expression she wore was neutral at best.

“So, what’s your reasoning for wanting to do me in,” Vinyl spat, easing her body into a more combat ready pose. “If it’s about that trashy music, I only play it because they want me to.”

The answer was simple. “Ponemurdered.”

Before Vinyl had time to retort, the machine was rocketing at her again. Jumping to her left, she touched hooves to the wall and kicked off of it, flipping over the chainsaw as it flew past her. Her tail twisted into a corkscrew as she spun, untangling only when she connected with opposite wall and jumped off that. She intended to escape to the rooftops, but was painfully interrupted by a magic blast to her side.

“Playing that game, huh?!” Vinyl yelled, landing on her hooves. “Well, spinning records ain’t the only thing I can do.” She galloped forward and her horn began to glow, brightening with each passing second. About twenty yards away from Twilight, she jumped and applied her magic, which sent her blasting through the air at supersonic speeds. The shockwave alone shattered nearby windows, yet Twilight remained unphased. In what was an impossibly fast motion, Twilight twirled out the way of Vinyl’s full-body spear and pressed against the wall.

Vinyl’s hooves dug into the pavement with enough friction to light up the ground with sparks, and as she came to a halt, a burning trail was left in her wake. “Hmph,” she snorted, turning back to Twilight. The opposing unicorn took no pause, as she was running full speed at Vinyl, chainsaw in tow. Partway her horn flashed, and a ghostly chainsaw clone faded out of the original, but was just as usable as its mechanical brother.

“Great,” Vinyl deadpanned, lowering her head. If there was one thing she needed, it was definitely another chainsaw in her life. Twilight took full advantage of her expanded arsenal as she threw the first machine towards Vinyl, forcing the white unicorn to jump out the way. That was when she brought down the other chainsaw, which had been swung in an arc over her head.

Fortunately for Vinyl, her martial arts sixth sense kicked in and she barely avoided the blade. “Gotcha now!” she yelled, abusing Twilight’s weaponless state and giving her a faceful of hoof. The power of the strike literally shattered her magical shield and continued on to hurl her a clear thirty feet away. Vinyl breathed heavily as fragments of magic fell around her like snow, dissipating before they touched the ground.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, she ran forward and leapt into the air, raising a hoof to deliver another strike. With a mighty roar, her hoof slammed down with such might that even Thor would be proud. In fact, she could’ve sworn she saw a flash of lightning as she made contact. Alas, underneath her was not the splattered remains of a unicorn that she had expected, but merely sundered earth.

Vinyl looked over and saw Twilight, safe and sound, with her horn glowing. “Son of a-” Vinyl groaned before diving to the ground. Above her, a massive magic chainsaw blade swept over, cleaving clear through the houses they were next to. Debris and dust flooded the area, obscuring the vision of both.

“Just let it happen, Vinyl,” Twilight hissed, her words cutting through the air almost as well as the chainsaw. “It’ll just be one slice, I promise. Won’t hurt at all.”

“Like hell it will,” Vinyl snapped back, eyes scanning through the dust. She stayed light on her hooves, expecting any second for the gnashing teeth of a mechanical monstrosity to come roaring after her. “Come on. I know you’re the-”

She was interrupted by a legsweep that took her by surprise, tripping her and sending her to the ground. Vinyl shook her head and looked up, only to have her eyes widen in fear at the sight before her. In a literal whirlwind, the surrounding dust was blown away to reveal Twilight standing within an aura of chainsaws. Both the original and three magic duplicates orbited around the unicorn, all revving out of sync with one another in an unholy cacophony of bladed death.

Vinyl wiped her mouth and stood up, facing the menace. As they stared each other down, a drop of water splashed against Vinyl’s snout, followed by another, and another. She couldn’t help but smile as thunder rumbled overhead and the rain turned to a downpour.

“I wish I didn’t have to do this,” Twilight said, scowling at the DJ. “But there’s no other way. It’s the only way to save Equestria.”

Vinyl spat on the ground. “I’m sure.” She then lowered her head, ready to move at a moment’s notice. “Well I ain’t going down that easy.” It was then she felt a brush against her ear and heard a whisper.

“Unfortunately, you are.”

Splorch.

It wasn’t as painful as she expected. Despite the fact that she could see the bloodied edge of the chainsaw sticking out of her, she felt nothing. Well, except maybe disappointment. How she managed to be caught off guard by a magic clone, she would never understand.

Lifting a hoof to her mouth, Vinyl wiped the blood away while vacantly watching the clone dissipate into shards. With a bit of effort, the chainsaw blade was pulled out of her, yet she remained still.

Twilight stepped in front of the dying unicorn, the dripping murder device hovering at her side. “Again, I’m sorry.”

Vinyl shifted her half lidded eyes from her hoof to Twilight, then promptly punched the opposing unicorn in the face. With her last few breaths, she muttered “Go to hell," then collapsed into a puddle of rainwater and blood.
> Chapter V: Ponemurder Hard [Ninestempest]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight let out a final sigh, her eyes returning to their usually violet state.  Her energy fading with her energized state, she set down her pair of chainsaws on either side, not worrying about the rain causing them any issues. She took one glance at the white unicorn’s body before her, and sighed.  One pony down... she thought.   With a flash of her horn, she pulled a bit of what looked like star-shaped stone from one half of the DJ’s corpse.  How these things have so much power, I will never understand.  With a blink of her horn’s light, she vanished from the scene, clones dissipated, chainsaws and star all traveling through the teleport with her.

She reappeared in Celestia’s throne room, though it was every bit as dark as the city had been.  Twilight couldn’t see the marble floor, the crimson carpet, nor the throne itself.  She saw darkness, and heard the pattering of rain against every wall, echoing out even through the stone.

Without warning, a pair of eyes lit up in the blackness, revealing nothing but themselves.  Twilight only nodded at them, and she hovered the stone over to the eyes.  Another source of light, a long, slender, white unicorn horn lighting with a yellow glow, then took hold over the stone.

“You’ve done well, my student,” the monarch stated.

“Thank you, Princess Celestia.  It was my duty.”  Twilight bowed.

“No need to be so formal, Twilight,” Celestia said.  “And there’s no need to hide your emotions over the subject.”

“I... I am not troubled in the least.”

Suddenly, two torches in the middle of the room lit up, revealing their immediate vicinity.  Then, every torch well in the room was emitting light, and the room was lit up so brightly that only the light of the sun may have compared.  Twilight looked up to her mentor with an energetic fervor.  There was no mistaking the visage of Princess Celestia, ivory fur and flowing, four-colored mane.

Celestia stepped off of her throne, making for the lavender unicorn.  “You are lying to me,” she stated.

Twilight nodded, but gulped.  “I... yes.  Yes, something about what I did was... almost pleasing.  Retrieving the star, overcoming her in the fight, seeing her body on the ground.  I felt.. oddly satisfied in a way that I don’t think I should have been.”

“I am just glad you were successful in your mission, Twilight Sparkle.”  When she reached Twilight, she leaned down, nuzzling the side of her neck, causing electric shivers to go up her student’s spine.  “But I only wish you would be more cautious.  I promise you, it would not be an issue to send--”

“It’s okay, Celestia.”  Twilight looked up to Celestia with a focused gaze.  “I have to do this, for peace.  For Equestria.  For...” she blushed.  “For you.”

Celestia silenced her student with a kiss.  Twilight felt like she could jump through the ceiling and all the  way into space.  When Celestia pulled back, she said, “I know.”

-----

In the first light of morning, Twilight arrived at her destination.  Despite spending the last several hours not-talking with Celestia in her quarters, she knew her target, and despite spending the last several hours not sleeping in her quarters, she was wide awake.  The enchantment Celestia had taught her had proved immensely useful.  It cleansed her mind of emotions, removing all hesitation, and made her immensely powerful, her faded, pure white eyes only serving to intimidate.  At her side, two chainsaws hovered in her telepathic grasp.  She figured they were powerful enough weapons, and very easy to use.  Just ram stuff with the moving bits.

What she stood in front of was an old, abandoned building in a remote part of the city.  An old opera house.  And Twilight knew it was where the next star was being housed.  And she knew who was holding it.

Octavia.

Twilight walked straight into the building, ready for anything.

She was greeted with a dimly lit lobby, with brown wooden walls and a vivid red carpet.  Everything looked like it had a layer of dust over it, as if no one had been there in months.  She walked through another set of doors and into the symphony hall.

Rows upon rows of seats as well as a few balconies made up the audience’s places to sit, and the stage was empty, sans for one gray mare, standing with her cello and playing a piece all by her lonesome.

“Your time has come, Octavia,” Twilight called out, walking down an aisle towards the stage, both chainsaws in her telepathic grasp.  “The afterlife beckons!”

She looked down at the unicorn with disdain.  “You don’t understand...” She lifted her bow away from her cello, whipping it out, where somehow, a blade shot out of it as if it were a switch blade, just as long as the bow itself.  Her other hoof moved from the neck of the instrument to behind it, and she held it infront of herself like it were a shield.  “This power is immense.  With it, I can change this country.  Change the way it has been ruled for the last thousand years.  This power was given to me for a reason, and you won’t take it away from me.”

Twilight climbed up the stairs, now standing on the stage.  “I don’t intend to take it away from you, I intend to kill you.”  She leapt forward, lifting one chainsaw in front of her head, like it was an extension of her horn.  She swung it and her head in perfect synchronization, the spinning saw blades hitting Octavia’s cello, but instead of the wood blistering and shattering as she sliced through it, it was held strong, the saw making sparks fly.

Twilight didn’t have time to register why her attack had failed before she saw Octavia swinging her instrument’s bow at her, like some kind of unholy halberd.  She only had time to swing her second saw and deflect the swing, and jump back from the crazed mare.  So... it’s like  a sword and shield?  It was a fighting style she was familiar with, but one that was also very powerful.  While two weapons could definitely handle one weapon, long or short or sharp or blunt, the shield itself could stop everything if she didn’t play her cards right.

Octavia started walking towards her.  “This power isn’t just for me,” she said.  “I can make its influence fall over anything.  So I made my cello and its bow part of me.”  Each step was careful and precise, her bow and cello resting on her back like the weapons of a knight.  “You won’t defeat me.”

Twilight jumped forward again.  She swung both chainsaws this time, and all Octavia did was duck.  They collided with the cello, and once again met it, but did not pierce it.  Her momentum carried her past the musician and she landed with a slide.  Octavia then took the offensive, her bow-sword in her mouth, and her cello still on her back.  She ran at Twilight and took a swing of her own, Twilight just able to jump over it on her own, barely able to handle her speed.  Mid-jump, she tried to lift the cello off of Octavia’s back.  As she reached out to grab it, she felt a sudden force interfere with her magic, instantly cancelling all of her own currently working spell.  Her chainsaws dropped, and the mare lost all sense of balance out of surprise, landing unceremoniously on her rump.

She turned to see Octavia destroyed each chainsaw, the bow-sword cutting through their motors like they were butter.  “I said you couldn’t win,” Octavia said.  “Though I heard your fight with Vinyl was glorious, I had hoped for more of a challenge.”  Twilight bared her teeth, but knew she was defenseless.  Wishing she had taken up her brother’s previous offers at learning his shielding magic, she sat defeated.  While the spell meant to empower her robbed her of the emotions that may have caused her to feel scared, angry, or sad, she was disappointed that she’d never see Celestia again, or—”

There was a crash from the roof.  Both mares looked up to see a figure jumping down through a hole in the ceiling, a mare of some kind, though Twilight could make out no details.  When she landed, some type of shockwave rose up around her, expanding over the stage and throwing only Octavia into the audience seats, somehow not making Twilight move an inch.

Twilight looked back at the mare, finally recognizing her in the light from the hole in the ceiling.  She reached up with a hoof to call out to her, but somehow couldn’t say a word.  More of Octavia’s magic?  Why does the star give an earth pony magic?   Twilight got up to make her way towards the mare, but she suddenly felt a jab of pain through her flanks.  She fell down with a scream.  She didn’t get a good look, but she had some idea of what she was feeling.  Octavia’s weapon was now impaled through her flanks.  She couldn’t move them, the muscle too badly damaged, but she screamed again when Octavia somehow pulled out her weapon, the bow-sword flying back into her hoof as if she had levitated it back to her.

“Twilight!”  Called a voice.  She looked up to see her friend running over.  One of her best friends from Ponyville had come to save her, and was somehow as powerful as either her or Octavia.
“You... you have to...” Twilight coughed, and she knew she was about to lose consciousness.  She had to tell her.  “The... ponemurdered.”

Her friend nodded.  Twilight coughed again, and then became somehow intensely aware of the pain in her legs.  She yelped, holding back a scream.  Her enchantment had passed, and the sudden shock of the wound in her legs made her pass out.

> Chapter n-1 where n=7: I Would Do Anything For A Pony’s Love (But I Won’t Do That) [Lucky Dreams]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight fell.

She tumbled through blackness, past stars, planets, and galaxies. All the while, loved ones drifted in and out of vision, but whether real or imagined she couldn’t say. She saw Rainbow Dash shouting at her; Fluttershy held onto Applejack, who in turn had a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder; and Pinkie Pie was practically drowning in a pool of her own tears.

“I’m right here,” Twilight called out. “Why are you all crying?”

But none of her friends answered, then the darkness swallowed them up and she continued to plunge through the void, gaining speed until she was the fastest thing in the universe. Her heart pounded.

“Help!” she shouted. “Somepony, please!”

Suddenly, there was light! Twilight covered her gaze, and the light spoke. “Come back,” it said, its voice indistinguishable from Celestia’s. “It isn’t time for you to die yet, Twilight Sparkle...”











Smack.

She gasped as she fell face first on the floor. Scrambling to her hooves, she clutched the side of her bed, groaning as beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. Her vision slid in and out of focus. “Get a grip,” she whispered. “Celestia’s not here. You just had a bad dream, that’s all.” 

Desperate for something, anything to take her mind off the pain, Twilight glanced around the bedroom... but this made her feel queasier than ever. This wasn’t her room. In fact, this wasn’t even her house.

Half of the mysterious room was taken up by the four-poster bed from which she had rolled out of, and the tiled floor resembled a giant chessboard. A chandelier hung from the ceiling. The furniture was made from the finest oak, and consisted of a wardrobe, a set of drawers with golden handles, and a mirror larger than a full grown pony.

Twilight stared at herself in the mirror, in particular paying close attention to her flanks as details of the dream dripped back into her head. The fur around her cutie mark was rough and matted, but she didn’t care, for the important thing was that there was no wound from where Octavia had stabbed her, nor was there any blood. She almost cried with relief. “You see?” she said to herself. “It was only a nightmare!”

Closing her eyes, she pictured the musician’s sword piercing her flesh, digging its way through her muscles and her guts. The steel had felt cold. The look on the mare’s face had been one of pure triumph...

A wretched sensation brewed in her stomach, threatening to rise up through her throat and redecorate the chequered floor in shades of yellow and brown. And that’s when Twilight Sparkle decided that what she needed more than anything else in the world was a nice hot cup of tea. 

That, and a good book, of course.










The bedroom door led to a spiral staircase which, to Twilight’s delight and bemusement, led straight down to the Royal Canterlot Library. That she had never known about the bedroom’s existence worried her—there had once been a time when she practically lived amongst these shelves—but at least she had regained her bearings.

Also of concern was the total lack of any other ponies. “Hello?” she called out, cheeks blushing at breaking the most basic rule of library etiquette. Yet there was no-one around to answer her. There were no unicorns, nor were there any pegasi or earth ponies. The librarian had disappeared without a trace. 

Twilight shook her head. Unnerved though she was, being surrounded by thousands of books was as marvellous as sinking into a hot bath—she couldn’t help but feel calmer, especially now that she had something else to occupy her thoughts... something as unexpected as it was wonderful...

The feel of Celestia’s breath on her cheeks, and their tongues meeting.

Much like everything else that had happened in the dream, her stolen kiss with the Princess had felt so real. And now she had had a chance to settle down, she could not stop thinking of pressing her mouth to Celestia’s. A world of grand new truths stretched before her: she loved Princess Celestia, loved her with all her heart! And she had always done so, but it had taken the strangest, most terrifying dream to make her realise that the Princess didn’t just raise the sun, but also her heart and her soul. Twilight whispered Celestia’s name to see how it felt on her tongue. Saying it out loud made her heart flutter and her cheeks blush.

Lost in thoughts of Celestia, Twilight wandered over to a huge window which looked out over Canterlot and the surrounding landscape. It was possible to make out Ponyville far away in the distance. But there was something else of interest, something moving up amongst the clouds: a black dot.

Twilight rubbed her eyes as the dot grew larger. Whatever it was, it was travelling fast... and it had wings. 

“Celestia!” she said with a gasp. Wasting no time, she tried to flatten her mane, still messy from her terrible night’s sleep. Was her coat dirty? Did she need a shower? Perhaps her room had an on-suite bathroom. Was there time for a wash before the Princess arrived in the library? Too nervous to look at Celestia, Twilight turned away from the window and shut her eyes tightly. “She’s seen you in much worse states than this,” she reminded herself. “Just... be like Rainbow. Act casual.”

With a deep breath, Twilight turned back around to face her destiny. She opened her eyes.

It wasn’t a moment too soon. 

The winged object was on a collision course with the window, and now that she saw it up close, it turned out not to be Celestia after all, but instead an airship. Each of its four propellers was bigger than a full grown stallion. The main body of the ship was suspended from a giant, cigar shaped balloon. But there was only one detail that Twilight cared about, and that was the pilot. Her jaw dropped.

It was Rainbow Dash.

Twilight rubbed her eyes, but there was no doubting who it was: multi-coloured mane and tail, crimson eyes full of life and energy. And Rainbow was waving her hooves wildly, gesturing to Twilight to get out of the way.

Without wasting another second, Twilight turned and ran for her life—if only she had had wings! She ignored the stabbing pains in her lungs and legs—

Her breath caught as she tripped over a book—

For the second time that morning, she fell flat on her face. Desperate, she swivelled around, just in time to see the ship before it collided with the glass. 

Time stood still. 


SMASH!


The window was obliterated into a million tiny shards. Stone, brick, and mortar rained down upon the enormous airship as it destroyed everything in its path: shelves, books, chairs, tables. The noise was tremendous. Twilight focused on Celestia, all her mind given over to the hope that she and the Princess would meet again...

Then the rumbling stopped. 

After a few moments, Twilight plucked up the courage to open her eyes again, coughing as she breathed in a lungful of smoke—there was so much of it that she couldn’t see more than a few pony lengths in front of her. Yet even through the smoke, there was no mistaking the great, hulking shape of the airship which had come to a halt scarcely three feet in front of her.

“There you are!” said a voice. “C’mon Twi, we’ve got to get outta here, fast!”

Rainbow Dash emerged from the wreckage, clambered down the airship and stood next to Twilight, whose face was a perfect mask of bewilderment. “Rainbow,” she said, weakly. “Where... wherever did you get this ship?! What’s in that satchel you’re wearing?”

Rainbow, Twilight thought, looked much too pleased with herself for somepony who had just caused thousands, if not millions of bits worth of damage. “This?” she said, shaking her saddlebag. “You’ll see soon enough... and oh man, this airship is sooo cool, right? But there’s no time to explain where I got it. We’ve gotta move, we’ve gotta move fast. And don’t yourself killed this time.”

Rainbow attempted to shove Twilight away from the airship, but the unicorn refused to budge, not with so many unanswered questions. What was Rainbow doing here? Where had she learned to fly such a monstrosity? 

One question stood above the others. “What do you mean, ‘this time’? You can only die once, you know.”

Rainbow Dash planted a hoof on her forehead. “Sheesh! Ya think a pony would remember getting stabbed through the flank.” She gave Twilight’s cutie mark a short, sharp tap, causing the unicorn to wince. “D’you know how long it took me to find you again after what happened in the opera house? I’m not letting ya die on me. Not again.” 

The smoke was clearing. Outside, a storm was brewing, and it was formed of dark, crimson clouds. When Twilight spoke, her voice was distant and her legs shook. “Octavia really stabbed me, didn’t she? I mean, it was real, wasn’t it? It wasn’t just a dream...”

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on the unicorn’s back. “Haven’t ya figured it out yet? Nothing is as it seems. Octavia, she’s... I dunno how to explain it. She’s got ya trapped inside your own head or something, or in her own little dream world! But it’s alright. I’ve come to save ya. And you’ve gotta get outta here before Octavia finds ya.”

The two ponies winced as a new voice introduced itself, one which Twilight recognized as belonging to a certain grey, murderous earth pony. “I suppose that doesn’t leave you with a great deal of time.”

Octavia’s voice had a lyrical quality to it. Her words were the notes of a cold, wintery tune.

So this was all happening inside another world, thought Twilight—one that wasn’t quite reality, but at the same time, not quite a dream. As strange and unexpected as Rainbow’s explanation was, something about it clicked; it was like cleaning a room and discovering the missing piece from a thousand word jigsaw puzzle, the one that tied everything together. Twilight held onto Rainbow’s hoof. How her dear friend had found her she had no idea, but in the moment, neither did she care. She was just relieved that she didn’t have to face this alone. 

“You can’t hide, Octavia,” Twilight yelled. 

Octavia chuckled. “You’re quite right, my little pony. Why don’t we talk face to face?”

The smoke vanished. In the ruined window, framed by lightning and those terrible, crimson clouds, was Octavia. She floated about ten feet in the air with no visible means of support, and she wore a look of pure hatred. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said. “The mare who doesn’t know how to take a hint.”

“Why are you doing this?” Twilight said, hoping against hope that she came across as intimidating. This earth pony had created a whole world as a prison for her, and what’s more had managed to make her forget that none of this was real. Not even Princess Celestia wielded that kind of absolute power.

Octavia’s grin widened. “Oh come now,” she said. “I expect better from you, so don’t give me that rubbish. I didn’t make a deal with the stars to imprison a good-for-nothing airhead.”  

Twilight’s mouth was dry. “You made a deal with the stars? But why?”

If before Octavia’s impatience had been simmering below the surface, now it erupted into terrible life. The lightning intensified. Octavia screamed at Twilight as though she had been waiting years to have this conversation. “You want to know why I did this? For Celestia, of course!”

Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash, the pegasus’ look of confusion a mirror of her own. “Celestia?” Twilight asked. “What does Celestia have to do with anything?”

“Everything!” said Octavia. “Princess Celestia, my one true love! She deserves somepony special. Somepony like... me. I played at the Grand Galloping Gala for five years straight. I attended every garden party, and every social event possible if I thought it would make her pay attention to me. But did it ever work? My solo at her birthday celebrations was so good that it reduced the audience to tears, yet she barely glanced at me. 

“I asked myself, ‘Octavia, what are you doing wrong? Your music is brilliant, your manners impeccable. Why won’t she give you the time of day?’ And that’s when I realised that the problem wasn’t me. It was you.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash gaped at the insane mare, struggling to take in her story. 

Octavia continued. “Perfect Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic and everyone’s favourite pony—what chance does a plain earth pony like me have next to you? You had to go... but then how to go about it, I wondered. Murder? Hah! So messy and tacky. No, there had to be a better way, something with elegance and spark. After months of research, I found the perfect solution. 

“I made a deal with the stars, Twilight. The stars locked you away in this dream world, a world that you will never escape from and in which I have all the powers of a God! And with you finally out of the way back in the real world... well.” She grinned wickedly. “The playing field is clear. All I have to do is make my move, and Celestia’s love will be all mine, mine, mine!”

A clap of thunder acted like an exclamation mark to Octavia’s monologue. Before Twilight could even begin to think of how to respond, Rainbow Dash shouted, “That’s the dumbest story I’ve ever heard in my life!”

Octavia laughed coldly. “Your attempts to save your friend are in vain, pegasus. I’m going to kill you. Both of you. And last time, I was kind enough let you have the life of an action hero. This time, I gave you a whole library to read and enjoy. Don’t expect that sort of nice treatment the third time. When you wake up, you’ll both find yourselves locked away miles beneath the surface.”

“Celestia will never love you,” Twilight spat. “She’ll know what you did!”

Octavia laughed again. Then her eyes turned black, and the darkness seemed to leak out of her eyes and into her fur. Soon, her whole body was made of shadows, and with a final, horrifying shriek, she burst into a thousand purple sparks, and vanished. 

There followed the most awful silence the two friends had ever experienced. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Rainbow said, stepping closer to Twilight.

As if on cue, the floor began to shake. They could sense the vibrations through their hooves, but only when little bits of debris began to fall from the ceiling did it dawn on them precisely what was happening. They rushed to the window, and the rumbling got stronger until it caused buildings to collapse and roofs to cave in. The very mountain on which Canterlot was built started to crumble—Octavia was going to destroy the city, taking them with it!

“Don’t sweat,” Rainbow said to Twilight with a wink. “I said I was gonna get ya outta here and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”

Grabbing Twilight in her hooves, she flew high, high over Canterlot. Oddly, above the cloud layer, everything was dark, an infinite void of blackness that made Twilight shiver in Rainbow’s hooves.

Then they looked down, and saw that, all of a sudden, Equestria was gone, replaced an endless expanse of darkness. All that remained of Canterlot and the storm was a gargantuan, blood red vortex of swirling clouds and lightning and thunder, waiting directly below them like a monster of the deep. Right in the centre of the maelstrom was a gaping hole. It made the vortex look uncannily like an eyeball, one made of evil and malice. 

But it didn’t hold Twilight’s attention for long, because at last, Rainbow Dash opened her satchel to reveal—

“Rainbow!” said Twilight, clapping her hooves to her mouth. “Are those what I think they are?”

The pegasus grinned. Careful not to let go of Twilight, she jingled the contents of the satchel. “You had them on ya when Octavia stabbed ya. Thought they might come in handy... and wouldn’t ya know it, they did. They spoke to me. Said they’d changed their mind about ol’ Octy, and then they told me what I had to do to get you outta here.”

Twilight couldn’t resist. She reached her hoof into the satchel, and by Celestia, it was full of stars, apparently the exact same ones that Octavia had made her bizarre deal with! They had the appearance of tiny crystals, except normal jewels didn’t glow yellow and white.

Rainbow spoke again with a smile in her voice. “What ya gonna do when ya get back?”

The answer emerged from Twilight’s mouth as though it was the most natural thing in the world. “I’m going to see Celestia, and I am going to tell her that I love her.”

“What if she doesn’t love ya back?” 

A hundred different feelings churned inside Twilight’s stomach: intense love for Celestia; the fear of rejection; and most of all, she worried that the one pony she cared about above all others wouldn’t feel the same way about her. But even if she doesn’t, said a voice in Twilight’s head, surely you’d be happier off knowing...

Twilight gritted her teeth. “Dash,” she said. “Whatever the stars told you that you had to do, just go ahead and do it. I want to go home.”

Rainbow Dash peered down into the void, frowning at the monstrous vortex. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but at the last second, looked away from Twilight. “It’ll work,” the pegasus whispered, every word soaked in desperation—Twilight had a strong suspicion that Rainbow wasn’t actually talking to her, but rather to herself. “The stars told me it would work, so it will.”

She looked Twilight in the eyes. “When ya wake up, don’t forget about...” Rainbow gulped, finishing off the rest of her sentence in a whisper. “Don’t forget about the ponemurdered...”

Twilight nodded solemnly. For a second, Rainbow held her tighter than ever, then let go of both her and her saddlebag.

Twilight fell.  

Wind rushed in her ears, her mane trailed behind her, and the vortex was getting closer and closer, like she was being sucked into a black hole in outer-space. Dumbstruck, she looked back up, however Rainbow had already flown away, presumably to find her own way out of the dream-world before she became trapped there herself. Twilight opened her mouth to scream.

But then she shut it. Instead of calling out for help, Twilight faced her destiny head on, and stared at the gateway back to reality.

She was rewarded.

The stars whizzed past her and struck the vortex, exploding on impact in dazzling bursts of white light; and amazingly, the clouds began to change. Whereas they had once been blood red, now they were pure white, the same colour as the stars. Twilight didn’t know what kind of magic this was. All she knew was that, although before the vortex had led to a place of pain, death, and misery, now it led somewhere else...

Her final thought before crossing the threshold was of Celestia. All was bright.

Then, a moment later, everything went dark.











A bird was singing. Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, and unlike the mysterious bedroom above the library, this place didn’t make her feel uneasy. Everything had a solid, tangible quality to it. Twilight sobbed from joy. It was all real. 

She was alive.


> Chapter 110: The Treble With Her [Obselescence]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia grinned as she sipped what was left of her martini. The night was young and so was she, and her study was quite cozy enough for her to watch the show in front of her. Sighing with pleasure, she settled down in her chair and looked again into the crystal ball the stars had given her.

Dear Twilight Sparkle, it seemed, had already grown accustomed to her new reality. A little grassy field, with singing birds and dancing squirrels and whatever else Octavia had seen fit to add at the time. Perhaps a bit gauche, but then, Twilight Sparkle seemed to like it.

If only because she’d thought she’d escaped.

Octavia giggled as Twilight prodded and studied the vibrant green grass around her. The brat could hardly believe it was real. And it wasn’t, but she didn’t have to know that just yet. The dream only felt so real to poor Twilight because Octavia had willed it so, and it would stay that way until she got bored.

The godlike powers the stars had granted her over Twilight’s mind meant she could get away with playing god, and sometimes gods liked to toy with their subjects.

There was even a method to her madness, if madness it was. Dangling the false hope of freedom in front of Twilight was important. Crafting elaborate escape plans, feeding her promises that Octavia was not in absolute control of her head... It was all critical to breaking Twilight’s increasingly fragile grasp on reality.

Every time Twilight thought she was free, Octavia would be there eventually to remind her that, no, she really wasn’t. Not even close. And someday, soon enough, Twilight would crack like an egg. Reality and fantasy would mix inseparably in her mind, and that would be total victory for Octavia.

If Twilight’s friends ever did mount a genuine rescue attempt after that, it wouldn’t even matter. Twilight would be permanently insane, and whatever the lovely Princess saw in her before would be long gone. The only thing sweet Celestia would see was a gibbering madmare, and then she’d realize that, of course, Octavia was the only pony deserving of her love. Even in the Princess’ own, endearingly oblivious way, it would be obvious that a Twilight Sparkle foaming at the mouth was no longer worthy of her affection.

And she would see the musically-gifted, adoring, sane Octavia, and simply fall in love at first sight. The Princess would invite Octavia to live with her in the castle, and she would say yes, and they would live together... happily ever after.

Sighing happily, Octavia stood up, set her glass down, and strolled over to the window. She pulled back the curtains and looked out to the sky above, where the stars were sparkling bright. A constant reminder of her bargain. She’d given them so much already, and would no doubt give more still, before all this was over, but it was worth it. If, even for a second, the Princess looked upon her with love in her eyes, it would all be worth it.

Octavia glanced nervously back at her crystal ball, to reassure herself that Twilight Sparkle was still safely under her power. She was. Of course she was.

“Enjoy your dreams, Twilight,” said Octavia, giving the crystal ball a gentle poke. “I’m going to make mine a reality.”

She gulped down the last of her martini and left to tidy herself up. She would be proposing to the Princess very soon now, she remembered, and she had to look absolutely perfect for the occasion.  
> Chapter O: Into the Light [RustyTheBrave]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight cavorted in the blessedly normal grass, relief filling her body and mind as she felt herself free of her terror. For what had seemed like an eternity, she had been subject to a bizarre, nightmarish chase by a creature as amorphous as it was horrifying. Even now in the relative safety of the bright meadow she had escaped to, her mind shied away from thinking of it.

Twilight shivered, and slowed to a stop as the wild relief drained away from her and was replaced by practicality. She was standing in a field of tall grass, with the sun high above and nary a cloud in the sky while birds sang and small squirrels darted through the blades. A small part of her mind felt that the types of squirrels present were not native to grasslands, but she was too relieved to be free and out in the open to mind it. To the east, the plains continued, sloping down until they hit the very distant sea. To the south, the grasslands grew scrubbier and more hilly, rising up into highlands. To the west, a forest that menaced with a tall castle still chilled her to look upon.

It was still difficult to imagine that Octavia could have fallen so far. The mare had imprisoned Twilight in a dark dungeon worse than any she could have imagined. She was tortured, mentally and physically in ways that the rather sheltered librarian had scarcely thought were possible. The earth pony musician had easily overpowered Twilight's rather significant talent with some fell force. Her knees weakened a little as she thought about it, but Twilight knew she had to get word to Celestia somehow, to warn her of Octavia's dangerous madness.

Yet between the terror and the relief from danger, Twilight felt herself growing sleepy. Adrenaline had burned a hole in her endurance, and the violet unicorn sat down in the tall grass. She knew she shouldn't wait there, in the wide open, but the field was so peaceful, and she was so tired. “Maybe... Just for a little...” Twilight murmured semi-coherently as she slumped over, and very gently fell asleep against the warm earth.






Twilight immediately awoke to the sound of an explosion, and found herself half-buried in rubble, with a collapsed building around her. Twilight looked around in utter confusion and panic as another explosion rocked the corpse of the building that sheltered her, the sheer light and force of it shattering Twilight's senses for another moment, and in reflex, she teleported.

Out in the street, the building that had been her shelter collapsed behind Twilight as she found herself in the middle of the conflict. Sharp rapports and explosions sounded through the ruined city as Twilight stood and stared. The bodies of griffons and ponies littered the cobbled street, all decked in strange armor and uniforms that she didn't recognize. Twilight herself was dressed in some sort of hard armor that was sort of like plastic, but more pliable. Looking herself over, Twilight found she had some light grazes across her body, but she was in remarkably good shape for a pony that had just survived a building collapse.

Before she could examine herself further however, somepony nearby shouted “INCOMING!” and Twilight was tackled to the ground right as a relatively untouched building nearby burst apart in a hail of stones and glass. Twilight teleported out from under her savior, who dusted himself off and stood up, scowling down at the violet unicorn.

Shining Armor, his face bleeding from a cut just above his eye glared at his little sister, “I thought I told you to keep your head down, Twily!”



Princess Luna stepped smartly through the halls of Canterlot Castle, her metal-shod hooves kicking sparks from the elegant floor in her otherwise well-concealed agitation. She strode with her full, rather impressive stride, while Guards saluted and nobles bowed, unheeded. In short, she was a mare on a mission, and between her brisk walk and an expression that made blizzards seem warm, it looked like it was not a particularly happy mission.

She stormed through the brilliant halls of Canterlot castle, along the shining corridors that were lit with the golden light of the setting sun. She arrowed straight for the Council Chambers, cutting through the corridors for the most direct route, until she came to the elegant doors of the Council Chambers.

The doors were of solid bronze, covered with gold and silver, and had been cast during Luna's absence. They were truly a marvel of Equestrian craftsponyship; they depicted the uniting of the three pony races, and were resplendent with images of the sun and moon shedding light on the great Circle of Counselors. It bore symbols relating to the Elements of Harmony, and mottos proclaiming the virtues of the diarchy, and Luna did not so much burst through them as push them open dramatically.

The entire Circle of Counselors looked up with surprise and, in a few cases, annoyance. They were all the most powerful, well-connected ponies in their various regions. The Manehattan Counselor in particular seemed to have been in the middle of some sort of heated argument, and his agitation at the interruption was clearly visible to Princess Luna. Princess Celestia looked to her sister in an unspoken question, and at the urgency in Luna's eyes, the Princess smiled at the Counselors, “My dear Council members, it would seem my sister has something urgent for my attention. Let us postpone this meeting,” the Manehattan Counselor looked about ready to explode at that, but Celestia continued, undaunted, “Until tomorrow, at least. Thank you, mares and stallions.”

The dismissal in Celestia's tone and gaze was so clear that the room emptied with only the smallest of hesitation, and before long Luna found herself alone with her sister, in silence. Celestia smiled at her younger sister, a genuinely warm smile reserved for family, and asked gently, “What's wrong, Luna? You haven't been this upset since a rogue comet was on-course for Equestria.”

“Somepony has entered into a Star Bargain,” Luna said without preamble, “Several weeks ago, no less.” Luna sounded angry, her voice clipped and taut, while her eyes flashed with concealed irritation, “The signs had been deliberately hidden from me, but whoever it is has claimed enough power to be noticed.” She spat the last word, as if it had been flavored with bile, and it stuck to the room like a splash of acid.

The silence that fell was full of unspoken shock and unease, “A Star Bargain?” Celestia said in soft disbelief, “Such a thing was wiped from the records, expunged in every way... But could that be why...?” At Luna's sharp look, Celestia added, “Twilight Sparkle has been lax in sending her letters for several weeks now. I assumed she had merely become too involved in some project or another, however-”

“Thou thinkest she could have done such a dire thing?!” Luna demanded, her voice thundering in the Council Chamber. “A Star Bargain would give her enough power to-”

“I do not think that,” Celestia interrupted in return, her voice calm but firm, overriding her sister with a quiet authority that was echoed in her dangerously still expression. “If Twilight Sparkle had done so, believe me, all of Equestria would have felt it. Besides,” and now Celestia smiled again, “Twilight would not have made such a foolishly deadly bargain, but she may have attempted to halt the ritual, or confront the offender.”

Luna blinked, “But to interrupt something like that...”

Celestia nodded grimly, “We must find Twilight, I fear she may be in terrible danger.”






“But what is the war about?!” Twilight shouted for the hundredth time, while Shining Armor tied up their wounds with efficient motions of his telekinesis, “It doesn't make any sense! The Griffon Empire declared everlasting peace!” Twilight was pacing in agitation, which made bandaging her shallow grazes an exercise in extreme patience.

They had moved out of the street to the shelter provided by a mostly intact factory of some kind, the design of which was utterly alien to Twilight. Strange robotic arms reached down towards a disabled conveyor belt, while the light of the moon cast dim, ominous shadows over the complex workings of the building's interior.

“And then they broke their word,” Shining Armor said wearily as he focused on wrapping a bandage around the moving, irritated body of his sister, “Because they're griffons. Can you stay still?” His own wounds had been wrapped first, as he had taken some bad cuts on his flank and back where shrapnel had pierced the webbing between the tough, plastic-like plates. Blood stained the fabric already, along with dirt, but he said nothing.

“But why would they break it?” Twilight wailed again, while bandages wound around her scraped legs. She wasn't really bleeding that badly, but Shining Armor had insisted. Still, she made it no easier on him with her agitated pacing and desperate wailing, “Griffons value honor, integrity, and-”

“And they're vicious predators,” Shining Armor interrupted, finally irritated beyond his patience as he finished wrapping Twilight's wounds “Don't you remember the start of the war? The Trottingham Massacre? The Trail of Blood?” As Twilight shook her head again, eyes wide and shocked, Shining Armor sighed and nodded to the floor, “Just... Get some sleep Twily, it'll come back to you soon.”

Twilight nodded, not understanding, but it finally penetrated her thoughts that her brother was at the very brink of his strength. She laid down where he suggested and curled up, clad in her strange armor, smelling blood, oil, explosives and dust.




Immediately, Twilight snapped awake, and found herself back in the grassy field that was being deluged by rain. She was mud from the chin down as she stood up and shook herself off ineffectively. “Shining?!” Twilight called over the sound of the storm, which rumbled ominously as if in reply, “SHINING ARMOR!” Twilight called again, amplifying her voice to carry over the wind and rain, to no response.

Twilight started off in a random direction, disoriented from the storm and the abrupt shift of surroundings. She fought against the force of the wind, which seemed to die occasionally only to slap her with another torrent of rain that stung and blinded the unicorn. She knew she had to find shelter, and her mind wondered if she had only dreamed about her brother and the dark city.

This definitely seemed more painfully real Twilight thought as she staggered through the tall grass, slipping on mud and bruising her aching, cold body with every fall. She felt the ground starting to rise, and with an instinctive reasoning that high ground would be dry ground, Twilight set herself to the climb.





Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked around at the five Elements of Harmony. It was later in the morning by then, so most of them were awake and alert, with the exception of Rainbow Dash who still looked like she had rolled out of bed, and Fluttershy, who hadn't slept much due to a sick animal, and kept yawning. “So lemme get this straight,” Applejack put in, frowning, “Somepony went and kidnapped Twilight usin' the stars?”

“Using a bargain with the stars,” Luna corrected briskly, the Princess of the Night's expression grim, “It is an old, very secret ritual that Celestia and I worked hard to eradicate from history. Suffice to say the cost is very, very great, but the power the stars grant is considerable.”

“How considerable?” Rarity asked somewhat nervously, though the elegant mare concealed most of her unease, “Not that I wouldn't do anything for Twilight, but if something had enough power to overcome her abilities-”

“Enough power that Twilight may not be able to escape on her own,” Celestia said softly, “She will need your help, all your help.” The Princess of the Sun's horn glowed and glass case around the five magical necklaces of the Elements disappeared. One by one the necklaces snapped on around each pony's neck, wrapped in a glow of golden telekinesis.

“Your Elements should lead you to Twilight, and give you an advantage that the culprit cannot stand against,” Celestia smiled at the little ponies that looked to her with concern and determination, “trust them, and trust each other. The Star Bargain is a pact of extreme selfishness, and your bond with each other is, and always will be, far stronger.”

“But where the heck are we going to look?” Rainbow Dash demanded, eyes flashing, “I mean come on, Equestria's a big place, and we don't even know where to start!”

“Um,” Fluttershy put in quietly, flinching as everypony looked at her, “I'm sorry, but Spike did say she said she was going to Canterlot Library,” the yellow pegasus seemed to shrink a little, “It just... Seemed like a good place to start... I'm sorry,”

“That sounds like a super place to start looking, Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie put in, bouncing on the spot, “I bet there'll be tons of clues!” Abruptly Pinkie Pie pulled out a cap and pipe, then a magnifying glass, “We'll be on her trail in no time at all! Why before you know it, we'll be throwing a party and Twilight will be back home in the library!”





“Why can't I be back in the Library?” Twilight moaned to herself as she slid down yet another muddy hill, pounded by more pouring, icy rain. She felt sure that she was entirely too cold and miserable for this to be a dream, but the memory of Shining Armor and the ruined city was still sharp in her mind. “It would be warm,” Twilight said, distracting herself from the cruel, broken city with thoughts of her library, “Quiet, warm, and out of the rain,” Twilight grumbled rather emphatically about the last part as a gust of wind drove a cold hard gust of rain that stung unpleasantly. “Hail,” Twilight corrected herself absently as the weather began to cool further, and the precipitation thickened noticeably.

She knew she had to find shelter; all the survival books Twilight had read warned of the terrifying dangers of hypothermia and frostbite, but the cold and the pummeling of the rain and ice was befuddling her senses. Twilight had completely lost any notion of where she was or where the distant coast could be. She knew she had to move further away from Octavia's dark fortress, but the chattering of her teeth and the numbness suffusing her stumbling hooves made her almost remember the dark dungeons of the mad musician's castle with longing. At least they had been warm.

As if the thought of warmth had been some sort of trigger, a light flared up in the distance. It was so surprising that Twilight almost fell on her face in a rapidly freezing rivulet. The hail had only intensified, and with it had come a chill that was causing thin sheets of ice to form on the many pools of standing water. It made the already difficult ground even worse, and added the threat of lacerations from broken ice.

As such, the light in the distance shone as a beacon of hope, and she was less careful than she should have been. She stumbled and tripped down a hidden slope, down a ravine towards what seemed to be a river of sorts. Twilight tried to teleport, to escape, but at that exact moment a large hailstone hit her horn, causing Twilight to curl up in pain and roll down the ravine unchecked. Every single rock made itself known in her ribs, neck and head, with only her hooves too numb to feel any impact. Dazed and lightly concussed, the last thing Twilight saw was a rock in the icy river approaching at speed.






Twilight woke up with a gasp of pain as she involuntarily attempted to teleport away from a river that was no longer there and ended up triggering a massive, splitting headache. “Oh ho, awake is she?” an arch, cruel voice asked, its harmonics dripping with contempt and amusement. Twilight thrashed violently as she recognized Octavia's silky tones, even before the earth pony moved into her vision, but the purple unicorn found her hooves bound and spread, leaving her helpless in mid-air.

“Like a fly in a web,” Octavia finished for Twilight, who shivered as she felt the alien touch on her mind. She tried to respond bitingly, but Octavia had apparently bound her mouth, with something foul and sticky by the feel of it. “Didn't want you interrupting,” Octavia said as she sipped a glass of something dark and alcoholic-looking. “Besides,” Octavia said, obviously enjoying Twilight's mental repugnance, “I know what you're thinking anyway, your talking would just be a bore.”

Twilight tried to distract herself from the grey mare's cruel, purple gaze by taking in the room, as she had before. It was a sumptuous hexagonal chamber, resplendent with gold, mahogany and red velvet, lit with magnified lamps that cast light throughout the room. The floor was an elegant example of varnished wood art, depicting the night sky in white pine on a dark oak backdrop that swirled with wooden nebulae. The ceiling was painted with constellations that seemed somehow sinister to the captive Twilight.

The furniture was equally rich: two elegant chairs and a beautifully carved table made of some dark wood Twilight didn't recognize, both of which were lavishly decorated with gold and jewels of all kinds. “Lovely, I know,” Octavia said mockingly, “I made it just for you.” There was no obvious door, nor windows of any kind. As soon as Twilight had registered this, Octavia added in a dark, suggestive tone, “No interruptions.” As Twilight's gaze snapped sharply back to the earth pony, she noticed that her captor had acquired a cello.

Yet this was not the same refined instrument from the disastrous Grand Galloping Gala, this was a cello made of dark ebony, with pegs of white bone and strings that glowed with some malevolence that made the magically sensitive Twilight's eyes widen. She winced as Octavia plucked a string, and Twilight's skin pinched in response.

Twilight's eyes pleaded with Octavia as the musician conjured her bow from nowhere and ran it over the first string and pulling a mellow note from the instrument. Twilight thrashed as her skin felt as if it had been lit on fire on one side; every resonance of the string drew fresh agony from her body like poison being drawn from a wound.

Octavia smirked, “You are familiar, I think, with the concept of magical sympathy?” Before Twilight could answer, Octavia finished, “Well this is an instrument I made especially for you, dear Twilight. It resonates with you, but not all of you.” Octavia's smirk widened into a smile that could have given the hailstorm a lesson in chills, “Just your skin.” Sure enough, the place that had been full of fiery pain was darkening with bruise.

Twilight flinched as her attention was wrenched back to Octavia with another stab of pain in her side. The grey earth pony had but touched the bow to the string, and, Twilight realized with horror, she was preparing to play. She tried to shout against the gag in her mouth, but it came out as a gargled choke. Octavia smiled, closed her eyes, and began to play.





Octavia eased herself back from the crystal ball with a chuckle, “Such a brave soul,” she muttered scornfully as she watched Twilight struggle to control her breathing with the pain wracking her mind. The unicorn was only thinking of escape, still, and Octavia felt no anger in Twilight, nothing but fear and confusion. But that would change. Beside her, on a bed, Twilight's body slumbered, twitching occasionally as her subconscious prodded it. Octavia smirked and once again debated about simply ending the unicorn, rather than breaking her.

The image of Twilight giggling and frothing before Celestia, clearly inferior beside Octavia's magnificence, reminded the grey pony why she was doing this. As if on cue, a searing, brutal pain arched Octavia's back as it lanced through her whole body. The grey earth pony spasmed as she fell out of her chair and started to crawl towards the window, which was curtained elegantly in black velvet.

Octavia grabbed ahold of the bottom of the curtain and pulled the whole thing, curtain rod and all, off the wall, letting the starlight in. It was a new moon, so the faint light of the stars passed undiluted over Octavia's prostrated form. Blood oozed from the earth pony's mouth from where she'd bit her tongue, but as the starlight rolled over her, Octavia winced.

Her hooves shone as transparent as glass, while within, stars seemed to dance and mock her pain. It had crept every night up from her ankles to her knees, and Octavia knew full well what would happen if she failed to uphold her end of the bargain to the stars before the strange transparency consumed her utterly. The thought made her shudder, even as she felt strength suffusing her body and soul.

Power she had been promised, and power she had gained: more with every passing day. But every day she felt a little more distant, a little more removed, and Octavia knew she had to propose to Celestia before the next new moon, or the consequences would not bear thinking of. Twilight would have to be broken by then as well, or all would have been for naught. Octavia stood up, her body no longer shaky, and wiped the blood from her lips, which turned troubled for a moment. Then Octavia set her expression and her cello appeared beside her, balancing perfectly as if held by invisible hooves. She took it gently, almost lovingly, then wrapped more of her warped power around herself, and vanished. It was time for the show.
> Today's Chapter Was Brought To You By The Letter Nine: Elegy for Spike in F Minor [Ponydora Prancypants]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ponemurdered IX


        “Canterlot Library,” Rainbow Dash announced loudly. Given, though, that the five friends from Ponyville were standing in front of the great library’s clearly marked front entrance, the declaration was a touch superfluous.

        “You will never find a more illustrious trove of scrolls and literacy,” Rarity added, then shrugged. “So I’m told.”

        “Well, this ain’t no time for pleasure readin’,” Applejack said. “Let’s quit yammerin’ and get to lookin’ for Twilight. Accordin’ to Spike, this was the last place she was headed to afore she disappeared.”

        Without further ado, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy purposefully trotted through the heavy doors and into the main hall of the library. A single staircase wound from the first level up floor after floor around the perimeter of the atrium, to the highest level seven stories above. Featureless darkness could be seen through the glass at the top of the dome. At this late hour, the vast repository of literature and knowledge was nearly empty, save the most dedicated of patrons and a few diligent librarians.

        “Alright! We’re here! Now let’s let our Elements do their thing and find Twilight! Woo-hoo!” Pinkie Pie shouted jubilantly.

        “Quiet!” Rarity hissed, even as she cringed from a half dozen stern glares aimed in her direction. “This is a library!”

        “Oh yeah, right,” Pinkie Pie replied. “Shy, care to help me out here?”

        “Yay,” Fluttershy demurely cheered.

        “Perfection,” whispered Pinkie, smiling.

        “Well, I don’t know about you ponies, but I’m gonna go around the perimeter and see if I can get any kind of a sense from my Element that Twilight’s been here,” Rainbow Dash said. “Princess Celestia said we’d be able to track her with these babies.”

        “Rarity and I can ask these here library folk if they’ve seen Twilight here recently,” Applejack volunteered.

        “Um, Pinkie and I can search too,” Fluttershy said. “If we find anything, we’ll come find you.”

        “And we’ll do it quietly,” Pinkie added, screwing what looked like an oversized metal drum onto the end of the blue party cannon she had procured from … somewhere.

        “What in tarnation is—”

        “Party silencer,” Pinkie explained, cutting Applejack off. “Designed for library and memorial service parties.”

        “Let’s not tarry, Applejack,” Rarity said, and proceeded to drag the orange earth pony toward the information desk. The others set off in their own directions, and soon everypony was searching on high, on low, on high again, and then on low further still. Nopony could any trace of Twilight Sparkle.

        That is, nopony found anything until Fluttershy began investigating the astronomy stacks. While perusing a polemic on pulsars, she noticed a faint glow emanating from the butterfly-shaped jewel on the necklace around her neck—her own Element of Harmony. As she moved further and further down the row of books—on to quasars, then redshift, the light grew brighter. Excited, Fluttershy took to the sky and summoned her friends to the section where she was searching.

        “You think Twilight was here, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked.

        “My Element reacted when I got to this section,” the butter yellow pegasus replied. “And it glowed brighter and brighter as I kept moving down the row. I’m sure she must have been here!”

        “Twilight’s always reading books about space and stuff,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. “How’s the fact that she was being as big an egghead as usual going to help us find her?”

        “Well, for one thing, the book she was reading doesn’t sound very ‘Twilight Sparkly’ to me!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, tapping a hoof against one particular tome that was protruding slightly from the shelves, as if it had been hastily replaced. As she did so, the others noticed that the blue balloon-shaped gem on her necklace was glowing brightly.

        “Hey, that’s some fine detective work there, Pinkie,” Applejack declared.

        “Written in the Stars—Popular Myths and Legends of the Cosmos,” Rainbow Dash read aloud. “Huh. Twilight almost never goes for that mythology stuff. I guess that is a little bit weird.”

        “Maybe we should open the book and try to found out what she was reading about?” Fluttershy volunteered.

        “Good idea!” Pinkie replied. She pulled the thick, dark blue book from the shelf and eagerly cracked it open. “Hey! This page has been nag-eared!” She declared, pointing to a corner of one page that had been folded down in order to mark a place. “Callously mutilating a page? Now that is really not very Twilight Sparkly!”

        Pinkie Pie turned to the marked page. “The Curse of the Star Bargain,” she read. “What’s that? Ooh! I bet that star turns out to be not such a bargain after all, and this is like a consumer watchdog report or something.”

        “C’mon, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, forcibly pulling the book out of the pink pony’s hooves. “Be serious for once. This is what Princess Luna was telling us about, and what Twilight must have been investigating. It says anypony foolish enough to make a pact with the stars shall gain terrible power, but at a great price: inch by inch, the stars will consume a pony who cannot fulfill the bargain.”

        “Oh my goodness, that must be what Octavia did,” Fluttershy stated. “And Twilight tried to stop her! We’ve got to find her before it’s too late!”

        Rarity, standing alongside Applejack a few steps away from the trio of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, who were clustered around the book, was the only one to notice a strange chill suddenly sweep through the library, and she was the only one to notice the book beginning to glow with a dark purple light.

        “Get away from that book!” She shouted, but too late. The three ponies closest to the book appeared to squash, and stretch, and shrink, until they were suddenly pulled into the book, the pages of which were flapping madly. As the book fell to the library floor, Rarity and Applejack raced forward toward the spot where their friends had stood. Rarity felt a strange feeling coming over her, and before she could completely grasp the situation, her vision distorted, a wave of nausea strucki, and all went black.


********************************


        When Rarity came to, the first thing she noticed was that the ground—rather, floor —actually, upon further consideration, deck, was rolling and shifting beneath her hooves. The next thing she noticed was the massive, barbed harpoon she levitated in the air next to her. Finally, she noticed off to port, a great ugly beast traversing her field of view. The Whale. For some reason, Rarity really hated that whale, and she was determined to kill it. She also felt like expounding, loudly, upon just how much she hated that blasted whale, and using particularly dramatic terminology to do so.

        “Behold, the damnable thing, this hulk, this uncharitable leviathan. We shall lance it through, and close the lamentable chapter that marks its fiendish reign o’er these skies.” Rarity looked around her. “Harpooneers, where be ye?”

        “Um, Rare?” Applejack asked, prodding her side. “Somethin’ is very wrong here.”

        Rarity took in the brazen nakedness of the savage planted on the deck abeam her, exposed orange coat a challenge to the curse of shame and humility that all ponies must bear. “Ye speak to me, eh, and in mine own tongue?” Rarity asked. “The trappings of civilization you do wear well o’er thy barbarian hide. Nay, though, now is the wrong moment to find your voice, savage. Now you spill blood as thy heathen sisters do, as you were raised on the Celestia-forsaken atoll that spawned you! Find your courage and slay the beast! Make its celestial blood your ablution!”

        “Whoa Nelly!” Applejack proclaimed, taking a few steps backward and away from Rarity, who was practically frothing at the mouth as she pranced madly across the rolling deck.

        Applejack had many reasons to shout her mild epithet. For one, she was standing on the deck of an airship, thousands of pony lengths above the security of the earth below. For another, some sort of immense flying monster, that looked very much like a whale, except for much larger and seemingly made of glimmering, twinkling lights, was circling the ship. Finally, Rarity was acting as if she was out of her mind, more so than usual.

        “I shall cast my harpoon into it’s black heart and watch until the last drop of life escapes its carcass!” Rarity shouted. “So it shall be my legacy, my epigraph!”
        
        “Is this … aw, horseshoes,” Applejack muttered. “This is that durn curse’s work, or I’ll be a fruit bat’s auntie.”

        It was pretty obvious that Rarity was pretending to be Captain Hayhab from the classic novel by Mareville—after all, Applejack had just lent the unicorn her much-loved copy of the book last week. On the other hoof, Applejack was entirely certain that the whale in the book did not fly, and was, in fact, a whale, and not an airborne cosmological leviathan. This thing reminded Applejack of one of Twilight’s stories, about the furious sea monster that became a constellation. Could it be that the curse sent them into a story from the book of star legends, and put a twist on it based on what literature Rarity was thinking of?

As she ducked under a flying harpoon, Applejack noted that, while she didn’t know much about evil library magic, she did know a little something about Rarity and overacting, and she thought she had better figure out a way to get them both out of here, and fast.

        Applejack called out, “Rarity, I think I figured out what happened! Hey, Rarity!”

        “Is Rarity, Rarity? Is it I, Celestia, or who that lifts this arm?” Rarity cried out. “If the sun does not move itself, but is but an errand cob, set about its way; how then can this one heart beat, and this one brain think, unless Celestia does that beating, does that thinking, and not I? Are we not turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Celestia the handspike? Who does put this cutie mark on my flank, and condemn me to these endless leagues, these empty skies? Who?”

        Applejack just stared, slack-jawed, as Rarity raced over to the rail and hurled another harpoon at the enormous celestial whale.

        The flying whale-like monster, for its part, was clearly beginning to get riled up. Electricity arced, sparked, and crackled along its length, and the winds were picking up as it grew more agitated. The airship was being tossed about like a leaf in the wind, and it was all Applejack could do to keep her balance and avoid being pitched over the deck rail.

        “Towards thee I gallop, thou bloated and most-unfabulous whale!” Rarity yelled. “To the last. I buck at thee. From Tartarus’ black heart, I stab at thee. For hate’s sake. I … well, I wouldn’t spit, really now … anyway … just die already, okay?” Rarity pulled another harpoon from a rack and loosed it into space.
        
        “Rarity!”

        “What, savage? Why do you not fight? Are you some tremulous thing, some coward, and not the great warrior I was promised? What? Speak!”

Applejack had had enough, and slapped a forehoof over Rarity’s left cheek.         

        “Snap out of it!” she shouted. “This is Applejack talkin’, Rare. I ain’t no harpooneer, and you ain’t no vengeful captain. We’ve been cursed!”

        Rarity blinked, and raised a foreleg to touch her smarting cheek. “Cursed?” She looked around, eyes wide. “What in the world is going on, Applejack?”

        “Rare!” Applejack lunged forward and squeezed the unicorn. “You’re back, as sure as I’ve got apples on my flanks!”

        “Was I gone?” Rarity asked. “Why are we on an airship in the middle of a lightning storm, and what is that thing out there?”

        “Right. Okay, brace yourself. Octavia set a trap, and now we’re stuck in a cursed fantasy conjured from the legends in that there star book Twilight was lookin’ at, and I s’pose from your thoughts too. Now we need to get outta here.”

        “Aha. Of course. And do you have any thoughts on how we might accomplish that feat?”

        “Um, well, this is like a story, right? Let’s just make up a happy ending.”

        “A happy ending, to this?” Rarity asked, gesturing to the maelstrom and monster.

        “I dunno, improvise!” Applejack exclaimed, rearing back and throwing up her forehooves in exasperation. “You’re the creative one. You fix this!”

        At that moment, the star whale fired a bolt of lightning at the airship, and a stack of extra balloon-cloth stored on the deck caught fire.
        
        Rarity swallowed nervously. “Alright then. It seems we are about to learn whether desperation is the mother of inspiration, Applejack.”


********************************


“As Daring trekked through the densely-forested taiga, the intense cold of the high latitude sapped her strength and slowed her every hoofstep … wait, is this how all of these start? Ugh, boring! I’m going off-script. What? You’re telling me I have to read this? My contract? Oh, come on! This is the worst magical curse ever!”

        “What’s going on? Are you narrating, Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy asked. “And are we in a Daring Do story? Oh my gosh! That sounds really dangerous.”

        “Oh, hi Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, her voice seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. Then, Fluttershy heard the sound of rustling paper and pages being flipped. “Um, well, I’m just looking ahead here. Okay, got it. The script says the curse picks one of us and uses that pony’s thoughts and dreams to create a hallucinatory prison from which there can be no escape. There’s something about incorporating monsters and stuff from the star legends book too.”

        “M-m-monsters?” Fluttershy asked, addressing the jungle around her as she shrunk down and covered her face with a wing. “What kind of monsters? Where’s Rainbow Dash? I need Rainbow Dash!”

        “Well, if you’ll let me continue,” Pinkie said, then cleared her throat loudly. “Ahem. If Daring was ever going to have a chance at getting the star chalice back to its rightful place in the museum, she was gonna have to get past … whoa … the dreaded Ursa Major guarding it!”

“Aw. yeah!” shouted Daring Dash, zooming down from somewhere high above and landing heavily in the clearing next to Fluttershy. “Time to kick some astronomy!”

        “Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy exclaimed, and threw her forelegs around the other mare.

        “Whoa there!” Dash exclaimed, forcibly extricating herself from Fluttershy’s embrace. “I hired you as a native guide, Betelnut, not because I wanted to get all touchy-feely with somepony.”

        “Who?” Fluttershy asked. “What’s going on?”

        “It says the curse makes whoever’s mind generates the environment believe they are a character in the story,” Pinkie explained. “Anyway … thanks to some quick thinking on the wing, and a couple of well-timed barrel rolls, Daring Dash had managed to return from her scouting trip in one piece, and with quite a story to tell about the beast she had seen.”

        “An Ursa Major, can you believe it?” Dash asked. “This thing is huge, Betelnut! I mean, it’s like a walking mountain or something! I saw the entrance to the Chasm of Trials behind it, though, and it’s so big I bet we can fly past without it even seeing us! Then we can pick up the star chalice and I can get some well-deserved R&R. Now, let’s go get that cup!”

        “Um, I really think we should try to find a way out of here first,” Fluttershy offered meekly.

        “Out of here? What? Are you going yellow on me or something, Betelnut?” Dash demanded, then carefully looked Fluttershy over from snout to tail. “Oh, well, whatever. Anyway, we’re going.”

        “But I don’t-—eeee!”

        In one swift motion, Dash ducked under Fluttershy’s hindquarters and lifted the other pegasus up onto her back, then took to the sky with a single powerful beat of her blue wings.

        “Pinkie PIe, do something!” Fluttershy shouted. “I don’t think even Daring — mean Rainbow Dash can fight an Ursa Major!”

        “What can I do?” Pinkie Pie asked, from nowhere.

        “How should I know? You’re the narrator! Skip ahead, make something up, whatever! Quick!”

        In the distance, the Ursa Major loomed enormous, a great mass of purple starstuff towering over the frigid landscape. Daring Dash did not deviate, but flew straight toward its maw.


********************************


        “So I just crossed out the word “Ursa” in the script, and wrote “drum!” And then we had a big parade down main street!” Pinkie bounced up and down with glee.

        “Wow, that there was a nice bit o’ thinkin’, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said.

        “Thanks! It was pretty much the best Daring Do story ever.”

        “Uh, you know what just happened is totally not canon with the real Daring Do books, right?” Rainbow Dash asked, eyeing Pinkie suspiciously.

        “Did you say cannon?” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly, and before anypony could stop her, she had pulled out party cannon and depressed the firing button. To everypony’s surprise, rather than a loud bang a burst of confetti, the only effect was a small flag with the word “hooray!” printed on it that silently emerged from the barrel.

        “Oh yeah, party silencer,” Rainbow Dash observed appreciatively. “Neat.”

        “What about you and Rarity?” Fluttershy asked. “How did you defeat the curse and get out of the book?”

        “Really, I’m not sure the story is even worth telling,” Rarity offered with a forced smile. “Once dear Applejack came to understand the nature of the curse, its power was broken.”

        “It was kind of a blur,” Applejack added. “I remember clickin’ my hooves together and whisperin’, ‘there ain’t no place like home’ a few times.”

        “I was envisioning my own twist ending to the tale,” Rarity said.

        “And I guess the whale was wishin’ he was someplace else to, because next thing we knew the three of us was in a giant mud puddle back at Sweet Apple Acres, and those twins from the spa were there givin’ us all facials.”

        “For a semitransparent space oddity, I must say that astral whale really had lovely pores,” said Rarity. “At any rate, I believe some end titles rushed past, and then we appeared back here in the library. As I said, not much a story. Oh, and I believe I’ve found something interesting here. If I am not mistaken, there is a second marked page in the book.”

        “Whoa! Put that thing down!” Rainbow Dash shouted, and swatted the book out of Rarity’s hooves. “It’s cursed, remember?”

        “Nonsense,” Rarity replied, and used her telekinesis to lift the book to a comfortable reading elevation. “That spell is broken, and thus, dissolved. It is perfectly safe now.”

        “Fine, but if you get sucked back in there, I’m not going after you.

        “Me neither!” Applejack said, shaking her head.

        “What’s it say?” Fluttershy asked, moving to peer over Rarity’s shoulder.

        “It’s another entry, about a legendary haunted castle,” Rarity said, and read from the entry: “It is said that the Heavenspire, sacred castle of the ancient priestly caste of unicorns, still stands at the edge of the haunted shore of the Sea of Sorrow, far from present-day Equestria. In the olden times, dreadful sacrifices were made there at the Altar of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, in order to maintain the unicorns’ dominion over night and day.” Rarity gasped. “Dear Celestia, how horrible! It says that it was in that very castle that the very star bargain was struck, which almost led to the downfall of ponykind!”

        “A star bargain - just like Octavia’s,” Rainbow Dash said, gritting her teeth.

        “Twilight must have marked this page for us to see,” Applejack said. “I bet bits to bridles that Octavia’s holed up in that there castle, and that she’s got Twilight as her prisoner. We need to find this place, and fast!”

        “How are we ever gonna find some legendary castle, especially one that isn’t even in Equestria?” Rainbow demanded.

        “We could try this legendary map!” Pinkie Pie proclaimed, bounding over with a tattered and yellowed papyrus scroll balanced on the tip of her nose. “I found it in the cryptocartography section.”

        “Goodness, Pinkie Pie, you’ve done it!” Rarity exclaimed, after unrolling the scroll and levitating it for all to see. “We can set off at once to rescue Twilight!”

        “We’d better get a move on,” Applejack said. “Y’all heard what Princess Luna said before we left: a star bargain exacts a terrible toll on the pony who makes it, but it also grants terrible power. Octavia’s maybe even stronger’n Twilight herself right now, and if she’s got our friend, there ain’t no way to know what she might do to her.”

        “Then what are we waiting for?” Rainbow Dash broke in. “Let’s go get our Twilight back!”


********************************


        With a soundless flare of light, Octavia appeared in an empty storeroom in one of the lower levels of Canterlot Castle, her cello in its case beside her. Only the light of the moon, shining through a few small windows, shed any illumination on her mundane surroundings. This forlorn vacant chamber was the perfect place from which to launch a coup.

        In the dim moonlight, Octavia looked at her extremities with distaste, at the hooves that used to play such beautiful music. Now, barely visible, shimmering with captured starlight, they were instruments of pain and torture. The effect was spreading faster now, creeping up her legs to her body. The more she did to uphold her part of the bargain, the more the voice from the stars seemed to be taking control. If she did not complete her part of the pact soon, the proof of the fate that awaited her was becoming more clear by the day.

        A thousand leagues away, Twilight Sparkle lay where Octavia had left her, restrained on the altar in the star chamber, thrashing and turning as she fell from one nightmare realm of Octavia’s conjuring to the next, all the while unaware that her physical body was held by nothing more than a few flimsy restraints and knots that she could have used her magic to undo in a second, if she were conscious of them.

        The unicorn would never have a chance to escape. The power of the star bargain was too great for anypony to challenge. Even Celestia herself was soon going to bow in the presence of a more awesome and terrible force than she could hope to overcome. Then, it would be time to complete the ritual.

        Octavia opened her case and examined her instrument one more time, to be sure. She rosined up her bow, and plucked a single string just to hear the sound resonate against the bare stone around her. Perfect pitch. Perfect tone. Practice had made perfect, and now Octavia was prepared for the performance of her life.

***


> Chapter The Funny Name For Tenth: Nocturne in D Sharp Minor [Cold in Gardez]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The girls were barely halfway down the hall when the music began.

Rarity heard it first. Although she was not a musical pony by any stretch of the imagination, she did consider herself a bit more cultured than her friends, and part of being a high-society mare meant caring about classical music. Or, at least, pretending to care. Pretending to care about things occupied quite a bit of high-society mares’ time, as she had discovered during her visits to Canterlot.

She slowed and came to a stop, a tiny frown on her face as the noise began to intrude upon her conscience. The others powered ahead and were nearly around the bend when they realized she was no longer with them, provoking a round of squawking that ended when Rainbow Dash zoomed back to her.

“Hey Rares, come on! We haven’t got time for—”

“Shh.” Rarity cut her off with a raised hoof. For once, thankfully, Dash listened to her. Behind her, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy made their way back down the corridor. All three halted beside Dash, and stared at her with looks that ranged from befuddlement to impatience.

“Is, uh, somethin’ wrong, Rarity?” Applejack finally asked, breaking the silence.

Except it wasn’t quite silence. Rarity closed her eyes and listened, her ears straining so hard they shivered. She heard her friends breathing, the rustle of pegasus feathers, even the quiet thrum of blood flowing through her veins. And something else, something else besides.

There, again. A low note, so deep she had thought it was the wind breaking against Canterlot’s spires, but this was far too regular a sound, bouncing up and down like a cellist’s vibrato setting the foundation for some grand fugue.

“I hear it,” Pinkie suddenly whispered. “It’s... music? It’s not very happy...”

Indeed it wasn’t, and it grew louder with each passing moment. Rarity no longer had to strain to hear it. The others turned this way and that, their ears flicking about in a futile attempt to locate the sound.

Louder it grew, until the tremulous strains began to shake her chest. The long bones in her legs itched as they caught the note like a living tuning fork. A faint buzzing sound began to cover the tone, and she realized her teeth were vibrating. Still it grew louder.

“She’s here,” she shouted. The unending, single-note drone twisted her voice into something almost like a song. “She’s in the castle somewhere!”

“What do we do?” The rough tones Rainbow Dash normally spoke with were gone, obliterated by the music. “I thought she was at that Spire-thing!”

The marble flagstones beneath their hooves began to hum, and Rarity saw puffs of dust rising from the seams between them. A sudden sharp crack interrupted her thoughts, and she turned to see a huge stained-glass window suddenly fracture. The sound was echoed down the hall as dozens of windows began to fail.

And then the sound was gone, replaced by an equally deafening silence. Rarity’s ears popped at the sudden drop in pressure, and she shook her head to clear it.

“Well, apparently she ain’t,” Applejack said. Not surprisingly, she was the first to recover. “Do you think she’s done?”

No, Octavia wouldn’t be done until the star bargain consumed her, or she fulfilled her end of the deal. Rarity grimaced at the thought and began trotting down the hallway, carefully stepping around piles of broken glass.

“I think she’s just warming up, girls. Come on, we need to find the princess.”

* * *

Twilight Sparkle awoke and opened her eyes to darkness.

She tried blinking a few times, wondering if perhaps her eyes had simply failed to open. No, no, they were open. The room she was in, wherever it was, was simply cloaked in a darkness far more profound than anything she had ever experienced. Not the slightest hint of light or shadow broke the endless expanse around her.

But then, she was a unicorn. She was never truly without light. With a thought her horn flared to life, bathing the room around her in a faint lavender glow.

Calling it a room was, perhaps, an understatement. Her horn lit the grey stone floor beneath her, which stretched away into the distance, but there were no walls or ceiling that she could see. Only the stone floor, and the darkness, and her own bruised body lying prone on this odd rocky monolith.

It’s an altar. You’re lying on an altar.

That wasn’t quite true, she realized after a moment. She was bound to the altar, which was a significantly more worrisome development. 

What is this how did I get here where is here oh Celestia what’s going on—

A sudden tug around her ankles broke her train of thought, which was threatening to derail of its own accord anyway. She sucked in a quick breath and tried to roll onto her side. Something dry and warm rubbed her legs, something scaley that smelled faintly of musk and Spike and filled the air with a quiet hiss. She thrashed in growing panic and finally managed to tip onto her side, and looked down the length of her body.

A dozen snakes coiled around her legs. Beady eyes stared up at hers. Their mouths opened, and needle-sharp fangs glistened almost beautifully in the gentle light of her horn.

She started to scream.

Twilight Sparkle awoke and opened her eyes to darkness. She tried blinking a few times, wondering if perhaps her eyes had simply failed to open...

* * *

“Princess!”

Celestia looked up from the table at the sound of Rarity’s voice. Before her, a dozen guards and officers in hastily thrown on armor crowded around a series of maps marked with tiny red flags. Some of them glanced up as Rarity and her friends arrived, but they quickly turned back to the table. Celestia said something to them, then walked quickly over to the girls.

“Friends, I fear we may be too late,” she said. “Did you find Twilight?”

“Sorta,” Applejack said. “We used the elements like you said, and they led us to a book Twilight must’ve been readin’.” She turned to pull Written in the Stars – Popular Myths and Legends of the Cosmos from her saddlebags and passed it over to Rarity, who flipped it open to the first of the pages Twilight had marked for them.

“There was a curse on it,” Rarity said. “It sucked us into... well, a dream, I suppose. We managed to get out, but Twilight marked several pages. The Curse of the Star Bargain, as you can see, and later... oh, where is it... Aha! The Heavenspire!”

Celestia frowned at the book. “Perhaps Luna was correct after all.”

“It’s just like Nightmare Moon!” Dash blurted. She pushed Rarity to the side and grabbed the book. “Octavia must’ve made some bargain with the stars, and Twilight found out about it.”

“But what could a musician have ta offer the stars?” Applejack asked. “What do they even want?”

The book glowed again and lifted out of Rainbow Dash’s hooves. It spun in place and floated toward Celestia, who flipped through its pages absently. “There’s no way to tell, Applejack. The stars are fickle and unpredictable. They helped Nightmare Moon escape because, apparently, they felt her reign of darkness would benefit them. We were fortunate that you six were able to stop her.”

“So, that’s great and all, but what about Octavia? And Twilight?” Dash asked.

“And, for that matter, where’s Luna?” Rarity looked around the crowded room for Equestria’s second princess, to no avail. “I thought she’d be here?”

“She’s looking for the source of that sound,” Celestia said. Her eyes never left the book as she flipped through its pages. “If Octavia’s here in Canterlot, we might be too late to stop her, especially with Twilight missing.”

“Can’t you and Princess Luna just magic her back to normal?” Pinkie asked. “So nopony gets hurt?”

“Nopony’s going to get hurt, Pinkie,” Rarity said. “We’ll find Twilight and use the Elements, and then we can put this whole thing behind us.”

There was a commotion near the door, and they turned to see Luna step into the room. She was taller than before, her form soaking up the moonlight like a flower drinking the sun, and she strode imperiously toward them. She’d found her old armor from somewhere, the same as Nightmare Moon wore, and simply looking at it sent chills up Rarity’s spine. She stopped just paces away and stared down at Rarity.

“Did you find her?” 

“Ah...” Rarity glanced over her shoulder to see the other girls behind her. Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder and gave her a tiny nod. She let out a breath and turned back to Luna to speak, her voice no longer shaking. “No, but we found a clue. She marked a book in the library that describes the bargain you mentioned, and another page about a place called the Heavenspire.”

Luna visibly flinched at the last word. “The spire... Stars, we haven’t thought about that place in thousands of years. We thought we were done with it.” She looked over Rarity’s head at her sister, a pained expression on her face.

“We should’ve razed it,” Celestia said. She closed the book and passed it back to Applejack. “I’m sure there are battlefields that have seen more blood than that castle, but none that have seen so much evil. It is a cursed place.”

Rarity felt herself grow pale. The book had described the Heavenspire’s past, but nothing so dark as Celestia’s pronouncement. Stars, Twilight is there? We have to help her!

“We have to help Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said, echoing Rarity’s thoughts. “We can’t let her stay there!”

“Not ta burst yer bubble, Dash, but this castle-thingie’s thousands of miles away, according to the book,” Applejack said. “Even you couldn’t fly there in less than a week.”

“I could too!” Dash spun to shout in Applejack’s face. “Watch me! I’ll flight there right now!”

“Dash, there’s no need to get angry,” Rarity said. “Why don’t you just—”

“Yer not thinkin’ straight, Dash,” Applejack said right back. “We need ta stay here and try to stop Octavia.”

“And let Twilight rot in some dungeon? There’s no way I’m letting that—”

“Girls,” Celestia’s voice, as calm as ever, broke through their bickering. “There may be a way to do both. Luna, do you still have your portal stone?”

“We...” Luna paused for a moment, her eyes closed. “Yes, it was in the collection you saved for us. It hasn’t been used in over a thousand years, though. There’s no way of knowing what’s on the other side. There could be anything living there now.”

“Anything, as in...” Rarity tried not to let her imagination run away with her.

“Manticores?”

“Sea Serpents?”

“Evil Enchantresses?”

“A dragon would find it a comfortable roost,” Celestia said. “But there are worse things than that. The magics used at the Heavenspire may have attracted some... unpleasant things. Indeed, I think a dragon might be the least of your worries.”

“But this portal thing can get us there?” Dash asked. She shot Applejack a look that dared her to interrupt.

“Yes, if it still works,” Luna said. “It will transport three ponies, or one alicorn, anywhere we have it set. The Heavenspire was one of the first destinations we imbedded into it.”

Rarity let out a long breath. They had a path forward, even if it was uncertain, potentially filled with things worse than dragons, and would only take three of them. “Very well. If it gets Twilight back, it’s worth it. I’ll go.”

“I’ll go!” Um, I’ll go.” “Ah’m in.” “Ooh, ooh, I want to go!” The other four spoke nearly as one. For a moment, despite the chaos and darkness all around them that night, Rarity couldn’t help but smile.

“Your bravery is commendable,” Celestia said. “But It can only take three. I suggest you, Pinkie Pie, and you, Fluttershy, remain behind. It may be that having two of the elements here will help us against Octavia.”

“Sister, I believe you’re forgetting something,” Luna said. “The portal stone will transport three ponies. If we send three, there’s no way to bring Twilight back.”

Oh, right. Basic math. Rarity wanted to kick herself. “Very well. I think it’s obvious I’m the least qualified of the three to go. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, we’re counting on you.”

The two ponies nodded, their argument forgotten. For a moment, Rarity thought things might work out after all.

“Actually,” Luna said, breaking her happy thoughts. “It requires a unicorn to operate...”

* * *

Octavia held the note, a low C, for nearly a full minute before giving her bow a rest.

When she opened her eyes, the room was filled with dust. The flagstones beneath her hooves had disintegrated, leaving a shallow pit of sand that swallowed her up to her fetlocks. The stone walls echoed back her song for minutes afterward, groaning as the deep mountain rocks bent and broke at her command.

Not a bad warm-up, all things considered.

She rolled her hooves absently, letting the blood flow back into her legs. Of course, whether or not blood even flowed through her legs anymore was an open question; her skin had long since faded to an ethereal black speckled with countless points of light, all shimmering and shining in tune with some unheard song. They called to her, a constant reminder of the bargain she had made, and the fate that awaited her if she failed. She stared at them, losing herself in the dark spaces, until the sound of hooves on stone brought her back to the present.

Her little room was in an out-of-the-way part of the castle’s bowels, specifically chosen for her privacy. After that warm-up, though, it was safe to say that most of the castle’s guards, not to mention at least two alicorns, would be looking for her.

She listened patiently as the hoofsteps grew louder, accompanied by the urgent tones of a group of ponies in some hurry. From the hallway outside came the sound of doors being kicked open, one after another, louder and louder, as the ponies outside searched through each of the storerooms along their path. She gave her bow a quick look and reset the cello’s neck on her shoulder.

In a way of thinking, the corridor outside was simply the bore of a large flute, and she could hear the echoes of the guard’s hoofsteps changing in pitch with every foot closer they drew. There were at least four, she guessed, based on the four separate staccato rhythms vibrating through the floor. She set the bow on the strings to wait for them.

The guards kicked down the door, almost to the second of her expectation. Four of them – she smiled to see her guess confirmed – wearing the white and gold of Celestia’s personal guard. They jumped through the door and surrounded her with smooth, practiced movements that spoke of years of training.

Such a waste.

Before they could step any closer, she began to play. A simple aria this time, but no tune that would ever be heard in a concert hall. Discordant, syncopated, irrhythmic. If a cello could scream, this would be its song.

The pony on her left, the one trying to walk around behind her, fell onto his haunches and then tipped over. His foreleg bent at an unnatural angle as he stumbled to the ground, and his helmet made quite the loud clang as it impacted the stones with far more force than a simple fall could have accounted for. He didn’t attempt to get back up.

The next pony stepped into the pool of sand around her and fell through it like it was water. The blue flash of his tail was the last of him to vanish beneath the grains, which swallowed him without a sound.

The furthest pony to the right, a mare who was also attempting to circle behind her, let out a scream that was loud enough, just for a moment, to drown out the sound of Octavia’s playing. Her mouth opened hugely wide, wider than a pony’s ever could, and she turned on the last remaining pony in a flash. Her teeth sank into the meat of his neck, and then they both fell to the floor in a single writhing mass.

Octavia let the final note of her impromptu song draw out for as long as it felt necessary. Sometimes the music had a mind of its own, and her hooves were its slave. She let them work until the note decided it was done, and when complete she set the cello on her back and walked out into the corridor beyond her little room.

It was time to find a larger audience.

* * *

The flash of magic left Rarity momentarily blind. A dazzle of shifting colors filled her vision, driving away all other shapes and forms, a kaleidoscope of blobs and balloons and sparkles that slowly drifted away to reveal simple darkness.

The muffled rustle of feathers and quick, panicky breathing sounded beside her. She wet her lips, which had somehow become as dry as stones, and tried to speak.

“Dash? Are you there?”

“Y-yeah. I can’t see anything. Did it work?”

That was an excellent question. At the very least, the portal stone hadn’t dropped them underwater or left them thousands of feet above ground (though with Dash as a companion, that might not have been fatal). Whether or not it had taken them to the Heavenspire, though, was still an open question.

“I don’t know. Let me see...” Rarity tried to focus her thoughts past the pounding headache at the base of her skull, and after a moment her horn began to glow with a faint blue light. The darkness receded from them, leaving behind grey stones overrun with black mold and dry leaves that skittered like dead insects as some unfelt wind pushed them across the ground.

The walls came into focus next. They might have been marble, once, if marble could rot into the black and pocked ruins all around them. Dessicated vines still grew up the columns that supported the invisible roof far above. Bones littered the floor all around them.

High above, slowly coming into focus as Rarity’s magic returned, was a high dais, set upon a row of stairs not unlike the castle they had just left. And on the dais, just as in Canterlot, sat a throne whose gold limbs still glimmered after a dozen thousand years of darkness.

“Oh Celestia,” she heard Dash whisper. “What is this place?”

Twilight’s faint scream, echoing down the dark halls, answered for her.

* * *

Nopony interrupted Octavia on her way to the throne room.

There was something, she reflected, about simply behaving like you were allowed to be somewhere that convinced ponies to leave you alone. She didn’t try to sneak or run or dodge her way into the throne room – she simply walked, and nopony stopped her.

Or it could’ve been the starscape that had now invaded her barrel and flanks. Her cutie mark, a purple treble clef, seemed to float in space as she stepped down the corridor unhindered by ponies who had not, bless their hearts, struck a bargain with the stars.

The guards outside the throne room did try to stop her. She didn’t bother with a full song this time; a quick pluck of the strings on the cello strapped to her back was enough to clear her path.

The vast throne room was filled with ponies who quickly found they had somewhere else to be. By the time she reached the center and stopped atop the large golden sunburst inlaid on the floor, the room was virtually deserted.

That was fine. They would come. She gave the strings a few plucks from her hooves and adjusted the tuning pegs.

“Octavia.”

Octavia looked up at the sound of her name. The throne above her, previously empty, now held the princess of the sun, who looked down at her with a troubled gaze, equal parts concern, pity and revulsion. Octavia dipped her head, a slight and final obeisance to Celestia’s shortly ending reign.

“Princess, I’m glad you decided to come. Is Luna around? I’m afraid I need both of you here.”

A flicker in the corner of her eye was the only answer. She turned to see the shadows congeal and rise into the form of an alicorn, tall and terrible and drunk on the power of the night. Luna held more power now, Octavia guessed, than Nightmare Moon had even at the height of her rebellion. A layer of frost slowly grew on the marble flagstones around her hooves.

“Excellent, then,” Octavia said. “The ensemble has met, and the song is ready to begin.” She set the bow upon the strings and readied her shoulder for the draw that would begin the end of an age.

“Wait.”

Octavia looked up. She had expected Celestia to try talking to her, reasoning with her, but not Luna. This was unexpected enough to actually listen to. She raised an eyebrow in Luna’s direction.

“Octavia, I know what you’ve done,” Luna said. Octavia would have called her tone pleading, if that weren’t impossible for a star-touched princess. “I know what it’s like to strike a bargain with the stars. I know how afraid you must be right now. I’ve been where you are. I’ve even killed, just as you have, but still I was forgiven. You can be too, if you stop this madness.”

Stop the madness. If only it were that simple. She shook her head and leaned back into the cello.

“What do you hope to do?” There it was. Celestia finally trying to reason with her. “What did they offer you? What did you promise them?”

Octavia pressed the bow against the strings. The bow’s hairs, plucked from her own tail as a filly, bent under the pressure of her hoof. She could feel the note’s anticipation, its vibration, begging to be born.

What did they offer you? What did you promise them? She snorted.

“You know, I don’t remember. How funny is that?”

And then she played.

* * *

Rarity and Rainbow Dash ran down the empty corridors of the Heavenspire, chasing after the faint echoes of Twilight’s fading scream. Each time it sounded again from a different direction, and they stumbled along after it, two blind goslings following the ghost of their mother.

The Heavenspire slowly took shape as they raced through it. Corridors as wide as the streets in Canterlot spiraled around the central throne room they had awoken in. Rooms beyond counting, filled with dust and bones and shadows, branched off in all directions. Ramps led up and down to new levels, and as they chased Twilight’s voice they found themselves drawn ever upward, higher and higher, until the throne was a gold speck over the edge of the abyss far below them.

Eventually, hours later, the corridors came to an end. The ruins of a door spilled across the floor before them, and beyond it a wide black hole yawned open to meet them. Rarity picked her way over the rubble, while Dash hopped over it with an easy flap of her wings.

“Twilight?” Rarity called. 

“Twi, you here? C’mon, it’s us!” Dash yelled. She pressed against Rarity’s side as they stepped forward. “Say something!”

Only silence answered. With nowhere else to go, they moved forward, until the faint light of Rarity’s horn broke upon a low altar in the center of the vast room. Acres of stone surrounded them, surrounded in turn by a vast and infinite night.

“Oh stars, Twilight,” Rarity breathed.

On the altar lay their friend, apparently asleep. A pair of simple cords bound her hooves, holding them together as she twitched in place. A smear of blood marred the stone beneath her mouth.

Dash was on the altar in an instant. “Twi! C’mon, Twilight! Wake up!” She rocked Twilight’s shoulder with her hoof, then reached down to tug at the ropes binding her hooves. Rarity was about to move to help her when a third voice broke the silence.

“She won’t wake that easily, I’m afraid.”

Rarity’s heart leapt into her throat. The light from her horn flickered and died for a moment, plunging their spirits back into darkness. She stumbled away from the third voice as Dash shrieked in fear, and in a panic she managed to reignite her horn.

Before them stood what could only be described as a shadow. It twisted and bent in the weak light of her horn, and Rarity could faintly see the stone floor through it. Only its eyes had any color – a faded mulberry that seemed to float in the void above her.

“Oct-tavia!” Rarity scrambled back to her hooves. “But, you’re in...”

The phantom tilted its head. “I can see why she dreams about you, Rarity. You and your friends. So loyal and generous, to come all this way for her.”

The was a blue blur, and suddenly Rainbow Dash was between them, her wings flared out in warning. “You stay back! We’re taking Twilight with us!”

The shade laughed, and for a moment Rarity could have really believed Octavia was with them, so truly did its laugh match hers. But then the sound faded, replaced with an echo that sounded of glaciers and and blizzards and graves, and nothing like Octavia remained.

“Commendable, Rainbow Dash, but no,” it said. “I am only a shadow, but I have enough of her power to stop you both. The bargain will be fulfilled, and we four will stay here forever.”

“We’ll see about that!” Dash stomped the stones with her hoof. “If you want a fight, we’ll fight!”

Lovely. Rarity pushed herself back up onto her hooves and stood beside her friend. They had done enough running and chasing and talking and hiding.

It was time to fight.
> Chapter The One That [Eakin] Wrote: Crescendo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

PONEMURDERED XI: CRESCENDO

Rainbow Dash surged towards the shadowy copy of Octavia that stood over Twilight’s helpless dreaming form. Darting over the altar Twilight was bound to, she threw herself at the phantom only to pass right through it and slam into the wall beyond. The shade laughed.

“You simple little foal, you think I’m even here in the Heavenspire? You think I’d lower myself to hooficuffs with a belligerent, irrelevant little nothing like yourself? Wrong. I’m just here to make sure you three don’t escape. Beyond that, I’ve nothing to win or prove here,” said the shade.

Rarity’s horn sparked and her magic grasped at the shadow trying to find purchase, but she failed. Her magic just slid right off like it was falling through a hole in the world into the realm of whatever beings Octavia had bargained away her soul with to achieve this impossible power. With a huff Rarity picked up a candle off of the altar and flung it at Octavia. She didn’t even hit her, and even if she had she didn’t expect the outcome would have been substantially different. She crossed her forelegs and put a hoof up to her chin.

“Please, don’t feel you need to cease your impotent flailing on my account. It’s actually rather entertaining,” said the shadow. Rainbow Dash had recovered and was trying to buck it in the back of the hair, only for her hooves to connect with empty air. Rainbow Dash trembles as her hooves pass through the shadow, a shiver that has nothing to do with the temperature of the room.

“Well, we’ll simply be taking Twilight and leaving then, awake or otherwise,” said Rarity as she returned her attention to undoing the knots in the ropes cutting into Twilight’s skin. She was interrupted by a burst of dark power from the shade disrupting her concentration and forcing her away.

“No, I don’t believe you will. You’ll find that my immaterial nature is strictly a one-way limitation, especially here in the Heavenspire of all places. We were well aware that Luna still had that old portal stone attuned to this place. She didn’t even realize she was doing us a favor by splitting up the Bearers of Harmony. She hasn’t changed at all from how she was a thousand years ago. Still so impulsive, so easily manipulated,” said Octavia. “You’re all right where we need you.”

-------------

Professor Secrets pushed aside another ancient text. What he’d hoped would be a lead on the Heavenspire and the entities confined within, the same knowledge that Twilight had asked him to search out before all these events had begun. How he wished he hadn’t put it off for a week while he was working on his thesis! Now everything was spiraling out of control, the castle was on lockdown, and he’d just wasted a half hour he didn’t really have on a passage that actually translated to ‘How the heavens inspire’ rather than the location itself. He reached for the next tome, but froze as a piercing scream echoed down the hallway. Even more chilling was the music, just barely at the edge of his hearing that accompanied it. He shouldn’t even have been able to tell it was there over the abruptly cut off screams of pain, but there it was. Then all was silence.

The professor grabbed the next book off the nearby stack and hastily opened it. There might not be much time left to find what they needed, and the worst part was he wasn’t even sure he knew what they needed even was.

--------------

Twilight Sparkle ‘awoke,’ for the eighth time in as many minutes. She was just beginning to appreciate the horror that was being inflicted upon her. A new terrifying tableau awaiting her each time, always giving her just enough time to understand the new predicament she was dreaming. This time, she found herself strapped to the altar once again, and as she came to she looked up to see stones in the ceiling shifting out of place. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then she felt something gently tickling her belly. She shifted her head as best she could and looked down to see a small trickle of sand landing on her exposed stomach.

This wasn’t so bad. Actually, it kind of tickled.

Twilight’s ears perked up at a sound from behind her, and by rolling her eyes back she could see another column of falling sand behind her. Meanwhile the one covering her stomach was starting to flow faster, and the weight of the sand was becoming uncomfortable. Shifting her barrel caused a little of it to slide off of her onto the floor, but the flow was only picking up pace.

The speed of the falling sand increased, and began flowing from several more places in the ceiling now the piles were spreading over the ground, rising up the sides of the alter. The pile of sand on her stomach had grown large enough that the tiny little avalanches it was sending down were pushing sand up and onto her face. She tried to use her magic to push it away, but the sand slipped and slid through like the field she was projecting wasn’t even there. Even if she hadn’t been tied down, she doubted she’d have been able to lift herself out from under the weight pressing down on her chest.

Twilight knew several spells for breathing in water, but sand was another story. Her mind raced to try to put something together, even as the sand rose up around her head and flooded into her ears. She took a deep breath and clamped her mouth shut as the sand rose up around her face, even though she knew it was a futile gesture at best. The rising sand grew high enough to cover her eyes, and a few grains snuck past her eyelids no matter how tightly she squeezed them shut, burning and stinging. Grains began to flow into her mouth and lungs through her nose. She began to panic reflexively as the sand slip down the back of her throat as she twisted and thrashed against the bonds. Her mind screamed for oxygen and her mouth forced itself to open and inhale, her body’s need overriding her willpower in a last-ditch effort to live. As the sand poured into Twilight’s lungs, she felt the world around her slip away and raw terror claim her right before-

Twilight woke up for the ninth time, still bound in darkness against the cold, hard surface of the alter...

-------------------------

Celestia and Luna struggled against the power bursting out of the cello Octavia played at the base of their throne, the currents of sound twisting and warping the chair itself and a dark red stain slowly began spreading out along the alabaster floor from where she stood. Octavia herself was barely even perceptible as holding the shape of a pony. Her lower half was a twisting void speckled with pinpricks of light, a three dimensional window into a piece of the starry night sky she had made her awful pact with. A treble clef shaped cluster of stars covered the spot where her cutie mark would have been, and the darkness was creeping further up her coat and consuming more of her with every note.

“Sister!” cried Celestia, “we must act, or all of Canterlot will be unmade.” Celestia stopped speaking and looked over to Luna, expecting to see the same degree of concern or worry reflected on her face.

Instead Luna had closed her eyes and started to sing.

“Luna, what are you-” she began, but stopped when she realized that the dark red splotches had stopped spreading and begun to recede.

‘Have no fear sister, we have a plan. While we cannot counter the power directly, we remember how this magically enhanced music works from our previous experience with the star creatures,’ Luna’s voice projected itself into Celestia’s mind as she sang. ‘The power may derive from the melody, but the purpose is shaped by lyric and intent of the musician. We may yet wrest away control of the spell from these fiends and redirect it’

Octavia’s eyes narrowed as her playing became wilder and more erratic. Luna frowned and furrowed her brow. For a moment her voice faltered and the crimson stain surged forwards again. A moment later she recovered, but Celestia could see the strain on her sister’s face. “I don’t like the idea of the fate of our kingdom being decided by an impromptu karaoke contest between yourself and the Lords of the Void, Luna,” said Celestia.

‘If you have a better suggestion, we eagerly await hearing it,’ came Luna’s voice in return. The direct mental link it represented meant that her frustrated, sarcastic tone came through in full force. Celestia weighed her options. A long discussion with her sister would only distract her, but that thought in turn suggested how she just might be able to help.

Celestia strode forward towards her throne, stopping just before the wavering boundary of the music was putting forward. “Octavia... or would you prefer to be addressed by another name?” she asked.

“You don’t have enough tongues to pronounce any of my other names. At least not yet. Octavia will suffice,” said the thing subsuming Octavia’s form.

“Very well. What is the nature of the bargain you’ve struck together?”

“This mortal had some trivial concerns we offered to correct in exchange for her use as a vessel. They will be addressed, and then she will be ended along with all your other little ponies.”

“Is that what she she wanted?” asked Celestia.

“That is what all mortals want, in the darkest parts of their hearts. Oblivion. We are more than happy to grant it to them as we reshape Equestria to our designs. If she did not want that she should have specified such things,” said Octavia. Her face was curled up in a defiant scowl, but at the corner of one of her eyes a single tear trickled down her face and traced a path down her face and chest, briefly warping the portrait of the night sky as it passed over it.

“And her family? Her friends? You think she wants that same fate for everypony she loves?” asked Celestia as she stared as deeply as she could into Octavia’s gaze, hoping that there might be a glimmer of the pony she had once been behind all the hate and power and anger of the stars.

“Irrelevant. We will fulfill our end of the agreement, and she will fulfill hers. The fate of your world is beyond its scope. Now, enough of this. Your sister is weak. She was weak a thousand years ago when she failed us in her purpose and she is weak now. Her defiance ends,” said Octavia. The music somehow rose again and became even crazier, touching impossible notes and discordant clashes as it rose and fell, cutting into reality like the edge of a sawblade. The red stain began to spread again, and as it flowed over the ground Celestia stood on her mind was suddenly overwhelmed by thousands of voices, gibbering in languages that ranged from modern, to long dead, to never having existed at all. Still Celestia held her ground.

“Octavia! I know you’re still in there!” Celestia called out. “You don’t have to do this, it isn’t too late to stop it. What about everypony else? Is this really what you want for them? Octavia, what about your daughter?”

Nothing. The pressure of the voices increased and a relaxed, happy expression settled onto the musician’s face as her hooves danced up and down the neck of her instrument and her bow screamed against the strings. Then there was just the hint of something passing across it, something she easily could have imagined seeing as the light in the throne room warped and twisted.

Then Octavia’s hoof gave a nearly imperceptible tremor, rotating just the tiniest bit, and a wrong note played out.

And then the world exploded.

---------------------

The shade in Octavia’s form back in the Heavenspire winced. Things had just changed, along an unexpected path. “Well, perhaps if you truly value your friend’s life, we can come to some sort of a deal,” she said.

“No way, the Princesses told us how you star-things want to mess up the world, and how you trick ponies into making deals to do it,” said Rainbow Dash, “not interested.”

“Really, not even if I offer to let Twilight leave the Heavenspire, entirely unchanged and take that portal stone back to Canterlot with you? All I want is a ride, no strings attached,” she said.

“I find it most difficult to believe that you would give her up so easily if that were really the case, as you’ve gone through so much trouble to bring her here,” said Rarity.

“My motives do not concern you. I am offering you your friend, which is what you braved the terrors of the Heavenspire for in the first place. Of course...” the shade couldn’t help but allow herself a small smile, “...that portal stone only transports three ponies. Which means that at least one of you will have to stay here in Twilight’s place.”

Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at one another and gulped, recalling Luna’s warnings about the things that occupied this place. The tales she wove of awful things beyond imagining.

“So,” said the shade, “do we have a deal?”
> Chapter Oh Who Cares You Know What Chapter It Is: The Rebellion Of The Strings [Wanderer D]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ponemurdered XII: The Rebellion of the Strings


“Our chance will come soon!” Red Herring whispered. “The Legacy of Twilight will prevail!”

“How did Twilight leave a legacy when she’s still alive?” Empty Glass whispered, only to be punched on the shoulder by Half Pint.

“We don’t know if she’s still alive. Besides, nopony offered a better name!” she muttered. Her hoof caressed the spot between the wings of Red Herring.

“I still think 'Pinkie’s Pies' would have been better...” Decanter observed, twitching nervously and eyeing his equipment.

“I think Luna wanted it to be ‘The Lunar Eclipse’ or something equally dreary.” Empty Glass sighed. “When are we doing our thing, oh great leader?”

Red Herring smiled back at the others. “Soon. Prepare yourselves. Luna is ready.”

And that’s when the rock started. Or rather when Octavia so totally owned the Princesses that cello players all across the multiverse stood a little straighter.

Seeing Princess Luna fall before the might of a wrong note was enough for Red Herring. “Forget the original signal! That’s the new signal! Quick! To the Stringmaton!”

“The Stringmaton?” Empty Glass deadpanned as all four of them and their trusty partner, Cuddles, jumped into the air and activated their hoof-bands.

“Who brought the rabbit?!” Decanter shouted.

“I did!” Half Pint retorted. “Don’t you remember Fluttershy’s last words?!”

“Please, take care of Angel’s little sister!”

“You don’t sound anything like her, Empty Glass!” Decanter growled as they all started glowing. “Besides, she’s right there!”

“Hush! Don’t point out the location of the Elements to the enemy!”

---------------------

“How about we kick your flank so hard you’ll kiss the moon?” Rainbow Dash retorted. “Do you think we’re stupid!?”

The Octavia shade looked directly at Rainbow Dash’s challenging eyes and nodded. “Yes.”

“Y—” Rainbow Dash sputtered, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Well, darling, I’m afraid we cannot accept your...” Rarity made a face. “Tasteless offer, you see, we came for Twilight and we’re leaving with her.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Just look at her!” She pointed with a hoof to the unconscious unicorn. “I have drained her of all the will to live. There is nothing you can say or do to bring her back from the oblivion of the soul that I have subjected her to through nightmares and tickling.

“At least I won’t have to tell her I almost set her library on fire!” Rainbow Dash countered.

“WHAT?!” Twilight croaked, sitting up on the altar, eyes blazing in anger and horn glowing with power. “You did what to my library?”

“Lower those wings, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity chided. “It’s unseemly. Twilight dear, your library is fine. Rainbow just dropped a candle and we got it before any damage was done.”

Twilight still glowered at Rainbow Dash, who had the presence of mind to at least look apologetic. “We shall talk about this at length, Rainbow Dash. Where are the others?”

“Fighting Octavia,” Rarity informed Twilight quickly while the latter studied the starry clone of Octavia standing just a few feet away from them.

“That’s not good!” Twilight cringed. “If what I learned in the ancient tomes is true, then—”

“Enough!” The Octavia Star Creature growled, drawing their attention. “If you do not accept my deal, I shall have to dispose of you all right now!”

“How do we fight her, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash stole a worried glance at her friend. “Last time we went through her!”

“It’s like we’re fighting a generic ghost!” Rarity scoffed. “No originality, at all!”

“She’s not a ghost,” Twilight whispered. “She’s a construct of the stars, almost untouchable, but she has a core! If we can get to it, she will become solid, and we’ll be able to defeat her.”

“What is this core made of? Can you see it?” Rainbow Dash asked watching the construct levitate into the air as it prepared to play it’s starry cello again.

Their voices were drowned by the melody coming from Octavia’s cello. The three ponies moaned and writhed in pain as the short melody extended in it’s last notel, leaving them weakened and panting in the floor.

“This will be your end.” The bow went back to the cello...

“It should be a crystal!” Twilight shouted quickly. “We need to find it!”

Star Octavia cringed and almost dropped its instrument when a white glow of energy enveloped one of the stars on its chest and pulled it out. The tiny fragment flew across the air to hover in front of Rarity, who had a smug look in her face.

Star Octavia looked down at herself as her body solidified and her eyebrow twitched. “This... is not going to change your fate. At all.”

Her music started again, making Twilight sink to her knees and Rarity drop the crystal. The pair cringed and looked up, barely able to form a coherent thought.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, but yet managed to form a smile. “I think...” she groaned through the pain. “That there’s only one way to stop you..”

Beating her wings, she lifted her weight off the floor and in a move that shocked all present, slammed her hooves onto her ears.

Octavia slowly lowered her bow, eyes wide. “She... burst her ear drums... so that she wouldn’t hear my music!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted in horrified amazement. “What—”

Rainbow Dash didn’t look at her. “I know you’re probably freaking out, Twilight, but I can’t hear you.” She looked over her shoulder with a smirk. “But I’ll put an end to this!”

“Fool!” Octavia laughed, playing her music again.

Again Rarity and Twilight collapsed, barely able to force their heads up to see as Rainbow Dash fell, panting in front of Octavia. “B-but how?!” Rainbow Dash groaned. “I shouldn’t be able to hear you!”

“My music isn’t something you only hear,” Octavia sneered. “It affects all your senses. It goes straight into your minds! Now die!”

“No!”

The music was forced to a stop as Rainbow Dash moved faster than ever before and held the solidified Star Octavia from behind. “W-what?! What are you doing? Release me at once!”

Ignoring her, Rainbow Dash looked past her at her friends. “I’m sorry girls...” she said a bit loudly. “But I will have to break my promise and use that special technique Princess Celestia taught me and then made me promise never to use!”

“No! Rainbow!” Rarity shouted, jumping to her hooves, but it was too late and she knew it.

A flash of rainbow energy surrounded the Star Octavia and Rainbow Dash as the pair levitated into the air.

“I’ll... I’ll miss you girls!” Rainbow Dash shouted. With an explosion of rainbow energy the pair slammed through the top of the tower and soon were out of sight... until a huge explosion of chromatic energy lit the night sky.

“Rainbow Dash! Nooo!” Rarity collapsed onto the floor, sobbing.

“Rarity...” Twilight groaned, forcing herself to stand next to her friend. “We will... we will mourn Rainbow later... you have to tell me what’s going on.”

Gritting her teeth and nodding, Rarity took Twilight’s hoof and got to her hooves. “I will... on the way, we must teleport back to the palace, or Rainbow’s... or it might all have been for nothing.” 

---------------------

The ground trembled under Octavia’s hooves as four gigantic speakers emerged on each corner of the throne room and proceeded to convert into pony-like automatons of some sort, with several speakers on their shoulders and legs the moment four shining creatures landed on top of them.

Well, three did, for the fourth and last one transformed into a giant rabbit with several subwoofers on its ears and a giant one on its belly.

Octavia’s eyes went from one to the next until her gaze turned back to the center of the throne room, where Luna now stood on her hind legs, her posture assisted by softly beating wings. On her forehooves, secured with a shiny dark-blue band, was a midnight-black electric guitar.

The two faced each other while Celestia could only stare in utter, slack-jawed incomprehension at what was transpiring.

Luna narrowed her eyes in tandem with Octavia. “Prepare for the Rolling of Rocks!” Luna hollered, her hoof strumming the guitar as drums, a bass guitar an electric keyboard and a set of bells emerged in front of the pony (and rabbit) piloted constructs.

Octavia’s eyes twitched and she dramatically put her bow against the strings of her heavenly cello. “Bring it on!”

---------------------

To Be continued...
> Chapter Blah Blah Blah Some Kind Of Play On The Number Thirteen: Fhtagn [Dawn Scroll]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ponemurdered XIII: Fhtagn!


“…and that’s the whole sordid affair, darling.”

Twilight could only stare uncomprehendingly as Rarity finished her tale. Twilight had managed to teleport the both of them to the innards of Canterlot Palace, and at the moment were rushing through its many hallways while Rarity filled her in on everything that had transpired while she was unconscious.

“And that’s everything up to Star Octavia?” Twilight asked in disbelief. “Are you SURE?”

“Every word of it. Is it just not the juiciest gossip?”

“But its just sounds so ridiculous… the clowns and the three ring circus… and Pinkie Pie really being the daughter of-“  Twilight began, but leapt back with a scream. The vase in front of her exploded, and a familiar pink pony shook herself free of the debris.

“Don’t say his name!” Pinkie Pie shouted, pressing a hoof to Twilight’s lips. “Sorry, but you really don’t want to summon him here. Things would get really tentacally and you wouldn’t like that. Unless you’re into that sort of thing. Ooo, now that would be really neat if you were!”

“But how… you were… we were just-“ Rarity stammered, just as surprised.

“No time!” Pinkie Pie shouted, as she grabbed the two mares and hurriedly dragged them along to the throne room. “You’re missing the best part!” A pair of great golden doors blocked their way. Pinkie Pie leaped into the air and kicked the doors open.

Immediately Twilight had to cover her ears. She could barely hear herself think.

Twilight Sparkle had once had the misfortune of taking a carriage ride into Canterlot. Enroute, a stray tomcat had dashed in front of the cart, only to be caught beneath the wheels. Twilight could never quite shake the memory of the sound it made as the cart passed over it.

Compared to what she was hearing now, the cat’s death was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard.

Princess Luna was wrecking havoc on a guitar, with four giant robots (three pony, one rabbit) serving as backup. Octavia and her tiny cello were absolutely dwarfed by the mecha rock band as they butchered notes and ruined the musical scale for future generations. The subwoofers embedded into each robot amplified the din a dozen times and shook the floor with its majesty. They were not playing their instruments so much as they were mangling them. Empty Glass, to his credit, was merely hitting the same keys over and over his electric keyboard. Red Herring’s robot, meanwhile, was banging its head repeatedly against the giant drum set. And over all of this, Octavia and Luna were screaming at each other.

Luna’s eyes narrowed angrily. “Pathetic gut stringer!”

“You’re like a donkey with arthritis, trying to go onstage and look young!” Octavia shot back, drawing her bow across her strings.

“Yeah well you… you suck!” Halfpint shot back, smacking away on her bells with renewed fervor.

Twilight looked across and saw her teacher. Princess Celestia lounged on her throne, mid-sip into a bottle of wine. A pair of fuzzy pink earmuffs covered her ears.

“Oh good. You’ve finally showed up.” The princess said dryly, noticing that her student had entered. “My heroes are here to save me. Hurrah.” She took another sip of her bottle. “I’d offer you three a glass, but I’m nearly finished.”

“Princess, what are you going? What is all this?” Twilight shouted, eyeing the giant robots.

“This? This is me regretting my life choices.” Celestia groaned as her sister hit a particularly irritating note. “I’m reconsidering my taste in music. Since Rock and Classical are going to be ruined for me shortly, I’m pondering what’s left for me. Blues? Haygae? Polishkonik? I do hate the accordion.”

Rairty winced, her attention focused on the two mares at the center. “But what on earth are they going on about?”

“Well your mother-“

“Neigh! This thy mama who-“

Celestia’s eye twitched. “This is the royal custom of trash talking. Its… tradition.” Her voice was laden with distaste for that word. The princess rose from her throne, and took a headcount of those present. “We seem to be missing somepony,” she told Twilight.  

Twilight could not meet her teacher’s eye. “Rainbow Dash she…  she sacrificed herself so that we could escape.” Twilight whispered gravely. She looked up at her teacher with fresh tears in her eyes. “I never even got the chance to say goodbye.

“I see,” Celestia draped a snowy wing across Twilight’s back. Twilight buried her face against her teacher’s chest, her mere presence more soothing than any balm. The goddess brushed away the tears that were rolled down Twilight’s cheeks. “We will not forget her sacrifice. The name Rainbow Dart will live on in song and legend.”

A small frown crossed Twilight’s lips. “It’s Rainbow Dash.”

“Are you sure?” Celestia asked. Twilight gave a huff of indignation that was quickly silenced by her teacher. “Wait, never mind. It looks like that Traditional Trash Talk is coming to an end.”

“I could eat alphabet soup and excrement better lyrics than anything you could come up!”

“Hah! Thy father was a workhorse and thy mother a dirt licker! Now watch, as I rock thee straight back to thy farm!” Luna bawled with a manic grin.

She then lifted her guitar high in the air and smashed it against the stage. Five foot pylons of fire erupted in front of her as her guitar pieces went flying, and she flung her hooves out to the cellist. “Consume it, sucker!”

The music screeched to an abrupt halt. “Woah, what just happened?” Half Pint asked. She paused in realization, looking at the ruins of Luna’s guitar.  “She knows she’s supposed to do that after the song is finished, right?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Red Herring’s voice crackled over his unit’s loudspeaker. His robot crushed the drumsticks in its grip. “We can still take the fight to her with these suits.” His robot struck a pose, preparing to fight. “Lunar Eclipse! Attack Formation! GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

None of the other three machines so much as moved.

“For the love of… does anypony even know how to fight with these?” Empty Glass asked. The four pilots looked at each other, and raised a half-hearted hoof.

“We didn’t exactly have time to fully go over the manuals.” Decanter answered. Red Herring sighed and threw his hooves up.

“Princess, we’re just gonna stand here and offer moral support,” he muttered.

Celestia waved him off, sighing as she threw away the now empty bottle. “Awesome. Tell Fluttershy to stop hiding under my throne while you’re at it.”

“No need Tia. It is time to end this,” Luna said as she circled her foe.

Octavia smirked and drew her bow across her throat, eyes gleaming with triumph. “I agree. You have been a most wonderful audience, but the curtain must fall. I have a date with destiny after all.”

“No! The only destiny you will be seeing is defeat at my hooves.” Luna declared. “But to do it, I will have to break my sacred vow and use the special technique my sister taught me and then made me promise never to use!” Luna declared dramatically.

Twilight and Rarity gave Princess Celestia a level stare. She merely shrugged in response. “It was a seminar.”

Princess Luna flung off her support bands, turning her back on Octavia…





…and lifted her tail.

Octavia’s cheeks became suffused with pink, but her expression did not waver. “You think that mooning me will be enough to stop me?” she asked in disbelief.

The torchlight dimmed. Tendrils of mist creeped from her lips as the temperature suddenly plummeted around them. A low chuckle rumbled from the moon princess’s throat.

“Not at all,” the princess answered.

Then Luna began to chant.

“Ria eht ni knalf ruoy teg dna, Ynop pu tuhs, Rialf citamard dna, Rats a fo htaed eht htiw.“ The princess spoke quickly, her voice echoing across the room. Her hips swayed hypnotically with the flow of the words.

Every hair on Octavia’s body stood on edge. Her cello fell silent as her bow fell slack in her hooves. Her chest filled with dread. Whatever the princess was doing, it felt wrong.

A star in Luna’s tail turned dark and the pinpricks of light slowly began to drift towards it. The darkness spread across her tail, swallowing every star and celestial cloud it came into contact with.

“What have you done?” Octavia asked, “What sort of witchcraft is this?”

Luna looked back at her and smirked.

“A black hole.”

The darkness roared to life, ensnaring Octavia’s in her grip. The pony howled angrily as it drew her in, her hooves scraping for purchase against its power. “NO! It cannot end like this! I won’t let it!”

“Be gone foul enchantress!” Luna commanded, lifting her tail higher and aimed her dark hole at the mare. “You reign of terror has ended! We cast you out! Uoy kcams ll'I ro tuo teg hctib!”

With a final wail, the strings on Octavia’s chello snapped and the mare was pulled into the black hole, thrown forever into oblivion.

Twilight fell back onto her haunches. “Its over... its finally over…” she whispered breathily. They had done it. The ancient tomes were wrong and the prophecy would never come true. Octavia was gone and the black hole… was not shrinking.

Twilight’s eyes widened as the furniture in the room began to slide closer to Luna. She felt a tug on her own body, slowly growing stronger. Suddenly, Celestia’s throne was ripped from its dias and swallowed into Luna’s tail. A yellow pegasus swiftly followed its fate with a frightened ‘Meep!’

“Uh, sister. You might want to turn it off.”

Luna murmured another string of spells under her breath. A nearby window shattered, and its shards were sucked up into her tail.

“Like… now…” Celestia urged, a twinge of worry in her voice. “Now would be a good time, Luna.”

“Trying to rearrange the cosmos here!” Luna grunted. Her horn fired off spell after spell but the black void merely grew in size. Rarity gave a shriek as she was lifted off her feet, clutching onto a nearby curtain as she was pulled towards the princess.

Luna’s band, due to their proximity to her, were not so lucky. Their robots were immediately pulled off their hooves and sent flying. Half Pint managed to sink her rabbit bot’s teeth into the floor, temporarily pausing her descent. Her compatriots grabbed ahold of her and each other in a chain, leaving Glass Empty’s unit dangling inches from the breach.

Decanter’s unit kicked repeatedly at Glass Empty’s head. “Let go or we’ll all die!”

“I blame you!”  Glass Empty moaned, as his robot’s grip tightened on her legs. “If I go down, we all go down!”

“Eject! Eject!” Halfpint repeatedly pressing buttons on her console, “Of all times for this thing to malfunction- eject you stupid mecha rabbit!”

Finally, gravity won over them. The robot’s teeth shattered, and as one, the chain of giant robots (and mecha rabbit) were reeled into the event horizon, slipping into the darkness.

Rarity screamed as the curtain ripped, and she fell into the vortex. “Remember me as I was!”

Pinkie Pie dashed after her. “Nopony wants to live forever!” the pony cheered, as she cannonballed into the tail. Now only Twilight was left, steadily slipping closer and closer to Luna’s tail.

“Princess, help me!” Twilight begged, reaching out to her teacher. “I don’t want to go! I have so much to live for!”

“Be brave Twilight!” Celestia urged, as she added her own magic to Luna’s. The roar of the void drowned out her voice. “Remember what I taught you. Use the Elements of Harmony! Have Rainbow Blast go inside and-“

Twilight never got the chance to hear the rest. With a scream, she was sucked into the black hole. A second later, the celestial body winked out, and Luna’s tail returned to its starry self.

“They’re gone…” Celestia whispered in horror to her sister. “They’re all gone.”

“Not gone,” Luna corrected her. “There is still hope, but it is up to them now.” The princess sighed and looked up from her tail. “Now they must look deep inside them for the strength to succeed, or all will be lost to the Strings.”

The two siblings shared a solemn look. Cuddles the rabbit twitched her nose.

“Want to see if there’s popsicles in the Royal Freezer?”

“Totally.”







When Rarity awoke, the first thing she noticed was the vast emptiness surrounding her. Nothing as far as her eyes could see. Only a sprinkling of stars broke up void in the far distance.

The next thing was that she could breathe. Rarity took in great breaths of the icy fresh air, not daring to question where it had came from. She knew there was no air in space, yet she dare not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Finally, she noticed the purple bubble that surrounded her, no doubt the only thing keeping the air in, and the purple unicorn who was holding the whole thing together. The four automatons drifted nearby and remained flickering with the last vestiges of their power.

“Who’s still alive?” Red Herring asked from his cockpit. A series of groans over the intercom confirmed his suspicions that everyone had pulled through more or less in one piece.

“Well, my controls are on fire,” Empty Glass said glumly. “So at least I won’t freeze to death.” There was a small ‘thud’ over the subwoofer. “Oh, and I found the manual.”

Pinkie and Fluttershy floated unconscious nearby, tethered together with Twilight’s magic. Rarity pushed herself off the edge of the bubble, coming to float nearby the unicorn.

“Twilight! I thought that was the end for us,” Rarity gasped in relief. The lack of ground beneath her hooves was unsettling. “Where are we? How are we supposed to get back to Canterlot?”

Twilight’s face was strained as she maintained the bubble around them. She pointed behind Rarity. “We have much bigger problems right now…”

A short distance away were millions of ponies, each composed of star stuff and holding a very familiar cello between her hooves. The horde of Star Octavias looked at the bubble’s inhabitants and spoke as one. “You will be assimilated into the Melody. All will resonate with Harmony.”

“Wake the rest of the girls up,” Twilight told her, “We have one final battle before this is over.”
> Chapter Okay Everyone's Dead Move Along Please: Rock of Ages [Pen Stroke]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponemurdered XIV: Rock of Ages
By: Pen Stroke


There was no way to count all of the Star Octavias that stared down at the quartet of mares, whose life and death depended on Twilight's thin magical bubbles. There seemed to be more of them than there were stars in the sky, and yet they were all one. They were of one mind, one form, one voice except for a single mare. Octavia, the Octavia the girls had come to know and despise over their adventure, floated in the open space between them and the army, smiling smugly.

Her coat was peeling away, like the thin foil wrapping to a candy bar. Bit by bit it disappeared, revealing the sparkling undercoating of star-flesh as she moved closer to Twilight's bubbles, which condensed into a single great bubble to hold all four of the mares. “I'll admit, I was sure Luna's little trick was going to be the end of me. But, I guess her skill with her spells matches her musical talent,” Octavia joked as she reached the edge of the magical barrier. “In her attempt to stop me, she gave me the final step of my ascension. She returned me to the realm of stars that is my true home, and now Equestria, the whole world, shall join in the sweetness of The Harmony.”

Octavia placed her bow against the bubble, dragging it across the surface as she walked the circumference. The bubble's surface vibrated with a single note from the touch, and Twilight strained to maintain the spell while Rarity did all she could to wake Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. “That's what I don't understand about you ponies. I'm going to bring Harmony to your world, to our world. Isn't that exactly what the Elements of Harmony would want?”

“You're not bringing harmony,” Twilight forced out through gritted teeth. “You’re bringing subjugation. Harmony, real harmony, is about different ponies working and living together in peace and friendship. You have to have differences to have real harmony!”

“But isn't that the greatest harmony of all. One mind, thinking and working towards a single goal?” Octavia asked. “ Well, I guess our difference in opinion won't matter for much longer. Soon, you'll see things our way... you all will.” Octavia stepped away from the bubble and moved back to her place in front of the arm. There, she turned, sat, and brought cello and bow into position. The whole army behind her did the same, each sitting on non-existent chairs and placing their bows upon the strings of their cellos. “And all it will take is a song.”

The first note came like a punch in the brain stem. True, there was no real note. In the vacuum of space, there was no air to carry the sound waves. Yet Twilight and her friends could hear the sound as if every cello being played had been jammed down their ears and into their skulls. They cried out in pain, they writhed, and covered their ears to try and stop a sound that was as painful as it was hauntingly beautiful. The bubble rippled too, affected by the magical waves put out by the Star Octavias. Its surface rippled, shook, faded, and danced the line between the life and death for not only itself but also its occupants.

The note then ended, the Star Octavias having drawn their bows the full length across the strings of their cellos. There was a pause, a moment to recover, a chance for Twilight and her friends to struggle to their hooves. And as they tried to stand Octavia's lips curled into a devilish smile as she, and the army behind her, pushed upon their bows, beginning a second note.

The sonata of suffering left the mares screaming. The notes began to come faster, an aggressive song being played by the millions of cellists who floated in space. Each drawing of the bows across strings was like a saw being drawn across the their minds. They were being carved to pieces by the quarters notes, mentally torn to ribbons by the crescendos, and stabbed in the psyche by every staccato note. It brought the four mares to tears from the sheer pain and left them writhing, unable even to comprehend the their looming demise as Twilight's bubble faded further and further.

Twilight was doing all she could to block it all out, but was a total mental overload. Her vision was blurring. She tasted blood in her mouth. Her horn ached so much she'd be willing to pop it off her head and throw it at Octavia just to make the song pause for a few seconds. She would have done anything to escape, but there was no where to go. There was nowhere to run. They had come so far, done so much to try and stop the assimilation... and it had all been too little too late. Their only friend was the vacuum of space that, like the grim reaper, offered the promise of a quick, painless end. She could release the spell and end it all. All she had to do was give up. All she had to do was admit defeat.

WHOOM

In a moment the song ended, sweet silence coming Twilight and her friends on soothing wings like the red haired goddess herself. Twilight was the first to rise shakily to her hooves. She called on her magic through her pounding headache to reinforce the bubble, and then looked to the Star Octavias to see what had happened.

Several hundred of the the star-flesh cellists had been blown out of rank and file, left spiraling in space as they chased after their bows and cellos. Those that remained were glaring, jaws clenched and eyebrows furrowed in raw anger. At first Twilight thought they were glaring at her, but that wasn't right. They were looking past her, and so Twilight turned, her jaw quickly following open in disbelief.

A vessel, as large and radiant as Canterlot, now loomed over them. A vision in white and blue, the disk shaped ship guarded the tiny bubble like it was a precious child. With a bright flash, a trio of cannons from the vessel's underside unleashed roared. Great blasts of blue raced across the emptiness of space, blasting another hole into the wall of Star Octavias.

And the second blast was all the Octavias would stand. With a chorus of battle cries the wall of Star Octavias broke apart into small sections which zipped and flew through the sky in V formations. At the same time the great white vessel unleashed it's own horde, dozens of small, chariot sized ships that raced out to meet the attacking Octavias.

The war began like a pair of great waves crashing against one another. The smaller ships unleashed small bursts of what looked to be blue magic while the Octavias played on their cellos, forming volleys of musical notes that were hurled through the air like bolts unleashed from a crossbow.

Twilight did all she could to steady her spell, to keep herself and her friends alive as the battle grew in size and intensity. Yet the fragile bubble was like a big, pink target in the center of the battlefield. Every errant shot seemed to come straight at Twilight and her friends, and she could do little to avoid the assaults. Blasts of blue energy from the friendly vessels along with quarter and eighth notes from the Octavias hammered them, bring the bubble closer and closer to failure.

The bubble's edges stretched out, growing more translucent. The air inside began to spread thin as the vacuum of space began to draw the breath from their lungs. Their visions darkened and, oddly, their bodies began to tingle. A tingle like every muscle in their body had fallen asleep in anticipation for their looming doom.

Yet, when the tingling reached it's peak, the girls suddenly found themselves whisked away from the bubble. In a blink of their eyes, the empty blackness of space and the carnage of the waging battle was replaced by sterile white walls in a brightly lit room.

“That be the first time I've ever plucked ponies out of a bubble as it was about to pop. Kind of exciting, actually,” said a pony in a red shirt. He stepped out from behind what looked like a desk with flashing lights as he wore a broad smile. “Still, since it don't look like anyone's missing any limbs, you should head up to the bridge. The captain wants ta see you.”

The ship rocked, and small alarms about the walls began to blare.

“And I wouldn't take all day about it.”


~~~


With the swoosh of doors that opened on their own, Twilight and her friends arrived at what they had been told by passing ponies was as the ship's bridge. It was a room like many others they had passed, where the desks with bright, blinking lights were operated by ponies who shouted back and forth to one another as explosions rocked the ship.

“Squadron 6 returning to bay for emergency repairs.”

“Cannon five is not responding. Attempting a hard reset.”

“Shields are at sixty percent and falling.”

It was a cacophony of sounds, alarms, and chaos, and standing in the center of it all, soaking it in as if it was the best day of his life, was Discord. He was staring at the front wall of the room, which seemed to be a window to the fight going on outside, with a smile and chuckle on his lips. The smaller ships zipped this way and that, chasing and being chased by the small squads of Star Octavias who were playing their way through space.

“Discord? What are you doing here? And what is this thing?” Twilight asked, drawing the attention of the draconequus.

“Oh, this my dear Twilight is just a little something I borrowed from the universe next door. Lovely place, has this delightful character there who I'd almost call a long lost brother. They also have these wonderful toys. As to why I'm here...” He swooped over beside Twilight, putting a paw on her shoulder as his lips spread into a manic smile. “Well, with all the chaos you've been stirring up, how couldn't I join in on the party?”

“This isn't a party!” Twilight snapped, pulling herself away. “If we don't stop the Star Octavias they're going to take over.”

“Really? I hadn't guessed that. That would explain why they started throwing magical notes like rotten fruit the night Celestia tried stand up comedy.” Discord snapped his fingers and, with a pop, returned to his place standing before the captain's chair. “In any case, I'd rather not wreck this rental or get myself Harmonied out of existence. So, first, a little care package from Canterlot.”

A snap of his claw, and Discord caused a large, blue chest to drop onto the floor in front of the mares, a chest that popped open to reveal the Elements of Harmony. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all smiled eagerly at the sight of the powerful artifacts, but Twilight's eyes lingered on the red lightning bolt necklace.

“But, we can't use them, we're missing—“

“Me?”

With a gasp, Twilight spun around, a disbelieving smile on her face and tears already pulling at her eyes. Standing in the doorway to the bridge was Rainbow Dash. In a flash Twilight tackled her, hugging her friend with all the strength her forelegs could muster. “Rainbow, you’re okay!”

“What, you thought a little something like that would keep me down?” she joked.

Twilight shook her head. “No, never.” Perhaps it was a lie, but she didn't care. A friend she had thought she had lost was back and—

“Ahem.”

Rainbow and Twilight both turned their heads to one side, looking into the annoyed face of Applejack who was standing just a few feet away. “Oh, Applejack, I didn't see you there.”

“No, no, it's fine,” Applejack said with a disgruntled huff. “If y'all think you can handle this without me, I'll just get on that fancy teleporter back there and go home. It's no skin of my nose. It's not like it was a pain in the flank to get here. And it's not like I was the one that remembered to bring the Elements of Harmony or anything when rainbow farts over here was ready to race out here without them. No, no... it's okay. You five have fun. I'm just going to go home and take a nap, maybe blend into the background someplace.”

Applejack turned to leave, and even got a few steps down the hall before she felt something yank her on the tail. She was pulled back into the bridge and surrounded by a group hug formed from her five friends. They squeezed her tight. “We're sorry, Applejack,” Twilight said.

Rarity nodded. “Yes, we wouldn't purposefully exclude you from anything.”

“Unless it was planning your surprise party. We'd kind of have to keep you in the dark then, but it would be so worth it because you'd be so surprised and happy and—“

Another explosion rocked the ship, causing a number of the ponies of the command deck to stumble. Fresh shouts of panic filled the air as everypony tried to figure out what had just blown up while Discord floated over to the Twilight and her friends. “Yes, it's a very touching reunion, but can you six wrap it up?” Discord asked. “There is a fight going on outside and we're about to loose the only thing keeping those Celestia flank sized musical notes from putting a lot of holes in this floating tin can.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Twilight said, her friends separating as her horn flared to life. In a moment Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack were all wearing their respective Elements of Harmony. Twilight herself was about to don her own crown and begin to call on it's magic when Discord stretch his claw around her head and snatched it away.

“Hey!”

“Sorry,” Discord half-heartedly apologized, “but that rainbow light show isn't going to work against the orchestra of doom outside,” Discord said as he turned the crown over in his claw and paw. After a bit of digging, he managed to pop open a panel on the back of the crown's big, crystal centerpiece. The open panel revealed a small knob with a red arrow pointing to the word “Rainbow”. Discord took that knob and twisted it, going past the “Fiesta” and “Moon Cheese” settings before finally clicking it into a final position.

“There we go,” he said. He closed the hidden panel and tossed the crown at Twilight, landing it on her head like he was playing a carnival game. “Head up to the P deck before you activate them though. Trust me, you'll want the extra room.”

“But what did you—“ Twilight tried to ask, only for another explosion to rock the ship.

“We don't have time for questions now, Twilight,” Rainbow shouted. “Let's go!”

Twilight nodded, and soon the six ponies had galloped out of the bridge. At the same time Discord came up behind one of the ponies on the command deck, smiling as he gripped the back of her chair. “Miss Scratch, fire the bass cannons and prepare to open the P deck.”

“With pleasure, captain,” the famed DJ said as she brought a pair of headphones to her head and dropped a record on a nearby turntable.


~~~


The vessel was crumbling beneath the strength of The Harmony. It had gotten in a few good hits when it arrived, but now the vessel and it's tiny fighter ships were on the ropes. Smoke was spilling into the vacuum of space and metallic husks floated aimlessly in the void that would be their eternal grave. The robots from Luna's silly rock band had been saved and taken to the belly of the vessel, but it mattered little. Soon, Octavia would have her victory and become a full fledged member of The Harmony. She would be freed entirely of her mortal coil and join the army in its march to universal conquest.

But the interloping vessel seemed to have one final protest to make against the Octavias. After a barrage from the deep, booming cannons, the top of the vessel began to open. The plates fell back slowly, revealing a familiar bubble floating up into the open of space. Octavia dared to laugh, thinking that Twilight and her friends were surrendering themselves so the ponies on the ship might be spared, but then her happiness turned to dread at the sight of a glowing light coming from the bubble. She, herself, had never seen it before, but her instincts as member of The Harmony feared what she saw.

“Star Octavias?” Twilight's voice boomed out, echoing magically in their minds. “Are you ready to rock!?”

In a flash the Elements of Harmony took on one of their greatest forms. A stage magically manifested in the open space above Discord's vessels. Hundreds of lights in dozens of colors flared to life and towers of speakers hummed, waiting to blare with all their strength. And in the center of it all, wearing space suits and holding instruments that had formed from the Elements of Harmony themselves, were Twilight and her friends.

“Because this song is going to knock you into oblivion. Ready girls?” Twilight looked back over her shoulder. Rainbow Dash nodded, striking a ripping cord on her red, lightning bolt shaped guitar. Applejack tipped her hat as of her hooves tuned a string on her apple shaped base. Rarity gave a courtly nod from her place at trio of diamond pianos. Pinkie Pie put on her widest smile and twirled a pair of drumsticks on her hooves as she sat behind her yellow, blue, and pink colored drums. Fluttershy poked her head out from behind one of the speakers, holding the butterfly marked tambourine before shakily nodding her own head.

And then Twilight, in turn, nodded back to all of them before taking to the very center of the stage with a microphone in the shape of her Element of Magic. “Good! 1! 2! 1! 2! 3! 4!”

Rainbow Dash hit her guitar hard, the strum reverberating from the speakers on the stage not as a sound, but as a magical shockwave which rolled across the battlefield, knocking back the Star Octavias while sparing the remaining fighters from Discord's ship. From there each of Twilight's friends joined in, adding the unique voice of their instrument to the mix.

And with each note played the speakers about the stage's speakers unleashed blasts and waves of magic upon the battlefield. Dozens of Star Octavias were thrown back, sent spiraling into space. Some even burst apart into stardust, unable withstand power the mares and the Elements of Harmony were creating.

And watching aghast as the tides of battle changed was Octavia, the one Twilight and her friends had chased all the way to Canterlot's throne room. Her moment of accession, the triumph of The Melody was being undone. And as it was, a crawling sensation began to cover her body. She looked down at herself, and saw her star-flesh fading away to reveal a common, gray, earth pony coat. “No!” Octavia screamed, as if her shout alone might halt the reversal her transformation had taken. “They can't beat us. We are The Harmony! We are The Melody! Gather, sisters, and face them!”

The rallying cry drew all the remaining Star Octavia together into a single cluster, a growing mass of bows, cellos, and star sparkled bodies. They shielded themselves with their own melody, the coursing of their strings bringing a barrier up between them and the dominating rock concert that Twilight and her friends were putting on. Yet even that barrier began to fail, began to crumble under the pure power being unleashed against it with every strum of a guitar, thump of a drum, and jingle of a tambourine.

But the barrier was not meant to last. From the depths the power of the Octavias was building, fusing, and gathering. It began simply as a glow from the depths of the sphere the Star Octavias had formed, but the light grew brighter and brighter. Then, each Octavia played her cello once more, striking a single note.

And in that moment the light encompassed them all, and from the spell rose a single, gigantic Star Octavia. Her cello alone was larger that Discord's vessel, and the now colossal Octavia was done playing the instrument. Instead she gripped both hooves around its neck and lifted it above her head like a club. “You will submit to The Melody!” The colossus shouted before beginning to swing her cello.

“Not today.”

Twilight levitated her microphone up to the front of her helmet. “You want to know why?” She asked, even as the cello swung down at her and her friends. “Because we never quit. Because we never gave up. Because we kept fighting to the end.”

“Because we! Are! The! Champions!”

The spears of the stage blared with light, unleashing a torrent of magic the likes of wish the universe had never seen.


~~~


“It's good to finally be home.” Twilight said as the train pulled into the Ponyville station. She and her friends stepped off quickly, each wearing the medal they had received only a few hours before in Canterlot. From the platform they could already hear the din of the ponies shouting in celebration from the street, but they lingered in the station for just a moment.

“Yeah, it was quiet the wild ride. I still don't understand all of it myself,” Rarity said. “But we certainly do have a story to tell.”

“No doubt about that,” Applejack said. “Now, come on. There's a party out there with our names on it.”

“Oh, can we play that song again with the Elements! That would make this the best party EVER!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she bounded along side Applejack.

“Well, maybe someone else could play. I mean, I didn't mind helping save the universe, but I don't think I'd like it if I had to go on in front of other ponies,” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, I'm sure we'd all do wonderful, darling. Now come on, I think I can see some stallions who'd love to carry us on their shoulders.” Rarity said, nudging Fluttershy forward before looking back at Twilight. “Are you coming?”

“In just a minute,” she said, smiling and waving to her friends until they had left the platform. She then glanced to her side, smiling as a single figure walked out from the steam that was venting from the train. Trixie was a vision to Twilight in that moment, and the pair of mares smiled at one another as they drew closer. “There's somepony special I need to see first,” Twilight said, more to herself than anyone. She drew closer to Trixie, looking deep into those loving eyes. They leaned in close, bodies less than a breath away. Close and closer they drew—


~~~


“—, and then they kissed,” Discord said, reading the final line of the story before smiling and looking up from the manuscript. He was grinning ear to ear as he looked into the stunned faces of Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the princesses. “So, what did you all think? Now be brutally honest. You loved it, right?”

Only silence came from the eight mares.

“Oh, you loved it so much you're speechless. That really is the best compliment you could offer. Oh, I feel like I could hug you all right now. In fact, I think I will.” Discord tossed the story over his shoulder, quickly moving up to and hugging the cold, dry, and rough forms of the eight ponies. “It just means so much to me that you liked it. I mean, there were times I thought you didn't. I mean, have you seen your faces. It looks like you're screaming in terror and begging for mercy. But, no... you really did like it. After all, you'd say something if you didn't like it, right?”

Again, only silence came from the eight mares.

“Of course, you don't want to ruin the moment,” he said as he quickly returned to his seat. “Well then, let's keep this gravy train rolling. I've got another story you're just going to love. Twilight and the Meatloaf Menance. It really is one of my best works. Now, why don’t we get started?” Discord made a pair of reading glasses appear on the bridge of his nose as a new booked appeared in his claw and paw. “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there was a meatloaf.”

And thus the story continued, one of millions of nonsensical tales that Discord had told to the eight, statued mares as the world of wild, raw chaos raged around him. A world he had conquered so very long ago.






The End





Is it really?
Are you sure?
Are you really, really sure?
You are?
Okay, if you say so. 






The End