A Dark Soul

“How could this happen?” Twilight whispered weakly to herself.

Spike lay at her feet dead. Twilight did nothing but stare in disbelief, tears rolling down her cheeks. She felt as if a massive part of her life just shriveled up and died, leaving a big empty hole in her.

“Spike…”

She could do nothing but whisper his name.

“You were so young…”

So much pain. Just pain. She had always had Spike. And now… he was just gone. No warning, nothing.

“Please forgive me…”

Twilight continued sitting slowly coming to her senses. She knew she had to bury him. That thought hurt so much. Burying Spike. She weakly stood up and started to dig. She didn’t use magic. She needed to do this with her own hands. It just felt so final. This was it for Spike. It was hard to understand. Final. That word carried so much more weight than ever before.

When it was time Twilight lowered Spike into the ground. She stared at his body.

“I guess this is… goodbye.”

So many times in her life she had said goodbye, but never like this before.

“I… just…” she stared to cry again. “I’ve failed you Spike. I have failed everyone! My friends, my family, Princess Celestia.”

Twilight continued to sob. He didn’t deserve this, she was the one who deserved this. He was good and kind. He never failed her.

“Goodbye Spike.”

Twilight began to fill in the dirt. Finally she made a crude gravestone for him. Silently she walked away from the grave towards Ponyville ready to give up and let them do with her what they want.

Goodbye Spike.

Those are the last words Twilight ever said to Spike

When Twilight finally arrived at Ponyville she was shocked. The town had been wrecked. Buildings were destroyed and smoke was coming up from the distance. Twilight slowly walked through the town she had grown to love so much. It looked like a battle had taken place here.

“Why aren’t there any bodies?”

Twilight froze. Tamerlane. Tears once again began to come to her eyes.

“First Spike, now Ponyville…”

Twilight solemnly walked to her house. It was mostly in good condition. When she entered the library she saw a note sitting on a table. It was Spike’s handwriting.

Dear Twilight

I wrote this letter to you incase you get back to Ponyville before I do. You need to know, we still love you. We are still your friends. Just because you had some darkness in your heart doesn’t mean we gave up on you. We all have dark thoughts and dark feelings. We have to learn not to act on these feelings. Please Twilight understand that we all forgive you for what you have done. That is what friends do. We just want you back Twilight. Never forget your friends and family.

Spike

“How could I have forgotten my friends? They are always there for me, why did I think they had abandoned me? Now it may be too late. With everything that has happened, they may not be safe, or they might even be… dead.”

Twilight knew she had to try and make things right, before anything else happened, before anypony else died.

Leaving her house she made her way through Ponyville and eventually towards Applejack’s farm.

***

Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could towards the farm. When she arrived she looked around desperately but she didn’t see anypony. Not even bodies.

“Applejack where are you?” she whispered

She turned about to give up and saw a lone pony on top of a hill. She flew as fast as she could towards this new pony hoping desperately for Applejack. She stopped dead a few feet away from Twilight Sparkle.

“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight said quietly
“Twilight.”
“Oh Rainbow Dash, can you ever forgive me?” Twilight said, breaking into tears.
“Twilight… of course I can. I don’t blame you for what has happened.”
“How? This all my fault.”
“No, it’s not your fault, this is Tamerlane’s fault.” She said giving Twilight a hug.
“Where is everypony?” Twilight asked.
“Tamerlane has captured Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. I don’t know where Applejack is. She was at her farm with all the ponies from Ponyville, but Tamerlane’s army came through here.

At that moment they saw several ponies approaching them from the base of the hill they were on. Applejack was in the lead.

“APPLEJACK!!” Screamed Dash

She tackled the orange pony giving her a huge hug.

“I thought you died.” Dash said tears rolling down her cheeks.
“No, I’m quite alright. Have ya seen my little sis by any chance? I’m worried to death about her.”
“No I haven’t, but I found Twilight…”

Applejack turned to see Twilight. She paused for a moment.

“Oh Twilight! I’m so glad you’re ok!” She said giving her a big hug.
“You aren’t mad at me?” Twilight asked
“Of course I’m not mad at you. I was worried so much about you.”

Twilight began to tear up again. How could she have thought her friends would be mad at her?

“I’m so sorry I caused this mess. So many terrible things have happened.” Twilight said to Applejack
“The important thing is we stick together and sort out this mess. We need to stop Tamerlane.” Applejack said.
“Princess Luna is on her way to Canterlot to gather up an army to fight Tamerlane’s army” Dash spoke up.
“Then I suppose we need to go and help her.” Said Twilight.

Applejack turned and talked to the crowd of ponies who had escaped Ponyville.

“You all go back to Ponyville and start rebuilding. It should be safe there. Twilight, Dash, lets go save Equestria.

***

Princess Celestia awoke to find Discord and Shining Armor standing over her.

“What… Where am I?” she asked.
“You are in the hospital of Canterlot.” Shining Armor said.
“It is a good thing you finally decided to wake up Celestia. I thought you would sleep through this whole ordeal.” Discord spoke in his usual taunting way.

Princess Celestia took a second look at the Discord and Shining Armor. Shining Armor looked exhausted with several cuts, while Discord had many bandages as if he had been directly in battle.

“What is going on?” The Princess asked
“While you where getting your beauty sleep, my dear Celestia, Canterlot has been under siege, and the whole country side is being terrorized by an army of the dead.” Discord said in a lighthearted manner
“What!?!? What about Luna, and Cadence?”
“Cadence is gathering the Crystal Empire’s army, Luna is trapped in the country side with only a small band of warriors. The guard of Canterlot is only barely holding them off.” Shining Armor informed Princess Celestia.

The Princess stood up and collapsed, her head spinning.

Shining Armor caught her “Easy, you lost a lot of blood before you got here.”

The Princess got on her feet, slowly this time.

“Don’t over extend yourself. As much as I hate it, we need you in good condition. We are losing this battle, and we need your help.”
”I will be fine Discord.”

At that moment a pony came running in.

“Princess, they have breached the outer walls!”
“Shining Armor, attend to your men, Discord, spread chaos, as much as you can. Do everything to stop them.”
“And you my dear?” Discord asked the Princess.
“I will confront Tamerlane when the time comes.”

Discord and Shining Armor left to join the battle at the walls. Celestia took a position so she could see the whole battle and beyond the city.

“I am waiting for you Tamerlane.”

***

The Battle was going perfectly. Tamerlane watched as his soldiers broke through the walls of the city. Nothing could stop him from taking the city. He strolled into the city to watch the battle first hand.

“My lord” A lesser wizard approached him.
“What is it?”
“Discord has unleashed a wave of chaos, our forces are being pushed back.”
“I will see to Discord. Do let my army stop the advance.”

Tamerlane transformed into a cloud of smoke and mad his way through the city until he was directly behind Discord.

“Discord!” His voice boomed across the city, his magic amplified by dark magic.

Discord spun around, but it was to late. Tamerlane was already upon him. Discord collapsed in pain as Tamerlane assaulted him. Several of Tamerlane’s minions arrived and tied down discord. Three wizards then put him a state of magical stasis.

With Discord captured, the front line of Celestia’s army began to fall back. Tamerlane looked up to where Celestia was observing the battle. He grinned.

“Time for you to fall.”

He focused his energy and teleported himself behind the Princess.

“Tamerlane. Stop this, before I stop you.”
“Oh Princess, it is far to late for that. You and all of Equestria will fall to my power.”
“No, I will stop you before you ever take Equestria.”
“We will see.”

Tamerlane’s horn lit up with black light as he surrounded the two of them with black smoke, cutting the off from the world. With a flash of light he disappeared into the cloud of smoke.

“I am far more powerful that you Celestia”
“You arrogance will be the end of you Tamerlane”

At that moment he appeared behind Celestia, and cast a powerful spell. The Princess spun around and barely blocked it. She trembled.

“You are still weak Princess. I will destroy you.”

With a surge of power Celestia stood up and nocked Tamerlane back into the smoke. He was swept up and caught in the current of black smoke.

“I control the sun and the moon everyday and you think you can stop me?”

The wall of smoke closed in on Celestia and suddenly she was surrounded unable to see or move. The princess began to suffocate.

“I control the very forces of life and death. I am far greater than you!”

Off in the distance they heard a loud horn playing. Tamerlane saw a large army of crystal ponies led by Cadence.

“No!!” Tamerlane screamed. He left the princess lying on the ground.
“Attack the crystal ponies!! The castle is no longer a threat. Attack the crystal ponies! Eradicate them all!!”