Twilight sparkle and the secrets of the sacred library

by Rainbow warrior

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Other, Adventure
Length: 8682

lots of different theories regarding the way both, the universe and equestria, work

5 years have passed since the defeat of discord and Twilight has just finished her studies of magic, very few unicorns have ever accomplished this and at such a young age of 18 too. There has been something that twilight has always wanted to know about ever since her early days as Princess Celestia's protege, and that is "what is contained in the sacred library?" now the sacred library is considered somewhat of a myth in equestria, legend says that only a very rare few have been inside of this library and the ones that have, have never been seen again. Twilgiht feels as though now that she is ,politically, Princess Celestia's equal, that now she may be able to at least KNOW what the library contains, but when she is turned down yet again by the princess a mysterious creature appears offering her a way to not only know what the library contains but to actually gain entrance in the library itself. Will this mysterious creature deliver its promise, or does it have other intentions for Twilight?

Published 2012-02-22 01:04:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-01 18:33:09 UTC

Chapter 1: knowledge is power

*note: I thought this wasn’t going to be an issue anymore but due to several recent comments regarding my grammar I now have to state this again: I DO NOT WANT ANY COMMENTS REGARDING MY GRAMMAR, unless you are willing to write me this entire fanfiction over again with absolutely NO grammar issues. English is not my first language and I am still learning it, I already beat myself up enough if I don’t capitalize the first letter in a name, I don’t need to hear it from other people. Also just note that I wrote this as each paragraph is single spaced and changes of scenery is double spaced, just to help you read it better. I have this on google documents, for some reason it's easier for me to write there than on here so here's if a link if absolutely have to have the grammar written neatly. Again just to be clear, NO COMMENTS ON GRAMMAR!
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=19oKlXXcUqDCniwQorn8PSO6UAujOwvVTZ50SPBGWvEg

Chapter 1: knowledge is power

It was a bright and sunny day in Equestria; everypony was busy going about their day like any other. All except for Twilight that is, today was the day she successfully completed her studies of magic, this day she would be acknowledged amongst the very few unicorns to receive the highest honor and title a unicorn can receive for achieving such a feat, she would be knighted by princess Celestia as a master magician, this was the highest rank next to being a princess herself. Very few ponies had the honor to claim this title but twilight's hard and, what seemed to be, never ending work finally paid off. She was busy getting ready for the ceremony in her tree house, trying on her ceremonial robe before the ceremony itself. She looked at herself and almost cried, she had come so far since her days as a filly and now, today, her lifelong dream would finally come true.

"so spike, how do I look?" she asked as she turned to spike who was curled up on the edge of the book shelf napping, spike turned and with a bit of a dull smile said "Oh....um it's nice Twilight, you look great...heheh"

Twilight could tell something was wrong and she tried to confront it there and now "spike, what's wrong? Aren't you happy for me that finally, after all these long 8 years in ponyville, I finally accomplished my lifelong dream?"

Spike choked on tears as and he said "T-twilight please don't take this the wrong way but..." Spike swallowed some more tears as he struggled to say "now that you're gonna be a master magician, you're probably not gonna need me and I'll have to either be somepony else's assistant or be thrown back into the woods. Oh Twilight I loved the years we spent together *hic* please don't go."

At this point several tears streamed down the young dragon’s face, his green eyes going red because he was struggling to not spill both his tears and emotions all over Twilight. Twilight chuckled and was somewhat flattered by what Spike had said, she reached over and hugged her friend and assistant "oh Spike, just because I'm graduating doesn't mean I'm gonna have to give you up, you're my friend and I care for you. If you want and you're still willing to work for me, I'll tell princess celestia to let me keep you." Spike looked up, his eyes still wet with tears. He had a surprised look on his face but didn't let twilight see it for long as he buried his face within Twilight's mane and let out his held back tears and now cried tears of joy. Twilight was going to tell him to back up as he didn’t want him to ruin her ceremonial gown, but she didn't want to ruin the moment and instead let spike get out whatever he felt as though he needed to get out.

"Thank you Twilight *sniff* I promise I'll be better at the graduation. Now here, let me get you something I made for you." spike then ran down stairs and when he returned, he brought out a gem that had the shape of a diamond but had the color of a deep violet. "it's a gem I've been working on for quite some time, it can amplify some of your magic too." twilight looked in awe at the gem, she hadn't been much of a mare for gems, but this one seemed to catch her attention quite a bit. She went over to spike and lifted the gem with her horn, as she did the aura around the gem and twilight's horn turned into what looked to be a fire of violent. "Oh Spike, this is beautiful, and just look at the aura it casts. Spike it's almost as if you made this gem specifically for me. Only alchemists can do things like this."

Just as twilight said the word alchemist, spike blushed as he held up a book that read "the science of alchemy" spike had learned the difficult science just for twilight. Twilight had tears coming to her eyes too now, she was proud of her assistant being as studious as she was. It made her feel as Though she didn't go through all this reading and studying for nothing, she hugged her friend “oh spike, I'm so proud of you. And to think you were worried about me giving you up? Spike, you could very well be the first dragon to accomplish and successfully perform alchemy, even I can't even conjure alchemy that well. Now why in equestria would I give up an assistant that is becoming such a prodigy? Thank you spike, it really means a lot."

Both Twilight and Spike smiled and twilight proceeded to take off her robes and fold them for the ceremony later today. Just as she was doing this, a knock came from the door; Twilight opened the door to see pinkie pie, hyper and ecstatic as ever. Despite both Pinkie and Twilight being 18, pinkie had the energy of a 6 year old filly. She bounced in excitement as she said “TWILIGHT ohmygoshogmygoshogmygosh, I'm so happy for you and I can't WAIT for your graduation party after. You are coming right? It’s not a party without the guest of honor." twilight chuckled "haha, yeah pinkie I'll be there, you know you didn't have to go through all of this JUST for me right? I mean...I'm just graduating." pinkie now had a somewhat series look on her face as she said "Twilight Sparkle, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? You're not JUST graduating, you're graduating from THE most prestigious school in all of equestria and not only that but you're about to go down in equestrian history as one of the very few unicorns that graduated with the honor you're receiving. So telling me that a party isn't needed for this occasion ain't gonna cut it. Plus I'm hoping they put your party as one of the greatest graduation parties ever." pinkie smiled her always ever cheerful smile as she ended and twilight smiled as well. Her friends meant the world to her, and the fact that they were going out of their way to celebrate her accomplishment made them seem all the more important to her.

Pinkie waved goodbye as she left and twilight went back inside to get ready. As she was approaching her bedroom she stopped at a picture of two ponies that were holding hooves, twilight looked at the picture and whispered "I did it mom and dad, I finally did it. I just wish you guys were here to see It." she smiled a weak smile and proceeded to finish what she needed to prepare for the night ahead of her.

It was the afternoon, everypony was there to witness the very rare event that almost never occurred in equestria. Everypony was gathered in the main hall where princess celestia herself sat in her royal throne. This was the same place her friends were honored by the princess when they defeated nightmare moon the first time they met. It brought back memories for twilight, she grinned and proceeded to step out onto the velvet carpet and begin her walk to the princess to start the ceremony. The hall seemed it was a mile long, everypony was cheering for her, all eyes were on twilight, this was her moment, her time to shine.

She got up to the princess who was standing there with a serious look on her face, when twilight was close enough the princess whispered, "I'm proud of you twilight." twilight looked up and kneeled out of respect and as a way of saying “thank you”. The princess then addressed both twilight and the audience "ponies of equestria, today we have amongst us a mare who is both a faithful friend and student. But today she will be recognized as something very few unicorns have the right to call theirs, today she is a master magician. I am proud to call this mare my student and hope her journey of magic does not stop here, as one of equestria’s guardians she is now my top pony to contact when equestria is in distress and I trust that whatever action she decides to take will lead to a victory for all of equestria. Twilight sparkle please rise."

Twilight then rose but had her head still bowed "you may raise your head as well, for today, you are my equal, you need not bow to me any more my student." twilight then raised her head and was ready to receive her honor. A small smile could be seen on princess celestia as she proceeded to do a knight’s honor with her horn "twilight sparkle, I hereby dub thee the highest honor a unicorn in the study of magic can receive, you may now look upon your ponies as a master magician. Gaze upon your citizen’s twilight sparkle." she then turned around and saw a sea of ponies of various colors all looking in awe at their guardian. Everypony then bowed, all except pinkie who could be seen in the back jumping in the air and shouting "WOO! GO TWILIGHT, YEAHH!" everypony then looked at the pink earth pony who had a nervous grin on her face and quickly proceeded to bow. Twilight and princess celestia both shook their heads and chuckled "typical pinkie."

Twilight then turned around and looked at the princess, celestia raised her hoof and addressed the audience "citizens of equestria, I give you our most trusted and most honorable guardian." everypony then proceeded to cheer and celebrate the graduation of their now higher ranked guardian of equestria. The band proceeded to play a royal Canterlot melody, it was a melody that was reserved specifically for the princess herself, but today another pony of royalty was among them. Twilight proceeded out of the hall through the giant doors that acted as a gate way to the main hallway. She looked up to the sky and whispered to herself "I hope you saw that mom and dad."

The time for the party eventually came and twilight and all of her friends were seated at a special table high above the ballroom. The party was held in the same place as the grand galloping gala, twilight was still trying to grasp the concept that she received an honor that only few unicorns ever received and was beginning to consider the political power that came with it. She looked over at the ponies on the dance floor who were waltzing, this type of party wasn't pinkie’s style but she wanted twilight to have a special party and not something regular. Twilight was looking over at pinkie who was seated next to rainbow dash, the two were talking and twilight didn't say anything because she didn't want to interrupt the two. She looked around and now noticed all her friends; even though they weren't talking directly to twilight she could tell they were having a good time. She got up and said "excuse me girls, I gotta talk to princess about something." rarity then looked back and said "okay dear, be sure to hurry back. We're not the guest of honor here." Twilight nodded and proceeded to the princess’s corridor.

The hallway was empty and dark, but a small light could be seen at the end of the hallway and twilight walked towards it. She got to the entrance of the room and saw princess celestia reading a book in her bed. The princess then looked up and noticed her student standing in the doorway "Twilight!? What is it my student? Why aren’t you at your party?" Twilight bit her lip nervously "well princess, you see, this honor I received, I've been thinking about it and I was just wondering. Now that I am, politically, your equal I was just thinking that now to at least know more about the sacred library..." now nopony but princess celestia knew what contents were held in the sacred library and now that twilight was politically the same as the princess she figured that she should, at least, be permitted to know what the library holds. Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow as she said "Twilight, you know that library is off limits, even I am not allowed to go in unless there is an emergency. I realize your curiosity but I must command you to leave it aside as it will only corrupt you. It is said that, that library is cursed and even a thought about reading and learning from those forbidden books causes some kind of corruption from within to overtake you, it has entranced some of my guards and I had to have them executed as they were getting too anxious for their own good, so for your own safety my student, I must say no and remove the thought from your psyche as I don't take to take any chances that could potentially endanger both you equestria. So I'll just go ahead and tap into your mind-" Twilight then jumped back "NO! I'll be fine, I'm not a filly anymore princess, I was just inquiring about my royal duties and rights is all. The sacred library was just one of the things that happened to come to mind, that is it."

Twilight had a serious look on her face as well the princess. They stood there staring at each other for quite a long time until the princess sighed and said "okay Twilight, you haven't let me down yet so I trust that this was just a simple inquiry and nothing more." Twilight nodded and said "thank you princess, I promise it was nothing more." Celestia immediately responded "I certainly hope not. Now go and enjoy your special night." Twilight smiled and exited the door, still a bit confused at celestia's decision. The night went on and twilight socialized and caught up with her friends, it had been quite some time since they all had the time to spend time with one another and twilight, though she was still a bit upset, enjoyed the company of her friends and let the night continue without a care in the world.

The party ended and twilight teleported back to her house in ponyville. She was just about to open the door when suddenly a high pitched screeching penetrated her ears, making her shut her ear lobes with her hooves in an attempt to deafen the unknown sound. It didn't do much good as it seemed to come in her ears more easily despite having her hooves cover them, she screamed in pain and spike ran over to check on her friend. "TWILIGHT WHAT'S WRONG!?" just as spike said that, the screeching went away.

Twilight was on the ground lying on her side, she was disoriented by the sound and her vision was a bit blurry but she could tell spike was looking at her. She stumbled a bit as she got up "spike I...I don't know what just happened, there was this...screeching didn’t you hear it? It was so loud, almost …deafening." spike tilted his head to the side as he replied "screeching? No I didn't hear anything that sounded like that, I just heard you screaming and I came to check on yo-Twilight your ears! They're bleeding!" just then twilight touched her ears lightly and a large amount Crimson liquid could be seen on the end of her hoof.

She looked at the blood in horror, she had never shed this much blood before and she didn't like how it just appeared all of a sudden. She dashed inside and looked in a mirror, she saw herself with blood seeping out of her ears and large streams down the side of her face. She grabbed a towel and stuffed both ears in order to stop the bleeding. "Spike I'm going to bed, goodnight." Spike looked at Twilight nervously "um y-yeah, goodnight Twilight. Congratulations for your achievement." the last words fell on deaf ears as the tissues and the profuse amounts of blood clogged twilight's ears, preventing any type of speech to register to her. She shut off the light, got into bed and fell asleep.

"Twiiiiiiiilighiiiiiiiiiit" a playful voice called out to her in the darkness. Twilight opened one of her eyes and saw that she was no longer in her room but in nothing but pitch black, she couldn't even see what it was that she was standing on. For all she knew she could be falling and not even know it. She looked around and called out "hello? Is anypony there? Where am I? hello-..." just then Twilight noticed a figure of some sorts standing in front of her. It looked to be an aura of some kind that looked like the silhouette of a pony. Twilight wasn't sure if it was friendly or not but she decided to speak to it anyway "w-who are you." the mysterious aura just stood there and chuckled "oh I go by many names, god, the gatekeeper, I'm everything and nothing, I'm even YOU and YOU are a part of me." twilight looked confused "what do you mean you're me? I'm mean, there is no pony else like me, It’s impossible." The mysterious pony only laughed and said "oh child, you simply DO NOT know the powers and knowledge of the universe. It's a shame that princess celestia wouldn't let you into the sacred library. Yes that’s right, I know what secrets the sacred library contains and I explain a little to you now if you would care to learn, however it DOES come with a price. Do you accept twilight? I obviously know you, we're both logical ponies here so it only seems logical that if I can boast about knowing you and back up that claim by giving you knowledge about yourself that you, yourself haven’t told others, then it only seems logical that I would know what I'm talking about when I say “I know everything”, even what is stored in the sacred library. So Twilight Sparkle, do we have a deal?" twilight stared hard at this thing that was before her and went into thought it does seem like it knows me, how else would he know something that I have yet to tell anypony else?, just as Twilight finished that very last word in her mind, the creature spoke "Isn’t that what I JUST said? Oh, forgot to mention, I can read your mind too."

Twilight’s mouth was now open in amazement at what this creature was doing. She had to know more, she had to. "So you're saying you can get me into the sacred library? It seems as though you know what you're doing so, why not?" the creature then vanished and teleported right next to twilight, once it formed next to Twilight and she jumped back in surprise. "eeeeeexcelleeent. We shall leave at once." just then twilight sat up and noticed she was back in her old room, she sighed and hung her head in disappointment "and to think I was talking to my own imagination, wow Twilight you are so gullible." "Indeed you are but we'll get to that later, now let's go get you into that library." Twilight whipped around to see the creature standing in her living room, she had no time to react as a swirling black mist surrounded the room and before twilight could do anything the mist swallowed her and she was in the hallway of canterlot castle.

Twilight looked around and saw the long dark hallway, she looked for the creature but saw nothing "you know the way, get on with it then.” Twilight was surprised by the sudden voice but also wasn't, as she was kind of used to this thing just popping out at random. She then proceeded to the entrance of the sacred library, they stopped at the giant door that was riddled with chains and locks all made of a very expensive and tough metal. Twilight gazed at this for a bit before she asked "okay, now what?" the creature formed next to her and said "Now this is where you pay your price, in order for me to open this door I need to know if you are willing to obey a simple request when we enter." twilight looked at the creature and replied "okay, what is it that you want exactly?" the creature laughed a devious laugh and said "when we enter, before we look at any other book in the library, I want you to read a specific book first. If you accept, I need this to be bound in blood. If not, I teleport you home and leave. So Twilight, what do you say?" Twilight pondered for a moment but she figured that if this thing had gotten her this far and it was only asking for Twilight to read a book that she never read, then it must be telling the truth "alright I accept."

The creature chuckled and said "excellent, now for your blood sample" an aura the shape of a quill formed and sunk itself into twilight, the tip filling up with Twilight's blood to be used as ink, before twilight could scream an aura formed around Twilight's mouth, preventing any type of sound from escaping twilight's mouth. The quill floated to a piece of blank piece of paper and a signature was written in blood. "Now, we enter." The creature said before the locks clinked and clanked and fell to the floor below, it was loud and caused some of the royal guards to come check out what was happening, two guards could be seen at the end of the hallway, they were approaching fast "you there, HALT!" said the charging guard to the left.
Twilight’s heart began to pound faster and faster, she didn't know what to do, she wanted to run but she couldn't, she was simply too afraid. She looked to her side and saw that the creature had left, the guards had reached twilight and with confused looks on their faces they began to talk "Twilight? W-what in equestria are you doing? You know the sacred library is off limits." Just then the creature formed behind the guards, Twilight wanted to warn the guards and was just about to when the aura that surrounded the creature dissolved into one of the guards noses. The guard screamed his eyes turned blood shot and then pitch black. The other guard only had time to look at his friend before being stabbed in the neck by the iron that embroidered the soldier’s wings. The guard who wasn’t possessed fell to the marble floor and bled to death, the creature dissolved the same way it came into the guard, and once it exited the guard fell to the floor as well. Twilight had a hoof placed to her mouth; she looked at the horrible sight before backing up into the stairs of the sacred library. “Come child, you made a commitment now it’s time to fulfill it.”

The stairway was a long and winding one, Twilight couldn’t believe that all the knowledge of this universe and the ones beyond was about to be exposed to her. She finally got to the bottom of the staircase before staring in awe of the vast library. It was enormous, there were floors dedicated to specific universes, Twilight’s attention was caught when she saw the word “the multiverse theory” on one of the available sections to read. The creature then reappeared next to her. “Ah, you have an eye for good books indeed; the book I require you to read is in that very section.” Twilight nodded and proceeded to the unknown section. It was narrow and towers of books could be seen around her. Twilight noticed a light at the end of the section, in that light shone a book on a wooden podium that was already open. Twilight had a feeling that this was the book so she proceeded to the book and looked at the specific page. “Good, this I want you to read for me, now let’s not waste anymore time, after all, there is a galaxy worth of information you want to learn about, is there not?” Twilight looked upon page and began to read “For it is written; to anything that sins and has ears let it be known that the most deadly amongst them are lust, envy, greed, wrath, pride, gluttony, and sloth, for these sins, simple but dangerous, have the power to consume anything and cause unspeakable evil anywhere, this is the law of the universe and those beyond. There are some things that even the lord mighty god cannot control.” As soon as twilight finished her sentence a dark aura swirled around the podium where she was standing, the smoke was thick and the wind was terribly violent. There was laughter amongst the strong wind, a voice that sounded like twilight herself. Just then six figures that each had a different color of aura formed in a line around twilight, the auras then took the shape of twilight’s friends, they looked exactly like them. Twilight was begging to wonder if it was them, but then she noticed that they each had different cutie marks, they looked to be a glyph of some sorts. These replicas all had black and red eyes and their front teeth were elongated like that of a beast or a dog. The replica twilight slowly stepped forward and said “thank you my dear for finally freeing us from that awful prison, this is where we, unfortunately, have to part ways.”

Chapter 2: The trials #1 (Twilight's Trial)

Chapter 2: the trials #1 (Twilight's trial)

(inspired by "the dark halls of pinkie" by yodudez567)

"W-what do you mean?" Twilight asked as she backed up in fear of the beings that stood before her.

The replica Twilight chuckled "Oh Twilight, don't you remember what I told you when you and I first met? I said that I go by many names and that I'm even you, but not necessarily. You see my dear, if you hadn't had a curiosity for the library; I wouldn't exist. I am...your demon counter-part, gluttony. I am unending hunger, the desire to have a hunger of whatever sorts quenched but beyond the point of satisfaction. I want more than just "enough" and it appears you do too."

Twilight's eyes went wide "No, that's impossible. How? I'm nothing like you."

"Is that so? Well then why is it that after your accomplishment, you desired to know even more? I'll tell you why, it's because you knew there had to be more. You wanted more and more, and your demon, that's me, was released. I was able to tempt and persuade you here when your mind was at it's most weakest. Hmph you mortal ponies are quite the inferior race, oh so gullible and easy to trick. I honestly don't like being your demon as I thought you above all ponies would be the hardest to control. But I was proven wrong and now you've let us free, but we can't have you running off can we? I think it's time for you to enter the place where ponies go if they fail in this life."

"Where’s that?" Twilight nervously asked, not actually wanting an answer. She stepped a few feet backwards not wanting to find out where it was that this demon was talking about.

"Oh I'm sure you know where it is they go. It's funny how you never believed in religion as I can tell you hell and demons are very much real, you're just about to be a witness. May Nightmare have mercy on your soul."

Twilight couldn’t take it anymore; she dashed for the exit but was stopped by the demon counterpart of rainbow dash. It flew in front of her, blocking her exit. She turned back and tried to run another way but when she did the demon counterpart of Fluttershy flew in blocking her exit from that side as well. Both of the counter-parts had devious smiles on their faces as they crept closer to Twilight.

"Get away from me, GET AWAY!" Twilight then emitted an aura from her horn to summon a spell, but before she did the demon counter part of rainbow dash has bucked her, sending her flying right back in front of her demon counterpart.

"HA! Did ya see that, I did that, me. The one and only rainbow dash. I bet you none of you could do that."

"Pride! Enough, sometimes I swear, I don’t even know why Nightmare chose you. And you are far from Rainbow dash you mindless waste of flesh!" Twilight's counterpart said to the counterpart of rainbow dash before looking back down at Twilight. A dark aura emitted from the counterpart's horn and a black mist encircled Twilight as she tried to move but couldn't because of her injury. The black mist swirled around her and the last thing she saw were the twisted smiles across the faces of her friend’s counter parts looking down at her, laughing at Twilight's confusion. Twilight couldn't see anything but black now and the darkness finally swallowed her.

Twilight eventually woke up to see that she was actually outside of the castle she entered, the sky looked the same way it did everything looked the same actually, she scanned everything she could to see if anything was out of the ordinary. Just then she realized, nopony was around and she was alone. Just then a voice whispered in her ear as though it were right there.

"Face your demon." the voice sent a chill down Twilight's back and Twilight called back out

"what, who are you? Hello?"

Twilight knew what it had said; she just wasn't entirely sure what it meant. She was about to transport to her house when a sudden force launched her violently and made her hit the brick wall hard with a loud smack. Twilight yelped in pain, she was disoriented but she was able to make out a black figure that approached her, she immediately knew who it was and almost fainted in her realization. It was nightmare moon, standing right before twilight and smile spread across her face

"Welcome to my domain Twilight Sparkle. Now to repay you for what you did to me so many years ago, I am going to have some fun with you and make sure that it will be long and delightful, for me of course."
Nightmare laughed before the scenery dissolved and faded into a black along with Nightmare herself, her laugh echoing in the back of Twilight's mind as this happened.

The scenery then changed into a long dark hallway, doors lining in rows. Where am I? Twilight thought to herself before she was interrupted by the sound of nightmare’s laughter coming from the end of the long hallway.

“I thought I had already told you, you’re in my domain. Some call it hell but to me, that would imply that there is suffering. Though that is true for the most part, I’m not the one suffering; I enjoy your pain hahahahahaaa.”

Twilight didn’t know what to do, she felt cornered like there was no other way out but to go and found out what was behind these mysterious doors. She tried to back up but when she did a pony that appeared to have lost its eyes screamed at her in a demonic howl, Twilight screamed and ran straight into the darkness with the creature following behind her. She quickly dashed into a nearby door and took refuge in the small room.

Once inside, she caught her breath and surveyed the area around her. It seemed familiar; she then realized where she was. It was the room of her old home. An image much like that of a projection screen appeared on the wall in front of her. It displayed Twilight as a young filly coming back home from school, she seemed to be upset about something

“You got a B on your magic test!? This is unacceptable and you know that, I knew that letting your mother convince me to let you spend time with your friends was a bad idea. You will NOT be seeing those so called “friends” of yours anymore.” The projection then went black and only the audio could be heard

“No dad, please...AGH! IM SORRY I DIDN’T MEA-STOP! PLEASE! NOOOO! STOP! MOMMY HELP!” Twilight had tears coming to her eyes, she remembered this of her fillyhood, this was the reason she strived for excellence. She was terrified of what her father would do if he found out that she was anything but the best. Another image appeared in front of her, it was during her early days in the princess’s magic school. It was also the day she was scheduled to her new subject she had to study, friendship. She then remembered the reason she was so reluctant to study this topic; even though her dad was gone at the time, she felt a burn in her soul every time she heard the word “friendship”. She was scared to make friends as she didn’t want her father to cause her anymore pain from wherever he was.

Twilight was now sobbing “Stop, please. I get it, leave me ALONE!” The projection then stopped and laughter echoed out from the room.

“Aww what’s the matter Twilight? Not having fun? Good.” The scenery dissolved again, and now she was trapped in a metal cage in what appeared to be a lair of some sorts. The walls were lined with rotted ponies, the smell of dead flesh invaded Twilight’s nostrils and she almost vomited from the horrible smell.

“Welcome Twilight, This is where you’ll be staying for the time being. But don’t worry you’ll have some company.” As Nightmare said this, a rotted pony corpse fell in front of Twilight with a loud *thud* Twilight screamed in horror and surprise. Its eyes were rolled over, its organs were rotted along with its skin, and some bone could be seen along with dried blood. Twilight looked at the pony closer and when she realized who it was, she let out a wail in misery. It was her mother.

“I wonder how long you can go without food.” This was the last thing nightmare said before laughing and leaving once more.

*author's note: Sorry it took so long guys I honestly didnt think this story would be that popular, well what I mean to say is; I didnt think anyone would like it, PERIOD!

Chapter 3: The trials #2 (Rainbow Dash Vs. Pride)

Chapter 3 the trials: (rainbow dash vs. pride)

The night was quiet, everypony was asleep. Rainbow Dash was sound asleep in her cloudhome. She rolled over in her bed, the movement made her wake up. She yawned and slowly opened her eyes, her eyes went wide at what she saw, it was herself but with fangs and blacked out eyes. It was perched on her bed top staring at her, fangs elongated with an evil sneer across its face.

Rainbow screamed and ran to a corner of her room.

“What in the name of celestia are you?” Rainbow nervously asked, trembling in fear hoping that whatever she was seeing was only a figment of her imagination.

“Well my demon name is Pride, but you can call me Rainbow Dash because I’m going to take your life in ten seconds flat.” The counterpart then laughed at its own joke. And Rainbow wasn’t sure what she was more concerned at, the fact that there was a demon in her room threatening to kill her, or that this creature looked and sounded exactly like her.

“You look nervous, that’ll make this fun. Tell ya what, I’ll give you a head start before I send you with Twilight, she’ll be so happy to see somepony else down there.”

“WHAT DID YOU DO WITH TWILIGHT!?” Rainbow viciously asked, she was done with this thing’s games and nonchalant attitude, she had an angry look on her face and the demon was only smiling. Rainbow screamed and tackled the counterpart, pinning it to the cloud floor of her home.

“I said what did you do with Twilight!?” Rainbow dash said glaring deep within the demon’s eyes, the same sneer still plastered on its face. The counter-part laughed before using its hind legs to buck rainbow upwards, making Rainbow hit the ceiling with a loud *smack, she then came back down and as she did the counterpart saw where she was going to land and reared its hind legs before hitting rainbow again, this time in the side of her stomach and she was sent to the wall in front of her.

Rainbow coughed blood as she struggled to get back up. “How the hell can you be me?” Rainbow asked in hopes of buying herself some time to recover. She clenched her stomach as a sudden surge of pain made her made vomit some more blood.

The counterpart laughed again “Oh as far as I’m concerned I am you, and you’re just something that wants to be me when in reality I’m far better than you. So since we can’t have two of us I’ll have to either kill you or send you to hell. I haven’t gotten to kill anything in a long while so I’m hoping to be able to do that, it doesn’t look like you’re going to last much longer anyway. That’s a shame, and here I actually thought my double might actually be stronger than me but it turns out two bucks to the chest are what kills you.”

“Shut up!” Rainbow dash yelled before she shot through the window of her room, shattering the glass and dashing out in a burst of speed. Some glass had cut her on her way out and a few shards were plunged around her body, most of them being her flank. Luckily none of the shards had hit her wings and she was able to fly alright. She didn’t know where to go, she just knew she had to get away from whatever it was that was chasing her.

As she was flying, the force of the wind on her fresh cuts stung and her whole body was surging with pain, she was getting dizzy at the profuse amounts of blood she was losing. She continued to fly when she heard a voice speak to her as if it were right next to her “Face your demon.”

Rainbow dash looked around and let out a “Huh?” before seeing Pride fly next to her, her wings weren’t that of a Pegasus, they were that of a bat. Rainbow looked at the creature in confusion. But she didn’t have much time to as Pride then spread her wings upward causing her to reduce speed drastically. She was now behind Rainbow and she didn’t like it, she looked behind her to see a vortex of swirling black clouds spinning clockwise. Rainbow dash’s eyes went wide in horror and she disregarded how much pain she was in and did her best to increase her speed.

Rainbow dash was just to escape the vortex’s force that was pulling her back until Pride hovered right in front her, scaring Rainbow and she stumbled back into the darkness. Rainbow was flailing around helplessly until the blood she lost finally got the best of her and she fainted.

Rainbow dash woke up and noticed that her cuts were gone along with the pain she was feeling earlier. “Where am I?” Rainbow asked to herself surveying the area around her. It was cloudsdale except nopony but her was there. She hated being alone, and cloudsdale wasn’t exactly the most relaxing place to be for Rainbow, even if it was daytime. She looked around and saw all the buildings and coliseums that decorated the streets of Cloudsdale.

“Nice bit of scenery huh?” A familiar voice called from behind her. Rainbow whipped around to see Pride standing behind her.

“Where are we? And why isn’t anypony but you and me here?” Rainbow asked. She knew she couldn’t be anywhere but someplace else, things just didn’t feel like Cloudsdale, or equestria for that matter, to Rainbow Dash.

“Pretty much you’re in hell and since there can be only one of us in both of our dimensions I’m afraid you’re gonna have to kill me here if you want to live. You see, your real body is already dead and the body you’re seeing with right now is your subconscious. This is somewhat like a second chance to ponies that have done wrong, but usually they never survive and since it was so easy to kill you on earth, I imagine it won’t be too difficult to seal the deal here. But the thing is, I don’t know what challenges are going to be placed for you and me, the trials are all based off of your life so for your sake I hope your life wasn’t tragic. Good luck, you’re gonna need it.”

“Hey one last thing, why are you being somewhat nice to me all of a sudden?” Rainbow asked, wanting to know more about this creature.

The counterpart looked away and said “It’s because deep down I used to actually be nice in a past life, my other body, the one who sent you here or your demon, is harboring me. A lost spirit wanting to be free again. But don’t think that just cause I’m nice here doesn’t mean I’m not gonna fight to get out of here, I’ve lived here in misery for 3 centuries and I’m not about to lose my chance to escape.”

This was the last thing Pride said before vanishing along with the scenery around Rainbow dash.

Authors note: next chapter * Chapter 4: the trials (Rainbow Dash Vs. Pride) What awoke her Pride.

Chapter 4: The trials (Rainbow Dash Vs. Pride) what awoke her pride.

Chapter 4: The trials (Rainbow Dash vs. Pride) what awoke her pride.

As Pride was done talking the scenery dissolved along with pride, the last thing Rainbow saw were her dark ominous eyes. There was something about them that just didn’t sit right with her, she just didn’t know what. The scenery then changed into what looked to be like cloudsdale again, only this time she was at her old flight training school.

Hey I know this place Rainbow thought to herself as she slowly walked toward the coliseum entrance, as she did she heard what sounded to be like the laughter of a filly behind her. She turned around to see that it was, in fact, herself as a filly trotting happily along the clouds, she remembered how thankfull she was that she was a pegasi, the clouds had always had always had a special place in her heart when she was a filly, she didn’t exactly remember for what reason she enjoyed them so much she just remembered that playing with them and feeling their soft fluffy structure beneath her hooves always made her smile not matter what mood she was in. Rainbow couldn’t help but smile at the nostalgia she was feeling. Just then a voice rang out from behind the filly

“RAINBOW DASH, front and center! what are you doing playing in the colt damn clouds for, you are pathetic you know that? You’re lucky your father has a special place in this school, otherwise we’d kick ya out in a heartbeat.” The little blue filly hung her head and proceeded to walk towards where the voice came from; as she did she slowly disappeared into thin air.

"I wonder what that was all about" Rainbow said to herself, still standing near the entrance of the junior speedster’s academy. Just then another memory seemed to project in front of her again, it was a memory of her old home in cloudsdale, a big blue stallion with a red mane was seen sitting, looking out the front window of their cloud home.

“ook-addy-I-ade-oo-uhmthing!” The filly Rainbow said the best she could while holding a hoof drawn picture of her and her father holding hooves and smiling. The father didn’t look back as he replied

“If you didn’t get a faster lap time or manage to discover a new maneuver in your flight training, I don’t want to see or hear it Rainbow Dash.”

“But…Daddy, look at the pretty colors.” The filly Rainbow said, her eyes lighting up, hoping her father would be just as ecstatic as she was at her picture.

“No buts Rainbow Dash, you either at least try to honor our family’s name or I disregard you as my daughter. Simple as that, you’re lucky I’m in a good mood otherwise I’d burn that picture you made and make you go fly laps around cloudsdale again.”

“Daddy p-please, I really want you to see my picture…It’s really good, really I promise. Please won’t you at least look at it?”

“This better be good Rainbow dash.” The father then swiped the picture from Rainbow, tearing the top and looked intensely at it.

Rainbow bit her lip and dug her hoof nervously in the cloud floor, wondering if her father liked it or not and why he seemed so upset. Her father hung his head and he began to tremble, he crumpled the paper and threw it into the fire place to his left, Rainbow stared at this for a moment in disbelief, tears were welling up in her eyes as she saw the happy pair of ponies that was drawn on the paper crumple into black. She looked back at her father and was about to say something until her father spoke first.

“That was the most PATHETIC picture I have ever had to lay my eyes on, I don’t know where you get off thinking that you can just disgrace our family’s bloodline by suddenly wanting to draw these pieces of trash you call “art”. Go fly laps around cloudsdale…till you puke, and I don’t want coming back here until you do.”

“B-but…Daddy”

“GET OUT NOW RAINBOW DASH!”

Rainbow looked away, she remembered that day and she remembered how many times she flew around cloudsdale till she puked, it was in the middle of the night when she had succesfully fulfilled her father’s orders. She remembered how scared she was flying at night with nopony but herself to look out for her.

Tears began to escape Rainbow yet again until she looked back and noticed that the scenery had changed again, it was the junior speedsters academy again. Rainbow was a little bit older this time, everypony was seen having fun with their parents, all except Rainbow that is. She was seen standing upright and firm next to her father.

“Now do you remember what we talked about?” Rainbow’s father asked leaning next to his daughter.

“Yes father, it’s all about making yourself more aerodynamic.”

“That’s my girl, now get out there and show these amateurs what you’re made of.”

Rainbow nodded in affirmation and preceded to the starting line, the race fast forwarded when she was at the neck of the finish line, she was neck and neck with another Pegasus. The Pegasus was smiling and Rainbow had a dark expression on her face, she nudged the Pegasus sending him off balance and letting Rainbow successfully cross the finish line, little did she know at the time that she actually sent the Pegasus crashing into a nearby coliseum, causing massive head trauma.

Rainbow saw this and almost dropped her jaw, she didn’t realize until now that she had injured that poor Pegasus at an event that was only for fun. She felt terrible but she continued watching the scene before. She saw herself standing next to her father smiling, and for the first time in a long while, her father was seen smiling too.

“I’m proud of you Rainbow Dash; you made all of us proud.”

“Y-you really mean that?” Rainbow said looking up at her father in disbelief at what he had said, her eyes began to light up and some tears were coming too.

“Yes my prodigy, you made me and your family proud.”

The scene then ended and Rainbow Dash reflected on what had happened, she remembered how happy she was that her father actually acknowledged something good she did. But she hated herself for not realizing at the time she may have caused a pegasi to never fly again because of it. It was her pride that blinded her good sportsman ship.

“Th-this is where my demon came from didn’t it?” Rainbow asked to herself. Just as she did the black she was in began to spew a dancing flame, the flames then arranged themselves in front of her, spelling the word “correct”. Rainbow Dash gasped as she stepped back looking at the odd sight that was before her.

Rainbow then starred at the flames for a moment, trying to think of something else to ask it hopefully receiving a response as well. She placed a hoof to her chin and began pondering all the possible questions she could ask. Finally, a question came to mind and she spoke up.

“Is this the end of my trial?”

The flames circled around and danced before spelling “Do you think you are ready?”

Rainbow Dash nodded and said “Yes, I am.”

The flames then proceeded to ask Rainbow Dash a question “What have you learned?”

Rainbow pondered this for a moment but replied the best she could “Well, this has all been really confusing to me, but since my demon is pride I think this whole thing has been a reflection of where it came from, like how my pride blinds me from being the pony I should. I never realized how corrupt I became until you showed me. Also, I think that my demon also somehow chose me as I am the element of loyalty and she is pride. The two seem to be opposite and I think that’s why all of this was set up, I think this was set up as a warning that my element could be corrupted if I let my pride get the best of me.”

The flames danced for a moment and Rainbow began to think that she had failed when just then she saw what looked to be like a door, opening. Rainbow Dash looked at this and noticed that light was piercing out from behind the door, she squinted a bit as she was still not used to the bright light. She looked to side and noticed that the flames spelled the word “proceed”. Rainbow nodded and went into the bright hallway ahead of her.

*end of Rainbow’s trial. Next chapter, chapter 5 Fluttershy’s trial (fluttershy. vs. Wrath)