Book of Moon

Twilight lay crying on the floor of Voice's hall.

Voice prodded her side.

"What is the matter with you? It was but a memory."

"But it felt so real," said Twilight. "And that alicorn...He looked just like me."

Voice scoffed.

"Do not remind me. Tolerating your presence is hard enough already. I cannot believe I ever looked up to him."

Twilight's gradually rose to her haunches with a whirling head.

"Are you saying that it's him? He's what's putting Equestria in danger?"

Voice stared blankly at the Earth as it drifted above the horizon.

"The matter is complicated, child. Jove is history, but what he strived for is still in the making. Beyond that, I must not tell."

Twilight breathed slowly and tried to find her balance.

"I don't want to be here. Let me out."

Voice abandoned her meditation and turned to face Twilight.

"No. You leave when I say you may leave. You will continue to read Luna's memories and, when you are finished, you will be trained."

Twilight's head lolled back and forth.

"I can't go on. I think I'm going to be sick. Let me go."

Voice flew to her throne and sat pouting.

"It would seem that we are at an impasse. But in here, time is on my side. You will learn, child, whether you choose to or not."

Voice twirled her mane and looked out at the stars.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Princess Luna held her eye to her sister's telescope. She looked out at the expanse of Canterlot from the astronomy tower. With the tremendous resolving power of Tia's telescope, Luna could see all the way to Ponyville.

Mothers were tucking their children into bed, couples shared tender moments, and the ponies of downtown Manehatten were so full of mirth that Luna could almost hear the music they danced to.

The night was pleasant, but also innocuous. Luna found her gaze drifting towards the stars, and away from her duty.

Sometimes, she would look at the Moon. Her lens was drawn to the vast Lunar mare known as the Oceanus Procellarum. She prayed for some kind of revelation to strike her memory, but time and again, the same meaningless craters confounded her search.

Luna sighed. She again put her eye to the lens and searched out a long slithering canyon. It sat on a raised plateau in the heart of the Procellarum.

Nothing.

A soft cawing called from the dark.

The massive eye of a raven eclipsed the Moon. Luna took her eye from the telescope to find it's owner pecking at the objective lens, glossy feathers tinged purple in the pale moonlight.

"Greetings, Yata. You're looking lively. I assume the evening's foray went well?"

Yatagarasu beat his wings. He hopped onto Luna's horn and used it as a perch.

"The fun has been doubled," quoth the raven.

Luna chuckled.

"Sorry Yata, I cannot stop to play with you right now. Perhaps you should  visit Philomena? She hates being stuck in her cage alone."

Yata ruffled his neck feathers.

"Forgive me If I withhold my enthusiasm."

Luna held out her foreleg, and Yata obediently hopped down onto it.

Luna stroked Yata's feathers.

"I had a feeling you would say that."

A titanic cry reverberated far and wide from the city below.

Yata screeched and disappeared into the night sky.

Luna frowned. She swivelled the telescope about to view the source of the upheaval. The University of Magic came into focus.

A nightmare whispered tragedy into Luna's ear.

"Twilight."

Luna leapt into the night and shot off to help her friend.

Spike's growling could be heard from high above. His claws dug a trench as he paced in front of Twilight's tower. The ground was

scorched and he angrily loosed torrents of flame.

Luna hovered in front of him.

"Spike? What is the matter with you?"

Spike continued to roar and thrash about.

"Spike, tell me what's happened."

Luna reached out to Spike with her mind.

Spike, please, you must listen to me, where is Twilight? thought Luna.

A snarl rattled in Spike's throat, but he stopped pacing. The touch of Luna's mind made the darkness around him soften into a quilt of dreams. They embraced Spike and beckoned him into soothing sleep.

Spike's ears drooped, and he loosed a long shuddering yawn.

I don't know, thought Spike. A dragon came out of this talking book somehow and kidnapped Twilight. There was nothing I could do. I'm so worried about her?

Luna nodded her thanks and immediately made for Twilight's office.

Professor Tephra and a contingent of guards were all huddled about Twilight's desk.

Lazuli had arrived from her room inside a neighbouring tower. (One Twilight had lent her.) She and Magna were in the workshop at the bottom of the stairs.

Lazuli worked on the wires and circuits connected to the orb from her jetpack's power supply. Behind her was a large cannon-shaped device, with many pipes, valves and gauges.

"It's a toughie, no doubt about it," said Lazuli. "My diffusion wave machine wasn't strong enough to break apart the book's enchantments, and Professor Tephra hasn't seen anything like it either."

Magna waited restlessly.

"You don't sound very worried."

Lazuli giggled.

"Of course not. Professor Twilight is really smart. She's probably busting herself out right now."

Magna stamped his hoof.

"We can't count on that. If she doesn't get out, I'll have to explain all this to Celestia."

Lazuli looked up from her project and scratched behind her ear.

"I still don't get it. Why do you hate the Princess so much?"

Magna had an urge to spit.

"I'd rather not talk about her. She's all anypony talked about in Clipstow, and here it's just the same: they still won't shut up about her. Only now it's worse. She's deluded everypony into thinking she's this caring, motherly-type figure. It really creeps me out. How could Fleetfoot, the Queen of Speed; the fastest flier in all of Equestria for centauries; the only daughter of Clipstow to be born a pegasus,  how could she want to live here?"

Magna turned towards the office and shook his head.

"I tell you, the minute this town looks to ‘Trollestia’ for help she'll..."

Magna's pupils dilated. His mouth hung open.

"She'll do what?" asked Lazuli.

Magna stuttered something.

Lazuli set down her work and walked over to Magna. He was transfixed on something.

Lazuli waved her hoof in front of Magna's eyes. He didn't even blink. Lazuli followed Magna's gaze to the object of his distraction.

Magna roasted were he stood and his face swelled with colour.

Time crawled. A striking beauty graced the office. Her firm, sinuous, legs went on forever. Her mane was a map of the universe. And eyes that were as deep and green as the sea.

While she was in the room, Magna could not be safe. He knew that those eyes alone could kill him. Even so, It was a fate that he would embrace whole heartedly if it meant they would be looking his way.

Magna sighed in the midst of paradise.

"Blimey. Who is she? Who is that gorgeous Amazonian beauty?"

Lazuli puffed her cheeks out. She grabbed Magna by the ear and tore his groping eyes away from Luna.

"That's Princess Luna: Princess Celestia's sister. You don't recognise her?"

Paradise went up in flames. Something between Magna's legs snapped in two. Magna languished as his only love was spawned from his only hate.

"Celestia's Sister?"

Magna  looked at Luna again.

"No pony ever told me she had a sister..." Magna tried to shake away his attraction. "If that's true, I'm sure she's pure evil — a perfectly diabolical sort of plot." Magna slapped himself. " — I mean pony — a perfectly sexy sort of pony."

Magna groaned and tousled his mane in frustration.

Lazuli sighed. Her eyes stung.

At first she tried to hide her sadness. Magna wasn't even looking at her. Lazuli slumped down next to her machine. She fiddled with her tools for a minute, but found herself unable to continue working.

"Oh wow, you really like her, don't you?"

Magna's mane stood on end.

"What? No I don't. I could never love somepony like her. Why she's a gutless stuck-up — just like her sister."

Luna's figure tugged at Magna's eyes.

"At least, I hope she's just like her sister..."

Lazuli huffed and feigned disinterest.

"Well you should stop staring at her butt like that. She's very temperamental. You'll get yourself banished to the moon."

Magna wasn't listening. He was already on another world, and drooling profusely.

A variety of crystals had been piled onto the desk. Tephra examined the book  through a monocle while the others waited for his diagnosis.

The guards bowed to Luna as she entered the office.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked.

Magna and Lazuli walked up the stairs to meet her.

Magna's hooves were itching. He was about to stutter out a response to Luna's question, but Lazuli clamped her hooves over his mouth.

"It's the Professor, Princess — she's gone."

"Because of some strange dragon?" asked Luna.

Lazuli nodded.

"That's right. We don't know what to do."

Luna's voice made Tephra look up. He smiled.

"Ah, Princess Luna. Good evening. As Lazuli says, Princess Twilight is in grave peril. We're trying everything."

Luna pouted.

"There must be some way of helping her."

Tehpra closed the book and shook his head.

"It's no use I'm afraid. I'm picking up Twilight's arcane influence, so I can verify Magna's extraordinary claims, but the artefact refuses to respond to any of my incantations. The best we can do is wait, and hope that it sees fit to release Professor Twilight in its own time."

"I see..." said Luna.

Luna rubbed her foreleg.

"There is something I must confess. I gave Twilight that book. She only wanted to help, and now she's trapped."

Luna stared into the book's cover. Nightmare Moon stared back.

"I must bear the fault."

Luna's eyes shone white with magic as she strode over to the desk. Her furious determination made the guards back away.

Tepha swallowed. He stood as tall as his aged back would allow and held out his foreleg.

"Wait, Luna — Princess. That artefact is dangerous. Don't be reckless, it'll consume you too."

Luna's voice boomed.

"Stand aside. My mistakes hurt my sister once, I won't let the same happen to Twilight. If Twilight is trapped inside, then I will follow."

Tephra flinched, expecting a blow. When none was forthcoming, he took the opportunity to step back from the desk unharmed.

Luna opened the book and reached out with her consciousness. She could sense the world inhabiting the book, but it was obscured to her behind a mental barrier.

Luna visualized the book's defences as a wall of stone.

Set into its surface was the sculpted features of a mare. Behind her was a ring of carved symbols. She wore ceremonial dress of

ancient aspect the likes of which Luna had only ever seen in museums.

Such wealth was fit only for the burial of the griffin king — the pharaoh.

The attire was incomplete: six empty slots had been cut into the rock at key points, presumably for the fitting of jewels. Among them was an indentation in the mare's crown shaped like a six-pointed star.

Whatever it was, it stood between Luna and her friend. Luna smote it's surface over and over with her mind.

The wall gradually became plastic. It squished and wavered beneath Luna's assault. Sensing victory was near, Luna made the final push.

The wall gave way before her mind could touch it. Something within the depths of the book's sentience was swimming to the surface.

Luna withdrew into her body, and her eyes snapped open. She sprang away from the book.

"Get back. All of you."

The book spread a shadow across the desk. A wyvern of black and white materialized from the book's pages, and lashed out with its claws.

The guards instinctively leapt forward to protect the Princess. Luna barred them with her wings just quickly enough to keep their heads from being scythed from their shoulders.

"Back I said. If you value my safety, get out of the way."

The wyvern reared and brought low it's fangs.

Luna jolted with adrenaline. She pinned open the dragon's mouth with her hooves. It shock it's neck and gnashed at her with its jaws.

Luna grunted and slid on her hooves. She struggled to keep the dragon's fangs in check.

"So you are the one who took Twilight. What have you done with her?"

The wyvern did not reply. It writhed and wriggled under her grasp.

Luna forced the wyvern away. She punched the side of its head, scales crunching under her strike. The wyvern lurched backward and collapsed against the side of the office in a daze. The monster's face hit the floor close to Lazuli.

The wyvern hissed and lashed out at the nearest living thing.

Lazuli screamed. She clung to Magna for dear life.

The wyvern halted. Luna locked the wyvern's neck between her forelegs, then pummelled its head into the wall.

Luna bared down on the dragon's head with her hooves. The dragon began to whimper and squeal.

Stop, it thought to Luna. Stop. I yield. I yield.

Luna's hoof was raised high.

The wyvern wheezed beneath her. Patches of its white scales where stained a pale black from internal bleeding. Trails of black

smoke poured out from the dragon's wounds.

The faint memory of a great blue eye, seeping with tears, flashed through Luna's mind.

Luna lowered her hoof and stepped back, chest heaving.

Lazuli quietly let go of Magna's leg.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to uh — "

Lazuli looked at Magna. His face was split in a dumb, slack-jawed, grin.

Magna starred at the curved outline of Luna's form as she glistened with sweat. The passionate determination in Luna's eyes peaked his desire.

"She's not at all like her sister... Am I in love?"

Steam whistled out of Lazuli's ears. She walked away from Magna to go stand by Professor Tephra.

The wyvern turned its head towards Luna.

Only my master could strike with such power. Your punch has the might of the Tormentor herself. I see now that you are no intruder.

The wyvern rose up.

Forgive me, Master. I will take you to the one you call Twilight at once.

The wyvern slipped inside the shadows and disappeared. Luna started towards the portal into the book.

"I think it wants me to follow it," she said to Tephra. "I'm going in."

"You mean the dragon?" asked Lazuli. "But how?"

Professor Tephra stepped forward.

"Wait. You still don't know what's in there. What if you don't come back?"

"Even the slightest chance of saving Twilight is better than none," said Luna.

Luna leapt into the air and flew into the book's pages. The book slammed shut behind her.

Tephra shook his head.

"Blasted alicorns. They get to have all the fun..."

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Voice sat patiently in her hall.

The girl had fallen unconscious some time ago.

The stone book lit the hall as it slid open. A phantasmal wyvern slithered inside, with his head low to the ground. It's gaze wavered left and right.

Master...I return.

Voice eyed him with incredulity.

Spit it out.

The wyvern hissed and crawled behind the book.

He poked out his head and thought, The *Pharaoh cometh.** I could not stop her.*

Voice rose to her feet.

I do not imagine you could. You may go.

The wyvern showed its teeth in what might have been a relieved smile, and vanished in a puff of phantasmal smoke.

The silhouette of an alicorn outlined by the light of the book glided into the hall.

Luna's face fell. She ran down the length of the midnight carpet.

"Twilight."

An alicorn landed in front of her.

"That is far enough."

Luna stumbled backwards. Her legs twitched as she studied the towering figure.

No warmth escaped the mare's belligerent frown and cold poise.

Luna knew that frown well. She wore it whenever Equestria's nobility sent a line of unsuspecting suitors sauntering up to her throne like flies buzzing their way into the black widow's den. They came in the hope of advancing their respective positions, only to be taught a harsh lesson in humility.

Luna never knew her presence could be so imposing.

"You are...another me?"

The mare scowled.

"You should not be here. Leave."

Luna flared her wings and tried to appear tall.

"Did you do this to Twilight? Release her."

"Twilight?"asked the mare, gesturing over her shoulder. "You want the snotty-nosed girl?"

Luna's nostrils flared.

"Watch your tongue. Twilight is not some girl — she is my friend."

The mare reeled as if struck. Confusion dulled her serrated composure. She glanced between Twilight and Luna.

"Your...friend?"

Luna smirked.

"Is there an echo in here? That is what I said."

Luna raised her hoof in threat. She lowered herself into a fighting stance.

"Now will you let me pass or do I have to deck you, Royal Canterlot Style?"

The taller mare only laughed.

"I hardly doubt your prowess, Princess, but you can't best me in that state. You do not even know who you are."

The mare locked gazes with her most unlikely opponent and assumed her own stance. She grunted in satisfaction: The Pharaoh's

leg positions were more than rusty.

A dark cloud gathered above the mare's horn. A crest of light shone within. The mare grasped it, and drew a crescent blade out from its sheathe of night.

"I am not done with her. Leave."

Luna's pupils dilated. The sword filled her with strange emotions that rippled across the ages through the oceans of destiny. She could feel that it meant something.

Luna legs tensed. She wanted that sword.

In an instant, the mare was upon her.

The mare slashed downward in broad streaks.

Beads of sweat formed on Luna's brow. She hopped and ducked to avoid the advancing steel.

The mare pressed her assault, forcing Luna to retreat.

Twilight was slipping away from Luna's sight. She started to growl.

The mare's sword swung about once more. Luna caught it in her hooves.

The mare stared blankly into the eyes of a dragon.

Luna's blood stirred with a darkness she had not known since meeting Twilight.

"No. I cannot give up."

The moon itself began to quake. A lonesome cry emanated from somewhere below their hooves.

The mare pulled her sword free

"You fool. If she awakens, all is lost."

She punched Luna full in the face.

Luna was shivered on the floor where she fell. She clutched her head and screamed in agony as the guilt and pain of a thousand years came howling back. She knew again a hatred for all things mortal. She knew The scorn of Equestrian's ponies, hollering their sorrows in the abyss of black night and cursing the moon as it snuffed out the sun and stars. She knew the scorn in Tia's eyes.

"You must not stay a moment longer," said the mare.

The mare levitated Luna off the ground and threw her out of the book.

The stone book sealed itself, and Voice was alone again. She summoned the black clouds, and returned her sword to the hidden armoury.

"Damn your stubbornness, Princess. I will have to keep watch of the real world myself in future."

Voice walked over to Twilight.

"You and your questions are not much better. You never wait or listen for anything."

Voice lowered her neck and studied Twilight more closely.

"What can she see in you that I cannot?"

The stone opened again, but shone differently than before.

Voice carefully levitated Twilight onto her withers.

Twilight murmured in her sleep. An odd familiarity washed over her as she was carried into the embrace of a magenta light.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Luna came crashing back into the office. She groaned and rubbed her head. She had landed chest first on top of something.

Captain Magna lay on his back in a puddle of his own perspiration. He looked up at Luna's cold expression, not knowing whether he was elated, or about to die.

"H —Hi Celestia's sister."

Luna stood and peered down at what appeared to be a pony who's mouth had been replaced by a large pair of novelty chattering teeth.

Luna said nothing and clambered onto the settee. She sat up, and hugged her chest. She was seconds from tears.

Lazuli sat next to her.

"Hey, Princess. What happened in there?"

"She was right there, but I could not save her."

Lazuli never thought Luna could look so small. She wondered what her mentor would do to help if she were with them.

"Hey, don't be sad. You saw her, right? That means she's ok. Do you want me to send for Celestia?"

"No. I do not want Tia to see me like this. She will never forgive me for putting Twilight in this position."

"Ok. Why don't you tell me what was in there?"

Luna's voice squeaked as she tried to hide her shame.

"I would rather not say. You are kind, young scholar, but I need to be alone right now."

Luna flew outside and landed on top of the roof. She sat in front of the moon. The afterimage of the other mare's flashing sword was

stained into Luna's sight. She could still hear that haughty voice taunting her.

A low rumble sounded from the grounds below. Spike thudded onto the rook as softly as he could.

Luna fluttered up onto Spike's back and lay on her front. The two gazed up at the moon. Luna mentally shared her experience inside the book with Spike.

She is right, thought Luna. I do not remember anything. Why must Tia keep from talking to me about my past?

Spike paused, then thought, I know who you are, and so does Twilight. You were there for her when she was the lowest I'd ever seen — when I thought I was going to lose her. You mean more to everyone than you realize.

Luna rested her head and closed her eyes.

But you really could lose Twilight because of me.

Maybe. But I can still hope. Even if Twilight doesn't come back...why would I push you away when you are important to me as well?

You have grown strangely wise in your adolescence, Spike.

Really? I guess I've had plenty of time to think.

Spike hummed in his chest. He felt the wind stroking his monstrous wings and the fires warming his gigantic bones. In a rare moment, being large came naturally to Spike. It was meant to be, and not some curse.

As his size doubled, and tripled, and quadrupled, over the years, Spike noticed that even Twilight constantly crept out of his shadow, away from his destructive talons.

Luna, however, saw no boundary between dragon and pony. She trusted Spike not to crush her under his tread, or burn her property to the ground with a cough.

Spike was no less dismayed over the personal crisis that had beset him, but he found relief in being at peace with what he was. If only for a brief moment.

Luna's heart swelled from the gratitude flowing from her connection with Spike. She smiled up at the sky.

This new moon was not like the last. Now Luna had friends too. Nightmare Moon was far from her thoughts.

The kindred souls watched the moonlight in silence.

                                                                *                *                *

"Twilight. Twilight, you gotta get up."

Twilight shifted beneath her covers.

"I still can't believe I woke up before you did," said a familiar Voice. "Come on Twi, if you don't wake up now, you'll never hear the end of this. You're gonna miss the picnic too."

"Leave me alone, Spike," said Twilight. "My head hurts."

Twilight's heart stopped. The covers billowed as she erupted out of bed with her wings flared.

"Spike."

Twilight rushed up to hug her baby dragon. She flew about the room in ecstatic spirals.

"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyeysyesyesyes."

Spike was thankful that he hadn't eaten yet.

Twilight eventually landed. She kissed Spike's head and nuzzled him.

"Oh Spike, you're adorable."

Spike shock away his dizziness.

"Uh, thanks, I guess. What's gotten into you, Twilight?"

Twilight had innumerable questions, but they were all were swept to the back of her mind by the all=consuming awe that gushed through her very being.

The cozy bed. The heady, rural, scent, wafting through the window. The homely oaken walls. All of it was here. By some miracle, Twilight Sparkle was back in Golden Oak Library.

Spike's face scrunched up with impatience. He squirmed and her tried to shrug Twilight away.

Twilight pulled him closer, as if the mirage could vanish at any moment.

"Knock it off Twi, you're starting to creep me out," said Spike.

Twilight relinquished him.

"I'm sorry Spike it's just..."

Twilight stared about the room. Something was out of place, but she couldn't define what it was.

Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Just what?"

"It's nothing."

Twilight smiled at her baby dragon.

"What would you like for breakfast?"

Twilight prepared for Spike the biggest breakfast he had ever seen. She had noticed the absence of her crown, but was reassured upon seeing a glass display case in the library holding the element of magic along with its five companions.

Spike's tongue licked with sibilant greed. He tapped his claws together as the plates filled the kitchen table, but Twilight kept on indulging him.

There was a loud rapping. Twilight took Spike's omelette off the heat and went to answer the door, while Spike tucked into a stack of pancakes that was taller than himself.

"Good morning," said Twilight, as she opened the door.

"Well met, child." said Voice, "I take it you are enjoying yourself?"

The questions returned in force. They piled their way into Twilight's thoughts and tried to escape through her mouth all at once. Twilight just sputtered, unable to form a sentence.

Voice stepped over the threshold. She rubbed her foreleg as she bored into Twilight with frowning eyes.

Voice meticulously choose each individual word as she spoke.

"I could see that your first experience with Luna's past was...intense...so I thought that you ought to take some rest."

Twilight only glared. She flew eye-level with Voice, and sat in the air atop an invisible throne.

"Before you ask, yes, this is a reconstruction your own memory," said Voice.

There was no sound, save that of Spike wolfing down his waffles like a boa constrictor.

"You did this?" asked Twilight. "Why the change of heart?"

"I was hoping you could tell me about...Luna."

Twilight unfolded her forelegs.

"Luna? But I thought you would know everything about her."

"My program was recorded more than one thousand years ago. I have no knowledge of what has become of Luna since then."

Twilight studied Voice and her uncanny features.

"You're not a perfect copy, are you?"

Voice shook her head.

"I have watched her. She knows nothing of all that has happened, but she is still Luna, and she can feel it. I know who I am but..."

Voice held her hoof close to her heart.

"I do not feel."

Twilight's eyes softened.

She landed and said, "I think I understand. You want to be like her, don't you?"

Voice lowered her gaze.

"More than anything..."

Twilight chuckled awkwardly.

"Well, you're quick to admit your shortcomings. That was something I always liked about Luna. She never stops trying to improve herself."

Voice gave a meek smile.

"Thank you, Young Princess."

Voice walked over to the front door she beckoned to Twilight.

"Come, we can discuss this another time. I have something else you will be pleased to see."

Twilight followed Voice outside. The two flew over quiet rooftops and sparse streets. Most ponies were going about their work at this time of day, but Twilight still saw more than a few familiar faces. She squealed as she exchanged a wave with Ditzy Doo, who got her head stuck inside a mailbox;  having failed to look where she was flying.

Voice came to a halt.

The sunlight sang off of the verdant park in the bloom of spring.

"There is much for me to deliberate. When you are ready to experience Luna's memories again, call for me, and we will continue." Voice gestured to her surroundings. "In the mean time, you may enjoy Ponyville at you leisure. Everything is exactly as you remember it."

Twilight gasped. Her face lit up.

"Everything?"

Voice nodded.

"Everything."

All of her friends were about to have a picnic.

Fluttershy was having a friendly chat with the ants, so as to keep them from stealing the food, while Rainbow fended off bad weather with her martial arts.

Applejack laid out the cover. Pinkie Pie sang to herself as she happily zipped about, tying balloons to every tree in sight. Rarity tilted her head as she mused on where her chaise longue would best catch the shade.

Voice pointed her horn to the sky, and a magenta light seeped from a fissure in space and time above her.

"I will leave you to your...recuperation. Farewell, child."

Voice flew into the fissure, and sealed it behind her.

Twilight smiled from ear to ear. She raced back to Golden Oak Library to check that Spike hadn't chocked on his omelette, and to fetch the food she had set aside.

As always, everypony had agreed to contribute to the meal, so Spike helped Twilight prepare the sandwiches.

Twilight remembered this picnic fondly. Unlike before, she noticed when Spike miscounted and made a seventh sandwich. She made no effort to correct him in light of what was to come.

Twilight wished Spike a good day, then flew back to the picnic.

Twilight's friends were all sat down and ready to eat.

Rarity lowered her sunglasses, and sat up on her chair.

"Oh, Twilight there you are. Everyone was getting hungry waiting, so Rainbow flew off looking for you. Would you be a dear and go fetch her?"

Twilight smiled.

"No problem."

Twilight knew exactly where to find Rainbow Dash.

It was just like a certain somepony to stay up all night reading Daring Doo, and it wasn't long before Twilight found her snoring on a fluffy cloud just above the warm air wafting up from the town bakery.

The cloud dispersed in puff as Twilight rocketed into Rainbow Dash and gave her a big hug.

"Rise and shine, Rainbow Danger Dash. Or was it Rainbow Daring Dash? I forgot."

Rainbow snorted loudly as she awoke and flailed about.

"Gugh. Twilight — what're you doing here?"

Twilight released Rainbow.

"Looking for you. The picnic is about to start, remember?"

Rainbow blew her mane out of her eye.

"You seem awfully happy. Has the science fair come early this year or something?"

Twilight shrugged.

"I don't think so. I guess I'm just happy to see you."

Rainbow scratched her head

"But didn't I see you yesterday? You were grouchy again because I didn't return my books on time."

Twilight giggled.

"You ask too many questions, Rainbow. Let's just go already. I bet I can get there faster than you can, egghead."

Twilight winked at Rainbow and made for the park, laughing all the way.

Rainbow growled and raced furiously to catch up.

"Why you —"

Nearer the park, Twilight was buffeted off her flight path by a chromatic blur of raw speed. She crashed into a tree and found herself entangled in a web of balloon strings.

Rainbow grinned and circled the picnic.

"Looks like I win again."

Twilight yelped and twisted about. Rainbow chuckled and helped untie her.

"Sorry, Twi, but I can't afford to lose a race. Not until I beat Fleetfoot and prove I'm the best once and for all."

Twilight's mane was ruffled and filled with leaves, but she still couldn't stop smiling.

"Don't be silly, Rainbow. No matter what you achieve, you always find a way to keep raising the bar."

Applejack cupped her hooves and called to Twilight.

"Are you ok up there, hun?"

Twilight brushed some leaves off her shoulder.

"Ok? I've never felt better."

A bird's nest bobbed into the air from a nearby tree. A group of balloons had been mistakenly tied to its protruding twigs. Fluttershy took off to rescue the unborn chicks.

"Oh my, Pinkie really got carried away with those balloons..." said Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie was on another tree tying up more balloons from her saddlebags. She snorted and giggled.

"I can't help myself."

Pinkie slid down one of the low-reaching branches, vaulted off its end like a springboard, somersaulted through the air, and landed squarely on her hooves.

"I still have a ton of them left over from the airship festival."

Twilight and Rainbow glided down to meet the others.

Applejack sniggered.

"Speaking of that there festival, aren't you supposed to be kooked up in your basement building your own airship? I'm surprised you decided to come out in the end."

Twilight scratched the back of her head.

"I needed some fresh air. I'm not making much progress anyway."

Rarity huffed.

"Oh don't be so curt, Applejack. Let's be happy that she's ready to spend time with us at all. You know Twilight's been ever so distraught after..."

Rarity gave an apologetic look to Twilight.

"...What happened in the Crystal Empire."

The group of friends grew quiet. Even Pinkie couldn't continue the conversation.

Having released the balloons, and safely reunited the eggs with their mother, Fluttershy glided back down to the others. She landed so gently that not a sound could be heard.

"Is everypony ok? I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Pinkie looked at her and dropped a pin. It rang louder than a church bell as it touched the grass.

Twilight burst out laughing. The others stared at her.

"Shouldn't we be having a picnic? Let's just eat."

Her friends exchanged bemused glances at first, but Twilight's joy was contagious. The friends joined in and gathered on the cover to share out the food.

"How's Princess Luna been?" asked Fluttershy. "Have you been sleeping any better?"

Rainbow nearly choked on her sandwich.

Twilight considered the question, thinking back to how she felt almost a century ago.

"Yes and no. Luna's usually very quiet when she enters my dreams. Rather than driving my nightmares away, she encourages me to face them. I'm starting to feel better about myself, but it's an uphill struggle. Other than that, all she does is listen. Even when I ramble on about the same thing over and over."

Rarity wafted cool air over her face with a fan as she lay on her chair.

"Well that's very sweet of her. I wish I had somepony to talk to whenever I was down. Opal isn't exactly a conversationalist."

"What about Spike?" asked Applejack. "Can't you talk to him about your problems?"

Twilight giggled.

"I would, but Spike is in the habit of being fast asleep whenever I start panicking in the middle of the night."

The discussion gradually defrosted, and turned to other, more cheerful, topics.

"Hey everypony, look what I can do," said Pinkie.

Rainbow threw some grapes at Pinkie. She caught them in her mouth while standing on her hind legs, and balancing a boiled egg on her nose.

The party keeled over. Twilight began to hiccup from laughing so much.

Someone nudged Twilight in the ribs. She turned around to find Applejack looking off into the distance.

A blue mare with a tall pointed hat was crossing the park towards the picnic.

"Trixie?" said Applejack. "What in tarnation is she doing here?"

A wily smile folded Twilight's features.

"What indeed? Maybe we should go talk to her."

Applejack maintained her stony complexion. Twilight patted her back.

"Relax, Applejack, it's been years since we last saw her. I'm sure she's an all-new mare now."

"I dunno, Twi. I didn't buy Trixie's little ‘apology’ for a second. I'm thinking it was all an act."

Applejack frowned, but complied. She called to the others.

"Fine. Come on, galls, let's go meet her."

Pinkie Pie lost her balance, but was treated to a delicious mouthful of egg. She swallowed it whole and smacked her lips.

Twilight trotted up to Trixie. The magician had seen brighter summers, and many winters. Her cloak was tattered, and her face was gaunt. She was withering, while Twilight and her friends had refused to age.

Twilight extended a hoof to her new friend.

"Hiya Trixie. We were just having a picnic. There's still some food left. Would you'd like to join us?"

Trixie sniggered, and tipped her hat.

"Trixie is pleased to see you, Twilight Sparkle. But Trixie is not hungry."

Twilight slowly lowered her hoof.

"Are you sure? I thought you wanted to see us? It must be lonely, running a travelling magic show all on your own."

"Not as lonely as you're going to be" — Trixie glared into Twilight's eyes — "once Trixie humiliates you."

Twilight stared blankly.

"What are talking about? I thought we were done with that."

Trixie cackled.

"You look surprised? You didn't think the Great and Powerful Trixie would accept you as her Princess, did you? That crown

belongs to Trixie."

Rarity snorted.

"Pe-lease, Trixie. The right to rule isn't something you can just take. At any rate, Twilight is an alicorn now. Challenging her to another magic duel would be pointless, not least when you are without that tacky amulet."

Trixie's shoulder's tensed and relaxed. Stormclouds gathered in the skies.

"Trixie begs to differ."

Twilight racked her brain to try and make sense of matters. Had her memory failed her? Hadn't Trixie grown out of her petty rivalry at this point? Even when she wielded the Alicorn Amulet, she had been content to laude over Ponyville. Why was ruling Equestria suddenly important to her? None of this made any sense.

Trixie tossed her hat aside. Her horn sparked in anticipation.

"What's the matter? Afraid? I suppose it would be embarrassing for a Princess to lose to a mere unicorn, even one so exceptional as myself."

Twilight shook her head.

"I won't fight you, Trixie. We're both better than this."

Trixie's magical influence chocked the atmosphere until it was ubiquitous. It was enough to make Rarity pull out her fan.

Twilight's brow creased. She could feel it too. Even Celestia's influence would be dwarfed by the monstrous power that stood before them.

Trixie laughed.

"As if you have a choice."

Trixe's horn called electricity down from the heavens like a lightning rod. Twilight's friends all shielded their eyes.

Trixie whirled the lighting about with her horn like a wrecking ball. Tendrils of electricity whipped the trees and set them ablaze. The balloons burst like popcorn.

The she-devil grinned manically, and pointed her horn at Rarity.

Rarity squealed and ducked.

Trixie loosed a storm upon Rarity, and the trees flashed white.

A tail of smoke rose out of a crater in the ground where Rarity had stood. Beside it was three large hats, each marked with a

six-pointed star. They rose into the air and vanished in a puff of magenta smoke.

Rarity emerged from under one of the conjured hats. She lay in a stupor, trying to fan away the shock.

"By Celestia, my life flashed right before my eyes."

Twilight rushed over to Rarity and helped her up. She glared back at Trixie.

"Rarity, are you alright? Can you walk?"

"Why yes, Twilight, my legs are fine. It's my heart I'm worried about."

Twilight smiled.

"You should get back to the Boutique, I'm sure you'll be fine after some hot tea."

"And leave you here with that demented charlatan? Absolutely not."

"Please. I can't fight Trixie if I'm too busy protecting everypony."

"You seem to be trying awfully hard to get rid of me..."

Twilight winked.

"Don't worry, l'm an alicorn, remember?"

Rarity made her way out of the park.

"Just be careful, Twilight."

The trees shone like torches.

Fluttershy blubbered and cried. She whizzed about, trying desperately to save each and every animal.

Applejack pulled Fluttershy clear of being crushed by a burning branch. The sight of a family of squirrels trapped in a circle of

burning timber made Fluttershy grow faint.

"That goes for you as well," said Twilight to her friends, her hair fraying.

Rainbow looked at Pinkie, to which she could only shrug.

"Applejack, Rainbow, get everypony out of here," said Twilight. "I'll deal with Trixie alone. I can't put any of you at risk."

Rainbow saluted, and flew off at sonic speed to notify all other visitors of the emergency, and guide them to safety.

Fluttershy couldn't accept what was happening. She shivered, her eyes stretched open. Applejack pulled the traumatized mare onto her withers and galloped for the park exit.

"Everything's going to be okay, sugarcube. The animals were probably the first to get out."

Applejack stopped atop a hill and called back to Twilight.

"I don't know what you're playing at Twi, but we're not abandoning you. As soon as everypony's safe, me and the galls are coming back."

"No don't. It's far too dangerous. Let me deal with this."

Applejack raced away before Twilight could respond.

Twilight faced Trixie.

"That's enough. If I'm the one you want, then fine, but don't you ever hurt my friends."

Trixie cackled.

"What was that spell just then? A parlour trick? Don't make Trixie laugh. You're no Princess. You're a grovelling servant. The Great and Powerful Trixie will ensure her lessers — "

Trixie raised her hoof.

" — know their place."

Trixie smashed the ground, sending shockwaves through the earth.

Twilight sprang into the air, and the earthquake sailed under her. She cast an incapacitation spell, but her horn only crackled as she thrust it at Trixie.

"She negated it..."

Trixie's horn gathered energy for a magical onslaught.

Twilight tried to teleport to safety, but again her magic was countered.

"Too slow."

Gale-force winds rampaged through the park. They extinguished many of the burning trees, but also unearthed them.

Trixie was in the eye of the storm; her horn shining.

Deafening winds filled Twilight's ears. The air whipped around her fast enough to draw blood. Trixie manipulated the winds with her horn, battering Twilight from all sides.

Twilight shielded her face. The ligaments in her wings were stretched to braking point as she tried to resist the current.

Trixie drew her horn towards the ground, and pummelled Twilight into the dirt.

She cantered near to where Twilight lay sneered down at muck-drenched magician.

"You dared to think a fraud of Trixie, didn't you? But now Trixie has attained the highest level of magic."

Twilight squirted the mud from her mouth. Pain stabbed at every joint in her body as she slowly rose to her feet. Her limbs were

tender from being dislocated. Twilight bit her lip and realigned the bones in her wing by magic.

"That kind of power...won't do you any good, Trixie. You're only going to hurt ponies."

Trixie frowned. The veins on her forehead bulged.

"And what would you know about power? You're nothing but a joke before Trixie."

The fires died away under a fatal downpour that flooded the park. Trixie amassed a sphere of water the size of a house in her levitation. She drove it at Twilight. The soil rippled as the massive body of water ruptured the ground with the cutting force of a raging waterfall.

"Drown in your ignorance."

Applejack lay Fluttershy down on a bench in the town square. The little mare's heart couldn't take the stress. She passed out.

Applejack said, "Pinkie, get Mr and Mrs Cake to look after Fluttershy. I'm going back — Twilight needs some help."

"Okey dokey lokey."

Pinkie Pie zipped off to the bakery.

Applejack ran for the park.

Rarity looked across the square, then back to the park. She stamped the ground, then raced to catch up to Applejack.

Applejack grinned.

"You're coming with? Shouldn't you be brushing your mane or something by now? Didn't know you had it in you to go against Twilight's word."

"Not now, Applejack, this is serious. Trixie's gone insane. She could really hurt Twilight. Twilight may have been concerned for me, but I care about her too. I'm going back as well."

Rarity chortled.

"Besides, I could ask the same of you. Who's taking you to the next Apple Family hootenanny? A scarepony?"

Applejack blew the straws of hair from her face. She laughed.

"'Got me there."

Applejack looked dead ahead.

"Easy. I was just pulling your leg. C'mon, let's go help Twilight."

Twilight struggled for her life. The pressure of the water strangled her lungs. Trixie began pulling magic out of Twilight's horn. It diffused into the sphere of water like magenta ink.

Trixie's eyes glinted.

"Yes. It will be over soon."

Twilight's friends came into view. Rainbow had cleared as many ponies from the scene as possible, and informed the local guard to close off the park. She came about and flew above Applejack and Rarity.

"Twilight — hang in there," said Applejack.

The two pelted towards Trixie.

"Let her go you oaf," said Rarity.

Trixie barely gave them a second glance.

"Oh, what's this? Are the ants coming to ruin my picnic?"

Trixie shooed the nuisances away with her hoof. A blast of air knocked Applejack and Rarity off their feet.

Applejack dusted herself off and kept running at Trixie.

"Darn it. You'll pay for that."

A jet of flame erupted in front of her. Laval oozed out from the ground to encircle Rarity and Applejack.

Applejack skidded to a halt. Her coat filled with sweat as the molten rock crawled towards her.

"You coward. Why don't you fight me without your fancy magic, then we'll see how, ‘great and powerful,’ you are."

Rarity's hooves hovered in front of her mouth. It took all of her willpower to keep herself from ruining her hoofacure.

"I don't think she listened the last time you said that, Applejack. Oh Twilight, please be ok."

Applejack looked to the sky.

"Rainbow, if you're going to do something, now might be a good time."

"On it. I'll hit her with the Sonic Rainboom."

Rainbow rocketed straight up into the air, then plummeted straight back down with a resounding clonck.

Rainbow tugged at the shackle that had appeared around her leg. It was chained to a huge iron ball shaped into a face with demonic horns and a malicious grin.

"Hey, what's the big idea?"

Trixie watched Twilight's life ebbing away.

"Quiet. Trixie wants to enjoy this."

The sphere was all but completely filled with magenta energy, ready to be absorbed.

Twilight stopped moving.

Applejack feel to her knees.

"No...Twilight."

The heavens sparked with thunder.

"Yes. The Great and Powerful Trixie is the new, uncontested, undisputed, incontrovertible, Princess of Magic."

A plopping sound came from the surface of the sphere. The water's magenta hue contracted. The water began to boil and hiss. A pillar of flame billowed skyward and pierced the storm.

Trixie ground her teeth.

A silhouette emerged from within the steam. Her body glowed white, and her mane burned bright.

Twilight grasped her crown in her hoof and placed it on her head. Her horn sparked. Trixie's flames died away, and Rainbow's shackles disintegrated.

Applejack wiped her brow and helped Rarity to her feet.

Fluttershy glided down to meet the others. Spike was on her back, from where he had dropped Twilight's crown. He climbed down back and patted Fluttershy's shoulder.

"Thanks a lot, Fluttershy. I'd never make it in time if you hadn't rushed over from Sugarcube Corner."

Spike puffed out his chest.

"Good thing I'm around, or Twilight would be toast."

"That was so scary," said Fluttershy. "How did I let you talk me into this?"

"You knew Twilight needed help, that's why you came to me. You're a good friend, Fluttershy."

Pinkie zipped onto the scene.

"Don't forget about me. I may not know much about magic, but what I do know, is that when you've got a party..."

Pinkie held up all five of the other elements of harmony.

"...It's more fun when everypony joins in."

Twilight's mane coursed like fire. She floated above the park with her mouth fixed in a snarl.

"When I saw what you did with the Alicorn Amulet, I thought I could forgive you. But that was before I knew you were capable of this."

Trixie snorted.

"Capable of what? Magic beyond your narrow delusions of morality?"

Trixie grunted, and shot a stream of lightning at Twilight's chest.

"No," said Twilight.

Twilight's soul burned. She refused to let this fraud taint the memory of the real Trixie. The Trixie who had showed Twilight a side of friendship she had never known before, and would never know again.

Twilight deflected the spell with the back of her hoof. It exploded against the side of a hill.

"Murder."

Twilight flew at Trixie. A tide of fire built up upon the ground, forming a tsunami in the visage of five colossal ponies. The fire formation galloped furiously over the ground beneath Twilight.

"Starlight Flare."

Trixie flicked her mane.

"How annoying. Oh well, Trixie will just have to show you how a true magician wields fire."

Trixie reared on her hind legs and reached into the sky. A line of seven stars glittered in response.

A sphere of glowing heat gathered at Trixie's horn.

The colossi halted in their tracks.

Twilight's friends yelped and stumbled about as the earth they stood on roused from its slumber.

A great maw split the ground behind Trixie. Black fumes spewed forth from within. Massive talons gripped the edges of the precipice.

"O tyrant of cleansing flame, immortal walker of the cycle:  By the sacred sword of miracles, ignite creation with your glorious rebirth — Ignimbrite: Lord of Molten Earth."

Twilight's friends flinched at the coming of a volcanic roar. An earthbound demon rent the earth apart, sending clouds of fiery death rippling outward in every direction.

Twilight held out her hooves. Beads of sweat pooled on her brow. A barrier levied the deadly pyroclastic flows, and diverted them away from her friends.

The monster took wing. It's obsidian outline shimmered from the heat of its incalescent flesh. Flames licked it's fangs, and shone within its eyes. The beast made an angry rumbling in its throat as it starred down at its prey.

Pinkie's mane sagged as she starred up with her mouth hanging open.

"What in Equestria is that thing?" asked Rarity.

Fluttershy covered her eyes and trembled on the ground.

"Oh no, it's a d — d — dragon."

Trixie walked out from the rolling black smog. She thrust her hoof at Twilight.

"I tire of this. Destroy her, Ignimbrite — blast all unto cinder."

Ignimbrite's eye's flashed red. The pyroclastic clouds crackled with lightning. The dragon reared its head and readied to unleash a white-hot jet of cremating fire.

"Stay strong everypony," said Twilight. "I was wrong. I can't do this alone."

Pinkie flashed about Twilight's friends, and handed each pony her respective element. The girls donned their crystal amulets as one.

Twilight renewed her efforts and spurred the colossi to return Ignimbrite's attack. They each pooled their charge together to form a new colossus. The flames twisted and grew into a golden orb of fire.

From within, a crimson alicorn emerged and spread its six wings. The great mare roared. It mustered flames of its own about its horn.

The titans unleashed their might, and a fire to end all fires consumed the park.

Two waves of fire clashed. They swelled, coursed, and deformed; each vying to overcome the other.

Twilight concentrated her energy into the spell. Her horn was aflame with magenta sparks.

Trixie's brow lined with sweat. Her own horn radiated arcane energy.

"Is that the best you can do?"

With a grunt, Trixie piled more and more power into her spell.

Ignimbrite screeched in pain, and opened his maw wider.

Twilight squinted as Ignimbrite's flames brightened, and slowly pushed back those of the Crimson Unicorn. She cried out and struggled, but her horn had no more magic to give.

The force of the battle buffeted Twilight's friends with dry, blistering, winds.

Applejack planted her hooves and refused to move.

"Go get her, Twilight."

Rarity's chaise lounge turned to charcoal.

"That was an antique. Such crimes against good taste must not go unpunished. Do whatever it takes to stop her, Twilight."

Rainbow rolled with the current and broke the air accordingly to hold her position.

"Don't worry about me; A wonderbolt can fly no matter the weather. She's all yours, Twi."

Pinkie hopped about and giggled to herself.

"Now that's what I call a lightshow. Don't tell me your done already Twilight? C'mon — you can do it!"

Fluttershy seethed as she looked around at the ruination of the park. She stood unafraid with her wings flared.

"The animals all need new homes thanks to that big meanie. She needs to get out of town before I do something I'll regret. Don't let her get away with it, Twilight."

Spike hollered at the top of his lungs.

"We're all behind you, Twilight. Don't you dare let Trixie win — not after I taught you everything you know."

The wishes of Twilight's friends clustered into a sparkling rainbow. It's different colours pooled from the elements of harmony into Twilight's crown.

"Everyone...I never thought I'd see you together like this again. Thank you, all of you. I'll never forget everything we've shared."

The glow of Twilight's horn expanded and gained a plethora of colours. It shimmered with every colour of the spectrum.

"You asked for it, Trixie. This is my power. The magic given to me by my friends."

The Crimson Unicorn roared. It's fires welled and inched forward.

Trixie fumed.

"What is the matter with you, you dumb beast? Destroy her already."

Ignimbrite whined and summoned more flames from its mouth, but to no avail.

A blinding light flashed from where the Crimson Unicorn's spell met Ignimbrite's burning flesh. The ground shuddered and cracked as all moisture was scorched away.

Ignimbrite cried out as he was blown apart.

Twilight's spell flooded on past in a river of fire.

Trixie vanished from its wake in a pop of magenta.

Twilight released her magic and glided down to the baked earth before her fatigue set in.  The Crimson Unicron faded away. The ground was blanketed with embers where she had stood.

The clash had flattened the park into a dessert. The devastation spread throughout the town, demolishing buildings in sheets of flame.

Twilight's mane slackened to her side and regained its former colour.

"She can teleport? But that's my spell."

Trixie laughed deep in her chest after she reappeared.

"You're hardly original, Twilight. I can mimic any of your two-bit spells blindfolded. Perhaps you are ready to forfeit? Trixie would be most satisfied to receive a concession after your repeated insolences."

Twilight swallowed. Her wings were shaking, but she didn't let her chest fall.

"No. My friends are what make me a princess. There's nothing our magic can't overcome."

"What friends?" Trixie smiled and shaded her eyes. "Trixie sees only piles of ash."

Twilight guided her horn over the remains of the park.

"Celestial Mirage."

Sheets of shimmering crystal sprang up from the ground and burst into a shower of sparkling dust. Each of Twilight's friends, along with Spike, stumbled forward from inside.

Pinkie Pie nimbly rolled and hopped into a finishing pose, while the others all fell on top of one another like dominos.

"What in the hay just happened?" asked Applejack.

"I sheltered you all from the aftermath with a spell Celestia taught me," said Twilight.

Trixie grunted.

"The magic of a two-faced coward. Still, you won't be keeping Trixie from her throne. That was only the first act of Trixie's performance."

Twilight could hardly look her friends in the face.

"Everypony, I'm sorry. I tried so hard to push you all away for your safety that I never realized how much I was putting myself in harm's way."

Twilight and her friends all shared a group hug.

"Don't sweat it, Twi," said Applejack. "We know it's been hard for you to see loved ones in danger since Shining Armour died."

Rarity blinked.

"My, Applejack, that's awfully perceptive of you. I had no idea that was why Twilight sent me back to the Boutique. I thought it was because everypony assumes I'm just a delicate flower."

Applejack coughed.

"Yeah, maybe if flowers where made of nasty old boots. Come off it, Rarity, It was as plain as the nose on her face."

Twilight smiled and shook her head. She put on her crown and took to the air. The crown flashed a magenta call, and each of the other elements resonated in kind.

"Come on, girls. After all that she's done, I think we can put Trixie away for good."

The elements carried their respective bearers upward to join Twilight.

Trixie was more concerned with the soot gathering on her coat than the spectacle above her.

"Do your worst."

Trixie lowered her speech to a mutter.

"Those trinkets don't even belong to you..."

Twilight and her friends surrounded Trixie. A vibrant rainbow surged from the Element of Magic. It ran through the others; binding them into a circle. The air hummed with magic.

Twilight closed her eyes as the elements filled her with the wisdom of ages. A force too great for any one pony to hold. At once, she saw face after face, bond after bond, evolution after evolution.

A clear mind.

Twilight opened her eyes.

"Together."

All six elements surged with magical force. Six beams of light; blue, pink, white, orange, yellow, and magenta, all converged on Trixie.

Trixie mocked their friendship with her sardonic smile.

"Hakai Ken Issen."

Six rays of magenta cut through the light of the elements. They grew into a cacophony so immense it gouged trenches into the barren earth.

Twilight shielded her face. She screamed as the magenta light burned through to her eye sockets.

Twilight's friends were cast onto the ground. The displaced soil cloaked the air in dust.

Rarity staggered upright. She starred into her amulet. Where once had been a clear, azure, diamond, now there was cracked, grey, gangue.

"She overpowered the elements...This is the. Worst. Possible. Thing."

The girls wallowed in despair.

Applejack called above their sobs. Her breath was shot and her brain was numb.

"Quiet down — all of you. We can't let ourselves panic. Twilight. We have to find Twilight."

Applejack desperately searched the remains of the park.

The dust cleared. Six gouges arranged in a circle like the spokes of a wheel marked the disaster. At its epicentre, on a hardy outcropping of stone, stood Trixie.

Twilight gasped and pawed at her neck as she wriggled within Trixie's levitation.

"The elements...My friends...What did you do to them?"

Trixie laughed deep in her chest and shouldered her sword.

Twilight shivered. She sensed four titanic dragons bound into the sword. They coursed in endless hate and sorrow. It was palpable to Twilight. Enclosed within the gleam of that white blade was unimaginable torture.

"Trixie didn't do a thing to them, beyond crushing their arcane influence under her own. My understanding of Harmony is simply greater than yours."

Trixie lowered Twilight to meet her condescending eyes.

"Remember, Twilight, anything you can do..."

Trixie's bones twisted and snapped. Her body expanded, becoming broader, with thicker set limbs. Her mane straightened, darkened, and a strip of bright magenta rolled down from her roots to the fringe like a carpet, guiding the path of a royal procession.

Twilight's legs fell to her side. She was transfixed by the gruesome metamorphosis. The mirror that became Trixie's face swallowed her senses.

Trixie grew into the tall powerful figure of an alicorn, though he lacked wings. He stood half a head taller than Celestia. His voice purred and cracked with a rich multitude of tones.

"...I can do better."

The sun dropped out of the sky and Ponyville fell into darkness.

Twilight mouthed one word:

"Jove."

Prince Jove held himself with an air of coolness as he examined his ragged specimen.

"A mortal wearing the mantle of a god? Repulsive. You are an abomination."

Jove clamped Twilight's wing under the force of his levitation and pulled. The joints popped as the tissue was stretched thin.

Twilight whined and squirmed manically.

"Did you enjoy our little duel?" asked Jove. "It was more than you deserved. I thought Celestia would have taught you to defend yourself, and yet, all I found in your memories was some puerile nonsense about friendship."

Jove flicked back his long mane with a sigh.

"The disguise was a bit much all considered. But what can I say? I am prepared for everything; It is my curse. Well, it's been fun toying with you. Now..."

Jove raised his massive sword above Twilight's wing.

"...You will return what is rightfully mine."

Twilight screamed.

Jove paused. He lowered his sword and look down at leg. A dragon hatchling had bitten into his foreleg.

Jove lifted his leg to examine the trivial reptile, unperturbed by its impotent fangs. Twilight cried out.

"Spike, get away from him."

Jove snarled.

"Dragons. Such hideous little things aren't they? Death is all they're good for; But this menial soul would only sully my blade."

Jove shook Spike from his leg. Spike yelped as he landed on the small of his back.

Jove's hoof descended, and brutally crushed the baby dragon's tiny frame.

Tears streamed down Twilight's face. Her mane reignited and her coated burned white. She thrashed in at Jove's binding levitation with all of her grief.

"Spike!"

Jove laughed. He tightened his levitation about Twilight's neck until her eyes rolled back into her head and the rage was choked

from her body.

"You can struggle, but I am not playing games anymore."

Again, Jove raised his hateful sword.

"Your life is mine."

The sound of running hooves approached from behind.

"Not if we can help it," said Applejack. "Give it to him, Rainbow."

Rainbow Dash rocketed into the sky on a vertical ascent.

Applejack flung her lasso around Jove's corded neck. The Prince made no effort to free himself.

Jove looked up at the sky.

"This again?" he asked.

Jove waved his hoof.

"Fine, just get it over with."

Applejack lost her nerve.

"Uh...don't you go anywhere now."

Jove leant his sword on the ground. He didn't move from where he stood.

"Whatever you say."

Rainbow descended in a scintillate display of speed.

"I'll show you what a wonderbolt can do. This one's for Spike. Sonic Rainboom!"

Jove picked up his sword and cut away Applejack's lasso. He stood perpendicular to the kaleidoscopic bullet, licking his lips and shifting his weight.

Rainbow was just about to knock Jove off his feet, but the Prince batted her away on the blunt of his sword with an explosive swing.

Jove shaded his eyes and watched Rainbow blast off until she was just a winking light on the horizon.

Twilight's friends all paled.

Rarity reached out to Spike's corpse and wept.

"Spiky-wikey..."

Fluttershy buried herself under her hooves.

Applejack stared off at where Rainbow had disappeared.

"What do you plan on doing with us?" she asked.

Jove scratched his chin.

"Hush, I am thinking. What am I going to do with you all? Killing you would be fast, but hardly dignified  — for me that is."

A spark of wickedness spread over Jove's face.

"I do not need to kill your friends, mortal."

Jove threw Twilight to the ground. She slid to a halt in the pit of a trench.

"Yes, you will dispose of them for me."

Twilight's friends rushed to where she lay, calling her name.

Applejack propped up Twilight's head on her hoof. Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, all huddled around her.

"Twilight, can you hear us?"

Twilight coughed. Her windpipe burned raw. She shivered under Jove's inescapable sneer.

"Applejack...girls...I'm scared."

Applejack's eyes misted with tears.

"Don't you worry Twi, we're here for you," she gave a vacuous chuckle. "Everything will turn out just fine. They always do. Somehow. Somehow."

Jove brandished his sword. Two constellations of seven stars glimmered high above.

"Treason against the High Prince is a crime without peer. For you, I will prepare a very special form of punishment."

The lights of the constellations were dragged across the sky by invisible threads. They came together so that one overlaid the other.

Jove's sword glimmered in the starlight.

"You think Harmony your salvation? Fool. Harmony is fickle. In the end, all mortal bonds fade and become the malefic ether that fuels Chaos."

A ball of thick swirling mist formed the tip of Jove's horn. It oozed upward and congealed into a massive cone shape, pointing into the ground. The mist hardened into a hovering matrix of interlocking crystals that left a smooth grey sheen.

Jove said, "Dragons. Phantasms. Mortal rebellion. I will create a world without these plagues. I will reinstate the justice of the alicorns, and attain a new level of existence without age, fear, or death. "

A sheet of rock near the base of the cone blinked open, revealing a big eye with a violet iris. It's gazed flickered about in steady, organized sweeps; carefully analysing it's environment.

"You will learn just how powerless you are, mortal. Witness the ultimate magic — Order."

The eye stretched open. It flashed with a sinister aura.  The creature loosed an eldritch roar with no discernible source.

Twilight screamed again and clutched her ears. The sound burrowed into her head and commanded her to look deep into the eye's

black pupil. The more she resisted, the more painful it became.

Twilight surrendered. She starred into a dark hole from which no free will could escape.

The next this she  knew, she was on her feet. Her cutie mark had vanished to be replaced by a brand of ownership: A colossal all-seeing sphere with four satellites that waited on its every command.

Twilight wanted to run, but her legs refused to move.

Jove purred.

"Rejoice. Only one other has ever starred directly into the Eye of Order. You should feel honoured. Why not show your gratitude?"

Twilight's body acted on its own.  She lowered herself into a prostrate bow.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Very good. Now that you are acquainted with your new Prince, would you kindly put those four unmentionables out of their misery?"

"Yes, sir."

Twilight was acutely aware of her actions. Her blood congealed and her nerves protested, but onward her muscles moved. She staggered around to face her friends. Magenta fires swelled at her horn.

Applejack was an empty husk. Fluttershy cowered on the ground. Rarity looked like she wanted to say something to Applejack, but couldn't find the words. Pinkie Pie wept at Applejack's side.

Twilight's soul cried out in unfathomable pain.

I won't do this. I won't. I won't. I won't. Somepony. Anypony. Help me.

The fires continued to grow.

Please, all of you — get away!

"Dusk Spark!"

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Princess Luna stood up. Spike craned his neck away from the sky to look at her.

"I am decided. I have to go back. I have learned too much about friendship from Twilight to just give up."

Luna smiled.

"Thank you for your counsel, Spike."

Spike hummed.

Glad I could help. If there's anyone who can bring Twilight home, it's you.

Luna dived off the roof and flew into Twilight's office.

Captain Magna had been staring out the window in a waking dream. He toppled over when he saw Luna speeding towards him.

Magna lay on his back. He bolted upright, then ejaculated something that may have been all five of the world's most generic pick up lines rolled into one.

The Princess ignored him and walked on by, assuming she had noted his existence at all.

Magna flushed red like a thermometer. He slapped his own face twice. Once for embarrassing himself, and again for succumbing to his lust for Celestia's sister.

Magna slouched in front of the window. He noticed that Lazuli must have left the office minutes earlier.

Professor Tephra was gathering up his crystals into his bag.

"Ah, Luna, how are you feeling?"

Luna deflected his question with a cautionary glare.

"Why are not working on opening the book's enchantments?"

Luna was used to ponies growing quiet or defensive under her gaze, but Tephra, however, seemed accustomed to her manner.

Tephra wheezed a laugh.

"Oh no, my dear. If you couldn't get past the artefact's defences, what use is a living fossil like me? I will have to retire, sadly."

Luna looked at the book.

"Well I am not giving up yet. I will show that other me who the real Princes of the Night is."

Tephra stroked his beard.

"Another Luna? I wonder..."

Without another word, Luna approached the book, and armed her thoughts.

The book offered no resistance.

Luna warily submerged herself in the book's alien reality.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

A prodigious well of darkness was spread out before Voice where she sat, eyes closed. The light of the sun warmed her back.

Across the sea of black was a winding valley that meandered away for miles.

Voice breathed in the empty air. And felt the soft lunar soil beneath her. She quaffed a silence so deep it trapped all wandering thoughts, and left only peace.

The stone book rose out of the sands and opened. Princess Luna stepped onto the moon. Her horn pulsed with magic. She glanced about the grey expanse of the Moon.

"What have you done with Twilight? Get up. Get up so I can strike you down."

Voice breathed slowly.

"I knew you would return. Sit."

Luna starred at Voice. She had her horn trained squarely on her head.

"I was wrong to have fought you before."

Luna scoffed.

"And what exactly does that mean, pray tell? You are yet to surrender Twilight."

"This is not about Twilight. This is about you."

Voice gestured to the ground at her side.

"I mean no harm. Rest assured that Twilight is both safe and well."

Luna grunted and diffused her spell.

"I believe I will stand, thank you."

"Very well."

Luna walked off to Voice's side, so she could see her face, taking care to keep several paces between herself and the other mare.

"You like it here, do you not?" asked Voice.

Luna examined her surroundings through her peripheral vision. She was atop the wall of a vast crater. The moon had buckled under the force of an ancient eruption, leaving a pit of black on one side of a crest, and plains of grey and dust on the other.

"Yes. This is the Aristarchus Plateau. What of it?"

"You mention it to Tia sometimes. Why do you come here?"

"What is it to you how I spend my time?"

Voice hardly moved.

"I am not like you, Luna. When I look upon this empty canyon, and these lonesome highlands, I feel nothing. But, night after night, something makes you travel to this specific point on the Moon's surface. Tell me why."

Luna shirked the other mare impertinence.

"Who are you?"

Voice stood up. She opened her eyes and met Luna's gaze.

"I am Voice: a program made to replicate you. I hold all of your past memories, and I wish to better understand them."

Luna looked away, lest she develop sympathies for this abductor. There was a long pause. The crisp silence returned.

"This place is like an island, isolated by the ocean." said Luna. "I too was isolated from the Earth, and my sister. I hardly remember anything from before the time I was imprisoned."

Luna looked out over the fields of rock from her elevated position.

"For a thousand years, I would wander the maria and craters, not knowing who I was or why I was there; Only that I was a monster."

Luna pointed to a tiny crater. Just a few hundred feet from where they stood. A tall boulder deposited amidst the soil blanketed the crater with its long shadow.

"My path took me to the plateau. I lost my balance and fell."

Luna sat down and hugged her chest.

"I wanted to lie there. I wanted to die."

A strange warmth made Luna touch her face.

"But then I saw something — a glimpse. I felt it in my heart."

Luna squinted and rubbed her temple.

"The fields of moondust became fields of golden sand. I saw a face: A stallion. When I was barren, this pony filled me with life. When I was fallen, this pony gave me the will to stand. The will to escape."

Luna looked at Voice.

"I still do not know who I am, and I have not seen him since."

Voice shut her gaping mouth. She nodded.

"I see. So this is what my memories mean."

Voice's eyes flashed green. A venomous grinned spread across her face.

"They are extremely...potent."

"Satisfied?"

Luna's expression hardened as she stood up.

"Now, you will release Twilight."

Voice thought for a moment.

"I have given you little reason to trust me. But you must believe me when I say she will be free after I impart the next stage her studies to her."

"The next stage?"

"Yes. Though I detest her, that girl is blessed with extraordinary magic. Tia has been preparing her for it all these years."

Before Luna could respond, an ethereal voice echoed over the moon.

"Somepony. Anypony. Help me!"

The colour dropped out of Voice's face.

"He is here."

A shifting magenta seam split a hole in reality near the stone book, and Voice stormed off towards it. Ponyville could be seen on the other side. Black smoke trailing into the sky.

"That was Twilight's voice," said Luna. "She is hurt — get back here."

"This has been enlightening, Luna, but I must be away, and nor must you linger. Leave. Know full well that she dwells within these pages."

Voice stepped into the fluid outline.

"I do not anticipate that you will listen, but you would do well not to follow me."

The seam quickly began to seal itself.

Luna pelted across the lunar soil. She flew just fast enough to grasp it's shrinking edges. She rent it open again with all the force of her iron hooves and levitation magic.

Luna stumbled inside. Her hooves clacked against a brick flooring.

It was like stepping into an optical illusion. There was nothing but walls, doors, and stairs; assorted without design or purpose into a maze that abandoned all notion of direction or orientation.

By the time Luna had finished starring about in puzzlement of her surroundings, the portal had sealed itself behind her.

Luna ran at the first door she saw and rammed it open with her shoulder. A corridor of stairs and even more doors extended beyond.

Luna growled. She walked back and slammed the door shut.

"A trap. Splendid."

The stone book rose out of floor at the centre of the room, and slid open.

Luna shook her head.

"Does the other me think I will stand this mockery? Hmpf."

Luna moved past the stone book and began searching the doors one by one.

"If a mind like mine made this paradox, then there must be a way to solve it. A game of wits lacks fun if one cannot lose."

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Twilight was an empty shell. Her body was no longer her own, and her soul was broken.

Four charred and disfigured corpses added to the ash-strewn wastes of Ponyville. There was nothing left that might marked them as Twilight's friends.

"Is that despair I sense?" asked Jove. "Lapp it up; It will be the last thing your pitiful existence ever knows. Maybe now you understand. No matter how many mortals lend you their power, you can never measure up to a real alicorn."

Jove paced forward. The Eye of Order followed his gait with its gaze. He plucked Twilight's crown off her brow, and placed it upon his own.

"There is just one more matter to which we must attend: Your larceny."

"Yes sir, I shall obey," said Twilight.

Twilight leapt into the air. She worked a spell she had never studied before. Violet tendrils slithered out of her horn and coursed about Jove's body.

Jove's began to glow with a magenta aura.

Twilight's body grew cold, and the colour drained out of her vision.

"I am becoming whole again. How was such splendour ever wasted on you?"

Twilight's supple flesh sank. Her coat shrivelled as its youth was snatched away.  The feathers fell  from her wings, and her eyes rolled back into her head.

"Yeeees. I rise again — a god."

"Chaos Blade."

The Eye of Order sounded an unholy shriek. A perfect seam bisected the eye right through it's crystalline body. The creature exploded. It's essence dispersed and retreated into Jove's horn.

Jove grunted, and reeled. He almost lost his footing.

Twilight's spell was disrupted, and she crumpled to the ground like a withered rag doll. The violet energy flowed back into her horn, and her youth returned.

"Ah, dearest Luna," said Jove. "So good of you to join us."

Vocie landed and point her sword at Jove.

"Unauthorised runtime detected. Enter quarantine, or face immediate de-resolution."

Jove raised an eyebrow. His mouth curled upward.

"My, I never realized you had such a way with words. Sadly I cannot fulfil your request; I need to finish up my business with this turbulent little thief."

Voice's eyes narrowed.

"You should be dead."

"I am dead. But a simple miracle should solve that. Such things are no obstruction to my perfect order."

Voice wished the sword in her grasp was Jove's throat.

"I am going to run you through."

The death threat made Jove laugh.

"Well that is a charming thought; but would you not agree that you are capable of better things that running around on Celestia's leash? What about the time before, when you where mine and mine alone? You miss them, yes? I can give you a body, and you can do as the real Luna once did. We will preside over the mortals, and make this world the way it always should have been."

Voice shook her head.

"I do not need your offer."

Voice looked into her sword.

"My spirit is strong — more so than the original Luna. Once I destroy you, Tia will have no need of her, and I will be Pharaoh."

Jove's chest heaved with laughter.

"You? Pharaoh? You are nothing but a fake. It would have been interesting to learn how Celestia contrived such an unusual device. But if you insist on challenging me, honour demands that I kill you. Are you sure you do not want to reconsider?"

Voice righted her sword.

"Duel."

Jove shrugged, then mirrored her.

"Du —"

Voice bolted forward and cut around Jove guard towards his neck.

Jove caught the movement on his sword and return a stroke of his own.

Voice leapt out of its reach.

"You wound me, Luna. I am your opponent. Do I not deserve a modicum of respect?"

Jove's arcane influence was prodigious. Voice kept a stern face, but her legs twitched slightly.

Voice charged at Jove again with slash after slash. Jove neatly countered her attacks.

The two entered a dreadlock. Jove pressed down on Voice with the full weight of his sword and muscular frame.

Voice winced. He gradually hooves slid across the ground as she resisted.

"This is tedious, Luna," said Jove. "What makes you think you can win? My curiosity is the only reason you are still alive."

Voice grunted and sprang away from Jove.

Jove calmly reformed his stance.

"My original assessments based on Luna's memories were indeed accurate," said Voice. "My baseline specifications are incapable of defeating you. But in another state of being..."

Jove's brow quivered.

"Be plain."

"You know of what I speak."

A mystical aura of golden flames radiated from Voice's body.

"I have found it again. The dream she longed for most. As long as I believe in the bond Luna shared with that one pony — I cannot lose."

Fear seeped out from Jove's otherwise jaded expression.

"Impossible..."

Voice spread her wings. The tips of her feathers turned a deep crimson.

"I call upon the truest expression of will: Honest — The power to surpass all limits!"

Voice took flight and rose like a shining star.

Jove made a silent curse.

Voice howled and swooped down at jove in an explosion of light.

Jove rolled and dived out from under her charges. When his steel crossed hers, the clash made the air come alive with shockwaves.

A weighty note peeled off Jove's sword.

Jove grunted as he was launched backwards at great speed.

A flinch. If Voice could strike Jove with enough speed, she would keep him off balance just long enough to overtake his guard.

Voice renewed her charge, sword flashing. She called that stallion's name in her head like a mantra; praying it would give her the strength she needed.

Jove used his wings to break against the air. A thousand swords arched through the air towards him.

Jove closed his eyes. A matrix of calculations played out before him. Jove deducted each possibility until only one remained:

Absolute victory.

Jove opened his eyes.

Voice was indeed exerting the heightened arcane influence of one in Honest state, but her movements remained as  ridged and methodical as a computer program.

No matter how strong Voice became, Jove would always be twenty steps ahead of his opponent.

Jove's blade cut down each of Voice's strikes in perfect sequence. His flurry of counterblows ended with a crushing swing.

The ground spun above Voice as she tumbled through the air.

Luna's sense of self-orientation kicked in. Voice righted herself mid-flight, and snapped open her wings to brake her fall.

Voice's golden aura intensified as she climbed to attack Jove again. Her body dripped perspiration and she panted heavily.

Jove calmly resumed his stance.

Voice roared. Her sword shone bright with magic. She concentrated all of her remaining energy into one final attack.

Jove vanished in a pop of magenta.

The magic in her sword whistled off meet to land's end. For a split second, an immense burst of energy made the horizon shine like the setting sun.

Jove reappeared in the air behind Voice.

"You had me concerned, but I can see that the true form of Honest is beyond the grasp of some false alicorn Celestia cobbled together. You will learn your uselessness."

Voice staggered around to face him. Her sword trembling. The golden aura faded away.

The raging souls of four great dragons coiled about Jove's sword.

Jove chopped the air with a brisk downward stroke.

"Hakai Ken Issen."

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Luna scrambled along a crooked, illogical, path through the miasma of doors and stairs. Her route looped back on itself with no rhyme or reason.

Luna slowed to a trot, and found a spot to sit on the cold moonstone. She huffed and crossed her hooves.

"This is getting me nowhere. There is no end to this place."

Luna pondered. There was no source of light in the peculiar maze. If Tia had been there with Luna, she wouldn't have been able to see a thing.

A door opposite Luna creaked open. Deep within the labyrinth, the green eyes a shapeless demon gripped Luna's sight.

The sound of galloping hooves rang out as the demon advanced.

"My night. I will have the night I was promised."

Luna jumped up and ran for one of the doors. It wouldn't open. She slammed her weight into another door. It remained closed.

The demon howled it's bloody fury.

Luna crawled away into a corner.

"She's coming for me. What do I do?"

Fangs gleamed in the black.

Luna closed her eyes and shielded herself.

"Tia!"

Justice lies in the names of the Gods.

Luna froze. One of the doors glowed with a soft light. Luna opened it and ran.

The door led to a long, empty corridor. At the opposite end was a single door. Luna rushed forward and didn't look back.

Inside was a torch lit chamber. The demon hissed and stalked away. The eyes were gone, but Luna could still hear prowling footfalls.

The chamber was empty, save for its two torches, and a large stone tablet. Hieroglyphics were chiselled into its surface.

Luna's brain pinched at the sight. She squinted, but the significance of the symbols didn't surface in her memory.

At the centre of the tablet was a six pointed star surrounded by the depictions of three mythical beasts arranged in a pyramid. The one on the left was an unusual creature with powerful limbs that stood on two legs.

Luna felt the image exuded the presence of an insurmountable warrior.

The one of the right was like a winged serpent coiling through the sky. Above them both was the third being, but it's shape had been slashed away by a huge set of claws.

The image took Luna's breath away. The lines of cut into the humble stone weaved into a divine continuum she could not describe.

Below where two larger images. To the left, was an alicorn with great draconian wings. Facing her, was a warrior mare with a crescent blade.

"The other me was holding that sword. Could this pony be...me?"

A sublime light glowed within Luna's memory. It filled her with a sense of confidence and purpose.

Luna stepped out of the torch lit chamber, and back into the dark of the maze.

The halls were silent. Not a shadow moved.

Luna opened the doors and followed her heart. A pattern emerged within the twisting corridors. All the pieces fit together.

The cold walls of moon stone came to an abrupt halt. In their place, Luna was confined by bookshelves.

She reached a homely oaken door at the end of a short corridor, and opened it.

Row upon row of bookshelves lining a tremendous room. The shelves extended upward for hundreds of feet with only the sky for a ceiling. The stars were out in full resplendence.

Luna might have called it a library, only it's construction was more like that of a temple. In front of her was a straight walkway marked by a carpet of royal purple. It terminating at an altar which sported a series of statues. The shelves comprised two sets of aisles flanking a nave populated by a wide assortment of artefacts.

The flooring was solid oak. Foliage could seen past aisles of bookshelves. Was it possible that this place was situated on top of a giant oak tree?

Luna trotted forward, looking up and down the aisles. She was again a stranger in a foreign land.

A noise made Luna start. She whipped her head around to look beside her.

Piles of books had slumping off of their shelves, barring passage through the aisle.

Luna picked up a book and turned it over in her levitation. There was no author inscribed on the leather coverings, only the title: Spellbook of Desserts.

Luna sniffed. She recoiled and regarded the book at foreleg's length for a moment. It stank of repulsively saccharine ice cream.

Curiosity demanded that Luna read its contents. The book contained an enchanting tale, with vibrant descriptions. It was a journal recounting the day Spike knocked down an ice cream factory, and how Twilight had spent the rest of the day bathing and combing bits of fluff out of her sticky coat.

Luna said, "I see. So this must be Twilight's mind."

The ground shuddered. Luna leapt out from under an avalanche of books.

She sped down the walkway as more books fell the library descended into complete disorder.

Once safely out from under the hail of books, Luna stopped to catch her breath.

"It is just like when I used to observe Twilight's dreams. Everything is falling to pieces. If I do not hurry, she will lose herself again."

Luna turned her attention to the altar.

A tall, high-backed chair had been placed in front of a dais. Behind it was the altar itself. The chair was well cared for, though there were stitches in the cushion and other signs of wear.

Now that Luna could see it more clearly, she recognised the statue atop the altar as that of a stallion rearing on its hind legs. Oak branches had grown up from the surrounding canopy and coiled around the statue's body. It's face, chest, forelegs, and even its cutie mark, were all hidden from sight.

The legs of five other statues were arranged behind the altar in a half-circle. They had been shattered into pieces and their corpses littered the dais.

"There is nowhere else to go," said Luna. "How am I going to help Twilight if I am stuck inside her subconscious?"

A tittering sound caught Luna's ear.

"Looks like I'm seeing things," came Twilight's voice from behind Luna. "This really must be the end."

Luna turned to find an earth pony sitting on a mountain of books, which had piled up in an aisle in front of the altar. She hefted a

weighty tomb entitled, Spellbook of Regrets. A cascade of books could have brained her dead at any moment.

"Who are you?" asked Luna.

The earth pony's coat was sapphire blue, as was her mane. She had a flat, bookish, fringe. The features of her face jerked and shuddered beneath a permanent toothy grin.

"Nopony," said the earth pony, her eyes still scanning the book. "Nopony important anyway — Not anymore. It doesn't matter if you're a prince or a pauper. In death, all ponies are equal."

The earth pony's face creased up and she rocked back and forth in fit of hollow laughter.

When she was finished, she said, "It seems I too will soon be facing my death."

Luna shook her head.

"Such talk is senseless. Death may be the end, but it doesn't take away what we begin — what we leave behind. If you really are dying, then you are not facing your death; You are surrendering to it."

The earth pony riposted with a disquieting pause, and turned a page. Distended blood vessels intruded on the whites of her eyes as she fixed her smile on Luna.

"Do you want something? Well go ahead. Ask. You don't have to hide anything from me, Luna."

Luna met her gaze. If she was at all disconcerted, it did not show.

"I want to find Twilight Sparkle's source of consciousness, so I can talk to her."

The earth pony frowned and looked back at her book. She sighed and waved her hoof towards the other side of the aisle.

"Sure. Follow the stairs over there. Even a luddite like you can handle stairs, right?"

Luna poked her head around. A steel door with a keypad had been set into the bookshelf. Luna tried to open it, but the door remained closed.

Luna shot the earth pony a look.

"It is locked."

The earth pony slammed her book shut. She tossed it over her shoulder and slid to the bottom of the pile, smiling all the way.

The earth pony entered a code into the keypad, her ears flopped up and down sporadically.

"There you are, I'm so glad I was able to resolve this little problem. Sorry I can't come with you; I'm in the middle of a little reminiscence."

Luna studied the earth pony with a glare.

The earth pony cackled and returned to her book.

Luna proceeded through the door, while the earth pony read and laughed at her own misery.

"Twilight...This is not you."

The stairs spiralled downward for some distance. Luna followed them into a dimly lit room with stone walls; taking note of the unlikelihood that she was now inside the giant oak tree.

Schematics covered the walls and airship models hung from the ceiling.  A white coated pegasus pony was hunched over a desk, scribbling furiously with her quill. Her fiery mane was the only source of illumination.

The pegasus stopped and stared down at her work. Her body trembled and contorted at what she saw. Her wings flex as they opened and closed.

The room lit up. She flew into a fit of rage and cast ink, parchment, and all manner of arcane instruments onto the floor.

"No. No. No. No. No! This will never work! No matter how much power I put into this engine, It's still not nearly fast enough."

"Not fast enough?" asked Luna.

The pegasus' eyes smouldered with hellfire as she looked at Luna.

"What in the flying feather are you doing here?"

"Twilight is in danger, so I came looking for her. Now are you going to help me? Or are you equally deranged as the contemptuous little madam upstairs?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just make airships. If I could just figure out the right engine design for this worthless hunk of junk, nopony would ever have to suffer through what I suffered through."

"Airships?"

Luna tapped her chin.

"In any case, she said I could find Twilight down here."

The pegasus turned back to her desk. She crossed her hooves and contemplated her schematics.

"I don't have time to be your chaperone. Take the door over in the corner and go be someone else's problem already. I hope the door hits you on the way out."

Luna's nostrils flared.

"I may decide to slam your head into it first, you depraved wretch of a girl. Do remember your manners the next time we meet."

The pegasus turned back to her desk and dismissed Luna's threat with a wave of her hoof.

A mountain of scrunched up schematics was piled up at the centre of the room.

Luna navigated her way around it to the door. She opened it and was drenched in sunlight. Luna covered her sensitive eyes and staggered into the warm glow outside.

Luna conjured a pair of sunglasses. It took her a few eye-straining minutes to adjust to the overwhelming brightness.

The sun bathed peaks of the University became distinct. Custodians patrolled the paths through the grounds, and crowds of students were going about their business. Luna decided that she was somewhere in the gardens. Groundskeepers tended to the flowers growing by the pond, and even the hedge maze was in view.

Luna usually found a pony's subconscious to be an equitable. Locations and feelings important to them often appeared. A lot could be learned if one pretended they belonged there. If not, the mind's would grow suspicious and withhold it's secrets.

Since Luna knew Twilight well, her presence would not seem strange to her. Therefore, Luna did not think she would have much difficulty in navigating her way to Twilight's source of consciousness. She would just need to behave as though it where an ordinary day at the University of Magic.

Luna approached a gathering of students.

"Excuse me, do any of you know if Twilight Sparkle is in her office?"

"Can't talk right now," said one of the students. "Green Fin is gonna bring out his ace monster."

At the centre of the group was a student playing a card game with a guardspony.

The guard smirked and placed a card on a foam mat in front of him.

"End of the road, slacker. I summon my Constipated Celtic Guard in attack mode."

The guard's opponent almost dropped his cards.

"No way. What's next? Sparkling Friendship? I'm scooping if this keeps up."

Luna walked off with a smile just as the students started to cheer.

"That game looks fun. I might just forgive them for ignoring their Princess."

Luna looked elsewhere for direction. She called to a student running down a gravel pathway with textbooks spilling out of his saddlebags.

"You there — is Her Highness currently in attendance?"

"Get outta the way. I'm running late."

The student rammed into Luna with his shoulder.

The stallion rebounded off of her and fell to the ground in a rain of books and papers. He hastily stuffed them back into his bags and galloped away as though nothing had happened.

Luna straightened the bend in her sunglasses and ran after him.

"Well I never. How dare you —"

The throng thickened, and the stallion vanished.

Luna huffed. She gave up the chase and waited by the side of the path.

The students on the path looked dead ahead with droning eyes, and never stopped moving from one commitment to the next.

Luna called over and over to each passerby, but the students only answered with discourtesies or excuses.

A platoon of custodians marched down the path towards Luna.

"Guardspoines, I require your assistance," said Luna.

The custodians ignored her and marched on.

The blood vessels on Luna's forehead clenched. She cleared her throat.

"Your Princess is giving you an order. You must stop immediately."

Luna may as well have been talking to herself. She caught up with the guards and grabbed one by the scruff of his neck and shouted into his ear.

"I command you to listen!"

A blast of air took off the guard's helmet. Something cracked inside his head, and his face became lopsided. He looked like he was having a stroke.

Luna's face became clammy, and her grip loosened. She wondered if she had ruptured the custodian's inner ears.

"Oh, so sorry. I will just be going..."

The guard hobbled along the path to rejoin his platoon,  groping along the ground for his helmet. He repeatedly lost his footing.

Luna frowned. The racket of stomping hooves and incessant blathering grated on her ears. She sought the quiet deeper within the gardens to ease her throbbing head.

A cluster of trees just outside the hedge maze welcomed her with their shade.

Something squelched as Luna trod over it.

Luna scowled at her oil-spattered hoof. Tools were lying all other the ground. She heard the cranking of a ratchet coming from

behind a tree.

Lazuli was there, tinkering with a machine which had a wide barrel-shaped structure.

"I only just cleaned these shoes, but at least I've found someone of sense and dignity who might help me."

Lazuli got up to look for a spanner. She slipped on a splodge of oil and managed to plant her face squarely in the dirt.

Luna removed her sunglasses to rub her eyes.

"It would seem dignity is growing cheaper by the second..."

Lazuli rose and scratched the back of her head. She found her spanner and continued tinkering.

"Pardon my interruption, young scholar, but I was hoping you could help me find your mentor," said Luna.

Lazuli had earthworms wriggling in her hair. She stared at Luna.

"Well, what do you say?" asked Luna. "Am I not being clear?"

Lazuli turned back to her machine.

"Can it wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations."

Luna stood motionless for several minutes. She stamped her hoof.

"What is the matter with you — all of you? Everypony is either too rude or too busy to help me."

Luna walked back to the path and watched the crowds of students rushing to and fro.

"Every moment I spend scouring Twilight's mind puts Twilight herself in further jeopardy. I have never seen the University during the day, but I am sure Twilight does not have quite so many undergraduates. And certainly not such ill tempered ones either. What could be driving Twilight to have such dubious thoughts?"

A small purple shape sprinted between the stampede of galloping hooves.

Luna peered over her sunglasses.

"Spike?"

The dragon infant slipped between the crowds and made a beeline for the hedge maze.

A unicorn, distinguished by her small stature and lack of baggage, was giving chase.

"Spike — Spike. I'm really sorry. Please come back."

A student twice the filly's size ran headlong into her.

"Busy mare coming though."

The filly shirked and tumbled onto her side. The student galloped off wearing the same expression of cold urgency with which she came.

The filly winced and rose up. She ran forward, only to be knocked down again by the merciless tide of stamping hooves.

Luna snarled. The scene made the pit of her stomach twist. In a instant of furious abandon, she snatched up every single last student in sight with her levitation, and catapulted them halfway to the Moon.

At first, the filly only looked up at the sky with a open mouth. She shook away her awe and confusion and pressed on into the maze.

The maze branched off in three directions. The filly ran down the path to her in front of her, calling Spike's name as she went.

Luna took flight and soared over the maze. Spike had taken the path on the right.

Luna descended in front of the filly, making tiny pony leap out of her coat.

"Greetings, child. Time is of the essence. I must know about —"

The filly screamed and fled.

Luna fluttered over the walls of the maze and followed her. She again placed herself in front of the filly.

"Wait, please. I mean you no harm."

The filly again ran in terror.

Luna pouted. Her ears drooped.

"Will a day ever come when I make a good first impression?"

Luna returned to the air and gained a bird-eye view of the situation.

The filly and Spike each tore a dizzying trail through the maze, narrowly missing each other at one moment, and in opposite corners the next.

Luna hovered and gathered her thoughts.

"Talking to that child is getting me nowhere. But I think she recognizes me. That makes her my only lead."

Luna swooped over the maze. Spike was bawling his eyes out just below her. He was even younger than when Luna had first met him, and he moved at an unnatural pace, given the length of his stubby legs.

Luna levitated him onto her back and circled about. The filly's constant cries made her easy to locate.

The filly rushed around a corner into a dead end.

Luna stood on top of the hedge.

The filly trembled and began to hyperventilate, but didn't move.

Luna jumped down into the maze.

The filly shied away.

"Do you fear me, child?" asked Luna.

The filly whimpered.

"Yes."

"You are not going to run?"

The filly's eyes welled with tears.

"Not until you let go of Spike."

"Why?"

"He's my baby. He needs me."

Luna thrust something at the filly.

She screamed and covered her head.

The filly opened her eyes to find a crying baby dragon levitating in front of her.

"Spike."

She held the dragon close to her chest and kissed his head, even as Spike soaked her with his drool.

Spike's wailing ceased. The filly rocked him into a blissful sleep.

Luna regarded the filly closely.

The unicorn's coat was magenta and spotted with small, white, six-pointed stars. It was clotted with gravel, and covered in bruises.

"Do you have a name?"

The filly murmured something.

"I cannot hear you," said Luna.

"T — Twinkle Star."

"Do you know who I am?"

The filly nodded.

"You're Princess Luna."

Luna chuckled.

"So why are you afraid? Am I really so hideous?"

Twinkle Star looked at the ground.

"Sorry. I thought you were Starlight Flare. She's always picking on me. She says I waste her time and slow down Twilight's work on her flying thingy."

"Flying thingy? This ‘Starlight Flare’ wouldn't happen to have a mane made of fire would she?"

"Yeah. And she's always really really mad."

"What about narcissistic earth ponies? Met any of those?"

Twinkle Star chewed the rim of her hoof.

"Narsi — Narsissisiss — Narcissistic? That's one of the big words Dusk Spark keeps saying when she talks about Starlight. They don't get along."

"You mentioned somepony called Twilight. I would really like to hear what you know about her."

Twinkle Star tilted her head.

"I am Twilight Sparkle. We all are: Starlight Flare, Dusk Spark, and me. We used to be together, but something bad happened to Twilight. She couldn't take it, and we broke apart."

Luna massaged her brow. It was just as she had thought. If Twilight's mind was in pieces, meaningful conversation with her source of consciousness would be all but impossible.

It was just like 100 years ago. Twilight was so dejected that she spent most of her time starring at nothing.

Luna thought back to the incident in the Crystal Empire.

Hordes of monsters with inky skin and deadly beaks ransacked the capital.

A winged giant descended upon Crystal Tower. The few witnesses who lived reported it as standing over sixty feet, and bearing

huge talons that erased their way past the castle walls.

Shining Armour battled the demon and it's brethren, alone, if not for his personal guard. Crystal pony regiments were stretched thin containing the disaster and were cut off from the castle entrance by unrelenting waves of monsters.

Without Shining Armour to lead them, Celestia took it upon herself to command the Empire's defence.

Luna saw her take off from Canterlot, flanked by Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, and several companies of the Equestrian Air Force.

Tia's horn glowed as she evoked an l incantation.

"Harmonization!"

The Wonderbolts were drawn inside a swirling singularity. The ball of magic took shape, and In the place of Spitfire and Soarin flew a different pony entirely.

"Take flight — Elemental BOLT Flame Wingmare!"

The new mare's mane was a scarlet river of pure fighting spirit, and she danced through the sky on green wings of valour.

The Princess and her forces streaked across the sky as fast as their wings could carry them in a mad dash to save Cadence and Shining Armour.

Luna's wings itched for the battlefield, but Tia insisted that she remain behind to address the ponies of Equestria concerning the news.

Luna hardly knew what to tell them. Her usual forthright delivery of the facts elicited only groans and panic from Canterlot's citizens. Rumour of Shining Armour's death spread like wildfire even while the Unicorn Prince himself was still fighting for his life.

Celestia's righteous fury and impeccable tactics desolated the monster's ranks. Soon enough, a force of earth ponies was ready to storm Crystal Tower via aerial insertion.

The crystal ponies were desperate to save their Prince. Scores of soldier's gave their lives for this one imperative, but their courage was wasted.

Though the Prince was found alive in his wife's embrace, his wounds would prove fatal in only a few days.

The wicked giant was nowhere to be found. It's blood tainted the castle ruins.

Twilight had been present at the Equestrian Embassy housed within Crystal Tower prior to the attack. She and a company of guards eventually rendezvoused with Shining Armour and the remnants of his guard, but as Twilight cast a spell to aide her brother an unseen arcane influence turned her magic against him.

Barring the possibility of Cadence, who had abstained from publically discussing the incident, only Twilight was present to witness the decisive blow that felled the Prince.

It still made Luna's blood boil to think that Twilight still blamed herself for the death of her brother.

Twilight, Celestia, and Cadence slaved hour on hour treating Shining Armour's injuries by magic, but his wounds would not heal.

It was obvious to Tia that some form of intelligence was behind the attack.

The monsters had beset the Crystal Empire with an intent to kill unlike any other, and their movements showed a clear understanding of the city's layout.

That demon ripped the very heart and soul out of the Empire. One hundred years on, and the crystal ponies still don't feel safe. They seldom walk the streets at night, and their city still bears the scars of this gruesome series of events.

Crystal Tower was left as a shell of its former self. Cadence went into seclusion, and Twilight nearly followed her brother to the grave.

If the cavalry had arrived just a few minutes earlier, could Shining Armour have lived?

Luna pondered the outcome and gained a new appreciation for Twilight's condition. She must have founded the University so as to change the Crystal Empire's future in the only way she knew how.

"There is hope," said Luna. "let us restore the fragments of her mind."

Luna extended her hoof to Twinkle Star.

"Will you come with me? I need your help."

Twinkle Star blinked at her.

"W — Why?"

"Because if I combine you with the other two pieces of Twilight's mind, I can bring her back."

Luna tried to grab Twinkle Star's foreleg but she got up and backed away.

"But that means going to Dusk Spark's place. I don't wanna."

Luna huffed.

"Why not?"

"I'm not supposed to go there."

"Don't be such a baby. I will be with you."

"No. She'll hurt Spike and make him run away again."

Luna growled.

"I do not have time for this, you ungrateful whelp. If you will not come with me, I will be taking Spike back from you."

Luna gripped Spike by the crest on his head using levitation. Twinkle Star clung to her baby and was hoisted into the air along with him. Her legs dangled and her mane whipped about as Luna swung her round and round.

"Let go, you little brat."

"No. I promised Princess Celestia I'd take care of him."

An image of Celestia appeared in Luna's mind and spoke to her.

Luna, that's no way to reason with a little girl. You should know better.

Luna lowered Twinkle Star to the ground.

Luna rubbed her temple and thought for a moment.

Fine then Tia, how would you deal with this?

The girl checked Spike for signs of injury.

"Oh Spike, are you ok?"

Luna cleared her throat.

"What I really mean to say, Twinkle Star, is...Spike. The real Spike is worried about Twilight, so I need you to be very brave and help me pull Twilight back together so she can him all better."

Luna tried to give a friendly smile, but her piercing eyes and fearsome snarl made it appear as though she was about to eat the poor filly.

Twinkle Star looked at Spike and held him tighter. She sniffed and her eyes welled up.

"He's not real?"

"Well, strictly speaking, yes."

Twinkle Star burst out crying.

"But he must be real. He's right here. He's not dead. He's not."

Luna swallowed. She closed her eyes and tried to remember something Tia had once told her just a few days after her return from the Moon.

Luna, most other ponies don't think the way we do; children especially. Children quickly learn the most important lessons of their lives, but they've still in the process of discovering themselves. The right knowledge can make all the difference, but time is also important. Understand that there is some knowledge a child might not be ready for.

I know you're not used to this. Even the eldest of our subjects seem like infants to you. But seeing from their point of view is the only way to gain their trust.

"Discovering oneself? I hardly know the first thing about myself..."

Luna sighed and brushed back her mane.

"I am too naive."

Luna walked up to the child.

Twinkle Star stopped crying. She turned her back. Her eyes scrunched up, and she shielded Spike as Luna's shadow hung over her.

Luna lowered herself onto her knees.

"You know, you remind me of a filly I met a hundred years ago. She was afraid of something too, and in the end she found a way to overcome that fear."

The filly's breathing was shallow, but she didn't move.

"It doesn't matter how far you and Spike run, Dusk Spark and Starlight Flare are both apart of you, and you them. The only way to help Spike is to face them."

Twinkle Star looked at Luna with trembling lips.

"But how?"

Luna smiled.

"I do not have the foggiest, but there is one mare than can figure it out; a mare who loves Spike just as much as you do."

Twinkle Star wiped the drool from Spike's chin. She looked at Luna and returned her smile.

"Ok."

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Sparks crackled between Voice's limbs. She couldn't move.

The landscape had changed entirely. Ponyville crumpled, melted away, and was replaced by an empty void as Voice's power supply dwindled.

She, Twilight, and Jove, floated without gravity or footing.

"Your bonds are a spiral of despair; They decay, break, and betray. I have studied the nature of mortals since time immemorial, and I always arrive at the same conclusion. The only answer to the puzzle of Chaos is a supreme order."

Jove floated into view above Voice.

"There is something you must learn, Luna. A lesson. I have rotted in a pit of darkness for millennia because of your defective ways."

Voice's legs jerked feebly. She clamped her eyes shut.

Magenta flames amassed at Jove's horn. He sniggered.

"You are just a fake, and yet I will savour your death far more than that of the real Luna. Only you can know Luna's guilt the way she would have. It is quite ironic."

"I will teach you the depths of my torment," said Jove.

Jove unleashed his spell.

When Voice opened her eyes, daylight filled the void. Ethereal stardust drifted softly like falling snowdrops.

Jove's spell of destruction faded before it could reach its target.

The stardust clustered into a single point. With a flash, it became one.

"It's not like you to forget yourself, Voice."

Voice shaded her eyes.

"User Celestia? But how?"

Celestia winked.

"Let's just say I was ‘contacted’ by one of Twilight's students. You've been making plenty of trouble for yourself haven't you?"

Jove shouldered his sword.

"So you were watching, Celestia? So much time has passed, and yet so little has changed. Is that herd of mouth-breathers you call a kingdom really the fruits of your ‘potential’?"

Celestia's horn emitted several magic swords. Streams of magical energy flowed between them, imprisoning Jove within a circle of revealing light.

"Equestria is a nation of free ponies," said Celestia. "The only thing I can confess is my pride."

The sour taste of a lie lay on Celestia's tongue, but she bore the deception well.

Jove ground his teeth. His shoulders flexed, and hellfire simmered beneath his prickling coat.

"You cannot hold me here for long; nor can you run. There is my law, or there is death."

Jove combed back his mane and inhaled deeply. His rage flowed away.

"For once in your life use the wits you were graced with and discard those petty mortals."

Celestia ignored Joveand flew to Voice's side.

"It's ok, Voice. I'm here."

Voice's body sagged. She didn't even lift her head to look at Tia.

"I waited in the corner of a dusty shelf; I honed my spirit into the keenest edge I could imagine, but my blade could not cut him."

User Celestia inspected Voice's wounds.

"You've sustained critical damage. Why didn't you call for help?"

"I thought I could end it right here. I have been too naive."

User Celestia cast a spell.

"There, that should sustain you for now, but you will need time to make repairs later."

Voice's limbs stopped sparking. She fluttered away from Luna and grasped her sword as it drifted in front of her. She quietly starred into the blade's mirror-like edge.

A semblance of sense returned to the void. A smooth invisible flooring came into existence. Celestia and Voice landed, and Voice gently levitated Twilight to the floor.

User Celestia touched Voice's shoulder.

"There's more isn't there? Please, tell me what's wrong."

"I was jealous."

"What?"

Voice explained how Luna had pursued Twilight into the book, escaped her confinement, and entered Twilight's mind.

Voice looked at Celestia and pouted.

"I followed your instructions, at first. But when Luna returned so willingly, a flicker of temptation was all it took for me to forget the purpose you created me for. I set a trap in my subconscious and goaded her into it."

Voice slumped on her haunches.

"I wished she would lose her way and disappear...so I that I could be your sister."

Celetia bit her lip. What had she wrought?

Celestia remembered the longest 1000 years of her life. The sun shone every day, and yet the world had never been so bleak.

She sat down for breakfast every morning and looked across at an empty chair.

Whenever the Moon rose, Celestia shut herself away. There was nothing to protected her from the nightmares outside.

The book was always meant for Twilight, but Celestia cherished it year on year.

Voice was all that remained of the sister she had known. When they first met, she was little more than an interface. She had an expressionless stare and spoke in a monotone.

Over time, Voice changed. She began to say things without provocation. Sometimes she even asked Celestia a question. It always made Celestia's heart skip a beat whenever she said something brash and ill-tempered.

Celestia began teaching students. She saw Voice less and less.

Eventually, she came across a very special student. Luna returned, and the book was left untouched for 100 years.

Celestia unfurled her wings.

"Is that really what you think of yourself?"

Voice looked up at User Celestia.

"Huh?"

Celestia pulled Voice into a hug and surrounded her in a blanket of white feathers.

"I got so caught up in the fight for Clipstow's independence that I forgot  how alike you and Luna really are."

Voice's muzzle was nestled against Tia's neck.

"I do not understand..."

"The day you saved my life, the day I flew for the first time, every night we shared playing chess... All of those times live on in you."

Tia touched Voice's chest.

"You are my sister."

Voice looked at her sister's smile with the blue stare of death. An error seized her display functions.

"But I have wronged Luna. Gravely. How can you say these things?"

"What you did was very dangerous, yes, but the fault is also mine. You needed me, and I wasn't there."

Tia stood up.

"Besides, I can still sense her arcane influence." Tia winked. "I think she can handle herself."

Tia looked at Jove.

"Come on. If we face him together, we can still get Luna and Twilight to safety."

Voice slowly rose to her feet, eyes downcast.

"I still do not understand. Luna is lost, Nightmare Moon's revival is imminent, Twilight is hurt, and Jove will kill us both."

Voice chanced a look at Tia's face.

She starred at Jove with an unflinching expression.

"You have a plan?" asked Voice.