A purple unicorn stormed through the hallways of Canterlot Castle, the ancient building’s beauty completely lost on her. Even the cloudless sky and perfect sun outside the windows did nothing to improve her mood. Her teeth were ground together in frustration and anger, her eyes wet with tears. The guards watching the halls knew better than to anger her when she was like this.
Twilight Sparkle knew what was coming. She had to face her ‘friends’ again. ‘Friends’. Yeah, right. What kind of friends would abandon her? Believe an imposter instead of her? Treat her like garbage? And to think, she had been so excited to attend her brothers wedding!
And speaking of her brother, who should be unfortunate enough to step into her line of sight than Shining Armor, the captain of the guard, the WORST brother in the history of Equestria! “YOU!” Twilight roared across the room.
Shining didn’t hear her, or if he did, he didn’t respond. He just kept walking away, purposefully going through one of the hallways into another room.
“Don’t you dare ignore me!” Twilight yelled, tears streaming from her eyes. “Don’t you ignore your sister again!”
Shining Armor just shut the door behind him, disappearing into another hallway at the far end of the corridor.
Twilight spat on the floor. Buck him. Some royal guard, a selfish coward who couldn’t face up to what he did. Only thinking about his precious guard duties and his wedding and not his bucking sister! She’d find him later, though. One way or another, he would face up to what he did. They all would.
Memories came back, unbidden and unwanted…
Her brother’s hateful face…”And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t show up to the wedding at all.”
Her friends uncaring expressions… C’mon y’all. Let’s go check on the princess.
Celestia’s cold eyes…You have a lot to think about.
They had all abandoned her. Left her behind. Like she was nothing.
But it didn’t matter what they thought. She was right. She had been proven right about ‘Cadence’. A Changeling monster. If they had LISTENED to her, TRUSTED her, this day would’ve been perfect!
It might have ended well enough. That accursed queen would never bother them again. But if they honestly thought that that was the end of it, that they could just say ‘sorry’ and be done with it, they were wrong.
With that in mind, Twilight opened the door. Sure enough, waiting for her inside were 5 other ponies, all of them looking at her nervously. Rarity was shivering, her head lowered. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were supporting each other, taking deep breaths. Fluttershy was hiding behind one of the columns. Rainbow Dash seemed to be swaying on her hooves unsteadily, averting her eyes from Twilight’s gaze.
There was a dead silence for several minutes, the six ponies just staring at each other. Eventually, at the silent behest of the other 5, Applejack spoke first.
“Twi…we’ve been lousy friends…”
“Darn right you have.” Twilight snapped coldly. The others bowed their heads in shame.
“We…we abandoned you…” Rarity added.
“Yes, you did.” Twilight agreed.
Rainbow opened her mouth to say something, but only a croak came out. Pinkie Pie quickly interjected. “We should’ve listened to you…”
“Yes, you should have.”
“We were horrible to you.” Fluttershy whimpered. “And we’re…we’re so sorry…”
Twilight never let up her glare. “Apology not accepted.”
The other five looked at each other in panic, their hopes dashed. Applejack tried to speak again. “T-Twilight…you’re our friend!”
“Oh, really?” Twilight retorted. “I find that pretty hard to believe after all you’ve done to me! Over a year together, all the adventures, all the times we helped each other, and you throw me out just like that!”
Rarity swallowed hard. “But Twilight…you…” Rarity had to steady herself. “You were acting like a madpony…”
“That doesn’t excuse you walking out on me! Going ahead with the wedding without me! And all the things you’ve done to me before the wedding! Taking advantage of me, refusing to take me seriously unless the world depends on it! Actually, not even that!” Twilight just kept ranting, her tears hitting the floor like raindrops. “And what if I had brought proof? You would’ve still sided against me!”
Pinkie shook her head, nearly causing her to topple. “No…we wouldn’t…”
“LIARS! You never believe anything I say until things have already gone to Tartarus! You were supposed to be my friends! You were supposed to have my back, no matter what! Why didn’t you? Why did you leave me all alone?!?!
“Because we were short-sighted, insensitive fools who don’t deserve to have a friend as wonderful as you!” Fluttershy empathically insisted.
Twilight shook her head. “No. You don’t.” she said flatly. She then glanced up at Rainbow, who had been quiet the entire time. “Don’t you have anything to say, Dash?”
Rainbow tried to look at Twilight, but her legs were shaking too hard for her to keep upright. Applejack tried to steady her, but it was clear she wouldn’t be standing for long.
“Well?” Twilight demanded impatiently.
Terror in her eyes, Rainbow opened her mouth. “We…” she croaked, her voice rattling. The others’ eyes widened in fear. Rainbow swallowed and tried again. “We’ll do…” her voice only vaguely resembled Rainbow’s tone. “We’ll do anything…”
Twilight’s face was taken over by intense rage, and Rainbow Dash was thrown into the wall on the other side. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGHH!” the unicorn roared, charging at Dash like an animal.
“Sister!” Rarity desperately cried out, her voice rattling as well. She would’ve run to help her, but Applejack held her back, shaking her head.
Rainbow looked up to behold the terrifying sight of Twilight Sparkle, her black wings revealed and outstretched like a vulture, her blazing eyes glowing in the blackness like embers of Tartarus. ”You have one job! ONE! JOB! And you can ‘t even do it right?!?”she roared, her voice like a hurricane. Purple magic enveloped the hapless Pegasus, hoisting her up into the air.
“Majesty, please!” Fluttershy cried, her voice rattling as well. “Have mercy!”
“Be quiet!” Pinkie hissed in her ear, covering Fluttershy and Rarity’s mouth with her hoof.
Rainbow Dash just babbled helplessly. “Let me do it again! I’ll do it right! I swear!”
”Too late. You RUINED it!” Twilight snarled.
With a sickening CRUNCH, Rainbow’s head was twisted around, snapping her neck.
Almost immediately, the illusion dissipated. Rainbow’s blue body faded out, replaced with black chitin. Her feathery wings vanished, and webbed ones appeared in their stead. Her cerise eyes vanished and were replaced by green compound orbs, though they still remained locked in an expression of pure terror.
With a groan of disgust, Twilight let the dead changeling fall to the floor. She whirled around to face the others, all cowering in fear before her wrath. Pinkie had fallen to the floor, shaking like a leaf. Rarity and Fluttershy whimpered behind Applejack, who was trying and failing to look strong. All of them braced for the worst.
Fortunately, all Twilight did was snap at a nearby Pegasus guard. “You! Congratulations! You’re the new Rainbow Dash.” she growled.
The guard hesitated for a second, but under Twilight’s piercing gaze he forced a smile and shapeshifted from a royal guard to an exact copy of Rainbow Dash. Twilight just made a ‘hmph’ sound, apparently satisfied.
A little calmer now, Twilight recast her own illusion spell. Once again, she became the smaller, younger, purple unicorn that had been wronged long ago. She turned to the other ponies and growled. “Clean up this mess, and make sure Rainbow gets the voice absolutely right this time! You have 12 hours to get your act together! The next insect who screws up gets exterminated just like her!”
With that said, Twilight stormed out of the room, leaving the other five ‘ponies’ alone. They all looked at each other, fear and resignation on their faces.
“We will all die, won’t we?” The new Rainbow Dash asked.
None of the others could say ‘no’. It would have been a lie.
Just outside the gates of Canterlot Castle, Shining Armor winced. He could hear Twilight’s wrath even from outside the castle, and he felt the Changeling die in terror. At this point, all he could do was shake his head in frustration and disgust.
He knew Twilight would start looking for him now. Either that or she’ll try to track down ‘Celestia’, demanding recompense for being abandoned by her teacher. While he had nothing but sympathy for the wretched ‘alicorn’, he hoped that Twilight would go to her instead of trying to find him. That would give him enough time to do what he needed to do.
As he carefully walked out of the gardens, a satchel over his back, he glanced up at the sun. Or rather, the fire that was masquerading as the sun. Hanging from what appeared to be the blue sky was a large glass basin, filled with flaming wood that several Changelings constantly tended to. They buzzed around weakly, their heads hanging low, survival instinct being the only thing that kept them going.
Shining Armor averted his eyes and kept walking. At the other end of the gardens, past the dust that used to be the wretched Discord, was a black hole. Large enough for a pony to walk through, but invisible from anywhere in the castle. After one last look to make sure noling had seen him, Shining Armor stepped into the black hole…
And entered pure blackness.
There was no way to overstate the all-consuming darkness outside of Canterlot Castle grounds. There was no sun, no moon, no stars in the sky. A few pitiful lanterns scattered about could barely make a difference in this unnatural night. It was so black, and had been for so long, that Shining wouldn’t have been surprised that the ponies outside had forgotten what colors were.
Not that it mattered. He had somewhere to go. Shining Armor summoned a green orb, which casted just enough light for him to see where he was going. As he cast his illumination spell, the illusion spell around him vanished as well.
Once, he had been the proud vanguard of Queen Chrysalis, her loyal second-in-command. He wasn’t the original Shining Armour. But he had been called that name so many times by his new queen that it might as well be his name. He’d stopped caring long ago.
The Changeling walked on, not bothering to look down to see if that crunching noise was long dead grass or rotten bones. It didn’t matter. Like so many things since the day of the invasion. Nothing around him mattered. Not the barely-coherent whimperings of what few survivors he could hear, not the remains of pitiful attempts to grow crops with no sun, not even the Changelings scattered about, feeding off what little affection they could to stay alive.
All that mattered right now was his destination, and who was waiting for him.
In the darkness, six voices whispered among themselves.
“I still can’t believe we’re doing this…”
“This isn’t gonna work…”
“What have we got to lose?”
“I just wanna see mommy again…”
“Shh! Somepony’s comin’!”
“Not somepony. Something.”
As the Changeling came closer, his illumination spell made the speakers clear. Two unicorns, one with slightly mismatched eyes holding the other. Two earth ponies, one wearing a tattered bow and a blank flank, and another with broken glasses and a spoon cutie mark. Two Pegasus, one with several tiny triangles on his flank and the other without a cutie mark. In the black world of Equestria, their colors didn’t matter. All of them were barely out of foalhood, and yet they appeared to have aged centuries since the invasion.
Despite the two pegasi glaring at him, Shining Armor greeted the six formally. “The hive agrees to your terms. I have brought what you requested.”
“Really?” One of the unicorns squeaked. It could’ve been either of them.
The Pegasus without a cutie mark was skeptical. “Show ‘em.”
The Changeling dumped his satchel on the ground. What came out were 5 necklaces and a crowd. Even in the darkness, they glinted with power and beauty. All six of the ponies gasped with amazement.
“Is that…really them?”
“Yeah…” the blank flank earth pony responded, picking up the one with a jewel shaped like an apple. “The Elements of Harmony. Mah sister wore this one…” she gulped, tears forming in her eyes as she set the jewel down.
The Pegasus with a cutie mark looked at the Changeling skeptically. “How’d you get them past Twilight? Isn’t she your queen?”
“Not really.” ‘Shining’ answered. “A true Changeling queen would have converted. As it stands, she is ignorant of the hive mind, and without a true queen in this crisis, the duties are passed to the vanguard…namely, me.”
“But she’s still technically your queen. Why are you doing this?”
The Changeling sighed bitterly. “With every day that passes, more of the hive dies. Our food supply is running dry, and the hive is becoming too weak to keep up our ‘queen’s’ little masquerade, and so she kills whatever displeases her. We are on the brink of extinction. Even if we do not survive this crusade, we will accept oblivion over her rule.”
Food Supply. You mean Princess Cadence. the Pegasus thought to himself. In another time, he’d be furious that the princess his family once served was so flippantly described as a ‘food supply’. But after everything he’d done just to stay alive, he quite honestly envied the Changelings’ feeding habits. At least they were somewhat clean.
The smaller unicorn blinked. “Hey um…what is she doing, anyway?”
The Changeling vanguard glanced back at where he knew Canterlot Castle was. He didn’t see it – the dome that separated it from the rest of Equestria was as black as the rest of the world's darkness- but he knew it was there.
“Convincing herself that she is the true victim.” He scoffed. As he did, all the ponies present remembered the day everything changed.
It was a beautiful day in Canterlot. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were chirping merrily, and everypony was having a great time. Only the best for the wedding of Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor. Ponies from all over Equestria came to celebrate the union of the two ponies, including the six Elements of Harmony that had saved the land twice. Five of them, at least.
In the ceremony hall of Canterlot Castle, Celestia walked up to the center of the stage. Smiling proudly at her smiling niece and her groom-to-be, both of whom seemed overjoyed and overwhelmed by the events. The five Elements of Harmony (Celestia sighed deeply. Hopefully Twilight would have calmed down by now) standing beside them. Eventually, she cleared her throat.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today-“
BOOOOOM
Everypony whirled around to see what had made the noise. As the smoke cleared at the back of the hall, the source of the explosion became clear.
It was an alicorn. Her coat was completely black, her cutie mark all but gone. Immense black wings that hung overhead like vulture’s unfurled. And eyes…eyes that burned like smoldering embers of purest hate. But even with the darkness twisting her appearance, it was clear what pony she had once been.
“TWILIGHT?!”
Celestia’s eyes widened with horror. “No…not again…”
”Oh. Yes.” The thing that had once been Twilight smirked, revealing her new fangs.
Two royal guards, one with an orange coat and one with a dark brown coat, raised their weapons and charged at the intruder. Without even bothering to look up, Twilight swatted them away with a powerful purple tendril of energy. Both of them smashed into the walls heavily, falling to floor like limp rag dolls. The brown one’s younger brother, a Pegasus with three triangles on his flank, cried out.
‘Twilight’ started walking towards the crowd, her face contorting itself into a horrific grimace. Celestia glanced at the two slain guards and leapt towards her student, blocking her path towards the crowd of terrified ponies. “Twilight! Stand down! What is the meaning of this?!”
“You know what this is about!” Twilight snapped. ”I trusted you, loved you, and you threw me out! You shunned me! Disowned me! After everything I did for you!”
“I did no such thing!” Celestia countered. “You were acting like a foal! And now you have surrendered to darkness, and killed two of my best guards! Stand down, or I will BRING you down!”
“Oh, this is nice! Threatening me? Changing the subject? Thinking you can push me around like some schoolyard brat? I’m not some filly you can patronize and cast aside!”
“Be that as it may, but you will NOT threaten my ponies!”
“GET OUT OF MY WAY!” Twilight roared like a manticore.
Celestia sighed sadly. She had already lost her sister because of this madness, and she wasn’t going to lose her student. But there were too many bystanders here…a prolonged fight would only cause more casualties. She had to take her down fast.
“Everyone, leave!” Celestia cried out. Leaping into the air, Celestia readied her strongest spell. The entire room was illuminated with the power of the sun…
But Twilight wasn’t impressed. More black tendrils shot out from her horn, grabbing Celestia and forcing her to the floor. As the other ponies watched with growing horror, Princess Celestia was swallowed up by inky darkness, her eyes widening with terror as the powerful tendrils began to suffocate her. The sun's light began to flicker outside…
“THAT’S IT!” Shredding her bridesmaid gown, Rainbow Dash took to the air with a flap of her wings. Snapping out of their shock, the other four ran up to Celestia, dodging the crowd of ponies stampeding out of the hall in a panic. Meanwhile, Cadence was hiding behind Shining Armor, who cast a shield spell around the two of them. Why she wasn't fleeing with the others was any pony's guess.
Once she felt she had built enough speed, Rainbow Dash charged straight at the thing that was pretending to be Twilight. “Nopony hurts the princess! I don’t care what your deal is – “
Twilight saw her coming, and Rainbow Dash felt herself freeze in midair. “Of course you don’t. You didn’t care when I warned you about Cadence, you didn’t care when I was worried about my reports, you don’t care about anypony but yourself! All you care about is your flying and your precious Wonderbolts! You destroyed our so-called friendship, the one thing I valued more than anything, so I’ll destroy what YOU value!”
Two tendrils wrapped themselves around Rainbow’s wings, and with a sickening sound, they were torn off right at the withers. The Pegasus screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor, her wings falling beside her like useless leaves. Rainbow tried to pick herself up, looking at her bare, bloodied back in horror.
Twilight laughed, happy that she had finally brought that arrogant Pegasus down to earth. Her laughter was cut short when a sharp, hard gemstone hit the side of her head.
Rarity was standing beside the mummified Celestia, her face a mask of pure fury and outrage. Her telekinesis was lifting the largest gems off her dress and aiming them right at Twilight. Beside her, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie desperately tried to remove the tendrils from their Princess, who was rapidly gasping for breath.
“You unspeakable brute!” Rarity screamed, shooting another rock at the shadow creature. “You are NOT our friend!”
Twilight stopped the gem in midair. “Was I EVER your friend, little miss prissy? Or was I just a tool to you, to get you into high society?” The windows around Twilight shattered, the glass fragments hanging in the air. ”It all makes sense now. The golden tickets, the Grand Galloping Gala, the lies you spewed to Fancypants, and now this! All I ever was to you was a way to get cozy with the princesses! And once I’d stopped being useful, you threw me away!” The sharpest shards of glass all lined up at Rarity. “Well, let’s see how you’ll get into your precious high society after THIS!”
Rarity’s tried to shield her face with her hooves, but it didn’t matter. The glass fragments easily slipped through any gaps they could, tearing into her face. Hundreds of cuts and gouges appeared, and within seconds her face was a pulpy mess of blood and tears. Rarity fell to the floor in agony, covering her disfigured face. A tiny voice in the back shrieked with horror before quickly being removed from the premises by her friends.
Twilight laughed, much to Pinkie’s horror. “THIS ISN’T FUNNY, TWILIGHT!” she cried out.
“And who are you to decide what’s funny, Pinkie? You obnoxious, irritating, irrational idiot who has no concept of irony! Well, here’s some irony for you! HAVE SOME BALLOONS, PARTY PEST!”
All of a sudden, dark strings wrapped themselves around Pinkie’s neck. Those strings were attached to a mass of black orbs that pulled Pinkie up into the air. The pink pony was soon dangling far above the floor, gasping for breath as the balloon strings tightened around her neck.
Fluttershy broke off from futilely pulling at the tendrils crushing Celestia to fly up into the air, biting at the black strings around Pinkie’s neck. Despite her best efforts, they wouldn't break or even loosen.
“Of course. Kindly Fluttershy, doing everything she can to help her friend. Where was that kindness when the rest of you abandoned me?”
Several of the palace garden critters had come up to investigate the noise. Nightmare Twilight looked at them and got an idea. Several black tentacles touched the heads of the animals, and their eyes were overcome with the same blackness that Twilight’s eyes exuded.
“Everypony turned against me. The ponies I thought I could trust! Well, let’s see how YOU like it!”
Fluttershy looked up to see dozens of birds with burning black eyes flying straight at her. She only had time to gasp in shock before they were upon her, sharp beaks ripping at her flesh and eyes like hungry Parasprites. She broke away from the struggling Pinkie, toppling to the floor as the birds ripped her apart.
Twilight looked down to see Applejack charging right at her. ”And as for you – “ she started.
“SHUT THE BUCK UP!” Applejack roared, headbutting Twilight with enough force to topple a barn. Caught off guard, Twilight rolled back into the wall. The furious farmpony didn’t give her a chance to recover, leaping at her and beating at her with her hooves. Twilight looked up to see that the disfigured Rarity and the wingless Rainbow Dash had joined in the assault. All of them had eyes burning with absolute rage.
“SICK BITCH!”
“YA MONSTER!”
“HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO THEM?”
“HOW COULD YOU ABANDON ME!!!!” Twilight screamed, rearing her wings and forcing Rainbow and Rarity off of her. She knocked them both back with enough force to send them crashing out a window, plummeting to the ground far below. Applejack was lucky enough to crash into a pillar in front of Twilight. “YOU BETRAYED ME! ME! AFTER EVERYTHING WE’VE EVER DONE, YOU TOSSED ME OUT LIKE I WAS TRASH!”
Applejack was breathing heavily, hoarsely coughing up blood. “Ya mean…the rehearsal? Do ya…think that…that justifies…this?”
Before Applejack could pick herself up, Twilight was upon her, pressing her against the pillar hard enough to form cracks in the stone. ”You can fix this, Applejack. Tell me you’re sorry. Apologize.”
Applejack looked around. Celestia had long since disappeared underneath the tendrils. Pinkie Pie had stopped struggling. Fluttershy was nothing more than a horde of animals over a puddle of blood. The broken window that Rainbow and Rarity had crashed through was too high above the ground for them to survive. Cadence and Shining Armor were still rooted to the spot, expressions of shock on their faces, too parlayed to move.
Applejack looked Twilight right in the eye and spat in her face.
With an enraged roar, Twilight brought her hoof down on Applejack’s face with enough force to crush her skull. The farmpony’s body limply fell down to the floor. Somewhere in the halls of Canterlot Castle, a tiny voice started crying and didn’t stop.
Twilight turned to look at the bride and groom. Neither of them had moved. Cadence was staring at Twilight with surprise, while Shining didn’t even seem to be looking at her. He seemed to be staring into space, only focusing on the personal shield. This only made Twilight angrier.
“And YOU! YOU’RE the one who turned everypony against me! ME! Your little sister! Your LSBFF! All for your precious little wedding and that bitch of a bride! This is YOUR fault, do you hear me? YOUR FAULT!”
A tentacle shot out from Twilight’s horn, shooting straight at Shining Armor faster than a sonic rainboom. His shield didn’t stand a chance. The tendril smashed through like it was nothing, impaling Shining right through the heart. Cadence gasped beside him.
His eyes opened wide, looking at the mare who killed him. “Twi…Twiley…” He gurgled once before crumpling to the floor.
All Cadence could do was stare at the carnage in shock and surprise. Twilight suddenly teleported in front of her, a horrific smile on her face.
”Looks like I ruined your precious wedding, you little bitch.”
To Twilight’s shock, Cadence suddenly began laughing. “Aheh…aheheheh…AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHA! Quite…quite the opposite, actually. This is even better than I planned!”
Twilight blinked. “What?”
All at once, a green light enveloped Cadence. Her regal wings were reduced to gnarled insect, her horn became twisted and bent, her fur was replaced with black chitin. Her eyes opened, revealing unnatural green irises and a mouth filled with fangs.
Twilight’s eyes widened with surprise. “Wha-“
The creature stood there, laughing in an attempt to sound triumphant and in control. “Thanks to your little temper tantrum, anything that could’ve threatened me or my Changelings has been eliminated! Princess Celestia, the elements of Harmony…even that idiot of a guard! I had hoped to feed on him more, but now that he’s dead, my Changeling Army can invade Canterlot for real!”
Twiight’s jaw went slack, processing this new information. “Ch-Changelings?”
Even as the creature continued boasting, she was stepping back towards one of the balconies. “If you hadn’t left right after your friends did, I would’ve tossed you in the caves where I put the REAL Cadence. But now, I’m so glad I didn’t! Now, nothing can stop me!”
“REAL CADENCE?!” Twilight shrieked. “YOU WERE NEVER THE REAL CADENCE?!?”
“Hardly.” Chrysalis scoffed, silently sending a signal to her army to come to her. They were already past the fallen barrier, rushing into the streets of Canterlot. “Changelings like me can mimic somepony’s loved ones, and while I admit my acting wasn’t the finest, since I got you suspicious, my magic can ensure that everypony loves me no matter what! Your brother, your friends, your mentor…none of them suspected anything!”
Twilight just stood there, taking in the revelation as the Changeling Queen continued to boast. Her eyes twitched, her lip quivered, her entire body shivered with growing rage.
Chrysalis eyed the army that was still too far away. If she kept this alicorn distracted just a little longer...“I really have to thank-“
“IT WAS YOU!” Twilight screamed, firing a deadly bolt of black energy straight at the Changeling Queen.
Chrysalis didn’t even have time to scream. In the streets below, the Changeling army froze as they felt their queen suddenly die.
Twilight gasped for breath, the shock gradually wearing off as she stared at the crater where the Changeling Queen had once stood. She soon regained her breath and called out to her friends. “You see? You see? I told you she was evil! I told you…”
Twilight turned around, puzzled as to why her friends wouldn’t answer. Fluttershy had been reduced to bones, the horrified animals retching as they realized what they’d done.
“G…girls?”
The black balloons faded away and Pinkie Pie fell to the floor, making a sick sound as her breathless body slammed into the tiles.
“It…it’s over, she’s dead, we can…”
Applejacks caved in face was spilling blood everywhere.
“…Girls?!”
Twilight ran to the broken window and looked down. Two broken bodies were lying on the ground far below. It looked like Rainbow had grabbed Rarity in a futile attempt to break her fall.
“…the…the wedding…”
Her brother was bleeding all over the stage, his face frozen in an expression of shock.
“CELESTIA!”
Twilight screamed and ran to her mentor’s side. The solar diarch didn’t stand up to greet her student. She didn’t move at all. As Twilight tried to move her, she could feel her mentor leave…
“Nuh…no…”
The room was getting darker, even though sunset was hours away.
“This is…okay…” Twilight clamped her eyes shut, and opened them again. The scene didn’t change.
She tried again. Still nothing.
“Wake up…wake up…” she chanted to herself. “Please wake up…”
The room became darker and darker, shadows eclipsing the bright colors of Canterlot Castle.
Tears came into Twilight’s eyes. “…nuh-no…”
Reality settled into Twilight’s gut. This wasn’t a dream. This wasn't a nightmare. This wasn’t some daydream revenge fantasy foals would have after they had a bad day. This was real.
“No, nonono…”
The sun finally vanished forever.
Her friends were dead. Her brother was dead. Her mentor was dead.
And she had killed them.
“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NONONONONONONONONONO!”
She screamed, ranted and raved at the carnage around her. She whirled around at the doors, the exit, the way out of this horrorhouse. She barely noticed the two guards slumped at the sides. But standing in the doorway, looking at her with absolute rage and horror, was Princess Luna.
“WHAT HAST THOU DONE?!” Luna demanded furiously.
Twilight didn’t hesitate. Lashing out, she hit Luna with a force more powerful than she could imagine. Even with all her power, the lunar diarch didn't stand a chance. She joined her sister in an instant.
“I DIDN’T DO THIS!” Twilight screamed as true darkness settled over Equestria. “THIS WASN’T MY FAULT! THIS WASN’T MY FAULT! THEY BETRAYED ME, THIS WASN’T MY FAULT! This wasn’t my fault…”
Nopony heard her voice in the growing darkness, as even the moon and stars vanished from the sky. She only heard her own voice in the blackness.
“This wasn’t my fault…This wasn’t my fault…”
The earth pony, Apple Bloom, snorted. “’Not her fault. She’s the victim’. Where does she get off sayin’ that what she did ain’t her fault?!”
Shining Armor shook his head. “I don’t presume to know. All I know is that ever since she took over the hive and constructed the orb around Canterlot Castle…it is the same routine every time. How her friends betrayed and abandoned her. How she thinks the wedding should have gone. And then how they grovel and beg for her forgiveness for what they did. She no longer even admits to any wrongdoing on her part."
Scootaloo growled. “They didn’t abandon her.”
The other Earth pony, Silver Spoon, sighed. “Well, they kinda…”
“NO!” Sweetie Bell snapped at her, tears in her eyes. “Don’t say it! Nopony talks about my sister like that! Rarity didn’t deserve what Twilight did to her!”
“Neither did my brother.” The quiet Pegasus added. “He had nothing to do with the ‘betrayal’ of Twilight Sparkle. She didn’t even look up when she killed him. Like he…like he was NOTHING.”
“Please…” Dinky pleaded. “Let’s not fight again…”
“I agree.” Shining Armor remarked. “There’s no point in discussing who or what was at fault. Anything that could conceivably be at fault is long dead. Celestia, Chrysalis, your sisters…even Discord.”
Everypony nodded. Not long after she realized what she’d done, she’d attacked Discord’s statue, insisting that this was some trick by the chaos god’s powerless statue. But even when she reduced him to sand and rubble, his voice silently screaming for mercy, her friends were still dead.
“We stand on the graves of the former bearers. It doesn’t matter if they are at fault anymore. All that matters is that their murderer, the one who ruined this world for all of us and refuses to fix it for fear of facing her own actions, is still alive.”
There was a dead silence as what he said sunk in. Beneath them were the bodies of the former Element bearers. Twilight emptied out the castle in order to better fit her fantasy of what had happened. Stumbling in the darkness looking for food, the six ponies present had found their loved ones and gave them what decent burial rites they possibly could. This was the place where they would take up their mantle.
Silver Spoon, for all her faults, was practical and to the point. “So, who gets what?”
“I’ll take magic.” Sweetie Belle groaned, not happy that she was going to wear the same element as her sister’s murderer. “I’m the only one here with decent magic.”
“Silver gets honesty.” Applebloom decided. “She don’t mince words, and ah have to respect that.”
“Loyalty’s mine.” Scootaloo grabbed the necklace and put it around her neck. “Rainbow was as good as my sister, and I’ve stood by everypony for this long.”
“Dinky should have kindness.” Silver remarked, handing the element over to Dinky. “She’s been too nice not to have it.”
“Thank you.” Dinky smiled.
“That leaves generosity and laughter.” Applebloom remarked.
“You’ve gave us your orchard’s supplies when you could’ve survived better by keeping them to your family.” the Pegasus remarked. “You should have Generosity.”
“But then you’d get Laughter, Steel Sprinkles.” Scootaloo observed. “When I think of you, I don’t think ‘laughter’.”
“Who laughs these days?” Steel Sprinkles remarked. “My name’s funny enough. That still counts. I guess.”
Silver Spoon shrugged. “Good as any of ours. Really, this entire plan hinges on the Elements being desperate enough to take us for bearers.”
“They’re the elements of Harmony, right?” Dinky asked innocently. “So they want things to be harmonious. Some kinda balance. So they’ll want to de-evil Twilight.”
“As good a plan as any.” Applebloom groaned. Applebloom placed the Element of Generosity around her neck, while Steel Sprinkles set the element of Laughter around his own neck. Soon, all six ponies were outfitted with the elements they had chosen. While there was a spark of hope between them, they felt more like soldiers marching towards a suicide mission than heroes charging to victory.
Shining Armor nodded. “Indeed. Twilight is still on her warpath, but she will need to rest soon. I will bring you to the Castle, and then you can use the elements on Twilight.”
“She’ll kill us.” Silver Spoon stated. “If this doesn’t work, we’re all dead.”
“As I said, I will face oblivion before I spend another day under her reign.” Shining responded.
“And besides.” Dinky looked up at the black sky, imagining there were stars there. “Either way…we’ll see everypony we loved again. Right?”
Shining Armor hesitated. The other part of the deal was that if these six desperate ponies somehow succeeded, the Changelings would reward them by giving them the ones they had lost…in the process, replenishing themselves with their love. The Changelings were on the verge of starvation…they would suck them dry within minutes, or reduce them to food supplies like they had Cadence, forever stuck in a cocoon to serve as food.
They all knew this.
“Yes. You will.” The Changeling tried to reassure.
The six ponies nodded, silently vowing to their fallen friend that they would never return. The Changeling vanguard glanced at the hive in the blackness, where a queen in denial stayed in her fantasy world. Dinky looked at the sky, where no sun or moon would ever shine again. Scootaloo heard the sobbing of ponies wheezing their last breaths.
One way or another, it would all end soon.
Author's Note
Happy late Nightmare Night, every pony!
I have a bad habit of publishing stories about shows or events years after they're relevant. Oh well. Hope you enjoy anyway.