Twilight finally caught up to her friends to find out they were indeed going the right way, for they had found the castle, but not before night had fallen. The castle looked the same as when they had left it so many years ago. Only this time, they were fully aware of the dark energy emanating from the castle. The ruined building of the past showed its age despite its poor upkeep as though it were proud of its state, looking as though it would fall to rubble with the slightest earthquake, or maybe even a light breeze.

The six entered through the large wooden door that was somehow still attached after its opening, the loud creaking sound of the hinges threatening to give way to the thousand years or possibly more of service it has kept. Broken glass and rubble were the main sights in this chamber where so many years ago the same six mares had found what they believed to be the true Elements of Harmony.

“Hasn’t changed a bit, has it?” Applejack stated looking to one of the broken windows.

“It looks just as we left it all those years ago.” Rarity added as she surveyed the hall.

“Except for that cold feeling in your gut you didn’t have last time.” Rainbow Dash replied, acknowledging the dark presence in the atmosphere.

“Ah’m sure it was just you who didn’t have that feelin’ Rainbow, tryna be all brave an’ whatnot.” The cowpony replied, kicking a pebble out of her way. She turned to look at Twilight.

“So now what? We’re here, where do we start lookin’?” She asked.

“We should split up.” Twilight stated, her sentence being met with a gasp from Fluttershy and Rarity.

“B-b-but it’s so… Scary…” Fluttershy stammered.

“Not only that, but we don’t know what’s lurking around the corner. There could be any foul creature you could imagine!” Rarity added.

“I didn’t mean search alone. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, you both search the higher levels of the castle, leave no room unchecked. Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy, check the lower levels, remember, no room unchecked. We need to be thorough but fast. We don’t want to be here all night.” Twilight replied, explaining her plan.

“What about you Twi? What’ll you do?” Asked Applejack.

“I’m going to stick to the first floor rooms and do my sweeps. If anypony finds anything unusual, use your comlinks to contact the rest of us. Any more questions?”

“Uhh, yeah, why do you get to go on your own?” Rainbow asked, landing for a moment.

“I’m only handling this chamber and the few other rooms on this floor that haven’t completely crumbled away. Remember, most of the castle has deteriorated. There are entire floors that are gone, while others still stand. Not always in a fashion that makes sense either. It’s a miracle most of this castle is still standing. Keep that in mind everypony, watch your step.” Twilight explained.

“Alright everypony, move ‘em out.” Applejack stated loudly as she and Rainbow Dash headed towards the stairwell at the other end of the chamber. The other group nodded and started making their way towards the hallway west of the large monument in the center of the chamber.

After a few moments, Twilight was the only one left standing in the large hall. She could almost hear her breaths echoing throughout the chamber. That was only due to how tuned in she was to her environment due to her mastery of the Force, a normal pony would not hear her unless she were to sharply exhale, or had a special talent having to do with their above-average sense of hearing.

She walked towards the statue, her memories of the first time she had been in this place flooded back to her as though she were reliving it all. She remembered her feelings of what she would call dislike for the five ponies that became the best friends she ever knew, simply because she believed she didn’t need them. She recalled how she thought she would just be done with them once the whole ‘Save-Equestria-From-Eternal-Night-by-Getting-the-Elements-of-Harmony-and-Stopping-Nightmare-Moon-With-Them-in-Some-Way-That-Did-Not-In-Any-Way-Involve-These-Five-Hooligans’ event was over. The way things turned out though, it didn’t quite go how she thought they would. Twilight looked up at the statue, missing the five spheres representing the elements her friends possessed.

“What would I have been like if I never realised what friendship could really be?” Twilight thought aloud, without really thinking about it, Twilight reached out a fore-hoof to touch the statue. Upon her touch, she immediately felt faint, stumbling back from the statue as though she suddenly had too much cider to drink. The chamber around her spun wildly, the already particularly dark room grew darker and darker until all Twilight could see in any direction was black. She wanted to yell for help, she wanted so badly to take her comlink out of her cloak and tell her friends to get back to the main chamber, but she couldn’t move, she couldn’t use her magic, every part of her felt numb. She fell onto her stomach as her legs gave out from underneath her. She shut her eyes tightly, hoping the overwhelming sickness would go away soon. She could feel the numbness slipping away slowly and the void she was in felt as though it was spinning less. Both feelings could have been her becoming used to the symptoms, but she was determined to think otherwise.

After what felt like eternity, the feelings finally vanished, albeit slowly. Twilight opened her eyes and looked around the void of black. Although there was no apparent light source, she could see her body parts even though nothing else was visible in the space. She cautiously picked herself up from the ‘floor’ of the void, surveying her surroundings, or lack thereof. Twilight wanted to walk forward but was rather concerned with the significant overabundance of empty space and even more prevalent lack of a floor. Suddenly, the emptiness beneath Twilight’s hooves formed into a light grey stone floor, it did not cover the entire space of the void, but made a large platform in it at least. She carefully placed one hoof forward, followed by the next hoof, and so on until she felt comfortable enough knowing the ground would not drop out from under her suddenly, even though she still half-expected it to happen.

After becoming confident enough in her steps, she looked to the opposite end of the platform. Twilight could see what she believed to be another pony. This pony was draped in all black and was backing her.

“Umm… Hello there? Could you help me?” Twilight asked nervously. The other pony took visible notice of her, performing a very slow about-face. Over the pony’s head was a hood, effectively hiding her face along with the apparent darkness that covered the realm of this plane of existence. Twilight noticed that the only apparent light source was the platform, which brightly stood out in the void of black.

Twilight took another step forward with her left hoof, her motion mirrored by the mystery pony. Twilight wanted to recoil but was determined to not show more weakness than she already had with her greeting and took several more forward, every step being mirrored by the draped figure before her. Every time the other pony’s hind hooves and right fore-hoof stepped down, Twilight swore that there was a slightly more metallic sound as well as weight to this pony’s step than her own.
As she grew closer, she no longer felt safe. Something more was wrong about the entire situation. The other pony took two more steps than Twilight did, its head facing the floor.

“Who… Are you?” Twilight asked lightly under her breath.

“I thought that much was obvious.” A feminine yet robotic voice answered. Twilight’s eyes shot open as the pony looked up from the ground to look her in the eye. From inside the hood, one flame-orange eye accompanied by what seemed to be one sole red light where the pony’s other eye should be stared through Twilight.

Twilight thought she knew who was staring back at her, but didn’t want to believe what she was thinking. From the corner of her eye, she saw a metallic rod emerge from behind the dark pony. Twilight took control of her senses and jumped out of the way of the now-activated lightsaber that swung at her, drawing her own to counter the next swing of the pony’s red blade of plasma.

The two ponies locked eyes once again as their lightsabers were brought to a ready position in front of them. A low, mechanical chuckle sounded from the draped pony. Twilight lunged forward, her lightsaber spinning in a flurry of movements to confuse her foe, to no avail however as her series of feints were met and stopped as if the pony had seen the technique a thousand times before. Their lightsabers clashed together several more times in a series of exchanges that caused Twilight to realise that this was becoming more and more like trying to fight her shadow if it had been brought to life to do battle with.

Suddenly her ‘shade’ did something unexpected; Twilight stumbled back after the dark pony parried her swipe and forced Twilight’s own lightsaber hilt into her face, following with a swift buck to her front, sending Twilight to the floor. It felt like she’d just been whacked by two pieces of metal that were not her own lightsaber. The dark pony leapt high into the air above Twilight. The pony closed in on her quickly with her lightsaber aimed right for Twilight’s throat. Twilight thrust her hoof out in front of her, pushing the pony back into the air again with the Force, allowing Twilight to get back on her hooves safely. Her safety would not last however, as she barely escaped the red blade hurtling towards her ducking out of its way just in time.

The shade rushed towards Twilight again, lightsaber flailing just as before. This time however, it was obviously less planned and more rage-filled. Twilight could feel the raw power behind the swings of the dark being, but less concentration and concern of leaving itself open after an attack. The shade also stopped moving altogether, simply swinging the lightsaber at Twilight without actually staying close to it. Twilight decided to use this against the shadowy pony and started putting more space between it and her between attacks, jumping away after each attack, playing purely defensively. The shade still did not budge an inch, standing still on the center of the platform, surveying its opponent with its mismatched eyes. Twilight mentally measured at least fifteen feet of space between her and the pony and decided it was time to end this fight.

After countering with a hard swing, making the red lightsaber recoil enough to allow Twilight a moment, she closed her eyes and concentrated her magic into her horn as quickly as she could, imagining the symbols she had conjured into her mind countless times before. Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple light, making the floating red lightsaber flail at the air where she had once been.

Twilight reappeared above the dark pony, swinging her lightsaber down towards the pony’s neck. The shade grunted in surprise as it narrowly dodged the fatal blow. Twilight landed where the draped pony had once been, observing the crimson blade flying towards her, knocking it out of the air in an instant with her own, slicing the hilt in two, rendering the weapon useless. Twilight smirked and looked over to her still standing opponent who was hunched over slightly and visibly breathing hard. A few moments passed as she observed the shade.

The draped pony looked up at Twilight, letting out a low mechanical laugh. A dark magical aura engulfed the pony’s hood; Twilight could hear the fabric tearing as the hood was ripped clean from the rest of the cloak. As she observed what lay under the hood, Twilight once again found herself unable to believe what she saw before her.

The shade greatly resembled Twilight minus the striking differences. The pony’s right eye was completely red with metal covering around the sides. Its mane was cut short in some places or completely bald in others, the pony’s coat looked as though it had been burnt off in some places. The shade’s snout and mouth were covered by a metal breathing device that was considerably loud for such a small device. The left half of the pony’s horn was completely grey and metallic.
The shade let out a robotic growl as a sustained bolt of red lightning shot from its horn and struck Twilight, her lightsaber falling to the ground, shutting off as it hit the stone flooring. She found herself struggling to maintain even the simplest line of thought as the lightning painfully coursed through her. She fell to the floor with her entire body in spasms as the shade approached her slowly, chuckling as it did so.

Twilight wanted to scream for help, or even just form a coherent thought that didn’t have to do with the crippling pain flowing through every inch of her. She feared death. She felt as though it was approaching her. Every moment she was getting more used to the pain was another moment where she felt as though death was coming for her.
Not here, not now.

That was the only thought Twilight could continue repeating as her shade shot bolt after bolt of energy into her soon-to-be corpse. After what must have been the hundredth time she had repeated the thought to herself over the course of hardly a few seconds, Twilight found herself wishing for death as a way out. Anything seemed viable at this point in her pointless struggle against this greater being. There was no bargaining for her life, this shade wanted nothing from her other than to take her life. For what reason, Twilight knew not. She did not really care either. None of that mattered.

I’m sorry. I failed you all. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

Twilight thought as she began to embrace her fate as it slowly wrapped its cold, numbing feeling around her. Twilight opened her eyes one last time. The shade above her looking down with pure hatred upon Twilight, it needed not even the one good eye to convey its feelings. Twilight was about to shut her eyes for the last time when she noticed the shade’s horn. The metal half of it had turned white, as though it were being smelted in a furnace. Suddenly, the shade’s horn exploded in a tiny blast of white and orange flame as red electricity shot through the air in every direction. Twilight could breathe normally once again, form thoughts that could last for more than just a split second. She thanked Celestia that she did not have to die today.

Twilight looked over to the shade again, seeing that it was now shocking itself with the rampant blood-tinted lightning that now shot through the air as well as hurt the caster of the lightning who yelled in pain, clearly unable to control the stream of power shooting from its forehead. Twilight picked up her lightsaber from the ground next to her, flicking it on and dashing towards her foe.

The crimson lightning storm subsided as Twilight rushed towards her foe, not allowing another moment wherein it could recover. Twilight was within striking range of the dark pony when it pulled a violet-bladed lightsaber from the remainder of its now-burnt cloak, blocking Twilight’s swing. She looked over the hilt of the weapon.

“Bu- What? How d-” She stammered, realising the previous owner of the lightsaber the shade held. It was Rarity’s. Twilight’s resolve to defeat this pony was stronger than ever. She desperately wanted to repress her anger but was finding it incredibly difficult. She wanted this pony dead for what it had done, or what her mind implied it had done, but before she could act on her wishes she saw four more lightsabers burst from the pony’s cloak. Fearing a point-blank strike from five separate lightsabers, Twilight broke away from her foe and put several feet between them with a single backflip.

Twilight observed as the newly drawn lightsabers were switched on one by one. First Applejack’s, then Rainbow Dash’s, then Fluttershy’s and finally Pinkie’s own floated in the air around the shade, all pointed towards Twilight.

“I can sense your anger…” The shade stated ominously, Twilight felt a cold bead of sweat form on her brow.

“I can hear your thoughts too…” It continued, strafing around Twilight who mirrored this action “You want to kill me because I killed your friends… But you can’t… Not while restraining your emotions anyway…”

“I can defeat you any way I want! You’re nothing but a shadow!” Twilight yelled back. The shade chuckled, sighing after the last huff of laughter.

“I think I know what it would take to defeat me, and you would too, after all, you’re me and I’m you. We’re just a bit displaced as far as time goes.” The dark pony responded.

“So what you’re saying is that you are me in the future?! You’re lying!” Twilight screamed in reply “I would never kill my friends!”

“Not as you are now. If you strike me down however, that may just be your fate.” It spoke, readying its arsenal of reclaimed lightsabers once again. Twilight was brimming with anger, part of her wanted to list all the reasons why she would never kill her friends, presenting evidence on how strong her bond was with each one. However, a bigger part of her just wanted to take out her rage on this pony physically.

Twilight charged towards the shade, screaming her battle cry at the top of her lungs. She slashed away at the pony, giving it more than enough work for the five lightsabers it had employed. Twilight found her first opening in the shade’s defenses, slicing Fluttershy’s lightsaber in two, sending the broken weapon skittering across the stone floor, bringing the number of remaining swords down to four. Next to be destroyed was Applejack’s, then Rarity’s, then Pinkie’s until only the lightsaber previously owned by Rainbow Dash remained.

A flurry of green and blue clashed together repeatedly. The shade was showing signs of fatigue, over-exerting the force abilities it had by using the multiple weapons and with its lightning abilities. It became more careless in its swipes and was slower to block Twilight’s attacks which only seemed to grow faster and more powerful each time their weapons collided.
The shade made a risky move and lunged towards Twilight, only to completely miss as the purple pony teleported to the side. She disarmed the pony of its only remaining weapon the same way she had the others, the pieces of the hilt bouncing across the ground, rolling to their final resting spot. Twilight turned herself around, aiming her hind legs towards her opponent, bucking it into the air with the help of the force.

She bounded skywards, kicking the shade even further into the dark sky of the void several times, teleporting herself close enough to do so after each buck. Just as the shade believed Twilight to be finished, she appeared above it, her lightsaber racing towards it, connecting with the dark pony’s neck, passing through it as though it were air.

Twilight landed safely on the ground below. A loud, fleshy thud followed by a quieter plop sounded out behind her. Twilight stood as still as she could, her eyes closed, her ears ringing with the sound of her heartbeat and loud breathing that could only be described as laboured.

Twilight’s eyes shot open as she sprung to her hooves looking frantically around the hall of the deserted castle, some flashes of colour vaguely resembling her friends filling random spots in the room.

“Where’d it go? Where’d th-” Twilight stammered as her eyes darted around madly.

“Easy Twilight, calm yerself, it’s alright.” Applejack spoke calmly putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, making the purple pony look over to her in shock, eyes like dinner plates before realising who had touched her.

“Oh, Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed, embracing her friend immediately.

“It’s alright sugar cube, what happened t’ you?” She asked quietly.

“We tried contacting you, but you wouldn’t respond.” Rainbow Dash stated as she flew into view.

“We feared the worst even though the dark aura had disappeared so suddenly.” Rarity added.

“T-then we came b-”

“Then we came back here and found you taking a nap!” Pinkie shouted interrupting Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry girls, I just, I touched that statue a-”

“Well, looks like I wasn’t really needed here after all.” Kurt’s voice sounded out from the entrance to the hall. The six ponies met Kurt halfway, closer to the entrance.

“I see you’re conscious once again Twilight, are you alright?” He asked. Twilight thought for a moment.

Maybe it was just a dream, is it really important enough to bring up? She thought.

“I’m fine, I’m sorry for scaring everyone like that.” Twilight replied “You see, I was up all of last night refreshing my knowledge of the Everfree and the castle and, well, I must’ve fallen asleep when I sat down to take a rest.”

“Well, apparently you girls have done your job. The presence is gone. Who found it?” Kurt asked sounding a bit excited to hear the results. Possibly more excited than he should have.

“None of us found anythin’.” Applejack replied after a few moments of silence.

“Our group didn’t find anything either.” Rarity added.

“So that leaves Twilight. So what did you find?” Kurt asked, turning to face the purple mare.

“Well… I remember touching the statue and then feeling a bit woozy, so I sat down and then…” Twilight held her tongue, wondering whether she should continue her story.

“And then?” Rainbow Dash prodded.

“I don’t really remember.” Twilight responded “I woke up as if I had a nightmare, and I noticed the presence had disappeared.” She was lying, but nopony would know. Nopony but the pony who was lying to her friends and master.

“I see. It’s possible that the statue was the source of all this. Maybe this statue was a Sith holocron emitting large amounts of force energy, attempting to draw something or someone force sensitive to it.” Kurt reasoned, trying to narrow down just what had transpired. He looked to his students who looked back at him with a wondrous yet slightly confused look in their eyes. He chuckled lightly.

“But I will explain all of these things later. For now, I would like it if you debriefed me on your mission, however, not here. It’s too cold out tonight, who’s up for a flight to Canterlot for a night on the town to celebrate your promotions?” Kurt asked smiling. There was no disapproval from anypony, shown by the agreeing shouts of the ponies as they exited the abandoned castle.

Twilight followed the group slowly, stopping after a moment. She turned back to look at the statue once again. The presence was gone, and Kurt probably knew what happened even though she was feigning not being able to recall the events. Maybe it would be okay.

She looked to her right fore-hoof, shaking her head and examining it again as her hoof was metal like the one of the shade she battled. Twilight trembled in fear, was she to become like the apparition she faced? Was sh-

“Hey egghead! Hurry it up!” Rainbow Dash shouted, snapping the purple mare out of her trance. She looked to her hoof once again to find it was the same as it had always been: Made of flesh and bone with purple fur to cover it.

“Sorry girls, I’ll be right there!” Twilight yelled back as she exited the castle...

Author's Note

OH. MY. GOD.

SO THESE LAST TWO CHAPTERS TOOK ME A WHOLE DAMN YEAR TO WRITE?!

OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD.

Thank you guys for sticking around this long, personally, I wouldn't have if I was following a story that hadn't updated in a year. I had the worst case of writer's block ever on this one and I finally just tanked through it all and pulled through.

I first intended the previous chapter and this one to be one chapter, but I figured I'd screw with the format last minute because, I dunno, fit better (made me look like I wrote more than 10k words).

Anyway, here's to the next chapter, hopefully that won't take a whole feckin' year to come out!
- Dats