Power is Knowledge

The beast inside me threatens to break out again, so I must write quickly.

I know not of what Twilight will do when she sees me after all this, but I know there is one last writing I have to make here.

The cleansing of the spirit.

After my rampage back in the lab so many years ago, just after saying I wanted to die, I saw the last pony I had hit.  She was somehow still breathing.  The scientist ran over to her and did his best to save her, healing wounds and closing them up, but it just wasn't enough.

I walked over, hoping I did not look too malevolent as I did so, and I used the last of the power I received from the Relics to  bring that pony back.  That was the first time I brought somepony back, and that is why I can do it to this day.  It was also the first time I did anything good and productive with this new magical power.

After that, I pleaded for the scientist to kill me, to do what ever it took to do so, but had a grave look in his eyes.

"No," he said simply, "I won't do it."

"Look at all this!  Look at the destruction, the death spread all around you!"

"There may be death, and there may be destruction, but killing you won't solve that!" the scientist shouted at me. "First, we brought you here to examine what would happen if we granted a pony eternal life, and we found it.  There's no going back!"

I dropped to my knees and begged him to kill me.

"I am not ending your life!"  he shouted at me. "If this is the price to pay for a life eternal, then so be it!"

"You would have a long life of murder and destruction?  The elders won't even have to think about what to do with me!  I'm a dead pony already!  Just end it now!"

"No!  You are the result of the most powerful magic being put into you to make you immortal!  Bucking act like it!"

The Relics were still in the machine nearby.  The six of them: blue, purple, orange, red, pink, and... rose?

"Hold on... what happened to the sixth Relic?" I asked him.  He moved in to inspect it.

"I don't know..." he said. "Something's different about it..."

And three thousand years later, I finally know the answer: it had become pure, refined.  I took the evil powers of it and stored them inside my own mind, using my own magical studies to subdue the beast for as long as I could.  The Relics were sent to Celestia to be used for good.

Did Celestia know me?  I'd be surprised if she didn't.  Did Luna know me?  Most likely, but she would never admit it.

I used to being able to hide, to run, and to survive... or at least, gain the required amount of sustenance that it looks like I'm a normal pony.  I could honestly do without eating for a hundred years if I wanted to, perhaps even longer than that.

But I cannot hide for a hundred years, nor will I have to.  Twilight will ascend, and she will be the one to subdue me and strike me down.  Then, and only then, can I finally return to the other side.  I had almost forgotten why I didn't need to return, only that I shouldn't until now.  If I return to the other side, I will corrupt it with this evil in my mind.  This cannot happen again.

Also, I need to explain something every important.  The research my father was doing on creating a portal to another world... it was not about the other side.  It was about another world altogether.

This world, he told me, is filled with knowledge beyond all pony comprehension.  While this was ultimately true, it was also filled with the most evil things ever imagined.  Hence, the sixth Relic was nothing more than a containment system for that evil, its true power only revealed to the fated one.

Yes that's right.  I was not the creator of the idea that there is one true savior; that was my father's ideals put into my mind.  He told us that a pony so righteous, so pure, so magical in her ways that no evil could stand against her.  She would stand up for the powerless, give rights to the ponies everywhere, and bring harmony to the land.

A fairy tale, only real.

So what does this all have to do with the cleansing of the spirit? It's really quite simple.

The only way to tame the beast within is to be in the presence of a more pure magic than any other.  I found this magic a long time ago.  It was a place reveled and worshiped (but also feared) by the Zebras.

"In the light there is a god,

One who can fix the world with one simple nod

of her bright, glowing head with a bright glowing mane,

my all the evil around her be slain.

Her power is unknown to us, a mystery, you see

for if you stare her in the eye, blinded you shall be.

And blinded all you will see is light, so blinded you shall stay,

until the tides of death swoop over take you far away.

They will take you to a place that one can only dream.

One of happiness, of health, and one where little fillies' eyes gleam

in the light of everlasting god, who will reveal herself to you

only if in your ways you are right and true."

God.  The concept still eludes me.  When I entered the place of bright light, all I noticed was freedom from the evil beast, which was like a sad puppy in the light.  It would neither attack, nor be able to do any damage if it tried to... and I almost had pity on it.  Almost.  It couldn't even take control.  When I got to the middle, I did see a pony... but it was no god.  It was Celestia, but none of Zebras new that or even chose to believe that.  This "death" character they talk about is just Luna, making them dream for extended periods of time.

She asked me who I was, and how I had not been blinded by her radiance.  I quickly explained my situation in the fewest words I could.  She nodded at me and said, "This is a problem.  I do not want evil in this land."

The evil inside me rushed away, controlled by her magic.  It struggled as Celestia broke it into pieces.  She planned to seal these pieces away in her vast castle.  She used half of her being to create a seed, which then blossomed quickly into a sparkling white oak.  She trapped the evil inside and watched as it struggled to break free.

She saw her work was done and left the tree be.  However, before the evil was subdued, it broke itself into even smaller pieces, continuing to go smaller and smaller until it could just barely pass a bit of itself out into the world.  This one, tiny bit of evil is what created Sombra, the Changelings, Discord, and many other evil things.  The rest of the evil lost its power and was shut away forever.  If just one tiny bit of evil could cause so much trouble...

I thought I was free.  I thought that the evil was finally gone.  Little did I know how wrong I was.

Those Relics came from that tree, and were dispersed out into the world so that their power could never be used unless it was under the right conditions.  While this was before the evil was sealed away, it is still important to note where the sixth one went, and how that mistake could be made again.

But it was.  Through me, it was.  When they locked away all the evil, a bit of it must've still been left in me, and it has been growing in power ever since then.  The evil is among us, and it will strike down every living pony on the planet if it is not stopped.

What brought this to mind?  A lot of things, really.  I knew that if I died, then the evil would just be released and set to destroy the world.  It has to die, and for that to happen, I must go down with it.  Evil transcends all forms of being, including Celestia and Luna.  That is why it has always been more powerful than they are.

But I've seen many things over the last two years.  Discord's new reign, ended as quickly as it started by the fated one, the Changelings, brought to light by the fated one.  there's no stopping Twilight Sparkle; she will ascend one way or another.  All she needs are the right notes.  The time is right, three times over by now.

It's time.  I've been holding onto these far too long now for them to matter.  They have to go.  I cannot be the one to present them to her... it's too dangerous.  So I will go to Canterlot, but only so close as to see the towers and teleport the notes there.  I know Celestia will make the right choice and send them to Twilight.

It's time.  These papers are heavy.  I set them down and take one last look at them.  My father's legacy, summed up into four short lines of magical scripture.  The evil is pounding at the back of my head, wanting control, but it knows that it cannot take over yet.

It's time.  The beast is among us.  It has to end.  It all has to end.  And with my eyes turned towards the rising sun, I can see now the Princess on her balcony.  It's as if she knows I'm watching, waiting.  The bag with the notes disappears with a flash of magic.  I know not if she can see me, and if she can, then forgive me for my trespassing into her gaze.  Before I leave, I swear I saw her look out towards where I am and nod.  The end was here, one way or another.  The end of me, or the end of the world.  It's time for fate to decide.

The beast is taking over... I make a final end of my writing here.  May the fated one have no mercy on my soul...

***

I received a letter from Princess Celestia, saying that she has found the last works of Star Swirl the Bearded, the one spell he couldn't perfect.  It also says that I should be able to, so let's just read this magic off.

***

MY father always had a knack for fate.  He spoke of the future like he had already been there to experience it all.  Nobody really doubted him; his foresight was unrivaled.  In fact, I believe he said his greatest creation he would make with the Elements is one that changes a pony's future.  I never liked the prospect of it.  Change the future?  For better or for worse? And for the inevitable, for the greater good, or for life, peace, and the pursuit of happiness?  Equestria follows slightly on that line, I suppose, but... has it really gone far enough to satisfy?

Oh, what am I saying?  Of course it will.  So long as the evil within me is destroyed, the world should end up... just fine.

Evil will still exist, of course.  I've said a bunch of times now that it resides in the hearts of ponies on this side, but it is only the necessary evil to keep the world in check.  Can't have good without evil, right?  That's what I always thought, too.

Fate has a funny way of showing itself to those who meet it.  It's like... a bright light in a tunnel, showing you where to go, but really leading you astray.  Sound familiar?  I bet it does.

Light is the absence of darkness, the absence of evil, and the absence of truth.  For what could be more despicable than the truth?  The truth hurts ponies.  And when it hurts, it doesn't just bruise. It scars.  Like when you grow up and realize all your childhood fantasies are lies, and that the true world is never going to be the way you want it to be.  Ever wondered why psychos laugh?  That's because they live a lie.  Something of fantasy, totally in their control.  Wouldn't you be happy if you perceived that you could control the world?

Happiness is what we strive for in life, thus we strive to hold onto lies that we feel comfortable with.  Like the lie we tell ourselves that our lives mean something to the universe, that we as a whole are making the future of ponykind a better.   But what are we doing?  We're feeding into the lies that we perceive true.

This is not a lie.  Thus, this is not good.  This writing is evil.  Only, not malicious like how we all imagine it.  It just hurts.

I am evil.  I harness its powers and I store it within me.  It should not come as a surprise that my writing reflects that.  Twilight should be able to solve the puzzle my father created.  It won't take long.  Just like when you stare into the heart of darkness: at first you are afraid to accept what has become of the world, but through deep enlightened thought, you begin to understand.  You begin to control it.  You begin to manifest yourself in it.  And when the time comes, you will be consumed by it.

The beast threatens to break free any moment now.  It will be out for blood... but not just any blood.  Blood of the innocents.  And when that blood spills onto the ground in such a satisfying way, even then the evil will not be sated.  It will consume all, destroy all... become all.  For what purpose would evil serve without ponies?  Will it simply vanish, satisfied with the genocide?  Or will it keep some alive and torture them until the end of eternity?

Celestia gave half of herself to seal it away.  Take away the other half of her and there is nothing left.  No leader for the ponies to look up to and serve, nopony to keep order.  This world will hardly need dismay after the fall of evil, but it will be omnipresent among the ponies when they hear of Celestia's fall.  No, instead the evil takes on what really matters: The Elements of Harmony.  They were stored away with the evil long ago... as a fail-safe to keep it contained.  But, just like with all fail-saves, it failed.

I grant the representatives my blessing so that I may go quickly into a better world--

***

Foolish pony.  He speaks nothing but false prophecy and myth.  Did he not understand his brother?  He cannot know the true nature of evil!  He shall not!  And neither will they... those "representatives"... I hunger for their flesh.  It's been so long since I had a good feast...

And what better way to start it off?  These Elements will not get the best of me... I've grown stronger, better, and far more powerful.  They are like mere toys to me.  Just as ink is not suitable for writing, these ponies are not suitable for the true powers of the Relics, as I knew them.

Much better.  Who needs ink when there is a plethora of natural resources to use?  Small creatures who stand in my way shall be my ink once they are pulverized.  There's no point in the world retaliating.  I hear the howl of wolves as the wooden beasts of the Everfree surround me.  They are no match.

They weren't even worth the effort.  Crushing these beings is like crushing a dream: You can kill it once, but it will come back.  I hate dreams.  Why else would evil choose to take over Luna?  For power?  Possibly.  For control?  More likely.  For fear to strike everypony's hearts?  Now we're talking, but no.  It needed to get rid of dreams... and replace them with an everlasting  nightmare.  But even then, nightmares end, and I find she has broken away form the evil.

Why do I do what I do?  It is because of evil's plan... Discord to create disorder and panic amongst ponies, Chrysalis to threaten their existence, Sombra to control them... but then there is the forgotten evil.

I am the one thing everypony cannot escape.  I am the one who has been denied the world for so long.  I am the one who will bring an end to it all.

I am the truth.  I am the one fact that nopony can deny.  I am the immortal of mortality.

I am Death.

***

Well, that spell was one of the strangest I've ever found a counter spell for.  Changing cutie marks... who knew it could be done?

That spell is the least of my concerns right now, though.  After a short talk with Celestia in some weird other-worldly place, I've become an alicorn.  As in, the princess kind.  I can't believe this!  Where to start?  These wings are so new, and this feeling I get from it is just... amazing!  And~

What was that?  I thought I just heard a loud sound from outside...

Oh, no.

***

And they say that day was when Death itself was stopped.  The end brought to an end.

Princess Twilight, having ascended to her true alicorn state, did not bring an end to the evil.

Death swept over them like a shadow, prepared to consume.  It came with every intent to harm ponies and end lives.  It came to destroy.

But fate had other plans.

Death faced Twilight, and Twilight faced Death.  There was no fear in her heart.  There was no mercy in its.  And like the hammer of Judgment, the great beast raised its spiked hoof and brought it down on the alicorn, but it stopped.  The spikes mere inches from the Princess's face.  Time itself was paused.  The voice of the innocents cried out in fear as they peered through their windows.

The Princess Twilight had done nothing.  Nothing at all.

A black crystal had appeared and had stopped the beast's attack from afar.  The beast was confused.  Evil magic had denied it its kill.

It roared a challenge out to the pony who summoned it, and Sombra showed himself.  He let his crystals envelope around and over the beast and trapped it.  However, the walls were nothing, and the beast broke through them with no effort.  It charged the unicorn, but felt as it was tripped.  The resounding laughter of Discord let out into the air, and the beast raged.  It swung once, twice, three times at the being of disorder, only to miss as he disappeared each time.  The beast felt a slight bit of pain in its hind leg, and found that several Changelings had started gnawing away at it.  It shook them off, only for more to appear to gnaw at his other legs.  The beast was in frenzy, shaking off Changelings left and right.  Crystals formed around its hooves and its movement was restrained.  The beast spread its wings out and took flight, only to be brought down from the skies by Chrysalis herself.  The beast was once again restrained, and Discord stepped up calmly in front  of it.  It gnashed its sharp teeth at him, but to no avail.  He was too far away for anything to be done.

"After all these years, he returns!  Death, old buddy, how's it going?"

The beast roared at him, covering Discord in spittle.  He wiped it off, saying, "Well, it's nice to see you too.  Three thousand years is a long time, isn't it?"

The beast gave up its attacks and let its face scrunch up in anger.  Discord paced in front of it, tsk-ing.

"Ah, Death.  You never change, do you?  Always with the ending of the world, always with this or that or another thing.  You know, the rest of us became quite reformed after our second failed attempts to take over.  It's a shame this is your first."

The beast growled and bit a Changeling that got too close to its head.  It was blasted in the face with a crystal shard and the Changeling was released.

"So, just like the rest of us, you should be put away for..." he pulled out a calculator from hammer space and punched in some numbers, "Forever!"

The beast roared and struggled against the restraints again, but nothing happened to change its situation.

"So, either you break tradition and reform, or you get sent back to the little hellish world you came from!  Which will it be? Become reformed or stay evil and locked away?  I mean, c'mon... evil isn't that great anyway, right?"

The beast realized that the restraints weren't going anywhere, nor the things they were attached to.  It tugged and pulled, but not at the restraints.  No, it used those as leverage.  It tore its own four limbs off, and its wings were torn off in the process.  After that, it bent its head to the side and screeched as there was a loud crack.

Silence followed.  Discord and the other two stood slack-jawed as they watched the head roll away.  Even after all of that, the beast was still breathing.  Its legs grew back, but not as they should.  They grew back as clawed limbs, and the wings grew back as long, bat's wings.  The head grew back as that of a reptilian's. The hairs of its ponytail fell off and were replaced by a long scaly tail.  It looked down upon the minuscule beings and roared one line of speech:

"YOU KNOW NOT THE TRUE NATURE OF EVIL!!!"

It let out a cone of fire into the air and aimed it down at the three, but they were shielded by the Twilight's magic.

"Get out of here!"  she called to them. "I'm the only one who can stop it!"

The she turned her head to the side. "We're the only ones who can stop it, First..."

It was too late for him.  He was long gone, his body destroyed and his soul consumed.  That's what it seemed.

You're damned right we are.

"First?"

We don't have much time.  Death is going to end the world if you don't act now!  You need to lead it to the forest while I fight this thing's mind.  That's the only way to destroy it: from the inside out.  Now go!

The dragon swung and just barely missed Twilight.  She ran for the woods, hoping that the dragon would follow.  It did, crushing some houses as it went.  Luckily, the ponies inside got out before anything terrible could happen to them.

Running faster than she ever believed she could, Twilight rushed by trees and dodged those falling behind her.  Death was getting bored wit the chase and turned tail to attack the citizens.

Draw its attention!  Make it go into the forest!

Twilight couldn't catch up with the dragon, and felt hope slip away.  Just then, a rainbow line flashed across the sky, going incredibly high.  It sped quickly towards the ground, hitting the dragon off away from the town a bit.  Angered, death took flight and chased the thing that had impeded his attempts at creating a bloodbath.

Twilight instantly realized what it was. "Rainbow Dash!  Lead it over here, away from the town!"  she yelled. "I'll try to keep him occupied!"

The rest of the mane six and rush in with Rainbow, creating multiple distractions for Death.

"I sure hope First knows what he's doing in there..."