Good Guys Always Win, Complete Story
WARNING: It is highly suggested you read my first story, this story may contain spoilers and references to the previous story. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/185868/a-dream-come-true
Chapter 1: The Story
Twilight was an unusual pony, but with one look she seemed like a completely normal unicorn. She had a horn, she could use her magic perfectly well and she had a cutie mark. However, she was no where near normal. She had recently found herself in a dreamscape with the spirit of chaos, a changeling and a unicorn of shadows, and she thought today looked completely normal. However, looks can be deceiving.
Twilight looked into the scarred face of... Well Twilight. After the last fiasco Twilight had been building up a lot of stress, but now she was afraid she might have a heart attack. "Oh my Celestia, give me a break!!!" She said, sitting on the ground hooves over her eyes. Spike walked through the door and looked from Twilight to Twilight.
"I uhhh... I'll go make some breakfast." Spike just shook his head and walked towards the kitchen. Twilight was still on the ground, covering her face.
"Alright Twilight, what's the problem?" asked Twilight, coming to a standing position.
"Don't call me that." Said the other Twilight.
"Huh?"
"Don't call me Twilight." The other Twilight's face was stern and emotionless.
"Well, what should I call you?"
"Dusk...."
Twilight burst into laughter.
"Is that the best you could come up with? Dusk?" Twilight said between snorts. Dusk still remained emotionless.
"I lost the right to be Twilight many years ago." Said Dusk.
Twilight stopped laughing. She had though Dusk's visit was just another false message, but now it seemed that Dusk was serious.
"What happened?" Asked Twilight concerned.
"Long story." Replied Dusk.
"Do I look rushed?" Twilight said, resuming her sitting position.
"I cant tell you, if I do I could risk creating a tear in the fabric of the universe that will destroy everything in all of Equestria. You know... small stuff." Twilight laughed, Dusk started to smile but she quickly caught herself and became emotionless again.
"So why are you here?" Asked Twilight, confused.
"To tell you to stay on your guard... Oh and, say hi to Pinkie for me ok?" Dusk began to walk down the stairs.
"Ok..." said Twilight, even more confused than before. "Why can't you say hi to her yourself?"
"Like I said," Dusk began to fade away, "Long story." Twilight saw a tear running down Dusk's face.
"I'm back!" Said Spike carrying two massive stacks of pancakes. "Not again!?" said Spike.
"And that's all she said." Twilight finished. She was at Sugar Cube Corner with her friends, she had spent the last five minutes explaining everything that happened the day before. Her friends just looked at one another.
"And your sure this wasn't like last time?" Asked Apple Jack.
"I'm absolutely certain." Responded Twilight.
She had been thinking about the subject all through the night. Dusk had stayed a lot longer than last time, so maybe she was more powerful. She also seemed emotionless, and Twilight hated the thought but maybe something traumatizing happened.
"Twi? You ok?" Asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight came back to earth.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry. I just want to know what happened to Twi, uh... Dusk that made her so serious."
"Hopefully nothing bad." Said Pinkie, slamming her face onto a cupcake, splattering frosting everywhere.
"Yes, hopefully." Said Rarity, pulling out a hoof kerchief and wiping herself clean. Rainbow tried not to laugh. Twilight summoned a notepad full of notes she had been keeping on Dusk and started to flip through it, looking for a connection she maybe hadn't noticed yet.
"She said she lost the right to call herself Twilight. I hate to say it but, maybe she... maybe I did something horrible."
"Oops I gotta go!" Said pinkie, looking at a watch that she wasn't wearing before. "Sorry guys I'm late for work." And she walked into sugar cube corner. "Oh almost forgot!" Twilight jumped and saw that Pinkie was behind her.
"What the?" Said Rainbow looking shocked. Pinkie grabbed the smashed cupcake and swallowed it hole.
"See ya!" Pinkie hopped back through the door.
Twilight just looked at the others and said, "How?" Pinkie always did stuff like that. Appearing out of no where, talking to nothing, climbing walls, stretching unusually long distances and defying gravity for as long as she wants. Not to mention the Pinkie sense and nopony could figure out how she did it, not even Celestia. the whole thing gave Twilight a headache.
Twilight finished her milkshake and stood up. "Sorry guys, I better catch up on my reading." She said, but she really just wanted some peace and quiet to think about this whole Dusk thing.
Twilight was about halfway to the library when she heard two ponies whispering. Normally she respected peoples privacy, their business is their business. But this time, the whispering was... Different, and she didn't know why. as she moved closer to the whispering she started to make out some of the words.
"Did you hear about the princess?" "Yeah, I cant believe this is happening. What kind of pony would do that?" Twilight started to move closer as they spoke but then she heard Mayor Mere's voice speak out from town square.
"Attention Pony Ville! I am sorry to report that a devastating event has taken place and that Twilight Sparkle, Flutter Shy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack are needed in the Crystal Empire at once!"
"What could've happened?" Asked a worried Flutter Shy. the others looked at each other while Twilight stared out the window of the train. A voice spoke from the intercom,
"Phillies and Gentle colts we will be arriving at the Crystal Empire in five minutes." Over the tops of the mountains, Twilight could see the tips of the castle spires.
When Twilight got off of the train the first pony she saw was Cadence.
"Hello Twilight," She said in a depressed tone. "I wish we could've met under better circumstances, but im afraid I have some bad news."
"What happened?" Asked Twilight. Cadence lowered her head.
"Celestia... is dead."
Chapter 2: It Begins
Silence. Nopony responded to the news that Cadence had given. Surely this must be some kind of joke, a horrible joke at that. Who would do something like that? How could somepony do that, Celestia is way to powerful to be killed, she couldn't be dead, she can't be.
"She was found dead in her chambers seven hours ago. The only evidence we could find was a trace of magic."
"You can trace magic?" Said Rainbow.
"Yes, there is a spell that we can use to trace the spell back to the caster," Said Cadence. "We should have the results soon. Until then, Luna will take over. Twilight, we need you to help around the kingdom."
"Of course." Said Twilight, bowing. She's actually dead, and there was nothing Twilight could do about it. "Is there any way I could help speed up the tracing process?" She asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not," Responded Cadence. "We're doing everything we can Twilight. Right now I need you to spread the news and gather everypony in the town square, no secrets, everypony needs to know and only then, can we overcome this tragedy."
Twilight bowed, walked off and knocked on every door on every street of the kingdom, spreading the news. "Everypony is needed at the town square." Twilight couldn't believe what was happening. All she knew was when the tracing was complete, she would do everything in her power to find her killer.
At the town square, Cadence began her speech. "I have gathered you here today, to give some horrible news. Princess Celestia, is dead." Twilight heard several cries from the audience. "We are not here to mourn her death, but to celebrate her life. She has ruled over her kingdom for over a thousand years, and we will never forget her. From this moment forth, she will no longer be Princess Celestia, but she will become Queen Celestia, ruler of Equestria. Twilight Sparkle would like to say a few words."
Twilight walked up to the crystal podium and spoke. "A long time ago when I was a filly, I watched Princess Celestia raise the sun at the Summer Sun Celebration... After that I studied magic as hard as I could and auditioned for Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns. Little did I know that I would become her personal student. She took care of me, and cared about me. She was like a mother to me, And she wouldn't want us to linger on sadness, she would want us to move on and remain happy."
Twilight stepped away from the podium and began to walk back towards the train station, her friends followed. "That was beautiful Twilight." Said Rarity, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Yeah," Said Rainbow Dash, coughing and trying to hide her sadness. Flutter Shy could barely walk she was crying so hard. in-between sobs Twilight could make out a few words here and there.
"She, *Sob* and you were, *Sob* a thousand years, *Sob* ITS SO SAD!!!" Flutter Shy fell to the ground and covered her face, howling and sobbing so Twilight could no longer understand her.
"There, there," Said Apple Jack, rubbing Flutter Shy's back with her hoof. "It'll all be ok."
The next morning was full of depressed downward looks. Even Pinkie wasn't happy, her hair had deflated and she kept blowing It out of her eyes. Princess Luna had been taking care of the day and night. Twilight noticed the night time was lasting a few minutes longer than before.
Twilight sat in her library for most of the day, she couldn't bear to look in any of her books because they all reminded her of Celestia. She didn't know what to feel, she had too many feelings at the same time. Stress, sadness, anger, confusion, impatience. Twilight heard a belch come from upstairs.
"Twilight!? MAIL!" Yelled Spike Coming down the stairs holding a scroll tied with a red ribbon in his hand. He opened it and cleared his throat. "Ahem... Dear Twilight, we have finished the tracing process," Twilight stood up immediately. "We have found the source of magic came from a Changeling," Twilight sat down in shock. "Specifically the Queen, Chrysalis." Twilight stood up again.
Spike closed the scroll and began to go back up the stairs. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to take a nap." Spike shut the door to the bedroom and Twilight heard a faint yawn. Twilight paced the room for the next twenty minutes, wondering what to do. She wanted revenge, but she wasn't sure if that's what Celestia would've wanted, but Cadence said it herself "Move on" and this was the only way how.
It was official, Twilight would travel and find the Changelings, she would find the queen... and kill her.
Chapter 3: An Eye for freedom
"We're coming with you." Said Apple Jack, Twilight just told her friends about her plan that she spent all night coming up with. "There's no argument. You can't stop us."
"Yeah!" Said the rest of her friends, except for Pinkie, who was still inside Sugar Cube Corner. The others looked to one another ad nodded.
Twilight opened her mouth to speak but a loud crash left her speechless. Pinkie fell from no where and landed on the table. "I'm here!!!" She yelled. Twilight looked up to see no hole or anything in the building above. Twilight almost spoke again but caught herself realizing there was no point in asking how Pinkie does that kind of thing.
"Fine," Said Twilight. "But you can't complain about going back home and I'm in charge."
"In charge of what?" Asked Pinkie, her head slightly tilted to one side and a massive smile on her face. The longer Twilight looked at her, the more cheerful Pinkie seemed.
"We're going after Celestia's killer." Said Rainbow Dash, pounding her hoofs together and punching mid air. "And we're gonna take her down!" She said, punching the air with every syllable. Spike suddenly belched and a spout of green flame came shooting out of his mouth containing a scroll. Spike caught it and began to read aloud.
"Dear Twilight, you are needed in Canterlot at once." Spike turned the paper over, expecting to see more writing, but there was none to be seen. "That's it?" Asked spike. As he spoke the sky went dark and the moon rose into the middle of the sky. "Uh oh." Said Twilight.
Flutter Shy jumped beneath the table and hid, while Rainbow Dash began to fly towards Canterlot immediately. The others followed and Twilight focused all of her energy on the entrance of Canterlot and teleported. after five minutes, the others arrived. "Here we go." Said Twilight, putting her hoof on the door and slowly opening it.
"Welcome Twilight." Said a familiar female voice from somewhere in the room. Twilight couldn't see where the owner of the voice was, even though she already knew. The castle entrance looked different, the walls were all painted a purplish black and covered in shimmering star charts and moons. "Do you like what I did with the place?" Asked the voice, this time from Twilights left. Twilight illuminated her horn to get rid of some shadows.
The light spread out and the stars on the walls reflected and shimmered even more. "Allow me." Said the voice. a ball of deep purple light shot from the darkness and illuminated the whole room and showed the face, of Nightmere Moon. "Aren't you happy to see me?"
Twilight and rarity illuminated their horns, when they heard the doors fling open behind them. "Nightmere Moon," Said Cadence as she illuminated her horn as well. "You do not rule this kingdom, you must leave now or we will use force." Cadence's face was fierce and full of anger.
"Oh but I do rule this kingdom," Responded Nightmere Moon. "With Celestia gone, I am next in line." Nightmere Moon pointed her horn and Cadence suddenly went rigid and fell to the ground.
"Leave her alone!" Yelled Twilight taking a step forward and shooting a blast of purple energy at Nightmere Moon, who simply disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke letting the spell hit the wall.
"Such anger," Said the taunting Nightmere Moon. "And a need to prove yourself, a hunger for revenge and a hatred for all things evil. Change that last one and you would make a great villain Twilight. however your time is over." Nightmere Moon reappeared In the hall and yelled. "You can come out now."
Shadows began to draw from the corners of the room and pool in the center, a figure rose from the shadows, a figure with green flaming eyes. Cadence suddenly got up and began laughing. She walked over beside Nightmere Moon and began glowing green, in a poof of green energy Chrysalis took her place.
"YOU!!!" Screamed Twilight, who began to gallop forward but Apple Jack held her back.
"Yes, me." Purred Chrysalis, who began to walk toward Twilight. "Sorry about your dear mentor by the way, it needed to be done... and it was fun to hear her scream." Chrysalis spit in Twilight's face.
"Now, now Chryssi, lets treat our guests with some respect shall we?" said Sombra. A glowing black cage appeared around Twilight and the others. "That's better." He said with a devilish smile.
"Oh there's someone missing," Said Chrysalis. a sudden flash of white came from behind Twilight and she heard a familiar voice say,
"Here I am." Discord walked past the cage and stood next to Chrysalis, his mismatched arms crossed.
"How could you?!" Screamed Flutter Shy furiously, she slammed her hoofs into the side of the cage. Her face was fierce and covered in tears." "You were our friend!"
"Was I?" Said Discord. "Was I ever, really your friend? this friendship was a new form a blackmail, nothing more. If there's one thing I've learned from my years of causing chaos, it's emotions cloud your senses. If you weren't so obsessed with this friendship, you would've seen this earlier." Flutter Shy fell to the cage floor and began sobbing.
Twilight tried to cast spells but it seems the cage was enchanted to prevent them. "Send them to the dungeons." Said Nightmere Moon waving her hoof. Changelings came from the shadows and dragged the cage through a doorway and down a long flight of spiral stairs. Twilight got an idea.
"Girls," Twilight whispered. "Lean forwards."
"What?" Asked Rarity, confused.
"Lean forwards." rarity suddenly understood and whispered to the others. "One, Two, THREE!!" All six of them leaned forward. The cage tipped and began to crash down the staircase, crushing the changelings on the way. The cage hit the least step and burst open, sending the six flying into a mossy stone wall.
"What was that?" Twilight heard Chrysalis say. hoof steps sounded from the stairs. Chrysalis appeared around the corner and had a shocked look. She quickly shot a bolt of turquoise magic at Twilight, who quickly focused all of her energy on the Crystal Empire.
Twilight opened her eyes to see everypony huddled around Rarity who was screaming in pain. Twilight quickly got up and galloped over to see Rarity... missing an eye. Rarity's eye socket was gushing red. Twilight quickly tried to cast a healing spell but it wasn't working on her, all she managed to do was stop the bleeding.
Rarity's good eye rolled into the back of her head and she fell unconscious. "She'll be alright." Said Twilight, summoning a purple eye patch and placing it over the socket. Twilight stopped for a moment then summoned some blue and red gemstones in an alternating pattern around the edge of the eye patch.
"There," Said Twilight. "Now she won't complain as much." Twilight slumped against a wall of blue crystal and looked up to see the crystal heart was missing. Immediately afterwards the castle began to turn black. "oh no!" She yelled. Twilight saw Sombra standing at the top of the central spire, his horn glowing a deep purplish red.
"RUN!" Screamed Rainbow Dash. Apple Jack quickly threw Rarity over her back and began to gallop as fast as she could with Pinkie, who was hopping furiously and Twilight, while rainbow Dash and Flutter Shy flew. Twilight looked back and saw changelings chasing after them. Twilight sent a beam of magic at them but they dodged and returned fire.
Twilight concentrated on Pony Ville but nothing happened. Twilight stopped and turned around, the others did the same. "We need to fight them, ill protect Rarity!" The others nodded and ran at the changelings while Twilight summoned a force field around Rarity's unconscious body. Twilight began shooting beams of magic at the changelings, she managed to hit three of them and they disintegrated when the beam hit them. Twilight kept firing, while the others bucked and punched the changelings.
Flutter Shy ran back to Twilight. "I need to check up on Rarity!" She yelled. Twilight nodded and opened up a small hole, big enough for Flutter Shy to crawl through and kept firing at the changelings. Twilight noticed some of the changelings began turning into her friends, Twilight stopped firing. She needed a way to find out which were which. Twilight saw some of the changelings still in their original form were bleeding a sickly green blood.
Twilight focused her fire on those ones. More and more changelings began to fly into the battle, there were too many of them. "Everypony behind me!" Twilight yelled. all of her friends ran back near the force field. The changelings instantly began to gallop and fly towards Twilight, who focused all of her energy into a spell she had never learned. Her horn began to spark and it finally illuminated with the familiar glow of red lightning.
The changelings stopped with scared expressions on their face. Twilight released her energy and sent a blast of red lightning at the changelings. Twilight hit one and continued to shoot. The changeling she had hit began screaming. red lightning shot from it and caused a chain reaction, each changeling sent a beam of red lightning into other changelings until they were all hit. One by one the changelings began to disappear in a flash of red light.
The others sat down, panting, all of them had cuts and bruises, except for Flutter Shy who managed to stay hidden for most of the battle. "We need to get out of here." Said Apple Jack. looking upwards. Twilight followed her gaze and saw at least a hundred more changelings flying towards them.
Rainbow flew after them as fast as she could. Twilight saw a mock cone forming around her. in a massive blast of rainbow, the changelings went flying in all directions. rainbow returned to the ground. Twilight focused all of her energy on Pony Ville again, but this time when she opened her eyes, she was looking at Sugar Cube Corner.
She looked around to see all of her friends, including Rarity who began to stir. Rarity opened her eye and instantly began to hyperventilate. Twilight could barely understand her through gasps. "Why, where, what, Cadence, Sombra, Discord... Why do I have an eye patch!?!"
"Rarity, calm down," Said rainbow Dash. "We'll explain in a minute."
"We need to find a safe place to stay." Said Twilight. As she spoke, the clouds began to turn pink and it began to rain, not water, but chocolate milk. Pinkie opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. All around them, buildings began to rip out of the ground and float in midair. Suddenly a large wooden throne appeared in front of them and in a flash of light. Discord appeared.
"Hello girls, nice to see you again."
Chapter 4: Safety
Discord stood up and began walking back and forth. "I hope you understand there's no point in trying to fight." Discord said, his voice sounded disturbingly playful. "There are too many of us, an unlimited supply of changelings, the spirit of chaos, a unicorn of shadows and a princess of darkness has to be hard to beat, and this is before the big boss comes."
"What big boss?" Asked Twilight.
"Oh you'll find out soon enough." Said Discord. "We villains have jurisdiction over all of Equestria. I have Clouds dale and Pony Ville, Chrysalis has Canterlot and Manehattan and Sombra has The Crystal Empire and... something else I can't remember, anyways. We rule Equestria now, there's nothing you can do to stop us."
"I know." Said Twilight. The others looked at her with shocked expressions. "We can't save Equestria. But we can try."
"Even if you try you will fail. But I want it to be interesting at least so I might break one of my rules and help you a little bit." Discord held his arm out beside Twilight and squinted his eyes. A glowing, pulsing orb of Golden light began to flicker into existence.
"There, give it a couple of minutes this is very difficult after all. I may be helping but you'll still lose, im doing this purely for entertainment. I mean, we've already tricked you."
"What do you mean?" Asked Twilight. Behind her Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash stepped forward. They began glowing green and transformed, into changelings. Twilight and Rarity illuminated their horns.
"Where are they!" Twilight screamed.
"Why exactly would I tell you that?" Discord said smugly.
"You'll tell me because if you don't," Twilight illuminated her horn. "I'll make you tell us against your will." Discord began laughing. He fell to the floor banging his mismatched fists against the ground, he rolled onto his back and wiped a tear from his eyes.
"Are you kidding me?" Asked Discord, still chuckling under his breath. "I am the god of chaos. you may be the element of magic Twilight but without the elements of harmony you have no chance of beating me. In fact even if you do have the elements you wouldn't be able to use them. You don't have all of your friends." Twilight knew he was right, but she didn't care.
Twilight attempted the red lightning spell but it wasn't working. She tried over and over again but to no avail. When she looked up she saw Discord sitting down, eating some popcorn and holding back laughter. Twilight quickly shot one of her most powerful spells at Discord. He merely lifted his hand and blocked it. Discord turned around and grabbed a cupcake from behind the counter.
"Twilight," Said Discord, with a mouthful of pink frosting, "I kind of feel bad for you. I mean, you went through en entire labyrinth of dreamscapes where you had enough power to beat me, Luna, Celestia, Chrysalis and Sombra without breaking a sweat. and now you're left with your weak original body that can't even cast the right spells!" He began laughing again.
Twilight become even angrier which she didn't think was possible. "You've taken my friends," Twilight took a step forward and began summoning as much power as she could, "You've put us through Hell," Twilight took another step. Discord got a worried look on his face, "You've hurt Rarity," Twilight stopped walking and shut her eyes.
"What are you doing?!" Yelled Discord. Who backed up against the wall and began snapping his fingers furiously. "WORK!" He screamed.
"Run!" Twilight screamed. all of her friends went running out the door along with the changelings. Twilight opened her eyes that were glowing white, and she exploded in magical energy.
"Wake up Twilight!" Rarity screamed. Twilight opened her eyes and say a sparkling eye patch.
"Rarity?" Twilight asked in a soft and hoarse voice.
"Thank Celestia you're alright." Rarity said giving a sigh of relief.
"Who cares if I'm alright!?" Said Twilight coming to her senses. "Are you alright!?"
"Darling I'm fine, there's no pain and I have this eye patch to cover it up... sure I'll never look the same but... You win some you lose some."
"An eye for an eye." Said Apple Jack giving a small chuckle. The other two turned their heads to her. "Just trying to lighten the mood." She said. Twilight looked around to see she was in her room.
"What happened?" She asked lifting herself off of her bed slightly.
"Well you told us to run so we did, but then you kind of... Exploded. We found you unconscious on the ground so we brought you here."
"How long have I been out?" Twilight asked, now out of her bed completely.
"A couple of hours."
"And Discord?" Asked Twilight.
"Well," Rainbow Dash came around the corner with something in a cloth on her back. "We found this." Rarity finished. Twilight unwrapped the cloth to see a lion's arm.
"Well at least he's slightly weaker now." Twilight got up and walked up to her telescope. "Oh no..." Twilight looked at the previous location of Sugar Cube Corner however it was now replaced by a familiar scorch mark in the shape of a sparkle.
"I didn't know you were that powerful." Said Flutter Shy walking up to the window and looking down at the broken pieces of wood.
"Neither did I." Said Twilight looking down at her hooves. How did I do that? She thought to herself. When suddenly it clicked. "I've figured it out!" She shouted. Turning towards the others who all had shocked looks on their faces. "The reason I'm so powerful is because we're still in a dreamscape!"
"We can't be!" Said Rarity, "Discord released us."
"That wasn't the real Discord, that was just Celestia's dream! She dreamed Discord was innocent and released us. This is all just a dream turned into a night mare!" rarity lifted her hoof and touched her eye patch.
"Well then how do we get out?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"I think I can help with that." Said a voice from the doorway. Twilight turned her head and saw Celestia standing there with tears in her eyes. Twilight gasped and ran to Celestia, hugging her and crying as hard as she could.
"Come with me." Celestia said and she began to walk out the door towards the Everfree forest.
Chapter 5: Remember
"Where do you think she's taking us?" Asked Rarity. everypony was following Celestia through a group of dense bushes and trees.
"Well knowing Celestia she's probably taking us someplace to hide and start planning to attack." Twilight smiled, proud of her mentor. Twilight imagined Celestia in a cave somewhere with an elaborate plan written down.
BOOM! An extremely loud explosion sound came from somewhere in the distance. Twilight and Rarity turned around to see lightning shooting out of the top of the main tower in Canterlot. "What are they planning?" Said Rarity gritting her teeth.
"It doesn't matter remember," Interrupting Rarity, "This is all a night mare." Rarity's knees began to shake.
"Rarity are you ok?" She fell to the ground with a thud. "Rarity!" Twilight shouted. Twilight galloped over and checked Rarity or vitals.
"What happened?" Asked Flutter Shy, who had landed next to Twilight and was now on the ground next to Rarity as well.
"I don't know," Answered Twilight. "She just fell over."
"Did she faint?" Asked Apple Jack who had galloped around the corner and skidded to a halt next to Twilight.
"That would be like Rarity but I don't think so, she didn't pull up a sofa to land on." Apple Jack smiled at the thought or rarity being normal again. Rarity's eyelid started twitching then slowly opening. "Rarity!" Said Twilight giving a sigh of relief. "Are you ok?"
"What happened?" Asked Rarity. 'Where am I? We were planning and then." Rarity rubbed her head with her hoof.
"You mean... you don't remember?" Asked Flutter Shy.
"Oh no..." Said Twilight, slumping against a building.
"What is it? Asked Apple Jack.
"The magic shot by Chrysalis, It didn't just hit her eye, it's starting to effect her brain."
"Memory loss?" Asked Flutter Shy.
"Yep," Answered Twilight, "And who knows when it will happen again."
"Can you fix it?" Asked Apple Jack.
"I don't think so," Responded Twilight. "It's changeling magic, and it's powerful. She was aiming to kill."
"I can help." Said Celestia, standing over them. "But we need to get somewhere safe first."
"Come on rarity." Said Twilight lifting Rarity to her hooves with Apple Jacks help. Everypony began walking towards a cave in the side of a mountain. it reminded Twilight of the cave she sent the Ursa Minor into. The inside of the cave was massive, seemingly hallowed out with magic, as soon as they walked in Celestia began summoning tables and papers.
"Now that we're safe." Celestia ran to Twilight and hugged her. "It's so good to see you."
"You too," Said Twilight hugging her back.
"What happened?" Asked Celestia looking towards Rarity.
"Chrysalis," Said Rarity.
"The magic is starting to effect her brain," Said Twilight, "can you help her?"
"I'll see what I can do." Said Celestia, "Lay down here." She said summoning a long white metal table out of thin air. Rarity lied down and Celestia illuminated her horn.
Twilight began looking at the pieces of paper on one of the tables. it was covered in drawings of Canterlot and where all the secret entrances were. Twilight turned to Celestia "Did you see the lightning?"
"Yes," Said Celestia still scanning Rarity. "And I can only imagine what they're doing up there. Sombra, Chrysalis, Discord and..." Celestia paused, "And Luna."
"And somepony else." Interrupted Twilight.
"What?" Said Celestia, turning her head suddenly.
"Discord said somepony else was coming."
"WHO!?" Said Celestia, galloping at Twilight with incredible speed. Twilight jumped.
"I don't know he didn't say!" She said startled. Celestia galloped towards one of the tables, leaving Rarity lying in the same place. She began frantically lifting pieces of paper with magic, quickly scanning them then throwing them behind her. "Uuhhh... Are you ok?"
"No! Discord is planning something even more devious than I'd expected." Celestia said still frantically throwing papers across the room.
"Well how much more devious can it get?" Asked Apple Jack. Celestia stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Apple Jack.
"There are things in Equestria far more evil than Discord," She said, in a calm but still intense tone. "And it is my duty to make sure you never have to face those things. We need to start planning, stakeouts, espionage, attack. We need to pull out all of the stops. There may be five of us but we need to defeat Discord." Celestia stopped and began mumbling to herself. "If he unleashes Skorpan, or Tirek... or anything else in Tartarus."
"Yeah! let's kill those guys! Said Apple Jack.
"YEAH!" screamed the others.
"Yay!" Said Flutter Shy feebly. Rarity suddenly fell off of the metal table. Everypony rushed to her aid but by the time they got there she was already on her hoofs.
"Chrysalis! And a cage, we killed the changelings! My eye! Oh my Celestia!" Rarity gasped for breath and looked around with a confused and worried look on her face. "we're in a cave." She said confused.
"Celestia you need to help her!" Twilight shouted.
"I'll do the best I can, meanwhile you three should get to planning. We've got a lot of work to do."
Chapter 6: Turned Tables
Twilight, Flutter Shy and Apple Jack ducked down behind some bushes at the front gate of the royal palace. Celestia landed softly next to them.
"You ready?" Asked Celestia,
"Yeah." Said Twilight, looking back to her friends who all grinned in confidence.
"Remember if you ever get into trouble, use the spell I taught you." Celestia took off and flew way up into the air above them. Twilight ran over the plan again in her head. Whoa Deja vu Twilight thought to herself. She was reminded of the dreamscape, just before they fought Discord. step 1, wait for Celestia's signal. Celestia shot a beam of light into the air which caused a magical effect that was like a golden aurora borealis.
Check, step 2, sneak in the gate while the guards are distracted Four Changelings came galloping out the front gate, all of them looking at Celestia.
"COME AND GET ME!" Yelled Celestia taking off into the skies, the changelings in close pursuit. Twilight quickly tossed a rock and blocked the door open. Twilight signaled her friends and quietly galloped towards the gate, letting it close with a soft *thud* behind her. Check, step 3, look for a key to get into the castle Twilight sent her friends to different guard towers either side of the gate while she kept watch, after about a minute Flutter Shy came down from a tower with a glittering gold key in her mouth.
Twilight picked it up and unlocked the door as quietly as possible. Check, step 4, get to the sleeping chambers Twilight and the others tiptoed up a flight of stairs and took the closest left. Twilight had the castle of Canterlot memorized already, despite the maps that Celestia gave her to study... But she studied them anyways.
"Next left." Twilight whispered to the others, they started to turn around the corner when all of a sudden, "Get back!" Twilight whispered loudly. she pushed the others back against the wall and peered around the corner. Two changelings were posted outside the doors to Celestia's old sleeping chambers.
"I got this." Said Apple Jack, pulling a lasso out of her saddle bag and whipping it around in the air. The lasso went flying down the corridor and wrapped around the changeling's necks. Apple Jack tightened the lasso, a large crack sounded down the hallway as the changeling's heads hit the floor.
Twilight slowly opened the door and entered, she turned back and signaled the others to keep watch as she closed the door. As Twilight turned she saw Chrysalis sleeping on a large bed... Celestia's bed. Get to the sleeping chambers, Check, step 5, Do what needs too be done
Twilight illuminated her horn and crawled up next to the bed. Do it! Twilight thought to herself. She deserves it. Chrysalis's eyes suddenly opened. "Twilight?" She asked. Twilight quickly closed her eyes and shot a blast of magic at Chrysalis. When Twilight opened her eyes, she say Chrysalis's hoof covered in blood, and a shocked look on her face.
"Why?" Chrysalis said as her large head fell down onto the pillow beneath her. Twilight stared down at Chrysalis's body, feeling both satisfied and disappointed, she expected to fell triumphant not... how she felt now. Twilight examined the body. A drop of blood was coming out of Chrysalis's mouth, Blood was dripping on the floor from her hoof and blood was pouring out of a hole in her stomach.
all of this blood it was just so... Red... Wait a second... Changeling blood isn't red it's... Chrysalis's body began shimmering green. Changeling blood is green Chrysalis's body was replaced with the body of... Pinkie. "NO!" Twilight stepped back, suddenly getting light headed. Twilight stumbled out the door looking for Apple Jack and Flutter Shy.
Twilight found them, being held up by the ankles. "Well..." Said Discord, "Naughty, naughty... trying to kill my dear Chryssi... well you need to be punished... I think letting you watch Equestria get destroyed will do." Discord sprouted another arm and grabbed Twilight by the horn and picked her up.
It caused a searing pain through her head but she didn't care, all she could think about was Pinkie.... And how it was all her fault. Pinkies bright, blue, brilliant eyes were still open, a half smile on her face and a hole... in her stomach. Next thing she knew Twilight was in shackles, being held up by her front hooves.
Twilight's vision went black. Images started running through her mind, images of Chrysalis slowly transforming into Pinkie, images of all the good times they had shared, all the jokes and parties, all the messes and the defying physics. Twilight had always thought that she represented the turning of a age, the beginning of morning, after a cold bitter night. But she didn't feel that way anymore. Now she felt like the end of happiness, and the beginning of the dark.
A muffled voice rang in Twilight's ears. She tried to ignore it but it was slowly getting clearer. "Twilight? Twilight!" Twilight slowly looked up to see Apple Jack yelling at her. "Snap out of it! We need to plan."
"What's the point? Twilight said in a hopeless tone. closing her eyes again and looking at the floor.
"What?" Said Apple Jack confused and scared.
"I have read hundreds of stories, stories about science, stories about magic but no matter how logical I am, no matter how much faith I have in science, I have always taken special time out to read fairy tales. You'd think, out of all of the fairy tales I've read, I would've found one, just one... That was like this... but no, I haven't found any. All of them have happy endings and prince charmings and no matter what... good always wins.
None of the stories I have ever read have had three of the six main characters chained of in the villain's basement! So yes I ask you what the point is because the way things are going, it looks like the bad guys win."
"THE POINT!?" Twilight jumped, If she hadn't seen Flutter Shy's lips moving she wouldn't have believed it was her talking. "The point is to get out of here and save the damn world! That's the point!"
"Flutter Shy's right we've got to get back out there and kick some serious tail!" Said Apple Jack. "We are going to find the others and we are going to make our own happy ending." Twilight looked up into Apple Jack's eyes. "We need to talk to Celestia."
"And how do you think we'll be able to do that?" Asked Twilight, still in a hopeless tone.
"Don't remember?" Asked Apple Jack shocked. "The spell Twilight." Twilight suddenly felt incredibly stupid. How could I forget the spell Celestia taught me? Twilight illuminated her horn.
"Hello? is... is anypony there?" Twilight asked.
"Hello Twilight." Said Celestia's voice, emanating from somewhere in the room. "Oops, hold on a second, IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT!?" Celestia screamed at, presumably the changelings. "What's happening? is everything going to plan?"
"Actually it's kind of the opposite." Said Twilight looking up at her shackles.
"Where are you now?" Celestia asked.
"The dungeons."
"What are you doing down the... Never mind, which pair of shackles are you in?" Asked Celestia.
"... What?"
"Which pair of SHACKLES are you in?" Said Celestia more clearly.
"Ummm... the middle pair on the left if your coming from the stairs." Said Twilight confused.
"Ok. The pair of shackles across from you, the left one is loose, if you pull it out you'll find some keys," Twilight used her magic to pull out the left shackle across from her and found six keys on a key ring. "Unlock everypony's shackles, find Pinkie and Rainbow Dash then..."
"Not Pinkie." Said Twilight suddenly depressed.
"What?" Asked everypony including Celestia.
"Not... Pinkie." Said Twilight louder, "We can't rescue Pinkie."
"Why not?" Asked everypony again.
"Pinkie's dead." Everypony went silent. Twilight couldn't bare to look at the others so she focused on a spot on the wall. "Listen, I'll explain later but right now we need to figure out a plan." Twilight looked everypony dead in the eyes.
"Ok," Said Celestia confused and sad at the same time. "Get umm... Get everypony free and look for... Rainbow Dash." Twilight could tell Celestia was tearing up. "And once we beat them... Once we Beat Discord and the others... We'll set up a funeral for Pinkie." The others in the room nodded. Twilight stopped casting the spell and unlocked everypony's shackles.
"Let's go find Rainbow Dash." Said Apple Jack.
Chapter 7: Past and Present
Twilight, Flutter Shy and Apple Jack made their way down the hallway towards the throne room. They couldn't find Rainbow Dash in the dungeon, they searched every room but there was no sign of her. Twilight figured they might be keeping her in a cage in the throne room. Twilight thought that seemed like the kind of twisted thing Discord would do.
And sure enough, when Twilight looked through the crack between the two massive doors leading to the throne room, she saw a large cage with Rainbow zipping from side to side. Twilight stepped away from the door and whispered to her friends.
"Alright, here's the plan, I'll send an illusion of us running through the door, Apple Jack you go around the hallway on our left, you'll find a secret door behind a statue of Star Swirl the Bearded. Go through there and wait for my signal. Flutter Shy, you go around the hallway on the right, the fifteenth door on your left should lead into a basement underneath the thrones, stick to the back wall and wait for my signal." The others nodded but still looked confused. "What?" Twilight asked.
"What's the signal?" Asked Flutter Shy.
"Oh you won't miss it." Twilight said with a smirk on her face. "This's gonna hit them right where it hurts." Twilight pointed to the hallways, Apple Jack and Flutter Shy nodded and started walking down them. Once they rounded the corner Twilight waited for a few minutes. After a while Twilight saw Apple Jack up on a balcony behind the thrones.
Sitting in the thrones were Sombra and Discord while Chrysalis was pacing across the room. "I honestly don't know what you're worrying about Chryssi." Said Discord summoning a martini in his hand. "The ponies are chained up in the basement, there's nothing to worry about."
"No," Disagreed Chrysalis. "They wouldn't have gone down there without a fight, it was too easy. They must have a plan." Chrysalis stopped for a second, thinking, then shook her head and kept pacing.
"What is it Chryssi? You can tell uncle Discord."
"What if they can communicate with Celestia?" Said Chrysalis, stopping in the middle of the room and looking at Discord, who giggled at the thought and dropped his martini.
"Oops." Said Discord who held out his hand. The shattered glass seemed to rewind. The pieces of glass pieced back together and the liquid refilled the newly repaired glass. "And how would they be able to do that?" Discord asked.
"I don't know," responded Chrysalis. "But they must be... Somehow."
"Chryssi you're just barking at thin air, there's nothing to be worried about." Discord took a sip from his martini glass.
"I have to agree with Chrysalis on this one." Said Sombra. Discord sprayed Martini all over the stone tiled floor. "There is no way they would have peacefully been brought to the dungeons. That's just not them."
"Oh come on Sombra!" Said Discord. "You can't actually believe that they can contact Celestia from the dungeons can you? I am disappointed."
"You have to admit it is very-"
"Suspicious?" Finished the illusion of Twilight as it came running through the door.
"Yeah Twilight!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, slamming her hoofs against the side of the cage. Twilight could see Rainbow Dash had bandages all over her body.
To the real Twilight's surprise, nobody did anything, Discord, Sombra and Chrysalis merely looked at the illusionary Twilight and... didn't respond at all. After an awkward minute of silence Discord interrupted.
"Twilight," Discord stood up from his throne. "I have been around for thousands of years," Discord began walking towards the illusion of Twilight. "Did you seriously think I would fall for an illusion?" Discord flicked the illusion and it disappeared. At that moment two changelings grabbed Twilights front hooves and threw her into the throne room.
"Twi!" Apple Jack came swinging down from the balcony by a rope... and she was met by a bolt of green fire.
"NO!" Twilight screamed again as Apple Jack came falling to the floor with a thud. There was a hole burned through her chest. Apple Jack's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her hat slowly floated to the ground beside her.
Twilight was grabbed by Discord and lifted off of her hooves into the air. Discord slammed Twilights face into a window and started speaking. "Now you get to watch Equestria fall. And not only that... You get to see everything you have ever wanted, ever had and ever will have be taken away from you."
Twilight tore her eyes off of Apple Jack's body and looked Discord dead in the eye. "What do you mean?" She said in a voice she didn't recognize to be her own at first.
"Ooh," Said in a playful tone which only sickened Twilight further. "Looks like I've finally broken you. Hm? Looks like I've finally broken The Great Twilight Sparkle." Discord tilted his head slightly to the side. Twilight was reminded of a dog who just head a new sound.
"Where's your big boss?" Twilight asked mockingly, still in that slightly unrecognizable voice. "You said someone else was coming... Where is he hm?"
"Wow." Discord said sounding shocked. "You really fell for that." Twilight was confused for a second but the she finally realized.
"It was all a diversion."
"That's Right." Said Discord. "To keep you idiot ponies Distracted while we work on our real plan."
"And what would that be?" Twilight asked, sounding surprisingly calm.
"Oh you'll see." Responded Discord, clearly exited. "All we need to do is wait."
"For what?" Asked Twilight. Discord looked towards a random window.
"Three, two... One." There was a crashing sound as Celestia came smashing through the exact window Discord was staring at. Sombra leapt from his chair but collided in mid air with a ray of golden light. Chrysalis took flight, soaring up to the balconies and started shooting bolts of green energy from her horn.
Celestia took off after her and started firing back. Flutter Shy came running through the doors behind Twilight. As soon as Flutter Shy saw what was going on she turned around and started running. But she was stopped by at least five changelings who piled up on top of Flutter Shy.
"NO!" Twilight screamed for the third time. Twilight teleported out of Discords hands an appeared in the pile of changelings, sending them flying in every direction. Twilight looked down at Flutter Shy who was... Missing a leg. Twilight didn't have time to panic so she threw Flutter Shy on her back and focused with all of her might.
Twilight appeared in the cave where they planned this hole endeavor.
"Twilight!" Rarity said in a clearly shocked and panicked tone. "What happened to... Oh my Celestia."
"There's no time to explain, help me get her onto a table." Said Twilight, struggling with Flutter Shy's weight. Rarity galloped over and lifted Flutter Shy's back hooves. Together they set her on a table. "Rarity," Twilight said quickly. "Do you know any medical magic?"
"Well, uh yes but I-"
"I need you to heal Flutter Shy as much as you can, I have to go back to the castle."
"Twilight there's no way I'm letting you just leave."
"And there's no way I'm letting you leave Flutter Shy here." Twilight responded quickly. Rarity looked back at Flutter Shy, and walked over to the table. Her horn glowed blue and Flutter Shy's wound started to knit back together.
"This will at least stop the bleeding."
"Good." Said Twilight turning and beginning to focus.
"Oh and Twilight?" Rarity interrupted. "Be careful." Twilight nodded... and vanished. When Twilight reappeared in the throne room, she was greeted by ten changelings tackling her to the ground.
"Nice of you to join us." Said Discord, but he didn't sound playful at all... he sounded frustrated for the first time ever. Twilight lifted her face off of the ground and saw Chrysalis... on the ground... missing a head. Twilight smirked and looked around for Celestia. Twilight found her on the floor as well but she had a hole in her stomach and she was bleeding badly.
Twilight was once again lifted off of the ground by her horn, except this time a lot more forcefully. "This is what you have done..." Said Discord, sounding disappointed and very, very angry. "Why couldn't you have just rolled over and died." Twilight spat in Discord's face.
"I will never, just roll over and die." Discord wiped the spit off of his face and stared Twilight. After a while he lifted his other hand and smacked Twilight clean across the face. Sending her flying across the room.
"Don't you touch her!" Screamed Celestia who was now on her hooves. Twilight stumbled to her hooves and looked over at her. Her horn was snapped in half.
"And what are you going to do Celestia?" Said Discord, suddenly playful again. "Kick me? You're useless without your magic."
Celestia began slowly limping towards Celestia. "I will always fight," She said through gritted teeth. "No matter how hard you hit me, I will always fight." Discord began laughing. But it wasn't his usual giggle, it was full out, maniacal laughter.
"Don't you see?" Discord managed to say between snorts. "There's nothing left to fight for!" Suddenly Sombra appeared behind Twilight, and he was holding the limp bodies of Flutter Shy and Rarity. Twilight tried to get to her hooves instantly but she was interrupted by Sombra.
"There's no point." He said tossing them to the floor. "They're dead." Twilight couldn't take it any more. She fell onto the floor and started sobbing.
"Twilight gets it!" Said Discord gesturing to the weeping Twilight. "There's nothing left to fight for... give up." He said. now back into a serious tone. "And now for the end."
"What!?" Said Celestia, clearly worried, furious and sad at the same time.
"Our plan is nearly finished, and all we need is this." Discord pulled out the other half of Celestia's horn and pricked a single strand of Twilights hair from her head. Sombra stepped towards the center, levitating Chrysalis's head next to him. The three items were place in the center of the room and Discord began casting a spell, unrecognizable to Twilight but Celestia seemed to know exactly what was going on.
Suddenly the three objects disappeared and were replaced by a shimmering black oval which was levitating in midair. Twilight was dragged across the floor by Sombra's magic.
"Do you know what we're doing Twilight?" Asked Discord. Twilight shook her head in fear. "We are going to turn your every victory... Into a failure. Every time you have ever defeated us will be reversed. You will survive of course. But she won't." Discord pointed to Celestia. "Everypony in Equestria... will die. a few items like clothing... personal belongings... stuff like that will be left behind but other than that... nothing. And it all starts... Now."
Suddenly a searing pain ran through Twilight's head. All she could see was her friends and her enemies except this time... the enemies were winning. Luna was turning back into Night Mere Moon, Celestia was dead, Discord was never turned back into stone, Sombra ruled over the Crystal Empire, Chrysalis ruled over Canterlot. Everything was falling apart.
In the room with Twilight, Chrysalis's body stood up and her head began to regrow, Flutter Shy, Rarity, Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash began to fade away. Celestia began to fade as well.
Twilight was thrown to the floor with a thud. She instantly got up and ran towards where Rarity was laid, but all that was left was her eye patch. She ran to Flutter Shy but she was gone. She ran to Rainbow Dash's cage but all that was left were bandages with her blood on them. She ran to Apple Jack but it was just her hat. She turned around and saw Celestia slowly fading.
Twilight ran to her and tried to touch her but her hoof passed right through. "Twilight," Celestia said... weak. "Run." Twilight spun around and summoned Rainbow Dash's bandages, Rarity's eye patch and Apple Jacks hat. once she had all of the items... she disappeared.
Chapter 8: Not like This
Twilight walked over to the podium she had made earlier and spoke out to the chairs in front of her. "Fillies and Gentlecolts... We are gathered here today, not to mourn death... but to celebrate life." Twilight focused on each empty chair in front of her. "I knew the six ponies who lay before me and... I am the one responsible for nearly all of their deaths."
Twilight looked down at the six coffins in front of her, three of them were empty, and three of them contained the last physical evidence of her friend's existence. Each coffin had a Cutie Mark etched into the lid.
"Fluttershy, the kindest, most loving, gentlest pony I have ever met. She did nothing but love other ponies, no matter what. She didn't deserve to die." Twilight set a yellow rose on Fluttershy's empty coffin.
"Rarity, the most generous, caring, fashionable pony I have ever met. The last thing she ever did was help somepony. She didn't deserve to die." Twilight se a violet on Rarity's coffin which contained her eye patch.
"Apple Jack, the most honest, hard working pony I have ever met. She worked on sweet apple acres and made the best apple cider you have ever tasted." Twilight smiled at the memory of Apple Jack and herself working together against the Flim Flam brothers, but then frowned as the memory slowly changed to them being defeated and losing the farm.
"If you ever needed help with anything, she was there for you. She didn't deserve to die." Twilight set an apple blossom on Apple Jack's coffin which contained her hat.
"Rainbow Dash is the most loyal, athletic pony I have ever met. No matter what, she will always be by your side." Twilight remembered Rainbow Dash catching her when she fell off of a cliff all those years ago. But then realized Rainbow didn't catch her. She let her fall.
Twilight snapped out of it. "She was also the fastest pony in all of Equestria... She didn't deserve to die." Twilight placed the Wonderbolts badge she had found on Rainbow's coffin that contained her bandages.
"Princess Celestia was not only my mentor, she was like a mother to me. She taught me nearly everything I know. and if it wasn't for her, I would never have met my friends... She didn't deserve to die." Twilight placed a golden daisy on Celestia's empty coffin.
"Pinkie Pie," Twilight held back tears as she spoke her name. "Pinkie was the friendliest pony anyone could ever meet. If you were new in town, she would throw you the biggest party you have ever seen. No matter what she could always find a way to make you smile..." Twilight stared down at Pinkies coffin, trying not to think about her. She didn't want her memories of Pinkie ruined.
"She... Most of all didn't deserve to die." Twilight tied a bright pink balloon to a notch on the top of Pinkie's coffin which contained. All of Pinkie's photos. Every party she had ever threw had a picture taken. And they were completely untouched. Twilight couldn't figure out why. She just brought it down to one of the many impossible things involved with Pinkie. Twilight would never figure those things out now.
Twilight stopped speaking and look out towards the empty chairs which she had set up. She still didn't know why she moved the chairs. Maybe she wanted the funeral to seem formal, she didn't know. It just felt... right. Twilight felt warm tears falling down her face. The reality of everything seemed to hit her all at once.
All of a sudden she sat down and stared at her hooves. Tears rolling off of her face and hitting the floor of the stage. Twilight looked around at the coffins on the level below her. "I loved each and every one of them." She said, now in a full out sob. "They were the best, and only friends I had ever had. But now..." Twilight looked up into the still empty chairs. "They're all dead. Everypony is dead. My brother," Twilight began seeing memories of Shining armor slowly change into failures but she didn't care anymore. all she wanted was get one last look at everypony. "Cadence, Zecora, Spike, Luna, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell. They were so young, they didn't even have their cutie marks yet." Twilight fell down completely at this point, now sobbing into the rough, old wooden stage.
Twilight looked up again and saw the coffins of her friends, no. Not friends, family. But something in the corner of her eye moved. Twilight looked out to see Discord, Sombra, Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon sitting in the far back row. They didn't say anything they just stared at her, though Discord had a big smile upon his face.
Twilight screamed, cast a familiar spell, and vanished.
Twilight heard the sounds of hoof steps and somepony humming. Twilight's eyes focused to see... the front door of her bedroom. The time travel spell had worked and she was back, back before it all fell apart. Suddenly the front door opened and Twilight saw, a young, clean version of herself.
"Not again!!!" She screamed. Spike walked through the door. Twilight's heart jumped at the sight of him.
"I'll go make some breakfast." He said, walking off and shaking his head.
"What is it now, said the young Twilight." This whole conversation cam flooding back to Twilight's memory and she felt the same emotion at the same time as The young Twilight. Laughing at the stupid name... Dusk was pretty funny. She tried to hide all emotion from the young Twilight. But soon happiness was replaced by sadness, and worry. Twilight wanted to tell the other her about the things to come, maybe she can fix it.
"Hey Twilight?"
"Yeah?" She waited for a second, feeling a small tear roll down her cheek.
"Say hi to Pinkie for me." Twilight felt herself slowly being pulled away.
"Why can't you say hi to her yourself?" The young Twilight asked.
"Like I said... Long Story." And with that, Twilight found herself standing on the wooden platform once again. She looked up to see Discord blow his nose, light the tissue on fire and begin laughing. Twilight fell to the floor again and began crying.
"This isn't how fairy tales should end."
The End
Author's Note
I am planning a kind of sequelish, spinoffish, thing for this so you can maybe expect that in the future. I don't have a release date and I don't even know f I will follow through with it.
Good Guys Always Win: Better Grammar Edition
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Good Guys Always Win: Better Grammar Edition
WARNING: It is highly suggested you read my first story, this story may contain spoilers and references to the previous story. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/185868/a-dream-come-true
Chapter 1: The Story
Twilight was an unusual pony, but with one look she seemed like a completely normal unicorn. She had a horn, she could use her magic perfectly well and she had a cutie mark. However, she was nowhere near normal. She had recently found herself in a dreamscape with the spirit of chaos, a changeling and a unicorn of shadows, and she thought today looked completely normal. However, looks can be deceiving.
Twilight looked into the scarred face of... Well, Twilight. After the last fiasco Twilight had been building up a lot of stress, but now she was afraid she might have a heart attack. "Oh my Celestia, give me a break!!!" She said, sitting on the ground hooves over her eyes. Spike walked through the door and looked from Twilight to Twilight.
"I uh... I'll go make some breakfast." Spike just shook his head and walked towards the kitchen. Twilight was still on the ground, covering her face.
"Alright Twilight, what's the problem?" asked Twilight, coming to a standing position.
"Don't call me that." Said the other Twilight.
"Huh?"
"Don't call me Twilight." The other Twilight's face was stern and emotionless.
"Well, what should I call you?"
"Dusk...."
Twilight burst into laughter.
"Is that the best you could come up with? Dusk?" Twilight said between snorts. Dusk still remained emotionless.
"I lost the right to be Twilight many years ago." Said Dusk.
Twilight stopped laughing. She had though Dusk's visit was just another false message, but now it seemed that Dusk was serious.
"What happened?" Asked Twilight concerned.
"Long story." Replied Dusk.
"Do I look rushed?" Twilight said, resuming her sitting position.
"I can’t tell you if I do I could risk creating a tear in the fabric of the universe that will destroy everything in all of Equestria. You know... small stuff." Twilight laughed, Dusk started to smile but she quickly caught herself and became emotionless again.
"So why are you here?" Asked Twilight, confused.
"To tell you to stay on your guard... Oh and, say hi to Pinkie for me ok?" Dusk began to walk down the stairs.
"Ok..." said Twilight, even more, confused than before. "Why can't you say hi to her yourself?"
"Like I said," Dusk began to fade away, "Long story." Twilight saw a tear running down Dusk's face.
"I'm back!" Said Spike carrying two massive stacks of pancakes. "Not again!?" said Spike.
"And that's all she said." Twilight finished. She was at Sugarcube Corner with her friends, she had spent the last five minutes explaining everything that happened the day before. Her friends just looked at one another.
"And you’re sure this wasn't like last time?" Asked Apple Jack.
"I'm absolutely certain." Responded Twilight.
She had been thinking about the subject all through the night. Dusk had stayed a lot longer than last time, so maybe she was more powerful. She also seemed emotionless, and Twilight hated the thought but maybe something traumatizing happened.
"Twi? You ok?" Asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight came back to earth.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry. I just want to know what happened to Twi, uh... Dusk that made her so serious."
"Hopefully nothing bad." Said Pinkie, slamming her face onto a cupcake, splattering frosting everywhere.
"Yes, hopefully." Said Rarity, pulling out a hoof kerchief and wiping herself clean. Rainbow tried not to laugh. Twilight summoned a notepad full of notes she had been keeping on Dusk and started to flip through it, looking for a connection she maybe hadn't noticed yet.
"She said she lost the right to call herself Twilight. I hate to say it but, maybe she... maybe I did something horrible."
"Oops I gotta go!" Said pinkie, looking at a watch that she wasn't wearing before. "Sorry guys I'm late for work." And she walked into Sugarcube Corner. "Oh almost forgot!" Twilight jumped and saw that Pinkie was behind her.
"What the?" Said Rainbow looking shocked. Pinkie grabbed the smashed cupcake and swallowed it hole.
"See ya!" Pinkie hopped back through the door.
Twilight just looked at the others and said, "How?" Pinkie always did stuff like that. Appearing out of nowhere, talking to nothing, climbing walls, stretching unusually long distances and defying gravity for as long as she wants. Not to mention the Pinkie sense and nopony could figure out how she did it, not even Celestia. the whole thing gave Twilight a headache.
Twilight finished her milkshake and stood up. "Sorry guys, I better catch up on my reading." She said, but she really just wanted some peace and quiet to think about this whole Dusk thing.
Twilight was about halfway to the library when she heard two ponies whispering. Normally she respected people’s privacy, their business is their business. But this time, the whispering was... Different, and she didn't know why. as she moved closer to the whispering she started to make out some of the words.
"Did you hear about the princess?" "Yeah, I can't believe this is happening. What kind of pony would do that?" Twilight started to move closer as they spoke but then she heard Mayor Mere's voice speak out from town square.
"Attention Pony Ville! I am sorry to report that a devastating event has taken place and that Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack are needed in the Crystal Empire at once!"
"What could've happened?" Asked a worried Fluttershy. the others looked at each other while Twilight stared out the window of the train. A voice spoke from the intercom,
"Fillies and Gentlecolts we will be arriving at the Crystal Empire in five minutes." Over the tops of the mountains, Twilight could see the tips of the castle spires.
When Twilight got off of the train the first pony she saw was Cadence.
"Hello Twilight," She said in a depressed tone. "I wish we could've met under better circumstances, but I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"What happened?" Asked Twilight. Cadence lowered her head.
"Celestia... is dead."
Chapter 2: It Begins
Silence. Nopony responded to the news that Cadence had given. Surely this must be some kind of joke, a horrible joke at that. Who would do something like that? How could somepony do that, Celestia is way to powerful to be killed, she couldn't be dead, she can't be.
"She was found dead in her chambers seven hours ago. The only evidence we could find was a trace of magic."
"You can trace magic?" Said Rainbow.
"Yes, there is a spell that we can use to trace the spell back to the caster," Said Cadence. "We should have the results soon. Until then, Luna will take over. Twilight, we need you to help around the kingdom."
"Of course." Said Twilight, bowing. She's actually dead, and there was nothing Twilight could do about it. "Is there any way I could help speed up the tracing process?" She asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not," Responded Cadence. "We're doing everything we can Twilight. Right now I need you to spread the news and gather everypony in the town square, no secrets, everypony needs to know and only then, can we overcome this tragedy."
Twilight bowed, walked off and knocked on every door on every street of the kingdom, spreading the news. "Everypony is needed at the town square." Twilight couldn't believe what was happening. All she knew was when the tracing was complete, she would do everything in her power to find her killer.
At the town square, Cadence began her speech. "I have gathered you here today, to give some horrible news. Princess Celestia, is dead." Twilight heard several cries from the audience. "We are not here to mourn her death, but to celebrate her life. She has ruled over her kingdom for over a thousand years, and we will never forget her. From this moment forth, she will no longer be Princess Celestia, but she will become Queen Celestia, ruler of Equestria. Twilight Sparkle would like to say a few words."
Twilight walked up to the crystal podium and spoke. "A long time ago when I was a filly, I watched Princess Celestia raise the sun at the Summer Sun Celebration... After that I studied magic as hard as I could and auditioned for Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns. Little did I know that I would become her personal student. She took care of me, and cared about me. She was like a mother to me, And she wouldn't want us to linger on sadness, she would want us to move on and remain happy."
Twilight stepped away from the podium and began to walk back towards the train station, her friends followed. "That was beautiful Twilight." Said Rarity, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Yeah," Said Rainbow Dash, coughing and trying to hide her sadness. Fluttershy could barely walk she was crying so hard. in-between sobs Twilight could make out a few words here and there.
"She, *Sob* and you were, *Sob* a thousand years, *Sob* IT’S SO SAD!!!" Fluttershy fell to the ground and covered her face, howling and sobbing so Twilight could no longer understand her.
"There, there," Said Apple Jack, rubbing Fluttershy's back with her hoof. "It'll all be ok."
The next morning was full of depressed downward looks. Even Pinkie wasn't happy, her hair had deflated and she kept blowing It out of her eyes. Princess Luna had been taking care of the day and night. Twilight noticed the night time was lasting a few minutes longer than before.
Twilight sat in her library for most of the day, she couldn't bear to look in any of her books because they all reminded her of Celestia. She didn't know what to feel, she had too many feelings at the same time. Stress, sadness, anger, confusion, impatience. Twilight heard a belch come from upstairs.
"Twilight!? MAIL!" Yelled Spike Coming down the stairs holding a scroll tied with a red ribbon in his hand. He opened it and cleared his throat. "Ahem... Dear Twilight, we have finished the tracing process," Twilight stood up immediately. "We have found the source of magic came from a Changeling," Twilight sat down in shock. "Specifically the Queen, Chrysalis." Twilight stood up again.
Spike closed the scroll and began to go back up the stairs. "Now if you don't mind, I would like to take a nap." Spike shut the door to the bedroom and Twilight heard a faint yawn. Twilight paced the room for the next twenty minutes, wondering what to do. She wanted revenge, but she wasn't sure if that's what Celestia would've wanted, but Cadence said it herself "Move on" and this was the only way how.
It was official, Twilight would travel and find the Changelings, she would find the queen... and kill her.
Chapter 3: An Eye for freedom
"We're coming with you." Said Apple Jack, Twilight just told her friends about her plan that she spent all night coming up with. "There's no argument. You can't stop us."
"Yeah!" Said the rest of her friends, except for Pinkie, who was still inside Sugarcube Corner. The others looked to one another ad nodded.
Twilight opened her mouth to speak but a loud crash left her speechless. Pinkie fell from nowhere and landed on the table. "I'm here!!!" She yelled. Twilight looked up to see no hole or anything in the building above. Twilight almost spoke again but caught herself realizing there was no point in asking how Pinkie does that kind of thing.
"Fine," Said Twilight. "But you can't complain about going back home and I'm in charge."
"In charge of what?" Asked Pinkie, her head slightly tilted to one side and a massive smile on her face. The longer Twilight looked at her, the more cheerful Pinkie seemed.
"We're going after Celestia's killer." Said Rainbow Dash, pounding her hooves together and punching mid air. "And we're gonna take her down!" She said, punching the air with every syllable. Spike suddenly belched and a spout of green flame came shooting out of his mouth containing a scroll. Spike caught it and began to read aloud.
"Dear Twilight, you are needed in Canterlot at once." Spike turned the paper over, expecting to see more writing, but there was none to be seen. "That's it?" Asked spike. As he spoke the sky went dark and the moon rose into the middle of the sky. "Uh oh." Said Twilight.
Fluttershy jumped beneath the table and hid, while Rainbow Dash began to fly towards Canterlot immediately. The others followed and Twilight focused all of her energy on the entrance of Canterlot and teleported. after five minutes, the others arrived. "Here we go." Said Twilight, putting her hoof on the door and slowly opening it.
"Welcome Twilight." Said a familiar female voice from somewhere in the room. Twilight couldn't see where the owner of the voice was, even though she already knew. The castle entrance looked different, the walls were all painted a purplish black and covered in shimmering star charts and moons. "Do you like what I did with the place?" Asked the voice, this time from Twilight's left. Twilight illuminated her horn to get rid of some shadows.
The light spread out and the stars on the walls reflected and shimmered even more. "Allow me." Said the voice. a ball of deep purple light shot from the darkness and illuminated the whole room and showed the face, of Nightmare Moon. "Aren't you happy to see me?"
Twilight and rarity illuminated their horns, when they heard the doors fling open behind them. "Nightmare Moon," Said Cadence as she illuminated her horn as well. "You do not rule this kingdom, you must leave now or we will use force." Cadence's face was fierce and full of anger.
"Oh but I do rule this kingdom," Responded Nightmare Moon. "With Celestia gone, I am next in line." Nightmare Moon pointed her horn and Cadence suddenly went rigid and fell to the ground.
"Leave her alone!" Yelled Twilight taking a step forward and shooting a blast of purple energy at Nightmare Moon, who simply disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke letting the spell hit the wall.
"Such anger," Said the taunting Nightmare Moon. "And a need to prove yourself, a hunger for revenge and a hatred for all things evil. Change that last one and you would make a great villain Twilight. however your time is over." Nightmare Moon reappeared In the hall and yelled. "You can come out now."
Shadows began to draw from the corners of the room and pool in the center, a figure rose from the shadows, a figure with green flaming eyes. Cadence suddenly got up and began laughing. She walked over beside Nightmare Moon and began glowing green, in a poof of green energy Chrysalis took her place.
"YOU!!!" Screamed Twilight, who began to gallop forward but Apple Jack held her back.
"Yes, me." Purred Chrysalis, who began to walk toward Twilight. "Sorry about your dear mentor, by the way, it needed to be done... and it was fun to hear her scream." Chrysalis spit in Twilight's face.
"Now, now Chryssi, let's treat our guests with some respect shall we?" said Sombra. A glowing black cage appeared around Twilight and the others. "That's better." He said with a devilish smile.
"Oh there's someone missing," Said Chrysalis. a sudden flash of white came from behind Twilight and she heard a familiar voice say,
"Here I am." Discord walked past the cage and stood next to Chrysalis, his mismatched arms crossed.
"How could you?!" Screamed Fluttershy furiously, she slammed her hooves into the side of the cage. Her face was fierce and covered in tears." "You were our friend!"
"Was I?" Said Discord. "Was I ever, really your friend? this friendship was a new form a blackmail, nothing more. If there's one thing I've learned from my years of causing chaos, it's emotions cloud your senses. If you weren't so obsessed with this friendship, you would've seen this earlier." Fluttershy fell to the cage floor and began sobbing.
Twilight tried to cast spells but it seems the cage was enchanted to prevent them. "Send them to the dungeons." Said Nightmare Moon waving her hoof. Changelings came from the shadows and dragged the cage through a doorway and down a long flight of spiral stairs. Twilight got an idea.
"Girls," Twilight whispered. "Lean forwards."
"What?" Asked Rarity, confused.
"Lean forwards." rarity suddenly understood and whispered to the others. "One, Two, THREE!!" All six of them leaned forward. The cage tipped and began to crash down the staircase, crushing the changelings on the way. The cage hit the least step and burst open, sending the six flying into a mossy stone wall.
"What was that?" Twilight heard Chrysalis say. hoof steps sounded from the stairs. Chrysalis appeared around the corner and had a shocked look. She quickly shot a bolt of turquoise magic at Twilight, who quickly focused all of her energy on the Crystal Empire.
Twilight opened her eyes to see everypony huddled around Rarity who was screaming in pain. Twilight quickly got up and galloped over to see Rarity... missing an eye. Rarity's eye socket was gushing red. Twilight quickly tried to cast a healing spell but it wasn't working on her, all she managed to do was stop the bleeding.
Rarity's good eye rolled into the back of her head and she fell unconscious. "She'll be alright." Said Twilight, summoning a purple eye patch and placing it over the socket. Twilight stopped for a moment then summoned some blue and red gemstones in an alternating pattern around the edge of the eye patch.
"There," Said Twilight. "Now she won't complain as much." Twilight slumped against a wall of blue crystal and looked up to see the crystal heart was missing. Immediately afterward the castle began to turn black. "oh no!" She yelled. Twilight saw Sombra standing at the top of the central spire, his horn glowing a deep purplish red.
"RUN!" Screamed Rainbow Dash. Apple Jack quickly threw Rarity over her back and began to gallop as fast as she could with Pinkie, who was hopping furiously and Twilight, while rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew. Twilight looked back and saw changelings chasing after them. Twilight sent a beam of magic at them but they dodged and returned fire.
Twilight concentrated on Pony Ville but nothing happened. Twilight stopped and turned around, the others did the same. "We need to fight them, ill protect Rarity!" The others nodded and ran at the changelings while Twilight summoned a force field around Rarity's unconscious body. Twilight began shooting beams of magic at the changelings, she managed to hit three of them and they disintegrated when the beam hit them. Twilight kept firing, while the others bucked and punched the changelings.
Fluttershy ran back to Twilight. "I need to check up on Rarity!" She yelled. Twilight nodded and opened up a small hole, big enough for Fluttershy to crawl through and kept firing at the changelings. Twilight noticed some of the changelings began turning into her friends, Twilight stopped firing. She needed a way to find out which were which. Twilight saw some of the changelings still in their original form were bleeding a sickly green blood.
Twilight focused her fire on those ones. More and more changelings began to fly into the battle, there were too many of them. "Everypony behind me!" Twilight yelled. all of her friends ran back near the force field. The changelings instantly began to gallop and fly towards Twilight, who focused all of her energy into a spell she had never learned. Her horn began to spark and it finally illuminated with the familiar glow of red lightning.
The changelings stopped with scared expressions on their face. Twilight released her energy and sent a blast of red lightning at the changelings. Twilight hit one and continued to shoot. The changeling she had hit began screaming. red lightning shot from it and caused a chain reaction, each changeling sent a beam of red lightning into other changelings until they were all hit. One by one the changelings began to disappear in a flash of red light.
The others sat down, panting, all of them had cuts and bruises, except for Fluttershy who managed to stay hidden for most of the battle. "We need to get out of here." Said Apple Jack. looking upwards. Twilight followed her gaze and saw at least a hundred more changelings flying towards them.
Rainbow flew after them as fast as she could. Twilight saw a mock cone forming around her. In a massive blast of chromatic light, the changelings went flying in all directions. rainbow returned to the ground. Twilight focused all of her energy on Pony Ville again, but this time when she opened her eyes, she was looking at Sugarcube Corner.
She looked around to see all of her friends, including Rarity who began to stir. Rarity opened her eye and instantly began to hyperventilate. Twilight could barely understand her through gasps. "Why, where, what, Cadence, Sombra, Discord... Why do I have an eye patch!?!"
"Rarity, calm down," Said rainbow Dash. "We'll explain in a minute."
"We need to find a safe place to stay." Said Twilight. As she spoke, the clouds began to turn pink and it began to rain, not water, but chocolate milk. Pinkie opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. All around them, buildings began to rip out of the ground and float in midair. Suddenly a large wooden throne appeared in front of them and in a flash of light. Discord appeared.
"Hello, girls, nice to see you again."
Chapter 4: Safety
Discord stood up and began walking back and forth. "I hope you understand there's no point in trying to fight." Discord said, his voice sounded disturbingly playful. "There are too many of us, an unlimited supply of changelings, the spirit of chaos, a unicorn of shadows and a princess of darkness has to be hard to beat, and this is before the big boss comes."
"What big boss?" Asked Twilight.
"Oh you'll find out soon enough." Said Discord. "We villains have jurisdiction over all of Equestria. I have Cloudsdale and Pony Ville, Chrysalis has Canterlot and Manehattan and Sombra has The Crystal Empire and... something else I can't remember, anyways. We rule Equestria now, there's nothing you can do to stop us."
"I know." Said Twilight. The others looked at her with shocked expressions. "We can't save Equestria. But we can try."
"Even if you try you will fail. But I want it to be interesting at least so I might break one of my rules and help you a little bit." Discord held his arm out beside Twilight and squinted his eyes. A glowing, pulsing orb of Golden light began to flicker into existence.
"There, give it a couple of minutes this is very difficult after all. I may be helping but you'll still lose, I'm doing this purely for entertainment. I mean, we've already tricked you."
"What do you mean?" Asked Twilight. Behind her, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash stepped forward. They began glowing green and transformed, into changelings. Twilight and Rarity illuminated their horns.
"Where are they!" Twilight screamed.
"Why exactly would I tell you that?" Discord said smugly.
"You'll tell me because if you don't," Twilight illuminated her horn. "I'll make you tell us against your will." Discord began laughing. He fell to the floor banging his mismatched fists against the ground, he rolled onto his back and wiped a tear from his eyes.
"Are you kidding me?" Asked Discord, still chuckling under his breath. "I am the god of chaos. you may be the element of magic Twilight but without the elements of harmony you have no chance of beating me. In fact even if you do have the elements you wouldn't be able to use them. You don't have all of your friends." Twilight knew he was right, but she didn't care.
Twilight attempted the red lightning spell but it wasn't working. She tried over and over again but to no avail. When she looked up she saw Discord sitting down, eating some popcorn and holding back laughter. Twilight quickly shot one of her most powerful spells at Discord. He merely lifted his hand and blocked it. Discord turned around and grabbed a cupcake from behind the counter.
"Twilight," Said Discord, with a mouthful of pink frosting, "I kind of feel bad for you. I mean, you went through en entire labyrinth of dreamscapes where you had enough power to beat me, Luna, Celestia, Chrysalis and Sombra without breaking a sweat. and now you're left with your weak original body that can't even cast the right spells!" He began laughing again.
Twilight become even angrier which she didn't think was possible. "You've taken my friends," Twilight took a step forward and began summoning as much power as she could, "You've put us through Hell," Twilight took another step. Discord got a worried look on his face, "You've hurt Rarity," Twilight stopped walking and shut her eyes.
"What are you doing?!" Yelled Discord. Who backed up against the wall and began snapping his fingers furiously. "WORK!" He screamed.
"Run!" Twilight screamed. all of her friends went running out the door along with the changelings. Twilight opened her eyes that were glowing white, and she exploded in magical energy.
"Wake up Twilight!" Rarity screamed. Twilight opened her eyes and say a sparkling eye patch.
"Rarity?" Twilight asked in a soft and hoarse voice.
"Thank Celestia you're alright." Rarity said giving a sigh of relief.
"Who cares if I'm alright!?" Said Twilight coming to her senses. "Are you alright!?"
"Darling I'm fine, there's no pain and I have this eye patch to cover it up... sure I'll never look the same but... You win some you lose some."
"An eye for an eye." Said Apple Jack giving a small chuckle. The other two turned their heads to her. "Just trying to lighten the mood." She said. Twilight looked around to see she was in her room.
"What happened?" She asked lifting herself off of her bed slightly.
"Well you told us to run so we did, but then you kind of... Exploded. We found you unconscious on the ground so we brought you here."
"How long have I been out?" Twilight asked, now out of her bed completely.
"A couple of hours."
"And Discord?" Asked Twilight.
"Well," Rainbow Dash came around the corner with something in a cloth on her back. "We found this." Rarity finished. Twilight unwrapped the cloth to see a lion's arm.
"Well, at least he's slightly weaker now." Twilight got up and walked up to her telescope. "Oh no..." Twilight looked at the previous location of Sugarcube Corner however it was now replaced by a familiar scorch mark in the shape of a sparkle.
"I didn't know you were that powerful." Said Fluttershy walking up to the window and looking down at the broken pieces of wood.
"Neither did I." Said Twilight looking down at her hooves. How did I do that? She thought to herself. When suddenly it clicked. "I've figured it out!" She shouted. Turning towards the others who all had shocked looks on their faces. "The reason I'm so powerful is because we're still in a dreamscape!"
"We can't be!" Said Rarity, "Discord released us."
"That wasn't the real Discord, that was just Celestia's dream! She dreamed Discord was innocent and released us. This is all just a dream turned into a nightmare!" rarity lifted her hoof and touched her eye patch.
"Well, then how do we get out?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"I think I can help with that." Said a voice from the doorway. Twilight turned her head and saw Celestia standing there with tears in her eyes. Twilight gasped and ran to Celestia, hugging her and crying as hard as she could.
"Come with me," Celestia said and she began to walk out the door towards the Everfree forest.
Chapter 5: Remember
"Where do you think she's taking us?" Asked Rarity. everypony was following Celestia through a group of dense bushes and trees.
"Well knowing Celestia she's probably taking us someplace to hide and start planning to attack." Twilight smiled, proud of her mentor. Twilight imagined Celestia in a cave somewhere with an elaborate plan written down.
BOOM! An extremely loud explosion sound came from somewhere in the distance. Twilight and Rarity turned around to see lightning shooting out of the top of the main tower in Canterlot. "What are they planning?" Said Rarity gritting her teeth.
"It doesn't matter remember," Interrupting Rarity, "This is all a nightmare." Rarity's knees began to shake.
"Rarity are you ok?" She fell to the ground with a thud. "Rarity!" Twilight shouted. Twilight galloped over and checked Rarity or vitals.
"What happened?" Asked Fluttershy, who had landed next to Twilight and was now on the ground next to Rarity as well.
"I don't know," Answered Twilight. "She just fell over."
"Did she faint?" Asked Apple Jack who had galloped around the corner and skidded to a halt next to Twilight.
"That would be like Rarity but I don't think so, she didn't pull up a sofa to land on." Apple Jack smiled at the thought or rarity being normal again. Rarity's eyelid started twitching then slowly opening. "Rarity!" Said Twilight giving a sigh of relief. "Are you ok?"
"What happened?" Asked Rarity. 'Where am I? We were planning and then." Rarity rubbed her head with her hoof.
"You mean... you don't remember?" Asked Fluttershy.
"Oh no..." Said Twilight, slumping against a building.
"What is it? Asked Apple Jack.
"The magic shot by Chrysalis, It didn't just hit her eye, it's starting to affect her brain."
"Memory loss?" Asked Fluttershy.
"Yep," Answered Twilight, "And who knows when it will happen again."
"Can you fix it?" Asked Apple Jack.
"I don't think so," Responded Twilight. "It's changeling magic, and it's powerful. She was aiming to kill."
"I can help." Said Celestia, standing over them. "But we need to get somewhere safe first."
"Come on rarity." Said Twilight lifting Rarity to her hooves with Apple Jacks help. Everypony began walking towards a cave in the side of a mountain. it reminded Twilight of the cave she sent the Ursa Minor into. The inside of the cave was massive, seemingly hollowed out with magic, as soon as they walked in Celestia began summoning tables and papers.
"Now that we're safe." Celestia ran to Twilight and hugged her. "It's so good to see you."
"You too," Said Twilight hugging her back.
"What happened?" Asked Celestia looking towards Rarity.
"Chrysalis," Said Rarity.
"The magic is starting to affect her brain," Said Twilight, "can you help her?"
"I'll see what I can do." Said Celestia, "Lay down here." She said summoning a long white metal table out of thin air. Rarity lied down and Celestia illuminated her horn.
Twilight began looking at the pieces of paper on one of the tables. it was covered in drawings of Canterlot and where all the secret entrances were. Twilight turned to Celestia "Did you see the lightning?"
"Yes," Said Celestia still scanning Rarity. "And I can only imagine what they're doing up there. Sombra, Chrysalis, Discord and..." Celestia paused, "And Luna."
"And somepony else." Interrupted Twilight.
"What?" Said Celestia, turning her head suddenly.
"Discord said somepony else was coming."
"WHO!?" Said Celestia, galloping at Twilight with incredible speed. Twilight jumped.
"I don't know he didn't say!" She said startled. Celestia galloped towards one of the tables, leaving Rarity lying in the same place. She began frantically lifting pieces of paper with magic, quickly scanning them then throwing them behind her. "Uuhhh... Are you ok?"
"No! Discord is planning something even more devious than I'd expected." Celestia said still frantically throwing papers across the room.
"Well how much more devious can it get?" Asked Apple Jack. Celestia stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Apple Jack.
"There are things in Equestria far more evil than Discord," She said, in a calm but still intense tone. "And it is my duty to make sure you never have to face those things. We need to start planning, stakeouts, espionage, attack. We need to pull out all of the stops. There may be five of us but we need to defeat Discord." Celestia stopped and began mumbling to herself. "If he unleashes Skorpan, or Tirek... or anything else in Tartarus."
"Yeah! let's kill those guys! Said Apple Jack.
"YEAH!" screamed the others.
"Yay!" Said Fluttershy feebly. Rarity suddenly fell off of the metal table. Everypony rushed to her aid but by the time they got there she was already on her hooves.
"Chrysalis! And a cage, we killed the changelings! My eye! Oh, my Celestia!" Rarity gasped for breath and looked around with a confused and worried look on her face. "we're in a cave." She said confused.
"Celestia you need to help her!" Twilight shouted.
"I'll do the best I can, meanwhile you three should get to planning. We've got a lot of work to do."
Chapter 6: Turned Tables
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Apple Jack ducked down behind some bushes at the front gate of the royal palace. Celestia landed softly next to them.
"You ready?" Asked Celestia,
"Yeah." Said Twilight, looking back to her friends who all grinned in confidence.
"Remember if you ever get into trouble, use the spell I taught you." Celestia took off and flew way up into the air above them. Twilight ran over the plan again in her head. Whoa Deja vu Twilight thought to herself. She was reminded of the dreamscape, just before they fought Discord. step 1, wait for Celestia's signal. Celestia shot a beam of light into the air which caused a magical effect that was like a golden aurora borealis.
Check, step 2, sneak in the gate while the guards are distracted Four Changelings came galloping out the front gate, all of them looking at Celestia.
"COME AND GET ME!" Yelled Celestia taking off into the skies, the changelings in close pursuit. Twilight quickly tossed a rock and blocked the door open. Twilight signaled her friends and quietly galloped towards the gate, letting it close with a soft *thud* behind her. Check, step 3, look for a key to get into the castle Twilight sent her friends to different guard towers either side of the gate while she kept watch, after about a minute Fluttershy came down from a tower with a glittering gold key in her mouth.
Twilight picked it up and unlocked the door as quietly as possible. Check, step 4, get to the sleeping chambers Twilight and the others tiptoed up a flight of stairs and took the closest left. Twilight had the castle of Canterlot memorized already, despite the maps that Celestia gave her to study... But she studied them anyways.
"Next left." Twilight whispered to the others, they started to turn around the corner when all of a sudden, "Get back!" Twilight whispered loudly. she pushed the others back against the wall and peered around the corner. Two changelings were posted outside the doors to Celestia's old sleeping chambers.
"I got this." Said Apple Jack, pulling a lasso out of her saddle bag and whipping it around in the air. The lasso went flying down the corridor and wrapped around the changeling's necks. Apple Jack tightened the lasso, a large crack sounded down the hallway as the changeling's heads hit the floor.
Twilight slowly opened the door and entered, she turned back and signaled the others to keep watch as she closed the door. As Twilight turned she saw Chrysalis sleeping on a large bed... Celestia's bed. Get to the sleeping chambers, Check, step 5, Do what needs too be done
Twilight illuminated her horn and crawled up next to the bed. Do it! Twilight thought to herself. She deserves it. Chrysalis's eyes suddenly opened. "Twilight?" She asked. Twilight quickly closed her eyes and shot a blast of magic at Chrysalis. When Twilight opened her eyes, she say Chrysalis's hoof covered in blood, and a shocked look on her face.
"Why?" Chrysalis said as her large head fell down onto the pillow beneath her. Twilight stared down at Chrysalis's body, feeling both satisfied and disappointed, she expected to feel triumphant not... how she felt now. Twilight examined the body. A drop of blood was coming out of Chrysalis's mouth, Blood was dripping on the floor from her hoof and blood was pouring out of a hole in her stomach.
all of this blood it was just so... Red... Wait a second... Changeling blood isn't red it's... Chrysalis's body began shimmering green. Changeling blood is green Chrysalis's body was replaced with the body of... Pinkie. "NO!" Twilight stepped back, suddenly getting light headed. Twilight stumbled out the door looking for Apple Jack and Fluttershy.
Twilight found them, being held up by the ankles. "Well..." Said Discord, "Naughty, naughty... trying to kill my dear Chryssi... well you need to be punished... I think letting you watch Equestria get destroyed will do." Discord sprouted another arm and grabbed Twilight by the horn and picked her up.
It caused a searing pain through her head but she didn't care, all she could think about was Pinkie.... And how it was all her fault. Pinkies bright, blue, brilliant eyes were still open, a half smile on her face and a hole... in her stomach. Next thing she knew Twilight was in shackles, being held up by her front hooves.
Twilight's vision went black. Images started running through her mind, images of Chrysalis slowly transforming into Pinkie, images of all the good times they had shared, all the jokes and parties, all the messes and the defying physics. Twilight had always thought that she represented the turning of a age, the beginning of morning, after a cold bitter night. But she didn't feel that way anymore. Now she felt like the end of happiness, and the beginning of the dark.
A muffled voice rang in Twilight's ears. She tried to ignore it but it was slowly getting clearer. "Twilight? Twilight!" Twilight slowly looked up to see Apple Jack yelling at her. "Snap out of it! We need to plan."
"What's the point? Twilight said in a hopeless tone. closing her eyes again and looking at the floor.
"What?" Said Apple Jack confused and scared.
"I have read hundreds of stories, stories about science, stories about magic but no matter how logical I am, no matter how much faith I have in science, I have always taken special time out to read fairy tales. You'd think, out of all of the fairy tales I've read, I would've found one, just one... That was like this... but no, I haven't found any. All of them have happy endings and prince charmings and no matter what... good always wins.
None of the stories I have ever read have had three of the six main characters chained up in the villain's basement! So yes I ask you what the point is because the way things are going, it looks like the bad guys win."
"THE POINT!?" Twilight jumped, If she hadn't seen Fluttershy's lips moving she wouldn't have believed it was her talking. "The point is to get out of here and save the damn world! That's the point!"
"Fluttershy's right we've got to get back out there and kick some serious tail!" Said Apple Jack. "We are going to find the others and we are going to make our own happy ending." Twilight looked up into Apple Jack's eyes. "We need to talk to Celestia."
"And how do you think we'll be able to do that?" Asked Twilight, still in a hopeless tone.
"Don't remember?" Asked Apple Jack shocked. "The spell Twilight." Twilight suddenly felt incredibly stupid. How could I forget the spell Celestia taught me? Twilight illuminated her horn.
"Hello? is... is anypony there?" Twilight asked.
"Hello, Twilight." Said Celestia's voice, emanating from somewhere in the room. "Oops, hold on a second, IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT!?" Celestia screamed at, presumably the changelings. "What's happening? is everything going to plan?"
"Actually it's kind of the opposite." Said Twilight looking up at her shackles.
"Where are you now?" Celestia asked.
"The dungeons."
"What are you doing down the... Never mind, which pair of shackles are you in?" Asked Celestia.
"... What?"
"Which pair of SHACKLES are you in?" Said Celestia more clearly.
"Ummm... the middle pair on the left if you're coming from the stairs." Said Twilight confused.
"Ok. The pair of shackles across from you, the left one is loose, if you pull it out you'll find some keys," Twilight used her magic to pull out the left shackle across from her and found six keys on a key ring. "Unlock everypony's shackles, find Pinkie and Rainbow Dash then..."
"Not Pinkie." Said Twilight suddenly depressed.
"What?" Asked everypony including Celestia.
"Not... Pinkie." Said Twilight louder, "We can't rescue Pinkie."
"Why not?" Asked everypony again.
"Pinkie's dead." Everypony went silent. Twilight couldn't bare to look at the others so she focused on a spot on the wall. "Listen, I'll explain later but right now we need to figure out a plan." Twilight looked everypony dead in the eyes.
"Ok," Said Celestia confused and sad at the same time. "Get umm... Get everypony free and look for... Rainbow Dash." Twilight could tell Celestia was tearing up. "And once we beat them... Once we Beat Discord and the others... We'll set up a funeral for Pinkie." The others in the room nodded. Twilight stopped casting the spell and unlocked everypony's shackles.
"Let's go find Rainbow Dash." Said Apple Jack.
Chapter 7: Past and Present
Twilight, Fluttershy and Apple Jack made their way down the hallway towards the throne room. They couldn't find Rainbow Dash in the dungeon, they searched every room but there was no sign of her. Twilight figured they might be keeping her in a cage in the throne room. Twilight thought that seemed like the kind of twisted thing Discord would do.
And sure enough, when Twilight looked through the crack between the two massive doors leading to the throne room, she saw a large cage with Rainbow zipping from side to side. Twilight stepped away from the door and whispered to her friends.
"Alright, here's the plan, I'll send an illusion of us running through the door, Apple Jack you go around the hallway on our left, you'll find a secret door behind a statue of Star Swirl the Bearded. Go through there and wait for my signal. Fluttershy, you go around the hallway on the right, the fifteenth door on your left should lead into a basement underneath the thrones, stick to the back wall and wait for my signal." The others nodded but still looked confused. "What?" Twilight asked.
"What's the signal?" Asked Fluttershy.
"Oh you won't miss it." Twilight said with a smirk on her face. "This's gonna hit them right where it hurts." Twilight pointed to the hallways, Apple Jack and Fluttershy nodded and started walking down them. Once they rounded the corner Twilight waited for a few minutes. After a while Twilight saw Apple Jack up on a balcony behind the thrones.
Sitting in the thrones were Sombra and Discord while Chrysalis was pacing across the room. "I honestly don't know what you're worrying about Chryssi." Said Discord summoning a martini in his hand. "The ponies are chained up in the basement, there's nothing to worry about."
"No," Disagreed Chrysalis. "They wouldn't have gone down there without a fight, it was too easy. They must have a plan." Chrysalis stopped for a second, thinking, then shook her head and kept pacing.
"What is it Chryssi? You can tell uncle Discord."
"What if they can communicate with Celestia?" Said Chrysalis, stopping in the middle of the room and looking at Discord, who giggled at the thought and dropped his martini.
"Oops." Said Discord who held out his hand. The shattered glass seemed to rewind. The pieces of glass pieced back together and the liquid refilled the newly repaired glass. "And how would they be able to do that?" Discord asked.
"I don't know," responded Chrysalis. "But they must be... Somehow."
"Chryssi you're just barking at thin air, there's nothing to be worried about." Discord took a sip from his martini glass.
"I have to agree with Chrysalis on this one." Said Sombra. Discord sprayed Martini all over the stone tiled floor. "There is no way they would have peacefully been brought to the dungeons. That's just not them."
"Oh come on Sombra!" Said Discord. "You can't actually believe that they can contact Celestia from the dungeons can you? I am disappointed."
"You have to admit it is very-"
"Suspicious?" Finished the illusion of Twilight as it came running through the door.
"Yeah, Twilight!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, slamming her hooves against the side of the cage. Twilight could see Rainbow Dash had bandages all over her body.
To the real Twilight's surprise, nobody did anything, Discord, Sombra and Chrysalis merely looked at the illusionary Twilight and... didn't respond at all. After an awkward minute of silence, Discord interrupted.
"Twilight," Discord stood up from his throne. "I have been around for thousands of years," Discord began walking towards the illusion of Twilight. "Did you seriously think I would fall for an illusion?" Discord flicked the illusion and it disappeared. At that moment two changelings grabbed Twilight's front hooves and threw her into the throne room.
"Twi!" Apple Jack came swinging down from the balcony by a rope... and she was met by a bolt of green fire.
"NO!" Twilight screamed again as Apple Jack came falling to the floor with a thud. There was a hole burned through her chest. Apple Jack's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her hat slowly floated to the ground beside her.
Twilight was grabbed by Discord and lifted off of her hooves into the air. Discord slammed Twilight's face into a window and started speaking. "Now you get to watch Equestria fall. And not only that... You get to see everything you have ever wanted, ever had and ever will have to be taken away from you."
Twilight tore her eyes off of Apple Jack's body and looked Discord dead in the eye. "What do you mean?" She said in a voice she didn't recognize to be her own at first.
"Ooh," Said in a playful tone which only sickened Twilight further. "Looks like I've finally broken you. Hm? Looks like I've finally broken The Great Twilight Sparkle." Discord tilted his head slightly to the side. Twilight was reminded of a dog who just head a new sound.
"Where's your big boss?" Twilight asked mockingly, still in that slightly unrecognizable voice. "You said someone else was coming... Where is he hm?"
"Wow." Discord said sounding shocked. "You really fell for that." Twilight was confused for a second but she finally realized.
"It was all a diversion."
"That's Right." Said Discord. "To keep you idiot ponies Distracted while we work on our real plan."
"And what would that be?" Twilight asked, sounding surprisingly calm.
"Oh, you'll see." Responded Discord, clearly excited. "All we need to do is wait."
"For what?" Asked Twilight. Discord looked towards a random window.
"Three, two... One." There was a crashing sound as Celestia came smashing through the exact window Discord was staring at. Sombra leapt from his chair but collided in mid air with a ray of golden light. Chrysalis took flight, soaring up to the balconies and started shooting bolts of green energy from her horn.
Celestia took off after her and started firing back. Fluttershy came running through the doors behind Twilight. As soon as Fluttershy saw what was going on she turned around and started running. But she was stopped by at least five changelings who piled up on top of Fluttershy.
"NO!" Twilight screamed for the third time. Twilight teleported out of Discords hands an appeared in the pile of changelings, sending them flying in every direction. Twilight looked down at Fluttershy who was... Missing a leg. Twilight didn't have time to panic so she threw Fluttershy on her back and focused with all of her might.
Twilight appeared in the cave where they planned this hole endeavor.
"Twilight!" Rarity said in a clearly shocked and panicked tone. "What happened to... Oh my Celestia."
"There's no time to explain, help me get her onto a table." Said Twilight, struggling with Fluttershy's weight. Rarity galloped over and lifted Fluttershy's back hooves. Together they set her on a table. "Rarity," Twilight said quickly. "Do you know any medical magic?"
"Well, uh yes but I-"
"I need you to heal Fluttershy as much as you can, I have to go back to the castle."
"Twilight there's no way I'm letting you just leave."
"And there's no way I'm letting you leave Fluttershy here." Twilight responded quickly. Rarity looked back at Fluttershy, and walked over to the table. Her horn glowed blue and Fluttershy's wound started to knit back together.
"This will at least stop the bleeding."
"Good." Said Twilight turning and beginning to focus.
"Oh and Twilight?" Rarity interrupted. "Be careful." Twilight nodded... and vanished. When Twilight reappeared in the throne room, she was greeted by ten changelings tackling her to the ground.
"Nice of you to join us." Said Discord, but he didn't sound playful at all... he sounded frustrated for the first time ever. Twilight lifted her face off of the ground and saw Chrysalis... on the ground... missing a head. Twilight smirked and looked around for Celestia. Twilight found her on the floor as well but she had a hole in her stomach and she was bleeding badly.
Twilight was once again lifted off of the ground by her horn, except this time a lot more forcefully. "This is what you have done..." Said Discord, sounding disappointed and very, very angry. "Why couldn't you have just rolled over and died." Twilight spat in Discord's face.
"I will never, just roll over and die." Discord wiped the spit off of his face and stared Twilight. After a while he lifted his other hand and smacked Twilight clean across the face. Sending her flying across the room.
"Don't you touch her!" Screamed Celestia who was now on her hooves. Twilight stumbled to her hooves and looked over at her. Her horn was snapped in half.
"And what are you going to do Celestia?" Said Discord, suddenly playful again. "Kick me? You're useless without your magic."
Celestia began slowly limping towards Celestia. "I will always fight," She said through gritted teeth. "No matter how hard you hit me, I will always fight." Discord began laughing. But it wasn't his usual giggle, it was full out, maniacal laughter.
"Don't you see?" Discord managed to say between snorts. "There's nothing left to fight for!" Suddenly Sombra appeared behind Twilight, and he was holding the limp bodies of Fluttershy and Rarity. Twilight tried to get to her hooves instantly but she was interrupted by Sombra.
"There's no point." He said tossing them to the floor. "They're dead." Twilight couldn't take it any more. She fell onto the floor and started sobbing.
"Twilight gets it!" Said Discord gesturing to the weeping Twilight. "There's nothing left to fight for... give up." He said. now back into a serious tone. "And now for the end."
"What!?" Said Celestia, clearly worried, furious and sad at the same time.
"Our plan is nearly finished, and all we need is this." Discord pulled out the other half of Celestia's horn and pricked a single strand of Twilight's hair from her head. Sombra stepped towards the center, levitating Chrysalis's head next to him. The three items were place in the center of the room and Discord began casting a spell, unrecognizable to Twilight but Celestia seemed to know exactly what was going on.
Suddenly the three objects disappeared and were replaced by a shimmering black oval which was levitating in midair. Twilight was dragged across the floor by Sombra's magic.
"Do you know what we're doing Twilight?" Asked Discord. Twilight shook her head in fear. "We are going to turn your every victory... Into a failure. Every time you have ever defeated us will be reversed. You will survive of course. But she won't." Discord pointed to Celestia. "Everypony in Equestria... will die. a few items like clothing... personal belongings... stuff like that will be left behind but other than that... nothing. And it all starts... Now."
Suddenly a searing pain ran through Twilight's head. All she could see was her friends and her enemies except this time... the enemies were winning. Luna was turning back into Nightmare Moon, Celestia was dead, Discord was never turned back into stone, Sombra ruled over the Crystal Empire, Chrysalis ruled over Canterlot. Everything was falling apart.
In the room with Twilight, Chrysalis's body stood up and her head began to regrow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash began to fade away. Celestia began to fade as well.
Twilight was thrown to the floor with a thud. She instantly got up and ran towards where Rarity was laid, but all that was left was her eye patch. She ran to Fluttershy but she was gone. She ran to Rainbow Dash's cage but all that was left were bandages with her blood on them. She ran to Apple Jack but it was just her hat. She turned around and saw Celestia slowly fading.
Twilight ran to her and tried to touch her but her hoof passed right through. "Twilight," Celestia said... weak. "Run." Twilight spun around and summoned Rainbow Dash's bandages, Rarity's eye patch and Apple Jacks hat. once she had all of the items... she disappeared.
Chapter 8: Not like This
Twilight walked over to the podium she had made earlier and spoke out to the chairs in front of her. "Fillies and Gentlecolts... We are gathered here today, not to mourn death... but to celebrate life." Twilight focused on each empty chair in front of her. "I knew the six ponies who lay before me and... I am the one responsible for nearly all of their deaths."
Twilight looked down at the six coffins in front of her, three of them were empty, and three of them contained the last physical evidence of her friend's existence. Each coffin had a Cutie Mark etched into the lid.
"Fluttershy, the kindest, most loving, gentlest pony I have ever met. She did nothing but love other ponies, no matter what. She didn't deserve to die." Twilight set a yellow rose on Fluttershy's empty coffin.
"Rarity, the most generous, caring, fashionable pony I have ever met. The last thing she ever did was help somepony. She didn't deserve to die." Twilight se a violet on Rarity's coffin which contained her eye patch.
"Apple Jack, the most honest, hard working pony I have ever met. She worked on sweet apple acres and made the best apple cider you have ever tasted." Twilight smiled at the memory of Apple Jack and herself working together against the Flim Flam brothers, but then frowned as the memory slowly changed to them being defeated and losing the farm.
"If you ever needed help with anything, she was there for you. She didn't deserve to die." Twilight set an apple blossom on Apple Jack's coffin which contained her hat.
"Rainbow Dash is the most loyal, athletic pony I have ever met. No matter what, she will always be by your side." Twilight remembered Rainbow Dash catching her when she fell off of a cliff all those years ago. But then realized Rainbow didn't catch her. She let her fall.
Twilight snapped out of it. "She was also the fastest pony in all of Equestria... She didn't deserve to die." Twilight placed the Wonderbolts badge she had found on Rainbow's coffin that contained her bandages.
"Princess Celestia was not only my mentor, she was like a mother to me. She taught me nearly everything I know. and if it wasn't for her, I would never have met my friends... She didn't deserve to die." Twilight placed a golden daisy on Celestia's empty coffin.
"Pinkie Pie," Twilight held back tears as she spoke her name. "Pinkie was the friendliest pony anyone could ever meet. If you were new in town, she would throw you the biggest party you have ever seen. No matter what she could always find a way to make you smile..." Twilight stared down at Pinkies coffin, trying not to think about her. She didn't want her memories of Pinkie ruined.
"She... Most of all didn't deserve to die." Twilight tied a bright pink balloon to a notch on the top of Pinkie's coffin which contained. All of Pinkie's photos. Every party she had ever threw had a picture taken. And they were completely untouched. Twilight couldn't figure out why. She just brought it down to one of the many impossible things involved with Pinkie. Twilight would never figure those things out now.
Twilight stopped speaking and look out towards the empty chairs which she had set up. She still didn't know why she moved the chairs. Maybe she wanted the funeral to seem formal, she didn't know. It just felt... right. Twilight felt warm tears falling down her face. The reality of everything seemed to hit her all at once.
All of a sudden she sat down and stared at her hooves. Tears rolling off of her face and hitting the floor of the stage. Twilight looked around at the coffins on the level below her. "I loved each and every one of them." She said, now in a full out sob. "They were the best, and only friends I had ever had. But now..." Twilight looked up into the still empty chairs. "They're all dead. Everypony is dead. My brother," Twilight began seeing memories of Shining armor slowly change into failures but she didn't care anymore. all she wanted was get one last look at everypony. "Cadence, Zecora, Spike, Luna, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell. They were so young, they didn't even have their cutie marks yet." Twilight fell down completely at this point, now sobbing into the rough, old wooden stage.
Twilight looked up again and saw the coffins of her friends, no. Not friends, family. But something in the corner of her eye moved. Twilight looked out to see Discord, Sombra, Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon sitting in the far back row. They didn't say anything they just stared at her, though Discord had a big smile upon his face.
Twilight screamed, cast a familiar spell, and vanished.
Twilight heard the sounds of hoof steps and somepony humming. Twilight's eyes focused to see... the front door of her bedroom. The time travel spell had worked and she was back, back before it all fell apart. Suddenly the front door opened and Twilight saw, a young, clean version of herself.
"Not again!!!" She screamed. Spike walked through the door. Twilight's heart jumped at the sight of him.
"I'll go make some breakfast." He said, walking off and shaking his head.
"What is it now, said the young Twilight." This whole conversation came flooding back to Twilight's memory and she felt the same emotion at the same time as The young Twilight. Laughing at the stupid name... Dusk was pretty funny. She tried to hide all emotion from the young Twilight. But soon happiness was replaced by sadness, and worry. Twilight wanted to tell the other her about the things to come, maybe she can fix it.
"Hey Twilight?"
"Yeah?" She waited for a second, feeling a small tear roll down her cheek.
"Say hi to Pinkie for me." Twilight felt herself slowly being pulled away.
"Why can't you say hi to her yourself?" The young Twilight asked.
"Like I said... Long Story." And with that, Twilight found herself standing on the wooden platform once again. She looked up to see Discord blow his nose, light the tissue on fire and begin laughing. Twilight fell to the floor again and began crying.
"This isn't how fairy tales should end."
The End
