Chapter 1 - Sacrifices

Twilight wobbled up onto her hooves, the residual effects of a recent teleport still fresh in her body. Once she was standing, she twisted her head around to absorb her surroundings.

Her mouth flew open, as she saw Discord standing behind her, along with Shining Armor, and Princess Luna. Behind them, was the Everfree Forest. The sun was setting quickly. Twilight knew it was much earlier than it should have been. It appeared that they were all standing just outside the edge of the forest. Twilight looked back towards her front. Sudden bursts of light were exploding sporadically inside of Canterlot.

“Wha-what just happened?!” Twilight asked, as a violent chill ran through her body.

“Discord saved your life.” Shining answered, almost mumbling. Twilight turned to look at her brother, and noticed that he seemed worried. She followed his eyes.

Once again, she was staring at Canterlot, except now, there was smoke rising from the city. Twilight's stomach twisted into a knot, as her ears perked up to hear the sound of distant screaming.

Discord walked up to Twilight. He stood beside her, and continued to stay silent. Twilight strained her neck to look up at him, searching for any sign of inner emotions. She saw nothing new. His claw was wrapped around his back, lion paw stroking his beard. His eyes too, were locked onto the smoking city on the horizon.

Twilight stepped backwards, separating herself from the draconequus. She quickly turned around to further distance herself, but stopped as her heart sunk, when her eyes came upon Luna.

Luna was sitting in the grass. Her eyes were wide, soaked in tears. Her ears were folded back, and her right front hoof was being held up in front of her chest in fright. Tears streamed down, and around her face in all different directions. Her mouth was agape, as she watched Canterlot.

Twilight took one step towards Luna, but as soon as her hoof touched the ground, Luna’s eyes shot towards her. Twilight flinched backwards, but continued onward, taking another step forward.

Luna’s mouth twitched closed slightly, and wobbled, as she quickly stood. She turned around, facing the forest, and opened her wings to take off into the sky.

Twilight raised her hoof, in an attempt to get Luna to stop. Twilight, once again, flinched as Luna turned her head. She saw into Luna’s eyes, at all of the raw emotional turmoil that raged inside of her body. The sadness and despair that tore apart Luna’s heart, was somehow, being shadowed by an overwhelming terror that plagued Luna’s mind and soul.

Luna turned away once again, facing the darkness that resided inside the forest. With one great flap of her wings, she was off, and away into the darkness.

Twilight ran forward, in a vain attempt to follow Luna, but halted, once she realized how pointless it really was.

“Luna...what’s wrong?”

“Let her be, Twilight.” Discord spoke.

Twilight turned abruptly to reply, but found a lump in her throat. Discord was right. From the way Luna looked, any kind of attempt at helping her now, would only worsen the situation.

Twilight chose to let Luna go, and chose to sit in the grass, and watch this new world unfold before her eyes. She felt horrible. This had all happened because of her willingness to do the right thing. Whether it was right for her to have helped Solar Eclipse, or do as she was told, and possibly save pony’s lives, she couldn't decide. All she could do now, was watch as the world she once knew, collapsed around her.

Visible fires started to appear from within Canterlot’s walls. Being as far away as they were, the fires had to be the size of entire city blocks.

“What’s happening in there?” Twilight asked, forcing the question past the frog that refused to move from her throat.

“One of two things.” Discord stated, turning around, and walking towards Twilight. “Either the citizens of Canterlot are revolting over the execution of Solar and yourself,” Discord hesitated, and stole a long glance at Canterlot. “or Celestia has already realized what has happened, and is losing her mind.”

Discord looked away, and continued to walk past Twilight into the forest. Twilight took the opportunity to gallop to her brother’s side. She felt like her stomach had rotated itself twenty times over, and her chest ached, while her heart pounded furiously inside.

She finally reached him. He had been sitting in the same spot, motionless since her arrival. His eyes were locked on the now burning city of Canterlot. His mouth was slightly open, but wobbled, in the exact same way Luna’s had only moments ago. Other than his mouth, his expression remained mostly stoic.

“I can’t believe she would do something like that.” Shining said, unwavered by his sister’s presence.

“We all couldn't believe it at a time,” Twilight responded, “but what else do we have to believe?”

“I know...but...she...tried to kill you.” Shining whispered, barely audible.

“I understand, and she would have too, if Discord hadn't saved me.”

“Do you know why...he didn't save Solar, Twilight?”

“N-no...no I don’t. I assume it was because he waited too long to save him.”

“No...that’s not it. He could have saved him at any time.” Shining stood, and turned around, stepping towards the forest. “He didn’t save him, because he could only save one of you.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. She turned her head so that she could address her brother. “Wha-what do you mean?”

Shining stopped mid-step, and glanced back at Twilight. “He knew Celestia would be mad if you two suddenly disappeared in the middle of your execution, so one of you had to die.”

“Well...why did he chose me to live?”

Shining faced the forest once more, and continued on his way. “Solar made the decision for him.”

Twilight spun around, and galloped after Shining. He had already gone into the forest, but it took little time, for her to find him inside. Twilight caught up to him and fell into the same pace. Shining was headed in the same direction as Discord had gone, raising Twilight’s nerves to a new peak.

“What do you mean ‘Solar made the decision for him’?” Twilight asked, straining her eyes to see if she could see Discord ahead of them.

“When Solar was stabbed, he gave you his magic.”

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. That must have been what the magical ball of energy was. Solar had voluntarily given his magic to her, so that Celestia couldn't have it. If it hurt that much to absorb that much magic, she wondered what it had felt like to lose it. Twilight remembered the pain she had felt from being slammed with that much magic all at once. It had felt like somepony sliced every inch of her body with razor blades. Like explosions were blasting away the insides of her body.

Forcing it out, must have been a whole different form of pain entirely. Twilight quickly realized that she was alone in the forest, and quickly galloped off in the same direction Shining and her had been originally heading. Leaving the burning city of Canterlot behind, and the screams of ponies unattended.

Author's Note

Yay, the sequel!

I finally got around to it, after a ton of planning, and plot organization. Special thanks to lighting dash 13 for all of the help with this story.

Thank you for reading.