Immortal Entityby Darkblade StormgiggleChaptersAn Empty Paradise Introducing the Conspiracy Creating the Device An Empty Paradise An Empty Paradise Twilight… Twilight rolled around in her sleep, unaware of the cracks beginning to form in the air around her. Twilight Sparkle… She groggily rolled out of bed, blearily looking about for the source of the disturbance, unaware it was following her around, growing ever bigger. “Spike, is that you?” Twilight got up off the floor and walked around her new castle, looking for spike’s room. She still hadn’t gotten used to how large the castle was. “Spike, where are you?” Come to me, Twilight… “Don’t worry Spike, I’m on my way!” Twilight eventually made her way to Spike’s room, and made her way to his side. Gently, she prodded him awake. “Twilight, what’s going on?” said Spike, still mostly asleep. “It’s the middle of the night.” “Spike, have you been calling my name? I keep hearing voices!” “I don’t- Twilight, what’s up with all those cracks around you? Is that an alicorn thing?” Indeed, the fissures around Twilight had grown too large to ignore. They surrounded her, growing larger and wider by the second. You will be here very soon, Twilight… Suddenly, with the sound of shattering glass, light burst forth to engulf twilight, telekinetically dragging her into the newly created gap in reality. “Spike!” screamed Twilight. “Help me!” “I’ll save you!” Spike grabbed on to Twilight’s leg, but was unable to even slow Twilight’s progress into the portal. “Don’t worry Twilight, I’ll go get help!” Twilight! Sparkle! With one final burst of light, Twilight was fully pulled into the rift, leaving behind only a frantic Spike. <<>> Grand archways formed all around Twilight, only to collapse into dust and reform elsewhere. Lifeless grey trees sprouted in neat rows, growing and dying in mere seconds. Things that she could only assume were twisted, malformed buildings dotted the hellish landscape. An eerie dark pallor hung over everything in sight. Twilight had seen Tartarus before, and this place was worse. She carefully trotted forward, examining her surroundings for signs of danger. “Hello? Is anypony here?” Welcome, Twilight. “Who are you? Where are you?” I am here. Far off in the distance, a large dome silently rose out of the ground. Come quickly. You are being followed. Forcing herself to remain calm, Twilight carefully looked about her surroundings for anything following her. Unfortunately, due to the constant shifting of the surrounding area, she found it impossible to determine if she was being trailed. As she got closer to the dome the landscape seemed to slightly solidify. With every step she took everything seemed to last just a little bit longer and move a little less. “You never told me who you are.” Twilight chided. Soon, you will see for yourself, Twilight. All shall be revealed when you meet me. Remarkably, only now did Twilight begin to feel apprehensive about whatever entity brought her to this strange dimension. The entity’s refusal to reveal any information at all did not sit right with her. Add in the fact that this dome sounded like a trap to her, and she was beginning to have second thoughts about rushing blindly into what could very well be the entity’s seat of power. Twilight begin to examine her surroundings more closely. Any information she could gather, no matter how insignificant, could prove advantageous in the future. Twilight was startled to find that the dome had gotten closer to her even though she had been walking away from it ever since she had started having second thoughts about the place. She also noticed that now that the dome had gotten closer to her, the area had grown much less chaotic. The things that she had assumed were twisted buildings were now arranged in orderly sections, surrounded by pathways lined with more lifeless grey trees. Beds of sickly grey flowers surrounded fountains pouring forth a pale imitation of water. Poles that twisted and curved like a mad snake bore signs in strange text that she couldn’t even begin to translate. Every once in a while, something would disappear in a puff of smoke, only to be replaced by something else. That’s when she finally noticed them. In stark contrast to the now mostly orderly landscape, the amorphous shapes were flirting about without rhyme or reason. Twilight hadn’t detected them before because they had blended into the chaotic scenery so well, but now that things weren’t moving around quite so much, their natural camouflage no longer worked well enough to hide them. Twilight suddenly realized that their movements weren’t totally erratic; every time they made a seemingly meaningless loop or turn, they got just a bit closer to where she was standing. “What do you want?” Twilight demanded “Who are you!?” They answered. They showed her their pain. The pain of being torn apart particle by particle, bit by bit, then reformed only to be torn apart again and again. Never being entirely there, never entirely not there. Made incomplete, malformed. They showed her the constant agony that was their existence. Then they showed her herself, from their point of view. She was whole, complete… perfect. Always there, never not there. They hadn’t even realized a color besides grey even existed. They would give anything, take anything, to be her for even a single solitary second. They wanted whatever made her, her; they would find it, and take it for themselves. Then they could be perfect to. Run, Twilight! <<>> If somepony from Ponyville had decided to take a midnight stroll and walk to Twilight’s castle, they would have seen nothing out of the ordinary. Of course they would have been unable to see the battalions of night guards surrounding the castle, or the force field carefully concealing them. Princess Luna had ensured that as few ponies as possible knew about Twilight’s disappearance. Only Luna, Celestia, Spike, Discord, and the crack team of unicorn mages Luna had gathered to find the missing alicorn knew. Even the guards outside the castle had not been informed. “Cosmic Rift!” Luna barked. “What have you determined so far?” “Several things, Princess” he replied. He seemed unusually calm, given the circumstances. “We can be sure that Princess Twilight’s disappearance was not done under her own power.” “We already knew that from Spike’s testimony, Rift.” Cosmic Rift gave a slight grunt of disdain. “Perhaps, but now we know for sure.” “Have you discovered anything else, Rift?” “Yes, Princess. We now know that none of the suspects could have done it.” “Oh? Please explain” said Luna. “Gladly” Cosmic Rift told Luna. “The spell used to do the deed was far too powerful for any of them to pull off” “Just how powerful was it?” “Powerful enough that if the culprit had wished to do so, they could have brought the entire town with Princess Twilight.” “Discord could have done it” muttered Luna. “He has that kind of power.” “Perhaps, but we have reason to believe it was not him. As you well know, when Discord uses magic he leaves behind absolutely no magical residues. However, the magical residue left by the spell that took Princess Twilight was extremely large. So large that it can even be seen by the naked eye.” “Discord could have left a fake magical residue just to fool us” “I doubt it. Were he to do that, he would most likely have left a regular sized teleportation spell residue that could be traced to someone like Queen Chrysalis, so he could frame them for the crime. What we have is an impossibly large magical residue that is far too complex to trace to anyone. Furthermore, it most closely resembles a telekinesis spell residue, not teleportation.” “Telekinesis! That’s impossible, according to Spike’s testimony she was teleported!” “Indeed, part of the reason this spell is so hard to trace it that is seems to break several laws of magic. Even so, we managed to discover that Princess Twilight was taken outside of Equestria entirely” “Then you were unable to locate Twilight?” “Oh, I didn't say that; we just haven’t cast the divination spell yet.” “What!? Why not?” “Frankly, we are concerned that the entity will be able to detect our divination spell and it could feasibly destroy us all with a counter attack.” “Cosmic Rift, I am one of the most powerful mages in Equestria! Surely I can protect you?” “With all due respect Princess, somepony able to capture Princess Twilight in her own castle should have no trouble subduing you.” “Then what do suggest we do, Cosmic Rift?” Said Luna, in an icy tone. “Reconsider your decision in declining Discord’s help. With his aid combined with yours, we should have no trouble overcoming the entity responsible for Princess Twilight’s disappearance.” Luna let out a great sigh. “Very well. Notify- Before Luna could finish, Discord burst out of a potted plant that had been beside Luna and did a few acrobatic flips in midair before landing with a burst of confetti and a big “Ta Da!” “Discord! Have you been listening the entire time!?” shouted Luna. “Of course! What else is a concerned friend supposed to do?” said Discord. “I’m just as worried about poor, poor Twilight as the rest of you!” “Honestly Princess, you should have seen this coming” said Cosmic Rift. “Well put!” Said Discord. “And Luna, I’m hurt that you suspected me of ponynaping Twilight! Does our friendship mean nothing to you?” “Discord we’re not-“ Luna let out a small sigh. “Cosmic Rift, can we begin the divination spell now that Discord is here?” “Of course Princess. Just let me gather the other mages, and we can begin.” <<>> Twilight had run faster then she thought possible. Even with their erratic movement the strange creatures had been surprisingly fast. However, even though she had run parallel to the dome, she had still somehow ended up directly in front of it; and for whatever reason, the creatures had stopped following her when she had gotten close to the dome. Twilight decided to make her way to inside of the dome, as she had decided that if those creatures didn’t like it, she did. Unlike the rest of the landscape, the dome was unmoving, and unchanging. There seemed to be only one entrance into the dome, and it lay directly in front of her. As she passed through, she noticed that the dome was only paper thin. As soon as she went inside, the entry way sealed itself. In stark contrast to the exterior, the interior of the dome was awash in alternating hues of blue and white light, which writhed through the air as if alive. Welcome, Twilight. “Alright, whoever you are, I’ve made it to your dome, now tell me what is going on!” As you wish, Twilight. What would you like to know? “Who are you?” I have no name, because no one ever bothered to give me one. Except you, of course. I rather like the name “Entity.” It suits me well. “I… I never said that out loud…” Why does it surprise you that I can read your thoughts? Twilight tried to regain her composure, but failed miserably. “Um, Entity, could you stop reading my mind please?” I can’t. We are too close. “What do you mean?” I am all around you. “But there is nothing here! Nothing but all this strange light-“ Twilight came to a sudden, chilling conclusion. You are correct, Twilight. What you perceive as light makes up my form. While the dome had looked big on the outside, it was much bigger on the inside. Infinitely bigger. If the entity took up the entirety of the dome, and it did as far as she could tell, then it had to be infinitely big as well. “Just… Just what are you?” If you will allow me to, I will tell you the story of how I came to be. I believe it will answer many of your questions. “Very well.” I do not believe that I came into existence, merely that I stopped not existing. I do not know how this happened, whenever I try to see before my existence I only see nothingness. When I came into being, there was nothing around me but a great void. I grew to hate the nothing, for it was my opposite, the very anathema of my existence. So I decided to destroy it by creating a domain for myself. I created my paradise. Would you like to see it? “Yes” said Twilight. The shimmering blue and white lights came together in front of Twilight and showed her… paradise. There truly was no other word for it. But others, similar to myself, saw what I had done and wanted to be a part of it. I let them, as I was curious to see what they would do. They changed many things, and many changes I did not agree with. Strange things that moved begin to appear in my paradise, and they changed the landscape. Entity changed the vision of paradise and now Twilight could clearly see strange creatures tearing up the landscape and using it to build what could only be a city. Eventually, one of these things found its way to me and for the first time I gave it more then a passing glance, I looked deep inside it. I was very surprised to find... thought, emotion, sentience, awareness. I had thought only I had these attributes, as the others similar to me that had come before had not possessed them, only a cold sort of logic. I found I could communicate with it, and it with me. I grew to enjoy its presence, and I followed it back to its dwelling. But over time, it began to change. I expressed alarm, and it told me not to worry, that this was normal. However, it eventually started moving less and less, and I grew more and more concerned. Finally, it stopped moving altogether. I again looked inside it and I found… nothing. My most hated enemy, nothing. I looked at all the other moving things and saw that they too were slowly changing and would also eventually become nothing. I sought to change this. I would make it so they would no longer change. I would make them like me: unchanging, permanent. However, the others discovered my plan and banded together to stop me. Even though I drained much of their power, they still managed to trap me here, in this place. The vision changed to show… nothing. Not just nothing, Twilight, The others made my prison well. This place is actively nothing, and only nothing can be created here. But in my hubris, I tried anyway. I tried to recreate my paradise here. The end result was this place, not quite here, not quite not here. An empty paradise. I even tried to recreate the things that had moved and had talked. But this place seemed to actively combat that. All I could make was something akin to the other’s cold logic. I can only assume that the others knew that I would try to destroy the nothing in this place, and would waste my energy doing so. They were only half right. While I did try to destroy the nothing, I have lost none of my strength. I am unchanging, and so is my power. After my failure to recreate my paradise, I sought to escape. But I could not. I was unable to keep a portal in existence long enough to let myself through. And I did not know where to go. I did not want to go back to my paradise, for it was no longer mine. I looked elsewhere. The very first place I saw was filled with emptiness, but this did not deter me. I looked into the far future and do you know what I saw? “What did you see?” Twilight wondered out loud. You! The vision changed to Twilight, walking among the streets of Ponyville. I saw you, and looked deep inside you and was elated to find the same thought and emotion that I had! The vision then zoomed out to show all of Equestria. Your Equestria reminds me very much of the paradise I had made; it is just as beautiful. There are moving things everywhere; and they all have that awareness inside them! I then realized just how much I missed communicating with beings like myself. I redoubled my escape efforts, and eventually I devised a way to escape. The vision zoomed in to once again focus on Twilight. You are my means of escape from this place, Twilight. <<>> “Princess Luna!” yelled Cosmic Rift “We’ve found Princess Twilight!” Luna breathed a sigh of relief. “Create a portal and get her out of there at once!” “We can’t.” “What!? Why!?” “Each portal we make seems to instantaneously collapse once it opens on the other side.” “No doubt the entity that captured Twilight is responsible for this” Luna inferred. “Do we at least know where she is?” “Yes… But you will want to see it for yourself.” “Very well, lead the way.” Cosmic Rift lead Luna to Twilight’s throne room, where the unicorns had hastily constructed a magic circle. At least 15 unicorn mages stood surrounding the circle, all of them masters, all of them exhausted from casting too much magic. Discord had nonchalantly leaned up against Twilight’s throne; he seemed to be deep in concentration. Cosmic Rift joined the circle and begin to pour his magic into it, and the other unicorns followed suit. The circle seemed to warp and shimmer until it finally resolved into Twilight. “Why is she just standing there, talking to herself?” Luna asked. “That seems to be a habit of hers” said Discord. “No, it almost looks as if she is talking to someone we cannot see…” “Where is the zoom button on this thing?” questioned Discord. He fiddled with the magic circle, and it started to slowly zoom out. “I still cannot see who she is talking to!” “Hold on, let me try something else” Discord seemingly pulled out of nowhere a giant magnifying glass, and held it over the circle. “Hmm, that’s odd…” “What is odd?” “There are no invisible beings around her either. Are you sure she’s not just talking to herself?” “Hmpf, we will have to go there ourselves and ask her.” Discord let out a small chuckle. “And how do you suggest we do that if we can’t build a portal?” “We could send a dimensional anchor to where Twilight is, and then use it slingshot ourselves to her.” “I suppose we could, but if we ran into trouble there would be no quick means of getting back to Equestria” explained Discord. “Where is your sense of adventure, Discord?” “Oh, very well. Anchors aweigh!” Discord materialized a ship anchor, and sent it sailing through the magic circle, to where Twilight was. “Do not worry Twilight, we will be at your side very soon” <<>> “I have a few questions about all this, if you don’t mind” said Twilight. As is only natural. Ask away. “How exactly am I going to help you escape?” When the others made my prison they made sure that I could not escape. However, they neglected to prevent me from bringing others into the prison. Now that you are here, I can use your body as a vessel to contain my form. Once your friends arrive they will take you back to Equestria, bringing me with you. “Why can’t you create your own vessel?” Anything I would create here would be too weak to contain my form, due to the influence of the nothingness. “And this vessel has to be me?” I would prefer it to be you, Twilight. But no, anything living being that was not created in this place could potentially be used as a vessel. “And if I were to refuse to be your vessel?” I would let your friends take you back to Equestria, leaving me behind in my prison. But I do not think this course of action would be wise. “Why is that? What would you do?” It is not what I would do, but what has already been done. In their attempts to bring you back to Equestria, your friends have inadvertently brought my realm too close to Equestria. If left unchecked this could cause our worlds to collide, causing untold damage to your world. “We can’t let that happen!” Indeed Twilight, I knew this could happen and came up with a method of counteracting it. However, I can’t do so while trapped in this prison. Twilight grumbled. She was beginning to believe that Entity was manipulating her. Twilight decided to ask more questions to see if she could implicate Entity in any wrongdoing. Well, any more wrongdoing. “Entity, how did you bring me here? The spell you used was like none I have ever seen!” It was difficult. No teleportation works here, and no portal can be constructed. As you well know, such things work by folding space so that you and your destination are directly next to each other. However, what little space there is in my prison is far too weak to be folded in such a manner without collapsing. So I was forced to bring you the whole distance instead. “What!? That’s impossible! With the massive distances involved it would have taken forever!” Yes, it would have taken too much time. So I removed time. Without its interference you were here instantaneously. Twilight decided it was time for a different line of questioning. “Why did you not just bring me directly to you? Why set me outside the dome?” To do so would have been a lie, Twilight. You deserve to see the whole truth of who I am and what I have done, not just bits and pieces. I wished for you to draw your own conclusions about this place. “You could have just shown it to me instead!” That would have robbed you of the full experience, Twilight. “But what about those creatures! They attacked me!” They did so of their own volition Twilight. I merely protected you from them. Suddenly, a giant iron ship anchor crashed down next to Twilight. Your friends are here. You must choose quickly whether or not to bring me with you. “Why? I would like to talk with them, and see what they think about all this.” As you wish. We will wait for their arrival. Twilight found herself surprised by that remark. She had assumed that an evil being wouldn’t want her friends interfering. Either Entity honestly meant no harm, or was very sure of its power. She didn’t have long to wait. Twilight was surprised to see Discord sliding down the rope attached to the anchor like a fire-pony sliding down a fire pole. Luna brought up the rear, flailing wildly as she fell, with the rope tied to her waist. They both landed next to Twilight, Discord landing gracefully next to her, Luna falling flat on her face. “Luna? Discord!? You came to save me?” Twilight asked. She rushed over to Luna to help her off the ground. “Indeed, but we have more pressing matters to discuss” said Luna. “We saw you in conversation with something but were unable to determine what it was.” “Hmm? Oh you must mean Entity” Twilight clarified. “Entity?” said both Discord and Luna, at the same time. Yes, I believe that is the name Twilight calls me by. “Who said that!?” yelped Luna. She looked wildly from side to side, trying to determine the location of the voice. Discord merely knitted his brow in confusion. “Everypony please calm down! This is just how Entity talks.” “Just what is this entity, Twilight?” Discord asked. “Don’t you see all this bluish-white light?” “Yes…” “All of that light makes up Entity’s body” “Luna, do you remember when I said that if there was trouble here, there would be no quick means of getting back to Equestria?” “Yes…” Luna stammered. “This is exactly what I meant by trouble” Somehow, Luna managed to gather the shredded remains of her composure. “Entity, why have you taken Twilight Sparkle away from Equestria? I believe Twilight can explain better then I. Twilight then told Luna and Discord all that had happened since her disappearance from Equestria. “Surely you cannot be seriously considering bringing this entity back to Equestria?” Said Luna. “I… I think I will” Twilight said. “You yourself said that this entity was rightfully imprisoned here for its crimes against the natural order.” “Perhaps, but I believe that bringing Entity to Equestria and having it learn about the magic of friendship would be far more beneficial for everyone.” “Did this entity not kidnap you? Did it not also let you be attacked by hostile creatures?” “Yes, but I believe Entity only did those things because it didn’t know any better. If we left Entity here, it would just kidnap somepony else and do the same to them. But if we took Entity to Equestria, we could teach it to do some good.” “Discord, what do you think of all this?” “I will support whatever decision Twilight makes” answered Discord. “After all, she’s the one who will have to fix things if this goes wrong.” So have you and your friends come to a decision, Twilight? “Yes, we will allow you to come with us to Equestria.” Excellent. Are you prepared for me to transfer my essence into you? “I’m ready when you are, Entity.” Without warning, white and blue light begin to swirl around Twilight, blocking her from Discord’s and Luna’s view. The light rapidly built up in intensity, quickly becoming a raging torrent of light engulfing her. To Twilight, the process felt eerily similar to when the princesses transferred their magic into her. As quickly as the transference begin, it was done. Now that Entity was inside Twilight, the interior of the dome no longer shimmered with blue and white light. It was now the same dull lifeless grey like the rest of the place. Now, with Twilight’s aid I shall finally leave this place. Unbidden by Twilight, her magic begin to flow to her horn as Entity begin to cast a spell using her own power. Everyone began to rise in the air as the spell took hold. Twilight’s very last thought before being hurtled into Equestria was the insight that maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Author's Note What's this? A YouTube Video? Indeed, dear reader, in each chapter I will attempt to include a musical score in the author's notes to enhance your reading experience. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. This is the theme for Entity and his prison, the empty paradise. Introducing the Conspiracy Introducing the Conspiracy In literally no time at all, Twilight found herself back in her castle in Equestria, surrounded by a herd of very surprised unicorn mages. Her throne room was an utter wreck, not only was a large magic circle carved into the floor, but magical residues from the powerful spell casting that had been preformed here had built up into faintly glowing smudges all across the room. “Twilight!? Luna? Discord?” Said Cosmic Rift, startled by the trio’s sudden appearance. “How did you three get here? Less then a moment ago you were in the other realm!” “Do not concern yourself with such trivialities. All that matters is that I, Twilight Sparkle, have returned to Equestria.” intoned Entity, with Twilight’s voice. Cosmic Rift gave Twilight a weird look. “Right… Anyway, Princess Celestia arrived here at the castle and she very much wishes to speak with you, Princess Luna.” Luna visibly paled. “Of… of course, Cosmic Rift. Where might I find her?” “I believe she said she would meet you on the balcony.” “Very well, it would be best to not keep her waiting.” Luna began the short walk to the balcony. She couldn’t help but wonder where things went wrong. She had worked hard to ensure that Celestia knew nothing of Twilight’s sudden disappearance; plainly she had failed. As Luna walked out onto the balcony, she could see Celestia pacing back and forth. She did not look happy. “So my sister finally returns from her excursion. Tell me, what happened to Twilight?” Celestia’s tone was calm, yet deadly. “Nothing happened! Twilight somehow got trapped in an alternate dimension, and we had to go rescue her. This sort of thing happens every week!” Luna spoke dismissively. Celestia spun towards Luna, seething with rage. “Do you truly believe me so blind, Luna!? I know not what evil Twilight has brought with her to Equestria, but even now I can feel its presence!” “Twilight let that entity into Equestria of her own free will, Celestia! Do you really trust your student so little?” “Do not speak to me about trust, Luna! Trust would have been letting me know about this disaster before it began! Trust-“ Celestia’s anger broke suddenly, and tears sprang to her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me, Luna? Why didn’t you trust me?” Luna hugged her sister close. “I did not know just how bad the situation was; I thought I could handle it on my own. In my hubris I may have made a fatal mistake.” “I am sure everything will be perfectly fine, Luna. I forgive you, and I’m sorry for yelling.” Celestia pulled out of the hug and quickly wiped away her tears with magic. “I will need to speak to this being that has taken up residence inside Twilight myself.” Luna looked at Celestia with alarm. “But I can help you! I have- Celestia’s voice hardened slightly. “Enough. I will call you if I need you. You may take your leave.” Celestia’s dismissal was gentle, but firm. “Very well, I will head back to the palace.” Luna spread her wings and took flight. Celestia watched her go, and soon she was nothing more than a speck on the horizon. Celestia walked off the balcony and made her way to where Twilight was. She noticed that most of the mages Luna had gathered had already left the building. The few that remained were closely inspecting the magic residues that had been left scattered about. Discord had vanished to who knows where. Twilight, or whatever was inside of Twilight, was deep in conversation with one of the mages. Celestia decided to listen in. “Princess Twilight, what kind of spell did you use to return to Equestria? I have never seen anything quite like it!” Cosmic Rift probed. “I am not surprised you have never seen it, because I created it specifically to escape my prison.” Entity replied, still using Twilight’s body. “Is that so? How did you find the time to do that while trapped in that other dimension?” “Time flows differently between dimensions.” “I suppose so. Say, how does that spell work, anyway?” Twilight, or rather Entity, hesitated for a few seconds before answering. “I am sorry to cut our discussion short, but Celestia has arrived. Perhaps we will be able to continue our conversation later?” “Of course, Princess Twilight.” Cosmic Rift’s horn shone with light as he teleported away. “Celestia! It’s so good to see you!” Entity said, still using Twilight’s voice. She reached out for a hug, and Celestia had no choice but to return it. Celestia quickly broke the hug. “So… Twilight… May I speak to you out on the balcony? I would like to know what transpired while you were gone.” Twilight smiled up at Celestia. “Certainly! Lead the way!” Celestia was worried. While the thing’s imitation of Twilight was not flawless, it was getting better at mimicking her by the second. The sooner that thing was expelled from Twilight’s body, the better. As soon as they had made their way to the balcony, Twilight turned towards Celestia. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Entity asked. “Enough! Why have you possessed Twilight!?” Celestia interrogated. “Did Luna not tell you? Twilight allowed me to use her body as a vessel to escape my prison.” “If that is the case, then I would like to speak to Twilight. The real Twilight.” “Very well. Allow me to wake her up.” “Wake up? Why is she asleep?” “Due to the nature of my prison, it was necessary to remove the influence of time when we escaped. Had Twilight been awake while not under the influence of time, she would have experienced all of time at once, although no time would have passed at all. I did not believe her ready for such an experience.” Without warning, Twilight collapsed onto the floor. Celestia rushed to her aid. “Twilight! Are you okay?!” “Celestia, is that you? Where am I?” muttered Twilight. Celestia looked deep into Twilight’s eyes. Either the thing possessing Twilight had finally perfected its imitation of Twilight, or this was really Twilight. Celestia chose to believe the latter. “Yes it’s me; and you are safe in your castle. Twilight, what is the last thing you remember?” “I remember… Telling Entity it could come to Equestria.” Celestia sighed softly. “So it is true, then. Why Twilight? Why?” “Entity seemed so… lonely, somehow. I remember thinking how terrible it must have been for it to be locked up in that horrible place for so long. Sure, Entity made a few mistakes, but it didn’t deserve to be imprisoned like that.” “I’ll trust your judgment on this, Twilight. But I can’t allow this ‘Entity’ to remain inside you. If it wishes to remain in Equestria, it will have to do so in its own body.” Celestia could tell instantly when the change happened. Twilight had a certain lively spark in her eyes that Celestia had come to love, but when Entity took over the spark was extinguished, replaced by a shimmering pale fire. “I am afraid that will be rather difficult, Celestia.” Celestia’s expression hardened. “Oh? Why would that be?” “My natural form is far too great to simply be spontaneously released upon Equestria. Were that to happen, serious damage could occur to the surrounding environment.” “Then how are you able to contain your form inside Twilight?” “The laws of reality worked much differently inside my prison. There, I was able to safely condense my form into something Twilight could handle. Once we entered Equestria it was fairly easy to maintain that state of being. However, once I restore myself to my true form, it will be impossible to condense myself inside Twilight again, as I could only do so while inside my prison.” “That may be true, but I still won’t let you remain inside Twilight. There must be some way of safely removing you from her.” “Perhaps… I could construct a device which would allow me to take my true form safely within the bounds of Equestria. However, such a device would be rather large” “How large?” “To contain my entire form? Infinitely big. However, I have a plan to contain an infinitely big area in a smaller space.” Celestia sighed. Her horn lit up as she cast a simple summoning spell. In front of her appeared a detailed map of Equestria. “See this area here, called the badlands? You can built whatever you want there, so long as it gets you out of Twilight by tomorrow.” “As you wish. I will begin construction of the device tomorrow. I believe that Twilight had some parting words for you.” Celestia was relieved to see the pale flame leave Twilight’s eyes, exchanged for a familiar spark. “Celestia… Is everyone okay? I hope my absence wasn’t too detrimental to Equestria.” “No Twilight, only those who were at castle tonight know of your disappearance, and as for detrimental, you should go talk to Spike. He has been worried sick about your disappearance; I believe he fell asleep in your bed.” At the mention of sleep, Twilight suddenly realized just how tired she was. “I think I’ll go check on Spike then.” “One more thing, Twilight. If it’s alright with you, I believe I shall retire here for the night.” “Oh! Of course, Princess! Would you like me to show you to one of the guest bedrooms?” “No thank you, Twilight. I should be able to manage on my own. Good night, I’ll see you in the morning.” With that Celestia headed off to find one of the guest bedrooms. Twilight left the balcony to find her own bedroom. Sure enough, Spike was sleeping fitfully on her bed. Twilight levitated him to his old bed, it had been one of the very few things to survive the destruction of her old tree house. Although her new castle did have a bed just for Spike, he sometimes came in here anyway. Twilight made sure to tuck spike in, and then laid down in her own bed. She quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. <<>> In the darkest reaches of the earth, a lantern hung dimly over a large table. Music played faintly in the background. Gathered around this table were an assortment of shadowy figures, of all shapes and sizes. Suddenly, a door opened and shut somewhere in the darkness, and yet another shadowy figure sat down at the table. The newest shadowy figure spoke in the low, monotonous tones of someone who had disguised their voice with magic. “We have much to discuss. Our newest member will inform us of some interesting new developments.” “Indeed. A new player has entered the game, and this could very well be the end if we do not tread carefully.” Even with her form almost completely concealed in the poor light, Queen Chrysalis’s voice gave her away almost immediately. “Who could stop us now? We have almost all of Equestria under our control! Even if I walked into Canterlot palace this very second and told Celestia everything, it wouldn’t affect the plan in the slightest!” “It isn’t Celestia we have to worry about, but Twilight and her new friend.” “Princess Twilight is always making new friends. She is the princess of friendship, after all. I fail to see why this constitutes a threat to us.” The dark, rasping voice spoke slowly and carefully enunciated each word. The other silhouettes around the table gave the speaker a wide berth. “This friend is slightly different. The princess summoned it from another dimension, and it could very well be stronger then Discord.” “You simply must give us more information! Stop circling around the issue and tell us what we’re dealing with!” This voice spoke in the refined accent of a Canterlot pony. “Thanks to the interference of Princess Luna, most of our agents were unable to get close when this situation occurred. As far as I know, I was the only one of us who was there. Because of this, we know very little of what actually happened.” “So tell us what you do know!” Queen Chrysalis shouted. “Princess Twilight was kidnaped by this entity, and her dragon assistant immediately sent a message to princess Celestia. However, this message was somehow intercepted by Princess Luna, who gathered all the best unicorn mages in Canterlot and rushed to Princess Twilight’s new castle, without informing Princess Celestia. Princess Luna then reluctantly enlisted Discord’s help and together they traveled to where the entity had taken Twilight. Exactly what happened while they were there is uncertain, but when Twilight returned she was possessed by the entity. I can only assume that this entity somehow overpowered both Discord and Princess Luna, then took control of them. Princess Celestia then barged in, but I was unable to remain.” “Why didn’t you stay? We need to know what happened to Princess Celestia!” The refined voice complained. “I feared that if I remained, the entity would have taken notice of me, and overcame my mind as well.” “This all sounds highly improbable. An Alicorn’s mental defenses are almost impossible to breach. I know this from firsthand experience.” Although the voice belonged to that of a small filly, Sombra’s unmistakable eyes shone from the shadow from which the voice had come. “I agree. Even so, we should prepare for the possibility.” Uttered the raspy voice. “If this is true, it could prove disastrous to our plans. We need Twilight alive and well. We must purge this entity from Twilight’s mind.” Said the magically disguised voice. “How exactly are we going to do that?” Queen Chrysalis asked. “I’m glad you asked. You and King Sombra are going to enter Twilight’s mind and force this entity out of Twilight.” “Madness!” Roared King Sombra. Or at least he tried to roar; in his filly voice it came out as a squeak. “If the entity was able to defeat both Discord and Luna, it could easily defeat us! Furthermore, if the entity doesn’t even exist we would risk revealing ourselves to Twilight!” “Not quite. You will both be entering Twilight’s mind through the dream world. As you well know, strength of magic does not matter in the dream realm, only strength of will. No matter how powerful this entity is in the waking world, in the dream realm it will be unable to bring its power to bear. I highly doubt the entity is aware of this fact. Even if it does know, the odds will be two to one in our favor.” “I thought that Princess Luna was compromised by the entity. She will most likely rush to the entity’s aid if we attack it in the dream realm.” the raspy voice replied. “I have it on good authority that Luna has not fallen to the entity.” “How can you be so sure?” The refined voice questioned. “I am very close to Luna. I would have easily been able to tell if she had been corrupted in any way. I can also ensure that she will not interfere with our plans.” “If Luna hasn’t been corrupted, then Twilight is most likely fine as well.” Queen Chrysalis hypothesized. “Our friend who was there disagrees, and I am inclined to believe him. Twilight has been corrupted by this entity, and Celestia has proven herself incapable of solving the problem. If our plans are to move forward, Twilight’s mind must be cleansed.” “Very well, when shall we infiltrate Twilight’s dreams?” Grumbled King Sombra. “Tomorrow night. We must strike soon if we are to have any hope of thwarting this entity’s plans. We will meet here after it is done to discuss moving the plan into its final stages.” As if on a hidden cue, everypony rose from their seats and left. As the light slowly burned down to nothing, the music came to a sudden halt. Author's Note This is the Conspiracy's theme: This is the song that was playing in the background at the Conspiracy's meeting place: Creating the Device Creating the Device Twilight awoke to the delicious smell of pancakes wafting into her bedchambers. She noticed that Spike had already gotten up, as his bed was empty. “I guess Spike has already started breakfast.” As Twilight walked down the stairs to the kitchen the heavenly smell only got stronger. She began to hurry down the stairs so she could get to the pancakes faster. When Twilight finally made it to the kitchen, she was greeted by the sight of Celestia cooking pancakes while Spike wolfed them down like he hadn’t eaten in years. “Good morning, Twilight! I made pancakes!” said Celestia cheerfully. “You make pancakes?” Twilight questioned. “Oh, you pick up a few things when you’ve been around as long as I have, Twilight. Here, do you want one?” Celestia levitated a plate of pancakes over to Twilight. She noticed that most of the pancakes were in the shape of Celestia’s cutie mark; she suspected magic might have played a role in the formation of these pancakes. “Mm, these are delicious, Celestia! Of course, that could very well be because this is my very first time eating anything.” Celestia’s good mood was instantly ruined by Entity’s appearance. Spike stopped eating his pancakes and looked curiously at Twilight. “Spike, could you please leave us? Twilight and I have some important matters to discuss.” “Of-of course princess, I guess I’ll start on my chores early then.” Spike grabbed his plate of pancakes and walked out the door. “Have you forgotten that you must leave Twilight’s body before sundown today?” “No Celestia, Twilight merely wanted to have breakfast before we left.” “It seems you already have.” Twilight looked down at her plate of pancakes; nothing remained but crumbs. “Very well, since you are so insistent, I shall do so at once. When Twilight returns she will be free of my influence.” Twilight began casting a teleportation spell, but Celestia reached out a hoof to stop her. “Wait a moment, I believe I shall accompany you.” “I cannot tell you for certain that you will be safe, Celestia. What I am about to attempt could be dangerous.” “All the more reason to be there.” “As you wish, Celestia.” In a brief flash of light, both of them disappeared from the room. <<>> Spike hadn’t actually had any chores to do today, because it was his day off. Twilight should have known that. Worried, he had headed over to Rarity's boutique to talk things over with her. Tentatively, Spike knocked on her door. He heard frantic hoofsteps from within before the door was finally opened. “Spike? You know you’re always welcome here darling, but why so early in the morning?” “Well, it’s about Twilight-“ “Say no more, Spike! Come on inside and we can talk all about it!” “Thank you, Rarity.” As Spike walked inside, he passed by Sweetie Belle, who gave him an angry glare before ascending the stairs to her bedroom. Rarity levitated a chair over to spike while she sat down on her own couch. “So you wanted to talk about Twilight, Spike? Is she having another one of her… episodes?” “I don’t know for sure, I haven’t really gotten to talk to her after she was abducted-“ “Abducted!?” Rarity shrieked. “When did this happen!?” “Last night. Discord and Luna rescued her, but she’s been acting weirdly ever since.” “Twilight could be in trouble! I have to get the others!” Rarity practically leapt out of her chair and rushed out the door. As she left she shouted one last thing to spike. “Spike, could you be a dear and watch Sweetie Belle while I’m gone?” “But I-“ Unfortunately, Rarity couldn’t hear him, as she had already left. Spike then heard Sweetie Belle’s hoofsteps as she descended the stairs. “I’ll never get back to sleep with all this shouting!” She glanced at the clock “And it’ll be at least an hour before my friends get here!” Sweetie belle pouted. “Sweetie Belle? Rarity wanted me to look after you.” She turned towards him as if noticing her for the first time. “She did, did she? Well then, perhaps we can play a little game to pass the time.” She let out a small chuckle, then trotted over to the closet, pulled out a board game and showed it to Spike. “Chess? Do you even know how to play chess?” “But of course, Spike! It is a game of quick wit, subtlety, and dramatic action. What kind of pony doesn’t enjoy such an awesome game?” “Alright, Sweetie Belle. But I warn you, Twilight taught me everything I know, and she’s a master chesspony. I don’t think you’ll be able to beat me.” Sweetie Belle chuckled evilly as she set the board up. “We shall see, Spike. We shall see.” <<>> Entity, still inside Twilight’s body, surveyed the landscape of the badlands for an ideal location for his device. Eventually, Entity found the perfect spot: A perfectly flat plain that stretched for hundreds of miles in each direction. “Is this where you are going to build your device?” asked Celestia. “Not quite, Celestia. Several miles below us lies a large cavern. It is in there that I shall construct my device.” “So what are you waiting for? Let’s teleport down there and get started!” “No. I will have to drill down to the cavern.” “What? Why?” “While my device must be constructed deep underground to safety’s sake, I would much prefer to live above ground. A tunnel would allow me be in both places at once.” “If you say so.” Celestia said, not wanting to argue. “Excellent. If you could please step back, I will began digging.” Twilight’s horn began to glow intensely as she started lifting off the ground. She tore rocks from the earth to form a massive, magically infused stone drill. Twilight suddenly plunged it into the earth, and Celestia was forced to put up a shield to protect herself from the debris flying through the air; as well as the large waves of magical energy being given off by the drill. <<>> Discord struck another dramatic pose as he waited for the artisan to finish her work. “This would go a lot quicker if you would stop distracting me!” “Oh spare me, how long can it possibly take to create a single window?” “It takes many hours of time and patience to create a stained glass window. Something you were obviously not aware of when you replaced them all with your ridiculous creations!” “Ridiculous creations! I resent that remark!” “Oh? So it is true that you were the one to defeat Nightmare Moon?” The artisan pony said as she pointed to a stained glass window. It depicted six Discords attacking Nightmare Moon with pool noodles. “So I used a little bit of artistic license, an artist of your stature should be able to understand that!” “Very well then, how about this one?” She pointed to a window that showed Discord in a hoofball uniform while he was tackling King Sombra, who also wore a hoofball uniform of a different color. Discord was posed to pass the crystal heart into the waiting hooves of Cadence. “Every lie has a kernel of truth inside of it! I believe a famous pony said that!” “Well, it doesn’t matter! You’re not leaving until I am done restoring these windows to their original state!” “You know, I could save all of us a lot of trouble by using my magic to fix the windows…” “Not a chance! Princess Luna said that you were to stay here and watch me fix each and every one of these stained glass windows! Maybe then you’ll learn to appreciate just how much effort goes into creating these!” Suddenly Discord perked up, and he took on a serious expression. “What’s wrong?” questioned the artisan pony. She had never seen Discord so grave in all the time she had known him; it worried her. “There is a rather large magical disturbance to the south. I better go see what’s going on.” “Very well. But I’m not doing any work until you come back!” Discord smiled “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He snapped his fingers and was gone in a flash of light. <<>> “Oh Gummy, just three more minutes before the cupcakes are ready!” Pinkie Pie giggled. “Then we can begin your super-fantabulous it’s almost your birthday but not quite yet party!” “But that sure is a loooooong time to wait! I kind of wish something amazing would happen in the meantime…” Without warning, random twitches and shudders ran all throughout Pinkie Pie’s body. “Arrgh, I said kind of! Kind of wish! Sorry Gummy, but your it’s almost your birthday but not quite yet party will have to wait until tomorrow! I’ve got to go help Twilight! Tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake that I had to leave!” As Pinkie Pie rushed out the door, she ran into Rarity and Applejack. “Sorry girls, no time to chat! I have to help Twilight!” Applejack and Rarity watched as Pinkie Pie speed off into the distance. “Ah reckon Pinkie Pie already knows, Rarity.” “Yes, well we still have to inform Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.” “We should split up; ah will go get Fluttershy, and you get Rainbow Dash.” “Capital idea, Applejack! We’ll meet back at Twilight’s castle. I just hope we’re not too late!” <<>> Celestia had lost sight of Twilight some time ago. Celestia’s best guess as to her location was inside the giant hole she had created. Celestia had tried to get closer to the hole so she could see what was going on, but the large amounts of earth still exiting the hole made this a difficult task. “Celestia! Fancy seeing you here!” Celestia quickly spun around towards the sound of the voice. “Discord!? What are you doing here?” “I sensed a great magical disturbance on this very spot. But I didn’t know that you had beaten me to the scene of the crime.” “There has been no crime here, Discord. Not yet, at least.” “How can you tell that from the cheap seats? We need to get closer if we want to see anything!” “No Discord! It’s too dangerous!” “Only if you’ve forgotten your umbrella, Celestia. Follow close behind me.” Discord materialized a giant umbrella and slowly started to move forward. Celestia rushed to get under the umbrella to safety. Thanks to the power of chaos magic, the umbrella was able to deflect even the largest boulders. Even so, it was slow going thanks to the stones that had already landed on the ground. By the time they made it to the edge of the hole, the rain of earth had long since ceased. “After you, Celestia.” “No thank you, Discord. I shall take up the rear this time.” “If you insist.” Discord created a diving board on the edge of the hole and used it to jump into the fissure. He quickly disappeared from sight, and the diving board disappeared with him. Celestia slowly floated down the hole on her wings. She noticed that the sides were completely smooth, something that shouldn’t be possible. She looked down, and saw Discord as a tiny speak at the bottom of the hole. “You’re so slow, Celestia! Just start free falling, and I’ll catch you at the bottom.” Even though Discord was far away, somehow Celestia could hear him perfectly. Although she trusted Discord to an extent, she believed only a great fool would take Discord up on his offer. After what seemed like eons, she made it to the bottom of the hole. The sight of a massive cavern greeted her. “By Celestia, Celestia! You took so long to get down here that you missed the entire conversation!” “Conversation?” “With Twilight, of course! Who else?” Celestia turned around, and sure enough Twilight was standing directly behind her. Celestia idly wondered why she hadn’t seen Twilight on her way down. “That isn’t Twilight, Discord.” “Don’t be silly Celestia! Same wings, same horn, same adorkable haircut, and still purple, too! I admit that purple isn’t one of my favorite colors, but I think it looks good on you Twilight!” Discord frowned. Twilight hadn’t changed her expression at all, still looking at them both as if they were bacteria under a microscope. “Anyway, my point is that this is still Twilight, even if she is currently possessed.” Without warning, Twilight spoke. “Now that we are all here, we may truly begin.” Twilight’s horn began to shine powerfully. The effect was immediate. The cavern’s walls, floor, and celling had been completely transformed. Smooth grey metal had replaced everything. Stripes of shiny, reflective metal formed grid like patterns over some parts of the room. Dominating the very center of the room was a large monolith. Strange bars of crystal covered the monolith, twisting around it in strange arrangements; the crystals shone under the light pouring in from the hole far above. “Whoa, this place is so cool!” Pinkie pie gently floated down using her balloons, landing atop the monolith. Everypony seemed surprised by her entrance. “Pinkie pie!? How did you get here!?” Celestia asked. “Duh, I’m the fastest mare in Equestria! Just don’t tell Rainbow Dash I said that, she’d get super jealous!” “Yes, but how did you know to come here?” questioned Discord. “My pinkie sense told me! It also told me Twilight was in trouble, but she looks fine to me.” “Indeed. Pinkie Pie, could you get off my Limitless Spatial Extrapolator so that I may activate it?” “Sure thing Twilight, but it looks more like an Infinite Spatial Perpetuator to me.” Pinkie Pie jumped off the device, the balloons slowing her fall. She landed next to Discord. Twilight enveloped the device in magic and the crystals surrounding it began to glow in a prismatic array of colors. “Is that all it does?” Celestia wondered out loud. Discord let out a small chuckle. “Observe our surroundings, Celestia. Look closer.” Celestia closed her eyes and reached out with her magic. And kept reaching out until she eventually gave up. “The walls… everything still looks the same!” “Merely a trick of the light, Celestia.” “There isn’t enough room in all of Equestria for this! It should be impossible!” “It is impossible in everyday Equestria, but apparently that device can suspend the rules of normal Equestria.” “Yes, this space will easily contain my form. It is finally time to leave Twilight.” said Twilight. “What’s going on?” Pinkie Pie asked “Twilight is talking crazier than Gummy when he’s had too much sugar!” Twilight slowly rose into the air. In a massive explosion of heat, light, and, sound; Entity exited Twilight’s body. The once dimly lit space was now awash in an undulating flow of blue and white light. Even though the space was infinitely large, the energy that made up Entity’s form still spanned the entire area. Celestia, Pinkie Pie, and Discord stood under a magic shield conjured by Celestia. Twilight lay unmoving next to the monolith. “Twilight!? Are you okay!?” yelled Pinkie Pie. “Mmph… Is that you, Pinkie pie?” Celestia dispelled the force field, and Pinkie Pie rushed to Twilight’s aid; Celestia following close behind. “Talk to me Twilight! How many fingers am I holding up!?” “Fingers? Ponies don’t have fingers, Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie Pie let out a sigh of relief. “She’s ok, everypony!” Celestia helped Twilight to her hooves. While she did so, she also looked deep into Twilight’s eyes. Seeing no trace of Entity’s influence, she pulled Twilight into a hug. “I’ve missed you so much, Twilight Sparkle!” “Celestia…” Twilight whispered. “I hate to break up such a touching reunion, but I really must be off. I have some important business to attend to.” Wait. Everypony’s ears perked up, even though there was no sound for them to hear. Before any of you leave, I would like to thank Twilight. Without her, I would still be trapped in my prison. ‘Um, it was my pleasure, Entity.” Twilight replied. Allow me to provide your exit. A small part of the blue and white lights coalesced into three separate portals. One showed a mare that had fallen asleep near a half finished stained glass window. Another showed Luna pacing back and forth in the throne room of Canterlot castle. The last portal showed Twilight’s friends, minus Pinkie Pie, talking among themselves in the throne room inside her castle. Celestia timidly stepped through the portal depicting Luna and was gone in a flash. Her portal disappeared with her. Discord flew through his portal and it too vanished into thin air. “Come on Twilight, our friends are waiting on us!” Pinkie Pie pulled Twilight through the portal and they were gone as well. However, the portal did not disappear after them. It instead begin to focus solely on Twilight, or more accurately, the small sliver of Entity’s essence still inside her. <<>> “Ugh, chess is so boring!” Scootaloo declared. “Ah agree! Can’t we go do something else? Anything else!?” Apple Bloom complained. “Now girls, our game is almost over, and it would be unfair to Spike to quit now.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle groaned in unison. Spike heard none of this, as he was far too focused on the game. Sweetie Belle had proven to be a truly fearsome opponent. Although both of them had taken considerable losses, Sweetie Belle had a few more pieces then Spike did. His king was trapped in a slowly constricting mass of enemy pawns, it would be only a matter of time before it was taken. Meanwhile, his queen and Sweetie Belle’s queen were locked in an intense game of cat and mouse; if Spike could defeat her queen, he would have a clear shot at her king. “Spike, your defeat will only take longer if you take forever on your turn.” Sweetie Belle mocked. Spike moved his queen into a position to take her king, but she moved her queen in a way that made going any nearer to her king suicidal. “Why don’t you just give up? It’s rude to keep my friends waiting, after all.” Spike was about to do just that when he suddenly realized something. Sweetie Belle had just put her queen near one of his pawns. While under normal conditions her queen would be safely out of the pawn’s reach, the pawn hadn’t been moved the entire game. This meant that the pawn could be moved slightly differently, but more importantly, it meant that Sweetie Belle’s queen was now vulnerable to attack by his pawn! Spike quickly took advantage, and took her queen with his pawn. “What!? No!” Sweetie Belle tried to tighten her noose around his king, but it was already too late; with the help of the few pawns he had remaining, his queen checkmated her king. “I guess you won after all, Spike. Well, I’m off to play with my friends. I look forward to matching wits with you again.” Spike watched them go. It occurred to him that whatever chat that Twilight and Princess Celestia were having was probably over. As he walked out of Rarity’s boutique, he thought back to the chess game. If it hadn’t been for that one pawn, he would have been defeated for sure. Perhaps, he mused, pawns were more important then he had previously thought. <<>> “Sister, to be perfectly frank I find this hard to believe.” “What do you mean, Luna?” “Do you truly think that this entity would give up its hold on Twilight Sparkle so easily? I see no logical reason for it to have done so.” “I saw it leave her with my own eyes, Luna!” “Sister, think back to when I was Nightmare Moon. It took the intervention of the elements of harmony to purge the Nightmare from my body. I do not think that this entity would be any easier.” “But I saw-“ “Likely just smoke and mirrors, dear sister. If this thing can possess an alicorn, it can most likely fool an alicorn as well.” “Perhaps you are right, Luna. You should visit Twilight’s dreams just to be safe.” “An excellent idea! I shall do so this very night. Although I hope that you are correct, sister. If this entity remains inside Twilight Sparkle, it could mean the end of us all.” <<>> Twilight had seen her friends through the portal, so she knew they were waiting for her in her castle. “Twilight darling, we’ve been worried sick about you!” Twilight was confused. Her friends shouldn’t know about her disappearance, unless… “Spike told you what happened, didn’t he?” “He said that you had been kidnapped!” Rarity cried. “Well, that’s not exactly what happened…” Twilight then proceeded to tell her friends exactly what happened. “Wow, that is so awesome!” Rainbow Dash asserted. “While it was inside you, did it tell you the secrets of the universe?” “It had the secrets of the universe this whole time!?” Pinkie Pie yelled. “If I had known that, I would have asked it about this new cupcake recipe I’ve been working on! It’s almost perfect, but it just needs a little something more…” “I don’t know girls, everything seemed so hazy and out of touch while it was possessing me” Twilight explained. “I don’t really remember much of anything.” “I think that’s for the best, Twi. Being possessed sounds so… scary.” Flutershy commented. “Ah’m just glad this is all over with, and that you’re safe, Twilight.” “Not quite, Applejack. We need to teach Entity about harmony and friendship.” “Ah reckon we are the best ponies for the job, but exactly how are we gonna do that? This Entity fella doesn’t sound like he’d be easy to teach.” “Come on Applejack! All we need to do is sit em down and hash things out! It’ll be easy peasy!” Proclaimed Rainbow Dash. “Yes, I’m sure that once we get to know Entity, he’ll turn out to be really nice!” stated Fluttershy. “Well I already met it, and it did seem nice! Although I didn’t get to talk to it very much…” “Well, first thing tomorrow morning we’ll all head over to its new home in the badlands.” Twilight said. “The badlands!? What kind of pony would want to live there?” Asked Applejack. “If I remember correctly, Princess Celestia wanted Entity to build his house there.” “That can’t be right! Why would Princess Celestia force somepony to live in an inhospitable desert?” questioned Fluttershy. “I think Celestia had a good reason, if I could just remember…” The castle’s front door opened and shut in the distance. Spike walked up the stairs and entered the throne room. “Spike, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be watching Sweetie Belle?” Rarity inquired. “She’s with her friends.” "I guess that’s- Oh, just look at the time! Sweetie Belle is probably at home, waiting for me! Excuse me, Twilight, but I simply must be going!” Rarity rushed out the door without another word. Her other friends said their goodbyes and left as well. Soon the only ones left were Spike and Twilight. “Well Twilight, I’ve got to get to work on some last minute chores, so…” “Chores? It’s your day off, Spike! You don’t have any chores!” Spike breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s good to have you back, Twilight. Well, it’s getting late, so I’ll see you in the morning.” Spike headed off to his own room. Twilight walked out onto her balcony. Sure enough, the sun had almost dipped below the horizon. “What a crazy day. I hope tomorrow will be less hectic.” Somehow, Twilight doubted that would be the case. Sighing, she headed for her bed. <<>> Several minutes after Twilight fell asleep, King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis stealthily entered her dreams. They were met with books. Towering bookshelves formed a gigantic maze in Twilight’s mind. “Books. What is it with this mare and books?” Queen Chrysalis mused. “It doesn’t matter. All we need to do is find the entity inhabiting Twilight’s mind, destroy it, and escape without getting caught.” King Sombra reminded her. “I don’t think we’ll be able to find anything in this labyrinth!” “Of course not, that’s why we’ll cheat.” Sombra’s horn glowed green and purple as small dark crystals started forming behind him. “Now we’ll be able to tell exactly where we have been, and where we haven’t been.” As Chrysalis trotted alongside Sombra, she began to grow curious about what exactly the books around them contained. So she paused to pull one off one of the shelves. “Sombra, come look at this!” Sombra gave Chrysalis an annoyed grunt and moved next to her to get a closer look at the book. “That’s strange, these look like…” “Yes, Twilight Sparkle’s memories. We are in no ordinary dream.” “We need to keep moving. The longer we tarry, the more memories that entity will be able to read!” “Perhaps we should take a few with us…” “As tempting as that is, we mustn’t do it. Twilight would eventually realize some of her memories were stolen, and come looking for the culprits. Besides, we haven’t the time to do so.” Sombra and Chrysalis eventually made their way to the center of the book maze. There they saw Twilight sitting in a chair, calmly reading a book. Other books were piled around her, and every once in a while she would exchange the book she was reading for one in the pile. They both quickly ducked behind some books to discuss strategy. “That must be Twilight. Chrysalis, if you disguise yourself as Princess Luna, we should be able to-“ “That isn’t Twilight Sparkle.” “What do you mean?” “Those books she’s reading are Twilight’s memories, correct? The real Twilight would probably feel a variety of strong emotions as she looked through her own memory. Perhaps regret, or fond remembrance. This Twilight Sparkle looks almost disinterested.” “If it isn’t Twilight, then it must be the entity.” “Indeed. Let’s rush it while we still have the element of surprise.” They leapt over the books and began the attack. Sombra begin firing beams of black magic while chrysalis shot bolts of green changeling magic. Twilight spun around in her chair and deflected the offensive magic with the book she had been reading. “Ah, Sombra and Chrysalis. Whatever brings you two here?” Twilight’s horn shone, and she was instantly concealed in a whirling tempest of books. King Sombra countered by sending his own cyclone of books on a collision course with Twilight. Queen Chrysalis begin funneling magic power into her horn. The two book twisters collided, and books flew in every direction. “According to Twilight’s memories you two are enemies of Equestria. Whatever you are doing here can’t be in her best interest.” Twilight formed a bubble of magic around herself and rammed into Sombra. Although he tried to dodge, Twilight was just too quick. He was sent flying headfirst into a bookshelf. Twilight dispelled her bubble and landed gracefully next to Sombra. “I bet that Twilight would want me to shred your psyche and take possession of your mortal coil. It would be in Equestria’s best interest, after all.” Twilight’s horn glimmered in a scintillating display of unholy light. Sombra was still too dazed to do anything. “They shall proclaim me a hero-“ Chrysalis’s beam of magic cut off whatever Twilight else Twilight was about to say. It also catapulted her across the room. “Get up, Sombra! We still have work to do!” Chrysalis helped Sombra to his hooves. Together they walked to where Twilight had fallen. “We had better destroy the body just to make sure.” As if on cue, Twilight’s body started to spasm wildly. Bulky muscles rippled and formed under her skin as she grew larger. Her wing feathers, teeth, and horn sharpened into cruel points. Patches of armored scales grew on her skin, which was now ripped and torn because of the extreme growth. She now towered over Sombra and Chrysalis. “You’re too late. I’ve already seen almost all of Twilight’s memories. All except one…” Twilight’s voice was now a strange, primal gurgle. Twilight sent a barrage of fire bolts their way, and they were both forced to take cover behind a large black crystal that Sombra summoned. The rain of fire suddenly stopped. Sombra peeked around the crystal and was greeted with the sight of Twilight charging their position. The crystal shattered like glass under Twilight’s massive bulk. Although Sombra managed to teleport out of harm’s way at the last second, Chrysalis wasn’t so lucky; with a loud snap of cracking chitin she slumped to the ground. Chrysalis wasn’t quite done yet, though. She jabbed her horn deep into one of Twilight’s gaping wounds, then unleashed a powerful energy beam. Twilight’s loose skin was completely blown off, revealing the skin and bone underneath. Twilight barely even noticed. She grabbed Chrysalis in her powerful telekinetic grip and started to slowly crush her. The changeling screamed in pain. Sombra telekinetically gathered razor sharp shards of black crystal and sent them sailing towards Twilight. Almost all of them hit their mark. One of the shards hit Twilight’s horn, causing her to lose her grip on Chrysalis. She slowly limped away from Twilight. Sombra sent a blast of dark magic at Twilight, and the crystals imbedded inside her began to grow, covering Twilight’s body. Despite this, she leapt high into the air, diving straight towards Sombra. Sombra converted into shadow form, and Twilight went right through him; the crystals that had grown over Twilight’s body shattered into dust when she hit the floor. Twilight then released a wave of pure concussive force from her horn, and Sombra’s shadowy form was almost completely dissipated. She then turned her attention to Chrysalis, but was caught off guard by a ferocious right jab from her opponent. Chrysalis then followed up her attack with a wave of green fire. Twilight summoned a large ball of water to quench the fires that had sprung up all over her body, then flung the water at Chrysalis; the water surrounded the changeling in an attempt to drown her. However, Twilight was so concentrated on the Queen that she didn’t notice Sombra reforming behind her. With a guttural roar, he blasted Twilight with a potent beam of dark magic. Surprised, she lost control of the water surrounding Chrysalis, giving the changeling a much needed breath of air. Sombra then teleported next to Chrysalis, and they combined their magic into a burst of pure evil that slammed into Twilight. She disintegrated into a pile of dust. A small sliver of blue and white light rose from the ashes and disappeared in a poof of teleportation magic. “What WAS that thing!?” “Most likely a puppet created by whatever was inhabiting Twilight.” “I have some choice words for the mare who told us this would be easy!” “Agreed.” “Let’s get out of here before something else happens.” Sombra’s horn lit up, and he brought them both back to the waking world. <<>> Princess Luna entered Twilight’s dream, only to see utter destruction. Green fires raged, puddles of water soaked the floor, and a fine dust coated everything. “What in blazes happened here!?” Luna looked closely at the dust coating the floor. It was a mixture of finely crushed crystal and something more… unwholesome. Luna reached out with her magic and didn’t find anyone or anything suspicious. The only thing in Twilight’s mind was Twilight, and of course, Luna. Utterly confused, Luna left Twilight’s mind. <<>> Entity closed the portal looking into Twilight’s mind as soon as Luna left. There was nothing left to see. Entity thought back to its scuffle with Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra. It still didn’t know why they had decided to attack its presence in Twilight’s mind. More importantly, they had prevented it from reading the last of Twilight’s memories. Judging by how deeply buried in Twilight’s mind the memory was, it was very important to Twilight. Entity could of course renter Twilight’s mind and retrieve the memory, but it had told Celestia it would not enter Twilight’s mind ever again. Entity had seen in Twilight’s mind how much honesty meant to her, so it had decided not to break its promise again. So instead, Entity would enter the minds of Twilight’s friends. They likely had the information it wanted. But that could wait. It had other things it had to do. Entity shifted its gaze towards the land surrounding his home. Since it had cleared away the rubble, the land was flat, barren, and empty; the land was void of any life. Entity hated the emptiness, hated the void. So it began to create, filling the void, and thus destroying the emptiness. After all, hadn’t Celestia said it could build anything it wanted here? Author's Note This is the theme of the battle in Twilight's mind! Pfft, after that battle I'll probably have to give the story a gore rating.
An Empty Paradise An Empty Paradise Twilight… Twilight rolled around in her sleep, unaware of the cracks beginning to form in the air around her. Twilight Sparkle… She groggily rolled out of bed, blearily looking about for the source of the disturbance, unaware it was following her around, growing ever bigger. “Spike, is that you?” Twilight got up off the floor and walked around her new castle, looking for spike’s room. She still hadn’t gotten used to how large the castle was. “Spike, where are you?” Come to me, Twilight… “Don’t worry Spike, I’m on my way!” Twilight eventually made her way to Spike’s room, and made her way to his side. Gently, she prodded him awake. “Twilight, what’s going on?” said Spike, still mostly asleep. “It’s the middle of the night.” “Spike, have you been calling my name? I keep hearing voices!” “I don’t- Twilight, what’s up with all those cracks around you? Is that an alicorn thing?” Indeed, the fissures around Twilight had grown too large to ignore. They surrounded her, growing larger and wider by the second. You will be here very soon, Twilight… Suddenly, with the sound of shattering glass, light burst forth to engulf twilight, telekinetically dragging her into the newly created gap in reality. “Spike!” screamed Twilight. “Help me!” “I’ll save you!” Spike grabbed on to Twilight’s leg, but was unable to even slow Twilight’s progress into the portal. “Don’t worry Twilight, I’ll go get help!” Twilight! Sparkle! With one final burst of light, Twilight was fully pulled into the rift, leaving behind only a frantic Spike. <<>> Grand archways formed all around Twilight, only to collapse into dust and reform elsewhere. Lifeless grey trees sprouted in neat rows, growing and dying in mere seconds. Things that she could only assume were twisted, malformed buildings dotted the hellish landscape. An eerie dark pallor hung over everything in sight. Twilight had seen Tartarus before, and this place was worse. She carefully trotted forward, examining her surroundings for signs of danger. “Hello? Is anypony here?” Welcome, Twilight. “Who are you? Where are you?” I am here. Far off in the distance, a large dome silently rose out of the ground. Come quickly. You are being followed. Forcing herself to remain calm, Twilight carefully looked about her surroundings for anything following her. Unfortunately, due to the constant shifting of the surrounding area, she found it impossible to determine if she was being trailed. As she got closer to the dome the landscape seemed to slightly solidify. With every step she took everything seemed to last just a little bit longer and move a little less. “You never told me who you are.” Twilight chided. Soon, you will see for yourself, Twilight. All shall be revealed when you meet me. Remarkably, only now did Twilight begin to feel apprehensive about whatever entity brought her to this strange dimension. The entity’s refusal to reveal any information at all did not sit right with her. Add in the fact that this dome sounded like a trap to her, and she was beginning to have second thoughts about rushing blindly into what could very well be the entity’s seat of power. Twilight begin to examine her surroundings more closely. Any information she could gather, no matter how insignificant, could prove advantageous in the future. Twilight was startled to find that the dome had gotten closer to her even though she had been walking away from it ever since she had started having second thoughts about the place. She also noticed that now that the dome had gotten closer to her, the area had grown much less chaotic. The things that she had assumed were twisted buildings were now arranged in orderly sections, surrounded by pathways lined with more lifeless grey trees. Beds of sickly grey flowers surrounded fountains pouring forth a pale imitation of water. Poles that twisted and curved like a mad snake bore signs in strange text that she couldn’t even begin to translate. Every once in a while, something would disappear in a puff of smoke, only to be replaced by something else. That’s when she finally noticed them. In stark contrast to the now mostly orderly landscape, the amorphous shapes were flirting about without rhyme or reason. Twilight hadn’t detected them before because they had blended into the chaotic scenery so well, but now that things weren’t moving around quite so much, their natural camouflage no longer worked well enough to hide them. Twilight suddenly realized that their movements weren’t totally erratic; every time they made a seemingly meaningless loop or turn, they got just a bit closer to where she was standing. “What do you want?” Twilight demanded “Who are you!?” They answered. They showed her their pain. The pain of being torn apart particle by particle, bit by bit, then reformed only to be torn apart again and again. Never being entirely there, never entirely not there. Made incomplete, malformed. They showed her the constant agony that was their existence. Then they showed her herself, from their point of view. She was whole, complete… perfect. Always there, never not there. They hadn’t even realized a color besides grey even existed. They would give anything, take anything, to be her for even a single solitary second. They wanted whatever made her, her; they would find it, and take it for themselves. Then they could be perfect to. Run, Twilight! <<>> If somepony from Ponyville had decided to take a midnight stroll and walk to Twilight’s castle, they would have seen nothing out of the ordinary. Of course they would have been unable to see the battalions of night guards surrounding the castle, or the force field carefully concealing them. Princess Luna had ensured that as few ponies as possible knew about Twilight’s disappearance. Only Luna, Celestia, Spike, Discord, and the crack team of unicorn mages Luna had gathered to find the missing alicorn knew. Even the guards outside the castle had not been informed. “Cosmic Rift!” Luna barked. “What have you determined so far?” “Several things, Princess” he replied. He seemed unusually calm, given the circumstances. “We can be sure that Princess Twilight’s disappearance was not done under her own power.” “We already knew that from Spike’s testimony, Rift.” Cosmic Rift gave a slight grunt of disdain. “Perhaps, but now we know for sure.” “Have you discovered anything else, Rift?” “Yes, Princess. We now know that none of the suspects could have done it.” “Oh? Please explain” said Luna. “Gladly” Cosmic Rift told Luna. “The spell used to do the deed was far too powerful for any of them to pull off” “Just how powerful was it?” “Powerful enough that if the culprit had wished to do so, they could have brought the entire town with Princess Twilight.” “Discord could have done it” muttered Luna. “He has that kind of power.” “Perhaps, but we have reason to believe it was not him. As you well know, when Discord uses magic he leaves behind absolutely no magical residues. However, the magical residue left by the spell that took Princess Twilight was extremely large. So large that it can even be seen by the naked eye.” “Discord could have left a fake magical residue just to fool us” “I doubt it. Were he to do that, he would most likely have left a regular sized teleportation spell residue that could be traced to someone like Queen Chrysalis, so he could frame them for the crime. What we have is an impossibly large magical residue that is far too complex to trace to anyone. Furthermore, it most closely resembles a telekinesis spell residue, not teleportation.” “Telekinesis! That’s impossible, according to Spike’s testimony she was teleported!” “Indeed, part of the reason this spell is so hard to trace it that is seems to break several laws of magic. Even so, we managed to discover that Princess Twilight was taken outside of Equestria entirely” “Then you were unable to locate Twilight?” “Oh, I didn't say that; we just haven’t cast the divination spell yet.” “What!? Why not?” “Frankly, we are concerned that the entity will be able to detect our divination spell and it could feasibly destroy us all with a counter attack.” “Cosmic Rift, I am one of the most powerful mages in Equestria! Surely I can protect you?” “With all due respect Princess, somepony able to capture Princess Twilight in her own castle should have no trouble subduing you.” “Then what do suggest we do, Cosmic Rift?” Said Luna, in an icy tone. “Reconsider your decision in declining Discord’s help. With his aid combined with yours, we should have no trouble overcoming the entity responsible for Princess Twilight’s disappearance.” Luna let out a great sigh. “Very well. Notify- Before Luna could finish, Discord burst out of a potted plant that had been beside Luna and did a few acrobatic flips in midair before landing with a burst of confetti and a big “Ta Da!” “Discord! Have you been listening the entire time!?” shouted Luna. “Of course! What else is a concerned friend supposed to do?” said Discord. “I’m just as worried about poor, poor Twilight as the rest of you!” “Honestly Princess, you should have seen this coming” said Cosmic Rift. “Well put!” Said Discord. “And Luna, I’m hurt that you suspected me of ponynaping Twilight! Does our friendship mean nothing to you?” “Discord we’re not-“ Luna let out a small sigh. “Cosmic Rift, can we begin the divination spell now that Discord is here?” “Of course Princess. Just let me gather the other mages, and we can begin.” <<>> Twilight had run faster then she thought possible. Even with their erratic movement the strange creatures had been surprisingly fast. However, even though she had run parallel to the dome, she had still somehow ended up directly in front of it; and for whatever reason, the creatures had stopped following her when she had gotten close to the dome. Twilight decided to make her way to inside of the dome, as she had decided that if those creatures didn’t like it, she did. Unlike the rest of the landscape, the dome was unmoving, and unchanging. There seemed to be only one entrance into the dome, and it lay directly in front of her. As she passed through, she noticed that the dome was only paper thin. As soon as she went inside, the entry way sealed itself. In stark contrast to the exterior, the interior of the dome was awash in alternating hues of blue and white light, which writhed through the air as if alive. Welcome, Twilight. “Alright, whoever you are, I’ve made it to your dome, now tell me what is going on!” As you wish, Twilight. What would you like to know? “Who are you?” I have no name, because no one ever bothered to give me one. Except you, of course. I rather like the name “Entity.” It suits me well. “I… I never said that out loud…” Why does it surprise you that I can read your thoughts? Twilight tried to regain her composure, but failed miserably. “Um, Entity, could you stop reading my mind please?” I can’t. We are too close. “What do you mean?” I am all around you. “But there is nothing here! Nothing but all this strange light-“ Twilight came to a sudden, chilling conclusion. You are correct, Twilight. What you perceive as light makes up my form. While the dome had looked big on the outside, it was much bigger on the inside. Infinitely bigger. If the entity took up the entirety of the dome, and it did as far as she could tell, then it had to be infinitely big as well. “Just… Just what are you?” If you will allow me to, I will tell you the story of how I came to be. I believe it will answer many of your questions. “Very well.” I do not believe that I came into existence, merely that I stopped not existing. I do not know how this happened, whenever I try to see before my existence I only see nothingness. When I came into being, there was nothing around me but a great void. I grew to hate the nothing, for it was my opposite, the very anathema of my existence. So I decided to destroy it by creating a domain for myself. I created my paradise. Would you like to see it? “Yes” said Twilight. The shimmering blue and white lights came together in front of Twilight and showed her… paradise. There truly was no other word for it. But others, similar to myself, saw what I had done and wanted to be a part of it. I let them, as I was curious to see what they would do. They changed many things, and many changes I did not agree with. Strange things that moved begin to appear in my paradise, and they changed the landscape. Entity changed the vision of paradise and now Twilight could clearly see strange creatures tearing up the landscape and using it to build what could only be a city. Eventually, one of these things found its way to me and for the first time I gave it more then a passing glance, I looked deep inside it. I was very surprised to find... thought, emotion, sentience, awareness. I had thought only I had these attributes, as the others similar to me that had come before had not possessed them, only a cold sort of logic. I found I could communicate with it, and it with me. I grew to enjoy its presence, and I followed it back to its dwelling. But over time, it began to change. I expressed alarm, and it told me not to worry, that this was normal. However, it eventually started moving less and less, and I grew more and more concerned. Finally, it stopped moving altogether. I again looked inside it and I found… nothing. My most hated enemy, nothing. I looked at all the other moving things and saw that they too were slowly changing and would also eventually become nothing. I sought to change this. I would make it so they would no longer change. I would make them like me: unchanging, permanent. However, the others discovered my plan and banded together to stop me. Even though I drained much of their power, they still managed to trap me here, in this place. The vision changed to show… nothing. Not just nothing, Twilight, The others made my prison well. This place is actively nothing, and only nothing can be created here. But in my hubris, I tried anyway. I tried to recreate my paradise here. The end result was this place, not quite here, not quite not here. An empty paradise. I even tried to recreate the things that had moved and had talked. But this place seemed to actively combat that. All I could make was something akin to the other’s cold logic. I can only assume that the others knew that I would try to destroy the nothing in this place, and would waste my energy doing so. They were only half right. While I did try to destroy the nothing, I have lost none of my strength. I am unchanging, and so is my power. After my failure to recreate my paradise, I sought to escape. But I could not. I was unable to keep a portal in existence long enough to let myself through. And I did not know where to go. I did not want to go back to my paradise, for it was no longer mine. I looked elsewhere. The very first place I saw was filled with emptiness, but this did not deter me. I looked into the far future and do you know what I saw? “What did you see?” Twilight wondered out loud. You! The vision changed to Twilight, walking among the streets of Ponyville. I saw you, and looked deep inside you and was elated to find the same thought and emotion that I had! The vision then zoomed out to show all of Equestria. Your Equestria reminds me very much of the paradise I had made; it is just as beautiful. There are moving things everywhere; and they all have that awareness inside them! I then realized just how much I missed communicating with beings like myself. I redoubled my escape efforts, and eventually I devised a way to escape. The vision zoomed in to once again focus on Twilight. You are my means of escape from this place, Twilight. <<>> “Princess Luna!” yelled Cosmic Rift “We’ve found Princess Twilight!” Luna breathed a sigh of relief. “Create a portal and get her out of there at once!” “We can’t.” “What!? Why!?” “Each portal we make seems to instantaneously collapse once it opens on the other side.” “No doubt the entity that captured Twilight is responsible for this” Luna inferred. “Do we at least know where she is?” “Yes… But you will want to see it for yourself.” “Very well, lead the way.” Cosmic Rift lead Luna to Twilight’s throne room, where the unicorns had hastily constructed a magic circle. At least 15 unicorn mages stood surrounding the circle, all of them masters, all of them exhausted from casting too much magic. Discord had nonchalantly leaned up against Twilight’s throne; he seemed to be deep in concentration. Cosmic Rift joined the circle and begin to pour his magic into it, and the other unicorns followed suit. The circle seemed to warp and shimmer until it finally resolved into Twilight. “Why is she just standing there, talking to herself?” Luna asked. “That seems to be a habit of hers” said Discord. “No, it almost looks as if she is talking to someone we cannot see…” “Where is the zoom button on this thing?” questioned Discord. He fiddled with the magic circle, and it started to slowly zoom out. “I still cannot see who she is talking to!” “Hold on, let me try something else” Discord seemingly pulled out of nowhere a giant magnifying glass, and held it over the circle. “Hmm, that’s odd…” “What is odd?” “There are no invisible beings around her either. Are you sure she’s not just talking to herself?” “Hmpf, we will have to go there ourselves and ask her.” Discord let out a small chuckle. “And how do you suggest we do that if we can’t build a portal?” “We could send a dimensional anchor to where Twilight is, and then use it slingshot ourselves to her.” “I suppose we could, but if we ran into trouble there would be no quick means of getting back to Equestria” explained Discord. “Where is your sense of adventure, Discord?” “Oh, very well. Anchors aweigh!” Discord materialized a ship anchor, and sent it sailing through the magic circle, to where Twilight was. “Do not worry Twilight, we will be at your side very soon” <<>> “I have a few questions about all this, if you don’t mind” said Twilight. As is only natural. Ask away. “How exactly am I going to help you escape?” When the others made my prison they made sure that I could not escape. However, they neglected to prevent me from bringing others into the prison. Now that you are here, I can use your body as a vessel to contain my form. Once your friends arrive they will take you back to Equestria, bringing me with you. “Why can’t you create your own vessel?” Anything I would create here would be too weak to contain my form, due to the influence of the nothingness. “And this vessel has to be me?” I would prefer it to be you, Twilight. But no, anything living being that was not created in this place could potentially be used as a vessel. “And if I were to refuse to be your vessel?” I would let your friends take you back to Equestria, leaving me behind in my prison. But I do not think this course of action would be wise. “Why is that? What would you do?” It is not what I would do, but what has already been done. In their attempts to bring you back to Equestria, your friends have inadvertently brought my realm too close to Equestria. If left unchecked this could cause our worlds to collide, causing untold damage to your world. “We can’t let that happen!” Indeed Twilight, I knew this could happen and came up with a method of counteracting it. However, I can’t do so while trapped in this prison. Twilight grumbled. She was beginning to believe that Entity was manipulating her. Twilight decided to ask more questions to see if she could implicate Entity in any wrongdoing. Well, any more wrongdoing. “Entity, how did you bring me here? The spell you used was like none I have ever seen!” It was difficult. No teleportation works here, and no portal can be constructed. As you well know, such things work by folding space so that you and your destination are directly next to each other. However, what little space there is in my prison is far too weak to be folded in such a manner without collapsing. So I was forced to bring you the whole distance instead. “What!? That’s impossible! With the massive distances involved it would have taken forever!” Yes, it would have taken too much time. So I removed time. Without its interference you were here instantaneously. Twilight decided it was time for a different line of questioning. “Why did you not just bring me directly to you? Why set me outside the dome?” To do so would have been a lie, Twilight. You deserve to see the whole truth of who I am and what I have done, not just bits and pieces. I wished for you to draw your own conclusions about this place. “You could have just shown it to me instead!” That would have robbed you of the full experience, Twilight. “But what about those creatures! They attacked me!” They did so of their own volition Twilight. I merely protected you from them. Suddenly, a giant iron ship anchor crashed down next to Twilight. Your friends are here. You must choose quickly whether or not to bring me with you. “Why? I would like to talk with them, and see what they think about all this.” As you wish. We will wait for their arrival. Twilight found herself surprised by that remark. She had assumed that an evil being wouldn’t want her friends interfering. Either Entity honestly meant no harm, or was very sure of its power. She didn’t have long to wait. Twilight was surprised to see Discord sliding down the rope attached to the anchor like a fire-pony sliding down a fire pole. Luna brought up the rear, flailing wildly as she fell, with the rope tied to her waist. They both landed next to Twilight, Discord landing gracefully next to her, Luna falling flat on her face. “Luna? Discord!? You came to save me?” Twilight asked. She rushed over to Luna to help her off the ground. “Indeed, but we have more pressing matters to discuss” said Luna. “We saw you in conversation with something but were unable to determine what it was.” “Hmm? Oh you must mean Entity” Twilight clarified. “Entity?” said both Discord and Luna, at the same time. Yes, I believe that is the name Twilight calls me by. “Who said that!?” yelped Luna. She looked wildly from side to side, trying to determine the location of the voice. Discord merely knitted his brow in confusion. “Everypony please calm down! This is just how Entity talks.” “Just what is this entity, Twilight?” Discord asked. “Don’t you see all this bluish-white light?” “Yes…” “All of that light makes up Entity’s body” “Luna, do you remember when I said that if there was trouble here, there would be no quick means of getting back to Equestria?” “Yes…” Luna stammered. “This is exactly what I meant by trouble” Somehow, Luna managed to gather the shredded remains of her composure. “Entity, why have you taken Twilight Sparkle away from Equestria? I believe Twilight can explain better then I. Twilight then told Luna and Discord all that had happened since her disappearance from Equestria. “Surely you cannot be seriously considering bringing this entity back to Equestria?” Said Luna. “I… I think I will” Twilight said. “You yourself said that this entity was rightfully imprisoned here for its crimes against the natural order.” “Perhaps, but I believe that bringing Entity to Equestria and having it learn about the magic of friendship would be far more beneficial for everyone.” “Did this entity not kidnap you? Did it not also let you be attacked by hostile creatures?” “Yes, but I believe Entity only did those things because it didn’t know any better. If we left Entity here, it would just kidnap somepony else and do the same to them. But if we took Entity to Equestria, we could teach it to do some good.” “Discord, what do you think of all this?” “I will support whatever decision Twilight makes” answered Discord. “After all, she’s the one who will have to fix things if this goes wrong.” So have you and your friends come to a decision, Twilight? “Yes, we will allow you to come with us to Equestria.” Excellent. Are you prepared for me to transfer my essence into you? “I’m ready when you are, Entity.” Without warning, white and blue light begin to swirl around Twilight, blocking her from Discord’s and Luna’s view. The light rapidly built up in intensity, quickly becoming a raging torrent of light engulfing her. To Twilight, the process felt eerily similar to when the princesses transferred their magic into her. As quickly as the transference begin, it was done. Now that Entity was inside Twilight, the interior of the dome no longer shimmered with blue and white light. It was now the same dull lifeless grey like the rest of the place. Now, with Twilight’s aid I shall finally leave this place. Unbidden by Twilight, her magic begin to flow to her horn as Entity begin to cast a spell using her own power. Everyone began to rise in the air as the spell took hold. Twilight’s very last thought before being hurtled into Equestria was the insight that maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Author's Note What's this? A YouTube Video? Indeed, dear reader, in each chapter I will attempt to include a musical score in the author's notes to enhance your reading experience. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. This is the theme for Entity and his prison, the empty paradise.
Introducing the Conspiracy Introducing the Conspiracy In literally no time at all, Twilight found herself back in her castle in Equestria, surrounded by a herd of very surprised unicorn mages. Her throne room was an utter wreck, not only was a large magic circle carved into the floor, but magical residues from the powerful spell casting that had been preformed here had built up into faintly glowing smudges all across the room. “Twilight!? Luna? Discord?” Said Cosmic Rift, startled by the trio’s sudden appearance. “How did you three get here? Less then a moment ago you were in the other realm!” “Do not concern yourself with such trivialities. All that matters is that I, Twilight Sparkle, have returned to Equestria.” intoned Entity, with Twilight’s voice. Cosmic Rift gave Twilight a weird look. “Right… Anyway, Princess Celestia arrived here at the castle and she very much wishes to speak with you, Princess Luna.” Luna visibly paled. “Of… of course, Cosmic Rift. Where might I find her?” “I believe she said she would meet you on the balcony.” “Very well, it would be best to not keep her waiting.” Luna began the short walk to the balcony. She couldn’t help but wonder where things went wrong. She had worked hard to ensure that Celestia knew nothing of Twilight’s sudden disappearance; plainly she had failed. As Luna walked out onto the balcony, she could see Celestia pacing back and forth. She did not look happy. “So my sister finally returns from her excursion. Tell me, what happened to Twilight?” Celestia’s tone was calm, yet deadly. “Nothing happened! Twilight somehow got trapped in an alternate dimension, and we had to go rescue her. This sort of thing happens every week!” Luna spoke dismissively. Celestia spun towards Luna, seething with rage. “Do you truly believe me so blind, Luna!? I know not what evil Twilight has brought with her to Equestria, but even now I can feel its presence!” “Twilight let that entity into Equestria of her own free will, Celestia! Do you really trust your student so little?” “Do not speak to me about trust, Luna! Trust would have been letting me know about this disaster before it began! Trust-“ Celestia’s anger broke suddenly, and tears sprang to her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me, Luna? Why didn’t you trust me?” Luna hugged her sister close. “I did not know just how bad the situation was; I thought I could handle it on my own. In my hubris I may have made a fatal mistake.” “I am sure everything will be perfectly fine, Luna. I forgive you, and I’m sorry for yelling.” Celestia pulled out of the hug and quickly wiped away her tears with magic. “I will need to speak to this being that has taken up residence inside Twilight myself.” Luna looked at Celestia with alarm. “But I can help you! I have- Celestia’s voice hardened slightly. “Enough. I will call you if I need you. You may take your leave.” Celestia’s dismissal was gentle, but firm. “Very well, I will head back to the palace.” Luna spread her wings and took flight. Celestia watched her go, and soon she was nothing more than a speck on the horizon. Celestia walked off the balcony and made her way to where Twilight was. She noticed that most of the mages Luna had gathered had already left the building. The few that remained were closely inspecting the magic residues that had been left scattered about. Discord had vanished to who knows where. Twilight, or whatever was inside of Twilight, was deep in conversation with one of the mages. Celestia decided to listen in. “Princess Twilight, what kind of spell did you use to return to Equestria? I have never seen anything quite like it!” Cosmic Rift probed. “I am not surprised you have never seen it, because I created it specifically to escape my prison.” Entity replied, still using Twilight’s body. “Is that so? How did you find the time to do that while trapped in that other dimension?” “Time flows differently between dimensions.” “I suppose so. Say, how does that spell work, anyway?” Twilight, or rather Entity, hesitated for a few seconds before answering. “I am sorry to cut our discussion short, but Celestia has arrived. Perhaps we will be able to continue our conversation later?” “Of course, Princess Twilight.” Cosmic Rift’s horn shone with light as he teleported away. “Celestia! It’s so good to see you!” Entity said, still using Twilight’s voice. She reached out for a hug, and Celestia had no choice but to return it. Celestia quickly broke the hug. “So… Twilight… May I speak to you out on the balcony? I would like to know what transpired while you were gone.” Twilight smiled up at Celestia. “Certainly! Lead the way!” Celestia was worried. While the thing’s imitation of Twilight was not flawless, it was getting better at mimicking her by the second. The sooner that thing was expelled from Twilight’s body, the better. As soon as they had made their way to the balcony, Twilight turned towards Celestia. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Entity asked. “Enough! Why have you possessed Twilight!?” Celestia interrogated. “Did Luna not tell you? Twilight allowed me to use her body as a vessel to escape my prison.” “If that is the case, then I would like to speak to Twilight. The real Twilight.” “Very well. Allow me to wake her up.” “Wake up? Why is she asleep?” “Due to the nature of my prison, it was necessary to remove the influence of time when we escaped. Had Twilight been awake while not under the influence of time, she would have experienced all of time at once, although no time would have passed at all. I did not believe her ready for such an experience.” Without warning, Twilight collapsed onto the floor. Celestia rushed to her aid. “Twilight! Are you okay?!” “Celestia, is that you? Where am I?” muttered Twilight. Celestia looked deep into Twilight’s eyes. Either the thing possessing Twilight had finally perfected its imitation of Twilight, or this was really Twilight. Celestia chose to believe the latter. “Yes it’s me; and you are safe in your castle. Twilight, what is the last thing you remember?” “I remember… Telling Entity it could come to Equestria.” Celestia sighed softly. “So it is true, then. Why Twilight? Why?” “Entity seemed so… lonely, somehow. I remember thinking how terrible it must have been for it to be locked up in that horrible place for so long. Sure, Entity made a few mistakes, but it didn’t deserve to be imprisoned like that.” “I’ll trust your judgment on this, Twilight. But I can’t allow this ‘Entity’ to remain inside you. If it wishes to remain in Equestria, it will have to do so in its own body.” Celestia could tell instantly when the change happened. Twilight had a certain lively spark in her eyes that Celestia had come to love, but when Entity took over the spark was extinguished, replaced by a shimmering pale fire. “I am afraid that will be rather difficult, Celestia.” Celestia’s expression hardened. “Oh? Why would that be?” “My natural form is far too great to simply be spontaneously released upon Equestria. Were that to happen, serious damage could occur to the surrounding environment.” “Then how are you able to contain your form inside Twilight?” “The laws of reality worked much differently inside my prison. There, I was able to safely condense my form into something Twilight could handle. Once we entered Equestria it was fairly easy to maintain that state of being. However, once I restore myself to my true form, it will be impossible to condense myself inside Twilight again, as I could only do so while inside my prison.” “That may be true, but I still won’t let you remain inside Twilight. There must be some way of safely removing you from her.” “Perhaps… I could construct a device which would allow me to take my true form safely within the bounds of Equestria. However, such a device would be rather large” “How large?” “To contain my entire form? Infinitely big. However, I have a plan to contain an infinitely big area in a smaller space.” Celestia sighed. Her horn lit up as she cast a simple summoning spell. In front of her appeared a detailed map of Equestria. “See this area here, called the badlands? You can built whatever you want there, so long as it gets you out of Twilight by tomorrow.” “As you wish. I will begin construction of the device tomorrow. I believe that Twilight had some parting words for you.” Celestia was relieved to see the pale flame leave Twilight’s eyes, exchanged for a familiar spark. “Celestia… Is everyone okay? I hope my absence wasn’t too detrimental to Equestria.” “No Twilight, only those who were at castle tonight know of your disappearance, and as for detrimental, you should go talk to Spike. He has been worried sick about your disappearance; I believe he fell asleep in your bed.” At the mention of sleep, Twilight suddenly realized just how tired she was. “I think I’ll go check on Spike then.” “One more thing, Twilight. If it’s alright with you, I believe I shall retire here for the night.” “Oh! Of course, Princess! Would you like me to show you to one of the guest bedrooms?” “No thank you, Twilight. I should be able to manage on my own. Good night, I’ll see you in the morning.” With that Celestia headed off to find one of the guest bedrooms. Twilight left the balcony to find her own bedroom. Sure enough, Spike was sleeping fitfully on her bed. Twilight levitated him to his old bed, it had been one of the very few things to survive the destruction of her old tree house. Although her new castle did have a bed just for Spike, he sometimes came in here anyway. Twilight made sure to tuck spike in, and then laid down in her own bed. She quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. <<>> In the darkest reaches of the earth, a lantern hung dimly over a large table. Music played faintly in the background. Gathered around this table were an assortment of shadowy figures, of all shapes and sizes. Suddenly, a door opened and shut somewhere in the darkness, and yet another shadowy figure sat down at the table. The newest shadowy figure spoke in the low, monotonous tones of someone who had disguised their voice with magic. “We have much to discuss. Our newest member will inform us of some interesting new developments.” “Indeed. A new player has entered the game, and this could very well be the end if we do not tread carefully.” Even with her form almost completely concealed in the poor light, Queen Chrysalis’s voice gave her away almost immediately. “Who could stop us now? We have almost all of Equestria under our control! Even if I walked into Canterlot palace this very second and told Celestia everything, it wouldn’t affect the plan in the slightest!” “It isn’t Celestia we have to worry about, but Twilight and her new friend.” “Princess Twilight is always making new friends. She is the princess of friendship, after all. I fail to see why this constitutes a threat to us.” The dark, rasping voice spoke slowly and carefully enunciated each word. The other silhouettes around the table gave the speaker a wide berth. “This friend is slightly different. The princess summoned it from another dimension, and it could very well be stronger then Discord.” “You simply must give us more information! Stop circling around the issue and tell us what we’re dealing with!” This voice spoke in the refined accent of a Canterlot pony. “Thanks to the interference of Princess Luna, most of our agents were unable to get close when this situation occurred. As far as I know, I was the only one of us who was there. Because of this, we know very little of what actually happened.” “So tell us what you do know!” Queen Chrysalis shouted. “Princess Twilight was kidnaped by this entity, and her dragon assistant immediately sent a message to princess Celestia. However, this message was somehow intercepted by Princess Luna, who gathered all the best unicorn mages in Canterlot and rushed to Princess Twilight’s new castle, without informing Princess Celestia. Princess Luna then reluctantly enlisted Discord’s help and together they traveled to where the entity had taken Twilight. Exactly what happened while they were there is uncertain, but when Twilight returned she was possessed by the entity. I can only assume that this entity somehow overpowered both Discord and Princess Luna, then took control of them. Princess Celestia then barged in, but I was unable to remain.” “Why didn’t you stay? We need to know what happened to Princess Celestia!” The refined voice complained. “I feared that if I remained, the entity would have taken notice of me, and overcame my mind as well.” “This all sounds highly improbable. An Alicorn’s mental defenses are almost impossible to breach. I know this from firsthand experience.” Although the voice belonged to that of a small filly, Sombra’s unmistakable eyes shone from the shadow from which the voice had come. “I agree. Even so, we should prepare for the possibility.” Uttered the raspy voice. “If this is true, it could prove disastrous to our plans. We need Twilight alive and well. We must purge this entity from Twilight’s mind.” Said the magically disguised voice. “How exactly are we going to do that?” Queen Chrysalis asked. “I’m glad you asked. You and King Sombra are going to enter Twilight’s mind and force this entity out of Twilight.” “Madness!” Roared King Sombra. Or at least he tried to roar; in his filly voice it came out as a squeak. “If the entity was able to defeat both Discord and Luna, it could easily defeat us! Furthermore, if the entity doesn’t even exist we would risk revealing ourselves to Twilight!” “Not quite. You will both be entering Twilight’s mind through the dream world. As you well know, strength of magic does not matter in the dream realm, only strength of will. No matter how powerful this entity is in the waking world, in the dream realm it will be unable to bring its power to bear. I highly doubt the entity is aware of this fact. Even if it does know, the odds will be two to one in our favor.” “I thought that Princess Luna was compromised by the entity. She will most likely rush to the entity’s aid if we attack it in the dream realm.” the raspy voice replied. “I have it on good authority that Luna has not fallen to the entity.” “How can you be so sure?” The refined voice questioned. “I am very close to Luna. I would have easily been able to tell if she had been corrupted in any way. I can also ensure that she will not interfere with our plans.” “If Luna hasn’t been corrupted, then Twilight is most likely fine as well.” Queen Chrysalis hypothesized. “Our friend who was there disagrees, and I am inclined to believe him. Twilight has been corrupted by this entity, and Celestia has proven herself incapable of solving the problem. If our plans are to move forward, Twilight’s mind must be cleansed.” “Very well, when shall we infiltrate Twilight’s dreams?” Grumbled King Sombra. “Tomorrow night. We must strike soon if we are to have any hope of thwarting this entity’s plans. We will meet here after it is done to discuss moving the plan into its final stages.” As if on a hidden cue, everypony rose from their seats and left. As the light slowly burned down to nothing, the music came to a sudden halt. Author's Note This is the Conspiracy's theme: This is the song that was playing in the background at the Conspiracy's meeting place:
Creating the Device Creating the Device Twilight awoke to the delicious smell of pancakes wafting into her bedchambers. She noticed that Spike had already gotten up, as his bed was empty. “I guess Spike has already started breakfast.” As Twilight walked down the stairs to the kitchen the heavenly smell only got stronger. She began to hurry down the stairs so she could get to the pancakes faster. When Twilight finally made it to the kitchen, she was greeted by the sight of Celestia cooking pancakes while Spike wolfed them down like he hadn’t eaten in years. “Good morning, Twilight! I made pancakes!” said Celestia cheerfully. “You make pancakes?” Twilight questioned. “Oh, you pick up a few things when you’ve been around as long as I have, Twilight. Here, do you want one?” Celestia levitated a plate of pancakes over to Twilight. She noticed that most of the pancakes were in the shape of Celestia’s cutie mark; she suspected magic might have played a role in the formation of these pancakes. “Mm, these are delicious, Celestia! Of course, that could very well be because this is my very first time eating anything.” Celestia’s good mood was instantly ruined by Entity’s appearance. Spike stopped eating his pancakes and looked curiously at Twilight. “Spike, could you please leave us? Twilight and I have some important matters to discuss.” “Of-of course princess, I guess I’ll start on my chores early then.” Spike grabbed his plate of pancakes and walked out the door. “Have you forgotten that you must leave Twilight’s body before sundown today?” “No Celestia, Twilight merely wanted to have breakfast before we left.” “It seems you already have.” Twilight looked down at her plate of pancakes; nothing remained but crumbs. “Very well, since you are so insistent, I shall do so at once. When Twilight returns she will be free of my influence.” Twilight began casting a teleportation spell, but Celestia reached out a hoof to stop her. “Wait a moment, I believe I shall accompany you.” “I cannot tell you for certain that you will be safe, Celestia. What I am about to attempt could be dangerous.” “All the more reason to be there.” “As you wish, Celestia.” In a brief flash of light, both of them disappeared from the room. <<>> Spike hadn’t actually had any chores to do today, because it was his day off. Twilight should have known that. Worried, he had headed over to Rarity's boutique to talk things over with her. Tentatively, Spike knocked on her door. He heard frantic hoofsteps from within before the door was finally opened. “Spike? You know you’re always welcome here darling, but why so early in the morning?” “Well, it’s about Twilight-“ “Say no more, Spike! Come on inside and we can talk all about it!” “Thank you, Rarity.” As Spike walked inside, he passed by Sweetie Belle, who gave him an angry glare before ascending the stairs to her bedroom. Rarity levitated a chair over to spike while she sat down on her own couch. “So you wanted to talk about Twilight, Spike? Is she having another one of her… episodes?” “I don’t know for sure, I haven’t really gotten to talk to her after she was abducted-“ “Abducted!?” Rarity shrieked. “When did this happen!?” “Last night. Discord and Luna rescued her, but she’s been acting weirdly ever since.” “Twilight could be in trouble! I have to get the others!” Rarity practically leapt out of her chair and rushed out the door. As she left she shouted one last thing to spike. “Spike, could you be a dear and watch Sweetie Belle while I’m gone?” “But I-“ Unfortunately, Rarity couldn’t hear him, as she had already left. Spike then heard Sweetie Belle’s hoofsteps as she descended the stairs. “I’ll never get back to sleep with all this shouting!” She glanced at the clock “And it’ll be at least an hour before my friends get here!” Sweetie belle pouted. “Sweetie Belle? Rarity wanted me to look after you.” She turned towards him as if noticing her for the first time. “She did, did she? Well then, perhaps we can play a little game to pass the time.” She let out a small chuckle, then trotted over to the closet, pulled out a board game and showed it to Spike. “Chess? Do you even know how to play chess?” “But of course, Spike! It is a game of quick wit, subtlety, and dramatic action. What kind of pony doesn’t enjoy such an awesome game?” “Alright, Sweetie Belle. But I warn you, Twilight taught me everything I know, and she’s a master chesspony. I don’t think you’ll be able to beat me.” Sweetie Belle chuckled evilly as she set the board up. “We shall see, Spike. We shall see.” <<>> Entity, still inside Twilight’s body, surveyed the landscape of the badlands for an ideal location for his device. Eventually, Entity found the perfect spot: A perfectly flat plain that stretched for hundreds of miles in each direction. “Is this where you are going to build your device?” asked Celestia. “Not quite, Celestia. Several miles below us lies a large cavern. It is in there that I shall construct my device.” “So what are you waiting for? Let’s teleport down there and get started!” “No. I will have to drill down to the cavern.” “What? Why?” “While my device must be constructed deep underground to safety’s sake, I would much prefer to live above ground. A tunnel would allow me be in both places at once.” “If you say so.” Celestia said, not wanting to argue. “Excellent. If you could please step back, I will began digging.” Twilight’s horn began to glow intensely as she started lifting off the ground. She tore rocks from the earth to form a massive, magically infused stone drill. Twilight suddenly plunged it into the earth, and Celestia was forced to put up a shield to protect herself from the debris flying through the air; as well as the large waves of magical energy being given off by the drill. <<>> Discord struck another dramatic pose as he waited for the artisan to finish her work. “This would go a lot quicker if you would stop distracting me!” “Oh spare me, how long can it possibly take to create a single window?” “It takes many hours of time and patience to create a stained glass window. Something you were obviously not aware of when you replaced them all with your ridiculous creations!” “Ridiculous creations! I resent that remark!” “Oh? So it is true that you were the one to defeat Nightmare Moon?” The artisan pony said as she pointed to a stained glass window. It depicted six Discords attacking Nightmare Moon with pool noodles. “So I used a little bit of artistic license, an artist of your stature should be able to understand that!” “Very well then, how about this one?” She pointed to a window that showed Discord in a hoofball uniform while he was tackling King Sombra, who also wore a hoofball uniform of a different color. Discord was posed to pass the crystal heart into the waiting hooves of Cadence. “Every lie has a kernel of truth inside of it! I believe a famous pony said that!” “Well, it doesn’t matter! You’re not leaving until I am done restoring these windows to their original state!” “You know, I could save all of us a lot of trouble by using my magic to fix the windows…” “Not a chance! Princess Luna said that you were to stay here and watch me fix each and every one of these stained glass windows! Maybe then you’ll learn to appreciate just how much effort goes into creating these!” Suddenly Discord perked up, and he took on a serious expression. “What’s wrong?” questioned the artisan pony. She had never seen Discord so grave in all the time she had known him; it worried her. “There is a rather large magical disturbance to the south. I better go see what’s going on.” “Very well. But I’m not doing any work until you come back!” Discord smiled “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He snapped his fingers and was gone in a flash of light. <<>> “Oh Gummy, just three more minutes before the cupcakes are ready!” Pinkie Pie giggled. “Then we can begin your super-fantabulous it’s almost your birthday but not quite yet party!” “But that sure is a loooooong time to wait! I kind of wish something amazing would happen in the meantime…” Without warning, random twitches and shudders ran all throughout Pinkie Pie’s body. “Arrgh, I said kind of! Kind of wish! Sorry Gummy, but your it’s almost your birthday but not quite yet party will have to wait until tomorrow! I’ve got to go help Twilight! Tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake that I had to leave!” As Pinkie Pie rushed out the door, she ran into Rarity and Applejack. “Sorry girls, no time to chat! I have to help Twilight!” Applejack and Rarity watched as Pinkie Pie speed off into the distance. “Ah reckon Pinkie Pie already knows, Rarity.” “Yes, well we still have to inform Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.” “We should split up; ah will go get Fluttershy, and you get Rainbow Dash.” “Capital idea, Applejack! We’ll meet back at Twilight’s castle. I just hope we’re not too late!” <<>> Celestia had lost sight of Twilight some time ago. Celestia’s best guess as to her location was inside the giant hole she had created. Celestia had tried to get closer to the hole so she could see what was going on, but the large amounts of earth still exiting the hole made this a difficult task. “Celestia! Fancy seeing you here!” Celestia quickly spun around towards the sound of the voice. “Discord!? What are you doing here?” “I sensed a great magical disturbance on this very spot. But I didn’t know that you had beaten me to the scene of the crime.” “There has been no crime here, Discord. Not yet, at least.” “How can you tell that from the cheap seats? We need to get closer if we want to see anything!” “No Discord! It’s too dangerous!” “Only if you’ve forgotten your umbrella, Celestia. Follow close behind me.” Discord materialized a giant umbrella and slowly started to move forward. Celestia rushed to get under the umbrella to safety. Thanks to the power of chaos magic, the umbrella was able to deflect even the largest boulders. Even so, it was slow going thanks to the stones that had already landed on the ground. By the time they made it to the edge of the hole, the rain of earth had long since ceased. “After you, Celestia.” “No thank you, Discord. I shall take up the rear this time.” “If you insist.” Discord created a diving board on the edge of the hole and used it to jump into the fissure. He quickly disappeared from sight, and the diving board disappeared with him. Celestia slowly floated down the hole on her wings. She noticed that the sides were completely smooth, something that shouldn’t be possible. She looked down, and saw Discord as a tiny speak at the bottom of the hole. “You’re so slow, Celestia! Just start free falling, and I’ll catch you at the bottom.” Even though Discord was far away, somehow Celestia could hear him perfectly. Although she trusted Discord to an extent, she believed only a great fool would take Discord up on his offer. After what seemed like eons, she made it to the bottom of the hole. The sight of a massive cavern greeted her. “By Celestia, Celestia! You took so long to get down here that you missed the entire conversation!” “Conversation?” “With Twilight, of course! Who else?” Celestia turned around, and sure enough Twilight was standing directly behind her. Celestia idly wondered why she hadn’t seen Twilight on her way down. “That isn’t Twilight, Discord.” “Don’t be silly Celestia! Same wings, same horn, same adorkable haircut, and still purple, too! I admit that purple isn’t one of my favorite colors, but I think it looks good on you Twilight!” Discord frowned. Twilight hadn’t changed her expression at all, still looking at them both as if they were bacteria under a microscope. “Anyway, my point is that this is still Twilight, even if she is currently possessed.” Without warning, Twilight spoke. “Now that we are all here, we may truly begin.” Twilight’s horn began to shine powerfully. The effect was immediate. The cavern’s walls, floor, and celling had been completely transformed. Smooth grey metal had replaced everything. Stripes of shiny, reflective metal formed grid like patterns over some parts of the room. Dominating the very center of the room was a large monolith. Strange bars of crystal covered the monolith, twisting around it in strange arrangements; the crystals shone under the light pouring in from the hole far above. “Whoa, this place is so cool!” Pinkie pie gently floated down using her balloons, landing atop the monolith. Everypony seemed surprised by her entrance. “Pinkie pie!? How did you get here!?” Celestia asked. “Duh, I’m the fastest mare in Equestria! Just don’t tell Rainbow Dash I said that, she’d get super jealous!” “Yes, but how did you know to come here?” questioned Discord. “My pinkie sense told me! It also told me Twilight was in trouble, but she looks fine to me.” “Indeed. Pinkie Pie, could you get off my Limitless Spatial Extrapolator so that I may activate it?” “Sure thing Twilight, but it looks more like an Infinite Spatial Perpetuator to me.” Pinkie Pie jumped off the device, the balloons slowing her fall. She landed next to Discord. Twilight enveloped the device in magic and the crystals surrounding it began to glow in a prismatic array of colors. “Is that all it does?” Celestia wondered out loud. Discord let out a small chuckle. “Observe our surroundings, Celestia. Look closer.” Celestia closed her eyes and reached out with her magic. And kept reaching out until she eventually gave up. “The walls… everything still looks the same!” “Merely a trick of the light, Celestia.” “There isn’t enough room in all of Equestria for this! It should be impossible!” “It is impossible in everyday Equestria, but apparently that device can suspend the rules of normal Equestria.” “Yes, this space will easily contain my form. It is finally time to leave Twilight.” said Twilight. “What’s going on?” Pinkie Pie asked “Twilight is talking crazier than Gummy when he’s had too much sugar!” Twilight slowly rose into the air. In a massive explosion of heat, light, and, sound; Entity exited Twilight’s body. The once dimly lit space was now awash in an undulating flow of blue and white light. Even though the space was infinitely large, the energy that made up Entity’s form still spanned the entire area. Celestia, Pinkie Pie, and Discord stood under a magic shield conjured by Celestia. Twilight lay unmoving next to the monolith. “Twilight!? Are you okay!?” yelled Pinkie Pie. “Mmph… Is that you, Pinkie pie?” Celestia dispelled the force field, and Pinkie Pie rushed to Twilight’s aid; Celestia following close behind. “Talk to me Twilight! How many fingers am I holding up!?” “Fingers? Ponies don’t have fingers, Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie Pie let out a sigh of relief. “She’s ok, everypony!” Celestia helped Twilight to her hooves. While she did so, she also looked deep into Twilight’s eyes. Seeing no trace of Entity’s influence, she pulled Twilight into a hug. “I’ve missed you so much, Twilight Sparkle!” “Celestia…” Twilight whispered. “I hate to break up such a touching reunion, but I really must be off. I have some important business to attend to.” Wait. Everypony’s ears perked up, even though there was no sound for them to hear. Before any of you leave, I would like to thank Twilight. Without her, I would still be trapped in my prison. ‘Um, it was my pleasure, Entity.” Twilight replied. Allow me to provide your exit. A small part of the blue and white lights coalesced into three separate portals. One showed a mare that had fallen asleep near a half finished stained glass window. Another showed Luna pacing back and forth in the throne room of Canterlot castle. The last portal showed Twilight’s friends, minus Pinkie Pie, talking among themselves in the throne room inside her castle. Celestia timidly stepped through the portal depicting Luna and was gone in a flash. Her portal disappeared with her. Discord flew through his portal and it too vanished into thin air. “Come on Twilight, our friends are waiting on us!” Pinkie Pie pulled Twilight through the portal and they were gone as well. However, the portal did not disappear after them. It instead begin to focus solely on Twilight, or more accurately, the small sliver of Entity’s essence still inside her. <<>> “Ugh, chess is so boring!” Scootaloo declared. “Ah agree! Can’t we go do something else? Anything else!?” Apple Bloom complained. “Now girls, our game is almost over, and it would be unfair to Spike to quit now.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle groaned in unison. Spike heard none of this, as he was far too focused on the game. Sweetie Belle had proven to be a truly fearsome opponent. Although both of them had taken considerable losses, Sweetie Belle had a few more pieces then Spike did. His king was trapped in a slowly constricting mass of enemy pawns, it would be only a matter of time before it was taken. Meanwhile, his queen and Sweetie Belle’s queen were locked in an intense game of cat and mouse; if Spike could defeat her queen, he would have a clear shot at her king. “Spike, your defeat will only take longer if you take forever on your turn.” Sweetie Belle mocked. Spike moved his queen into a position to take her king, but she moved her queen in a way that made going any nearer to her king suicidal. “Why don’t you just give up? It’s rude to keep my friends waiting, after all.” Spike was about to do just that when he suddenly realized something. Sweetie Belle had just put her queen near one of his pawns. While under normal conditions her queen would be safely out of the pawn’s reach, the pawn hadn’t been moved the entire game. This meant that the pawn could be moved slightly differently, but more importantly, it meant that Sweetie Belle’s queen was now vulnerable to attack by his pawn! Spike quickly took advantage, and took her queen with his pawn. “What!? No!” Sweetie Belle tried to tighten her noose around his king, but it was already too late; with the help of the few pawns he had remaining, his queen checkmated her king. “I guess you won after all, Spike. Well, I’m off to play with my friends. I look forward to matching wits with you again.” Spike watched them go. It occurred to him that whatever chat that Twilight and Princess Celestia were having was probably over. As he walked out of Rarity’s boutique, he thought back to the chess game. If it hadn’t been for that one pawn, he would have been defeated for sure. Perhaps, he mused, pawns were more important then he had previously thought. <<>> “Sister, to be perfectly frank I find this hard to believe.” “What do you mean, Luna?” “Do you truly think that this entity would give up its hold on Twilight Sparkle so easily? I see no logical reason for it to have done so.” “I saw it leave her with my own eyes, Luna!” “Sister, think back to when I was Nightmare Moon. It took the intervention of the elements of harmony to purge the Nightmare from my body. I do not think that this entity would be any easier.” “But I saw-“ “Likely just smoke and mirrors, dear sister. If this thing can possess an alicorn, it can most likely fool an alicorn as well.” “Perhaps you are right, Luna. You should visit Twilight’s dreams just to be safe.” “An excellent idea! I shall do so this very night. Although I hope that you are correct, sister. If this entity remains inside Twilight Sparkle, it could mean the end of us all.” <<>> Twilight had seen her friends through the portal, so she knew they were waiting for her in her castle. “Twilight darling, we’ve been worried sick about you!” Twilight was confused. Her friends shouldn’t know about her disappearance, unless… “Spike told you what happened, didn’t he?” “He said that you had been kidnapped!” Rarity cried. “Well, that’s not exactly what happened…” Twilight then proceeded to tell her friends exactly what happened. “Wow, that is so awesome!” Rainbow Dash asserted. “While it was inside you, did it tell you the secrets of the universe?” “It had the secrets of the universe this whole time!?” Pinkie Pie yelled. “If I had known that, I would have asked it about this new cupcake recipe I’ve been working on! It’s almost perfect, but it just needs a little something more…” “I don’t know girls, everything seemed so hazy and out of touch while it was possessing me” Twilight explained. “I don’t really remember much of anything.” “I think that’s for the best, Twi. Being possessed sounds so… scary.” Flutershy commented. “Ah’m just glad this is all over with, and that you’re safe, Twilight.” “Not quite, Applejack. We need to teach Entity about harmony and friendship.” “Ah reckon we are the best ponies for the job, but exactly how are we gonna do that? This Entity fella doesn’t sound like he’d be easy to teach.” “Come on Applejack! All we need to do is sit em down and hash things out! It’ll be easy peasy!” Proclaimed Rainbow Dash. “Yes, I’m sure that once we get to know Entity, he’ll turn out to be really nice!” stated Fluttershy. “Well I already met it, and it did seem nice! Although I didn’t get to talk to it very much…” “Well, first thing tomorrow morning we’ll all head over to its new home in the badlands.” Twilight said. “The badlands!? What kind of pony would want to live there?” Asked Applejack. “If I remember correctly, Princess Celestia wanted Entity to build his house there.” “That can’t be right! Why would Princess Celestia force somepony to live in an inhospitable desert?” questioned Fluttershy. “I think Celestia had a good reason, if I could just remember…” The castle’s front door opened and shut in the distance. Spike walked up the stairs and entered the throne room. “Spike, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be watching Sweetie Belle?” Rarity inquired. “She’s with her friends.” "I guess that’s- Oh, just look at the time! Sweetie Belle is probably at home, waiting for me! Excuse me, Twilight, but I simply must be going!” Rarity rushed out the door without another word. Her other friends said their goodbyes and left as well. Soon the only ones left were Spike and Twilight. “Well Twilight, I’ve got to get to work on some last minute chores, so…” “Chores? It’s your day off, Spike! You don’t have any chores!” Spike breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s good to have you back, Twilight. Well, it’s getting late, so I’ll see you in the morning.” Spike headed off to his own room. Twilight walked out onto her balcony. Sure enough, the sun had almost dipped below the horizon. “What a crazy day. I hope tomorrow will be less hectic.” Somehow, Twilight doubted that would be the case. Sighing, she headed for her bed. <<>> Several minutes after Twilight fell asleep, King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis stealthily entered her dreams. They were met with books. Towering bookshelves formed a gigantic maze in Twilight’s mind. “Books. What is it with this mare and books?” Queen Chrysalis mused. “It doesn’t matter. All we need to do is find the entity inhabiting Twilight’s mind, destroy it, and escape without getting caught.” King Sombra reminded her. “I don’t think we’ll be able to find anything in this labyrinth!” “Of course not, that’s why we’ll cheat.” Sombra’s horn glowed green and purple as small dark crystals started forming behind him. “Now we’ll be able to tell exactly where we have been, and where we haven’t been.” As Chrysalis trotted alongside Sombra, she began to grow curious about what exactly the books around them contained. So she paused to pull one off one of the shelves. “Sombra, come look at this!” Sombra gave Chrysalis an annoyed grunt and moved next to her to get a closer look at the book. “That’s strange, these look like…” “Yes, Twilight Sparkle’s memories. We are in no ordinary dream.” “We need to keep moving. The longer we tarry, the more memories that entity will be able to read!” “Perhaps we should take a few with us…” “As tempting as that is, we mustn’t do it. Twilight would eventually realize some of her memories were stolen, and come looking for the culprits. Besides, we haven’t the time to do so.” Sombra and Chrysalis eventually made their way to the center of the book maze. There they saw Twilight sitting in a chair, calmly reading a book. Other books were piled around her, and every once in a while she would exchange the book she was reading for one in the pile. They both quickly ducked behind some books to discuss strategy. “That must be Twilight. Chrysalis, if you disguise yourself as Princess Luna, we should be able to-“ “That isn’t Twilight Sparkle.” “What do you mean?” “Those books she’s reading are Twilight’s memories, correct? The real Twilight would probably feel a variety of strong emotions as she looked through her own memory. Perhaps regret, or fond remembrance. This Twilight Sparkle looks almost disinterested.” “If it isn’t Twilight, then it must be the entity.” “Indeed. Let’s rush it while we still have the element of surprise.” They leapt over the books and began the attack. Sombra begin firing beams of black magic while chrysalis shot bolts of green changeling magic. Twilight spun around in her chair and deflected the offensive magic with the book she had been reading. “Ah, Sombra and Chrysalis. Whatever brings you two here?” Twilight’s horn shone, and she was instantly concealed in a whirling tempest of books. King Sombra countered by sending his own cyclone of books on a collision course with Twilight. Queen Chrysalis begin funneling magic power into her horn. The two book twisters collided, and books flew in every direction. “According to Twilight’s memories you two are enemies of Equestria. Whatever you are doing here can’t be in her best interest.” Twilight formed a bubble of magic around herself and rammed into Sombra. Although he tried to dodge, Twilight was just too quick. He was sent flying headfirst into a bookshelf. Twilight dispelled her bubble and landed gracefully next to Sombra. “I bet that Twilight would want me to shred your psyche and take possession of your mortal coil. It would be in Equestria’s best interest, after all.” Twilight’s horn glimmered in a scintillating display of unholy light. Sombra was still too dazed to do anything. “They shall proclaim me a hero-“ Chrysalis’s beam of magic cut off whatever Twilight else Twilight was about to say. It also catapulted her across the room. “Get up, Sombra! We still have work to do!” Chrysalis helped Sombra to his hooves. Together they walked to where Twilight had fallen. “We had better destroy the body just to make sure.” As if on cue, Twilight’s body started to spasm wildly. Bulky muscles rippled and formed under her skin as she grew larger. Her wing feathers, teeth, and horn sharpened into cruel points. Patches of armored scales grew on her skin, which was now ripped and torn because of the extreme growth. She now towered over Sombra and Chrysalis. “You’re too late. I’ve already seen almost all of Twilight’s memories. All except one…” Twilight’s voice was now a strange, primal gurgle. Twilight sent a barrage of fire bolts their way, and they were both forced to take cover behind a large black crystal that Sombra summoned. The rain of fire suddenly stopped. Sombra peeked around the crystal and was greeted with the sight of Twilight charging their position. The crystal shattered like glass under Twilight’s massive bulk. Although Sombra managed to teleport out of harm’s way at the last second, Chrysalis wasn’t so lucky; with a loud snap of cracking chitin she slumped to the ground. Chrysalis wasn’t quite done yet, though. She jabbed her horn deep into one of Twilight’s gaping wounds, then unleashed a powerful energy beam. Twilight’s loose skin was completely blown off, revealing the skin and bone underneath. Twilight barely even noticed. She grabbed Chrysalis in her powerful telekinetic grip and started to slowly crush her. The changeling screamed in pain. Sombra telekinetically gathered razor sharp shards of black crystal and sent them sailing towards Twilight. Almost all of them hit their mark. One of the shards hit Twilight’s horn, causing her to lose her grip on Chrysalis. She slowly limped away from Twilight. Sombra sent a blast of dark magic at Twilight, and the crystals imbedded inside her began to grow, covering Twilight’s body. Despite this, she leapt high into the air, diving straight towards Sombra. Sombra converted into shadow form, and Twilight went right through him; the crystals that had grown over Twilight’s body shattered into dust when she hit the floor. Twilight then released a wave of pure concussive force from her horn, and Sombra’s shadowy form was almost completely dissipated. She then turned her attention to Chrysalis, but was caught off guard by a ferocious right jab from her opponent. Chrysalis then followed up her attack with a wave of green fire. Twilight summoned a large ball of water to quench the fires that had sprung up all over her body, then flung the water at Chrysalis; the water surrounded the changeling in an attempt to drown her. However, Twilight was so concentrated on the Queen that she didn’t notice Sombra reforming behind her. With a guttural roar, he blasted Twilight with a potent beam of dark magic. Surprised, she lost control of the water surrounding Chrysalis, giving the changeling a much needed breath of air. Sombra then teleported next to Chrysalis, and they combined their magic into a burst of pure evil that slammed into Twilight. She disintegrated into a pile of dust. A small sliver of blue and white light rose from the ashes and disappeared in a poof of teleportation magic. “What WAS that thing!?” “Most likely a puppet created by whatever was inhabiting Twilight.” “I have some choice words for the mare who told us this would be easy!” “Agreed.” “Let’s get out of here before something else happens.” Sombra’s horn lit up, and he brought them both back to the waking world. <<>> Princess Luna entered Twilight’s dream, only to see utter destruction. Green fires raged, puddles of water soaked the floor, and a fine dust coated everything. “What in blazes happened here!?” Luna looked closely at the dust coating the floor. It was a mixture of finely crushed crystal and something more… unwholesome. Luna reached out with her magic and didn’t find anyone or anything suspicious. The only thing in Twilight’s mind was Twilight, and of course, Luna. Utterly confused, Luna left Twilight’s mind. <<>> Entity closed the portal looking into Twilight’s mind as soon as Luna left. There was nothing left to see. Entity thought back to its scuffle with Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra. It still didn’t know why they had decided to attack its presence in Twilight’s mind. More importantly, they had prevented it from reading the last of Twilight’s memories. Judging by how deeply buried in Twilight’s mind the memory was, it was very important to Twilight. Entity could of course renter Twilight’s mind and retrieve the memory, but it had told Celestia it would not enter Twilight’s mind ever again. Entity had seen in Twilight’s mind how much honesty meant to her, so it had decided not to break its promise again. So instead, Entity would enter the minds of Twilight’s friends. They likely had the information it wanted. But that could wait. It had other things it had to do. Entity shifted its gaze towards the land surrounding his home. Since it had cleared away the rubble, the land was flat, barren, and empty; the land was void of any life. Entity hated the emptiness, hated the void. So it began to create, filling the void, and thus destroying the emptiness. After all, hadn’t Celestia said it could build anything it wanted here? Author's Note This is the theme of the battle in Twilight's mind! Pfft, after that battle I'll probably have to give the story a gore rating.
