The Future Is Not Set, But Only If You're From Another Universe

Chapters

One Job
God Complex
Other Side
First Steps
Forrseeable Future
Stealing Magic
Promised Day
Of Many

One Job

It was a stereotypical, mild, day in Canterlot. The midday sun was shining bright, and the city folk where going on about their business. With the clatter of hooves and wagon wheels, along with the high pitched, erratic chirping of birds, Ember found herself quite annoyed. Her castle was so much quieter: she could actually hear herself think there. Okay, maybe she was being a bit dramatic, but she found it very noisy compared to back home.

The townspeople could tell something was amiss though.... What was it? Ah yes! There was a moderately sized, white, pink maned alicorn walking on the streets with a cutie mark of brilliant, nebulous, flames.

As Ember, the alicorn, walked down the Canterlot lanes, the residents gawked at the foreigner and whispered under their breathes.

"I thought we only had four princesses?" She heard one say.

"We do," their friend replied.

"Is she a new princess?" another inquired.
Why is everyone acting so weird? Have they not seen a princess before? Rude, Ember thought disdainfully. Ah, well, it doesn't matter much anyway. I'm almost to the castle.

She didn't feel like flying mostly because she didn't like attracting attention to herself, but even on the ground she was getting much more of it than she wanted. The starring was starting to overwhelm Ember and she was beginning to get nervous. What if I get arrested? What if someone calls the guard?! Oh no! She thought worriedly. But wait... why would they arrest me? That's just silly! It didn't do much to calm her nerves.

After what seemed like an eternity from the stares, a young filly with a blue coat and pink mane finally approached. Ember was almost relieved. The filly spoke, "Who are you?"

Ember made a quite scoff, "I'm Princess Ember, thank you! Princess of the flames, fire, and the hearth!"

The young pony angled her head in confusion, "What's a 'hearth'?"

"It's like a fireplace," Ember replied.

"Huh," the filly looked even more confused, "A princess of fireplaces? Are you like Santa Hooves?"

"I most certainly am not!" Ember gave a very offended look, but the foal either ignored it or was completely oblivious.

"Oh, too bad, Santa Hooves would have been a lot cooler anyway. But I guess it's not winter right now so it makes sense you wouldn't be him," the young pony started walking away disinterested.

Ember scoffed again, "Rude! Do you have any idea who you're talking to?!"

The pony replied as she was walking away, "Not Santa Hooves."

"You," Ember said angrily and starred at the pony. She was about the burst, Okay, okay, calm down. She's just a foal, she didn't know any better. I'm certain of it.

Eventually Ember eased enough to stop glaring and grinding her teeth to get back to walking towards the castle. After a few more minutes of trotting, she started thinking about the filly again, Are all ponies from this universe such... jerks? she scoffed again, Whatever, I can't let it get to me. I have a mission to fulfill, and I won't disappoint Mother!

Finally, after what seemed much longer than it actually was by Ember's estimate, she reached the gates of the castle. Before the gates stood two, puzzled, but still somewhat stoic, guardponies. "Halt. Who... are you, and what is your business here?" asked the left guard.

"I wish to speak to Princess... erm... what was her name? Ah, yes! Princess Celestia! Is that an issue?" inquired Ember with a tad bit of annoyance in her voice, Why do they question me? Cannot they see that I am an alicorn like the other princesses?

"Yes..." he hesitated, "Princess.... Neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna are holding open court right now, but we will inform Princess Celestia anyway. What is your name?"

"Ember Celestia, Princess of the flames, fire and the hearth!" Ember turned her head into the distance and made a smug smile.

The guard told the stallion to his right what to do and the stallion walked into the castle. "Someone will be back shortly. Until then, wait here please," the guardspony asked.

"Your majesty, there is an alicorn with a name neither of the guards out front recognized," stated the informant.

Celestia began thinking, Cadence? What is she doing here? And why did she call herself Mi Amore Cadenza? She knows even Twilight was confused by that, then she spoke, "Bring her to my personal chambers. I have a few questions to ask Cadenza."

"Oh, no, the alicorn said her name was Princess Ember Celestia," the informant informed. She often had outings with the Redundant Scribe of Redundantness.

Princess Celestia was stunned, A princess... with my namesake? Is this an elaborate joke by Cadance? No, this is too strange for something she would do... She spoke again, but quieter, "I still want to see her in my personal chambers. This is quite... intriguing, to say the least."

Meanwhile, the social tension was building between the haughty princess and the annoyed guard after a disagreement as to whether embers title was superfluous having "the fire". Everything I say is making him angrier. Do I say nothing then? No! I must mend this situation while there is still time! Ember thought warily. She then began to pick up conversation again, "So, uhm... sorry about calling you an ignorant fool. That was a bit much... Ha ha...."

The guard rolled his eyes and looked away.

Oh no! He's not taking it! She began to internally panic. She never knew when to stop. Oh, Mother, why me?! she screamed in her head. She began to slightly tremble, Please relinquish me of this awful situation! Oh please!

Just as she finished her thought, the other guard came out of the entrance, "The princess wishes to see you in her personal chambers. Please, follow me," the guard motioned for her to follow him, "Right this way."

Oh, thank Mother! Ember thought relieved.

"I will take you to the main hall. The informant will take you from there," the guard stated.

It was only a short while before they met up with the informant, who introduced herself to be Silver Quill. She had, unsurprisingly, a silver mane and a gray coat with a cutie mark of, again unsurprisingly, an ink and quill. Ember followed her down the hallways. At each constricting archway there were two more guards positioned. Hm. At my castle we don't even have any guards. How weak is this princess if she can't even manage to fend off petty robbers by herself? Ember thought distastefully.

Finally, they arrived at the door to Celestia's personal chambers where two more guards stood. Silver Quill spoke, "Here, Princess Celestia is waiting in here."

Ember put a hoof on the door and gave a questioning glance to Silver Quill, to which Silver Quill responded with a nod. Ember pushed open the door. There sat Princess Celestia on a pillow in the middle of the room. Then Celestia said calmly, "Hello, Princess Celestia."

Ember blinked, "Oh, no, please, it's Princess Ember. Celestia is simply a formality."

Celestia nodded then raised a brow, "May I ask where you hail from and who gave you such a name?"

"I come from Equestria. Mother gave me my name, of course."

"And who is 'Mother'?"

"Twilight."

"Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia asked with bemusement.

"Yes, she was called that at one time, but I know her as just Twilight."

"Okay.... So, let me get this straight.... You're telling me that Twilight, light purple coat, dark purple mane, had a foal?"

"...Correct...?" Ember paused for a moment, "Ah, yes, this should clear things up! I'm from the future."

"Aha! Ah ha ha ha!" Celestia began to become hysterical, "Oh, that's rich! Cadence, is that you? That's pretty funny, I must admit. Though I must ask where did you come up with such ludicrous banter?" Celestia continued chortling.

Ember blushed and frowned, "No, I-I am serious! Listen to me! C-Call you're sister Princess Luna in! Sh-she will listen!" Celestia ignored Ember and continued laughing to Embers enragement, "F-Fine then!" Ember said, embarrassed, "I'm leaving!"

Celestia heard the sound of magic being used and looked around for Ember, to which she found nothing, "Ah well, I guess the jokes over. Silver Quill, please get my sister, I have a feeling that she is going to enjoy this."

Ember looked down from the mountaintop with wet eyes. Stupid Princess Celestia. Who needs her, anyway? I'm sure Princess Luna will be far more concerned! Yes! I never spoke to her! I need to go back and see her instead! Yes! Oh... I think I need to cool down a bit first though... Ember thought as she looked at the vast tracks of land bellow.

"...And then she told me that she was from the future," Celestia retold the story she had only lived but a few minutes ago, giggling.

"Classic!" Luna chuckled. Just as she finished, Ember appeared in the room once more with a teleport spell.

"Oh, uhm, ah! Princess Luna! You're here, Mother told me a lot about you. I need to speak with you about some very pressing matters regarding Twilight Sparkle. In 7 years time she and her friends will kill all of the nobles at..." Ember was cut off because of the very loud laughter coming from the two other alicorns in the room.

"This is Twilight's doing, isn't it? This joke is way too risque for Cadence," Celestia asked, mostly to herself.

"Wait sister! This ponies words might have some merit! Twilight is far too awkward to pull something off like this!" both sisters burst out laughing again.

"Noone makes fun of Mother like that!" Ember screamed. As she did, her perfect pink mane began to burn brightly. The two others in the room seemed oblivious which made Embers flame shade into dark blue. "You," she hissed, "I refuse to help you when you constantly laugh and make fun of everything I say! I'm leaving! For good! Good luck you imbeciles!"

Then she was gone, leaving a scorch mark where she had stood. Both sisters quieted down.

"Oh..." Luna spoke, "Well, I guess if she was really serious than this won't be the last time we see her...."

"Don't be ridiculous. Time travel spells can't actually change the flow of time. All they do is create a simple paradox. If she was from the future she would have known that," Celestia retorted.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Luna replied, "unless of course, she was from another universe? One exactly like ours, just in the future."

"You're correct, but I'm sure if she really was she wouldn't have left that out. It would have made her story actually believable, after all," Celestia said.

"Yes, I suppose we can just write it off as one of Cadence's... strange... pranks," Luna finished.

"What are you doing back so early, Ember?" Queen Twilight asked her daughter, confused. Twilight was using the flowing-mane-look. It was harder the pull off with the twilight than the night sky, but she managed.

"Well, you see... I... uh... had a fight? Heh heh..." Ember shied.

"And?"

"And... uh... well... you see..."

"Get on with it!"

"I kinda..." Ember got very quiet, almost to the point of mumbling, "told them I wouldn't help them? Heh heh...."

"Ember," Ember could feel the very essence of face-hoofing radiating through out the universe, coming from her mother. "How? How did you do it? You realize that we tested over all the knowledge you could possibly need?! And not only that, but we tested three times?! You had one job! One! How?! Just how, Ember?! What could you possibly have told them that would make them get angry at you?!" her mother scolded.

"Ah! Well, you see, they aren't actually angry at me! They were only laughing! Yes, I'm sure they just heard something they found quite funny and--" she was cut off.

"Wait. What did you tell them?" Twilight asked seriously.

"I told them my name, and, I told them your name, and, that I was from Equestria, and, that I was from the future, an--" she was interupted again.

"You only said you were from the future?"

"Correct...? Isn't that wha--" she was cut short, yet again.

"No that is most certainly not what I wanted!" Twilight screamed, "I told you to tell them that you were from another universe then tell them that you're from the future! We tested over this! I made you take a test! You passed! Three times!" She realized that Ember was now cowering in fear and removed the scowl from her face, "Oh, Ember, what am I going to do with you?" she made a small smile and wrapped her forelegs around her daughter, "I'm sorry, just please, next time, don't make me go through all that trouble for nothing. I knew I should have listened to Oracle. Monotone had me convinced that you could do it..." she sighed and released her grip.

"I... I'm sorry Mother, I just.... I thought that I could prove Oracle wrong, but again, she was right," Ember's ears drooped as she frowned.

"No, no, it's not your fault. After all, she only told us as you were leaving. It's noponies fault, really," Twilight consulted her daughter. "Ah well, what's done is done. We need to go back anyway, so why not make it a family excursion?!" Twilight said overly-gleefully.

"Do I have to go back?" Ember frowned again.

"Yes, of course you do. You need to apologize to the princesses for whatever I'm sure you said to them."

"But... does Cadence have to come?"

"Yes, of course! She's your sister. I said 'family' and I meant it."

"But, but--"

"No. She is coming. That's final." Twilight said conclusively. Ember moaned.

After they were finished, an orange unicorn with a golden blonde mane appeared under the archway. Ember's castle didn't have any doors. "Oh, hey guys, I heard Twilight yelling so I came," the orange pony said.

"Ah, yes, Envy, what great timing! Could you bring my other daughters here?" Twilight asked.

"Sure, I don't really have anything else to do," Envy said as she left to go look for Frost and Cadence.

After a short while, which to Ember felt like an hour--she had, and has, issues-- Frost, who had a light-blue mane and a violet blue coat and Cadence, who had a chantilly coat and striped mane with astra, cerise, and royal purple, joined the party. Frost spoke, "So, what is this about, Mother?"

Twilight replied, "We are all going to another universe. As a family!"

"I knew it.... Mother does love me!" Cadence whispered gleefully behind Twilight's back. Ember and Frost rolled their eyes.

"Don't move," Twilight ordered.

Princess Celestia was still mellowing in her room when she saw an extremely bright light. Oh, well I guess she's back, she thought to herself, Luna was right, then. Hm, what's this? She started to see four figures condensing, instead of just one. The light began to dimmer and the objects became more vivid. Then she saw it, "Cadence?! And... Ember?! Wh-Who--wha-wha..." she stuttered.

"It has been quite some time, Princess Celestia," Queen Twilight smiled warmly and bowed.

"Uh-I-I... P-Please, ex-excuse m-me," Celestia stammered, somewhat out of fear, mostly our of shock. Queen Twilight was significantly taller than Celestia herself, which was something Celestia experienced seldomly.

"It's quite alright," Twilight ensured.

"Wh-Who are you?" Celestia questioned.

"I am Queen Twilight. These are my daughters: Princess Ember, which you have already met, Princess Frost, and Princess Cadence," Twilight introduced. Cadence seemed to get excited at the mentioning of her name.

"I see... Silver Quill! P-Please retrieve my sister at once!" Celestia asked of her informant.

It was only a moment before Princess Luna teleported back into the room before speaking, "Yes, sist--" then she saw what she had been called in for, "Ah, you must be Twilight, the one Princess Ember referred to as 'Mother'?"

"Correct," replied Twilight.

"Before my sister and I insulted Princess Ember by rudely laughing at her claims, she said something about Princess Twilight Sparkle 'killing nobles'," she concluded, but adding one more comment, "Though I must say, you cannot blame me for laughing."

"Yes. I will explain this all to you soon enough," Twilight explained, "But for the moment, let's all get comfy, shall we? These are my daughters," she looked over at the three, "Please introduce yourselves to Princess Luna."

Ember spoke first, "Well you know me, so...."

"While we are on the topic, don't you have something you would like to say to the nice princesses?" Queen Twilight persuaded.

"Yes.... I'm sorry about calling you names earlier..." she almost muttered in embarrassment.

Celestia responded next, finally grasping the situation, "It's quite all right, I was obviously wrong to laugh. I am very sorry."

Luna chimed in, "As am I."

"Great, you all made up. Now where were we? Ah, yes, Frost, you next," Twilight continued the conversation.

"Yes, I am princess Frost Luna. It's a pleasure to meet you both," Frost said. Both Princesses nodded.

Cadence was dying for her turn, slightly prancing in place. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia raised an eye at this, while Ember and Frost just rolled their eyes, "Hello! I am Princess Cadence! It's so, so nice to meet you! I hope we can all be friends!" she exclaimed. Please say yes, please say yes! Please! she prayed in her thoughts.

Princess Celestia replied, slightly shocked, while Cadence's sisters simply rolled their eyes again, "Uhm, yes, pleased to meet you too. I'm... sure we will get along."

Yes! They do like me! Thank you Mother! Cadence thought to herself with a zenful expression on her face.

"So, Twilight," Celestia paused for a moment, "Please, explain to us why you are here."

"Yes..." Twilight contemplated, "Please, before I give you the details I'm sure you will either need to know or want to know, I must ask"--she looked at her three daughters--"that you all leave the room. This is something that I will tell you someday, just not today."

Frost spoke for the group, "Yes, we understand. Come, sisters." They all left the room.

When they left and the door shut, Twilight spoke up again. "I think it would be beneficial if Princess Mi Amore Cadenza were to hear this too. Just a future note."

"Yes. Silver Quill! Please call for Princess Cadence," Celestia ordered.

"Now, where do I begin?" Twilight asked.

"From the beginning?" offered Celestia.

Queen Twilight Continued, "Ah, yes. Twilight Sparkle...."

God Complex

"Ah yes, Twilight Sparkle, or rather, I," she paused to ask a question, "Do you mind if I tell this in first person? It would be significantly easier for my portion of the tale."

"Not at all," Celestia responded.

"Very well then. This is a little background for what I'm about to tell you.

"You see, I used to have a god complex of sorts. You couldn't really consider it megalomania as I actually did have, to some degree, omnipotence and significance at one time. It's nearly funny, because I didn't even have a large hubris, if one at all; no, in fact, you could almost say it was the opposite. I would always downplay my accomplishments with ideas of a more perfect state I could reach, then, when I got to the next level of, let's say, 'enlightenment', I would strive for even more. The best way to describe it is this: I was hopelessly addicted to a drug, with that drug being power and control.

"I'll never be sure when it started, but I do know that my earliest remembered experience is with ant farms--" Princess Luna chuckled, "--It's humorous, I know, but it's true. I remember being utterly infatuated with the idea of having all but complete control over the matter inside that glass box. The fact that I controlled the fate of another, even if it was as minuscule as an ant or a blade of grass, was simply intoxicating. Just the very fact that my will was reality for those, even for non-complex beings, was enough to make me tremble with pleasure. I was truly disgusting.

"Soon after I got my first ant farm, I learned of alicorns. I had heard that they possessed all three types of magic, which gave them an incomparable amount of power. So, that is when I formulated my plan. I won't reveal it to you all at once, otherwise it won't be a very suspenseful story.

"Anyway, by some stroke of luck, I met a pegasus pony who goes by the name Monotone...."

It was just another day in Canterlot, it seemed; little did I know I would meet someone--someone, who's actions, with mine, would change Equestria for the worst.

"Wait, wait," Luna interrupted, "So why didn't you just go to another universe in which you hadn't met 'Monotone' yet? And why are you telling us this story? I'm sorry for interrupting, I'm just curious about your motives."

Twilight responded, "Well, the reason I didn't go to another universe is because it was calculated that I would need to jump at least a septillion times before I got to the nearest universe in which that was the case. In order to jump, I have to bend the space around me in such a way that the membrane of the current universe and the one I want to get to collide and combine for a short period of time. This is very complicated to do and Ember and Cadence, my Cadence, are the only ones I know, besides myself, that have the precision to do it. Anyway, I only had to jump a few hundred times to get here--that's why I can get here in under 15 seconds.

"And as for why I'm telling you, well, why not?" she took a deep breathe, "Does that answer your question?"

Luna was in awe, "Well... yes. I suppose it does. I thank you for taking your time to come, in that case."

So, as I was saying, I was walking down the streets, alone, contemplating how I could gain the power of an alicorn. I knew a substantial amount about magic and spells for my age, but none of the books I could find dealt with obtaining or controlling alicorn magic. I couldn't even find a book that mentioned a study about it.

But on that day, my luck did not run out; quite the opposite. I met a young filly by the name of Monotone with a grey coat and a grey scale striped mane. Go figure. She also didn't have her cutie mark when I met her. Don't tell her I said this, but she can be very boring. Regardless, she is also incredibly intelligent.

I was walking along, spacing out, thinking about alicorn magic, when I literally ran into her. We bumped heads which made her drop all of her papers over the side walk. "I'm so sorry!" I told her.

Then, I saw what she was, apparently, working on. It was a theory about inter-universe travel. When I saw her work, I was sure this was a pony that could help me achieve omnipotence. In other words, I knew I had to befriend this pegasus.

As I was picking up the paper, quickly examining her work, I said, "Wow! This is a theory about warping space? That's so cool! I never thought about using magic like that!"

"Yeah, well, that's not what the professors at the university think. They told me it was pointless and that it would never work, even after I showed them that the math was irrefutable. I'm sorry I'm bothering you with this nonsense," she said plainly

"Nonsense?" I said, with a tone of confusion, "This is genius. Please, I'd like to hear more about it."

"Are you certain? The ideas are quite complicated, I'm not sure if you will be able to grasp them," she inquired insensitively

"Ah, I'll be fine. Just, please, I would love to hear more. I'm heading to the library right now. Why don't you tell me about it when we are walking there?" I asked.

"Wait, you're telling me... that you want to hear about this?" she broke her composure and began laughing, though it was quite awkward to listen to. I'd best describe her laugh as, well, fake sounding. Just imagine the most artificial laugh you could possibly muster. It's almost creepy.

"Well, yes! Why would I be asking, otherwise?" I rhetorically asked.

"Well, most people ask because they want to befriend me so I'll do school work for them. But, seeing as though you don't seem to be attending school, I hypothesize that is not what you request from me. If you wish to befriend me for financial reasons, note my family is not wealthy. If, on the off chance that you actually wish for a friend like me, then, sure, I will divulge my theories to you," she said bluntly.

"Uhm... okay," I said slightly confused. "Please, tell me about your theory. No strings attached, I promise," I said, being supportive.

"Very well," she started.

I'll cut you some slack and just say that we took a very long detour, which made for a very long lecture on alternate universes and space time. From where I had been, the Canterlot Library would have only taken ten minutes to get to, so I changed courses to make sure she'd be able to tell me everything, all in hopes of gaining a ally. I still don't know if she was completely oblivious, or she was happy to be able to have a listening audience; either way, that walk set the stage for literally everything else that will happen.

"Hey," I asked, "What's your name anyway? Mine's Twilight Sparkle."

"Monotone," she stated.

"Oh," I quietly giggled. I had always noticed a correlation between ponies names and their color/personality/cutie mark, she being no exception in the slightest regard. "So uhm, do you want to be pen-pals or something?" I asked sheepishly. I wasn't one for making "permanent" friends, but this needed to be done.

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle, I would like that," she said with a microscopic smile and the faintest hint of happiness.

"Cool! My adress is 7659 N. Mares St. What's yours?" I told and asked.

"990 N. Jasmine St, P.O Box 896," she replied.

"Awesome! I'll send you a letter soon!" I said excitedly.

"I will be waiting for your approach. When I receive your letter, I will reply." She said forthrightly.

It was almost a week before I sent my letter. I didn't want to come on as too desperate, so I waited some time before sending.

It read:

Dear Monotone,

Hi! Reply if you get this! What have you been up to, anyway? Please, tell me all about it!

Your Friend,

Twilight Sparkle

Her reply came in the mail only a day after I sent mine. It read:

Twilight Sparkle,

Thank you for sending me a letter. If you must know, I have been thinking a lot about my

theories on warping space with magic. After discussing them with you, I have realised I

my math was not completely correct. Although the math worked, it was simply not

complete. I thank you for helping me realise this, even if it was not your intention in

talking to me.

Your Friend,

Monotone

Seeing the swiftness of her reply, I then assumed it was okay for me to reply in a timely manner as well. It was all friendly and non-serious for almost eleven months. We would write almost everyday, except for the days that she or I were going somewhere that would make it inconvenient. If that was the case, we would write to the other before hand to tell them that we would not replying for the next couple days.

After eleven months, we knew a lot about each other. We were very good friends, and we occasionally met up at the library or at a park to talk in person.

One day, after all those months, I didn't get a letter. I didn't think much of it at first. I replied to her, regardless, asking where her letter was. The next day, still nothing. Then, on the third day, what I got was shocking. I didn't get a letter; I got Monotone herself, at my door, and... she was acting different.

When she arrived, my mother came to the door; she asked my mother if she could see me. Of course, me being an introvert, my mother was very excited that I finally had a friend come over to our home. She showed Monotone to my room where I was studying. When they opened up the door, I was astonished, "Monotone, what are you doing here?"

She opened up her mouth, but my mother cut her off and said, "I'll just leave you two alone!" She then left the room.

Monotone picked back up again, tears in her eyes, "Th-They laughed, T-Twilight! I-it's n-not f-f-air!" She collapsed on the ground and began sobbing, "W-Wh-hy w-would th-they d-do th-th-at!"

I spoke as warmly as I could, "Who laughed, Monotone?" I was actually concerned. Nothing told me before that she was even capable of crying.

"Th-the tea-chers! I sh-sh-owed them m-m-y th-thing a-nd th-they lau-ghed! I-I'm s-o du-umb! I h-ha-te m-y-se-lf!"

"Don't-don't cry, Monotone," I pleaded. It's actually really hard to watch her cry. She has only done it three times in the 5,000 years that I've known her. I continued, "...Please? For me? Just tell me what happened."

She remained balling for almost another five minutes before she began to speak to me again, "I-I ga-ave m-y p-aper t-to th-the pro-fess-ors an-nd the-they ju-ust laugh-ed," she continued sniffling for another five minutes until she was well enough to speak more clearly, "They just said 'Oh, Monotone, you've been working on this for almost a year now why don't you just give up!'" she shouted and began crying again.

"Please, Monotone, it's not your fault," I cooed, "It's okay."

"No! It's not okay! I'm stupid! I let everyone down!" she screamed. If my mother heard it, she was not about to console the insane.

"Monotone, you're not stupid! You're smarter than me! Way smarter than me!" I tried soothing her.

"No! It's not true! I'm stupid, and noone likes me! And-and I'm dumb! And everyone hates me!"

"I don't hate you," I said.

"No! It's not true! Everyone hates me!" she went on admonishing herself.

I didn't know what to say or when to say it. So I did the only other thing I could do without words: I sat down beside her and hugged her. She continued crying on my shoulder. It made my coat soaked with tears.

And then, I had an idea. It was an idea so disgustingly sinister and manipulating that it haunts me to the very day: I wanted to use her weak moment to convince her to go along with my ambitions. So, I started, "Monotone, we can get back at them.... We can make them pay for how they made you feel...."

Her, still shaken and crying, though not wailing, said weakly, "D-o y-ou me-ean i-it?

"Yes, of course. We can make them pay. They hurt you, and I can't forgive that," I said, smiling behind her back.

"R-really? Bu-ut h-ow?" she asked, intrigued.

"I don't know..." I paused and thought, "But I do know, that if we work together, we can make it a reality."

She didn't say anything and instead hugged me back tighter. A few moments later, she said simply, "O-Okay."

It was a long time before either of us said anything. We were just sitting there, enjoying each others embrace. After almost twenty minutes had passed, she finally spoke, but not in her usual, emotionless, way, "Twilight, you're my... my... my best friend," she hesitated, "...My only friend... really. Thank you Twilight. I don't deserve a friend like you.... I'm so stupid... and du-"

I cut her off, "Stop. You're not stupid, and noone hates you. Got it?" She looked away. "I said, got it?"

"Yeah..." she mumbled.

It was another ten minutes before either of us spoke again, until Monotone, in her new emotion-infused inflection, asked, "Do... do you think I could spend the night here, Twilight?"

I didn't know what to say. This was the first time someone had even been to my house, much less slept over for the night, you understand. "I... I don't know. I guess... if it's okay with your parents and my parents then yeah." I said.

"It-it's okay with my parents," she said meagerly. She spoke up again, "But, is it okay with your parents?"

"I don't know. I'll go ask," I replied.

So, me and monotone trotted downstairs to my parents and I asked them if Monotone could spend the night. I'm sure my mother was on the verge of fainting. Nevertheless, they said yes--rather enthusiastically--and Monotone spent the night.

Later that night, we talked about our plan to "get back at those teachers". Unbeknownst to Monotone, my true agenda was far more sinister and selfish.

Anyway, Monotone apparently knew a pegasus that everyone called Deathwing, for obvious reasons: she was fast, she was strong, and she had an obsession with cracking skulls. The last one eventually had her put in a juvenile detention center for 2 years--she never actually cracked skulls, she just thought about it far too much. So, me and Monotone decided that we should meet Deathwing in person and further develop the plan.

We decided that we should all meet in Canterlot City Park.

"Are you sure she's coming?" I asked Monotone.

"I am certain of it. There exists no doubt in my mind that she would not accept out invitation. After all, she only has things to gain," she reassured me.

"Yeah, but from what you told me she's not the most logical pony," I argued.

"She will come. You must trust me."

"Okay."

After an hour of waiting, I was starting to get skeptical. "Are you su-" she then landed behind us, "-Well, speak of the devil, finally!" I exclaimed.

Deathwing, a yellow coated pony with a pink mane and heavy black eyeliner, asked, "Are you the Twilight girl Monotone told me about?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Good. She told me about you in her letter. So, you have something I might want? What is it?" she inquired.

"We think... you might want in on our plan. It's just the two of us so far, but we need as many talented ponies as we can possibly get. We heard you were strong," I stated.

"Yeah? What do I get?" she asked.

"To crush skulls," Monotone replied.

"Oh? And how do you suppose we get away with that? The guards will be on us in minutes if we crush skulls," she said.

"So, we crush the skulls of the guards. But we won't have to worry about any guards. I promise," I smiled wryly.

"And why is that?" asked Deathwing, intrigued.

"I'll tell you why," I said.

I explained our plan in greater detail. I won't disclose it all to you until it comes up in the story. Like I said...

"...It wouldn't be as suspenseful. Anyway, I think it's time we take a short break," Twilight concluded.

"That's just mean!" Celestia retorted.

Twilight shrugged, "My throats getting dry."

In the meantime, Luna was contemplating literally all of the interactions she had had with Twilight Sparkle. She voiced her thoughts, "May I ask you one thing before we adjourn? What ever happened to Monotone and 'Deathwing'?"

"You see, I switched the 'aura's of Monotone and Deathwing, which ended up creating Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. I must say, they are very good actors," Twilight explained.

Both sisters were aghast. Celestia spoke first, "Well, wow! I wasn't even aware that was possible."

"You know it as a different type of magic," Twilight reassured. "Anyway, shall we?"

Meanwhile, with the three sisters...

Other Side

Frost spoke for the group, "Yes, we understand. Come, sisters." They all left the room.

When they left and the door shut, Twilight spoke up again. "I think it would be beneficial if Princess Mi Amore Cadenza were to hear this too. Just a future note."

"Yes. Silver Quill! Please call for Princess Cadence," Celestia ordered.

And so it was that the three had been left out of the loop. Although, they weren't really concerned about that: they were just excruciatingly bored.

"When is she going to be done? Oh my Mother! This is single longest wait I have endured yet!" Ember exclaimed.

"Please, you say that every time." Frost rolled her eyes. "Besides, get used to it. You're like, basically immortal."

Ember scoffed. "I don't remember anyone asking for your opinion..." she said under her breath.

"What?" Frost asked.

"Nothing," Ember replied nonchalantly.

Meanwhile, Cadence, Twilight's Cadence--not the Cadence Twilight Sparkle knows, but Queen Twilight's Cadence--was pondering what would become of herself. Are they deciding if they want me gone? What did I do to upset them? It's my mane, isn't it?! Maybe it's my eyes.... Could it be... the way I speak? Or... what if... I'm not smart enough for them? Are... are they going to kill me? What if... oh no... What if they are going to make me a normal earth pony and Mother is going to disown me?! she thought fearfully. She began cowering with her hooves over her eyes in fear of her imagination as vivid scenes if herself being hung or herself being disowned then hung flashed in her mind.

"Cadence, are you okay?" Ember asked, confused.

She didn't respond, and instead continued shaking. Frost walked over to her to try and jolt her back to reality. "Cadence!" she yelled.

Cadence shot back up into the air, purged from her lowered position. "Yes, yes!" she turned around, "Oh, hi."

"Yeah, hi Cadence," Frost said.

There was more silence in the hall before Ember finally exclaimed, "Well... I think... we should... do something!"

"Like?" Frost inquired.

Ember stood in place with her mouth open. She closed her mouth and bit her lip.

"Exactly. We don't really know a lot about this place, anyway," Frost stated obviously. "Let's just stay here."

"Excuse me, but," one of the guards called for attention, "you could go eat in the dining hall, if you are hungry," the guard offered.

"I like that idea," Frost declared.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a little hungry," Ember shrugged.

"I will come, if, you will let me..." Cadence shied.

"Uhm, of course we will. You're our sister," Ember reassured. "Guard, where can we find the dining hall?" Ember queried.

"It's down these stairs and to the right at the the end of the hall," the guard. Thank Celestia. These ponies are weird.

"Oh... I don't think this is the dining hall..." Frost said, embarrassed. "I think he meant my other right.... Sorry."

Soon, the trio arrived at the dining hall. Cadence spoke enthusiastically, enjoying the change in scenery, "Wow, this is so pretty!"

"Yeah, but, how do we get the food?" Frost demanded impatiently.

"I don't know. Let's just ask someone," Ember answered. "Guard, how does one receive food in this place?"

I'm not getting paid to answer these stupid questions. Doesn't that little twit Cadence already know? Can't she tell them? the guard thought, annoyed. Of course, that's not what he actually said. "You ask someone in the kitchen."

Frost was already asking one of the apparent chefs for an iceberg lettuce salad. Noone was really sure what she saw in those.

At the main gate, another Cadence was arriving at the castle: this world's Cadence. The horns blared with their usual three note arrival jingle, and the royal announcer announced the arrival of, Princess Mi... Amor-wait, isn't she already here? he thought, confused. I could have sworn I just saw her pass me with two other alico-wait, we only have four princesses. Okay... wow.... I'll just announce it. "Announcing the arrival of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!" he announced. He too had frequent outings with the redundant scribe.

"Please, I beg of you, for the last time, just call me Cadence. I do not like Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," she pleaded with the announcer. "I know the other princesses like their titles, but I don't. It's, like, three words, anyway. Nopony has a three word name."

Well, that's definitely her, the announcer thought, confused. "Yes... of course. My apologies, again."

"Princess Celestia has requested your presence," Silver Quill, who trotted in from the other direction moments after Cadence, informed. "Please, follow me to her personal chambers. She should be waiting there with the other guest."

And so they both left the main entrance hall, with Cadence trailing behind. When they turned into another hall that attached to the dining hall, Cadence heard somepony call her name. "Cadence!" The voice sounded like an odd mixture of disappointment, worriedness, and embarrassment. She heard it again, "Cadence!" She then asked Silver Quill if she could go investigate, "Do you mind if I go see who is calling my name? This seems important enough. I'll try not to be too long."

"I-I guess not..." Silver Quill sighed. "Please be back soon though. I cannot keep the Princess Celestia waiting."

"Good, good," Cadence turned around, "Now let me go check this out..."

Princess Cadence started walking the other direction to the dining hall. I wonder what this is about, she thought. She heard the voice again, this time it was speaking a sentence to "her".

"Cadence, please, just.... Nopony hates you, okay? Please, Cadence. stop. You know Mother doesn't like it when you get like this," the voice pleaded.

As she got closer, she heard a sigh, some crunching, and some whimpering. What's going on in here? she thought again. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next--besides, maybe, looking in a mirror. She saw herself, but groveling, with an unnamed, white coated, pink maned alicorn trying to ease her-other-self's nerves. She was shocked--and scared--and nervous--but mostly confused. Noone except the guards noticed her when she walked into the room, but they were ultimately too startled to make any comments. It was a, long, dragged out, awkward moment for Princess Cadence--this universe's Cadence--before she finally spoke, "Uh, hello, I'm Princess Cadence... how are you?" Really, how are you, not who? Seriously Cadence? she scolded herself.

When she said that, everyone--really just the three sisters--looked at her, as puzzled as she was. It was only a moment before Frost continued eating her salad. Then Ember spoke, grasping the situation, "Oh! Mother told me about you! You're Cadence's lookalike, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Hello! It's nice to meet you!" She smiled invitingly.

The other Cadence, the one that was crying but a second ago, tried speaking, "I-I-I... hel-l-lo."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too..." the other Cadence replied, "But... uhm... can someone explain what's going on here?!"

"I believe I can! This may sound hard to believe, but us three"--Ember pointed at herself, her Cadence, and Frost--"are all from another universe. It's also worth noting that that universe is the same as this one, but in the future. You and Cadence simply look alike," Ember explained, finally remembering what her mother had told her, when it didn't even truly matter anymore.

"Ohhh! That makes a lot of sense. Okay..." Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire said.

It was some more time before anyone else spoke. Finally, after finishing her salad, Frost spoke, "So, Cadence-of-this-universe, my name is Frost, this is my sister Ember, and my other sister Cadence. It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah... so..." Cadence-of-this-universe paused for a long while and looked around the room, admiring the craftsmanship of the stonemasons. In recent years though, their guild had declined. This was probably due to the buying out of quarries by the merchant's guild. The merchant's guild had raised the price of stone sufficiently, by two bits, causing buyers to buy less stone, even though all of the guilds financial models had told that the increased cost wouldn't effect purchase; but that's not what was on Cadence's mind. "So.... uh... what's it like...?"

"What's what like?" the other Cadence asked, after finally recollecting herself.

"You know... in the future..." Cadence-of-this-universe responded sheepishly, unsure if her question was offensive or not.

Noone said anything for another long while. The question wasn't painful to answer, but nopony knew where to start.

Frost finally spoke, knowing the most about internal workings, "It's... nice.... We could... tell you about it over lunch, if you'd like."

"Uhm, yeah, okay," Cadence-of-this-universe responded. "Cool... then. Chopping Board, I would like..."

"Okay, wait, so... let me get this straight... your castle... doesn't have any doors?!" Cadence-of-this-universe said, almost alarmed.

"Well, yes. Mother wanted to keep the castle open to anypony, even if that pony is a criminal bent on doing something bad. If that's the case, Mother just does whatever with them because we don't have guards either," explained Frost. Meanwhile, Cadence was being completely mesmerized by her other self.

"Wait.... Twilight just deals with robbers and stuff on her own?!" Cadence really was alarmed at this. "How... I mean, that can't be the same Twilight Sparkle, can it? That just doesn't sound right..."

"She's just really powerful. I don't know what to say," Frost said, shrugging.

"Yeah, like if her and Monotone have a plan, it's usually infallible, unless Oracle says otherwise," Ember added. "At least that's what happened in my case," Ember continued, ashamed.

"So... do you have like a constant open court then? Or what? Why do you not have doors or guards, exactly?" Cadence-of-this-universe asked again.

"I don't know the full story behind it, but I guess Mother used to be really scary to the point where people would tell stories about her and her friends like they were the incarnate of Nightmare Moon, or so she says. She really didn't like it, so she tried to be as inviting as possible. We keep the castle as open as possible. If we want something to be private, we just enclose it completely, remember where it is, and teleport to it," Frost explained.

"That.... I can't understand, but it makes sense, I guess. But really, can people just come in at any time for open court or what?" Cadence-of-this-universe asked, once more.

"Well, yes, kind of. We hold open court for 6 hours each day, but anyone is allowed in the castle at anytime. If somepony needs a place to live or needs food, we employ them and house them in the servants quarters. They don't get paid, and if they don't work they don't eat. That's what the 'no doors' policy does on the off time," said Frost.

"I see. So, you said you don't have any guards. Doesn't crime become a problem then?"

"Well, as I said before, Mother is really powerful. If something is amiss, she knows. Don't ask me how she does it. But like I was saying earlier too, she just does whatever with people who want to steal. Usually she has one of her friends like Envy consult them. If they don't change, and she finds that they had been doing criminal stuff again, she usually exiles them."

"Well, okay.... Also, you keep mentioning ponies names like I'm suppose to know them. Who are 'her friends'?

"Her main circle is us--obviously, I mean we are her daughters--Envy, Oracle, Rarity, Steelwing, Deathwing, and Monotone. Monotone is easily her best friend. And, of course she has allies in other countries, but those are what you would call, friends with benefits."

"Wait... Rarity? She's still alive?"

"I guess so?" Frost shrugged.

There was another pause for eating before anyone spoke again. Then Cadence-of-this-universe found something peculiar in Frost's spiel and asked, "You still have Nightmare Moon stories?"

Frost swallowed her bite before speaking. "Y-yeah..."

"Seriously?" They all nodded nervously. Cadence-of-this-universe had an evil plan. It was clear that these ponies hadn't grown out of the childish Nightmare-story fears. "You know... Nightmare Moon is actually in this castle with us, right now," Cadence-of-this-universe smirked, "In fact, she'd probably be with Twilight as we speak," she deducted after hearing about Queen Twilight. "I wonder if she's torturing Twilight yet...."

Cadence opened her eyes wide and started hyperventilating, "No!"

"Uhm, are you okay?" Cadence-of-this-universe asked, quietly giggling.

"It's okay Cadence, Nightmare Moon is no match for Mother. I'm sure Mother will come back. It's okay," Ember cooed to her sister. "Just calm down, Cadence. Deep breaths. We are here for you."

Having her thirteen seconds of pure-evil-fun, Cadence-of-this-universe sighed. "I'm just teasing. I mean, I'm not,"--the other three silently gasped--"but I am. Nightmare moon is long gone from the pony that she once possessed."

"Wh-who was it?" Cadence asked, fearing that the knowledge may end her life somehow, but still curious enough to ask.

"Oh..." Cadence-of-this-universe contemplated whether or not to tell them. Seeing as how at least one of them is deathly fearful of the faux-villain, should I tell them? I not sure they could ever trust Luna after that.... "Yes... uhm... she... is a ghost... that is said to haunt the entire castle! Yes! Confined omnipresence!" She said "omnipresence" in her best spooky ghost impression she could muster, hoping to get the point across that she was just playing.

"Oh, ha ha," Ember sarcastically stated as her and frost rolled their eyes.

It was yet another awkward moment of silence before Cadence-of-this-universe tried to halt the slow death of the conversation, "So, why is it you're so afraid of Nightmare Moon?" Cadence wanted to start hyperventilating again at the mention of the name.

"Uh... well, she's very scary.... I mean... entire empires were enslaved, tortured, then eventually starved to death. They say that she fell the six largest pony empires, and shrouded the land in a seemingly endless night for over 600 years before she mysteriously disappeared," Frost justified their fears.

"Wha...?" Cadence-of-this-universe stuttered.

"What?" Frost asked.

"Nothing.... I have to discuss something with your mother later though...."

"Discuss what?" Ember asked, annoyingly.

"Nothing."

"I don't think she is going to tell us," Frost said, stating the obvious.

"Hey, you know, I'm actually curious about you guys. So, what are your cutie marks for?" Cadence-of-this-universe asked, curious.

Ember spoke before before anyone else got the chance to. "I am the Princess of Flames, Frost is the Princess of Being Cold, and Cadence is the Princess of Necromancy," she said facetiously.

"Really..." Cadence-of-this-universe said with fake interest in clearly fabricated claims.

"That's not true! Stop it Ember! That was only once! I said I wouldn't do it again!" Cadence entreated. Frost was giving her sister the death-and-torture stare, wishing she could 'extinguish' her sister as she had Ember's fires Ember'd managed to somehow set in her room.

Turning back to look at Cadence-of-this-universe, Frost said, "Ahem, I am the Princess of Ice Magic, while my sister Cadence is the Princess of Life. Ember meant to say that she is the Princess of Rug Burning." I wish that I didn't know Ember. How does Mother not know she acts like this? What does she see in her? Agh!

"Oh please, that was only twice. By the way, when is the last time you even used 'ice magic'? Hm? I don't see your room being made of ice. Do you even deserve a cutie mark?" Ember stated, trying as hard as possible to get on her sister's nerves after Frost had insulted her. After all, she was only joking about the "Princess of Being Cold" thing.

"That's not nice, Ember..." Cadence faintly said. Ember did not hear her.

"My room is made of ice, idiot. If you actually paid attention to anything, you'd see that. And what did your cutie mark get you? Burning..."

"Does this always happen?" Cadence-of-this-universe whispered to Cadence, who was pouting.

"Yeah... a lot... but... I know they love each other. I just wish they didn't fight like this."

"I can see it. I guess you could call it 'tough love'."

"...I know, I said some bad things too. I'm sorry. I really didn't mean them. I started this anyway. Again, I'm sorry, Frost. I mean it," Ember apologized.

What the? How did the argument get here?! Cadence-this-universe thought, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, too Ember."

"Does this always happen?!" Cadence-of-this-universe articulated her worry for the overly-fast healing relationship.

"Yes... it does. It's so sweet, isn't it?" Cadence said, dramatically wiping a stray tear from her eye.

'My Celestia these ponies are weird. And I always thought Twilight was strange.... Oh, right. Twilight's daughters.... "Why did you... apologize?"

"Is it wrong to apologize or something?" Frost catechized.

"No... It's just, I've never seen anypony make up so fast..." Cadence-of-this-universe quieted.

"Mother says that it's never good to be angry or jealous of somepony, especially your friends. And Frost is one of my best friends, because she's my sister," Ember explained.

"Oh... right. Huh..." Cadence-of-this-universe sighed. Was that a friendship lesson Twilight sent Celestia?!

Cadence--of the Crystal Empire--was deeply pondering how she had gotten to be here, listening to these three. They have a nice dynamic, and the Twilight in the future sounds nice. I'll give them that. Yeah. But, my Celestia, they are weird! I mean this other Cadence? She's a train wreck. Worse than Fluttershy. It makes me wonder what the other Celestia and Luna are like. Ember? She's sweet, but she's pretty... annoying? No.... Obnoxious? That's better. And Frost? Well... I'm not sure. Somethings off. I don't know though, I think I like them. Once you get past their quirks and Cadence's... something, they are all really sweet.

"...Yeah, we all know Dusk Shine is into Red Rose. I mean, do you see the way he looks at her?" Frost told the other two.

"That's sad, because Rose looks at Berry Spice like that," Ember gossiped.

"Wait... but isn't Berry Spice a changeling?" Cadence asked, shocked.

"Yeah! That's the crazy part! And I think he likes her back too!" Ember exclaimed.

"Oooh, we should ask him when we get back. Ooh, and if says yes, we should set up a date for the two," Frost offered, giggling.

They sure can gossip for the spawn of Twilight, Cadence-of-this-universe thought. They all giggled some more, giving her time to intrude. "Hey, do you guys want to meet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"

"We already did," told Frost.

"Oh."

As if by magic--which it was--the very same Princesses being talked about, along with Queen Twilight, appeared in the dining hall with what was probably a teleportation spell. There was no light or any magical residue when they appeared, making Celestia ask, "How did you do that? That's incredible."

"It's a trick I picked up quite a while ago. I just didn't use much magic, making there be less of a 'spark'. I could teach you sometime," Twilight offered and explained.

"Please do," Celestia requested.

"Oh, Cadence, I see you met my daughters..." Queen Twilight looked down at the floor. "It's been a long time..." I'm so sorry, Cadence, she thought to herself.

"It's been about two day's for me," Cadence-of-this-universe shrugged.

"Don't rub it in," Twilight looked up at her and grinned.

"So..." Luna said, "We are all here. I assume you four have all eaten."

"Yeah," Frost spoke for the group.

"Then... yeah, this is awkward," Twilight said, glancing away. "You could... watch us eat?"

"Sure?" Cadence-of-this-universe said, unsure.

"When is Princess Cadence going to be back?! This is not good! Celestia is going to be pissed! I can't believe I've let her be away for this long! I am so losing my job!"

Author's Note

The great thing about naming ponies is you can just choose an adjective and a noun and put them together. Curly Fries. Blue Desk. Kinky Rock.

First Steps

After lunch, Twilight, Celestia, and Luna retreated back to Celestia's chambers. Cadence was asked to join, but declined to accompany Ember and the others, for whatever reason.

Twilight began her tale again, "Where was I?"

"The meeting with Deathwing."

"Oh, right! So, we had the meeting with Deathwing and briefed her on the plan. She agreed, and I switched some attributes of Monotone and Deathwing, namely, Deathwing's strength. After that, Monotone dropped the college she was attending in Canterlot and moved to Cloudsdale, where she was accepted into the flying academy. I'll be honest: We didn't really have a reason for giving Monotone Deathwing's strength. I guess it could have been to ensure that Princess Celestia would accept 'Fluttershy' as one of my friends."

Celestia was offended. "I-I... am I really that predictable... that... you could plan on me sending you to a town to make friends... before you were even my student... before we even met..?" she said with a sad look on her face.

"I... I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, no, we could not predict that far ahead. It was probable however, that if I was an introvert, which I was, that you would eventually send me away to make friends," Twilight said with a straight face.

Celestia pouted at this.

"I'm... sorry, I guess, but back to the topic at hoof..."

I still remember it like it was only but a year ago; it was a clear morning, with wispy clouds floating high in the mesosphere. To the south, way, way, off in the distance there was a front, but it was moving east. I remember the early morning purple-orange twilight, and seeing a flash of lightning off in the south from the front. I woke up extra early that day, just to be sure that I didn't miss entry exams for the School of Gifted Unicorns. Getting in that... fine establishment was not my goal, however.

So, there I was, waiting for my turn to, well, get the Princesses attention. I knew, that, if I displayed my magical capabilities, I would have very good chance of getting your attention. The biggest problem with showing off my true capabilities is that it was far beyond what was needed to hatch the egg, and I would need an excuse.

So, again, waiting. There were two ponies ahead of me, and I was starting to feel a bit nervous. I had to think of an excuse. I sat there, thinking, while glancing at the clock every few seconds. The door opened, a pony walked out, and a voice spoke from inside the room, "Sand Myriad." The next pony in line trotted into the testing hall. One more, then it's me! I thought frantically. What... do... I do? I sat, starring at the floor, exclaiming to the crevices in the tessellation on the ground. I thought the test was going to be harder! No, I can't think about that now; what do I do?! I examined the tiles some more, hanging my head low, letting the blood rush to my forehead. Wait, that's it. Okay, I go, act nervous. Something drops on the floor, it spooks me, I freak out. Maybe I can try out that transmutation spell on some actual ponies. I had a plan that I was happy with, so I developed some of the finer details. I can use the spell, but I have to make it reversible. I don't want anypony to die... yet.

Sand Myriad walked out of the room, leaving one more pony. "Grey Fog, please come in." I'm next. I began to get nervous again. I know I can pull this off, so what am I nervous about? Agh! I hate this body. Someday, I'll transcend you. You'll see...

It was a nervous, brain aneurysm inducing wait. "Twilight Sparkle." I walked in and shut the door behind me. "Well, Ms. Sparkle," A pony with a light pink mane and yellow beige coat prodded. Okay, I need to fake a struggle. I tilted my head toward the egg and shot some magic sparks out of my horn. I added silent grunting and eye clenching for "special effects". It was quite a performance, if I do say so myself.

Boom! All the instructors looked up from their papers and out the windows above my head. It actually startled me; a lot. The shocked forced a wave of energy through my horn. It's funny, because this hadn't been part of the plan. The pony that caused this will pay severely, someday. If I live, I thought, even through awful pain in my head.
"How... coincidental?" Luna stated.

"Heh, yeah," Twilight said.

I casted so many muscle-memory spells at once that my forehead felt like it was going to explode. But, at the same time, it felt, to my disgust, good. I had power in that moment.

I was feeling weaker and weaker by the centisecond. The spells were draining all my energy, and I was close to collapsing. This is it.... I tried, at least. I think I left my top drawer open... darn. I guess I'll be remembered as that pony.

Before I knew what happened, I was being soothed by the princess herself. Little did she know, she was falling right into our plan.

"I... I... I feel so..." Celestia scowled in sadness.

"I-I know... I'm sorry..." Twilight frowned. "And... you really did save me that day.... I am eternally grateful, honestly. Besides, I really have missed you, all this time. Part of me--not even a deeply buried part--was hoping that Ember failed, so I could come and see you. Again, I'm so sorry for the things I've done to you..."

"You haven't done anything to this Celestia, Twilight." Celestia made an effort to smile, even through the "used" feeling. "At least, not yet... I think."

Twilight smiled as well and continued. "And, so, as you know, I became the princess's student. It was many long years, and in all that time, she took all the bait I laid out. In fact, she was somewhat close to figuring out the plan a few times, but it was quite easy to distract her away, no offense, with all the going-on's in Equestria. I knew that if I were antisocial, the princess would send me away to make friends, where I could more easily carry out aspects of the plan. It worked out though, because I was pretty antisocial already, regardless of the plan. It's almost sad; in all these years, my utterly best friend has always been Monotone, the other extremely socially awkward pony."

I also was aware long before the night I faced Nightmare Moon that there was a second original alicorn, that being Luna. Oh, and don't mention Nightmare Moon around my daughters. The story kind-of got really mangled in the future. Anyway, me knowing about Luna was a very important piece in the plan; that's just some foreshadowing."

After you sent me to Ponyville, I met up with the other participants in the plan Deathwing and Monotone had recruited. Monotone recruited Pinkie Pie, who was commonly called Oracle for her ability to predict events. There is also Envy, who disguised herself as an Earth Pony known as Applejack. She's actually a changeling. She's an expert in manipulation magic. Rarity, who still calls herself Rarity, was actually an expert in enchanted crystals, and, in more recent years has been into smithing enchanted weapons and armor, and was also in on the plan."

Those are the main ponies. But I digress. Sort-of. Okay, I digressed for real that time.

But anyway! That's beside the point. I arrived in pony, as you all know.

When I arrived, in my chariot, I knew the others would be waiting around town. I only knew of Monotone, and Deathwing--
"By the way, what do you want me to call them by?" Twilight asked.

"I'd call them by their fake names... it make's things easier." As Celestia spoke, Luna nodded.

--I only knew of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, so I had to go around town to meet them all. As you know, those were also, conveniently, the ponies that were doing preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.

When Spike and I arrived, I was quite surprised--and annoyed--to meet a pony by the name of Pinkie Pie, who subsequently gasped and ran off as soon as we spoke.

I first went to the pony known as Applejack. We discussed Summer Sun preparations, food wise, as the princess had told me to do, and ended on me asking her to meet me at the library after Nightmare Moon had returned.

"When will I know when Nightmare Moon has returned?"

"Don't worry, she'll make it obvious. I'm quite sure of that."

Next, I went to talk to Rainbow Dash. After receiving the extra capabilities, she had become quite cocky. "So, Rainbow Dash, aren't you going to clear the skies?" I asked, mocking her.

"Oh no, something something Wonderbolts," she joked.

Later, was Rarity. Not much to say there. Same thing as with Applejack.

Afterwards, I met with Fluttershy. She had a very different attitude than the Deathwing I had met earlier. She was a lot more fragile, having her strength stripped from her.

"So, you must be Fluttershy," I asked sarcastically.

"Yes," she squeaked.

"What was that?"

"Yes..." she squeaked again.

"Uhm..."

"Oh my gosh! Is that a baby dragon! I've never seen one of those before!" she exclaimed excitedly.

I sighed. I waited for a minute before I said anything. Then I leaned over and whispered to her, "He'll be yours someday."

She fell silent. "Meet me at the library after Nightmare is released." I grabbed Spike in my magic and we left.

And so, after Nightmare Moon was released, we all went back to the tree house. When we were all firmly planted, Rainbow Dash asked efficiently and to-the-point, "How do we release the alicorn. By the way, what is her name?"

"We'll find out when we release her, I guess," I stated unsure. "Anyway, though, about releasing her: we'll have to use those gems Monotone told you about. We will receive them when we reach the old castle in the Everfree. They are a necessity for not only this operation, but also others in the future. They channel ambient magic into me; the enchantment is weak, however, so this is why all of them must be gathered, and within short range, for it to be effective. They may also amplify your ability, Oracle, but that is just speculation. Anyway, if we combine all of the magics, I'll have enough power to break the alicorn away from Nightmare moon. Do note, though, and this is really important: do not mention this around Princess Celestia. She still thinks that the gems personify some 'friendship attribute'—and will no doubt make me write a paper about them. So, though, are there any questions?"

"Yes, I have one. You said the gems channel our energy into you. Will it put strain on us?" Applejack asked.

"As far as I can tell, no, nothing notable. You should all come back alive and well, as long as she doesn't start absorbing my magic."

"And what are the chances of that?" Monotone asked again.

"I can't give an exact amount, but from what the old stories say about this second alicorn, she doesn't appear to be too cunning. I highly doubt she will think fast enough to come up with such a thing. Are there any more questions?" Everyone else shook their heads. "Alright, let's stay close when we traverse the Everfree. The magical residue is dense and very corrupted there."

"I think I can see the castle from here. And it seems Nightmare Moon is here too. Oddly sentimental, don't you think?" Rarity joked.

"Yes, well, she doesn't exactly know about the Castle in Canterlot."

We walked forward and came to a large gorge with a fallen bridge. "Twilight, can you teleport us across?" Rarity asked

"I would teleport, but the air is too thick with magic. It will infuse with us," I explained, "So, Monotone, get the other end of the bridge and fix it."

Rainbow Dash--or Monotone--I'm just going to call her Monotone--flew over where she was met by, some, well, bad thwarting attempts.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash we are the-"

"First of all, Night-Bolt-Bat-Dark's, my name is't Rainbow Dash. Second of all, I will have exponentially more power by simply going on the path I am now than I ever would joining you. Do you even offer eternal life?"

"N-"

"Exactly. Goodbye." She tied up the other end of the bridge and flew back to the ledge where we were all standing. "Sorry about that, Nightmare Moon was trying to get me to break my 'loyalty'."

"Well, she can't just kill you, that'd be too easy," I replied.

We trotted across the rope bridge and into the decrepit main hall of the castle. Fluttershy and Monotone slowly floated the gem-orbs, or "elements", down from atop a pedestal with five arms. Pinkie Pie then noticed something rather trivial but still confusing to the six of us: "There are only five."

"Hm... this is odd. My best guess is that when the five gems are activated, it will catalyze the sixth gem. My guess is that the sixth gem will be made out of pure magic," I theorized.

Just then, Nightmare moon tried to steal the five gems with a direction spell. I jumped into the rudimentary vortex to hopefully thwart her, which I did. We ended up being redirected to the throne room, which, as you know, was a building above the main hall.

She stomped on the gem-orbs and shattered them. It looks like we get to design our own, then, I thought, adding a silver lining.

"You little foal, thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess, or your sun. The night--will last--forever!"

"You're a joke, you know that?"

"Excuse me?!"

"You're a joke. You're a failure and a joke. I'm sure Celestia just felt sympathy for you because you're such a failure, so she let you play you're little 'I'm an evil overlord' game. I would feel sorry for you too, if you weren't so ignorant and cocky. You make it easy to hate you."

"You-you stupid-"

Just then, the others ran into the room. Rarity used a simple reconstruction spell to reassemble the shards, in the shapes of everyone's visible cutie marks. "Why must you make us do such strenuous work? Magic really takes it out of me, you know."

"But I destroyed the gems! They are unusable if I destroy them!"

"Uhm, no they aren't, moron," retorted Rarity.

"No! That's not possible! How could this be?!"

"It's obvious, idiot. The gems used enchantments based on the substance of the gem, not the volume. The enchantment is bound to the gem, not trapped inside it. I thought someone with your reputation would know that, but seeing as your Celestia's sister, I guess it should just have been assumed," Rarity growled.
"Ah!" Celestia gasped.

"Rarity said it not me!"Twilight defended herself

"Wow, you're more stupid than I had previously thought, Nightmare Moon. But that doesn't matter, the dumber the pawns the better, no? Oh wait, you wouldn't know. You don't have any pawns."

"How dare you speak to me like this! I am the night! I am darkness! I am fear! I am evil!"

"Evil? Don't bother yourself with humoring me, pawn. Luckily, you won't remember this, otherwise I'm sure you'd tell on me to Celestia. Goodbye, and thanks."

"Wha-" Before she could finish her thought, we used the gems to purge the dark magic from her body.

There, before us, laid Luna. I grinned as I saw her, knowing that the my second step to ascension had been complete.

Author's Note

Edit: this story is still alive... kinda. I'm "changeling" a piece of information. Ha.

Forrseeable Future

So, after releasing Luna, we set our eye's on our next target: Discord.

This one was going to be tricky; he was trapped in stone and was not going to be released in the, quite literally, foreseeable future.

But, after doing much research on the topic of stone encasing enchantments, I discovered that the trapped being isn't actually turned to stone in the traditional sense. Really, the statue that is created is nothing but an article of the curser's creativity.

That brings me to another point: Celestia, when you trapped Discord, you did not put a breakable enchantment on him. Instead, you put a curse on Discord, which, as you know, is not reversible. And you did not just put a normal curse, you put a curse that contained Discord's information the statue, instead of killing him by molecularly transforming him into stone.

"I... I know this," Celestia spoke softly.

"As do I..." Luna followed.

"Then... then... why did you never tell me?"

"We all have our reasons, Twilight," Celestia answered.

"I suppose you are right."

Well, since you apparently know about the imprisonment, I'll skip to the relevant part: Scootaloo. You see, Scootaloo's involvement in this goes almost all the way back to when I arrived in Ponyville.

A few days after I arrived in Ponyville, we were all discussing what we would need to do for the next couple years to "lay low". Somepony happened to still be in the library, though, and was actively listening. Her name was Scootaloo, the little orange pegasus filly, friend to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. She was very scared to say the least, but we eventually indoctrinated her into our deprived ways. Later, she became known as Steelwing.

Regardless, as you know, Discord was still "alive" in the stone, and could perceive a minute amount of information. So, all we had to do was "awaken" him. Scootaloo's arguing with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom wasn't necessary, but at the time she desperately wanted to help. So, we told her to go pick a fight with her friends in front of a weird statue.

"If I may ask, why did you need to free Discord? Or my sister for that matter?"

"Come on, Celestia, think about how much of a spoiler that would be! I can't just tell you."

The princess glared at her former student.

"Psht, we have seven years. We'll be fine. Live a little."

As I was saying, Scootaloo's actions led to the freeing of Discord. He was a rowdy one, alright, and gave us a bunch of trouble. When he took the gems, we actually began to worry a bit.

"What do we do, Twilight? He took the gems! How are we suppose to subdue him now?" Rarity asked, worried.

"We just have to play his little games, I suppose. I doubt he'd do anything too edgy, though," I replied.

"Yes, I agree with Twilight. We need to go into the maze he has prepared and retrieve the gems. However stupid this is, we don't have much a choice in the matter," Monotone backed me up.

And so, we went in the maze, not really knowing what to expect. Granted this was only the third major point to the whole plan, the previous ones had gone off without a hitch, but this one was very different. Now we had an insane being who had as much—if not more—power as an immortal alicorn and who wasn't on our side; it was quite the hindrance.

We wandered aimlessly around the maze; I tried making a map in the beginning, but the labyrinth changed every turn we made. The fact that it kept changing eventually led us to getting split up. It was Rarity who fell first, then Oracle, then Envy, then Monotone, Deathwing and eventually me.

We went our separate ways out of disdain and an extreme lack of moral, and had a lot of trouble breaking the spells which we had no idea we were even under.

Contrary to what your student has taught you, it was Envy, or Applejack, who reunited us. She eventually realized that a very ancient, very powerful type of manipulative curse had been placed on each of us. She went to me first, me being the leader, and stripped the curse away.

We went around to the others and did the same thing, eventually getting us all congregated in front of Discord's unofficial throne. We gathered the gems and shot him with a more simplistic but still equally effective stone-trap spell.

"I agree with sister that the actions you are taking seem to make little sense. Why would you free Discord and re-trap him?" Luna pointed out.

"Luna, you too? Can't you guys just wait? I'll explain it to you eventually, I promise."

It was actually a surprise to us when Discord was let out to be reformed. Deathwing played the part of quiet and meek Fluttershy, so I assigned her to deal with him. He did turn out to be a somewhat useful tool, though.

I never cared for the being myself. He always seemed to be a nuisance, and he remarkably close to discovering us on several occasions. Envy even had to forcibly erase part of his memory at one time.

I was tempted to turn him back into stone, but I realized it wasn’t really necessary if he didn’t hang around us too often, which he really didn’t.

Now, on to the “Tree of Harmony”. Really, all it was was an oddly shaped mineral vein. However, it was interesting to find that it had an inherent enchant bound to the lattice; the same enchantment that was already on the gems. This made it interesting, because the seeds that Discord apparently planted managed to somehow feed of the magic energy it absorbed from the air.

I’m not sure how it did this, but I have a feeling it had something to do with the fact that the plants were created with unruly magic.

“So how do you explain the chest by the tree? Or, the vein, if you like,” Celestia inquired.
“So you are skeptical about what I am saying? Fair enough, I never really bothered to look into it myself. It may be the Tree of Harmony as you say it is, but Rarity quickly identified it as a vein.
“I also find it unlikely that it honestly has anything to do with the gems, but the two did seem unusually attracted to one another.
“I can’t say that I don’t find it interesting that the gems embedded themselves into the vein after the Everfree incident. I simply mark it up as being one of Equestria’s many strange occurrences, and I paid it little heed until now. I shall look further into this, no doubt, that you have brought it up again. It interests me.”
“That is interesting indeed,” Luna spoke up, “Could it possibly have something to do with slots? We found the Elements detached from the tree originally, so is it possible that the gems are a positive to the tree’s negative, or vice versa?”
“This is an… interesting theory,” Twilight said hesitantly.
“You can just say you think it’s bad.” Luna rolled her eyes.
“At this time, I cannot say. I will meditate on this, though.”
“As will I,” Celestia said. “You have given me much to think about…. Many things I used to believe I now see as being false.”

Author's Note

So... yeah. It's alive. Kinda. I have no idea about what to name these chapters at this point, so I'm just choosing a random phrase from the text.

Stealing Magic

“This all feels so… overwhelming. How could all this be happening right under my nose? How could I have not suspected this? How is it that you were able to operate in such secrecy that you had everypony in Equestria fooled? How is this possible?” Celestia asked desperately.
“Because I had been planning all of this for an incredibly long amount of time. It’s clear that you fail to see how much effort I had put into my persona, not to mention the others’. It’s… ridiculous, honestly,” Twilight explained.
“Now, to the last main piece of the puzzle. Tirek. He was crucial for my early stages, as were you, Luna. He possessed a magic that could not be found in any of tomes I read. It was… a dark and ancient magic, not unlike the magic that Nightmare Moon possessed in that sense. In a more literal sense, it was similar to the magic found in the ‘elements’, but more specialized and and far more evil. It could rip the magic away from another being, something which I have burned from my and all those who-knew-how-to-wield-its memory. It is something that still haunts my nightmares today, and I look back on it with disgust and anguish. It is from that magic that I…” Twilight paused, closed her eyes, and bit her lip. “I do not wish to speak about this now… it troubles me too deeply.”
“I think I can understand,” Luna offered.
“I’m sure you can, Luna.” Twilight made a sour face.

It was I who freed Tirek. It is unforgivable. He may be the doer, but I was the medium for which he did. Mere knowledge of his existence and his evil would be confined to the two of you if it were not for me.

When I let him out of Tartarus, I unleashed the memory of a magic so dark and evil that it’s creators wanted it destroyed. And so it stayed that way, until he was brought back.

Before I let him escape, he was stuck in a loop of madness. His mind was confused and subdued, and I, using dream magic Luna showed me, went into his mind, and unchained his psyche. This is why he did not tell you. He simply does not remember his liberator.

He did not escape, he was freed—by me.

There is no excusing what I did, and I take blame for it

When I scoured his mind, what I saw was… despair. He walked around a desert, constantly looking for his brother. His hooves bled, and the sun would not stop beating down upon his face. He screamed in sadness, though, not agony; he had one goal, and it was to find his brother.

It’s truly disgusting. I enjoyed watching him suffer. To know that he and his magic were beneath me and would even be mine soon was… bliss. To know I would soon achieve omniscience was… euphoric.

Every once in a while, he would trip on rock. Other stones would stab his face, and he would bleed out, covering the dried blood already there.

He was dry and wrinkly, and his eyes were devoid of life. He was a madman, walking in circles, in the desert, searching for his lost brother, suffering.

Some small part—the part that you see in front of you now—pitied him. His suffering was delicious but… oddly revolting. At the time, I blamed it on his bloody face, but I know better now.

Freeing him was almost trivial; I ended his loop; I gave a solution to his problem. I gave him his brother.

He laid on the ground, and wanted to wallow in misery, but his mind would not let him. His brother needed to be found, and he would find him, even if it took another eternity.

And so, using our link, I showed him what he wanted most. I gave him the most vivid image of his brother possible. And, when he lifted his head, he saw it. Through the mirage the desert sand created, was his brother, standing in front of him. Tirek got to his hooves, took a deep breath, and looked at his brother.

The loop had been broken, and soon he would diverge.

The dream shattered, and his mind was clear. His brother was gone. He was alone, and he would get revenge on all of those who dwelled in the devil nation Equestria for forsaking him.

That day, he roared. Tartarus shook under his anger. The titan had been let loose.

“Twilight, we must give you our magic. You will keep it safe,” said Celestia.

All three of their magics condensed above me, it’s density probably creating fusion no different than a star.

I willed it to channel into me, and I felt the raw magic mesh with my being. I felt as though I were being ripped apart and put back together again, but I remained stoic. There was no way I could let my plan fall flat then. The princesses were weak and defenseless, Tirek was on the loose, and now Discord was plotting with him as well.

The ball was rolling, and it could not be stopped. If I had messed up, not only everything that I had worked for would have been for nothing, but the world as we knew it would have fundamentally changed, and we would have probably died powerless. That was truly my biggest fear: being powerless.

I knew then what I needed to do with the magic. I needed to confront Tirek and learn his magic. I needed to learn how he stole magic. His imprisoned mind offered little information, so there was only one thing I could do. I needed to wait for him to come to me.

I knew I could not rely on Discord, so it didn’t matter much if he went to confront him. It helped, somewhat, too. Discord’s magic was unruly. If Tirek absorbed it, then that would slightly weaken him in the long run.

So, I went back to Ponyville and told my friends of what the princesses had given me. Rarity had created duplicates of the gems that were stuck to the vien. I placed my own gem in my leg, so I would never be without magic, even if I only had some negligible amount.

It took some time for Tirek to reach Ponyville. When he did, he absorbed all of my companion’s and Discord’s magics. And found me near the Castle of the Two Sisters.

He was huge, and very powerful, but I was far more cunning. He was after petty revenge; I was after the world.

We confronted each other and clashed magic. He had far more than I, and I was almost worried for a moment. But I realized I had something he did not: a plan. He knew not what he wanted, and it made him weak. He was sour at the turning of his brother, and this was the only motivation he had. And that’s all he had, really, was motivation. But he did not know what for. He only knew why, and that was his downfall.

I gave a good fight, and he eventually beat me after I was unable to discern his technique. I knew I was all but defeated. He had the others in his grasp, and the deeply buried part of me did not want to see them all dead. Of course, saving them just so happened to go with my last resort plan. “Give me your magic, or your friends will suffer.”

I can’t remember who called out to me, but someone said, “No! We’re not worth it, Twilight!”

But it didn’t matter. Sure, I had three alicorn magics, but that did not complete the puzzle by far.

Giving up all that power did feel awful, and I hesitated to do so willingly. I guess it wouldn’t really have mattered, he would have just taken it by force eventually.

I reluctantly gave in and let him passively suck my power away, but it was the last mistake Tirek ever made. He took the bait.

I felt him doing it, and probed his mind for a quick second. And then it clicked.

I knew then, the most disturbing and darkest magic of all; the magic of stealing power.

And I used it.

He finished sucking my energy, and latched back onto him. His mind was weak; he had no resolve. He tried so hard to stop the energy flowing from him, but it was in vain. He could not help what was happening. His magic was being taken by force.

“How are you doing this?! I took your power! How is this possible?!” he yelled in rage and confusion. I grinned.

“How does it feel to be a pawn? How does it feel to know that you are no more than an insect?” I asked smugly.

“What?! What is this?! I won! What are you doing?! I had the power!”

“And now, I do. We may just show you mercy for giving us the final piece.”

“What?!”

“Yes, we have all the pieces. It is time to put the puzzle together. Thank you, Tirek.”

At the time, his magic was too much for me. I tried desperately to contain it, but I heard a voice in my head. Let us take the burden as well, it said. So I did; I let the magic flow from Tirek, through me and my freinds bonds and into them. I know Rarity was just showing off when she used the excess magic to make us look like terrible superheroes.

And then, the strangest thing happened. The crystal box at the base of the vein reacted. It shot up into the air, flew over Ponyville, and up sprouted a crystal castle. None of us could explain what happened, and we still can’t today. I suppose it’s just another oddity of Equestria.

“But Tirek…. He…. He warned me of you…. He said that there was something wrong with you… and I didn’t believe him…” Celestia swallowed.
“I know. I was… evil. I was evil, but now I wish to correct it. I do not want this fate to befall another Twilight.”
“I must ask… you had not only our magic but a great deal of magic from other ponies, including discord.
“Why is it that you did not use it then? Why is that you waited almost eight years, if I am not mistaken before you actually carried out your plan? You said yourself that you had all the pieces of the puzzle, and that you simply needed to put the puzzle together, so why not put it together then?” inquired Luna.
“This is because the puzzle was not a trivial thing to put together. Even and puzzle with only three pieces takes time to put together, especially if said pieces are incredibly huge.
“There was still much extra plotting to be done,” explained Twilight.
“I… see.”

Author's Note

I added onto the previous chapter, so go and reread it.

Promised Day

Author's Note

The descriptions in this chapter are bit... morbid, I guess. I'm not sure if it classifies as gore yet, though.

Promised Day

Seven years. It took seven years to finalize the plan. In all that time, we had went through every conceivable—and inconceivable—possibility. We were going to leave nothing to chance, because if even one miniscule part of the operation failed or was malformed, there was a large probability we would not succeed and we’d be discovered. Obviously, obtaining god-status at the extent of literally everypony else was generally not something looked that others were fond of. Failure almost certainly meant that there would be no going back, and I might have even been stripped of my power.

You of course know that on rare occasions all of the nobles will gather for a banquet, along with the princesses, and at this particular event, the highest ranking generals. This was the most opportune time for us. It would let us get rid of all the ruling parties in one fell swoop. This would cripple the Equestrian government, and shatter military command.

The reason the latter was important is simple: I wouldn’t be powerful enough then to take on an entire army alone. Eventually, I would run out of energy and, given enough soldiers, they would overpower us. The Equestrian military was almost definitely large enough to overtake me and my freinds, given enough time.

Since I was one of the princesses, I was invited to the dinner party featuring all the houses, generals, and, of course, princesses. In my letter, I asked if I could bring my friends along with me for the dinner. I also brought Scootaloo along, so she would be there when everything went down.

My friends took the train to Canterlot, and I took a chariot. I arrived the night before to make sure everything would go off without a hitch. It was boring and tedious work; I had to go around enchant all of the doors to make sure nopony escaped. Maybe it wasn’t necessary, but I was determined to… not have any survivors.

That night, I didn’t sleep.

I stared up at the intricate ceiling of my room, noting all the details on the stone arches. The summer breeze felt good through the open window, and I noted the smell of the flowers in the garden outside.

It was so peaceful, and I remember that I was hesitant for a moment to go forward with my plans.

It was nerve-racking, thinking about everything that I’d never see again: my parents, my brother, you two, Cadence… everypony, really.

But I also was certain that it was what I wanted. I wanted to become a goddess; no, a god. I wanted to be the perfect being, and to have ultimate control. I knew what I needed to do, and how to do it. Yet….

I sat up, hopped out of bed quietly, and walked over to the open window behind the wooden desk. A group of candles on the windowsill still smoldered from use a few hours before. The smoke gently blew back into the room, dissipating after a short distance.

I looked out at the moonlit land. The still night made it easy to see the very faint glow of streetlights down in Ponyville; nopony was out at the time; and all the houses were dark.

It was so peaceful, calm, and charming that it almost seemed like the universe was trying to convince me not to do it.

I heard the rustling of linens behind me, and turned around to find Spike woken up and rubbing his eyes.

“Twilight?” he asked.

“Yes…” I replied.

“Can’t sleep?”

“Well… I…. I don’t know…. No, I can’t sleep….”

“Are you worried about tomorrow?”

“I… I don’t know….”

“Then what is it?”

“I’m… unsure now….”

“Unsure about what?”

“Everything…. Do I really want to do this…?”

“Of course you do. It’s all you’ve ever dreamed of.”

“I know… but…. What if it’s not what I want? What if I’m not happy?”

“Twilight, you’ve told me before that gods don’t need petty emotions. They are omniscient, unbound by things like ‘feelings’ and ‘hopes’. All they have is will.

“At least, that’s what you said. I know this is what you want, Twilight. You cannot doubt yourself at the last moment and make everything you’ve accomplished be for nothing.

“I mean, you got an extremely loyal group of friends; not to mention that one is a changeling, one of the most untrustworthy creatures out there.

“You have the gems, the magic, and you’ve gotten close enough to princesses where you could be in a romantic relationship and nopony would even question it. Not that you would or anything, I hope, but you get the point.

“You’ve worked so hard that it’d be stupid and wasteful to just throw it all away for some doubts. I’ve known you since I was born, Twilight, and I know this is what you want. Monotone would say the same thing, I’m certain of it.

“Don’t doubt yourself, Twilight. You will emerge victorious.”

His talk left me envigorated, and I was once again determined to go through with everything. I mean, he was right, after all. Our plan was next to flawless, and we had everything set up. There was nothing that could stop us.

“You’re absolutely right, Spike. There is nothing that can stop me. I will become god. I will be the perfect being. This mortal shell will no longer bind me. I will triumph over all of these insects. I will strike god down to equus and eat it. The universe will answer to me alone. There will be no resistance.”

The rest of the night was filled with determination and eagerness instead of worry. I looked out the window, thinking about what I could do with all my power.

As I was thinking, I remembered what I told Monotone when we were both fillies. I remembered how I told her that we’d get back at the professors who told her her ideas were stupid. And I smiled. Not a smile of intent or malice, but a smile of laughter. I knew she would keep me to my word, but I still found the agreement funny. It seemed like such a harmless and empty threat; I was sure that a lot of fillies said something like it before.

And, finally, after all that time waiting, I saw, well, you, Celestia, on your balcony, raising the sun, completely oblivious to the events to come.

That night, everything would change. A new era would begin: an era of terror. I would be the catalyst and reactant.

The next day was normal, at the very least. I stayed in my room all day, checking over all my notes strategies. I won’t say I enjoyed it. It wasn’t necessary, but I just needed to kill time.

Then, after hours of killing time, the party was going to start. The first guests arrived, and everything was set in motion.

“You’ve said ‘everything was set in motion’ or some form of it multiple times. Which time was it?” Luna asked, almost annoyed.
“Uhm…. All of them, I guess.”
“What?”
“Well, all of the occurrences added up. I don’t really know…. I just say it for dramatic effect, to be honest.”
Both princesses stared at her blankly.

My friends were some of the last to arrive. They took their sweet time.

The party was rather drab. There was plenty of gossip and scandal to be discussed among the houses, no doubt, but I didn’t usually partake in it.

Eventually, we all gathered in one of the halls at a massive, white cloth covered table. The princesses and I were sitting at the massive head, with my friends close by.

“How are you enjoying to dinner, Twilight? Is it everything you dreamed of?” Celestia joked, poking fun at how mundane the event was.

“Yes, it’s great, Princess.”

“Oh, Twilight, you don’t need to call me that anymore.” She blushed lightly. “You’re a princess too now. There is no need for formalities between us.”

“You’re probably right, but I want your magic to come easily. The more stress and uncomfortableness a pony feels, the harder it is to let their magic flow into me.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I suppose I should formally say goodbye. But as you said, no need for formalities among fellow princesses, correct?”

“Twilight, what’s going on? What are you talking about?”

I turned to the others at the table. “Excuse me, my I have everypony’s attention?”

The all turned to look at me. “I would appreciate all of your help, but I should not talk with insects. It is below me, and my companions may find it odd. In fact, simply acknowledging your presence seems unbefitting.”

With that, I unleashed my spell upon the three princesses sitting beside me. Cadence was the first to notice her magic rapidly depleting. “Twilight, what’s going on? Are you doing this? What’s going on?” she said weekly.

Celestia’s and Luna’s eyes shot wide open as they too felt the drain. I spared nothing. They were powerless insects. All three fell over in their chairs, eliciting confused and startled commotion from the others sitting around the table.

All of the guards in the room came over to aid their rulers, but I was not prejudiced in my practices. I took everything thing they had, and they watched in horror and agony as they slowly disintegrated into dust.

All the other occupants except my friends in the room screamed in terror at the carnage around me. I simply laughed. Wanting to savor the moment, I trapped them all in their seats. One by one, I took everything from them, converting even the bonds of the compounds that composed their bodies into salvageable energy.

The all whimpered, while I smiled joyfully. They cried as their bodies disintegrated in front of them.

Deathwing had the largest grin of all.

I looked over at her, and decided that I should give her back what I had stolen from her earlier. With a quick burst of magic, she was Deathwing again. Her cutie mark was replaced with it’s natural red crescent, her coat became much darker, and her mane turned blood red. She shivered in pleasure.

“Thank you, Twilight. Finally, that frail body was irritating and frustrating.”

I looked over at Monotone, and again used a burst of magic on her as well. Her coat became grey, and her mane grayscale. Her cutie mark reverted to its natural sigma character.

“That was dreadful. Acting like an idiot for so long is silly.”

I continued. The next one cried and begged.

“P-please, P-Princess, spare me!”

“Ah, that would be wasteful.”

She tried cowering, but her body wouldn’t budge. I took all the energy she had, and she cried as she watched and felt her body crumbling into dust.

The next followed suit. And the next. And so on, until I reached the end of the table. There, a blue unicorn with a pink mane sat, tears running down her face. I drained her magic, but was surprised to find that she had significantly more than the rest.

“You may be useful at a later date. I will keep you for now.”

She looked up at me with wide eyes and and a gaping mouth. She was obviously thankful.

I used an age spell and reverted her to a foal.

She was the only unicorn of interest. I simply squashed the rest as the insects they were.

I slowly trotted over to the restrained princesses. They looked up at me with pure terror.

“T-Twilight w-why are y-you doing th-this?” Cadence asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? I want to become god.”

“B-but why t-to us? I-I thought w-we w-were your f-friends....”

“Friends? Really? You thought that I would befriend an insect? Well, I suppose I should call you more like mice.”

“A-an insect?” Celestia stuttered.

“Of course. You were all my pawns from the beginning. Cadence, my most faithful pawn, thank you. I appreciate looking after me while I was young and naive.

“Now, I might aswell tell you what I’m going to do with you. Keeping my pawns informed is courtesy, isn’t it?

“Regardless, you will become foals. You will grow up and regain your magic, and I will again take it. I will repeat this process until I do not need you anymore.”

“N-no! Please! Wait! Twilight, don’t do this! You can still turn back! We’ll forgive you, we promise! Don’t do this Twilight!” Celestia pleaded.

“Why shouldn’t I? Did you not hear me? I suppose mice should find it hard to comprehend the words of beings like myself. I wish to become god, and you have a lot of energy that I can use. So I took it.”

“Twilight, why did you teach me about friendship? Why did you try to help me adjust to this new time, if your only purpose was to use me?” Luna tried reasoning.

“So you would trust me. I’d of hoped that’d be obvious, but I guess not.” I shrugged. “Is there anything you’d like to say before being erased from history?”

They looked up at me with terrified looks, and Cadence had tears running down her cheeks.

“No? Suit yourself.”

My horn glowed and I was about to cast the spell before somepony called out to me. “Twilight! Wait!” It was Cadence.

“What?”

“I-I want to to say…. I wanted to say that… you’re still our friend….”

“And?”

She didn’t reply.

“Alright, I thought this’d be more drawn out, but whatever; it’s not my final moments, no, far from it.”

I used an age spell and regressed them to foals.

Celestia put the pieces together. “Your daughters…. They’re us, aren’t they?”
“Yes….”
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t either…. I’ve thought about what I would say, but I never found the answer. Maybe there simply is nothing to say.”
“I don’t feel like dwelling on this until I actually have material to dwell upon. The tale is not finished,” Luna declared.
“Yes,” Twilight replied, nodding.

Of Many

So, it was, officially, officially set in motion. I had committed several crimes, and multiple countries were fighting alongside the splintered Equestrian military.

Well, let me back up a bit. It wasn’t until several days after I had practically killed the princesses, and literally destroyed the vast majority of Equestrian state heads, that the military was informed. The Royal Guard thought they could handle the culprit on their own; they didn’t know it was me at first.

After the party, I immediately set out to take as much energy as I possibly could. I only understood the basics of Tirek’s magic and wasn’t able to steal from more than a single being at a time. I had since learned to hold the vast amounts of magic on my own, though.

The first night, we went out and picked ponies off the street.

And so it began. Some call it the War of Extermination. It wasn’t much of a war though… just an extermination.

In the beginning, Deathwing and Steelwing, or Scootaloo, took care of most of the ponies. I still didn’t fully understand how to steal magic from multiple ponies, so often Steelwing would bring me individual soldiers from the battlefield.

Deathwing was fearsome. Not long after the dinner, I infused Spike with a dark magic I picked up in one of tomes found in the restricted section of the Canterlot Archives. It gave him wings and made him powerful, and Deathwing took him as her steed.

However, sadly, it warped his mind. Over the years he began to become insane, and there was little I could do for him.

Regardless, both he and Scootaloo changed their names. He changed his to Thorn, and she made herself known as Steelwing. I didn’t seem a like a hard choice for them; their names weren’t very intimidating to begin with.

The first battles were miniscule. The Equestrians managed to muster a few hundred soldiers. They were easily wiped out, and I absorbed the magic of about fifty of them.

The next time, thought, they were not as easily defeated. The remaining Equestrian heads had went to the griffins for support, and we met with an army of nearly ten thousand.

It was, however, still incredibly easy to defeat them.

Deathwing and “Thorn”—he’s still Spike, to me—would fly over the battlefield, slashing and charring the ponies.

At first, they didn’t know what they were doing. They failed to realize that a battle would not work, as we simply did not have an army. It was a moot point to go in an open field and fight us.

When I learned how Tirek was able to take the power of many, many beings at once, the armies stood even less of a chance in defeating us.

The last great “battle” was simply me taking the power of nearly thirteen thousand ponies and griffins, whilst turning them all into dust. About fifty survived because they were lagging behind, and quickly spread the word of the massacre.

Eventually, they began to take more covert and sly measures.

I remember one such occasion.

Most days, my friends—well, really it was just Steelwing, Deathwing, and occasionally Envy—would go around and nap unsuspecting ponies and bring them back to my castle that I constructed at the base of Canterlot Mountain.

That day, that’s what they were doing.

Steelwing was the first to come back, flying in with two stallions held by the scruff of their necks. They were still conscious, but Steelwing poisoned them with an agent causing paralysis that she tipped her wings with.

Next was Deathwing, carrying a young dragon that had been knocked out. I could stand dragon magic, but it was not my goto choice.

Deathwing was disturbed. She was… almost sadistic, but… recklessly so. She didn’t purposely cause pain to herself, as far as I could tell, but you could tell that she felt the most minute amount of pleasure from self injury. More so the injury of others.

And finally, Envy returned. She was carrying a changeling.

It didn’t set off any alarms immediately; she was a changeling herself, so it didn’t seem far fetched that she found a changeling.

I had absorbed changeling magic before, and it was… an experience. It was not chaotic and inherently entropic like Discords, but it flowed in strange ways. It was like the tides, I suppose; raising and lowering, if that makes any sense.

“I guess it does.” Luna shrugged.

She dropped the helpless bug at my feet. I looked down at it’s face, and it wore a scowl. Not an angry one, but of course, a frightened one. I took it magic without hesitation.

At that time, most ponies barely did anything to improve upon my magical reserves. I only took their power as a pastime.

“What are you planning on doing tonight, Twilight?” Envy asked, nonchalantly.

“I will meditate on some things.”

“I see.”

After consulting with Monotone, I went to my balcony to meditate. The evening air was crisp and cool.

Behind me I heard Oracle call my name. “Twilight, look out!”

And then, just like that, I turned around to find Envy charging at me with a dagger. I assumed that it was laced with a magic poison; a normal stab wound would do very little to me.

I grabbed her with my telekinesis and her eyes widened.

“What are you doing?” I asked calmly.

It didn’t matter what her response was; she was probably going to die, anyway. She seemed to realize it too. “I’m trying to kill you, you vile monster! How does it feel to be called a monster by a changeling; one of the very beings you call an insect?”

I looked at her with a blank face. “Why should the opinion of an insect matter? You are just as you say: insects. Whatever opinion an insect has, it surely is not worth the time of a being such as myself. Who sent you, and what have you done with Envy?”

The changeling sighed. “I was a prisoner that was condemned to die for treason. I was offered this task, and was told that if I came back alive my charges would be dropped and instead I would be regarded as a hero.”

“Where is Envy?”

“She’s being held captive in the hive.”

I scoffed. “So they are still too soft to kill one such as her? A changeling who has killed hundreds?”

“I… yes.”

“Because your information was helpful, I will not kill you right this moment. Hm…. For now, stay here. I will think about what to do with you.”

Her eyes again widened, but I didn’t wait for her response.

Finding the hive was a simple matter. Envy had told me where it was located before.

I won’t tell you. That’d be wrong.

I scouted the tunnels with my magic and found where they were keeping her. I teleported her out, and onto the surface.

I didn’t feel like stealing all of the magic in the hive at the moment; I was still stuck on the squirmy feeling it gave me.

“You know, I’m confused. What ever happened to Discord?” Celestia asked.
“I never absorbed his magic. It would eventually corrupt all the other magic and make it uncontrollable. You see, Discord is not ‘chaotic’ because he likes chaos; it’s simply how his magic works. It wills itself to do things, he simply lets those things happen.”
“And what of… us? What did you do with the princesses after you… regressed them?”
“I stored them in a stasis where they could grow and regain their magic. You and Luna get your energy directly from stars, something that I was not able to do for over a thousand years. And indeed, even then I had to force it. Yours are innate.”
Luna nodded. “What about Cadence?”
“She…. wasn’t very special. She had much more magic than the average pony, but she was not connected to vast reserves a star has. Keeping her around was… sentimental.”
“So, then, what happened to the changeling?”
“Nothing. She lived with us until she died. I did not grant her immortality. Maybe I should go find her in this time….”
Celestia spoke up. “I would not recommend that. She wasn’t very important, and that would… cause unnecessary commotion, to be honest.”

Author's Note

Yep.