Rise of Empress Midnight

by Neo Machine

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe, Romance, Comedy, Tragedy
Length: 91000

What happens if something different happens in Equestria's history? Something that releases a villain into the world of Twilight and friends. What happened that would cause such a change to the world the Mane 6 once knew?

What happens if something different happened in Equestria's history? Something that created a villain that enters into the world of Twilight and friends. What happened that would cause such a change to the world the Mane 6 once knew?

It seems to be an ordinary day in the land of Equestria. However, that all comes to a grinding halt as a tyrannical super villain from a dystopian dimension invades. Having to work with their alternate versions in this alternate world, the Mane 6 must now work together to not only save both their own world and their alternates' world, but also the entire multiverse from the iron hoof of Empress Midnight.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-04 17:11:21 UTC

Just Another Day

All is quiet in the land of Equestria, the midnight moon floats low amongst the clouds, the wind lays silent as it glazes the trees, and all is asleep in the night. The moon begins to float down from the night sky as a new day is brought about. As the moon descends into the horizon, the beams of daylight pierce through the mountains. The golden glow wipes over the land from West to East, bathing the land and sea with new life and energy. The sun rises from its sleep as Equestria is brought back from its sleep. One of these lands is Ponyville, a small colourful village slightly away from Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. A ray of Celestia’s sun enter through a window of a large purple crystal tower, beaming upon the eyes of a small purple pony, with the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn, the alicorn princess, Twilight Sparkle. The princess sleepily opens her wide eyes and yawns, letting out the first breath of the day.

“Hey Spike,” Twilight yawns, “I just has the weirdest dream. Spike?” She looks around her for her dragon friend, Spike, but can’t find him. “Odd, he’d usually be sleeping in his little bed.” She heads downstairs to a large room with several books scattered on the floor without finding her purple friend. An owl flies into the room and lands on top of Twilight’s back. “Owlowiscious, have you seen Spike?”

“Who,” the owl responds with his head twisting side to side, for being incapable of speech, he doesn’t really have much to say.

“Oh, well do you want to hear about the dream I had as we search?”

“Who,” Owlowiscious nods his head in compliance,

“Okay,” As Twilight trots around the castle, she proceeds to talk about her dream. “I was in the throne room with Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, and they we’re talking about parallel worlds.”

“Who,”

“I know, it sounded weird to me as well at first. They were talking about worlds that were very similar to ours, yet they were different, like another me, but yellow. It may seem absolutely ridiculous, but as they continued about this theory, it seemed more and more possible, or that could just be dream-talk.”

“Who,”

“And as they were talking about how the Tree of Harmony connects to these worlds, a faint voice was calling Celestia’s name and I woke up. Owlowiscious, do you think this might be real?”

“Who,”

“I thought so, maybe I can look into this in some of our books or in the old castle.”

“Who!”

“Wha-AHH!” Twilight ducks her head as a light blue blur wizzes through two corridor windows. She looks up to see a rainbow trail left behind. She sticks her head out a window and screams, “Rainbow Dash!”

“Sorry!” The rainbow-mane pegasus hollers as she hovers towards Twilight. “I was just trying out some new air tricks, cool wouldn’t you say?”

“You’re gush of wind certainly was ‘cool,’ but please, does it really need to be at my home?”

“They’re just the right size and height, I need these windows.”

“Whatever, just make sure no pony is walking through before you zip in and out.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Anyways, Rainbow, have you seen Spike anywhere?”

“Last I’ve seen, he’s been heading towards Applejack’s.”

“Okay, thanks.” Twilight dashes out the main door and onto the dirt roads into Ponyville. Owlowiscious flies back into the palace as Twilight opens her large feathery wings and takes to the sky. She looks below to see the many ponies, a multi-colour blur as her shadow follows along the ground and roofs. Finally, she reaches a large field of apple trees with a wooden barn in the center of the forest. Twilight lands and is met by an orange pony hauling a cart of apples. “Hey Applejack,”

“Hey Twi,” the mare replies with sweat running down her face. “Looking for Spike?”

“Why yes, how’d you know?”

“He came by here really early and asked me for ‘the perfect apple.’”

“Is this another gift for Rarity I suppose?”

“I don’t know, Rarity isn’t much of an apple pony. Then again, Spike has tried everything else.” The two girls giggle when all of a sudden, a pink pony with a frilly mane pops out of the apple cart. “Pinkie, how’d you get in there?!”

“It’s Pinkie Pie, best not to question it.”

“Sorry to surprise you,” the pink mare replies, “I just heard you two laughing and decided to join in!”

“We were just joking,”

“Jokes?! I LOVE jokes! Can I tell a joke? Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Fluttershy was on the other side! Ahahaha!” As Pinkie continued to laugh maniacally, Twilight and Applejack continued their conversation.

“So Applejack, is it just me, or have things been getting a little boring around here?”

“What,” Applejack replies with a confused face, “you want more monsters to rampage around Equestria, disasters that could make Ponyville a crater?”

“Sort of, I mean, it’s pretty active and all, but even Discord is getting a little predictable and repetitive.”

“I guess after months of peace after that little scuttle with Tirek would get a bit boring. You could try creating new spells that might lead to something.”

“I guess, thanks Applejack, see you later Pinkie Pie.”

“Bye Twilight,” Applejack looks back to find that the pink pony has left without a trace, “where’d she go?” Twilight arrives at Rarity’s boutique and enters the door, triggering the doorbell.

“Rarity, Spike, are you guys in here?”

“Yes Twilight,” a male voice echoes in the empty showroom, “in the workshop.” Twilight walks by the mannequins wearing various outfits, all wearing many colours, fabrics, and gem stones as she heads up the back stairs. Her horn glows as she opens the closed door to the workshop with her magic and finds the small dragon and a white mare with a curly purple mane and tail.

“Spike, there you are!”

“Hey Twilight, I was just helping Rarity on her new outfit.” The baby dragon replies and steps to the side, revealing a white robe with a large red crystal on the chest with the figure similar to an apple. The white mare, Rarity, turns around from her design and smiles upon seeing Twilight.

“Oh darling!” She exclaims in excitement, “Like it? I’m still working on the final touches, but Fluttershy should be here with the peacock feathers any second now after dropping off Opal at the groomers and Sweetie Belle with her friends.”

“Impressive,” Twilight remarks, even without the final touches, she could tell this would be wonderful. “Hey Rarity,”

“Yes?”

“Is it just me, or are things getting a little boring?” Rarity puts on the same puzzled look as Applejack gave before and asks,

“What? Is the chaos and danger really what you are looking for?”

“Sort of, remember all of those adventures we had, learning more and more about the magic of friendship?”

“Of course I do, and I also remember getting green hair, being showered in mud and gunk, running an entire race covered in said mud, and who can forget the moment when all of my fur was poufy?”

“Oh yeah, the Poison Joke, ha-ha.”

“…”

“Sorry, but yeah, all the fun and-“

“Oh, Fluttershy’s here!” A yellow pegasus with pink flowing hair backs into the workshop dragging a large bag with her teeth. “Got the feathers?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy sheepishly replies, “the peacocks were glad to help.” Rarity uses her magic to open the bag and the rainbow feathers float up one by one.

“Perfect condition, thanks!”

“No problem.” The feathers then float onto the dress, creating a graceful pattern of feathery scales as a small floating needle and thread sow them onto the dress.

“Hey Twilight, as I’m finishing the sowing, can you put some sparkles onto the feathers?”

“Okay,” the alicorn replies, and sprays a poof of sparkles from her horn, showing the dress with twinkling lights.

“Twilight, about your thirst of adventure, how about you treat yourself to some books or some magic? Ah, turned out better than I expected.”

“I guess, just another day…”

“Don’t be so glum and just adore at this dress, right Spike?”

“Yep,” Spike replies, but his compliments run short as he retches a scroll from his belly, releasing a tint of green flames.

“What’s this?” Twilight asks as she magically unfolds the scroll. “Dear Twilight Sparkle, you are needed to come to the castle immediately, come alone. With deep regards; Princess Celestia.”

“Wait, alone? Immediately? What do you think the princess wants?”

“I don’t know, but just hope for me it’s nothing too serious.”

Raindrop the No-Pony

Inside the throne room of the Canterlot Castle, the alicorn of the sun, Princess Celestia is anxiously pacing back and forth as her sister, Princess Luna, watches.

“Is she ready?” The massive white alicorn asks to her younger sister, “Luna, are you sure Twilight had the dream?”

“Of course,” Luna replies, shaking her head in embarrassment, “I was there in her dream, she’s ready.”

“What if it was just a weird dream you had?”

“Why are you so worried? She’s ready; she’s old enough to take on the world.”

“I know, I know, but she’s been like my daughter after all of these years, I’m afraid she might get hurt.”

“She’ll be alright; Twilight’s friends will be with her.”

“You’re right, you’re right, she can’t be in there forever,”

“I’d expect this type of anxiety from Twilight, but never from you.”

“Well what do you expect sister?”

“Hello?” Twilight’s voice echoes into the throne room. The purple alicorn enters through the massive doors and is greeted by Luna and her flowing mane glowing of the night sky.

“Ah, Twilight,” Luna, turns around and greets her, “I see you have been mastering your teleportation spells.”

“Yeah, so is this about the dream I had, are there multiple worlds out there?”

“No, this is about your dream, just something else. However, your theory could mean multiple signs.”

“Like what?”

“It could be something involving your new form of magic or possibly a sign that something extraordinary might come to Equestria.”

“I see, I’ll keep note of it Luna.”

“You should, but for now, it’s best you address the matter of hoof with my sister.”

“Okay, Princess Celestia.” Celestia snaps out of her pacing and greets Twilight,

“Hello Twilight, sorry you had to see that, just a bit nervous,”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just something I want you to see and help with.”

“Okay,” Celestia walks up behind the large throne and magically opens two doors hidden in the stonework, revealing a long dark hallway.

“Follow me.” Twilight trots to the princess’ side as they stroll into the secret path as the doors close behind them. “Twilight, you know that all ponies have some form of inherit magic?”

“Wait, I thought only unicorns possess magic.”

“That’s partly true, unicorns have evolved their magic so they can project it through their horn and perform more tasks with this skill. Pegasi possess a less noticeable form of magic, able to manipulate the clouds, weather, and other things that only pegasi can do.”

“What about Earth Ponies and Crystal Ponies?”

“Earth Ponies and Crystal Ponies have more internal magic, making them seem plain to the casual eye. Your friend Applejack has magic that increases her strength, and she might not even know she holds magic. Pinkie Pie’s a bit more, ‘public’ with her internal magic.”

“I see, so what does this have to do with what’s going on?”

“There’s another species of pony that nopony’s heard of, one that doesn’t hold any form of magic, some aren’t even able to speak.”

“Who are they?”

“They’re called No-Ponies, and they’re very shy around normal ponies, throughout my life, I’ve only seen these ponies a couple of times. However, on one faithful night, I came across her on another royal duty. I shortly realized that she was a No-Pony, and to make things worse, she was blind and lost.”

“What did you do?”

“I took her in, trained her to speak our language and raised her for many years, away from the public eye so she wouldn’t be frightened or get hurt. She named herself Raindrop, as it was the first word she spoken.”

“So where do I come in?”

“Since it has been months after any incidents have struck Equestria, and since me, Luna, and Cadence are occupied with heavy royal duties,”

“You want me to take care of this Raindrop?”

“I want you to show her the world under you and your friends’ watchful eye. She has been in this secret room for most of her life for safety and I believe its time she enters the world and we might be able to learn on how to help the No-Ponies.”

“Why have we stopped walking?”

“Just taking a moment, for this might be the last time I walk down this pathway to greet my student.”

“I promise you Princess; I will take care of Raindrop with my life and bring her back to you.”

“Okay,” Celestia and Twilight walk into a bright light, blinding Twilight for a second, but then sees a massive room with various utilities laying around and a large window in the back of the room, showing the vast fields behind the mountain that Canterlot rests on. As she looks around, she sees a sky-blue figure resting on the large veiled bed. From the intervals in which the wind shifts the large pink veils, Twilight could see that the mare had a long mane and tail gleaming with a turquoise and white, but what she also saw inspired a question,

“Where’s her cutie mark? Her flank is completely blank,”

“She doesn’t, I’ve never seen a No-Pony with a cutie mark before.”

“But, how do you know what their talent or calling in life is?”

“I don’t, that’s why we need Raindrop into the world, to help find and understand them.”

“I see,” Celestia walks up to the bed and whispers into the pony’s exposed ear,

“Raindrop, time to wake up.” The ball of shining fur begins to shutter and wriggle as the alicorn princesses step back and watch. Raindrop wakes up and stretches, with Twilight observing that Raindrop’s quite skinny, despite being merely slightly shorter than Twilight. The awaken pony opens her sleepy eyes, two beautiful sea-blue eyes that have been covered in a white haze. “Good morning,”

“Good morning,” she responds, with a voice even more graceful than Fluttershy’s in Twilight’s perspective, “what’s today’s lesson?”

“Today will be different, for today, you’re going to experience the world outside the castle.”

“Really? I thought you said it was too dangerous for me and you were too busy doing your royal duties.”

“It has been months since any danger has struck, and I now believe it’s time for you to witness it yourself my little pony. And I have a friend right here that’ll help you in the real world.”

“Who is it?”

“That would be me,” Twilight replies and steps forward in front of Raindrop, “hi, I’m-“

“Twilight Sparkle I presume?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Celestia has told me all about you, and it only appeared to be that you are the most trusted one of Celestia that was available.”

“Wow you’re, incredibly smart.”

“I’ve learned from the best for nearly all of my life.”

“I see, so are you ready?”

“I’m not really sure, what should I know, what must I do, what should I bring for this journey?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll learn as we go along and my friends will assist you in every need.”

“Okay,” the pony turns to Celestia despite being blind, “will I see you again?”

“Oh course,” the princess responds, “think of it as merely a field trip, an experience, go and enjoy it.” Raindrop gallops into Celestia’s fluorescent mane and rubs alongside her, as a sign of farewell.

“See you later.”

“Before you go Twilight,” Celestia picks up two jeweled saddles and places them onto Twilight and Raindrop. “These are linked by magic Twilight Sparkle, Raindrop shall sense and know where you are and you will not lose track of her as it pulses the binding into your body.”

“Thanks,” Twilight cheers as her and the small mare head into the hallway, “I will never take this off.”

“Good luck you two.” The two slip into the darkness back to the main castle as Princess Celestia turns around and begins fixing up Raindrop’s room.

Outside in the Canterlot market, the duo proceed to take in the sounds, smells, and textures of the open Equestria. Twilight asks, “So Raindrop, how are you able to navigate your entire room? It’s huge.”

“Simple,” she replies, “Celestia set up the room so I can remember easily where everything is, it also helps that I have a great memory. I have a question for you, what’s it like to see for you?”

“Well uh…” Twilight stops for a second, trying to create an answer she’ll understand. “It’s like a memory.”

“A memory?”

“Yes, a memory, like how you remember the layout of your room. Imagine how your layout appears in your mind,”

“Okay,”

“Now add the textures of the floors, the walls, your bed, and everything else to the map,”

“I’m trying…”

“And, do you see something?”

“No,”

“Think inside your mind, not though your eyes, see something yet?”

“Not sure,”

“Is there something besides emptiness in your mind?”

“Kind of,”

“You’re using your imagination, kinda like vision.”

“This is very similar to what I experience in dreams.”

“Does Princess Luna see these dreams?”

“Yes, but she claims that it’s nothing she’s ever seen before, said it had no colours, odd visuals, and the sense of utter nothingness.”

“Well usually dreams are based from what you’ve sensed while awake, so being blind might lead to apparently odd dreams.” As they head into the heavier populated area of the market, small whispers and clamor echo through the crowd as they watch from the fancier shops and the streets, focused on the alicorn and No-Pony. As they continue their walk, their voices grow more and more louder in curiosity.

“Do you hear that?”

“What? It’s just normal chatter.”

“No, do you hear what they’re saying?”

“No, it’s too quiet, and besides, it’s not wise to eavesdrop.”

“But they’re talking about us, ‘Who is that small pony?’, ‘Why does she not have a cutie mark?’, ‘Why is Twilight with her?’, ‘What’s wrong with her eyes?’, and some are even following us.”

“They’re probably just timid; we should be going to my home, Ponyville.” As they squeeze through the crowd to the train station, Twilight starts to concentrate on the various voices and she too begins to hear them more and more clearly. Soon, her head fills with the voices of the citizens, so many questions about Raindrop, so many beginning to follow behind them chattering, so many rumors begin to surf along the streets as the duo pick up speed. “You still there Raindrop?”

“Right behind you,” the clamoring of hooves upon the pavement provides Raindrop with an idea of where everypony is and uses the magical tingle of the saddle to follow Twilight. They make it to the train station and on to the whistling steam train in a rush. The doors shut behind them as they sigh with relief and sit together on one of the large green seats.

“Sorry for that back there,” Twilight pants and regains her breathe, “Ponies tend to do that when coming across something new, but I promise, at Ponyville, things will be a lot nicer there,”

“It certainly was an adventure,”

“How were you able to navigate that crowd so well? I was almost bumping into several of them,”

“I use the sounds of their hooves hitting the road so I can track where they are and where they’re going.”

“But don’t you get confused; there were hundreds of them and four times the hooves,”

“Celestia has trained me in mastering my other senses in order to protect myself in the event that she’s disappeared.”

“What does it feel like?”

“Feel what?”

“Feel like at any moment, Celestia and Luna might disappear and you’d be left alone in your chamber for the rest of your life, knowing the world outside might be in peril,”

“At first I was extremely nervous, but Celestia comforts me by saying that it is a very low chance of her disappearing. And even if she does, she’d go to the ends of the world and back just for me.” The train whistles once more as a large jolt pierces through the carts.

“Here we go, off to Ponyville.” The train whistles once more and the train cars begins to slowly accelerate as it heads down from Canterlot, drifting slowly away from Celestia and the castle that Raindrop has lived in for as long as she remembers.

Rainbow's New Friend

High above the Everfree Forest outside of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash is soaring at incredible speeds, attempting to lap the forest and return to Ponyville in 3 minutes. As she speeds over the old Castle of the Two Sisters, Rainbow is attacked by a blur of light blue fur. The collision causes Rainbow and the unknown figure to crash into the cave holding the mystical Tree of Harmony. “What the hay is the big idea?!” Rainbow screams as she shoves the collider away and stands up, waiting to attack. But she notices that the figure looks a lot like her. “Who are you, are you a Changeling? I’ve taken on hundreds of them before and I’m not afraid to attack!”

“Changeling?” The mysterious pony replies, with a voice sounding exactly like Rainbow Dash, “how in Tartarus do I know that YOU’RE not a Changeling?” The mare gets up and Rainbow Dash comes eye to eye with herself. “How can I tell you’re th-A Rainbow Dash?” The two stand there and think for a moment, but an idea hits Rainbow over the head.

“Who was to dub my favourite aerial squadron, the Wonderbolts?”

“General Firefly. What’s Celestia’s favourite trick of theirs?”

“The Icaranian Sun Salutation, duh.” The two gasp as they come to the weight of the revelation. “You’re me…”

“You’re me…” The two sniff and examine each other, commenting in their whispers.

“Is my mane really that poufy?”

“Am I really that fat?”

“Does my breath really stink that much?”

“Is my voice really that loud?”

“Hey, I heard that one!”

“What about the one about my breath, you know what it feels like to eat nothing but stale apples for months without end?”

“Odd choice of diet, but who am I to judge myself, wait, are you from the future? I recall our friend talking about being visited by her future self once.”

“Not sure, what day is it?”

“Nightmare Eve the last time I checked.”

“Apparently not, has Empress Midnight taken over Canterlot yet?”

“Who?!”

“You don’t know about Midnight, how do you,“ the second Dash hesitates and takes a moment to think.

“Who’s taking over Canterlot?!”

“Midnight was spouting something about similar ponies; maybe it isn’t time travel, maybe it was parallel worlds,”

“Now you’re speaking egghead and nonsense together, what are you going about?”

“Rainbow Dash, I believe to come from a different Equestria, one that is yours, but is not.”

“…”

“Let me explain, me and our friends overheard Midnight talking about ‘other worlds’, many Equestrias that are similar, but have slight or major differences to them.”

“I think I understand,”

“And Midnight was about to enter this, ‘world’, but I’ve manage to sneak into her first attempt and it appears to have landed me in a world where Midnight is not here.”

“Who’s this Midnight? You keep bringing her up,”

“The reason I’m here,” Suddenly, a loud crackle burst from the Tree of Harmony deep inside the cave. “Quick, hide!” The second Rainbow grabs the first one and pulls her behind a boulder.

“What’s going on?”

“She’s coming!”

“Who?”

“Empress Midnight, now shut up!” They glance around the rock to see a large swirling tunnel rip through the air as vast amounts of smoke pour out. They then see a shadowy figure appear into the smoke as it dies down. It appears to be a brown stallion wearing black and purple heavy armour with the helmet having odd red glass visors over the eyes.

“Is that the emperor?”

“No, that’s one of Midnight’s minions, a pony under some form of mind control.” The unusual stallion looks around and hops back into the smoky tunnel.

“What’s he doing?”

“Probably sending the all clear.” Shortly after, a group of then of these guards hops out and stand at attention as another unusual looking pony steps out of the tunnel. The two tone their voices to a whisper,

“Is that,”

“Yes.” The first Rainbow looks and sees the creature, a large mare covered in heavy black armour with black dragon scales as chainmail, making it impossible to see her skin. Armed with two large boxes against her sides, but impossible to see what they are under the smoke, and a long, sharp horn, and red glowing eyes. A red aura glows softly around her, beaming a magical presence to the two Rainbow Dashes. “Behold the destroyer of Equestria, Empress Midnight.” The empress walks around and to the side at the line of minions. Midnight opens her mouth, releasing an echoing, demanding female voice,

“Five of you, get the others, the others survey the area in case that pest is here.” The stallions follow her orders as several minions fan out across the case and the five selected enter the tunnel. A white guard approaches the boulder as the second Dash prepares to buck her hind hooves at it around the corner. The first then notices that her duplicate has lots of bruises, cuts, and mangled fur across her back and mane. The second notices her shock and replies to her nonexistent question,

“Yes, Empress Midnight and her goons did that to me.” The guard turns around the corner and is met with two hooves in the face. He stumbles over as Midnight slowly approaches the boulder.

“Okay, time to run!”

“Why not fly?” the first Rainbow Dash asks, “she doesn’t have wi-“ Her statement is cut short by five steel fingers, each the size of the pegasus, pierced through solid stone. Rainbow follows the claw to a long metal arm attached to Midnight’s side, exposing a second one on her other side. “RUUUUUN!”

“FOLLOW ME!” The two fly up to the edge of the forest and run along the ground as they hear the monster’s voice,

“GET THEM!!!” The two Rainbows dash deeper and deeper into the Everfree Forest, but are being caught up by the guards.

“Why don’t we fly into the sky again?” The first asks as they run across a pit of mud. She then hears loud flapping from above and through the branches and leaves, she sees Empress Midnight, flying overhead with her giant steel arms generating four giant green wing flaps made of energy. “Never mind that I asked!” They soon hear the stomping hooves of the minions treading across the mud like it was nothing as the two heroes get out of the mud. “How do we lose them?!”

“Just keep running, they’ll lose us eventually!” The two proceed to continue running away as Midnight and the mind-controlled stallions.

Rise of Empress Midnight

The train whistle blasts as the train stops at Ponyville, the doors open as Twilight and Raindrop exit the train car and head for Rarity’s boutique. “We’re heading towards Rarity’s boutique, you know her right?”

“Of course,” Raindrop replies, recalling Celestia’s teachings, “the wielder of the Element of Generosity, a unicorn.”

“Correct.” The two enter the building as the doorbell rings, prompting Rarity to speedily trot into the showroom.

“Hi Twilight,” Rarity cheers, “Who’s this you brought, and where did you get those gorgeous saddles?”

“Rarity, this is my new friend, Raindrop, a very close student of Celestia.”

“Hello,” Raindrop timidly speaks, causing Rarity to take a closer look around the new friend.

“Have Rainbow, Applejack, or Pinkie shown up recently?”

“Uh, Twilight,” Rarity asks Twilight and whispers to her ear, “is she alright? Her eyes look a bit hazy and she doesn’t have a cutie mark.”

“She’s blind, and be respectful, she’s a unique type of pony that doesn’t get a cutie mark.”

“What do you mean, ‘unique type of pony’?”

“I’ll tell you when the other four and Spike are around, I don’t want to explain six different times.” Rarity holds back her uneasiness and comfort her,

“So, welcome to Ponyville Raindrop, I’m Rarity, very close friend of Twilight,”

“Wielder of the Element of Generosity,” Raindrop completes her statement, “Celestia’s told me all about you.”

“Oh she has? Anything else did she say about me? Like maybe my talent, my dresses, my gorgeous looks perhaps,”

“She says you’re very talented in using jewels and gemstones to make the most wonderful gowns.”

“That’s all and good, but anything directly about me?”

“You’re a unicorn…” Rarity’s excitement dies down as she just glances at her,

“Well, that just goes without saying,”

“I’ve heard of your latest line, Rainbow Glistening, and have a few ideas that you can use.”

“Yes, yes, do tell, what ideas do you have?”

“I’ve heard from critics at castle balls that the dress are too ‘simplistic’ and ‘one dimensional’.”

“They’re probably just jealous,”

“My idea is that instead of using simple gemstones, how about you use carved prisms, they release more glowing light and colours in day. They can also serve as elegant night gowns for they’ll use the moon’s glow to keep a decent shine.” Rarity snaps from her small mood and finds the idea genius,

“That’s incredible, how do you know so much? And did you say that you VISIT royal balls?”

“Well, I merely just overhear them and Celestia talks to me after they’re done. And I’ve learned about prisms and gemstones last month with the princess teaching me nearly every day.”

“Nearly every day?! You must live very close to the castle,”

“I live in the castle.” Rarity gasps and becomes completely attached to Raindrop,

“YOU live in the castle, so you’re close to Celestia?”

“Yeah, she takes care of me and she teaches me about the wonderful things in Equestria and tells me about your adventures.”

“Oh my Celestia, I have so many questions, so many-“

“AAAAHHHH” A scream echoes into town,

“That sounds like Rainbow Dash!” The three mares head to the window and Twilight and Rarity see the two Rainbow Dashes running charging at the boutique with tears streaming in their eyes. Rarity opens the door and the two gallop in and slam the door shut. “Two Rainbow Dashes?! Which one of you is the real one and how’d you access the Mirror Pool?” The two Rainbows shiver against the door, teeth chattering, barely able to speak. The first one attempt to create understandable speech,

“Tree, second, world, minions, mind control, Midnight, forest, giant, flying, claws,” Twilight levitates the traumatic pony and shakes her up and down rapidly before setting her back down.

“Come to your senses Dash, tell us what’s going on?” A massive silver claw smashes through the door, shattering the windows in its wake.

“EMPRESS MIDNIGHT!!!” Rarity, Twilight, and the two Rainbow Dashes huddle in a corner, whimpering in fear as the claw swings blindly around inside the showroom.

“Wait, where’s Raindrop?!” Twilight then sees Raindrop slowly back away from the heap of metal, looking around frantically as the chaos orchestrates an orchestra of noise. “Raindrop, over here!” Her screaming doesn’t catch Raindrop’s ears as the blind pony bumps into the back of the wall. “Rainbow, save her!” The first Rainbow Dash gulps and musters up her bravery as she slowly sneaks around the claw towards Raindrop. Broken glass shiver and shake as the pegasus avoids the larger pieces while keeping an eye on the flailing appendage.

CRACK!

“Uh oh…” Rainbow lifts her hoof up and finds flakes of glass pour down, realizing she’s messed up big time. The metal monstrosity swoops down and snatches Rainbow, claws firmly pressed against her fur. “Help!” The claw pulls her out of the building as Rainbow is held upside down, getting closer to its user outside.

“Ha ha ha,” the armoured unicorn cheers and starts twiddling her captive around with the fingers of the arm. “Caught you once more my old enemy, and this time, I’m not letting go.”

“Wait, I’m not the one you’re looking for! This isn’t the Rainbow you’re looking for!”

“Oh really, then where is she?”

“Right here!” The empress turns to where the voice yelled from and is met with a light blue hoof to the face. The large pony drifts back, leaving a pair of grooves in the ground, she shakes her head as the free arm to her left projects two energy flaps from its sides as the right presses its new toy against Midnight’s back.

“So, you accidently lead me into this old version of Ponyville instead of my vast empire.”

“Months of your betrayal would make any pony forget about this peaceful land,” the second Dash announces, “and I’m gonna give it back to them.”

“You really think you alone will be able to stop me, even with one claw behind my back?”

“You mean your ugly excuses for wings, the ones you sacrificed your original ones to.”

“It does use a little more of my magic to use, but they’re twice as good as any of the finest wings in Equestria.”

“Let’s put your theory to the test then.” Rainbow digs her hooves into the earth and stretches her slightly tattered wings, feeling the grass and dirt rub against her hooves and the wind blow into her wings.

“Bring it.” Empress Midnight stomps her fisted wing into the ground, shaking everything in its wake.

“EVERYPONY STOP!” Twilight exclaims, causing the two to stop their banter and glare at the princess. “I demand an explanation for this right now and I want Rainbow Dash down this instant!”

“Allow me to enlighten you, Twilight Sparkle,”

“How do you know my name?”

“You see, I have a theory there are multiple similar worlds out there, some are exactly the same in appearance, some vastly different, each with their own unique timelines and history.”

“So what you’re saying is that you and this other Rainbow Dash are,”

“From another version of Equestria, it seems that this world is not as filled with incompetent fools as mine, or maybe just the same…”

“I’ve never seen you or any pony like you in my world.”

“That’s because I’ve gained a few upgrades, I once was an alicorn like you, but I refitted my wings with these beautiful helpers and became the strongest pony within all of my Equestria.”

“How’d you reach my world then?”

“Last night, I had a vision, and with my powerful magic, I followed my vision and found out the Tree of Harmony works as a gateway between these worlds, I just opened a portal to yours by chance, lucky you are.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“My empire I’ve built with my bare hooves is not as strong as my research led me to believe, so I’ve decided to give this world an upgrade.”

“Well I’m sorry, this world is occupied, please put our Rainbow Dash down and find a less occupied one for your conquests.”

“Oh, but population is just what I need, and yours is just the right amount, just enough for my Mork army,”

“I’ll never let that happen!” The otherworldly Rainbow yells and flies straight for Midnight, but the empress reacts in time and smacks her rival to the side with an energy panel. Rainbow crashes into the dirt, but quickly regains as Empress Midnight tries to squish her with the claw. The two struggle as Rainbow pours her strength into pushing up as Midnight uses her magic to increase the power of the claw. The pegasus slips away and the black nightmare revealingly smashes the arm into the ground, each getting closes and closer to Rainbow circling her. Rainbow begins a series of air kicks, but the arm maneuvers swiftly, having each kick being canceled by the energy panels. Rainbow begins her final attack by rocketing straight up in the air as Midnight, the hostage Dash, Twilight, and Rarity look up in wonder. Raindrop slowly heads towards the group with Fluttershy and Spike not too far behind, wondering what the commotion is all about. They see the fighter climb higher and higher into the sky, until disappearing.

“Well, well, it seems that she has given up on you all.” Suddenly, a loud boom can be heard from the sky, everypony regains their attention as they see the light blue blur dive bombing right at them, building a fwewing sound as she gains speed. Twilight picks up Raindrop as everypony except Midnight and her trapped pony run into the boutique. Midnight opens the energy flaps on her other arm and creates a shield with them, squishing the first Rainbow Dash underneath her. The second Rainbow Dash finally crashes into the shields, creating a solid ring of rainbow charged energy in the air, several stories above the ground. Dust scatters everywhere as everypony in the boutique cough from the explosion, Twilight tries to speak as the dust and smoke enter her through,

“Raindrop, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy,” she coughs harshly before clearing her throat, “is everypony alright?”

“I’m okay,” Fluttershy coughs, completely confused on what just happened,

“Mildly dusty, but alright,” Spike replies, also confused,

“My boutique! My mane!” Rarity exclaims,

“Well Rarity’s fine,” Twilight remarks, “Raindrop?”

“I’m not hurt,” Raindrop replies, lying on top of Twilight’s saddle, “what about the two Rainbow Dashes and Empress Midnight?” They all turn to where the collision took place and try to see or at least hear through the dust for any life.

“Rainbow? Other Rainbow? You there?” The dust slowly settles as Twilight and the others begin to see a Rainbow Dash, standing at the edge of a small crater, huffing and puffing. “Are you our Rainbow Dash, or Midnight’s version?” The pegasus continues to stand there, panting, still trying to regain her breath. Raindrop’s ears begin flicking and her body begins to tremble on Twilight’s back. “What’s wrong Raindrop?!”

“She’s still alive.” Twilight slowly turns her head forward as mild thumping grows louder and louder from the crater. The all back up as the sounds of grinding metal disrupt the silence, creating a dark melody with the ever growing thumping. Suddenly, a large metal claw strikes the edge of the crate, creating a gush of wind, blowing away a mass of floating dust and smoke, revealing the red glowing eyes of Empress Midnight. She laughs for several seconds before stopping and utters,

“Resistance is futile…”

Resistance is Futile

The ponies stare into the cloud of dust as Empress Midnight walks out the crater with the first Rainbow Dash still in tow. The four green energy flaps shrink into the metallic arms and disappear as Midnight tosses her hostage between the limbs.

“How did you?!” Twilight stutters in amazement. “That was a Sonic Rainboom, powerful enough to destroy mountains, buildings, and Celestia knows what else!” Empress Midnight chuckles harshly and begins to gloat,

“I’m much more powerful than any alicorn in any world of Equestria, what she did was merely like a leaf falling on me.” The second Rainbow Dash, still panting, tries to speak,

“Midnight, we’re not finished, I’m still standing aren’t I?”

“That may be true, but I wouldn’t say the same about your wings.” As the dust continues to settle around them, everypony turns to see the fighter’s wings, both Rainbows gasp to see that the pegasus’ wings are completely destroyed. The last couple of dirty feathers fall off of her bent-out appendages, followed quietly by the tears of the second Rainbow. Shortly after, pain surges through her exhausted body, but the physical pain doesn’t even compare to the emotional pain, from being the best of the pegasi, to being even weaker than an Earth Pony. “How, sad, Rainbow Dash; The greatest asset to the resistance, now reduced to a coat hanger.” The crippled Rainbow continues to stand there, head down as tears slowly pour down to the earth. Midnight proceeds to clench the first Rainbow Dash tightly with her right claw, causing a chocking panic to emerge from her hostage. “Now, my un-worthy foe, which do you want it to be? You, or your lesser friend?” The second Rainbow Dash looks back to the shocked and worried faces of the observers and back at the smirking Midnight and the choking Rainbow Dash in her grip. She bows her head, closes her eyes, and slowly walks towards Midnight, for she was loyal to even those whom she barely knew. Midnight tosses her prisoner over her enemy, causing the first Rainbow Dash to land unconsciously in front of Twilight and Raindrop.

The second turns around and speaks her final words. “Rainbow Dash, stay loyal, your friendship shall protect you from all evil and disharmony.”

“HA!” Midnight grabs the second Dash and hoists her to eye level, “Look at what your friendship has done to you!”

“It’s a lot better than living as a heartless, lonely, tyrant like you!”

“If you are a pegasus, but you can’t use your wings, what type of pony are you?”

“Not you.”

“You’re so pathetic, it’s hilarious.” Twilight’s finally fed up with the empress’ taunting and sets Raindrop right next Rarity and charges at the empress. As she reaches halfway to Empress Midnight, a whole armada of pegasi minions drop down from the sky and spread their wings, creating a wall between the angry pony and her target. Twilight uses her wings and tries to fly over, but three minions dive-attack her, pinning her to the dirt beside Midnight. “Morks!” The wall of minions, named Morks, turn their glance to her while the others continue pressing their hooves down on Twilight.

“Yes Empress?” They firmly ask, in a seemingly robotic tone of voice,

“Find the Earth division lost in the forest and call in the main army camping at the portal.”

“Yes Empress.” The armada takes off and they take off over the Everfree Forest, creating an enormous shadow from beneath them. Twilight tries to use a teleportation spell on herself, but for some unknown reason, nothing happens. She tries other spells, but they end in complete duds.

“Don’t even waste your time, my unicorn Morks have encased this entire village in an anti-magic bubble, and only I can use magic within this shield. And none of your friends can help, for I have them under hallucinations I cast upon them. Now, back to business…” Twilight tries to buck and shake off the three’s grip as she and the others witness as Midnight’s horn glows a dark red.

“Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike!” Twilight yells, but the three continue to stand there, absolutely frozen under Midnight’s hallucinatory spell. However, Raindrop’s completely immune to the spell and runs straight for Twilight. “Raindrop! Don’t!” Raindrop ignores her warning and lunges into one of the Morks, knocking him to the ground. However, the Mork gets up quickly and pins Raindrop to the ground next to Twilight.

“Stay down!” The Mork yells, having his hoof firmly pressed on Raindrop’s back.

“Why’d you do that?! You could’ve been seriously injured!”

“I was just trying to help,” Raindrop guiltily replies, “Celestia’s told me to help a friend in need, whether they want it or not.”

“I’m glad that you listen to Celestia, but this is a situation that probably not even I can stop.”

“Okay, I understand,” The two turn to see Midnight’s arm holding the second Rainbow Dash glowing red as well, followed up by Rainbow, slowly being encased by a glow of red and shadows. A bright flash of darkness sweeps over and blinds Twilight temporarily, only to see that the crippled Rainbow is nowhere to be seen, just Midnight and her arm positioned before the flash.

“Where’s that second Rainbow Dash?” Twilight nervously asks, Midnight turns to her responds with the most sadistic smile on her,

“Gone.”

“Tartarus?” Twilight sees the evil smile on the black mare’s armoured face, an evident sign that the second Rainbow Dash is gone for good. For the first time in her life, genuine fear has struck our heroines, now knowing that the jaws of death are mere feet away. Midnight laughs maniacally as she slowly approaches the two. She stops in her tracks upon fully taking notice of Raindrop,

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you before in my world?” Raindrop swallows her fear and shudders in response,

“R-R-Raindrop.”

“What’s wrong with your eyes, they look, different,”

“I-I-I’m blind.”

“Interesting,” Midnight press her arms onto the ground, lifting her body up the ground as she examines Raindrop on multiple angles.

“Where’s your cutie mark? I’ve never seen a mare your age without getting her cutie mark.”

“Celestia says that-“

“Her cutie mark is very similar to her fur colour,” Twilight interrupts her; “Celestia claims it looks like a raindrop.” She shakes her saddle side to side as a nudge to Raindrop.

“Yeah, what she said.”

“Hey,” the empress bellows, “no comments from the peanut gallery!” One of the Morks puts his hoof over Twilight’s mouth to quiet her down. “You said something about Celestia?”

“Why yes, is there something wrong with her in your world?”

“Well seeing how defenseless Ponyville is, your Celestia is no different than the one that betrayed me.”

“Betrayed you?” Raindrop asks in confusion, Twilight tries to speak, but all that comes out are muffles from the hoof over the mouth. Empress Midnight continues,

“I came to Celestia one day and presented my powers, showing her that I deserved a higher role in her kingdom than being just a mere alicorn.”

“What happened?”

“She, my once friend and tutor, betrayed me. She and Luna called my powers monstrous and tried to force me to ditch them.”

“Wait, you had Celestia as your tutor, I thought Celestia only tutored Twilight, Princess Cadence, and a hoofful of other students. And I don’t recall a pony named Midnight with the hoofful.”

“Well I was, could be an otherworldly difference.”

“Oh, I see,”

“I refused to give up my power, but they, along with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and the rest of their friends, stripped the power away from me.”

“They were probably doing what’s best for you.”

“THEY WERE MY FRIENDS!!!” Midnight roars, causing to ground around them to shake violently. “I thought they would support me, but instead, they betrayed me, destroying my only hopes of becoming what I deserved to be.”

“Sometimes it takes a friend to help you see through your own pride.”

“Don’t give me that friendship garbage; they banished me to the far corners of Equestria, to spend many years, away from my home and life. However, in my exile, I learned many things and refitted my old alicorn wings to these useful claws. More powerful than a dragon and with an army of Morks I raised, I took over Equestria, making it the utopia that it should have been thousands of years ago.”

“I’m very sorry for your pains and troubles, but please spare us, we bring you no harm.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about my little pony, Celestia has deceived you with her beauty and public opinion. I shall take control of this world and liberate you from the backstabbing rule of your princess.”

“That’ll never happen!” Twilight mutters, shaking and bucking more wildly than before, even the Morks pinning her down lose grip and are flung left and right. Midnight grabs Twilight with her right claw and smashes her into the ground, causing dust to fly and enter Twilight’s lungs.

“No!” Raindrop yells, but the two free Morks join the third one and pin her down firmly.

“I already have rebels in my world, and I’m not going to have this fresh land soiled with mares like you.” Twilight coughs and replies in a scratching voice, directly in the face of death,

“You, will never, take over. Not as long as the princesses have something to say about it.”

“You mean your so-called friends? Friendship is just a weakness, a step in your downfall and ultimate destruction. I know you Twilight Sparkle; you are more than worthy to be spared. Join me, and I will show you true power and maybe you will become my right-hoof mare.”

“How do you know me? Who were you before you became a monster?”

“Monster? That’s what the first Twilight said, and do you know what happened to her?”

“What?”

“She merely became a distant memory to everypony. She’s gone now, never to return.”

“What did you do to her?”

“You might be able to figure it out. A terrible fate to put it bluntly, all because of her friendship, now, join me or face a worst face than the original Twilight Spark-“

“Hold it right there!” A regal voice bellows, Midnight lets go of Twilight and turns to look behind her into the sky.

“Princess Celestia, long time no see…”

Royal Rumble

A bright eclipse of light showers over the battlefield as three alicorns descend from the clouds. “Celestia, Luna, Cadence,” Midnight brags and watches as the princesses land, shortly being followed by the royal guard and hundreds of civilians observing the confrontation. “I see you are all alive and well in this forsaken world.”

“Who are you?” Cadence, the pink alicorn, asks the similar height intruder.

“Oh, you don’t recognize me?” Midnight stretches a mechanical claw out and begins to gently stroke her beige, pink, and purple mane, “We used to go way back, before your other princesses betrayed me.”

“Who are you?” Celestia demands in the most serious voice Twilight has ever heard, slowly walking towards Midnight and the others.

“Name’s Empress Midnight, you’re new ruler, stand down now or you’ll face the same fate as your other versions from my world.”

“I’m not going to let you lay a hoof upon my little ponies, return from where you came from and never come back.”

“You know about the other worlds?”

“More than you can ever imagine.”

“Celestia!” Twilight and Raindrop holler, “Watch out!” As Celestia enter within a couple of meters to Midnight, the three pegasus Morks get off of Raindrop and charge at the large white mare. Unfazed, Celestia continues her slow walk and blasts the three with small yellow energy orbs with her horn, launching them over the crowd.

“Stay away from Raindrop.”

“I see that you are powerful enough the overcome the effects of my shield,” Midnight gloats as Celestia enters hoof distance from the slightly smaller empress. With rage filling every inch of her body, Celestia aims her horn straight at the head of Midnight, just standing there with a grin peering through the helmet. A solid beam of light, energy, and magic combined fires from her horn and scrapes along the ground, engulfing the empress everypony watches in awe. As the beam dies down, Celestia looks behind to see Luna and Cadence in utter shock and looks back, through the gap of ponies that ran from the attack to see a small green light in the far distance.

“How…” In that instant that Celestia gasps those works, Midnight teleports right in front of her and delivers a powerful uppercut with her left claw, launching Celestia high through the clouds.

“Take this as a warning all you ponies, for I am more powerful than all of you-“ Midnight’s cut off by Celestia landing right behind her and the princess delivers a blast of magic from behind. Midnight dodges by lifting her body over the blast, creating a small crater between her claws. Midnight lowers herself quickly and swings her arms and Celestia dodges all of her rapid punches. Luna and Cadence run in to help Celestia, blasting their own magic at Midnight. The empress takes several hits and teleports away into a field in the distance. The three fly over and try to stab their foe with their horns, but Midnight grabs the dark and pink alicorns with her claws and holds Celestia frozen with her magic. Celestia breaks the hold and the two clash horns in a high-speed swordfight. All the while, Midnight constantly smashes Luna and Cadence into the ground, trying to squish her primary opponent. The two trapped princesses scream as they find their magic unable to bypass the anti-magic spell. “Impressive fighter you are Celestia.”

“You dare lay your metallic claws on Raindrop, and I swear, I will torture you for the rest of your living days.”

“You mean that weak blind pony?”

“You’ve already crossed the line TWICE by injuring Twilight and everypony else, but Raindrop is going too far!”

“Oh really, I was considering making her an assistant.”

“NEVER!” As Celestia and the other princesses continue the battle, Raindrop helps Twilight up and takes her through the crowd of observers to what’s left of the boutique to her friends. Twilight shakes the three frozen ponies, snapping them out of Midnight’s illusions.

“Wait what?” Rarity stutters, “Where’s that monster, I was just about to smash her into the dirt!”

“It was an illusion,” Raindrop replies, “help the others snap out of Midnight’s spell.” As Rarity and Twilight wake Fluttershy and Spike from their hallucinations, an enormous shadow sweeps over and they all look up to see clouds of pegasus Morks carrying unicorn and Earth Morks in black chariots over everypony and to the main fight. The golden armoured guards look up as well and follow them to Midnight, ready to fight them off.

“Ugh,” Rainbow groans, finally coming to.

“Rainbow! Are you okay?!” Rainbow opens her eyes, seeing the small war going on between the civilians’ hooves.

“What in Equestria is going on? Everything’s a bit of a blur,”

“Celestia and the other princesses are stopping Empress Midnight.”

“Wait, you mean that bully that grabbed me?” Rainbow jumps to her hooves and trots in place, ready to fight, “Let me at her!”

“Don’t,” Twilight protests, “she’s too powerful, you saw what happened when your other self tried to fight her.”

“Actually, I’ve had my face pressed against her armour the entire time.”

“She tanked an entire Sonic Rainboom!”

“She WHAT?!?!”

“You heard me, she took on an entire Sonic Rainboom and didn’t receive a scratch.”

“What happened to the other me?”

“Well,” Twilight gulps as she painfully tells Rainbow Dash what happened while she was knocked out.

Meanwhile, Celestia and Midnight continue to duke it out as a ring of Morks and royal guards battle each other around the two. Princess Luna and Princess Cadence, still being clutched by Midnight, try multiple spells, each ending in duds. Celestia and Midnight enter a horn-lock as red and white magic sparks fly from the grinding of the long horns. As the grinding intensifies, Celestia enters a stare down and gets a good look at the empress’ red eyes.

“You are merely delaying the inevitable,” Midnight taunts her, Celestia returns with a stern voice,

“I do not fear you, you monster, trying to enslave my land and harm those I care about.”

“Loyalty is a trap, honesty is a lie, kindness is an oversight, generosity is a weakness, laughter is an annoyance, and friendship is meaningless.”

“Maybe where you come from, but here, friendship will be your undoing.”

“Ha, this land is no different from mine, before I took over of course.”

“I know about these other worlds you come from, and I know who you are.”

“Oh really, you may want to look closer…” Celestia squints and looks through her helmet and face plating and sees something completely unexpected. Her eyes open wide and she gasps at the realization, losing her grip in the horn-lock.

“No… This can’t be…” Midnight blasts her with a red blast of magic while she stands there frozen, launching her into the surrounding battlefield. Midnight slaps Luna and Cadence into the ground, opens her wing flaps, and takes off into the sky. Her horn begins to charge as she prepares to fire a barrage of magic upon the two downed alicorns. However, she is cut off but a grey blur colliding in her right wing, causing the massive empress to fall from the sky and into the herd of battling ponies. The royal guards ditch the Morks and pile onto Midnight, burying her in hundreds of kicking hooves, all trying to take her down. The minions try to charge at the pile up, but they are cut off by tons of civilians cutting them off, all standing up to the Mork army. Suddenly, a large roar is heard behind them and the ponies look behind them to see a burst of guards and plates of gold armour shower over them as Midnight pushes the pile off of her with tremendous force.

“I’ve had enough of this!” Midnight lands on all fours, and in her rage, she squishes a guard into the ground with her left and punches three heading towards her with the other in a single swing. She turns behind to see the pegasus who knocked her down and launches herself off the ground with her arms, launching her several hundred meters in the air. In midair, she smacks the retreating flyer in between her claws, sending him silently careening into the rubble of the boutique, right behind Twilight and her friends.

“And that’s what happened while you were out.” Twilight finishes her story, having small tears swell up in her eyes.”

“Rainbow Dash gave her life for me? Why?”

“She did it for us, for that’s what you are, loyal.”

“I see,” Dash closes her eyes and quickly contemplates the situation on her hoof in front of Twilight, Raindrop, Spike, and Fluttershy. Rarity meanwhile is searching through the rubble of her home in a panic, yelling,

“Did my dresses survive?! My jewelry?! Did they survive?!” Rarity steps on a tuft of black fur and a groan emerges from it, causing her to shriek. The others run over the wreckage and wonder what she screamed about.

“Rarity? What happened?!”

“There’s somepony underneath this wall!” All except for Raindrop and Spike crawl under the white fallen wall and push it up with all their might, helping the dark grey stallion out. They crawl out from under and they look to see the pony’s a pegasus, covered in purple and yellow armour on his body and black plating over his wings.

“Whoa, look on his body guys,” They then notice that he’s covered in cuts and scars, Twilight asks,

“Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry sir, we’ll take you to get some help.” The dark pony coughs out some dirt and clears his thought, still keeping his eyes closed.

“I’m fine, I’ve had these scars for ages.” The unknown pony replies, opening his deep blue eyes and sees Rainbow Dash on first sight. “Captain Dash! You’re here!” He then sporadically stands at attention, saluting with his right hoof.

“Captain Dash?”

“Yeah… That is your name.”

“No its not, its Rainbow Dash, did you hit your head too hard?”

“Wait what? Did you? You’re to be called Captain Dash at all times at duty.”

“I never recall that ever happening…”

“Oh, I see you are not the Rainbow I know, at least I think that’s how it’s worded.” He drops his salute and walks closer to the mare. “Name’s Major Borris, you must be the Dash from this world.”

“I believe so, I’ve already had this kinda chat with the Rainbow Dash you’re referring to.”

“Oh, you’ve seen her. That makes things a lot easier to explain. Do you remember me?”

“We just met…”

“No, do you remember your version of me? Remember Borris, from flight school?”

“Not ringing any bells currently.”

“I was there when you did the Sonic Rainboom, I became your best friend.”

“…”

“Huh, 2R-Borris?”

“Oh yeah! That was hilarious, when the teacher saw your first signature, the look on her face.” Borris exhales and replies,

“Yes, that moment. My mother wasn’t the best speller…”

“Yeah I remember you; you’d always hang out with me whenever I was having a bad day.”

“Until your other friend Gilda came along and picked on me,”

“Well I thought they were just pranks, but don’t worry, that jerk griffon will never show her face around Ponyville anytime soon.”

“I know, that’s what the other you said. Speaking of which, where is she? I gotta make sure she’s safe.”

“Well about that…”

“What?”

“She’s sorta…”

“What?!”

“Dead, Midnight got her.” Borris takes a few steps back with a look of utter shock and confusion imprinted on his face. A tear slowly crawls down his blue eye and down his cheek, running along a red scar on his face.

“Rainbow Dash, no…”

To The Other Side

Consumed by shock and sorrow, Borris continues to stand in front of Rainbow Dash, mouth gaping with heavy breathing emerging from it. “It’s okay Borris,” Twilight slowly approaches his side and rubs against him, trying to comfort the pegasus, “we can get through this together.”

“This can’t be,” Borris replies in denial, “it must be a misunderstanding!”

“I’m afraid not, Midnight had her in her claws and she covered Rainbow in some type of magic. In a flash of light, she was gone…”

“…”

“I’m so sorry.” On the flip of a bit, Borris’ shock and sadness quickly turns into rage and aggression, releasing a loud roar as Borris turns to Twilight. “Calm down, we can get through this.” Borris charges at her, but Twilight teleports behind him, “Please, control yourself.”

“You don’t realize what she meant to us!” Borris screams and makes a swift U-Turn, nearly ramming Twilight into his side.

“I know she was an important friend if she was anything like ours!” Twilight levitates the screaming, grunting, kicking stallion in the air with the others standing back and watching the confrontation with deep concern and worry.

“You never knew! You never knew how much she was to me!”

“I might not have known you were friends with her, but taking this out on me or my friends is not right.” Borris stops struggling and begins to calm down; his breaths slowly decrease speed and he reevaluates himself.

“You’re right, the real enemy is not you, its Midnight, and I’m not strong enough.” Twilight slowly lets him down to the ground and releases her magical grip. Borris shakes his head and reassumes his former emotionless and stern attitude, “It’s not safe here right now, hopefully your friends are safe with the R.A.E.M.”

“The what now?”

“The Resistance Against Empress Midnight, pronounced as ‘Ram’.”

“Wait, should we help those civilians?”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for them. A similar, larger army of civilians and guards tried to attack her in my world, the results were catastrophic.”

“Were they captured and thrown in prison?” Rainbow asks.

“Worse, blood of stallions, mares, pegasi, unicorns, Earth Ponies, adults, and foals bathed the streets. All the stallions young and old were turned to Morks and the minds of mares were shattered by Midnight herself, turning them to mindless statues to the beast.”

“And you’re saying that the same will happen to them in our world?!”

“Yes, and trying to help them will be absolute suicide, its every pony for himself when encountered by Empress Midnight and her army.” Off in the distance, the sounds of ponies screaming echoes into the seven’s ears.

“Their resistance has worn out its welcome, we have to go now.” They all take off towards to Everfree Forest with the scream of Celestia roaring from behind.

“Celestia!” Twilight shrieks, “We need to help her!”

“No! It’s too late now; we can’t do anything, run faster!” They run deep into the forest, the crunching of twigs and leaves are the only thing they hear for an hour as they head deeper and deeper looking for the Tree of Harmony and the portal. As they reach the edge of the forest, Raindrop stops dead in her traps and jumps into a bush. “What’s up with her, we’re almost there.”

“I hear something!” Raindrop exclaims, “very large, metal, heavy internal rumbling.”

“I don’t hear anythi-” His reply is cut short by the roar of a large metallic beast outside.

“It’s Mecha Spike!” Borris exclaims and leaps into the bush with Raindrop, “Hop in!”

“Wait,” the little dragon replies, “Spike?! My other me is THAT noise?”

“Shut up and get in for pony sake!” The others follow his orders and jump into the large bush. Borris whispers amongst the others with him, “Midnight captured you and made you into a giant, ferocious dragon.”

“With magic?”

“Look,” They peek out the hedge and see a long silvery snout just a few hooves away.

“That looks just like the metal on the empress’ claws.”

“It is, you are an enormous Mork.” The snout backs through the roof of the trees as the sound of thunder rumbles from it. “RUN!” The other Spike breaths crimson fire all over the forest, setting it ablaze. The main seven run out into the open, as they gaze upon the suddenly smoggy red skies, impossible to see the blue sky that was once there.

“I did that in just a couple of seconds, in one breath?!”

“No time for questions, get to the portal.” They race into the chasm and into the cave, reaching the Tree of Harmony with the swirling tunnel in front of it. Rainbow Dash studies it and asks,

“Is it safe?”

“I came though it and look it and I’m 100% perfect, not a scratch.”

“…”

“Despite the scars, those were already there, get going.” He shoves the other six up into the funnel, sucking them into the vacuum of the portal. He shortly follows behind them and leaps into the portal. They all witness the as thousands of colours, shapes, sounds, and senses wiz through their bodies.

“This is awesome and scary at the both time!” A bright flash of light sweeps over them as they fall on top of each other at the entrance of the portal, on the other side.

“Had softer landings,” Borris groans, being on the bottom of the pile up.

“This looks just like where we came in, are you sure we made it?” Rainbow asks, getting up and looks in front of her.

“Yeah, luckily Midnight didn’t leave any Morks here while she’s making her assault.” Rainbow walks forward and trips over a large blue diamond with five golden keys sticking out of it.

“Wait, our other selves didn’t open the chest yet?”

“That thing? They claimed they were missing a key, something involving the element of magic.”

“But what about Tirek?” Twilight asks, “If Midnight was able to come into power, what happened to Tirek?”

“Who?”

“He nearly took over Equestria by absorbing everypony’s magic, how do you not know?”

“…”

“Wait, Tirek may not exist in your world, at least that leaves only one problem on our hooves.”

“I guess so…”

“How did she get that giant dragon trough that tiny portal the first place?” Spike asks, “he’s freaking humongous compared to me?”

“Empress Midnight knows hundreds of spells and tricks, most of which only the most advance alicorns have barely mastered. She’s the reason that that portal to your world exists. We don’t have much time, we must hurry to the RAEM if we are ever to survive in this crisis, and do not worry about your Applejack and Pinkie Pie, several members of the resistance might have found them, they will be vital to our core.” Borris leads them out of the cave as they look above and see nothing but shadows and black clouds shielding the sky. They continue to walk through a burnt Everfree Forest, with each step kicking up a cloud of ashes on the petrified ground.

“This,” Twilight says as she gawks at the depressing scenery, “How can such a terrible thing come to Equestria?”

“When Midnight took over Canterlot, the night stopped dead in its tracks as she and her minions defeated the alicorn princesses and thus, chaos broke loose, even worse than a spirit of chaos could’ve created. You’re lucky you and your friends didn’t see such an unfolding, or even became a part of it.”

“I can hardly imagine…” She turns to Raindrop slowly following behind her, a nervous frown strewn across her face. “I’m so sorry for this, I have broken my promise.”

“It’s okay,” she replies, “You did not see this coming and you cannot control it. I just hope Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and everypony else is okay.”

“I hope so too.”

“Halt right there!” A female voice commands deep within the low smog and smoke, far from the group’s eyesight. “Who is it?”

“It tis I Major Borris,” the pegasus replies, “and I have brought six ponies from the other world.”

“What’s the password?”

“Friendship is Magic.”

“Proceed.” The seven resume walking into where the voice came from with Borris continually leading. As they reach a small clearing, they come across a tall building enclosed in colourless shadows. The ground begins to feel cool and fertile, like it was once used to breathe life into the world as they come closer and closer to the unknown structure. Twilight and the team enter inside as the creaking of wood inside is muffled by the rustling of hay. Borris uses his wings to brush away some hay, revealing a trap door on the floor.

“There it is, wow, she works good.”

“Wait,” Twilight remarks at the sight as the gears in her mind begin to click, “I know that trap door, this is Applejack’s barn!” Loud squeaking of iron rattles everypony’s ears as Borris lifts the hatch, revealing a long steep staircase descending into a light several meters underground. One by one, Borris, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Raindrop, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike carefully walk down the tight stairway into the bright light leading into a large metal room. They adjust their eyes to the sudden change as they come face to face with two Applejacks and two Pinkie Pies glaring at them with smiles across them.

“You made it! Welcome to the RAEM!” The four cheer.

The R.A.E.M.

“Applejack, Pinkie Pie!” Twilight exclaims, “How did you get here?”

“Thank us,” one of the Applejacks remarks, “Me and a small recon group headed to your Applejack’s barn to help your RAEM efforts. But when we got there, there was only the barn as it was before Empress Midnight took over.”

“That’s a really silly defense you got in your world!” A Pinkie Pie butts into the conversation, “No wonder Midnight had an easy time getting in.”

“Thank you for your input Lieutenant Pie. However, it is very obvious, from what we see, Midnight is not in their world.”

“Of course she is silly filly; we snuck behind her army as they entered the cool looking tunnel.” Applejack facehooves herself in annoyance and approaches Rainbow Dash and Borris.

“Captain Dash, Major Borris, congratulations on bringing them here.”

Borris salutes and replies, “Yes, me and my partner have successfully rescued them from the clutches of the empress and her Morks. If you’ll excuse us, Dash needs to rest in her chambers.”

“Go on, I’ll show our new visitors around.”

“On it General Apple.” Borris and Dash turn to the left and enter a network of corridors. Rainbow tries to speak in protest, but Borris shushes her and heads deeper and deeper in the halls, with each wall lined with doors and torches. The two enter a large room with a bed, dressers, and several posters laid across the walls and ceiling.

“Whoa, cool room, is this where the other me lived?” Rainbow asks in awe as Borris closes the silvery dual doors behind them.

“Yes, this is her room.”

“Why did you not tell them that I’m not Captain Dash?”

“If I were to tell the truth, they would be in too much shock and grief to maintain their duties to the RAEM. Sometimes it’s more noble to tell a small lie than to deliver a painful truth.”

“You do have a point. But we WILL tell them after this war blows over.”

“Yes, of course.”

Meanwhile, General Apple and Lieutenant Pie are leading the five newcomers throughout the metal underground base. Many mares of every race, colour, and age walk back and forth between the halls and rooms, Twilight notices this and asks, “Why are there so many mares, where are the stallions?”

“Midnight has kidnaped all of them and turned them into Morks, all except for Borris my brother, Big Macintosh, and a few others. We’re not sure why she doesn’t turn mares into them, but we know it has something to do with their helmets.” General Apple replies and leads them into an armoury, showing them a Mork helmet with a shattered visor. Raindrop squishes to the front and closely examines it, sniffing it and feeling it with her hooves.

“Pheromone,” Raindrop says sternly, as if she figured it out on the spot.

“What?”

“These helmets are laced with pheromone-producing magic, like perfume.”

“You smelled that?!”

“Actually,” Rarity cuts in and sniffs it as well, “it does smell like perfume, MY secret perfume, how’d she get it?”

“And what does this have to do with the Morks?”

“Allow me to go into greater detail,” Raindrop replies, “Pheromone is commonly used in perfumes for mares to attract stallions. This pheromone is transmitted to the nose via adhesion to the visor, and since it is so strong, it’ll dull the victim’s brain and senses.”

“So how does Midnight control them with this trick?”

“As their brain and body become oblivious to the outside world, Midnight probably uses a visual deployment spell on all of them with the helmets connects to a hive mind, with the leader being Midnight. She can then use the visors and the pheromones to bend the ponies’ mind, body, and will to her command, much more powerful than simply mind control. This doesn’t work on mares because these pheromones are commonly used to attract stallions, and not mares.”

“Then why isn’t Big Mach and the others affected? Borris usually avoids capture since he’s smaller and usually takes on air combat. However, they tried shoving the others into one several times, but each time he isn’t affected in any way. “

“Have they shown any allergic reactions to flowers or perfume?”

“Yes.”

“There’s you answer, since the pheromones don’t dull your brother’s senses or mind, they won’t be so easily tricked into her spell and get the helmet off with no problem with some outside help.”

“Holy smokes, that makes so much sense, you are a genius! I’d say you’re smarter than even Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight rolls her eyes in amusement, for she could’ve figure that out as well, give or take some time. “Who are you anyways?”

“Name’s Raindrop, student of Princess Celestia and raised by her majesty,”

“Wait WHAT?!”

“Allow me to explain.” Twilight cuts in and begins to explain what Celestia told her about Raindrop.

Back in the East sector of the RAEM base, Borris and Rainbow Dash take on checkups around the chambers. They walk into what appears to be a hospital and walk towards a desk in a corner next to a door. They pass by multiple ponies lying on mattresses strewn across the floor, with only a couple of candles lit on the walls showing their resting faces. Borris knocks on the wooden desk as what appears to be Fluttershy in a nurse’s cap open the corner door and walk out, holding a bucket of water in her mouth. “Medic Fluttershy, are we all good in medical care?”

“We’re doing fine Major Borris, but we are running a bit low on supplies.” She replies, setting the bucket down next to another nurse as she picks it up on goes to help some of the sick and injured still awake.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, what happened to your scars, they’re gone?!” Rainbow Dash’s pupils shrink rapidly, fearing that Fluttershy’s otherworld version will have to be the first to hear of her best friend’s death.

“She’s been fixing up her fur; they may have just gotten them covered.”

“Okay, just make sure that they don’t get infected.”

“Captain Dash will follow orders ma’am.”

“See you later Borris.”

“Come along Captain,” The two exit the hospital chamber and walk across the hallway into a dark laboratory room.

“Hey Borris,” Rainbow asks, “Why’s the possibly dangerous lab with all these chemicals in it so close to the hospital?”

“Blame the marshal on that one.” Borris changes from a peaceful voice to a demanding bellow and yells, “Aaron Grump and Daniel Grump fall in!” A blue unicorn and a yellow unicorn gallop from behind multiple cabinets and stand at attention in front of Borris, their brown manes swish side to side covered in sweat. “How is research so far boys? Have we discovered the Anti-Mork Potion?”

“I’m afraid not Major Borris,” the blue stallion proclaims, “we might have made some progress if it wasn’t for Daniel here messing everything up.”

“Hey!” The yellow unicorn protests, “I follow your insane experiments word by word, it’s your bogus plans that aren’t getting us any progress. Remember when Johnathan had to be a test subject for YOUR strength potion?”

“Remember Barbosa when YOU spilt that metal-acid all over him?”

“Grump Brothers, please, just try to work together.” Borris pleads, the two nod and go back to their work, giving glares at each other. Borris turns to Rainbow Dash as they walk out and head down into the hallway once more. “Those brothers can really set you on edge sometimes, but they do tell a good joke once in a while.”

“So who’s next?” Rainbow asks.

“The marshal, Marshal Rarity,”

“Oh this will be fun, how did Rarity even earn this rank of power in the first place?”

“She’s known Midnight way back then, before she rose to power. Tactically speaking, Rarity would know about Midnight’s way of thinking, mental barriers, and weaknesses. Add her advance magic and you got yourself a perfect commander.”

“Still…”

“Shhh, her office is right here.” The two turn to a pair of large wooden dual doors near the end of the hallway. They enter as they gaze upon a massive luxurious room, even larger than the hospital room and laboratory combined. Wooden carvings lace the wall as a lone office desk stands in front of a large purple veiled bed. Behind the desk sits this world’s version of Rarity, Marshal Rarity. Borris steps forward with Rainbow following shortly behind. “Rarity, the recon mission went successfully as we have brought Fluttershy, Spike, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, several other ponies, and even Twilight from the other world Midnight has revealed.”

“Excellent work Major Borris,” the marshal replies, “But didn’t Twilight Sparkle…”

“That’s the great thing, Empress Midnight never happened in their world!”

“Interesting, so a Twilight Sparkle is among us now, that shall help us greatly against the Morks.” Rainbow steps to the side of Borris and asks,

“Uh, Rarity, may I ask you something?”

“Yeah… I’m not your commander. Well, I am, but I’m also your friend Dash.” Rarity lifts a small glass of water and begins drinking it as Rainbow begins her sentence.

“How do you know Empress Midnight so well?” In an instant notice, Rarity sprays out the water in shock and surprise and coughs for a couple of seconds.

“How do you NOT know? Did Midnight give you one over the head?” Borris immediately runs between the two mares and squints at Dash’s head.

“My Celestia!” Borris exclaims, “She has an ENORMOUS bruise on her head, must have hidden by her mane. I’ll take her to the medics right away Marshal.”

“Get to it then Major!” Borris shoves the pegasus out and closes the doors behind them. He backs up and gives her a stern glare into her red eyes.

“We do not speak of Empress Midnight’s previous life, ever.”

“Why?” Rainbow asks confusingly.

“All it does is spread fear amongst the soldiers, something we do not need.” The two proceed to head to explore the RAEM.

“And that’s when Celestia put me in charge of Raindrop for the day.” Twilight says as she completes Raindrop’s story to the others in the armoury.

“That’s incredible, spending most of your life living with the rulers of Equestria.” Rarity cheers as she awes over the young mare.

“And you figured out how the Mork helmets work in an instant,” General Apple adds, “While blind! You are by far the most magnificent pony I have ever met.”

“Well,” Twilight replies in a less than impressed mood, “I wouldn’t say she’s THE most magnificent,”

“But she is,” Rarity cuts in, “Being able to live the regal life without being able to see or even able to get a cutie mark for all of your living days. It’s so beautiful and tragic at the same time.”

“But still, don’t you think that title’s a bit excessive?”

“I don’t mind,” Raindrop adds, “everypony has their opinion.”

“Of course you wouldn’t…”

“Everypony’s magnificent in their own way, and somewhere in these worlds, there’s at least one pony that looks up to you as being magnificent.”

“I guess that is true Raindrop.”

“Twilight,” a mysterious male voice echoes from the doorway to the room, “Is that you?”

“That voice,” Twilight turns to where it came from behind her and squints at the shadowy stallion. “That can’t be…”

“If it is whom I think it is, but that would be impossible. It couldn’t be my favourite great niece.”

“It is! Is that you? It’s me from the other world Midnight has opened! I’d know that voice, it could only belong to my-”

“Gruncle Boris?” The pony steps forward into the torch light, revealing a sleek black unicorn cap with blue markings across his body wearing a black and navy blue sailor. “Twilight Sparkle?!” The two run towards each other and Twilight tears up as she looks through the larger stallion’s monocle and into his silver eyes. Twilight turns to her friends and loudly proclaims,

“Friends, meet my great uncle, Boris Sparkle.”

Mork Assault

“You’ve never told us about your uncle.” Rarity says, studying Boris’ crimson and dark red mane and tail.

“You never told your friends about me?” Boris asks Twilight, “Apparently even in both worlds, Twilight’s too busy from her family like me.”

“Boris,” Twilight guiltily replies, “I’m so sorry-” Boris laughs hysterically as he falls back on his purple and gold trimmed suit. His monocle nearly gets dirty by his small moustache as tears of joy pour into his droopy ears.

“Oh, it’s still the same old you though, always falling for my antics.”

“Well, you were a pretty good actor, and it’s good to once again see your good sense of humor.”

“What about MY humor?” The two Pinkie Pies asks in unison, one standing on the other. Boris sits up and begins combing his blue chin puff with his hoof, reclaiming his sanity.

“You still got yours Pinkie.”

“Yeah,” Borris adds, “don’t be jealous over common interest and talents.”

“You learned that lesson from Cheese Sandwich, remember?” Both Pinkies nod like they didn’t know how they would forget.

“I remember when Twilight was a filly, she was jealous of quite a few ponies,”

“Boris, not in front of my friends,” Twilight covers her face with her hooves in shame.

“Oh yeah. However, I don’t remember the names that well. What were the bigger ones, Sunrise Shimmy, Trinie, oh who was that one unicorn you really hates?”

“Boris, can we go over nostalgia another day?”

“Oh, sorry, getting ahead of myself.” Raindrop steps towards the stallion and asks,

“Did you created spells?”

“Why yes little filly, for Celestia to help resolve some of the more unique problems that come around. Who might you be?”

“I’m Rai-“

“Ha ha, I already know you Raindrop, Celestia has told me as much about you as much as much as the stars have told me about the universe.”

“The stars?”

“Yes, as you can imagine by my cutie mark,” Boris turns his side to Raindrop, showing the others the constellation of Orion on his rump. “I use a combination of the plotting of the stars, the ancient books and writings of the past, to the notes of Star Swirl the Bearded to help me develop spells.”

“Why didn’t Celestia tell me about you, you sound amazing?”

“She kept me a secret from you and most other ponies for safety. She wouldn’t want you to accidently sneak into my studies and spill some of my potions or trigger some non-horn spells.”

“Sorry to interrupt, General Apple,” A silver stallion with a black shaggy mane speaks from the doorway to the hallway.

“What is it Spurtacus Prime?” General Apple asks.

“A distress call from above is being picked and sounds to be coming close to the entrance. Major Borris, Captain Dash, and Lieutenant Cystic are currently up there scoping for the call.”

“Lead the way!” The general turns to the others and beckons them to follow. Above the RAEM and inside the barn, they open the trap door and come across Borris, Dash, and a tall light green Earth Pony with an orange and yellow mane and tail staring out of a single window. “Located the voice yet?”

“Sorry las,” the stallion replies as he glances back and catches a glimpse of the group and immedialtly stumbles back, bumping Borris from behind.

“Jack Cystic, don’t panic, they’re from the other world.”

“Oh, they just gave me the jump, been seeing a lot of scary stuff recently.”

“Well control your panic attacks.”

“Help! Help!” A distant voice echoes from the fog, causing it to roll from its silent sleep.

“Stand by,” Borris walks to the upper windows with Rainbow following behind with General Apple, Lieutenant Pie, Jack Cystic at the closed front doors and Boris aiming his horn at a lower window. “Keep to the corner newbies.” The otherworld visitors follow orders and back into a corner, waiting to see what’s going to happen.

“Please! It’s me, Creampie, I’ve been wounded and I know the RAEM is around here.”

“Wait a minute,” Twilight whispers and begins to think, “Wasn’t she that Earth Pony that we met at the Gala a while ago?”

“Shhh,” Borris whispers back, “hold your positions.” They then see a yellow mare with a tangled orange mane and tail limp into their view. They notice that her front left and back right legs are both scratched, bruised, and burnt.

“That is!” Rainbow replies, “Let’s help her.”

“No, continue to stay hidden in the shadows.” Creampie then stumbles and lands on the dirt with her side, a loud thump burst from the ground, adding to Dash’s anxiety.

“We need to help her,”

“Hold your position.”

“But if we-“

“Hold it!” Wheezing and slow breathing gasp from the fallen mare’s mouth, slowly dying in front of the barn.

“She’ll die!”

“Keep holding!”

“Why do I have to listen to you?!”

“Shut up and hold your position! That is an order!”

“Well maybe I don’t want to take orders from you!” They’re whispering soon turns into barely audible shouting,

“Rainbow Dash, it could be a trap!”

“There’s a pony in need, I don’t have time for this.” Rainbow Dash leaps from the window and lands on the ground.

“NO!” In that moment, she and the fallen pony are pulled to the side of a tree by a magical force. Tens unicorn Morks emerge from the blanket of smog and charge to the barn and Dash. “Boris! Deploy Anti-Mork-Telekinesis and Anti-Mork-Anti-Magic spells NOW!” Borris and the Earth Ponies burst out the door and begin to fight of the invasion. Boris inside shoots blasts from the window at the minions, sending them back into the fog one by one as the others punch and kick the remaining ones. Borris knocks out a brown Mork with an uppercut and immediately runs to Dash’s aid. “Told you!”

“Well excuse me, LOOK OUT!” Rainbow pulls Borris and an unconscious Creampie out of the way as a pegasus Mork smashes into the tree. The two pegasi regain their ground as they look up to see an entire armada of Morks flying above, carrying hundreds of chariots.

“I’ll hold them off for now, you and the others run back down and sound the alarm.” Borris takes off and without hesitation, Rainbow Dash gathers the others inside and they run down the stairs to the base. At the entry room, they find a bell on a pedestal in the middle of the room and Twilight shakes it rapidly, creating a glass shattering ring. Shortly, hundreds of mares and several few stallions are seen scrambling to the stairway to the battle above. Marshal Rarity soon appears and approaches the eight and asks in a panic,

“What in Celestia is going on? I was in the middle of a manicure.”

“Mork attack!” Twilight exclaims, “We’re going up there as well,”

“Don’t! This isn’t your fight.”

“It is most certainly our fight; Midnight has invaded our world, so we’re going to fight.”

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, you could get killed or even worse, captured and taken to her lair.”

“Let them, I have a few choice words for the empr-“

“Twilight,” Raindrop interrupts, “its best we follow her instructions.”

“I’ve seen and been in battles first hoof, I know what I’m doing.” Twilight leaves the others by the bell and pedestal with Marshal Rarity chasing her as she makes her way through the thinner crowd and up to the surface.

As Twilight makes it back out the trap door, most of the unicorns break from the group inside the barn and she follows. She gains her bearings and sees every window being crowded by five to seven unicorns, each shooting their magic at the invading Morks. She barely gets peeks outside and when she does, it’s all Earth Ponies, pegasi, and Morks, battling it out. She tries to get closer to a window to get a better view, but she’s pulled by into a corner by the marshal. “Are you insane?” She asks, shaking Twilight’s head in between her hooves.

“I’ve taken on Tirek, a centaur overlord with the ability to suck up all magic, even alicorn magic. If I can take on him by myself without dying, I can certainly take on all of-” A massive earth-rumbling roar screams in the distance, parting the blanket of fog to a mere mist.

“Spike…” Two red glowing eyes form as the massive silvery beast walks in from the fog. It stands at the length of five adult dragons head to tail, wings able to blanket an entire acre of farmland. Several pegasi shake of the Morks and charge after the dragon, but it opens its gaping mouth, revealing thousands of fangs and shirring teeth. A golden and white glow flickers from the thought of the beast as it breathes a solid stream of flame and liquid metal at the attackers, dousing them completely in molten metal and rock. The flaming heap lands next to the barn, turning the neighboring section of forest into a lake of fire and molten metal. The remaining pegasi that avoided the blast look in terror and scream,

“MEDIC!” A small group of several ponies in nurse outfits, including Medic Fluttershy, emerge from the barn and run to the new lake of fire. Unicorn nurses lift bubbles of lava out and take them to the cold dirt while pegasi and Earth Pony nurses dry and clean them. Twilight and Marshal Rarity run out and follow them, looking over to see burnt and steaming pegasi, all gasping for air and even some that aren’t able to stand on their hooves. Stretchers are pulls out as the burnt mares are carried down into the base. The white unicorn looks over to see a gaping mouth and tears running down her friend’s face.

“This fight is too dangerous for you, and I wouldn’t be a better friend if I were to let you fight, knowing that you don’t truly know what’s in store.” The dragon bellows again as it prepares for another breath attack, this time aiming directly to the main fighting and the barn.

“Run! Everypony get out there!” Twilight and the marshal squint to see Borris flying underneath the jagged jaw, spiraling rapidly, shortly creating a tornado in the middle of the fight. Resistance ponies run away as Morks are picked up in the growing spiral of sand and smoke. The dragon charges for another flame beam, but is interrupted by Rainbow Dash ramming her body into his glass eyes.

“What in Equestria is Captain Dash doing? That bump on her head must be dulling her logic.” The tornado grows to a massive size, thunder and lightning can be heard and seen crackling inside the typhoon, with Borris skimming the outside. The dragon shakes Rainbow Dash off of his face and fires another barrage of fire and metal, but instead of hitting the ground, it is gathered into the tornado, increasing its size two fold. Rainbow Dash regains her stability and looks behind to see the collection of Morks, smoke, fog, dust, fire, and molten metal making up the tornado Borris is leading. Borris then begins to round his flight, slowly turning the cyclone into a barn-size ball of swirling chaos. He then lifts the sphere using updrafts, his wing plating grooving along the edge.

“What is Borris doing?” Twilight asks in awe, Marshal Rarity replies,

“Using his master storm-skills to give that dragon his own medicine, as long as he can focus his vision well enough,”

“Wow…” Borris stabilizes the ball in air well enough by his measures and flies to the lower side of the sphere, eclipsing the dragon with it. He aims his back hooves, preparing to buck the sun orb, he looks back and squints, trying to line up the top with the spike sticking from the dragon’s head. Rainbow Dash flies to the ground and takes cover in the barn, not sure of what to do. She watches as the otherworld Spike prepares for a third fire attack. Borris closes his eyes and kicks with all his might, launching the mini-sun at the metal monster.

It misses, not even close the right side of the dragon’s head and lands distantly in the Everfree Forest, creating a blinding explosion. The sky lights up as bright as if it was day, but dies in an instant. A completely exhausted Borris becomes overwhelmingly embarrassed as massive boos and yelling erupt from the ponies below his hovering. Even the dragon chuckles at Borris’ epic failure and spits a small fireball, blasting him out of the sky and into the lava pond. The massive beast retreats, and the action settles down as the resistance recovers everypony and takes them down to get some medical help. Borris emerges from the fire and approaches Twilight and Rarity, followed by Rainbow Dash from the barn.

“Are you okay?” Rainbow asks, examining his slightly burnt body for any new big injuries.

“Nope,” Borris replies in depression, exhaustion, and pain, “just my pride. The flames never bothered me that much.”

“That was totally awesome!”

“But I missed,”

“Who cares? The way you made that giant tornado and made it into that storm ball, I’ve never seen anypony do that in my life!”

“Well what good is it when you can’t hit a gigantic dragon at point-blank?”

“At least you took care of those Morks,”

“They’ve taken on worse, and they only come back more determined than before. They’re almost immortal,”

“Why did Spike run away?”

“He can’t reach us inside the base; he needs smaller units in order to capture us in the event we fall back.”

“Well if he’s too big, why doesn’t Midnight just break in herself, she’s strong?”

“She’s defiantly strong, but the thing she wants from us is secured from her grasp. Her minions however, they have more limbs and it doesn’t put her in much danger. I’ll show you the security for the object some time later.”

“Let’s just check you both out at the hospital and maybe this failure will blow over.” Twilight suggest to the two pegasi,

“Fine,” The four head back to the RAEM, relieved that they’ve survived this wave of Midnight’s minions.

Later, in a far off burning crater in the middle of the forest, hundreds of Morks lay lifeless all over the large explosion range. Suddenly, a loud hiss can be heard from all the Morks helmets at once, releasing a spray all across the crater. One by one, they get up, their burns and wounds shrinking into small scars as muscles and flesh tighten and stretch.  As the last stallion rises and heals, they exit the crater and migrate to Ponyville.

Trying to Find Information

Back at the hospital, Borris and several other ponies are being dumped with buckets filled with water and cold ice by the nurses, treating them of their burns. An ice cube crawls over a crossed scar between Borris’ eyes, causing him to cringe in icy pain. Fluttershy runs to him and wipes the cold water and off of it with a rag.

“Sorry sir,” She softly speaks into his ears, “My, you have a lot of scars on you.”

“What do you mean?” Borris replies, “You’ve seen these all the time,”

“Wrong Fluttershy,” Medic Fluttershy shouts from the other side of the room.

“Oh.”

“So,” Fluttershy asks, “Do you and Boris get confused when somepony is calling your name?”

“And you’re asking this because…”

“Just curious, if we’re going to stay here for a while, I might as well know a bit about you.”

“Well, ponies either refer me to Major Borris or in some cases 2R-Borris.”

“Does it offend you when they call you that latter one?”

“It was a little demeaning in flight school, but I’ve grown used to it. Allow me to refresh your memory, you and your friend haven’t seen me since recently I presume.”

“I don’t really remember you, sorry.”

“I was Rainbow Dash’s best friend in flight school till she dropped out. If I recall correctly, you were one of the shyest and slowest in the class.”

“Yeah,”

“But you did receive your calling as an animal pony; one can’t debate another’s destiny.”

“How poetic, I think I recall being your friend, weren’t you the one who caused that lightning tornado by accident?”

“Yeah,”

“Yeah, I believe I remember you properly. What happened, why didn’t you stay in Cloudsdale?”

“A long while after Rainbow Dash dropped out, I was recruited in the Abnormal Weather Equestrians.”

“Like the Wonderbolts?”

“Ha! They’re a mere circus act compared to what we do. The AWE creates, contains, and eliminates hurricanes, tornados, solar flares, typhoons, monsoons, you name the storm, we got it.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“It is, the most dangerous job that anypony can put themselves in. I witnessed many deaths in my line of work those days, some even as a foal.”

“Wait, you’ve seen ponies… die?”

“Yes, it is not pretty, but somepony has to do it. The first time I’ve ever seen death in the face was barely in my year of the AWE. It was a hurricane, coming into Manehattan, it was my second major storm. And this was no ordinary hurricane, a combination of solar flares and aquatic waters, creating a deadly fire and water cyclone of spontaneous energy. I was with an older colt named Trottimus Spart along with several adults, covering the East side of the 2000 kilometer long cloud of doom. There needed to be at least 50 pegasi to contain it.” Borris stops the story and looks to see everypony, standing, sitting, laying on beds, all staring at him. Even Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Raindrop, Boris, and the others watch him from the side of the wall.

“Then what?!” Rainbow anxiously asks, “What happened to you?”

“…”

“Don’t worry, whatever happened is in the past.” Borris clears his throats and continues,

“We began to close it in, trying to condense the hurricane into the eye and cause it to collapse on itself. We accelerated rapidly, spiraling along the turning of the storm, the tailwinds grew hard and harder, some could barely keep flying. In an instant, I lost my stability and was launched deep into the death trap. Trottimus flew in to save me, despite the warnings of the others. I was hurdling, not knowing how fast or where I was going, I felt as if it was the end. As I was about to give up fighting, Trott grabbed me by the hoof and pulled me into stability and we began to escape the hurricane. We were nearly there, but-“

“BUT?!” The rest of the room hollers, with even more mares clustered inside. Borris squints and examines them all, deeply pondering what to say next.

“Maybe I shouldn’t continue, it’s been a long day and talking of my past trauma won’t do much good.”

“Keep going!”

“Gah, fine, but don’t say I warned you all.”

“Get on with it, please.” Raindrop replies, lying on top of Twilight’s saddle.

“We were nearly out of the storm, but a flaming lightning bolt struck Trottimus right in his wing plates. He shoved me with all his remaining might, launching me out of the cyclone. I turned looked back and waited for him to come out as well. To my utter shock, after hovering for nearly a minute, he never showed up. The other pegasi demanded me to finish the storm off, and I followed orders, after what seemed like hours, the hurricane dies, before even touching Manehattan. The next day, I returned to the AWE, still wondering what happened to my savior. As I arrived in the lobby, they presented me with his wing plates, but instead of its original ivory glow, they were black as night.” Borris opens his wings, revealing the wing plates layered across the rim of his wings. “It was the only thing they found of him after the storm. It was at that moment I realize, he died right before my eyes when he bucked me out, sacrificing himself to save me. After that, I was unable to work, train, eat, sleep, or even talk for days. However, after parent and fellow worker support and some therapy, I was able to continue my work as normal. I where these wing plates to this day as memory to my fallen friend and from then on, I’ve seen many pegasi, unicorns, and Earth Ponies lost to the storms. I grew stronger, braver, more resistant to trauma, and wiser with each mission and storm, making me as good of a major as today. But of course, this is just one of nine hundred and ninety nine stories that make me who I am. Just as you all each have your own hundreds of adventures.” Borris opens his eyes from his story and sees puddles of tears coming from the listeners.

“Does Midnight have 999 adventures?” Borris hesitates for a moment and kneels down to eye level with the blind pony.

“I have heard many stories about her, happy and sad, good and evil, even though she is a monster now; she was once one of us, an innocent torn by war and destruction.” Borris clears his throat, signaling everypony to return to their duties. One by one, they file out of the hospital, each cleaning up tears on their face, returning the room to what it once was before the story. All that remain standing are Twilight, Raindrop, Boris, Rainbow Dash, the two Rarities, the two Fluttershies, the two Applejacks, the two Pinkie Pies, and Borris.

“Borris,” Twilight exclaims.

“What?” Boris and Borris ask at the same time, both turning their glance to Twilight.

“Sorry, Major Borris.”

“Oh.”

“Major Borris, you said something about an object Empress Midnight wants?”

“Yes,” the pegasus replies, “She wants the Alicorn Amulet, you should know about it.”

“Correct.”

“If Midnight gets her hooves on it, her power will multiply 10-fold, dooming us for certain. We’ve hidden it extremely far underground and placed a special barrier over the chamber it lies in so no alicorns can enter. That’s the main reason why only Morks show up, slowly killing us off. Although our stance was dying, you and your friends showing up has sparked new hope.”

“How?”

“With help of another set of Elements of Harmony, we might be able to find her weakness and stop her before she’ll be able to conquer whatever she wills.”

“Including other worlds?”

“Possibly all worlds,”

“Where do we start then?”

“In MorksVille, there is a library that Midnight visits often. While our leaders keep order here and protect the RAEM, you, me, and your world friends can sneak into there and try to find a way to stop her.”

“Are you sure this plan will work?”

“It has to work, it’s our last chance to gain an upper hoof and hopefully return Equestria to its former glory.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“Nothing!” The others cheer, filing into a line, ready to begin. However, a faint cough breaks out in the hospital; they turn to see its origins, finding Creampie lying on a mattress.

“She’s coming to.” The mare groans and begins coughing some more, trying to get a grasp of life.

“Are you okay?” Borris asks, Twilight lifts a water bucket and takes it to Creampie’s mouth.

“Midnight,” the pony gasps, turning her head away from the bucket. “is too strong…”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“Morks, are going triple in size, there’s no hope…”

“There is hope, our new friends will be the key that’ll liberate us.”

“No, no hope, no, no mercy, no hope, no, rather die now then to lose my will to Midnight…” Creampie’s eyes grow heavy as her body loses tension as she slumps back into the mattress.

“Medic, maintain her vitals, make sure she doesn’t give up yet, we will surely end the empress’ rule soon enough.”

“Good luck,” Medic Fluttershy responds and the main 6, Spike, Borris, Boris, and Raindrop make their way to the stairs to the exit hatch.

Twilight stops the parade and turns to Raindrop and Spike and says, “Raindrop, Spike, this mission will be too dangerous for you two, stay here in the RAEM and I promise we’ll be back.” Twilight gives her saddle at Spike and his head nods in agreement.

“Wait,” Raindrop replies, “I can help you.”

“I like your willingness to help us out, but after seeing what we’re in for above, I don’t want you up there.”

“I have extensive knowledge of both magic and science, you could surely use our help,”

“I’ve got enough brains to know what’s going on,”

“I’ve undertaken Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, and magic avoidance lessons with the princesses,”

“I said no, I forbid you from leaving the RAEM.”

“But I-”

“You think you can do these things, but to be honest, you can’t,” Raindrop gives a small look of shock and bows her head down.

“I understand.” As the eight march up to the surface, Raindrop perks up and turns to Spike. “Spike, we’re going out.”

“But didn’t you hear Twilight?” Spike replies in concern for her and his safety, “She’s seen what we’re in for.”

“If I can take on blindness for my entire life, with my vast intellect and will power, I’m sure I can make a difference.”

“I’m not letting you out, Twilight knows what’s best for you.” Spike straps on Twilight’s saddle to his scaly back and sits at the foot of the stairs, arms crossed and eyes glaring at his new mission. Raindrop senses this and thinks of a plan to get Spike to let her through.

“Hey Spike, what do you think of you in this world?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that he’s a terrible guy,”

“How so?”

“He’s been brainwashed and all, but inside that giant metal suit he has, there still the awesome Spike we all know and love.”

“It’s a shame that you can’t see yourself in all of this ‘awesomeness’ if we’re down here…”

“You do have a point,” Spike turns to look up the stairs, but immediately swipes his head back to look at Raindrop, “but it’s too dangerous.”

“But what if you, knowing so much about yourself and all, could match its awesomeness and you’ll become a hero in this world.”

“You really think so? Could it work?”

“How could it not work?” Spike hesitates for a minute and comes to an agreement,

“Let’s just be careful up there okay?”

“Of course, now lead the way sir.”

“Aye aye!” Spike triumphantly climbs up the stairs with his ‘assistant’ following behind. A wave of pride and success wipes across her face, for the first time in her life, Raindrop feels like she is doing something great on her own merit, taking a stand for her homeland.

The Second Amulet

Back in the once-peaceful Equestria, the civilians of Ponyville, guards, Princess Cadence, and even Luna, are levitated high in the sky above an army of Morks, all staring into the Everfree Forest, hearing the sounds of Celestia and the empress still fighting. Beams, rays, and spheres of light and red magic fling above the trees, each coming from every angle and colliding with each other causing an explosive effect. Not too far from the epicenter of this chaos, a zebra wearing gold rings is carrying a small weaved basket of food through the foliage to her home. A red and yellow spiraling beam of magic zips by the zebra, causing her to drop the basket in reaction and ducks behind a tree. In an instant, a ball of black metal and white fur flies in as well, smashing into chopping the tree right above her head. “Ah! What is going on today?” she screams and charges into her hollow tree home. She slams the door behind her, barricading it with masks, furniture, and her brewing pot. Deep breaths gasp from her mouth and she takes a sigh of relief, thinking she’s locked out whatever’s going on. Midnight then burst through the door, scattering all the objects across the room, a pan nearly striking the zebra in the head. Empress Midnight regains her ground and then sees the zebra.

“Zecora,” she evilly remarks upon seeing her, “if it isn’t the zebra of Ponyville?”

“Who do you know me evil one, I have not met you at all?!” Midnight picks up the zebra in her left claw and holds her to the ceiling.

“I’m aware that this version of me does not exist in this world, but do not fear, I shall remedy that.”

“Put me down! Or you’ll have to deal with the crown!”

“I am. And she won’t stop at all. If only I had my hooves on that Alicorn Amulet, I…” Midnight turns her glance from Zecora to the ground where the cauldron was, seeing a small patch of dirt. “If I never happened…” She drags her right claw into the dirt, shifting it around.

“Get your beastly claws out of there, you have no excuse for there!”

“Oh, not here?”

“Please, you don’t know what you’re doing!”

“Please, I know exactly what I’m doing.” After a good second of digging, a black necklace with a red crystal in the center appears from the earth. “There you are precious Alicorn Amulet! A second amulet!”

“Don’t put it on, not even close to your ear; the last pony who had it caused all to fear!” The empress levitates the Alicorn Amulet to her chest. The chest plate opens apart, revealing an indent that’s the perfect size for the treasure. As she insets the amulet into the slot, her chest plate closes and black and red aura rapidly pulses out of her.

“Ooh, that feels so good! Feels even better than last time, the power surging through my body...” Just as she was about in smash Zecora into the ground, Midnight’s pulled out by Celestia’s telekinesis, dropping the zebra and launching her into a thick tree.

“Give this up!” Celestia shouts, standing before her rival and staring her down behind where the tree once stood, “Neither your hiding nor powers are equal to mine.”

“You’re correct, they’re more.” The black alicorn then fires a beam of black magic from behind the trunk, ten times thicker than Celestia, launching the unsuspecting princess high into the dark clouds. “And with my new suit of armour, it’s stronger than ever!” Midnight opens her wing flaps and takes off after Celestia, with everypony on the ground looking up into the smoky skies, even more curious of what’s going on. Celestia stabilizes in the sky and looks around in all directions, waiting for the next attack. Caught off her guard, Midnight emerges from below her and clips her with a small burst of magic and returns into the hidden. She fires another ball of magic, and another, and another, and another, continuously pooping in and out of the thick smog and blasting the daylights out of Celestia.

“Empress-oh Mid-ow-night-ah please-aw stop-oof this-agh attack!”

“Never! I was, I will, I am to be the absolute ruler of all Equestrias!” Midnight finishes her barrage by grabbing the nearly unconscious princess in her claws and dive bombs straight down with her. Their speed increases exponentially, causing the air around them to bend, for not even sound can keep up with them. As they emerge from the sky and come near meters to the ground, a solid ring of black and red energy bursts from them and highlights the entire sky above the observers. Midnight slams her captive into the crated caused by the late Captain Dash, creating a fountain of dirt stretching into the low clouds. From the expanded crater, Midnight walks out with her wings, holding an unconscious Celestia above her with magic. The empress walks to the crowd and presents her prize to the prisoners and declares, “Behold, not even your finest pony can stop me now! This world is mine, and all who oppose me shall meet an even worse fate than what’s beheld before you. Morks, gather me the following ponies from this world; Big Macintosh, the Grump Brothers, Boris Sparkle, Borris Thunder, Spurtacus Prime, Tez La. Koil, Atlas Goni, and Jack Epee Cystic, not his sister, Jack Billy Cystic. Take them to my castle. You know what to do with the others.”

“Now hold on just a minute!” A male voice echoes from the distance. A long pony with a deer antler on the right, a blue goat horn on the left, one long fang, different-sized pupils, a snake tongue, a goat beard, and white bushy eyebrows. He has the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. In addition, he has a bat's right wing, a pegasus' left wing, a horse's mane, and a dragon-like snake's tail with a white tail tuft materializes from thin air and steps in front of Midnight towering over her. “It seems that you have found the Alicorn Amulet.”

“Discord, how’d you know?”

“I am the spirit of chaos,” the draconequus casually replies, “I know everything and I can sense when a magical disruption occurs, and you were pretty big on my radar before. I’d love to host the welcoming committee, but I’m going to have to tell you to pack up your otherworldly ponies and leave.”

“Well I’m sorry to disturb your little friendship galloping, but there’s going to be some changes around here.”

“Seriously, I’ve played this game plenty of times before, and you think you have a chance.”

“I’m going to send you to Tartarus just like that.”

“Oh, can’t let you do that Midnight.” Discord then snaps his fingers, followed by the armoured mare flicking an open wing at him. Moments later, a pair of handcuffs appear of Discord’s arms. “Wait a minute, that’s odd, they’re supposed to be on you. Well I’ll just try again.” The cuffs turn to liquid and drip off his wrist as Discord snaps again, followed by Midnight to flick her wing one more time. Handcuffs once again appear on his arms. “That’s impossible, I was surely aiming for you, unless,”

“Unless there is a pony powerful enough with to deflect chaos with the assistance of the Alicorn Amulet.”

“Uh oh…”

“And now it’s time you meet you’re better side.” Catching Discord off guard, Midnight fires a bolt of magic at him, causing him to crumble into a perfectly smooth ball of swirling colors. Another tunnel, a black and red one, opens behind the Discord-Ball. Midnight punches the sphere, launching it into the portal shortly before it closes.

“Now back to business,”

“Wait,” a stallion replies from the group, “what are you going to do with us?” Midnight tosses Celestia to the ground and pulls out the brown Earth Pony with her claw and examines him.

“Atlas, I presume.”

“I’d ask how you know, but that isn’t the main problem. What do you want from me, I’m just a mere critic?!”

“You see, where I come from, they’re a version of you that’s a pain for me,”

“Go figure…”

“He’s only been blinded by the unjust and weak ways of your ruler, I want to show you how great it is to be as part of my empire.”

“I don’t see how a giant brooding pony that strikes fear in her mere presence is anyway considered justice.”

“Just as ignorant and chauvinistic as the other you, but I can change that.”

“Well, apparently great minds think alike. How in Tartarus are you going to do that?” A white Mork pulls a piano out of a chariot and begins to play a slow tune. “Please not a song,”

“Wait what? Why not?”

“So, you think a random song is going to convince me?” Atlas responds, “Even if it was a decent song number, it won’t be helping your cause.”

“Quit criticizing,” the empress responds, “save that for the RAEM once you join me.”

“Join you? After what you did to Celestia? I’d rather trade my crossbow cutie mark for a pink flower any day of the week.”

“Why is it a crossbow in the first place and not something involving critiquing?”

“I just have good aim with a crossbow, but still, that’s not the poi-”

“How would you be able to use one, you don’t have a horn,”

“That isn’t the point, the point is that I will never join you.”

“We’ll see about that Mr. Atlas McCritic, we’ll see,” The Morks then begin to pull out several helmets from the black chariots parked beside the crater. As they pile them in below the hovering crowd of prisoners, Atlas begins to sneeze violently. “What are those things filled with? Sneezing powder and salt?”

“Close…” A red stallion falls from the cluster and is held down by two Earth Pony Morks. The unicorn shakes around left and right, grunting and screaming in fear of what’s going to happen to him. Midnight picks up a small black helmet with a small hole in its top in her other claw and carries it close to the stallion’s head.

“What are you doing?”

“Progress my allergic one, progress,” With a shove of her arm, she places the Mork helmet on top of the unicorn, covering his black and blue mane. The red unicorn screams and roars in pain, bucking and flailing with all his might.

“I need an adult! Get me away from this!”

“…”

“Miss?” After what seems like minutes of constant yelling, the terrified pony stops wriggling and his captors let go. He stands up and a scowl is seen on his barely visible face. Atlas and the other civilians look in shock and terror and hear the new Mork shout,

“Hail Empress Midnight!”

“You’ve mind controlled him?!”

“That’s a foals-pony work,” Midnight replies, “I have bent his will, his heart, and his soul to my command. He shall never suffer, never face injustice, and shall never become inferior.”

“You’re, you’re horrible!” The other ponies join in rebellious shouting, with Luna and Cadence yelling the loudest.

“Down with the empress!” They chanted, over and over, Midnight smashes Atlas into the ground and the new unicorn Mork levitates him in the air.

“Morks,” she commands to her minions, “initiate Protocol A113.”

“Roger your majesty!” They all reply in unison, “Mork the males and take the females to the prison.”

“And remember to take the others I listed to the throne room.”

“Yes ma’am!” Midnight turns back to the Everfree Forest, grinning with glee,

“I’ll check on Spike and see if he’s been able to breach the RAEM. He did a decent job with the sky here, and I shall take the reins and turn this world into what I dreamed of, without those traitors in the way.”

“You’re wrong,” a choked voice speaks, Midnight looks down to see Celestia still clinging on to consciousness, “I know who you are, and I know you can overcome this wickedness that has consumed you.”

“You’re wrong,” Midnight picks up the alicorn by the neck and holds her at eye level, “I have overcome the wickedness that haunted me, it’s you.”

“What could I have possible done to make you this?”

“You raised my hopes, dashed them into oblivion, and betrayed my true capabilities, all for your mere corrupted position of power.”

“I’m sorry for what has happened to you, but I would never do the same. Please, just spare my ponies and leave,”

“You’re exactly like your other world counterpart.” Midnight squeezes her captive’s neck, causing her to swoon and drop to the ground. “Goodnight, dear Celestia…”

A Tail to Tell

Back in Midnight’s world, Twilight and the team are walking amongst the shadows in a field of old abandoned building, with Borris leading the way. “Don’t worry about any Morks in this area,” he says to comfort them, “they usually never patrol this sector of MorksVille, and with most of them in your world, this place is basically a ghost town.” As they continue to head deeper and deeper into the town, Rainbow Dash notices an odd behavior going on with Borris’ slightly clunky movement. He glances back to see her studying his movements and asks, “Is there a problem?”

“Nothing really,” she replies, “I just noticed that your head kind of bobbles from side to side often when you move.”

“Oh really, I did not notice.”

“You should maintain that little tick and yours, it seems to be throwing off your aim and focus.”

“Actually, it’s not quite the reason why I made such a blunder from that ball.”

“Oh. By the way, how did you come up with that anyways?”

“What? The ball?”

“Yeah.”

“My 69th mission, I was a young teenager at that time. Several small tornados were approaching the small beginning settlements of Appleloosa so a group of members and I were assigned to pierce the tornados so they would not cause any damage. We were doing great, even making a small game out of it, but then we discovered that all these small tornados actually originated from a gigantic one producing them. We attempted to group ourselves into one unit and smash the sandstorm, but it was too strong for our small group and we all were scattered inside it. I was the first to regain stability and tried to use the wind’s force to launch me out of the whirling, but I was trapped inside a continuous orbit, not able to build up speed. So I tried to spiral down lower into the skinnier part of it, only to end up pulling a tactical egg, going lower and higher loop by loop. However, I noticed that as I continue to increase my slope of orbit, the tornado would round out more and more. In my final attempt to escape the titan, I circled my body all around the tornado, turning it into a sand ball with my comrades inside. The twister was then unstable enough for me to escape, causing the ball to drop to the ground, releasing a dusty explosion. My fellow ponies were safe and shocked at what I did just then, unable to process what just happened. The Appleloosans also saw this and told me I was blessed with the strength and magic of the Ghost Pony.”

“The what now?”

“You never heard of the Ghost Pony?”

“I have!” Applejack cheers, “my cousins have told me the story many times.”

“Well do you want to tell the story or should I?”

“You should, you seem more like the expositional type.”

“The Ghost Pony is a legend of the deserts; they say that the he was once a fellow pony that was one of the first to settle into the land. Legend goes, The Ghost Pony, known then as Blaze Rider, and his band of twelve older unicorn brothers were on the hunt for gold said to be in the unexplored lands. They mined, day and night, searching for a fortune, only to get angrier and angrier with each other. Many lost their minds, turning against the group and trying to eliminate each other. Blaze kept quiet during these conflicts, but was scarred by the violence and abuse the brothers gave to each other and him. Years later, when only seven brothers remained, while mining, they came across a massive vein of Foal’s Gold, but due to the insanity that build over the years, they believed it was real gold. Blaze’s brothers shoved him into a small dried ravine as they ran back into the mine to collect the gold. Having enough of this torture and wanting the gold to himself, Blaze crawled out of the canyon and pushed a bunch of large boulders at the entrance of the mine. While his brothers continued to dig deeper for more gold, Blaze loaded the covered wagon with as much of his brothers’ gold he could steal and shoved the boulders over the mine entrance, sealing them in. They all died from each other within a week with the only remaining pony of the Rider family being Blaze, but this glory never lasted long. A tornado torched in fire, claimed to be sent by the gods, swept over the land, taking Blaze with it.”

“Wait,” Rainbow interrupts, “why were you supposedly, ‘blessed,’ by this pony?”

“Don’t interrupt the legend and my story isn’t over.”

“Sorry, continue.”

“Instead of killing the unicorn, the flaming tornado burnt off his flesh, his wagon, and his false gold. He looked upon the eye of the tornado and saw the dastardly deeds he did as his eyes turned to dust. When the sandstorm died down, all that was left of Blaze was a skeleton with his soul trapped inside. For decades, the skeleton spirit traveled across the badlands, searching for some reason why he’s this and not suffering for his crimes in Tartarus. Until one day, while looking upon the buried mine in which his brothers lay, he came across an Earth Pony mare being attacked by her six brothers. Seeing that she was almost just like him, at that moment, Blaze knew his destiny, and fire erupted across his bones as his stood between the pink mare and the six stallions looking for a fight. Upon seeing the flaming spirit, the six brothers turned to stone from total shock. The mare then asked for hero’s name after witnessing this selfless act, he turned to her and said, ‘I was once a black-hearted sinner, a killer, but now I am, and forever will be a savior of the desert. I am the Ghost Pony, the Spirit of Redemption.’ With that said, he ran off into the night, off to redeem himself and to this day, they say that he continues to wander the desert, searching for more lost souls to save. After the Appleloosans told me the legend, I decided to name my new trick after the Ghost Pony, the Flaming Rider.”

“You then learned how to levitate and buck the Flaming Rider?”

“It took several field missions, but I did figure out how to fire one with pinpoint accuracy. I was able to hit a tree from over a kilometer away.”

“Then how’d you miss when that giant Spike was mere hooves away?”

“I uh…” Borris stops and shudders frantically, realizing he’s bragged a bit too far.

“What? Something happen?”

“Well, uh,”

“Now Borris,” Gruncle Boris blurts, “that’s enough story time for now, maybe another day.”

“Like two pages worth of story time!” Pinkie Pie cheers,

“Quite Pinkie, let’s rest that voice of yours buddy.”

“Thanks,” Borris whispers into his companion’s ear, “if there’s any story that I don’t want to tell, it’s that one.”

“What?!” Boris yells, “Sorry, my droopy ear’s in the way, something about you liking the Powerhoof Mares?!”

“Wait what?!”

“Gahaha! Gotcha sport. I’m on a roll today, first Twilight and then you.”

“Can you please cut down the joking for now; we’re in the middle of a war zone.”

“Oh bah, you said it yourself, no Mork would be here.”

“Still, it helps to keep ourselves on a low profile on the surface. Moving on,” They then continue on their way deeper into the village. Boris takes several steps back behind Borris and whispers to Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy behind him.

“He’s always like this, enjoying himself for once in a while, only to turn back to his militarian mood and demanding mindset.”

“He seems to be hiding something,” Rarity replies, “he’s like a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. And with such a disturbing history, it’s almost unimaginable how bad it could be. For some odd reason, I feel attracted to this,”

“As soon as you get one mystery about him answered, five more showed up,” Fluttershy adds, “Boris, do you know why Major Borris was acting so distant when Rainbow brought up this misfire I keep hearing of. Maybe I can help him out.”

“Well,” Boris hesitates before continuing his reply, “let’s just say some chapters should remain unspoiled until the time is right.”

“Like a plot twist?” Pinkie asks.

“You can say that, but for now, let’s just leave the fellow be, let him have some personal time with Rainbow Dash for now.”

“Wait,” Twilight stampers, “you know that the Rainbow Dash with us isn’t Captain Dash?!”

“The signs seemed a bit too obvious, most recently being that Rainbow not knowing about the Ghost Pony. What happened to Captain Dash anyways?”

“Midnight, she got her.”

“I see, and Borris might be delaying acceptance now,”

“What?”

“Nothing important now, we should just keep this act up for the others till this blows over.”

“Hmm,” Pinkie Pie sighs.

“What?”

“Why do I have an odd feeling of déjà vu all of a sudden, maybe because I’m hungry.”

“And I thought Lieutenant Pie was all over the place…” Back in the front of the group, Borris and Rainbow Dash are chatting with each other with Applejack shortly behind them.

“So Borris,” Rainbow asks, “what was this other me like?”

“To be honest,” he replies, “not that far different than you.”

“Figures,”

“She was a lot stricter and commanding than you, but that’s what war and trauma does to you.”

“Why did you join the AWE in the first place? Didn’t you know what you were going in for?”

“I was given an invitation to join, and considering how young and unknowing I was, I didn’t really see that much peril in for the job.”

“Then why did you keep to the AWE after that second mission?”

“Because after my first mission, I felt a sense of responsibility, a place to call my own, the feeling you get when you’re doing a major part for your country. Even after that second mission, the only thing keeping me from ditching the team was that feeling, and you.”

“Me?”

“After seeing how loyal, how willing you were to go up in the face of odds at such a young age, it inspired me to press on, hoping to become as great as you were.”

“I wasn’t all that special,”

“You were, even to this day, I’ve looked up to your works and feats as a pegasus, striving me to improve and maybe one day be like you.”

“Thanks, it’s good knowing that I’m helping many ponies without me even knowing.” Applejack quickens her pace and taps Rainbow on the shoulder and asks,

“Hey Dash, can I borrow you for a second?”

“Sure, you mind Major?”

“Please,” Borris bashfully replies, “just Borris.” Applejack pulls the pegasus next to her and lags far to the side and the two whisper to each other,

“AJ, what’s up?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Applejack replies, “Borris is into you.”

“Yeah, I’m a great role model and it’s helping our friend be a better leader.”

“No, he likes you.”

“What? Nah, it’s just good old friendship.”

“Oh please, do you honestly think that all that preaching about you is a mere friend to friend pep-talk?”

“Well I’m not the Element of Honesty, but I’m pretty sure that it’s merely mutual,”

“I’ve never seen such emotional ‘mutual’ talk since the last time I’ve seen one of those sappy romance plays.”

“Even if he was into Rainbow Dash, he grew up with Captain Dash, not the other Dash. So quit trying to set up relationships that aren’t even there.”

“Fine, ignorance only gets you so far anyways.” The group come across an enormous object blocking out the already blacken skies.

“Wait a minute,” Twilight speaks, examining the shape of the shadow, “that’s looks just like my old tree.” Upon closer inspection, the alicorn notices the bark and leaves covering the building. “It IS! Guys, it’s the old library before it was destroyed by Tirek!”

“But wait, wouldn’t that make MorksVille,”

“Yes, Ponyville.” Soon, everypony from their originally peaceful world recognizes the old buildings that were once the homes of ponies they knew. “Empress Midnight, what has she done to this place?”

“She destroyed it,” Borris replies, “every building, smashed, robbed, and burnt, all except for the library.”

“Why didn’t she destroy it?”

“Look inside.” They look to see a small pony-sized crack near the roots of the tree, golden light beaming from inside creaks out into the warm gravel outside. Twilight peeks her head inside to see an enormous spiral staircase in the middle of the hollowed tree. She tries to look what the staircase leads to, but due to the wood work and the smog not helping her vision, she can barely make out what’s underneath. “Go on, it’s safe.” Following his orders, Twilight and the others squeeze through the crack and head down the stairs. Golden light showered their faces as Twilight gasps at what she sees in the basement.

“Dear Celestia, Empress Midnight has the largest library I have ever seen!”

Both Worlds’ Largest Library

Twilight looks in absolute awe as she gazes upon thousands of massive bookshelves bathed under many golden chandeliers. Millions upon millions of books, each of every size, colour, and content neatly organized the humongous basement. The team make their way to the polished wood floor and the alicorn giggles with glee as she levitates tens of books around her as she runs through the halls of shelves. “Twilight,” Fluttershy asks, “Are you okay?

“Okay?!” Twilight squeaks, “I’m in Heaven! This place has got every book around here, from history, to science, to math, to magic, they’re even an encyclopedia on kitchen sinks! And that’s only the non-fiction section! I’ve got to read them all after we beat Midnight.”

“This is certainly impressive,”

“I’m going to need some serious planning time for all of this. Oh! A mini-office with all the quills, ink jars, and paper I’ll need in a lifetime!”

“Shouldn’t we get to the main reaso-”

“This might even have Star Swirl’s ancestry, they said it was forever lost in the 40 Year Fire, but I have a twitchy feeling it might be here.”

“Well, don’t expect to find it within a day Twilight,” Applejack replies.

“Found it!”

“What?”

“Just where I’d put them as well, whoever organized this place has really good tastes.”

“Let me see!” Boris hollers and runs to Twilight and they both study the book, flipping through centuries and centuries of ponies throughout time.

“Guys,” Borris demands, “we don’t have time for this, we need to find a book that’ll help us find out Midnight’s weakness.”

“Wait, is that? Never mind, Grandmother Moon never had a beard that big.”

“Boris, the mission at hoof,”

“I didn’t know Star Swirl had an afro at one point,”

“Boris…”

“Hey look its Celestia’s mom! I knew something was related about them, even if it was extremely distant.”

“BORIS! TWILIGHT!”

“What?”

“Midnight, remember? You can take the book with you, just find something actually useful and then you can look on how ridiculous Celestia’s parents look.”

“Trust me, they do,”

“Gah, just get to it, I’ve only been here twice, and I don’t feel like being the first to enter MorksVille a third time.”

“Fine, fine, Twilight, you take the magic section and I got the history section.”

“Shouldn’t you take magic?” Twilight asks, “You know better about magic.”

“It might help if you catch up on it.”

“Okay.” She puts the book in front of the staircase and gathers her friends as they look to find the section. Borris and Boris head in the other way and they dull their chatter into a whisper,

“Borris, no matter what, do not let them know about Midnight’s past.”

“You don’t think I know that?” The pegasus responds, “Could you imagine if we had another psychopath on the loose around here?”

“Do you really think that that could happen?”

“If they know, the chances will multiply, but as long as they’re here, we can use their intelligence of her prior state to our advantage.”

“That as well as their prior knowledge of you, including Rainbow Dash,”

“You know about Captain Dash?”

“It was too obvious, but you didn’t seem to notice.”

“What do you mean?”

“You what I’m talking about, you and Dash, that little chemistry you two have.” Boris nudges his partner, causing him to side to a shelf.

“How’d you know that bit?”

“You just told me.”

“Really?!”

“Nah, I’ve been seeing you and her playing with each other inside the RAEM when you weren’t in your grumpy mood.”

“Do you think that this Rainbow Dash might feel the same about me like the other one, maybe even more?”

“There’s a chance, but remember, she isn’t Captain Dash, you cannot use her as a replacement.”

“I know,”

“Do you know or do you follow?”

“Boris, I will not replace her.”

“Good,”

“Also, I do not have a grumpy mood, times are required to be serious.”

“Obviously, but you’re so happy in one moment but when somepony brings up something that reminds you of what happened before, you snap into your mood.”

“Hey, don’t forget you had your fair shares of-”

“Wait, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Sounded like some other pony heading down, really small though.”

“Sir, you might be going senile,”

“Ha ha.” A scrunching of paper alerts the duo and they look down to see a torn up purple book on the floor, pages torn, shredded, ripped, and tossed everywhere. Boris picks up the book and examines its contents, “Must have been Midnight. This would be the only book for her to wreck.”

“Yikes, and that was when she was only adjusting to her arms, look at how dusty the thing is.”

“Tuck this behind my wings, we can’t let them find this.”

Meanwhile, on the other side, the main six are busy looking through piles of books they stacked.

“Found anything?” Twilight asks.

“No,” They all reply in unison.

“I found this excellent cupcake recipe that can be made with only pegasus feathers.” Pinkie Pie hollers, pressing her face deep into an open book, “Rainbow, can I borrow a few of your feathers?”

“No thanks,” the blue pegasus replies, “we should keep looking.”

“Not sure,” Twilight responds, “anything that’ll give us an advantage over Empress Midnight.”

“Wait, look at this!” Rainbow pulls a small book with a brown rusty cover from Applejack’s pile and blows away the dust on it. “Magical Studies of Boris G. Sparkle: Volume 17”

“Gruncle Boris’ field notebook,”

“Yep,”

“Let me see,” Twilight picks up the old book and rapidly searches through the pages. “Allergy Remedies, Trots Cure, Trots Poison, Love Anti-Poison, Aging Spells, Pegasus Flight, Unicorn Magic Channeling, Earth Pony Strength,”

“Nothing too interesting so far…”

“Wait, the last pages, it appears to be a diary unlike the other chapters.”

“Any title?” Rarity asks.

“No, the last page is the conclusion of Alicorn Age Cycling, it then just jumps to an entry.”

“What does it say?” Applejack ponders, Twilight clears her voice and reads out loud;

Dear Boris,

After my latest study of alicorn age cycles, I have made a troubling discovery. It appears my studies have run the Sparkle family bankrupt. With the coal mines paying very little due to recent inflation, they’ve been eating very little and the family house soon going under foreclosure. My brother and sister have stopped sending letters to me, the only reason I know of my newborn nephew is from recent gossip. I have only one chance to set things right, and I know just how. I have begun research to create a new source of powerful magic, which will turn us into the richest ponies alive and me the most famous unicorn in all of history.

With best of luck,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“Oh my,” Twilight gasps, stretching her neck from the read, “I’m pretty sure he did it, let’s read the second entry.”

Dear Boris,

There’s been a slight misfire in my first attempts to create a pendant of powerful magic. I used a standard turquoise necklace and requested Celestia charge it with her magic. I then melted the necklace’s gemstone inside a magma furnace to melt into a liquid. However, shortly after doing so, the furnace combusted, showing me and my colleagues in liquid turquoise. We thought nothing of it and washed it off and went to bed. The next day though, we found ourselves being twenty years younger, causing the now-foals to quit on me. I was all alone, but Princess Celestia’s has given me inspiring words, persisting me to try again and save my family. I’m going to try again tomorrow, but instead of transferring the magic into a common gemstone, I’ll try to transfer it into a stronger magic container.

Got 20 more years,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“So that explains why he looks like he’s in his late 40s,” Rarity says, “I wonder if I could create a similar thing for my business, without the process being so violent.”

“Maybe instead of turquoise,” a small voice squeaks from the other side of a bookshelf, “try using topaz.”

“Raindrop?!”

“Oops…”

“Raindrop!” Another voice yells from the other side, “You just had to say something didn’t you…”

“Sorry, the answer was so easy, I couldn’t resist.” Twilight lifts the bookcase to the ceiling and yells at the dragon and small pony,

“Spike? Raindrop? Are you two crazy?! I told you to stay back at the base. What if you were caught?”

“If you couldn’t see us sneaking behind, I’m pretty sure the Morks wouldn’t have as well of a chance.”

“That doesn’t matter, you disobeyed me.”

“I know that I can help you, but you won’t give me a chance, probably because you assume I can’t do anything because I’m blind.”

“To be honest yes, without Spike to help, you’d probably be stuck in a ditch.”

“Twilight,” Fluttershy softly interrupts, “maybe we can approach this from a nicer angle.”

“No, Fluttershy, I’m addressing this straight forward. Raindrop, you think that a lifetime locked in a room for most of your life and teaching will make you a master in everything, but that’s not reality. The only reason you’re this so smart is because of a pity party, so you might want to hold your pride.”

“She didn’t mean to be so boastful Twi-”

“Let me guess, because of low social interaction, see, teaching doesn’t make you Little Miss Perfect. Raindrop, you are not perfect, far from it, so stay out!” After her brutal rant, Twilight looks down to see Raindrop ducking to the floor and shivering rapidly. Twilight cools her temper and breathes slowly, apologizing to the shocked No-Pony. “Sorry for that, it’s just I’d hate to see Celestia if she found out you were hurt. I also apologize for the abrupt reality check.” Raindrop collects her thoughts for a few seconds with everypony else staring with their mouths gaping open.

“I understand,” Raindrop replies, sniffing and holding back her emotions, “I’m not who I made myself look like. I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you.”

“I forgive you too.” Spike takes the large saddle off of his back and attaches it back onto Twilight as she and Raindrop give each other a hug.

“What’s with all the ruckus?” Boris yells in the distance, with him and his partner’s hooves clomping against the wooden floor. The duo turn the corner to the others and are surprised at seeing the two sneakers. “Raindrop? Spike? How’d you two get here?”

“We followed you guys from behind, with Spike helping me navigate.”

“Sneaky you two are, we could use that.”

“No!” Twilight protests, “We are not going to put them into danger.”

“Right, right,” he then notices the small journal floating in the air and jumps with glee, “Hey, you found one of my books, keep it, a lot of good stuff you could learn.”

“Thanks, so how’d it go with you guys?”

“Nothing that we don’t already know. You girls?”

“No.”

“Did you find anything that can produce scents or odors?” Raindrop asks, Rarity turns to her pile and pulls out a couple of encyclopedias.

“I found this,” she replies, “Merrimane’s Book of Perfumes and The Hoofannica Study of Scents, do you think these will work? I was going to take them home after we got rid of the pest.”

“They might work, we could find out what pheromone’s produced from the helmets and create of buffer for it.”

“And then use it to snap the Morks back to normal!” Boris adds, “Raindrop, that is absolutely brilliant!”

“Thanks. But I can’t take all the credit.” Raindrop replies in an attempt to not sound prideful.

“And humble, are you perhaps a princess of Equestria?”

“Nope, just raised by them.” Before Boris could reply, loud marching soon catches their ears and Borris takes a hoof forward.

“Listen up,” he states to his team, “gather the books and we’ll hide in the treetop until the Morks leave, they might check down here as they pass by, so time is of the essence.” The ten gather the four books and the one hidden in Borris’ wings as they make their way up the staircase to the surface.

Chess Planning

Far away from MorksVille, Twilight, and her team, a tall dark castle resting on the side of a mountain looms in the smoke. Inside, a long throne room, with ragged curtains barely covering the smashed stain-glass windows and shading the area in shadows, a large black and purple throne stands alone, gathering dust as it bathes in silence. This peacefulness dies abruptly as the massive doors at the other end of the room swing open, with Midnight, Morks, and Atlas walking in. Midnight takes flight and glides to her throne, causing what’s the remaining of the curtains to fly off along with their brackets, barely illuminating the torn and dusty red carpet. The empress then takes her seat at the throne as a unicorn Mork runs to the side of the large throne and levitates a chess board in front of her, pieces set and everything. “Be gone minions, go check on the others while Atlas and I play.” Midnight commands, the Morks comply and all of them except for the one exit the chamber, closing the doors behind them. “Atlas, come.” The brown stallion slowly walks towards her, examining the walls, ceiling, and floor.

“Is this Celestia’s throne room?” He nervously asks, quarter way across the room.

“It was, I’m still under renovation, but when I am done, this place will sparkle greater than the Crystal Empire.”

“Oh really, what are you going to do? Torches, sewage, choir of Morks that only sing in vowels?”

“Quit being a neigh-sayer and come here.”

“…”

“Now,” She levitates Atlas and drops him in front of the chess board, coming within a meter of the empress. Midnight looks down at the board and turns to her minion. “Sir, do you mind flipping the board, let our guest play first.” The board spins in air, stopping with the white pieces in front of Atlas. “Let’s talk.” Atlas picks up a pawn in his mouth and moves it two squares forward. “How are you able to use a crossbow?” Midnight uses an arm to make her move and the game continue as the two banter.

“Are you seriously back to that?”

“I’m just curious, and I could use your abilities to teach my Earth Ponies to make them less useless.”

“Well you’re going to have to put that stupid looking armour on me to get me to talk.”

“I would, but your allergies are a bit of a hindrance.”

“Well you’re not going to get me to tell you any information unless you can come up with a decent reason why. Why do you think you’re so worthy? You’re just some freak with a thirst for power, like my mother.”

“You’ve been under the guise of propaganda, created by the princesses. Their words of friendship, equality, peace, it’s all a load of lies. They’ve let many ponies, old and young, suffer from poverty and mistreatment, and not even batting an eye. I should know, my family was driven to the absolute bottom despite their contributions to the old and new kingdom being significant. My kingdom, once it reaches it’s prime, will be that all property is publicly owned and each pony works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. All will no longer suffer and it will be perfect.”

“Well sorry to smash your dreams, but it will never work, how insane do you have to be to think that it would possibly work.”

“It will not possibly fail, since all will be under my leadership, nothing will go astray.”

“What about the mares and us? How will you continue this if they will not comply?”

“He has a point,” the Mork adds, “what about the RAEM?”

“The what?”

“The Resistance Against Empress Midnight, mostly consisting of mares and a couple of stallions immune to the conversion.”

“See your most moodiness, even your mindless minion’s aware you’re on a downfall.”

“Excuse me?”

“Shut up.”

“Atlas,” Midnight interrupts, “I will show you how much better this new kingdom will be than the destroyed old kingdom of Celestia.”

“Oh really?”

“Wow!” A male voice yells from farther down the side of the castle, “They’ve got a balcony pool!”

“Daniel, you might wanna stop yourself there,” another voice replies, “it’s probably filled with bird droppings and mold.”

“Come on Aaron,” a third voice adds, “they probably clean it. If I, the one and only Jack, can do a cannonball in it, then you’ll have to too.”

“I wouldn’t do that,”

“GERANAHOOF!!!” A loud splash is then heard, followed by coughing and groaning.

“Told you so.”

“Well now that your little theory is confirmed, it’s your turn.”

“Gah...”

“Aw, he didn’t splash.”

“Now,” Midnight says, “shall we continue with our-” The doors swing open as a red unicorn Mork burst in the room and speaks,

“Empress Midnight,”

“What?”

“Our latest assault has failed, the primary cause of this is,”

“Let me guess, Borris.”

“Correct.”

“Collect yourselves and continue regular duties.”

“Yes empress,” The Mork leaves the rooms and closes the door behind him.

“As we were,”

“I see you keep great care of your pool…” Atlas replies.

“I never really had a use for it; I merely added that just for aesthetics.”

“Seems legit enough, just like this!” He moves his white rook drastically across the board, knocking over the black bishop a couple squares in front of the king. “Check!” Midnight looks down in surprise and realizes the only move she has is to move her queen in between the two, meaning that Atlas’ second queen could take out the piece, putting her in checkmate.

“Sneaky…” Midnight pulls out a black queen and a black rook from under the board and lifts the white rook back near the edge.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“The resistance now has two queen pieces, thanks to Twilight and her group. I cannot penetrate their defense with their first queen in the way, however…” She swaps the white rook with the black one and uses it to take out the dragon piece next to it, putting the white king in check.

“This isn’t how you play the game.” Midnight then takes out the rook with the first white queen Atlas had, followed by another black bishop taking out the second queen. “Miss,” She then places the black queen she added between the threatening rook, blocking it from her king. “Can I help you?”

“I think you have helped me enough.”

“I could do more, maybe give you a guide on how to play chess, a pamphlet, somepony with common sense.”

“Be quiet…” The empress then takes out the second white queen with her original. She then moves it in front of the white king and a white gleaming smile stretches across her face.

“I’m not an expert on this, but I’m pretty sure the last I checked, this is not how you play any game.”

“Checkmate…”

“Yes, with a lot of cheating, you can win a game of chess.”

“Mork, shut this Earth Pony up from his sarcasm and take him with the others, there they shall have a glorious feast.”

“Yes ma’am.” The minion replies, levitating Atlas in the air and carrying him out. By herself, Empress Midnight laughs menacingly as she turns to face a destroyed window.

“Thank you Atlas Goni, you have given me just the perfect plan to end this oppression.” She leaps from the window and opens her wings, casting a large black shadow against the descending wall of the palace. She circles her home, spiraling lower and lower to the ground. She glides into the front doors and pilots her way through many decapitated rooms, reaching a stone staircase heading down. She sharpers her claws against the mossy brick as she makes her way down to a large cavern, folding her metallic wings upon reaching the bottom. She looks to her left and right to see hundreds of small prison cells laid out across the walls, each containing a mare staring blacking outside the cell bars. Not a single sound is heard except for the clomping of hooves clomping against the floor of solid rock. A harmonica’s whistle breaks the silence, catching Midnight off her guard and causing her to jump. She turns to see a white unicorn with frilly blue hair playing it. “Knock it off.”

“Well this is what I’m reduced to.” The mare snaps back, the empress rolls her red eyes and her horn flashes, causing the harmonica playing pony to stare blankly into the nothingness like the rest of her sistren.

“I always knew Boris’ spells were unusable, this hallucinatory spell only works on you mares and dragons, and even then it doesn’t last.” She continues her stride to the end of the chamber and enters a small room with lab equipment strewn all across the floors, ceiling, and walls. She looks over the mess and sees a black unicorn brewing from a cauldron while the three hostage princesses are kneeling with shackles connecting their back legs to the nearby wall. The unicorn pulls three small pots from the cauldron and gives them to his three friends.

“Here you go, this should help.” He says, trying his best to comfort the princesses. They sip the steaming liquid from their pots and Celestia replies,

“Thank you Boris, even in the worst of situations, you manage to not succumb to anger.”

“Thank you your highness, I shall never betray you.”

“I beg to differ,” the empress argues walking towards Twilight’s version of Boris. “Have you found a way to turn mares into Morks?”

“Working on it, say, some of these ingredients you gave to me seem really dangerous,”

“Yeah I know, that’s why I’m having you do it.”

“Why bother? Shouldn’t that spell the other me gave you earlier work?”

“It doesn’t, it’s as much of a failure as you are. And you know the consequences if you fail me.” Midnight turns to Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, all looking back in fear.

“I know, I’m trying, but females are very different from males. Instead of attraction to the pheromone, the mares instead have a highly negative reaction to it for some reason. I don’t get it, you manage to create those monstrosities for wings, a way to turn stallions into your minions, and learned high-class combat in exile, and yet you can’t make a mare into a Mork.”

“I’ve had enough of Atlas’ criticism already and I’ve barely had any good sleep since banishment.”

“Well that explains why you’re so cranky all the time.”

“But don’t worry; soon, I will be able to sleep with peace of mind and the worlds in my hooves.”

Stress Within Ranks

Back at the RAEM, a small gathering of ponies are in the lobby debating what to do. “We need to take action now!” Borris declares, “Each attack is weakening our group more and more, it’s now or we may lose so much morale, that a mere everyday attack would be too much for us.”

“No,” Medic Fluttershy protests, “our ponies are too weak for such an immediate move.”

“We can wait for the Anti-Mork Spray,” the other Fluttershy adds, “Boris, you figure something out?”

“We’ve already completed the research stage,” Boris replies, “Development might be finished in a fortnight.”

“That’s too long,” Major Jack argues, “we should use what we have and actually use the Alicorn Amulet the next time they come around.”

“NO! That’s insane, it’ll corrupt whoever has it into a power-hungry psychopath.”

“How about we get a pony with a strong mind to wear it?” Rainbow Dash asks, “He or she might overcome it.”

“No, it feeds off of power, it’s a paradoxical situation. No pony can wear it, look at what happened to Midnight.”

“But we don’t have time,” Borris replies, “we need to take action now, no matter the costs.”

“Borris does have a point,” Rarity adds.

“Who?” Borris and Boris ask.

“Sorry, Major Borris has a point. We may not be able to last until Nightmare Night.”

“There is the possibility that in the event of whomever wearing the amulet goes crazy, we could make the pony go against the empress, taking each other down.”

“These are not weapons,” Boris argues, “these are ponies, innocent ponies that can be turned evil by these things. And I will not be responsible for making one of us into a monster.”

“We have no choice; the needs of many outweigh the needs of one.” The pegasus and the unicorn then butt heads against each other as they angrily stare at each other.

“Was the mindset we had when we found you? No, and you know that too.”

“Times are desperate now Boris. Do you want to be known as the wise-guy that lead us all to our deaths? No wait, there WILL be no history of us, because of you.”

“Well Squinty, do you want to be forever known as the guy that let one of us turn into a monster and possibly die?”

“We’d rather live with a small sacrifice than die all together.”

“And what if this sacrifice bites us back, we’d have another Midnight on our hooves, dooming us for sure.”

“Marshal, what do you think?”

“Well I,” Marshal Rarity stutters, looking back and forth at the two as she tries to think. “Is there any way we can compromise on this?”

“No!”

“A third option?”

“No!”

“Retreat?”

“Where to? Midnight has every inch of this world covered and soon the other world as well.”

“I-I-I,” tears begin to swell in her eyes, causing her eye shadow to become wet and run down her cheeks, “I DON’T KNOW! I’ve never needed to make a decision like this! Twilight, yeah, she’s good with these types of things! Where is she?”

Dear Boris,

It has been years since my last entry, mostly due to the rising ink prices these days. I have tried many gems and magical objects that could be able to hold Celestia’s magic, from gold, to topaz, to ruby, to diamond, each time failing. However, I have found an type of gemstone that will not only be able to store the magic, but also able to circulate it, possibly making an eternal magic source that doesn’t rely on biological life. I found this gem on an expedition in the jungle last summer with my brother when my family was just about to give up on me. On our journey, a pirate band of beastly unicorns took us captive as we were to use our magic to uncover traps in a hidden temple they discovered. Once we found the treasure far underground, the two of us tried to sneak some of the gems from under our hats. The pirates caught us, but before we could be brutally punished, my brother sacrificed himself by collapsing the temple above the pirates, giving me enough time to escape. After reaching Canterlot, I reported my research to Celestia and told her what happened to my brother. She and I knew how his wife, son, and other relatives would react if they heard this. So it was decided that my research is to be kept classified, and that my records would be removed from the Sparkle family. I would no longer bring dishonor and guilt to my family, but as soon as I use this new gemstone, Sparkle Blood Diamond, and complete my amulet of alicorn magic, I will set everything straight.

To my dear brother,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“So that’s what happened to Grandfather Alexander,” Twilight comments to herself as she reads in an empty bedroom. Her reading is interrupted by a small voice echoing through the halls calling her name. She exits the room and looks to see Raindrop heading towards her. “Raindrop, what are you doing here?”

“There’s a debate going on in the lobby,” the blind pony replies, “they’re having trouble deciding either to give somepony the Alicorn Amulet or try to wait it out for the Anti-Mork Spray to be made.”

“Give somepony the Alicorn Amulet? That’s crazy.”

“But we might not be strong enough to hold them off for long.”

“I see,”

“The marshal’s breaking down from this, she thinks they can use your deductive reasoning to find an answer.”

Why don’t you answer, you seem to know the answer to everything…

“What do you think we should do?” Twilight takes a moment to think of an answer ethically sound and yet would help the resistance win.

“I’d have to go with the first option. I’m pretty sure I can use the amulet, I’m pretty mentally safe and won’t be taken over by its corruption.”

“Are you sure? I heard what happened to Trixie when she tried it on.”

“Well that’s because she has a big ego and-”

“And what?!” A mare yells from inside a room.

“Oh… There’s Trixie… Let’s just say that I am more capable to hoofling the thing.”

“So you’d be willing to wear the Alicorn Amulet in order to use its power to help the RAEM.” Raindrop giddily asks,

“In a nutshell,”

“Great! I’ll tell the others,” She then runs down the hallway, bumping into a wall in her sprint. “Oops,” The young pony corrects her path and continues her run to the lobby. Twilight starts to head for the open door to the room she was in, but it closes in front of her as Trixie speaks from behind,

“When this is over, I wanna have a word with you.”

Back at the lobby, the debate still continues as more mares are taking sides with either Major Borris or Gruncle Boris. Raindrop shoves her way through the crowd to the center, following the voices of the two stallions and Marshal Rarity arguing. “Miss Rarity, Borris, Boris,”

“What?!” The three reply.

“Twilight will be willing to use the amulet, she believes she can overcome its corrupting effects for just long enough for us to win.

“NO!”

“Why?”

“Well,” Boris replies as he clears his throat to return to his kind comforting voice. “I know a lot about the Alicorn Amulet, more than anypony else. Not even I would be able to use it without going insane…” He then turns his head back at Borris and yells, “This is why that if you gave anypony the Alicorn Amulet, the pony would go crazy and destroy us all!”

“Then can’t we just hold them off, we still have the will power,”

“Get out of here Raindrop,” Borris snaps back, “this is war, do something useful and let us take care of military action.”

“But I know all the most successful battle strategies from Neighpoleon to Coltus Khan.”

“I don’t care, we can see what’s going on, we should take care of it. Go help the Fluttershies at the hospital.”

“But I,”

“NOW!” With a scowl beaming off her face, Raindrop blows a raspberry at the major and runs off. Rainbow Dash looks at Borris and tries to calm him down,

“Borris, please,” Borris then swirls around upon hearing Rainbow’s voice and gives a loud growl, slowly turning his head side to side. The mare responds by backing up in fear, causing several ponies behind to fall over each other. The crowd begins to mumble amongst themselves as Borris sees the reproductions of his reaction and takes flight over them in shame, escaping to the hallways. Dash regains herself and gives pursuit, following him all the way to his room. She slowly follows behind him into the pitch black of his room, closing the door behind her. “Borris, are you okay?” Borris doesn’t respond and instead lights a candle, illuminating the metal room and revealing several AWE posters to his guest. “Borris?”

“What do you want?”

“I’m sorry if I got on your nerves, I just thought you were being a bit too snappy at the meeting.”

“Are you implying that I have anger issues?”

“I wouldn’t say that, you just seem to be a bit tense,”

“How about you try keeping a clear head when the hope of two Equestrias are in your hooves, yet everypony you protect treats you as a crazy loon.” Borris turns to a corner and Rainbow notices that he’s rubbing his eyes against his leg brutally.

“Is there something in your eyes?”

“It’s nothing, just a bit of dust,”

“Let me see.” Rainbow walks in front of him and looks deeply into his blue eyes, noticing a lot of red by his tear glands. “You’re eyes look very irritated, have you checked them out recently?”

“It’s a long story, nothing they can do about it.” Rainbow begins connecting what she’s seen and makes a realization.

“Do you have trouble seeing?” Borris jerks his head away from hers and lies on his bare mattress in the corner of the room, not wanting to talk about it. “You don’t need to be embarrassed,”

“…”

“You are my friend after all.”

“… I do have some issues seeing in the middle. A few incidents happened when Midnight took over,”

“What kind of incidents?”

“Terrible ones, ones I prefer not to go into detail. And ever since those incidents, I’ve never been able to see straight for months. It’s like looking through two eyeglasses and trying to make one picture from it, it’s very unfocused and very annoying. I have to move my head side to side to see what’s ahead of me and occasionally, my eyes will get very irritated, causing me to not think straight.”

“I’m so sorry for you, having to deal with that on a daily basis.”

“It’s not your fault, I pretty much deserved this.” Borris then curls himself into a corner, glaring into a corner. He’s however interrupted from his moment when Rainbow lays her chin on the side of his chestplate.

“You don’t deserve this, you are a fantastic leader, and one of the coolest ponies I have ever seen.”

“You really mean it?”

“Am I your friend?” Borris gets to his hooves and turns to Rainbow and gives a wide smile. “You can smile!” The two laugh for a while before Borris suddenly groans in pain,

“Let’s head to the hospital to get these irritations.”

“Race you there!” The two scramble to the door and burst out of the room and fly down the hallway, passing by Gruncle Borris and several other ponies. Boris looks back at the two playing and speaks to himself,

“It’s good to see Borris in a good mood, maybe one day he’ll put the past in the past.”

Meanwhile at the hospital, Raindrop is sitting with Pinkie Pie watching over the resting patients.

“Why does Borris have to be so brutal all the time, I can do stuff,” Raindrop furiously barks.

“Don’t worry, he’s not always like that.” Lieutenant Pie replies, “He’s just a grumpy goat.”

“That doesn’t mean he needs to boss everypony around like he’s the marshal.”

“Nah, he’s not even close to how bossy Rarity is.”

“Excuses me?!” Marshal Rarity yells from the other side of the room.

“Oh, I was just telling Raindrop how Borris isn’t as bossy as you.”

“Well I am not bossy, just a little more than Major Borris, being leader and all.”

“Where’s my Rarity?”  The other Pinkie asks the commander.

“She’s enjoying herself in my chamber; she is our guest after all.”

“Nepotism!” A stallion replies from the other side of the wall in the hallway.

“It is not Jack! In the event that I might be gone, she’ll take command, and I want her to be as comfortable as possible.”

“Excuses, excuses,”

“Get back to work please!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll go give our guest her manicure.”

“That’s right Jack, hop to it.”

“AH!”

“What?!” Suddenly, Borris and Rainbow Dash burst into the hospital, giggling and tripping each other over as they try to get up.

“I win!” Borris cheers in triumph.

“I’m pretty sure I reached the door first.” Rainbow proudly replies.

“You may have been the fastest in your town, but here, I’m the fastest, the coolest, and the best pegasus.”

“In your dreams.”

“Did Princess Luna tell you that?”

“Ha, good one,”

“I try.”

“Shhh,” Medic Fluttershy quietly yells at the two pegasi, “there are ponies needing lots of rest and quiet.”

“Sorry, my bad,”

“But I do like your positive attitude, haven’t really seen it in a while. What do you need?”

“I just need another eye checkup.”

“Irritation again?”

“Worse than last time,”

“Okay, just let me get my stuff and be back to you.”

“Okay ma’am.”

“Hey Major Borris,” Pinkie Pie hollers, “We were just talking about you before Marshal Rarity’s nepotism.”

“Yeah,” Borris looks down and sees Raindrop with her head lowered down with a look of anger on her face. “Raindrop,”

“Yeah?” She replies back in an accusative tone fighting to make itself present.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you, I’ve just been not on top of my game recently.”

“I want to forgive you, but recently things haven’t been nice for me either.”

“I know, but let’s try to patch things up, help me help you?”

“Okay, I’ll forgive you.”

Gruncle Boris then bursts into the hospital in a sweating panic and screams,

“They’re back! The Morks are here, and Midnight is with them!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll go give our guest her manicure.”

“That’s right Jack, hop to it.”

“AH!”

“What?!” Suddenly, Borris and Rainbow Dash burst into the hospital, giggling and tripping each other over as they try to get up.

“I win!” Borris cheers in triumph.

“I’m pretty sure I reached the door first.” Rainbow proudly replies.

“You may have been the fastest in your town, but here, I’m the fastest, the coolest, and the best pegasus.”

“In your dreams.”

“Did Princess Luna tell you that?”

“Ha, good one,”

“I try.”

“Shhh,” Medic Fluttershy quietly yells at the two pegasi, “there are ponies needing lots of rest and quiet.”

“Sorry, my bad,”

“But I do like your positive attitude, haven’t really seen it in a while. What do you need?”

“I just need another eye checkup.”

“Irritation again?”

“Worse than last time,”

“Okay, just let me get my stuff and be back to you.”

“Okay ma’am.”

“Hey Major Borris,” Pinkie Pie hollers, “We were just talking about you before Marshal Rarity’s nepotism.”

“Yeah,” Borris looks down and sees Raindrop with her head lowered down with a look of anger on her face. “Raindrop,”

“Yeah?” She replies back in an accusative tone fighting to make itself present.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you, I’ve just been not on top of my game recently.”

“I want to forgive you, but recently things haven’t been nice for me either.”

“I know, but let’s try to patch things up, help me help you?”

“Okay, I’ll forgive you.”

Gruncle Boris then bursts into the hospital in a sweating panic and screams,

“They’re back! The Morks are here, and Midnight is with them!”

Captured Gems

“Midnight Alert! Midnight Alert!” General Applejack shouts while a random pony shakes the alarm bell frantically, “Everypony to the surface now! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is NOT a drill!” Hundreds of ponies begin flooding the stairway; even more than before, quickly hustling up the steps. “Aaron, Daniel, get the armour!” The two unicorns follow orders as the peel from the crowd and head into the armoury, coming back out levitating hundreds of suits of purple plates of metal armour. Outside the hospital, Borris and the gang look upon the rush and he turns to Raindrop and talks to her,

“Stay in the hospital and help the nurses. Midnight is a true force to be reckoned with.”

“Yes sir.” Raindrop proudly replies and goes back into the hospital with the two Fluttershies.”

“Rainbow, Lieutenant, and Pinkie, join the front liners and defend the entrance, I’ll join you guys later.”

“On it!” Rainbow exclaims and the three hop into the crowd and head up.

“Go! Go! Go!”

“Major Borris,” Marshal Rarity says.

“Marshal?”

“You are doing quite an excellent job, I might consider giving you a promotion.”

“Thanks,”

“Tell the others that I’m going to go check on Rarity and help defend the amulet.”

“I’ll communicate your orders to above.”

“Good job.” The two parts ways as Borris flies above the river of mares and the marshal enters her chamber. But instead of finding Rarity relaxing on her bed, she finds Applejack at her desk. “Applejack? Where’s Rarity?”

“She put me in the runner-up of here while she goes up to fight,” the Earth Pony responds, “something about me being more responsible.”

“What? Why would my other me not want to get the highest position in the RAEM?”

“I saw the meeting a few minutes ago, you seemed pretty stressed. Maybe Rarity doesn’t want that.”

“She’d get used to it.”

“Do you like it, having to make the hard decision with the fate of Equestria in your hooves?”

“Are you saying I’m not suitable for this position?”

“I’m just saying that there might be other ponies that could carry the burden without tipping it over.”

“Like who? General Apple? She didn’t even attend the meeting,”

“Because she was watching over the foals, both your and my Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and many others since the caretaker was in the hospital. She had me represent for her.”

“Do you really think that she of all ponies could hold this power?”

“Yes, quite frankly I do.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“No, I’m trying to be a mature adult and not using my power for just manicures and servants.”

“It’s called presentably.”

“It’s called abuse of power.”

“So what if I use a bit of it here or there, I deserve it for putting up with lip like yours and Applejack.”

“You can be so immature Rarity,”

“You can be so full of yourself Applejack,” A loud explosion booms from above, rattling candlesticks and torches off of the walls, bathing the now empty base in darkness.

“Do you want to take this outside?”

“Yes, the surviving pony will prove that all her world versions are better than the other’s.”

“Challenge accepted.” The two storm out of the room and race each other up to the surface, immediately being blinded by balls of fire and light racing across the sky.  Unicorns are firing from every angle from inside and outside the old born, pegasi are creating tornadoes and firing lightning from clouds, creating a massive downpour on the battlefield where Earth Ponies are bashing and fighting their way through hundreds of Morks.

Inside the red skies that glow of crimson, Borris and Rainbow Dash are flying over the chaos, looking for the empress. They are however caught off guard when a humongous metal dragon and a black armoured alicorn fly right below them. “Spike! Midnight!” Borris exclaims, “Rainbow Dash, if we can get a sneak attack on Midnight from behind, we might be able to find a weakness.”

“Roger that buddy!” Rainbow replies as they turn around and slowly catch up on the unsuspecting empress. Upon being with a meter of her target, Rainbow gives a mighty shove of her wings and tackles Midnight, causing the two to crash onto the beast’s back. “Gotcha!” Midnight pulls the pegasus off her back and tosses her to the metal floor. Dash gets to her hooves as they stand high in the clouds, staring each other down.

“Well, well,” Midnight replies with a villainous cackle, “if it isn’t Captain Dash, back from the grave.”

“You know who I am.”

“And does everypony else? Or are you lying to them to ‘save their spirits’?”

“What’s it matter to you?”

“Not much, either way you’re going down. How about we make this interesting, no flying and no magic per say?”

“It’s your loss, without your cheats, anypony can beat you.”

“You’ll be even easier to beat than your dead other.” Midnight’s horn glows as Rainbow begins to feel heavier than usual. “Now, that you can’t fly,” Empress Midnight deactivates her wing flaps before screaming, “NOW LET’S END THIS!” Rainbow and Midnight then charge at each other, eyes dead set on each other. Midnight delivers the first blow, moving her body to cause a lifeless claw to smack Rainbow in the side and sending her flying off the dragon’s back, plummeting into the battle below. The pegasus tries to open her wings, but she realizes that they’re stiff as stone against her body, causing her to scream in terror.

“Rainbow!” Borris hollers as he dives out of the clouds, blowing his cover.

“Spike, take care of him.” Midnight then jumps from her minion’s back and dives towards Dash as the metal Spike turns to Borris and hovers. The beast blasts molten metal fireballs from his mouth and Borris avoids each one, with each ball nearly clipping him in the wins. Borris then flies high into the clouds and stays hidden for a while. The dragon reacts by fires a ray of flames into the clouds, only to have the pegasus dive from the clouds straight towards him with electricity crackling in his wing plates. Borris then slams his body right between Spike’s eyes, causing electricity to surge through its body. The massive beast roars in pain and flies away with his tail between his hind legs as his metallic body droops down from the wings. Borris then dives down and finds Midnight and Rainbow fighting on the ground amongst the others. He sees Rainbow Dash sidestepping, ducking, and jumping over Midnight’s rapid horn slices and jabs. Dash then manages to run around the empress’ body, punching, kicking, and bucking at her sides, her behind, and even her face. Soon, Rainbow delivers a buck at her rival’s face so hard, it tears off a chunk of her helmet, revealing a pair of round glowing red eyes. “Impossible! Even with the power of the Alicorn Amulet, I’m losing to a mere hoof fight…”

“You got this Rainbow!”

“If I can only get a hold of that second amulet still in the RAEM…”

“Don’t even think about it,” Rainbow replies, speeding circles around the empress, “I guess I’m too good for you.”

“Playtime’s over!” Midnight’s horn flashes as her arms come to life once more and she grabs Rainbow Dash.

“No fair! Let me go!”

“You’re coming with me…”

“Not if my lightning wings have anything to say about it!” Borris screams as he dives onto Midnight, electrifying her with the leftover electricity in his wing plates. The empress’ limbs go limp as Borris grabs Rainbow as they make their way to the barn.

“Sneaky little pegasus, you always were a powerful asset…”

“Take this you ruffians!” A mare’s voice carries over the fighting and into Midnight’s ear, she turns to see Rarity, clothed in armour, rapidly firing magic in every direction. “This is for ruining my boutique!” Rarity tries to levitate the Morks closing in on her, she is instead hit with a shock.

“Ha ha,” Rarity hears the empress’ laugh and looks around and sees the towering mare. “You didn’t think I thought of that did you other Rarity? My Morks and I are immune to telekinesis, outside teleportation, and any other forms of direct magic.”

“You don’t frighten me you miscreation of a mule.”

“This will, my friend.” Midnight’s horn glows as Rarity freezes in place, staring blankly in front of her.  “You rash pony, falling for my illusions a second time. You may not be Rainbow Dash, but you’ll work for what I got planned.”

“Rarity!” The marshal screams. She jumps onto Midnight’s back and fires a stream of magic energy into the back of her helmet. Midnight tries to reach her back with her claws, but she finds that they can’t bend in such a way to grab the pony.

“It’s like that one itch on your back you can’t reach…” The empress rolls over, squishing Marshal Rarity to the dirt floor. Midnight gets back to her hooves and grabs the marshal in her right claw. “This will work even better,” The green wing flaps activate and the metal pony take off with her hostage, screaming and kicking with all her might. “Morks, we got what we came for, let’s take off!” In that moment of command, hundreds of Morks retreat from the barn and run into the forest. Twilight runs out from behind the barn chasing a trio of unicorn minions, yelling,

“Get back here!” She sees Empress Midnight holding the marshal and concentrates on her wings.

“Don’t!” General Applejack shouts at her, “You can’t perform direct magic on Midnight, you’ll be electrocuted!” However, instead of what the general warned Twilight, the alicorn freezes Midnight in midair, holding her wings in a magic grip.

“Gotcha!”

“How the?!”

“Not, letting you, get away!” Twilight walks backwards, pulling the floating pony closer and closer to the barn. Midnight lowers her head under her body and fires a powerful beam of magic, obliterating the ground around Twilight. This catches her off guard and she lets go of concentration, letting Midnight escape into the clouds with her Morks already long gone.

“How’d you do that?” Gruncle Boris exclaims, “No pony has been able to use direct magic on Midnight, not even the princesses were able to hold her in place!”

“I don’t know.”

“It might be because you and her have a similar magic frequency…”

“What?”

“Your horn in which you project magic from has a set frequency, all unicorns and alicorns have their own unique frequency, with some being more similar than others. From my studies, I theorize that ponies can overcome another’s magic if they are more powerful in magic capabilities or having a similar magic frequency.”

“Why me and Midnight though? How are we so similar is that we have similar frequencies?”

“It’s just a theory, might not be completely correct.”

“That’s not important though,” General Applejack argues, “that blast of magic was too big and powerful to be one of Midnight’s normal blasts. Do you know what that means?”

“Uh… She needs to go use the bathroom?”

“It means she has the Alicorn Amulet.”

“How? None of her minions made it even close to the inside of the RAEM. Unless,”

“She got it from Twilight’s world.”

“I see, so the only reason she didn’t destroy us then and there,”

“Is because she thinks we might use ours against hers,” Twilight adds.

“That’s probably what she’s thinking.”

“The more important thing now is that Marshal Rarity’s been captured,” Borris interjects, “we need to rescue her before anything bad happens to her.”

“Right,” Twilight nudges Rarity with her horn, causing her to snap out of Midnight’s hallucination.

“Miss Rarity, the marshal’s been kidnapped, and she has left you in charge. What is your first order?” The unicorn takes a minute to collect herself and replies,

“Well, since I’m now in command… uh… I’m going to put General Applejack in charge of the RAEM.”

“Oh, okay,” the general replies in surprise, but quickly recollects herself and turns her voice stern, “First order of business, take everypony to the hospital to be checked out.”

“Yes ma’am,” Twilight and the others reply in unison.

“Then we are going to construct and execute a rescue mission, am I clear?”

“Yes.”

“I just hope Rarity isn’t in too much trouble, I can barely imagine what torture she’s going through at this moment.”

Turning to the Midnight Sky

Inside Midnight’s throne room, Marshal Rarity is sleeping on the throne while two pegasus Morks fanning her with their wings. She wakes up and looks around her unknown surroundings and sees the Morks. She asks to herself,

“What is this? Am I dreaming?” Her voice fades away into the silent ambience of the room, with only the slow fanning of wings continuously breaking the silence. “You, ruffians, tell me what’s going on.” They continue to remain silent, ignoring what she said. A small rush a pain hits her head, causing her to groan and rub her forehead. “The last thing I remember was Midnight grabbing me and us flying into the sky. I must’ve passed out from the smoke.”

“Correct…” The empress’ voice speaks from behind her seat, the marshal looks above to see two metallic claws gripping the ears of the chair.

“Midnight!”

“Ooh, two for two,”

“Why did you take me here? What’s with all the pampering?”

“Oh, I just love confusion,” Midnight lifts herself over the tall top of the throne and stares at her prisoner upside down, her artificial arms clutching tightly to the throne holding her up. “It gives me the opportunity to explain.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

“I want to have a chat with you, a good old buddy to buddy talk.”

“We are not friends,”

“But we used too, we were the closest of partners for years.”

“Until you betrayed us,”

“No, it was them whom betrayed me.”

“We had to stop you before you became this, this monster.”

“Does trying to make yourself stronger make you a monster?”

“If it means using the Alicorn Amulet, then yes it does.”

“I had the power under control; you and the others were just scared of being inferior to me.”

“You obviously don’t, look at yourself. Why does it have to be this way?”

“After you and your friends betrayed me, I as exiled into the baron reaches of Equestria,”

“You ran away,”

“I put the pieces together and came to a revelation,”

“You came up with a lie to justify your actions,”

“Everypony respects Celestia because she has powerful magic and she has the crown. However, if a pony with even close to the magical strength she has comes around, she’s treated as a show-off, a freak, a monster.”

“That isn’t true Midnight, Celestia’s respected is because she is kind and uses her magic for good. You were under the control of that evil amulet, causing you to be treated like a monster.”

“You mean this amulet?” Midnight’s dented chestplate opens to reveal the Alicorn Amulet, it’s red glow emitting right into Marshal Rarity’s eyes.

“But how,”

“Let’s just say that how I got this was through an ‘other-worldly’ situation.”

“I still don’t understand how you even figured out there were other Equestrias,”

“I had a vision last night, a vision of other worlds being able to be accessed by the Tree of Harmony. Magic is a very strange thing; any unicorn is able of redefining the rules upon discovering what they are fully capable of doing. However, under oppression by a certain princess, they will never be able to find their true potential. The Alicorn Amulet has helped me find mine, and I can help find yours.”

“And become a ‘powerful’ tyrant like you?”

“Who says that you aren’t one already?”

“What do you mean?”

“You and your little resistance, you’ve been able to perfect the Magic Beam Emission attack. They see you as greatly powerful, too powerful in fact. And with you being leader, surely rumors will manifest, rumors of you becoming like me, worse than me even.”

“I know what you’re playing here. They’re my friends, they would never think of something so absurd.”

“Oh really? 100% certain of that?”

“Well,”

“Yes?”

“Applejack has been trying to one-up me for a while,”

“The riskiest thing you can do is get greedy. Sooner or later, she’ll end up dooming you all.”

“And Fluttershy’s persistently nagging me about how to run the RAEM safety.”

“Too many cooks spoil the broth. She will probably start small war inside your base, with Applejack leading this inner rebellion.”

“And who can forget Rainbow Dash, her constantly putting us at risk because she and Major Borris having some risky plan that ends up blowing up in their faces,”

“Oh, about that,”

“What?”

“The Rainbow Dash you knew is no longer with us, the pony you’ve been working with the past hours is the other world’s version of Rainbow Dash.”

“So you’re saying…”

“Yes, you’ve been lied to, because they fear what you might do.”

“No, you’re lying, you’re lying about everything!”

“I saw her die in my own claw, and think about it, the missing scars, her obliviousness, her acting like it’s been a while since she’s seen Major Borris.”

“…”

“See what I mean?”

“So, you aren’t lying to me?”

“I know, it’s painful knowing the truth,” Midnight levitates Rarity off the throne and down to the lower floors, facing her in front of an old door. “But it can set you free, make you whom you truly are, and even yield greater rewards than you can ever imagine.” She opens to door as Rarity gazes upon towers of solid gold bars and massive gemstones. She gasps as Midnight drops her into the chamber, her dream come true and more.

“So, much, everything,”

“And this can all be yours if you join me, the winning side, the side of no lies, no oppression, and the pursuit of one’s own potential.” Midnight stretches her right claw out to the marshal on top of a small pile of rubies. She looks back at the empress and back at the outstretched arm, thinking about her decision.

“This isn’t right, betraying my friends so you can continue with your multi-world campaign; I do not want to be part of it. Despite all these riches, they’re my friends, the true gold in life.”

“Are they really your friends? Do you really want to help a bunch of lying backstabbers bring back a corrupt government?” Marshal Rarity looks down at a large gem on the floor, seeing a reflection of her. She looks back up with a determined look on her face and reaches her right hoof out at the arm. The metal fingers grab her hoof as they shake on it. “Good, enjoy yourself in here and relax. As soon as you are ready, head back to the RAEM and, be creative.” The empress walks out of the room and looks back to see the marshal staring blankly at her in a cold empty room. “Too easy,”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, Atlas and the gang are enjoying themselves to a feast. From each end of the long wooden table, each of the four ae stuffing their faces with plates upon plates of various foods.

“Dear Celestia,” Atlas exclaims with a mouth full of cake, “this layered cake is probably what a dream tastes like if it was physical and I could consume it for nourishment.”

“Atlas,” Jack replies upon swallowing down a whole potato, “I think you’ve had a bit too much sugar.”

“I'll tell you when I've had enough! Pass me another cake,”

“Yes Mr. Goni,” a blue Mork replies from behind and runs out of the large corridor to fetch more food.

“And besides, sugar is good for you, it gives you calcium and you need it when you’re young,”

“I think you’re confusing sugar with milk,” Aaron argues, “and aren’t you lactose intolerant?”

“As long as this frosting isn’t cream cheese, I’ll be as fine as a rock.”

“Whatever, guys, you all know why Midnight’s giving us this treatment?”

“Not entirely,” Daniel responds with apple pie smeared all over his face.

“Moron, she’s buttering us up to join her side. We appear to have some physical or mental property that prevents us from becoming a bozo like the guy behind me. No offence,”

“None taken,” The unicorn Mork replies, “as soon as you realize the majesty of the empress, you’ll no longer think of such words against us. I will go fetch you more food as well.” The white Mork follow’s the other’s route out of the room, leaving the four non-Morks by themselves.

“This empress doesn’t want any form of resistance against her.”

“But we’re incredibly weak compared to her,” Daniel asks, “why us as well?”

“Not sure, but as long as we act as if she’s on our good side, we might be able to gather clues.”

“Great plan,” Jack cheers. A large shadow swoops over them, causing a gush of wind to topple several piles of food. It lands right besides Jack and Atlas at the end of the table and speaks,

“Hello boys,”

“Speak of the devil.”

“Enjoying your food?”

“Why yes Ms. Midnight.”

“Anyways, maybe after this little party, you guys can help me with something.”

“What?”

“Aaron and Daniel Grump!”

“What?!” The two yell from the other end of the massive table.

“You two are scientists and mages, correct?”

“We prefer the term; Magisters.”

“Whatever, I need you guys to forge some metal for me. Stronger, lighter, able to deflect magic,”

“What’s in it for us?”

“The guarantee that your princesses and you two will be safe for now,” A loud gulp can be heard before the two reply,

“Okay.”

“Jack Cystic, Atlas Goni,”

“Yes?” Jack asks.

“You will use the metal the Grumps forged to make me a new suit of armour using your vast knowledge of fashion.”

“But me and Atlas are kinda more like media crit-”

“I don’t care, make me a good suit of armour, one able to hold two of these safely.” Midnight opens her chest plate, showing the two Earth Ponies the Alicorn Amulet.

“Okay.”

“And make sure you don’t do a bad job, I will judge you harshly, and if you fail…”

“I get it, I get it. Any sort of style or something we should go off of for inspiration?”

“I’m thinking something along the lines of a bat.”

“A bat?!” Atlas barks with an obvious slur in his voice, “Bats are dumb.”

“They represent the beauty of the night and eliminate any and all pests in its path.”

“Even if you call yourself Batmare, the armour will end up being not intimidating and looking distractingly cute instead.”

“Find a way then!” Midnight slams her fist into the stone floor, scaring Atlas and causing him to scream,

“CAAAAAT!!!” Atlas then falls into a sugar-induced coma, slamming headfirst into the vanilla cake in front of him.

“He’ll be okay. Jack?”

“I get the message, I’ll to make the awesome-est suit of armour you’ve ever seen.”

“Good, see you all tomorrow morning.” A black flash burst as Midnight teleports out, leaving the stallions to finish their meal.

“Okay, that’s a clue. Aaron, Daniel, head to the forgery while I try to wake up my brown buddy over there.”

“Okay, we’ll meet back here hourly,” Dan replies, “Good luck.”

“Atlas, wake up, I told you, you were having too much sugar.”

“A BAT SUIT OF ARMOUR?!” The sugar-hyped pony screams with cake muffling the full volume of his deranged hollering.

Planted Lies

Just outside the old barn, Major Jack, Major Borris, and Rainbow Dash are facing into the thick of the forest as General Applejack is talking to them, “Fellow members of the RAEM, I have chosen you to join me on a rescue mission for Marshal Rarity. I have seen what you have done for us, kind, generous, honest, loyal, which is why I’m putting so much faith in you all. Does anypony feel unsuitable for this risky mission into the belly of the beast?”

“No general!” The three reply.

“Good, then let’s move ou-”

“Friendship is magic!” A distant voice echoes from the fog and deep of the wood.

“Is that?”

“It’s me, Marshal Rarity, I’m back.” The marshal walks from the crowd in front of the four fully armed in purple armour. “See, I told you those armour repaints would look cute on you all.”

“But how did you escape? We saw Midnight grab you and take off back to Canterlot!”

“She dropped me.”

“Really?”

“Must have been when I gave her an electric shock,” Borris adds, “I must’ve caused the magic connection to malfunction.”

“Oh, seems legit to me.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Marshal Rarity continues, “I’m most exhausted and have been worrying about the Alicorn Amulet ever since I fell.”

“About that, the empress has the amulet from Twilight’s world.”

“You don’t say?”

“Yes, but we might be able to keep her back if we keep the one in the RAEM safe.”

“Excellent strategy, I’ll check on our security measures currently and see if it need adjustments.”

“Okay, I’m happy to see you back.”

Yeah right… liar. “To you as well.”

Dear Boris,

It has worked! The Sparkle Blood Diamond was even more successful then I theorized. Not only did it circulate Celestia’s powerful magic for weeks on end, it also slowly amplified the magic power. However, a new problem has come around, being able to attached the charged gem onto a wearable piece of clothing and not injuring the host when using it. I have just recently tried attaching it to a small golden chestplate I made for my great nephew’s, Shining Armour’s, first birthday. Unexpectedly, the solid 24-carat gold armour disintegrated to fine sand upon merely touching it with the diamond. Shining Armour’s birthday is today, and I don’t think I’ll be able to make another gift and send it to him anomalously in time, so if you are reading this Shining, I’m sorry. Other than that, I’ll need to find a more magically durable material that is able to withstand the contact of the charged diamond.

Happy birthday Shining Armour,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“Hey Twilight!” Lieutenant Pie’s voice hollers, snapping Twilight out of her reading in the armoury.

“Which Pinkie are you?” She asks, slowly recovering from the scare she just had.

“Not yours, that’s for sure.”

“What do you want?”

“Just wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“Okay, shoot.” Pinkie’s voice surprisingly calms down into a more serious tone as she lets out a sigh and asks,

“What’s it like in your world?”

“I assume it’s pretty much the same as this one before this like Empress Midnight problem came around.”

“Can you describe it to me?”

“You don’t need me to tell you about it, you remember, all those good times and adventures we had,”

“…”

“You don’t remember, do you?”

“None of us here do, it’s been months since any pony’s seen what the past was like. And seeing your world in all of its beauty has sparked my curiosity of what true peace was like.”

“But didn’t you say you remember Cheese Sandwich.”

“I do, but very little really.”

“Well, where do you want me to start?”

“What were you like?”

“Before I start, I need to know this, what happened to me, just to get a preference on how to tell you about me.”

“I’m told I shouldn’t talk about you while you were around.”

“Why?”

“Borris,”

“Which one?”

“Major Borris told me that if I told you what happened to our Twilight, it would hurt you so badly, that you’d end up not being able to help us.”

“Oh did he?”

“Yeah, but I’ll tell you this, it is not at all pretty when Midnight came and you were gone. Just start from shortly before we met for the first time.”

“Well, I was once a plain old unicorn from Canterlot, I lived with my parents and was occasionally foal-sat by Princess Cadence and Gruncle Boris. With Celestia as my tutor and Spike as my assistant, I learned more and more how to master magic. I was a bookworm, and I use to think that I didn’t need friends to become the best. However, Celestia sent me to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship and there’s where I met you, Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, and everypony else that eventually became my friend. We went on so many adventures together, taking on Discord, Queen Chrysalis, all the while learning an bettering ourselves as friends,”

“Incoming!” A loud yell is heard from the outside hall as the Grump Brothers, Medic Fluttershy, Spike, and Raindrop barge into the room levitating a black boiling cauldron over their heads.

“What is that?”

“This might be the Anti-Mork Spray, but we need to test it out,” Raindrop replies, Aaron adds,

“Twilight, get one of those helmets with the visor still on them and smell it.” Twilight follows his orders and levitates a black Mork helmet to her nose, quickly pushing it away upon smelling it. “And?”

“It smells awful!” the alicorn violently barks, “how could stallions like this toxic smell?”

“Similar to how we feel about this, smell the gas coming out of this.” Twilight hesitantly flies above the boiling pot and smells, immediately gravitating towards it.

“Smells like physical beauty to me!”

“Well to us, it smells like toxic fumes and a deadly mix of glue and hoof polish.” Dan levitates a small bellow pump out of the purple liquid and sprays it onto the helmet next to Twilight. “Smell the helmet again.” Twilight smells the drenched Mork helmet once again and is sub sequentially attracted to it. “Interesting, if the spray has a positive reaction with a mare, will this spray have a negative effect on stallions and maybe even Morks?”

“Only way to find out,” Spike confidently replies, “We’ll wait for the next attack and give it to them.”

“Correct little guy. I might consider replacing Daniel with you.” The six ponies burst into laughter until Dan abruptly asks,

“You’re joking right?”

“Yeah you’re right.”

“Oh, phew, for a second, I actually-”

“Raindrop would make for a better assistant.”

Deep underground, several meters below the main area of the RAEM, Marshall Rarity stands before a large vault door. She looks back seeing an empty stairway with light dancing upon the stone steps, confirming that she’s all alone. Rarity looks back forward and taps her horn against the steel door three times. A small mail shot in front of her opens as a pair of green eyes peer out and a female voice asks, “Marshal Rarity, what bring you here?”

“When was the last time you were out of this grubby chamber?”

“About a week or two,”

“How about you and everypony else in there take a break from guarding the amulet and enjoy yourselves for the rest of the night?”

“Will there be another shift to project the Anti-Alicorn Shield Boris created?”

“Nah, Midnight seems to be out for the count for the while.”

“You sure?”

“Who’s been kidnapped by her in less than an hour ago?”

“…”

“Me, I’m sure she’s gone for the night.” The vault door slowly swings open as a group of ten unicorns exit the dark room inside and they all head upstairs to the main area. The marshal slowly walks in as she adjusts her eyes to the dark and comes across a small box on a pedestal in the middle of the black void. Her horn lights up as it illuminates the golden cube and revealing several cracks and missing pieces of the stone pillar it rests on. Using her horn, she fires a thin beam of magic into the top of the box, popping the top off and revealing a Alicorn Amulet inside.

“Rarity?” A voice from behind frightens her as she yelps and leaps several hooves in the air. Upon landing, Marshal Rarity recollects herself and looks to see General Apple.

“You caught me off guard.”

“Sorry, I just came to ask you something?”

“Yes?”

“Earlier today, I learned that your other you isn’t so sure she wants to be the marshal if you’re not around.”

“How’d you figure that out?”

“She seemed really pressured and didn’t know what to do when you were gone.”

“Your point?”

“The point is maybe you shouldn’t pressure her into being your runner-up and maybe give the title to somepony more qualified.”

Great, now this Applejack is trying to tell me what to do. However… “Applejack, you’re right.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you have done so much to help us and take the burden off of my back.”

“True,”

“For such a strong career, I might consider promoting you to second in command.”

“I am already…”

“Well then… First and a half in command then, yes, I might promote you to that.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Yes, even though I’m your leader, you can now execute your own plans without my knowledge.”

“You mean it!”

“Absolutely, I’m so confident with your efforts, I’ll let you take responsibility of the RAEM for the night while I get some decent shut eye. It should be easy while the empress is recovering for a day or two.”

“Thank you, you truly are my best friend I know.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, even though we have our differences and our fights, we always managed to do great things together. And this is no difference.”

“Thanks, best friend.”

“Have a good night; I’ll make sure everypony’s safe and happy.” The general turns back and heads up, leaving the marshal to look back at the Alicorn Amulet and talk silently to herself.

“What do I do? They lied to me, but they’re my friends. Do they know better, or does Midnight? If only I could talk to somepony, but I can’t. What would they even say if they knew I was considering joining the empress’ side?” Silence washes over as she stares at her reflection through the red crystal in the amulet. “Midnight’s accepting to give her enemies a chance to redeem themselves to do the right thing, the RAEM is not, I should know. I’m sorry Applejack, but I’ve chosen what I believe is right.”

Dear Boris,

Today I have nothing to report for my research right now, it’s just I’ve come across this dilemma that I need to write down. I’ve been thinking recently, and I’ve realized that all this project has done was separate me from my family and even then, it’s destroying them, either physically or emotionally. I know that if it’s successful, I could redeem myself and finally be reaccepted into the Sparkle family after all these years. But what if it never succeeds and I end up wasting both others’ and my life on something that would never bring any change to begin with. Will the amulet be able to bring my brother back from the clutches of death, or is it permanent, and no amount of magic can bring him back? I do not know, if only he was here right now to help me.

Should I continue?

Boris G. Sparkle.

The First Amulet

Inside Captain Dash’s room, Borris and Rainbow are sitting together at the foot of the bed reading a Daring Do book. “Ahuizotl, arch-nemesis of Daring Do,” Rainbow exclaims to her partner  “always trying to find ways to bring doom and destruction to the world.”

“Interesting,” Borris replies, “you are really into this book series. To think, you despised the text books they gave us at the academy.”

“I’m surprised that you’ve never even heard of Daring Do. It has adventure, action, everything you’d like.”

“I never really did have the time for things like this, I was too busy with the AWE and protecting the ponies of Equestria. Maybe after the war is over I can take the time to actually get into this book.”

“So what do you do in your free time here?”

“I’d usually play with Captain Dash, tend to the younger ponies, and mostly train myself for the next battle.”

“…”

“Something disturbing you Dash?”

“Has it ever occurred to you how weird this has become, the idea of alternate worlds actually existing, the fact that there is another you somewhere out there?”

“It does intrigue me, maybe he might find us and help.”

“How did you find the RAEM?”

“Well, I don’t really feel like talking about it.”

“Why? You don’t need to feel nervous or embarrassed. I am your friend after all.”

“I still don’t want to talk about it.”

“Sometimes talking to your friends about it can make it less painful.”

“I-”

“Guys!” Twilight yells as she barges into the room with Boris’ open journal floating behind her. “Listen to this entry I found;”

Dear Boris,

Just recently, my niece-in-law has given birth once again, this time to a mare. The whole of Canterlot is creating a giant stir about it, rumors have been going around that she has silver eyes and a coat white as snow, something incredibly rare. Ancient tales and folklore stated that ponies with these traits process extreme levels of raw magic, but are highly dangerous at an early age with little to no development. The city is wondering what to do with the baby, but luckily my nephew has assured them that nothing will go wrong as long as she’s in his care. I’m so proud of what Night Light’s become of him. I’ve recently sent a letter to him, congratulating him on what a mature stallion he has become even without a blood father. Seeing as how now I has two great niblings, I now have double the motivation to get some money from my project to redeem myself into the family. What should her name be anyways?

Go me,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“Do you know what this means?”

“You were born pale?” Rainbow asks.

“No, it means I have a sister!”

“Then how did you not know she existed until now?”

“Not sure, I must ask my gruncle about this.” She turns and darts out the room as fast as she came in, leaving Borris to reply,

“Probably pale,”

Meanwhile, inside the lobby, all is quiet except for the dim burning of torches and the snoring of several ponies finally getting some rest. A large black shadowy figure looms in the stairwell looking over the empty room. It slowly enters as two appendages stretch of its back and attach themselves to the wall surrounding the entrance. They pull the main body up towards the ceiling several meters above the grated floor. The shadow turns stiff as the small clomping of hooves catch its attention. Two red eyes inside the hidden figure gaze upon Twilight trotting across the lobby, thinking she’s the only pony awake in the area. Shortly after the small pony leaves, the shadow drops from her hiding place as green wings of magic energy light up the dim room as the lurking pony glides into the hall Twilight came from. Two by two, torches extinguish upon feeling the cold wind of the pony’s flight.

“Gruncle Boris?” Twilight softly whispers at a door with the initials BGS carved into it. The door creaks open as the familiar face of her family member pokes his head out.

“Twilight!” He proudly exclaims, “What bring you here?”

“I have some questions for you.”

“Okay,” Boris squeezes the rest of his body out of his room and closes the door behind him before facing Twilight.

“What’s up, something about my journal?”

“Who’s my sister?” Upon her finishing her sentence, the old stallion shudders spastically as he tries to collect his thoughts and words in shock. “Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine, I think I had a senior moment for a second.”

“It’s just, I didn’t see a white mare with silver eyes in that family record book we have.”

“Oh we don’t? Must be a mistake, skipped a generation or something.”

“You sound awfully strange Boris, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, I swear.”

“Do you at least know why I haven’t heard of her yet you seem to know?”

“How’d you even hear of this sister of yours?”

“You wrote it in your journal.” Twilight pulls the book in front of her, giving Boris a good look at the cover.

“Volume 17?!” Gruncle Borris immediately then uses his magic to break Twilight’s levitation spell and grabs the journal in his mouth before it hits floor.

“What was that?”

“This is-is a top secret volume, very classified!” Boris mutters before levitating the book behind his back out of Twilight’s sight.

“But I was just getting to know about my sister in your diary entries,”

“I went crazy for a while from studying Mercury, I tell ya, wrote the craziest things.”

“Why are you hiding this from me?”

“There’s some really personal things in there, best you don’t read this.” Boris then opens the door and tosses the book in before slamming it shut.

“Boris G. Sparkle!” The old unicorn freezes in place from his panic attack and calmly replies,

“Yes?”

“You’re hiding something from me, you’re acting is not very convincing.”

“But what if I’m acting like I’m a terrible actor, just to playfully throw you in a loop?”

“Gruncle Boris, do I have a sister and if so, how come I never knew her?”

“You don’t have a sister; I was going a little kooky from as study I was working on so I wrote fake diary pages just to relieve the anxiety.”

“What were you working on? Was it the magic amulet inside your diary?”

“No. I was actually studying the effects of some rouge apple cider that was making Manehattan go insane. Apparently it was some unknown ingredient used in lamp oil. It took its toll on me as well and I came up with a bunch of stupid garbage in my head that wrote as fact.”

“So everything you wrote was…”

“Absolute baloney, so it’ll just take care of that silly journal and you can just forget about this whole mess.”

“Okay. Good night.” Twilight turns back and begins to walk towards the lobby before slowing down to see Boris running the other way, softly mumbling,

“Gotta pee, gotta pee, gotta pee,” As soon as Boris turns the corner and leaves Twilight alone in the corridor, Twilight slowly heads back towards Boris’ room and slowly opens the door with her hooves. A crack of yellow light enters the dark room and illuminates the journal laying cover down against the cold metal floor. Twilight then quietly sneaks into the room and stumbles upon the family record book hidden in the shadow next to the light. She decides to pick up both books and tucks them into her wings and upon turning around towards the door, she think she sees another book in a corner next to the door. She picks it up as well and leaves the room shoving the unknown journal under her saddle.

Later that night, in the hallway leading to the amulet vault, two pegasus mares are walking down the path, quietly chatting to each other. A large shadow silently crawls on the ceiling above them as the two a unaware of its presence. As the three get closer to the staircase to the vault, the figure drops from the ceiling, creating a loud thud behind the pair. “What was that?!” The beige mare exclaims to her friend, but she looks to her side to see that her partner that was there is gone. She then looks behind to see nothing there as well, putting her on edge. She then hears muttered screaming at the back of her head. The pony slowly turns her head forward to see a large pony, draped in black armour, holding her turquoise friend in its metal claws, and red eyes staring right at her with a solid white grin just below. “MID-” She yelp is cut short by Midnight grabbing her in her other arm. Sharp, serrated claws firmly grip the empress’ latest victims as her long horn begins to glow red. Shortly, the two ponies’ bodies begin to become encased in a red glow. After a minute of struggling, a white flash ruptures through the hall as Midnight looks up to see her mechanical hooves are no empty.

“Sheesh, it always seems to take longer and longer for these things to work,” Midnight whispers to herself as she slowly walks down the stairwell and into the dark chamber where the Alicorn Amulet is. Midnight then comes across Marshal Rarity still staring at the pendant, oblivious of the giant standing a meter behind her. “Rarity,” The marshal turns her head to see Midnight and then back at the pedestal where the amulet lays and asks,

“Is this really the right thing to do?”

“Trust me, ally, the dark ages of Equestria are over. A new era has begun, one that shall stand in solid stone for eons.”

“Are we friends?”

“The word, ‘friend,’ is derived from weakness, we shall call each other powerful allies from now on. And to prove my affections towards this movement,” One of her metallic claws reaches behind her back as she pulls out a rope necklace with a golden triangle attached to it. “Got this after defeating some wannabe villain, a tough foe I may add.” Midnight then levitates the pendant and slips it over the white unicorn’s head and rests it upon her neck. “Now stand aside, powerful ally.” The marshal obeys and moves to the left, giving Empress Midnight a clear view of the resting Alicorn Amulet. “Finally! After several months and restless nights, I have finally found you once more!” Midnight proceeds to laugh manically before grabbing it in her right arm and running out of the chamber. Her laughing soon degrades to a girly giggle as she dashes through many hallways, waking many mares from their sleep and frightening the ponies still awake. Upon reaching the lobby, Midnight stops dead in her tracks and screams, “You all lose!” She then scampers up the stairway to the surface and takes off into the smoky clouds and disappears without a trace. Back in the vault, Marshal Rarity looks down at her new necklace and a small nervous smile spreads across her face.

“Powerful ally, I like the sound of that. And this necklace she gave me is fairly nice,”

“Ms. Rarity,” a small voice squeaks from the back abyss in the chamber, causing the marshal to jump, “did you just give the Alicorn Amulet to Empress Midnight?”

“Raindrop?! I can explain!” But before she even starts, the sky blue No-Pony runs out of the darkness and out of the room, leaving Marshal Rarity alone as she begins to panic.

Dear Boris,

Night Light was wrong, as hard as he tried, he couldn’t control Isabelle and she nearly caused an ice age to hit Equestria. I had to ditch my studies to help the princesses encase the young filly in Chaos Ice and isolate her from the rest of the kingdom. Such a tragedy had to occur to even this generation of the Sparkle family. Since Shining Armour is still very young and my other great niece, Twilight, was born just recently, me, my nephew, and my niece-in law have decided to keep this a secret from them. I am currently in the northern mountains, finding a decent place to keep Isabelle safe. Maybe one day, we can unthaw her and set her straight. Yet she’s only two years old, I’m not sure after what’s happened recently that such a powerful foal can restrain her powers.

To Isabelle,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“Maybe there are a few more to this family book than meets the eyes,” Twilight mumbles to herself inside her room with Boris’ journal and the family almanac next to each other. However, before she can open the second book, Raindrop bursts into the dim room and exclaims,

“Empress Midnight has the Alicorn Amulet!”

Snapping Point

“What?!” Twilight exclaims upon hearing Raindrop’s claim.

“It’s true,” Raindrop replies, “I heard the entire thing go down,” But before she can explain what happened to Twilight, the alarm bell rings as hundreds of mares run by the open door to the main room. Twilight lifts the No-Pony onto her back as the two join the motley flood. Upon reaching the lobby, the large group joins an even larger crowd, with everypony now listening to General Apple’s announcement,

“Attention everypony of the RAEM, I’m afraid I have disastrous new for y’all. Empress Midnight has apparently snuck into our base and stolen the Alicorn Amulet from our security.” Everypony gasps in fear as screams and yelling begin to echo from every corner of the large room. “GET A HOLD OF YOURSELVES EVERYPONY! We have nothing to fear.”

“Nothing to fear?!” Major Jack screams from behind Twilight and Raindrop, “Do you not flipping get it? We’re dead! Game over mare, game over!” Uproar follows as the masses begin to question Apple’s leadership that has seemed to lead them to this dark turn.

“Calm down, I know what you’re all thinking. Yes, I was the one who held responsibility for this night and I didn’t check security of the amulet before heading to bed.”

“You should be!” The marshal yells as she pushes past the crowd into the small clearing surrounding the alarm bell pedestal the general’s at. “When I said that Midnight would probably be gone for the night, that doesn’t mean ditch everything! I couldn’t believe what I saw shortly after Midnight fled the scene.”

“Rarity, I’m sorry,”

“It’s Marshal Rarity to you, Private Apple!”

“Are you seriously demoting me?”

“Obviously,”

“You’re part of it!” Raindrop screams from deep in the crowd. Silence soon washes over as everypony turns to look at her and Twilight. Twilight covers her eyes with a front leg from embarrassment.

“Little pony, what makes you say such a ridiculous thing?”

“I was there, I heard you softly weeping so I decided to stick around inside the vault to make sure you’re alright. Then Midnight entered and you both talking to each other before she took off with the Alicorn Amulet.”

“What a silly claim, you have no proof. Who would even believe you, a blind pony without her cutie mark snooping around in a world that she barely understands?”

“Twilight does, right?” An awkward moment of silence sets over as no response can be heard. “Twilight?”

“You are obviously not well. Medic Fluttershy, take her away as I resume my position of power.”

“What about that necklace she gave you?”

“…”

“Yeah,” A skeptical Aaron adds as he walks towards Marshal Rarity and examines her chest with the pendant still attached to her. “I did wonder where she got that…”

“Does it matter to you where I get my jewelry from?”

“Also,” Daniel replies, “I saw you chatting with the ponies that were supposed to keep the shield active, a couple of hours before it was stolen.”

“Well I-”

“And no pony just slips out of Midnight’s grip.” Major Borris adds, “It all seems too suspicious from what I’ve experienced…”

“What is this, a Filly Noir? This is not a mystery game. Applejack has clearly neglected the responsibilities of being a leader, causing the eventual doom of everypony here.”

“Marshal Rarity,” Private Apple asks, “Are you lying to us?”

“…”

“Are you working with Midnight?” Small chatter starts to scatter around as they all see their leader biting her lip and sweat pouring down her face.

“… So what if I am?! You are all a bunch a liars!” Angry screams and shouts burst throughout the army coupled with the stomping of thousands of hooves against the floor.

“Us?! You’re betraying us for the biggest liar of Equestria.”

“Oh really? What if I were to tell you that Captain Dash is dead?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, she’s right next to Major Borris.”

“Look again you senile mare, no bruises, fur more tame than usual, her actions, it’s completely obviously true.” Rainbow looks to her left to see Borris’ pupils shrunk and his body kneeling on the floor. The private makes her way through the crowd to get a closer look at Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow, are you, who we believe you are?”

“No,” the blue pegasus sadly answers, “it was just-”

“It’s my fault,” Borris interrupts, “I lead you all to believe that she was Captain Dash.”

“You lied to us?” The general asks with a shocked face printed on her head.

“Yes, but I did it with the best of intent. I know I couldn’t let you, the marshal, or anypony else know our captain died in the clutches of Midnight. I gave a small lie to keep you all happy, then rather giving you a painful truth that would distract you of your duties.” A small stream of tears begin to pour down Apple’s face as sobbing and loud cries can be heard all over the room.

“…”

“Miss, I’m sorry,”

“I understand what you tried to do, just leave now, you’re excused from this meeting.”

“But-”

“Just go, now!” Overcome by embarrassment and fear, Borris quickly shoves his way out the back of the crowd and runs away into the corridors, shortly followed by Rainbow Dash.

“Midnight was right,” Marshal Rarity replies, “friendship is weakness.”

“Get out. If you think being with a cold-blooded murderer, a backstabber, a liar, a villain is what you want, fine.”

“You and these ponies surrounding merely fear how powerful I’ve become. The same was with Midnight before we betrayed her.”

“We did the right thing, and we shall continue to do so, and I will not accept having a traitor among us. Now get out of here, now!” The marshal gives a loud snort and slowly walks towards the stairs to the surface, with ponies backing to the sides, creating a wide clear path for her. As she reaches the foot of the stairs, she looks back and they all see her eyes slowly beginning to water before she turns back around and goes up to the upper world. Applejack approaches her counterpart and asks,

“So, what do we do now?”

“I don’t know, my head isn’t feeling well.”

“Mind if I help sort out this chaos for ya?”

“You can become the marshal for all I care.” The demoted general then walks away from the gathering and towards the chamber where the Alicorn Amulet was once held.

“You heard what she said,” Applejack climbs on top of the small pedestal in the main room before continuing, “I may not be a successful commander on my own, but if we all work together, we might be able to still hold a chance.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Gruncle Boris argues, “She has two Alicorn Amulets, she’s now a hundred times stronger than ever before. And she stole three of my books while I was using the bathroom!”

“Now hold on, that may be a problem, we can still be victorious if we play our cards.”

“In your dreams,” Jack yells, “you barely even know about the RAEM. If anypony wants to join me, I’ll be hiding in my room with the door barricaded.” Soon, a two thirds of the entire group start to slowly head back to their rooms to wait for their final minutes being free.

“Wait!” Pinkie exclaims, “You all can’t leave now! What about all those sad ponies that need your help out there?”

“Think of all the Morks,” the lieutenant adds, “if you quit now, what will happen to your friends and family?”

“They’ll forever be Midnight’s minions, and nothing we can do will change that.” Aaron replies while levitating several of his books and research journals from the lab to him.

“Where are you going?” Daniel asks his brother.

“I’m going to the mountains north of the Crystal Empire. I heard word that there are several ice caverns hidden in the faces of the mountain range.”

“Then why didn’t you tell us about this location before? We could set up another base and continue safely.”

“I was planning to go without telling anypony, so to have better chances of sneaking past the Mork-infested Crystal Empire.”

“You were at least going to bring me right?”

“…”

“Right?”

“…”

“But, I’m your brother; we’re supposed to look out for each other.”

“Whatever Mom or Dad told us when we were young no longer matters, the world is going to Tartarus, and I want to live every second I can without you or anypony else dragging me down.”

”But we made the Anti-Mork Spray,”

“Do you honestly think that garbage would work? Face it, anything that had you involved in the creation of it ended up as a flop.”

“Aaron, please, you seriously aren’t doing this to me. I’ve known you for all of my life, and you would never leave a friend behind.”

“Times have changed for the worst. Goodbye.” Aaron then walks up the stairs, carrying his pile of books behind him and leaving Dan a couple of hooves away from the stairs. Daniel Grump then turns around and heads back to the lab, shortly followed by half of the remaining third.

“Rarity?” Applejack asks upon looking to her side to see Rarity with a shocked look on her face.

“I don’t believe it…” She quietly mumbles, “How could I do such an evil thing to my friends?”

“Don’t beat yourself up over another pony’s actions,” Applejack tries to approach her friend to comfort her, only for Rarity to back into a corner and bark,

“Don’t come any closer to me! I don’t want to hurt you,”

“Please, you don’t have anything to worry as long as I’m by your side.”

“You saw what happened, that could be me. In fact, it IS me, and I’m scared for your sake. For you, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow, everypony,”

“I know you, and that Rarity is not MY Rarity, and if you accept that you can become what you fear, you will become it. You will never become a traitor Rarity.”

“I’m still unsure of myself.”

“Don’t worry, maybe the medic can help you out. Right, Medic Fluttershy?”

“I can try,” the yellow pegasus sniffles, “I-I-I’ve done physiological recovery before.”

“I’m really sorry about what you must be experiencing right now, even I’m shocked at what just unfolded.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s her fault. She, Midnight, has guided my friend in betrayal like how she betrayed us, has killed my oldest friend, and has destroyed the homes of both my animal and pony friends. She’s the fault of everything.”

“Cool down, let’s just recover for now.”

“You’re right, come help me Flutter, Creampie is about to come to her senses anytime now.”

“Coming,” Fluttershy replies as the two and Rarity exit the lobby, leaving only Twilight, Raindrop, Applejack, Boris, Spike, Daniel, the two Pinkie Pies, and a hoofful of other ponies in the large room.

“Hey Pinkie Pies,” the yellow stallion asks, “want to try to make these last moments count by cheering up the foals?”

“Okay.” The two pink Earth Ponies reply and they soon exit, followed by Boris announcing,

“I’m going to go try to calm down Major Borris.”

“I’m coming with you Boris,” Spike replies as he follows the black unicorn out of the lobby.

“I might as well check on the other me then,” Applejack adds before leaving as well, bringing the rest of the ponies behind her except for Twilight and Raindrop.

“Twilight,” Raindrop asks, “why didn’t you support me during the meeting?”

“Well I…” Twilight nervously replies, “You had to admit, it was a bit far-fetched upon first hearing you claim that the other Rarity was a traitor.”

“So you’re saying you didn’t trust me?”

“I didn’t say that, I was just a bit skeptical, but now we can confirm you were right and we can move on.”

“Why wouldn’t you believe me? Have I ever lied to you before?”

“No, it’s just, considering your… condition… You could have just had a bad dream or mistaken something you heard.”

“So you’re saying that being blind makes you less credible than a normal pony?”

“No, no, no, it’s complicated,”

“I may have spent my life secluded from the outside world, but I’m not as naïve or stupid as you make me out to be.”

“Well you certainly not stupid, that’s for sure.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I should’ve known better than to step on your hooves that have never actually touched the floor since they’re always crammed in your golden slippers.”

“Why are you giving me so much lip recently, what have I ever done to you? I’m getting pretty tired of you belittling me like that.”

“That! This whole Little Miss Perfect routine you’ve been doing ever since we left the castle. All you’ve been doing is showing of your smarts and trying to involve yourself in something you can’t even see!”

“So it is because I’m blind!”

“Not only that, it’s also because you’re overconfident, a show-off, spoiled, and quite frankly, a pest.”

“You’re a pest!”

“Oh, real original, I wonder how you came up with that one…”

“Just because you can see, does not make you better than me, you’re just jealous of me.”

“At least I have a cutie mark, a calling in life. You and your kind on the other hoof? You don’t, all your ponies do is cower and speak cavepony,”

“I hate you!”

“You know what Raindrop?” Before Twilight completes her angry statement, she rips of the jeweled saddle and throws it onto the floor, flinging the book inside it several meters away. “I don’t have to take this garbage from you, you can go die for all I care! No pony needs you and everypony sees you as a nuisance!”

“Celestia cares about me, Midnight!” Raindrop then slams herself against a wall and slides along it before finding the hallway, running from Twilight in a crying fit.

Did she just call me Midnight? Is that how she sees me as? But I’m nothing like her, am I? Twilight then looks over to the saddle she tossed and sees that the book that was on her was the pink one that Borris and Boris found in the library. She levitates it to her face to get a closer look at the worn cover and comes to a disturbing realization. It’s my friendship book! But why is it like this? Why was it in Gruncle Boris’ room? What happened to the me from this world? I guess there’s only one way to get some answers. Twilight then rushes into her room with the other two books she picked up and reads Boris’ next diary entry while finding her generation in the family almanac;

Dear Boris,

I may have just found the solution to my dilemma! A day after finding an ice cavern to keep Isabelle safe, I’ve come across a unique group of ponies that live in the ice caverns. At first, they seem like normal Earth Ponies wearing dark robes, but then I saw that they had no cutie marks despite them all being adults. They were also extremely technologically advanced, even without magic; they have come up with inventions that the smartest unicorns predicted wouldn’t be invented for a hundred years. They also appear to be very knowledgeable of our speech despite them not being able to speak it. I told them of my problem with the Sparkle Blood Diamond and after speaking what sounded like mumbling gibberish for a minute, they presented me with a black hoof-crafted necklace from what I assume is made of a mix of Dragon Scale Wolfram and Buffalo Tear Obsidian. It had an indent in the center that was the perfect size for the un-charged diamond I had on me. They gave me the amulet in return for me giving them chunks of Chaos Ice that broke off of Isabelle’s prison for them to study. If my calculations are correct, this amulet might be able to not only withstand the power of the amulet, but also amplify the already powerful magic through the unicorn’s body depending on its level of ethereal magic power. Finally, this is my time!

Redemption here I come,

Boris G. Sparkle.

Twilight comes across the page where she, her brother, and her parents are shown and examines it meticulously, checking for any signs of Isabelle’s existence. After what seems like hours of tireless looking, Twilight rubs her eyes out of sleepiness and decides to get some sleep before continuing. Upon her closing the book however, she notices that the page she’s been looking at is a bit thicker than the others. She opens it back up and rubs her hoof along the page, searching for a reason why it’s thicker. To her suspicions, she feels what seems like a slab of paper nearly glued onto the page covering a hidden image. Twilight tries to peel the slit of paper off of the page with her magic, only to discover that it’s firmly locked onto the page, unable to be isolated with magic, and the only pony she knows that can do a binding trick like this is her great uncle, Boris Sparkle.

Never Let Them Touch

Back in Empress Midnight’s castle, the captured versions of the Grump Brothers are in a large forgery, working hard on Midnight’s armour. As the two unicorns pour chunks of metal and rock into a furnace, Daniel begins to complain, “How long have we been doing this for?”

“Only five hours, it’s barely past midnight.” Aaron replies, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

“That long? It feels like we’ve been doing this for days.”

“That what you said a minute after we got in here.”

“Don’t judge me, I don’t have a cutie mark in time, just one of a potion, so do you.”

“Well excuse me, Sherlock Whooves,” The two brothers then burst out in laughter, dropping a crumpled chunk of metal onto the cobblestone floor.

“Oh, I couldn’t take it, the build-up was too much for me.”

“You were always the one to crack up first bro,”

“But really, five hours?”

“I think so; the moon’s been sitting sit up there since we got in this weird place. Find out anything about the minions’ armour?”

“Oh yeah, from what I can tell, the metal that goes into those suits is the same alloy that we’re working on.”

“Really? But this stuff we’re throwing in the forge is the rarest form of tungsten and obsidian in all of Equestria.”

“I know right, and the metal shard we got from her suit was the exact same material as the Mork armour.”

“What about the visors?”

“Highly conductible to magic, very thick, molecularly stricter, very compact, and very adhesive, the only thing that could possibly break it is if the Mork was traveling at a vicious velocity or fly into the sun.”

“How fast?”

“Fast enough to shatter the transonic-sound spectrum, that’s faster than 1500 kilometers per hour!”

“Okay, what are our chances for us to convince the Morks to fly into the sun?”

“Face it; these minions will not be freed once these things are attached to them. Should we still tell Jack and Atlas about our findings?”

“We have to, am I the type of pony that would ditch my only friends in this place when things seem bleakest?”

“Sort of,”

“Mostly no, I am your brother, I’m not gonna ditch you.”

“You actually mean it this time, you’re not punking me or anything?”

“Despite our moment of fun, this is a serious situation, and we may still have a chance.”

“How?”

“I don’t know…”

Upstairs, inside the Mork armoury, Jack is directing three unicorn Morks next to him on how to bend and put together plates of black armour while Atlas is a drawing table, staring intensely on his designs.  “Hey, is this good?” Jack asks, his partner looks up and his face turns disgusted at the side of the hovering piece of armour.

“Why are the ears so pointy and tall?” Atlas complains, “Do you want her to kill us when she gets caught in a doorway.”

“I thought they’d be more intimidating, like a bat.”

“I still don’t why she chose bat, there are hundreds of good choices, why a bat?”

“Well what do you want me to do with the helmet then?”

“Bend the ears, make them look like horns instead.”

“That sounds nothing like a bat.”

“Ever heard of Count Dragonla? Even if it looks less like a bat, it will be at least associated with a bat.”

“Whatever, just wait till Midnight comes around here and says-”

“I love it!” A deep female voice exclaims from the doorway behind him.

“Empress Midnight!”

“You’ve read Count Dragonla? I love it! Oh, did you ever read the Daring Do and Dragonla crossover series?”

“Well,” Atlas Goni pridefully replies, “even though it wasn’t very well publicly received, I though the crossover series was decent.”

“How has your work on my new suit been?”

“A little frustrating, but we managed to get third of it established and now working on this before we work on the other two parts.”

“Well get it done in ten hours.”

“What?!”

“You heard me, I’m going to lay a final assault on the RAEM and wipe them off the faces of both Equestrias before Nightmare Night ends.”

“How do you propose we’ll be able to do so much work in so little time?”

“I believe a little leverage would suffice, some regal weight if you know what I mean.”

“You wouldn’t hurt the princesses!” Jack interrupts, “What have they done wrong?!”

“Then I suggest you work harder.”

“Fine,”

“Morks,”

“Yes empress?” The three reply in unison.

“Have you seen one of Boris’ journals, volume 17 to be exact?”

“No empress.” A low grumbling can be heard from the opening in Midnight’s helmet, her metal fists crunching and grinding in her anger.

“Need a mint empress?”

“Shut up.”

“Yes empress.”

“What did I just say?”

“’Shut up,’ is what you said empress.”

“And what are you doing right now?”

“Answering your question, empress.”

“I swear… I have to deal with this idiotic robotic behavior every day.”

“Did I do something that upset you, empress?”

“…”

“Empress, are you well?”

“I’m fine! Shut up!”

“Yes empress.”

“…”

“…”

“Now, where were we restrained-minds?”

“You evilly gloating about your evil plan of evilness.” Atlas sarcastically replies, Midnight squints her exposed eyes at him. He replies with a shrug, “It’s true…” Midnight opens her chestplate and pulls out the Alicorn Amulet with the claw not holding the other one. She then stretches her arms towards Jack and dangles the two pendants within his reach.

“Take these, but don’t wear them!”

“We’ve seen what happened when you wore just one of them, I’m not taking the chance.”

“Ha-ha, very funny, use them to find a decent place to store them.” Jack grabs one in his left hoof, yet before he can grab the other in one swing, Midnight pulls up and screams, “DON’T LET THEM TOUCH!!!”

“What in the-the-wha-why?!” Jack shudders after his leap of surprise.

“According to a theory in ‘Star Swirl’s Nano-Molecular Studies’, if two of the exact same particles were to touch, it would cause a paradoxical cataclysm so violent, it would wipe out a good chunk of space and time.”

“…”

“If the two amulets touch, you and everypony else will go boom-boom.”

“Oh.”

“So don’t mess it up. Mork, secure the second one.”

“Okay, I’ll try to be a tad less… careless.” One of the Morks levitates the amulet from Midnight and hoists it high above his own head.

“You better.” Midnight then hears the clomping of hooves near the entrance of the castle and slowly exits the room.

“Empress Midnight?” Ex-Marshal Rarity hollers from inside the foyer, squinting into the dark hallways of the palace. A loud thud can be heard behind her as her turns to see the red eyes of Midnight.

“Rarity, what brings you here? Tired of being surrounded by backstabbers?”

“The only backstabber around here is me!”

“Excuse me? I think a chunk of metal got caught in my ear or something,”

“I was caught and kicked out from the resistance. You should have seen their faces.”

“I wish,”

“I saw sadness, anger, disbelief, and disappointment on everypony’s faces. Do you know what that feels like, to be exposed to everypony knowing what you just did?”

“Actually, that’s exactly how I felt after you and the others exiled me.”

“Really? You didn’t run because you were guilty of stealing the Alicorn Amulet and nearly destroying Ponyville with it?”

“I was, but it was in the aftermath that I truly saw what I caused. I didn’t mean for it to go this far, but Celestia and the others didn’t give me a chance and send me to the coldest reaches of Equestria.”

“They didn’t exile you, we would’ve forgiven you.”

“Still clinging to that hopeless cause, even after all that I’ve shown you, the lies, the corruption, all of that?”

“…”

“You are merely confused Rarity, the transition from what you think is right and what is truly right is a long and difficult journey, but the rewards are immortal.”

“But,”

“Don’t say anything else, for soon, everything that’s holding you back will be gone, courtesy of me. Enter the far left corridor, take a right, and my Morks will lead you to the dining hall and you can eat all your troubles away.”

“Thanks, I guess.” As the unicorn leaves the room, Midnight turns to a dusty old mirror in a corner of the room and takes a deep glance into her reflection. Thoughts surge through her head as all of her body becomes dense as her eyes glare more and more deeply into the mirror. Her fast become clenched once again and aim themselves against the mirror as the armoured pony begins the mumble to herself,

“There is no going back, you have come so far, don’t waste it for them, they are corrupt, your friends are corrupt, your foes are corrupt, your foes are evil, your friends are evil, Discord, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Boris, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Shining Armour, Spike, Twilight-” Her anger and depression overwhelm her mind and causes her to snap. Her metal arms quickly grab the reflective glass and smashes it behind her, sending shards all over the foyer. Midnight screams, “Twilight is gone! Who are you? I am Empress Midnight! And I am going to end all of this torture and finally get peace!” Soft crying can be heard from the hulk of black armour as the empress falls to her side and weeps on the ground, tired, angry, sad, insecure, insane, unclean, and tortured.

Meanwhile, Aaron and Daniel are sneaking their way into the Mork Armoury and come across their Earth Pony friends working on the shoes for Midnight’s new suit. “No, no,” Atlas moans, “Jack, how do we carry bats into armoured boots, it’s impossible!”

“Why are you trying so hard?” Jack replies, “She’s the enemy.”

“At least I’m trying to appeal to her good side.”

“HALT!” A Mork screeches, the two quarrelers freeze in place and look at the minion aiming his horn at the Grump Brothers outside the door.

“Don’t shoot!” Aaron yells, “We finished the metal work and are now going to help our friends with the suit.”

“Don’t say the F-word.”

“What?”

“Friend is a word associated with weakness and betrayal now. Midnight’s latest laws have stated that the use of the word is only to be used for mockery and/or belittlement.”

“Okay, didn’t get the memo, can we help our buddies out?”

“Request acknowledged.”

“Alright, at ease soldier,”

“Aaron, Daniel!” Jack exclaims.

“Guys, brainstorming session!” The two brothers and Jack gallop to Atlas and huddle together, muttering their speech to whispers.

“Any weaknesses with the Mork armour or the metal going into this thing?”

“No,” Dan replies, “they’re both made of a type of near-indestructible material that we probably can’t tamper with without Midnight noticing. Doing anything with the armour suit?”

“I’ve skipped a couple of important factors of armour construction, which will cause it to fall apart during extensive combat.”

“And with the eye-catching aesthetics added, Midnight will never be able to notice the faults.

Atlas adds, “So what can we do now?”

“We still don’t know why she’s forcing us to do all of this instead of her minions.”

“From what we can tell,” Aaron replies, “they seem like they have a free will, just a restrictive one.”

“What?”

“They know and can control what they’re doing, but it seems their control is being guided and they’re not completely aware that they know what they’re doing. They lack creativity and advance sentience, which is most likely why she wants us to work for her.”

“Sounds nerdy enough to work.”

“…”

“Hey,” another Mork barks, “get back to work.”

“Okay!”

“So,” Atlas whispers, “now what?”

“The only thing we can do,” Aaron replies, “hope and pray what little we did will cause the change needed for us to get out of here.”

“Get back to work!” The third Mork screams, stomping his hoof into the ground.

“Alright!”

Raindrops on Raindrop

Inside the notably empty hospital, the two Fluttershies are pulling a wooly blanket over her shoulders. “Rarity?” Fluttershy softly asks, “How do you feel?”

“Like a sealed can of evil.” The sad unicorn mumbles before pulling the blanket over her head.

“Aren’t you worried you’ll ruin your mane?” the medic asks, trying to pull her friend out of her gloom.

“Why should I? I might as well appear on the outside what I am on the inside.”

“You’re beautiful on the inside as much as you are on the outside.”

“Don’t give me your sympathy, it’ll be more painful when I become the next backstabber to my friends,” Now getting impatient with her friend, Fluttershy yanks the blanket off of her friend before firmly speaking,

“Rarity, do you know what you’re even saying right now?”

“Does it matter?”

“What are you the element of? Generosity, and what do ponies who are generous do?”

“…”

“They share, and they care for those they love and barely even know. You are the embodiment of this caring, so do you think that you’ll become a traitor like that imposter you saw?”

“She wasn’t an imposter, it was me, I became that.”

“No you didn’t. Let me ask you a question, would you willingly give up your friends for Empress Midnight?”

“I could-”

“Would you right now, not what you might do, what would you do?”

“No,”

“Then why are you so scared of something that you yourself would never do?”

“I don’t know, it’s just scary to see me being seen by everypony as a traitor. I just now nervous of what they think of me now,”

“They may be a bit skeptical at first,” Medic Fluttershy replies, “but they’ll see that you won’t betray the RAEM,”

“Thank you… both, Fluttershies, thanks for restoring my confidence.”

“You’re welcome, it was your closer friend’s assertiveness that pulled you through.”

“Now can somepony get me a curling comb? I’m afraid that I did indeed mess up my mane.” The three begin to giggle before getting cut off by a raspy voice,

“Enjoy your laughter, for now…”

“Creampie? How are you?”

“Still alive, unfortunately,”

“Don’t talk like that! We’re going to fix you up and everything will be fine.”

“You betrayed us,”

“I used to think like that, but a little birdie told otherwise,”

“Good, some pony that still looks up to you, that’ll give you one thing to think about before you die. Unlike that other pony…”

“Who?”

“The one time I feel like I’m keeping the RAEM alive, and it all ends up as just a giant con.” A depressed Applejack mopes to her other inside the amulet vault. “I can just imagine what everypony‘s thinking of me as, a failure.”

“That ain’t true,” the more chipper Apple replies, “the way you stood up to Marshal Rarity like that, the confidence you had.”

“So what? It won’t matter once Midnight comes in and finishes us off anytime soon.”

“Would the true Applejack talk like that? No, she’d always find a solution and save the day.”

“Maybe in your world, but here, Applejack’s just a pawn in this losing game.”

“You’re just still a bit shaken after what has just happen, you’ll recover in time.”

“Will Rainbow Dash come back? No. Will Midnight change? No. Do we have even the slightest chance of beating Midnight with two Alicorn Amulets? No.”

“To be honest, I have no idea what you’re going through right now, but what I do know, is that you are not a quitter.”

“Just leave me be right now…”

“Other me?”

“…”

“We can do something, I just know it.”

“…”

“Well. If you’re not going to do anything, then I will.”

“…” Applejack then exits the room and heads up the stairs to the main floor, thinking of some way to stop Midnight. “Good luck…” Farther down the hallway, far away from the dark of downstairs, Applejack hears crying as she squints and moves forward, trying to see who’s crying. A small sky blue figure starts to form and grows.

“Isn’t that that blind filly?” The Earth Pony picks up speed as she and the small mare dart to the center of the corridor. The weeping intensifies as Applejack is now able to clearly make out that it is Raindrop aimlessly running. “Raindrop! What happened?!”  The No-Pony runs into Apple’s open arms and cries,

“After you and most of the ponies left, me and Twilight got into an argument. I said some things I didn’t mean to say and she said the most hurtful things I have ever heard.”

“Calm down sugar cube, I’m sure we can clear up this mess with Twi the next time we come across her,”

“I don’t want to hear her.”

“You two just got a bit tense, how bad could it have been? Surely Twilight wouldn’t be that mean to a pony the princess raised,”

“She said that no pony would care if I died and that everypony considers me a pest. Is that true? Do you see me as a pest?” Applejack begins to shush her and rock her from side to side, reducing her crying to whimpers.

“You’re not a pest, you’re a smart lil’ filly. Twilight’s just a bit jealous and hasn’t had any sleep for a while. Scary things do tend to happen when she doesn’t get enough sleep.”

“Then what can I do to make it up for her?”

“Just, keep a distance from her until we stop Midnight, then maybe a nice change of atmosphere will resolve you problem.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s not just you that goes through stuff like this, me and my lil’ sister Applebloom would always fight.”

“Then how did you two stop fighting?”

“With the help of Granny Smith and Big Mac, we kept our distances and forgave each other from any ill contempt when we were fighting and soon we became the best of sisters.”

“So you’re saying Twilight and I are like sisters,”

“I guess, you know what they say, familiarity breed contempt, but privacy breeds admiration.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that, yes, knowing each other for long enough will cause fights, but giving each other room to breathe and not feel like they’re being overshadowed can re-spark friendship.”

Meanwhile, in Captain Dash’s room, Borris and Rainbow Dash are sitting on the bed, staring blackly at the floor in silence. Borris breaks the silence by asking,

“Hey Dash,”

“Yeah?” The mare replies.

“I’ve always been a shy pony.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was never able to talk to the captain about how I really felt about her.”

“What did you feel about her?”

“I felt that whenever she was around, my gloom and tenseness would melt away. She was kind, a good role model, strong, confident, honest, fun, loyal, beautiful,”

“I can assure you that she would have loved to hear that.”

“What do you think of me?”

“You?”

“Yeah,”

“Well, let’s see, strong, brave, dependent, fun, loyal, heck, probably even more than me.”

“You know we don’t too long here before death finally catches up to us.”

“Nah, we still have a fighting chance. Right?”

“I never had the guts to say this before, but it’s now or never,” Borris raises his head and turns towards his friend who’s looking at him in the corner of her eye.

“What?

“I… like you…”

“As a best friend?”

“No… like… like-like you…”

“…”

“Rainbow Dash, I want you as my special somepony, there I said it!”

“But you know I’m not who you grew up with.”

“It doesn’t have to, you’re still Rainbow Dash, and I’m still Borris Thunder.”

“But I barely know you, I mean I knew you from flight school, but that wasn’t you. We’ve only known each other for a day.”

“It doesn’t have to matter, I know who you are.”

“But you don’t. You were a nice guy, but I’m not sure if this can work out.”

“Do you love me?”

“What?”

“Both of our worlds are turning to ruin right now, we don’t have time to stall this question. Do you love me?”

“This is all too sudden, first we were thinking of a plan of action, then on the turn of a bit, you go asking me about love.”

“Time is of the essence, do you love me?”

“…” Borris then leaps from his seat and hovers face to face with a nervous Dash, now desperately pleading,

“I’ve lost you twice already, I don’t want to lose my last chance of knowing if Rainbow Dash actually loves me after all these years!”

“Wait, are you saying that I’m just a replacement for the Rainbow Dash you lost, just for you to know if she liked you?”

“Yes! Wait, no! I didn’t mean that,”

“I knew something smelled fishy when we first met. You think that using certain moves for me to love you so you don’t have to accept the pain of losing your true friend.”

“It’s not like that!”

“You actually got me to care about you, only for me to realize that you’re just a desperate pony that can’t take acceptance.”

“I can change!”

“Forget it; if all you see me as is a tool for your own selfish desires, then we’re through!” Upon hearing Dash’s last words, Borris’ heart skips a beat as he slumps to the floor, causing a large thump to rock the bed. “Borris?” Now heartbroken, the grey stallion rises from the floor and walks towards the door. “Borris, are you okay?” Still ignoring her, the depressed pony opens the door, only to be surprised by Spike and Gruncle Boris at the foot of it.

“Boris? What are you doing here?”

“We came to check on you,” the old unicorn proclaims, “are you okay?”

“You were right. You were right all along. I did end up trying to replace the captain, and now I have no pony that’ll see me as a hero when they die.”

“Major, don’t do this to yourself,”

“But I’m right, everypony knows that I was once a Mork, have now become one of the weakest ponies on the field, and tried to bargain my way out of losing somepony that actually did care for me.”

“Wait,” Spike interrupts, “you were a Mork?”

“That’s right Tiny; I was a nasty minion of Midnight, and one of the deadliest as well.” All of a sudden, Borris begins to cringe as spikes of pain pulse through his brain, causing him to collapse to the floor and begins twitching.

“Major Borris!”

“Quickly!” Boris shouts, “We gotta take him to the hospital before his eye pains cause him to go insane!”

“Borris, are you okay?!” Rainbow yelps as she runs to the screaming pony’s side. Boris lifts his friend’s body onto to Dashes back.

“Quickly, rush him to the hospital, as fast as you can!”

“On it,” Rainbow then darts out the open door and dashes down the hallway, followed by the small dragon running behind. Boris stays behind to contemplate what he just walked into.

“Poor fella, what have you gotten yourself into…” As Gruncle Boris slowly exits the door, he is cut off by Twilight holding the family almanac over her head.

“Gruncle Boris,” she says, glaring at him intensely.

“Hey! How’d you get that book?”

“From your room, like you were hiding something from me.”

“Whatever gave you such an idea of me hiding something from you?”

“There’s a slab of paper glued to a page in the book next to me and my brother, magically glued that only you could do.”

“There was a typo.”

“Boris!”

“Yes?”

“The truth, now,”

“As I said, typo, very common in older books. Now can I have that book back?”

“Why do you need it?”

“Just wanting to secure it, speaking of which, did you also take my journal?”

“What are you hiding?”

“Twilight! Quit being immature to your Gruncle Boris and gimme that book!”

“Fine,” Twilight then tosses Boris the book, who he grabs with his mouth.

“Thank you. There’s no need for this skepticism, why would I hide anything from you? I know we’re in a most dreadful period of trust, but I promise, I would give myself up to Midnight for you to live happy and doing the right thing.”

Confessions and Captures

The combusted screams and cries of young foals roar from all corners in a large, but very cramped room. Amidst the chaos, the two Pinkie Pies and Daniel are trying to sort out the riot with Dan shouting, “Don’t panic, please don’t panic, there’s nothing that can hurt you.”

“He’s right,” the lieutenant adds, “how about we all take a moment and smile? C’mon everypony, let’s scare away the worry.” Despite the two’s effort’s however, the yelling only grows louder and louder, terror ricocheting from one ear to the next. Three of the panicking ponies, each with no cutie marks, slowly approach Pinkie from behind.

“Is my big sis okay?” A yellow pony with a large red bow asks.

“Why did Rarity betray us?” A white unicorn asks the older pink mare.

“Rainbow Dash is dead?!” An orange pegasus also asks. Sweat pours off of Pinkie’s face as six large eyes are staring deeply into hers, looking for a sign of comfort or if what they heard was wrong.

“Well, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo,” Pinkie begins to speak very slowly, “things do happen, but there is a silver lining to every problem.”

“What silver lining can come from RB being dead? She was many ponies’ role model, now what?”

“I-I-I-uh…”

“What did Midnight do to my sister?” Sweetie asks impatiently and worried at the same time.

“I don’t know, some evil trance, a hex, avarikinesis maybe.”

“Avar-what now?”

“Want some balloons?”

“Ms. Other Pinkie Pie,” Applebloom interrupts, “there is no silver lining, is there?” Defeated, the Earth-Pony slumps her body to the ground, contemplating what to say next. “Pinkie?”

“This is so weird, I’ve always found a silver lining to any problem, but now… Should I be the element of laughter if I can’t find something good out of every single bad situation?”

“Has there been a moment where you yourself were in a tough spot where you didn’t see any silver lining?”

“No, things always turned out right for me,”

“Then maybe this is your silver lining,” Sweetie adds into the conversation, “the fact that you know that there will be situations that will not have a happy side to them.”

“Wait, wouldn’t that be contradictory?”

“The point I’m trying to get across is that when those moments come back later in the future, you shouldn’t linger on them, but instead move forward and prevent those terrible moments from coming back.”

“Were you the one that stole my fortune cookie?” Daniel shouts from behind a motley wall of bouncing young ponies. Pinkie begins to giggle as she picks herself up off of the floor.

“That was a very smart and thoughtful speech,” Pinkie replies, “thanks. Even though a lot of bad things have happened, we can always put our best hoof forward and prevent it from ever happening to our friends.” Spike then runs into the room and up to Pinkie Pie’s side before yelling,

“You won’t believe what I just heard, Borris-”

“Which?”

“Major Borris was a Mork!”

“What?”

“He said so himself, follow me.” The two then run out into a corridor and make their way to the hospital, seeing Rainbow Dash, the Fluttershies, Rarity, and Gruncle Borris looking over a mattress upon entering. Pinkie and the purple dragon make their way to an opening between the four ponies to see Borris lying on the bed with a blindfold with ice on it over his eyes. Deep raspy breathes rumble from the armoured chest to the mouth of the resting stallion.

“What happened?”

“His eye irritation reached a lethal spike and nearly caused the poor boy to go into a full spasm.” The medic answers. “He should recover to his normal mental state in an hour or two.”

“What about the Mork bit?”

“The what?”

“Spike said he heard that Borris was a meanie by Midnight.”

“Oh, that bit…”

“You know about it?”

“Yes, everypony at the RAEM know what happened to him.”

“What happened then?” Rainbow asks, only to suddenly receive a cough at the leg and Borris replying,

“I shall explain, you deserve the truth, even if I don’t.”

“Then what happened?”

“Well-”

“Ooh!” Pinkie interrupts, “Another exposition sequence, I better take a seat.”

“Right, you do that.” The major releases a deep cough and a pant before beginning, “I was working with the AWE, doing routine training and storm fighting until a royal emergency letter came to us. Apparently some villains by the name of Tiretracks and Discord were stealing the magic of ponies and we were one of Celestia’s final resorts. We took the job and flown to Canterlot as fast as we could, only to find that the entire city was barren. There were signs of very minimal destruction, only a few holes in walls and busted doors. In the throne room however, we didn’t find the centaur and the whatever-it-was-called, but that’s when we found her…”

“Who was it?”

“You seriously don’t know?”

“I was never really good at the Pronoun Game.”

“That was when we found Empress Midnight, turning the royal guard into her slaves by swapping their helmets with hers. This was a threat, so we sprang into action and attacked the monster. Many of us were captured by her and the Morks and turned into them right on the spot. I saved a young recruit of the AWE by distracting them for long enough for the colt to escape, but I wasn’t able to retreat. Midnight grabbed me, but before she could make me a Mork, I fought will all of my might. She bashed me into walls, the floors, the stained glass, she hit me with her magic and metallic blades, and I put up one heck of a brawl. Inevitably however, I gave up consciousness and during my faint; I was turned into a Mork, armour and everything.”

“What was it like,” Fluttershy asks, “as a Mork?”

“Tartarus would be a decent word to describe it. I was under the control of the empress for loosely a month, my body, my mind, my emotions, everything was no longer mine.”

“How did it feel?”

“Very out of body, yet inside of the body, it’s extremely weird.”

“What did she make you do?”

“Primarily, I was like every other nincompoop, trying to break into the RAEM and stealing the Alicorn Amulet inside, but after she saw my advanced skills, Midnight made me do more… special operations. I entered the RAEM and gathered as many members with my high-speed winds as I can and take them to the surface, leaving them to the Morks in the back of an attack. Many of these missions ended up with me having to fight several of the more powerful resistance members, with some fights resulting in fatal results. And that was only the RAEM, at an earlier rebellion in Ponyville, I lead the Mork attack with a powerful storm, tearing away many homes of unexpected families still inside. I was the one whom spilt the blood of stallions, mares, pegasi, unicorns, Earth Ponies, adults, and foals that bathed the streets.” Gasps emerge from the ponies who have not known of this story.

“You didn’t, did you?”

“Even I’m disgusted at my own words, but I couldn’t do anything about it at the time. I was one of the deadliest Morks, being a complete force of unstoppable power.”

“Wait, does that mean that the you from my world could also become this?” Rainbow nervously asks.

“Yes, maybe even worse.”

“What caused you to snap out of Midnight’s control?”

“One day, roughly a few months ago, on another attack against the RAEM, I was caught in an aerial battle with Captain Dash. I chased her throughout all of the clouds, inching closer and closer to her. She was becoming desperate, so she dove down with me trailing behind. Our speeds increased exponentially as we came closer and closer to the ground. The incredible speed caused cracks to form on my visor and slowly break my control under the empress. Suddenly, everything went white, the only sense my body had in that moment was the sound of glass shattering amongst a deafening explosion. Then everything became black, with pain crawling across every inch of my body and a loud screaming sound ringing in my ears before passing out. I later learned that the captain and I both pulled off Sonic Rainbooms, with Dash pulling up and me crashing viciously into the ground.”

“Wait, YOU pulled off a Sonic Rainboom?”

“I know, I didn’t believe it either, even now I question if they who told me what happened mistaken something.”

“So what happened next?”

“When I woke up, I couldn’t see, my ears still rung, pain was still pumping through my body, punch after punch, all I could smell and taste was metal. However, the one thing I could see was the memories I had as a Mork, all the violence, the thoughts in my heads, the absolute nightmares I have created. I was devastated, for what felt like weeks, I was all alone with the memories haunting me. Finally, I was able to see, but only the left and right sides of my normal vision. I found myself in the hospital of the RAEM, being taken care of by various nurses, including Fluttershy. After seeing what I did to them however, I wanted to redeem myself and avenge the lives of all the poor souls that suffered from Midnight. So after the marshal repainted my Mork armour purple and gold, I trained and worked with Captain Dash as a powerful member of the RAEM.”

“Well, at least we know that everything turned out okay despite having to face many obstacles,”

“Okay? No matter what I do, I’ll never be able to bring back the lives I’ve taken away, I can’t see or move properly, everypony doesn’t trust me, Empress Midnight now has both Alicorn Amulets from this and your world, and I’ve just ruined my relationship with the pony I’ve had a crush on since flight school. You call that okay?”

“Things don’t always end up having a silver lining,” Pinkie replies, “but you have to move forward-”

“There is no forward…” Creampie croaks from the other side of the room, “Major Borris is right, Midnight now has the power to destroy us all.”

“That may be true,” Rarity argues, “but we can stop her.”

“How? Neither you nor anypony else in the RAEM has come up with a plan.”

“…”

“Face it, we’re doomed.”

“I refuse to believe such a ridiculous claim, for if I am to accept it or not, either way, I’m right.”

“Idiocy…”

“No, it’s called hope.” Borris then rises from his mattress and pulls the blindfold off. “See, even Borris is with us, right?” Slowly, the grey pegasus walks to the door, only to be cut off by Rainbow Dash.

“You’re leaving?” she asks.

“I’m sorry, but I’m all out of hope.” He calmly replies and leaps over the mare and makes his way to the surface, leaving Dash to stare out into the hallway.

“Please, don’t go,”

Outside the RAEM and inside the barn, the major exits the open trap door and closes it before noticing two figures looking through a window.

Is that the blind pony and the general? The stallion quietly tip-hooves past them and out the main door. He then runs to the back, and takes off towards the North, leaving everypony he knew from the past months. He looks back on the slowly fading building and notices Twilight outside the main entrance, but shrugs it off and continues.

What’s wrong with me? Twilight thinks to herself, unaware of Applejack and Raindrop spying on her. Me doubting my own great-uncle’s word, brutally talking down Celestia’s adopted daughter, and saying some of the stupidest things to the both of them. I should apologize to them. Would they forgive me? I’ve really messed up now. Why am I so stupid, jealous, and skeptical to the ponies I should be trusting and protecting? If this continues, I might as well question Celestia and join Midnight. I know what to do, I’m going back inside, I’m going to apologize to Raindrop, Boris, and everypony else for my dumb behavior, yeah, that’s what I’ll do! Twilight, now having her mind set straight, turns around towards the barn, only to be taken surprise by a large white unicorn Mork.

“Twilight!” Applejack screams as she runs out to try and help her friend. The orange mare leaps onto the Mork’s back and repeatedly punches at the back of the helmet. Twilight then notices the blue mane and tail of the minion and realizes it’s her big brother, Shining Armour.

“Big brother,” She exclaims, “it’s me, Twily!” The words bounce off the Mork’s head as another mind-controlled Shining leaps from the bushes and pushes Applejack to the ground, pinning her down. Raindrop blindly tries to find the trap door entrance quickly, but ends up bumping into walls and wood beams as the chaos ensues outside. The first Mork slowly approaches the purple alicorn, his red glass visor showing no signs of the pony she once knew. “Please, I know you’re in there!” Twilight’s horn and the Mork’s helmet glows as she tries to pull it off. To her surprise, a pop and a collection of panic grunts and pants can be heard as Twilight falls to the ground. She looks up to see the helmet on the dirt ground next to a confused Shining Armour with a noticeable red mark in-between his eyes.

“What happened?” The white stallion mutters, looking around frantically.

“It’s okay, help Applejack!”

“On it.” The two run to Applejack’s aid, but Shining then notices a large rock hovering right behind his sister’s head, glowing a dark purple aura. “Twilight!” A loud thud echoes throughout the field as Twilight’s vision becomes blurry before turning black, with the last thing she hears is her brother and Applejack yelling her name and the maniacal laugh of an unseen Mork.

Twilight vs Midnight

Ow… My head, throbbing in pain, ow… When I find that Mork who hit me, I swear, NO! When I find Midnight, I’m gonna give it to her good. Everything’s so blurry, where am I anyways?

“Hello Twilight,” a wicked cackle breaks her train of thought as she tries to focus her eyes on the black figure, “welcome to my palace.”

“Midnight…”

“Sorry for my methods of bring you here, luckily my stallions haven’t seriously injured anything in that pretty little head of yours.”

“You monster,” Twilight yells before pulling herself up off of the ragged carpet of what is now the throne room, “take this!” The small alicorn, now filled with anger, then magically pulls down a chuck of the mossy ceiling. She fires it straight at the metal pony. Midnight grabs the rock mere centimeters from her face and crushes it in between her claws. A barrage of purple-glowing spears follows, catching Midnight off guard. Several spears stab into the armour as she tries to deflect most of them with her growing wing flaps. The empress then leaps into the air, bounces against the back wall, and rapidly glides towards Twilight. The heroic mare grabs the outstretched wings with her magic and buries them into the floor, sending boulders of granite flying out the shattered windows.

“Ha, well played.”

“I’m not done with you yet!” Twilight then prepares fires a beam of magic, but Midnight quickly recovers from the dramatic pull and launches her rival against the wall, pinning her still.

“You, know, we are not so different, you and I.”

“Like how?”

“We are both alicorns, both mares, we both like books, we are masters of and all magic, we have similar magic frequencies, we both were misled by the corrupted teachings of Celestia, and we both have been mistreated and abused by our so-called friends.”

“Not true, Celestia’s a kind leader and my friends are the most honest, loyal, kind, generous, and friendliest as they come.”

“I also know you have a great uncle by the name of Boris G. Sparkle. I know you had a stuffed doll by the name of Smarty Pants. I know that in your spare time, you like to read ‘Hooves and Peace’. Shall I continue?”

“But how did you- Wait, this is a hallucination, isn’t it?”

“No, you are unable to slip into my illusions like the other morons out there. You are also the only one that can actually grab me and my minions without being shocked.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Midnight then pulls a small book from behind the spiked throne, similar to that of the almanac inside the RAEM.

“Know this?”

“My family ancestral records, but where did you get this?”

“Same way I was able to get my world’s version before you stole it, deep inside Boris’ laboratory.”

“What’s so special about it?”

“Take a look at this,” Midnight opens the book to the page that Twilight discovered was covered. “There’s a special glue holding a slit of paper between you and what the old foal’s been hiding from you this entire time.”

“He said it was typo.”

“Is that REALLY what he told you? I don’t know what’s funnier, him saying such a bogus lie, or you actually falling for it.”

“Then what’s really behind the paper?”

“I did some early tearing and, you just have to see for yourself.” Midnight then rips the paper off of the book, revealing a picture of a filly right in between Shining Armour’s and Twilight’s pictures. The foal has white fur and silver eyes...

“That’s who Boris was describing in his journal, Isabelle’s real?!”

“More than you know. I’ve tried my best to free her from the mountains, but Chaos Ice is nearly impossible to break once settled into the caverns.”

“You just want to use her uncontrolled powers to get rid of the RAEM.”

“That is partially true, but that wasn’t my main intention. My main intention of freeing her was so I could finally connect with a lost member of the legendary Sparkle family.”

“What do you have to do with my family?”

“Maybe this will help connect a few loose ends…” The large alicorn then pulls Boris’ journal from her back.

“How many books do you have back there?”

“A few, now shut up and listen to what he has to say;”

Dear Boris,

What have I done now? Oh Celestia, what have I done? Sorry, had to recollect myself after what happened last week. My great niece, Twilight Sparkle, was visiting my laboratory since her foalsitter, Mi Amore Cadenza, was busy being educated on princess duties. My sister-in-law was out looking for a retirement plan for me and was going to be away for a week, so I took this opportunity to officially start anew with the help of Night Light as I was finishing my long-awaited project, the Alicorn Amulet.

“Wait, Gruncle Boris made the Alicorn Amulet?!”

As I was showing Twilight my lab and less dangerous side projects, she managed to slip from my eyesight and was wandering towards the amulet. She wasn’t even in magic school yet, but she was able to use telepathy and put on the necklace WITH the charged Sparkle Blood Diamond installed to it. At that moment, all Tartarus broke loose. Twilight, the cutest and gentlest thing I have ever seen in my fifty-or-so years, has transformed into a destruction craving psychotic. When I first saw her wearing the necklace, she was tearing down wooden block towers I used for balance, so I merely assumed she was playing around and returned to preparing to show her how to extract a tongue of a frog and put it back before the frog passes out. Later, I heard a large explosion from behind and then saw her tearing down the walls of my cavern lab. I tried to remove the Alicorn Amulet off of her to see if it was causing this destruction, only to realize it would not budge. The filly wasn’t giving any resistance and even panicked as I tried with all my might to help her. She then blasted me into the corner of the room, clear signals that the amulet is doing something to her, something dark. After seeing what she just did, Twilight tried to apologize, but the amulet instead caused her to corner me in a wall of fire. The wall of fire closed in closer and closer to me as I was unable to find anything to douse the flames. Just before I was going to scorched, the flames instantly died down and I look to see Twilight shivering in a corner with the Alicorn Amulet on the floor. I comforted the sorry foal before sending her back to her parents, horn-swearing not to tell anypony about this and forget the whole ordeal. As she was leaving, I secured this promise by casting a slight amnesia spell, causing her to actually forget what has happened.

“You didn’t…”

As of the Alicorn Amulet, I’ve only been able to draw a few conclusions after it’s first ‘test run’. The amulet seems to make the pony wearing it exponentially more powerful in the field of magic. However, it seems to have a corrupting effect, currently undetermined by age, gender, and initial magic range. It also seems to stick to its user and can only be unattached by the user’s will. Finally, it also seems to create an unbreakable attraction to the user after taking off the amulet. Over the following days after the incident, Twilight was becoming more and more interested by the necklace, despite my efforts of hiding it and even removing all memory of it from her mind. I am now currently writing a reference guide on the dangers of this weapon before selling it and the guide to the black market, finally ridding decades of research and struggle from my life. Hopefully, it’ll be lost in the bowels of trade and far away from Equestria. I can’t bring back my brother, but maybe I can round up enough bits to fund my family for years to come and pull them out of the lower class. The black market is safe right?

Right,

Boris G. Sparkle.

“…”

“You see, one of your own family members betrayed you. Erasing your memory and hiding the fact that you have a sister, a villain nonetheless.”

“He had his fair reasons to do those things, and how does this relate to you?”

“Untapped power, think about it. Have your ‘friends’ been acting, distant around you.”

“Maybe…”

“They fear you, you’re an alicorn, one with an unimaginable pool of potential raw magic. Trust me, I know.”

“I may be the element of magic, but that doesn’t give them any reason to fear me.”

“I used to think like that, until they betrayed me.”

“That pity talk may have worked on Rarity, but not me.”

“I don’t know, you play a more significant part in this story of travesty and corruption.”

“Fine, bore me.”

“I was an alicorn like you, Twilight, with Celestia as my tutor, practically raised by royals, and made many friends in the most unlikely of situations. However, a day came along when something happened, I discovered a new way to use my magic, a way unimaginable by most unicorns and even the princesses. This magic has enabled me to open doorways from your world to mine. For this, I was set in line to become a princess like my tutor. Unfortunately, I was unsure on how to use this magic, and with my upcoming coronation, my friends began to distance themselves from me. They feared I was becoming too powerful for me to control, I sensed them talking behind my back for weeks. Even the royals disrespected me, I wasn’t able to sharpen my political skills with them since they always sidelined me to doing things one guard can do. They all underestimated my responsibility and control, so I had to find a way to prove it to them that I was capable. So I snuck into Zecora’s hut and borrowed the Alicorn Amulet hidden inside. For the entirety next day, I practiced with my enhancements made by the amulet. The next morning, I ran to the center of Ponyville and displayed my potential power to all of the ponies. My friends however, they became jealous, afraid, and blind to see I had everything under control. They tried to pull the Amulet off of me, causing me to lose control and destroy Town Hall. Soon, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and all the citizens of Ponyville came and saw the aftermath of my accident. I tried to explain my actions and resisted against their accusations and attacks, but they didn’t listen to a thing I said. After a long struggle, they torn the Alicorn Amulet off of me, ripping some of my fur and skin off of my chest. I was then exiled into the cold reaches of the mountains of North Equestria, far beyond the Crystal Empire. There, I spent many restless nights in the cold and dark caverns, wondering, what did I do wrong? It then hit me, it was a corrupt government. Celestia has bought everypony’s love and respect through centuries of lies and propaganda, raising them to love her and her magic, but fear those who may be able to parallel or even surpass her. I then contemplated a plan of revenge and liberation, coming across an odd bunch of ponies that lived in several distant caves. They gave me the Mork armour and helmets, my armour, and even replaced my weak wings with my current ones, all for the price of a sliver of my magic. I came back to Ponyville and took siege, creating a small Mork army. From that point on, I grew, I was able to utilize the true potential of my magic and overthrew Celestia’s corrupt politics. And now here we are, in a soon-closing war with my enemies and an upcoming campaign to liberate all the worlds from corruption.”

“And I’m supposed to take pity for that, where was I in that story?”

“You’ve read your great-uncle’s journal, you’ve been outcasted as a dangerous freak, you have untapped power held back by the royals. We are one in the same, join me, and I can show you the magnificent pony you could be!” Midnight softly sets Twilight to the ground and extends her right claw in front of her, motioning for her to shake it.

“We are not one in the same,”

“What?”

“We are not the same, you are merely another cliché villain from every story book ever written. I’m supposed to take pity in your story and join your side, well guess what Midnight? This is reality, and we will never be the same! As long as I’m here, I will keep fighting you and avenge the Twilight of this work for whatever you did to her!”

“Oh, hahaha, you speak of knowing all before you, and yet you don’t truly know the reality of the situation right in front of you.”

“What is it, you monster?”

“You really need some self-respect,” Midnight pulls her arm back and the two hooves grab Midnight’s helmet, pulling it off. A mane of dark blue, purple, and pink hair droops down to her shoulder, waving slowly from the drafts of the castle. Twilight’s face enters complete shock upon seeing the exposed purple fur of Midnight.

“You’re…”

“You.” Right in front of Twilight Sparkle, stands another Twilight Sparkle, one dressed in black armour and has metallic arms for wings.

“This can’t be true!”

“It is,” a voice speaks from the back corner of the room, Twilight looks over to see the ex-marshal.

“You and the RAEM didn’t tell me or my friends?”

“We had to, we were worried that if you knew, you’d end up becoming another Empress Midnight. However, now I think it’s best for you know and be taught by Midnight.”

“Is that what you’re saying, or is that what Midnight’s making you say? Do you want the ponies you loved and care for to be killed or turned into monsters? What would your sister say?” The unicorn doesn’t reply and instead looks at the floor in shame, causing Midnight to roll her red eyes in annoyance and replies.

“Face it Twilight, friendship is a lie, all it does is make the pain of reaching who you are destined to be and making the correct decisions in life all the more painful.”

“Not true, this is not true! I would never become you Midnight, I just can’t!” Midnight’s voice descends from its scraggily and demanding tone to a gentle and pitiful tone, sounding strikingly similar to Twilight’s,

“That’s just how I felt after being betrayed, I was seen as a monster by both the ponies of Equestria and myself to an extent. But I accepted my fate and now look at me, a strong and just leader, who will do what it takes. I can help you, if only you accept my offer. Leave all that you falsely knew and loved and join me, together, we can do great things.” Now sobbing, Twilight sits against the wall, unable to reply or even comprehend the emotions swirling inside her. “Fine then, if you won’t take my offer, it’s clearly evident that you’re too loyal to their lies to even contain the thought of leaving them without entering a mental-breakdown. I’m afraid that you are now an enemy, and I must contain all that shall oppose me and the future.” Midnight grabs Twilight in her claws and turns to her ‘powerful ally’. “If you continue to doubt me, you will also be considered an enemy Rarity.” The empress then slowly walks into the lab under the castle, tossing Twilight to the wall next to the chained princesses and Twilight’s true Gruncle Boris. Midnight then flies back up to the throne room to find the mare she left there absent. “Rarity?” The alternate Twilight then searches high and low throughout the castle, slowly realizing that she has left her for her friends back at the resistance. “You’ve made your choice miss, and now you are going to pay the price… Morks!”

“Yes your majesty?” A large collection of the possessed stallions call out to her from separate chambers across the castle.

“Get ready to set out! For tonight, our little resistance will be dining in Tartarus!”

“Yes ma’am!”

The Final Battle is Nigh

Beyond the outskirts of Canterlot and MorksVille, deep within the artic mountain range of Northern Equestria, a lone unicorn is walking up the face of one of these mountains. In the grizzly rushing of snow and icy wind blasting across his blue fur, the lone stallion finds the entrance to a cave a few meters above him. He climbs in and is welcomed by a brown Earth Pony playing with a small cavern warming the surrounding ice cave. The tired traveler asks,

“Are you, Atlas Goni?”

“Yeah, are you Aaron Grump?” The Midnight’s world’s version of Atlas replies.

“Yeah, I got the letter from you before I had to evacuate Manehattan.”

“Took you a while, months is it?”

“Yeah, I had to help my brother who was in Ponyville.”

“Where is he?”

“Not with me. He’s with a little group of ponies called the Resistance of Empress Midnight,”

“How’s it going?”

“Midnight’s going to tear the place down in just a couple of hours.”

“Why didn’t this brother of yours come with you? Did he at least know about my letter?”

“I didn’t really tell him about it,”

“Who’s this brother’s name?”

“Daniel.”

“Why would you leave Daniel behind if you knew that Midnight might kill him or turn him into a Mork?”

“It’s just, I thought he was going to slow me down and waste whatever limited supplies are in this place.”

“Do you know why I specifically gave you the letter?”

“…Because you read about me in the papers?”

“No, I just randomly picked your name out of the Canterlot post office records.”

“Oh… So?”

“The fact that I chose randomly means that I could have sent it to your brother. What would he have done?”

“He,”

“Yes…”

“He would’ve told me and everypony else about it, pretty much exploiting this ‘secret’ place to the empress and her goons.”

“You have a point, but which usage of my letter sounds more like a true brother?”

“Heh, trying to use truth in a time like this.”

“Ever read the book, ‘Unicorn of the Flies’?”

“For literacy class, yes, the one with the group of colts stranded on an island,”

“Remember what happened to Jacky when he decided to break from civilization due to their current position, and also remember what happened to Roule who clung to the ideals of civilization despite what was going down throughout the novel. Who would you want be?”

“But that was an abandoned island in the middle of the ocean, this is an inter-global conquest lead by an unstoppable army, there is no survival if I was to stick with my brother or take a giant conspicuous group of ponies traveling across Equestria.”

“It may seem like that, but like the book, things somehow manage to turn out on a positive in the end.”

“Well that’s a story book and this is real life, barely anything ever turns out alright. So you might as well keep quiet, I’ve made my decision and going back is suicide at this point.” A wave a silence washes over the two, with only the echoing of the outside snowstorm and the low crackling of the red fire creating any noise. A grunt is then heard as the two ponies jump to their feet and look into the dark deep of the cavern unilluminated by the fire.

“Who’s there?” A small mare walks into the light, wearing a large black cloak. “Who are you?” The pony then slowly takes off her black cape, revealing a shiny ice-pink coat, red and white mane and tail, and a pair of large hazel eyes. She speaks, but in a broken and choppy manner,

“Ponies, m-me, Candy, C-C-Cane,”

“Are you okay?”

“Fine, me is o-okay.” The two stallions give each other a concerned look before turning back on the speak-impediment pony with a noticeable blank rump.

“You seem a bit, off.”

“Unders-s-studing, I lack, show others, you.” She backs into the darkness and a small collection of grunts and mumbles echo over to Atlas and Aaron, both now becoming a tad paranoid. Soon, a group of three stallions, no taller than Candy Cane, enter the light, each also cloaked in a black robe.

“Uh… We come in peace,” The one to the right turns to the middle pony and delivers a short collection of grunts and mumbles to the middle one’s left ear, causing the middle stallion to look to his right and speak a mix of grunts, sounds, and slight pony language to the third pony. The third pony then says,

“We assumed so.”

“Who are you guys and Candy Cane? I’ve never seen you guys here before.” The conversation between the three odd ponies begins again, giving Atlas the impression that they don’t naturally speak his language.

“We are a group of unique ponies that live in these caverns, and we have observed you and your friend’s activities. Apologies if this disturbs you, we are very shy around ponies that come from South.”

“So, why have you guys shown up now?”

“We believe we can help with this Daniel problem.”

“Oh really?” The now annoyed Grump interrupts, “What can a group of anti-social ponies that spend their time freezing their butts off do?”

“We once had a pair of twin sisters that worked on expanding our cave system. One day, during a cave collapse, one of the sisters had to decide either to sacrifice herself to save her sister, or leave her. She left her, causing the poor sister to leave us. Fifteen moons later, selfish sister gave birth to three foals, two fillies and a colt. The colt and one of the fillies followed the example of their selfish mother, and when there was a food shortage in our tribe, they kicked out the youngest filly, leaving her in the snowy wasteland. We never heard from the youngling again, and the two foals grew up to later be kicked out for causing a second and worse food shortage.”

“So the moral of the story is…”

“Don’t be selfish when things become dire, for the survivors only corrupt the next generation.”

“So what, am I supposed to go back down and probably be destroyed just to not be selfish and corrupt this non-existent next generation?”

“What we’re saying is that there is no next generation if you do not tend to your healthy crops. This Midnight is a weed, trying to feed off and destroy the good crops. It is your responsibility to tend to your brother, to rat out these weeds to produce plentiful food.” Aaron takes a moment to process this, and slowly, a smile begins to glow upon his face,

“You’re right, I must help my brother, it’s my responsibility, my chance at making things right, but Midnight’s too strong, she’s impossible to stop now.”

“Nothing is impossible, you just might need some help to see that.”

“Like how?”

“We will be willing to offer some hardware that might be able to help you.”

“What type of hardware?”

“Strong armour, large crossbows-”

“Sold!” Atlas cheers from the sidelines, the cloaked ponies continue,

“Mobile mega-bellows, magic displacement shields,”

“This might work,” Aaron exclaims in joys, raising his front legs in the air, “how can we repay you ponies?”

“Nothing of charge, we see that Midnight is a threat to us and we are willing to help your brother’s team.”

“Can we at least offer something in return?” The three cloaked ponies then huddle together and whisper to each other before turning back around.

“We would like an audience with your governmental leader.”

“Princess Celestia?”

“Yes, I believe we can integrate ourselves successfully into your culture with a little help from your government.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure of it.”

“Ready?” Atlas asks the other four, bouncing up and down, anxious to become the cavalry for once.

“Yeah!” They cheer.

“All right then,” Aaron cheers, “let’s do this!”

Meanwhile, in the RAEM, complete silence blankets the empty corridors of the facility. A loud banging of a metal door erupts through the corridors as Applejack, Raindrop, and Shining Armour are bashing themselves against the barricaded door of Major Jack’s room.

“You’ve gotta help us!” Applejack shouts, “Twilight’s been captured by Morks!”

“No,” a mumbled voice calls from the other side, “we’d never be able to save her. It’s everypony for himself now, and you are not going to get me and the ten other mares in this perfectly sealed room!”

”But if we work together,” Raindrop pipes, but is soon cut short by the thick accent of Jack,

“Why are you defending Twilight? I heard you two scrap in the lobby shortly before she was ponynapped.”

“…”

“That’s what I thought-”

“Shut your trap!” An awkward moment of silence strikes the surrounding ponies before Raindrop continues. “I admit it, I’ve been spoiled by Celestia for all of my life and now I’ve made some really stupid choices, thinking I knew better. I’m the reason why Twilight’s in dire peril now, because of my complete obliviousness to her feelings.” Raindrop then slowly walks away from the door and a stunned Jack and slowly makes her way to the lobby. “I’m going out to try and set things right. Although I may not make it, I will at least spend my final moments in a world I have never seen actually doing something right.”

“Wait!” the ex-general shouts from far behind the No-Pony and the others before running in front of Raindrop.

“General Apple?”

“I’ve been thinking, about what you and Applejack have told me. If we work together, we may be able to pull together a plan!”

“But you’ve heard what the other ponies have said, Midnight’s unstoppable now.”

“That may not be entirely true. Raindrop, you have a smart little head, you can think of something,”

“But I barely know Midnight, I don’t know her strengths, her weaknesses, I don’t even know about how the Morks function or synchronize with each other.”

“Hold on,” Applejack interrupts the small mare’s thought process, “Twilight was the only able to pull off Shining Armour’s helmet and grab Empress Midnight without harm.”

“That’s a start, she and Midnight do have similar magic frequencies as Boris has stated…”

“Midnight tends to fight directly,” Rarity yells as she and her group of ponies charge down the hall opposite of Apple’s, “I noticed that she’s taken off-guard by things out of her sight and attention.”

“Rarity?! What happened?”

“Some friends helped me out of my funk and I’m ready to give that Midnight a thing or two!”

“She’s going to pay for capturing Twilight!” Gruncle Borris shouts, firmly stomping his hooves on the ground.

“Oh Celestia,” Jack mumbles as the sound of falling furniture ruptures from behind the gathering, “sounds like things are picking up, something no pony can resist.”

“I’ve got it!” Raindrop exclaims, the others grow quiet and gather around, “Our main priority is saving Twilight, for if we break her out of Midnight’s clutches, she could disable the Morks and possibly the empress for long enough for us to detain Midnight.”

“How do we do that?”

“You Jack, Daniel, and Borris, will lead the resistance at a defensive hold at the RAEM, the rest of us out here will sneak into Midnight’s base from the side where Twilight will most likely be kept.”

“Problem,” Lieutenant Pie replies, “One, Borris left the RAEM and probably won’t be back. Two, Midnight’s castle is Celestia’s old palace in Canterlot, high above the ground. And three, security for the castle is insane, not even my old pet gator Gummy was able to sneak past the Morks.”

“Okay, we’ll need some pony to get us access past the guards, security would most likely be weak if Midnight’s going all-out on this invasion, but who…”

“I can help with that,” the second Rarity calls from the lobby as she slowly and nervously walks towards the mass of ponies.

“Rarity,” the ex-general sternly barks, “why’d you come back?”

“I made a mistake, Midnight tricked me into betraying you ponies for what I thought was honesty. However, I saw some things and realized that you just wanted me to be happy and continue to run the resistance. Even at that, I’m a terrible leader. Applejack, I’m not sure I can still do this, but I’m promoting you to marshal. Just please, give me another chance, I’m so sorry,” The now Marshal Apple’s face lightens up to a joyful smile,

“Rarity, that’s what friends are for,” the two then burst into a blissful sobbing as they hug each other tightly.

“For the record, I like ‘friend’ better than ‘powerful ally’.”

“So Miss Rarity,” Raindrop replies, “ready to set Equestria free and give Midnight what she rightfully deserves?”

“Indeed, I’m still on Midnight’s good side, so I might be able to sneak you guys past the Morks into her palace from the left wing entrance.”

“We’re all set then? Right. Pinkie Pie, sound off the troops!”

“Aye-aye Shorty-Pie.” Pinkie cheers and she runs to the bell and shakes it harder than what the small bell was made for, causing a wave of sound to pound at every door in the entire RAEM. The marshal breaks away from her friend and stands upon the small pedestal before delivering a speech,

“Sisters of the RAEM, of Equestria. My sisters. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me! A day may come, when the courage of ponies fail, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of friendship, but it is not this day! An hour of Morks and shattered lives when the age of Celestia comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you, stand, ponies of Equestria! Earth Ponies, pegasi, unicorns, take up in arms and prepare for the final showdown. Many of you will most likely die, I cannot sugarcoat it or bend the truth, but your sacrifice will be worth the saving of Equestria, ours, the second world’s, and other worlds’. Your names, both living and dead, shall be chanted amongst the survivors for centuries to come. Remember what Midnight has done to us, she has stolen our friends, our husbands, our children, and turned them into savages that you see on a daily basis. May your suffering end! The princesses, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, are in the clutches of Midnight’s monstrous hooves, never to be heard from since that faithful day when Midnight attacked Equestria. But let that not deter our hopes, but instead, fill us with passion! The passion to end the corruption, the oppression, the brutality, the destruction, the darkness, the dishonesty, the sadness, the greed, the disloyalty, of the tyrant known as Midnight! May we stand together and restore balance to our sacred land, or be divided, and fall into obscurity and forever regret. It’s your choice, for this may be your last choice. All that I ask of you, is to try and set back what’s right, for Equestria!”

Soon, the metal doors of every corner of the base swing open as hundreds and thousands of mares march from the rooms, chanting, stomping, and cheering upon cramming themselves into the lobby. Marshal Apple, Ex-Marshal Rarity, Medic Fluttershy, Lieutenant Pie, Gruncle Boris, Major Jack, Daniel Grump, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Raindrop each look at each other through the leaping crowd, grins beaming off of each other’s faces.

Deep inside Midnight’s dungeon, Twilight’s true Gruncle Boris stands above a laying Twilight, gathering his strength to try and comfort her,

“So, you finally know about the whole Alicorn Amulet thing?”

“Yes,” the mare guiltily replies, “and this is what I became, a monster.”

“No you haven’t,”

“You do know, you know Empress Midnight is the exact same pony as me. Just one slip up, and I’ll turn into a dark mare of pure evil.”

“It’s not your fault, my great-niece Twily Baby, I was the one who created that amulet of destruction. It caused all of this to happen. I was too blind by my own intensions to consider the risks that such power would bring.”

“Hey Gruncle,”

“Yes?”

“Is Isabelle real?”

“Yes,”

“Why’d you keep it secret to me and everypony else?”

“Because I didn’t want any harm to come to any member of my family, I didn’t want to risk injuring you or her if she ever was released from her sanctuary.”

“Has this always been a thing? Has the Sparkle Family doing things with the best of intension, only for it to end in chaos and disaster?”

“Well, the worst things have mostly come from the best of intentions. I guess we’re too ambitious for our own good.”

“What do you think Midnight will do to us once she wins?”

“Not sure,”

“Killing us would be the most likely to happen, I should know.” The old unicorn lets out a deep sign as he lies down next to her, both facing the craggy wall in front of them.

“I’m sorry Twilight, I should have told you the truth about the Alicorn Amulet while you were still growing up.”

“You were only trying to protect me from myself, but I forgive you, and I’m sorry for becoming the empress and destroying our world.”

“It’s okay, at least things can’t get any worse. We’ve hit rock bottom.”

“Aww,” a taunting voice rattles the small underground lap as the three princesses wake up to see Midnight holding a large bag in her claws. “Touching, if only I was still that stupid to still believe in the ‘power’ of friendship,”

“What do you want?” Luna harshly snaps at the evil Twilight, who then laughs before continuing her taunts,

“Moon-sick Luna? All I wanted to do was just to introduce you three to your counterparts from this world.” She then tosses the bag across the room and into the wall, causing another Celestia, another Luna, and another Cadence to fall out of the brown sack and hit the icy floor. “And don’t even think of pulling off that explosion trick from ‘Star Swirl’s Nano-Molecular Studies’. Celestia, I’m looking at you! I’ve done extensive precautions to make sure every hair on these ponies are completely different from yours and would require weeks’ worth of grooming in order to replicate my work.”

“Twilight,” the second Cadence mutters, “don’t do it! We used to be best friends, remember our little song?”

“That’s Midnight to you, princess, and yes, that song still annoys me to this day.” As Midnight turns around to the door, another voice bursts into the conversation, this one belonging to the second Celestia,

“Twilight Sparkle,”

“Empress Midnight!”

“Twilight, I know there’s still some good in you. I’ve known you for most of your entire life. I know I’ve kept secrets from you, but that was only to save you from becoming this, this evil beast. Please, there’s still time, you can end this and we can return everything to its original harmonious state.”

“Never, it’s too late anyways. Fate has fashioned me to become the leader of the new worlds. You were destined to be the fool, a parasite on the potential of pony kind. Morks! Set out now! I’m going to stay here and wait for my new suit!” A door slams loudly behind her upon exiting the room, leaving everypony inside in a complete state of hopelessness.

“Why…” Twilight begins to mumble to herself, but’s loud enough for the seven others to hear, “why did I have to be such a terrible pony and do terrible things?”

“That’s not true,” Twilight’s Celestia argues in a passionate tone, “Twilight, you have done amazing things throughout your entire life. Who returned my sister to normal?”

“Me but,”

“Who saved Equestria by the spirit of chaos himself, Discord?”

“Me but,”

“Who then reformed him to good?”

“Me, but mostly Fluttershy, but,”

“Who saved Canterlot from the Changelings and Queen Chrysalis with her intuition?”

“Me but,”

“Who returned the Crystal Empire to its former glory and destroyed King Sombra by being selfless and loyal?”

“Me but,”

“And who defeated Lord Tirek when all hope seemed lost?”

“Me but,”

“One more, who became an Alicorn Princess? Not because of her powers, or fear, or military strength. Who was given the wings to become an alicorn for her right of mind, dedication to the fair use of magic, loyalty to her friends, search for the truth, her generosity towards other who may not have deserved it, and efforts for the kindness, joy, and peace of her country?”

“Me, b-b-but,”

“You Twilight! You have never stopped living to that standard to this very moment, so are you going to stop all because somepony else gave up? You’ve proved to be stronger than the Alicorn Amulet, you can stop Midnight, and you can set things right.”

“But Midnight is me, I could and have become that in this world.”

“Is that who you want to be, following in the shadow of a possibility?” Boris replies, “Is that really the Twilight you know you are?”

“…”

“…” A small smile grows on Twilight’s face. She slowly begins to stand up and turn to the princesses and her gruncle.

“No I’m not.”

“That’s the Twilight I know and love!”

“Midnight has chosen her fate, and I shall choose mine.”

“That’s the spirit!”

“And if I go down in flames, so be it, for I am not Midnight, but merely, a possibility as well.”

“So what are you going to do?!”

“Fight!” Twilight charges for the door, filled with hype and energy, her horn glowing to attempt to break Midnight’s magical seal over the prison. She instead slams head-first into the metal door, creating a dent in the shape of Twilight’s face upon her pulling herself out.

“Oops, I forgot to mention that Morks seal the door shut upon Midnight entering and leaving. My bad,”

“No matter, we wait.”

“For what?”

“The RAEM, if I know anything about my friends, I know that any moment now, they’ll be marching down here and busting this door open.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to rival similarities…”

Reunited Once More

In the middle of the empty deserts of Southern Equestria, the moon glows bright through the thinner layer of smog upon a sandy plateau, with a grey pegasus in gold and purple armour looking to the cold radiant light. Hours seem to pass as the single stallion is isolated from any life and is only companied with his thoughts. He looks down from the plateau face and sees the jaggy bottom, several stories down.

“I know that feeling…” A shallow and raspy voice speaks from behind Borris. The pegasus looks back to see a pony, covered head to hoof in a black cowpony hat, black vest, black leggings, and black boots, making it impossible to see what lies beneath all of that clothing. “You feel as if you have screwed everything up, that you’ve got nothing to live for.”

“Who are you?” The major replies sternly, but a hint of nervousness gets mixed in with the delivery of the question, “And do you know who I am?”

“You might know me, and I might know you, legends, fables, stories are the beginning of knowing of each other.”

“What’s your story?”

“Me,” the disguised stallion walks to Borris’ side and looks to the east, “my story is one of absolution. I did some bad things a long time ago, but after seeing the light, I’m now on a spiritual journey.”

“What is it? How does it involve you walking around this place and creeping up on ponies?”

“Let’s just say that I’m… linked, to this land. My quest is to help those down on their luck, to give them a helping hoof to their hooves. And right now, it seems like you need a helping hoof.”

“No I don’t I’m too far deep for any kind of help. I’ve killed a lot of innocent ponies, family and children included, I’ve failed at protecting my country and others from a tyrannical alicorn, and I’ve lost my special somepony. There’s no hope for me.” A minute of silence fades in as the two ponies stare through the smoggy horizon at the only stars viewable against the deep blue sky.

“Ever heard the legend of the Ghost Pony?”

“Yeah, real original name that one,”

“It was a long time ago, naming wasn’t really a thing around these parts. The reason I bring this is because Blaze also thought the same thing as you are right now. From the moment that tornado scorched away everything he had to gain in his life; he thought that there was no point to living, that he would have been better off not existing at all. However, after what seemed to be an eternal suffering, his chance at redemption came before him. And to this day, they say he still roams this land, fulfilling his destiny.”

“That’s just an old pony tale,”

“Heh, you’d be surprised how true some of these tales are. And sometimes, history has those little moments where it repeats itself.”

“How so?”

“You may not be able to return the lives of the ponies you’ve taken, nor protect yours or others’ countries, nor even repair the relationship between you and your special somepony,”

“Yeah, way to hammer it in there buddy,”

“But there is a chance of something, unexpected to happen, an option that you did not see coming. Maybe a lone stranger, appearing from nowhere, inspiring you to go back and try to help those in need right now, instead of your own self and past actions.”

“It’s no use; they’ll all be dead in an hour or two.”

“Maybe, maybe,”

“What does that mean?”

“Maybe that can happen, or,”

“Or what?”

“Something, unexpected happens…” The moment those words pierce Borris’ long black mane and enter his ears, something inside him sparked. A stiff face, stronger than solid granite, becomes printed on the warrior’s face. “Has fate given you a second chance my friend?”

“Yes it has, and I’m gonna take it.”

“Go then, fly!” Borris leaps off the cliff, opening his wings and taking flight to the north as the morning beams of sunlight light his path against the neighboring mountains. “May the spirit of Blaze Eldur Rider be with you. Borris looks back to see that the mysterious pony is gone, but notices a small flaming figure rapidly charging into the eastern horizon as the red sun exposes itself. A massive tailwind then hits the pegasus and the air becomes hard as it hits his face as his speed skyrockets, zipping over hundreds of kilometers of desert, plains, and forest. He flies over a small plain between the RAEM and MorksVille and sees two large masses of ponies slowly marching towards each other. Their synchronized stomping against the hard ground echoes up all the way to Borris.

“The battle’s already started?!” He squints towards the Mork side and sees the first three rows of unicorn Morks charging their horns and aiming directly at the oncoming mares. He then looks to the RAEM side to see hundreds of mares, each armed in silver, gold, and purple armour. Fear is tingling through each and every single one of them as they look to the oncoming barrage. The Morks fire, a massive rainbow blanket of all sorts of magic projectiles dart across the field. In a flash, a giant continuous stream of explosions of dirt, smoke, colors, and other debris erupt at the RAEM’s front lines, coating the entire group in smog. The smoke dies down and Borris and the Morks are surprised see a wall of green shields, similar to Midnight’s wings, in front of the mares. The cloaked ponies from the mountains are then seen right behind the shield, carrying a small black box in their mouths, each projecting a shield. The Morks fire again. Only for their projectiles to be absorbed by the hundreds of shields as the resistance begins to run. Borris is caught off his guard by the gigantic Spike robot, which grabs him in his enormous claw. The beast flies into a thundering cloud with Borris is tow and then lifts him to its serrated jaws of teeth. Suddenly, a large metal spear appears out of nowhere and pierces the dragon through the mouth, sealing it shut. Borris is dropped as he makes his down to the surface and sees a house-large crossbow to the north of the resistance. He lands next to it and sees Atlas at the massive trigger and Aaron and a couple of other cloaked ponies pulling the vehicle ahead.

“That was me who made the shot!” The critic boasts, “And they said my cutie mark was a fake,”

“What is all this?”

“Me and Aaron found some unusual ponies in the mountains and got them to help us out. Isn’t that right Aaron?”

“Yep,” the unicorn exhaustingly replies, “the cavalry has arrived!”

“Aaron?!” A pair of distant voices shout, the three look to see Major Jack and Daniel push their way through the fast marching.

“Dan!”

“Aaron!” The yellow unicorn screams before grabbing his brother in open arms, “Why did you come back?”

“Would I be a true Grump brother if I left ya? Just thought I’d give my buddy a savoring moment before the finale.

“Well, it certainly has made a huge impact on our last stand.”

“Of my Celestia…” Jack exclaims, “This is huge!”

“Are those giant bellows rolling towards us?”

“Yes,” Aaron gleefully replies, “I’ll go inside the RAEM and we’ll actually see if the spray works, you help Atlas with the crossbow!”

“Hey Aaron,”

“What?”

“Thanks for coming back to me…” Aaron then releases the rope he was pulling and runs behind the stunned Earth Pony and unicorn towards the barn. Atlas then screams and points at the large dragon descending from the sky,

“Giant bogey at twelve o’ clock, Uni-bro, you good at climbing?”

“Kinda,”

“Good, load the next bolt, grab a blade, and hop on the bolt.”

“What?!”

“Don’t question me, do it!”

“Okay…” The unicorn picks up one of the 5-meter metal rods from two cloaked ponies carrying them behind the crossbow and loads it. He then picks up a long sword sticking from the ground at the front lines and dashes back to Atlas. In a quick succession of bounds, Daniel leaps to the tip of the bolt. Atlas shoves the massive weapon with all of his might, aiming it directly at the approaching beast of the air.

“Fire in the hole!”

“Sir,” Jack nervously asks, “are you sure this is safe?”

“No, that’s why I’m having him do it. Outgoing!”

“Wait!” The panicking stallion shrieks, clinging to the arrow with all of his might. Atlas ignores the shrill and bucks the back of the tiller, causing a large whipping sound to rattle the entire device. He looks back to see the weapon has fired and that Daniel is nowhere to be seen.

“I’d hate to brag, but I love to brag. Ha!” Back at the barn, Aaron is levitating the large cauldron of Anti-Mork Spray out of the entrance and running back to his friend. However, a distant scream of terror is picked up by his ears,

“AHHH!” Aaron looks up to see the large arrow sailing through the sky with a tiny yellow speck on the front of it.

“Daniel?” He asks to himself, squinting his eyes.

“Hey bro!”

“Yep, definitely him…”

“AHHH!” The flying rod jabs onto the Spike Mork’s huge right wing, flinging the small unicorn onto the scaly sheet metal of the flat surface of the wing. Still holding the blade with his magic, Dan slowly begins his way to the main body. Wind smashing into his side, nearly causing him to slip off of the smooth black armour, but the pony’s old and cracked hooves provide just enough friction to keep him set onto the wing. A muffled roar rattles throughout the body of the beast as the dragon begins to tilt due to the damage of his wings. “No, no, no, no, no, nooo!” Daniel clings to a loose piece of metal and holds on as the flying suit of armour twirls for two full rotations before returning to its normal objective of ramming the resistance from above. “Oh, I think I’m gonna barf…” The unicorn then makes his way up to the top of the head, but before he can stab the monster right above the head, the beast’s head begins to shake violently. “No, not the shakies, anything but the shaky-shakes,” Now clinging to the large spike protruding from the back of the head, Daniel begins to feel as if all feeling has left his body. “Can’t, hold on, much, longer,” A loud thud hits the bottom of the metal mouth and Daniel hears the voice of Borris shouting,

“You got this Daniel Grump, do it!” Now regaining his hoofing, the stallion listens to his commander’s orders and sets the sword in position. He sets his hooves on the hilt and in one mighty push, the blade stabs cleanly through. A loud whirring on electricity and magic sputter throughout the behemoth as its angle levels, causing the dragon to beelining towards the hill a kilometer behind the large crossbow. Daniel jumps from the head and is caught by Borris with a swift mid-air swoop and witness as the metal monstrosity crashes into the hill, resulting in a blinding explosion. As the flaming flash of light dies down, the duo of stallions see a large cloud of smoke where the hill used to be.

“Wow, it looks like a giant mushroom, if it was made of dust, smoke, and absolute destruction.”

“Now that… was awesome.” The two float back down to the ground with Atlas, Jack, Aaron loading two giant bellows, each half as large as the crossbow, with the purple liquid being poured into the back of the massive mechanical vehicles.

“The griffon has landed, I repeat, the griffon has landed!”

“Good job bro,” Aaron replies, “the shields are about to be lowered, help me fire on when Boris gives the signal.”

“Which?”

“Gruncle Boris you dope.”

“Oh.”

“Get ready!” The unicorn brothers push the bellows between the square groups of mares to the front lines as Boris teleports right between the middle cloaked ponies. He shouts,

“Now! Lower the shields! Fire!” The green shields shrink into oblivion as a rainbow barrage of magic this time is fired from the RAEM at the Morks a couple of tens of meters away. The two large bellows are squeezed by Aaron and Daniel, magic and liquid spewing all over the Morks. A large cloud of smoke envelopes the Morks with confused yells and commands rocketing from one end of the explosion to the other. “Charge!” Soon, hundreds of mares, magic firing, armour clanging, and cheers of fury ring throughout the plain as they part their way through the smoke and clash with the Morks. Clanging, smashing, bashing, screams, triumphant cheers, jeering grunts, battle cries, chaos, punching, kicking, bucking, stabbing, jabbing, throwing, all clashing at once for minutes on the battlefield. No pony, not even the Morks, knew at this moment who would truly win, it was brothers against sisters, husbands against wives, friends against friends. The fate of Equestria, their and Twilight’s, and others was inconclusive in these minutes of war. Time was at a standstill, yet at the same time, flashing past as hooves, ponies, Morks, armour, and magic flew. Amongst the chaos, Borris comes across a large red stallion, bucking directly into the face of a Mork, knocking his helmet off.

“Big Mac!” The grey pegasus cheers, “Do you know where Rainbow Dash is, I need to see her?”

“Nope.” The Earth Pony replies, slightly astonished at the fact he actually knocked off a Mork helmet. “It seems however, that that Anti-Mork Spray those Grump Brothers were talking about worked.” He looks to see the brown Mork that had his helmet knocked off, panicking in confusion of what’s going on. “Are you okay?”

“Not sure,” the stallion sputters frantically, “one moment, I was having a lovely picnic with my friend, and then this! And why does it smell terrible, it feels like I’m in an all-mare teenager slumber party!”

“Don’t worry buddy,” Borris replies, “just get out of here and hide in the barn.”

“Okay.” Borris looks down at the fallen helmet and picks it up with his mouth, so as for no pony to trip on it. He then shoves, ducks, and dodges his away out of the swirling collection of battle and makes it out to the open, coming across Gruncle Boris looking towards the castle. The major drops the helmet and joins to the old unicorn’s side “Hey buddy, know where Rainbow Dash is? I need to set some things straight”

“She left to join her friends to help rescue Twilight from Midnight’s palace, I’m staying here to help the front lines. Just here for a quick breather-”

“I’ve gotta help her!”

“Don’t, it’s a covert mission, you’ll get caught by Morks if you set one hoof in Canterlot.”

“I know that castle better than anypony that’s not been a Mork, they’ll surely get caught if I don’t help them.”

“Well you better think of a way of getting in there without the Morks seeing you…” Slowly, Borris turns his head to the empty Mork helmet on the ground behind him.

“It’s going to be risky, but I’m taking the chance.” The stallion slowly puts on the helmet dowsed with the spray. “Gah, smells awful in here…”

“Are you sure you won’t turn back into a Mork?”

“The spray should stick to this thing for long enough for me to help the others infiltrate security. Wish me luck!” With that said, the pegasus leaps off and takes flight towards Midnight’s castle.

“Good luck… best friend.” A mere couple of minutes pass before Borris finds himself soaring above the abandoned residential area of Canterlot. He glances through the red visor and odor and sees a group of eleven mares and a baby dragon at the side entrance of Midnight’s castle, being held up by a unicorn Mork.

You call that covert? Holy smokes, this stinks! He swoops down in between the group and the Mork guarding the door.

“Borris?” Rainbow Dash curiously asks right behind the sudden appearance of the incognito stallion.

“Excuse me sir, I have apprehended the following ponies to be sealed in the dungeon. I was held up by the biological requirement to empty my bowels.” The Mork stares deep into Borris’ visor with a stern look on his mouth, examining the unusually dressed pony, causing more and more tension and paranoia to build up inside him and the two Rarities, two Applejacks, two Pinkie Pies, two Fluttershies, Spike, Raindrop, and Rainbow Dash…

The Last Stand

The grey Mork with black and deep crimson mane and tail continues to stare at Borris and the gang for a solid minute, as if he knows what they’re up to. He speaks,

“Why is your armour all golden and shiny?”

“The cruel pranks ponies of the RAEM play on us in our sleep brother,” Borris replies, “it’s extremely unpredictable.”

“Why do you smell so, peculiar?”

“You got something against me? I captured all these ponies for the empress.”

“Then why was I not informed of this assault? Empress Midnight let’s all Morks know where every single one is going to with her superior wisdom and magic.”

“Because she hates you,”

“Wait, is it, just me or does she have some form of list for underperforming Morks?”

“Just you in particular,”

“Oh, does everypony else know thi-”

“Yep,”

“Oh, well, I might as well, let you in while I… take a moment to let that process.”

“You do that.” The shocked Mork slowly steps to the side and opens the large wooden door. Two by two, the twelve ponies and dragon quickly enter the large quartz corridor inside and small in the door behind them.

“Just me… And what is that awful stink?!” Inside the empress’ castle, Borris turns to his friends who are all confused by what just happened.

“So, how’s it been?”

“Borris,” Rainbow whispers, “I thought you left us.”

“I did, and I’m sorry for that, I’m sorry for leaving you, I’m sorry for lying to you, for deceiving you, for trying to make you into somepony you were not,”

“I’m still fairly mad at you for that.”

“What I’m trying to say is that I’m incredibly sorry and maybe we can start over.”

“Well, I’m not going to forgive you for what you did,”

“Oh…”

“But I’m willing to overlook it and start anew if you promise you’re telling the truth and you see me for who I am.”

“I promise,”

“Do you Pinkie Promise?” Lieutenant Pie adds.

“Cross My Heart, Hope to Fly, Stick a Cupcake in my Eye!”

“Good.”

“And no pony breaks a Pinkie Promise.”

“What are we going to do now?” The ex-marshal asks, “Midnight’s figured out that I’m back with you ponies. As soon as that Mork comes to his senses, he’ll call up the entire guard and we’ll never be able to break Twilight out of Midnight’s grasp.”

“Not likely, Morks trust each other to the word and unable to put two and two together without consulting Midnight. We’ve got plenty of time. Here’s the plan; Me, Dash, and the Fluttershies will infiltrate the Mork armoury and get a set of wheels and wait in the foyer. Rarities and Applejacks, use your skills of flattery and seduction to free the ponies in the dungeon, there’s a high chance Twilight will be down there as well.”

“What will Raindrop, the Pinkie Pies, and I do?” Spike asks impatiently.

“You ponies are going to find the room Empress Midnight is in, and I want you to set up a surprise party and find the Alicorn Amulets.”

“A distraction,” Raindrop confirms, “that’s good.”

“Oh! I love parties! Race you to Midnight!” Pinkie Pie cheers, followed will her counterpart exclaiming,

“Ready-set-go!” In the blink of an eye, a small whoosh of dust remains of the two pink mares.

“We better head off now,” Raindrop replies, “Spike.” The small dragon hops onto the mare’s back as the two slowly follow behind in the search for Midnight. Borris calls out to the others,

“She’s right, let’s move out!” The other two groups split to different hallways of the corridor. After several minutes of gliding and shoving large doors open, the four pegasi find themselves in a large forgery, surrounded by empty Mork helmets and metal suits. “This looks like we’re close to the armoury, if luck is with us, we might be able to find a chariot within a couple of doors.”

“Hey Borris,” Rainbow Dash responds timidly.

“Yes Dash?”

“So, you loved Captain Dash?”

“Yeah,”

“And after hearing her gone,”

“I was torn to shreds, so, in selfishness and disbelief, I tried to use you as a replacement,”

“That’s not what I hear,”

“No?”

“What I hear is that your undying loyalty and determination of love blinded you and you made a stupid choice as a result of it. A pony with a heart and spirit like that, you would have been the perfect somepony for her.”

“Thanks, but now it’s time to accept to past and look to the future, with my friends.”

“Right.”

“Ah, here it is.” The group surround a door with the sounds of distant explosions and wind seeping around its edges. “Stay back here, I’m going to see if any Morks are in there.”

“Good luck.” Borris then quietly squeezes his way through the door, leaving the three mares behind. Rainbow Dash looks to her right to see her friend and her otherworldly counterpart smiling at her. “What? Borris is a nice pony, a good heart, smart, brave, loyal, and that, strong physique in that, tight armour… So dreamy…” Muffled arguing leaks from the door, followed by a quick succession of punches, kicks, shouting, and ending with the sound of a slap and a loud thud. The grey stallion with a Mork helmet on his head pokes his head out the door.

“We’re clear.”

Meanwhile, deep below the ground, the Rarities and Applejacks are silently crawling down the winding stairwell. Upon seeing the specially-designed stone flooring, signifying the bottom of the stairs, Marshal Apple signals her followers to stop. She then beaks one of her green eyes out of the corner and sees a squad of eight Morks guarding a door and the end of a long hallway lined with metal cages. The marshal signals turns back and waves her front hooves around in a unusual pattern, silently messaging the others who seem to get it.

“Let me out!” A small mare’s voice echoes from the other end of the chamber.

“Give it up Non-Empress Midnight,” a green pegasus Mork barks back, “you’ve already requested that action over fifty times. Request disachknowledged.”

“Oh boys,” The second Rarity shouts in a flattering voice, now standing at the foot of the stairs.

“Rarity, you are recognized as a threat, prepare to be captured.”

“Oh my, such a powerful voice, I’m utterly defenseless compared to all of you strong and might I add, dashing stallions.”

“Withhold your sarcastic comments miss, you are in direct violation of the laws governed by Empress Midnight.”

“Oh, woe is me, I’m utterly defenseless against any one of you, what’s a beautiful and innocent mare to do on her own?”

“Get her.” Slowly the Morks begin to surround the single mare, waiting for her to peacefully surrender.

“My, did it hurt when you fell from Heaven? Because you look absolutely strapping,”

“…”

“You must be very strong for a pegasus if you are guarding what appears to be, quite an elaborate prison.”

“What’s this?”

“For some unknown reason, I feel like we have a sort of, special connection, you and I.”

“I don’t follow…”

“Mr. Mork, has anypony ever had a crush on you?”

“I don’t know, possibly.”

“Well one does now…”

“Who’s that?”

“…Really, you don’t know?”

“Nope.”

“I want you.”

“Apologies, but I am required to be resigned of duty by Empress Midnight if I am to join your army.”

“You seriously did not get it? I just said ‘I want you’ on the spot. How do I spell it out more obviously than that?”

“Oh I see…”

“Finally-”

“You’ve been trying to seduce me into delaying your capture for one of your plans.” The white unicorn gives herself a facehoof in utter confusion from the complete obliviousness and genius of the Mork.

“You’re too late now, anyways, they’ve opened the door.” The Morks frantically look back to see the trio of other mares opening the door as they glance back at the stallions with devious grins.

“Uh oh…” At that moment, all chaos broke loose. Seven alicorn princesses and one unicorn, burst out of the room. Rage filled in all sixteen eyes as magic blasts burst from their horn, launching the Morks into the barred walls of the cages. The walls and floor shook as each of the guarding stallions were smashed into each other, blasted by magic, before finding themselves stuck to the ceiling, each rattling in pain and fear. As the dust settles and the ponies regroup themselves, Twilight looks to the ceiling and sees the defeated the Morks. She gently sets them down and takes off each of their helmets, resulting in the freed ponies falling one by one. “Ow…”

“You did it Twilight!” The ex-marshal cheers as she runs towards the purple mare, only to be flung to the wall and frozen in place.

“You traitor,” the princess sternly speaks, her horn glowing more radiantly then before.

“Twilight, don’t!” Rarity exclaims, “she’s back with us!”

“Wait, what? Came back?”

“Yeah Twi-” the other Rarity croaks, “I’m so sorry, Midnight was too persuasive. Please, let, me, go…” Following her orders, Twilight sets the mare down, leading to a short coughing and wheezing session. “I promise that I’m 120% loyal to the RAEM now.”

“120%?”

“Let’s just say an old friend told me its cooler like that.”

“Oh, that friend…”

“Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadence! You’ve come back! Where were you ponies for all these months?”

“Stuffed in an extra-large potato sack inside a broom closet,” Celestia answers, “we ran on the hope that you ponies would and did free us.”

“And potatoes,” the alternate Luna adds, “lots of potatoes.”

“So wait, there’s something about you Rarity betraying somepony?”

“Is it really necessary we address that at this time?” the ex-marshal nervously replies, trying to avoid talking about that moment.

“So what’s going on?”

“The final battle’s goin’ on that’s what.” Applejack responds, “We came here to save you and Twilight so she can detach the Morks from their helmets. Us ponies of the resistance are fighting the Morks.”

“I see, we need to take action now then.”

“Major Borris and the pegasi are preparing a chariot and should be waiting for us in the foyer right now.” Marshal Apple adds, “He’ll take us out of Midnight’s castle and onto the main battlefield where you can help the resistance.”

“My, I’m so proud on how mature all you ponies have become, I am proud of you.”

“Thanks, but this wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t give us hop-” A large springy boom blasts from high above the chamber, followed by inaudible chants by what sound to be mares. “That’s probably the Pinkie Pies right now, distracting Midnight.”

“That Midnight,” Twilight’s Celestia mumbles in anger, “I’m gonna get up there and give her a lesson or two…”

“What?”

“Happy, happy, Midnight, from both of us to you! We wish it was our party, but there would be no surprise!” The two Pinkie Pies chant directly the face of Midnight, with her looking as if she saw a frightening ghost appear right in front of her. As Midnight slowly backs into her throne, she shrieks,

“Where did you two come from?”

“Happy, happy, Midnight, we know this doesn’t rhyme! We came her in a hurry, so we made it on the fly!” One of the Pinkies leap behind the other and pulls out a light blue cannon and aims it at the empress. “Surprise!” The cannon fires a stream of confetti directly in Midnight’s face, launching her into the black throne and knocking it to the floor. Now furious, Midnight quickly picks herself up and grabs the pink Earth Ponies in her hooves.

“Game’s over! What is this?”

“Well duh,” the lieutenant exclaims, “it’s a surprise party.”

“For what?”

“For you,”

“What for?”

“A something-month anniversary of your reign and upcoming retirement, we set up this surprise party for you silly filly.”

“Upcoming is an understatement; it’ll take a trillion years before I even consider retirement. With the two Alicorn Amulets in my possession, I have ascended my power beyond that of alicorn princess. Actually, I’m too powerful to be an empress either, I am a god!”

“Then where are the amulets?”

“Being prepared to be installed into my new suit, those idiots should be done by now.”

“Can we see it?”

“Sure, you’ll be a contestant to see how strong the new suit is, by bashing you into it!”

“Hey Raindrop! Hey Spike!” Pinkie hollers as she looks back at the door, “you got the amulets? I think we’re doing a great job distracting Midnight!”

“WHAT?!” The armoured pony tosses the two aside as she charges towards the ajar door. Now grabbing hold of the scratched gold trim still on the massive doors, Midnight tears the two off the wall, sending rock and loose debris down with them. She looks to see Raindrop and Spike, holding one Alicorn Amulet in each claw, fearfully staring straight at her. “You…” She grabs Spike and chucks him to the rugged hallway of the throne room, launching the two pendants right next to the fallen throne. A low groan exits the small dragon as he crumbles himself into a ball, riving in pain.

“Spike!” The No-Pony shrieks. Midnight grabs her and holds her up to the empress’ red eyes.

“Look at this, you and a baby dragon trying to take down me? A god? It’s absolutely adorable.”

“Midnight, you have exactly ten seconds to set me down and surrender, or else!”

“Or else what Tiny?”

“My friends will come in here and they won’t be so merciful on you.”

“Hahaha!” Midnight laughs viciously, slowly waking back to her chair with Raindrop in her massive talons. “Do you honestly think that ponies would risk life and limb to save some useless blind pony?”

“Yes, Celestia, Luna, Cadence,”

“Twilight?”

“Well,”

“Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Gruncle Boris, Borris perhaps?”

“Well when you say it like that, it seems unlikely,”

“It seems worthless, a worthless effort to save a worthless pony.”

“I am not worthless!”

“Do your ‘friends’ think that?”

“I may not be a maroid-induced, evil monster like you, I may not be the strongest, wisest, most agile pony around. I may not even be the most righteous pony I once thought myself to be, but I am a good friend and they see me as somepony worth fighting for.”

“What a big mouth for such a tiny filly, you’d be an excellent asset for my empire…”

“What do you mean? You just called me worthless.”

“You are, no doubt about that, but if I could fix you, all your dreams can come true.”

“You don’t know what my dreams are.”

“Oh, I do. Your dream is to be recognized as a true pony, not just some dead weight that somepony has to look out and push around.”

“…If that was true, how would you fulfil it in the first place?”

“First, I’d give you a pair of wings, just like mine, so you wouldn’t be tied to the earth. Then, I would give you a helmet, just like mine, so you’d have a horn to project magic and no pony would ever notice that you’re blind. Finally, I’ll teach you every magic trick in the book, with you by my side, heir to my empire.”

“You can really do all that? You’re bluffing,”

“How do you think I got these majestic wings, and this magnificent helmet, or even this power?”

“Don’t listen to her!” Spike croaks, “Remember what happened to Rarity.”

“Rarity betrayed me, mind you that, and the reason she left your pathetic resistance in the first place was because she was feared. You are the opposite, you’d remain loyal to me right? You’re not a backstabber like her, nor Applejack, nor Pinkie Pie, nor Fluttershy, nor Rainbow Dash, nor Gruncle Boris, nor Borris, nor Celestia, nor Luna, nor Cadence, and especially not-”

“Me?” A voice announces into the room, Midnight turns to the doorway to see the purple alicorn, staring straight at her.

“You… Morks! Get those morons and the new armour up here pronto!”

“We’re sorry,” Borris replies as he flies out from behind Twilight, “your call could not be forwarded, please leave a message after the beat,”

“Borris!”

“He’s not the only pony ready to settle a score…” Rainbow Dash shouts as she, the Applejacks, Rarities, Fluttershies, and Gruncle Boris walk into the room from the sides of the missing door.

“Where are all you ponies coming from?”

“Right behind you,” Another voice speaks, this time directly behind the dark alicorn. Nervously, Midnight turns to see six multicoloured alicorns, each within breathing distance of Midnight.

“You didn’t hear-”

“Every. Single. Word. Miss.” The empress creates a loud gulp of terror, slowly backing to the center of the room, becoming circled by the nineteen ponies, including the Pinkie Pies and Spike after shortly recovering during her speech.

“Celestia, we can talk this out right? I did invade your world, but we can come to a truce, say, 80-20, me and you?”

“…”

“70-30?”

“…”

“50-50?”

“…”

“20-80?”

“Empress Midnight, for you crimes against all of both Equestrias, you are hereby punished to the lands of revenge.” Slowly, Midnight opens her wings, settling into an attacking position.

“Bring it…”

A Choice to Be Made

The final battle begins, as Midnight, still holding Raindrop in her claw, stamps her front hooves into the ground. The stony floor begins to rumble, with only the pegasi and alicorns able to hover over the earthquake and fight.

“Twilight,” Celestia commands, “Now!” In a split second, the empress’ claws burst open and launch the No-Pony into the air.

“No fair!” Empress Midnight mutters, still standing on the unstable floor. As Raindrop begins to fall back down, she’s rescued by a white aura plucking her from the air.

“I got you!”

“Celestia!” Raindrop cheers as she slowly gravitates towards the two pale alicorns pulling her in. Twilight, still locking her magical grip on the robot arm, slams it into the ground, sending Midnight head-first into the craggy stonework. The pegasi, Rainbow Dash, Borris, and Fluttershy, join in and dive bomb onto the empress’ backside, with the medic hovering away from the fight politely asking,

“Uh, girls, do you mind, taking it a, a little easy on her?”

“Easy?!” Rainbow exclaims in confusion, “What the hay do you mean, it’s Empress Midnight. Even our Fluttershy’s wants a piece of her.”

“Well, it’s difficult to explain, but,” But before the yellow pegasus could finish, the black monster quickly regained her standing and uses her other robotic hand to backhand the ponies above her knocking them into the ceiling. Twilight tries to get a hold of the other arm, but Midnight’s resistance is too powerful for the purple alicorn to control both arms. The wobbling of the castle settles down and the Earth Ponies and unicorns soon regain their footing. The Rarities and Gruncle Boris’ blast tiny purple and dark rays of magic at their target, exploding upon impact. The empress roars in pain before opening her wing shields, deflecting the small rays back at the unicorns. The Applejacks quickly respond by running up to the distracted Midnight and bucking her in the helmet, taking turns. “Please, don’t be so brutal on her!”

“Why’s that?” Raindrop chirps, now being cradled in the arms of her adopted mother.

“I can’t tell you, but the reason is perfectly reasonable.”

“What in Equestria-AH!” Rarity screams as a bolt of deflected magic charges at her head. She ducks just before the loose deflected ray swishes over her head. Rarity then looks to her side to see Boris looking more distressed than normal, despite his swift dodging of his own magic.

“Borris knows.” The young stallion winces upon hearing that, but regains his calm and hastily replies,

“Another time Flutter…” The Pinkie Pies join in the fight, leaping over everypony and onto Midnight’s back. They then proceed to hop up and down repeatedly onto the back armour, although not doing any significant damage; they are greatly putting dents in Midnight’s pride.

“I guess that’s softer…” Now incredibly angered, the empress delivers another screaming roar as she raises her head from the back and tries to look and see where the Pinkies are at, only to be met with a metal fist in her face. This was Twilight’s doing, as she pulls the arm back and sends another punch into the face. Soon followed by another punch, and another, all along to Twilight chanting,

“Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?”

“Twilight, do you know what you’re doing?”

“Yeah I do,” Twilight proceeds to finish the sentence by pounding Midnight on each word, “Giving! Her! A! Piece! Of! The! Other! Possibility!”

“Do you even know who you’re punching?”

“Yes! I! Do! I! Know! Who! Empress! Midnight! Is!”

“Are you going to keep doing that?”

“Yes! I! Am! She! Deserves! This! Her! Betrayal! Will! Not! Go! Unpunished!” At this point, Midnight has enough of it. Time begins to slow down in her perspective with the living snot being beaten out of her. The repeated punching of her own arm, the pegasi tugging at her other claw, the bright lights emit from the unicorns to her far left, the two orange ponies kicking her chestplate, the pitter patter of the pink mares on her backside, the alicorns, Spike, and Raindrop taunting and cheering in the distance behind Twilight, all turned into a slow blur as Midnight’s eyes grow heavy and close.

I can’t go on… The empress thinks to herself, they’re too strong.

No! A deep booming voice emanates in her mind from her chest, they betrayed you! Look at the mercilessness they are giving you, all under the leadership of the pesky princesses…

I caused this to myself thou-

You are not Twilight Sparkle anymore… You are not limited, you are a god!

“That’s right…” Midnight mumbles, just before the final and most powerful punch is delivered right into the cheek, smashing off Midnight’s helmet in the process. Sheets and shards of black metal rain onto the cracks of the ground and tattered rug as ponies gasp upon seeing the purple face of the empress.

“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash stutters just after stopping her dive several inches above Midnight’s head.

“That’s right, it’s me, the other Twilight. Glad to finally meet me?”

“B-b-b-but how? Why?”

“Why don’t you ask, your ‘friends’, surely they know by the sounds of Fluttershy in the back corner.” Slowly, the rainbow-mane pegasus looks down towards Marshal Apple looking up at the frightened pony,

“Did you know?” At first, the mare’s only response was a wince, but soon, it was followed by Apple closing her eyes in shame, and giving a soft nod, followed by the other three alternate versions of the once six friends and Boris. “Why did you keep this hidden from us?”

“The answer, though basic, is a very big one.”

“What is it?” Fluttershy nervously asks before flying off of the claws she was gnawing at.

“What I thought were my friends were really my enemies, living in fear of me. I was a princess, ready to uphold responsibility to Equestria, but did I ever received the attention I deserved? No, the others just had to keep all the power to themselves and leaving me on Friendship Patrol.”

“Twilight,” The Luna of her world protests, “we were wait for the right moment to make sure you were truly ready. Being a princess is a lot of-”

“Don’t give me that time garbage, we all know too well when you wanted a little extra from your title.”

“That was in the past…”

“This whole me thing has happened before, all under the control and manipulation of the real ring leader, Celestia. Did my friends support me during my time? No, all they said was to be patient, sound similar anypony?”

“It’s true!” Twilight shouts, “if you hadn’t went on your little age trek, you could’ve defeated Tirek and actually upheld the responsibility of holding all of the alicorn magic.”

“And then what? Live my life as a supporter to an unjust system? Look at the mercilessness you and these others have brought against me. I know inside each and every single one of you, there is a rage, a rage against the princesses. You know that what I’m saying is true. Celestia has not been benefiting you into this world; she has been holding back your true potential.”

“Don’t give us that Midnight!” The other Rarity hollers, slowly walking around the fallen helmet and staring right into her red eyes before continuing, “Your trap will not work this time.”

“Why would they listen to you? Traitor…”

“You’re right, I did betray my friends, because I was deceived by a pony that was so lost and confused from that one incident, all she wanted was somepony to support her. You had a rough night and decided to practice your magic with the Alicorn Amulet, and made a big mistake. Twilight, I know that you sometimes think we won’t forgive you for the destruction you accidently caused. But I know you Twilight, and I and the others would’ve forgiven you. But you ran away instead, letting your loneliness and fear take over you.”

“You think that berating me will get you support and justification for your actions?”

“Look who’s calling the kettle black!” Marshal Apple jeers, now next to the princesses along with the Earth Ponies.

“Put a horseshoe in it…”

“The thing is,” the white mare continues, “you came back to Equestria as Empress Midnight. You say that it’s liberation from a false leadership. When in reality, it’s just you trying to get rid of the sorrow by destroying whatever evidence would’ve proven you’re mentality wrong. I used to think that as well when I joined you. I wanted to get rid of my sorrow for the loss of my friend and home by blaming it on my friends. I fell for your conceiving trust since I thought my friends you never accept me after my considerations of joining you. I too was so lost in regret and fear, that I turned to the closest friend I had, you.”

“You’re point being?”

“The point is my true friends have accepted me back, despite my horrible actions. If you are still our friend somewhere inside that hulking piece of machinery, we’ll forgive you for everything.”

“Pfff, lies…”

“No my Twilight,” the alternate Princess Celestia protest as she makes her way down the long hallway and around Ex-Marshal Rarity and Twilight, with the other ponies having already run back with the others by the throne. “I know you made a mistake, and the crimes you have committed are outrageous because of this. But I know, this is the work of that dreadful Alicorn Amulet on your chest. I am not angry at you, not anymore. I see now that you are scared, and I’m willing to give your confidence once more.” Soon, only the thundering cracks of the rainstorm outside created any noise as the ponies inside the decrepit castle watch in silence as the caring purple eyes of Celestia stare at the sharp red pupils of her once-student. Twilight relieves the grip of Midnight’s claw, causing it to slowly glide softly to a patch of ragged carpet against a wall of the chamber. She and her unicorn partner then make their way to the others and partake holding in their breathe as the choice was to be made. After a minute of absolute stillness, Twilight looks around to see them all frozen, not blinking, with their jaws slightly open.

“You have a point…” Twilight then whips her head back forward to see Midnight slowly circling the still image of the princess. “I could be forgiven of my actions and everything could go back to normal. But what would the ponies think of me after all is repaired? Will they see Twilight Sparkle, a fair alicorn princess of harmony and friendship? Or would they see a monster that destroyed the lives of many? I have simply gone too far to truly been seen as I was. My wings that I swapped with a bunch of mountain ponies, are permanent. My red eyes after so much time attached to the Alicorn Amulets, are permanent. The lost souls of stallions, mares, and children for my new empire, are permanent. So what’s the point of going back, when everything continues to move forward? Wouldn’t you say Twilight?” A deep gulp could be heard from the small alicorn’s body as she nervously replies,

“Well, friendship is all about forgiveness, and if you make friends, show them you are not a monster…”

“No one will ever want to be friends with me, and neither with you.”

“Why?”

“Think about it, this whole destructiveness of the Equestria these idiots still cling to is all of my doing. You are me, just with a small turn of events. They’ll fear you Twilight and try to get rid of you as you and your malicious friends have attempted upon me.”

“But I am not you, you are merely a possibility,”

“A possibility that can be triggered by one, tiny, event…”

“Such as?”

“Well, just ask the ponies who have caused this.” Twilight looks back and see her great uncle as well as Boris, unaffected by Midnight’s hallucination spell.

“Boris?” Her great uncle winces at the calling of his name, followed by Borris nodding his head down in shame.

“Your precious Gruncle Boris created the Alicorn Amulet, turning me into Empress Midnight.”

“I didn’t mean to do it,” Boris replies, “I only did it for the best of intentions, for you.”

“And Borris Thunder, who was one of my most efficient Morks, wiping out most of the resistance. And yet, even after making ‘friends’ and joining the RAEM, the others still treat him as a threat. Isn’t that right?” The grey pegasus doesn’t respond, knowing that Midnight was telling the truth.

“What we did only set up the dominoes of your downfall, you were the one to knock them over.”

“Quiet you old goat, and take witness to your final sights of the alicorn you once called Twilight.” With Midnight’s left arm still in a hold, she reaches out with her right and grabs a small silver bell lying on the floor. She rings it, and the tingling echo of the small instrument vibrated through the entire palace.

“What was that?” Twilight asks.

“In just a couple of seconds, my new armour will enter this throne room and you shall see your full potential Twilight. Strike down the stallion who was torn your sister and your grandfather away from you, the one who turned what you thought you loved against you by his own desires, do it. And then you shall join me, as we create the perfect multi-world order, by my side.” The clanging of metal soon pierced the silence of the throne room as Jack and his three other friends carry the hunk of armour by the legs. “You have until 20. 1,” Twilight, having not broken her glance at her gruncle, slowly walks towards him.

“Twilight,” the unicorn nervously stampers, “you aren’t going to do this, are you?”

“2,” Twilight’s telekinesis breaks grip, allowing Midnight to move freely.

“I’m your obscure relative; it’s in the blood,”

“3,” The empress then hoists herself up on her two arms and walks over the collection of ponies, heading for her fallen chair.

“I’m sorry I hid the information of your sister, but I did it to protect you and her, I said it in the dungeon!”

“4,” Midnight then lifts the two amulets with her magic and walks back over to her initial position.

“I’m sorry that your grandfather died, I tried my best to revert the damage, but I couldn’t!”

“5,” At this point, Twilight was a mere meter away from the black pony, being able to clearly see the sweat on his face.

“Don’t do this!” The Borris shouts, “you’re better than-” He is cut short by Midnight blasting a beam at him, zipping over his mane and blasting a stone column behind him.

“6,”

“You don’t have to be Midnight!”

“7. Let me fix that trap of yours!” Midnight then proceeds to lift the pegasus’ body in one of her claws. With him squirming between the metal blades, she uses her other fist to press down on the helmet he was still wearing. “8, 9, 10, 11, 12”

“No! Not again!” Borris screams in pain and agony, but Midnight didn’t care. Twilight and Boris both turn to watch in horror as their friend once again undergoes the transformation into a Mork.

“13,” The brightly coloured armoured pony stops screaming as Midnight lets go of her grip, dropping him onto the stone floor with a sharp thud. “14,”

“…” Twilight and Gruncle Boris then meet eyes again, the mare’s filled with anger and sorrow, and the stallion’s filled with fear and regret.

“15,”

“I’m so sorry Twilight,” the unicorn begins to sob, “I do deserve this,”

“16,”

“I’m a liar, a secret keeper, a destructive relative, even a disloyal pony to the royal throne at this point,”

“17,”

“Please, just make it quick,”

“18,” Twilight then takes a couples of steps forward, her stare remaining unbroken on her great uncle’s sealed, tearing eyes. She slowly lowers her head down, with her horn aimed directly onto his head.

“I’m sorry…”

“19,” The tensions build drastically as Twilight’s short horn glows purple, the four prisoners practically chomping at their own and each other’s hooves. Borris was stone cold on the ground and Midnight watched, with the two pendants still floating next to her. The storm outside grew ravenous, causing massive drafts to sweep through the smashed windows. In a hushed whisper, Twilight speaks into Boris’ droopy ear,

“I forgive you…”

“Twenty, time’s u-” A loud bang and bright light fill the room, the ponies not knowing what just happened in that split-second Midnight was cut off. The light dies as soon as it appeared and the stallions see Twilight’s horn, slightly red and smoking, her head facing towards Midnight. Jack, Atlas, Dan, and Aaron look to their right to see Midnight, flipped onto her back with smoke fuming off her entire body.

“I have made my choice, and even if what you say is true, I do what I know is right.”

“You…” Midnight groans, flailing her hooves in the air, “just made me VERY angry.” A red flash flickers from Midnight as she teleports out of her suit. Her body, though retaining its purple fur and original size of Twilight, was covered in red marks and bruises, with several bulbous inflammations scarred across her back and cutie mark, and the replacement wings were still attached to her. The collection of black armour falls with a loud clank as Midnight walks towards her new suit on the floor. Her arms reach over and position the armour on its four legs. Twilight and Boris gawk at the massive hunk of hardware, with long thin spikes protruding from all across the main body. The helmet, with one horn similar to the shape of Midnight’s original horn, plus two, scaled, bent, demon-horns spiking up from the ear areas. A large, spiked tiara with fractal holes grooved across it, positioned right in front of the main horn.  The metal boots, linked to the main armour with chainmail, are built with three arched spikes over the front with several plated layers scaled underneath the arches. Empress Midnight teleports herself into the new combat suit with her arms poking out from under spiked flaps on the main body.

“You like it, miss?” Atlas nervously asks.

“Yes, and after I’m dealt with Twilight, I’m going to get you four as well,”

“WHAT! Why?”

“Because I hate you,”

“Oh…”

“Now, it is time to bring this war to an end!” The curved horned front of her new chestplate opens, revealing two input slots for the amulets.

“Don’t do it!” Boris protests, “do you know what two Alicorn Amulets might do to your body?”

“Give me enough power to do whatever I want…” At that moment, Midnight slammed the two pendants into the slots and closed the chestplate shut. Upon doing so, a ghastly scream rippled across Midnight’s body, and a black expansive glow cloaked her entire body.

“Oh no, this can’t be good…” The sounds of metal, bone, and flesh, snapping and stretching could be heard from the glow as the robotic arms begin to flail aimlessly. “Get out of here you four, now!” The four stallions listen to Gruncle Boris’ demands and quickly run out of the room. Suddenly, a loud clang rattles throughout the entire area surrounding the castle, as the shadows of Midnight show the two arms splitting into six identical arms of the original two. Midnight laughs manically inside the chaos as her body begins to grow into double the size of that of Twilight’s, excluding the tiny size increase the suit gives her.

“SO, MUCH, POWER!” A wave of black energy and light bathe the throne room, blinding the only two remaining ponies still awake. After a minute of pitch black and ear-deafening noises, the chaos slowly dies down. Twilight and Boris’ eyes readjust to see the upgraded Midnight. Double her original size, twice as many spikes she had on her body armour, and six, massive metal arms to serve her, the two relatives enter complete shock at the sight of this transformation.

“Is that…”

“I knew this moment was going to come from one of you Twilights, but I would’ve never expected you to be so stubborn.  Now, I’m going to destroy you, and everypony else that stands in my way with this ultimate power. Prepare to die!”

But before Midnight can make her first move after the nightmarish transformation, a large, silvery metal body slashes into the throne room, taking the floor out with its protruding bladed spines. Twilight, Boris, Borris, and the other ponies are dropped onto the unknown object as it flies out of the collision leaving Midnight inside the crumbling chamber. Rocks run over the platform of the mysterious object and tumble off the sides into the storm around it. Twilight regains her hoofing and realizes this is the robot Spike’s body, before being greeted by Gruncle Boris, still confused on what just happened.

“Where are we?”

“I think we’re on Mecha Spike’s body!” Twilight shouts over the falling structure of the castle still on the flying dragon.

“You’re right!” Another voice hollers, Twilight turns around to the front and sees two small baby dragons, surrounded by a whole collection of mares wearing platinum armour and stallions wearing Mork armour without their helmets.

“Two Spikes?!”

Twilight vs Twilight

“Hey Twilight!” The voice hollers, with Twilight now recognizing it as Spike.

“Spike!” Twilight cheers, “What happened to Mecha Spike?”

“I’m what they called Mecha Spike,”

“And I’m your Spike,” the other replies, “Wait, what DID happen to you, you handsome alternate version of me?”

“It’s still a bit of a blur, the last thing I remember was the metal head I was being controlled in rolling around on the ground before coming to my senses.”

“So wait,” Twilight nervously asks, “then how is this thing flying?”

“The hippies helped us!” An unknown voice shouts in the distant front of the flying machine.

“What?” Out from behind the dragon’s thick back spines, emerges a brown Earth Pony with full platinum armour,

“A bunch of ponies from up north rebuilt this thing, now we have a floating battle station.” Twilight looks to her left and her right once more and sees the mares and stallions of all colours and races simultaneously stamping their hooves into small holes at the edge of the metal monster. “No idea how it works, but the ponies seemed to knew what they were doing.” As the airship soars through the thunderous dark clouds, the ponies that just escaped Midnight one-by-one come to their senses, except for Boris. Until a minute later, Rainbow Dash hears a low groaning over the rushing of the wind roaring in her ears. She turns to see Borris, with the Mork helmet still crammed to his head, twitching.

“Borris?!” She softly exclaims as she looks over the grey body.

“Rainbow Dash…” The weakened pegasus mouths. His eyelids barely lift to expose the white of his eyes to the world.

“You’re okay!” She then begins to ramble, “I knew that on our way to help Pinkie Pie after we heard her singing in the throne room, you were acting a bit tired. Yet, I didn’t know you’d take a beating that bad. At least you’re okay. Is my talking helping, or should I stop,”

“Hail, the empress,”

“What was that? Yes or no?” The stallion then gets up on his hooves as Twilight and the others stop viewing the clouds to see that Borris is now awake. Major Borris hollers loudly,

“All hail Empress Midnight!”

“BORRIS-” Rainbow Dash is immediately cut off by a loud continuous boom rattling through the skies. A massive red beam of magic, nearly as large as the headless robot, pierces the black sky above the pony’s heads.

“It’s Midnight!” Applejack shrieks with terror as the armoured empress emerges from the beam after it dies down. Twelve green fans of energy, projected by six wide arms, obscure the moon over the gathered ponies.

“Press into those button thingies!” Atlas chants at the base of the missing neck of Mecha Spike, “lose her!” The free ponies follow his orders and press the their hooves into the pumps faster and faster, causing the two large wings to flap faster as well. Midnight dives to right behind the beast and grabs the tail with her magic, only to quickly have the connection broken by Twilight. Meanwhile, Borris and Rainbow standoff at the center of the aircraft, circling each other slowly. The princesses and the other ponies not doing anything circle around the two, ready to kick the Mork off if Rainbow snap him out of it.

“Borris!” Rainbow exclaims, “I know you’re still in there, snap out of it!”

“You’re petty words will not bend who I am.”

“You are Borris Thunder, member of the AWE and the RAEM, a leading rebel against the empress.”

“That was who I was when I was corrupt, now by the empress’ guidance, I have become a soldier of the new order.”

“Remember all the lives you’ve destroyed as a Mork the last time, don’t be that again.”

“A meager sacrifice to continue the many, of this world, your world, and the next worlds.”

“That is Empress Midnight’s twisted talking, not you, please Borris, I know you.”

“Enough of this foalishness, time to fulfill my duty.” With that said, the Mork leaps into the air and takes off into the thick of the storm clouds. He soon dives back down and lands in front of Dash, with electricity crackling in his wing plates. He then strikes his wings onto the metal floor, creating a large shock in everypony’s hooves. A collection of shrieks of pain echo across the ship as it slows to a stop midair. Midnight accidently rams into Twilight and the two go soaring forward as the dragon quickly falls down. The wings of the airship start to fold as the entire airship bends to into beelining straight to the ground. Borris and Dash get caught in a ball and are flung off of the rapidly descending dragon.  The fighters separate and regain stability before Rainbow Dash flies away into the ravenous storm, shortly followed by the mind-controlled Borris in hot pursuit.

“Pull up! Pull up!” Atlas screams at the top of his voice, with him and the others clinging on the bladed spines for dear life. A scale panel rips off of the deck and flies away as a group of eight cloaked ponies fight against the upward force with ropes tethered to the inside of the dragon tied around their waists. They then proceed to jump, launching themselves off the sides with half and half flying up from each side. As they ascend to the rear of the falling hunk of metal, their thick ropes get caught on the wings. Just before the airship hits the burnt forest below, the eight ponies activate shield projectors in their mouths, producing eight green shields as parachutes. A jerk rockets across the dragon as the wings are forcibly opened and the ship rapidly slows down. Soon, the dragon pulls up and levels and the ponies on desk quickly resume positions and begin pumping their hooves into the pumps, reanimating the wings. Atlas hits the metal floor with a loud thud upon the aircraft stabilizing and sees the cloaked ponies high above with the ropes and shields still attached to them. “So, they’re not only geniuses, but also extremely acrobatic air ponies…”

“Makes me wonder why they put you in charge of this crew, hey Atlas?” A cheeky voice echoes from inside the gut of the dragon.

“Ha, ha, very funny Aaron, I’m obviously very trustworthy.”

“Or they just have seen you the longest inside their home.”

“Ah, shut up.” Aaron then laughs while Atlas rolls his eyes.

“Wait!” Spike exclaims, noticing several ponies are now absent on the aircraft, “Where are Midnight, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Borris?” Another massive ray of destruction beams down from the sky, skimming the left of the dragon’s wing. A loud explosion is heard below as everypony not operating the wings looks over to see a massive crater where the beam struck.

“Wasn’t there a mountain where that crater is now?” Applejack stutters in awe and shock.

“We have to get back up there and help the others left behind!” Celestia barks at Atlas, still looking down at the carnage below.

“We can’t!” The other Celestia replies, “Midnight’s too powerful and we saw that Borris has turned. The two will take down this dragon-thing and all of us for sure.”

Meanwhile, high above the dragon and in the heat of the thunderstorm, Twilight is zipping through the black clouds with Midnight not too far behind. Like oars of a great ship of the sea, the empress’ wings paddle her closer and closer to her rival. Upon reaching her front claws to grab her, Twilight disappears in a flash of light. Midnight swiftly turns around to see Twilight appear several meters in front of the black monster, flying straight towards her. Midnight aims her horn down at her, but is pulled up by the last second by Twilight’s magic. A solid red beam of magic erupts from the tip of the sharpened horn, obliterating the clouds instead of Twilight. Twilight then proceeds to blast Midnight in the face with her own, bright pink and purple beam of powerful magic. Although significantly smaller than Midnight’s doom rays, they cause the armoured alicorn to fall down in discombobulation. This doesn’t last long, as Midnight also teleports in a flicker of a black light, only to reappear right behind Twilight. Twilight reacts by trying to hold by the empress’ arms, but her power is too little against her enemy. Thirty blades for fingers encase the purple pony in a sealed prison of metal as the two begin to plummet back to the earth. Midnight’s horn glows a bright red and an even brighter glow soon illuminates the folded fingers.

“Gotcha!” The empress cheers, but then untangles her claws to find Twilight surrounded in a protective bubble. The six arms form into fist and pound into the shield one by one, with the last one shattering it to dust. Twilight opens her wings and quickly ascends into the sky and leaving Midnight to fall.

I have to get away! I have to get away! I have to get away! Twilight’s mind races with those four words as she flies through the rain and dodges the bolts of lightning dancing around her. Her wings beating rapidly nearly cause her joints to burn from the work and friction, but Twilight knew she had to keep going. The growing pain caused her mind to forget about teleportation and her friends, leaving her alone with the monster that is herself.

“Where are you!”  Midnight’s scream echoes across the chaotic night sky. A wave a panic strikes Twilight and her wings stiffen. Twilight enters a passive hover as fear and imminent death wash over her. A dark shadow, even darker than the smog skies, flies right past the purple unicorn. She catches the shadow in the corner of her eye and gasps. Another shadow zips past the other corner of her eyes.

She’s found me! Twilight quickly aims her horn at the black blur and fires a fireball, striking whatever was producing the shadow from behind the cloud. A mare’s shriek of pain roars and Twilight realizes she had made a terrible mistake. The cloud disappears and reveals that the shadow was Rainbow Dash, now with small burns etched across her underbelly. “Rainbow!” The blue pegasus groans in pain as she slowly continues her flight. Twilight tries to bolt over and help her friend, but is caught off guard by Borris slamming into her back from above. The electrocharged wings dig into Twilights back as hundreds of volts of lightning are being blasting through her entire body. The Mork, greatly stronger than Twilight, doesn’t let go of his prey and digs his wings and his hooves deeper into Twilight as they tumble into a thick of clouds. Screams of pain barely escape Twilight’s throat. Her life is flashing before her eyes in bolts of energy flooding her vision.

“Hey!” A voice yells towards the Mork and Twilight, “if you want her, you’ll have to go through m-ow!”

“R-R-Rain-n-b-b-bow! H-Help!”

“On it!” Rainbow Dash tries to hold in the pain from Twilight’s fireball attack and attempts to charge into Borris, but is cut off by a large multi-armed figure.

“And where do you think you’re going?” The figure booms, “You say you want a fight?”

“Midnight,” Yet before Rainbow finishes her bold statement, she makes a sudden hairpin turn and quickly flies away, “try and catch me!”

“Borris! I think that pony’s had enough, get Rainbow!” The Mork gives a quickly glance to Midnight and immediately lets go of Twilight. As the paralyzed pony continues to fall, Borris and Empress Midnight leave her and begin to chase after Rainbow Dash.

“You’ll never catch me!” The pegasus’ words echo through the storm and soon hit Twilight’s ears. Her eyes, barely open, manage to catch a brief glimpse of Rainbow Dash, Midnight, and Borris, racing in the clouds above, before passing out.

“Twilight!” A male voice yells. All Twilight sees is black upon her senses returning to her. “Twilight!”

“Ugh…” She groans, the sharp pains of the electricity and Borris’ massive strength still resonate inside her. She felt like going back into unconsciousness, but the voice beckons once more,

“Twilight, wake up!”

“Gruncle Boris?” She eyelids slowly open as she gazes upon the silvery eyes and cracked monocle of her dearly beloved great uncle.

“Twilight, are you okay?” The other Boris cuts in front of the first one and grabs Twilight’s body before shaking it a bit. “Please tell me you’re alright.”

“I’m, mostly, alright. Where’s Dash? Are we dead? Is this Heaven?”

“Just the opposite, you’re back on the Mecha Spike airship. We haven’t seen Dash since Borris sabotaged the ship.” Twilight’s senses soon kick back in as she looks around to see the Applejacks, Rarities, Pinkie Pies, Spikes, Raindrop, the six princesses, and several other ponies staring at her.

“W-We gotta go help her!”

“What?!” The Applejack of Midnight’s world hollers, “We can’t do that. We’ll be turned into a pancake in ten seconds flat.”

“But we have to do something-”

“Twilight,” the Celestia of Midnight’s world somberly responds, “This has grown into something we cannot stop. What you and your friends have done was considered impossible, and I am eternally grateful for your help. But you need to know when to stop before you end up killing us all. We have to get out of this place and destroy the Tree of Harmony in your world, so that Midnight will never be able to terrorize us ever again.”

“But what about Rainbow Dash, a-a-and Borris, what about them?”

Jack replies, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of two ponies me lass. We have to leave them behind for the safety of the ponies still with us and the ones in your world.” Jack and most of the ponies from Midnight’s world turn away from Twilight to continue their lookout for Midnight.

“…But what about the other worlds.” Jack turns stiff and turns his head back towards the small alicorn. “What happens to them if Midnight is still around?”

“From all of this convoluted talk of these other worlds and that other stuff,” Marshal Apple answers, “maybe there’s alternate world where ponies are strong enough to take Midnight on?”

“Maybe, but what about the worlds weaker than us? Think of all the ponies that will become subject to Midnight’s destruction.”

“But what can we do? Midnight has both Alicorn Amulets and can sic Borris on this tub at any sec-” At that moment, another red beam of magic blasts across the sky, but this time, it was right underneath the massive dragon. “She’s back!” A blue streak of blurred fur and a rainbow trail jets in front of the aircraft into higher altitude.

“Rainbow Dash!” A sharp pinch then erupts in everypony’s hooves, causing a collective squeak. Another shock strikes, followed by another, and another attacks the airship. Daniel from below deck yells,

“What in Equestria is causing this? Wait, was that Borris below me?”

“Engage serpentine!” Atlas announces to the ponies operating the wings, but they all respond with a unified groan of pain and tiredness. Although they were still pumping their hooves onto the buttons, the electrical attacks are putting them on the edge of unconsciousness. It also didn’t help that their super armour the clocked ponies gave them during the rebuilding of Mecha Spike was highly conductive to electricity.

“Ah! It’s the empress; she’s going to cut us off!” Twilight runs to the front of the airship and sees Midnight flying just below her. As Midnight begins pull up, Twilight grabs the entire ship with her magic and sharply veers it left. The black alicorn’s back of the head is met with a powerful slam by the right wing. Midnight falls back to the tail of the dragon, only to be met by the six other alicorns at the back of the deck, each aiming their horns at her. A barrage of fire, magic, energy, and other beams and charges they can create launch from their horns. Midnight reacts quickly by using the front four wings to create a shield in front of her while the back two keep her flying. The attacks hit the eight shields, only to deflect in every direction away from Midnight. The barrage comes to a stop and the empress immediately attempts to latch onto the waving tail, only for one of her arms to yank her entire mass away from the vessel.

“Twilight!” Empress Midnight shouts upon her arm being let go from the mare on the dragon. Rainbow Dash flies above Midnight, but didn’t seem to notice. Borris soon follows behind, still chasing the pegasus. Midnight decides to give up the distracting chase with the dragon for now and follows Borris. The two villains quickly catch up to Rainbow, her tail whipping the rainwater into Borris and Midnight’s helmet, but doesn’t deter them. Dash takes a quick peak back and sees the Mork and the massive monster of a pony gaining massive distance towards her. She attempts to bob, weave, corkscrew, and roll, but the two pursuers maneuver along her as if it was some sort of sick performance.

In a last ditch attempt to return her friend to normal, Dash begins to scream, “Borris!”

“Don’t listen to her, finish her! She’s too fast for me to get a grip on her.”

“Borris, I know you’re still in there, you can fight it!”

“Borris, take the shot!”

“You hear what I’m saying, don’t let Midnight control you!”

“Finish the game!”

“Do it for Equestria, do it for all the ponies that have lost their lives because of Midnight,”

“She’s hurt, do it, now!”

“Do it for me, I, I forgive you.” In a matter of seconds, the Mork pulls up and hides in the above storm clouds, giving Midnight a clearer view of Rainbow Dash.

“Fine, I’ll finish the game…” Midnight’s horn glows a crimson red, charging her beam to be even larger than the previous, intending for the small pony to not escape her this time. Suddenly, a massive ball of swirling storm clouds, water, and electricity drops from above and strikes Midnight right in the head. The charged magic erupts from Midnight’s horn into the sky by accident in a series of flowing rapids of intended raze and destruction. The two mares look up to see the streams being swirled into a giant ball by Borris before being kicked back down. Midnight deflects the ball behind her with her four wings, but doesn’t notice the grey stallion diving towards her. Rainbow’s jaw gapes open as she tries to fly away from the incoming collision. Cracks form on Borris’ new visor as his speed exponentially grows, forming a vapor cone around his face. A lightning bolt strikes his wing plates, but it does not faze him the slightest. With electricity now pulsing through every vein of his body, the stallion increases more and more in speed, aiming dead center on the distracted Midnight. His visor soon shatters, with pieces of red glass raining onto Borris’ face, blinding him once more. Just as Midnight looks up to see Borris charging right at her, she hears him say his final words,

“I fight for Equestria!”

“NOOO!!!” Upon impact, a large ring of energy and electricity burst from the collision and expands across the night sky, wiping out most of the clouds. A bright yellow plasmoid explosion engulfs the two as Rainbow is temporarily blinded by both the Sonic Rainboom and the explosion. Her eyes slowly adjust to the light continuously illuminating from the blast, catching a glimpse of what appears to be a pair of black, wing plates, falling from the explosion into the abyss below, gone forever.

“Borris… No…” Streams of tears start to flow from pony’s eyes and onto her reddened cheeks. A gargantuan, silvery, headless dragon flies up to Rainbow Dash’s side and enters a hover several hooves behind her.

“Rainbow Dash,” Applejack calls out, “what the hay was going on out here? We first saw Midnight chase you, then two enormous balls of sorts, then some sort of electrical Sonic Rainboom, and now this light! It’s blinding us?!” Slowly, the pegasus hovers up to Applejack leaning off the front and sees everypony on board looking at her.

“Borris, he, he…”

“Is Borris,” Fluttershy asks, “okay?”

“He broke from Midnight’s control, and… Sacrificed himself to save me. He’s gone now, I saw his wing plates fall from the explosion.”

“What about Midnight?” Boris adds, “Is she still alive?”

“No, Borris has defeated her.” A loud cheer roars from the crowd of ponies, including the wing operators and the eight cloaked ponies still in the air with the shields and ropes. The metal floor rattled with the hundreds to maybe thousands of hooves clopping against it. A small smile grows on Dash’s face, but begins to fade as she looks back at the heavenly light having not dimmed a bit. She makes her way above the cheers and celebration to the back of the ship all alone. She looks into the distance and takes a moment to think what has unfolded throughout her time here.  During her blank gaze to the distance, a white unicorn with a curly purple mane and a golden pendant approaches to her side and sits with her. The mare speaks,

“Rainbow Dash, I’m sorry, for causing your friend, to die.”

“Alternate Rarity,”

“Yes?”

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what? The party about to unfold by the Pinkie Pies,”

“No, no, that… hum…” A disturbing realization soon hits the two ponies as they squint forward towards whatever was making the mysterious sound. “It’s…” A black figure forms from behind the dark cloud, a figure with six long branches protruding from its sides. The ponies scream out in unison,

“Empress Midnight!”

The Unopened Chest

Midnight emerges from behind a wall of darkness and reveals herself to the onlookers Her black armour had been torn from her body, revealing the purple and bright red flesh of the empress. The only armour that still remained on her was her chestplate with the Alicorn Amulets still in them, dangling on a thin piece of scrap metal around the mare’s neck. The tip of the razor horn piece was still attached to the horn and chestplate with a long, skinny, stretch of metal. Midnight’s eyes were scorched bright red in fury and the effects of her pendants. The face of Twilight, glaring at them with the intent to destroy them, is sending shivers bashing down their spines.

“It’s Midnight,” the alternate Rarity hollers, “she’s coming right at us!”

“Wait what?!” Major Jack exclaims, before the metal dragon suddenly jerks forward, sending everypony onto their sides. Midnight had punched the airship in the rear, and prepares to do it again.

“Twilight help!” Twilight quickly got up onto her hooves and begins running to the back, only to be flung by another jolt. The bottom of her chin struck the cold metal with a loud clang, causing a ringing in her ears. However, she tries to shake it off as fast as she could and continues her way towards the tail. Her vision becomes cloudy, but is able to make out the figure of her enemy creating another clawed fist and raising it. Her horn glows purple and she flings the fist back, followed by the empress. Midnight soon breaks from Twilight’s control and makes her way back to the tail, only for the same thing to happen again. The larger Twilight’s horn glows a bright red like before and aims it at the ship. A massive beam fires, traveling thirty meters to the vessel in the matter of a second. Twilight reacts quickly by bending the beam of destruction midflight, causing the ray to barely clip a spine of the silver dragon. Midnight then makes her move by positioning her two front wings, with one almost touching the top of the continues beam, and the other below. Her top green wing pierces the top half of the top half on the red magic, causing it to reflect onto the lower wing, launching the new the beam underneath the airship. “Look out!” A large eruption bursts between Twilight and the other ponies. The second beam forms a bright red pillar of magic following the explosion, followed by a loud creaking.

“What’s going on up there?” Twilight shouts, too distracted by the empress’ first beam to look behind. Midnight then rotates her lower wing, causing the second beam to cut off a side of the tail’s connection to the body of the aircraft. The long, spiny tail swings away from the slice and collides into the right wing on the dragon, soon followed by the entire ship turning to its side and angling itself towards the ground.

“Here we go again!” Midnight stops projecting the beam to see the ship rolling around violently, plummeting into the unseen ground below. She smirks at the panicked screams of mares and stallions licking her ears.

“NOOO!” The scream of Twilight stands out the most in the empress’ mind, as visions of her and Twilight together dance in her head.

“Where ever you crash and burn, my pathetic duplicate,” Midnight murmurs, “just remember this, you had the chance.” She then turns around towards her castle and makes her way back there, thinking what she’s going to do to the four stallions that sabotaged her suit.

“We’re losing altitude!”

“I know!” A wailing Atlas replies. The mass of metal and ponies continue to spiral towards the ground far below, everypony screaming and crying, waiting for it all to end. Minutes of unrest and torture pass, and soon, the falling ponies on deck noticed they have not crashed nor lose their grip yet after all this time. Their screams of agony eventually die down, now waiting for something to happen. “We’re still falling…” Atlas begins a short conversation with himself with the others silently listening, “Yep… I was pretty sure we were going to hit it anytime now… Anypony else want to add some, input, this is, awkward.”

“Sheesh,” Jack moans, “how long does it take for a thousand ton aircraft to crash?”

“Maybe we can think of ways to stop it.”

“I guess so.”

“Hey green guy,”

“What?”

“Has it ever occurred you us that we are having a casual conversation while falling to our deaths.”

“Yep…” Shining Armour breaks the uncomfortable conversation and speaks,

“Midni-I mean Twily! Grab this aircraft with your magic, you can do that!” Her alternate brother’s commands enter Twilight’s ears while her body is being swung back and forth by the broken tail. She tries to focus, but the concussion to her head has grown so violent due to the rapid whipping of the metal tail. Twilight begins to lose consciousness, her sight now becoming a collection of random shapes, swirling their colours together to create black. “Twilight!” A blue aura surrounds the alicorn and pulls her next to her friends and their alternates.

“Twilight, are you still there?” Rarity, clinging to a button hole, shouts as she carries her friend by her side.

“Rari-” Twilight gasps with her escaping breathe, but is cut off by Raindrop, grabbing a back spine close to her student,

“Twilight,” she says frantically, “don’t die on us now; there’s still a chance we can get out of this.”

“I’m sorry, for, being so mean to you, Raindrop.”

“I’m sorry too,”

“We tried, that’s all that matters,” Light soon begins to vacate from the purple mare’s eyes, but right before she loses consciousness, a voice of Rarity, but not her Rarity, speaks from behind,

“I’m sorry as well, Midnight tricked me into believing that she could offer me something more valuable than friendship. But that was all lies, there is nothing worth more than friendship. I see that now. She lied when he said that this stupid golden medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty. But when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship, I am telling the truth.” Twilight then feels the cold necklace of the pendant slide around her head and down her neck. In a split second, a glorious realization erupted in Twilight’s mind,

Is this the pendant to open the chest in this world?! Yes it is! The small pony’s eyes spring wide open as the colours of the rainbow flood her irises. “This is it!”

“I see the ground!” Atlas shrieks, “We’re about to crash!” Everypony once again begins screaming as before, hugging each other and saying their final words.

“Not today!” With a swift flick of her horn, she levels the dragon horizontally to the ground, hitting the top of the dead trees with the belly of the airship. The sudden change of angle flings everypony back.

“Are we dead yet?”

“Hold on everypony, we’re going to the Tree of Harmony. Twilight then teleports to the bow and begins to sail the airship rapidly over the sea of wood and fog. “Now where is it…” She suddenly makes a left turn, piling the ponies on deck against each other on the right edge. “No, wait, that was to Ponyville, it was a right I think,” The dragon then swerves right, sliding the mass of ponies to the left. “Wait, wasn’t that the way to Zecora’s?”

“Can you give some respect to the passengers back here?!” Twilight twists her head back at Atlas under a pile of ponies.

“I’m driving, keep it-” Her statement is cut short by the dragon piercing his neck into the ground. It skids against the forest floor and a slowly declining speed, all the while blasting the back of Twilight’s head with small rocks and dirt. After a minute of skidding, the airship comes to a complete stop, it’s backside and tail drop to the floor as well. Twilight looks over the bow to see a large slope of dirt from the neck to the earth below. “This seems close enough to the Tree of Harmony, follow me.” A vast collection of groans replies back. Twilight looks behind her to seeing everypony in a huge pile right behind her. “Too harsh of a landing?” A guilty smile forms on her face, followed by a nervous laugh.

After a long time of taking down the pony pile and a session of grooming from all the dust and wood, everypony is now ready for their next course of action.

“So,” Daniel asks Twilight from behind, nearly startling her, “what now?”

“We have to find the Tree of Harmony so we can use this medallion to open the magical chest and use its power to defeat Midnight.”

“Uh… Sounds confusing enough to work, I guess,”

“The only problem now being, where is it?”

“Get back you demon!” A distant voice hollers out far ahead of the dragon, deep within the fog.

“Who’s there?”

“You it is you, Empress Midnight! Go away, and goodnight!”

“Zecora?”

“Don’t play the innocent game with me! You destroyed my house in my tree!” Midnight’s Luna walks beside Twilight and replies back to the voice,

“It is I, Princess Luna, and this Twilight here is not Midnight. Tis a long story, and we don’t have much time.”

“Luna?” A zebra shadow soon forms in the fog, heading slowly towards the crowd of ponies. “Where’s Midnight’s wings? And what about my home?”

“Apologies to your residence, I shall see to it that your house is replaced, and this Twilight is one before she became Midnight.”

“…”

“It’s confusing,” Twilight remarks, “Zecora, I’m a good pony, and we need your directions to the Tree of Harmony.”

“I guess I shall take you, all at hoof, but tread slowly, for there is-oof!” The zebra in the fog falls face first into the ground. “Loose stumps…”

“Everypony! Follow the zebra.” The hundreds of ponies follow her orders and the entire team slowly tread behind this other Zecora, keeping an eye out for stumps hidden in smog. Twilight coasts away from the front and monitors the migration from the side. She then notices Rainbow Dash in the far back, her head hanging low with tears silently running down her face. Twilight teleports right of the pegasus and before she can say anything, Dash speaks,

“I know what you’re going to say, and you’re wrong. Borris is gone for good, I saw his wing plates fall after the explosion.”

“Oh…”

“I just can’t believe, that after all we went through, I never would’ve thought, it would end like this.”

“How so?”

“Him turning to a Mork, only to betray Midnight and save me.”

“Sometimes the best in something can come from the worst of intentions.” The Rarity of Midnight’s world replies, the other two look to Dash’s other side and see the white mare.  “I learned that, who my real friends are. At least know that he’s now with his love, Captain Dash.”

“Thanks for the support you two, I’m starting to feel better.”

“And look on the bright side,” Twilight adds, “if Borris is safe in our world, you two can reconnect.”

“But will he be the same as the Borris I know now, in this world?”

“I’m not sure, but if he’s anything similar to what he is here, you’ll know he’s a good pony.”

“Yeah, when we get home, I’ll find him and see if we could be friends again.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“There it is!” Pinkie Pie screams, the three mares focus their attention off of each other and see the army of ponies standing still, looking at something.

“What? What is it?”

“The Tree of Harmony,” Lieutenant Pie shrills, “it’s right down here!”

“We made it!” Her celebration is cut short by a loud girlish collection of screams roaring far behind them.

“Help!” The ponies turn around to face the echoing screams, trying to figure out who it is.

“What’s going on?” Suddenly, a golden chariot, pulled by two Earth Ponies stallions, one brown and one green, burst from behind a set of bushes and is now rocketing towards the crowd. A blue unicorn stallion pops his head from behind the front of the seat, soon followed by a yellow unicorn’s head. The blue one shouts in a loud, girly voice,

“She’s going to kill us!” Just before the out of control vehicle collides with the group, the humongous team splits in two, creating a path for the four stallions into the cave holding the tree.

“Why did that brown one pulling the chariot look a lot like me?” Atlas proclaims.

“And that green one like me?” Jack adds.

“And the two unicorns driving the thing looked a lot like us.” Daniel exclaims.

“What did the one that looked like me mean by ‘who’?” Aaron asks. A nervous chuckle exits Twilight as she replies,

“They’re your alternate versions from our worlds.”

“Oh, cool.”

“But yeah, what did he mean by… Midnight…” A low rumble echoes throughout the forest, soon followed by a massive red beam piercing the grey sky above. “Everypony, enter the portal inside the cave, get out of here!”

“What she said! Get outta here!” Soon, the massive rush of ponies stampedes down the face of the ravine and into the cave, catching up to Twilight’s Atlas and friends in the wheel-less chariot. The sound of trees above snapping gave the ponies in the cave a clear signal that Midnight was right above them. Another solid red beam burst through the roof of the cavern and penetrates the rocky ground below, slightly burning the tail of Shining Armour. As the herd reaches the tree, the blue glow of the hovering portal illuminates their eyes.

“You ponies go ahead, I’ll hold of Midnight!” Three by three, the ponies leap into the portal to Twilight’s Equestria, safe from Midnight’s clutches. Twilight looks back to the opening of the cave and sees the purple and black body of Midnight land, kicking up a small whirlwind of dirt, sand, and pebbles. Her red eyes glow bright as she makes eye contact with her distant arch nemesis. Midnight’s horn glows red and the portal behind Twilight closes just after a grey pegasus, a brown Earth Pony, and an orange ginger unicorn have jumped in, leaving Twilight, Gruncle Boris, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Raindrop, and both Celestias alone with the empress. “We’re too late!”

“That’s right!” The evil version Twilight cackles, right before slowly walking towards the ten ponies, all of which now huddled together against the crystal chest with the five golden keys sticking out of them. “That’s it, keep huddled together, I’m gonna make your deaths as painless as possible. Or at least, that I will let possible, hahaha…”

“Help…”

“Twilight,” Rainbow shouts, “insert the last key, quickly!”

“I can’t, if she gets too close, she might absorb the power.”

“You heard the mare everypony, hold Midnight back!” In an instant, everypony except Twilight and Raindrop spring into action and charge at Midnight, shoving back her arms and bashing into her front.

“Wait, I can’t do this on my own, I need you five!”

“We can’t hold back this thing with just three ponies, you’ll have to do it yourself.”

“What?! I can’t handle that much power!”

“Twilight!” Raindrop chirps, “You can do it!”

“That much power, I might explode!” A roar blasts from Midnight as she shoves the eight ponies away from her and regaining her walk towards Twilight and Raindrop.

“You’re an alicorn princess, I know you can handle the full power of friendship!”

“But-”

“Twilight!” The eight defenders shout out in unison as Midnight’s pace increases to running speed.

“I’ll do it!” In one swift motion, the purple mare rips the triangular pendant off of her neck and slams it against the last keyhole. A thick blue aura grabs the medallion in the air and transforms it into a key. Twilight then shoves the key into the hole. The tree behind her then glows bright with hundreds of colours, blinding the empress and stopping her advantages towards the chest.

“No!” The empress roars. The six keys sticking out of the diamond box turn at once as the top of the chest opens to reveal a pool of rainbow coloured magic inside. A pillar of the magic then burst out of the chest and falls back down to Twilight, encasing her in a pillar of bright light. The ponies knocked down by Midnight looks and watch in awe as the full power of the chest is absorbed into Twilight, transforming her body. Even Raindrop, upon looking towards Twilight, can see the white shadow of her friend undergoing the transformation. The bright colourful light quickly dies down as Midnight regains her vision. However, what she sees makes her wish she was blind once more.

“You may have the power of two Alicorn Amulets, but I have the full power of the magic of friendship!”

Hyper Rainbow Twilight vs Super Mecha Twilight

There, standing five meters in front of Midnight, beholds a super powered Twilight Sparkle. Her mane and tail, flowing more fluidly than the celestial sisters, waves all of the colours of the rainbow throughout her long majestic hair. Her body, grown to be the size of Midnight, is now a heavenly white coat with her cutie mark changed to a set of golden colors. Her horn, now twice as long than before, almost as sharp as the empress’ armour. Her wings, now four massive wings with a smaller wing sprouting from each humongous wing, all gleam and shimmer brightly, illuminating the dark cavern. Her eyes, are now pulsating with the rainbow with a golden tint surrounding every single colour within her irises.

The two Twilights, now at the strongest point they have even been, slowly march up to each other, eyes locked onto each other. Each step building more and more tension as the battle is about to unfold. Whatever light was glowing from Twilight’s white body was seemingly being absorbed by Midnight’s darkened body at this point. The darker alicorn speaks first, her red eyes glowing as she speaks,

“I see you have had a new upgrade. Looks impressive, for a meager pony at least.”

“Your words do not threaten me,” Twilight responds, her voice now sounding like ten choir mares chanting at once, “I can sense the fear in you.”

“Fear? Ha, a god does not fear.”

“We don’t have to fight,” she replies sternly, “give up this act now and there doesn’t have to be any more bloodshed.”

“There’s a tiny voice in my head that’s saying that I should give up,” Her front two arms lung forward at Twilight, only to be held back by the white alicorn’s front wings. “But I can barely hear it over this other voice screaming, ‘LET’S FIGHT ALREADY!!!’”

In an instant, the two rivals burst through the ceiling of the cave and above into the sky. The nine other ponies group around the newly formed and witness as the battle unfolds. Twilight and Midnight separate right before Midnight makes her first move. Another red beam of magic fires from her horn and straight for Twilight. Twilight reacts quickly by projecting a rainbow crystal shield in front of her, absorbing the ray. The beam is fully absorbed into the shield as Twilight then flings it at Midnight like a disc. Midnight punches the crystal with one fist, shattering it into a million red fragments. Twilight then materializes a magic purple sword, thrice the size of Midnight, and swings it in front of her, ready to strike. She attempts to jab Midnight, but Midnight grabs the blade between her two front claws as the tip barely touches her nose. The empress then yanks the projected blade from Twilight and snaps it in two, spraying the sky in purple flakes of magic.

Midnight then forms her front four limbs into fist and bolts straight towards Twilight. A fist drops, only to be knocked back by a feathery wing. Midnight then launches a second fist at Twilight. It is countered again. Midnight then unleashes a full barrage of rapid punches, each one barely deflected by Twilight’s wings as they get closer and closer to her face. In a split second, Midnight prepares all four claws for a combined punch. Twilight ducks under just in time, her horn nearly being hit with a lower arm. Twilight then fires a bolt of magic at Midnight’s underside. Just before the bolt strikes though, Midnight teleports away in a flash of black light and hides in an unknown location in the clouds. The princess looks around, trying to locate the empress. The clouds surrounding her begin to spiral rapidly, with her in the center. A flicker a solid black is caught in the corner of Twilight’s eye. She quickly turns around and fires another bolt in that direction, only to be sucked up in the current swirling clouds. The bolt is flung back at her seconds later. Twilight barrel rolls and the magic bolt zips right past her and back into the current. It is fired again, this time, striking Twilight in the side. A high pitch squeal of pain echoes in the sky, followed by an ominous laugh. Twilight immediately tracks the voice and charges right at it, landing a hoof into Midnight’s jaw. A broken grunt exit’s Midnight’s throat as Twilight exits the hurricane and faces towards Midnight, ready for another round. Midnight rubs her jaw with a hoof before taunting,

“You think a simple kick of the jaw can stop me?”

“That was for Spike.” Twilight then disappears in a bright light, only to reappear right in front of Midnight and deliver another punch to the face. “That was for Borris.”

“Which?” Twilight disappears and reappears behind Midnight’s floating hind and proceeds to buck it, thrusting her still rival forward.

“That was for Gruncle Boris.” Twilight then turns to face Midnight, only to not find a scowl of pain, but a smile of enjoyment. The empress then releases a short maniacal laugh before responding,

“At least the first punch was considerable damage. The other two felt like snowballs being thrown by school fillies, maybe even enjoyable.”

“I haven’t even started on the real punishment, Midnight.”

“Oh, I think you need a lesson on how REAL punishment is dealt!” In one swift motion, the empress teleports in front of Twilight and delivers a strong metal punch into her side, launching her all the way to Canterlot. Midnight teleports once more, away from the ponies still at the Tree of Harmony.

“She’s strong, really strong,” Twilight talks to herself, panting inside a decrepit house she crashed into. “I need to get my head in the game, I have to stop her or everything is doomed…” Suddenly, six sets of claws shred through the wall Twilight was leaning on her, each barely scraping her sides. They clasp together and grab the alicorn, pulling her out of the wall and towards Midnight.

“Surprise Twi-” Midnight opens her clasps fingers and is immediately shot in between the eyes by a bolt, launching her onto the ground several meters away from the blast. A white sliver of light catches Midnight attention and sees that it is Twilight soaring high into the stormy skies. “Trying to run huh?” The empress then presses her arms into the stone road and launches herself into the sky. She then begins to pursue the princess all over Canterlot. Under a collapsing bridge, around several watch towers, barely above the barren stone streets, before finally reaching Midnight’s palace. The rain then began to grow heavy as it pelts Midnight’s exposed and irritated flesh. “I’ve had about enough of this cat and mouse game!”

Midnight’s horn then begins to glow dark as she and her target spiral around the tallest tower of the castle. She carefully aims her horn at the white blur and a black, long, thin cone is fired from it. The cone speeds up to the princess in a mere matter of seconds, homing in on her. The magic missile hits the white pony in the back left wing, sending her spiraling out of her circular path and down towards the throne room, now completely missing its walls and roof.  As the target slows down to land on the burst carpet, a black mass of metal and flesh grabs her and pins her against the wall behind where the royal chair once was. Rainwater and sweat pour down the empress’ face as she stares at Twilight’s face, her mouth cringing in pain and her eyes sealed tight in agony. However, the white alicorn in Midnight’s grasp turns to dust out of nowhere, with each silvery particle seeping through her fingers and blowing away in the stormy sky. Shocked, Midnight examines her claws and sputters, wondering what just happened.

“This just turned into a wild goose chase!” Midnight tries to look behind her to see what that voice was, but her head only makes it halfway before being slammed into the wall by a large rainbow beam of magic. Midnight lifts one of her wings towards the beam, deflecting it into the sky with the wing’s green shield. This continues for a minute before Midnight looks to and notices white cracks forming on the plasmoid shield, much to her surprise and fear. The empress then quickly disappears in a black flash, causing the beam to lunge forward into the wall behind and blast a large crater into it. The black, red, and purple alicorn reappears at the massive doors out of the throne room. She looks to see Twilight halting her magic attack before whipping her head back and glancing back at Midnight. The hyper rainbow princess’ eyes were filled with determination and rage. Midnight continued to gawk at her rival’s intimidating face.

“Illusions, how did I not see that coming?” The two ponies then begin to circle each other at the center of the destroyed throne room. “I must say, you had me tricked for a second, like how I tricked your ‘friend’ Rarity into joining my side. Great minds think alike.”

“Great minds think alike, but you have no wisdom to guide it. You’re just a puppet to those amulets.”

“Me, a puppet?  Who does whatever ninny princess tells her to do? Who is the one having their strings pulled, unable to make their own decision? You, you are a puppet, and I am the puppet master, and the Alicorn Amulets are my tools of controlling my army.”

“Well your army is all gone; they will no longer be under your control.”

“For now, as soon as I defeat you, I’ll regain control of my minions and expand my empire.”

“I will never let that happen.” Midnight then proceeds to materialize six gigantic, serrated black cutlasses, one in each claw. Twilight responds to this action by materializing a pair of purple swords, larger than the one she had before to equal the size of Midnight’s.

“Let’s do this!” The two ponies immediately lunge at each other, the eight blades clashing together between the two. Each Twilight’s two swords grinding violently against three curved swords as sparks of green and white flicker from the blade lock. Midnight teleports right behind Twilight and leaps into the air, spinning her body and arms into a rolling disc of blades. The sharp disc then rolls right at Twilight, regaining her balance after Midnight’s trick. The slashing of the stone floor behind her catches her attention and gasps upon seeing Midnight’s wheel. She reacts quickly by forming her swords into a ramp, launching Midnight over her head and into the wall. The empress stops her disc attack and prepares for Twilight to strike, only to find out her two middle blades and claws were lodged into the cracked wall. Twilight takes the opportunity and charges at Midnight, both of her weapons in a jabbing position. Midnight forms her free arms to create two pairs of cutlasses with the bottom of their pommels fused together. She then spins the dual-bladed swords rapidly, creating a pair of spinning blades. Twilight levitates one of her swords over the shields and aims it right above Midnight’s head. However, just as she strikes it down, one of Midnight’s spiraling swords catches it mid-fall and shatters it into pieces.

In a single heave, Midnight yanks her two trapped arms out of the rock wall and slowly makes her way towards Twilight. The white super alicorn backs away with her single sword awkwardly pointed in front of her as the pair of dual-cutlasses creates a pattern of burn grooves against the floor. Sparks erupt from the cold surface, with several of them landing on whatever remains of the red carpet and sets it ablaze. In a matter of moments, most of the entire chamber behind Midnight is glowing bright red with flames despite the rain pouring from above. Midnight swings her two single blades over the spinning swords and each barely clips the sides of Twilight’s cheeks. Twilight reacts by frantically walking back, only to travel a couple of feet and bump her rump against the throne room doors. The sickly black swords are then stabbed into the door along the sides of the princess, sealing her in as the spinning cutlasses draw closer to her face.

“Losing focus huh? Can’t think of a cheap way out of this one?” Midnight taunts before launching her blades towards Twilight, but Twilight reflexes kick in at the last second and she lodges her sword sideways in Midnight’s swords. It jams the attack immediately, creating a loud clang that rattles the floor around the collision. Twilight springs into action and blasts Midnight in the face with another small bolt of magic, flinging her into the center of the blaze. Midnight drops her cutlasses upon smashing face first into the melting rock. The evil Twilight tries to regain her standing by pressing her claws firmly upon the area around her, but this soon turns into a fatal mistake. Within mere seconds of this action, the flaming ground surrounding Midnight begins to crumble. The hallway from the doors to where the chair once was falls apart and plummets into the lower floors, causing them to sink into the abyss below. Twilight looks over the edge to conclude that Midnight has indeed fallen to her doom.

A heavy sigh exits the alicorn’s body as she takes a moment to remember what just happened. She looks to her left and finds a large broken shard of a mirror. She picks it up and takes a moment to examine herself in this new form.

“Is this,” Twilight talks to herself through a series of pants, “me?” She looks at the reflection thoroughly, trying to find a feature that still remained from her old self. “I guess, the front of my mane is similar, I think. I’m kinda surprised that I look so, different, but is still the same pony, yet, a monster can almost pull off tricking others that she’s me…”

A voice, a voice sounding exactly like Twilights speaks from under the floor at her hooves, “Uncanny, is it not?” The stone floor suddenly burst as Twilight is pushed up into the sky by an unknown figure. Twenty metallic fingers tightly cling onto Twilight as she struggles to break free. The back of Twilight’s head hits the back of what feels like a stone wall with a sharp jolt through her brain. Her eyes catch a quickly glimpse of Midnight being the one attacking her before two massive stone fists smash her in the face. Twilight is smashed through the cold wall behind her and hits the inside wall of the other side of the thin tower. Midnight then flies in and smashes Twilight through the other wall, sending the two of them back out into the rain. The empress then grabs her enemy by the throat as all her rival can do is look over Midnight should and witness the stone tower collapse down the face of the mountain and into the thick smog below. Twilight chokes as the squeeze of the claws grow more and more tight, forcing all of the air inside of Twilight out.

Midnight flips Twilight in front of her, causing her head to face forward and upside down and see the castle getting rapidly closer to her. Wall by wall, Twilight’s body is rammed through each and every wall as Midnight cruises at her high speed right behind her. Sharp rocks bash into her face and lower body and cut into her coat and flesh. Patches of white fur and red skin wash off of Twilight’s body as Midnight blasts her out of the final wall and into the rain.

“Now to finish you off!” Midnight tosses her arch nemesis high into the air and flies to about twenty meters away from her. Her horn glows black as she aims her horn towards the flailing body of the princess. The shadow of the charge intensifies to far beyond any that Midnight has casted, she wanted to make sure this was her greatest shot. “Goodnight, sweet princess…” A gigantic, pitch black, beam of magic blasts from her horn, beelining straight at Twilight. Time screeches to a halt in Twilight’s eyes. She stares at the mountain sized ray midway in flight as her body feels like its being sucked in towards the light absorbing beam.

I failed… This is the end, she’s too strong. All of my friends, family, and the ponies of the worlds will be tortured, killed, or worse, all because of me. I am the monster, and I cannot stop it, I’ve let every pony down, I deserve this… Slowly, Twilight closes her eyes and waits for the inevitable to strike. Not only was her sight gone, but her mind’s visions faded away as well as Twilight gives up. However, a spark of consciousness remained in her, and it noticed the emptiness around her. It’s so, empty, so, blank… Is this how Raindrop sees the world? Poor filly, I wish I can do something, but I can’t…

Twilight! You can do it! The No-Ponies’ soft voice echoes in her mind. All of a sudden, an explosion, a wave of hope and power washes over Twilight’s mind.

I can do it! I must do it! I will do it! Twilight’s eyes burst open and immediately, her mind creates a plan as time begins to slowly return to normal. She flips her body into the upright position, her wings stretch wide, her horn aims directly into the red eye of the incoming beam. The long, white horn starts to glow a massive rainbow hue, nearly blinding Twilight herself. “For Raindrop, for my friends, my family, my kingdom, my world, the other worlds, and!” A spark erupts at the tip of the horn, “FOR!” A shockwave pulses from her body, creating a rapidly expanding bubble of rain and clearing the entire sky to a clear black, “ME!!!” A solid, rainbow coloured, heavenly beam of the magic of friendship, fires from Twilight’s horn and charges straight into Midnight’s. The two beams collide violently, creating a large swirling sphere in-between the two beams. Light and darkness are both being pulled in as the two Twilights continue to fire with all of their might. Midnight’s beam however, slowly overpowers Twilights and the ball begins to approach Twilight. Midnight smirks with glee, watching as her enemy is slowly reaching her demise.  However, just before her beam is destroyed and the magic sphere disintegrates her, Twilight gives a howling roar and pumps out every ounce of energy within her. Her rainbow beam doubles in size and engulfs the sphere. It then shatters the entire twenty meters of the black beam into a trillion shards of red dust and charges straight towards the absolutely dumbfounded and shocked Midnight.

“HOLY-” In half a second, Midnight disappears within a giant beam of solid magic. Twilight continues to fire for a full minute before stopping. She looks up at where Midnight once was and sees her, wobbling in the air. “You cannot defeat me, I am immortal, I can dodge death as I will, I am a god!” Midnight prepares for another beam, her horn once again glows a large pitch black. But her charge is immediately cut off by Twilight lunging into her and grabbing her. Midnight’s six robotic arms flail and try to get a hold on Twilight, but Twilight was going too fast for them to bend low enough to reach her. A heavenly rainbow Sonic Rainboom burst from the plummeting two as Twilight exponentially gains speed towards the earth. Twilight then slams her rival onto the top of the center tower of the castle. Midnight screams in anger, but is suddenly cut off by Twilight’s horn pointed directly into her mouth.

“Dodge this,” Twilight then blasts another rainbow beam directly into the empress’ body, pumping her full of the rage and true power of friendship. Ten seconds pass and Midnight’s arms stop squirming, turning limp and lay upon the roof of the tower. Twilight stops firing and looks over what she has done. There before her, lay the lifeless body of her alternate self, an evil empress bend on conquering all, now defeated. The Alicorn Amulets were still attached to Midnight’s chest, but Twilight was sure that Midnight was down for good.

Twilight’s body soon reverts back to her normal form as a regular purple alicorn. A wave of pain and tiredness washes over her, but Twilight didn’t care, she had saved everypony. Quietly, Twilight walks away from her defeated rival and flies off towards the Tree of Harmony to open the portal to her world. However, as Twilight exits the view of the obliterated castle, one of Midnight’s closed eyelids makes a tiny twitch.

“Not yet…”

A Paradoxical Problem with a Paradoxical Answer

Back at the Everfree Forest, outside the cave, the nine ponies left behind are scanning the skies, searching for Twilight or Midnight.

“What’s going on up there?” Rainbow Dash exclaims impatiently, “First there was a hurricane, then a bunch of bright lights, now the entire sky clears with a Sonic Rainboom!”

“Be patient my little pony,” Celestia replies as her eyes remained locked on the clear night sky, “Victories come in time.”

“What if she fails?” The other white alicorn worryingly asks, “What if Midnight wins?”

“Don’t doubt yourself, you and I know that the true Twilight shall be victorious.”

“It must be easy for you to say such. You have your Raindrop right next to you, who knows what mine is going through, I haven’t seen her since the rise of Empress Midnight...”

“She’s completely fine.” A young mare’s voice surprises the group, who all gasp upon seeing the pony who spoke,

“Twilight!”

“I did it, Empress Midnight is down and out, this time for good. Raindrop’s chamber wasn’t uncovered and I’m pretty sure she has not the slightest idea of what happened.”

“I knew it!” Raindrop cheers before ramming into the purple alicorn’s chest in a fit of joy and hugging her. Twilight returns the hug before being tapped from behind the shoulder by Fluttershy,

“I’m sorry to interrupt but, what do we do now?”

Pinkie Pie then pokes her head between Fluttershy and Twilight and pulls them close to her cheeks with her hooves before asking, “Now, if I was trapped in an alternate world by an evil version of Twilight who is now defeated what would I do?”

“Uh, think of a way out?”

“Close, but I was thinking along the lines of throwing a party! We just beat an evil version of Twilight!”

“Wait,” Gruncle Boris hollers, “Pinkie, say that again?”

“Close, but I was thinking along the lines of throwing a party!”

“Not that, before, with the question!”

“What? Now, if I was trapped in an alternate world by an evil version of Twilight who is now defeated what would I do?”

“That! If Midnight can manipulate the connection between this world and our world… and if Midnight is an evil version of Twilight…”

“Then she could manipulate the connection as well!” Applejack cheers, lunging into the old stallion and hugging his back, “You’re a genius!”

“I know.”

“Wait,” Twilight nervously replies, “I don’t know how.”

“You just took on a double-Alicorn Amulet version of you with six super claws and only got a couple of bruises, how hard can opening a portal to another world be?”

“I guess, I can give it a try, stay out here. I’ll need to concentrate.”

“Roger that.” As Twilight proceeds to go down into the cave holding the Tree of Harmony, the nine other ponies cheer and celebrate over the victory. The two Celestias sit at the edge of the woods and watch as the dancing and singing commences, soon followed by Raindrop squeezing between them.

“I told you so.” The first Celestia brags.

“You were right; you’re Twilight saved the day.” The other Celestia replies, “if only it was the same for mine… What did I do wrong to cause this?”

“Don’t blame this on yourself, you had no control of it. If anything, I was the worse pony. I foalishly let Raindrop out, only for her to get in the crossfire of this war. The amount of fear I felt, nearly destroyed me.”

“You had no control of it either.” Raindrop speaks, “Everypony makes mistakes, me, you two, Twilight, but at least we’re all safe.” Chanting breaks out amongst the six partiers, taunting they’re defeated rival,

“Twilight’s a hero, Midnight’s a zero!”

“Hopefully they don’t get too carried away with it,” Celestia mutters.

“Let them enjoy the moment,” the other Celestia replies, “this land has been tortured by her for months, they’ve seen what she’s done.”

A mysterious, scratchy voice speaks from behind the three ponies, it’s cold breathe tickling the back of their necks as it talks, “But not what she will do…” Raindrop and the two Celestias’ scream in terror as they run from the voice behind them and into the group of unaware ponies. The party comes to a shrieking halt as everypony looks back into the foggy woods, only to see the all too familiar figure villain. “Aw, why stop the party? The lyrics were so fascinating.”

“M-M-Midnight?!”

“Hahahahaha! How did you know?”

“Okay ponies,” Twilight’s voice echoes from the cave, “I got the portal open, I think this lead back to our world!”

“Oh, how interesting, got it done in relatively the same time…” The ponies gathered at the edge of the opening of the cave said nothing. Their eyes were frozen stuck on the purple and red beaten shape of flesh that held its uncanny resemblance to Twilight. The red eyes and six heaving arms of the empress seemed to grow the long they glared at her.

“Girls? Boris?” The black bits of her armour still clung to her body as Midnight’s smile grew ever so wider at the distressed ponies.

“Did Twilight say that she beat me? She did, but never actually killed me,”

“What’s going on?” Twilight teleports in front of the frozen mass, her back turned towards the slowly approaching villain. “You’re acting like you just say Midnight, but rest assure you, I pumped her stone dead with magic, there was no way she came back from that.” Pinkie Pie, right in front of Twilight, shakily points her hoof forward, over Twilight’s should and right at Midnight’s grinning face. Twilight follows the pink hoof and turns her head back, only to regret ever doing so.

“You really need some self-respect.” The loudest gasp escapes Twilight through as she stumbles into her friends, shaking twice as much as they were.

“Impossible! Why didn’t that kill you!”

“There’s a funny thing about the Alicorn Amulets, they feed off of magic and power. Yet we are one in the same, so you as well as I would also absorb our own magic as well. It wasn’t about beating the other dead with magic; it was a matter of overfilling their bodies with magic, then killing them. I must say, you were impressive, being able to overload me and the amulets with this magic of friendship. But with time, my Alicorn Amulets feed off the excess magic quickly and I was able to regain myself. Now, let’s see if this ‘friendship magic’ can turn your pony buddies into dust!” Midnight then digs her metal claws into the ground and aims her horn at the crowd of ten ponies. Her horn begins to glow a fusion of multiple colors and black, creating an ominous, mystical glow. Twilight reacts by teleporting her friends into the cavern and prepares to deflect the incoming attack. A tiny laser projects from the tip of the sharp horn fragment and passes through Twilight’s body.

“Is that it?” Twilight doesn’t feel anything, but projects a shield around her just in case. Midnight’s body then twitches, soon followed by a massive slash of powerful magic to travel down the tiny beam and pierce through the shield and Twilight, shattering the shield and launching Twilight high into the sky. Midnight then aims the tiny laser at Twilight and fires another slash, launching her higher and farther into the sky.

“Near invisible and powerful, oh friendship, what a powerful weapon.” Midnight then dislodges herself from the floor and teleports into the sky, following the failing body of Twilight. Midnight fires again, and again, and once more, launching her rival all over the sky before grabbing her in her two front claws. “Give up! You can’t beat me. Fight me with magic? I grow more powerful. Try to physically injure me? Ha, you can’t touch me! No force on any world, magical or physical, can weaken me, only make me stronger!” The evil Twilight then proceeds to squeeze the weaken pony body before boasting, “Go on, run!” Midnight’s voice booms in the night sky, “Entertain me! I will find you eventually, any world, any time! Tell everypony of their inevitable doom brought to them by Empress Midnight!” In one swift motion, Empress Midnight chucks Twilight down, sending her rapidly falling down to the ground. In a matter of only ten seconds, Twilight finds herself only a couple meters above the floor of the cave opening. Her body, too weak to make any scream, flails even more drastically, completely lost after Midnight’s barrage.

“NO!” However, just before hitting the rocky ground, Twilight finds herself hovering in air, with her body enwrapped in a dark blue aura. Gruncle Boris’ voice then speaks far to her left,

“I got you!” The stallion gently, sets Twilight onto the ground on her hooves, only for her body o slam its side onto the ground upon being let go. “Are you okay?”

“Midnight,” Twilight gasps, her eyes now shut and her heart now pumping violently, “she attacked me, I wasn’t prepared, it all happened so fast.”

“Twilight!” Rarity’s voice echoes through Twilight’s seemingly empty head, “Stay here, we’ll take care of Midnight, she has to be weak by now!”

“Don’t, she’ll only grow stronger from magic and no physical attack’s going to hit her, it’s impossible.”

“What?” Pinkie Pie exclaims, hovering her head over Twilight’s face, “Nothing’s impossible, right?” Twilight tries to open her mouth, but Boris’ hoof covers it, motioning her to rest.

“Twilight has a point,” Boris replies, “any action we take upon her will only cause her to grow stronger and deadlier. There’s no way we can do something about it.”

“Well we can’t just run,” Rainbow Dash argues, “Midnight will rebuild her armies and sooner or later, will get us, it’s up to us.”

“But what can we do?” Applejack asks.

“There must be a way,” Raindrop adds, “somehow, someway, but what? What can overpower her without her absorbing it and actually damage her?”

“It can’t be an attack based off of magic,” Boris debates, “yet something that’ll produced a larger enough blast range to be unavoidable.”

“Like a bomb of sorts?”

“Maybe, but where can we create such an explosion at least parallel to the magical power Midnight has?”

“At least parallel?” Celestia barks, her concern for Twilight and her ponies has caused the once calm princess to transform into a raving madpony, “There’s nothing in this world that could create an explosion at such power!”

“Nor our world for that matter…”

“Unless,” Twilight mumbles back, still lying on the floor.

“Unless what? If you have an idea, it’s our last resort before running away.” Slowly, the purple alicorn gets up on all fours, partially opening her left eye to get a look at her great uncle.

“Unless there’s something of both worlds that can unite and create it. Princess Celestia, what did Midnight mean by the explosion trick from ‘Star Swirl’s Nano-Molecular Studies’?”

“It’s an ancient theory,” the princess replies, “It states that if two of the exact same particles were to touch, it would cause a paradoxical cataclysm so violent, it would wipe out a good chunk of space and time. I see where you’re going with this; you have learned well, this could be our best option,”

“No,” the other Celestia replies, “Midnight has taken extreme precautions for that to never happen when she started experimenting with cloning a while ago. It would take years to find anything in this world that was still the exact same in yours big enough to create a large enough cataclysm.”

“Then our only option now is to run, Midnight will catch up to us sooner or later, but we have no other choice at this point, we’ve stretched our options as far as possible.”

“Wrong…” Raindrop sternly replies, prompting everypony to turn at her with a gaze of confusion.

“What?”

“There’s one thing in both worlds that still remain the same, no matter what happened to their outside worlds. Both have been preserved beneath stone and magic for years.”

“What is it?”

“Me.” A collective gasp roars across the nine ponies, all now thinking she was crazy.

“You’re actually thinking about killing yourself? No! I will not let you!”

“Princess Celestia, both versions of you, you have taught me well. You’ve taught me about honesty, kindness, magic, generosity, laughter, and loyalty. You have and will risk your life trying to save me, and now I shall return the favour, by protecting you. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” A quiet moment unfolds, as both Celestias stare longingly into the glazed over eyes of the determined filly, contemplating whether to let her do this or not. Twilight, Gruncle Boris, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, silently watch, not knowing of their decision. The two Celestias give a deep sigh at once, each ending with a small sniffle being held back.

“If you must, I trust you.”

“Thank you. We must get to Canterlot as fast as possible.”

“Let’s go!” The others cheer, only to be cut off by Raindrop’s hoof pointing towards the cave.

“Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Boris, this will be extremely dangerous. I can’t risk your lives being with me when the time comes. Go home, please.”

“…Okay…” Without another word, the groups of seven ponies turn around towards the mouth of the cave and slowly descend into it. Twilight looks back once more at the three, now ready to take off, only to notice a nearly invisible rainbow beam pointing right into the back of Raindrop’s head.

She screams, “Duck!” Raindrop immediately hears the command and gets down without hesitation. A charged slash of raw magic then travels along the beam and barely slashing Raindrop’s ivory mane, hitting the dirt ground with an explosion. “Run, run, run!” The two princesses pick up Raindrop and the tracing saddle still on her and they all disappear in a ball of bright light. Twilight then turns back around to her friends looking back in fright. “Get going, I’ll stall the empress!”

“Good luck!” Gruncle Boris shouts as he and the other five resume their journey to the portal.

“To you to!”

“You’ll need it more than me!”

“Whatever, just go!” The single alicorn then looks up at the menacing black figure slowly descending from the skies.

“You,” Midnight speaks, “you just make the dumbest choices don’t you? I give you the option to join me, I give you the option the run, I give you the option to not annoy me anymore. But no, you just have to make these choices.” Midnight then teleports to Twilight and grabs her in her claws, squeezing Twilight’s face so that her eyes would be stuck onto her. Both of their bodies begin to rattle, with one from physical suffering, and the other from mental suffering. “Why, Twilight? Why, why? Why do you do it? Why, why stay here? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting... for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love?”

“…” Midnight’s face begins to grow bright red with rage as the Alicorn Amulets infecting her mind is unable to understand Twilight’s actions.

“You must be able to see it, Twilight Sparkle. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Twilight? Why? Why do you persist? What makes ponies so ignorant to logic? Why?”

“Because they, we, and I chose to do what is right, because there is always hope of victory, somewhere out there in this collection of worlds, is a victory for every failure.”

“…I see,” Slowly, Midnight lets Twilight down, causing the weakened pony to gag harshly. The empress then looks over towards Canterlot with a slight smile growing on her face. “Then I better make sure this world holds my victory.” In the heavy blink of Twilight’s eyes, Midnight disappears without a trace, presumably after Raindrop.

The unrelenting force of the Alicorn Amulets, are truly powerful, corrupted tools of destruction. It’s like their some demonic sentience, using vessels to carry out their plans. But it’s truly more horrifying than that. I know that they are only tapping into  the darkest and deepest sectors of a pony’s soul, feeding from its magic and power to grow and feed more at the users will. I know that I am willingly letting this happen, I too once had thoughts of overthrowing Equestria in the deepest parts of my mind. I know what must be done, for I am not fighting a pony corrupted by the amulets, I am fighting the deepest parts of my mind and soul manifested into what I could be.

Upon finishing her thinking, her blinks out of the area with a purple flash of light, teleporting to Celestia’s castle.

Everypony’s a Somepony

Back at Empress Midnight’s palace, inside the corridor leading to the throne room, the two Celestias and Raindrop observe the decrepit surroundings of their once home. The walls that once displayed vibrant colors and shades amongst the chandelier lights are now grey discolored boulders teetering in the wind. The carpeted floor that was once fuzzy and warm had turned into a mess of gross rags the sent a cold chill up the hooves of the trio. The warm, calm air that circulated around the palace had turned damn, cold, and violent with the multitudes of drafts pouring in through the holes in all the faces of the chamber.

The mild howling of the outside wind was silenced by a single voice being Raindrop, “How much farther?”

“Not much,” her caretaker replies, staring at the pair of massive dual doors closed in front of her, “we’re just at the doorway. We had to go several chambers away in case Midnight was following.”

“Okay.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes Princess Celestia, I am.”

“…”

“Celestia?” Raindrop continued to walk after not getting a reply the second time, thinking that her adoptive mother wanted some quiet time at the moment. As she want deeper into the throne room, she noticed that the second Celestia hoofsteps have grown slightly heavier, as if her shoes have had a large amount of metal inserted them midway through entering the room. A low ominous hum also echoed in Raindrop’s ears. “Other Princess Celestia, are you alright?” Once again, no reply returned from behind. “Celestia?” The hum grows louder as Raindrop nears closer to halfway across the chamber. Suddenly, the stone floor beneath her font hooves crumbles and Raindrop quickly backs away as she realizes that the floor ahead had already fell a while ago, and that she nearly fell. Her rear then bumps into a pair of long, metal fingers. “M-M-M-M-M-”

“Yes?” The figure with the claw behind her asks, her haunting voice spiked through the filly’s mind.

“Midnight!”

“That’s right!” With one swoop of her claw, she grabs Raindrop by the tail and dangles the body over the edge.

“HELP ME!”

“No pony can hear you now; your mama’s frozen along with her duplicate. This may seem a bit extreme, dropping you off the edge into the abyss below, but I’ve worked hard to reach this point and I can’t let any distraction keep me from achieving it, even if that distraction is tiny and pathetic in any other circumstance.”

“NO!”

“And speaking of ‘hard’ and ‘distraction,’” With a swift motion of her other free arm, Midnight plucks Twilight out of thin air mid-teleportation, causing the purple mare in the metal fist to gasp in shock. “Twilight, how nice of you to join us for the going away party,”

The surprised alicorn asks, “How did you,”

“I figured you show up sooner or later, where are your friends at? Surely they would simply die for a spectacle like this.”

“Far away from you,”

“Going solo aren’t you? To be fair, you were always a loner, I should know by experience-” Midnight taunt is cut off in an instant by a white ball of magic hitting her in the back of the head. “Who?!” Midnight snaps her head around to see the two white alicorn princesses right behind her, both having their horns aimed directly between her eyes. “Oh, the screaming, that probably was it…” Midnight then teleports away in response to the surprise attack, leaving Raindrop and Twilight to fall. However, before Raindrop could get below the floor level, she and Twilight are enwrapped in a white aura of magic and pulled back to the ledge.

“Thank you!”

“No time for thanks,” the other Celestia barks, “we have to go!” The three princesses teleport themselves and Raindrop over the gap and to the back wall. Celestia then uses her magic and opens the two large hidden doors to the dark hallway behind leading into the alternate Raindrop’s room. Twilight and Raindrop are the first two ponies the scramble in as the other Celestia is watching out for the first. As Twilight turns to look at them slowly following behind, about to enter the tunnel, she notices a faint beam going through the walls between them.

“Stay back!” In an instant, a series of five wild burst of magic rupture across the beam, obliterating the tunnel section and separating the two parties with a wall of boulders. ”Can you teleport to us?”

“No! The area surrounding Raindrop’s room is a permanent barrier; we can’t get in without removing the boulders!”

“We need you to convince your Raindrop though!”

“Go on, there isn’t much time before Midnight makes a way in!”

“But what about you getting to see her one last time?” A loud sniffle echoes through the cave-in and into Twilight and Raindrop’s ears before the princess continues,

“That isn’t important anymore, just go on, just let her know that I, even in death, will always love her!”

“…Okay.”

“Now go,”

Twilight’s Celestia is then heard screaming, “Midnight’s attacking with magic swords from below the floor!”

“GO!” Twilight obeys and she runs up to Raindrop as they approach the bedroom ahead. Twilight is blinded once again by the immediate brightness of the room like her first time. Her eyes readjust as she sees that it all looks exactly like her world, as if nothing ever happened. The silence of the room caught her ears as she scanned her eyes across the uncannily exact positioning of the furniture that she saw in her world. She then focused on the flowing soft pink veils cloaking the massive royal purple bed with a small, turquoise and white figure lying on top.

“I-” Raindrop stutters, “I remember this, this is my room. I’ve nearly forgotten what it was like in here.”

“Yeah,” Twilight replies with guilt in her voice, “in here…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Me, dragging you into this, only for you to come back to be sacrificed. I’m sorry,”

“But it wasn’t your fault,”

“I know, but, I just feel like I’m responsible for this, I have good reason to.”

“Hey,”

“What?”

“Smile, at least you did your best and you’ve taken the effort to reverse the damage. From what you might think, all I’ve heard outside of my room was war, torture, suffering, and disgust.”

“You did.”

“But what I heard, what I felt, what I saw, was heroes, heroes that, despite having their enemies be them and cause great suffering, the heroes would face their self-conflicts and confront the evil. Friends that would stick together at all costs and even if one slips up, they could be forgiven. Family that despite having problems in the past and present, can see past that and still love each other. Kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty, and laughter, even in the cold face of war, are still present and shared by ponies. Magic, beautiful magic that can perform miracle actions and summon the greatest in ponies. And do you know what’s best of all?”

“What?”

“Purpose, purpose for living, for developing and sharing talents and traits with others, for being what you are for the good of harmony and peace, and for exploring every world out there and experiencing it’s wonders. I have a purpose to fulfill now, and I thank you for such a wonderful adventure.”

“Thank you as well.”

“Shall we wake up the other me?”

“Oh, well, yes.” Slowly, Twilight approaches the still sleeping No-Pony on the bed pokes her head through the silk veil, and lightly brushes her nose against the warm back of the filly. “Raindrop, wake up.” The small mare soon began to stir and wake up from her slumber. Her glazed eyes opened towards Twilight just before a yawn escaped her mouth.

“Princess Celestia?” The drowsy filly slurred, “Is that you?”

“No, I’m her student, Twi-”

“Twilight Sparkle I presume.”

“Yes,”

“How did you get in here?”

“Celestia let me in, but-”

“Where is she? I haven’t seen her in months,”

“It’s a long story and I don’t have time to explain. There’s another Raindrop right next to me,”

“A what?”

“Another you that’s not you, what I need you to do is to touch your alternate’s right hoof with yours.”

“Why?”

“I can’t explain, just do it.”

“But what’s so urgent?” A loud thud roars into the chamber, shaking the entire structure. “What’s that?!”

“The reason it’s so urgent, now go!”

“How can I trust you?!”

“She’s coming through the window!” The Raindrop next to Twilight squeals, causing the other on the bed to open her mouth in a gape.

“Was that my voice?”

“Yes, what Twilight is saying is true. Get out of the bed. Midnight’s going to break through the illusion barrier any second now!” The confused mare gets up on her hooves and stumbles out of the large bed.

“Midnight?” In that moment, the massive six-armed creature burst through the window, sending clear shards and rock hurdling all over the room. The great sound of the smash causes the two Raindrops to freeze solid in fear.

“I’m back!” The empress hollers in glee, “I just had to get those two pesky Celestias out of this world and seal the portal. I tell you, they can put up a good fight.”

“What did you do to her? Who are you?” The frightened Raindrop sputters at the edge of the bed.

“Ah, so that’s why your group was so desperate to get back here. Because that tiny little gnat’s Celestia’s pet. Ha! Have you told her that you’re about to kill her just to end the world?”

“What?!”

“Oh, poor dear,” Midnight then starts to make her way to the bed, only to be cut off by Twilight running in front of the disfigured villainous version of Twilight. In response, Midnight grabs the purple alicorn with one swing of her claw and pitches her out the window, launching her into the dark horizon with Twilight screaming throughout her entire flight.

“Twilight?”

“She’s no longer a problem, you see, you’ve been living a lie for most of your life.”

“I have?”

“I’m afraid so,” Softly, Midnight moves next to the shivering filly and brushes her hair with her bruised hoof. “What’s even sadder is the one leading the lie was no pony other than Princess Celestia.”

“She wouldn’t have lied to me, she’s honest and kind.”

“You’re half right, Celestia hasn’t lied to you, she’s lied to everypony including you. You may think that she actually cared about you, but in actually, you’re nothing more than a tool.”

“That’s a lie; Princess Celestia loves me with all of her heart!”

“Oh, you poor pony, what has that princess done to your head? Why would the ruler of all Equestria dedicate her life to a blind, pathetic, filly that hasn’t even received her cutie mark?”

“Well…”

“The only reason she keeps you locked away in here is so that when her tyranny is threatened, she can just use you and another Raindrop she found and obliterate the world with everything and everypony in it. You’re just a tool to activate a bomb. But luckily, I saved you and everypony else.”

“No, that can’t be true!”

“Can’t it? Or do you find that a royal princess would raise a rat like you more believable?”

“Well… uh… she…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, poor little pony. Let’s say this, you come with me, and I can turn you into the most powerful pony ever. I could fix you, make all your dreams come true.”

“You don’t know what my dreams are.”

“Oh, I do. Your dream is to be recognized as a true pony, not just some dead weight that somepony has to look out and push around.”

“…If that was true, how would you fulfil it in the first place?”

“First, I’d give you a pair of wings, just like mine, so you wouldn’t be tied to the earth. Then, I would give you a helmet, just like mine, so you’d have a horn to project magic and no pony would ever notice that you’re blind. Finally, I’ll teach you every magic trick in the book, with you by my side, heir to my empire.”

“You can really do all that? You’re bluffing,”

“I never bluff, so what do you say?”

“Well…”

“Stop right there!” The first Raindrop shouts, Midnight ships her head to the right and sees the turquoise mare glaring right into Midnight’s red eyes.

“What? Midnight might be right.”

“I know the truth, I’ve been out there. Midnight is controlling ponies to kill all for her own gain because of the corruption of the Alicorn Amulets on her chest. She’s the liar, Celestia truly cares about you. Remember when she first found you? Cold, alone, about to die?”

“That one Hearth’s Warming Eve night…”

“Yeah, that one, she recued you because she cares for all ponies, big, small, blind, weak, strong, all of them.”

“Ho, ho,” Midnight chortles, “I see that somepony is refusing to break the wall of lies in front of her eyes. Tell you what?” Midnight then picks up the pony right next to her and drops her right in the middle between Midnight and Raindrop. “Let’s have our little pony decide who’s right. Whoever she goes to is the winner…”

“Raindrop, you can trust me, I am you!”

“Don’t listen to her little Raindrop. She wants you dead.”

“I’m only doing this so we can save everypony in this and all other worlds from Midnight, she’s the villain.”

“Celestia and the other princesses are villains; their lies have forged fear with duty, and unhealthy combination.”

“It’s the Alicorn Amulets that are saying those things; they want more power from her.”

“This debate is pointless Tiny, I am the one who is right. You can’t see what’s right in front of you, literally, so how would you know what is right?”

“Because I do more than see, I listen, I feel, I smell, I taste, I know, I learn, I love, and I discern. I have learned and seen more in a couple of days than you have ever since you turned you back to your friends and the good life you once had.”

“So you think experiencing gives you more power? You are still, a blind, tiny, useless, pathetic pest. If you think you’ll actually be able to convince this pony between us, then you must also be incredibly stupid.”

“Go on Raindrop, make your choice…”

“Hahaha, we all know who it’s going to be.” Midnight then closes her eyes and sticks her front hooves up, awaiting a hug from the pony. However, a good chunk of silent time passes and Midnight’s patience begins to run thin. Her eyelids slightly open as she peeks across the room, only to see the second Raindrop slowly approaching the first one, now being only a couple of hoofsteps away from each other. “NO!” Midnight yanks her six arms out from behind her back and begins to chase after. However, she is suddenly caught off guard by one of her claws slamming her in the center of the face and launching her into the wall behind. Midnight tries to pull the out-of-control claw away, only to catch a glimpse of Twilight using her magic out of the corner of her eye before having her vision being once again obscured by the metal fingers. “NO! You don’t know what you’re doing! STOP! NOW!” The screams and wriggling of the empress are soon tuned out of the two Raindrops’ heads as they are now only a centimeter space between their small noses.

“I know this, is scary, and we might never be with Celestia ever again, but she saved us, raised us, loved us. Now…”

“Now it’s our turn to return the favor.” At the same time, the two No-Ponies raise their right hooves, slowly approaching the other.

“Goodbye Celestia…” The two speak in complete unison, “Goodbye Luna, goodbye Cadence, goodbye everypony, goodbye Twilight…” At that moment of completing their final words, the two hooves meet. Midnight then manages to overcome Twilight’s magic, only to see the two Raindrops connected.

“No…” Midnight mutters, slowly stumbling towards the fillies, “No!” Her crippled walk soon escalates in pace, eventually turning into a full run. “NO!” Her two front claws reach forward, only for them to phases right through the two bodies as if they were water. “NOOOOO!!!” The two unified bodies then begin to turn a white bright glow, nearly blinding Midnight and Twilight watching in absolute disbelief. “This can’t be! I won’t let it be! All that I have done! All I have worked for! NO!”

“It’s too late,” Twilight replies solemnly, “you lose.” The two continue their attention towards the bright light, now turning into a large ball. It slowly begins to grow as glass shards and smaller rocks begin to gravitate towards it. As they disappear upon entering the growing ball of white void, Midnight begins to back up, ending up right next to Twilight.

“This isn’t…”

“It is… the end of the world.”

World Crash

Twilight and Midnight continue to gawk at the growing vortex inside the room, watching it expand and suck the color right from the walls and into the white ball of nothing. Twilight snaps out of the gaze and realizes that she has to leave this world now. Leaving Midnight with the growing hole, Twilight flies out of the smashed window and begins to circle around the mountain to the Tree of Harmony. Upon flying over Canterlot, she takes a look towards the exposed throne room to that the sphere’s edge has engulfed the original entrance to Raindrop’s room. However, during her gaze back at the castle, a metal fist grabs her from below and chucks her into the road below. A cloud of smoke and dust burst from her crash landing as she looks up to seeing Midnight diving right at her. The purple mare quickly regains herself from the smash and teleports away just before Midnight could slam into her. Twilight then reappears within a residential house at the edge of the city.

“Twilight!” A voice roars with solid rage outside, “Where are you?!” Twilight stays frozen in place, fearing that one move would give her away, that not even a wall could keep Midnight from seeing her. “You’ve taken away my world, and I want you to suffer for it!” Soon, a thin beam enters through the roof of the house Twilight is in. She observes it as it grows closer and closer to her. She holds her breathe and her gut in as it stops right in front of her nose.

Don’t move, a muscle…

“She has to be here somewhere…” The small beam then soon retreats from Twilight’s face and scans the rest of the building. Twilight gives a sigh of relief, but then covers her mouth with her front hooves upon realizing her mistake. The beam bolts from the back corner of the living room she was in and goes right between her eyes as she looks up at it.

“Uh oh!” Twilight rolls from her spot just as it fires, blasting the wooden floor and ceiling into splinters. She quickly gets up on her hooves and bolts out from front door just before a large ray of red magic disintegrates the building. Midnight lands right in front of the panting pony and fold her claws together, creating a massive fist.

“I got you now!” Just before Midnight is about to smash her super fist down upon Twilight, the red beam of destruction flies back and smashes into Midnight. Her middle and back wings kick into action and deflect the second half of the attack off of her. The two rivals look to their side to see that the beam was being pulled back by the void, which has now engulfed the castle as well as all of the mountain above. Midnight looks back to see that Twilight has vanished. She looks away from the growing sphere and to the forest on the horizon to see a tiny purple dot flying away. “Get back here so I can kill you!” Midnight kicks into flight and attempts to teleport to her, only to reappear in the exact same spot as before. “That hole, it’s even causing a pull on my magic!” She then rows her wings, pushing her away from the ball and speeding up on Twilight. “But not all of it…”

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go! Gotta go fast, gotta go fast, gotta go faster, faster, faster, faster, faster!” Twilight yells to herself, motivating her wings to flap harder and faster. Her eyes glance back for a second and catch a glimpse of Midnight speeding up right at her. “AH!”

“Get over here!” Midnight then collides with Twilight and the two engage in a midair hoof fight. All the while, the void sphere’s growth escalates rapidly, nearly making it half as fast as sound.

“Stop!”

“NEVER!” Midnight shoves Twilight in front of her and quickly gives her a devastating uppercut with a metal fist, launching her towards the ball. Twilight’s mind is now completely discombobulated as she is unknowingly hurdling towards the void. Midnight hovers in place as she gleefully observes her enemy being pulled to her demise. Out of nowhere, the sphere pulses and grows dramatically in a single second, causing Midnight to be launched towards the void. In the heat of the jolt, one of the metal wings attached to Midnight’s left side is ripped from her back and flutters into the sphere. The empress screams in absolute pain and agony, but manages to escape the full hold of the gravitational ball in an adrenaline rush. As Midnight is escaping however, Twilight’s body slams into her, sending them both back dangerously close to the void.

“Parry!” Twilight yelps upon coming to her senses. She springs back into action and begins to fly away once more.

“Oh no you don’t!” Midnight grabs one of Twilight’s wings with her front right claw. However, she loses grip as the outstretched arm is yanked from Midnight and flung into the seemingly empty void. Another roar of pain exits the monster’s mouth, but al this does is make her want to destroy Twilight even more. The two Twilights, now side by side, begin to race away from the void and gain distance from the other.

I've got to make it to the tree!

I have to destroy Twilight! The two ponies slam into each other sides, ruining the distance they gained away from the growing wave of destruction.

“Midnight, quit this!”

“Never, you never seem to give up, so why should I? You choose to make these idiot decisions, so why should I not make a smart decision for once, by obliterating you?!” Soon, the two enemies spot the cave holding the Tree of Harmony a kilometer away from where they are. The force of the chasing void intensifies as the two get closer and closer to the cave.

“Can’t keep, up, much longer, must, reach, the tree! Wings, feel like being, torn,”

“Must, reach, the tree! Must rebuild, and have, my revenge,” After what felt like an hour of strong, gale-force winds ripping their bodies to pulps, Midnight and Twilight make their way to the mouth of the cave with the void hot on their hooves. Their hooves and claws dig into the ground as they resort to having to climb their way to the tree. With the tree now in full sight, the two once again try to sabotage each other’s progress by kicking and clawing with whatever appendages they can have out of the dirt and stone floor. However, in the middle of their fights, they start to notice that the floor right below them is stretching. The distance between them and the crystalloid tree begins to grow, as if the fabric of reality was being torn apart and sucked in by the void. Another metal arm is ripped from Midnight and sucked into the gargantuan ball. However, instead of Midnight screaming in pain, a wave of dark emotions and energy fills Midnight. In an instant, Midnight lets go of her hoofing on the ground and grabs onto Twilight’s wings and tail.

“Ah! What are you doing?!”

“Making sure that you can’t do anything without me right behind you!”

“Are you insane?!”

“Possibly, hahaha!” Twilight continues to crawl towards the tree, contemplating what to do now with Midnight attached to her. After a minute of crawling away from the void, she reaches the trunk of the tree and clings on for dear life as her wings and tail are almost being torn from her body. “Open the portal, do it, you want to save yourself right?!”

Almost any spell I’ll perform will be affected by the ball’s gravity. Midnight’s using her magic to attach onto me and she knows that I can open a portal despite the gravity. What do I do?

“What’s the matter? A little gravity caught on your horn? You can do it!”

‘Gravity…’ That’s it! With a flick of Twilight’s horn, everything turned to chaos. The immense pull of the white sphere had reversed, launching everything still in this world hurdling away from it. The ground surrounding the tree and the two ponies from all sides shatters into clumps of dirt, stone, and whatever was on it and flies off in every direction aimlessly. The whole planet is seems has turned into an empty body of air in mere seconds, with islands in the night sky drifting apart from each other and the white ball in the center of the colossal explosion. Twilight’s face slams into the light blue crystal of her anchor, nearly knocking her unconscious. Her other end body is kicked up and Midnight loses grip of her nemesis, causing her to hurdle speedily into a field of islands far ahead.

“This isn’t the end of it! I will get back there Twilight! I will-” Her roaring is swiftly cut off by a large boulder soaring into Midnight and ripping another wing clean off. Twilight looks back to where the boulder came from and sees an entire mountain, now crumbled into massive stones, flying right past her and the tree and straight at Midnight. The purple hero watches in disbelief as her alternate self is buried within the heap of rock and is launched deep into the field of floating islands.

“Is this… is this it?” The lone alicorn returns her look back at the void behind her. It’s still growing, but the reverse gravity is pushing her too fast for the balls growth to catch up. “Thank you Raindrop…” Twilight then takes a moment to observe her surroundings after most of the havoc has settled. She notices how beautiful and clear the stars are in the clear sky, how they still glow ever after what seemed to be the end of everything, even before Twilight and her friends came to save the RAEM. She then remembers Borris, and the sacrifice he gave to save Rainbow Dash and everypony else. She returns her attention to the Tree of Harmony still perfectly safe right in front of her. The mare backs up to the edge of the floating ground she’s on and with a good amount of time focusing, uses her magic to open the blue tunnel to her world. “Can anypony hear me?”

“Yes,” a voice from the other side of the floating tube replies, “Twilight, is that you?”

“Yeah Spike it’s me, I’m coming in there.”

“Twilight!” Five other voices exclaim from the other end, with Twilight immediately recognizing them as her best friends.

“Make way!” Slowly, the purple pony makes her way to the bottom edge of the portal, only to be flung forward face first into the tree again by a mysterious sudden stop. Twilight pokes her head around the side of the tree and sees that her island has crashed into the large mass of other debris where Midnight had disappeared into. Upon realizing this, Twilight jumps to her hooves and closes the portal, wanting to make sure Midnight was not still around. She then studies the destroyed area in front of her thoroughly, making sure that Midnight was not preparing for a surprise attack. After a while of checking, Twilight turns back around towards the void, only to see Midnight, now with only one of her right claws still attached to her back, staring at the vast ball. The pony at the edge speaks,

“Twilight…”

A Last Chance

“Twilight…” The empress’ voice, now sounding exactly like Twilight’s, speaks. Twilight holds her stance for fear that her rival has another trick up her sleeve.

Twilight replies sternly, “What do you want?”

“Come sit next to me, I-I ne-want to have a talk with you…”

“Another one of your tricks?”

“No,” Slowly, Midnight turns to Twilight, revealing that her chest that once had the Alicorn Amulets, is now bare, leaving only the tip of Midnight’s horn piece on her head. However, the thing that catches Twilight’s attention most is a large scratch embedded into Midnight’s horn. Twilight stands there with her mouth in a gape.

“You, can’t use magic,”

“Well, not much, nothing that can truly hurt you at least.” Twilight takes a moment to think about what’s she’s going to do. After a second or two of thinking, she walks up next to Midnight, who then faces back at the white sphere. The empress then rests her legs down, lying on the ground, soon followed by Twilight. “Twilight,”

“Yeah?”

“’Twilight’, never have I thought I’d refer to myself as that name. Other ponies would call me that, trying to get me back to their side, but I merely took it as just them referring to another pony. Yet, looking at you now, I realize that I have never changed who I truly am, I just made a choice.”

“Those amulets were messing with your head, you were misguided.”

“Do you know what I did over the last few months without the amulets?”

“I’m afraid to ask…”

“I eliminated the griffons, the dragons, the animals, thousands upon thousands of ponies, various legendary creatures that could’ve stood in my way. I did all of that and more, without the amulets.”

“But the first launched you into madness after you tried to prove your worth.”

“It doesn’t matter how it started, I made those choices with my own mind. I wanted power, I wanted to show my worth, and I caused this whole world to crumble, both figuratively and literally at this point.”

“So why are you telling me this if you know you did it?”

“How did you do it?”

“Do what? Overthrow you?”

“No, how did you not become me? One restless night sent me to get that weapon, how could you last if the smallest of an insignificant event separate our fates?”

“It may seem insignificant, but anything, even the seemingly most worthless things, can leave a huge impact upon a world. I know I could’ve slipped into the same horseshoes as you in a single moment, I know that now, which is why I should be careful in what I do for those little moments to overcome me.”

“I’m beginning to learn that too, just by looking what I let happen right in front of me.” The two lone ponies begin to stare at the ball as their floating island starts to slow down from being so far from it. “Twilight,”

“Yeah?”

“Ever had that feeling, where everything you had, just vanishes before your eyes, yet instead of anger, or sadness, you’re at a mix of confusion and emptiness?”

“Well, one time. It was when you put me in the dungeon with the other princesses after learning that you were me. I had trouble grasping that my own self within a different setting would take away everything I held dear to me. I never want to go through that feeling again.”

“I’m sorry. I now have that same feeling, and it sucks worse than any pain anything or anypony has brought to me for months. The only time where it sucked more was after I put on that amulet as Twilight. I couldn’t bear the guilt and shame I created for myself after seeing the faces of my old friends looking at me like that. For months, I searched for that amulet to destroy my shame and guilt and to find an answer for why I was doing all of this. However, I then realized that I had already done that. And now here I sit, my entire world and plans shattered, both the wings I had during my innocent youth and my weapons during my power are gone forever. My reputation, the closeness of the ponies that I once called friends and army, my credibility, destroyed and can never be put back together. My magic, the one thing I had my entire life and that I was the element of, is now unreachable thanks to my ruined horn.”

“With a year or two of medical help, your horn could be fixed, and by then, you could’ve repaired the bond with your old friends.”

“I like the way you think, my other me. You never seem to give up hope and always choose to persist. However, although you can push your physical and magical limitations beyond what you thought possible, the same can’t be said for emotional and mental limitations. They will never forget the ponies’ lives I have destroyed. Rainbow Dash, Borris, family, children, the Morks that either died or performed my dirty work, they’ll forever be remembered, therefore always remembering me as their killer. And so what if my horn can be healed? No pony will ever try to give me back the magic I used to destroy them. I told you this before and now is no different.”

“That’s not entirely true,”

“What?”

“Major Borris, one of your strongest minions ever?”

“What about him?”

“He had the same feelings as you did. He thought no pony would forgive him after the number of lives he destroyed and later when he betrayed my Dash’s trust. Yet some ponies did. Both Rainbow Dashes, your great uncle, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, they all forgave him and end up becoming his friends.”

“And who do you think made him into a Mork, twice, and ended up killing him? That’s right, me. Just like I was the one who caused Rarity to betray you all, just like I was the one who turned Spike and nearly everypony into Morks, and just like I was the one who set everything into the downward spiral in the first place. If you think both your and my world will forgive me in the next million years, then you’d have far worse mental issues than I do.”

“It doesn’t hurt to try…” Twilight and Midnight turn their heads to each other, with Twilight giving a weak smile and Midnight giving an unpleased look of disbelief before both turning back at the void. “It does look beautiful out tonight.”

“Although, your change in the conversation was sloppily done, I must admit that it does look nice out after all of these months of nothing but smoke and storms. I wouldn’t mind being stuck here as punishment for everything I’ve done, I have nothing else to lose.”

“You still have potential to at least try to reconnect with the ponies.”

“Suddenly back to that topic? Fine then, no, I don’t. Your persistence won’t work this time Twilight. All is set in stone now and probably won’t erode away from all history. Just, please be quiet and leave me be, go back to your world and bathe in your victory.” Midnight then slumps her head down between her front hooves and closes her eyes.

“Midnight,”

“…”

“Midnight,”

“…”

“I want to tell you a story, a story of redemption, even in the face of death. It’s called the ‘Legend of the Ghost Pony’.”

Yeah, real original name…

“It all started about one hundred years after Luna’s banishment…”

Back in Twilight’s home world, everypony is gathered around the Tree of Harmony, screaming for Twilight and bashing into the base of the tree in hopes that the portal somehow opens or at least get a connection to their missing hero.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash sheiks, ramming her body at the center of the tree, “Did Midnight get you? Are you hurt? Are you dead?!”

“Twilight!” The two Pinkie Pies call out together, “You said you’d be out here any second, what’s keeping you?”

“Twilight!” Rarity exclaims, “Out of every worst possible thing to happen, this is… The! Absolute! Worst! Possible! Thing! Out! Of! All! Worst! Possible! Things!”

“I don’t want to be guilty for you being trapped with Midnight for the rest of your life!” The other Rarity cries while trying to use her magic to open a portal as Twilight did.”

“That snake!” Applejack proclaims, “Midnight, you better let Twilight out of your clutches this instant!”

“Amen, sister.” Applejack’s duplicate adds with just as much frustration in your tone. Spike, the two Borises, and the six other princesses however, collect their composure and stand at the sidelines, with Spike rapidly chewing his claws in suspense and agony.

“Twilight…” Fluttershy mumbles, “Whatever’s going on over there, please come back…”

“What if she’s trying to reform Midnight?” The other Fluttershy asks right beside her.

“Are you sure she can do that?”

“Not really, but all we can do is wait and see…”

“…With that said, he ran off into the night, off to redeem himself and to this day, they say that he continues to wander the desert, searching for more lost souls to save.” After concluding her story, Twilight takes a deep breath and looks to see if Midnight’s broken from her depressed state. “Midnight?”

“…” Twilight is once again given no response, but this doesn’t frustrate the pony.

“I’m not going to give up, I know you can make a choice, and I want to guide you in the right path.”

“…”

“Please, I want to help, just, please,”

“…”

“Well, then, fine, you can make your own choice, you choose who you want to be.” Twilight gets up from her seat and walks towards the Tree of Harmony, not letting Midnight out of the corner of her eyes. She then calls upon all her attention to her magic, trying to reopen the portal to her world once more.

“You’re right.” Startled, Twilight gives a small leap and whips her body around, breaking her attention from the tree and onto the pony before her. “I do have a choice…”

“So you’re coming?”

“No.”

“Are you staying here, all by yourself?”

“No.”

“What?”

“I’ve decided to take a… third option…” At that moment upon finishing her statement, Midnight’s horn flickers. A wave of an unknown force launches the tiny island hurdling towards the void, causing Twilight to bash her back into the trunk.

“What are you doing?” Slowly, Midnight gets up from her spot and turns to face Twilight. Her single arm begins to twitch before coming alive once more.

“Dragging down the very pony that ruined everything I had, and this time, I’m going to be making sure that you get all that you deserves, even if that means killing me!”

I’m Taking You with Me!

Twilight gasps upon the situation before her. She quickly turns her body back towards the Tree of Harmony and tries to focus on opening the portal. She is quickly grabbed on the spot by Midnight’s twitchy claw and dragged towards her foe. The arm then whips over Midnight and flings Twilight towards the void. Twilight is quick to open her wings and begins to fly back to the tree. However, just upon being able to reach the edge of the island, a large, brown boulder smashes into the alicorn and sends her back even farther than before and even closer to the growing white sphere. Twilight regains control and shoves the boulder aside, only to see the same barrage of rocks that took Midnight away are now returning to her. The purple pony uses evasive maneuvers and quick timing to avoid each chunk of land hurdling at her. To her, she was making great progress towards her goal; however, as she continues to dodge the sea of stone, meter by meter, she is being pulled closer to the void and farther from Midnight and the tree.

On the ledge of the platform she rested, Midnight watched and saw Twilight’s skill and begun to grow angry.

Why won’t you die?! Midnight thought to herself. She then looked behind and saw a massive boulder about to swoop right past her. Midnight then had an idea and implemented it quickly. With one well-placed strike, Midnight clubs her claw and punches the boulder, shattering it into several hundred pieces. An unavoidable storm of rock fragments and debris emerge from the once giant rock and soon reach Twilight. The flying mare becomes overwhelmed by the new wave of rock and is carried back even further towards the void. Midnight laughs at this sight, only to be forced back into the tree trunk by a powerful jolt. Within seconds, Midnight realizes what she has done. The island that she and tree stood on is now being locked into the gravitational pull of the void and is rapidly growing speed. I don’t care at this point, all I want, is her DEAD!

“Help!” Twilight screams, hoping to catch any pony’s ear, despite her situation. She looks back to see now that she was only a hundred meters away from her demise. Twilight immediately panics and uses whatever energy she has left, breaks from the rock barrage, and flies against the heavy pull and towards the quickly approaching tree. She notices Midnight on the edge holder her fist up and quickly swoops under the island, with Midnight’s metal fist barely clipping her tail. The purple mare then rises from behind the floating island and hides behind the Tree of Harmony.

“Oh Twilight,” a voice uncannily similar to Twilight’s speaks, “I know where you are…” A sudden loud bang rattles the entire stone island. Twilight looks at her limited surroundings to see that Midnight didn’t punch anywhere near her.

You're bluffing I see… Twilight happily thinks to herself.

“Right here!” Another crash ruptures across the floating chunk of land, this time coming from right below. Another punch hits, and another, and another, each getting weaker and weaker in seemingly random spots, causing a great pleasure to build up inside of Twilight. A laugh begins to build inside the hiding mare’s stomach, but she attempts to hold it in. A weak thud lightly shifts the island, moving the laugh up her throat. The sound of metal flopping on the dirt floor echoes across the land mass, causing a soft sputter to escape Twilight’s mouth. She tries with all her might not to reveal her position, but the growing feebleness of Midnight’s attempts are driving her over the edge. Finally, Midnight speaks again, but in an exhausted, panting gasp, “Twilight, where, are, you,”

“BAHAHAHA!” The young mare couldn’t hold it in anymore, so a loud, taunting laugh escapes from Twilight’s mouth and all across the empty space around her. Within a millisecond, Midnight’s metal fingers reach around to the back of the tree and grab Twilight and drag her once more towards her other.

“YOU!” Twilight, still in a laughing fit, tries to regain control of her body, but finds that she can’t. In a fit of rage, Midnight whips her arm over her back and slams it into the dirt, turning Twilight quiet upon impact. Midnight whips the arm over her back again, this time slamming it into the purple crystal center of the tree. The evil Twilight then let’s go and Twilight slips between the metal claws and slumps against the base of the tree. A painful groan escapes the beaten alicorn’s throat with her eyes barely open to see Midnight looking over the pulverized equivalent of a corpse.

“Midnight…”

“Twilight Sparkle, you’re still alive I see, well, technically. You’re pretty much good as dead at this point…” Gently, Midnight picks up the pony by the wings with her claw and holds her facing the growing void, which was now only a couple hundred meters away from them. “I want you to have the best seats to the greatest show this world will ever see. It’s a tragedy where the only two characters left in the end of the play die.” As the two Twilights then watch as they grow closer and closer to it, Twilight tries to use her remaining consciousness to try and think of a way out.

“Midnight,”

“Yes? Final words is it?”

“Please, just please, I know you don’t see any benefit, but if there is any of me still in you, just please let me go.”

“All of you that was in me is now gone. Our history, our friendship, our lives, all gone now, never to-” Midnight’s taunt is cut short by a sharp bolt of pain surging through her body. Her arm twitches violently and finds Twilight right behind Midnight. Twilight turns her fallen body towards the tree and painfully drags herself to it. Midnight quickly recovers from the unforeseen pain and sees where Twilight has fallen just a fast. “Oh no you don’t!” Her arm, now flailing and twitched uncontrollably, reaches to grab Twilight. The claw manages to scope around Twilight’s back and hoisters her sitting directly across from Midnight. Midnight then aims her head down, heaving the sharpened tip of her horn armour point directly at Twilight’s neck. The trapped pony shrieks and tries to pull away, only to be held in place by the claw and the black horn slowly getting closer. By now, the void was only several meters away from Midnight behind, causing the claw to push Twilight towards the spindle of Midnight’s destroyed armour.

“Please, don’t!”

“NEVER!” Twilight pulls her head up, trying to pull her outstretched neck away from the needle, but only succeeds in gaining a millimeter. By now, the white void is about to touch the edge of the floating island and Midnight’s arm can barely stay still. Just as the tip of the needle’s begins to pierce the thin layer of skin in the middle of Twilight’s throat, all havoc breaks loose. In an instant, Twilight sees a flash of green. She then immediately feels a large pain ripping across her back as she sees Midnight being launched into the void, screaming with no sound to be heard. Seeing that this her moment, Twilight turns to the tree about to be sucked in, opens the portal, and leaps. She loses consciousness upon leaping as everything turns from white to black in a second.

Liberty Has Arrived

Darkness was something that Twilight had grown used to after jumping into the portal and blacking out. It was her final memory before being in what she thought as the inside of the void Midnight was sucked into, completely empty, quiet, and very lonesome.

“Twilight…” A small voice speaks amongst the pitch black of Twilight’s mind. After being what seemed to be nothingness for several days, the young mare’s inner thoughts burst in joy at hearing the voice. With all of her non-existent might, she gathers her strength and shouts into the black, hoping to get a response. “Twilight,” The voice grows louder, and for the first time ever since being in the seemingly eternal darkness, Twilight’s mind’s eye sees a white dot just within reach if she had any hooves. Twilight shouts once more, even louder as she feels her voice coming back to her.

“Twilight!” The voice had then multiplied itself into seven distinct voices. Twilight screams once more, now being able to push her nonexistent body towards the light.

“Twilight!” The voice grew into eleven voices, all whose identities began to flash before Twilight’s mental sight in the darkness.

Twilight then began to feel words reentering her mind and her throat as she screamed, “Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Boris!”

At this point, an uncountable number of individual voices joins together in unison into Twilight’s nonexistent ears, “Wake up Twilight!” All of a sudden, a great rush pushes into Twilight as the white light replaces the darkness in her entire vision, blinding her.

The blindness of white soon subsides as Twilight returns to the darkness, but this time, a narrow horizon of light stands before her sight. Her senses quickly began to return to her. She hears the sounds of fumbling hooves and breathing of multiple ponies, she feels what feels like soft cloth surrounding her body and a sharp pain in her back, she smells a metallic odor from her body and tastes the metallic liquid in her mouth. A groan exits her mouth as her eyes flutter open to reveal blurry colors and shapes dancing before her eyes.

“Who? What?” The purple mare slurs as she tries to reorganize her thoughts after the sensation of feelings struck her.

“Twilight,” a mare’s voice cheers from the cyan figure, “you’re alive!” The blurry figures soon began to take shape as some of Twilight’s memories return to her head.

“Alive?”

“Yeah, after the portal closed in on you, we almost thought that you died, and then you came bursting from another portal before it immediately closed!” Eventually, Twilight’s eyes readjust and finally return to normal. She now sees that she is on a hospital bed, surrounded by everypony she knew crowding into the surprisingly large chamber.

“So, what happened again?”

“You won!” Immediately, everypony inside and outside the room began to cheered in joy and celebration, nearly destroying Twilight’s shortly recovered hearing. During the loud vocal celebration, all of the memories of the recent events popped back in her head and flashed before her eyes.

“Wait, what happened to Midnight, did she escape, get sucked into the void, or what?!” The cheers grinded to a halt upon hearing Twilight’s panic attack. Applejack steps forward from Rainbow’s side and up to the hoof of the bed before calmly replying,

“We didn’t see her exit the world. We figured that you took care of the issue.”

“Just be calm,” a male voice talks from over Twilight’s shoulder. The two ponies look to see it two green Earth Ponies looking at the medical clipboard hanging from the side of the bed. “It’s most likely just mild amnesia and mental overload from the kick-start of her senses.”

“Hey, Major Jack,” the second Applejack pokes her head up from behind the first one and yells out, “I didn’t know you were a doctor.”

“Who? Me-Jack?”

“I’m a whale biologist,” the other Jack replies, “if that doesn’t give me permission to diagnose a pony, then I don’t know what will.”

“Wait, you’re a major in your world?”

“Yep,”

“Cool.”

“And according to these records, it seems that you, Twilight Sparkle, have a small laundry list of problems.”

“Like what?” The alicorn princess nervously asks.

“You have: several broken bones, dehydration, malnourishment, 25% loss in natural body mass, a collection of joints sprained, five concussions, second degree burns, several horn scratches, a previously dislocated wing, previous internal and external bleeding, four 500-stitch cuts along the back, and possible cramps and amnesia. Expected full recovery time: about six to nine months…”

“Sixty-nine months?”

“No, six to nine months, it wouldn’t take over five years to fix a broken bone or ten, at least I think so.”

“Oh thank Celestia…”

“Just keep well rested, don’t do anything, yadda-yadda-yadda-typical medical lingo, and you should mostly be better.”

Now I’m starting to question if he really did qualify to be a doctor…

“Now back to the main topic at hand before Twilight woke up,” Major Jack then turns to his alternate before speaking, “what are you going to dress as for Nightmare Night?”

Twilight’s Jack cheerfully replies, “I’m thinking of a pirate.”

“A pirate? Ninjas are better,”

“What? Why?”

“They sneak without thought Jack.”

“But pirates have awesome ships and swords.”

“So do ninjas, just, less swords and no ship…”

“See?”

“I guess you do have a point Jack.”

“Aye,”

“Okay you two,” Celestia declares, “you gave the order, give Twilight some space and rest. That qualifies for the rest of you ponies.”

“What about us?” Boris asks.

“You, Twilight’s friends, and we princesses will stay here for a little while longer before letting the more professional doctors take care of Twilight.” The two Jacks give Celestia a stunned look before bowing their heads in acknowledgement and leaving, soon followed by everypony except for Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, the two Applejacks, the two Rarities, the two Fluttershies, the two Pinkie Pies, the two Borises, the two Shining Armours, and the six other princesses.

The second Boris then turns to Twilight and asks his great niece, “Twilight, how are you feeling right now?”

“Tired, in pain, and slightly dizzy, other than that, I’ve never felt better in months.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I’ve reconnected with my great uncle and forgave him for inadvertently starting the whole Empress Midnight ordeal, I’ve discovered what my new magic could be used for, I’ve rescued several worlds from an insane dictator, and I’ve also conquered my inner demons and became aware that I should always monitor myself so that I don’t become a monster myself.”

“Sounds impressive, I wish I was there for the last two parts. When I heard that you were kidnapped by Midnight, I was utterly destroyed. I thought that you would’ve discovered the truth and joined Midnight, because of me.”

“You had good intentions, both of you.” The two Borises’ ears’ perk up at once upon hearing this, but for different reasons. “Other Boris, I may not be the Twilight that you grew up with from your world, but you treated me like I was. Not just a second chance, but as a way of correcting your mistakes, to clear your true good name, and keeping me happy, and for that, all I can truly do is thank and forgive you and welcome you to the Sparkle family again.”

“Thanks.” The two respond in unison before stepping aside for Rainbow Dash to step forward and give her thoughts,

“You were awesome out there, despite the fact that… you know, you being Midnight and all… But I really just wanted to thank you for saving me and everypony else. I just wish Borris was here also to see that the war was over and that his efforts weren’t for nothing.”

“I may not know what became of Borris,” Twilight replies, “but I can guarantee that somewhere out there, he is happy with the Rainbow Dash of his world. Have you found the Borris of this world though?”

“I’ve been here all the past hour or so watching over you, but I will try to find him in hopes that we’ll be friends.” Rainbow Dash then steps aside and Applejack walks forward,

“Hey Twi’,” she says, “You were one tough cookie out there, both against Midnight’s army and the squabbles you had with Raindrop. Reminds me a lot of my sister and I during the days when our farm struggled. On that note, thanks for saving ‘both’ of my sisters,”

Twilight responds, “Thanks Applejack.” Applejack then joins the group of bystanders as Fluttershy approaches Twilight’s side and softly speaks,

“Thank you Twilight, for, basically what they said; I may have not been the most useful out there though…”

“You did your best Fluttershy. And thanks for your thanks as well, despite the fact that they were already said, I knew you meant it the same.” Next follows Pinkie Pie.

“That was the most incredible thing I have ever seen!” She squees, “although I didn’t actually see the fight between you and Midnight, I just knew that you fought super-duper-hard with those super-duper-powers you had! I should write a book about how incredible we all were, and I shall call it ‘Rise of Empress Midnight’, it’ll be a HUGE hit! And then I’ll write a sequel. I wonder what I should call it though, ‘Return of Empress Midnight’, ‘Revenge of Empress Midnight’, ‘Rise of Empress Midnight 2: Electric Boogaloo’, ‘Dawn of Empress Midnight’, ‘Empress Midnight: Rise of the Extinct’, or even maybe ‘Dawn of Twilight Sparkle X Evolution Forever: Legends of the Legacy of Empress Midnight’s Redemption Rebirth Revolutions Collector’s Edition’. I think that last one’s the best one.

“Whatever suits you Pinkie, and thanks for the moral support.” Up next approaches Rarity with a small box being held by her magic.

“Thank you Twilight, for everything,” The white unicorn says, “From what has already been said, to saving my sister, to motivating me coop with the fact that I may slip up at times and make poor choices seeing how you were able to stand up to yours. For doing such, I have prepared for you, this present.” Rarity opens the small jewelry box and leans it towards Twilight’s direct line of sight. A large, white feather is seen being cushioned by a bed of purple cloth, shimmering the colors of the rainbow in the light. “It’s a feather that fell off of you after that transformation; I sought to have it as a memorial to our friendships in such a time of betrayal. I’ll give this to Spike to place it in your castle while you heal.”

“Rarity, it’s so beautiful, thank you.”

“I’m so glad you agree, Spike.” The two baby dragons pull up on each side of Rarity and stretch out their arms to catch the box.

“She means the Spike from this world.” One of the two Spikes gives a small blush before retreating back to the alternate versions of Twilight’s friends hanging out at the other end of the room. The Spike that remained is then given the box and steps forward as Rarity moves to the side with the others who have spoken.

“Hey Twilight,” the young dragon exclaims, “From what I heard, you were by far the best out there. I wish I could’ve been there for you more often, but I wanted to do some volunteer work for the RAEM.”

“It’s fine; you were a great assistant to everypony out there.”

“So where should I put this feather?”

“Put it on the desk in the library, I’ll find an ideal place for it later when I can leave.” Spike gives a salute to Twilight as he steps aside to let the next pony talked, which turned out to be the alternate Fluttershy, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack grouped into one unit.

“We cannot thank you enough for what you have done for us over the last several hours.” Marshal Rarity announces, “What you and your friends have achieved yesterday and today has been greater than the entire RAEM’s efforts in the last couple of months. You and your friends have liberated our ponies from both the armies of Midnight and the Mork control itself, saving countless number of lives. You have defeated the empress, fully exposed and her true identity displayed to all, a feat that none of us could ever imagine doing. We feel sorry that you had to take the burden for our pains and problems, which is why we are ever more grateful. From all the ponies of our world, we thank you and are eternally in your debt. For me personally, I am sorry for betraying you and everypony else here. You have become my role model that I want to follow, seeing how you were able to stop such a monster that was created from a mere change in time.”

“You’re forgiven, you still know the magic words?”

“Friendship is magic.”

“Right,” A warm smile glows on everypony’s face as the group of five joins the sidelines, leaving only the six princesses and both versions of her brother. In unison, they all bow their heads with a teary congratulation, with both Celestias and Shining Armours being notably more joyous. The Lunas, Cadences, and Shining Armours then raise their heads and join the spectators, now leaving the two Celestias.

“Twilight,” Celestia tearfully asks, “Did Raindrop say anything before she… moved on?”

“Yes, she and the other said their goodbyes, but not before Raindrop gave a great speech that you should hear. She said that what she heard, what she felt, what she saw, throughout this entire war, was heroes, heroes that, despite having their enemies be them and cause great suffering, the heroes would face their self-conflicts and confront the evil. Friends that would stick together at all costs and even if one slips up, they could be forgiven. Family that despite having problems in the past and present, can see past that and still love each other. Kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty, and laughter, even in the cold face of war, are still present and shared by ponies. Magic, beautiful magic that can perform miracle actions and summon the greatest in ponies. And do you know what she thought was best of all?

“What?”

“Purpose, purpose for living, for developing and sharing talents and traits with others, for being what you are for the good of harmony and peace, and for exploring every world out there and experiencing it’s wonders. And her closing words were; ‘I have a purpose to fulfill now, and I thank you for such a wonderful adventure.’” In a split second, both Celestias broke down into a full weeping fit of tears, sorrow, happiness, and hundreds of other emotions blinking through their minds.

“That’s, the most, beautiful thing I have ever heard from anypony in all of my life. I’m so proud of her.”

“Me too,” the other Celestia cries out before the two embrace themselves onto the carpet floor. Twilight, with tears in her eyes as well, looks over to her side to see everypony else, also shedding some tears with a smile mixed with both happiness and grief.

“I-I-I need a second, to regain myself.”

“S-Same here, I’ll get somepony to call up your therapist.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” The two regal princesses then pick themselves up before slowly heading for the door out of the chamber.

“Come along everypony, let’s go.” Shortly after the order was given, all twenty one ponies exit the room and close the door behind them, leaving behind Twilight in her bed. After an hour or two of being completely alone with the only sound being her sniffles, Twilight’s eyes grow heavy as she drifts to sleep.

The End?

“AHH!” Midnight gasps, waking up from her unknown slumber. The empress wipes her eyes, only to see solid white surrounding her, to her left, her right, above and below. She then notices how she feels nothing in her new surroundings as well. No floor beneath her, no air or wing, not even any gravity was to be felt in the white emptiness she was in.

“Am I dead?” She asks herself, only for her voice is immediately echo back to her from nowhere. Midnight then looks to see her purple, injured hooves underneath her where they should be. “I’m not in a coma I think…” Midnight then raises a hoof up to her chest and gives a single pound, causing a bolt of pain to surge through her. “And I’m certainly not in a dream…” Soon, logic and memory return to her head as the realization of where she is. “I’m inside the void! But why? Should I be disintegrated since nothing else in in here?” The empress then takes a moment to think of a reason why. After a minute or two, she begins examine herself out of boredom, only to see a disgusting fate before her. All of her metallic wings were gone, only leaving ruffled fur and bright red lumps of flesh where they used to be. What came next was the most horrific pain anypony could imagine, as Midnight’s brain overloads with the nerves in her back finally screaming.

“No…” Midnight murmurs, trying to remain stoic despite the tons of pain pulsating through her back. However, this didn’t last long, as Midnight gives in in mere seconds and screams at the top of her lungs. Tears practically shower from her eyes and hover around in the empty void. The bawling continues for several minutes, before the empress can finally create words once more. “Why, why, why did it have to be me?! All this pain, this torture, this eternity of nothing, why did it all have to be me?!” Inside the empress’ mind, despite all of the pain and sorrow exploding in her head, her mental gears begin to spin their corruptive twist to the story that had unfolded.

From what it seems, my wing activated and flung me into the void, but protected me as I entered it. But what caused it? I had the perfect grip on that tiny pony.

Did I activate my wing to save Twilight from myself?

No, it went off accidentally and Twilight got away.

No, Twilight activated it and got away.

Yes, it’s all her fault… If she had not activated my wing, I would’ve had my revenge.

No, if she joined my side, I would’ve won the war.

No, if she didn’t join the resistance, I would’ve taken them down easily and have my empire to myself.

No, if she did come into this world, there wouldn’t have been somepony to be my weakness.

No, if she was Empress Midnight in the first place, then there would’ve been no possible opposition. It’s all that one single Twilight’s fault for everything to fall. YES!

Midnight, now full of rage and nothing else left in her, stops sobbing, and announces a speech that she hoped that Twilight would hear, “Twilight Sparkle, I know that you are responsible for bringing me down to this lowest of state anypony can imagine. Allow me to impress upon you the severe mistake you have made. For years my conduct has been largely calm and orderly, and yet with the provocation of your meddling, you have severed my détente to any and all ponies and forced me to unleash upon you the vengeful flames of a thousand suns. You shall curse your mother for the day of your birth! So go now, GO, and begin your life of fear, knowing that when you least expect it, the looming sword of Damoclover will CRASH down upon you, cleaving you in twain, and as you gaze upon the smoking wreckage that was once your life, you will regret the day you crossed THE WRONG PONY! I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy me and my empire. And you will know I am the ultimate pony when I lay my vengeance upon you and your friends. I shall make sure that every one of your friends and loved experience the worst fates a pony can even imagine and that you shall watch each and every single one of them with as much exposure as possible. And only then, will I launch you into this void and leave you to be tortured for all of ETERNITY AND BEYOND! I am Empress Midnight, and I will escape this void, I will find you and EXACTLY you, and I will make the rest of your eternity worse than any version of Tartarus! I! AM! EMPRESS MIDNIGHT!!!”

“Sheesh…” A lone, male echo speaks after Midnight’s rant, “you sure are dedicated to this. I find it rather unhealthy. I was just reading a good book with my buddy and when we reached Chapter #38, there was this annoying shrill interrupted our reading time.”

“Who’s that?” Then, out of nowhere, a familiar draconequus pops up from behind Midnight and twirls her around to face him.

“It is I, Discord, you remember me right?”

“You’re the traitor that was with that centaur when I came back from exile.”

“Oh, no, you’re thinking of me.”

“What?” Suddenly, a part of the white void behind Discord opens like a door to reveal pitch black behind it. Another draconequus exits from the doorway and closes it behind him. In a flash of light, the second Discord teleports right next to his alternate version and introduces himself,

“I am the Discord of your world missy. It appears you have a hobby for putting spirits of chaos in the same Tartarus. But I thank you for that because I’ve recently been able to actually spend some time with somepony who is fun. I was able to relearn the concept of friendships because of your little hobby.”

“But how did you reach me?”

“Is she seriously questioning chaos?”

“I’m afraid so,” the first Discord sighs in playful shame, “there is no restriction that says you can restrict chaos.”

“And now with double the Discord…”

“The chaos has been doubled!” The two cheer in unison before the second Discord continues,

“Try to wrap your head around that.”

Midnight begins to become upset with the two’s antics and barks back, “that doesn’t answer my question.”

“It doesn’t have to,” the original Discord merrily replies, “like how you were able to deflect my magic. I have could just overcome the restriction, but I don’t have to, because it chaos.”

“That doesn’t make any sense though.”

“I know right! Isn’t it just wonderful?”

“Never mind, just get me out of here now!”

“Oh, I’m so terribly sorry Midnight, but the last flight to Ponyville has been fully booked. I wish I could help but… reasons.”

“HEY!” The two Discord then begin to shrink rapidly, saying one last thing to Midnight in unison,

“TTFN, Ta-Ta For Now!” In that moment, the Discords grew so small that Midnight could not see them anymore. The lone pony stared at where two disappeared for a good minute, trying to contemplate what just happened. She decides to ditch the thought and return to her meditation of revenge upon realizing that trying to make sense of two spirits of chaos was impossible.

“Sooner or later Twilight… Sooner or later…”

Helping the No-Ponies

Inside Fluttershy’s cottage, the Atlas from Midnight’s world and Rarity are patiently sitting on the couch in the living room, waiting for Fluttershy to come back after claiming she’d get some snacks. Minutes pass with no return of the yellow pony and an awkward tension builds in the quiet room. “So, a month after the battle of Empress Midnight, things have been slowly returning to normal,” Atlas proclaims to the white mare, “excluding the part of having almost two of everypony in the same place.”

“Yeah,” Rarity replies, “yet the repair crew said that it would be another month or two for my boutique to be restored.”

“I see.” The two then enter a moment of awkward silence, trying to think for something to talk about. “So, you’re a fashion designer?”

“Yeah, we’ve been through this three times. On that note however, have you seen my, well, not technically mine, but you get the idea… Have you seen my recent fashion lines? You’re from Canterlot if I remember right, so you must have seen a few heading for the balls at the castle.”

“Who’s your supplier for Canterlot?”

“Sapphire Shores.”

“Oh! Those simplistic and one-dimensional ones that came around a while ago after she announced a new distributor, yeah I’ve seen those.”

“Hey, they are not simplistic or one dimensional, they’re made to be slim and glittery.”

“Whatever makes you happy Rarity…”

“Oh please Mr. Goni, like you do any better being a critic.”

“You never even knew me.”

“Exactly,”

“Please, quit fighting,” Fluttershy gently interrupts, balancing plates of cholate cookies on her head and wings, “if you two are going to stick around at my house, you have to quit this fighting. The animals have been tenser ever since you two started to live here and argue.”

“We’re sorry,” Atlas groans, “some ponies have trouble with constructive critique.”

“Look who’s calling the kettle black.” Rarity snaps, turning her aggravated look towards Atlas’, beaming her inside anger towards him subconsciously.

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well if there are ‘some ponies that have trouble with constructive critique’, why don’t you live with the Atlas from this world?”

“In my world before Midnight attacked, I was having some financial trouble keeping up with the mortgage, so I pretty know that living with my other me would be a bad idea.”

“Aw, that’s sad, if only there was a world where you could better manage your finances.”

“Oh, hardy har har, if only there was a world where we can have a nice version of a specific pony.”

I swear, Fluttershy thinks to herself as she impatiently continued to hold the plates in balance, if Harry the Bear wasn’t hibernating, I would actually use him to scare these two in their place. She then speaks, trying to break the conflict once more, “Cookies, anypony?”

“-and that’s how I saved Hearth’s Warming with a lightning crossbow.”

“What?”

“What?”

“How did the conversation turn to you saving Hearth’s Warming with a lightning crossbow?”

Nut before her question could be answered, a female voice yells from outside, “Hey everybody!”

“Twilight, she’s back!” Quickly, the three ponies stampede out of the house with Fluttershy still carrying the cookies in tow. They see Twilight Sparkle, covered from the neck down in bandage wraps and metal devices, being levitated by Princess Celestia, all while being followed by the alternate versions of Boris, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike. “What’s going on?”

“Hey Fluttershy, hey Rarity, hey other guy, I wanted to tell you girls something that me, Celestia, and the others with us have decided to do.”

“I shall explain,” Celestia says, “Alternate Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Boris Sparkle, and Spike are volunteering to help the No-Ponies that were with you in finding others and help them join our community.”

“That’s wonderful,” Fluttershy replies, “but can we not have them move to my house, this place is already crowded enough, not that I’m complaining.”

“No, no, we are developing small villages around Equestria to give them shelter until we can repair damages still here and build more housing for them.”

“We have enjoyed our time in Ponyville,” Midnight’s Applejack adds, “but since having two of everypony nearby is goin’ to get real confusing, we decided to help others outside.”

“Can we have some of those cookies?” Lieutenant Pie quickly asks.

“Uh, sure,” Fluttershy replies, “they’re not going to be eaten here anytime soon.” The alternate Boris lifts the plates into the air off of Fluttershy and hold them over his head, out of Pinkie’s reach.

“Hey! I want a cookie!”

“We don’t want them to be gone within a minute,” the stallion jokingly replies, “and besides, maybe the No-Ponies have never had cookies, maybe not even a party.” The pink pony then gasps and grabs Boris by the chest and lifting him into the air.

“That’s terrible! No cookies? No parties? Hold those cookies, we’re off to end the War of No-Cookies-or-Parties!”

“Please put me down, I’m nearly a meter off of the ground…” Pinkie then drops the now frightened old stallion to the ground and redirects her attention towards Celestia as she finishes her declaration,

“Want to say any last goodbyes before leaving?”

“Sure,” Fluttershy replies before turning towards her alternate version and speaks, “take care of yourself and the other ponies out there.”

“I will.” The alternate exclaims.

“You too…” Rarity says towards her alternate version, trying to think of the right wording for her goodbye, “…other Rarity…”

“As for you…” Ex-Marshal Rarity responds, “…other-other Rarity…”

“Okay,” Celestia says, “this is your last stop, wait back at the train station for me to give further instructions.

“Okay.” The six alternate versions reply before walking off towards the train station.

“Hey Twilight,” Rarity asks, “any update on how much longer you’re going to be at the hospital for?”

Twilight answers, “About five to eight months. Maybe longer if those two whale biologists are still in charge of me…”

Didn’t Jack say he was a media critic? Atlas begins to think to himself, I knew something didn’t sound right when he said it at the hospital.

“Other pony, is something on your mind?”

“No, no, no, just thinking about cake, and bats, and cats…”

“Okay…”

Maybe it’s just part time or something…

“How are the two Discords doing?”

“Well,” Fluttershy mumbles, “they’ve been, preoccupied with each other to this day.” A large explosion is then heard from behind the cottage and deep within the woods, followed by a cheer and a male voice echoing,

“My, that was certainly impressive, but I bet I can make this ant create a bigger popcorn explosion than that feather you used!”

“Yet I have managed to keep the two from doing too much destruction.” Another explosion, much louder than before, is heard, causing the pegasus to wince in surprise. “Most of the time at least,”

“Well, it’s good catching up with you two.” Twilight cheerfully replies, “I’m going to check on Dash now, see if she found Borris yet.”

“Okay, take care.” With a flick of Celestia’s horn, the two princesses blink out of existence, leaving Rarity and the alternate Atlas to continue their bickering and Fluttershy to try and pry the two apart.

Later, outside a restaurant in Cloudsdale Center, Celestia and Twilight appear and begin to look around for Rainbow Dash.

“Any idea where she would be?” Twilight asks, only for Celestia to respond with a downhearted answer,

“Sorry, I’ve been a little busy… taking care of a few things.”

“Like what?”

“The usual, repairs, teaching myself and the other princesses, organizing what to do with the alternate ponies, psychological therapy, inflation, nothing new,”

“Wait, you’ve had-” But before Twilight could complete her question, a familiar pegasus’ voice calls out from inside the nearby restaurant,

“Hey Twilight!”

“Rainbow Dash?” The two alicorns enter the café, only to be mobbed by the patrons inside, all screaming,

“It’s Princess Celestia!”

“It’s Princess Twilight!”

“We love you!”

“I love you more!”

“Can I have your autograph?”

“Sign my sweater!”

“Sign my cutie mark!” The two ponies maneuver through the crowd and to the booth in the back corner of the main room. Celestia then seats Twilight at the booth and then turns to the fanatic mob to deal with them. Twilight, now relived from being held in a levitation spell, gives a sigh of relief and takes in her tight surroundings, only to see that she’s sitting across from a mare with cyan fur and a rainbow mane not looking at her.

“Rainbow Dash!” She squees, catching the mare’s attention and causing her to snap her gaze towards Twilight.

“Twilight, you got here fast, I thought that you were still in the bob right behind us.”

“Celestia’s taking care of it, and what do you mean by us?”

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t know. Well, guess who I found working at the Abnormal Weather Equestrians last week?” Twilight turns her gaze to the pony sitting next to Rainbow Dash that she did not notice due to the open menu obscuring her view. “Meet Borris from this world!” Slowly, the menu is placed down on the table, revealing a grey stallion with a black ruffled mane and deep blue eyes.

“Hi!”

“Greetings,” the uncannily familiar pony sputters, trying to sound proper, “it’s an hour for me to be in the presence of a princess.”

“You can cut the act Borris; I know you’re a gentlepony at heart.”

“You do? Oh yeah, the whole Empress Midnight thing, am I right?”

“Yeah, did you see Midnight?”

“Nope, apparently her forces never got to Cloudsdale, only to Ponyville with a few scouts searching the major cities.”

“Has Rainbow Dash told you about what happened in the other world? More specifically, has she talks about the other version of you.”

“Yeah, she did, especially the bit where I, ahem, died and did all those, specific actions. Not really all that prideful now after hearing that.”

“But remember all the good things I said about you,” Rainbow Dash replies, “you were the best pony out there despite all of your mistakes.”

“Really? The best?”

“Yeah,”

“Hey,” Twilight adds, “how have you two been getting along.”

“Well, we’re still getting to know each other, but we’ve become really good friends. Right 2R-Borris?”

“Yep,” the stallion promptly replies, letting out a small snicker following his answer. As the two pegasi begin to engage in playful banter, Twilight subconsciously tunes them out as she focuses on Borris’ appearance. She notices how clean and healthy the stallion’s skin and fur is, how it appears more saturated and alive the coat looks compared to the other’s burnt and weathered fur. She sees only two scars on Borris’ body instead of the fifteen or so she was used to looking at Midnight’s Borris. She then stares into the eye facing towards her line of sight, studying how much more cheery and hopeful it looks then what she previously saw.

“Uh Twilight?” In an instant, the alicorn snaps out of her stare and answers to Dash,

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay? You were spacing out, just glaring at Borris.”

“Sorry, it’s just… he’s so…”

“What?” The grey pony turns to Twilight and prepares for whatever insult might come from her mouth.

“He looks so, alive,”

Reasonably, the stallion gives off a questioned look before asking, “Alive? Is this because the last time you saw ‘me’, I was dead?”

“Not exactly, it’s just, you seem so much happier than what you were in Midnight’s world in the RAEM. Are you always this chipper?”

“Not entirely, actually, I was going through a bit of a depression stage. I guess it was the pressure of the job and not really having too many close friends to keep my mind off of it. Then Rainbow Dash came along, we met, got to know each other, and I guess I have this ‘chipper’ mood all of a sudden.”

“Well, it’s good to see you’re doing great and I hope the best for you and Dash.”

“Aye-aye your majesty, I shall obey your orders.” Borris then begins to perform an over-the-top army salute in his seat, causing the three ponies to break down in laughter.

”I-I never thought you’d be so silly…” Celestia then pokes her head into the booth at Twilight’s side and announces,

“Okay, I’ve managed to sort out the crowd. They should be calm for a while before another customer comes in and starts another riot.”

“Okay Celestia. I’m ready to go back to the hospital. Bye Rainbow Dash! Goodbye Major-I mean just-Borris.”

“Hope you get better soon.” The two pegasi cheer as Celestia picks up Twilight with her magic. The two princesses swiftly exit the restaurant and onto the open street. With a flick of the horn, Princess Celestia and Twilight disappear in a flash a light in the middle of the road, back to the hospital.

The End

Dear Princess Celestia,

As you know, over the course of the last couple of months, a lot has happened, both good and bad. And during those last months, my friends, my family, other ponies, and I have learned a lot and have grown better because of it. As I am currently still in the hospital recovering and you’re busy, I wanted to send you a letter like old times and tell you what I’ve learned.

I’ve learned that anything, even the seemingly most worthless things, can leave a huge impact upon a world, and that we should never let the daily trials and tribulations of our lives take over us as we stand with a blind eye to it. Seeing as how Midnight came to being after one restless night, I am more aware of myself than before, and promise to never let anything slip by me. And Raindrop, despite being a blind No-Pony without a cutie mark, was able to save us all and stop Midnight.

I’ve learned that, even in the worst of situations, there is always a chance of things turning out right. My Gruncle Borris, despite many failure, was finally able to rejoin our family. The alternate Borris, despite being under the influence of Midnight and recently being on bad terms with Dash, managed to break free from Midnight’s bonds, fix his relationship with Dash, and become a hero.

And finally, I, and many others, have learned that, despite whatever mistakes I may do, that my true friends will always be there to forgive me and guild me down the right path. The alternate Rarity has also learned this lesson as well after realizing that Midnight was causing her to go down the wrong path and almost caused the downfall of Equestria. Her friends knew that she made a mistake and forgave her, bringing them even closer. The Borris of Midnight’s world learned this also. He became a Mork and caused thousands of lives to be lost, yet with friends like Captain Dash and Rainbow, he was forgiven and even overcame the power of Midnight’s control to save us. My Gruncle Boris, despite creating the Alicorn Amulets and inadvertently created Empress Midnight, was forgiven by me and our family knowing that his intentions were good willed.

If only Empress Midnight believed as well, and not destroy herself, going deeper into villainy. Yet, I wonder, when I was nearly about to be sucked into the void with Midnight, I wonder of Midnight let me go, as if she realized what she was doing. Maybe there was some good still in her, I do not know. But if there was, I am grateful for her.

Other than that, I’ve been hearing a lot of gossip from the two Jacks, keeping me up to date on a lot of things going on during my stay.

Rainbow Dash, after reconnecting with Borris, has apparently joined in the Abnormal Weather Equestrians as a part-time volunteer. She has even learned the Flaming Rider from Borris during her time there, using the alternate Borris’ wing plates to help her.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle, after having their house rebuilt, have invited the alternate Sweetie Belle to help deliver dresses and clothing to her sister out helping the No-Ponies. Rarity has also rebooted her business and is back to making fancy dresses like before, but now having a small rivalry with Atlas’ heavy critique.

Applejack and her family have reunited and are back to working on the apple farm. Currently, they’re heavily producing pies on the side for the alternate Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith to take to their Applejack out feeding the No-Ponies. Actually, another thing that I would like to add regarding Applejack’s family. Apparently, while we were in Midnight’s world, Big Mac, Granny Smith, my parents, Jack’s sister, and a group of other ponies from our world banded together to form some type of guerilla-rescue team and released the mares in Midnight’s castle after we broke out.

Fluttershy has returned to her normal life tending to the animals. Although now that there are two Discords in our world, Flutter says that she’s keeping an eye on them and keeping them in place, though I have my doubts.

Pinkie Pie is currently half-way through writing her book about our battle against Midnight. I’m just a little concerned that she may stretch the truth at times and make it more “fun” or “action-packed” then it needs to be. But Jack claims he’s previewed a chapter or two with him in it and he says it’s great. (Then again, he is a little nepotistic at times and isn’t really the most trustworthy pony. But he’s the only one/two I see for days, so I have to take his word for it.)

As for Spike, (who is currently writing this), he is currently taking proper care of my castle and both our Owlowiscious and the one from Midnight’s world. Apparently one day, the second owl flew into the library while Spike was cleaning. The two are getting along greatly with one another and have even helped Spike get finished with the chores in double the time then from before.

My great uncle Borris has apparently united with all four of the Grump Brothers and started up a new research campaign in Manehattan. As long as it doesn’t lead to a superweapon that could create an inter-world dictator with one small mishap, I’m proud for them. He is currently with me and Spike as this letter is being written to you and is smiling as Spike is writing this statement.

From what I’ve heard, the two Lunas have helped many more ponies with nightmares and bizarre dreams than ever before. Your sister actually visited me one time a week ago and told me about what happened when she entered her alternate’s mind and fell asleep in it. She said, and I quote: “Never again, shalt I do it again.”

Also from what I’ve heard, Cadence and Shining Armour have been having… issues with their alternates. Apparently somepony mistook another as theirs and it created an entire dramatic episode throughout the Crystal Empire that lasted for several hours. Luckily, they managed to forgive each other, but are now more careful of who they are with.

If what I’ve heard is correct, is it true that you’ve been taking some days off of work with your alternate version taking your place with no pony noticing? It might just be a conspiracy that Jack found in some random magazine and took for truth, but I don’t blame you if you are. Some days off of work may help you connect more with the citizens and make some more personal friends.

And about Raindrop, I know it’s tough, but you will feel better. Everypony goes through heavy emotions at least once in their life. I should know, for I have seen Gruncle Boris, Borris, “General” Apple, myself, and many others, dealing with the loss of a loved one, either by death, betrayal, lying, to even the loss of one’s own innocence seeing how you can turn into a monster with the smallest of events. Raindrop was a great pony, maybe even the best, but you can’t cling to the past  and what could’ve happened. Instead, what would Raindrop want? She’d want you to live in the moment, aspire to the future, yet always keep her close to your heart, for a pony, any pony from any world, is never truly dead, the pony continues to live within the memories and actions other close to her perform. I wish you the best of luck and always keep her close in memory and action.

I hope to recover faster so I can see what beautiful changes have happened to Equestria instead of hearing about it through two doctors that I’m not entire sure are full-time doctors with proper licenses. But I won’t complain, for other ponies that have suffered through the war deserve the better doctors out there. Others and I have learned so much and have become better ponies, despite being in the worst of situations. Maybe when I’m better, I can use my magic to open portals to other worlds, to both learn from the better and guide the worse. Maybe I’ll even come across a yellow Twilight Sparkle, that would be so funny. But other than that, I am grateful for the life I have here and how every event, good and bad, has helped me to become the best I have, as should you and everypony else.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

“So Gruncle Borris, what do you think?”

“I think it’s lovely.”

“It’s amazing how much room this scroll had for such a letter.”

“Spike, can you please send this to our Princess Celestia.”

“I will, I will, sheesh, you accidently send two letters to an alternate version of the princess and suddenly you can’t be trusted.”

“Thank you Spike.”

“Hey Twilight,”

“Yeah Borris?”

“You know, now that I’ve seen how well you have matured over the last years, I think it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

“I never thought I would even contemplate doing this, but, since you know, might as well let you see her in person.”

“Who?”

“Your sister, Isabelle,”

“You mean it?!”

“Yeah, since we have two Discords, breaking that Chaos Ice to free her from her preservation should be a cake walk.”

“But what about her powers?”

“I think you, two spirits of chaos, and doubles of everypony can keep her powers in check. It’s just finding her that’ll be an issue. I still have the mind and memory-span of a sixty-year-old.”

“But we will find her right?”

“Sooner or later Twilight… Sooner or later…”

Prologue

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her alicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.

But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger alicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to Equestria: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.

However, when Nightmare Moon returned, a brave young student of the elder sister, Twilight Sparkle, aided with her friends, returned Nightmare Moon to the younger sister she once was. After since, Twilight Sparkle and her friends have gone on many adventures, from stopping and reforming the spirit of chaos, Discord, to stopping Queen Chrysalis and her Changeling army from taking over Equestria, to reviving the Crystal Empire and vanquishing King Sombra.

One day, Twilight Sparkle created a new form a magic, something that not even legendary wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded, could do. For that, the eldest sister dubbed her a princess and made into an alicorn. However, as the weeks and months passed on, the new princess felt as if her new position in power was meaningless. She slowly became resentful, but unlike the younger sister, Twilight had her friends to keep her happy. However, when the centaur Lord Tirek came into Equestria and began to steal everypony’s magic power, the princesses called upon Twilight’s help to hide their magic away. Tirek kidnaps her friends and lets her trade them for the alicorn magic. But, he unknowingly gave her the key to an untold magical power within the Elements’ origin: the Tree of Harmony. She unlocks this power and she and her friends gain the ultimate power of friendship to seal Tirek back into Tartarus.

After her latest battle against Tirek, Twilight became happy with her position, and to this day, nothing has happened to her and her friends…

However...

What if things down the line went a bit differently, what if a tiny change to their world occurred?  It may seem insignificant, but anything, even the seemingly most worthless things, can leave a huge impact upon a world…