The Fall of Armonia

The world was dying, and it was all her fault.

She couldn't see everything from up there, but she could see enough through the early dawn haze. Cotton candy clouds. Floating rubble. Inverted mountains. Twisted trees. Checkerboard earth. On and on the pandemonium spread, a cancer festering upon the skin of Equestria. Her Equestria. Her birthright. Her-

No. Focus. Priorities.

Far above the defaced ground, a cloaked figure shook her head and redoubled her pace. Though her batlike wings were wide and strong, she flew carefully, for one does not idly glide into a gigantic enchanted cyclone ward. Fully two miles high, and several hundred meters thick, the unnatural maelstrom filled the sky ahead. Even at this distance, its howling winds were fierce enough to throw the hardiest of pegasi into a nosedive.

Luckily, she was no pegasus.

A horn plated in dark steel emerged beneath the alicorn's hood, its tip glowing red. With a fraction of her energy, the alicorn held her precious cargo, shielding it from the storm's fury. With a substantially larger fraction, she extended her magic, touched the wind, and made it her own.

The gigantic cyclone ward stalled. A hole opened on its surface, just wide enough for the alicorn and her cargo to enter.

Once she did, the storm's howl faded to a dull thrum on the edge of hearing. A steady drizzle soaked the alicorn's cowl, and pattered off the objects she'd brought, their craggy forms hidden by red telekinetic auras. After counting them carefully, the alicorn set her sights on what she'd flown all this way for.

First, the Heartstone.

An ivory sphere, big as an adult earth pony, hovered directly in the storm's eye. Some feet below floated a circular flying island, near one hundred meters across.

The alicorn landed with a grimace. The stone underfoot was checker patterned. The grass that poked through curled into spirals. And the Heartstone was split by a crack that gushed black ooze. The vile substance pooled beneath its fount, divided into six creeks, and drifted off its island to taint the lake, and the land, below.

The alicorn paced closer. A stench combining the worst parts of brimstone, sour milk, and burnt rutabaga sauce assaulted her nostrils. Ignoring said stench courtesy of more evoked wind, the alicorn briskly placed her cargo at equidistant points around the island, then faced the Heartstone.

Once, it had shone with the glory of a newborn star. Now it was dull, wan, and broken. Broken because of her recklessness. A pang of guilt gnawed at the alicorn's gut. She crushed it, gathered crimson magic to her horn and glanced at the lands beyond the Heartstone's island.

Then, Equinox Greens.

Once, they'd been hectares of lush forests, bold peaks, teeming jungles, and fertile fields; perhaps a bit much for your regular earth pony, pegasus or unicorn, but a veritable paradise for an adventurous young alicorn. Now, they were grotesquely defiled because of her weakness. Because of her stupidity.

Because of him.

A pang of pain ripped through the alicorn's chest. She shuddered, resisted the urge to touch the scars. Pain kindled anger. Her horn burned. She aimed at the Heartstone, and imagined it was his hideous goat face.

Then, everything!

Letting loose a furious bellow, the alicorn engulfed her target in lightning. Scarlet forks sizzled over fractured crystals, forcing them together. The flow of ooze became a trickle. Cracks mended. The Heartstone flickered to life.

It's working-

The Heartstone vibrated angrily. Its flickers vanished. Ooze flowed faster. Crystal pieces separated as if they were matching magnetic poles repulsing each other apart. An earsplitting wave of magical feedback hit the alicorn head on, and pushed her away.

No! I won't give up!

She pushed harder, and drew additional magic from the things she'd brought. Too little, too late. Fresh feedback screeched from the Heartstone, dispersed the alicorn's lightning, and blew her off her feet.

She lay tangled in her rain-sodden cloak. Beneath it the alicorn had worn armor, but upon absorbing the Heartstone's blast, her dark steel had melted into vapor. As had her strength. When the alicorn rose, her body trembled. When she spoke, her voice was a pained rasp.

"Why can't I fix it?" She hurled a second thunderbolt. No effect. She might as well have hurled a sand grain.

"Why?!" The alicorn charged at the Heartstone directly. Soon as she got within two feet of it, feedback spat, and the alicorn collapsed as if struck. Spent, her magic depleted, she crawled her knees, and stared at the Heartstone's noxious pool.

"Why...?"

Her reflection was answer enough. Storm-winds tugged off the alicorn's cloak, unveiling a body better left veiled.

Russet fur over bony skin. Five claw-shaped scars, right the heart was. Damaged wings, barely capable of flight. A dirty, unkempt black mane. Grey eyes, sunken in exhaustion. And the main attraction: a cracked horn, severed halfway along its length.

The awful sight hypnotized the alicorn, brought bile to her throat. She'd seen it once before, in a hospital window, on the morning after-

"Don't make me do this!"

After...

"Hahahaha!"

She tore herself away from the reflection. She tried to forget that monster's horrible cackling, that horrible night, the horrible things she'd done, and that had been done to her in turn.

She tried to forget, but she couldn't. Not then. Not now.

Not ever.

"Princess Celestia," she whimpered. "Princess Luna...I can’t do this."

So instead, the weak, pathetic, useless cripple did what she did best. She gave up. Her broken horn fizzled out. Her ragged wings hung limp. Her legs bent. She sobbed.

And then her shadow opened its mouth and spoke.

"You have to," it said.

Other ponies might have been surprised by this development. They might have asked questions. Or screamed. Or ran. Or something. The alicorn wouldn't know. She wasn't like other ponies. She was stronger. Cripple or no, she had to be.

"I have to."

Her shadow's mouth moved in time with hers, but when she stopped talking, it didn't.

"You have to make them afraid."

Her shadow's voice was soft, reasonable, and absolutely certain. The alicorn nodded, her confidence returning. Power returned in its wake. From out of the surrounding mist, dark tendrils oozed along the ground, and touched their summoner's hooves.

"You have to take their terror..."

The alicorn shuddered, not in terror, but in bliss.

She looked down at the ebony stems that kissed her feet. They pulsed tenderly, sending rosy energy singing through her body. Warmth filled her, strengthened her anew. The alicorn's pathetic tears evaporated, her pathetic doubts evaporated as well, and she smiled. As did her shadow.

"...take their phobomancy..."

Phobomancy. Yes. Her new magic. Her special magic. She hadn't had it before. That was why she'd lost. That was why the world was dying. That was why the disgusting snake still laughed in his stone prison. He thought he'd won. Well, he wouldn't win. She wouldn't let him.

She was, after all, a princess.

"...pour it into your crown..."

Yes! She whirled on her reflection. No sickness this time. How could there be? She was beautiful now. Her phobomancy had seen to that.

A glossy umber mane, styled in artful tussles. Obsidian steel covered bony, scarred skin. Membranous dragon wings - most assuredly capable of flight - encased her shriveled feathery ones. The old main attraction: a long curved horn, hard as adamant, sharp as a spearhead, black as midnight.

And the new main attraction?

A circlet of pure diamond, its six spokes studded by a ruby, emerald, orange amethyst, pink opal, blue sapphire, and purple quartz.

The Crown of Harmony, and its six Elements. My birthright.

"...and with it, save Equestria!"

My destiny.

"I have to!" cried the true princess of Equestria as she became one with her shadow, and hurled forth a blinding bolt of crimson lightning. For a split second, its heat evaporated the surrounding fog, revealing the sources of the tendrils which fed their mistress.

Ponies. Over a dozen of them. All stone. All screaming.

Then the split second passed, the princess' lightning struck the Heartstone, and the world went blood red.