The Catacombs of Zalgo

Chapter 22: Final Judgement

Part 1.

Every pony clinged to whatever sanity they had left, as they stood in defiance against a real god. The whole fate of Equestria, the world, and the universe rested on their shoulders. Not knowing how powerful Zalgo really was, the group was vigilant and could not afford to screw up. They were also watching out for the maw of depravity, as they do not know what would happen.

After a few silent moments of silence, Zalgo made the first move. The maw of depravity suddenly shot out a shadow ball like a cannon. The group watched as the shadow ball exploded at the center of the room. Dark clouds bursted out of the shadow ball, and almost instantly, stood six blob figures in the center. The ponies couldn’t make out what were hiding within the dark clouds, but they could feel bad vibes coming from the mysterious six figures. Once the clouds started to clear up, they noticed that the blob figures transformed themselves into six ponies. When the dark clouds fully disappeared, the group gasped in shock.

Appearing out of the black clouds were the darker versions of the main six. Each and every dark pony had black sclera eyes with red irises and pupils. They all looked like reanimated corpses, since they had rotten skin and deformed bones. The way they grinned struck terror into the living ponies. Especially the darker version of Fluttershy, as she displayed her sharp and bloody teeth. Her body was mostly coated in blood, while she shivered like a maniac.

“HEY FUCKERS!!” Dark Fluttershy yelled. “WHAT’CHA LOOKIN’ AT, HUH?! SINCE YOU ALL LOOKED AT ME THE WRONG WAY, I’MA GONNA FUCKING KILL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YA!!” Right after dark Fluttershy spoke and made a maniacal laugh; the dark version of Pinkie Pie covered her ears and shot a death stare at dark Fluttershy.

“Would you just SHUT UP?! My god, your laughter really pisses me off! I’ve should've known that having friends was THE WORST THING EVER!!” The way dark Pinkie Pie spoke sent spine-chilling vibes towards the real Pinkie. Right next to dark Pinkie was the dark version of Applejack. Her hat was stained with mud and blood, while she had a noose around her neck for a necklace.

“Ya know Pinkie,” The dark Applejack said while displaying her disturbing poker face. “Friendship ain’ that bad! I mean’ ya’ll can share dem feelings with each other! I once shared mah darkest secrets to them pony folks and look what I got from dem! Aren’t they nice?” The dark Applejack held the end of the rope towards the dark Pinkie. Applejack took a good look at the noose and realized that judging from what dark Applejack had said, she must of told so many harsh lies that she was hung for her wrongdoings.

Next to dark Applejack was the dark version of Rarity. She was sniffing at the ground, like a dog would do. She cringed and flinched with every whiff, while she wore an intestinal tube around her neck like a scarf.

“Organs… ORGANS… WHERE ARE THEY!?” Muttered the dark and greedy Rarity, while her voice was bordering towards the brink of insanity. “I shall have them all! I’ll never stop! I WON’T! *Happily gasps* I’ll even take the princess’s organs when she least expects it! I will have every ponies’ intestinal tube, esophagus, bladder, and oooh so many to choose from! After that, I’ll become the most beautiful creature in all of Equestria!” While dark Rarity sniffed around, the darker version of Rainbow Dash glared at the original ponies. Then she darted her eyes over to the real Dash with a smirk.

“You really should ditch those shitty friends of yours, Dash. They’re nothing more than a horrible weight and burden to you. They’re fucking pathetic and they are holding you back from achieving your dreams! The hell is wrong with you, huh?!” The way she spoke stung Dash’s dignity. She may not know what she acted like since Discord had transformed her, but taking a good look at her darker version made her angry. Not allowing this to slip by, Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof down in rage.

“My friends are everything to me! How dare you call them pathetic! I’m gonna kick you into next week if you keep talking about them like that!”

“Oh yeah? Then how come you aren’t in the Wonderbolts yet?” Dark Rainbow Dash replied, with a devious chuckle. While the two shared hostile glares at each other, Twilight decided to take a glance at her darker version. There, she noticed that her darker version looked very depressed. She just kept looking at the ground emotionlessly while black tears dripped out of her eyes. Twilight wondered why she was acting like that, but that wasn’t her biggest concern, since she was a spawn of Zalgo’s creations. After a brief display of the darker ponies, Zalgo chortled and proceeded with introductions.

“Marvelous aren’t they? These entities are the manifestations of sinful actions created by you ponies. Or to put it more simply, these reflect your darker selves. I’m sure you’re aware of Discord’s ability of reversing your natural behaviors. But really… his powers fail in comparison to mine. These show you your true selves, bound by my reality. Let us see who fares well.”

The corrupted main six stood ready for battle, as they had their eyesights on their counterparts. The original main six, Princess Celestia, and Aero also stood ready for battle. Looking at the odds, this could turn out to be an evenly matched conflict. Just before charging into battle, Celestia had some things to say to the group.

“Girls, I know that this might be the greatest challenge you will ever face in your lives. But do not give into fear; you all need to be strong for this one. I will keep Zalgo busy, while you six defeat your corrupted counterparts. You all got that?” Every pony but Aero nodded their heads. Rarity looked over to Jack’s lifeless body, before giving Aero a serious face.

“Aero darling, I... I know you want to help... but... but it’s just that... tha-” At that moment, Aero lifted his hoof.

“It’s alright, chapette. I understand the situation. I’m not really fit for combat to be honest. I will watch over Jack for you. But please... be careful, I say.” Aero replied. Rarity smiled and nodded back. Fluttershy turned her head around, gazing one last time at a friend she could not save. She closed her eyes and sighed mournfully.

Jack... I’m so sorry... but I will show you how much you’ve changed me. Fluttershy spoke in her consciousness. With the group ready for battle, they went into their fighting stances and prepared to charge at their enemies. Seeing as they were ready, Zalgo looked down at the corruptive ponies.

“Now… GO FORTH AND DESTROY THEM MY MINIONS! SHOW THEM THE TRUE EXTENT OF YOUR EXISTENCE!!” Zalgo commanded in a booming tone.

The corruptive ponies charged forth towards their counterparts, while the originals and Celestia charged into battle. When they all got close to one another, both Rainbow Dashes swooped up into the air and collided with one another. Then the rest of the ponies but Celestia clashed and started fighting their counterparts. Each pony assailants one another by punching, bucking, and kicking. Celestia charged towards Zalgo, as she conjured a beam from her horn and blasted a round towards Zalgo. Then, Zalgo deflected the beam with a dark force field and blasted a beam of his own from his eye towards Celestia. But Celestia deflected the beam with her own force field and fired another beam at Zalgo. This triggered a cycle between deflecting and firing beams at one another.

Each battle was fierce, as the pure faced off against the corruptive foes. Starting at the battle that took into the skies, both Rainbow Dashes flew across the room exchanging mighty blows. Each blow sent a semi-powerful shockwave that barely shook the whole room. As they twirled around one another across the whole room, Dash left a sparkly rainbow contrail while the darker Dash left a grayscale and shadowy contrail. Both raced against the wind as they climbed several yards and dove, streaking downward as fast as they could. While they dove, they kept delivering punches and kicks. Then, they both grabbed onto one another, attempting to pile-drive each other to the ground headfirst. While they were rotating at a ferocious speed, the two of them glared into each other’s eyes.

“You’re pretty good,” Remarked Dark Rainbow Dash, “But you cannot surpass my speed and agility while your pathetic friends are still supporting you. Forget those fucktards, you don’t need them. Get out of here and join the Wonderbolts while you still can!”

“I told you… NOT TO TALK ABOUT THEM LIKE THAT!!” Replied the enraged Rainbow Dash. Seconds before hitting the surface of the pillar, both of them let go of each other. Then their wings flew wide open and they pulled each other up to a sharp 90-degree angle. They wisped passed the counterpart battles that were commencing. Flying right through the battle of the two Pinkie Pies, the two rainbow assailants kept at it. The dark Pinkie Pie evaded the two incoming blue pegasi, making her shake her own hoof at the two of them.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going you dumbasses!” Dark Pinkie Pie yelled with fury, before setting her blazing eyes at her counterpart. Pinkie Pie caught a glimpse of her fury inside, and managed a weakly smile.

“Uuuh… hey! Why are we even fighting? I mean can we just be friends instead?” Pinkie said with a bit of fear in her tone. Hearing the word ‘friend’ triggered an enraged switch inside the dark Pinkie. She started off as a glare, and then gradually elevating seething rage that bloomed from her face.

“Friends…?” She uttered and spoke through grinded teeth. Almost instantly, her face shot a cold deathly glare while rage erupted from Dark Pinkie’s mouth, as she screamed in return.

“FRIENDS?! That word just BOILS ME! You have TOO MANY FRIENDS!! And for what?! Just to make them SMILE AND LAUGH?! BULLSHIT!! THAT’S NOT WHAT FRIENDSHIP IS ABOUT!! Someday, you will meet some pony who will not accept your standards! Mark my words you pink bitch, too many friends will give you more enemies! And don’t think laughter will make things disappear! You think that just laughing in front of spooky and scary monsters will make them go away?! Try laughing right in front of a ‘real’ predator, and that laughter will be replaced by the sound of your haggard screams for mercy! I bet staying on that dreadful farm would have been a better life for you! Not with those goddamn parties, songs, and friends of yours! Face it; you’re just an attention whore!” Stabbed by her corrupted words, Pinkie Pie lost her supporting grin with a gasp and an upwelling of tears. She turned away for a brief moment to attempt to regain her composure, but instead she glared back at her with eyes of fury.

“That’s not true! Making my friends smile gives me the strength to carry on with my life! I’m going to love and tolerate the living out of you!” Pinkie roared, and immediately charged towards her corrupted counterpart. Dark Pinkie displayed her enraged face, as she saw her pure counterpart charging at her filled with rage.

“Now let’s have a ‘real’ party! Shall we?!” Dark Pinkie growled darkly, before charging at her counterpart. Pinkie made the first move, as she attempted to punch her dark self. She thought that she could stand a chance against her dark counterpart, but it proved to be only an illusion. The dark Pinkie easily dodged Pinkie’s attack, and started to wail on Pinkie uncontrollably with flurry kicks and punches. Each delivered blow knocked the senses out of Pinkie. Blood splattered out of her mouth, while the wind was being knocked out of her. At this point, Pinkie felt defeat already, since she realized she was weak against her wrath.

While the two pink ponies fought, not far from where they were, the two Applejacks exchanged blows. Applejack ducked down to avoid dark Applejack’s cleave attack. Preparing to counterattack, Applejack swerved her body around, got on her frontal hooves, and launched a buck kick. But the dark Applejack swerved her body to the side, dodging the fatal blow. At that moment, dark Applejack spun a 360 angle, performing a spinning kick. As the kick managed to deliver a blow across Applejack’s face, her whole body twirled in midair, then landing on the ground with a loud thud. Applejack got back up to her hooves, wiping the trail of blood off of her lips.

“I must say,” Applejack spoke. “You have strong muscles there. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t the real me. You may sound just like me. You may look kind of like me. And you may act like me. But there is no way you are the real deal!” Convinced that the dark Applejack was just an abhorrent and a vulgar copycat, Applejack felt confident that she could defeat this loony copycat. However, the dark Applejack kept her usual and disturbing poker face, while grinning ever so slightly.

“Yer right! However, I’m more realistic than you think! The world we will soon be in will show yer true self! Bein’ honest with ponies can be boring sometimes! I mean we can liven up their lives by makin’ up stories and pranks! It’s like this world is becoming one big deceitful life! What’s the point of tellin’ truths when every pony around you usually deceives one another? You are living in a falsehood partner. You just can’t keep tellin’ truths all the time! And ya can’t believe yer friends and family either. Sooner or later, you’ll know when you have to make up a lie to escape a deadly situation! So far, the biggest lies I’ve encountered were my friends and family! Zalgo here exposes the truths of what they are, and that lies only make things truer! That’s what this rope around my neck means!”

The dark Applejack held the broken end of the noose. Knowing that this was just an obvious attempt to deceive Applejack, the cowpony didn’t buy it at all. She just simply shook her head slowly while she took pity on her darker half.

“Zalgo has brainwashed you well… you sad little victim. Blinded by false truths… how can you tell if you’re just lying to yourself? Just look at you… don’t you even consider yourself trustworthy?” Applejack stated.

“Well… I reckoned we got ourselves a nonbeliever!” The dark Applejack replied. “Don’t ya get it? I’m actually you! I don’t blame ya for not believing me, but you will know soon enough that I ain’t lying! ‘Trust’ me… hehe!” While the two Applejacks fought once more, Princess Celestia and Zalgo dueled each other by demonstrating their magical prowess. Beams of light and darkness flew from one place to another. Zalgo sent his infinite miniature tendrils to lash the princess. But they were also deflected by Celestia’s force field. Not only beams were being used against this duel, but also light and dark orbs were thrown at one another. Each energy orb exploded a devastating shock wave from every contact.

Celestia had never encountered such a powerful foe before, for she was forced to summon every single ounce of strength within her to repel his evil powers. Her eyes were glowing pure white, and her horn was on the brink of overcapacity. Wind gusted below her, while she kept her magical force field up. Each time Zalgo landed a hit, the force field recoiled by crackling sparks of electricity, and the ground Celestia was standing on made small fissures. It looked like an evenly matched between the goddess of harmony and the god of darkness. But in reality, Zalgo was just using small portion of his power to toy with her.

“Surely the goddess hasn’t reached her limit, and is not trying to entertain a real god like me.” Zalgo said, as he was being snide. “Your resistance is insignificant! Do you really believe your powers are equal to mine? Can you actually protect your loyal subjects from every threat that is laid down before you? You, your sister and your parents were fools to submerge your kind in a blinding state of harmony. YOU ALL DON’T KNOW WHAT REAL POWER IS!! FOR SOON, THIS MORTAL REALM WILL BE MINE!!”

“Strength is one thing Zalgo,” Celestia replied. “But character is another! I will defend this world with my life! I will destroy you, even if it means sacrificing myself!” At that moment, Zalgo deeply chuckles.

“Such a naïve concept! Do not harbor false hope. Only those who are bound by true strength are the ones that can rule everything! All creation will be devoured, for I’m the coming of the end! Submit to your fate and mourn the passing of all you have ever known and all that would have been!”

Suddenly, the sixth maw on the right of the fifth maw opened and managed to echo another word into every pony’s mind. Despair. Celestia knew that if the seventh maw were to open, then it would signal the end of the earth. Not abiding this certain fate, Celestia closed her eyes and decided to activate a certain forbidden spell.

It’s no use... I have to use this forbidden spell. Celestia spoke to herself in her consciousness. A spell that could transcend my limits tenfold, surpassing my own physical and mental limits, but at the cost of serving great damage to my body and shortening my lifespan. But with the strength of both of my parents combined, I think I might get some damage to him. However... if I were to stay in that form for too long... I might actually die. Celestia took a moment to view and evaluate her position. Her loyal subjects were fighting to the brink of death, while faced upon a shape-shifting god. Realizing her situation at hand, she closed her eyes for a second before opening them again.

If this is the only way for Earth’s survival, then I welcome death. Celestia spoke again in her consciousness. With her decision made up, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

“Luna… Twilight… and my trustworthy subjects… I’m sorry.” Celestia spoke quietly.

Now taking action, Celestia activated the forbidden spell, withdrew her inner strength, and empowered herself almost to maximum. Her magical barrier grew in size while her beams were much more powerful than ever. Her glowing pure white eyes grew to the size of hockey pucks and her mane glowed a brightening pink. Zalgo was surprised to see her full capacity in action, but he knew that such power was still not enough to go up against his own.

“If this is how you want to end your life, then so be it. But know this when you have perished… HELL BENDS TO MY WILL!!” Zalgo shouted with an uproar of terror. Meanwhile, Aero sat next to Jack while viewing the fight. He was astounded by the ponies’ determination and capacities. He would of never imagine a battle such as this in his lifetime. It almost made him tremble in fear, but it also filled him with amazement.

“My word… such a battle of huge proportions! I’ve never even seen such a brawl in all my life! You really did made them stronger, Jack.” Aero said, before looking at Jack’s corpse with a grin. “If only you could see this now. Oh you would be very proud of their success, I say. And-“ Aero continued, but was suddenly interrupted by a shout coming towards him.

“WAAAH! LOOK OUT, AERO!!” Screamed Fluttershy. Aero looked up, and was immediately greeted by Fluttershy falling down on top of him. As Fluttershy crash-landed on top of Aero’s body, his bone structures scattered all over the place. His skull tumbled across the battlefield, while he made painful grunts. Once he stopped rolling, Aero came to realization that his body had been demolished. Aero glared grumpily at his scattered boney parts.

“Oh bollocks…” He cussed to himself. Fluttershy pushed herself back up to her hooves slowly; while she looked down to see the damage. All but Aero’s rib cage was under her now. She gazed at Aero’s skull with an embarrassed grin.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Fluttershy apologized sincerely. Aero smiled at Fluttershy in return.

“Oh don’t mind me, chapette! I just … BEHIND YOU, I SAY!!” Aero called out. Fluttershy looked behind her, then she was greeted by Dark Fluttershy’s head-butt. Fluttershy took the hit, as she was knocked back a few feet away from Jack’s body. Yet she managed to land on her hooves, instead of tumbling on the ground. She then glared back at her adversary before her. The dark Fluttershy displayed her wicked grin while she kicked Aero’s rib cage to the side.

“Oops! Better be more careful where you land, dumbass!” She laughed.

“You leave him alone!” Fluttershy spoke with threat behind her tone.

“Or what? Use your petty kindness to tolerate me bitch? Haven’t you learned the last lesson of being cruel? Does it not have any value to you? The reason why you are weak is because you have no nerve of bring out the beast within you! Unlike me, you’re just a simple pushover that can’t even withstand a single malice, while I embrace this ideology and become much stronger than you can possibly imagine! Hehe, what a pitiful mistake you’ve become! But it’s not too late to change yourself! Forge your hatred and despise your sentiments! Only then, will you understand power!” Dark Fluttershy trialed her eyes over to Jack’s body that was lying next to her. She nudged Jack’s head with her hoof.

“And to think Jack was the one who gave you strength… how stupid.” Just then, the dark and demented Fluttershy kicked Jack’s rib cage extremely hard.. Fluttershy gasped in shock to see Jack’s body being harmed. Dark Fluttershy spotted her reaction, then adopted a sinister grin.

“Oh what’s the matter? You don’t like it when I hurt your friend?” She taunted with words, before kicking him again. This time, she applied much force into the kick, making his rib cage crack. Watching Jack being tormented like this, especially her dark side, struck her heart. However, she was not driven by anguish, but by anger. Already awoken with anger thanks to Zalgo, she growled at her dark counterpart.

“I’ve had it with you!!” She yelled with anger. Fluttershy charged at her dark counterpart, and dark Fluttershy did the same as well. But as much as Fluttershy wanted to land a blow, her dark counterpart didn’t gave her any chances. Dark Fluttershy mercilessly pulverized the living life out of Fluttershy by punching and kicking furiously. Not far away from the two, both Rarity and her counterpart waged battle on each other. The greedy and psycho Rarity barbarically swung her bloody hooves at Rarity, while desperate for blood and organs.

“MINE!! GIVE IT TO ME!!” Dark Rarity exclaimed. Rarity tried to use her magic to make a force field to protect her, but it proved to be useless since it was weak. All she could do was dodge her attacks and wait for the right moments to counterattack. But she didn’t manage to land a single blow on her dark counterpart ever since they begun. It was a battle for survival for Rarity. While she was on the defensive side, Rarity tried to understand why dark Rarity wanted gore instead of gems or dresses.

“You’re totally insane!” Rarity asked, while dodging her dark counterpart’s attacks. “Why do you want my blood and organs? Isn’t jewels or gemstones not worth anything to you?” After a few seconds, the dark Rarity stopped her pursuit and displayed her maniacal grin.

“Oh darling, don’t you get it?! Gems, jewels, diamonds, even dresses are very common! It’s true, they do show beautiful potential… but the exquisiteness of blood and organs are very unique and gorgeous! Zalgo showed me that they are worth more than any valuable treasure! Pinkamina Diana Pie was a genius when she discovered how to make cupcakes from living ponies! Oh how I delight the sight of red! How I orgasm to the sound of gore! And how I dreamt of swimming in a sea of blood and organs! Death is such a beautiful sight! I want to see it! I want to have it! AND I NEED IT NOW!!”

At that moment, the dark Rarity continued her pursuit. Rarity couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, since Zalgo had poisoned her mind with dark greed. Elsewhere, Twilight stood her ground as she faced off with her dark counterpart. But strangely, dark Twilight didn’t even move ever since they charged at each other and exchanged their first and only blow. She just kept looking at the ground miserably. Twilight couldn’t put her hoof on it, but something about her made Twilight felt eerie. Curious for answers, Twilight tried to get her attention by stomping her hoof on the ground.

“Hey! Aren’t you going to fight me?” She asked. At that moment, the dark Twilight started weeping quietly. Black tears dropped out of her eyes, while the droplets hit the floor. Twilight was surprised to see something unexpected happen. Even more, she knew that her opposite natural behavior was depression. Taking precautions, Twilight slowly walked her way towards the dark Twilight.

“H-Hey… are you al-“

“Why…?” The dark Twilight mumbled. Twilight paused, as soon as she heard her.

“Huh?”

“Why did it have to be this way…?” The dark Twilight lifted her head up and faced Twilight with black teary eyes.

“Why did I make friends? I’ve should've known friendship was a worthless sentiment from the very beginning.” Those words caught Twilight off guard for a moment.

“What the? What are you talking about? Friendship isn’t worthless. It’s-“

“DON’T YOU GET IT?!” Dark Twilight yelled in response. “I’m actually you from the future! We all are from the future! We’ve suffered from the hands of Zalgo! And we’ve been sent here to face our greatest downfalls once more! The horrible truths that corrupted our minds made us what we really are! You and our friends have sealed your own fates! The truth is, friendship destroyed this land and us! It was Princess Celestia and the Elements of Harmony’s fault! But most of all… it was your fault for letting friendship be apart of you! YOU SHOULDN’T HAD CAME TO PONYVILLE!!” Twilight’s mind boggled from the mystifying perspective of her dark counterpart’s story. And at the same time, she started to doubt her thoughts on friendship. She hung her head down, while looking broken.

“No… it can’t be true…” Twilight mumbled in defeat.

“It is true, me!” Dark Twilight continued. “All this time you thought friendship would guide your life to happiness! But now look where it lead you and our friends! A normal life with no friends would be preferable to the loneliness of sorrow and despair! True loneliness is the most painful form of suffering that there is in the world! The fear of losing the ones you love will lead to anger, which then anger will breed hatred, and then hatred will form suffering! And upon that suffering will drag you back to loneliness! Can’t you see? Zalgo brings utter pain and torment to those who have positive emotions! Zalgo is unstoppable! There is no way of destroying him, not even the powers of friendship would be able to beat him! You just set yourselves to an inevitable defeat! AND IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT!!”

Word by word, they began to sink inside Twilight’s head. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She was the one who had to find lessons about friendship… and it was all just for this. She quickly realized that rescuing Jack could have been the biggest mistake she could ever make. But as much as she wanted to refuse to believe a word her dark counterpart says, her thoughts already begun to tear her mind apart.

This feeling stung her heart cold, making her eyes upwelling with tears. The room tilted around Twilight, as she started to break down inside. She wished that she could of never drag her friends to certain doom. It almost made her feel like a bad pony. And it was all her fault. The unbearable weight of guilt made Twilight collapse to the ground, producing streams of tears. There, she wept quietly, while heavy tears dropped out of her eyes.

“Forgive me… oh forgive me, please! It’s… it’s not my fault… I’m… I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t know... that this would happen! I just don’t know what to do anymore! I didn’t want this to happen!” Twilight wept, as her voice began to break. The dark Twilight walked up to her, and gently stroke on Twilight’s mane. Twilight raised her head and gloomed at her dark counterpart. Both of them were now streaming tears.

“The only way to put an end to this madness… is to die. Let me put you out of your misery, so that we both can rest in peace.” The dark Twilight offered. Knowing that ending Twilight’s life would mean her dark counterpart would cease to exist. Twilight took a moment to view her surroundings. All she could see was her friends battling their future selves in an attempt to seek a pointless victory. From what the darker versions of themselves had gone through, it was clear that their place was already set, a time paradox that will never change. Seeing that there was no hope of defeating Zalgo, Twilight foolishly agreed. Twilight took one last moment to relook at her friends fighting against their counterparts; she hoped that they wouldn’t suffer the same fate the dark counterparts have.

Ready to accept her fate, Twilight kneeled down before her counterpart. The dark Twilight reared up, ready to mash Twilight’s head into the floor. Just before the countdown, Twilight’s memories flashed within her head. She was shown all the happy times she spent with her friends and family. Knowing she would no longer experience any more happy memories, Twilight allowed every single one pass through her head with no sentiment towards them. She closed her eyes, and allowed the remaining tears to come out of her eyes. She was now ready to accept her defeat. Then…

“TWILIGHT! GET UP!!” Celestia called out. At that sudden moment, Twilight shot her eyes wide open. Snapping out of her depression state, Twilight rose back from the ground, dodging dark Twilight’s finishing blow. Twilight looked over and spotted Celestia staring right at her with glowing white eyes.

“P-Princess…?” She mumbled.

“Twilight!” The princess called out in a desperate tone. “Do not listen to another word your dark counterpart says! Don’t give up your life because things are grim and hopeless! If you act now, we all can defeat the darkness and make a brighter future! We all are not meant to have this fate! Remember what you just learned! Friendship is worth fighting for, even if it means die protecting! REMEMBER THAT!!” Her words suddenly struck Twilight immensely. She remembered saying that to her friends, especially at Fluttershy. The other ponies stopped what they were doing and they darted their eyes over at the empowered Celestia. Princess Celestia knew she had to be quick to get back to fighting Zalgo. With careful words, she attempted to motivate her loyal subjects the best she could.

“Friendship is not worthless! It is a blessing! It’s what gives us the strength to get through harsh times! Never give up, fight for what really matters! Fate entrusted you six with the elements of harmony for a reason, don’t let it go to waste! If you all don’t like the hoof fate’s dealt you…then fight for a better one! Don’t let the importance of friendship die in vain! Fight for the ones you love! Fight for Equestria! Fight for the world! AND FIGHT FOR YOURSELVES!!” Celestia’s words drove helplessly into her royal subjects’ heads. Every pony immediately felt the sudden urge to stand up and fight for what they were meant to protect. They knew right there that this was all just a flawed attempt to poison their minds, making them feel weak and defenseless. Feeling motivated to turn things around, every pony faced against their dark counterparts, and went from defense to offense. Twilight wiped her tears away, along with her guilt, and glared at her opponent.

“I’m sorry that this happened to you. But that doesn’t mean I have to just give up on myself. I will make a better future for the both of us. And I will not have you stand in my way!” Twilight growled. Dark Twilight slowly backed up while she was adopting fear.

“B-But… what if you fail?! What if you turn just like me?! Don’t you even care abou-“

“I know that…” Twilight interrupted. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll let that fate take the better of me! I’m forging my own future, NOT YOU!!” At that moment, Twilight conjured up a beam from her horn and blasted dark Twilight. The blast plowed dark Twilight away in just one second flat. Twilight realized right there that this new strength came from her determination of fighting back. Embracing this new strength, Twilight charged right after her counterpart. Thanks to Celestia’s motivation, the real battle was just beginning.