Twilily Saga: Endless Time, Or Forever End.

by Lighttone GryphonStar

Rating: mature
Tags: Mystery, Sex, King Sombra, Tragedy, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Anthro, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Nightmare Moon
Length: 88922

How much can time be changed? And will the change be better or worst?

Starlight Glimmer goes back in time to change things for what she assumes will be a better world. But Twilight follows her and gets lost in the Altered Future. There Twilight encounters a world in Eternal Night and Darkness. Her friends have now lived totally different lives, some are allies still, while others are now the enemy. Can she reunite her friends or are they eternally damned?

This My Universe (Darklightverse) reaction to the Time altering that happen in the Season 5 Finale. So this can affect all my stories within Darklightverse. But you don't have to read them because I will go into any need info as we go through this.

This is the start of the Twilily Saga.

Proofread by Hail King Sombra

Extra Tags Include: Flash Sentry, Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot, Lightning Dust, Gilda, Queen Chrysalis, Discord, Terik, Trixie, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer.

Published 2015-12-04 16:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-11-18 06:32:39 UTC

Prologue: Stop Her! (Revised)

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. A lavender alicorn mare with a navy blue mane, a purple skirt, and light blue shirt was walking beside a short, purple and green dragon.

The alicorn Twilight was walking back to the castle after a good day of work, pondering something.

“What are you thinking about Twilight,” said the dragon, Spike, as he walked beside her.

“I'm wondering why I saw Starlight there,” said Twilight as they kept walking. “I mean she looked like she was wanting something.”

“Are you sure you saw her? I didn’t see her anywhere.”

“That's because you were too busy staring at the picture of Rarity I had up with the others.”

“I know. Isn't she simply divine?”

“Wow, that sounds like something Rarity would say about an outfit.”

“Well I’m trying to change up my vocabulary, hopefully, I can impress h-- ,” Spike replied as he tripped over a rock.

Twilight stopped, then looked slightly annoyed, with her hand covering her face. Twilight’s wondering about Starlight switched to why Spike was still trying to get Rarity’s heart. ‘I have told him plenty of times’ she thought. ‘that things would not end well in a relationship between a pony and dragon. ‘But he will never listen, and it isn’t like Rarity does not know what he up to every time. Oh well… wait a minute,’ Twilight stopped her pondering in her tracks ’I never thought to ask for Rarity’s thought on the matter. Hmmm.’

“Oh Spike, I need you to go tell Rarity that I need to talk to her at the Castle,” said Twilight as she turned only to notice that Spike had immediately gone running down to the Carousel Boutique. Twilight just kept walking home. It seemed she had totally forgotten about seeing Starlight Glimmer.

******

Twilight got to the Castle Of Friendship, only to notice the door was wide open. “Hmm, that’s strange. Mental note, fire the new guard. He has been leaving the door open too much,” said Twilight to herself as she walked in. “I mean how hard is it to close the door?” Twilight continued to talk to herself as she walked. “Maybe I can get somepony to replace him?” Suddenly she thought of a perfect replacement. “Maybe I could replace him with, Flash Sentry?” She started to blush on the idea of having Flash be her guard or even her personal guard.

Twilight walked into the map room. “Wow, this Flash must be pretty fine to get a blush out of you, Twilight Sparkle,” said an unknown mare as she sat with her legs on the table.

Twilight’s blush look turned straight to anger upon seeing a pink unicorn with a purple mane, wearing a purple jacket and black shirt and pants - Starlight Glimmer - who was sitting so smug in Fluttershy’s chair. “Starlight. So I did see you. What do you want?” asked Twilight.

“What do I want? To change history, to make things better,” said Starlight, as she got on top of the map while holding a piece of parchment.

“Better? How could you make things better? Equestria is at peace and everypony is happy, and besides, how can you change history? It's not like you can go into the past,” said Twilight with the confidence of knowing there was no spell that could do that.

“Oh really?” said Starlight as she opened the parchment, revealing what lay inside.

“Oh no! Starswirl's Spell,” said Twilight as she slapped herself for forgetting that spell. “I have to stop her!” She charged forward, but it was too late. Starlight activated the spell and using the magic of the map, opened a doorway in time.

Starlight entered the doorway and Twilight followed after her. They flew through the pathway that looked like a vortex with several openings. As they flew through the vortex, Twilight tried to grab Starlight, but Starlight kicked with great force and Twilight was sent her flying back towards the entrance. While Starlight was heading for the past, Twilight was now heading for what she assumed was still present.

However as Twilight landed on the table, she was knocked unconscious. She did not know what she would find upon awaking, or that this world was no longer the same world had she left.

******

Chapter 1: City Of Dead Star (Revised)

Twilight awoke. “Oh, what happen? Wait, where Starlight?” said Twilight, as she spun around, only for her face to widen in shock. “Wait where is the Castle Of Friendship? Where is anything?” She jumped off the map and started to walk.

Decaying trees were everywhere, the Everfree forest was way beyond its boundaries, and plunder vines covered every single tree. There was a distinct smell of ash, death in the air. It stank of it.

Twilight walked through the forest while trying to figure out what happened. ‘Everything looks so different. There are plunder vines everywhere, and the smell...ew! It’s nearly unbearable,’ she thought as her eyes started to tear. It was like there were onions everywhere. She kept walking, hoping that she would find some sign of what had happened, but as she kept walking it seemed to get her nowhere. It just seemed to go on forever, and looking up to the sky gave no help since the top of the trees were too thick to look through. This made it hard to tell what time it was, or even if it was day or night.

The alicorn just kept walking, hoping she would find something, anything. It eventually got to the point where she lost track of the path that led back to the map. She began to panic as she began to change from walking to jogging to full running in panic, trying to find her way out of the forest. But it just kept getting thicker as she ran. She just closed her eyes and kept running as fast as she could, her hope slowly fading away till...CRASH!

Twilight had crashed head-first into a signpost. She fell for a moment, before finally opening her eyes. “Ouch, my head,” she moaned as she got up and looked at the sign. Her hope was instantly restored upon reading that it was the signpost for Ponyville. Then things appeared to be getting better as Twilight found herself outside the Everfree Forest. “Oh good, I am glad that's over with now I just need to find some help, and I guess since I was in there at least a few hours, I need to fig-- ” said Twilight as she looked up at the sky. Her hope instantly turned to horror upon seeing it.

The Sun was in an eclipse with the Moon. The sky was no longer it's beautiful blue self. Instead, it was more of a burnt brown, with completely random hues of crimson red that striped across the sky like bands of tape.

Then Twilight looked past the signpost to see Ponyville. The place was in ruins and looked like it was abandoned long ago. “What happen here? Where is everypony?” said Twilight, “I need to find somepony, but there no sign of anypony even been here for at least years, but how can that be?”

The first place in town she came to was Fluttershy’s Cottage. “Ah, Fluttershy should know what is going on here,” said Twilight as she approached it. But there was nopony inside, not even animals. The place was covered in cobwebs and look like it had been abandoned as well. Twilight left the old cottage, confused, and went into town. “Maybe there somepony in town that can help me figure out what is going on.”

Twilight kept walking through town. “Maybe Spike can fill me in. He is probably still at Rarity’s.” She turned to the path the led to The Carousel Boutique, but when Twilight got to where the Carousel Boutique was, she felt even more confused. There was no sign of the Boutique anywhere. “That’s strange. It should be right here, but there's just an empty lot here. This is really confusing. Did everypony just leave, and speaking of it, I haven’t seen Rainbow Dash’s cloud home anywhere either. Maybe I can find more if I head more in town,” she said, hoping to find something to explain what was going on.

However, things got worse as Twilight came upon Sugar Cube Corner. “Oh no, Pinkie Pie? Mr. and Miss Cake,” she called as she ran in after seeing the place in shambles. Twilight was really worried for her friends now, but as she looked, she couldn’t see any sign of Pinkie Pie or even signs that Pinkie Pie even lived there. All signs of her from pictures to even the secret basement that Pinkie Pie had installed. Every sign Pinkie Pie ever lived there was gone.

Twilight began to think there was nopony left. “First Fluttershy is gone, then Rarity and Rainbow Dash, and now Pinkie Pie. I’ve got to find somepony. Where are all my friends?” She tried to think of at least where they would be. “That's it. Sweet Apple Acres. They could be there!”

******

Twilight ran as fast as she could, not looking to what else was different. She passed by it without even noticing, for if she had noticed that the Tree House Library was back, she would at least got some of her answers. Twilight kept running, also not noticing the pair of scaly green eyes watching through the window of the Library as she passed by.

Inside the Library were three little fillies, a yellow earth pony with a red mane, an orange pegasus with a purple mane and a white unicorn with a mixed purple and light purple mane. They were all wearing simple clothes. Beside them was a strange looking, scaly creature. “Who do you think it is?” Asked the yellow earth pony filly.

“Do think it is her?” said the orange pegasus filly.

“I don’t know. It could be her?” said the scaly creature.

“But how is she even here after what happen?” said the earth pony filly.

“Yeah, we all thought she was gone.” said the orange pegasus filly.

“I don’t know? I mean, I was there when it happened. She shouldn’t be here at all,” said the scaly creature.

“Maybe, it is one of those miracles you told us about?” said the white unicorn filly.

“You mean Magic? No, that's not possible. Magic is powerful, yes, but nopony can be able to use that much magic outside the empire,” said the scaly creature.

“But you can use magic,” said the orange pegasus filly.

“Yeah I can, but my kind of magic is not strong enough to do that. I don’t know if any spell is strong enough to bring somepony or anypony back from the dead,” said the scaly creature.

“What are we going to do?” said the yellow earth pony filly.

“We need to go tell the rebel forces,” said the scaly creature, then he pointed to the orange pegasus filly, “Scootaloo go tell the Cloud Rebels what we just saw. They have a standing alliance with the Dark Rebels. The Dark Rebel’s Leader will want to know about any info that pertains to her possibly being back.” He pointed to the yellow earth pony filly, “Applebloom go tell the Forest Rebels about we just saw, and maybe if you can get in contact with your brother, tell him too, being that he is part of the Dark Rebels as well.”

“And what about us, big brother? What are you and I going to do?” said the white unicorn filly.

“Sweetie Belle go tell your sister and the Cave Rebels what is going on, and I will keep my eyes out to make sure nopony spots you three leaving,” said the scaly creature.

******

Two hours passed before she saw any sign of the farm, then Twilight arrived at what appeared to be Sweet Apple Acres, hoping to find help. Instead, she found more ruins. Twilight was beginning to think that there was no hope at all. All her friends were gone, and all of Ponyville was in ruins.

But things were about to get worse as out of the sky they appeared. Five pegasi descended from the sky, landed and surrounded Twilight. At first, she thought they were Wonderbolts. But their uniforms had a different pattern on them. Instead of the sky blue, with a yellow lightning bolt, these uniforms that these five pegasi were wearing was more of a black and purple pattern on them.

“There is nowhere to run. You are surrounded,” one of the pegasi spouted. “Yeah give up,” said another. “There is no way you can fight us all by yourself,” another said.

“What do you mean? I'm not here to fight, I'm just looking for help, please just let me go I have to find my friends,” said Twilight.

Then one of the pegasi stepped forward, this one had a distinct orange and yellow mane. The pegasus mare stepped closer and took her hood off, “Please, Twilight don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Twilight’s eyes widen as she realized who was right in front of her. “Spitfire?”

There she was surrounded by pegasi. She had no idea how to get out of this. Things had just gotten more confusing with the revealing of Spitfire being their leader. What was Twilight going to do? Well...fight.

Twilight tried to channel some magic to blast the pegasi away, but there was a problem, as she could not summon any magic. “What's going on here? Why is my magic not working?” said Twilight.

“Ha, ha, Twilight Sparkle,” said another pegasus as it stepped forward, this one light blue with a blonde mane. She took her hood off, and revealing herself to be Lightning Dust, “Did you forget that you can’t use any kind of magic including flying, without these,” said Lightning Dust as she revealed what looked like a dark amulet on her neck.

“Why are you wearing a dark amulet?” said Twilight in slight terror.

“Because all magic outside the Empire is nonexistent,” said Spitfire as she put chains on Twilight, “We even have to use these amulets to fly.”

“Wait, where are you taking me?” said Twilight as she was taken up to the sky. From above she could see that all of Ponyville was in ruins. All her friends and everypony she knew was gone. Tears fell from her eyes upon seeing so much destruction. Twilight then looked forward and in the distance, she saw that all of Equestria was in ruins.

The pegasi took her away. Meanwhile, Spitfire stayed behind for a moment and waited for them to be out of sight. Once everypony was out of sight, Spitfire grabbed out a piece of parchment and a quill and wrote a message. Then she left the parchment under a rock that had the symbol of the Wonderbolts. Afterward she left to join the others.

Later a light sky blue pegasus with a blue mane rolled over in a wheelchair, grabbed the parchment and read it.

“Contact ‘F’, tell him we found Twilight, alive.”

“SF,”

******

Meanwhile back in the Sky, Twilight was being taken up several mountains. She knew from the direction they were going, they were heading to Canterlot. Twilight was losing more hope with each town she saw in ruins. Things were about to get worse. She knew there was one more mountain before reaching the mountain that Canterlot hung from. As soon as they got to where she thought that mountain was, there was no mountain and instead there was a massive crater.

The crater was several miles in diameter, in fact, it was so massive there weren’t even other mountains around, just rubble. Twilight looked in horror of the crater, when Lightning Dust asked one the pegasi, “What is she doing?”

“She’s looking at her grave marker,” said one of the pegasi.

“Ha, ha, what are you remembering? Your big spectacular death in the third Dark War?” asked Lightning Dust.

“What are you talking about?” said Twilight upon hearing what they were saying about her being dead.

“You will find out soon enough, Twilight,” said Spitfire, as she finally rejoined the group. They continued their flight to Canterlot. At the far end of the crater, Twilight looked, hoping to see Canterlot, but instead there was a giant tower surrounded by more ruins.

“Oh finally, I was wondering if you had been captured by some rebels,” said Lightning Dust, “I mean, I've got no problem becoming the new leader of the Shadowbolts, but in order to do that I would to bring back proof that you died.”

“Well, I am not dead yet, and I am the only one who leads the Shadowbolts,” said Spitfire.

“Yeah, since Rainbow left, after she crippled her coltfriend, Soarin,” said Lightning Dust.

“You know that's not what happen,” said Spitfire in anger.

“She still left,” said Lightning Dust.

******

They finally arrived in Canterlot, or what was left of it. Empty buildings were everywhere - some even collapsed. On the signpost for Canterlot, there was writing carved into it. It read ‘Fallen Canterlot, the City of Dead Star’.

They got to the Tower and entered. Twilight was getting more worried with each second as she was pulled through the Tower’s front entrance, through to the top of the tower. At the top room, stood a glorious throne, covered in sapphires and rubies. Twilight was brought in and thrown in front the one sitting in the throne. “Princess Dead Star, we bring you a gift,” said Lightning Dust.

Twilight looked up in horror to see who was on the throne. The Princess was a light blue unicorn with an even lighter blue mane. It took Twilight an instant to realize it, but in front of her, was Trixie Lulamoon.

“Ah Twilight Sparkle, as you can see it is I, the Great and Powerful Trixie who rules this tower at the front post of the Empire,” Trixie bragged. “It has been a long time since we’ve seen each other,” she said. “Father will be most happy to see you alive,” she stepped off her throne. “While Mother, well you know how nightmarish she can be,” Trixie walked over to Twilight, lifting up her face with her magic and looked directly at her.

Trixie wore a black, skin tight suit and luxurious fluffy dark purple cape and hat. The star design was no longer of white stars, but of black, or dead stars, which seem to reference her new name being Princess Dead Star. And although she was called a princess, she was clearly no alicorn.

“Lightning Dust, contact General Dark Armor. Tell him that his sister has been found alive, meanwhile,” Trixie turned toward one of her guards that she had stationed with her, “Dark Sentry, take my ‘sister’ to a holding cell.”

‘What?’ Twilight thought. ‘Why is she calling me her sister? And who are this Father and Mother she was talking about?’ But before Twilight could figure out anymore, she was taken away by the pegasus guard.

The pegasus guard was called Dark Sentry, yet for some reason, she felt she knew this guard from somewhere, but she could not figure out who he was or where she had seen him before. As far as she could tell he had a blue mane, and that was it. The rest of his body was covered in black armor. She couldn't even see what color his coat was.

Dark Sentry took her down a few hallways and then to a cell and placed her in. Then the strangest thing is what he said. “Dark shines into the eternal night, but light shines into the eternal day,” then he walked off.

“Wait, what?” Twilight said as she was confused by the phrase. It was a phrase that made no sense. But that did not matter, for she had to figure out what was going on. Twilight began to ponder.

It only took a moment to figure out that Starlight’s attempt to go back in time and Twilight’s attempt to follow her, caused Twilight to fall in an alternate timeline that had been altered possibly by something Starlight did when she went through time.

And that in this alternate timeline, Twilight was now dead and Equestria was in ruins. But what alteration in the original timeline did Starlight make? Twilight had to figure it out, but there was just some info that she was missing, like why Trixie was calling Twilight her sister and who were these characters that Trixie was talking about - this Father and Mother? Plus, if Twilight was supposed to be dead, then how was she alive?

'Trixie said nightmarish, maybe this mother is Nightmare Moon. That would explain why the Sun is eclipsed, but who is this father?' Pondered Twilight as she sat in her cell.

Suddenly, there was a noise from down the hallway. Twilight looked outside her cell and saw a brown unicorn in a cloak, with a black and white mane and a beard, was walking over to her cell. She sat back down hoping the noise was over with. But then the unicorn walked over and said, “Dark shines in the eternal night.”

“What?” she said back. Then he walked away. Twilight was confused until she remembered the phrase. She looked to see if he was still there, and he was. “But light shines in the eternal day,” she said back to him.

At that moment the unicorn turned and gave the biggest grin, it almost seemed unnatural, which was not as surprising as the next part as he dropped a smoke pellet, causing smoke to fill the hallway. The cell’s door was knocked down and the unicorn stepped forward, removing his cloak and began to change shape. “It has been near a year since we last saw each other,” he said as he stepped in.

Twilight looked and although he looked slightly different with his now longer beard, Twilight knew that serpent shape, “Discord!!” said Twilight.

“Hello Twilight, I’m here to rescue you,” he said.

******

Author's Note

So like it has a different look. Each new chapter will roughly have at least two original chapters in it. Now this doesn't mean every chapter. There some chapters combined and some that are simple rearranged. Tried to reread what you can. That Plot really hasn't changed that much it just looks better now.

Chapter 2: Escape From Fallen Canterlot (Revised)

Twilight was in utter shock to see Discord of all creatures. He looked different, though. It seemed whatever Starlight had done had changed him somehow. He had a long thick beard, as well as a few small battle scars here and there.

He had come to her rescue. But why? She thought, ‘Why would he be rescuing me? Are we allies in this timeline? And how much has time, change things for my other friends?’ she began to ponder even more.

But Discord interrupted her. “Twilight, don’t tell me you're pondering again. We need to get moving. I am not sure how long before the guards get here,” he said.

But then Twilight had an idea. “Discord, you can sense any kind of magical anomalies right, and you been around for a long time,” said Twilight with a smile on her face.

“Well, of course, Twilight, you are talking to the Spirit of Chaos here, but what is this about?” He asked with a confused look as to what she was thinking.

“Well, this is going to sound crazy, but I am not the Twilight you knew. I am a Twilight from a different time.”

“Why that's impossible! You look like the same Twilight that died during the third Dark War,”

“Yes, but was your Twilight an Alicorn?” she asked.

“Well, of course, you were, that's how you united the rebels factions during the second Dark War,”

‘Well that didn’t help, that at least explains why nopony reacted to my look,’ she thought.

“Now enough of these questions, we need to mov - ” said Discord as he grabbed her. Doing so, he sensed the time anomalies that seem to be all over her. “I can sense it,” a moment past. “You use the time traveling spell, didn’t you?”

“No, actually a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer did. I just got pulled along the way and then trapped in this timeline,” said she as Discord placed Twilight on his back.

“Hmmm, I never thought that spell would be able to work that well,” he said.

******

Twilight held on to Discord’s back as he ran through the hallways. “So I'm assuming you can’t fly outside the Empire either,” asked she as she was wondering why he didn’t just take to the sky.

“Actually, normal magic is nonexistent outside the Empire, but chaos magic and some other forms work just fine,” he replied as he continued his run through the hallways.

“Then why aren’t you flying?” she asked.

“Because any magic used that not powered by those dark amulets; aside from shapeshifting, this close to the Empire will be noticed by its rulers,” said Discord as he continued to run.

“You, mean these Mother And Father figures."

“Ah, so they are not your mother and father in your Timeline."

“No, Nightmare Moon is not my mother in my timeline."

“Well, the rulers of the empire adopted this timeline’s version of you, as well as several other powerful ponies, like Trixie,” he said as he kept running.

Out of nowhere, the guards caught up with them. The guards were being led by Dark Sentry. “Stand back soldiers I will handle them,” he ordered.

‘What? I thought he was on our side,’ she thought.

“Twilight do you trust me in your timeline,” Discord asked.

“Yes, but what are you planning?” she said with a worried look.

Dark Sentry charged forward with a spear out. He swung, as Discord dodged. Then Discord headed for the nearby window. He jumped through it.

“Discord, you are just as crazy in my timeline,” she said as they fell.

“Don’t worry they’ll meet us on the way down,” he replied.

******

“So are you guys ready?” said a certain rainbow mane pegasus mare with a metal wing. She wore a blue tech suit like the rest of the ones with her.

“Yeah!!” said the rest.

“I think I should still go with you,” said the pegasus in the wheelchair.

The mare that was leading them walked up to him and said, “No Soarin, I can’t take a chance of hurting you again.”

“I don’t blame you for what happened, Rainbow Dash,” he replied.

“Yeah, but I still blame myself,” said Rainbow as she kissed him.

She walked to her motorcycle and climbed aboard. “Now remember, these motorcycles have limited fuel. We need to get in there, rescue Twilight and get out. Once we get her out of Fallen Canterlot, we'll head to the CD ruins,” she put on her helmet and activated her motorcycle.

“Wait what about ‘F’?” said one of the others.

“Knowing him he mostly has ‘SS’ rescuing her as we speak, but that dang draconequus will still need some help if he is to get her out of there, now let's move out,” said Dash.

******

Discord and Twilight were falling down the Tower. Twilight thought this was the end, when out of nowhere, driving up the side of the building, were four weird looking machines with ponies on them. “What the?” said Twilight as suddenly Discord grabbed her.

“Good, ‘SS’ you got Twilight, now give her to us and we’ll get her out,” said Rainbow Dash.

‘Wait I know that voice, Rainbow Dash,’ thought Twilight as she was placed the back of the machine that Rainbow Dash was on. Then Rainbow turned as the others did the same. “Hold on,” she said. Twilight wrapped her arms around Rainbow Dash, then they drove off the tower and onto a nearby building as Discord continue to fall.

“Wait, Rainbow, what about Discord?” said Twilight.

“Don’t worry Twilight, did you forget that ‘SS’ can shapeshift?” said Rainbow Dash, as they kept driving. Discord transformed into a small bird and flew to safety.

******

Meanwhile, back in the Tower, Lightning Dust ran to Trixie, and reported, “Princess Dead Star the prisoner has escaped.”

“What?!” said Trixie as she slammed her fist.

“It seems Rainbow and her gang of Cloud Rebels are trying to get her out of the city,” said Lightning Dust.

“Fine then. Open the lowest dungeon,” said Trixie as she stepped off her throne. “Let see how my ‘sister’ Twilight handles my husband.”

“Yes, your majesty."

******

As they drove through Fallen Canterlot, Twilight was pondering about how these strange machines worked. She had never seen such technology. She had always heard theories but had never seen something like this.

“Hmm, something's up, she should've sent the Shadowbolts after us.” said Rainbow Dash.

Then suddenly the ground began to shake. The ground opened up a few meters ahead of them and out came forth a giant 30-foot tall monstrous-looking unicorn. It’s coat was white, and it had a blonde mane.

“Oh shit,” said Rainbow Dash. “Princess Dead Star sent Blueblood after us!”

The drivers turned left and tried to go through some ruined buildings, hoping the buildings would slow the beast down. Instead the beast, Blueblood, just knocked several buildings down.

“I don’t think these buildings are stopping him, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight.

“Fine then, TL, throw some grenades at him,” ordered Rainbow.

“Yes boss,” said a black pegasus with white mane beside her.

Twilight looked to see Thunderlane. She had been so distracted by everything else that she didn’t even notice who else was with Rainbow Dash.

Thunderlane threw a few grenades at the beast. Twilight look to see massive explosions above her. The explosion hit Blueblood, knocking him down, as they drove off.

Meanwhile, in the sky, Trixie watched from her magical flying chariot. “Oh, did my loving Blueblood go down,” said Trixie, as she pulled another piece of strange tech. This one had a twist knob on it. “Don’t worry, this will fix you up,” said Trixie as she twisted the knob, which caused a reaction in the collar on his neck. Blueblood reacted in pain as he got back up, then he started chasing them again.

******

Rainbow Dash and the rest had gotten to the edge of the massive crater that Twilight had seen before. Only seeing it again did Twilight realize how deep it was. It was a mile deep.

Once they got to the edge, they stopped. “Dang it, where is Soarin?” she said worriedly. “He should have been here with the airship by now.”

Suddenly Blueblood caught up with them. Now they were trapped, with Blueblood on one side and the massive crater where this timeline’s Twilight had died. It seemed like Twilight would be joining her other self, if they didn’t figure out something soon.

But then hope arrived in most unlikely of forms as a gigantic, 100 foot tall wingless, fearsome serpent-like dragon descended from the sky. Landing in front of them, the dragon was purple with green frills, and a long, bushy green mustache. And riding on the dragon’s back was a mare dressed in a skin tight dark purple costume. She wore a dark blue mask, and a purple hat and cape. The mare looked a lot like Mare Do Well. The dragon and the mare were blocking Blueblood’s path.

“Oh great,” said Rainbow Dash, with an annoyed look. “The Leaders of the Cave Rebels are here,” as she looked up at them. “Spike and Rarity.”

“That’s Spike and Rarity?” said Twilight as she stood in shock and awe of how different Spike looked in this timeline. His looks and features looked nothing like her timeline version. He seemed to look like one of those the legendary eastern dragons from across the seas.

‘How could changes in the timeline change Spike so much?’ thought Twilight as she stood there. Just then Rainbow Dash said, “Take cover,” Everypony, including Twilight, got off their motorcycles, and headed for some nearby rubble.

Spike let a huge plume of green fire. It engulfed Blueblood, but he just kept moving. “Well that isn’t going to work, but it was still a good try darling,” Rarity said to Spike.

“Fine then, let’s try the spin cycle,” said Spike as he lowered himself long enough for Rarity to get off his back. Then he flew up and grabbed Blueblood with his tail. Once Spike had his tail wrapped around Blueblood, he flew right up into the sky. Spike flew even high and then proceeded to fly around in a giant circle. Over and over, until Blueblood lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, Rarity was standing on the ground. Twilight got curious, so she tried to approach her, not noticing Rainbow Dash trying to stop her. Twilight had no idea what was about to happen next. “Hey, it’s finally good to see another familiar po - ”

Out of nowhere, Rarity swung at Twilight with a hidden crystal blade. Luckily, Twilight jumped back in time to dodge it. “Don’t think for a second dear, that you coming back from the dead is enough to make me forgive you, for what happen during the third Dark War.”

“What do you mean?” said Twilight as she was taken back by the fact that one of her own friends had just tried to attack her.

“Don’t act like you forgot! Half my army lost their lives in that last assault,” she said as she took another swing at Twilight. But Twilight dodged again.

“What?” Twilight questioned. She was really worried now.

“And now darling, as much as I would love to avenge the death of my soldiers,” she said, as she put away her blade. “You are useful to the cause, so I will let you live. For now.”

Meanwhile, in the skies, Spike kept spinning around and around. Finally, the flames went out on Blueblood. Then Spike sent him crashing to the ground right at the group.

Twilight looked up and screamed, seeing Blueblood falling from the sky, about to land right on top of them.

“Oh a game of ping pong dear, that'd be lovely,” Just then Rarity grabbed out her hidden crystal blade. She swung the blade, which sent a magical wave into the air. This knocked Blueblood back to Spike. As Spike hit him with his tail and did the same.

This would continue back and forth for several swings, each time Rarity would send out a magical wave that would somehow come out of the blade until finally, “Spike darling this game has been going on for a long time. You think we should end it, dear?”

“Sure, I don't mind,” said Spike as Blueblood went flying up to him. Then Spike spun backward and hit Blueblood with his tail. This sent Blueblood flying into the massive crater.

Spike landed long enough for Rarity to climb back up, but then Twilight ran over. “Wait, Rari -- ” but Twilight was stopped by Rarity’s crystal blade again.

“Now see here, Twilight Sparkle, if you are about to ask me for help in another one of your crusades, then count me out,” Rarity put away her blade and then climbed back up. “Now once this is over I will be avenging my soldiers by putting you back in that grave of yours.” The threat sent a chill down Twilight’s spine. “Come on Spikey, darling, let’s go. Rainbow Dash can handle things from here.” And with that, Spike finally flew off.

Twilight stood there with a mix of emotions - terror and sadness in seeing how different Rarity and Spike were from their original versions. Little did she know there was more than met her eyes.

Finally, Soarin showed up with the airship. It looked like a boat with wings and a top covering it. It did not look like it was powered by magic, but rather some unknown technology of this timeline.

Rainbow Dash and the rest got on board, however, Twilight just stood there, unaware of a fly landing on her shoulder. “Twilight, what's wrong? They’re not like that in your timeline?” said the fly.

She turned her head to see the fly was Discord. “No, they are not like that in my timeline. Not at all,” said Twilight as she got aboard the airship.

******

Trixie landed her magical flying chariot, then got out to check on Blueblood. “Oh, my poor monster,” she said without a single bit of emotion in her voice. She grabbed out a strange gem, then summoned some dark magic from her horn, using it to activate the gem. Out from the gem shot a light that took the shape of a screen with a moving image upon it. The gem was a form of long range communication.

She contacted a middle age, dark purple batpony stallion with a gray mane, in a long white laboratory coat. “ Doctor Night Fright, the Great and Powerful Trixie needs you to fix up her husband.”

“Yes, of course, Princess Dead Star."

******

Trixie ended the message and contacted somepony else. The screen this time showed purple batpony stallion, but this one had a green mane and his age was roughly around Twilight’s age.

He was laying naked in a hot tub with a naked, light yellow unicorn mare wrapped around him. “What is the meaning of this? Princess Dead Star, how dare you interrupt my alone time with my wife!”

“Prince Nexus Star,” Trixie covered her eyes. “The Great and Powerful Trixie did not mean to interrupt your alone time, but we have a problem.”

“Fine, Fine,” said Nexus Star as he got out and grabbed a towel. “Okay, I have a towel on, now tell me what is going on here?”

Trixie uncovered her eyes, and spoke, “It seems Twilight is alive.”

“What? That’s impossible I know my nuke took her out,” he said.

“Well apparently not, because she is alive.”

“Alright then, if she is alive, did you figure out why she waited more than a year before returning?”

“No. Unfortunately, she escaped, thanks to Rainbow Dash and her Cloud Rebels.”

“Well, then why call me?”

“Because they left in an airship, and the Shadowbolts can’t fly as fast as one of those ships.”

“Fine, I’ll send my Alphabolts after them.”

“Oh, not just them, The Great and Powerful Trixie wants revenge for her husband as well.”

“What? That beast of yours? What happen to it this time?”

“That mare and her insidious dragon happened.”

“Fine, them too, my Alphabolts will be there in a second,” he said as he walked over to his clothes. Once there he grabbed out another communication device. He activated it and spoke. "Commander Gryford, send a dozen Alphabolts to Twilight's grave."

"Yes, your majesty."

Twilight sat down in the back of the airship as she looked around to try and assess what was going on. Discord was still on her shoulder. He tried his best to fill in any missing info. “So this Airship works on a sort of electricity. Do you have that in your timeline?”

“Well, sort of, just not this advanced.”

“Alright then, this airship as well as the motorcycles you rode on, they’re made by a company call Nox Corp. Do they sound familiar?”

“Yeah, I was once rivals with the CEO’s son back in school. Jack Nox.”

“Wait, you were rivals with Prince Nexus Star?” said Discord with a worried look.

“What?”

Suddenly the airship started to fall from the Sky. “Shit, we been hit!” said Soarin.

“By what?” said Twilight as she looked outside only to see what looked like metal batponies. They were attacking the airship “What are we going to do?” said Twilight.

“Thunderlane, Fleetfoot get on the turrets and shoot those things down,” shouted Rainbow Dash as she and Soarin were trying their best to keep the airship in the air.

Meanwhile Twilight stayed down. “What are those things?” Twilight asked Discord.

“They’re the Alphabolts. Cyberized batponies design by Prince Nexus Star,” Discord replied.

“Who?”

“Well it seems you know him as Jack Nox,” said Discord. “He designed them to go ten times as fast as any pegasi.”

Thunderlane and Fleetfoot tried their best to shoot down the Alphabolts while Rainbow Dash and Soarin tried their best to pilot the airship. But the airship was hit, so now they were slowly crashing, and they were still above the massive crater. Rainbow Dash and Soarin tried their best to find a good place to land, but it would have been best for the Alphabolts to be gone instead.

Thunderlane and Fleetfoot eventually shot down them down, but they were still crashing. “That’s all of them,” said Fleetfoot.

“Alright then everypony strap in, prepare for crash landing,” said Soarin.

******

Meanwhile, Rarity and Spike were flying, heading home, not knowing what was about to hit them. “Rarity, do you think we did the right thing?” said Spike. “Letting them handle themselves?”

“Darling Spike, Rainbow Dash may be blunt, but she is not stupid. She'll get Twilight to safety,” then she turned and said, “Meanwhile, we’ve got our own problems to worry about.” She noticed the Alphabolts directly behind them. “It seems Prince Nexus Star sent his Alphabolts after us.”

“What are we going to do? I can only dodge them with you on my back.”

“Darling, are we above any of my caves?” She asked as she grabbed out her Crystal Blade and prepared for battle.

"I think so,” said Spike as he looked around. “Wait I see one, several meters ahead, but it’s too small for me to fit.”

“Then shrink down,” said Rarity, as she swung her blade at some the Alphabolts that got to close.

“But if I shrink back to normal size then I will lose my ability to fly and I can’t take the chance of hurting you,” said Spike worriedly.

Rarity simply reassured Spike that everything will be would okay. “Don’t worry, as long as I’m with you, I’ll be okay.” She nuzzled him.

“Right, here we go,” said Spike with a warm smile. Rarity held on while Spike headed straight for the cave.

******

Author's Note

For those that do not know Jack Nox. He is an OC I've had in a few other stories. The stories I've used him for before this were base before time altering. In the original timeline Jack was a team mate of Flash Sentry. He was also Twilight's rival in Celestia school. Later, much later you will encounter a few OCs from other fics base on the original timeline. Though if they in this one, they will be different in some ways.

******

For ones that have actually read my Flash Saga. Jack attitude hasn't really changed much. He just more aggressive due to the fact in this timeline he was raised directly under Mother and Father. Oh and the ship I had planned for him is the same, so yeah that is the mare you think it is in the tub.

Chapter 3: How Much Have They Changed? (Revised)

Twilight tried her best to climb out of the rubble of the airship. “Is everypony okay?” asked Twilight as she crawled through the wreckage. Rainbow Dash and Soarin had somehow landed the airship on the other edge of the massive crater, which put them far from Fallen Canterlot. The problem now was to see who else survived the crash.

Rainbow Dash woke up and found herself outside the Airship. “Wait, what?” she said as she got up and tried to regain her bearings. Then she saw the wreckage, “No, no, no, not again,” said Rainbow Dash as she rushed as fast as she could to the wreckage. “Soarin?!?”

“I’m okay,” said Soarin as he pushed some wreckage off his wheelchair. “Is anypony else alive?” He looked at Rainbow Dash, “What’s with that tear?”

“I thought it happen again,” whispered Rainbow Dash. She wiped away the tear. “What tear?” She said boldly back. Soarin just laughed. Rainbow moved closer to Soarin. As Soarin did the same.

Suddenly Twilight’s scream broke the moment. Rainbow Dash ran through the wreckage to find her. She found Twilight as well as what made her scream. Twilight had found Thunderlane skewered by a metal pipe. He was dead.

******

Rainbow Dash and Fleetfoot dug an improvised grave for Thunderlane. Then after they put him in, they had a moment of silence for their fallen comrade. Twilight could see little to no tears being shed. It was clear that this was not the first ally they had had to dig a grave for, but Twilight couldn't help but to at least shed some tears.

But they couldn’t stay long because they knew the Shadowbolts wouldn’t be too far behind. They had to stay hidden until they could reach the CD ruins, so they went through the nearby forest. The coverage would keep them hidden.

“So Discord, what is this CD ruins,” whispered Twilight to Discord, who was still a fly on her shoulder. She kept her pace up with the others as she listened to his answer.

“It is a refugee camp where most of the ponies that escape the enslavement of the Empire go."

"Enslavement?"

"Yes, anypony who doesn't join the Empire willingly is enslaved to it instead."

"Those poor ponies," said Twilight. "Isn't there something to be done for the ones that don't escape?"

"Actually we have somepony on the inside," said Discord. "Spitfire. She secretly works with the Cloud Rebels and Dark Rebels."

"Cloud Rebels? Dark Rebels?"

"Yes. Spitfire will send secret information on anypony that are trying to escape the Empire, then the Cloud Rebels will go in and rescue any pony they can. Meanwhile, the Dark Rebels will rescue any other creature, like Griffins, Hippogryphs, Minotaurs and other creatures," said Discord. "And any creature too weak to fight stays hidden in the CD ruins because very few would think of looking in the old ruins of -- ”

“Cloudsdale!” said Twilight as they reached the ruins.

“Yeah. CD for Cloudsdale, or what is left of it anyway.”

Twilight looked in utter sorrow. It was no longer in the sky; no surprise given the fact it needed pegasi magic to stay afloat. Several buildings were just rubble, while very few still stood tall. There was moss everywhere, which actually did help hide the city pretty well, but still gave an air of foreboding to it.

They stepped inside one of the buildings. Inside was a bunch of orphan ponies. It seemed to be some sort of orphanage. Twilight looked to see Rainbow Dash approach two pegasi. One was a gray pegasus mare with a blue mane, the other a small gray pegasus colt. Rainbow Dash told them the bad news about Thunderlane. They were both in tears like they had lost family. Maybe in this timeline they were family. Unknown for sure, but Twilight did know at least the small gray pegasus was family - it was Thunderlane’s little brother, Rumble.

Little brother. Those words instantly brought a reaction out of Twilight. Tears started to fall from her face as she sat in a chair away from everypony. Discord, still being on her shoulder asked why she was in tears. Twilight replied, “I am in tears over one I always thought of as a little brother.”

“Who?”

“Spike,” Twilight took a moment to continue. “How could he be so different in this timeline?”

“What do you mean?” Discord asked. “If you want answers from Spike, you have to ask Rarity. In this timeline, those two have been at each other’s sides for years.”

“Yeah, but in my timeline, Spike and I have been as close as family. I was the one who hatched him.” Then Twilight paused upon realizing something. ‘Wait if I hatched him in my timeline, then who hatched him in this timeline?’ She took a breath. “Discord it is time for the truth. What happen in this timeline?”

“Where do we start?” Discord began. ‘Where to start?’ “I can only give you some of the story since I broke out of stone after the rulers of the empire took over.”

“Fine. I will get the information from three sources then; you, Rainbow Dash and Soarin.” Twilight got up and headed straight to Rainbow Dash and Soarin. “Rainbow Dash, Soarin, can I talk to you two in private?"

"Sure."

******

Spike was heading straight for the cave as he slowly shrank back to his normal size, which in this timeline put him at slightly taller that Rarity. She held tightly to Spike. He hoped he would at least land straight, but of course, he landed in the cave with a tumble.

As the two finally stopped tumbling, they found themselves in a bit of an awkward position. Rarity was laying right on top of Spike’s gut, which would have been extremely awkward for the original Spike and Rarity, but this Rarity and Spike did not move at all. In fact, they stayed like that for the moment in bliss Until a diamond dog showed up.

“Lady Rarity, Sir Spike… oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you two, I will give you two some privacy. You two are clearly busy.”

And with that killing the mood, Rarity climbed off of Spike. “How many times have we told you Strax to get your mind out of the gutter,” she said as she cleaned the dust off her Mare Do Well suit.

“I just thought you two were…..” Strax words were drifting off.

“Seriously, Strax, you need to stop thinking such vulgar things,” said Spike with an obvious frown, getting back up.

“But I just thought with you two being….. And the position you two were in.”

“Oh please Strax, do you really think we would do such a thing outside the privacy of our own bedroom,” Rarity went up and slapped him. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need you to gather some the other diamond dogs and deal with the Alphabolts outside.”

“I am sorry Lady Rarity,” said Strax. “I will get right on that.” He dug back into the dirt.

Meanwhile, Rarity and Spike just stood there beside each other for a moment Until Spike said, “So…. still were we…..about to,” now his words were drifting.

“Oh fine darling, I guess you deserve some sort of reward, for getting me to safety,” she agreed. Spike gave a blushing smile as Rarity lifted up the mouthpiece of her mask, then they pulled in for a long passionate kiss. After they broke away, “Now if you want the rest you will have to wait until we get home.”

Spike was in a complete daze from the bliss of the moment.

‘Sometimes I wonder why did I fall in love and marry such a goofball,’ Rarity thought, giggling.

******

Chapter 4: Memories Of The First Dark War (Revised)

The first Dark War was a terrible point in history. Started by one of the current rulers of the empire, it was Nightmare Moon who led the first war. There was so much terrible loss everywhere - bodies piled high, but Nightmare Moon wouldn't stop until she claimed as much land as possible. Princess Celestia did little to nothing to fight her possessed sister. And with no resistance at the time, Canterlot was the first to fall.

Canterlot became the front post of the Empire. After which several prominent elites tried to fight this new rule, becoming the first form of rebellion. Led by Fancy Pants, they managed to put up some fight before finally falling to the rulers' secret weapons.

Their secret weapons were four chosen royals or the four heirs to the throne. The Royals were four ponies chosen for unknown reasons. Some suspected that they were chosen for their magical prowess.

The four chosen were given titles that represented their strength, as well as their magical expertise. Out of all who were chosen, only a few spoken their real names in public.

The ponies chosen were Princess Dead Star a.k.a. Trixie Lulamoon, Princess Fallen Star a.k.a. Twilight Sparkle, Prince Nexus Star a.k.a. Jack Nox, and the oldest and the strongest, Princess Burning Star, but her identity had always been kept a guarded secret.

Trixie was chosen for her fusion to the Dark Alicorn Amulet. After prolong use of the Amulet, it fused to her body and soul. This granted her the ability to not die, hence her title. After the first Dark War, Princess Dead Star had been put in charge of the Empire’s defense.

Twilight had been chosen because of her expertise in any and all magic. However, her title came from a point in her life where she had always felt the most shame, for it was her and Princess Burning Star who had finally hunted down and executed Princess Celestia. After the first Dark War, and a few months after the shameful execution of Princess Celestia, she left to lead the Dark Rebels.

Jack was chosen for his connections in Nox Corp, as well as the fact he was a batpony that could perform multiple forms of magic, despite being just a simple batpony. His expertise as a master of teleportation granted him the title Prince Nexus Star. After the first Dark War, he was put in charge of research and development, which was tasked with the creation of new weapons like the Alphabolts, Dark Amulets, Crystal Weapons, and the infamous Nuke; which in the third Dark War took down Twilight as well as half the rebels.

Princess Burning Star’s identity had always remained a closely-guarded secret because her power tended to be a bit wild. She was a master of fire magic as well as being just as brilliant at other magics as Twilight. She was granted her title shortly after the execution of Princess Celestia. After the second Dark War, she was put in charge of watching over Tartarus and its prisoners.

******

A cyan pegasus mare was getting through the training course, dodging obstacles and attacks left and right and taking out foes in all directions. She was trying to get through the training course in the best time, for today a pegasus would be chosen to lead the newly-formed Shadowbolts. This had become the mare’s dream when she was young. The day she performed the Shadow Rainboom when she was young, she knew that one day she would lead the Shadowbolts.

Getting through the final part, she was finished at last. Now all she needed to hear was what score she got. She hoped that it would make her the leader, but of course she had to wait for the other two pegasi mares to get done before an answer was given.

The other two mares were her old friend Spitfire, a yellow pegasus mare with a distinct orange and yellow mane and the cyan mare’s longtime rival, Lightning Dust, a light blue pegasus mare with a blonde mane.

They were getting through the course perfectly well. Not as fast as the first mare, but still pretty good. Of course, the leader would not be just chosen on speed but also maneuverability at such great speeds.

Soon the other two were finished as well. And with that, it was now time to choose who would be the leader of the Shadowbolts. An old, light blue pegasus stallion with a gray mane in an aerial uniform stepped forward. His name was Windrider. He was holding a medal that would indicate who be leading the Shadowbolts. Once it was presented to one of the mares, that mare would be the one chosen.

“Ten hut,” said Windrider as the mares stood ready. He walked around all three mares and then said “It has been decided,” he took a moment. “The leader of the newly formed Shadowbolts is Rainbow Dash,” he said as he went placed the medal on the cyan pegasus mare.

From that point on, Rainbow Dash would lead the Shadowbolts. It was the happiest day of her life. Spitfire invited her to go to the hub with her to celebrate.

******

It was there that she met a light sky blue pegasus stallion in a biker’s jacket named Soarin. She had heard he had quite the stomach for cider, so she challenged him to a cider drinking contest, which she won. He asked for another challenge. She had so much fun with the cider drinking contest she accepted, and even let him choose the next contest, which was a pie eating contest. This he won, evening the score, but she was now determined to beat him. So throughout that night Rainbow Dash and Soarin did contest after contest. As the night got late, they were forced to end their little contests and head to their respective homes.

So they left the hub, however, neither of them had won the score - they were both tied on wins. That had never happened before, somepony that could keep up with Rainbow Dash. They decided to meet up again in a few days. It was supposed to be a one-time thing. However, the night would always end in a tie, and it became more than a one-time thing. She was now going to see him almost every day. She felt she had to completely win against him, though as the contests continued, it became obvious there was going to be no absolute winner.

Eventually, something started to grow between the two. They became close, really close like they almost knew each other's thoughts. Soon the meet-ups were no longer about the contests, it had become about simply just hanging out together.

Days they would go to their respective works, and nights they would meet up.

And over time they became even closer. Yet, at the same neither knew what the other's life was like outside of the hub. But that did not matter for now every time they got some time off was spent at the hub hanging out. Until finally three months into this, Rainbow Dash and Soarin had to admit they were no longer friends hanging out. They were starting to care for each other greatly.

But both always had a hard time telling the other anything about their feelings, so they tried to ignore it and just be friends. It came to the point where they finally had to tell each other. Little did either of them know on the day they chose, that day that would become their happiest yet the darkest day of their lives……

******

It was two weeks before the Second Dark War. Rainbow Dash had arrived early to the Shadowbolts headquarters for a mission briefing. She wanted to hurry up and get the mission done with, so she could see Soarin.

“Ten hut,” said Windrider, as he approached the group. They stood ready, saluting. Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only one that there early today. Spitfire and Lightning Dust were there too, as well as three other Shadowbolts. “Shadowbolts, we have brilliant news. It seems we have received Intel on the Cloud Rebels next target, as well as info that states that their leader will be there,” said Windrider as he kept walking. “This is our best chance to finally take them down, permanently.”

Rainbow Dash knew of the Cloud Rebels. They had been attacking the walls of the empire for unknown reasons. This would be her first encounter with them.

“Ha, so what is the mission?” snorted Lightning Dust.

“The mission is to go to these coordinates and take down the Cloud Rebels.”

“We accept the mission,” said Rainbow Dash, as she hoped that sooner she got this done, the sooner she could go see Soarin.

“Alright, let’s get moving,” said Windrider.

“Sir?” Question Rainbow Dash. “Are you saying you will be going with us on a mission for once?”

“Yes,” said Windrider.

With that Rainbow Dash became really happy. To do a mission alongside the legendary Windrider would be incredible. She idolized him. She thought would make her day even better.

They headed out. The coordinates led to the west wall, at the ruins of Dodge City. They arrived without any problems. Once there they took positions to ambush the Cloud Rebels.

Rainbow Dash looked from her hiding spot and saw the leader. The leader was a female griffon, and from the reports her name was Gilda. Gilda was a blonde griffon in a white shirt, brown jacket, and jeans.

Gilda was walking with two pegasi by her side. One was a light blue mare with a white mane, the other was a black stallion with a white mane. Both of them were wearing blue tech suits. They were walking to a meet up with some of their other rebels associates.

Rainbow Dash watched with Spitfire and Lightning Dust behind her, while the rest were with Windrider. They watched as a pony in a hood ran to Gilda and gave her some info. That’s when Rainbow Dash saw the perfect time to attack.

“Now!!” said Rainbow Dash as she launched a full attack on the Cloud Rebels. Her group attacked from the front, while Windrider’s group attacked from the back.

It was a quick battle and soon they were defeated, however, the hooded pony tried to get away. “Oh no you don't!” said Rainbow Dash as she tackled him. They ended up rolling down a hill, but once they stopped, Rainbow Dash was standing over the pony. She pulled off the pony’s hood while holding a knife to the pony’s throat, saying, “Okay who are you?” but as soon as the hood came off, her eyes widened in horror. It was a light sky blue pegasus stallion with a blue mane. “S-S-S-Soarin?” Rainbow Dash was now trembling.

“R-R-R-Rainbow Dash?” said Soarin as he was also now trembling.

“Soarin, you’re a Cloud Rebel?”

“Rainbow Dash, you’re a Shadowbolt?”

The two were just frozen upon realizing it. They had fallen for the enemy. But things got worse as Windrider walked up with news. “Wonderful news we have captured Gilda,” he then noticed that Rainbow had caught somepony as well, “Well, good work Rainbow Dash, you caught the runaway. Now, execute him.”

This snapped Rainbow Dash and Soarin back to reality. “What?”

“You heard me, kill him, now!”

Rainbow Dash and Soarin just stared at each other. Their minds were racing at a mile a minute. ‘What should I do?’ she thought, ‘I idolize Windrider, and I don’t want to disappoint him, but I don't want to kill Soarin,’ her mind raced. Soarin’s mind was racing the same way. But finally, it was him that stopped their mind race.

“Rainbow Dash if you’re going to kill me then tell me, did you feel anything for me when we were together?” whispered Soarin.

Then it started to rain, hiding the tears on Rainbow Dash’s face. “Yes, Soarin I did,” she whispered back.

“What are you doing Rainbow Dash? Kill him already,” shouted Windrider.

“No,”

“What was that?”

“No.”

“I gave you an order, NOW KILL HIM!!”

But Rainbow Dash just stood there realizing, that if she kept disobeying him, she would no longer be in the Shadowbolts. And that no longer mattered to her now. She did not want to hurt Soarin. She cared for him, greatly, and now she felt it was time to know if he felt the same.

“Soarin,” she whispered.

“What?” he whispered back.

“Do you love me?”

“Yes, I love you,” he stated back without hesitation.

“And I love you,” she said as she dropped her knife.

“Fine then, if you won’t do it, I'll do it myself,” said Windrider as he walked over with his blade out. The two didn’t even hear him. They were lost in each other. It was their happiest moment. But seconds later came the darkest moment of their entire lives as a grenade landed between them and Windrider.

******

Rainbow Dash woke up in pain. “Oooouch, what happen?” said Rainbow Dash, as she slowly got up. She had found herself several feet from where she was. She didn’t remember much after the explosion.

While still in a daze, she tried to move. She felt a great pain in her left shoulder. But she didn’t care to look, she was too busy trying to see where Soarin was. “Soarin, where are you?” she said, but no answer. “Soarin!” she yelled, again no answer. “Soarin!!” she yelled even louder, but still no answer.

There was nopony anywhere. Rainbow Dash just broke down and began to cry. Then “Don’t you….. dare start crying…... over something as stupid as this…..” somepony spoke. Rainbow Dash perked up her ears. ‘Soarin’ then she lifted her head. “The Rainbow Dash I know would never give up that easily,” said Soarin, as he coughed from under some rubble.

“Soarin,” said Rainbow Dash, racing over to the rubble. She cleared some of it off and found Soarin. He was covered in a few bruises but looked fine. “Oh, Soarin you’re alive!” she was so happy to see him alive.

But Soarin looked at Rainbow Dash with horror. “Rainbow Dash, your wing?”

“Yeah, what about my wi--” Rainbow Dash stopped mid-sentence as she looked to see her left wing was gone. “No. No! NO!! My wing is gone?!?” Rainbow Dash was in complete shock. Her wing was gone and with it were all her dreams.

“Rainbow Dash, I don’t mean to add more salt to the wound, but we got more problems,” said Soarin, from where he lay, unmoving.

“What is it?” said Rainbow Dash, noticing he still hadn’t got up yet.

“I can’t feel my legs.”

“What?”

Rainbow Dash pulled him out and away from the rubble so she could get a better look. She looked him over and found the problem. Her eyes widen in horror. It seemed during the explosion, Rainbow Dash’s knife had stuck itself into Soarin spine. He was now paralyzed from the waist down.

******

Rainbow Dash pulled Soarin over her back, as they tried to find some help. But instead, they found the Shadowbolts. The Shadowbolts surrounded them, “What is it? What’s going on here?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Well it seems you have betrayed us,” said Lightning Dust.

“What are you talking about? I would never betray the Shadowbolts.”

“And yet, it was your grenade that went off.”

“What? What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash felt around her belt. Indeed there was a grenade missing, ‘Damn it, it must have been pulled off during the tackle down the hill,’ Rainbow Dash just lowered her head.

“Rainbow Dash, we have worse news than about your wing,” said Spitfire, as she walked over with some chains. “It seems your grenade killed Windrider.”

“Yeah, so apparently you’ve committed treason,” spouted Lightning Dust.

“What?”

Well, let’s see you killed a commanding officer, and now you’re rescuing your Cloud Rebel coltfriend.”

Rainbow Dash just stood there. She was losing everything she had worked so hard to get. It was all gone with that grenade. But then hope appeared, as two of the Shadowbolts turned their weapons on the other Shadowbolts. “What's going on here?” said Lightning Dust, as out of nowhere a flash of light ran past each of the Shadowbolts removing their dark amulets.

“I'll tell you what's going on? You Shadowbolts are surrounded,” shouted a pony on top of the hill. Rainbow Dash looked to see a lavender alicorn mare with a navy blue mane standing on top of the hill. The flash of light stopped moving beside her and revealed itself to be a yellow pegasus with a blue mane and massive wings.

Rainbow Dash knew from the reports who these ponies were. Princess Fallen Star a.k.a. Twilight Sparkle and the one beside her was her loyal guardian Flash Sentry. So, indeed, yes, standing on top of the hill were the leaders of the Dark Rebels. Twilight was clad in purple armor and wielded a blood red katana, while Flash was clad in blue armor. He didn’t need to carry a weapon. From the reports Rainbow Dash heard, Flash could use anything as a weapon.

“Ha, what do you mean surrounded?” spouted Lightning Dust. “All I see is four of you.”

“Really check again,” said Flash, as out of the nearby ruins popped out several ponies, griffins, and even a few minotaurs. Rainbow Dash knew right then and there these were the Dark Rebels.

“Now I suggest you surrender,” said Twilight, as she pulled out her katana and pointed it right at them. “Or do I need to call more back up?”

The Shadowbolts knew that the Dark Rebels were the biggest rebel faction of all, so they surrendered. Rainbow Dash and Soarin took to the Dark Rebel’s headquarters - the Sky Sanctuary.

*******

The Dark Rebel’s doctors did their best to heal Soarin and Rainbow Dash. And although Rainbow Dash got a prosthetic wing, Soarin was forced to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Once Rainbow Dash was well enough, she left the infirmary to go thank Twilight and her group for saving her and Soarin. But when she got to the briefing room, she saw Twilight and Flash talking with a brown earth pony and with Gilda of the Cloud Rebels about a plan of some sort.

“Are you sure about this plan? Twilight,” said the brown earth pony stallion in a brown tuxedo, black tie, and long brown coat.

“Doctor Whooves, Celestia’s notes show that with all of this evil moving about, he will wake up. We need him on our side,” said Twilight.

“But how do we get inside?” asked Gilda. “It’s not like we can just walk in the front door.”

“We have to. The draconequus would make a powerful ally,” said Flash.

“Yes, but how do we get in?” said Doctor Whooves.

Finally, Rainbow Dash stepped forward, “Well, I can get you in.”

“What are you doing here? This is a private meeting,” spouted Gilda.

“I can get you in,” said Rainbow Dash as the group calmed down. “I was the leader of the Shadowbolts, so I know the walls inside and out.”

“Do you think we can trust her Twilight?” asked Flash.

“Hmm, I guess, but I’ll have to go talk with ‘F’ first. He should know what to do.”

“That old one always does.”

******

Rainbow Dash left and went back to the infirmary room to see Soarin. He was still in his wheelchair. She looked at him from behind. Sadness shown on her face. “This is my fault,” she said as she stood there.

“No it’s not,” said Soarin as he turned in his wheelchair to look at her. “It’s not your fault, Rainbow Dash.”

“Of course it is. It was my grenade that took my wing, it was my knife that took your legs,” she said as she walked to him. “I’m sorry Soarin,” she bent down to him. “I’m so sorry. You probably hate me, don’t yo-- ” He stopped her.

“Don’t you dare say that!” said Soarin, as he pulled her close. “I love you.”

“And I love you, but-- ” He wasn't going to hear any more doubt as he pulled her in for a kiss. They wrapped their arms around each other and the next move they made was out their control.

******

Rainbow Dash and Soarin stayed in each other’s embrace. Later, Gilda walked in. “Ehm,” This pulled the two lovers back to reality. “Soldier, when did this happen?”

“Sorry boss,” said Soarin.

“Rainbow Dash, Twilight asked ‘F’ and he has agreed to let you help, so get ready, we are heading out in an hour.”

“Alright, I'll be there.”

“Hm, right?” Gilda gave a questionable thought and a smirk. “You know what? I'll go tell her to wait two hours. Just clean yourselves up when you’re done.”

“Wait, what?” Asked Rainbow Dash, as Gilda closed the door. Just then Rainbow Dash and Soarin just realized what position they were in when the griffin had walked in. Rainbow Dash was sitting on top of Soarin’s lap. Their faces went the brightest shade of red.

Then they looked at each other. Soarin kept a relatively calm face. “Well it seems we got two hours,” said Soarin.

“We?” “What do you mean w--” he kissed her again. “Oh, we,” as she returned the kiss.

******

Later in the dungeon under Fallen Canterlot, in a lab, lay a pony.

“Uhmm,” the pony woke up. “Where am I?” the pony asked.

“Well, what’s the last thing you remember?” said a dark purple batpony with a gray mane. He was standing over him.

“I remember a grenade, and then a bla--- ” he stopped as he realized that he was strapped to an operating table. He then saw half his body was gone.

“Yes, you were the closest to the grenade, but don’t worry I’ve stopped the bleeding.”

“Who are you?”

“You can call me Night Fright.”

Suddenly he saw a grotesque pony behind Night Fright starting to move erratically in his own straps. “And who is that?”

“Oh, just something Princess Dead Star wanted me to work on, something about her coltfriend messing up. She's hoping I can make him more obedient.”

“And what do you want with me?”

“The rulers want me to ‘fix you’, but don’t worry. The pain will only last so long,” said Night Fright as he grabbed out some tools.

“What are talk ab--Ahhhhhh!!!” he screamed as the tools dug into him.

******

Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Twilight, Flash and a few Dark Rebels broke into Canterlot using the info Rainbow Dash gave them while Gilda and a few Cloud Rebels went to attack the west wall, as per the original plan.

They headed towards the ruins of the old main castle and from there to the garden. It was there they found him, still in stone. “Is that him?” said Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, according to these notes, this is ‘SS’ a.k.a. Discord.”

“‘SS’, what kind of name is that?”

“I don’t know. All the notes gave on his real name is his initials.”

“Okay, Big Macintosh you're up,” Flash said to a tall, well-built red earth pony stallion.

“Eeyup,” said Big Macintosh as he went over and lifted the statue.

“Alright let’s get moving,” said Twilight.

******

“And that’s how I got pulled into this craziness,” said Discord as the three ponies and the draconequus sat around a fire. They had been telling Twilight about their past shortly after Twilight had told them the truth about her.

“After I broke out of my imprisonment, they told me what I missed and after that, I been helping them ever since. I helped during the second Dark War where we teamed up with Queen Chrysalis and her changelings, as well as a group called the ‘Cult of Light’,” said Discord.

“But that war didn’t end well either, it wasn’t as bad as the first Dark War, but we lost a few good heroes in it, like Gilda,” said Rainbow Dash. “She was captured during that war and sent to Tartarus along with Chrysalis. After that, I had to take over the Cloud Rebels.”

“Okay, well that answers some my questions.” Twilight was still trembling from several parts of the story. “I think I just need to get some sleep before I figure out what to do next.”

Twilight was taken somewhere to sleep. She fell asleep pretty fast. She didn’t know what was she going to do tomorrow, but the truth was she should've been worrying about tonight, as she drifted into dreams.......

******

Author's Note

Now the memories of the First Dark War. You may have noticed, that both parts are as one. As I said two original chapters per new one. Well that will actually change after this. Less chapters after this will be combined. However more changes will be in these later chapters. The most changes will be in the three parter of Spike and Rarity's Flashback.

Chapter 5: This Horrible Timeline (Revised)

Twilight woke up to find herself back in the Castle of Friendship. “Huh, what's going on here?” She said as she got up. She found herself on top of the map. “I’m back, but how?”

“Twilight are you okay?“ She heard a voice and turned to see Spike. He looked the way he always did.

“Spike?” said Twilight, still confused as to what was going on. “Spike what are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” said Spike, looking confused himself. “Don’t you remember? You wanted me to go get Rarity?” he stepped aside to show Rarity behind him. “See? I brought her here like you said and then we found you unconscious.”

“Oh, sorry,” said Twilight. “I must have been dreaming.”

“What about, dear?” said Rarity as she stepped forward.

“Well, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you.”

“Well, go ahead and try us.”

“Alright, well, I had the strangest dream that Rainbow Dash and Soarin were leaders of this rebel faction and they were telling me all this crazy stuff.”

“What kind of crazy stuff?” Spike asked. Suddenly he had a cup of tea in his claw. Unfortunately Twilight didn’t notice it.

“Stuff like Equestria had been conquered by Nightmare Moon, and I was leading another group of rebels,” said Twilight. Suddenly she was no longer sitting on the table.

“Really? That sounds awesome!!” For a second Spike sounded strangely similar, like Rainbow Dash. “I mean aside from the fact that Nightmare Moon had conquered the world.”

“Wait, I said Equestria not the world,” said Twilight. “At least it seemed like she just conquered Equestria and not the rest of the world.”

“Oh well, that sounds like a terrible dream,” said Rarity. Her accent was slightly off.

“Yeah, but what else did you see, dear,” said Spike. He was sounding a bit off as well.

“Well, I recall seeing you two, and you looked way different than what you usually do.”

“What do you mean? dahlin,” asked Rarity.

“What?“ said Twilight. She was slowly starting to notice something amiss as they were now suddenly outside the Crystal Tree House.

“What did we look like, dear,” asked Spike.

“What?” asked Twilight. She started to move away from them. ‘What’s going on here? Why is Spike saying ‘dear’? And did Rarity just say ‘dahlin’?’ Twilight’s mind was racing now even faster as she turned to suddenly find herself in the Castle of the Two Sisters. “What’s going on here?”

“You haven’t figured it out, Twilight?” said an unknown voice.

“What?” said Twilight as she spun around to try to see where the voice came from. As she spun, she noticed that Spike and Rarity were gone. “Wait, where are Spike and Rarity?”

“We’re right here, dear.”

Twilight turned back around once she heard Rarity’s voice, but her face went white with terror as the voice was coming from Spike. Twilight was knocked back so much by this, she fell over.

“What’s wrong, dear? You seem a bit off.”

“No stay back!” said Twilight, as she scooted away from him. Something was definitely going wrong here, but Twilight couldn’t figure out what.

Suddenly there was a scream through the hallway. Twilight heard the voice and it sounded way too familiar. She got up and ran to the scream, not knowing what she would find. Spike just stood there and said, “Run. Run as fast as you can. You will never escape my power, daughter,” as he vanished like smoke.

******

Twilight ran as fast as she could. The walls of the hallway were starting to melt like liquid. It was as if reality was being bent. Things got crazier as Twilight found the scream’s origins, but the scream had stopped. Twilight started trembling from what she found in the room.

In it was a white alicorn in a long rainbow dress, its colors matching her mane. It was Princess Celestia. She was just laying there, not moving at all. Twilight moved closer as blood started to pour into the room from pipes in the walls. She was in too much shock to notice the blood surrounding her, or the fact that the hallway was just gone. There was just the room. Twilight moved even closer until she was standing right over Celestia. Tears ran down Twilight’s face as she realized that Celestia was dead. She broke down in tears right there, wrapping her arms around Celestia’s head. Celestia was her mentor, she was like a second mother to her, and now she was gone. Or so Twilight thought as she started to hear a voice coming from Celestia.

“Twilight, why did you kill me?”

“What?” said Twilight, in absolute horror.

“Why did you kill me? Why did you kill me? Why did you kill me? Why did you kill me?” the voice just kept repeating over and over. Celestia began to melt like the hallways before. It was this that got Twilight to notice the room filling up with blood. She screamed in terror, as the blood went up to her knees. The melting ooze that was Celestia started to scream in agony. The scream slowly started to change from a scream of agony to a scream of pleasure, then to a roar of hatred.

Twilight gaped as out the ooze something rose forth that made everything even stranger. It was a lavender alicorn with a navy blue mane. Twilight knew instantly this was herself. But she looked different. She was wearing the armor from the memories. This Twilight looked exactly like Rainbow Dash's description of the alternate timeline’s Twilight.

But the voice was very different, “Oh hello Twilight, how's my loving daughter doing?” said the Other Twilight, as the blood that was filling up the room stopped flowing and started to lower.

“What are you talking about? Who are you?”

“Hmm, let me guess you’re used to seeing my other form. Fine then.” She grabbed out a knife and tore open her chest, then she pulled at the tear until her skin started to come off like a suit, but with every bit of blood gushing out.

Twilight backed away in horror, as out of the flesh rose forth a black silhouette of another alicorn, her mane floating. This one much taller, but Twilight couldn’t see its coat color at all. And as Twilight looked at the face, her terror reaching its boiling point. Then the eyes opened, revealing the eyes of Nightmare Moon.

******

Twilight woke up screaming. Discord heard the scream and ran over, “Wow, wow! Calm down! It was just one of Nightmare Moon's terror dreams,” said Discord, trying to calm her. “You have to deal with them every few nights.”

“What?” said Twilight, as she slowly calmed down.

“Well when your world is ruled by her tyranny, you try your best to get past the nightmares.”

“Are you saying everypony gets these nightmares?”

“Yes everypony, every few nights,” said Discord, as he pointed to the outside. “Just listen.”

Twilight listened and heard screams all throughout the ruins. “No, no, no!” she said as she trembled, “No, no, no!” Tears fell down her face more and more until she just broke down crying. Discord grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her.

“It will be okay, it will be okay. You just have to deal with it or not sleep.”

“How will it be okay? How am I supposed to think of something if I can’t get some sleep?”

“You will just find other things to do other than sleep.”

“Like what?”

“How about a game of checkers?” He said as he transformed into a checkerboard.

“Well, no.”

“Alright, how about a story?”

“Nah, I don’t want to hear any more stories of this timeline.”

“No, Twilight, I want to hear a story from you.”

“What?”

“We’ve been telling our stories about our timeline, so I think it’s only fair that this time you tell something from your timeline.”

So it was decided that Twilight would tell Discord some stories from her timeline.

******

Meanwhile in the caves under Equestria a dragon and his mare were sitting at a lovely table. It was cover with beautiful tapestries. Spike the dragon was on one side and Rarity was on the other. Spike was wearing a brilliant black tuxedo and Rarity was wearing the most elegant of fancy dresses. It was purple like her mane (which she had tied in a bob) and had white lines going over it. She wore a veil over her head. She also wore long sleeves.

The two sat quietly and ate some dinner. The meal was very silent, no word was spoken until the meal was done, after which a few diamond dogs in suits took the plates away.

Rarity turned to one of the diamond dogs and said, “Would you be a dear and tell the chef that I thank him for the lovely meal? As always, it was delicious.” They took the plates away, then Rarity turned back to Spike and said, “So I heard you took Sweetie Belle to the Ponyville library?”

“Yeah, she had fun reading all kinds of books. She is always wondering what the world was like before the Empire,” said Spike. “I just wish I could show her more, but I never knew what the world was like either.”

“Yes, I wish I could tell her about some of the world too, but I remember very little before the empire as well.”

A silence fell between them. They both took a moment, then Spike spoke. “So you're wearing a lovely dress tonight.”

“Oh Spikey, you charmer,” said Rarity, then she hesitated for a moment. “Spike, would you think this dress was lovely on anypony, or just me?” He gave no answer as he turned his face away from for a minute. Rarity saw this and got up from the table and walked over to her husband.

“Is it because of the veil,” asked Rarity as she was standing in front of him. Again no answer. “Why do you go silent on me, when I mention the way I look and not just the dress?” Again no answer, so she sat on his lap. “You know you were never silent during our times of passion in our bedroom,” She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer. Their faces were just centimeters apart, but there was more silence as Spike just kept his face turned. Then she lifted the veil. “You know I will never blame you for this. You saved my life, both outside and inside, remember,” She pulled his claw to her chest. He finally calmed after hearing the duel heart beats.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, you look lovely, as always,” Spike said. He turned and gave her a peck. “Even without this lovely dress too,” He wrapped his arms around her.

“Well, it is a lovely dress. It took a few hours to make, but it was worth it,” she said as she did the same, She leaned into him and whispered into his ear. “And it's easily removable,” With that obvious hint in mind, Spike picked up Rarity as he got up. She gave a giggle as he carried her away. They continued back to their bedroom for a few hours until morning.

******

Author's Note

Well here it the new chapter. Now it may have not felt different. But it is different, then the original. Anyway as I said this will be last posted chapter this month. On another note I'm going to be looking for an extra proofreader, as well as an editor. My current proofreader is so far ahead of the rest of you, that I don't want bug them with past mistakes we both missed. So I'm asking here and in a few other place. Will you help me?

If you are curious just PM me.

Chapter 6: The Cave Rebels (Revised)

Morning came as the duel Sun and Moon eclipse rose. Twilight let out a yawn as she awoke, finding a blanket over her. She had apparently fallen back to sleep after telling some stories of her timeline to Discord. She got up and left the room she was sleeping in, stepping outside. She heard a scream and turned, only to see a few fillies and colts playing with Discord. ‘Well at least they’re not screaming in terror anymore,’ she thought.

Upon seeing that Twilight awake, Discord decided he had spent enough time playing with the children and went over to go see how Twilight was doing. She walked with Discord through the ruins, seeing that although the ponies of this world had to deal with the terrible nightmares at night, they could at least still enjoy the day. Twilight decided to ask Discord for more info.

“So Discord, you said that you worked alongside this version of Twilight. I want to know, what was she like?”

“Well, she was a good, friendly mare and a bit an egghead.”

“And,” said Twilight, as she was hoping to get a few more answers.

“Actually that’s as much as she would let anypony see.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, there's not much else I can tell you.”

“Well…..” Twilight drifted on the next words? “What about Flash Sentry?”

“Why would you ask about him? What, is he part of your mane six group?”

Twilight paused upon remembering that she had indeed told Discord and Rainbow Dash about her friends from her timeline. Then her mind went back to Flash. ‘Wait, why am I asking about Flash? I should be asking about my other friends.’

“Twilight? Hello?”

Discord’s voice brought Twilight back, “Huh?”

“Twilight, you were asking about Flash Sentry?”

“Oh,” she gave a half smile, not realizing she was blushing.

“No way,” said Discord grin widely.

“What? What?” Twilight still hadn’t noticed. Then Discord fell down laughing. “What? What’s so funny?”

“You are,” Discord answered as he pointed at her. “Oh, this is good! I was right. Now Big Macintosh owes me fifty bits,” he continued to laugh.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Twilight had no idea what he was talking about until she saw her reflection in some nearby glass. She was blushing heavily. Apparently, she had been blushing since Flash’s name was brought up.

Finally, Discord stopped laughing and got back up. “I’m sorry Twilight, it’s just this timeline’s version of you had been very secretive about things to everypony. Well, everypony except Flash, that is,” he tried to keep the giggles down, “And well although there was no openness about it, there had been rumors in the Dark Rebels that Flash was more than your personal guardian.”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with Big Macintosh?”

“Well because I and the big guy made a bet a few months ago that you had been in a relationship with Flash and that’s why he was so distant since…..” Discord stopped smiling, then took a moment. “Since you died.”

“Oh,” Twilight took a moment too, then spoke. “Well, how is he now?”

“Well, you should already know since you already saw him.”

“What?” said Twilight, as she was taken aback by this. "When did I see him?"

“Twilight,” said Discord with a smirk. “He was the one who gave you the phrase to tell me.”

“Oh,” said Twilight, realizing the pegasus did seem familiar. “But wait, Rainbow Dash say he has massive wings in this timeline.”

“Well, he does, but he learned to keep them hidden.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, whatever else that you to want know about him will have to wait, because he will be here tomorrow with ‘F’.”

“He will?” said Twilight with a slight blush.

“Yeah, I contacted them while you slept. Flash and 'F' have been working alongside this timeline’s Twilight for years.”

Twilight stopped walking, “Discord you keep saying years, and yet,” Twilight stopped for a moment and the spoke again. “In my timeline, Nightmare Moon broke free only more than a year ago.” She looked directly at him. “Look, you may not have been out during the first Dark War, but I know for a fact that even in stone you can still sense what going on in the world around you.”

“I was afraid you would ask that.” They both stopped walking. “And you're right, I could sense what was going on around me, however, I could only sense the changes in magic and nothing else.”

“That's all I needed to know,” said Twilight. “How long has the Nightmare Force been free?”

“Thirteen years.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. “So it’s been that long? That's the year of the Sonic Rainboom Event.” The pieces were coming together in Twilight’s mind. “And since this timeline’s Rainbow Dash said she did a Shadow Rainboom and not a Sonic Rainboom, that mean Starlight must have went back to that time and changed that moment.”

“But how will that help you now? You don’t have the time traveling spell.”

“You're right,” said Twilight, as she hung her head down. “I need to think of something.” Twilight hit her head as she couldn't think of anything, “This is crazy, but I can’t think of any ideas without my little assistant.”

“Who?” asked Discord.

“Spike,” said Twilight. “He has always been there for me, like a little brother,” Twilight had a thought. A crazy thought. “Discord, this is going to sound crazy, but I need to go talk with the Cave Rebels.”

“What?” said Discord. “That IS crazy. You do realize that Rarity threatened to kill you?”

“Yes,” said Twilight with determination in her voice. “But there is something I need to know. I have to ask Spike who hatched him.”

“You don't realize how crazy this idea of your is? We're dealing with a master of crystals here,” said Discord. “Getting answers from her or Spike is insane.”

“Don’t worry. I have a plan. We can pull it off once we find Rainbow Dash.”

And indeed Twilight had a brilliant, incredible plan. She thought she thought of everything, only she didn’t account for one thing...

******

<5 hours later, just outside the Cave Rebels Base>

“Brilliant plan Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash in utter sarcasm.

“Hey, how was I supposed to know this would happen?” said Twilight. They had gotten close to the main base in the Smokey Mountains, which lay to the far west of Fallen Canterlot. The plan was to sneak in, however it fell apart quickly as large crystals rose from the ground and trapped them. “And where did these things even come from anyway?”

“Well I said she’s a master of crystals,” said Discord.

“I thought you meant that sword of her’s,” said Twilight.

“Oh, the sword is just one of her weapons. She has many different abilities,” said Soarin.

"What? When was anypony going to fill me in on this?"

“You didn’t ask,” all three said.

******

Soon Rarity’s army of diamond dogs stepped out of the entrance to the base. They surrounded the four. “So it seems, dearie, you want your death now,” said Rarity as she stepped forward. She was wearing another fancy dress that covered most of her body and a veil over her head.

Twilight looked confused. This was the second time seeing this timeline’s version of Rarity and again she had most of herself covered. It was unusual for Rarity to keep her beauty hidden. Twilight pushed her thoughts away and asked, “Rarity I need to talk to Spike.”

Suddenly the giant dragon that was Spike flew out of the cave and surrounded them. “And what is it you want with me?”

Twilight took a gulp and spoke up. “Spike and Rarity this may come as a shock to you, but I'm not the Twilight you knew,” They looked curiously. “I’m from a different timeline.”

“Oh really, “ said Rarity, as she summoned a chair made of crystal. “Prove it dear. Tell me something about me that you would know and not something the other Twilight would know.”

“Fine,” said Twilight, as she gave another gulp. “I know that you design your own dresses.”

Rarity giggled. “Alright then now,” then she stopped and looked at Spike. “Now Twilight, tell me something about Spike that the other Twilight wouldn’t know.”

Twilight took a deep breath. ‘Well, I am going to have to break a Pinkie Promise for this part.’ “Rarity, in my timeline Spike had a major crush on you.” Suddenly silence fell over them all, followed by complete laughter. “What?” Rarity, Spike, and the diamond dogs were laughing as hard as they could. “Will somepony please tell me what’s going on here?” No answer, Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and the others and they didn’t have a clue what was going on either.

Finally, they stopped laughing and Rarity spoke. “Alright dear, enough jokes. Tell me, why are you here?”

Twilight was at a loss. She couldn’t figure out what was going on. ‘They were all laughing, including Spike,’ Twilight pondered, then she finally spoke. “Spike I want to know who hatched you?”

Instant silence fell over them all. Upon hearing Twilight’s question, Spike instantly froze and shrank to his normal height. Then he ran and stood by Rarity. Twilight could see that the other form was a sort of transformation that Spike could pull out at will. She could see now that Spike was clearly older in this timeline and that he stood slightly taller than Rarity. She looked at Spike’s face and there was absolute terror in his features.

“Spike?” Twilight said shakily. Suddenly a strange looking crystal shot up from the ground and wrapped around Twilight’s throat. Twilight started choking as the rope-like crystal wrapped tightly around her neck. The three others looked on in shock.

“Rarity, stop this now!!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“How dare you!” said Rarity as she got off her chair. “How dare you ask my beloved Spikey Wikey that question!!” She shouted in utter rage.

Twilight was shocked by those words. ‘She said her beloved.’ The words just kept repeating in her head until finally, she lost consciousness.

******

Twilight felt like she was floating. She finally heard a voice. “Twilight, oh Twilight.”

Twilight open her eyes to see herself floating in the air. She saw stars as if she were in space. “Am I dead?”

“No, I assure you, Twilight, you are far from dead,” the voice said with malice.

“Who are you?”

“I am insulted that you would forget your adopted mother twice,” said the voice with annoyance.

“Nightmare Moon,” Twilight trembled.

“Yes, daughter it is I. Nightmare, ruler of this world,” said Nightmare Moon.

“What do you want with me?”

“Many things, but right now I want to know what you want in your sister’s dragon.”

“What?”

“Spike.”

“What do know of Spike?”

“Well, I know who hatched him.”

“Who?” said Twilight. “Who hatched him?”

Nightmare let out a psychotic laughter. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“No, now tell me.”

“Who would fill Spike’s mind with so much terror and so much fear that that moment would be one of only two memories of his entire life that he would never look back upon?”

“I don’t know who, now tell me.”

The voice got closer, so close that Twilight could feel Nightmare’s breath on the back of her neck. “Your Father,” Twilight got her answer but she was still confused. Who was this ‘Father’? She got no more answers as all she could hear was Nightmare Moon laughing over and over as the dream ended.

******

Nightmare Moon opened her eyes and looked upon the Empire as she sat on her throne. Not many features could be seen on Nightmare Moon as a shadowy silhouette covered most of her body. All that could have been seen of her were her eyes.

As she sat there on her throne, she looked upon the Empire from an incredibly tall crystal spire that seemed to be made with the same crystals that the Castle Of Friendship was made of.

She admired her empire. To her, it looked glorious, but to anypony else, it looked like a nightmare wasteland devoid of life. Even most of the mountains around the spire were gone. The crystal spire itself stood on top of the tallest mountain in what used to be Griffinstone. Swarming around the spire were her personal army of Nightmare Griffins. Nightmare Moon was always impressed with her power.

Suddenly Nightmare Moon felt a pull on a group chains that was hooked to her throne.

“Oh so you’re awake now,” spoke the one on the chains. “I will get free sooner or later.”

Nightmare Moon laughed, and then spoke “Still on that, are we? You know you can’t break those chains.” But the one chains continued to struggle. “What? Worried about the other Twilight, and the fact she is gathering the prophesied newest element wielders? But don’t fret, I will deal with them soon enough. But for now, I think I will visit a certain dragon.”

******

Twilight woke up and found herself in a cell. It was nighttime. “Uh, what happen?” said Twilight as she got up. She looked around to see that Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Discord were all in cells. “What's going on here?”

“I’ll tell you what's going on Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash, as she got up from the chair in her cell. “Rarity nearly murdered you right in front of us.”

“What?” said Twilight in terror, as she grabbed her neck. She could still feel the pain in her neck from where Rarity nearly killed her. Then she remembered seeing Spike’s face just before losing consciousness. His face had shown absolute terror, not of Rarity, but of Twilight. Her question had absolutely scared him. As if he were so afraid of his past. It terrified Twilight to think who this ‘Father’ might be that hatched Spike and brought him such fear.

Suddenly screams filled the caves, the voice of the scream sounding all too familiar. “That’s Spike!” said Twilight as she jumped at the shock of hearing Spike. “I have to get to him!” she said as she tried to break down the cell door. It wouldn’t budge.

“That’s pointless Twilight. You won’t break it down. These bars are made of onyx. It’s going to take a lot more than simply kicking,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, you would need some magic to break these down,” said Soarin.

“Magic? That’s it! Rainbow Dash, what kind of magic do those dark amulets work on?”

“Dark Magic. Why?”

“Well, it’s been awhile since I used it but……” Twilight took a stance and then sent a dark magic blast, which broke the bars. “Yes! It worked!”

“Okay what about us?” said Rainbow Dash, but Twilight ran off, “Hey, come back!”

“Sorry, I have to check on Spike,” said Twilight as she ran down through the cave to find Spike.

“Wait……” but it was too late. Twilight was gone.

“Great. Now, what do we do?”

“I don’t know. What do you think ‘SS’?” Rainbow Dash asked Discord. There was no answer. “‘SS? Hello, are you even listening?” She looked in Discord’s cell “Shit, that draconequus already escaped.”

“Damn.”

*******

Twilight ran through the caves trying to find Spike, not knowing what she would find. She came upon a pathway the led to a single door. Twilight walked to the door. Still hearing Spike’s screams, Twilight went to open it, but then she heard Rarity’s voice.

“Calm down, Spike it will be okay, I’m right here,” said Rarity.

“No, get away from me Rarity. I’m a monster!!” yelled Spike. “Please get away from me before I hurt you again.”

“No, you saved me and I know you will never hurt me again. At least not on purpose.”

“But you should hate me for what I did.”

“I could never hate you. I love you, Spike.”

Twilight felt tears going down her face upon hearing those words. After Spike finally calmed down from the nightmare, Twilight slowly walked back to her cell, not noticing the fact that Rarity had seen her behind the door.

******

Twilight went back to her cell and sat down. ‘Why did I even doubt their relationship could ever work? It's clear that Rarity and Spike love each other in this timeline, so why not in mine too?’

Twilight did a few more hours of pondering. She was completely ignoring the world trying to figure out if her timeline version of Spike and Rarity could one day be as close as this timeline’s version of them.

It wasn’t until Rarity stepped into Twilight’s cell with her crystal blade out that Twilight finally snapped back to reality. “Rarity,” said Twilight, as she jumped up, seeing the blade.

“How much did you see?” said Rarity, as she stood in front Twilight. Twilight looked in terror as she saw Rarity. She was now wearing her Mare Do Well suit.

“I heard-- ” but Rarity cut her off.

“I said what did you see?!?!” demanded Rarity, as she aimed her crystal blade right at Twilight’s neck.

“What do you mean? I didn’t see anything.”

“Liar. You saw me with my veil off, didn’t you?”

“What?”

Suddenly Rarity stopped and broke down in tears. Twilight reacted instantly by pulling Rarity into a hug. “Go on let it out,” said Twilight as she let Rarity cry on her shoulder even though she was understandably confused as to what was going on.

Finally, Rarity stopped and said, “Follow me. There is something I have to show you.”

“Alright.”

******

Twilight followed Rarity to the living quarters. “Here is a good spot,” said Rarity as she channeled some magic. Crystals shot up and covered the entrances. “There, we should have some privacy now.”

“I’ve been wondering how you can do that. My timeline’s version of you can only find gems, not control them.”

“Dear, well that's obvious, I was once a princess, too.”

“You were a princess?”

“Yes when you left, I was meant to be your replacement,” She seemed a bit hesitant. “Now you have to promise me you won’t scream at this next part.”

“What?”

“Please, Twilight?”

“Oh fine. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” as she completed the motions.

“A what now?”

“Oh sorry, just something from my timeline. Now, what did you want to show me.”

“Okay, here goes,” Rarity removed her mask.

Twilight’s eyes shot wide open upon seeing Rarity's face. It was covered in a huge, old scar and burns. “Rarity?”

“Wait there's more,” said Rarity as she rolled up her sleeves and shirt and showed the old scars and burns covered her entire body.

Twilight was in tears upon seeing it. “What happen?”

“You asked about Spike’s past, but I can only tell you everything if I tell my story as well.”

“Okay,” Twilight took a seat.

“This is the story of the secret Princess Crystal Star and the Dragon who won her heart.”

******

Author's Note

New chapter out. Now on to the changes. Before it was hard to tell the Nightmare was talking to somepony. In fact I don't think anypony really notice my hint right there. Well it more obvious that she talking with somepony but who. Don't forget to comment. Feedback is always welcome.

Chapter 7: Meetings And Friendships (Revised)

There was darkness everywhere. A lone infant dragon that had just barely hatched, tried to open his eyes, but could not. “Did it work?” he heard a voice speak.

“Yes, my master. It seems your spell has worked,” the infant dragon heard another voice.

“Good, now begin the experiments, I want to know if the prophecies are true about this dragon,” the first voice said.

Suddenly the infant dragon’s eyes finally shot opened and he looked around and saw a batpony stallion with a gray mane, and a yellow pegasus stallion with a white mane. They were both in lab coats. Beside the pegasus was a shadowy figure of some sort. It was a tall, strong stallion in royal armor and a black royal cape. It was unclear whether this pony was a pegasus, unicorn or earth pony.

The shadowy figure turned to see the dragon’s eyes open. “Oh, I see you're awake,” the figure said as he lowered himself and stared at the infant dragon directly in the eyes. The infant dragon did not know what absolute terror was until he saw the shadowy figure’s eyes. Soon the infant dragon began to cry erratically, however, that was stopped as the shadowy figure spoke one word, "Bow."

Instantly the baby felt everything pull him down into a bow. It was as if space was being bent around him.

Afterward, the shadowy figure turned back to the pegasus. “Well, what are you two waiting for? Begin the experimentation, we have seven years until the Rainboom event is prophecied, and we need him ready by then.”

“Yes, my master,” said the yellow pegasus.

******

<7 years later>

Deep in a hidden laboratory. The dragon woke up and found himself still chained up. He had lived so long with these chains, suffering several experiments, he feared that he would spend the rest of his life like this. The dragon sat there waiting for the yellow pegasus to come back and do more experiments. He had heard many time that the scientists were trying to get him to transform into what was being called a Ryu Form. That’s all the dragon knew. He felt that this was his life.

But today seemed different. As the ground began to shake, there was a loud boom above the lab. The dragon looked up to see a Shadow Rainboom shoot across the sky. Then everything went silent. In that one Rainboom the dragon saw something he felt he had a connection to. The dragon thought seeing it would bring hope.

However, instead, this was the moment that the being that would soon to be known as Father, used the power of the Rainboom combined with his own power to break the imprisonment spell over Nightmare Moon. This set her free. But things did not go the way Father had planned. He set Nightmare Moon free, but in truth, he actually wanted to just set Princess Luna free. That plan failed and instead he decided to work alongside Nightmare Moon to conquer Equestria. But his true reasons for serving her would always remain a mystery.

******

Shortly after the event which became to be called the ‘Shadow Rainboom Event’, the project that the dragon had been hatched for was deemed a failure because nopony could get the dragon to transform into his Ryu Form. After the laboratory was abandoned the dragon was abandoned as well. The dragon was never even given a name. All he knew to call himself was the barcode on his chains. The barcode was SpI146.

******

Rarity was a powerful white unicorn that could sense crystals. For this she was brought in for Project Royal B. At the time, four royals had already been chosen. However, there was a fear that some of the four would not be up to the job of being the ruler's secret weapons. So in case one of them were to fall behind or fail, a new royal would be brought in as their replacement. This was Project Royal B, and Rarity along with a few others were chosen for it. Others included Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Blueblood, Moondancer, and Moonchaser. The Project was run by Duchess Cadenza a.k.a. Cadence, and Mistress Chrystal. It was being overseen by Duchess Cadenza’s betrothed, Captain Dark Armor a.k.a. Shining Armor, who would later became known as General Dark Armor.

Rarity was very powerful and was given many lessons. She eventually became so good with her powers that she became a personal student of Mistress Chrystal. In doing so, Mistress Chrystal taught Rarity how to use the Crystal Blade and was later taught how to use other forms of crystal magic.

Crystal magic like dark magic, shapeshifting and dragon magic was invisible to the Empire. And unlike dark magic, crystal magic would not slowly corrode the mind of the user, so it was a valuable asset to have. Any normal forms of magic; like unicorn magic, pegasus magic, and earth pony magic were removed from existence outside the Empire by unknown means. Any that wanted to use those types of magics outside the empire would have to use the Dark Amulets. But some magic still existed outside the Empire like chaos magic, changeling magic, fire magic, and light magic and could still be used. However, use of these other magics could easily be sensed by the Empire.

For these and many other reasons, Rarity set forth to master crystal magic and eventually she did became quite a master at it. This earned her the title Princess Crystal Star.

******

It had been eight years since Project Ryu had been abandoned. Rarity had been sent by Mistress Chrystal on a secret mission to explore the old, broken down laboratory. She was told to look for a special crystal that was mentioned in one of the prophecies. Rarity knew nothing of the prophecies. All she knew was that the crystal was important.

She was joined on her mission by Blueblood, who despite being recently betrothed to Princess Dead Star, still tried flirting with other mares. Blueblood often proved to be more of an annoyance than a help, because Rarity would often get anger at his flirting.

Rarity had learned quickly at her young age under the tutelage of Mistress Chrystal that most stallions were buffoons that were easily swayed by the looks of a mare. So Rarity often got angry over flirty stallions. This is what led to her separating from Blueblood the second she got the chance to.

******

Deep in the old, broken down laboratory, Rarity found herself far from Blueblood's position. “Finally got away from that ruffian! Seriously, that stallion does not know how to properly treat a lady,”

Rarity had learned her attitude and accent from her mentor, Mistress Chrystal. Mistress Chrystal seemed to of heralded from the highest of the elite. However, her true heritage was unknown.

Rarity knew to serve Mistress Chrystal was a great honor. The Mistress took on very few protégées. As of now, there had only been three. Rarity, Duchess Cadenza and an unknown soldier who later died in battle.

******

“I may have lost Blueblood, but now I seem to have gotten myself lost as well,” said Rarity as she kicked a rock out of annoyance. She decided to keep walking and found a new path. “This is strange, I didn’t notice this path before.”

She walked down it and hoped she would find what she was looking for. She began scanning for the crystal she was told to get, sensing the crystal was close. “Hmm,” she said, as she found a door. A sign on the door said, “Project Ryu,” she read. “Subject Sp…,” she tried to read the last part but it was too eroded to read properly so she tried her best. “Sp…. Spike,” instead of it reading “SpI146”, it read “Spike”.

Rarity opened the door and walked in. Once inside, she felt uneasy as she heard a distinct growling that put a certain chill of terror down her spine. “Who's there?” she asked.

“Please…. don’t hurt me….” was said between the unknown growls.

“What are you talking about? I was not sent here to hurt something or whatever something you are,” Rarity said as she tried to find where the growling was coming from. “Please tell me, are you subject Spike.”

“No, my name is SpI146.”

“Well I had a feeling I was reading the sign wrong,” said Rarity. She continued to try and find the source of the unknown voice. “Could you come out? You should know that you can’t exactly leave a lady talking to nothing.”

“A lady?” questioned the voice, as he was perplexed by her words. She spoke kindly and soft. An attitude he had never heard before in a pony. She also didn’t look like experimenter. She a light purple cape and a blue top that matched her eyes, and a small white dress. He decided that she seemed trustworthy.

“Yes, a lady, now please let me see what you look like,” asked Rarity.

“Alright….,” he said, as he slowly stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself.

Rarity looked to see a purple and green dragon that was about her height. “Oh, you're a dragon.”

“Yes, I am,” he said back to her.

“I never met a dragon before. How did you get here, dearie?”

“That something I don’t like to talk about,” he said as he started to move back.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?” asked Rarity, as she felt like she had hurt his feelings. It was strange because she wouldn’t really care at all if she had hurt the feelings of a male like Blueblood, but this dragon getting his feelings hurt felt wrong to her, she just didn't know why.

“Yes.”

“Then accept my apology, I did not mean to hurt your feelings.”

“Okay.”

“It’s just that I noticed your chains and got curious. Anyway, I was sent here on a mission to look for a crystal.”

“A crystal? What are crystals?” the dragon asked out of curiosity.

“What?” Rarity was caught off guard by what he had said. “You don’t know what crystals are?”

“No,” he answered.

“But you’re a dragon, deary. Dragons eat crystals.”

“Well, I never have. The only things I've eaten before are the occasional rats and mice that crawl by.”

“What?” Rarity said, in complete shock. “A dragon who has never eaten crystals before, that has to be THE WORST POSSIBLE THING!!” she shouted the last part, as a soft crystal couch rose from the ground and caught her as she fell.

“Huh,” said the dragon, as he was again perplexed by her actions. But this time mostly by the strange-looking couch that she summoned.

Rarity looked to see him staring, “Oh sorry, dear, it’s a bit of a reflex.”

“Oh,” he kept staring.

“Ehm,” she huffed. “It’s impolite to stare at a lady.”

“But I’m not staring at you,” the dragon retorted back.

She soon realized he was staring at the couch. “Oh, the crystal couch.” Rarity got up. “That’s fine, you can have it,” she floated the crystal couch to him and broke it apart so he could eat it. He looked at her strangely. “Go on darling, try them. These are crystals.”

He looked and took a sniff, taking in its great smell. He started to scarf the pieces down. As he ate, she tried to talk to him in hopes that she would get info out of him on where the crystal she was after might be held. She told him her name was Rarity and a little bit of her life while he asked what the world outside the laboratory was like.

It was strange for Rarity to enjoy her talk with the dragon. Maybe it was the fact that even though he was a male, he simply just saw her as just an ordinary pony. She was used to most males looking at her in vulgar ways. Yet he spoke less like a ruffian and more like a goofball. She even found herself giggling once or twice. Eventually, the talk came to a close.

******

“Well I must be going, I'm sure that ruffian is still looking for me,” said Rarity.

“Okay……” he said, as he seemed a bit distant.

“What is it, deary?” Rarity got concerned.

“Nothing, it’s just everypony seems to abandon me,” the dragon’s eyes started to strain.

“Oh really, do you think a lady such as myself would give up a chance to come visit with such a gentle dragon?”

“No.”

“Good then I will see you in a few days,” Rarity said as she got up, and started to leave. But then she turned around and said, “SpI146, I really don’t think that is a good name for a dragon.”

“Really,” said the dragon.

“Yes, I think Spike would be a much more lovely name.”

“Okay,” he said. “Spike it is.”

“Good, I will see you in a few days, Spike.” said Rarity, as she took her leave.

******

Rarity waited on the airship with Blueblood as it took them back to the Empire. As they sat, Blueblood tried to strike a conversation with Rarity, but he got no answer as her mind was on other things. ‘Spike is certainly different than most males. Is it because he is a dragon, hmm possibly.‘Oh come on, he was just being nice,’ she thought to herself.

“Hey, are you even listening?” said Blueblood, as he got annoyed. There was no answer. “Hey answer me!”

Finally, Rarity heard him and turned. “Oh, you were talking. I didn’t notice.”

“What?!” he shouted in anger as he got up.

“Oh, what's this? Did I make the ruffian mad?” asked Rarity with a sarcastic voice and an almost lazy-eyed look.

“How dare you!” Blueblood walked over and grabbed Rarity by the arm.

“Oh, so the ruffian doesn’t know how to properly treat a lady.”

“Oh, I’m gonna show you how I handle a lady,” Blueblood had the dirtiest grin on his face.

“Oh, really,” said Rarity with a sly grin.

Blueblood leaned closer and spoke. “Yes, really,” as he grabbed her other arm.

Rarity knew what he was after and she knew just the perfect way to oblige him. “Well, let me get things started...”

“No, I think I st--” but Blueblood couldn’t say anymore as Rarity had kicked him between the legs so hard he was almost sure that everything down below had receded.

As he quaked in pain, Rarity spoke. “Oh, don’t like hardcore? That's not what Trixie told me.” She pulled her legs close. “Hmm, well then I hope you enjoy the next thing.” She then pulled herself up using her still held down arms as leverage. “How about a bit of foot fetish?”

Blueblood looked up only to see enough as Rarity proceeded to unleash a barrage of kicks to his face. The final kick being to his face was with such great force that he could no longer hold onto her arms as he was sent flying to the other side of the airship while Rarity fell back down gracefully into her seat.

Blueblood didn’t know which part of his body was hurting more as he laid there in pain. But Rarity was not done getting her message across, as she got up and walked over to him. “Oh, looks like you didn’t get the chance to grab out your sword.” Then she pulled her crystal blade and continue to speak. “But if you had, I would be forced to cut it off with my crystal blade.” She aimed her crystal right at somewhere that would be very important to any stallion. With a gulp and an obvious ‘scared out his mind’ face, Blueblood conceded and slowly went back to his seat.

******

Finally, they arrived at the base. Rarity immediately headed to meet with Mistress Chrystal. She had a ways to walk, for the base was massive. It was a grand crystal building forged out of the side of a small mountain. Only part of the building was exposed outside, the rest lay within the mountain itself. It went thirty stories down into the ground and the entirety of the building was made of crystal.

After nearly half an hour of walking, Rarity finally met up with Mistress Chrystal. “Mistress Chrystal, I am glad I finally found you,” said Rarity as she approached. Mistress Chrystal was a tall, white unicorn with a teal mane and she wore a long slimming dress that was black as midnight. The dress gave the appearance that she was as thin as a needle at some angles.

“Oh Princess Crystal Star, I assume your search went well,” said Mistress Chrystal. Mistress Chrystal’s voice always seem to speak with the refinement of somepony who had been around for a very long time, yet she looked at most in her early thirties.

“Well, unfortunately, no, I was not able to find the crystal, I would want to try again in a few days, this time without Blueblood,” said Rarity,

“That is fine. Any reason why?” asked Mistress Chrystal.

“Most certainly! The ruffian tried to rape me!”

“Did you put him in his place?”

“But of course. It wasn't too hard giving him something he shan't soon forget.”

“Alright, you can go alone,” said Mistress Chrystal with a giggle. “Just remember your other duties. You need to be ready in case Twilight Sparkle fails to kill Princess Celestia. She should be returning any month now,” said Mistress Chrystal. “Anyway, now that your back, you need to get some training in before night falls.”

“All right,” said Rarity. “Wait, before we begin, can I ask…..” Rarity started to drift on the words. “What are dragons usually like?”

“Hmm, dragons?” said Mistress Chrystal with a raised eyebrow. “Dragons are monstrous creatures that only care about their hordes,” she took a step forward and spoke. “Are you asking advice on how to handle one?”

“Yes,” said Rarity with a worried look.

Mistress Chrystal pulled out her crystal saber and gave Rarity a stern look. “You kill it before it kills you.”

“Really?” said Rarity with even more worry in her voice.

“Yes, if you go near a dragon, you best be ready for a fight because the dragon will not hesitate to bite your head clean off,” said Mistress Chrystal, as she moved the point of her saber around and ever so close to Rarity’s neck. Rarity got the point of the message as she gulped. “Now let us get to your training for today, dear,” she said as she went walking to the training area.

“Yes, Mistress Chrystal,” said Rarity as she followed, hanging her head down the entirety of the way. Mistress Chrystal’s words spoke volumes to Rarity and Rarity always tried her best to believe her mentor’s words. Most of the time she did. Remembering the day that Mistress Chrystal had brought her info on how Rarity’s sister and her parents died at the hands of some rebels reinforced her belief in her. In a way, Mistress Chrystal was like a second mother to her. She always kept watch over Rarity and had always done her best to keep Rarity safe.

******

A few days passed and Rarity went back to see Spike. He was still on a chain as she approached the room. “Spike are you there?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m here,” answered Spike with a very happy voice. “Lady Rarity, you came back!”

Rarity stepped in. “Well of course. I did say a lady such as myself wouldn’t give up a chance to talk to such a gentle dragon,” said Rarity, with a slight giggle. Spike was still being quite the gentlecolt, though in his case it was a gentledragon.

“Thank you, lady Rarity,” said Spike. “I’m glad you came back. How was your way? Was I too much of a problem to get to?”

Rarity couldn’t help but finding herself giggling again. “No, not really, you are not a problem. Beside that ruffian didn’t come with me this time, so I came alone.”

Spike tried to hide the slight blush he had from her giggles. Luckily she turned away to grab something and didn’t see it. “Anyway, did you bring any crystals with y--?”

But Spike stopped as Rarity had already thought ahead of him. “But of course darling! After the way you scarfed down my couch, I had to.” Rarity presented him with an assortment of different crystals in different colors. “Here you go, Spike. Try some,” she offered as Spike began to scarf them down. “The blue ones are called sapphires, the green ones are called emeralds and the purple ones are called amethysts.”

“Mmm, their good,” Spike said between bites. Eventually, the assortment was gone. Spike lifted his head up and let out a belch, while letting out some flame in the process to which afterward he covered his mouth and politely apologized.

“Oh it's quite alright, and might I say, your flames are a lovely shade of green.”

“Thanks,” said Spike, blushing slightly.

“I was just curious whether you likes them or not. Which color did you like the best?”

“I don’t know...I guess the purple ones.”

Rarity looked away and thought at the moment, ‘Those are my favorite kind to wear, but I didn’t realize they might taste really good to a dragon!’ She looked back and thought again, ‘Hmmm, note to self: don’t wear them around Spike or he might just actually bite my head off!’

Spike just stood there as she was thinking, him being with his own thoughts. 'Hmm, maybe I was wrong to assume that all ponies are like that pegasus and batpony. I mean, she did come back and she brought me that delicious food.’

Rarity decided to ask something. “Spike since you now know what crystals taste like….do you like to eat meat more or eat crystals?”

“Oh, definitely the crystals! Meat always tasted horrid, so I would rather eat crystals. In fact, I haven’t touched a single rat or mouse since you brought me those first crystals.”

“Really? You starved yourself just on the off chance I might bring you more crystals?” Rarity got a worried look.

“Well, yes,” Spike said, as he wagged his tail like a dog.

“Well then, if you are going to starve yourself for some crystals, you need to be able to get some on your own, darling,” Rarity replied, taking a stance.

“Well, how am I going to do that while still on a chai--” Just then a crystal shard rose up and broke his chain. Spike looked in shock.

“That’s how dar--,” suddenly Rarity was pulled into a hug. She regretted letting him off his chain. She was starting to think that he had been hiding his vulgarness, as she grabbed the hilt of her crystal blade, ready to ‘discipline' him. He let go rather quickly and apologized again. “What?” she said afterward, out of sheer confusion. ‘From the position he had me in he could have easily had his vulgar way with me, yet he didn’t,’ she thought, as she stepped back slightly. ‘He said ‘sorry’, he apologized like he knew had done something wrong,’ she stopped her backtrack. ‘Hmm, maybe Spike is different from most males.’

“Lady Rarity, are you okay? You have been awfully silent,” Spike said. Suddenly Spike looked and stopped as his eyes started to strain and he started to back away. “I said sorry, please don’t hurt me.”

After hearing those last words she froze. ‘Why would I hurt him? He let me go,’ then she realized he saw where her hand was - on the hilt of her blade. It was this that soon made her see it. She looked to see tears in his eyes. It all became clear about why he didn’t want to talk about how he got to this place. Spike had suffered - years by the look of it.

Rarity found herself with tears now as well. She let go of the hilt of her blade upon that final realization. He was not going to do anything wrong, but she was. Rarity moved forward without even realizing it and returned the hug. “No Spike, I should be the one saying I’m sorry! Here I was thinking you are just a vulgar male when it's clear that you one of the most gentle creatures I have ever met.”

******

They stayed like that for a moment, not moving. Soon Rarity found herself enjoying his closeness. But eventually as prodded by thoughts of, ‘Come on Rarity, remember why you're here.’ She ended the hug. “So Spike,” She cleared her tears. “I actually have to get back to base soon.”

“Oh really,” said Spike with a still, sad look.

“Don’t worry Spike, I'll come back next week. Until then you can use your new freedom to finally go outside and hunt for more crystals on your own.”

“Well I don’t want to leave this place yet,” said Spike as he looked around. “Despite the bad memories I’ve had here, this is the only place I know as home.”

“Well you are a lot more stubborn than I am, but at least with your new freedom, you could help a lady out.”

“Well, how can I help out milady?” asked Spike with a slight bow.

Rarity let out a giggle. “Well, I was originally sent a few days ago to look for a certain crystal that is said to be hidden in this laboratory somewhere.”

“All right, then I could look for it for you. What does it look like?”

“Well, it’s about the size of my palm and glows like red fire. It’s called a Fire Ruby.”

“Okay, I will try to find it.”

“All right. I will see you in a week,” said Rarity, as she took her leave.

Neither one had noticed the connection between them that had been made that day. And only time would tell what that connection would become.

******

Author's Note

Well here is Chapter 7. It went through quite a few changes, more so that I move a few scenes from the next chapter to this one.

Chapter 8: Closeness And Painful Tears (Revised)

The weeks passed rather fast and Rarity found herself visiting Spike every week. And although in truth her real reasons for visiting him were to see if he found the Fire Ruby yet, she couldn’t help but be nice enough and bring other types of crystals for him to try.

He told her they each had different flavors, prompting Rarity to bring him some garnets to try. From his reaction as well as the way Spike describe the flavor being so hot, she could have sworn he had tasted a massively hot chili pepper. It would actually have been no surprise since garnets were typically found in volcanoes. That day she enjoyed the most and could not stop giggling in laughter.

Another time Rarity found out that Spike wasn’t particularly fond of onyx, so she thought that if she was ever going to wear any crystals around him it would probably be best to wear onyx and garnet, which worked perfectly because she had been thinking of a new costume to go with her crystal blade. She decided that onyx paired with some purple garnets would look fabulous.

******

They wanted to move it to monthly visits so she could keep up with training. Instead, they stayed as weekly visits for the longest time. Then eventually it became daily visits. Rarity didn’t know what it was, she just found herself truly enjoying her visits with Spike. He was so kind and gentle. Every time she would visit him, he would completely demolish her theories of a male’s mind.

They came to know each other so well. As a full year passed Rarity felt herself growing closer to Spike with each visit. It eventually got to the point where she no longer cared about finding the Fire Ruby, just simply visiting with Spike.

As another year passed, there were times that she had to stop visiting Spike for long periods of time so it would not draw suspicion from her peers. And every time Rarity did this she, felt her chest twist. Then the twist would go away as soon as she saw Spike again.

Rarity had hoped nopony would notice, but somepony already had noticed without her realizing it. The problem now was why wasn’t this unknown somepony doing something about it. Was it because they didn’t care or maybe it was because this mysterious unknown could see the truth on Rarity’s face? It was something Rarity believed she herself could never feel for a male.

******

Time eventually passed enough for Spike to finally tell Rarity who is it was that had hatched him, and the two ponies that had subjected him to horrible experiments. From Spike’s description, she knew this dark figure had to be ‘Father’. Spike continued to talk to Rarity about his past and she found it sickening that one of the rulers of the Empire used to allow such experiments.

After Spike was done talking he got so scared, Rarity decided to go against her code and stay the night with Spike. Nothing happened - they just stayed to their own sides of the room, and in the morning, Rarity went back to base.

******

Rarity was heading back to base, arguing with herself the entirety of the way. She felt annoyed that she had done such a thing. ‘I can’t believe I actually stayed the night with Spike,’ she thought to herself. ‘I mean sure, nothing happen. We didn’t even sleep near each other,’ she argued in her mind.

‘And yet I was almost wanting him to sleep near me, or maybe right…….next….. to….. me,’ At that moment she mentally slapped herself.

‘Look at yourself, Rarity, you’re blushing massively, and just almost allowed a vulgar idea to pop in and ruin everything!’

‘That idea wasn’t vulgar. I mean, I’m not thinking like I wanted to have sex with him. I just wanted him to hold me like he’s done before.’ Her blush was getting brighter with each of those words moving through her mind. ‘How could that be wrong?’ she questioned herself.

‘It is very wrong. You know what Mistress Chrystal told you.’

‘I know, males are only after one thing, and if you allow a little bit of any closeness, then you’re just allowing them to take everything from you.’

‘Exactly.’

‘I know, but Spike is different. He wouldn't try to defile me, would he?’

‘Rarity, he’s a male. That's all they do.’

Finally, Rarity’s mind argument had to stop as she had arrived back at the base. Rarity got out of the airship and noticed something was up. The base was empty. There was nopony anywhere. This place was usually so busy in the mornings, but now there was nothing.

“Where is anypony?” Rarity questioned, as she walked. She kept walking until finally, she heard some noise in the training area. ‘Oh Mistress Chrystal must be waiting there,’ thought Rarity.

But what Rarity did not know was that behind that door was not what she would be expecting. And little did she knew that her whole world was about to fall apart.

Rarity stepped inside only to find several soldiers getting ready for battle. “What is this?” asked Rarity, as she stood there in shock. “What's going on here?”

Suddenly a voice from behind her spoke, “Oh, I'm sorry Princess Crystal Star, we were supposed to meet you there.”

Rarity turned upon hearing the voice, only to be knocked across the head and out cold. Rarity laid there on the ground unconscious as a plan that had been set forth two years ago was soon to be completed. “Oh, Rarity, you have become my,” the voice paused for a moment and then finished with the words, “best pawn.”

******

Spike was searching through the broken-down laboratory’s library. He had discovered it only a few months ago. Spike would often look in the library for answers he couldn't figure out and today was no different. Spike remembered last night and how Rarity had spent the night with him. He told her that it would best if they had slept on separate sides of the room, but in truth, he wanted her near him. He had felt like that would be wrong to ask her that.

Spike had always felt close to Rarity. He cared for her greatly, but he didn’t want her to see him as some evil monster like that Blueblood she had told him about. Spike felt deep down in his soul that he would never be like Blueblood. If Rarity would only ever give him some chance to prove that he would never try to defile her in any way.

Spike never knew how to approach her on his feelings without the possibility that she would look at him with disgust. He just wanted to show her that he would treat her properly as a lady was meant to be treated, with care and kindness.

Spike kept rummaging through the books until he found it. “There it is,” said Spike as he opened a special, colored book. The book was the same color as Rarity's mane. “Still safe,” he said as stared at what was inside. “You are my ticket to prove to Rarity the truth, but you’re not quite ready. You need more shining.”

Sudden a voice spoke behind Spike, “It will have to be ready because we can wait no longer.” Spike went into utter shock upon hearing the all too familiar voice. But before Spike could see the voice’s owner, he was knocked out. As Spike laid there, the owner of the voice grabbed out a mechanical long range communication device. The voice spoke into the communication device. “My end is complete. How did it go on your end?”

“Flawlessly. Phase two is complete,” another voice replied back.

“Yes now we can begin phase three, and after seventeen years of waiting, the Ryu shall rise.”

******

Spike could only see darkness before him. “Hello, are you awake my beast?” he heard a voice, an all too familiar voice. “Wake up,” again he heard it, but all Spike could see was darkness. “I said wake up SpI146, NOW!!” the voice yelled as Spike felt a slashing pain in his chest. Spike slowly started to see some blurry figures.

As his vision cleared, Spike saw the voice’s owner was a batpony. “YOU!” Spike yelled in anger, as he tried to lunge forward. But Spike was stopped by the new chains that covered him.

“Oh, so you do remember me,” said the batpony, as he stood there with a raised eyebrow. “Can you at least speak my name, beast?”

Spike looked with utter hatred at the dark purple batpony that had worked alongside the yellow pegasus of long ago. The two had experimented on Spike for the first seven years of his life. Spike knew the yellow pegasus was dead, but he had never found out what happen to the batpony.

“I said speak my name, monster,” said the batpony, as he swung the whip he had in his hand.

Spike kept his eyes on the batpony as he spoke the batpony’s name, “Night Fright.”

“See, that’s better,” said Night Fright as he walked to the other side of the room. The room was massive, well over a hundred feet tall and wide, and yet it was mostly empty. At one side of the room, Spike was in chains, then on the other side there a massive curtain. As Night Fright walked, he began to monologue as he always did, “As you know dragon, I am after your Ryu form. Now it’s been ten years since we last saw each other, I am certain by now that I can get you to transform.”

“I’ll tell you what I told you last time. I don’t know how to transform into this Ryu form you and your partner always spoke of. Your partner tried every kind of experiment on me to get me to transform and it didn’t work,” Spike tried reasoning with Night Fright, however, at the same time, Spike also felt unusually weak.

Night Fright just smirked. “Yes, Richard Sentry was always so weak in the long run, he didn’t have enough guts to truly push you.”

“Listen, whatever you got planned, it isn’t going to work. I still don’t know how to transform,” said Spike.

“Well you better learn fast,” said Night Fright as he grabbed a rope that was hanging from the curtain, “After all, you don’t want to disappoint our guest,” as he pulled on the rope. This moved the curtain aside revealing what was behind it.

Tied to her own chains was a white unicorn mare with a purple mane. Spike froze in horror, as he slowly said her name, “Rarity?”

Rarity woke up and tried to answer him, but she couldn’t for her mouth was taped shut. “Blueblood, get over here, and hold my whip,” said Night Fright, as a white unicorn stallion walked over.

“But,” he hesitated then continued. “Of course, Night Fright,” Blueblood walked over and grabbed the whip from Night Fright’s hand.

“Now, SpI146, you obviously know who this is,” Night Fright paused for a moment. “But of course you’re probably wondering why is she wearing that,” Night Fright pointed to the fact that around Rarity’s neck was the Fire Ruby.

Spike looked at Rarity and the Fire Ruby. “Rarity, why are you wearing that, it isn’t ready yet, I wanted to make it perfect for you,” said Spike. He looked again at her, only to see tears in her eyes. But he could also see something else in her eyes. Like a longing, he had never seen in her before. Something had changed.

“Well I guess you’re out of the loop,” said Night Fright, as he grabbed a special gem. “Here this should fill you in.” He threw it into the air and then signaled Blueblood to charge it with his magic. This caused it to show a sort of hologram into the room. “This video should show you everything that happened just an hour before you woke up.”

******

“Rarity, time to wake up, dear,” said a voice. Rarity heard the voice as she slowly woke up. “Seriously, you know not to keep a lady waiting.” At that moment Rarity’s eyes shot open. “Oh, so you’re finally awake.”

Rarity looked in horror of the voice’s owner. “Mistress Chrystal,” said Rarity, as she struggled only to find herself covered in chains. “Mistress Chrystal, what is going on here? Why am I tied up?”

“All questions will be answered in good time, lady Rarity,” said Mistress Chrystal as she walked over to Rarity. She put her face close as she started to take deep smells as if Rarity had an odor. “Almost ripe, unlike the dragon,” she took a moment as she moved back. “He was perfect, but now, I need your half of it, as well, dear.”

“What are you talking about? What did you do to Spike?” said Rarity, as she spoke with rage.

“Spike is that what you call the dragon because we call him SpI146,” said Mistress Chrystal.

“What?” said Rarity, in shock, “You knew of him?”

“Of course we did. That was part of the plan,” said Mistress Chrystal with a giggle.

“What? You planned this,” said Rarity as she began to shake.

“Well of course. You were always my best pawn,” said Mistress Chrystal, as she took another sniff. “You're almost ready, soon your love will be the perfect meal, just like SpI146 was.”

Upon hearing those words Rarity felt utter confusion. “What are you talking about? What love?”

“Oh, Rarity you are so blind. Get the hint. I only ever took you in because of the prophecy, and now it will soon be complete.” Mistress Chrystal then turned to grab something out of a nearby chest.

“What prophecy?”

“Why, the prophecy of the Fire Ruby, of course,” said Mistress Chrystal, as she turned back, showing Rarity the Fire Ruby on a gold chain. Rarity's face went into complete shock. The Mistress moved closer and continued. “You see Rarity, there is a prophecy based around this Fire Ruby. It is said that this Fire Ruby will bind together a powerful love.” Then Mistress Chrystal stepped forward, bringing it closer to her. “Of a pony mare and a dragon male,” She placed the chain over Rarity’s neck.

“And what does this prophecy have to do with me?”

“Well, that’s simple dear. It states that the mare in question can wield crystals.”

“But you were the one who taught me how--” but Rarity was stopped by the Mistress’s hand.

“I never taught you a thing. I just woke up what was dormant within you, deary.” The Mistress then lowered her hand. “And now you will use that power to scan this Fire Ruby.”

Rarity looked down at the Fire Ruby. She knew she had the ability to scan a crystal to see what it had seen. To sense how much work went into it. She closed her eyes and scanned it. She didn't know what she would find or even what she was supposed to be looking for, but what she found, what she sensed, changed her whole world. Rarity could sense all the work that Spike had put into making it perfect. That he had already found the Fire Ruby nearly a year ago. And yet he didn’t show it to her because he wanted it to be perfect for the mare he cared for. For the mare he loved.

Upon sensing that final part, Rarity felt tears going down her cheeks. But they weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of joy. In that moment Rarity felt that the twisting that she always had in her chest, in her heart, could finally be answered. It was love. Spike loved Rarity and Rarity loved Spike.

Suddenly she felt an abnormal pain coming from her body. Like something was being forcibly ripped from her. Rarity snapped her eyes open and saw the most shocking thing of all. Mistress Chrystal was harvesting magic from her. “What are you doing to me?”

“Isn’t it obvious, dear. I’m feasting on your love,” said Mistress Chrystal with a twisted grin.

“Why?” said Rarity, slowly as she felt her body weakening.

At that moment, Rarity looked to see a green aura around the Mistress, as she began to change shape and show her true form. Rarity looked in horror, as the Mistress’s beautiful white fur become pitch black, and her flawless flesh filled with holes. And the Mistress’s luxurious teal mane and black dress began to rip apart.

“Because I am a changeling, my dear. But not just any changeling, I am their Queen, Queen Chrysalis." At that moment, Rarity got so weak she could barely keep her eyes open. "And once I am done harvesting the magic from you, I shall leave you to Night Fright for his plans." Finally, Rarity's eyes closed and everything went black once again.

******

After the video finished, Spike looked at Rarity. She still had that face, and now Spike knew what it meant. Spike wanted to say something, “Rarity, the truth is I… I…. lov--Ahhhhh!!!!” but Spike was stopped by the new chains as they shot electricity through his body.

Rarity struggled upon seeing Spike in pain, tears going down her face as she tried to reach him. She couldn’t for the chains holding her prevented her. It was truly painful to watch.

Finally, Night Fright spoke. “My poor monster, you’ll find speaking those words with those chains on you quite hard. They're designed to zap you when I choose,” as he held out a device. “Now, dragon you will transform.”

“I already told you, I don’t know how--Ahhhh!!” Spike wailed in agony, as he was shocked.

“You still won’t listen will you,” said Night Fright.

“I told you, no matter how much torture you put me through, it won’t work--Ahhhh!!”

“Oh I know,” said Night Fright, as he signaled Blueblood, “That’s why I'm going to torture you two ways.”

“What are you talking about?” said Spike.

“Blueblood begin,” said Night Fright, with a twisted grin.

Spike saw Blueblood lift the whip, as time seem to almost go in slow motion, and everything went silent. The whip fell slashing into Rarity. Rarity struggled in pain, unable to scream with her mouth taped shut.

Spike screamed “No Rarity--Ahhhh!!” as he was shocked again by his chains.

“Again,” said Night Fright, as Blueblood continued with another slash into Rarity.

“No, stop it, pleas--Ahhhh!!” yelled Spike.

“Again.”

“I don’t know ho--Ahhhh!!”

“Again.”

“Stop--Ahhhh!!”

“Again.”

Spike wanted it to stop. But he didn’t know how to transform into his Ryu form. Seconds felt like millennia and minutes felt like eons, as each slash tore into Rarity’s flesh. But it just continued back and forth, Rarity being slashed and Spike being electrocuted. It soon got to the point where Rarity's body was now covered in slashes, and Spike's own body started to go numb.

Spike tried his best to keep his eyes on Rarity. Rarity herself could no longer cry, she had weeped her tears away in agony. And what was worse, the wounds were getting deeper.

Spike lay there. his body completely numb. He looked at Rarity. She was barely recognizable, the whip had torn away much of her flesh. There was blood everywhere and Rarity was trying her best to not pass out from the pain. Rarity looked at Spike almost pleading him to do something. She loved Spike and she did not want their world to end like this. They could sense each other's love for one another but were unable to say anything. Not allowed to speak the words that were screaming in their hearts.

Rarity tried her best to reach Spike, but then another painful slash struck into her. This one left a massive gash across her face, tearing the tape open as Rarity began to take heavy breaths of air into her mouth. Night Fright spoke “Well it looks like she can only take one more slash, before she keels over and yet you still won’t transform,” he place his hand on his chin. “Hmm, maybe I got the wrong mare,” he paused. Then he put his hand down. “Or maybe Chrysalis was wrong, and that a monster like you can never love.” Night Fright then decided something more twisted. “Tell you what dragon, Blueblood will deliver the final slash and kill her. If you don’t do something she will die. And I will be gracious enough to let you speak your final words to her,” then he turned to Blueblood. “Ready in ten seconds.”

Spike heard the words and although his whole body was numb, Spike tried to speak his last words. As the whip got ready, Spike slowly tried to speak, “Rarity…. Rarity….. I ….. I…..”

Rarity weakly lifted her head to speak, “Please Spike, please,” she begged, but Spike could no longer speak for his voice was gone. And now it was too late as the final swing headed straight for Rarity. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the end.

Spike looked in horror as time stood still. His thoughts were the only sound he could hear. 'No, I can’t lose her, she means the world to me, I love her, I LOVE HER, AND I WILL NOT LOSE HER.’ At that moment Spike felt a spark with himself.

As time began to move forward. A massive wave of magic shot forth from Spike and he transformed for the first time. Blueblood felt a slashing pain in his own body, as he looked at himself only to see that Spike had torn into him with his claws. Night Fright turned back upon seeing the massive claw rip through Blueblood. “So you finally transform-- ” but Night Fright could say no more as Spike knocked him to the wall, broke the chains and lunged forward, grabbing Rarity, breaking her chains in the process.

He shot a massive flame which tore a hole in the roof. Without even thinking on how he jumped into the sky and flew out of there while holding Rarity close to him. He tried to find a place to land where they couldn’t follow him. He flew so fast he manage to find a cave far from Night Fright. Landing inside it, Spike turned back to his normal size and then placed Rarity on a long stone.

******

Rarity was losing blood fast as she laid there. Spike didn’t want to lose her, but he didn’t know how to stop the bleeding. Thinking back to the many books he read Spike looked at Rarity, who was passed out from the pain. His mind was running at a thousand miles a second. ‘What should I do? I can’t stop the bleeding, I can’t stop the bleeding,’ the words kept repeating over and over in his head. He didn’t want to lose her, he loved her, more than anything. Rarity was always so good to him, so kind, so warm-hearted, and so generous!

Finally, it hit him. There was only one to stop the bleeding. Spike said to himself, “No I will never do that, she would never forgive me, I could never hurt her,” Spike grabbed his chest as it ached from the idea going through his head. “No, I can’t do that. No, I won’t.”

Then Spike felt it, the slash in his chest. It was the slash that Night Fright had given him. It was at that moment he knew what to do. He couldn’t take the idea of hurting her, but Spike could accept hurting himself.

Spike tore at his slash, the pain of his body slowly returning. He took the pain and got ready. It would be the hardest part of all. He lit a flame, ready to do the most painful thing he could ever go through to save Rarity.

******

Author's Note

Okay you have notice the obvious change, considering the pain and torture was in a separate chapter before. Now you are probably wondering why I moved that much wording into a already long chapter. Well this is do to the fact after a few scenes after this chapter will be a certain scene that got somewhat lengthy(which was originally a semi-clop) is now a full clop. So next chapter, the middle part is a clop.

I am so sorry for spoilers. But I felt this had to be pointed out.

Chapter 10: The Dark Rebels Are Here

Author's Note

Well here it is. Some of it may seem familiar, that because the first few paragraphs were original in the previous chapter. Anyway Thursday I'll post the next chapter.

Chapter 10: The Dark Rebels Are Here

Twilight stood perplexed by this creature, pony, or whatever he was. She was still unsure, but Flash seemed to trust him. After all, he had said ‘mentor’.

“So, Twilight, do we have somewhere to sit in there?” asked ‘F’ as he stood there. “My bones are not what they use to be,” he moved his right arm forward revealing a cane in right his hand.

Twilight looked to see the cane, and also what appeared to be a wrinkle-up gray coat hand. It seemed so old. Impossibly old. Who was this unknown, ‘F’, and who was he to this timeline’s Twilight?

“Well, speak little filly. Is there a place to sit in the cave?” said ‘F’.

“Hey, what do you mean ‘little filly’? I’m no little filly,” Twilight retorted back.

“Alright Twilight, calm down. ‘F’ calls everypony a child,” said Flash as he walked forward. “Now, please Twilight is there a place to sit inside? ‘F’ isn’t as young as he used to be.”

Twilight calmed down and spoke, “Yeah, there is a place in the living quart-- ” Twilight grabbed her mouth close mid-sentence upon remembering that Spike and Rarity were currently ‘busy’ in that room.

“What was that Twilight?” asked Flash, as he looked at her with confusion. She tried to hide the embarrassment on her face.

“Nothing,” she blurted out. Flash didn’t seem too convinced. He tried to ask again, but Twilight stopped him. “Hey, how about we sit out here?”

Then ‘F’ chimed in an answer. “But other Twilight there is nowhere to sit.”

‘Darn it, this isn’t going well,’ thought Twilight. ‘What am I supposed to tell them?’

Before she could muster up an answer, a diamond dog approached them. “Are you Twilight?” asked the diamond dog. Twilight turned to see him. He was covered in sweat, had a flustered looked, and distinct red slap mark on his face. Twilight answered back with a yes and he said, “I am Strax. Lady Rarity said that you might have wanted another place to sit. There are other living quarters in the cave. I will show you.”

******

The diamond dog led them down to other living quarters. There they met up with Soarin and Rainbow Dash, who had been set free. “Huh, how did you two get out of your cells?” asked Twilight.

“Well no thanks to you, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash. “You kept abandoning us.”

“No I didn’t,” said Twilight, as she got slightly annoyed at herself that she had actually almost forgotten about them being in those cells. “And you still didn’t answer me.”

Suddenly Soarin chimed in with the obvious answer. “Sweetie Belle let us out.”

Rainbow Dash cocked her head back. “Hey, you weren’t supposed to tell that we got rescued by a filly.”

“As far as I am concerned you are all fillies and colts,” said ‘F’ as he slowly stepped into the room, his cane swinging about as he walked.

As soon Rainbow Dash and Soarin saw ‘F’ enter the room, they instantly bowed in respect. “Oh sorry sir, we didn’t realize you would be here too,” they both said in unison.

Twilight looked perplexed. She had only ever seen Rainbow Dash bow to the princesses. Did the old stallion, creature, or whatever he was, do something truly deserving of that kind of respect? The old creature finally sat down on a lazy-colts chair. He stretched back his arms or arm as Twilight realized he only had one arm. His right arm seemed to be the only one that moved, while the left sleeve just hanged there.

“Twilight, sit down and tell me what you know about Starlight Glimmer,” said ‘F’. This caught Twilight totally off guard. He knew of Starlight Glimmer,? But how?

“She is the one that me stuck in this timeline, but how do you know her?”

“As I suspected,” said ‘F’, not answering Twilight's question. He moved on. “Starlight used Starswirl’s spell, am I correct?” Again she answered ‘yes’. It was then he spoke in some unknown language to Flash and Flash replied back in the same language.

Twilight stood there confused. They were speaking a language that she couldn’t understand? That was impossible? She remembered back to her first days of being an ascended alicorn back in her timeline. Celestia had told her that as an alicorn she would be fluent in all languages. But these two were speaking in an unknown language. This confused her, but she pushed the thought away as she realized they were done talking.

“Twilight,” said Flash as he turned to her. “It’s all right if you don’t understand us. The original you couldn’t understand what we're saying in that language half of the time either,” he smiled. “It’s just something only I and my mentor can speak. He learned it during his time in the Cult of Lig-- ”

“That’s enough Flash,” ‘F’ interrupted him. “She doesn’t need to know all my secrets.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay, so I’m not allowed to know everything,” said Twilight. “But can you at least tell me what's going on here? What do you know of Starlight Glimmer?”

“If you must know I ran into her when she went back in time,” said ‘F’. This got Twilight’s attention.

“You were there during the Shadow Rainboom?” asked Twilight.

“Yes, but that’s not the time I met her in,” answer ‘F’. “I met her over 900 years ago,” this threw Twilight's theories completely out the window. “I am not sure what change was made when she went back, but that’s when I encountered her.”

Twilight was now even more confused. How could he have been alive for over nine hundred years? Twilight just jumped to the obvious conclusion. “Wait how could you been around for that long? Are you an alicorn of some sort?”

‘F’ just let out a small, short laugh. “No, but that would have been a blessing for this curse.”

‘Curse?’, another unknown secret about this creature. Twilight was even more puzzled now. She wanted more answers, but realized she had already asked too much, as she saw Flash had a distinct look of ‘don’t ask’.

“Anyway, Twilight, tell me exactly what is different in your timeline compared to ours.”

“All right. I will try,” said Twilight as she got ready to tell her tale.

******

An hour later back in the other room. Rarity was laying beside Spike on a crystal bed that she had summoned. Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, and he had his right arm wrapped around her waist. They were just snuggling together now, enjoying each other's embrace. Their clothes were just tossed to the side, Rarity completely exposed under a makeshift blanket.

“Mmm, that was incredible Spike. We need you to laugh like that more often,” said Rarity with a giggle. She let out a happy hum as she snuggled into Spike’s chest. “Did you enjoy yourself, too?”

Spike indeed had enjoyed himself as much as Rarity had, which he showed affectionately as he kissed her on the head. They knew they didn’t need to answer each other on that question, but either always felt like asking that question after they were done with their ‘moments’. They thought they had these urges under control, but apparently, Spike being so happy after so long, they just couldn’t help themselves today.

It hadn’t all been complete enjoyment. When Strax had tried to sneak a look, she stopped long enough to slap him across the face. Afterwords, the diamond dog had left and they had went back at it.

******

Spike laid there in contented with Rarity by his side. His kiss had made her snuggle in closer. She climbed back on top of him almost about to go for another round, when Rarity stopped for a moment. Something was off. She fell back to her spot and just laid beside him.

She had had enough. Usually, it was him that would be the one that usually would have enough, but the last few weeks Rarity had seemed different during their moments. Sure she enjoyed them, but she was the one usually wanting more.

This was one of many reasons why Spike had begun to think the fear that he had been sensing in her was because of him. ‘Maybe she starting to regret being eternally bound to me? Twilight said she would never be afraid of me, yet I need to know,’ Spike thought as he laid there. He had to get answers, so he decided to finally ask her.

“Rarity,” he spoke with hesitation. She looked up at him. “Why are you scared?”

Rarity looked at him with utter confusion, words going through her head. ‘Does he already know?’ She pushed that thought aside and spoke, “Spikey, whatever made you think I was afraid?”

“Rarity, we can sense each other's emotions remember? Why are you afraid?”

“Me afraid? Are you sure you are not sensing your own fear,” Rarity retorted back.

“Rarity, you know what my fear is,” said Spike as he turned his face away. “I fear my flames. They make me a monster.”

Rarity pulled his face towards her and spoke. “Spike, don’t you dare call yourself that. You are no monster!”

“Then why are you afraid of me?” asked Spike.

Rarity was caught off guard by this. “You think I am afraid of you?” said Rarity as tears started to well up.

Even though they shared each other’s emotions, it was not the same as reading each other’s mind. Sure they could figure out each other’s thoughts like a normal couple. But there were still some thoughts that were blind each other.

Rarity’s eyes were welling up with tears as Spike’s eyes did the same. “How could you dare think I am afraid of you?” said Rarity.

“Then what is it? Please tell me,” said Spike.

Rarity looked away this time. ‘He can’t know yet, he would just blame himself for more things,’ Rarity just pushed it aside and didn’t answer him.

Spike wasn’t going to wait anymore for an answer, “You are afraid of being bound to me forever, aren’t y-- ” but he stopped as she slapped him.

Tears flowing, Rarity spoke, “Don’t you dare say that! I love you, I married you,” Rarity grabbed her chest. “It does not matter if we share the same heart. My love for you is what is eternal for me,” Now she was completely crying. “And that will never change. I love you.”

Spike finally relented as he had been trying to hold back the tears in his own eyes. Letting them finally flow, he gave in and laid there. “I am sorry Rarity, I’m sorry,” he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to his shoulder for her to have something to cry on, repeating his apology over and over.

******

Back in the room where Twilight and the rest were, ‘F’ was trying to piece together what was going on with Twilight. “So the main differences you have noticed the most seem to be around your friends, am I correct?”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “Yes, in my timeline, I have six friends and Spike who is like a brother to me. The six of us wielded the Elements of Harmony.”

“Yes, I know of the Elements of Harmony. I was there when the princesses used them on Discord,” said ‘F’.

“Wait, you were there over a thousand years ago?” Twilight was intrigued. “You have been around for a while.”

“Well yes I was, but it seems you been misinformed, Discord was sealed away over two thousand years ago, not one thousand years ago. Back then I was still,” ‘F’ then looked down, and whispered, “Mortal.”

Twilight had heard his words but felt that she shouldn’t push for answers that he wasn’t willing to give, so she felt it was time to ask her next question. “So, I got all the info I needed from Spike and Rarity. I feel they can handle themselves, so I was wondering if you knew where this timeline's versions of my other friends are.”

“Well,” said Flash. “‘SS’ is currently finding this Fluttershy. She lives deep in the Massive Everfree forest. She is actually second in command of the Forest Rebels, so finding her will be tough, but after what you had told him about her, he felt like he could handle it.”

“Hmm, okay. What about Applejack and Pinkie Pie?” asked Twilight.

“According to my old contacts, they’re families run two large factories down south of what is left of Equestria,” said ‘F’. “The Apple family works at the Flim Flam Farms. They produce food for the Empire’s ever-growing armies. And the Pie family works at Rock Labs, which is where the weapons of the Empire are manufactured.”

“Oh,” said Twilight, with a slight frown. “I guess they won’t be much help then.”

“Not quite. We could go asked them,” said ‘F’.

“How? That’s too far to travel,” said Twilight, confused.

“Don’t worry I have a way,” said ‘F’. Although Twilight couldn't see his face, she felt like she could almost see a clever smile under that hood.

******

Twilight walked outside with them ‘F’, and Flash, while Rainbow Dash and Soarin followed behind. “Wait,” said Twilight. She didn’t know how they going to get down that far south before next nightfall. It would take at least three days without the train systems she had in her timeline. "I said wait" But he didn’t answer.

They finally they came on a long piece of pasture. Standing in the middle was a big blue box. "Oh, our ride is still here, " said ‘F’.

Twilight looked in confusion. It looked no bigger than a portable bathroom. There was no way this could fit all of them. It looked like it could barely fit one pony, let alone four ponies and whatever ‘F’ was. “I present you the Titan Airship Retroly Developed In Style.”

“But this just looks like a big blue box,” said Twilight as she pointed out the obvious.

“Oh, this is much more than a big blue box,” said ‘F’ as he grabbed his cane and shook it. As he shook it, he spoke in that unknown language.

Twilight did her best to figure out what he was saying, but couldn’t. Flash noticed this and helped her out. "He's saying, ‘let the light be seen’."

He stopped the spell chant. The camouflaging cloak spell descended off the box, revealing a massive airship so big she couldn’t see the top at all. It was so wide the entire pasture was taken up.

The door opened up and out walked a brown earth pony stallion with a brown mane, mane all spiked. He had an hourglass cutie mark and wore a dark blue tuxedo and a brown long coat. Beside him was a gray pegasus mare with a blonde mane and bubbles as her cutie mark. She wore a black tuxedo, a bowtie, and a skirt. “May I present my pilots Doctor Whooves and Derpy?” said ‘F’. Then a tall muscular red earth pony stallion in viking armor came out carrying a massive war axe. “And this is Big Macintosh, our heavy weapons expert.”

Twilight looked at them, intrigued. Flash, Doctor, Derpy and Big Mac. These were the Dark Rebels elite four. The ones she would have to work with now.

******

Chapter 11: The New Plan, The New Way

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 12: To Be Twilight, Or Not

“So you want me to embrace the name and ideas of the other Twilight?”

“Yes. It would allow you to move much faster. The name Twilight holds a lot of ground with the survivors of the Empire. You are a sign of hope to so many. If we can convince them you're alive, then they would join the cause,” said ‘F’.

“Which is?” again she questioned. Understandably, this was a lot to take in. Everything was moving really fast. ‘F’ gestured for her to follow with the katana though he never answered her question. She did, and soon she found a small training arena.

“Now that we are here, we need to know what you know about that katana in your hand.”

Twilight looked at the blood red katana, then she looked at ‘F’. “Well in my timeline it was wielded by a batpony general named Nightflare Redstar. He was my brother’s mentor and when I was younger he was like a second father to me. He even taught Spike a few things about being a gentlepony, well gentledragon. In my timeline that is.” Twilight took a deep breath and then continued. “Cadence told me he had died in a battle a month before my brother's wedding. Something about Chrysalis’s forces possibly being responsible. Princess Luna has kept the katana in a safe place since then.”

“Well, sorry. The other you never told us who had it before her. Just that someone close to her gave it to her to protect her. And she always kept it close to her. She became very good with it too. And we need to see what you can do with it.”

“Okay, no promises. This is my first time, though I do remember when I was young I would watch Nightflare train while Princess Celestia was busy. So I at least know the stance and how to hold it, and simple swings. But that's about it.”

“Well let’s see then. Hmmm, how about you choose who you're going to fight.”

“Okay.” Twilight looked between Flash and Big Macintosh. Big Macintosh had strength on his side. This timeline version of him was hugely stronger than he was in then her timeline. So he was out. There was Flash maybe. He seemed to be thinner than in her timeline. Though he was still just as tall. Could he be weaker? ‘No, ‘F’ said Flash could use light magic. I know little to nothing of light magic aside from what they told me. Can he really move as fast as lightning?’ her mind was filled with questions and choices. Finally, she settled on one. “I choose Flash.”

“Alright then,” said Flash. ‘F’ and Big Macintosh left the small arena. While Flash and Twilight took their positions, ‘F’ walked over to one of the many small thrones that could be found throughout the cathedral. Once they were ready, Big Macintosh walked over to a huge gong and rang it to start the battle.

“Okay, just know I may look like your Twilight, but I’m not going to hold back,” she said as she charged forward. But faster than a blink of an eye, she missed. “What?” she turned to see he had not moved at all. So she swung backward and impossibly, it looked like it went through him. Her jaw dropped.

“Let me put it to you simply; this is not even my fastest speed,” he said. That's she when realized he was using light magic to move fast enough to dodge her. She now knew what he was doing. So she swung again. To her, it was the fastest swing she used. But to Flash, it looked like it was moving at the speed of a tortoise. He easily dodged it, but Twilight thought ahead of him as she had sent a kick the same time as the swing. This one made contact hitting directly, but not fast enough as he caught her foot and spun her around. Twilight quickly realized that kick made contact and used her wings to push her body forward, tackling him to the ground.

It had worked. She had pinned him to the ground. However, she didn’t plan for everything and found that she had pinned his shoulders under her dress. His face was now directly under her dress. “Oh no, Flash, that was not really planned,” she said with brightest red in her face. But before she could react, he was instantly out from under her. “What? How did you get out? I had your shoulder--”

Next thing she knew she was pinned. “‘F’ ten count,” said Flash as he held Twilight’s arms back as he had her pinned from behind. As ‘F’ began his ten count Flash continued. “You surprised me Twilight. Not bad for a first attempt. Oh, and if you wondering, I closed my eyes.”

“10, 9.”

“What?” she questioned. “You knew ahead what was going to happen?"

“8, 7.”

“Well, you said it was your first time wielding it. So I assumed you would mess up, so I closed my eyes at random points to try and make it easier on you.”

“6, 5.”

“Easy? That was easy?” she huffed. “So how is it I saw you under me?”

“4, 3.”

“That was my after image. I can sometimes move so fast I can create my own after images.”

“2, 1.”

“Great, that means I lose don’t I?”

“0, Flash wins.”

“Yep seem so.”

Once the battle was over, Flash let Twilight up. Big Macintosh walked over. “Well it seems you got your work cut out for you, Big Mac,” Flash said as he walked away.

“Hmm, now that that is over with, the work can begin,” ‘F’ said as he stood up from his throne.

******

So Twilight began training to become the new alternate Twilight. First was getting to know everypony properly. She spent that month getting to know everypony in the team, starting with Doctor Whooves and Derpy. She quickly found out that they were indeed married in this timeline as well, but that Dinky and her sisters went missing in the second Dark War.

And any questions about Big Macintosh’s past were ignored, but she knew something was wrong as he clutched something he had concealed. Twilight noticed the gesture, asked what he was carrying, but he would never answer her directly.

She was finally able to get some information when she found that Cheerilee was part of the Dark Rebels as well. She heard from Cheerilee that Big Macintosh joined because his parents were part of the first rebellion led by Fancy Pants against the Empire. And that they as well as Granny Smith had died saving him and Applejack. She said that they had lost track of Applebloom as a baby during the attack on Ponyville, but then years later found out that she had been found and somewhat raised by Fluttershy and the Forest Rebels.

Twilight wasn’t able to get too much information out of Flash since their battle. She got even less ever about his metal right hand. It seemed he wasn’t too talkative during the first month. However, as time went on, she found him occasionally watching her closely as she trained.

Twilight soon found out some information about the other members, like Lyra and Bon Bon who were stealth agents that gathered Intel for the Dark Rebels. There were also some papers on two ponies named Savage Raza and Robert Minder, that who were also once members.

******

Once she had gotten to know everypony, that’s when the training truly began. Month two was rough. Getting use to wielding a weapon was hard enough, but to wield it to near perfection, like their Twilight was even harder. She would train with Big Macintosh often to try and hone her skill to perfection.

Learning to use her weapons wasn’t the only training. Twilight had to also get use to using dark magic without letting it corrupt her. This type of training would have been harder since none of the others used dark magic, so she had to learn through books and not examples, but this actually made it easier for her. And finally, there was also the fact she had to know this timeline’s Twilight’s history inside and out, which proved more of a problem than any other since their Twilight had been so secretive about her past.

Months three and four went by fast as she started to get better. There was even a point where she actually knocked Big Macintosh down. That was a good day.

Month five and six were mostly spent checking out the Sky Sanctuary‘s massive library. The ancient books were written in so many different languages - Some she could read and some she requested ‘F’ to translate. She didn’t want to push him too much considering his still unknown age. He had said that light magic in its strongest form could bend time. So why couldn't he bend time for himself? Or maybe he was. It would explain why he had been around for so long, yet he still aged. It was surprising that he hadn’t turned to dust already.

She would have asked that Flash translate, but his mind always seemed to wander when around her, his eyes never directly on her. In a way, she wasn’t surprised. He was close to the original Twilight and it must have been hard to see her being quickly replaced.

******

Months Six and Seven were spent getting use to the technology. For that, she sought help from Doctor Whooves and Derpy who quickly showed her the ropes. The tech took a while to get used to, but she soon got the hang of it. She even got to fly the titan airship, though it seemed very disobedient towards her. She, in fact, heard the Doctor say that the ship simply didn’t like her.

******

The next three months were spent training in a place called the ‘Danger Room’, which seemed to be a form of training arena, covered in magical projections. ‘F’ said they were called ‘solidified holograms’, or solid illusions. Though they were illusions, they certainly hit like the real thing.

Things seemed to be going right for Twilight as time soon would arrive to leave. However, on the final month, something changed all that. One final challenge laid ahead of her as a mysterious figure enter the Sky Sanctuary.

******

Twilight got up from the bed, brushed out her mane and put on the armor the original Twilight wore. ‘F’ had told her plenty of times that she also had to get used to the look the other ‘her’ had. It took her a few times to get use to wearing it, especially in battle. Once the armor was on, she went to the Danger Room. Once there, she walked into the arena. “Okay, ‘F’ I’m ready for the next test.”

“Oh but the holograms will not be what you will be fighting today,” he said as he walked in and sat down in his throne. “Today you will be fighting Flash.”

Twilight turned as she saw Flash walk into the arena. “You know, you been ignoring me since our last fight,” she said to him.

“What can I say? You have been spending too much time with Big Macintosh.”

“Only because you won’t make a move,” she joked.

He smirked at her words as he got ready. “Well, I’m ready when you are.”

She smirked too. “Hmmm, let’s make this interesting." She was feeling confident. "If I win, then you have to go on a date with me,” she said as she took her stance. ‘Wow, where did that come from Twilight?’ her mind questioned.

“Alright, I’m fine with that.”

“What?” she caught her breath. ‘He actually agreed?’ She thought he would back out.

“That’s if you win.”

“Fine then.”

Big Macintosh rang the gong and the rematch began. This battle would show whether all the hard work and training Twilight did was worth it. The original Twilight could fight Flash to a standstill, even at his top speed.

Twilight charged forward, Flash saw it and got ready. Twilight swung her katana, Flash quickly dodged, but not before getting tripped by her foot as she swung it. Flash quickly turned his fall to the ground into a flip, followed by a spin kick. Twilight ducked and use the hilt of her katana to punch him in the gut. He jumped as her katana swung once, just barely missing his mane. He backflipped and sent his kicks forward. She jumped back and summoned dark magic to pull him back the ground. He tried to dodge it, but couldn’t as she quickly jumped up into the air, tackling him to the ground knocking up dust in the process.

She pinned him. She actually pinned him! As the dust slowly cleared, Twilight declared, “‘F’ ten count.”

“10, 9.”

“Not bad Twilight, I was actually using my lightning speed to dodge some of those moves.”

“8, 7.”

“Thanks,” she blushed. “I learned a lot in this year. Stuff from Big Macintosh, and from Cheerilee. And the books on dark magic really helped out too.”

“6, 5, 4,”

“Well I must say I am quite impressed,” he said as the dust finally cleared completely. However, as it did, Twilight’s face went bright red as she realized ‘how well’ she had pinned him. Their faces were just centimeters apart. ‘F’ stopped his ten count as everypony’s eyes widened.

Twilight looked at Flash as thoughts swirled through her head. ‘What do I do? What do I do?’ Flash’s own mind was on a similar track until, without warning, he started to lean towards her. Twilight saw this and followed suit. Her eyes quickly closed, a few final thoughts going through her head. ‘Is he about to? Oh please, let it be good.’

Flash continued to lean forward and indeed was about to kiss her however something stopped him. ‘I’m sorry, Flash.’ A single memory. A moment that he would never forget.

Twilight waited patiently for the kiss. Truth be told, she had daydreamed about it a few times. She waited longer, but something was wrong. She still didn’t feel it. The warmth inside, the ‘butterflies in the tummy’ - they weren’t there at all. She wondered why, but then her thoughts were brought to screeching halt as she felt metal instead of lips.

She opened her eyes and saw that Flash had stopped her movement with his metal hand. He meanwhile had a face of anger. But it was clearly not at her, he was angry at himself. Before she could ask, or even apologize, he broke free of her tackle, stood up and ran off.

******

Flash ran, angry and annoyed at himself. He ran to his room, going to a punching bag. He decided to release his anger toward himself on it. He punched it at growing speed, faster and faster his movements went. His speed kept increasing until all that could be seen of his fist were blurs of light.

As he continued to punch, ‘F’ walked up behind him. “Flash, we thought you got past this.” Flash kept punching, clearly ignoring his mentor. “I seen the way you look at her. You need to tell her the truth. That was the whole reason I set that up.”

“What truth?” Flash said as he turned around. “That in all this time seeing this Twilight has brought up memories that show I still care greatly for Twilight, the real Twilight? She may look like Twilight, but she is not her, no matter how hard we want her to be.” Flash continued as he stepped closer. “The Twilight I knew was strong, fierce, brilliant, and most of all, just a friend.” He continued to step closer as his anger grew. “That’s all she ever was, a friend. Friends. That’s all we ever were. I protected her, I was there for her always. I cared for her, I loved her.” Flash was now standing right front of ‘F’. “And… I was too slow to save her,” he finished by holding up his metal hand. As he held up his metal hand, memories of that terrible moment pooled to the surface.

******

It was the final moments of the Third Dark War. Flash was running as fast as he could through the warzone, as well as past the many bodies on both sides. Flash saw Twilight in the distance fighting with Nightmare Moon. The two were clashing in the sky, sending massive shockwaves with each hit.

Twilight appeared to be losing, but she never gave up. Flash ran as fast as he could to get to her, but then he found himself being grabbed by an all too familiar enemy. In a teleporting light, Flash found himself several hundred miles away. Somepony had grabbed him and he knew just who. It was a purple batpony with a green mane. It was Prince Nexus Star, a.k.a. Jack Nox.

“Flash, where do you think you’re going?” said the prince as he smirked.

“Past you,” Flash tried to run past him. But then Nexus Star grabbed him by the arm and threw him down.

“You know, we never did get to finish our rematch,” The prince charged forward. He wielded tech gauntlets that amplified his strength tenfold. Flash met those gauntlets with his own fists. Their fists clashed head on. Flash quickly sidestepped and tripped him over, then slid under him, pulling his fist with him as he continued to fall. Then as fast as lightning, Flash pinned him.

“Too easy, rematch done,” he held Nexus Star’s fist in a twist behind his back. Flash looked up to see that Twilight was gaining the upper hand in her battle as well. “Looks like we may just win this one.”

“Too easy, huh,” said Nexus Star as Flash looked at him. “It was meant to be easy. I was the diversion,” he pressed a device on one of his gauntlets. Way up in the skies above dropped the weapon they were told the Empire had been developing. “Don’t you get it? That’s why I teleported you this far. From here there is no way you will get there in time.”

Flash didn’t even waste time with words. He ran as fast as he could. Faster, faster. Soon a trail of rainbow was being left behind is his wake. Each second he got closer and each second so did the weapon. The prince at the same time teleported over and grabbed Nightmare Moon, getting her out of there.

Twilight saw this and looked up. She saw the weapon slowly heading towards them. “Everypony fall back,” she ordered. The forces quickly obeyed. Rarity and Spike used the sky to quickly get out of range. Twilight would have too, but she had to make sure that as many got away as possible.

Time almost seemed to move too slow as several creatures tried their best to run. Flash kept running as he got closer and closer. He was only a mile away when the weapon finally went off. Flash reached for Twilight with his right hand. She reached for him too. Flash soon grabbed Twilight’s hand and then proceeded to outrun the ever-growing explosion. “Don’t worry Twilight I’ve got you,” he said as he ran. But the added weight was too much and they weren’t moving fast enough as explosion got closer. “Twilight hold on. I won’t lose you.”

Twilight knew if this kept up neither would escape. “Flash let go, you can’t escape with me,” she pleaded as the explosion moved even closer.

“No, not ever. If that is how it is, then I’ll die with you,” he argued.

She looked as time slowed to near a complete standstill. She knew she couldn’t get him to let go, so she would make him let go. “I’m sorry, Flash,” she said as she lifted her katana.

“Wait, what are you talking abou--Ahhh!!”

******

‘F’ tried reasoning with Flash, but to no avail. So ‘F’ spoke the truth, the truth that Flash needed to accept. “Twilight is dead. She did that to you so you would live. Now it’s time to move on. It’s time to accept her death.” Flash squeezed his metal hand in anger. It very well looked like he was about to strike ‘F’, but then he roared in anger and a flash faster than lightning he was back at the punching bag with his metal hand stabbing right through it. ‘F’ waited a moment as his own breath started to slow. “You have to accept that she is gone.”

After finishing, Flash seemed to have calmed down, so ‘F’ turned to take his leave. However Flash was not calm at all. His anger boiling, even more, Flash turned and yelled the unthinkable. “WELL THEN DID YOU ACCEPT CELESTIA’S DEATH?!?!”

‘F’ was instantly stopped by those words. Flash tried immediately to take back what he said. “I’m sorry ‘F’ that was--”

“Flash,” ‘F’ interrupted his attempt at an apology. “You and I share similar problems.” ‘F’ kept facing away from Flash as his breathing began to slow even more. “We served our princesses faithfully, we guarded our princesses, we protected our princesses.” He grabbed his left shoulder, as he began to cough hard before continuing, “We cared for our princesses and we loved our princesses.” He coughed even harder. His breathing was getting worse. Soon he was coughing profusely. “But most of all we would die for our princesses,” he said no more as he collapsed onto the floor.

Flash, seeing this, instantly reacted, running to get the breathing apparatus, but it was still on the titan airship. Flash ran outside the Sky Sanctuary. Luckily the time bubble the cathedral created had been expanded a few months ago to include the airship. He got on the ship, however too fast to notice that the ship’s doors were wide open or that the Doctor and Derpy had been knocked out. He went to grab the breathing apparatus when the unexpected happen. The unknown guest that was clearly aboard the ship decided to make himself known.

“Well that was fast,” said an all too familiar demonic voice from behind him. Flash instantly reacted upon hearing that voice with a back kick. But his lightning fast kick was caught. “Is that any way to greet a friend?”

“I’m not your friend Cult Race,” said Flash as the two disappeared from the room in a flash of light. Meanwhile back in the hallway ‘F’ lost consciousness.

******

Twilight walked down the hallway that led to Flash’s room. She wanted to say sorry for what happen. She didn’t mean for that to happen it just happened. Twilight was worried, however, things were about to get worse as she came up to the turn that led to the room.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw ‘F’ lying unconscious. She ran as quick as she could. “‘F’ oh no, no, no.” She quickly got to him. “What do I do? What do I do?” she tried lifting him up. She sat him up against the wall and the most unusual thing happen. He started to cough up red dust. She quickly called for help. “Big Macintosh, Cheerilee, Flash anyone!! ‘F’ has fallen. He's coughing up some sort of red dust,” she yelled, but there was no answer. Soon she began to hear the clash outside. She wanted to check what it was, but she didn’t want to leave ‘F’ in his condition.

Meanwhile, outside, two powerful light magic wielders clashed. Their movements were so fast that it look like two lightning bolts crashing in the sky. It was impossible to tell who was even fighting, let alone tell which was winning.

Soon ‘F’ woke up long enough to say, “Celestia?” before falling back unconscious.

“No it’s me Twilight,” she said to him. 'Why would he ask for Princess Celestia?' her thoughts questioned. But before she could get an answer, Big Macintosh and Cheerilee arrived with the breathing apparatus. As they took care of ‘F’, Twilight walked over to the window looking out it. “What is that?” she questioned.

“It has to be Cult Race. Flash must be fighting him. But when did he get in?” questioned Cheerilee.

“I don’t know, but he must have been the one who knocked out Doctor Whooves and Derpy on the ship.” answered Big Mac.

“Will somepony please tell me what is going on? Who is Cult Race and what does he want with Flash?” Twilight questioned.

“That doesn’t matter right now. We just know that he is an assassin who has been nicknamed the ‘Killer of Millions’ and that he has a great hatred for Flash.”

“What can we do to stop him?” Twilight asked.

“There is nothing we can do,” said Big Mac. “The two are fighting in the sky and none of us are pegasi.”

“Even if we were, none of us could fly without pegasi magic,” said Cheerilee.

“Wait I remember reading one of those books that dark magic can come in different forms, like light magic.”

“Yeah that’s right the original Twilight used dark magic to fly,” agreed Cheerilee.

Twilight took a stance and began concentrating. “Alright then you two get ‘F’ somewhere safe, meanwhile I need to concentrate on flying.” Hearing her words, they quickly got ‘F’ out of there.

Meanwhile in the sky, Flash was starting to lose. For a while, the battles were ending in stalemates. That couldn't last forever, though. As the battle continued, Flash began to slow and Cult Race was getting the upper hand. Flash was covered in wounds and getting weaker by the second. Cult Race grabbed Flash, tossing him towards the highest pillar on the top of the Sky Sanctuary. He crashed right into it. Cult Race flew over to him, grabbing him by his left arm as he started to fall. “Now, now, Flash. Have you been getting soft on me?”

Flash quickly tried to kick him but missed as Cult Race flipped in the air. In the process, he twisted Flash’s arm. He then flew down and crashed Flash into the roof. He lifted Flash’s twisted arm and then proceeded to snap it. “Oh did I do that?” he spoke so calmly.

Flash quaked in agony at his broken arm. Twilight heard his scream and hurried her concentration. Suddenly she felt a surge through her wings. The ground began to shake and Twilight shot out the window and into the sky, breaking the window in the process.

However, she left too quickly, as 'F' barely woke long enough to say, "Twi.... don't look.... at his eye....."

Twilight quickly flew into the skies. There she caught sight of Cult Race and Flash, as well as what he looked like. Cult Race wore a dark gray, tall collared, thin steampunk trench coat and a bright, neon yellow suit, tie, and pants that were clearly meant to be a bullseye for his enemies. The strangest of all was his choice in gloves. The left one was red, and the right one was blue. It was uncertain what kind of pony he was due to the fact he wore a tall, gray top hat, but she could at least tell he had a dark green mane and his coat color look somewhat like a rotting white.

“Flash!” She yelled as she charged forward. Flash tried to yell for her to not interfere, but it was too late.

Twilight caught direct sight of Cult Race’s cold reptilian-like eyes. He simply said one word. “STOP.”

Instantly she froze. But it wasn’t out of fear or even choice for that matter. Time itself stopped around her. She couldn’t move at all. She was frozen in time. Cult Race stood on the air like it was the ground.

“Well, that was easy."

“Cult Race, leave her out of this!” Flash pleaded, but Cult Race ignored him.

“Hmm, you do look like Twilight,” he said as he placed his hand on her chest. “It is very strange.” He leaned into her. He looked directly into her eyes. It was like he was staring right into her soul. “But you are not her. No matter how hard you want to be.” Flash looked in horror at what happened next. Cult Race stabbed his hand right through her chest.

“Slow.”

Time around her began to move forward, but slowly. Twilight felt every twist of pain as he reached through her chest, carefully grabbing her heart. He began to squeeze it slowly. “You see, Twilight, I saw your battle earlier with Flash. It was quite palpable the tension between you two. How did it feel to have him that close? How did it feel when he nearly kissed you?” He began to squeeze his hand tighter around her heart. “Tell me. Did you feel warm inside? Did you feel so good at the idea of kissing him? Tell me how did it feel? Did it feel like you're heart couldn’t stop beating?” He squeezed even tighter and tighter as the blood from the wound slowly spilled onto his arm. “You should know that you could never be her. That you could never replace her spot in his heart.”

Twilight was in agony. A wound like this should have killed her, but time itself was moving so slow. He squeezed one final time. She could feel the pressure on her heart. Life was slowly slipping from her. Her mind was blurring. Everything was fading. The final thing she heard was him saying “Reverse.”

******

Twilight found herself floating in space once more. It was like the time when Rarity nearly killed her. Only this time it was different. She felt warm like a blanket was wrapped around her. She began to hear a voice, a male’s voice.

“Twilight. Twilight.”

“What? Who’s out there?” She questioned as she looked to see where the voice was coming from. She tried her best, but all she could see was darkness. She had no idea who was talking to her.

“Do you have the blood red katana?” the voice asked.

“Yes, why?” she asked.

“Good, keep it close to you. It will protect you from her power. It will keep you alive. It will keep you safe. Now I have to go, Twilight,” the male voice answered back. She slowly began to notice it sounded somewhat familiar like she had heard it once before, but only once before.

“Wait, who are you?” she tried asking, but there was no answer at all. Soon she started to wake up.

******

Twilight found herself back in the hallway where she left. Instantly she fell to the ground, puking up blood. She looked to see the window was no longer broken and that the wound was gone, almost like it was never there, however, the memory was fresh in her head.

“Twilight, what happen?” Big Macintosh questioned.

“I left and then I was back here,” she said in a confused tone.

“But we didn’t see you even leave,” said Cheerilee.

“She did..... his eyes.... Time manipulation,” ‘F’ answered them slowly before losing consciousness.again. Twilight nodded a yes as she cleaned the blood off her mouth.

“What did he do Twilight?” Cheerilee asked.

“He stabbed his hand through my chest and grabbed my heart, but before he killed me, I found myself back here,” she said. She grabbed her chest tightly, tears forming in her eyes.

******

Back on the roof, Cult Race walked up to Flash. He grabbed Flash's broken arm, pulling it up. “Now where were we? Oh yes, I remember.” He then snapped Flash’s broken arm back into place. He opened up Flash’s hand and placed something in it. “Now don’t drop this. You are going to need it to find her. It took me forever to find it. Get inside and place it on the map.”

“Why are…..you doing this…... Cult Race?” Flash questioned.

“Because quite frankly, you’ve been getting slow. I wasn’t even fighting at full speed. So hopefully, this will bring you back to your top speed,” he said as he let go of Flash’s arm. “Another reason is once you are done training Twilight, Realta wants to have a talk with you.”

“About what?”

Cult Race walked away a few feet and spoke. “Oh I don’t know, the demigod said that he will show up when you're ready to hear it.”

"Damn you, you demon!"

"Oh come on, you know I am much worse than any demon." Cult Race took his leave. He started to run across the sky. He ran faster and faster until all could be seen was a blur of light.

******

After Cult Race left, Twilight flew up and brought Flash back down. She brought him down gently so as to not hurt his arm even more. As soon as he touched the ground, he ran to the map room. “Wait, where are you going? You're still covered in wounds!” she called to him, but he ignored her and his pain. Twilight looked at Big Macintosh and Cheerilee and they gestured for her to go after him.

Twilight followed Flash to the map room. Once there, he climbed on top the table map. He opened up his hand and held out a strange looking crystal. “What is that?” Twilight questioned.

“I don’t know… but Cult Race said…. it’s something important,” he answered as he looked over the map, while the pain in his arm started to numb. He found something. It was a small hole in the map over where the Sky Sanctuary should have been.

“How can you even believe in that monster?” she questioned him.

“I don’t, however,” he leaned down and place the crystal inside the hole. “He has no real reason to lie to me right now.”

As soon as it was in, the map began to glow. Suddenly a hologram of the map rose up. Twilight and Flash looked on as it showed all of Sky Sanctuary. In the map of the cathedral, they could see a few orbs.

“What are those orbs?”

“I think they’re us,” Flash answered. “Look, those two large ones in the map area. Those have to be you and me. And over there is ‘F’, Big Mac and Cheerilee.”

“That’s ‘F’?” she questioned as she looked at the map. ‘His orb looks so twisted,’ she thought. “Hey wait, why would Cult Race give you something like this?”

“He said ‘find her’,” he said as he took a moment to think. “Hold on, I going to try something. Let’s see if I can make this bigger,” he twisted the crystal. Suddenly it zoomed out, showing the lands beyond Equestria. He walked away from the crystal and over to the map where a giant crystal spire could be seen. “This thing seems to measure magic levels.” Suddenly his eyes widened as he saw three massive orbs there.

“Where is this?” she questioned.

“This is Nightmare Spire, the home of Mother and Father. It lies just on top of Griffinstone. But that’s not the point. There are three massive levels of magic there.”

“Wait, I’m assuming two of them are Nightmare Moon and this Father guy, but who is the third one?”

Flash’s eyes widened more and smile crept onto his face. “There is only one it could be. It’s Twilight. She’s alive.”

******

Author's Note

So this was incredibly fun to write. Cult Race has been a character I've want to do for so long. Now for the fans of the canceled Flash Saga, this was going to be the main villain of that series. It really don't matter which timeline you follow when to Cult Race. He is the same in both timelines.

Chapter 13: A Ghost And A Madpony

Two thousand years ago, in the middle of a beautiful morning, a lone guard walked through the garden maze. He waited patiently for the princess to be done talking to the Statue of Discord as she always did. It had only been a year since Discord’s imprisonment, and she would always take time to visit him. His reign over the land had lasted one thousand years and now he was defeated.

As the guard continued to wait, a mysterious figure walked up. The figure had a shadowy look to him. He walked to the entrance. The guard saw him and yelled for him to stop. “Stop right there. Nopony is to bother Princess Celestia right now.”

He didn’t listen, so the guard charged forward. The figure simply looked at him with a glare. The guard caught sight of the glare and kept charging forward. Then something the figure said stopped the guard instantly. “Bow.”

Uncontrollably, the guard stopped and began to bow down against his own will as an unknown force pulled him down. “What is happening?” said the guard. His body quaked in agony as he tried to fight it, but the unknown force began to pull stronger.

“I said BOW,” the figure repeated. The force that pulling became even stronger. Finally, the guard could fight no more. It felt like the space around him was being bent. The figure looked into the entrance and saw the princess talking with the statue. “Hmm, seems brother is busy talking with that mare. Oh well, I’ll talk to Discord later.” The figure then looked at the guard as he pulled out a letter. “Meanwhile, listen guard. You are to give this to Princess Luna. Tell her I will be waiting avidly for her reply.”

Once the letter was placed on the ground, the figure disappeared in shadowy smoke. And with him so did the unknown force that had been pushing on the guard. The guard fell to the ground unconscious. The last thing he saw was Princess Celestia running towards him as she saw him fall.

******

‘F’ slowly woke from his dream. He found himself on a bed in the infirmary ward of the titan airship. He slowly looked around as he lay there. For some reason, he was unable to move. Soon he heard voices in the other room.

“So this device I made from the crystal should show us a mini version of the map, and show where those three orbs are at all times.” said Doctor Whooves.

“Good,” answered Flash. “I’ll hold on to it.”

Their voices began to grow quieter as everything was going silent. Once no sound could be heard, the light in the room began to dim as the shadows in the room began to move on their own.

‘F’’s eyes widened as he saw the shadows slowly uniting into an all too familiar, shadowy figure. He tried to move or give some warning to anypony, but ‘F’ couldn’t move at all. Entering was somepony he knew all too well. Entering the room was Father.

“Do not be alarmed ‘F’. I am not here to harm you. And besides, you know very well I can’t leave her side. I sent my astral projection. You’re probably wondering, why am I here. Well, I sensed Cult Race. But don’t worry, it seems he has left already. Now back to what you were doing. Oh yes, dreaming.”

Father clapped his hands and everything began to blur, as ‘F’ return to slumber.

******

And so the dreaming continued. In the same garden walked the same guard only now he was older and wiser. He wore the robes of a royal advisor. It was long sleeved, in particular, the left sleeve was longer than the right. In fact, the entire limb could not be seen. He also had wrapping on the left side of head. He walked until he saw the shadowy figure once more. “You,” he said as he held up his left sleeve and pointed towards the figure.

The figure spoke “Well, well it’s been over a thousand years since our last meeting, Fre--”

“You have no right to speak that name to me,” he interrupted him.

“Oh, that’s right. You go by ‘F’ now, don’t you?”

“Yeah, what of it?” ‘F’ answered as he pulled his left sleeve down rather forcibly.

“In a way, I’m glad to see that you're back in Celestia’s good graces. Well, most of you,” he noted this as he stared with an angered look upon ‘F’’s left sleeve. “I thought you would have had him removed long ago.”

“That’s not the point R--”

“It’s Saruman now,” he interrupted ‘F’.

“Hmm, you changed your name again as well? How many times is that now?”

“Fifty-two,” Saruman answered. “Of course when you live as long as I have, you tend to lose count a few times.”

“Alright then ‘Saruman’. Why are you here?”

“I could ask you the same thing ‘F’. But if you must know, I’m here for Luna.”

“Nightmare Moon is imprisoned. And that is where she will stay.”

“Luna,” he said with slightly raised anger. “is meant to be home with her sister.”

“Don’t you mean with you?” ‘F’ questioned. Saruman laid his face down and let out a small chuckle.

“Despite your assumptions, I only want what is best for Luna.”

“Which to you is back by your side.”

“Fine, see it as you shall. I will not argue with somepony who stole his immortality,” he retorted back to ‘F’ with a smirk. “You know, it’s strange that you would become the new royal advisor since you and I both know what happen to the last one.” Saruman noted as he once again looked at ‘F’s left sleeve, this time with more anger. “Is he awake?”

“He always is. However, I managed to find ways to--” Suddenly ‘F’ was interrupted by a filly that ran up to him.

“Great grandfather, great grandfather! I have wonderful news,” she said as she ran up to him. “The princess has offered to make me her personal student.”

‘F’ turned to her and kneeled down placing his right hand over her mane. “Oh, that’s wonderful. You go tell your parents.” Saruman looked perplexed at the little filly. Soon the little filly ran to go tell her parents the good news. ‘F’ stood back up and looked at him. “What is going on in that mind of yours?”

“Is it me or does she look a lot like--” Saruman stopped himself as a certain princess walked up to them. ‘F’ turned, but then the dream began to clear once more.

******

‘F’ woke up. He could see Father’s astral projection was still in the room. The projection seemed to be listening to Twilight's voice on the other side of the wall. “Hmm, it seemed my brother Discord has been captured by a group called the Forest Rebels, and Twilight has decided to lead a search party to find them.” He looked back at ‘F’. “You have done well in training her. But you still keep too many secrets from her.”

“I have to. You know very well what happened last time somepony told the truth about my curse.”

“Ah yes, Celestia’s death. But that was of her doing, not mine. There’s no reason to blame me or yourself for what Princess Burning Star did.”

“Like it matters to you, you monster.”

“Oh, that was uncalled for ‘F’. How about I make the next dream even worse, by having you remember the day you met your poor little student Flash?”

“No….” ‘F’ tried to fight it, but couldn’t as the world blurred once more.

“Now shall we finish these nightmares.” He finished as he clapped his hands.

******

A new dream began. ‘F’ was walking through the Everfree Forest. His left sleeve had been twitching uncontrollably for days. So he thought if he got some fresh air he hoped it would calm him down, but the sleeve was still twitching.

“What is with you? Why have you been so erratic lately?” ‘F’ questioned as he looked at his left sleeve.

Suddenly they were bothered by an interruption. ‘F’ heard a voice from behind him.

“‘F’... I need your…. help,” the voice said faintly. He turned to see where the voice was coming from, only to see a yellow pegasus with a white mane. He was wearing a torn up lab coat and he had something hidden under a cloth. ‘F’ knew instantly who it was.

“Richard Sentry?” he said as he rushed over. He grabbed Richard as he fell. “What happen Richard? Tell me!”

“I’m sorry. I betrayed your teachings. For years now I have been secretly working with Saruman on a project called the Ryu Experiment. It involved the dragon egg that Princess Luna found millenniums ago. The twisted experiments...I couldn’t take it anymore. So I ran, and now,” It was at the point that ‘F’ noticed several broken bones all over his body.

“Richard, you're badly injured. We need to get you some help, right now.”

“No, it’s too late for me. Saruman has sent ‘him’ after me.”

“You mean--” but ‘F’ was quickly interrupted.

“Yes him, you know what that means. My family is already gone. I was only able to get my son out of there.” Richard unveiled what was under the cloth. It was a young colt asleep. “This is Flash Sentry.” He handed his son to ‘F’. “Please, ‘F’, you were my mentor in the Cult of Light. I ask you now to be his mentor, too.”

‘F’ took the colt from his old student. He then placed his student down and took a step back as Richard continued. “Saruman has a plan to set Nightmare Moon free. He plans to execute it in three years time. Please ‘F’, forgive me for listening to that shadow.”

“I forgive you, old friend.”

“Now go. He will soon be here. I don’t want my son to be here for this.”

Doing as his old student asked, ‘F’ quickly ran out of there with the young colt. As soon as they were out of sight Richard slowly got up and tried to run the other direction, but was stopped by an all too voice.

“Well, where do you think you're going?” ask the assassin that was following him. He landed from the sky, pulling in his moth-like wings in the process.

Richard looked at his assassin. Knowing full well there was no escape, he instantly knew what to do next. “I’m going to kill you Cult Race--”

“STOP.” Cult Race said as his prey instantly froze as he caught sight of his eyes. Time had stopped around Richard. Moments later time resumed, as Cult Race stood there with bloody bone knives in his hands and blood spurted in all direction from Richard’s body as it was ripped apart piece by piece.

******

‘F’ woke up from the final dream only to see Father was gone. And Twilight was now in the room. “‘F’ you’re finally awake. What were you dreaming of?”

“Nightmares,” he answered as he sat up.

“Oh, I see. You’ve been out for the remainder of the month. We left the Sky Sanctuary just a few hours ago. My training is over with and we just dropped off Cheerilee near the CD ruins. We received a message that Discord has been captured, Flash, Big Mac and I are going to rescue him.” Twilight was about to ask about the nightmares, but then ‘F’ quickly decided to change the subject.

“I heard that Cult Race showed up while I was out.”

“How did you--”

“Thin walls.” He interrupted as he didn’t want them to worry over the fact Father was there without them knowing. “Anyway, Cult Race. If I remember correctly, he used the Glare on you.”

“The Glare?” Twilight questioned.

“Yes, the Glare is a master spell that can only be performed by a very few strong magic users. Even I can’t use the move properly. It condenses a certain form of magic on a certain point.”

“I see,” she said as she brought up a notepad and quill.

“The Glare acts differently based on what kind of magic is being used. Cult Race is a master of light magic. Light magic in its strongest form can bend time, combined Glare, which condenses a magic to a certain point. Together this allows the user to bend time like a bubble around the enemy. The drawback is he has to keep eye contact with the target at all times”

“So that’s what happen.”

“Tell me, Twilight what did he do?”

Twilight put the notepad down. “He stabbed his hand through my chest.”

“Is that all? He was being merciful.”

“Merciful?” she quickly questioned, with tears in her eyes. “How was that merciful? And how can I still remember it?”

“Well, you can still remember it because memories are the only thing not affected by time bending, I mean look at your body. Ever since you left the time bubble of the Sky Sanctuary, you reverted back to you original age, yet the memories you had in there are still there in your mind. As to you other question, Cult Race has done a lot worse in his time of killing.”

“You sound like you know him,” she questioned rather quickly.

“Yes, truthfully I do. He is an immortal assassin who has been around since the rise of Discord’s reign. He has been hired by many groups throughout the millenniums from the A.N.T.I. to the Cult of Light.”

“Wait, you mentioned that group one time.”

“Yes. I was once one of their highest members. The Cult of Light was formed by a descendant of the Order of Light.” ‘F’ lifted his right arm and grabbed his left shoulder, as it ached, before continuing. “But unlike the Order, the Cult of Light was highly racist. I only stayed with them due to their access of the ancient technologies.”

“Okay, well that one mystery out of the way. But you said Cult Race was being merciful. You mean you’ve seen him do worse.”

“Yes.”

“When?”

‘F’ took a deep breath. “Twilight, I know you know about the royals and the secondary royals. But nopony told you what happen to their families.” Twilight’s eyes widened. ‘F’ saw her reaction and continued. “That right, your alternate's parents, Trixie’s parents, Rarity’s parents and many more. Even Flash’s parents were among the victims. They were all killed by Cult Race. And he didn’t just simply kill them.” He took another deep breath. “He ripped them apart. Cult Race hunts for the thrill of killing and to him, it does not matter who or how many. That’s the reason they call him the Killer of Millions.”

The two continued to talk until they arrived at the Massive Everfree Forest. ‘F’ tried his best during the entire conversation, to not talk about the dreams or the fact that Father was there earlier. He still believed that Twilight was not ready for everything, despite what Father said.

******

Meanwhile in the Massive Everfree Forest. A certain yellow pegasus mare walked up to her leader. “My leader, King of beasts, as strange as it may sound, we have more intruders approaching in a blue box.”

The leader of the Forest Rebels simply sat there in his throne. Not much could be seen of him as he rolled his fingers up and down. He spoke. “A blue box? Is this supposed to be amusing?” he questioned. She did not answer. He lifted his hand and continued. “Fluttershy bring them to me, broken or not. It does not matter to me, but alive.”

******

Twilight and the group stepped out of the titan airship. They had landed on the outskirts of the ruined Ponyville. Big Macintosh looked to his old hometown as he clutched what he had hidden under his armor - memories of old he tried to ignore. Twilight looked at him and realized that this must have been hard on the big guy, but then she saw his face. It was motionless.

She tried to ask if he would be okay when she was stopped by a small argument back on the ship. She quickly ran inside to see what was wrong. She came up to the Doctor and Derpy who seemed to be talking to the ship again. She had seen them talking to the ship a few times like it was alive. “What's wrong Doctor?” she asked.

“I don’t know. She seems to be irritated by something.”

‘F’ walked up to them. “How about you and Derpy stay here and work on it? Try to see what is wrong.”

“Okay, that sounds like a good idea.”

“Alright, meanwhile I’ll be exploring the town. Twilight, you, Flash and Big Mac go explore the forest. We need to find out where the Forest Rebel’s base is. Once you have figured out where it is, contact me with a small dark magic flare spell.”

“Okay.”

After that, she ran outside the meet up with the others. ‘F’ went to walking through the town and the Doctor and Derpy went to working on the ship. And at the same time unknown to the two, a strange shadow sneaked out the doorway.

******

Twilight, Flash and Big Macintosh looked around. The entrance looked exactly how Twilight described it. Several trees were covered in plunder vines. Twilight felt a chill going down her spine as they stepped closer. She remembered all the hopelessness the forest filled her with.

They stepped inside. The chill got worse. They had to hurry up and find the Forest Rebel’s base. They made their way to Twilight’s map. Twilight ran up to it. “Wow, how did we find it so fast? I must have run for hours when I was in here before.”

“That’s no surprise, Twilight. This forest plays tricks on the mind. You could wander for days and not even know it.”

“Then how are we getting through so easily?”

Big Macintosh stepped forward and took a stance as if ready for battle. He spoke. “Simple. She's happy to see me.”

“What?”

Suddenly trees began to ruffle as several enemies approached. They were wearing black robes and hoods. They jumped through the trees with such speed it was like they weren't even ponies at all, moving more like cats. There was at least a couple dozen of them and they all wielded shurikens and kunai.

“What are they?”

“Ninjas.”

******

‘F’ walked through the ruins of Ponyville. A distinct shadow was still following him. He kept walking. He soon came up to the treehouse library. “Okay, we are far enough you can show back up now.”

Suddenly Father’s astral projection rose up. “So you knew I was still there?”

“Of course I did. But why are you still here, Saruman?”

“Why else? To talk to you. With Discord under his watch, I can’t go talk to him. You are my only choice for answers.”

“Answers to what?”

“This alternate timeline that Twilight is from.”

“What do you mean?”

Father took a moment to take a breath. “Is Luna free from Nightmare in her timeline?”

“Yes.”

“Am I with--”

“You were not mentioned anywhere near Luna.” ‘F’ interrupted him. He saw the annoyance in his eyes. “However, she did mention somepony named Nightflare. Does he sound familiar?”

A smile crept forth to his face. “Yes, he does.”

******

Twilight, Flash and Big Macintosh got ready as the ninjas charged them. “Fight hand to hand,” Flash ordered.

“Easier said than done,” Twilight said as she dodged a swing. Two ninjas jumped towards her. She ducked and rolled, then kicked into the two, knocking them into the air. She then jumped and flew, knocking them into the trees.

Meanwhile, Big Macintosh swung his big arms, knocking down a few of the ninjas. More ninjas jumped on top of him. Soon they piled him to the ground. “Big Mac!” Twilight called out.

“Don’t worry, he can handle himself,” said Flash. Big Macintosh knocked them off quite quickly.

At the same time, Flash was quickly surrounded by five. “Hmm, easy.” One enemy in front of him threw a fist forward. He leaned to the left as he started to use his lightning fast movement. One tried to attack from the left. He saw this and then caught the fist that he was dodging and sent them into the enemy on the left. The one to the right jumped forward. He purposely continued to lean to the left until he fell and sent his legs up, kicking one leg between the legs of that one and his other foot into the enemy's face. The other two were taken by complete surprise by his moves, which to them it looked more like a blur. Before they could even react, he used his hands as he fell to push himself into a spin in the air. His legs flew about, knocking them into the ground. He finally flipped back up and landed upright. "See? Easy!"

“Oh sure. When you use that lightning speed it is,” Twilight said in annoyance as she landed.

“Enough banter. She’s here.”

“Who?”

Suddenly the trees began to move on their own. The plunder vines began to retract. Big Macintosh turned and looked right at Twilight. “Send a distress signa--” But before he could say the rest, he was grabbed by the feet by the plunder vines.

******

‘F’ and Father were still talking when Derpy ran up. “‘F’? Twilight has sent a distress signal.” She instantly stopped as he saw Father there. “What is he doing here?”

“Don’t worry, Derpy. It’s just an astral projection of him. He's been following me since I left the ship.”

Father looked at the mare, in particular, her eyes. “Hmm, your eyes...they seem familiar.”

“And what do you mean by that?” she quickly questioned.

“I really shouldn’t be saying this, but Night Fright has a test subject with similar eyes.”

Her lopsided eyes widened in horror. “Dinky?”

“Is that that one’s name? A cute little gray unicorn filly? Oh, I do believe she has a few sisters, too.” He saw the fear quickly growing on her face.

“Enough,” said ‘F’. He knew that Derpy was weak-minded and such words could easily break her.

“Fine. Do with the intel as you will. Meanwhile,” he looked back at ‘F’. “You may do as you please with the intel on Nightflare as well. Whether you want to tell Twilight the truth about him is up to you.” After he was finished, he took his leave.

Derpy fell to the ground. Doctor Whooves ran over and saw her in tears. “Derpy, what happen?”

“We just received news that your children are alive. But under the painful watch of Night Fright.” He walked over to them. “Come on, we have to rescue the rest of the group. Her guard should be down with them captured. She’ll most likely be taking them to her leader.”

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anypony, one of the video screens on the ship had started to blink. On the screen could be seen the faint image of a unicorn.

******

Author's Note

Well a lot of stuff we got in this one, from a look into 'F' past, to new things brought to light. Plus a little mystery involving a unicorn.

Anyway Thursday I'll post the next chapter.

Chapter 14: The King Of The Beasts

First Big Macintosh had been grabbed, but soon Twilight and Flash had been tied up in the plunder vines as well. The three hung in the air as the trees began to move aside.

Stepping forward, covered in vine-like clothing, was a yellow pegasus mare with a pink mane. Her eyelids had blues lines going down to her chin. Twilight's eyes widened. It was Fluttershy. She spoke in a soft and sweet tone as she walked to Big Macintosh. “Why hello, Big Macintosh.” She lifted her hand and grabbed his face.

The big guy snorted. “Look, Fluttershy, we’re not here to pick a fight. Where is SS?”

“Oh, you mean that draconequus? I had him put in our dungeon, which is where you will go, too.” She reached into his armor to what he always had hidden. “Oh, you still have it in the obvious spot.” She pulled out a locket. “I’ll be keeping a hold of this.” His eyes widened as he tried to reach for it. She turned away from them, taking a few steps. “Besides, it used to have me in it.” She popped it open, then her voice turned ice cold. “Nevermind, you can have it back.” She closed it and had one of the plunder vines place it back in his armor. “Like it matters anyway. I found myself a better stallion.”

Twilight was understandably confused to what was going on. But before she could even ask what was going on between Big Macintosh and Fluttershy, she saw Fluttershy snap her fingers and out the trees landed a big, overly muscular white pegasus wearing a toga. It was Bulk Biceps. “Bulk, be a lovely husband and take Flash and Twilight to go meet with our leader.” Her kind and soft voice was back. At the same time, Twilight’s eyes were as wide as ever to find out that Fluttershy was married, and to this big guy. “Meanwhile, I’ll make sure that my ex here gets to the dungeon as painfully as possible.”

******

Twilight and Flash were taken through the forest, Bulk Biceps carrying them on his big shoulders. It seemed that he was taking them to the center. They soon came upon a small village. There Twilight could see several ninjas taking off their hoods, revealing that they were, in fact, the citizens of Ponyville. In the grouping, she could see the Cake family, as well as Mayor Mare and several others.

He took them through the village until they came upon the still in ruins Castle of the Two Sisters. At first, she assumed that the leader must be living there, but instead, Bulk Biceps carried them downward towards the path that led to the Tree of Harmony. They entered the cave that led to it.

Twilight’s eyes widened as they came upon it. The Tree of Harmony was…. Dead. And by the look of it, it had been dead awhile. But that was not was sent a chill up her spine even more. The dead tree was being used as a throne for the leader of the Forest Rebels. Sitting on the throne was Tirek.

“Twilight Sparkle, and Flash Sentry.” he lifted his hand. “Give me one good reason, why you are here?”

“We are here for Discord.”

He laughed. “The draconequus? He is no use to you. Have you a better reason?”

She snorted in annoyance. “No.”

“Fine. In a way you are lucky that you use those kinds of magic, I can’t absorb. Bulk, take anything items they have on them. Then take them by the ‘site’, and then finally take them to the dungeon.”

“Yes, my King.”

“King?” Twilight looked in annoyance as she finally saw the crown on his head. “How can you possibly be a king?” Bulk Biceps took her and Flash away as she kept calling out for answers, but to no avail.

******

Twilight and Flash were taken through the castle. They went through a long hallway that looked all too familiar to her. She soon recognized it from the first nightmare that Nightmare Moon had given her.

They soon came up to the room she saw before. She looked to see blood still staining the floor. “I’m sure being here brings back painful, memories Twilight,” said Bulk. She looked in confusion until she saw the sorrow on Flash’s face. That’s when it finally hit her, like a slap to the face. This is where it happened. This was where Celestia had been executed. Seeing the look on his face, she realized he was there when it had happened.

They were taken down to the dungeon. There they saw Discord in chains and Big Macintosh covered in bruises. They were placed in two separate cells. The device that the Doctor had made along with their weapons were taken away. Flash tried to grab the device from Bulk, but he knocked him down. Twilight sat down. The doors to the cell were closed as an all too familiar feeling set on all their minds. She looked to Discord who seemed annoyed.

“So what happen to Big Mac?” she asked Discord.

He looked at her, then at Big Macintosh. “Oh, he doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay, how are you doing then?”

“Pitiful,” he answered in annoyance.

“Don’t worry Discord. We will get you out of here.” A smile crept onto her face, “Or should I say, Starswirl,” His eyes widened. “The Bearded.”

“When did you figure it out?”

She smiled grew even bigger, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I was right!” She jumped for joy. She kept jumping until Discord reached into her cell and pull her back to the ground.

“Well, are you going to tell how you figure it out?”

“Well, when somepony gives a mare like me access to a massive historical library, she tends to read….. All of it.”

“You read that entire library in one year?”

“Please. Try one month,” she gloated. She saw a cheerful smirk on his face. “I mean the clues were right in front of me. A wizard obsessed with chaos-based magic. His initials being SS. You wouldn’t believe my shock when I found out I was reading about my favorite, all-time wizard. Or that that wizard turned out to be you.”

The two continued to talk, not even noticing what was going on outside, but Flash noticed it and he put his guard up.

“Time out.”

All of time itself stopped. The entirety of time stopped. “Full reverse.” Suddenly the form of the door began to change as the door’s timeline was being reversed. Soon the door was gone. A strange figure covered in pure light entered the room. He was completely unrecognizable to any form of any creature in all of creation. He walked closer to the cell that Flash was in. He waved his hand over the cell, and spoke “Full reverse.” The cell's door was soon gone the same way the other door was gone.

This figure had total manipulation of time. He leaned down and grabbed Flash’s arm. “Time out.”

Suddenly Flash could move. He stood up and looked around. He soon figured out what was going on. He turned toward the figure. “Realta, will you turn off that light? You know very well it’s impossible to look directly at you in that form.”

“Fine then. So be it, Flash.” His form changed and soon he took the form of a gray unicorn with a long black and white mane. His eyes were a dark grayish purple. He stood there in front of Flash. He was literally naked except for the green and blue cape on his back. Though there was no ‘features’ at all down below.

“Seriously, sometimes I wonder why the Demigod of Light and Time always chooses the form of a naked unicorn.”

“Would you rather me look anatomically correct?” he questioned.

“No, no, no.” Flash waved his arms about. “It’s perfectly fine.”

“Alright then. Shall we get to business? I assume Cult Race told you I was coming.”

“Yeah, he told me. He also broke my arm before doing so. But he didn’t tell me why you would be here.”

“That is good. Because dangers like this would be hard for him to care about.”

“And the dangers are what?” He looked curiously at Realta. For a second he thought he saw fear in his eyes.

Realta turned away. “Believe.” Flash looked in confusion at his words. “Nightmare believes she has unlocked the power to become a full fledge goddess.”

“That's not possible.”

“Exactly. But she believes she has. And in that believe she has new power. Power that maybe too strong to stop.”

“What do you mean?”

“She has found a way to unlock their true potential and this has filled her with the false belief that she can become a full fledge goddess. You must figure out a way to stop her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That's all I have to tell you. But you must also tell Twilight what happened here.”

Flash’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

“No, you misunderstand me. I mean you need to tell her what happen with the Princess.”

Flash’s eyes widened more. “Oh, no. I will not.”

“You have to. It is what is meant to happen here. Time can’t be changed.” Suddenly his voice began to rush.

“Time, time, you changed time plenty of…..times.” He got annoyed by Realta’s sudden rush to leave.

“Yes, only when it is needed.” He let go of Flash’s hand as Flash once again froze with the rest of time. He walked out of the cell then waved his hand over where the cell’s door originally was and said, “Full forward.” The cell’s door returned back to it shape and form. He walked out of the room and turned to where the door was for the room. He waved his hand over it and completed the same spell. Afterward he left the castle and went into the forest. Once he was out of sight, he returned to his true form. He turned to the castle. “Time in.”

Time resumed and he took his leave, but not before being stopped by a voice. “And where do you think you're going, brother?”

******

Meanwhile back in the castle, Twilight continued to talk to Discord. Flash stood there a few moments. He wondered if he should listen to Realta. The memories of that day were not the best, but the truth had to be told.

“Twilight,” he interrupted them. “It’s time.”

“What do you mean?”

Discord’s eyes widened. “Wait, he was just here, wasn’t he?”

“Yes,” Flash answered. Twilight looked in confusion. Who were they talking about? Who was just here?

“Twilight, it’s time you heard some truth.

It was six years ago. A general was looking through his forty-four, new soldiers. The soldiers ranged in ages from old to extremely young. He was looking for the best of the best. The general was a white unicorn with a blue mane. He wore ice-like armor, wielded a longsword and a massive shield. It was General Dark Armor.

“Soldiers, you have been gathered here to find who is worthy enough to protect her.”

The soldiers looked understandably confused. Just who were they meant to protect? They were all curious, but at the same time, they knew not to question their General. Unfortunately, one in the front did not know and asked, “Just who are we protecting?”

Suddenly all the soldiers but that one took a step back. The soldier looked in confusion, but before he could even figure out what he did wrong, Dark Armor walked over. “You're right I should have told you.” he placed his hand on his shoulder. His hand was cold to the touch. “You are,” suddenly the soldier’s shoulder began to get colder and colder. He started to wail in pain as it got colder. “Useless pieces of ice.” Soon ice began to form on his shoulders. The ice move across his body. Eventually, his entire body was covered.

Dark Armor took the hilt of his longsword and bashed it into the soldier’s frozen body. The body shattered like glass. “Well, that’s one down. Good, now I know which ones don't question orders.” He stepped forward to the rest of the group. “Now, you all will be put through a series of tests to find out who is worthy enough to protect her.”

“This order comes down from Father himself. The one chosen will protect his prized daughter. Twilight Sparkle. Now, let the tests begin.” After he was finished, he walked over and sat down on a chair next to his wife. She was a pink pegasus with a long pink, purple and yellow mane. She wore a luxuriously long, blade-like pink and light purple dress. It was Duchess Cadenza.

She wrapped one arm around his. Meanwhile, the one orchestrating the tests walked up. He was a purple batpony colt with a green mane. He a wore long slim buttoned-up velvet red-violet coat and dark green pants. He also wore tech gauntlets. They looked upon him curiously. Just how could this be their instructor? He looked no older than twelve. Of course, there were a few of the soldiers who as young as him, but it was not wise to doubt this child. This was Prince Nexus Star. He was the second eldest of the heirs to the throne. He had been raised directly under Father since he was a baby. And even though he was still a colt, his voice spoke with ferocity and malice.

“Soldiers! As you know I am Prince Nexus Star, the Grand Master of teleportation. I will be testing your speed as well as your endurance.” He lifted his hands, “As you can see these are my mark-1 gauntlets. They amplify my strength ten fold. Plus they also have these small reflective mirrors on them that condense my dark magic into beams. I call them lasers, They have two settings. Teleport and diatomize. In other words, I can send the enemy away or straight up kill them. Your tests are to dodge all attacks. The tests will last until there are only four left. The remaining four will go on to the final test which is a direct battle against our General.”

They seemed to understand it pretty well, though understanding and getting through it were two totally different things. “Now, I’ll be setting the gauntlets to teleport. However, with them on teleport doesn't mean you can let your guard down. Any that leave will not be going onward.”

He activated his gauntlets. “Now, let’s begin.”

He started shooting right away and quickly the forty-three scattered. They ran through the somewhat small arena. They tried their best to dodge and keep moving. The Prince seem to target the slowest ones first. Soon they were down to thirty-two.

It was too impossible for some to keep dodging forever. Plus there literally nowhere to hide as the arena was barren of anything that could hide behind. Time went on for what seem like hours.

The number soon went down to twenty-four, when without warning he stopped. Some of the soldiers took this moment to take a breath. But that breath only lasted a second as without any warning at all, a loud bang could heard as a soldier's head was shot clean off. “Did I say, it was time to rest? Oh sure the first test is over but did you happen to hear my words. I said ‘tests', meaning more than one.” Suddenly another bang could be heard as another soldier’s head was shot off. “I won’t be the only one attacking for this part. The ones up on the balcony will be shooting to kill.”

The soldiers started moving again. Meanwhile, the prince lifted his hand up to a communicator in his ear, turning it on. He contacted the two shooters on the balcony while lifting his gauntlets back up to firing beams. On the balcony were a white unicorn colt and a light yellow unicorn filly. They both had red manes and wore camouflage clothing. They were wielding strange looking, thin cannons. “So how are the long barrel rifles handling, Moonchaser.”

The white unicorn answered. “They have good shock absorption to them, however, the sights are slightly off. Don’t worry, I’m compensating for it.”

“Okay, I might need to calibrate them a little more when this is over. My lasers are a little off too on sight as well. How is your lovely sister doing?”

Moonchaser looked slightly over to the filly beside him. “Oh, Moondancer is doing fine. Though this is her first time killing.” He then looked back into his scope and shot down another soldier.

“Make sure she doesn’t hesitate. Father was very adamant on finding reasons why I chose her to be my future wife.” He continued to fire his beams while talking to his friend. “He already had problems with yours and her bloodline descending from that insidious Cult of Light.”

“Don’t worry, I was able to prove myself in his dangerous eyes. I’m sure she can, too.”

Soon the bodies were dropping fast as it came down to just twelve. These twelve were being stubborn. The tests had been going for ten full hours now. Dark Armor and Duchess Cadenza were eating their dinner while the soldiers continued to dodge attacks. They all were doing well. Dark Armor took notice to how many were left - in particular, a yellow pegasus colt with a blue mane wearing weak armor. Though it was weak meant nothing since one single hit meant a loss. This pegasus colt was fast and seemed determined to win.

“I think we may already have a winner,” he whispered to his beloved.

“Oh? Which one?”

“The yellow pegasus with the blue mane.”

“Oh,” she looked to who he was talking about. “Oh, he’s a cute little guy.”

“Hmm, should I be jealous?”

“Of course not. My eyes are only for my cold, dark and handsome.”

“Oh you,” he laughed.

Suddenly they were all interrupted by a voice could be heard. “Oh listening to you two is boring.”

Instantly Dark Armor put up his guard as landing out the sky was a deadly assassin. “Hey Jack, you mind if I take over,” he said. Prince Nexus Star got annoyed that the assassin called him by his first name, but he saw no reason to argue with the Killer of Millions, Cult Race.

“No, I don’t mind Cult Race. Just make sure there at least four left.”

“Good, because Father will soon be arriving with your sister, and he sent me ahead to make sure this part was ready.” He stepped into the center of the arena. He pulled back his tall collar steampunk trench coat and reveal several bone knives. “Hmm, let’s see,” as he checked for which knives to choose. He looked around, his eyes falling upon the yellow pegasus. ‘Hmm, so that's the one Realta is watching over. Better make sure that one lives,’ he thought. He soon stopped and didn’t grab any knives out. “On second thought I’ll use what’s around me.”

“Okay folks, as you I’m the Killer Of Millions. So new test. With Father on his way here, I decided that instead of dodging attacks, how about you send a few? I will let four live. Maybe,” he fakely joked. “However, the rest I will kill. And let's make things easier on you all. I will use absolutely no magic.” He took a stance and a breath. “Now, shall we begin?”

One of the soldiers charged right at him. Meanwhile, the others were in confusion. Just what could he use around him? There was nothing at all anywhere. The arena was empty. Or at least that’s what they thought. The soldier’s punch made direct contact, hitting Cult Race right in the chest. He didn’t flinch. “What? That’s it? This is almost as boring as watching you all dodge.”

Cult Race grabbed the soldier’s hand and twisted it. The soldier wailed in pain, but the twisting wouldn’t stop. He kept twisting the hand until several snaps could be heard. First, the soldier’s shoulder broke from the force of the twisting. Then his elbow and finally his wrist. But Cult Race didn’t stop. He kept twisting until the hand was ripped off the arm up to the wrist. The soldier fell back as he held up his handless arm.

Cult Race just fakely smiled. “Thanks for the weapon.” He took the soldier’s hand and shoved it straight through his eye sockets into his brain. The soldier fell to the ground, dead. The others soon realized what he meant by using what was around him. He meant them. Two others charged forward. He stepped forward and turned around. He stepped on to the dead soldier placing one foot on the body’s back and grabbed the other arm and pulled on it just right to rip the entirety including the shoulder blade from the flesh. Using the arm like an axe, he swung back and took the head off of the nearest one. The head flew into the air with its mouth wide open. He backflipped into the air and kicked the head and open mouth right at the other one’s throat. He landed as the two bodies dropped to the ground.

The others shook in terror at what they saw. He didn’t move fast at all. All he used was killer instinct. He stood there in annoyance. “Well? Who's next?” They all charged towards him.

Dark Armor and Duchess Cadenza soon lost their appetite upon seeing the body parts flying through the arena. Cult Race sort of got ahead over himself and before they could stop him, there was only two left. The yellow pegasus colt and a green batpony colt.

“Dang it, Cult Race, you were suppose to leave four, not two!” Dark Armor argued.

“Well, I could have easily killed them all.”

“So you pull back at just two?”

“No, I pulled back because Father is here.” He lifted his head into the air and looked up. Dark Armor heard his words and looked to see Father in the sky above them. They all quickly bowed as he landed from the sky. As he did a lavender filly landed beside him. She had a navy blue mane. She wore a blue dress and had the blood red katana still in its sheath. She quickly ran to Dark Armor.

“Shining, Shining.”

“Please, it’s Dark Armor now. Remember?” He looked up to her. His eyes widened. “Twilight, you have wings.”

She looked to her wings. “Yeah, they were a birthday present from Mother. Aren’t they incredible?”

“Yes, they are.” Duchess Cadenza looked up as she spoke. “They’re quite lovely.”

“Thank you, Cadence.

While they were talking, Father walked up to the two remaining soldiers. “So you two are what is left.” He looked at them. They looked back at him. His eyes caught their sight. “Bow.”

Soon they felt as if space was being bent around them. It pulled at them. Pushing them down to the ground. They tried their best to fight it. It was so strong. “Hmm, I said BOW.”

Now the pull was too strong for them to fight. The first to fall was the batpony. As he fell, Father pulled out his scythe and sliced his head clean off. “Well, I think we found our winner.” He walked over to the yellow pegasus colt. “Tell me what is your name?”

“Flash Sentry.”

“Interesting, Sentry. I knew your father. You will do perfectly.” He looked back at Dark Armor. “Don’t you agree Dark Armor?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

Twilight ran over to the pegasus colt. “Hello, my name is Twilight. I guess you will be my guardian from now on. It’s nice to meet you.”

And that is how they met. What was to become of them was not yet know. But what was know, that no matter what they got into, he would watch over her? He was her guardian now.

******

Author's Note

Well we got a meeting with the demigod finally, as well as seeing Cult Race do what he does best. I'm sorry I know Cult Race is too powerful, the proofreader has told me that a few times. However he is not as powerful as you think.

But anyway, Flash and Alternate Twilight's backstory will continued in the next chapter. Oh and if you are wondering still about that unicorn that appeared in the previous chapter, I get to that eventually, just keep that in the back of you mind.

Side note, for the fans of the Flash Saga, that green batpony that Father killed was indeed Leod Quarts. Sorry, I had to put him somewhere.

Chapter 15: The Blood Soaked Castle

Author's Note

Sorry I didn't post sooner, I was so tired.

Warning ahead, this one is the thickest paragraphs of the chapter of all. Truth be told this chapter and the previous one, were originally the same chapter, but it got too long, so I separated them.

Chapter 15: The Blood Soaked Castle

They worked together for years after that. He guarded her with everything he had. Truth be told he had actually been sent in to spy on her. Not by Father, but by somepony else. The idea was that since she was the closest to Father and Mother, besides Prince Nexus Star, she would be the most involved with their plans.

But as time went on, he found himself protecting her no matter what the cost. For some reason, he felt a connection to her. He didn’t know what it was or why. It was like being in great sorrow when seeing her in any pain.

Soon three years into working with each other, came the day when she was charged with a dangerous mission. The mission was so dangerous that she had to work with the most powerful and eldest of the heirs to the throne, Princess Burning Star. The mare had a wild temperament to her. She could barely be trusted and yet there were stories about how she use to be so kind.

Flash didn’t trust her at all, but he kept close for Twilight’s sake. He found himself only wishing for Twilight’s safety no matter what.

******

They left as soon as possible. The mission was to find Princess Celestia. They searched for a full year until they finally tracked her down to the Castle of the Two Sisters. They arrived there with a few soldiers by their side.

“In here is where she is hiding?” questioned Burning Star.

“Yes, according to the facts I found in the libraries,” answered Twilight.

“Good. I can’t wait to end this. She will pay for all the lies she’s told.”

Flash didn’t comment. He knew what they would encounter when they got in there.

The three made their way inside with the soldiers behind them. Twilight didn’t know why her eldest sister had such a hatred for the Princess, nor did she care to ask. Their mission was to bring in Princess Celestia for questioning.

They made their way through the main hall. In there could be seen two thrones. Twilight looked and thought, ‘This must have been where it happened. This is where Mother became who she is today.’ They could hear arguing in a nearby room. They sneaked their way to it.

Inside could be seen a creature in a cloak and the Princess. Twilight looked to see Princess Celestia. She looked weakened, she wore a torn dress. She was too skinny. She probably hadn’t got much time for eating or resting since she left after Mother and Father took over. She looked pitiful. Twilight almost felt sorry for her.

The two continued to argue.

“I don’t know where they are,” the one in the cloak said.

“We have to find them and quickly,” Celestia answered back.

As they argued, the group of soldiers got into place. Suddenly one of the soldiers made a noise and the one in the cloak turned. “They’re here.” He waved his cane at them, casting a spell. Meanwhile, Celestia ran down the hallway. As the soldiers did battle with the one in the cloak, Twilight, Flash and Burning Star went after her.

They chased her down the hallway into a room. Once there, she turned back and launched an attack at them. They dodged. They surrounded her. A moment passed as they waited for the right time to strike.

Burning Star made the first move. She jumped at her. She knocked her back with a powerful magical blast. She then looked at Twilight and Flash. “Please let me go. You don’t know what she is planning.”

“No, we are to bring you in.”

“I’m sorry." She looked sorrowful.

She launched a powerful magical attack. It was too fast for Twilight to dodge. Flash looked and in that moment time stopped. “Time out.”

A lone figure covered in bright light walked through the battle. He walked over to Flash and then looked at Celestia. “I’m so sorry this has to end this way.” He then turned back to Flash. Then he reached his hand into Flash’s chest. "It’s time. You will only have monetary control of this speed, so use it wisely."

He pulled his hand out and walked away until he was out of the castle. “Now I leave it to fate. Time in.”

Suddenly time moved forward again and Flash moved at such speeds that he knocked Twilight out of the way. However, he didn’t move out of the way himself. Twilight looked up to see Flash get hit head on by the attack. It knocked him to the ground. She stood up and looked in horror. For some reason, she felt a twist in her heart. She then turned in utter rage as dark magic seeped from her eyes. In that moment she spoke. “Bow.”

As soon as Celestia caught sight of Twilight's eyes, she found herself being pulled down as space was being bent around her. Twilight didn’t know how she was doing this at all. Soon Burning Star walked up to Celestia.

Celestia first looked at Twilight. “I knew I was right about you. You are her.” Then she looked at Burning Star. “I’m sorry I lied to you, but some secrets must be kept.” Tears started to poured from her eyes. “Please, don’t do this.”

“No.” She lifted her trident that she wielded. “This is where it ends.”

In that moment Twilight's eyes widened in horror as Burning Star stabbed Celestia with the trident right through the heart. In that moment Celestia was gone. “Burning Star, what have you done?”

Burning Star did not answer. Instead, she started to let out a snicker which turned to laughter. Which turned into psychotic wails as she lifted the trident and continued to stab the body over and over. It finally turned to tears of sorrow. She cried aloud as she continued to stab.

Twilight saw this and walked over. Seeing her sister in tears she tried wrapping her arms around her, hoping this would calm her down. But before she could, a bright light shot from Celestia's body.

******

Two months later she found herself in a hospital bed. She seemed to be fine though she couldn't remember much of what happened. She lifted her head and sat up. She found Flash asleep in a chair beside her. He looked so cute all halfway out of the chair leaning back. He was wearing a blue shirt and green pants. He had his helmet still on and some armor.

She leaned over and poked him on the gut. She blushed a bit as she had just noticed how sculpted his gut felt. They had been running around so much that she never took time to ‘examine’ him. She started to poke harder. He didn’t even notice while being in such a deep sleep. She soon found herself accidentally feeling up his six pack. She pulled her hand back quickly as she saw him move slightly.

After which she laid back into her bed. She was annoyed with herself. Why would she do such a thing? Sure, she had gotten to know him somewhat well over theses four years, but she could never picture him in that way. She began twirling her fingers in her mane as she looked up at the ceiling. She hadn’t yet notice that Flash woke up when she started to poke at him before. But he, of course, didn't say anything and simply enjoyed seeing the blush on her face. He would have laughed too if it wasn’t for the fact his chest was still somewhat bruised from Celestia’s attack. Instead, he hid his own blush under his helmet.

After a few minutes, Twilight sat back up. She looked at him again. She still hadn’t noticed that he was awake. Seeing her lean back in, he acted like waking up. He stretched and yawned. She pulled back and looked forward. “Hello Princess, I see you're awake.”

She looked back at him in confusion. “What did you say?”

“Oh that’s right you were still asleep when you're title was given. From now by order of your Mother, you're to be call by your new title, Princess Fallen Star.” He lifted his hand and pointed to the door. Hanging from the door was a new set of armor. It was very reminiscent of Father’s armor, but her’s was purple and had her emblem on it. “I even received new armor myself, though I haven't put it on yet.”

“What happen, Flash?”

“Well let’s.” He didn’t catch to what she meant. Or maybe he was trying to dodge it. “You missed my promotion to Captain. Oh and there was an attack on Night Fright’s laboratory. We have to check that out later.” He still wasn’t catching on, or maybe he simply was not ready to answer her yet. She was slowly getting annoyed. “Oh, and Dark Armor and Duchess Cadenza are going on their second honeymoon. Something about visiting Yakyakistan. Oh and--”

“NO I MEAN WHAT HAPPEN AT THE CASTLE?” she yelled in annoyance as for some reason tears started to pool in her eyes and she didn’t know why.

“You don’t remember still, do you?” he answered. He looked down. “I had hoped you wouldn’t ask about it. But you used Father’s Glare spell.”

“Glare spell?”

“Yeah from what I heard, it’s a spell only a few can use. So far you are the tenth creature in all of history who has shown signs you can use such a spell. From what I could gather, you used the dark magic form of the Glare. That allowed you to bend the space around an enemy.”

“Yes, I know how dark magic works, but who did I use it on?”

He kept trying to dodge answering her. He tried to bring up something else. But it didn’t stop her from finally yelling. “Just tell me, who did I use the spell on?!?!?!”

He tried to hide the tears in his own eyes as he finally said it. “Celestia. You used it on Celestia. And then…. And then Burning Star killed her.”

Twilight’s head dropped to her lap as tears started to fall. Though it had been Burning Star that had done the deed, it had been her that had held Celestia down. Flash saw the tears. He leaned over and sat onto the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Go on, just let it out.” She lifted her head and screamed. Afterward, she turned and pushed her face into his chest. He pulled her in close as she began to hit at him in anger. Anger at herself.

She barely got around much after that. Just moping in her room all day and night. It was terrible. It was absolutely painful. Flash tried whatever he could to get her pass through the grief, but nothing worked. She felt simply awful and so did he. He was blaming himself just as much as she was blaming herself. His mission was to slow down their plans. Not help in speeding them up. With Celestia, dead all rebellion ended. Fancy Pants, the leader of the current rebels was eventually found and executed. Fortunately his wife, Fleur De Lis was never found.

Twilight continued to wallow in remorse for several days until the unexpected happened. It was something nopony expected at all.

******

Flash was walking down the hallway to Twilight’s room. He had hoped she would be getting a little better after a while. As he walked he happen to notice that somepony else was walking the opposite direction. It was Prince Nexus Star. He seemed annoyed. The two walked past each other when he decided to turn and look at him. “Flash, is it?”

“Yes,” he answered as he stopped walking. He turned towards the prince. “What is it? What do you want?”

“You know you're the reason she is like this.” Flash got confused by what Nexus Star said. “Here she has pulled the Glare, one of the most powerful spells of all time and she is in tears because she helped kill somepony. How pitiful. And all because she gotten emotionally attached to her guardian.”

Flash’s eyes narrowed on him. “And that’s a problem how?”

“Simple. You're too weak to be a possible candidate. And she is too weak to be thinking that.” Nexus Star smirked as he mocked him.

“What do you mean by that?” Flash asked. He had no idea to what Nexus Star was referring to, but he still took a stance. He would not allow the prince to dare insult Twilight. He was going to defend her honor.

“Oh you want to fight me?” he questioned.

Flash didn’t answer. Though if he were to fight him, it would turn into an uneven match with the fact the Nexus Star didn’t have his gauntlets with him. Still, he wouldn’t let his guard down. The prince smirked. “So this is how it is going to go? You think you have the advantage just because I don’t have my gauntlets with me.” He took his own stance.

Flash knew it was set now. He had to fight him. Though he thought it not wise to embarrass the prince, so he decided not to use the new speed he had gained. Nexus Star stepped forward with the first attack. A simple fist. It was easy to catch.

He caught the attack with his hand and didn’t even flinch. A moment past and there was nothing else. Suddenly Flash felt extreme pain in the hand that he had caught the attack with. He pulled back and the pain stopped. He looked at his hand curiously. There was not a scratch on it. Yet it had felt like he had just been stabbed in the hand.

“What’s wrong?” Nexus Star asked. “You look confused. Let me put it simply, my hands are truly my most powerful weapons. Whether I use them to make new weapons with the Pie Family, I use them in my gauntlets, or I use them to make moves on my wife’s luxurious body. They always seem to be the best at what I want.”

He took his hand and held in a flat form and sent another attack at Flash. This attack was too quick for Flash and he wasn’t able to catch it as it hit him in the left shoulder. Suddenly the shoulder went completely numb. And with it, all control of his left arm was gone. He looked to what was happening. “Oh, what's wrong? Still confused?” Nexus Star stepped to the side and then jabbed him in the gut. Suddenly he began to puke uncontrollably. “You see I have found out while doing, shall we say ‘special things’ with my lovely wife, that I can do a lot to the body of any creature. I think it’s connected to my cutie mark being a barcode, my talent being that I can break locks.” He kicked him in the gut just right and the puking stopped.

“Now at first I thought I could just break locks on doors. But it turns out that lock can be a very versatile word. For instance, did you know that our body pain centers and pleasure centers are covered with several forms of locks?” Flash got up and charged right at him at full speed, but the prince jabbed him in the leg. He soon found his body once again in agony as he fell down to his knees. “All I need to do is to hit you in the right spot and I can give you excruciating pain. Though I could give you pleasure too,” he joked the last part. “However I usually save that tactic for when I feel like satisfying my wife.”

The prince then leaned down. “Another thing I have found out about the body is that bones have their own forms of locks.” Flash’s eyes widened, but before he could react, Nexus Star jabbed him several times in the chest. His ribs were cracking with each jab. The jabs continued all over his body.

Flash soon fell to the ground with his body was torn up. Nexus Star walked away in triumph. “Well looks like I win this round. Come back any time you want a rematch.”

******

Twilight sat in her room. She was still angry with herself. She didn’t want this. She wanted to work alongside Father and Mother in cleansing this world of its evils. She didn’t want to be an executioner. All she wanted to do was sit in her room forever.

Soon a knock could be heard. “Go away,” she moped. There was another knock. “Leave me alone.” Then one more. “I said GO AWAY.” Then there was silence. A moment pass and then one final knock. She got up. Whoever they were, they weren't listening. She walked over to the door. She grabbed the doorknob. She twisted the doorknob and open the door. “Look I don’t want to be bothered.”

She looked to see nopony at all. She felt a pull on her leg. She looked to see Flash covered in bruises and broken bones. “Flash!”

She quickly dragged him into the room. “Who did this?”

“Nex….us Sta...r.” he could barely get out a coherent word. But what he gave was all she needed.

“Big Brother? Why would he do this?” She saw him quickly fading. “No don’t you dare die on me. I’ll get you to the hospital.”

“No… take… to…. ‘F’.”

Her eyes widened. “You know ‘F’.”

He couldn’t answer any more as he lost consciousness.

******

“I don’t how, but soon afterward she was able to find ‘F’ and he nursed me back to health. After that, she and I formed the Dark Rebels.”

Twilight stood there thinking. Sure she had heard everything he had said. She even shed a few tears during the story. But something in the story had hit her. An idea she just had to try. She walked over to the edge of her cell and called out to the guards.

“What are you doing?” asked Discord.

“I’m going to make an alliance.”

******

Meanwhile, miles away in the skies above the great wall that separated the Empire from what was left of Equestria was a strange looking massive airship. Standing on the walls could be seen Princess Dead Star. She looked annoyed at the airship above her. Soon a giant hologram was sent down from the ship. The image was the face of Prince Nexus Star.

“Brother, what is the meaning of this? Why have you brought the Andross here?”

“Simple little sister, I am here to clean up your mess. Twilight has been out of your hands for days now.”

“But the Great and Powerful Trixie can handle things herself. The Shadowbolts have been conducting a thorough search of the grounds.”

“That’s your problem. You’re searching and not finding. Therefore, I am taking command.” The hologram disappeared before she could argue back. She walked off in annoyance, back to her tower. Upon arriving though she received an unexpected message.

Meanwhile, on the ship could be seen several amounts of highly advance technology. Several pilots could be seen at several stations. And at the center of it all was Prince Nexus Star. He wore a long, slim, button up red-violet velvet coat and green pants. He didn’t have his gauntlets out, although it was assumed he had them nearby. “Okay, let’s get moving.”

The ship flew forward. They got past the wall and soon flew over the crater where the original Twilight had died. “Hmm, this crater was a magnificent grave for you. Looks like I will have to make another later. Captain Moonchaser, do you see anything?”

“Yes, I see a group of ponies in the ruins of Cloudsdale.”

“Alright then, we have our first stop.”

******

Chapter 16: The Uneasy Very Bad Alliance

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 17: Bad Pie, Or Rotten Apples

Twilight and the group arrived at the Rock Labs. It was a giant city of laboratories that covered the entirety of what was the Pie family farm in her timeline. But in this timeline it was pure machinery. They used ‘F’s illusion spell to hide themselves as they entered the city.

Inside were several buildings. ‘F’ led them to the tallest building. The build stood about sixty stories and was surrounded by guards. “So this is where Pinkie Pie lives?” Twilight questioned.

“Yes. The place is run by an overbearing boss known as the Big Cheese. If I remember correctly, Pinkie Pie is his secretary,” answered ‘F’. “Only she doesn’t go by Pinkie Pie. Her name here is Diane Pie.”

The four looked for a way in, but they couldn’t spot one. Soon they saw a gray earth pony mare walking out of the building. “Hmm, isn’t that Pinkie Pie’s sister, Marble Pie?” questioned Twilight.

“Possibly.”

Suddenly an idea pop into Twilight’s head. A cruel idea, but it was the only one they had. She turned to Big Macintosh. “I got an idea. Although you might not like it, Big Mac.”

To that Big Macintosh’s eyes widened as he had a distinct ‘Uh, oh’ face.

******

Meanwhile, miles away in the ruins of Cloudsdale, Flash charged head on as he sent a barrage of punches. Nexus Star flew backward as he tried to dodge Flash’s lightning fast movement. The two raced across the ruins, dodging and sending attacks.

Flash dodged several laser attacks, each one barely missing as he flew closer and closer. He was filled with rage. Rainbow Dash was a friend, and now she was gone. As soon as he was close enough he kept sending several more punches and kicks.

As they continued to fight, the titan airship landed. The Doctor and Derpy got out. They looked up to see Soarin and Spitfire. “Soarin, Spitfire, down here!”

The two looked and saw them. Spitfire flew over and landed. “Doctor, do you have Soarin’s spare wheelchair?”

He saw that Soarin didn’t have his chair. “Oh, yeah, it in the ship, Derpy go get it.” He walked over behind some rubble and grabbed out a strange looking, small stick. He pressed a button and the end glowed as he scanned Nexus Star’s armor.

Derpy ran back into the ship and grabbed out the spare wheelchair they had. As she did so, she noticed a video screen started blinking on and off. She walked over and tapped on it. Suddenly a voice could be heard, as well as a vague image of a unicorn mare appeared. She tried to figure out what was going on when she heard Doctor Whooves’s voice calling for her.

She decided to ignore the video message and go outside, not knowing the importance of who was trying to contact them. Once she got outside, she opened up the wheelchair for Soarin and then walked over to the Doctor. “So what is the sonic screwdriver telling you?”

“It’s showing that the gauntlets actually have two settings, which is the good news.”

“Which means what good news?” asked Soarin as he rolled up.

“Which means Rainbow Dash might actually be alive.” He lifted up the sonic screwdriver and tried to scan the gauntlets again. “Oh, but there is bad news. I can’t tell without getting closer whether he used the teleport setting or the kill setting.”

Soarin cleared his tears and looked at the fight while talking. “Well, how close do you need to get?”

“That is the crazier news. In order for me to get a proper scan, I’m going to have to get right next to his armor.”

“Why does it always have to be three news flashes with you?” said Derpy. “Good, bad and crazy?”

Soon Spitfire turned and pulled out a gem. She smashed it on the ground and a shield spell rose over them. She had perfect timing as the Alphabolts proceeded to shoot at them. Soon they were surround. “Great, now we are surrounded by these cyberdized ponies,” said the Doctor. “And yet I’m getting a certain feeling of deja vu out of this.”

“What are we going to do, Doctor?”

“Oh come on, Derpy. You know I’ve always got a plan.”

“That’s what I am worried about.”

******

Meanwhile in an unknown place sat an unknown unicorn mare typing on a control station. She sat on a most comfortable cushion and was typing really fast as an orange stallion walked up to her and asked, “Would you like some tea?”

“Not right now. I’m busy,” she said as she continued to type. “Oh, why do they keep ignoring me? I’ve already tried twice and they still won’t answer!”

Suddenly the room began to shake as a roar could be heard. “Oh, darn it! That giant beast has woken up again!” She got up from her cushion and walked over to the wall. She hit the wall and screamed. “Hey, quiet down! I’m trying to work here!”

“ALICORNS!” yelled the beast in a deep, demonic voice.

“Yeah, yeah, alicorns,” she mocked him as she went back to her spot. “Sheesh, what is it with him and alicorns?”

After she was done mocking the beast, she slouched down as tears began to fall. “We are never going to get out of here are we?”

The orange stallion looked at her. “Are you really giving up?”

“No!” she said as she threw a book at him. He took the hit like it was nothing. He walked over and kneeled down to her. She continued to let the tears fall, as he wrapped his arms around her. “I just want to see my mom and dad again.”

The stallion held her in his arms until she calmed down. Suddenly the tender moment was interrupted by a voice coming from a speaker on the ceiling of the room.

“Okay, my prisoners, time for inspection,” came another mare's voice.

The stallion turned his head and spoke. “Princess Burning Star is doing her rounds. I better get hidden.”

“Yes. You're right,” he turned his head back to her as she spoke. “I can’t give up. I am Radiant Hope.”

“That’s right you are Radiant Hope,” He answered. She was the only hope for creatures locked in here. Their only hope of escaping Tartarus.

“Don’t worry. I just got another plan.”

******

Back at the Rock Labs, Twilight was about to put her plan into action, but there was a problem. “No, I won’t do it,” Big Macintosh spoke up in defiance.

“Come on, we need a way in. And if I recall correctly, Marble actually had a thing for you in my timeline, though Pinkie Pie never told me if it went anywhere.” Twilight tried her best persuasion tactics, but it didn’t work.

“No, I will not. Such a thing is completely wrong on the highest level.”

The two continued to argue while Discord leaned down to ‘F’ and whispered.

“I assume she never noticed the locket?”

“Oh, she has, but she has yet to figure it out,” he whispered.

“Don’t worry, I've got my own idea,” he whispered back as he began to shapeshift while they still argued. Afterward, he walked off. Meanwhile ‘F’ used a small spell to silence them. They soon noticed their voices were gone and both quickly turned to ‘F’ in annoyance when they noticed a tall, red stallion walking over to the mare. “Hello lovely,” he said.

“Why, hello,” she said blushing. Soon the two were talking quite a bit.

The other two dropped their jaw as they quickly realized it was Discord. “Hmm, Don’t tell me this is the first time you seen SS act,” said ‘F’.

******

Back at the ruins of Cloudsdale, the Doctor formulated a plan. They waited until the Alphabolts got close enough, then Spitfire dropped a smoke pellet around them. The Alphabolts were sent in confusion when all of the sudden Spitfire shot out into the sky.

Soon Derpy jumped out in the other direction while they were distracted. She ran over and grabbed a nearby machine gun and shot the ground, creating more of a distraction. With all the Alphabolts now facing away from the Doctor, he could use his sonic to cause their flight controls to malfunction. This sent them flying about in all different directions while the group took cover. The Doctor took this chance go to the second phase of the plan.

******

“This might actually work,” said Twilight as they watched. Discord had barely gotten done talking to the mare and was heading back to them. At the same time, the mare left with the happiest smile.

“Well, how did it go?” Twilight questioned him.

“Well, I’ve got good news, bad news, and ridiculous news.”

“Uh oh.”

“Uh oh is right,” He answered back. “The good news I found us a way in.”

“That's good.”

“But then there is the bad news. I manage to ask her if she knew anything about the Flim Flam Farms. And she said they recently fired Applejack and now she has gone missing.”

“Oh great. Now we got to worry about that,” she said in annoyance.

“Oh, that isn’t the ridiculous part. This 'shy' mare, ask me out. And I thought you said she was the shy one.”

“I thought she was.” She looked back over to the mare and that’s when it hit her like a slap to the face. The mare had a short mane. “Oh great, that’s not Marble. That’s Limestone, the aggressive one.”

******

Back at the ruins of Cloudsdale, Nexus Star grabbed Flash by the arm, but he spun around and charged light magic into his foot, clashing it head on into the armor. The attack cracked the armor. The prince ended up letting go as Flash flew backward. As he did he saw the Doctor getting into position. Seeing what the Doctor was up to he charged back forward, pushing the prince into a wall. Doctor Whooves jumped off a cliff behind the prince and landed on him. The prince flew into the air with him hanging on.

“Just need to hold on as best as I can,” said Doctor Whooves as he grabbed out his sonic screwdriver.

“Be careful, Doctor,” said Derpy.

“What is he planning?” questioned Flash.

The Doctor held on for as long as he could as he continued to scan. Meanwhile, the Andross was receiving a message. The ship relayed it back down to Nexus Star.

“What is it now?” he questioned while he was still flying.

“Back to base now, my son.”

His eyes widened upon hearing that voice. “Yes, Mother.”

Instantly he teleported, leaving the Doctor right in the air. The Doctor started to fall but was quickly grabbed by Flash. Meanwhile, the Andross took its leave. “Well did you get the Intel that you nearly died for?” deadpanned Flash.

“Yes, I did,” he said as he held out the sonic screwdriver. “Let’s see. Hmm, well I seemed to have found a list. Rainbow Dash’s name is on it. As well as Fleetfoot's.” They cheered up upon hearing that. “Well, that’s strange. According to the time slots, Rainbow Dash’s name was on this list from the very beginning, but Fleetfoot’s name was added right during the battle.”

“Okay, I don’t think that matters right now, Doc. Where did Jack send them?” asked Flash.

“Okay, okay. I guess it's a question for another day.” He looked through the scans more and continued as his eyes widened. “You're not going to like this.”

“What do you mean?” asked Soarin in a worried tone.

“He sent her to the one place we just can’t go.”

******

In a large laboratory, a rainbow-maned mare slowly started to wake up. “Where am I?” She quickly noticed the pain from her broken arms were gone. She looked to see her arms were healed but in chains.

She tried to struggle as she saw the chains. “Now I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a voice.

She looked around as she heard it, but all she could see was darkness. “Where are you? Who are you?” she demanded.

“Oh, there is no reason to be hateful, Rainbow Dash. Lights!”

The lights came on to reveal a big room covered in clean, white steel walls. Rainbow Dash saw she was chained to a sideways table. Soon an opening appeared at the wall on the other side of her. Walking through the opening was a middle aged dark purple batpony with a gray mane. He wore a lab coat and had on his own version of gauntlets with needles at the end of the fingertips. These gauntlets seemed to be based more on examining bodies rather than fighting.

“Hello, I am Night Fright. I would like to welcome you to my Rainbow Factory.”

Upon that a zoom out revealed that the room she was in was one of thousands where ponies were being tortured and experimented on. Further out reveal, the place lay deep in the empire. In fact, it lay just miles from Nightmare Spire.

******

Meanwhile in the Rock Labs, “Darn it, what are we going to do?” Twilight questioned as she tried to think of where Applejack might be. Soon the gem that the Doctor had gave her began to vibrate. “What?” she questioned as she grabbed it.

“It seems Doctor Whooves has got some news for us,” said ‘F’ as he walked over. “Just use your dark magic on it.”

She looked at it. “Hmm, okay.” Using dark magic on it the gem sent up a square shaped hologram. The video it sent was so fussy, though, it was hard to tell who it was.

“Doctor what's happening? Are the Cloud Rebels okay? Hello?” she asked.

“Doctor? Doctor who? Look I don’t who this Doctor fellow is, or even what you are talking about.” They looked in confusion upon hearing a mare’s voice. It was a voice they didn’t recognize and yet it sounded familiar to Twilight somehow. “Anyway, my name is Radiant Hope. I heard you are looking for a mare named Applejack.”

“What? How did you know that?”

“Well, I’ve had my spies watching you since you arrived in this timeline, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “How? Where?” she asked as she span around.

“That's kind of harder to explain, but that doesn’t matter right now. I know where she is at.”

“Where?” she tried to ask, but then she heard ‘F’s voice.

“And how can we trust you? We can’t even tell what you look like.” ‘F’ had a distinct feeling he had heard this voice before and he didn’t trust her.

“Look that doesn’t matter. I know where Applejack is. She is in Tartarus.” All their eyes widened.

******

Hours later, several miles away in the rainbow factory, Night Fright walked over to another room, ‘That rainbow-mane mare is pretty tough. All that torture and she still won’t give up.’ Inside was a turquoise pegasus mare with a white mane. She was chained up much more tightly than Rainbow Dash was and it seemed that she had already suffered quite a bit more torture than her.

Night Fright walked up to one of his personal Alphabolts. “Oh, so we have found another one of these fakes. These look-alikes.” He turned to the Alphabolt. “So has it taken its true form yet?”

“No, sir. It still refuses,” said the Alphabolt in a robotic like voice.

“Hmm, whatever these things are they’re certainly durable.” He lifted his hand to his chin. “Has it revealed where the real mare it replaced is at?”

“No, not yet.”

He placed his hand down and continued. “Continue torturing it. These fakes have to have a breaking point.”

He turned to take his leave when the Alphabolt asked, “Shall I make sure no information on this one is found on the records too.”

He turned his head back and spoke. “Yes. Of course, I’m not quite ready to tell those foolish rulers yet.” After he was done talking, he walked off.

He didn’t notice a pair of reptilian-like eyes watching through a ventilation shaft. An all too familiar demonic voice spoke. “Hmm, it seems like a few of my former employers might have some problems.”

******

Author's Note

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a mean ass. You all thought I killed Rainbow Dash. So Night Fright control the Rainbow Factory, wow. I seriously could see him doing that. And yes the real Fleetfoot has been long dead, though what replaced her? Plus as I said, we got some more info on the mysterious unicorn. What? Her name is Radiant Hope? What could she possibly be doing in this story? Read the next chapter and find out.

Anyway, next part Twilight enters Tartarus.

Oh and i'm sorry, Spoilers we won't be getting much on Pinkie Pie and Applejack in character wise. In fact I think Applejack gets like only a few lines in the entire story. This mostly do to me running out of ideas for these alternate mane six to be like. Again I am sorry. Though I do have something planned that might fix that at the end of the entire story. You will know when you see it.

Chapter 18: Into The Abyss Of Tartarus

Alarms went off at random. A unicorn mare fell out of her bed, woken by the alarms. She got up and ran to the control panel. An orange stallion in a blue suit and tie walked beside her and offered some tea.

“Not right now. Don’t you hear the alarms going off?” She asked to him. “The scanners have picked up something. It’s a large amount of magic.”

She pressed a button and the video stream showed the Massive Everfree Forest. She looked to see a portal open. A table appeared, then a lavender alicorn fell through the portal and landed on the table.

“Is that who I think it is?” questioned the orange stallion.

“It could be her?” she answered him. “Let’s watch and find out.”

******

Twilight and the others were trying to figure out what to do with the Intel about Applejack. Could they trust this mare? ‘F’ still didn’t. It had been an hour since she broke contact. Suddenly the gem began to vibrate again.

Twilight looked and then used some dark magic on it. The video stream came through perfectly this time. It was the Doctor. “Doctor Whooves, Is everything okay?” she questioned.

“No Twilight everything's not okay. The weak and children got out okay, but all the Cloud Rebels are gone. It seemed some were killed while others were sent to the Rainbow Factory.”

“What is the Rainbow Factory?” she questioned.

Suddenly ‘F’ spoke up. “The Rainbow Factory was a former base of the Cult of Light, but nowadays it’s being used by Night Fright for his experiments.”

“What are we going to do?”

Soon Big Macintosh walked over. “Is Cheerilee okay?” he asked the Doctor.

“Yeah, she is fine.” He answered. It seemed a bit strange to Twilight that he would ask that, but she tuned the idea out for the moment when she saw ‘F’ walking off.

“‘F’ where are you going?” she asked.

“I was a former member of the Cult of Light, so I will know the best way for them to get in.”

She walked over to him. “But you can’t just leave. We need you to get into Tartarus.” She got him to stop when she said those words. “I’ve read that Burning Star is a light magic user. We'll need your help.”

“Please Twilight, you don’t know what you are asking.” He said as he started to tremble. A cough started as he tried to continue. “I will never set foot in Tartarus…...Don’t make me fight her.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight questioned. Soon his cough got worse, bringing up red dust again. He quickly grabbed out a breathing apparatus, using it to stabilize his breathing. Twilight backed away as Discord approached him.

“Twilight I’ll talk to ‘F’ about it. Just go stand by Big Macintosh.” She did just as Discord asked of her. Meanwhile, Discord began to talk with ‘F’. Twilight couldn’t hear what they were saying but knew there were secrets about ‘F’. Maybe this was one she shouldn’t push for.

Soon they were done. Discord walked over and said, “Okay here is the plan. The Doctor, Derpy, and Flash will rescue Rainbow Dash. Meanwhile, you, ‘F’ and Big Macintosh will enter Tartarus. At the same time, I’ll handle Pinkie Pie.”

“Look if ‘F’ doesn’t want to go -- ”

Soon ‘F’ interrupted her. “No. I need to do this. I knew when I joined the original Twilight in her mission, I knew I would have to face my demons. I just didn’t think I would face one so soon.” He walked forward. “Come on, I know a way into Tartarus. But first, let’s look at that map.”

Twilight grabbed out the map and turned it on. “Now zoom into that spot beyond Flim Flam Farms.” She did that and saw a strange crack in the ground. “You see, when Burning Star killed Celestia, she absorbed her magic as well as her cutie mark. Using that large amount of magic, she ripped a hole straight to Tartarus. It’s the quickest way in.”

“Alright. I guess one more split up.”

******

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, inside Nightmare Spire, Prince Nexus Star appeared in front a throne covered in shadows and tubes. He quickly bowed as he arrived. “Father, do you know why Mother has called me away from the battle?”

Father slowly lifted his head. “I do not know, son, but it’s best not to question her.”

Nexus Star’s face saddened at the look Father had. To him, Father looked so weakened. “You need not push yourself so much, Father. I’ll go up and see what she wants.”

The prince got up and walked to the exit. It was strange. This would be the first he had seen Mother since Twilight’s supposed death.

At the top of the spire was Nightmare’s throne. Nexus Star reached the top and looked around. It was too dark to see much of anything. All he could see was chains that led to the center.

He followed the chains until he found who was hooked up to them. His eyes widened as he saw the mare. Then a voice spoke. “Hello my son, I see you found my prisoner.”

Nexus Star turned to the throne of Nightmare as everything began to make sense. “So that Twilight out there is not the Twilight we know.” A smile crept on his face as he continued, “You truly are twisted, Mother.”

“I want you to stop hunting down this fake Twilight. Right now we have bigger problems. It seems the child of dark and light has made contact with her.”

“Interesting. What you want me to do about it?” he questioned.

“I need you to bolster our defenses. Meanwhile, I have sent Princess Burning Star some backup,” she answered.

After receiving his orders, he headed back downstairs. Once there he looked upon Father. Father saw him and spoke. “So you have seen the truth.”

Nexus Star’s fist tightened in anger. “Yes, I have, Father.”

******

Flash, the Doctor, Derpy, Spitfire, and Soarin arrived at the tower of Fallen Canterlot. But something was wrong, there were no guards anywhere. They exited the ship and notice nopony was attacking them.

This was strange, very strange. Just where was everypony? It had looked like everypony had just left. The five continued to walk around. They knew they had to take down the shield that covered the tower if they wanted into the Empire.

They soon made their way to the control systems. “Doc, get over there and shut it down,” said Flash.

Doctor Whooves walked over to the control systems and grabbed out his sonic. While he was working, the others continued to keep watch. “It’s quiet, too quiet?” questioned Soarin.

“I don’t know what’s going on. This place was in a ruckus when I left,” answered Spitfire.

“Keep your guard up, everypony.”

Suddenly the Doctor spoke. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh. What do you mean ‘uh oh’?” questioned Flash.

“They all left.”

“Where to?” he asked as he got closer.

“Look for yourself,” the Doctor finished as he brought up the coordinates. Flash’s eyes widened as sweat went down his cheek.

“Shit.”

******

Twilight, ‘F’ and Big Macintosh made their way to the crack. It was a massive drop. They knew this would be hard. They entered the abyss. It looked just as Radiant Hope had described it. It was a hellish place filled with the condemned and imprisoned. They slowly climbed their way down, ‘F’ somehow climbing effortlessly despite only having one arm. As they climbed Twilight began to think of how the mysterious Radiant Hope could see them. ‘Hmm I heard the Doctor talk about a technology called cameras. That could be what’s she is using.’ Suddenly something brought her out of her thoughts. There were wails of terror and screams all around from the prisoners as stepping in plain sight was the warden of this prison and the ruler of Tartarus - Princess Burning Star.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked down to finally see who this mare was. She had a yellow coat color and red and yellow mane. She wore a long, torn, almost burnt black overcoat covered in metal bolts. Under it, she wore a magenta shirt and torn jeans.

It was Sunset Shimmer. But that was not the most shocking part. She was an alicorn. “It’s Sunset! she’s an alicorn?!?” she whispered.

“No, she’s not. She is a light alicorn,” said ‘F’.

Soon they were attacked and they had to jump. Luckily they landed pretty well. They got up as Burning Star charged them. She pulled out a trident and swung fire magic right at them. Soon the attack was stopped by fire from the sky. Green fire.

Twilight looked up to see Rarity and Spike landing. “Twilight, I see you got contacted by the mare too.”

“Rarity?”

Rarity grabbed out her crystal sword and Spike returned back to his original size. They all got ready for battle. Burning Star looked upon them and let out psychotic laughter. “Well hello, sisters. You're in my domain. I suggest you give up.”

“We will not,” said Twilight. “We are getting in there, Sunset.”

She snickered, “Sunset? I haven’t been called that name in years. Who told you that name?” she questioned. She looked beyond them to ‘F’ and gave a wicked smile. “So you told her.” She lifted her trident and aimed it at ‘F’ as he stepped forward. The next words she said sent everypony spinning. “Great grandfather.”

“What?” Twilight questioned as her mouth couldn’t stop gaping.

She looked at Twilight and continued, “You don’t know yet, do you, faker Twilight?”

“What?” Twilight questioned again. “You know I’m not the real one?”

“Yes, I do. And if you want to know the real truth about ‘F’, I will show you.” Suddenly she swung another attack so fast Twilight couldn’t get out of the way. But next thing she knew was ‘F’ moving at lightning speed. He stepped in front of her and took the fire blast head on. A vision floated forth as the flames engulfed him.

******

‘F’ was walking through the land under Cloudsdale. He had been following a message that Saruman would proceed with his plan here. He kept walking through the land until he spotted a small group.

‘F’ eyes widened as he saw three fillies, one colt, Saruman and Night Fright. But worse of all, one of the fillies was his great granddaughter. He ran quickly over.

“Saruman, what is going on here?”

Saruman turned and saw ‘F’. “Oh hello ‘F’, I hoped you would have arrived soon.”

“Why is my great granddaughter here?” he questioned while unaware that his left sleeve began to twitch.

“Well, that’s simple. She has been told the truth,” Saruman raised both his hands up then continued. “They all have been told the truth.”

‘F’ looked at the other children now that he was close enough. One was a purple batpony with a green mane, ‘Jack Nox’. The other was a light blue unicorn, ‘Trixie Lulamoon’ and the final one was a lavender unicorn. “She looks just like--”

“Oh yes, she does, doesn’t she,” Saruman quickly interrupted. “This is Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil.” He placed his hand over her head, ruffling her mane.

“Quit it, Father,” she complained.

‘F’’s eyes widened even more as he slowly backed away. “She just called you Father?”

“Yes, I have adopted all of them. I saved them while their families were attacked by an assassin.”

“Cult Race,” ‘F’ quickly answered.

“Was that him? It was the first I had seen of him,” he lied. It was fully obvious that Cult Race was currently working for Saruman, but ‘F’ couldn't try to warn the other children without putting his own great-granddaughter in danger.

He looked at his granddaughter, hoping he could call her to his side. “Get away from him, Sunset.”

Suddenly his sleeve quaked in agony. He fell to the ground. “Oh he senses it, doesn’t he ‘F’?” Saruman questioned as he looked at the sleeve. He called to the sleeve. “Can you hear me, parasite? My old enemy. You can no longer hide in that host.” The left sleeve quickly rose up as something shot forth from it. Shooting out of the sleeve was not a left arm at all, but a strange looking serpent-like bug. The bug tried to strike Saruman down but was stopped as in the distance a rainboom could be seen starting to form. “It has begun,” he said as he summoned a great mass of dark magic that lifted him and the four children up to the sky, while Night Fright stayed on the ground to take notes.

Soon Saruman and the children rose up to the height of the rainboom. “The four stars shall help in her escape,” he said as he held out his scythe. "Let see if that prophecy is true." He dipped it in the rainboom as it passed, turning it black. He then lifted it up to the sky and the scythe stretched up to where the Moon would be. Then he lifted his hand, signaling to somepony in the distance.

‘F’ looked to see Celestia as she lifted the moon. “What is Celestia doing?”

“She wants her sister back. That’s all she wants.”

Celestia was in tears. “What did you do to Celestia?”

“Nothing much. All I did was pulled on her sorrows for her sister until she gave me what I desired.” His scythe stretched even higher as the moon got closer. The four children began to glow. Then with a quick swing, he impaled the moon with the scythe. The moon began to crack as Nightmare Moon was slowly released.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Rainboom began to clear as the parasite regained the ability to move once more. It rose up and flew forward towards Saruman, as the vision began to clear.

******

The flames cleared as his cloak was burned off. Twilight’s eyes widened as after all this time she saw his true form. He stood taller than most. His head was that of a yellow unicorn with a fiery mane. His face had a scar over the left eye, his right arm was that of a pony of a different color. His right leg was that of a dragon, his left leg that of a spider. He had changeling wings and the tail of a manticore, and his left side including his left arm was gone. Instead, there was a gaping hole, in which his insides could be seen, but they were old, extremely old, like dust. They were black and rotted.

“You see this is who he is. He made a deal with a great evil. In exchange, he gained a body that could never die. But at the same time could never heal. He‘s a walking corpse. A bunch of body parts stitched together with magic. An undead fake draconequus ” said Burning Star. She then looked at Twilight with a glare and continued. “And why did he make the deal? To protect the princess he adored. The princess he loved.”

“What?” Twilight questioned as she trembled in shock.

“That's right, Twilight. Do you want to know Celestia's biggest secret? She only ever chose us because we are descended from royal blood. Only in my case, my blood is descended from a two-thousand-year-old bloodline that leads straight to Celestia.”

‘F’ looked down in shame. He had hoped he could keep the secret longer, but now it was out. He turned to Twilight. “Twilight, go save your friend. I’ll handle my granddaughter.”

“But she’ll kill you.”

He turned back toward Burning Star. “Didn’t you hear her? I can’t die.” He began to chant a spell as he stomped his cane three times. On the third time, the cane began to glow as he held it up like a sword. Soon light magic wrapped around it, turning it into a blade.

“Come on Twilight,” said Rarity as she grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”

The four took their leave, but not before Burning Star aimed her trident at them. “Sunset!” yelled ‘F’, “Your fight is with me.”

She snickered, “Alright then, let’s go.” She charged right at him. The two began their battle as Twilight and the rest made their way into Tartarus.

They ran through the caves as Twilight’s mind wondered. Everything she knew was now thrown into question. Everything. She now knew why Sunset was chosen but was she chosen for the same reason? Did she too descend from a royal line? And if so then who?

Was it this Father guy? Was it Nightmare? Was it Luna? Was it Celestia too? Or was it somepony else? But the true terror that was going through her head was the most terrifying question of all. Was she of the dark or the light?

They continued to run when all of the sudden a cave-in began. Twilight was too distracted by her thoughts to see a boulder as it hit her right in the head.

******

Hours later, Twilight woke up. She found herself lying on the ground. She sat up while holding her head. She looked around to see if everypony was okay. She saw Rarity hitting at a rock wall. She realized there must have been a cave-in. Soon Big Macintosh walked over.

“You're awake.” Twilight looked at him with a smile, but he couldn’t help but frown.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“We found Applejack and even Gilda, but,” he couldn’t finish. However as Twilight looked around, it soon hit her like a kick in the gut.

“Wait a minute…. Spike? Where is he?!” She noted in distress that he was missing from the group.

“We got separated during the cave in,” he finally said.

Twilight stood up at those words. Tears started to fall from her face.

******

Meanwhile, above ground, a certain draconequus in disguise walked up to a pink earth pony mare with a flat mane in a business suit. “What do you need?” she asked.

“I would like to make an appointment.”

******

Twilight soon cleared her tears and walked over to Rarity. She placed her hand on her shoulder. Rarity finally stopped hitting the wall.

“Come on Rarity we need to get moving.”

Rarity took a moment and then turned around. Twilight smiled. Rarity wrapped her arms around her and let her tears fall.

Meanwhile, Applejack walked up to her brother. “It’s good to see you, Big Mac.” He didn’t answer. She looked down, assuming he must still be mad at her for joining the other side.

“So how did you end up in up in here?” he finally questioned.

She smiled, “Well, you’re not going to believe this, but those Flim Flam brothers wanted me to lie.”

He smiled, and slowly let a chuckle loose. Applejack joined in and soon the two were laughing up a storm.

Rarity let go of Twilight as she calmed down. They turned to the two that were laughing. Rarity was slightly annoyed, but Twilight was not. This was the first time she had saw this timeline’s Big Macintosh smile.

Soon, however, the happy moment was gone as Gilda spoke up. “You four, I don’t mean to interrupt the family reunion, but we’ve got a problem.”

They turned to see Gilda in a battle stance. They looked beyond her to see prisoners charging right towards them. Twilight didn’t know why they were being attacked. But what was strangest of all was the fact they refused to stay down. It was like they had no control. They had to fight, fight and fight.

Suddenly Rarity fell down as pain hit her. Twilight turned to Big Macintosh, nodding to him and she stepped back. She turned to Rarity who had fallen. “Rarity, what wrong?”

“Spike is in pain. He’s in a battle with somepony. And he’s losing.” She grabbed her chest, feeling the pain in her second heart.

Twilight grabbed Rarity and pulled her up. “Come on, we’ve got to get moving.” After she got her arm around her, they tried to get somewhere safe as the rest tried to fight off the prisoners. Twilight looked up to see a speakerphone. She yelled, “Radiant Hope are you there?!”

“Yeah, I’m here, I can see you on my cameras,” she spoke through the speakerphone.

“We could use some help here. Can you see what’s happening with Spike?”

Radiant Hope looked upon her cameras only for her eyes to widen. “That’s going to be a problem. I can’t pick up the dragon on any of my cameras, plus somepony seems to be shutting them all down. You four need to get out of there now.”

“That’s going to be really hard,” Twilight complained.

Suddenly an explosion could be heard. All the prisoners stopped and turned to the explosion. They began to bow.

Twilight and the rest looked in shock as walking out of the smoke was Princess Dead Star, a.k.a. Trixie Lulamoon. Dead Star held out her hands over the prisoners. Their wounds began to heal.

Gilda spoke, “So the rumors are true.”

Twilight looked to her, “Rumors? What rumors?”

“That she can resurrect the dead.” She pointed to a body that clearly had had its neck snapped. Suddenly the body rose forth. “That why these prisoners refuse to stay down. We’ve been fighting the undead.”

Twilight handed Rarity to Applejack as they all looked down in sorrow. There no way they were going to win now. Dead Star would just keep resurrecting the enemy. And it’s wasn’t like they could make her stop. She was immortal, unkillable. What were they going to do?

Soon Big Macintosh walked forward and asked, “You control the dead?”

She smirked, “Well not all, just the ones that were weak-minded in life.”

“So if I kill you, they fall.” He charged forward without even waiting for an answer. Before she could even react, he quickly swung his axe and lopped off her right arm. She fell forward, screaming in agony. She wobbled her way to him.

Twilight’s, Gilda’s and Applejack’s hopes were raised upon seeing her fall. Meanwhile, Rarity continued to still feel pain from Spike. He was in danger and his heart rate was getting slower.

Dead Star fell on to Big Macintosh’s axe handle still screaming. Suddenly her screaming stop as his eyes shot wide open. Everypony suddenly trembled as they saw a right arm stabbing through his gut.

Dead Star pulled back, ripping a hole right in his gut. Blood slowly seeped out the wound. She backed away smiling, “Well you have a tough stomach. Any other pony would have had their intestines ripped right out.”

Big Macintosh backed away and looked to see where he had chopped. There wasn’t just one new arm, there were two. She now had three arms in all. She reached under her cloak and pulled out four long black stakes.

She then did the unexpected. She lopped off her left arm and two arms took its place. Now with four arms, she held one stake in each.

Big Macintosh looked in horror, quickly realizing there was no way to win. Well, there was one way. He tightened his grip on his axe. With one hand he pulled out his locket and opened it. A tear went down his eye as he looked inside.

“I’m sorry,” He closed it and turned, throwing the locket to Twilight. “Twilight, get that to Cheerilee!”

She caught it and open it. Her eyes widened. Inside was a picture of him, Cheerilee and a baby. She looked at him, screaming. “You and Cheerilee? Big Mac, you can’t do this to her!”

They watched in horror as he charged right at her. He swung again lopping off more arms, only for her to regenerate two new ones in their place. Soon she had several arms, yet he kept attacking. Eventually, she grabbed the axe from his hands in annoyance.

“Don’t get it. You can’t win.” She lifted her arms and the undead charged right at him, piling all over him. He started using his fist, knocking undead left and right. The other wanted to help, but he told them to stay back. This was his battle. Soon he knocked enough of them away to charge right at her head on. She quickly used her several arms to flip him, and hold him in the air, but not before he grabbed his axe.

Once she did that. She pulled out a stake and spoke, “Well you are tough. You have a gaping hole in your stomach and you still won’t drop.” She smiled, “Any last words?”

“Just four,” he lifted his axe and swung for her neck. “Death to the Empi -- .”

He was stopped as she stabbed him right in the chest. Afterward, she threw his motionless body to the ground. The group trembled as they saw him fall. Dead Star walked to them snickering, “Well that’s two down. The Great and Powerful Trixie should make Rarity join her husband next.”

Rarity’s eyes shot open at those words as she pulled away from Applejack. “Wait a minute. When you said two…...you didn’t just mean Big Mac.” Soon it became obvious what had happened to Spike. “It can’t be…... you didn’t.” Dead Star just smiled at her words. That made Rarity snap.

Rarity lifted her sword and screamed, “You bitch!!” She summoned forth several crystal shards and shot them right at Dead Star. The others backed away as Rarity continued to summon forth more shard to shoot at her. Hundreds, thousands, all flying at Dead Star. Yet each shard did little to nothing to stop her.

“Are you done?” she questioned as if it was nothing. Rarity saw that her attacks had done nothing at all. She had let out all of her rage and anger. Now it was all gone. She finally broke down into tears.

“My Spikey Wikey. I loved him!” she screamed. “Why didn’t I tell him the truth?”

“Tell him what?” Dead Star questioned continuing forward ready to kill them all where they stood. Twilight looked at the rest and realized what she must do. She stepped into the front.

“Applejack, Gilda, get Rarity out of here.”

“But what about you?”

“No leave me and save yourself,” Rarity spoke up.

“No,” Twilight argued as she held up her katana.

“Just go. I’m dead anyway, remember?”

Trixie threw a stake that was too fast for Twilight. It knocked her katana out of her hands. Trixie launched another stake directly toward Rarity and Twilight jumped in the way, taking the stake right in her shoulder. Blood began to pour from the wound.

“Why won’t you just leave me?” Rarity cried.

“I’m sick of all this pain.” She grabbed the stake in her shoulder and pulled it out. “I can’t stand by and let somepony else be killed, not when I can do something.” Twilight got ready for the next attack. She was going to fight to the bitter end. “I don’t care anymore if I get back to my timeline, I have to protect this one.”

Suddenly a new voice spoke, “Well spoken. Now that sound like the Twilight I fell in love with.”

Upon seeing the two figures behind Dead Star, Twilight pulled up a fireproof shield over them as the room was covered in green flames. The flames cleared to reveal Flash and Spike, alive.

Trixie trembled in agony over her torched body. She turned to them and screamed, “You should have been crushed to death to by now!”

Flash smirked, “You should have realized dragon’s skin is pretty stubborn.” Spike blew more flames at her while Flash grabbed Twilight's katana. Once cleared again, he charged right at her. “You say you can’t die. But I know that’s more of a curse than a blessing.” He moved at lightning speed and chopped off her arms. “So let see how many I can chop off until you until stay down.”

He was much faster as he chopped her up, piece by piece. Each piece he lopped off, he moved out of the way to have Spike shoot more flames. Twilight quickly realized what they were doing. They were sealing the wounds shut.

This continued for several moments until the last that was cut off was her head. As her head fell she questioned, “How did you know?”

“Big Macintosh showed us.” Her eyes widened. “Your flesh acts like a hydra. It was simple to figure out a way to fight you after that.”

After defeating Dead Star, the group met back up. Spike and Rarity ran into each other's arms. Flash walked over to the princess’s body and stabbed the katana into it. He carved a hole and then leaned down and pulled out the Dark Alicorn Amulet.

“Hmmm, so this is what gave her immortality.” Suddenly the amulet began to glow and burn his hand. He dropped it as it suddenly flew off. “Shit, it probably went back to its master.”

As soon as it left, the undead prisoners began to drop.

Twilight walked up to him as he cleaned off the blood and ash off the katana. He turned towards her and handed back the blade. She took it back and put it in its sheath. Afterward, he caught her by surprise as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I thought I would be too slow again.”

Twilight smiled with increasing joy as she took the embrace. The moment was sweet. But soon the moment was interrupted as Spike spoke up.

“Rarity, no more hiding the truth. You said you wanted to say something to me.”

Rarity looked at him. She tried to clear her tears. He needed to know now more than ever. She turned to Twilight and asked her a question, “Twilight, I’m a generous mare, right?” she nodded a yes. Tears continued to fall. “That’s a lie.” Everypony’s eyes widened. She then turned to Spike. “What is the most important thing a married mare can give?”

Suddenly the truth hit them all. She continued. “That right. When I was young my mentor took me to a doctor. She had me….she had me sterilized.” Her tears fell down harder. “You see Spike, I’m supposed to be the most generous mare of all, and yet I can’t give you a child!”

Spike placed her head under his. “It’s okay. You give me plenty.”

“You gave me a new heart, and I can’t give you a new life!”

Twilight looked away from them for a moment, this was too much. It was then she spotted something. She let go of Flash and walked over to a strange platform. Flash, Applejack, and Gilda followed her. “Hmm.” she mused as she examined it. “Hey Radiant Hope, I want you to look at your cameras really quick.”

“Yeah okay.” She did just that. “Okay, I see you four on the platform.”

“Is there any power hooked up to this?”

“No, it’s too ancient. Why.”

“Because I thought I could power this with my dark magic very much the same way that Jack Nox would use his gauntlets. But there is a problem we need to solve first.”

“Yes, and what is it?”

“That wall above us is what separates the old Equestria from the Empire. I need you to take down the shield that covers it. According to my tracker, your cell lies right under the wall.”

Flash heard her words and walked over. “You mean you plan to start another war with them?”

She turned to Flash to explain. “No, at least not yet. I was thinking with the shields down it would provide enough of a distraction for the rescue of Rainbow Dash.”

Soon the mare spoke up, “Alright I’ll do it but first you have to rescue me.”

Twilight turned back to the speaker, “What? No. You turn off the shields and in the chaos you can escape on your own.” Twilight was annoyed. She already didn’t trust this mare and now this mare wanted to be rescued too, putting them in more danger.

“Look, that teleport is the only way out. As soon as I got the shield down you could easily abandon me.”

“Fine.” Twilight turned to Flash. “How would long it take for us to get there?”

“Hmm, I could get there in five minutes, but I can only carry two at a time,” he answered.

“Okay, I guess you'll have to carry me over there and then we get her loose,” she said, walking up beside him. Flash leaned down as she wrapped her arms around him and he lifted her in his arms. Sure she had thought everything through, but forgot the obvious closeness that would be involved. This was best noted by a blush that began to cover her face.

“Ready?” he questioned.

Twilight waved her head back and forth and answered, “Ready.”

“Then let’s go.” And with that, he raced off.

******

Author's Note

Well, this was quite the chapter. from the reveals to the dangerous battle with Dead Star. Next chapter we get the truth on Radiant Hope in Chapter 19: How About A Taste Of Insanity?

Chapter 19: How About A Taste Of Insanity?

Twilight started to let her mind wander as she drew closer to Flash as he held her in his arms. She felt much warmer than she did last time she was this close, and the feeling of ‘butterflies in the tummy’ couldn’t stop. She took a big whiff of him. He smelled good. And yet the smell on him felt very familiar. It was like she had smelled it before. It was like a time that she had forgotten. She had never been this close to her timeline’s Flash, or any other version for that matter. She wondered if her timeline’s Flash smelled like this.

Finally, the two came to their stop and upon a giant door. Flash let Twilight down as she walked over to it. “What is this?” she noted ancient writing on it. The writing looked like it was in two different languages and yet some of the words looked vaguely familiar. “I can’t read it.”

“I think I can read some of it,” Flash said as he walked over. “Half of it is written in the language me and my mentor speak. The language of the light. The other I don’t recognize, however.”

Suddenly Radiant Hope spoke. “Oh I like this stallion, he knows what he’s reading, Twilight. The description on the door is written in light alicorn and dark alicorn. But I will give you the basic gist. It says only a former or current wielder of the Elements can enter.”

“Well, it looks like I’m the only one who can get in.” Twilight walked over to the door and tried pushing on it. Surprisingly it was as light as a feather. She figured that if somepony like Flash were to touch it, then it would weigh infinitely more.

Once in, the door closed behind her. Inside was a gigantic dome room with several cells with prisoners inside, a giant pit at the center and beyond that was a long hallway. “So Radiant Hope, what can I expect in here?”

“The most dangerous prisoners of all,” she answered. Suddenly the ground began to shake as Twilight noticed massive chains that led into the pit. “Uh oh, he's awake.” The ground began to shake even more, as the most evil voice could be heard.

“ALICORNS!!”

Twilight and the prisoners began to tremble as the pit began to glow a fiery red. “Who?” she asked.

Radiant Hope quickly got to typing as the orange stallion beside her tried offering her more tea. She turned it down as she finally found the file. Meanwhile, Twilight pulled out her katana and got ready for battle as she saw the chains began to move. It was clear whatever the chains were connected to was beginning to climb the pit.

“Well I’ve heard him scream for alicorns all the time, but I never looked up why,” she said as she opened the file. Her eyes widened, “Oh that why ” she said with the most ‘oh shit’ expression on her face ever.

“What’s why?”

“Well according to the file, this is the giant Emperor Demon Satyr Calavoss, the Devourer of alicorns.”

“WHAT?!?! I’m an alicorn.”

Suddenly the shaking stop, seconds later a giant hand rose forth and swiped at Twilight. She barely jumped out of the way. Twilight ran across the place, dodging the hand as the rest of him rose up.

“Let’s see, he was locked in here by the first Element Wielders at the end of the last Alicorn War. Apparently, he was summoned by Kray Marbh Depression as a last ditch effort to win the war. However, in exchange, it devoured him and laid siege to the rest the species. By the time they locked him up, he had devoured more than half of all the races of alicorns.”

Twilight continued to run as the rest of the demon satyr rose forth. It stood a height that dwarfed even Tirek. He screamed, “ALICORNS!!”

Twilight ran across the room, dodging him as he swung at her. She was doing well at dodging him until he crashed his hand in the wall in front of her. She turned around only to be stopped by the other hand. She was trapped. This was not good. Not good at all!

“ALICORN!!” he yelled as he moved closer. Twilight looked in horror for she could do nothing as it edged closer. She trembled even more but stood her ground. Suddenly large amounts of magic began to rise from the demon satyr’s mouth. Twilight knew this had to be a magical blast that he going to use. Knowing there was no way she could dodge it, she held up her katana and closed her eyes, ready for the end.

The last thing she heard was Radiant Hope screaming her name, “TWILIGHT!!” Seconds later silence as the blast shot forth. Twilight soon realize she wasn’t dead. She slowly opened her eyes to see the unthinkable. The blast was being funneled into the blade.

Soon Calavoss stopped the attack and his eyes widened at the fact she wasn’t dead. Twilight looked upon the blade as it glowed in her hands. Suddenly she heard a voice, an all-too-familiar voice speak, “Swing and say the words, Moonlight Strike.”

Calavoss got ready to send another attack. Twilight didn’t have time to question the voice and did just as it said. She swung and spoke the words, “Moonlight Strike.”

Suddenly the katana unleashed the magic it funneled into a wave of magic very similar to Rarity’s own attack, only much bigger. The attack hit Calavoss head on, knocking him back into the pit. But before he could fall in, he grabbed the edges and looked to up to the ceiling of the room. His eyes widened as did Twilight’s too as they saw somepony on the ceiling that was watching them.

It was a shadowy astral projection, he was too far to see his face, but the form looked exactly as they all had described. It was Father. Twilight trembled, “Father. Right here. Right now.”

Soon Calavoss screamed something that made things even worse. “DARK ALICORN!”

Twilight’s jaw dropped, every description now made sense. Earth pony, pegasus, unicorn. He was a dark alicorn. He spoke, “It's good to see you again daughter. I see you wield Mtr Alddam well.”

“Mtr Alddam?”

“It’s the katana’s name.”

She looked upon the katana. “It's name?”

“Yes, that is it's name.”

“So you are the one who created it?”

“Yes, I gave it to my most trusted ally.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Me? Wait, that means that in my timeline, Nightflare was the one you trusted the most.”

He chuckled. Soon Calavoss roared again. Father looked upon the demon satyr. “Silence beast.” He aimed his hand at the beast and shot forth a large, dark magic blast, knocking it back into the pit.

Father looked back at Twilight. He saw the anger in her face and continued to smile, “You're just like your mother.” He looked around and realized where she was at. “Oh, you have gone to rescue her. My only failure. Nightmare was so determined to keep her hidden.” He turned back to Twilight and continued. “While you’re there, say hello to her neighbor, Emerald Teal’s wife. If you want some truth, talk to her first.”

Twilight looked in confusion but then yelled to him, “Wait. What is the truth of ‘F’?”

“You want to know the truth? ‘F’ made a deal with an old enemy of mine. An enemy I thought was long sealed in stone. A parasite of pure corruption. This parasite knows no love, no kindness, no laughter, no honesty, no loyalty, no generosity and no friendship, only hatred. ‘F’ wanted the ability to protect Celestia for eternity. The parasite gave him that power. In exchange, he played host to it, but it deceived and corrupted him. He saw any threat to Celestia as evil - even the one I love Luna.”

“Twilight’s eyes widened, “So you and Luna were?”

“He tried to kill Luna, and if I hadn’t been there to save her, she would have been dead now.”

“Yeah, now she's under the control of your ally Nightmare -- ”

Suddenly dark magic wrapped around Twilight and lifted her into the air. “Do not think for a second that I willing work with Nightmare! I serve her to protect the one I love.”

Twilight struggled in his grasp. Finally, after a moment he put her down. “I am sorry.” He finished as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. After he was gone, she walked over to the long hallway. It was clear by simply glancing at the other cells that this Radiant Hope wasn’t in them. Most the prisoners were changelings, most likely survivors of the Alicorn Wars.

She made her way down the hallway and soon found it fork. “Which way Radiant Hope?”

“Mine's on the left.”

“Okay.” Twilight started to take that way then she was stopped by curiosity. “What did Father mean?” she questioned.

“What are you talking about?”

“He said the truth. I know ‘F’ has been hiding stuff from me nonstop. I need to know the truth.”

“Well, what do you know about this Emerald Teal?”

“I know that he was one of the original Element Wielders and that his wife Chrystal Laylis was another.”

She had made up her mind and Radiant Hope wasn’t going to argue. Twilight took the path on the right. Soon she came upon a cell covered in darkness.

“Are you Emerald Teal's wife, Chrystal Laylis?”

“Those names I have not heard in over three thousand years,” she said. Twilight instantly jumped back as it was a voice that she knew too well.

“That voice?! It can’t be you!” Soon the mare stepped out the shadows to reveal Queen Chrysalis. “Queen Chrysalis you were an Element Wielder?”

Chrysalis smiled. “Yes, I was.”

“What happen then? Tell me?”

Chrysalis looked down. “Look, it’s not a memory I like going back to.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere. Now talk.”

“Fine, it started nearly five thousand years ago, a thousand years after the Last Alicorn War had ended.”

******

A weaken and mutated light alicorn had just escaped from her father’s laboratory. She did not remember much, only that she had been gone two months. The last thing she had remembered before being kidnapped was news that King Heavonos Nighsky had been attacked.

Now she was free from her captors. They had changed her completely but did not matter. She had to get back to her beloved. The words being spoken about him, she had to find out if they were true. Did he do such evils?

She stole an airship and flew it to the north, not noticing that somepony had followed her. Soon she landed the ship in the middle of a blizzard and looked outside to see her beloved standing in front of something. She exited the ship and ran to him. The turquoise light alicorn stallion turned as his eyes widened and he held out his arms.

“Emerald Teal!” she screamed as she ran to him.

“Chrystal Laylis?” He took her into his embrace. “What has happened to you?”

“It was followers of my father. With him now dead, they wanted me to lead the changelings.” She pushed herself into him deeper, letting tears flow.

“Now that you are by my side again, nothing will stop my rise to power.”

She lifted her head to these words. “What do you mean? You're father, King Heavonos rules the land.”

He placed his hand on her chin and frowned. “King Heavonos is dead. Dracos killed him.”

“No! Dracos was the one he trusted the most,” she argued. She couldn’t believe it!

“Redsting told me what happened. And now the dark will pay for their transgressions in full.”

Her eyes widened at the horror. The rumors were true. She trembled as she finally saw what lay dead beside him. “An umbra? What have you done?”

The blizzard began to clear as he held his arms. She trembled as she saw that they were standing in the center of one of the cities that belong to the umbras, and it was in flames. The umbras were the holy of the darkness, and he was hunting them down. He smiled in triumph. “Yes, they suffered in agony. And soon all the dark will suffer.”

Tears of sorrow filled her eyes as she continued to back away from him. “What have you become?”

“Better. And what you become?” He frowned at her. “What happen to my beautiful gem?”

“I was kidnapped!” she yelled. “They did experiments on me and my brother.”

He turned in anger. “So that’s where that selfish Morpheus has been.”

“Did you not hear me?! Do you not care what happened?!” she yelled.

He turned back to her saddened. “Do not worry, my love. We will have your flawless flesh back in no time.” He walked forward and placed his hand under her face. “Redsting will turn you back into the beautiful mare I once loved.”

Her jaw dropped ‘once’. “What has happened to you? You have become a monster! The stallion I love would never say such things, he would never do such things. Killing the umbras, sure you feared the prophecy, but, but.” It finally sank in, the stallion she knew was gone. Suddenly he grabbed her by the throat. He began to lift her up into a choke hold. She looked down to see what looked like transparent strings attached to him. The strings were emanating unusual magic.

Her body weakened. Suddenly she heard a voice scream, “Chrystal!!”

Emerald Teal turned and looked past her to see her brother Morpheus. It seemed he had followed her. Emerald Teal threw her to the ground. He looked to Morpheus, “Well if it isn’t the King of Dreams. Are you here to save your sister?”

“Yes and I’m here to stop the evil you brought on this world.”

Emerald Teal walked away from his wife. “Take her, I do not care for her anymore.”

Chrystal looked weakly to her husband, her eyes trying their best to stay open. Morpheus walked over to her. He kneeled down. “Do not worry sister. I know the truth.” He stood back up and turned to his brother-in-law. “Redsting is a deceiver. He lies to you.”

“He has shown me and Helios the truth. That the dark can never be trusted.”

“That is a lie and you know it.”

“Oh, what do I expect? You still believe that your beloved insane Cassandra can be saved.”

Chrystal’s sight began to worsen as her eyes got heavier. She saw her brother grew in anger at how Emerald Teal carelessly mocked Morpheus’s dead wife. “How dare you insult her name!”

“Oh that's right, you don’t call her Cassandra no more, you call her -- ”

Chrystal could not hear the rest as she lost consciousness. The last thing she saw was her brother charging at her husband, ready for battle.

******

“I remember then waking up after the battle.” She looked up to Twilight. “I never once believed that Dracos killed Celestia’s grandfather, but convincing the ponies of this land was impossible. That is until thousands of years later, a rumor went out that Redsting had been defeated and sealed away. I along with several changelings by my side, went forth to free the land Emerald Teal had conquered, and honor the umbras that he had brought to extinction.” Chrysalis looked right at Twilight. “We had made an alliance with the one you called Father, but in the end, he betrayed us and threw my husband’s head at my feet.” She walked closer and continued. “Since then I have declared vengeance on this land, him and against all of his allies.”

She raised her head up shooting forth magic that went across the cells. Soon the changelings in the cells rose forth in attention. They began hitting against their cells, trying to escape.

Twilight turned to see them slowly escaping and making their way to her. She quickly ran over to the cell next door. The cell of Radiant Hope. It was covered in an iron bolt door.

“Radiant Hope I can’t get in. The changelings are breaking loose.”

Radiant Hope looked at her cameras. “Shit, shit!” She quickly ran to her control systems and began typing at lightning speed. “Don’t worry I’ve got an idea. Just hold on.”

“I can’t!” she yelled as she leaned against the door. They were getting closer by the second. She had to do something quickly or she would be dead.

Suddenly the changelings fell to the ground as a blast of magic filled the room. Twilight didn’t feel anything but still looked on in confusion at what she saw.

“Yahoo!! I did it. I can’t believe it worked.” Radiant Hope praised her victory.

Twilight got up and looked at them as they slowly got back up and went back to their cells. “What did you do?”

“The changelings, they have a hive mind connection with Chrysalis.”

“Yeah, of course, they do. I read about it one time,” Twilight confirmed.

“Well, I hacked into it and did a master delete on all things alicorn.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You made them forget me? That’s impossible!”

Radiant Hope continued to type as Twilight stood there confused. “And now the door. Come on in and meet the mare who can do the impossible.”

Twilight looked to see the door open up, revealing a massive library. The still mysterious mare looked from her window to see her. “Oh, you’re right outside, come on in. I’m not scary.”

Twilight put up her katana and then spoke, “Radiant Hope, that’s not your real name is it?”

“No I actually don’t remember my real name,” she answered quickly as her eyes began to twitch.

Twilight then asked another question as she stepped closer to a door on the other end of the library. “Where did you get the name from?”

“I remember old stories my dad use to tell me. They were of a radiant mare with endless hope.”

Soon Twilight got to the door and opened it. Her eyes widened in horror. She spoke with tears in her face. “We have a problem.”

She looked at Twilight in confusion. “No, we don’t. Don’t even say that.”

“Does it look real?”

The mare question as she stared at her through the window. “What do you mean?”

“All of it. The room, the stallion friend you keep talking to.”

She looked around questioning Twilight’s words, “Of course it’s real. This cushion. The tea,” Suddenly her eyes widened. “That I never drink.” It slowly began sinking in. “No, this has to be real.” She turned to the orange stallion. “This is real, right Sunburst?”

Outside Twilight screamed, “No none of it is real. You made it up because the truth was too terrifying…...Starlight!!”

Twilight looked with tears of anger and sorrow at what was in front of her. Starlight Glimmer. This timeline’s Starlight Glimmer. She was hooked up to the very wall itself. She was covered in life support systems. There was wires everywhere. They covered her entire body and connected her completely to the wall systems.

“What do you mean? Starlight? Is that my real name?”

“Yes, it is. The ones you know as mom and dad. There are only two those could be - my enemies, Mother and Father.” Everything was now making perfect sense to Twilight. “They adopted several powerful ponies. Of course, they would have chosen you too.”

“But what did they do to me?”

“They chose you because you're brilliant. The most powerful unicorn mare I ever faced. But when they adopted you, they didn’t make you into a weapon. They made you into a shield. You are what powers the shield. That's how you have been able to spy on me. You're connected to the entire system.”

It sank in completely as the mare fell to her knees in the illusion she lived in. All of it fake, every single bit of it.

Twilight stood there as tears refused to stop. “Starlight, I am sorry, but it’s not real. None of it is real. I can’t set you free. Not without possibly killing you.” Soon anger began to rise from the mare. It continued to rise as Twilight sensed a lot of magic.

Suddenly an astral projection shot forth from Starlight. It charged right at Twilight. She was caught so off guard by this, that she fell to the ground.

Twilight tried to get her to stop, but she wouldn’t listen. The projection backed her to the door and then stopped. Soon tears could be heard. Starlight screamed aloud as she finally accepted the truth.

After letting out all her sadness, she finally spoke. “Why do you fight Mother so much? Why?”

“Because I can’t let this world be consumed by her evil. She must be stopped….Even if it costs the host.”

“You can’t give up hope.”

Twilight looked at her in confusion. “What did you say?”

Starlight ran to her console and began to deactivate the shield. “I’m turning off the shield. And I’m blowing up the wall.”

“WHAT?!”

“No time to explain. Get your friends out of here. Run!” Tears fell from Twilight’s eyes even more upon hearing those words, but Starlight continued. “I am Starlight Glimmer. I lied to myself because I never gave up hope. I will choose my own death. Remember me. Run!”

Twilight turned and ran out of there as fast as she could as the library began to crumble around her. She quickly ran outside of there. She made her way past the pit as Queen Chrysalis watched her. Suddenly the queen’s eyes widened in horror upon seeing an unbeknownst truth. Soon Twilight made her way to Flash.

Meanwhile, the rest waited at the teleport. Rarity was in Spike’s arms. She looked at him and spoke. “How long do we wait?”

He looked and smiled. “If be, for the rest of eternity.”

She quickly leaned into a deep kiss. As they continued to kiss, Twilight and Flash raced up. She got ready to activate the teleport. "Hold on, wait." She ran over and quickly grabbed Trixie's head as Trixie roared at her. "We are not leaving you behind."

"What about Big Mac?" questioned Applejack with worry.

"He's too heavy to carry. We will come back for him,” answered Twilight as she fully activated the teleport.

Instantly they were gone. After they left, vines soon showed themselves and began pulling Big Macintosh away.

******.

Meanwhile, on a higher level of Tartarus, Sunset and ‘F’ continued their fight. They knew which side this battle would go. ‘F’ was more experienced in light magic. And yet he was clearly holding back.

“Why are you refusing to fight me at full power?” Sunset questioned.

“I do not wish to kill you,” he answered.

“Like you care. Neither one of you cared about me.”

“No, we both loved you greatly. The truth had to be kept a secret at all cost.”

“Why then? Why did you commit all those evils millenniums ago?”

“I thought I was serving the true god, but he was nothing but a liar. A devil.”

Sunset got angry with his words. “So you think just because you got free of him, that you could go back to the way things were before? You lied to me, you lied to her, you lied to everypony!”

“No!!” ‘F’ yelled in anger, He stopped the fight and lowered his head. “Yes I lied, but I am never completely free from the parasite. Even though he is gone, I still hear his voice everyday and every night. His voice echoes always. Always.”

She jumped back from him. “Then let me end his voice.” She took a stance and began to spin her trident. She began to chant a spell. “I call upon the fires of the pit. The eternal ash.”

Flames shot forth from her wings, as a ring of fire formed around her. A symbol of fire formed at the center as she finished in the language of the light, “An Dóiteán Mór.”

‘Fn's eyes widened as a great giant blue flame shot forth from the ring. He quickly moved as she followed him with the flame. He knew this flame would incinerate everything it touches. He ran as everything was being turned to ash.

As he ran, there was somepony else watching them. What looked like a simple, small-winged ant watched them. The ant looked at them with annoyance.

Suddenly the two heard a voice. “This has gone on long enough. Lagú agus deireadh.”

Sunset looked in shocked and confusion as her flames began to dissipate. Two stood in confusion as the ant flew between them. The ant turned and looked at Sunset, it spoke once more, “Codladh.”

Suddenly she fell to the ground as sleep came over her. ‘F’ eyes widened as he heard the voice again. At first, he thought it was Discord. Once he realized who it really was, he quickly bowed.

The ant turned to him and spoke. “That is not needed, Host of the Parasite.”

“What reason could you have for being here?” ‘F’ questioned.

“You know my reason.”

“What have you done to Sunset?”

“Just a simple dream spell. It shall remind her of the pains that she has caused. And what is truly good for this world.”

“So you plan now. Do you plan to face Nightmare? You have not faced her in ten thousand years. Do you think you can face her now?”

“You are mistaken. I will let time play as needed. I am not Realta and I wish not to disrupt what must happen.”

“Even if it means her possible death?”

The ant looked down in sadness. “She and I have lived long enough. If she dies, then I will die soon after.”

‘F’s face was filled with anger and sadness. “So be it ‘M’.”

******

Twilight and her group arrived outside of Tartarus, however, none of them expected to land back under the Castle of the Two Sisters. None of them except Twilight.

“Well we reached where I desired,” said Twilight.

Tirek shouted in anger. “What is the meaning of this?!?!”

She looked to Tirek and answered him. “I have found the remaining of the Element Wielders.”

“So do you plan to hand them over?” he questioned.

She smiled, “No, I plan to declare war.”

******

Author's Note

So did I shock you with the reveal? (And yes I was referencing Dalek Asylum.)

Well a lot happened in the chapter, ranging from Twilight learning the name of her blade, to a surprising look into the past of Queen Chrysalis. Note the a lot of these flashbacks that go back more than a thousand years will play roles in both timelines.

We also got to look at the actual languages of the light and dark(yes the blade name is in the languages of the dark). The languages may look familiar, since they are basically just english throw through google translate(Sorry I lazy), and turned into other languages. I'm going to be using two real world languages. One for the light, the other for the dark. Can you figure out what languages I'm using?

Final, we got a new mystery character named 'M'. Now don't worry this will easy to figure out, since his real name is actually in the same chapter.

Anyway, It looks like we are getting close to the final arc of this story. Just one chapter left until the break. Remember this break will last until the end of October.

Now this does not mean I will be quiet during this time, as I've got a few things that are trying to get through for October. No promise, but hopefully something.

Chapter 20: New Hope Is In The Final Dark War

Thousands of miles away in the Rainbow Factory, Rainbow Dash was still hanging from her chains. She was in a lot of pain from Night Fright experiments. She had hoped it would stop soon. She remembered that he had left upon hearing about something. She was now just hanging there, not really caring what it was, as long as the pain stopped.

Suddenly she heard some noise outside. It sounded like gunfire. Soon the sound stopped, then the door open. Stepping inside was a shadowbolt. She quickly realized it was Spitfire.

She ran in, behind her was Soarin. The two made their way to Rainbow Dash. They looked to see her with a few cuts and bruises but otherwise fine. The only major problem was that her metal wing had been removed. “Hey it’s about time you showed up,” she spoke with happiness.

They quickly got her down. “Well, it did seem easier than we thought it would be. We arrived and the place seemed empty. Soon after, Lightning Dust and the other Shadowbolts attack us and we got separated from the Doctor and Derpy.” Soarin explained as he kept watch, gun in hand. Meanwhile, Spitfire got Rainbow Dash down.

“So how many of the Shadowbolt are left?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“Too many. All we’ve been able to do is wound them. They are simply too hard to beat, but we at least managed to get a map of the place,” answered Spitfire as she took over the watch. Soarin rolled his way over and handed Rainbow Dash her broadsword and a gun.

Afterword he pulled out the map and opened it. “As far as I can tell, this way is the only way out.”

“Hmm, how many of the Cloud Rebels are left?”

He looked in anger, as his fists tightened. “Just you.”

“What about Fleetfoot?”

“We don’t know. We couldn’t find her anywhere.” His fists tightened even more. “However we did find a room covered in blood and her feathers, but no body.”

At that point, Rainbow Dash’s own fists tightened. Soon Spitfire ran back up. “Look I know she was our friend, but it’s obvious she’s dead.”

“You can’t say that Spitfire! We have already lost so many!” Soarin argued.

With her mane hiding her face, Rainbow Dash spoke. “Enough you two, we need to go.”

They made their way out of there. Soon a massive explosion could be heard. They quickly made their way to an opening to see the incredible. The great wall that split the remains of Equestria from the Empire was falling.

“What happen?”

“I don’t know,” answered Rainbow Dash. “But this is the perfect time to make our escape,” she finished as she pointed to an airship on a lower floor.

“What about Doctor and Derpy?” questioned Soarin. Suddenly they heard gunfire and looked to see Lightning Dust and the other shadowbolts heading toward them.

“They are going to have escape on their own,” said Rainbow Dash as she ran off the edge. She jumped down to the lower floor. Spitfire grabbed Soarin and his wheelchair and flew him down.

The three quickly made their way to the airship and got aboard. As they did, Soarin realized something. “This is a tanker airship. It can do some heavy damage.”

“Alright, but can you fly it?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“It shouldn’t too hard,” he answered as he got to the controls.

Soon they took off. Back in the Rainbow Factory, an alphabolt went to warn Night Fright of their escape. Night Fright was sitting in an unusual device. “Sir, the prisoner has escaped.”

“Good, I was wondering when they would.”

“What?” the alphabolt questioned, “Are you saying you knew they would escape?”

“Of course. I let them in,” he answered as he as he got up and walked over to his console. “I wanted to test this place’s defenses. Now that I have, those ponies have served their purpose.” Soon a stream appeared in front of him. “Now I think it’s time I wake up my favorite toy.”

******

Twilight and the group exited the forest after making her proclamation. She looked to see Rock Labs. Her eyes widened as they raced there. The place was covered in chaos magic.

“What is happening here?” she questioned.

Suddenly Discord appeared. On his back were all the pie sisters. “Oh hello Twilight, we saw the wall crumble, so we thought we would party.”

“Wait, you manage to get Pinkie Pie on our side this quickly?”

“No! It turns out her and her boss have been secretly throwing underground parties. Once I figured that out, I pulled the parties out in the open.”

“Okay, then where is Pinkie Pie?”

“She’s over in the conga line with her boss,” he answered as he pointed off in the distance. Twilight looked to see a large conga line making their way to them. At the front was two earth ponies. One was yellow with a curly brown mane in a suit and tie. The other was pink with a pink curly mane, in a suit and tie. “Plus strangest thing. She already knew your name as well as half the things going on.”

Twilight facepalmed. “Of course she did.” Suddenly her eyes widened, “Wait is that Cheese Sandwich beside her?!?”

******

Meanwhile, in the skies above the empire, Rainbow Dash used the controls of the ship to try and contact Twilight. Soon a signal got through, “Twilight what happening”

“Rainbow Dash! You’re free. This is incredible news. The wall is going down and now you’re free.” Twilight jumped for joy on the other side of the stream.

“Yeah, yeah, now how did you destroy the wall?”

“That can wait, tell me how much damage can you cause where you are?”

“Well, we are on a tanker airship so that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Good, then unleash as much damage as you can, we are declaring war.”

Hearing those words Spitfire ran over to the controls for the turret, “About time!!”

“I’ll send you a map with targets that need to be taken down. Twilight out.” She finished as the stream ended.

Soon they received a hologram of the map. There were four tall towers, very similar to the tower in Fallen Canterlot. “Hmm, that one seems the closest. Soarin.”

“You got it Rainbow Dash.” Soon they made their way to their first target. “Hmm let’s see how many bombs on this ship,” said Soarin as he looked through the ship’s systems. “There.” he pressed a button once they got within range.

A few bomb drops later, the tower went down as the soldiers inside began to scatter. “Yahoo!! On to the next one.”

******

Twilight had ended her transmission with Rainbow Dash. Afterward, she turned to Pinkie Pie who was right beside her, “So you’re willing to help us.”

“Of course, as long as you keep providing some fun.”

“Right? War is fun?” Twilight looked in completely confusion as Pinkie Pie ran off to go talk to Cheese. While that was going on Twilight leaned towards Discord to whispered, “Okay I take back what I said earlier. She is very different and very brainless.”

“Go figure.”

“Anyway, anything from ‘F’ yet?”

“No, he hasn’t contacted me.”

“Nor, me or Flash. Where could he be?”

Soon Pinkie Pie ran back over, while Twilight leaned back up. “Well I talked to my boss, and he said as long as I'm careful, and that you can have access to a small armada of airships we have.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, “An armada?!”

“Yep, just a small one, though,” she then turned to Discord. “Well see you later Dissy, I've got go check on the ships.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow as Pinkie Pie ran off, “Dissy?”

Discord looked with an almost embarrassed face, “What?!”

Soon Rarity walked up to them, “I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“Okay tell us.”

“Okay, my diamond dog army will be here in a few minutes.”

“Okay and the bad news.”

“Well the new armor isn’t quick ready!” she whined.

Twilight facepalmed. Just then Applejack and Flash showed up carrying something. Twilight turned to them, knowing that she had sent them to sort out the Flim Flam Farms. “So did you two sort it out over there.”

“What do you think?” answered Flash as Applejack dropped what she was carrying. Revealing it to be the Flim Flam Brothers, tied up. "Plus we manage to get the farmers there on our side. They have officially cut off the supplies to the Empire, and will help us in any way.”

“Good.”

Later Pinkie Pie took Twilight to where the armada was being held. They past through a few doorways and then found themselves in a giant basement. Pinkie Pie turned on the lights to reveal 100, S class airships. At the center of them was the flagship.

Pinkie Pie led her over to it, “This is the flagship, Avalon. This was the prototype for the Andross. But it nearly exploded--”

“Exploded?!” Twilight interrupted. But before Twilight could question why, Pinkie Pie covered her mouth.

“As I was saying, ever since it nearly exploded it’s been in storage. However, during that time, I sort of have been working on it in my spare time. Now it is so different, that it is it’s own airship, hence the new name, Avalon.”

Afterwords Pinkie Pie removed her hand from Twilight's mouth. Twilight looked at her with confusion. But in the end, she could trust Pinkie Pie. Plus she knew if something went wrong Pinkie Pie would be the first to know, through her pinkie sense.

Twilight placed her hand on Pinkie Pie shoulder. “Thank you Pinkie Pie, you’re a good friend for helping us.”

Pinkie Pie gave a big smile to this and gave Twilight a spine crushing hug. “Yeah, I have a new friend.”

“Awk, too tight Pinkie Pie. Too tight.” Soon Flash showed up with Bon Bon and Lyra. Pinkie Pie put Twilight down so she could talk. “Oh Bon Bon, Lyra. It’s good to see you. I'm certain Flash filled you in on the plan.” They nodded a yes. “Good, with your knowledge of the Empire and it’s technology, you two are going to help me pilot the flagship.”

This saddened Pinkie Pie. “What? You mean I won’t be going with you.”

“”No Pinkie Pie. It’s not wise to put so many of the element wielders in such a closed space. What if the flagship was destroyed. We would all be gone. That’s why I’m having each element wielder separate until we get to the final stretch. Rarity and Spike already said they would fly ahead to try and reach the Rainbow Factory by next nightfall. Applejack will be leading the diamond dogs. Fluttershy will be with the Forest Rebels. And I need you and Cheese commanding the other airships.”

Pinkie Pie raised her hand in a salute. “You can count on me.” She dropped the salute and then grabbed out some devices. “We also made some short range radios.”

“Don’t you mean communication device?”

“No, I mean radio. It’s the new name. Plus the old name is really too long.”

Afterward she hopped away to do some final checks. Twilight turned back to Flash. “Flash I’m going to need you and Gilda on the Avalon as well since you two can fly without using pegasus magic. We don't know yet on when Rainbow Dash will take out those towers. Plus we can’t wait. Until then I need you two by me.”

******

Back in the airs upon the Empire, Rainbow Dash’s group had taken down two more towers. “Wahoo, that's three, one more to go.” Rainbow Dash cheered. It certainly seemed like they were winning. Though a little too well. Spitfire wasn’t liking this at all. This was way too easy.

“Somethings up you two.” She spoke up, “We have yet to be followed at all. You would think with the wall down they would be on high alert?”

Rainbow Dash looked at Spitfire. She had noticed it herself. Something was definitely wrong. But what?

“Hey we are almost to the final target,” said Soarin as he looked at the scanner. Suddenly his eyes widened as something else appeared on the screen heading right for them at high speed. “Hey, you two hold on to something!”

He quickly turned the wheel hard and just barely missed the blades of it’s wings. It was a red, blue, and white airship, with yellow lines going across it. However, it was the strangest airship they had ever seen. Soon it turned on a dime and shot towards them again. This time it got so close as they dodged it, that it actually skidded the paint. It went for another turned around this time landing itself right between them and their final target. “So this pony wants to play hardball?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

Suddenly the enemy airship began to change. Almost like it was transforming. Soon arms came out, followed by legs then finally a head. The head had a giant v shape on it. It revealed itself to not be an airship, but a giant 100-foot robot. Soon it spoke.

“I am a Giant Ultimate Nuclear Dynamic Autonomous Machine.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened at the moment upon hearing that voice. Though it was now mechanical there was only one voice that could be. “It can’t be. Windrider?!?!”

“I am Darkrider.”

******

Back in the Rainbow Factory, Doctor and Derpy got to a door and opened it. They walked inside and the room was covered in darkness. They looked around and soon found a light switch. Derpy flicked it on. Their eyes widened at that moment. The light turned on, but only to reveal in front of them were a few liquid tanks. Inside the tanks were the children. They had these strange small black pipes inserted into their flesh. Quickly the Doctor and Derpy ran to the tanks.

“The children!” Derpy cheered.

“Yes, but how do we get them out? I don’t see an opening anywhere.”

“Maybe I can help.” Suddenly their eyes widened in horror at that voice, but before they could do anything, they felt a sharp pain, and then their bodies went numb as they fell to the ground. Walking over them was Night Fright. “Well, I was wondering when you two would show up. I can’t wait to dissect you two, and that incredible airship.”

They tried their best to struggle but soon they lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, outside the Rainbow Factory, unbeknownst to Night Fright, a lone assassin mare in a dark purple cloak stained in blood and a turban, skipped in her bladed high heels through several of his personal Alphabolts that had been ripped to shreds. She was slowly making her way inside while swinging her strange looking chain blades.

"Well Cult Race, are there any more bodies to chop up?"

“Plenty up ahead, my lovely Selena Moondie.”

******

Author's Note

Well, well, Cult Race has a wife. Yeah I know she seemingly sort of popped up out nowhere. Truth is she is a major character of the saga itself. Now for this story her role is small, but it later stories in the sequel she will have major roles. But for right now I needed another killer, considering Cult Race is busy watching over Night Fright(waiting for the right to strike.).

Anyway aside from this random reveal, we also got the reveal that Night Fright has his own plans, and now everything he has work for is about to fall into place.

Now as I said in the previous chapter, the story will be taking a final break and will return with the final arc on Tuesday, November 1st, in fact the first week of November will get two Chapters, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday.

Anyway be ready for Chapter 21: All Out War Part 1: Dreams And Rainbooms, and Chapter 22: All Out War Part 2: The Fright Of The Night.

Chapter 21: All Out War Part 1: Dreams And Rainbooms

Chapter 21: All Out War Part 1: Dreams And Rainbooms

Princess Burning Star was floating in a strange white space. The feeling was unusual. “Where am I?” she questioned.

Soon she heard a voice speak. “You are in the dreamscape. A part of the dreamscape that has not been seen since before Nightmare’s rule.”

“Who are you?”

“That does not matter right now. What does matter is who are you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you Burning Star? Are you one of the four adopted children?” She closed her eyes and waved her head back and forth in an attempt to tune out the voice. But the voice got loud. “Are you the great granddaughter of ‘F’?! Are you the great granddaughter of Celestia?!” His voice kept rising and rising. “Are you the student of Celestia?! ARE YOU NEW DAWN?!?!”

Suddenly her eyes shot wide open at those words. Soon unknown yet somehow familiar memories began to flood her head. She grabbed her head as the memories kept flowing. It was so painful. Suddenly she screamed out, “Who is New Dawn?!”

“Who are you?” he questioned again, but this time it sounded more rhetorical.

Out of nowhere, she began to fall from the white space. Soon she landed in front of a gravestone. On it was a name. She looked and read it aloud. “Here lies Princess New Dawn. Daughter.... Daughter of Celestia and Sun--”

Suddenly she was interrupted. “Yes, New Dawn was the daughter of Celestia and ‘F’. She is also you.”

Again without warning, the area changed as she found herself looking at Celestia. Celestia was walking beside a little filly. The filly looked exactly like her. Burning Star placed her hand over her mouth in a gasp as she saw this. But where was ‘F’.

“New Dawn was your past life. That is why she chose you. It had nothing to do with bloodline.”

“Where is ‘F’ then?”

“He never got the chance to see you as a child.”

“Because of the parasite?”

“Yes, but of something more. Years after this you went searching for him. Everypony thought he was dead. You called on all the help you could. You even went behind Celestia's back and called upon Sombra’s league of assassins A.N.T.I.. In the end, though you finally found him.”

Suddenly she found herself in a dark cave. At the end of it was ‘F’. But he looked different. He had not yet taken his false draconequus form. She looked to see New Dawn approach him. “You wanted to know him, but he did not know you. He thought you were an enemy. Listening to the corrupted words of the parasite, he….killed you. It wasn’t until afterward did he realize what he did, and who you were. This pushed him over the edge.”

After seeing what he did, she fell to the ground as tears couldn’t stop flowing. The voice decided to continue, “When ‘F’ found you once more in this life, he saw a chance to do things right. He wanted to know you and be there for you. Even in your darkest hour. This is why he lied to you. Everything that he was, and everything that he is, did not matter. What mattered from then on? Is everything he tried to be, for you.”

Soon the dream began to clear.

******

Morning finally arrived with the rise of the dual eclipse. Twilight and the airship armada made their way across the remains of the Empire’s great walls. Everything seemed like it was going to be okay, Twilight turned on the speaker and decided to give a speech to all the airships and ponies on the ground.

"Hello, everypony. As you know, we will be entering the empire soon. We must do whatever it takes to win. This will be the final Dark War. I'm not saying this as a guarantee or a promise. I'm saying that either we win this war or we all die trying. We can no longer stand by. We can no longer retreat. We can no longer give up hope. We can no longer be fallen." She pulled out her katana and raised it to the sky as she finished, "EITHER WE RISE AS THE VICTORS, OR WE RISE TO THE AFTERLIFE!!"

After finishing her speech, they arrived past the wall. Up ahead they soon saw the grand airship Andross. Their first line to get passed would be Prince Nexus Star. The prince looked at them through his airship. He grabbed out a communication gem. “Night Fright I have spotted them. Are the Menos Grande ready?”

“They’re in their stations,” he answered.

“Good. What about my Alphabolts?”

“They will be there soon.”

After talking to him, the prince put up the gem and then signaled the ones at their own stations to drop the gauntlets. He placed his hands into them and activated the Andross’s gauntlets. Afterward, he aimed at the ground and shot out two giant circles. This confused Twilight.

Suddenly a bright light shot forth from each the circles. They were giant teleports. Soon two gigantic, two hundred foot tall creatures in tall black robes stepped forth. They were clearly ponies that had been experimented on. They were as tall as skyscrapers now.

Twilight looked in utter confusion upon these giants. She turned to Bon Bon and Lyra, expecting some answers. But that didn’t help for this was the first time they had seen them.

Soon they heard a voice over the speakers. “Twilight Sparkle, I heard everything, and might I say that was a truly inspirational speech. But this will be where it ends for you. These are my Menos Grande. They hold large amounts of my arsenal of nukes within their gut and can shoot them out like a machine gun. I suggest you surrender before I unleash them."

Twilight looked forward as she only took a moment to think. She spoke. “Flash and Gilda, get out there and figure out if those things have a weak spot.“ She then turned to Bon Bon. “Bon Bon, tell the other airships to stay as far back as possible, meanwhile we are charging forward. Let’s see what the Avalon can do.”

As Twilight got in position in the center of the control room. Flash and Gilda went outside. At the same time, the other airships got back. Nexus Star saw and this got ready. The Avalon charged forward, surprising him with the speed it quickly reached. He commanded the first attack. It missed.

He quickly shot another, and another. Each one heading straight for Twilight. But each one was dodged. Twilight knew she couldn’t keep this up forever, soon he would catch onto what she was doing and how.

While this was going on, Gilda and Flash made their way to the nearest one. Landing on its shoulder, it didn’t even notice them. It was strange, the creature was clearly a pony, yet by the look of it, had been dead for a long time. There was rotting flesh everywhere. How was this thing still standing? What it a spell? Or something else?

As Flash looked across the creature, he couldn’t help but get the feeling they were being watched. Suddenly Flash pushed Gilda out of the way as a metal talon on a chain flew by. Though he saved Gilda, he didn’t get the chance to dodge the one heading for his throat. The talon grabbed and pulled him off the Menos Grande. Gilda looked to see her brother Commander Gryford.

“It’s been awhile, sister. Escaped from Tartarus have we?”

“Indeed. I see you still work for Nexus Star. Are those talons a gift from him?”

Suddenly with some struggle, Flash got free and kicked Gryford. He jumped back and tried another attack, but Gilda stopped him. “Flash I’ll handle this Menos Grande, you go handle the other one.”

He looked to her and understood what she meant. He quickly got out of there and headed for the other one. Meanwhile, Gryford turned to attack him. Gilda stopped the attack by flying up and stabbing her blade into one of his talons. “Come on Gryford, I thought you would like some family bonding.” Once up there she kicked him across the face. He flipped backward and away from her. He straightened himself and charged at her as she did the same.

As they did battle, Flash made his way to the other one. It was there that he saw similarities with the first one. In particular, there were several giant black pipes stabbed through the flesh of the back. These may have been the weak points that Twilight was looking for. He grabbed out his radio. He contacted Twilight and told her what he found.

“I hear you Flash. I'll try to get the ship over there.”

They had to hurry, they didn't how long it would take for the prince to figure it out. However, he already had, as he smiled within the Andross. Soon a voice could be heard over the speaker. “Very interesting Twilight. You have your body connected to the airship like me. Don’t you?” Indeed she did. She had been using her dark magic to power it’s speed. He had caught on. This was bad. Twilight had to move quickly. She made her way to the other side of one of the Menos Grande.

As she did so, Nexus Star raised his gauntlets. Soon everything seemed to go in slow motion as Twilight used her dark magic to shoot the laser of the Avalon. The laser shot forth, hitting the black pipes, destroying them. However, at the same time, the side of the Avalon was hit.

Everything moved forward as the airship rocked with great force. “Statute report!” Twilight shouted.

“Shields are still holding, but the right engine is down,” replied Lyra.

“Can we still fly?”

“Yes, but only at half speed.”

“Incoming, another laser strike,” said Bon Bon.

“Everypony hold on. I’m going to try something crazy.” She concentrated, hoping her idea would work. They only had seconds. Nexus Star watched in victory as the laser hit. Meanwhile, the Menos Grande fell. As it did, its arsenal went off.

Flash ran through the skies as fast as he could. “Gilda, get out of here. The nukes are going off.”

She was still fighting her brother. She turned to see the explosion. She grabbed out her radio. “Flash, you tell Rainbow Dash that she made a damn fine leader of the Cloud Rebels. And that I’ll see her when this is over with.”

The signal cut off. Flash closed his eyes as he knew that she was gone as the other Menos Grande was engulfed. Afterward, he looked to see the Avalon being hit head on by Nexus Star’s laser. “No!!” he trembled.

Flash watched in horror as the flagship slowly vanished. A tear fell from his eyes. The Prince looked in triumph. He had won. The other ponies on the other airships looked in shock. Even on the ground, the ponies were gasping. Was this the end?

Out of nowhere, the Avalon appeared above the Andross. “Master of Teleportation, huh! Laser, full power!!” shouted Twilight as she shot forth a blast at such close range that the shields had no time to stop it.

As the laser tore a massive hole right through the Andross, Nexus Star contacted Night Fright.

******

Night Fright was walking to something when he was contacted. “What happened now?”

“The Andross has been hit head on. Where are my Alphabolts? You said they would be here soon?”

Night Fright smirked. “I’m sorry child, but you have outlived your usefulness.”

“What?! NIGHT FRIGHT?!?!” was the last thing said before Night Fright cut the signal.

“Foolish child. I no longer need you or this empire.” He held out his hands as he arrived in front the titan airship. “Now that I have this. With it and the intel I have gathered on those fakers, soon even Mother and Father shall bow to me.”

******

Twilight backed the Avalon far enough away and looked to see the Andross’s explode. This was a big victory, but this was only the beginning. Soon Flash got back aboard the Avalon. He ran to Twilight and took her into an embrace. “How?”

“I used a teleport. Though I didn’t know how big i would be able to make it. I’m surprised I didn’t cut the flagship in half,” she answered as she took the embrace with delight.

Realizing how random this looked, Flash quickly broke the embrace. “Okay, you need to stop pushing yourself.”

Twilight turned to Lyra. “How long will repairs take?”

“About two to three hours at most.”

“Okay,” she turned to Bon Bon. “Contact the rest of the armies. Tell them we’ll catch up soon. They need to move quickly while the enemy is in disarray.” She then looked back to Flash. “Flash, go follow them. Keep them safe. Keep them alive.”

“Of course.” He got ready to take his leave, but then he turned around and kissed her on the cheek. Her eyes widened as a bright blush filled her face. Afterward, he left.

******

Meanwhile miles away, Rainbow Dash’s group were doing their best to dodge the giant Darkrider’s attacks. Soarin flew the airship all kinds of directions. He was slowly tricking him. Soon the airship got within range of the tower. They launched a series of bombs, blowing it up. However, as they did, they found themselves being grabbed by Darkrider. He flung their airship. They held their positions as the airship rocked.

Soon Darkrider was contacted by Night Fright. “How is the test run going?”

“We are at perfect parameters.”

“Good, I just completed phases one, two and three. Hurry up and defeat those fools, then go on to phase four. Demolishing that spire.”

“Yes, Night Fright.”

Darkrider finished the transmission. He got into position. Soon he grabbed and unsheathed a giant cyber katana. They looked for only a few seconds as the blade went right for them. It moved too fast to dodge as it cut the airship in half.

Air pressure got in as all three of them went plummeting to the ground. As they plummeted, Spitfire gained her footing and started to fly. However, another swing missed them but separated Spitfire from Rainbow Dash and Soarin.

The two continued to fall. They looked to each other. They knew this was the end. Meanwhile Flash looked to see the airship ripped apart and saw them falling. Seeing this Flash raised his speed, but it was not enough. He looked in sorrow, knowing he wouldn’t get there in time.

Soarin pulled himself free from the wheelchair and make his way to Rainbow Dash. He caught her off guard as he took her into an embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly around her as tears fell from their eyes.

“I’m right here Rainbow Dash, and I’m not losing you again.”

“You big idiot,” she trembled as she took the embrace.

Soon Darkrider’s katana began to charge up with electricity. He got ready to swing once more. This time, even if it missed it would still kill. Suddenly Flash got an idea. “Soarin!!” he yelled.

Soarin turned to see him.

“Open your wings for flight, and hold on to Rainbow Dash as tight as you can!!” Flash yelled again. This confused Soarin, but he had no other reason to doubt him. Once that was done, Flash yelled to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, you did it once before. I need to do it again. You accessed light magic once thirteen years ago. Now use it again.” her eyes widened as she knew what he meant. “Use the SONIC RAINBOOM!!”

She looked to the ground as it closed in on one side and on the other was the giant katana. She closed her eyes in concentration, hoping with all her might. Soon the air around Soarin and Rainbow Dash began to condense as the sound barrier was broken.

Just as the blade made contact, a burst of rainbow shot forth in all directions. Rainbow Dash for the first time in years flew. Sure she was using Soarin’s wings as rudders, but it was still flight.

She flew around the blade and charged high into the sky. Twilight in the distance looked to see the sonic rainboom speed across the skies above the empire and all across Equestria. It was a symbol to all that a new hope was on the rise.

Back at the battle, Darkrider swung his electric katana, but with each swing, he missed. Rainbow Dash and Soarin were moving at such speeds that even with his greater range he still couldn’t hit them.

The two got into position. Rainbow Dash looked at Soarin. She had a smile and a crazy plan. He smiled back to her. He would always trust her. She then charged forward right at Darkrider as he dropped his blade towards them. They didn’t dodge at all this time.

As it closed in, they felt the electricity before the blade. They pushed on and increase their speed. Flash’s eyes widened at what they were doing. They were going to combine the sonic rainboom with the same move he was now using. The Light Speed Dash.

Soon the electricity wrapped around them as their speed increased even more. Finally, the katana made contact. However, their speed soon broke through the blade. They kept flying forward as they ripped through the katana completely and right through Darkrider.

They ripped a hole right through the center. Soon they came to a stop and looked to their victory. Darkrider began to spark up and spark up. Soon explosions began to cover him. They look to see the explosions heading right for them. However, their bodies were too numb to move as they began to once more plummet.

Flash moved quickly to catch them both. He moved at great speed and got them out of there. Meanwhile, Spitfire got out as well.

Hours later they all met back up in the ruins of Manehattan. Twilight landed the Avalon as they took a moment to catch their breath. Rainbow Dash and Soarin were taken into the infirmary as they had a few burns from pulling off that crazy move.

Twilight walked over to Applejack and the diamond dogs as they arrived. Applejack told her that they had a few small injuries, but otherwise, they were fine. It seemed there were some ground forces Twilight didn’t see while flying overhead.

Soon Fluttershy and Tirek showed up with the Forest Rebels. Behind them were several plunder vines that followed Fluttershy. These plunder vines looked different from others. They were much thicker and longer. Twilight wanted to question it but saw no reason to. Clearly, these special plunder vines were meant for something.

Now that all the groups had arrived they took time to rest. Hours pass and soon the dual eclipse began to set as night had arrived. Finally, the time had arrived, they could rest no longer. Beyond Manehattan was once the great ocean called the Celestial Sea. Now it a dessert that was called the Eternal Wastelands.

This is where the final stretch would be. Twilight, Flash, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Fluttershy, and Applejack all gathered together. The final parts of the plan would soon be complete. They had just received a message that Spike and Rarity had made it to the Rainbow Factory. Now they needed to make their move. Attack Nightmare Spire.

They all looked onward as armies of nightmare griffins gathered. This would be the final battle. This is where it would end.

******

Author's Note

Well here is first part of the final dark war. So how was it? Did I do good with this one? The next part will be posted on Thursday.

Chapter 22: All Out War Part 2: The Fright Of The Night

The plan was simple. For them, it was to hold off the armies long enough for Twilight and Flash to reach the top of Nightmare Spire and defeat Mother and Father. All while Rarity and Spike would make sure Night Fright didn’t prove to be a problem.

Seemed easy. Both Spike and Rarity knew it wouldn’t be.

Spike and Rarity arrived at the Rainbow Factory. They looked to see the titan airship had not left yet. They quickly landed at the front door of the Rainbow Factory. Instantly they saw the massacre that had been left. Who could have done this, they thought.

Spike returned to his main size so they could enter. Rarity pulled out her crystal blade as they opened the door and walked slowly in. As they walked through the hallway, they could see blood, body parts, and machinery strewed across the place. It was like the most twisted of horror scenes. Mysterious though was that throughout all the bodies, the spines were missing.

In the end, they could not worry who dropped all those bodies. They had to complete their mission.

******

Meanwhile, Doctor Whooves slowly began to wake up. He found himself chained on a sideways table. There was darkness all around. The last thing he remembered was being attacked.

“Looks like you're awake, Doctor.” The Doctor jumped at the voice.

“Night Fright, I know that’s you. Where’s Derpy? Where am I?”

“Oh Doctor, I thought for sure you would recognize this place.”

Suddenly the lights turned on, revealing the inside of the titan airship. The Doctor looked to see Derpy still unconscious, chained up beside him. In front of him, on the other side of the room, was the children. They were still in their tanks.

In the center of the room was the control console, Night Fright examining it. Suddenly the door opened as Alphabolts began moving a large, strange device inside. Night Fright gestured them to take it down the hallway.

Afterward he walked over to Derpy and Doctor Whooves.

“Get away from her.” The Doctor struggled.

Night Fright pulled back once he got blood samples from both. “I’m sorry. I just need to know if you two are one of them.”

“What are you talking about? What is ‘them’?”

Night Fright’s eyes widened. “Of course, you don’t know yet, do you? It’s probably a failsafe that you don’t know, that is if you are one of them.” He gestured to one of the alphabolts. “But let me show you.”

Soon an Alphabolt brought in a cage covered in a black cloth. Night Fright put the blood sample in a box and had an Alphabolt take it away. “It shouldn't take too long for the DNA to be checked,” he continued as he walked over to the cloth and pulled it off.

The Doctor’s eyes widened in horror. “What is that?!”

Inside the cage was a very strange looking creature. It had a pale white coat, reptilian eyes, a green mane and moth-like wings. “I call them fakers, though even I don’t know their true name.”

Doctor Whooves quickly realized something else as he looked. “It looks just like--”

"Yes,” Night Fright interrupted. “I know. They do look a lot like Cult Race don’t they? I suspect he may be of the same species. I also suspect that this Twilight you follow is one of them, though I can’t tell for sure without a blood sample.”

“So they are not ponies.”

“They are something else altogether.” Night Fright began to walk around it as he continued. “I have found they can shapeshift, but at a much greater rate. You can think of them like super changelings. Where changelings have to feed on some sort of emotion to survive, these do not.”

“What does this have to do with me and Derpy?”

“Oh but that is the best part of all. Your children are the reason.” He walked over to them. “You see I have found something quite incredible about your children, especially their DNA. They are half-fakers.”

The Doctor was aghast at this. Night Fright walked back to them. “Which leaves me one question. A question you two need to ask yourselves when she wakes up. Which one of you is real?” Afterward he walked down the hallway that the strange device was taken. “I’ll leave you two to figure it out.”

Night Fright soon arrived at a large room. The alphabolts were hooking the strange machine into the titan airship. Once that was complete, Night Fright walked over, placed the blood samples in two small holes on the front end. He walked over to the other end and pulled off his lab coat, then sat upon in like it was a throne. “Plug me in.”

Obeying, they hooked several wires into his gauntlets. He then leaned forward and laid his upper body on a round surface as he placed his gauntlets in two large holes. He placed his head in front of a stream. His back was now exposed, This revealed six holes in his back. Metal arms rose up and placed black metal pipes into his back, one in each hole. The black pipes were connected to wires that fed into the machine. Also, the pipes looked a lot like the pipes that were in the children. “Activate.”

Doing as they were ordered, they pulled several levers that surrounded the machine. This caused the machine to start harvesting magic directly from the titan airship in large amounts. Soon feeds from every camera on both the titan airship and the Rainbow Factory fed into the stream in front of his face.

He smiled, “Well I see that Spike and Rarity are here.” Checking the other feeds he suddenly frowned. “Oh, and it seems we also have one of the bringers of genocide too. It's rare to see the mare, but where is her husband, Cult Race?”

“Scans show that he is nowhere in the Rainbow Factory,” said one of the Alphabolts.

“What about the titan airship?”

“Scans cannot tell. The titan airship seems to have some sort of protection over it.”

“And I can only see so much with these cameras.” Night Fright smiled once more as an alarm went off. “Oh well, time to wake up my children.”

Soon the pipes on his back began to glow. All across the Rainbow Factory, liquid tanks opened. Stepping out of them were several hundred fakers. Each one of them had the same type of pipes running through their bodies. Soon even in the main room of the titan airship where the Doctor and Derpy were being held, the tanks opened. The children walked out. Doctor Whooves looked in horror. They moved with a zombie-like form. However, as soon as Night Fright twisted his hands in a direction, they followed. Left, right, forward, back. They were completely under his control.

He spoke into a speaker in front of his mouth. “Rise forth my children and hunt down our intruders. Meanwhile, my half-breeds,” he was talking directly to the children this time. “I want you to pour through the controls of this titan airship and get me full access.”

The Doctor hearing every word yelled out. “What have you done to the children?”

“Oh, it’s nothing Doctor Whooves. You see, the black pipes upon their backs are made from a special kind of crystal. The kinds of crystal forged by King Sombra himself. They allowed him to control his armies. Now they connect the fakers I have captured directly to my nerve system. Think of them like pieces of my body that I command with my will. The best part of this is the pipes are connected directly to the heart. So if you were to rip them out, you would kill them instantly.”

The Doctor frowned angrily. “Damn you, damn you Night Fright.”

Back inside the Rainbow Factory, Spike and Rarity heard everything. So did Selena Moondie. Soon the fakers found their way to the intruders. Spike and Rarity knew what they had to do, but they had to move quickly because they knew the unknown assassin that had killed all those Alphabolts would not be as merciful as them.

Selena Moondie raised her chain blades with a wicked smile. “Well let the massacre begin.”

Rarity and Spike quickly made their way through the fakers, making sure not to kill them. “So is it as you think, Rarity?”

“Yes. Using that many crystals requires a lot of magic. He’s a batpony, so he can’t rely on a personal store of magic and the titan airship can only hold so much. There has to be another source he is gathering magic from. It has to be somewhere in the Rainbow Factory.”

They ran through several hallways. Soon they found hallways too packed to get through. Spike grew to a slightly larger size. “Get on, I'll climb us across the ceiling.”

Rarity climbed upon Spike's back and held on as he made his way across the ceiling. They had to move quickly through several rooms and hallways, each one proving to be empty. Soon they found more bodies. They knew these were clearly dropped by the unknown assassin. They continued further into the Rainbow Factory.

Meanwhile, Doctor Whooves struggled. Derpy was still unconscious and the children began pressing buttons, trying to get access. The Doctor knew the titan airship had many locks in case of thieves. However given enough time, the children would get through. He had to get free and stop the children somehow!

He continued to struggle when suddenly the door flew open. Strange-looking chain blades flew in like magic and wrapped around the children. The strange-looking chain blades held them up in the air as Selena Moondie walked inside. She turned towards the Doctor. “Oh hello, you must be the prisoners that Cult Race told me about.”

“Cult Race? So you are his wife.”

“Yes, I am.”

The Doctor looked even more scared as the chain blades wrapped tighter around the children. “Please, let my children go.”

She frowned and placed her hand over her heart. “Oh, these are your children? So then you are their parents.” She swung them against a wall, knocking them out, and landing them in front of Derpy. However, the strange-looking chain blades were still wrapped around them. “I have never liked parents. My parents abandoned me. They left me to riot in a wooden box. So tell me why should I care about you?”

“Whatever you do, please don’t hurt the children.”

Soon Selena Moondie saw something in his eyes. A sign of genuine care. At that moment she released the strange-looking chain blades and pulled them back. She swung and cut the chains that were holding the Doctor and Derpy.

As he reached the ground, he ran to the children and Derpy. “Thank you.”

“I suggest you keep them close. I suggest you always love them.” Suddenly a strange-looking chain blade went by the Doctor’s neck, while the other one began to take out several cameras in the room. “Because I will not hesitate to rip your throat out.”

After making her threat very clear, she walked out of the titan airship. Once outside, she grabbed out a gem communicator. “Cult Race, mission complete.”

Suddenly the titan airship began to lift off. It seemed that she was too slow, for now, Night Fright had full control of the airship. Back in the large room, Night Fright had been watching Spike and Rarity and didn’t know yet the Doctor was free. He, however, did realize that the titan airship was now under his command. Flipping through the camera feeds, he soon got annoyed to find all but one of the cameras still working in the control room. He then saw the Doctor was free.

“Damn it, who set him free? I’m going to have to worry about that later. Time to wake up the Menos Grande.” Using the controls he woke up several Menos Grande that were hidden under the Rainbow Factory. The factory began to shake as several bay doors opened. Spike and Rarity looked out a window and saw the several Menos Grande making their way to Nightmare Spire. This was not good. Not good at all.

“That’s it, no more running around this place,” said Spike as he turned towards a wall, breathing fire. The walls began to melt. He and Rarity increased their movement around the place, looking for the other power source. They tore through several rooms and hallways. “We have to hurry! If he gets those things to the warzone, everypony will lose!”

They kept moving and moving. Soon they came upon the final room. Spike quickly tore the door down. Inside was the strangest thing of all. A giant machine, inside of which was a giant ring of swirling magic. It looked so strangely familiar. “I’ve seen this before,” said Spike.

“Where?”

“When I was seven years old. I saw a black rainbow shoot across the sky.”

“Wait, that was thirteen years ago. The day of Nightmare Moon’s return. I had heard that Night Fright went with Father on that day. He had to gather intel on something.”

“It must have been what allowed him to create this. Let’s shut this thing down.”

“I’m right behind you on that.” She swung her crystal blade and summoned a magical wave. The attack tore a hole right in the machine. Suddenly the place began to shake again. This time even harder. “Dear, I think that’s our cue to get out of here.”

“Right.”

Back aboard the titan airship, the machine that Night Fright was using began to act up, as small sparks began to shoot from it. He realized what was happening. He quickly cut the wires that were connected to the machine and got out of it. As soon as he did, the device went up in flames. They did it. The machine had been overloaded. Now all the ponies he was controlling fell to the ground unconscious. Even the Menos Grande fell. He got out and ran through the titan airship as quick as he could.

Suddenly he fell as a bone knife impaled into the lower part of his right leg. He turned to see all the Alphabolts dead and Cult Race walking towards him. “So, I’m assuming it was you that cut them loose?”

“Well, actually that was my wife’s idea. My plan was too straight up kill them. She sort of felt sorry for them. Though I thought it was strange since she has never like parents.” Cult Race walked over and looked down at Night Fright. “You were so close to figuring it all out.”

“So you’re currently working for whoever leads these faker creatures?”

Cult Race smiled and leaned down. “Do you want to know his name before I kill you?” He then whispered in his ear a name that sent chills throughout his body. Afterward he pulled back.

“No, he's just a legend,” Night Fright argued.

“Whether he is a legend or not does not matter. Soon you will be dead.”

Suddenly Night Fright activated a flash grenade. This blinded Cult Race for a moment. He pulled back in pain as Night Fright pulled out the bone knife. “You know, what your problem is, Cult Race? You enjoy killing too much.”

“Ouch! My eyes! Damn you!!”

Night Fright saw his chance to run for it. He ran quickly as he could back to the control center of the titan airship. He saw the children and Derpy still unconscious. He saw his chance to escape and form a new plan later. He walked over and got ready, but then the unexpected happen.

Doctor Whooves charged at him, attacking, knocking him to the ground. “You will pay for what you did!” He punched him in anger.

“What are you going to do? Kill me? I read your files, you’re a pacifist,” Night Fright argued. But the Doctor pulled him up by his collar.

“If you read my files then you should know that I’m not a good pony when I’m angry.” This time he punched him in the mouth so hard that teeth broke. Night Fright tried to stab him with the bone knife, but the Doctor jumped back. Once he was free, he ran to the controls.

The Doctor charged at him again with another punch. “Don’t you dare touch her!” He grabbed him by his shoulders and continued to punch him over and over. Soon, however, Doctor Whooves found himself stopping. “Why can’t I finish it?”

“Because your past refuses to let you.” Night Fright managed to say. “I know everything about you. You used to work for us during the first Dark War. You were in autopsy. You would clean up the bodies. And one day you had to tear up the corpse. The corpse of those children's real father.” The Doctor eyes widened in anger. “Yes, I knew from the beginning they were not yours. But I had to be sure about both of you.” Night Fright chuckled. He knew what he was doing. Not only was he a brilliant scientist, but also an ingenious psychologist. He knew just what to say. “Tell me, during any of the times you were with her, did you ever tell her that it was you who tore open his body?” He chuckled again as the Doctor got more angry. It was working. “And considering it was you who cut him open, you would be the best one to ask which is the faker.”

“Enough!” He punched him again.

“Face it, you’re just as sick as me, you know that.” Night Fright, knowing his words were getting to the Doctor, continued. “When you found Derpy, you saw a weak mare traumatized by her husband’s death and decided to take his place.”

“NO!!” At that moment he punched so hard, that he broke Night Fright’s jaw. He quickly pulled back afterward. “On the day I met Derpy, I swore I would never tear open another dead body again.”

Night Fright saw his chance and used the bone knife. The Doctor threw Night Fright overhead, towards the door. As he crashed into it, he raised his head. “I knew you couldn’t do it.” He coughed up blood. “You can’t even avenge them. You're a weak father.”

The Doctor looked at him, or more past him as his eyes widened. “I’m a better father than you.”

Doctor grabbed the ship console and held as tight as he could. Night Fright tried to question it, but before he could, a giant set of teeth ripped through the door. Spike’s teeth! They ripped into him and flung him out of the titan airship.

Doctor Whooves move quickly to shut the hole in the ship, as the air pressure began to pull. Pressing a few buttons, the hole closed. As it did, the Doctor fell to the ground as blood seeped from his gut. Realizing that Night Fright had stabbed him, he crawled his way to his children and wife before losing consciousness.

Meanwhile outside, Night Fright’s eyes slowly opened wide in horror. He had been flung into a mountainside. But that was not the twisted part. The twisted part was the fact that his lower half and his organs were now falling down the mountainside. He coughed up more chunks of blood before finally dying.

Rarity and Spike looked to their victory, but it was short lived as a giant fireball flew past them. They looked to see it head towards Nightmare Spire. At the same time, darkness began to cover the spire.

“Rarity, was that who I think it was?” Spike questioned in horror.

“I hope Twilight and Flash are ready dear because the battle just got harder.”

******

Author's Note

Well this was a good chapter. Spike and Rarity finally got their revenge, Doctor and Derpy found their children, and major villain was defeated. Though who was that giant flame?

Though if you're more curious about Selena Moondie, check out this story for some look back into her past. Because though her role is small in this, she plays bigger roles in the later stories.

As for the next chapter, Twilight and Flash must face their greatest enemies in the explosive Chapter 23: All Out War Part 3: The Burnt and The Wicked.

Chapter 23: All Out War part 3: The Burnt, And The Wicked

Flash and Twilight made their way through the warzone as their friends and allies fought off the nightmare griffins. As they made their way was to Nightmare Spire, Father watched them through a video stream. He looked down in annoyance. “She is just as stubborn as her mother.” He began to generate large amounts of dark magic into the tubes connected to his back. The tube fed the dark magic throughout the entire spire.

Flash and Twilight soon found themselves under attack as the spire began to shoot lasers. “Can we dodge them?” she questioned.

“Yeah, but I'm going to have to move faster. Hold on tight,” he replied as he moved even faster. Moving at lightning speed, he continued to dodge the lasers as they finally reached the entrance of the spire.

They raced inside and up an almost endless twisting stairway. It kept going higher and higher. They kept running longer and longer. “How is it so tall?” she questioned.

“He must be expanding the size of the spire,” he replied.

“He can do that?”

“Yeah, but don't worry. Give me some time and I should be able to outrun the growth,” he assured her as he raced faster.

Suddenly a voice spoke up. “Oh, really and how will she get there without you?”

They stopped and looked around for the source, but before they could find it Flash was grabbed. Twilight was knocked from his arms over to the edge and nearly fell off. She held on as she saw Flash being held by Prince Nexus Star.

“Jack?!”

“Hello sister, you mind if I take your coltfriend for a dance?” Instantly they were gone in a teleport.

“FLASH!”

Flash and the prince soon landed far from the spire. They were now in the abandoned ruin city of Baltimare. Nexus Star threw Flash.

“How did you survive the destruction of the Andross?”

“Have you forgotten I am the real Master of Teleportation. Though even I have to admit that Twilight's little move caught me off guard.” He smirked. "Tell me Flash, why do you want up there so badly?”

“Because Twilight is up there,” he answered.

“Oh really? So you know that is a faker, too.”

Flash looked in confusion. “How did you know?”

“Because I know where the real Twilight is.”

“She’s on top of the spire!” Flash answered quickly.

Nexus Star let out a twisted chuckle. “And what tells you that?”

“A device that Cult Race stole. It shows me that there are three massive amounts of magic on that --”

Suddenly the prince laughed aloud. “So that's what he stole from me! Tell me, have you looked at it recently?”

Flash’s eyes widened. With all that had happened, he hadn’t. Not even when Twilight handed it back to him after the talk with Tirek. He trembled as he grabbed it out. He activated it and froze upon what he saw.

The prince decided to continue. “I’ll go ahead and tell you that Twilight is alive and on top of Nightmare Spire, only there's not much left of her.” Flash continued to stand in shock, as Nexus Star took off his top armor. “Oh and as for the source of that third amount of magic. Well, that should be obvious to you now.”

Suddenly large amounts of dark magic began to emanate from Nexus Star. He took a stance and a deep breath. Finally, he began to chant a spell. “I call upon the gates of Hell. Grant me your power and malice. I call upon the wrath and rage.” His muscles began to grow. His coat began to turn a dark red.

“What have you done to yourself?”

“Why it’s very simple Flash. I have achieved power beyond that of an alicorn. A power that has not been seen for nearly one hundred thousand years and has not been seen since the very first Alicorn War.” His body continued to transform as horns grew on his head. His wings grew to double their original size. In the end, he was no longer a batpony. He was now a demon.

“So you have become a demon,” Flash spouted. “Fine, then no holding back.” He started charging up his light magic. “Let’s go all out!”

The prince charged head on. Flash dodged the punch as it hit a building. He punched his fist right through the wall.

Flash stood there on the building. “Well you're stronger now, but you're still slow.” Suddenly the building began to crack apart and fall to pieces. Flash quickly jumped off and looked in confusion as he raced to an even taller building. “How did you do that?”

“The demon mode allows a pony to amplify their talents to near infinity. For instance, my talent is lock breaking.” He held up his fist and charged right at the next building. “With this power, I can use a single hit to break as many locks as I desire.” He hit the building and it began to tear apart.

Flash jumped off again and flew up high into the sky. Nexus Star grabbed a rock in his hand. “Well, that's a lot of power. But all I have to do is dodge you, right?” Flash questioned.

Nexus Star chuckled. “I knew you wouldn't understand the full scope,” He crush the rock in his hand and chucked it at Flash. He dodged it as the prince continued. “I can break any lock, even the ones that hold together atoms.”

Flash’s eyes widened as the shards of the rock ignited into a small nuclear explosion. Flash move quick as he could to dodge it and barely escaped. Nexus Star looked with a twisted smile. ”How do you think I created my nukes?”

Flash realized then, even with his speed, this would still be a near impossible battle to win.

******

Twilight reached the first throne room. The throne room of Father. After all this time, she would finally meet him in the flesh. Darkness covered the room. Sitting at the other end of the room was a throne of pure onyx. Beside it was a scythe covered in blood stained chains, with a blade of pure obsidian on top. On the other side of the throne was a stairway, possibly leading to Nightmare Moon.

“It’s good to see you daughter.” Twilight heard the voice and took her stance. It was Father’s voice.

"I am not your daughter."

Soon the darkness cleared. It revealed an old, dark alicorn stallion covered in tubes. But that was not what sent a shock through her. It was who Father really was.

He had a charcoal coat. His wings were as black as the darkest night. His armor was a flawless shining silver. His royal cape was a royal red and almost perfectly covered the tubes coming out of his back. His mane flowed like a black flame. And his horn was fiery red.

“It can’t be you. It just can’t be. King Sombra? You're a dark alicorn?! You are Father?!?”

The king stood up. “Twilight, I wished it wouldn’t have come to this, but you must die.” He grabbed his scythe. As he did, gigantic amounts of dark magic emanated from him, so much that it sent shock waves through the air itself, shooting back with the force of a blizzard.

Twilight stood her ground as the power tried to push her down. "Sombra, tell me, why did you choose me and the others to adopt? And what is the true connection between you and Luna?"

"If you defeat me I will tell you everything." Sombra charged right at her. Twilight jumped as he swung his scythe. Quicker than she could react, though, he swung again. This time upwards and hooked her with the scythe, knocking her to the ground.

“Give up now. I’ll end it quickly,” he threatened as he held the scythe to her throat.

“Never.” She quickly pulled her katana out and stopped his attack. She knocked back the scythe and stabbed him in the leg. As he fell back, she flipped up into the air and charged dark magic into her katana. She turned and swung. “Moonlight Strike.”

The attack sent him to the wall. He slowly got up as if unaffected. “You learn fast,” he smirked, pulling back his scythe. “It’s a shame that you didn’t learn all the spells of this style of fighting. Dark Pendulum.” He swung the scythe and it shot forth a spinning astral scythe. Twilight quickly flew down as it hit the ceiling.

As she flew down, he flew above her and sent another strike. “Dark Hold.” Twilight found herself being wrapped in dark magic. She fell to the ground as he landed above her. “It's time I end this.” He raised his scythe up. “Please forgive me.” As it charged with dark magic, he dropped it towards her neck.

Suddenly a giant ball of fire ripped into the spire. It hit Sombra head on, knocking him back to his throne. Twilight looked in surprise as to who stepped into the room. Wielding two fiery red sabres, Sunset Shimmer walked in. “You might want to get out of here, Twilight. We got this handled.”

“Sunset, what are you doing here? Wait, you said ‘we’?”

Sombra tried to get up but found himself being wrapped by a serpent form. It was Discord. Sombra grabbed him. “Get off me brother!” He threw him to the ground.

“You lost the right to call me that long ago!” Discord yelled.

Sunset looked at Twilight as she cut her loose. “Twilight go on ahead. Nightmare has a spell you might be looking for.”

“The time traveling spell. Wait a minute, why are you even here?”

“Because an old foggie showed me that sometimes you have to ignore the lies.”

Twilight could see it in her eyes. A ray of hope that was as bright as a star. Quickly she got up and ran to the other stairway. “Be careful, Sunset!”

******

As Twilight made her final climb up to the top, Flash’s battle with Nexus Star continued across the sky. Flash flew as fast as he could, dodging the prince’s deadly fist as explosions filled the skies. The two began to fly higher and higher. Soon they would reach the edge of the atmosphere. Flash had to do something soon.

Only he forgot that the prince could teleport. Suddenly before Flash could even react, he was grabbed by another teleport. This time they landed so high up that it was too hard to even breathe.

Flash quickly got out of his grip, but not before the prince grabbed his metal hand. Flash tried to pull away, but the prince used his power to crush Flash’s hand.

Flash slowly floated backward as his breathing began to weaken with each second. “Tell me Flash, do you know how dark and light magic works?”

Flash didn’t answer, he knew this would be coming. “That's right, Anywhere there is light, light magic grows. Anywhere there is darkness, dark magic grows. And what better place for me to end the life of Realta’s chosen one, then in space itself.”

“Damn you. You planned this,” Flash barely answered.

“Indeed I did, and you fell for it perfectly. Plus I have been training myself for these types of conditions.”

Flash felt himself weakening with each second. He stood his ground, though, despite his air slowly going. Nexus Star raised his arms out and began to chant. “I call forth the dark imprisonment.” Soon a barrier of pure dark magic began to surround Flash.

Flash had no time at all as it completely enveloped him in a sphere shape. Flash stood there as darkness covered everything. He slowly crumpled to his knees as his breathing got worse. The imprisonment was taking more and more air from his surroundings. His mind began to blank as everything was going black.

Randomly an old memory popped up. A memory of his first lesson in light magic. Meanwhile outside, Nexus Star laughed at his victory. He had won. This was the end. Or so he thought.

Suddenly light began to pulsate from the sphere of darkness. He looked in shock as the sphere began to crack. Soon it was ripped apart. Standing in the remains was Flash, covered in pure light. He shined like a star.

“What is this? How?”

“I once asked my mentor why the light and dark don’t destroy each other. He answered that is wasn’t that they don’t, but they can’t.” Flash answered him as he held up his arm. The arm that had the metal hand. “With every light, there is a shadow. With every shadow, there must be a light.”

“What are you saying? How are you getting this much magic? There's no source anywhere.”

“Oh yes there is. In space, we have the stars themselves.”

The prince’s eyes widened. “But they are too far, you would only get a small amount.”

“Yes, a small amount of billions!” Flash yelled. Suddenly his arm began to glow. “I never thought I would ever use this move.” Soon a hand of pure light took the place of his metal hand. “Finale spell, Great Hand of The Light.”

Suddenly the hand shot forth a massive laser of light magic. Nexus Star crossed his arms as he took the hit. The blast began to push him back. Even with his demon power, he could not hold this much power back forever.

“No, it won’t end like this.” He spoke as it began to burn his flesh.

“Surrender, Jack and I’ll stop the blast.”

“Never!”

“Come on, you have a wife and friends. You can’t keep being loyal to Father forever.”

“But I can and I will. Like I said to Rainbow Dash, loyalty is the most important thing a pony can have.”

Flash was taken back by these words. “But he kidnapped you from your parents.”

“What parents? I had nopony. My real mother died in a hospital bed, and my real father refused to ever leave his lab. Never once, even on her death. He was always obsessed with that dragon.”

Flash’s eyes widen. “Night Fright was your real father?”

“Even after he made Spike transform. He still did not care for me. All I ever was was a tool. A connection to Father for him to use and then throw away. You get it now? I serve Father because he is the only family that cared for me.” Suddenly dark magic began to pulsate in his eyes.

Flash realized what the prince was doing. “Wait not that spell. It's too strong!”

“If I can’t beat you, then I’ll destroy you.” The prince refused to listen as he forced his magic to use the strongest version of the dark magic Glare. “CONDENSE!!”

Soon space began to condense around them. Condensing so much that a tear in space began to form. “You have bent space too far! You’ve created a wormhole!” The spell Flash had cast was now gone. The two felt themselves being pulled into the wormhole. “What have you done Jack? You'll kill us both and the planet!”

“I don’t care. I will win.”

“Jack, you have to stop. Think of your wife. Would she want this?”

The prince’s eyes widened as tears flowed. Memories of her flowing through his mind. “Be careful out there.” He dropped to his knees.

“If you want to show your loyalty to Father, then protect the ones you love. Like he protects his.” Flash demanded. “Jack in the other timeline, that the other Twilight comes from. She told me that we are the best of friends. That what made using that spell so hard. So please as a friend. DON’T LET YOUR LOVED ONES DIE!!”

Nexus Star realized his falter. He looked to Flash and gave a tearful smile. He knew there was only one way to close the wormhole. “Flash, tell my wife I will always love her.” Suddenly he charged right at the wormhole, flying right into it. There was only one way to close it. From the inside.

“JACK!!!!”

Once he was inside, he was gone. The wormhole began to close. Flash felt all his magic draining. He had forgotten that the finale spell took so much magic. He began to fall as tears flew from his eyes as he fell back down to the planet. The final thing he said as he lost consciousness was, “Goodbye friend.”

******

Meanwhile back in the spire, the battle between Discord, Sunset, and Sombra, was getting tougher. Sunset quickly dodged another scythe attack. She jumped backward into a flip. Meanwhile, Discord shot his chaos magic at Sombra from behind. Sombra grabbed it and flung it towards a wall.

As it hit the wall, Sunset jumped forward with sabres pointed forward. Sombra saw this and deliberately fell backward. He caught the ground and used it to kick her hard in the stomach. He used his wings to stabilize himself as Discord tried to swing kick him.

Once in the air, he flung Sunset. She found herself being thrown to a wall near the throne. Sombra grabbed Discord by the throat. “I don’t get it Discord. We were like brothers once and you are now fighting alongside the mare who killed Celestia.” He spun Discord around and threw him to another wall.

Sunset got up. “Damn it I thought this would be easy. But his strength is so immense.” She cleaned the blood coming out of her mouth and charged at him again. He backhanded her to the ground once more.

He walked over to her and pulled out his scythe. “This ends now.”

Suddenly a beam of pure magic knocked Sombra back. He looked to see who sent the attack and saw ‘F’. “Sombra! You will not take her life. I will stop you.”

“Really? You plan to stop me?” Sombra boasted.

He was right, though. How would ‘F’ be able to do what not even Discord and Sunset could do? What would he do? He would fight.

‘F’ took a deep breath and spoke aloud. “Parasite!! You may be gone from me, but I ask you now wherever you are, give me your power once more.” Sombra looked in confusion. The parasite was gone and yet he was yelling to it. ‘F’ took every bit of strength he had and began to chant. “I call upon…. the madness, the insanity, the hatred!!” Soon tears fell from his eyes as he began to glow and all too familiar demonic roar could be heard all around.

“MENOITPURROC!!!!”

Sombra looked to ‘F’’s left arm regenerating. The left arm had been finally revealed, it was the arm of a demon. “So you continue to make deals with that monster.”

“This will be the last thing I do. Once you and Nightmare are defeated, I will finally die.”

Sombra charged right at him. “How I about end you myself?” He swung and his scythe’s blade was caught by ‘F’ demon hand. As he caught the attack, it sent out massive amounts of magic. Discord and Sunset felt themselves being a push with incredible force towards the wall. ‘F’ manage to push back Sombra’s attack. As Sombra was pushed back, he flew into the air and tried to tackle ‘F’. ‘F’ moved at lightning speed to get out from under him. Using the great speed he got behind Sombra and stabbed his demon arm through his armor like it was paper.

Sombra roared as it tore through his stomach. He pulled back and flew off as ‘F’ explained to the others how he did such a move. “As you know, Sombra, demon mode allows a pony to amplify their talents to infinity.” He suddenly fell halfway to the ground as he began to cough up red dust. “My talent was defense. Henceforth this power gives my demon arm the ability change it’s density, to make it virtually as hard as diamond.”

Sombra grabbed his gut where the wound was. Suddenly Sunset’s eyes widened as she saw the tubes that still connected his back to the throne, begin to glow. Soon Sombra’s wound was healed. ‘F’ got annoyed as he flew at him and tried to strike at him again. This time Sombra dodged and kicked him in the chest, knocking him back down to the ground. He then charged downward towards him with his scythe ready. ‘F’ flipped in the air and landed on his feet. Using his legs, he pushed himself backward to dodge Sombra’s next attack, but not before getting his leg grabbed in the grip of crystal magic. Sombra landed and swung once more. ‘F’ ducked just quick enough to not lose his head.

Sombra then surprised him by punching him in the gut with a free hand. He hit with such force that ’F’ was knocked to the wall. Soon the pain from using the power he used to have was now getting to him.

Sombra charged right at him and proceed to punch him again and again. “‘F’ you make no sense. You're allied with a draconequus that had feelings for the same mare you did. You dare work with the mare that killed the one that both of you adored.” He stopped punching and lifted his scythe, ready to kill. “And in all of this, you still believe you can be saved.”

‘F’ eyes widened, “You're right, I do make no sense. I fight alongside ones that, long ago, would have been my enemies. I made a deal to protect the mare and have committed so many evils. I have lost so much because of that deal, but I have learned many things in this cursed immortality. Most of all I have learned of the two most important things somepony can truly have to be happy. And these two things are more powerful than both you and the parasite.”

“And what are those?”

He looked beyond Sombra and answered. “Friendship and family. Now Sunset!”

Sombra turned to see Sunset standing by the throne, or more importantly the tubes. Before he could even react, she severed the tubes with her sabres and cut his connection to the spire. Suddenly he roared in agony. “You stupid mare!” He chucked his scythe right at her.

Sunset turned to see the scythe heading right to her. She had no strength nor time to dodge as the scythe flew right at her. Soon blood splattered across the floor, and in a single moment, a life was snuffed out.

******

Meanwhile Twilight finally reached the top of Nightmare Spire. The one place that was the center of all of this. This is where it would end. However, she did not expect to find what she found up there. Up there she saw the most shocking thing of all. It was the prisoner in chains. A blue alicorn.

“Luna?!?!” she questioned in utter confusion.

Luna looked at her and screamed, “Twilight, you have to get out of here before she wakes up!!” Soon she saw the katana on Twilight. “No, hurry Twilight, you can still save her. Strike her--”

Suddenly she was interrupted as a roar of agony. As it continued, it slowly turned into a roar of rage, then finally a roar of happiness. Twilight turned and looked at the throne. Her eyes widened in horror as everything began to make perfect sense. She looked to see a mare with the eyes of Nightmare sitting on the throne. The mare wore bone-like armor, and there was a large buster blade sitting by the throne. In one hand she held this timeline's version of Starswirl’s spell. But the most twisted part was the mare was a…. dark lavender alicorn, with a black mane that had teal lines going through it.

“No it’s can’t be. It just can’t be!”

The mare smiled. “But it is. You wanted to know how we knew you were the fake the whole time?” She stood up, grabbed the buster blade and continued. “Because I am living proof. I am Twilight Sparkle. The real Twilight Sparkle, but you can call me Nightmare Midnight.”

******

Author's Note

Well two plot twist. Yep I planned from all the way in the Flash Saga to have Night Fright be Jack Nox's father, Norman Nox. And yes that Night Fright exist in both timelines. Secondly I also planned from the very beginning of writing this story to have Nightmare Midnight as the villain. Now if you are a little lost let me clear it for you. The final enemy of this story is Nightmare using the alternate Twilight's body. Alternate Twilight didn't really die she just became weak enough for Nightmare to posses her.

Now aside from those little twists, you all are obviously a little annoyed with Sunset's battle. Well all I can tell you is it's alternate timeline that I'm about to finish so warning ahead, there will more death.

Another thing to note is the language that 'F' spoke during the regenerating of his arm. Indeed it was another google translate, but with a twist. As you may have noticed, it was translated and spelled backwards. Why? Because demon magic that's why.

******

side note: Did Flash's battle with Jack seemed a little rushed? I mean I wrote that scene months ago, and rereading it now, it feels kind of rushed.

Final note: I have decided on posting the final parts of the war next week. So expect the next chapter on a Tuesday and then another on Thursday. Why? On Thanksgiving week I will not be posting stories of any kind.

Chapter 24: Final Twist On The Twisting Spire

Nearly one year ago, in the crater that would soon be called Twilight’s Grave, laid a severed hand and a barely alive alicorn mare. She laid unconscious on the ground with her katana right beside her.

Nightmare Moon landed and came upon the body. She walked up to it and kicked her, “Hmm I’m not surprised you survived, given your blood. Your ancestor was so stubborn, he always refuses to die.”

She picked her up and placed over her shoulder. Afterwards she walked over to the katana and proceed to pick it up. However before she could, a strange-looking chain blade rose up out of the dirt and wrapped around the katana.

The katana was pulled from her into the air. Soon it landed in the hand of an unknown mare in a lush dark purple cloak covered in blood stains and a turban. Under it, she wore a red long wide-sleeved, arabian robe. She had her face hidden as she caught the katana as it fell into her hand, and she put it up.

“Stop right now,” said Nightmare Moon as she pulled out her buster blade. Nightmare aimed it right at her. “I’ll be needing that back.”

“Oh really? Fine then take it from me,” the unknown mare answered as she revealed her face. This revealed her gray coat and short red mane. Suddenly Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened and yet she didn’t know why. “So do you recognize me yet?” she continued.

“No, I have no idea who you are.”

The mare grabbed her chest in a clearly faked hurt look. “Ouch, but I know you don’t. How could you forget me, Auntie Nightmare?”

At that moment, Nightmare realized who this was. “So you have finally revealed yourself after all these years. Why now?”

“Because you have been making the world so much fun! War, destruction and most of all massacres. So much massacre.” She held her arms out and spun around in joy as she finished.

Nightmare Moon looked in annoyance as she forced her hand to swing a magical wave at the mare. The both jumped back at that moment. Nightmare looked at her with anger. “Who sent you? Who are you working for?”

“Oh, I came of my own accord. I wanted to make sure that Mtr Alddam would never be in your hands. As for who I am working for, I am working for who I have always been working for.” She stared at her with cold, blue eyes. “I work for my grandfather.”

Suddenly Nightmare Moon backed away in terror. This time it was her own choice. “No, he’s dead. I killed him and sealed him away forever!”

“Yes, you did. But you should know by now, that you can’t truly defeat a demigod. Especially the demigod of darkness and space.”

“Fine then. Take the katana. I assume you want Twilight too?”

The mare laughed aloud. “No, she’ll be just fine. I know the prophecies around her. And I know no matter how much you torture her, you will never truly win her. Now I must take my leave.”

The mare soon disappeared with the katana in a teleport. Nightmare Moon stood there in annoyance. “So that one of the two bringers of genocide.Selena Moondie.”

******

Nearly one year later on top of Nightmare Spire, Twilight took a stance with her katana as Nightmare Midnight put Starswirl's spell away in her armor, and charged right at her. Their blades clashed head on several times across the top of the spire. As they did Twilight questioned, “What have you done to her, Nightmare?”

“She is mine to command. Her mind, her body, her soul, is my everything.”

“No, I don’t believe it. The real Twilight has to be in there.”

“How about you try cutting me open and finding out,” Nightmare Midnight finished as she pushed Twilight back. Twilight skidded across the area, but she stood her ground as Nightmare Midnight charged at her again. This time her blade began to charge up with dark magic. Twilight didn’t realize this and took the clash only to be knocked back so hard that she nearly fell off the edge.

She caught her footing and continued to try and get through. “How did this happen?”

“Oh, when I found out that she had survived the nuke, I was overjoyed. Though of course, she went through a lot of torture before I gained complete control.” This angered Twilight. “But once she finally gave in, I threw my old Luna out and strutted around in my new Twilight. Though there were some things that were still problematic. For one thing, Sombra keeps refusing my offers to him. Another is, although I don’t mean to insult you, but you're kind of short for an alicorn.”

Luna struggled in her chains as she saw them battling. Nightmare Midnight charged more dark magic into her blade as she charged towards Twilight. Twilight did the same.

Once they both got close, Twilight quickly jumped over her and swung behind her, “Moonlight Strike!”

Nightmare Midnight turned and swung. “Moonlight Strike!”

The attacks clashed, sending Twilight and Nightmare Midnight backwards. Twilight found herself now standing by Luna. “Twilight, you can’t beat her. She can do all the same moves you can.”

“Fine, let’s try something new.” She answered as she charged at Nightmare Midnight. As she charged, she dragged her fingers against the side of her katana. “Dark Hold,” she ran around Nightmare Midnight and wrapped her in dark magic.

She struggled, “Sombra was right. You do learn fast. But this won’t hold me!” Soon she blasted out a charge of dark magic from her body. This knocked away the spell. “You're tough, I’ll give you that much. Though you’re not as tough as the real Twilight was. Oh the torture she went through.”

“Enough!” Twilight swung her katana again! “Moonlight--”

Suddenly her attack was stopped as the spire began to shake. Nightmare Midnight’s eyes widened. “No, that fool!” She looked down, as if to the lower floor.

******

Earlier in the lower throne room, Sunset had closed her eyes as the scythe made impact and blood spattered…..however soon she felt no pain at all. No blood, no nothing. Her eyes slowly opened and then widened with terror.

Indeed somepony's life had been snuffed out, or rather some draconequus’s.

“DISCORD!!” she screamed as he stood there with the scythe in his chest.

“You fool!!” Sombra yelled.

Discord fell to the ground as Sunset ran to him. “Discord, why? Why would you do that?”

“You have her eyes?” he said weakly. “You were the one who killed Celestia, and when I first found out about you, I hated you. But, when I found out the truth,” he held his claw up to her face. “I couldn’t help but not hate you. The truth is, I loved Celestia, and I could never hurt anypony of her blood.”

Tears gathered in Sunset’s eyes. The tears kept flowing and flowing. “Please hold on Discord. We can fix you.”

“But you don’t get it. This is what I want. To save at least one… soul.” Soon he began to cough up blood. Sombra without showing any part his face called his scythe back to his hand.

“Goodbye, brother.”

Suddenly the scythe ripped itself out of Discord’s chest and flew back to Sombra. Sunset screamed as Discord's eyes slowly shut. Soon the spire began to shake uncontrollably. It was at that point Sombra fell to the ground. ‘F’ quickly realized that Sombra was connected directly to the spire.

‘F’ got up and walked over to Sombra. “She did this to you, didn’t she.”

“Yes. I am the spire, I am it’s life. And it is mine.” he spoke weakly. “Hurry and leave now before it collapses.”

‘F’ quickly ran to Sunset. He pulled her up and got her out of there.

******

Back above, Twilight and Nightmare Midnight stood there as the place began to collapse. Nightmare Midnight saw her chance and charged right at Twilight. Twilight barely stopped the attack with her katana, but the two still went flying into the air as the spire fell apart.

Twilight looked past Nightmare Midnight to see Luna fall with Nightmare Spire. She screamed as tears fell down her face, “Princess Luna!!”

Soon Nightmare Midnight crashed Twilight into a mountain side. She flew backward as the rubble did as she commanded and wrapped around Twilight’s limbs. Twilight tried to struggle free, but it did little to nothing. Nightmare Midnight then took the handle of her buster blade and punched it deep into Twilight’s stomach. She screamed in agony. Nightmare Midnight continued to beat her with her handle, all across the body.

This was it. This would be the end.

******

Down below, Twilight's screams could be heard. Everypony gathered in horror. Meanwhile in a small crater in the distance laid a yellow pegasus stallion. Flash Sentry. He laid there unconscious, but his body slowly twitched with every scream that could be heard.

Suddenly his eyes shot open as she tried screaming for his name. Instantly he shot out the crater and flew at his fastest speed right for that mountain’s side. “Twilight!!”

The two heard him as he flew to them. Twilight looked to see Flash, but then she saw a wicked smile on Nightmare Midnight's face. Soon smoke surrounded Twilight. Flash arrived and told her to turn around.

As soon as she did, though, the whole area changed. Flash found himself now in the skies near the Sky Sanctuary. Standing in front was now Twilight, this timeline’s Twilight. She flew over and embraced him. “Flash you found me. I so missed you.”

He didn’t know what to think. Was this real? Was all that a dream? He didn’t know what to think. Soon his arms raised up and wrapped tightly around her as joy filled his eyes.

“I never stopped searching.” He answered pulling her closer as he heard her humming in delight. “I missed you completely. All this pain kept building up inside me, and I... and I--”

She stopped him as she took him into a deep kiss. He melted into it as it got more and more incredible.

Suddenly the sound of tearing flesh could be heard as his eyes shot wide open. Soon blood began to pour from his mouth as she backed away. He looked down as the illusion disappeared to see the buster blade tearing right through his stomach.

Flash looked back up to the Twilight that he loved turning into Nightmare Midnight. He saw her grinning as she held the blade. “Why? I loved you?”

“Yes, but I don’t love you.” At that moment she swung her blade nearly ripping him in half as he fell to the ground. Nightmare Midnight looked triumphant over her victory as she turned back to the smoke that covered Twilight. “Oh don’t worry, Twilight. You can join him.” Without a moment of hesitation, she stabbed through. Soon a scream so loud could be heard all across the entire area.

Nightmare Midnight roared at her complete victory as she pulled out her buster blade covered in blood. This was it. She had won. However, it was short-lived as out of nowhere plunder vines wrapped around her. It was Fluttershy. She pulled her from the sky and swung her to one side, only to send into the super heavy kick of Applejack, then to the other side and into a giant cannon. Pinkie Pie pulled out a device and press the button. This sent her flying into the air. As she did, Rainbow Dash and Soarin hit her head on with a sonic rainboom. Afterward she fell, landing in the jaws of Spike the Dragon. She struggled in his jaws as the scroll she had was pulled away by magic. She looked to where it was going and upon saw the impossible. Up on Spike’s shoulders behind Rarity was Twilight alive.

“I killed you.”

“Try again dearie.” Rarity interrupted as she held up her hand. At that moment Nightmare Midnight looked to see Spike had a bloody claw. “Well, I have always been a very good actress. I think I did Twilight’s voice pretty well.”

“You’re going to pay for what you did to Flash, and for what you have done to this timeline’s Twilight,” Twilight spoke with rage as she put the scroll away.

“What are you going to do? Kill me? Have you forgotten this is still Twilight’s body.”

“We know the price, but we are ending this.”

Spike flew her high into the air and then dropped her. As she fell, Twilight and Rarity combined their magical attacks with Spike’s fire into one single gigantic attack, sending it directly at her. The attack crashed her right into the ground.

Soon she rose from the ground. “Ha, you can’t win. This armor is forged from Celestia’s skeleton. It’s indestructible.”

They all looked in anger as their attack had only done so much. Suddenly a voice could be heard on the radios. “Everypony out of the way.”

It was the Doctor. They all looked up to see the titan airship heading right towards them. “What are you planning?” Twilight questioned.

“I got Derpy and the children out of the ship while they were out cold. Twilight, tell them I loved them.”

Rarity and Spike quickly realized what he was planning as they got Twilight out of there. Nightmare Midnight tried to go after them, only to find herself being wrapped by three incredibly long plunder vines. Away at the very far end of them were the three strongest creatures in Equestria; Bulk Biceps, Iron Will, and ….. Big Macintosh, alive.

Back on the titan airship, Doctor Whooves held on to the controls as the titan airship rumble erratically. “So you know what I'm going to do. Please don’t fight me. This is our end.”

As he argued with the titan airship, he hadn’t noticed something entering it. Looking onward, Doctor Whooves held himself close to the console as everything went white.

******

Everypony looked in shock as the titan airship ignited as it crashed into Nightmare Midnight. Soon a mushroom cloud went up in the shockwave. They all looked in horror as Doctor Whooves and his titan airship was gone. It left behind a small crater. Inside it looked completely empty, devoid of any life.

Soon rain began to fall as if the very world itself was crying for such a loss. Twilight looked to her friends and the scroll. Soon an idea popped into her head. She couldn’t abandon them. She couldn’t just run to her timeline. She got ready to burn it, however, Rarity stopped her. She nodded a no. Right then tears couldn’t stop flowing in Twilight’s eyes. She leaned forward. Rarity let her take it all out as she cried on her shoulder. She cried for everypony they had lost. Everypony.

Suddenly the ground, the sky, everything began to shake, as an almost infinite amount of magic could be felt. Shaking spread so far that soon the entire country began to shake and quake. Then without warning, space began to bend around the crater as it filled to the top with blood.

Soon a figure rose from the blood. Her armor was gone, her entire body was exposed. Yet absent of any features, except for her eyes. Nightmare’s eyes. She glowed as bright as a star. The group looked in horror as upon her exposed body was the Elements of Harmony.

Soon she spoke. “Twilight, you wanted to know why Celestia chose you.” She raised her arms out. “This is why. You are the only pony who can do the impossible. You can wield all the Elements of Harmony. I may only have six, but soon I will have all twelve.”

“Twelve?” Twilight’s eyes widened in confusion.

“What? Another lie Celestia told you. The truth is even she didn't know about the other six.” She laughed. “Like it matters. This is where it ends. Thanks to you all. You have pushed this body to it’s limit, allowing me to use the Elements at their full strength.” They all trembled as it all made sense. This was why all base magic of pegasi, unicorn and earth ponies was gone in the world. She had used the Elements to remove them. “Don’t you get it now. You have helped me unlock the full power. Now there is no way to stop me. FOR NOW, I AM THE NEW GODDESS OF HARMONY!!!!”

She laughed aloud. Her laughter echoed across the entire country. She looked at them with a deathly stare as she finished laughing. “And now that I have this power, I shall throw away my false name, Nightmare, and reclaim my original name. A name I have not used for nearly fifty thousand years. Cassandra. CASSANDRA EVENINGSTAR, Queen of the Nighmarescape and now Queen of this Reality.”

******

Author's Note

Well like I said Monday. Anyway, I will be posting the next chapter tomorrow. I can't wait to finish this:pinkiehappy:.

******

Anyway aside from that, how was this final unveiling. Yes I have always saw Nightmare and Luna as separate beings. And see there was some important to Chrysalis having her own flashback a few chapters ago. Next chapter we will have a look into Nightmare's past. One final flashback, are you ready?

******

Final note, how was a better look at Selena Moondie. Clearly she is well known to be consider for such a title. Also let me clear thing up a little, Selena Moondie is Nightmare's niece not Luna's niece. And that's in Blood not adoption.

Chapter 25: The Elements Vs. The Devil-Goddess

Fifty thousand years ago, there were two alicorns who had done the impossible. Morpheus Morningstar and Cassandra Eveningstar had fallen in love. This was unheard of because of their bloodlines. Morpheus was a white light alicorn, with a long teal mane and the brother of Queen Chrystal Laylis. And Cassandra was a dark blue dark alicorn, with a purple mane. She was also the youngest daughter of the long defeated Emperor. Two different species unheard becoming involved in relationships. But these two loved each other greatly. And when they told everypony, there was joy everywhere.

However, some were worried. Now, it’s wasn’t like the species were at war at the time. In fact, the alicorn races were at a time of peace. The Emperor, the one who all feared, was gone, and so was his great castle. Though even with him gone, there were other evils in the world.

One evil feared a prophecy that was possibly connected to the new lovers. The prophecy stated that an offspring of both light and dark would grow to one day defeat the corrupted one. Nopony knew who the corrupted one was. Some thought the corrupted one was Kray Marbh Depression, the mad scientist of the light alicorns and the father of Morpheus. Some thought it was the new advisor to the royals, Redsting Blacklist, while others thought it was connected to the legends of the lost son of the Emperor. But whoever it was, feared a possible offspring of Morpheus and Cassandra.

******

Years after they announced their love, Morpheus had perfected his dream warping spell. For this, he was crowned King of Dreams. He chose Cassandra instantly as his queen. The two would be the border between dreams and the real world and would rule the dreamscape together.

However, upon hearing her beloved’s news, Cassandra fell into a sickness. As time went on, the sickness ravaged her body. She became weaker and weaker until she lost the ability to sire children. And with that all lost faith in the prophecy. The corrupted one, whoever it was, was safe - for now.

Some even thought that the sickness may have been a poison that the unknown, corrupted one had given her. However, she was immortal so she wouldn’t die, but it was destroying her body faster than she could heal. Soon it got to the point where she couldn’t move at all.

Morpheus feared that he would lose his beloved forever. So he did the unthinkable, he separated her soul from her body. He used his new spell to place her soul in the dreamscape. There she could move. There she could run. There she could thrive. Or so he thought.

He would visit her every time he got the chance. He tried his best to find a cure for her body. He believed the dreamscape would be a perfect way for her to live while they tried to find a way to fix her body. However, the dreamscape was not reality. And as time passed Cassandra soon began to see the flaws in the idea. Sure they could see each other again, they could visit with each other, but they could not be with each other in any way. Whether it be holding hands, being in each other’s arms or even kissing. It was all the dreamscape. Nothing more, nothing less. It wasn’t real.

With each year she spent there, the more fake it became. It was not reality. It was a falsehood. Morpheus could see it in her eyes throughout the years. Soon the years became decades and then centuries. As more and more time passed, so did the love Cassandra had as it was slowly being replaced with hatred. Hatred against reality, against the world she was no longer part of and against all who lived in it.

As he saw the hatred grow in his beloved, he slowly and painfully chose to distance himself from her. Morpheus began to drift from Cassandra and her hatred. He began to see that the one he loved was gone.

******

Since the first moment Cassandra had been placed in the dreamscape, forty-five thousand years had passed. Morpheus had long stopped visiting her. She found herself utterly alone. “How dare he abandon me?” she questioned as she wandered. Her hatred was always growing.

“Hello, who’s there?” called a small voice.

Cassandra quickly hid, upon hearing the voice. She looked from a distance to see a small blue alicorn filly. “Hello, is anypony there? I’m lost,” said the filly.

The filly began to tear up. She looked so sad and lonely. Just like her. Cassandra stepped closer. She looked upon the filly. “Hello, little filly,” she said.

The filly jumped upon hearing her voice. The filly looked up at her.

“Tell me, little filly, how did you get here?”

“I was messing with one of my teacher's old spells while he was out. And I somehow ended up here.”

“Tell me, who is your teacher?”

“Morpheus Morningstar.”

A smile crept onto Cassandra’s face. A twisted smile. Before her was a student of her once beloved, now hated. “You know I could tell you how to get out of here.”

“Really?” the filly asked.

“Yes. But you must give me something in exchange.”

The filly looked through the pockets of the pajamas she was wearing. Her pockets were empty. “But I have nothing to pay you with.”

“Oh but you do. I want your friendship. I am ever so lonely. All I want is a friend.” Cassandra played the sad strings perfectly. The filly gave in without a second thought.

“Okay. I’ll be your friend.”

“Oh thank you. By the way, I never caught your name.”

“It’s Luna. Luna Newstar,” the filly answered. “And you?”

Cassandra was about to say her name. But then she hesitated. This filly knew Morpheus, could she have already heard of her? She knew she couldn’t tell her her true name. So she thought of a new name. “I am Nightmare.”

******

Five thousand years later, Nightmare had achieved the impossible. She had a new, though stolen, body of her own. This was it, with this power she now had, she believed she could bend reality to her will. Dreams would become reality, and reality would become nightmares.

*****

The titan airship was just moments from crashing into Nightmare Midnight. Inside the titan airship, Doctor Whooves looked, knowing this was the end. As he did a mysterious figure walked behind him and spoke, “Time out.”

Suddenly the Doctor froze, the explosion froze, time froze. The figure was Realta, demigod of light and time. He walked over to the Doctor. “You have learned so much about the titan airship. You were a much better pony than her previous owner. She told me that you love your children and wife very much. And she told me how you have always wanted to time travel.” Realta smiled.

Moments later time resumed. However, the Doctor looked to find himself outside of the titan airship. He found himself lying on the ground of the Rainbow Factory, right beside where he left Derpy and the children.

He looked around in confusion. Suddenly he saw the figure that had saved him. “Wait, that form. Are you Realta?” he questioned.

“Yes I am, and it’s not your time to die yet.” He turned to take his leave, but then he turned around and placed something on the ground. “Take it.”

“What is this?”

“Blueprints, so you can rebuild her.”

“Rebuild her? Really?!”

“And might I suggest giving her a better name this time.”

“Like what?”

“How about the Tardis?” He turned back around and continued. “I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Doctor Whooves.” After he finished, he was gone.

******

Miles away lay a yellow pegasus. It seemed like he was dead. “Flash, Flash, time to wake up.” spoke an all too familiar demonic voice.

“Cult Race?!” Flash rose up at that voice. He quickly remembered that he had been nearly cut in half. Now though the wound was gone. He quickly looked around for Cult Race, but he was nowhere in sight.

“Oh please, Flash don’t think I was being nice by reversing time on you. I just wanted the pleasure of killing you saved for myself alone. Though I’m surprised I got here in time. If it wasn’t for the fact that you were barely hanging on, then I wouldn’t have been able to bring you back. Remember, this is light magic, not necromancy,” Cult Race mused. Flash stood up as the voice continued. “And if you are wondering, I reversed time on you to the point before you used the finale spell, so I suggest you use it wisely. And don’t worry about suddenly dropping dead, you’re destiny was never meant to end here.” On that Flash took to the sky.

Meanwhile, as Cult Race watched him fly off, ‘F’ walked up to where Cult Race was at. “And what do you want, old friend,” Cult Race questioned.

“I want to ask you for something,” ‘F' answered.

Cult Race turns to 'F'. He looks at him straight in the eyes. Instantly Cult Race knew what he was going to ask, and answers back for him. "Don't worry it will only be you."

******

Queen Cassandra held out her hands over the land. The destroyed wasteland turned into a lush forest. She twisted her hands and the forest began to die and decay. “This is incredible. Such power at my command.” She smiled wickedly.

They all looked in horror of her power and might. Was there a way to stop her? Was she truly a goddess? Was this the end? The end of it all?

NO! This would not be the end. Some still believed they could win. Suddenly rising up behind her was a gigantic Tirek. He slammed his hands together in a clap around her. He was attempting to absorb her magic. “I will feast upon your power!!”

However, with a large enough charge with magic into her hand, she swung. Then without warning, a thin wall of magic rose up to his height, going right through him. His eyes widened as he realized he had been chopped in half.

They all were at agape at this. Tirek was dead in one move. Suddenly fire rose up from the ground as it opened up to Tartarus. Above her was Sunset, as she called the flames forth.

She took a stance and began to spin her sabres. She began to chant a spell. “I call upon the fires of the pit. The eternal ash.” Flames shot forth from her wings, as two rings of fire formed. A symbol of fire formed at the center of each ring as she finished in the language of the light, “An Dóiteán Mór.” Soon great giant blue flames shot forth. One from each ring.

They both headed towards the queen. She held up her hands and formed a shield around herself. However behind her ‘F’ appeared and held up both his hands.

“Finale spells, Great Hand of The Light, and Damned Hand of Corruption.” Out of his right hand shot forth a laser of pure light magic. Out of his left hand shot forth a contorted laser of magic.

Again the shield stopped it. Cassandra was holding back both attacks. On her left Flash rose up and shot his own finale spell. Rarity and Twilight got off of Spike as he charged up and shot his biggest flame on the right side. Yet still, with all of this, she was holding them back.

******

Standing high in the sky above them all, Selena Moondie and Cult Race looked down upon them. “Should we help them?” she question.

“What is with the sentimentalism lately? First those parents, now this.”

“I guess you have a point, my loving murderer.”

“Besides, you’ve got to go pick up a certain mare.”

“Good point. She should be free once this is over.”

“Okay while you’re doing that I’ll go talk to my current employer. What Night Fright did is going to set back his plans by at least another hundred years.”

“Okay, I'll tell him, I said hello.”

Afterwards the two went in two different directions across the sky.

******

Back on the ground, Twilight and the rest looked as hope was slowly dying. All the attacks were doing nothing to Cassandra. She was invincible with the elements. ‘What can we possibly do?’ she thought. ‘She has the elements, she has control over everything.’

She looked to her friends assuming their hope was now completely gone. However, she saw something else on their faces. She looked to Rarity as a thought passed her mind. ‘Generosity, she wanted to give Spike everything.’ she then looked to Applejack, ‘Honesty, she refused to tell a lie,’ she looked to Fluttershy, ‘Kindness, she was kind enough to save Big Macintosh,’ she looked to Pinkie Pie, ‘Laughter, she just wants to have fun.’ Finally, she looked to Rainbow Dash, ‘Loyalty, she did whatever she could to protect our group.’

That’s when it all hit her. Her eyes widened, as she knew now what to do. “Friends.” They looked to her. “We can’t give up hope.”

“But she is too strong,” one of them said.

“No she is not,” she gestured them to be in a circle. “She thinks that she has all the power, but she doesn’t.” It was at that point she told them everything that she had seen throughout her journey. All the things they had done showed that even without the Elements, they still took it upon themselves to save the world.

Finally, they knew what they had to do. Fight. One final time.

Suddenly magic surrounded them as they held hands. They all rose to the sky. Cassandra was looking to her slow victory over the once currently attacking her. She knew they couldn’t get through and knew they couldn't keep this up forever. However soon she saw the six friends rising up. “So you still plan to stop me. Or do you finally see that this is the end and wish suicide.” She moved her hands out in an attack. “Fine, I shall give it to you. Eternal Nightmares.” A beam of her magic shot forth and attacked them. However, they stopped it with their own magical beam. For each amount that she poured out, they matched it. “How can this be? I’m using the Elements of Harmony.”

Soon the circle changed to have Twilight in the center. “You may have the Elements, Cassandra. But in the end, they are just stones. The true power lies within us.”

“No!! They are mine to command.” She believed it with her whole soul. Suddenly the Elements of Harmony began to shake. Without warning were they ripped from her body, leaving agony in their wake. The Elements flew to their true owners and as they did the six began to glow. “NO!!” she roared in hatred.

“This is the end, Cassandra Eveningstar.” Suddenly their beam of magic massively increased. Soon Cassandra's beam was gone.

“No, if I can’t use the Elements then I will use all the fear in the world.” Soon her magic on her shield rose to slowly match their new level of power. They were even.

“We have all these other attacks, we need just one more.”

Meanwhile down on the ground, in the rubble of Nightmare Spire, an alicorn mare looked. Princess Luna had survived the fall. She looked in sorrow to them. She knew what they needed to win, but she was too weak to help them. Nightmare had taken everything from her. Everything.

Suddenly shadows began to rise and break her chains. She looked and knew who's magic this was. King Sombra. But this was impossible, he was gone. Though she knew as long as she lived, he would never die.

She began to hear a voice, “Luna, I will give the remaining amount of my power. End this battle, save Twilight Sparkle.”

Soon tears flooded her eyes. “Yes, of course, my love.” she rose her hand up and his scythe flew to her. She caught it and stood up. Soon magical armor covered her. Her wings grew to gigantic size.

She flew into the air and headed towards them. Once she arrived, she spoke, “Twilight!” They all looked to her as best they could while holding the attack. She summoned all of her magic and all the magic around her. They looked to see the impossible. Standing beside her were the spirits of Celestia, Discord, and Sombra. She knew this would be the end for her. She lifted the scythe high into the sky as it stretched out. Soon the night ended as the dual eclipse rose up behind her. Once the scythe reached a certain height, the same height it had when it set Nightmare free, It dropped. “Eternal Guillotine.”

The blade of the scythe hit the shield head on. The shield began to crack. Finally, it broke apart as the spell Luna used ended. Suddenly Twilight heard Sombra's voice in her head, “The true purpose of Mtr Alddam was never to take life, but to give it. She is pure magic now. Give her what she desires.”

At that moment she knew what to do. As the beam finally hit Cassandra, Twilight charged head on.

Cassandra looked at her in an attempt to argue, “No, you can’t do this to me. I’m your Goddess!”

“No, you’re not mine.” She stabbed the katana right through her chest. Suddenly Cassandra felt herself being pulled into the katana. All of her. Soon the form that she took was now disappearing. In that moment, once it was finished, Twilight pulled out the katana as it began to react. Cassandra was now in the katana. Twilight tossed it into the air as it began to burn her hand. It landed with the blade in the ground.

Now this timeline’s Twilight was free. She fell to the ground. Flash raced by and caught her. The others landed with him. Seeing that she was still naked, Rarity took off her cape and put it over her.

Flash held her close in some hope that she was still alive. However, there was a gaping wound in her from the katana. “Please wake up Twilight. Please don’t die on me.” Tears fell from Flash’s eyes.

“Flash I’m sorry. There was no other way.”

“Please, I can’t lose you. I always will protect you. Please don’t go.” He held her closer. “Twilight I love you. Please don’t go.”

Twilight heard these words. Her heart twisted inside, but in the end, she knew things couldn’t work with them. She was simply a replacement. Not the real thing in this timeline. He only had feelings for this timeline’s Twilight.

Soon Princess Luna landed near them. She weakly walked over, using the scythe to hold herself up. She made her way to them. “There is a way to save her.” They all looked to her as she came over and placed her hand over the wounded Twilight’s head. “I must pass the torch, as it was past to me.”

Her eyes glowed. The dying Twilight's eyes opened up and began to glow. Suddenly their cutie marks began to glow. Sunset looked down to them, knowing what Luna was planning.

It took all of Luna’s remaining strength. The dying Twilight began to breathe again and was alive. Her wound slowly healed and her cutie mark began to change. Luna’s cutie mark disappeared and reappeared on her.

At that moment, Luna fell. Twilight ran over and caught her. She looked to Twilight, the Twilight from another time who had come here and saved this world. She held up her hand to her face. “I’m glad that I was able to see that face after so many centuries.”

This confused Twilight. Luna had seen her before this. When? How?

“Princess Luna hold on,” Twilight pleaded.

“No,” she nodded. “This is my end, but at least the last thing I get to see is your face. You look just like her. Just like my…..”

No more could be said as her eyes closed. Luna was gone. She had died. Twilight tearfully spoke as she placed her down, “Goodbye, Princess Luna.”

She got back up walked to the others. She looked to see the other Twilight’s eyes slowly opening. Without any warning, she leaned into a deep embrace with Flash. “I missed you so much. I thought you would never find me," the other Twilight spoke.

“I never stopped looking.” He held her tightly. She felt something ache in her heart. She pulled back and took him completely by surprise as she kissed him.

Twilight turned away from this as her heart twisted even more upon seeing them kiss. She tried to be happy for them, but it was really hard. Especially since this had been the second time she had lost her chance at Flash, even if it was another alternate Flash. Randomly, Rainbow Dash flew by. Twilight looked, confusing. Sure the magic was back now that Cassandra Eveningstar was defeated, but how was she flying. At that point, Twilight saw that Rainbow Dash's missing wing was back. Her actual wing.

That's when something incredible hit her. Her own wounds were gone. She turned around and ran over to the rest of the group as Flash and the other Twilight finished. “Yes, yes! Rainbow Dash is flying.”

“And how is that a reason to be so cheerful, dear?” Rarity question.

“No, you don’t get it. I remembered back in my timeline when my friends used the Elements for the first time it healed their wounds.”

Rarity's eyes widened at this. Without any hesitation, she pulled off her mask. Her wounds and burns were gone. Soon Spike landed as he returned to his main size. He looked to see Rarity’s burns and scars were gone. He ran over and wrapped his arms tightly around her, so happy to see her true face once more.

Soon ‘’F’ walked by. “Outer features aren’t the only thing that was healed,” he said to them. Rarity looked at him as her eyes widened more and a big smile appeared on her face. She turned back to Spike’s own smiling face and gave the biggest and loudest eek. Spike quickly silenced her eek with a kiss.

As that was going on, a winged ant flew by and landed on the katana. Twilight walked over to the katana in confusion. She went to swat the ant away. However, a voice stopped her.

“Do not swat me, little mare. You ponies have no respect for us insects.”

Twilight jumped back at this. Soon ‘F’ walked by. “Oh ‘M’ I was wondering when you would show up.”

“‘M’?” Twilight questioned.

The ant spoke once more as it began to glow and change shape and take his true form, “‘M’ as in Morpheus. King Morpheus Morningstar.”

Twilight looked upon a tall, royal changeling with a long teal mane tied in a bun and a long thin, flat beard and mustache. He wore a white chinese rode.

Twilight’s eyes widened. “I know you. You're Queen Chrysalis’s brother.”

“And husband to Cassandra long ago.” He held the katana to a strange looking lamp. Soon the magic that was Cassandra was pulled from the katana to the lamp. “Now I must go.”

He handed back the katana to Twilight. “Wait, what did you just do?”

“I am taking my wife with me. I still love her and wish one day to properly restore her.”

He turned and then for some reason looked at Spike for a moment. He smiled. A thought past his mind, but he chose not to ponder on it. Soon he turned away from them all and left.

Sunset landed and looked to the other Twilight. They both looked at each other. They knew what to do next. They raised their hands up to the dual eclipse and separated it. Finally after so many years, the Sun and Moon could be seen again.

******

Soon news spread all across Equestria. News of their victory and the defeat of the Empire. They had won. Soon all remaining forces of the Empire were disbanded. All across Equestria happiness spread.

However deep in Tartarus, in the rubble of the library that held Starlight, the assassin mare, Selena Moondie walked. She walked over and soon found something unexpected.

“Hello deary, I see that you survived.” She looked upon a weak Starlight Glimmer. She turned her head. “Over here, grandfather.”

Soon a tall figure in a grand royal red robe walked over. “Well done, my little princess. We have found our secret weapon.”

******

After a week of healing passed by, Twilight got ready to leave. She had everything ready. She wore a cloak and hood. She was now standing on the map table. She looked to her friends as ‘F’ got the spell ready. She had said her goodbyes to all of them.

She looked to ‘F’. “So you planned to send me to the point in time where Starlight went?”

“Yes but I must warn you, whatever changes you make in that time will not affect this one.” he said as placed a disguise spell on her.

“Why?”

“Because this timeline is separate from the others.”

“Others?”

“Yes, you may have seen several holes as you fell last time. Each hole represents a choice that somepony made, and in doing so also represents an alternate timeline. To get back to your's, you must find the original spell that was used.”

“Okay, seems easy enough.”

‘F’ looked down in sadness. It was time for some truth. “Twilight, no. It will not. For you see, I lied to you. You won’t be going to some random time. You will be arriving just a day before Nightmare Moon’s imprisonment.”

“But you said--”

“I know what I said,” he interrupted her. “Look, once you get there you must only stop one event. The event is Starlight’s death.”

Twilight was taken back by this. She had to save her enemy from death. Why? How?

“How will this happen?” she questioned.

“She is killed by an ancient evil, greater than any other. The evilest creature in all of creation.”

“How will I defeat him?”

“You won’t. His defeat will come during a prophecy that must be completed. The prophecy states that he defeated by a mare of light and dark. All I ask of you is to stop Starlight’s death.”

Twilight listened to his words and took them to heart. She turned towards the portal as it opened. “What about the map table?”

“It will follow you to whatever time you go to. It should disappear in this timeline soon after you leave.”

“So I do this and everything that has happened here will not happen in my timeline,” she hoped. However as she walked through ‘F’ eyes saddened even more, for he knew somethings were meant to happen, both good and bad. The problem was which events would happen in her timeline and which wouldn’t.

Once she was gone, ‘F’ turned to the rest of them and looked. He didn’t see Sunset among them. This made him happy. He didn’t want her here to see this part. He began to move backward towards the portal.

“‘F’ what are you doing?” Flash questioned.

What was 'F' doing? He had a distinct look of fear on his face. What was he planning? “I am sorry that not all truths could be heard.” Soon he found himself just centimeters from the portal as the table began to disappear. “And I am sorry it has to end this way. In the end, I knew I could never be saved.” Suddenly everypony’s eyes widened in horror as a hand ripped through the portal and right through his chest. They all looked in shock as he spoke. “Sinners must pay in full.”

The hand ripped him through the portal and he was gone. “Mentor!!” Flash screamed as the portal closed and the spell dropped and burst into flames.

THE END.

******

Author's Note

Well a shocking ending to say the least. And yes this mean 'F' will be in the sequel. Now Wednesday there will be a break so everything can soak in. Then on Thursday we will get on the Epilogue, plus in the notes for the Epilogue will a special announcement. So don't miss it.

******

Also you may have noticed Selena Moondie's grandfather call her princess. This does not mean she is an alicorn. I just wanted to get that out of the way.

Epilogue: Three Letters

Dear Twilight,

It’s me, Rainbow Dash. It’s been a four years since you left our timeline. So we all thought we would send you some letters and tell you how well our timeline is doing since you left.

As I said, it’s been four years and we got a lot done. First and best is that the Wonderbolts have been reformed, and me, Soarin and Spitfire are leading them. The Wonderbolts have been cleaning the country as best we can. Though when we got started, it was pretty rough. There were a few problems here and there. We had to bring in new members. Some good, some bad. The only one we are really worried about is the ex-commander Gryford. But we are hoping his sister will keep him in line.

Meanwhile on the homefront, Cloudsdale and Ponyville have been rebuilt. Ponies that were in hiding are slowly starting to return to their homes. The rebel groups have been mostly disbanded. There are a few stragglers, but that’s about it.

In more personal news, I can’t believe I did, but I did it. After several months of him asking I finally accepted Soarin’s proposal. Now we haven’t settled on a date yet. But I’ll be sure to send you a letter, though the other you said that might be impossible to send another. She said that we only have one chance to send these letters, and only one.

Anyway that the last part I could think of. I have never been good with letters. Next up is Rarity.

Your friend Rainbow Dash.

******

Dear Twilight,

I know things between us got off to a rocky start with me trying to kill you. But I will have you know that my anger was always towards the other Twilight. Now that she is back though, it feels like my anger may have been misplaced. So I am sorry for nearly killing you.

As for me and Spike, we have patched up our relationship and I must say it has never been stronger. You will be happy to hear that we finally have had our child. The child is a lovely filly name Crystal.

In other news, Spike and I have not officially joined the newly form New Equestria. We feel that our relationship, a strange one it may be, will not be accepted quite yet. So I, Spike and the diamond dogs have made our way journeying into the new land of the north.

Up in the north we have found an abandon kingdom of crystal. We have decided to make it our main base as we explore the north. The new leaders of New Equestria think it will be good for us to watch over the kingdom. At least until we can figure out how to set its citizens free from their crystal imprisonments.

The strange thing is the more we stay up north, the closer Spike seems to feel to his unknown origins. I mean after all, we never found out where Luna found his egg. Anyway, I guess there is nothing more for me to talk about. So I leave you to the next letter, which will be from this timeline’s Twilight.

Your friend Rarity,

******

Dear Twilight,

Wow, that feels weird to be talking to another me. Even if through this letter. I wanted say thank you for all the work you did, as me. It always does my heart good to see all the ones you saved.

Canterlot is slowly being rebuilt. I have been named Princess of the Moon, just as Luna was. Meanwhile Sunset has taken the title of Princess of the Sun with a heavy burden. I’ve tried telling her not to force it. But even I am not use to my new title.

I still missed them. All of them, Sombra may have been a tyrant, but he was still the only father I knew. We even included him in a grand statue that includes Sombra, Luna, Celestia and Discord. After all we have to honor the ones that came before us.

On the personal side of things, Flash and I have gotten close once more. It feels like our friendship may have become something more than it was before. Flash meanwhile is still determined to protect me. He did help me a lot when trying to get better. But, oh how do I put this. I can’t figure out what it is. I mean sure me and him may have kissed after I was set free from Nightmare. But I feel that was more of a trist of the moment. Afterwards our friendship just feel so much more like, love.

I’m sorry, you probably have your own Flash in your timeline, so I’ll try not to send more confusion your way.

In other news, we still have yet to get in contact with Shining Armor. I know he was Sombra’s general, but he still my brother. On another note, Jack Nox is still missing, Moondancer has also disappeared, as well as Moonchaser. I suspect that they are looking for their leader. But it’s unsure whether they will find him. Flash said the wormhole could have sent him anywhere in space. He may not even be on the planet any more.

In other news, we have managed to stabilize Trixie’s head in a tank of liquid. Though her body will still take time to fix, it’s unsure if this will make things better for her.

Anyway, I think I covered everything. I had a list with me while writing. So we all hope these letters get to you. We all want you to know that we miss you and will remember you always.

From you, Twilight Sparkle.

******

Author's Note

Anyway that the epilogue. Up next is the Bonus Chapter. This will contain previews for the next story in the Twilily Saga. As well as bonus stuff to happening in this timeline.

Bonus Chapter: Past, Present, Or Damnation

It had been four years after Nightmare’s defeat. The ponies gather as they remembered the losses they had during that final war. They all gather in the newly rebuilt Ponyville. Standing in the center of the town stood a group of covered statues.

Flash Sentry stood ready by the statues. The still weak Twilight stood beside him. The Dark Rebels, now the honor guard stood behind them.

“We are gathered here to honor the fallen. In particular, one who could not have a grave. You all only knew some things about him. Both good and bad. But one thing must be remembered is that he chose to protect us, whether it be a dangerous truth or a painful lie.” Soon tears rose in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” Twilight leaned against him. “We are here to honor them.” At that point, he pulled off the cover revealing the statues of the fallen. Among the statues were Tirek, Fleetfoot, 'F' and so many others.

“Using old records, I was able to ensure that they are remembered for their goodness,” he said as he pointed out how there was no curse on 'F'. In fact, he looked like an ordinary stallion again.

They all looked upon the statues. Indeed it looked glorious. Flash looked to see everypony in the crowd - Fluttershy, Applebloom, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Cheerilee holding their child, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Doctor Whooves, Derpy and their children.

There were more, but among them, Flash did not see Sunset. He had worried that she may still be angry. But soon he saw the Sun shine brightly over the statue of 'F' and realized that she was remembering in her own way.

He looked to Twilight and saw that she wanted to speak to the crowd, so he backed away and let her.

“We must,” She took a moment and then continued, “remember we have all lost something and try to be better. We still have a lot to rebuild and much more to do. We can’t give up. We must always have hope.”

She looked back at Flash and let him take over. “We must protect New Equestria from any danger, for there are still evils out there. In the past, present, and future.”

******

A thousand miles away on the northwestern outskirts of New Equestria, an old stallion was working a newsstand. He had been really tired from working for he did not notice a strong stallion in armor walked over and grabbed a newspaper to read. On the newspaper read, ‘Come celebrate the fourth anniversary of the downfall of Nightmare.’

“Hmm, sounds like a new time of peace has arrived,” noted the strong stallion as he read.

The old stallion ears lifted up as if hearing something familiar. He turned to the strong stallion who still had his head hidden behind the newspaper.

“Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere? You sound familiar,” said the old stallion.

“I don’t think so. At least not personally.” answered the strong stallion as he dropped the newspaper. Suddenly an instant chill of fear went through the old stallion's body as he saw who the strong stallion was. “I’ve been out of country for a few years.” The old stallion began to tremble as the strong stallion continued. “I heard my sister was in the country. But I guess I missed her. Oh well.”

Soon the old stallion raised his hand. But before he could, his hand was grabbed by the strong stallion. He took the handshake, not realizing what was going to happen next. The strong stallion continued, “But I guess I’m back for this ‘time of peace’.” Suddenly the old stallion's hand began to get colder and colder. “I wouldn't want to miss how it all turns out.” Soon ice began to form and went across his arm.

As the old stallion struggled, he didn’t notice a mare in a lovely blade-like dress standing just a few feet behind him. The old stallion tried to struggle more until an increase in grip from the strong stallion cause his arm to shatter.

He fell backward only to be stabbed through the stomach by a blade. The mare stepped forward as the blade pulled back and transformed back into a fabric-like form and returned to her dress. She pressed a rather large black crystal against his back. He screamed in agony as it began to rip every ounce of magic out of him until there was nothing left but a husk of flesh.

As the pony dropped to the ground dead, the strong stallion walked up to the mare. She was examining the crystal. “Oh, it still not charged up fully yet,” she complained.

“Don’t worry, my beloved Duchess Cadenza,” said the strong stallion as he walked over and wrapped one arm around her. “We’ll get the Crystal Heart charged up soon enough.”

She kissed him. “You're right, my cold - and handsome General Dark Armor.”

Dark Armor looked upon the land of Equestria and spoke. “Look at the new land. Perfectly ripe to be conquered.” He held up his other hand and continued. “Now go forth my Windigoes!”

Suddenly, out from behind them swarmed thousands of Windigoes. To this, the duchess raised up the black Crystal Heart and spoke. “Go forth and spread our black heart.”

******

<1000 years earlier>

Twilight landed out of the portal. Grabbing her head as it ached, she slowly got up. It was a rough landing. She turned to see the table appearing, as well as strangest of all, or should be said horrifying was who was landing on the table. ‘F’, the very creature that had sent her into the past, landed right on the table, with a severed arm stabbing through his chest.

Twilight ran over quickly, climbing on to the table. “‘F’ what are you doing here? What happened?”

“No time to talk,” he winced. “Pull out the arm, now.”

“Right,” she calmed herself down. Quickly she pulled the severed arm out of his chest and threw to the side. As it hit the ground, it strangely turned to ash. “‘F’ what about the hole?”

“Don’t worry about it. You know I can’t die,” he began to cough hard. Twilight tried sitting the old creature up, but he continued to cough up red dust.

“You don’t look fine, you’re still coughing up blood.”

“I’m undead remember. I’m never going to be okay,” he complained to her. At that Twilight stopped worrying and got off the table. She looked around, seeing the place covered in the Everfree Forest. This was no surprise since Ponyville would not be settled for at least another 800 years.

She walked about for a little bit, not noticing that she was being watched. Suddenly zebras ran out of the forest and quickly surrounded her. There was at least twenty of them.

“Huh, what?” she quickly questioned. The zebras pulled out their weapons. Twilight got ready to defend herself as they charged forward. Them randomly attacking confused her, but it didn’t stop her from knocking them all back.

“Why are you attacking us?” she questioned.

“Because little mare,” spoke a heavy jamaican voice from behind her, “We are here to capture any time travelers.”

Twilight turned around upon hearing the voice, only to be hit by a stretchy, gigantic fist. She fell to the ground unconscious as a tall zebra in gangster clothing and a cobra skin hood stepped out of the shadows. His fist slowly returned to its original size.

“Alright colts, let’s get her to the Emperor,” he said.

“Yes Commander Zeb,” they all spoke in unionsin.

As Twilight laid there out cold, ‘F’ struggled to get up, but soon found himself falling unconscious too. As he fainted, though, he began to hear a familiar sweet voice. “Wake up, wake up.”

******

Meanwhile in an ancient ruin was a strange looking creature in a blacken condor mask and teal robes. He was looking for something. Upon getting past all the booby traps and entering a secret room, he found what he desired. He walked to the center the room. In the center was an altar. Standing on the altar were two eye like gems. One red the other blue.

"Finally I have found them. The Left Eye of Ra and the Right Eye of Jupiter." He reached out with his right arm and took them from their spot and held them up to the light.

Soon a new voice spoke. This new voice was very different. The new voice spoke with so much demonic hatred. Though the crazier thing about this new voice was that the creature in the mask was the only one in the room. "Now that we have them, we only need two more items and the power of God shall be mine."

The one in the mask looked to his left. "Indeed my lord Redsting."

******

THE END.

Author's Note

Well this is the end. How was the previews? The first two were for a story I might do for this timeline. The other was directly from the sequel, Past, Present, Or Damnation. Anyway the sequel is planned to be out in March that way I have enough time to fix all the plot holes and problems I want to get this one perfect before posting any chapters on it.

Until then try to enjoy my other stories. Like Can You Run Forever? and The Reason For A Name.

Aside from these. I've got a few more planned to be written in the next few months.

Chapter 9: Union and Understanding (Revised) (Clop)

Hours later Rarity slowly woke back up. She found herself on a soft bed. She looked around “Spike!” she yelled as she tried to find him. But she felt an incredible pain all over her body. Rarity looked to see her whole body covered in bandages.

Then a diamond dog walked into the room she was in. “Calm down mare, he’s right beside you,” said the diamond dog. Rarity looked to her left and saw Spike laying on a separate bed across from her. He had a large amount of bandages wrapped around his chest.

Rarity demanded to know what had happened. The diamond dog explained that they had found her and Spike after he had already done ‘it’. “Done what?” Rarity demanded an answer. The Diamond dog hesitated and then spoke.

“He wanted to save you, but there was so much blood, that I suspected that it was the only thing he could see doing.”

“What do you mean?” said Rarity, trembling.

“Now listen, what he did may seem cruel, but he had to stop the bleeding somehow.”

“WHAT DID SPIKE DO?!?!” Rarity yelled in anger.

“He…. he…..seared your wounds shut.”

“What?” said Rarity, as she tried to catch her breath but fainted.

******

Back at the base, Night Fright hunted for Blueblood. “Hmm, looks like I succeeded. But I was unable to keep the beast contained.”

Suddenly a dark pulse appeared as out of it walked a young Princess Dead Star. “Night Fright where is the great and powerful Trixie’s betrothed?”

“He’s over here Princess Dead Star.”

Princess Dead Star walked over and looked at Blueblood. “The great and powerful Trixie told you this was a bad idea to listen to Night Fright, but would you listen to Trixie, no.” Then she turned back to Night Fright. “Can you fix him?”

“Of course, that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Good, because the great and powerful Trixie wants you to make him more…..obedient,” said Princess Dead Star with a twisted grin.

******

Rarity woke back up. It was a month later and nighttime. Her burns had healed enough for her bandages to be removed as she looked at a nearby mirror. She slowly removed them and saw the scars and burns all over her face and body.

Then Rarity turned to see that she had been woken up by Spike as he spoke in his sleep. She looked at herself with disgust. She looked at him with anger. ‘How could he do this to me?’ she thought as she got up. Rarity felt like she was wrong about him the whole time. She moved closer, summoning a crystal blade. ‘How could he destroyed me?’ She was now standing right beside his bed. ‘He might as well have defiled me!’ All these thoughts were racing through her head, faster and faster as she lifted the blade. ‘He did this to me, I loved him, and he betrayed me.’

Rarity was ready to strike, when she finally heard it. His words. “Rarity please forgive me. I'm sorry, I couldn't lose you.” That’s when Rarity felt it. An unusual ache in her heart. She placed her hand on her heart only to be completely shocked at what she felt.

Two separate heartbeats.

“Rarity I can’t lose you. There is no point to life without you."

That’s when she realized what he did. Spike had given Rarity a piece of himself to ensure that he would never lose her. She had a piece of his heart. Their hearts were one. She could feel everything he felt.

At that moment, she dropped her blade on the ground and fell onto Spike’s chest as she weeped new tears. ‘How could I be so blind!’ her thoughts yelled at her. ‘He loves me, he loves me,’ She pushed her head closer into his chest as she weeped.

Suddenly Rarity heard Spike scream in terror, as nightmares attacked him. “No! Rarity could never forgive me. I’m a monster, I’m a monster!”

Upon hearing those words, Rarity instinctively climbed on top of the bed. She yelled, “Spike you are no monster. You are Spike the Dragon. I love you, and I forgive you!” Spike's eyes shot open.

“You forgive me?” he asked.

“Yes I forgive you,” said Rarity. It was at that moment that Rarity had found herself lying right above Spike’s body, with her arms and legs holding her up. But no longer did she care that he was so close to her. Her dual heart beats began to move quickly.

“But how could you-- ” Spike was silence by Rarity as she kissed him. Their first was sweet, tender and incredible, yet short, as she pulled back “What?” is all he could get out.

“Spike I love you, and you love me, yes?” said Rarity, as their duel heartbeats moved faster and faster. Kissing him felt incredible to her. She felt like she wanted more.

“Of course I do--” again he was stopped by another kiss, this one even longer, as she pulled herself closer to him, their bodies’ now mere centimeters apart. Spike felt her pulling him closer, so he grabbed the bed as he realized what she was doing. Rarity realized herself what she was doing and stopped for a moment. Then she noticed that Spike was holding his arms down. He didn’t grab her, he didn’t touch her. Rarity had been doing all of it by herself.

“Oh, always such a gentledragon,” Rarity said, as she pulled him closer. Their bodies were now in complete contact. “I know you don’t want to seem vulgar Spike, but I want this.” She grabbed his arms and pulled them around her body, their dual heartbeats moving even faster.

Rarity went in for more kisses. These ones longer as Spike slowly gave in and began to push as much as Rarity was. His tongue began to push against her teeth softly, asking politely to be let in. Rarity tried her best to hold in a giggle at the fact that though they were now kissing, Spike was still being even so gentle about it. It made her want this even more. She opened her mouth and pushed her own tongue in as well. Their long kisses becoming more passionate with each second as they let each other’s tongues in and move back and forth in their mouths. Spike’s hands began to move across her back, his claws lightly massaging it.

This felt incredible to Rarity. She had wanted him to hold her closely and kiss her passionately. But he was now caressing her too. This was even better than she thought it’d be! Rarity began lightly moaning in between breaths from the enjoyment. Spike stopped upon hearing, thinking he had hurt her, but then she wrapped her legs around him and pulled back long enough to take a breather and said, “No Spike don’t stop. Keep going. I want to enjoy every moment of this. I want more Spike, I want more.” The two continued to kiss, their tongues rubbing their teeth and their gums as both their eyes rolled back while their tails wrapped around themselves. Rarity willingly letting Spike’s smooth claws explore every part of her. Almost every part of her as he tried his best not to drift too low.

Although as his hands began to move from her back to her front, his claws slowly noticed the burns he had given her. Tears started to form in his eyes. Rarity could feel that something wrong. So without hesitation, she took his hands and moved them to her breasts. His tears stop as he began to massage her rather large and surprising scar and burn free breast. Her moans began to slightly raise in volume at his movements. ‘What am I thinking? Oh, what am I thinking? Oh, please don’t stop Spike, Oh.’

Suddenly Rarity let out an “eep” as she felt something down below bump against her. She pulled herself away and sat up, catching her breath. Rarity let out heavy breaths as she slowly turned around long enough to see what had bumped her. Her eyes nearly shot out of her head and her jaw dropped upon seeing it. ‘Oh wow, I never thought a male’s member would be so big! He’s gigantic down there!’ She then looked at Spike, who was still massaging her breast. His eyes were on her, wondering why she had pulled back. She could feel his guilt. Spike had not planned that at all.

She then looked back one more time at the size of Spike’s member. ‘Oh no, what am I thinking?’ her mind argued with herself while not noticing her hands were now wandering down. ‘I’m enjoying the kisses, the caressing, and especially that scaly forked tongue. I…. I….’ suddenly her mind jolted upon finding her hands now below her. She was wet, severely wet.

Her hands moved on their own as she started to rub herself. ‘Oh, no, I’m masturbating right front of Spike...oh, I need to stop, but it feels so good!’ Her mind tried its best to argue, but her movements got faster. She couldn’t stop no matter how hard she tried. Spike stared in complete confusion at Rarity’s movements. Suddenly her rear began to rub against his member. He moaned softly continuing to massage her breast. His moan only caused Rarity to rub herself even harder. She began moaning aloud as she felt herself close to finishing.

Rarity then fell forward on to Spike’s chest as she felt her orgasm. She scream slightly at how incredible she felt. Her mind couldn’t argue anymore ‘That was...wow! I want more. I want to enjoy every part of Spike.’ Her mind was now slowly making sense, but there was an obvious problem now - it was her first time. Would she enjoy it as well? Or would she hate it?

‘Only one way to find out.’ Was her final thought on the matter. Rarity sat up, then noticed that Spike had stopped massaging her. She looked at him. Spike’s face was down, filled with worry. Rarity put her hand on his cheek. He looked up at her most beautiful smile.

“Spike,” she said softly. “I want to enjoy something with you, so please don’t hesitate with this next part. Will you….. Will you…... Spike, will you have sex with me?”

Spike’s jaw dropped but he slowly nodded a yes and Rarity moved to the next step. She took a deep breath and lifted her hips, slowly lowering herself on to him, ever so slowly letting his huge member enter her. She gasped for air as she felt ecstasy filling her mind. Spike let out his own gasps for air as he felt how tight she was. Rarity let it enter more into her until she could move it in no deeper. She began to feel a slight pain as he started to hit a wall. She figured it as far it would be pushed. From there she began to move her hips up and down.

Spike let out more soft moans as Rarity began to move faster. Rarity’s moans rose in volume once more as the pain and tightness slowly went away. ‘Oh wow, I, oh, can’t believe, oh, I’m doing this.’ “But, oh, wow this feels, oh, so good!” she let out as her movement continued.

Suddenly she felt Spike legs jolt as his member suddenly went way deep inside her as his member fully punctured complete past the wall. “Ah, oh!” she moaned aloud as her body was now frozen. She could no longer move her hips. Spike’s hands started to move down Rarity’s body. He reached her hips and Rarity spoke, “Spike please keep it going. I can’t move anymore, yet I don’t want it to stop.”

Spike then grabbed her rear. Rarity slightly let a heavily aroused scream upon feel his claws upon her cutie mark. Moans began to follow as Spike had taken over the movement. This was incredible. The pain was gone and she was now enjoying every part, but it wasn't just the sex she was enjoying the most. It was the fact that she was having such a moment with Spike, his hands gently moving her up and down. And it was made even better by how gentle and smooth he moved her. She had worried that he would become some sex crazy male. He was never the least bit vulgar about it.

“Oh, Spike, thrust me softly,” she moaned. Hearing he began to slowly thrust his own hips up and down. They continued even longer. “Spikey, oh, sit up, oh, and hold me.” Hearing for the first time the word the soon to be nickname for him, he sat up and wrapped his arms around. He continued his movement while sitting up. “Oh Spikey Wikey kiss me,” his smile growing bigger as the nickname got bigger. Hearing her words he eagerly locked lips with her.

******

They continued having sex for several minutes, however, time did not matter. Whether it lasted minutes or hours, this was joyous for the both of them. Spike and Rarity fell down to the bed as she started to get back control of her body. “Oh, okay Spike let me, oh, have back, oh, control.”

Spike noticed her words as he slowed his thrusting, letting her take back control of the movement. He returned his hands to her back lightly massaging it with his claws while Rarity slowly continued to move her hips, letting herself grind against his member.

“Oh Rarity, wow!” Spike finally let out, after only letting out moans for so long. Rarity giggled with delight at the pleasure she was giving him as well as the pleasure he was giving her. Suddenly Spike pushed his face into her chest. Now his forked tongue was exploring her. Rarity lifted her head back and lifted her hand over his head motioning it to continue his assault on her body. His licks were right below the single scar where her new heart was and it filled her mind even more ecstasy. Her eyes rolled back as his tongue moved through her breast as she continued to grind herself on his member.

They continued for even longer. This was incredible and neither one wanted it to stop. But soon Spike began to feel something begin to rise within. An urge he had never felt before. His own hips began to thrust on their own. “Rarity I think, oh, something is happening.”

“Oh….Yes the most marvelous sex ever.” She let out, not even noticing the speed their sex slowly picking up for she was feeling the same incredible sensation from the end of her masturbation session returning.

“No, I mean something else.”

Rarity’s eyes shot open as she quickly realized what he meant. “Oh… you’re about… Oh…. to finish?”

“What do I do?”

Rarity lifted her head forward and met his lips. Giving him a quick peck and spoke with the biggest smile. “Finish inside me Spike,” Spike's mouth dropped, but Rarity went in for a longer kiss and pulled back. “Buck me Spike. Buck me as hard and as fast as you desire. I want all of it Spike. Don’t you dare pull it out, I’m almost finishing again, too.”

Upon hearing that, he wrapped one arm around her, pulling her as close to him as possible, and his bucking continued at an even greater speed as they slowly sat up for better position. Both their moans got louder. Spike then grabbed Rarity’s head with his free hand and pushed his lips onto her with incredible, breathtaking passion. His tongue quickly explored every part of her mouth while her tongue did the same. Both their minds went blank as they felt the end was near.

As her climax finally came, Rarity pulled back and screamed, “I LOVE YOU, SPIKE!!”

Spike felt his climax hit him as well. He heard her scream while he roared, “I LOVE YOU TOO, RARITY!!”

Rarity trembled with euphoria as she clung tightly on to her lover’s chest as she felt Spike trembling while his member continuously shot into her over and over until he was spent.

Afterwords the two fell back down on to the bed and stayed in their positions not moving the slightest. Their arms wrapped tightly around each other, not wanting this moment to end.

******

A rather long hour passed after they finished before Rarity finally fell off of Spike’s member. She fell to the right side of her lover with his right arm still around her. Rarity snuggled close to her lover, as close as she could. “Hmm….that was truly marvelous Spike.”

“So you’re glad all that happen?” He questioned.

“Well, when we started kissing, I never once consider it would lead to sex.”

“Now that it’s over you're regretting it,” Spike said sadly.

“Oh no, no, no, I enjoyed it as much as you did. I asked you to take me and I don’t regret a single bit of it.”

“Really?”

“Yes really,” she said as she smiled and snuggled into her dragon more. Spike’s right claw moved through his lover’s mane, to which she purred intently. Sleep was slowly taking her. Spike could see it in her eyes as they slowly closed. Grabbing a blanket from nearby, he laid it over both of them.

Spike then looked to see the Fire Ruby, which now on a table beside them. He looked back at Rarity. “Good night my white and purple ruby,” he said as he turn to his side and wrapped both arms around her. He kissed her on the head to which she unconsciously rubbed her face into his chest. Rarity’s face was right above the scar Spike had gave himself, when he had tore out a piece of his heart. He looked at the scar knowing with time it would go away. But his lover’s burns wouldn’t. Burns that he caused, Spike pondered no more as he closed his eyes and let sleep finally take him.

******

Months later, the two found themselves work together to lead the diamond dogs and becoming the Cave Rebels. And they led battles directly against the Empire. Spike and Rarity even manage to find Sweetie Belle alive.

But when the second Dark War came around, Spike and Rarity did not get involved. Do to Chrysalis being in it. Instead, they went on their honeymoon, for they had been secretly married.

******

“Of course then you asked me and Spike to join in the third Dark War,” said Rarity, as she finally completed her story.

Twilight just sat there, her face covered in dried tears. “Oh Rarity I'm sorry, I had no idea. Have you told anypony else this?”

“Well, the diamond dogs, Sweetie Belle and a few others know the truth about me. The other you and Flash also were included in the ones who knew, that how I knew you weren't her,” she answered, as she then looked at Twilight with a scowl. “But dear, I’m not the one you should be saying sorry to.” She got up. “You should be saying sorry to Spike.”

“Right, well I guess I will go head back to my cell until he wakes up, then tell him,” said Twilight as she got up, but Rarity waved for her to sit back down so she did.

“No just sit here. Spike be will up in a few minutes to get breakfast ready. You can tell him then,” Rarity said as she waved her hand over the crystals around the entrance. The crystals descended back into the ground. “Just don’t go wandering off.”

“Oh, so Spike cooks for you as well, in this timeline,” said Twilight, with a slight smile, as she was clearing her face.

“Actually we usually have our own personal chef do it. Do you know of a Gustav Le Grand?” asked Rarity as she put her mask back on.

“Of course! He is one of the best griffin chefs in Equestria,” answered Twilight.

“Well, we rescued him a few months back. Afterward, he became our personal chef. He cooks most of our meals, however, Spikey Wikey insists that he himself should still make breakfast every morning,” said Rarity, as she took her leave.

“Yeah, it seems in both timelines, he’s always determined to do something nice…. especially for you.”

******

While Twilight sat there waiting for Spike to get up, Rarity went to down to the cell area. She walked up to one of the cells. There she saw that Discord was gone. “Oh, I see the draconequus already escaped.”

She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Hey, what did you do with Twilight?!?!” Rainbow Dash shouted in anger.

Rarity summoned a crystal seat out of the ground and sat down. “Rainbow Dash, how dare you speak with such anger. If you must know, I’m letting her live for now. She is upstairs, but while she is there, I want to know all the info on this Twilight.”

“Well, why should I tell you?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“Because if you don’t dear,” Rarity slowly summoned some long crystal shards from the ground in Rainbow Dash's cell. “Well, you can figure out the rest.”

“What?” said Rainbow Dash.

“Oh come on dear, you barge into my base uninvited and you don’t expect me to do something?” said Rarity with a bright yet dark smile.

“Fine,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Good,” Rarity giggled.

******

Twilight sat there waiting for Spike to show up, lost in her thoughts. ‘I need to apologize to Spike, I mean it was not my intention to scare him. All I wanted to know was who hatched him, but now I know it was this ‘Dark Master’ known as ‘Father’ and I actually have a few ideas on who it might be.’ She went through the list of details. ‘Hmm, let’s see...power over fear, shadowy appearances would mean Sombra and yet a connection to Princess Luna and an appearance that gives no clear species on whether this ‘Father’ is a unicorn, earth pony, or pegasus. These are things that are not what Princess Celestia had always described him as. Could it be Tirek? No, he has no connection to Luna either. Well then, it must be some unknown villain I have yet to face.’

Eventually, Spike walked into the room. “Oh you're still here,” said Spike, snapping Twilight back to reality. “I don’t have time to deal with you,” Spike said as he walked off.

“Wait,” said Twilight. “Rarity told me everything.” This stopped Spike. He took a moment and then kept walking. Twilight got up and went after him. “Wait! Spike, I need to talk to you.” Twilight chased after him. “I said wait!” she said as she grabbed his shoulder. But he knocked her hand away.

“Look I know she told you,” said Spike.

“What? You heard us talking?” Twilight was taken off guard by this.

“Yes and no,” said Spike, as he turned around. “Listen, me and Rarity share the same heart, we share the same feelings, we share everything,” he paused, then spoke more. “We share our sorrow, we share our pain and we share our shame.”

“All right then, so you’re not just together. Please, come sit down and tell me more,” said Twilight. He didn’t. “Look I’m sorry for bringing up the past. I know what you went through must have been painful.” She pulled him over to the couch. “But I want you to know I was never here to cause you pain. In my timeline you’re more than just my friend, you’re part of my family, my real family,” The two sat down. “So please, tell me what is wrong.”

“Listen, what I did has always filled me with shame,” said Spike. “And I know Rarity fears me because of that.”

“She fears you?” questioned Twilight. “Why would she fear you? She loves you.”

“Because I am selfish. I did that to her because I didn’t want to lose her,” said Spike as tears started to form in his eyes. “Because I wanted her by my side always. I love her and I can’t be without her,” he paused then continued. “So I burned her wounds so she would survive and I gave a piece of my heart so she wouldn't leave me.”

“What are you saying Spike?” asked Twilight.

“I’m saying what I did was selfish. Now she is eternally bound to me. She now ages at the same rate as me, and will live as long as I do,” said Spike. Twilight wondered how that could ever be a bad thing for Rarity. After all, she always wanted to stay young. But then Spike said, “And now, she will have to live looking the way she does for millennia.”

“I don’t get it, I always thought you saw past her looks,” said Twilight.

“Of course I will always see her as beautiful, but every time I see those burns, I am reminded of the destroyer I am. I destroyed her,” said Spike as he put his face in his claws. “I destroyed her.” Spike let his tears loose. “And she will always fear me.”

“Spike, how do you know this? I mean you may sense her fear, but that doesn't mean she is afraid of you. She’s just afraid of losing you.”

“But she can’t lose me. Her heart is eternally bound to mine. If I die, she will die soon after,” said Spike as he looked up at Twilight. Rage was in his eyes. “There is no other reason that she would be afraid.”

Twilight opened her wing and placed it on Spike’s shoulder. “Listen, Spike, I know for a fact that if your Rarity is anything like my timeline's Rarity, then she is afraid of quite a few things, especially dust and mud.” This made Spike giggle a little. “But there is one thing she is never afraid of and that’s you.”

Twilight decide to again tell her story, this time to Spike. The two sat there as Twilight talked about the crazy adventures that Twilight and her timeline’s Spike use to have. Soon Spike's sorrow was gone, replaced with a happy face, laughing from the adventures they had together and being the best of friends.

******

Meanwhile, Rarity found herself laughing uncontrollably, “You’re laughing? You're laughing? I don’t get you Rarity. First you in tears and now you laughing? Why are you laughing?” demanded Rainbow Dash, annoyed.

“Seriously dear, I don’t know what has come over me,” said Rarity. “It has to be Spike. He's laughing. I haven’t gotten him to laugh this much since before the event.”

“Event? What event?” asked Rainbow Dash. Suddenly Rarity got up from her chair while continuing to laugh. “Hey wait, where are you going?” Rainbow Dash demanded.

“I have to go see what would be making my beloved Spikey Wikey, so happy,” said Rarity as she took her leave.

“Hey what about us down here?” said Rainbow Dash, even more annoyed. “You can’t just ignore us!” But it was too late, for Rarity was gone.

******

Twilight was enjoying seeing this timeline’s version of Spike laughing and being happy. Soon Rarity walked up, “Twilight…. heh, heh, heh,” Rarity was trying her best to get an answer out. But she couldn’t stop laughing, “What, heh, heh, heh, did, heh, heh, you do to my husband?” Soon Rarity fell down on the floor beside Spike, laughing.

“Oh I’m sorry I didn’t realize that you would feel the laughter too,” said Twilight. “Still getting you both happy is better than you both sad.”

“It’s okay, Twilight,” said Rarity, as she rolled closer to Spike while still laughing. “Don’t worry, heh, heh, heh, I can calm him, heh, heh, heh, down,” as she pulled up her mask and pulled Spike in for a kiss him rather strongly and then stopped. “Better?”

“Better,” said Spike.

“I’m sorry you two, I just wanted Spike to be happy,” said Twilight. “What happen?”

“Well it’s like I said,” said Spike. “I and Rarity share each other's emotions,” as he began to kiss Rarity again. “It can sometimes be a weakness of ours. We can sense when each other is sad.” Spike paused as Rarity kissed him back and then continued. “When each other is happy.” Spike would have continued, but then he kissed Rarity even more.

“Oh, dear,” said Rarity, in between the kisses. “Twilight, you might want to give us a few minutes. It seems that in my effort to calm down my husband, I’ve gotten him too ‘excited’ and we tend to lose control when both of us feel this ‘excited’,” said Rarity, as she began to kiss Spike even harder.

“What do you mean?” Twilight clearly wasn’t getting the message until she saw Rarity’s hand move down to Spike’s low regions. This enough info for Twilight to get out of there as quickly as possible. She ran, and once she was past the entrance, Rarity’s crystal magic closed the opening, giving the two lovers some privacy.

Twilight just kept running, not looking where she was going. Her mind on other things, ‘Oh wow, that’s something I definitely don’t want see.’ Soon Twilight crashed into Gustav Le Grand. “Oh sorry!”

“Oh, by the look of you, you just nearly witnessed Lady Rarity and Sir Spike in one of their ‘moments’,” said Gustav Le Grand. “By the way, would you happen to Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yes,” said Twilight as she got up.

“There is someponies outside that wants to talk to you,” said Gustav as he took his leave.

******

Twilight headed outside, not knowing what she would find. “Hello, is anypony out here?”

Suddenly they walked up. “Oh, good to see you got out, Twilight,” said a certain yellow pegasus stallion with a blue mane that walked up. He wore blue armor and had a yellow lightning bolt as his emblem. As well as a metal right hand for some reason.

“Flash? Flash Sentry?” said Twilight, her jaw dropping. “What are you doing here?”

“Well ‘SS’ contacted us,” said another voice as a figure walked up. This pony wore a long cloak concealing his head and body. Even his face was hard to make out. It was impossible to even tell if this was even a pony that approached her. “So you are other Twilight Sparkle,” he spoke. His voice sounding so old and yet so deep.

“And who are you?” asked Twilight.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Twilight,” said Flash. “This is my mentor, and the leader of the Dark Rebels, ‘F’.”

******

Author's Note

Hello everypony. This is the last of the revised chapters. Next week onward will be chapters only me and the Proofreader have seen.

So how this version of the chapter? I'm asking because the original was vastly different. For instants the clop scene was not in the original. In the original, it was more like implied, this was mainly because of two reasons. Reason one, I have never been a fan of clop scenes, reason two I had very little experience writing these scenes at the time.

Now that I know what am doing, it feels like i am forcing the scene just a little, and I don't know why. This is my second attempt at a clop scene and it still feels like I'm forcing it.

Oh well, this will last story I do with a clop scene in it for a while. The stories after this may not have a clop scene. I would rather go with implying, that much easier.