The clock on the wall rang loudly echoing throughout Twilight's Crystal Castle. The sun was starting to rise outside; just barely peaking over the horizon. The purple crystal was shining in the early morning light as morning birds sang. The castles primary occupant was unfortunately oblivious to the beauty of the world outside. Books were strewn around the room as Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth in her private study. Her repeated hoof-falls echoing around the crystal chambers walls. The room was glowing with her magenta magic as she carried several books in her telekinesis orbiting around her in sequence. She glanced at the clock briefly, barely seven in the morning. Sunken bags under her eyes revealed her fatigue as she turned back to the open book before her. It was one of Starswirl's ancient tomes investigating time travel and the various impossibilities that dwelt within. The topic didn't much matter as the book was only meant to distract Twilight from the thoughts that continually to plagued her.
Her eyes scanned the page but her brain hardly processed what was before her. The voices in Twilight's head had been getting progressively worse. At first being around others helped, but these last few weeks. Not even her friends could make the voices stop their taunting. Their laughs. "You're useless," The voices continued their never ending barrage. "No, worse than useless. Everything you do results in more problems than solutions." Twilight's left eye twitched sporadically as she tried to focus on something. Anything but the voices. No reason or logic could stop their tirade.
In a vane attempt to counter the voices Twilight whispered, "No, that's not true..." Her thoughts raced to Starlight Glimmer, and how she had saved Equestria by getting the mare to see reason. Twilight had only recently convinced the mare in question that she could make new friends, that she didn't have to be in complete control of her world. She continued her pacing and stomped her hooves cracking the crystal floor and sending splinters out from the impact. "You only fixed what you had already broken." The voice echoed. Twilight fell forward and tried to will the voice away. Covering her face with her hooves. Her wings extended and she cried out as tears began to fall. "Yes, crying always solves everything doesn't it?" The tears ran freely down her cheeks. They were relentless.
A sudden noise came from the door. The handle was being pulled in an attempt to open but Twilight had locked it. The voices forced her to face them alone. They would viciously attack her friends whenever she went to them for comfort. Constantly reminded of her own failures before them, and pointing out time and time again how she was not worthy. Twilight could defeat these demons in her head. She wouldn't let the voices win.
"Twilight? Are you ok?" Spike called from the outside. Twilight coughed and choked back sobs, trying to silence herself. Spike knocked upon the door, the sounds of her cries driving him to attempt to communicate. "Twilight? Answer me!"
Twilight looked to the door, frozen, a great fear overwhelmed her. "Look at you, pathetic, hiding from your most faithful friend?" Twilight huffed and stomped her hooves again the floor cracked from the force of her alicorn strength. "You aren't worthy to have him, you're not worthy to have the wings on your back. You only hurt the ponies around you." Twilight jumped to the window catching herself on the sill. The rising sun shown a brilliant aura of pink and orange as it rose over the horizon. Twilight was still blind to the beauty, the darkness in her mind shrouded all her senses.
"Even now your faithful companion tries to help you, even when you lock him out. So loyal he is." The voices were crying with her this time. "Stop hurting him with your presence, with your inadequacy." Twilight looked down from the window, her hooves tentatively balanced on the edge. She wanted only to run, but how do you escape from yourself?
Spike began to bang on the door, attempting to knock it down. The voice laughed at her, "You always hurt your friends when you force them to rescue you."
Twilight felt determination building inside of her. She pushed back against the voice. "NO!" She cried out. "You wont win!" She launched out with her hooves and jumped from the window. Just as she did the door crashed open and the small purple dragon sprinted towards her. Air rushed past as Twilight began to fall. Time seemed to slow down as she fell. She looked up just as Spike made it to the window. She could see the worry and hurt in his eyes as he looked down reaching for her with his clawed hands.
"One last hurt is all it takes." The voices whispered still crying. Twilight felt a moment of determination her wings spreading wide as she burst upward with amazing speed, sending out a crash of sound and light . A shock wave of purple followed Twilight as she rocketed up and over Ponyville. The roofs of several houses were torn away as the wave hit, shingles flying free of their perch. Birds flew and were blown away in panic. Leaves scatted from trees and the slowly waking town was shook as ponies burst into the streets in confusion.
"Another disaster to add to your list." the voices laughed. Twilight flew with increasing speed towards the nearby mountains. Her wings burned with exertion as they pumped ever harder. Each thrust generating gale force winds. The mountains glowed in the morning light, the heavens reverberated with the sound of Twilight's sonic boom as she ascended. Twilight crashed hard into the peak of the tallest mountain. Hardened snow and ice exploded in all directions. Twilight's lungs burned from the cold and the strain as she sat in the crater she had made catching her breath.
"Nice landing." The voices dripped with sarcasm. Twilight climbed out of the snow and looked down at the massive craters and parts of the land which still had yet to heal from her battle with Tirek. Unnatural ditches carved through the earth, some barely even covered with grass. Broken, slightly rotted trees and torn land stuck up from the earth as if crying out in pain. "Look at the destruction you have wrought." The voices now hissed in anger. "You abandon your friends and destroy everything you touch."
In her mind Twilight relived the battle, every arc of energy, every explosion. They played out in her head. The voices pointing out all the ways she could've done better. "Discord was right to not trust you, even after his amends you still do so little to maintain his friendship." The voices cackled with glee. "You don't deserve any of them. They all work to be your friends and you do nothing!"
Tears refreshed their burn in Twilight's eyes. The tears forms slick layers of ice over her cheeks as she looked over Ponyville and then further on towards Canterlot. "Your friends hardly even trust you to begin with." The voices wouldn't stop. Why can't they stop. Twilight kicked a small rock down the mountain side with her fore hoof, eager for distraction. It's reports echoed back to her as it skipped and made it's way down. "You knew about Chrysalis and they refused to believe you until the truth was forced down their throats." Twilight swallowed hard, she felt a fury inside of her growing ever hotter.
"We won, we succeeded! We got her in the end! My friends trust me! They've never had a reason to not trust me!" Twilight cried out, her tears turning from ones of sadness to tears of anger. She stomped her hoof, cracking the ice and the rocks, causing the earth beneath her to shake and crumble. Massive chunks of rock and snow fell from the mountainside, the dust and the clatter of small impacts filled the air. Twilight stomped again and the mountain shattered beneath her hooves. She pushed off of her destroyed perch and into the air. Her pupils shrank to pinpricks and the world around her began to erupt as Twilight screamed and took the massive rocks in her magic throwing them into the next mountain over.
The voices all cried out in unison, some with anger, some with sadness, most with mirth, "All you're work, everything you've done. None of it was ever good enough. You don't deserve to be a princess. You're family didn't deserve to be stuck with a disgrace such as you. You never deserved to have Celestia as your mentor." The small wisp of sanity Twilight held inside of her was extinguished at that very moment.
"This Ends NOW!" Twilight screamed. As she did an explosion rocked her; A flash of light more intense than the sun blinded her sending her careening backwards out of control. Twilight flared her wings, barely catching herself in midair before she would've descended into a free fall. Her eyes burned as she squinted and tried to focus on the source of this new disturbance.
Twilight had no time to react as she suddenly felt a burning magic surround her. A magenta aura engulfed her from head to hoof and flung her with great force towards the ground. Twilight smashed through the countless boulders she had created each shattering, sending stones and sharp jagged shards in every direction. In a fraction of a second Twilight had crashed down and was driven into the stone base of what used to be a mountain. Only then did the magic weaken it's hold. "You can't even throw a tantrum right. pathetic." The voices mocked. Twilight gasped in pain as she struggled to recover.
Twilight coughed, the dust now burning her lungs and looked up as she got to her hooves. Floating above her was a burning white alicorn, her entire body was engulfed in a flame that didn't seem to hurt her. Her mane was short and burnt almost down to her scalp with little tufts pointing in every direction, the color was unrecognizable. Her face was swollen but a wicked grin still graced her lips, gaps shown where it was clear teeth had recently been. The rest of her body had large lumps and lacerations crossing her coat. Blood flowed from open wounds only to boil away as soon as it touched the fires which engulfed her. Twilight could only stare in horror as her rage was replaced by a primal fear.
She had almost no time to react as the enraged mare flew down and began to pummel her repeatedly. The mare laughed as her hooves flew for Twilight's face. The mares hooves colliding with solid thumps as Twilight took several hits before she brought up her forelegs in self defense. She flared her magic and a magenta orb surrounded her and sent the white alicorn flying away. The other mare flipped backwards as Twilight attacked with bolts of magical energy, but it was only a feint. She flew down and swiftly crashed back into Twilight's purple shields the new canyon echoed with a mighty crack as Twilight's shield shattered and sent her falling back to the ground.
All the while the voices continued to mock, "Get back up you failure of a pony. At least try to fight back." It stoked the fires of rage in Twilight's breast once again. She lifted her head and stared as the pure white mare dived down and collided hard into the ground next to Twilight.
"What are you?!" Twilight shrieked. She pushed off into the air and spun, trying to avoid the other mare's flames as they burned ever hotter into the sky. Long whips of fire trailed behind the mare as her hooves pounded into the ground. Ground which melted and bubbled beneath each step. Twilight used her magic to extinguish the fires engulfing at her mane and tail. The enraged white alicorn cackled insanely and it echoed across the mountains around them.
Twilight quickly surrounded herself with a new shield the magenta orb giving her a brief feeling of safety. Dust continued to choke her as she frantically thought of disabling spells. Twilight needed to buy time, but time wasn't available. The white mare didn't rest as the mad laughter overtook her. She sprinted towards Twilight again, she burst into the air with insane speed, tore strait through Twilight's shield and smashed her face with a swift head butt. The purple alicorn was sent sprawling backwards into a thicket of woods and a giant ball of fire flew swiftly behind her.
Animals scurried out of the way of the two alicorns now rolling across the burning ground. Twilight couldn't protect herself from the intense heat anymore, both mares appeared unable to do much more than grapple with each other incinerating anything that they touched. Trees burst into flames the leaves sending up great plumes of smoke, the ground continued to boil beneath them. Twilight felt searing pain from every touch and every hit she sustained from the white alicorn. Finally she grabbed the white mare in her magic pushing her off and away towards the rocks from whence they came. Twilight spat out a glob of blood and wasn't surprised to feel a couple of teeth intermixed with the red fluid, her vision was red and she wiped a hoof to clear her eyes.
It did nothing for her vision however, pure rage began to overtake her. "Yes, get angry! Become rage incarnate!" Voices, always voices. The other mare still laughed maniacally. Both alicorns launched at each other again and again. Each exchange brought forth a flurry of blows from each, Twilight struck repeatedly with her magic at close range. Discs of magenta sliced yet more lacerations into her opponents coat. She felt red hot pain as the other Alicorn hit her with the same. Both rose higher and higher into the air. The mountains below them began to blend in with the world as a whole the further up they flew. The sun now stood, a massive beacon no longer mildly obstructed by the mountains far far below. Massive shock waves of fire and smoke flew out from the epicenter of their battle. Neither alicorn had any intention of relenting in their vicious assaults. Twilight bit and tore off her opponents ear and the other mare grabbed and held tightly to the purple alicorn.
Finally they had reached the peak of their battle. Both had their limbs locked against each other. Each surrounded with the magenta glow of magic as they tried to tear each other apart. The planet was clearly visible as a massive blue and green orb beneath them. Twilight's mane and tail were both slowly burning as they pushed on each other. "You can't win this fight. Just go run home for help and keep hurting your friends you useless mare." The voices cared little for her conflict.
"The voices, they need to end!" Twilight cried out pushing against her foe. The other alicorn glared insanely back at her. Fire burned in both mares eyes and across their coats. They were perfectly matched regardless of the white alicorn being significantly more injured than Twilight. Both let their magic flow freely in an attempt to crush the other.
"There's only one way to end the voices Twilight." The pale mare laughed out. "You already know!" Twilight glared deep into the burning red eyes of the white mare. Her rage grew tenfold when she realized she was looking into her own eyes. The last vestiges of restraint snapped. Dark energy began to coalesce into existence around her horn slowly building as the two ponies continued their struggle. The white mare giggled uncontrollably.
"You can't do it, you worthless pony. You don't have the willpower to end yourself." The voices all cried out in unison. Desperation seemed to fill them this time. It was Twilight's turn to laugh. She let loose the deep throaty chuckle of the mad.
"I thought this is what you wanted!" She focused all her hate, all her being into what would be her most vicious spell. Twilight's eyes glowed black and she felt renewed strength as residual energy wisked away from her eyes in purple aberrations. With a flash of her horn deep purple energy flew out and knocked the white alicorn away. Darkness enveloped the sky around both ponies clouding their vision. A deep dark hole burned with purple energy as Twilight lost herself to the magic.
Black Lightning ripped and tore at the white Twilight.Dark fire burned her red fire away, tendrils flew from the opening in the void each looked a sickly shade of black and barbs protruded out in all directions. They ripped at the white Twilight, feathers flew and satin red droplets rained from the sky as her wings were ripped away. The white alicorn continued to laugh throughout the entire ordeal. Both alicorns eyes met as the wingless one fell swiftly towards the planet now a victim of gravity's pull.
Twilight flew after her foe, her body now glowed with white energy as fire overtook her wings. Yet another massive boom sent out a shock wave of red fire as the original Twilight crashed into the newcomer and smashed her down into the earth. Nothing remained of the mountain which had once stood proudly. Gravel rained from the sky and rolled into every crevice filling all the voids and cracks it could find. Large chunks of rock and stone turned to vapor as they fell upon Twilight's burning form.
Twilight stood victorious as the smoke and dust around her vanished into nothing. Her mane was burnt almost to her scalp and stuck out in every direction. Her face was bruised and bloodied. Her coat was the purest of whites broken only by multiple bruises and lacerations which bled profusely. The blood boiled as the fire around her incinerated it. Twilight looked down at the crumpled mare before her. No noise came out from the mare as the white coat returned to it's regular purple, blood covered the ground around and molten bits of soil and gravel slowly filled the crater she now lay in. Twilight leaned down and listened thoughtfully for a moment. Silence reigned supreme at last. With a maniacal grin Twilight lit her horn and vanished in a brief flash of light.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading.
I wrote this a few weeks ago while watching the sunrise. I have edited and rewrote it at least a dozen times and finally after much internal debate have decided it is presentable. I hope you enjoyed, but if not feel free to dislike and let me know.
Thanks again and have a good day.