“See? You can’t stop me no matter what you do!”
Those were the very last words Twilight remembered the most, and they were seemingly true to the letter now that she was all alone.
“It was supposed to be simple,” Twilight spoke only to herself as she laid beneath a drooping tree in the Everfree Forest, “Tell Nightmare Moon the truth. Check. Lead her to the Map. Check. Break Spike free and cast the spell before she knew what was happening…” Twilight closed her eyes and sniffled, rubbing her nose with one hoof and her eye with the other, “...Not check.”
Her words, so full of sorrow and disdain, only made Twilight want to cry more as she rolled onto her side and curled up into a ball with a wing hiding her face. And cry she did. No longer capable of keeping her emotions bottled up within her, Twilight let the tape on her broken heart dissolve as her eyes watered up and eventually became aqueducts for the salty tears that she had fought so gallantly to house.
“Celestia, I’m sorry,” she cried into her hooves, “I failed you. I failed my friends. I failed Ponyville and all of Equestria.” Twilight bawled more and more the deeper she fell into the bottomless abyss called depression.
“Each present time I visit is worst than the last,” she sobbed, wrapping herself up into an even tighter ball until she couldn’t any longer. Her body shook with each pained inhale and cough of an exhale just as it did from the physical pain of having been struck down when she had attempted to cast the time travel spell.
After crying for hours, Twilight finally let exhaustion and defeat overtake her and she fell into a deep sleep. Though she was sleeping soundly, she was not sleeping peacefully whatsoever. She was restless. Though asleep, her mind was working round the clock; that was what brought Twilight to the scene she found herself in.
She was watching as she fought against Starlight Glimmer for the last time before she and Spike had been sent to Nightmare Moon’s present day when it suddenly took an odd turn. The entire landscape around Twilight suddenly became a blank white canvas before pitch black darkness crowded in around her, proceeded by a tyrannical voice.
“Silly little Twilight. Did you really think I would let you have one moment of peace?” Nightmare Moon whispered to the scared princess, “Now give me the scroll.”
“I’m not giving you the scroll!” Twilight yelled.
Nightmare Moon just laughed as she made herself known and walked around Twilight, intentionally brushing up against her just to let the little alicorn know she was very much the real deal and not some illusion. Twilight jumped and flared her horn but it fizzled out and made Nightmare Moon cackle again.
“If you won’t give me the scroll willingly then maybe I can up the ante.” Nightmare Moon said laughing again.
“I’m not giving you the scroll,” Twilight reiterated her previous statement.
“Let’s test that theory, shall we?” Nightmare Moon said before disappearing into a black ball.
Twilight was about to brush off the threat as nothing more than blowing hot air, but suddenly she was pulled into a vortex and spat out somewhere seconds later. After shaking her head and looking around, Twilight found herself on a bridge drawn over a small creek leading up to a cottage. She knew where she was now and it brought her a tiny bit of happiness. Something inside told Twilight this may not be so bad; maybe she’d irritated Nightmare Moon so quickly she would leave Twilight alone.
Twilight knocked on the door, “Fluttershy, are you home?”
Twilight looked in through the window and saw into the front room. Inside, Twilight saw nothing out of place, there were no signs of deprivation or lack of cleanliness. She was impressed, but also curious as to where Fluttershy could be.
She let herself inside and looked around calling out for Fluttershy, but she just could not find the shy pegasus anywhere in the house. When she stepped out back, what she saw made her fall back onto her haunches. Her heart stopped when she looked down and saw piles of apple husks on the ground around the base of the tree. Following the trunk upwards with her eyes she saw somepony hanging upside-down from the tree in the backyard. The moment Twilight saw the cotton candy pink mane and lemon yellow fur she knew it was none other than the pony Twilight was seeking. Or rather, the darker side that she wasn’t expecting.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight called out to the Thestral. Fluttershy’s wings unfurled followed by her eyes opening slowly, the crimson slits falling upon Twilight. “Uh-oh,”
Fluttershy let out a high-pitched squeal before dropping from the tree, correcting herself into an upright position just before fluttering down to eye level with an apprehensive Twilight. She leaned forward and closed her eyes, then took three sniffs of the purple mare’s natural scent then smiled big, her fangs poking out at the edges. “You smell delicious!”
“Fluttershy!” Twilight fell to her side in time to avoid Fluttershy’s hug. Scrambling to her hooves, she ran off into the abode in an attempt to escape the predator, but to no avail.
“You smell delicious!” Fluttershy hissed again as she flew through the air, tackling Twilight.
“Ahh!” Twilight and Fluttershy tumbled across the floor until she was underneath the batpony, looking up into the eyes of a very hungry mare.
Thinking fast, Twilight looked to either side of her and saw a decrepit saddlebag in the corner behind the door. Using her magic to grab it she then slammed it into the side of Fluttershy’s head to knock her off. Afterwards Twilight wasted no time in jumping to her hooves again. Having to think of something fast before Fluttershy recovered and came back for her, she looked around the living room then stopped and darted for the kitchen.
“The first time Fluttershy became Flutterbat she went only for apples,” Twilight reminded herself, “So she should have…” Twilight opened the refrigerator and saw what she was looking for: a bowl of apples. “...Yes!”
With a renewed smile on her face she grabbed one with her magic just in time to hear Flutterbat hissing and flying towards the kitchen. Twilight threw the apple through the archway and watched Fluttershy beeline for it. With the distraction successful and Flutterbat occupied, Twilight ran out the front door and headed for Ponyville.
Now that she was in Ponyville itself, Twilight had to move fast unless she wanted the bat-turned Fluttershy to come searching for her. With the knowledge that Rarity and Rainbow Dash both had joined Nightmare Moon’s ranks, that meant there were still two of her friends unaccounted for: Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
Being in Ponyville, Twilight was closest to Sugarcube Corner, so she headed off there with haste; glancing over her withers every so often to make sure she wasn’t being followed by Flutterbat. Once she reached the sweet treat shop, she barged in.
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight called out, looking around. It had taken her a minute to get a real good look at the inside of the diner, but when she did, it took her breath away. Her lower lip trembled as she looked around, full of confusion, wonder, and horror. The place was in shambles; tables overturned, chairs littered the floor, some intact and others, broken.
At first, it looked like a robbery until Twilight’s eyes looked at the back wall by the bar. Scrawled in what appeared to be pink paint, Twilight read two words: Happy Birthday.
“Happy birthday,” Twilight took a closer look and sniffed, then reeled back with a harsh gag. “Spray paint for sure.” Twilight discerned then turned around. Her eyes then came upon something written by the front door to the shop. “Cupcakes. Pinkie, what happened here?”
“AAARRGGGHHH!”
“Screaming?” Twilight hightailed it into the backroom and found the door into the basement. The screams came again and Twilight was sure something very wrong was going on down there. She opened the door and crept quietly down the stairs into the depths of the basement. As she descended, the shrills came faster and louder. When Twilight finally came to the last step she froze at the sight on the floor.
More paint? She thought to herself staring at the pool of pink on the floor. The sound of crying pulled her away from the sight and she jumped down and turned the corner. “What’s going on?” Twilight shouted, before she froze again.
Two ponies shared the room with the alicorn; one pink with a straight mane, and one that Twilight knew as Flash Sentry. “Flash!”
“Who dares interrupts my playtime?” the pink pony snarled, raising her head to stare straight at Twilight with murderous intent in her dull eyes.
“Pinkie Pie, what’s happened to you?” Twilight asked, eyes tearing up as she looked upon the straight-maned, heartless pony she once knew as her friend.
“Pinkie...Pie, you little,” Flash Sentry’s screaming was cut off as Pinkie Pie jabbed a butcher knife into his forehoof. “Quiet, rebel!”
Twilight cried, “Stop this, Pinkie!”
“I’m not Pinkie Pie!” the pony screamed back, throwing her weapon at Twilight. Twilight caught it in time with her magic and stared at the party pony in shock. “I am Pinkamena Diane Pie!”
“No, that’s not true!”
“You’re with the rebels. Which means you’re my new plaything,” Pinkamena told Twilight as she picked up the hacksaw from the nearby cart. “Maybe you’ll be more fun.”
Unable to handle the sight any longer, Twilight took two steps back, a bad choice on her part, as Pinkamena jumped over the restrained Flash Sentry and dashed towards her. Thinking quickly, Twilight pulled a nearby flour sack towards her and threw it at the rampaging pony. It hit and Twilight bugged out, racing up the stairs and slamming the door shut as she heard Pinkamena yelling at her. Twilight barricaded the door, then took off out into the streets of Ponyville.
“Pinkie’s joined Nightmare Moon as well. Why is this happening?” Twilight cried as she ran to the edge of town towards the only other place she could think of to check: Sweet Apple Acres.
When Twilight finally reached the top of the hill that overlooked the farm, she felt her heart break for a third time. “No. This isn’t real,” Twilight moaned.
The once luscious rows of apple trees that sprawled out across Applejack’s home were now nothing more than empty husks of themselves; leafless, lifeless and black. Her eyes widened at the sight of it all and she felt her heart stop.
“What happened?” Twilight gulped hard and was met by wild laughing. She knew who it was.
“So how sweet is Sweet Apple Acres?”
“What have you done?” Twilight cried as she spun around and came face-to-face with Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon answered her, “Just see for yourself.” She nodded her head behind her, then stepped aside for Twilight to see whatever it was the mare wanted her to see.
“What am I looking at?” Twilight found herself now standing behind the barn staring at three granite tombstones. She felt her heart lodge itself in her throat and her legs shake as she read what each headstone said: Here lies Granny Smith. Loving Grandmother. “Granny…” Twilight gulped hard and looked at the one next to it. “...Here lies Big Macintosh. Loving brother.”
Twilight’s stoic facade cracked momentarily once she had seen and read for herself the realism of what came to be two people she knew. But learning that both Granny Smith and Big Mac had both passed on was nothing compared to what was on the third and final gravestone.
“Applejack.” Her eyes became tears.
“Yes. It hurts, doesn’t it?” Nightmare Moon whispered in her ear. “But what should hurt more is knowing how she died.”
“Stop,”
“You see what used to be her home?” Moon went on, “She died doing what she loved to do: work.”
“Stop,”
“She overworked herself to the point of illness,” She told Twilight cruelly. “She eventually fell so ill that she passed away.”
“Stop!” Twilight screamed as her eyes flooded with streams of tears.
“Give me the scroll!” Nightmare Moon demanded.
“No!”
Outraged by Twilight’s incessant rejection of giving her what she wanted most, Nightmare Moon vanished from sight, pulling Twilight with her and dropping her off in a new locale, leaving the princess with only a final word: “Enjoy.”
Having her senses dulled by all the heartbreak she had endured, Twilight didn’t notice that she was now in a cage, and even when she did, she didn’t care anymore. All she knew now was that she had lost the fight. Twilight had failed and the weight of reality finally came crashing down onto her shoulders and Twilight was powerless to withstand it anymore. She broke down and cried loudly, being pulled under and drowned by the weight of failure and all she could do now was curl up in a ball and cry.
“Princess Celestia, I failed you…” she whimpered. “...I failed to beat Starlight Glimmer. I failed to save my friends, Ponyville...I failed to save all of Equestria.”
“No, Twilight, you didn’t,” a squeaky voice came to her. “Don’t give up now.”
“Who’s there?”
“Twilight, it’s me. Spike.”
“Spike?” Twilight looked up with misty eyes and saw a tiny dragon looking up at her.
“Get up, Twilight. We have to go before it’s too late,” Spike said to her.
“Spike, it’s already too late. We lost—I lost. Starlight won.”
“That’s not true, Twilight!” Spike said, rejecting Twilight’s defeat. “We can still win!”
“How? Nightmare Moon has bested me, Starlight bested me. I have nothing left, Spike.”
Spike blinked and hunched his shoulders. It hurt to see Twilight so upset that he had to think of something, anything. Then, like a lightbulb turning on, Spike had an idea. “Twilight, you’ve failed before but never gave up, remember? You thought you had failed before when you couldn’t write a letter to Princess Celestia, but what did she say to you when she came to see you?” he asked her. “She wasn’t upset, remember? She taught you a valuable lesson.”
“Applejack is dead, Spike,” Twilight shouted, crying again. “All of my friends are dead or joined Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia, she’s...” Twilight couldn’t even talk anymore. All she could do was cry and let the burden of defeat overtake her.
“But Princess Celestia isn’t dead, Twilight!” he argued back and grabbed ahold of the sobbing princess, “What would she say if she saw her favorite student like this? What would she say if she saw you giving up like this, Twilight? She’d be the one feeling beaten!”
“Spike...”
“C’mon, Twilight. We can still win this. You still have the scroll. We can turn this around!”
Twilight thought about every word Spike had said, and even though her mentor had been imprisoned in the moon, Spike was right. Princess Celestia wasn’t dead at all. “You’re right, Spike,” Twilight stood up and wiped away her tears.
Spike smiled for a moment. “C’mon Twilight, let’s get out of here and show Nightmare Moon what you can do.”
“Okay.. This world isn’t real, it’s all just a figment of imagination. Let’s go. We have to stop Starlight!”
With renewed hope thanks to her number one assistant, they huddled together and with the strength she could muster, Twilight’s horn lit up and covered the two in a magenta aura before they flashed out of the cell and made it back into the forest.
“Wait a minute.” Twilight looked at the scene she and Spike found themselves in. “How is this possible?” she questioned. Twilight found herself looking down at...herself, and she was fast asleep. But instead of being alone in the woods like she last knew she was, Spike was there shaking her; crying and begging for her to wake up.
“I’m still asleep? Spike, when did you...” Twilight looked down at her side only to find that Spike was no longer by her and before long she opened her eyes and looked up at Spike.
“Get up, Twilight. C’mon, wake up already!” Spike nudged her.
“Spike?” Twilight whispered groggily. Adrenaline coursed through her body and she jumped to her hooves. Without asking any questions, Twilight hoisted Spike up onto her back and ran off towards the Cutie Mark Map’s location. “Hold on, Spike.” Twilight jumped into the air and flexed her wings in time to hear Nightmare Moon’s laughter.
“Uh Twilight, we’re being chased!” Spike shrieked. Seeing Nightmare Moon and her guards chasing them now.
“Almost there, Spike.”
“After them! I want that scroll!” Nightmare Moon barked.
The chase didn’t seem to be much of a chase since Twilight and Spike were so far ahead of their captors, but that changed when Spike saw a rainbow colored streak flying towards them. Spike knew who that was without having to think long on it. Twilight must’ve known too because she doubled her wing flaps just to try and keep ahead, even if she knew it was pointless because she was going up against the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria: Rainbow Dash.
“Uhh Twilight, she’s catching up!”
“I know Spike. I’m trying to concentrate.” Twilight counted to herself. Since Rainbow Dash was speeding towards her at max speed, she knew that at the fifth count she’d be caught. But because of Spike’s rallying speech Twilight lit her horn again and popped them out of the occupied space just as Rainbow reached them.
Nightmare Moon and her hench-ponies made it to the table only to find Twilight and Spike standing on top of it already, both with smiles of victory.
“No! Give me that scroll!” the Queen of the Night ordered.
“Sorry but I won’t,” Twilight refused. “You see, in my world me and my friends defeat you by finding the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight told her before using her magic one final time to activate the scroll and send her and Spike back through time.
Now that she was back her own time Twilight and her friends were able to help Starlight Glimmer see the error of her ways and promised to help her change if she really wanted to and to their surprise, Starlight wanted to be a better mare. She was willing to give it a shot. This made Twilight especially happy even given the circumstances she had been in. But now there was just one more thing she had to do and it was when Princess Celestia summoned her to Canterlot.
Twilight now stood before the doors of Celestia’s sister, the Princess of the Night and Dreams, Luna. She knew not why her mentor had called her and asked her to speak to Luna but she would not reject it, even if she was uneasy about facing the pony who had once been Nightmare Moon.
Princess Luna’s royal chamber was locked by both padlocks and magical barriers so that the Princess of the Night could find solace in a pool of her own tears. She could be found among her bed, wrapped up only in her own wings, crying relentlessly as her pity and sorrow overtook her thoughts and motor functions.
Three hard knocks then came to Luna’s door but sobbing as loudly as she was, the Lunar Princess did not hear anything save for her own howls. Another three knocks came to her door just as she had coughed and let her lungs gather more air so that she could keep crying. Hearing these rappings, Princess Luna looked up at her door.
“Princess Luna? It’s me, Twilight. I got your message.”
“Twilight?” Luna wiped at her eyes and looked towards her door. Was she dreaming? She had to be since she could not recall ever sending a letter to Twilight Sparkle, much less a letter to anypony at all.
A third set of knocks emanated throughout the large room and Twilight again announced herself to Luna. Swallowing hard and sucking in the mucus that drained from her nose, Luna closed her eyes and rubbed at them until they were dry. Then, with her magic, she unlocked the doors for Twilight to enter but quickly hid her face in her hooves and her back to the door as soon as she heard one of them slide open.
“Princess Luna, what did you want to see me about?” Twilight asked curiously after shutting the door behind her and seeing the mare huddled up on the bed with her back towards her.
“Twilight,” Luna whispered, letting out a loud sob. She looked over her shoulder directly at Twilight and opened her mouth to speak but instead of words escaping, more weeping had.
“Alone. I’m alone.
In the light, I’m alone.
In the dark, I’m alone.”
Luna cried for what felt like forever to her, repeating words that held utmost truth as she pleaded for salvation, begging for somepony to rescue her.
“Please, save me!” Luna screamed.
“I’m a good pony…
I want to be a good pony…
I’m bad. I’m a bad pony…”
“Please save me,” Luna begged. “Please save me, Twilight.”
“Princess Luna,” the alicorn princess whispered. She walked over to Luna’s bedside and listened to the mare as she sulked.
“Don’t let me go.”
“Trapped for a thousand years…
I never played my part…”
“I can’t save you.”
“Please, Twilight, don’t go.”
“After all you did...no. I’m sorry, Princess Luna.”
“Caged for a thousand years…
My soul, though broken…”
“Twilight, please,”
“I can’t.” Twilight had to look away from the weeping Lunar Princess, not only because she couldn’t bear to watch the alicorn cry nor wallow in melancholy, but also because she had to hide her own wet eyes.
“Is still uncharred…
I’m a good pony…”
“Please Twilight, hold me. Hold me, I beg of you,” Luna pleaded and looked up at the Princess of Friendship. “Please, don’t go.”
“Princess, I can’t. I just can’t,” Twilight replied sadly, only looking into Luna’s eyes for a second before looking away.
“I’m trapped in shadow…
I am scarred…
Please save me, Twilight…”
“Why can’t you? Do you still hate me?”
“No. No, I don’t hate you, Princess.”
“Then why?” Luna wiped her hoof against her runny nose. “Why can’t you save me?”
“I just can’t.”
“Sunsets have come and gone...
On the longest day…
I will break my bonds…”
“But why? I’m all alone. So alone.” Luna wrapped her hooves around herself and buried her muzzle into them, “I’ll never find purpose within this dark.”
“Princess, please.” Twilight’s demeanor was beginning to crack. Slowly, maybe, but it was starting.
“Without a spark,” Luna prayed. “Please save me, Twilight.”
“Why won’t you save me?
I’m at your mercy…
Please save me, Twilight…”
“Save me. Save me, please. Twilight!” Luna bawled, raising her head to the vaulted ceiling of her bedroom.
“I’m sorry, Princess.” Twilight stood up and removed herself from Luna’s bedside. “But I cannot save you from a darkness of your own design.”
“What?” Princess Luna looked to Twilight for answers, but found only a remorseful alicorn whose eyes held a silent sympathy.
“The rising sun burns me,” Luna told Twilight, “Please save me, Twilight.”
“The rising suns to come will continue to burn you still. I can’t save you. I’m sorry.”
Nopony will save me? Luna thought, No. Not that they will, but won’t. Nopony wants to save me.
“I’m alone in the dark,” Luna sobbed. “Don’t leave me here,” she cried. “Please, don’t let me go.”
Twilight stayed where she was, a single tear falling from her eye as she stared at the miserable princess. With a hard gulp, Twilight wiped away that one tear, then trotted over to Luna and put a hoof on the mare’s withers. It was here that the two princesses shared something for just a moment.
“Please save me, Twilight,” Luna begged once more, her teal eyes shining brighter than ever before against the dark bedroom.
“You’re...” Twilight gulped hard again as tears of her own began to well up.
What she was about to do would leave a mark for years to come, but Twilight had to do it. No, not had, wanted. Twilight wanted to hurt the Lunar Princess, and for what? Self-gratification? Self-reassurance? To make Luna feel the pain that she herself felt when she was lost in a horrible future? Whatever the reason was, Twilight just wanted to do something to Luna to make herself feel better.
“Twilight,”
“You’re alone, Princess Luna,” Twilight pulled herself away and turned her back to the mare, “forever alone in the dark.” Twilight jabbed further as she trotted towards the doors. Stopping just before opening them, she glanced back over her shoulder at Luna one last time. It became something she would regret forever once she saw just how broken the Princess of Dreams became from her final, soul-crushing words.
“Pretend I don’t even exist,” Luna cried, “for I will never find a purpose to exist in this dark.” Luna slammed her head into her pillow and whined loudly into it before lifting her head and screaming for the last time that Twilight could stand to hear: “Pretend I don’t even exist for I’ll never find my purpose without a spark!”
