Eventide

It was late in the afternoon, and ponies had gathered in Ponyville’s Town Hall to discuss the matter of their resident alicorn, Twilight Sparkle. Among them were the other five of the six element bearers, as well as Twilight’s assistant, Spike, and a couple of Twilight’s friends from her time at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, Lyra and Minuet.

How alarming it was for Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity to hear pony after pony approach the pulpit and testify that their friend, Twilight Sparkle, had told them that they were no longer friends, and that there was no magic in friendship. Even worse, Rarity had to add her voice to the testimonies against her friend, who had most recently risen to the position of alicorn princess. And, it was the same for Lyra.

The question arose, what would cause a pony that was such a staunch believer in the magic of friendship to suddenly start preaching that there was no link between friendship and magic? Hadn’t she proven, time and again, that the two were the same?

Then, Rainbow Dash was called, and had to testify of the difficulties that Twilight had been having since she’d earned her wings. But, after offering that testimony, she immediately stated that she believed that her friend wouldn’t give up on the magic of friendship just like that, simply because she was having difficulty learning how to fly. Whatever had happened, it wasn’t related to her inability to control her wings.

The next to be called was Applejack, who testified that, just a couple days ago, Twilight had told the five of them that she’d been visited by the princesses, and Princess Luna had told her that she was unable to find a connection between magic and friendship, and that there should be no further meetings among them until the connection was found again.

Spike, the next to be called to testify, talked about how, since that supposed visit from the princesses, which he hadn’t seen, Twilight had been behaving very strangely, first messing and wetting her bed, then cutting off all communication with the princesses and instead talking to herself. Then, the last night he’d been in the library, she’d told him that he was no longer her friend. She’d called him a lizard, and told him to either leave or drop dead.

As the hatchling dragon, upset at what he'd had to testify against his adoptive mother, returned to his position between Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and the former proceeded to comfort him, Mayor Mare approached the pulpit and asked, “So, what shall we do about this problem?”

For at least a minute there was silence.

Then, the pale-green unicorn rose to all fours, entered the closest aisle, and approached the pulpit. Once behind it, and as the mayor stepped to the side to give her room, Lyra said, “One of us needs to go talk to Twilight. And, I volunteer for that assignment.”

Presently, Minuet rose to all fours, reared up on her hind legs, raised a front hoof, and said, “I should go with you. After all, both of us have known Twilight since her school days.”

Lyra nodded and said, “You’re right, Minny, both of us were Twilight’s friends back then. If you want to come with me, then I welcome it.” Then, as Minuet settled back down, the pale-green unicorn looked around at the audience and asked, “Are there any other volunteers to come with me?”

In response, the five element bearers and Bon-bon rose to volunteer to join the group.

Lyra turned to the cream-colored earth pony, shook her head, and said, “No, Bon-bon. You don’t know Twilight as well as I do. I can’t risk your life for this.” And, with that, she left the pulpit and proceeded down the aisle toward the five element bearers.

In the mean time, as Minuet levitated herself over the other ponies to join up with Lyra and the five she was going to meet up with, Bon-bon leaped over the ponies between her and the aisle, then galloped to her unicorn friend and said, “No, Lyra, you don’t understand. I can help.”

The pale-green unicorn stopped only long enough to tell the cream-colored earth mare, “I’m glad you want to help, Bon-bon. But, Twilight’s a stranger to you. She’ll be more likely to respond to friends than to strangers.” And, with that, she continued on toward the five element bearers.

Immobilized with shock there in the aisle, all the cream-colored earth pony could do was watch her unicorn friend pass her by. It was a minute or two before she could find her voice, and by then it was too late. Alone in the aisle, she still said, “But, she does know me, as Sweetie Drops.” And, after that, she slumped down into a canine-style position, then sphinx-style. Finally, like a dog waiting for his or her master, she folded her forelimbs in front of her and rested her head over one side of them.

In the mean time, Lyra and Minuet met up with the five element bearers, and the group of seven started their march toward the library.

At about this time, Twilight was in the library, resisting as much as she could the growing influence of the other voice. She’d been asked what her normal duties at the library were, and she was maintaining silence, citing her lack of tongue and voice as her reason.

The other voice, in response to Twilight's resistance, asked, “Do you really think it matters to me if you cooperate or not? I will find out what your duties are, and I will fill them. No pony will ever know that I’m in control. So, you might as well tell me what I want to know now.”

Indignantly, Twilight asked, “Well, if it doesn’t matter anyway, then why bother asking me? You know so much about what it takes to run a library. So, go ahead. Run this one.”

At this response from the purple alicorn, the other voice growled, “I don’t need to run a library in order to succeed in my plans. I have the element of magic, and soon I’ll destroy the other elements as well. This is just a cover until I can get that done.”

For a moment, Twilight felt a wave of fear wash over her. Then, she calmed herself and said, “Wh-whatever y-your plans are, y-you won’t succeed. I’ll use all my strength to prevent it.”

Now, the other voice cackled for a few seconds before saying, “Your strength? You have no strength. I am your strength.” And, he cackled some more.

Calmly at first, Twilight said, “I know now that I was wrong to trust you. None of what you’ve said has made any sense.” Then, with a more determined tone, she added, “Whatever it takes, I’ll make sure that your plans fail. I’ll alert the princesses. I’ll have Spike write a letter. I’ll …”

Presently, the voice scoffed before asking, “The princesses? Spike? That lizard abandoned you already. And, do you think the princesses are ever going to trust in a creature that betrayed them as you have, that stopped talking to them?”

Hearing the voice laugh once more, Twilight said, “I only stopped communicating with them because you told me to, because you said you were the messenger between them and me. Like I said, I know I was wrong to listen to you now. I just want to make things right again.”

The voice growled back at her, “You stupid horse. Can’t you see it’s too late for you now? You’re a traitor. You’re the enemy. Do you really think the princesses are going to care about you, now that you’ve betrayed everything you believe in?”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. As her head turned automatically to see who was knocking, she recognized her friends immediately. She called out, “Lyra, Minuet, help me!”

Again the other voice laughed, then asked, “Haven’t you forgotten something? They can’t hear you, remember? I destroyed your voice box and your tongue.”

For a few seconds Twilight was silent with surprise. Then, she closed her eyes and planted a front hoof between them. Shaking her head, she said, “I should have known. There’s no known bat that’s venomous to ponies. None that live around in or around Ponyville, anyway.” She then stopped shaking her head, dropped her front hoof, and said, “You lied to me. Like you’ve been doing all along, you lied to me.”

Again the voice scoffed, then said, “Like that matters anymore. Like I said, I control the element of magic now. And, soon I’ll destroy all the element bearers. Then, there will be no ponies to invade my home.”

Twilight, latching on to two words, asked, “Your home? What home is that?”

The voice growled back to her, “If you will not help me, then be silent. Our first guest has already come in.”

And, sure enough, Lyra had opened the door and entered the library.

But, before anymore of the group could enter, Twilight used her magic to close the door behind the pale-green unicorn.

Lyra, recognizing the magical aura, said, “Twilight?” The one thing she was not prepared for was an aura of a different color, one that was black, to grab her and toss her further into the library, against the bookshelf of the opposing wall.

Helpless as books rained down around her, the pale-green unicorn could only look on in terror as she saw her purple alicorn friend galloping toward her, glaring. Before she could say anything, Twilight jumped at her and pressed a forelimb across her neck. Then, glaring into the pale-green unicorn’s eyes, Twilight, in a very different, more masculine voice, asked, “Lyra, what are you doing here? Have you come to betray me?”

Suddenly unable to vocalize, Lyra could only whisper, “B-betray you? I c-came here to t-try to h-help you.”

Grinning angrily, Twilight said, “Help me? What makes you think I need help?” And, she tilted her head to an almost unnatural angle.

The pale-green unicorn whispered, “I-I don’t know. All I know is th-that you’ve b-been t-telling everypony th-that f-friendship isn’t m-magic, and that n-nopony is your f-friend anymore. I j-just w-want to know wh-why.”

Now, Twilight’s head started twitching erratically back and forth as she said, “Why? Why don’t I believe in the magic of friendship anymore?” She then cackled before she continued, “Haven’t you heard? There was never any magic in friendship. They’re two … separate … things.” And, to emphasize the last three words, she struck Lyra across the face with her free front hoof while she said each of them.

Tears started to leak from the pale-green unicorn’s eyes, and blood from her nose and mouth, as she whispered, “B-but, you’ve proven that friendship is magic. D-don’t you remember? Y-you and y-your friends f-freed P-princess Luna from N-nightmare M-moon with the m-magic of f-friendship.”

Twilight glared into Lyra’s eyes and snarled, “And, what a mistake that was.”

The pale-green unicorn continued, “And, what about D-discord? Y-you and your f-friends returned him to his st-tone prison. A-and, F-fluttershy even r-reformed him, with the m-magic of f-friendship.”

Twilight slowly responded, “Discord was weak.”

Finally, Lyra whispered, “And, what about your wings? Don’t you remember? Starswirl didn’t understand friendship the way you did, the way you do. So, he wasn’t able to perfect the spell Princess Celestia gave you. But, you did; and because of that, you have your wings.”

With surprising force, Twilight threw her pale-green unicorn friend across the room as she cried out, “Enough!”

It took a few seconds after Lyra hit the wall before she could focus enough to rise to all fours again. And, when she did shakily rise again, she began to amble toward the purple alicorn as she said, “Twilight, I’m your friend. I will always be your friend.”

At this point, Twilight’s face took on an expression of remorse, and she also started to amble toward Lyra. But then, when there was less than twelve inches separating them, the expression of remorse on the purple alicorn's face turned into one of fury; and Twilight turned her back on her friend and, with as much force as she could muster, kicked the pale-green unicorn in the head with her back legs.

The resulting force caused Lyra to fly once again, but this time into the corner between two book shelves. But, not only that, her skull cracked and split open, exposing her brain.

At this point, Lyra felt no pain. But, as she started to lose consciousness, she looked up at the purple alicorn and said, “Twilight, … we … will … forever … be … friends.” And, she collapsed into unconsciousness.

Twilight ambled over to the fallen unicorn and said, lifting up a front hoof, “I think not. You and I are friends … no more.” And, with that, she brought the hoof down on the fallen unicorn’s windpipe.

As, within her head, Twilight watched her front hoof crush her friend’s throat, helpless to stop it, she silently cried out, “No!” Then, she watched as a vapor leaked upward from the body; and she whimpered, “I’m so sorry, Lyra. Please, don’t hold this against me. I’m not in control. It’s the other voice. Please, forgive me.”

Then, the only voice that could speak for her asked, “Other voice? You still don’t recognize me? You don’t remember Nightmare Moon? Or, how about King Sombra?” And, the voice once again started to cackle.

Twilight answered, “No, I still have no idea who you are. And, what do Nightmare Moon or King Sombra have to do with it?”

Now, the other voice chuckled for a second or two longer before saying, “The element of magic doesn’t know who I am.” And, he laughed again, loud enough that it hurt Twilight’s ears. Then, as Twilight cowered in a corner of her consciousness, the voice said, “Step five is now complete. I have full control over the element of magic. And soon, I will control and destroy all the other elements. And, with them under our control, the tantabi will have control of Equestria, forever!” And, again he laughed long and loud in the purple alicorn’s ears.