Shing!
With a blinding flash of light, Twilight and Spike landed on the ground with a hard thud, having teleported not a second earlier.
Twilight groaned as she dizzily shook her head. They hadn't been far enough off the ground for her to have broken their fall, much to their dismay.
She heard Spike shudder as she weakly sat up, wind tearing through her mane as she looked over at him. She clenched her teeth as she breathed in the chilled air, her wings fluttering against her sides.
“C-cold,” Spike murmured, scurrying over to Twilight and burying his face in her coat.
Twilight wrapped a hoof around Spike in an attempt to stifle his involuntary shuddering. With a soft glow of her horn, she enveloped the two of them in her violet aura.
“You’ll warm up in a second, Spike,” Twilight cooed, her grip on him tightening as she glanced around.
Twilight hummed as she levitated Starswirl’s scroll over to her. It had landed a few feet away from them; the parchment fluttering slightly in the wind.
A faint numbness began spreading through Twilight’s hooves as she tucked the scroll away into her saddlebag. Her eyes widened as she examined the ground that they stood upon. It was a thick sheet of ice, the top layer had cracked after they landed, small fissures surrounded her in a threatening fashion.
It seemed stable for now, but Twilight’s luck wasn’t exceptionally high as of late. They needed to get moving as soon as possible.
“Are you warm enough?” Twilight whispered into Spike’s ear, her voice barely audible over the wind.
With a nod, Twilight allowed him to climb on top of her, shivering as another gust of wind scraped across his back. The warming spell that Twilight had cast on the two of them wouldn’t prevent hypothermia; they’d have to find the map quickly.
Twilight moved at a steady pace, not wanting to fall into the freezing fathom below, nor fall victim to the frigid wind.
“W-where a-are we?” Spike asked Twilight through chattering teeth.
Twilight wasn’t sure how to answer that question. The most she knew was that they were evidently in some kind of tundra biome, but there were no landmarks that she could identify. With a defeated sigh, she shook her head.
“I-I’m not sure, Spike. I don’t recognize anything.”
Spike buried his claws in Twilight’s coat as he stared up into the sky. An amalgamation of gentle light and cumulus overcast painted the scene— chaotic yet… beautiful.
“D-Do you think this is another timeline with Nightmare Moon? It’s n-not really daytime out right now. A-Actually, I can’t tell what time it is.”
Twilight mirrored his gaze. “That’s a good theory, Spike, but we can’t be sure just yet. Just be on your guard while we look for the map.”
With another nod from Spike, she pushed onward, grimacing as the numbness spread further up her legs. Each step kicked up snow as she walked, every bit of distance gained sapping her strength.
Not long after they had begun walking, Twilight spotted something in her peripheral vision.
She turned and squinted as the two of them approached a small forest, each tree topped with a thick layer of snow. Through the rows of trees, remnants of a settlement were faintly visible.
A faint smile fell upon Twilight’s face, then faded a moment later.
“It looks like we found a village, but it’s deserted from what I can tell.”
Spike drew in a deep breath as he used his dragon fire to heat his claws, he wasn’t going to last much longer at this rate.
“W-Well, it might lead us to the map, o-or give us a clue. I-It’s worth a shot, right?”
Twilight nodded as she surrounded the two of them in her aura. Twilight wasn’t interested in freezing to death today; they needed to move faster than they were. With a deep breath, they vanished.
Twilight screamed.
She stumbled back, her whole body becoming engulfed by mountain of snow behind her. Twilight flailed her forelegs, desperately trying to distance herself from the sight before her as she scrambled against the sleek ice. Her throat felt as if it was on fire as she attempted to suppress her visceral screaming.
There were bodies everywhere.
A wave of nausea overtook Twilight as she resisted the urge to gag. There was no stench, but the display of abundant frozen corpses was utterly abhorrent. Spike was lying face flat against the ground, recovering from the unexpected teleportation spell she’d casted on them.
“T-Twilight, what’s wrong?” Spike asked her as he picked himself up. In fervor, Twilight tackled him, shielding his eyes with her hooves from the horrible sight she had witnessed.
“H-Hey! What gives!?”
Twilight began to tremble as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. Across from them was a mother clutching her filly, the two of them completely iced over, a blue sheen refracting off their bodies.
They both looked helpless, their petrified expressions locked forever on Twilight, a silent plea for help.
“P-please, Spike…” Twilight pulled him closer, doing her best to repress the cracking in her voice. “Don’t open your eyes.”
He stopped struggling and slumped into her embrace, giving her a defeated sigh.
“O-okay... Twilight.”
An orange glow radiated from Twilight’s horn as she ignited a piece of plywood in front of them in a feeble attempt to garner what little heat she could.
The canopy of trees protected them from the harsh winds, but Twilight could do nothing to erase the macabre images that were now seared into her skull. It made her ever-more fearful, Starlight would not get away with this; the fate of Equestria was hanging in the balance.
Twilight yawned as the exhaustion finally started to catch up to her. Through bleary-eyed vision, she could barely see two engraved headstones near the edge of the village.
She gulped. She knew who they were, who they had to be.
Her pace degraded into a slow-crawl as she carried Spike on her back, approaching the makeshift cemetery with utmost trepidation.
“Can… can I open my eyes now?”
Twilight’s mouth parted slightly as she started to answer his question, though the words died in her mouth as she choked at the sight of the headstones before her. The text was illegible, but the symbols above each one were unmistakably recognizable.
Two familiar cutie-marks, one matching her own.
Spike toppled off Twilight’s back as he let out a sharp gasp, putting his claw to his mouth in order to stop himself from screaming. His eyes shrunk to pinpricks as he spun around, his tiny body now shaking more than ever.
Twilight’s ears lowered as she shot him a sympathetic glance, muttering a half-hearted apology before looking down at the plaque in front of the tombstones; this text was readable.
A student and her mentor,
your deaths were not in vain,
for your sacrifices set us free,
from a nightmare.
You will be remembered, eternally.
Twilight felt a chill crawl down her spine as Spike prodded her with a claw. Outside of the forest clearing, right in front of a statue, the map table stood.
“W-we need to get out of here, Twilight.”
She couldn’t agree more. In haste, she hoisted him unto her back and galloped toward the map. It was overshadowed by an ornate statue of impressive size made entirely of what she assumed was obsidian.
Twilight found herself gaping at the grandiose monument, grinding her hooves into the ice and stopping in her tracks entirely. Grand stone towers and lunar flags surrounded the rear sides of the statue, completing the sinister scene.
“T-Twilight? Can w-we get a move on? It's freezing out here!”
Without uttering a word, Twilight timidly trotted up the steps that led to the monument, ignoring Spike’s grunts of protest. Below it, a message was inscribed.
The end of a nightmare,
banished from Equus,
long live Princess Celestia Sol,
and her student,
Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight let out a weak gasp as her hind legs collapsed underneath her, causing Spike to fall off her back.
He grumbled as he picked himself up. “Twilight, we don't have time for this! We have to stop Starlight!”
Twilight stared off in the distance, a blank expression plastered across her face.
“We still managed to stop her, Spike. But even then, what good came out of it? Even with Nightmare Moon out of the picture, how many ponies died because of her?”
Spike’s bemused expression disappeared as it dawned on him as to what she was referring to. Nevertheless, he shook his head as he grabbed her hoof.
“Twilight, this is why we have to stop Starlight. We can't end up like… this.”
Twilight gave one long look at the map table, her expression darkening as thunder boomed in the distance.
She would end this, one way or another.
As the two of them reappeared back in Cloudsdale, Twilight reflexively raised a shield spell, causing a bolt of magic to ricochet off of them.
Starlight levitated over to them with a smug, wicked smile.
“Had enough, Princess? Or do I need to send you back again?”
Twilight stared at her with lifeless eyes, electing to say nothing as Starlight attempted to hit them with another spell, which Twilight easily deflected.
“Well? Don’t just stand there! Answer me!”
Twilight’s stoic expression remained as Starlight took a nervous step back. With a soft, yet broken sigh, Twilight spoke.
…
“Starlight… we were dead… all of us.”
Starlight scoffed. “You think I care about what happens to you and your friends? As far as I’m concerned? Mission accomplished, princess.”
Twilight shook her head. “No, Starlight. Everypony was dead.”
“There’s nothing you can say to me that will change anything, Princess. I can do this forever.”
Twilight glanced over in the direction of the racing circuit, a spontaneous thought crossing her mind.
“If I can’t say anything that will change your mind, maybe I can show you instead.”
With that, she raised her horn, glowing with a vibrant violet aura as Starlight reared back in response. At the last minute, Twilight redirected her attack, the bolt of magic hitting the filly Rainbow Dash square in the chest as she dropped out of the circuit.
Twilight lurched forward and tackled Starlight as the magical vortex appeared above them. Starlight yelped as Twilight pinned her against the cloud.
“Gah! What are you doing!? Get off!”
Twilight’s glare hardened as she strengthened her hold on Starlight, the three of them being lifted away one last time.
Twilight groaned as she pulled her face out of the snow, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw that Spike had landed alongside her.
Starlight stood there, staring at the mounds of frozen carcasses that littered the ground.
“Oh my Celestia…” she muttered.
Twilight pointed at the two graves near them. “Celestia’s right over there... if you want to talk to her yourself, that is.”
Starlight’s eyes widened as she saw the graves standing side-by-side, a small whimper escaping her mouth.
“I-I don’t…”
“Save your breath,” Twilight spat, picking herself up and walking over to her. “Listen, Starlight. I don’t know what happened to you. Quite frankly, I don’t think I want to, either. You need to realize that you can prevent this, you just need to let me help you.”
Starlight felt her eyes begin to water as she closed her eyes, trying her hardest not to look at the bodies. “I-I… didn’t know. How could I know? Sweet Celestia… I’m not a murderer, Twilight!”
“This is where your choices will lead. By your own hoof, or by your carelessness, it doesn’t matter. They’re gone, and it all comes down to your decision, right here, right now.”
Starlight felt the tears roll down her cheeks as her head fell. “I-I… I’m sorry, Twilight.”
“I know. Let’s go… Starlight.”
With a final spark of magic, the vortex pulled them into the aether, leaving the statue frozen in time.
Twilight and Celestia panted with exhaustion as they circled Nightmare Moon, the Elements of Harmony hovering around the two of them.
Nightmare Moon cackled. “This has been quite the treat, Celestia. But I’m afraid the novelty of it has worn thin. Let’s put an end to this.”
She fired a beam of raw mana aimed directly at the pair, forcing them to split apart. Celestia and Twilight found themselves on opposite ends of Nightmare Moon, their horns glowing even as they struggled to stand upright.
Celestia sighed. “Twilight, we’re aren’t going to defeat her at this rate, she’s grown far too strong.”
She wobbled as her stance shifted, the Elements were glowing more intensely now.
“If we channel ourselves into the Elements, they will be strong enough to banish her once more.”
Twilight gasped. “B-but doesn’t that mean… Is there no other way?”
Celestia closed her eyes as she spoke, “Prepare yourself, my dearest student… my closest… friend.”
In finality, the pair lit their horns. The Elements spiraled around the two of them, radiating with an immeasurable amount of power.
Nightmare Moon stepped back as she lifted her forelegs off the ground, her horn lighting up in preparation of a counterattack.
“Princess… I just want you to know… I love you.”
Celestia managed a small smile even as her hooves threatened to seize underneath her, life ebbing away.
“I love you too… Twilight.”
The combined magic of Celestia and Twilight gave off an iridescent, yet phantasmal light as it crashed down upon the dark alicorn, sealing her away into the earthen rock.
