Chapters 1: The Path of Friendship
Princess Celestia had been standing on the balcony of the great Canterlot Castle. It was really late at night. She looked at the sky, today was the night of the crimson red moon.
"Tsk!" Princess Celestia tsked in disapproval. On nights like this, she especially hated the moon. On a contrary she didn't hate her sister, that would be completely absurd. She hated that dusty old lifeless rock that's been hanging in the sky right now.
One thousand years ago exactly on this day, thanks to the accidental impulse of magic she was forced to send her own sister directly to the moon. Not that she was refusing to listen to her.
There was also another thing that she never liked. Every time there was some kind of major disaster Princess Celestia could always rely on the blood moon to serve her as a warning, sometimes several weeks in advance.
The blood moon had been there on the day two weeks before Nightmare Moon rebellion. What a small little book doesn't actually say is that in addition to their family drama there was also the entire forgotten history of city-states failing to recognize the legitimacy of Princess Celestia actions.
Despite what Princess Luna herself thought about herself she was a very respectful member of society back in the day, and her sudden disappearance presented extreme difficulties to Princess Celestia back in the day.
The small little book also forgets to mention vast socio-economic issues of that era. Talking about politics in the book designed for little foals isn't that exciting as talking about the epic battle between two Alicorns.
The same exact blood moon pooped several weeks before Sunset Shimmer's corruption. Princess Celestia should have known better.
The next time blood moon has appeared was the day when the Sun failed to rise for a thousand's time. Celestia cringed at that one, throwing her only student at her mentally unstable sister didn't feel like it was a good idea at the time, but she needed to do something about it before Equestria once again could have been split in half by the warring factions. There were plenty of families left who were still loyal to her sister.
Right now all of that remained in the past. Right now she was just standing there on the balcony slowly hating the moon in the skies above.
"Boring!" Discord just didn't give a buck to the proper narration. "You do realize that hating something is extremely unhealthy."
"What do you want," Celestia sighed "Are you really going to lecture me about hatred?"
"I don't see why not? We are currently on the same team!"
"I wish I could have gotten that memo from you when you decided to throw it all away when you started running all over the country with Tirek!"
Discord just made a face, "Details, details. Twilight Sparkle and her friendship squad still managed to beat him, didn't she? All of that was part of the plan anyway. I mean really, you gave her all of that firepower and told her to run. Do you really expected her to just run away?"
A whole bunch of Discords in cheerleading outfits started jumping around, "Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! Who is going to save the day? Twilight!"
Celestia snorted in annoyance "We are all went into panic mode! Honestly, all of us was expecting that she would actually find this solution much sooner!"
Fortunately for Celestia Discord dismissed the cheer squad with a flick of his claw, it was only a one time use gag after all. "So?"
"Don't fail me again Discord!" Celestia was about to say something else but Discord vanished into the thin air. "Tsk!" once again she snorted in annoyance.
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle spend her first evening in her brand new castle. She didn't really have another choice. Her tree library had been destroyed by Tirek. Right now she is sleeping happily in her own bed. She was happy because during the nights she could finally relax from the stress of being a hero of Equestria.
The table in the main hall flashed with bright violet light. A small string of light as thin as the laser connected the table and the bedroom where Twilight had been sleeping.
Twilight Sparkle was in the castle of two sisters. She looked around, I guess I am still sleeping, but why am I here? She thought to herself. She then tried to fly, but then soon discovered that she can't, not yet at least. Must be the memory of some sort, or is it just how my subconscious sees myself.
Suddenly a slightly hysterical laughter could be heard from somewhere. That only made Twilight even more curious so she went to the source of the sound.
What he saw next surprised her a bit, in the same exact room where she first saw the elements she saw an afterimage of herself and her friends defeating Nightmare Moon. Once the rainbow beam smashed into Nightmare Moon the reality shuttered and then everything went white.
Twilight Sparkle stood up she is an Alicorn, she relaxed a bit, she was slightly happier to have her own wings back. It was strange actually how much alien her old body felt like.
She looked around, this time she was in a completely new place. Sand, lot's of and lot's of red sand, that's how would she have described it to somepony if they had never been there. It was beautiful and scary at the same time. Twilight thought she could hear the cries of an animal somewhere.
Twilight thought that maybe it's not really a good idea to stick around to find out what that animal was. By instinct, ponies were evolved from the herbivore species, and dragons weren't always eating gems. All of the evidence of a hostile behavior points out that dragons consider ponies as weaker inferior species. It always puzzled Twilight how they just openly mocking Princess Celestia, who by their standards should be a symbol of strength and power.
She saw a cave entrance hidden in the sand maybe she should go inside, at least she felt like something has been calling her. Once again she thought of why she was even here of all places. Where exactly here?
Suddenly a small whisper whispered softly inside of her head. "Why it's the place where I was born on. It would be only natural if I invited the pony who defeated me here of all places." In the blink of the moment the whisper grew into the same sickening laughter she heard before.
"Nightmare!" Twilight gasped "I defeated you!"
"Yes, you did! How did it feel child? Did you feel joy? Excitement! The Thrills!" After a moment or so Twilight heard mocking laughter
"You are delusional, I only reunited you with your sister! Also, why am I arguing with a ghost?"
"You are the one who is delusional! " Nightmare Moon screamed in anger, and then everything went silent.
"I am not a killer! I never killed anypony!" Twilight slowly whispered to herself.
"Liar!" One simple word infuriated Twilight and then the sparks of a bright purple lightning run all over the Twilight's horn. One of the bolts collided with the wall with a loud cracking noise, more laughter followed.
Twilight heard a loud banging noise which caused her to jump in fright. She turned around she saw how in the place where a there once stood a wall there was now an entrance to the small cavern which by the looks of it looked like a burial chamber. She stepped in inside and then pushed one of the tombs. She didn't know exactly why she just heard a whisper telling her to do it. It was equally annoying to hear her whisper and so far she didn't see any harm in any of it.
Twilight saw a small metal cylinder that was mixed in with a bunch of very old armor and very old bones. That cylinder was very old too but somehow it shined as brand new.
Twilight grabbed it with her magic, on a side, there was a button which she then pressed. Almost immediately the thin beam of red light materialized on the one edge of the cylinder like if it was a blade. In fact, it reminded her of swords that many members of the Royal Guard carried as part of their training.
Curiously Twilight swung it side to side of the stone floor, which resulted in the weapon to spark and hiss.Twilight switched it off and then she went outside of the tomb. "I wonder whats going to happen next?" With a cracking noise, the reality snapped again in a burst of glass and then reconstructed herself back up. She looked to see her surroundings. She saw herself only in the human form in a human world. She saw everything, she saw Sunsets transforming into the monster. She saw beams of light fusing into a rainbow and then striking Sunset Shimmer in a brilliant explosion.
Once again Twilight heard a whisper "You protected them even though you could have just let them be!"
"And then what, let her lead an invasion army to Equestria?"
"What. did you really think that idiot actually has any chance of succeeding in leading her little invasion army? More importantly, you could just have grabbed the crown and run."
"Well I didn't, are you going to fight me on this?"
"No I wouldn't, but look what your negligence and interference in this world changed their lives." The world reconstructed itself again and this time she saw sirens get hit by a rainbow alicorn
"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything I was extremely useless!"
The voice started to whisper again "You gave those three the power to do whatever they wanted, and then you just ruthlessly have taken it all away from them. How cunning of you, I am almost so proud of you!"
"..."
"Who knows you probably left those three for death, but anyway I never cared for the weak, I just thought you might!"
"Is that it? Are We done here?"
"For now!" The voice whispered mysteriously. This time Twilight slept without any interruptions. When she woke up she found out that there was an overly familiar metal cylinder that's been laying beside her table.
"For a moment I was hoping it would be just a dream!"
"In a manner of speaking!"
Twilight eyes widened, almost immediately she called the sword to her side and then after activating it she aimed the crimson red beam towards the intruder. Hower after she saw who he was she then relaxed a bit.
"Oh so hostile!" Discord mocked her "And you can use it too, how Mary Suish of you! But no matter!" he then casually walked to her and then grabbed the beam with his paw. slowly inch by inch he pushed it into submission until the blade disappeared completely. "You know I have one of those toys as well, I never understood why everyone wants them."
"Toys? Mary Sue? What the hay are you talking about Discord?"
"Its nothing for you to worry about my dear! Let's just say I am willing to teach you! Are you willing to learn from me?"
"Why the hey would I do that?" Twilight blurted it out, she then noticed that she is still holding a cylinder. She quickly put it back on the ground she thought she would probably lose if she would ever try to fight with Discord.
"Well I could just let you be and let her slowly corrupt you, or I could give you a chance to choose your own path! So what is it going to be?"
Twilight thought about it, "I... I already have a teacher, and she told me about friendship! There is nothing, not even that old hug from Tartarus is going to change that!"
"Your confidence, that what I like it about you. Bye bye!" he waved her a paw and then disappeared. "I will see you later, and I am oh so eager to see what will you do."
Twilight sighed, she picked up the cylinder "I better find something to attach it too. Maybe I should ask Rarity or something? But for now, this will do just fine!" She focused a bit and then she just shoved the cylinder into the pocket dimension "There all save and sound, and it wouldn't bother anypony else. I should go and wake Spike!"
Author's Note
So why I've made Twilight into a Sith instead of Jedi? I kind of always thought that Sith are a bit more interesting then Jedi are. Even Sith can be a good guy sometimes if they want too.
2:Troubled Past, Uncomfortable Present
Several Days Later...
Twilight Sparkle had been standing in front of the crystal table, by now she already had been awake. After so many years she has trained herself to wake up every single day at approximately 6 a.m. Sharp. She had too, the combination of several factors contributed it. For example, as a student of Princess Celestia, she was expected to wake up early morning and go straight to the classes at the School for Talented Unicorns. Yes, even the Princess herself wouldn’t save you from general education. Another thing was that since all the castle staff had been pretty much living in the castle, and that means it was almost impossible to get any sleep thanks to all of the noise they had been generating,
Right now she had been self-practicing with the energy sword in a quiet environment of her castle. The glowing stick behaved as the weapon, and it reminded her of old-fashioned legends of various knights, legionary, and centurions, sometimes even hoplites which were basically grampy ponies in a suit of rusty armor going on a bunch of adventures brandishing their rusty swords and spears. Sometimes they end up going after a random dragon, basilisks, and hydras. Sometimes if they lucky enough they will meet Cthulhu. Why wouldn’t Equestria have them?
Twilight swang it sideways, with an audible whirring sound the blade obeyed her telekinetic commands from her horn. She swang it, again and again, methodically in a beautiful dance of a red light.
Twilight’s mind went back into the past, she remembered how part of the program she was required to learn the self-defense.
Seven years old Twilight Sparkle has been standing in the large castle yard. Right in front of her, a royal guard had been standing. This one was her combat instructor.
“Go on, come forward and pick a wooden stick of your choice. Quickly Twilight decided which stick she wanted, and then she took it with her telekinesis.
“I see, an interesting choice!” A guard instructor commentated on her choice, Right now Twilight had been holding a stick that would have been simulating a usage of a single sword. “Why don’t you take a second stick, two swords are better than one.”
Twilight shook her head declining the offer, “No thanks, I will probably hit you harder with just one stick.”
Combat Instructor nodded and then gestured to her to start attacking whenever she is ready. “Go on then and try to hit me then!” He himself was holding a long stick which supposed to simulate a spear or any other staff based weapon.
Twilight raised her stick and with a scream, she ran toward him, with a precision strike he knocked her of her hooves and then knocked away her stick from her grip, he then pointed the end of his stick to her face “You are dead, try again!”
Several minutes went by, routinely Twilight had been getting hit and then ended up fake killed by her instructor in more and more creative ways.
“I am still waiting for you to strike me down,” he said to her with a cocky smile, which only caused her to glare at him. She stood up and caught the wooden stick that was tossed back to her, “Try again!”
Twilight smiled to herself, all of that was the idea of the Princess, she said it would help Twilight to iron out all of the possible anger issues. If she can learn how to fight then it would be an added bonus. In a way it helped her, the guard instructor turned out to be a pretty chill guy, and both of them earned each other respect at the end. By the time Twilight learned how to teleport she started to use it to her advantage, and eventually, she too managed to strike him on more than one occasion.
A beeping noise distracted her which then caused her to start paying attention to her surroundings, she looked around and then she saw the source of the noise. Was the noise had been originating from the table? About a few seconds later the table had light up and then the map of the whole world projected on it. Several seconds later after the image of Twilight’s cutie mark glowed and then separated from her flank and then froze in a random location on the map. Not only that but Twilight noticed that five other cutie marks had been there as well.
“Well, I guess that makes it very interesting! Twilight thought it would be best to wait for other girls, but for now, she switched off her saber and then she attached it right next to her saddlebags. Turns out she didn’t have to wait that long after about twenty minutes all of her friends came “You’ve seen it too?” Twilight was referring to the fact that they probably saw their cutie marks light up and then flew away into the direction of the castle.
“Yep, I was having my usual day at Sugarcube Corner, and then, well my cutie mark started glowing it was a bit weird actually!” all the others nodded as well pretty much in agreement that it went pretty much the same way. Applejack had been on her farm, Rainbow Dash had been sleeping, Fluttershy had been feeding her animals, Rarity was busy working on her project, and Spike was there too.
“So what do you think it all that means?” Twilight heard Spike’s voice.
“I don’t know Spike, but whatever it is you have to stay here!”
“But Twilight?”
Twilight swallowed, she didn’t want to use that tone of voice which she going to use right now. It was similar to a parent scolding her disobedient child. Spike wasn’t just part of a family, he was a friend. “I said you had to stay here! If we do not come back in three days, then you should go to Princess Celestia. You will tell her where we went. Is that understood?” she said with a slight hint of steel in her voice.
Spike’s eyes widened “I am sorry.”
Twilight swallowed again, “No don’t apologize. It’s me who should be sorry.” She then blinked, “Are we all agreed with the plan?”
“I guess”, Everypony else nodded in agreement.
“Alright, for now, I want you to go do your business as normal, but I expect you all to.. Hm let’s see,” Twilight quickly glanced on the map she saw a couple of railroad tracks that being zigzagging to her destination. “Lets us meet at the railroad station at noon! And then we would all go traveling.”
Twilight Sparkle was twelve, she was currently been sitting in the Royal Library doing her homework for Princess Celestia. She heard hoofsteps of the pony entering the library and then coming closer and then stopping, she smiled because she recognized the pony who is now standing behind her.
“How long are you going to be standing there big brother? Come on just go and sit down on the chair.”
“I would have, but you are sitting here doing your own work, and I just don’t want to bother you!” Shining Armor trotted next to her and sat down
“Shining, please, you are already bothering me by just standing here under my own nose.”
“Sorry!”
Twilight stopped doing her work, and then started paying attention to her brother “Shining why are you really here?”
“Since we barely see each other, I thought I just visit you today, if I really bother you that much then I guess I am not being welcomed here.”
Twilight groaned, “No Shining its fine, just forget it. I can’t really kick you out from the public library.”
Shining grinned at her “Is that a challenge?”
Twilight smiled, “Yes, Yes it is.”
Next dream sequence...
Celestia has been standing on the balcony watching Twilight in the courtyard, Several seconds later she sighed and then she turned to Sergent Shining Armor who is currently had a few broken ribs as well as a bleeding nose.
“Was it really worth it?”
“Now that you’ve mentioned, my little sister will go very far! But, yeah she knows how to throw her punches!” Shining flinched from the pain.
“Is there anything else you learned from your little sibling skirmish?”
Shinning Armor flinched once again “Yeah, being zapped with lightning bolt hurts like a bitch! I am sorry Princess.”
“Its fine Sergent, I do not expect from the members of my armed forces to just stop swearing in my presence. However, I would recommend that you would take it down a notch.”
“Of course ma’am!...Do you think we are rushing this thing?”
“Sergent..please understand that right now we don’t have any more room for mistakes!...I was really hoping for that two of my best students could have an opportunity to work together!... But, right now... I am forced to use her as a weapon against my enemies! And I am really sorry to be forced to put her in unnecessary danger.”
“We will do what we must?” Shining Armor sighed.
“Exactly!” Princess Celestia put on a sad smile and then turned back to watch Twilight fighting. “I am sorry Twilight.”
Next dream sequence...
Twilight Sparkle was sixteen. With a scream, she teleported next to her opponent, and then almost instantly she slammed her opponent into the ground. At the same time, she sent a small jolt of lightning which caused her opponent to flinch.She was about to execute her finishing strike when the overly familiar voice of Princess Celestia could be heard.
“TWILIGHT! THAT’S ENOUGH!”
Twilight sighed, turned, and then obediently trotted away. She heard a cracking noise of teleportation, and then she turned to see who it was, as she expected it was Princess Celestia herself looking at her with curious and sad eyes. “Twilight, please just go to your room! We are going to talk later”
Twilight nodded and then continued to trot toward her destination.
Celestia sighed, “I feel like I am making the same exact mistake. Damn it, but I am almost out of time.” She then went to the pony in order to inspect his injuries...
Twilight woke up, she was currently on a train that currently going somewhere North. I must have fallen asleep. She looked at the ponies around her, it would seem to be that none of them didn’t notice anything yet. Except for one pony that is. Currently, Rarity has been looking at her with the same exact curious and sad eyes, the same exact that Princess Celestia did all of those years.
“Is something wrong, dear?”
“Rarity it’s fine I am just having a dream, I just don’t know if it’s good or a bad dream! Say, Rarity, how long was I asleep anyway?”
“I am not really sure because this train car kind of put us all to sleep. I would have to guess that it’s been about several hours or so!”
True to Rarity’s words Twilight soon fell asleep once again.
Twilight Sparkle was back to the age sixteen, she was sitting in her room, she felt like she was being scolded by simply trying to do her best, she heard a knocking sound, but that would mean that...
“Do you want to see me, Princess Celestia?”
“Yes, may I come inside my faithful student?”
“Of course!” Twilight heard Princess Celestia enter the room and then the next thing she heard is the sound of door closing.
“Twilight... I need to tell you something.I also wanted to discuss something with you! It would seem that whatever strategy I am trying to use it’s not really working... So with heavy heart, I must do this.”
“Princess Celestia, I don’t understand!”
“Twilight!” Celestia’s eyes hardened “You will be benevolent...”
Twilight’s eyes dulled in return “I will be benevolent...”
“You must be kind...”
“I must be kind...”
Celestia continued her mental conditioning, “You will purge all the hatred and aggression...”
“I will purge all the hated and aggression....”
“...From your heart, from your soul...”
“...From my heart, from my soul...”
“...From the other ponies hearts and souls...”
“...From the other ponies hearts and souls...”
“...You are the weapon of the Harmony, unconditional and unstoppable!...”
...I am the weapon of the Harmony unconditional and unstoppable...”
“...You will forget...”
“...I will forget...”
“...The Darkness must not consume you...”
“....The Darkness must not consume me...”
“....The cycle of eternal hatred must stop...”
“...The cycle of eternal hatred must stop...”
Celestia’s relaxed her eyes, which then caused Twilight’s eyes to snap out from the trance. Twilight fell asleep soon after that.
Twilight was fully awake now if what she saw now in her dream is true then...she felt extremely used... It sickened her so much that she wanted to throw up. They were all agreed to something else! But this? For now, she still had a job to do, but then, then...
“Twilight we are here!” she heard Rarity’s voice.
Twilight’s mind snapped back to the reality “Uh, what?”
“Twilight we arrived at our destination, this is our last stop. The girls had been wondering when you are going to join us! It seemed like you weren’t even here.”
“Right, I am sorry. I... Just please give me a minute I need to focus.” Twilight swallowed “It was a bad dream after all.”
Rarity eyes widened, “Of course Twilight, I understand!”
Twilight had her eyes closed, and yet she still heard Rarity’s hoof steps exiting the train car. A whole minute later and then Twilight herself followed Rarity.
Their trek took several more hours, and by the time they all arrived right near what looked like a small settlement. A faint music and singing could be heard.
“Is this where the map wanted us to go? I don’t know all of them just seems to be happy.”
Pinkie Pie just simply shook her head, “I don’t know Twilight I just have a faint feeling that this village is a pile of Doo Doo.”
Twilight thought about what Pinkie Pie said, “Um, I am sure of it that all of us are here for a reason, and I think we are about to find out what that reason was.”
“Even me?” Applejack voiced her own opinion, “I am not really sure why would you drag us all out on this little adventure, or Rainbow Dash, or...”
“Because all of you signed up for this shit when you received the bling bracelets, and then we fired a Rainbow Friendship Beam at Nightmare Moon.” Twilight was slightly annoyed by what AJ just said to her, after some time she forced to calm down a bit.
Rainbow Dash glared at Applejack, “What the actual buck Aj. This. Was so not cool. We are friends, and friends to stick together.”
“Alright this is what we are going to do, we are going to go down there, and if it really nothing then it’s even better right?”
“I guess....aw!” Applejack felt Rainbow smacking her with the hoof on the back of her head. “Hey, I said I am sorry!”
“Well, I guess I never heard that apology.”
Applejack blinked and then quickly apologized to Twilight, “There I did it, are you satisfied Rainbow?”
“Yeah! I am!” Rainbow Dash screamed angrily
Fluttershy threw a worried look at Pinkie Pie and then whispered to her.
“Is something wrong? No, I just know it, that something is wrong, everypony is just acting out like they are not themselves.”
“Like I said that village down there is full of Doo Doo,” Pinkie Pie whispered back.
All of them descended downhill and then entered the unfamiliar territory. The ponies who lived there, all of them had a strange dull look in their eyes. Twilight felt her fur rise up in almost in a primal instinctual way. Forcing to ignore the nagging feeling she and the rest of the team trotted next to some random pony.
Twilight tapped her hoof on the shoulder of nearby pony. “I am really sorry, but I and my friends were kind of wondering if you could just point us in direction of where is, um your town’s mayor is. What I am trying to say is, well, take us to your leader.”
‘Oh, you mean Starlight?”
Twilight smiled “yes her, um so where would she be?”
“All the way over there!” she pointed to the house that’s been located right next to the hill.
“Oh of course!”Twilight felts like she would need to mentally kick herself, the answer was just so obvious.”Why I am not surprised that the leader would place her own house separate from all others!” Twilight threw a metaphorical fish hook, she was hoping that somepony would provide her with more information. “You know it helps them feel superior about themselves. For example, rich ponies build fancy castles, and the rest of the poor ponies build simple buildings like that.”
“Oh no! No! No! We are all equal here, and that includes our leader Starlight Glimmer.”
Twilight thought that she shouldn’t argue, that wasn’t a point. Right now she just received her aha moment. Horseshit! Like hey, this is equality. “Oh, by the way, have you heard about Tirek?”
Mare raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think that we are, what kind of pony he was?”
Pinkie Pie pitched in. “He wasn’t actually a pony, he was a power hungry hundred meters tall centaur, I thought that you might have noticed him,” She made a step forward towards the mare, " He was like Raaaaaah I am going to take all of your magic , “She made another step forward towards the mare. “And Twilight was like I am going to send you back to pony hell ,”She made the final step towards the mare! Her face was almost right in front of her face.” and then they went into a Super Sayan mode, and that’s how Equestria exploded!”
“Thank you very much, Pinkie!” Twilight laughed nervously, and then pulled Pinkie back with her telekinesis!
A few seconds later they continued to trot towards the house where somepony by the name of Starlight Glimmer.
“Pinkie, do you really needed to do that? You scared that mare half to death with your enthusiasm?” Twilight asked Pinkie Pie.
“Well, not really sure, but did you noticed how she flinched when she heard me describing who Tirek was.”
“Yeah, that was a bit weird.” Twilight went to the door and knocked on it. About thirty seconds later the door is opened and all of them saw a light pink unicorn with a light blue stripe that’s been located on a purple mane.
“Hi,” Twilight started off, “we are from the ponytarian services.”
“Ponytarian services?” Starlight asked with confusion in her voice.
“Yes, you see Equestria is constantly under a lot of pressure from countless villains trying to invade it. After the fight between a bad guy and the good guy ends... Well that, this is where we step in. It’s our responsibility to make sure that everyone who is affected by the disaster is on the path of recovery.”
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash dropped a quick glance at the random pony who happens to be nearby, in that case, that was Rarity. “I am not sure what Twilight is trying to pull, but I don’t think that Starlight pony is going to buy it,” she started whispering to Rarity.
“Hardly anypony is aware that our Twilight is a Princess of Equestria, especially all the way out here.” She whispered back.
Rainbow Dash nodded, “I guess it's the usual then. I almost expect it that something will go wrong eventually.”
Author's Note
Like in the show this is a two-parter. In the next chapter is going to cover even more memories and than the final confrontation in the cave, after that, we will see. Just so you know Celestia is not evil she is just desperate.
A few months back during the nightmare crisis…
A dark smoke slowly started to seep in towards the occupant of the top room of Carousel Boutique. Slowly but surely it entered the mare’s ear. Rarity was having a somewhat pleasant dream with all of her friends on the picnic, that until the scene suddenly changed and the reality of the dream shuttered into million pieces.
“What the hey just happened?” Rarity looked around, her environment slowly started to reform itself, she noticed that she was in some kind of dark room. “Uh, I think I understand whoever designed this room is the distasteful imbecile.”
The room in question was extremely boring from her point of view, it was dark, made of metal or stone, she wasn't sure which it was. The interior design was no better, the room looked like nopony cleaned in it for years “So much dust, this is unacceptable.”
At least we could agree on something, I didn’t use this room for almost three millennia, and without any slaves it very difficult to find a good maid.
“Ew, slaves, how ghastly! Who are you really, and why I am here?”
You are my guest, now stop whining. The voice whispered in slight annoyance, Trust me on this it's going to be a lot easier for everypony if you cooperate.
“I already was forced into slave labor by brutes, I told them that the lady like me just simply aren’t going to be humiliated by them, and I will tell you right now the same exact thing.”
No you idiot I didn't call you here because I require housekeeping … you are a guest. The voice suddenly cut her off, and then suddenly softened. Just forget about this room for a moment. It's been abandoned long ago, and I forgot about it until a few minutes ago.
“Pitty!” Rarity sighed, ”I still don’t know who you are?”
I would be better for you to not to know, besides I think we already met me,
Rarity was confused for a moment, “I am sorry dear, but I don’t think I can recognize your voice.”
You don’t? That's very disappointing to hear. Perhaps I should tell you the story Long time ago I and my sister had been living on our planet, we were happy, our subjects were happy, and then they came on their ships from the stars. They came, they waged war, some of them left their shipwrecks stayed behind. Their relics, no, their artifacts had been mixed with our Equestria and before we knew it it's already too late
“Wait, you are... You are talking about Celestia and Luna, aren't you? They are two sisters in their story but wait, this place… You said that you are the owner of this place...I am sorry dear but there are some things I still don’t understand.”
Shush child, I am not finished yet, at that time two sisters were both young and foolish, however, they were both happy because they were both together. Even when they went against Discord they were both happy.After Discord, there was that imbecile of a King they call Sombra. Those two sisters still didn't fully understand what's going on, and yet they were both happy.
“Because they were both together?”
Yes... After a long silence the voice continued, Before long I was born and then everything changed… No, I wasn't born, that's a bit misleading… I was always been there. I was part of that cursed fleet that came to the Equestria and then and then crashes landed here of all places, I was the one who influenced Discord, Sombra and then Luna to rise up against the light. Even those fools Tirek and Chrysalis was also part of my plans….Do you understand now, do you know who I am?
“Alright, you told me a completely bizarre story but I think I do understand. You are Nightmare Moon, right! So what exactly Nightmare Moon wants with me?”
I want for others to understand. I want them to understand. So I want to use you to help them understand.
Rarity patiently waited for the voice of Nightmare to continue, and so the voice of Nightmare continued.
My sister Celestia grew bitter and jaded, the loss of her sister wrecked her life to the point she started to hate everything that happened. She knew the basics of the eternal conflict between the Light and the Darkness, she just started to refer to all of this as madness between the two. She experienced the loss of her sister, several millennia later she lost her apprentice to the dark side, and then came Twilight Sparkle...
“Twilight, what about her?”
Twilight, as her name might suggest is the miracle child. She has a potential to use both Light and Darkness, however, my sister doesn't wish to anything to do with the Darkness. She would prefer for Twilight to stay exclusively Light and only Light.
“You have to explain to me a few things, but first you said that Princess Celestia started to hate … what are you suggesting?”
Perhaps what I am trying to say is that my sister Celestia is in danger of falling into Darkness, it's really funny actually.
Rarity gasped, “What do you mean by Twilight been able to use both Light and Darkness, isn't it kind of like being good and evil.”
Rarity could feel a slight change in the air around her as if Nightmare Moon was genuinely disappointed. It's not that simple, the truth is a lot more complicated than that. I suppose you could even say that there is no such thing as good and evil, which is true from a certain point of view. However here is the catch. Darkness by its nature is absolute, and the Light is not. Both must exist together and not Individually, therefore it's the will of the Universe, or as some would call it the Force.
Rarity thought she is going to say something else, but Nightmare Moon remained silent.
“What am I supposed to...”
Think fast, long time ago Discord was evil, Celestia and Luna they both were good, then came Tirek, after him Sombra, after him Luna fell, millennia later the apprentice succumbed to the Darkness, after that I return and is defeated by Twilight. Then the old evil returns and gets vanquished by you once again. The balance of power is eventually gets shifted towards the Light, and the Force doesn't like that. Can you make a guess what would happen if you keep continuing reforming the villains?
“What would happen if we continue to reform the villains?” Rarity slowly repeated the question, then she slowly blinked. “But, they were evil, and being evil is….”
Not always wrong, why if anything from a certain point of view all you do is force people to be good, you brainwash them and mold them to behave. To be perfectly obedient, to force them into your pitiful ways. Correct me if I wrong but that would be not only evil but is extremely hypocritical to the cause of your own goodness.
“No, you are wrong!” Suddenly Rarity almost screamed in anger, “Everyone just needs a little something to be themselves to be who they were meant to be kind, generous, sometimes light-hearted, sometimes honest, sometimes true to yourself, and sometimes..., and sometimes…”
Yes... Nightmare asked curiously.
“And sometimes you need a little spark of magic, I hope that someday you will understand it as well.”
Even if it's going to be very dangerous for everyone to stay in this kind of mentality?
“Even if it is going to be that way, ponies are going to stay strong to their believes...” Rarity replied
Fine… Just go…. I release you for now... Nightmare Moon dismissed Rarity and then she vanished from the room.
Rarity felt herself to be pulled back to the reality, and then she looked around herself, she was still in the company of her best friends, she smiled to herself because she felt to be happy in the company of her friends.
Meanwhile in the dark void…
Nightmare Moon materialized herself, she was still in that room, however, she felt tired of the interior of that room, so she slightly changed it. She was now in her old castle of the two sisters that was located on the edge of the Everfree forest. Using her memories she visually restored like it used to be. By luck or by the curse of it Nightmare Moon could see the future as well as the past. So right now with a slight annoyance, she had been observing how the purple alicorn had been running around in her own castle for a few seconds before she end ups right behind one of her maids.
She thought she felt a very familiar presence that by now probably had been here for awhile, so she decided to call her out. “I am surprised that you keep allowing for me to intervene and play with them for my own amusement!”
“Only because I am vigilantly watching you from shadows, and so far I believe you both had a very pleasant conversation, did you not ”
Nightmare Moon flinched, because from her point of view what's being pleasant was actually debatable ”Uh, the watchdog is watching from the shadows.”
Princess Luna completely materialized from the shadows, “Star Daemon!” She hissed through her teeth. ”Don’t you dare...Don't you bucking dare to play your games with me, you ripped me away from my sister all the way back then. You forced my hoof against her and now you created this illusion to just to make fun of me.”
Nightmare Moon snorted, “Believe me back then it was just necessary, both of you just left me with no other choice I had to take what I could and it really commendable how your no our sister Celestia is so dedicated to the Light Side it almost sickening for me to observe.“ Nightmare Moon's smirk grew into the wide grin,”Now look carefully, this is not just the simple illusion designed to mock you, your highness.”
Princess Luna carefully looked around, she saw the interior of the castle. It was the same as it was back then, only this time it was different. The ponies they weren’t the ones who lived thousands of years ago, they were the ones who were currently was alive right now.
“It's not the past that for sure, Star Daemon what is it all of this is about?” Right about when she finished saying it she heard a voice.
“...I don’t socialize with dragons... harrumph. ”
Princess Luna saw how the caricature of Rarity, yes that has to be a caricature. Luna just couldn't believe that Lady Rarity would behave like that.
“Oh well look at that one of my maids hurt little dragon feelings,” whispered Nightmare Moon with a smug grin, she looked at Luna and saw Luna glaring at her. “How furious are you watching at me, my faithful watchdog.”
Princess Luna snorted. “Don't test my patience monster. What trickery is this…answer me, Daemon.”
“No trickery, just watch. Why is everyone so dense sometimes?” Nightmare scoffed. “This is the world of your own fantasy. You always wanted respect and power and admiration of other ponies, and here you have it.”
Princess Luna rolled her eyes, “If you really think that way, then I am really sorry you feel that way.” She then lost interest in what Nightmare is trying to show her and then vanished.
“Oh well, the watchdog is all moody once again,” she materialized a lightsaber and then froze it in mid-air, “I suppose it's time to give you away to your new owner, may she use it well.” With a flick of her hoof, she made everything disappear. A few moment later the lightsaber itself vanished as well “After all, she too went to same exact school for gifted unicorns, and I hate to see gifts go to waste. As they say, lets the games begin.”
Early Morning in Carousel Boutique the light flashed and then the hilt of lightsaber materialized from the thin air and then fell on the floor with the clanking noise. The sole occupant of the room woke up almost instantly, she sighed and then levitated a lightsaber right next to her face, with a small flick of magic she activated, a red beam came on to life.
“A red crystal, how distasteful! Let's see if I can find something better, maybe I can use something similar from my stock of other crystals.”
She stood up, turned off the blade and then put it on the desk. She then trotted downstairs to meet her sister.
“Sister is everything alright, I heard a noise and I thought that something happened?” Sweetie Belle had been patiently waiting for her in the kitchen.
“It's fine Sweetie Belle, something important came up to me, and I just wasn't happy about it.”
Sweetie Belle was surprised “Wait, why?”
Rarity hesitated for a brief moment, “When I was about the same age as you right now I was invited to go to school for gifted unicorns.”
“You went to the school for gifted unicorns, just like Princess Twilight.”
“Yes dear, just like our best friend Twilight, however not long after I dropped out from it.”
“Huh?”
“It was pretty simple decision for me actually, at some point the school made it mandatory for its students to attend the combat class. I myself refused to participate in such brutish practice. I said to those stuffy unicorns “The Lady does not participate in such brutish behavior.” You can imagine their faces at that moment and time, If I didn't know any better I would say that the little girl managed to humiliate them.
“Yeah, that sounds like you Rarity! So did they just let you go just like that?”
“Yes Sweetie, unfortunately for them Princess Celestia was there as well and she said, We can’t force the unwilling to participate if they don't wish it too. Later that day I thought that I saw a small twinkle in her eye, it's like that kind of response she was looking for.”
“That's kind of sounds really awesome you achieved victory by loosing.”
Rarity thought about it for a moment, “I suppose I am. Now then, Sweetie Belle I want you to promise me one thing.”
“What is it Rarity?”
“Don’t play with a weapon in my room, it's not a toy.”
“Of course, after all, a Lady does not engage herself in a brutish behavior, like uncivilized colts would be.”
“Right you are!” Rarity giggled and thought about Rainbow Dash for a second who was a perfect example of an uncivilized brutish behavior.
Later that day…
A bell rung in Carousel Boutique, Rarity put on a smile on her face.It time to meet her first customer.
“Coming! Welcome to Carousel Boutique where every garment is Chic, Unique, and Magnifique.”
“Hi Rarity,” Twilight smiled back at her “There something I want you to help me with. You see, I kind of want your advice with a concealable fashion accessory.”
“Concealable fashion accessory?” Rarity asked her curiously.
“Yes I came to you because of this,” Twilight showed her a lightsaber that's she been hiding until now. “I never actually paid attention to all the other students at the school, but I believe I heard a rumor about the student who refused to participate. I just never imagined that it was you.”
“Yes, its surprising isn't it. I heard that you passed everything with flying colors. Very well Twilight I will help you with your concealable fashion accessory.”
Author's Note
Loosely based on Nightmare Rarity comic, so think of this like this way. Discord, Celestia, and Luna are The Ones, and Nightmare Moon is just an outsider from the void, let's call her bored Sith Emperor.
4: The Forbidden Territories
Twilight Sparkle woke up in all too familiar darkness, in front of her was Discord, she groaned. “
Alright, Discord what happened and why I am here?”
“Well funny thing that you should ask, first you had a wonderful tea party with Starlight Glimmer, then you talked with each other about your days in Academy.”
“Really? Is that what really happened or are you just pulling my forearm.”
“Why does it matter?” Discord tried to say, but Twilight just glared at him. “It's not important what happened, think of it this way Nightmare Moon can see the future, I can go into any point in time and then pull the subconscious mind right where I want them to. It makes things a lot easier for me.”
“Well, pull it back where you found it then.”
“No can do I am the creature of chaos, and my actions are chaotic. I simply wanted to talk.”
Twilight mentally groaned it would seem that Discord simply would not let her go. “Well, what is it?”
He snapped his claws and then the scene changed, what was once a complete darkness, now an image of Twilight's library.
“What am I was looking at? I am afraid you had to explain this to me a bit.”
“Oh right that, the thing is that I looked at your future and then I saw that in the span of the next few days you would receive a bit more on the history of Ancient Equestria.”
“A few days!” Twilight shouted at him, “I can't waste time on this mission, I told Spike that if I am not going to be back in three days, then he should report straight to Princess Celestia.”
“And he will trust me on that one. The thing is that I am also going to be there and then I am going to explain your situation to her. Please lighten up, I promise you that your mission here is going to take as long as it should, three days, three weeks, three months. The castle’s table isn't really picky in the emergencies like this one.”
Twilight forced to calm herself down somehow they already started to get derailed from the main point, she then chose to glare at him instead.
“As I was saying you are going to get a few surprises on the way home, but before that, I just thought to show you something as well. Do you remember back then when I corrupted your dear friends?”
“Yes I do,” The memory of this event was simply unpleasant for Twilight, more glaring.
“Back then I simply tried to stall for time, I was even successful at some point that is until,” Discord cringed a bit, “Princess Celestia didn't decide to intervene in our little game, and then you simply un-brainwashed them back.”
“What's your point Discord?” Twilight asked impatiently.
“My point is that you had five very uncooperative individuals and then you eventually became a very depressed pony yourself. I swear that you did that to yourself. I thought what if eventually you would of finding a way to befriend those jerks the way they are, rekindle the spark of friendship, and then beat the old uncle Discord because that's what you wanted to do originally. Now that when I said that, it's sounded better in my head.”
“If you don't yet notice they were more than happy to make my life miserable.”
“All of them? I am pretty sure there one more pony that you keep forgetting about,” Discord once again snapped his claws and then the scene changed, the library morphed into bunch of fluffy clouds “Oh poor, poor Rainbow Dash forced to choose between two extremes of loyalty, and I suppose that all five of you weren't that important to her, too bad, too sad.”
“If you are trying to rub a salt in my wound then congratulations.”
“Where all of that cynicism came from? I can’t quite imagine,” Discord teleported next to Twilight, he now wore a doctor’s lab coat and the stethoscope, “Now then let me see.” He waited a few seconds for dramatic effect and then pretended to listen with the stethoscope. Almost immediately he threw it away, he then took a flashlight from his pocket and shined in Twilight's eyes.
“Huh, kind of thought it's going to be that way,” the flashlight was getting tossed in the same direction as the stethoscope. “Does anypony ever tell you that you have pale blue eyes.”
“What are you talking about? I don't have light blue eyes.”
Discord pretended like he made a mistake, “can’t put my eyes on it. Is that blue, or cyan, or neon, but one thing is for certain they are not your original color, and your fur is a slight shade darker as well.”
“What are you talking about, Like I already told you already my eyes are normal boring purple color.”
“I guess you are very skillful at hiding it Princess, however in this dream realm all of your darkest secrets are visible.”
Twilight glanced at him, “Since when are you doing a dream realm, I thought it was the only thing that Princess Luna does.”
“First things first I am not a pony, so your rules about magical talents does not apply to me, and second of all I am really powerful creature I can do whatever I want, and before you comment on my abilities again II will say you this, doing everything I want would be really boring. Plus if the all-powerful force entity would just go and solve all of your problems then that would be extremely boring and there is going to be no conflict and nopony would learn any life lessons. Okay, I am done here and remember you have blue eyes now. Bye bye, see you later, maybe.”
Twilight blinked, then she c blinked again, “Discord bucking damn you I hate you so much!” She closed her eyes and then opened them again. She was sitting in all to familiar room in Starlight Glimmer’s house. In front of her was Starlight herself and Rarity, who by the looks of it having a pleasant conversation.
“Twilight darling, are you alright?” Asked her Rarity.
“I am fine, I think I dozed off for a bit, what were we talking about?”
“Well, we were having a very pleasant conversation, and just now I've mentioned to Starlight how you and I were actually in the Academy. Did you forget that part?”
“Not exactly. I, I.. I do remember that Pinkie and the girls were there with us, and then they got bored because there is nothing else to do, so they went back outside on the street. We choose to stay here instead. Let me see if I understand this correctly you are running a social experiment in this village of yours?”
Starlight thought about it for a second, “You could say that. You are not a social worker, are you? I mean you are an Alicorn right?”
“Guilty as charged, I thought if I say who I really am that it would not be that believable.”
“Starlight continued talking,” Well believe it or not, despite myself being really out of the loop I do have other ponies who keep me informed. I am aware of the fact that there two more Princesses in Equestria, oh and I guess there is also Princess Luna, she is technically new.”
“So about this experiment?”
“Oh it’s kind of nothing, long time ago I really got burned by the friendship thing. I guess it wasn't meant to be, so I traveled a lot. During my travels I have met like-minded individuals who were unhappy with life just like me, At some point, we grew into the settlement you see today.
“The thing is, we all agreed to remove our cutie marks, we did this in attempt to make our lives a bit happier. If anypony had been complaining then nopony told me about it. If they don't want to be part of it then they are free to go back to where they came from.
“So what is the real reason that you came here, Princess?”
Twilight paused for a second she thought how to answer this question, “It's kind of difficult to explain, there something that is here that called us to this place, and I am not exactly sure what it is.
“You said that you traveled, maybe you can help me. Can you tell me how exactly do you do it? I mean how do you remove cutie marks? You see, it's kinda my thing I enjoy studying magic, and well, this sounds very magical.”
Starlight was uneasy at first but then she gave in, “Well okay, but as long as we keeping each other secrets, I suppose I could tell you. I went into forbidden territory okay! That's supposed to be illegal to go there, but barely anypony enforces it. You wouldn't understand unless you actually ended up there.”
“Twilight blinked, ”I am sorry I don't understand.”
“I do not expect you too.” She heard in reply.
“No I mean I don’t understand. What is the forbidden territory? I am the Princess I am supposed to know about it but I don't, which is really weird.”
Rarity tried to calm her down, “Twilight, please calm down. Do you know how the Equestria is part Utopia, a frozen wasteland in the North, inhospitable desert in the South, and several other things that ponies keep ignoring?”
Twilight forced to calm herself down, “Sure.”
“Well, the forbidden territories is one of those things that ponies keep on ignoring.”
“What are the others?”
“Several unfriendly neighbors that have been living under our noses, Griffins Changelings, Dragons, some other boogymare monsters.”
“Uh, okay and the forbidden territories?”
Starlight picked it up, where Rarity left off, “Several hundred of kilometers of the frozen wasteland, populated by the most vicious monsters you ever saw, as well as few very strange metal megastructures half buried deep in the ice.”
“And you've gone in there, no wonder I erased any mention of it from my memories, more importantly why those monsters that you've mentioned are staying there?”
“Oh they are probably territorial, and like you said there is something there that probably keeps them contained. To answer your question I’ve managed to find the cutie mark removing artifact that's kind of works.”
“Well, I guess that settled then, I believe we have a little expedition to venture out onto. Wouldn't you agree with me Rarity?”
Rarity almost spilled her tea, “Expedition? Whatever for? That place is ghastly for a reason. Correct me if I am wrong but didn't we all agreed that the whole venture would take only three days?”
“Let's just say we just got an extension by the most annoying draconequus ever. You know at first I thought that I would just undermine Starlight authority as a leader…”
“Excuse me!” Said Starlight.
“You are excused, So I thought that maybe I should just do that, but then I thought that it would probably too much effort, and then it's not going to be the way of friendship wouldn't it be? I will probably create an extremely volatile situation where the person that I am trying to undermine against is going to come back to hunt against me.
“And one other thing Starlight if you try to do something funny against me or my friends then I will smash your brains wide open is that clear? After that, I will leave your corpse to rot where nopony would find you.” Twilight whispered the last several sentences to Starlight before she stood up, turned away and then trotted away, never caring for an answer.
Starlight was shocked by the sudden hostility, for a few seconds, she stayed that way until she tried to ask the question to the only pony in the room that still was there.
“Can she do that?”
“Unfortunately yes, she was very vicious during her time at the academy. Please excuse me, I need to talk some sense into her. ”
Rarity stood up and then trotted away as well, eventually she managed to find Twilight who had been waiting for her outside.
“Twilight, what the actual buck was that all about?”
“I am not really sure,” Twilight glanced at Rarity who had been glaring at her judgmentally. “Oh don't look at me like that, I can explain”
About[ 20 minutes earlier in a dream dimension.[./I]
“You don't actually believe me about the pale blue eyes do you?”
“Nope.”
“Twilight I guess I don't really have another choice...”
“Discord what are you doing?”
As if to answer her question Discord materialized a mirror and then shoved Twilight right through It.
“Aaaaaah...oof,” with a soft tamp Twilight landed on the surface in the strange and unfamiliar place, strange couldn't even begin to describe it. Cold, it was very cold in here where ever she is, Twilight shivered.
“Where am I?” she asked a question, not really expecting any answer from nopony.
“You are in my domain of course.”
Twilight jumped in fright, she would have preferred if she was alone in this scary place.
“Oh, are you afraid of me?”
Twilight looked around she noticed a figure of a pony, but it was still too dark for her to be able to see who it was.
“Don't be afraid of me, I don't usually bite that often, usually.”
Twilight swallowed, for a second she thought about using her magic sword but it wasn't where it used to be, her fear only intensified.
“Looking for this?” With a mocking expression, the figure ignited the lightsaber, and it ignited with a really loud hiss, “Like I said you don't need to be afraid of me.”
“And why is that?” Twilight looked at the figure, the red glow of the magic sword. The crimson red light illuminated it and her ability to see the new details. Her new visitor was a dark purple Alicorn pony with those cyan eyes with the dark pink irises in the middle. Her wings were almost black, which then smoothly transitioned into dark purple fur. Her mane was extremely wild and carried the dark purple and pink color scheme. But most terrifying feature about her was her cyan horn sharp, jagged and extra twisted
The mare trotted slightly closer to Twilight, slightly keeping herself distant. “That would be because you are me.” The mare smiled, her smile was sickening, and twisted like she was. “I am the improved version of you, the one who isn't slowed down by such ridiculous concepts as friendship, compassion, and kindness.”
“No...”
“You have no bucking idea how much fun it was to kill those so-called friends, limb by limb, tearing them up while their screaming faces had been begging me for mercy.
“No...”
“At first they laughed at me and then I laughed in return. Just thinking about it makes me feel very happy.“
“NOOO!” With a scream of rage Twilight Sparkle ripped away a sword from her opponent, and then she lashed out plunging the blade deep inside of the Alicorn's body. “Shut the buck up! I will never be anything like you, you are a monster.” . The very moment she did so the mare gasped from the pain she might have been feeling, ”Aaah… Feels good isn't it...striking down me...with your hatred against me.” the mare slowly started to lose consciousness, However that wasn't good enough for Twilight.
“I said SHUT UP!” Twilight telekinetically pushed dying Alicorn away, unceremoniously dropping her to the ground, she then swinging the sword right across the neck effectively decapitating the Alicorn.
There was no blood to gush out, all of the wounds had been instantly cauterized, effectively sealing them upon the blade’s contact. Doesn't make the whole thing any less gruesome to watch, Twilight's stomach revolved, so she vomited.
Twilight blinked, and then she blinked again, “Discord bucking damn you I hate you so much!” Her mind already going away into reality….
"I see, I think we are all going to have a few very pleasant words with Discord when we are going to come back, but for now let's go back inside and apologize to Starlight Glimmer shall we."
"Yeah, I guess we should."
"Wonderful," Smiled Rarity.
"Are you going to break your none violence rule?"
"I might, I just might."
Meanwhile, all of the girls returned from the street and saw Twilight and Rarity,"Hey, whats going on?"
"Oh its nothing darlings, Twilight is really really stressed out so she just made an accidental death threat to Starlight."
"Oh, I guess that's bad, what else is new?"
"Well we are going into Forbidden Territories, and we just got an extension from Discord."
"Oh okay, I hope nothing bad would happen."
Rarity smiled, "Don't worry Fluttershy everything is going to be just fine."
Author's Note
So apparently I forgot the most important thing about writing Star Wars fanfics
Long time ago in a galaxy far far away ...
I am really sorry guys we still kind of an extended prologue sequence, We already have Midnight Sparkle as a workable character, so I figured why not already use her. She is one of the several Twilight's representations that actually displays her Dark Side corruption with those neon eyes. And I think its kind of fitting. Does anyone knows if Flaming Twilight is still canon because we can still use her if you want unless her looks are stolen by Daybreaker
“It’s kind of cold out here,” it's been several hours ever since Twilight and the group entered into forbidden territories. Seven ponies, six on the ground, plus one in the air had been traveling across the snow in the very large valley
“It’s should be cold, we are very close to the north pole, Rainbow, and... ” Twilight shivered “full of monsters that we shall not speak off.”
“You mean an endangered species of the northern harpy, I am so very disappointed in you Twilight, I really hoped you are not going to impale her with that thing.”
I won't have to do that Fluttershy, I'd I didn't end up getting spooked by it half to death. I guess we are just lucky we never met Arachne or Lamia.”
Rainbow Dash blinked, “What's Arachne?”
“Arachne it's a very old legend of… well...”
*So, don't get me wrong while that is kind of very mean, but I still don't get it. Why we should be afraid?”
Twilight frowned, ”Dash, Arachne is a codeword used by scholars to classify giant pony eating spiders.if one of those is going to show up here it's not going to be pretty for all of us, and they never are alone, they always travel in a very large group.”
“Oh okay, forget that I asked then.”
Twilight quickly shrugged her off, and then focused her attention to Starlight, “Those spiders don’t exist here, right?”
Starlight quickly shook her head, “I’ve never seen them when I was the last time here, I don't think they like a cold climate”, she smiled sheepishly, “I do like to read sometimes, so I know a few things. Besides, I don't think that we would have any problems with the spiders, where we are going. Perhaps not the kind of spiders that you think.”
Starlight's words caused Twilight to raise an eyebrow. Seeing that, Starlight quickly spoke again, “You will see.”
For the next few minutes traveling group of ponies spends their travel in complete silence that is until Pinkie Pie broke it, “Right, I almost forgot. While Twilight and Rarity have been spending their time in the company of Starlight Glimmer Rainbow and I have met a new friend, Sugar Bell. She is...um...she is a baker, yes … And ...her baking is...um... very good.” she said with the forced smile.
Twilight frowned, “Pinkie I know that tone of voice, and that usually means that you hate it whichever it is she has made.”
“Well of course I am, as a baker, I do have a pride in my work...and...and I just can't imagine that somepony would remove her cutie mark so that they could spend the rest of their lives creating those atrocities, no offense.”
“Huh?”
“Sorry Twilight, an automatic response to something in the parallel universe.”
“Aha.”
“I mean what kind of sadist would envision that kind of torture onto ponies.”
“I am afraid that would be me,” Starlight said with the sad smile. “Although I would like to remind everypony that process is completely voluntary. She can quit the project anytime she wants.” Starlight then trotted right next to Pinkie Pie, “ She probably wanted to tell you some sob story that I am some kind bitch and a tyrant, that oppresses others ponies against their will.”
“I guess that probably was the case, yes,” Pinkie Pie nodded. “Hey, that's not fair you broke the fourth wall. That’s my job.”
Starlight Glimmer sighed, “no that's was a basic psychology, but if you feel like ever to change your lifestyle you know where to find me.”
“My lifestyle is just fine to thank you very much,” Pinkie Pie politely declined.
Rainbow Dash who have been hovering over them decided to butt into the conversation, ”Wait? I am slightly confused.”
Starlight raised an eyebrow, “What about?”
“Well, I mean like if the ponies cutie marks are removed then what happens next? Would they become talentless hicks? Or is it something else going to happen? Like maybe they cannot perform very specific things which are their talent?”
“Uh, I see. That's probably would be worth an effort to publish the results of this social experiment into the scientific paper about magic.”
Rainbow shrugged off, “Sounds like an egghead stuff then.”
“You asked ”
With that being said the trio continued their conversation, meanwhile Twilight and Rarity have been having their own conversation.
“Twilight what's the matter?” Rarity noticed a strange look on her friend's face
“It’s nothing Rarity, I just remembered that you managed to swap a crystal inside of your own lightsaber, and well, I imagined what would Rainbow would have done if she suddenly ends up having her own lightsaber.
“She would probably try to stick a prism inside of it, I could only imagine the disastrous result of that.”
Rarity laughed, “A rainbow laser sword for a rainbow-maned pegasus, now that definitely sounds like something she would do.”
Twilight nodded to her friend, “That's Rainbow Dash for you, many years later the scholars would probably say that her lightsaber color represents equality or something.” She shrugged. “But in reality, she made it the color of a rainbow because it would be 20% cooler.”
“Correct me if I am wrong but that story about spiders, isn't Nightmare Moon told you about that story, so does that mean she constantly visits you.”
“Yeah, but this time she completely refuses to move away from inside of my mind. She says that last time Discord went too far. She also says that she would fry that good for nothing a-hole next time she will sense his presence.” Twilight continued speaking, her voice becoming a slightly more monotone.
“Okay...”
“She also says that she is very excited to be here again, and she also says that I probably would need her help in the starship graveyard.”
“I see, I don’t seem to remember Starlight ever mentioning it.”
“What? You mean the graveyard thing?”
Rarity sighed, “Yeah,... Must have slipped my mind.” She replied sarcastically.”You know I never thought her to be, how would I put this, kind and caring.”
Twilight blinked, you don't tend to hear that every day. “I think that calling her that still going to be a stretch, I don't think she is…”
Twilight sighed, “Well, how would I put this, you see she definitely cares about the ponies, In a sense that she is kind and caring. It's more like she needs others ponies just as much as they need her, like a somepony to lead them.”
Rarity realized her own mistake, “Yes, that what I probably meant to say, please continue.”
Twilight nodded her head, “You could argue that combination of the relationship of Princess Luna with her sister and the geopolitical situation of that era created an alter ego of that monster. That of course came from outside and in this case was more than welcomed by the Princess.”
“And it really strange that for almost a millennia we never had any major conflicts, and now it was almost like all of the floodgates had been opened. It almost felt like in the moment of extreme desperation she chooses to be cruel.”
“What about the eternal night, was that really necessary?” For a brief moment Rarity allowed herself to be part of the very strange discussion.
“To a certain extent yes, to Nightmare Moon Princess Celestia was a weakling and incompetent ruler,” Twilight flinched, she never liked to bad-mouth her own teacher, even if she has been speaking theoretically. It wasn't technically Princess Celestia fault that things end up that way, Twilight still hated to say anything bad about her mentor.
“So, in order to weaken her own sister Nightmare Moon removed the Sun out of the picture, and it's not really as catastrophic as it sounds, It worked out because of magic, right?”
“I am sorry dear, but what do you mean? I thought we were discussing a philosophy of Nightmare Moon’s rise to power.”
Twilight nodded her head, “Yeah, we do, it's just…Oh, that's right, sometimes I forget that she sees the world in four dimensions. And yes I am trying to justify a life under a totalitarian regime to be more than acceptable to the alternative, and the alternative is the possibility of being miserable under the iron hoof of the Invaders and other forces who would wish harm to the Equestria.”
Twilight couldn't help herself but she eventually devolved into a nervous chatterbox, that did happen from time to time.
“It would be funny to mention this but we, Nightmare Moon and I, absolutely despise making stupid decisions for the sake of it being evil. Like if you actually need to make an evil choice than you better have a rational explanation of why you are making it.”
Rarity nodded in agreement, “Once again that makes sense. I suppose sometimes making a good decision can be a lot more foolish than making a bad decision.”
Twilight decided to ask a certain question, “What do you call it when you are forced to make a bad decision, but this bad decision would bring the results that you want.”
In response to that question, Rarity replied, “I would probably call it acceptable losses like you said if the results outwait the collateral damage then it would probably be worth it.”
Twilight nodded her head, “I also think it would be worth to mention this, that until now I would have probably completely rejected the possibility of having Nightmare Moon as a ruler of Equestria.”
“Choosing the lesser of the two evils ... huh?”
“Exactly!” The shout from Twilight caused both mares to fall into awkward silence. “Oh, what am I saying?” She blinked a few times.
“Twilight?” Rarity stopped in the middle of the snow. “I completely understand what are you trying to say, even though, when you chose to oppose Nightmare Moon you’ve made a decision, and perhaps thousands of years from now the ponies would look back on us as extremely lucky to live in the golden age.”
The point of view switched back to the trio only this time Applejack and Fluttershy have joined them too.
“What do you think Rarity and Twilight are talking about?”
“I dunno,” replied Pinkie, “Oh wait I do, they are both had been discussing Nightmare Moon and geopolitical situation of the world thousands of years ago, also they’ve been briefly discussing you, and which color of the plasma beam that you are going to use for the lightsaber, although I kind of agree that it's kind of sounds extremely dumb.”
“Huh, you mean that deadly glow stick that apparently now Twilight has, and I think Rarity has one as well. Wait, what do you mean dumb?”
Pinkie Pie frowned “Rainbow Dash please, just don’t call them deadly glow sticks, that's highly disrespectful. At least you could just call them a magic sword, that what Twilight is calling them now, ” She paused. “And to answer your question, which color of the blade would you choose for yourself? For some reason, Twilight thought it would be funny that you would insist on it to be a rainbow.”
Rainbow Dash snorted, “Really? I think I am going to be perfectly happy with the blade of the color of my fur. Let me guess they thought I am going to try to stick a prism inside of it.”
“Well yeah, how did you...”
“You said it yourself multiple times that it was a saber made of light...”
“Wicked,” for some reason, Pinkie Pie said that particular word randomly, which then caused Rainbow Dash to stare for some reason. “Oh, right sorry.”
“Oh and I suppose Rarity had mentioned it by the name of laser sword, but they clearly aren't made of lasers. Sorry Pinkie Pie, but I am just going to call them deadly glow sticks.”
“But..”
“Pinkie, there a reason why EUP still use spears and not swords or any other swinging instrument of death. Every single time the Pegasus would be forced to swing a sword, it would be extremely impractical because it would get in a way of wings. Speaking of wings, it going to be the primary target for an opponent to hack away, especially if they are engaged in the air, then it's an instant death sentence.”
“Well, I know that, but we are not talking about that.”
Twilight immediately overheard what Rainbow Dash had said about the tactics of aerial combat, “Say, what the Pegasus would do if they are to be engaged with a Unicorn.”
“They are going to Ignore them,” Rainbow Dash shrugged her head, “Pegasi do have the high ground advantage when it comes to engaging the Unicorn, or an Earth Pony for that matter
Pinkie Pie snorted through her teeth which caused the others to raise an eyebrow at her.
Rainbow's reply didn't discourage Twilight from forcing out the answer, “Unicorns can shoot lightning, with the help of the magical arts.”
“So can the Pegasi, and we don't even need the clouds to do it,” Said Rainbow Dash with the boastful smirk that's been plastered on her face. ”It's just the natural weather magic.”
Twilight could sense that partially what Rainbow had been saying was complete horsefeathers, that, or she would need to brush up on the restricted section in the Canterlot library when she comes back to town.
“Dash, please just answer the question,” Twilight said in the calmest voice possible.
“Fine,” Rainbow Dash sighed, “The engagement protocol of the ancient tribal warfare dictates to engage and neutralize the wizards with the extreme prejudice. I am sorry Twi, but I would be forced to break your horn if it ever would come to that. Which I am saying that I don't really want to think about.”
Twilight Sparkle was slightly shocked that Rainbow Dash would resort to address it in such a personal manner, “That’s, that actually makes sense in a very disturbing kind of way. But anyway, I didn't realize that you studied the ancient warfare of the three tribes.”
“Well, you probably know that yourself but I always thought that history classes are not that boring, and the best thing about them they are one of the easiest classes.”
At this point Applejack who had chosen to remain silent, decided to voice her concern, “Uh, girls! Shoot, I really didn't want to say nothin’, but I think we just arrived at our destination.”
True to her words the ponies had been standing in front of giant megastructure which would seem to be buried deep in the snow and ice.
“I don’t know what it is, but that looks really awesome.”
Twilight sighed, she didn't need to guess to whom that voice belonged, “Alright girls, you know the drill, if everything would go wrong then it would probably be in this particular time frame.”
With that, she ignited her lightsaber with a loud snap. a few moments later Rarity ignited hers as well.
Out of all ponies, Pinkie Pie snapped at her, “Just why would you even...”
“What? All I am saying is that if any conflicts are going to happen it will probably happen here.”
“Well yeah, but you just, don't you even understand what you just did.”
Twilight could hear the amount of frustration in the voice of her friend, even so, she used the same exact voice that she used when talking with Rainbow Dash. “Pinkie Pie a work of fiction does not follow the same rules of the real-life world.”
Pinkie Pie facehooved herself, “We are…” she shook her head, “never mind that, let’s just go to our possible doom.”
“There's not going to be any doom,” everypony booked at the source of yet another voice of their now familiar guide.
“Yeah, it's very suspicious, it almost like you are leading us into a trap! Is it a trap?” Pinkie Pie jumped next to Starlight which then caused her to jump in fright.
“Pinkie Pie!” almost instantaneously something inside of Twilight's eyes flashed dangerously, which then caused an over-enthusiastic pink pony to back away. A few seconds later the spark in Twilight’s eyes abruptly vanished causing her to shake her head. “I know that you are trying hard sometimes, but now is not the time.”
Both Rarity and Starlight quickly glanced at Twilight, both with different degrees of concern.
“Like I was saying we are not going to be in any danger. This place had been dead for a long time...”
“Did somepony died?” Fluttershy meekly voiced her own question.
Everypony briefly glanced at her, and then returned their attention to Starlight who by that point closed her eyes.
“There are a few dead skeletons everywhere on the superstructure, but I would guess some of them just died on the spot when that thing crashed into the ground.”
“You would guess?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“Its, Uh... Its well... you can examine the bodies of the dead aliens for yourself, Princess. My opinion on the matter was just a theoretical assumption.”
“Good enough for me,” nodded Twilight. “So, how would we find the entrance?”
“Right through that big hole over there,” Starlight quickly pointed towards what looked like something punched a giant hole into a hull of the megastructure like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh right, of course,” Twilight pouted and then briefly glanced towards Rarity, as well as towards everypony else
“After you your highness.”
Twilight briefly threw a blank look at Starlight, and this time she just trotted right into the ship, lightsaber casually levitating in the air. The others soon followed her lead.
Several minutes later the ponies continued to walk inside of the shipwreck, that is until one particular pony voiced her question.
“It fell from the sky and then crash-landed on the planet, Rainbow Dash. It happened approximately long, long time ago.”
Rainbow Dash could feel slight annoyance radiating from Twilight like the answer wasn't obvious enough on its own.
“Well, doh! I mean what specifically happened to it?”
Twilight sighed, “That I don’t know. Any ideas on that Starlight?”
Starlight’s ear's slightly twitched in response, “Oh, um, I didn’t really pay any attention when I was the last time here. And I wasn't really interested in the exploring, that heap of unidentified metal.”
Twilight once again couldn't help it, but she raised an eyebrow in surprise, “But, you have a basic idea of where everything was before you grabbed that thing.”
Starlight slightly flinched at the idea,“You could say that I just stumbled on what looked like a storage area, grabbed a completely random thing and then run off.”
Starlight ears twitched again, “It was to damn scary to be alone in here. I felt like something had been watching me.”
“Hm...” Twilight only hoped that whatever it was wouldn't be much of an issue. In any case, everything was a bit to quiet for her liking, “I guess no one is home, otherwise we would have met someone already.”
“Something,” automatically corrected her Starlight, "We would have met something, your highness.”
“Stop calling me that!” Twilight suddenly shouted, which then caused others to glance at her.
“Quiet!” Shushed Pinkie Pie, “We don't want to attract the unwanted attention.”
“Sorry,” Twilight blushed feeling ashamed of her outburst.
“Gotta agree with Pinkie on that one Twi, I don’t really want to meet those strange critters from outer space. If there are any here of course.”
Twilight nodded her own head and then shifted into the back of her mind, You've been awfully quiet ever since we stepped in inside of this ship Aren't you a bit excited to be here once again.
Oh, believe me, I am. it's just I can really place my hoof on it from which era this particular ship is. Twilight heard Nightmare Moon reply to her.
What the hey does that mean?
From what I could tell from such a generous commentary of our guide, the ship probably operated by the mixture of living beings and droids, but I suppose droids were an extremely common feature on this ship. The one thing that, I suppose confuses me, is that she mentioned some alien corpses scattered on the ship. Why don’t we go and have a closer look, at where exactly this ship came from.
Twilight sighed, Alright, I will probably regret this decision much letter but alright, I will see if I have time.
Author's Note
This chapter is a bit long overdue, I almost afraid that If I say that if it's going to be released during a particular week, then I will probably delay it. That what usually happens anyway.
Now let's talk about this chapter for a moment. If you find that certain plot device is probably very familiar to you, then it probably is. The thing is that I've started developing this chapter long time ago(no puns intended), and some ideas from this chapter went into some other stories.
The good news is that in time I am going to make Applejack great again. Now the fun part, I am planning to give Fluttershy a droid companion, I am not really sure which one, I am split between an astromech droid like (BB-series, R-series) or a whacky battle droid (B1 battle droid)
