Twilight lay on a large pile of soft pillows, she felt slightly fuzzy like she had a few drinks earlier. Next to her, a large dark figure cuddled next to her, Twilight received a nuzzle in between her shoulder that made her giggle.
Luna. Twilight thought.
Somewhere in the room came a sound, Twilight only half noticed through her light haze. With half interest, Twilight turned to see what the noise was, a pony of dark coloration had entered the room and was speaking to Luna, though Twilight didn’t pay enough attention to hear what was being said. Luna gave some response and the pony bowed and left, Luna returned her attention to Twilight adding a few nips to her neck making Twilight squirm.
Time seemed off, somehow. It felt like they two of them were cuddling for hours, not that Twilight minded being with the night princess. There was another noise and Twilight noticed another pony poking his head into the room, why were ponies bothering them so much? Luna nodded in reply to whatever had been said before getting up.
“Wait here my little Twilight, I have an issue to address then I shall return.”
Twilight nodded, she watched as Luna stood with a buzz of her wings and left the room at a brisk trot. For a few moments, Twilight was content to just lay where she was nestled into her nest of pillows, but something was nagging at the back of Twilights mind, though she wasn't sure what it was. Soon Twilight realized she felt very stiff, that must be what was bothering her. Getting up slowly she got to her hooves and began to stretch, she felt several joints pop and muscles relax as she stretched them, clearly, it had been too long since she had last moved this much. But something was still bothering her, now she felt muscles try and move only to be denied greatly. The odd thing was she wasn’t sure what these muscles were, looking to her side she only saw her own coat. Commanding the muscles to move again, Twilight saw her sides bulge slightly. Stumbling away Twilight became very confused, what was she seeing? WHat was going on? Why was something bugging her so much, yet she couldn’t put her hoof on what it was. Another buzzing noise came from outside the room, and suddenly it hit Twilight, Luna’s wings had buzzed when she got up, alicorns didn’t buzz.
*Crack*
Twilight, despite her haze, was sure that was what was bothering her, alicorns didn’t buzz, after all, she didn’t, right?
*Crack*
Twilight paused and looked back at her side, where were her wigs? She remembered getting them, becoming a princess, and how happy Luna had been at the fact that the two of them could be together as equals forever.
*Crack*
Twilight reached a hoof out to her side, feeling for the feathered wing she knew was there. Her hoof felt something cool, smooth, and almost slimy.
*CRASH!*
The haze in Twilights mind shattered as the illusion was broken, Twilight saw her wings beneath green resin. Gasping in shock and fear, Twilight looked around the room trying to figure out what was going on. She was in a carved out room, there were a few items like shelves here and there, but other then the bed she was in the room was bear. The bed itself was round, covered in worn sheets and pillows, and had a weird give to it, Twilight decided not to find out what the bed was made of. She tried to call her magic but received a sharp pain instead. Looking up she saw her horn was covered in resin as well, even so through the resin she could see to her horror that her horn was cracked. She needed to get out of this place, she needed to get back home, to her friends, to the princesses, to Luna.
Moving to the door Twilight pressed an ear to the closed portal and listened carefully, she didn’t hear anything for a moment, deciding to risk it she pulled the door open just a crack. Just outside the door, two changelings stood guard, no matter she had to escape. Taking a deep breath Twilight threw open the door hoping to surprise the guards, throwing her weight to the left she shoulder checked one guard in the face downing him. Spinning around Twilight came face to face with a shocked looking changeling, she didn’t give the second guard time to react, and punched them square in the face. Not even a full ten seconds had passed, Rainbow Dash would approve thought Twilight. Twilight dragged the guards into the room before heading back out into the tunnel, now she had a decision, right or left. The corridor past the door was a carved tunnel, it gave no indication what way was out, after a moment Twilight decided on going right, she wasn’t sure why just something felt correct about it. Twilight slowly crept through the narrow corridor, listing for any more guards. She came to a large intersection, including the tunnel she was in there were eight tunnels in total, three of them had an upslope of various angles. Picking the one with the sharpest incline Twilight continued her journey, part of her wondered just how long she had been captured, either it had been a short amount of time and the princesses and her friends just hadn’t found her yet, or it had been a long time and they had been unable to find her. Even if it had been a hundred year she knew Luna would never stop looking for her, deep down she knew that…
Twilight slipped on a loose stone, tumbling she knocked her head on the side of the tunnel.
Luna and Twilight sat on her balcony overlooking Canterlot, they were under a think quilt leaning into each other's embrace as the watched the stars. Neither of them said anything, they didn’t need to. They watched as Luna made shooting stars spin and dance in the night sky, Twilight leaned over and kissed Luna on the cheek. Luna looked over at the smaller alicorn, smiling as she returned the kiss.
“I love you my Twilight.”
Twilight paused, she hadn’t remembered that before, were the changelings suppressing her memories? That would explain how they had been able to hold her for any length of time, pushing these memories to the back of her mind for a moment Twilight continued forward, she needed to find her way out, her way back home. She came to another intersection with the option to go left or right again, perking her ears Twilight could hear distant voices from the left tunnel. Deciding to go right Twilight made it a few paces before she heard shouting from ahead of her.
“She’s gotten out! Find her! We can’t let her get out!”
Turning on her hooves Twilight decided the other tunnel was the better option, not looking where she was going cost Twilight as she knocked her horn into a small outcropping of rock.
Twilight, Luna, and Celestia all flew towards the crater, they had witnessed something crashing in the north and were going to investigate. They could see the smoke rising from the impact from miles away, it seemed to have landed in open plains between Canterlot and Manehatten, thankfully avoiding any towns. The three princesses got closer, seeing the form of a massive meteor in the crater it had created. It was easily the size of Canterlot castle, but as they got closer something was off.
“Does anypony else see movement down there?” Twilight asked.
“It does seem as if something or someone is down there.” Nodded Celestia. “Perhaps that is why it landed in an open area.”
Despite her teacher's words, Twilight felt an ominous presence from the crater.
Shaking her head, Twilight set the memory aside as she began galloping down the tunnel. She could hear voices and running hooves in all directions, her only hope now was that they didn’t know where she was and could slip past the guards as she made her way out. The tunnel suddenly opened up into a massive cavern, as Twilight stood on the ledge overlooking the cavern she couldn’t help but stare. inside was a surprisingly large forest, a lake in the center of the forest and even a few buildings on the water's edge. Perhaps she could hide in the forest, or the building, the changelings would have to give up at some point. Looking around for a way down, Twilight spotted a different tunnel going up on the far side of the ledge. Acting on impulse she made a mad dash for the tunnel, anything leading up was a potential way out. Twilight was only a short way into the tunnel before she collided with something as she came running into a junction, or rather somepony. Looking at the mare she had run into, Twilight felt her spirits rise, she had found help, maybe the two of them…
“She’s here!” The mare called out.
Reacting in instinct Twilight shot a green bolt of magic at the mare knocking them out, Twilight blinked in surprise, both at her sudden ability to use magic, as well as the fact it was green. She wasn’t given a chance to ponder this as the sound of approaching hooves forced Twilight to move, taking the tunnel still sloping up Twilight sent the mare a silent apology as well as a promise to come back with help to free her and any other ponies trapped here. The tunnel made several twists and turns, winding in seemingly random patterns, but she didn’t come across any more branching tunnels, this had to be the way out. Sadly that also meant that every changeling was also behind her, she could hear the beating of wings and the thunder of hooves closing in on her. In desperation, Twilight tried to call up her magic, at first she was only rewarded with a lance of pain through her head.
Risking a glance back as the pain subsided, Twilight could see the numerous eyes almost directly behind her. Panic overrode sense and Twilight threw her magic at the ceiling in an attempt to cut off her pursuers, to her great shock it worked. Green magic lanced from her horn and hit the ceiling, bringing down a decent section of it on her pursuers. The changelings managed to keep themselves from being crushed by both magic and retreat, Twilight ran faster as more of the ceiling collapsed, one chunk caught Twilight in the back of the head.
Twilight and Luna carried a wounded Celestia as fast as they could, they had to warn Canterlot, they had to warn Equestria, they were now at war.
Twilight groaned as she pulled herself to her hooves, she had managed to avoid most of the collapsing ceiling before she had been hit. Moving forward again, Twilight forced herself to hold back the tears that were starting to leak through. If these memories were true, then Equestria needed her more than ever now, her friends needed her, Luna needed her. Suddenly Twilight could see the faintest hint of outside light, she put all of her remaining energy into running for that light, she needed to escape, she needed to find her friends, she needed…
They were horrid, something crossed between a spider, a minotaur, and eagle all wrapped in metal like skin. They crushed anything in their path, killed anyone standing in there way, they seemed to be after only one thing, the death of all those around them. Fiers burned all over Canterlot, and likely even all over Equestria. There was no reasoning, no bargaining, and no surrendering.
Twilights mind flashed memory after memory, each one grimmer than the last. How long ago had this happened? Why had it happened? Where were her friends? Where was Luna?
The world burned. Not just from the marauders that sought nothing more than death and destruction, but from the sun itself. Forests became kindling, rivers and lakes turned to steam, crops to ash all from the sun what had once given the land life, now reaped a harvest of death.
Twilight squeezed through an opening in the collapsed tunnel in front of her, it was the last obstacle between her and freedom. Rounding several more large boulders Twilight could see the mouth of the cave, just a little farther.
“TWILIGHT!”
Nononononono… Twilight made a mad dash for the opening, she had to make it.
She had to…
She had to…
She had…
She…
… … … …
Twilight looked out from the mouth of the cave and saw nothing.
Equestria lay before her, but not as the nation she remembered, it was only ‘Equestria’ in the sense that it was the same area of ground her old home occupied. Before her now lay a desolate wasteland, the ground grey and hard. Skeletons of trees could be seen here and there, the ruined remains of a building were even rarer. The mouth of the cave sat on a high cliff, far off to the right in the side of the same mounts were the shattered remains of a few bits of masonry. Twilight realized with a numb horror she was seeing the remains of Ponyville and Canterlot, tears fell to the scorched earth in large drops as Twilight could no longer hold back her sadness or her memories.
They never knew what they were called, they didn’t even have time to call them anything other than death. The meteor was a kind of ship for them, they would find a world and strip it, eliminating any local inhabitants. They swarmed over Equestria and its nabors in a matter of days, death was the only outcome when encountering these monsters, but it was never quick. The creature seemed to enjoy taking their time, and Earth ponies could take a lot of punishment, but so could alicorns. Celestia had forced Twilight and Luna to flee Canterlot just as they horde breached the city wall, telling them to find any survivors and stay alive, to keep ponykind alive. Minutes, after they had fled the burning, had begun, the sun itself came down from the heavens burning the hordes, and everything around them. The scorching as it would be called later, lasted mere minutes, after which the sun hung in the sky as a dim shadow of its former self.
Luna had cried out, saying that she had felt Celestia die when the burning had stopped, it seemed the creatures realized who was controlling the sun and ended things quickly. After that came the war. Not all of the creatures had been killed, and those that had survived continued their campaign of destruction.
Twilight felt hooves grab her from behind, holding her close to a warm barrel of another pony. Even without looking Twilight knew who it was, part of her wanted to sink back into the illusion, but part of her knew she couldn’t.
“Twilight, please don't scare us like that.”
The voice was one she knew, but it didn’t belong to the one behind her.
“Stop…”
“I will never let go my-”
“Don’t… Chrysalis.”
The disguised changeling queen stiffened behind her, there was a pause before a flash of green stripped away the night princess leaving Chrysalis.
“You weren't supposed to know.” Chrysalis said sadly.
“How… long…?”
“It's been three years Twilight, please don't do this.”
Twilight was quiet for several long moments. “How often do I?”
“About once a month, please we need you.”
Twilight looked back at the changeling holding her, she must have done this a lot as it felt familiar to Twilight. Looking back out at the dead land, Twilight could only ask one thing.
“Are we all that's left?”
“A few nations across the ocean are still surviving, we’ve managed to find pockets of survivors and brought them here, there are a few hundred ponies left. No one's sure what happened to the crystal empire, it just disappeared.”
“W-what about…” Twilight couldn’t bring herself to ask.
“Your the last known alicorn and element of harmony, even the tree is gone.”
Twilight broke down into a fresh wave of tears, everything was really and truly gone. Chrysalis stroked her mane as Twilight continued to cry, lighting her horn the fog slowly crept back into Twilights mind. Twilight reached up and pressed a hoof to Chrysalis’ barrel.
“Don’t, I need to remember.” Twilight said through sobs.
“I’m sorry.”
~o0o~
Twilight lay on a large pile of soft pillows, she felt slightly fuzzy like she had a few drinks earlier. Next, to her, a large dark figure cuddled next to her, Twilight received a nuzzle in between her shoulder that made her giggle.
Chrysalis. Twilight thought.
Somewhere in the room came a sound, Twilight only half noticed through her light haze. With half interest, Twilight turned to see what the noise was, a pony of dark coloration had entered the room and was speaking to ‘Luna’, though Twilight didn’t pay enough attention to hear what was being said. ‘Luna’ nodded in reply to whatever had been said before getting up.
“Wait here my little Twilight, I have an issue to address then I shall return.”
Twilight nodded, she watched as Chrysalis got up making her way out of the room. For a few moments Twilight just lay there before a fleeting memory passed in front of her eyes, she remembered her escape, making it outside the hive, but other things were fuzzy, except one thing, the last time she saw Luna.
Luna had a large gash in her side, another along her neck, her wings were torn and unable to provide flight. Twilight was little better as they faced the monsters, having only lost less blood than the night princess. it was then Chrysalis and her changelings had shown up, using their numbers they held back the tide of death long enough for the ponies to escape, all except one.
“Chrysalis take Twilight and the survivors, we must entrust their future to you now.”
“Luna what are you-”
“We are sorry love, we shall buy you time. We are going to die here, but we shall do so on our terms.”
Luna kissed Twilight one last time before charging into the fray, Twilight tried to follow but black hooves grabbed her, Chrysalis flew off ignoring Twilights cries to take her back. Neither had seen how she had done it, Luna managed to cause a magical explosion large enough to wipe out the monsters chasing them, at the cost of her own life.
Chrysalis returned to the room disguised as Luna still, she returned to Twilights side nuzzling her as she lay down. Twilight returned the affection, reaching up to kiss the disguised changeling on the cheek.
“Thank you, for everything.” Twilight whispered as she let herself fall back into the illusion.
The End.
