MLP: The Second Chapter

On the way back to the Castle of Friendship, Twilight said nothing. She was in total shock. Her small familial world had crashed down around her ears in a matter of a few hours. She could hardly breathe. Her heart palpitated, and her eyes flashed around erratically. Her precious foal, the filly who was going to be raised to succeed her as the Princess of Friendship, was going to turn out to be an enemy to all Equestria.

She suddenly realized something else horrible and stopped abruptly. If this prophecy were to come to pass, then she would play a major role in it. If she continued raising Midnight as she was, then she would be enabling the very thing that would cause Equestria's downfall. She knew she had to change something that she was doing wrong. But what was it?

Starlight came along and ran into her. "Oof! Sorry, Twilight," the guidance counselor said apologetically, "but…why'd you stop like that?" Twilight turned, her eyes glistening with tears. She fell on Starlight's shoulder and wept bitterly. "Oh, Starlight," the princess cried, "what am I doing wrong? Why has this dark prophecy been laden on all of us? Why? WHY?!"

Starlight ran a soothing hoof through Twilight's mane. "It's OK, Twi," she said, even though she knew it was an outright lie. Everything was not okay, but what else could she do? She had to keep Twilight out of hysterics. The last thing they needed was a Princess whose courage and stability had completely abandoned her. They needed Princess Twilight, not blubbering Twilight.

So suddenly, she backed the surprised pony off her shoulders. "No," she said, "now is not the time for tears, Twilight. You aren't doing anything wrong. Horrible as it is, it's just Midnight's destiny."

"How?! How the hay is this my daughter's destiny?! I'm trying to raise her to be a friend to ponies, just as I am. She's supposed to follow in my hoof steps! This horrible thing isn't supposed to happen!"

"If Zecora, Celestia, Luna, and that old Seeing Eye prophet pony have declared it, then it will happen, Twilight. They wouldn't deceive us about anything. You know that! Now, we must prepare for the inevitable."

"NO!" Twilight suddenly yelled, "I won't allow this to happen. I'm going to train my daughter as hard as I've trained anypony! She will be a friend, or my name isn't Princess Twilight!"

With that, Twilight turned around and stalked off into the brush. Starlight sighed in exasperation and followed. Why can't she just accept this? We need to prepare Equestria for what Midnight will do to it! The more Midnight grows, the more powerful she becomes, and she'll unleash that power over the entire country! We have to do something, or we'll all be dead in three years' time.

She hurried after her friend. She had no earthly idea what she was going to say, or how she was going to change the Princess's mind. The task seemed completely impossible. Twilight had her mind made up that she was going to change young Midnight's destiny. But if Twilight stuck to this misguided belief, then all of the ponies in Equestria would be put at risk. As much as Starlight loved that little foal like she was her own daughter, she couldn't allow that to happen. With a shocked gulp, she realized she might have to do something drastic.

As she ran through the brush, sticks and thorns prodded at her. She stubbed her hoof on a rock and hopped around on three legs for a bit until she tumbled down a small hill and hit her head at the bottom. The blow knocked her into unconsciousness immediately. She felt no pain and she felt no discomfort. She was simply floating in a darkened limbo with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company.

Suddenly, however, her visionary field flashed white and she was thrown into another dream. She saw herself standing on the edge of a field. She looked around and saw that the land she once knew was completely gone. The remnants of trees scattered in the wind. Dust and dirt found their way into her nose and she sneezed a couple of times. She saw in front of her a decayed mountain and realized with a start that it was the mountain she used to dream of climbing as a filly. She had been able to see it from her bedroom window, and always thought that she might enjoy such an expedition.

Then she looked down and gasped. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw in front of her, a lake of blood. Pony bodies bobbed motionless in its grisly surface. She stumbled backward, desperate to get away from the horrifying sight, but hit an invisible wall. She looked up and saw the moon overhead, only it appeared to be blazing with the heat of the sun. Having nowhere else to go, she reluctantly returned to the edge of death's pool.

Then she noticed that she recognized some of the bodies. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack all floated there. Their corpses seemed to be begging to be released from death's prison, and Starlight found herself powerless to do so. Did Midnight Sun really do this? She thought in horror. Then she turned and saw the bodies of Spike, Flash Sentry…and Twilight.

She couldn't move. She was too frightened by the disgusting and depraved depiction that lay before her. She felt like vomiting, but her stomach just sat in a knot. She quietly sat on her haunches on the barren ground. Her body seemed to stop working, and she sat frozen in time for a few moments. All of her friends were in that lake of blood. Is this what happens if I stop Twilight from changing Midnight's destiny…or is this what happens if Midnight stays her current course? She thought to herself.

Suddenly, she got up and screamed her sadness and anger to the sky. "UGH! I DON'T KNOW! HELP ME! SOMEPONY, FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE, HELP ME!" Seeing that her anguished cries did no good, she fell back on her stomach and wept into her hooves. For the first time since the incident with Sunburst and his cutie mark, she felt completely helpless and friendless. She had never felt more alone in her life. Somewhere in her muddled mind, she knew that she had friends back in the waking world, but this vision was too much for her to bear alone.

She looked back up, willing Luna to emerge from the moon and set things right. But no sign was given. She looked back at the bloody lake. It appeared to taunt her and laugh at her. "You can't do anything," it seemed to say, "I am death. I am the destroyer of all the things you love and hold dearest to your heart, and you can't do a thing about it. I take away, but I never, ever give back. Look deep beneath my surface, and you will find everypony that you've come to know as a friend, taken by the hooves of somepony so small, yet so utterly powerful. Welcome to hell's motel, Starlight Glimmer, and I'm the innkeeper."

She realized that the lake wasn't speaking to her, but it seemed to continually say these words. She continued weeping into her hooves, silently begging Luna to come and save her from this horrifying dream. She looked up and looked around once again, trying to keep her own sanity. You've got to stay strong, Starlight, she told herself, the lake is inanimate. It can't hurt you. She repeatedly told herself these words, and they comforted her in a way.

Suddenly, the lake of blood flashed a deep, crystal blue and returned to normal. Starlight looked around and, mercifully, the horrifying vision turned into one of deep beauty. It was night. The trees and their leaves glowed silver, as they welcomed a new figure into her dream. Luna stepped forth out of the moon, and out of the shadows. Starlight remembered reading a poem about Luna when she was a small filly, that spoke of the beautiful princess coming out of the darkness to save a pony from a nightmare. She exuded the elegance and beauty that the night offered that so many ponies didn't appreciate.

Starlight sat up and bowed low before the princess. Luna offered a hoof and gently drew Starlight to her in a comforting embrace. "It's alright, Starlight Glimmer," Luna said peacefully, "I am here and there is no need to be afraid any longer."

"Princess, what was that?" Starlight asked, "the lake of blood? The mountain? The trees? All of it! What does it mean?"

Luna frowned solemnly. "What you have just seen is the fate of Equestria at the hooves of Midnight Sun…but only if you make the wrong choice here."

"Wrong choice?"

Luna nodded. "The task you have before you is monumental, but I believe that it wouldn't have been given it to you, unless you were the right pony for the job. The lake of blood and the bodies of your friends will all be on your hooves, Starlight, unless you do something about this. Princess Twilight is not herself. She believes her foal can do no wrong. Unless something is done to correct this course, then what you have seen in this dream shall come to pass."

Starlight's mouth opened wider and wider as Luna continued her explanation. She could be responsible for the death of all she loved, and it would be because she made the wrong choice. She had experienced problems with making bad choices before, only they hadn't had the horrific repercussions that Luna was speaking of. They had simply led to things like stomachaches and being the subject of a lot of laughter at one of Twilight's parties because she wore clothes that didn't match. Now, she was being asked to place the fate of all Equestria into one choice that she made. What it was, she didn't know. But she knew if she screwed this up, all of Equestria could be condemned to a fate worse than any villain, even Lord Tirek, could bestow upon it.