XV:
ENDING: the death of an era

Applejack was squirming, moaning, and screaming as crazy. Begging it to stop. But to stop what exactly? Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie approached her friend as she tried to fight back the horrible pain. She was mumbling something about she doesn’t want the burden. But which burden she was referring to?

Behind them, Spike and Irish were watching the monsters who remained.

Irish aimed her dagger to the monsters, but she was trembling in fear.

“Spike, I love you. I should have tell you before, but at least I am telling you now.”

Spike smiled at her. “I love you to Irish. Great Master, my Great Master.”

Finally the Undeads and jumped over their living counterparts’ heads and landed right behind them to face Spike and Irish. Spike used his powers to throw Jack the Reaper’s dead body to the nearest one, Gothic.

She lost her balance, and Spike took the chance to tackle her making them both roll all over the floor until they crashed to a wall.

Spike shook his head disoriented and lost, giving Gothic the chance to take him by the skin and raise him until they were eye to eye.

“You killed my friend. Do you know what I’m going to do about it?”

Spike started to balance putting all his weight forward, pushing Gothic who fell on her butt. Spike landed on her stomach and jumped backwards. Gothic laughed and stood up smiling happily.

“Aww, what’s the matter Spikey-Wakey? Don’t want to reap my skin with your little teeth? Nighty-Tighty would have done it. He would reap pieces of my body and make me watch as he swallowed. Don’t you want to try human flesh? Nighty never tried it but he loved pony flesh. It was his favorite dish. If there was something that he loved almost as much as fucking Midnight was eating our enemies. Ehehehe…”

Spike extended huis paw and concentrated his power on it, making a heavy wall to fall over the creature. Gothic was squished giving Spike time to turn around and run away.

Gothic finished regenerating and looked at her human body with nostalgia.

“Oh yes. Squishing me was Night Terror’s favorite way to end an argument. I willthank you for this little path through memory lane by not killing you slowly and painfully as I wanted. What do you think about my Generosity, Spkey-Wikey? I still have it, hehehehe!”

Spike kept running using his magic to throw every object he could find to Gothic.

“If you are so generous, why don’t you give me the wonderful gift of disappear?!”

Gothic laughed. “Nighty-Tighty used to tell me that too! You two sound the same, as you were the same dragon. But you are not. Nighty-Tighty would never have use the dagger on us. You disgust me, filthy animal. I am glad you are a dog because now I can skin you as such.”

Spike charged his magic on his throat and barked. A hyper sonic bark that threw Gothic away making go through a wall.

Gothic regenerated and walked toward Spike.

“How long are you planning to do this, Spikey-Wikey? You are exhausted, I can see this.”

Spike did not answer, but she knew he was right. The fight had been going for a while and he was at his limit. But he could not give up. Just couldn’t.

Irish was throwing blow after blow with the infernal daggers, keeping the undeads away, but only one meter. But she was as tired as Spike, and the Bearers could not help her since they were too busy helping Applejack still shacking on the floor.

The Great Master knew she wouldn’t last. She needed to take the initiative but she was stuck playing defense. She had to do something.

The undeads noticed Irish gathered all her and redirected it to her legs to make an extra-long jump, managing to cut Midnight’s leg. Only a small cut but more than enough to enrage the monster.

Midnight roared in anger and kicked Irish on the face making her fall and dropping the dagger. Undash smirked and kicked the dagger away.

“You are an idiot. You put all of your eggs in one basket and not it is over. You really thought that thing would be of any help against us?”

Midnight stepped on Irish’s hand. “You should die because of your stupidity. No problem, this is why we’re here!”

Irish used her power to regenerate her wounds.

“I learned a couple of things after the last time!” said the Knight of Silence with half smile.

She stood defiantly, staring at the Undeads.

“Maybe but you’ve been using magic, and you are running out of energy.” said Midnight ripping off her own arm and regenerating a new one. “As for us, we can do this all day without magic, without feeling tired. You are at your limit; I can feel that.”

The Great Master used her magic to levitate a small rock, and then she threw it straight through Midnight’s eye. Undash tried to get her, but Irish have fused with her shadow already and escaped just in time.

“Don’t let her get to the dagger!” commanded Midnight fusing with her shadow too.

Undash also jumped into the shadows to chase Irish. It was only a matter of time before they get her. But out of sudden the two creatures were forcibly expelled from the shadows as the rest of the knights joined the battle.

“Sorry for the delay, we took ages subduing Pin-Kill-Die!” said the Great Master East Wind, helping the Great Master Irish Coffee.

Irish smiled. “I’m glad you made it alive. That’s all that matters!”

Midnight rolled her eyes.

“Nice gesture but useless. In the end we’ll kill you all.”

Undash only roared in anger, but the two of them were destroyed by a magic beam from Sunset Shimmer.

“Take that, horrid creatures! You insult the memory of my friends.”

A howl of agony called everyone’s attention.

“Spike!” said Irish.

East looked at Fluttershy, who nodded and fuse with her shadow to go and help Spike.

Gothic finally had Spike on her hands, and she had her hands around his neck. He howled in pain but his voice was cut off by the hold. He was struggling to not to die, but Gothic was too strong.

“I told you, didn’t I? You could not keep going forever.”

But then something came out of the shadows cutting off Gothic’s hand.

Spike breathed in relief as the undead looked at her cut hand and tried to regenerate but nothing happened this time. It was when the two of them looked at the object lying right aside Gothic’s severed hand.

The dagger.

Gothic turned, only to see the human version of Fluttershy trembling, still assimilating what she has just done.

Gothic roared in pain and she was ready to kill her, but then she felt something piercing her back and making all the way into the heart.

“No…” she mumbled.

Spike, who have just used his magic to stab her with the dagger, looked away.

“I’m sorry.”

“Spikey-Wikey…” mumbled Gothic, right before collapsing.

Both Spike and Fluttershy covered their ears right before the undeads shrieked in rage.

Rarity and the girls were still attending Applejack when Rarity froze for a second.

And this time Twilight could see everything. A tear came out of her eye, and then she started to have an attack just as Applejack and Fluttershy.

What was going on?

Spike and human Fluttershy did not say anything. Spike just took the dagger on his teeth and with that, the two of them ran back to their friends. Everything had to end that night no matter what.

They arrived just in time to help Undash and Midnight who were acting possessed, trying to kill them. The last death made them lose their senses, and were behaving like real undead.

“Where is Pin-Kill-Die?” asked Spike.

“We sealed her. But you know it wouldn’t last.”

“It didn’t!” said a voice coming from Fluttershy’s shadow.

Pin-Kill-Die jumped out of the shadow, and slapped the human version of Fluttershy, as hard as only a corpse could.

“I saw what you did. Stab your friends can make you lose them foreverrrrrrrrrr…”

The human Fluttershy recovered and Stared at Pin-Kill-Die. The Stare worked better than anyone could imagine and managed to mesmerize the creature. Fluttershy then used one of the Knights’ basic spells, to control those who have a dark heart.

Pin-Kill-Die roared and then jumped to attack Undash, just in time to save Irish Coffee.

Fluttershy smiled.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep control over her. Hurry up!”

Spike then ran toward the two fighting undeads.

Pin-Kill-Die managed to hold Undash making her struggle and trying to escape.

“DAMN IT, WAKE UP!! WAKE UP STUPID!”

Finally Undash managed to punch Pin-Kill-Die on the jaw, making her recover from the surprise attack. Pin-Kill-Die released Undash just in time for her to avoid a fatal blow from Spike.

But Pin-Kill-Die was not as lucky, and the dagger went through her heart.

She smiled as she coughed blood.

“Hehe… the author had to kill us one way or another right? That is the problem when you conceptualize invincible characters.”

And with that final nonsense, Pin-Kill-Die expired with her last smile frozen on her face.

Undash would not let him walk away with killing two of her friends. She took Spike by the neck and threw him to the ground. Spike cried in pain, but then Undash grabbed Spike by the neck again.

“You’ve caused enough trouble already! This is the end!”

But Midnight stopped her. “No, he is mine!”

Undash sighed and handed the dog to her leader, who grinned.

“Now, this had been going long enough Spike. Now about your pesky dagger…”

But the weapon was nowhere to be found.

“Shit!!”

East Wind and Irish emerged from Undash’s and Midnight’s shadows and both of them shot a powerful magic beam that destroyed them with a single blow.

But they were pissed and regenerated in less than a second and they responded with an attack on their own.

The two Great Masters dodged the attack and then both of them threw a second blow, but this time there was a little surprised mixed in the shadow beams. The dagger.

The weapon pierced Undash’s forehead, and collapsed right in front of Midnight.

Only one undead remaining. It was now or never.

The two Great Masters prepared to attack, when Midnight released all of her power at once throwing everyone away. Irish Coffee got a direct impact from the attack and fainted immediately. But East Wind managed to create a barrier and protect Spike too since he was too weak to do one himself. But the attack was stronger than she expected and both her and Spike ended on the floor unable to move.

Midnight’s rage was almost tangible.

The Undead took the dagger from Undash’s corpse and walks toward Spike. He could not move anymore, and his most powerful protectors have finally been beaten. It was over.

Midnight then took the dagger and stabbed him on one of his paws.

Spike howled in pain but keep looking at her to the eye.

“Just finish this already. You want to avenge your friends, don’t you? Just do it!”

Midnight roared, showing her fangs, and removed the dagger from Spike’s paw. And she grabbed him by the neck and aimed the tip of the dagger to his heart. But she sighed and released him as she threw away the cursed weapon.

“Despite all you’ve done, all of the friends you’ve killed… I can’t. The others I wouldn’t mind, but you… I just can’t. I look at you and I look at him. WHY I CAN’T KILL YOU?”

Spike looked at her.

“Because your real self is still there. Deep inside of your dead flesh.”

Midnight struggled against her desired to strangle Spike. She put her hands around his neck but did not choke him. Not yet.

“It may be true, Spike. Yes, I think you’re right. But I can’t say the same about you. The Spike I know would have never harm us. He fought a lot with Gothic, but he wouldn’t have done what you did!”

“You mean freeing you?”

Midnight released him.

“What you mean?”

From the distance, Twilight recognized her monstrous self, standing before a defeated Spike. Her friends have passed out already, and she didn’t know what was going on. But she knew that she couldn’t help them and needed to focus on her son. Spike.

And then when she noticed Midnight standing right before him, she knew she had to do something.

“No… don’t touch him!”

She then noticed the cursed weapon right behind Midnight. Twilight took a deep breath, making up her mind and walking toward the weapon as silently as she could.

“I have to save Spike no matter what!”

Midnight was staring down at Spike, half angry half confused.

“Free us? From what?!”

“You forgot I can read souls. All of the Knights know the true. You may laugh as you keep committing atrocity after atrocity. But your real selves are crying deep inside you. The six of you keep most of their memories and personalities but they are not really you. You have no control. Your indestructible bodies are like prison where your souls are forced to take the back seat and watch what you do over and over. You can influence on your actions a little but is never enough. Your real you is trapped down there and is suffering, I know that for a fact.”

Midnight wrapped her hands around her hands around Spike’s neck. She would kill him and this would be the end. She smiled sadistically as she witnessed Spike slowly chocking to death. But tears started to come out from her eyes. It was the only thing her real self could do.

And then it happened. She felt the dagger stabbing her on the back of her head.

She turned around only to see Twilight holding the dagger, and she stabbed Midnight on the eye.

“No one touches my son.”

Midnight looked at Twilight with her remaining eye and Twilight swore she could see a tear of thankfulness. Finally the rest of her unlife abandoned her body.

She was dead. For real this time.

Twilight then rushed to hug the purple dog.

“Spike, Spike!”

He smiled weakly. “You saved me.”

“Always!”

Twilight cried in relief. It was over.

Or was it?

…

Twilight opened her eyes. She was on a big empty space.

She was back on her pony form completely alone, or that was she thought. She could see a pony crying on the distance. What was going on there? Twilight didn’t know, but she was sure that she needed to comfort that pony. It was a gut feeling.

“Hey, are you okay?” asked Twilight.

The crying pony turned around, and much to her surprise it was herself. Her face was distorted by the pain and lost, crying tears made out of blood.

“You… what is going on here? Who are you?”

“I am Twilight Sparkle. Or used to be. Now I am just Midnight.”

Twilight walked backwards, horrified.

“No! This supposed to be the end! What do you want from me? WHERE ARE WE?”

She shrugged.

“This is your soul. My soul, I don’t know. As for what I want form you, absolutely nothing. I am about to go to hell and pay for my mistake. When I was so blinded by rage and desire of revenge that I stupidly made the ritual.”

“I see. Yes, all of your atrocities started with that mistake.”

“Yes. They all started with one mistake. Do you know how it feels to be trapped inside yourself? Being forced to watch one horrid act after another but you have no control over it. It is like a nightmare where you can’t wake up. DO YOU THINK I WANTED THIS? All I wanted was to get my revenge on Starlight. Going straight to hell was preferrable to being trapped inside my own self, but there was nothing I could do about it. I wish I had just kill myself instead of seeking vengeance!”

Twilight looked at Midnight with pity.

“Why did you go back in time?”

“A foolish hope. I was tired, and just wanted to end everything. I saw an opportunity to kill myself. My body could not be destroyed, so I tried to change history to prevent you from making the same mistake I made. I wanted to erase myself from history. But it didn’t work like that. I stayed in the new timeline I created and had to witness how my own mind was used to plan genocide of a bunch of young ponies who only wanted education. And there was nothing I could do about it. And now I tried to kill my own son. I just want to go to hell already and finish this already.”

Twilight stood there speechless.

Midnight then looked at her and smiled. “So I guess that what I’m trying to say is ‘thank you’. You have freed me and I am glad it is finally over. I am going straight to hell, but at least I would stop harming others.”

Twilight nodded.

“So why we’re here? You just want to say goodbye?”

Midnight shrugged.

“Is just a stupid clause. There is a way to prevent me from going to hell, but I don’t want to. You have to accept it, and it is a burden too big for you to carry.”

Twilight finally understood what happened with her friends.

“So that’s what happened with them!”

Midnight nodded. “Yes, they decided to save their other selves. Idiots.”

“What do I need to do?”

Midnight shook her head. “Are you an idiot or what? I am telling you I don’t want it!”

“You’ve suffered long enough Midnight. Let me help you. If my friends could do it, I can do it too.”

“No! Let me go where I belong! You don’t know what you’re asking for!”

“You sacrificed everything for Equestria. Even your own sould. Come on, let me help you. You are me, right? I need to help myself!”

Midnight sighed.

“You need to accept me as a part of you.”

Twilight gasped. “You mean mix our consciousness?”

“No. I’ll disappear inside you, becoming nothing but memories. All of my memories. Massacres, intimate times with Spike… everything about me. The burden is too much, even for you Twilight. Your friends accepted it and regretted immediately. Don’t do this to yourself Twilight.”

Twilight gulped but accepted it.

“I’ll do it. I won’t be able to look at my friends if I refuse to help you. I’ll do it, you’ve suffered long enough.”

Midnight shook her head. “Okay then. But you’re going to regret it, as your friends did.”

…

Twilight opened her eyes, and just as her friends she started screaming and sobbing when all of Midnight’s memories started to flow on her mind.

It was just as Midnight told her. Everything she have done on her unlife was now part of Twilight’s memories.

It was painful, too much. Too many lives taken, she had too much blood on her hooves.

“No please, I know I asked for it but make it stop… STOOOOOOOP!”

Twilight was screaming, she wanted it to go away. But she also knew she agreed to this. There was no way out, and this horrid memories would be part of her forever.

Spike looked at her weakly.

“It is difficult, I know. But it would be over soon. Just have to remember who you really are.”

Twilight looked at him.

“How do you know what is happening to me? Are you reading my soul?”

Spike shook his head.

“No. In fact, I was the first one to accept my demons.”

With that the two of them faded into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

This was a hard chapter to make, and to translate. Too many things happening at the same time.

But after a long wait the story is finally over. I hope you liked it, and sorry if you find the end of the undeads a bit unsatisfying but this is the main issue when creating characters this powerful.

Anyway I hope you liked it and,

Read ya’ later!!