"We do not realize just how wrong we are, until it is too late." - King Cosmos, 'Discord's Descent'

TS

The sound of desperate, heartbroken sobs filled the silence of the room. In the corner, Twilight Sparkle lay limply, flipping through page-after-page of her books. They were all on magic. The theory, of course. She gone to them for comfort...

because there was no one else left to go to.

She hiccuped, echoing another despaired cry as she tried to read the text through blurry eyes. Her heart hurt- it physically hurt. The pain felt like it would kill her if given the chance. She felt so useless...

She'd only wanted to help...

She loved her friends... her brother...

Celestia...

'You have a lot to think about.'

She threw the book, folding into her sorrow. Curling up on the floor of her tower, her howling sobs echoing in the cool night air. It wasn't fair!

It just wasn't fair!

'Why... why, why, why...' Her mind cried. She'd never meant to make Cadance cry. She'd never wanted to ruin their wedding. She'd just..

She cried out as betrayal emptied her. The room seemed to get darker- colder. The world lost its color. All that was left was her grief...

and magic.

Magic hadn't betrayed her- it hadn't left her alone to cry. It hadn't flown away with the wind. It didn't hate her.

Magic didn't care, either. But it didn't hate her.

She had something.

She rubbed her eyes, feeling the soaked fur around them.

They had betrayed her, she realized with a start.

THEY had betrayed HER.

Her mind fluttered back to an event not too long passed.

'Lesson Zero.'.

Her lip quivered. 'How could they... after everything that happened... everything we've been through... after all the promises...' all the happy memories..

They just hurt now.

She'd been disowned- by everypony. Her friends, her son, her brother...

and her teacher...

She clutched the Element of Magic to her chest, letting the others collapse to the floor around her. Magic hadn't abandoned her- not like them. She was still the Element of Magic. It still appreciated her- it still wanted her around.

She took the warm, comforting pulse of light from the gem as a nod of agreement.

Squeezing it tighter, she disregarded the thin trickle of blood that made its way down her withers as the edges of the gemstone cut into her. It wouldn't leave her. It valued her- it cared about her. Her friends may not, but it did.

She gave a cracked, broken smile. She knew what she needed to do- Magic was her last friend on all of Equis. The other elements didn't matter- not to her. Magic could do it alone. It always had. The elements only worked because Magic existed.

She sat up and held out the gem in front of her. It was clearly different from the others. It was the only one that had pre-existed as Magic- her cutie mark. It glowed with unmatched power, sticking out like a sun among a group of black holes when compared to the other elements. They just leeched off of it- channeling its energy into themselves.

She furrowed her brow, idly noting that her tear stained fur had begun to mat in places. The spell connecting the elements was complex- powerful, too- and seemed to simply be... a leech spell.

It just didn't make sense.

Like Cadance. It just didn't make sense.

Unlike Cadance, though, she could make it make sense. She could fix this for the element- maybe it would like her more if she did. It wouldn't have the others stealing magic that rightfully belonged to her and it.

... her, actually. She knew that. Magic was hers, and it liked her. So the magic was hers, as well.

She stroked the hard, cut gem of Magic.

It was hers. She just couldn't access it. Magic wanted her to have it, right? Why else would it let her be its bearer? The other elements weren't of any use to it. They were foreign- unnecessary lowlifes. Taking magic that wasn't theirs.

Her broken heart brightened when Magic seemed to hum. It had to be in approval- right? It meant she was on the right track. It meant that was what Magic wanted. It wanted her to become a part of it. It made sense to her. Why else was her cutie mark Magic itself?

It made sense. She liked things that made sense. It dulled the aching pain of the needles that seemed to dance and spin in her chest. It was a distraction- a distraction she would appreciate.

She sat up, looking around the room. A few trickles of blood and the other elements scattered the floor of her tower. She knew what she needed to do now. She knew what magic wanted her to do. Magic wanted her to take it. Take the power that rightfully belonged to her.

She grit her teeth in concentration and, in a single, simultaneous scoop, cupped all of the interlocked spells in her magic. They scorched her horn, eating through her wellspring with unmatched hunger. She screamed as tears of pain seared her ice-cold flesh. They were eating her! Her mind raced as she felt the other elements begin consuming- further and further into her wellspring. Her very life force was being drained from her!

It hurt. So much.

She gave a defiant shout and yanked.

The lines connecting Magic and the Elements ripped- then tore themselves in half. Twilight's weak, faded tendril of magic gripped the ones that seemed to be excreting Magic's essence, and fused.

The world went silent and dark, and the night air hissed softly.

C

Chrysalis couldn't have been happier! It was all going perfectly- oh, so perfectly! Her little run-in with the brat had made her the hero! She was on top of everything! No one would stop her, not the Princesses, not Equestria, and most certainly not that whelp. She grinned into the mirror, oblivious to the scrying spells placed around the room, humming with a gentle summer's breeze.

Concealing the boiling rage of the pony it belonged to as she watched the imposter.

T̵̜͚͉̄̿S̴̢̢̛̛̳͖̪͗̓̈͝

Her world was one of pain- and acceptance. As Magic slowly ripped into her body, forcing itself into her as her flesh and muscle seemed to split and break apart, she felt her thoughts going numb. Her horn had split- then shattered, leaving a gaping hole in her skull; squirting blood all over the floor. Her bones twisted and crumbled to dust.

The next to go was her fur. It slew from her body, leaving her flesh raw and open. If the floor wasn't drenched before, it was now, as the building pools of red liquid combined into a single bubbling, sizzling mass. Her body caved in on itself, folding uselessly into a flab of raw meat. She had stopped screaming after her lungs had melted, and her windpipe had glued itself closed with tender, boiling muscle, reduced to a thick substance that blocked her breathing.

Her chest collapsed open, and her heart, nerves and veins still attached, fell out.

She only had one wish.

To die at peace...

... A wish that would not be granted, as the pain and power dug itself into her mind with a crack- until finally, it broke.

And from her broken, irreparable state, she would be rebuilt from nothing.

C

The sound of metal meeting marble had been a constant that day. Celestia stood tall over the royal guards, who had been dispelling the horde of Changelings everypony only now realized was surrounding Canterlot.

They'd likely been unpleasantly surprised when the last transmission their queen had made that morning had been one of Cadance's magic blasting the bug in the face. The queen herself had been placed under the highest wards available at the time and thrown into a cell in the bowels of the castle.

She hadn't seen Twilight, though. Or the Elements of Harmony, for that matter. That was what concerned her.

What also concerned her was the pain in her chest.

She sighed in defeat as she gripped the doors to the tower in her magic. Goddesses, she didn't want to do this to her student.. she'd hurt the mare enough as it was.

But she had to make sure Twilight hadn't done anything too rash.

The doors began melting, the wood turning to ash as Sol's energy converged on it, leaving a puddle of melted precious metals and jewels where the door had once been. She stepped through the entrance- and gasped.

The room had been destroyed.

Scorch marks littered the walls and ceiling. The floor...

The floor was covered in blood... blood and...

Celestia's wide eyes stared at the clumps of violet fur and deep, midnight-blue hairs.

No...

"No.." Her whisper carried the weight of the world upon its shoulders as the rest of the guards stepped forward. It didn't matter- not anymore.

'Oh gods... Oh gods, Twilight...' "Twilight..." Celestia pitifully whimpered. She fell onto her haunches, the puddle unmoving as Celestia prayed for the second time in her life. She prayed for something- anything. For her student to rush down the stairs, laughing at the terror on her face as the cruel prank broke her heart; the sudden rush of dark magic, to revive her student as a warlock of death.. anything.

Anything to make this horrible reality that was, no longer be...

To close the hole that had opened in her chest.

... There was nothing.

Her prayers to the long-dead gods went unanswered. The puddle of Twilight didn't so much as croak. She stifled a wail- she dared not cry in the presence of the guard- and fell before it. The blood that soaked into her once pristine alabaster coat went unnoticed. The sounds of vomiting went unheard. Even the cry of anguish from Shining Armor, as he saw what remained of his sister, meant nothing.

It was all white noise.

Her eyes never left the puddle of gore. Blood and lavender fur collided with her, but she ignored it all.

Twilight was gone...

Goddesses...

"N-no..."

'And it's all your fault.'

She laid her head down into the viscous puddle. Her heart seemed despondent as she took in the smell. Mixed with the scent of iron, she could faintly make out parchment and ink.

A stray tear mixed the with visceral pool of blood and intestines.

She let herself cry as softly as she could manage.

Once again, she had pushed a pony she cared for away...

Brushed them aside...

And once again, she had lost them for it...

Why did she never learn...

Why-

The sound of a thump and a loud, pained yell from the upper half of the tower caught everypony's attention. It was only then, drowning herself in Twilight's insides and her own tears, she let herself hope. Hope those sounds meant the one thing she wanted.

Even as discouraged as she was by it all, hope was hope.

To Tartarus with the consequences.

She was halfway up the stairs when another cry and thump reached her ears. It didn't matter- Twilight could still be alive.

There was hope!

She crashed into the wall as she reached the top of the stairs.

Through the dizziness and remaining tears, she could just make something out- it glowed, fur shining like a lavender star as it stood facing the remains of a large window, overlooking the city below.

She didn't need to see the mare to know it was her. The magic felt the same.

Even if it was stronger... and colder...

She dived forward, disregarding the two ponies in Solar Guard armor who had dropped to the floor- whether in reverence or agony she did not wish to think about- and met the halo halfway. Her hooves clasped the smaller form as she tumbled and crashed, ignoring the pain that flared in her wings as they were crushed against the wall. The cold form squirmed and wriggled, falling limp after a few moments of struggling in her grasp.

"Oh, Twilight! I'm so sorry-" With a sharp intake, she loosened her hooves. 'Gods, if I hurt her... she opened her eyes- and blushed.

Twilight's face was inches away from hers.

Her muzzle had lit up in a barely visible tint of crimson. She pulled her head back-

Then froze, as years, upon years, upon tears of plans crumbled to dust before her eyes.

The first differences- the ones that caused her the most dread- were Twilight's eyes and back...

Or, more specifically, her hollow, empty gaze; and the two brilliant, glowing wings that protruded from her back.

Oh yes, it was dread. A dread so terrible it seemed consume all of the joy she had felt before. Twilight's look was so impassive it shattered her heart.

Because she knew that look.

It was the look of a soul that had been torn apart and stepped on. The look of unending psychological torment. The look of a pony who felt they had lost everything. Even a reason to live. The worst part, though?

She was to blame. The look did more than shatter her fragile heart- it very nearly broke her resolve. Because it did more than stare. As blank as it was, there was still a pony underneath.

And the look on the pony.. it was accusing. Accusing her.

And she knew it was right.

And the wings were proof that the look on her student's face- the feeling of betrayal and sorrow, of having her own heart torn from her body and consumed- would never leave. A shell left to live.

. . .

She felt like a monster.

She barely managed to stop herself from crying now. She had done it- no, she had done worse! She had condemned Twilight to an eternity of betrayal!

She squeezed her eyes shut, avoiding the gaze that burrowed into her as the mare she held finally focused on her and spoke those dreaded words.

The same terrible, horrible words that her niece had spoken upon her ascension.

"That's not... my name..." Her body went limp, eyes closing in a slow, fatigued motion as she mumbled.

Celestia cried.

Author's Note

I can't be the only one that finds it fucking outrageous that Celestia didn't see the massive army of Changelings around Canterlot, right?