Chapters Twilight Sparkle wiped the sweat off her purple forehead, trying at some difficult spells. She walked over to her creativity shelf, where paint, crayons, pencils, and more were set up neatly. Twilight accidentally bumped into the side, and two large cans of violet paint came crashing down on her. The can was plastic, so it didn't hurt, but she was extremely messy by the time she put the paint cans up.
She waddled over to her spell book, not wanting to touch the floor with messy hooves, although it was impossible. Small violet hoof marks were spread across the wooden floor. Twilight Sparkle groaned, trying to think of a spell that could clean everything up. But nothing could get into her head - so she took a peek into the spell book.
Twilight looked for the clean-up spell, and found it on page one hundred forty-three. Her eyes wandered from the top to bottom, and at the very bottom listed a clean-up spell. She cleared her throat and started to say the magical chant:
Oh may rah doh,
cleae up see..
Suddenly she couldn't remember and quickly filled in what was right before the spell's magic disappeared.
say doh...
As the magic evaporated into the air and spun around the room, it got closer to Twilight and made a large green zap before she appeared into a darkly colored library.
It was nothing like her library - it was vibrant with colored books and light brown. This was a dark and dusty library, but over in the corner near the large window sat a another Twilight Sparkle. Afraid, the real one stepped closer to the pony before it noticed her.
"Hi there, I'm Midnight Glimmer," she said, flipping through some pages of her books. She looked up to the clock and shuddered.
"Guards will be checking my room any time now for books! Hurry, get into my safe room," she said, pushing Twilight Sparkle into the bookshelf with her. It turned around to a musky-smelling and dark house. Right as they turned up against the new wall, three purple-armored stallions burst in and looked around the dark house with seriousness.
"Midnight Glimmer, correct?" asked the one with the most muscles.
Midnight nodded, pushing Twilight forward.
"This is Twilight Sparkle. She can stay with me for a bit," she said, looking to Twilight with hopeful eyes. Twilight didn't know what was happening and how she got to the dark library. She was amazed about how much Midnight Glimmer looked like her, except she was more dark. Instead of a violet mane color, it was black with dark purple streaks. Even though everything about Midnight was dark, she seemed relatively cheerful.
The guards exited the house suspiciously, staring at Twilight Sparkle for a few moments.
"Who are they? And why am I here?" Twilight asked, started to shiver because of her fear overcoming her thoughts.
Midnight rushed to Twilight's side. "They are the Ponyville guards, of course! Aren't you visiting from the Capitol of Equestria?" she asked, cocking her head.
Twilight shook her head simply and answered very briefly, "No. I was doing a spell one time and I suddenly appeared here.. my old home is so vibrant and bright. And by Capitol of Equestria, don't you mean Canterlot?"
Midnight laughed, but nodded as well. "It's called the Capitol of Equestria now, not Canterlot. But maybe you messed up a spell and went forward in time! I remember my mother named Twilight Glimmer telling me all about when it was very bright in Ponyville.. now since Discord's taken over, it's been terrible."
Twilight's eyes opened wide. She wanted to name her foal Twilight Glimmer. She loved that name and wanted to keep the Twilight part like her mother did. Was she really in a future, or an alternate universe?
Then she realized Midnight said Discord took over.
"How did Discord take over? Where are Princess Celestia and Luna?" she asked, worrying about her teacher and the secretly caring Luna.
Midnight turned, her tail sweeping the dusty floor.
"Discord teamed up with Chrysalis one day, and she disguised as Celestia as he took the real one and captured her. Then Chrysalis took over Equestria with Discord. They trapped both of the Princesses in a deep dungeon where nobody would find them. Discord felt like he should be leader, so he killed off Chrysalis and most of the changelings. Ever since he's taken over, guards check each house every night for any suspicious actions or disturbances."
Twilight couldn't believe what had happened in the future. Or this alternate universe. Everything was so dark now that Discord took over - her friends! What would they be doing? She had to check on Fluttershy first, to make sure she was okay.
"Do you know any pony around here named Fluttershy?" she asked, hopefully waiting for a good answer.
Midnight shook her head. "Fluttershy's daughter is named Skywing. Fluttershy.. died. She had run off after guards caught her having too many animals, and they killed her during the chase. It was very depressing."
Twilight couldn't mourn now that Fluttershy was dead - she had to find Skywing and ask her what happened to the other ponies. She wanted to find out if Applejack and the others were okay. Fluttershy was caught dead for something as little as too many animals, so her friends could be dead for even bigger reasons.
"I'm going to find Skywing, do you know where she lives?" she questioned.
Midnight nodded. "Yep. Down the road in a white cottage."
Twilight shot out the door and raced down the stone road towards Skywing's home. She saw a beautiful white cottage - the one Midnight was probably talking about. So she hurried down to the door and knocked with her front hoof. In a few minutes, the door opened and revealed almost a twin of Fluttershy, except with sad eyes and hanging wings.
Skywing had invited Twilight in for some warm cider after she saw how dripping wet she was from the rain.
"Why are you here, visitor?" she asked politely, gulping up the cider.
Twilight was about to reply after she took a bite of the cider. It tasted very different and more bland than the regular cider she tasted.
"I accidentally got teleported here by a wrong spell. But what is with this cider? It's very bland," she said. She put the cider down and shook her head in disgust. Who could eat such a flavorless dessert?
"Because it has no love or friendship in it.. this is one of the best dishes Ponyville serves nowadays. All of the fresh apple and cupcake days faded away as soon as Discord became leader," Skywing explained, eating the cider quickly as if she was about to starve.
Twilight wasn't here on a mission, but maybe she could find out some information from Skywing about the potential future.
"So this bland cider is the best dish in town? What else has changed ever since Discord has become leader?" she asked.
Skywing wiped her eyes and nodded, preparing to give a full, large answer.
"The friendship around here. There's no more happiness when you go to the market or to the park. They've blocked off the sky unless a pegasus has to do their job. Pegasi barely get to fly anymore, and they don't really come down to Ponyville anymore unless it's an urgent emergency, or they're coming to get cider. And.. and.. Fluttershy and Pinkie died."
Twilight's eyes were huge. Pinkie Pie died as well? She had to find out who did it. She was getting more furious every second she absorbed the news.
"Who dare kill that friendly pony?" she asked angrily.
Skywing wiped her bright pink eyes and gave another tearful answer.
"Discord caused some more chaos in Ponyville since it wasn't as 'exciting' in Equestria as he thought. He captured the last bit of changelings from Queen Chrysalis's army and let them free into Ponyville, forcing them to betray them and try to kill them. When Pinkie Pie was following one of the fake earth ponies, the changeling disclosed itself and attacked Pinkie Pie. She couldn't escape and eventually died from strangulation."
So Pinkie Pie died from being innocent and friendly. Discord was causing as much trouble as he could, and he loved the smell of death and chaos. Twilight had to stop it before it really happened to her friends. If Pinkie and Fluttershy died, then Rainbow Dash and Applejack had to be alive as well.
"Do you know where Applejack is?" Twilight asked, looking outside the dirty, dripping window.
"The Apple Family lost their farm a few days after Discord took over.. they live near the old farm in a tiny house. Granny Smith passed away a few years ago, and Apple Bloom is all grown up now. Macintosh used to be my best friend, and I had a little crush on him. But he moved away to Canterlot after all of the chaos he saw happening. He said he would make a wife and a living, then give Applejack and lil' Bloom some of his money and his foal. He would risk everything for them.. he really would. That's why I love him."
Twilight nodded. Big Mac was a good stallion. He deserved a better life, like the rest of the Ponyville ponies. Donating his money to Applejack and Apple Bloom was a very thoughtful gesture, but giving his own foal to them? Twilight wasn't even sure they would be able to take care of the new foal after it was born, anyways.
"Stay here, Twilight. Please. I'll get Derpy to send a message to Midnight that you're staying here with me," Skywing said, interrupting her thoughts.
She understood how scared Skywing was - probably all the time. What if the guards broke into her house and tried to kill her one day? She knew Skywing would be afraid just like her mother. She had to comfort her and stay with her.
"I will. But tomorrow, can we go out a little walk around Ponyville?" she asked, giving her a catch.
Skywing looked terrified but nodded gratefully.
"Yes, yes! Okay, let me make some soup for supper since you didn't like the cider.. it has some carrots Macintosh gave to me before he left. Sit down, you can watch one of the TV channels," she said, a little more happy that somebody was going to be her guest.
Twilight snuggled onto the couch and turned onto the news channel, which had been renamed the Discord Program. She was about to turn the channel when a guard was talking about a stallion being arrested for trying to give food to the poor ponies, even though it was illegal.
"Skywing! There's this pony who was giving food to the poor!" she said.
A hurried Skywing trotted out of the kitchen and looked onto the channel, where a large profile of Big Mac appeared.
"Luckily, this stallion was arrested before he could give more - remember, if the ponies can't make any money or food themselves, then they do not deserve to be given some.
Next on the Discord Program - Trothollow rebels once again."
She immediately started bawling into Twilight's side.
"Macintosh, no! You couldn't have risked it for them!"
Twilight stood up and nuzzled her matted yellow mane. She felt bad for Macintosh and Skywing - they must have been more than friends if she had started bawling over him being arrested.
"His wife will probably bail him out.. he'll be fine, I promise," she said in a hushed voice.
Skywing nodded, reassuring herself and murmuring quiet motivations to get over it. She stood up and turned as a large beep was heard from the kitchen. She glanced at Twilight quickly and then rushed over to the stove, where she pushed it off onto the counter and began to pour it into two bowls.
Twilight wasn't even sure if Big Mac would get bailed out. What if he didn't have a wife yet? What if he would get killed for his crime against Discord's society? Twilight hoped Big Mac would be fine. She wasn't very friendly with him all the time, but she wanted to run up to him and nuzzle him as much as she could. Big Mac was quite a brave fellow.. and nobody saw that in her time.
Twilight Sparkle stayed with Skywing the rest of the night and until they woke up to comfort her. The unicorn was desperate to know what happened to Applejack, and perhaps try to visit Cloudsdale to see Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight, I sense you'd like to go now," murmured Skywing. She was still sniffing, thinking of the horrible things that could be done to Macintosh if he ever risked more trouble. Twilight nodded, searching for a spare saddle bag she could borrow. Skywing took one with her mouth and tossed it to Twilight, who stuffed a jar of the bland cider and wrapped bowl of soup inside. She wanted to get more information before trying to change her future, and perhaps she could sniff some things out from Applejack and take a few books from Midnight Glimmer's secret library to do so.
They trotted outside and Twilight Sparkle's mane quickly became damp as the moist air grew around her. She glared at the square, seeing one pony dragging an empty cart along. Skywing's eyes flashed open and she galloped for the pony, shouting for food.
"Please, Carrot Top! Do you have anything left? Do you?" Fluttershy's daughter asked, her blue eyes filled with hope and desire of some carrots to eat.
"Sorry, Skywing. I just sold my last one. I'll come back with some more from my house if you got enough bits," Carrot Top answered, holding out her hoof. Twilight Sparkle expected Skywing to plunk some bits in her hoof and wait, but she just shook her head sadly. The two ponies continued to trot away from the square, onto the path that led to Sweet Apple Acres. When they were far enough from the center of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle piped up.
"Why didn't you accept Carrot Top's offer? She said she has some at home." Skywing shook her head again sadly, mumbling some soft curses and prayers. She tried to talk, but tears started to well up in her eyes. Twilight Sparkle didn't realize how much Ponyville changed.
"Because you can't trust nopony anymore. Carrot Top is one of those ponies who will take your money and gallop off to swim in her fortune. She may seem sweet, but once Discord took over every pony's changed. Carrot Top is the richest pony in town, and she sells her carrots off to starving ponies all the time. I usually come really early to wait for the cart rush. It only includes three carts, though. Carrot Top selling carrots, Sweet Blush selling useless jewelries, and Blueberry Dash selling her blueberries. All of them are bland, but the carrots are the most desired," Skywing rambled. Twilight began to see there was a ruthless society built in Ponyville. The rich provided the peasants but took things from them also. When Twilight met Midnight Glimmer, she looked healthy and didn't complain about having any food. What if she was a rich, trickster pony like Carrot Top? She hoped her granddaughter to be efficient and kind.
to be continued