Chapters I'm going to warn you right now, this story isn't going to have a happy ending. With that in mind let's go right into the story, one of tragedy that ironically started on a day that should have been about a great victory. Discord the spirit of chaos of disharmony tried to spread chaos across all of Equestria and despite messing with the heads of the mane 6 they came back together. Once they did they used the Elements of Harmony to blast him back to stone with a powerful rainbow.
"Oh no," Discord said not so seriously for some reason. "Whatever shall I do? Oh, I know!" With the snap of his fingers Discord vanished, escaping just before the spell hit him. Despite retreating the mane 6 still undid all of the chaos that he created, while upset that Discord got away this was still considered a victory. The mane 6 would wear the elements nearly all the time to prepare for the day Discord would return, unaware of just how unprepared they would be against the plan he would cook up.
Not too long after Discord's defeat, a royal wedding would be held at the capitol and while many were excited for this day Twilight was not. She could tell something was quite off about the bride to be, but none of her friends would listen to her forcing Twilight to confront Princess Cadance, making her run off in tears. This in turn caused her brother the husband to be to verbally rip her a new one then leave Twilight in tears. After that, her friends and even Princess Celestia walked out and left Twilight all on her own. "What have I done? I could have gained a sister but instead, I just lost a brother."
"Maybe we were a little hard on Twilight," Fluttershy said after they left Twilight.
"No, we weren't hard enough," Applejack said, still upset. "You saw how she was in there, she deserves to be all alone."
"Applejack darling!" Rarity said in shock. "I can't believe you, she may have acted badly during the rehearsal but she's still our friend."
"Yeah, and she was just doing it to help her brother. At least she thought she was," Pinkie Pie said.
"But she acted so horrible to Princess Mi Amore whatever. Does she really want us to call her that bizarrely long name?"
"Maybe we should have talked to her at least," Spike said. "She acted horrible but she thought she had a good reason to do so."
"We told her she was just being overprotective of her brother and she didn't listen," Applejack said. "If she feels horrible it's her own fault." The mane 5 and Spike would continue to bicker a bit more while Twilight who thought she hit rock bottom had no clue how much farther she was going to fall. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza appeared and tried to surround her in a ring of fire but Twilight jumped out of it just in time.
"I was right all along, you are evil!"
"Why couldn't you just stay put so I could have gotten rid of you," Cadence said before she tried to hit Twilight with a spell but Twilight dodged and teleported away. "Huh, where did she gaugh!" Cadence got her answer when Twilight blasted her from behind.
"That felt good," Twilight said. Cadence tried to get Twilight but she was too fast and before she knew Twilight was on top of her with her hooves around her neck.
"Get off me!"
"I'm going to make you pay for trying to ruin my brother's life." Twilight continued to choke Cadence who shocked Twilight when the color of her eyes changed, but she only saw for a split second before she was blasted off. All the noise they caused was heard by numerous other ponies that were also in the castle, several guards, the mane 5, Spike, Princess Celestia, and Shining Armor who was the one that blasted Twilight.
"What in Equestria is wrong with you Twilight!?" Shining Armor asked.
"Shining Armor thank goodness you're here!" Cadance said as she got up to run over and hug him. "I came in here to give Twilight another chance but then she tried to kill me saying she'll never let me have you."
"No," Twilight said as she tried to get up. "She's lying, she attacked me first."
"Shining you're not going to believe her are you? After all, you are my one true love."
"No, he isn't because you're evil!" Twilight still tried to hit up but the stun spell she was hit with was too powerful making her fall down. "I-I can't get up," Twilight said as she started to cry a little.
"That's what you get when you attack my wife!"
"You don't want to marry somepony like her BBBFF she-"
"Don't call me BBBFF!" Shining Armor interrupted. "You don't get to call me that anymore. After today you'll be lucky if I ever want to see you again."
"What?" Twilight said, shocked and heartbroken.
"Shining Armor, perhaps we should all calm down a little." Celestia said.
"No I won't calm down, you saw what she was doing!"
"Please you have to believe me, she's evil."
"Like you said earlier but you couldn't prove it then either," Applejack said.
"Yes I can we can use the elements on her and-"
"We're not doing that Twi! In fact, we aren't listening to you ever again!" Applejack interrupted. Cadance continued to hug Shining Armor while she was shooting Twilight a look of sheer delight at her misery, but none of the other ponies noticed. After a while Shining Armor convinced Celestia to lock Twilight up in the dungeon while they decided what to do with her.
"No you can't put me in here she's evil!" Twilight said as she was still fighting the pain.
"We're sick of that old song Twilight," Applejack said.
"Please don't do this to me, Celestia." Princess Celestia was silent as she didn't know what to say or do. Twilight was crying because of the pain but Cadence had been through a lot too and on her wedding day. No matter what she did she was going to let somepony she loves down.
"You'll only be in here for a while Twilight, but it should give you time to think," Celestia said as she closed her eyes to her student.
"What? No!" Twilight then cried even now as the others walked away from here. "Please don't go, I'm begging you, mom please!" Hearing that Celestia turned her head starting to rethink what she did.
"You aren't going to let guilt cloud your judgment are you?" Shining Armor asked, still acting as unforgiving as earlier Celestia then looked away and they all left. The wedding went on but just as they were about to be married when suddenly the real Cadance arrived. Sensing something was horribly wrong it determined her to get out of the caves no matter what and along the way came across Princess Luna who woke up from her nap and saw Cadance putting 2 and 2 together right away.
"We must warn everypony before it's too late," Luna said, not knowing that it already was. They made it to the wedding and once there Chrysalis, queen of the changelings made herself known and before long her army attacked. Celestia tried to stop her but Chrysalis overpowered her, or at least she would have if Luna didn't back her up. After that Cadence snapped Shining Armor out of his brainwashing and together they forced the changelings out.
"Hoorah! We are victorious sister!" Luna said happily that the invasion was stopped but Celestia was silent for there was a major wrong she still had to make right. She went to the dungeon ready to beg Twilight for forgiveness while Spike, Shining Armor, and the mane 5 came down to do the same while explaining to Cadence and Luna why. Needlessly to say they weren't too happy to hear what they did and when they reached the cell they saw it was empty.
"She got out?" Celestia said. "But how and where did she go?" Everypony and Spike then looked all over Canterlot but there was no sign of Twilight. Eventually, Celestia brought the mane 5 and Spike to Ponyville thinking she went there and upon visiting the library saw a note by the desk.
"That wasn't there when we left," Spike said as he ran over to read it. "It's Twilight's, I recognize it," he said with excitement and the others joined in on that feeling. "To all my former friends," Spike read, which made the collective excitement vanish. "I escaped the dungeon and I came here to pack up several things I'll need for my long journey."
"Journey?" Celestia asked as she took the note with her magic to read it herself. "I'm leaving to find real friends, friends that have my back when I need it. Don't bother looking for me because I've taken precautions to ensure that you won't be able to find me." Celestia almost choked up as she paused for a moment to hold back the tears. "I never want to see any of you ever again, goodbye forever. Your former friend and faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
"Oh no," the mane 5 said collectively as Celestia dropped the note and Spike went over to read it and see if there was more, there wasn't.
"What have I done?" Celestia asked herself as she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. After that Twilight's friends set out to find her but they had no luck. It was as if she disappeared from the face of the planet, but that didn't stop Celestia from going all out to find her. Search parties, detectives, and missing pony papers were put in every major city or town in all of Equestria. Nothing helped but Celestia refused to give up, determined to find her daughter and would even fly around using the royal Canterlot voice saying how sorry she was and begged her to come back.
But despite her efforts, she did not return.
***
After the search failed, Twilight's friends, while still wishing to help search, thought Twilight would come back on her own. But days turned to weeks and weeks turned into months, while they tried to get on with their lives Twilight was never far from their minds. Spike moved in with Rarity and while he rather enjoyed it, he took losing Twilight the hardest and started having nightmares. "Twilight, where are you!" He called out trying to find her sensing she was close by.
"I'm so worthless," a faint voice said and when Spike turned he saw that it was Twilight getting on a rather large ship. Showing a smile that almost covered his entire face he tried to run over but he didn't move. " I don't deserve to have friends. I'm going away, far away where they won't ever find me so they can forget all about me."
"No!" Spike said as he ran faster but still couldn't move. Twilight loaded the last of her things and got on the ship as it started to sail away.
"I'm sorry I was such a horrible friend," Twilight said as the ship sailed out of Spike's sight.
"Twilight please come back!" Spike almost screamed as he was finally able to move but by the time he got to the water, the ship was gone. "You were the best friend I could have asked for, you can act like the worst friend ever, just don't go away." Spike found himself in tears as he cried himself awake.
"Spikey Wikey did you have the nightmare again?" Rarity said as she went over to her favorite dragon who ran over to the closet and dressed like an explorer. "Spike what are you doing?"
"I can't stand it anymore. I have to find Twilight to bring her home."
"Spike darling, I understand but if nopony else could find her how are you?" Spike was about to run off but Rarity teleported in front of him and forced him into a hug as he started crying again.
"Why did I have to treat her so badly? After everything that she did for us."
"We all did Spike," Rarity said as she hugged Spike tighter. Spike calmed down and as he looked up into Rarity's beautiful eyes he leaned up and kissed her. Rarity, unsure of how to react, simply continued to hold her beloved dragon while she closed her eyes and returned the kiss. Rarity couldn't help but hold the little dragon tightly as he moved in closer to the unicorn he loved.
Meanwhile faraway in the Crystal Empire Shining Armor wasn't doing much better as he all but fell into despair over the loss of his sister. While he and Cadence were still together he refused to marry her until Twilight was found so she could be the best mare.
"Oh Twily, I miss you so much," Shining Armor said to himself as he looked through old photos of her. "It's mom and dad all over again," he said as he used a spell he learned from Princess Celestia. The room because the graveyard where his parents were buried as he looked at a young filly crying over the graves.
"What are we going to do Shining Armor?" The filly Twilight asked a younger Shining Armor who brought her into a hug as she continued crying. "What are we going to do," she asked again. "Whose going to take care of me? Of us?"
"We'll think of something," the younger Shining Armor.
"You know it's not healthy to keep using that spell." Cadance, who walked in on recently said to her almost husband.
"I can't seem to help it." Shining replied as she came over and put a hoof on his shoulder.
"It won't bring her back."
"What if she never comes back? What if the only way to see my sister again is in my memories?" Cadance didn't reply but simply laid down next to him, muzzle to muzzle in comfort.
"I've been asking myself that same question." Cadance finally replied.
"It wasn't long after the funeral, during it actually that Princess Celestia came to us and took us under her wing. I joined the guard, and Twily became her personal student. Princess Celestia smothered her with attention, and she wasn't the only one."
"Yeah," Cadance agreed. "I couldn't help but smother her and spoil her." Cadance without the use of the spell Shining Armor was using, remembered a time she comforted Twilight. Twilight, still a filly, was crying her eyes out in a bed after a fight with Shining Armor and Cadance was with her trying to cheer her up.
"Shining's such a jerk." Twilight said as she was still crying and Cadence pulled her into a hug.
"No he isn't." Cadance said as she stroked her mane a little.
"Yes he is, he makes me so mad sometimes I just want to break his neck!" Cadance decided to ignore that comment because she knew Twilight was just speaking out of anger, and that Twilight despite how she felt now had the biggest heart she ever saw.
"Shining Armor is just going through a rough time right now because he lost his parents."
"They're my parents too!"
"I know, I'll stay here until you feel better and then I'll go talk to him about how he treated you." Twilight then got closer to Cadance getting more comfortable as she rested her head on her chest. "Cadance, despite all that's happened, I'm glad you're still in my life."
"Me too."
***
In Canterlot Princess Celestia hardly left her room, she also all but fell into despair and like Spike was having a series of nightmares.
"Twilight? Twilight are you here?" Celestia asked as she flew around a seemingly endless abyss of darkness.
"How could you do that to me, I thought you were my friend?" Twilight asked as she appeared out of nowhere. Celestia wanted to fly right over to her and give her a hug, but she slowed down severely. A cliff then appeared where Twilight was and it broke causing her to fall.
"TWILIGHT NO!" Celestia yelled in the royal Canterlot voice that echoed throughout the abyss. She managed to fly down the cliff but couldn't reach Twilight.
"Why didn't you help me?!" Twilight said before hitting the ground and smashing to pieces like a vase. Celestia landed by the leftover pieces of her former student and suddenly saw two shadows, when she looked up she saw her sister Princess Luna and her other former student Sunset Shimmer.
"Why didn't you help us?" They asked in unison and before Celestia could answer the two of them transformed. Luna into the creature that haunted her dreams long ago Nightmare Moon and Sunset Shimmer into the raging she-demon she became when she tried and failed to invade Equestria. "She's never coming back." they once again said in unison.
"What?" Celestia asked.
"She's gone," they said. "Gone forever! You're never going to see her again!" The two then surround Celestia as she tried to drown out their taunting and suddenly similar to Spike awoke in tears. She then reached into her drawer and pulled out a special sphere similar and various precious memories she had with Twilight appeared. One where she showed her around the school of Gifted Unicorns, another where she was taking Twilight to her room and Twilight wanted to race.
"I'm gonna beat you," the Twilight in her memories said before she was lifted by Celestia's magic into the air allowing Celestia to gain the lead. "Hey no fair, that's cheating!"
"Royal privileges," the Celestia in the memory and the Celestia watching said at the same time. She then watched another memory where a guard brought a crying Twilight to her chambers.
"Twilight?"
"I had a scary dream." Twilight replied as she continued crying. Without even hesitating she asked Twilight to join her in her bed.
"What was the dream?"
"I dreamed that a monster came into the castle and kidnapped me. Then it locked me in a cage and said he'd never let me out and that I'd never see you again." Princess Celestia then pulled her into a hug.
"Don't worry, it was just a dream. I'll never let anything happen to you, I'll always be here for you."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Are you alright Princess Celestia?" A yellow coated pony with an odd long red horn asked upon entering the room.
"Yes Forest." Celestia answered as she got out of bed and put the sphere away while seeing Forest was still looking over at her with concern. The two had a strange connection ever since they came across one another, when she was out looking for Twilight one day she found him asleep and all alone in a forest. That's where he got his name, since he couldn't remember his and soon enough he became her personal student. Many found that rather strange including herself a little what with her track record, but she quickly found he was abnormally good at magic and she could tell right away he was a lost soul in need of guidance.
"You don't look all right." he replied.
"I just had a nightmare, the worst one yet actually. It was about my former student."
"You care about her a lot don't you?"
"Yes we came across one another because of a tragic event, but I took her and her brother under my wing. I looked after her and, I'm sorry I'm starting to ramble."
"It's quite alright you probably needed to."
"Yes I keep thinking I've gotten all of it out of my system, but every time I do more show up." Celestia then started to cry again. "Please Twilight come home, I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I miss your visits, I miss your friendship letters. I failed you as a teacher. I wish I could put it in some other way but I can't, I can only beg your forgiveness and pray that somehow in some way you can hear me." Forest then went over to hug her while he was not her student for long he quickly grew very fond of her.
***
One whole year had passed since Twilight disappeared, and now an evil plan would be set in motion that would change the fate of Equestria forever. As Celestia planned to send out another search party several guards arrived with somber looks on their faces. "Is something the matter?" She asked.
"Yes it is your highness we just arrived after looking into a rockslide that happened recently," 1 of the guards answered. "And we found this." The guard then gave Princess Celestia a saddle bag that had a certain purple sparkle cutie mark emblem on it. Princess Celestia was shocked as she could only heartbreakingly look at what remained of the bag.
"We, still haven't found the body." another guard said. Soon after the search parties were called off and the news would spread to both Ponyville and the Crystal Empire, the others took it as well as Celestia. A funeral was put together soon and all who cared for Twilight came with tears in their eyes before even arriving. Because now they know not only will they never see their friend again, but now they'll never get to tell her how sorry they are.
"It's not fair, it's just not fair." Spike said as Rarity was comforting him. When they arrived Spike went inside the castle to clear his head as the others got things ready. But just as they were about to start they were shocked to see Twilight Sparkle herself walking towards the castle. They didn't even bother asking questions as they all ran over to her and trapped her in a group hug.
"GET, OFF ME!" Twilight ordered as she used her magic to force everypony off of her to their pain and confusion. "Did you think I would forget?! Did you think I would forgive?! I will never forgive any of you for what you did to me."
"Twilight please-"
"I don't want to hear it!" Twilight interrupted Celestia and she attacked them with various magic that not even the alicorns could block. "I'm too tired for this, if you want to finish this you'll find me here," Twilight said as she made a map appear. "I'll have all my energy back by the time you get there," Twilight said before vanishing. After that Spike came out and saw the recently made mess.
"What the heck did I miss?"
Discord spirit of chaos and disharmony was an incredibly powerful creature, but not even he could stand against the power of the Elements of Harmony. Imprisoned in stone 1000 years only to cause chaos again, but before he could return to his stone prison he teleported away at the last minute. After that he vowed to find a way to defeat the ponies and get even with them, since then he's been keeping an eye on the ponies, trying to figure out some sort of weakness he could expose. He never would have imagined the start of what would be a perfect plan would start with the one who defeated him.
"My my," Discord said as he was watching a certain wedding in action. "Throwing poor poor Twilight in the dungeon and leaving like that. That's cruel even for me, I think I could grow to like this side of Celestia, but for now I think it's time I actually help Twilight." With a snap of his fingers Discord appeared in front of Twilight who was in the middle of crying her eyes out.
"How could they do this to me?" Twilight asked herself as she kept crying not even noticing Discord. "I thought they were my friends." Twilight then felt the tears in her eyes get whipped away by Discord's tail and when she saw it was his tail she jumped up, or at least tried to but the pain stopped her. "Discord!"
"Yes, fancy meeting you in a place like this."
"What are you-" Twilight stopped when the pain got even worse and she started crying again.
"You poor thing. Let's fix that shall we?" With the snap of his fingers Twilight suddenly felt much better as the pain was finally gone and she managed to stand up.
"Thank you." Twilight said sincerely.
"No problem now let's get you out of here" Discord said as he once again snapped his fingers and they were gone. Discord would later drop by the library to make a fake note with his chaos magic that would cover his tracks, he would also use his magic to make it look like the note was written by Twilight, but for the moment he took Twilight to his home. Once there Twilight fell asleep as the day was quite tiring for her, so Discord made her a bed and watched the attack on the capital. Curious if the ponies would make it out okay, but would become kind of upset when they were able to fight off the changelings. "What an annoying turn of events, but perhaps I can use this to my advantage."
***
After getting hit by Shining Armor's spell the changelings were blasted not only out of Canterlot but also out of Equestria. "How could this be?" Chrysalis asked. "My plan was foolproof!"
"Who said that?" Chrysalis said as she looked around. "Who's there?"
"Me? Why don't you call me your new partner." Discord answered as he appeared in front of the changelings, some of whom were shocked.
"What is that thing?"
"Does it want to fight?"
"If it does I'll give it one."
"That's enough," Chrysalis ordered. "I know who he is, Discord the spirit of chaos and disharmony. What are you doing here?"
"Weren't you listening? Call me your new partner."
"What do you mean?"
"You want to take the ponies down, I want to take the ponies down, I figure together they don't stand a chance."
"Well, that sounds rather tempting." Chrysalis said with a sinister smile.
"In all honesty I could probably win on my own with the plan I have in mind, but I don't just want to beat them, I want to humiliate them, bury them. And with you I think I can do just that, so what do you say?"
"You had me at bury." Chrysalis then turned into Discord so they could shake paws and a deal was made. "So what's the plan?"
"Simple, we use their very best weapon against them." Chrysalis wasn't sure what he meant, so he brought the changelings to his lair and saw a sleeping Twilight.
"Her?"
"Yes Chrysalis her," Discord said as he stroked Twilight's mane a bit with his claw. "She is going to be the perfect key to Celestia's undoing."
"How?"
"By listening up and following my plan for her."
***
Twilight awoke surprisingly feeling much better mostly because the pain was gone. "Where, where am I?"
"Discord! You're here and, you healed me earlier," Twilight remembered as she lowered her defenses. "And you got me out of the dungeon too."
"Yes I know, I was there."
"How long was I out?"
"A day or so," Discord lied she had been asleep for moons thanks to one of his spells. He also cast another spell on her that made her sleep without dreaming, so a certain princess of the night couldn't find her.
"Why did you help me?"
"It's what I'm all about now," Discord lied again.
"Oh have you now?" Twilight asked this time, able to tell he was lying.
"Don't believe me? Did you forget already who helped you out of the dungeon after your so-called loved ones put you there in the first place?" Twilight didn't say anything but looked down once again feeling rather sad. "When you defeated me at first I plotted my revenge, but when I thought about it I saw how strong the magic of friendship was. So I decided to give it a try."
"You did?" Twilight asked surprised but still had her doubts.
"Yes," Discord replied as he teleported himself and Twilight. "After I escaped being put back in my very uncomfortable stone prison, I came across these creatures known as the changelings. Poor creatures cast out by others, how unlike any pony I know." Twilight then looked around seeing the changelings Discord was talking about and how they worked together around Discord's lair. It reminded her of the times she worked together with her Ponyville friends.
"Yes well, Discord, thank you for helping me but it's time for me to head back to Equestria and set things right with everypony."
"Why bother, they've already abandoned you" Discord replied, stopping Twilight in her tracks as she already started leaving.
"What? That's not true."
"I'm afraid it's all too true." Discord said. He then snapped his fingers and took Twilight into the past where she saw her friends had already gone back to their normal lives after what she believed was mere days after she was gone. Discord then showed Twilight how Princess Celestia already found a new student Forest and that broke her heart most of all.
"No," Twilight said in tears once again after Discord brought her back to the present. "She wouldn't just find somepony else to be her student, she, she wouldn't do that to me!"
"Oh, I know it hurts Twilight. I'm sorry that you had to see all that but it was for your own good, sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind." Twilight then ran off to be alone and continue to cry after which Chrysalis flew over to Discord.
"You let her sleep for moons on end just to do that?"
"Patience Chrysalis, I'm working my magic or at least I will be. Trust me it'll all be worth it in the end."
"Are you sure you can even pull it off?"
"Of course manipulation is like comedy, you just have to know your audience."
***
The next few days Twilight would just stay in the bed Discord made for her barely eating. She mostly cried herself to sleep and during that time Twilight stayed there Discord would continue to keep an eye on Twilight's former friends. "He kissed you!" Applejack said in surprise while having a bit of a lunch with Rarity who was telling Applejack what recently happened with her and Spike.
"The poor dear was in such a depression and he sort of did it out of nowhere."
"Well did ya push back to make him stop?"
"What? Of course not!"
"What do you mean?"
"I can't Applejack. Spikey Wikey is so vulnerable right now, it would break his adorable little heart. I just hope he can keep it together until Twilight finally returns, I figure it should be any day now."
"What are you talking about? It's been half a year, she's not coming back!"
"What are you talking about? She may have been gone a long time but that doesn't mean she'll never return."
"She's gone and you know what if she's gonna run off and forget about us, then I say who needs her!" Applejack said in a huff, hearing that Rarity decided to cut the lunch short and head back to her boutique. "Oh what, suddenly I'm the bad guy? She was the one that ran away and wrote she never wanted to see us again, well fine if that's how she feels, I hope she never comes back."
"O-h, be careful what you wish for Applejack." Discord said as he closed the portal he used to spy on them. He then went to check on Twilight who was still in bed.
"Why won't you come out of there already Twilight?"
"What's the point my friends don't miss me one bit?"
"Oh come now you don't need them in your life you got along fine without them before."
"I didn't know the magic of friendship before."
"Doesn't matter you're better off, you can stay here and have a new beginning with us. Together we can do so many things."
"Oh yeah like what?"
SLAM
"Like figuring out where exactly that came from and what it is," Discord replied. Twilight then finally got out of bed and saw there was a dragon attacking Discord's lair which was the inside of a mountain. The changelings could do very little to fight back against the dragon, that is until Twilight arrived and unleashed some powerful spells on the creature but even then Twilight was smacked against the wall.
"What's the matter is that the best y'all can do," the Applejack in Twilight's mind said. "I guess you wouldn't know how to fight if it came up and bite ya." Suddenly Twilight saw her other friends who mocked her as well but that only got her angry and it gave her a boost in power to fight off the dragon. She only gave off one shot, but it was enough to fight off the dragon.
"Yeah, take that!" Twilight said as she collapsed to the ground but still awake. Discord smiled happily that his plan started working, he had been subtly brainwashing Twilight to resent her friends for what they did. He could tell it was working by the look of hate that was in her eyes, while Twilight would grow closer to the changelings her hate would grow. Discord kept his brainwashing up while Chrysalis helped intense it, in time Twilight came to hate the ones she loved for what they did.
"Well it's been a long time coming but Twilight has practically become part of my hive."
"Yes, but we still need to add a few more touches," Discord said. He would give Twilight a pair of black wings that were bent near the end and infused with his chaos magic. When Twilight got those wings she also got rings of fire around her eyes and a serious boost in magic that made her strong enough against several dragons that would come too close to the mountain. After Twilight fought them off all by herself Discord showed Twilight her old friends having a funeral for her.
"They don't look for me and now they just want to act like I'm dead," Twilight said and without another word left to crash the funeral.
"If this goes as planned Chrysalis she'll be too tired to finish them off now and tell them to come here to finish what she's about to start."
"So does this mean we can put everything into action now?" The changeling queen asked the spirit of chaos.
"Yes Chrysalis I think it's time to finally start the endgame."
"No, no it's not true! Twilight would never do that!" Spike said after hearing what happened as he covered his ears in denial.
"I'm afraid it's true," Celestia said with her heart broken. "Twilight has come back into our lives, but now." Celestia stopped as she had a hard time believing it herself even though she was there.
"Why would Twilight do this?" Rarity asked.
"Who cares?" Applejack said. "We have to stop her."
"But how? Without her we can't even use the Elements of Harmony," Rarity said.
"The elements," Fluttershy said after a short pause. "Maybe those can help."
"Huh?" The others said as they turned to her.
"Well I was just thinking that time when Twilight was able to snap us out of Discord's magic by reminding us who we are, maybe we can return the favor." The others agreed with Fluttershy's plan and got ready to head where Twilight said she'd be, with Shining Armor as well in case they needed extra magic.
"Don't worry we'll bring Twily home," Shining Armor said to Princess Celestia.
"Good luck." Celestia said as they went off.
"A storm is coming," Forest said who was right next to Celestia as he looked into a clear blue sky.
"Yes," Celestia replied. "I can feel it too."
***
As the mane 5 and Shining Armor made their way to where Twilight said she'd be, Discord was watching them coming via a crystal ball he created.
"This changes nothing. We can handle him. Well maybe not we, I think it's time to set up a little family reunion." Before long the mane five and Shining Armor made it to the mountain but before they could make a plan they fell through a hole and were separated. It happened so fast Shining Armor didn't even have time to stop it with his magic."
"Oh I see divide and conquer," Chrysalis said. "So with Shining Armor on the verge of his surprise that leaves five ponies between the two of us."
"Oh no," Discord said. "I'll handle those 5 you just get the changelings ready for your new attack on Canterlot."
"What? I see, you told me of this the last time you faced them, are you going to repeat what you did?"
"Something like that, last time I made them into the opposites of themselves. This time I'm going to destroy them."
"You mean you're going to kill them?!" Pharynx asked.
"Not quite, to break an opponent's body is one thing, but to break a spirit is to truly destroy them." Discord then disappeared after letting out a very wicked laugh leaving the changelings a bit uncomfortable.
"That guy scares me." Pharynx said.
***
Shining Armor after getting separated from the others got up and tried to find them by having a look around while making sure not to lose the Element of Magic. One of the few things he had left to remember his sister by. "Okay down and a little bruised but I'm not out," Shining Armor said as he looked around for the others and his sister. "Don't worry Twily, I'll bring you home."
"Oh really," a voice echoed through the mines of the mountain which almost sent a chill up Shining Armor's spine. "Now you care about her, but who am I kidding when have you ever cared about your sister." the voice continued to Shining Armor's annoyance.
"What are you talking about? I love my sister!"
"Despite evidence to the contrary," the voice replied as the walls of the mountain changed showing when Shining Armor left Twilight in the dungeon.
"I know what you're doing and it's not going to work." Shining Armor said, sounding a tad unconvincing.
"Really? Then you won't mind if I sing."
"What?" Shining Armor said confused to what he just heard when suddenly the mountain filled with a somber musical tone and the screens showed Twilight when she was younger.
"When she was just a filly she found it rather silly to see how many other ponies she could meet. She had her books to read. She didn't think she'd ever need other ponies to make her life complete, but there was one colt that she cared for she thought would be there for her." Shining Armor then tried to run away from the screens but no matter how far he ran the screens were always in sight.
"I'm not listening, and that last part didn't even rhyme."
"Her big brother best friend forever like 2 peas in a pod you did everything together. You taught her how to fly a kite, but then you got into a fight," the voice said as the screens showed when Shining Armor chewed out Twilight at the wedding rehearsal. "You crushed her hopes, you crushed her dreams, you didn't care for her at all it seems."
"NO IT'S NOT TRUE!" Shining Armor yelled as she stopped running and put his front legs over his ears to try blocking out the song.
"She then ran far away. Why oh why should she have stayed."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
"You cared more about the wedding, and you lost her forever." The final part was the last nail in the coffin as hearing that Shining Armor's insecurities finally got the best of him as he started to cry.
"I'm sorry Twily," he said as he continued crying. "I'm so so sorry." Suddenly the screens all vanished, not that Shining Armor noticed as he was still crying and as he did a shadowy figure made its way out of the darkness. As the figure crept closer Shining Armor could hear the hoof steps of the figure approaching.
"Of course you're sorry everypony is sorry when it's too late." the voice from before said but since it was much closer now Shining Armor was able to recognize it.
"T-Twily?!" Shining Armor said as he looked up and smiled but suddenly a surge of magical energy pushed him back and made him hit the ground several times.
"MY NAME IS NOT TWILY!" She said as she jumped down to get closer to Shining Armor. "That ship is sailed, it sailed when you abandoned me."
"That's not what I did."
"No?" Twilight showed what happened at the rehearsal again. "All I wanted was to help you, I ONLY WANTED TO HELP and what did you do to me!?" Twilight then showed her getting looked in the dungeon again. "You broke my heart."
"I was wrong to treat you that way, I'm sorry."
"Yeah now you respect me, BECAUSE I'M A THREAT!" Twilight then blasted her brother that made him hit the wall. "Well now you're about to see just how much of a threat that I can be." Twilight then let out a series of spells that Shining Armor could barely dodge or block.
"Stop please, I don't want to fight!"
"You could have fooled me!" Twilight then showed me Shining Armor hitting her with the stun spell once again breaking her brother's heart as he was forced to watch his cruel actions once again. "Do you have any idea how painful that was? Let me give you an idea!" Twilight then blasted Shining Armor who wasn't able to block it with his magic this time and was slammed through the wall of the mountain.
"Twilight please don't do this!" Shining Armor said as he tried to get up but Twilight stomped on his head with her front right hoof.
"I will hate you until the day I die!" She said as she continued to press her hoof on her brother's head. Hearing that once again brought Shining Armor to tears for his heart was truly broken, hearing and seeing how hateful his sister had become. Despite his feelings he had a duty to protect Equestria and knew she had to be stopped. Like how Celestia stopped her sister when she became Nightmare Moon. So Shining Armor pushed back his sister with a magical burst of his own and while still hurt quickly got back up.
"I can't let you do this Twily, I'm truly sorry for what I did to you in the past-" Shining Armor was cut off when Twilight fired a series of spells at him. He summoned his shield but eventually it was broken and when he tried a larger barrier spell Twilight broke through that as well. Shining Armor was a powerful unicorn but Discord had given Twilight a large portion of his chaos magic. Twilight then charged straight at Shining Armor with murder in her eyes.
"Time to finish you off!" Twilight said. Yet Shining Armor could still only see the adorable little filly that followed her around all the time. Shining Armor knew she had gone beyond a point of no return and for the sake of Equestria he had to stop her, but how could he. The warrior in him lost to the brother in him allowing Twilight to somewhat stab him with her horn and fired a powerful blast at point blank range.
"No," Shining Armor whispered as the blast sent him off a cliff within the mountain. It wasn't all that deep a fall but was enough for him to break his neck on impact with the ground. "Forgive me Twily…" he said as he looked up, seeing his sister staring down at him just before the life left his eyes. As Twilight looked down seeing that her brother was no more she had only one thing to say before leaving to meet up with Discord.
"Good riddance."
***
With the mane 5 separated they tried to find each other, Applejack most of all as she was running all across the mountain trying to find the others. And one by one she did, however they weren't quite themselves. "What's going on?" She asked. "What could have happened to all of them? It's like that time when we first met, Discord!" Applejack said as she finally put 2 and 2 together, and as she did the spirit of chaos appeared in front of her.
"Took you long enough to figure it out, you never were the brains of the group were you? What happened to her again? Oh yeah, you left her to rot in the dungeon!"
"No that's not what happened!" Applejack said defensively.
"Is it though?" Discord then made a large screen showing the horrible actions that took place that day and much like Shining Armor, Applejack was forced to watch how monstrous she had been. "I've been watching you ponies for quite some time and I've got to say, it's amazing what you can realize when you watch a creature's actions."
"What in the world are you talking about?"
"After Twilight left you acted the most cold of all, why do you think that is?"
"I, I don't know." Applejack replied.
"Oh I think you do know, you're jealous of Twilight."
"What, I am not! You're even crazier than I thought you were."
"Twilight was always the smart one, she always had a plan and was always the type of pony you wanted to be." Applejack didn't say anything as she didn't know what to say, allowing Discord to continue. "Ever since your parents died you tried so hard to pull the weight they carried, to be responsible, to always know what to do, and when to do it. But you never could, however Twilight could, at least that's what you thought ever since she helped you get all the apples on your farm when your brother was hurt."
"N-No! No!"
"Yes yes, you were jealous of her and couldn't stand how she was always the one to save the day. She was always there for you, but where were you when you could have returned the favor?" Discord then showed Applejack's actions and the sight brought her to tears. Applejack had been known to cry on the inside but here she couldn't hold it back anymore.
"You're right I know I can be stubborn but I didn't think it would blind me like this," Applejack said still in tears and then proceeded to throw her Element of Honesty on the ground which rather surprised Discord. "You win." Applejack said still in tears which also surprised Discord.
"What?" He asked not believing what he just heard.
"You win Discord we've already lost, but please give us back Twilight."
"Give her back?" Discord asked as he bent down.
"Even if the land is drowned in chaos we can survive together, so please give her back."
"Oh if only I could. When Chrysalis and I reworked her way of thinking we did it better than I could have imagined, I doubt I could reverse it even if I wanted to."
"What, you mean?"
"Yes the Twilight Sparkle you know, is gone forever," Discord replied, sounding rather sad himself as he said it. "You want to know something else? In a way, this is all thanks to you."
"What?" Discord then showed more of Applejack's actions.
"You saw how she was in there, she deserves to be all alone." the Applejack on the screen said.
"That one sentence gave me the idea for this plan. Well actually it was a few other things too but this especially."
"Wait, you mean?"
"That's right you inspired my whole plan, thank you Applejack," Discord said with a bow. "Thank you for being such a terrible friend, I never would have thought up the perfect plan to stop you all without your help." Hearing that Applejack cried into an utter despair and became corrupted like the others who would wander around the mountain for the rest of their days.
***
With the element wielders taken care of and Twilight saying she dealt with her brother while leaving out the fact she killed him, Discord and the changelings set out to take the capital. Celestia somehow sensing this had her sister Princess Luna get the residents out of Canterlot and then go to the Crystal Empire for backup. Celestia stared out into the night sky and was told everypony that wasn't part of the royal guard made it out, except for one. "Forest," Celestia said while still staring out. "You need to get out of here something big is coming."
"I'm staying right here," he replied Celestia didn't know him all that long but she knew he was stubborn, a bit like her. "I refuse to leave you."
"Very well if that's your decision I won't force you to go." she said. I just hope I won't lose another student after tonight. Before long the changelings attacked and the royal guards put up a much better fight than last time, but Chrysalis helped push them back. Forest went out to stop Chrysalis while Discord stayed back and watched the chaos unravel which he so loved to do, Twilight on the other hoof made her way straight to Princess Celestia who remained stoic when she showed up. "So at long last my faithful student has returned home."
"This is no longer my home and I am no longer your student."
"I see, Twilight please there's still time for you to stop all this."
"No, it's too late." Twilight then attacked with a beam of magic but Celestia dodged and flew up to get some space but Twilight with her newly acquired wings chased after her and attacked with her newly acquired chaos magic.
"Are you really going to give up everything I taught you to dedicate yourself to Discord and those changelings?" Celestia asked as she continued to fly away.
"I dedicated everything to you, because I thought you were my friend," Twilight replied as she finally managed to hit Celestia causing her to fall. "It's time for you to finally suffer for trying to lock me away." Twilight said as she flew down to continue the fight.
"Is that what this is all about? You betrayed us for that?" Celestia said as she stood up.
"You betrayed me first!"
"You were locked in there for half a day at most!"
"I rotted in there for what felt like a lifetime because of your weakness!"
"Doing what you have to in order to keep the peace isn't weakness!"
"You knew what you were doing was wrong, you knew from the very start, but when Shining Armor said otherwise what did you do? What, did, you, do!? NOTHING!" Twilight then charged and continued attacking.
"I was in an impossible situation, I care for you greatly but I also feel the same about Cadance and Shining Armor. No matter what I could do I was going to let down one of you."
"So you took the easy way out and screwed me over like you always did! You were a horrible mother and a worse princess!"
"I took you in when your parents died in that accident and raised you along with your brother. I saw you had potential so I made you my student too, I may have been hard on you but I did to help you reach your full potential. But you became a problem child that let her head get too big for the rest of her body. That's not my fault."
"NOT YOUR FAULT?" Twilight then set out more powerful spells and chaos magic attacks that would hit Celestia dead on, but would also drain her energy rapidly. "Who filled my head with dreams?! Who made me practice until it felt like my horn was gonna fall off!? Who left me to rot when I needed her!?"
"ENOUGH!" Celestia screamed in her royal Canterlot voice as she fired a beam that hit Twilight dead on but she charged anyway enduring it and punched Celestia in her face then blasted her into the wall and used magic rings to pin her there. Twilight then continued to punch her face back and forth.
"EVERYTHING, I EVER DID, I DID TO MAKE YOU PROUD, TELL ME HOW PROUD YOU ARE! TELL ME! TELL ME!" Twilight then blasted Celestia so hard she went through the wall.
"I," Celestia stopped to catch her breath as she got back up again. "I have always been proud of you, since day one I've been proud of you, but it was my pride that blinded me. I saw so much of what you could become, I didn't see you for what you were now. I set impossible standards for a gifted filly that was still just a filly and then resented you when you didn't reach them. I got mad at you for things that weren't your fault, they were my fault Twilight, I-I'm sorry." Celestia finished as finally admitting her mistakes brought her to tears. Hearing all this Twilight paused for a moment unsure how to react.
"Even though it was almost over 1000 years since I sealed her away, I didn't want to get that close to ponies because I didn't want to get hurt again. When I brought you and your brother in I tried to be a good teacher and just that, but you didn't need a teacher you needed a mother. Something I was too afraid to be, please forgive me Twilight, though honestly I don't blame you if you didn't, I probably can't forgive myself. But please know I am truly sorry and I'll do anything to make it up to you, even if it takes the rest of my life." Suddenly Twilight attacked Celestia.
"I don't want your apology." Twilight as she attacked once and the two of them one again exchanged blows but this time Twilight took noticeably more damage.
"Twilight please stop, you're using up all your strength and taking a lot of damage, if you keep this up, you'll die." Celestia pleaded not wishing to lose her daughter.
"If it means taking you down it'll be worth it!" Twilight replied as she charged Celestia yet again, this time forcing her to the ground and stomping on her face before flying up. "After today you'll be nothing more than a distant memory." Hearing that made Celestia’s heart break into a thousand little pieces. She was so heartbroken she didn't see Twilight charge up her horn one final time and use it to blast her away. The last few seconds before the life in her left her body Celestia smiled, for if this was to be her fate she hoped that at least her death would make her daughter happy.
"I-I did it." Twilight before plummeting to the ground and coughing up quite a bit of blood.
"What an annoying little pony," Discord said as he made his way to Twilight and was shocked to see Twilight on the ground next to the dead Celestia. "Twilight?"
"I did it," she said as the life started to leave her. "She's dead like my backstabbing brother."
"Dead! You killed them!?"
"My so-called friends have been corrupted, the two who betrayed me the most are dead, and you can more than handle the rest like Cadance." Twilight then cried tears of joy. "I did it, I did it, I got my revenge. I'm so happy." Twilight then cried tears of joy more before she closed her eyes for the final time. Discord then picked her up and almost cried himself.
"Oh Twilight you choose vengeance over ruling this land with me for all eternity, you could have had both. You could have had both."
***
Twilight was buried where Canterlot once stood. "None of this would have been possible without you, love ya Twilight," Discord said before he continued to spread the chaos that he loves so much. "Chaos is a wonderful thing."
Harmony never returned to the land of Equestria. The only sounds of joy heard in it were the cackling of the mad god that transformed this once beautiful land into what it was now. The lesson from this tale of woe, don't take your friends for granted. Because if you do, they won't be there when you need them the most.
The End
Author's Note
I've found it rather fitting in an ironic sort of way to put this song here at the end of this little tragedy.