Chapters The ground was slick with crimson and it ran in rivulets through the cobbled street leaving a stain on her hoofs and her thoughts. In most places it’s the colour associated with roses, hearts and hooves day and at the moment a current Canterlot fashion trend.
Not today.
“Why?” Twilight whispered.
It was sickening to look at in the glare of the midday sun; it looked like somepony had dropped a road side flare onto the ground bathing the floor in red neon.
“Why? Well why not?” She whispered back.
Twilight looked at her , the murderer . She was dressed in a cloak of heavy black that covered her head to hoof leaving only her purple muzzle visible.
A malicious smirk plastered on her face.
“You k-killed them. Why?!” barked Twilight.
“Seemed like fun.” The murderer chuckled.
Twilight balked and could summon no response for that. All around her were what was left of her friends lying in that glorious crimson of their own demise. One moment Twilight was seated at the local cafe with her most precious companions and dearest friends and then the next they were blasted apart and showered onto the street leaving only Twilight standing.
Standing in the blood, bone and what was left of one of Pinkie Pies boxes of cupcakes. A Stetson hat lay singed and smoking in what was once a young vibrant and strong earth pony. A collection of butter and sky blue feathers torn from their master’s wings drifted around the pools of crimson and lumps of pearl white bone that could only belong to a most beautiful unicorn.
Rage was not something Twilight Sparkle was accustomed to despite what many ponies said behind her back. This however, this brought Twilight Sparkle into a state of rage and grief unlike any had seen since the dark days of Nightmare Moon’s first arrival.
“I will kill you for this…you, you murderer!” roared Twilight.
“Aw did I make you mad? That’s such a cute angry face you got there, he he.” The murderer giggled. She had a stance that looked familiar but could not be placed anywhere in Twilights mind. Her voice carried an eerie tone that memory stirred to find but could not locate. Everything about this organism caused her mind to scream and flail “Who is she!”
“Did you see what I did there? Do you think that you compare to me? I am the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria.” The murderer continued.
Twilight Sparkle did not even bother to respond to that remark. Rage had blinded her to all but her target and she was not about to let this thing escape from justice. Her mind screamed caution and to remember her mentors lessons on protection and self-preservation.
All it took from the murderer was a single word to strip Twilight of any caution and any twinge of fear that remained in the reasonable sections of her brain.
“Coward.”
Twilight launched into an attack that consisted of an energy blot spell that she had once used to defeat the changeling invasion. A stream of purple projectiles blasted across the cobbled streets of Ponyville and struck the murderer in the chest. The impact caused small cloud of purple steam and magical residue to shoot out and obscure Twilights vision but she was confident that her target was now incapacitated.
As Twilight walked across the street to capture her target a sliver of ice shot back out of the mist and slipped right past Twilight leaving a cut across her left cheek.
“Try harder little Sparkle. I want this to last at least a few minutes.” The murderer smirked.
Twilight froze, “How could she stop those projectiles? They can stop a rampaging manticore!” She had little time to think any further as four more spears of ice shot at her formed from a snap-freezing of the water particles in the very air.
Using her magic to teleport to the left she escaped becoming a pincushion. The murderer was not done yet though as she charged at Twilight with two more spears aimed at Twilight. As she ran the heavy black hood billowed up for a brief moment revealing a pair of cold orbs flecked malice.
It was at this moment looking into the murderers eyes did she realise that the only way out of this was to fight hard. No simple knock-out spell would stop this monster, no teleport dropping her into a pond; no levitate spell until she was carried to prison. There was no reasoning with this thing it wanted her demise and it would not stop until she was dead.
That was not going to happen she was not going to let this fiend get away with slaughtering her friends. She didn’t care what it cost her and those thoughts of darkness brought a font of energy that rested in her soul and using all her strength she pulled a chuck of stone from the earth and threw it with all the might of an Usra Major at the murderer.
The fiend barely had time to jump to the side as the piece of paving stone smashed a nearby wall punching a hole straight through. The murderer recovered quickly and threw both ice spears at Twilight but she had already teleported high into the air above the demon .
As she fell she cast a shield spell to protect her from the fall and then cast a spell to increase her weight. In a single moment she went from 175kg pony into a fifty ton sledgehammer. The murderer somehow managed to guess this movement however and used a speed spell to dash out of the way leaving nothing but a purple blur.
Upon impact of the pony turned sledgehammer the ground cracked and all the cobblestones blasted high into the air like the after math of a volcanic eruption. They did not fall down as you would expect however as a large mist of purple magic encased them, held them, spun them and began to shoot them toward a dashing purple blur.
As the creature dashed and dodged falling stone and flying cobble she laughed and called out to Twilight.
“Is this the best you can do Twilight Sparkle? Throwing rocks is so juvenile. Here let me show you how the most powerful unicorn does things”
With that she leapt into the air and spread a pair of magical wings that glistened in the midday sun. Once out of range of the flying cobblestones she lit her horn, a purple glow emanating from underneath her hood. A large wind moved from some place deep in the sky and sent gusts of wind and flakes of ice and snow showering onto the streets of Ponyville.
Twilight stood under this maelstrom and watched as the monster used her wind spells to pull the roof off a nearby house and hurl it at her. Under normal circumstances this demonstration of power would be enough to frighten even the most battle hardened solider of the royal guard. Grief however had cleared Twilight of any feeling other than anger and pain and as this thatched piece of death soared toward her she simply cut it in half with a single blast of energy.
It smashed apart on the sides of the street and left plaster and smiley face wallpaper chunks to spew out where they pleased.
“Oh?” the murderer stated with mild surprise. “Not such the helpless little filly are we. Are you ready to fight me prop-”
Not able to even finish this question as a sliver of rock and fire was launched at the murderer. It slipped past and cut her right cheek and then exploded behind her in a blast of black smoke and shrapnel. Pieces of blast sharpened stone cut through the heavy black cloak leaving a few drops of blood and grunt of pain echoing from the demon.
“Try harder little murderer. I want this to last a few minutes” Twilight mimicked.
A malicious smirk plastered on her face.
On a normal day the view from Misty-Hill was exquisite, rolling hills, large mountains in the distance, the towers of the Canterlot citadel and a postcard worthy view of Ponyville. Many families would come to spend the day on Misty-Hill flying kites and enjoying the view.
If they had come today however they would have been treated to a front row seat of one of the largest shows of magical prowess and destruction in recent ages.
A large storm of dark clouds rested over Ponyville with swirls of ice and snow blasting down streets and alleys. The inhabitants had evacuated long ago to avoid the magical battle that now raged in the town square.
Or that’s what Twilight Sparkle assumed in her brief moments of thought that were not consumed with killing a pony. Above the centre of town was the target of her ire a pony that had singlehandedly destroyed her life. This pony was in a garb of heavy black cloth that covered her head to hoof, a pair of magical wings glistened on her back and she was in the process of dodging and weaving between blasts of fiery smoke and flying shrapnel.
Each blast left small flakes of ash that burned and billowed like the leaves in autumn. Each light reflected off the ice on the streets painting the town in rich reds and brilliant amber.
It might have been pretty under other circumstances.
In the town square stood Twilight Sparkle who was using her magic to peel slivers of stone from the floor and ignite them to hurl at the airborne foe.
In more peaceful times this would have been very taxing on Twilight’s stamina as it consisted of a timing spell, a fire spell and an air pressure spell. However when a mind is inflicted with grief and rage a lot of strength can be pulled from within.
Twilight Sparkle was determined to kill the pony, this murderer , she had watched the thing kill her best friends and now she was after vengeance.
“You can’t dodge forever!” She bellowed. “I’ll get you for what you’ve done!”
“Oh, I’m so scared~” The murderer taunted. “Are you going to throw exploding plant pots next?”
“Besides I’m only doing this for you little Sparkle.” She continued. “You spent all that time and energy foaling around with those freaks that you could barely study. Now you’ve got all the time in the world, providing that you can beat me however.”
Twilight felt fury build up from her hoofs and snorted fire as she directed another volley of explosive rounds at the fiend .
“Now I’ve got her.” She thought with elation.
When the burst of stones reached the murderer however they shattered harmlessly around her as a powerful shield spell reflected the fire and stone.
“Huh? She didn’t use a shield spell before.” Twilight said with a start as the elation died away.
“What you think that I’m bragging about being powerful Sparkle? Here let me show you some real Magic.”
With that the murderer dove into the ground and smashed into the snow covered streets. All of a sudden a rumble was felt threw the ground and a large chunk of ice shot into the sky and impacted on the floor in front of her.
The chunk of ice groaned and crackled before breaking into pieces that glowed with magical static. The shards of ice formed a bipedal creature that echoed viciousness.
“A golem. Great.” Twilight hissed.
With another snort she sped off down the closest back alley in sight. The huge beast quickly pulled another shard of ice out of the ground and lumbered after her swinging it like a large club. Each house Twilight past was smashed to pieces as the golem rampaged after her. As she ran she formed a plan to defeat the golem. Upon turning down a street she ran past Sugercube Corner and at this point she slowed her pace enough to guarantee that the golem would swing for her.
As it did Twilight used a quick teleport and jumped out of the way. The golem’s club was swiped into the house and became imbedded in the gingerbread and candy canes.
As it tried to pull the club free Twilight Sparkle used another quick teleport and landed on the golems shoulder. The golem was so focused on extracting the club it didn’t even notice.
Taking all her rage and anger she focused it into her horn and let lose a stream of fire and heat that blasted the golems head. She watched as the face distorted and quickly became liquid that streamed down onto the street below. The golem now headless lost all magical power and fell into the ground before shattering into countless pieces.
Twilight looked up and saw the smirking demon hovering above the ice husk.
“Bravo, Bravo!” The murderer giggled.
Twilight had enough of this piece of dirt her blood and bone demanded that she expire. She called on more magical energy than she had ever used before and summoned a sword from the stone beneath her. Small and sharp it was dripping in magma that reflected the master’s soul.
“Is that a sword Twilight Sparkle? Just one?” The murderer actually looked perplexed.
“One? Nah.” Twilight held a grin. “Try, One Hundred!”
At once a hundred flame bathed swords blasted out of the ground and shot toward the murderer. A brief moment of surprise was replaced with another malicious smirk as she was not going to be outdone.
A snapping sound was heard as one hundred spears of frozen air appeared around the monster and shot off towards the flaming weapons. They clashed and as both mages used their power to direct them to fight and parry each other they began to shower the town with fire and ice.
Twilight however was not going to just sit and stare she quick teleported right in front of the murderer who was distracted by directing the battle. Twilight Sparkle however was used to doing many mental jumps at once what with often being in charge of organizing events around Ponyville. With this advantage she managed to strike the murderer in the muzzle with her hoof.
The murderer tumbled and fell out of the sky landing in the remains of the golem while Twilight teleported back to the ground. Before the murderer could summon another set of wings and fly away Twilight leapt onto her and bucked her in the side causing a break in the murderer’s ribs.
“That’s for my friends!” She roared.
The aerial battle of swords and spears picked up a fevered pace as both mages alternated between trying to get their weapons to attack the other and defend themselves. Both ponies launched into a melee with each strike being countered by one defence or spell. As Twilight pressed her advantage and went to hit her opponent she noticed that the demon was casting a spell. She felt this directly underneath her and she managed to use her own magic push it away just as the spell was completed.
A large spike of ice shot out of the ground and gouged the cobbled street leaving Twilight bewildered. This allowed the murderer to gain an advantage and land three strikes onto Twilight.
Rolling away and placing a hoof to her bloodied muzzle rage blossomed again and was personified in Twilights next spell. She tried the same trick as the fiend and began to create large gouts of magma and smoke that would burst forth from underneath.
As Twilight brought this spell forward the murderer tried again with her own counter as Twilight pushed it away leaving another spike of ice in the street. She cast her own spell and the murderer saw this and used her own magic to push it away resulting in a blast of fire and a spray of molten rock next to them.
As they fought for life and limb, as the magical weapons twisted and parried each other in the sky, as vicious spikes of cold and jets of heat shook the ground Twilight Sparkle did not notice that her vision was cracking.
She did not notice that the world around her was turning into a white void and that the cobbled street was being replaced with large glowing cracks. It did not matter though her mind was set and she was going to kill this pony.
With the last of her rage she cast a single spell that obliterated all the defence spells the murderer had destroying the cloak and leaving her sprawled on the floor burnt and bleeding. The sight however caused all the rage to cease, all the grief to flush away and left only one thing in her mind.
Fear .
The pony that lay before her was a purple thing with a lavender coloured mane and a star for her cutie mark.
It was her.
It was another Twilight Sparkle.
It’s strange but when somepony thinks about the void or infinity they often expect it be a place where it just goes on and on until the horizon is a small speck just out of view. That’s not really the case as there is no horizon or even a view and this gives a void the feeling that the wall is right in front of your eyes and yet you know that nothing is there. Well it would if Twilight was paying attention to her surroundings or lack of.
In this place were two figures, one sprawled on the floor with cuts and burns littering her body and the other stood stock still a little ways away. Twilight Sparkle had been involved the greatest fight of her life, had stripped her opponent of all defence and ability to fight back leaving her broken on the floor.
Now however Twilight could summon no strength to move or courage to finish the mare off. It’s kind of hard to kill something, it’s even harder if that thing looks just like you.
“This is impossible…” Twilight whispered. “All time travel spells have the paradox fixed by the nature of magic! I can’t be you from the future I would of come back to save them!”
“Really? Why?” The murderer choked.
“Why?! They are my friends and I love them all!” Twilight snarled.
“Twilight dear, can’t you see that they are just holding *Cough* holding you back.” She sputtered.
“What are you talking about? What are you?” Twilight returned.
“Me? Well I’m nothing more than the other side of your mind speaking.”
“My mind? This is in my head?”
“A dream to be exact. As for why I’m here well lets l-look back at *Cough* at what you just did.” The murderer brought herself up to one knee and grinned at Twilight.
“In one instant you went from little weakling of knockout spells to fire spewing, sword flinging, rock blasting death machine.” Rising from the ground and taking steps towards Twilight all her injures healed and the large black cloak reformed around her leaving the hood down. Along with this she summoned images that floated around them both showing the previous battle.
“All that Anger .”
“All that Hate .”
As she reached Twilight she raised a purple hoof to her face and caressed it so gingerly.
“It made you strong, stronger than any other pony on this world of equestria.” She whispered with honey dripping from her words.
“Y-your wrong!” Twilight started. “I was stronger because I had the memory of my friends and –“
“Oh grow up.” The murderer barked. “You think that Love~ and Friendship~ were helping you today?”
Twilight merely began to whimper.
“Fine, you don’t believe me?” The murderer turned and summoned another set of images. “I’ll prove it to you!”
The images conjured showed Twilight Sparkle and her friends on the many adventures they had shared over the years. Like the day that Twilight had arrived in Ponyville and the time that they had all journeyed to retrieve Applejack from the cherry farm.
“Ah, here it is.” The murderer exclaimed. “Look at this. Do you remember this little Sparkle?”
The image showed a pony dressed in a black and purple costume with a large hat.
“That’s the mare-do-well costume. We all dressed up in it to show Rainbow Dash a lesson in being humble.” Twilight responded.
“Pfft. Is that what you tell yourself? That it was all to teach her that bragging was wrong?” The murderer smirked.
“If that is true then how did you accomplish this?” She pointed at the image. It showed Mare-do-well casting a powerful spell that fixed the broken dam before it could flood all of Ponyville.”
“I don’t follow.” Twilight was starting to tremble. This demon knew her and all her secrets and had no qualms in showing them.
She couldn’t be her minds darker half.
Could she?
“Well then I shall explain. Think back to the time you gave Rarity wings.” The image distorted and reformed showing a gorgeous white unicorn that was being showered with blue light. After a moment the unicorn sprang forth with a pair of butterfly wings adorning her back that almost seemed to glow wit their own radiance. It then panned to Twilight showing her exhausted and sweating on the floor.
“One spell as a gift to another using the power of kindness and you could barely stand!” The murderer continued. “Yet when you become angry you can summon gouts of magma and death like there is no tomorrow!”
“S-so w-what does that p-prove?” Twilight could barely stand throughout all her terror induced trembling.
“It proves…” The image switched back to a huge dam being fixed with magic “...that when you are being mean you gain in strength.”
“I wasn’t being mean!” Twilight went to defend herself.
“Oh really? So humiliating Rainbow Dash in front of Ponyville was just bad luck? What about when you went a little crazy with the Smarty-pants doll?” The murderer gestured with a crazy mare hoof sign and swirl in her eyes.
“That was different.” Twilight stuttered.
“You brainwashed an entire town!”
“I didn’t me-“
The murderer placed a hoof to Twilights muzzle and whispered. “Face it, whenever you do something aggressive it makes you feel good.”
“No…” Twilight spoke in a pained tone.
“You love feeling magical power run through you…” The murderer whispered in Twilights left ear.
“No…no”
“You love seeing ponies that are weak stumble in pain and suffering…” she cooed in her right ear.
“No!” Twilight stumbled back onto her haunches
“You love it when somepony tells you how powerful you are. Come with me Twilight, come with me and you can have that all the time…” The murderer finished with her muzzle pressed to Twilights.
“Please sto-.“ Twilight tried to finish but found that the other mare was now kissing her. As the murderer fed her tongue into Twilights mouth her mind blanked and could not move a muscle.
Tears began to stream her face and down her coat as she began to kiss back.
It feels so good.
It’s wrong!
I want this.
Stop she is just using you!
As the murderer broke away from the passionate kiss she spoke again.
“Will you come with me Twilight Sparkle?”
I could be powerful.
You will lose everything.
I could make new friends.
Your friends love you for who you are.
“Twily” The murder ventured.
Moving forward Twilight kissed her again and felt that passion and power flow through her. She could hear the other mare moan and as she did Twilight broke off.
“No.”
“What?” The murderer flummoxed.
“I said no.” With that Twilight struck the murderer onto the floor. Charging her most powerful version of the knockout spell she screamed.
“Now, BUCK OFF !”
It had been the end to a most wonderful day in Ponyville. The first ever “Official Elements of Harmony Sleepover Party” had been called which had been thought up by Pinkie Pie and organized by Twilight. The Girls had done all the games listed in the official sleepover guide mk.2 and had even played a few games not in the book.
When the evening came to a close and night fell upon the peaceful town like a shimmering blanket, the girls had retired on a set of mats and blankets in front of the living room fire. Applejack was the last to fall asleep and had been watching the dying embers of the flame.
She heard a slight stirring from the direction of Twilight. “Mh-café-best daisy salad *snore*”
“Huh, she sure do love her *yawn* daisy salads.” Applejack muttered.
Twilight mumbled something else before beginning to snore. Applejack snorted and rolled over and began to drift off to sleep herself. After living most her life in the room next to her big brother she could sleep through anything.
Man did he snore.
It must have been a good few hours later that Applejack was rudely awoken by an incessant prodding in the ribs.
“Whuh?”
Applejack turned to find a very distressed Rainbow Dash stood over her. Even in the darkness it was easy to see the look of worry and the jitter of her wings.
“Applejack, wake up. Something’s wrong with Twilight.” During this exchange a noise that she had been hearing now came into focus.
Somepony was crying.
“I think Twilight is having a nightmare…” Rainbow turned to point at the blanket that contained Twilight.
The rest of the room was now dimly illuminated by Rarity’s horn as she stood a little to the left of the now twisted and shaking form of Twilight Sparkle. The distressed unicorn was laid on the blanket crying and muttering gibberish.
“What in tarnation is going on?” Applejack whispered.
“Um…I woke up first to go to the bathroom and found Twilight…um…well crying” Fluttershy said as she approached from behind.
Crying was an understatement that mare was downright sobbing in Applejacks point of view.
“Well wake her up!” she spoke in a hushed but demanding tone. Before anypony could say anything Applejack snorted and moved to wake Twilight.
“No!” Rarity breathed. “We can’t wake her up!”
“Have you spit your bit? Twilight is terrified we hav-“ Applejack tried to reason.
“No.” Rarity now stood in front of Applejack blocking her way. “I’ve read about this it’s called a night terror and the magazine said that it could be harmful to wake a pony who is suffering from one.”
Pinkie Pie now approached. “But Rarity! Twilight is crying!”
At this moment Twilight began to hyperventilate.
“Rare, I know you think this is best because of some frou-frou gloss book, but Twilight needs help!” Applejack finished with a stomp.
Rarity persisted a moment longer thinking on what to do. She had read that it could be harmful to wake a pony in this state but this was just silly, Twilight was sobbing and needed help. She relented and Applejack surged forth and gripped Twilight by the neck.
“Twi! Wake Up!” She hollered.
“N-no! Please!” Twilight stammered still trapped in the nightmare. Rainbow flapped over and began to shake her left foreleg.
“Twilight! W-wake up!” Rainbow slurred with tears welling in her eyes.
“*Sniffle* n-n-no *wheeze*” Twilight continued starting to stir from the dark dream.
All at once all five members of the group shouted.
“TWILIGHT!”
“WHAA!” Twilight sat bolt upright and let loose a full blast of her magic propelling everyone backward into the bookshelves and in Applejacks case into the coffee table in the middle of the room.
After blinking and looking dazed for a few moments Twilight pulled her head back and let out a howl of anguish. Hearing this Applejack pulled herself up and ran to Twilight pulling her into a fierce hug.
“Shush, shush it’s alright…” She cooed. Having lived with her little sister she was used to comforting little fillies after a bad dream.
“A-applejackkk…” Twilight choked out before burying her muzzle in her blond mane.
“Shush, shush.” Applejack continued nuzzling Twilights head. This was beginning to become much to heart breaking for the rest of the gang and Applejack found herself soon crying along with others.
After about five minutes of rocking the mare back and forth and whispering comforts in her ear Twilight began to calm.
“Are you okay dear?” Rarity ventured with a sniffle. Twilight did not respond but seemed to calm down further. A few moments later she pulled back from Applejack and sat looking at her hooves, face still stained with sorrow.
“Um…Twilight? Uh…would you like a cup of coco?” Fluttershy asked.
Twilight Sparkle nodded but did not look up from her hooves. Pinkie shot up like a rocket and blasted into the kitchen with Fluttershy following. Not wanting to disturb her any further both Applejack and Rarity sat on either side of Twilight with Rainbow gripping a foreleg and beginning to gently stroke it , Applejack began to nuzzle her head again and Rarity summoned a cloth to clean Twilights face. This elicited a sigh of relief from the purple mare bringing a smile to all in the room.
After Pinkie and Fluttershy had returned with the cup of coco and helping of marshmallows Twilight took a big drag from the cup before finally speaking.
“I’m sorry girls.”
Applejack nearly choked, she had most likely suffered the worst nightmare of her life and was sorry!
“Twilight what are you sorry for?” Rarity voiced what the group were thinking.
“I had a dream. You were all there and *sniff* and some mean pony came and…and hurt you all real bad.” Twilight was beginning to tear up again. Applejack gave her another hug and waiting for the sniffling to cease.
“So…what happened?” Rainbow asked earning a glare from everyone else aside from Twilight.
“She hurt you and then told me I was too weak and stupid to protect you and that love and friendship was just slowing me down.” She was becoming frantic and speaking in a fevered pitch. “That I was better with no friends and –“
“Twi!” Applejack interrupted. “Stop. It’s ok. It was just a dream.”
Twilight fell back into the hug and looked out at the rest of the gang.
“I was so scared that it was real and you were all gone…” She whimpered.
“It’s ok Twily! We would never leave you like that.” Pinkie grinned.
“Yeah who cares what some stupid dream said were your friends and were not going anywhere” Rainbow shouted with a hoof pump finish. The other mares nodded in agreement.
“Thank you girls.” Twilight took one last chug on the mug. “Um. If it’s ok with you guys can somepony sleep with me please?” Twilight looked very embarrassed as a red hue was now adorning her cheeks.
“After that I was going to make you sleep with me.” Applejack chuckled.
Climbing under the blanket and lying down she turned to see the other girls all pull their mats closer and lie down alongside. Twilight uttered another thank you, laid back down and promptly fell back to slumber. Applejack was not going to let another nightmare hurt her friend and placed a protective foreleg over Twilight before drifting off herself.
Once the room was filled with light snores and breathing Twilight popped open an eyelid.
“See all I need is my friends.” She thought. “Were strong together.”
She turned her gaze onto Applejack.
“Applejack is strong.”
“Rainbow is fast.”
“Pinkie is cunning.”
“Rarity is charming.”
“Fluttershy is graceful.”
“They are all so-“
“So-”
If anypony could see her they would have noticed that Twilight had a very creepy smirk on her face.
"...Fragile..."
