My Little Pony: Friendship is Eternal

by AlphaToothless95

Rating: teen
Tags: Profanity, Gore, Violence, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Anthro, Main 6, Romance, Spike, Other, Starlight Glimmer, Adventure, Equestria Girls
Length: 104661

This is the story of how Midnight and the Mane 6 first met, and how g5 (My AU) came to be.

Now that My Little Pony: Legends of old and new is over, you might be thinking “Well how did the mane 6 meet Midnight?” Or “What happened before all this? How did it start?” Well prepare to have your questions answered.

This is the story of how the mane 6 and many of their allies overcame their greatest threat and became stronger than ever. This is the story.. of how Midnight changed their lives forever. For better and worse..

This story contains my ships and once again, If I don’t get their personalities right and if I make any grammar errors, PLEASE let me know. Now enjoy

Published 2022-08-29 03:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-08-02 06:35:25 UTC

A fresh start.. for evil

It had been almost ten years since the defeat of the legion of doom, who were currently still frozen in stone thanks to Twilight and her friends. One centaur, one changeling, and one pegasus filly, all frozen in stone for ten years. Their statues were currently an attraction in the Canterlot gardens. Twilight, out of guilt and respect had not allowed anyone to disrespect or disturb the statues and they had remained undisturbed ever since.. until today.

The statues suddenly started cracking, the cracks glowing purple and getting brighter with every second that goes by. They continue to glow until an explosion releases the three deadly villains. As they slowly take in their surroundings and their minds start to catch up with them, they also realize that they hear a voice.. talking to them.. from inside their heads. Once their minds become clear, the voice does the same. “There you go.. I know you’re probably wondering who I am and how you’re free, but I’ll explain later, right now you all should get ready to fight your way to freedom.” The voice says before they all suddenly are fueled up with magic as they hear guards coming their way.

Possibly because of the explosion, but they didn’t have time to figure that out. As Tirek grew bigger and stronger he also felt like he had some new abilities.. why not test that out? When the first wave of guards comes from around the corner he slams his fists down, making the ground crack right underneath them and fire seems to come out of it and the guards are sent back a bit and they stay back, all being Earth ponies.

When the unicorn guards come, it’s Chrysalis turn. She sends a huge beam of destructive green magic in their direction, and as soon as it hits them, sure enough it sends them flying and majorly injured a few. She smirks evilly, enjoying freedom and these new abilities. Cozy glow looks between them then looks at her own hands. “What about me?!” She asks before suddenly feeling a rush of power and when she looks up, she has a horn on her head and she smirks.

“This’ll do.” She says before using her magic to hold the guards in place before sending them in every direction and finally, after a few seconds, slamming them into buildings. Afterwards, they all make their way through Canterlot and try to avoid being seen. Realizing it will be difficult if they don’t have disguises, Chrysalis uses her newfound magic to turn herself, Tirek, and Cozy Glow into Earth Pony guards. While they’re disguised, they quickly take the chance to slip past the defenses and leave the city.

They couldn’t help but notice while they were there, that everything looked a bit different, there were other creatures in the city and the number just increased as they continued through it. “Golly how long have we been trapped?” She asks and Tirek and Chrysalis can’t help but wonder the same thing.

Before they could think about it too hard, the voice snaps them back to reality. “Hate to burst your thought bubbles, but you can think about that when you reach the location I’m sending you too. Better yet? I’ll tell you how long when you get there.” The voice says before the Legion of Doom continues towards their destination. They didn’t know who was talking to them, why she freed them, or what she wanted, but they definitely were glad that she showed up when she did.

As they continued to walk, they couldn’t help but think about how they were going to get their revenge on Twilight and her friends, little did they know, the pony, as far as they could guess what the owner of the voice was, was listening the whole time and was intrigued by this.. “Twilight”.

She wanted to know more but she would talk to them once they reached their destination. Eventually they make it to a mountain and the voice tells them to climb it so they do until they see a cave with damaged statues outside it. They all become uneasy when they see an old marking of a skull with a star in it’s mouth but the voice tells them to continue forward. They seriously thought about it before doing what she said and walking inside the cave. They walked and walked until they were deep inside the mountain.. which had a massive tomb-like structure inside it.

This place was probably almost if not just as terrifying as Tartarus. Actually no, it was twice as terrifying. They walked around, letting the voice guide them until they were right in front of a throne.

“Now, all of you, fire your magic at the skull at the top of my throne.” The voice says and they all use their magic on the same skull that they saw outside this place and it slowly starts to glow until it releases magic of it’s own which slowly forms into a shadow of who they assume was talking to them.

It was an alicorn.. but evil and scary looking. Purple eyes, black and purple mane, sharp teeth, huge wings, long horn and ancient looking armor. “I’m guessing this isn’t what you were expecting?” She asks and they all look at each other before shaking their heads and she chuckles. “I thought as much and I would like to introduce myself.” She says before her shadow stands up from her throne and holds her hands behind her back. “I am Midnight Starkiller. The first natural-born alicorn of Equestria.” She says and Cozy Glow realizes something and points it out.

“Huh.. so you’re just like Flurry Heart.” She says and Midnight tilts her head in confusion.

“Who?” Midnight asks and Cozy Glow continues to explain.

“The first natural-born alicorn of this generation? Daughter of the Princess of Love? Twilight Sparkle’s niece?” But Midnight just shakes her head, confirming that she’s never heard of Flurry Heart. “Geez, where have you been?” Cozy asks and Midnight frowns and Cozy starts to think she might’ve offended her.

“Stuck inside a dead dimension thanks to two certain alicorn sisters.. you might have heard of them? Celestia and Luna.” Midnight asks and all of them growl and nod and she smiles as she realizes that they share the same resentment for the two alicorn sisters that she does. “Good, then we can help each other. But before I explain any further, you all should get settled in and we’ll talk more later. Oh and one more thing,” Midnight says just as the others turn to walk off and look around, bringing their attention back to her before she continues.

“Tell me more about this.. Twilight Sparkle.”

Back in Canterlot

Twilight was irritated, concerned, and confused. Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow had been imprisoned for ten years without a single sign of escaping anytime soon, but now all of a sudden, they were able to break free and use magic. Twilight had asked the guards what had happened but all they had been able to tell her was that they tried to stop the villains, but using their new abilities, they were able to get away.

New abilities.. things couldn’t be any worse than they were now. Seeing some fragments of stone, Twilight used a scanning spell on them and the spell picks up a powerful form of magic, the likes of which she’d never encountered. “They didn’t escape on their own.. they were freed.” Twilight says, as she picks up one of the fragments and stands up, planning to study it and hopefully learn something about this magic and who used it to free them.

She hears footsteps from behind and immediately recognizes them. “Spike, I might need you to send a few letters out, eight to be exact.” She says as she walks past the young dragon who nods and walks with her.

“Who to?” He asks and Twilight continues walking as she explains.

“Celestia, Luna, Starlight, and the rest of our friends. I’m afraid we might have another crisis on our hands.. now let’s just hope they make it to them in time.” Twilight says and Spike takes out paper and a quill and starts writing down what Twilight wants the others to know.

If this new threat was as powerful as Twilight thought, then the future of Equestria was uncertain.. but she would do her best to ensure that it was a bright one. As she watched Spike send the letters one by one after finishing each of them, she hoped that once again like it has many times in the past, the magic of friendship would protect Equestria..

She looked at the fragment that she picked up and one of the cracks in it flash with purple magic and she grimaces at it. “Whoever did this and why they did it.. they will not prevail. We can’t let them..”

To capture a Princess

“So she and her friends are the bearers of the elements of harmony?” Midnight asks the evil trio in front of her.

If Twilight and her friends could wield the elements, then they could potentially pose a threat if they reached their full potential.. this was bad. She needed to do something. Together, the elements were unstoppable.. but alone they were useless. “Hmmm.. if the elements are useless alone.. why don’t we separate them? Better yet.. turn them against one another.” Midnight says, and the interest and curiosity in the evil trio shows clearly and Midnight smirks.

She then stands up and walks past them and they follow her. She stops in front of one pit full of crystals. “Why are we stopping here?” Chrysalis asks and Midnight looks at her then back at the pit and doesn’t answer, deciding it better to show than tell. She holds her right hand out towards the pit and all the crystals glow, black mist forming around them that slowly rises out of the pit. Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy all back up, not sure what Midnight was doing but also not fully trusting her yet. The mist slowly comes towards them all until it stops and slowly forms.. King Sombra.

Midnight smiles and slowly stops what she’s doing and Sombra opens his eyes to look at them all and his surroundings. “Where.. am I?” He asks in a deep, intimidating but weakened voice. He tries to stand up and falls the first time but then slowly gets it the second time. Midnight's expression doesn’t change one bit.

“Hello King Sombra. Welcome to the Tomb of Alicorns. I am Midnight Starkiller,” Midnight says as she gestures to the temple then to herself. She then gestures to the Legion of Doom. “but surely you remember these three, right?” She asks and Cozy Glow gives a big smile and waves, Tirek crosses his arms and Chysalis just rolls her eyes. Sombra gives a growl in response and Midnight takes that as a yes. “Good, you’ll be working together.. under my watch of course. I mean I did bring you back, did I not?” Midnight asks and Sombra growls and holds his hands behind his back.

“You did I suppose, and I think you’ll find that..” He starts before his crystal scythe appears in his hands. “To be your biggest mistake!” He says before swinging the scythe at Midnight who doesn’t move at all as it passes right through her. He looks confused but before he can try again he suddenly feels pain throughout his entire body and he can’t move. He falls to his knees and glares up at Midnight. “What.. have you.. done?” He struggles to ask and Midnight smirks down at him more.

“Just as easily as I brought you back.. I can also destroy you. So it would be in your best interest to do what I say.. after all, we do all have the same goal. Besides.. don’t you all want to defeat Twilight Sparkle?” Midnight asks and all the villains perk up and Sombra sighs and Midnight removes her hold on him and he stands up. “Good.. now the first thing you all can do,” Midnight starts before she walks back a bit until she’s in front of them all and she makes a small shadow version of Twilight. “Is capture her..” she then crushes the shadow. “And break her.”

Twilight was pacing back and forth in front of her own throne, Spike trying to assure her that everything would be alright and that the others would make it in time. She desperately wanted to believe him but this situation was one where every single second counted. With every second that passed, who knew what the Legion of Doom was doing out there or what they were planning. Twilight hears a knock at the door and sighs, hoping it was at least one of her friends. “Spike, get the door please..” She says and Spike nods before walking to the door.

She holds her head with one hand, suddenly having a headache.. and her head was tingling for some reason. She slowly looks towards the door and notices that as Spike gets closer, the headache and the tingling gets worse.. and she immediately guesses why. “Spike, no-!” She calls out to him but it’s too late. As soon as he touches the door, an explosion knocks him away from the doors and into Twilight’s throne, sending him through it. “Spike!” Twilight yells before she growls and glares towards who caused the explosion only to see the Legion of Doom.. and Sombra.

“Miss us Princess?” Cozy asks with that same infuriating evil smirk on her face. She has her magic ready along with the others.

“Not even a little.” Twilight says with a bit of venom in her voice and that kind of surprises the villains. Hell, she even surprised herself with that.

The villains all smirk and attack her, but she’s ready for them (or so she thinks). She dodges a blast from Chrysalis, catches a punch from Tirek and swings his fist into Cozy Glow who was jumping towards her. She then does a backflip, kicking Tirek and the process and knocking him back with magic. He lands on Chrysalis, only managing to pin her legs. Twilight hears something and just barely dodges a downward slash from Sombra’s scythe, only to roll forward and blast him when she stops, causing him to slide back a bit. She then uses her magic to make a glyph below him that launches him up into the ceiling before more form around him and start throwing him around rapidly.

Twilight turns her attention back to the others but just one second too late as Cozy Glow lands a solid blow right into Twilight’s stomach and uses her magic to blast her. In that moment, Twilight’s concentration falters and Sombra is free from the glyphs that were still throwing him around. “Not so tough without your little friends huh?” Cozy Glow says to Twilight as Sombra lands and glares at her. He takes the chance to change into black mist and surround Twilight, picking her up and dragging her all around the room and straight into a lava punch from Tirek, into a magic kick from Cozy Glow, and finally into a power slam from Chrysalis.

She tries to get up but before she can, the villains all proceed to attack her at once, relentlessly. “You’re lucky Midnight sees you as useful, otherwise we would dispose of you right now.” Tirek says as he and the others continue to attack her. Spike wakes up and sees this and growls, breaking free of the rubble he was trapped under. He then breathes fire at them and Sombra makes a wall of crystals that blocks it. He then steps to the others and they all disappear in a puff of black mist. Spike steps around the wall and sees they’re gone and is instantly filled with worry.

“Twilight?!” He yells before looking around and running out of the castle but as soon as he gets outside, he bumps into someone and falls down, quickly being caught by the arm.

He looks up to see that he bumped into Celestia. He shakes his head and double checks. “Celestia..? Celestia! You made it!” He says with excitement and he sees Luna, Starlight, and the others behind her and is relieved, until he remembers what just happened, but before he can tell everypony, Celestia interrupts him.

“I just hope it wasn’t too late. So why are you in such a hurry?” She asks and Rainbow Dash goes past him a bit and looks around before looking at him and asking the question he knew was coming.

“And where’s Twilight?” She asks and Spike instantly starts to explain, and he suddenly remembers what Tirek said.

“One more thing, Tirek.. he mentioned someone named.. Midnight? He said she was lucky Midnight sees her as useful. Or something like that.” He says and at the mention of the name Midnight, Celestia and Luna immediately grow horrified looks on their faces and everyone notices. “Do you.. do you know her?” Spike asks and Celestia sighs and Luna frowns and looks away.

“We must get Twilight back.. and once we do, Luna and I will explain everything.” Celestia says and everypony looks kinda skeptical at her and Luna but reluctantly nod. “Good, then let’s go, we haven’t got a second to lose.” She says before leading the others on the search. “Please be strong my faithful student.. we’re on our way.” She thinks.. Twilight is strong. She’ll be ok.. she has to be.

Twilight groans as she slowly wakes up and feels pain throughout most of her body. She looks around and realizes she’s in an area she’s never seen before.. she also realizes she’s chained above a pit full of what she could only guess was dark magic of some sort. “Rise and shine princess.” She hears a familiar voice say and she turns to who it came from, seeing Cozy Glow standing next to the other villains with a smirk on her face. She growls and tries breaking free of the chains but with how much they have her stretched out, her movement was also very restricted. She tries using her magic and flapping her wings but those along with her horn were restrained.

There was a ring on her horn that she had heard about it. It has a special gem in it that restricts the wearer’s magic. So until she gets that ring off, she’s gonna have a hard time escaping. She glares at them all for a bit before speaking. “Let me guess.. you all want revenge against me and my friends, right?” She asks, getting a nod from them all and she sighs. “When will you all learn that revenge never pays off.” She asks, more than a little frustrated at this point.

Her frustration increases when the villains all start laughing. “But this time Twilight,” Tirek starts as he and the others charge up their magic and aim it at her.

“It will.” Chrysalis says before they all blast her at the same time with an endless beam of magic, causing Twilight to scream in pain. They keep it up and don’t notice the dark magic moving up towards her and that Twilight’s starting to.. change. Her fur is becoming a lighter purple, the pink in her now black mane and tail becoming light green with a smaller strand of purple. Her cutie mark had changed colors as well. Her eyes becoming green with red pupils, purple mist coming out of them from the sides just like Sombra’s eyes. Her voice was also becoming slightly deeper.

They stop firing but by then it’s too late for that and they realize they might’ve made a mistake. She suddenly yells as she releases a wave of magic that spreads throughout the area, knocking back and blinding all the villains and also releasing a beam of magic into the sky. Once they recover their vision, they all slowly get up and look around. The entire area is either burned, cracked or crystallized.. as if all this was a mix of all their powers. They hear something and look to see Twilight, kneeling towards them right in front of the, now covered, pit of dark magic. They slowly get up and walk towards her, having their magic ready.

When they get to a certain distance, she slowly stands up, her head still down until she slowly raises it up but she has her eyes closed. The villain all look at each other confused before Chrysalis walks up to her and puts a firm hand on her shoulder to take her somewhere else.. but that turns out to be a big mistake.

As soon as she touches her, Twilight opens her eyes and they’re still evil and scary looking. She grabs Chrysalis’s arm and spins her around before throwing her into a wall hard enough to make a crater. The villains look shocked before attacking her but she deflects the attacks right back them, knocking them all in separate directions. Chrysalis is the first to recover as she blasts Twilight from behind but Twilight backflips over it, landing behind her and blasting her through the next wall. When none of the villains get up she feels kind of.. disappointed before scoffing and saying to them, “Pathetic..”

She then teleports throughout the tomb, trying to find a way out. Her efforts prove fruitless so she just flys through the roof, blasting a hole through it and the world seems to slow as she opens her eyes and sees.. an alicorn standing outside not far away from her that turns to look at her with a smirk. Twilight lands and glares, guessing that she’s the one behind all this. As the alicorn looks at her, still smirking evilly.. something tells Twilight that she doesn’t want to fight her.. not yet at least. So she simply just backs up and flys off as fast as she can.. which was way faster than she could before this happened.

As the Legion of Doom climbs out of the mountain, Chrysalis actually flying out, they are about to go after her until Midnight stops them. “Let her go.. in due time she’ll learn her place.. and Equestria will be ours yet. Little do they know.. it’ll be because of one of their own precious so-called “protectors.” Midnight says before turning to the Legion of Doom. “Give it some time, leave the rest to me or feel free to cause a bit of chaos yourselves, and let “Twilight” do her part.. and when there’s enough chaos, you will meet me.. the real me.” Midnight says before facing the direction that “Twilight” flew off to. Yes.. her plan was already going how she expected it to.. and soon there would be no one left to stop her return.

“Ugh! This is pointless! We don’t know where they took her or even if she’s still.. still..” Spike says, struggling to finish his sentence. He didn’t want to believe that Twilight was really gone but his worry and frustration had been building up ever since she was taken. Twilight had been like a mother and a sister to him and an amazing friend.. to lose someone like that when it could’ve been prevented.. He feels a hand on his shoulder and looks to see Rarity giving him a reassuring smile.

Still being slightly taller than him, she turns him towards herself, looking down at him. “We’re all worried about her darling, but we can’t start thinking like that. Twilight is fine. Now say it with me and actually mean it.” Rarity says and he nods before they both say it at the same time. “Twilight is fine.” They say and Rarity smiles and pats Spike on the head and he smiles back before they all hear something and a blur goes racing past them and Rainbow Dash instantly gives chase after it. The surprising part to her is that this thing is going so fast even she can barely keep up.

Finally after about twenty seconds, the thing crashes hard enough to make a giant crater and keep sliding , leaving a trail. Rainbow Dash lands and waits for the cloud of dirt and dust to disappear before going after it again only to find.. Twilight. Not the Twilight the Legion of Doom just encountered, but the same Twilight that she and the others had grown to love like family. “Twilight?” She asks before going to her and making sure she’s ok. Twilight slowly opens her eyes, looks at her and smiles.

“Hey Rainbow..” She says weakly before closing her eyes again and Rainbow Dash instantly picks her up as gently but fast as possible and starts taking her back to the others. It was easier since Twilight was slightly bigger than her and the others but not even close to being as big as Celestia.

“Just hang on egghead.. we’re gonna take you back home.” Rainbow says, trying to reassure Twilight that whatever she had been through is over now.

“Home..” Twilight mutters before finally passing out from how exhausted she was. Rainbow Dash meets up with the others and they’re shocked and relieved to see her but also confused on how she escaped, but they could ask her about that once she recovered, right now they were just happy that she was safe. Meanwhile, the “other Twilight” was just happy the plan was working. Soon these ponies would all be destroyed.. and everyone would bow before her and Midnight.. but it would be her, Twivine Sparkle, to bring them down.. This was going to be fun.

Her sick mind…

“Twiliiiight~” a faint distorted voice calls to Twilight in a sing-song voice who slowly opens her eyes. When she does, her vision is very blurry and she hears the voice again. “Twiliiight~” the voice calls again but this time louder and clearer. Twilight looks around, her vision still blurry and she sees a figure right in front of her. As she tries to focus her vision more, she notices that the figure almost looks exactly… “Wake up!”

Twilight jumps awake and looks around frantically, breathing quickly and heavily. She feels a hand on her shoulder and hears a familiar voice speaking to her. “Whoa whoa, easy there egghead. You’re safe now.” Rainbow Dash says to her with a smile on her face and Twilight sighs in relief and lays back down, looking around and seeing all her friends are in the room, including Spike, Starlight, Celestia and Luna. She smiles at them all.

“I see you all got my letters.” Twilight says weakly and they all laugh a bit and nod. “Good, I’m glad you were all able to make it.” She says before sitting up again and Celestia walks up to her.

“Easy Twilight, you’re still recovering.. but now that you’re awake, I would like to ask what they wanted with you.. and how you escaped.” She says and Twilight tries to remember but the only thing she doesn’t remember.. is how she escaped. “Take your time, you must’ve been through a lot in your short time with them.” Celestia says and Twilight nods, trying to remember more.

“Ummm.. I remember that I asked if they wanted revenge on me and my friends.. they said yes. They said that this time revenge would pay off after I said it wouldn’t and then they.. they.. tortured me.” She says, getting gasps from Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity but angry growls from Spike, Applejack, and Rainbow. Celestia, Luna, and Starlight all frown after hearing what their friend had been through. “Something happened after that.. I don’t remember much.. but one thing I do remember is seeing an alicorn or at least a shadow of one. But after that.. I only remember when Rainbow Dash found me.” Twilight continues and Celestia nods in understanding.

“I see.. Twilight.. it’s about time Luna and I told you and your friends about something.. or someone that almost no one knows about. Her name.. is Midnight Starkiller. An alicorn like us but the very first natural-born one, before Flurry Heart. Older than even us.” She says and everyone looks shocked except Luna of course. “She’s even more powerful too.. she is very dangerous.” She continues before looking at Luna who frowns but nods and Celestia sighs. “And she is also the real reason Luna became Nightmare Moon..” She says and obviously, no one believes it at first until Luna sighs and speaks up.

“It’s true.. had it not been for her, I never would have been able to achieve my transformation.. because I never would have been frustrated enough with my sister to go up against her.” Luna says before walking to the window and frowning more. “I never would have become the nightmare that ponies had come to fear and hate..” She says with sadness and a slight hint of anger in her voice and everyone can see just how much Nightmare Moon still haunts her. Celestia steps beside her and nuzzles her, prompting her to nuzzle back.

Twilight gets up, walks to them and takes both of Luna’s hands in her own. “That’s not who you are anymore, it never was.. you were always Luna. Princess of the Night. Not Nightmare Moon. She may have been a part of you then, but she isn’t now.” Twilight says and Luna smiles at her and Twilight smiles back.

“Thank you Twilight Sparkle..” Luna says and Twilight nods before turning to Celestia who has a proud smile on her face. Starlight speaks up and everyone turns their attention to her.

“Wait so Midnight is the first naturally born alicorn, but do you know why she.. turned out like she did? She can’t have been all bad.” She says and Celestia and Luna frown.

“It’s.. not exactly a friendly tale.” Celestia says but the others don’t show a change in their curiosity and she sighs. “Alright.. follow us.” She says before she and Luna lead them all to an area hidden deep beneath Canterlot. There were multiple spaces, one with a cave full of gems and a pool that quickly caught Spike's attention until Starlight called him over. A area with a bunch of old relics and paintings and finally a room that was very beautiful and full of magical looking gems that were surrounded by magical illusions and everyone looks amazed. “This is where we will show you how Midnight came to be..” Celestia says before she and Luna send a wave of magic throughout the room and the gems all start moving and rotating until slowly, the room looks different and looks like the outside of a mansion.

Celestia and Luna walk inside and everyone follows. They hear voices before they do and when they walk in, they see a small purple alicorn talking with her parents and siblings. “That young alicorn.. is Solaris.. it’s who Midnight was before.” Luna says before the illusion changes to a school.

“One day her parents decide to send her to a school, seeing as she wanted to be treated just like everyone else even when she became Queen.” Celestia says and Solaris runs past them, trying to get to class on time and when she just barely makes it, her classmates all tense up until one filly speaks up.

“Guess the perfect little princess isn’t so perfect after all. That is if she’s even really a princess.” She says and everyone laughs and Solaris shyly walks to her seat which is unfortunately for her right behind the filly who spoke who trips her when she gets close enough, causing the entire class to laugh. “Oops, I’m sorry about that.” She says with a smirk and Solaris growls before getting up and sitting down.

The illusion then changes to a sort of auditorium where a few teachers were watching as students displayed their magical talents. Solaris’s display is the most impressive and everyone quickly gets jealous. “As you can see, Solaris had a great talent for magic.. like you and Sunset Shimmer Twilight.” Celestia says and that catches Twilight off guard.

“But..” She starts as something startled Solaris and she accidentally blasts her magic through the roof and into the sky and everyone either laughs or seems to fear her and she starts to panic before running out to who knows where. “Her magic was also very dangerous.. and one push was all it took for that danger to really show itself.” Celestia says before the illusion changes to a hallway in the school and Solaris is walking towards a colt shyly with a blush on her face.

Just as she’s about to tap him on the shoulder, the filly who was bullying her steps up to him and asks him if he wants to be her date to the upcoming dance and to Solaris’s horror, shock, and absolute displeasure, he says yes. The filly then looks at Solaris with a smirk and says something that makes Solaris snap. “Guess the little princess can’t even get a coltfriend. Shame.. guess he has real taste though.” She says and the area around Solaris’s eyes blacken and her eyes glow purple and she lets out a rage fueled scream before her magic goes out of control, going in all directions, killing the filly, the colt, multiple students and teachers and finally blowing up a bit of the school.

The mane 6, Starlight, and Spike all scream as the explosion reaches them but Celestia and Luna don’t even flinch and the explosion doesn’t touch any of them. They all look to see Solaris standing in the middle of all the death and destruction with a shocked and horrified expression on her face. When some teachers show up along with the principal she slowly turns to them all with the same expression on her face and speaks with a shaky voice. “I.. I-I didn’t mean to..” She says before the illusion shifts again and Solaris is in her house, her expression still the same and she’s silently crying now.

“Solaris was expelled instead of arrested.. but she could never forgive herself for the twenty students and staff she injured or the 8 students and 5 teachers that she killed.. so she locked herself in her room for about two weeks.” Luna said with a frown on her face. “And for days, weeks, months, ponies protested against her and her family. When her mother and one of her siblings passed away, things just got harder.” Luna says as the illusion shifted with every word. It then shifted to the house burning, a few of Solaris’s siblings already being dead but the few that were left were trying to escape the house with their father who was fighting off some of the ponies who caused the fire.

“Dad! Help!” They all hear Solaris yell and turn to see her trapped under debris. Twilight instinctively almost goes over to try and help, temporarily forgetting it was an illusion but Celestia puts a wing in front of her.

“This is just an illusion Twilight, it’s not real.” She says and that does little to make Twilight feel any better but she does stand down. Solaris keeps trying to get free and her father tries to help until debris falls in front of him and her siblings. After that, the ponies who caused the fire all walk in front of her.

“Ah, looks like we missed another one.” One of them says and the biggest one steps up to her.

“That’s the one that killed my daughter..” He says in a deep voice before he raises up a hammer and is about to smash her head in. Everyone notices that the illusion around them starts flickering between this and just total darkness and the flickering just gets faster with every second and Solaris screams and blacks out before the illusion shifts and she’s outside the house with her family.. holding the hammer.. and she and the hammer are covered in what could only be one thing.

The mane 6 all gasp in shock and horror. “Oh good heavens.. she didn’t-“ Rarity tries to say but Luna frowns more and sighs.

“She did..” She says and Rarity holds her stomach like she’s about to be sick.

“What in Equestria would possess her to do something as.. as barbaric as that?!” Rarity asks and Twilight pieces it together.

“That flickering we saw.. it wasn’t the illusion messing up.. was it?” Twilight asks and Celestia stays silent for a bit before turning to her and shaking her head.

“It was Midnight.” Celestia says before the illusion shifts to a dream of Solaris with her entire family like nothing had ever happened.. until darkness overtakes it all and a dark figure with purple eyes appears before Solaris, staring down at her.

“W-Who are you? What do you want?” Solaris asks, clearly nervous and the dark figure laughs.

“I am you.. but better in every way. Call me Midnight Starkiller.. and what I want,” the figure starts as the dream starts to fade away. “Is to be free to do everything that you could not.” She says before Solaris wakes up and looks around to see herself in the living room.. with the remainder of her family dead at her feet. She’s frozen with, shock, fear, and sadness until she falls to her knees and starts crying and holding her head. She then screams as her body glows until the house explodes and her magic shoots up into the sky, creating a blinding light and when it stops.. she’s taller, her fur is as black as night, she has a flowing mane and tail, huge horn and wings, sharp teeth and purple markings all over her body that glow as she laughs evilly.

“And that is how Solaris.. came to be Midnight.” Celestia says before the illusion disappears and the young ponies and dragon all need a minute after what they just witnessed. Twilight then remembers what Celestia said while they were in the auditorium and looks at her.

“That’s another reason you took me under your wing isn’t it? You.. you didn’t want me to end up like Sunset Shimmer or.. Solaris.” She says and Celestia sadly nods before turning to them all.

“We had the chance to stop her for good.. but we didn’t.. she manipulated.. our older sister, Astelle into killing our parents and helping her and we hated her for that.. but we couldn’t kill her.. so we trapped her and our sister in different dimensional prisons. But it seems Midnight has been drawing power from her dimension and has escaped.. or she’s getting ready to and once she does..” Celestia says before shuddering as she remembers how much suffering Midnight caused in the past, not just for them but for everypony.

Twilight nods, immediately understanding what she and her friends have to do. “We’ll stop her and whatever plans she comes up with. Don’t worry.” Twilight tells her with a determined look on her face and her friends all agree, causing Celestia and Luna to smile.

“We know you will..” Celestia says and Luna agrees before speaking up.

“And we will do everything in our power to aid you.” She says and they all nod. Twilight then steps up to Celestia and looks up at her, saying something that catches her off guard.

“And I promise you.. I won’t turn out the way Midnight did.” She says and Celestia looks shocked then smiles and hugs her and she hugs back.

“I know you won’t.. my faithful student.” Celestia says and Twilight smiles and nuzzles into the hug.

“But will you be able to keep that promise~?” The voice from in her dream asks and Twilight jumps a bit and looks around confused and slightly scared.

“W-Who said that?” She asks shakily and everyone looks confused and looks at each other then back at her.

“Um Twilight.. um no one said anything. Are you sure you’re alright? Do you need more rest?” Fluttershy asks kind of awkwardly but her concern for her friend still shows and Twilight thinks about it before shaking her head and looking at her friend.

“I’m fine Fluttershy… just a bit tired, that’s all but I’m good to go, promise.” Twilight says and Fluttershy hesitantly nods. Twilight wished that was true but she doesn’t really know anymore.

“Wait you two had a sister? What was she like? What did she look like? Her name was Astelle? What was she the princess of? I mean Celestia is the princess of the sun and Luna is the princess of the moon but-“ Pinkie asks a flurry of questions before Celestia or Luna could answer any of them and she would have continued had Applejack not covered her mouth.

“For ponies' sake Pinkie, give 'em time to answer some of yer questions first. One at a time.” Applejack says and Pinkie nods before Applejack uncovers her mouth and Pinkie gives the retired princesses a big, curious smile.

“Sooooo?” Pinkie asks and Celestia and Luna both sigh at the same time. This was going to be a long, long explanation.

That hidden part of her

As Twilight and the others walked throughout the castle, talking about the origins of Celestia and Luna’s forgotten older sister, Twilight was more or less distracted by what had happened earlier. She had heard a voice but she was the only one who heard it. Maybe she was just shaken up from her time with the legion of doom? Some sort of lasting trauma? No, that was least likely since the voice didn’t sound like any of them. In fact.. it sounded a lot like- “Twilight? Ya there sugarcube?” She hears Applejack ask, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“H-Huh?” Twilight asks as she looks at the others who are giving her concerned looks.

“Celestia and Luna were explaining what their sister was like and we thought there was something you might have wanted to know.” Starlight explained and Twilight shakes her head.

“Umm.. could you repeat everything for me.. please?” Twilight asks with a sheepish smile and Celestia and Luna look at each other then back at the group of friends.

“Astelle was born three years before me and was meant to be the original princess of the sun. She would’ve gained that title too had it not been for me.. I did something heroic which lead to me being the princess of the sun, despite me being so young.. and Astelle was outraged. She hated me for taking that away from her.” Celestia explains before looking at Luna who walks up a bit and continues for her.

“And then I was born and Astelle tried to manipulate into turning against our sister. She wanted to frame her for a crime so heinous that she could never be accepted as a princess.. and it would have worked but then Celestia caught on and told our parents.” Luna says as she looks around at them all before continuing. “She didn’t tell them what she was planning but she did tell them that she was jealous she didn’t get a title.. so they deemed her the princess of shadows.. and she took that title quite seriously.. but not in a good way.”

Celestia then sighs and finishes explaining. “Over the years she became more cold and detached.. until one day a mysterious alicorn came to her and introduced herself as Midnight Starkiller.” Celestia says with a bit of anger in her voice as she says the name. “She offered Astelle more power than she could’ve ever dreamed of.. all she had to do.. was turn on her own family… and so she did. She killed our parents first then they both tried to kill Luna and myself for years.. but using the elements of harmony and a powerful spell, we were able to trap them in separate dimensions. But Midnight and Astelle had already gotten to Luna, leaving a trace of dark magic in her along with their own twisted influences.” She says with sadness in her voice.

“And I didn’t notice my own sister slowly becoming sick in the head because of it.. too blinded by my responsibilities as a princess.” Celestia says, her voice shaking with sadness. She should’ve seen the changes in Luna’s behavior and immediately realized that Luna wouldn’t act like she did unless Midnight or Astelle did something to her.. but no she just took it as Luna being upset and nothing more like a fool.

She feels Luna nuzzle her and she nuzzles back, sighing. Pinkie frowns and her mane deflates a bit. “I’m sorry.. I didn’t know that she was that much of a party pooper.. or that your past with her was that dark.” Pinkie says apologetically with a pout. Both Celestia and Luna smile at her and nod to say it’s ok. Rainbow Dash uncrosses her arms and walks forward a bit.

“So.. exactly how much about Midnight and your past did you not tell us? If it’s ok for me to ask.” She asks and Celestia almost answers but Luna does it for her.

“We haven’t told you that Midnight had an army and if she gets free, they will too. Our sister will stay trapped unless Midnight manually frees her. We also have yet to tell you how Midnight goes about taking down her targets.” Luna says and Celestia steps beside her and explains before she does.

“She worms her way into the hearts and minds of her targets and makes them do her bidding, willingly or unwillingly and when she no longer sees them as useful.. she disposes of them.” Celestia says and everyone at this point isn’t surprised. After seeing what Midnight did in Solaris’s past, anything they heard about her doing afterwards didn’t really surprise them anymore. They understood that Midnight was pure evil and that’s about all they needed to understand.

They all look nervous and Celestia can tell that none of them have a plan for how they’re going to stop her. “The elements were powerful enough to stop her once but thanks to all of you, they’re more powerful than before.. and so is she. But no matter, you all have prevailed against many treacherous foes, and she is just one more. So there should be no doubt that you will prevail this time.” Celestia says with a smile, causing them all to smile back and she then looks at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, in about two days, the Wonderbolts should be given new outfits that are a bit more.. appropriate for a situation like this. So be prepared when it arrives.” Celestia says and Rainbow Dash gasps in shock and excitement then flys up while spinning and cheering.

This earns chuckles from everyone and Twilight actually finds it refreshing for even someone who acts as tough as Rainbow Dash does to let their guard down. As she watches the pegasus cheer and fly around, she can’t help but smile, enjoying seeing this other side of the pegasus more and more. “It’s actually kind of.. adorable.” Twilight thinks to herself before the voice interrupts her thoughts again.

“..And tiresome.” It says before suddenly Twilight’s eyes become evil looking again, her pupils turning to slits but they don’t change color and neither does anything else and she walks off. Starlight is the only one who notices and she decides to follow her. She follows Twilight throughout the castle, almost getting caught a few times but she could’ve sworn that a few times when Twilight turned back, her eyes were almost serpent-like. She may have just been seeing things but she needed to check. Once Twilight got to her room and closed the door, Starlight, after a few seconds teleported in after her and used a spell to make herself invisible. She looks around and sees Twilight, on her knees while using her magic.. on nothing.

Her eyes were closed so Starlight let down the spell and went to her. “Uhhh Twilight?” Starlight calls but she gets no response. She waves her hand in front of her face but still Twilight doesn’t respond and after a few seconds of thinking, Starlight realizes that Twilight’s not sleeping, she’s meditating.. while using her magic. But.. that’s unlike her. In all the time that Starlight has known Twilight, she’s never seen her meditate and the others have never told her about her doing it.

So why was she doing it now..?

“Very good Twivine, you’re one step closer to fully mastering alicorn empathy.” Midnight says with a smile and Twivine returns one of her own before slightly bowing her head as thanks.

“Thank you, my Queen. Celestia did once tell me about Alicorn empathy, mainly that it runs strongly between Alicorns.” Twivine says and Midnight glares and she instantly understands where she went wrong. “I mean she told Twilight about it.” Twivine quickly corrected herself which seemed to please Midnight.

“That’s better, don’t worry, we will work on that. And she was right, in fact, as you can see, it runs so strongly that even villainous ones like us can use it. Even across different dimensions.. speaking of which, Twivine I would like for you to meet someone.” She says before turning to her right and Twilight follows her gaze as another Alicorn slowly appears. This Alicorn was grey, had red eyes, a red mane and tail and grey feathers that slowly faded to red. Her cutie mark was that of a red star shaped crystal wrapped in what looked to be shadows that resembled thorned vines. “Hello old friend..” Midnight says before the alicorn directs her attention to her then to Twivine.

“Is this the alicorn you told me about that could help us?” The alicorn asks and Midnight nods, prompting her to walk up to Twivine and get really close to her, both her eyes glowing red.

“Twivine.. meet Astelle.”

Friend or Foe

“So you’re Astelle.. it’s nice to finally meet you.” Twivine says, slightly bowing her head and Astelle says nothing for a bit until her eyes stop glowing and she backs up a bit.

“Likewise.” Astelle says before looking at Midnight. “So are we almost ready to begin our plan.” She asks and Midnight nods in response, still having a smirk on her face.

“Almost, but I’m not free yet.. I can feel the legion of doom causing more and more chaos but it’s not enough.. but maybe they need some help.” Midnight says before looking at Twivine. “Twivine? Have you ever heard of the Sirens?” She asks and Twivine nods, causing her smirk to grow. “Good, then you know what they can do and possibly who they hate.. I want you to bring them back to Equestria.” Midnight says and Twivine almost agrees until she remembers what Sunset told her and what Starswirl and the Pillars of old did.

“I would your majesty but.. there’s two problems..” Twivine starts and Midnight tilts her head before she continues. “They don’t have their powers anymore and Starswirl the bearded made it so they could never come back to Equestria.. trying to bring them back could have fatal consequences.” Twivine says and Midnight growls in annoyance before she gets an idea.

“I know what spell he used and you can use it to bring them back, then leave the rest to me.” Midnight says and Twivine nods, smirking evilly and Midnight does the same. “We’re so close Twivine.. don’t fail me now.” She says and Twivine nods once again, fully intending to please her Queen.. no matter the cost.

“See? I told you. She’s meditating.” Starlight says to the others who she had asked if they had ever seen Twilight meditate. Of course they all said no and when she told them she was doing it now, none of them believed her. So she decided it better to show rather than tell. “She’s been doing it for about seven minutes now.” Starlight says as she steps in front of Twilight once again, still not getting a response.

“But.. that’s so unlike her. I mean..sure she does breathing exercises that Princess Cadance taught her but this? We’ve never seen her do this before.” Fluttershy says, confused just like the rest of her friends and Rainbow Dash walks up to her and tries getting her to wake up.

“Hey Twi! You there?” She asks slightly shaking her friend but getting no response. “Wow, she’s really out cold.” She says and Starlight is about to use a spell to try to see what Twilight is really meditating on until Twilight suddenly opens her eyes and grabs her by the throat so quickly that everyone is startled by the sudden violent outburst from their friend. Her hold on Starlight’s throat is enough to cut off her airways and start strangling her.

She tries to speak and ask Twilight what she’s doing and tell her to calm down but she doesn’t need to because after a few seconds, Twilight finally calms down and lets her go and quickly gets up, looking guilty. “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to-! I just-!” Twilight stutters as she tries to explain and apologize but Celestia is immediately by her side.

“Twilight calm down.. breathe in,” Celestia tells her and Twilight takes a deep breath, “breathe out.” Then she exhaled it and she keeps this up for a few more seconds before she looks around at all of them and helps Starlight to her feet.

“I’m sorry.. I don’t know what came over me. I was just coming out of it and I saw you right in front of me and I just.. reacted. I guess I’m still a bit jumpy from what I went through with the Legion of Doom.” Twilight explains and it wasn’t exactly a lie, she had no idea Starlight had followed her but she wasn’t affected by her torture anymore. Had the others not been around, she might’ve killed Starlight because of Twivine.. and she still wouldn’t know why she acted like that. “Can you forgive me..?” She asks.

Starlight smiles and nods. “Of course I can, it’s not your fault. I’d still be shaken up too.” Starlight says and Twilight smiles and thanks her for understanding. “Just one question.. while you were meditating.. why were you using your magic?” She asks and that is a huge slap in Twivine's face. She had to come up with a lie and quick.

As soon as Twilight closes her eyes to try and think, that’s when Twivine takes over again but keeps her eyes normal when she opens them. “Ummm.. I was trying out a new spell to see if my magic still works right.. while I was captured there was a ring on my horn that dampened my magic soooo.. I wanted to try a new spell I learned first before I tried any others.” Twivine says, hoping they’ll believe her and to her relief, they do.

“Maybe it is a bit early to try using your magic if it causes you to react that badly to surprises, I would advise getting more rest.” Luna says and Twivine opens her mouth to protest but Celestia speaks before she can.

“Twilight, we understand that you don’t wish to take any chances but you need to trust that we can handle things while you rest. You’re just one pony, you can’t handle all of this alone.” Celestia says as she puts a hand on Twilight’s shoulder and smiles at her. "So promise that you’ll get some rest.. if not for yourself then do it for the ponies who love you.. and those who are depending on you.” She says and Twivine seems to think about it, then nods, planning to bring back the Sirens when everyone leaves. Her answer causes Celestia's smile to grow before she and everyone else leaves the room.

Twivine smirks as soon as she’s alone and makes an illusion of herself in her bed in case anyone comes to check on her then she teleports to where the mirror is in the castle which is the same room it was in before it was moved to her own castle in Ponyville. She then uses the spell Midnight taught her and after a few failed attempts, she eventually gets it as she sees three silhouettes coming through the portal formed in the mirror. She then smirks and backs up but her smirk fades when the castle seems to shake and the mirror starts cracking.

She quickly tries to stop whatever is happening but when she does the cracking gets worse and worse. She hears footsteps but can’t get away in time as her friends turn the corner and see her and all say the same thing. “Twilight?!” They yell but before they can say anything else, the portal starts to collapse in on itself until.. it finally explodes and when the smoke clears and Spike, Starlight, Luna, Celestia, and the castle guards all reach the room.. the mane 6 is gone.

But in the center of the room, the Dazzlings/Sirens are all laying in the rubble that now covered the floor but they weren’t their gigantic, terrifying, scaly selves.. they were three unicorns. They slowly open their eyes and all get up and look around confused but their confusion quickly turns to aggression when they see the ponies before them. Before they can do anything though, they all become engulfed in black mist and taken to a different location.

“Now where are we?!” Aria asks with more frustration than anything else. None of them know what had happened. One moment they were about to walk into their shared house that they had gotten about two years ago when suddenly they were surrounded by Equestrian magic and taken through the portal that still lied at Canterlot High and then they were in that room. They needed time to process everything.

As they looked around, they realized that they were in some sort of terrifying tomb that not even the deepest darkest depths of the ocean compared to. “T-This place is kinda scary.. why don’t we go ahead and find a way out?” Sonata suggests but before her two older sisters can agree with her, they all hear a voice coming from behind them.

“Oh I wouldn’t leave just yet.. unless you don’t want to reclaim your former glory.. and powers.” The voice says and they all freeze up and slowly turn to see who’s talking and see a shadowy figure that is clearly an alicorn and they are very intrigued by the offer and Adagio, being the oldest sibling, decides she should be the one to step forward and hear them out.

“Go on..” She says and Midnight can’t help but smirk evilly.

Everyone was absolutely shocked by the events they just witnessed and also confused. The mane 6 was gone but the Sirens were somehow back in Equestria and the mirror was now destroyed. Starlight and Celestia paled at the realization that Sunset Shimmer was still on the other side.. and now she was trapped there. “Rarity.. Twilight.. guys!” Spike calls as he and the others looked around for them and he gets no response.. until they all hear something and somepony emerges from the rubble and Starlight and Celestia are immediately filled with some relief.

“Sunset Shimmer!” They both say excitedly as they go to help her up and she accepts their help while coughing and dusting herself off. “We thought we weren’t going to see you again..” Starlight says and Sunset takes a second to catch her breath and take in everything that just happened before looking at Starlight and Celestia.

“Of course you’d see me again, why wouldn’t you? Oh and.. what happened here?” Sunset asks, gesturing to the mess in the room until she sees the destroyed portal and the realization hits her like a train. “No..” Sunset says before falling to her knees and Starlight immediately tries to comfort her.

“It’s ok.. we’ll fix it and you’ll see them again.. when this is all over or if we get a chance before it is..” Starlight says and Sunset slowly looks at her and stands up.

“Till what’s all over?” Sunset asks and Celestia puts a hand on her shoulder and sighs.

“Sunset.. we have a lot to talk about.. but first we have to get back to the matter at hand. Finding Twilight and her friends.”

As the mane 6 all wake up, they find themselves in separate locations that they’ve never seen before. Twilight was underground somewhere, Rainbow Dash was high in the mountains, surrounded by storm clouds, Applejack was somewhere inside a volcano, Rarity was in what seemed to be a tundra, Fluttershy was in a massive forest and not far from a waterfall, and Pinkie Pie was in some sort of rocky maze.

They all look for each other and try to find a way back but they only end up in the same spot that they started in. They try and try and try again over and over but to no avail. They slowly start to give up, except Pinkie of course, until they all hear something and see the slightest hint of a shadow running or flying off to somewhere and they give chase after the silhouette, hoping whoever it is will lead them to the way out of their current situations. They continue to give chase until it disappears somewhere and they’re all standing in front of giant representations.. of their own cutie marks.

They question why it lead them there and then they all can just slightly see where they last were in Canterlot inside their cutie marks. They all hear a voice that says something that catches them off guard. “You are here because you are a bearer of one of Equestria’s elements of harmony.. because you are meant to protect it from the evils that lie ahead.. but your current power is not enough to stand up to it. Will you, (Name of each one), answer the call..? Do you accept this power and the right to fight for Equestria?” The voice asks and they all take a minute to process all this before growing determined looks and nodding and answering at the same time.

“I do..” they all say at the same time before their cutie marks suddenly start looking very sinister. The voice then says something that sends chills up all their spines before everything goes dark.

“Then let the test.. begin.”

We fear what we become..

As Twilight lights up her horn, she comes to realize that she can only see herself and nothing more, everything else was pitch black. She looks around and decides to just pick a direction to walk in until she finds a way out. It’s more than a little frustrating that she can’t even see if she’s moving or not and unsettling that as she walks, she feels like she’s being watched or followed. Eventually she’s tired of it and turns around to see two.. paths. One white and one purple.. light and dark.

“Hmmm.. am I.. am I supposed to choose one of these paths?” She asks, stumbling over her own words a bit and both the paths glow and she assumes that means yes. She almost immediately goes down the light path but.. she feels something hold her back. She looks at the pattern that both the paths are glowing and she looks more closely at them, trying to understand. “I don’t understand.. light or dark should be an easy answer.. so why am I hesitating?” She asks herself and she looks between the paths and then it hits her. Maybe..

Maybe she’s supposed to make her own path.

As Rainbow Dash walked down the light path, she was becoming increasingly worried about her friends, especially Twilight. She knew they could handle themselves if it came to it but Twilight had already been tortured by their worst enemies and whatever else she went through had clearly created some issues. Which raised the question: Why was Twilight at the mirror when it went off? Was she sleep walking? Did the commotion wake her up and she responded first? Or, and Rainbow highly doubted this theory, did Twilight have something to do with what happened to the portal?

Rainbow Dash quickly hit herself on the side of the head for that thought. “No way Twilight would WILLINGLY bring back the Sirens. No. Way. She’s too.. she’s Twilight for Celestia's sake. After what she’d been through, she’d never bring back some of our worst enemies unless..” Rainbow says and then an idea formed in her head about the reasoning behind her friend’s actions. “She was trying to.. reform them?” She says hesitantly. “But if she wanted that, why not just-“ Rainbow starts to say but before she can she hears something behind her and instantly turns around, immediately getting choked by..

As Applejack gets grabbed by her throat, she looks at her attacker and sees.. herself and is absolutely stunned. Here she is getting choked by herself.. but different. This other Applejack had glowing orange eyes, the right side of her face was badly scarred, she had a eyepatch over her right eye, she had black and red clothes and her hair was really messy. She was also way more muscular than her smaller counterpart and she looked older.

“You’re such a damn idiot for choosing the light path. That’s only gonna lead to ya losing everything, your family, your friends, your home, this battle! ..And everything you love.” This evil Applejack says in a deeper, gruffer voice. She then makes a fist and what Applejack could only assume was a orange magical Ursa claw forms around her fist.

“Win or lose.. I’m willing to fight for what I love regardless!” Applejack yells before wrapping her legs around her evil counterpart and using a smooth maneuver to flip her over herself and slam her down, causing her to tumble away and they both slowly get up and the evil Applejack chuckles coldly before glaring at her, her eyes glowing more.

“Just by looking at me.. I’m surprised you can’t tell you’ll live to regret thinking like that..” she says before charging at Applejack, ducking under a punch, picking her up, and slamming her down straight through the path.

As Rarity was slammed through the light path by her evil counterpart who had introduced herself as “Nightmare Rarity” before attacking her, she realized she was now underwater and when she opened her eyes, she saw that she was underneath a frozen lake.. and she was starting to rise out of it. She looks confused and is suddenly launched out of the lake and into the now visible sky above the frozen remains.. of Ponyville.

“No..” Rarity says quietly in shock before she suddenly starts falling down to the ground below her, screaming and waving her arms and legs around frantically. She makes a shield around herself to lessen then damage of the fall and it works but she does end up tumbling painfully through Ponyville until she’s right outside her own boutique. When she tries to get up to look at it, she’s horrified to see the state of it. It’s completely frozen with ice spikes going through the roof and through the window, she can see that the inside wasn’t any better.

She sees something buried in the snow and can just barely make out the color and shape of.. Sweetie Belle’s body. She instantly rushes over and digs her out. “Sweetie Belle?! Sweetie! Can you hear me?!” She asks frantically but gets no response.. Sweetie Belle isn’t moving, she isn’t breathing.. her heart isn’t beating.. and Rarity is filled with so much dread, guilt, and sadness. She starts crying over Sweetie Belle’s body, wishing that she had been there to protect her.

“Rarity..” She hears her say and quickly opens her eyes to see Sweetie Belle looking up at her.. but her heart still wasn’t beating. “Y-You.. could’ve.. saved us.. why weren’t you here?” She asks with a weak voice and Rarity struggles to answer but then just lowers her head, shaking it slowly.

“I.. I wanted to be but.. but I-“ Rarity tries to say until another voice speaks from behind her.

“But you weren’t..” the voice says and she turns to see Spike who’s mostly buried in snow, only his face and one of his shoulders being visible. Another voice speaks after he does.

“And now everything and everyone you knew and loved is dead and gone.” The voice says and Rarity looks to see Applejack stuck between ice spikes.. some even going into her body. She slowly takes all this in before remembering what happened with the portal.. and realizing..

..This is just a test. As Fluttershy comes to that realization, finally after she’d spent like five minutes running for her life, she stands up, gently putting down the body of “Angel bunny” and walks away from the illusions of her fallen friends and she can practically hear “Flutterbat” appear behind her and her voice echoes as she speaks. “Now do you understand what you could prevent if you chose the dark side?” She asks as she walks closer to Fluttershy and puts a hand on her shoulder.

“You can stop what’s coming.. with my skills, brutality and the ability to bend nature to your will? You would be unstoppable.. but it’s your choice.” She says before sighing and continuing. “You could continue to be weak and afraid and allow this destruction and death to happen..” She says while gesturing to all the destruction around them both and Fluttershy continues for her.

“Or I could be like you..” Fluttershy says before slowly turning around to face her evil counterpart and to Flutterbat's surprise, she has a very stern glare on her face. “And be the one who CAUSES IT!” Fluttershy yells, adding emphasis to her last two words with a harsh push that sends her evil counterpart sliding back.

As Pinkie walks towards her evil counterpart “Pinkamena” as she recovers, she can’t help but feel a bit amused at how fast all of this had unfolded and the fact that Pinkamena thought she could trick her since they’re practically the same pony. In that case, she should’ve known she had Pinkie sense. Pinkie quickly tries to have the glare return to her face as Pinkamena recovers. “You showed me what you can do!” Pinkie yells, putting on her best “angry voice”.

Pinkamena growls, takes out her knife and tries to stab Pinkie with it but she catches her wrist and pulls her closer to her. “And by showing off, you taught me that all of this was done by you! ..Me? ..Us? It doesn’t matter!” She yells as she flips Pinkamena over her, causing her to tumble away before she gets up, her legs glowing blue and she jumps at Pinkie, going at an incredibly fast speed but Pinkie just barely manages to dodge the incoming stab and she grabs her by her hair and uses the recoil to slingshot her to the mayor’s office, sending her through the wall.

Pinkie smirks and giggles uncontrollably when she sees Pinkamena's legs sticking out of the wall and kicking to get free. Pinkamena yells as the building glows blue and pink with little streaks of yellow energy and she turns into a giant version of herself and Pinkie goes wide-eyed at the huge display of raw magical power and starts worrying. “Oh no..”

Twilight dodges the downward strike from the giant shadow version of Twivine, the actual Twivine watching the fight through Twilight’s eyes, not knowing who to root for or if she should step in. Twilight dodges more attacks from the shadow but eventually gets blasted to the ground and she quickly gets up and holds up one of the shadow’s fists with all her strength to keep from being crushed. “You want to save your friends?! Save your home?! You cannot even save yourself!” “Twivine” yells to her while increasing the force being used to crush Twilight and her legs almost give out as she struggles more and more.

“Face facts Twilight Sparkle, it’s over, you’ve already lost.. Celestia made a mistake picking you as the new Princess of Equestria.” The shadow says and Twilight starts to consider that maybe.. maybe she’s right. If she can’t even handle this, how is she supposed to handle a full-scale war if it comes to it.. how was she supposed to handle Midnight? But then she remembers that.. she’s not alone. Throughout the years, she’s had her friends by her side through thick and thin and even though they aren’t by her side right now.. she still carried the magic of their friendship and love within her.. and she refused to let them down.

“You’re wrong! I haven’t lost! My friends and I haven’t lost and we won’t lose! Not without a fight! It doesn’t matter what Midnight or anyone else throws at us! We’ll always stick together!” Twilight yells as her eyes slightly glow and she slowly stands up, the fist becoming easier to lift with every second that passed and every ounce of power she felt. “Because Friendship isn’t just magic..” Twilight says as her body starts glowing brighter and brighter, specifically the area in the middle of her chest where there was now a shape that resembled her element. And at the same time, unknowingly to her, she and all her friends yell the same thing at the same time.

“Friendship! Is!! ETERNAL!!”

Finally the glowing becomes too much and it clears the illusion until they all open their eyes and see giant shadow statues of themselves holding giant glowing representations of their elements between their hands and they all hear the voice from earlier speak to them. “Then the power is yours to keep.. and the path ahead will determine which path you are truly destined to walk.” The voice says and they all nod and walk down the paths leading to their elements and slowly but hesitantly walk into them, being absorbed into the magic that’s making them up.. before a multicolored beam of magic blasts them back into Equestria, the magic spreading across the entire world and gifting new magical abilities to both current or potential heroes.. and villains alike.

..And we'll become what we fear

As Midnight watches the magic spread across the sky in a multicolored light show, she couldn’t help but feel how it was changing Equestria.. and herself.. all bets were off now. She smirks as she walks back into the tomb, wondering what could have caused all this but she could figure it out later.

She walks to one of the crystals that she uses to contact the members of her newly formed legion and activates the one for Adagio. She waits for the illusion of the ancient evil being to appear before speaking. “Anything new to report Adagio?” She asks and Adagio sighs before shaking her head and responding with disappointment and annoyance in her voice.

“No, I’ve been going around causing havoc amongst town after town while Aria and Sonata sink ships and cause innocents to fight but there’s still no sign of him, of any of them.” Adagio says, her fur slowly forming into scales and her eyes glowing red with anger as her teeth become jagged and Midnight can’t help but admire her determination to get revenge.

“Calm down, they’re still alive after all this time, I can sense it. They will come for you eventually. Just give it time.” Midnight says and it works as Adagio seems to calm down and go back to looking like a regular unicorn. “Good, for now go regroup with your sisters then meet up with the legion of doom.” She says and Adagio nods before the illusion disappears. Just as Midnight is about to check in with the legion of doom, she hears something from behind her and turns to see.. a type of draconequis like Discord but more serpent-like and a female. She has a red snake like head and a pink furry neck, dragon horns, claws, purple fur covering her body, back sheep hooves for legs and a scorpion tail. She also had stripes in a few areas. “And who might you be?” Midnight asks the strange being who chuckles before glaring at her.

“You must be joking.. I’m Cosmos.. Discord’s ex girlfriend? The Empress of chaos and destruction?” She continues to introduce herself but Midnight still doesn’t seem to recognize her, much to her annoyance. “All you need to know.. is that Equestria is my playground. And I can’t have an amateur like you or anyone else claim what belongs to me.” She says before snapping her finger and looking on as if she expects something to happen.

Midnight looks around, confused and then shrugs. “What are you doing?” She asks and Cosmos snaps her fingers again and again but still nothing happens.

“I’m trying to erase you from existence or put you in a dimensional plane far from here but it isn’t working!!! What did you do to my magic?!?!” She asks angrily and Midnight just stares for a minute before bursting into a fit of laughter and almost falling over from laughing so hard.

“Oh wow.. you really thought your pathetic powers would work on me? I’m actually insulted.” Midnight says before walking to Cosmos. “You call yourself the Empress of chaos and destruction? Oh honey..” She says before suddenly grabbing Cosmos by her throat and slamming her down. “I AM chaos and destruction and I am controlled. By! NO ONE!!!” Midnight yells before starting to steal Cosmos’s magic. She almost succeeds but then Cosmos pulls a fast one on her and wraps her tail around her before throwing her off and teleporting away. No matter, she was weak and meanwhile Midnight was feeling much stronger.. now all she needed was a bit more chaos and she would be free.. and Equestria would finally belong to her.. and her alone.

As Celestia, Luna, Spike, Starlight and Sunset Shimmer rushed through Ponyville towards a field where this newfound magic had first touched Equestria, they also contemplated what could’ve caused all this and they hoped it could tell them something about what happened to the Mane 6 and where they went. As they arrive there they see six crystals.. with ponies inside them. Two were a bit separate from the others, a purple one and a rainbow one, both either surrounded by dark magic or smaller crystals. Starlight and Sunset teleport closer to get a better look at them. “Where did these come from..?” Sunset asked hesitantly, getting a shrug from Starlight.

“I wish I knew..” Starlight says as she steps to one of the crystals and hesitantly touches it, examining it.. and she sees Fluttershy unconscious inside and gasps in surprise. “Sunset! The others, they’re inside these crystals!” She yells and Sunset looks shocked before going to the one surrounded by dark magic, shielding herself just in case before touching it and seeing Twilight inside it.

“How do we get them out?!” Sunset asks as the others land by them and take a look at the crystals themselves. Celestia gasps when she sees the state that the Mane 6 are in but she immediately pulls Sunset Shimmer away when she notices the dark magic surrounding Twilight’s crystal. “What?! What is it?! What’s wrong?!” Sunset asks in a panicked tone.

“That’s dark magic Sunset.. and I recognize it.” Celestia says before she looks at Twilight and frowns. “Oh my faithful student.. what has happened to you?” Celestia says in a sad tone. She knows exactly where this magic came from.. or should she say who.. and she was not going to get away with it. She notices Starlight step up to Rainbow Dash’s crystal and examine it.

“My question is how did they get all the way out here.. and why are they like this to begin with?” She asks, keeping her distance from the crystal as she turns to the others, Spike right next to Rarity’s crystal and Luna standing with Celestia and Sunset. They think about it until Sunset sees Rainbow Dash’s crystal glowing more and starting to radiate with.. electricity. They look to Twilight’s and see it glowing too and unleashing more magic. Applejacks was starting to catch on fire, specifically the Ursa marking on her's, Rarity’s had snow floating around it, Fluttershy's had wind around it and plants growing from underneath it, and Pinkie’s had pink, blue, and yellow energy surrounding it.

The group slowly backs away from the crystals, not knowing what’s about to happen but also not wanting to stay in the middle of them to find out. They watch in anticipation as the crystals continue to glow brighter and brighter until finally they explode one by one, sending shockwaves of powerful magic out that spread for miles. Once the explosions stop, Sunset drops the shield that was protecting them from the shockwaves and they all look to see if the Mane 6 are all right only to find that they’re free from their crystals and the power that was radiating off the crystals.. is now coming off of them. They slowly step closer just as it starts to calm down and they all open their eyes and look around. “W..What happened?” Twilight asks, her eyes slightly glowing and Celestia could’ve sworn that for a second.. she saw markings on Twilight’s body.

“I don’t know but.. I feel so much.. stronger.” Rainbow Dash says with a smirk to add emphasis to the last word, her pupils glowing red a bit when she says it. This causes everyone to feel uneasy until the rest of the Mane 6 agree.

“I guess I do feel a little.. different.” Fluttershy says while clenching and unclenching her fist. For some reason she had the instinct.. the feeling, the need to fly, to be free, to do anything she wanted.. and she had the overwhelming instinct to go out and hunt.. and cause destruction.. she quickly shook her head and wondered where those thoughts had come from. They all see something glowing in one of their own hands and see each of their elements.. completely intact. “Where-“ Fluttershy tries to say until Spike interrupts.

“Well other than just you all feeling different, care to tell us what happened to you?” Spike asks and they all look at each other then back at them.

“Come on, we’ll explain on the way, it’s getting late.” Twilight says before she and the others lead them all to her castle that still resided in Ponyville.

After the explanation, securing the elements, and a conversation / interrogation of what Twilight was doing at the portal, everyone had decided to get some rest and talk about it in the morning. Meanwhile, Twivine had been able to come up with a lie, but little did she know, Applejack's element and instinct had alarmed her when she did so now the farm pony was pretending to sleep and so was Rainbow Dash, who she had told that Twilight was lying, both waiting for Twilight to make a move and once she did, they would follow her or at least one of them would.

It would most likely have to be Rainbow Dash depending on what Twilight would do or where she would go. All of a sudden, Twivine opens her eyes and gets out of bed, walking out of her room and going through one of the windows in the castle before flying back to the tomb and Rainbow Dash quickly follows her, doing her best to stay undetected.. but little did she know, Twivine could sense her and she decided to have a little fun. She flys around to any potential obstacles to try and lose her and it helps that she’s faster due to the increase in her physical strength and wing power but now Rainbow Dash was a bit faster too now, possibly because of their new magic.

She almost succeeds a few times but Rainbow isn’t easy to lose at all so she decides to try something and flys into the clouds, prompting Dash to give chase after her only to emerge above the clouds.. with Twilight nowhere to be seen.. until she turns around and her nose is immediately met by Twilight’s who has a smirk on her face. “Hey Rainbow~” Twilight says.

Rainbow Dash blushes and flys back, letting out a squeak of surprise. Twilight bursts out laughing and falls onto a cloud causing Rainbow to huff and cross her arms, embarrassed at what she just did and her blush gets worse. “I-I mean.. uhhhh what are you doing out here egghead?” Rainbow asks, clearing her throat to gain back her normal confident demeanor but she already knows Twilight isn’t gonna forget about what happened and she isn’t gonna let her live it down.

After Twilight calms down she finally decides to answer the pegasus. “Apparently watching you be adorable and try desperately to hide it.” She says, giggling more and Rainbow blushes again in embarrassment but gives a glare of annoyance. “But seriously, I was actually just.. going out for a late night flight. I see you decided to join me.” She says and Rainbow is about to say no but then she decides that.. maybe this would be a good time to get some answers.

“Uhhhh yeahhh. Totally.. if you feel like having some company.” Rainbow says and Twilight nods and flys up to her level.

“I don’t mind. Let’s go.” Twilight says before flying in the opposite direction of where she was before which confuses Rainbow but she follows anyway. Meanwhile, Twivine pokes her head out of a cloud behind them that she had been in the whole time, watching as the clone worked flawlessly in tricking Rainbow Dash. Once they were gone, that’s when Twivine switched to her full evil appearance and smirked.

“Now that’s more like it.” She says before flying towards her former destination and before long, she’s inside the tomb and she hears all the villains talking inside the throne room. Midnight senses this and smirks.

“We’ll talk about it.. after you all properly meet your teammate.” Midnight says, earning confused and intrigued looks from the other villains and Twivine takes that as her cue to come out so she walks around the corner and into the throne room and the villains all growl, the legion of doom getting ready to attack her.

“Seriously? Her?! On our team?!” Cozy Glow asks, irritated just as much as the others. “The fish equines I can handle-“ She says, earning glares and growls from the Dazzlings before she continues. “But you want Twilight, the same princess who’s beaten all of us up before, to help us take over Equestria?” Cozy Glow asks with a confused but angry tone and Midnight just casually nods like it isn’t a big deal and all the villains start agreeing with Cozy Glow until Midnight has had enough and she stands up out of her throne, flaring her wings, her eyes glowing as she yells.

“QUIET!!!” She screams and all the villains immediately become silent and Midnight breathes in before speaking as calmly as she could. “First of all, she is not Twilight anymore.. she is to be addressed as “Twivine” now.” She says, prompting Twivine to give a small bow which makes her chuckle. “Secondly, unlike Twilight, she is under my full control.. watch. Twivine, kneel.” She says to her.

“Of course, my queen.” Twivine says before walking to Midnight and kneeling before her and everyone looks shocked except Midnight who smirks.

“Good girl.” She says, signaling her to stand up before addressing the rest of the villains. “And finally, I will be recruiting many villains that you might be unfamiliar with so whether you like it or not, this is the best way to get enough chaos in the world to set me free. So I expect you and them to work. Together. Understood?” Midnight asks and everyone reluctantly nods. “Good.. which also reminds me, before I ask you for any new news Twivine, I want t let it be known that I will be bringing back a few villains.. well one villain and three reckless former Wonderbolts that Twilight might be familiar with.. the Washouts and the Storm King.. and it will be you who will have to find the three of them and his remains.” She says and Twivine looks shocked before smirking and nodding.

“I won’t fail you my queen.” Twivine says, slightly bowing her head.

“I hope you’re right.” Midnight says before she sits back down, crosses one leg over the other and addresses her. “Now tell us.. what’s happened to Equestria.. and how can we use it to our advantage?” Midnight asks before Twilight starts to explain and she doesn’t tell them about what happened on the way over here but she does tell them that her friends- or should she say Twilight’s friends- are starting to catch on and this does seem to annoy Midnight. “Guess they’re not as dumb as I was hoping.. Twivine, it’s about time we start your training.. and maybe ask Celestia to train you to fight better and make it seem like it was Twilight who asked her.. this should help you be stealthier and get out of situations faster in case you do get caught.” She says and Twivine nods. Midnight stands up and walks past her.

“Oh and one more thing, follow me.” Midnight says as she continues to walk and Twivine and the other villains follow her. They stop in front of a large capsule with her cutie mark on it. “These were just recently made but think of them as my way of saying.. “you’re one of us now.. welcome to the team.”” Midnight says as she uses magic to open it and there’s armor and weapons inside that’s as scary and badass as the rest of the villain’s armor and weapons. There was a green crystal attached to the chest that was shaped like her cutie mark and the armor had a mask to go with it, gold outlining the black and purple armor and weapons. Twivine looks amazed then smirks.. it felt so good to be bad.. and this is only the beginning.

In the eye of the storm

The Next Day

As the Mane 6 all walk to the meeting room where the Friendship map resided, they all notice that out of all of them, Twilight looks the most exhausted. Unknowingly to them- and to herself- she/Twivine had been out all night looking for the Washouts and she had eventually found them, getting into a fight with them before sending them to Midnight, shortly after looking for the last remainder of the Storm King's body: his skull. It was in Canterlot and she had almost found it until she felt Twilight starting to wake up and felt herself starting to lose energy and get really tired. Luckily the clone had gotten Rainbow Dash back to the castle in her stead, just in time which ended up tricking the Pegasus into thinking Twilight had gone to sleep.

“Whoa Twilight.. you alright? You look like ya didn’t get one blink of sleep last night.” Applejack points out and Twilight yawns, nods and stretches.

“I’m alright, just.. had a rough night.” Twilight says before somehow receiving the clone’s memories of her interaction with Rainbow but not Twivine’s memories. “Ummm thanks for flying with me Rainbow, it was really nice.” She says and Rainbow Dash smiles and nods before they all sit down and start eating their breakfast, made specially by Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Celestia. Applejack doesn’t take her eyes off Twilight just in case she does something else that’s unlike her. She eventually decides it best to speak up.

“Well in other business, I think it’s time the truth finally came out.” She says before looking at Twilight and her question turns everyone’s attention to her and Twilight. “What were you doing next to the mirror Twilight? Really, I wanna know.” She asks and Twilight goes wide-eyed before thinking about it only to find that.. she can’t remember anything.

“I.. I don’t remember.. I don’t even remember going to the mirror.” She says and everyone looks surprised and don’t believe her until Applejack says something that completely stuns them.

“She.. she’s telling the truth.” She says, earning an overdramatic gasp from Pinkie Pie and shocked looks from everyone else. “But.. when I asked ya' before, you were lying.. why tell the truth now?” She asks and Twilight rubs her temples to try and remember but she really doesn’t remember even responding to the question.

“I don’t remember answering your question either.. all I remember was thinking about it but then I.. I was in my room and I was confused but then I went to sleep and somehow.. I ended up out with Rainbow Dash.. I..” Twilight says as she stands up and holds her head as new memories start coming to her but they’re coming so fast she can’t even focus on any of them. She grows more and more confused until she hits her breaking point and slams her hands down on the friendship map table, cracking it and startling everyone as she yells out. “What’s going on?!”

“Twilight, it’s alright. Calm down.” Celestia says as she goes to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder but Twilight just backs away from it when she gets close.

“I can’t calm down! I keep forgetting things, my memories don’t match, everytime I’m in one place I end up in another, it’s like.. it’s like I’m in a dream.. or a nightmare more like it.” Twilight says, still holding her head, trying to deal with the migraine she now had. The rest of her friends all watch on with concerned looks and Luna stands up and walks to Twilight and her sister.

“Sister, a word please?” She asks and Celestia nods before they both walk out of the room and Twilight’s friends go to comfort her. When they’re far enough, that’s when Luna decides to address the situation. “Tia, don’t you see? This is just like last time.” Luna says, earning a confused look from Celestia.

“What are you talking about Luna?” She asks and Luna clenches her fists.

“It’s another nightmare moon situation! Can’t you sense the darkness inside Twilight?” Luna half-shouts, growing irritated. “It’s the same as when-“ she starts to say only to freeze up, shaking as the memories of all the terrible things she did as Nightmare Moon come flooding back to her and she wraps her arms around herself. “We cannot allow her to repeat my mistakes.. meaning you can’t repeat yours. Just sitting by as she slowly becomes a being made only for destruction.” Luna says and Celestia immediately flares her wings as she towers over Luna.

“Enough!” Celestia says angrily but it’s clear that her guilt still remains as she knows her little sister is right. She then sighs and turns back towards the room where everypony else is, staying silent before slightly turning her head to look at Luna. “When we’re done here, have some of your guards let Starswirl know what we’re dealing with.. and warn him that the Sirens have returned.” She says and Luna tells her that she’d already done so and Celestia nods before both of them walk back to the room.

If Luna was right and there really was a darkness with a mind of it’s own inside Twilight.. then she can’t let what happened a thousand years ago.. ever happen again.

Three hours later, In Canterlot

As Twilight laid down on a table with three magic crystals on either side of her, she was starting to feel rather nervous. It helped that Celestia said that a few familiar faces would be here soon. Her friends were already by her side, telling her not to be scared. That definitely helped but Twilight wasn’t sure why she was still nervous. Spike turns to Celestia and asks her what he’s been wondering for the past fifteen minutes. “Soooo.. what do these crystals do again? And are we sure they won’t hurt Twilight?” He asks and Celestia smiles before explaining.

“These crystals, once charged with a few specific spells, will start putting magical energy into Twilight’s body, depending on if this darkness inside her has a mind of it’s own, it should expose itself.. it shouldn’t harm Twilight as long as she stays calm.. and as long as this entity doesn’t start violently acting out.” She says and everyone looks shocked and concerned and Rainbow Dash steps up to her and asks.

“Ok ok but.. what if it does start acting violent, what happens to Twilight?” She asks and this conversation clearly wasn’t helping to ease Twilight’s nerves.

Celestia gives a nervous look. “Let’s just say the process will be.. far from comfortable.” She says and Twilight suddenly feels light headed as she reminds the room of her presence.

“I am right here, ya know.” She says and before she can say anything else, the pillars of old all walk in.. along with Cadance, Shining Armor, and an eleven year-old Flurry Heart. She smiles at them all and they smile back.

“Hello Twilight, it’s very good to see you again.” Starswirl says and everyone agrees as Twilight sits up, prompting Cadance, Shining, and Flurry to hug her.

“I just wish it was under better circumstances..” she says and Cadance puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder when she notices Twilight starting to frown. Twilight smiles and Flurry Heart hops onto the table to sit next to her and hugs Twilight, prompting her to hug back.

“You’ll be alright Twily, this’ll all be over soon.” Shining armor says and Twilight smiles and playfully rolls her eyes.

“You don’t have to talk to me like I’m still a little filly. I am 38 years old now.” She says and Shining armor chuckles and playfully punches her in the shoulder.

“Just doing my job, which is being there for my little sister.” He says and Twilight smiles more before frowning, closing her eyes, breathing in, and opening them again.

“Whatever happens.. I’ll try not to do anything.. dangerous.. I’m not sure what this.. other side of me is even fully capable of.” Twilight says and everyone looks at each other then at her, nodding. She then lays back down on the table as Flurry Heart hops down and she closes her eyes as Starswirl and Celestia walk to either side of the table and start casting the required spells on the crystals. This causes them to glow along with the table which starts sending the energy into Twilight’s body.

For a while it goes pretty well.. until Twilight starts twitching, her fur and mane colors start changing along with her cutie mark and when she suddenly opens her eyes, they’re like King Sombra’s and have purple mist coming out of them. Everyone looks shock and backs up, realization suddenly hitting Starlight as she remembers when she first saw them like that. She eventually had just taken it as her mind playing tricks on her, but now she sees that was a mistake. Twilight suddenly grabs the side of the table as she sits up and tries to fight the effect but everyone tries holding her down.

Even with all their combined strength, she’s slowly starting to overpower all of them. “Get.. off of.. me!!!” She yells in a deeper, pained voice as she squeezes the sides of the table, crushing them and damaging some of the crystals as her voice echoes. This causes everyone to cover or close their ears and Twilight- now Twivine once again- breaks free, sending everyone who was holding her down into a wall before dodging a blast from Celestia and returning one of her own which knocks her through the doors. She quickly follows and flys past Celestia as fast as she can, Rainbow Dash immediately getting up and giving chase.

She manages to tackle Twilight and pin her. “Twilight, stop! We’re trying to-“ She says but is cut off as Twilight uses her magic to blast Rainbow into the roof, moving out of the way as she falls back down. “.. help you..” Rainbow dash says, wincing in pain as she gets up but Twilight is already on the move again. She reaches her arm out, ready to chase and grab her again but before she can run, lightning shoots out of her hand and hits Twilight in the back, making her fall and slide across the ground. “Whoa..” she says as she looks at her hands, amazed.

Twivine gets up, enraged and annoyed and readies her own magic. “You’ll regret that!” She yells before firing at Rainbow who dodges at incredibly fast speeds, multicolored lightning trailing behind her. She was moving so fast that whenever she did, the world slowed to a crawl for her. She quickly charges up to Twivine and rams into her, sending her flying back. She growls in frustration until she sees that she’s right outside of where she was going anyway and she gets up, smirking at Rainbow. They have a little stand-off for a bit until Twivine taunts Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow charges at her but Twivine ducks under it, grabbing her leg at the last second and throwing her through a wall and running into the next room that contained what she had come here for: The Storm King’s remains. She starts casting the reanimation spell that Midnight taught her along with other spells that would give him incredible power. “By the will of Midnight.. you are reborn.” She says as a small storm starts to form inside the room and she can sense a storm starting outside as his eyes start to glow purple, electricity of the same color radiating off his horned crown. The stone skull starts rising off the podium it was rested on. Twivine smirks evilly until Rainbow Dash bursts through the door and blasts lightning at her but she dodges it, which allows it to hit the skull.

This causes it to explode, which sends out a powerful wave of magic that destroys part of the castle and injures a large number of ponies. When the smoke clears and Twivine gets up, she sees the damage the explosion caused and sees that the skull is destroyed. “No.. NO!!!” Twivine yells in anger before she tackles a barely recovering Rainbow Dash and pins her down. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?!” She asks as she starts strangling the downed pegasus. Rainbow tries to get Twilight to let go but since she’s an alicorn, she’s much stronger than herself, plus the added strength she gets from this other side of her.

Unknown to them, the part of the Storm King's skull that survived: his eye, was starting to glow purple and his skull was starting to reform itself and all the pieces float into the sky as storm clouds start to form around them. Twivine receives a blast of yellow magic that knocks her off of Rainbow Dash and looks to see it was Celestia who delivered it. She glares at her weaker half’s former mentor with pure hatred and anger and Celestia glares back but there’s only intimidation meant behind it. She’s about to attack until they all hear a loud, monstrous roar boom through the sky, prompting them all to look up.

When they do, two giant purple eyes made of electricity form in the clouds and stare down at the kingdom of Canterlot. Slowly the clouds start to spin and the wind picks up until a giant tornado forms.. but above it is a monster made of black stone with purple cracks going throughout it’s body. No one knew what it was.. until they saw the crown that rested on it's head. They then heard it say something that sent a pang of fear throughout the kingdom.. while Twivine just smirked and teleported her own armor and weapons to herself.

“Equestria! The Storm King is back.. and you will feel my wrath!!” He says before roaring, lightning coming from his crown and claws and blasting into the sky.. before the lightning starts striking against the kingdom, beginning it’s destruction.

Darkness falls Pt. 1

As everyone watched the Storm King cause destruction all around them, dread started to fill their hearts and guilt as the realization hit them that if they hadn’t gone through with that so-called “test” Twilight wouldn’t have caused all this. She wouldn’t have turned evil to begin with. “Well.. isn’t that nice?” She asks, turning everyone’s attention back to her. “Tell me.. how does it feel to know that you could’ve prevented all of this.. if you’d just pieced it together from the beginning?” She says with an evil look on her face. Rainbow Dash growls in frustration and Applejack, Celestia and Starlight all have guilty looks on their faces. She takes the chance to form explosive glyphs out of dark magic and send them at everypony else.

Celestia makes a shield to block it and return her own blast which Twivine dodges, giving Luna a chance to blast her out of what’s left of the castle. Twivine tumbles to a stop and glares up at them just as Rainbow Dash tackles her, taking her away from Canterlot. “Rainbow!!!” The others yell as their friends slowly disappear, getting further and further away from the kingdom.

“Rainbow Dash can handle Twilight, the rest of us have to focus on protecting Canterlot!” Flash says, prompting everyone else to nod before they split up, one half going to protect the citizens, the other going to attack the Storm King.

Twivine was super annoyed as Rainbow Dash kept flying through the mountains with her. If anything, she’s just wearing herself out. She huffs as she grabs Rainbow’s midsection, leans back, and flips their positions by kicking Rainbow in the stomach. They tumble a bit before finally stopping and Rainbow Dash immediately punches Twivine who punches back, knocking her into a boulder and stunning her.

Twivine stretches her neck, then her arms, getting ready for the coming battle. “No one here to save you this time.. it’s just you. And. Me.” Twivine says as Rainbow shakes her head and stands up. They glare at each other before Rainbow blasts lightning at her multiple times and she dodges some of the blasts and blocks the rest before rushing at her. Rainbow Dash kicks at her, prompting her to slide under it, grab her leg, stand up and throw her. After that Rainbow is put on the defensive as Twivine relentlessly attacks her.

Everytime Rainbow dodges one attack, two more catch her off guard. Then she remembers how fast she can move and starts easily dodging Twivine’s attacks, she then goes around her and harshly pushes her forward, sending her into the side of a mountain. Twivine growls in frustration and pulls her head out of where it got stuck and glowing markings start forming on her body. Rainbow notices and is almost caught off guard when Twivine jumps at her faster than before and she just barely manages to dodge it.

“Ha, gotta be faster than that if you.. wanna..” Rainbow says only for her sentence to trail off as one of Twivine’s eyes slowly go from looking straight to looking at her. “H-How?!” Rainbow asks before dodging Twivine’s next attack.

She loses her footing though and tumbles a bit and looks up just in time to see Twivine fly up and almost stomp on her but she dodges again. “Looks like whatever you can do, I can do better.” Twivine says as she continues to attack Rainbow Dash. She gets faster with each attack and Rainbow is finding it harder to dodge each one until Twivine lands a solid hit on her, sending her sliding back a bit. Twivine then takes out one of her swords and throws it at her.

Rainbow catches it but is sent spinning a bit from the strength behind the throw before she eventually flips, raises the sword causing lightning to strike it before she lands. The landing causes a shockwave of magical multicolored lightning send Twilight back through a mountain.

She looks at her hand and sees the sword but it’s in a different shape.. and completely made of multicolored lightning. Rainbow smirks as her eyes glow red and she looks towards where Twivine is before walking to her and pinning her down with her foot before she can get up. “I’ll give you one chance.. give me my friend back.” Rainbow says angrily as she holds the sword close to Twivine’s face. Twivine merely smirks before laughing.

“You don’t get it, do you? Twilight is never coming back.. you might as well just kill me now or you’ll never get the chance again.” Twivine says and Rainbow Dash growls and raises the sword with her eyes still glowing and Twivine is slightly worried that Dash might actually kill her. So she watches.. and Rainbow lowers it with a frown. Twivine smirks as the sword disappears. “I knew you couldn’t do it..” She says before knocking Rainbow Dash off her. Rainbow quickly recovers and charges up her most powerful blast.

Both of them notice that as she does this, the storm around them gets worse but Rainbow doesn’t care, even as Twivine smirks like she knows what’s causing it. Rainbow’s eyes glow once again as she gets ready to unleash the blast. “Sorry Twi, this won’t kill you but it’s sure as hell not gonna tickle either.” Rainbow says before unleashing the blast right in Twivine’s direction but.. she doesn’t move and she just lets it come her way. Right before it gets to her, a yellow and green bolt of lightning strikes between it and her. This collision causes a magical overload, before it recoils back to Rainbow.

The explosion doesn’t kill her somehow but it does injure her quite a bit, also causing a lot of damage to the area. Rainbow slowly opens her eyes and looks around to see what had caused that only to see Twivine still standing there before she looks up and Rainbow follows her gaze just in time to see a few lightning strikes in the clouds clash together to form into..

“So glad you could join the party.. Lightning Dust.” Twivine says as she addresses Rainbow Dash’s main rival.. but this wasn’t the same Lightning Dust.. the old one was green with an orange mane and tail and orange eyes and didn’t look threatening at all. This new one was terrifying with black fur, glowing yellow eyes, mane, and tail, and had sharp teeth. The armor she wore, as much as Rainbow Dash hated to admit it, was actually pretty awesome looking. Black being the dominant color with green in some parts. Enchanted gold being part of the armor, being shaped as lightning in the chest and shoulders.

“Lightning.. Dust..?!” Rainbow Dash says angrily with a weak voice as she struggles to get up.

“Miss me?” She asks, a scratchy, slightly deeper voice speaking along side her normal one before landing in front of Rainbow and Twivine just smirks. Rainbow growls and sits up a bit as Lightning Dust walks towards her. “I told you Dash.. rivals for life.” She says as Twivine steps up beside her.

“Don’t have too much fun with her, we still have a job to do.. buuut do feel free to hurt her.. a lot.” Twivine says and Lightning Dust smirks, cracking her knuckles.

“That’s the plan.” She says and Rainbow Dash blasts them both before trying to fly back to Canterlot. She makes it a good distance before Lightning Dust rams straight into her back, making her crash. From there, they continue fighting but Lightning Dust is way stronger and faster than Rainbow Dash now. Twivine smiles, meanwhile Twilight is crying out, trying to take back control and help her friend.. but Twivine is in control now and was going to be for a long time. As she flys back to Canterlot, she realizes that the closer she gets, the more she can hear singing and she immediately knows it’s from the Dazzlings.

She’s proven right when she sees them above the castle in their Siren forms. She also sees ponies and different creatures, obviously brainwashed, attacking the Pillars of old who are trying their best not to hurt anyone. Adagio suddenly swoops down and picks up Starswirl before flying around with him, dragging him around, scraping him against the ground, buildings, even the mountain.

She then throws him up into the sky before turning back into her pony form, jumping from the side of the mountain, grabbing him and slamming him all the way down. Or at least she would have if Sunset Shimmer hadn’t tackled her, giving Flash and Somnambula a chance to catch Starswirl.

Adagio kicks Sunset off her as they both fall back down to the kingdom. They tumble for a bit before slowly getting up and glaring at each other. “Adagio.. just my luck, you disappear for years and then all of a sudden we’re both back in Equestria.” Sunset says, Adagio just smirks and chuckles as they circle each other.

“I didn’t plan on finding a way back, none of us did.. but I am so glad that we are back.. I’ve been dying to feel power like this again.. so I could destroy you and Starswirl with it!” Adagio says before she charges at Sunset who charges back. Sunset slides under a kick from Adagio but as soon as she gets up and turns around, she receives a drop kick to the face from her and tumbles away from her, holding her nose. Adagio breathes in as the gem that’s attached to the armor around her neck starts to glow orange and her fur slowly turns to scales. Just as Sunset recovers, Adagio lets out a roar that sends Sunset flying along with anything or anyone else in it’s path.

Sunset is sent outside the kingdom and is now falling all the way to the bottom of the mountain. Adagio looks over the edge as Sunset disappears into the fog below and smirks. “Huh.. I kind of expected you to put up more of a fight. But Starswirl comes next.” Adagio says as she turns around and starts walking towards the battle. She sees Sonata fighting Starlight while Aria is dealing with the pillars of old. She’s about to help Aria until a blazing flame shoots up into the sky behind her and she turns around only to receive a punch from Sunset Shimmer. That punch sends her flying towards her siblings and she notices that her cheek is a little singed.

“And I expected you to know by now.. that I don’t give up.” Sunset says and Adagio has to admit that she looks a little intimidating. Her clothes were a little burned but she was completely fine, her hair was on fire as well. Her horn and eyes were both glowing red, that’s what frightened Adagio the most. She growls and is about to roar again but Sunset runs to her with fire blasting from her feet which makes her go faster. This allows her to get to Adagio, dodge her attacks and counter her before she can react.

Sonata attacks her from behind but she dodges and blasts her in the face, making her lose focus and crash. Aria tries next and Sunset just lets her tire herself out a bit before finally attacking back and not pulling any of her punches then kicking Aria to her siblings. Sunset then smirks at them all, makes a glyph that’s glowing quite a bit, expanding it then sending it at them. She’s surprised when they all seem to.. control water to make a wall that blocks the resulting explosion but when the smoke clears, they’re gone.

Sunset finally calms down and so do the flames. She looks to see Starlight and the Pillars of Old staring with shocked or amazed looks. “That was.. intense.” Starlight says and Sunset chuckles nervously and looks at herself.

“You can say that again.” She says and they both chuckle, but before they can say anything else, a portal starts opening in the sky as Celestia and Luna land by them. “What. Is. That?” Sunset asks and Celestia and Luna’s eyes go wide with terror.

“No..” Celestia says and Twivine notices and looks up only to smirk as she realizes what or who is on the other side.

“She’s here..” Twivine says and all the other villains notice too. This just causes them to start causing more chaos and destruction. Lightning Dust whistles and the two other Washouts, Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse, come out of the clouds to join the party. Twivine smirks until she feels a massive amount of pain in her head as Twilight tries to fight back. She holds her head and screams in pain as it continues to get worse and worse. Eventually it sounds like she and Twilight are screaming at the same time. Everyone notices and Starswirl, Celestia, and Starlight all try to use a containment spell on her but their focus is a bit splintered between her and everything else.

“Twilight! You have to fight it! We know you’re strong enough!” Starswirl yells and Twilight comes out for a second but the personalities keep switching between her and Twivine.

“I’m not.. I can’t..!” Twilight says in a wavering, pained voice as dark magic started coming off her and damaging the containment barrier around her.

“You can Twilight! It doesn’t matter what Midnight or anyone else throws at you! You can get through it! We can get through it! Together!” Starlight yells and Twivine and Twilight continue fighting for control over her body.

“We believe in you Twilight! And we will help you but you must escape from this! Fight her!!!” Celestia yells and Twilight and Twivine scream at the same time before Twilight stays out long enough for what she’s about to do.

“I can’t escape this..” Twilight says before she looks up at the portal and frowns before looking at everyone else. “..But I can make sure Midnight can’t either!!!” Twilight yells as her body suddenly starts to glow along with her eyes. Before anyone can stop her, she unleashes all the magical energy she had built up into a spell of her own. This causes a bright light that temporarily blinds everyone, destroys the containment spell, and knocks the villains back, also closing the portal and once again trapping Midnight.. but also allowing Twivine to take back control. She passes out and starts falling towards the ground but Lightning Dust catches her.

Just as she does, Sunset and the Pillars of old manage to take down the Storm King and the Dazzlings. This isn’t good for them, if they’re cornered, they’ll have no choice but to surrender. “It’s over! Give up and hand Twilight over to us! Now!” Celestia says with an uncharacteristically angry voice. The villains all slowly back up towards the edge, unsure of what they should do. Celestia starts counting down as she readies her magic and just as she hits zero, the temperature suddenly drops drastically and it starts snowing. This confuses everyone, including Celestia but that confusion quickly turns to shock and surprise when a wall of ice forms between the villains and everyone else.

“Fall back! All of you!” A voice says from behind the wall. Celestia and Sunset blast the wall in time to see the villains standing there with a masked figure in a sky blue, ninja-type outfit with black sleeves and pants, silver armor on her shoulders, forearms and legs. Claws were part of her armor, adding a more sinister look to her outfit. Her eyes were glowing a whitish blue as a sign that she possessed ice magic. A small blizzard starts to circle around them and Luna flys at the masked figure who had just put a hood over her head and grabs her by the arm but as soon as she does, she feels something.. familiar.

A presence she hadn’t felt for a long time.. and one she thought she’d never feel again. While she’s distracted, the figure takes the chance to strike her with a pretty fierce roundhouse kick which sends her back quite a bit and the blizzard gets worse until it clears and all the villains are gone. Celestia helps Luna up before running to the edge and looking around frantically for the villains but when she can’t find them.. so many emotions crash down on her at once.. and she lets out a scream of rage and anguish that echoes across Canterlot. They took Twilight.. and she couldn’t stop them.

“What do we do now..?” Spike asks as he holds his wounded shoulder and everyone waits for Celestia to respond.

“Twilight used all of her energy to keep us safe from Midnight, she protected us even though it cost her.. now let’s make sure her sacrifice wasn’t in vain.” Celestia says and everyone hesitantly agrees as Fluttershy comes back with a badly wounded Rainbow Dash. After a bit of talking, they all decide that they’re going to regroup, recover, and rebuild. After that, they would look for any signs that Midnight would return.. but little did they know.. they weren’t going to find anything in time.

Deep in the mountains

As the clouds started swirling in the sky, a portal just like the one in Canterlot started opening. It continued to get bigger and bigger until it finally released the very monster it was meant to contain. A black ball of dark magic lands in the center of the mountains, hard enough to shake them all and even collapse a few. The dark magic disperses and reveals an alicorn as black as night with symbols all over her body and purple glowing eyes. Purple primary feathers, the rest remaining black.

As she opened her eyes, Midnight looked around and realized that.. she could feel and breathe again. She was no longer stuck in that prison.. she was back in Equestria. She smirked as the realization hit her and she slowly stands up before yelling what she’s wanted to say for over a thousand years.

“I'm FREE!!!” She yells, laughing evilly as the sky turns black and purple lightning strikes through the clouds as her laughter echoes for miles. She then turns in the direction of Canterlot and slowly flys up into the sky as her symbols glow. “See you soon.. Celestia.”

Author's Note

Obviously when I said Flash, I meant Flash Magnus. Sorry but I can’t think of a story where I would EVER use Flash Sentry unless it was in a Twidash story. You can guess why.

Darkness falls Pt. 2

“Great.. just great! Thanks to her the plan was a failure! I knew it was a bad idea to work with her!” Cozy Glow yells with a very VERY furious tone. She was far less than pleased that all their efforts had been for nothing and now they couldn’t even talk to Midnight, they were out of plans, and Twilight could wake up at any minute. Speaking of the alicorn, she walks towards Twilight, planning to finally end this. “Let’s just kill her and be done with it!” She says before a hook-sword made of ice flys past her face just barely scratching her nose.

“You will do no such thing. Not yet anyway. Our new plan is about to start and we’ll need Twivine for it.” She says and everyone glares at her, Tirek and Chrysalis walking up to her with their magic ready.

“Says who?” Tirek asks, and just as he asks that, the entire mountain shakes and everyone struggles to keep their balance. Just as they get back up, they hear a familiar voice from the doorway behind them.

“Says me.” Midnight says as she walks into the room, everyone immediately realizing that their plan did work.

“Midnight.. y-you’re free.” Sonata says nervously as Midnight gets closer to the villains, prompting them to back up.

“Yes.. yes I am.” She says before glaring at Cozy, Tirek, and Chrysalis. “And I don’t appreciate your efforts to ignore. My. Orders. Not to mention kill my best asset!” She yells and Cozy Glow hides behind Tirek when she does. She turns to the masked pony. “But I appreciate your loyalty Frostbite.” She says, prompting her to nod. Then Cozy speaks up.

“Ummm.. n-no disrespect but your 'best asset' is the reason the plan almost failed.” Cozy Glow says and Midnight stays silent for a few seconds, causing her to become more tense until she sighs and speaks.

“I know, I know.. seems Twilight is stronger than I thought.. and harder to get rid of.. but no matter. After that, she won’t have any strength left to break free or mess up our plans anymore.” Midnight says as she walks to the aforementioned alicorn, kneels down in front of her, places her hand on her forehead and begins to work her magic. All it takes is a few seconds of this, a healing spell, aaaand..

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shouts as she jumps awake. That turns out to be a mistake as she feels a massive amount of pain surge through her body and she immediately falls back down. She groans in pain but opens her eyes to look around. She quickly realizes she’s in a hospital and she looks at herself, seeing bandages are covering most of her wounds but some of the bruises and burns are still visible. The memories of the fight from the other day come rushing back to her and she sighs when she remembers that Twilight was taken. “I’m sorry Twi..” Rainbow says with a guilty voice and a frown.

She sits up, wincing in pain the whole time but just as she does, Pinkie Pie bursts through the door and tackles her in a hug, squeezing her already damaged body. “Ow ow ow ow ow! Pinkie, ease up!” Rainbow says and Pinkie immediately realizes what she’s doing and lessens the force behind the hug and Rainbow sighs in relief as she doesn’t feel like she’s about to explode anymore. The rest of her friends walk in and she smiles.

“Wow.. You got pretty roughed up, huh?” Applejack asks and Rainbow Dash chuckles and fist bumps her before noticing her injuries and smirking.

“Doesn’t look like you did much better AJ.” She says and Rarity huffs, smirking at Applejack, causing her to roll her eyes.

“I told ya, I’m fine Rare.” Applejack says and Rarity crosses her arms, glaring at her and she sighs. “Ok ok, I was a bit on the rough side-“ she tries to admit but Rarity cuts her off, adding to what she was about to say.

“And you still are.” She says and Fluttershy giggles before wincing and holding her side. Pinkie notices and frowns.

“So all of us are hurt huh?” Rainbow says before noticing that Pinkie seems to be fine. “Well most of us.” She says and Fluttershy puts her hands on her hips and gives Pinkie a stern look. Pinkie giggles nervously.

“Actually all of us.” Pinkie says before walking around and they notice that she’s limping a little bit. Spike frowns.

“Wow.. how did we lose so badly?” He asks and Rainbow slowly stands up and sighs.

“It happened so fast.. we were caught off guard.” She says as she slowly recovers from the pain. “But now that we know what they’re trying to do, we can stop them now.. and I’ll be honest, I can’t wait to get my hands on Lightning Dust for the rematch.”

“I just can’t believe she’d team up with those monsters just to get back at you.” Rarity says and everypony agrees. Fluttershy then gets an idea.

“Maybe she doesn’t know that she’s helping to destroy the world?” She suggests, prompting Rainbow to mumble under her breath.

“Or care.” She mumbles and before Fluttershy can say anything in response, Starlight and Sunset walk in and they look conflicted. “Uhhh are you two ok?” Rainbow asks and they look at each other then back at the group.

“We have good news.. aaand bad news.” Starlight says and Sunset continues for her.

“Which one do you wanna hear first?” She asks and after thinking about it, they decide that they wanna hear the good news first. “So the good news is that there aren’t any signs of Midnight’s return yet as far as we can tell.” She says and they all look happy and celebrate for a bit before Starlight kills the mood by reminding them of the bad news.

“But the bad news is that we still don’t have a way to track them.. or Twilight.” Starlight says and they all stop cheering and frown. “Ummm.. but at least she did it. She saved us.” Starlight says and they smile a bit but not much. Starlight sighs and urges them all to follow her and they do. They needed to talk with Celestia and Luna to see if they could help. Hopefully they could but if not.. what would they do then..?

As Luna sat in front of the stained glass window that represented the cutie mark of a long lost friend.. she felt cold.. she felt lonely. Having nothing to do but sit in here with the joyful yet painful memories of a time long ago.. a time before she became Nightmare Moon. The young filly she had called her friend had been nothing but supportive of her.. she had been the first pony besides Celestia that she had formed a real bond with and one that could never be broken.. at least that’s what she thought.. a few days before her transformation, Luna had talked to her about what she was feeling towards Celestia, the resentment she had for her.

Flashback, a thousand years ago

“It’s not fair! I just.. I just don’t understand why she gets so much love and attention.. what. About. ME?!?!” Luna yells as she slams her fists down as hard as she can which collapses the table that she was sitting at. She takes a few seconds to breathe and calm down until her friend, now a teenager instead of a filly, places a gentle hand on her shoulder. It’s always amazed Luna how her friend could easily find her even though she was blind.. must’ve been her enraged breathing. Luna smiles and her friends smiles back. “I’m sorry that I’m rambling.. It’s just.. I’ve always wanted to be like my sister but lately.. I’ve wanted to be better. I can be better. I will. Be. Better.”

These words slightly scare her friend but she pulls Luna into a hug, causing her to freeze up.. before slowly returning it. “You’re trying too hard to be better than Celestia.. but she’s your sister, you two shouldn’t be competing.. you should work together.. Equestria needs both the sun and the moon. And there are ponies who stay up to enjoy the night in all it’s glory.. but it doesn’t mean they don’t love you Luna..” she says and Luna thinks about it before she continues. “You shouldn’t need ponies to love winter and the night for them to love you.. and even if they don’t..I always will.”

That hits Luna right in the heart and she frowns and starts to cry before hugging her friend as tightly as she could, getting a hug in return. They sit there for a bit before finally switching to talking about something less depressing.

Present day

Luna opens her eyes with a smile and a tear rolling down her cheek. That was a good memory.. but it also brought a lot of pain because of how dark a place Luna was in.. and because after that night.. she never saw her friend again. Her friend had gone missing the next day, even her mother hadn’t heard from her at all. After that.. Luna tried to hold out hope that nothing bad had happened to her.. but eventually.. she cracked. That realization that she was gone was enough for her to finally make the decision to try to overthrow Celestia.

After her return from the moon, and her defeat as Nightmare Moon, she had come to realize that since a thousand years had passed, her friend was surely long dead. Her biggest regret.. was that she never got to say goodbye.. but thanks to her friend and the words she had said to her, she had fixed her relationship with Celestia.. and herself.

“Thank you.. for everything..” Luna says as she places a hand on the stained glass window, struggling to control herself but when she says the name of her friend, she can’t help but break into a fit of tears. “..Snowdrop..”

It had been years since she’d heard or said the name.. too afraid of the pain that would come with it.. but it was actually kind of.. therapeutic for her. She wanted to remember Snowdrop, she wanted the world to remember her and what she had done for them. She had given them something unique to love about winter.. and she had given Luna something that not even her own sister could.. a friend.

Hours later, Somewhere in Equestria

As the storm raged outside the airship, the innocent ponies aboard were a little tense because of it as it had appeared out of nowhere. Something was different about this storm.. as if it was being caused by magic. As one of the little kids looked outside the window to count the lightning strikes, she saw something.. unexpected. “Mommy! Look! An alicorn!” She calls to her mother who comes over to the window a bit excitedly.

When she sees the alicorn, she can’t see her very well but she can see a flowing and glowing red mane and tail. She has red eyes and some of her feathers are red. “Huh.. that doesn’t look like one of the princesses.” She says before noticing the alicorn looking at them. This sets her on edge a bit more but when the alicorn's horn starts glowing red, the realization hits her like a train. “Sweetie, get back-!” She tries to yell and move her daughter but it’s too late. As the magic hits the airship, it kills them and a bunch of ponies by them before slicing it in half, causing it to go down. The alicorn stops and watches it crash with an evil smile on her face.

“Not bad Astelle.. but you’ve done better.” Midnight says from behind her and she turns to face her old friend. She chuckles and flys a bit closer.

“Nice to see you too Midnight. So.. what’s first on our list of things to destroy.. well besides what I just destroyed.” She asks and Midnight chuckles evilly before looking in the direction of Canterlot.

“I have a few ideas.. so let’s just say you’ll be seeing your little sisters again very soon.” Midnight says and Astelle smirks more as her eyes, horn, mane, and tail glow brighter.

“Good..” She says before they both fly back to the tomb. They would have their revenge very soon.. both on the princesses.. and the rest of Equestria.

Author's Note

Hellooo hope you enjoyed this, I was a little sick while making it so forgive me for taking this long.

Darkness falls Pt. 4

Inside the tomb of Alicorns

As Midnight paced in front of her newly formed legion, she couldn’t help but think of all she could accomplish now. The kingdoms she could conquer. The armies she could defeat. She actually had a smile on her face as she thought about it. She was so close to getting her revenge on Celestia, Luna, and their pathetic “little ponies”. By the time she was done, all of Equestria would be completely bent to her will or reduced to atoms. Either way, she would be victorious. Anyone could see she was excited, very excited, but she didn’t care. How could she not be? She was finally about to achieve and gain everything she’s ever wanted. The best part? Once they were done, nobody would ever be able to stop them.

“With all due respect, could you stop pacing? We’re all excited.” Aria asks and surprisingly, Midnight does stop pacing.

She sighs and turns to her. “You’re.. right.” She says, surprising everyone, especially Astelle. She had never heard Midnight admit that someone else was right, not even her. But since she was in a good mood, it made sense. Midnight breathes in and out before looking around at her new army. “It’s time.. tonight is the night we take what belongs to us.. but there is only ONE warning I will give you.. Leave. Celestia. And Luna. To ME.” She says before noticing Astelle crossing her arms and glaring at her. She sighs in frustration then corrects herself. “I mean US.” She says, earning a smile from Astelle.

“Now, let’s go over the plan again. Cozy, Sombra, and Chrysalis will handle Flurry Heart, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Starlight. Storm King, and the Dazzlings, you all will handle the pillars of old and any backup that will be heading towards Canterlot. The Deathbolts will assist you.” She says and both teams nod. She then turns to the others. “Tirek, Frostbite, and Twivine. You will handle the Mane 6 and their little dragon friend.. I’ll even get an old friend of mine to help you.” She says, earning confused glances from them. She smirks and whistles loudly.

For a full minute, nothing happens.. until they all hear a roar and a giant black dragon with purple markings lands inside the tomb. She walks up to it and it lowers its head to her level and she pets it. “Nice to see you again boy.. seems you’ve gotten pretty slow while I’ve been away Huh?” She asks and the dragon gives a growl. “Oh hush you, I’m being honest. You’ve done better.” She says before turning to her army who is amazed at the giant, muscular, armored, evil looking dragon who growls at all of them until she shushes him.

“So.. who’s ready for some payback?” She asks and they all look at each other then smirk and she can’t help but smirk.. chuckling evilly. She then uses alicorn empathy to communicate with her soon-to-be dead rival.

“See you soon..”

“Celestia..”

As the familiar voice sounded off in her head, Celestia couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. Midnight was coming and who knows when she’ll be here. What she did know was that if they weren’t prepared when she got here, they were done for. She sits down and sighs, holding her head and shaking it slowly.

She’s hated Midnight for a long time.. yet she still doesn’t have the guts to kill her.. and she doesn’t know why. Midnight turned Astelle against her and Luna, forced her to kill their own parents, tormented them for years, was the reason Luna became Nightmare Moon in the first place.. and now she’s taken her faithful student.. and she still wasn’t done with her. “Why.. why can’t I do it? Why can’t I just.. end her life?!” Celestia asks, slamming her fist down next to her, damaging the spot where she was sitting.

“Maybe you just need assistance sister.. you don’t have to face her alone.. if there’s one thing you taught me, it is that we’re stronger together than alone.” Luna says and Celestia looks up at her and nods before standing up.

“I think Snowdrop would be proud of how much you’ve grown.. I know I am.” She says and Luna smiles before embracing her sister in a hug. “I love you LuLu..” Celestia says with a smile and Luna freezes up before smiling more and looking up at her.

“I love you too Tia.” She says and they both sit there for a bit before walking outside, Celestia informing Luna that Midnight is on her way. Luna reveals that she already knows and that she’s already prepared everyone and evacuated the citizens with help from Twilight’s friends. Celestia nods and they both walk outside. It’s just them, Sunset, Starlight, Trixie, Tempest, The pillars of old, the royal guard, and the remainder of the mane 6. Oh, and Spike. There were also warriors from the other kingdoms. Dragons, led by Ember. Changelings, led by Thorax and Pharynx. Yaks, led by Prince Rutherford. Hippogriffs, led by Queen Novo. Even Griffons, who weren’t really led by anyone.. unless you count Gilda.

Rainbow Dash had requested it since with only her and 5 other Wonderbolts, it would be impossible to defend the skies. Especially if the Storm King was with them, which he most likely would be. And apparently when the magic had spread from the Mane 6's return, Gilda, just like almost every other creature in Equestria, had gotten special powers. Other than all that, everyone had armor on, ready to fight. Win or lose, they were ready for anything.. except for when they heard a noise and someone went to see what caused it, coming back with the cutie mark crusaders, the young 6 and Flurry Heart, who were definitely not supposed to be there.

After getting scolded, they all work together to finally explain themselves, stating that they refuse to leave since they didn’t want anyone else to get hurt, they didn’t care what it takes. They then show off their own powers and everyone is shocked.

Sandbar can project a green, transparent Timberwolf and have it fight with him. Kinda like Applejack's giant orange Ursa that she made during training.

Gallus can generate lightning and use it for combat and other purposes.

Smolder can turn way bigger to the point where she can be mistaken for an adult. She can also control fire whether she’s made it herself or whether there’s fire around her.

Ocellus can mimic the abilities of anyone close to her.

Silverstream can control water and even freeze it.

And last but not least, Yona, aside from being way stronger, had ice magic like a lot of the yaks now.

The cutie mark crusaders, as expected, had the same powers as their sisters, if only a little different. Just as everypony is about to send them back, they all hear a horn sound off that meant there was danger nearby. Everyone immediately goes on alert and gets ready for a fight. They hear another sound and see something in the distance. It turns out to be some sort of ball of dark magic heading towards Canterlot. Celestia takes the initiative and blasts it out of the sky, not waiting for it to hit them. As more come, the long distance fighters start destroying them before they can hit. This only works for so long before some of them start to hit Canterlot.

Soon it is revealed what was shooting at them as a giant airship emerges from the dark clouds that were heading towards Canterlot. Everyone is shocked and terrified, including Celestia and Luna. “That’s new.. she didn’t have one of those before right?” Luna asks and Celestia shakes her head. “Damnit..” Luna says as the ship gets closer. Everyone starts firing at it but it hardly takes any damage unless they hit a weak spot. Celestia is the first one to do so. Eventually more flying objects emerge from the clouds but as they get closer.. everyone recognizes them as armored pegasi.

That’s when all the Wonderbolts, Griffons, Dragons, and Hippogriffs take flight to face them head on. Suddenly the Dazzlings swoop down from above and attack the pillars of old and Sunset Shimmer. All the villains soon join them and stick to the plan, each team doing their part, fighting who they’re supposed to. Strangely, there’s no sign of Midnight OR Astelle, but Celestia and Luna knew Midnight couldn’t be far, they didn’t yet know Astelle was back. Not yet anyway.. but they would find out soon enough..

As Midnight watched the destruction below from atop her brand new airship, she couldn’t help but smile. This was all happening because of her.. and she took great pride in knowing that.

“You’re a monster..” A voice says to her.. one she recognizes.. she hears it almost every day either crying or throwing insults at her. She turns away from the edge and walks forward a bit.

“Nice to hear your voice again.. you’ve been quiet as of late.. Solaris..” Midnight says, venomous hatred present in her voice as she says the name. As she says this, she looks at the shiny gauntlet of her armor, looking at her reflection and seeing Solaris’s face instead. “Like what I’m doing to the place?” Midnight asks and Solaris just growls with obvious hatred.

“You are just.. pure evil.. you don’t have to do any of this. You didn’t have to do any of the hideous deeds that you did.. but you choose to! WHY?!” Solaris asks and Midnight shakes her head and sighs as if she’s disappointed.

“You still don’t understand.. huh? Well.. allow me to say what I’ve been saying in a language you can understand.. I’m doing this.. because of you..” Midnight says and she can sense Solaris’s confusion, so she continues.

“Remember the first day we met..? I told you I wanted to be free to do everything that you couldn’t.. I should’ve said 'wouldn’t'. See, ever since that first day when you unleashed your anger and killed that filly.. what I’m doing now.. what I’ve been doing.. you’ve wanted to do it ever since that day but didn’t know it.”

“No.. you’re wrong.. you’re lying!” Solaris yells in denial, much to Midnight’s amusement.

“Am I? Think about it. Had your parents not sent you to that school, none of this would’ve happened.. but they did and look what happened. You killed a filly just because she took a stupid crush from you and wouldn’t leave you alone.”

“Shut up!”

“You killed the teachers and kids who saw but didn’t do anything because you were angry at them too.”

“Stop it!”

“Then dear old mom died and so did your big sister. All those ponies who were happy about it, all those ponies who cheered against you and your family, you wanted them to suffer the same fate as that bully.”

“I’m warning you Midnight!”

“Those ponies who broke into your house and tried to kill you and your entire family, you wanted to kill them, you did kill them.. and maaany other ponies after them.”

“No.. NO, you did all that!!!”

“We did all that.. just like we killed your precious family and left you alone.. why am I doing this, you ask? I’m doing this. Because. Of you! All of this! Is because of you! Your anger! Your rage! Your hatred!! You created me Solaris!!! And in doing so, you have brought forth the end of Equestria!! The end of peace! Unity! And Equality!!!”

“NOOOO!!!” Solaris yells in agony, sadness, and guilt as the realization hits her that this.. is all her fault. All she had to do was keep her emotions in check yet she couldn’t even manage that.. and now Equestria was doomed because of her.

Little did she know.. all these feelings of guilt, anger, and sadness.. they were just making Midnight even stronger.. and that.. would be Equestria’s downfall.

Darkness falls Pt. 5

As the fighting carried on, no one could shake the feeling that this was only the beginning.. like the villains weren’t going all out. They were.. holding back. And what was even more unsettling was that Midnight had not joined the battle yet. They couldn’t focus on that as they continue fighting. As Rainbow Dash battles the Washouts, with some difficulty, she goes to help her friends fight Twivine. After a while, she realizes that.. she’s the only one really using her powers. They were never gonna win if that was the case.

“What are you guys doing?! Don’t let me do all the work, use your powers!” She says and they hesitate until Twivine jumps at Fluttershy, causing her to scream in fear as she jumps and closes her eyes. That scream however, sends Twivine flying through buildings. Everyone looks at her shocked, especially Twivine. They then reluctantly decide to all use their powers to defeat their friend-turned-enemy. When Twivine charges at them, Rarity makes an ice wall in front of her, making her crash through it and tumble forward. She quickly recovers though and tries to attack them both but Pinkie and Applejack both kick her from both sides at the same time, crushing her from the sheer force behind the kicks.

She falls to her knees before being wrapped in plants tightly but not too tightly and she looks to see Fluttershy's hands and eyes glowing green. She quickly breaks out, only to be blasted by multicolored lightning. Rainbow Dash smirks and looks at her friends. “See? That was way too easy.” Rainbow says but before the others can agree- or realize where she went wrong saying that, black crystals form between them all as Twivine suddenly gets up and slams her fists down, both of them glowing red and orange, causing the crystals to glow the same color before exploding, stunning all her friends. Just as they all get up, she picks up Fluttershy in magic and throws her into Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack try to attack her and she flashes her horn but they still hit her, making her fall. They both smirk.. until it turns out to be Pinkie Pie after the illusion disappears. This confuses Applejack and she looks at the Pinkie Pie standing across from her, only for that illusion to fade as well, revealing Twivine who immediately blasts Applejack with dark magic. She then looks around at her defeated friends.. and she didn’t even need Tirek OR Frostbite’s help. They both notice this and are a bit annoyed but Frostbite uses the telepathy spell that allows all the villains to communicate and tells Midnight that Twivine has it handled.

“Good, well Tirek, you go help take care of the young ones. Frostbite.. get Celestia and Luna ready for me and Astelle.” Midnight says and Frostbite immediately agrees as she spots them. She didn’t know how well she would do against them on her own, but she had her orders. Time to fulfill them..

As Celestia and Luna continued defending their former kingdom from destruction, they also tried their best to keep their guard up in case Midnight or anyone else decided to sneak attack them. They both sense a presence behind them at the same time, getting closer with every second and they sensed a powerful attack coming so they dodge in opposite directions before returning their own attacks. Their attacker absorbs them with a magical ice ball that is then slammed into the ground, causing a cloud of ice and snow to spread everywhere.

Both of the royal sisters, now separated, try to navigate their way back to each other. “Sister? Sister! Where are you?!” Luna calls, getting no response. She groans in frustration and is about to use her magic to try and clear the snow. Before she can though, she gets tackled by their attacker who tries stabbing her as she drags her across the ground. Luna blocks it though and kicks the pony away. Despite being half as big as Luna, this pony was incredibly strong to be able to drag her like that with one hand. She gets up and readies her magic in case of another attack from her assailant.

She feels a sharp pain in her leg and one of her wings, making her fall to one knee. She feels more pain come from her shoulder and her side and that time she could’ve sworn she saw something. So not only was this pony strong, she was fast and smart too. And incredibly skilled. Luna figured that out when she blocks and counters one of the attacks, picking the pony up by the throat, only to have her stomach slashed, allowing the pony to wrap her legs around Luna’s arm, slip free of her grasp and use a maneuver to throw Luna over herself using her arms and her wings to balance herself.

It was such a smooth maneuver that Luna is utterly shocked when the pony is already attacking her again. She quickly dodges, blocks, then attacks. The pony dodges, expecting that but what she wasn’t expecting was for Luna to have planned something for that dodge. So when she stabs at Luna with her ice dagger and Luna teleports behind it, grabbing her arm, she is very surprised. Luna swings her around before letting her go which causes her to spin uncontrollably which she uses to her advantage by preparing herself then jumping into the air and sticking the landing. Luna surprises her yet again though by delivering a sharp roundhouse kick to the side of her face which stuns her and sends her tumbling away.

Luna then uses her magic to clear the cloud of snow, easily finding her sister who wasn’t very far from them. Celestia sighs in relief and lands by her sister, glad she’s alright.. although she does have some visible wounds from her fight with Frostbite. She frowns at them and Luna rolls her eyes, her wounds healing themselves, letting her sister know she was fine. They both hear a pained, familiar echoing voice from behind them.. but what it says shocks Luna most of all.

“Luna..” Frostbite says and Luna feels her blood run cold as she slowly turns to face the pony who, until now, was just trying to kill them. That voice was so.. familiar but at the same time not.. but when Frostbite turns to face them and half her mask is broken, Luna sees half the face of a pony she never thought she would see or hear from again. “Luna..” She says again, and Luna can’t help but respond back this time with a shaky voice.

“S-Sn.. Snowdrop..”

Hearing that name, Celestia looks shocked, looking back at Frostbite.. seeing that it truly is.. or was Snowdrop..

When she takes off her mask, or what’s left of it, that confirms it. It was Snowdrop.. only she didn’t look like she had aged since that day. She was still a young adult but.. she looked so.. dead inside. Her eyes were empty but they were glowing a whitish blue and the outfit she had on.. this couldn’t be her. This had to be one of Midnight’s tricks. The Snowdrop they knew would never be capable of doing something as terrible as even thinking of helping Midnight of all creatures.

“No.. no Luna, it may look like her but it’s not.. the Snowdrop we knew is gone.” Celestia says but Luna wasn’t having that so she just moves a bit closer to her.

“Don’t.. don’t you remember me..? I’m your friend..” She says but Frostbite.. Snowdrop doesn’t answer. She just continues to glare at Luna as she gets closer. “It’s me, Snowdrop.. Luna.. I finally fixed things with my sister.. like you hoped..” Luna says, continuing to get closer.

“Snowdrop.. is gone.” She says, slowly standing up while glaring at Luna. “Frostbite lives to serve Midnight.” She says before bowing, which confuses the former royal sisters.. until they sense a presence behind her and get knocked into the air then dropped down on by a ball of dark magic that slams them through the roof of the castle. They both quickly recover and get up in time to see the ball disappear, revealing Midnight.. and Astelle. They are both shocked to see their former sister again.. but also much less than pleased.

“Well isn’t this a lovely little reunion.” Astelle says as she and Midnight both ready their weapons and magic, prompting Celestia and Luna to do the same. “Nice to see you again little sisters.. did ya miss me?” She asks mockingly, earning unamused glares from Celestia and Luna. “Awwww you did.. well no need to worry anymore.” Astelle says before walking forward a bit, smirking as her eyes glow red and her pupils turn to slits.

“Big sis is home..”

Author's Note

Oh, before I forget, Snowdrop and Astelle are both from a fan made video and Astelle is from a fan made story.

Darkness falls Pt. 6

As Starlight and Spike ran through the kingdom, avoiding incoming fire and explosions and guiding the young ones to safety, they were trying their best to also defend themselves and the kingdom wherever they could. It wasn’t enough though, Canterlot was going to fall unless they could come up with something, and fast. When they see a tunnel, they’re hesitant to go through it but they know it’ll lead them back down to the school as a shortcut. “We have to go through.. there?” Ocellus asks in a scared tone.

Starlight, seeing the fear coming from her students, tries to think of another way to get them out safely. She could try teleporting them but this fight was putting a severe amount of strain on her magic due to a surprise attack from Chrysalis and Tirek. Speaking of the evil duo, Chrysalis lands behind them all, smirking evilly, specifically at Starlight. She may have been smirking, but the hatred behind it was clear as day. Starlight just glares at her while talking to Spike and her students.

“Looks like you don’t have a choice.. go, all of you, I’ll hold her off until you’re safe.” Starlight says, much to everyone’s shock.

“What?! No! We’re not leaving you!” Smolder says but Starlight wasn’t having it. When Chrysalis charges at them, she puts a shield around them all, struggling to keep it up.

“You have to! ..It’s me she’s after.. and I refuse to let any of you get hurt because of me..! Spike, when I say go, you take them into that tunnel and get them as far away as possible!” She says and Spike hesitates but then nods. After a few more seconds, when she sees an opening, Starlight drops the shield and blasts Chrysalis. “Go!!” Starlight yells and that’s when Spike takes the students and the crusaders into the tunnel.

“She’ll be ok.. right?” Silverstream asks Spike, but he’s not so sure. So Sandbar answers for him.

“Of course she will, she’s strong. She wants us to be safe so the least we can do is try to stay in one piece.” He says and Spike agrees. Before they can say anything else, a giant dragon bursts into the tunnel and roars at them. Smolder transforms just as it breathes fire at them and she uses her body and wings to cover the others, protecting them from the fire.

It hurts like hell though and she can’t help but growl in pain. “Smolder!!” Ocellus yells with a worried tone.

“Don’t worry! She can handle it!” Gallus yells before trying to get an opening to blast electricity at the dragon. More fire comes towards them though and he just barely gets back to cover. Some of his feathers are singed but there was no major damage. Smolder is experiencing more and more pain with every wave of fire coming from the gigantic dragon and it doesn’t seem like it’s gonna give up until they’re burnt to a crisp or crushed under rubble.

Just when the dragon is about to send another wave of fire at them, an ice glyph suddenly hits it, freezing its mouth and sending it back outside. The tunnel then freezes, keeping it from collapsing any further. This confuses everyone and they look to see two familiar faces and sigh in relief.

“Man are we glad to see you two..”Spike says and the others share his relief until one of the ponies ask them something.

“Where’s Starlight?”

Starlight was quickly getting worn out but she would press on, she will keep Chrysalis distracted until the children were safe from danger. She quickly dodges a downward strike from Chrysalis's new sword that greatly resembled her own horn then blocks it with a shield that easily breaks due to the severe drainage of magic that still somehow affected Starlight. Whatever Chrysalis and Tirek had done to her, she hopes it wasn’t permanent.

“You look tired, Starlight Glimmer. You should probably just lie down and be destroyed.” Chrysalis says, much to Starlight's annoyance.

“Not tired..” Starlight says before dodging another attack. “Just tired of your shit..” She continues before dodging again, charging up to Chrysalis, grabbing her, and headbutting her as hard as she can, knocking her back a bit. She then runs, jumps, and kicks her in the chest, jumping up and over her and using magic lassos to hold her in place. This angers Chrysalis to no end and she breaks one hand free before grabbing the lassos, swinging Starlight around and slamming her through the wall of one of the buildings.

“And so.. it ends.” Chrysalis says as she walks up to Starlight who’s trying to get up. She stomps on her chest to keep her down and holds her sword towards her face. “This is for everything that you stole from me. My hive, my kingdom.. you’ll answer for all of it!” Chrysalis says and Starlight glares up at her with no fear at all.

“You did all that.. to yourself! I offered you a chance to be good! To.. to share love instead of taking it from others! If you had accepted it.. maybe you’d still have everything.. that you gave up.. that you 'stole' from yourself!” Starlight says and Chrysalis is.. shocked. But that shock quickly turns to rage and hatred as she yells in anger, raises her sword and sends it racing towards Starlight's heart.

Right before it even leaves a scratch on her, a glyph forms in front of Starlight’s chest, blocking the blade and also freezing it along with Chrysalis’s arms. Chrysalis growls in anger before getting blasted through the next building. Starlight looks to see it was non other than Trixie and Tempest aka Fizzlepop who saved her. “Looks like we made it just in time.” Tempest says as she and Trixie help Starlight up and Trixie uses a recently learned healing spell on her.

“Bet you’re glad you called in some 'Great and Powerful' help, huh?” Trixie asks with a smirk on her face, prompting Starlight to roll her eyes with a smile.

“Took you long enough, don’t ya think?” She asks and before Trixie can respond, Starlight’s horn and eyes suddenly glow and she feels much.. stronger. “Whoa.. I don’t know why but I feel.. a lot better.” She says and before any of them can question it, they’re reminded of the current battle when Chrysalis and the Storm King, who made himself a bit smaller, turn their attention to them.

“Tempest..” He says as he notices his former top general who was the reason he died in the first place.. now he would have his revenge. He blasts electricity at them all and they quickly split up and return their own attacks. One way or another, they weren’t giving up without a fight.

This fight was taking a major toll on both Celestia and Luna, physically and mentally. Throughout the whole battle, Midnight and Astelle had been throwing everything they had at them whether it be verbal or physical. They weren’t sure what hurt more, the words coming from the evil duo or the blows they landed from their attacks. They had tried to stay together to avoid a repeat of their last battle but even with that, it wasn’t helping much.

Celestia dodges an attack from Midnight and blocks one from Astelle and Luna jumps over her sends a very powerful wave of magic at them, sending them both through the wall behind them. They quickly give chase only for Midnight to tackle Celestia and Astelle to land on Luna, pinning her down. Celestia is dragged up into the sky and slammed onto a part of the roof of the castle. Celestia quickly recovers and dodges a barrage of blasts from Midnight and blocks the rest that follow. She then flys around some shadow tendrils coming from her and slashes her with her scepter. Midnight is knocked back a bit as she holds her stomach which now has a scratch on it.

She removes her hand, seeing it stained with her own blood. Surprisingly though, Midnight doesn’t seem angry, just a bit annoyed. “Ya know.. pain isn’t as bad as I remember. Guess that’s to be expected after not feeling this much of it for so long.” Midnight says before she attacks Celestia again but these next attacks make Celestia realize something..

Midnight was holding back the entire time..

When Celestia thought she was prepared to block the first attack, Midnight flew past her and attacked her from behind. “Don’t you remember why that was the case anyway Celestia?” Midnight asks and Celestia tries recovering faster but Midnight is already attacking her before she can go on the defensive. With every attack that Midnight delivers, a piece of Celestia’s armor gets knocked off, she receives a new injury, and her weapon gets closer to breaking whenever she manages to block. On one last strike, Celestia manages to block it.. but her weapon finally breaks in the process and Midnight wastes no time in grabbing her, flying around and dragging and slamming her along the sides or through buildings.

“It’s because of how much of a hypocrite you are! You criticize me for how much pain and suffering I’ve caused and am causing.. when you gave me and your sister a fate worse than death!” Midnight yells before flying high into the sky, dropping Celestia, and then diving down into her and punching her. She brings her all the way down through the castle’s roof and to the bottom floor, the magic packed into the punch causing the castle to explode. “And now it’s time.. for you to suffer the same fate.. goodbye.. my oldest enemy.” Midnight says as she smirks evilly at her fallen rival.

“Celestia!!!” Everyone hears Luna yell through the smoke and they don’t see what happens afterwards. After a few minutes, a solar eclipse occurs in the sky and fire and dark magic shoot up into the sky. From that, both Celestia and Luna’s evil alter ego’s emerge.. Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon. Midnight and Astelle come out not long after but Astelle is holding an unconscious Luna. This confuses everyone and Midnight gives all the villains a look that says she’ll explain later. Twivine notices that Celestia is nowhere to be seen. She looks at Daybreaker and steps up to Midnight.

“With all due respect.. what happened to Celestia?” Twivine asks and Midnight smirks and holds up Celestia’s crown.. before dropping it, causing it to break on impact and everyone is shocked and devastated except the villains.. Twilight is so distraught that she now feels nothing.. but hatred for the monster who caused all this.. anger at herself for not being strong enough to fight back against her, against Twivine, against any of this.. and sadness at the fact that her former mentor and friend.. was gone.

“Kill whoever you wish.”Midnight says to the villains as she gestures to the injured, so-called “heroes.” The villains all smirk and immediately start attacking them again but Twivine just stands there.. watching all the carnage and destruction that’s going on around her. Suddenly Discord appears and knocks the villains back, looking really pissed off.

“Alright alright! Enough is enough!” He says and Midnight rolls her eyes as she walks forward a bit.

“Ah.. the other pretender god.” She says and Discord growls in annoyance.

“If you don’t mind, I will be ending this now.” Discord says but before he can even snap, Midnight blasts him with magic that then surrounds him and starts crushing him. The part that surprises him is that he can’t escape.. and this is actually hurting him.. “How.. is this.. possible.?!” He asks and Midnight chuckles.

“Because I am the impossible.. as I told your ex.. I.. am chaos and destruction.. I.. am.. eternal.” Midnight says as she then aims at the others, preparing to destroy them. Twilight sees this and comes out for a second and considers the consequences of her actions but then she remembers that when it came to those she cares about.. she would turn Equestria upside down for them.. and not give a damn about the consequences on her part. She closes her eyes, focuses her magic.. and teleports everyone to safety, hoping none of the villains would notice that it was her.

Midnight yells in anger and Twilight gives control back to Twivine just as Midnight turns to them all. Midnight just stares for a second before breathing in and out. “Nevermind them, they’re too weak to stop us.. we’ve won!” Midnight says before she slowly raises her hands which were glowing along with her horn and the magic starts rebuilding the damaged parts of the kingdom in her image. The villains all spread out to enjoy their new kingdom but Twivine stops as Twilight takes back control and looks at herself.

“I need to fix this.. any way I can..” She says before walking to Celestia's broken crown and picking up sadly. “I’m so sorry Celestia.. I won’t let you down.. I promise.”

The monster inside

Two days since the battle

As Applejack and Rarity snuck away from Ponyville through the Everfree forest, they couldn’t help but be a bit on edge. Ever since the battle at Canterlot, Midnight and her lackeys had been after them and her army had been growing quite a bit. All sorts of creatures were a part of it now, creatures from here, from other dimensions, creatures made by dark magic, etc. Not to mention she now had four former princesses on her side: Astelle, Daybreaker, Nightmare Moon, and.. Twilight.. and still no one knew what had happened to Celestia.

“I’m just sayin' it don’t make a lick of sense. Nightmare Moon shows up and Luna's still.. herself. That fire princess comes out of nowhere and Celestia's nowhere to be found. Luna won’t even talk about what she saw or didn’t see.. just that she would make Midnight pay for everything she’s done.” Applejack says and Rarity, after a bit of thinking, sighs and catches up with her, making sure to stay close.

“We can figure it all out once we’re back home darling.. and hopefully this nightmare will be over soon.. I’m tired of traipsing through this.. dreadful forest back and forth.” Rarity says, her annoyance clear when she sees dirt on her outfit and fur. Applejack chuckles and wipes a bit of it off her face playfully.

“That better?” She asks and Rarity giggles in response before answering.

“Better, thank you.” Rarity says, as she and Applejack continue walking. She didn’t know why but.. she was starting to see the Earth pony.. differently. She has been for a while. She didn’t know if it was mutual or if it was just her either. The only thing she knew was that every time she looked at Applejack, she would start seeing her as possibly more than a friend..

She’s cut out of these thoughts when Applejack holds a hand in front of her, forcing her to stop in her tracks.

“What is it-“ Rarity tries to asks but Applejack shushes her as her ears twitch and soon Rarity hears something as well and they both hide behind a nearby tree. They wait for whatever’s making the noise to reveal itself but it seems like it just doesn’t want to, like it’s playing with them before it attacks. They get ready to fight.. until it stops. This confuses them until Applejack hears something else right behind them and she quickly pushes Rarity out of the way before being tackled through the tree by whatever was apparently stalking them.

She’s sent tumbling with it before elbowing it and throwing it off. She quickly gets up and ducks under a right hook from her assailant but is met with a knee to her face. She’s sent reeling back, stunned and is back kicked into a tree. She gets up, ready to fight again but just as she opens her eyes, she’s grabbed from behind and yanked through the tree and past the second threat, being thrown in the process. She tumbled to a stop and looks up to see none other than two ponies she had hoped to never see again.. Flim and Flam.. and they both had some sort of bulky mechanical armor suits.

“Nice to see you again Applejack.” Says Flim, being followed closely by Flam.

“So glad to see you missed us.” He says, noticing Applejack’s furious look. She slowly stands up and gets into a fighting stance after wiping the blood from her nose. They both smirk and start walking up to her. “Like our new looks? We made these suits ourselves ya know?” He continues before Flim continues for him.

“We call them the Applesmasher 3,000's!” He says and Applejack rolls her neck and shoulders and cracks her knuckles.

“I don’t care what ya call 'em. Long as ya know they're about to get smashed!” Applejack says as she runs at them both and swings at Flim who blocks the hit before Flam kicks Applejack’s knee, causing her to fall on it as Flim punches her. As soon as she lands, Flam kicks her back up and punches her into another tree. Applejack tries to get up but she has to lean against the tree to support herself. Just as they’re about to rush her, an ice wall forms in front of them, keeping them away from Applejack.

“Ah, Miss Rarity.” Flam says before catching a jagged icicle that comes flying towards his face from the same direction as the ice wall. “So nice to see you as well.” He says before crushing the icicle and looking in her direction. “We’ve been wanting to catch up with you for what you and Twilight Sparkle did to shut down our newest business all those years ago.”

“That school was a scam and you damn-well know it! You were actually trying to put Twilight’s school out of business by making yours look sooo much better!” Rarity says, cringing whenever she mentions Twilight. Flim and Flam notice this and smirk at each other then at her.

“You know, we actually saw the Princess the other day and well.. she wasn’t looking too good when we left this morning. Wonder what the problem is there but she’s definitely seen better days.” Flim says and this seems to affect Rarity.. but not in the way they wanted.

“Talk about her again and I’ll bury you in so much snow, no one will ever find your body..” Rarity says as her eyes glow white and the temperature around them drops. An ice dagger forms in her hand and Flim and Flam get ready to fight. Neither side makes a move until Flim and Flam charge at her from both sides. Rarity smirks, drops the dagger, holds her hand to either side and causes mini blizzards in both directions, keeping Flim and Flam back. She increases the power in the blizzards and ends up making ice glyphs form which sends two boulders of ice at them, knocking them both through trees.

Rarity scoffs before she hears clapping and stops the blizzards. She turns in the direction of it and gets ready to fight again. “Impressive.. but a little too much ice for my liking..” a voice says as the figure walks out of the shadows, still clapping, revealing a terribly scarred, striped red and black pony with a cracked horn and burns around his mouth. His teeth were sharp and his eyes were serpent-like. The armor he wore looked terrifying, just as much as he did. “You need to heat it up a little!” He yells as he blasts fire at Rarity, causing her to blast ice to keep the fire back but this was becoming a losing battle very quickly.

The fire got closer and closer, even when Rarity used both her hands, until it finally reached her and knocked her back, right through a tree and tumbling along the ground. Rarity groans in pain as she tries to get up, only to fall back down due to the burns that now paraded her chest and right shoulder. “Hm.. I changed my mind.. no longer impressed.” The pony says as he walks closer to Rarity, turns her over with his foot and gets ready to finish her off. Flim and Flam smile at this as they get up.

“Stay. Away from her!!!” They all hear Applejack say, her voice getting slightly deeper with every word before they also hear a roar and an orange flash blinds them all. Once they all recover, it’s too late as a giant transparent paw knocks them all away from Rarity. The fire pony gets up and stares down the giant, orange Ursa Major. It charges and he blasts it with as much power as he can muster, practically bathing the giant beast in fire. This seems to work.. until it’s face bursts through the flames and he finds his arm caught in it’s jaw, a sickening snap being heard as he screams in pain.

His pain worsens when the giant beast yanks him into the air and starts swinging him around.. until his arm comes off and he’s sent flying miles away. The beast roars loudly and looks down at Flim and Flam who were staring up at it, terrified. It seems to smile at them as it flashes it’s sharp teeth.. before slowly starting to shrink, revealing.. Applejack, who’s eyes are glowing orange as she glares at Flim and Flam who get ready to fight, despite being so scared already. Two transparent Ursa claws form around her firsts as she gets in her fighting stance. Rarity sits up against a tree, watching with interest and a bit of fear.

Applejack suddenly charges at them and Flim swings at her but she catches his punch, allowing Flam to punch her but she doesn’t even flinch this time, she does growl though, starting to crush Flim's fist which makes him scream in pain, trying to get it free. After splintering the bones in his hand, Applejack picks him up and slams him onto Flam, damaging both their suits. They both get up and still fight but their skills and tech are no match for Applejack’s sheer power and strength. Flim throws a punch but she ducks, grabs his arm, kneels him down, breaks his leg, and finally swings him through a tree.

Rarity couldn’t believe how brutal Applejack was being.. this was so unlike her.. at all. Just as Applejack turns around, she’s stabbed in the stomach by the blade coming from Flam's armor, causing her to only growl in pain before glaring at him, making him start to regret that decision. He definitely regrets it when Applejack knocks his hand to the side, breaking the blade before an Ursa paw forms around her hand and she stabs the claws into his stomach.

“Flam!!!” Flim yells and Applejack smirks more before pulling the claws out, letting them be replaced by an orange aura instead and punching Flam into Flim right as he gets up to run at her. They both get knocked through a tree and Applejack yells/roars in anger, causing the two to retreat, yelling to her that this wasn’t over. Rarity hesitantly walks up to Applejack as soon as they’re gone.

“AppleJack..?” Rarity says, startled when Applejack suddenly turns to face her, growling. “C-Calm down darling.. it’s me, remember..? Rarity..” She says as she slowly gets closer and Applejack slowly starts to calm down. Her eyes stop glowing as she starts to come back to her senses.

“Rarity..?” Applejack asks and Rarity smiles at her, relieved to have her friend back.

“There she is..” Rarity says before hugging Applejack, prompting her to hug back and Rarity can feel her shaking as if she was.. scared..

Applejack pulls away before she can question it and looks around at all the destruction caused by the battle. She then sees blood on the ground and also.. tastes some. She slowly turns to Rarity with a confused, dark look on her face, which was very pale now. “What.. what did I do?” She asks before falling and holding her side. Rarity catches her before she hits the ground and sees the wound that Flam left bleeding a lot.

“I’ll tell you later darling.. promise.” She says as she and Applejack make their way to the camp.

“So Applejack turned into an Ursa Major.. and just because of that.. you let them escape..?” Midnight asks, barely restraining her anger. “And one of my best trackers is dead because of it..” She continues before Flam nervously answers.

“With.. all due respect your highness.. no one told us that she could do something like that now and we tried to make it to him but by the time we got there.. we don’t know what killed him first, the fall or the blood loss..” He says and Flim agrees. Midnight squeezes the arm of her new throne, slightly denting it as she was quickly growing tired of their excuses.

“Did you at least find out where they were going? Where everyone else is holed up?” Midnight asks but when the brothers look down in shame, she wasn’t able to contain her anger any longer. She slams her fists down, completely flattening the armrests for her throne. “So you have failed me.. for the first.. and last time it seems.” Midnight says as she stands up slowly and walks towards them, prompting them to back up in fear.

They both try to beg for their lives but Midnight wasn’t hearing it, not. One. Bit. They end up backing into Astelle who smirks down at them when they look up at her. They both feel Midnight grab their necks and the next thing they know.. they’re both screaming and being fried by magic until finally their screams cease and they stop moving. Midnight drops their lifeless bodies and walks back to her throne. She can’t help but notice that Twivine, who was standing right by her throne the whole time, looked a bit.. uncomfortable after that.

She sits in her throne and gestures to her. “Get someone to clean that up..” She says and Twivine nods and bows slightly before walking out as Astelle walks up to Midnight. “I need your help 'stelle.. I need you to keep an eye on Twivine.. I have a feeling that her loyalty might be wavering a bit based on how she’s acting now, especially when she was so.. happy to go along with all this in the beginning.. I’m worried Twilight might be making a return.” Midnight says but little did they know, Twilight was on the other side of the door, listening to the whole conversation. This was bad.. she had to make an escape, and soon.. but Twivine wasn’t just gonna let her go, they were eventually going to be evenly matched.

If that happened, it would just be a never ending battle for control of Twilight’s body. Right now she’s pulling the same trick Twivine did, taking control and removing her memory of it but she didn’t know how long she could keep it up.. even more reason to go sooner rather than later.. but maybe while she was here, she could keep Midnight’s trust and learn more to help herself and the others figure out a way to beat her.. and maybe figure out what really happened to Celestia.

New skills learned, new friends lost

The next day

As Applejack wakes up, she feels a lot better than she did before.. well physically at least. But she can’t shake the thought that she did something terrible during the fight. The last thing she remembered was the fire pony getting ready to kill Rarity and feeling so much.. anger. After that, everything just went black.. until she woke up with a stab wound in her stomach, taste of blood in her mouth, and a lot of trees were destroyed and they were giant.. paw prints in the ground. Looked like they belonged to an Ursa Minor, or worse, an Ursa Major. She could figure it out later.

She gets up, not bothering to be careful even though her wound still felt pretty recently stitched, and puts her combat jacket back on along with her hat. She walks out of the room she was currently in and walks around. The old castle of the two sisters wasn’t exactly the best place to call home but it has been more than adequate at hiding their presence from Midnight and her army. She’s just glad that this was a temporary settlement, she didn’t wanna hide forever, especially with the rest of the world going to hell around them. She goes to the new “planning room” that Starlight, Sunset, Spike, and Rarity were currently in.

As soon as Applejack walked in, they all turned to face her but Spike and Rarity run to her and hug her, glad she’s alright. She chuckles and hugs them back. “Now now, don’t go cryin' all over me, I’m alright.” She says and Rarity glares at her.

“Alright? You shouldn’t even be up right now! You need to go back and rest this instant.” Rarity says and Applejack rolls her eyes and puts her hands on Rarity's shoulders.

“I’m fine Rare, don’t worry so much. I do wanna talk to you about.. something.. but later ok?” She asks and Rarity hesitates but nods and Applejack smiles and walks closer to Starlight and Sunset. “So.. Rainbow and Fluttershy still with the Kirins?” She asks them and Starlight shakes her head, confusing Applejack.

“They were but then the Kirins were attacked and Rainbow and Fluttershy had to defend them. Once they saw their powers and saw them lose control of them a few times, they sent them to some other location where they could be trained.” Starlight explains, her answer seeming to confuse Applejack as she tilts her head.

“Whaddya mean by ‘lose control?'” Applejack asks and Starlight hesitates to answer so Sunset answers for her.

“She means that their powers kept activating without them noticing and when they did notice, they struggled to stop them. Plus they say that Rainbow Dash was acting really really impatient, and.. angry. Whenever it happened, a storm almost started and she started radiating with electricity.” She explains and Spike continues after her.

“They also said Fluttershy was acting.. weird. Like sometimes she ended up sleeping upside down in trees and that she would get really aggressive if someone questioned it or tried to keep her in one place for too long.” He says and Applejack frowns before going wide-eyed.

“Sleeping upside down? In trees? Cover me in apple seeds and call me crazy, but doesn’t that sound like-?” She starts to ask, but Rarity continues for her, surely realizing the same thing she did.

“Exactly what a bat would do? I’m afraid it does..” Rarity says and they both gain worried looks on their faces. Starlight and Sunset are about to question the sudden change in behavior but Spike speaks up before they can.

“Don’t worry, they were sent somewhere where they could get trained quick. It shouldn’t take long for those problems to be fixed, plus when they come back, they’ll be better than ever. I already heard Fluttershy was able to take on five ponies at once without any of them landing a hit on her. Same with Rainbow Dash.. even though when one did hit her, she almost fried him.” He says and Rarity and Applejack look at each other before nodding.

“I hope you’re right cause with everything that’s going on.. we’ll all need to be at our best.” Applejack says and she wasn’t wrong. If they wanted to stop Midnight and end this nightmare, they couldn’t have any distractions whatsoever.. but that’s exactly what they were going to get.

Somewhere hidden in Equestria

As Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both trained against their new “master”, trainer, and friend, Light Hope, a white pegasus with a grey mane, blue eyes, and a scar across her right eye in the shape of a lightning bolt, they surely made sure to bring their best, especially Rainbow Dash. They hadn’t been able to beat her last time, but Fluttershy had at least landed a hit on her.. before she beat them both. They were also feeling much better than they did the first time they got here and they had spent countless hours training, resting, meditating (Mostly Fluttershy meditating while Rainbow Dash did stunts or took a nap), exploring and more.

They throw everything they’ve got at Light Hope, but as they expected, it wasn’t enough.. that’s when Rainbow Dash remembered patience and to be a team player and Fluttershy remembered control and to not be afraid to use her powers, to discover her true potential. They look at each other and nod before turning back to Light Hope. They charge at her at the same time but Rainbow Dash uses her speed to get to her first. She then jumps at her and throws a punch that she dodges.

Fluttershy takes the chance to use a gust of wind to knock Light Hope a bit off balance and Rainbow takes the chance to deliver a back kick straight to her chest. She rolls backwards, does a specific motion, and sends water in Fluttershy’s direction. Fluttershy dodges, does another motion, then sends it back at her. She blocks it but Fluttershy uses her sonic scream for no longer than two seconds and that sends her back into Rainbow Dash who roundhouse kicks her to the side.

She flips onto her feet, spins around, moving her foot to the right which causes the ground beneath Rainbow Dash to rotate in the same direction, making her lose her balance a bit. Just as she runs at her, a glowing vine wraps around her leg and raises her up and throws her into the air before grabbing her and slamming her down, causing her to roll towards Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who were ready for that. They run at her and Fluttershy looks like she’s about to attack first and she blocks only for Rainbow Dash to jump towards her and kick her before jumping again, spinning around and grabbing Fluttershy’s hand to swing and throw her so she can deliver a drop kick to Light Hope's head.

They both stand over her in their fighting stances, waiting for her to make a move. They’re surprised when she sits up and claps. She continues clapping even after she manages to stand up. “Well done you two, you’ve both made so much progress. I’m so proud of you.” She says and they smile and give small bows, causing her to bow back.

“Well we had a pretty good teacher.” Rainbow says and Fluttershy agrees. “Thanks for everything Light Hope.. I’m actually gonna miss this place when we go back home..” Rainbow says with a hint of sadness to her voice. Light Hope smiles, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“You can always come back and visit.. whether you need anything or after you’re done saving the world.” She says and both Dash and Fluttershy smile at her. “Oh and just for fun.. Fluttershy think fast!” She yells before sending two cement blocks into the air and Fluttershy instantly flys up until she’s between them and does a split-kick, shattering both of them instantly and landing back on the ground in a crouched position. “Your turn, Dash!” Light Hope says before flying back and sending lightning daggers at Rainbow Dash who spins her arms in opposite directions, making a makeshift lightning shield in front of her that helps knock them into the ground. “Very good.”

“Like she said, we have a pretty good teacher.” Fluttershy says before continuing. “An amazing teacher actually.” She says, causing Light Hope to look a bit embarrassed. Before she can reply though, an explosion sounds off through the whole training area and into the village, coming from the forest that was right by the training area. They run outside it to find the magical animals that lived in the forest running away from it and panicking. Fluttershy and Light Hope try to calm them all down while Rainbow Dash goes to see what or who could’ve caused all this. She doesn’t see anyone but she does see that a large forest fire has started.

Just as she’s about to try and put it out, she’s tackled from behind and thrown through one of the burning trees. As soon as she tries to get up, a tree fall on her legs, trapping her. Lightning Dust lands in front of her with a smirk. Rainbow groans in annoyance. “Seriously? You?” She asks, struggling to get free.

“Glad to see I was missed.” Lightning Dust says, not even trying to hide her sarcasm. She takes out one of her lightning shaped blades and charges it with electricity before raising it up. “This time, I’m allowed to kill you too. That makes this so much better.. for me anyway.” She says and Rainbow Dash manages to break free just in time and roll out of the way just as she brings her sword down.

“Since when did you get so.. murderous?! This wasn’t like you before!” Rainbow says and Lightning Dust chuckles as she walks closer to her.

“Oh don’t worry, you’re not getting all the attention. Once I deal with you.. I’ll pay our little friend, Scootaloo a visit.” She says and that right there..

..was her biggest mistake.

She’s instantly tackled through trees and into the sky by Rainbow Dash. All Dash sees is red now. She flys to the top of the mountain behind “the Great Lake” of Light Hope's home. She throws Lightning Dust down and lands on her hard enough to crack the ground then cartwheels and flips forward, turning around to face her. Lightning Dust gets up, takes out both her blades and gets in a fighting stance. “Struck a nerve, did I?” She asks and Rainbow Dash glares as her eyes glow red.

“You have no idea.” She says angrily and Lightning Dust smirks as Rainbow forms her own sword from multicolored lightning. Lightning Dust charges her own blades with lightning before they charge at each other, blades and powers clashing.

This was bad. Deathbolts were everywhere, Short Fuze and Rolling Thunder were destroying parts of the village and the forest, animals and ponies were panicking, and more and more of Midnight's lackeys showed up as time went by. All the fighters in the village were trying to keep things under control but it wasn’t enough. Fluttershy and Light Hope try to fight them off with their powers and they do eventually manage to put a dent in their forces but they were still greatly outnumbered. They land and try to assist the ground forces to defend the village until Light Hope tells Fluttershy to continue to do so then flys up to defend it from aerial attacks.

She does so and manages to do really well.. until three.. bipedal wolves with armor jump and run towards the village, sprinting on all fours and Fluttershy is taken by surprise but still tries to use her powers to stop them. They split up and the two female ones grab her from both sides, using dark magic to increase their speed. The male charges at her but then jumps over her and starts blasting fire everywhere in the village. Seeing all this destruction, something in Fluttershy breaks and her eyes turn red and her pupils turn to slits. Her fur becomes pale, her ears and wings becoming more like those of a bat, and her mane becoming messy. Her voice also becomes a little deeper and raspier.

“NO!!!” She screams before biting into the arm of one of the female wolves, causing her to literally howl in pain before Fluttershy- no.. Flutterbat, kicks her in the stomach, knocking her back before she breaks one of the other female’s arms. She howls in pain as well before being thrown into the other. Flutterbat who tastes the blood on her two sharp, recently grown fangs, licks some off her mouth, her animalistic side coming out more when she does. That’s right.. last time, she thirsted for apples and nothing else.. but this time? ..This time blood was on the menu as well.

The wolves all turn their attention to her and she smirks evilly. The female she had bit tries to attack her along with the male but she dodges both attacks, wrapping her legs around her neck and swinging her into him, knocking the both of them through the wall of one of the buildings surrounding them. This was amazing! She felt stronger, faster, more agile.. more alive. She holds all three of the wolves up in vines and is about to squeeze the life out of them until.. she looks towards her reflection in a nearby puddle.. and Fluttershy sees why she’s really acting like this and is shocked and terrified. She shakes her head and tries to calm down and turn back to normal but.. she couldn’t.. all she managed to do was turn her eyes blue again.. she was stuck like this.

“No..” She says sadly, with a frightened edge to her voice. Before slowly backing up, not realizing she let the wolves go.

“Big mistake!” She hears before one jumps at her and her eyes turn red again before she delivers a punt kick to the underside of his jaw, knocking his head back before she delivers a spinning kick to his stomach. The one with a broken arm charges at her and tries using her legs and one good arm to fight but Flutterbat makes quick work of her but it turns out to be a distraction so the other female could kick Flutterbat's feet from under her before delivering a powerful kick to her chest.

That kick sends Flutterbat through buildings and into the Great Lake, unconscious. “Fluttershy!!!” Light Hope yells and she tries using her own nature powers to get her out but before she can, she’s blindsided by the Washouts, who continuously circle her, attacking her. She retaliates with her own attacks but they just would not give up and soon the Deathbolts join. That’s when she starts going all out.. she just hopes Fluttershy would be ok until she’s able to get her.

Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust battled right into a stalemate, tumbling away from each other with cuts, bruises, and burns. “This isn’t working!” Lightning Dust yells in anger and frustration before she notices something that Rainbow Dash doesn’t and they both slowly stand up. “How about we try something new?!” She asks with a evil smirk as lightning radiates off her and she forms a lightning bolt and is about to throw it at Rainbow Dash or she seems like she is.. until she throws it down towards the village and Rainbow runs to the edge only to see it heading straight towards.. Light Hope.

“NO!!!” Rainbow yells as she tries to get to it before it reaches her. Closer and closer it gets.. until Light Hope catches it and sends out a wave of electricity to down the Deathbolts and the Washouts.

“You'll have to do better than that.” Light Hope says as she glares up at Lightning Dust who’s still smirking. She’s confused as to why until she sees the lightning bolt glowing way more and she immediately throws it but the explosion it makes still reaches her and destroys a lot of the village. When Rainbow Dash wakes up, she sees all the destruction caused by the explosion.. and sees Light Hope on the ground, critically injured if not..

“Light Hope..” Rainbow says as she gets up and runs to her. She gently turns her over.. seeing that half her body was severely burned from the explosion. She’s shocked by this and frowns, almost crying as she blames herself for all this. “I’m so sorry.. I should’ve been faster.. or just.. never have come here in the first place..” She says and Light Hope opens her one good eye and manages to smile at her..

“Don't.. say.. that..” She says as she puts her hand on one of Rainbow Dash's, still smiling despite the pain. “Take.. Fluttershy.. save yourselves.. and put an end to this nightmare..” She says weakly and Rainbow Dash shakes her head, one tear already rolling down her cheek.

“We.. we can’t.. I.. can’t..” Rainbow says and Light Hope sighs before coughing and replying.

“Yes.. you.. can..” She says as her eyes slowly start to close. “Just remember.. what you.. learned..” Light Hope says before her eyes finally close and she says one last thing. “Take care.. of each other.. take.. care of.. everyone..” She says.. before she takes her last breath.. and passes away.

“No.. no..” Rainbow says, finally letting the tears fall.. this can’t be happening.. this can’t be real.. she’s so broken up that she doesn’t notice, or just doesn’t care, as the villains land around her, surrounding her.

“Awwww that’s too bad.. guess you were too slow Dash.. give up?” Lightning Dust asks and Rainbow goes wide eyed in shock, disgust, and anger at how cruel Lightning Dust really was.. she was showing her true colors. She slowly turns to face her adversary with the same look on her face.

“How could you be so.. broken inside? You enjoy killing the ponies close to me.. just because of YOUR mistakes.. the ones you blame on me?! ..Go to hell Lightning Dust..” Rainbow yells and that actually.. shocks Lightning Dust.. she frowns before glaring at Rainbow Dash with flashing yellow eyes and making a lightning chain, raising it up and bringing it down on her with a yell. It would’ve hit her.. if it wasn’t for the wind shield that now surrounded her and Light Hope's body. Rainbow Dash looks confused, especially when the shield bursts, sending wind everywhere violently which knocks everyone away. She looks towards the Great Lake and sees.. Fluttershy but she had glowing green markings on her body that were shaped like vines and other plants and her irises were glowing green as well. Rainbow Dash chuckles then starts laughing loudly and cheering. “Nice work, 'Shy!”

Fluttershy smiles before making tendrils of water that attack the villains, even wrapping around some of them and slamming them into the others. She makes the wind cause the Deathbolts crash into others and makes plants trap the downed ponies. “Grab Light Hope and let’s go!” Fluttershy yells and Rainbow nods and goes to pick her up but she feels Lightning Dust grab and yank on her hair, causing her to yell in pain before cutting that piece of hair off and kicking her through a wall. She then picks up Light Hope and goes to Fluttershy, grabbing her and flying off faster than anyone can react.

They hide in the clouds and take a moment to mourn.. everything was ruined. The village, their training.. everything.. and it cost them Light Hope.. they look down at the village and frown. Rainbow Dash swore that she would end this.. once and for all.. “Rainbow..” Fluttershy says, putting a hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn to her. “Let’s go home..” She says and Dash hesitates.. but nods and they both fly back home.. carrying Light Hope with them.

Midnight would pay for this one way or another.. no matter the cost.

Preparing for round 2, Pt. 1

It had been who knows how many hours since Lightning Dust, Short Fuze, and Rolling Thunder had left and taken a good amount of Midnight's army to track down Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They haven’t reported back yet but Twivine suspects that they will soon.. there’s a part of her that wants them to find them but another part of her.. doesn’t want Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy to get hurt.. but that part was Twilight. That part was weak.. she’s strong.

..So why does she care if Twilight’s friends get hurt?! And why can’t she stop these concerns? These.. feelings.. They surely just belonged to Twilight and were just leaking over to her weren’t they..? Or was she actually starting to feel something that she didn’t think was possible..?

Empathy..

No.. NO. That’s foolish, she was a destroyer, a conqueror, a killer.. nothing more. She lived to serve Midnight and carry out her will. Speaking of which, Midnight’s voice startled Twivine, causing her to jump back and look up at her, seeing the tall, dark, and scary alicorn right in front of her. “Twivine..” She says and Twivine, after calming herself down, responds to her.

“Yes, my Queen?” Twivine asks and Midnight walks past her and gestures for her to follow her.

“Walk with me for a bit.” She says and Twivine nods and follows. “I wanted to.. address something.. about you.” She says and Twivine starts to get nervous.

“O-Oh..?” Twivine asks, trying to keep her voice calm, despite being scared. “Have I done something wrong?” She asks and Midnight thinks about it before shaking her head.

“It’s not about something you’ve done.. it’s about what you haven’t done.. in a manner of speaking.” Midnight says and Twivine looks confused before Midnight continues. “Your behavior has left me feeling a bit.. uneasy around you. Your lack of action has left me unable to put your loyalty to the test.. and now.. I don’t know if I can really trust you anymore.” She says and Twivine starts getting more nervous, not knowing where Midnight was going with this. She backs up when Midnight starts walking towards her until she’s backed up into a wall.

“W-What are you going to do..?” Twivine asks, actually fearing for her life in that moment as Midnight glares down at her.

Midnight puts a hand on her shoulder and she starts shaking uncontrollably as she closes her eyes and prepares for whatever Midnight plans to do with her. “I’m giving you an assignment.. follow me.” Midnight says as she lets her go and Twivine calms down and follows her, being lead to the throne room where the Washouts were currently waiting for them, having three survivors/hostages with them from their attack on the village. Twivine is now nervous again as she sees this, already having a feeling where this was going.

“Lightning Dust here tells me that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy escaped but their new trainer had been killed.. and she’s managed to put a tracker on Rainbow.. but she’s too out of range for us to detect the signal or it’s being blocked by magic.. we only need two hostages to lure her back out..” Midnight says as she walks to the hostages after they’re thrown to their knees by the Washouts. “I’m going to let you decide which one will die.. and you will have the honor of killing them.” Midnight says and Twivine frowns but then nods and walks forward a bit, looking down at the hostages.

“P-Please.. please Princess Twilight.. you don’t have to do this..” One of them says and Twivine frowns more but makes the blade anyway and holds it towards the one who spoke.

“You.. because there’s one thing you.. and a lot of other ponies can’t seem to accept..” She says as she gets closer to the injured, frightened pony. “Princess Twilight.. is gone.. there.. there’s only Twivine now.. nopony else.. just.. me.” Twivine says as she raises the blade and tries to bring it down into the pony’s skull.. but something’s stopping her.. just as she manages to bring it down a little bit, her other hand catches her arm and she continues struggling. She yells in pain, physical and mental as the inner struggle becomes too much and she falls to her knees with her eyes closed.

“Oh Twivine.. this is very.. disappointing.. sorry to tell you but this was a test.. and you failed.” Midnight says as she aims her magic at the back of her head, preparing to kill her.

“This wasn’t exactly a test that I wanted to pass.” Twilight yells as she opens her eyes and turns just in time to direct Midnight's aim towards the Washouts, the magic blast that she releases hitting them in the process. Twilight then tries pushing back against Midnight but the older alicorn was also stronger than her. “Oh.. and another thing Midnight.. you can’t fire me or Twivine.. because we QUIT!” She yells before kicking one of Midnight’s legs from under her then flipping her over herself and throwing her out of one of the castle’s windows. She then unties the hostages and teleports them to safety before running out of the castle or whatever abomination Midnight had turned it and the rest of Canterlot into.

In the process, she finds the crystals that contained all the information she needed about Midnight, her army, and her plans.. even her weaknesses. She saw Midnight place the data in those crystals after she created them and locked them up. She takes them then continues causing destruction which draws the villains to her. Good.. she has a LOT of built up rage that she desperately needs to release. They all charge at her and she instantly flys up and slams down on the ground with a furious scream, knocking them all back with a powerful wave of magic. Astelle, Daybreaker, and Nightmare Moon are the first ones to recover.

They all attack her at the same time but she dodges, blocks, and counters all their attacks, even letting them hit each other, making them become more and more frustrated with her and each other and less synchronized in battle. They spend more time arguing than fighting after a while. Once they’re all down, Twilight uses them against the other villains until she’s suddenly wrapped up and brought to her knees by purple magic chains that start to shock her, making her scream in pain. She looks up to see Midnight land in front of her and walk up to her, a blade coming from her gauntlet as she raises her hand up.

“At first I was going to make you watch as I killed all your friends but now.. I’ll make Twivine take turns with me torturing them.. and I will kill. Them. ALL.” Midnight says and that pisses Twilight off to no end. Glowing purple markings appear on her body and her eyes start glowing purple as well. She yells in pain and anger as the glowing increases until it’s too bright to see a single thing, the resulting explosion knocking out most of the villains but of course, Midnight was one of the ones still conscious. She gets up to see that Twilight is gone.. along with her plans and all that was left in that area was a giant crater with purple fire in some areas.

Her eye twitches and she starts laughing maniacally until she suddenly screams in anger, the scream echoing across the mountains until she turns to all the villains with a terrifyingly angry look. “Do whatever you must to find their location! Once we find them, kill who you have to except Twilight and her friends.. they’re MINE..” Midnight says and they all frantically nod and run off.. Midnight was pissed.. but she would get her revenge soon.. and Twilight would die.. and so would any creature that would even think about being loyal to her.. She had underestimated Twilight this time..

But never again..

Castle of the two sisters, an hour later

As everyone continued arguing about a plan and what to do, Fluttershy was sitting by Pinkie Pie who was still comforting her.. while Rainbow Dash had left the conversation a while ago.. anyone could see she was still grieving.. she was hurt, angry, and she had a lot of guilt on her shoulders.. and all those things could make her do something rash or turn her into something she’s not. Nopony wanted that but at the same time.. they were all angry after something like this.. and scared. And they had every reason to be since Starlight told them that Midnight could supposedly use Alicorn empathy to use Twilight’s connection to her element to find the location of the others.. meaning they couldn’t stay in one place for long.. so why haven’t they found this place yet?

“Look, I get it! We’re all scared and angry and sad but we can’t just do nothing! ..We have to take the fight to Midnight for once!” Sunset yells and Applejack, Spike, and Tempest agree with her.

“That’s suicide! She has an army and war machines and all we have is a small, barely functional militia! At least compared to her army! We can’t just attack! We need a plan, one that won’t fall apart and one that she can’t guess or maneuver around!” Starlight says and Sunset is about to argue with her until they hear a knock and the cutie mark crusaders are at the entrance, looking nervous. “Hi girls.. what’s wrong?” Starlight asks and they look at each other then back at everyone else.

“Ummm we found someone..” Scootaloo says and Sweetie Belle continues for her.

“But.. you probably won’t be happy to see her.” She says before Applebloom fully opens the door and they step aside to allow.. Twilight to walk in. They all instantly go on alert and get ready to fight until she holds her hands up in surrender.

“Girls, girls! Wait.. it’s me.. it’s Twilight.” She says and they all look at Applejack who narrows her eyes, looking her over for any sign of deception and letting her element do its thing until she goes wide eyed and starts to smile.

“Well I’ll be.. it really is you!” She says and they all look shocked, smile, then run and hug her, welcoming her back. Trixie and Tempest smile at this and walk over to them. “We didn’t think we’d ever see ya again sugarcube..” Applejack says and Starlight pulls back, still looking shocked but relieved.

“How.. how did you escape?” She asks and Twilight looks hesitant to talk about it. “Hey, if you’re not ready to talk about it, that’s fine.” She tries to assure her but Twilight holds up a hand and tells her it’s ok before breathing in and out then explaining.

“Apparently, Midnight had noticed strange behavior from Twivine and suspected it was me returning.. which it was.. she tried.. 'testing her loyalty' by having her kill one of the survivors they were gonna use to lure out Rainbow Dash.. I couldn’t let her do it.. so I stopped her and caused destruction to slow them down after I saved the survivors..” Twilight explains and they all are confused by one thing she said.

“Why would she try to lure out just Rainbow Dash..?” Fluttershy asks.

“Because Lightning Dust put a tracker on her during the battle. Right now it’s out of range to send a signal to them or the signal is being dampened by magic but they’re eventually going to catch on.. where is Rainbow Dash anyway?” Twilight asks and they all frown, especially Fluttershy.

“It’s.. probably for the best to just leave her alone darling.. who knows what she’d do if she saw you?” Rarity says and Twilight sighs until they all hear footsteps and look towards the entrance to see Rainbow Dash standing there, her hair messier than ever and her features revealing that she was harboring so much pain, anger, guilt, and sadness. All Twilight wants to do in that moment is hug her and tell her how sorry she is for everything.. but she didn’t wanna push things.

“H-Hey Rainbow..” Twilight stutters out, nervously rubbing her arm. Rainbow Dash doesn’t respond but she does grow a firm look before starting to walk closer. “L-Listen, I’m so sorry about everything that you all went through and I know I’m mostly to blame for it so if you don’t.. If you don’t want to be friends anymore.. I’d understand but I hope you can forgive me someday..” She says but before she can say anything else, Rainbow Dash suddenly embraces her in a tight hug and Twilight is shocked. “R-Rainbow-“ Twilight tries to say but Rainbow interrupts her.

“Just shut up while I’m hugging you..” She says and Twilight chuckles a bit then hugs her back. “I.. we really missed you Twi.. it’s good to have you back.” Rainbow says and Twilight smiles and sighs.

“It’s good to be back.” She says before remembering the previous conversation. “Oh and one more thing..” She says before using her magic to remove the tracker from Rainbow Dash.

“Ummm, what is that supposed to be.. and how did it get on me.” Rainbow asks and Twilight explains what she had told the others and Rainbow Dash looks like she’s about to explode. “Lightning Dust..” She says with a huge amount of venom in her voice. That legitimately scares everyone else. “Please tell me that when you escaped, you at least brought something we can use.” She says and Twilight smiles and nods before walking to the table and placing the crystals that she stole on it.

“Ooooh, what do they do? Do we just throw them at Midnight and then BOOM, she explodes? Oh oh, or do they all turn into some sort of food that Midnight is allergic to?! Or do they-“

“Pinkie!!!” Twilight yells but when she does, it sounds like her and Twivine yelled at the same time.. plus she got so aggressive and angry.. that’s not a good sign. “Sorry.. Pinkie.. whatever it is you THINK they do.. it’s quite the opposite.” Twilight says before she breathes in and out and looks at the crystals. “This is gonna suck..” She sighs and everyone looks confused and Starlight stops her before she can do.. whatever she was about to do.

“Wait, I can feel that the crystals or the information inside them is sealed with some sort of.. magic lock.. what are you about to do to unlock them..” Starlight asks and Twilight frowns.

“Midnight locked them.. with dark magic.. and the only way to unlock them is with her magic or something similar.. and the only one here who’s magic closely matches Midnight’s..” Twilight says but before she can finish, Sunset continues for her.

“Is Twivine.. so.. what? You wanna risk letting that monster out again? What happens if she takes control..? You’ll be too dangerous, we won’t be able to stop you.” She says but Twilight corrects her.

“I only need to let a small amount of her power out to undo the spell.. then we’ll finally have a way to stop all this..” She says but they still protest against the plan. “Look, it won’t be too much and I won’t hand over that much control.. just enough to undo the spell and then I’ll come straight back. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight says and they all hesitate but then agree and back down, trusting Twilight to keep her word. She then closes her eyes, breathes in and out, and aims at the crystals again, readying her magic.. and Twivine’s. This is gonna hurt.

She fires Twivine’s magic at the crystals, using it to undo the spell Midnight had put on them.. meanwhile she was grunting in pain the whole time and everyone grows more concerned when her eyes are like Twivine’s but instead of her irises being red, they were dark purple. “Twilight, that’s enough! Stop! It’s hurting you!” Spike yells but Twilight doesn’t listen, she just continues trying to block out the pain and it soon becomes manageable enough to speak.

“No.. no I can do this.. just.. a little.. more!” Twilight yells as the spell starts to unlock and soon she finishes destroying it and her eyes turn back to normal as she falls down, nearly passing out but Rainbow Dash catches her.

“That was stupid.. and kinda awesome Twi.” She says and Twilight chuckles, causing her to chuckle too.

“I’ve seen you do way more reckless things Rainbow.” She says, smirking at the pegasus who smirks back and holds her head high.

“Guilty. As. Charged.” Rainbow says before helping Twilight up. They all look to see the information being displayed above the crystals. They’re amazed and shocked by this.. and are even more so when they see a few specific things. What they’re building, the Legion of Doom's conversation with Midnight, their plan to turn them against each other, Midnight killing Flim and Flam, her and Astelle's fight with Celestia and Luna.. and Midnight grabbing Celestia’s head and shocking her with a huge amount of magic until she disappears.. then collecting remnants of her magic to make Daybreaker. They all frown as the hard truth hits them.. Celestia was really gone.. They then see something else.. Midnight was talking to.. someone in a mirror.. they see it in a few more displays too.. until finally they see she’s talking to a small purple alicorn..

They all look shocked when they realize who it is. “Solaris.. she’s still in there somewhere.” Twilight says, starting to smile and get excited as she realizes Midnight’s biggest weakness. “That’s why she wanted to turn us against each other, why the elements can defeat her.. they can possibly free Solaris!” Twilight says as she paces back and forth excitedly. “This is perfect! All we have to do is use the elements on Midnight long enough for Solaris to get free, then she can possibly destroy her! Everything will be ok.. we’ll get justice for Celestia and the rest of Equestria.” She says and everyone looks at each other then at her and she notices. “What?” She asks and Starlight steps forward to answer.

“I get you’re excited but there’s just one teeny tiny problem.. how are we supposed to do that? Midnight is protected by her army and.. our forces are just barely functioning, not to mention the other creatures have returned to their own kingdoms along with Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart, and Luna is in no shape to do.. anything right now.” Starlight says, startled as Luna's voice comes from the entrance.

“On the contrary.. I’m in a good enough shape for taking on Midnight and her army.. my sister wouldn’t want me to sit, feeling nothing but guilt for something I couldn’t prevent.. so I won’t.. not anymore.” Luna says and everyone smiles at her and Twilight hugs her, prompting her to smile and return the hug. “Welcome back, Twilight Sparkle.” She says and Twilight thanks her before Sunset asks them something.

“So we’re going with my plan: take the fight to Midnight?” She asks and they look at each other then nod.

“I have a few ideas.. just give me tonight to figure out a plan and we can possibly go tomorrow.. make sure you’re well rested just in case too.” She says and everyone nods and walks out but Luna stays behind a bit longer to voice her concerns to Twilight.

“Do you truly believe that Solaris is still in there.. waiting to be saved? That she has been this whole time?” Luna asks and Twilight thinks about it before looking at her and nodding.

“I have to believe so.. if I didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt.. then Midnight had already won. So we have to have a little faith.” She says and Luna nods before walking out and after a few seconds, Spike walks in, looking nervous. “Oh hey Spike, thought you would’ve been trying to get some rest.” She says and he shrugs and walks over to her.

“I thought about it but then I decided.. I.. could I stay and help you with the planning, or something..? If not, it’s fine, I just thought maybe I could try to keep being your number 1 assistant.. like old times.” He says and before he can ramble on, he feels Twilight put a hand on his shoulder and he looks up at her to see a smile on her face.

“You’ll always be my number 1 assistant Spike.. but sure, you can help.” She says and he smiles and hugs her, prompting her to hug back before they both get to work at putting together the perfect plan to ensure a bright future for all of Equestria.

Preparing for round 2, Pt. 2

As The group of friends split up, Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed Rarity’s attention before she could leave. “Hey.. Rarity?” She asks and Rarity turns to face her. “Hey uhhh.. could you.. help me with something?” She asks and Rarity raises an eyebrow before she and Dash walk together for a bit.

“What is it I can help you with darling?” She asks and they continue talking for a bit as Rainbow explains something that she found.. embarrassing.

“I’m so glad you’ve found your own way to honor Light Hope, this is really nice of you to do.” Rarity says and Rainbow gives a sad smile as she sits with Rarity standing behind her, working on something for her.

“Thanks.. I also figured it was time to switch things up a little, y'know?” She asks and Rarity smiles and nods. “How.. how are the plans for her funeral coming along..?” Rainbow hesitates to ask and Rarity stops for a second before continuing.

“Very well actually, with a little luck and no more attacks, the funeral should take place in about.. two days.” She says and Rainbow nods in understanding before Rarity finishes up. “Alright, all done, what do you think?” Rarity asks as she passes a mirror to Rainbow Dash who checks out her new mane-style and smiles at how it looks. (Read the Author’s Note for the link to see it.)

“Huh.. I actually like it.” She says and Rarity squeals in excitement.

“It actually felt really nice to do something like that again. Especially for one of my friends.” She says and Rainbow chuckles, puts the mirror down and stands up, turning to face Rarity.

“Thanks Rarity.. I know it’s late but.. she did say that it would’ve eventually grew on me.. and I already believe her.” Rainbow says and Rarity nods and hugs her friend, prompting her to hug back.

“Not at all dear.. I’m glad I was able to help you.” Rarity says before they separate and Rainbow starts to walk out and Rarity smirks, deciding that now was the perfect time to tease her about something. “Going to show it off to a certain princess I see.” She says and Rainbow instantly freezes up and turns to her, pretending not to understand.

“Uhhhh I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m going to bed.” Rainbow says and Rarity gives her a knowing smirk.

“If you say so darling, but just know that you aren’t too great at hiding it.” Rarity says and Rainbow rolls her eyes.

“Ok what about you with Spike.. or a certain Earth Pony we know?” Rainbow asks with her own smirk and Rarity blushes, causing Rainbow to burst right into a laughing fit. “You aren’t too great at hiding it yourself.”

“Wha- Well I- You.. just go already! Shoo!” Rarity says, playfully pushing Rainbow Dash out the door. “Goodnight to you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Night, Rarity.” She responds before walking off as Rarity closes her door. Rainbow walks for a while, staying deep in her thoughts.. if Rarity already knew about.. what she felt for Twilight, she wonders who else knew. She walks right pass the planning room but stops as soon as she does.. hesitating before sighing and slowly and quietly walking in. She sees Spike has already fallen asleep and has been tucked in by Twilight who’s still up trying to figure out a plan. She smirks and gets the idea to sneak up and get closer.

Twilight’s ears twitch and she can’t help but giggle and know who it is without even turning around. “I know you’re there Rainbow.” She says and Rainbow groans in annoyance as she starts to walk normally to her.

“One of these days, I’ll be able to surprise you again.” She says and that’s when Twilight turns around and sees her new mane-style. Rainbow looks embarrassed and averts her eyes. “Is it.. bad.” Rainbow asks and Twilight snaps out of the amazed state she’s in to answer.

“No no no! It’s amazing. You look.. really beautiful.” Twilight says, and Rainbow blushes before sitting on the table right next to Twilight’s plans. “And you’ve already surprised me Rainbow, in more ways than one. I thought you would’ve kept your original mane style.” Twilight says and Rainbow shrugs and responds.

“Yeah, well after cutting some of my mane off and realizing it was gonna take a bit for it to grow back.. and seeing that it didn’t look right the way I had cut it, I remembered something Light Hope had told me and showed me.” Rainbow says and Twilight looks confused so she continues. “She might have.. made my mane like this once when Fluttershy and I meditated with her and said.. it would grow on me someday.. and she was right.” Rainbow says and Twilight smiles at her.

“I wish I had a chance to meet her.” Twilight says and Rainbow looks shocked then smiles and agrees.

“Me too.. you would’ve liked her.” Rainbow says as she looks down sadly. That sadness soon turns to both sadness and anger. “I swear, the next time I get my hands on Lightning Dust.. Light Hope would still be here if it weren’t for her.. and me.” She says and Twilight slams her hand down next to her, startling her. When she looks at Twilight, she sees her glaring right into her soul.. and she’s actually a little intimidated.

“That. Isn’t. True.. You had nothing to do with what happened to Light Hope, Rainbow. You hear me? No one is to blame but Midnight, Lightning Dust, and anyone else who’s on her side. They started this.. but we’re going to finish it and make things right.. ok?” She asks and Rainbow, after shaking off the shock from how assertive Twilight got, nods and Twilight smiles. Rainbow didn’t know how to feel now. Twilight had gotten so aggressive out of nowhere.. that was new. She kinda liked this new side of her.. it’s exactly what they needed if they were to beat Midnight..

She just hoped that Twilight could go back to normal after all was said and done. She then looks at Twilight’s plan and notices something that she probably hasn’t thought of.. Midnight’s airship.

“Twi.. I think I might have a few ideas to add.” She says and Twilight looks intrigued and she draws Midnight's airship on the map. “So we need a distraction long enough and big enough to keep Midnight’s whole army busy right?” She asks and Twilight nods. “Well here it is.. everyone else can work on stealing her airship while you, me, and the others get close to Midnight and use the elements on her.” Rainbow says and Twilight looks shocked then hesitant.

“Rainbow.. that sounds too dangerous. I mean, we don’t know how it works. And for all we know, Midnight’s probably boobytrapped it. She’s always been one step ahead.. why would this be any different.” She asks and Rainbow hesitates before looking at Twilight and responding.

“It’s a chance.. right?” Rainbow asks and Twilight hesitates.. but nods.

“Alright.. well now that we have a plan, what do you say we turn in for the night.. it’s pretty late and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” She says and Rainbow nods but when she looks down, she sees that Twilight has listed all the villains on flashcards. Their strengths, weaknesses, power levels.. and she sees Lightning Dust, causing her fists to clench, her breathing to increase, and her powers to slowly start to react.

She wants to kill her.. to make her pay and she would.. hopefully tomorrow. She’s stuck staring while inhaling enraged breaths until she feels a hand on hers and sees it belongs to Twilight. She looks up at the alicorn who nuzzles her, causing her to calm down immediately, a blush covering both their faces now.

“Hey.. I know what Lighting Dust did is terrible.. what they all did was terrible.. but we can’t start thinking like that.. we can’t give in to hatred like they did.” Twilight says before continuing. “We. Must. Be. Better.” She continues and Rainbow Dash hesitates but then nods, seeming to decide to let those thoughts go.. for now at least.

“Thanks Twi..” She says and Twilight nods in response. “Ummm.. I-I’m gonna go ahead and.. get some sleep.”

“Oh, no, of course. You go on ahead, I’ll see if there’s anything else we can probably use.” Twilight responds and just as Rainbow gets ready to walk out, Twilight says one more thing to her. “Oh and Rainbow? Once again, love the new mane style and I’m sure the others will love it too.. it suits you.” She says and Rainbow chuckles nervously and Twilight could swear she just barely sees the faintest hints of a blush. “Adorable..” She thinks, causing herself to blush.

“Thanks.. 'night Twi.” Rainbow says and Twilight nods before responding.

“Goodnight Rainbow.” She says and after that, Rainbow Dash walks out, leaving Twilight to finish looking over the plans. She sighs and looks for anything they might’ve missed. When she doesn’t find anything of importance, she decides to turn in. “This plan will work.. it has too..”

The next day

As Twilight sat on top of the castle of the two sisters, watching the sunrise, she couldn’t help but dread what she knows lies ahead of them as soon as they set foot in Canterlot.. but she was prepared.. she had to be. They all had to be. “Twilight! You out here?!” She hears Sunset call and she looks down to see all her friends looking for her. She stands up and gets ready to go down.

“Up here!” She responds before teleporting down to them. She looks around at them all and realizes that they forgot one important thing. “Armor! We forgot to make armor..” Twilight says, facepalming with a disappointed sigh. “Damnit..” She says and they all look a bit worried until Luna walks out with her own armor and she has the elements with her.

“Believe me, you’ll only need these.” She says as she uses magic to pass each of the Mane 6 their elements. “Those and your powers.” She continues and they still look hesitant.

“Still would’ve liked some sort of protection though.. wish we hadn’t forgot.” Sunset says and Starlight, Trixie, Tempest, Spike, and the Mane 6 all agree.. and something amazing happens when they do.

The elements start to glow and float out of the Mane 6's hands. They then start spinning.. and the Mane 6 start floating as well. “W-What’s happening?!” Twilight asks as they all continue floating, multicolored magic now surrounding them. As this continues they all notice that their outfits were starting to.. change. They were turning into armor that’s perfect for each of them. The magic then spreads to everyone else, making armor for them as well. They all look surprised and Tempest is proud when her new armor has a different mark on it than the Storm King's.. a better one.. Twilight’s.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Scootaloo yells and everyone else agrees. They all also have weapons of their own. Luna smiles a bit and turns to everyone else.

“There, also I sent everyone else to meet us just outside of Canterlot. So if we’re going, we should go soon before they’re spotted.” She says and Twilight nods in understanding.

“First.. a little trick I learned from Twivine.” Twilight says as her horn lights up and after a few seconds, a clone of herself appears next to her and everyone is shocked. She gives the tracker to the clone and it flys off. “Something else to keep them distracted.. let’s go, and remember..” She says before a purple mask with a golden outline forms on her face. After it does, she continues as her eyes glow purple.

“No matter what.. this. Ends. Today.”

Author's Note

This is what Dash's new hairstyle looks like.
It’s a little trashy, I know, also I don’t know for sure if this is ok

Liberating a fallen kingdom

As the group sneaks up to the meeting point, slipping past the many defenses assigned to the area, they get more and more nervous about the difficult battle ahead of them. Out of Midnight’s entire army, despite them being so powerful, she was the strongest and could easily turn the battle in her favor if she felt the need not to hold back. Plus she had an army and three Alicorns on her side and not to mention a fully grown dragon with numerous powerful abilities. More than a normal dragon.

But they’ve all learned a lot too. They know all their strengths, weaknesses, numbers, and they have a plan to counter each and every one of them. But their main weakness? The elements of harmony. With those, they could most certainly win. When they make it to the meeting point, they’re surprised to find that the others aren’t there. They start to get worried until they see Somnambula wave them over and they quickly follow her into a cave that was well-hidden. “Alright, we’re all here, so let’s go over the plan again.” Flash Magnus says and everyone looks to Twilight and Spike.

“Ok.. so while I was looking over the information, I gained knowledge of Midnight and her army’s strengths and weaknesses. Midnight apparently gets stronger the more chaos and destruction there is.” She says and that makes everyone realize something.

“Just like Discord..” Fluttershy says and Twilight nods.

“Exactly. And with Celestia.. gone.. Astelle pretty much can draw power from the sun and the alicorn amulet wherever it is since.. she’s the one who created it.” She says and she notices Trixie cringe and look away slightly but Starlight nuzzles her to assure her that she’s forgiven for the mistake of wearing that monstrous thing.

“If we cut off her connection to it or distract her from it long enough, her power will decrease and she gets weaker at night.” Twilight says and Luna goes wide-eyed.

“That explains why she was still so powerful when fighting against me and my sister.. she was drawing power from the amulet the whole time.. if only we had realized it sooner.” Luna says with a frown before she looks at Spike and Twilight. “Isn’t there some way to find the amulet? We can destroy it if we just knew where it was.” She asks and Trixie scoffs.

“You can’t destroy that thing without a huge amount of magic or force. Believe me.. I’ve tried..” Trixie says and everyone looks at each other then at her.

“Didn’t you have it mailed to me at some point?” Twilight asks and Trixie nods. “That’s it! I remember! She mailed it to me before..” Twilight says only to stop and frown.

“Before Tirek destroyed your house?” Starlight asks and Twilight facepalms and sighs.

“Before Tirek destroyed my house, yes..” Twilight says before shaking her head and trying to get back to explaining everyone’s weakness instead of just focusing on one. Once she’s done, she lets Spike explain the rest.

“While everyone else is distracted, one group should go in and steal that giant airship that they have.” He says and everyone looks at him like he has three heads.. before considering the plan.

“Hm.. it’s a risky plan.. and clever.. which one of you lot thought of this?” Rockhoof asks and Twilight smiles and nudges Rainbow Dash with a wing.

“That part was Rainbow Dash’s idea.” Twilight says and Rainbow blushes and scratches the back of her head nervously.

“Well it’s brilliant. If they don’t make you captain of the Wonderbolts after a plan like this, you’d always be welcome to join the royal guard.” Flash Magnus says and Twilight agrees.

“We’ll see how things turn out first..” Rainbow says and Twilight giggles.

“Well just know that the offer will still stand if we all make it past this.” Twilight says before winking at Rainbow Dash, causing her to freeze up and she just nods in response. “Ok.. is everyone ready?” Twilight asks and everyone nods in response and she turns to Canterlot. “Alright.. let’s go.”

As Midnight sat on her throne, she couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. She’s been feeling that way since earlier this morning. She had even checked around her kingdom and everything seemed fine but the feeling would not stop. If anything, it had gotten worse as time went by. Astelle walks in along with Frostbite and they stop right in front of Midnight’s throne and slightly bow. “Well? Anything?” She asks and they shake their heads.

“No sign of anypony.. just like I said. I really think you’re just stressed out Midnight.” Astelle says and Midnight suddenly slams her fists down, startling them both.

“Of course I’m stressed out! When Twilight left, she stole vital information that could be used against everyone!! Against ME!!!” Midnight says as she stands up and walks past them both. “I should’ve just killed her the first chance I got!” Midnight growls, walking to one of the windows in the throne room. She sighs and holds her head in her hands. As she does this.. she notices that the feeling has gotten much much worse, causing her to have a migraine and she realizes.. it was alicorn empathy! She tries to focus on what’s causing it and she senses multiple presences, one stronger than the others.

She opens her eyes and growls in anger. “Twilight is nearby.. find her! And be careful, she’s not alone.” Midnight says and right after Astelle and Frostbite leave, the entire kingdom shakes and she immediately realizes why. “Those crazy bastards.. they’re stealing my ship!” Midnight says and she’s about to fly out there herself until a wave of magic suddenly bursts through the window in front of her, causing some shards to fly towards her and leave a few cuts. She opens her eyes fast enough to see Luna fly at her before receiving a kick to the face which knocks her to the other side of the throne room. She growls and gets up only to see Twilight and her friends standing beside Luna.

“It’s over Midnight. Give up while you still can and maybe we’ll think about going easy on you!” Rainbow Dash yells and Midnight just stares blankly before giggling then just flat out laughing.

“You.. you seriously think that you stand a chance.. against me?” Midnight asks before laughing maniacally, genuinely amused. “I should put that on your tombstone: killed by overconfidence and foolishness.” Midnight says and Pinkie gets really aggressive as her mane starts to deflate as her pupils dilate, her irises turning red a bit.

“We’ll put the same thing on your tombstone!” She yells, shocking her friends until she turns back to normal and looks a bit scared. “I-I.. I wasn’t trying to say that..” She says and Twilight quickly reassures her.

“It’s ok Pinkie.. she needs to hear it.” Twilight says as she glares at Midnight. Midnight just yawns and stretches her wings.

“Are you finished?” She asks and Luna’s eye twitches.

“Oh I’m sorry.. are we boring you? Then by all means.. girls?” Luna says and they all split up and start attacking Midnight from all sides and Luna charges straight at her. Midnight takes out her weapon and charges right back.

As Flash Magnus and Tempest tried their best to control the ship, everyone else was either out distracting the villains or keeping them away from it. “Anytime you two wanna get this thing off the ground, that’d be great, but while we’re still alive?!” Trixie urges, already so nervous while aiming a spell at the entrance to the control room, preparing for if the villains get past Starlight and the others. She had been tasked with that along with Spike and the Crusaders but it was nerve-wracking. Soon they manage to get the ship off the ground just as everyone gets back on it, keeping the villains out until the entrance is closed, the Wonderbolts staying out to defend it from Deathbolts and any other flying enemy.

“Ok, it’s up in the air.. now what?” Meadowbrook asks and Starlight looks like she’s about to say something until she pauses and thinks about it.

“Ummm.. wait! We can use this to make them surrender and give up Canterlot.” Starlight says and everyone agrees and they wait until they’re facing right towards Canterlot before they try to find either the weapons or a loudspeaker. Sunset sees the Dazzlings coming at them in their siren forms and she growls in annoyance before finding a button to open a hatch that’s apparently in that room.

“Screw this, I’ll buy you some time.” She says before pressing the button, opening the hatch in the floor before dropping out and everyone looks either shocked or concerned. She continues falling until she blasts fire from her hands and feet to stop and pretty much fly towards the sirens before sending a massive wave of fire at them, knocking them back. They quickly recover and start chasing her around.

She falls under a charge from Aria, causing her to crash into a building, and flips over one from Sonata, letting her slide along the ground, before Adagio is suddenly in front of her and tail whips her into the roof of a building. Adagio flys to it, flying straight up right before she rams into it. She then transforms back into her pony form and tries to drop down right onto Sunset but she dodges out of the way just in time, the landing badly damaging the roof, before they both start fighting, using different fighting styles and landing good hits on the other.

Eventually Sonata and Aria join in, but Sunset is able to hold her own against them for a bit before eventually their skill and enhanced strength get the better of her and she’s held down by Aria and Sonata as Adagio stands over her, all of them panting from how much of a fight Sunset put up.

“Huh.. not bad Shimmer.. color us impressed.” Aria says and Sunset can’t help but chuckle.

“Well what can I say? I aim to please.” Sunset says and Adagio rolls her eyes before her eyes and gem glow and she prepares to do a sonic scream along with her sisters. “Oh no..” Sunset says as she struggles to get free.

“Sorry Sunny.. it’s nothing personal.” Sonata says and both Aria and Adagio pause to look at her. She notices and looks confused. “What?”

“One? It kinda is personal.” Aria says with a rather aggressive tone, tightening her grip on Sunset to an almost painful level.

“And two.. 'Sunny'? Did you just come up with that?” Adagio asks, and Sonata hesitates before answering.

“It was either that or.. don’t laugh.. 'Shim Shim'.. or y’know.. just 'Shim.'” Sonata says and Sunset drops her head and shakes it slowly, letting out a groan that pretty much says “Just kill me already.”

“We. Are Not. Giving her. A nickname. We’re NOT. Friends!” Adagio says angrily and Sonata frowns.

“But it’s not her fault we ended up in that other world, now is it?” She asks and they think about it until Aria pushes Sonata harshly.

“Don’t you remember that it’s her fault we lost our magic and our immortality?!” She asks and Sonata huffs.

“Of course I remember! But we have it all back now, so it shouldn’t matter! Only pony we should be after is Starswirl! ..Can’t we just-“ Sonata tries to ask before they’re all hit by ice and snow and Sunset is grabbed by Trixie who’s making an ice path to slide on. They both slide on it and start making their way back to the ship.

“While the Great and Powerful Trixie does enjoy being able to protect others, I think she’d prefer it if you don’t ever do that again!” Trixie yells angrily. Sunset gives a sheepish laugh.

“Well I did say I was gonna buy you time and I did. Plus it worked out-“ Sunset says before she notices Astelle, Midnight’s dragon, and the Storm King fighting against Tempest, Starlight, and the pillars of old on top of the ship. “For the most part.” She continues and Trixie scoffs.

“Riiiight and picking a fight against three angry, skilled, powerful, thousand-year old sirens is definitely not a way to get slaughtered or brainwashed.” Trixie says and before Sunset can respond, an explosion knocks them both back down to Canterlot, shattering the ice path that Trixie had made. They quickly recover and are about to defend themselves from the rest of the villains.. until they hear a high-pitched humming sound coming from the ship and they see some of the weapons reveal themselves and start glowing. “Uhhh should we..?” Trixie starts to ask.

“Yep.. go!” Sunset yells before running for cover and Trixie quickly follows her JUST as the weapons start firing. The villains are all shocked and most of them get injured badly. Sunset and Trixie stay behind cover as dust slowly covers the city. “I really hope Twilight and the others are having better luck!”

Twilight flips between a few shadow tendrils from Midnight and destroys some more before she and her friends rush her at the same time and unleash a multitude of attacks on her that knock her back and send her straight through her throne. Just as she gets up, Luna forms magical glowing chains to hold her still but she starts breaking free and moving towards them anyway. Luna flys to her, grabs her and holds her still.

“I’ve got her! Use the elements!” Luna yells and they all hesitate, not knowing if it’ll affect Luna in any way.

“What if we hurt you?! Get clear first!” Rainbow Dash says and she tries to go and move Luna until Midnight screams and sends dark magic all throughout the room and they’re all just barely able to stay where they are. Luna flys back to Midnight and continues to keep her down as she continues unleashing dark magic while growling and screaming.

“Just DO IT!!! I’ll be fine, but you have to end this or none of us will make it out of here!!” Luna yells and they all realize that she’s right. They all get into position and try focusing their power and the elements start to glow.. until they stop and nothing happens.

“W-What’s going on?! Why won’t they work?!” Fluttershy asks, starting to panic and Twilight thinks about it before realizing something.

“Because.. because we’re not the same.. like.. our beliefs and faith in friendship have.. wavered a bit. Even with those years of peace.. we’ve been falling further apart and with everything that’s happened? It just tested our friendship even more until we were on the verge of breaking.. and we’re still on the edge.” Twilight explains and they all look a little guilty since they all feel like they have a part to play in it.

“Don’t say that.. it’s true that you have been tested to extremes! But look at you now! Despite it all you’re still making a stand for Equestria! And you’re still doing it together! So your friendship may never be the same but don’t start thinking that it may soon end.. if there’s one thing that you’ve taught me Twilight, it’s that friendship isn’t just magic!” Luna says and Twilight realizes that as Luna talked, the elements started glowing brighter and brighter. They all feel their friendship but it was different.. like it was a bit stronger.

Multicolored magic starts surrounding all of them and they start floating. The magic starts to grow and glow more and more until Twilight opens her eyes and glares at Midnight. “Friendship.. is.. Eternal.” Twilight says before they unleash the magic in Midnight’s direction and she screams even more as the magic starts to do it’s job. Midnight yells in anger before unleashing more dark magic which knocks Luna into the wall behind them and starts countering the magic from the elements. “Luna!!!” Twilight yells when she sees that Luna’s rendered unconscious, before she’s suddenly remembering when she saw what Midnight had done to Celestia.

Her eyes change into Twivine, her irises purple again instead of red. The magic gets stronger and reaches Midnight once again but this time it seems to be hurting her more than freeing Solaris. This is because when it hits her, she sounds like she and Solaris are screaming in pain at the same time. “Twilight! Stop!” Rainbow yells but Twilight doesn’t listen. “You don’t wanna do this.. it isn’t you! I know what she did was bad but we can’t blame Solaris for her mistakes.. we can’t give in to hate like they did.. remember?” She asks and Twilight slowly turns to her, remembering the same thing she told Rainbow last night.

“We.. must.. be.. better.” Twilight says as she struggles to go back to normal and when she closes her eyes, breathes in and out, then opens them, they’re back to normal. “And we will be!” She yells before the magic goes back to only freeing Solaris instead of hurting both her and Midnight. After a few seconds, they can see Solaris trying to break free but Midnight is trying to keep her trapped. Twilight throws a magical rope towards her and she grabs onto it as Twilight starts trying to pull her out with help from her friends.

“You.. will not.. escape me!!!” Midnight yells before blasting magic back at them to counter the magic of the elements and their clash stops in the middle, forming a ball of built up dark and light magic.

“You’re done tormenting her Midnight! You will never harm anypony in any way, EVER again!” Twilight yells and the magic continues to build up until finally.. it reaches its limit.. and explodes, causing a blinding light to cover the entirety of Canterlot until it stops and Luna wakes up and looks to see Midnight gone.. along with the Mane 6.

Author's Note

Soooo did it work or not? And where did the Mane 6 go? You’ll see in the next chapter and who knows? Maybe a familiar face will pop up.

Facing our fears

As Twilight wakes up, she comes to realize that.. everything’s pitch black. She can’t see anything or anyone. She sits up and looks around, hoping to find some clue as to where she is.. maybe she’s back at the place where she and the others first got their powers? It would make sense since they also got the elements back from there.. but there was no voice this time.

“Rainbow?! Luna?! ..Girls?!” She calls out but gets no response. She notices that after she does call out though, she feels like.. she’s being watched. This causes the fear that was already in her to go up a bit as she walks around, hoping to find a way out. Every now and then she could’ve sworn she heard something or saw something in the corner of her eye. She keeps walking until she notices that something’s different and she looks down to see that her feet are no longer visible as she’s standing in some sort of black.. liquid?

She hears something again and looks to see.. bubbles in the liquid.. heading straight towards her, she hears more and next thing she knows, she’s surrounded by six of whatever is in this stuff. She tries to fly away but her wings won’t open. She tries using magic but her horn won’t even so much as glow. So she does the only thing she can at this point.. she runs as fast as she can, not knowing or caring where she’s going, just wanting to get as far away from whatever those things were as possible.

“Come on, think! There’s gotta be some way out of here! Some way back to the others!” Twilight yells, frantically searching for a way out as she’s running. She notices that the further she runs, the more the depth of whatever she was standing in increases until her legs are completely submerged and only the top half of her body is visible. She also hears those creatures getting closer but she refuses to look back. She keeps looking and sees a door with some sort of alicorn design on it and she runs to it as fast as she can.

When she makes it to it, she tries to open it only to find that it’s locked. “No no no no!” She says as she continues trying to open it. She looks to see the bubbles getting closer and closer to where she was. “Come on!!!” She yells as she tries ramming her shoulder into the door over and over again and even tries kicking it down but it doesn’t budge so she backs up against it as the creatures look like they’re about to reach her.. until she falls through the door and lands on top of a mountain. She then notices that this isn’t just any mountain..

It’s the mountain of Light Hope's home.. why was she here-?

“You are so. Selfish! Ya know that?!” She hears a familiar voice say and she turns around only to be grabbed and thrown behind Rainbow Dash to the other side of the mountaintop. Before she can fully recover, Rainbow knees her in the face and pins her down, punching her repeatedly. “You talk about being better than the other villains when you were one of them!” Rainbow yells before picking up Twilight and slamming her then kicking her off the mountain.

Fluttershy catches her and slams her into the side of the mountain. “You’re the reason so many ponies are either dead or suffering in so many places! You're the real villain!” Fluttershy yells before spinning and throwing Twilight into the Great Lake. Twilight’s wings still won’t work and neither will her magic. She notices that she still has her weapons.. but she didn’t wanna hurt her friends.. or worse. She tries to swim to the surface but the more she tries, the further away from it she gets.

Just as everything starts to go dark, she’s suddenly dropped out of the sky and straight into the Everfree Forest. She looks around frantically and sees what looks to be the aftermath of a battle. She sees three dead ponies and recognizes them as the fire pony who attacked Applejack and Rarity, and Flim and Flam. Seeing this, she’s reminded of when Midnight had killed them both.. and she wasn’t able to do anything.

“That right there.. is your problem.” She hears Applejack say before she’s punched in the back right through a tree. “Ya tell yourself that you couldn’t do anything when we both know that’s not true.. ya could’ve saved them but no.. you didn’t want your cover to be blown so you let 'em die!” Applejack says and just as Twilight tries to get up, she’s frozen in place then kicked in the head by Rarity who stomps on her head, keeping it on the ground.

“Rather cowardly if you ask me. Especially since you didn’t expose yourself until an entire village had already been destroyed and three survivors needed you.. not that it’ll do the dead any good!” Rarity says before blasting Twilight away into the clearing where they fought. “Although it makes sense.. you wanted to hide from everything, too afraid to face it all after what you’ve done.. and to think.. everypony thought so much better of you darling.. only to be let down.” She says and Twilight starts getting angry because.. a part of her actually believes what they’re saying.

Did she want to hide before? Maybe, did she regret all the ponies she couldn’t save? Definitely.. but what good was that? “I know I’ve made mistakes! B-But I’m trying to-“ Twilight tries to say but she’s suddenly pinned to the ground by a giant Ursa paw and she looks to see that “Applejack” has turned into a Ursa Major just like Flim and Flam said.

“Trying to what?! Save a buncha dead ponies from a fate you condemned them to?! A bit late for that don’t you think?!” She asks as she raises her paw.

“N-No! WAIT!!!” Twilight screams but Applejack brings the giant paw down anyway and Twilight closes her eyes.. then opens them to see that she’s in Canterlot. She hesitantly stands up and looks around, seeing everything the way it was before Midnight ruined it. She’s very skeptical after what she just went through so she keeps her guard up as she walks around. She sees somepony in the distance and when she gets closer, she recognizes it as..

“Celestia..? Celestia!” She yells excitedly as she runs to her and just as she’s about to get to her, Celestia bursts into flames.. and out of the flames comes Daybreaker who pins Twilight’s head to the ground as she grabs her, dragging her and grinding her face into the dirt before she slams her, sending her tumbling away.

“Well well well, look who it is. The very pony who caused all this to begin with! The same pony that led to me becoming THIS!” She yells angrily and Twilight struggles to get up and just as she manages to get to her knees, she’s kicked in the side by Pinkie which knocks her into a building.

“The same pony who brings out the worst in all her friends.. in herself! You wanna protect Equestria so bad? Well guess what? You know as well as I do that Equestria would be a better place.. without. You.” She says as she pulls out one of her makeshift “party pistols” and aims it at Twilight and as much as Twilight was starting to believe everything that had been said to her.. she wasn’t ready to die just yet. She kicks it out of Pinkie’s hand before she can shoot it and trips her before getting on top of her and punching her once, knocking her out instantly. Daybreaker kicks her off and Twilight quickly recovers, taking out her weapons.

“Please..! Please don’t make me do this!!” Twilight pleads but Daybreaker charges at her anyway, fire trailing behind her the whole way and the next thing Twilight knows after she closes her eyes.. she opens them and she’s standing with one of her blades going into Celestia's chest.

“That’s right.. you’re the one who truly caused my death. Midnight may have dealt the finishing blow.. but you? ..You are the one that killed me.. my not so faithful student..” Celestia says and Twilight slowly shakes her head as a weak show of denial.

“No.. I-I didn’t.. I.. I’m so sorry..” Twilight says and she sees her friends walking up, the flames coming from the now burning kingdom of Canterlot giving their silhouettes a sinister look.

“You know it as well as we do.. it was a mistake for me to make you a princess.. all that power and the only thing you’ve done with it all this time.. is hurt others..” She says before suddenly grabbing Twilight’s hands and forcing her to send the blade deeper into her chest. Twilight tries to stop her but she can’t seem to get her hands free. “Not only are you a disgrace..a failure.. and a weakling.. but you’re also a murderer.” Celestia continues and Twilight tries harder to get free.

“Stop it.. please just stop!” Twilight yells but “Celestia” continues to torment her.. and she continues to fall for it.

“You’re a destroyer.. a villain.. nothing close to being a true friend..” Celestia says and Twilight shakes her head even more.

“No..!”

“You. Are. NO. PRINCESS!”

“NOOOO!!!” Twilight screams before she realizes that.. the illusion or whatever the hell she was trapped in had changed.. she was surrounded by buildings that looked to have a much older design than the ones in Canterlot. She hears something and soon realizes that it’s somepony calling for help. She sighs and asks herself “What am I doing..?” Before following the sound to its source.. until she sees a burning mansion of sorts but realizes that.. it’s Solaris’s mansion. “Oh my god.. Solaris!” She yells before trying to run through the entrance which is open.

At least it’s open until she gets close, then she hears a terrifying voice. “NO!” The voice says before the doors slam shut, sending a shockwave of magic that knocks Twilight back. She quickly gets up and tries opening them again but they wouldn’t budge. She’s suddenly grabbed from behind by Midnight and slammed into the stairs before she’s picked up and slammed into the dirt below them. “You won’t be getting anywhere near her! Not without getting through me first.” She says before clones of Midnight appear.. and a LOT of them.

Twilight, having had enough, doesn’t hesitate to take out her weapons. “Fine.. magic or not.. I’ll take you all on.. then I’m getting Solaris out of there and saving my friends.” She says and the first Midnight that had attacked her smirks before all of them form the different weapons that were in Midnight’s arsenal.

“Then by all means.. show me how you intend to do that.” She says and Twilight huffs and runs at them all, dodging under the first attack, blocking another, and killing one of the clones as she continues running, avoiding and blocking incoming attacks along the way. She continues killing clones, even with some of them using magic and she manages to kill at least 15. She goes to kill another but is blocked, countered, and knocked further away from the mansion when she tries. One of the Midnights seem to use magic.. but not on her. By the time she recovers, alicorn empathy is setting off all kinds of alarm bells in her head and she has no idea why.. Until it forces her to look up and she reacts just fast enough to catch the mountaintop that was falling towards her, not having enough time to move instead.

She groans in pain when she catches it, struggling not to buckle under the weight as she's forced to one knee. “Face it Twilight.. you were never going to win this.. you’re nothing without your friends, or your magic.. maybe if you had started accepting your new powers instead of fearing them.. you would know how to use them here.” Midnight says and Twilight tries not to give in.. but she’s exhausted and her arms and legs were starting to hurt and the sheer willpower she was using to keep holding up the mountaintop was dangerously low now.. maybe Midnight was.. right.

“I.. I can’t do this alone. I can’t.. do this.. I’m sorry everyone..” Twilight says before she looks towards the mansion, still hearing Solaris scream for help from inside. “I’m sorry Solaris..” She says before one of her hands slip and she quickly closes her eyes, awaiting the brutal death that awaited her.. but it didn’t come, she opens her eyes, only to close them as she sees a blinding golden light in front of her. Once her eyes adjust to the light, she’s shocked and way more than a little relieved to see.. Celestia.. standing with her and helping her lift the ginormous mountaintop above them.

“C-Celestia..? Please tell me it’s really you..” Twilight says and Celestia smiles and nods.

“It’s me, I assure you.. and not just me.” She says as she helps Twilight toss the mountaintop to the side and just as Twilight falls from being so tired, she feels someone catch her and looks to see Rainbow Dash who gives her a concerned look.

“Rainbow..?” Twilight asks and Rainbow Dash smiles and nods in response.

“Don’t worry Twi.. we’re here to help you now.” She says before the others show up and have their weapons.. and magic ready.

“H-How-“ Twilight tries to ask but Celestia explains that after being able to use at least half her normal power and going through all the torment and pain, she found the others first and helped them figure out how to use their own. She walks to Twilight and grabs both her hands.

“To use your magic.. you have to stop doubting yourself.. stop fearing your abilities.. stop blaming yourself for things you could not control.. let yourself feel the power coursing through you.. then use it. And remember you’re using it to defend those you love.. don’t let anger or fear fuel it.. let it be fueled by the love that you’ve received.. and what you’ve shared.” Celestia says and Twilight nods, closes her eyes and breathes in and out.

“ENOUGH!!” Midnight yells as the army of clones charges towards them and they get ready to fight.. until Twilight opens her eyes which are glowing and a huge wave of magic comes from her, destroying the clones and putting out the fire in the mansion. Everyone looks amazed and when they look at her, her mane is glowing and slightly flowing along with her tail, appearing as if they contained galaxies. Symbols covered her body, including her horn. Her feathers were glowing the same shade of purple as her new magic.

As she goes back to normal, she notices the shocked looks from her friends and the proud smile from Celestia. They all continue towards the mansion and this time the doors open easily and they see the damage and destruction caused by the mansion but what really catches their eyes is the crying ball of purple fur trapped under debris. They all work together to quickly move it all until they’re met by the sight of the young alicorn known.. as Solaris.

She looks up at them and looks so scared when she does. Twilight gets a bit closer but Solaris quickly starts backing away from her, still scared after what she had just gone through and had been going through for thousands of years. Twilight then takes the gentler approach and gently shushes her as she slowly crouches to her level.

“Shhhh, hey it’s ok.. we’re not gonna hurt you.” She says and after a few seconds, Solaris seems to calm down as she looks up at her, putting her shaking hands down but still being cautious. “Sorry we scared you.. but it’s going to be ok now.. my name is-“ Twilight tries to introduce herself and her friends but Solaris interrupts her with a tired, slightly shaky voice.

“Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.. you all are the Mane 6 and you’re Princess Celestia..” She says and they all nod but look confused about something. “Sometimes I can see what Midnight does on the outside.. who she meets, who she fights.. who she.. she..” Solaris tries to finish but her sentence fades off into sobs, sniffles, and whimpers. It hurts their hearts and Twilight puts a gentle hand on Solaris's shoulder, prompting her to jump into her arms for a hug, still crying.

“Shhh.. it’s ok.. it’ll all be ok now.. you won’t have to suffer through that anymore. I promise.. we’re taking you home. And hopefully.. we can help you move past this.. and you can help us get rid of Midnight for good.” Twilight says and Solaris freezes up at that and for a full two minutes, she doesn’t respond.. until she looks up at Twilight and nods.

“Good.. let’s go get rid of that monster.. once and for all.”

The return of hope

Things took a turn for the worst. The villains were starting to surrender until dark magic blasted all throughout Canterlot which boosted their power and they started fighting much harder and faster. Luna had even joined the battle to help but her assistance didn’t change much. Due to not knowing how to control the ship, which was being torn apart by the Storm King and Midnight’s dragon, they hadn’t been able to turn the weapons on the villains before they reached it. It wouldn’t be long before it went down.

They were all desperately trying to think of something, anything at all. “It’s over! Give up and maybe some of you will survive this!” Astelle yells and they all get ready to fight anyway. One way or another, they weren’t going down without one..

But what else could they do..?

The Pillars of Old and Sunset were injured and captured by the Dazzlings. Spike was pinned between the Storm King and the dragon along with Starlight, Trixie and Tempest. The Royal Guard and the Wonderbolts were cornered by the Deathbolts. Luna was being held up by magic from Astelle. And the rest of Midnight’s army was ready to strike them down if given the signal.. it was hopeless.. they’ve lost.

“You know.. little sis.. I’m actually very disappointed.. You understood my jealousy, rage, hatred.. my desire to be better than Celestia well enough a thousand years ago.. if only you still did, maybe I wouldn’t have to do this.” Astelle says before a blade comes out of her right gauntlet.

“A part of me still does.. but I never forgot that she was my sister.. neither of us ever forgot you, Astelle.. we never stopped caring about you.. we always loved you sister..” Luna struggles to say and Astelle freezes up, her eyes momentarily ceasing to glow.

“I-I.. Wha.. No.. No! That’s a lie!! I’m meaningless to you, to both of you! Just like I was meaningless to our parents! They didn’t care about me.. after you and Celestia were born it was like I didn’t even exist! Midnight was the only one who saw my potential, saw my worth from the start!” She says before she slams Luna down and stomps on her stomach, knocking the air out of her. “You were never my sisters!! ..You were always just something in my way..” She says as she gets ready to kill Luna.

“Stay.. Away from her!!!” She hears someone yell before receiving a powerful blast that knocks her through buildings. Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon are about to attack until they get blasted too from behind with fire along with Midnight’s aerial fighters. After that, Ember lands and Smolder lands by her in her “rampage” form with the rest of the young six on her shoulders or her head, the cutie mark crusaders being with them. She roars as they all charge at them and Flurry Heart and Cadance appear and help Luna up.

The Storm King and Midnight’s dragon go down to try and help and Spike runs to the edge, worried and feeling more useless than ever.. there has to be something he can do! Smolder could turn into a giant, so could Ember but he couldn’t! Why?! Then it hits him.. maybe he can do it too but just doesn’t know how.. no time to learn. He looks to Starlight and runs to her.

“Starlight, is there some sort of spell that could make me do that too?! I wanna help!” Spike yells but Starlight gently pushes him away as she stands up fully.

“Spike, no, you are helping, but I can’t do that to you.. it could turn you into a monster or do something worse to you!” She warns him but he shakes his head and grabs her, pulling her to the edge.

“Do you really think that’s gonna matter if we lose this?! Look!” He says, pointing to the battle and Starlight is shocked to see every creature already having trouble and starting to be pushed back. “You HAVE to do this for me.. it’s probably the only way to help everyone.. please Starlight!” Spike pleads and Starlight looks between the ongoing battle and the young dragon and frowns, sighing and turning to him.

“Twilight’s not gonna be happy about this..” She says and Spike shrugs.

“At least she’ll be around to be mad.. let’s do this.” Spike says and Starlight shakes her head slowly, hoping they wouldn’t regret this, and casting the spell. The more sounds they hear from the battle, the more anxious Spike gets.. if anything he didn’t want anyone to die but that’s exactly what was gonna happen if he didn’t do something.

Since the first day this all started, he had felt useless, and he had continued to feel that way as time went on.. but no more. He was done feeling that way. He was gonna help make things right if it was the last thing he’d ever do. He thought about when Twilight had been taken, when Rarity had gotten attacked along with Applejack, when any of his friends had needed him.. and he. Wasn’t. There.

The rage that he feels with these thoughts.. start to change him. He starts getting bigger, muscular, his voice starts getting deep, his wings grow tremendously and his eyes start glowing green. It was working.. but there was one problem. It hurt. He groans and growls in pain, feeling like his body is trying to tear itself apart. Those groans eventually become screams as the pain intensifies. “Spike!” Starlight yells as she tries to undo the spell but Spike stops her.

“N-No! Don’t..! I’m.. I’m fine! I’ll be..” He tries to say before he screams/roars in pain and looks towards the edge of the ship. Starlight immediately realizes what he’s about to do and tries using her magic to stop him.. only for him to escape from it and jump off the ship anyway. She runs to the edge and just as she looks down, a bright green flash momentarily blinds her and she’s forced to look away and cover her eyes. Once she looks down she’s amazed to see Spike.. bigger and scarier than ever.

He was taller than Smolder and Ember but Midnight’s dragon was still taller than both of them. The dragon turns away from Smolder and roars at Spike who roars back before they charge at each other. Spike gets tackled out of Canterlot and Smolder goes to help him. Well that’s one big target down. Everyone else goes to fight the rest of the villains and it’s way easier now with Spike distracting one of their biggest allies. Plus the Storm King really had it out for Tempest so wherever she went, he chased. Sunset and Trixie were there to help just in case so Starlight assisted the Pillars of Old along with Ember.

That just left Shining Armor to learn how to control the ship along with Thorax who showed up not long after everyone else did. He grows worried when he sees Cadance battling Sombra while Flurry Heart battled Cozy Glow but he knows that the best way to help them would be to focus on what he was doing. But these controls were so confusing! “How does anyone manage to fly this thing?!” He yells, confused and frustrated. The battle goes on for a while until suddenly a beam of multicolored magic shoots up into the sky and the light momentarily blinds everyone.

Within a matter of seconds, all of Canterlot is back to how it was before. No, it was even better than before and the ship had been changed in shape, color, weapons and controls and the magic had destroyed Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, sending Nightmare Moon's magic into Luna and sending Daybreaker's.. somewhere. Midnight is blasted out of the castle and seems to be struggling with something. Astelle pushes Luna away and goes to help but Midnight suddenly screams in pain as she glows purple before she disappears.. and right where she just was, a small purple alicorn is laying there instead. All the villains are shocked and somewhat outraged.

“Midnight.. was a child this whole time?!” Sombra asks, clearly displeased at the idea that they were all easily overpowered by a child this whole time. Tirek yells, enraged as he charges at Solaris and tries lava punching her only for Twilight to land in front of him, making a shield with magic and blocking his punch, sending it right back at him which knocks him into a building. The impact also broke the gauntlet on his arm but didn’t hurt his arm, not majorly at least. Everyone is shocked but the villains were definitely displeased to see that she’s back so imagine their reaction.. when the rest of the Mane 6 lands beside her.. along with Celestia.

“No.. no! No! NO!!!” Astelle yells as she charges at Celestia who teleports above her only to drop down and slam her face into the ground and pinning her.

“It’s over Astelle.. you’ve lost. Midnight is gone so you and the other villains might as well give up.” Celestia says and Astelle growls, trying to break free until she realizes that.. she can’t draw power from the sun anymore.. she also notices that Celestia's mane and eyes are slightly glowing.

“Or. What?” She asks before noticing the ship powering up and aiming the weapons at all of them.

“I’m willing to die for Equestria sister.. are you?” Celestia asks and Astelle tries thinking of her options but seeing that there weren’t a whole lot.. she sighs as a show of defeat and looks at the rest of the villains.

“Stand.. down..” Astelle reluctantly says and all the villains hesitate.. but then lower their weapons and put their powers to rest. They all allow themselves to be gathered up and restrained.

After they’re all taken care of, all the heroes regroup, Spike eventually turning small again after both him and Starlight receive a yelling session and a lecture from Twilight, and as soon as everyone gets a chance, they immediately run to Celestia and display in their own ways how happy they are that she’s alive and that she’s returned. Luna walks to her in shock. “S-Sister..?” She asks and Celestia smiles and nods, prompting Luna to instantly hug her as tightly as possible. “I’m so sorry.. I should’ve been stronger, maybe I would’ve been able to help you before! I-“ Luna tries to say but Celestia hugs her back, making her tense up.

“Don’t blame yourself for what happened Luna.. there was nothing you could’ve done, nothing anyone could’ve done.. and I’m alive, aren’t I?” She asks and Luna chuckles before looking up at her and responding.

“One can only hope.” She says and Celestia laughs along with everyone else. Twilight smiles then frowns and walks to the edge of Canterlot, looking over Equestria, thinking of all the damage they would have to undo.. all the damage she brought about.. She sighs and crosses her arms, looking down.

“I hope you’re not thinking of jumping.” Rainbow says as she walks up to her. Twilight rolls her eyes but doesn’t look at her as she responds.

“No.. not like it would do much anyway.. besides hurt a lot.” Twilight says and Rainbow slowly nods and looks out to the rest of Equestria too.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Rainbow asks and Twilight sighs again.

“Just.. stuff.. like how I’m really the one who caused all this.. Midnight wouldn’t have escaped if I hadn’t helped the other villains bring her through that portal-“ Twilight says but before she can finish her sentence, she receives a harsh punch to the shoulder. “Ow! What are you- what was that for?!” Twilight asks, ignoring the glare that was currently on Rainbow’s face.

“Twi, listen to me and listen close. You had nothing to do with any of what Midnight and her goons did. If anything you had everything to do with stopping them. I mean.. look around.” Rainbow says before gesturing to what’s happening in Canterlot. Twilight looks and sees the villains being transported onto the ship while her friends, family, and former students celebrate their victory and she can’t help but smile. She also sees Solaris just now coming to and being welcomed by the other kids and everyone else, even though some of them are a bit skeptical. “You did all this Twilight.. you helped save Equestria.. if that isn’t enough, I don’t know what can be.”

Twilight starts crying but quickly wipes the tears of joy from her face. She really had accomplished a lot.. and it was all with the help of her friends, family, and students. “You’re right Rainbow..” Twilight says and she gives a smug look, causing Twilight to start to reconsider her choice of words.. buuut at this point, it was too late.

“Of course, I’m right.” Rainbow says before grabbing Twilight’s hand and starting to walk back to the others. “Now come on, let’s celebrate! We’ve earned it! First round of cider's on me!” Rainbow says and Twilight chuckles then looks at Rainbow’s hand and her own and she blushes and thinks about something before stopping in her tracks.

“Rainbow, wait..” She says, prompting Dash to turn to her so she grabs her other hand, breathes in and out then talks. “I wanna thank you.. for everything.” Twilight says and Rainbow looks confused before smirking.

“What else did you expect from your fastest and most loyal friend?” She asks and Twilight shakes her head.

“It’s not just because you’re fast or loyal.. while I appreciate those things I also appreciate what kind of pony you are.. what kind of pony you inspired me to be.. you actually listened to me.. you helped me.. and in a way.. in a lot of ways..” Twilight says, starting to blush even more and Rainbow notices. “You’ve.. changed me.. for the better.. and I hope I’ve had the same effect on you.” Twilight says and Dash doesn’t even know what to say. “And I hope it can stay that way after I tell you.. one last thing.” Twilight says and Rainbow's heart rate speeds up as she gets an idea where this is going.

“Twi-” Rainbow tries to say but Twilight interrupts her.

“No.. I need you to hear it.. if I don’t say it now.. I may NEVER say it.. Rainbow I.. I-I.. I really-“ Twilight tries to say only to be cut off as Rainbow's lips suddenly meet her own. She’s shocked at first but then decides to reciprocate the kiss until the two of them separate and smile at each other then hug and nuzzle one another.

“This is AMAZING!!!!” Pinkie yells before tackling both of them in a hug, followed by the rest of their friends.

“Took y’all long enough.” Applejack says and Rainbow Dash and Twilight both blush.

“Wait, how much did you see?” Twilight asks and Rarity smirks.

“Enough.” She says and they all laugh until they get up and decide to go and celebrate.

“All of you go ahead, I’ll catch up.” Twilight says and they all walk off and she looks at the sunset that had now started and sighs. “There’s a lot to do.. but we’re ready.. and we always will be.” She promises herself before deciding to catch up with her friends. Rebuilding everything that had been destroyed would take a lot of effort but they would cross that bridge when they got to it. Right now they were just happy to enjoy the peace.. that they so tragically deserve.. a peace.. that would last for a while.

But not forever..

“So they have chosen suffering.. I tried to be merciful to you Equestria, but now.. you have forced my hand.. I will return and when I do.. there! Will be! No!! Peace!!!..

Only Suffering..” Midnight’s voice says before cackling.. the laughter slowly fading into silence as a threat and a promise.. one of eternal hell on Equestria.

Author's Note

Ok so we got TwiDash now!!! One down, lord know how many more to go. Anyway, hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed making it and look forward to more, also if you don’t like my ships, simple solution: don’t read Or don’t judge and keep reading. It’s your choice but it’s not about the ships, it’s about the story

A time of fragile peace

Months later

It had taken a lot of effort, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but finally.. there was peace. Midnight was gone, her army was mostly defeated, and everything was finally back in order.. for the most part anyway. After the return of their mutual rivals, Celestia and Luna had come out of retirement to take up their thrones once again. At least until Twilight felt comfortable ruling Equestria by herself again, that is. The mirror was almost completely repaired, meaning Sunset would be able to go back to the human world soon but she was currently helping at the school of friendship. Spitfire had retired and left Rainbow in charge of training current and new Wonderbolts as well as leading them. Of course Rainbow had been nervous at first but she seems to have it under control.

The rest of the Mane 6 had gone back to their normal lives after whoever was left of Midnight's army had disappeared and ceased committing their atrocities across Equestria. Guess the news that Midnight was defeated had took the fight out of them. Either way, everything was ok again.. for the most part anyway.. Twilight, for quite a while now, had been.. dealing with something by herself.. she had thought about telling her friends many times before but.. whenever she thinks she’s going to, she just changes her mind. This problem.. is actually what started everything to begin with.. Twivine.

Despite Midnight being gone, Twivine had remained in Twilight's mind but had stayed quiet for quite a while.. until she didn’t. She had obviously been angry when she found out Midnight was really gone and had sworn to take revenge on Twilight and her friends. Twilight had even found herself starting to struggle to keep control of herself every now and then due to Twivine trying to take control. Her friends and family had almost caught on a few times but she quickly covered it up each time. Speaking of which, she was currently sitting on her throne, trying to use alicorn empathy to finally communicate with Twivine privately and ask her why she insists on trying to hurt her and her friends even though Midnight’s gone. She tried and tried but Twivine clearly didn’t want to be bothered with talking to her “weaker half”.

Twilight sighs in frustration and stands up, deciding to do something better than try to communicate with a monster. Maybe she could check on her friends. After all, she did promise she would do that more often since she had failed to do so during the ten years of peace they had previously gotten.. not everything was perfect but things felt so much simpler then.. now nothing is clear anymore. She walks out of the throne room and goes outside the castle. Almost immediately, she’s surrounded by ponies who all wanna thank her for what she did to help Equestria and ponies who wanted an audience with her.

“Uhhh.. you’re welcome everypony. Unfortunately, I don’t have time for an audience right now. I have some.. important matters to attend to, but I should return soon.” She says before flying off, glad to get away from all the attention. It helped that Celestia and Luna had returned to their original positions as princesses.. but that only did so much before the attention started to get to her, and not in a good way.. she just hopes that talking with Rainbow Dash will help calm her nerves this time as it usually did.

Light Hope's burial ground

“Hey Light Hope.. been a while, huh?” Rainbow Dash asks, sitting next to the tombstone, the name of her old trainer and friend residing on the surface. She looks at the amazing view granted by the location of the grave. It was on top of the “Great Mountain” of her home which was currently being rebuilt, all the survivors and animals working together to return it to its former glory. “Still jealous of this view ya got.. hope I get something just like it when my time comes.. but I didn’t come here for this to get depressing.. how have you been..? Me? I’ve been pretty good myself. Wonderbolt training is good, we’re actually.. 20 members strong now, and that’s including the Wonderbolt reserves.”

Tank, Rainbow’s pet turtle with a propeller tied to his shell, lands by her and nuzzles into her leg and she smiles and pets him. She frowns when she remembers something and sighs, looking at the view again. She clinches her fists, her breathing becoming abnormally fast as her eyes glow red.

“Lightning Dust escaped about a week ago.. I’ve been trying to focus with the training while also having squads looking for her but.. I mainly wanna go after her myself.. to make her pay for what she did to you.” Rainbow says, this sudden behavior starting to scare Tank. “I will make her pay eventually.. I promise you that.. I haven’t forgotten OR forgiven what she did..” She says, the thought of Lightning Dust driving her anger to new heights.. then she thinks of Twilight and Scootaloo.. and starts to calm down.

She sighs before saying “Those two, I swear..” with a faint smile. She really does love those two like family.. she was still shocked at how the simple thought of those two could pull her mind from the darkest of places. She hears someone land behind her, trying to sneak up and rolls her eyes, smirking before suddenly speed tackling Twilight to the ground, being careful not to send Tank spinning on his shell again. “Hey Twi~” Rainbow says in a low, sultry tone and Twilight can’t help but blush before kissing her nose and sitting up.

“Hey Rainbow.. figured I’d find you here.” She says with a smile and Rainbow gets off her, helping her up afterwards.

“That means you know me too well.. might need to find a new thinking spot.” Rainbow says with a chuckle. Twilight chuckles as well and follows her, sitting by her at the edge of the mountaintop.

“So.. you just coming to visit Light Hope?” She asks and Rainbow nods so Twilight nods awkwardly in return before continuing. “Telling her about everything that’s been going on?” She asks and Rainbow nods again. Twilight suddenly thinks about the conversation they had before and after Lighting Dust escaped imprisonment. She shifts nervously and Rainbow Dash sighs, a little frustrated.

“I already know what you’re gonna ask Twi, and yes, it happened again!” Rainbow snaps, startling Twilight.

“I-I was just concerned.. I know that Lightning Dust escaping hasn’t been easy for you.. but I just wanna make sure you don’t still want to.. to kill her.” Twilight says and Rainbow's anger just increases.

“Of course I still wanna kill her! Once I get my hands on her, I’ll show her the same mercy she showed Light Hope and would show anyone else I care about or me!” Rainbow yells and Twilight looks shocked and shakes her head slowly.

“Rainbow.. do you really think Light Hope would want you to-“

“You didn’t even know Light Hope, and you think you know what she would want for me? …Maybe you should just keep her name out of your mouth..” Rainbow says and Twilight suddenly feels a huge pang of hurt and anger.

“Hey! I’m just trying to keep you from doing something you’ll regret! I may not have known Light Hope but I know, based on what you and Fluttershy told me about her, that she would want better for you than for you to become a murderer! So do I! So does Scootaloo! Everypony who knows and loves you wants better for you.. even if you don’t see it.. we can’t lose you.. I can’t lose you..” Twilight says before standing up and starting to walk off and Rainbow feels so much guilt and quickly grabs Twilight’s hand.

“Twi wait.. I’m sorry.. Stay, please.” She pleads and Twilight thinks about it then sighs and sits back down. “Look I just.. I didn’t mean to snap at you but I.. I just really miss her.. and to tell you the truth, I don’t like the fact that you think you have to keep an eye on me whenever something happens with Lightning Dust..” Rainbow says and Twilight’s about to say she’s just looking out for her but Rainbow interrupts.

“You’re just looking out for me, I know, but.. I’ll be ok Twi.. you can trust me.” Rainbow says and Twilight looks hesitant but then smiles and nods, prompting Rainbow to smile back and lean against her. “You really do worry too much.. but that’s one thing that makes you so adorable.”

Twilight chuckles at that and hugs Rainbow closer to her. “You’re the adorable one. Not everyone knows because you don’t act this way in public but I’ve seen that.. softer side of you and it’s so cute.” Twilight says and Rainbow blushes and looks away.

“J-Just shut up.. you can be really adorkable sometimes, ya know that?” She asks and Twilight raises an eyebrow.

“Adorkable? Did you just come up with that word to describe me?” Twilight asks with a smirk and Rainbow mumbles something, prompting Twilight to giggle and continue to hold her close, both of them enjoying the comfort they find in each other’s presence.

Ponyville

“Thank you once again for agreeing to do this with me Applejack.” Rarity says and Applejack nods as they walk together.

“Don’t sweat it Rarity.. feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been able to just.. be ourselves, ya know? It’s actually nice to take a break from things every now and again.” Applejack says and Rarity agrees before looking down with a nervous look then leading Applejack to her boutique.

“Actually Applejack, there was another reason I wanted you to meet up with me.” Rarity says and Applejack raises an eyebrow in confusion. “I need to talk to you about this.. thing.. between me and Spike.. I may need your advice.” Rarity says and Applejack shifts nervously, looking more than a bit uncomfortable.

“I don’t know Rare.. ya know I’m no good with that kinda stuff.” Applejack says but Rarity gives her a pleading look, causing her to sigh and reconsider. “But.. I could try my best.” She says and Rarity squeals happily and hugs her before backing up and starting to explain.

“So.. I’ve given it some thought and.. I like him too but.. well.. he’s still a child, there’s someone else and he’ll live to be over a hundred years old because.. well he’s a dragon.” Rarity says sadly before continuing. “I know that if I tell him it won’t work, it’ll break his heart but if we did end up together and he outlived me, that would still hurt him.. but he’d also be alone then..” She says before looking up at Applejack with a look like she’s on the verge of crying. “I don’t know what to do Applejack..” She continues and Applejack goes to comfort her, prompting Rarity to pull her into a hug. She looks shocked then hugs back.

“Well.. it depends.. is this other fella anything like Spike? Ya know, Kind, brave, strong, loyal? Huge obsession over you?” Applejack jokes and Rarity giggles a bit before pulling back a bit.

“Kind, brave, strong, and loyal? Yes, but the obsession? No.” She says and Applejack asks her to describe this pony, causing her to shift nervously. “Ummmm.. well.. they’re an earth pony.. strong.. gorgeous.. brutally honest.. ummm.. always there for me even though we’re.. opposites.. they have these beautiful eyes that I could gaze into for days on end.” Rarity says and Applejack starts to piece all these details together.. and then she figures out who her friend is describing.

“Wait so.. you like.. me? And Spike?” Applejack asks and Rarity blushes and hesitantly nods. Applejack doesn’t know how to react so she sits down and shakes her head, sighing.

“I’m flattered Rarity, I really am but.. you really wanna do that to Spike?” She asks and Rarity shakes her head sadly.

“No, I don’t but if it prevents hurting him worse than a simple rejection could do.. then I have to be willing to..” Rarity says and Applejack doesn’t look too comfortable but Rarity really didn’t want to lose either of them. “Listen, I know what I’m asking of you but.. at least think about it? ..Please.” Rarity pleads and Applejack thinks about it then sighs and stands up.

“Ok.. I’ll sleep on it.. I like you too Rarity but.. if it ain’t ok with Spike first.. I can’t go through with it.” Applejack says and Rarity nods in understanding.

“Of course, I’ll let you think about what we spoke of.. I don’t want to lose either of you and I don’t want to hurt Spike like that so.. I’ll talk it over with him as well, alright?” Rarity asks and Applejack nods. After a few minutes to think, Applejack asks Rarity if she needs any more help and Rarity thinks about it before telling her she still had a lot to do.

Applejack being Applejack, decided to do a supply run for her and to come back with the materials for her in no time. “We’ll figure everything out Rarity.. no matter how long it takes.” Applejack says before walking out and Rarity smiles and closes the door behind her, leaning against it and sighing.

“I just hope it doesn’t take too long..”

Somewhere in Equestria

“I’m so glad you decided to come Discord. We haven’t seen you in a while.” Fluttershy says as she finishes setting up everything for her picnic with Discord and Pinkie Pie.

“It was the least I could do. After all, I did greatly enjoy your company Fluttershy.” Discord says and Fluttershy clears her throat before gesturing to Pinkie Pie who’s giving a sad look, causing Discord to sigh. “And.. yours Pinkie Pie.” He says and Pinkie Pie cheers and hugs him tightly, literally breaking him in half with her newfound Earth Pony strength.. buuuut Discord being Discord, puts himself back together with little to no effort before grimacing at her.

“Oops.. sorry.” Pinkie says, giving a sheepish smile and giggle. Discord just shakes his head and smiles.

“Oh, don’t fret. I’ve been dealt worse before.” Discord says and Fluttershy giggles before they all sit down and talk, enjoying the picnic. Discord can sense something between his two friends and he doesn’t quite know what but he could ask about it later. They all continue to enjoy the picnic, talking of what’s been transpiring the past few weeks. When Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie mention that they had been growing.. closer.. he didn’t know what to think.. until he did.. and his jealousy began to grow. He doesn’t show it though.. he knows they’ve been through a lot.. the least he can do is not give them an earful of crap about his own feelings. That’s what a good friend would do..

..Right?

“Discord! Did you hear what we said?” Fluttershy asks and he shakes his head and asks her to repeat it. She’s just about to until Pinkie does it for her, holding up a letter that was clearly written by Spike.

“Twilight has something super duper spectacularly awesome that she wants to tell us at the castle! Soooo we were wondering if you could give us a fast way there?” Pinkie says before doing a snapping motion and he rolls his eyes, snapping his fingers. Suddenly they’re all in the castle throne room along with all their other friends and Twilight is standing in front of all of them.

“Hi everyone.. you’re probably wondering why I called you all here and uhhh.. well.. Rainbow Dash has actually given me an idea.. made me think of something we never even considered in the past few months..” Twilight says and everyone looks either intrigued, nervous, or annoyed but she continues anyway. “Instead of punishing the villains, forcing them to live the rest of their lives in captivity.. maybe we could try.. reforming them.”

Author's Note

Well, that happened. Sorry it took so long for me to complete this chapter. There was a lot I wanted to add but at the same time, I a wanted to get to the point. Plus I didn’t know what or how some things should go but hey, I got it done.

Reformation is Magic

Everyone stared, shocked and beyond a little confused by Twilight’s decision. They were even more shocked that the idea came from Rainbow Dash of all ponies. Discord bursts out laughing, holding his stomach and nearly keeling over with amusement. At some point he starts crying tears of laughter, earning glares, mainly from Twilight and Rainbow Dash. He looks at them and eventually sees that they’re not joking and his laughter ceases.

“Oh.. oh you’re not kidding.” He says and Twilight shakes her head and he looks shocked again and shakes his head. “Twilight Twilight Twilight, sweet, innocent, naive, Twilight. I think it’s all well and good that you continue to look for the best in creatures.. but I can assure you that every single one of our.. guests lacks a single bit of what you’re trying to find.” He says and Twilight glares even more and steps a bit closer.

“You don’t know that for sure. None of them were ALWAYS bad, they just had certain ideologies and.. took them too far. Midnight is the one who was pure evil but we saved Solaris. The good part of her.. wouldn’t it be worth a shot to at least try to do that for the others.” She asks and everyone looks at each other then at her.

“Twilight, as much as I hate to admit it.. not everyone can be saved.. and not everyone WANTS to be.. Believe me.. my sister and I have tried.” Luna says and everyone is immediately thinking of Astelle. Celestia frowns and nods in agreement.

“Well some of them might want a change but just don’t know how to say or are afraid to admit from fear of being seen as weak or pathetic.. take Cozy Glow for example. She was just a normal pegasus filly but had a lack of attention from her parents and trouble making friends.. she found out her talent and left home to become the ruler of Equestria and make as many friends as she wanted by force.” Twilight says, looking at everyone’s reactions before continuing. “Did she have a good ideal? Part of it was good, she just wanted friends and attention. Did she take it too far? Definitely, but does that mean she can’t change? No.”

“Twilight-“ Celestia tries to say but Twilight wasn’t having any objections.

“No, just think about it.. I mean.. Luna.. don’t you want your friend back?” She asks and Luna freezes up and frowns, looking down.

“I do.. but I don’t even know if Snowdrop is still in there.. it might just be Frostbite left.. and my friend might truly be dead..” Luna says and Twilight realizes where she went wrong.

“I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to intrude.. but we have a chance to right the wrongs of the past.. shouldn’t we take it..? I mean.. Rainbow Dash was reluctant at first but she agrees with me and trusts me now.. why can’t you all do the same.” Twilight asks and Discord scoffs, earning a confused glance from her.

“Trust is earned.. and considering the secret you’re keeping, you have a few things to do before you can earn mine.” Discord says, earning confused looks from everyone but a horrified one from Twilight as everyone’s eyes are set on her.

“Twilight.. what is he talking about?” Spike asks and Twilight looks nervous and backs up a bit.

“N-Nothing, just ummm.. just something we talked about a while back.” Twilight says but no one looks convinced and she sighs. “Are you really gonna make me say it Discord..?” She asks and he gives an annoyed nod. “Fine.. a while after we stopped Midnight, I.. I started hearing Twivine in my head.. swearing revenge against all of us..” Twilight says and everyone looks shocked or lets out a gasp.

“I thought you said she was gone after we stopped Midnight!” Rainbow yells, annoyed and feeling betrayed.

“I lied.. at first I really thought she was gone but when I found out she wasn’t.. I wanted to tell you.. all of you.. but everytime I tried, I just.. couldn’t. It was as if something was stopping me.. and it might have been her.. she’s even given me nightmares before and I’ve.. tried talking to her but I can’t get her to talk to me.” Twilight explains and everyone is either cautious or just annoyed.

“How do we know she’s not watching us right now or making you tell us all this?” Sunset asks and everyone agrees and Twilight tries to calm everyone before things get out of hand.

“I can sense when she’s watching but that’s pretty much all she can do right now.. she’s not strong enough to control my body or my actions directly, not anymore. Right now we’re evenly matched and the battle for control between us is never-ending.. but I can keep control a lot better than I used to.” Twilight says before Rainbow notices something.

“Wait.. all those times that one of us caught you acting strange.. it was because of her?” She asks and Twilight hesitantly nods before shaking her head.

“Look, we don’t need to worry about me, I can handle Twivine.. and you all know I was at least trying to tell you the truth.. thanks a lot Discord for forcing it out of me.” She says, glaring at Discord who gives a smug smile and a bow. “All I need to know.. is if you all trust me enough to at least TRY and help our enemies change their ways.. if we don’t, we’d be no better than them..” Twilight says, looking at her own hands and clenching them. “We’d just be giving them a different punishment.. increasing their hatred for us.”

After that, everyone thinks about it really hard. Could Twilight be right? They had defeated the villains fair and square.. they’d won. But in the end, they were just condemning their enemies to a fate many of them have already suffered through before. And in doing so, increasing their hatred for all of them. Maybe reforming them was the right call.. it could help them create a better future for themselves and for the rest of Equestria. After a few minutes to think, they all decide that they trust Twilight enough to go along with the plan. She squeals happily and starts jumping up and down with joy, prompting Pinkie to do the same while giggling. Rainbow can’t help but chuckle a bit along with everyone else and Twilight stops, giving an embarrassed giggle before clearing her throat and straightening her posture.

“Thank you all.. it means a lot.” Twilight says and Starlight steps up and puts a hand on her shoulder.

“You can thank us by making sure this works.” She says and Twilight chuckles and nods.

“It’ll work, I promise..” Twilight says and everyone smiles at her, Solaris at the entrance to the throne room smiling too.

“I hope it goes well for them.. Equestria needs more good in it rather than bad.” She says before starting to walk off. As soon as she turns around though, she bumps into someone’s leg and looks up to see Midnight glaring down at her. “N-No.. How?” She asks but Midnight just smirks and starts reaching down towards her to grab her and she starts cowering away, backing into the door which was closed and she closes her eyes, preparing herself only to feel a hand on her shoulder. She hesitantly opens her eyes only to see a pegasus filly with black fur, multicolored eyes, mane, feathers, and tail and a flaming lightning bolt for a cutie mark.

“Ummm.. are you ok?” The pegasus asks and Solaris looks around for any sign of Midnight before nodding, accepting her help to stand up.

“Y-Yeah just.. kinda had a panic attack but I’m ok now.. thanks.. what’s your name?” Solaris asks and the Pegasus seems to think about it before shrugging.

“Ummm.. I don’t know.. to be honest I don’t remember anything before I woke up outside this kingdom..” She says and Solaris is genuinely shocked.

“Oh, you poor thing.. well don’t worry, I’m sure Princess Twilight and the others can help you get your memory back, and if they can’t, I’ll try.” Solaris says and the pegasus smiles at her.

“Thank you..” She says before the doors suddenly open and Twilight and her friends are on the other side, looking frantic.

“Twilight? What’s going on?” Solaris asks.

“A village was attacked a while ago.. by an alicorn, we’re just now receiving word of it.” Twilight explains and Solaris asks if she and her new friend could come. “I don’t know.. it could be dangerous.. who is this again?” Twilight asks and Solaris just gives a short response.

“We’ll explain on the way, come on!” Solaris says as she and her new friend join Twilight and the others. Twilight sighs and teleports them all to the village and it’s worse than they thought..

Burning buildings everywhere, fried bodies, injured ponies.. but the thing that really caught everypony’s eyes were the rainbow colored flames that affected the village. This completely baffled the group of friends. They had never seen anything like it.. but Twilight and Rainbow Dash have.. when Rainbow Dash had first gone into her “super form”. Twilight slowly looks at Rainbow Dash before going to ask what happened.

“What happened here.. who did all this?” She asks one of the injured ponies and they try to explain, groaning in pain the whole time.

“I.. I don’t remember that much about them but they had wings.. red eyes.. a rainbow colored mane.. they moved at incredibly fast speeds.. and had such incredible strength.. they were able to throw a house..” The pony says and everypony looks at Rainbow Dash until Twilight asks if the pony saw anything else about them, anything at all. “Yeah.. they had.. a horn as well..” The pony says and everyone sighs in relief that it wasn’t Rainbow that did all this. But an alicorn.. there was an alicorn out there who was causing destruction and they had no idea why.

“Just hold on ok? I’ll be back with help. All of you stay here until I come back, and watch over this village.” Twilight says and they all nod before she teleports away. The pegasus looks around confused, all of this seeming.. familiar somehow. Suddenly, behind a wall of fire, she can see a silhouette of an alicorn with red eyes and a rainbow mane.. looking at her. She doesn’t know what to say or do until Solaris grabs her shoulder, turning her attention to her.

“Hey.. you ok..?” She asks and the pegasus doesn’t answer for a bit, looking back to the spot only to see the silhouette is gone. She then turns back to Solaris and nods.

“Yeah.. just.. thinking of some names for myself..” She says, gaining a confused and concerned look from Solaris.

“Really? Now?” She asks and the pegasus hesitantly nods. “Well.. I hope you at least thought of a good one.” She says and the pegasus seems to think about it before getting an idea.

“How about.. Sky Blazer?” She asks and Solaris thinks about it before nodding.

“Sky Blazer.. I like it.” She says and Sky Blazer smiles, prompting Solaris to smile back. Meanwhile, Lightning Dust was sitting in a cloud not far from the village, having seen what happened earlier and coming back to see the outcome. She hadn’t planned on the new alicorn to just destroy a few random villages but if it got the attention of Dash and her friends, then it was worth it in her eyes.

“And so it begins..” She says with a evil smirk as lightning radiates off her. “Ok then.. we’ll do it your way.. newbie..”

Hopeful friends…

As Sunset leaned against a wall, her arms crossed as she listened to the conversation between Starlight and Chrysalis, she felt more and more determined to try to help the Dazzlings change but she also felt as though Starswirl and the others had that part covered. Therefore, she was here instead, prepared to act in case things went south. She wasn’t alone of course. Trixie and Tempest were with her out of concern for their friend. She noticed that this Trixie was.. different from the one she had met in the human world. She seemed more.. heroic and less obnoxious. That was good at least.. buuut she and the other Trixie still had the same ego and referred to themselves as “The Great and Powerful Trixie” or just “Trixie” instead of saying “I” or “me” like a normal person.. or pony.

“Ugh.. how long is this gonna take? I thought Starlight would realize by now that Chrysalis doesn’t want to change. None of them do.” Trixie says, prompting Sunset to shake her head at the thought of having to explain the same thing to her friend for the fifth time today.

“For the last time: I don’t know how long this is gonna take and it’s like Twilight said. Maybe some of them do want to change but just don’t know how to say it or are afraid that it’ll make them weak. So we have to try and convince them to be better.” Sunset explains and Trixie continued pacing which was honestly starting to annoy Sunset even more.

“Trying isn’t worth anything if we end up hurt or worse.” Trixie says and Sunset facepalms, letting out a flabbergasted sigh. Tempest steps in before things get out of hand.

“Look Trixie, you may have a point but I think we should focus more on actually helping to make this work instead of thinking about what could happen to us if it doesn’t. We should also work on being patient.” Tempest says and Sunset mouths a “Thank you” in her direction. Tempest nods and holds her head up, smiling proudly.. that is until Trixie decides that now is a good time to be a pain.

“And by “we” you mean Sunset, right?” Trixie asks and Sunset's eye twitches as she slowly glares at Trixie and Tempest starts getting nervous. If these two got into a fight, she would hate to have to zap both of them to get them to calm down. That and there wouldn’t be much more she could do than that, despite being the tallest and physically strongest of them which wouldn’t help much if they started using their powers. Before Sunset could get her hands on Trixie, Twilight and the others appear down the hall, all looking exhausted and concerned. “Is everything ok?” Sunset asks, getting their attention.

“It could definitely be better.. we just evacuated SIX destroyed villages, all destroyed by a new alicorn. So many injured and dead..” Twilight says with a frown, prompting them to frown as well. “How are things here?” She asks and Sunset, Trixie, and Tempest all look at each other then back at her.

“We.. don’t exactly know yet. Starlight’s been in there for quite a bit. We were just about to check on her.” Tempest says and the others agree.

“Alrighty, well you let us know if ya need us for anything, ya hear?” Applejack asks and they all nod before the Mane 6 all walk off to recover from everything they had witnessed.

Meanwhile

“Oh, I get it now! All you wanted was to protect your hive but now your heart is so full of hatred that they don’t even matter to you anymore! It’s all about your revenge! Actually, what am I even saying?! It’s always been about you.. and now.. you’re alone.” Starlight says and Chrysalis yells out in anger and hatred, throwing herself at Starlight only to find that she still can’t get past the force field that separated them. “Chrysalis.. all this hatred.. it has to stop.. You have to let it go. You can choose to be better..” She says and Chrysalis just continues to glare at her before backing down from trying to push through the force field.

“No, I can’t.. I’ve lost everything.. because of you. I.. will never stop. One way or another, I will find a way out of here.. and I promise you, Starlight Glimmer.. that you will die.” Chrysalis says and Starlight frowns and looks down at the answer. She slowly backs up, shaking her head before looking at Chrysalis once again.

“Everyone deserves love Chrysalis.. even you.. but I hate that you feel like you have to take it from others, I mean look at you. You’re starving because you haven’t taken any in so long.. but if you changed, transformed like Thorax and the other changelings, you’d never have to go hungry again.. You’d finally be satisfied. You don’t need revenge to be whole.. you need love.. you need peace.. you need your hive.. your family.” Starlight says and Chrysalis tenses up and looks down a bit before growling and punching the force field, using her own magic but it just sends her sliding back into the wall.

After recovering, she looks at Starlight then looks away, holding her arm. “Get. Out..” She says quietly and Starlight tries to protest but before she can get a full word out, Chrysalis snaps at her. “LEAVE!” She yells and Starlight flinches a bit before sighing and walking out, leaving Chrysalis to destroy what was left of her side of the room. That was a disaster.. but her words did seem to get to Chrysalis quite a bit so.. maybe there was some hope after all. She feels someone hug her and sees that it’s Trixie. She smiles and hugs back.

“I’m ok Trix.. don’t worry.” She says and Sunset and Tempest smile. Sunset is the first to speak after Trixie lets go.

“So.. did you make any progress? Did she think about changing at all?” She asks and Starlight seems to think about it before nodding. They all look at each other then back at her, smiling at the news.

“Then maybe there’s hope after all.” Tempest says and they all agree before walking off to tell Twilight and the others the good news.

“I don’t.. I don’t know if you can hear me or if you’re even still.. in there.. but I am so.. SO sorry Snowdrop. You were right all those years ago. I’m just sorry it took me so long to realize it.” Luna says to Frostbite who was just standing there, staring at her from behind the force field that separated them just like the one in Chysalis and every other villain's room. “After I had seen no sign of you, no sign of what happened to you, that you were still.. I had no idea you were trapped under a frozen lake.. for so long.. I would’ve focused on nothing more than finding and freeing you.” Luna says, the regret evident in her voice, as well as the heartache.

Frostbite just continues to stand there and stare at her but the coldness in her eyes had seemed to.. lessen a bit along with tension she so clearly held in her body. “I never forgot our last conversation.. or any of them for that matter.. and I’m hoping you didn’t either with whatever Midnight had put into your head. I’m trying to hold out hope that she didn’t taint your memories with her own twisted influence..” Luna says, her anger showing itself whenever she mentions Midnight or thinks of her messing with her friend's mind. “I want you to come back.. I’ve missed you for so long, me and my sister both have.. You were the first pony after our parents who truly understood us.. understood me..”

“You tried to save so many ponies, including me.. from me.. I’m sorry that I was so selfish.. you tried to save me from myself and I didn’t listen.. but I’m hoping that you can forgive me.. and that you’ll allow me to save you.. I need you Snowdrop.. I need my friend back.” Luna says, the tears she had been holding back finally starting to fall until she couldn’t hold them at all anymore. She continues to cry her heart out, having gone a long time without doing so since the last time she had mourned, thinking Celestia was gone forever.

“Luna..” She hears Frostbite say.. but her voice is no longer splintered.. no longer echoing or ominous or spooky. She looks up at her friend and her eyes are no longer glowing, instead she’s crying as well and Luna quickly gets closer, wondering if it’s really her.

“Snowdrop.. is that you?” She asks and Snowdrop smiles and nods, clearly trying to stop her own tears and Luna hesitantly undoes the shield and when Snowdrop doesn’t attack, she pulls her into a hug, prompting her to hug back. “I’ve missed you so much!” She says and Snowdrop nuzzles into her neck before responding.

“I missed you too.. but I’m here now.. I’m here.” She says and Luna smiles more and Celestia walks in after a bit and when she sees that their long lost friend has returned and reunited with her little sister, she can’t help but smile.

“Snowdrop.. it’s so good to see you again.. you’ve been missed.” She says and Snowdrop smiles and hugs her as well, prompting her to hug back.

“It’s good to be back princess.. I’ve missed you both too.. just how much have I missed out on?” She asks and Celestia and Luna look at each other before agreeing to explain on the way to Twilight and the others. After Snowdrop agrees to that, they all begin to walk out and Celestia stops for a second to think.

“Hm.. maybe there is some hope after all..” She says before turning towards one specific room down the hall and smiling a bit before continuing to follow Luna and Snowdrop. The room she was looking towards just happened to be Astelle's who was currently chained up with a magic-blocking ring on her horn on account of being too dangerous to let roam around her cage unchecked. She growls in anger as she continues to sit on her knees in the same uncomfortable position she had been in for months now. It was starting to drive her crazy.. well crazier than she already was but you get the point.

She hears the door open and looks to see someone.. unexpected. She was confused at first, then intrigued. For what purpose could this person have to visit her.. and were they friend or foe. “What the hell are you doing here?” She asks and the pony just chuckles in a sadistic manor, a laugh with evident malice and just a hint of insanity erupting from the pony’s throat.

“All you need to know.. is that I’m a friend.. and that the reign of Midnight is far from over.. we have a plan.. are you in.. or out?” The pony asks and Astelle slowly starts to smirk as her eyes glow red slightly.

“When do we start..?”

…Hateful foes

Lost.. angry.. nervous..

That’s how Twilight felt right now as she washed the dirt and ash off her face. She didn’t know what else to feel since she and her friends had just seen so much destruction caused by one alicorn that they have no idea the origin of. An alicorn they haven’t even seen yet and they seemed to have had a full day's head start over them. This.. was unacceptable. If they wanted to protect Equestria, they had to be better, faster, stronger.. all this power and she.. they don’t even know what to do with it or how to fully use it. At least not without hurting the ones they care about.

Twilight turns off the water, grabs her towel and dries her face, the pain in her muscles not going unnoticed as well as the migraine she had. She slowly comes to the realization that it’s not just any normal migraine.. it’s alicorn empathy.. she’s sensing something or someone. She uncovers her face and looks at herself, confused.. until all of a sudden Twivine appears in her reflection and she quickly backs up in surprise. When she does though, she ends up backing into someone and her alicorn empathy goes off like crazy. She spins around to see Midnight standing there. “You.. How are you here?!” Twilight asks angrily and Midnight just chuckles evilly.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, princess.” She says and Twilight swings at her but her punch is blocked before she receives a punch to her face that knocks her into the wall. Midnight then pulls her away from the wall and swings her through the door leading into the hallway. Twilight groans in pain as she gets up and faces her opponent. She glares at Midnight who slowly walks towards her before throwing a punch and Twilight rolls under it, kicks her knee from behind, causing her to fall before she blasts her into the wall. She then stands up and glares down at her.

“We’ll see about that Midnight..” She says as she readies her magic into one fist and swings at Midnight only to have her wrist grabbed by a black armored hand. She looks at its owner and sees.. the alicorn they’d been looking for. She was exactly like ponies described and she had black and silver armor on with multicolored lights in some parts. Her wings were also multicolored and her teeth were sharp, as expected. She pulls Twilight into the air before kicking her in the stomach, knocking the air out of her. She rolls out of the way just in time as the alicorn tries landing on her.

She forms a magical blade and just as she’s about to attack her, Midnight kicks it out of her hand before slamming her head into the wall then allowing the alicorn to punch her onto the floor. Twilight is stunned from this but tries to get up anyway only for Midnight to pin her by the shoulder.

“Mark my words princess.. you, your friends, and everyone you know and care about.. you.. will all.. suffer!” Midnight yells before she grabs Twilight’s face, starting to fry her with magic and Twilight tries to fight back, managing to get her hand off before she gets the job done and she could swear she heard somepony calling her name and when she looks to where both Midnight and the new alicorn were, she sees Solaris and Sky Blazer standing over her instead with worried looks on their faces.

“Twilight! Are you ok?! What happened?!” Solaris asks with a panicked tone and Twilight slowly sits up and they help her. She looks around and sees that.. there’s no damage left from her battle, or “panic attack” is more like it, and yet it all looked and felt so real..

“Wha.. how..? What?” She asks, more lost than anything and she looks at the two young fillies with the same look on her face. “When did you two get here?” Twilight asks and they look at each other then at her.

“Not long ago, we just heard noises and came to check it out, only to find you on the ground.. kicking and flailing your arms around like you were..” Solaris says, her sentence being cut off as she and Sky slowly come to the same conclusion.

“Like you were.. fighting something.. or someone.” Sky says and Twilight sighs as she stands up, frowning.

“I..I was.. or at least I thought I was..” She says, much to Solaris and Sky's confusion. Seeing the confused expressions on their faces, she decides to explain what she means. “I saw.. Midnight. Her and the alicorn who had been destroying villages left and right..” She says and they both looked shocked, looking at each other once again then back at her.

Solaris goes to speak but Sky Blazer does it first. “We.. actually have been seeing those two as well just.. separate. I saw the new alicorn at the village we all went to at first.. and Solaris recently told me that it was Midnight she saw when we first met.” She says and Solaris sighs as Twilight grows a shocked and concerned look before crouching down to their level.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner..?” She asks and they both look nervous as they try to come up with an excuse but then think better of it and decide to tell the truth.

“We wanted to, honest, but.. we didn’t know if what we were seeing was even real.. plus.. we have something else to show you.” Solaris says before looking at Sky who sighs before slowly holding up one hand and multicolored flame and electricity starts coming off of it. Twilight looks amazed and a bit worried but before she can say anything, she hears Applejack calling her and looks at her friend.

“Applejack, what’s wrong?” She asks and the Earth Pony responds by saying that everyone else has some exciting news and they want her to be there when it’s revealed. “Ok.. well maybe after we hear what everyone else has to say.. you can talk to Rainbow Dash about your powers Sky.. ok? We'll help you master them and hopefully.. you have a bright future ahead of you.” She says and Sky smiles and she smiles back before they all walk to the throne room to hear the good news, Applejack leading the way.

“So.. they’re actually showing progress? At least most of them are?” Lightning Dust asks one of her only remaining allies and the most loyal one to Midnight. He was some sort of hybrid mix between a dragon and a hippogriff. He had blue scales, a spiked tail, sharp teeth, large wings and was bigger than an alicorn. He nods and Lightning Dust growls and punches a wall. “Cowards.. traitors! All of them.. We need a new plan since the newbie isn’t doing her job.” She says as she starts pacing and the hybrid seems to recall something.

“Tell me.. are you familiar with how Starlight Glimmer traveled back in time to stop the princess and her friends from meeting?” He asks and Lightning Dust gives a “so-so” gesture and he smirks. “Then we have our plan..” He says and Lightning Dust has a feeling she won’t like where this is going.

She had done a lot of terrible things as of late.. all to spite Rainbow Dash.. to make her pay for the ways she humiliated her.. but this? ..This was low, even for her. She could handle killing the present Rainbow Dash.. but killing the little one.. the one in the past.. it did things to her stomach that she didn’t like. She doesn’t know why or how she let Ragnar talk her into this plan of his.. but it felt wrong now that she was actually here.. years in the past when she and Rainbow Dash were still fillies.. fillies who didn’t even really know each other.

As she watched the younger version of Rainbow Dash race her current bullies.. she couldn’t help but note how innocent she looked.. no trace of the mare she would be one day.. for whom she had nothing but hate. Maybe a few traces of that mare but not enough to make her hate her now. She stands up on the cloud she was sitting on when she notices that the race is almost over and forms a solid lightning bolt in her hand made of gold before aiming it at the young filly and waiting for the perfect time. As the seconds start to feel like minutes then hours.. she felt.. disgusted with herself.. at how she was willing to kill a innocent filly who doesn’t even know her yet.. at how she had gotten so many innocents hurt or killed just to spite one mare.. the guilt.. it was starting to overwhelm her.

She starts to lower the lightning bolt.. until the darkness inside her takes over and she feels so much pain and rage and hatred as she screams in anger, throwing the lightning bolt just before Dash reaches the finish line. Closer and closer they both get.. Rainbow Dash actually managing to do the sonic rainboom.. a second before it hits her and the explosion is enough to knock everypony who was there at least a mile away, even Lightning Dust. She gets further and further away until she finally crashes and crashes hard. She stays conscious just long enough to see a single blue feather with a bit of blood on it float past her before she mumbles words that she never thought she’d say.

“Sorry Dash..” she says before she finally passes out, feeling nothing but guilt.. and a hint of sadness.

Present Day/The Throne Room

As everyone finishes talking, Rainbow suddenly feels.. numb.. her whole body does in fact.. She holds her head, feeling dizzy all of a sudden and getting sicker as time passes. “Uh.. guys.. I-I don’t.. feel so..” She tries to say, only to pass out before she can finish and Twilight immediately catches her.

“Rainbow?! Are you ok?! Rainbow?!” Twilight asks frantically before she notices that Dash is starting to.. fade.. literally. “W-What’s happening?! Rainbow!!” Twilight screams, shaking the pegasus to try and get her to wake up but she doesn’t stir.. she continues to fade until all that’s left.. is her element.. and a burned, bloody cyan feather. Everyone stares in shock and horror.. not knowing what just happened.. or where to start to fix it.

Author's Note

I know what you’re thinking: “Oh no, Rainbow Dash is dead!!!” “Lightning Dust, how could you?!” “What the hell is THIS?!”. Let me explain. Rainbow Dash is definitely coming back and this has been on my mind for a while: What if Lightning Dust traveled back in time to kill Rainbow Dash?

It may seem like I’m just putting whatever I can into this story to make it more interesting, but hey, I’m just trying to have as much fun as I can without making this longer than it has to be or longer than I plan for it to be. I really want people to see the potential behind these stories. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one.

Wishful thinking/Killing time

As everyone screams after having just witnessed one of their friends disappearing, one of them remained silent and frozen in shock, and that just happened to be Twilight. She was still so distraught and shocked that she had gone completely silent and still. So many gears were turning in her head, so many emotions overwhelming her… so many dark thoughts. In the back of her mind, she could feel Twivine start to resurface. That. Must. Not. Happen.

She breathes in and out to try and keep control of her emotions but her breathing is shaky, her heart rate dramatically increased, and there were so many terrible thoughts and feelings going through her mind right now. She keeps trying and eventually feels a wave of calmness surround her, calming and quieting her mind. She looks at herself then looks at Celestia and Luna who are giving reassuring smiles. She looks down and grabs the feather and Rainbow's element with her magic before standing up. Celestia walks to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Twilight… we’ll get her back. I promise.” She says and Twilight looks up at her and nods.

“But…where do we start… and what even happened to her?” Starlight asks, and everyone is just as lost as she is. Twilight looks at Rainbow's element and the feather, wondering if they’re of any use. She looks over them until she gets an idea and looks at everyone else with newfound determination.

“I think I have some idea where to start.” She says and everyone nods and follows her as she explains what she’s thinking along the way. One way or another, they were going to get Dash back… hopefully before it was too late… because they have no idea what Lightning Dust has truly done…

As Lightning Dust comes to, she suddenly feels a large amount of pain in her body, causing her to groan as she tries to get up. She looks around, seeing that she’s back in the hideout where she and Ragnar had managed to hole up for a while. “I have to admit…I didn’t think you had the stomach to do something like that… I’m impressed.” Ragnar says as he steps out of the shadows and helps Lightning Dust stand up. After he does, the memory of what she had done comes rushing back to her and she can’t help but slump her shoulders a bit, looking down.

“Yeah.. thanks, I guess.” She says, her voice low and lacking any emotion. He is a little confused by this but decides not to waste any time questioning her behavior.

“Well.. any moment now, Midnight should be returning and all this.. will be undone. Everything will be as it should’ve been from the very beginning…with her as the ruler of all of Equestria.” He says and Lightning Dust feels even worse. She had killed her greatest rival just so evil could come back into the world and come back to stay. This…none of this is right. She has to fix this.

“Yeah…but in the meantime, do me a favor and go…see if you can find anyone that’s left of Midnight's army and tell them the good news… I’m gonna pay a little visit to the other villains.” She says and Ragnar is about to protest before Lightning Dust interrupts him. “Don’t. Worry. I’ll be in and out before anyone can see me. Now go.” She says and he growls a bit before he becomes engulfed in magic, teleporting a few seconds after. She’ll never get used to him using magic like that. She walks outside and looks towards Canterlot, frowning. “What have I done…?”

Almost an hour later/Canterlot

Twilight slams her hands on the table she was currently sitting at, frustrated with the results of yet another failed attempt to bring back Dash from… whatever had happened to her. “Damnit! I thought it would work… I… I was so sure it would…” She says as her determination takes yet another dive. She wouldn’t give up though. She couldn’t. Not on this. She feels someone touch her shoulder and she tenses up a bit before relaxing and turning to look at Starswirl who has a sad, concerned look on his face.

“Twilight…we’ve been trying for hours and haven’t even gotten close to bringing her back… We need a new plan.” Starlight says and Twilight holds her head, shaking it slightly. She feels Twivine in the back of her mind…watching…waiting for her to crack, but she wouldn’t. Not now, not ever.

“We can still do it! There has to be something we’re missing…some reason that she disappeared.” Twilight says and she looks around frantically before her sights are set onto the feather. She gets an idea and reaches for it, starting to use her magic. She doesn’t know why she didn’t try this before, but it was the best chance they had now. She touches the feather, using magic and alicorn empathy, and all of a sudden, memories come flashing in her mind.

She sees a race.. the race that Rainbow Dash had been in when she was a filly…when she had first done the Sonic Rainboom. She sees something else…a lightning bolt. It was made of…gold? She then sees Lightning Dust…screaming…before throwing it. It hits Rainbow just as she does the sonic rainboom and she sees that since the rainboom still happened, she and most of her friends still met and got their cutie marks…but Rainbow had been killed. So if that was the case…then without her, the elements of harmony wouldn’t work.

As the realization hits Twilight like a bullet train, she snaps out of the memory and slowly looks around at everyone. “Twilight..? What did you see?” Celestia asks, slowly stepping a bit closer to her. Twilight takes a bit of time to recover before answering.

“Lightning Dust, she…she traveled back in time to kill Rainbow. Without Rainbow, the elements won’t work. If the elements don’t work, we can’t stop the countless threats we’ve faced in the past, meaning all of this won’t have happened, and Midnight will win-“ Twilight says, starting to enter a panicked ramble but Celestia gently gets her to calm down.

“Why…why would Lightning Dust do something like this?” Celestia asks and everyone agrees. They’re all so set on trying to figure that out that they’re all startled when they hear her voice from the entrance to the room.

“Because I had a choice… and just when I thought I made it,” She starts before holding up one hand that’s radiating electricity. “These…did it for me.” She says and she’s about to continue until she finds herself suddenly pinned to the wall by her throat so fast that the impact nearly shakes the whole castle. She looks to see that it was Twilight who had taken the initiative to do so.. but she was different. Her eyes contained a primal rage that Lightning Dust had only seen from herself…a rage caused by never ending hatred. She tries getting the alicorn to relent when she feels her oxygen being cut off from the vice-like grip she had on her throat but Twilight, even if she wasn’t in such a state as this, was unstoppable compared to her.

“You have a lot of nerve Lightning Dust, ya know that?” Twilight says, the hatred evident in her voice. Lightning Dust tries to speak but she can’t. “I should just kill you… You know what? I think I will.” Twilight says before she makes a magical blade and Lightning Dust squirms even more, fearing for her life now more than ever. Twilight smiles a bit at this as she hears Twivine repeating the same words in her head over and over again.

“Kill her. Kill her! Kill her!”

“Hold on now Sugarcube, how 'bout we don’t do anything we’ll regret? She might be our only way to help Dash.” Applejack says and Twilight thinks about it…but the hatred won’t let her just…let this go. She aims the blade at Lightning Dusts heart and is about to jab it in but Applejack grabs her arm before she can. “Twilight, NO! As much as I wanna see her get what’s comin' to her, I think we should at least hear her out.” Applejack says and Twilight looks at her like she has three heads.

“Hear her out? Did she hear Dash out?! Or Light Hope?!” Twilight yells, prompting Ever to look at each other then back at her. “After everything she’s done, we’re supposed to just trust her?” She asks and Applejack can’t find the perfect words to end this but luckily she doesn’t have to as Fluttershy steps up to the other side of her and looks up at her with a firm look but speaks with a soft tone.

“This isn’t what Rainbow would want…not for you.” She says and Twilight goes wide eyed and doesn’t say anything for a bit. She looks at Lightning Dust who’s starting to go a little limp and sighs before releasing her, allowing her to fall to the ground while clutching her throat softly, coughing and gasping for air. Pinkie steps up beside Fluttershy and smiles at her, nodding and Fluttershy smiles and nods back.

Lightning Dust slowly stands up, still clutching her throat and looks up at Twilight who glares down at her. “Why did you come here Lightning Dust…?” Twilight asks, her voice still carrying a lot of venom and if Lightning Dust wasn’t afraid of the princess before, she definitely was now after seeing how she just acted and how easily she took her down…how easily she could end her life.

“Because…because I want to help fix my mistake…and because if we don’t fix it…it won’t just be Midnight coming back. Every villain you’ve ever fought will come right along with her. It’ll be like none of this ever happened…but something much worse did.” Lightning Dust says and that just confirms Twilight’s theory…and greatest fear.

“Ok, well where do we start? We need to move fast if we wanna bring back…bring back… Ummmm…” Sunset says but is cut off and everyone can clearly tell something’s wrong. “W-Who are we talking about again?” She asks and everyone looks either shocked or horrified.

“What do you mean, darling…? Rainbow Dash? Cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and a rather brash sense of humor? You’ve met her.” Rarity says and Sunset rubs her temples to try and remember but to her confusion and slight horror…she can’t.

“I only remember a Rainbow Dash from the other world…not this one.” She says and soon some of the others say they can’t remember her either, including Trixie, Tempest, The Pillars of Old, Discord, the Princesses, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart. All of the Mane 6 still remember her though, so can Starlight, Solaris, Sky, and Spike. Lightning Dust still remembers too but her memory is slowly starting to fade.

“Oh no…we have to hurry!” Twilight says and she goes to Starlight and Starswirl. “Starswirl, you’ve made a time travel spell before and Starlight, you modified it, improved it even. Do you two think you could recreate the spell in time?!” She asks and they both look at each other and hesitantly nod. She nods back and they both immediately get to work. Twilight helps them where she can to get it done faster but by the time they’re done, she realizes Starlight can’t remember Dash either and she feels her own memories starting to fade. She and the others start running to a better room for this until Solaris screams and falls. Sky goes back for her but then looks at her own hands and sees she’s starting to fade.

“No no no…wha-“ She tries to say, scared more than anything. She looks at Solaris, then at Twilight and the others. “T-Twilight…?” She stutters and Twilight runs to them to try and help but Sky disappears just as she gets there and she’s distraught by this. She looks at Solaris and tries to carry her but Solaris screams again, in a lot of pain. Twilight quickly backs away as dark magic starts coming off Solaris.

“Twilight… run…” Solaris says, her voice hushed from the pain.

“W-What…?” Twilight asks, Solaris’s words having gone unheard the first time so she looks up at Twilight who’s shocked and startled to see both her eyes are purple.

“RUN!!!” Solaris yells, hers and Midnights voices being heard at the same time. Twilight backs up and starts continuing towards their destination.

“We’ll fix this… I promise!” Twilight says and Solaris slowly looks up at her with a soft smile, trusting Twilight with her life.

“Go get her…” Solaris says before screaming loudly and finally passing out as her whole body becomes engulfed in dark magic. Twilight and the others keep running and when they get to the room, Twilight looks over the spell and starts casting it. They all hear a loud, rage-filled, monstrous scream and immediately recognize who it belongs to.

“Uh oh…! She sounds angry.” Pinkie says and Twilight tries to speed up the process and just as the time portal opens, Midnight bursts through the doors, using her magic and glares at all of them.

“Twilight!!!” She screams as she runs towards them all and jumps at Twilight, only to receive a blast from Lightning Dust and then a power kick from Pinkie Pie. Twilight tries to help but Lightning Dust grabs her.

“No, there’s no time! We have to go!” She says and Twilight hesitates until Fluttershy turns to her with a soft tone and a reassuring smile.

“Twilight, go…we’ll be ok. Go save Rainbow… She needs you.” She says and Twilight nods and steps back under the portal. Midnight screams and blasts dark magic at all of them, knocking them all over and she jumps at Twilight again and Applejack jumps up and power punches her, the shockwave causing her and Lightning Dust to go into the portal.

“NO!!” Twilight yells before she and Lightning Dust are suddenly blasting through timelines and certain events in the timeline. It’s all happening so fast that they can’t get time to process what they’re seeing. It just gets faster and faster as they both scream the whole way. Soon they find the event they’re looking for and try to fly towards it, worried they might miss it. “This is gonna be close!” Twilight yells and Lightning Dust follows her lead as they both get closer and closer to it. They keep going until they finally reach it and are suddenly outside of the portal, falling out of the sky and straight onto a cloud.

They both look around, not knowing when or where they were…just that they were outside instead of inside…and they were really really high up. “Did…did it work?” Twilight asks before she hears Lightning Dust gasp and looks in her direction to see her looking down at something. She walks up next to her and sees…the course that the race took place out…and seeing a young Rainbow Dash at the starting line. “Yep…it worked. So we’re not late.” Twilight says and Lightning Dust corrects her.

“Quite the opposite actually…we’re early. I haven’t showed up yet…so now what?” She asks and Twilight suggests the only thing they can do.

“We wait until you do…then we save Rainbow…no matter the cost.”

No enemy like the past

This was already boring. They had been waiting for three minutes and the race hadn’t even started yet. Lightning Dust didn’t remember what specific point in the race she actually showed up at, but she knew it was after the race had started. Twilight actually didn’t mind the wait, surprisingly. She actually wanted to spend more time learning about Dash's childhood and past experiences. Makes her feel…close to her again. As strange as it sounds…she just wished she could talk to Dash again…share a few things with her in the hopes that she would do the same, but now… No, she couldn’t think like that…they were going to save Dash and she would come home.

“Can I ask you something…?” Lightning Dust asks and Twilight, despite still being angry and having the urge to kill the pegasus, just sighs and nods. “So…you know I regret…doing what I did, right? I mean…why else would I be helping you save Dash from me?” She asks, shuffling uncomfortably and Twilight thinks about it for a bit. It makes sense, right? Maybe Lightning Dust was feeling guilty about all the pain she had caused or helped cause, as she should. Twilight looks down, the feeling still burned into her memory of all the pain she caused as Twivine…all the pain she could’ve prevented.

“Seems like that’s one- if not the only thing we have in common. I caused so much pain as Twivine…yet I’m trying to fix it as Twilight…I never really have time to just not worry about that…no time to just…be me. To focus on who I am rather than who I was.” Twilight says and Lightning Dust just stares for a bit before awkwardly nodding. “She wanted me to kill you, ya know. Back in the castle when I had you pinned…and honestly I wanted to…” Twilight says and that comment seems to set Lightning Dust on edge as she shuffled uncomfortably again.

“Why…why didn’t you? You don’t really need me for this, do you? You’re unstoppable by yourself, so you could save Dash with no trouble at all, with or without me…so why?” She asks and Twilight frowns and looks at Dash then at her own hands.

“For…multiple reasons actually… One was because I don’t know what I’d do if I got my hands on this past you…I would’ve killed you if my friends hadn’t stopped me so…I wanted you here just in case I start…acting like that again.” Twilight says and Lightning Dust keeps listening as she continues. “The second one is because of what Fluttershy said…that this isn’t what Dash would want for me. Honestly…it’s not what I want either…I still wanna try and believe that everyone deserves a chance…even you… You’re not a bad pony Lightning Dust…or at least you weren’t until you took your disregard for the safety of others, as well as your vengeance, too far. But it doesn’t mean you can’t change.”

This hits Lightning Dust hard and she’s left shocked and…conflicted. On one hand, she doesn’t believe she can change or that she even wants to, but…on the other, she…kinda does want to. She could use her powers for good, to help others instead of hurting them. She frowns and looks down, seeming to think about it until they both hear a noise and look towards another cloud, only to see Lightning Dust, the one from the past, coming through a time portal and sitting down on the cloud…frowning. They look at each other and nod before Twilight teleports them onto the same cloud as her, causing her to quickly stand up and point one of her swords at them, only to grow a shocked look as she sees who’s standing before her.

“Trust me when I say…you really don’t wanna do that.” Lightning Dust says to her past self, earning an even more confused look, her gaze shifting between her and Twilight. “Believe me…it doesn’t end well.” She says and her past self looks shocked as the realization seems to hit her of how this was possible.

“You’re…from the future, right?” She asks and the present Lightning Dust nods. “So…why are you helping her? To protect Dash, of all ponies?” She asks and when Twilight steps closer, she charges the sword with lightning and points it towards her. “Not. Another. Step.” She says and Twilight glares but holds her hands up and heeds her advice.

“I’m helping her because this is a mistake. I know you feel that way too. Deep down, we both know that this isn’t right…none of what we’ve done is right.” The present Lightning Dust says and the past one seems to hesitate and think about it before the present one continues. “We’ve done a lot of terrible things…how’s about you avoid my mistake and don’t add one more thing to the list…” She offers and the past Lightning Dust slowly lowers the sword and turns back towards the race…not saying or doing anything for a bit. This unsettles them both and they slowly step closer. Suddenly, the past Lightning Dust screams and blasts them both with lightning, knocking them off the cloud and straight through more.

She then makes a lightning bolt and tries throwing it at Dash but a magical purple tendril wraps around it and swings it around before throwing it back at her and she just barely manages to dodge it, allowing it to most likely fly into space. She glares at Twilight, who glares back before teleporting behind her and tackling her away from the race, teleporting again. They land on the ground hard enough to make a crater, knocking over trees with the shockwave in the process. Twilight rolls away from Lightning Dust who sends lightning daggers towards her, only for them to be deflected with magic.

Lightning Dust tackles Twilight faster than the eye can see and drags her along the ground, dragging her face along it. Twilight quickly gets even more annoyed and punches Lightning Dust multiple times until she falters and crashes, both of them tumbling through trees. Lightning Dust recovers first and starts endlessly firing on her with electricity, causing her to grunt and squirm in pain. After a few seconds, the present Lightning Dust drop kicks the past one before uppercutting her, then finally lightning punching her in the stomach, knocking her at least 20 feet away. She grunts in pain and holds her stomach when she feels a sudden sting and some soreness shortly after. She grows a scared look when she realizes just what she signed up for.

She’s so deep in her thoughts that she doesn’t notice her past self zoom towards her and she receives a lightning kick to the face for it. Just as she tumbles to a stop, she tries to get up, only for her past self to drop down on her and start punching her repeatedly, eventually reaching the speed of 10 punches a second and going faster with each punch. Twilight soon grabs her and pulls her off harshly, causing her to spin a bit and before she can fully recover, Twilight delivers a roundhouse kick to her side, cracking a few ribs in the process. This causes both Lightning Dusts to scream out in pain.

Their screams go unheard though as Twilight is now fighting with blind rage. The past Lightning Dust swings a left punch at her, only to have her punch blocked, leading to Twilight grabbing and dislocating her arm, prompting another scream from both the Lightning Dusts. “T-Twilight! Stop!” The present one yells but Twilight just stalks towards the past one as she cowers away, towering over her. Twilight was clearly still holding back…but not as much. If she hadn’t held back, both of them would be dead already. She takes out one of her swords and swings at her but Twilight stops her by her wrist, takes the sword, slashes Lightning Dust twice before hitting her in the back of the head with the hilt of the sword, making her fall onto her stomach.

She tries to crawl away, grunting and whimpering in pain while fearing for her life, but Twilight steps on her ankle with a painful amount of force and she turns onto her side to look up at her. “Now’s your chance Twilight…finish her. You know that as long as she lives, Dash will never be safe. Nopony will ever be safe. Not as long…as either of them lives.” Twivine says from inside Twilights head and Twilights irises turn a dark purple as she starts to give in to Twivine’s influence. She slowly looks at the present Lightning Dust, who’s slowly starting to recover from the pain and stand up. “Now…what’s the best way to take out a future enemy…?” Twivine asks and Twilight slowly looks at the past Lightning Dust again and she and Twivine say the same words at the same time.

“Take out it’s past.” They say before Twilight raises the sword as high as she can, both Lightning Dusts looking on in horror. “This is for Dash…for all my friends…for everyone that you’ve made suffer!” Twilight yells as she gets ready to end the life of the cowering enemy below her.

“Twilight! No! Please! Think about Dash, what she would want! You don’t have to do this…everyone deserves a chance, even me…right?!” Lightning Dust asks, reminding Twilight of everything she had told and been told. All of a sudden, a loud boom happens at the same time as a burst of color and they all look to see that Dash had done the Sonic Rainboom. As she sees it, her eyes slowly turn back to normal and she slowly drops the sword, breathing in and letting out terrified, shaky pants. Twivine screams in annoyance before going completely quiet and Twilight looks down at Lightning Dust- both of them- before going to the present one and helping her up stand up fully.

“I’m…I’m so sorry… I… That wasn’t me, I would never-“ Twilight tries to explain but Lightning Dust just holds up one hand and shakes her head, smiling.

“No need to explain…not to me.” She says and Twilight smiles a bit before they’re both blasted onto the ground by the other Lightning Dust.

“You know what?! I may not be able to stop the Rainboom now…” She starts before looking up at Dash who was currently still flying around, happy to have her cutie mark. She forms a lightning bolt and aims it at her. “But I can still. Kill. Dash!” She yells as the bolt charges with electricity, her eyes temporarily turning black before also becoming charged with electricity and before Twilight can try and catch it, Lightning Dust flys up just as her past self throws it and gets in the way of it. Twilight watches in shock and horror…as it gets closer and closer to her…before hitting her right in the chest…and exploding.

The explosion sends Twilight and the past Lightning Dust flying away until they both crash and stay down for a bit. Twilight recovers first, slowly sitting up then looking around…finding the present Lightning Dust far to her right…critically injured, badly burnt, and bleeding a lot. She quickly gets up and runs to her, kneeling down next to her. She sees that she’s unconscious and checks her pulse, finding that she’s alive…barely. She immediately tries to heal her and Lightning Dust lets out a dry, pained cough and slowly opens her eyes and looks at Twilight. Twilight tries to give a reassuring smile but she could tell that Lightning Dust already knew…she was as good as dead.

“W-Well…gotta say that…t-the…irony of this isn’t…lost on me…” Lightning Dust says, struggling the whole time not to cough. Killed by her own lightning bolt in the same way she killed Light Hope… How fitting.

“D-Don’t worry, I can fix this. I can save you.” Twilight says and Lightning Dust slowly shakes her head, frowning and looking at her.

“No…you can’t… W-We…both know that…so while I…while I still have t-time…can I…ask you to…do something for me? …J-Just one thing…?” She asks and Twilight nods, prompting Lightning Dust to continue. “T-Tell Dash…that I forgive her…and that…I’m sorry…” Lightning Dust says and Twilight smiles a bit and nods.

“I promise…” Twilight says and Lightning Dust smiles back before slowly closing her eyes, letting out her last breath…and dying with a smile on her face. Twilight frowns and lowers head, slowly shaking it. Lightning Dust had sacrificed herself to save Dash…from her. For that…Lightning Dust had earned her forgiveness…and respect. Twilight hears something and looks behind herself to see the past Lightning Dust standing there with a distraught and shocked look on her face. A time portal opens behind her and she slowly backs up into it…still in shock as if she couldn’t comprehend what had just happened or what she just did…or both. The portal closes and Twilight frowns more before looking at Lightning Dusts body, noticing it starting to disappear.

“So long, Lightning Dust… Thank you.” Twilight says before her body completely disappears and a time opens above Twilight. She stands up, looking one more time at Dash who looked happier than ever and she smiles, happy to know that she would have her back now. She jumps into the portal, instantly being transported back to the present and landing in the same room that she left in. She looks around and notices that the others are gone…no sign of Midnight either. She starts getting worried and runs throughout the castle, looking for them but she can’t find them anywhere. She runs outside and is instantly startled by the loud booms, followed by the confetti that flew out of the party cannons that could only belong to Pinkie.

“SURPRISE!!!” Everyone yells, confusing Twilight as she looks around at everyone but then sighs in relief.

“Thanks everypony, this is… Wait, what’s the occasion?” Twilight asks and Pinkie hops up to her and giggles.

“Oh Twilight, this is your “Thank you for saving all of us from total and certain doom.” And the “Welcome Home.” Party for Rainbow Dash, silly!” Pinkie says super quickly like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

Twilight sighs in relief again when she hears confirmation that Dash is alive and well again. She then looks around, just now noticing something. “Wait, where IS Rainbow? And how do you all remember what happened?” She asks before suddenly hearing that familiar, raspy but beautiful voice.

“Up top, egghead. And nobody knows, we just…do.” Rainbow says, prompting Twilight to look up at her and see her slowly descending to the ground. “Miss me?” She asks with a smirk and Twilight slowly shakes her head before pulling Rainbow to her and hugging her as close and as tight as she can.

“More than you could ever know…I actually have something…well, a few things to tell you actually. But…they can wait till after the party… I could use a break after what we all just went through.” Twilight says and Rainbow tilts her head before nodding, and with that, everyone proceeds to get their party on, happy that everything was back to normal…for now.

“So the plan was a failure?! And you somehow managed to kill your future self rather than Rainbow Dash?!” Ragnar asks angrily, Lightning Dust just nodding in response. She was still shaken up by it…but also more determined to get payback.

“Forget that plan, we need a new one!” She yells, walking towards him before suddenly remembering a certain something…or someone. “Speaking of 'new…'” She says before walking to a cauldron and looking into the black, magical liquid in it, seeing her reflection. “I think it’s about time the newbie came out to play…don’t you?” She asks before slightly touching the liquid, causing it to ripple and as if it could sense exactly who she was talking about, an image of…Sky Blazer appears before the liquid swirls, lightning temporarily coming off it as it forms an image of…the new alicorn.

“See you soon…Blaze…”

Monster behind the mask

“So…Lightning Dust sacrificed herself…to save me?” Rainbow asks, completely and utterly shocked and also…conflicted. When Twilight nods, she doesn’t even know what to say so she just looks down and slowly turns around, crossing her arms and putting on hand under her chin like she’s thinking about something. “But…she hated me… Why would she-“ Rainbow tries to ask but Twilight steps up and hugs her.

“In the end, she regretted everything she did to you, to innocent ponies…to Light Hope…and realized that none of it was right. She…She wanted you to know that she forgives you…and that she’s sorry for everything.” Twilight says and Rainbow is so in shock but decides to just hug her back, nuzzling into the comforting gesture of affection. This was…a lot. The pony who hated her more than anything or anyone…died to save her. Or at least the one from the present did.

“Wait, you said that she disappeared as soon as the other one left?” Starlight asks and Twilight nods. “Twilight…that means her future’s changed. The past one took her place since she never went through with killing Dash. That means the Lightning Dust that helped you…doesn’t exist anymore…instead you just made things worse.” She says and Twilight grows a worried look and looks down as the realization hits her.

“Oh no…you’re right. I just pushed her further down the path of evil… I’ve put Dash in even more danger.” Twilight says, frowning until she feels Rainbow grasp her cheek and turn her face to look at her. When she does, she sees that she has a reassuring smile on her face.

“Twi, listen to me. You don’t have to worry about protecting me…because no matter what, we’ll have each other’s backs, like we always have. Nothing will change that.” Rainbow says and Twilight smiles back, prompting Rainbow to smile more and slowly lean her head against her own, both of them closing their eyes.

“Awwwww!” Pinkie says, earning a giggle from Fluttershy and flustered looks from Rainbow and Twilight, who separate and try to act like nothing happened. They then all try to discuss a plan until Celestia just tells them all to take a break from worrying about it, for now at least. It is then, that Twilight gets an idea. It had something to do with the villains and a possible way to reform them.

“I just thought of something… If the elements of harmony can take away power such as Nightmare Moon's and Midnight’s…can it do the same for the other villains? And can it be replaced with light magic? Magic from the elements?” She asks and everyone seems to think about it. Celestia is the first to speak up.

“It’s possible…but should we really be forcing it on them? Many of them have been exposed to that kind of magic already so they will be a bit apprehensive.” She says and Twilight seems to just now realize that. “Twilight, it’s very noble that you want them to have a chance but in the end, it’s their choices and we shouldn’t take that from them.” Celestia warns her and Twilight nods in understanding and agreement.

“I understand Princesss… We’ll have them all come to the throne room and we’ll see how far they’ve progressed… After everyone gets a chance to talk to each of them, we’ll ask them if any of them would want to go through with it.” She says and Celestia smiles a bit and nods in return. She trusted Twilight with her life, so she had no doubt that she would find a way to make this work.

An hour later

“I know this is a tough choice for all of you and I know that there’s always gonna be a part of you that hates us…more than anything. But we refuse to let that stop us from trying to make up for how we failed you in the past. We want to do right by you…all of you. But it’s your choice whether you want to let us help…and make a change…or not.” Twilight says and a few of the villains seem to think about it but the ones that don’t just glare at them. “I recently thought of a way to help make the process easier but… I doubt any of you will like it.” She continues and this seems to intrigue the villains.

“Let me guess… The Elements of Harmony?” Tirek asks and Twilight gives a baffled expression but nods. “Oh come now, Princess. It was rather obvious.” He says and Cozy nods in agreement. “We appreciate the offer, not really, and we’re not interested.” He says and Twilight frowns a bit.

“I thought you might say that… which is why I took the liberty of inviting a few…familiar faces.” She says and almost immediately, the doors open and Thorax, Scorpan: Tirek's brother, Cadance and Flurry Heart all walk in. “After I had the others invite them and they talked to you, I noticed that most, if not half of you didn’t seem as reluctant to come as you normally would’ve been. That shows that their words actually meant something to you… I already saw it, so there’s no point in trying to deny it. You should know that they care and want you to change as much as we do. So…if you’ve decided or if you want… who’ll be the first volunteer?” She asks and all the villains look at each other, hesitant and fearful of even the thought of coming into contact with the very magic that had defeated them many times in the past.

“I’ll do it…” Cozy says as she steps forward with a nervous look on her face, causing the other villains to look either shocked or disgusted at her.

“Cozy Glow…” Chrysalis says, shocked just like the others but she can’t say anymore than that. Tirek was in a similar state of shock.

“What made you decide this…?” Twilight asks after Cozy stops, causing her to think about it for a bit before smiling and looking at Flurry Heart.

“Your niece… She has that same annoying- I mean almost annoying drive of yours… a tendency to never give up and to take initiative… that and she has quite a way with words.” Cozy says, winking at Flurry at that last sentence, causing Flurry to blush and looking away while giving a sheepish smile. “Besides…I am kinda tired of fighting all the time…of being mad at the world for something my parents, mainly my father indulged in… a feeling he made me feel. Every. Single. Day… Uselessness. Loneliness. But also…fear.” She says, clearly trying to keep it together and Twilight frowns before walking to her and putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Well… hopefully we can help change that.” She says and Cozy smiles a bit, prompting her to smile back. Seeing this, Chrysalis and Tirek look at each other then Chrysalis shifts her gaze towards Thorax and Starlight. Tirek does the same to Scorpan before they both step forward beside Cozy Glow, surprising everyone. The Dazzlings look at each other then at Sunset before doing the same. The ones who don’t step forward are Astelle, Sombra, the Storm King, Rolling Thunder, and Short Fuze.

“How the mighty have fallen…” Everyone hears Lightning Dust say, Rainbow Dash immediately forming her lightning blade and going on alert. “This is just tragic… Look at all of you! They’ve got you eating out of their palms.” She continues and Twilight, despite not wanting to really kill or even hurt Lightning Dust, pulls out her blades and looks around.

“Lightning Dust, stop this. You can be better than this if you’d just-“ Twilight tries to say but Lightning Dust interrupts her, sounding really pissed off now.

“DON'T give me that! I can’t change, and I don’t want to… I’ve made my choice, now I’ll live with it… just like you will have to live with what’s about to happen! With the lives you won’t be able to save, today and from here on out!” She yells before teleporting behind Sky Blazer and grabbing her. Everyone immediately is about to charge her but she holds one of her blades close to her throat. “Nah-uh! You move, she dies! That includes you Dash! The second I see you even try to use your speed, I’ll slit her throat in a second before you even get to me… Then we’ll really see who’s faster!” She says, emphasizing her point by holding it closer to the point where it’s actually touching her and Sky can feel her hands shaking.

“Lightning Dust…please don’t do this… It’s not too late.” Twilight says slowly dropping her weapons. “Your future self died to save Dash and forgave her… She wanted to be better… Do you really not want that for yourself?” She asks and Lightning Dust frowns and thinks about it before her eyes start glowing and her fur turns black, a clear sign that she’s entered her super form.

“There’s no chance of that happening… This…is the new me. And this is the harsh reality of things… Sometimes, to get what you want…you have to do things you’re not proud of.” Lightning Dust says as a storm seemed to be starting in and outside of the castle. “Even things…like this.” She continues and is about to start attacking until Twilight asks her a question that’s impossible for her to answer at this point.

“And what is it that you want now?!” She asks, her frustration not going unnoticed. As soon as she hears that, Lightning Dust freezes up and looks down, her breathing and heart rate starting to increase… as well as her rage. She screams and lightning strikes against the restraints keeping Astelle, Sombra, the Storm King, and the other Washouts contained. As soon as they’re free, she blasts everyone away and gives the villains their weapons. Sky takes the chance to bite her hand on one of it’s vulnerable spots through the armor, drawing blood and making her scream before elbowing her in the stomach and trying to run away but Lightning Dust grabs her and punches her to the ground, stunning her.

“You little brat!” Lightning Dust says, shaking her hand to ease the pain and after a few seconds, one of her many abilities, speed healing, kicks in. She then picks up Sky and starts teleporting away. She looks and sees Dash knock out Short Fuze then proceed to fend off against Rolling Thunder's attacks. Dash sees her teleporting away, causing her to smirk and decide to brag. “Say goodbye to the kid Dash… You’ll never see her again.” She says and Dash rolls out of the way before reciprocating one of Rolling Thunder's attacks with one of her own then chasing down Lightning Dust into the lightning strike that was currently taking her to another location while everyone else is left to fend off against the rest of the villains themselves.

As the teleportation process ended, Rainbow found herself falling out of the sky and into the middle of the ocean but she manages to stop herself right before she hits the water. She then flys up higher and takes a look at her surroundings. The water was clearly unsettled by a storm, she’s hearing all sorts of noises, the wind is blowing hard, lightning strikes every 10 seconds and… she could kinda sense something out here…in the water. Whatever it was, it felt… familiar somehow…similar to her own powers. She looks towards where it’s strongest and charges up before blasting off into the water and towards whatever was out here. Whatever was giving her this feeling… Good or bad, she didn’t know… But she would find out soon enough.

As Sky Blazer slowly regained consciousness, she groans, feeling pain in her cheek and jaw, grasping and massaging it to ease the pain. She slowly sits up, taking in her surroundings. As she does, she sees that she’s in some sort of temple… It was very dark but the only reason she could see was because of the torches that were set up in this room and the natural light that peaked in through the holes in the wall and ceiling. She’s startled when she hears footsteps and look to see Lightning Dust walking towards her.

She quickly tries to run away but as soon as she turns around, Lightning Dust is right there with her arms crossed. “Listen kid, I won’t hurt you unless you keep trying to run away… The truth is that I wasn’t actually gonna kill you… I’ve…done that to one-too many kids.” She says and Sky remembers how her hands were shaking when she had the blade against her throat… She didn’t wanna kill her. Not like that anyway. “I just need you to do something, something that will benefit us both.” Lightning Dust says and Sky scoffs and starts to back up.

“What could a villain ask me to do for them that wouldn’t hurt or kill me?” She asks and Lightning Dust glares at her before forming a lightning ball and throwing it up into the air only for it to stay there and start glowing more, lighting up the whole room. She then points up to a staircase that leads to… a multicolored crystal?

“You can touch that…and get your full power and your memories back… This is where your powers went after you passed out. Why? Because this is another tomb of Alicorns…and you used to be an alicorn.” Lightning Dust says and Sky doesn’t even know how to respond. She couldn’t possibly trust a word Lightning Dust said… She looks around the room and sees old, worn out statues of Alicorns and wonders if maybe…Lightning Dust could be telling the truth… There was only one way to find out. She slowly walks to the bottom of the stairs before starting to carefully walk to the crystal.

Just as she places one foot on the first stair, the entire temple rumbles, setting them both on edge. After a few seconds, Rainbow Dash blasts through the ceiling and lands hard enough to crack the ground and shake the temple again. She stands up straight and glares at Lightning Dust before noticing Sky and the crystal. “Sky…? What are you doing?! Run!” She says and Sky seems to…hesitate, looking at the crystal then at her.

“I… I wanna help and I wanna get my memories back… Maybe this is how I can do both.” She says and this absolutely baffles Rainbow. This had to be Lightning Dust’s doing. Sky was smarter than this. She had to be.

“Look Sky, I don’t know what Lightning Dust told you, but it was a lie. You can’t trust her or anyone close to her!” Rainbow says and Sky is about to say something until Lightning Dust cuts in.

“Ouch…and to think my other self died to save you. I’m hurt.” She says and Rainbow glares at her even more. “It’s the kid’s decision so…how’s about we leave her to it and just focus on each other.” Lightning Dust says as she takes out her blades and Rainbow Dash forms her own and gets in her stance. Lightning Dust does the same before charging at her and Rainbow leans backwards, the slash going over her and she blocks another one with her own sword before kicking Lightning Dust back and blasting her. She then tries running to Sky but Lightning Dust throws one of her blades and it grazes her leg, causing her to fall.

Lightning Dust takes the chance to kick her when she tries to get back up then pin her down by her throat. Rainbow grabs her arms and tries shocking her but she was expecting that, so she just absorbs it. Suddenly, Sky blasts her too and it actually hurts and starts becoming too much. “Let her go!” She yells but Lightning Dust smirks and goes into her super form, her strength increasing, rendering Dash unable to breath and also starting to crush her trachea.

“Should’ve touched the crystal. Maybe if you had your full power…this wouldn’t have happened.” Lightning Dust says and that’s the last straw for Sky. She yells in anger and frustration before running to the crystal and reaching towards it to touch it. Rainbow Dash looks up and reaches for her to try and tell her to stop but she can’t even speak. She starts to feel the familiar rage and hatred for Lightning Dust that she had after she had killed Light Hope… and her eyes start turning red. She grabs Lightning Dust's wrists and starts removing her hands from her throat.

This shocks and kinda scares Lightning Dust and she tries overpowering Dash only to find that Dash is continuing to overpower her. Soon they both hear Sky screaming and look to see that she touched the crystal which now has Rainbow colored lightning coming off it and so does she. As for what’s going on in her head…her memories. She remembers that she was made from…magic… Dark magic and DNA samples…a drop of Twilight's blood… and a piece of Rainbow’s mane. She remembers…a feeling…quite a few of them. Blind anger that wasn’t directed at anyone specific at the time, freedom to do whatever she wanted,… and an overwhelming sense of…loyalty…to Midnight.

She then remembers all the villages that were destroyed…that she destroyed…then crashing just outside of Canterlot, passing out and waking up as a child with all these feelings gone…except the loyalty but that feeling alone had drawn her to Solaris…why? They were friends weren’t they? “These… These can’t be my memories… I can’t be that…that monster! I don’t believe it!” She yells as she tries to take her hand off the crystal…but comes to realize that she can’t. Her hand is stuck. She tries again but to no avail so she keeps trying and trying until the crystal starts shocking her nonstop, making her scream in pain.

“Whether you like it or not…that’s who you were and who you’re gonna be again.” Lightning Dust says and Sky just tries again to remove her hand.

“No! I don’t want to!!” Sky says, sounding more scared than anything. Rainbow Dash headbutts Lightning Dust off her then runs to Sky only for electricity to hit her and knock her into the ceiling before she falls and gets trapped under debris. “Rainbow Dash!!” Sky yells, still trying to get away from the crystal. She looks down and notices dark magic coming out of it and starting to wrap around her body.

She sees a purple flash from behind her before hearing a familiar voice. “Sky! What’s happening?!” Solaris yells and Sky looks to see her standing there.

“Solaris, get back! You’ll get hurt!” She warns her but Solaris grabs her and starts pulling her away from the crystal instead. “No!! You have to go! I don’t wanna hurt you!” She says but Solaris is more worried about her than herself.

“I don’t care if you hurt me! I am not losing you! You’re probably my first real friend! You’re…You’re too important to me!” Solaris yells and Sky is shocked by this but shakes her head.

“I’m just magic Solaris…that’s all I am…! I don’t have a family, or friends…I don’t matter!” Sky screams, tears now staining her face.

“You matter to me! To me, you’re more than just magic! You’re so much more than that…! You listened to me, stuck by me…! Don’t believe whatever Lightning Dust or anyone else tells you… You're allowed to be happy… you deserve to be happy!” Solaris says and Sky freezes up and looks at her, absolutely baffled and when Solaris gives her a smile, she smiles back, suddenly feeling like…everything will be ok.

“Thank you Solaris… I-I… I really enjoyed…being your friend…” Sky says as she starts to feel herself slipping away more and more… The feelings she first had were starting to resurface. Before Solaris could tell her that they weren’t done yet, a burst of electricity comes from the crystal, lightning hitting her square in the chest and knocking her away. She lands next to Rainbow Dash who’s still trapped under debris, holding her chest and struggling to breathe. She uses a healing spell on herself and is able to breathe again. She sits up as she hears Sky screaming more and sees her holding her head before she screams more and looks to the roof of the tomb.

Her eyes, mouth, mane, and tail are glowing and her screaming gets louder. Solaris' Alicorn empathy doesn’t even sense the Sky Blazer she knew anymore…all it could feel now…was rage. Sky looks down, panting before smiling evilly and looking at Solaris, her eyes sparking with rainbow colored electricity. “No…nonononono! Sky, no!!” Solaris yells, her eyes watering up as she starts to realize that her friend was gone now…if she was even real at all.

“Sorry Solaris…” Sky says as her body starts becoming engulfed in dark magic and she starts growing taller, her voice getting deeper and starting to echo. “Turns out I like being the monster.” She says, a horn forming on her head for the finishing touch to her appearance and all Solaris could do was cry. She was just like Midnight this whole time… Solaris feels betrayed and heartbroken. Sky screams/roars as she blasts lightning everywhere, destroying the tomb before she teleports herself and Lightning Dust to safety. Solaris just sits there for a bit before trying to help Rainbow Dash get free but before she can, she feels a rock hit her in the back of her head, making her fall.

She starts to lose consciousness as she notices water starting to flood into the tomb. She tries to stay awake but then she notices the crystal start to disappear and she’s just reminded of Sky whenever she looks at it. The pain and grief of losing someone else she cares about, as well as the guilt… It was starting to get to her. “I’m sorry, Sky…” Solaris says as she blames herself for everything. As her eyes start to close she notices her vision starting to…flicker…between the tomb and pitch black. She tries her hardest to stay awake but eventually gives in, the last thing she sees before then being Twilight, flying down to them through the roof. As Solaris loses consciousness, she also hears a familiar…unwelcome voice with a tone that made a clear threat and promise…of revenge.

“Like I told you before… There will be no mercy for Equestria… Only. Endless. Suffering.”

Days of reckoning, Pt. 2

Hours Later

Starlight was increasingly worried about everypony since they had been gone for so long. She had been trying to keep everypony calm, collected, and focused on fixing their only way of escape: the airship. Luckily, they were almost done; however, the only problem was the fuel. This thing needed a huge amount of fuel to fly and they had no idea where to even get that much in such a short amount of time or what could be big enough to contain it all. Suddenly the airship activates and she can hear the engines from outside the massive cave that the ship resides in. She looks shocked when this happens and even more so when Discord appears by her.

“That solves our fuel problem, the ship should only run off magic now.” He says before using a cloth to wipe some dirt and what looked to be oil off himself like he had just been doing some engineering work.
Starlight just rolls her eyes at this but thanks him before Twilight and the others appear behind them with Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie's families.

“You’re ok!” Starlight says before she notices the injuries the Mane 6 most likely received from whatever battles they were locked into. Discord growls when he sees the injuries on Fluttershy's body and swears to make all the villains pay for it with their lives.

“Barely! We have to hurry, they won’t be far behind! Is the ship ready?!” Twilight asks and they both nod and she nods in response. “Ok good, get everyone on the ship, I need to get Solaris.” Twilight says before starting to run off until she sees Astelle and Sky Blazer flying towards the hospital that Solaris is in. She flys there as fast as she can to protect her from whatever they plan to do with her.

When Astelle blasted the door off it’s hinges, she had expected to find Solaris or Midnight or whichever one she was now immediately, so she was surprised when she didn’t see either the small, cute, purple alicorn or the tall, dark, and scary one. They both look around, sensing that she’s still somewhere in the room. They check under the bed, inside the closet, etc. but they can’t find her anywhere. “Where is this little brat?” Astelle asks with a growl in her tone. Suddenly, they hear a yell before a burst of magic sends the hospital bed into Astelle, sending her through the window and giving Solaris enough time to run out of the room with a 6 second head start before Sky Blazer gives chase.

“Sorry Sky…!” Solaris says before using her magic to blast one of the sprinklers which activates them all. This doesn’t do much to distract Sky but when she uses her powers and electricity trails behind her, she’s literally shocked by her own powers, being constantly electrocuted as they backfire on her. Solaris continues running, trying her best to ignore the screams of pain coming from behind her. Astelle suddenly breaks through the wall in front of her as she gets ready to turn a corner. She screams and tries to stop but ends up sliding right into Astelle’s grip and being held up by her mane. She squirms and struggles to get free but Astelle eventually uses her magic to hold her up instead.

“Stop! Fighting! You can’t get away from this, child!” Astelle says and Solaris continues fighting until she looks at Astelle with a smirk.

“Who said I was really trying to get away?” She says, confusing Astelle until she’s suddenly blasted down the hallway, being forced to drop Solaris, only for her to be caught by Twilight. “Perfect timing. Thanks Twilight.” She says and Twilight smiles and nods before teleporting them both to the ship with the others. After a bit of time, they get everyone on and the ship starts to take off. Suddenly, an alarm starts going off and everyone sees an angry Astelle about to throw an entire mountaintop at the ship.

“They’re relentless… Now aren’t you glad I didn’t leave you?” Twilight says, looking at Solaris who doesn’t answer but Twilight can tell something’s… off about her now. Before she can even begin to think of what that could be, Pinkie rushes past them faster than ever to get to the top of the ship. Just as Astelle throws the mountaintop, Pinkie makes it to the top of the ship, charging energy from her powers into her legs and doing a massive leap towards it.

“PINKIE!!!” Everyone yells before looking on, shocked as she uses her now powered up fists to jackhammer through the mountaintop like Maud had done to save her from a giant boulder, only much faster and MUCH more powerful. She then charges her power to one leg and kicks the mountaintop or what’s left of it as hard as she can, shattering it. Even the villains are shocked by this. Pinkie laughs cheerfully before realizing where she was and beginning to plummet towards the ground, screaming. She closes her eyes, not knowing what else to do until she feels someone catch her with a firm but gentle grip and she immediately knows who it is.

“Thanks Fluttershy.” She says with a sigh of relief to a very annoyed but relieved Fluttershy, who nods before taking her back to the ship. Astelle, Sky Blazer, the Washouts, Ragnar, Midnight's dragon, and the Storm King all try to give chase, being the only ones who can fly. Suddenly the ship blasts off, causing a shockwave that knocks the villains away and out of Canterlot. Finally… Finally, Twilight and the others could take a breather and relax… or so it seemed.

As Fluttershy gets done rapping up Pinkie's leg which had been slightly injured due to it not being used to holding that much power or destroying something that big which put just a bit too much strain on her bones and muscles- even for her, she can’t help but admire how brave Pinkie had always been. Sure, she usually laughed at what everyone else would be afraid of, even if the danger was real, but today… today was different. Instead of laughing, Pinkie had been serious and determined to protect her friends and family. So much so, that she was the very first one to react and Fluttershy had to admit… she was impressed and her hidden feelings for Pinkie had gotten stronger, and so had her desire to be braver… more assertive- just not too assertive like she had been when she had learned from Iron Will. But… just more assertive than she already was.

“You should be fine in about a day, your leg has already started healing pretty fast but Pinkie… please… don’t ever do that again.” Fluttershy says and Pinkie seems to think about it before shrugging and nodding.

“I promise not to do it again as long as I don’t need to.” Pinkie says before giving Fluttershy her biggest smile ever, causing the pegasus to giggle before doing something… unexpected without thinking. She gives Pinkie a peck on the cheek, causing the pink earth pony to blush and look at her with a shocked look. It takes several seconds for Fluttershy’s smile to be replaced with a shocked and horrified look.

“Oh… Oh dear, I-I'm so sorry. I-I don’t know why- I don’t… I don't know what came over me, I’m so sorry Pinkie.” Fluttershy stutters while Pinkie continues to stare, shocked beyond belief. “U-Umm… I-I’ll let you… talk to your family.” Fluttershy stutters out, slowly getting up and walking out of the room, allowing Pinkie's family to go in and see her before the door closes and she leans against the wall next to it, holding her blushing face in her hands. “What was I thinking, forcing myself on her like that…?” She asks herself before slightly touching her own lips, a smile forming on her face as one thought crossed her mind. “I am glad it was her though…” She says quietly, leaning against the wall for a bit longer before going to check on her own family.

An hour later

As Twilight explained everything to her parents, her brother, her sister-in-law, and her niece, she had the nagging feeling that something was wrong, that something was about to happen and it only got worse the further they got from Equestria. Eventually it got so bad that it made her sick. She stands up suddenly without even trying to and starts walking to the room where all the former villains were along with Celestia, Luna, Solaris, Sunset, Starlight, and the Pillars of Old. “Twily…what’s wrong?” Shining Armor asks and Twilight just looks around, confused.

“I’m asking myself the same question… everything was fine until I started to get a bad feeling… then my body suddenly started moving by itself and brought me here.” Twilight says and Celestia and Luna look shocked at her then at each other then back at her.

“Twilight, that’s not just any bad feeling. That’s alicorn empathy trying to warn you… but it’s reacting so violently that you temporarily lost control of your own body to it.” Celestia says before Luna continues explaining for her.

“Which means… the danger is in here.” Luna says and just as she says that, the pain in Twilight’s head suddenly raises drastically, accompanied by some sort of loud booming, screeching sound that only she could hear. This causes her to yell in pain and hold her head as she falls to her knees. Everypony is immediately by her side, ready to help. Soon her friends all step into the room as well and notice what’s going on.

“Well, don’t worry Twilight, whatever’s going on, I’m sure you’ll figure it out before it gets bad. So I wouldn’t be worried.” Solaris says and all the other villains agree and Twilight smiles at them until something very strange happens. She looks at her friends and sees Applejack giving the former villains a skeptical look before crouching beside Twilight and whispering.

“Twi… someone here just… lied.” She says and Twilight is suddenly forced to her feet by alicorn empathy and walks to the center of the room, looking around at all of them like she’s trying to see which one triggers her alicorn empathy the most. She notices that the closer she gets to figuring out who, the more she hears screaming and feels anger, rage, and determination. She looks towards where Solaris is only to realize that she’s gone.

“Wait… Where’s Solaris?!” Twilight asks as she looks around frantically. Everyone looks around until they all see her sitting by a window just… staring outside of it. Twilight slowly starts to walk to her. “Solaris…?” Twilight hesitantly asks, really unnerved by all this, especially the fact that the closer she got, the more her alicorn empathy screamed inside her head to throw her off the side of the ship.

“She warned you, didn’t she Twilight…?” Solaris asks, her voice now having a cold edge to it to the point where she doesn’t even sound like herself. “She warned you to leave her in Equestria but noooo… you just had to play hero… and where has that led you?” She asks and Twilight suddenly backs up, knowing what or who was in control now. Solaris slowly turns her head and opens her eyes and when everyone sees them, they’re shocked to see that they’re black with purple slits for pupils. “Back to me.”

“Midnight…” Twilight says, causing her to smirk and nod before hopping up from her seat and walking towards everyone, causing them to back up. “I don’t understand… How?! When?!” Twilight asks and Midnight shakes her head as Solaris' fur slowly turns black along with her mane, some of her feathers turning a darker purple as she starts to grow taller, her voice getting deeper.

“It’s very simple really… Solaris making a friend that was unknowingly like me and then losing said-friend right before her eyes unbalanced Solaris’ psyche just enough to allow me to take control again and to be fair, it was already close enough to a breaking point as is.” Midnight says as she continues getting closer until Celestia and Luna both step between her and everyone else with their magic ready. Midnight just chuckles at this and continues. “But that’s not when I took control… that happened when she tried to warn you to leave her… Sky Blazer and Astelle are very good actors by the way. Fitting how Solaris knew she was going to turn only because I wanted her to know though… I wanted her to know what was coming… to fear it. All of it… and you just made it so much easier for me to bring about her worst fears… starting with letting her watch as I bring down this ship… and kill. You. All.”

Midnight says before the ship suddenly tilts to the right violently and so fast that it sends everyone flying towards the wall in that direction. Midnight just smirks, not even flinching from that and staying right where she was. Once the ship stabilizes, that’s when everyone notices they flew right into a storm and they notice that it’s not just a normal storm… it was being caused by magic. Twilight glares at Midnight as it all starts to make sense. “You… You’ve been planning all of this from the start! The very first day we defeated you! You had your plan all ready to go but you had lost too much strength to communicate with your army! So you waited… and manipulated not only us, but also the villains into doing what you wanted!” Twilight yells, causing Midnight's smirk to turn into a full blown evil, tooth-filled smile.

“Took you long enough to figure it out but I’ll tell you what. It was fun while it lasted! And my consolation prize will be finally making you suffer along with your friends and family… thanks for making this so easy… Seems like you make a great villain after all, huh… Twivine?” Midnight says, taunting and mocking Twilight's foolishness to provoke more foolishness…and it was about to work.

Twilight thinks about this as her anger raises to new heights when she hears Midnight's cruel, infuriating words towards her. Twilight’s eyes suddenly turn a darker purple than they already were and her magic combined with Twivine’s, causing symbols to form on her body as her voice echoes. “That’s. Not! Who I am!!” Twilight yells before charging at Midnight who charges back, beginning what would be one of their most brutal battles ever… and the one that would possibly leave the biggest impact.

Brutality of War

Author's Note

Helloooo, sorry I’ve been inactive but with school and everything else going on, I have to kinda focus and dedicate myself but I’m getting back into working on stories. So bit of a warning for this chapter, one or more moments in this one might be… graphic? Also a lot of death and crying and lots of trauma so… yeah. With that, I hope you continue to enjoy this story. Also this might be a looong chapter. Also DO NOT HATE ME or give me hate comments. I’m not proud of the idea for this and I hope it doesn’t get to be too much.

Brutality of War

As Twilight and Midnight battled, everyone else is still trying to recover from that sudden violent shift from the ship. Spike gets up and sees Midnight pull a fast move on Twilight which ends with Twilight being pinned and strangled and he growls in anger before going and jumping on Midnight's back and biting her on the shoulder, his teeth managing to draw blood. She growls in pain before blasting and elbowing him in the face, grabbing him by his tail then slamming him through the floor. Applejack and Rarity who were nearby, going to help, fall with him through the massive ship. Midnight smirks and sends some dark magic into the hole.

“That should keep them busy.” Midnight says and she sees everyone standing back up to fight and she gets ready to do the same before another violent shake from the ship causes everyone to stumble a bit and Midnight smirks even more. “Right on time.” She says and before anyone can question what she means or what caused that.

“Guys! On the radar, we’ve got multiple targets coming towards the ship!” They hear Flash Magnus say over the intercom. Just as he says that, the ship once again rocks violently but this time, flashing red lights come on along with an alarm.

“That can’t be good…” Sunset says before Midnight chuckles, gaining everyone’s attention.

“For all of you it’s not…” She says before her gaze shifts to the former villains. “You all can still make it out of this alive. You can come back to the side of evil or die horrific deaths here with all these other… pathetic creatures. You know as well as I do that you’d be avoiding a lot of pain… including the same pain you’ve all experienced that led you to be evil in the first place so even if you stop me now, it’s only a matter of time… you know I’m right. You’re letting them take away the one thing that makes you all stronger than you’ve ever been.” Midnight says and she can see some of the villains seeming to think about this but hesitating.

“Don’t listen to her! None of you need to be evil to be strong. Hurting others isn’t the way to avoid being hurt!” Twilight says before Midnight sends a magical tendril at her that wraps around her throat and pins her to the wall. She goes to get it off but more wrap around her body and horn, immobilizing her.

“Princess, the adults are talking.” Midnight says and just as everyone gets ready to attack her, Astelle and Sky Blazer both appear and send magic at them all, knocking them back before they proceed to attack them and keep them away from Midnight and the former villains. “You know the thing about Princess Twilight… it’s the difference between her and real leaders. She hasn’t had to make a sacrifice that wasn’t temporary… she hasn’t experienced true loss or any of the hardships that you all have… so she doesn’t really understand any of you… she never has… but I do. So would you rather take your chances with her and burn your bridges with me? Or… would you rather rise to the top and achieve your dreams?” Midnight asks and Twilight tries to say something but the tendril wraps around her mouth so she can only let out muffled warnings and pleas.

The former villains continue to think about this until they need to discuss it among themselves. After a bit, they all turn back to Midnight and she crosses her arms, waiting for an answer. “We’ve decided… to return to your side once more.” Chrysalis says and Midnight smirks before they all notice a bright purple glow coming from behind them, reminding them of one of the other Alicorns in the room. They all look to see Twilight glowing more and more with every second that goes by until a burst of magic knocks everypony back, but surprisingly, Midnight is the only one mainly injured. Twilight takes the chance to blast her through the ship’s walls, sending her plummeting down to whatever lies below them, whether it be land or ocean. Twilight falls to her knees after a few seconds and when her family comes into the room, panicking and Flurry Heart runs up to her, she gently grabs her niece by her shoulders, giving her a serious but reassuring look.

“Don’t worry, everything will be ok. Everyone will be ok… alright?” She asks and Flurry nods, trying to smile but Twilight could tell she was terrified. Just as she’s about to say something else, they all hear the sound of an explosion somewhere inside the ship, being quickly followed by a loud, familiar roar. “I’m gonna go help everypony else, so I need you to stay and help protect everyone else but be careful, ok sweetie?” Twilight asks and Flurry Heart nods, growing a determined look.

“You be careful too… I love you auntie Twilight…” Flurry says and Twilight smiles before hugging her, prompting her to hug back.

“I love you too Ladybug…” Twilight says before the rest of her family shows up and she looks up at them with the same look she gave Flurry. “I love you all.” Twilight says before she stands up and her mask forms on her face, her eyes glowing purple when it fully forms. She gives them all a quick nod before running towards the hole she had made in the ship and jumping out to help fight off the villains, using magic to drag Astelle and Sky Blazer out with her.

She trusts that the rest of her friends could handle the other villains. They would come out on top, like they always did in the past… they had to.

A few minutes earlier

As Applejack, Rarity, and Spike all tumbled to some unknown section of the ship, they tried their best to stop, meanwhile they were receiving painful bumps along the way, slamming against more and more metal. Applejack gets an idea and tries using a transparent Ursa claw from her powers to stop by stabbing into the ground, hoping it would be enough to stop her decent. This only makes things so much worse for the three of them though as whatever they were sliding on collapses and makes so many different openings. Because of this, Applejack falls through a different one than Rarity and Spike who fell through the same one. They both land painfully hard, both grunting and groaning in pain when and after they land.

They both just stay down for a bit to let themselves recover. Rarity recovers faster due to her newly discovered ability: ice healing. She gets up and looks around, specifically for a way to get out, until she notices Spike groaning and growling and pain. She goes to check on him, reaching her hand towards him as she can tell something’s wrong. “Spike, are you-“ She tries to ask but before she can finish her sentence, he snaps his gaze into her direction, fixing her in place with a death glare. Usually she wouldn’t be so shocked at this but that wasn’t the case this time as she saw his eyes… They were glowing… purple. Rarity slowly backs up, shocked and more than a little scared at the moment. “S-Spike…?” She asks in a shaky voice as the young dragon continues to glare until he suddenly roars in pain and scuffles away from her, his body size increasing along with his muscles starting to expand. His voice was also getting deeper as purple started to shine throughout a few small areas in his body.

Rarity backs away further, especially when she notices his transformation starting to cause damage around them. “Rarity… RUN!!!” Spike yells/roars out at her and that’s enough to get her moving. She sees an opening and immediately breaks out into a sprint through it. She hears Spike roar again before she feels the floor shaking beneath her, the shaking getting more violent with every step she took… Spike was chasing her. She makes ice walls behind herself as she continues to run but she can hear them shattering faster and faster, and immediately knows that they’re not even managing to slow him down. She sees a path to her right and makes the floor behind her icy before she quickly goes down it, causing Spike to slip and slide past it and roll into a wall before he quickly recovers and gives chase after her.

“Spike, please! This isn’t you! You wouldn’t hurt anypony!” Rarity yells but Spike doesn’t listen, continuing to barrel towards her, knocking down anything in his path. Meanwhile in his head, his thoughts were only filled with anger… and a voice that he thought was his own but is actually Midnight’s.

“You never had a chance with her… she chose Applejack over you. Well if you can’t have Rarity… then nobody can! Not you, not Applejack, not anypony!!!” The voice says. Normally he would’ve tried not to listen until he confirmed it was true and even then, he wouldn’t be so… angry… just disappointed. But due to the dark magic that Midnight had sent into the hole they fell into, this was not the case. To him, what he was going to do to Rarity once he caught her was the right thing to do… He speeds up, running on all fours until he’s right behind Rarity. Once he’s close, he gets back on his feet and uses his right arm to knock her to the side, launching her into the wall and allowing himself to run into the wall in front of them.

Rarity groans in pain as she tries to get up, only for a surge of pain to run through her body as a sign to stay down. Spike wasn’t even using his full strength and yet he hit her hard enough to send her flying into a wall and leave a massive dent where she had crashed against it. Not to mention the bones that had likely been damaged in her body. She looks to see Spike stopping right in front of her, glaring down at her menacingly. Rarity struggles to move away and lean against the wall, groaning in pain the whole time. “Spike… please don’t do this…” Rarity pleads, only gaining a growl from him as he raises his razor sharp claws. Rarity now has tears in her eyes as she looks up at him, silently pleading for the spike she knew to come back and fight whatever had taken hold of him.

Just as he brings his claw down, Applejack bursts through the wall next to them, an orange aura radiating off of her, making it look as if she was on fire. Her eyes and mane were slightly glowing orange. She heads straight towards Spike and punches him, also tackling him, the shockwave sending him flying through another wall and into another section of the ship, this one containing smaller vehicles that look built for flying. They both tumble along the ground for a bit before separating and rolling to a stop. They both slowly get up and face each other, starting to circle each other as well.

“Spike… I really don’t wanna hurt ya Sugarcube. I know this isn’t you so I’m gonna do my best to help ya snap out of it… ok?” She says, keeping her eye on him and paying attention to every single movement he makes. She notices that his breathing had sped up as soon as he saw it was her he was about to fight. Whatever happened to him had obviously made her and Rarity his main targets. Before she can say anything else, he roars and charges at her. She sighs before charging back with a yell/roar of her own. Rarity, who was still injured despite her ice healing, had managed to get up and walk to the hole they had made but that was just about all she could do for now. So she watches as both dragon and pony clash in a battle that- unknown to her, was actually for her in a way.

Everything was in complete chaos, Flurry, Cadance, and Shining Armor were stuck fighting Sombra and Cozy Glow. Starlight, Trixie, Sunset, and Tempest were occupied with Chrysalis, The Dazzlings, and the Storm King. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were doing their best to handle the Washouts. Pinkie was helping the young six and the Pillars of Old protect everyone’s families from Tirek. Celestia and Luna were taking on Astelle and Midnight's dragon along with Snowdrop who was hesitant to fight at first but eventually realized it was more than necessary. And to top it all off, Twilight was struggling to hold her own against Sky Blazer and Midnight. All in all, their plan had obviously been ruined from the start… but that didn’t mean it was completely ruined. All they had to do was make it to the coast of their destination safely and they could work things up from there.

The storm and the villains were majorly damaging the ship though and the bunch of holes that it now had weren’t exactly helping. The air pressure was actually lowering drastically and it was making it harder for everyone who was on the ship. Twilight notices this and realizes she has to finish this fight quickly. She sees Sky Blazer coming at her and only has a second to react as she casts a spell that allows Sky Blazer to pass through her and run into Midnight who was on her other side. She quickly traps them and throws them far away from the ship. Or at least she tries to, but Midnight breaks them out with a burst of magic and they both blast Twilight while she’s stunned. This knocks her to the edge of the ship and she struggles to hang on as it continues flying through the storm that surrounded them.

After she recovers, she starts climbing up before she sees Sky Blazer jump up and flap her powerful wings to dash towards her. Before she can get too close, she’s tackled and kicked away by Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash then runs to Twilight and tries to help her up. “Rainbow! Behind you!” Twilight yells but just as Rainbow Dash turns around, Midnight is right in front of her, already swinging a blade towards her. She only has a second to dodge and she does but barely as it manages to leave a cut over her right eyelid, just narrowly missing her actual eye. Another swing causes her to try and block on instinct only to receive a cut on both her arms. One final swing makes her flap her wings to move back but the sword releases a wave of magic that hits Rainbow Dash, majorly injuring her and sending her flying off the ship and into the storm.

“RAINBOW!!!” Twilight screams before jumping off the side and reaching towards her to use her magic and grab her but before her magical grip could fully surround Dash, Midnight tackles her from the side and drags her away from her, allowing her to disappear into the clouds. “NO!!!” Twilight screams in anguish as Midnight continues to drag her further and further away from Rainbow. Suddenly sadness… is replaced with anger and hatred. She slams her fists down on Midnight's body again and again, trying to get her to stop before she cuts on of her wings, making her scream in pain and crash through the ship’s hull, still holding Twilight before they separate.

Twilight slowly gets up and faces Midnight, glaring at her with nothing but pure hatred. Dash was gone because of her… and she would suffer for it. Twilight would kill her in the most painful way she could imagine. She’d tear her apart piece by piece until there was nothing left. These were both Twivine's thoughts… and Twilight's.

She charges at Midnight and jumps, wrapping her legs around her and spinning before practically throwing her with them. Just as Midnight gets up, Twilight kicks her in the face then punches her again and again. “This is all your fault! All of it!!” Twilight yells angrily at her as her eyes and mane start changing color. “Everything was fine before you showed up, released the Legion of Doom, targeted me and my friends and killed so many ponies… and you just had to kill one! MORE!!!” Twilight yells as her voice also starts to change before delivering one more final punch to her face, dislocating her nose.

Midnight slowly turns her head to face her before fixing her nose back in place like it was nothing. Midnight then growls angrily. “My turn.” She says before Twilight blasts her over and over again and tries landing one more punch, only for it to be caught. Midnight smirks before punching Twilight in the gut, knocking the air out of her. Before she can recover, she pulls Twilight’s head back and hits her in the throat before grabbing her arm, swinging her around and punching her as hard as she can, knocking her to the ground and sending her rolling away. Twilight slowly tries to get up, but Midnight kicks her in the stomach, practically forcing her up to her feet and then punching her before she can get the chance to fall back down… and Midnight still wasn’t done.

She grabs Twilight and swings her over her, slamming her and then pulling her back up and head-butting her away. “This is just sad… you’re an alicorn, an immortal being… so much power and all you do is hold back… Strong enough to have it all-“ Midnight starts before Twilight forms a magical glyph and throws it at her and she’s forced to knock it away then block a punch from Twilight before grabbing her and turning around with her. “And too weak to take it!!!” Midnight yells before punching Twilight again, sending her flying down the hallway. Twilight recovers surprisingly fast though and flys at her, dodging a blast before latching on to her with her arms and legs and spinning which ends up taking them both down to the ground.

This maneuver catches Midnight off guard and Twilight takes the chance to punch her over and over again while charging magic into her fists. Midnight grows annoyed at this and looks just in time to see Twilight forming a magic blade around her fist before blocking it with a dark magic shield. She then head-butts Twilight before grabbing the blade, breaking it in half and stabbing Twilight in the side with it. Twilight screams in pain before receiving a punch in the face which sends her flying back with a broken nose. Twilight takes a bit to recover but before she fully can, Midnight grabs her, throws her into the ceiling and catches her when she comes down only to slam her down onto the floor, sending her and herself through it and down to the very bottom.

By the time they stop, they both have lots of cuts and bruises but Twilight's injuries were worse than Midnight’s… and that was only surface damage. Twilight groans in pain as she slowly opens her eyes, only to see Midnight standing over her menacingly. She tries to slide away but Midnight picks her up by her arm and she tries blasting her but Midnight knees her in the stomach before turning her around and winding up a punch that would end this fight. Twilight struggles to get free but to no avail and Midnight finally throws the punch right at Twilight’s spine… breaking it and immobilizing her, causing her to scream in pain. Midnight smirks before carelessly dropping the now crippled princess on the floor.

Twilight struggles to process what Midnight just did and was now in a state of shock… but it wasn’t over just yet. Midnight grabs her by her horn and starts absorbing the dark magic out of her, making her scream in pain once again as she could feel part of herself literally being sucked out of her… and it felt like she was dying. It feels like it goes on for eternity but after a few seconds, Midnight uses her other hand to release dark magic to the space beside them. As time passes by and the dark magic begins to form into the shape of a alicorn, Twilight’s horn gets weaker until Midnight lets out a huff and with one extra effort… she breaks it and an explosion of magic deals the final blow to the ship, finally making it go down and take even more damage, losing more parts as it crashes in a fiery heap towards the ground.

As Lightning Dust struggles to carry an unconscious, half-dead Rainbow Dash out of the ocean, she surveys the destruction left by the crash. The ship had just barely made it to the coast with the back half of it being submerged in water while the front half was on land, a lot of it being either on fire or in pieces. She sees a few of the ponies and other creatures Dash was with and they were all alive but… they weren’t in good shape. She looks at Dash and thinks about the whole reason she had done any of this in the first place. It would be so easy to kill her right here and right now… but just like her other self… she couldn’t… and she didn’t want to anymore… hence why she saved her from drowning in the first place. She thought she would be strong enough to stomach all this… but she was wrong… all of this… was wrong… and she wasn’t the only one feeling that way.

Cozy Glow jumps awake, coughing up water before looking around and seeing Tirek and Chrysalis crouched down by her, fire seeming to be everywhere around them. She then realizes what happened when she sees the worried and relieved looks on their faces. She sits up and crosses her arms, realizing she had some sort of cloth covering her, most likely from them to help keep her warm.

“Why… Why did you save me? What are we, a family or something?” Cozy asks coldly as the guilt was still fresh in her mind because of everything they had just done. Everything she’d said and done to Flurry Heart… the look of pain and betrayal on Flurry's face when they had “turned” on them still burned into her mind. She’s brought out of her thoughts when she hears Tirek say something… unexpected.

“We were worried I suppose… Leaving you to die just… didn’t sit right with either of us.” Tirek says, causing Cozy to look up at them both before Chrysalis also earns a shocked look from Cozy with her words.

“Neither does… any of this… not anymore.” She says and Cozy can’t help but agree. She finally allows herself to break down and cry after a few seconds of trying to keep herself together. When Tirek and Chrysalis both hold one arm towards her, she jumps into their arms, allowing them to hug her as she enjoys the feeling of comfort… or tries to.

The Dazzlings weren’t much better as they left an unconscious and badly wounded Sunset Shimmer close but not too close to the rest of her group. They were already consoling each other and trying to assure each other that what they had done was for the best… at least for them… but they didn’t feel good in the slightest about it. They see somepony ahead and recognize it as Lightning Dust. They all growl at her and she takes out her weapons before frowning, shaking her head, and lowering them. They all calm down and notice that everyone else getting a bit too close. Short Fuze and Rolling Thunder find them and they all agree that it would be best if they got a move on.

The Dazzlings take longer to depart as they all apologize to Sunset, Sonata and Aria going first before leaving. Adagio crouches down next to her and softly grabs her hand, frowning down at her. “I’m so sorry Sunset… for everything. We… we all are. Please… don’t die on us… you deserve so much better after you were willing to give us all a chance… give me and my sisters a chance.” Adagio says before sighing and placing a kiss on Sunset's forehead and departing. She looks towards her one more time then looks at everyone else and sees Applejack and Rarity carrying a unconscious Spike out of the wreckage and limping towards everyone else as Fluttershy carries Rainbow Dash to them as well. She notices that a majority of the group is missing though. One other pony that she doesn’t notice there at this point… is Twilight.

As Twilight comes to, she notices that it hurts to breathe and there was a heavy smell of smoke lingering in the air. She opens her eyes to see smoke in the air before looking turning her head to see fire around her. Her entire body hurt but… she couldn’t feel her legs. She starts panicking as she tries getting her bearings before she looks down… and sees a metal spike going through her side. No wonder it hurt to breathe. Now that she actually noticed this… the pain increased and so did her fear. She slowly reaches a weakened hand towards it and tries straightening it but she can barely even manage to move it, her strength severely diminished.

She hears something and sees a silhouette walking towards her from the fire. She sighs in relief, thinking it was one of her friends… until Midnight exits the fire… with Twivine following close behind her. Twilight immediately tries to teleport a way on instinct, only for nothing to happen and she reaches up only to freeze up in shock when she feels nothing… her horn was gone. “Why the long face… at least we’re not gonna kill you… yet.” Twivine says as she walks up to Twilight with a smirk, earning a weakened glare from the Princess. “Miss me?” She asks and Twilight wants nothing more than to kill both of them and get back to her friends… her family.

“On the downside for you and your friends…” Midnight says before levitating a few things from the other side of the flames and Twilight’s eyes widen in horror when she sees her parents… and some items belonging to Pinkie’s parents, Fluttershy’s father, Rarity’s parents, Dash's mother, and Granny Smith. When she sees this… she could already tell what had happened… they were… gone.

She sees her parents still moving and she tries harder to straighten the damned piece of metal keeping her trapped. “Midnight, please! You’ve already taken so much… please stop this! Solaris!!! Please stop her!!!” Twilight screams and Midnight laughs at this before suddenly grabbing the metal spike… and ripping it out of her, making her scream before both Midnight and Twivine start casting a spell on her that won’t heal her immediately but it will stabilize her and speed up her recovery process… not fast enough though.

“Don’t be so dramatic Princess… I don’t want you to die yet… I’m just going to… motivate you. And your friends. Into what, you ask? That is really up to you, now isn’t it?” Midnight asks before releasing Twilight’s parents from her magical grasp, dropping them on the ground. She then walks to them as they slowly come to and Twivine pulls them up and holds them still as they suddenly realize what’s going on. A blade comes out of one of Midnight’s gauntlets and Twilight screams in anger, pain, and fear as she tries getting up, crawling to them, blasting Midnight, anything that would by her parents time to run.

“Twilight, stay back and don’t look!” Night Light yells, still hoping to protect his daughter but when he sees her continuing to try and get to them, he decides to take action instead, elbowing Twivine in the face and causing her to let them both go. They both try to run but Midnight cuts Night Light's leg, making him fall before she picks him up by his throat. Twilight Velvet runs to their daughter and tries helping her up until she hears a snap and slowly turns to see Night Light hanging limply in Midnight’s grasp… Both mother and daughter stare in shock and fear as Midnight throws his body to the side.

Midnight looks at them with a smirk before forming a spear, aiming it at Twilight, and throwing it. “No!!” Twilight Velvet yells as she turns to use her own body as a shield to protect her daughter. Before Twilight could do anything, the spear goes through her mother’s back and she’s practically frozen there in shock… until she falls forward onto her side.

“Mom!!!” Twilight screams as she crawls to her and tries to do… something. Anything. Anything at all. “No… no. Not like this. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry… I’m… so… I… please Mom, please… don’t leave me…” Twilight says, crying hysterically at this point. Twilight Velvet places a hand on her cheek and Twilight closes her eyes, placing her hand on hers.

“Don’t cry… it’s alright… you did nothing wrong…” She says and Twilight is about to try and protest but before she can, her mother continues. “This… isn’t… your fault. There was nothing you could do to save us… but you can do something to save… everyone else. So you keep… going. Keep caring. Don’t ever lose sight of yourself… and don’t blame yourself for whatever goes wrong… because at least you tried in the end.” She says and Twilight hesitates but nods, earning a smile. “You’ve made me and your father so proud… we’ll always love you and no matter what… we're with you.” She says and she can see that same spark in her daughter… one that would never die no matter how dark things seemed. Twilight would end this nightmare… she would stop Midnight… and she was at peace with that. She slowly closes her eyes and goes limp, her breathing and heart rate stopping.

Twilight watches in horror and sadness as her mother’s life slowly fades… and she lays there with her head resting against her daughter’s hand. She breaks out into tears again, silently begging for her not to leave her.

“It could’ve been different Twilight… but our fight… our real fight… starts now.” Midnight says and Twilight quickly whirls around to say something truly hateful to her only to see that both she and Twivine are gone. Left in the place they were standing was the belongings of those that had died from all the events that had just transpired. Twilight looks towards her father’s body, then back to her mother’s before gritting her teeth more and more until she lets out an angry, sadness-filled cry that could be heard from miles away. Once she does, she flops onto her side, all the pain from her mental and physical wounds finally weighing down on her.

She was starting to lose consciousness, if she wasn’t dying that is. She notices her element flashing purple but doesn't have enough time to question it as she sees Starlight, Celestia, and Shining Armor running to her but right before they get to her, everything goes dark… and she’s left with nothing but sorrow, hatred…, and a feeling, a yearning… for revenge.

Broken bodies, Strong spirits

Nine Months Later

Nine months since… that event and three months since Twilight had woken up from a coma-like state. It had been forced onto her by her own body due to the dangerous lack of magic and large amount of blood loss. In other words, her body had forced her into that state to keep her alive… or at least the spell that Midnight and Twivine cast on her did. Normally it would be a mystery to Twilight as to why they had done it… but the answer was obvious… they wanted her to suffer more before they finally killed her… but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her friends suffer more too. But if she didn’t want that… she had to recover.

As she looked towards the supports that were meant to help her walk again, she couldn’t help but think of her spine which, despite the healing spells that Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Starswirl had cast on her, was still damaged which left her legs weak and made it very hard to take a couple of steps without collapsing… or sit up straight by herself without a lot of effort. It had left her frustrated for a long time and the frustration increased until she reached her breaking point and snapped at everyone who had tried to help her. She had said some pretty awful things to them… words that weren’t meant for them, but for the monster who had left her in this state in the first place. The monster who took her parents away right before her eyes…

Before she can slip into dark thoughts of many painful ways to make Midnight pay, she hears footsteps and doesn’t have to look behind her to know who it is. “Whenever you’re ready Twilight… There’s no rush for you to recover.” Celestia says as she slowly walks to stand beside her faithful student. Twilight scoffs and hangs her head in shame and to avoid snapping at her before they’ve even gone into a full conversation.

“But there is… Midnight’s not just gonna… wait for me to get better. She knows that as soon as I do, I’ll be coming for her. She knows that she can just make me stop by threatening somepony else I care about. And last but not least… she knows how to beat me… she knows I’m weak. And yet I. Know. Nothing! As far as I know, she only has one weakness: the Elements of Harmony, and even if they can beat her, they don’t stop her from eventually coming back! Hypothetically, only Solaris could possibly do that but…” Twilight says before cutting herself off, putting her face in her hands and shaking her head. “Seeing Solaris on the ship… I could tell that who she was… is gone now… there’s nothing left to save.”

“Twilight, no. You can’t possibly mean that.” Celestia says as she steps in front of Twilight. “You know as well as I do that Solaris is still somewhere inside that monster, just waiting for us to save her. We can’t give up on her… Or on the other villains.” Celestia says, earning a disbelieving look from Twilight. The amount of venom in the next words Twilight says is enough to shock Celestia and make her realize just how much Midnight has truly broken her.

“Are you serious…? You seriously still wanna have faith in the very creatures who aided that monster in taking away ponies that me and my friends care about?” Twilight asks before breaking out into hysterical laughter. Even though she’s laughing, Celestia can tell she just crossed a line and when Twilight fixes her in place with a glare, that confirms it. “So did I at first… and look where that got me… No magic, no parents, no plan… no hope. But I did learn one last lesson Celestia… I learned that no good deed goes unpunished… there’s always a cost… sometimes to the point where the price is something you can never replace or recover… but I learned too late… and now… now…” Twilight says as she hangs her head, trying and failing to contain her tears.

Celestia frowns and kneels in front of Twilight, pulling her into a gentle, caring, comforting embrace. Twilight hugs her back, continuing to cry out all the emotions that have been building up inside her for a very long time. “It’s ok… let it all out. You don’t have to hold on to all of that anymore.” Celestia says and Twilight is reminded of how her mother used to comfort her when she was sad, scared, angry, or all of the above. It brings her a few feelings she hasn’t felt in a while… warmth, comfort…, hope. “Twilight… I want you to do something for me… I need you to try and use your alicorn empathy.” Celestia says and Twilight looks shocked and pulls away a bit to look at her.

“But… I don’t have any magic… It isn’t gonna work. I’m not even an alicorn anymore…” Twilight says as she hangs her head again. She feels a hand under her chin and allows it to slowly guide her eyes towards Celestia's.

“Twilight… even without your horn… you still have magic inside you… alicorn magic… and the magic of friendship. You are still an alicorn… and the only one who can take that away from you is you.” Celestia says before leaning her forehead against Twilight’s. “So please… try. Try using it to sense your friends, your family…, everyone who loves and cares about you. Let them know that you’re here… and that you’re not giving up.” Celestia says and Twilight sighs before nodding, causing Celestia to smile and back up to give her space.

Twilight breathes in and out before closing her eyes and concentrating on connecting to her friends, students, family, and everyone else that’s counting on her. After a bit, she starts getting a feeling and when it increases, she suddenly gets a flashback of when she was fighting Midnight, when Midnight had broken her spine, her horn…, when she had killed her parents. She shakes her head, trying to get out of the flashback. “I… I can’t do it…!” Twilight says as she tries to stop what she’s doing.

“Yes you can. Don’t give up. That fight is over but if you want to stop Midnight, if you want to save everyone… you must let yourself feel that fear… then move past it. Remind your mind and body that you’re not in danger… you’re safe… and you are not alone.” Celestia says and Twilight hesitates before allowing herself to experience the flashback until it gets to the point where Midnight is about to slam her through the floor. As soon as she gets slammed, it’s just her falling into a different area.

She takes a bit to look around until she recognizes where she is. This is where Celestia had taken her before she made her into an alicorn. She smiles a bit, chuckling and walking around. As she walks, bright little orbs float around her and as she examines one she sees that… it’s a memory… all of these are memories. “You made it.” She hears Celestia say but she turns to see that she’s not there with her. She looks confused but then shocked once she hears her mother’s voice.

“Didn’t have a doubt in my mind that you would one day learn how to get here.” The voice says and she turns around, looking for the origin of it more excitedly, hoping to see her mother’s face again.

“You always were a fast learner, my little bookworm.” She hears her father say and she realizes that she won’t be able to see them but she can probably talk to them… and for now that would have to be enough.

“Well… I had two amazing parents to learn from.” She says and she feels the joy coming from them which makes her smile. They were actually here… they were with her… just like her mother said they would be. She feels someone tap her on her shoulder and she quickly turns to see Rainbow Dash standing in front of her with a soft smile on her face. “Rainbow… I’m… I’m so sorry for the way I acted towards you and everyone else.” Twilight says and Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes before stepping closer to her and giving her a peck on the lips.

“Don’t worry about it egghead… We already forgave you. We understand why you acted that way… all too well.” Rainbow says with a sad tone, reminding Twilight that she wasn’t the only one who lost someone that night.

“It didn’t change how we think of ya' Sugarcube. We gotta stick together if we wanna send Midnight back to where she came from.” Applejack says as she steps up to stand beside Rainbow. Twilight hesitates before frowning, seeming to confuse her friends.

“That’s not exactly what you want for her… is it?” Rarity asks as she stands beside Applejack. Twilight looks at her and slowly shakes her head with a slightly angry look on her face. “You… You want to kill her.” She says and Twilight just nods, clenching her fists.

“Twilight, even though she’s done bad things, if we kill her out of revenge, we’d be no better than her. Besides, that would kill Solaris as well… and we’d just be punishing her for Midnight’s crimes.” Fluttershy says as she walks closer to stand by the others, followed by Pinkie Pie.

“And we all know that it wasn’t Solaris’s fault for what happened. Anything Midnight did was her own choice, not Solaris's.” Pinkie says and Twilight sighs and nods, realizing that they’re right. Solaris shouldn’t have to pay for Midnight's actions.

“Fine but… How are we gonna beat Midnight then. She knows our weaknesses, all of them.” Twilight asks and her friends separate to allow her parents room to walk up to her and she immediately embraces them in a hug, prompting them to hug back.

“Luckily… you know a few of hers as well.” They say at the same time before she feels them touch the point of impact where Midnight had broken her back and then she feels someone touch her horn and opens her eyes to see Celestia standing in front of her with a small smile.

“The magic of friendship.” Celestia says before the spots that they’re touching start glowing before they all back up and reveal that everyone else is there as well… Every creature from every kingdom or town or anywhere else in Equestria that’s an ally to her, her friends, and the ponies counting on her. She smiles at the sight and almost lets a tear loose.

“Thank you all…” She says, earning nods from each and every one of them before the elements appear and start circling around her and her friends. One by one, they all attach to their user until Twilight’s takes a bit longer than the others. She’s confused by this until it flashes purple and attaches to her, causing a blinding, multicolored light to engulf the entire space.

Celestia, back in the real world, opens her eyes and sees Twilight’s friends standing in front of her along with Starlight, Sunset, Spike, the pillars of old, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart, all looking a bit stunned before she looks to Twilight and sees that her eyes are still closed. “Twilight…?” Celestia says, starting to inch towards her until she opens her eyes and they’re glowing with a light purple aura coming from them. Celestia looks amazed as Twilight stands up without difficulty before the rest of the elements start glowing. The Mane 6 also look amazed as the elements start blasting multicolored magic towards their friend and it engulfs her completely until it finally stops… and her horn is back.

“Whoa… How did-“ Starlight begins to ask before Celestia answers her question.

“I had her use her alicorn empathy to connect with everyone again, having been disconnected for too long. Something tells me that she had accidentally brought all of you here using her magic. As for how her horn is fixed… I think the answer to that is obvious.” Celestia says and before anyone else can say anything, Twilight responds.

“The elements of harmony… the magic of friendship. The strongest magic of all… that’s what healed me… but I didn’t know that it could allow me to actually bring you all into that place with me.” She says and everyone looks at each other then back at her.

“Well regardless… does this mean you’re back Twi? You’re ready to help us fight back?” Rainbow asks and Twilight thinks about it, coming up with a plan and frowning before looking at everyone with a smile and nodding.

“This means I’m sorry… and yeah, I’m back. Whatever we do next… We’ll do it together.” Twilight says, prompting her friends and family to smile and tackle her in a group hug. Celestia smiles before she realizes something.

“Well… first thing’s first… We’re going to need allies, preferably ones on the inside.” She says before Luna, Discord, Trixie, Tempest and Snowdrop walk in with nervous looks on their faces.

“Well… if we’re lucky… We might not have to look far.” Luna says before Discord opens the door all the way, revealing… the Washouts, the Dazzlings, and the Legion of Doom. Everyone looks shocked before readying their powers/magic, getting ready to attack them.

“No, don’t! At least hear them out.” Snowdrop quickly says, getting in between everyone and the villains or former villains along with Tempest after hearing the magic. Everyone calms down a bit before glaring at the former villains and waiting for an explanation.

“Listen, we’re so sorry for… what we did, but you have to understand. Not only were we trying to keep Midnight from killing us, but we were also trying to help you guys out… You had to have noticed that we weren’t really even trying to use our full power.” Cozy Glow says but she can tell that they don’t believe her.

“We’re telling the truth! If we wanted to actually kill you, we could’ve took down the ship instantly. Plus, Lightning Dust would've let Rainbow Dash drown and me and my sisters would’ve done the same with Sunset.” Adagio says and they all nod in agreement. Everyone looks at each other then at them.

“Even if you are telling the truth, why come to us and tell us this after all this time.” Sunset asks and Tirek steps forward and answers.

“We also came to warn you… Twivine isn’t the only evil version of you six that Midnight has anymore.” He says, pointing at the Mane 6. They all look shocked and look at each other then back at the villains.

“What do you mean…?” Twilight asks before Lightning Dust takes out a crystal and allows Tirek to blast magic into it, causing it to float before it displays an illusion that shows evil versions of each of the Mane 6… with Twivine standing in front of them. Rainbow Dash was white with red eyes and a scar over her right eye, Applejack had half of her face scarred and burnt with a eyepatch over her eye, Rarity was black with a purple and white mane and tail and icy blue eyes, Fluttershy was a pale yellow color with a pale, messy pink mane and tail, sharp fangs, bat-like ears and wings and red eyes, and Pinkie was a pale pink color with a flat mane and red eyes and a manic smile on her face. This wasn’t the Mane 6… these were the elements of insanity.

“Rainbow Death, AngerJack, Nightmare Rarity, Flutterbat, and Pinka-mean-a… and Twivine is their leader.” Chrysalis says and no one can believe their eyes, especially not the Mane 6. For them, it was like looking in a mirror… but instead of seeing their normal selves… they’re seeing the worst parts of themselves. They all go wide-eyed when they realize that… these are the same versions of themselves that they saw when they got their powers. The same versions that attacked them… and now they’re real. As much as they all hated to admit it… they were gonna need help dealing with them.

“Soooo… when do we start?” Cozy asks with a awkward smile on her face and all the villains turn to Twilight for an answer. She sighs before looking at the illusions again and walking up to the one of Twivine.

“Soon.” She says as she continues to glare at it, promising herself that she would never become… that. Neither would any of her friends, she would see to that… no matter the cost. “Very… very soon.”

A lone, vengeful road

Flashback

As Twilight and the others went over a plan to stop the villains, including the newly made evil versions of themselves, Twilight got an idea that would make hers a little easier and sort of help everyone cover more ground. Her plan was for everyone they could spare to separate and cover different areas, protecting them from Midnight’s control and she insisted on going to a few areas by herself but of course, no one liked the idea of her going alone so she allowed her friends to go with her. And for a while it was going pretty well… Twilight even thought about not going along with her own plan.

The hesitation increased when they started reflecting on what had happened in those ten years of peace they had gotten after they defeated the Legion of Doom. “Remember what happened during that first year? We all decided to get together and have a picnic and Pinkie played a prank on us and put sneezing powder on the flowers so that when Rarity and Fluttershy smelled them, the powder spread to the rest of us.” Rainbow Dash asks, laughing at the memory and so does everypony else.

“I sure do remember RD. Like it was yesterday. We were stuck sneezing and laughing for a while there. My only question is how Pinkie knew they would stop to smell them.” Applejack says, looking at Pinkie who just shrugs before answering.

“Well Rarity is attracted to pretty things and Fluttershy loves nature, soooo it was kind of obvious.” Pinkie says and everypony responds with “Ohhhhh.”

“You know us pretty well dear. Though it makes sense, since we’ve been best friends for years now.” Rarity says before noticing Fluttershy's blush and smirking. “Buuut there’s one thing you don’t know about Fluttershy yet. But it isn’t my story to tell.” She says and Fluttershy blushes even more, turning her face away so Pinkie won’t see it. Pinkie notices though and leans against Fluttershy, causing her to look shocked before wrapping a wing around her.

“Awwww” Everypony says besides them, causing them both to blush more.

“Oof, Discord is not gonna be happy about this.” Rainbow says and Applejack gives her a look.

“Then don’t tell him.” Applejack says and Rainbow rolls her eyes and gives her the same look.

“Oh. Like you and Rarity won’t tell Spike? Gotta admit Applejack, I didn’t think you had it in you to keep up a lie. Especially to Spike about something like this.” Rainbow says and Applejack clenches her fists.

“Girls. Settle down. Now.” Twilight demands and they look at her then at each other before sitting back down, not even realizing they had stood up in the first place, getting ready to fight.

“She’s right, we don’t want a repeat of last time.” Fluttershy says and everyone cringes but Twilight who looks more than a bit confused. “Oh right… this happened while you were in a coma but um… Applejack and Rainbow Dash got into a… pretty bad fight… to say the least.” She explains and Twilight nods in understanding and almost asks what it’s about until Rainbow Dash speaks up.

“I’m sorry for never apologizing after that… I shouldn’t have said what I said about… Granny Smith… especially so soon after what had happened… I know how it feels to lose someone that close AJ… we all do. And I hope you know that I really do hope that she’s happy along with everypony else… wherever they are now.” Dash says and Applejack smiles before walking over and holding out her hand. Rainbow smiles back and grabs her hand, prompting both of them to shake each other’s hand before hugging one another. Most of their friends join in except Twilight who just frowns at the memory of that day. As she sees all her friends together, she feels more determined than ever to protect them… and remembers why she had suggested that everyone split up in the first place.

After a bit more time of talking and reminiscing on the past, they all decide to get some rest and Twilight goes to her tent to work on the note she was writing. She continues working on it for a while, trying to think of the perfect words to say to explain what she was going to do until she hears footsteps and quickly hides the note and turns to see Rainbow Dash walking into her tent with a nervous look on her face, seeming to be acting as timid as Fluttershy… Honestly it was pretty adorable to her and she can’t help but giggle in amusement.

“What’s wrong Rainbow?” Twilight asks and Rainbow Dash is now starting to blush as she breathes in and out to try and form the words.

“I… couldn’t sleep. So uh… can I sleep in here with you? I’ve… kinda missed you these past few months.” Rainbow says and Twilight opens a wing towards her and Rainbow immediately accepts the invitation, sitting next to Twilight and allowing her to wrap a wing around her. “Thanks…” She says and Twilight smiles and nods.

“Anytime Dashie…” Twilight says as she nuzzles her head on top of Rainbow's mane and Rainbow nuzzles into her, feeling safe and for the first time in a while… happy. The feeling was shared by Twilight but… not for very long. She was still in a state of distress over so many things…

“I’m so sorry Rainbow…” Twilight thinks to herself before placing a kiss on one of Dash's ears and it twitches cutely when she does. “Rainbow… I’m… I may not show it often but… I’m scared.” Twilight says, causing Rainbow to look up at her. “I already lost both my parents… I thought I had lost you… I can’t lose anyone else… I can’t lose you… I just can’t.” Twilight says, her hold on Rainbow becoming tighter as she tries to restrain the tears that threaten to leave her eyes at the memory of that day… when Midnight had sent Rainbow flying off into the storm… when she killed her parents. She feels Rainbow wrap her own arms and wings around her and she finally loses her battle to hide her tears.

“Twi… you’re not gonna lose me, ok? I’ll always be with you and I’ll follow you into any battle… and it’s the same for all our friends… nothing you do or don’t do can change that… The best and only way for us to make it through this is… together.” Rainbow says and Twilight smiles… knowing exactly what she had to do no matter how much it hurt her or her friends.

“You know… for someone so hotheaded, you sure can be wise when you wanna be.” Twilight says and Rainbow smiles a bit when she remembers who she has to thank for that.

“I think Light Hope rubbed off on me more than I thought. Fluttershy may have gotten her skill… but I guess I got some of her knowledge and… maybe a little patience?” Rainbow questions and Twilight gives her a mocking shocked look and Dash rolls her eyes. “Hey come on, that’s not a new word for me! Or a new attitude!” Rainbow says but when Twilight gives her a knowing look, she mumbles under her breath. “Ok fine, it might be new for me but come on. Ever heard of character growth?” She says and Twilight giggles, prompting her to start giggling as well before it turns into straight up laughter. “I love you Twi.” Rainbow says and Twilight smiles lovingly down at her.

“I love you too Rainbow.” Twilight responds and after a quick kiss, they both decide to get some rest. They both lay down and Rainbow feels Twilight wrap her powerful arms around her in a gentle embrace, causing her to smile before both of them slowly drift off to sleep… or at least Rainbow does. Twilight, as soon as Rainbow falls asleep, slips away and starts carefully and quietly putting on her armor and gathering her weapons and a few supplies she’ll need. She then grabs the note she had wrote before magically duplicating it so there are now five then magically sending four into the tents that belong to her friends but laying the original one down next to the sleeping mat Rainbow was resting on.

Twilight gives Rainbow one last look before walking out of the tent, silently apologizing to all of them… and leaving to face Midnight and her army by herself.

A Year Later

As Zecora, the Mane 6's zebra friend, stalked through the Everfree forest, she couldn’t help but wonder what she had missed due to being away in her homeland for so long. It was strange that things now seemed different in Equestria, like… like it had been turned into a war zone. And then when she had finally gotten to settle back down, suddenly Twilight had been at her door, filling her in on what had happened and telling her that she needed her help. She had agreed to help her which was currently what she was doing because as fate would have it… Zecora now had powers. It was mysterious, yet dangerous. Black and white magic that seemed to get stronger the more negative emotions she felt. She could even sense negativity coming from others… and Twilight was carrying a lot of it, everyday, for the past year.

Come to think of it, Twilight actually always looked tired for most of the entire year… and Zecora could sense how… exhausted she was. She turns to look at the princess who was traveling not far behind her. “I ask again princess. Are you certain you wouldn’t rather rest? If you don’t take at least a few naps, you are certain to collapse.” Zecora warns her but Twilight just sighs and shakes her head.

“I’ll be fine Zecora… we just need to be careful on the way back to your house since Midnight's increased security around this area.” Twilight says and Zecora is about to protest until they hear something and instantly crouch lower, stopping their movements. They look to see none other than the elements of insanity moving past them with Twivine, Rainbow Death, and Flutterbat flying above Nightmare Rarity, AngerJack, and Pinka-mean-a, scanning the area. Twilight just glares at them while Zecora looks shocked, seeing as this is the first time she’s seen or even heard about this.

Before Twilight can explain though, they suddenly stop which confuses both the alicorn and the zebra. After a few seconds, Twivine turns to the others with a evil smirk on her face. “Change of plans. A town is under attack, the one called Appleloosa or whatever and some of Twilight’s friends are there protecting it. We’re going to pay them a visit.” She says before they all gather around and she teleports them there. Twilight grows a worried look before they both break out into a sprint towards Zecora's house. Once they’re there, they quickly grab their weapons before Twilight teleports them while using a locator spell to find where they had gone to and land in the same place. They look around frantically but to their shock and confusion… the town isn’t being attacked… and none of Twilight’s friends are here. They then realize something at the same time… that this was a trap and one that just got innocent ponies caught in the crossfire.

They see a flaming boulder hurtling towards the town and Zecora wastes no time blasting it with her new black and white magic which completely destroys it. Twilight then flys up and blasts the spot where it came from, exposing AngerJack and Flutterbat. They both glare at her before doing the same maneuver they did to make the first one: Flutterbat does a stomp that makes a giant piece of the ground break away and into the air, AngerJack catches it and uses her powers to set it aflame before throwing it. Twilight flys straight through the middle of it with enough force to destroy it before she flys past both of them, enough wind following behind her to send them reeling back. She then lands on AngerJack hard enough to create a crater before she blasts Flutterbat.

She hears more explosions and sees that more boulders are coming towards the town but Zecora's taking care of it. She can also hear screaming and sense the fear coming from that town. So many ponies… all afraid and cowering for their lives… she had to end this now before someone got killed. She uses magical chains to restrain the two villains before flying towards the town to help defend it. Just as she gets close, one boulder manages to crash into a house with nopony inside. The now damaged roof of it starts hurtling towards Zecora and a few civilians and Twilight doesn’t think she’s gonna make it in time… until a streak of blue and other colors collides with it, taking it away while spinning and crashing with it.

Twilight immediately realizes who it was and her guess is confirmed when the roof is pushed off of the pony that saved Zecora and those civilians, which is none-other than Rainbow Dash. She doesn’t know how to react at this point, but one thing she does know… is that she’s glad to finally see at least one of her friends again… after a whole year. But there’s no time to just catch up, there’s a town under attack and innocent lives at stake.

“Come on guys! I gave you a head start and everything!” Rainbow Dash says as she presses a button on the communication device in her ear. “There’s no way you should still be having trouble with-“ She continues but before she can even finish her sentence, the boulders cease bombarding the town and before long, the rest of Twilight's friends show up and so does Spike and who goes into his giant form and roars loudly to intimidate their attackers to back off. Instead it just provokes them though and they all hear another roar as a giant red Ursa appears, due to Angerjack's power. Applejack brings out her own Ursa form and charges at the scarier, more aggressive version of herself and Spike runs alongside her. They both clash with the evil counterpart of Applejack, beginning a battle that wouldn’t be won very easily.

Suddenly a streak of multicolored lightning starts circling the town until it stops at the edge of the town and reveals itself as Rainbow Death who does an agile move which ends with her slamming the palm of her hand into the ground which makes all the wind and lightning she dragged with her center to one place, forming a small tornado that is charged with lightning and spins towards the center of the town. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy use their powers to hold it back but Twilight uses her magic to tear it apart from the inside. Just as Rainbow Death rushes towards them or gets ready to, Zecora uses her magic to knock her through a building. She then hears the sound of metal slicing through air and it’s directly behind her so she rolls forward then uses her spear to block a second strike from Pinka-mean-a's knife.

She doesn’t manage to dodge a magical frost kick from Nightmare Rarity though which sends her flying backwards into Twilight’s arms. Both of them don’t waste any time to jump at the so-called “heroes” but as soon as they do, Pinka-mean-a receives a power kick to the face by a pink blur moving so fast that they couldn’t see what it was but they already knew who had done it and Nightmare Rarity is blown away by snow and ice. Everyone looks to see Pinkie Pie backflip into a landing next to Rarity. Applejack and Spike slide backwards, being knocked back by Flutterbat and AngerJack and they both go back to normal and stand by the rest of their friends. Twilight and Zecora go to stand by them just as Twivine herself lands in front of her team when all of them meet in the center of the town. Now that they’re seeing both of them again, they realize that both Twilight and Twivine still have the exact same build which now consisted of a longer, slightly flowing mane, way more toned muscles, greater height, longer horn and bigger wings.

She slowly stands up and glares at Twilight. “You… have been a real pain for the past year… Taking out base camps, defeating some of Midnight’s best, “liberating” areas from our control…” Twivine says, slowly stalking back and forth in front of her team, never taking her eyes off Twilight. “And even after all that… Midnight still doesn’t want you to die yet… But are you really worth all. This. Trouble? If you are… prove it. Because all I’ve seen is a disappointment. A disgrace. A little filly still crying out for mommy and daddy to save her and wake her up from this nightmare.” And right there… is where Twivine went. Too. Far.

Twilight gives her the most intense death glare she could muster and the wind starts picking up and everyone can feel the ground slightly shaking. This confuses and worries the villains and the heroes… until they all look at Twilight and see her entire body glowing. They’re surprised when they see a few markings appear on her horn then slowly spread to the rest of her body. Her mane starts flowing and starts showing stars and galaxies on it and the same thing happens to her tail. Her fur starts glowing as well and so do her eyes. Her wings glow too and suddenly her feathers start switching colors until they contained every color. As everyone stares at her now and sees what she’s doing to the weather, they couldn’t help but feel a bit of fear… especially the villains.

“You just made… the biggest mistake of your short, miserable, meaningless life Twivine.” Says Twilight as she continues to glare towards the villains, taking two steps towards them before letting out a scream while unleashing a beam of magic in their direction. Twivine tries to block it with her own magic and she manages to… for a few seconds but then her magic shield shattered and they were all bombarded with more magic than they thought possible. This continues on until an explosion knocks them all out.

An hour later, they wake up, more than a little singed but very injured. They look around to see the town abandoned and Twilight and her friends are nowhere to be found. They all sigh and groan in frustration and pain, knowing that only more pain was coming their way.

“Midnight is not gonna be happy about this…” Twivine says… and she’s correct.

Somewhere in Equestria

As Midnight smashes through the top of a mountain, she couldn’t help but think “This better be the place.” She walks around, looking around at her surroundings, lighting up her horn so she could see. When she does, she finds what she was looking for… a hidden prison meant for powerful magic users turned bad… obviously none of them were as bad or as dangerous as her. But this was definitely where Celestia and Luna had put who she was looking for… one of the only ponies besides herself and Astelle who had posed a real threat to the two royal sisters and the rest of Equestria. That’s what she’s heard at least. She walks past the cells, each one containing the remains of the villainous creatures that used to reside in them. She continues walking until she hears chains rattling and she walks to one cell and gets close, becoming slightly surprised when she sees an alicorn with a curved horn, a messy coiled mane with tails that are sort of like puffy pigtails but… SUPER puffy and not as coiled, and a similarly colored and curled tail. Her wings were the same color as her coat, deep purple. Her feathers were the same color, just a little darker.

“Ah… so this is where they put you.” Midnight says, causing the alicorn to slowly look up at her.

“Have we met…? Wait… I know you… you’re Midnight Starkiller… The Alicorn who’s been causing chaos for a year now.” The other, younger alicorn says. Midnight steps a bit closer with a dark smile on her face. It was… unsettling to the other alicorn.

“A year and a half actually… t’s good that you know me… because I also know you and I’ve been searching for you for months now… Opaline Arcana.” Midnight says before she blasts the cell door right off its hinges and it just narrowly misses Opaline. She walks up to the weakened, dethroned alicorn and destroys the chains that were restraining her. Opaline slowly reaches up and removes the ring that was restricting her magic, and almost immediately her horn becomes engulfed in flames and so do her wings. She laughs as she feels her power returning.

“I’ve waited for 1,000 years to feel this warm again.” Opaline says before fire forms on her hands and she blasts a hole in the top of the mountain that the prison was hidden under for so many years before it was completely forgotten… or so she thought. She sighs in relief, enjoying the familiar feeling of causing destruction with her own magic. She slowly looks back to Midnight. “So… to what do I owe the pleasure? What exactly was it about me that drew the eye of the “deadliest alicorn in history” so much… that she came to free me from this hell?” She asks and Midnight starts circling her as she talks.

“Well… where to begin… Your beliefs, your power, your skills… besides myself, you’ve probably given Celestia and Luna more trouble than they’re worth. More than they could keep up with without allies. Not only that, but you also almost managed to take all the magic in Equestria for yourself. You came so close to ruling over Equestria the way Alicorns are meant to… and in that… we share a common goal… and a common enemy.” Midnight says before she stops right in front of her and holds out one hand. “So… ready to help us both reclaim our former glory?” She asks and Opaline seems to consider this for a few seconds before she smiles a bit and shakes Midnight’s hand, sealing the deal.

“When do we start…?”

Whatever it takes

Flashback, First months of Twilight's disappearance

As Twilight continued her training which currently consisted of her maintaining a connection to her magic which was rotating bubbles of water and small boulders around herself while she was meditating in midair above a small body of water, she couldn’t help trying to fight against thoughts of her friends and family for concentration… but the more she tried, the more the thoughts and memories continued to flow into her mind. It was starting to break her concentration. She eventually groans in annoyance and lands on the ground and decides to do something else.

She decides to go for a run then a fly. She gets a pretty good distance and a pretty good speed but when she’s distracted by memories of her friends, family… and parents, she gets distracted and goes through a cloud and crashes through trees. After dusting herself off, she sighs and shakes her head, deciding to try something else… again. This new activity consists of her taking her frustration out on a boulder that she put a spell on so that it wouldn’t break unless she used her full strength… which she rarely did. She punches it a few times and even kicks it but doesn’t even manage to crack it.

Eventually the thoughts and memories come back and her punches seem to get weaker… but when she’s hit with the memory of when Midnight had killed her parents… the feeling she had when Solaris had turned to look at them but with Midnight’s eyes… she screams in anger and punches the boulder so hard that it does a lot more than just break… it shatters and the remaining pieces of it go flying into the forest she currently found herself staying in. She looks around and sees that the impact even knocked down the trees that were closest to her. She didn’t even have to use any magic… she just used her rage. Maybe that was all she needed.

The next few months she had completely focused on increasing her attributes: both physical and magical. It had resulted in her being faster and more muscular than she was before and being way more powerful and even learning many new spells. She’d even been able to beat one of Midnight’s best and toughest soldiers with a single punch… she had made sure to pull that punch a bit so she didn’t end up accidentally killing someone… again. Yes, she had accidentally killed a few of Midnight’s soldiers because she didn’t pull her punches or slightly lessen the power in her magic attacks. The guilt had haunted her for a while but she eventually got over it and learned from her mistakes. The only one she wanted to kill… was Midnight.

That yearning for revenge was increased when Twilight had been captured one time and Midnight herself had come to taunt her in a visit… and torture her. Twilight had been captured for weeks until she eventually escaped and that’s when she had met up with Zecora afterwards. Unfortunately the guilt and trauma Twilight had suffered had prevented her from properly sleeping for the rest of that year but she kept training, under Zecora’s guidance now and it had helped her kind of accept what she’d done and also accept the thoughts and memories of her friends… and it helped her accept a part of herself that she had been neglecting for too long.

It helped when they had stumbled upon a village that was under attack by a few assault teams that were part of Midnight’s army, and they both made quick work of them. Twilight had seen that a little unicorn filly that looked to barely be in her teens had lost her parents… just like she had. She slowly walks over and gets on her knees next to her and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing the filly to jump a little and look up at her, revealing her now tear-stained face. Twilight frowns even more. “I’m so sorry.” She says and the filly starts crying more but Twilight is surprised when the filly jumps at her for a hug and she slowly hugs her back, still shocked. “I’ll stop this… I’ll stop Midnight.” Twilight says and the filly keeps crying until she slowly looks up at her and speaks in a shaky voice.

“Y-You promise…?” She asks and Twilight gives her a reassuring smile and nods.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye… What’s your name?” Twilight asks and the filly dries her face off first before answering.

“Luster Dawn… My name is Luster Dawn. Wait… you’re Princess Twilight Sparkle.” She says, gaining a shocked look on her own face and Twilight smiles a bit.

“It’s just Twilight now… but that’s a pretty name… Don’t worry Luster Dawn, I’ll send you all to Canterlot and you should be safe there, alright?” She asks and Luster Dawn hesitates then nods snd Twilight and Zecora start gathering everyone up and once they’re all together, Twilight teleports them to Canterlot, sensing that it’s still safe there. After that, she and Zecora both decide to stay and cover there tracks before they leave. They may have saved one village… but there was still plenty more that needed saving. But they could handle it, one step at a time. And even if those painful memories continued to come to the forefront of Twilight’s mind, she’d handle it… no longer would they be a weakness… they would be a strength.

Present Day

Ok so… coming back and seeing her friends again was almost exactly what she expected. After they had gotten the civilians settled down and safe, everyone was both relieved and furious to see Twilight. Relieved because they were glad she was ok obviously, but furious because she tricked them and manipulated them into letting their guard down so she could leave without even telling them to their faces. They weren’t exactly mad at how long she’d been gone, but they were absolutely pissed at the fact that she couldn’t even be bothered to tell them she was leaving instead of just leaving a note for each of them. At first they were mad at Zecora for not even trying to tell them that she was with her but then she explained that she wanted to, but Twilight told her not to because she wanted to keep them all safe.

She also explained that it was difficult enough to persuade Twilight to allow her to help her, so getting her to let everyone else help was practically impossible. “I mean, for Celestia's sake Twilight, we thought something bad had happened to you! We didn’t know if you were alive or dead or captured or worse!” Applejack yells and Twilight just continues staring at the ground, not able to face them even after all this time… especially not after all this time.

“I… I’m so sorry I worried all of you like that… but if I’d told you, you would’ve tried to stop me or tried going with me. I couldn’t let you all get hurt because of my foolishness… not again.” Twilight says and they all realize what she means but Rainbow Dash just frowns and turns away from her, still angrier than the others at Twilight and her selfishness.

“Twilight, that was not your fault. You just wanted to help everybody, including Solaris.” Spike says and he goes to put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder but she grabs it and holds it back.

“Yeah, I wanted to help somepony who didn’t want to be helped and look where that got us! Look what it cost us! Everything that we or somebody else loses or has already lost… is the result of my mistake! My choice! And I have to live with it all for the rest of my life… which, may I remind you, might never end!” Twilight yells all in one big rant, gaining shocked and hurt looks from her friends.

Now Rainbow decided to try and speak up. “Twi…” She starts but before she can finish what she was about to say, Twilight continues, her voice cracking with sadness from the tears she was desperately trying to hold back.

“I’m immortal… I can’t die of old age, I can’t die of natural diseases, I can’t even be killed by other beings who aren’t immortal… so if this war isn’t the end of me… I’ll probably never have an ending but… I don’t want to live forever… I… I just wanna stay with you… and see my parents again one day… but that might never. Happen!” Twilight says, punching a wall but severely holding back so she only manages to crack it. Everyone stays silent due to the shock from her outburst and also from wanting to let her vent out all the emotions she’s had stored up for so long now. “I don’t wanna lose any of you, but I know it’s eventually going to happen… and I’ll be left all alone… with nothing but joyful memories of all of you… but horrible ones of Midnight and the things she did to us… I thought that… at least if I could distract Midnight, then even if it resulted in me dying in the end, you all would find a way to take her down and live your lives… I just wanted to protect you all… but I admit that I was being selfish too.”

After a few moments of silence pass, the others look at each other, then at Twilight but Rainbow continues not to say anything. Twilight particularly notices her silence and the way she’s looking at her and she knows that even though Rainbow’s mad… she wants her to stay with them… to stay with her and to never leave again. Twilight knew that she couldn’t though… as much as she wanted to. “I… can’t stay here. I wish I could but… I just… can’t. As long as I’m here, you’re all in danger.” Twilight says and all her friends start to protest until Rainbow Dash walks up to her with an angry look on her face. Twilight is about to say something until Rainbow suddenly punches her on the cheek, causing her head to turn but she doesn’t fall back, she just stands there with a shocked look on her face as her cheek starts reddening fast already.

She slowly turns to Rainbow who’s knuckles are slightly bleeding and she has tears in her eyes as she continues to angrily glare at Twilight. “When are you gonna get it, Twilight?!” Rainbow asks loudly, slightly confusing and shocking Twilight. “When are you gonna understand that whether you’re here or not, we’re still in danger! Did you really think Midnight was gonna leave us alone and focus on you just because you’ve been taking down her goons and destroying her stuff?! That’s not how it works! That isn’t how she thinks!” Rainbow yells before she turns away from Twilight and breathes in and out before asking her a question she wasn’t expecting.

“What was it that I said to you the day you left?” She asks and Twilight goes wide-eyed, not expecting Rainbow to bring that up. But she lowers her head, sighs… and answers the question.

“The best… and only way for us to get through this is… together.” She says and Rainbow turns to face her before walking to her and grabbing both her hands and looking her straight in the eyes.

“So you do remember. If you took my words to heart that much, why did you still leave…? We’re supposed to be a team Twi. We’re in the middle of a war but none of us can win it alone. So Twi… are you gonna run away again or are you gonna work with us, your friends… your family?” She asks and Twilight hesitates and starts looking away before closing her eyes and remembering her parents… thinking of what they would want her to do.

“Keep… going. Keep caring. Don’t ever lose sight of yourself… and don’t blame yourself for whatever goes wrong… because at least you tried in the end.“ She hears her mother remind her in her head. But… she had lost sight of herself a few times… and she had often blamed herself… for everything… but maybe… maybe that could change. She looks at Rainbow with a determined look on her face and nods. Rainbow smiles and is about to let go of Twilight’s hands, but Twilight’s grip tightens a bit, causing her to look up at her.

“I’m so… SO sorry for leaving you… all of you… I promise that it’ll never happen again. From now on, we do this together and we save Equestria… like we always do.” Twilight says and everypony smiles before blindsiding her with a group hug, all glad to have her back. She smiles and hugs them back, even accidentally picking them all up with ease. Zecora smiles proudly, glad Twilight is starting to make peace with her demons. She then walks forward with something to ask and warn them of.

“You all are together again, but these are incredibly high stakes. So… are you all willing to do whatever it takes?” She asks and without hesitation, they all nod and she smiles. “Then I know you will end this madness for all our sakes.” She continues before everyone else shows up to greet them and welcome Twilight back, even creatures from the other kingdoms who have been working with the others to find Twilight and help find ways to counter Midnight and her army. Even the filly that Twilight had saved, Luster Dawn, had come to greet her. Twilight smiles and gets on one knee so that they’re kinda on the same level.

“Told you I’d keep my promise.” She says before receiving a tight hug from Luster Dawn, one that shows how happy she is that nothing bad happened to her and she smiles more and hugs her back. Twilight stands up when she sees Celestia, Luna, and her family walking towards her. They all hug her and welcome her back, glad she’s safe.

“I’m so glad to see you’re alright Twilight. We all are. Welcome home… it’s good to have you back.” Celestia says and Twilight smiles at her former mentor.

“It’s good to be back Princess… I finally realize that whether I’m here or not, Midnight isn’t going to let everypony else live in peace…” Twilight says and that gives her an idea. “And I think I have an idea on how to lure her out… if you’ll all have me.” Twilight says and everyone nods and she smiles before starting to walk further into Canterlot. “Then come on, we have a lot to do… starting with some new and improved armor and training.”

Hours later

The training and armor had been fairly easy, but the rest of what everyone had to do was the hard part. They had to make… preparations for when they finally took the fight to Midnight. Now they just had to plan where the battle would be and they had to plan it carefully so there wouldn’t be any casualties and so they wouldn’t have to travel that far. They only had one shot at this, so either they planned and did it right… or it was over. As Twilight walks through the newly made training area, checking on everyone's progress, she catches a glimpse of lightning flashing from one area and she goes there to see Rainbow Dash training against Lightning Dust.

She could tell that any previous feelings of hate or anger between them had passed and they had finally worked out all their issues, especially the ego-related ones. However, they still remained just as competitive as ever. Lightning Dust had even changed her mane-style and let her mane hang to one side of her head and she actually looked better that way. Scootaloo is sitting and watching them train, unsure who to root for which is actually very surprising. Now that Twilight’s actually stopping to watch Dash, she notices that Rainbow also changed her own mane-style and she realizes that all or most of her friends did the same thing.

Rainbow's mane was now kinda made into curved spikes that go forward while the part of it on the back of her head curved upwards, Applejack’s was mostly the same but it was tied into a bun similar to Granny Smith’s, Rarity’s was mostly the same too but hers was tied into a bun as well only smaller, Fluttershy's was tied into a long ponytail, and Pinkie's was puffier and thicker. Twilight’s mane just changed by itself over time from her usual mane style to a flowing, majestic one that was kinda like Luna's and would eventually be just as long as Celestia's. It was truly impressive to see how much everyone’s changed. As the sparring match comes to a close, Rainbow Dash comes out on top as the winner. Rainbow Dash cheers and flys into the air, doing a loopty-loop before flexing both her arms

“And with that, I am officially the greatest speedster in all of Equestria! Nice to know I’ve got real competition though.” Rainbow Dash says as she gestures down to Lightning Dust who glares before rolling her eyes and chuckling, standing up. Rainbow Dash notices Twilight out of the corner of her eye and smirks a bit before turning around while taunting. “Is there anyone else who would like to try and beat me only to be put on their back? Hmmm… how about you?” She asks while pointing to Twilight. Twilight, being confused for a second or so she wants Rainbow to think, looks around to her left and her right before pointing to herself as if to ask if she means her. “Yeah, you. The tall, beautiful, muscular alicorn. Wanna give it a go?” She asks and Twilight smirks, walking closer to her.

“Hmmm, I don’t know. You’re setting yourself up against pretty high odds and I would hate to crush that strong pegasus pride you seem to have a severe case of.” She says, still smirking up at Rainbow, knowing her own taunt was already so close to working and drawing in Rainbow like a moth to a flame.

“Pffft, I’ve faced worse odds. This’ll be a breeze.” Rainbow scoffs, earning an even more devious look from Twilight before she turns around, shrugging and feigning getting ready to leave.

“Welp, sounds like the 'best speedster in Equestria' is backing out from a challenge. Who could’ve seen that coming as soon as she saw them. Oh wait, me.” Twilight taunts and Rainbow goes wide eyed before flying in front of her and stopping her.

“Oh, it. Is. On. Hope you brought more than just good looks, Princess.” Rainbow says before she goes to the opposite side of the arena and Twilight stands across from her and they both get in their stances. Twilight takes out one of her twin swords and Rainbow forms her lightning blade in her hand.

“Oh, so you think I’m good looking, little Rainboom?” Twilight teases and Rainbow blushes and stutters.

“U-Uh… Wait, no! T-That’s not-! I… Just shut up and fight me!” Rainbow yells before she charges at Twilight who charges back and as their weapons clash, sparks fly and soon their sparring match attracts the attention of all their friends who are amazed at the amount of skill and style that both girls put into their attacks. If they didn’t have weapons, it could be mistaken for them dancing. The fight lasts for quite a while due to them knowing each other so well and as it goes on, more ponies and other creatures stop to watch until finally, Twilight manages to defeat Rainbow, mainly just injuring her pride just like she said she would.

“Had enough Dashie? Or do you wanna go again and end up right back on your back?” Twilight asks and Rainbow huffs, embarrassed before mumbling.

“You got lucky… Next time, it’s my turn egghead.” Rainbow says as she stands up and dusts herself off before puffing her chest out confidently towards Twilight a bit and Twilight rolls her eyes and puts her blade away.

“Yeah yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night. Speaking of which, it’s pretty late everyone. Get some rest… tomorrow, we end this. We save Equestria, and end Midnight's reign of terror once and for all.” Twilight says and everyone cheers before saying goodnight, walking off, and turning in for the night.

“Goodnight Twi… good sparring match.” Rainbow says while yawning. Twilight smiles and agrees and Rainbow starts walking off until she suddenly stops and notices Twilight staring after her. “Ya know… if you want, you can always… sleep in my room.” Rainbow says nervously while blushing and Twilight blushes too but smirks and crosses her arms.

“You know you can just ask me for cuddles instead of trying to come up with excuses to get them.” Twilight says and Rainbow rolls her eyes and walks over to her, grabbing both her hands and pulling her with her all the way to her room.

“You know me too well and it’s embarrassing.” She says while chuckling and Twilight giggles as they both lay down. Twilight sighs as she stares at Rainbow, admiring how beautiful she was. Rainbow notices and looks at her. “Whatcha thinking about egghead?” She asks and Twilight smiles more before kissing her on the nose.

“Just how lucky I am to be with someone like you… thinking of you got me through the worst parts of everything… it got me back up when I was down. And I’m hoping… that tomorrow, I’ll still have you by my side, even after all this is over. I’m hoping you and the others will still be with me and I’ll still be with you.” Twilight says and Rainbow looks shocked and smiles at her before leaning her head against hers.

“I’ll always be with you Twi… we all will and it’s the same with you. No matter what, we’ll always stick together. If there’s one thing you taught us all, it’s that friendship isn’t just magic.” Rainbow says and before she could continue, Twilight does it for her as she remembers what she herself said all that time ago.

“Friendship is eternal.” She says and Rainbow smiles and kisses her and she smiles. “You’re right… so in that case. We should get some rest for tomorrow… we’re gonna need all our energy for tomorrow.” She continues and Rainbow nods and cuddles up closer to her as Twilight teleports them both out of their armor and into their sleeping clothes then uses her magic to turn off the light. “Goodnight Rainbow… I love you.”

“I love you too Twi.” Rainbow says before they both slowly fall asleep… for real this time. Whatever tomorrow brings, they both sleep knowing that they would face it together. Besides, Twilight’s plan was a really good one. And if they were lucky, Midnight wouldn’t even know what hit her. But unfortunately… Twilight isn’t as ready to face her as much as she thinks she is… but by the time she realized this, there would be little chance of her getting talked out of what she would do if she ever got the chance…

Final Stand, Pt. 1

Author's Note

This took WAY longer to finish than I thought it would but I want this and the chapter or chapters that follow to be worth the wait cause I’ve put a lot into this story and the last one and yes, there will be another and that one will be the end. Hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope it’s worth the wait to you all too. Have an amazing day or night! :pinkiesmile: :pinkiehappy: :twilightsmile:

Also sorry it’s so long.

Final Stand, Pt. 1

The Next Day, Twilight’s dream

As Twilight opens her eyes, she recognizes where she is… when she sees the two paths in front of her. One light and one dark. “No…. Not again… it was already hard enough to figure out what to do the first time… Why am I here again?” She asks to no one in particular. She knows that the reason it was probably so difficult last time was because of Twivine but… since they’re not sharing a body anymore, she’s confused as to what she’s supposed to be doing this time. She sighs and just stands there until she hears a voice from behind her.

“You’re here because last time… you didn’t really make a decision. This time… that mistake needs to be fixed.” She hears the voice from the last time she was there say. She still didn’t know who the voice belonged to but for some reason, the presence she felt somehow seemed… familiar. She looks around, hoping to find some sort of clue as to why. To her expected disappointment, she finds nothing.

“Who are you…? I know that you gave us these powers and made us choose a path for a reason… but I can’t help but feel like I know you for some reason… and you know us.” Twilight says and she can sense hesitation from the presence she felt. “You don’t have to be afraid… you can trust me and I don’t think I could hurt you even if I wanted to.” She says, trying to reassure whoever the presence belonged to.

“And yet… you already have.” The voice says before a bright light forces Twilight to cover her eyes and when she opens them again, she looks to see… herself… no, a astral projection of herself that looked to be sparkling and Twilight immediately realizes who- or what she was talking to.

“You’re… the tree of harmony?” Twilight asks and the projection of herself nods and suddenly it all starts making sense. How they got their new powers, how they got their elements back… how their powers seemed to get stronger most days and get weaker on the most chaotic days and also seemed to get weaker over the year whenever Twilight chose to try and turn away the memories of her friends and family. “Last time I was here… I couldn’t choose the light path…” She says and the astral version of herself nods.

“That was because of Twivine but… part of the reason was you too… You were doubting yourself… overthinking. You didn’t know which path would be best for ending this… but you have decided to forge your own. A path based on both light… and dark. You’ve taught others to do the same. And with that… you can bring balance. You can bring harmony. It’ll take more than just light or dark to beat Midnight… it will take both. So Twilight… are you ready to bring harmony back to Equestria? Will you fight until the end for harmony and equality?” The tree asks and Twilight looks at her hands before clenching them and giving a look of a determination and a firm nod. This causes her astral self to smile and gesture behind her and when she turns around, there’s a multicolored path there that’s bigger and brighter than the others and it leads to a giant statue type version of herself that has a giant statue of her element between its hands.

She doesn’t waste any time walking down the path towards where the statues were but she slowly reaches up to touch the element when she gets to it. As soon as she touches it, it starts glowing and so does she and suddenly it feels like all the magic coursing through her has been supercharged. The brighter she gets, the stronger she feels. Brighter and brighter she glows until finally…

“Twi? Twi, wake up… it’s time.” She hears Rainbow Dash say as she feels herself being gently shaken awake. She looks to see her already up and in her new outfit. She slowly sits up, getting ready to get her own. “You go ahead and get your stuff. I’ll meet you outside.” Dash says and after Twilight nods, she goes to the door, gives Twilight one last look, opens it and then walks out, closing it behind her.

Twilight stands up, breathes in, closes her eyes and concentrating her magic and using it to bring her armor and her element to her. Once her armor is fully on and her element is attached, she looks at Rainbow's bed and notices something under the bed and takes out a chest with a note attached. The note reads “For you, Twi. Don’t be afraid to show it off.” And these words manage to peak her interest. She opens the chest and gasps when she sees a new battle mask that was perfect for her. She reaches in and grabs it, slowly taking it out and bringing it up to eye level. She smiles at how it looks and slowly puts it on. After seeing that it perfectly fits her, she uses a spell that pretty much deforms it into an earring and makes it invisible until she needs it. And knowing how today was gonna go… she was gonna need it a lot.

As Twilight walked through the huge crowd of ponies and other creatures, she couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. She was literally about to lead them to war, a war in which their victory solely depended on the success of a plan that none of them were sure was gonna work. Not to mention, it depended on if all of Equestria would listen to the message Twilight was about to try and send. Fortunately for her and everyone else, her nervousness did not go unnoticed.

After a few more moments, she suddenly feels a wave of calmness move through her body, calming her nerves and she immediately gives a grateful smile towards Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Flurry Heart. They all nod at her and when she looks towards her friends, they do the same. She smiles more at them all before standing in the middle of everyone. Celestia and the other princesses walk forward and Celestia gives Twilight a concerned look. “Twilight… are you certain that you want to do this? The process will be very painful and you’ll have a very limited amount of time to deliver your message to everyone.” Celestia asks and Twilight nods without hesitation.

“Positive… do it.” Twilight responds and they all nod and stand around her and Celestia and Luna at the front, touching her shoulders while Cadance and Flurry are behind her, touching her back. They all close their eyes and use their shared Alicorn empathy to make Twilight’s stronger and increase the range so it would spread across all of Equestria without going to Midnight or anyone in her army. Once she’s sure that her alicorn empathy got to everywhere she wanted it to, that’s when she began speaking. “Hello Equestria… I don’t have a lot of time to explain, so I’ll get right to it. My name is Twilight Sparkle… and I need your help. By now, you all have heard of Midnight and the havoc she’s been wreaking on our home. We have a plan to stop her but we need your help. To those of you who can make it or anyone who wants to fight for what’s right, the battle will take place… here.” She says before using her alicorn empathy to let everyone see the location in their heads and know exactly where it is.

“You don’t have to risk your lives for Equestria, but if you have any, I BEG of you… do it for the people you love. Help us stand against Midnight so they, along with everyone else… can have a bright future.” Twilight says and with that, the connection is cut off and all the princesses separate and Twilight falls to her knees, struggling to stay conscious, even with all the pain she felt. Rainbow was immediately the first one by her side and after her vision becomes less blurry and she can think more clearly, she smiles at Rainbow who smiles back before slowly helping her up.

“So… do you think your message got through? That it will convince others to come and help us?” Cadance asks and Twilight thinks about it before sighing, shrugging and turning to her and the other princesses.

“I guess we’ll see… but for now, I think it’s time to make a tough call… literally.” Twilight says, mentally preparing herself for what she knew would be a terribly draining and painful experience. After she steeled her resolve, she uses a spell that projects a screen in front of her and after a few seconds, the face of Midnight appears on the screen. “Midnight… I want to make a deal… call off your armies, release the kingdoms and other areas that you have under your control from under it… then I’m all yours… you can take my magic, kill me, whatever you want… just leave the rest of Equestria alone… What do you say… do we have a deal?” She asks and when Midnight forms that same damn infuriating smirk on her face… Twilight fights the urge to smile… as that becomes the only answer Twilight needs.

A hour later

Midnight was actually pretty impressed. She had expected Twilight to put up more a fight instead of just foolishly giving herself up like she would actually hold up her end of the deal. The surprising part was that Midnight actually considered it after all the headaches Twilight caused her. Then she remembered that there was still more she could do to Twilight to make her suffer more, there was still more she could take from her. Twilight hasn’t lost everything which means her suffering isn’t over quite yet. She would finish Twilight off when she begged for death but not before. She truly was evil and she loved it.

She’s broken out of her thoughts when she hears one of her soldiers calling her. She sighs in frustration before turn to where they were. “What is it?” She asks, having an annoyed tone in her voice even though she was in a good mood.

“We’ve spotted Twilight Sparkle but something feels off.” He says and Midnight looks confused before following him and seeing a screen that was showing Twilight. She had new armor, she was standing on top of a mountain and she had a magical orb floating above her hand. This was definitely an ambush… but where was everyone? There wasn’t a whole lot of room to hide out in this dessert-like wasteland. Before she can think about it too much, Twilight throws the orb towards the ships and it explodes, making fireworks as if Twilight was trying to get their attention. After her ship gets close to the ground and to Twilight’s location, Midnight jumps out and lands with enough force to make a giant crater.

Twilight glares and jumps off the mountain, gliding before landing at the bottom of it, still a good distance away from Midnight. Midnight walks out of the crater and as Twilight looks at her, she can’t help but be honest… with red as a secondary color now… Midnight looked more intimidating than she did before… how did she get this way? “What did you do…?” Twilight asks, holding her ground as Midnight continues walking towards her.

“What? A girl can’t change her appearance every once in a while when her old one starts getting boring?” Midnight asks with a chuckle and Twilight huffs, continuing to glare.

“Not this one. Not without there being something more behind it anyway. So… what’s your secret?” Twilight asks and Midnight sighs, holding her head back and crossing her arms as she does, looking up at the sky until she starts talking again.

“My, you sure are a persistent one. Tell you what, I’ll tell you my secret as soon as you come with me.” Midnight says but when Twilight doesn’t move an inch, she glares at her. “Don’t make me come get you Twilight. I’ve just about had it with you already.” Midnight says and Twilight clenches her fists, still continuing to glare at her, much to her annoyance. She walks closer to Twilight and Twilight backs up a bit and just as she goes to grab her with her magic, she gets hit with multicolored electricity then bicycle kicked and knocked back. She’s then held down by vines then frozen.

After a few seconds, she breakers free with magic and sees Twilight’s friends standing by her. She growls and slowly stands up, the red on her glowing even more as a sign of the anger and hatred she felt. She glares at Twilight who smirks at her. “You tricked me!!!” She says angrily and Twilight just gives a shrug.

“It wasn’t hard, plus you’ve done the same multiple times and were planning to do it again. Your manipulative nature was your own downfall Midnight. Now… we end this once and for all!” She says before she uses her magic to disperse the many clouds above them, revealing a few reinforced purple airships with golden armor in some places and Twilight’s cutie mark is on all of them. They’re smaller than Midnight's own airships, but they’re also faster and have quite a few “surprises” that Midnight's own forces are sure to absolutely hate. Once they start firing at Midnight’s ship, she yells in anger and starts attacking Twilight and her friends. They all split up and start using their powers to try and beat her but what they didn’t realize was that while they’ve gotten stronger… she has too.

Meanwhile, everyone else was keeping Midnight's army at bay for as long as they could. They were throwing everything they had at them and they managed to take down at least two of her ships. That’s when they started firing back and their ships start maneuvering to avoid the blasts and receive as little damage as possible despite the size of these ships. “Guys! We can only maneuver our way through this for so long! Starlight, Lightning Dust, take your teams and do something to distract them and draw away some of their fire! Spike, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, go with them!” Shining Armor says over the comms and they all get ready before Lightning Dust leads the Wonderbolts and the Washouts towards the ships and manage to draw some of their fire away from their own ships.

One of the hatches in the bottom of one of the ships opens and Starlight, Trixie, Tempest, and Sunset all fall out. The magically projected glowing blue cape that was part of Trixie’s armor disappears and turns into flaps/wings under her arms that are attached to her hips and she spreads them, allowing them to catch the wind and Starlight does the same, attaching the hidden flaps on her suit to her arms then spreading them and gliding right beside Trixie. Tempest lands on top of Spike and Sunset lets out a yell as her eyes glow a fiery red and yellow and her body glows as she curls up before she spreads her limbs and the glow stops as her power is focused into making wings made of fire and she flys right beside the Dazzlings towards the ships.

“That. Was. So. Cool!” Sonata screams and everyone agrees, amazed at Sunset's amazing ability, gaining a chuckle from her before they go back to diverting enemy fire from their allies while also dodging all of it themselves. Storm clouds roll in and the Storm king appears and lets out a monstrous roar that fits with his appearance. Spike flys towards him with Tempest still on his back as he dodges blasts from the giant reincarnated fallen king. He counters some of his blasts with a few of his own fire blasts. Once they’re close enough, Tempest gets on his nose before Spike launches her off towards the face of her former boss faster than he can keep up with. She charges energy from her broken horn into her body and focuses it into her fist and her eyes start glowing from the amount of power she’s using and she screams as she pulls her arm all the way back then brings it forward, landing a powerful punch that manages to knock the Storm King’s head back, cracking his horns.

“Spike! Now!” Tempest yells and Spike breathes fire at his horns, heating them up and weakening them before using his claws to slash them both off. Ember comes out of nowhere and grabs one of his horns and stabs him through the heart with it. He roars in pain and anger as he slowly starts cracking and glowing until finally he explodes, causing Spike and Ember to use their wings to shield themselves and Tempest. They uncover themselves and see that there’s nothing left of him. “Holy shit… nice job you two.” Tempest says to the two giant dragons who smile down at her and nod.

Midnight sees this and yells in anger, knocking the Mane 6 off of her then letting out her loudest whistle. As soon as she does, her own dragon flys out of the dark clouds behind the airships and tackles Spike and Ember, taking them down to the ground and when they crash, Spike ends up letting go of Tempest and she tumbled away from the three huge dragons. She comes to a stop when she hits a magical barrier. She looks to see that Discord is the one who was making it. He helps her up as they notice at least a hundred of Midnight's soldiers departing the airship. They see a bright red glow coming from the ship in the middle until a red light goes into the sky then lands on the ground with a massive impact. It’s revealed to be Astelle when the dust clears… and she has the alicorn amulet attached to her armor. She’s followed closely by the elements of insanity and as soon as they land, they start aiding Midnight against the Mane 6.

Before they can get too much done against them, the legion of doom appears in front of them, thanks to Discord’s magic, and starts fighting and keeping them away from the Mane 6 while Celestia and Luna engage in a battle with Astelle. Sombra appears from a cloud of black smoke and he starts making things difficult for the heroes by growing crystals which explode when impacted by their magic, swinging and throwing them into each other, even making them attack each other by getting in someone’s line of sight then disappearing right as they attack and letting them hit each other.

It could’ve gotten a lot worse but before it could, when Sombra appears again, he’s wrapped in two magic ropes then pulled away and thrown through a boulder. Cadance and Flurry Heart land in front of him and immediately start attacking, leaving him on defense. He takes out his scythe and swings at them when he sees an opening but Flurry slides under it, cutting his leg with magic and giving her mother the chance to drop kick him, which she does instantly. He recovers rather quickly and swipes at her with his scythe, managing to leave a deep scratch on her leg. She almost loses her balance so she’s forced to fly up a bit.

Sombra turns into black smoke and rushes at her and she stops him in his tracks with a magic barrier. Flurry takes the chance to use a spell on him that will trap him and it almost works but then he disappears, probably sensing that she was gonna do that. “Have to be quicker than that… Insolent child.” She hears him say, pausing before he strikes at her from behind, slashing her wings and her back then blasting her forward. Cadance sees this and feels more rage than she’s ever felt in her life. Her eyes and horn start glowing as she yells in anger and charges at Sombra faster than he was expecting and she forms a crystal sword and swings at him and he retaliates by swinging his crystal scythe to counter her attack but as soon as their weapons connect, his shatters instantly. He stares in shock but then turns to face her only to get stabbed in the stomach and he yells in pain.

She kicks him back and goes to slice off his head or some other limb, she didn’t really care. But right as she’s about to, she gets blasted away by a changeling…. Actually a whole bunch of changelings. “Uhhhh Uncle Thorax?! What’s going on, I thought all the changelings were good now!” Flurry Heart yells, much to Thorax’s confusion.

“They are! I don’t think these are natural changelings! I think Midnight made them from dark magic!” He says, earning a laugh from Midnight who’s starting to overpower the Mane 6.

“Good guess! They are made from dark magic and they’re stronger, faster, and deadlier than normal changelings! So you’re all in for an even more challenging battle than you anticipated!” Midnight says before she yells and blasts the Mane 6 away with her magic. She then wraps a magical tendril around Twilight and pulls her back to her before elbowing her straight in the stomach, knocking her back again. Twilight quickly recovers and dodges multiple blasts from Midnight and after she sees an opening, she fires her own blast and it knocks Midnight back a bit. While she’s stunned, Twilight takes the chance to fly straight into her, tackling her then proceeding to punch her and slam her head into the ground repeatedly as she’s flying with her.

Midnight kicks Twilight and breaks free. They both roll to a stop then continue fighting. Midnight was actually surprised out how uncharacteristically aggressive Twilight was being. The only other time she had seen her like this was when they fought on the ship that day. Back then, she had Twivine in her head though but now that she didn’t… that meant Twilight was actually fighting to kill with her own will to do so. This could mean bad business for Midnight since Twilight was stronger and faster now. She was also more powerful and knowledgeable than before when it came to magic. Midnight forms an axe and swings at Twilight, causing her to use a magical shield to block and it manages to but she gets sent flying back. When she stops, Midnight lands on her but is electrocuted before she can start relentlessly attacking her.

Twilight takes the chance to elbow her in the stomach, knocking her off. Midnight rolls to a stop but is landed on by Rainbow Dash before she can get up and then her arms and legs are either frozen or held down vines or ice. Rainbow Dash holds both her wings down as best she can but this wouldn’t hold Midnight for long. “Whatever you’re gonna do, hurry up and do it!” She says, struggling to keep Midnight’s wings held down. She seriously hated how Alicorns had to be so much stronger than everyone else, it was really starting to get to her!

“I know what you can do Dash… get. Off!” Midnight yells before she uses every bit of strength in her wings to break free from Dash's grip, also using a new ability that makes her feathers sharp and sends them flying. Dash is the first one to get hit by some of them, Pinkie and Rarity manage to avoid being hit but that was because Fluttershy and Applejack used their powers to protect them but couldn’t manage to protect themselves in time and Twilight manages to block most of the feathers coming her way but some managed to hit her before she formed a shield. Midnight keeps this going until she stops and slams her fists into the ground, knocking the Mane 6 further away than they had already gotten. Midnight then falls back a bit, getting closer to her own ships before she teleports her own fighters behind her.

Her dragon automatically knows to move and he manages to push Ember and Spike off then get behind Midnight and just as she’s about to do whatever she plans to do, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Flurry Heart, and Twilight all start blasting her and she yells in pain and falls to her knees. They keep it going and they start thinking they’ll actually win… until Midnight smirks at them and slowly stands up. She starts glowing more as well and they start getting nervous until they decide to stop and she slowly walks forward a bit before her smirk turns into an all-out, sharp-toothed, evil grin.

“You lose.” She says, causing everyone to realize what she’s about to do and she curls up into a ball before releasing all the magic she had apparently just absorbed in a huge wave of destructive energy, sending it out in all directions. She makes sure her own side is covered but is more than happy to let anywhere or anyone else feel the effects of the blast. Twilight tries blocking it to keep her and her friends safe and the shield takes most of the blow before it breaks and she lets out a scream as she’s sent flying back. Everyone continues being bombarded with loads of magical destructive energy, barely staying alive until finally it stops and everyone is injured and it was big enough to reach the airships which are now starting to go down.

After the dust clears and all the ships are down, none of them exploding but all of them receiving pretty good damage, the villains all look to see the heroes all still in one piece but Twilight is gone. Midnight shakes her head in disappointment. “Pathetic…” She says before starting to walk towards the downed heroes. She looks at Celestia and smiles down at her. “Once again… you failed.” She says before she raises her hand and everyone notices her own airships starting to reveal their weapons and aim at them. They all get up and try to move or protect themselves but it’s too late. Midnight lowers her hand then teleports out of the way as shots are fired towards them. Midnight watches as the shots make contact with the area and make dust spread, shrouding the results of the onslaught from her view.

Seconds Earlier

As Twilight slowly wakes up, she immediately feels so much pain in her body. She looks down to see her armor is damaged and she’s pretty far away from the battle. She tries getting up but as soon as she moves, a feeling of intense pain surges through her body and she instantly goes back to relaxing her body as much as she could. She sees the edges of her vision starting to blacken. She can also see her element flashing but before she can question it, her eyes become even heavier and she finally closes them, reluctantly allowing herself to rest.

“Twilight… you’re not done yet. Your friends need you, your family needs you… Equestria needs you.” She hears her father say before she hears her mother speak next.

“Get up my little Princess… Get up.” She says and just as she does, Twilight feels all the magic she had felt in her dream coursing through her. No… even more than that. She opens her eyes and unknowingly to her, they’re both glowing along with her mane, tail, wings and horn. As she gets up, a magical aura starts surrounding her body and she feels all her pain dissipate. She senses something bad about to happen to everyone else and teleports to them, immediately making a shield around herself and them just as Midnight's ships start raining fire on the area. It goes on for a few minutes until the blasts stop and the dust is allowed to settle. Once it does, Midnight is surprised and annoyed to see Twilight had protected everyone. She was surprised by her appearance and how much power she was sensing from her.

“Twilight…?” Rainbow Dash asks, amazed by how incredible and incredibly intimidating Twilight looks. Twilight turns to her and smiles, nodding.

“I’ve got you.” She says before looking at everyone else as the rest of their army joins back with the rest of them, having mostly survived the blast from Midnight and the crashing of the airships. “All of you.” She says before she suddenly teleports away and everyone looks confused. That is until they hear the ships firing and they look to see them shooting into the clouds. A purple ball of magical energy starts flying at them… then flying through them, badly damaging them and even blowing a few of them up if they don’t crash… or when they crash. It stops when there’s only three left and the glowing lessens a bit, revealing Twilight, who’s now pushing one ship into the other two like it was nothing. She gives one more harsh push and that sends them crashing down to the ground.

All the villains are absolutely stunned by the incredible power that the young alicorn possessed. “You said we had lost Midnight?! Well how about I correct you!” Twilight says before she teleports back to the others who now all stood ready to fight. “We… have already won.” Twilight says before Midnight starts chuckling.

“Did you? Cause from how I see it Princess…” Midnight says as her horn lights up before suddenly another airship of hers that’s way bigger than any of the others she’d seen appears and Twilight could sense that… possibly Midnight’s entire army was inside of that… war machine. “You’ve lost.” Midnight says and before she can give the order to attack, she stops because… she senses something… it feels like… determination? And there was a lot of it on it's way. She looks past the so-called army in front of her, causing everyone else to do the same, and sees so much dust being kicked up until ponies, dragons, griffons and many other creatures all make it past the hill, some even flying in airships, pirate ships or just flying on dragons, all of them yelling, roaring, or screeching their hearts out.

Midnight can’t believe what she’s seeing… and neither can Twilight… They all actually came. Twilight starts gaining tears in her eyes and she looks at Celestia who smiles proudly and nods. “So… how do you wanna do this Twilight? Any backup plans, any final words of wisdom? Anything?” Spike asks as he walks up beside her and her friends. She could tell he was nervous so she gently pats his head and gives him a reassuring smile.

“Hey… we’ve got this.” Twilight says as she looks at him, then her friends, then at Midnight and walks forward a bit. “Together.” She finishes and with that, Spike roars as Midnight's own army or at least half of it starts exiting the airship as it gets closer to the ground. Once both armies are prepared Midnight takes out a sword and points it towards Twilight's army, giving her own the signal to attack and they all charge forward.

Twilight smiles at that before her and all her friends start powering up. “Let’s do this...” Twilight says and at the same time, she and all her friends say the same thing, prompting the army to do the same before they all start leading the army towards the battle that would determine the true fate of the world.

“FOR EQUESTRIA!!!”

Final Stand, Pt. 2

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long, my motivation was low for quite a while but I’m back at it. I also didn’t know how to think of a great way to show Midnight's defeat and everything that would take place. But now I know. The next chapter will be the final chapter… which I’m actually about to work on now and try to finish today soooo… yeah. This is it. What do you think will happen in the next chapter, especially since there’ll be a bit more of Opaline in it?

Final Stand, Pt. 2

As both sides clashed and engaged in an epic, bloody battle, the main heroes had decided to stay at the front and provide support. Spike, Ember, Smolder, Starlight’s team, The Princesses, the reformed villains and everyone else start going all out with their powers to make way for the Mane 6 to give them a straight shot towards Midnight. Twilight gets the closest and is about to attack Midnight until Ragnar lands between them and sends out a wave of magic that stops the Mane 6 in their tracks. He uses the magic surrounding them to slam and drag them on the ground before tossing them up into the air.

Once they’re all high enough, he releases them and Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity all start falling. Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy all go to catch them but they’re knocked away by Sky Blazer. Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity all start panicking until Rarity gets an idea and starts blasting ice in the area where they’re about to land. This confused the two earth ponies until they sort of landed on whatever Rarity had made… and had started sliding down until it curved upwards. Rarity had made an ice slide. Clever.

They suddenly go flying into the air again but not as high and they land and roll forward, but Rarity being Rarity decides to just make an ice path for herself and her friends so they could avoid getting dirty from that. Once they stop, they all get up to see the evil versions of them and their friends coming at them. Rarity makes an ice wall that blocks them off. This gives them just enough time to split up and ready themselves for when they break through. Twivine bursts through and is immediately wrapped up by Applejack’s lasso. Applejack swings her straight into a roundhouse kick from Pinkie which knocks Twivine into the rest of the villains.

As Twivine recovers and sits up, she starts to hear beeping so she looks down and sees some sort of sticky bomb attached to her armor from Pinkie’s kick. Before she can take it off, it explodes, covering the elements of insanity, Ragnar, Astelle, and Midnight in some sort of incredibly sticky goo that keeps them right where they were. Sky Blazer suddenly crashes into some of it before Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy land by the rest of their friends. Rarity and Fluttershy nod at each other before Fluttershy starts blasting wind into a spot in the air above the villains and Rarity fires ice at the same spot and the wind starts making sure the ice stays in that spot and bunches up, forming something bigger and bigger.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash then fly above it and once it’s done, they start pushing it down towards the villains as fast as they can go. “Slow down!” Sky Blazer yells before a wave of magic spreads through the area, literally slowing down time and making all of the heroes slow down to a crawl, even Rainbow Dash. She keeps this going long enough for her and the other villains to free themselves.

“Like the new spell I learned? I was saving it for a situation just like this.” Sky Blazer says, smirking at Twilight who’s obviously struggling to move anyway. She’s about to finish them off until she remembers that she didn’t completely freeze everyone as she hears the sound of somepony, specifically a speeding pegasus… or multiple breaking the sound barrier. She immediately whirls around with her wings turning razor sharp and slicing right through two of the pegasi coming at her, Short Fuze and Rolling Thunder, immediately ending their lives. Lightning Dust, who was a little bit behind her now fallen teammates, has just enough time to maneuver around the attack and deliver a sharp high speed kick to Sky Blazer's face, knocking her a few feet away.

Lightning Dust looks at the bodies of her teammates and is immediately so distraught as she sees the shape that their bodies are in. She feels so much regret, guilt and sadness and all of that quickly turns to anger as she turns her attention back to Sky Blazer, the monster who had brought their lives to a swift, unjust end. She immediately goes to attack Sky Blazer again until she sends a wave of magic towards her. “Slow… down!” Sky says with an irritated tone. Lightning Dust immediately stops dead in her tracks.

Midnight chuckles as she and Sky Blazer walk closer to Lightning Dust. “And to think you were one of my best and most determined warriors, Lightning Dust. This is truly… disappointing. But if you choose to be weak… then you shall die like the rest of those pathetic creatures…” Midnight says before she starts walking off towards the Mane six. “Kill her.” She says, addressing Sky Blazer who nods and walks a bit closer to her. She forms her very own lightning blade and raises it, getting ready to decapitate the pegasus.

Before she can though, Lightning Dusts eyes start sparking with green and gold electricity and they look up to focus on her. “What in the-“ She starts to say but she’s cut off when the pegasus releases a burst of electricity from her body with a yell, sending Sky Blazer straight into Midnight which causes her to go flying forward.

This manages to free Lightning Dust from being frozen in time and she starts running circles around all the villains, forming a tornado after a few seconds. “I’ll show you weak Midnight!” She yells and right before she can deliver the finishing blow to all the villains, she feels something hot and buzzing pierce her chest, just narrowly missing her heart. She falls and rolls forward and comes to a stop, getting to her knees and looking down… to see a lightning blade in her chest but now just any lightning blade… She looks up to see Rainbow Death walking towards her with a smirk.

“Oh congratulations. You showed me weak on a whole new level.” Midnight says, clapping, her voice dripping with cruel sarcasm. Rainbow Death chuckles a bit then crouches to get on eye level with her weaker half’s rival.

“Guess we know who’s faster.” She says and Lightning Dust glares before she coughs, feeling the life starting to leave her body. This was it… she was actually dying. She looks up at Rainbow Dash who is clearly struggling even more to get free and help her and she gives a reassuring smile.

“Rivals… for life… right Dash?” She says and Rainbow’s eyes clearly show how distraught she is. “Don’t be sad… I… had a feeling this was coming. But I know you’ll stop her… as long as you… keep going… so… kick her ass… for me.” Lightning Dust says until Sky Blazer steps in front of her, glaring down at her.

“I’m afraid that’s not gonna happen.” She says before stabbing Lightning Dust in the heart with her blade. Lightning Dust grunts in pain and her breathing slowly starts to become more and more shallow… getting quieter and sounding more like wheezing… until she just stops breathing completely… and goes limp. Scootaloo, who was still helping to fight against the army, sees this and is instantly struck with a large feeling of sadness and anger. She screams and purple and orange electricity comes out of her, killing multiple of Midnight's soldiers. It also gets the attention of the princesses, Starlight's team and Spike.

After seeing Twilight and the others in trouble, they immediately make their way over to them and try to help but Sky Blazer uses her time freezing spell on them too. “Ah, the whole gang is here. Now I can fulfill my promise and show Twilight that no matter how much she thinks she’s suffered, it can always! Get! Worse!” Midnight yells, half excitedly, half angrily.

Shadow tendrils come out of her back and reach towards them all and Twilight and the others immediately all feel something awaken in them as their elements light up along with their bodies. This seems to last for minutes for them but to Midnight and the others, it was only seconds until the magic practically exploded, knocking Midnight and the other villains back then reaching Midnight's army and turning the original Deathbolts back into Wonderbolts and stripping the rest of Midnight's army of their excess magic and power, weakening them a large amount.

The magic then retreats back to the point of origin before it forms into a multicolored beam that reaches all the way into the clouds, lighting up the sky. The glow surrounding the Mane six goes down to a tolerable level and everyone can see that the Mane six have all achieved new forms. Kind of their super forms and their “harmony” forms mixed. Midnight is actually… scared at this point. She starts backing up and so do the rest of the villains as Celestia and everyone else gets free.

“You thought I hadn’t suffered enough? Well it’s quite the opposite Midnight, it’s you who hasn’t suffered enough! Not! Nearly! But don’t worry, your suffering… starts now.” Twilight says before she and her friends all split up and start fighting their evil counterparts. Midnight just watches, still backing up as the Mane six makes quick work of them.

Pinkie Pie literally ends up kicking straight through Pinka-mean-a at such a hide speed and with so much power that even after she disappears, the shockwave from the impact makes a giant trench right behind where she was standing.

Fluttershy uses all the different types of elements (Ya know, earth, wind, fire, and water) to restrain Flutterbat before combining all their power to crush and trap her, also making it more and more unstable until she unleashed a sonic scream, the resulting explosion even knocking Midnight, Astelle, Ragnar, and Sky Blazer back.

Applejack uses her lasso to wrap up the mouth of Angerjack's Ursa form then pulls it to make her fall. She then jumps up as high as she can, which was pretty high at this point then comes down as hard and as fast as she can with her strongest punch ready, a giant Ursa claw forming by her arm. When she’s close enough, she throws the punch right into her counterpart’s chest, the punch causing an explosion that makes a massive crater where her evil counterpart had been, fires coming through the cracks in the ground.

Rarity uses a magical diamond shield to protect herself from one of Nightmare Rarity's corruption blasts before using the shield to project an entire barrier around her counterpart then using her ice magic to freeze it from the inside out along with Nightmare Rarity. She then moves it to her using her magic and makes a stylish ice sword and channels her magic into it and her movements to slice faster than the eye can keep up with until the barrier and Nightmare Rarity both shatter into a thousand pieces, Nightmare Rarity's remains disappearing seconds after her demise.

Rainbow Dash is flying around, racing against her own evil counterpart until she stops and opens her wings, letting Rainbow Death fly past her. As soon as she turns around to see what Dash has planned, she receives a lightning blade to the heart. She’s stares in shock for a few seconds then slowly looks up but Dash immediately comes into view and delivers a powerful punch to the blade, destroying it, destroying her counterpart, and making a sonic rainboom all in one.

And last but definitely not least, Twilight is engaging in a magical air battle with Twivine until their magic clashes and it basically turns into a fight for control once again. “It’s over Twilight! Face it! You’ve lost and your reign is over! You and your friends, family, and followers will all die here. Don’t you get it?! This… is the end for you!” Twivine yells as she struggles with all her power to keep Twilight’s blast held back by her own.

Twilight smiles, noticing that Twivine doesn’t know… she’s holding back. “No… this… is just the beginning.” Twilight says before she starts increasing the power in her blast, starting to overpower Twivine until her blast connects, forcing Twivine down to the ground. Twivine screams in pain as the blast’s intensity increases to the point where she’s starting to disappear. Twilight then suddenly flys down towards her faster than she’s ever gone and lands right on her, the explosion of magic making a huge crater in the shape of her cutie mark.

Twilight slowly stands up straight and turns the glare on her face towards Midnight as her friends all land by her side with the same look on each of their faces. Midnight growls in annoyance, anger, and disbelief as the markings on her body start to glow more along with her eyes, wings, and mane. She then lets out a furious yell as her horn glows too and a tornado of red magic surrounds her, knocking the heroes back and even the villains are sent back a bit. Midnight charges forward and Twilight does the same before anyone can stop her and they both clash and Midnight teleports them somewhere as soon as they do. Not even three seconds after they’re gone, another airship appears in the air but this one was much much bigger than the last one that Midnight had that was taken over by the heroes and much more scary looking.

A red glow comes from the inside of it before Midnight and Twilight burst through the roof and Midnight slams Twilight onto the top of the ship. A lot of the ponies and other creatures on the ground notice that Midnight's appearance is… very different now. She now has six wings, she’s a bit bigger than before and her markings now looked scarier. Her voice was also the most demonic thing anyone has ever heard now as she yells down to her entire army. “KILL THEM ALL!!!” She yells, causing her army to resume fighting as the weapons on the ship come online and start aiming towards the ground. Rainbow immediately flys up and starts redirecting the ship's fire.

Celestia and Luna are about to go up and help until Astelle blasts them both before they can fly. “Finally! I’ve been dying for a little quality time between siblings. Haven’t you?” She asks and both Celestia and Luna sit up, glaring at her. She chuckles before trying to blast them again but they both teleport out of the way and Celestia appears above her and tries delivering a powerful punch to the top of her head but Astelle flys back just in time and the shockwave from the punch shakes the ground and forms a small dust cloud. Celestia immediately stands up straight and fires a beam of magic towards her but Astelle uses a magical shield to deflect it and it cuts across the ground, through clouds, through some of the weapons on the ship and through some of Midnight’s army.

Luna takes the chance to blast Astelle from behind, getting her attention and making her grunt in pain. Astelle pushes Celestia from behind then turns to Luna only for Luna to jump and deliver a magically charged flying back kick to her face. This kick sends Astelle back into Celestia who takes the chance to grab Astelle in her magic before slamming her around then throwing her into the air. Astelle is then yanked back down to the ground by some invisible magic force attached to the alicorn amulet which currently resides on her armor. Discord appears in front of her, sneering down at her and she tries to get up and blast him into oblivion but she’s frozen in place just as she gets up.

Celestia, Luna, and Discord all look to see Snowdrop releasing ice in Astelle's direction to keep her frozen. “Whatever you’re gonna do, please do it fast! I can’t hold her forever!” She says as she noticed Astelle's horn glowing which starts to melt the ice. Celestia, Luna, and Discord all nod at each other, all of them thinking the same thing, then they put their magic together and start combining it into one powerful blast. Astelle breaks free with a wave of magic that knocks Snowdrop back a good distance but as soon as she does, they unleash the blast into her direction and it impacts with the alicorn amulet and explodes, knocking Astelle a great distance away. It also manages to knock the amulet off of Astelle.

She recovers a bit and notices that it's gone and she looks towards where it landed. As soon as she sees it, she tries going to it and grabbing it but Discord appears and grabs it before she can. She immediately trips him up and grabs him by the throat before grabbing his tail too, raising him above her head and ripping him in half without hesitation. Once she drops him, she goes to grab the amulet again but Snowdrop jumps at her and kicks her away. She then makes a ice sword and starts attacking Astelle to keep her away from the amulet which gives Luna enough time to grab it.

Astelle yells angrily and breaks Snowdrop's sword and slashes her stomach with her own sword then smacks her away. Luna gets distracted and looks back to see if Snowdrop's alright but immediately gets grabbed and slammed by Astelle. Celestia blasts Astelle back then throws her weapon at her and it pierces her stomach. Celestia then teleports in front of her and grabs the weapon, lifting it and Astelle into the air and slamming her. Astelle quickly recovers and blasts Celestia back and yanks out the weapon only for Luna to stab a sword through her hand, pinning it to the ground. After that, she quickly puts a magic dampening ring on Astelle's horn. Astelle goes to grab Luna with her other hand but that one gets stabbed and pinned to and Celestia and Luna both use their magic to lock down Astelle's wings.

After all of them take a minute to catch their breaths, Astelle is the first to speak through ragged breaths and coughing. “I guess… that’s it then…. What are you waiting for little sisters? Go ahead… finish me off… it’d be better than going back in that prison.” She says and Celestia and Luna look at each other regretfully before Celestia walks closer to their older sister.

“No… that was never what we wanted Astelle… the only thing we wanted was our sister back… to undo all the mistakes that had been made.” Celestia says and Astelle looks up at her, obviously confused so she continues. “We never wanted to force you onto this path that you have chosen… and we didn’t want to send you into that prison for so long but you left us no choice. We… We didn’t always hate you Astelle… we loved you, we mourned you… we still do love you…” She continues and her saying that causes Astelle to look shocked, her eyes momentarily ceasing to glow.

“No… no! That’s a lie! You hate me! And the feeling is mutual! I was meant to inherit the role and power of the princess of the sun but then you came into the picture and stole that from me! You stole the love of both our parents, then the whole kingdom!” Astelle yells as her eyes start glowing again. Her hatred was clearly getting the best of her like always but… at least they saw some sort of sign that that could change.

“I didn’t ask for all that Astelle… I didn’t want to make a void between us, I wanted us to be sisters. I wanted to look up to you but you always pushed me away. But… for what it’s worth, I truly am sorry… do you hear me? I am sorry… I’m sorry for everything I did to you, to Luna… those many long years without you two… only made me regret what I had done more and more everyday… even to the point where I just wanted it all to end…” Celestia says, lowering her head and struggling not to let any tears fall from her eyes. “I sentenced both of you to a fate worse than death. One that would’ve killed you both had your alicorn status not rendered you unable to die… and for that, I am so… so sorry…” She says, still trying but eventually failing to stop herself from crying but at this point she didn’t care.

She was now on her knees before Astelle, who didn’t know how to feel at this point. She watches as Luna sits by her and leans against her and pulls her into a hug, also kinda crying herself. Astelle then remembers the very very few good times she had actually found herself having with them, individually or at the same time. She hadn’t always hated Celestia or Luna… there were points where she actually did want to protect them and be a good big sister to them… she actually hadn’t known what to do about her anger and resentment until Midnight had corrupted and manipulated her into using her anger to get everything she wanted… and not only did it cost her her freedom and her… humanity? Or whatever… it had also cost her her entire family. So this… none of this… was on Celestia, Luna, or their parents… it was on her and Midnight.

“I… It wasn’t… your fault… I’m the one who did this… all of this.” Astelle says, much to Celestia and Luna’s shock. Her eyes start to stop glowing completely and they notice that her voice is starting to sound less cold and scary and more… sympathetic and regretful. “I’m the one who should be sorry… You never let your hatred for me get in the way of loving me but I did… I let my own selfishness push me to betray my own family, my own home… how can I… how can I live with myself…?” She asks as she starts crying too as she truly realizes the error of her ways.

“Well… a good place to start would be helping us to defeat the monster who started all this in the first place… only if you’re up for it… sister.” Luna says as she uses her magic to remove the swords and the ring then holds her hand out towards Astelle slowly. Celestia does the same and Astelle looks at both their hands then smiles and slowly but hesitantly takes them. As soon as she does, they pull her into a hug that they’ve been waiting so many years for. She looks shocked for a few seconds then hugs them both back as tightly as she can… never wanting to let go again.

“Celestia, Luna! Come here! Hurry, it’s Discord!” They hear Snowdrop yell and immediately look over to see her sitting on her knees by Discord who’s still ripped in half. They all go over and he coughs and looks up at them.

“Well… glad to see the family is back together again… but not glad that I have to go so soon.” He says, coughing again before continuing. “Tell Fluttershy… that I thank her for teaching me the ways of friendship… and that I… will always…” He tries to say before going limp and letting out his last breath… or so Snowdrop thinks it is. Celestia, Luna, and Astelle know better.

“Alright alright, that’s enough Discord, we know that didn’t kill you, so stop being over dramatic.” Celestia says, rolling her eyes and smirking and Discord immediately disappears then reappears with his bottom half attached and he has a frown on his face.

“You really are no fun Celestia.” He says and this time they all roll their eyes. He then looks around a bit and notices something. “Say… where are Twilight and her friends right now anyway?” He asks and everyone immediately goes wide eyed as they realize exactly where they are.

Meanwhile, On Midnight's Airship

As the Mane six battles Midnight inside the airship, five of them couldn’t help but notice that out of all of them, Twilight was being the most aggressive. This was because Twilight still wanted to kill Midnight and after seeing what had happened to Lightning Dust, Rolling Thunder and Short Fuze, she was once again determined to put Midnight down for good.

They all throw everything they’ve got at Midnight and Twilight sees an opening, immediately going for it. Midnight sees this coming and not only blocks the blast Twilight had prepared for when she punched her but she redirects it and it starts damaging the ship, just narrowly missing hitting her friends. She doesn’t care much though as her only focus was to make Midnight suffer then kill her. She knees Midnight, forcing her back a bit then sends a wave of magic towards her that knocks her even further back. Midnight growls in annoyance and teleports when Twilight tries doing it again. She appears behind Twilight and immediately uses a shadow tendril to uppercut Twilight through the roof.

Midnight then quickly deflects a blast of lightning from Rainbow Dash and sends it towards Applejack, forcing her to dodge out of the way. Rainbow Dash flys towards Midnight, dodging her attacks, and then wraps her legs around her head and uses her momentum to spin the large alicorn around before slamming her with her legs. She then starts punching Midnight nonstop and tries stabbing her with her lightning blade, only to be blasted into the roof and fall back down not long after. Pinkie runs around Midnight, shooting her with her party pistols. Fluttershy starts flying around the room, using a bow to fire lightning arrows at Midnight. While Midnight is distracted and slowly being worn down by the barrage of arrows and bullets, Rarity runs towards her then slides past her, cutting her leg in the process which almost makes her fall. She decides to close in some more and proceeds to keep attacking Midnight, even freezing one of her legs to try and keep her where she is.

Applejack runs at Midnight then jumps at her, charging her power to her legs right as she delivers a kick to Midnight’s face. She’s sent flying towards the wall behind her and as soon as she slams into it, the ship shakes slightly. “Hey, careful! We don’t want it to fall on everyone below us!” Rainbow says and that gives Midnight an idea. She smirks and starts channeling her magic throughout her entire body. She then slams both her firsts down, sending her magic into the ship and cutting the power. Everyone starts feeling the ship kinda tilt forward and they immediately panic as they knew what was happening.

“What do we do?! Everyone’s about to go splat and whoever survives will go boom along with us!” Pinkie says and everyone tries to think of something as they start sliding towards the front of the ship. They then start floating due to the ship descending and this goes on for a full minute until they start to stop floating and they can feel the ship slowing down.

“Wait, we’re stopping! But… how?” Fluttershy asks and Rainbow and Midnight come to the same conclusion and Midnight yells in annoyance and anger. Meanwhile, Twilight was below the ship, holding it up with all her strength. It was heavier than it looked and if it had hit the ground at the speed it was going, the shockwave would’ve destroyed everything within over a hundred miles from here. She looks down and sees that not everyone has moved, most of them still too busy fighting to notice what was happening.

“Everyone out of the way! Now!!!” Twilight screams, using the Royal Canterlot voice to yell loud enough for everyone to hear her and she sighs in relief as she sees everyone starting to move out of the way. That is, until she feels the ship suddenly being forced down by Midnight’s magic. She tries everything she can think of to try and stop it from landing but if she can’t stop it, she can at least slow it down and redirect it. She turns it towards an area where everyone would be in the least danger and then starts pushing against it's weight to try and slow it's fall. This was also so it wouldn’t blow up and kill the others. Closer and closer the ship gets to the ground until it finally impacts with the ground and starts sliding across it, even breaking through a mountain.

It suffers quite a lot of damage until it finally stops and for a bit, nothing happens. The heroes and villains all watch, anxious and worried. Everyone was alive of course, but once Twilight gets some time alone with Midnight… that would certainly change… she’d make sure of it… she’d kill Midnight in front of everyone and make her pay for everything she had done…

And no one… was going to take that away from her… and if they tried… they’d suffer the same fate.

Friendship is Eternal

Midnight suddenly flys through the top of the now ruined ship and lands on the part of the roof that actually survived, taking a moment to recover. She hears something but doesn’t react in time before a blur goes past her and a cloud of smoke and dust surrounds her as it seems to start running or flying around her. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash rejoins her friends and nods, giving them the signal. “Alright… let’s do this.” Twilight says before they all split up and Twilight is the first to run into the dust cloud, jump towards Midnight and deliver a powerful punch before landing and rolling forward, right back into the cloud.

Rainbow flips over her from behind and kicks her in the chest before jumping into the cloud and Midnight tries blasting her but she doesn’t hear it impact. Rarity comes out of nowhere and delivers a kick to Midnight’s face and Midnight tries blasting her too but isn’t able to hit her before she disappears into the cloud. She focuses and hears something and tries turning around to blast, but doesn’t realize that Rarity had frozen her right leg and that gives Applejack a chance to give Midnight’s face a good strong punch and Fluttershy quickly follows up by pushing Midnight and using wind when she did which knocks her straight into a powerful kick from Pinkie Pie.

Midnight gets super annoyed and catches the blade of Twilight’s sword before breaking it and stabbing her in the shoulder with one of the shards of the broken blade. Twilight is knocked down into the ship before she can even scream in pain. Pinkie jumps at Midnight and tries kicking her but Midnight grabs her leg, slams her down and starts swinging her into the others, literally using her as a weapon against her own friends. Once they’re all down, she forces them all together then unleashes a powerful blast towards them, causing an explosion that injures all of them. She then laughs evilly. Maybe she still had a chance to win this.

She senses a few individuals coming towards her and shadow tendrils go to them all and wrap around them, immobilizing them and using painful levels of dark magic on them. She turns to see Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Flurry Heart, Astelle, Snowdrop, Discord, Shining Armor, Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer all held up in her tendrils. “Quite the catch…” Midnight says but before she can do anything else, a beam of energy hits her, knocking her back but also draining the magic out of her. She groans in pain as it does and looks to see where it’s coming from and is met with the sight of the legion of doom… and Grogar's bell.

“Too bad ya can’t take it with you!” Cozy Glow yells with a smirk and Midnight growls in annoyance as the shadow tendrils start to disappear along with her extra four wings. Her markings start to go purple again instead of red and her voice slowly becomes normal. She screams in pain as the magic fully leaves her body or at least most of the extra power she had gained does. She still had a bit of magic left… and she knew just who to take more from. She slowly backs away and Celestia starts walking up to her, readying her magic.

“So this is how it ends, huh Astelle? After everything, you turn on me just like that?!” Midnight asks angrily, earning a glare from Astelle. Midnight shakes her head to mimic disappointment. “You know… had you stayed on my side… we could’ve been great together… and a lot of pain could’ve been avoided… pain like this!” Midnight yells right before she blasts everyone back and knocks the bell away from the legion of doom. She then blasts a beam of magic towards Celestia and Luna but Astelle jumps in the way and at the last second, Midnight makes the blast extra powerful and concentrated and it immediately burns a whole into Astelle's chest before turning into a magic tendril and yanking her forward and she holds her up by her throat as the tendril starts draining the magic out of her.

“NO!!!” Celestia and Luna both yell as they try to get to them but Midnight makes a barrier that expands greatly and knocks everyone back in the process. They quickly get up and try everything they can to get past the barrier.

Astelle starts screaming in pain as the magic drain starts to take its toll and the shock wears off as Midnight smiles evilly, sensing that Astelle no longer had any magic left. “You brought this on yourself… Goodbye… old friend.” Midnight says before she expands the shield more as it disappears, knocking everyone back once again and she throws Astelle away and she lands by her sisters. Celestia and Luna are immediately by her side and Midnight smiles, readying her new magic to kill them all until she senses someone about to attack her. She smirks and holds the assailant up in her magic and looks to see Snowdrop. “Tsk tsk tsk, now you should know better Snowdrop. But it seems your mind is still stuck in the same place it was a thousand years ago so… allow me to reunite you with your dear mother!” Midnight yells and this catches Luna’s attention.

“What… NO!” Luna screams as she tries helping Snowdrop but Midnight pulls the teenage filly towards herself and literally punches a hole into her stomach. Luna screams in distress and anger before jumping at Midnight, going towards her at an incredibly fast speed. Midnight merely knocks her away with magic and throws Snowdrop into her and they collide before they hit the ground. Midnight then screams and unleash and even stronger wave of magic, knocking everyone off the ship and Luna is about to get up and try attacking Midnight again until she feels someone grab her wrist and looks to see it’s Snowdrop.

“Luna… don’t, you’ll… you’ll just end up dying…” She says and Luna is about to protest until she sees the state that Snowdrop is in and she can see hints of her ice healing trying to kick in but… she knows it won’t be fast enough. Regardless, she starts using a healing spell on her anyway.

“I won’t let it happen again… I won’t!” She shouts, refusing to let Snowdrop die in a way such as this. She looks to her left and sees Celestia doing the same to Astelle. She teleports herself and Snowdrop right next to them and continues healing after checking to see if the healing was working on Astelle, which it was… very slowly… too slowly… As soon as she sees that, she checks on Snowdrop's progress and sees that… it’s working just as slowly if only a little faster…

“Luna just stop… we both know this is it… Why won’t you listen?” Snowdrop says, causing Luna to look her in the eyes and reveal the tears that she was fighting so desperately against.

“Because I don’t want to lose you!” Luna practically shouts before looking at Astelle, then Celestia and back at Snowdrop. “We just got you two back and we refuse to let you go again so soon!” Luna says and Celestia frowns and closes her eyes then looks down at Astelle.

“Luna's right, we can… we can fix this. We can save you!” Celestia says and Astelle gives her a sad smile before slowly putting one hand on her cheek.

“You… already did… I became a monster… and you two brought me back… the real me… so now… I won’t die a monster…” Astelle says, slightly crying and also putting her other hand on Luna's cheek to get her to look at her one last time. “I am so proud of you two… and our parents must be too… thank you so much. Remember that no matter what happened between us before… I… will always… love you both…” Astelle says as she slowly starts to go limp. Snowdrop starts doing the same and she puts her hand on one of Luna's and sadly smiles up at her.

“And no matter what others think… keep… keep shining… as bright as… the stars…” Snowdrop says before her eyes slowly close and at the same time, both her and Astelle go completely still and let out their last breaths. Both Celestia and Luna try everything they can think of to try and get them to wake up, breathe or anything until they both finally realize that… they’re gone. They both start crying and hugging one another as they try their best to comfort each other after the loss they just suffered… again. Why did it have to happen again…?

Meanwhile, Midnight senses this and is about to fly off and address her army until she gets blasted and tackled from behind. Twilight was attacking her and as they rolled forward, Twilight had started punching Midnight in the face repeatedly until they separate and slowly stand up to face each other.

“Ah, Princess Twilight. Back for round… I’ve lost count. So eager for a repeat of last time, are we? Though I’ll have to warn you, I don’t exactly know who I’m gonna kill in front of you this time.” Midnight says, that same goddamn infuriating smirk on her face. Twilight clenches her fist and grits her teeth as she feels rage and magic fuel her mind and her body.

“The only one dying here… is you.” She says, her voice low, hoarse, and containing so much venom that it was shocking even to Midnight. She could feel the rage coming from the young alicorn and it felt so similar… to the rage that had created her… the rage of a pony who had just reached a major breaking point. She stretches her neck and her shoulders and gets ready to fight.

“Well… come on then princess… one last fight. One shall rise…” Midnight says, pointing to herself and before she can point to Twilight or say anything else, Twilight charges forward faster than she’s ever seen her go.

“One shall fall!” She yells before throwing a punch to Midnight and Midnight ducks under it but she could feel the wind and power behind the punch nearly yank her head back. Midnight goes to turn and punch Twilight but finds that she can’t turn because of a magic glyph that Twilight placed under her. She looks up just in time to receive a drop kick to the head which knocks her down to her knees. Twilight then slams both her fists down onto Midnight’s back, knocking her down onto her face and then she flys up only to come down just as Midnight manages to break free from the glyph and roll out of the way.

Twilight slams down on the spot that Midnight was just on, making a giant dent in the ship. She looks and sees Midnight throwing a punch her way but she catches it and breaks her wrist, pulling her to her and clotheslining her. She then kicks Midnight away and then gives chase after her. She then cartwheels and jumps as soon as she gets to her feet then comes down right on top of Midnight, landing a punch right in her stomach, knocking all the air out of her. Before she can deliver anymore punches than that though, Midnight knocks her away and gets up before her wrist heals and she makes a blade come out of both her gauntlets.

She then runs towards Twilight, charging the blades with magic and she swings at Twilight and when she moves back, she’s still knocked back and cut by a wave of magic. She quickly gets up though and starts dodging more, being careful about which direction she dodges in and how fast she dodges strike after strike. She eventually catches one of the blades and breaks it before cutting Midnight multiple times with it and then stabbing her in the stomach then the chest and she tries stabbing her in the face but Midnight catches it and uses the momentum to flip Twilight and slam her then stab her in the stomach which sends a tiny beam of magic through her body, causing her to scream in pain.

“Like I said: a repeat! You’re still as weak as ever and I’m starting to come out on top no matter how aggressive you get or how determined you are to avenge your dear old mommy and daddy!” Midnight says before she rips the blade out then punches and kicks Twilight's wound, making her scream again before Midnight starts punching her in the face multiple times, each punch getting stronger than the last… but with each punch, Twilight gets a flash of memories of her parents… right up until the last time she saw them. Her eyes start to glow as she slowly looks up at Midnight who was just getting ready to stab her in the face. She yells in anger before a wave of magic knocks Midnight off her, creating so many new wounds on her body and damaging her armor to a whole new level.

Before Midnight can even land, Twilight tackles her and drags her along the roof of the ship before bringing her up and kneeing her. She grabs her leg before she can go far and slams her. She then stands her up and starts punching her and beating her into a bloody pulp. With each punch, Twilight starts getting more aggressive and angry, and soon the fight starts getting everyone’s attention. Twilight eventually slams Midnight after flipping over her. She then sits her up and continues punching her until she eventually delivers a punch while blasting her magic and it blasts a hole through Midnight's body. Midnight just stares in shock until she falls to her knees and Twilight makes one of her blades appear and slowly raises it.

“This is for my mother… my father… my friends… for all the lives you ruined! Today you answer for all of it!” Twilight says before she brings her blade down and just as it’s about to hit Midnight, Rainbow Dash comes out of nowhere and catches it. She growls in anger and annoyance and tries again, but this time Applejack helps Dash keep it back and both of them together are still barely enough.

“Twi! Look at me! Look at me!” Rainbow says and Twilight slowly listens and looks at her. “If you do this, you punish Solaris too… and then there’s no going back… Don’t do this Twi… don’t be like Midnight…” Rainbow says and Twilight looks between her and Midnight… then slowly lowers the sword… and drops it. Rainbow smiles and slowly cups Twilight's face in her hands. Twilight mumbles a bunch of times about how sorry she is and how she lost herself for a moment but Rainbow just gently shushes her and comforts her, reassuring her.

Midnight smirks a bit and tries attacking Rainbow but Twilight, sensing that, quickly moves Dash, catches Midnight’s hand then punches her away. “I may not have made you pay in the way that I… and the rest of Equestria wanted… but all of us… can punish you in the way… that the world needs.” Twilights says as Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie stand by her, Rainbow, and Applejack. They all start glowing, specifically their elements and they start floating. Twilight fires a spell past Midnight and it opens a portal back into the dimension she was trapped in before.

“No! NO! Not again!” Midnight says as she claws at the ground, trying her damndest not to go back into that Faust forsaken dimension.

“Ya see Midnight, your greatest mistake was forgetting the one thing I told you the first time we defeated you. Friendship isn’t weak and it isn’t just magic!” Twilight says before a beam of multicolored magic starts connecting all their elements and they start glowing more as they all say the same thing at the same time.

“Friendship! Is! ETERNAL!”

And with that, they unleash a stream of multicolored harmony magic in Midnight's direction, starting to push her back into the portal.

“Nooooo!” Midnight says but here voice sounded a little… off. The next time she speaks, Twilight freezes up as she seems to recognize the voice.

“Twilight…” She says, causing Twilight to focus her vision enough to see half of Midnight’s face gone, revealing… Solaris. Solaris's mane was disheveled and Twilight could tell she had been crying a lot… poor thing. What she says next though mostly assures Twilight that she was doing the right thing… and that this is what Solaris wanted. “Thank you…” She says before Midnight's body suddenly lets go and goes flying back into the portal. Before they disappear, Twilight can see the faintest hint of Solaris giving her a smile… and she slightly smiles back.

The portal then goes into the sky and gets at least twenty times bigger and Opaline and Sombra both watch from afar in disappointment as all the villains slowly get sucked into it but all the brainwashed ponies and other creatures go back to normal and stay on the ground. With that, they slowly make their departure, both vowing revenge… not for Midnight, but for themselves. Meanwhile Twilight could see the same thing that happened to Midnight and Solaris just now happening to Sky Blazer… only she looked scared whereas Solaris had looked mostly at peace despite obviously being scared too. She frowns and watches as Sky joins the rest of the villains in that dimension.

After the real villains are all dealt with, the portal closes… and it takes a minute for everyone to process what just happened until… they realize that they’ve won… they’ve finally won! …But at what cost?

Twilight looks around and sees the destruction, damage and death that had taken place from everything that had happened and she also sees the clouds that had covered the sky parting to make way for the sun. She sighs and walks to the edge of the ship and sits down, just now starting to notice how tired and injured she really was. All her friends have the same idea as they sit by her. They all take a moment to try and enjoy the peace that they so desperately needed and deserved.

“We did it… Midnight's finally gone… and all the bad guys are dealt with…” Rainbow says and everyone softly smiles at both those facts… until they see exactly how many creatures got injured… and how many died.

“And in the end… it still cost us and others so much…”Twilight says, frowning which causes Rainbow to lean against her and she puts a wing around her, pulling her closer. Applejack does the same to Rarity, using her arm and Pinkie does the same for Fluttershy but Fluttershy wraps a wing around her in return. Suddenly, they see and hear ponies and other creatures cheering and they look to see they’re all celebrating the fact that Midnight’s gone and cheering for them. They all slowly stand up and smile until Twilight shoots magic into the air, making makeshift fireworks and Tempest does the same along with dragons and unicorns and any creature with power who could make fireworks.

Rainbow gets an idea and flys up into the air, starting to go as fast as she could until finally.. she does a sonic rainboom, coloring the whole sky. She then lands back by her friends and that rainboom just so happened to get their spirits back up to a noticeable level.

“Sooo now what do we do?” Pinkie asks and the rest of the Mane six agree until Twilight looks at them all, starting to answer.

“There’s… much to rebuild… but if the years that we’ve all been together have taught me anything at all… it’s that as long as we have each other… we can do anything. So… what do you all say to one more… adventure?” Twilight asks and instantly all her friends cheer and agree, gathering around for a group hug. They then all look at the sky, noticing the aftermath of the rainboom as the colorful pattern continues to spread while fading… bringing back hope to all who see it.

Two Years Later, Canterlot

As Twilight watched the guards take a now powerless Opaline away, she couldn’t help but feel like something was… off. For two whole years, things had been peaceful. Busy, but peaceful. The Dazzlings had gone back to their home in the ocean, the legion of doom had stayed in the Crystal Empire where Twilight's students, including a nearly graduated Luster Dawn, had gone to study a bit about it's culture and Flurry Heart was now the ruler of the empire after she had saved it from a serious threat, Sunset had gone back to the human world after the mirror was repaired but had often visited to see Starlight, the girls, and the Dazzlings, especially Adagio, Tempest had been given a ring for her horn that projected the rest of her broken horn and helped her focus her magic as if her horn was never broken in the first place, and she was now captain of Twilight’s royal guard.

The kingdoms had all rebuilt and worked together to start improving Equestria and helping it move past the memory of Midnight. Celestia and Luna had decided to retire once again but always be on call if Twilight ever needed them. The Wonderbolts had become better than ever under Rainbow Dash's leadership. Magic had almost completely disappeared for some reason a few months ago but due to the creation of new harmony crystals, that was fixed. Everything had been alright.

Until Opaline had suddenly burst into the throne room, setting the red carpet aflame and lunging at her with skill that exceeded Midnight's and power that matched her own. Twilight had just barely managed to defeat Opaline but during the entire fight, Twilight's alicorn empathy had been going off like crazy and now that she had defeated Opaline, she noticed that… it was now worse than before. Just as she’s about to tell the guards what to do, the world seems to shake as a wave of… something spreads across all of Equestria. Twilight manages to keep her balance and looks through one of the windows of the now badly damaged throne room and sees a… giant cracked orb in the sky with some sort of mystical energy surrounding it.

She hears Opaline laughing and looks to see Opaline giving Twilight a mix of a glare and a sinister smile. “Oh what will you do now, Twilight Sparkle?! How will you save Equestria from a spell that will spread across all of space and time?!” Opaline shouts and Twilight gives her one final look before flying out of the throne room. Once she’s out, she uses her alicorn empathy to talk to one of her newest and most talented students.

“Artemis! Are you there?!” She asks frantically and almost immediately, she gets a response.

“Princess Twilight! W-What is happening?!” Artemis asks and Twilight wishes she could give her a straight answer but she can’t.

“There’s no time to explain! I don’t know what’s about to happen but I have a feeling that magic is going to change in so many ways. Ways that most ponies won’t be ready for! And I… I feel like me and my friends won’t make it out of this even if we somehow stop it so just in case… I need you to promise me that you and your friends will help guard and take care of Equestria no matter what! Promise me!” Twilight pleads and Artemis hesitates for a bit but then agrees. “Ok good. Then I need you to prepare what we talked about… I’ll try to keep you updated.”

“O-Ok… what are you gonna do?” Artemis asks and Twilight once again looks at the orb and narrows her eyes.

“I’m gonna try and put a stop to this…” She says before she uses her alicorn empathy to communicate with her friends and fill them in on everything. Whether they could stop this thing or not, they were still gonna try.

For Equestria!

Two hours later

Well they had tried everything else and nothing had worked. The orb also seemed to be getting bigger too. Starlight, Starswirl, and Discord were able to figure out all the spells that were used to make this one so powerful and dangerous though, which meant that the Mane six just had to go inside this orb and use the elements to safely disrupt the spell on the inside. The only problem was… it could possibly trap them forever. And if it went wrong, it could either destroy everything or trap everyone.

“Twilight, you can’t! It’s too risky! We need to find another way!” Spike says as he and everyone else starts protesting against this plan. Twilight looks at them, then at the orb, then back.

“We’re out of time and we’re out of options… this is the only way…” She says as she and the Mane six all stand by each other, giving sad looks to all their friends and supporters and everyone frowns before their friends all surround them in a group hug as if they already knew that this was the last time they’d see the Mane six… possibly ever. Soon they all break the hug and the Mane six all look at the orb as their bodies glow. Twilight takes a moment to slightly turn and give a reassuring smile to everyone as she says the last words they would probably ever hear from her. “Friendship. Is… Eternal.”

And with that, they all take off into the orb at incredibly fast speeds, using the harmony magic that they still possessed to get to it, even with it all the way in the sky. As soon as they got in, it was like they had entered an entirely different universe and smaller orbs like the one they went in were all floating by, connected by mystical tendrils of energy. Twilight looks at one and notices that… she can see ponies. In some she can see humans or just ponies with four hooves instead of two legs. The others notice that for all of them and in each one, they notice that the ponies look different. Twilight even sees a orange pony with purple hair and… a transparent golden horn and wings? She’s an alicorn! These must be… other timelines and dimensions!

Twilight is about to question where the weak point is until she sees it and it… looks like a giant flower blooming. They all travel to it, avoiding and maneuvering timelines and dimensions to avoid ruining them. They all land around it and give each other nervous looks before Twilight nods and steps forward and they all do the same before they start using the harmony magic to disrupt the spell. After about a minute, they can see signs of it working and the spell starting to weaken. “Yes! It’s working, we’re doing it!” Rainbow shouts and Twilight smiles until she realizes something and frowns.

“But the spell can’t fully be stopped until it goes off… which means… we have to stay here to make sure it stays weakened enough to not interfere with other timelines and dimensions.” Twilight says and they all frown before looking at each other then at Twilight with determined looks.

“Well… if I have to go then I’m glad it’s while saving Equestria with you guys.” Rainbow says.

“We’ve got your back Sugarcube.” Applejack says.

“Always and forever darling.” Rarity says.

“No friend left behind.” Fluttershy says.

“EVER!” Pinkie yells.

Twilight can’t help but smile as tears start forming in her eyes and she closes them. “You girls are the best… I love you all.” Twilight says before the spell finally starts to go off and meanwhile in Equestria, it starts to show as wave after wave of energy starts coming out of the orb as it starts pulsating rapidly and getting smaller. This continues until it’s just a little tiny ball in the sky… then it explodes into a massive flash of light that shrouds Equestria in a beautiful show of both light and dark magic at work…

To be continued…

Author's Note

Well… that was something, huh? Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this story as much or more than I enjoyed making it. More to come in the future but featuring Sunny and her friends along with Twilight and her own friends. And a few special guests but hey, you’ll see. Stay tuned 😉

Darkness falls Pt. 3

As Twivine sat outside the tomb, looking at the sky, she contemplated where she had gone wrong. What mistakes she could have avoided making. She was glad Midnight had returned but what she had done to get her here.. it all felt wrong for some reason, especially what she had done and said to Rainbow and the others.. Maybe it was the part of her that was still Twilight, maybe these were her own feelings but regardless.. she hated feeling this way. She should be enjoying this.. but she wasn’t. Should she tell Midnight or should she keep it to herself?

Either decision could possibly end badly. On one hand she had the choice to tell or keep it secret. But if she didn’t tell Midnight and she found out herself through Alicorn empathy, she would most likely punish or kill her for keeping something this important to herself. Now if she just told Midnight the truth, maybe it would go easier on her but Midnight might fake trying to help her while plotting to kill her anyway as soon as she’s not useful to her anymore. Or worse, she’d probably think that torturing her more with dark magic would strengthen Twivine but weaken Twilight and even if it did, she didn’t want to suffer through that. She sighs and holds her head.

“What do I do?” She asks quietly to no one in particular. She was trapped between a rock and a hard place. “This was a mistake.. everything was a mistake.. and it’s too late to fix it all.” She says before she hears footsteps and immediately takes out one of her blades, pins whoever was walking up against a wall and holding the blade close to their throats. She calms down when she sees it’s just Lightning Dust who looks like her normal self again.

“What the hell was that for?!” She yells and Twivine backs off, putting her sword away and walking back to where she was sitting.

“You snuck up on me and we’re caught in a war in case you forgot.” She says and Lightning Dust growls before walking up next to her.

“I haven’t but Midnight sent me to search for you. The Wonderbolts are going to present their new outfits today. She wants me, Short Fuze, and Rolling Thunder to cause some trouble and we might need you to back us up.” She says, holding out her hand for Twivine to take it. “You in or out?” She asks and Twivine stands up by herself but nods. “Good, come on, let’s go.” She says before they both walk back into the tomb to get ready.

Twivine sighs but then remembers that Rainbow Dash is part of the Wonderbolts so she’ll most likely be there. That manages to put a smirk on her face. This was going to be fun..

An hour later, Wonderbolt Show Stadium

There were so many ponies here that showed up just to see the new outfits for the Wonderbolts, it was almost surprising. Rainbow Dash would be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a little nervous. It’s not as bad as it was during the best young flyers competition. She hasn’t been that nervous ever again. “Dash, still with us?” She hears Soarin asks, breaking her out of her thoughts. She shakes her head then nods.

“Good, it’s about to start, finish getting ready newbie.” Spitfire says and she nods and puts on the new goggles. She then lines up with the rest of them after they go over the plan for this presentation. She closes her eyes, breathing in and out then opens them again.

“You’ve got this Dash. You’ve got this.” She thinks to herself which helps to calm her nerves a bit.

“Alright! Look alive Wonderbolts! It’s showtime!” Spitfire yells and they all grow determined looks before running and jumping out and following the routine that was given to them. The stunts they pull really shows off their new armor but then Spitfire does a full loopty-loop around the cloud they’re meant to land on then stops flying, transitioning into a backflip before landing on it, prompting the Wonderbolts to do the same behind her. That gives everyone a proper look at the new armor.

Lightning shaped bronze armor that goes down from their necks and chests to their belts which were also lightning shaped. Their boots were also made from bronze armor. The shoulder guards had the Wonderbolts emblem on them. Their gauntlets looked to be modified and they had a few blue lightning strikes at the end of them. The suits underneath the armor had black as the dominant color with blue in some visible areas. The goggles had yellow lenses that had a feature that could help them see further. The armor was also thin and light but enchanted so it would protect the Wonderbolts against many types of powerful magic. This armor along with the stunts earned “oohs” and “ahs” from the crowd. Rainbow Dash saw her friends cheering for her, including Scootaloo and she gave a quick salute in return.

After a few seconds, Celestia and Luna landed on the podium above everyone else, prompting everyone to cheer again for the two former princesses. Celestia smiles before stepping forward. “Hello my little ponies! I’m sorry that Princess Twilight Sparkle couldn’t be here today!” She says and everyone frowns including her and Luna. For a second she struggled to continue but then Luna nuzzled her and did it for her.

“But it is with great honor and respect that we fill in for her today!” Luna says before gesturing to the Wonderbolts. “Presenting to you.. the new and improved Wonderbolts!” She says prompting the Wonderbolts to give salutes and everyone cheers when they do. Before Celestia or Luna can continue, all the clouds suddenly turn.. dark. More clouds form and start closing in on the stadium.

“The Wonderbolt armor might be new..” Everyone hears a voice say, setting them all on edge as the Wonderbolts get ready to fight. Suddenly the Washouts appear from lightning strikes above everyone. “But we're the improved!” Lightning Dust yells before proceeding to rain down lightning on the stadium. The Wonderbolts fly up to them before being hit by a huge claw made from storm clouds and lightning. Rolling Thunder smirks as she continues using her new ability to beat down the Wonderbolts. On her next strike, Rainbow Dash dodges and lands on the arm, running on it towards her.

Her eyes glow and more clouds form around her, being held together by magic and lightning. These clouds are used to form a giant monster which glares down at Rainbow. She dodges when it tries to swat her off it’s arm. She continues dodging it’s attacks before returning some of her own. Her attacks only seem to anger it though. She charges up her most powerful blast but before she can unleash all that built up power, Short Fuse tackles her and kicks her into the stands. Luckily the crowd had evacuated in time, unluckily for her, that did hurt. She quickly gets up just as he lands in front of her, his eyes glow red and clones of himself appear by him that are made of red lightning.

“As if today could get any worse..” Rainbow Dash says before the clones start attacking her. She manages to hold her own against them but then she gets hit in the back with lightning and goes through the cloud that she and the Wonderbolts landed on. She quickly stops herself, only to get kicked by Lightning Dust. She grabs her foot and swings her around before throwing her towards the ground. She quickly recovers though and teleports behind Rainbow, punching her then teleporting and punching her again and again. This goes on for a full minute before Rainbow is suddenly struck to the ground by lightning and more and more strikes all clash against her at once nonstop, causing her to scream in pain.

She then gets an idea and tries to absorb it all. It doesn’t work and she continues trying to think until she sees Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder cornering the Wonderbolts, most of them being hurt while the rest are trying to defend them. Spitfire was one of the ones who were hurt. Seeing this does something to Rainbow and her eyes glow red and she tries once again to absorb the lightning. She can do this.. she has to do this. She slowly stands up as it starts working.. but something else is happening to her. She continues standing up as her body starts to glow more and more. Twivine is getting a bit concerned as she sees this, watching the fight from afar. Rainbow suddenly curls up before screaming and unleashing all the energy she had absorbed.

This knocks Lightning Dust into the other Washouts and almost blows Twivine away as well. Once she opens her eyes, she sees something.. unexpected. Rainbow Dash.. she was different. Her fur was white, her eyes were red, her mane and tail were flowing, the cloud in her cutie mark was black instead of white, there was Rainbow colored fire surrounding her from what she did and rainbow colored lightning radiating off of her. Dash looks at herself before smirking and looking at the villains. “Sweet..” She says, her eyes glowing more as she does.

She raises her hand up, lightning immediately striking into it and forming into a transparent, multicolored lightning bolt. She quickly throws it at the cloud monster that Rolling Thunder had formed, immediately destroying it and injuring all the Washouts with the resulting explosion. She then flys to the Wonderbolts and manages to grab atleast 5 of them, including Spitfire and Soarin before Twivine stepped in and pushed her back with a wave of magic. Rainbow Dash crashes with them but quickly gets up, glaring at Twivine who glares back. “Retreat! We got most of them, that’s all that matters!” Twivine yells and Rolling Thunder starts to make a storm form to cover their escape.

Rainbow flys to them, reaching for Twivine. She failed to save Twilight once, she wasn’t going to again.. or so she thought. Twivine notices her at the last second and they clash, causing a shockwave from how strong they both are. “Twilight come on! I know you’re still in there! You’re really gonna let this wannabe version of you boss you around?!” Rainbow yells and Twivine continues struggling before giggling evilly and responding.

“Twilight’s not home right now, but Twivine sure is free to play.” She says, much to Rainbow’s annoyance. “But not for very long soooo could you do me a favor and stay out of my way?!?!” Twivine screams angrily before headbutting and blasting Rainbow Dash back to the stands. This stuns her long enough for the villains to escape. Rainbow Dash tries to get back to them but it’s too late. After a few seconds she screams in anger, causing rainbow colored lightning to strike through the clouds and thunder to boom as it does. She looks at the remainder of her downed teammates and frowns as she sees Spitfire starting to wake up. She lands by them and checks on them. “Are you all ok?” She asks.

Half of them nod and the others shake their heads to say no. Spitfire doesn’t answer and Rainbow Dash sighs. “Come on.. we have to get you all to a hospital, then I’ll go make sure the citizens are ok.” She says and they all nod before Soarin helps Spitfire up and they start to make their way to the hospital.. it was going to be very hard to recover from something like this though..

As the rest of the Wonderbolts wake up, they come to realize that where they are.. might be the most terrifying place any of them have ever seen. They hear footsteps and look to see a terrifying alicorn as black as night.

“Welcome Wonderbolts.. to the tomb of Alicorns. I am Midnight Starkiller and before you ask, no I’m not going to kill any of you.” She says and they all sigh in relief until she says something that sends chills down their spines. “But you are going to serve me and fight for me now.. you will no longer be Wonderbolts.. you’ll be something much.. darker.” She says before looking at Twivine. “Twivine.. would you do the honors?” She asks and Twivine hesitantly walks over, not seeming to be happy about it but Midnight pays no mind to her reaction.

When Twivine is in front of them, readying her magic, her eyes turn normal for a second and Twilight comes out long enough to mumble something to the captured and scared Wonderbolts. “I’m sorry..” She says before Twivine takes back control and begins the slow and painful transformation. No longer would they be the Wonderbolts.

No.. from now on.. the world would know them as.. the Deathbolts.

Author's Note

So.. recently.. I discovered that Rolling Thunder was actually a girl, I feel so stupid now. But yeah, I went back to change some stuff and now it’s perfect

Days of reckoning, Pt. 1

As Rainbow Dash came to, she couldn’t help but notice a slight pain in her midsection. Reaching a shaky, cautious hand to her stomach, she gently places two fingers on it slightly and feels a bandage wrapped around it. When she tries to sit up to look, the pain intensifies and she almost falls back down to the bed but manages to stop herself. She does let out a groan of pain though. She slowly lays back down and as soon as she does, she takes a look at her surroundings, seeing that she was in a hospital.

Before she can try sitting up again, a purple flash comes from the middle of the room and Twilight appears in it's stead. “Rainbow! You’re awake!” She says excitedly before hugging Dash, causing her to groan in pain, just now realizing how sore her whole body actually is.

“Ow… Twi…I’m glad to see you but…think you can ease up a little?” She asks and Twilight lessens her grip one the pegasus, making her sigh in relief and hug her back. “What happened…?” She asks and she feels Twilight tense up before she pulls back and looks at her, sighing, which only worries Rainbow. “Is Sky Blazer alright…?” She asks and Twilight frowns and shakes her head and Rainbow pales at that. “Twi…what happened?”

“I…I didn’t get there until after Lightning Dust had left and probably taken Sky Blazer with her… I was waiting for one of you to wake up and tell me what happened, but since you don’t know…we’ll have to ask Solaris.” Twilight says and Rainbow nods before Twilight decides to help her up and they both make their way to Solaris's room. Once they get there though, they’re greeted by doctors and nurses who tell them that she’s awake and has been acting strange since she woke up. Twilight and Rainbow look at each other with worried looks before Twilight dismisses them and helps Rainbow into the room.

They walk in to find Solaris sitting up, looking at the floor and mumbling ti herself. They can see her shaking slightly and when they see her face, her gaze seems…distant. A thousand yard stare… “Oh Solaris…” Twilight says with a tone barely above a whisper. She goes to hug Solaris but Solaris just moves away slightly from the hug, starting to shake a bit more. Whatever happened at that tomb clearly did a number on her… “Solaris… What happened in there? What happened to Sky Blazer?” Twilight asks and Solaris doesn’t answer for a bit but suddenly, her voice caused Twilight and Rainbow's ears to perk up.

“She was just like her…and I didn’t see it until it was too late…” She says, confusing the two even more. Noticing their confusion, she continues. “Midnight…Sky Blazer was just like her…just like ME. A kid with a hidden darkness inside her that wants to do nothing but kill and destroy! A kid who can’t be saved…one who only causes problems wherever she goes.” Solaris says and Twilight tries to comfort her but she pushes her away. “Don’t…! Just…don’t… Don’t coddle me…don’t try to comfort me… I don’t deserve it… this…! This is all! My! Fault! …It was a mistake for you to save me… Might as well just lock me up in some other nightmarish prison… Obviously I’m not helping anyone by being here.”

“Solaris, that’s enough… I’ve allowed you to rant and vent all your emotions out but… these thoughts… none of them are true. You’re not responsible for any of Midnight's actions… the world pushed you ever since you first went to that school… I’m not saying that those who oppressed you deserved what happened to them…but they didn’t have to treat you how they did just because of what you are. You deserve so much better than that…,the life you never got. …A life that was stolen and ruined by Midnight.” Twilight says and Rainbow agrees before continuing for her.

“She’s right kid… You and Midnight are two different ponies…or…whatever she is. You shouldn’t take responsibility for her actions and no one blames you for them… I know Sky wouldn’t and she wouldn’t want you to blame yourself either.” Rainbow says and Solaris thinks about it before looking at Twilight who puts a reassuring hand under her chin, making her look up at her before putting her hand on her shoulder.

“Whether Sky was like Midnight or not, I could see and feel that your friendship… your bond… it was real. You cared about her… and she cared about you. Truly. So maybe…maybe there is still a good part of Sky that’s worth saving…and we won’t rest until we find it.” Twilight says and Solaris finally lets the tears she was holding fall from her eyes as she hugs Twilight, prompting her to smile and hug her back.

“Thank you Twilight…” She says and Twilight smiles more and nods, continuing to hug her before pulling Dash into the hug. They stay like that for a while until Solaris gasps as she seems to remember something. “No…no no no, Twilight! Everyone is in danger, and I mean everyone.” Solaris says and Twilight looks confused, telling her to slow down, breathe, and explain. “Midnight…she swore to come back and get revenge on you. On everyone that you know…that includes your family. As long as they’re here, they’ll never be safe! Midnight will keep hunting them down until she finds them and…and…” Solaris says, seeming to shudder at the idea of what Midnight would do to everyone’s families and any other innocent ponies along the way-actually warpath is more like it.

This baffles Twilight and scares her, putting a worried look on her face. She looks at Dash to see that she has the same look on hers. “Ok, then we need to warn everyone before they can-“ Twilight tries to say but Solaris groans in pain and holds her head, almost falling over and fainting but Twilight catches her.

“O-Ow… It’s… It’s already happening… Midnight was communicating with them from inside my head this entire time! I just saw what she wanted them to do… they’re gonna split up and go after yours and the families of the rest of the Mane 6 first…! Twilight, you have to do something… go save them… and take them out of Equestria…to one of the other nations for the time being… Use…the airship…” Solaris says, her eyes growing heavier and her vision starting to flicker again. “No… Twilight, please… for everyone’s sake, you have to leave me here in Equestria! Don’t…take me…with you…” Solaris just barely manages to finish speaking before finally passing out and Twilight is left with more questions than answers. Of course she was bringing Solaris with them. Where were they gonna put her if they left her?

She looks at Rainbow Dash before gently putting Solaris back on the hospital bed. “Go and warn everyone that the villains are going after their families! Fast! I’ll go help my parents! Have someone work on getting the airship fixed, it needs to be ready to go by the time we get back!” Twilight says and Rainbow nods before zooming off as Twilight starts teleporting to where her parents are. “Hang on Mom and Dad… I’m coming.” She says before finally teleporting to their location.

Night Light and Twilight Velvet's home

As a knock sounded off at the door, Night Light stood up from the dining table to see who it was. He looked through the window and could’ve sworn he saw a shadow of a…tail? “Who is it?” He asks and a deep, gruff voice comes from the other side in response.

“I’m a new friend of your daughter, Twilight Sparkle. She wanted me to pass off a message to you.” The voice says and Night Light looks at Twilight Velvet who just shrugs and nods.

“Let him in.” She says and he nods before opening the door, revealing some kind of dragon-hippogriff hybrid with blue scales, yellow eyes, a spiked tail, and razor sharp teeth. He had massive wings that were folded against his back and he towered over the two ponies…hell, he would’ve towered over Celestia herself if she was standing next to him. He ducks through the doorway, seeing as that’s the only way he could fit through it.

“Sorry for the disturbance, but she wanted me to give you this letter.” He says as he takes out a letter from under his wing and before either of them could ask the obvious question that they were both wondering, he answers as if he was reading their minds. “Oh, her little dragon friend wasn’t feeling too good so I volunteered to get it to you as fast as possible.” He says and they both nod in understanding as Night Light leads the strange creature to sit down with them as he opens the letter only for it to reveal a… strange message.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I regret to inform you that our time together is quickly coming to an end. You see, my new friend here, Ragnar, wanted to show you this message himself before he does whatever he’s about to do next. Whatever it is, I hope you know that it’s nothing personal…but your daughter will always love you and anyone else she calls friends or family…and as long as that’s happening…she will never stop getting in the way of Midnight's reign.

I love you,

Your daughter, ~~Twilight~~ Twivine Sparkle…

P.S.

FOR MIDNIGHT

“I don’t understand…this doesn’t sound like our daughter at all and that’s the wrong name… Is this some kind of jo-“ Night Light starts to ask before suddenly being hit into the wall by Ragnar's tail, his spikes leaving deep gashes across his chest. Twilight Velvet lets out a scream before Ragnar picks her up and pins her by her throat.

“To be honest, that was easier than I thought. I’m almost sorry that I have to kill you now but it’s the only way your daughter will learn her lesson: No good deed goes unpunished.” He says as he raises his claw, preparing to strike. Just as he brings it down, Twilight flys through a wall, blasting him away from her mother before catching her mother when she goes flying. Before Twilight Velvet or Night Light can ask what’s really going on, Twilight looks at them both with a serious look on her face.

“Run! I’ll explain later!” She says before her mask forms on her face. She then turns to Ragnar, only to be picked up, slammed down, swung around, and thrown through another wall by the huge monstrous hybrid. He then notices Twilight’s parents getting away and quickly gives chase, charging right through the door and leaving a massive hole where it once was. He runs on all fours after them, quickly catching up and jumping at the two frightened ponies with his claws and teeth ready. Twilight charges right into his side before he can get too close though, cracking a few ribs and sliding him across the grind, repeatedly slamming him. She then throws him through a tree before picking up another one in her magic and slamming it down on him until there’s nothing left to slam anymore.

When she sees him still moving, she picks up a boulder and slams it onto him, shattering it, but he still continues to try and get up which greatly annoys Twilight. She flys down to him and punches him just as he turns around, chipping a few of his teeth and knocking scales off his face. He slowly turns his head to face her with an angry look, spitting out one of his broken teeth and some blood before growling. Twilight is shocked that he’s still conscious but just as she goes to punch him, he tackles her, slamming her through trees before grabbing her legs with his mouth, his teeth biting into her skin, causing her to scream in pain as he starts swinging her around wildly like an animal with it’s prey.

He then slams her down into a large puddle of water and holds her head under it, knowing he can’t kill her no matter what he does to her but just wanting to knock her out long enough to get to her parents. She struggles to get free as she starts to lose consciousness, eventually blasting him in the face with magic, strengthening the beam enough to send him flying. She quickly gets up and flys off in the direction her parents ran in. She soon finds them with her father resting against a tree and her mother helping him try to stop the gashes on his chest from bleeding too much. Twilight runs to them and starts using a healing spell on her father and they both smile at her.

“Thanks sweetie.” Twilight Velvet says to which Night Light agrees, earning a nod from their daughter. Ragnar lands behind them and glares at Twilight who turns and glares back. He then smirks, takes out a gauntlet with a glowing gem inside and roars before sending all the magic it had apparently absorbed from Twilight’s attacks and sends all that magic back at them. Twilight grabs her parents just in time and teleports to safety. Once she’s sure they’re safe, she checks on them and explains everything that’s happening.

They’re shocked by the news but warn Twilight to be careful and hug her after she tells them she has to help her friends since they might need help. She promises them that she will be before teleporting to Rainbow Dash first, and just in time it seems. Rainbow Dash is in a battle with the new alico-…Sky Blazer. She’s in a battle with Sky Blazer. Meanwhile, Lightning Dust is chasing Scootaloo all around the place, terrorizing her as both of them move at the speed of lightning, Scootaloo being slower than Dash and Lightning Dust. Sky Blazer ,on the other hand, was faster than all of them… That’s going to be a problem. Twilight remembers when Twivine had copied Dash’s speed to some degree and tries using that same ability, calling upon the dark magic she could still feel coursing through her.

She moves fast enough to catch Sky Blazer off guard and tackle her away from Dash and kick her into Lightning Dust. Symbols now covered a majority of her body and it was painful to use magic that she wasn’t used to, but desperate times call for desperate measures. “Twilight, you’re here!” Scootaloo yells excitedly and Twilight smiles a bit.

“Looks like I came just in the nick of time… Dash, I can get you, your parents, and Scootaloo to safety but then I need to go help the others.” Twilight says and Dash thinks about it before shaking her head.

“Just get them to safety. I’m going with you.” Rainbow says and Twilight is about to object to this until Rainbow says something that helps her make up her mind. “They’re my friends too egghead, and there’s no way you’re gonna be able to get to all of them in time by yourself. We’ll split up and help each of them.” She says and Twilight sighs and nods, knowing she can’t talk her stubborn marefriend out of this. Rainbow smiles before saying goodbye to her parents and Scootaloo. “Hey, don’t worry, I’ll be ok…” She says when she sees Scootaloo trying to protest more than her parents are. She really cared for her and didn’t want her to get hurt or worse… not again.

“Rainbow Dash… no… what if… what if you-“ Scootaloo struggles to say, trying not to think about how scared and distraught she was when she learned that Rainbow Dash had disappeared. This was after Twilight and the others had started trying to search for a way to bring her back but they eventually told Scootaloo and she had no idea what to think, feel, or do. “Please… you can’t go.” She pleads but Rainbow Dash shakes her head and gently takes both her hands with a soft but firm grip and gets her to look her in the eyes.

“I have to go Scoot… Twilight’s had my back throughout everything, all my friends have… now it’s my turn to have theirs.” She says and Scootaloo seems to think about if it were Applebloom or Sweetie Belle who needed her. She would drop everything and be by their sides in a heartbeat. She looks straight up at Rainbow Dash and gives a firm nod, smiling a bit before hugging Rainbow Dash as tightly as she can, prompting her to hug back which causes Dash’s parents to join in on the hug. “You just need to focus on taking care of them for me. I’ll be ok. I promise.” She says, assuring the worried little filly who had seen her as a hero and so much more than that from day one.

“Of course you will… You’re Rainbow Dash… Nothing’s gonna take you down.” Scootaloo says and Rainbow smirks and nods before the two separate and Rainbow Dash backs up to stand beside Twilight who teleports the three pegasi to safety. Right before she does, Dash's parents have just enough time to say a few more words to their daughter.

“No matter what, you’ve made us the proudest parents ever to have raised such a strong, selfless pony.” Her father, Bow Hothoof, says with a tear filled smile.

“Go save your friends… Save the world.” Her mother, Windy Whistles, says with same kind of smile on her face before Twilight finishes teleporting them to safety. Rainbow Dash breathes in and out before looking at Twilight who asks her the exact question she was preparing for.

“Ready?” She asks and Rainbow smiles a bit and nods.

“Let’s do this.” She says to which Twilight agrees before they both fly to the same location then split up to help their friends faster. Little did they know… that this was only the beginning… and Midnight was watching and waiting now, happy to see that everything was going according to plan.

“And so begins…the end!”