Even after all this time, I still couldn't believe how stupid I had been before my final moments. I should have expected something so selfless from Twilight Sparkle.

The Princess of Friendship, Element of Magic, had sacrificed herself for her friends, subjects, and likely all of Equestria, by binding all magic in the Unity Crystals.

And therefore myself deep within them. To go to such lengths was almost flattering in some way, but I could have done without such flattery. What a waste of my time this all was.

Why had I never thought of the possibility? I knew about the next generation, damn it! But it had never crossed my mind that I could become the reason for them to create these god-forsaken crystals in the first place.

Thankfully, the passage of time felt very different to me now than it did before. After all, I was used to being trapped in one way or another; by now, this was just another tick on my list. I was patient because I knew my time would come again.

At some point in time, my thinking must have shifted to that of a true immortal. And I embraced it with every fibre of my being. Even if I wasn't much more than a dark mist.

As I listened to Twilight's soft voice once more, echoing through the bright nothingness, I mulled over many things to while away the time.

How much time had passed since my renewed imprisonment? What was happening on the outside during my absence?

How many times had I listened to the neverending preachings of friendship, forgiveness, and whatnot solely directed at me?

Seriously, the walking fata morgana would not leave my side at any given point in time; as nice as it was to look at, it pissed me off.

The voice had been really maddening at first. But in the end, it didn't take more than a couple of years for it to become nothing more than an annoying background noise to me.

"There is hope for everypony gone astray, even for evil and wicked creatures like yourself. Please, believe in betterment, for I believe in yours!"

Evil...

"Who defines good and evil, you?" I questioned aloud, more myself than the purple transparent princess. "You damn ponies are nothing but hypocrites!"

The pony mirage did not answer me, obviously.

I knew she wasn't real. It was but a shadow of her former spirit. A sliver of her soul that was supposed to torment me for all eternity, it seemed.

Somehow I just knew this feat had something to do with Starlight Glimmer. Leaving her alive for so long had been a mistake on my part. Her involvement with the crystals must have been substantial.

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. A future you could share with others, with true friends!”

The future...

I sighed mentally. "Twilight, did you truly think this babbling would affect me when you entrapped me in here? How naive you ponies are. I'll make the 'enlarged' future mine, I assure you!" I laughed.

The image continued with her lectures to me undeterred. To my great annoyance.

I hated to admit it, but it would have been nice to talk to somepony for a change... or more. Twilight had been a good-looking mare for sure, back then, when she was still in existence.

Nothing I could do to this thing, though. That in itself seemed to be the real punishment for me here.

"I can't force you to become our friend... All I can do is hope that someday you will."

Friends...

I had only strived further from my former human self and the 'righteous' path since my arrival in this familiar pony world.

There were no boundaries for me anymore. I would not set any now. Why would I? So much fun was to be had.

I was truly free, even in here. Indulging in the darkness that had chosen me, that had helped me, that had empowered and granted me what I desired most.

A true friend indeed. The only one I'd ever need. Unlike a certain alicorn princess of the night...

With a clouded mind, I blocked out her voice as best I could and bided my time in the vast nothingness that was the hollowness of the Unity Crystals. Physically split in three but still one in its magical core.

Truly, being 'evil' was so much easier, wasn't it? I could just take what I wanted. Why would I ever want to change?

Even if I wanted to... after all I did? Impossible.

...Was it?

And so the years passed, weakening me in the process, as the darkness I had merged with could not feed on anything, as there was nothing but bound magic around me.

Until one faithful day, when the preachings of butterflies and rainbows suddenly stopped without prior notice, giving way to a brief eerie silence.

...

Shortly after the voice of Twilight had felt silent, a strong draft came up, pulling the bright lights around me upwards in a display of dancing colors, making me realize magic was leaving its prison as if it was in some sort of a hurry.

Magic was finally returning to Equestria...

And so would I.

Not long after the unicorns and pegasi had received their magic back, earth pony magic emerged for the first time in the history of Equestria during the Maretime Bay Day Festival.

However, the Unity Crystals had been severely damaged through a display of disharmony between the pony tribes during the festivities.

A small crack that only expedited the inevitable.

"Woah! What is that?" Pipp yelled through the storm, filming with her phone as she looked at the lighthouse in the distance. "Oh, this will go viral, I know it!"

"No, no, no! The magic! It's dying!" Sunny exclaimed. "What is happening to the crystal?"

Following the rainbow trail from the lighthouse, a black and purple fog emerged from the crystal into the sky, covering the sun as it formed into dark thunderclouds.

Magic glitched all around, ripping voids open in the ground where thunder struck. Magic became too unstable for anypony to use safely. Panic broke out.

Clear-headed, the mane five soon found the solution to be working together, mending the cracks that had formed in the Unity Crystals and stabilizing magic once more as the ponies helped each other out, no matter the tribe.

It mattered little.

The black and purple clouds above them would not leave. On the contrary, it almost seemed as if they had become self-aware, desperately on the lookout for something as they descended and flew over the gathered ponies.

"We should check on the crystal, you guys. Something is off!" Zipp said, only receiving nodding heads from her visibly afraid friends in turn as they made their way to the lighthouse.

As they approached the slightly pulsating crystal, their cutie mark magic combined and fed into it, bringing forth an illusion of a well-known hero from the past.

Twilight Sparkle.

And so they listened to what seemed to be some sort of pre-recorded warning.

...

Twilight's mirage fizzled. "...by summoning all of my magical strength to achieve placing the magic in the crystals and the-" Static "But the spell is broken. You are exposed to the world once again! You must watch out for Op-" Static "Before she-" Static "...I'm with you."

Twilight's mirage disappeared back into the crystals, leaving the mane five with a puzzled expression as they looked at each other for guidance for what it could have meant.

The sky thundered again, and as if not satisfied with what had been offered, the dark clouds left Maretime Bay and gave way to the sun to shine again.

"Oh, thank god, it's leaving!" Hitch said, visibly relieved. "The animals were really scared!"

"And who is the evil pony?" Zipp asked, looking back at the lifeless crystals, expecting an answer of sort.

Author's Note

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/86640-no-need-to-hurry-no-need-to-sparkle-no-need