The Crystal Museum

Chapters

Welcome
Silence is louder than sound
One last hope
Friends and Foes
The Unity Crystal
Epilogue

Welcome

One day before the end of Book One at the center of Ponyville,

A group of ponies, young and old, eagerly enter the large doors of the Crystal Castle wearing different outfits ranging from Heroes of Equestria to a sheep, while others choose to not wear any outfits at all. An earth pony Mare greets everypony waving her hoof across the room with a bright smile welcoming her guest, “Welcome to the Crystal Museum. Also known as Castle Friendship. Home to the Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle before she was crown ruler of Equestria over a thousand years ago,”

“That is a lame name,” A random colt from the crowd groans before getting scolded by the mare beside him,

The guide sighs but maintains an air of professionalism, “Yes well. Our ancestors weren’t very creative in naming this castle when they built this for Her Highness,”

“Technically it was a creation of the Tree of Harmony after The Heros of Equestria defeated Tirek,” Another colt said getting some of his companions to groan annoyed,

“Correct.”

“Know it all,” The first colt sneered before getting a firm smack on his rump from the mare from earlier. He was going to complain but a stern glare from the stallion next to her made him think otherwise, as he looked down in shame and fear, ears lying flat on his head. Everypony was taken back at the sudden display of discipline with some of the younger ones hiding their rumps away from the violent mare as some adults flinched at the bad memories. Once everypony relax The Guide composes herself and resumes her job,

“Moving on,” She guides the group to a display case on the wall holding glass replicas of the Elements of Harmony in a star formation with Magic being the centerpiece, “Here we have a replica of the Elements of Harmony. Starting from the left we have the Element of Generosity, Honest, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, and together they make the final Element of Magic.”

A filly in a sheep outfit raises her hoof getting the Mare's attention, “Is that where the saying of Friendship is Magic comes from?”

“Correct. These Elements were used by Miss Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Princess Twilight respectively. With these Elements, the Heroes of Equestria used them to defeat powerful enemies such as Nightmare Moon, Discord, and many more.”

“Incorrect,” A voice in the back spoke out. Everypony looks behind to see a Red Earth Pony Stallion cosplaying as Royal Gourd standing next to a Blue Unicorn Mare cosplaying as Twilight Sparkle in her coronation ceremony dress, although she is missing the wings and wig to complete the outfit fidgeting nervously as she tries to hide behind the stallion.

The Guide stares back dumbly. When ponies come on the tour there is bound to be at least one of them wanting to ask questions about the exhibits, along with the rare troublemaker and know-it-all. But those were normally fillies and colts. This was a new one for her, “Excuse me?”

“Even though the Elements of Harmony were very powerful, they were only ever used to defeat two foes who became allies later or shortly after the confrontation. The only other time was when the heroes fought against the Pony of Shadow to save a pony consumed by the darkness with the help of the Pillars of Equestria. However, foes like Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra were defeated using other means. Furthermore, the Elements of Harmony were returned to Tree of Harmony never to be used again,” Aaron clarifies as the group of ponies turns to the Guide as if asking her if he is right.

The Mare was dumbfounded, she was not prepared for that statement. She can’t believe that she overlooked such a small detail about the Elements of Harmony. Her teachers would be ashamed of her. She shakes her head dismissing negative thoughts of being sent back to kindergarten for some unknown reason, and forcing a grin on her face, and continues with the tour as if nothing happened. She had a job to do after all, “Anyways. Moving on,” The tour guide leads the group of ponies down a hallway with displays of iconic scenes of the manesix adventures,

There was the defeat of Nightmare Moon, Discord's short reign, the invasion of Canterlot, and so many more familiar scenes that gave Aaron a feeling of nostalgia as they passed each one of them. But what caught his interest were the displays of scenes of events that not even he knew of.

One of them was a scene of Twilight and her friends in front of a school building surrounded by children of different species, then escaping from a jailhouse later to be revealed was Tartarus, and then face to face with not only the Return of Queen Chrysalis but as well as Tirek against the manesix and for some reason, those two were partnering up with a Pegasus filly up of all things.

Aaron couldn’t help but smirk and chuckle at the idea that those two settled down and adopted an evil filly for their own. But was corrected and embarrassed when he overheard two fillies talking about her and found out that it wasn’t the case, and that she was bad as a villain as the other two were. For crying out loud she got sent to TARTARUS for almost destroying all magic in Equestria before getting turn to stone with her companions after they almost won from what he had been told. He looks at Cozy Glow in unbelief wondering what in the world happened to her that her parents would let her behave that way. But after asking around, it turned out that nopony knew anything about her upbringing or her parents. This hints at the idea that she is an orphan, which gave Aaron mix feelings about the little evil filly. Should he be angry at her or give her his sympathy? He decided to think about this later.

Aaron recalls that he never got a chance to watch Season 8 or 9 of the show before he crossed over. Kind of hard to do so when you are trying to cross dimensions with only hope and a dream. He figured that he would surprise himself once he got to Equestria. But he had underestimated how much change can occur after two seasons had passed.

As a result, he still left so many questions, ‘why did magic only just return to Equestria?’ Aaron thinks to himself, ‘Why are Ponies living away from Canterlot leaving it in ruins? Why are the new princesses of Equestria Pegasus and not Alicorns? And most importantly why was Screwball so confident that the Twilight he met in Maretime Bay was not Twilight?’ He looks down in deep thought as Misty looks at the display before them, ‘But… but… Screwball has no reason to lie to me. So, if she is right and that she is not Twilight, then what happened to my Darling Princess of Friendship?’ A feeling of dread washes over his body as he stares toward the last four remaining displays. The answers to his questions lie before him, but he stands still as the rest of the ponies go on without him except for Misty.

She is also curious as to what happened to make Equestria it is today. But ever since she got turned down by Aaron after her confession along with her bold move of a kiss. She is torn. She knows that Aaron is in love with Princess Twilight, but after what Screwball told them could it be possible that the Twilight, they meet at Maretime Bay is not the real one? And that the real one is out there somewhere. But if they do find the real Twilight Sparkle then she will lose Aaron to her. But on the other hoof what if something did happen to the Princess or maybe she is already spoken for and is unable to have a relationship with him? Then she can have Aaron all to herself.

She shakes her head at such selfish ideas of her first stallion friend, but what is a mare to do? Aaron loves the Princess and that breaks her heart, but for Aaron to be with her, Aaron’s heart must be broken. Why does falling in love have to be so full of heartaches? She doesn’t know what to do. She looks back at him before looking away in shame.

She reminds herself that she still has a duty to Queen Opaline to retrieve the artifact located somewhere in this museum. Opaline demands it. But can she leave Aaron now and steal the artifact for her Queen? After all, he doesn’t love. He said so. Not to mention that she owes so much to her Grace, and most importantly her promise. She gazes back at her flank knowing what lies underneath the soft folds of her dress. A blank flank cover with a fake cutie mark. If she does lose Aaron, then at least she should make sure that she can get her cutie mark from Queen Opaline. She has to, she promised her.

So, there is no reason for her to still be with him. Now would be the best time to find the artifact and steal it before anypony is the wiser and she will be one step closer to getting her cutie mark. After all, she was never truly his friend. She was only pretending to be a friend so that he could lead her to Canterlot so that she could steal the Artifact. ‘He is nothing more than a dumb, short-sighted, heartbreaker of a stallion. You are better off without him. You are Misty Brightdawn, and you will get your cutie mark. And nothing is going to stop you. You don’t need him!’ She thinks to herself before her eyes gaze back at Aaron as he steels himself and moves to the next exhibit. ‘So why does it hurt so bad every time I think of leaving him? Dumb heart,’ She shakes her head and joins Aaron, ‘But is it wrong for me to pretend he is mine just a little bit longer?’

In this exhibit, there is a much taller Twilight looking much like her mentor Princess Celestia, and much to Aaron’s surprise and awe was hugging what he can only describe as a reform Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow with a much older manesix in the background and an adult Spike standing a good foot taller than everypony next to him. And He is BUILT. “Looks like his growth spurt finally kicked in. Good for him.” Aaron says to himself as Misty looks at him having no idea what he is talking about.

But it was the next panel that gave him a moment of concern. As the Guide goes into detail of what is happening Aaron tunes her out as he stares at the display before him. In this one, Tirek had escaped Canterlot with the aid of an unknown Magic User represented by a tall Unicorn hidden by a cloak leaving behind many ponies in a panic. He can also see the Manesix trying to calm everypony down with the pillar of Equestria chasing after the two.

“Of all the creatures to help. Why did this Unicorn aid Tirek in fleeing Canterlot?” Aaron asks himself as Misty also ponders this question.

One Thousand Years Ago, at the Gates of Tartarus

A flash of light reveals a weakened Tirek and his new partner a Cloak Unicorn Mare going by the name of Arcana. She puts out a small fire on the end of her cloak and looks at the gates before them uncertain about the plan. “You know most ponies avoid this place at all costs, right?”

“That is why it would be the last place they will look for us,” Tirek groans as he stretches his body not being able to get any magic for himself on the way out, “Once we have taken care of the guards, I will drain them of their magic; to regain my strength before we make our way to the lower levels. What we are looking for is hidden deep within, an ancient power lost to time.”

She stares at him and scoffs, “And how do I know that you won’t lock me up inside once you gain your strength back?”

Tirek growls in frustration. If it wasn’t for her help, he would still be in Canterlot listening to more of Twilight’s friendship lessons hoping that he may change his way and become a good little Centaur. Just like what happened to the other two. A burning anger rises from within himself as he remembers the last time, he saw the only two creatures in Equestria that he could have called friends. They are nothing but shadows of their former selves. The friends he once knew are long gone, but none of that matters. He is Tirek. And he will not be brought down by the very Mare that ruined his plans and his life all those years ago.

Once he gets his hands on this Ancient Power lock deep within Tartarus. Then not even Twilight or any of her friends can stop him. The only problem is that he is running out of time. It won’t take long for Star Swirl to find him and turn him back into stone. He needs to get the power before that happens. And this mare is the only chance he has! He looks back at her, calming himself. Oh, of course, he could just drain her of her magic and be done with it. He is better off working alone at this point. But he needs her just the way she is.

“That is a chance that you are going to have to take. After all, you are not strong enough to face Twilight and her friends on your own. And your little ruckus in the Pony towns will only last so long before Twilight restores order. Not to mention we just escaped by the skin of our teeth from Star Swirl’s little group of ponies. We got about 30 minutes before those no-good ponies get Discord involved. And if that happens, then both of us are not leaving Tartarus alive after he is done torturing us. Like it or not, we need each other if we want our revenge,” He smirks before giving her a mock bow, “Your Highness.”

Her eyes widen at his statement. She thought that she had hidden herself from his gaze, but she was mistaken. After all, it is not the first time Tirek has been in the presence of an Alicorn. He a magic stealing Centaur for crying out loud. He knows what Alicorn magic feels like.

She takes a step back in fear of being discovered but he laughs at her, “If I wanted your magic, I would have taken it when Star Swirl found us and left you for dead. Relax you are more useful to me with your magic than without,”

She grounds her teeth in frustration before reluctantly grunting in approval, “This better be worth it,”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that. Once we get our hands on The World Eater's Power. No Creature in Equestria can stop us,”

After they dispose of the guards, Tirek drained them of their magic, regaining his strength before locking them in their own cages to make sure they don’t get any funny ideas. The Evil duo enters deep inside the prison to the lower levels and did not stop until they reach the last level. The deeper they went the darker the journey became until the light didn’t shine anymore. Every step they took made small clouds of dust in their wake, a testament that nopony has been down here in a very-very long time. Arcana uses her magic to light the way in a soft purple hue as they reach the bottom only to find a dead end. Before she could complain Tirek used his hands to feel across the wall before moving a palm-size stone revealing a hidden button. But for some reason, he didn’t push it.

“What are you waiting for?”

He takes a step back and looks at her, “You push it,”

Taken back Arcana shakes her head. She knew he was a power-hungry selfish individual, but she didn't think he was also lazy, “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely,” he replies with no humor in his voice crossing his arms before looking dead ahead, “The Ancient Ponies made sure that only an Alicorn could open this door. The button is a deceitful trap meant to lure and trick any foolish creature to their doom if they try to open the door,”

Uncertain about the credibility of his resources, she glares at him, “How do I know that this isn’t a trap?”

He rolls his eyes at her, “There are much easier ways of disposing of you, than relying on ancient traps to do the job,” He snaps his mouth hinting at what he means,

She huffs at him before using her magic to push the button. But instead of moving, the button reacted to her magic and glowed the same as her magic. Soon the wall was glowing in the shape of an Alicorn before it moved inward and rolled away revealing a hidden tunnel, “The Ancient Ponies were Alicorns?” She says to herself,

“Who do you think built this place?” Tirek scoffs at her before entering the tunnel with Arcana following behind. They walk for what seems like hours before the tunnel widens into a massive room filled with Alicorn-like Statues in various poses on either side of the room making a path down the middle of them to the end of the room. Some of them stand proud with wings high above their heads while others look like they are ready for battle or were victorious in many battles. However, the odd thing to note about the statues was that some of them were over 20 feet tall while others were more lifelike size.

“How come I never heard of this place?” Arcana wonders as she stares at the statues as Tirek continues walking before finding a stick on the ground and turning it into a torch lighting his way,

“You tell me. After all, this is your culture's history is it not?”

“Then how did you hear about it?!” She demands as she moves to catch up with him, “This is Ancient Lost History!”

“I overheard the guards talking about a button at the bottom of the stairs that kills anyone who tries to open it. And later when I was searching to find an old goat’s bell. There were mentions about an ancient war fought long ago with a creature sealed away in the deepest parts of Equestria guarded by massive doors. According to those texts, only an Alicorn may be granted passage to The World Eater,”

Arcana was flabbergasted by the sudden bombshell information, “I can’t tell if you are being serious or not.”

“I could care less if you believe me or not,” They reached the end of the room and came before a massive double door sealed with heavy chains running across it in an X formation. Many hieroglyphics line the walls and the door with pictures of Alicorns fighting a giant creature before sealing it away behind a door. This very door in front of them.

Arcana looks around the walls for any signs of hidden buttons or switches but all she can see are the massive doors and the chains. “So now what?”

“Now you died?”

“What!?” She backs away from him charging her horn ready for an attack to which he starts chuckling at her,

“Kidding,” He smiles at her with a smug face filling her with rage, “But we do need your blood to open the seal,”

“And how do we do that?” She deadpans, “Last I checked neither one of us brought any weapons with us down here,”

“Why with the knife in your cloak,” he points to the left side of her cloak, “You have been hiding it there since we met. I was wondering when you were ever going to use it,”

She glares at him before pulling out a small knife from her cloak. She brought it with her for safety but at this point, it isn’t much use, but she's glad she didn't get rid of it. “Make sure that the blood hits the chains otherwise it won’t work,” Tirek orders her as she flies to the door, “Hurry up, we don’t know when those no-good ponies will show up. I would like to absorb The World Eaters’ power before then,”

Carefully Arcana cuts above her hoof sending small drops of her blood onto the chains as they turn red from impact before the color starts spreading across the rest of the chains making a low groaning sound before the chains shatter like glass and turn into dust. Tirek quickly moves to the doors and starts pushing dropping his torch much to her confusion, “That was much easier than I thought,” She moves to help but he stops her, “Don’t touch it!”

“Now what?!” She snaps at him,

“I rather not face a horde of alicorn statues, thank you very much,” He groans as dust starts shaking from the ceiling,

Arcana jumps and turns around staring frighteningly at the statues, “Wait! Those things are alive! Why didn’t you say something earlier!”

“They will only activate if an Alicorn tries to force open the door. It is their last line of defense to keep the World Eater locked away,”

“Neat trick,” She says as the doors finally give way, and he pushes them open.

They enter the room on guard ready for anything. But what they found only filled them with despair, fear, and rage. In the center of the room lies a massive pile of bone filled with bone dust belonging to what was once The World Eater. Along with five small piles of dust surrounding the creatures’ remains in a star formation. They searched the room to see if this was some kind of trick. There is no way they came all this way for a dead animal. But the more they search the more they found nothing. Here they stand, two of the most wanted criminals of Equestria with their last hope being this pile of bones and dust. Tirek shakes his head in disbelief, this can’t be how his revenge ends even before it started. This can’t be the end. But this is no magic here. There is nothing left in Equestria that he can use to defeat the ponies. For the first time in his life, he had no plan, no power, and no time left before everything would be taken away from him again.

Arcana growls before she hits the pile of bones with her hoof sending shards of bones flying across the room, however, she does not notice a single drop of blood land on the ancient creature's remains hissing as it disappears, “This is IT!? This is your great plan,” She shouts at Tirek as he leans on the door with a hand on his head not paying her any mind, “Steal magic from the World Eater? Well, guess what, you can’t. And do you know why? Because it's DEAD!”

“Get off my Back Mare!” He takes a swing at her causing distance between the two of them as they stand their ground, “There was no way of knowing that the seal used to imprison the World Eater would starve it to death!”

“Like I care! So Now what? Oh, so fearless leader?”

He grabs his fading torch before reigniting the flame, “We must get out of here before the ponies find us. We may be able to hide on the other side of the world if we can get to the harbor-”

“Excuse me!” Arcana is many things, but a quitter she is not. She can't believe she's hearing such words coming out of the Oh so Great and Powerful Tirek,

“I can no longer stand in Equestria. And I don’t know about you, but I rather not be turned into stone again thank you very much,”

“But what about the ponies?” She flares out her wings in anger, “What about our revenge?!”

“I rather hide and keep what little freedom I have left than face them again as I am now. You can come along with me if you want. But I am leaving NOW!” Tirek gallops out of the room to the exit with Arcana right behind him yelling insults and curse words.

If they had only waited a few more seconds, they would have seen something. Something that nopony would believe with their own eyes. The bone dust slowly flowed like a river to the standing bones filling up creaks in the bones until the bones were whole once again. A minute later the rest of the bone dust fused into long-lost bones before rearranging themselves until there was only a skeleton structure of a large creature. The bones look like they were brand new before turning red as blood flows from them once again covering them before creating a massive heart inside the creature before letting out a strong heartbeat.

*Bumdum*

Silence is louder than sound

Tirek runs as fast as he can back to the entrance of Tartarus, thoughts of possible futures fly through his mind as he tries his best to flee for his freedom. However, he stopped shortly after clearing into the main cell chamber. He curses his luck as he finds himself face to face with his pursuers who have finally found them. Arcana soon joins him as they stare down their foes.

Star Swirl, steps forward for the group to address the two, “Terik, I do not know why you have come to Tartarus, but it ends here and now.”

“Out of my way, you old fart,” Terik growls swinging his arm at them threatening, “I'm not going back to Canterlot to hear any more of those dumb lessons or wait around for you to turn me back into stone. And I especially am not staying here for the rest of my days.”

Starswril shakes his head slowly, “That is not up to me to decide. My only adjective is to return you to Canterlot. Princess Twilight shall decide your fate,” He turns to face the Arcana, “Aiding a criminal to escape from imprisonment is a great offense Mare,”

Arcana scoffs at him as she charges her magic, “If you think your group of circus clowns are enough to take me down,” She grabs her cloak before throwing it to the side reliving her dark purple coat, a white and teal stripe mane with matching tail, and aqua color hoof guards as she flares out her wings high above her head ready to fight, “Then you are more foolish than I thought,” Star Swirl and his team flinch at the unexpected turn of events,

“You’re an Alicorn! How?”

“There are a great many things you do not know old stallion,” She takes to the air smirking, “And the name is Queen Opaline!” She fires a magical blast at them to which Starswirl protects everypony with a magic barrier before they divide into teams of three to take them on. Starswirl, Flash Magnus, and Somnabula took on Opaline. While Rockhoof leads the fight against Tirek with Mistmane and Mage Meadowbrook aiding him,

Queen Opaline's fight led them to fight over the deep ravines before settling nearby above one of the isolated jail cells where the prison guards were being held. Terik tries to grab Mistmane, but it turns out that she is much faster than he thought and he misses each time he tries to. And when he almost had her, he got body checked by Rockhoof forcing him to back away. Their battle was heading toward where the others were fighting and everypony was focused on their opponents so that no one noticed that the cage guards were acting strangely. One might think that they want a piece of the acting themselves, but their attention is elsewhere as they try with all their might to get free from their prison.

Opaline was putting on a brave charade but she's not sure if she can take down Starswirl while also dealing with two Pegasus constantly trying to break her concentration while fighting him. Every time she was going to attack Starswirl one of the other pegasuses would either body-check her from the side or completely fly over her head making her duck to causing her to miss her shot. Then whenever she would try to turn her attention to one of the pegasuses, Starswirl would take that opportunity to attack her with his magic blast. This constant back and forth forced her into defensive tactics with rare opportunities to retaliate which proved to be futile. So long as Starswirl was there, she could not land any damage on his comrades as he cast protective shielding around them. She knows that her magic reserves are much greater than Starswirl’s. But if this keeps up, then her body will fail before her magic does. She must end this fight before that happens, but that is impossible.

Terik would be gloating over how an all-powerful alicorn is having such a hard time dealing with three ponies if he wasn’t also having difficulties. He was currently in a test of strength against Rockhoof, hooves, and hand locked together, which he thought would be an easy victory. But he was sorely mistaken. Not only was this earth pony much stronger than he imagined. But his comrades were more of a nuisance than he originally realized. Every time he would try to steal Rockhoof's magic, the old mare would either blind him with her magic or the one with the mask would throw some kind of tonic at his face, causing him to close his mouth due to the horror taste. He dears not to remember the taste. At his current strength, he won't be used so easily by these old ponies, but if this battle drags on, he dares not think about what happens then.

The next thing he knew was another tonic splashing into his face causing him to roar in pain as this one stings from all the small cuts on his face accumulated over time. Forcing him to back away from Rockhoof letting go of his hoof. Before he could clear his face of the tonic Terik was bucked in his mid-section by Rockhoof's rear hooves sending him away and landing on his side. Terik grabs his midsection as he groans in pain feeling like something broke before Queen Opaline was sent crashing into him the moment, he was about to get up sending them crashing into the cage freeing the Guards. Due to Tirek’s injuries, he lost some of the magic he stole from the guard returning their strength. But for some reason instead of the Guard joining the battle, they instead flee away from the battle to the entrance however instead of leaving, they make their way to the lower levels, but no pony pays them any attention as the Pillars regroup closing in on the two down creatures.

Opaline clenches her teeth as she gets up bruised but still ready to fight. Tirek looks at himself and his foes. Rage fills his body as his knowledge and experience are already telling him what the outcome of this battle is.

“Give up, Tirek. You can’t win,” Starswirl says Terik tries to think of a way to get out of this. His eyes widen as they fall upon the pony next to him and an idea comes into mind. Her complete attention is on their foes and she doesn’t see the danger that she is in.

In a final act to gain an upper hand against the heroes. Tirek grabs hold of his only ally and steals her magic. Queen Opaline was so stunned by the betrayal that before she knew it, she lost all her magic and fell to the ground powerless. With this newfound power, Tirek easily overpowered the pillars of Equestria before one by one stealing them of their magic. They tried to fight back but they were no match for his might now that he had the power of an alicorn running through his veins.

However, before he can throw Rockhoof off a cliff, Starswirl uses his magic to pull his comrades and the depowered Alicorn away from Tirek. Slowly each one of them got back to their hooves as they put on a look of defiance. All except for Queen Opaline. Without her magic, she lost any means of fighting the pillars of Equestria let alone Tirek. She has no idea how those ponies beat somepony like him, but she is not going to stick around to find out. As quickly as her limbs could she left the battlefield to the entrance of Tartarus with one thing in mind. ‘If I can’t have my revenge against the princesses. I will settle for locking these ponies in Tartarus forever,’ She smirks as she closes the doors to Tartarus locking those foolish ponies inside,

Back at the battle, Tirek stands tall over his foes with a cliff behind him, “I am Tirek, Devour of all Magic. I am the Greatest Villain that has ever lived. I will outlive all of you,” He declares proudly not noticing the cries of death in the distance as for a moment his foes' attention was not on him. Confused as to what that sound could be and where that sound came from. Tartarus is a prison, not a torture chamber. Their train of thought is interrupted as Tirek continues his rant making a fist and shaking it slightly before him, “I will have my revenge someday. And there is nothing you ponies can do to stop me!” As he finishes his statement, his foe's eyes widen with fear as they take a step back,

He scoffs at their actions believing that they wish to run away just when things were getting good. “I knew it y'all are nothing but a bunch of cowards,” He smirks as he stares down the heroes before him until he notices that they aren't looking at him while backing away.

Unsure as to what was going on he was going to scoff at them again, but a cold chill covered his whole body, freezing him in place. He hasn't felt this kind of emotion in a very long time. It’s something that every creature is born with but comes out of it as they grow older. Instinctual Fear. And not just any Fear. The Fear of Death. The cold numbing sensation of certain Death. He quickly turns around only to see nothing but blood and bones. He looks up trying to understand what is before him only to see rows of teeth over his head, each one larger than his head. He tried to scream, he tried to run, but it was far too late, as the teeth came hurling death from above.

*CRUNCH!*

Outskirts of Ponyville,

Rainbow Dash touchdowns at the outskirts of Fluttershy’s cottage looking for her friend. After a minute of searching, she found her friend looking dejected walking back to her house. She rushes over to get her friend a hug before checking her over to make sure that nothing happened to her, “There you are I was worried about you. With all these ponies going nuts over species racism, I was worried that something might happen here,” She smiles at her friend before it turns into a look of concern. She didn’t see anything wrong with her friend. Was she too late and those dumb ponies said something to her that they shouldn’t have? So many questions flooded her mind, but one of them was louder than the rest, “What's wrong?”

Fluttershy looks at her friend with sadness in her eyes, “Discord and I had a fight,”

Rainbow lets out a sigh of relief, “Is that all? I thought something serious happened,”

Fluttershy shakes her head, “No, it was a pretty bad fight,” She looks away rubbing one of her forelegs against the other, “I don't think he wants to talk to me anymore,”

Rainbow clicks her mouth in annoyance. If it only takes one fight to end a twenty-year-old friendship, then she and Applejack would have never been friends in the first place, “Now don’t be silly Fluttershy. Sure, Discord can be random at all times of the day. But you two are best friends. I'm sure you will work this out,”

“If you say so, but I'm not too sure about this.” They start walking back to the cottage as animals start surrounding them, “Has anypony been able to find Tirek yet?”

“Not yet. But I heard that the Pillars of Equestria were hot on his trail. They should have him back by dinnertime. That is if they can carry him back. I am not sure if he grow again. If he did, then they might need some help. But I am not worried. Teya re the Pillars of Equestria after all,”

“What's gonna happen when they get him?”

“Personally, I'm hoping they beat him to a pulp before locking him in Tartarus for the rest of his days. I mean he had his chance of a second chance like every pony else around here, yet he didn't want it. So, what can you do? But knowing Twilight she'll probably try to reform him. Hopefully, that's after you spend a few more years in stone,” No sooner had she finished talking, than a cloud of dust and smoke came from Fluttershy's mane before condensing into a scroll, falling at the two mares’ hooves. Fluttershy simply reaches down to grab the scroll while Rainbow Dash tries to calm herself down at the unexpected magic show, “What's that?”

“Oh, Twilight gave us these little magical hair pins that allow us to talk with her from long distances,” She turns her head to the side to show a small hairpin in the shape of her cutie mark nestled in her mane, “It works just like when Spike was sending messages to Princess Celestia. Whenever I need to send a message to Twilight all I have to do is write it on a scroll touch the pin two times and it bursts into flame and goes on its way,”

“That's awesome!” Rainbow exclaims before a thought occurs to her, “Wait why don't I have one?”

Fluttershy looks perplexed at her friend, “What do you mean? You should have one. Didn't you pick up yours the last time we were with Twilight?”

Rainbow looks at any place but her friend as she suddenly remembers the last time she hung out with Twilight. She remembers receiving a package, but she might have accidentally left it at the castle thinking that Twilight was giving her some treats instead of something important, “Yes of course I got mine. I must have left it at home. Hehe,” She shakes her head, “Anyways what does it say?”

Fluttershy smiles at her friend not fooled for a second before she starts reading the letter. As she reads the scroll her face changes from a look of happiness to concern, before ending with alarmed, “Twilight wants us to come to Canterlot immediately!”

Back with Aaron at the Crystal Museum,

Aaron is shaken out of his thought when a small filly wearing a sheep costume speaks to the Guide, “Excuse me. But what is a World Eater?”

“The World Eater is as the name implies. It’s an ancient creature locked away in the deepest darkest pit of Tartarus that had to ability to eat the whole world-” The guide tries to explain before she is interrupted by a very loud and frightened stallion,

“THE WORLD SERPENT IS REAL!” Aaron SHREIKS much to everypony discomfort as they glare back at him. “Too loud?” He asks uncertain of what else to say,

“Yes, that is too loud,” The guide scolds him as he shrinks again from the conversation,

“So, what happened to the pillars of Equestria?” Another filly asks speaking for the rest of the ponies,

“Nobody truly knows what happened to them. Although it's safe to say that they fell to the World Eater. But on the bright side, they were able to seal the doors to Tartarus before it could get out,”

“So, it’s still there?” Aaron asks,

“I will get to that in a moment sir,”

“What about that mare that was with Tirek?” He presses more questions,

“We believe she also was slain by the world eater,” She quickly says like it was common knowledge,

“Sheesh, what a bummer. She spent all her effort to free him only to end up as some creature’s dinner.” Aaron states the obvious much to everyone's annoyance, “Why didn't they get Discord to help them kill the thing? How did they kill the World Eater?”

The guide grits her teeth, expecting to have to deal with this from the children but not from a grown stallion. “We can't jump to the end just like that Sir. Some of us haven't heard the story before and would like to hear from beginning to end if you don't mind,” She says as others agree with her,

“Sorry,” He meekly replies,

One last hope

The next display we saw featured a giant dragon-like creature with no wings. It had blood-red scales and two rows of teeth. Battle scars and wounds line its whole body making it look more like an Undead Dragon than a Mythical World Eater. Its size easily dwarfs the castle with its mouth wide open as it tries to bite down on Canterlot with the four princesses ready for battle charging their magic. But what stood out was that Twilight was holding onto what he thought was the Crystal Heart, but it turned out to be something else. He's never seen that crystal artifact before. Perhaps it's something that she made later on in life? But whatever the case may be, it looks like Misty sure knows what it is, judging by the shocked expression on her.

Her expression reminds him of the time when they found out there was a changeling within the Crystal Empire. Good times. A frown comes to his face as this thought drifts through his mind. Now that he thinks about it, no matter where he looks in this castle, there doesn't seem to be any mention of the Crystal Empire. He remembers the guide mentioning the battles against King Sombra, but she never mentioned a word about where the battles took place. It's almost as if somepony erased it from history for some reason. How odd. He's going to have to look into this later.

“Huh,”

Misty notices that something is on his mind, “What’s wrong Aaron?”

“I am not sure. But I am getting the feeling that some pony went through a lot of trouble to not only hide Canterlot but something else,”

The Guide clears her voice getting everypony’s attention, “And here we have the four princesses of Equestria taking on The World Eater as it tries to destroy Canterlot,”

“Excuse me,” Aaron said, “but what about the rest of the elements of harmony?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean this battle determines the fate of all of Equestria does it not?” The Guide nods, “So why are only the princesses fighting when all their friends should be joining them in this fight?”

“I don't know the details,” She says looking up in thought, “but I believe it had something to do with not wanting them to die,”

“Ok, What about Discord? I am sure that he could have flattened the creature into paste before it knew what happened,”

“He tried,” The Guide replies without a moment of hesitation,

“What?”

“According to our records,” She pulls out a small notebook near one of the displays before going over it, “Discord did indeed try to take on The World Eater and failed. I believe they mentioned that the World Eater was absorbing all the magic around it like a sponge,” She shows him a picture of the World Eater eating magic energy from Discord like some kind of cartoon drawing, “So, whenever Discord would interact with it. It was slowly siphoning off all his magic just by him being near it. To put it simply, the best he could do was slow it down,”

She puts the book away as another random thought comes to her, “And I believe there was a mention about him being sent flying back into Canterlot during their last confrontation.”

Aaron's left eye twitches as he tries to process this, “OK so we have a monster that eats magic like Pinkie Pie goes through cupcakes. And judging by the title it can also eat anything else if it wanted to?”

“Well yes and no,”

Aaron groans in distress hearing this, “Elaborate,”

“You see although The World Eater does have the ability to consume anything it wants. However, it prefers to consume the living before it consumes the non-living if you will,”

Aaron proceeds to pull out his face in disbelief, “You got to be kidding me. The World Eater is a picky eater,” he says in dumbfounded as other ponies nearby agree with him,

“Indeed, it is. You see The World Eater will eventually consume the world, but that will be the last thing it will do after it consumes all life on Equestria,”

The Guide moves to a nearby wall showing a map of Equestria with many red ‘X’ on cities across the land, “Princess Twilight learned about the creature's habit and used it to their advantage of how to fight it. However, that discovery wasn't made until after we lost major cities to the creature,”

She proceeds to point to some of the cities on the map, “Rambling Rock Ridge, Appleloosa, Manehattan, Dodge Junction, and many more. Many ponies lost their lives trying to flee from the creature.” She sighs before moving back to the display of the fight for Canterlot, “This display shows the leaders of the ponies' last stand against the creature,”

“Ok. But how did they win?”

One thousand years ago,

After The World Eater consumed every creature in Tartarus, it broke out and started destroying one city after another. Growing in size and strength every time it would. In some cities, civilians were fortunate enough to evacuate before the creature entered the city limits. However, not all inhabitants of the city were willing to give up their homeland without a fight. What followed was a war unlike anything Equestria had ever seen before. Proud warriors of every race would stand to fight the creature. Only to suffer the same fate as those locked in Tartarus. Every time they would seriously injure the creature and victory was within reach. It would rise again from death’s door to consume all that lies before it.

Desperate and risky plans were implemented hoping to gain an upper hand of the creature. Using forbidden techniques, along with using creatures like the Windigos and The Pony of Shadows. But all proved to be worthless as they too fell victim to the creature.

Even a desperate attempt from the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, to try to reason with the creature was all in vain. After fleeing from the jaws of death. Fluttershy was able to confirm that it was a wild animal with only one thing on its mind. To feed its never-ending hunger. Until it's satisfied, it will stop at nothing to consume all of Equestria and every creature that would call it home.

Those living through this nightmare would think that was going on for months, maybe a year. That the battle was still raging on with no end in sight. But the truth of the matter is. It has only been one week since the creature broke free of its prison.

At Canterlot, Ponies and creatures from all over Equestria crowd the streets as they desperately seek aid, food, shelter, and refuge. Volunteers of Ponies, Griffons, Yacks, and many more moved quickly to help those that they could with whatever they had left. Guards stand alert looking for any signs of the creature as a familiar purple dragon lands in a cluster of ponies distributing supplies.

After the ponies thank him, he takes off back to the supply tent in Canterlot’s gardens, “I'm going to need more cases of water,” Spike says as he drops his empty bags ready for a resupply,

“Hold on Spike,” The Supply Sergeant says as the medical officer bustles through paperwork next to him, “We're already low on supplies as it is. Unless it's for a medical emergency all water is being rationed out at this moment,”

“Then where's the nearest water source I'll gather it myself,” Spike grabs his bags before starting to fill them with empty containers, and prepares to leave the tent as the Sergeant speaks up again,

“Before you start flying off again. I thought you'd like to know that a group of refugees from the Dragon lands have just entered the city,” No sooner had he said that Spike was already out of sight forgoing his bag in his wake. The Sergeant shakes his head as more ponies enter his tent, “Can't blame him. I would have done the same,”

Spike flies high over Canterlot until he spots where is looking for. A small gathering of Dragons near the entrance of the city, mostly of younger Dragons. He touches down and starts greeting the Dragons before a young orange drakaina exits the group to hug him, “Spike is so glad to see you OK,” she says as he returns the hug,

“Smolder, it’s good to see you as well,” He breaks the hug before looking around and noticing someone is missing, “Where is Ember?” The Dragons look away saddened at his question,

“She refused to give up the Dragon Land without a fight,” Smolder replies rubbing her arm and remembering the last time she saw her, “She fought bravely until the very end,”

Spike is shocked by the news of losing another friend. But before he could say anything, a younger blue dragon no bigger than Spike was ten years ago, walks up to him holding a staff with a red gem on the end offering it to him, but he refuses to take it,

“That is not mine,”

“It's always been yours, Spike,” Smolder insists, “You may have given it to Ember, but you have always been the right ruler of the Dragons,” Smolder and the other Dragons kneel before him, “Dragon Lord Spike,”

Meanwhile, in the war room of Canterlot. The last remaining leaders and representatives of the Equestrian Alliance gather to discuss a plan of action. Prince Rutherford of Yakyakistan, Gilda from Griffinstone, Queen Novo of Seaquestria, Princess Cadence of the Crystal Empire, and finally Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.

A heavy heart comes over Twilight as she looks at the remaining empty seats next to the table as the meeting starts.

“What are we going to do about this creature?” Prince Rutherford yells slamming his hoof into the table and shaking it, “It consumes everything! None of my Yacks have been able to hurt it for long before it bites their heads off! Isn't there anything that can stop it or better yet kill it?”

“Currently we're still looking into that,” Twilight tried to reason with him, but he was having none of it,

“You need to do better than that Princess Twilight Sparkles! Need I remind you what has already become to one of our allies because of it,”

“Enough Prince Rutherford,” Princess Cadence stands up for her sister-in-law, “We were blindsided by the creature's sudden appearance just as much as the Changelings were. There was no way any of us could have been prepared for such a devastating creature.”

“You ponies are all talk. I call for action!”

“And do what?” Gilda scoffs at him, “Send more of your Yaks to die for nothing?! Oh, wait you already did!”

“Hold thee tongue Griffin! Least I rip it out of your mouth!”

Gilda stands up and flares out her wings ready for a fight as they stare each other down, “I would like to see you try!”

“Enough!” Queen Novo shouts silencing the room, “Bickering amongst each other is not going to solve anything,”

“Queen Novo is correct,” Rutherford secedes as Gilda huffs to herself before taking her seat, “Princess Twilight where was the creature last seen?”

“According to reports it should be somewhere in the Everfree Forest right now. Currently, Discord is engaging in battle, but I don't know how long he can hold it off,”

“So even the Entity of Chaos cannot defeat the creature,” Gilda slumped into her chair, “We're all doomed to die,”

“Princess Twilight is there nothing we can do about this thing?” Queen Novo asks for everypony in the room,

Twilight looks to her side where she keeps a bloody blue rag with yellow stars on it, before looking at them, “I have an idea of how to combat the creature,”

“Well then spill it,” Gilda demands, “what is your idea?”

“I will feed the creater-“

“Are you NUTS!?” Gilda and Prince Rutherford shout together,

“LET ME FINISH!” Princess Twilight Bellows shakes the whole castle before composing herself as everypony duck under the table for safety reasons, “After studying the creature. I learned that it absorbs magic much slower than it would absorb anything else it consumes. In theory, if we feed it an absurd amount of magic in a short period, then it should self-implode killing the creature.”

“That's not a bad start,” Gilda says before a thought occurs to her, “but where are you going to get that much magic?”

A guard pony enters the room pushing a cart inside the room covered by a large cloth prompting Twilight to get out of her seat to move next to it. She dismisses the guard before addressing the others, “I will harness all the magic in Equestria and concentrate it into a New Element of Harmony,” Twilight uses her magic to pull the cloth off the display case to reveal a dull crystal inside, “I call it the Unity Crystal,”

Their reactions were a mixture of surprise, concern, and awe at the Unity Crystal.

Gilda was the first to speak, “So, you're making a magic bomb?”

Twilight rolls her eyes at that comment, “Yes, I'm making a magic bomb,”

Gilda chuckles at this before Twilight continues, “Originally The Unity Crystal was meant to help cultivate magic to reach new levels of power. I got the idea after studying how Starswirl crafted the original Elements of Harmony and how they evolved. I was originally going to use it to help creatures without magic gain their own unique form of magic. However, to craft the Unity Crystal, it will come at the cost of every single creature in equestrian not being able to use their magic until the process is complete.”

“You want to steal our magic like that tyrant!” Queen Novo speaks angrily as Twilight tries to calm her down,

“No, I would never do that,” She covers the display case before taking her seat, “It's one of the main reasons why I never went through with the plan. Too many creatures in Equestria rely on their magic. For me to take it all away for selfish reasons wouldn't be fair to them. That is why I called you all here,”

“You want us to give you permission to take our magic away to make this Unity Crystal correct?”

“Yes,”

“And hypothetically speaking,” Princess Cadence says, “what would happen to our magic if anything happened to the Unity Crystal?”

“Then our magic would be lost forever,”

“So, on one hoof we have a monster that's going to consume everything,” Queen Novo says holding up her hoofs to look between them, “and on the other hoof we have a gem that could destroy our very way of life if it ever gets damaged?” Twilight confirms this as Queen Novo sighs,

“Princess Twilight although I am certain you are confident in your plan. Do you have a backup plan in case something goes wrong?”

“As much as I would like to say that I do. The truth is the matter is that I don't. The Unity Crystal is all that I have left. If it fails, then we have no choice but to abandon Equestria,”

“And how would you do such a thing? Last I checked this creature was known as The World Eater for a reason. Won't eventually find us?”

“That's only if we stay in the Equestria,”

“Explain yourself,”

“I can send some of our civilians to a world without magic. They'll have to start all over again from scratch, but they will at least be safe far away from the creatures’ reach. And the other options I'm not too sure about,”

“Just say it,” Gilda says in annoyance,

“I can have Discord send civilians to the chaos dimension and return them when all is well,”

“And what about those that do not wish to leave Equestria?” Prince Rutherford says as other ponies look at him as if he has grown another head,

“We can send them to The Crystal Empire and activate the curse that banished them for 1000 years once more,” Twilight says much to her sister in laws shock, “they should be safe so long as there is an Equestria to return to,”

“I'm sure they won't be happy to hear that,”

“I'm only stating options I'm not saying I'll do this,” Twilight says reassuring her sister-in-law, “the only other option would be to send them through our new evacuation the tunnels. Each tunnel is enchanted with magic crystals to provide enough energy for everypony to get out before the tunnel shuts down due to the lack of magic. It'll give them a chance to run away with whatever time they have left,”

“Okay, I can understand why you would have ponies use the evacuation tunnels or the disappearing city trick,” Gilda says, “But why not just send everyone to these other dimensions instead? All things considered those sounds like the better alternatives,”

Twilight shakes her head, “There is no guarantee that every pony that enters these other dimensions will be able to return to Equestria. With the lack of magic in one of them, there might be a chance that those ponies may be trapped in there forever,”

“Now why in Equestria would that happen? I mean Discord can always bring them back from his dimension. So can’t he also bring back those sent to the other one?”

“Well, that's the problem,”

“What are you going on about?”

“For The Unity Crystal to be finalized I will need Discord’s magic as well,”

“Are you nuts?” Princess Cadence says, “Why in Equestria would you think mixing Harmony Magic with Chaos Magic is a good idea,”

“It's the only way I can guarantee that the World Eater will be defeated. There was no guarantee that Harmony Magic on its own would be enough to destroy it. I'm also going to be drawing magical power from other magical creatures and items to ensure that we hit it with everything we have. We can’t afford to mess up,”

“So, this is an all-or-nothing strategy,” Gilda says, “But how will you make sure that you don’t miss your highness?”

“I will have to get close,”

“Sounds like you want to do a suicide mission,” Twilight was silent as the others looked at her in shock, “It is a suicide mission,”

“There is no other way,”

“Can’t you have somepony else set off the bomb instead?” Princess Cadence says as the others agree,

“The Unity Crystal is too complicated. They would know how to set it off, without destroying all of magic as we know it,”

“Well then can’t you teleport out of there before it happens?!” Queen Novo says,

“All of my focus and effort will be on the Unity Crystal. I wouldn’t have enough time to get clear before it goes off. I can't risk accidentally taking the Unity Crystal with me before it goes off inside the creature,”

“Did you say INSIDE the Creature!” Princess Cadence says in disbelief, “You are going to let that thing EAT YOU!?”

“I will have a magic shield protecting me long enough for the bomb to go off,” Twilight says putting on a brave face, “I will be the last creature the World Eater will ever eat ever again. But I am going to need everypony’s permission to do so. Otherwise, we will have to abandon Equestria. What says you?”

Later on, that day, Princess Twilight teleports back to her private room in Canterlot as her oldest friend waits there for her. “How did it go?” Spike asked leaning on the wall holding the Dragon Lord Specter,

Twilight was taken back at the sight before her knowing what became of another one of her friends. She takes a breath before catching him up to speed, “I got their permission. We will go ahead with the Unity Crystal, with some minor changes to the plan,”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that as a precautionary measure,” Twilight says before laying down on her bed to rest, “We will be evacuating civilians through the other dimensions, to the Crystal Empire to be sent away and having some go through the tunnels. While I start working on the Unity Crystal,”

Spike pushes off from the wall walking to her, “Twilight there's something that's been bothering me since you brought up this Unity Crystal stuff,”

“What's that?”

“Well let's say even if you get all the magics required to kill this thing. How exactly are you going to make sure that it kills it? Last I checked when Discord blasted it with a giant laser it did nothing,” He mimes the motions of shooting a laser with the staff, “What makes your unity crystal different?”

She looks away not being able to bring herself to look at him, “I'm sorry Spike but I can't tell you that,”

He crosses his arms already knowing what she means, “Because you know if I did know, I would try and stop you right?”

“I'm sorry Spike, it's the only way,”

“No, it's not!” He yells standing his ground before his best friend, “Your Princess Twilight Sparkle. You are the Greatest Hero to ever roam Equestria. And any of your friends would lay down their lives for you. Why do you have to do this?”

“Spike if I don't do this then ponies are going to die.”

“I know that!” He says as tears fill his eyes, “I just want to know why it has to be you!”

“She's not going alone Spike,” A voice calls out behind him as two Alicorns enter the room, one of pure white and the other a navy blue, “She will have help,”

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna you're back!”

“It’s just Celestia and Luna, Dragon Lord Spike. We are retried remember?”

“Right,”

Luna walks to one of Twilight’s workstations seeing the blueprint for the Unity Crystal, “This Unity Crystal idea is fascinating. Are you certain it will work?”

“I'm about 70% positive that this will kill The World Eater,” Twilight says, “That is if it doesn’t eat me before it goes off. But for this to work we're going to need to get close,”

“And how close are we talking here?” Celestria says joining her sister at the workstation,

“Close enough that I can touch its tongue,”

“I see,” Luna says looking back at Twilight, “so suicide mission,”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Twilight looks away in shame,

“And why not send one of your subjects to do so in your stead?”

“I could never live with myself if I ordered one of my dear friends to sacrifice themselves because I was too scared to do it myself,” Twilight gets off the bed, “this is something that I have to do,”

“And what of your friends and family?” Celestria says raising an eyebrow at her, “Have you told them about this?”

“Not yet. They wouldn't understand,”

“So, this will be the end of your reign?”

“If this can save the ponies that I care about,” Twilight says with confidence, “Then I'll gladly give up my life protecting them,”

“Well said Twilight,” Princess Cadence entered the room, “However there is a problem with your plan,”

“What is that?”

“I am going with you,”

“WHAT NO! Cadence you are not coming along with us! You have a family to take care of! Think about your daughters! They will need their mother! And what about Mom and Dad and Shining!”

“And watch as my little sister-in-law gives up her life saving all of Equestria when I could have been by her side? Never? It's my duty as a big sister and a Princess of Equestria to defend our home and our little ponies,”

“Shining Armor is not going to be happy with this,”

“No Twilight no he will not," She sighs knowing that the end of everything is coming sooner than she would like, "How much time do you need before the Unity Crystal is ready?”

“With all the evacuations and the magic we will need. It will take me about three days to finish. Two days if Celestia helps me,”

“That is enough. More than enough time,”

Celestia speaks up, “Then it is settled. We will regroup once we have set our goodbyes. In two days,”

Before they could leave there was a small sound in the distance before it got louder followed by something crashing into something. If they were paying attention sounded awful like a high-pitched screaming filly, "What was that?"

Friends and Foes

In the crystal mines underneath Canterlot,

A purple alicorn struggles on her chains desperately trying to break free. Sweat rolls down her face soaking the ground underneath, a testament to how long she has tried. Four guards stand in the circle formation around her weapons ready in case she somehow breaks free. She lunges forward trying desperately to get to the object before her. In a small glass display on a pedestal just out of her reach, is her cutie mark. She shouts curses at the ponies around her refusing to believe that this is the end for her.

Queen Opaline couldn't believe her luck. She thought things were turning in her favor when her magic mysteriously returned to her shortly after leaving Tartarus. When two days later she encountered a group of creatures she'd never seen before. Originally, she thought she could persuade them to follow her orders, but it turned out they were not there by chance. It turned out that they were changelings, and they had one mission. To capture the mare that freed Tirek and bring her back to Canterlot. At first, it looked like she was going to get away from her pursuers until a larger one came out of nowhere tackling her to the ground, before using a wooden staff with a pitchfork end, to remove her cutie mark from her very body leaving behind an ‘equal’ sign in its place.

At first, she didn't understand why or how her cutie mark was removed. But she soon learned why they would do such a thing to her. Without her cutie mark, Queen Opaline was weaker than a foul to her pursuers. And was helpless as they dragged her back to Canterlot. She's been down here ever since trying to get free, but it was a hopeless cause.

As her body tires from exhaustion, the door to the dungeon opens revealing the larger changeling that captured her in the first place, flanked by two smaller ones. The visitor leans on the glass case where her cutie mark resides smirking at her and tapping the glass lightly.

“Oh, still poor little pony all pooped out. Do you want a snack?” Queen Chrysalis says childishly like she is talking to a foul before laughing, “Because it's not snack time yet,”

“Let me out of here!”

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're not conditioned to make any demands here. Last I checked you are the one in chains and I'm over here free as a bird,” Chrysalis quickly changes into a bird flying around the room before returning to her original form in front of her, “So I'll be the ones making the demands,”

“I don't answer to lower life forms,”

“Maybe and yet it was this very lower life form,” Chrysalis transforms into a smaller version of herself mocking her prisoner with every word she says, “that reduces you to a state less than the lower life,” She says before turning back to normal and tapping the side of her head while looking up in thought, “So, what does that make you?” She smiles pointing a hoof at her, “Dirt?”

Rage follows through Opaline body as she stands her ground, “Insufferable creature. When I get out here-“

“And you won't!” Chrysalis quickly snaps at her almost biting Opaline's face off causing her to back up in shock, “Not if I have anything to say about it! This is all your fault!”

“My fault? What in the world are you talking about? Last I checked you are the one who put me in chains. I don't even know who you or your things are,”

“THINGS!” Chrysalis shouts with fury causing the guards to stand on edge, “Those are my children! You-”

“Chrysalis please restrain yourself,” One of the guards says as Chrysalis shakes with anger, “she's just that lashing out verbally. There is no reason to be angry, she can’t harm anypony. Please remain calm.”

“I am calm. Can't you see how calm I am?” Chrysalis puts on a monkey smile trying desperately to convince the guards that she is fine, “It's not like I'm planning to bite her throat out and drink what comes out with a side of toast.”

“I hope not,” Another voice says from the doorway. Everypony turns to see Princess Twilight entering the room, “I would hate having to tell my little ponies that you are eating ponies,”

“Oh, come on, Twilight I was just having a little fun,”

Twilight gave a deadpan stare at her old foe, “Chrysalis your idea of fun is changing into a cockatrice and running down the hallways of the castle scaring the guards senseless,”

Chrysalis chuckles remembering another time she caused a scare during Nightmare Night involving some firecrackers and paint, “Ah yes those were good times,”

Twilight shakes her head not wanting to deal with Chrysalis and an evil Alicorn at the same time, “And didn’t I tell you, I wanted to interrogate the prisoner together?”

“Why Twilight,” Chrysalis gasps while looking as innocent as possible with big eyes and a winning smile, “it sounds almost as if you don't trust me,”

To any other pony, this might have worked. But Twilight wasn’t having it. Not today, “You once foalnapped me in my sleep!”

“You left your window open! I mean come on. You had an arch-enemy roaming around and can transform into whatever they wanted, and you left the window open!” She through her hoofs in the air justifying her actions, “You were just begging me to foalnap you!”

“It was the middle of summer!” Twilight shakes her head wanting to get back on track, “Never mind. Let's get back to what we came here to do.”

“Right, we came here to have a Alicorn BBQ,” Chrysalis says before looking at one of her guards, “Fetch me my wine and BBQ essentials,”

Opaline looks at Chrysalis in alarm not sure if she is serious or not. Her concern increased as she saw one of the guards saluting before leaving the room. She believes she might have imagined it, but she could have sworn she saw some drool coming off Chrysalis's mouth as she stared back at her. Like a hungry timber woof to an injured pony. For some reason, Opaline felt exposed and tried covering herself from her gaze with her tail and wings. “Stop staring at me,”

Twilight groans putting a hoof on her face as the guard returns with a bag of what Chrysalis asked for. Opaline wants to believe that Chrysalis is bluffing but Twilight's reaction is not helping her confidence, especially when the guard starts setting up the BBQ. However, before anything else happened. Twilight used her magic to send the bag away in a flash of light,

“We are not eating the prisoner Chrysalis,”

“Oh, come on it'll be so easy,” She pleads while wiping some drool from her mouth, “just one small cut to the throat and she'll be gone in a few minutes,” She makes a motion with her hoof slicing a throat, “We can put a bucket underneath it so that she doesn't ruin the floor. You don't even have to look,”

“Chrysalis! Behave yourself!”

“You're no fun,” She sulks walking away before turning back pointer hoof at her, “but I reserved the right of first bite once she acts out,” She declares before walking away and taking a seat nearby.

Queen Opaline looks fearfully at the changeling Queen before turning to the Twilight hoping to dissolve some of her fears, “She's joking right?”

“To be honest. I'm not entirely sure,” Twilight says scratching the side of her head, “Last time I was in the changeling hive. They were serving smaller bugs and insects. So, I believe they are carnivorous predators by nature.”

If Opaline wasn’t scared before she is now, “I'm going to die!”

“I'll start warming the coals,” Chrysalis says before making a fire pit with another bag Twilight didn’t see from earlier.

Seeing the construction of a dead pit was the last straw for the Alicorn as she started screaming. Opaline tries with all her might to fly away from the pony eater, all the while smoke starts rising in the air. The guards stand confused as to what is happening before their eyes. On one hoof the prisoner is finally scared, but now they have the possibility of seeing how a changeling eats a pony. It both scares and intrigues them as they look to Twilight for guidance. Twilight shakes with anger, as the coals catch fire, Twilight screams at the top of her lungs,

“NO PONY IS GOING TO DIE!” Twilight channels her magic brightly in her horn, wings flaring high above her head crouching low to the ground making her look bigger and more menacing, “and the next pony that interrupts my original reason for visiting the prisoner is going get it!”

She breathes heavily angrily looking at any pony who dares challenge her. But no pony would dare challenge an angry Princess that could blast them off the face of Equestria. So, they decided that the best course of action was to lay flat on the ground and hope that puppy eyes would spare them from her wrath.

Once Twilight is satisfied that there will be no more interruptions, she composes herself and looks to the prone prisoner, “Can we start with who are you and where you came from?”

Confident that she can live for another ten minutes. Opaline got back on her hoofs but kept a watchful eye on Chrysalis, “My name is Queen Opaline. I come from the Skyros island home of Alicorns,”

Twilight could not believe what she was hearing neither could Chrysalis, “You mean there's more than just us?” Twilight says not sure how to handle this information. If there are more alicorns, then this is not something that can be taken lightly,

“I am really glad I surrendered when I did,” Chrysalis says before putting out the hot coals, “the four of you, are already hard enough to deal with. I can't imagine taking on a whole army,”

“I don't understand. If there are more alicorns, how come we never heard of them?”

Opaline huffs at Twilight's lack of knowledge, “Because Alicorns don't typically leave their island. Neither do they get involved with creatures outside of their race. Alicorns have more important things to deal with than worrying about the common folk. However, Celestia and Luna were the first Alicorns to leave the island in thousands of years.”

Opaline growls thinking about those two, “Those two think they're so special because they have the power to move the sun and the moon. While I am fire Alicorn, have mastery over fire magic like no pony else. And yet all the other Alicorns would only talk about was just how special those two sisters were. Well, that's all going to change. I will become the most powerful Fire Alicorn that ever was and ever will be!”

“Okay, but why did you free Terik,” Twilight asked,

Opaline growls as she admits the reasoning for her actions, “He was able to defeat an Alicorn that was given the magical power of three Alicorns. Even though you were young at that time, your magical power was second to none. And yet he was able to fight you in combat and was victorious. If anypony had the capabilities of giving me the power that I seek, it was him,”

“You wanted his magic stealing spell,”

“Never in history has there ever been any creature that could steal magic. Outside of a magical bell that's long been lost. Once I got my hooves on his spell, then all Equestria magic would be mine to control. And not even those two sisters would be able to stand in my way,” She grins thinking of her master plan before she frowns,

“But before I could even implement my plan. You defeated him with your power of friendship!” She gags at saying such horrible things, “Then to make matters worse before I even had a chance to find him in Tartarus where you locked him up. He escaped and made his own little merry band of misfits with up filly Pegasus for all things and-” her train of thought stops as she forgets the name of the third species that he was with, “I forget what the other one was,”

“That was me!” Chrysalis calls out from her firepit, “You numb skull of a pony!”

Opaline looks at Chrysalis in shock as everything comes back to her, “Wait! Your Queen Chrysalis?”

“Of course, I'm Queen Chrysalis,” She rolls her eyes at her, “Who did you think I was?”

Opaline looks confused. “But I thought the ruler of the changelings was male. You’re a female,”

“Of course, I am a FEMALE!” Chrysalis jumps to her hooves in anger, “Only females can become Queens, you dummy! I was the ruler of the changeling before Thorax took over,”

“Ohh,” She says realizing her mistake. She always found it odd that ponies would refer to the ruler of the changelings to be a male while the word Queen was in the name. Now she feels dumb, “That makes more sense,”

“You are a big dummy. What gave you the idea that King Thorax and I are one and the same?”

Opaline scratches the side of her head embarrassed, “Well, nopony I talk to called him King Thorax. All they said was that the ruler of the changeling was male but never mentioned his name. And when I did some research, you were the only one mentioned as the ruler of the changelings,”

“That makes even less sense!”

“Enough!” Twilight interrupts them, “It was a misunderstanding and leave it at that, ok?” They grumbled but reluctantly agreed, “Now then where were we? Ah yes, you wanted all the magic of Equestria for yourself, and you needed Tirak’s spell to do it. Correct?”

“Yes. But instead of telling me the spell. He gave me a counteroffer,”

“And that is?”

“Help me with gaining access to an ancient power that could destroy all of Equestria and he will give me the spell,”

“And that is where you two freed The World Eater,”

Opaline laughs at her, “FREED The World Eater? It was dead by the time we got there. Nothing but dust and bones last time I saw it.” She chuckled lightly before noticing how they were looking at her. As if she had said something very incorrect, “Why are you looking at me like that,”

“Twilight can I please eat her?”

“No Chrysalis,”

“Can somebody tell me what I am missing here?”

Twilight then proceeds to tell her what her actions had brought before Equestria. At first, her reactions were surprised before turning to a form of Glee.

“So, The World Eater did survive,”

“And now it's destroying everything in its wake,”

Opaline smiles and relaxes her body like she is going on vacation, “Okay. And that is not my problem,”

Chrysalis and Twilight look at her as if she has grown a second head. It took a few seconds before Chrysalis looked at Twilight in disbelief, “She can’t be serious,”

Opaline laughs, “I may not be able to get all of Equestria's magic. But letting The World Eater run rampant and destroying everything those two sisters ever built is second best,”

“You do realize it will destroy everything?” Twilight tries to reason with her, having a hard time believing that somepony can be so ignorant of their current situation.

“And like I said earlier. That is not my problem,”

Chrysalis eye twitches as she stares at the Alicorn before, “There is no way she can be this dumb,”

“I resent that,”

“Queen Opaline because of your actions all of Equestria is doomed,” Twilight tries to explain to her, “Not even Alicorns would be able to survive its wrath,”

“So long as it gets those two sisters. Then I don't care,”

“Was I like this?” Chrysalis asks Twilight, unsure if all villains have this kind of mindset or if she's a special case, “Because I hope I wasn’t,”

“No, I think she's worse,” Twilight cleared her throat and spoke proudly to the evil Alicorn, “Queen Opaline your selfish actions may have cost us much of Equestria and its citizens, but we will win this war,”

Opaline scoffed at her, “Don't give me that nonsense. There is no way you could even defeat such a powerful creature. If you could, you would have done it already and not waste your time telling me of such nonsense,”

“You're right I wouldn't,” Twilight uses her magic to summon forth a small chest before lifting a small black necklace out of the box, “do you know what this is?”

For the first time that she's been there, Queen Opaline is speechless as she stares at the relic in the Princess's magic, “The Dark Alicorn Amulet. Where did you get that?”

“That's not important. What is important is that after studying this artifact for a while, I learned how it was created. Did you ever wonder why it had the word alicorn in its name?”

“No,” Opaline says not sure where she is going with this,

“An evil Alicorn from a long time ago had his magic sealed and imprisoned into this gem. The amulet corrupts the user but amplifies their magic capabilities to that of an alicorn.”

“I'm already aware of that. Where are you going with this?”

“To finalize a project, I'm working on, I'm going to need to do some more experimentation. And you are the perfect test subject,”

“You wouldn't dear,” She states calling her bluff. But considering everything that's happened so far, she's hoping it's a bluff.

“You are correct. Normally I wouldn't even consider doing such a horrible thing to another pony. However, I'm willing to make an exception against you,” Twilight horns come alive with magic lighting the whole room in magic. Opaline backs away from Twilight until her chains keep her in place, “for your crimes against Equestria, against my family, and my friends. You shall help pave the way for us to defeat The World Eater. As the ruler of Equestria, I thank you for your sacrifice,”

Sometime later Queen Opaline lays on the floor motionless. Bruised and beaten but still very much alive. Her magic, however, has been removed from her. Twilight left her just enough for her to keep her cutie mark, but the rest were sealed away inside the Dark Alicorn amulet. She puts get back inside its chest before sending it away and finishes writing down some more notes. Once satisfied she sends them away as guards stand uneasy nearby as they watch the whole thing unfold before their eyes. Queen Chrysalis looks at the sorry excuse of an Alicorn before them before turning to her new friend.

“What did you do?”

“I forcefully removed her magic to test the limits of how much can be pulled from a living creature before it damages their bodies and then put it back inside her at various speeds and amounts. I repeated this process until I was confident in my ability to forcibly steal magic without damaging the host. However, this also allows me to know how much magic is required to kill a creature. The chances of finalizing The Unity Crystal have increased by 10%,”

Chrysalis looks back at the prone Alicorn while a nearby guard pokes her to see if she's still alive, “Is there any reason why you had never been this ruthless against me or the other villains?”

“None of you ever killed any pony I cared about before,” Twilight looks at the Alicorn with an emotionless face, “I said she got off easy,”

“What we're going to do about the other alicorns she mentioned?”

“At the moment nothing. Even if knew where they were, Opaline also mentioned that they don't get involved with the other races. So, there's a good chance they would just wait out this disaster in their homeland,”

“And I thought the two sisters were jerks. Turns out I was looking at the wrong bunch of Alicorns,”

Twilight uses her magic to release the chains on their prisoner, “Take her through one of the evacuation tunnels and leave her with one ration of food and water,” She orders the guards before turning to leave the room, “and make sure there is no way she can return, even if she does find the entrance to the tunnel.”

“You're not going to kill her?”

“There has been enough death already. Besides killing her would not bring back my friends,”

“Aren’t you a bit worried that she's going to come back?” Chrysalis insists, “I mean she is an Alicorn. Even if she can't use the tunnels. She could always get here the old-fashioned way,”

“No. I place a curse on her so that she can never find her way back to Canterlot.”

Both rulers leave the prisoner as Chrysalis gives Twilight a look of uncertainty, “You know you may be the Princess of Equestria. But you have better watch yourself. You're starting to sound like a villain,”

Twilight stops as she thinks about what she just heard. She sighs before quietly replying, “It won't matter,” Then before Chrysalis could get another word in, Twilight teleports away,

She shakes her head at Twilight’s actions, “Ponies can't live with them, but they are everywhere,”

The next two days were a blur for Twilight. From the tearful goodbyes of sending her parents away to the Crystal Empire. To the arguments with her closest friends. To see the despair of so many ponies and creatures having to decide whether to abandon their homes or stay behind. She lost track of time and before she knew it, she found herself heading to the Canterlot hospital. She's been here many times since the beginning of this madness. She walks past the waiting at the visitor's entrance, for who could stop her from seeing one of her closest friends in critical condition?

No pony asked her to do what she did, but she did it anyway. For she truly believes there might have been a way to stop this madness with just words. After all, she was able to talk down a selfish dragon to leave its new home and win over the Entity of Chaos itself. If any pony had a chance to talk to The World Eater and convince it otherwise, it was her. Her intentions were good, but she severely underestimated just how dangerous the creature she was going to face was.

Twilight enters the room as Discord stands over the prone body of Fluttershy where she sleeps soundly. Discord didn't acknowledge Twilight's presence, but she believes it's more the line that he didn't care. She moves to the opposite end of the bed as they stare at Fluttershy. Bandages wrapped around her midsection and parts of her face. Her breath is shallow and weak. If you could ignore the bandages on her body, you would think she was just asleep. But she's been asleep for a long time now. So long that the ponies around her are starting to wonder whether she'll ever wake up or not.

The Greatest Physician, Doctors, and Magic Healers of the Equestria had already come to give her aid and yet even they do not know why she has yet to wake up. Twilight fears that exposure to The World Eater might have caused more damage than they realized. Only time will tell whether Fluttershy will ever recover. Twilight looks up at Discord and asks the same question she always had since Fluttershy was admitted.

“Why can't you use her magic to help her?” He remained silent as he continued to look at his closest friend.

Twilight sighed before looking at Fluttershy again when Discord spoke,

“Because I promised her,”

“What?”

“Ever since the last time me and Fluttershy fought. I promised her that I would never use my magic against her or on her,” He clenches the side railings of the bedframe, “If only I didn't leave her side. I could have protected her from that thing,”

“Discord this isn't your fault,”

“Do not try to sugarcoat this Twilight,” Discord raised his voice startling her, “I let a small insignificant argument come between me and my best friend. And now here she lays on her bed, injured and helpless when I could have prevented this from even happening!”

His body shakes with anger, “If I had only listened to her. I might have even stopped Tirek from getting to Tartarus. Instead of throwing a small tantrum in the Chaos Dimension. But I was so focused on trying to protect her that I pushed her away when she needed me the most. So, I would appreciate it if you do not try to make me feel better because there are consequences to our actions and this is-” His voice softs as he brushes the side of Fluttershy's face moving aside some of her mane covering her face, “this is my fault,”

Twilight remained silent for about a minute before she could work up the courage to speak to him once more, “Discord I'll be beginning construction of The Unity Crystal soon,” she said but Discord didn't show any signs of paying attention to her, “once that happens. I will take on The World Eater and end this,”

“And you'll go with it,” Discord says as he gives her his full attention, “I heard that the other three are going to join you,”

Twilight looks away dejected, “I couldn't stop them,”

“And what about your other friends?” He raises an eyebrow at her, “last I checked. You have always fought every single villain of yours together?”

“No,” Twilight shakes her head, “Not this time. Things are different this time around. This time there is no mastermind behind an enemy attack. There is no friendship problem to be solved. And there is no coming back from this fight,”

“I know without a shadow of a doubt that if I let my friends decide whether they were to join me in this fight. They would join me and see this battle to the very end. But I have already lost too many friends to this monster. I refused to let it take them from me as well,”

“So, what happened to your friends?” Discord questions her,

“Let's just say they don't like me at the moment and leave it at that,” Twilight avoids question before steering the conversation back to its original topic, “If my math is correct. Then the blast radius will eliminate all life within a 100-foot radius. That is the most important part,”

Twilight uses her magic to summon a scroll before going through it, “After researching the original prison of The World Eater, I learned that it needs life to regenerate,”

“And if there is no life nearby then it will not come back,” Discord concludes, “But how are you going to make sure your magic bomb goes off the way you intended? It's a wild animal, so it doesn't exactly stand still while you are trying to kill it,”

“I'm going to have to let it eat me, and blow it up from the inside,”

“I guess that's one way to make sure it works,” Discord says scratching the back of his head, “but can't you like use some kind of cannon to send it inside its mouth? Or use your magic to shove it down its throat?”

“I can't risk The Unity Crystal getting damaged if it were to miss. And there's no guarantee that it will work correctly once it's inside The World Eater. To ensure that it doesn't happen, I'll have to manually set it off,”

“You know normally ponies would say that there must be another way. But after fighting the creature myself, I know better than that,” He sighs rubbing his arm, “So how are you going to make sure you lure it to a place without life?”

“Canterlot is mostly abandoned right now. Once the last of the residents have been evacuated, I will lure it here. Once The Unity Crystal has been forged, it will emit the largest source of magic in all of Equestria. There's no way The World Eater could resist such bait,”

“Sounds like a solid plan. But Twilight have you ever thought of what will happen to Equestria once the battle is over?” Discord pulls out a dry-erase board form out of nowhere. On it are little doodles of the Rules of Equestria and the other races on it,

“The power vacuum will be huge, once you go boom with the other princesses,” He rubs away the doodles of the four princesses, “Although your brother is technically a Prince. Not even he can rule a whole nation while raising his daughters without their mother,” He points to an out-number doodle Shining Armor surrounded by more doodles, “Not to mention that last, I checked you don't have any descendants,”

“And as much as I would enjoy seeing that kind of chaos. I don't think much help to him since your little Unity Crystal is going to make my magic act very differently. It will take me some time before I can get used to it. So, for the next give or take 100 years, I'll be useless to stop anypony from trying to become the new ruler of Equestria. And there's no guarantee that they will be happy to see Shining Armor and his daughters once they return from their banishment. So, what is your plan?”

“Discord once I am gone. You shall rule Equestria,”

“And I thought I was crazy. What gave you the idea this was a good idea?”

“It's the only way to ensure that no pony causes any problems. My friends and I will be long gone before the Crystal Empire returns. The ponies and the other species will need a leader to follow to restore order.”

“So, you think the Entity of Chaos is that leader?” He rubs his face with his claw before dragging it down stretching his face before it snaps back into place, “Did you already forget? My magic won't be working correctly afterward. If anything were to happen, I wouldn’t be able to stop any pony. Not to mention why would they listen to me?”

“Discord,” a small voice says,

Both Twilight and Discord down look to see Fluttershy slowly open her eyes looking at him, her eyes filled with tears, “I am sorry,” she says before falling back to sleep. They both moved in close hoping that she may speak once more but she remained sound asleep. The room was silent for some time before Discord spoke up,

“I don't think I will be able to help out with your plan,” he looks up at her tears in his eyes, “I can’t live on without her,”

“But Discord we need your help,” She pleads with him, “And even if she recovers. A pony has a very short lifespan compared to you. She'll die long before Shining Armor can return. Please Discord we need you,”

Discord looks between the mares deep in thought trying to see how we can help his friends in need, “There's a spell that ponies can use to Prolong their lives,”

“What spell?” Twilight says confused, “I never heard of such a thing,”

“You wouldn't. Celestia had long since banned the practice and removed it from history,” He clarifies, “By bonding their hearts with another creature, they tie their life force to it. So as long as the creature doesn't die, they can live on,” he grabs hold of Fluttershy hoof looking Twilight, “I want you to combine my heart with hers,”

Twilight was dumbfounded upon hearing this news. She struggles to speak trying to treat this topic carefully, “Discord, if you go through with this, she will live forever. I wasn’t given a chance to prepare to go through that when I became an alicorn. Are you sure you can put her through that kind of life?”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Very well Discord,” Twilight reluctantly agrees, “what do I need to do?”

The Unity Crystal

The next day,

The sun shines brightly over Canterlot as Four Princesses stand on its tallest tower balcony. Celestia and Luna have once again dawned their crowns and hoof guards as they overlook the last of the citizens evacuating the city. Earlier that day, multiple Portals had been set up in Canterlot to ensure that every pony could get to where they wanted. However, no pony forced anyone to go where they did not wish to. Slowly one by one the Portals start closing as the last of the ponies gather around the remaining Portals.

Discord stands near the Chaos Dimension Portal holding a sleeping Fluttershy in his arms. He waits for the last of the ponies to enter his Portal before he takes one last look at Princess Twilight and enters the Portal closing it behind him. And with that, there are only four living creatures left in Canterlot. Most of the ponies choose to go to the other dimensions with a select few going with the Crystal Empire to be banished earlier that day.

Twilight releases a sigh of relief knowing that her little ponies are now safe. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she believes that not everypony got to safety. With all the chaos and destruction that has occurred, there's no way she could have kept track of every pony. She can only pray that every pony got to safety before the Portals closed.

Twilight looks over her shoulder to the others, “Have all the preparations been complete?”

“Indeed, they have. We can safely say even if Luna and I were to perish. The sun and moon shall move normally,” Celestia says before taking one look at her sun, “although a part of me does wonders why I never thought of doing this earlier in my life,”

“It's because you enjoyed your job sister,” Luna chimes in, “as such, you never had a reason to find a way to get that ball in the sky to move on its own,”

“Can I ask how you two did that?” Cadence asks,

“We did some modifications to the medallion we gave Twilight during her coordination as the rule of Equestria,” Celestria says, “So long as it's not destroyed, there shall be no problems with the sun or moon,”

“And you have it here. On the frontlines. Where could it get destroyed in the aftermath of our battle?”

“Cadence. I am stung,” Celestria puts a hoof to her chest in a hurtful gesture, “how could you think so little of me? Of course, I didn't leave it here where it could be destroyed,”

“That's good to hear,”

“I left it in the Chaos Dimension,”

“That doesn't fill me with confidence,”

“Relaxed fellow Princess,”, Luna reassures her, “no pony can break the medallion by simply sitting on it,” Luna says before looking at her sister, “Unless you are my sister,”

“That's rig- HAY!”

“Girls I believe we're getting off-topic here,” Twilight stops them before they have another battle to deal with before the fight with The World Eater, “Have you gathered all the relics in Equestria?”

“Yes, they're in the throne room ready and waiting for us,” Celestia says as they make their way to the throne room.

Once there, Twilight feels a bit of nostalgia coming over her. The throne room is filled with magical items of great historical value to the smallest item ever enchanted. Many of these items she has no clue of where they came from. While a select few she can remember who they belong to and what adventures she and her friends had to go through to acquire them. In a way, it's almost poetic, how her final battle will begin.

This is where it all started for her. This is where she got her cutie mark and became Princess Celestia’s student. This is where she became a Princess before becoming ruler of all Equestria. And now this is where she shall make her last stand fighting the greatest monster that ever roamed Equestria.

Twilight takes her seat on the throne as the others stand nearby waiting. She composes herself before addressing her fellow Princesses,

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance. This is your last chance to go with the others. Nopony will blame you for not wanting to die here. This is my battle to fight, not yours,”

“Princess Twilight Sparkles,” Celestia says smiling at her old friend, “I believe I speak for every pony here when I say. We already made our decisions when we decided to join you on this mountain,”

“This will be the grandest fight in our lives,”

“We are all that stands between that thing and the end of the world,”

“If that's what you want, then I cannot stop you,” Twilight says relieved that she doesn't have to fight this creature alone, “let's go over the plan again,” Twilight summons a chalkboard with drawings of them in step-by-step progress of fight The World Eater,

“Once The Unity Crystal has been created. We will draw The World Eater to the mountainside of Canterlot, where it will expose most of its body while trying to climb it. Princess Luna and Candance. You two will be flying around the creature distracting it. Use whatever you can, but don’t get close to it. We can’t risk anypony getting hurt earlier on in this fight,”

“While I am channeling the power of the Unity Crystal, I will not be able to defend myself. So, Princess Celestia will have to protect me in case the creature decides to come after me. Once it’s ready, everypony will regroup to me and cast their strongest shield spell to enter The World Eater's mouth. Once inside the creature, it will take me a few seconds to set off the magic storage in the crystal. Killing the creature in one blow along with us,” Twilights says before turning the chalkboard around showing a diagram of The World Eater and highlighting points around its body,

“Although this sounds easy, there are a few factors we must take into consideration. Although The World Eater is rather large, do not underestimate it. The World Eater's jaws are strong enough that they can rip apart stone as if it were candy. Not to mention it has the reflexes of Apex Predator. No ponies have ever been able to escape its bite as of yet. If we miss our timing, The World Eater will kill us before we have a chance to set off The Unity Crystal.”

“There will be no second chances. We only have one shot to get this right otherwise every pony we know, and love can never come back home. Does everypony understand what they need to do?” They nod in agreement as Twilight readies herself, “Very well then. Let us begin,”

Twilight joins the other Princesses in the middle of the throne room as they stand in a cross formation facing each other. They close their eyes as they focus on their magic and all the magic around them. Slowly each magical artifact around them started glowing with magic, bringing the room to life in a rainbow color hue.

Across Equestria, wild creatures all look in the same direction as they can feel that something is happening. In another dimension, Discord sets Fluttershy down by a tree before his body shivers as he looks out into the distance. In an unknown forest, a lone pony tries to find her way home before she too also looks in the same direction as the other creatures.

Back in the throne room, a Galaxy of Rainbow Magic started swirling in the center of the princesses before expanding to cover all of Canterlot and the surrounding area. Then slowly mist of tethers like magic of different vibrant colors flows to the center of the Galaxy. They came from everywhere, trees, animals, and the magic artifacts surrounding the Princesses. These tethers were moving at a steady pace before picking up speed. The Princess struggles to handle the magical power as they start to begin to focus the energy on one pony.

Twilight grits her teeth as the Magic Galaxy slowly moves towards her making her the center of all the magic. Magic tethers from the other princesses slowly start sipping out of them and flowing to Twilight.

In the Ever-Free Forest, a gigantic creature consumes a defeated hydra before it also looks toward Canterlot blood dripping down its face.

Slowly one by one, each artifact lost its glow as its magic left itself depowering it forever. Discord looks at his claw feeling his magic slipping away. Queen Opaline panics as she feels what little magic she has left, slowly leaving her. Princess Cadence was the first to lose her magic as she took a knee on the floor, as she catches her breath. Soon after Princess Luna joined her followed by Princess Celestia. They watch in awe as every ounce of magic in existence flows into Twilight.

Twilight struggles to handle the magic surging through her body as she concentrates it into her horn. Slowly the Magic Galaxy condenses before their eyes, forming The Unity Crystal.

At first, it looked like it was an Aqua-colored Crystal in the shape of a horseshoe with wings on the side. But then another Crystal was formed alongside it. A clear White crystal in the shape of a circle And then a Dark Blue arrowhead-shaped crystal was also made with them. Once these Crystals have been solidified, Twilight catches her breath as her magic has also been taken by The Unity Crystal.

Slowly the crystals spin in the air before they move close to each other and join together as one. The circle crystal being in the centerpiece was surrounded by the winged crystal horseshoe with the opening facing upward. And finally, the Arrowhead crystal stands on top of them with the pointed end facing the sky.

Once combined they send a rainbow of magic into the sky spreading magic throughout Equestria more powerful than ever before. Each princess stands up as magic flows through their bodies once again filling them with strength. They stare in awe at The Unity Crystal slowly spinning before their eyes.

“It's beautiful,” Princess Cadence says as the others nodded in agreement,

“To be honest,” Princess Luna says, “it is much smaller than I expected,”

“That's because it is very concentrated,” Princess Celestria says proudly, “isn't that right Twilight?”

“Indeed, it is but this is so much greater than my expectations. I never imagined that The Unity Crystal could have this much power,”

“Is it strong enough that we might be able to have a change of plans?” Princess Cadence says as the others give her questionable looks, “Just asking,”

“I don't think so,” Twilight says bringing the crystal close to her and observing it, “But I can guarantee that the plan has a 95% chance of success now,”

“Twilight,” Luna speaks up, “how much time will you need to get The Unity Crystal ready?”

“I'll need at least 30 minutes to fully understand The Unity Crystal before I set it off,”

A massive roar shakes the ground they stand on as they look to the entrance of the throne room knowing what is coming. “You got 20,”

All four Princesses fly above the streets of Canterlot as they see The World Eater running straight towards them. It destroys the land with every step it takes ruining railroad tracks, and streams of water and uprooting any unfortunate tree that didn’t get trampled.

They would be called liars if they were to say that they were not scared. But that's part of being courageous. Knowing that you are afraid but are still willing to face death regardless of your fears. And right now, death charges at them at frightening speeds,

Twilight looks at the princesses remembering how she met each one of them. Flashes of her life flash before her eyes as she remembers all the adventures she had with her family and friends. All the happy tears, the hard times, and the last moment she spent with them. A tear goes down her face as she wipes away smiling as the others do the same.

She may not have wanted to live the life of being a hero or a princess, but here she is standing with three of the strongest princesses in Equestria. All of them were willing to lay down their life to save their fellow pony herself included. Here she stands with her family and friends at the end of their lives.

If given the chance. Twilight would do it all over again. And not change a single thing. Well, maybe a couple of things.

Twilight starts focusing her magic on The Unity Crystals as the other princesses prepare for battle. What happened next was a fight to be told in stories passed down from generation to generation. The last stand of the Princesses of Equestria versus The World Eater with one final battle cry.

“FOR OUR LITTLE PONIES!”

Fin

Epilogue

Present day, at the Crystal Museum,

“That's it?” Aaron asks somewhat disappointed by the sudden end of the tour,

“Unfortunately, so,” Guide says looking back at the panel of the battle of Canterlot, “The Princesses were the last ponies in Equestria. As a result, no pony truly knows how the battle went. Many ponies have speculated ideals of what happened based on the aftermath of the battlefield. But one thing remains certain. They won. And in doing so they committed the ultimate sacrifice for our future.”

“That can't be,” Aaron shakes his head in denial, “You're lying,”

“I wish I were Sir,” She shakes her head slowly, “But 1000 years ago, the Princesses of Equestria fell in battle defeating The World Eater,”

“That is not possible. Twilight can’t be dead,” Aaron quickly moves to the museum's last display but finds it covered by a curtain, “what about the last panel? How does the story end?”

“Unfortunately, that panel is not available for public viewing yet,” The Guide moves to stop him from peeking behind the curtain by slapping his naught hoof, “I have been given specific instructions not to let anypony see what's in this panel until told otherwise,”

Aaron rubs his hoof, “But you said no pony was there during the battle other than the princesses. So, there's a chance that one of them has survived,”

“I do not understand your speculation to accept this reality. But I can guarantee you that the princesses of Equestria are no more,”

“How can you be so sure?”

Fed up with his questions, she shouts at him very sternly, “How can you not know? This is common knowledge that everypony knows!” She had never a stallion so incentive that history is wrong,

Not wanting to cause another scene, Misty gets between the two, “You must excuse my friend here. We are new in town, and this is the first time we ever heard what became of the Princesses of Equestria,”

The guide and all the other ponies were taken aback by this statement. The guests muttered amongst themselves trying to understand what this mean could. However, it was the guide that was the most baffled of them all. Suddenly everything she had to deal with this stallion is starting to make sense. Unfortunately having one question answered, left three more in its wake,

“New? But that doesn't make any sense,” Her eyes swirl in confusion, “Everypony knows what happened to the princesses,”

“Well, not us,” Aaron insisted,

“I rather not get into details because I'm not sure how it's possible,” Misty rubs her head, “But I believe we might be descendants of some ponies that escape The World Eater using the evacuation tunnels instead of going through the dimensional portals as you all did,”

The Guide starts pacing and talking out loud, “If what you're saying is true then that means there's a completely segregated population of ponies that don't even know their history. That makes sense since not all the tunnels were explored. Not to mention with all the destruction that happened, there was no way to keep track of everypony.

“But even if that's the case something doesn't add up. No pony has been able to use those tunnels in years. The magic crystals have been depleted of magical energy for years. They're all just dead ends. How is this possible? That you two came from those tunnels?”

Aaron and Misty look at each other a bit confused. They know they got there through the tunnels, but it never occurred to them that they may not have been in operation. Thus, separating the two civilizations of ponies for an indefinite amount of time.

To be fair Missy was only following Aaron to get away from their current problems over in Maretime Bay. How could she have known that they would have led them to a completely different civilization of ponies?

Aaron rubs his head trying to come up with an explanation for their arrival there but comes up with nothing. He looks to Misty for help, when she remembers something that happened about six months ago,

“I believe it might have something to do with a group of ponies that I know that united The Unity Crystal once again,”

Silence is all that Misty could hear. She looks around noticing that everypony is dumbfounded with wide eyes and jaws wide open. Aaron snickers at the looks of the ponies around them, not understanding the significance of what his companion just said. Misty was about to ask what was wrong when the guide finally shook off her confusion before she shouted at the top of her lungs jumping off the ground,

“YOU KNOW WHERE THE UNITY CRYSTAL IS!”

Aaron and Misty cover their ears in pain before she pleads with the guide, “Inside voices please,”

“Sorry,” She meekly smiles at them before composing herself, “but how is that possible? The Unity Crystal has been lost for centuries. Nobody knows where it’s been hiding,”

Misty tilts her head unsure what to say, “Did you think your magic just suddenly started working about half a year ago for no apparent reason?”

The Guide ponders this, “That's true. Ponies only recently started regaining their magic,” she quickly moves to Misty practically begging her, “Please you must tell me. Where’s The Unity Crystal now?”

“Um it's-”

“Not important at the moment,” Aaron interrupts them causing the Guide to look at him offended,

“Excuse me. The Unity Crystal is the last artifact of the golden age of Equestria that is unaccounted for in this museum. And was crafted by the last princesses of Equestria themselves. I am certain it takes priority in this conversation,”

“We don't know where it is,” Aaron clarifies much to her disappointment, “All we know is that a group of friends are keeping it safe. And even if we did know where it is we wouldn't tell you,”

“Why not?” The Guide says baffled,

“Because I'm getting a very itchy feeling that you would get an army of ponies to take it from us to bring it here,”

“WHAT never. We have only ever known about The Unity Crystal through stories and pictures. I wish to see with my own eyes,”

“Well, you're going to have to talk to Sunny and her friends. They know where it is,”

“And where are they now?”

“Back at Maretime Bay through the tunnel,” Aaron says before changing the subject, “but you still haven't answered my question. How are you so certain that Twilight and the other princesses didn't survive the battle?”

“It is best that I show you rather than tell you,” She walks to a window where Canterlot stands in the distance, “Tomorrow at dawn the ponies of Ponyville all make a journey to Canterlot to honor the Fallen. Once there, all your questions shall be answered,”

“Very well then, but I still doubt your story. Twilight is too powerful to be defeated by something like The World Eater,”

“We all wish that were true,”

Author's Note

The story continues with the last chapter of “You Not Twilight”

The next book is in progress, Thank you for reading,