“I don’t understand,” Sunny stammered, her brain flailing about, trying to figure out what this could possibly mean. Or perhaps she had already realized what it meant and was desperately trying to convince herself otherwise.

Grogar glared at her and snorted. “Of course you wouldn’t. The first alicorn became so because she stole her power from other creatures.”

He stepped forward and brushed away the glowing figure of the first alicorn, and she disappeared, fading away; the rest of the room returned to the way that it had been before. “She thought that ponies were superior, so she stole none from them, but banished her tribe’s magic into the depths until you woke it up again. In the years that followed, unicorns and pegasi began looking down on the powerless earth ponies, and earth ponies began to pit the unicorns and pegasi against each other. Thus the three tribes began to be estranged, and that hatred and mistrust was manifested in the Windigos, creatures that had been born of the upset of unbalancing pony magic. They were to plague the ponies forever, as long as they hated each other, until Twilight Sparkle cheated the system and trapped all magic so that pony magic was equally balanced once again.” He rolled his eyes.

“My friends and I figured that out,” Sunny muttered, thinking back to before earth pony magic came back. “When we brought magic back for the unicorns and pegasi, the Windigos appeared again when ponies started fighting again. They grew when ponies began fighting with other tribes, but then Flurry Heart said that suddenly they just… disappeared. That was because earth pony magic came back, wasn’t it?”

“You’re slow on the uptake,” Grogar mocked her. “Of course it was because earth pony magic came back. You and your friends managed to correct a centuries-old mistake and balanced the scale again - for ponies. The Windigos are gone forever. Though ponies may still fight and sunder in the future, they will never return as long as magic is balanced.” He looked at her as if waiting for her to figure something out.

Sunny bit her lip and thought. “You said that… all creatures had magic in the beginning?”

He gave an overly-exaggerated and condescending nod. “Before it was stolen, in any case.”

“Then… that was why the other tribes left Equestria in the early days. They went off to find some other place to call their home because… because they hated those who were different from them.” It suddenly made sense to her. “Their magic was stolen. The balance - the bigger balance of all magic in the world - was upended.”

Grogar nodded again. “The Windigos represent the broken pony magic. The shadow wolves represent the world’s broken magic. And long ago I mastered them. I was born of their hate, Sunny Starscout. I was created because they were cruel and evil and greedy, and I became the master of all. Because no matter what you do, there will always be something that is broken, and the world will suffer because of it. The world itself is broken, and nothing you can achieve will ever fix it. The shadows will always grow, and they will conquer all. Do you understand? Nothing you have done will make a difference. Because despite all the friends you have, despite all the magic you have, everything is still broken.”

Magic…

“But I don’t understand,” she protested. “Where do other alicorns get their magic? I didn’t steal mine. It felt like… it felt like it was given to me.”

Grogar stepped back and huffed, looking disappointed that she had figured this out. “In time, ponies would recognize those with incredible talents and give them their hope and their love, and that, Sunny Starscout, is a kind of power - you know this well. Other alicorns were given their powers by the ponies and creatures of this world so that they could tame the broken things and fight against the wilds. This city was meant to help train them to be better, to become better.” He snorted. “It didn’t work. Though they became very powerful, each of them were just as selfish and greedy as the first. In the end, they all fell.”

“Not all,” Sunny replied stoutly. “Twilight didn’t. Flurry didn’t. Cadance didn’t. Celestia and Luna didn’t - at least, for the most part.” She lifted her head defiantly. “I didn’t.”

“It was only a matter of time,” Grogar growled. “Time, and other factors, but the result would have been the same. Luna fell, and it was by pure chance and luck that she was brought back. You wouldn’t know this, but all alicorns are tempted at a time, and few can survive it. Even fewer can conquer it.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Believe it, little pony. This is the truth.”

And even as he said it, she knew it in her heat. There was no denying that this had happened - while she clearly sensed the malice in his intent, the cruel glee that he had with confusing her and making her question her whole world view, she also sensed the truth in what he was saying, and she knew that he spoke the truth, for whatever evil purposes he did it with.

There was a sudden tremor, and the room began to shake. Sunny gasped and looked up. The cold, distant light of the hole she had fallen through seemed to be getting brighter and brighter-

Sunny sat up, gasping as if she had been holding her breath underwater. She was lying on the streets of Skyros, her wings and horn glowing cheerfully, without any shadow wolves or evil rams in sight. She got slowly to her hooves, but there was no hole in the ground, nowhere she could have fallen into. Had it all been a dream? And yet, she knew in her heart that everything she had seen was real. An earth pony stole magic from other tribes to become the first alicorn. Her name may have been lost to history, but there was no doubt that she had done such a thing.

Sunny’s head felt dizzy. She could never have imagined that a pony like her could do something so despicable and evil, and yet… the evidence had been right in front of her face. She couldn’t deny it, as much as she wanted to.

The ground trembled again, and the arches above shifted, sending showers of dust down onto the streets. Something was happening. Sunny felt her heart begin to race as the panic set in that she couldn’t see her friends flying about in the sky. She spread her wings and shot upwards, flying as fast as she could to the center of the city.

The scene below her was devastating. Ponies were crowded around the entrance to Starswirl’s building, pushing and shoving each other for a chance at escaping the nightmare. Her friends were stationed in a brave defensive circle around them, guarding all the streets and keeping the wolves back. Imara was in the form of a dragon, massively huge and spouting giant bursts of flame at the wolves, which made them cower and flee. Ash and Brooks were keeping up walls of flame in one area, while Twilight and Flurry Heart were beating back attackers in another. Little Braveheart was trying her best, and was managing to fight off any wolves that managed to get past the defenders with the help of Lukas. Kailani was standing by the door, trying to calm ponies down and telling them that everything was going to be fine. Hugo was likely inside, figuring out how the portal worked and making sure everyone got through. Hitch, Sprout, and Midnight were using their magic to grow plants that trapped the wolves and threw them back. All the other ponies were running around, helping as they could, and those who could fly were zooming about the skies, so fast they were only a blur, bringing aid to those who needed it. Pinkie Pie somehow produced a cannon from somewhere that shot confetti, but with Izzy by her side there was no explanation necessary for why it was also shooting glitter. Opaline was nowhere to be seen, but Sunny suspected that the poor little pony was taking shelter. After all, fighting evil magic monsters when you weren’t that old was a tall order.

Sunny felt a surge of pride, and a faint inkling of hope that perhaps they could all get out of this alright, but then she turned and saw Grogar walking slowly, almost leisurely up the street towards the innermost circle of the city, and she knew that no defense her friends could raise would stand long against them. Grogar looked up suddenly, seeking out the golden star in the sky, and for a moment their eyes met. Sunny felt a surge of defensiveness within her and dove to the ground to get an idea of what was going on.

“There you are!” Gusty the Great called to Sunny when she landed. The elderly unicorn lit up her horn with a blazing fire of white light that instantly struck a shadow wolf, pushing it back into several others and knocking them down. “We were starting to get worried! We couldn’t find you anywhere!”

“Is everypony here?” Sunny asked, looking around and wildly going through a mental checklist of all her friends. “Did everypony make it out?”

She stopped and did a double-take; there were several ponies in the crowd who she recognized, who were from her time. They must have been ponies that she had released when she had been fighting earlier, though it had all been such a blur that she could scarcely remember who she set free.

“We think so?” Gusty paused for a moment to wipe the sweat off her forehead and flex her back leg. “I haven’t seen Opaline anywhere, though, but she’s a powerful pony, she’ll make it out alright.”

Sunny nodded and turned to look down the street, past the shadow wolves, and she saw Grogar coming, and getting closer. The look in his eyes was pure powerful evil, and she knew that it was directed at her. There was some purpose behind all of this, some reason he was seeking her out, some reason he had shown her the beginnings of time and the gifting of magic to all the creatures. Somehow, she was meant to know it, and she was meant to do something about it.

And she thought she knew what.

“Gather up everyone else and get them inside,” Sunny told Gusty firmly, her eyes not moving from the approaching ram. “There’s something I need to do, and nopony can be around when I do it.”

Gusty looked at her, her expression fearful. “Sunny… I know what it’s like to face that guy. You can’t just… you have to…” She struggled to find the words. “He can read your darkest fears, Sunny, as well as your greatest desires. He uses those to manipulate you. You have to know… you have to know what’s really important. You have to know what’s really real.”

Sunny nodded. “How do I know what’s real and what’s fake?”

Gusty hesitated. “I don’t know. I just always knew that I had to keep going. I couldn’t stop. The fate of the whole world was resting on me, and I couldn’t let all of those ponies down.” She put her hoof on Sunny’s shoulder and looked into her eyes. “You are the most powerful pony I know, Sunny, and I know that you are the key to defeating him. You are the light that shines in the darkness, and you shine brighter for the shadows that try to put you out.”

Sunny smiled at her, and then Gusty turned and was gone. The last alicorns had filed into the building. Gusty was rounding up her friends, convincing them to leave their defense and hide like they needed to. The wolves were pouring in, but they stopped in front of Sunny, as if they were afraid to go further. They parted down the middle like a curtain, and Grogar stepped forth to claim what was his.

He had been waiting centuries for this. There was one pony who could give him what he wanted, one pony who could finally relinquish his true power. And this time, he would get it no matter what.

Author's Note

Okay, so, I'm sorry about the delay. I just started school again last Friday, and there was a ton of stuff going on with that, and then in two days I'm going to Germany for about a week, so there won't be anymore chapters until two weeks from now. I'm sorry...

In the meantime, enjoy this one, because the story is about to be wrapped up. Almost. And then we have to get through the tear-jerking epilogues. And probably some final exposition to explain what the heck just happened. But it's going to be a rollercoaster, and we're on the final uphill climb before we get back to the station. So buckle up. It's gonna get crazy.

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!