~-~ Arc 2: Slice of Unity ~-~

Twilight Sparkle walked on the streets of Ponyville, Spike was nowhere to be found, as it was just her. Twilight had a grin on her face as, eventually, she made it to a small cottage just outside of Ponyville. She knocked on the door three times as a yellow pegasus answered it, accompanied by a small white bunny.

"Ah, Fluttershy! It's nice to see you today, or tonight, I guess." Twilight greeted. "Anyways, can I come in? I've got fascinating news to share with you!"

"Of course," Fluttershy said, opening the door fully. Twilight made her way inside. She sat on the green couch while Fluttershy sat on the chair across from her. "So, what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight's horn lit up in a magenta aura as a hologram of the Tree of Harmony spawned before the yellow pegasus, surprising her. "I did it! I regrew the Tree of Harmony! Isn't it exciting?! I can finally have you and the girls back, after... uh, a hundred years? Dang, how much time has passed?"

"This is wonderful, Twilight!" Fluttershy said, getting up from her chair. "We just have to celebrate! I'll call the girls over to tell them what you've done, alright? You just stay here, I'll be back soon."

Twilight nodded as Fluttershy made her way to the door. "Oh, and Twilight? I've got some treats in the fridge, you can go get them if you'd like." Fluttershy said before opening the door and exiting her cottage, discreetly locking it.

Twilight hummed to herself as she waited, occasionally grabbing a treat from Fluttershy's refrigerator. She waited for minutes, which turned to hours, and before she knew it, it was night! Midnight, if you wanted to be specific. "Okay, where are they? It's been too long, Fluttershy won't mind it if I just... yeah."

Twilight got out of the couch as she made her way to the door. The knob was surrounded in a light magenta as Twilight turned it and pulled... okay, it wasn't opening. "That's weird," Twilight said, her grip over the knob disappearing as she tried doing it manually. She tried a few more times before she groaned in frustration.

"Come on, dream! This is my dream, I command you!" Twilight said, pointing upwards. "Open the door!" The ground below her shook, and the door swung open. But, Twilight didn't see the night sky, she saw a portal. Twilight took a deep breath as she stepped inside.

Inside the portal, Twilight was in a void, darkness everywhere around her, "Uh... hello?" Twilight called out. As if it was waiting for her, black goo started to form a shape, or more specifically, a pony. The black goo slowly disappeared, and now standing there was a replica of Twilight Sparkle.

"Ack!" The two Twilights said, both of them mimicking the other's actions. "Who are you? What are you? And... why are you copying me?" They both said, cautiously stepping forward. Suddenly, the other Twilight pulled herself back, surprising Twilight.

Twilight sighed as she held her hoof out. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, though, uh, you probably already knew that." Twilight greeted, smiling sheepishly. The other Twilight put her hoof on Twilight's hoof, eliciting a sigh of relief from Twilight. "So, do you know where we are?"

"We're in your mindscape," The other Twilight replied. "Though, there's supposed to be memories in here, wonder why they're all gone."

"We're in the mindscape?!" Twilight said, her voice echoing throughout her dream. "But, why am I- uh, we here? I didn't want to go here, nor did I dream about being here." Twilight turned to look at her other self, but when she looked, she was gone. "Okay, that's weird. Where are you, uh, Twilight Two? Sparkle Squared? Two-light?"

Twilight groaned as she started exploring her mindscape, which was weirdly nonexistent. "If this is supposed to be my mindscape, where are all the memories? And why is it so black and... gooey?" Twilight raised one of her hooves, revealing dripping black goo on it. "Ick." She shook the goo off as she resumed searching.

Twilight walked for, what seemed like hours, until she reached something, a door. Ecstatic to find something, she hurriedly ran over and opened the door, and inside was... a memory, a bad one. "Ugh, not this one," Twilight muttered. She was about to close the door when some, unforeseen being stopped her and pushed her in. Twilight fell onto the dirt ground as she groaned.

"I thought you weren't supposed to feel pain in dreams, ugh." Twilight groaned. After a few seconds, she got up. "I didn't think I'd be here again," Twilight said, noticing her surroundings. She was in Canterlot, a hundred years ago. The sky was a dull orange, there were cracks on the rocky road, and she was extremely close to the royal castle.

Twilight's horn lit up in a bright magenta, which startled the alicorn because... she didn't even want to do it. "Uh, horn! Where are you-" In a flash, she appeared inside the broken halls of the royal castle. "-taking me?" Twilight shook her head. Her ears twitched as she picked up on sounds of magic, groans, and blasts. Twilight ran towards the source, which was the throne room.

Her aura surrounded the knob as she pushed the doors open. Inside the throne room, Twilight saw a magenta alicorn shooting blasts at the other versions of her and her friends. "So you took me to the day we tried to fight Opaline, isn't that just amazing, subconscious?" Twilight said. "I already know how this goes, so why am I here?!"

"Give it up! You've already lost!"

"No, we haven't! Not yet!"

"Yeah! We're still standing, and we're still fighting, Opaline!"

Rainbow took to the sky and tackled Opaline, sending Rainbow and her falling to the ground.

"Applejack! Do it!"

"You've got it, partner!"

Opaline knocked Rainbow off of her and stood up, about to go airborne again as a lasso was thrown around her. Opaline let out a pained cry as Applejack tightened the lasso.

"Twilight, darling, hurry! Use your spell!"

"Right!"

The other Twilight's horn lit up as translucent versions of the Elements of Harmony revolved around her. Each of the Elements flew to their owner as golden necklaces were formed. The Mane Six were lifted into the sky, the hold on Opaline loosening as the magenta alicorn looked furiously at the six.

"Opaline Arcana! You've been beaten! You tried to steal Equestria's magic, but you couldn't because you cannot control the most powerful magic known to ponykind!"

"We get it, Twilight, you've said the same "friendship speech" over and over and over and over again! Light er' up, ladies!"

Each of the Mane Six's eyes glowed an ethereal white as our Twilight looked away, covering her eyes with her hoof. As the six shot a rainbow beam at Opaline, the magenta alicorn's horn lit up as she teleported away and appeared above them.

"Sorry, you little pesks! But it seems like your friendship magic isn't going to prevail this time!"

Opaline's horn lit up as she shot a beam directly at the other Twilight. With a pained scream, Twilight, along with the rest of her friends, fell to the ground, the translucent versions of the Elements disappearing. "No, no..." Twilight muttered.

Opaline's horn charged up as she tried to shoot a beam at the other Twilight, but Rainbow jumped and took the shot, releasing a pained groan from the blue pegasus.

"Rainbow! You... you meanie!"

Fluttershy pounced on Opaline as she, surprisingly, started punching the alicorn in a fit of rage. Opaline growled as Fluttershy was enveloped by magic as Opaline threw her towards a wall. One by one, each of the Mane Six grew increasingly hurt as eventually, each of them - except Twilight - were on the ground, bleeding out as Opaline stomped closer towards the purple princess.

"Well, how does it feel to have lost, hm, Princess? It seems that, after all of your adventures, all of your victories, your winning streak has finally ended. Friendship is magic? Friendship is weakness!"

"No, I'll... I'll never lose to you, Opaline. Equestria depends on us."

The other Twilight's horn lit up, and so did Opaline's. Each of her friends was surrounded by a magenta aura as Opaline shot a beam at Twilight, but before it could hit her, she and her friends teleported away.

"No... no... NO!"

As Opaline formed cracks on the throne room's floor, Twilight scoffed as she turned around, expecting the door out when the scenery changed. "What the..." Twilight muttered, and before she knew it, she was in Ponyville's hospital. She heard noise from a room close to her, so curiously, she entered. Inside the room was the other her, covered in bandages, and an older Nurse Redheart.

"Give it to me straight, Nurse Redheart. Will they be okay?"

"It's... hard to say at this point, Princess Twilight. Opaline really did a number on them. At this time... I don't know if they'll live. Their injuries are pretty severe, and they lost a lot of blood when you teleported here."

"But isn't there anything you can do to help them? I'm sure some of the doctors here still have their magic."

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but none of us have our magic anymore. The only magic we have left is our cutie mark magic, and they're only appearing on one side now. I'm truly sorry we couldn't do anything more to help."

"No, don't be. You tried your best, but... but I guess it's too late, huh?"

"I... ugh! Why are you making me go through this again?!" Twilight shouted, a few tears streaming down her cheeks. "I never wanted to think of the day I had lost my friends! Why?!" Twilight closed her eyes, and when she opened it... she was back in the mindscape. "Are you done? Ugh, I'll just wake up." Twilight took a deep breath as she... punched herself in the face.

"Ack! Ow!" Twilight said, rubbing her cheek as realization set in. She punched herself in a dream, and she... she didn't wake up. This shouldn't be possible. Once a pony feels pain in a dream, the brain subconsciously wakes them up. Unless...

"Alright, there is something, or someone, in my brain! This must be the reason why I was sent into my mindscape, to find whatever's in my brain! Hah! This thing must be what's making all my bad memories resurface, it can't be me thinking this!"

"Are you sure about that?"

Twilight jumped as she turned around. Her "other" self was behind her, except, she didn't look like Twilight, she looked... evil, like "Midnight Sparkle," as Sunset had described evil Human Twilight. "Uh, what?" Twilight asked, tilting her head. "Other me, what are you talking about? Why would I make myself re-experience bad memories? It has to be the work of some, alien thing!"

"As far as I know, there's no one here except you and me, and you created me," the other Twilight said, teleporting behind Twilight. "The mind works in mysterious ways, maybe you, I don't know, subconsciously made yourself think about it? Cause' you know that you were the reason for their deaths, Twilight Sparkle. You've just been repressing it."

"Me? Repressing it?" Twilight asked, almost in disbelief. "I don't repress! I accept that... that I failed my friends, that's the opposite of repression!" Twilight said, her eyes darting away nervously.

The other Twilight shrugged as she teleported in front of her and said, "Well, that is true. I mean, there isn't any other way to hide the fact that you failed your friends, Equestria, Princess Celestia, the list goes on!" the other Twilight said, smiling maliciously.

Suddenly, before Twilight had a chance to respond, the other Twilight disappeared as her friends surrounded her, each looking the way they did before Opaline came. "Girls? What are you doing here?!" Twilight asked, a smile forming on her face, but it was quickly broken when her friends started to talk.

"We're probably here cause' you screwed up," Rainbow nonchalantly said. "But, I mean, eh. You already failed us, Equestria, and probably some other ponies. So if it makes you feel better, it's not like you can fail again."

"Yeah!" Pinkie said, a bit too cheerful for Twilight. "While you placed all of Equestria's magic into teeny-tiny crystals, my child and husband had to grieve over me! Isn't that so much fun, Twilight? I bet it was all a game to you, right? Right!?"

"What? No! I didn't mean to, I-" Twilight was interrupted by Rarity, who gave her a mean look.

"You didn't mean to? That's what they all say," Rarity scoffed as she stormed towards Twilight. "You call yourself the "Princess of Friendship," yet, you failed your five best friends? Did we even matter to you, Twilight? Did Equestria even matter to you? Because, it seems that, you allowed earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi to grow apart."

"You meant the world to me," Twilight said, a few tears streaming down her cheeks. "I... I don't know how you could've gotten this idea! I loved all of you!"

"And yet, you didn't love us enough, did you?" Applejack said, shooting a glare at Twilight that would've killed her if possible. "You allowed Opaline to use her magic on us - you didn't even try to help us! You just lied there as we took the shot for you! And the only time you did something was when you teleported us when we were shot half to death!"

"I... I..." Twilight stuttered as she averted her eyes away from Applejack. She was right, she did do nothing, and she didn't see that. "My magic was drained, I couldn't do anything!" Twilight said, hoping for a way out of this excruciating conversation.

"'What happened to 'friendship is magic,' hm?" Fluttershy asked, not looking like the shy pony from good times. "We had friendship, Twilight! And you had magic! You chose to let us die! You chose to fail us! You chose to doom Equestria!"

As Twilight was about to respond, each of her friends' bodies started to shake as they... decomposed into black goo and started moving toward her. "Ack!" With no time to waste, Twilight spread her wings and took to the sky as the black goo formed a pony in the center.

Twilight dropped back down as the "goo pony" started to turn into an alicorn, which looked like a mix of her and... Nightmare Moon. "Okay, what are you?" Twilight asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. "First, you looked like me, then, you looked like evil me! And now, you look like a mix of me and Princess Luna when she was Nightmare Moon."

"Oh, it's simple, really, but first," the alicorn teleported to Twiight's side, who startled her. "I'm Midnight Sparkle, an alicorn of shadow! It's a pleasure to meet you, Twilight."

"Midnight... Sparkle?" Twilight asked, the dots connecting in her mind. "That was the name the me from the human world was called when she became a demon! And if you're here, that means you're going to..."

"Corrupt you? Bingo!" Midnight said, cracking a smile. "You see, when Opaline separated the tribes, and you placed magic into the Unity Crystals, there was a void. And after like, five years, I was formed out of the hatred and mistrust of the world! I knew that, if I wanted to rule Equestria, I would need a vessel, and you, Twilight Sparkle, are the perfect one! You were an alicorn, an Element of Harmony, and you still have your magic!"

Twilight was silent for a few seconds before she realized something. Twilight glared at Midnight as she said, "Oh, I see... you were the one who made me relieve my worst memories, weren't you? And I'll bet that it wasn't Fluttershy who I talked to, but you, am I right?"

"Well, aren't you smart?" Midnight said, grinning. "I was Fluttershy! And, in hindsight, you should've realized it was me the moment you sensed something was wrong with the memory of you and your friends next to the Tree of Harmony."

"Tree of Harmony..." Twilight muttered. "Okay, I get the part about me being your, uh, "vessel," but how does the Tree of Harmony play in all of this? The Elements are a force for good, and you're not good."

"Another question? You really are smart." Midnight said. "Well, you see, once I take hold of your body, I'll get the Elements from the Tree and get their magic, which will return my magic." Midnight spun around Twilight as her mane hit Twilight in the face. "Oh, and by the way, while you are smart, there's one thing you forgot."

"And that is?" Twilight asked.

"During Starswirl's time, he and the Pillars created the Tree of Harmony to fight Discord. I'm sure in that book you read, it said that it sprouted instantly! But, what you forgot was, in the book, it also mentioned that Starswirl found out it takes a thousand years to grow a Tree of Harmony." Midnight explained. "But, if there's a great evil close to it, it sprouts almost instantly! That should've been your sign to find a way, but, you were so consumed by the idea of having your friends back that logical thinking was out of the option."

"No... no!" Twilight shouted, backing away from the shadow alicorn. "I may have accidentally brought you into this world, but I'll make sure I'll defeat you!"

"And how are you going to do that? With your friendship?" Midnight taunted, spreading her wings to make her look more villainous. "You don't have friendship anymore, you have very little magic, and soon, you'll have no more body! Give up, it'll make things easier!"

"Never!"

"Then so be it." Midnight scoffed. The shadow alicorn took to the skies as her horn glowed in a menacing magenta. Translucent golden chains were wrapped around Twilight's hooves and wings, preventing her from escaping. Twilight tried to light up her horn, but strangely, she couldn't.

"What the?!" Twilight muttered, trying to move herself free. "Let me go!"

"Nah, I don't think I will," Midnight said. "Ta-ta, Princess!" Midnight shot a beam of dark magic at Twilight as the purple alicorn closed her eyes and braced herself for the impending hit, but, it never came. Twilight hesitantly opened her eyes to see five silhouettes of ponies dancing around her, shielding her from the blast. "What?!" Midnight said, putting more energy into the spell. Twilight peered at each of the ponies as she slowly came to a realization.

They were her friends.

"Girls?!" Twilight asked, and slowly, each of the silhouettes started to become more visible to Twilight. In the figure's place were now Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, the real ones. "Is... it really you?"

"Uh, duh!" Rainbow said, doing a backflip at the end of her word. "I mean, could the fake me do something that awesome?"

"I... can't believe it, it's really you!" Twilight said, tears of joy streaming down her face. "I thought..."

"We died?" Applejack finished, shooting the alicorn not a glare, but a warm smile. "Actually, we didn't! Well, we are now, but... you get it, right?"

"What Applejack is trying to say is that," Rarity explained. "Not too long after you left to make the crystals, Flurry Heart had arrived to help us. She came to visit you but found us instead. And, since she still had her magic, she was able to help us."

"We tried to find you after we were discharged, but you were busy with your super awesome battle with Opaline!" Pinkie said. "Hey! We should have an "Afterlife Celebration" party! Ooh, I just know Clover has some stuff he can show!"

"Twilight, you didn't fail us, you saved us!" Fluttershy added. "If you didn't teleport us out, we wouldn't have lived, and Opaline would've won. We protected you on our own accord, if we got hurt, that's our fault, not yours, so stop blaming yourself for something you couldn't have stopped. We would risk our lives for you, Twilight."

"Yeah! So stop moping around and try to find a way to stop Midnight!" Rainbow said. "And, can you do it quick? I'm getting tired from dancing around like this!"

"Right," Twilight said. She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and exhaled. Slowly, the chains around her started to disappear, and her horn slowly glowed in a magenta light. "I've said this once, and I'll say this again! Darkness will not win, for the light of friendship beats the darkness!"

Twilight's eyes glowed an ethereal white as her magenta aura slowly started to turn a rainbow. "I don't think that'll stop you, not by a long shot, but I can push you back long enough so I can get the Elements away from you." Twilight shot a rainbow beam at Midnight, who slowly started to evaporate.

"No... NO!"

A bright light filled her mindscape as suddenly, the black void started to gain color and shape, and a sense of... calmness wash around her. "Oh, is this what it looks like?" She heard Pinkie remark.

"Yes, Pinkie, I think this is what it-" Twilight widened her eyes. Her friends weren't there anymore. "-looks like." Twilight said, finishing sadly. Though she felt sad, mainly because of the reason she couldn't say goodbye to her friends this time, she felt a bit of peace.

"I'll make you proud, I promise, friends."

Author's Note

Okay, so, here it is... the first chapter for the second arc! Woohoo! So, in case ya'll didn't know, or didn't check my most recent blog, after I'm finished with Arc 2, I'll be releasing my third fanfic. And, after I finish Arc 3, aka the final arc, I'll be releasing my rewrite of my first fanfic, The Mane Twelve Adventures!

Anyway, in this chapter, we've got some information on how Equestria fell, but not all. And, we've learned how Twilight turned into Midnight, which I'll probably explain more on future chapters.

If there's any problems, spelling errors, or anything, please comment it or private message me so I can change it! Hate comments will be deleted, so don't even try and hate!