The Dawn Mother's Tale

Chapters

The Second Week
A Series of Crippling Blows
Chapter 4
Canterlot Coup
Twilight Dawn
Chapter 1

The Second Week

“My assistant, Spike’s, reaction was likely the least surprising event of that evening, though he had quite the reason to take the news as well as he did,” Twilight Sparkle said in her designated announcing voice.

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“WHAT!?” Spike roared, upturning the table, sending his and Twilight’s mugs, as well as a full inkwell flying, though the unicorn expertly caught the liquids mid-air. “Rarity can’t be missing! She just can’t!” the teenage dragon yelled, forgetting the many times he claimed to be over his crush.

“Calm down, Spike. Right now, we only need to worry about who we’re going to bring to Manehattan,” Twilight responded as she sipped her coffee, magically returning all of the disturbed items to their original places. “Who do we have so far?”

Spike looked over the list of names he had prepared at Twilight’s request, anger still present. “Let’s see...Cheerilee moved somewhere a few years ago; Lyra...I think she got put in an insane asylum; Bon-Bon fell into her candy-maker, still in a coma; the Cakes moved after that accident with the cat...” the young dragon read, noting what happened to each pony afterwards.

“What cat?” asked Twilight.

“You honestly don’t want to know,” responded her assistant. “There’s also that DJ pony, the mailmare, the 'doctor', the Crusaders, Sweetie Belle’s parents, the Apples, and a few others,” Spike finished, sliding the list over to Twilight.

"Gotta give me specifics instead of just 'a few others', Spike." Twilight thought for a moment. “Oh whatever...Vinyl could help with morale, if we ever need that; Derpy could carry our messages around...Doctor Whooves I’m not so sure about; and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and their parents we should bring, at least to keep them safe. The Apples are too stubborn to leave the farm unprotected, so that’s a lost cause,” the purple unicorn said. “We should at least tell them Applejack is missing, and warn them about Nightmare Moon, though.”

“Alright then. I’ll make copies of the instructions and send them out. You should probably get some rest, Twi. You look really tired,” Spike said, worry showing in his voice.

Twilight looked at the clock before nodding in agreement, and heading off for her room. She would have to leave shortly after her rest to avoid the guards that would surely be searching for her.

“Oh, and grab a tablecloth or something. A well-known adult with a cloak on will likely draw less attention than one that lost her cutie mark,” the dragon added.

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“The week had passed, and all the ponies we had gathered met at the bar,” the queen said. “That meeting was the first of many to come, though the last in Canterlot. We all left for Manehattan the next day. It took us only half a day, travelling by hoof, but we had to hurry. We had no idea if we were being followed, and three or more of us were likely being hunted down.”

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“Well, here we are, folks. Told ya it was a nice hotel,” Brandy said to the crowd of ponies gathered in front of a majestic building, standing fifteen stories high, with a sign over the front doors reading “Brandy Flats”. “Come on in. I’ll have the top three floors permanently reserved for y’all. Twelve rooms to a floor, each with two beds, two TVs, a bathroom, and a radio,” continued the brown pony, glee filling his voice.

“There is abso-bucking-lutely no way you got this place legally, old man,” Rainbow Dash stated, still standing outside, clearly amazed at the size of the hotel, as the rest of the group entered.

“Missy, don’t you talk to me like that. ‘Old Man’ Brandy don’t like bein’ rude-talked, or called a criminal...even though I am one,” responded an agitated unicorn. “Now get your blue be-hind in here, ‘fore I smack it in here.” Rainbow Dash glared at Brandy, her face a bright red.

“Hey! Don’t you talk to Rainbow Dash like that, you old fart!” shouted Scootaloo, who sped over to stand snout-to-snout with Brandy. Though she had learned to fly years ago, Scootaloo was faster on her hooves than her wings: Something she frequently used to her advantage.

Brandy examined the orange pegasus briefly, before speaking. “You’re one of those ‘Crusaders’, aren’t ya? Look, young lady, I don’t listen to ponies that don’t know what they’re talking about, so why don’t you just go back to blowing up mailboxes, or whatever pranks today's idiotic youth pull?” the brown unicorn responded rudely.

Scootaloo, fuming, roared in response: “I do NOT blow things up, and I will certainly NOT go back to Ponyville, you...you pissant!”

“Firstly, your flank tells me a different story, secondly, you’re of no use to anypony here,” Brandy said, gesturing to Scootaloo’s cutie mark: A brick of plastic explosives with a timer attached. “And finally, if she disrespects me, I WILL return the favor. Same goes for you, tiny,” the brown pony spat the last word.

“Calm yourself, Scoots. Be the bigger - hey hey hey hey HEY!” interrupted Sweetie Belle, magically prying a sign off its post, barely intercepting Scootaloo’s attempt to buck Brandy through a window. “Dumb-flank,” the white mare said, smacking her friend upside the head as she passed.

All Twilight and Pinkie Pie could think to do was stand and stare. “What...what just happened?” the mares asked simultaneously.

“Nothing, let’s go,” Spike nervously said, grabbing the stunned ponies and pulling them into a nearby elevator.

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“The first things we thought to do were set up a base of operations, and a chain of command. Of the thirty-nine ponies and single dragon present, nineteen voted for Sweetie Belle to lead, due to her quick thinking and relative calmness during the...incident; nineteen voted for Brandy to lead, presumably because of his ‘no-nonsense’ attitude; and two voted for Rainbow Dash to lead. I have no idea why.” The queen chuckled. “Our first week in Manehattan, we ran our revolution out of the hotel, though we later opted for a more...private location: The abandoned Manehattan metro system. Afterwards, we had settled on a recruitment system: Pinkie would choose ponies she believed were reliable, and wanted to fight the tyrants. I would test their knowledge of combat and warfare, and decide if they were members of the Nightmare Guard, and finally, if they passed my test, Rainbow Dash would determine if they possessed the skill to fight.”

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As Sweetie Belle paced in front of a line of blindfolded ponies, she inspected each thoroughly for signs of weakness. Rarity’s sister proved herself to be a great leader, and many looked up to her. Her cutie mark was a chain. She called it the Chain of Command. “It’s the chain I go get and beat you with until you learn who’s in command here,” she would claim, to convince recruits not to question her. In actuality, it represented her ability to hold things together, and to stay strong under extreme stress.

“Dismissed...except for you, Wingkins. Come here,” the white mare said, startling a blond pegasus with a brown mane, who slowly approached her. “Hrm. You seem to be the most coordinated of the new recruits,” Sweetie Belle said dryly, noticing a dozen other ponies walking into walls or each other. Taking out a clipboard, she continued: “Report to Rainbow Dash, station 8-E-3. That’s the first station to the west. Keep the blindfold on. If you make it there, give her this,” Sweetie said, slipping a folded piece of parchment into the pegasus’ blindfold.

“Yes ma’am!” Leeroy Wingkins responded, saluting, before galloping down a nearby tunnel.

“Ah, excellent. ‘Wingkins shows excellent coordination while unaware of his surroundings, as well as a mastery over directions, without use of a compass or map. Recommendation: Squad leader or navigator.’” the mare mumbled, scribbling on her clipboard.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie were setting up barricades, so they would have a suitable defense, should their enemies decide to check the metro, as a grey, golden-eyed pegasus galloped up to them. “Twilight! I’ve got a letter for you. It’s from Big Macintosh,” Derpy said, reaching into her saddlebag for the letter. “I saw it stuck to the door, and I recognized his writing,” the mailmare continued, as she gave Twilight a sealed envelope. “The farm looked terrible, too.”

“I wonder why he’d need to send us a letter...and why he couldn’t just give it right to you when you picked up our apples, Derpy,” Twilight responded, magically opening the letter before clearing her throat. All the ponies present at the station that were not blindfolded went over to Twilight to listen. The writing was bordering on chicken scratch, and the parchment was stained with tears,

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Twilight Sparkle,

I write to you with terrible news: Applejack visited us today, though she brought along a half-dozen unicorns in dark armor. She told us the male Apples had two weeks to sign “Nightmare Conscription” forms, and the females were stripped of all social ranking. When Applebloom spoke out, one of the guards smacked her, while another one went behind her. I was held back, or I would have ended that miserable pony’s life right there. The second one made an attempt to lift my little sister’s tail, though was met with a pair of hooves to the jaw, and flew into a fencepost as a result. Applejack told one of the unicorns to keep me still, and another to stand Applebloom against a wall of the barn...she just kept ramming Applebloom into the wall. I was forced to watch until the wall gave, and Applebloom went right through it. After that, the guard let me go. I checked on her...she was laying perfectly still in a bale of hay. She wasn’t breathing.

Applejack killed her own sister, and I want to know why. I’ve spoken with somepony here in Ponyville, and he’ll try and keep her body safe until we can hold an actual funeral, and some of the family from Appleloosa are going to take over the farm for a while.

I’m joining you all in Manehattan in a week. In the meantime, I’m gonna pay some traitors a visit.

-Big Macintosh

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Twilight finished reading the letter, and a long silence followed.

“Applebloom’s...dead?” questioned Scootaloo, breaking the silence. “We’re the only two original crusaders left, Sweetie.” Scootaloo started crying.

“I know, Scoots, but we can’t dwell on this...Come on, let’s go blow something up. That’ll make you feel better, right?” questioned Sweetie Belle, trying hard to hold back her own tears. Scootaloo didn’t respond, but instead, went to her tent. Sweetie let out a sigh. “There’s gonna be hell to pay next time AJ shows up.”

Twilight agreed, noticing Scootaloo leaving her tent and heading for the exit, wearing a pair of saddlebags and her “Hy-Fly” goggles. “Where are you going, Scoots?” called the lavender mare.

“Why do you care?” responded the orange pegasus, before dashing out of the dark subway.

Another short silence followed.

“Ugh, screw this, I’m goin to Brandy’s. Either of you wanna join me?” asked Twilight, magically pulling a cloak over her head. It would be harder for anypony to recognize her if they couldn't see her face, as Manehattan was full of ponies of all colors. Pinkie Pie and Sweetie Belle both nodded.

“Alright scrubs, if you can find the eastern tunnel without taking your blindfolds off, take it down three stations, and stay there,” called Sweetie, as she followed Twilight and Pinkie, the latter of which leaned in.

“Uh, I think we’re the easternmost station in Manehattan...” Pinkie quietly pointed out.

“I know, but they don’t,” the white unicorn said, smiling.

“They both seem to have gotten over Applebloom’s death fairly quickly,” thought Twilight, still quite shaken. “Alright girls, we'll have to start making plans soon. I'm sure Nightmare Moon had something to do with Applejack's behavior. I don't know why, but unless either of you has something to contribute, it's the only thought we have right now,” the purple mare said aloud, as she lead Pinkie and Sweetie Belle out of the metro.

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“The three of us left for the hotel that night, all hoping we would run into Fluttershy, Rarity, or at least Applejack, so we could get some answers. Even though we got our wish, nopony expected anything that happened when we arrived at Brandy’s,” the queen said in a solemn voice.

A Series of Crippling Blows

“The three of us left for the hotel that night, all hoping we would run into Fluttershy, Rarity or Applejack, so we could get some answers. Nopony expected anything that happened after we arrived at Brandy’s, though,” the queen said in a solemn voice.

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As the three mares arrived at Brandy’s Flats, Twilight stopped, feeling that something was wrong. “Wait, you two,” she said to Sweetie and Pinkie. “Something doesn’t feel right...” The ponies stopped for a moment, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.

“Maybe you’re just imagining things, Twilight? I mean, Big Macintosh’s news was kind of unexpected, and Applebloom played a pretty important role in our organization, so I'd understand...” Sweetie Belle eventually said, still saddened by the death of one of her best friends. “Come on, let’s go,” she continued, turning around, only to be face-to-face with another unicorn, this one just as white as her: Rarity.

“Rarity! Man, you would not BELIEVE how happy we are to see-” Pinkie said cheerfully.

“Silence, you uncivilized creature,” Rarity interrupted in a calm voice. “I’ve found them, friends.” At the sound of Rarity’s words, a half-dozen pegasi, all clad in pitch-black armor, landed in a circle around the four mares.

Rarity’s horn began to glow, as the scene around the ten ponies became clouded by shadows.

“What are you doing, Rarity?” Twilight asked, fear creeping into her voice. “Rarity, say something!” the purple unicorn shouted, as dark tendrils grew around the hooves of the trio, gripping their legs tightly.

“Sis! Please, why are you doing this?” Sweetie Belle yelled, as she began sinking into the earth, Pinkie and Twilight following. “Why?” Rarity's response was a simple glare, as if she were disgusted by her sister’s cries.

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The queen took in a breath, before continuing: “All we could see for the longest time was darkness. There were no sounds...we couldn’t even hear ourselves as we screamed and cried for help, until...”

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“No...Not your time...Not yet...There is still too much to be done...” a mysterious voice said, as the curtain of shadow was sliced open, revealing a bright light.

As Twilight sat up, she heard groaning around her. Looking around, she spotted Scootaloo, as well as Sweetie Belle and Pinkie Pie, who were both unconscious, and finally, Rarity, who was standing on the other side of a wall of metal bars. They seemed to be in a prison cell.

“Well, at last you're awake,” Rarity stated, annoyed with the two unconscious mares, as Twilight stumbled to her hooves. "I shall inform the executioner that he may be needed earlier than expected,” the white mare continued, laughing. Scootaloo began growling in response.

“Lemme out of here you bucking bitch!” the orange pegasus screamed at her captor as she tried to strike her through the bars, raising a gasp from her, before continuing to spout racial slurs and other obscene things, few of which Rarity would apply for.

Rarity looked as if she was about to explode. “HOW DARE YOU!” she yelled, magically launching the pegasus back, into the wall behind her. “Speak to me like that again, and I shall rip your throat out and have it made into a trophy!” Scootaloo displayed just how little she cared by spitting in Rarity’s face from across the cell. “Eugh! Guard, keep an eye on the prisoners. I’m going to go talk to the executioner...perhaps we can schedule the executions for tomorrow,” the white unicorn said, wiping the fluid off her face as the orange pegasus got back up. As Rarity approached the door, she turned to give Scootaloo an evil glare before leaving.

“Oh, ouch. That really hurt,” Scootaloo shouted as sarcastically as she could manage, pretending to be in pain. By this time, Sweetie Belle and Pinkie Pie were waking up.

“Ugh...That was just a terrible dream,” the groggy Sweetie said, examining her surroundings before noticing Scootaloo. “Oh, hey, Scoots. Blow somethin’ big up this time?” the unicorn asked, snickering.

“Oh bite me. I went to talk at Brandy, and like, right as I left, your sister, being the current bitch that she is, came up to me, knocked me out for whatever bucking reason, and I woke up here probably five minutes ago,” Scootaloo responded, emphasizing her opinion of Rarity.

“People! We’re in a prison cell! We should probably be, you know, trying to fix that?” an annoyed Twilight spoke out, trying to get the other ponies’ attentions. “And seriously, Scoots, quit calling her a bitch. She may be acting like one right now, but that’s beside the point.”

The other ponies present nodded in agreement, and Sweetie Belle stepped over to investigate the lock. “Oh yeah, I can deal with this, but it’s gonna be a challenge, since I’ll have to be extremely gentle so I don’t lock us in here forever. Best back away, you three,” she said, turning around. After a short moment of lock inspection, Sweetie Belle leaned in and touched her now-glowing horn to the gate.

*BOOM*

Sweetie had blasted the gate a clean ten feet away, and stepped out of the cell, leaving three stunned mares behind her. “Well, come on!” the while unicorn said impatiently, looking back.

“What the? Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing!” the pony Rarity assigned to guard the prison yelled from the door, before a bolt of gold lightning struck him in the chest, knocking him back.

“Oh stuff it, nopony gives a damn what you say,” Twilight said as smoke rose from her horn. “Sweetie’s right, we should go,” she continued, running to the door.

The purple unicorn looked through the door: They were in the middle of a hallway in Castle Canterlot. There were two possible paths, with two other paths stemming from them. “I thought I heard something over here! Let’s go check it out!” a voice called from the hall to the left.

“Because an explosion was the perfect way to escape from prison,” the genius mare thought. She motioned for her friends to join her at the door, and to take the hallway to their right. The guards’ hoofsteps could be heard at this point. “Go, go, go!” Twilight whispered loudly.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo went ahead with Twilight, leaving Pinkie Pie standing alone, seemingly lost in thought. The pink mare spoke: her words surprising the other three ponies. “You guys go ahead. You’d be more useful to the fight than me. I mean, seriously, two of you have magic, and Scootaloo can fly...what good am I?” A short silence followed Pinkie’s question. “Exactly. Go on, I’ll try and catch up after I lead them...I dunno. This place have a pool?” she snickered, before running to intercept the guards. “Hey roody-poos, catch me if ya can! Hahahahahaha!”

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Twilight and the two remaining Crusaders spent the next few hours searching for the exit to the castle, when a familiar voice was heard. “Pinkie, you didn’t honestly think you could escape three dozen royal guards?”

“Eh, not really. I just wanted to lead them somewhere...fun. Which reminds me, you guys seriously need a pool...or at least a dedicated posse of clowns,” another voice spoke, sounding strangely cheerful.

Scootaloo found where the voices were coming from first, and motioned for the other two to come listen. “Oh, that’s just like you, Pinkie...a noose around your neck, about to be dropped to your last breath, and you’re making jokes,” the first voice spoke again, the owner obvious now: Applejack. The three mares took the chance, and peered in through the door.

Pinkie was standing on her hind legs on a wooden platform, front hooves tied together in front of her, with a rope hanging from the ceiling tied around her neck. In the room with her were Applejack, the three dozen guards mentioned, and a pale-green earth pony in a black hood, presumably the executioner. “Ma’am?” the hooded pony nervously spoke, looking at the blond mare.

Applejack turned to face the executioner. “Do it,” she said The pony nodded in response, and stepped over to a nearby lever.

As the hooded pony was readying himself to buck the lever, Pinkie Pie made her thoughts on the situation clear. “You know what? Both of you are party-poopers.” The pink pony stuck her tongue out at Applejack before the platform underneath her gave way, and a sickening snap was heard.

Pinkie Pie hung there, tongue still hanging out, eyes closed...dead. Strangely, the pale-green pony looked as though he were about to cry. “One down...two to go. Come on, men. Nightmare Moon would love to hear about this,” Applejack said, leading the guard ponies towards the door Twilight, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were hiding near.

“I was right about Nightmare Moon then...so Rarity’s helping her too...wait,” the purple unicorn thought, absentmindedly putting up a magic barrier to shield herself and her cohorts from sight. “'Two to go', she said...does that mean Fluttershy...No. We must have hope!”

After the guards passed, the three freedom-fighters snuck into the room Pinkie Pie was in. “Oh Celestia, I can’t do this anymore! I just can’t!” said the executioner, throwing off his hood. “I’ve got to find those rebels the guards always talk about...I have to stop any more innocent ponies getting killed!” The pale pony ran towards the door, hitting Twilight head-on, dispelling the invisibility cloak, and knocking them both onto their backsides.

As the stallion and mare sat, staring at each other, the white Crusader thought she saw them blush. “Well? Somepony grab him!” Scootaloo said after a few moments, tackling the earth pony. Sweetie Belle took the next few seconds to cut the rope keeping Pinkie Pie in the air, and magically placed the pink pony on the ground in front of her.

Tears began welling up inside the unicorns’ eyes, with Scootaloo too busy holding the struggling earth pony to the ground to cry. “P-Pinkie...” Twilight managed to say.

Almost immediately after, the dead pony’s eyes shot open, glowing a bright white, and surprising the four others in the room. “Twi...light...” she said, in a voice only slightly like her own. As she spoke her friend’s name, her body began disintegrating, forming a sphere as bright as her eyes. The sphere flew to Twilight and shattered, its remains being absorbed by the unicorn, who proceeded to stumble back.

Twilight soon collapsed, barely conscious. “Oh crap...this can NOT be good. We’d better hurry up and get her out of here,” Sweetie Belle said.

“What about this punk?” Scootaloo responded, no longer struggling.

“Hey! I’ve got a name you know!” the third pony yelled, managing to catch the pegasus on top of him off-guard, knocking her off. “It’s Honeydew. You three are members of the Rising Sun, right?” he questioned, standing up. “‘Cause I’m done with these guys. I’m tired of killing innocent ponies, and I wanna help stop this crap.”

Twilight could barely make out the other two mares glaring at Honeydew, before she blacked out. The last thing she heard, was Sweetie Belle saying: “Fine, but we’ll be watching you.”

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“Today, we all know that executioner as the king of Equestria,” the queen said, a bit of love in her voice.

“Are you going to hold that against me forever, Twilight?” the king responded, clearly annoyed.

“Yes.”

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When Twilight awoke, she was laying on a soft bed in a very large room, with an assortment of ponies and a dragon standing over her. “Ugh...did I get into Applejack’s personal fridge again?” she asked with a snicker, before groaning in pain. “Oh buck, that’s the worst headache I’ve had in years!”

“Calm down, missy,” Brandy said to the mare. “You’ve been here for about two days now, and from what the Crusaders tell me, you took some pretty high-concentration magic head-on. It’s a miracle you woke up at all,” he continued, nodding at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

Rainbow Dash took the first chance she got to speak. “That doesn’t matter now! What I want to know is what you saw! Is Pinkie really...you know...gone?” she asked, sounding sad. Twilight simply nodded, causing the cyan pony to burst into tears. Scootaloo led her out of the room to comfort her. The door closed, blocking out the sounds from the hallway, and a long silence followed

“I think we should discuss what we know now, and try to get some answers as to what the buck is going on with our friends,” the white unicorn said after a while.

“Well, from what Applejack said - ugh...” Twilight started, rubbing her head in pain. Brandy magically pulled a bottle of whiskey and a small glass over, filling the latter and giving it to Twilight. “Thank you, sir,” the unicorn responded, downing the beverage almost immediately. “As I was saying: From what Applejack said, I can tell that her and Rarity are working with Nightmare Moon, and that they’ve captured, killed, or recruited Fluttershy. Considering how AJ and Rarity were acting, I’m not dismissing that last one until I have proof it’s false,” she continued, before pausing. “Wait, what about that earth pony...Honeydew, was it?”

Spike, Brandy and Sweetie Belle exchanged glances. “Sweetie gave him a taste of the, er, actual chain of command, and last I checked, he was still tied up in the basement, crying,” the dragon said with a hint of nervousness.

“A taste!? I gave him more than just a taste!” the white unicorn shouted, startling the room’s other inhabitants. A familiar silence entered the room. “...I broke the chain...” Sweetie said after a while, clearly sad. Twilight and Brandy stared wide-eyed at the mare, as Spike headed for the door.

“I guess I’d better check on him, then,” Spike said, throwing his arms up. “Does Sweetie Belle have to go overboard every single time?” the dragon mumbled as he left the room, allowing the sound of Rainbow Dash’s sobs to be heard again.

“Well, with all that out of the way, I recall you tellin’ me that your sister caught you three and Pinkie outside my establishment, Miss Belle?” Brandy asked over the crying.

“Yeah. I’m not sure how long she’s known we use this place, but it would still be a good idea for us to find somewhere new to sleep, since she might expect us to come back here...I’m kinda surprised she hasn’t tried to lay siege to the hotel yet, actually,” Sweetie responded with a half-hearted chuckle. “I think we’re gonna find somewhere nice in the Rising Sun HQ tomorrow, and try to turn it into some barracks.” As the unicorn spoke, hoofsteps could be heard throughout the floor.

An excited blond pegasus burst through the door, almost destroying it. “Mistress Belle! Mistress Belle! We just got some information you would be interested in!” he yelled.

“Spit it out then, Wingkins,” Sweetie responded, putting on as serious a face as she could manage.

The pegasus attempted to catch his breath before speaking. “The mayor of a nearby city is starting to fight against Nightmare Moon. Said his daughter was kidnapped, and that if the guards didn’t do anything to stop the criminals, he was gonna do it himself, and find somepony else to protect his city afterwards,” Wingkins said between breaths. “His name is something like ‘Mick Haggard’...or was it ‘Ike Lager’?”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened considerably when she heard the name. “Mayor Haggar is going against Nightmare Moon!? Today couldn’t get any better!” Sweetie announced loudly, receiving confused looks from three ponies. “If we can help clean up his city, maybe he’ll let us use it to gather our forces!” The white mare grinned. “Wingkins, you just earned yourself a promotion to Squad Captain, and a dozen of Rainbow’s best Rising Sun soldiers. I’ll have her gather your troops up when she’s calmed down, and I’ll have Derpy inform Mr. Haggar that we’ll help with his problems, in return for use of his city. When you guys are all geared up, you’ll head out to his office and negotiate. Dismissed!” she continued, still grinning.

After the pegasus left, Twilight had been struck by another headache, this one significantly worse than the last. “Sweetie, can you PLEASE leave if you’re gonna talk that loud?” she asked. “Feels like somepony planted a tomahawk in my skull...”

“Heh, sorry.” The white mare blushed a little. “Alright, we’ll leave. Get some rest, Twi, we’re gonna move you around noon tomorrow,” Sweetie Belle continued, as she and Brandy exited the room.

“The hallway was awful quiet the whole time the door was open...Maybe Wingkins scared Rainbow Dash and Scoots away?” thought the purple mare, as she drifted back to sleep.

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Twilight was back in the strange black void she had been in after Rarity captured her, only now, she seemed to have a gem of some sort chained to her neck, and she was standing on what looked like a platform made of light. As she looked around, a hooded creature seemingly made of solid darkness appeared. It raised a hand, which then panned in front of it, creating three small curtains. The far left curtain raised, revealing a small phantasmal Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie! What have you done to her, you...whatever you are!?” Twilight yelled. The shadow raised its hand again, signalling for Twilight to be silent.

“I have done nothing to harm your friend. She is...happy, where she is,” the creature responded, its voice echoing slightly. “Young Sparkle; The Judge has fallen. She wished for you to inherit her duties,” it continued, raising the small Pinkie in its hand, crushing it. “Will you accept, and punish those deemed evil, whilst forgiving those deemed good? Will you aid in the fight to save Equestria...or will you allow it to burn?” As the last words left the creature, it released the dust that a moment ago resembled Pinkie Pie, which burst into flames a second later. “Decide, young Sparkle.”

Twilight stood, staring at the creature before her for a while, before answering. “If...if this ‘Judge’ wanted me to take their duties, then they must have a good reason,” Twilight stated, slightly nervous. “And you say this ‘Judge’ was Pinkie?” she continued, suppressing a giggle. “I have no reason to believe you, to be honest, but half of my friends are trying to kill me, so this isn’t the weirdest thing to happen to me.”

“Decide, Sparkle, or I shall crush your shard, and your soul shall be lost forever!” the shadowy being roared, causing the purple unicorn to flinch.

“Oh fine. I'll do it...I accept. Though I must inquire...who - or what - are you?” the mare responded, speaking with bravery.

The creature took a few moments to respond. “I am known by many names...many refer to me as The End; The Abyss; The Shadow; but many more refer to me simply as The Reaper,” it spoke, pulling down its hood to reveal a skull of solid shadows, with a silver gem embedded in its forehead. “Now, Sparkle...your time has not yet come, be gone from my domain!” As the Reaper raised its hand one final time, a surge of white light shot from its palm into Twilight. The energy made the mare feel empowered as the void dispersed around her.

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“Aaaaah!” Twilight jolted upright, screaming. While she was covered in sweat, she was strangely cold. “Oh Celestia...that was a weird bucking dream,” the unicorn thought, head in her hooves. “...Wait a second...” She seemed to be emitting a faint silver glow, though it soon faded. “Not as weird as THAT though.” Twilight shook her head, stood up, and approached the draped windows. “Might as well check what time it is,” she said, opening the window. The moon was half risen, leaving Twilight with an unsurprised expression on her face. “Oh. Right,” she thought, sighing, as she turned to look at her alarm clock: 11:48 AM. “I really should get packing. We’ll be leaving for HQ soon.”

In the plaza outside the hotel, a large crowd had gathered around a huge stage. On the stage stood a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and a baseball bat at her hooves; three pegasus guards; and a white unicorn with a purple and pink mane, sitting, bound and bleeding heavily, rear legs broken, with her horn snapped off around the middle.

As Twilight left the Flats, she wondered where Brandy and Scootaloo were, as neither were in the foyer, or their rooms, before noticing the wall of ponies. The mare pushed her way through until she could see the stage, and the ponies on it could see her. “Ah, our friend Twilight’s finally here, Sweetie. Say hello,” the yellow pegasus said, shaking Sweetie Belle awake. All Twilight could do was stare, as she saw one of her few remaining friends in her beaten state. “No? Aw, that’s too bad...Well, I gave you a chance, but you just didn’t want to take it, did you?” she continued, picking the bat up off the stage and swinging it, letting out a loud echoing *CRACK!*, followed by the dull thud that came with Sweetie's body impacting wood. The yellow pony spat the wooden club out and stared at Twilight, a sadistic look in her eyes. “Your rebellion is doomed, Sparkle. You are all doomed. Nightmare Moon will destroy all who oppose her, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. You can keep Honeydew: That bastard is of no use to us anymore.” The pegasus cackled as she and her three allies flew off, leaving a crowd of stunned ponies, and a single unicorn mare on her knees, ready to give up what little hope she had left.

Fluttershy had become worse than when Discord got to her, and now the Rising Sun were at an even bigger disadvantage than before.

“Do not surrender, young Sparkle...The time for mercy has passed,” the creature from Twilight’s dream said, appearing in front of her. Nopony reacted, as if only Twilight could see him. “Give them something to fear.”

____________________________________________________________________________________

"I realized that day that mercy was for the weak...a realization that changed me into a ruthless pony. All I wanted was to stop Nightmare Moon at any cost - even killing the corrupt Elements. They murdered my friends...That would not go unpunished. I WOULD give them something to fear, that much was clear. The only part that wasn't?"

"How."

Chapter 4

“Give them something to fear, young Sparkle,” Death said. “Show them your power, Philosopher. The true war begins today.”

Twilight leapt onto the stage and approached Sweetie Belle’s unmoving body, hoping she had imagined the scene that had just unfolded before her eyes. As the purple unicorn stood over the corpse of one of her only friends, she felt a strange jolt. With it, the color drained from the world, and everything began moving slowly. Twilight looked around in a panic before trying to magically make everything normal again, with no success. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t channel her magic. “What’s going on?” she said, her voice echoing slightly, much like the Reaper’s.

“You have invoked the power of the Judge,” Death responded. “As long as you channel her power, your soul will remain in the spirit realm, with her form.” He put a shadowed hand on Twilight’s head.

“Why am I here then? What do you mean by ‘power of the Judge’?” Twilight asked.

“Approaching the spirit of a close friend in need of guidance has thrust you into this realm to aid them.” Death gestured to Sweetie’s body. “Release your friend, and you may return to your body,” he said before fading away.

Twilight swallowed, and examined her friend’s corpse. A small glowing orb floated up, and took on the form of the white unicorn below it, but with one key difference: A purple gem floated in front of her, with a chain extending to her chest. Sweetie Belle’s spirit floated, blinking. “Hey, Twilight, weren’t you a unicorn before?” she asked, cocking her head to the side a little. At this, the purple unicorn put a hoof on her head where the shadowed hand was moments ago: Nothing. She was an earth-pony...or at least, her spirit was. “And, uh, wasn’t...wasn’t there only oneof you?” she continued, pointing behind the panicked earth-pony. Twilight turned to be snout-to-snout with a unicorn version of herself.

“I don’t...how...WHAT.” Twilight was struggling to comprehend the situation at hoof, when Sweetie Belle spoke up again.

“This have anything to do with your conversation with that dude? If it does, just help me do...whatever it is I have to do, and get back to your body,” the white spirit said. “While you're at it though, could you maybe get this chain off? It’s starting to creep me out a little.” The purple mare shook herself back to normal, and approached the spirit.

As Twilight inspected the chain and the attached gem, another jolt hit her, this time pulling out memories of her dream. She shook her head rapidly again, and began poking at the chain. “Logic is telling me this is your 'soul shard', and if it breaks, I get the feeling you’d be gone. If I break the chain though...” she said, being met with a dumbfounded look from Sweetie Belle. The purple mare turned, and bucked the middle of the chain as hard as she could, shattering a link. As the metal broke, the shard shot towards Sweetie, dispersing her spirit on contact. “Well, that worked better than expected,” Twilight said, walking back to the other her. “I...don’t actually know how to do this,” she thought, looking at herself. “Maybe if I just jostle myself a little and oh Celestia that sounded wrong.” Twilight pushed herself with a hoof, jolting herself for a third time.

When the purple unicorn opened her eyes, the world was full of color again, and the nearby ponies were all talking about what they had witnessed. She was not aware that, floating high above her, something was watching her.

“I see the Princesses picked a good pony to replace them,” a shadowed being thought, as he hovered backwards through a portal.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash was fighting a Manticore she had two of her unicorn trainees summon. As she delivered the final blow - a fierce kick to the torso - time seemed to stop, and a dark portal opened near her. “What do you want now?” she rudely asked to the figure that floated from it.

“I merely wished to inform you that the last of your missing friends has made her presence known...by publicly executing Ms. Belle,” Death responded calmly, catching the rainbow maned pony off-guard. “In addition, Ms. Sparkle is progressing quite nicely...though I recommend you begin training her in hoof-to-hoof combat soon, Warrior.”

Rainbow Dash dismissed the news of Sweetie’s death and a third betrayal. “You knew this would happen...I know you did. Why didn’t you tell us? You know when EVERYPONY is going to die!” she yelled, furious.

The Reaper laughed. “Ms. Dash, what would the purpose of living be if you all knew when you’d die? Ah, before you speak, know this: I AM telling you. Ms. Sparkle NEEDS training. Her magic may be strong, but magic alone will not save Equestria,” he explained. “More deaths are coming, and sooner than you think. Prepare yourself, Dash. I will NOT save your life again. If you fail, Equestria burns.” Time returned to its normal speed as the shadowy being disappeared. “Everypony depends on you, Warrior. Success or failure, Equestria’s fate is in your hooves. Train the Philosopher.”

The cyan pegasus stood, still furious, before calling to one of her students. “Get Twilight here, now. Get Brandy, Spike and Scootaloo here, too,” she said. “Know what? Buck it, get Derpy, Vinyl, Redheart...and I guess that Honeydew guy...all them in here. By the time I’m done with ‘em, they won’t have to worry about fighting.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Rainbow Dash taught us how to actually fight as if our lives depended on it, which they did. We learned how to defend ourselves if we were jumped by up to three ponies. She had to get a different trainer for Spike, though, since it’s pretty hard to teach something with hands how to fight when you’ve got hooves,” queen Sparkle said, stifling a chuckle. “Spike’s teacher actually had quite a bit of experience with weaponry, too. He taught us - Bic Macintosh included when he arrived - how to use a sword, he taught Spike to use a bow, and even how to make arrows out of anything he finds. His name was Travis Tav, but he asked us to just call him Travis. Claimed he was from some other world where he was a literal zombie, and that he was an assassin.” The queen let out a short sigh. “As hard as it was to believe, we had to if we wanted the training. If not for him, we wouldn’t have survived the year, after all.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight was galloping through the tunnels between the main Rising Sun station and Rainbow Dash’s training area, the one-eyed orange pony clad in leather armor known as Travis, and Spike were both keeping pace. “Alright Scoots, this next move is meant to be used when the enemy is...Oh, hey, guys,” the rainbow maned pegasus said, noticing her partner enter the station with his companions. “What’s the hurry? Brandy set himself on fire makin’ molotovs again?” Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“No, ms. Dash, but Brandy is related. He has requested we fetch you two for an emergency meeting,” Travis said, bowing, his green mane falling over his eye-patch. “He asked me to head to the engineering station and inform them of an order of...” he stopped, reaching into a saddlebag to pull out a slip of parchment. “Five hundred pairs of strong bronze wings, and Fifteen hundred cuirasses,” he said, slightly muffled, before replacing the sheet in his bag. “Personally, I prefer the protection and mobility my Core Hound leather provides. Not too encumbering, either.” The armored pony grinned. “Though the hounds in question likely wouldn’t be present in this world, upon thought.”

Scootaloo opened her mouth to ask what the earth pony was talking about, but was interrupted by Twilight before she could. “It doesn’t matter, just come with us!” the purple mare said, grabbing Rainbow Dash. The orange pegasus just shrugged and galloped after them.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Three years had passed since Sweetie Belle was killed...three years we trained ourselves every day. We had managed to liberate every city save for Canterlot, and I had finally been able to control Pinkie’s power enough that I could phase in and out of my body at will, and I could sense when somepony was lying. By this point, we had already gathered that the orbs the princesses split into gave us our powers, and that Pinkie, Rainbow and I were the Judge, Warrior and Philosopher respectively...Pinkie’s abilities would have made her a not-so-grim Reaper had she known about them before she died; Rainbow’s made her more agile; and mine concentrated my magic.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Brandy was standing at a large table topped with a highly detailed map of Castle Canterlot. With him were Vinyl Scratch and Honeydew, who were calmly discussing what music they thought of during battles, and a silent Big Macintosh. The old brown unicorn sighed as the door opened, and three ponies entered with a dragon. “There you are! Just gotta wait for Travis now,” Brandy said, relieved to have somepony that he could have a conversation with. “Tav said he had to get some things from his quarters after delivering the request, so just take a seat, grab a drink, and relax for a bit.” The four ponies discussed recent happenings in their lives, with Big Macintosh joining in every so often.

After about an hour, the door opened again and Travis entered with a large rucksack on his back, a dagger on each of his shoulders, a tiny compass hanging from his left ear, a small frosted disc from his right, and an assortment of bladed rings hanging from his belt. Everypony in the room began to laugh at the sight of the armored pony. “What - what’s with the getup there, Trav?” Rainbow Dash managed to get out between laughs. “And why the hay are you wearing earrings?”

Travis trotted over to the table and dropped his sack on the floor, looking at Spike. “There are some arrows in there for ya, Spike. Corestone tipped. Strike ‘em like a match and fire 'em off,” he said, before turning to the cyan pegasus. “It’s my gear from before I arrived in this world. I felt I should get back into the habit of wearing it. And they're not earrings!” the green-maned pony said defensively. “I just figured my ears were the best place to keep these, since I can’t really tie them on my belt anymore.”

The white unicorn was the first to stop laughing. “What point would the compass serve on your ear though, dude?” Vinyl asked, slightly confused. “Seems like it’d be pretty hard to read it that way.”

“Compass never worked,” the leather-clad pony responded. “Don’t say anything. I know I’ve at least explained this to Spike, but where I come from, there’s a special type of magic that everybody can use. Its main purposes are to...I suppose break items with magical properties down to bare materials such as dusts, crystals, or magical essences, and to use said materials to imbue other items with power, like, I dunno...giving you better reflexes, making you stronger, or just making your ability to channel other magics more powerful for a short time,” he explained. “We called that magic Enchanting. Pretty much everything I have on me now is enchanted. The compass makes me faster, and sometimes my sudden movements - such as attacks - will slow time for everything except me. This disc lets me see the weak-points of my enemys a little easier, and sometimes when I hit one of said points, I get more agile.” After being met with eight stares, Travis sighed. “Lemme put it this way then: MAGIC.” A short silence followed

“Well, since our friend’s here now, what was it you wanted us for, Brandy?” Scootaloo asked, breaking the silence.

“Right, right. We’re staging an assault on Canterlot Castle as soon as that order I sent with Tav is filled, and we need to start planning. I’ve got enough firebombs made up for really anything, so I’m thinking a bombing-run would be good. We can send a few teams in here, here, and here, and we'll send the ground teams through Canterlot city in disguise...”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“We spent the next few weeks making plans, creating squads, changing our schedules, all that,” Twilight said, keeping her voice calm and serious. “About two days before the assault, Travis approached me on a subject related to the upcoming battle...”

Canterlot Coup

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight was looking over Manehattan through the windows on the top floor of “Brandy’s Flats”, a habit she had developed over the three weeks the city had been devoid of any Nightmare presence, when she heard light hoofsteps behind her. “What is it, Travis?” she asked, turning to look into the single golden eye of her combat trainer.

The orange pony bowed, causing his saddlebags to slide forward a small amount. “Miss Dash requested you be assigned to her team to aid her in the aerial assault of the castle, ma’am,” Travis began. “And I was hoping to get your approval on some modifications for your equipment.”

“Such as?” Twilight responded, slightly suspicious.

Travis did not seem phased at the purple unicorn’s tone. “An inscription to toughen your mechanical wings, and one to lighten the load of the armor,” he responded. “As well as a special enchantment for your blade that I discovered in my time in Equestria.” Twilight stood, unresponsive for a few moments.

“Well? What does this enchantment do?” the purple unicorn asked in an annoyed voice.

“Ah, right...” the orange pony responded, opening a bag to reveal a runed saber as long as him, glowing green and blue. “I’ve already put it on this sword, and had one of my students swing it around. You could try it if you want.”

“You didn’t answer my question, though,” Twilight said, magically pulling the blade from the rogue’s bag.

Travis let out a short sigh. “I have yet to think up a decent name for it, but it makes the wielder more agile when they wield it, and increases their casting abilities as long as it’s on their body,” he explained.

A long silence followed, during which both ponies admired the glowing runes on the side of the sword. “...You have my permission, though I would like to request the same modifications on Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash’s armor,” Twilight said, returning the saber to Travis. “And perhaps a more suitable one for their weapons.”

“It shall be done, Twilight, but can we stop with the fancy talk?” the leather-clad pony said before leaving.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“As I arrived at the metro station the next day, I could tell Tav had kept his word. When I saw Scootaloo and Rainbow as we prepared to leave for Canterlot, their scabbards had a faint green glow emanating from them - an enchantment Travis explained would make one as agile as a Mongoose - and their armor appeared sturdier than the rest of the fighters’. We performed a head count, collected any needed equipment, and marched from the subway,” Twilight stated. “Our ground forces had civilian clothes on over their armor, to make it more difficult to tell they were Rising Sun. Everypony that was in an aerial squad flew off towards Canterlot with three or four others. My group consisted of me, Rainbow, Scootaloo, Travis, Vinyl and Spike. Big Macintosh, Brandy and Honeydew were to be part of the ground assault.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The wind was slicing into Twilight’s face - the only unprotected part of her body. “I hope the Coltics had the right idea with leaving their faces unguarded,” she thought, remembering reading about the Coltic warriors, as she flew as fast as her metal wings could take her towards Canterlot Castle. “You ok there, Spike?” she asked the dragon sitting on her back.

“Yeah, Twi,” Spike responded, attempting to keep his quiver on his back, as well as his sword and shield from falling. “Just a tad nervous.”

Travis laughed at the purple dragon’s comment. “Nervous? Spike, you hurt me with your lack of confidence in my training!” The rogue attempted to halt his laughter. “You should be excited to test your new skills!”

Spike sheepishly nodded in response. “There’s our target, guys!” Twilight called, as a large, almost fairy tale-esque castle appeared in the distance. “Alright, everypony remember the plan? Good! FIREBOMBS OUT!”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Within a few minutes of us arriving, the castle was engulfed in flames and hundreds of skirmishes, and the gates had opened, but instead of Rising Sun troops charging through like we’d expected...”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The earth quaked as Spike and the five ponies landed in front of the raised drawbridge for the castle, other groups already grounded and fighting. “URSA MAJOR INBOUND!” an armored pony could be heard yelling, followed by a long string of curses from the cyan pegasus.

“I’ll get the bridge,” Scootaloo said, barely audible over Rainbow Dash, as she flew for a small window on the other side of the moat.

The dragon pulled one of Travis’ arrows from his quiver, struck it on the ground, and took aim. “Careful now, Spike. You wanna aim for the head...an eye, if this thing’s big enough,” Travis calmly said, clearly unaware of an Ursa Major's size, as he disappeared into the shadows. “I’ll do the rest.”

As the shaking got worse, a massive purple constellation resembling a bear appeared further down the path. Spike released his arrow, letting it soar towards the Ursa, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. The flaming projectile struck the creature’s left eye, lodging itself deep in its pupil. As the bear reared up and roared, Travis appeared mid-air near it in a puff of smoke, throwing a chained axe at the creature’s side and pulling in an attempt to get himself closer.

“Twilight! Pay attention!” Rainbow Dash said, cutting down a charging Nightmare pony. Spike was fending off a half-dozen guard ponies alone, deflecting all weapons swung at him, and retaliating when he was able. Twilight unsheathed the sword Travis had showed her days before, and ran towards the massively outnumbered Vinyl.

The white unicorn had been using magically enhanced sound waves to stun her foes before striking. As a pegasus guard moved to impale the sound-wizard pony from behind, Twilight’s blade began to shine a bright blue, distracting the Nightmare pegasus. “This must be the magic enhancing part of the enchant,” the purple mare thought, channelling magic from the sword into her horn as she charged.

When Twilight was less than ten feet from her target, she released the stored magic, firing a bolt of electricity that jumped to every nearby pony except her and Vinyl, and knocking her back, an ear-splitting thunderclap following.

The white unicorn blinked a few times, before bursting into laughter. “Thanks for that, Twi,” she said, helping her savior to her hooves. “Oh man that looked painful,” Vinyl continued, looking around at the many piles of ash that surrounded them as the purple mare sheathed her sword.

“The bridge is down!” Scootaloo yelled as the massive bridge slammed against the ground. “The Rising Sun will be victorious!” as the orange pegasus spoke, many ponies began galloping towards the now accessible front door, the others staying behind to aid their friends.

“Spike, Rainbow, Scratch, let’s go!” Twilight called, dashing towards the castle. Spike slashed with his shield, cutting the throats of two of his attackers, and knocking the rest back, before leaping onto the purple mare’s back as she passed him. As Rainbow Dash turned to follow, a large, dark blue alicorn with a broken horn, a body seemingly made of water, and a mane of crackling lightning landed in front of her, knocking her down.

“Hello, small one,” he said, his voice deep. “Before you speak, allow me to introduce myself...Mother Moon calls me Storm. You, on the other hoof, may call me Death,” he continued, before slamming his head into the cyan pony’s chest, his jagged horn stabbing through her armor, sending her back. “I may be an...imperfect unicorn,” Storm said, referring to his broken horn. “But I am a perfect pegasus, and a perfect earth pony.” The watery alicorn laughed, approaching Rainbow Dash. As the wounded pegasus attempted to stand, Storm pushed her back onto her side. “I shall allow you one final set of words. Choose them wisely,” he said, placing a hoof onto Rainbow Dash’s neck.

The bright blue pegasus merely looked into her attacker’s face. “Bring it, pussy,” she said, showing no fear.

Storm drew out a sigh. “So be it.”

*SNAP!* The dark alicorn paused before turning to face the rebels. “I shall be in the throne room. Meet me there if you wish to share your foolhardy friend’s fate,” he said, gesturing to the limp corpse behind him, before teleporting away.

Twilight and Scootaloo galloped towards Rainbow Dash, Spike still on the purple unicorn’s back. “I’ll meet up with the others, then,” Vinyl said, running into the castle.

As a shadowed hand grasped Twilight’s shoulder, time froze, and color drained from the world. “I cannot allow you to judge this one, Sparkle,” the echoing voice of the Reaper said. “Stay in the realm of the living and watch,” after the Reaper spoke again, he disappeared, color returned to the world, and time began moving at normal speed.

Twilight ran to her friend’s body with Scootaloo, who had been shedding tears since Storm’s exit. "Oh Celestia...not Rainbow Dash..." she said between sobs before turning to Twilight, whose face was dry. "Aren't you sad, Twi? You're the last good Element of Harmony left."

The purple unicorn glanced as Scootaloo. “I can’t be sad. I’ve seen too many of my friends die to be sad...If anything, I’m pissed,” she responded, a fire glowing in her eyes.

Neither of the ponies or Spike noticed Travis’ arrival. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” he said loudly. “Look, we can cry about her later, but right now, we-”

The dead pegasus’ eyes shot open, glowing a bright blue, and blinding the four present. “Twilight, obviously,” Rainbow Dash said with a slight chuckle, in the voice Pinkie had used years before, as her body turned to dust, which the purple unicorn absorbed. When everypony and Spike could see again, the cyan pony’s corpse was gone, though another pegasus was present.

“Well, at least I didn’t pass out this time,” Twilight said. When met with only stares, the purple pony took a step back. “What are you guys staring at?”

“YOU,” Travis said almost instantly. “I mean...well, you, er...you’re kind of a...YOU HAVE WINGS.”

The purple pony turned to look at her back. “What,” she said in a flat tone.

Scootaloo approached the now winged Twilight as she dried her tears. “They look kinda weak. I don’t think they’d be able to support even Spike, and that's if he were a baby dragon again,” she said after a short inspection.

Spike collected Rainbow Dash’s armor and sword, pausing a moment, before jumping onto Twilight’s back. “You guys forget why we’re here?” he asked impatiently.

The three ponies looked at each other, and charged towards the door.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“We encountered no resistance on the way to the throne room, though I had realized the wings were like phasing in and out of my body - Both were because of the essences absorbed from my friends - by the time we got there.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Well, now all I have to do is figure out how to change between unicorn and pegasus, and why my wings are so weak,” Twilight said as her and her allies approached the throne room door, and a buff brown earth pony wearing green pants attacking it. Vinyl was with him, her eyes closed, her head lowered so her horn was touching the floor.

Travis approached the strange pony. “Sir, may I ask what you plan on achieving by-” The earth pony turned and punched him right in the muzzle, sending him into the wall behind him. “Okay OW,” he said, pulling a bloodstained hoofkerchief from a saddlebag and holding it to his nose. “Why the hell did you do that!?”

“Oh, I apologize, sir. I thought you were one of Nightmare Moon’s guards,” the pony said nervously, approaching the bleeding rogue to help him up. “Allow me to introduce myself: I am mayor Haggar, of Metrot City, though you may call me Mike,” he said, bowing. “You must be miss Sparkle. Thank you for having your troops save my city, and my daughter.”

Spike stepped in front of the brown pony. “Whoa whoa whoa, why are you here?” the dragon asked.

Mike chuckled. “I told Nightmare Moon that I’d come after her myself if her guards didn’t get out of my city, and since they needed some help leaving, I decided to pay her a visit. Though upon thought, I knocked out a couple dozen of the guards before you got here...and since you’re here now, I’ll leave this to you,” he said as he started to leave. “Perhaps I’ll join in the fun against that Ursa I heard was coming earlier!”

Travis quickly turned to the mayor. “Ursa’s dead, dude!” he called, raising a short string of curses from the brown pony.

Twilight approached the door. “Spike, I think we may need you and your shield here,” she said. “I’m betting they have archers on the other side.”

“You might be right, Twilight,” the white unicorn said, raising her head. “Sound manipulation is a great thing, y’know. Sonar waves say there are about eight normal-sized ponies, and one big one in there,” she continued, turning to Spike. “Lemme know when you’re ready, guys, and I’ll blow the...I coulda sworn you were a unicorn, Twi.”

“Complicated, long story, et cetera et cetera BLOW IT ALREADY,” the purple mare responded, agitated.

As Spike raised his shield, Travis disappeared into the shadows again, and Vinyl’s horn began to glow. “KNOCK KNOCK YOU BUGGERS!” she yelled, as she released a massive sound wave directed at the door, blowing it off its hinges and knocking it into a group of armored unicorns on the other side.

As the dust stirred up by the blast cleared, the five Rising Sun members entered the room. “Now THAT is what I call droppin’ the bass!” Vinyl said, laughing like a madmare. The remaining unicorn archer dropped his bow and galloped off, leaving a pile of tiny bricks behind. “I suppose I can’t blame him,” Vinyl said after calming down a bit. “I mean, when you see it...” she continued, before bursting into laughter again.

At the other end of the throne room was the royal seat, the dark blue alicorn that had killed Rainbow Dash standing in front of it, surrounded by storm clouds. “Your friend is dead, and you’re making jokes? I fail to see how that could be considered honoring the fallen,” Storm said, attempting to turn Scootaloo against the white unicorn.

“One can honor another’s death in many ways. She chooses to laugh; Scootaloo chooses to mourn; Twilight and Spike choose to do what we came here to do...but me?” Travis said, still unseen. “I choose to honor her by killing you.” The orange pony leapt from the shadows at the alicorn, leaving a gash in his victim’s neck and removing a wing in one fluid movement.

Storm recoiled from the assault, and quickly mended the wound on his neck. “Excellent, a challenge! This shall be more fun than I thought,” he said, grinning. “Let’s make a bet, shall we? We fight. If you win, I will tell you all I know of Mother Moon’s plans, and I shall leave out your...new appendage when I report to her, Sparkle.”

Twilight looked at the alicorn suspiciously. “And if you win?”

Storm chuckled. “Not so much ‘if’...more ‘when’ I win...but yes, my victory means your deaths. Deal?”

The five rebels exchanged glances. “Deal,” Spike responded, the four ponies nodding in agreement.

“Then let us begin.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Travis started the fight by disappearing to the shadows yet again. “Once was luck, rogue. That trick shall not work again!” Storm said loudly, emitting a wave of electricity from his broken horn, stunning the orange pony. “Begone!” he yelled, bucking Travis at the wall.

The rogue rubbed his head. “What is it with you people and knocking me into walls today!?” he asked, mimicking the alicorn’s voice levels. “FUCK man.”

Vinyl fired off a salvo of concentrated sound waves, all hitting Storm. “I am composed almost entirely of water and electricity, fool. Your attempts at harming me with...vibrating air are useless,” the dark blue alicorn said in response, slowly approaching the group.

Spike kept his shield raised as he drew Rainbow Dash's sword, and charged at his foe. Storm glanced at the speeding dragon, and fired a bolt of lightning at him. Spike chose that moment to swing his shield, sending the bolt of electricity back at the alicorn, stunning him, and raising a pained cheer from Travis. “Hit him hard, girls!” Spike yelled, hacking at the watery pony.

Twilight and Scootaloo both dashed lithely towards Storm, drawing their swords as well. Scootaloo leapt into the air and swung, removing most of the broken horn from the alicorn’s head, as Twilight slid by his side, removing his other wing.

“ENOUGH!” the wounded alicorn said, clearly weak. “I cannot win this fight...that much is clear. I shall share my knowledge,” he continued as his attackers backed away. “I am one of five artificial alicorns created to serve Mother Moon a thousand years ago, so she could rule this land. She knew you would be planning an assault, so she released me from the stasis I was in...leaving my brothers and sister frozen,” he explained, struggling to channel his healing magic. “The entrance to the laboratory I was created in can be found in the courtyard...but be warned: She told me she would be leaving one to defend the lab, and they are undoubtedly more powerful than I. Should you encounter none of my siblings, check the tanks, it will help you identify the one you are looking for. They are pale blue, red, green, and a starry purple...much like the Ursa your friend foolishly fought alone,” Storm said, limping towards the door. “I have one final piece of information for you, though.”

“What might that be?” Travis responded, still rubbing his head.

The watery alicorn chuckled as he exited. “None of the troops you sent through Canterlot survived. My brother's minions seemed thorough.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Storm’s final statement was almost true...Honeydew was the only pony that made it to Canterlot Castle,” the queen said, holding back tears. “I spent much of my time attempting to move the celestial bodies, to no avail, and Honeydew spent most of the year comforting me...During our time together, I had found it in myself to forgive him for the death of Pinkie, and we had fallen in love,” Twilight continued, an audible “D’aw” rising from her audience. “After we fully examined Canterlot Castle, emptied the advancing troops from the area between the gates and the castle, and either killed or imprisoned anypony from the Nightmare Army, our medics tended to our wounded. We discovered the lab Storm had mentioned after about a month, and sent a group of ponies to investigate.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Miss Sparkle, we’ve got bad news, good news, and better news about that lab,” a Rising Sun pegasus said, saluting Twilight.

Twilight rose from the throne she had claimed seven days before, and approached the pony that addressed her. “I suppose I should hear the good news first,” she said, bowing so low her reacquired horn touched the floor.

The Rising Sun pony bowed back. “Well, when we got down there, we checked the tanks like you said, and found the tanks holding the blue and red alicorns full,” he said. “We also found the green alicorn waiting for us. He requested we call him," the pony cleared his throat before continuing. "‘Cal’, and he told us that he would help you, since you defeated Storm.”

“What of the fifth alicorn?” Twilight responded, slightly nervous about only three of the four unknown alicorns being discovered. “The one resembling an Ursa Major?”

The pony shuffled his front hooves. “That’s the bad news. That one’s nowhere to be seen, ma’am...Though the better news is,” he said, pulling a folder out of a saddlebag. “We found this. Cal told us it’s supposed to hold documents on the five artificial alicorns, but it currently only has information on Storm. We’re still looking for the rest, ma’am.”

As Twilight read the documents she was given, a bright green alicorn with a wild white and pink mane entered the room. “Yo! You must be the Twilight that whupped my bro. Am I right?” he said, stretching his wings. “Ma and the scientists called me either ‘Subject 483’ or ‘Caladium’ - That’s a poisonous plant, I guess - But you can just call me Cal.” The strange alicorn grabbed one of Twilight’s hooves and shook it hard. “So, while I’m here, what can I do for ya miss?”

Twilight gave Cal a confused look, and gestured for Travis to come to her. “I think this guy’s a tad crazy, Tav,” she whispered. “But still, he’s friendly, and he knows about Nightmare Moon...any ideas what we should ask him?” Travis shrugged in response. “Alright then, Cala - er, Cal...Do you know anything about the other alicorns that were down in that lab?” Twilight asked, still nervous.

“Oh yeah. Spent about a year with ‘em before Nightmare Moon told us to get in the tubes,” Cal responded cheerfully. “There’s Storm, but you know him...Frostbite is the pale blue one. Dude was never that physically strong, besides his wings, and his magic was crazy powerful. Air around him was always freezing cold, too, hence the name I assume,” he explained. “Then there’s Scarlet - Chick was CRAZY. Her hair was always on fire, and she had a helluva temper. She couldn’t use any magic though, for some reason. There’s me...Real nice, kinda lazy, et cetera...I’m not that strong in any territory, really. My magic’s weak, I’m slow, and I can’t fly, though my blood’s apparently...what was it again? 98.75% toxic substances?”

“And the last one?” Travis asked, now as nervous as Twilight.

Cal shuddered. “Oh man, that would be Voide. You do NOT want to meet him,” he responded, shaking. “All I know is he’s ‘almost perfect’, completely insane, and that those are not related.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Nopony knows where he is?” she asked, being met with multiple shaking heads. “Travis, get Vinyl, and tell her to send out one of her soundwave messages. Go with ‘Highly dangerous pony: Location unknown’,” she continued. “Oh, and congratulations on knocking her up, Travis." the purple unicorn smirked. "I’m sure you two’ll be very happy together with your foal.”

The orange pony blushed slightly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said quickly, struggling to keep a straight face.

“Sure you don’t.” Twilight winked. “Now get going, and if you see Scootaloo, tell her we’ll have a mass-funeral Saturday,” the purple mare called as Travis left. “I have one more question for you before you can go, Cal.”

“Shoot,” the green alicorn said, yawning.

“If she let you out, you have to know...Where is Nightmare Moon?”

Twilight Dawn

“If she let you out, you have to know...Where is Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked, returning to her serious tone.

Cal stood silently. “Yeah, I wish I could help you there,” he finally said. “She told me she was gonna hide somewhere she called the ‘Moonlit Observatory’. When I asked where it was, she only told me it was somewhere important to her.” The green alicorn scratched his chin. “If you can think of anywhere that would qualify, I’d recommend checking ‘em out,” he continued, causing Twilight to groan in frustration. “Even if I knew where it was, you guys aren’t even close to prepared enough to attack it. Somepony told me that something like, half of the guys that attacked the castle died.”

“The ponies that died were the better part of the group they were picked from,” Twilight mumbled. “There are plenty more fighters, but they’re not that good...Thankfully Travis believes in ‘strengthening the weakest link, so the others will step up their performance to avoid becoming the weakest link’...or something like that.”

__________________________________________________________________________

“The highest ranking members of the Rising Sun - excluding Derpy, who felt the need to disappear altogether - got together at the end of that year to discuss where Nightmare Moon may have been hiding, of course after they all questioned why I had not moved the sun or moon,” Twilight said, still struggling to remain calm.“Vinyl was already almost ten months into her pregnancy, so she would sleep in Princess Luna’s old room. Of the five ponies there, only me, Travis, Vinyl and Cal knew who the father was.”

__________________________________________________________________________

“Alright everypony. You all seem to be done whining about the sun still not rising, and I’m putting a stop to talking about Vinyl’s bastard child before we forget why we’re here!” Twilight announced loudly, slamming her front hooves onto the library table in front of her.

“Woah there, Twilight. My foal won’t be born a bastard,” the white unicorn responded calmly. “I do plan to marry the father.” Travis’ face turned a visible shade of red, which he struggled to hide from Scootaloo and Wingkins, neither of which had been paying attention.

“Twilight’s right though, guys,” Travis said, still blushing slightly. “We really should figure out where this Observatory is.”

The purple unicorn sighed as she leaned forward on her hooves. “Somewhere important to her...” she mumbled, magically pulling a dozen books off the library shelves and placing them in front of her. “Let’s see...Book on why she exists...Book on what she did...Sequel describing how she did it...Another sequel on the ponies involved...All of these are useless!” Twilight yelled, slamming her head onto another book. “Ugh. Not the smartest thing I’ve...hello-o-o-o...’Important Locations of Equestria’s Wars’, published a few years ago,” she said as she lifted her head up. The mare opened the book and flipped through the pages. “‘Nightmare Moon’s Uprising’...Only three. This castle; an old, dead town; and...Well, she’s not in the last one.” Twilight slammed the book shut.

“Why not?” Scootaloo and Wingkins asked simultaneously.

“It was a building in Manehattan...’Was’ being the keyword. It was knocked down years ago, and Brandy bought up the property,” Twilight explained. “Scoots, gather up say...Two, maybe three dozen other ponies, and go to the town on page 1087,” she continued, magically passing the book over to the orange pegasus. “And Wingkins, you and Travis gather up a dozen others and search the castle some more. If either of your groups finds anything, let me know ASAP.”

__________________________________________________________________________

“It only took them a week to tell me neither the castle nor the town held the observatory, or anything like it...Though I had remembered one final place it could have been, and sent a squad of scouts to search it.”

“The old castle in the Everfree Forest. Scouts informed me of a number of groups of Nightmare Guards in about a mile radius of the castle.”

“We were to prepare for another assault immediately.”

__________________________________________________________________________

Twilight was again in the black void she visited when she slept. “Good, I’ve got some things to ask you, Death!” she called. After a while with no response, the darkness faded away, and Twilight saw three ponies and a dragon on a massive, old, mossy bridge over a canyon...A brown coated, blonde pegasus standing in the way of a leather wearing orange pony with a green mane; a purple unicorn with a pink and purple braided mane; and a tall purple and green dragon with at least five different weapons and a shield on his back and waist.

“Wait, is that...That’s me!” Twilight said, shocked, as the purple unicorn in front of her took a step towards the brown pegasus in her way. “Too far away to hear them, though...and I can’t seem to move, either. Joy.” As the Twilight on the bridge spoke, she looked behind her nervously. After a while, the orange pony seemed to teleport to the pegasus in front of him, and placed the blade of a dagger to the brown pony’s throat. A short while later, the brown pegasus stepped aside, and allowed the three to pass. The orange pony stopped immediately after passing the pegasus, and released a powerful kick to Wingkins’ leg, letting out an audible crack, and a cry of pain.

Shortly after, as an earsplitting screech filled the air, a dark creature appeared. “Enjoying yourself, Philosopher? I know seeking knowledge is in your nature, but I sadly must ask you to avoid that period of time,” Death said, snapping his shadowy fingers, returning Twilight and himself to the black void. “I cannot allow you to view any of your friends’ deaths...Now, you mentioned some questions?” the shadowy figure asked, sipping from a small pink cup that was previously absent.

Twilight glared at Death, enraged that she would be unable to stop another friend’s death. “Yes. I was informed that your children were the cause of death for many ponies that simply wished for freedom,” she said, holding her rage back.

Death silently suspended his cup in midair. “I suppose you are the perfect pony to tell...but first, they are technically not my ‘children’...They are more like my...spawn,” he said, conjuring a cup similar to his filled with tea, before handing it to Twilight. “A thousand years ago, one of my spawn joined with Nightmare Moon, and possessed the corpse of an alicorn that the evil one had created, and convinced her that my remaining three could be...persuaded, to follow in his steps,” the dark creature explained, cup back in hand. “Fortunately, your Celestia stopped Nightmare Moon, and by extension, my spawn, from corrupting the others. Though with the return of Nightmare Moon and the first of my spawn to betray me, the others felt afraid, and joined them to protect themselves...More tea?” Death continued, conjuring a steaming tea kettle, which Twilight refused. “No? Very well. As I was saying, my last three spawn joined Nightmare Moon to protect themselves, and possessed your friends.”

“You mean Fluttershy Rarity and AJ, right?” Twilight asked, slowly calming down.

“Indeed. Do not worry about them, though...They have been dead since the day you saw the princesses sacrifice themselves, and I have protected their souls since.” Death reached into his robe and removed a biscuit. “I protected them so I would have leverage to ask you this...” he said, staring directly into the purple unicorn’s eyes. “Destroy my spawn. Let them cause no more pain or suffering. Burn their souls from their bodies, destroy the bodies if you must. Just end them.”

Twilight shook her head. “You’re pretty terrible at this, you know,” she said. “You come in here with a tiny pink cup filled with...minty tea, and you tell me something that equates to ‘everypony who’s died has done so because one of my kids hated me’. Couldn’t you at least make something dramatic up? I mean, if you know when everypony is going to die - which you pretty much must, by the way - then you probably know other things, like everything that is going to happen EVER, blah blah blah. Look, my point is you’ve had THOUSANDS OF YEARS to think something up, and the best you can come up with is family issues?” The purple mare gave Death a disappointed look. “Think of something good for next time, okay?”

__________________________________________________________________________

Twilight jolted up in her bed. As she looked around her empty room, she remembered her dream. “Did I seriously tell DEATH that he wasn’t dramatic enough?” she thought as she facehoofed. Around her hoof, she noticed Spike wasn’t in his bed. “Must be breakfast...He really loves Celestia’s old ‘guest’ bed.” The purple unicorn got out of bed and stretched before opening her door and leaving. As she exited her room, she noticed an orange pony leaving the room next to hers. “Morning, Travis,” Twilight said to him, startling him. “Vinyl give you some love last night?” She smirked, causing her friend to blush.

“N-No. She, er...um...” Travis stuttered. “Sh-She called for me and asked me to get her some breakfast?” he said, nervously voicing it as if it were a question.

Twilight laughed in response. “Alright then, bud. Let’s get some food."

__________________________________________________________________________

“Just a normal morning, really. We ate, we joked, we laughed, and we avoided the topic of the events of the day after as much as we could,” the queen said. “Spike had said he had a surprise for me, and that it would really help us fight Nightmare Moon, though.”

__________________________________________________________________________

“Alright, Twi, it’s just through this door,” Spike said, leading the purple unicorn to the courtyard. “Just remember, this counts as your warning.”

“Yes, yes, Spike, you’ve said that a half dozen times al...ready...” Twilight said as the door opened, revealing a group of straw ponies blazing, an even larger group impaled on a spire of ice, Caladium, and two other alicorns: One pale blue, with a thick horn, and a mane paler than his coat where it grew from his head, but black at the end; The other bright red with a long, pointed horn, and a mane of pure fire. Twilight slowly turned to glare at Spike. “I don’t know if you’re an ass or a hero, Spike,” she said flatly.

The green alicorn noticed Spike and Twilight, and began trotting towards them. “Mornin’ you two! Have a nice breakfast? Hope so!” he said, his voice overly cheerful and bordering on yelling. “Hey, get over here you guys! Don’t even think about talkin’ back, sis’, or I’ll kick your teeth in!” he called, his tone unchanging. “These are my other siblings, Twi. Meet Frostbite...”

The pale alicorn bowed. “Your people are quite kind, miss Sparkle,” he said, his voice neutral. “I didn’t expect anypony would be willing to free me from that gel after it froze.”

“...And Scarlet,” Cal finished, gesturing to the alicorn with a burning mane.

“Make me angry and you die,” Scarlet said, her breath alone causing Twilight to sweat.

Cal’s eye twitched, his smile still firm. “Teeth, sis’,” he said, causing the red alicorn to shudder.

Twilight merely shook her head. “Guess Travis’ll have to whip up some more gear for you-”

“No need, Twilight!” Cal interrupted as loudly as he could. “Hehe, sorry...But yeah, no need. Frostbite’s an expert on defensive magic, and Scarlet, as you know...” The red alicorn growled. “Oh suck it up, sis’. Scarlet can’t use magic, but her body's almost rock-hard,” Cal finished.

“You just like rubbing that in,” Scarlet said quietly, struggling to stay calm.

The green alicorn laughed. “So what if I do? Point stands, we don’t need armor. Let’s head to the war room.”

__________________________________________________________________________

“Our ‘war room’ was simply an old wing of the library,” Twilight explained.“When we arrived, Travis was depositing a book on one of the shelves, and Honeydew and Wingkins were asleep on the top of that shelf.” The queen briefly chuckled. “Scootaloo on the other hoof was brooding at the table...She was the first to realize we’d be taking Nightmare Moon head-first on the anniversary of Rainbow’s death.”

__________________________________________________________________________

“Please tell me we’ve got a plan that’ll work this time?” Honeydew asked, worried that the events of the previous assault would repeat themselves. “I’d rather straight up die than be the last survivor again, y’know? Wasn’t really a pleasant experience.”

“Yes, swee-er, Honeydew, we have a good plan,” Twilight responded, blushing a little. “Me, Scoots, Travis, Spike and Wingkins are going to land on the bridge separating the eastern tower from the main part of the ruins about thirty-five minutes after the distraction,” she explained, thankful that nobody noticed her face or her slip of the tongue. “After we land, we’ll inspect the tower, and then explore the ruins for any clues about the Observatory.”

“Why that bridge, and what if we can’t take it?” Travis asked as he inserted an assortment of small vials into pockets on his armor.

Twilight smiled at the orange earth pony. “Glad you asked. That’s the only bridge remaining, and if, for any reason, we can’t land on the bridge, we’ll go in through the front gate, explore the castle, and then head for the tower,” she responded proudly. “Good enough plan, Honeydew?”

The pale green pony thought for a moment. “What about me and the alicorns?” he finally questioned.

“Me, Frostbite and Scarlet are gonna be part of the distraction,” Cal said, before Twilight could respond. “After all, what’s more distracting than three god-like ponies kicking ass?”

The unmarked purple unicorn nodded. “Indeed. As for you, Honeydew...You’ll be remaining in the castle to take care of Vinyl.” The green earth pony’s jaw dropped. “And you’d better do a good job, too! That foal’s father is one mean son-of-a-bitch when he gets angry,” Twilight whispered the last part to Honeydew, grinning at her lover’s reaction. “Alright everypony, inform all the troops about their roles in the plan and when we’ll meet. Do what you want with the rest of the day!” the purple mare announced loudly.

Scootaloo approached Twilight as the rest of the ponies and Spike left the library. “Twi, please...is there another day we can do this? I mean, I kinda wanted to spend tomorrow at Rainbow’s grave...” the orange pegasus said sadly.

Twilight turned and gave Scootaloo a small smile. “Scootaloo, what made Rainbow Dash special in her last few years of life? Ah, rhetorical question...It was what the princesses gave her,” the purple unicorn said, putting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “The will to fight...the desire for victory. What would be a better way to honor her than a glorious battle for the freedom of thousands of ponies?”

Scootaloo returned the smile at Twilight’s comment. “You make a good point there, Twi. I’m gonna let Vinyl know about this, tell her that Travis’ll be ok, so she doesn’t have to worry about her kid being a bastard, and then I’m goin’ to get some more pancakes. Buckin’ love pancakes.”

Twilight gave the orange pegasus a confused as she left. “How does she know about...Ah screw it.” The purple mare conjured an assortment of mirrors and began braiding her mane and tail. “Pretty sure my mane was braided in that vision...Well, I highly doubt that my hair being different would change much in time, but it couldn't really hurt trying a new style” she reasoned mentally.

__________________________________________________________________________

The clash of steel on steel and the crackling of magical spells could be heard far below as the four ponies and single dragon flew above the battle towards the eastern side of the ancient castle, everypony below oblivious to their presence. “Remember, tower first, then castle!” Spike yelled as he tried to keep his weapons from falling from his mount’s.

“ALRIGHT LET’S DO THIS!” an enthusiastic Wingkins yelled as Travis steered himself closer to the brown pegasus. “LEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY-”

SMACK! The orange pony swung his hoof as hard as he could against the back of his ally’s head. “Because we really want them to know where we are, Leeroy,” he said rudely, holding his hooves in front of him as if he was asking what was going through the pegasus’ head.

Twilight turned her head as she struggled to fly with her frail wings. “Calm down, Travis, we’re almost at the bri-”. The purple mare stopped mid-air as if she’d just flown into a wall. Rubbing her face, she put her free hoof in front of her. “A force field. Not surprising, I guess.” Twilight’s four friends groaned at the news. “Well, we don’t really have time to look for a way around it...Guess we’ve gotta go to plan B and hope we can use the front door.”

As the group headed for the battlefield in front of the ruins, a bright purple lightning bolt flashed across the sky through them and struck Scootaloo. As the orange pegasus fell, her wings began to blow away with the wind, as Rainbow and Pinkie’s bodies had before. “Oh for...” she shouted, before the rest of her began disintegrating.

Before anypony noticed Scootaloo fall, a large purple figure flew from the clouds, sporting massive, dragon-like wings; and a curved, sharply-tipped horn. “Oh fuck it’s him!” Travis yelled, clearly scared witless. “Scraaaamble!” he called as the group dispersed to avoid more electric bursts.

__________________________________________________________________________

Twilight, Spike, Leeroy and Travis landed in an area near the ruins after abandoning their attacker. “You met Voide, I see,” a green alicorn said, startling the group as he emerged from a nearby bush, his voice quiet. “Pretty sure those wings are new.”

Spike immediately turned to Cal with a scared look on his face. “That’s your brother!? Hell, you weren’t kidding when you said we didn’t wanna meet him...I mean, did you see what he did to...” the dragon stopped, the events of the past few minutes only just sinking in. “Man...first Applebloom, then Pinkie...Sweetie Belle...Brandy...Rainbow Dash...and now Scootaloo.” A stream of tears began rolling down the dragon’s face.

Twilight approached her assistant, her horn back and glowing, as she wiped Spike’s face dry. “I already told Scoots this, but the best way we can honor our fallen is by giving Nightmare Moon a helluva fight for her life.”

“I’ve got good news though, guys,” Cal said, turning back towards the bush he came from. The green alicorn’s horn let out a weak glow, and the foliage in front of him moved, revealing the terrain to be completely frozen, and an assortment of ponies frozen solid, including another alicorn. “Storm got cocky, and Frostbite got mad,” he explained before anypony could ask about it. “Former was common, latter wasn’t. Oh, and don’t worry about Scarlet, she said she was gonna go stab some of Nightmare Moon’s henchponies.” Cal’s mouth grew into a little smile as he spoke about his sister and her love of violence.

Travis had been leaning against a tree after abandoning his mechanical wings, almost asleep. As the orange pony shook himself awake, he attempted to get his allies’ attention. “Can we go now? I seriously don’t want that bugger sneaking up on us again, and I’d like to get back to cutting ponies soon,” he said, yawning.

The green alicorn turned to Travis, still smiling. “Probably not. Force field came down a little before you got here, but I’m pretty sure there are about three, maybe four or five dozen guards in the castle still, and since you met the crazy brother in the air, the front gate would still be your best bet,” Cal stated. When he heard of the ponies in the castle, the orange earth pony’s bored expression turned to one of glee, before he ran off towards the ruins, with Spike, Twilight and Leeroy following him.

__________________________________________________________________________

“Five swords, a bow, a quiver, and a shield,” Twilight had thought since she had entered the ancient castle of the royal sisters with her group. “Five swords and a shield...Three ponies and a dragon...My hair...Everything is going along just like in my vision.” The group stopped as the hall turned pink, and the air was filled with tiny arcing bolts. Twilight turned to see the huge starry alicorn they had encountered materialize about thirty feet behind her.

As the air hummed, a single thought that wasn't their own went through the group’s heads: “I’ve found you.” Voide’s horn began glowing brightly, as a large lightning ball fired from it.

Just before the ball would have impacted Twlight, Spike jumped between the purple mare and the projectile and swung his shield, knocking the purple energy at the wall to his left, knocking it down. “C’mon!” Wingkins called as he jumped through the hole.

Twilight put up a barrier between the group and the alicorn before following her friends. As she entered the next room, she noticed Leeroy silently staring at a mare comforting a small filly. “Mommy, what’s gonna happen to us?” the filly asked.

“Hush, baby...Please, please don’t hurt us...My husband forced us to come here. We just want to go back to Canterlot...please...” the mare begged. Travis pushed Leeroy aside as he approached the two scared ponies.

“Don’t worry. Go that way,” he said, pointing the way they had come. “Take a right, then a left, and go straight. You shouldn’t run into any trouble. If you meet anypony wearing gold armor, tell them Tav sent you their way.” The orange pony patted the mare on the back. “Now haul it, there’s a crazy alicorn hunting us down, and I’d rather not see innocent ponies get hurt.” The mare nodded and put her filly on her back, before galloping through the hole and away from the group. “Alright, let’s go. Our old friend V’ll likely be a bit pissy now,” Travis said, heading for a door on the other side of the room.

Spike opened the door, revealing a tall tower and a large, mossy bridge spanning a canyon. “Oh no,” Twilight thought, fearful of which of her friends would die on the bridge. As the purple mare took a step forward, Leeroy dashed in front of her, blocking her path. “Wingkins, what’re you doing?” she asked, nervously looking over her shoulder to see if Voide had caught up with them.

“Twilight...we can’t keep doing this. Those guard ponies have families for buck’s sake!” the brown pegasus responded, tears beginning to roll down his face. “We killed them for being loyal to Equestria...To their queen!”

Twilight turned back to Leeroy, more angry than nervous now. “Leeroy, if they were loyal to Equestria, OR their queen, they wouldn’t be here! They would be back in Canterlot! When we took Canterlot Castle back, I took over the throne, because we needed a leader!” she shouted.

“It doesn’t matter! They have wives, husbands, FOALS! You would deprive a small filly of her father because of his beliefs!?” the brown pegasus retorted. “We’re done here! We’re giving up!”

“They are loyal to Nightmare Moon! They want eternal nighttime you fool!” Travis said, moving swiftly to place the blade of his dagger to Leeroy’s neck. “Look at it this way, you stupid sack of crap...I have a mare back in Canterlot, and she is very dear to me, as she holds my child. She was already on Nightmare Moon’s hit-list long before I met her. If I...if we give up here, what’ll happen to her? Huh!?” the orange pony said as he struggled to keep his rage in check, and his dagger from entering his ally’s throat. “I’ve already lost a wife...I’ve already lost a daughter...I’ve lost my best FUCKING friends! I AM NOT GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN! MOVE. THE HELL. OUT. OF OUR. GOD-DAMNED WAY, OR I WILL END YOU RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!” as Travis furiously yelled, the pressure he was putting on his blade drew a small amount of Leeroy’s blood. After a short silence, the brown pegasus stepped to the side, and allowed Twilight and Spike to pass. Travis replaced his dagger in its sheath, and followed his purple friends, though he stopped immediately behind Leeroy, and delivered a swift, powerful kick to the brown pegasus’ rear leg, letting out an extremely loud crack, and a louder cry of pain from the victim. “Bitch.”

Twilight immediately turned around and rushed to Leeroy’s aid. As she leaned in towards her ally, her horn let out a soft glow, which coiled through the air and around the shattered leg. “Leeroy, if you really believe what you told us...Then you’re not welcome to fight with us anymore,” the purple unicorn said, helping her friend up. “Go back to Cloudsdale. I don’t want to see you in Canterlot unless I’ve called for you.” Twilight glared at Leeroy as the blond pegasus stood up before flying off. “If I see him again, I’m gonna break both his rear legs.”

The two remaining ponies and Spike continued to cross the bridge as an ear-splitting screech filled the air, and the bridge began to rumble. Within seconds, Travis and Spike had drawn their weapons, and stood ready for combat. “Get goin, Twi. I get the feeling this is gonna turn real ugly real fast, and I’d feel better knowing you were beating Nightmare Moon senseless,” Spike said, striking a corestone arrow on the ground and notching it.

“Aye, he’s right, Sparkle. We can probably handle whatever’s coming,” Travis added, nodding.

Twilight slowly backed towards the tower before turning and galloping towards it. “Oh Celestia, please let the Observatory be in there...”

__________________________________________________________________________

As Twilight entered the tower, the scenery changed drastically. The inside of the tower resembled the foyer of Canterlot Castle, only the ceiling was replaced with a vast terrain of stars. Turning to examine every angle of her surroundings the purple mare noticed that there was no doorway, or even a wall the way she came. “At least I got my wish,” she thought, heading for the stairs. With each step she took upwards, the castle faded more and more into space, and the stars shone brighter. As she continued to climb, a large door began to form further up the stairs.

When Twilight reached the door and attempted to open it, a mysterious voice spoke to her. “Only those who see all as equals may enter.”

“See all as equals?” the purple mare thought. Twilight stood, pondering what the door could be telling her. “Ah, that could work!” The unmarked mare concentrated as hard as she could, and what little color was present in the Observatory faded. Twilight again approached the door and attempted to open it, this time successfully. “So, this is a test to see if I’m ‘worthy’ to proceed?” she thought. “A cliché if I ever saw one.”

As she passed through the door and restored her horn, she stood on a large, wall-less platform with a single other pony. “About time, sugarcube,” Applejack said in an unusual tone, as she lifted her hat to reveal bloodshot eyes.

“Stuff it. I don’t know what your real name is, but I do know you’re not Applejack,”Twilight retorted, magically drawing her sword. “Oh, and by the way, your father said he wants you home!” The purple mare charged and swung her sword, which the blond mare easily dodged.

The corrupt Applejack began shrilly laughing. “Aw, daddy wants me home? Well sucks to be-” a deep roar filled the air, causing the entire observatory to tremble, though neither pony was affected much by the shaking. “Know what? Screw the chit-chat, I’m feelin bloodthirsty NOW!” AJ shouted as she bucked at Twilight.

The purple mare sidestepped her attacker’s hooves and sliced the legs attached to them off cleanly, though a pair of tendrils shot from the stumps and reattached them almost immediately. “Uh-uh, sugarcube, that ain’t gonna work,” Applejack said, clicking her tongue.

“Guess I’ll have to try something different, then.” Twilight responded, as a layer of flame enveloped her sword. The orange mare leapt at Twilight, who again dodged before swinging at AJ’s unprotected torso. The two halves of the pony landed and began writhing, as if something was trying to escape through the charred wounds created by the purple unicorn’s blade. After a short while, the corpse parts stopped moving and began to fade while a massive shadow resembling Death slowly pulled itself from the head.

“Why are you fighting this, you foolish wench?” it rasped, standing up on its tall, thin legs.

“Better question: How are you - a spawn of the grim reaper - so weak that you lost to a single unicorn?” Twilight mocked, spinning her sword in the air. “And in two swings, at that!” As the purple mare taunted her foe, a unicorn with a coat white as snow appeared behind her.

“Oh Twilight...You poor thing, you’re delusional!” Rarity said in a sweet voice, slowly approaching Twilight, who spun around, holding her blade defensively. “Please, allow me to show you the true face of your so-called ‘ally’, Travis...” A tendril of silver light emerged from the white unicorn’s horn, connecting both unicorns.

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Twilight was standing in the front row of a massive crowd in the middle of a town, unable to move. In front of her stood a set of gallows, a strange bipedal creature in heavy armor, and another bipedal creature in a white and blue dress, with a rope tied around her neck. “This woman - Madam Linara Tav - is accused of aiding a high-ranking Lordaeron official in deserting the citizens of a city besieged by the Scourge! She claims her husband was slain by an Abomination whilst aiding said citizens escaping, though she has been unable to supply proof over the years she was held, and as such, is to be executed!”

“Wait...Tav?” Twilight attempted to say, to no avail.

“Travis Tav was one of our Spy Masters, and as such, was entrusted with many secrets that could lead to the downfall of the Alliance, and with his disappearance, we must believe that somebody aided him in escaping, and as such, caused the deaths of hundeds of citizens!” the armored man continued shouting, as a hooded man beside Twilight seemed to struggle with his rage.

“This guy’s logic is...odd, to say the least,” Twilight thought, as a short green creature pulled the hooded man down towards him and whispered something to him, before the scenery changed back to that of the Observatory.

“You see, darling, your friend Travis abandoned his family...He allowed them to execute his beloved wife, when he was right there...He has shown he is a coward, and unwilling to save those he has the power to save.” Rarity laughed as she disappeared.

The purple unicorn turned calmly, and channeled her magic into her blazing sword, turning the flame surrounding it a bright yellow. “That was probably the most random thing I've seen, and honestly? I can’t really say I’m convinced.” Twilight reared back and swung her blade, sending out a massive wave of holy fire, burning the shadowy creature and sending it to the afterlife. “Me soul on fire feeling hot hot hot.” Sparkle laughed and sheathed her sword, continuing to climb the staircase.

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“The stairs led me to a door that required a pony with the ‘knowledge to understand it’,” the queen stated. “The door took me somewhere I could not have imagined in my worst nightmares. The entire time I was there, I was surrounded by creatures much like the ones from the vision Rarity showed me.”

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Twilight stood on one of the five large platform surrounding a churning whirlpool, staring at the massive abomination of a dragon clinging to the ground in front of her. “YOUR ARMOR MEANS NOTHING. YOUR FAITH, EVEN LESS,” the dragon roared, seemingly making no attempt to defend the tentacle that was being attacked by almost two dozen small bipedal creatures.

“Mom?” Twilight heard, turning around to see an alicorn as dark as the midnight ocean, with a golden mane seemingly made of stars staring back at her. “What are you doing he-” a massive metal spike struck the alicorn. As the purple mare struggled with the scene that had just unfolded in front of her, her head began to hurt, as if somepony had stabbed her brain with a burning chunk of steel. Every other creature on the platform began shouting or crying in pain, until a female wearing extremely thick armor tore the spike from the ground and threw it through the tentacle at the dragon.

“SUCK ON THAT, YA BIG UGLY BASTARD!” she yelled, her voice strained as if she was losing it, with a slight echo.

As the tentacle receded into the water, all of the armored woman’s allies stared at her with fearful expressions on their faces. “Hot damn!” a familiar voice spoke. A thin, leather-clad creature wielding two daggers smacked her on the back as he ran by, and leapt across the gap between the platform Twilight was on and the adjoining one.

The purple mare still stood, stunned by all that had happened wherever she was, staring across the water at the group of heroes mercilessly attacking the wounded dragon until the world around her faded, and she floated in darkness. For what seemed like hours, she thought about what the scene could have meant, until a strange idea entered her mind. “Wait...What if that had no meaning whatsoever? What if it was just meant to keep me from continuing?” Twilight suddenly felt solid ground under her hooves, as a walkway of stars formed beneath her, leading to a third door. “Though that doesn’t explain that alicorn...Who could she have been? Why did she call me ‘mom’...?”

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As the queen finished describing the strange world, she gave her daughter a questioning look from the corner of her eye.

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Twilight approached the door and attempted to open it. “Do you have the will to end it all?” it asked.

“Yes, I have the will. I’m going to finish this, I’m going to protect Equestria as long as I live, and nopony will stand in my way!” The large wooden door creaked as it opened.

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As Twilight entered the final doorway, she was met with the sight of a glorious moonlit chamber resembling the throne room in Canterlot, though with only three walls, as well as her three remaining foes. “So glad you could make it, Sparkle,” Nightmare Moon said, spitting the last word. “Please, have a seat, enjoy the show.” The alicorn’s horn began glowing, its aura spreading to Fluttershy and Rarity. As the black alicorn started chanting, a bright light flashed, and the three ponies could be heard cackling. After the light subsided, Twilight looked up to see a dark red alicorn with a mane of dripping blood and whiteless eyes to match; and a gray one, who’s mane was like eternally blowing ash. “Meet the spawn of Death in their true forms!” Nightmare Moon shouted, as the two flying alicorns divebombed towards Twilight.

The purple mare’s eyes flashed blue, signalling her wings to replace her horn, before she slid to the side and bucked the gray alicorn in the side, exploding it into a cloud of smoke. Twilight continued to dodge her second foe until it stumbled, giving her an opportunity to strike. In one fluid motion, the purple pegasus drew her sword and sliced her attacker’s head off. Twilight stabbed her blade into the starry floor as the second alicorn’s body splashed into a pool of blood, and turned to face Nightmare Moon. “Are you kidding me? These guys can’t be this weak!” she yelled, the remains of her foes moving towards the center of the room.

“Mother Moon, forgive us for making you wait to see this foolish mortal’s end!” two voices simultaneously said, as a golem of blood-red ash slowly formed in front of Twilight, who simply scowled.

“I just easily downed two alicorns, and they combined to form something that - lemme guess - is ‘unbeatable’? Totally not cliché,” the purple pegasus said in an unsurprised tone. “You’re terrible at this, y’know that?” she shouted at the black alicorn observing the battle, before pulling her sword from the ground.

As the golem readied itself to attack, Twilight leapt at it, using her wings to propel herself higher. As swiftly as she could, the purple pegasus thrust the blade into her foe’s chest and leapt back, her eyes flashing a bright gold. As her reclaimed horn began glowing, a mass of electricity sparked from it. With a near-deafening CRACK, a bolt of bright blue lightning shot from Twilight’s horn and struck her sword, electrocuting the golem, and engulfing it in azure flames.

After landing, the purple unicorn, ignoring her sword, slowly approached her final foe. Nightmare Moon, in an attempt to impale the approaching mare, charged at her head-first. Twilight magically leapt above the attacking alicorn, and landed on her back, knocking her to the ground. “Don’t you even think about trying to escape, you rat-bastard,” she said, telekinetically snapping Nightmare Moon’s horn off as close to the base as she could, and crushing the bones in her wings. Before stepping off of her foe’s back, Twilight drew glowing chains from the ground, trapping the alicorn’s legs. “Any last words before I end you, you disappointment of a tyrant?” she asked as she glared into her enemy’s eyes, making her experience the fear she had sown across Equestria. As the color faded from the Observatory, Twilight looked around. “Oh for Celestia’s sake, not again!”

“Halt, Sparkle. This is not your destiny,” the familiar shadowy creature that was Death said as he emerged from the ground. “Please join us once more, Warrior...And you as well, Judge,” as the reaper spoke, Twilight felt weaker, and two glowing orbs floated from her chest, each moving to a different side of her. To her left, a cyan pegasus with a wispy rainbow mane and an animated blue flame on her flank, wearing brightly shining armor appeared; To her right, a blindfolded pink earth pony with a straight mane and a scale cutie mark that shined nearly as much as the other’s armor.

“What the hay is going on here!?” Twilight asked loudly, confusion filling her voice.

“If you must know...The outcome of this entire war was planned, though the events that took part throughout it strayed from their paths,” Death responded as he hovered over to the trapped alicorn. “Due to how the spirit realm works, I am forbidden from prematurely ending any living creature’s life without permission from a Spiritual Judge...Such as your friend, Pinkamena.” The reaper gestured to the blindfolded pony. “Sparkle, you and miss Dash were supposed to protect her, and guide her here...But alas, she was captured and executed. Thankfully for all of ponykind though, I had convinced her to entrust her soul to a friend of her choice...And she chose you, as did Rainbow Dash.”

Pinkie stepped forward and examined Nightmare Moon. “Spawn of Discord, I know of all your past deeds, and I know of the pain and chaos you have brought upon thousands of innocent ponies, as well as the corruption their souls endured,” she spoke in a strangely dignified tone. “Nightmare Moon, daughter of chaos, I sentence you to eternal damnation! Do as you wish, reaper.”

“As you command, Your Honor.” The shadowy creature destroyed the crippled pony’s bonds before thrusting an arm into her torso. After Death tore Nightmare Moon’s soul from her body, she began attempting to crawl away.

“F...Father Discord...Help me...Help your daughter...please...” she struggled to say as she faded into nothingness.

“It is done...Now, raise the sun, Sparkle. Your world has lived in twilight for far too long. It is time it saw the light of day. I am aware of it being the moon’s time to - pardon the pun - shine, but still.” Color returned to the world, and the three spirits disappeared.

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Twilight trotted over to the edge of the starry platform, and took a deep breath. Both the sun and the moon began glowing in unison with her horn, though try as she might, neither of the celestial bodies would move. The purple mare sat, attempting to hold back her tears of failure. “I...I can’t...I can’t move them, and I can’t show Equestria we’ve won!”

“Really now, Twilight Sparkle? I thought I taught you better than that.” A pure white hoof turned the unicorn around, and she sat face-to-face with Princess Celestia. “You cannot move them...yet,” the princess said, pulling three glowing spheres from her student’s body. “Only an alicorn can control the celestial bodies, and while you possessed all you needed to become one, they cannot be used separately.” As the three orbs spun closer and closer to each other, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie briefly reappeared, this time as they did before their deaths, before fading as Nightmare Moon had done.

“Twilight Sparkle, I bestow upon you the power of the rulers, and grant you the title of ‘alicorn’!” The spheres began glowing brighter as they approached each other, until they emitted one final flash of light upon contact. As the light subsided, Twilight found herself alone in the Observatory, taller than before, with both wings and a horn. She again turned to the edge of the platform, as a voice spoke in her head. “Attune yourself with the celestial bodies, Twilight.” The alicorn nodded.

Twilight took in yet another deep breath, and her horn glowed brighter than ever before, its aura surrounding the sun and the moon, causing both to glow a bright purple as they slowly moved across space. As the celestial bodies moved, the new alicorn felt a tingling on her flank, and turned to view it: A sun with a crescent moon overlapping a portion of it.

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Travis, badly wounded, held the near-dead, heavily burnt and smoking Spike’s head off the ground. “Well, there you have it, buddy...She won. We won. The sun’s up, and even a beautiful shade of purple...just like Twi.” An admiring silence remained until the orange stallion placed his friend’s head back on the cobblestone bridge, reached for a book hanging from the dragon’s armor, and cut the rope tying it to him. “I’ll give this to Twilight, buddy...You just rest. The afterlife is hell...You’ll need the energy.” Travis sat in silence, mourning the loss of another friend.

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“Hence the Twilight Dawn,” Twilight said over the sobbing of thousands of ponies. “After the funerals, I spent the next twenty years mourning the fallen daily, until Honeydew convinced me it was time to move on. He proposed to me and I made him into an alicorn...Though with my magic not being quite as strong as a natural alicorn’s, he turned into, more or less, a glorified earth pony.” The queen stepped away from her podium. “Now, citizens of Equestria, it’s about time for me to raise the sun. I thank you for listening to my story, and I congratulate you on being the last generation to witness the Twilight Dawn,” she said before teleporting away.

The crowd of ponies all looked to the east as a bright purple glow filled the sky, and cheers filled the air.

__________________________________________________________________________

Seven days later

Twilight was lying on her bed, waiting for the king to return, when the air went cold. “Hello, old friend. It is nice to see you again,” the tall shadow by the door said.

“I can’t really say the same to you, sadly,” Twilight responded with a smirk. “I suppose you’re here for a reason, then?” The queen stood up and approached Death, each step making her smaller, and causing her wings to fade more and more.

“Yes...Your friends are awaiting you.” The reaper opened the door to reveal a large, shining city that seemed to stretch forever, with five ponies and a purple dragon waiting. “After you, miss Sparkle.”

As Twilight entered the door, she looked back. "You're still terrible at drama."

Chapter 1

The Dawn Mother’s Tale

My Little Pony fanfic by Ertzert

I own absolutely nothing featured in this story. Credit for everything goes directly to Hasbro.

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Part 1

Even though it was just past midnight, there was a massive crowd at the Ponyville graveyard, where colts were making attempts to woo their marefriends, and groups of mares were gossiping madly, though the topics were all the same: The 100th anniversary of the Day of the New Dawn, and the 80th celebrated. This day became special when a group of fighters led by Twilight Sparkle and friends defeated the returning Nightmare Moon. On every fifth anniversary, the queen, referred to by many as the Dawn Mother, would take an entire day to retell the story to any and all that would listen, before raising the sun.

The ceremony was usually held in front of the Ponyville memorial graveyard, and this year would be no different, though prince Dawn, the bright orange colt, with a mane reminiscent of the spring sky; and his sister Dusk, the genius mare bearing a striking resemblance to Princess Luna, save for her golden, starry mane, would be gracing the citizens with their presence. The queen had told them days before that she had important announcements for the anniversary. “My announcements will bring change to all of Equestria, and being the future rulers of Equestria, you will one day be Equestria. So no, you don’t have a choice,” were the queen’s exact words.

Whenever the story was told, ponies from all across the lands would journey for days to hear it, as it was always told with gusto, and left those that heard it filled with emotion.

The chatter started to die down when a large, purple alicorn, whose wings looked as frail as a twig, sporting an elegantly designed crown of ebony and ivory stepped on stage, and cleared her throat.

“Citizens; friends; family,” the queen began. “Before today’s ceremony starts, I have some important announcements. Firstly, I wish to state that this shall be the last time I tell of the Midnight War that took place a century ago,” the queen’s opening statement brought forth many gasps from surprised ponies. “As I was not born an alicorn, I fear that I have overstayed my welcome on Equestria, and I do not want anypony to be surprised when I die,” the princess briefly paused to allow the message to sink in, before continuing. “My grand prophecy has been fulfilled, my bloodline shall continue, and my rule has been seen as one of peace and tolerance, and it is for these reasons that I pass on the responsibilities of the sun and the moon onto my son and daughter, Dawn and Dusk Sparkle.” The queen’s second announcement was met with applause, roaring cheers, and the sound of three jaws simultaneously hitting wood. “In addition, my husband shall be taking over all governmental tasks, as he has yet to truly do anything more than sit on the throne eating pork rinds,” the queen noted, chuckling at her family’s reaction.

“B-but Twilight, sweetie, are you sure the twins are ready for that kind of responsibility? I mean, they’re still technically only children, and my magic is getting better, albeit very slowly...” the pale-coated alicorn known to all as King Honeydew, named for the fruit his palette resembles, nervously whispered to Twilight.

“Dear, I’m 126 years old, and you’re going on 129. We are not natural alicorns, we should have died decades ago. As well as that, our children need to grow up,” Twilight noted in the motherly tone she used so often. “They are the closest this world will ever have to the old pure blood alicorns, and your magic was always weaker than a newborn’s, and you know it,” Twilight continued with a hint of glee, before turning back to the audience. “To conclude, citizens, tonight will most definitely be the final Twilight Dawn,” the final announcement was met with a barrage of various negative outbursts, mostly from the younger ponies.

After a short time of loud jeers and thrown rocks, Princess Dusk began to feel her mother had dealt with enough disrespect. The young princess cleared her throat as loudly as she could, to no avail. With a quiet sigh, she yelled at the top of her lungs: “QUIET, YOU UNGRATEFUL CURS!”. Her outburst was met with a sharp whistle and a nervous chuckle from her brother, in addition to a wall of completely frightened faces. A number of foals could be heard crying.

“Er, thank you, Dusk sweetie,” Twilight remarked, her daughter’s face splashed with an overly satisfied grin. “As you all know, I and five other ponies defeated the spirit of chaos, Discord, one hundred and twelve years ago. What nopony knew until eight years after, though, was that he had siphoned what evil had remained in the moon princess Luna’s heart before our final confrontation. This evil had grown over those years into the being of pure hatred we all knew as Nightmare Moon. The story of the return and downfall of the greatest threat Equestria has ever seen, begins the day before she made her presence known, one hundred and four years ago...”

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“Thank you all so much for coming, you guys,” said Twilight Sparkle cheerfully.

“You really don’t need to thank us, Twilight, at least not if the princess told you to get us here to meet a chariot,” responded Rainbow Dash. “Seriously. Legally, we have to do anything she asks us to. ANYTHING,” she continued, suppressing a shudder.

“Please, Twilight, refresh my memory...why did the princess need to see us?” inquired Rarity.

“The letter she sent me just told me to gather you here, because the princess felt something big and bad was going to happen soon, and that Luna and her didn’t feel safe,” Twilight stated, slightly annoyed at having to repeat herself.

The sound of three sets of hooves hitting the ground sounded outside, immediately followed by the clatter of wheels, signalling the arrival of the chariot.

“That was fast. Might as well return the favor and hurry along, y’all,” Applejack stated, before trotting out the door.

“Spike, take care of the library while we’re at the castle!” Twilight called, following Applejack.

The ride to the home of the royal sisters would be long, and the chariot would be filled with the sounds of the six ponies speculating on what could make the princesses feel endangered.

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As they arrived in Canterlot, Twilight and her friends were greeted by Princesses Celestia and Luna, as well as a large group of armed guards.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” the solar princess greeted the six mares, clearly nervous. “I apologize if I worried you with my letter, but Luna says-”

“The stars told me that something terrible is coming, and that it’s going to usher in a time of...of...just all sorts of horrible things!” Princess Luna blurted out, not even trying to hide her fear.

Celestia let out a sigh. “Yes, exactly. We’ll explain later, after dinner. In the meantime...” the princess continued, gesturing for a group of guards to follow each of the Elements of Harmony. “Allow these guards to escort you to your quarters. Please, for your sakes, do not leave them.” Celestia and Luna turned and left, but not before calling back: “We shall send for you all when the meal is served. Please, make yourselves at home.”

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An hour had passed since the Elements’ arrival in Canterlot, and Twilight was trotting through the castle hallways, searching for the royal library, her protectors keeping pace. The sun was just setting when a loud bang was heard, followed by the continuous hum of energy.

“Augh! Guards, guards!”

The sudden cry for help caught Twilight by surprise, and sounded like it came from the other side of the castle, though that didn’t stop her and her escort from galloping towards it.

“No, Luna, run, while you-” the cry was cut off by another loud bang, followed by a thunderclap.

“Augh! Guards, hurry! There’s an intruder on the main balcony!”

Twilight had arrived at a balcony to see a huge hole in the wall, an entire platoon of dead guards, and a large, cloaked pony standing above the heavily wounded princesses, cackling manically. Soon after Twilight’s arrival, at least half of the remaining royal guards, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie had appeared.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” called one of the armored ponies.

“You fools. You have all just walked into your deaths. Specters, take them all, then search the castle for the Elements. They must not escape, not after what they did,” roared a familiar, although mysterious voice. Immediately after the order was issued, three spirits flew through the crowd of guards, sucking out their souls as they passed overhead. The now soulless ponies began to attack all in their path with what seemed like an unquenchable thirst for blood.

Nopony saw Princess Celestia get up through the chaos, and she used that to her advantage. Celestia’s horn began emanating a golden light, which formed into a ball of pure energy. As the princess launched the ball, the assassin turned to see it immediately before it impacted their side, igniting their cloak in bright flames.

As the fire cleared, the assassin shook herself back to her senses, before glaring at the princesses. “How DARE you assault the mighty Nightmare Moon!" roared the clearly weakened alicorn that was disguised just moments before. As the assassin’s rage grew, her horn began arcing with dark lightning, striking down guard and zombie alike.

“I suppose you are this 'great evil' that we were warned about?” scoffed Celestia, barely managing to stay on her hooves. “I also suppose that you want something from us."

“Yes, and I don’t plan on leaving here without it,” replied the black mare, slowly approaching the princesses, horn glowing.

The standing princess grinned. “Well, too bad for you, then. Guards! Retreat!” Celestia called, as calmly as she could. “I’m sorry, Luna, but this is the only way we can save our citizens,” whispered the princess of the sun darkly, as Luna struggled to get up.

“Do it,” replied the darker princess as she rose to her hooves, revealing a large charred hole in her side. The royal sisters’ horns began to glow in unison.

As tendrils of shadow shot from Nightmare Moon, the two princesses floated up into the air, surrounded by a shield of pure magic, before being replaced by a single orb of gold and silver light. Everypony stopped to admire the orb, which shattered into three smaller spheres that shot towards Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash before disappearing.

“You heard her, men! Fall back! Protect the Elements we have!” ordered one of the few sane guards remaining.

“Wait! What about Fluttershy, Rarity and AJ?” cried the cyan pony, as the ponies fled the bloodbath.

“We can’t risk going after them! We’ll just have to hope they get out alright!” responded the guard that ordered the retreat. “Just keep running, and lay low after you escape! We’ll make sure they don’t come after you!” the armor clad pony called as he and three other guards turned to face the charging onslaught of corrupt ponies. “See you in hell, friends.”

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Upon escaping, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie hid in an alley, discussing where they should go to hide.

“Maybe we could go to the Town Hall in Ponyville? We could try and convince everypony of what happened...” reasoned the cyan pony, restlessly pacing around as much as the enclosed space allowed.

“No, Nightmare Moon might expect us to hide somewhere in Ponyville, since that’s where our first encounter was, and that’s...that's not a risk I want to take...any ideas, Pinkie?” panted Twilight, before turning to face the party pony.

“Well, my uncle owns a business around here, so we might be able to hide there for a bit,” Pinkie said, peeking out of the alley. “Come on, it’s just down the street, I can take you there.”

A short time later, the three elements arrived at a bar. As the three mares entered the building, the bell above the door rung.

“Hey, it’s my favorite goddaughter an’ her friends! How are ya, Pinkie?” the aged brown unicorn behind the bar cheerfully said upon seeing the girls.

“Not too good, sir. Let me explain...” responded Twilight, interrupting Pinkie and talking over her objections.

“Alright, but first, lemme get you some drinks, on the house. Pick yer poison, girls,” the pony said, motioning to the wide variety of bottles he had arranged on the shelf behind the bar, including one labelled “Oak Brandy - Manliest drink in Canterlot!”.

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“So lemme get this straight...that crazy bitch Nightmare Moon came back again, tried to kill the princesses, and that three of yer friends are missin’, right?” asked Brandy, owner and sole barkeep of the aptly named tavern “Brandy’s”, after Twilight had finished recounting the events at the castle.

Brandy’s was a cozy little place, with an assortment of couches, stools, recliners, old radios, and a large brick fireplace on the wall opposite the door.

“Tha’s pretty...pretty mush it, *hic* Branny. Hey, gimme another bottle of whiskey,” slurred the extremely drunk Rainbow Dash.

“Little lady, you’ve emptied half my supply yerself. It’s a miracle you’re still conscious, let alone alive. Just...just go over there and take a rest on the couch, will ya?” responded Brandy, a combination of worry and annoyance evident in his words. Rainbow Dash grumbled as she stumbled over to the furniture the brown pony mentioned, before passing out on the couch.

“Any idea what could have caused that craziness, uncle Brandy?” questioned Pinkie, following Luna’s example on hiding fear.

“I’m not sure that even Pinkie could find a reason to be cheerful in this situation...” thought Twilight.

“I think I read something or other about that in one of these old books I got from the library,” responded Brandy, as he dug around behind the bar. “Ah, here it is!” he said as he slammed a dusty book on the bar. Opening the book, the bartender skimmed over most of the pages. “Right here. ‘True chaos never dies, and as such, is present in the hearts of ponies that once fell victim to it. As it can never be dismissed, it is possible for a being of great power to harvest the chaos, and implement it into something else, to halt the damage it could do...or release it, though the being in question would have to be as powerful as a god, and it can take anywhere between five years, to a full decade for released chaos to become powerful enough to do anything significant. In addition, only highly concentrated chaos - I.E an immense hatred towards somepony or something - would last long without a host.” Brandy finished, closing the book. “Know of anypony that could have done something like that?”

The two conscious mares sat, thinking, until Twilight spoke. “I can only think of one, but he’s not a pony...Discord. We defeated him about...what, eight years ago? Either way, he seemed to at least think he had a trick up his sleeve,” the intellectual unicorn continued. “And since it's Nightmare Moon, maybe Discord found time to take that chaos from Luna...”

“I guess it’s possible...did you find anything else, uncle?” Pinkie asked.

The brown pony thought for a moment before responding. “Well, since you mentioned orbs and spirits and whatnot, yes.” Brandy took out yet another book, and slammed it on top of the first. “This book says somethin’ to the effect of ‘to become a true ruler, one must possess three traits; Wisdom, the will to fight until the end, and a sense of justice. An alicorn possessing any of these traits may bless a pony they deem worthy with them, though the blessing involves splitting the spirit of the alicorn from the body. In addition, if a non-alicorn possesses a trait in great enough concentration, they may also pass it on, though only after death.’ The book’s description and yours are about the same,” continued the bartender. “Maybe the princesses passed those traits on to you three? I mean, you kinda assumed a lot just from who the assassin looked and acted like for one, Twilight.”

“And about the spirits?” questioned Twilight, before quickly adding: “Please don’t ramble on about it if you do know anything.”

“Can't say I do know anything," Brandy responded.

After a short silence, Pinkie spoke up, looking confused. “Hey, Twilight, what happened to your cutie mark?”

“What are you talking about, Pinkie? My cutie mark is...” Twilight responded, before looking at her flank. “My cutie mark is...gone! What about yours? Did it go away?” Twilight asked, panic evident in her voice.

The pink pony examined her own flank, almost falling off her stool in the progress. “Weeeeeeeeell now that you mention it, seems my mark is...some sort of scale? And are those wings?” Pinkie gasped. “Maybe Brandy's right, and I'm supposed to pass judgement on people, like that Death Note comic!” she continued in an excited voice.

“So I stand corrected,” the purple unicorn thought.

Twilight gathered her thoughts before speaking again. “Man, this is all so strange,” the lavender mare hung her head low, knowing that there were too many questions that needed answers she couldn’t supply.

The conversation had awoken Rainbow Dash, who trotted over to the group, only a little tipsy. “Speaking of cutie marks...” Rainbow turned, so the other ponies could see her side. “Mine changed, too. Looks like a blue fire or something. And if what you said is true, barkeep, then it must be...what did you say, gramps? A representation of the ‘Will to fight’?” questioned the cyan pony, attempting to make air-quotes with her hooves. The old pony simply glared in response to the derogatory remark.

“Ok you three, if Nightmare Moon is back, then you’d best do something about it,” Brandy said, suddenly serious. “Gather up all the ponies you can find, let ‘em know what happened to the princesses, why we’ve been stuck at dusk the past twenty-four or so hours, and tell them all to meet here say, a week from tomorrow. Just lay low in your homes when you’re done gettin’ recruits,” he continued. “This town ain’t safe anymore, bein so close to evil like that, and since I’ll be packing up to move to a new place in Manehattan soon anyways, here isn’t a good place to stay. I made a deal a few weeks ago, got a nice big hotel already paid for. You can all stay there when we arrive, free of charge,” Brandy said, before turning to Rainbow Dash. “Now, do you mind telling me how in the hay you sobered up so quickly?” The cyan pony simply chuckled nervously and shrugged in response.

Twilight bid farewell to Pinkie, as well as Brandy and Rainbow Dash, who were now arguing about how sober a pony would become after sleeping for an hour, and left for Ponyville to collect anything that she may need. “Early bird catches the worm, Twilight,” the unicorn said under her breath as she left the bar.

__________________________________________________________________________

Twilight’s first thought upon arriving in Ponyville was to head home and give Spike a list of ponies to send Brandy’s instructions to.

Spike was outside the library, watering the hanging plants, when he saw Twilight galloping towards him. A second before the mare impacted her assistant’s ladder, he had leapt into the library’s branches. “Woah, Twi. You gotta slow down some. You could’ve really hurt yourself,” the dragon said, as he landed on the ground, brushing the leaves off himself. "Or me!"

Twilight stood up, and shook all the debris from her crash off. She stood half as high as Spike did. “I’m never going to stop being amazed at how tall you got, Spike.” The mare giggled, looking up at Spike.

“Well, you were there when I became a teenager, so you of all ponies should know I’d be hitting a growth spurt. And seriously, you’ve got to stop saying that,” the dragon responded, crossing his arms. “Why were you running at top speed here, anyways? Does it have anything to do with the sun and moon being stuck where they are?”

“You're good, Spike. It's a long story. Let’s get some coffee, and I’ll tell you about it. Better get some parchment, a quill, and some ink, too,” responded Twilight, attempting to fake relief. Spike claims to have gotten over Rarity, but he regularly proved himself wrong. He would not be pleased with the news.

__________________________________________________________________________

“The week had passed, and all the ponies we had gathered met at the bar,” the queen said. “That meeting was the first of many to come, though the last in Canterlot. We all left for Manehattan the next day. It took us two years to do much of anything besides guerrilla actions, but when we did, we relocated to the metro, which we had made the official headquarters of what had been named the Rising Sun,” she continued. “We made no efforts to hide our intentions. We frequently bombed, assassinated, and burnt high value ponies and buildings. We showed them no mercy whatsoever, and they returned the favor.” Twilight paused briefly, and let out a sigh before continuing. “Everypony knew what was coming...but nopony knew when.”