Shrouded in Fearby TinnyPiano26ChaptersNightmaresThe BookFire and DeathDefeat Inside, Darkness OutsidePonyville Burns"So He Doesn't Win"The Heart of the EverfreeNot Over YetOriginsThe VoidRebornThe EndGreetingsNightmares"Where am I? Is this a dream? I just want to leave..." Twilight began to wonder to herself as she walked through a seemingly endless black void. She blinked, only to tear her eyes open once more to keep herself from seeing images of a burning Ponyville, accompanied by the sounds of all her friends screaming in agony. She continued for a little longer, trying her hardest to keep her eyes open, when she heard a soft chuckle behind her, making her whip around, ready to attack. However, what she saw made her walk back in fear, for she was face-to-face with a large, seemingly mutated pony with remnants of flesh still left on it's bare bones, including it's cutie mark, which brandished an image of the sun. Appearing to stare right into her eyes, the horrifying creature said in a distorted, demonic voice, "Why...? Why didn't you warn us...?" Twilight woke up in a cold sweat, yelling from the nightmare. Her door burst open, revealing a guard whose eyes instantly focused on her. "Is everything alright, Princess Sparkle?" She nodded her head, reassuring him, "Yes, I'm fine, don't worry." After lingering for another few seconds, the gruff pony nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him as he did so. Laying back down in her bed, Twilight stared at the ceiling and began to think to herself, "Why do I keep having these nightmares?" The thought of returning to that nightmare kept her awake the rest of the night, depriving her of any sleep she could've possibly gotten. When morning came, she slowly got up and walked out of her bed chambers, being escorted by a guard to the royal mess hall, all the while, a constant thought ran through her head, "So tired... I need some sleep..." When she reached the mess hall, she walked up to a gruff pony, whose job it was to serve her breakfast, and retrieved her usual breakfast; two eggs with a small side of hash browns, on her request. She walked over to a table near him and sat down next to Celestia and Luna, Cadence seemingly absent. "That's strange... Cadence is always here for breakfast..." She shrugged it off and began to eat her breakfast while making small talk with the two princesses on the other side of the table. They talked for a short while about small things (politics, Equestria's economy, etc.) before memories of the horrible nightmare she had last night came flooding back to her after she accidentally looked down at Celestia's cutie mark. She closed her eyes and repeated in her head, "Get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head..." She felt a hoof on her shoulder and opened her eyes, looking up at a concerned Celestia. "Is something wrong, Twilight?" Twilight shook her head and moved out of Celestia's grasp. "No, I'm fine." "Thou art a terrible liar, Twilight." She heard Luna say to her in a rather serious tone. Twilight looked over at her and stared into her eyes, which seemed to say, "Talk to us about your problems." Twilight shook her head and gave in to Luna's stare, saying to Celestia, "Fine, I'll tell you, just not right now." Celestia nodded and continued to eat her breakfast, Luna doing the same after a quick look of concern was shot towards Twilight. Once all three of them were done eating, Celestia proceeded with Twilight to her bed chambers. Once they were there, Twilight sighed and began to explain to Celestia, "I've been having these terrible nightmares for the last few weeks. They've been keeping me up at night, and no matter what I try, I can't get them to leave me alone." Celestia listened intently as Twilight explained her dilemma, and waited another 3 seconds after she was done talking to ask, "Why haven't you come to me about this before?" "I was thinking about doing that about a week ago, but then the nightmares changed..." Twilight trailed off and tried to think of an easy way to tell Celestia about her most recent nightmares. Seeing no easy way to explain it, she continued. "The most recent nightmares were always the same thing; I would show up in a sort of dark void with nothing around me but the sound of my friends screaming in pain, and every time I would close my eyes, I would see Ponyville and everyone living there burning." As Twilight continued, Celestia's eyes began to gradually widen with concern for the purple mare. "And last night was the most vivid, because after a few minutes of that, I heard a soft laugh behind me, and when I turned around, I saw..." She paused for a minute, thinking about whether or not she should tell Celestia what she had seen. "You saw what?" Celestia asked intently. After a few seconds, Twilight reluctantly said, "I saw you, but not as you are now, as a rotting corpse staring at me like you were going to swallow me whole." Celestia's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at Twilight. "And after I had stared at you for about 10 seconds, you asked why I didn't warn you in a horrifying voice that sounded almost demonic. After that, I woke up screaming and I couldn't get anymore sleep because I didn't want to see that again." Twilight finished and opened her eyes, looking at Celestia, who had a rather shocked expression on her face. She sat there for another 2 minutes before asking, "What did it want you to warn me about?" "That's just it... I don't know." The two sat in silence for an hour before Twilight got up and returned to her bedroom without another word. As she laid down in her bed, she couldn't help but think to herself, "What did it want me to warn Celestia about?" The Book1 month later "Please, Luna, I need you to look into my dreams and see if anything is familiar to you." Twilight was having a conversation with Luna about the more recent nightmares that have been plaguing her mind, and was practically begging her to help her with the being in them. "We've told you about 100 times, we haven't been able to see clearly into your mind recently!" "Yes, but you were in your tower when you were trying to. Can't you get a better chance when you're near me?" Luna put her hoof to her chin. She hadn't thought of that before. After a while, she finally gave in. "Very well. Tonight, we shall come and try to enter your dreams again. If it fails, however, then you are on your own." "Thank you, Luna." Twilight shook hooves with Luna and went about her own business, tending to political matters, attending meetings about ties with other parts of Equestria, and more boring stuff you would do if you were royalty. Finally, night came and Twilight prepared for Luna's arrival. After a few minutes, Luna finally came, seeming to float into Twilight's bed chambers. "Here we are. Are you ready, Twilight?" Twilight nodded her head and laid down on her bed, closing her eyes and entering her dream realm. Twilight opened her eyes and was revealed with another black void, same as every other time she was here, but this time, she saw Luna walking towards her. When the night goddess reached her, they shook hooves. "Well, it looks like worked," Twilight observed. "Yes, it seems it did," Luna responded. "Congrats on your achievement, princess." Luna froze as she heard the low voice address her. She turned and shouted to the darkness, "Who dares speak to us?" The dark mass appeared and formed the same face that Twilight saw one month ago, speaking to Luna as it did so. "I dare speak to you. Is that okay, Luna?" Luna backed up and lowered her head, channeling her magic to her horn. "You!" "Yes, me. Were you expecting somepony else?" Luna shot a magic blast at the face but it dissapated and reappeared behind the two princesses, laughing. "Ha! Don't even try, Luna! I know all of your tricks and skills, none of which can actually harm me in this state." Luna turned and stared intently at the face, studying it. Twilight trotted up to Luna's side and spoke to the dark face. "You know each other?" "Yes, Luna was actually--" "Silence!!" Luna screamed at the dark mass, "Why are you here?!" The face sighed and shook itself, then looked back up to Twilight and stared into her eyes. "I'm here because I want to speak with you." It looked back to Luna. "And while I would love to catch up, Luna, I have to speak to Twilight alone." The face contorted into a grimace and Luna disappeared, leaving only a pillar of smoke where she once was. It then turned back to Twilight. "Now, I would like to talk to you about who I am. You see, I'm a being that was created shortly after Celestia and Luna were brought into existence. I was basically their opposite, relishing in and feeding off of the misery, fear, anger, and insanity of other beings. I was able to keep myself hidden quite well, but, eventually, the two princesses found me and banished me from your dimension for eternity. And here I've been for the last 2,000 years, sitting and waiting for the time when I was powerful enough to break free of my prison and return to your world. I'm not strong enough yet, but I'm getting close. That is why I came to you, Twilight." Twilight backed up and stared at the dark mass in front of her. "Why did you come to me?" A small group of black particles removed themselves from the face and smashed together, coming out of it as a large book with a skull marking on the front. "To give you a warning. This book was one of the many ways I was able to drive other beings insane. Simply reading one page of this book will drive anypony mad, even one as smart as yourself, Twilight. Show this to Celestia and tell her exactly this:" The face began to dissapate into nothing. "The end is soon, Your reign is at an end, Darkness will emerge from the light, And your happiness you can never again mend." Twilight woke up screaming and Luna put her hoof over the screaming filly's mouth, putting the room in silence once more. "It's alright, Twilight, you're awake now. What did he tell you?" Twilight hopped out of her bed and started towards the door. "I need to speak to Celestia, now." She spotted the book lying on her bed and quickly grabbed it, afterwards making her way to Celestia's bed chambers, Luna following closely behind. As soon as she knocked on the door, Celestia opened it and looked at Twilight. "Why, hello, Twilight. How are--" She stoopped as soon as she saw the serious and grave look on Twilight's face. Celestia moved to the side and allowed Twilight and Luna to enter, all three of them standing in the middle of the room. "What happened? Does it have something to do with your nightmares?" Twilight nodded and pulled out the book, putting it in front of her. "Yes, it does have something to do with my nightmares. The thing that I told you about that visited me that one time appeared again, but this time it gave me this book and told me to give you a message." She repeated the message to Celestia, making her go wide-eyed. She started pacing around the room looking very unsettled and actually afraid. "This is bad, this is very, very, very bad." She trotted over to Luna. "I thought that banish spell was supposed to last for eternity. What happened?" Luna shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, sister." Twilight walked over to Celestia. "What does this mean, princess?" Celestia looked at Twilight with a look that made her feel so worried, she began to fear the worst. "Something's coming. Something powerful, and I don't know if we can stop it again." Luna stepped in, adding to Celestia's explanation. "And if we can't stop it, we might as well say good-bye to Equestria." Fire and DeathSeveral Days Later... Concentrate, Twilight, concentrate... Twilight was focusing extremely hard as she attempted to break the magic seal that kept the small brown book given to her in her dreams protected. If she could break the seal, she would be able to see the contents of the book without releasing any evil magic. Hopefully. There was a small chance that all the evil magic inside the book would be released and spread all over Equestria, but she needed to know what was inside. After a while of concentrating, she heard the book begin to hiss and she stopped, approaching the book and carefully opening it. Nothing happened, and she breathed a sigh of relief, for she had performed the spell correctly, and now could see the contents with no consequences. She flipped to the first page, only to be greeted with a page full of nothing. She could feel that there was writing there, however, but she just couldn't see it. She looked to see if there was any kind of impression on it to indicate that it once held writing, but to no avail. She didn't know why, but knowing that there's writing that she couldn't see there made her furious. She pounded her hoof on the ground and groaned, only to see the book begin to glow. She leaned over to see what was causing the glow and suddenly felt strangely light-headed, finally falling over and blacking out. Slowly opening her eyes, Twilight observed the surrounding area, finding that it was the streets of Ponyville. How in Equestria did I get here? she wondered to herself. She began to wander around, however, after hearing a small explosion somewhere behind her, Twilight wheeled around to look for the source and saw that house after house was exploding into flames, the explosions slowly getting closer to her. She began to barrel in the other direction, but was slightly slower than the advancing blasts. After a few minutes, she was eventually engulfed in flames. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain, however, it never came. What the...? she thought. She opened her eyes and saw in front of her the ominous form of the Dark One, smiling at her triumphantly. "You're too late, Twilight. Your world is already burning down, along with those you care about," it gloated. Waving it's dark hand to the side, the Dark One showed her the scene of destruction before her. Debris scattered the landscape, and bodies were lying everywhere, most of which were dismembered and rather gruesome to look at. "Your world is gone, and the only thing left is fire and death. You've failed." The face began to dissipate into several smaller faces, which then began to circle around the princess, screaming and pleading. "Help us!" "Why is this happening?!" "Why didn't you help us, Twilight?!" As the faces continued to bombard her with screams, Twilight laid down and began to cry. "Please, make it stop!" she yelled. The screaming ceased and the faces fused together and formed the Dark One's massive presence again. "This can be prevented, but only if you convince the whole of Equestria to swear eternal allegiance to me." the dark being commanded her. Twilight jumped up and glared at the imposing mass before her. "Never! You can't win, not while me and my friends are still alive." she shot at him. The Dark One snickered before bursting into a full-fledged laugh. "Oh, that's precious!" he said between laughs. Twilight continued to glare at the demon as he laughed. After a while, he noticed her stare and stopped laughing. "Oh, you're serious." he commented "Ha!" it began swirling around Twilight in a blur of black. She kept her stance as it was and tried to follow the Dark One as he whirled around her. "You've never fought anything like me, Twilight. I'm more powerful than every living thing in Equestria combined! You have no chance against me." he cockily added. "Friendship always conquers evil, even an evil as powerful as you." The wall of darkness began to close in on her. "Mark my words, Twilight Sparkle; by the end of this, you'll realize that those words are far from the truth." Twilight jolted awake and quickly looked around. She was back in her bed chambers, but there was an odd warmth next to her. She looked next to the brown book in front of her and saw a small glass ball. She lifted it up and observed it's contents, which seemed to be several small fires evenly spaced out from each other. Twilight set the ball down and leaned back in her chair. What could he possibly mean? she wondered to herself. Friendship always beats evil! She looked outside at the small birds that were chirping at her windowsill. Doesn't it? Defeat Inside, Darkness OutsideAs Twilight sat at her window and looked out over the land before her, she couldn't stop thinking about her latest nightmare. The Dark One had said that by the end of all this, she would learn that friendship always winning was far from the truth. Are there any points in history when friendship didn't win? she thought to herself. Taking a history textbook from her vast collection of reading material, Twilight began to look for any events in history where evil was the triumphant one. She found many wars and political fights where a friendship was created, but there was also a fair share of events in which an area of Equestria was utterly destroyed, nothing left but small remains of what once was. One such battle depicted an event where 5,000 acres of land were destroyed by jungle warriors from the Everfree Forest, a battle so brutal that it took days afterwards to clean up all the body parts. This site was about 1 mile away, and it seemed to Twilight to be the perfect place where the Dark One would like to hide out in. Then I'll go there, find the Dark One, and stop whatever he's planning, she decided. Taking a day's worth of supplies, Twilight set out for the battle site to find the Dark One and stop him. 3 Hours Later... Finally arriving at her destination, Twilight decided to stop for a moment and eat lunch. She took off her saddlebags, pulled out a dandelion sandwich, and started eating. She was about halfway done with her food when she heard a soft chuckle off to her left, relatively close by. She put down her sandwich and turned around, finding nothing but a long expanse of grassland. She was about to continue with her lunch when she heard another chuckle, closer this time. She whirled around as she kept hearing chuckling, looking for a source, but to no avail. I can't take this anymore, she thought to herself. She stopped and laid down, catching her breath as the chuckles continued getting closer and closer, louder and louder, until it was so close and loud that her eardrum was about to burst. She whirled around one last time, catching a glimpse of black as it hid behind a pile of rocks. She ran to the rocks to confront the source of the ear-shattering chuckles, but instead found a doll of Princess Luna. More specifically, Nightmare Moon. She levitated the doll to eye level and looked at it, trying to find anything out of place about it. "Hmm, there doesn't seem to be anything... Wait, what's this?" she thought aloud. On the doll was a small purple patch right above the zipper, as if something spilled out of it. She pulled the zipper down and looked inside, finding plenty of stuffing and... "A doll of ME?!" Inside the Nightmare Moon doll was an extremely accurate doll of Twilight as she was now, from her stance to the facial expression she was currently wearing. The doll turned it's head to her and began speaking. "Greetings, Twilight Sparkle," it greeted her. She dropped the doll and backed away. It had the exact same voice as the Dark One. "Uh, hello?" she replied. "The Dark One needs your evil." "My... My evil?" Twilight responded with a wide-eyed expression. "Yes, your evil. Without it, he cannot come forth into your realm." Twilight shook her head and stared at the doll. "I'm not evil, you must be mistaken." "If I'm mistaken, then why did I use your name?" "I'm not evil!" The doll seemed to smile at her as it stood up and trotted over to her. "Every being has a dark side, Miss Sparkle." Twilight yelped as a dark magical aura pinned her hooves to the ground, preventing her from moving. The doll stopped in front of her and turned into a dark smoke, flying up and entering Twilight's muzzle. An excruciating pain shot through her body as the smoke travelled into her very soul and extracted all the evil essence it could find. The smoke began to clump together and form a physical form. Twilight's head shot back as a large, black mass forced itself out through her mouth. The mass landed on the ground and stretched it's arms, looking around at the vast expanse of grass and trees. It turned around and kneeled down in front of Twilight and addressed her. "Hello, Twilight. Good to see you again. And this time..." it said as it held her head up to look into it's eyes. "You're not dreaming." "Hello again, Dark One," she said grimly. "Aw, come on, cheer up. You're the first being on this entire planet," he gestured with his arm, "to see my physical form. You should be thankful." The Dark One released his grip on Twilight and began walking in the direction of Ponyville. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a dimension to destroy." He turned into a dark smoke and flew off, leaving Twilight to lay there, panting and thinking, This is not good. Ponyville BurnsAs Ponyville slowly came into sight, Twilight was horrified to discover smoke and fire covering the small town. She quickened her pace, rushing to Ponyville in hopes that she could still stop the Dark One. As the lavender alicorn reached her destination, however, she saw that most of the buildings were already burned to nothing but ashes, the town seemingly deserted. Twilight slowed down and stopped, stunned by the horrific scene before her, observing the charred bodies of other ponies littering the streets. Twilight bowed her head, tears coming to her eyes, as the situation began to sink in. "It's horrific, isn't it?" a voice said behind Twilight. Her head shot up and turned toward the source of the voice to see a brown stallion with a dark brown mane and an hourglass cutie mark approaching her, a depressed look in his eyes. Twilight turned her head back to the burning remains of Ponyville. "Yeah, it is. I wish I could've done something." she replied. Doctor Whooves stopped beside her and sat down, looking at the devastation before them. "You wouldn't have been able to do anything. It all happened too quick." Twilight looked at the nut-brown pony. "What did?" He sighed and gestured towards the burning wasteland. "A giant black cloud came and started rushing through the houses, setting them all on fire. Many ponies tried to stop the fires, but the cloud rushed over and set most everypony on fire. Those that survived hid from the cloud, taking shelter behind and inside the burning houses. Most of them died. Those that didn't fled from Ponyville in search of help." "Why didn't you leave?" she questioned him. He turned and looked into Twilight's eyes. "I don't really know, myself." Twilight stared into his eyes for a few moments before hearing a distant explosion. She turned her head towards it and saw Canterlot being destroyed. She jumped to her feet and turned back to the Doctor. "Sorry, but that's my home, and I have to save it." she said to him. The brown pony stood up. "Very well. I wish you luck, princess." Twilight nodded and started channeling magic to her horn. The Doctor stood watching her, the look in his eyes becoming more and more worried, and just as Twilight teleported, he grabbed her and went with. As Canterlot ponies rushed for cover from the raging explosions occurring all around them, a bright purple flash enveloped the town square. When it subsided, Twilight and the Doctor stood in the middle of the carnage. Twilight pulled herself away from the brown stallion and looked into his eyes. "What the hay?!" she yelled at him. The Doctor shrugged. "I wanted to come with you. I can't stand being bored. Besides, I've always wanted to visit Canterlot." Twilight rolled her eyes and turned around, just as a black cloud rushed by them and into a building which soon after exploded. It flew out of the top and stopped in front of the lavender mare and the brown stallion and took on the form of a face. "Well, I didn't expect to see you here, princess." It turned to the Doctor. "Who's this? Your coltfriend?" "Shut up, Dark One." Twilight snapped at him. "I came here to stop you, and this is --" "The Doctor," the stallion proudly stated, "just the Doctor." "-- who came with me to stop you." The Dark One floated back, seeming to shake as he did so. "Oh, no. A doctor! I'm soo scared!" He began whirling around the Doctor, laughing maniacally, and started building up a fire, threatening to burn the brown pony alive. Twilight shot a magic blast at the dark tornado, going though it and hitting the building behind. "Say goodbye to your coltfriend!" the Dark One shouted over the sound of rushing wind. Suddenly, the dark mass screamed in pain and rushed off towards the Everfree Forest. Twilight looked up and saw Princess Cadence floating down, her horn glowing. As he hooves touched the ground, she trotted to the lavender alicorn and wrapped her forelegs around her neck, embracing her. "Are you alright, Twilight?" she asked. Twilight returned the hug and replied, "Yes, I'm fine, Cadence. Thank you." The Doctor shakily got up and rubbed his forehead. "Oh, geez, that felt weird." Cadence broke the embrace with Twilight and trotted over to the brown stallion, hugging him. "Um, hello?" he asked, confused. "You're right here, so I might as well hug you, too." Cadence replied. He looked at Twilight, who shrugged and mouthed, "She's the princess of love. Just go with it." The Doctor slowly returned the embrace, still confused. "Well, thank you." He added under his breath, "I guess?" Cadence broke the embrace and turned back to Twilight. "Anyways, I'm glad you're here. I have a feeling Celestia might want to speak with you." Twilight nodded and set off towards the castle, the Doctor following closely behind, still occasionally looking at the sky, fearing that the Dark One might come back. Cadence giggled and trotted up beside him. "Don't worry, I don't think he'll come near you as long as I'm here." The Doctor nodded and continued, still worried. "So He Doesn't Win"At Canterlot Castle... As Twilight approached Celestia's throne with Cadence and the Doctor, she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread slowly coming over her, though she didn't know why. Slowly approaching Celestia, she bowed and began speaking. "Hello, Princess. I understand you wanted to talk to me?" Celestia nodded and stood up. "Yes, Twilight, I did. Follow me." She led Twilight to a small door at the back of the throne room and opened it, motioning for her to enter. Twilight obliged and entered the room, quietly observing it. It consisted of a small, round table with two chairs and a glowing pedestal at the back of the room. Celestia sat in one of the chairs and motioned for Twilight to do the same. She obliged and got comfortable as Celestia began to speak. "As you might have seen, the Dark One has come back into our world and he began destroying everything a few minutes ago." Twilight nodded and replied, "Yes, Princess Celestia, I am well aware of that. Luckily, Cadence was able to drive him off." "I know, Twilight. I sent her because I knew the Dark One was back." She got up and trotted over to the glowing pedestal. "Now, the reason I wanted to speak with you is because I believe I have a way to stop him." "Really? Well, what is it?" Twilight asked. Celestia gestured the purple alicorn over to her. "It involves this pedestal," Twilight stood next to her and stared at the stone slab. "Put your horn against it." Twilight looked at Celestia questioningly. "Why?" The goddess looked at her, a grim look in her eyes. "I'm going to give you my power, which you are then going to use against the Dark One." Twilight stared at the princess, her eyes wide in disbelief because of what she just heard. "What?!" "Twilight," Celestia trotted over to a window that overlooked most of the Everfree Forest, "There is no unicorn or alicorn in all of Equestria that has enough magic power to stop the Dark One. However, you are the most powerful alicorn in the history of Equestria with me as second. If our magic power was to combine, then you would have just enough power to send the Dark One back to the void where he belongs. I gave it a lot of thought, trying to figure out another way to stop him, but nothing else can work. This is the only way." Twilight looked at her hooves for a moment before setting the tip of her horn against the pedestal, making it glow even brighter than before. "Very well. But why do I have to send him back to the void? If I do that, then he can come back again." Princess Celestia set the tip of her horn on the pedestal, right next to Twilight's, and began channeling magic to her. Before she transferred the last of her energy to Twilight, she whispered in her ear, "So he doesn't win." Celestia collapsed on the ground and remained there, motionless. Twilight dropped down so that her head was right next to her mentor's and began to cry, grieving. For about 20 minutes she stayed there, constantly crying, before she heard the door open behind her. She turned around to see Luna in the doorway, her eyes misty. She trotted over to Twilight's side and kneeled down next to her, putting her foreleg around Twilight and staring at the motionless body of her sister. Twilight buried her face in Luna's mane and began to cry heavily, her tears streaming down her face and her wails echoing around the room. "We know how you feel, Twilight Sparkle." Luna quietly said, her voice cracking, while rubbing Twilight's side, comforting her. "We know." The Heart of the EverfreeTwilight stood in front of the entrance to the Everfree Forest, the Doctor next to her, and breathed deeply. She knew this would not be easy, what with the many creatures lurking in the forest's depths that would like to tear the two apart and the Dark One probably watching them every step of the way. "I'm not so sure I want to be a part of this anymore, princess." the Doctor stated while nervously looking at Twilight. "If you want, you can just leave, it's not like anypony is forcing you to come with me." she replied with a slightly annoyed frown. She then trotted slowly into the Everfree Forest, almost taunting the Doctor. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and followed in after her. Twilight waited for him to catch up, a sly grin adorning her face, then continued through, occasionally stopping and linking herself to the ground with her magic. "What, exactly, are you doing, your highness?" the Doctor questioned her. "I'm studying the terrain ahead of us and finding the fastest route to the heart of the Everfree Forest." she replied, not even looking up. The Doctor locked up for a moment as he processed what she just said. "The... heart?" he asked her, visibly shaking. "Yes, the heart," she answered, "that's where the Dark One is. I can sense him." The Doctor began pacing back and forth, speaking quietly to himself, "I have to go through the Everfree Forest AND get to the HEART of it, too?!" Twilight rolled her eyes and continued studying the surrounding terrain when the sound of a small branch cracking reached their ears, making both of their heads shoot up and look at the source of the noise. A glowing pair of eyes was staring at them, studying them, waiting for them to start running. The Doctor began to slowly back away from the eyes, and when he reached Twilight, he leaned towards her and whispered, "Stay calm, I know how to handle this." He slowly approached the creature again, his eyes showing a little more confidence, and began softly speaking to it in a foreign language while making slight gestures with his hooves. The creature listened intently, occasionally tilting it's head, and when the Doctor was done, it nodded and turned around, walking away from them. Twilight sat there, her jaw slacking, as the brown stallion returned to her side and waited for a response. After sitting there for about 3 minutes, Twilight turned to the Doctor and quietly asked him, "What did you just do?" "I simply asked the gentlecolt for a map of the area. He's part of a hunting tribe that lives within this part of the forest." he replied, smiling. She nodded in understanding and quietly sat there, waiting for the creature to come back with a map. It returned shortly after and handed the pair a rolled up scroll that was rather old with age. The Doctor took the map and thanked the creature for it's assistance. It wandered off, leaving the Doctor and Twilight to observe the map and find the quickest route to the heart of the Everfree. Once they set their path, they got up and continued travelling, more confident than before. 5 hours later... Twilight and the Doctor sat down on a rock and rested for a moment, quietly doing their own thing. Twilight studied the wildlife scurrying about the bottoms of the trees, while the Doctor studied the map once more, finding where they were and how long it would take for them to reach the heart of the forest. As life continued around them, they sat and regained their energy for the sure-to-come battle that would follow when they reached the Dark One. Twilight turned to the Doctor and asked him, "How long until we get to the heart?" He studied the map for a little longer, then folded it up and turned to the curious alicorn, replying, "Just another mile and we'll be there." Twilight nodded and rested her head on the tree she was sitting against, staring up at the leaves that obstructed the sky from her view, wondering to herself why the forest was so dense. Another few minutes of resting and the two got up and continued their journey, some of their energy regained. When they arrived at the heart of the Everfree Forest, they stayed there for a good 4 minutes, standing in place, until the Doctor quietly said, his voice trembling, "What in Celestia's name happened here?" There was a 20 meter long crater with 3 meters of the land around it smoking and singed. The trees that used to reside in the area were thrown to the side as if an angry manticore had come through and ripped each tree up by the roots and tossed them aside. In the middle of the crater, the Dark One stood, staring at the sky. Twilight and the Doctor slowly approached him as he began speaking to them without even looking. "For such a long time, I wondered what had become of this land, what had happened after I was banished from this realm," he turned around, making the duo stop in their tracks and stare at him, "I was in that void for so long, I had forgotten what the sky looked like. I had forgotten what anything looked like except for two beings," he began walking toward them, his blood-red eyes never leaving their forms, "I always remembered the faces of your princesses as they banished me from their world," the Dark One stopped and stared at them. "I never forgot them, I never forgave them, but I was impressed by them. The fact that they alone had stopped me and sent me to the void made me wonder, 'How could they have possibly beat me?' The answer is simple, my little ponies," he outstretched his hand and a brown book appeared, hovering over his palm, "this book was, and is, making me weak." He dropped the book in front of the two ponies and backed away to the center of the crater. "Celestia had enchanted that book so that all dark entities on the planet it resided on were half as powerful as they normally would be. I honestly never expected her to use that kind of ancient magic against me because I thought all traces of it were wiped from existence." "Obviously not," Twilight snapped, glaring at the Dark One, "Princess Celestia knew every kind of magic there ever was, no matter how dark or evil." The Dark One tilted his head, studying her, then began laughing. Twilight continued to stare at him as he maniacally cackled. Finally, he calmed down and looked into her eyes. "Celestia didn't know every magic spell in existence. Some were scattered all over the planet, some were completely erased from it, and even if she had every spell in her possession, she could never hold all of that knowledge in her brain. Nopony can! It's simply too much for your species to comprehend." He shook his head. "Stupid me, I got distracted again." He levitated the book in front of them and spun it around. "Even while Celestia enchanted this book, there was one thing she failed to do," the book spontaneously combusted, the blood-red flames lighting up the entire area, "she didn't make it so that it couldn't be destroyed," the book continued to burn, even as the Dark One threw it into the forest with a malicious grin on his face, "and now that it's burning to ashes, I can destroy you two without anything holding me back." He levitated the duo so that they were floating right in front of him and began to crush them. Twilight struggled to keep her mind off of the pain so she could think straight. Have to... do... something... Can't... lose... now... "Release them, fiend!" The Dark One looked up in surprise to see Princess Luna approaching him. He grinned again, threw Twilight and the Doctor to the side, and slowly walked over to her, twirling fire between his fingers. "Well, isn't this a surprise. The goddess of the night came to save the day. I'll have you know that I no longer have any restrictions on my power, and that I can kill you with the sna--" A purple force field instantly surrounded the Dark One, cutting him off mid-sentence. He growled and attacked the shield relentlessly, producing no results. "And I'll have you know," Twilight remarked, "that even though you're at full power, I can still beat you." Twilight and Luna clenched their eyes shut as their horns began to glow, each of their magical auras surrounding the Dark One, as a dark portal opened up above them. The Dark One slowly began to rise toward the hole as he struggled against the two alicorns. "No, you can't put me back there!" He screamed as his head entered the hole, then his body, then his legs. It then began to close as one last roar of anger made it through the hole, "No! NO!! NOOOOOOOO!!!" The portal closed, allowing the forest to fall silent once more. Twilight and Luna were panting from the large amount of magic they had to use to beat the Dark One, sweat dripping from their bodies. The Doctor trotted up beside Twilight and stared at the spot where the hole once resided. "That was... interesting." he remarked out loud. Twilight turned to him and smiled, nodding. "Yes, it was interesting." She turned her head and looked at Luna, who looked back, and mouthed to her, "Thanks." Luna nodded and smiled, mouthing back, "Anytime, Twilight Sparkle." The three stood there for a while, looking at where the portal once stood, then turned and began walking back to Canterlot. Not Over Yet1 month later... The sun disappeared behind the horizon, allowing the moon to take it's place. Panting, Twilight stopped to regain her energy. Ever since she sent the Dark One back to the void he belonged in, she had to take responsibility for raising and setting the sun every day since Celestia had sacrificed herself to ensure Equestria's safety. Ever since day one, it was always a chore for her to do Celestia's job. It required a large amount of power to raise and set the sun, a power that now only she possessed. Once her energy was replenished, the purple mare trotted over to her desk and sat down, levitating a book over to her and immersing herself within it's written world. Reading was always a satisfying pastime of hers, and now that she had Celestia's job, it was more of a way to empty her mind of any problems she might have. She continued reading, getting more and more tired with each page completed, and after a while her mind finally gave in and entered the dream realm. Twilight's eyes fluttered open and she looked around. She was laying down in a large field, an under-reconstruction Ponyville to her left and the Everfree Forest to her right. She stood up and turned to head toward Ponyville when she heard a voice calling for help from the forest, and upon hearing it, Twilight began running towards the source. Upon reaching the call for help, she found a small white colt with a nut-brown mane curled up next to a tree, bleeding profusely from his broken foreleg, the skin having been pierced by bone. "Oh my gosh, what happened?" she asked the colt while using a healing spell on his wounds. Unable to speak due to the pain he was experiencing, he instead settled on whimpering. Twilight finished her job on his foreleg and smiled at him. "There you go," she softly whispered, helping the colt up, "all better." The white pony wrapped his hooves around Twilight's neck, loudly crying. "Shh," she whispered, cradling the colt, "it's alright, you're safe now." "No I'm not," the colt cried, "it's going to get me!" Twilight held him out and looked into his terror-filled eyes. "Nothing's going to hurt you, I pro--" A black cloud entered the colt's mouth, interrupting the mare mid-sentence. She let him go and backed away, staring wide-eyed at the dark cloud as it began enveloping the colt. When it cleared, the colt was standing still, looking down. Twilight slowly trotted over to him and stretched out her foreleg, shaking the colt slightly. His head whipped up and he stared at the mare, his eyes completely black and a large grin plastered on his face. Twilight recoiled and stared back, looking into the dark holes where his eyes used to be. "Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?" the colt said to her in a low, distorted voice as it's flesh began peeling off in large strips, revealing completely black muscle. Twilight gasped as she re-entered the real world, her head shooting upward. She looked down at the book she was reading and saw that it was covered in saliva. She cleaned up the mess and stood up, trotting over to her window and looking out to the Everfree Forest with a stone-cold look on her face. Well, this sucks. Author's Note Sorry for the short chapter, I'm not feeling very inspired at the moment. It's not because I'm having any troubles in my life or because I'm getting tired of the story, it's just that I don't feel like writing right now. I promise, though, that the next chapter will make up for this one, so look forward to that. OriginsNote: this chapter contains the backstory to the Dark One and is heavily influenced by Tom Marvolo Riddle's diary from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Making her way to the center of the Everfree Forest, Twilight kept thinking about her dream. About how it had seemed so real and how the Dark One could still possibly be here after she and Luna had banished him to the void. It didn't seem possible, yet a small part of her mind kept telling her that she was forgetting something important. She shrugged it off and continued through the forest, using her magic to study the surroundings and avoid any living thing near her. When she arrived at the heart of the forest, she found it as it was before, a giant crater surrounded by mangled and uprooted trees. She used her magic to carefully observe the area, checking for any signs of the Dark One or anything that seemed odd to her. As she was finishing her search, she sensed a small hint of a magic unknown to her a couple of meters into the forest. She went to the source and found the brown book the Dark One had burned lying open next to a quill and an inkwell. On the visible page was a single sentence: Write in this book. Twilight levitated the book over to her and studied it with her magic. This was definitely the source of the unknown magic, but the writing on the page intrigued her. She levitated the quill and inkwell over to her and began writing. Hello? As soon as she finished writing, a response immediately appeared underneath it. Hello. She stared at the book for a minute then continued writing. Who are you? Ladies first. She hesitated for a moment. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Pleasure to meet you, Twilight Sparkle. You may call me Bright Day. Nice to meet you, too. Bright Day remained silent for a while before it finally responded. Please ask me a question. Twilight thought about what she was going to say carefully and wrote back. What are you? I'm afraid I can't answer that. Why not? It's not time for you to know yet. Twilight frowned and wrote down another question. Did you know I was coming here? Yes. How? I sensed it. That seems to be rather vague. It's supposed to be. Twilight thought about choosing her next words carefully, but decided to simply ask Bright Day. What do you know about the Dark One? Bright Day hesitated for a moment before responding. Everything. Twilight's eyes went wide and she froze in place. For a moment, she couldn't think. When she could, she thought that this might be a great opportunity for her to learn the Dark One's weaknesses. She wrote back to Bright Day. What can you tell me? What do you want to know? Does the Dark One have any weaknesses? Yes. Twilight's smile was so wide, she thought her head might split in two. What are they? I'm afraid I can only tell you of one. The purple mare's smile faltered but immediately shot back up as she continued writing. What is it? Bright Day took a minute to respond. When it finally did, Twilight's smile turned into a look of confusion. Pure beings. She sat there for a moment, studying Bright Day's words. She didn't know what "pure beings" meant, but she had a hunch. She continued writing. What are those? That, I'm afraid, you'll have to discover on your own. Twilight grunted in frustration and considered simply leaving the book, but she still had one question left to ask. She wrote it down and waited for a response. What is the Dark One? The Dark One is an evil being that wants nothing more than for the whole of reality to live in fear of him. He was born from the void, which he grew up in, at the beginning of existence, along with his two brothers. He was originally going to watch over the universe and make sure everything remained in perfect harmony, but living in the void for that long has driven him insane and has led him to think that nothing cares enough about him to even learn what he is. Finally, he stopped caring for the universe and simply watched it descend into madness, chaos, and death. His brothers frowned upon his actions and created a god-like race, known as the alicorns, to watch over and protect the universe in his place. This infuriated him and led him to lock his brothers away and watch him travel out of the void to destroy this new race so that the universe would destroy itself. However, one of his brothers was slightly more powerful than him, which allowed him to send a message to the alicorns warning of his coming arrival. They gathered in defense and began fighting the Dark One in a collected effort to keep their kingdom safe. The writing continued on the other page. He was stronger than them, however, and he killed most of the race easily. Those that remained went into hiding and began asking the Dark One's brothers if there was any way to stop him. They responded and told them that their only hope was to banish him to the void and lock him there. They faced the Dark One once more and tried to lock him away, but this kind of magic was unknown to them and it would take them a while to cast the spell. Plus, the Dark One was quick to understand their intentions and quickly killed all but two of them, the ones you know as Celestia and Luna. However, as he was about to kill the last alicorns, they had completed the spell and had banished him to the void. The eldest of the two alicorns infused the spirit of one of the Dark One's brothers inside this book so that the Dark One couldn't return to this universe without being faced by a being more powerful than him. Since then, the universe remained untouched by the Dark One for over three thousand years and his younger brother watched over him, while the other watched over this universe. However, he finally found a way to return to this universe without endangering himself. He took refuge within your body and hid there, waiting to acquire the book his brother was residing within. It continued on the other side of the page. When he finally did, he took it into the void and, without his other brother knowing, began draining the book of it's power. Finally, it was weak enough to be destroyed, so he sent it back into your universe with you and continued hiding within you. When you arrived in a place that once held so much death and destruction, he left your body and began seeking the book. As soon as he found it, he began destroying your world until he found the right time to travel to a secluded location to destroy the book. Then you confronted him and banished him into the void once more, however not before he destroyed the book and his brother along with it. With his brother gone, he could easily return to your world any time he wanted, but not while his younger brother still existed. He disposed of his younger brother and returned to this world, waiting for a time when your mind was weak enough that he could tell you that he wasn't gone. The rest is history. As Twilight finished reading, she leaned back and stopped to take all of the information in. When she returned to the book, all of the writing was gone and a single sentence had replaced it all. You can't stop him now. There is no hope anymore. The VoidTwilight set the burned book on her desk and sat down in front of it, studying the magic it was using to communicate with her. It was dark in origin and was immensely powerful, more powerful than she could even imagine. Any further details were shadowed from her and would require more concentration than what she was capable of giving at the moment. She was also curious about Bright Day and who it was. Even more confusing was how it knew about the Dark One's past and about her. She opened the book again and found the same two sentences written on the same page. You can't stop him now. There is no hope anymore. Surely there was a way to stop the Dark One that Bright Day wasn't telling her about. Then again, it did say that the only beings that could truly stop him were his brothers, who were both dead. She sat there and thought about it more and more, and as she thought, a question began to form in her head. Just who is in that book, exactly? She levitated a quill and inkwell over to her and began writing in the book again. Who are you, exactly? I told you, my name is Bright Day. I know that, but who ARE you? I can't tell you. Why not, huh? Are you some almighty being that sees everything? I can't tell you, I'm sorry. WHY NOT?! Bright Day hesitated for a moment, then replied. Because it's not time for you to know yet. Twilight raised her eyebrow in suspicion, then continued writing. Why are you even in this book? So that I could give you the information you need to learn when it's time. So when do I learn what you are? ... Twilight waited for a response, but it didn't come. After a few minutes, she continued writing. Well? ... You don't want to know when. Yes I do. Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure. Very well. You learn when Equestria falls. Twilight sat staring at the book's words, surprised. When Equestria... falls? Yes. Twilight began to feel tears welling in her eyes. How long away is that? Not too long, I'm afraid. Her tears began to fall and soak the book as she cried and laid her head down. The purple mare cried for a few minutes, finally raising her head and looking at the book, which had absorbed all of her tears and ruined the pages. However, the page with writing on it was fine, and had another line written on it. There is another way to learn this information. Would you like to know? Twilight didn't reply, instead simply nodding, hoping that Bright Day would see her. Then tell me. Tell me what you would like to know. She picked the quill back up and replied. I want to know what you are. The book slammed shut and flew to Twilight's window, hovering in front of it, tapping the glass. Twilight hesitantly got up and opened the window, allowing the book to soar into the sky and disappear from sight. Where it flew to turned pitch black, and a small part of it went back to Twilight, enveloping and carrying her to the large black mass. As much as she struggled, she couldn't get free. She simply went limp and allowed herself to be consumed by the darkness. Twilight opened her eyes and observed her surroundings. She was in a small, square, dark grey room with only a small candle in the center for illumination. Sitting behind the candle was a figure donning a pure white cloak. It's face was the same color as the room and was wrinkled with age, showing no emotion. It's eyes were seemingly dead, lacking irises or pupils. It raised it's arm and beckoned her closer with a bony, grey finger. She trotted up to the other side of the candle and sat down, staring intently at the creature's wrinkled face. It began speaking in a grumbly, elderly voice. "Hello, Twilight. It's an honor to finally meet you face-to-face." Twilight didn't reply, instead continuing to stare at it. The creature laughed heartily and continued. "I understand you're confused by my presence, so allow me to ease your mind. I am Bright Day." Her eyes widened and she cocked her head to the side, studying Bright Day more intently. "Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you where you are." Twilight broke her stare and again studied her surroundings. It wasn't familiar to her and it's very presence made her feel empty. "You are in the Void. Or, at least, you're in a part of it." "The Void?" Twilight finally spoke. "Yes, the Void." She focused her attention back on Bright Day. "Why is it a small grey room? I would expect the Void to be more... well..." "... void?" Bright Day finished for her. "Yeah." "Well, really, this place is a void." He gestured around the room. "You are simply seeing it as a place of containment, having the knowledge that the Dark One was once imprisoned here." She looked back at the walls of the room. Bright Day brought his hands together, making a slapping sound. "Well, now to why I brought you here. You wanted to know what I am, yes?" Twilight turned back to Bright Day. "Yes, I do." "Well, before I say it, let me tell you of something. Do you remember what I said happened to the Dark One's elder brother?" "You said he was killed when the Dark One burned the book." "Yes, exactly." "What about it?" Bright Day rubbed his neck and stared at Twilight. "I lied. He didn't kill me." Twilight's eyes went wide and she leaned closer to Bright Day. "You're the Dark One's brother?" "Indeed I am." She went slack-jawed and sat staring at him for a good 5 or so minutes before speaking again. "Wait, if you're still alive, then you can still stop the Dark One, can't you?" "Oh, that. You see," Bright Day leaned back, "I can't stop him anymore." "WHAT?!" Twilight glared at him. He sat forward again and stared into her lavender eyes. "He has rendered me feeble and weak. It's taking me most of my energy to speak to you like this, hence the elderly features and voice." He gestured to his face. "But how can I stop him? I'm less powerful than you, and he made you weak!" Bright Day groaned. "Yes, I know. However, there is a way that you can stop him." "How?" "There is a part of the Void that contains a magic that was locked away at the beginning of existence because my brothers and I feared of what would happen if it got in the wrong hands. It is so powerful that any being that got a hold of it would easily be able to overthrow me and my brothers, even if we were in our most powerful state. If you can get it, you will be able to imprison him and make sure he never comes back." "How will I be able to find it?" "To you, the area it's locked away in looks blood-red and will make you feel terrified." He pulled a key out of his cloak and handed it to Twilight. "Use this key to open it." Twilight took the key with her magic and stood up. A door appeared behind Bright Day and opened to reveal a green room. "Good luck, Twilight Sparkle." She nodded and walked into the green room, the door slamming shut once she was inside. "I pray you do not wander into the wrong rooms." RebornTwilight closed the door behind her and looked around. She was at the end of a long, white hallway that seemed to stretch on forever and what looked to be hundreds of doors lining the walls. She opened the first door on her left and found what looked like a tan conference room with a long table in the middle surrounded by ponies that were all eyeing her. She smiled sheepishly and went back into the hallway, moving to the next door. Inside was a sky-blue playroom where several foals were playing with the various toys scattered around. Twilight stayed at this room for a while, watching the foals play, a large smile on her face, then returned to her search. The next room was blank and empty with the only thing out of place being a small blue bag placed in the far corner of the room. She briefly considered looking at the bag's contents, but decided against it and moved on. The following room was the most peculiar so far. Inside, it was a light purple, and it showed a large, rotating ball that looked to be her planet. Curiosity building within her, she entered the room and stared at the globe intently, studying the landforms and oceans with great interest. The door slammed shut, making her jump, and the globe turned into something far different and horrifying. It was essentially the same planet, except the landforms were grey and lifeless and the oceans were brown with pollution. As it rotated, she could see, in great detail, many ruins that were long ago thriving communities, but were now silent reminders of what were once places filled with life. What used to be lush, green forests teeming with wildlife were now grey, depressing, and dead. The globe suddenly stopped, setting one particular location in her immediate focus. It was a small shack, standing alone in a long dead field of flowers. Standing outside it was a single purple mare that looked onward at the grey expanse, a large frown plastered on her face. A single tear fell from her cheek as she turned around and, using her magic, removed the shack and threw it away from her. What remained was a lone gravestone as large as the mare that had two words engraved on the front: R.I.P. Equestria The globe disappeared and the door behind Twilight slowly opened. She hastily made her way back into the hall and slammed the door shut, sitting on the ground and silently sobbing. She couldn't bear to see that happen to her world, not in any form. It was simply too much for her heart to take. She would rather kill herself than witness the end of her world. When she couldn't cry anymore, she continued her search for the magic Bright Day had told her about. Examining room after room after room, she kept looking, determined to keep her world safe. Eventually, she reached the end of the hallway, finding a single door that looked no different from the others. Not a single room had given her the results she seeked. Each room was just as far from what she was looking for as the one before, and now there was only one left. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside. Twilight was immediately greeted by a rotten smell and complete darkness. As she walked further into the room, she was slowly becoming aware of wetness surrounding her hooves and the feeling of dread slowly creeping up on her. Suddenly remembering that she had magic, she summoned a ball of light and sent it to the center of the room. As it illuminated the room, Twilight was horrified at what she saw. Pinned against every blood-red wall were corpses of ponies, all with shocked looks on their faces. Their blood had been spread all over the walls, their eyes were ripped from their sockets and nailed to the wall next to them, their teeth had been pulled out and jabbed into random parts of their bodies, and they'd been ripped open and stripped clean of their organs which now decorated the walls, stabbed in place by their bones. Twilight tried her best to keep from vomiting, but the sight and smell had already pushed her over the edge as she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the ground. As she finished, she laid her eyes on the final object in the room. Sitting in the middle of the room, underneath her light orb, was a small, black box with a sign above it that read, "DO NOT REMOVE CONTENTS." Slowly, Twilight made her way to the box, careful to step around the vomit. She levitated the box up to her face and studied it. It was made of black metal, the hinges and lock made of brass. It was small and lightweight, and there was a strange humming noise coming from inside. She opened the box and looked inside, where a golden ring with a blue sapphire imbedded in the middle sat vibrating. All along the golden part was a single sentence that kept repeating itself. "JUST IN CASE." She removed the ring and admired the ring for a minute before the door to the room slammed shut. The corpses on the wall began screaming and the eyes swiveled to look at Twilight. She covered her ears and ran out of the room, ring tight in her telekinetic grip, rushing back to Bright Day's room, the screaming following her all the way. When she finally reached the other end of the hallway, her ears ringing, the screams were but a dull roar. She waited for the ringing to stop before she entered the room. Bright Day whirled around to look at her, then smiled when he saw the object Twilight had acquired. "You found it!" he exclaimed. "Yes, I did. Here you go." she replied, levitating the ring towards him. He grabbed the ring and looked at it, the smile on his face growing ever larger. Unveiling his other hand, he slipped the ring on his ring finger and balled up his fist. The sapphire began to glow blue and released two long ribbons of light that were the same color. The ribbons swirled in the air above Bright Day, then rushed down into his eyes. He began levitating off the ground, his skin regaining it's vitality and the panels on the walls shaking violently before flinging outward. As the room slowly disassembled, Twilight stared on in wonder as Bright Day curled into a fetal position for a moment before uncurling and releasing a blinding light that forced the purple mare to clench her eyes shut. The sound of books falling forced Twilight to tear her eyes open. She was back in her bed chambers, laying down in front of the windowsill. She looked around when she heard a coughing behind her. Her eyes rested on a tall, bipedal man wearing a white cloak. His features were soft, yet serious, and his eyes were those of a wise old sage. She watched as he held out his hand to help her up as he opened his mouth. "Are you ready to stop my brother?" Bright Day asked her. The EndBright Day kneeled down and closed his eyes, feeling the earth underneath him, as Twilight sat and watched. He had led her to a field along the outskirts of Ponyville, not answering a single question she asked. Now I'm sitting here while he takes a break, and I don't know why. she thought to herself, rather annoyed with him. Twilight had finally had enough after a few minutes of Bright Day's kneeling. She began speaking. "Can you please just--" "Shh, I'm trying to focus." he interrupted her. "Focus on what?" He remained silent, much to Twilight's dismay. Finally, Bright Day opened his eyes and stood up, walking and ushering her to follow. She simply stood up and remained in place. After a few steps, he turned back around and looked at her, an eyebrow raised. "Are you coming or not?" he asked her. "Not until you start answering my questions." she angrily snapped back. He visually recoiled, then closed his eyes and shook his head. "Fine, what do you want to know?" "First of all, why are suddenly being so quiet all the time?" He put his hand on his chin in thought, then shrugged. "I don't really know, myself." Twilight rolled her eyes, unsatisfied with his answer. "Why weren't you answering my questions on the way here?" "Because they'll be answered once you see where we're going." "And where exactly are we going?" she glared at him. "We're already there, actually." Kneeling down, Bright Day ripped a patch of grass out of the ground, revealing a small, dark green rune symbol. He put his hands against it and turned back to Twilight. "You might want to get over here." he said, a small frown present on his face. She trotted over to him and looked back to where she was standing with a confused look. The bipedal man channeled a small amount of energy into the rune, which began to glow white, and looked back as a patch of land faded out of existence. Soon replacing it was a large, black, metal safe imbedded into the ground. Bright Day walked over and twisted the knob on the top, stopping at three numbers and pulling the door open. He reached inside and pulled something out, walking slowly back to Twilight afterwards and showing her the object. It was a small, black disk that had a dark aura surrounding it. Imbedded in the center of it was a red button, which Bright Day seemed to keep his thumb away from. Twilight studied the object for a little longer, finding nothing else of notice, and looked up at Bright Day questioningly. "What exactly is it?" she asked, reaching towards the disk. He pulled the disk back and answered her, his frown increasing in size. "It's how we're going to bring the Dark One here." He pressed the button on the disk and threw it, watching happily as it flew. It went far away from them, then dropped sharply to the ground. After a minute of waiting, it exploded in a shower of dark particles, revealing a very confused Dark One. When his eyes came to rest on Twilight, he scowled and angrily said to her, "You again? When will you ever lea--" His eyes moved over to Bright Day and stared at him in shock as he tried to form incoherent sentences. Finally he gulped and regained his ability to talk. "Brother?" Bright Day nodded and approached his cowering sibling, who simply stood in place, too shocked to move. The elder stopped in front of the younger and stared at him, his expression hard and cold. The Dark One studied his brother, noting his features, which looked young and fresh. They stared at each other for a minute before Bright Day wrapped his arms around his brother and lifted him in the air, squeezing him affectionately. "I missed you so much, brother." Bright Day whispered to him as he released the hug. The Dark One continued to stare at his sibling, his look now one of shock and confusion. "I burned the book you were in! You should have died!" he yelled, stepping back. Bright Day held his arms out to his sides. "And yet here I am." he replied. The Dark One scowled and screamed, charging forward while Bright Day simply stood still. When he got close to his brother, the Dark One stopped as he felt a hand firmly grip his shoulder. He looked up into a pair of sympathetic, hurt eyes and felt himself immediately tense up. "I knew that one day I would have to do this," Bright Day said sadly to his brother, stepping back and gathering magic in his hands, "I just wish there was another way." Orbs appeared around Bright Day as he ripped his brother's dark aura away, making him roar in pain. The aura flew into the orbs, which then dropped to the ground as each of them filled up completely. When Bright Day finally stopped, the Dark One was sealed within the balls now littering the ground. He levitated them and walked to the open safe, putting each one in carefully and sealing them inside. He walked back to the rune and kneeled down once more, channeling more magic into it, not even looking as the safe was replaced by the patch of land. He lingered for a moment as a single tear landed on the rune before standing up and walking away. Twilight simply stared on as Bright Day faded slowly out of existence. He turned back to the mare and said before he disappeared, a sad smile on his face, "Thank you for letting me see my brother again." Twilight stood there for a moment, then smiled. "You're welcome, Bright Day." she said before turning around, spreading her wings, and taking off for Canterlot. Twilight opened the door to her bed chambers and, seeing something strange on her desk, walked over and sat down. It was a scroll, kept closed by the royal seal, which she hadn't seen for over a month. She took the seal off, unraveled the scroll, and began reading. Dear Twilight Sparkle, Bright Day has come back to the Void and informed me that the Dark One has been sealed away for good, and that he couldn't have done it if you hadn't helped him. He thought that you deserved something for doing that, and has sent me over to your world again as a gift. Now that he has much more power, he can complete this task. You should be seeing me shortly, and I will be happy when that happens. "Sincerely, Princess Celestia." she heard a voice behind her say. She turned around and stared in shock. Standing in front of her was the newly resurrected Princess Celestia, who was smiling widely. "Princess!" Twilight yelled, rushing forward and nuzzling her, tears streaming out of her eyes. They sat together in silence, save for the occasional happy sob from Twilight, before Celestia whispered in her ear, "I promise, I will never leave you again." The End Greetings2 Days Later Twilight lay down in her bed and cast a complex Dreamcatcher spell on herself, encasing her in a barely noticable purple aura. When the aura had covered every inch of her, she closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep, hoping for a nicer dream than the many times before. Black. As far as Twilight could see, there was only black. She blinked and was shocked to see nothing enter her vision. So far so good... She began walking forward only to hear a low growl behind her. She whirled around once, seeing nothing, and continued after a slight pause. 1 step. A low growl. 2 steps. The growl grows slightly louder. 3 steps. The growl grows slightly louder. It continued like this in her head as she walked forward, each step making the growl grow louder and louder. 22 steps. The growl is right behind her. 34 steps. The growl has escalated into a small yell. 68 steps. The yell has grown into an ear-piercing scream in her ears. 100 steps. Everything goes quiet. Twilight stopped when the screaming ceased. She turned around just in time to see a dark mass disappear from view. "Who's there?" she called out to the darkness. No response. "Show yourself, whoever you are!" she yelled at the dark once more. "How about no?" a male voice whispered in her ear. Twilight froze as her eyes widened, slowly turning to look at whoever (or whatever) was speaking. Catching a glimpse of the same black mass heading away from her, she began to chase after it, determined to catch whatever it was. After about a minute of chasing, the mass turned around and rushed at Twilight, her skidding to a halt and the blob stopping in front of her and floating there. She stood there and stared at it for a while before gulping and asking the mass, "What are you?" The blob began to shift into a form as it spoke to her. "Let me show you." The mass finally took on a form and stared at Twilight, appearing to be a face with no body. She stood there, staring at the dark face in front of her, then finally mustered up her courage and asked, "That doesn't really answer my question." The large face rolled it's eyes. "I know it doesn't." "Then tell me, what are you?" she commanded. A large hand formed in front of the face and balled up into a fist, covering up it's mouth as the face cleared it's nonexistent throat. "Fine, if you insist. I am, basically, the very being that controls everything that can be called a nightmare, everything that is considered frightening, everything that can be scary." Twilight's eyes widened. "I am simply known as the Dark One, and I shall come back to you again, just, not anytime soon. Good-bye, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight awoke and covered her eyes with a hoof, blocking the sunlight coming through her window. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she sat up and stared at the wall as if something was there, thinking to herself, What in Equestria was that all about?
Nightmares"Where am I? Is this a dream? I just want to leave..." Twilight began to wonder to herself as she walked through a seemingly endless black void. She blinked, only to tear her eyes open once more to keep herself from seeing images of a burning Ponyville, accompanied by the sounds of all her friends screaming in agony. She continued for a little longer, trying her hardest to keep her eyes open, when she heard a soft chuckle behind her, making her whip around, ready to attack. However, what she saw made her walk back in fear, for she was face-to-face with a large, seemingly mutated pony with remnants of flesh still left on it's bare bones, including it's cutie mark, which brandished an image of the sun. Appearing to stare right into her eyes, the horrifying creature said in a distorted, demonic voice, "Why...? Why didn't you warn us...?" Twilight woke up in a cold sweat, yelling from the nightmare. Her door burst open, revealing a guard whose eyes instantly focused on her. "Is everything alright, Princess Sparkle?" She nodded her head, reassuring him, "Yes, I'm fine, don't worry." After lingering for another few seconds, the gruff pony nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him as he did so. Laying back down in her bed, Twilight stared at the ceiling and began to think to herself, "Why do I keep having these nightmares?" The thought of returning to that nightmare kept her awake the rest of the night, depriving her of any sleep she could've possibly gotten. When morning came, she slowly got up and walked out of her bed chambers, being escorted by a guard to the royal mess hall, all the while, a constant thought ran through her head, "So tired... I need some sleep..." When she reached the mess hall, she walked up to a gruff pony, whose job it was to serve her breakfast, and retrieved her usual breakfast; two eggs with a small side of hash browns, on her request. She walked over to a table near him and sat down next to Celestia and Luna, Cadence seemingly absent. "That's strange... Cadence is always here for breakfast..." She shrugged it off and began to eat her breakfast while making small talk with the two princesses on the other side of the table. They talked for a short while about small things (politics, Equestria's economy, etc.) before memories of the horrible nightmare she had last night came flooding back to her after she accidentally looked down at Celestia's cutie mark. She closed her eyes and repeated in her head, "Get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head..." She felt a hoof on her shoulder and opened her eyes, looking up at a concerned Celestia. "Is something wrong, Twilight?" Twilight shook her head and moved out of Celestia's grasp. "No, I'm fine." "Thou art a terrible liar, Twilight." She heard Luna say to her in a rather serious tone. Twilight looked over at her and stared into her eyes, which seemed to say, "Talk to us about your problems." Twilight shook her head and gave in to Luna's stare, saying to Celestia, "Fine, I'll tell you, just not right now." Celestia nodded and continued to eat her breakfast, Luna doing the same after a quick look of concern was shot towards Twilight. Once all three of them were done eating, Celestia proceeded with Twilight to her bed chambers. Once they were there, Twilight sighed and began to explain to Celestia, "I've been having these terrible nightmares for the last few weeks. They've been keeping me up at night, and no matter what I try, I can't get them to leave me alone." Celestia listened intently as Twilight explained her dilemma, and waited another 3 seconds after she was done talking to ask, "Why haven't you come to me about this before?" "I was thinking about doing that about a week ago, but then the nightmares changed..." Twilight trailed off and tried to think of an easy way to tell Celestia about her most recent nightmares. Seeing no easy way to explain it, she continued. "The most recent nightmares were always the same thing; I would show up in a sort of dark void with nothing around me but the sound of my friends screaming in pain, and every time I would close my eyes, I would see Ponyville and everyone living there burning." As Twilight continued, Celestia's eyes began to gradually widen with concern for the purple mare. "And last night was the most vivid, because after a few minutes of that, I heard a soft laugh behind me, and when I turned around, I saw..." She paused for a minute, thinking about whether or not she should tell Celestia what she had seen. "You saw what?" Celestia asked intently. After a few seconds, Twilight reluctantly said, "I saw you, but not as you are now, as a rotting corpse staring at me like you were going to swallow me whole." Celestia's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at Twilight. "And after I had stared at you for about 10 seconds, you asked why I didn't warn you in a horrifying voice that sounded almost demonic. After that, I woke up screaming and I couldn't get anymore sleep because I didn't want to see that again." Twilight finished and opened her eyes, looking at Celestia, who had a rather shocked expression on her face. She sat there for another 2 minutes before asking, "What did it want you to warn me about?" "That's just it... I don't know." The two sat in silence for an hour before Twilight got up and returned to her bedroom without another word. As she laid down in her bed, she couldn't help but think to herself, "What did it want me to warn Celestia about?"
The Book1 month later "Please, Luna, I need you to look into my dreams and see if anything is familiar to you." Twilight was having a conversation with Luna about the more recent nightmares that have been plaguing her mind, and was practically begging her to help her with the being in them. "We've told you about 100 times, we haven't been able to see clearly into your mind recently!" "Yes, but you were in your tower when you were trying to. Can't you get a better chance when you're near me?" Luna put her hoof to her chin. She hadn't thought of that before. After a while, she finally gave in. "Very well. Tonight, we shall come and try to enter your dreams again. If it fails, however, then you are on your own." "Thank you, Luna." Twilight shook hooves with Luna and went about her own business, tending to political matters, attending meetings about ties with other parts of Equestria, and more boring stuff you would do if you were royalty. Finally, night came and Twilight prepared for Luna's arrival. After a few minutes, Luna finally came, seeming to float into Twilight's bed chambers. "Here we are. Are you ready, Twilight?" Twilight nodded her head and laid down on her bed, closing her eyes and entering her dream realm. Twilight opened her eyes and was revealed with another black void, same as every other time she was here, but this time, she saw Luna walking towards her. When the night goddess reached her, they shook hooves. "Well, it looks like worked," Twilight observed. "Yes, it seems it did," Luna responded. "Congrats on your achievement, princess." Luna froze as she heard the low voice address her. She turned and shouted to the darkness, "Who dares speak to us?" The dark mass appeared and formed the same face that Twilight saw one month ago, speaking to Luna as it did so. "I dare speak to you. Is that okay, Luna?" Luna backed up and lowered her head, channeling her magic to her horn. "You!" "Yes, me. Were you expecting somepony else?" Luna shot a magic blast at the face but it dissapated and reappeared behind the two princesses, laughing. "Ha! Don't even try, Luna! I know all of your tricks and skills, none of which can actually harm me in this state." Luna turned and stared intently at the face, studying it. Twilight trotted up to Luna's side and spoke to the dark face. "You know each other?" "Yes, Luna was actually--" "Silence!!" Luna screamed at the dark mass, "Why are you here?!" The face sighed and shook itself, then looked back up to Twilight and stared into her eyes. "I'm here because I want to speak with you." It looked back to Luna. "And while I would love to catch up, Luna, I have to speak to Twilight alone." The face contorted into a grimace and Luna disappeared, leaving only a pillar of smoke where she once was. It then turned back to Twilight. "Now, I would like to talk to you about who I am. You see, I'm a being that was created shortly after Celestia and Luna were brought into existence. I was basically their opposite, relishing in and feeding off of the misery, fear, anger, and insanity of other beings. I was able to keep myself hidden quite well, but, eventually, the two princesses found me and banished me from your dimension for eternity. And here I've been for the last 2,000 years, sitting and waiting for the time when I was powerful enough to break free of my prison and return to your world. I'm not strong enough yet, but I'm getting close. That is why I came to you, Twilight." Twilight backed up and stared at the dark mass in front of her. "Why did you come to me?" A small group of black particles removed themselves from the face and smashed together, coming out of it as a large book with a skull marking on the front. "To give you a warning. This book was one of the many ways I was able to drive other beings insane. Simply reading one page of this book will drive anypony mad, even one as smart as yourself, Twilight. Show this to Celestia and tell her exactly this:" The face began to dissapate into nothing. "The end is soon, Your reign is at an end, Darkness will emerge from the light, And your happiness you can never again mend." Twilight woke up screaming and Luna put her hoof over the screaming filly's mouth, putting the room in silence once more. "It's alright, Twilight, you're awake now. What did he tell you?" Twilight hopped out of her bed and started towards the door. "I need to speak to Celestia, now." She spotted the book lying on her bed and quickly grabbed it, afterwards making her way to Celestia's bed chambers, Luna following closely behind. As soon as she knocked on the door, Celestia opened it and looked at Twilight. "Why, hello, Twilight. How are--" She stoopped as soon as she saw the serious and grave look on Twilight's face. Celestia moved to the side and allowed Twilight and Luna to enter, all three of them standing in the middle of the room. "What happened? Does it have something to do with your nightmares?" Twilight nodded and pulled out the book, putting it in front of her. "Yes, it does have something to do with my nightmares. The thing that I told you about that visited me that one time appeared again, but this time it gave me this book and told me to give you a message." She repeated the message to Celestia, making her go wide-eyed. She started pacing around the room looking very unsettled and actually afraid. "This is bad, this is very, very, very bad." She trotted over to Luna. "I thought that banish spell was supposed to last for eternity. What happened?" Luna shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, sister." Twilight walked over to Celestia. "What does this mean, princess?" Celestia looked at Twilight with a look that made her feel so worried, she began to fear the worst. "Something's coming. Something powerful, and I don't know if we can stop it again." Luna stepped in, adding to Celestia's explanation. "And if we can't stop it, we might as well say good-bye to Equestria."
Fire and DeathSeveral Days Later... Concentrate, Twilight, concentrate... Twilight was focusing extremely hard as she attempted to break the magic seal that kept the small brown book given to her in her dreams protected. If she could break the seal, she would be able to see the contents of the book without releasing any evil magic. Hopefully. There was a small chance that all the evil magic inside the book would be released and spread all over Equestria, but she needed to know what was inside. After a while of concentrating, she heard the book begin to hiss and she stopped, approaching the book and carefully opening it. Nothing happened, and she breathed a sigh of relief, for she had performed the spell correctly, and now could see the contents with no consequences. She flipped to the first page, only to be greeted with a page full of nothing. She could feel that there was writing there, however, but she just couldn't see it. She looked to see if there was any kind of impression on it to indicate that it once held writing, but to no avail. She didn't know why, but knowing that there's writing that she couldn't see there made her furious. She pounded her hoof on the ground and groaned, only to see the book begin to glow. She leaned over to see what was causing the glow and suddenly felt strangely light-headed, finally falling over and blacking out. Slowly opening her eyes, Twilight observed the surrounding area, finding that it was the streets of Ponyville. How in Equestria did I get here? she wondered to herself. She began to wander around, however, after hearing a small explosion somewhere behind her, Twilight wheeled around to look for the source and saw that house after house was exploding into flames, the explosions slowly getting closer to her. She began to barrel in the other direction, but was slightly slower than the advancing blasts. After a few minutes, she was eventually engulfed in flames. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain, however, it never came. What the...? she thought. She opened her eyes and saw in front of her the ominous form of the Dark One, smiling at her triumphantly. "You're too late, Twilight. Your world is already burning down, along with those you care about," it gloated. Waving it's dark hand to the side, the Dark One showed her the scene of destruction before her. Debris scattered the landscape, and bodies were lying everywhere, most of which were dismembered and rather gruesome to look at. "Your world is gone, and the only thing left is fire and death. You've failed." The face began to dissipate into several smaller faces, which then began to circle around the princess, screaming and pleading. "Help us!" "Why is this happening?!" "Why didn't you help us, Twilight?!" As the faces continued to bombard her with screams, Twilight laid down and began to cry. "Please, make it stop!" she yelled. The screaming ceased and the faces fused together and formed the Dark One's massive presence again. "This can be prevented, but only if you convince the whole of Equestria to swear eternal allegiance to me." the dark being commanded her. Twilight jumped up and glared at the imposing mass before her. "Never! You can't win, not while me and my friends are still alive." she shot at him. The Dark One snickered before bursting into a full-fledged laugh. "Oh, that's precious!" he said between laughs. Twilight continued to glare at the demon as he laughed. After a while, he noticed her stare and stopped laughing. "Oh, you're serious." he commented "Ha!" it began swirling around Twilight in a blur of black. She kept her stance as it was and tried to follow the Dark One as he whirled around her. "You've never fought anything like me, Twilight. I'm more powerful than every living thing in Equestria combined! You have no chance against me." he cockily added. "Friendship always conquers evil, even an evil as powerful as you." The wall of darkness began to close in on her. "Mark my words, Twilight Sparkle; by the end of this, you'll realize that those words are far from the truth." Twilight jolted awake and quickly looked around. She was back in her bed chambers, but there was an odd warmth next to her. She looked next to the brown book in front of her and saw a small glass ball. She lifted it up and observed it's contents, which seemed to be several small fires evenly spaced out from each other. Twilight set the ball down and leaned back in her chair. What could he possibly mean? she wondered to herself. Friendship always beats evil! She looked outside at the small birds that were chirping at her windowsill. Doesn't it?
Defeat Inside, Darkness OutsideAs Twilight sat at her window and looked out over the land before her, she couldn't stop thinking about her latest nightmare. The Dark One had said that by the end of all this, she would learn that friendship always winning was far from the truth. Are there any points in history when friendship didn't win? she thought to herself. Taking a history textbook from her vast collection of reading material, Twilight began to look for any events in history where evil was the triumphant one. She found many wars and political fights where a friendship was created, but there was also a fair share of events in which an area of Equestria was utterly destroyed, nothing left but small remains of what once was. One such battle depicted an event where 5,000 acres of land were destroyed by jungle warriors from the Everfree Forest, a battle so brutal that it took days afterwards to clean up all the body parts. This site was about 1 mile away, and it seemed to Twilight to be the perfect place where the Dark One would like to hide out in. Then I'll go there, find the Dark One, and stop whatever he's planning, she decided. Taking a day's worth of supplies, Twilight set out for the battle site to find the Dark One and stop him. 3 Hours Later... Finally arriving at her destination, Twilight decided to stop for a moment and eat lunch. She took off her saddlebags, pulled out a dandelion sandwich, and started eating. She was about halfway done with her food when she heard a soft chuckle off to her left, relatively close by. She put down her sandwich and turned around, finding nothing but a long expanse of grassland. She was about to continue with her lunch when she heard another chuckle, closer this time. She whirled around as she kept hearing chuckling, looking for a source, but to no avail. I can't take this anymore, she thought to herself. She stopped and laid down, catching her breath as the chuckles continued getting closer and closer, louder and louder, until it was so close and loud that her eardrum was about to burst. She whirled around one last time, catching a glimpse of black as it hid behind a pile of rocks. She ran to the rocks to confront the source of the ear-shattering chuckles, but instead found a doll of Princess Luna. More specifically, Nightmare Moon. She levitated the doll to eye level and looked at it, trying to find anything out of place about it. "Hmm, there doesn't seem to be anything... Wait, what's this?" she thought aloud. On the doll was a small purple patch right above the zipper, as if something spilled out of it. She pulled the zipper down and looked inside, finding plenty of stuffing and... "A doll of ME?!" Inside the Nightmare Moon doll was an extremely accurate doll of Twilight as she was now, from her stance to the facial expression she was currently wearing. The doll turned it's head to her and began speaking. "Greetings, Twilight Sparkle," it greeted her. She dropped the doll and backed away. It had the exact same voice as the Dark One. "Uh, hello?" she replied. "The Dark One needs your evil." "My... My evil?" Twilight responded with a wide-eyed expression. "Yes, your evil. Without it, he cannot come forth into your realm." Twilight shook her head and stared at the doll. "I'm not evil, you must be mistaken." "If I'm mistaken, then why did I use your name?" "I'm not evil!" The doll seemed to smile at her as it stood up and trotted over to her. "Every being has a dark side, Miss Sparkle." Twilight yelped as a dark magical aura pinned her hooves to the ground, preventing her from moving. The doll stopped in front of her and turned into a dark smoke, flying up and entering Twilight's muzzle. An excruciating pain shot through her body as the smoke travelled into her very soul and extracted all the evil essence it could find. The smoke began to clump together and form a physical form. Twilight's head shot back as a large, black mass forced itself out through her mouth. The mass landed on the ground and stretched it's arms, looking around at the vast expanse of grass and trees. It turned around and kneeled down in front of Twilight and addressed her. "Hello, Twilight. Good to see you again. And this time..." it said as it held her head up to look into it's eyes. "You're not dreaming." "Hello again, Dark One," she said grimly. "Aw, come on, cheer up. You're the first being on this entire planet," he gestured with his arm, "to see my physical form. You should be thankful." The Dark One released his grip on Twilight and began walking in the direction of Ponyville. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a dimension to destroy." He turned into a dark smoke and flew off, leaving Twilight to lay there, panting and thinking, This is not good.
Ponyville BurnsAs Ponyville slowly came into sight, Twilight was horrified to discover smoke and fire covering the small town. She quickened her pace, rushing to Ponyville in hopes that she could still stop the Dark One. As the lavender alicorn reached her destination, however, she saw that most of the buildings were already burned to nothing but ashes, the town seemingly deserted. Twilight slowed down and stopped, stunned by the horrific scene before her, observing the charred bodies of other ponies littering the streets. Twilight bowed her head, tears coming to her eyes, as the situation began to sink in. "It's horrific, isn't it?" a voice said behind Twilight. Her head shot up and turned toward the source of the voice to see a brown stallion with a dark brown mane and an hourglass cutie mark approaching her, a depressed look in his eyes. Twilight turned her head back to the burning remains of Ponyville. "Yeah, it is. I wish I could've done something." she replied. Doctor Whooves stopped beside her and sat down, looking at the devastation before them. "You wouldn't have been able to do anything. It all happened too quick." Twilight looked at the nut-brown pony. "What did?" He sighed and gestured towards the burning wasteland. "A giant black cloud came and started rushing through the houses, setting them all on fire. Many ponies tried to stop the fires, but the cloud rushed over and set most everypony on fire. Those that survived hid from the cloud, taking shelter behind and inside the burning houses. Most of them died. Those that didn't fled from Ponyville in search of help." "Why didn't you leave?" she questioned him. He turned and looked into Twilight's eyes. "I don't really know, myself." Twilight stared into his eyes for a few moments before hearing a distant explosion. She turned her head towards it and saw Canterlot being destroyed. She jumped to her feet and turned back to the Doctor. "Sorry, but that's my home, and I have to save it." she said to him. The brown pony stood up. "Very well. I wish you luck, princess." Twilight nodded and started channeling magic to her horn. The Doctor stood watching her, the look in his eyes becoming more and more worried, and just as Twilight teleported, he grabbed her and went with. As Canterlot ponies rushed for cover from the raging explosions occurring all around them, a bright purple flash enveloped the town square. When it subsided, Twilight and the Doctor stood in the middle of the carnage. Twilight pulled herself away from the brown stallion and looked into his eyes. "What the hay?!" she yelled at him. The Doctor shrugged. "I wanted to come with you. I can't stand being bored. Besides, I've always wanted to visit Canterlot." Twilight rolled her eyes and turned around, just as a black cloud rushed by them and into a building which soon after exploded. It flew out of the top and stopped in front of the lavender mare and the brown stallion and took on the form of a face. "Well, I didn't expect to see you here, princess." It turned to the Doctor. "Who's this? Your coltfriend?" "Shut up, Dark One." Twilight snapped at him. "I came here to stop you, and this is --" "The Doctor," the stallion proudly stated, "just the Doctor." "-- who came with me to stop you." The Dark One floated back, seeming to shake as he did so. "Oh, no. A doctor! I'm soo scared!" He began whirling around the Doctor, laughing maniacally, and started building up a fire, threatening to burn the brown pony alive. Twilight shot a magic blast at the dark tornado, going though it and hitting the building behind. "Say goodbye to your coltfriend!" the Dark One shouted over the sound of rushing wind. Suddenly, the dark mass screamed in pain and rushed off towards the Everfree Forest. Twilight looked up and saw Princess Cadence floating down, her horn glowing. As he hooves touched the ground, she trotted to the lavender alicorn and wrapped her forelegs around her neck, embracing her. "Are you alright, Twilight?" she asked. Twilight returned the hug and replied, "Yes, I'm fine, Cadence. Thank you." The Doctor shakily got up and rubbed his forehead. "Oh, geez, that felt weird." Cadence broke the embrace with Twilight and trotted over to the brown stallion, hugging him. "Um, hello?" he asked, confused. "You're right here, so I might as well hug you, too." Cadence replied. He looked at Twilight, who shrugged and mouthed, "She's the princess of love. Just go with it." The Doctor slowly returned the embrace, still confused. "Well, thank you." He added under his breath, "I guess?" Cadence broke the embrace and turned back to Twilight. "Anyways, I'm glad you're here. I have a feeling Celestia might want to speak with you." Twilight nodded and set off towards the castle, the Doctor following closely behind, still occasionally looking at the sky, fearing that the Dark One might come back. Cadence giggled and trotted up beside him. "Don't worry, I don't think he'll come near you as long as I'm here." The Doctor nodded and continued, still worried.
"So He Doesn't Win"At Canterlot Castle... As Twilight approached Celestia's throne with Cadence and the Doctor, she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread slowly coming over her, though she didn't know why. Slowly approaching Celestia, she bowed and began speaking. "Hello, Princess. I understand you wanted to talk to me?" Celestia nodded and stood up. "Yes, Twilight, I did. Follow me." She led Twilight to a small door at the back of the throne room and opened it, motioning for her to enter. Twilight obliged and entered the room, quietly observing it. It consisted of a small, round table with two chairs and a glowing pedestal at the back of the room. Celestia sat in one of the chairs and motioned for Twilight to do the same. She obliged and got comfortable as Celestia began to speak. "As you might have seen, the Dark One has come back into our world and he began destroying everything a few minutes ago." Twilight nodded and replied, "Yes, Princess Celestia, I am well aware of that. Luckily, Cadence was able to drive him off." "I know, Twilight. I sent her because I knew the Dark One was back." She got up and trotted over to the glowing pedestal. "Now, the reason I wanted to speak with you is because I believe I have a way to stop him." "Really? Well, what is it?" Twilight asked. Celestia gestured the purple alicorn over to her. "It involves this pedestal," Twilight stood next to her and stared at the stone slab. "Put your horn against it." Twilight looked at Celestia questioningly. "Why?" The goddess looked at her, a grim look in her eyes. "I'm going to give you my power, which you are then going to use against the Dark One." Twilight stared at the princess, her eyes wide in disbelief because of what she just heard. "What?!" "Twilight," Celestia trotted over to a window that overlooked most of the Everfree Forest, "There is no unicorn or alicorn in all of Equestria that has enough magic power to stop the Dark One. However, you are the most powerful alicorn in the history of Equestria with me as second. If our magic power was to combine, then you would have just enough power to send the Dark One back to the void where he belongs. I gave it a lot of thought, trying to figure out another way to stop him, but nothing else can work. This is the only way." Twilight looked at her hooves for a moment before setting the tip of her horn against the pedestal, making it glow even brighter than before. "Very well. But why do I have to send him back to the void? If I do that, then he can come back again." Princess Celestia set the tip of her horn on the pedestal, right next to Twilight's, and began channeling magic to her. Before she transferred the last of her energy to Twilight, she whispered in her ear, "So he doesn't win." Celestia collapsed on the ground and remained there, motionless. Twilight dropped down so that her head was right next to her mentor's and began to cry, grieving. For about 20 minutes she stayed there, constantly crying, before she heard the door open behind her. She turned around to see Luna in the doorway, her eyes misty. She trotted over to Twilight's side and kneeled down next to her, putting her foreleg around Twilight and staring at the motionless body of her sister. Twilight buried her face in Luna's mane and began to cry heavily, her tears streaming down her face and her wails echoing around the room. "We know how you feel, Twilight Sparkle." Luna quietly said, her voice cracking, while rubbing Twilight's side, comforting her. "We know."
The Heart of the EverfreeTwilight stood in front of the entrance to the Everfree Forest, the Doctor next to her, and breathed deeply. She knew this would not be easy, what with the many creatures lurking in the forest's depths that would like to tear the two apart and the Dark One probably watching them every step of the way. "I'm not so sure I want to be a part of this anymore, princess." the Doctor stated while nervously looking at Twilight. "If you want, you can just leave, it's not like anypony is forcing you to come with me." she replied with a slightly annoyed frown. She then trotted slowly into the Everfree Forest, almost taunting the Doctor. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and followed in after her. Twilight waited for him to catch up, a sly grin adorning her face, then continued through, occasionally stopping and linking herself to the ground with her magic. "What, exactly, are you doing, your highness?" the Doctor questioned her. "I'm studying the terrain ahead of us and finding the fastest route to the heart of the Everfree Forest." she replied, not even looking up. The Doctor locked up for a moment as he processed what she just said. "The... heart?" he asked her, visibly shaking. "Yes, the heart," she answered, "that's where the Dark One is. I can sense him." The Doctor began pacing back and forth, speaking quietly to himself, "I have to go through the Everfree Forest AND get to the HEART of it, too?!" Twilight rolled her eyes and continued studying the surrounding terrain when the sound of a small branch cracking reached their ears, making both of their heads shoot up and look at the source of the noise. A glowing pair of eyes was staring at them, studying them, waiting for them to start running. The Doctor began to slowly back away from the eyes, and when he reached Twilight, he leaned towards her and whispered, "Stay calm, I know how to handle this." He slowly approached the creature again, his eyes showing a little more confidence, and began softly speaking to it in a foreign language while making slight gestures with his hooves. The creature listened intently, occasionally tilting it's head, and when the Doctor was done, it nodded and turned around, walking away from them. Twilight sat there, her jaw slacking, as the brown stallion returned to her side and waited for a response. After sitting there for about 3 minutes, Twilight turned to the Doctor and quietly asked him, "What did you just do?" "I simply asked the gentlecolt for a map of the area. He's part of a hunting tribe that lives within this part of the forest." he replied, smiling. She nodded in understanding and quietly sat there, waiting for the creature to come back with a map. It returned shortly after and handed the pair a rolled up scroll that was rather old with age. The Doctor took the map and thanked the creature for it's assistance. It wandered off, leaving the Doctor and Twilight to observe the map and find the quickest route to the heart of the Everfree. Once they set their path, they got up and continued travelling, more confident than before. 5 hours later... Twilight and the Doctor sat down on a rock and rested for a moment, quietly doing their own thing. Twilight studied the wildlife scurrying about the bottoms of the trees, while the Doctor studied the map once more, finding where they were and how long it would take for them to reach the heart of the forest. As life continued around them, they sat and regained their energy for the sure-to-come battle that would follow when they reached the Dark One. Twilight turned to the Doctor and asked him, "How long until we get to the heart?" He studied the map for a little longer, then folded it up and turned to the curious alicorn, replying, "Just another mile and we'll be there." Twilight nodded and rested her head on the tree she was sitting against, staring up at the leaves that obstructed the sky from her view, wondering to herself why the forest was so dense. Another few minutes of resting and the two got up and continued their journey, some of their energy regained. When they arrived at the heart of the Everfree Forest, they stayed there for a good 4 minutes, standing in place, until the Doctor quietly said, his voice trembling, "What in Celestia's name happened here?" There was a 20 meter long crater with 3 meters of the land around it smoking and singed. The trees that used to reside in the area were thrown to the side as if an angry manticore had come through and ripped each tree up by the roots and tossed them aside. In the middle of the crater, the Dark One stood, staring at the sky. Twilight and the Doctor slowly approached him as he began speaking to them without even looking. "For such a long time, I wondered what had become of this land, what had happened after I was banished from this realm," he turned around, making the duo stop in their tracks and stare at him, "I was in that void for so long, I had forgotten what the sky looked like. I had forgotten what anything looked like except for two beings," he began walking toward them, his blood-red eyes never leaving their forms, "I always remembered the faces of your princesses as they banished me from their world," the Dark One stopped and stared at them. "I never forgot them, I never forgave them, but I was impressed by them. The fact that they alone had stopped me and sent me to the void made me wonder, 'How could they have possibly beat me?' The answer is simple, my little ponies," he outstretched his hand and a brown book appeared, hovering over his palm, "this book was, and is, making me weak." He dropped the book in front of the two ponies and backed away to the center of the crater. "Celestia had enchanted that book so that all dark entities on the planet it resided on were half as powerful as they normally would be. I honestly never expected her to use that kind of ancient magic against me because I thought all traces of it were wiped from existence." "Obviously not," Twilight snapped, glaring at the Dark One, "Princess Celestia knew every kind of magic there ever was, no matter how dark or evil." The Dark One tilted his head, studying her, then began laughing. Twilight continued to stare at him as he maniacally cackled. Finally, he calmed down and looked into her eyes. "Celestia didn't know every magic spell in existence. Some were scattered all over the planet, some were completely erased from it, and even if she had every spell in her possession, she could never hold all of that knowledge in her brain. Nopony can! It's simply too much for your species to comprehend." He shook his head. "Stupid me, I got distracted again." He levitated the book in front of them and spun it around. "Even while Celestia enchanted this book, there was one thing she failed to do," the book spontaneously combusted, the blood-red flames lighting up the entire area, "she didn't make it so that it couldn't be destroyed," the book continued to burn, even as the Dark One threw it into the forest with a malicious grin on his face, "and now that it's burning to ashes, I can destroy you two without anything holding me back." He levitated the duo so that they were floating right in front of him and began to crush them. Twilight struggled to keep her mind off of the pain so she could think straight. Have to... do... something... Can't... lose... now... "Release them, fiend!" The Dark One looked up in surprise to see Princess Luna approaching him. He grinned again, threw Twilight and the Doctor to the side, and slowly walked over to her, twirling fire between his fingers. "Well, isn't this a surprise. The goddess of the night came to save the day. I'll have you know that I no longer have any restrictions on my power, and that I can kill you with the sna--" A purple force field instantly surrounded the Dark One, cutting him off mid-sentence. He growled and attacked the shield relentlessly, producing no results. "And I'll have you know," Twilight remarked, "that even though you're at full power, I can still beat you." Twilight and Luna clenched their eyes shut as their horns began to glow, each of their magical auras surrounding the Dark One, as a dark portal opened up above them. The Dark One slowly began to rise toward the hole as he struggled against the two alicorns. "No, you can't put me back there!" He screamed as his head entered the hole, then his body, then his legs. It then began to close as one last roar of anger made it through the hole, "No! NO!! NOOOOOOOO!!!" The portal closed, allowing the forest to fall silent once more. Twilight and Luna were panting from the large amount of magic they had to use to beat the Dark One, sweat dripping from their bodies. The Doctor trotted up beside Twilight and stared at the spot where the hole once resided. "That was... interesting." he remarked out loud. Twilight turned to him and smiled, nodding. "Yes, it was interesting." She turned her head and looked at Luna, who looked back, and mouthed to her, "Thanks." Luna nodded and smiled, mouthing back, "Anytime, Twilight Sparkle." The three stood there for a while, looking at where the portal once stood, then turned and began walking back to Canterlot.
Not Over Yet1 month later... The sun disappeared behind the horizon, allowing the moon to take it's place. Panting, Twilight stopped to regain her energy. Ever since she sent the Dark One back to the void he belonged in, she had to take responsibility for raising and setting the sun every day since Celestia had sacrificed herself to ensure Equestria's safety. Ever since day one, it was always a chore for her to do Celestia's job. It required a large amount of power to raise and set the sun, a power that now only she possessed. Once her energy was replenished, the purple mare trotted over to her desk and sat down, levitating a book over to her and immersing herself within it's written world. Reading was always a satisfying pastime of hers, and now that she had Celestia's job, it was more of a way to empty her mind of any problems she might have. She continued reading, getting more and more tired with each page completed, and after a while her mind finally gave in and entered the dream realm. Twilight's eyes fluttered open and she looked around. She was laying down in a large field, an under-reconstruction Ponyville to her left and the Everfree Forest to her right. She stood up and turned to head toward Ponyville when she heard a voice calling for help from the forest, and upon hearing it, Twilight began running towards the source. Upon reaching the call for help, she found a small white colt with a nut-brown mane curled up next to a tree, bleeding profusely from his broken foreleg, the skin having been pierced by bone. "Oh my gosh, what happened?" she asked the colt while using a healing spell on his wounds. Unable to speak due to the pain he was experiencing, he instead settled on whimpering. Twilight finished her job on his foreleg and smiled at him. "There you go," she softly whispered, helping the colt up, "all better." The white pony wrapped his hooves around Twilight's neck, loudly crying. "Shh," she whispered, cradling the colt, "it's alright, you're safe now." "No I'm not," the colt cried, "it's going to get me!" Twilight held him out and looked into his terror-filled eyes. "Nothing's going to hurt you, I pro--" A black cloud entered the colt's mouth, interrupting the mare mid-sentence. She let him go and backed away, staring wide-eyed at the dark cloud as it began enveloping the colt. When it cleared, the colt was standing still, looking down. Twilight slowly trotted over to him and stretched out her foreleg, shaking the colt slightly. His head whipped up and he stared at the mare, his eyes completely black and a large grin plastered on his face. Twilight recoiled and stared back, looking into the dark holes where his eyes used to be. "Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?" the colt said to her in a low, distorted voice as it's flesh began peeling off in large strips, revealing completely black muscle. Twilight gasped as she re-entered the real world, her head shooting upward. She looked down at the book she was reading and saw that it was covered in saliva. She cleaned up the mess and stood up, trotting over to her window and looking out to the Everfree Forest with a stone-cold look on her face. Well, this sucks. Author's Note Sorry for the short chapter, I'm not feeling very inspired at the moment. It's not because I'm having any troubles in my life or because I'm getting tired of the story, it's just that I don't feel like writing right now. I promise, though, that the next chapter will make up for this one, so look forward to that.
OriginsNote: this chapter contains the backstory to the Dark One and is heavily influenced by Tom Marvolo Riddle's diary from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Making her way to the center of the Everfree Forest, Twilight kept thinking about her dream. About how it had seemed so real and how the Dark One could still possibly be here after she and Luna had banished him to the void. It didn't seem possible, yet a small part of her mind kept telling her that she was forgetting something important. She shrugged it off and continued through the forest, using her magic to study the surroundings and avoid any living thing near her. When she arrived at the heart of the forest, she found it as it was before, a giant crater surrounded by mangled and uprooted trees. She used her magic to carefully observe the area, checking for any signs of the Dark One or anything that seemed odd to her. As she was finishing her search, she sensed a small hint of a magic unknown to her a couple of meters into the forest. She went to the source and found the brown book the Dark One had burned lying open next to a quill and an inkwell. On the visible page was a single sentence: Write in this book. Twilight levitated the book over to her and studied it with her magic. This was definitely the source of the unknown magic, but the writing on the page intrigued her. She levitated the quill and inkwell over to her and began writing. Hello? As soon as she finished writing, a response immediately appeared underneath it. Hello. She stared at the book for a minute then continued writing. Who are you? Ladies first. She hesitated for a moment. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Pleasure to meet you, Twilight Sparkle. You may call me Bright Day. Nice to meet you, too. Bright Day remained silent for a while before it finally responded. Please ask me a question. Twilight thought about what she was going to say carefully and wrote back. What are you? I'm afraid I can't answer that. Why not? It's not time for you to know yet. Twilight frowned and wrote down another question. Did you know I was coming here? Yes. How? I sensed it. That seems to be rather vague. It's supposed to be. Twilight thought about choosing her next words carefully, but decided to simply ask Bright Day. What do you know about the Dark One? Bright Day hesitated for a moment before responding. Everything. Twilight's eyes went wide and she froze in place. For a moment, she couldn't think. When she could, she thought that this might be a great opportunity for her to learn the Dark One's weaknesses. She wrote back to Bright Day. What can you tell me? What do you want to know? Does the Dark One have any weaknesses? Yes. Twilight's smile was so wide, she thought her head might split in two. What are they? I'm afraid I can only tell you of one. The purple mare's smile faltered but immediately shot back up as she continued writing. What is it? Bright Day took a minute to respond. When it finally did, Twilight's smile turned into a look of confusion. Pure beings. She sat there for a moment, studying Bright Day's words. She didn't know what "pure beings" meant, but she had a hunch. She continued writing. What are those? That, I'm afraid, you'll have to discover on your own. Twilight grunted in frustration and considered simply leaving the book, but she still had one question left to ask. She wrote it down and waited for a response. What is the Dark One? The Dark One is an evil being that wants nothing more than for the whole of reality to live in fear of him. He was born from the void, which he grew up in, at the beginning of existence, along with his two brothers. He was originally going to watch over the universe and make sure everything remained in perfect harmony, but living in the void for that long has driven him insane and has led him to think that nothing cares enough about him to even learn what he is. Finally, he stopped caring for the universe and simply watched it descend into madness, chaos, and death. His brothers frowned upon his actions and created a god-like race, known as the alicorns, to watch over and protect the universe in his place. This infuriated him and led him to lock his brothers away and watch him travel out of the void to destroy this new race so that the universe would destroy itself. However, one of his brothers was slightly more powerful than him, which allowed him to send a message to the alicorns warning of his coming arrival. They gathered in defense and began fighting the Dark One in a collected effort to keep their kingdom safe. The writing continued on the other page. He was stronger than them, however, and he killed most of the race easily. Those that remained went into hiding and began asking the Dark One's brothers if there was any way to stop him. They responded and told them that their only hope was to banish him to the void and lock him there. They faced the Dark One once more and tried to lock him away, but this kind of magic was unknown to them and it would take them a while to cast the spell. Plus, the Dark One was quick to understand their intentions and quickly killed all but two of them, the ones you know as Celestia and Luna. However, as he was about to kill the last alicorns, they had completed the spell and had banished him to the void. The eldest of the two alicorns infused the spirit of one of the Dark One's brothers inside this book so that the Dark One couldn't return to this universe without being faced by a being more powerful than him. Since then, the universe remained untouched by the Dark One for over three thousand years and his younger brother watched over him, while the other watched over this universe. However, he finally found a way to return to this universe without endangering himself. He took refuge within your body and hid there, waiting to acquire the book his brother was residing within. It continued on the other side of the page. When he finally did, he took it into the void and, without his other brother knowing, began draining the book of it's power. Finally, it was weak enough to be destroyed, so he sent it back into your universe with you and continued hiding within you. When you arrived in a place that once held so much death and destruction, he left your body and began seeking the book. As soon as he found it, he began destroying your world until he found the right time to travel to a secluded location to destroy the book. Then you confronted him and banished him into the void once more, however not before he destroyed the book and his brother along with it. With his brother gone, he could easily return to your world any time he wanted, but not while his younger brother still existed. He disposed of his younger brother and returned to this world, waiting for a time when your mind was weak enough that he could tell you that he wasn't gone. The rest is history. As Twilight finished reading, she leaned back and stopped to take all of the information in. When she returned to the book, all of the writing was gone and a single sentence had replaced it all. You can't stop him now. There is no hope anymore.
The VoidTwilight set the burned book on her desk and sat down in front of it, studying the magic it was using to communicate with her. It was dark in origin and was immensely powerful, more powerful than she could even imagine. Any further details were shadowed from her and would require more concentration than what she was capable of giving at the moment. She was also curious about Bright Day and who it was. Even more confusing was how it knew about the Dark One's past and about her. She opened the book again and found the same two sentences written on the same page. You can't stop him now. There is no hope anymore. Surely there was a way to stop the Dark One that Bright Day wasn't telling her about. Then again, it did say that the only beings that could truly stop him were his brothers, who were both dead. She sat there and thought about it more and more, and as she thought, a question began to form in her head. Just who is in that book, exactly? She levitated a quill and inkwell over to her and began writing in the book again. Who are you, exactly? I told you, my name is Bright Day. I know that, but who ARE you? I can't tell you. Why not, huh? Are you some almighty being that sees everything? I can't tell you, I'm sorry. WHY NOT?! Bright Day hesitated for a moment, then replied. Because it's not time for you to know yet. Twilight raised her eyebrow in suspicion, then continued writing. Why are you even in this book? So that I could give you the information you need to learn when it's time. So when do I learn what you are? ... Twilight waited for a response, but it didn't come. After a few minutes, she continued writing. Well? ... You don't want to know when. Yes I do. Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure. Very well. You learn when Equestria falls. Twilight sat staring at the book's words, surprised. When Equestria... falls? Yes. Twilight began to feel tears welling in her eyes. How long away is that? Not too long, I'm afraid. Her tears began to fall and soak the book as she cried and laid her head down. The purple mare cried for a few minutes, finally raising her head and looking at the book, which had absorbed all of her tears and ruined the pages. However, the page with writing on it was fine, and had another line written on it. There is another way to learn this information. Would you like to know? Twilight didn't reply, instead simply nodding, hoping that Bright Day would see her. Then tell me. Tell me what you would like to know. She picked the quill back up and replied. I want to know what you are. The book slammed shut and flew to Twilight's window, hovering in front of it, tapping the glass. Twilight hesitantly got up and opened the window, allowing the book to soar into the sky and disappear from sight. Where it flew to turned pitch black, and a small part of it went back to Twilight, enveloping and carrying her to the large black mass. As much as she struggled, she couldn't get free. She simply went limp and allowed herself to be consumed by the darkness. Twilight opened her eyes and observed her surroundings. She was in a small, square, dark grey room with only a small candle in the center for illumination. Sitting behind the candle was a figure donning a pure white cloak. It's face was the same color as the room and was wrinkled with age, showing no emotion. It's eyes were seemingly dead, lacking irises or pupils. It raised it's arm and beckoned her closer with a bony, grey finger. She trotted up to the other side of the candle and sat down, staring intently at the creature's wrinkled face. It began speaking in a grumbly, elderly voice. "Hello, Twilight. It's an honor to finally meet you face-to-face." Twilight didn't reply, instead continuing to stare at it. The creature laughed heartily and continued. "I understand you're confused by my presence, so allow me to ease your mind. I am Bright Day." Her eyes widened and she cocked her head to the side, studying Bright Day more intently. "Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you where you are." Twilight broke her stare and again studied her surroundings. It wasn't familiar to her and it's very presence made her feel empty. "You are in the Void. Or, at least, you're in a part of it." "The Void?" Twilight finally spoke. "Yes, the Void." She focused her attention back on Bright Day. "Why is it a small grey room? I would expect the Void to be more... well..." "... void?" Bright Day finished for her. "Yeah." "Well, really, this place is a void." He gestured around the room. "You are simply seeing it as a place of containment, having the knowledge that the Dark One was once imprisoned here." She looked back at the walls of the room. Bright Day brought his hands together, making a slapping sound. "Well, now to why I brought you here. You wanted to know what I am, yes?" Twilight turned back to Bright Day. "Yes, I do." "Well, before I say it, let me tell you of something. Do you remember what I said happened to the Dark One's elder brother?" "You said he was killed when the Dark One burned the book." "Yes, exactly." "What about it?" Bright Day rubbed his neck and stared at Twilight. "I lied. He didn't kill me." Twilight's eyes went wide and she leaned closer to Bright Day. "You're the Dark One's brother?" "Indeed I am." She went slack-jawed and sat staring at him for a good 5 or so minutes before speaking again. "Wait, if you're still alive, then you can still stop the Dark One, can't you?" "Oh, that. You see," Bright Day leaned back, "I can't stop him anymore." "WHAT?!" Twilight glared at him. He sat forward again and stared into her lavender eyes. "He has rendered me feeble and weak. It's taking me most of my energy to speak to you like this, hence the elderly features and voice." He gestured to his face. "But how can I stop him? I'm less powerful than you, and he made you weak!" Bright Day groaned. "Yes, I know. However, there is a way that you can stop him." "How?" "There is a part of the Void that contains a magic that was locked away at the beginning of existence because my brothers and I feared of what would happen if it got in the wrong hands. It is so powerful that any being that got a hold of it would easily be able to overthrow me and my brothers, even if we were in our most powerful state. If you can get it, you will be able to imprison him and make sure he never comes back." "How will I be able to find it?" "To you, the area it's locked away in looks blood-red and will make you feel terrified." He pulled a key out of his cloak and handed it to Twilight. "Use this key to open it." Twilight took the key with her magic and stood up. A door appeared behind Bright Day and opened to reveal a green room. "Good luck, Twilight Sparkle." She nodded and walked into the green room, the door slamming shut once she was inside. "I pray you do not wander into the wrong rooms."
RebornTwilight closed the door behind her and looked around. She was at the end of a long, white hallway that seemed to stretch on forever and what looked to be hundreds of doors lining the walls. She opened the first door on her left and found what looked like a tan conference room with a long table in the middle surrounded by ponies that were all eyeing her. She smiled sheepishly and went back into the hallway, moving to the next door. Inside was a sky-blue playroom where several foals were playing with the various toys scattered around. Twilight stayed at this room for a while, watching the foals play, a large smile on her face, then returned to her search. The next room was blank and empty with the only thing out of place being a small blue bag placed in the far corner of the room. She briefly considered looking at the bag's contents, but decided against it and moved on. The following room was the most peculiar so far. Inside, it was a light purple, and it showed a large, rotating ball that looked to be her planet. Curiosity building within her, she entered the room and stared at the globe intently, studying the landforms and oceans with great interest. The door slammed shut, making her jump, and the globe turned into something far different and horrifying. It was essentially the same planet, except the landforms were grey and lifeless and the oceans were brown with pollution. As it rotated, she could see, in great detail, many ruins that were long ago thriving communities, but were now silent reminders of what were once places filled with life. What used to be lush, green forests teeming with wildlife were now grey, depressing, and dead. The globe suddenly stopped, setting one particular location in her immediate focus. It was a small shack, standing alone in a long dead field of flowers. Standing outside it was a single purple mare that looked onward at the grey expanse, a large frown plastered on her face. A single tear fell from her cheek as she turned around and, using her magic, removed the shack and threw it away from her. What remained was a lone gravestone as large as the mare that had two words engraved on the front: R.I.P. Equestria The globe disappeared and the door behind Twilight slowly opened. She hastily made her way back into the hall and slammed the door shut, sitting on the ground and silently sobbing. She couldn't bear to see that happen to her world, not in any form. It was simply too much for her heart to take. She would rather kill herself than witness the end of her world. When she couldn't cry anymore, she continued her search for the magic Bright Day had told her about. Examining room after room after room, she kept looking, determined to keep her world safe. Eventually, she reached the end of the hallway, finding a single door that looked no different from the others. Not a single room had given her the results she seeked. Each room was just as far from what she was looking for as the one before, and now there was only one left. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside. Twilight was immediately greeted by a rotten smell and complete darkness. As she walked further into the room, she was slowly becoming aware of wetness surrounding her hooves and the feeling of dread slowly creeping up on her. Suddenly remembering that she had magic, she summoned a ball of light and sent it to the center of the room. As it illuminated the room, Twilight was horrified at what she saw. Pinned against every blood-red wall were corpses of ponies, all with shocked looks on their faces. Their blood had been spread all over the walls, their eyes were ripped from their sockets and nailed to the wall next to them, their teeth had been pulled out and jabbed into random parts of their bodies, and they'd been ripped open and stripped clean of their organs which now decorated the walls, stabbed in place by their bones. Twilight tried her best to keep from vomiting, but the sight and smell had already pushed her over the edge as she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the ground. As she finished, she laid her eyes on the final object in the room. Sitting in the middle of the room, underneath her light orb, was a small, black box with a sign above it that read, "DO NOT REMOVE CONTENTS." Slowly, Twilight made her way to the box, careful to step around the vomit. She levitated the box up to her face and studied it. It was made of black metal, the hinges and lock made of brass. It was small and lightweight, and there was a strange humming noise coming from inside. She opened the box and looked inside, where a golden ring with a blue sapphire imbedded in the middle sat vibrating. All along the golden part was a single sentence that kept repeating itself. "JUST IN CASE." She removed the ring and admired the ring for a minute before the door to the room slammed shut. The corpses on the wall began screaming and the eyes swiveled to look at Twilight. She covered her ears and ran out of the room, ring tight in her telekinetic grip, rushing back to Bright Day's room, the screaming following her all the way. When she finally reached the other end of the hallway, her ears ringing, the screams were but a dull roar. She waited for the ringing to stop before she entered the room. Bright Day whirled around to look at her, then smiled when he saw the object Twilight had acquired. "You found it!" he exclaimed. "Yes, I did. Here you go." she replied, levitating the ring towards him. He grabbed the ring and looked at it, the smile on his face growing ever larger. Unveiling his other hand, he slipped the ring on his ring finger and balled up his fist. The sapphire began to glow blue and released two long ribbons of light that were the same color. The ribbons swirled in the air above Bright Day, then rushed down into his eyes. He began levitating off the ground, his skin regaining it's vitality and the panels on the walls shaking violently before flinging outward. As the room slowly disassembled, Twilight stared on in wonder as Bright Day curled into a fetal position for a moment before uncurling and releasing a blinding light that forced the purple mare to clench her eyes shut. The sound of books falling forced Twilight to tear her eyes open. She was back in her bed chambers, laying down in front of the windowsill. She looked around when she heard a coughing behind her. Her eyes rested on a tall, bipedal man wearing a white cloak. His features were soft, yet serious, and his eyes were those of a wise old sage. She watched as he held out his hand to help her up as he opened his mouth. "Are you ready to stop my brother?" Bright Day asked her.
The EndBright Day kneeled down and closed his eyes, feeling the earth underneath him, as Twilight sat and watched. He had led her to a field along the outskirts of Ponyville, not answering a single question she asked. Now I'm sitting here while he takes a break, and I don't know why. she thought to herself, rather annoyed with him. Twilight had finally had enough after a few minutes of Bright Day's kneeling. She began speaking. "Can you please just--" "Shh, I'm trying to focus." he interrupted her. "Focus on what?" He remained silent, much to Twilight's dismay. Finally, Bright Day opened his eyes and stood up, walking and ushering her to follow. She simply stood up and remained in place. After a few steps, he turned back around and looked at her, an eyebrow raised. "Are you coming or not?" he asked her. "Not until you start answering my questions." she angrily snapped back. He visually recoiled, then closed his eyes and shook his head. "Fine, what do you want to know?" "First of all, why are suddenly being so quiet all the time?" He put his hand on his chin in thought, then shrugged. "I don't really know, myself." Twilight rolled her eyes, unsatisfied with his answer. "Why weren't you answering my questions on the way here?" "Because they'll be answered once you see where we're going." "And where exactly are we going?" she glared at him. "We're already there, actually." Kneeling down, Bright Day ripped a patch of grass out of the ground, revealing a small, dark green rune symbol. He put his hands against it and turned back to Twilight. "You might want to get over here." he said, a small frown present on his face. She trotted over to him and looked back to where she was standing with a confused look. The bipedal man channeled a small amount of energy into the rune, which began to glow white, and looked back as a patch of land faded out of existence. Soon replacing it was a large, black, metal safe imbedded into the ground. Bright Day walked over and twisted the knob on the top, stopping at three numbers and pulling the door open. He reached inside and pulled something out, walking slowly back to Twilight afterwards and showing her the object. It was a small, black disk that had a dark aura surrounding it. Imbedded in the center of it was a red button, which Bright Day seemed to keep his thumb away from. Twilight studied the object for a little longer, finding nothing else of notice, and looked up at Bright Day questioningly. "What exactly is it?" she asked, reaching towards the disk. He pulled the disk back and answered her, his frown increasing in size. "It's how we're going to bring the Dark One here." He pressed the button on the disk and threw it, watching happily as it flew. It went far away from them, then dropped sharply to the ground. After a minute of waiting, it exploded in a shower of dark particles, revealing a very confused Dark One. When his eyes came to rest on Twilight, he scowled and angrily said to her, "You again? When will you ever lea--" His eyes moved over to Bright Day and stared at him in shock as he tried to form incoherent sentences. Finally he gulped and regained his ability to talk. "Brother?" Bright Day nodded and approached his cowering sibling, who simply stood in place, too shocked to move. The elder stopped in front of the younger and stared at him, his expression hard and cold. The Dark One studied his brother, noting his features, which looked young and fresh. They stared at each other for a minute before Bright Day wrapped his arms around his brother and lifted him in the air, squeezing him affectionately. "I missed you so much, brother." Bright Day whispered to him as he released the hug. The Dark One continued to stare at his sibling, his look now one of shock and confusion. "I burned the book you were in! You should have died!" he yelled, stepping back. Bright Day held his arms out to his sides. "And yet here I am." he replied. The Dark One scowled and screamed, charging forward while Bright Day simply stood still. When he got close to his brother, the Dark One stopped as he felt a hand firmly grip his shoulder. He looked up into a pair of sympathetic, hurt eyes and felt himself immediately tense up. "I knew that one day I would have to do this," Bright Day said sadly to his brother, stepping back and gathering magic in his hands, "I just wish there was another way." Orbs appeared around Bright Day as he ripped his brother's dark aura away, making him roar in pain. The aura flew into the orbs, which then dropped to the ground as each of them filled up completely. When Bright Day finally stopped, the Dark One was sealed within the balls now littering the ground. He levitated them and walked to the open safe, putting each one in carefully and sealing them inside. He walked back to the rune and kneeled down once more, channeling more magic into it, not even looking as the safe was replaced by the patch of land. He lingered for a moment as a single tear landed on the rune before standing up and walking away. Twilight simply stared on as Bright Day faded slowly out of existence. He turned back to the mare and said before he disappeared, a sad smile on his face, "Thank you for letting me see my brother again." Twilight stood there for a moment, then smiled. "You're welcome, Bright Day." she said before turning around, spreading her wings, and taking off for Canterlot. Twilight opened the door to her bed chambers and, seeing something strange on her desk, walked over and sat down. It was a scroll, kept closed by the royal seal, which she hadn't seen for over a month. She took the seal off, unraveled the scroll, and began reading. Dear Twilight Sparkle, Bright Day has come back to the Void and informed me that the Dark One has been sealed away for good, and that he couldn't have done it if you hadn't helped him. He thought that you deserved something for doing that, and has sent me over to your world again as a gift. Now that he has much more power, he can complete this task. You should be seeing me shortly, and I will be happy when that happens. "Sincerely, Princess Celestia." she heard a voice behind her say. She turned around and stared in shock. Standing in front of her was the newly resurrected Princess Celestia, who was smiling widely. "Princess!" Twilight yelled, rushing forward and nuzzling her, tears streaming out of her eyes. They sat together in silence, save for the occasional happy sob from Twilight, before Celestia whispered in her ear, "I promise, I will never leave you again." The End
Greetings2 Days Later Twilight lay down in her bed and cast a complex Dreamcatcher spell on herself, encasing her in a barely noticable purple aura. When the aura had covered every inch of her, she closed her eyes and drifted off into sleep, hoping for a nicer dream than the many times before. Black. As far as Twilight could see, there was only black. She blinked and was shocked to see nothing enter her vision. So far so good... She began walking forward only to hear a low growl behind her. She whirled around once, seeing nothing, and continued after a slight pause. 1 step. A low growl. 2 steps. The growl grows slightly louder. 3 steps. The growl grows slightly louder. It continued like this in her head as she walked forward, each step making the growl grow louder and louder. 22 steps. The growl is right behind her. 34 steps. The growl has escalated into a small yell. 68 steps. The yell has grown into an ear-piercing scream in her ears. 100 steps. Everything goes quiet. Twilight stopped when the screaming ceased. She turned around just in time to see a dark mass disappear from view. "Who's there?" she called out to the darkness. No response. "Show yourself, whoever you are!" she yelled at the dark once more. "How about no?" a male voice whispered in her ear. Twilight froze as her eyes widened, slowly turning to look at whoever (or whatever) was speaking. Catching a glimpse of the same black mass heading away from her, she began to chase after it, determined to catch whatever it was. After about a minute of chasing, the mass turned around and rushed at Twilight, her skidding to a halt and the blob stopping in front of her and floating there. She stood there and stared at it for a while before gulping and asking the mass, "What are you?" The blob began to shift into a form as it spoke to her. "Let me show you." The mass finally took on a form and stared at Twilight, appearing to be a face with no body. She stood there, staring at the dark face in front of her, then finally mustered up her courage and asked, "That doesn't really answer my question." The large face rolled it's eyes. "I know it doesn't." "Then tell me, what are you?" she commanded. A large hand formed in front of the face and balled up into a fist, covering up it's mouth as the face cleared it's nonexistent throat. "Fine, if you insist. I am, basically, the very being that controls everything that can be called a nightmare, everything that is considered frightening, everything that can be scary." Twilight's eyes widened. "I am simply known as the Dark One, and I shall come back to you again, just, not anytime soon. Good-bye, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight awoke and covered her eyes with a hoof, blocking the sunlight coming through her window. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she sat up and stared at the wall as if something was there, thinking to herself, What in Equestria was that all about?
