A/N: Well, guess what everypony, I'm BACK! So with Season 4 having started (the premiere was pretty epic, btw!), it's come down to this, what happens now that the Elements have been extracted! Well, wait no more!
—
Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time. I must continue to bear testimony to truth even if I am forsaken by all. Mine may today be a voice in the wilderness, but it will be heard when all other voices are silenced, if it is the voice of Truth.
—Mahatma Gandhi
"Y-You... I know you!"
The exclamation was from the fractured yellow pegasus who leapt at Applejack the moment that she materialized, pinning the orange pony to the ground without warning. "I could tear you apart right now!" Her teeth grew dangerously close, blood still staining them from her quarrel with the pony who had killed her. It was clear that the anger of the fight still raged within her, as the passing from one plane of existence to the next had been almost instantaneous, the fatigue and pain vanished here. "You and your family tried to break me! Now I'll break you!"
"W-Wait!" Applejack stammered, her eyes looking away from Fluttershy's injured one as she tried to find some way out of this. "Why attack me?! Did Ah really do what we saw on that monitor thing?!"
"You had to have!" Fluttershy snarled, pressing a mangled hoof stump on Applejack's windpipe and causing the other pony to try to gasp out breaths. "I remember that you and your family enslaved me, that was one of the worst of my torments!"
"That was likely a false memory," Rarity said in her now-normal monotone. "One of Twilight's tricks. She was the one who tortured you in the present, after all. You're just taking your anger at Twilight out on your next target."
Fluttershy's eyes narrowed at the mention of the unicorn, burned eye looking horrifying in what mysterious illumination substituted as light for them so they could see one another. She looked like she would tear the pony underhoof to shreds to kill her mercilessly, if they weren't already dead. She looked down at Applejack, pressing her stump of a hoof down a little more. "Of course... my main quarrel isn't really with you...It'll beher first, then I'll get vengeance on you for what your family did to me! Then everypony else who dared to hurt me will be picked off, one by one!"
Rainbow Dash stepped forward, teeth bared in a hate-filled snarl as she drew Fluttershy's attention. "NO!" she screeched.
For an instant, Pinkie's face dared to brighten slightly. Had a flicker of Rainbow's memories been restored? Did she remember her loyalty to Twilight and think there might be a way to stop her? Her hopes were crushed the moment that Rainbow next spoke, her mane and tail returning to their flat and dulled appearance.
"The only pony allowed to bring her down is ME!" With a feral roar, Rainbow leapt at Fluttershy, knocking her off of the horrified earth pony who rubbed her neck as she clumsily stood up. Rainbow's hoof struck Fluttershy's head, teeth tearing skin as the pair became tangled in a wild bloody frenzy of wrath and pent-up hate. Limbs were torn and broken under the force which which the pair fought, healing almost as quickly as they were damaged.
Pinkie moved a little closer to Applejack and covered her eyes, hoping to find any source of comfort. She hated to see her former friends fighting like this, hated to see what Twilight had turned them all into.
"It's no use trying to kill one another," Rarity said, sitting down and observing the battle with a calculating gaze as she moved her fractured jaw slightly. "We're already dead, and any wounds you get here just heal right away."
"I don't care!" Fluttershy shouted, gripping Rainbow's mane with her teeth.
"It's a substitute for tearing her apart!" Rainbow Dash added, shaking the other pegasus off by kicking her in the muzzle. Suddenly, just as she was about to strike Fluttershy again, she stopped. Looked at the window to the outside world. Saw how it seemed to shimmer a little more, be a little clearer...
Twilight was there at her worktable, analyzing the Elements. Just a few feet away...
Rather than further attacking the other pegasus, Rainbow Dash charged toward the opening in their realm like a wild bull, seeing red. Finally she was free, she would charge through, she would—
BANG!
Rainbow was broken out of her thoughts as her muzzle roughly collided with the unyielding barrier, leaving her momentarily crumpled next to it before she brought herself to her hooves again.
"No... no, no, no, no NO!"
Rainbow Dash threw her weight into the barrier with all her might, again and again. Fluttershy was here, they all were here, so it should work..."Why isn't it working?! WHY?!"
Applejack glanced upward, green eyes even more uncertain than normal as she braced herself for setting the angry pegasus duo off again. "Why do you want to be the one to kill her?"
Rainbow Dash's eyes burned with an intense hatred as she opened her mouth to speak. "Because she... and I... and, she just... ARGH!" Any other words were muffled by paint mutterings and involuntary expressions of pain as she tore a hole in her right thigh muscle.
Rarity, aware that it was Rainbow's fervent emotions that were preventing her from speaking coherently, realized what her fractured companion was attempting to say. "Rainbow says that because she feels that there's a personal war between her and our murderer that must be settled. The anger of revenge mixed with the blind delusions of Twilight Sparkle's insanity. It is a struggle both internal and external, as a constant rift that's been around since this whole thing started."
The others fell silent for a few moments.
"Don't pride yourself with your logic and poetics," Fluttershy snapped. "I could tear you apart with my teeth if I wanted to and break that stupid shattered jaw of yours! You look like a puppet gone wrong!"
"Say what you like," Rarity said, looking nonchalant as ever. "That still doesn't solve the problem of us still being unable to get free even after you joined us here."
Pinkie trembled slightly at Rarity's words. She tried to gesture for Rarity to stop saying these things that would only make the tension and anger between them worse. But the effort was futile, as only Rainbow could understand her and she was too filled with rage to pay attention.
Rainbow only let out a roar of frustration that caused Pinkie to wince, small tears of sorrow beginning to form at the party pony's eyes.
"WHY IN TARTARUS CAN'T WE GET FREE?!"
"Can't hear you!" a voice responded all too cheerfully.
It took the group a moment to realize that it had been Twilight who had spoken, a small grin on her face as she glanced over in the direction their voices had come from.
"You LIAR!"
Twilight felt more and more confident now as time went by, the pain of her wounds ignored as she used some of her own drugs medical supplies, and magical prowess to help relieve her pain. The Elements were analyzed, the planet's magical leylines were mapped out starting with Ponyville, the spells she intended to use and words to say had been reviewed and planned out over again and again... she was prepared. She was ready.
But her spirit onlookers didn't agree with her plans in the slightest, and frustration wasn't calming any of their nerves.
What was most perplexing to one of them was the fact that Twilight still looked somewhat battered from her fight with Fluttershy. She had healing magic and equipment to heal them, she would recover. But for reasons she didn't understand, it seemed that Twilight had barely even bothered to disguise the injuries she had sustained.
"You're telling me you're going to everypony looking like that?"
Twilight nodded in response to her double's inquiry, looking over her maps of the planet's leylines for what felt like the fifth time and the Elements the one millionth time, just to be safe. "It's actually a better idea than appearing to everypony like I'm perfectly fine, conscience." Her horn glowed brighter as she made several more adjustments to the wiring of the Elements' containers.
Rainbow Dash spoke up, still confused as to why in the world the insane unicorn was talking to nothing but the air and enraged to the point of boiling that they were still trapped. "Yeah, for once you have a beneficial idea, go ahead and expose yourself to all of them like the FILTH that you are! Maybe then we'll finally be free because you'll be gone!"
The recipient of the accusation sighed in exasperation at Rainbow's ignorance, looking oddly eager for somepony who had nearly got beaten to death a short time earlier. "You see, it's actually pretty simple: I'll make it seem like there was a struggle between me and the killer, and explain that I just barely managed to escape with my life. Then I'll let everypony know I have a way to expose the killer and they'll believe me—they'd expect me to try keep up appearances if I was the one they're looking for. Reverse psychology, if you will."
Her conscience form frowned. "There'll likely be at least a few who suspect that you're the one!"
Twilight ignored her and simply flipped to another page in her notes while tinkering with the mechanisms she had at her disposal to gauge the power of the Elements. "At least it will buy me a short amount of time, that's all I need. All they've done before is run away from disaster until I started to convince them nothing was wrong." She waved a hoof in obvious irritation as her voice became more frustrated and mocking. "Figures, when there's something little that they don't understand, they panic like a dumb, mindless stampede, but whenI know there's something wrong, they just laugh, reject me, or both!" She slammed a hoof on the table at the last word, nearly shaking the Elements' containers. "All the ponies in this town are such idiots! No wonder they've been blindly following chaos's rule this whole time!"
As confused as the spirit ponies were concerning Twilight's speech with her invisible conscience, it was Rarity who responded. "You seem to be letting your arrogance get the better of you and believe that you are superior to everypony else."
"No," Twilight retorted, shaking her head. "I just see what they don't see. All hope isn't lost for the worthy ones—I can train them to be smarter after all this. I'll absorb the Elements' energy, I'll get ponies to obey me, not a problem."
"But what if your attempt to fuse with them doesn't work?" The apparition stepped closer to the table where the Elements lay, gesturing a hoof toward the containers as Twilight's horn began to light up. "The Elements might overwhelm you!"
Twilight paused, quill paused in the air as she looked over her notes before setting the writing instrument down. As she turned to the others, a grin was forming on her face that was far too sinister for anypony's liking.
"Watch."
As her horn lit up and the six other beings looked onward, a small crackling force of dark magic extended from her horn, shooting through the wiring of each container until it reached the Elements' essences themselves. The Elements now seemed to shine a little brighter, and move towards Twilight in their containment chambers. Eyes wide and bright with satisfaction, Twilight moved from her desk and began to walk around it. The spheres of energy seemed to follow her every step, as if desiring to reach her, drawn to her like a magnet.
The magic aura faded from her horn, but the apparent magnetic charge of the Elements appeared to remain, slightly tilted toward her now. The scientist stepped back proudly, a smug expression on her face as if she was more proud than getting 110% on a test. "You see? They want to join with me. The Elements won't overwhelm me. My will is stronger if I prepare myself properly."
Her doppleganer started pacing around, ironically enough acting much like Twilight herself did when she was nervous. "You can't be certain of the power level of the raw Elements like that regardless—there's no physical artifacts like the necklaces to contain their energy this time!" She stood before Twilight, the look in her eyes just as pleading as her voice. "That power might completely destroy you!" She tried to step closer to the table and put her hoof on one of its edges, but the limb passed harmlessly through it.
Twilight just scribbled another note down on her map as she carefully calculated the ley lines around Ponyville. First impressions were everything, and she sure planned to make a new first impression on them... "Maybe a weaker, unprepared pony who had no expectations for the risks, but not me. I'm hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. They'll listen."
"You. Can't. Be. Serious," Rainbow snarled, biting off a chunk of her own thigh muscle that Fluttershy hadn't attacked herself. "Nopony out there is going to agree with your sick, twisted desires!"
Twilight didn't look in the direction of the voice, but the intensity of her horn's glow did increase. Unhooking the wiring, she hesitantly opened the containers but managed to keep up her magic. One by one, the Elements ascended from their confines, but they didn't flee, instead circling around her.
In the spirit void, Rainbow cursed, Fluttershy snarled, and all their eyes widened, save Rarity's. This definitely wasn't good.
Twilight's eyes lit up in glee as her conscience's mouth dropped open. She returned the Elements to their containers with a grin of satisfaction. "I have my ways of swaying them over to my side in the matter. The harmonious will all come around eventually."
Fluttershy snarled in response. "So you're going to brainwash them into doing your bidding?!" The rage-filled pony looked similar to Rainbow now in her expression, the pain of her newer injuries beginning to heal. "I was right, you ARE sick and twisted in the head!" She through herself at the barrier with all her might, but to no avail. "That's never going to change you WRETCH!"
Twilight's conscience didn't bother trying to communicate with the others, instead addressing Twilight again. "Even if you do survive fusing with the Elements, you don't know the kind of ramifications your plan will have at this stage, let alone in the long run!"
"I know," Twilight said, not looking up.
Her doppleganger grew more insistent, though there was a clear suspicion that her pleas fell on deaf ears. "Nopony's ever done that before!"
"So?" Twilight's expression briefly turned to one of pride. "I'll be the first, haha!"
"You're journeying into the unknown!"
Twilight finally turned and glared at her conscience's manifestation. "I journey into the unknown every day. It's called tomorrow."
Her lookalike sighed, ears drooping slightly as her expression became one of worry. It seemed that Twilight wasn't going to listen to reason. And she wasn't sure how much time there was left.
Apparently none.
"I bet the sun's just about to rise by now!" Twilight called, levitating the Elements' containers in her magical hold. "Come on, everypony, heheh, there's so much to do!"
Literally having no choice in the matter, as for the moment they were forced to follow Twilight where she went, the five spirits in the void-like realm followed Twilight in their view, with the unicorn's conscience-self following close behind.
The sun's rays were just beginning to bring slivers of light into the morning sky.
It was clear that several of the town's citizens hadn't gotten sleep that night. As Twilight carefully creaked open the door to her library and stepped outside, she could see another couple house carefully open its doors, revealing Derpy, Vinyl, and the Doctor huddled together anxiously, obviously wary.
Making sure to close the library door behind her until the time was right, Twilight crept around in the shadows, just out of view of the other ponies. Counting down the seconds to the proper moment, she put on her best acting-face and half-ran, half-stumbled toward the others.
"HELP!"
The shout drew the attention of the others, who turned toward the source of the voice in interest. Several other doors began opening as the other ponies ventured out of their houses in groups to investigate.
"Everypony, I... I..." Twilight panted, coming into the light before them with her battered appearance visible.
"Twilight?" Vinyl questioned, brow arched as she removed her trademark shades. "What—"
"No time to explain!" Twilight said hurriedly, wincing. "W-Wake everypony up! I know who's responsible for the ponynapping! I-I can tell you in front of the library—"
"Stay with us!" Derpy urged, waving Twilight over with a hoof as she glanced at the unicorn with worry. "We'll protect you from whoever it was and tell everypony else!"
Twilight blinked, momentarily surprised at Derpy's words. But the expression on her face became a genuine smile as she hurriedly walked toward the group, making sure to appear just weak enough to not arouse any suspicion.
"Don't believe her, you idiots!" Rainbow Dash shouted from the void, unheard by anypony save Twilight. The spirit was merely left to fume in anger on her own.
Twilight's words immediately mobilized the others who heard them, prompting the townsponies to gather in groups to wake each other up. Soon enough, everypony in the town became gathered in front of Twilight's library, all of them facing the small group that Twilight was with. Falsely struggling to stand, Twilight gave the three ponies around her a slight nod, and they backed away from her.
The unicorn mare glanced around, feeling the eyes of everypony trained on her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the figure of her other self- a desperate pleading in her gaze. And for the faintest of seconds, she thought she saw the dim apparitions of five other, fractured ponies.
Her old friends.
She blinked again, and they were gone. She focused her thoughts away from them and turned to the living ponies circled around her. "Ev... Everypony," Twilight stammered before putting more strength into her voice, "I-I know who's been ponynapping the others. I saw who it was, and I saw what they did..." Her gaze was grim. "All the ponies who were kidnapped were killed."
"WHAT?!" It was a possibility that several of the ponies had guessed, but they all had dreaded that such a fate wouldn't be the case. I seemed that their hopes for a safe return for them were dashed.
"M-Mah sister's... d-d-dead?" Apple Bloom gasped, stepping forward with tears falling freely from her eyes.
"And Sweetie Belle? R-Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo choked out in horror, hugging her friend tight for comfort.
Twilight lowered her head. "It was too late for me to save any of them."
For the five spirit ponies, Twilight's words went unheard. All they were really focused on was the fact that, for an instant, the void around them had vanished. They had been surrounded by all the ponies of the town, invisible yet still in the material world.
Rainbow Dash began to look all too eager. "It worked! The barrier's breaking, finally!" She turned and tore some skin off of her mangled wing, swallowing it whole before she rushed at the shimmering barrier. It remained solid, but Rainbow looked determined. "So close... just a bit more, then you'll see, Traitor Sparkle!"
Rarity just observed the situation at a distance. Fluttershy's gaze filled with anger as she began to see ponies she believed had or would hut her. The pair of earth ponies looked as if they weren't sure whether it would be best to be out of the void or not.
How could you do this, Twilight? her double thought, staring at the unicorn with a devastated expression. Don't you remember how close you were to them?!
Twilight continued, keeping up her act, though the lingering sorrow she felt for her old friends was real. They wouldn't have had to die... "I... I saw Fluttershy in her last moments. I tried as much as I could to fight..." she gestured vaguely to her wounds, "but I barely escaped with my own life. If I died there then I knew nopony would ever be able to find out the truth. I knew I had to run back and tell you."
"So," Derpy called out, a little nervously, "who is it?"
"Tell us so we can bring them to justice!" Roseluck said.
The one voice shouted above the others, in a tone that was filled with suspicion and accusation—"I thinkyou're the one!"
Twilight turned to look at the speaker, Bon Bon, who had broken out of the circle of the group and stared Twilight down.
"Think about it," Bon Bon said, looking around at the other ponies, "she's smart, she's powerful, she certainly as the capabilities—"
"She uses those abilities to protect her friends!" Derpy protested, though even she was looking a little unsure.
"I feel like I should take her point into account," the Doctor added. "Just because she's capable of having a lot of power doesn't necessarily mean—"
"Oh be quiet," Bon Bon snapped. "The point is, Twilight's friends seemed to be the main targets in all this. And then this happens, Fluttershy gone and Twilightbattered and beaten!"
"I escaped," Twilight insisted, eyes narrowed.
"Maybe that's what you want us to think!"
On the outside, Twilight was trying to be firm, but inside, she was nearly breaking. Don't lose your cool Twilight, come on, you can do this! Clock is ticking, sun is rising, do it! Find the opportunity and TAKE IT! Let Harmony reign in the world again!
It was then that Twilight acted on her thoughts, the first morning sunbeam lighting up the sky. "I have a spell that will show everypony here who is responsible for all this!" With that, she tilted her head upward as her horn glowed black, a large wave of magic spreading around and above them. While slight wispy tendrils seemed to briefly flicker in and out around the ponies, the largest portion of the energy caused an eerie translucent dark dome to form around the town, sealing it off so that nopony could venture in or out. By the time that anypony tried to flee, it was too late. They were trapped.
Twilight's expressed finally was subdued into a twisted grin. "That's right. In case you haven't guessed it... Iam the killer."
"I knew it!" Bon Bon screeched, charging toward Twilight in full gallop. Her target didn't move, however, instead staring directly at her, and Bon Bon found herself tumbling backwards as her body collided with an invisible force.
There were cries of outrage, shock, and horror from the assembled crowd as the accusations against Twilight were confirmed, and several of them tried to charge directly at the unicorn as Bon Bon had done. Earth ponies from the ground, pegasai from the air, and Vinyl used every bit of her unicorn magic that she could. Their efforts were in vain, however, as they found themselves rebounding away from her due to impacting the force field. The only indication it was there was a faint shimmering wave visible when it was hit by another pony. No matter what they did, they couldn't reach her.
Twilight only smirked at their attempts as the ponies realized there was nothing they could do. Some intended to wait until Twilight's guard was down, determined an opportunity would arise, but many others were locked in a horrified silence of disbelief.
"You twisted wretch," Fluttershy snarled, the void flickering a little more before returning.
It was then that one voiced asked the question that was on everypony's mind:
"Wh...Why?!" Derpy cried out, enraged and devastated that two of her close friends had been killed right under their noses without them knowing as the full impact of Twilight's actions weighed on her heart. To think that one of the nicest ponies she knew could commit acts of murder like this! "I trusted you, Twilight! You're smart, you were kind... Why did you kill them?!"
"Why?" Twilight's tone turned mocking, sarcastic, shaking her head as if the word alone left a bad taste in her mouth. "Why, why, why, is that all you ponies can ask me?!" She glared at them. "I've asked that question too... always the bigger things, the greater things... in that respect it's the most important question in the world." Her mouth became a twisted grimace. "But you are all so stuck in a rut that you ask the same old questions when the answer is right in front of you!"
"But they were your friends!"
Twilight seemed to scoff at the notion, looking disgusted. "Friends?! Ha, what a joke! They were false friends. They were in the wrong against me multiple times... I can attest to the fact that things will change." Her horn's glow intensified, her gaze more threatening. "Forever."
"You're trying to threaten us?" Diamond Tiara stepped forward a little, though she didn't feel quite as bold as she appeared to be.
"It's not a threat," Twilight retorted, eyes flashing in warning. "It's a promise."
The town's inhabitants stared at her, as if spellbound. They couldn't run, or hide, or send for help. Twilight had them imprisoned within the town's limits and she could do what she wished with them. It was clear that she had a yet-unknown purpose and motive here, and they were all terrified of what that purpose might be.
"Look to the horizon," Twilight commanded, turning her gaze briefly eastward, "see the rising sun that you admire every morning! But don't look too long," she hurriedly added, "you'll damage your eyes."
The frightened ponies obeyed, glancing eastward at the celestial body in question, which appeared to be almost stagnant in the lower heavens before turning their gazes back to Twilight. The sky itself appeared to be in a perpetual twilight now, the thin rays of early sunlight illuminating the crazed unicorn's coat. Perhaps it was an illusion due to a combination of their terror and the ethereal shield surrounding the town, but it appeared that Twilight had made time itself stand still.
"You know how everypony associates Nightmare Moon with malevolence, and Celestia with benevolence?"
Most of those who were not frozen with fear murmured or nodded in agreement.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Bon Bon shouted.
Twilight continued speaking, seeming to briefly suppress a desire to lash out and silence the cream-colored pony. "Celestia supposedly maintains order, but the sun's surface is chaos, throwing solar flares into space which could fry us all in an instant. Likewise, everyone feared Nightmare Moon for the eternal night she'd bring, and yet the moon itself is stable and orderly. Much more stable than the world we live on now."
Twilight's eyes narrowed maliciously as she laughed, a bitter yet crazed laugh which cemented just how far she had gone in her lack of mental stability. "No wonder this world has become rotten and tainted—you've been obliviously rooting for chaos this whole time." Her gaze turned stern, a teacher glowering at the disobedience of her students.
The others stood frozen with fear under her gaze, the dark magic pulsing in a steady rhythm around her, as if it were a sinister manifestation of the order which Twilight spoke of.
The unicorn glowered. "You think I'm just an ordinary unicorn, huh?" she snarled. "Well, an ordinary unicorn would not be able to do what I did. An ordinary unicorn couldn't use magic and science to aim to make things right in reality again. An ordinary unicorn... couldn't do this!
With that, a burst of dark magic flared from her horn, and the door to her library flew open. Five containers rushed through the threshold, rushing to Twilight and beginning to surround her. The words on the containment labels made it clear to everypony just what they were beholding: the pure essence of the Elements of Harmony.
The glass of each container shattered to pieces, but the Element spheres themselves didn't flee, seeking out their original bearers. They remained with Twilight, pulsing, under her command.
Twilight smiled to herself, letting the fragments of energy draw close to her, encircling her frame as her horn shimmered with magic. The spheres of light hovered around her head like a halo or jeweled crown, save for the pulsing spark at her neck which she knew to be Laughter.
"I am loyal to the path of harmonious order!" she announced, her eyes closed as if reciting an ancient ritual chant. "I understand the healing of laughter!"
The dark magic of her horn condensed as white lines spread beneath her feet, illuminating the framework of the planet's leylines within the town's framework. It was as if the very essence of her spirit snaked its way around them, subtly seeking out every peice of matter and energy that she could declare "harmonious" in accordance with her views of the Elements. One by one as she spoke of her connection to each, the Element energies began to slowly descend into her body, leaving a faint glow in their wake.
"I am honest in my desires!" she went on, raising her voice, head held high as a vortex of magic swirled around her. "I am generous to share them!" Her injuries didn't matter to her—not anymore. Twilight was past succumbing to the pain of those wounds, beyond their stifling presence as her magic surrounded her. "My work is a kindness to reality!" Her eyes opened, glowing a fierce white, the voices and presence of others abandoned as her own voice rose in a powerful assertion.
"My power of Magic will lead all the worthy in the true path to harmony!"
"Please, Twilight!" her conscience called, even though her living counterpart didn't seem to hear. "It's basically life's raw energy! You don't know what will—"
It's worth it.
The mental whisper from Twilight, in a tone that was affirmative yet with a hint of fear, stunned her double so much that she fell silent. Whatever was going to happen, there was no way Twilight was going to let anything stop her.
"The rest of the world, the universe, reality itself—was too blind to see it, and now I can guide them on the right path! The true way, the harmonious way! THIS is the way it must be!"
Twilight's voice rose angrily, a cold wind blowing around her as the large wave of black energy seemed to encase the entire town. "You're first, then the rest of the world, then far beyond that! And those who are disharmonious are all worthless to me! Oh, heheh, i may keep you alive for a while, but you are all traitorous to my cause in your hearts, and you will pay for your injustice!" Her eyes were wild, a frantic, psychotic screech in her voice as her narrowed eyes glowed white, her horn shimmering an ethereal, dangerous black as the final vestiges of the Elements' energy melded into her at last. "And I will make sure, now and forever, that Harmony will—AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
The mare's anger-filled rant became a strangled cry of agony as the energy of her horn and eyes swirled around her, pulsing her form alternating colors of white and black as she was slowly levitated several feet above the horrified onlookers.
The five spirit ponies trapped in the void suddenly found their surroundings beginning to change. The barrier appeared to become more of a hole, the darkness around them vanishing in flashes to be surrounded by the other, living ponies. They weren't visible, or detectible, but Rainbow was confident that that would change. And an expression of a twisted glee was spread over her and Fluttershy's face as they watched Twilight Sparkle's suffering.
"T-Twilight!"
If Twilight had heard, she might have noticed that on the ground below, her other self was cringing in pain. Rather than inducing a screaming cry of anguish, it was only a slight discomfort in comparison, like a small but powerful electrical current running through her. It was enough to remind her that they were connected, and whatever Twilight was feeling was at such a deep level that even her double experienced it in some form. The shock caused her ethereal body to tense up, trying to absorb the unexpected pain. If I'm being hurt by this, she thought, what in the world is Twilight going through?
The pure white energy of the Elements fully seeped Twilight's form, becoming part of her very being. Her mouth was open in a scream as her body twitched and convulsed wildly, her physical and magical systems locked in war with one another. Her ordinary unicorn body wasn't enough to contain such a raw, powerful energy that amplified the power and capabilities of those who had the traits alone.
It seemed to Twilight that, bit by bit, her body and mind were breaking, twisting into something no mortal in their world's past had ever experienced—none of her studies could have fully prepared her for this. She experienced the opposing sides of chaos and order that the traits of Harmony could and did bring. She knew what they had done and what they were capable of, how bonds were made and kept and torn apart.
Loyalty was the first to be brought to her awareness, the physical and emotional support and treachery of others brought to her mind. Next was Laughter, as all its degrees and variations—happiness, hysterics, unease, insanity, healing—resounded simultaneously in her head alone. Honesty followed after, as she saw all the effects that both truth and deceit had had over the eons, leading to death and sorrow. Generosity, and its times of helping some while hurting others from what it took. Last was Kindness, her psyche filled with the sensations of those who were compassionate towards helping others and those who were harmed in their attempts to be kind.
Twilight's Magic had to fight against it, holding her body and mind together as the spiritual essence overwhelmed her. It would utterly destroy an unprepared being, mentally if not physically. Her eyes clenched shut, tears pricking at their edges as the white glow was barely visible around her closed eyelids. She felt as if her mind would break, her bones would crack into fragments, the blood of others ingrained in her memory spilled in the name of her noble cause threatening to be obscured by her own as she was lost in the sea of a painful eternity.
But Twilight's will was strong. It had to be. She couldn't give in after coming this far. She knew that this was her own test, a trial that she had to go through—if she was to be the Teacher of All Reality, she needed to experience Harmony in all its forms. The pages of the past would be abolished. She would pen down the new ways of Harmony.
She couldn't succumb.
She had to fight.
She had to win.
Th-This is necessary to happen, she thought in her mind, attempting to guide herself though the pain that coursed through her like a hundred bolts of lightning as she forced her mind into a state of distant calm, fighting as much as she could to separate her mind and magic from the affliction. I can and will fight through this momentary pain! I h-have to! There's NO other way! The affirmation amidst the affliction to her body and mind caused her convulsions and screams to twist and distort as much as her mind, a terrible vocalization that resonated in the skulls of everypony watching. But it was becoming harder and harder to fight through it.
As Twilight's form contorted from the energy surging through her body, its power fusing and becoming part of her, her physical structure began to change. Her frame grew thinner and lengthened in height, a slender form similar to that of Princess Cadance, feeling her ligaments stretch slightly as they struggled to adjust to a slightly taller height. Her horn grew sharper, shimmering like the blade of a sword forged from the occult resources of a spirit realm between Tartarus and Elysium. The shade of her coat began to lighten from its normal lavender to a pale mulberry shade, making her appear almost like an apparition herself in the dim morning light. Her mane and tail retained the same shape, fragmented somewhat from her struggle and endurance, but the colors began to shift into a stark contrast. While the violet stripe in her mane and tail remained the same, the indigo portions of her mane dulled into a deep black, while the brilliant rose stripe morphed into a pure white color that blazed like a distant star.
As Twilight's screams began to be overtaken by fits of laughter, her irises and pupils shrunk to pinpricks as another piercing cry tore its way out of her throat, a sickening crack resonating from her body as her form went rigid from the agony and her suffering returned anew. Slowly, bringing rivers of blood and thin strings of tendons along with them, hollow white bones began to burst out of her back on either side, bringing the unicorn into a fresh wave of misery. The others watched in horror as the former librarian bled and screamed above them, strands of her mane hanging limply over her face and becoming ragged as small drops of blood were brought down by gravity's pull.
As the skeletal structure and muscle of the wings began to slowly form into place, something began to encompass the appendages that distinctly wasn't a collection of skin and feathers. Rather, the hollow bones seemed to slowly be surrounded by an ethereal energy, seeming to be a part of Twilight and yet not at the same time. One wing became a deep black, like an overbearing shadow or a bottomless pit that extended into forever. The opposite wing was the reverse in color while still retaining the same ethereal shape, a brilliant, shimmering white like a star in the sky, which seemed to give the transformed unicorn a new illumination as the opposing energies settled on either side, the bony frame barely visible along the outer rim closest to her pale body.
As the obscuring white light in her eyes began to fade in its intensity, the onlookers were further petrified by the appearance that Twilight's eyes now held. Gone were the wide, innocent eyes that had greeted them day after day as she stepped out of the library she called home. Now they were a cold, stark violet, smaller and lacking pupils, solid in appearance and yet like a force pulling them in all at once. The eyes held the deep, somber intellect of one who had seen wonders immesurable and horrors beyond imagination, who had experienced emotions and agony that none should ever be forced to suffer, yet at the same time having seen the greatest works of ponykind.
The onlooking ponies were rooted to the spot as if frozen by a spell, unable to comprehend what they saw before them. Could they call Twilight an alicorn now? No, not in the true sense of the word—she had the appearance, the guise, but she was not a true alicorn. She was neither born with real wings nor granted them, but rather a twisted perversion born of her own magic. Her new blank eyes seemed to fill their minds with an incomprehensible dread when her gaze fixed on them. No being they knew of should have a gaze like that.
The cries of misery began to fade, leaving an unearthly echo where they had once been. Twilight's wings hovered in their new state, keeping her upright as the fragmented tendons that had tore from her body seemed to return through the gaping wounds they had come from, the cavernous holes in her back closing shut as if the wings had been part of her since her birth.
For a moment, there was a cold silence. As if time itself had stopped in the rest of the world, the thin pulses of energy around the levitating creature making the only noise that could be heard.
Then Twilight's darkened eyes opened wide. The agony was gone, the assault on her mind ceased. And her body began to tremble as she laughed. The laughter was unhinged, almost mixed with her agonized screams from moments before as the terrible vocalization seemed to reverberate through the minds and hearts of the onlookers. There was no pain to suffocate it now, and everypony wasn't sure if her screaming or laughing was worse.
"Heheheh... hahahahah... hahahahahaHAHAHA!" Twilight's body trembled with her guffaws as the energy around her became more fervent. "Hahaha, you all thought I would die, didn't you?! Hahaha!" Her breathing was ragged, but her words rang with passion. "You saw what I went through just then?! That... That was Chaos! That was it trying to corrupt me, to destroy me! But I've seen and heard things nopony has ever dared to experience, and I showed it my will is stronger!"
Having regained her strength, the alicorn-like being higher rose above them, gazing down upon the ponies she saw as her students. She had control of the balance between light and shadow. In the eyes of the others she was a murderous monster, but in her own eyes she was complete. She was pure. She was in control. She would banish Chaos away from ever tainting reality again.
"I am victorious! I shall bring Harmony to reality!" Twilight paused, a deranged cackle escaping her mouth as she began to feel revitalized from the energy around her, the agony for the moment forgotten as her empty gaze trained carefully on everypony watching. "No... I AM HARMONY INCARNATE!"
No sooner had Twilight said those words that the white light encompassed her eyes once more, and the darkness from her horn appeared to surge out from her in waves, everypony within range afflicted by pounding fields of cold and heat, light and dark, the very same pains that had afflicted her own body as energy that surged to be released. There was a loud crack, as if the twilit sky itself were split apart, reinforced like a magical cage around them. She gazed down carefully at them, words whispering into their minds.
"Now you'll see the error of your existence, you disharmonious filth!"
The ones below shuddered as Twilight's deranged laughter filled their skulls. She was no longer the friendly, bookish unicorn they had known. No longer their friend, barely even an equine as they knew her. She she appeared to have become something transcending life, part angelic creature and part demonic force, united, bringing the oppositions that made up the fabric of reality together. She fully believed that she had truly become Harmony incarnate.
Some ponies were covering their ears. Others slammed their hooves on the sides of their heads. Still others attempted to run away and hide. But they couldn't ignore the voice that seemed to whisper inside their very souls, reaching the essence of who they were. The voice of the unicorn who had just murdered several ponies in cold blood with no hesitation or remorse, and was fully willing—and able—to murder billions more.
And not just ponies, her spirit-double thought, the terror on the faces of some others mirroring her own, she's planning on wiping out all disharmonious life everywhere if she has to!
The void around the spirit ponies flickered again and again, nearly freeing them but not entirely vanishing. A crackle of energy seemed to ripple through the very fabric of it, and even as the darkness seemed to physically begin to crack apart, the spirits remained unseen. The cracks disappeared. The void returned.
The message was clear: they may have nearly escaped their prison, but their presence was still only detectable to Twilight alone. She still had a hold on them, and that grip alone was keeping them there in their purgatory-like imprisonment.
"We'll get out of here!" Rainbow shouted, trying to be heard and get her spite-filled words out to Twilight. "I'll kill you and make sure you meant a fate worse than death!"
But the alicorn-being either was ignoring her or didn't hear in her deluded proclamations. Rainbow and the others didn't find either option pleasant in the slightest.
"Look around!" Twilight declared, her voice almost sounding possessed, "this world—no, the fabric of space and time itself—has become rotten! Disharmonious! But somepony can stop it... I can detect it and eradicate it now! And you all who are worthy will be trained to help me!"
As if on cue, the tendrils of magic lashed out at several more ponies, but not to squeeze the life out of them as she had done with her first unfortunate victim. Rather, it was a wave of the polarizing shades of energy that seeped into the minds of many of the ponies. All thanks to the quick genetic measurements that Twilight had sensed as she spoke through her magic's detection, seeking out the harmonious, the ones worthy of helping her and guiding the future.
Like a never-ending plethora of looming waves in a monsoon, the ripple of manipulation rapidly jolted the foundations of their very memories.
In the minds of all the ponies who were sought out by Twilight's magic, the very fabric of their memories began to change, harmonious and disharmonious alike, though the harmonious were "blessed" by the knowledge first. Gone were their memories of the days before Twilight arrived in Ponyville. The fear that they felt from her just moments before was banished from the minds of the harmonious, the ones whose hearts she knew could be swayed to her will. The very essence of their thoughts became twisted, warped, settled into something they hadn't formerly been. Believing things that moments before they would have assumed would be nothing more than a Nightmare Night tale.
In the place of their former memories was Twilight's presence. A being who loomed over them like an ever-present shadow in the daylight. She was here with them now. She had always been there. Some despised her, some adored her, but all knew who she was... at least, who they thought she was.
The memory-warping increased further still as the spell's power resonated with the souls of those whom Twilight's magic deemed genetically worthy. A benevolent ruler as long as you obeyed, the one whose causes were noble and just despite the seemingly rash course her actions took. The magically-formed alicorn had used her research to create her own followers. Indoctrinating them to her side through her magic and will. And she wasn't about to let her influence be confined to such a small insignificant world as this one.
When the hold of the initial spell was released from the townsponies who had been "blessed" by it, the ponies in the town gazed upward at Twilight with a new expression. A kind of reverence, near worship. Almost as one, their heads touched low to the ground in a unified gesture of respect.
Diamond Tiara, not sought out by the harmonious spell but with memories still affected, blinked in incomprehension. "What are you doing, blank flank?" she hissed. "Why in the world are you bowing to her?!"
Scootaloo didn't move from her position, but glanced backward at Diamond Tiara to meet the other's gaze. "Shh! The Empress is addressing us!" She glanced at Diamond Tiara with an unusual look of hostility. "You don't want me to turn you in to the Empress, do you?"
Diamond Tiara flinched.
The word didn't go unheard by Twilight either, and a small smile spread across her face. "Empress... a ruler of multiple nations when I intend to guide reality... very good, Scootaloo, how loyal of you."
"It's an honor, Empress," the orange filly said, still in that same reverent tone as she touched her head to the ground again.
Twilight's voice grew stern. "Don't bow. A student does not bow before her Teacher."
All her new loyalists who heard her command quickly obeyed.
Knowing she had everypony's attention, Twilight raised her voice once more. "The false rules and regulations which have restricted true harmony will soon be gone! I can guide everyone and everything! Seems like quite a few of you are already beginning to see things my way! I will be the teacher of all harmonious life!"
The sky crackled with her magic, black and white shifting, the shield around the town preventing any means of escape as the bright white laylines spread beneath them.
"I shall tip the scale of Chaos in favor of Order!"
The wind picked up speed as it blew around the town in large gusts, the magical energy seeming to weave back and forth among the town's inhabitants.
"I am Empress Twilight! Teacher of Reality! Harmony Incarnate!"
Twilight's magic carried her further upward, rose her above the assembled crowd so that her very form appeared to hover in the center of the red morning sun, eclipsing its light. The shadows of her right wing and the luminescence of her left cast their beams on the ground below as they were illuminated by the reflecting sunrise.
"And now is the dawn for my harmonious reality to finally BEGIN!"
The sky cracked. The sunrise shone in fragments. The spectrums of light and dark in the town were balanced into one being.
Harmony was alive.
—
A/N: THE END... of the first story arc, that is! Yes, just because Twilight's attained a new, more powerful state doesn't mean the fic ends here, not at all—the Extraction ends and the Cleansing begins!
Will more characters be involved? Eeyup.
Will we see what it's like under Twilight's rule? Definitely, and it won't be without its fair share of unplesantries...
Will we see more interaction involving the dead ponies and Twilight's conscience? Absolutely.
Will Twilight's conscience get a name? Eventually. ;)
So, have at it with the trope addings and guessings on the TV Tropes page, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and stay tuned—this is only the beginning...
