~Chapter 8~

~The Murder~

~Twilight Sparkle~

"Come out wherever you are hiding mist!" Twilight Sparkle's voice resonated across the room, ricocheting across all the walls and the dark chamber. Almost instantly, a form appeared out of the shadows, it was pale white and ghostly. Twilight narrowed her eyes, and got into an attacking stance.

"Twilight! Oh your paralysation had worn off. Now we can have fun!" The mist smirked.

"I want to fight again," Twilight declared, scraping her hoof aggressively on the ground. The mist didn't seem at all surprised.

"Didn't you learn anything about me your last pitiful attempt Twilight? I learnt about you. I learnt you are determined… I learnt you are strong, and no one should judge you…" He edged closer. Twilight wasn't sure what she felt right now… was it… hesitation?

"I learnt that you are smart… you won't give up at anything. I learnt you are unpredictable, and I have grown to admire you. Twilight… it doesn't have to be this way. We could be friends. We could be together…?" The haze brushed against her skin, sending a shiver run down her spine.

"So… what do you have to say?" The mist had obviously grown more confident, at the fact that Twilight hadn't flinched away yet.

She peered at the ground, and peeled out of the defence stance. The haze was getting more excited by each second.

Twilight gulped, before she spoke. "You're right." Her one response, hung in the air much longer than the other words did. It resonated all the way through, and there was no hesitation.

A grin worked its way on the haze's transparent face. She looked up, a sign of defeat, before she smirked and determination filled her eyes.

"You're right. I am headstrong. I am determined. I am unpredictable. That is why I am about to kill you!" She lashed forward, her horn powering up and blasting straight at the mist. He was shocked, as he went plummeting across the room.

"So you learnt the dark magic secret, hey," he got up, brushing some dust off his vapouring form. "Then now let's have a real fight!" His horn powered up fully, and a shot of dark magic singed Twilight's hooves. Shoot. I forgot that he would be much more experienced at dark magic than me. She swiftly blew the smoke coming off her hooves, and used her dark magic to lash out a dark blow at the fog. It caught him, but barely, and he was slammed against the wall. She blasted him again, and again, unaware of his powering up horn. She was too late as she realized however, as a massive wave sprouted out and whipped across her face. She was blown across the other side of the room, making an 'oof' sound as she slammed against the earth. The dark spirit gave a grunt of satisfaction and fired at her again. She built up a shield around her, blocking off most of the blows, and jumping out of the way as a few more were fired. She then levitated the haze into the air, making the fires go askew, and shook it up and down before dropping him hard against the earth. The dark spirit was prepared however and shot a powerful blast at Twilight Sparkle. She tried to jump out the way, but it hit her side, singeing some of her fur. She hissed in agony, and lunged forward, bowling the mist over, and shooting waves and waves at it. It tried to defend itself, but she was fighting dirty, aiming for its eyes, and anything that looked vulnerable. The dark spirit tried to fend off the blows but was too late. She finally butted her head into his 'heart' her horn digging into the misty form. She powered up her horn, using the darkest spell she knew. She felt the darkness run through her veins, and her horn sliced through the heart, giving a small explosion inside. The creature let out one, last agonising shriek before it shrivelled down and the paleness faded away slowly but surely. It eventually blew away, no more than debris much to her satisfaction.

"Yes! I killed it!" she squealed, bouncing up and down, until she realized nothing was happening.

"Nothing is happening… nothing is happening…?" She gulped. She had learnt not to doubt things just because they were arriving a bit late- for example the lullaby. She waited a few moments, and she was correct, as suddenly a screaming pain ripped its way into her heart. She winced in agony as it shredded further into her skin, until finally she felt herself expanding and expanding and expanding. Her vision got brighter as is began to let light in from a grey court room. The pain finally died down.

"Wait! Don't kill me!" she screamed. She turned to all the ponies in the crowds, but their heads were down. Her nightmare was coming true. The royal guards stood before her, and their teeth were clenched around swords. Their heads shot down.

~Discord~

Fluttershy had stayed close to him. She had kept her arms wrapped around him the whole time. How he had been waiting for her. He had been waiting for her for so long, and she had finally, finally said her feelings. Discord had never been any happier in his life, holding the little yellow creature… he wasn't sure whether it was a dream or not. If it was, he never wanted to wake up. Suddenly, he felt a beeping deep in his heart. It was a warning- like a yellow light in traffic.

"Fluttershy…?" He began.

"Mmm?" She asked lazily.

"I'd recommend you get off me right now…" he began. She curiously unwrapped her hooves around him and edged back.

As if on cue, Discord suddenly vibrated, and a wriggling sensation zipped through his body. It felt like something was tickling him furiously. Fluttershy's eyes widened when it died down.

"What was that?" she questioned.

"A magic unbalance. The last one I got was when all the magic Tirek stole was returned to the ponies," he replied.

"Where is it coming from?" Fluttershy asked.

"A court room… but that doesn't make any sense… that's the place where Twilight is getting murdered… and they made a magic proof shield around the room?" Discord gave Fluttershy a confused look, as her teal eyes widened even further.

"Or maybe it does… What if the real Twilight is back? What if the magic unbalance is the monster being killed?" Fluttershy cried.

Celestia, she's smart… "That's right… Oh no… it can only mean that the Twilight they are about to kill…"

"Might be the real Twilight," Fluttershy finished. They stared at each other painfully for a few seconds.

"Yes, Twilight might be annoying sometimes… but she is still my friend, we need to get there… now! Hold on." He didn't even give her a change to grasp onto him, for he picked her up instead and he attempted to teleported his way to the court room, but he only buzzed slightly. He didn't teleport at all. Fluttershy felt him vibrate, and she glanced up with her teal eyes, glowing with confusion.

"What's going on?" she asked, growing more worried by the second.

"Shoot! I forgot they put a magic field around the court room so the dark spirit wouldn't cause any problems," Discord cried.

"It's strong enough to hold off even your chaos?" Fluttershy was shivering in horror now.

"No… but a spell to break through takes a lot of time to do," Discord replied. "I'll teleport as close to the room as I can. Then we'll have to hurry!" He held onto her tightly again, and teleported the two as close to the court room as possible, which was a town ahead. Fluttershy gave a small shriek and began flying as fast as she could. In the face of danger, she could fly fast. He knew, because when he had first met the ponies, and he had changed all of them into the opposites of themselves, Fluttershy had managed to fly fast enough to roughly catch up to a very disloyal Rainbow Dash. He quickly got down on his forelegs and chased after her, barely flanking the little Pegasi as she whooshed ahead. They were reaching the court room, and Discord could make out the words of Twilight screaming, "Wait, don't kill me!" Fluttershy squealed slightly and flew harder than ever. Discord really had to run to catch up. The two of them simultaneously banged through the doors.

"Wait! That is the real Twilight!" both Discord and Fluttershy screamed. Lots of the ponies turned to the draconequus and Pegasi in horror.

"Stop! Now!" screamed Celestia, but it was too late, as swords went hammering into Twilight.

"No!" screamed the sound of many voices. Fluttershy was down by Twilight's side faster than any teleportation spell, and she was screaming at Twilight.

"No! Don't die! Stay with us! You're my best friend!" Tears were falling desperately down Fluttershy's eyes. Twilight shakily looked up, draining lots of energy, and spoke weakly.

"You're my best friend too. I wish the best to all of you five…"

"No! Don't give up yet!" Fluttershy screamed and screamed, but Twilight only gave a weak smile. Discord nervously trotted up behind them, but stood back, knowing that he should stay out of their way.

Twilight's heart beat slowed, as tears and tears ran down Fluttershy's eyes. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack gathered around the two, and Twilight stared at each of them in turn.

"Thank you…" Were the last words she gushed out, as her heart stopped, and everyone in the audience crowded around the dead Alicorn. Discord could even feel tears begin to form. Twilight had been annoying, at times, and she was fun to play tricks on, but she was still his second favourite out of the main six after Fluttershy.

Celestia approached Discord. The princess looked just as upset as the rest of the ponies, but she nudged Discord towards the mass of crying bodies.

"You were Twilight's friend too, you know. You have every right to be among them," Celestia choked.

Discord turned to the princess, and nodded, before cautiously approaching the mass of bodies. He hung back at the end, but he still had time to glimpse at the dead body. Farewell Twilight.

"I know for one I will miss Twilight. She may be annoying at times but she was still my friend. She was good at playing tricks on… she was very gullible, but she was still determined and she proved her friendship to me in every way possible," Discord murmured. He didn't notice he had said it out loud, until he glanced at the ground when he realized he was receiving glances at the other ponies. At first he thought they were going to start yelling at him, but instead they nodded gratefully, and in turn, each of them gave a word of goodbye to Twilight.

~Fluttershy~

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake… clap your hooves and do a little shake," Cadance choked out. "Twilight was my sister-in-law as well as my friend. I have known her since she was a foal, and since the very first day I foal-sat her, I saw a determined little foal, who held great potential deep inside. She would have made an incredible ruler for many years and years to come. If only we had have known it was really her, before it was too late." Cadance finished, and gulped peering down at the ground.

"Twilight was the only one who truly accepted me when I first made an appearance in Ponyville," Luna began. "She was the only one who saw passed my history, and she knew me as Luna, instead of Nightmare Moon. She has taught me so many things to fit in, and she has been such a great fellow princess. I cannot thank you enough Twilight."

Celestia was next, "I have never doubted sending her to Ponyville. Her potential shone brighter than the stars. I saw it in her, on her very first audition day to get into my school. I still see it now. She was brave, fearless; she always seemed to know what to do in the toughest of situations. A student like her comes every blue moon, and I will never forget my most faithful student- Twilight Sparkle."

Fluttershy finally stepped forward, and peaked over Twilight's limp body. All the pony's eyes were glued to the little Pegasi, waiting for her to speak. Fluttershy gulped, before beginning to talk.

"Twilight Sparkle has been the greatest of friends since the very first day we met. I was too shy to even say my name on that very first day. She's taught me more about friendship than I could ever imagine. I never knew that having pony friends could possibly be any better than having animal friends, but how wrong I was. There's more to life than hiding from your shadow. There is more to life than just living a solitary life with your adopted woodland friends to keep you company. I never would have seen that if it hadn't been for Twilight. Without Twilight, none of us… none of us, not me, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack or Rarity… none of us would be the friends we are today. The elements of Loyalty, Laughter, Honesty, Generosity and Kindness cannot be activated without Magic after all." Fluttershy stopped and stared at her element around her neck. She had not taken it off yet. None of them had. "They cannot be together without magic…" she hesitated again, before picking up a tiara which was left on the stand in the court room. "They cannot be together without magic," she put it delicately on Twilight's head. "She has taught all of us new things about friendship. Few ponies can do that. Few ponies can keep a whole group together." The other four looked at the other and slowly they began singing together, standing over Twilight Sparkle. "She used to wonder what friendship could be… Until we all shared its magic with her…" Rainbow Dash spoke on her own, "big adventures," Pinkie Pie went next, "tons of fun…" Rarity stepped forward, "a beautiful heart," Applejack butted forward, "faithful and strong." Fluttershy smiled, "sharing kindness," they sung together again "it's an easy feat, and magic makes it all complete…" They were silent for a moment, barely noticing the elements slowly gathering together, and connecting with Twilight's tiara.

"Do you know you are my very best friends?" whispered a voice. They all stared down in amazement. A lavender Alicorn mare stood up on shaky legs. She had a dark blue mane with purple and pink highlights, she had sparkling purple eyes and her horn was glowing, engulfed with magic. Everypony was in shock and bowed down to the princess.

"Twilight…" gaped Fluttershy, her words barely audible. "Twilight!" All five of them ran up and hugged her in sheer pleasure, delight and shock. Fluttershy could barely believe it… the elements of harmony had resurrected Twilight.

"But... How does this work? Your heart literally... Stopped!" Rarity was first to question.

Twilight hesitated, "a heart it what gives you the feelings of friendship. You need a heart to make friends. Our friendship was just forgotten for a bit. But when you sung that song... It was enough to start my heart up again, because of the Elements of Harmony."

"Wait... So you heard us singing that song... When you were dead?" Rainbow Dash asked in horror.

"What was it like being dead? Was it fun?" Pinkie Pie hopped forward ecstatically.

"Well... As soon as I closed my eyes, I found myself in this very room. I tried to touch you guys, but I only went through you. Then I saw my dead body. I realised I was lifeless. I watched as every pony said their speeches about me. It was very flattering really," she ducked her head and giggled a bit, before looking up again, "then I watched Fluttershy's... she grabbed my Element of Harmony and put the tiara on my head... How did you know to do that?" Twilight suddenly asked, turning to the little pegasi.

"I don't know... Something in my told me to do it, I honestly don't know," the little yellow pegasi replied.

"Well anyway... At first when you put the tiara on me, nothing happened... But then when you started singing that song, I noticed that some magic was whirling from your Elements. It then whooshed around me as a ghost, and it pulled me back towards my dead body. As soon as I entered it, it could feel my heart slowly start up again, and then I was able to open my eyes, and that's basically it," Twilight finished.

"The Elements of Harmoneh are even able to bring those back from the dead? I knew they were powerful, but that's just crazeh," Applejack murmured.

"I don't care how it works... I am just so thrilled to have you back!" Fluttershy cried loudly. That was probably the loudest she had ever spoken. She squeezed Twilight slightly. All the five friends backed off from the Alicorn after that.

"You know what this calls for?" Pinkie Pie shrilled.

Everypony smiled and turned to her, "a party!"

~Twilight Sparkle~

The party was held in Canterlot, but it was nothing like a Canterlot party. There was lots of cake and party foods and there were tons of party games, much to Twilight's delight. Everypony who had been at the courtroom were at this party, and it was a party Twilight was never going to forget.

"Go!" Pinkie Pie squealed, and Twilight lashed the stick she had around in her hooves, trying to pinpoint a piñata. She eventually hit the box in the sky and sweets went crashing down from it. Twilight swiftly took her blindfold off and tried to grab as many lollies as possible, but she was too late.

"Hey! Who took them all?" Twilight stared around.

"Not me!" Pinkie Pie squawked through a mouthful of sweets. Twilight only let out a smile of amusement. She trotted up to a table, and grabbed a chip from a bowl. She looked over and saw her mum.

"Twilight Velvet!" She ran up to the white unicorn with the purple and white mane, "mum!" The pony turned around and smiled when she saw her daughter approaching her.

"Wow Twilight! You seem full of bubbles, and you haven't even had much sugary sweets yet!" Twilight Velvet gave her daughter a soft hug.

"Do you want to know how I managed to get free from the dark spirit," Twilight Sparkle looked up at her mum seriously.

Twilight Velvet, titled her head, "sure?"

"Your lullaby mum! It was your lullaby which set me free! Without it I would have been obviously dead right now," Twilight whispered, hoping no one else heard.

Twilight Velvet's eyes widened. "I can't believe you remembered it after all this time!"

"Neither can I," replied Twilight. She hugged her mum again before trotting away.

"Hey Twilight! The other princesses have arrived now!" Rainbow Dash flew down from the sky.

"Rainbow Dash! I didn't know you were here! Aren't you meant to be at the Wonderbolts?" Twilight Sparkle tilted her head to the cyan mare.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I have my ways." Twilight gave her a confused glance, before trotted up to the three princesses.

"Celestia! Luna! Cadance!"

"Twilight!" Cadance was first to speak. Twilight sat down on her rump and chanted with Cadance, "sunshine, sunshine! Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The two of them laughed for a bit, before Cadance trotted over to the party food to get a drink.

Twilight gave a dip of the head to Luna, and the night princess modestly gave one back. "I don't usually attend ceremonies during the day, but I'll give this an exception. Now I can have some... 'Fun.' Yes... 'Fun!'" Luna trotted up to a Twister game and began asking Pinkie Pie how to play. Twilight rolled her eyes. Luna may be a princess, but she still needed to learn a lot. Twilight finally turned to Celestia.

"I am so proud of you," Celestia smiled, giving her student a nuzzle. Although Celestia and Twilight weren't related, Celestia was still like a second mother to Twilight.

"It wasn't me though... It was my friends who were the ones who got me here... Especially Fluttershy." Twilight turned around, trying to spot the yellow pegasi.

"There," Celestia nudged Twilight and pointed her hoof towards the yellow pegasi on the other side of the room. She was staying very close to Discord (who didn't have to where a disguise at this party) for some reason. Twilight didn't question it though. She only smiled. She could only think of what the future held for those two 'friends.'

"I need to talk to you... Privately," Celestia insisted, and Twilight gave an obedient nod, following the princess of the sun outside the room where the party was being held. When Celestia was certain she nopony was eavesdropping, she questioned.

"Was there a... mist... with you inside your self-conscience?" Celestia questioned.

"Yes," Twilight replied, tilting her head.

Celestia only gritted her teeth. "Don't tell any pony… but that has happened to me before... When I was no more than a filly, I read that book and great harms came to Equestria."

Twilight Sparkle's eyes widened. "What? How did you get free? Did you kill the mist? What happened?"

"I never did kill the dark spirit. It was something I should have done years ago. Not killing that mist was the worst mistake I ever made. Instead, we found..." Celestia stared at the ground, and began to shiver, "love."

Twilight's eyes widened. "But... that doesn't make any sense! The monster was trying to win my heart too!"

"Let me finish," Celestia stared at Twilight with serious eyes, "the monster said that if I set it free from the book and let it live back to Equestria as an actual living soul, it would set me free. I kept my word, and after it let me go, I instantly used my magic to take it out of the book and set it free. Horror came to the land. The dark spirit had access to any pony. No pony even had to read the book, it just corrupted their souls. I had to choose between the haze and my subjects. Everypony told me I had to kill it… I never had the heart to though and I just sent it back into its book of dark magic. Over years and years I have regretted my decisions, and over all these years my love has faded into hatred. Twilight… how did you kill that mist?" Celestia glanced down at Twilight.

Twilight gulped, peering at the ground. "I just used dark magic to kill it."

"You used dark magic to kill it? Twilight… you can't that's illegal!" Celestia's eyes clouded.

"But how else was I supposed to escape?" Twilight's eyes were welling with tears.

"Do you know what could happen if you use it incorrectly?" Celestia was scuffing on her hooves nervously.

"Do you know what would happen if I didn't?" Twilight shot back. "I know it was wrong, but it was the only choice I had. Maybe I have a dark side to me now, but as long as I have my friends to guide me on, I will remain on the good side. Celestia… you have to trust me. I can learn to control my powers… I have used dark magic before… just not this… powerful," Twilight grimaced peering at the ground. "I know my friends can help me."

Celestia stared at Twilight for a few minutes, before finally giving a huff, and turned away. "I don't trust dark magic… but I trust you and I know you will choose the correct path in your life."

Twilight Sparkle nodded, and trotted back to the party to enjoy it. She knew that whenever she was feeling angered, she would remember all the ponies she loved in her life, and it would help her deal with her situations. She felt a whoosh of darkness flow through her veins, and she quickly shook it away. She didn't care how hard it was, she would have to keep this dark side of her secret for as long as possible.

"Hey Twilight! You're missing out on the fun! Play some Twister with me and Luna! I bet you can't beat us!" chirped Pinkie Pie across the room.

Twilight smiled, and trotted up to the pink mare, followed by Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy.

Friendship is magic.