Twilight was falling. She was alive! But falling. She was FALLING!
She quickly started to flap her wings, stabilizing herself. Alright, she's no longer falling…
"Twiliiiight! Heeelp!"
… but Spike is. She dived in his direction, but seeing that he was close to the ground, she instead used her telekinesis to slow him down. It still wasn't a soft landing, but at least not dangerous. She quickly landed next to him.
"Are you alright?" She asked, looking around them. She instantly recognized where they were.
"Yeah, mostly just surprised." He stood up. "Um, Twilight? Why are we in Cloudsdale? What happened?"
Twilight didn't know... but she thought about the spell she witnessed. "Starlight did something incredible. Impossible. Inconceivable. She broke out of the chronomantic loop and affected it instead. I read that Star Swirl theorized about it, but seeing it in person…"
"And in less nerdy talk? Are we in the past or in the future?" Twilight looked at him, surprised. "Hey, I already saw you do your time thingy, remember? And I heard what you said to Starlight. It doesn't take a genius to see it." Spike stood up, proud of himself. "I am your assistant for a reason, remember?"
"Never doubted you, Spike." Twilight smiled, her fears alleviated a little. "It's just so confusing. I don't know if it's present or future, but…"
She was interrupted by a rainbow-like object passing between them at full speed, leaving a multi-colored trail behind it. It was unmistakable, even if smaller than usual. They both looked to the side, seeing foal Rainbow Dash, protecting foal Fluttershy from bullies.
"I'm gonna guess it's the past." Spike said the obvious.
Suddenly, a beam of barely-visible, shimmering air hit Rainbow in the wing. She shouted in surprise, as it suddenly went limp. Twilight and Spike turned around, only to see Starlight Glimmer, smiling and standing close to them.
"Why hello there, Princess. I'm surprised you're here, but you are the element of magic after all. Well, that's even better. You will get to see the future I created." Her smile grew in an uncanny, insane way. "Without you, or your friends ever interrupting my plans!"
"What?! Starlight, that's insane! Everything you do in the past affects the future in unpredictable ways, you read the spell, you know it!" Twilight plead in vain. Suddenly, a black hole opened above her and Spike. "Please, stop it!"
"Oh don't worry, Twilight. I know it very well." Starlight's sadistic smile was the last thing they have seen, as the portal sucked them back to the future.
Twilight tumbled down, hitting the ground. Spike landed face-down next to her, spitting out dirt as he got up.
The first thing they saw was darkness. They stood together, unsure and afraid, as their eyes got used to it. Only then they realized it was night. They were in a forest, at night, with the moon and stars shining above them. They were in a small clearing, with the Cutie Map next to them. Although the map was looking weird – it was shining with dark blue light, instead of its usual color.
"Aaah! It's… cold here!" Spike shook, and Twilight also felt it. It felt like harsh Ponyville winter, although without snow. She thought for a moment, before finding in her memory some spells against cold. They wouldn't make it feel nice here, but at least they wouldn't freeze. She still remembered when Starlight was keeping her and her friends in the cold shack to force them to join her; she never wanted to go through something like this again.
She cast the spells, and then looked around. The only light, besides the map, stars and moon, was a shining, greenish-yellow trail shining on the sky. It got lower as it got closer, at some point disappearing between the trees, only to appear back again soon after.
"That's… Aurora. The light usually seen in the far north, usually farther then Crystal Empire. You have to travel further, maybe even to Penguin Republic, to see it." Twilight looked at it, confused. "What is it doing here? And why is it going down and up? That's not how it should look like"
Spike was wondering about it as well, but his thoughts got interrupted by sudden noise. A crack of wood, and silent sound he didn't recognize. When he looked in the direction of the sounds, he could see some shadows moving slowly between the trees. "Twilight?"
The alicorn was still thinking out loud, trying to analyze any way for this rare phenomenon to travel south. "It has to be magic. But how? Moving something like this, for such a distance? And why would anypony do it?"
"Twilight!" She turned around, only to see something that turned her blood cold. She realized momentarily that they weren't anywhere around Ponyville, somehow. They were in the Everfree Forest, and she let her guard down. If not for Spike, she may have only noticed the danger when it was too late.
As it was, she managed to fire a stun spell on the approaching Timberwolf. As usual, when it lost consciousness, it fell into disarray, pieces of wood, rock and dirt scattering around.
But it didn't change their situation. More and more pairs of yellow and green eyes were seen around them. They were surrounded by a literal horde of Timberwolves. More than she ever saw. If so many appeared anywhere near Ponyville, it would cause instant panic and need an intervention from Twilight herself or the Royal Guard to stop. It was unnatural, seeing so many of them here!
"Spike, get close to me." Twilight took a deep breath. She needed the Map to try and figure out a way to get back to the past… but for now, they needed to survive. She focused and teleported.
It was a very short, emergency teleportation. It just shoved them into a free space around a hundred meters away from the Timberwolves. They then started to run away, teleporting if needed. In the end, they hid behind a pretty big tree, and stood win silence, hoping they lost the magical predators. Twilight strained her ears, trying to listen for anything suspicious, before casting a muffling spell. She was so happy her brother learned it and taught it to her one day when she was visiting him. It wasn't that rare of a spell, but most ponies normally didn't see any reason to learn it.
Now mostly hidden from the magical predators, Twilight had time to freak out. She shook, and fell on the ground, crying. It was gone. All of it. Her friends, Celestia, her family. All was gone. Starlight did it. She won, and now Twilight was alone.
"Twilight. Twilight, don't give up." It was Spike. She opened her already red eyes, and looked at him through tears. "We got out of much worse situations, remember? We'll make it."
"Worse? Spike, there is," Twilight swallowed heavily, tears still falling. "Nothing could be worse. They are gone, Spike. All of them. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarirty, even Celestia and Luna! And everyone else, entire Ponyville, Canterlot, even Gryphus and Zebrica! The Equus is gone, Spike." She returned to sobbing.
Spike was also on the verge of tears, but managed to hold them back. He will have time for that later. For now, he knew it was not over. Could not be over. If Rarity was gone, it was only more motivation for him to help fix it.
And he knew that there was only one pony who could fix it all. "Can't you just cast the same spell she used? You already finished Star Swirl's spell, can't you do it again? Starlight said she did it, and she's no Element of Magic or alicorn."
"I… I can't, Spike. I don't know how she did it, I don't even know why we're here! We should have died, no, worse, we should have stopped existing back then." Twilight realized something. "Oh Celestia, we did, didn't we? We are gone now, and this is some kind of place bad ponies go after death!"
"It's a scroll." She looked at Spike in the middle of panic, barely listening to him. "Twilight, please, focus. We are here because we have the scroll Starlight used. See?" He held it in his claws, even through all of this. "You can fix it, Twilight. You have to."
"The scroll? Of course! It has to still have the chronomatic charge Starlight used! Spike, you're a genius!" Sad Twilight and Panicked Twilight went away, making room for Nerd Twilight. Spike smiled, seeing his best friend get to work, like she always did when she could just read the answer somewhere.
She went through the text few times, growing more and more grim every time, before sighing and levitating it back into her saddle bags. They still had the equipment and notes from her presentation, from far away, in Equestria that no longer existed. She forced herself to stop thinking about it. "Alright Spike, you want good news or bad news first?"
"Erm… Good?" He asked hesitantly.
"We can go home. This spell is surprisingly easy to cast for me…I guess even Star Swirl didn't have as huge magic reserves as an alicorn, and Starlight Glimmer definitely did not. If I manage to cast it, we'll be back in the past and able to stop Starlight."
"That's great! Wait, what's the bad news?" Spike almost jumped in happiness, before remembering what Twilight said moments before and seeing the sad look on her face.
"Only the person who originally cast this spell can do it. I can help, but the original caster needs to at least put a spark of her power into it." She looked over the scroll again. "I could try to make my own version of this scroll, but I would need a lot of rare materials, and access to the Star Swirl's section of Canterlot Library… if it even still exists."
"The Library." Spike suddenly said. She turned around to him, annoyed. "No, Spike, not any library, it has to be…" She stopped when she realized what he was looking at.
The tree they were hiding behind wasn't just a normal tree. It was the Ponyville Library, now shrouded in darkness. Not a single light remained. The windows were broken, and entire tree was covered in some kind of blueish vines.
Speaking of which… Twilight risked a very weak light, and looked at the closest tree. She thought it was just the night, but no – it was also more blue then green. And bent in many ways, unnaturally shaped. She shuddered. What happened here? Timberwolf, unnatural trees, and now her home is empty?
Home. Huh. You'd think she would learn to call the Crystal Palace that, but the moment she saw her old library she instantly thought of this as her home. She didn't even know how much she missed it.
"Should we… come inside?" Spark asked hesitantly, and she realized she was again lost in thoughts. Right. She knocked on the door silently, weary of Timberwolf nearby, and opened the door.
The library was in ruin. Twilight's heart sunk as she took the damage in. It was abandoned, years ago judging by how it looked. Most books remained, although some shelves were empty, but years of neglect in the forest were not kind to them. Somehow, despite all that happened, that hurt her a lot. It's just books, Twilight, get yourself together, she thought, but found it much harder to do than expected. Many of these books grew almost as close to her as her friends did. And before finding friends, they were her only source of happiness, aside from meeting with her teacher of course.
Spike sighed, seeing Twilight get lost in thought again. She was brilliant, truly. Possibly the greatest genius in magical arts since Star Swirl himself. Even Celestia admitted that, for all her knowledge and power, Twilight already grew above her in some disciplines of magic. Of course, Twilight became redder then Pinkie Pie, sputtering protests and doing her best to never admit she was better than her idol and teacher at anything.
These were the good days. Now they needed to make sure they can have more of these. That's why Spike was here, in fact. His role of the Number One Assistant was not only bringing Twilight out of her panicking or making notes when she was lost in some experiment, but also trying to ground her a little bit when she was flying through the clouds of advanced theories of magic. Or nostalgia. Or anything else. Sometimes it felt like Twilight was lost in her head more often than not.
Spike decided to let her live through her nostalgic thoughts for a moment, and left for upstairs. There was the living space the librarian would use – he guessed it wasn't Twilight in here, whoever it was. It was as destroyed as anything else. He looked through the broken window, at the forest around them, and gulped. Oh, that was not good. Or nice. He went downstairs, predictably finding Twilight in the same place she was standing when he left her.
"Twilight? You really don't want to see it." The phrasing was unusual enough to break her out of her half-nostalgia, half book-induced anger.
"I don't?"
"You don't, but I think you should. Better now than when we're leaving." He said with heavy heart. He knew she'll see it no matter what, and he'd rather have her prepared.
"What is it, then?" She came upstairs but Spike blocked the view from the windows with his body. "What did you see?"
"Twilight, I can see Ponyville. But it's... abandoned. Ruined. That's why we couldn't see it earlier." He hesitated. "It doesn't look pretty."
She stood there for a moment, gathering her mental strength. "Alright, Spike. Let me see."
He stood aside without a word, and Twilight saw what remained of Ponyville.
It was abandoned and ruined, and worse. Trees grew around it, between, and sometimes inside the buildings. The Carousel Boutique was the only building spared, and somehow it even looked much less damaged then the rest, like someone made sure it wouldn't fall into as much of disarray as everything around it, at least for some time. But the Mayor's office was pierced through by multiple huge, unnaturally looking trees, and buildings around it fared no better. Some looked like they exploded when trees magically appeared in the middle of them. Part of Twilight was thankful there was no blood or bodies, but her logical (and very unhelpful right now) side reminded her that after years, with predators around, nothing would remain even if every citizen of Ponyville died here.
It was too much. Twilight took a shaky step back, as the realization of what happened was right in front of her. The Equestria she knew was gone. Her friends wre… she wanted to say 'not in Ponyville', but she worried it would be way, way worse.
She could barely hold herself together. Only the feeling of her saddles – still with the scroll inside – and Spike holding her prevented her from just coming apart in tears and giving up.
The scroll. She was the Princess of Friendship. The Bearer of the element of Magic. An alicorn. She could not give up. She was the only one who could fix this, and so she will.
"Spike, we're going." She said through her tears, fearing that a moment longer spent here, in this place, may just be enough to break her resolve. This was not the Ponyville she ever wants to see again.
"Where?" He asked, not really caring, just happy to see her moving on.
"No idea if Canterlot is still standing or what happened, or how big the Everfree Forest is. We lack information. I'm not going to risk flying up and trying to see; this forest was already dangerous before… whatever happened here. So, we're going to the place where Aurora originates from. I will teleport us there."
"Any idea what we'll find?"
"Suspicions. And I really, really hope I'm wrong." Twilight took a deep breath, before stopping. Thinking quickly, she cast an illusion on herself, hiding her wings.
"What's that for?"
"I'd rather not appear before someone who may be an enemy as an alicorn. Let them think I'm just a unicorn for now. Much less dangerously looking."
"Like in that Daring Do book, when her ally, the Daily Star, uses an illusion to hide from Scorpion King!" Spike remembered, as always. Twilight smiled. If only he was as good in remembering magic studies as he was with his comic books and adventure stories.
"Exactly that." Wait, if Daring Do was real and her books were based on real stories, who was her ally? An alicorn by the name of Daily Star… who was a little bit of a troll… no, it can't be. Focus, Twilight! Teleporting into a tree as an alicorn is much different than teleporting into a plushie as a foal, definitely much more deadly.
Not that she ever teleported inside a plushie by accident as foal. Nope.
Teleporting blind was generally a bad idea, aside from short-range panic teleports. But she had a suspicion where she was going, and she was right.
She really wished she wasn't.
"Is that… the Castle of Two Sisters?" Spike asked, looking at the building in front of them. It was fully renovated, and not a ruin that they saw back then. High walls stood before them, with spiked tower on top of them.
And on top of every tower, a crescent moon.
"… You think Celestia gave Luna her old castle so she could have her own place to live?" Spike asked hopefully. Twilight just shook her head and started slowly trotting to the castle. They quickly reached the great doors, and Twilight, with shaking hoof, opened them slowly. They moved without a single noise in black hinges, uncovering the great hall inside.
Smokeless, magical torches lit the entire hall in cold, blue light that gave no heat. There were tapestries on the walls, and stained glass for windows.
All showing great victories and triumphs of Nightmare Moon.
"This is bad. And cold." Spike summarized, while Twilight looked grimly and the walls. She was right. Without her, and her friends, Nightmare Moon triumphed over her enemies and became a sole ruler of Equestria.
And now her world was shrouded in eternal night.
"Hey! What are you… Twilight Sparkle? What are you doing outside of school?" She suddenly heard, in a voice she recognized. She quickly turned around, hopeful for the first time since she arrived here.
She was wearing dark-blue, very formal-looking clothing. Her mane was also much paler then usual – maybe from the lack of sun? – and her eyes were surprised, and suspicious. But it was still, undeniably, Rarity.
"Rarity! You remember me?" She asked, beaming. Spike was nearly vibrating with happiness.
"Of course I do, Headmare. But what are you doing here? You were never one to show interest in politics, let alone leave your school." Rarity asked, not showing any outward happiness. "And what is this dragon doing here, with you? Since it is walking freely, I take it is not one of the rebels? Is it a hostage, perhaps?"
"Hos… no, no, I just, um, found him." Twilight felt her mood soar down again. Right, this Rarity didn't know her. She could feel Spike deflate even harder next to her.
"Then, I ask again. What is your purpose here?" Uh-oh, she was getting suspicious. Twilight needed to think of something, fast, preferably something that won't end up with her being attacked by Rarity. Panicking a little, she went with the first thing that came to her mind.
"I was just… thinking of Starlight Glimmer." Stupid, stupid! Why did you say something so stupid! Now she'll realize…
"Oh, that rebel? Then you're in luck. She is still in her cell. She will be moved to the garden tomorrow, so you in fact arrived just in time. What do you want from her?"
Twilight was so surprised it seemed to work, she didn't even think what to say next. "Er, you know, she made a lot of unique spells. I was hoping to talk with her one last time, see if I can get something out of her?" She held her breath. Please work, please work.
"Can't see what you could find, since Her Highness already took care of her interrogation. But if you want to, feel free to. Let the guards know the Governess gave you a free pass for tonight." Rarity turned around and left. Twilight started breathing normally the moment she was gone. It worked! Now she only needs to find Starlight.
What she didn't know was that Rarity stopped the moment she was outside the throne room. "Dust. I know you're listening. Let Her Highness know we have a spy… peculiar one. A changeling, possibly."
Rarity smiled. It was not a nice smile. "And tell her that she may need a new place in her garden. Since that spy wants to see Starlight so much, we can make sure they spend the rest of their short lives together."
Twilight, unaware of that, went in the direction of dungeons without any suspicion. Spike tried to talk with her, but she silenced him instantly – too many eyes and ears could be hiding in the shadows. With only the blue torches and darkness around her, she went to the dungeons.
Two ponies, clad in Luna's Nigh Guard armors, but with addition of cruelly-looking spikes, were standing before the door. They tensed, seeing her. "What is your business here?" The bigger one, a stallion, asked.
"Governess Rarity allowed me to see a prisoner. She said I have a free pass for a night." The guards tensed even more, but then relaxed suddenly. "Well, if the Governess says so, do come in. But be careful, she is very dangerous."
"Oh believe me, I know." Twilight said as the guards unlocked the reinforced doors and she entered. "I will be on guard."
As the thick doors closed behind them, Spike asked: "What crimes do you think she committed here? More crazy experiments with Cutie Marks?"
"No idea, Spike. But it seems she truly is hopeless. Even in this dark world, she is still in criminal. Star Swirl once wrote that some villains don't deserve forgiveness, and I'm starting to think he really was right." Normally, Twilight would scoff at a reasoning like this. But she was in a really dark place now, metaphorically and literally, and her thoughts were less of Discord and other redeemed villains, and more on blasting Tirek with magic when it was obvious he wouldn't reform.
They reached the last cell. All others were curiously empty, not the they minded.
"So, Starlight, are you… happy… Celestia above, what happened to you?" Twilight's speech was interrupted the moment she saw the mare before her.
Starlight was lying on the floor, encased in heavy, spiked chains. She had multiple wounds on her body, and was battered and bruised. She looked like she hadn't bathed for weeks, and didn't eat for days. Hearing her, she weakly moved her head to look at Twilight. There was nothing in her eyes. Just emptiness.
"Twilight Sparkle." Her voice was raspy, like she didn't drink anything in a long time. "Nightmare's pet came to gloat before me for the last time? Go on. Not like I can stop you."
"What? I, I didn't come here to gloat. What happened? What did you do to deserve… this?!" Twilight was shocked. She was angry, furious even, but this? It was more like, like… like some old tortures she read about in the forbidden wing!
"Don't act like you don't know. I know what you think of 'filthy rebels'. Go on, gloat. Show me your superiority. I don't care anymore." This… this was not the Starlight she knew. It was a pony who lost all hope, without any of her smugness, no fire in her eyes.
"Well, you did this to yourself!" Spike tried to be angry, but it came out just as weak as he felt inside. Why would some hurt anypony like this?
"Of course. I should be a good pet like you, Sparkle, take the glorious transformation, join the butcher of the known world. Whatever."
"Wait. Your crime was… fighting against the Nightmare Moon?" Twilight gasped. "But, I thought you committed some actual crimes to be here! And even if you did, no crime deserves this, this torture!"
"What?" Starlight seemed to see her for the first time, no longer deep inside her mind. "What do you… why is there dragon with you? They are all gone, now. Are you a changeling?"
"Gone? Changeling?"
"You… are not Twilight Sparkle." Starlight seemed to have some of her old, intelligent mind coming back to her. "You have a dragon, and ask weird questions. And you don't seem to love the Nightmare so much."
"I'm… not who you think I am." Twilight said after a moment of doubt. She still had her suspicions, but seeing as Rarity was now serving Nightmare… many things made no sense. "I come from the alternate timeline."
"Like, time travel? Please. No one managed to finish that Star Swirl's spell. And Nightmare would know if someone did. All the mages powerful enough to do so are under her control. Nice try." Starlight seemed to slip back into her apathetic state.
Twilight had enough of this. This world was wrong, everything was upside down, and now this. She dispelled her illusion, her wings spreading wide. She broke the chains around Starlight with a simple spell, at least simple to an alicorn, as the wounded pony looked at her with her jaw wide open.
"Now you believe me?" She asked, coming closer and giving Starlight a little bit of her magic. Enough so she could stand and walk. "Or do I need to do something more?" Not that she had much idea of what she could do. She hoped that was enough to convince her once-enemy.
It was. "Woah. You… are an alicorn. What is the world you come from like? I take it you dealt with the Nightmare?" Starlight asked, slowly standing up. "Urgh. Can you give me some more magic? Just a little, she really did a number on me."
"Sure. Here you go. And, well, me and my friends used the Element of Harmony…" Twilight started.
As much as Starlight was entranced by a story of happy Equestria defeating her worst nightmare, part of her was focusing on her magic reserves. She managed to keep some magic in her during the interrogation, and regained even more when resting in her cell, but it was not enough to enact her plan.
But now… Yes. It may just be barely enough.
"… and after Luna was transformed, we dealt with all the other threats. Reformed Discord, defeated Sombra, stopped Chrysalis and Tirek, I finished Star Swirl's spell and became an alicorn. Long story short, everything is as good as it could be." Twilight finished, her illusion back to making her look like an ordinary unicorn. "I take it that without the Elements, Celestia couldn't stop Luna?"
"Yes. Whatever plan she had, it failed. Some ponies from Canterlot say she gave her best… and I really hope she did, considering what was at stake." Glimmer answered bitterly.
"Hey! I know Celestia, I'm sure she did her best. It's not her fault the timeline was messed with and she was left alone!" Twilight defended her mentor. Starlight looked at her in a way she knew so well, full of anger and bitterness. So similar to her original self.
"She was the protector of Equestria, wasn't she? We didn't have an army, or any other ways to save ourselves. Only her. And see where this led? Equestria left in darkness, Gryphus a desert, Our Town destroyed…"
"Woah, woah. What do you mean, Gryphus is a desert?" Twilight asked, stopping her monologue. "Some parts of it maybe, but it was supposed to be as full of live as Equestria!"
"That's what happens where you have eternal day over the continent, Princess." Starlight spat out with anger. "In Equestria, it is eternal night. Ponies either died out, tried to somehow survive, or accepted Nightmare Moon's dark magic to survive without the sun. Animals and plants either died, or were corrupted by her magic. On Gryphus, it was even worse. No one to help them save themselves. They tried to stop her, they failed, and now it's a lifeless desert."
"That… that's not possible. Gryphus had much bigger military then Equestria, they would just invade! What about Zebrica? Someone must have fought back!" Twilight refused to believe it. All griffons, entire continent, and even ponies there… dead? Burned by the eternal sun? She could not believe it. It was just too much. What kind of horror was it? It was a nightmare, it must be, she must be asleep in her castle!
"Oh, they did. After dealing with some local cults of Nightmare Moon, they all tried to invade. Most of Gruphus, nearly entire Zebrica. Great fleet, both of sea and in the air. They are said to be so vast, the airships blotted out the sun and moon alike." Starlight laughed without happiness. "All for nothing. Tell me, princess, are you aware of the connection between tides and the moon?"
"Of course! By moving, the moon creates a pull on the ocean, causing… no…"
Starlight didn't even answer. She instead sat down, conserving her strength, and trying to calm herself. No need to waste her energy on pointless anger. Besides, this Twilight could help her. She could finally enact her plan.
"You said you were part of the Resistance?" Spike asked, seeing as both mares just sat down, trying to calm themselves down. Twilight was visibly shaking, overwhelmed by the future news she was hearing.
"I was, in fact, one of two heads of the Resistance. Me and Trixie gathered everypony, everycreature, who was left alive. We tried everything, finding a way to get Celestia back, to kill Nightmare, to create an uprising. Trixie even found the Alicorn Amulet somewhere. And now… I'm the last one alive." Starlight answered, her anger now gone. The years of hopeless war killed most of her feelings. She wasn't so upset in months now.
"Wait, Trixie? Trixia Lulamoon? Stage magician, with ego bigger then herself? That Trixie?" Twilight was shaken out of her stupor by this revelation. "She was one of the leaders of the Resistance?"
"Yes, that's my mare." Starlight smiled for a short moment, before her voice was filled with sadness for the first time since Twilight saw her. "Was my mare, at least. She is dead now. Nightmare killed her in front of me, to torment and punish me for rebelling."
After that, there was a long moment of silence. Neither Twilight, no Spike knew what to say. Anything they could say would be not enough compared to what they just heard.
Starlight was the first one to talk, as she got up. "We should get going. We don't want to risk guards getting suspicious. We need to get away from the palace."
"I can teleport us out." Twilight said, her horn flaring… only to make few sparks and go out. "What?"
"Not going to work work here, princess. Nightmare Moon made her castle impossible to teleport in, or out. Only she can. Believe me, if it was so easy to get to her, we would have already done so. We need to deal with the guards and make for the door. Once we're outside, you can teleport us away." Starlight looked at Twilight. "I hope you're ready for it, princess. If we're caught…"
"I can imagine." Twilight braced herself. Could she actually do this? She never studied much of combat magic, Celestia never approved of it and she never saw much practical use of it. Her enemies were usually either normal ponies – which she could just overwhelm with pure force as alicorn, like she did with Starlight after regaining her Cutie Mark – or ancient monsters and gods which were impossible to defeat in open combat anyway.
Well, fortunately guard were just ponies – one Earth pony, one pegasi – so she should be able to stun them. She went to the door, knocking on them. "I'm done, let me out."
The door opened, and both guards looked inside, suspiciously. She had no idea what tipped them off, but the fact they were both looking inside the doorway made them perfect targets. She blasted them with a single, wide-bream stun spell.
The earth pony stallion went down instantly. The pegasi mare, however, was lightning fast. She almost managed to dodge, and was only partially hit. Enough to stun her, but she spent few more seconds resisting the spell before falling down. She must have an amazing willpower to last so long, Twilight thought as she left the dungeon. She almost resisted my spell/
"Twilight?" Spike asked, focusing on the pegasi. Her helmet fell off, showing a face they both knew.
"Rainbow Dash? But… why?" Twilight looked like she was hit with her own stun spell.
"You managed to get the captain of the guard herself? Nice!" Starlight left the dungeon, giving both guards a kick on her way out. "We never managed to get her down, she's so stubborn."
"… She is my friend in my world, remember? Rarity as well."
"Oh. Right. Sorry. Well, she's not your Rainbow Dash, and this is not your world, so let's get out of here before we're spotted." Starlight led the way, trying to get to the front door as fast as possible.
They reached the main hall, only to see it was shrouded in darkness. All three of the stopped, unsure what to do, when they heard a voice.
"Come out, intruders. Come out, and I may be… merciful." Twilight her this voice, years ago. But now it was much more subtle, less shouting and more… velvety. She found it ironic that Nightmare Moon, for the voice could only belong to her, seemed to be better at not using Canterlot Voice then Luna herself.
Starlight took few steps forward, knowing that hiding was pointless at this moment. The torches lit in a theatrical way, revealing a wall of Night Guards, all in full armor.
And in front of them, stood Nightmare Moon.
Back when she first saw her, Twilight was half-panicking, and half-trying to find a solution. And a Mare on the Moon was weakened after her fight with Celestia and breaking out of her prison. Now, when she was in full power right in front of her, Twilight felt her presence with her very being. It was like standing in the cold rain, and knowing that there is nowhere to hide from it. It was like a cold light, sucking happiness out of her. If she wasn't an alicorn with experience fighting many, many dangers, she would have to fight herself not to bow to her and shake in fear.
As she was now, she managed to remain steady an unwavering, even when the corrupted visage of Luna turned her head and looked directly at Twilight, causing Spike to yelp and hide from those cold, sadistic eyes.
"So, little changeling, you somehow survived when your hive died. Fascinating. And here I thought you were all gone. Let me help you with that." Suddenly, Nightmare Moon fired a beam of magic.
Twilight instinctively put up a shield, but it almost broke the moment Nightmare Moon's beam hit it. By Celestia, she was strong! Twilight could probably try to fight her with her alicorn power, but her opponent had much, much more experience in combat and was more used to the alicorn body.
Twilight quickly realized it was hopeless. The guards were ready to pounce on her even if she managed to keep her shield up. She realized there was no way but let the spell – which she now recognized – hit her. So she dropped her shield.
Illusion-dropping spell hit her and instantly dispelled her illusion. Her wings were now visible to all, causing the guards to flinch; some even took a step back. Nightmare Moon looked surprised, but quickly masked it with arrogant chuckle.
Until Twilight started shining with weak, white-blue light, and the eternal tyrant stopped.
"How can it be? You are… different. More real than even me." She looked at the unreal light, now disappearing slowly. "Of course. So, you come from the future, little alicorn? Hoping to defeat me here and now? What a foolishness." Nightmare Moon now laughed, her fear and uncertainty masked with arrogance. "Now, you will tell me how you got here. And I may show you mercy. After all, another alicorn… yes, you could be very useful to me. What say you, Rarity?"
To Twilights's horror, her friend was standing just behind the corrupted ruler, and now took a step to the right, showing herself and giving Twilight a critical look. "If her mane takes the same color as the Twilight we know after you transform her, she may look… presentable. But knowing her, she is probably equally not interested in style, and lost in some dusty books."
That hurt. Fortunately, before Twilight managed to answer, Nightmare Moon continued like nothing happened. "Now, tell me. How did you travel here? What kind of magic did you use?"
Twilight swallowed nervously, still hurt by seeing her friend now loyally serving the Nightmare. Friends, she thought, remembering Dash. What will I do without you now, my friends?"
"Do you want your dragon to die? I can arrange that, if you do not answer right now." Corrupted Luna said with sadistic anticipation. Twilight shuddered, and Spike made a very undignified sound of fear. Not that she blamed him.
"I… came here with the help of Cutie Map. It's a powerful artifact, deep in the forest. I was going to use it again, but Timberwolves scared me away."
Both Starlight and Spike looked at her like she went insane, although only Spike made a vocal protest. "Twilight, you can't tell her that! She HEY!"
Suddenly, Spike was teleported against his will right next to the Nightmare. She summoned powerful chains and put them around the poor dragon, making sure they're tight. "Fascinating. Now," she interrupted Twilight's protest as seeing Spike treated like this, "you will lead me there and I will personally see this map. Guards, put Starlight back in her cell. Let her enjoy the last hours of her life."
"She needs to come with us." Twilight quickly said a guards started to advance. Nightmare looked at her and stopped her soldiers with a gesture of her hoof, causing Starlight to relax slightly.
"Why? If a sacrifice is needed to use this magic, I can provide someone more fitting and in full health, not this… thing here."
"I need Starlight, specifically. She is special. I am sure you already know this, seeing how powerful you are. Only she can make a spark that will open a portal in time." Twilight said, technically speaking the truth. And playing on Nightmare's ego; she would never admit to not knowing something, after all.
And trying very hard to ignore the word 'sacrifice' she just heard.
"Of course I know, impudent pony. But this… this gives me an idea. Yes, she will no doubt resist until the very last moment." Nightmare looked at Starlight, her eyes shining with maniacal, sadistic glee. "Oh, I will enjoy forcing you to open the portal, Starlight Glimmer. I will make sure you will see with your own eyes how your help allowed me to conquer not only present, but past, and the future. You will be always remembered for helping me bring true Eternal Night, with no beginning and no end." She laughed, and Starlight shuddered, looking at Twilight with hatred. Although, when the corrupted alicorn wasn't looking, she… blinked in Twilight's direction? Was she trying to say something?
Before Twilight could think what she was being asked to do, the Nightmare stopped her laughter. "Now, tell me where this map is. Your dragon will stay next to me as an… insurance you won't try something stupid."
Twilight swallowed nervously. She needed to get back to the past, stop Starlight… but she couldn't leave Spike here, could she? But the fate of Equestria was at stake!
"Oh, how I adore this look. Another pony, torn between saving her friend and fighting on. It is so… pathetic. So weak." Nightmare looked at Twilight with an evil smile. "Oh, how I will enjoy what will come later… but now, stop delaying and tell me where this map is. The Timberwolves know to fear me, and will be of no issue with me there."
Nightmare Moon, some of her guards, Twilight and Starlight – and still bound and terrified Spike – appeared just next to the map. Nightmare Moon looked over the artifact with curiosity, before her face contorted with disgust.
"I see. More of the Harmony magic. What a pathetic sight. Is that the best you could do to protect Equestria? What a disappointment." She slowly walked around the table, making almost a full circle and standing just next to Starlight. "It will not accept me, for now. But maybe in the future… Every artifact can be desecrated, after all."
Seeing the ruler of the Eternal Night just next to her, Starlight didn't wait for her to finish her thought. Instead, she sent a small spark of her magic at the magical map.
The effect was instantaneous. The map lit in blue-white color, instead of the dark blue it had before. Twilight hesitated for a split second, and then tried to grab Spike and run to the portal. But the moment she touched the chains, they suddenly multiplied, binding her faster than she could cast a counterspell.
"You are even more stupid then you look, little alicorn, to fall for my trap." Nightmare Moon laughed, and her laughter echoed over the forest. "Now, I shall bring the Eternal Night to all of time itself… but before that, let's take care of you, little rebel." She turned around…
… and impaled Starlight on her horn, piercing her through her side.
Twilight shouted "NO!" as Starlight screamed in pain, both hopeless to act.
Nightmare laughed, lifting the dying unicorn in the air with her horn still impaled in her, blood flowing down her horn. "I love it when they scream."
"I… agree..." Starlight managed to say through her gritted teeth, fighting the pain. Her lungs were intact, fortunately. She really didn't want to go out without a last word.
And the last spell.
"...Your turn." She lit her horn. Nightmare Moon realized the danger, trying to put up a shield and throw Starlight off her horn. But it was already too late. Starlight planned this for a long time. This was her moment. Her spell run through her worst enemy, using their body contact to pass through her shields.
Nightmare Moon threw Starlight off to the ground, only to suddenly wobble. She felt weak; weaker than ever. "What did you do, you accursed mare?!" She screamed. All her composure was gone, but her voice suddenly grew weak, not full, magic-amplified Canterlot Voice that could kill with a word. What happened?
Only then she saw it. Her cutie mark. The source of her control over the moon and sun… the power she used to imprison Celestia… it was gone from her flank. It was now visible to all, not where it should be, hidden under her armor.
It was on Starlight's flank.
Starlight could feel herself drifting away. She had no idea how to use that power she now had, but she didn't need to. She was not actively using it to sustain Nightmare's spells, and it was enough. She could feel Celestia stirring, breaking the weakening spell, returning to Equestria. Through her dimming eyes, she saw Twilight and Spike, free of chains, flying up, through the time portal.
'I'm coming, Trixie. I told you… I will have… the best last words…' she thought weakly as her life left her.
The last thing she saw was the sun rising on the horizon.
I think this is the most heroic we'll see Starlight in this story. Sadly, not all her alternate-timeline counterparts are so nice, and her real-timeline self, at least right now, definitely isn't. As we will see later.