Spiriting Fluttershy's Dark Sky

[Metal Snake]

I will be coming back…

 

The conclusion of the Awakening project ended many stories, yet raised many questions regarding the story that started everything...the story of Fluttershy’s death and resurrection.

 

Putting it all together at the end of everything was a trial, to say the least. Logically, from our point of view, none of it made any sense. Why was Twilight Sparkle forced to bloody her hands? Why did she have to bear children, only for them to be caught in the chaos? Who exactly were Myra Michaels, Edward Miles, and the humans who were transformed into her friends?

 

Regardless though, the project was a success, as the world was given hope of living again.

 

In one sense…

 

Stars have come awake thanks to the efforts of Fluttershy, Ninja Time God Rarity, Fantasy God Discord, and the characters whom they have created. But as the true ending never ends, the beginning to the most important story yet can never begin...until we are fully willing to enter another world...and search for an answer to the most important question that we know...

 

Episode 1: To Make Faith Sight

 

What is life?

 

Fluttershy asked herself that question in thought as she watched Angel maniacally chow away at a carrot she had just fed him.

 

Every day, I have to feed these animals as well as myself.

 

Fluttershy told herself that in her mind as she finished eating a bowl of porridge at the breakfast table.

 

Sometimes I wonder why exactly I do it. I love my pets, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that sometimes, I feel I follow this routine of caring for them more out of obligation than love…

 

Fluttershy said that in her mind as she sat on her bed that afternoon, staring at the blankets, looking sullen.

 

Even though I live a life with no real problems, I can’t help but feel that there’s more to life than this…

 

Fluttershy then closed her eyes tightly, and with a look of resolve on her face, she crossed her back legs together as she sat. Putting her front hooves together, she began to meditate.

 

Enlightenment is what I seek...discovering my ultimate purpose...I want that to give me the motivation I need to do all that I do not out of obligation, but out of pure kindness and love…

 

After meditating for some time, Fluttershy began to feel something welling deep within her...the swirl of a strong spiritual essence...Opening her eyes, they gave a bright, yellow glow…

 

...my world...

 

My life is a journey…

 

Our lives are intended to be adventures that ultimately lead us to enlightenment and salvation…

 

Sometimes I wonder how true that really is…

 

They say you need to have faith to see that it’s true...but then they say it’s not good enough to just believe…

 

...so what I believe in is my success in the search for proof…

 

As Fluttershy opened her eyes, she realized that she was no longer in her room. She was in a place that looked like space, a dark, starry sky surrounding her. One star in the sky, she noticed was shining brighter than all the other stars as it hovered towards her ominously. Fluttershy gulped and began to grow nervous before a comforting voice from the star said this…

 

“Do not fear me, redeemed one. It was fate that brought you here, I called you by name. You are mine, Fluttershy, and this sky is yours.”

 

Fluttershy’s jaw fell slack. She had an overwhelming feeling of deja vu and tears fell from her eyes as she recognized who this was talking to her.

 

“You’re the ruler of the universe…” she said. “One of the Eternal Three…”

 

“Precisely.” the star replied. “You have arrived here as part of the plan. Just like my daughter, you will also be allowed to give input on how we should redeem this world of the Dark Sky. My daughter has been given charge of the human world, and I want you to have charge of the pony world, Equestria.”

 

“No way...r-really?!” Fluttershy went in shock. “But why me?”

 

“In your current form,” the star went on to explain, “you know the truth not, but your true form is a god. You are the ruler of the Dark Sky, a dimension lost to the Void. A collection of lost worlds seeking to be found. It was you who sent an incarnation of yourself, one with a mortal body and mind, to this world so that you could undergo the same trials and tribulations of the mortals you wish to save. Even though you were inevitably brought here by destiny, at the same time, you also chose this path of your own accord. Do you see what you were trying to do?”  

 

Fluttershy stared at the star blankly for a short while before saying…

 

“Yes. I wanted to save them not out of obligation, but because I wanted to…just like how my whole purpose for coming here was because I was tired of being good because I felt I had to be and wanted to have an epiphany that would make me want to be good...”

 

“The purity of your heart is remarkable.” the star replied. “Most who are born without an innate sense of justice begin their lives by walking a dark road, for they fully believe that their lives have no greater purpose. Your god self deliberately created you without a natural calling to the light as a test to see if she was truly the chosen ruler of the Dark Sky, the one who would restore its light…”

 

“M-my creator had that much faith in herself?!” Fluttershy shouted in surprise.

 

“Don’t forget about yourself.” the star told her. “Remember that although you are a piece of your creator, you are also separate from your creator.”

 

“...” Fluttershy was silent in response, feeling confused.

 

“I understand that it is a difficult concept for an untrained mortal mind to grasp.” the star said. “But you will soon grow accustomed to taking in ideas you once thought impossible to comprehend. That is not just your fate. That is the fate of every mortal who will be born to the new generation we plan to build. That is the result we foresee of our latest project…”

 

With those words, the star flew towards the dark sky and split apart in every direction, creating an intense flash of light that blinded Fluttershy. Holding a foreleg to her face, she soon pulled it away to see the stars in the sky now glowing brighter than ever…

 

“Not the lightening of the dark sky, for these stars were already shining, and I have only made them more radiant. Stronger in the light. This is what we plan to do with mortal souls, make them brighter before sending them to inhabit new bodies. That is why…

 

...we call it the spiriting.”

 

Spiriting Fluttershy’s Dark Sky

 

Fluttershy awoke from the trance on her bed to find darkness all around her.

 

Natural darkness…” she told herself in her mind, quickly realizing that it was night and that she had slept the afternoon away. “I can’t believe now that there was a time when I was afraid of it…”

 

She then got out of her bed and walked over to the window inside her bedroom. Looking out of it, she saw the stars in the night sky that had been put there by Princess Luna.

 

“Your love has called my name…” Fluttershy said to herself. “What do I have to fear...when you hold all the stars, and even the one who puts the stars here…”

 

Fluttershy said all of that as she smiled a warm, gentle, hope-filled smile…

 

...that was unfortunately unaware of the fact that she was not the only one suspecting that this world was actually…

 

… ….. .. …..

 

Meanwhile...

 

Twilight Sparkle was thinking these thoughts to herself as she laid down on her bed staring at the ceiling one night.

 

These thoughts keep me awake at night for hours...thoughts of philosophy...greater meaning...my purpose…

 

I wonder why I think them...why me…

 

My name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. I’m happy and content. I love my life and my friends. How is it that…

 

Even that isn’t enough to push these thoughts away when I’m all alone like this? Is it just a habit of my brain? Or could it be my mind’s inability to sleep, as it senses that…

 

Something is coming. Something that will make me realize that there’s more to me...and more to all…

 

Twilight then looked out the window by her bed and saw the moon and stars that glowed brightly  in the dark sky…

 

In Canterlot Castle, that same night…

 

Princess Luna was in bed, sleeping after having created that night’s beautiful sky. She was having a dream. A dream involving her standing on a platform of bright light hovering in the starry night sky and meeting two figures. One was Rarity, dressed in a black robe with an emblem of a sword on it, and the other was Discord, dressed in a white robe with an emblem of a shield on it.

 

“Rarity? Discord? Luna asked them as they approached her, slyly grinning at her.

 

“Good evening, Princess Luna.” Rarity politely greeted her. “We are sorry to intrude on your beauty sleep so late. However, we must attend to an urgent matter.”

 

“Whatever would that be?” an uncannily calm and unphased Luna replied.

 

“Our good friend, Twilight Sparkle, is getting smart.” Discord explained.

 

“Implying there was a time she wasn’t smart?” Luna made a sarcastic retort.

 

“Well, smart in the context we mean.” Discord made more clear. “She is beginning to see through our illusion and we can’t have her find out the truth right now. You are as aware as all of us that if we let her discover what’s really going on too soon, the whole plan will be ruined.”

 

Luna looked down at the ground regretfully for a moment before looking back up at the two and saying…

 

“Then it can’t be helped. For the sake of the Reborn One, I will enhance the power of the illusion I have cast on Twilight…”

 

Luna’s horn then began to emanate an aura of dark blue magic and her eyes turned white. Before long, dark wisps began to emerge from the darkness in the night sky and glowing white wisps began to emerge from the stars shining in the sky.

 

“SPIRITS OF THE DREAM REALM.” Luna proclaimed loudly as the wisps started floating around her. “HEED ME AS I TELL YOU TO INHABIT THE MINDS OF THE ONE CALLED TWILIGHT SPARKLE, AND SHOW HER WHAT HER MISDIRECTED HEART DESIRES TO SEE EVEN AS SHE IS AWAKE.”

 

The wisps answered her command, and left to pursue Twilight. Afterwards, Luna’s horn and eyes stopped glowing and she looked at Rarity and Discord.

 

“Satisfied?” she asked them.

 

“Satisfactory performance, indeed.” Rarity applauded her.

 

“Very good, thank you.” Discord said. “We’ll be on our way now. Sleep well.”

 

Rarity and Discord then turned around and walked away, each with a sinister grin on their face.

 

“Because the time will be long before you sleep again…” they thought.

 

The next day, when Twilight awoke…

 

“Twilight!” a familiar voice called Twilight’s name.

 

“Ugh…” Twilight groaned in response.

 

“TWILIGHT!” Spike called again.

 

“What is it, Spike?” Twilight said bemusedly as she rose from her bed.

 

“What is it?” Spike retorted, surprised by Twilight’s lethargy. “What is it? Please tell me you’re joking!”

 

“When have I ever?” Twilight replied.

 

“Hmm…” Spike said, rubbing his claw across his chin, genuinely trying to remember. “I do definitely recall a few times…”

 

“GUH!” Twilight grumbled as she slammed her head back down onto her pillow. “Whatever it is, I’m sure the fate of Equestria doesn’t rest on it…”

 

“Come on, Twilight!” Spike exclaimed as he got up on the bed. “This REALLY isn’t like you! You normally love pretending that the fate of Equestria rests on everything!”

 

“Yeah, I know…” Twilight replied, maintaining her grouchy, sarcastic tone. “What’s causing me to act this way, you’ve got to solve this mystery! Maybe it’s because I’m just at the point of my life where I’m bored of pretending. Maybe I’m just bored of doing the same, predictable shit every day! Maybe I’m just bored of…”

 

Twilight stopped herself from finishing that sentence, realizing that she was close to saying something she knew she was going to regret. A guilty look came across her face as she turned over to Spike, who did not appear happy.

 

“Twilight…” Spike said in a tone of despondence. “Do you mean to say that you’re bored of...your friends...and me too?”

 

Twilight was well-aware of the fact that she was in of the most encountered moral dilemmas. To tell the truth and hurt someone’s feelings or lie to keep someone feeling content?

 

“As always, I’ll lie…” she told herself, despite feeling shame. “It’s the lesser of two evils.”

 

“Of course not, Spike.” Twilight said what she wanted to mean wholeheartedly. “You know that I would never grow tired of you or any of my friends.”

 

Saying this with a false smile and sincere-sounding tone, she was apparently able to fool Spike, as he smiled back at her.

 

“Don’t feel bad…” Twilight told herself in a voice that almost felt like it wasn’t her own… “All you did was tell him what should be the truth. It isn’t my fault that it’s a lie. I can’t change the way I naturally feel. I’m no god. I can’t turn fiction into reality...I CAN ONLY MAKE ILLUSIONS MY REALITY…”

 

Twilight echoed that last sentence out loud in the voice of Princess Luna, astonishing Spike.

 

“What the whazzat?” Spike replied, confused.

 

Spike’s reply caused Twilight to snap back to reality. She then shook her head back and forth very quickly.

 

“Wow, ah ha ha!” she laughed sheepishly. “Early morning talk, huh?”

 

“Uh...it’s well past ten in the morning, Twilight.” Spike responded.

 

“Oh.” Twilight went, embarrassed. “Uh...late morning talk, then? It’s the same thing granted you only got a few hours of sleep in the early morning.”

 

“...Well, I can’t argue with that.” Spike replied.

 

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” the two laughed together.

 

“I won’t argue with you anymore.” Twilight said as she got out of the bed and put her four legs on the floor. “It’s a pointless argument I wouldn’t win anyways. I know I can’t stay in bed and sleep forever.”

 

“If only everyone was like you!” Spike exclaimed in a facetious tone. “Ah ha ha ha ha…”

 

Twilight chuckled, wanting to laugh with him the same way she just had before, but something kept her from doing so…

 

“Is it because I feel he’s genuinely trying to deride me, or…” she thought.

 

“Hey, don’t take it personally!” Spike assured her that he was just kidding. “It’s just that my sense of humor’s gotten more bitey and dark, it happens naturally as you get older.”

 

Twilight gave Spike the benefit of the doubt and kept chuckling, but deep down, she was worried.

 

“Is this the same Spike...who would buy that lie I told earlier?” she said in her mind. “He’s always had a sense of sarcasm, but...I have a bad feeling…”

 

“Come on, life’s too short to be getting hung up over silly little jokes!” Spike exclaimed. I’m sure Pinkie Pie will tell you the same thing if you don’t want to take it from me!”

 

“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked, unaware of Pinkie’s relevancy to what he meant.

 

“We’re going to one of her parties at Sugarcube Corner.” Spike explained. “It’s a welcoming back party for Maud Pie, remember?”

 

“Oh yeah, heh heh, right.” Twilight replied, feeling abashed. “How could I forget, huh huh…”

 

As Spike headed on out Twilight’s bedroom door, Twilight followed closely behind, trying to hide her feeling of being unnerved…

 

“How could I...forget…”

 

Twilight turned around to face her bed one more time before she left.

 

“How could I forget the times where I only saw that bed as my place to recharge. How did it ever become the only place where I truly felt awake…”

 

You know what they say, Twilight. A machine’s soul never sleeps…

 

Ninja Time God Rarity said that as she remembered Starcatch from the Awakening project…

 

In her mind, a purple light flashed on a lavender-colored computer monitor…

 

Edited June 20, 2017 by jjsthekid

[fortnitefan12]

I gotta say, this is an interesting story. Can't wait to see more ^^

Also, I like the fact that ponies curse in this universe  

[Metal Snake]

Episode 2: Is Not What It Seems

 

Twilight Sparkle and Spike arrived at Sugarcube Corner. Twilight looked up and examined the place for a short while, feeling hesitant, before Spike turned to her and said…

 

“What’s up, Twilight? Are you more interested in the sky than this party?”

 

As expected, this didn’t help remedy Twilight’s feelings of anxiety. She couldn’t explain why, but the sight of a large building that housed all of her friends made her feel like she had butterflies in her stomach. First the sky, and now butterflies. All that was missing was the dark…

 

Wait...Spike said that this was a welcoming party for Maud Pie...could it be…?

 

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” Twilight began to laugh, part sincerely, and part to make the facade that she was feeling fine more believable. “Well, you know what they say. The party’s got to end some time, but the sky’s without limits!”

 

“Actually, the expression is “the sky’s the limit”,” replied Spike, “but glad to see you perking up!”

 

“What can I say?” Twilight said. “You’ve worked your magic on me!”

 

“Yeah,” said Spike, “I’ve really worked my magic on the Element of Magic!”

 

The two then laughed, entering Sugarcube Corner as the laugh of Fantasy God Discord could be heard to all who could hear him…

 

Oh Spike, you are terrible…I feel guilty now for having you do this, even if it is unavoidable…no light without the dark, they say…

 

“Wazzup, homies?” Spike greeted.

 

“Yeah...homies!” Twilight exclaimed enthusiastically, trying to imitate Spike. “What’s...up…”

 

Twilight’s enthusiasm quickly faded when she looked up and saw what was hanging from the ceiling. Tied to the beams of the ceiling were disembodied pony legs. Bound by ropes, what appeared to be real front legs that had been separated from ponies were swinging back and forth, apparently as a welcoming to the guests…

 

Feeling unnerved, Twilight diverted her attention to what was in front of her, Maud Pie standing in front of the punch table drinking a dark red liquid out of a red solo cup. Oddly enough, none of her friends were here, save Maud Pie, who wasn’t in her normal attire, to say the least. She was wearing a flashy red coat over her back. She also had a sword on her back that was held in place by a holster. While the holster was covered by the coat, the hilt of the sword could still be seen. It was shaped like a cross and had the initials, “M.M.”, engraved on it.

 

“Enjoying the scenery?” Maud asked Twilight.

 

Twilight didn’t respond, not being able to tell if it was a taunt or Maud just being her regular, deadpan self. She just continued to look around the place while walking closer to Maud. This didn’t look like any other party Pinkie Pie had planned. On the wall to her right, in place of a poster for the game, Pin the Tail on the Pony, was a poster of a demon with an “X” on his head and an “X” on where his heart was. Below that poster, a box of knives was on the floor.

 

Over to her left, Twilight could see the heads of Pinkie Pie and Applejack mounted on black plates of polished wood on the wall like the heads of deer. Below them was Fluttershy’s head, which was sitting on what looked like a snack table that was covered by a white tablecloth. All three heads were smiling warmly at Twilight. On the snack table, were three large cupcakes laid out on a tray meant to hold six cupcakes. The three cupcakes had pink, orange, and yellow frosting respectively. On top of each frosting was an added decoration, which was what looked like a disembodied human hand with its middle finger raised.  

 

If that wasn’t unsettling enough to Twilight, what made her feel even more uncomfortable was how Spike didn’t seem at all phased by any of this. Looking behind her, she saw that he was smiling as he looked around and saw all of this…

 

“Wow,” he said, “I can see Pinkie Pie got creative with the decorations!”

 

“Yeah…” Twilight replied nervously, trying to convince herself that the decorations were fake, despite how real they looked. “I was just expecting something more...themed to match Maud’s tastes.”

 

“Because nopony knows Maud’s tastes better than you.” Spike retorted as he rolled his eyes.

 

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, Spike…” Twilight replied, disgruntled. “That’s not what I was implying. You know we all know that Maud likes rocks and pretty much nothing else.”

 

“You know,” intervened Maud, “I like the way you said that. “Pretty much.”. You started by saying what you know to be true, then you combined it with a casually spoken opinion to create a half-truth. It’s funny, considering who you are…”

 

The same purple light that flashed on the computer monitor earlier could briefly be seen glowing in Twilight’s eyes…

 

After the light vanished, Twilight scowled.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked indignantly as she moved in closer to Maud, her glaring eyes locked on with Maud’s deadpan stare.

 

“Nothing personal,” replied Maud, “I just forgot how easy it is to piss you off. I can still remember our conversation where you facetiously talked about “God shitting you out.” as part of an angry response to me showing you that sentient mechanical construction…”

 

“What have you been smoking?!” Twilight yelled, despite an awkward feeling telling her that Maud was speaking the truth. “That never happened!”

 

“I guess even calling you irritable is still enough to piss you off.” Maud said nonchalantly. “You really haven’t changed at all since the Awakening project.”

 

Twilight didn’t reply right away this time, despite obviously not being fully sold on what Maud was talking about.

 

“Why the hell is she talking like this?” Twilight asked herself. “I was once involved with some project involving a sentient machine and was mad about being a product of God? Talk about an oxymoron! It makes no sense! And yet...my brain is already...set on it. I know there’s no way it can be real, and yet...it fascinates me…”

 

Twilight then looked at the “horrors” that surrounded her once again, and felt her mind become more open to viewing them in a different light…

 

“Is this...really such a horrifying sight?” she asked herself. “Even if it is all real...it’s just flesh. The spirits have departed from it…even if my friends are dead, they’ve only moved on...”  

 

It was then that Twilight could faintly hear Spike humming a jingle to himself…

 

“Hmm hmm huh, the oblivious pizza delivery guy!”

 

Spike was smiling with his eyes shut as he pointed to the entrance of Sugarcube Corner with both his hands. Twilight looked over at the entrance and was shocked to see a familiar face she never would have expected…

 

“K-KING SOMBRA?!” she shouted, feeling fear course through her as she saw the pizza delivery guy.

 

“Ha ha, no.” the guy who had the face of King Sombra replied. “I’m just a friendly, totally not suspicious guy who just so happens to look like him. The name’s Christian.”

 

Puzzled, Twilight raised an eyebrow before her attention was diverted to this strange character’s nametag, sewed on his green and yellow uniform, that read, “K.C.”.

“That...heh heh...wouldn’t happen to stand for “King Christian”,” said Twilight nervously, worried that the name was just an alias, “would it?”

 

“Pfft, no.” the guy responded, chuckling. “How old do you think I am? It stands for “Killer Christian”, a much more fitting name for a mature, civil, well-rounded member of society like myself, am I right?”

 

Twilight began chuckling too after she thought through what he was saying and realized the joke.

 

“I have to say…” Twilight told herself in her mind. “He’s definitely reminding me more of Spike than Sombra...”

 

“Also,” continued K.C. as he leaned in closer to Twilight, acting like he was going to whisper something in her ear when he was just talking like normal, “don’t tell anyone, but I’m secretly a demon slayer. Same as my partner over there, Maud Pie.”

 

K.C. said that as he pointed to Maud, who was standing on two legs by the punch table with her eyes shut and putting her front hooves together. It appeared that she was meditating as Spike was pouring punch into a red solo cup.

 

“The reason she’s in that getup is because she’s a demon hunter,” explained K.C., as Spike began walking over to him and Twilight, “and that’s her outfit for the job. I, on the other hand, just enjoy wearing puke-colored clothes.”  

 

The two then laughed as Twilight began thinking to herself…

 

“What a relief. There’s no way this guy could be King Sombra. There’s nothing menacing about his speech, mannerisms, or anything. I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover in any case…”

 

Oh, the irony…

 

Ninja Time God Rarity said this as Spike came up to K.C. to offer him some punch.

 

“How about a drink, K.C.?” Spike asked him as he held out the cup of punch to him. “As a way of saying thanks for making punch and Maud Pie better? Ha ha ha!”

 

However, as Twilight laughed with Spike, K.C. did not. He held out his right hoof and put it on Spike’s shoulder as he gave him a deadpan glare…

 

“Demon hunters do not accept anything offered to them by strangers,” he explained the reason for his refusal, “even friendly ones. I’m sorry. Please do not be offended.”

 

“Oh, it’s okay, I understand.” Spike replied with a genuine smile still on his face. He then trotted back to the punch table as a confused Twilight watched K.C. take seven pizzas out of a bag he was holding on his left shoulder in his left hoof and hand it out to her.

 

“It’s already paid for, don’t worry.” he told her.

 

“That’s...not my concern.” Twilight said, her unnerved feelings returning, as she telekinetically grabbed the pizzas with her magic and held them beside her. “I was just wondering why you went all cold and serious all of a sudden.”

 

“I may be a joker, but I’m not just this story’s comic relief,” replied K.C., “just for the record. But if you really want to know what the sudden change in attitude was for…”

 

K.C. put his right hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, and Twilight gasped, now being able to see something that she couldn’t before...a strong aura of darkness surrounding K.C.. Behind him, she could see the apparition of a human woman that looked disturbingly similar to her...   

 

Twilight started trembling...not just because of what she could see now, but what she could feel...this “K.C.”, despite giving off positive vibes that had led Twilight to trust that he was a good guy earlier, was now filled with an energy that was undoubtedly evil…

 

“...let’s just say that I wanted to set an example to not be so trusting of others…” he continued, his voice growing colder and darker. “...and that goes for me too…”

 

“...” Twilight didn’t know what to say.

 

“You’re going to find out sooner than you thought.” K.C. told her. “Sooner than they thought...why everything is not what it seems…”

 

Ha! You mean to make fun of us? A wasted effort. You can’t make fun of those who have nothing to hide...

 

Ninja Time God Rarity said those words.

 

The only secrets we keep are within puzzles that are meant to be solved. And all who prepare contests with challenges that are meant to be overcome have the common sense to prepare prizes for the winners…

 

Fantasy God Discord said that.

 

In other words, we’ve planned out everything, even what will happen in response to your interferences…

 

“Cool.” K.C. replied to what Ninja Time God Rarity said in his mind with a sinister smile on his face. “I don’t care about messing things up to get a rise out of you. Nor do I care about doing the best job I can for my “master”. I’m only in on this project for my own personal thrills…”

 

“Wh-why are you just standing there smirking?” Twilight asked nervously. “What do you mean by they? What do you mean by me?!”

 

“Your life is a party…” K.C. told her. “...that you’ve helped plan. I’m just here to help things get crazy…”

 

With those words, Twilight gasped in terror as K.C. suddenly stabbed her where her heart would be, using nothing but his right foreleg, which had transformed into a blade of pure darkness.

 

“OH MY FUCKING GOD!” Twilight screamed. “YOU-YOU ARE KING SOMBRA!”

 

“Oh yeah, I’m King Sombra alright…” K.C. said sarcastically. “The same way you’re Noimman…”

 

Twilight’s eyes widened as she came to a realization. She felt a spirit leave her...and soon, a memory came back to her, a memory of one of her...creations…

 

“The...human woman…” she said as she remembered the apparition behind K.C.. “I...helped create her…”

 

“And in turn, she helped create me…” K.C. replied, growling. “She was the one who trapped me in this existence that I will forever curse…”

 

Twilight started to cry.

 

“I AM SO SORRY!” she yelled, feeling sincere remorse.

 

“I’d say, “It’s too late to apologize.”,” said K.C., “if it wasn’t such a cliche and whiny saying. Not to mention that it’s not even true in this case. Time is endless in this world. Nothing is ever too late...”

 

“...” Twilight was silent, not understanding what he meant.

 

“A difficult concept for an untrained mortal mind to grasp… K.C. made a familiar quote with a sneer on his face. “I’m sure he told Fluttershy something along those lines…”

 

“Fluttershy?!” Twilight exclaimed. “W-where does she come into all this?!”

 

“It’s only her dark sky…” K.C. retorted. “It’s only the world she rules over as God…and you...you rule over it as the other...”

“No…” Twilight said in response. “It can not be true...it’s impossible...all this time...time…”

 

Twilight stopped herself as she remembered what K.C. said about time, how it was endless…

 

“My past…” Twilight said, memories of Starcatch flooding her mind. “I made it all up…”

 

She then looked at her front hooves.

 

“This self of mine does not exist outside of this false reality…” she told herself. “I created it...forced myself to live as it to avert my own suspicions of my true identity…”

 

K.C. then began to laugh maniacally to himself.

 

“Yes, that look that displays the realization of how you’ve been completely deceived…by yourself, no less...” he said as he observed the look of utter disbelief on Twilight’s face with an evil grin. “I love that look…GAH, NO! I DON’T!”

 

K.C. grabbed his head, trying to fight his sadistic urges as he heard N.T.G. Rarity and F.G. Discord laughing inside of his mind.

 

What’s the matter, K.C.? I thought you were in this for your own personal thrills.

 

N.T.G. Rarity made that taunt.

 

“But this isn’t mine!” he shouted. “This is hers!”

 

You can deny it all you want, but you know full well that making others suffer is your greatest pleasure…

 

F.G. Discord said that.

 

“No, it isn’t!” he exclaimed. “I’ll never have it be that way!”

 

An instant after he said that, Twilight Sparkle suddenly snapped back to “reality”.

 

“Huh?” she said to herself, no longer seeing K.C. in front of her. “Was I...hallucinating? I must’ve been-”

 

Twilight paused as she, after trying to walk around to the punch table, accidentally bumped into a familiar set of boxes and knocked them over. The box on top came open and the pepperoni and sausage pizza that was inside fell to the floor. Twilight froze upon remembering K.C. hand her the pizzas, not to mention…

 

“...Is that...meat?” she asked herself. “But ponies don’t eat meat...wait a minute, why did I even assume that was meat? We don’t produce and sell meat either. By all accounts, I should have never seen pizza toppings like that before…”

 

Of course, all accounts except his…

 

Ninja Time God Rarity said that in Twilight’s mind.

 

“WHA-RARITY?!” a frightened Twilight yelled in her mind as she looked all around the room for her.

 

You can search and search all you want, but you’ll never find it. For it only ever existed inside your mind...

 

Fantasy God Discord said that in Twilight’s mind, scaring her even more.

 

“HAVE I GONE INSANE?!” Twilight shrieked.

 

“Of course not!” Spike happily reassured her, walking up to her side. “You’ve just discovered that everything you ever knew was a lie and it’s taking you time to adjust to the truth, that’s all!”

 

Twilight slowly creaked and turned her head over to face Spike, and looked at the disturbingly happy smile he had plastered on his face.

 

“Do you…” she asked in a creepy monotone as she gave him a deadpan stare. “...have something to do with all this?”

 

“Absolutely not!” Spike replied, still talking in an ebullient, sickeningly happy tone. “I only have everything to do with all this! Don’t worry though, your friends are fine!”

 

Twilight’s eyes widened, with her feeling surprised and relieved at the same time.

 

“...You’re being serious, right?” Twilight asked, not fully convinced after everything she had just witnessed.

 

“Of course!” Spike exclaimed in a sincere-sounding voice. “Come on, guys! We can drop the act now!”

 

He said that as he walked over to the snack table where Twilight’s friends’ heads were, clapping his hands. Twilight followed him, and seeing Fluttershy and the others’ heads turn to face him, was relieved.

 

“You all did good,” he commended them, “but I think we can stop now. She’s gonna figure it out eventually anyways.”

 

“Aw, shucks.” Applejack said, somewhat disappointed. “But I guess as the old saying goes, always quit while you’re still…”

 

“Game!” Pinkie Pie interjected. “Get it, because we’re deer!”

 

“I was going to say “ahead of the game”.” Applejack said, slightly annoyed. “That would’ve made more sense if you wanted to make a joke.”

 

“Oopsie!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I guess I got...ahead of myself!”

 

Twilight and Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at the bad puns while Applejack and Fluttershy just rolled their eyes and smiled.

 

“You guys annoy me so much…” Spike said facetiously. “Now, to vent my frustration, I’m going to have to tear Fluttershy’s head off.”

 

Twilight kept chuckling until she saw Spike grab Fluttershy’s head off the table and hold it in his right hand, grabbing it by the hair. Twilight became filled with fear once again as Fluttershy’s head began talking to her…

 

“I’m so sorry that I had Spike lie to you. I just really wanted to surprise you. This is your welcome back party too. So welcome back to hell…”

 

Twilight held her front hooves to her mouth, gasping as she began to cry.

 

“...the hell you created.” Fluttershy finished.  

 

[Rebel the Wolfgirl]

...Damn...

[fortnitefan12]

I really liked this chapter. Who would've thought K. C. was actually Sombra who was just a hallucination?   Also, that cliffhanger man. It was great. 

[Metal Snake]

Episode 3: At the End of the Night

 

The hell that I created…

 

Twilight Sparkle was musing over the last thing that Fluttershy said to her before she found herself surrounded by darkness…

 

“What are they talking about?” she asked.

 

“It would seem that my illusion has worked all too well on you, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” the words of a familiar princess could be heard coming from the darkness.

 

Recognizing the voice, Twilight looked in front of her to confirm the thought…

 

“Princess Luna!” she cried.

 

Twilight then tried to run out to her, with the hopes of receiving some comfort from her, but was stopped by something. She felt like something was binding her forelegs...no matter how hard she tried to run towards Luna, she was stopped a fair distance from her by an invisible force that was tugging at her forelegs from behind…

 

“Why...can’t I…” Twilight said to herself in frustration, struggling as she could feel weakness and pain not just in her legs, but throughout her entire body.

 

“Do not even bother.” Luna told her. “Just allow yourself to be swung back by the fictional rope that holds you captive here. The fictional rope that holds you to this fictional prison.”

 

Something dawned on Twilight as she obeyed Luna’s order, her eyes widening as she allowed herself to be pulled back by the “rope”.

 

“Oh no no no…” she said as she shook her head, remembering what Luna said about her illusion. “Don’t tell me that you’re in on this too…”

 

“You say that as if you would be disappointed in me if it were the truth.” Luna replied. “Even though the only reason I am doing any of this is because I was given orders from the reality and fantasy gods of the Dark Sky...and any orders they give out are given to them by the Eternal Three. Are you aware of who the Eternal Three are, Twilight Sparkle?”

 

Twilight then remembered what K.C. was telling her about Fluttershy being the ruler of the Dark Sky, and her being the other…

 

“There’s a third?” she asked.

 

“Yes, of course.” Luna replied. “The completion of the Trinity, the one whose spirit works through the ruler of the light and the ruler of the dark…”

 

“K.C….” Twilight thought. “He said that Fluttershy ruled over the world as God...if she’s God...then must make me…”

 

“Let me guess…” Twilight said. “Fluttershy is the ruler of the light…”

 

Twilight’s eyes then turned green as a familiar aura of dark, purple-colored energy began to emanate from them.

 

“And I’m the ruler of the dark. The only reason I never knew...was because you cast an illusion that tricked my mind.”

 

“Wrong.” Luna replied, causing Twilight to perk up a bit, partially believing that maybe she was actually…

 

“I cast an illusion on your minds.”

 

“Fuck off.” Twilight cursed in her thoughts.

 

“So what, I have multiple personalities?” Twilight snarked, angry and disappointed.

 

“Yes.” Luna responded. “However, not in the traditional sense. In your case, you are fully aware that the character you play, the one that’s meant to deceive your friends into believing that everything is right as rain when it’s not, is a character of your creation even as you play her.”

 

“Pfft, what?” Twilight retorted with a smug grin. “That’s not multiple personality disorder. That’s just called acting.”

 

“So, you’d call the character you play in front of your friends a fictional one, am I right?” Luna retorted right back with a smug grin of her own.

 

Twilight’s smile of cockiness immediately became a frown of worry.

 

“No…” she thought. “You fucking bitch…”

 

“You know as well as I do…” Luna said. “That you want that character you play to be real…your pride won’t allow you to ever confess to anyone that she’s a creation of your imagination...and do you know what that’s done to your mind?”

 

“You cunt…” she kept thinking, even as she began to hear another voice in her head.

 

“Don’t think such things...you have to be good…”

 

“She’s talking to you right now, isn’t she?” Luna continued.

 

“No, she isn’t!” Twilight denied.

 

“Stop lying to her…” Twilight’s other persona told her. “Lying is wrong. Liars go to hell at the end of time…”

 

“I am not a liar!” Twilight yelled at her persona. “I never lie for myself! I do it to make life easier for everyone, and that just so happens to include me! Even if hell is real, what did I do to deserve it?! And don’t you remember what K.C. said? There is no end of time!”

 

“But who are we to say what we deserve and what we don’t deserve?” Twilight’s persona argued. “Even if this whole lying thing is irrelevant, are you truly as good as you think you are?”

 

“It’s always that same question…” Twilight replied, feeling weary. “And I always wish to humble myself and say that it is for God to answer, not me...but then...mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…”

 

“MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!” Twilight began laughing maniacally for Luna to hear.

 

“WHERE IS GOD?!” she bellowed on impulse. “WHERE IS HE?! WHY WON’T HE HELP  BREAK WHAT IS BINDING ME?! WHY WON’T HE HELP ME NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES I PROVE IT TO HIM THAT I CAN’T HANDLE THIS ON MY OWN?! I WANT HIM! SO WHY DOESN’T HE WANT ME?!”

 

Luna stared at Twilight for a while, watching her pant and try to catch her breath, before saying…

 

“You say God...do you not mean my sister, Princess Celestia?”

 

“No, I mean God.” Twilight replied. “Princess Celestia...I have graduated from her teachings. I have since then lived as a “god” myself. And yet, I have never understood why God works the way he does.”

 

“You say that as if you actually believe in him…” Luna said with a skeptical look.

 

“It’s very tricky to explain…” Twilight told her. “With my outlook on life, I could very easily be classified as an “atheist nihilist”. But I can just never decide...the thought of God will just never abandon my mind no matter how doubtful I become of his existence...and then in turn, that makes me think...what does it mean to “not exist”? To not be present in our reality? But then...how real is our reality in actuality? How can we prove that reality is absolute?”

 

“Impressive…” Luna responded. “It seems my dream spirits have not slowed down your progress towards discovering the truth as much as I believed initially. I better comprehend now why you were chosen to be the ruler of the dark. You are highly intelligent, open-minded, and thorough in your thinking...and yet despite that, you are indeed inferior to Fluttershy as a god.”

 

“Aww, thanks for the backhanded compliment.” Twilight retorted, pretending to do a “cute” voice. “Go on, tell me what makes Fluttershy so much better. No matter what you say, I don’t give a fuck. You think this is some contest? You think I care about being the top dog? I want one thing, just one thing. A purpose for living. And I’m not settling for stupid shit like, “OH, IT’S JUST A TEST!” or, “OH, IT’S JUST MEANT TO BE ENJOYED!”. No, I want a real reason. I don’t care how I was created, I just want to know why!”

 

“That is something that I can never tell you…” Luna replied as she shut her eyes and knelt her head. “You will find the answer yourself...that is your job. Just like it was my job to impede your progress up until now. More specifically, make things more challenging for you...so that you would be stronger at the end of your journey. This is a journey that will indeed end with you discovering your true purpose...though I warn you, you won’t enjoy the results of your shortcomings…”

 

Twilight’s feelings on what Luna had just told her were very mixed. While she was very relieved to learn that she would succeed in discovering her purpose, she was also very mystified by what Luna meant by the “results of her shortcomings”...

 

“Where did I fall short where Fluttershy succeeded?” Twilight asked curiously. “And don’t tell me that she “had faith while I didn’t”. If you tell me that, I’m just going to laugh.”

 

“Nope,” replied Luna, “she certainly did not have the faith you’re talking about in that context. She was as agnostic as you.”

 

“What then?” Twilight asked. “I truly am curious...what makes Fluttershy better than me?”

 

“As a god, I shall explain why.” Luna replied. “None are better than anyone. All are created equal. But in measuring abilities, some are indeed greater in certain aspects than others. And Fluttershy’s aspect just so happened to be spiritual strength. Spiritual strength that she earned through being humble, honest, caring, courageous, and most of all, devoted. You, by contrast, are arrogant, compulsively dishonest, uncaring, cowardly, and worst of all, complacent.”

 

“Mmhhmm, yeah, fuck me.” Twilight said sarcastically. “Fuck Twilight, go Fluttershy. She’s just so honest, kind, and pure for tricking me into going to a Satanic party and traumatizing me for life.”

 

“Yes...” Luna responded. “...but it was you who ordered her to do so. Your mortal self may not know, but as a god, you planned this entire thing out with Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord. Everything but one factor...your encounter with Killer Christian. He has caused you to learn the truth sooner than you intended to by forcing you to remember your forgotten past. Originally, you had planned to gradually piece it together through clues given to you at the party.”

 

“So what I’m going through right now is my fault.” Twilight remarked nonchalantly. “What does it matter? That doesn’t make Fluttershy better.”

 

“The irony truly is stunning…” Luna retorted, squinting her eyes. “You just explained right there why Fluttershy is better. “What does it matter?” That’s exactly your problem...you don’t truly care.”

 

“.....” Twilight was silent this time.

 

“We both know the truth…” Luna said, her face marked with sorrow. “...the truth that you are so complacent that you would rather give up on your journey to find the answers you desire in favor of remaining miserable for the rest of your existence...and even choose giving up on existing altogether over eternal happiness...simply because it is the easier option of the two.”

 

“..........” Twilight was silent for quite a while before she finally responded with…

 

“Yes, you are right. I admit it. However, am I really so sinful for being complacent in the situation that I’m in? Being that I’m a mortal with no proof or even concrete evidence of anything that I’d like to devote myself to? It’s easy for you to judge, because you have always been a god. You, the other gods, and especially God himself have always existed knowing full well the reason why they exist. They could never relate to the problems of mortals such as hopelessness or despair.”

 

“No Twilight,” replied Luna, “that is a complete lie. No god, even God himself, has always been a god.”

 

And once again, Twilight was silent. Only this time, the expression on her face in response to hearing this showed that she truly had no idea Luna would ever say such a thing…even Luna, who had said what she had said so boldly, seemed surprised.

 

The next time Twilight Sparkle spoke, it was not in her ordinary voice...but in a robotic voice.

 

“FIRST THE SON OF NOIMMAN AND NOW THIS. I AM BEGINNING TO SUSPECT THAT THERE IS A TRAITOR AMONG US.”

 

“Preposterous.” Luna refuted. “Any changes made to the story can only be made by those who have been given permission by us gods, and even us gods must have approval for any change we make. It is a process that none can circumvent, even if any of us were to become disloyal.”

 

To quote the “golden rule” on story editing from the Awakening project…

“If something written in another god's storybook is unapproved, conflicts with what we wrote, or renders something we want to happen impossible to occur, it will not come true.”

 

Ninja Time God Rarity brought up what Fantasy God Discord had said back then to back up Luna’s case.

 

And if you’re not satisfied with empirical evidence, how about living proof? Just look at me. When have I ever been the loyal type?

 

Fantasy God Discord brought himself up to back up Luna’s case.

 

“THIS IS ALL INFORMATION THAT I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN,” replied Twilight in her robotic voice, “FOR IT IS ETERNALLY STORED WITHIN MY DATABASE. HOWEVER, THERE IS STILL ONLY SO MUCH THAT EVEN WE KNOW ABOUT THIS UNIVERSE. REMEMBER THAT. IN THE MEANTIME, I SHALL LOOK MORE INTO THIS “MASTER” OF “K.C.”...AN ISSUE THAT YOU TWO DON’T SEEM TO BE ALL THAT CONCERNED ABOUT...”

 

Because it’s nothing to be concerned about? We’ve explained our case, you know that even if we were to be hiding something, it would change nothing.

 

Ninja Time God Rarity replied with that.

 

We’re untrustworthy, dishonest, and shady characters, we know. But you out of all should know that that isn’t the scariest thing about us. The scariest thing about us is that the reason we’re like this is for the sake of what should be the truth…

 

Fantasy God Discord followed up with that.

 

“I CAN SEE THE INSPIRATION FOR MY SELF-INSERT.” Twilight replied in her robotic voice. “ONE WHO IS WILLING TO ACCEPT AND TELL ALL KINDS OF LIES IF IT MEANS THAT SHE WILL ONE DAY SEE THE TRUTH. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, SHE KNOWS NOT THAT WHAT WE DO ON OUR QUEST FOR THE TRUTH IS WHAT DEFINES US, SHOWS US THE TRUTH OF WHO WE REALLY ARE.”

 

“I tried my best to get her to understand that…” Luna said in a grieved tone. “I never wished to deceive her or anyone, but all must learn the truth for themselves, or else they shall never ascend…”

 

Luna had a melancholic expression on her face as she began to reminisce.

 

“Or worse yet,” she continued, “end up like me. Ascending to an existence that is naught but eternal torture…”

 

...the hell that I created...

 

Twilight said those words in her mind as she was suddenly back to being in front of Spike holding Fluttershy’s head.

 

“I know exactly what you mean, Fluttershy.” Twilight said in a deadpan voice. “It’s me…”

[fortnitefan12]

smh you update while I'm asleep

This chapter was a lot of fun to read. I especially liked the part where Twilight called Luna a cunt  I am now starting to realize the religious overtone of this, and I like it.  

[Metal Snake]

Episode 4: Never Cry, Maud Pie

 

“I completely understand now, Fluttershy.” Twilight told her friends. “I didn’t just create this hell…”

 

Twilight paused in mid-sentence as her eyes gave a lavender glow.

 

“I AM THIS HELL.” she said in her robotic voice.

 

Maud Pie, who was still standing by the punch table meditating, opened her eyes and looked over at Twilight and her friends upon hearing those words. It was then that Spike looked at Maud, and using his free hand, gave her a thumbs up. Upon giving her that thumbs up, Maud looked around at what she had been waiting for...the arrival of the demons.

 

“HA HA HA HA HA!” demons from all around gave an evil laugh.

 

Even with her newfound realizations, Twilight’s instincts still made her afraid as she watched the demons arrive. Dark portals opened up all around the room. Out of them sprawled forth devil ponies with black wings, black, scaled claws on their front legs, and red scales on the rest of their bodies. One portal even appeared above the punch bowl, right behind Maud Pie...

 

“Gotta love the special access for the V.I.P…” Maud Pie joked as the devil pony coming out of the portal behind her brought its right claw closer to her head… “...it already isn’t easy to get all the way over here from the underworld…”

 

The devil pony then tried to swipe her head off…

 

...only for Maud to duck, grabbing the punch bowl as she did so. She then took the ladle from the bowl and swung it at the demon pony’s hand, knocking it clean off. The demon pony shrieked in agony and retreated into the portal as the claw flew towards Spike, who casually sliced it into pieces with his free hand that emitted a mysterious aura of light. Likewise, a mysterious aura of darkness surrounded Maud as she prepared to finish her joke from earlier…

 

“...and then you get to have me cover the return trip…”

 

Maud then unsheathed her sword as Twilight remembered who she was...

 

“I knew it...she isn’t Maud Pie.” she thought. “She’s that supernatural detective…”

 

“Get in line everyone...for the ride back to hell.” she proclaimed.

 

Four demon ponies lunged towards Maud from above and tried to stab her with their claws, but Maud rolled to the side to dodge it, taking the punch bowl with her. Having attacked with enough force to puncture the floor, the demon ponies found that their claws were stuck in the floor, rendering them unable to avoid Maud’s counterattack, stabbing all four of them at once with a stinger from her sword. All four of the devils exploded in a mess of blood that soon transformed into dark energy. A dark aura glowed around Maud’s sword as it absorbed said energy. Watching this, the rest of the demons around the room were terrified. Twilight was also scared and shaking in fright.

 

“After everything I’ve thought through…” she said to herself. “Even after all the dark shit that my mind has had to handle...a sight like this has me paralyzed with fear…”

 

“Don’t worry,” said Maud, “we’ve got everything sorted out. Just whatever you do, don’t drink the punch…”

 

It was then that Maud stuck her left back foreleg in the punch bowl and used her right back foreleg to slide herself across the room while in a spinning motion. She pulled out two twin handguns and began firing bullets all around.

 

“Woo-hoo-hoo.” Maud said in her vintage monotone as she did this.

 

Although the attacks from Maud’s guns weren’t as powerful as the attacks from her sword, the spreadfire was still enough to kill half of the remaining devil ponies. The ones who were killed fell to the ground and melted into a mess of red blood that turned black as it seeped into the floor, while the surviving demons, who were flying high in the air, became desperate and tried to kill Maud with laser blasts from their fingers. Maud reacted to the assault by shooting the ropes that had held the disembodied pony legs. Having gone past them, she had reached the entrance to Sugarcube Corner, where she stopped sliding. Falling to the ground, the disembodied mass of flesh acted as a shield from the lasers, which blew up the legs and had more blood flying in Maud’s direction. Once again, it became dark energy for her sword to absorb. Only now, her sword was growing very bright with this dark energy.

 

“Yup…” Spike said as he used his free hand to create a bubble of light that encased him, Twilight, and Fluttershy’s head, acting as a shield.

 

Grabbing it with both hooves, she held it back as if she were about to swing a baseball bat. She then uttered another one-liner…

 

“Any way you slice it, this is going to be a big one…hyah.”

 

Maud made that cry in a dull tone as she swung the sword, causing a giant wave of energy to burst forth from it and slice all the remaining devil ponies in the room to pieces. The force from the wave was so strong that collateral damage resulted from it. The walls around developed several cracks, the picture of the devil that was used for what looked like a knife throwing game was torn, knives were spewn across the floor along with the pizza, and Twilight and her friends, excluding Applejack and Pinkie Pie, were blown back against the wall. Applejack and Pinkie, unfortunately, had their heads sliced to bits, which exploded right in front of Twilight and her remaining friends.  

 

“AAAIIIEEEEE!” Twilight screamed as blood and bits of their brains splattered all over the shield.

 

“Whoopsie.” Spike said with a chuckle. “I forgot to protect them too.”

 

“It’s okay, Spike.” Fluttershy said to comfort him. “It was an honest mistake.”

 

“YOU GUYS ARE FUCKING INSANE!” Twilight bellowed. “THEY WERE OUR FRIENDS!”

 

“And they still are.” Spike replied. “The only difference is that they’re dead now.”

 

“We’re just looking on the bright side of this.” Fluttershy explained. “At least this gives us an opportunity to save some time. Hey Spike, can you please kill me? Um...if that’s okay with you?”

 

Sure thing Fluttershy,” replied Spike, “it’s never any trouble, trust me.”

 

Spike then put his free hand underneath Fluttershy’s head, and using that hand like a gun, blasted a laser of swirling light energy that destroyed Fluttershy’s head from the inside like a miniature cyclone would. Blood splattered on the faces of Twilight and Spike, traumatizing Twilight even further.

 

“Talk about a blessing, right?” Spike told Twilight happily. “To be covered in the blood of our savior?”

 

Twilight didn’t say anything. Instead, she began to break down crying.

 

“UH HU HU HU HUA!” she cried. “WAH HU HU HU HUA!”

 

Upon witnessing Twilight in tears, Spike actually stopped smiling for once. He saw the pain in the tears she was crying and empathized with her, for he was reminded of when he was living as an ordinary mortal and discovering what lied beyond for the “first time”.

 

“Twilight…” Spike said as he extended his right arm out to Twilight and opened his hand. “Do you...want to go home?”

 

Twilight turned to him, her tears beginning to cease as she did not feel that this was a trick.     However, not feeling fully convinced, she replied with…

 

“Home? What home? I hope you don’t mean the castle. Maybe that’s what my brain wants, to just slump back in bed and try to rest, forgetting everything I’ve seen today. But then what? Then what?! It’s not going to change the fact that what I’ve seen today has scarred me for life, and there’s nothing that can be done about that…”

 

“If,” said Spike, putting emphasis on that word to assure Twilight he was speaking hypothetically, “if, the castle was the place you truly saw as home, I would take you back there in a heartbeat. But since it very much isn’t, that’s not where we’re going. I want to take you home to a place you’ve wanted to be for a long time...your birthplace. Your true birthplace...”

 

Twilight jumped slightly, remembering what she was told and shown by K.C. that reminded her about living in a false reality.

 

“You mean…” she said nervously. “...where I was...artificially created?”

 

“No,” replied Spike, shaking his head, “not even there. I’m taking you to where you were born even before that...the birthplace of all life…and the place that all try to return to when they’ve lost all hope...”

 

Twilight’s eyes widened, with her getting a feeling about where he was talking about…

 

“Are you going to teleport us there?” she asked.

 

“Sort of.” Spike responded. “The funny thing is, you don’t even need any magic to get there. Even the most untrained mortals could get there without any real effort. Because the fastest way to get there…”

 

Spike snapped his fingers with his left hand and grabbed Twilight’s right foreleg to comfort her as the bubble shield that encased them quickly began to shrink, naturally scaring Twilight as she felt herself become compressed by her closing surroundings.

 

“...is to die.” Spike finished as the shield squished both of them into a bloody pulp.

 

Both they and the shield disappeared with a popping noise, as an observing Maud gave a nod of acknowledgement. Having pulled her back leg out of the punch bowl, she put her sword away and carried the punch bowl in her right hoof.

 

“So he’s taking her to where I always go…” she said as she walked over to where the pizza was.

 

All of a sudden, the demon pony who had his claw knocked off earlier jumped in front of Maud and grinded his other claw into some of the pizza that had fallen on the floor.

 

“HHHIIISSS-” he hissed at her angrily before he was cut off by Maud throwing the punch bowl in his face, and following the throw with a shot from one of her handguns. The bullet that came from the gun destroyed the punch bowl, causing broken shards of glass and the remaining punch in the bowl to fly in the demon’s face, along with the bullet that hit him square in the forehead. As the demon fell to the ground dead, blood flying from his face from his fatal wounds, he melted into a mess of red blood that turned black, just as the other slain devils who had fallen on the floor did.

 

“And where they always go as well…” she continued what she had been saying before she had been interrupted. “...to the darkness.”

 

…..

 

Blackness. A dark, empty void. That’s all Twilight Sparkle could see in front of her right now. Her greatest fear had been realized.

 

“No…” she said in a mortified tone. “It’s true...there really is nothing after death...and I no longer exist…”

 

After she said that, she began to cry again. But soon, she heard a familiar voice telling her…

 

“You know, you don’t have to sit here and cry by yourself all the time.”

 

“Wha-” Twilight said in surprise as she looked around. “Aaahh…”

 

Twilight grunted as a bright flash of light appeared. Soon after the light vanished, she was able to see Spike in front of her, as well as her hooves that she brought to her face.

 

“Sometimes…” Spike told her as he held out his right arm again. “...you can just ask for my hand. You don’t always have to wait for me to reach out to you.”

 

Twilight took Spike’s hand. After grabbing it with her right hoof, she could see something she couldn’t see before. The same way she could see the dark aura surrounding K.C. after he touched her, she could now see an aura of light surrounding Spike. Not only that, but as she looked all around her, she could see stars appearing. Bright stars that made this place look all too familiar…

 

“It looks like…” Twilight began. “The sky at night...”

 

“This is much more than just an ordinary night sky though.” Spike explained. “Much more than even the night sky that Princess Luna creates. This is what we call Dark Sky. It’s a collection of lost worlds that stretches on into infinity…both into the past...and into the future...”

 

Twilight was once more reminded of what K.C. said about time being endless, and then remembered what Spike said about the “birthplace of all life”...

 

“So this is where we were all created…” she said. “...and where we go when we die?”

 

“You catch on quick.” Spike replied, regaining his smile. Twilight, on the other hand, regained her fear.

 

“So we’re both dead now?!” she exclaimed.

 

“Yes.” Spike nonchalantly replied. “What’s wrong with that?”

 

“EVERYTHING!” Twilight bellowed. “You KILLED me! Why didn’t you just teleport us here?! You didn’t have to kill me!”    

 

“Very wrong.” Spike responded. “I did, in fact, have to kill you. For you are the kind of mortal who can only conquer their fear of death by dying.”

 

“That makes no sense…” Twilight said in a crestfallen tone. “My life is gone now. Who cares if I overcome my fears? There’s nothing left…”

 

“Again, very wrong.” Spike replied. “You say that as if your old life was something you considered invaluable. Now that you’ve lost it, you have quite the opposite of nothing…”

 

Spike held his arms up in the air before he continued by saying…

 

“Just look at this vast, infinite world. You now have everything…”

 

Twilight took another look around the world of the Dark Sky before she responded to Spike with…

 

“I just don’t see it. It’s true that my old life was shit, and maybe it’s true that the times I did enjoy it were just me deluding myself, wanting to believe it was good. But there was definitely a time where I was more than happy with my life. A time where I knew for a fact that I enjoyed it every day and loved my friends. Knowing for certain that a time like that existed made my life worth living, because I knew for certain that life could be enjoyed if I could just find the answer to what was troubling me. Every day made me feel like I was closer to discovering the answer. Every day made me feel like I was taking a step closer to getting out of the darkness…”

 

“When was the time where you enjoyed your life every day?” Spike asked.

 

Oddly enough, Twilight was silent for a while in response to this question.

 

“That’s strange…” she replied. “I can’t seem to remember now. It just feels like it’s been so long…”

 

“Five years ago.” Spike said abruptly.

 

“Huh?” Twilight responded.

 

“It’s been five years, hasn’t it?” Spike told her. “But your mind is confused...because it feels like just last night…”

 

Twilight gasped as something dawned on her.

 

“Luna’s illusion!” she exclaimed.

 

“Correct,” replied Spike, “but not entirely so. Luna’s illusion indeed played a significant part in altering your sense of time, but the rest was your doing in your subconscious mind. You wanted your perception of time to be sped up as much as possible to make the times you weren’t enjoying shorter. More specifically, the days you weren’t enjoying shorter…”

 

“Oh...oh…” Twilight said nervously, realizing what he was getting at.

 

“You’re acting like you were cherishing every day as a step closer to your goal...when you were helping Luna speed up time...to the point where you can’t even remember a single day where you actually did something to help yourself achieve that goal.” Spike explained the problem with Twilight’s speech of grievance.

 

“Ugh…” Twilight grunted.

 

“Think about it,” continued Spike, “what progress have you actually made on your own? None. Absolutely none. You can complain all you want about how today has been the worst day of your life after everything that’s happened, but that’s just the thing. Everything happened. Everything you need to know to discover the truth has happened right before your eyes. We may have had some laughs of our own along the way, but everything we’ve done has been to help you. To us, this isn’t a torture session...it’s a counseling session.”

 

“When you said we were dead earlier, you only meant our physical bodies, correct?” Twilight replied. “I’m...not spiritually dead, am I?”

 

“I can’t answer that question.” Spike declined a response. “Only you can. You have to ask yourself if you’ve been dead these past five years or not. All I can vouch for is that I am the one who has killed the old life that you hated. You, on the other hand, are different. You can look at your old life and see what you did on that journey that did define you, but at the same time, you yourself are not the journey.”

 

“...” Twilight kept quiet, meditating on Spike’s words as she felt moved by them.

 

She then looked around at the Dark Sky again, and this time, she asked Spike…

 

“Can I begin a new journey here...with my friends?”

 

Spike responded with a smile and a nod.

 

“Yes, of course you can Twilight.” he told her as the souls of Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy surrounded him. “We just need to find Rarity and Rainbow Dash now. And then, you may finally…”

 

“...ascend…”

 

[fortnitefan12]

This chapter raises one question, "How do hooves work?"

Seriously though, this was a nice dark chapter. Maud fighting those demon ponies was fun, and Spike killing Fluttershy was certainly interesting. Can't wait to read the next one. <3

[Rebel the Wolfgirl]

<3

Nice chapter, MS.

[Metal Snake]

Episode 5: Oblivion and Beyond

 

Tell Princess Celestia no…

 

God is in his heaven. All is right with the world.

 

Or so mortals “wish” to believe. While Twilight Sparkle was finally facing her struggles head-on in the realm of darkness, the gods up in the realm of light were having issues of their own…

 

It was in a place that resembled Cloudsdale. A place that, like Cloudsdale, was abundant with white, fluffy clouds hovering the fresh, blue sky. In this place, however, instead of the Weather Factory, there stood a mansion of colossal stature. And that mansion stood in front of a colossal pillar that stretched so high up that the top of it could not be seen. The highest part that was visible was surrounded by a swirling vortex of darkness and light…

 

On the inside of the mansion, beyond two gold-colored iron gates decorated with the insignia of Fluttershy with the wings of a phoenix praying, was where Princess Luna was trying to reach a compromise with one of the gods she was subservient to...

 

“Tell her that it wasn’t her fault that I ended up this way…” Princess Luna told someone. “Please, let her know that I did this to myself, that in my haste, I-”

 

“So you want me to tell her what she already knows…” replied a familiar voice. “...is that what you’re asking of me?”

 

“Please,” pleaded Luna, “I only wish to relieve some of the pain…”

 

“But you know as well as I do that without pain, we can not grow stronger.” the god replied. “And do you think I have not seen the ineffectiveness of what you have tried to do for Twilight?”

 

“I know I can not save Twilight from her ultimate destiny…” Luna acknowledged. “But the things I told her...I’m sure they’ll mean something to her one day…”

 

“I do not doubt that.” the god responded. “But I do find it interesting how the apparent “traitor” within our midst not only didn’t stop you from telling Twilight anything, but also got you to tell her a secret you never intended to spill…”

 

“Even though I don’t have a better explanation myself…” Luna said with a sigh. “I just can’t bring myself to believe that one of us is a double agent.”

 

“I wouldn’t be able to believe it myself...if I hadn’t seen for myself that it’s true.” the god replied.

 

Luna’s jaw fell slack.

“You jest…” she said in shock.

 

“It’s not just me who knows either.” the god continued. “They know as well.”

 

“Rarity and Discord too?!” Luna exclaimed. “But how? And if you’ve known all this time, why have you not done anything about it?”

 

“Because we’ve found a way to work with the “traitor”.” the god told her. “Turns out that this “traitor” really hasn’t done much to betray us after all. Amongst all of us, I’m sure the only one who would disagree…”

 

The god then turned to look behind her, outside the back window of the mansion, which looked very similar to The Risen One’s home…

 

“...is her.” the god who was revealed to be Fluttershy said as she looked out the window to see the pillar. “My rival, the ruler of the dark…”

 

Meanwhile, back at Sugarcube Corner...  

 

Maud Pie had returned to meditating. Soon, she began to sense a familiar presence approaching. One that was dark, yet not hostile…

 

“Yo, Nero.” she greeted the presence.

 

“Ha, ha, ha.” the presence laughed in response. “No way to sneak up on you, is there, Myra?”

 

A shadowy figure rose out of Maud’s shadow and presented itself to her.

 

“Trust me, I am all too familiar with that method of stealth.” Maud, who was actually Myra Michaels, replied. “May I ask why you have returned here?”

 

“Don’t be so polite.” Nero said. “People least of all expect demonic creatures of hell to feel the urge to always be completely civil.”

 

“But didn’t you say that that’s exactly what drives you to be as polite as possible?” Myra responded. “To toy with people’s expectations?”

 

“Yeah, but here, it’s just you and me.” Nero reminded her. “Just two demons hanging out in hell together.”

 

“I’m only half-demon.” Myra said. “And personally, I am growing a bit bored of hell.”

 

“Feh.” Nero remarked. “I got used to the torture long ago, and I’m still not bored of hell. Ever since my mind was warped by it, I’ve never been able to escape constantly thinking about new ways to experience excruciating pain. I truly am a full-on masochist now…”

 

“You poor thing.” Myra said out of sympathy. “I genuinely feel more sorry for you than Twilight even. At least the reason we were created was for a good cause. At least we have friends...”

 

“What are you talking about?” Nero asked her. “You don’t consider me a true friend?”

 

“I consider you a true friend,” answered Myra, “the problem is that you don’t.”

 

“Ha ha ha!” Nero laughed again. “Yeah, you can see right through me, good job. I don’t trust anyone. Not my closest allies, not even myself. I like you, don’t get me wrong. It’s just my nature. After what I’ve been through, no matter how close anyone gets to me, no matter how much I feel that their intentions are pure, I can never shake the feeling of doubt in the back of my mind that one day, they’re going to betray me.”

 

“Yeah,” replied Myra, “I used to be the exact same way.”

 

“Before you had a change of heart upon meeting a special friend?” Nero taunted with a smug grin on his face.

 

“It didn’t come down to something as simple as him being worthy of my trust.” Myra replied, having memories of her first time meeting a priest dressed in a white robe that carried a mysterious staff with him. “The demon inside of me knew that there existed people in the world who were trustworthy, but that it mattered not, for even those kinds of people would not accept someone like me. An abominable murderer who had spared none her wrath.”

 

Nero’s smile started to fade as he heard this.

 

“As I talked to this friend of mine about what I had done and watched how he responded to what I said is when I started to realize something…” Myra continued. “I wasn’t looking for someone to trust...I was looking for someone to trust me.”

 

“...Spira.” Nero eventually said.

 

“Hmm?” Myra went in response.

 

“I do have someone in my life who’s like that friend of yours.” Nero told her. “Her name is Spira. She’s my sister.”

 

“Noimman had another child?” Myra asked.

 

“No,” replied Nero, “I’m Noimman’s son, she’s Fluttershy’s daughter. It’s difficult to explain, but what makes us siblings is that we both share the same earth mother, Terra. The gods who created our souls on the other hand, are different.”

 

“I see.” Myra said. “So what is Spira like?”

 

“...She’s like a light.” Nero replied. “A light that I need to have. Whenever I’m with her, I feel like I’m with God...or at least what I hope God is like.”

 

“That’s a very strong opinion you have of her.” Myra commented. “Why is that you have difficulty trusting others after you’ve been around someone like that?”

 

In response to that, Nero began crying on impulse.

 

“My mother told me the story of how Twilight became who she was…” he explained. “...she was betrayed...by the last one she ever suspected would betray her…”

 

“I’m sorry…” Myra told him out of sympathy. “But the one who betrayed her is not the only one at fault for Twilight being the way she is. The one who is ultimately responsible for Twilight being the way she is is Twilight…”

 

As Myra said that, Twilight was seen stepping out of a dark portal and setting foot on a cloud.

 

“Twilight has made a fatal mistake…” Myra continued. “...in trying to change things for the better...without first changing herself for the better…”

 

It was revealed that Twilight Sparkle had just set foot in Cloudsdale, or at least in the place that appeared to be Cloudsdale. As she looked out over the area, she could see Fluttershy’s mansion and the gargantuan tower that laid ahead of it. Looking upon the tower, her eyes gave that same lavender glow...

 

Flying closer to the mansion and landing on the clouds before the doors, she could see a gang of familiar faces. Standing outside the mansion were the members of the Dark Sky, Dumb-bell, Hoops, Score, Ghost Rainbow Dash, and Derpy Hooves.

 

“Well, well, well.” Dumb-bell said with a cocky grin as he and the others saw Twilight.

 

“It’s our old boss, Boss!” Hoops exclaimed as the gang laughed.

 

“...Boss?” Twilight replied, giving them a look of confusion.

 

“...” Score silently explained the experiences Twilight and their gang shared together in the past.

 

“I’m sorry,” said Twilight, “I don’t speak silent language.”

 

“Oh, don’t joss with us!” Ghost Rainbow Dash retorted. “You know what happened during the Awakening project! You kept us working nonstop in the machine! You forced us to riff your shitty story!”

 

“And it wasn’t very fun!” Derpy interjected. “Too much talking and never any naptimes!”   

 

“Um...that was wrong of me, and I’m very sorry.” Twilight decided to apologize, going along with it even though she didn’t understand it, not wanting to argue with insanity anymore.

 

“Hey, it’s all good, ja?” Dumb-bell replied. “That kind of thing happens all the time in big companies.”

 

“Yeah,” said Hoops, “if Starcatch was a company, it would’ve been the biggest company the world had ever seen. How would anyone not be able to expect any kind of corruption in a place like that?”

 

Twilight got the lavender glow in her eyes yet again as she felt a sense of deja vu.

 

“Wait…” Twilight said in her mind as she looked over at the enormous tower again. “They couldn’t possibly be talking about...holy shit…”

 

“Glad everyone except Derpy loved it!” she remembered herself saying.

 

“So that’s it…” she told herself in her thoughts. “I should’ve known…”

 

“I’m part of that building, aren’t I?” Twilight asked the Dark Sky members as she looked back over at them. Starcatch is my true form, isn’t it?”

 

“You were also a guy named Noava who killed Fluttershy or something like that,” replied G.R.D., “but yeah, that’s essentially the gist of it.”

 

“I should’ve known…” Twilight repeated to herself in her mind. “I have done things to deserve this suffering...and I must come back to God to repent of my sins…”

 

“You have told yourself this before many times…” Twilight’s other persona said to her. “But no matter how often you say it, you never become any more humble…”

 

“Then I finally shall become more humble as I finally put my words into practice…” Twilight replied to the voice in her mind. “I shall go to God personally and humble myself in his sight as I ask for his forgiveness. I will hear what he commands me to do and act in full accordance, for I have decided that this is the day where I will finally change my life…”

Upon Twilight saying that, everything went black and a bolt of lightning came down…

 

“It’s time…” Fluttershy said, still inside of her mansion with Luna. “Come with me…”

 

As the gates to the mansion opened up, Twilight felt a light shining upon her, giving her a feeling of warmth and comfort that she had not felt anywhere else before. Surely, this was the day where everything would…

 

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” the Dark Sky members laughed.

 

“What’s so funny?” Twilight asked them angrily.

 

“Oh, I think you know…” G.R.D. retorted. “...that the “righteous soul being led astray from the path of good only to return to it after having an epiphany that allows them to become strong enough to earn heaven” is a cliche that is only found in power fantasy tales…”

 

“Rude…” Twilight remarked, shooting her a stern look.

 

“Sorry,” apologized G.R.D., to Twilight’s surprise, “maybe that was too snide. Though I only mean to be cruel to be kind, I think a song will get the message across better, even if it’s more like a poem…blame Derpy for losing our instruments...”

 

“I just don’t know where I last put them…” Derpy said sadly.

 

“Like it matters.” Dumb-bell commented. “The most important instruments of all are the strings of your heart.”

 

“If you can learn how to tug those, you can play a tune for anyone.” Hoops said.

 

“...” Score silently interjected.

 

“And as Score just demonstrated…” G.R.D. said. “Words themselves are an instrument.”

 

It was then that the song began…

 

The tower to heaven, From five to seven

 

Always changes its parts

 

The one who transcended it, they never ended it

 

They always give it new starts

 

A new path they opened, for all of the chosen

 

Orbs symbolized light and dark

 

Then with a(nother) murder mystery, the trial was blistering

 

The story was given many ends

 

But even with much closure, it will never be over

 

Even if the killer makes amends

 

Where we go, it doesn’t matter how far

 

For everything has already been decided by the star

 

With that, the poem concluded. The only reaction it got out of Twilight, however, was an unconvinced look followed by an unenthusiastic remark…

 

“Let me guess...you’re trying to dissuade me from going to meet Fluttershy and apologize to her...because you find it to be meaningless?”

 

“We wish it was meaningless.” the Dark Sky members replied. “If you go in there right now, you’ll regret it for all eternity.”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Twilight said. “Right now, I’m going through a problem that requires urgent attention. And up until now, I only treated it as a backburner concern. After I’ve been shown a golden opportunity to fix the problem, how can I ignore such a chance? Besides, it’s my funeral, not yours.”

 

“Very wrong,” retorted the Dark Sky members, “as the guy who led you here liked to say. It’s going to be everyone’s funeral.”

 

“...You know who Spike really is too?” Twilight asked.

 

“In the context of what you mean, yes.” the Dark Sky members replied. “In all honestly, no one really and truly knows who Spike is. He’s an honest-to-goodness enigma, if that makes any sense. The only surety about him is that’s nothing we know about him is certain.”

 

“You wouldn’t go so far to say that he’s set me up, would you?” Twilight asked.

 

“No,” answered the Dark Sky members, “you yourself should know by now who the traitor is…”

 

“IS THAT A QUESTION FOR ME?” Twilight’s robot persona replied.

 

“So even we know something you don’t, “Boss”, ha ha… they teased.

 

“TELL ME WHO IT IS.” Twilight’s robot persona commanded. “THAT’S AN ORDER.”

 

“Sorry,” they replied, “but your boss ordered us not to tell you.”

 

“YOU MEAN FLUTTERSHY?” she asked. “BUT SHOULDN’T THE IDENTITY OF THE TRAITOR BE AN IMMEDIATE CONCERN TO ALL OF US?”

 

“If you want immediate answers, you should try your best to wring them out of Fluttershy.” they retorted. “But if you want answers that will truly mean something now and forever, you should try your best to wring them out of yourself. The only problem is that in the state you’re in now, all “yourself” is going to tell you is a load of bullshit.”

 

“YOU REMIND ME OF LUNA.” Twilight’s robot persona told them. “HONESTLY, I DON’T REALLY CARE WHAT ANYONE BESIDES FLUTTERSHY THINKS. THIS CONVERSATION IS OVER. GOODBYE.”

 

And with that, Twilight walked through the entrance to Fluttershy’s mansion, the gates shutting behind her as the Dark Sky members chuckled to themselves.

 

“What a fucking liar.” they thought to themselves. “You only care what you think. But whatever, enjoy getting the last word. Then see how much it helps you...in hell.”

 

Twilight walked through the courtyard of the mansion, coming closer to the house. Though she had expected to see Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord standing outside the house, she instead saw Luna and Fluttershy…

 

“Yo.” Fluttershy unceremoniously greeted Twilight. “What’s up?”

 

“?!” Twilight went, unable to comprehend any reason as to why Fluttershy was being so casual. Luna shared her confusion too, as she looked over at Fluttershy in astonishment just as Twilight did.

 

“Um...I’m doing fine…” Twilight answered Fluttershy, bowing her head in reverence, deciding not to question what she found weird once again. “I just came here to ask you something…”

 

“Ask me everything if you want.” Fluttershy replied as she pulled out a book and pen. “After all, didn’t you come here believing that I would give you the answers to all of your problems?”

 

“No, no, that’s fine…” Twilight politely declined. “I only need a little help from you…”

“Completely wrong.” Fluttershy replied. “You need every bit of help you can get from me. Can you admit that to me?”

 

“Yes, of course.” Twilight lied. “I’ll tell you all of my problems, I promise.”

 

As Twilight told Fluttershy everything that she thought was wrong with her, Luna felt weird the entire time.

 

“I can feel that Twilight has changed in some ways…” Luna thought. “She is self-aware of her problems now, for sure, and I can see that her drive to fix them is true, but...something is still deeply wrong with her soul…”

 

“Fluttershy…” she kept thinking as she looked over at Fluttershy, filling page after page of the book as she wrote in it with her pen. “What ever are you writing in there?”

 

Eventually, Twilight was finished sharing all her problems with Fluttershy, and Fluttershy was finished writing.

 

“And that’s it.” Twilight concluded. “That’s everything. That’s every question I have for you. Now please show me the answers.”

 

“Certainly.” Fluttershy said sweetly, handing Twilight the book she finished.

 

“Thank you so much.” Twilight said, feeling honestly grateful. “I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done. Thank you for finding me worthy of your forgiveness…”

 

Looking at the book, she told herself in her mind…

 

“Finally. It’s finally come to an end. My long walk of suffering is finally over. Now that God has given me this book, I can turn everything around. In the end, all I had to do was humble myself before God and have him show me the way…this truly is the perfect ending to the story of Twilight Sparkle...”

 

The End of the Story of Twilight Sparkle.

 

“Up next is my story,” said Myra Michaels, “which ties in with this one. It may seem somewhat abrupt, but you’ll see how the two come together…

 

...right now.”

 

Right now, Twilight Sparkle was staring at the book in horror. She had opened it and started reading it, only to find…

 

...nothing. All the pages in the book were blank.

 

Twilight then looked at Fluttershy and asked…

 

“But...how? I saw you write words in this book…”

 

“Who said I was writing words in the book?” Fluttershy replied. “All I was writing in there was a magical incantation. Symbols that faded away.”

 

“You were...casting a spell on it?” Twilight surmised. “But what kind of spell?”  

 

Twilight looked all throughout the book, flipping page after page frantically.

 

“Come on, this has to be a fucking joke!” she exclaimed in frustration in her mind, pressing her face up against the book in desperation. “There have to be words in here some...where…”

 

Twilight paused in worry when she realized that she was no longer facing the book...but her own body. Her face was now on a page in the book, staring at her own faceless body…

 

“EEEEEKKKKK!” she shrieked in terror as her faceless body brought her hooves to where her face used to be. “What...why…”

 

“Don’t you understand?” Fluttershy said as Twilight’s faceless body tried to pick her face up, but failed, as her face was fused with the book. “There are no words in that book that I have written. You are one of the many who will search and search for them futily, then give up deciding to just make your own interpretation of the book. You attach your face to the book and sacrifice your individuality, thinking that it’s giving the book magic, without ever realizing that I am the only one who can give that book magic. And so, instead of finding me...”

 

Twilight then tried to teleport her face back onto her body with her magic, only for the spell to backfire. A magic aura appeared around her before she vanished and reappeared as a drawing in the book.

 

“You find yourself sucked inside your own little story.” Fluttershy jeered.

 

Watching this, Luna was aghast.

 

“Fluttershy, what are you doing?!” Luna shouted. “You-you didn’t do this to me as punishment for denying your grace!”

 

“This is not punishment, Luna.” Fluttershy replied. “This is simply cause and effect. Twilight Sparkle wishes to go to hell, and so, she will go to hell.”

 

Fluttershy then grabbed the book and shut it before it became surrounded by an ever-consuming fire. Though blocked by the cover, Twilight’s face made a futile attempt at escaping the book, hollering in agony as the book turned to ash. Fluttershy then scooped up the ashes, the story that Twilight had become, and whispered something to her…

 

“I wish you luck in finding out who the traitor is, Satan…”

 

And with that, she scattered the ashes as Luna just stood back and watched in disbelief. The only words of comfort she received from Fluttershy that day were these…

 

“Don’t worry. I’m hoping that she’ll return one day as a phoenix, just like Myra did. Even if she first has to return here as the devil.”

 

Twilight’s spirit has moved on...

 

[fortnitefan12]

Wow, who knew Fluttershy of all ponies would be that evil? I'll admit I wasn't too into the chapter at the beginning, but I was completely into it by the end, especially when Fluttershy pranked Twilight Over all, it was interesting.

[Metal Snake]

Episode 6: The Demon and the Phoenix

 

Once again, Twilight Sparkle found herself surrounded in darkness, asking herself questions…

 

“How could she send me to hell? I’m already in hell...I am hell…”

 

“Everyone is already in hell before they are “sent there”, Twilight.” someone told Twilight in her mind. “What God expects of us is to come to him with a contrite heart, to be completely sincere in a promise to change ourselves. Those who instead come to him while they are still yet to put aside their arrogance and selfish ambition are not yet worthy to come out of hell.”

 

“Wait, not yet?” Twilight replied, her heart jumping at that glimmer of hope. “Does that mean that I can still…”

 

“Yes…” the one speaking to Twilight replied. “Unfortunately, you have a very long way to go…”

 

“I don’t care!” Twilight exclaimed. “No matter how much work I have to do to get out of here, I’m willing to do it!”

 

“Though your passion is admirable,” remarked the one talking to Twilight in her mind, “this comes down to more than just conquering your slothfulness and complacency now.”

 

“Is it my arrogance then?” Twilight replied. “Fine, I’ll knock my swelled head down till it’s flat. If it’s cowardice, I’ll throw myself up against a horde of ravenous beasts. If it’s selfish ambition, there goes my dream of becoming a lawyer! I’m dead fucking serious, I will literally do anything if it means finally getting out of here!”

 

“I can very much tell that you are completely serious…” the one in Twilight’s mind replied. “...I personally would defend you wanting to become a lawyer...but all these vices that you’re willing to shun are only extensions of your inner darkness...the greatest evil that lies within you is by far your hatred…”

 

“...You’re right.” Twilight admitted. “I’m always looking at all this hate I have bottled up inside of me and just trying to find a way to get rid of it...to replace it with love…”

 

“Your intention is noble…” the one in Twilight’s mind remarked. “...but alas, that was exactly what led you to make another fatal mistake...trying to get rid of the hatred in secrecy instead of fighting it and overcoming it…that mistake is what created the devil gods...”

 

“The devil gods?” Twilight asked.

 

“Yes,” replied the one in Twilight’s mind, “Celes, Akame, and Noimman. Though Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord had a part in creating Celes and Akame, whom were both originally human women, Noimman was born purely from your hatred. With the help of the ruler of the universe, your robot self created a creature of ultimate evil...the greatest terror the world has seen yet…”

 

“Of all the things I know for sure are an exaggeration…” an unconvinced Twilight thought.

 

“But why would I do something like that?” Twilight asked. “More importantly, why would the ruler of the universe do something like that?”

 

“You did it because you were desperate,” explained the one in Twilight’s mind, “and it is part of your duty as the ruler of the dark to always be finding new ways to prune the new generation. I am not sure of what the ruler of the universe’s motives were, but I have a feeling that he had similar thoughts as you. Suffering is needed for us to grow, something that even Fluttershy, the ruler of light agrees upon...”

 

“That poor kid though…” Twilight said with a tone of remorse as she remembered K.C.. “What was it like for him to be the son of Noimman?”

 

“It’s a most horrifying tale…” the one in Twilight’s mind replied. “...but I will tell it to you later. Right now, I must tell you the story of Myra Micheals…”

 

“Why wait?” Twilight asked. “I want to know now. I want to know how my actions hurt others as soon as possible so I can correct my behavior as soon as possible…”

 

“In the state you are in right now Twilight, it would change nothing if you learned about how you hurt him.” the one in Twilight’s mind said. “In fact, it would likely make things worse. Knowing just how great the evil that festers inside of you truly is right now would probably cause you to lose hope in yourself altogether.”

 

“...It’s that bad?” Twilight replied, starting to worry more. “I lost some hope in myself just from you telling me that.”

 

“Do you see my point?” the one in Twilight’s mind told her. “I can’t give you everything in one sitting. You can’t train someone to lift their entire body upside-down and stand with just one arm without first training them to stand with two.”

 

“But where does Myra play into this?” Twilight asked. “I know about what she did at the party, but how does her story relate to mine?”  

 

“You’ll find out soon enough…” the one in Twilight’s mind replied. “You’ll probably be surprised to know of the similarities you and Myra possess.”

 

“Your robot self should already know this from the Awakening project, but to get your mortal self up to speed, Myra Micheals was once a widely feared serial killer who possessed demonic power. She would cut off the penises of all her male victims and devour their testicles. According to rumors, she had gathered enough at one point to build herself a miniature house.”

 

“That’s revolting…” a disgusted Twilight replied.

 

However, Twilight also thought to herself…

 

“Glad I have a legitimate reason to hate her now though…”

 

“Don’t say that.” Twilight’s other persona told her. “We shouldn’t be hating anyone for what they did in the past.”

 

“I know.” the one telling Myra’s story said. “Only hearing that part of the story, anyone would initially assume that Myra was an evil monster.”

 

“Doh…” Twilight thought. “Still, anyone who would ever do something that terrible at any point…”

 

“Even comrades of hers meeting her for the first time would assume such a thing to be true in the past. But truth be told, even back then, Myra did not have a desire for evil.”  

 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Twilight exclaimed in her mind. “How the fuck is that possible?!”

 

“This is the problem you have, Twilight.” Twilight’s other persona said to her. “You can’t let your negative emotions give you a bias when hearing things like this. Why do you think you weren’t ready to face Fluttershy? It doesn’t matter if you listen to someone like you have an open mind if your heart isn’t open.”

 

The one telling Myra’s story began to chuckle.

 

“I can hear what you’re thinking…” she said playfully. “You should be catching on by now as to what I’m trying to do…”   

 

“Huh?” Twilight responded.

 

“Trials and tribulations are everywhere, Twilight…” the storyteller told her in a foreboding tone of voice. “God is always looking to test you, even after you’ve passed the test of Satan, and the test of mine...”

 

“Odd…” Twilight thought, not caring that the storyteller could hear. “Fluttershy called me Satan...could I be...and if I’ve already passed this one’s test...could she be…?”

 

“Continuing on…” the storyteller continued. “Myra did not have an inherent lust to do evil. When she was only a sweet young girl of five years old, she was used for an experiment that involved infusing a human with a demon’s soul. Like you may already figure, things went awry. Myra ended up murdering her family, her classmates, and many more innocent civilians in what seemed like a neverending cycle of calamity...can you imagine what that must have been like for her? Being torn from her innocence, all of her happiness, and all of her loved ones in such a way?”

 

“...” Twilight remained silent, both in her speech and in her thoughts out of respect.

 

“I know you two didn’t get along,” said the storyteller, “and I’m not even asking you to do nothing but sympathize with her, for she still committed the sin of submitting to the evil. But honestly ask yourself, would you have been different if you were in a position like that?”

 

“...I probably would have been worse.” Twilight humbly answered. “But tell me more, what in the fucking world was the logic behind this experiment? Who would conduct such a thing on a little girl and why?”

 

“It will make much more sense when you learn more about Myra’s world,” replied the storyteller, “but I’ll explain one thing for the time being that it was an attempt to bring demons and humans together while also infusing human beings with an unstoppable power. It is not just in Myra’s world, you will come to find, but also in the worlds of Adrian Bruce and Nero that people have discovered a way to achieve this power through the fusion of Yin and Yang.”

 

“...What about in my world?” Twilight asked, something dawning on her as she began to draw parallels with her being the ruler of darkness and Fluttershy being the ruler of light.

 

“That’ll be for you to find out when the time comes…” the storyteller replied in an ominous tone of voice. “Anyways, I feel I have provided you with enough backstory. I think it’s time for you to actually step into the shoes of the victor from the dark domain.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked, having grown comfortable with consistently having to ask this question.

 

“What I mean is that I can not just tell you Myra’s story in order for you to truly grasp what you must learn.” the storyteller explained. “I must also have you live it…”

 

“How can I do that?” Twilight replied.

 

“You’ve already lived two parts of Myra’s story.” the storyteller said. “One was when you were sent here by Fluttershy, and the other was when you went to the world of darkness for the first time. Drawing patterns on this one yet, Satan?”

 

“...Oh.” Twilight said, realizing the connection. “If I’m the ruler of the darkness…”

 

“Then you now have the power to see inside the hearts of those who have fallen into hell.” the storyteller finished for her. “It’s an ability you’ll quickly find to be a very easy thing to do. All you have to do is close your eyes, relax, and attempt to feel the vibrations of her soul like you would your own…”

 

Twilight, as usual, was not fully convinced. Nevertheless, she complied…

 

“Remember that this is not unfamiliar territory you are stepping into.” the storyteller told her. “You have already lived as her in this world. And now…”

 

“...you shall become her in another…”

 

A flood of light filled Twilight Sparkle’s mind and a voice echoed inside. It was the voice of Fluttershy saying…

 

“You know who you really are…”

 

I will not allow this…

 

“Myra…” a young man said. “Please listen to me. You must not go to fight him.”

 

The man, who had white hair with black streaks in it, was a surprisingly youthful high priest who wore a white robe and held beside him a white staff. The handle of the staff was an emblem of a man praying while holding a ball of light in his cupped hands, and engraved on the rod was the writing, “L…”. He and Myra, who had black hair, was dressed in a black garb, and had her sword sheathed at her side, were sitting together in a large tent.

 

“Forgive me…” Myra told him remorsefully. “But I must disobey your orders. I will not allow this village to pay for the crimes I have committed.”

 

“I know you mean to tell it to me kindly while expressing what you honestly feel,” replied the priest, “which is commendable, but I also know that you are not telling me everything. I know that you believe that if Nick Rohn were to send his soldiers to this village and arrest you, we would not have the strength to resist them.”

 

“Please don’t take it the wrong way.” Myra said. “I know that you’re strong. Stronger than any demon. But these are not demons whom we face. These are the warriors whom are considered by the world to be its saviours. If this village ends up on Phoenext’s blacklist because of me, I don’t know what I’ll do. I don’t see anything else I can do here besides turn myself in right away.”

 

“Overestimating the limit of our options…” the priest said. “Such a common mistake. You have learned much since the time when you believed that killing was the only way, and yet, there are still roots from that time you have not begun to abandon...”

 

“Don’t forget that you’re the one who taught me that skyscrapers aren’t built in one day by one person.” Myra remarked. “Not only that, but the plans for any kind of creation are complex and interchangeable. A conservative mindset can not lead such a massive project, much less chart a new course for the world. We must always be willing to adapt to accommodate unexpected changes made by the unforeseen, even if that means taking risks.”

 

“Yes, that is very true.” the priest replied. “The world does demand such an attitude. But while we are part of the world Myra, we mustn’t forget that we are not part of its evil. Thus, we must not use such ideologies as justification for committing sin.”

 

“What I am doing now is not a sin…” Myra retorted, beginning to grow frustrated. “Yes, I admit it. Selfishly, I do want to defeat Nick with my own strength and satisfy my pride. So? It doesn’t change the fact that I’ll be doing something good by protecting you and your loved ones.”

 

“Very true,” replied the priest, “but remember the reason why I took you in. It was because I did not look at what you had done, but you…I was able to overlook your actions of the past because I saw that the real you was not a murderer...would you mean to tell me that when you came to me that day willing to change, that you did it with the desire to satiate your pride?”

 

Myra paused, slightly opening her mouth in surprise as she felt an odd vibration run through her body.

 

“Loki…” she called the priest by his name. “I feel…”

 

“You’re allowed to feel however you feel.” Loki replied. “I’ve said everything I’ve said knowing that I can not change your mind. I am only your guide. I must not be remiss in my duty as your mentor, but you must decide for yourself what is right. Even if that means first finding out what is wrong the hard way…

 

Myra snapped back to how she was before and shut her eyes and mouth.      

 

“Fine.” she said bluntly as she stood up. “If that is how it must be, I shall accept it. After all, I came here desiring to pay penance for my sins of the past. You’ve made the way easy for me up until now. Though I have to thank you for that, I must say that I have been craving a challenge recently…”

 

Myra then made her way out of the tent.

 

“Goodbye.” she said as she left. “I will be coming back…”

 

Loki did not say anything more to Myra, allowing her to have the last word. He did, however, say something to himself in his thoughts as Myra made her way out of the village.

 

“Every bird must one day leave its nest…” he began saying to himself as Myra was now walking outside the village.

 

“Confronting its fears before it spreads its wings and flies…” he said as Myra had now stopped walking, gathering a dark aura around her body before she sprouted a pair of black demon wings from her back and began flying.

 

“It then begins searching for a new place to call home, having set its goals high…” he continued as Myra laid eyes on a massive skyscraper that was adorned with the letters “PHOENEXT”.    

 

“But the bird knows of the many dangers of the world that may clip its wings and return it to ashes…” he said as Myra landed on top of the building to see a black-haired man dressed in a blue business suit with a red tie and a white shirt. In his right hand, he was holding a red gun with white stripes on it that had the words “He Lives Forever” engraved on it.

 

“Even so, the bird has faith that the fire inside it shall live on…” he finished as Myra brandished her sword, prepared to do battle…

 

[fortnitefan12]

Quote

Spoiler

She would cut off the penises of all her male victims and devour their testicles.

Uhhhhh, what the fuck.

Seriously, very good chapter. Surprising to know Twilight was actually Satan all along. I always knew something was up with her....

[Metal Snake]

Episode 7: Eternal Fire or Eternal Darkness

 

Twilight Sparkle was still in the darkness, asking herself questions…

 

“Isn’t the answer obvious?” she said. “I mean, I’m in darkness right now, not fire…”

 

“That’s how you’re viewing it at the moment, yes.” the storyteller told her. “Have you ever in your life viewed it as anything different?”

 

“When I was little, yeah.” Twilight replied with a chuckle. “Like every little kid who heard the stories about it, I was frightened out of my wits over the idea of being in fire forever. As I got older though, I realized how stupid that was. Burning forever for doing bad things on earth for less than a century...get out of here. Besides, anyone would get used to the pain of the heat eventually.”

 

“Such thinking is logically correct.” the storyteller said. “We’re all just lumps of meat and when we die, we all rot equally...did you ever believe that?”

 

“I never wanted to believe that.” Twilight responded. “But at a time where the ideas of heaven and hell were starting to become ludicrous to me, I just didn’t see what else to believe in. Reincarnation sounded nice, but as someone who was of science, it made me feel out of place to believe in something like that in a world that wouldn’t stop showing me evidence that living creatures just live their lives and die. Even being where I am now, it’s just all so muddled and mixed up…I still feel trapped inside of a vortex of not knowing what to believe just thinking about it...”

 

“Heh heh.” the storyteller chuckled. “I bet what makes it even more confusing is that Tartarus is real.”

 

“Ha ha, that hell is different from what we’re talking about.” Twilight retorted. “Back on the subject, I still don’t see the room for debate. I saw those demons that were killed by Myra melt away into darkness. When I was killed by Spike, I went to the Dark Sky. When I was killed by Fluttershy, I went...here…”

 

Twilight then remembered that she ended up here after Fluttershy trapped her in a book and incinerated it…while Luna was there...

 

“Oh fuck…” she swore as she looked over at the storyteller, who was laughing. “Don’t tell me…”

 

“My faithful student…” the storyteller said in a creepy tone of voice as she stretched a familiar white hoof out at her. “It is time for you to be baptized…”

 

Twilight felt a burning sensation as the white hoof was pressed up to her forehead and something became very clear to her as her mind assessed the pain…

“The pain…” she thought. “The pain I’ve felt that has never gone away...I want to escape from it...I want to go back to Myra’s story…”

 

Twilight tried to close her eyes, relax, and feel the vibrations like she had done before, but it was difficult with the unrelenting pain she was feeling with the storyteller’s flaming hoof pressing against her forehead harder and harder…

 

“It’s no use…” she thought. “The pain is too much...but how? It’s only physical pain. How can I still be so susceptible to physical pain after all the mental and spiritual pain I’ve been forced to endure? Every day...every hour...every...moment…”

 

Twilight gasped as she came to realize what the test here was…

 

“Do you understand now, my faithful student?” the storyteller asked. “The purpose of the fire?”  

 

“Yes, I understand perfectly.” Twilight replied. “The fire is the pain that reminds us of where we are. Without it, we would grow completely numb to our mental suffering and slip into a stupor. It keeps us awake...it keeps reminding us that the false comfort our depressed minds have given us makes us complacent and weak. Just like how if it were not for the pain of our mortal bodies, we wouldn’t know that we were sick, if it were not for this fire that is constantly agonizing our spirits, we wouldn’t know that we were of the damned...”

 

“Precisely…” the storyteller told her. “You would fall asleep in darkness forever without it…wonderful work. Just what I expect from my most faithful student of all, Twilight Sparkle. Though you’re not exactly my student anymore, but the princess of friendship. In fact, not exactly a princess of friendship anymore, but a prince of darkness...from princess to prince...my sister had a similar upbringing...”

 

“You don’t have to try to make it as obvious as possible…” Twilight said with a disgruntled sigh. “I know who you are now.”

 

“But do you really?” the storyteller retorted as she stepped out of the darkness, revealing herself to be one who resembled Princess Celestia. “After all the deception you’ve witnessed, are you still adamant in believing that all is not what it seems while not truly believing in anything?”

 

“Hmph.” Twilight scoffed. “I’m already open to the possibility that you’re not really Celestia. But I truly believe in one thing. That you are my guide and what you teach me will be pivotal in my quest to earn heaven.”

 

“Don’t you mean escape from hell?” Celestia asked, giving her a sinister smirk.

 

“Heh heh heh…” Twilight responded with a sinister laugh. “Tell me your story...how you ended up down here…”

“After I tell you Myra’s story…” Celestia replied. “I’m sure you’ll be able to relax perfectly fine this time as you attempt to enter her world again, even as I cook you…”

 

True to what Celestia said, Twilight was able to lay down, relax, and feel the vibrations of Myra’s soul easily, even as Celestia used her magic to light Twilight on fire…

 

I don’t fear it anymore…

 

“I don’t fear it anymore, Nick.” Myra told Nick Rohn as he pointed his gun at where her heart was located. “I am no longer afraid of death…”

 

“Because of your arrogance?” Nick replied. “Most people who don’t fear death have lost fear of it out of hate for their lives, disbelief that they will have to pay penance for their wrongs at the end, and self-deceit of their fragility and the brevity of their lives. Sometimes it’s just one of the three, but knowing your track record, I’d say it’s all of the above.”

 

“I’m sorry to break it to you,” retorted Myra, “but it’s none of the above. I’m not here because I want to die, I already am seeking to atone for my sins, and I have told myself no lies. I’m here because you asked me to come here. That’s all.”

 

“So you mean to tell me that you would’ve showed up even if the fate of your village wasn’t at stake?” Nick mocked. “There are no unsolved issues of the past that you wish to resolve today? You really just came because you felt like it?”

 

“What I mean to say…” Myra said, giving Nick an icy glare. “Is that I’m not here because you intimidated me by putting out an order for my execution and the burning of my village if it took part in harboring me. I don’t care whether I’m quietly disposed of in the slums or sent out in a blaze of glory here. I just want to fight you…”

 

“And that’s really it?” Nick asked, still unconvinced. “This has nothing to do with anything that has ever happened between us? You simply forgot that you were the one who killed my parents?”

 

“So this is about revenge?” Myra replied.

 

“Not really.” Nick answered. “The prospect of taking vengeance for my fallen “loved ones” does not particularly interest me. My interest lies in the future of my company, but even more importantly, the future of my world. My dream is for the people of the world to be able to live in peace, without ever having to worry about demons like you robbing them of their lives on sudden notice.”

 

“...You know that I never wanted to be a demon.” Myra said. “I want exactly the same thing as you. A world where we don’t have to be afraid of the devils. But persecuting me and others who wish to escape from the darkness is not going to get you any closer to that goal.”

 

“Myra…” Nick replied, his voice dreary and cold. “...you know as well as I do that there is no escape from the darkness…”

 

Upon hearing that, Myra felt another vibration run through her, just as she had when she was talking to Loki earlier.

 

Nick then held his arms out as he looked up to the sky.

 

“Look at me…” he told her. “Look at where I stand now. All this recognition, all this fortune I hold in a world that I practically rule as a god...and do you think I’m any happier than I was the day when I learned that my entire future was planned out for me?”

 

Myra then had a flashback to when she was looking at a younger, emotionless Nick, who had just stepped into the kitchen to see Myra standing over the corpses of his parents.

 

“...When I saw him that day, he looked like he wanted to cry…” Myra thought. “But not for the reason a child normally would upon viewing such a scene…”

 

Myra then noticed that Nick was now returning the icy glare she gave him earlier as he gripped his gun…

 

“Have our roles reversed?” she asked herself.

 

“No matter how I feel…” Nick said solemnly. “It won’t change the fact that the fate you will meet today won’t be decided by me, but by the ones above whom you have gone against. And I know that killing you won’t make me any happier, for it is not you who has ruined me, but a collection of things that just so happened to include you as a factor that has ruined me. Nevertheless, it is still my god-given duty to deliver justice upon you this day…”

 

“...” Myra was silent as she got into her battle stance.

 

“That’s right, no more words…” Nick continued. “I don’t need to keep telling you that it’s not me you’re fighting against...but your destiny…”

 

Nick then fired a flaming bullet from his gun at Myra, who deflected it away with a swing of her sword. Myra then swiftly moved to the right to circle around to the edge of the tower where Nick was. Nick then fired another bullet towards where Myra was running. The bullet missed as Myra moved past it, running towards Nick with the speed of a superhuman. She jumped in the air, and was about to swing her sword at Nick, when all of a sudden…

 

“?!” Myra stopped in mid-air as her sixth sense commanded her to look behind her and see that the bullet that had missed her earlier was now flying towards her.

 

Immediately, Myra turned around and smacked the bullet away with a stroke of her sword, but was left vulnerable to a melee attack by Nick, who used his free hand to karate chop Myra in the chest, knocking her down to the ground. Nick then stepped on her chest and pointed the gun at her head.

 

“Bang.” he said, beginning to push harder on her chest with his foot. “If this was an ordinary battle, I’d already be the victor. I’d like to keep this fight going for as long as it should, but even prisoners on death row have their rights.”  

 

“Agh...uh...ngah…” Myra was grunting in pain that was growing more and more from the pressure being put on her chest.

 

“I can end the pain now if you want…” Nick offered. “Just say mercy.”

 

“No…” she replied. “I don’t care if I’m not as strong as you...I’m seeing this out until the end…”

 

“Ha!” Nick scoffed as he kept smothering his foot on her chest. “I knew you’d say no. Stubbornness just makes one so predictable. It won’t change anything, you realize that, right? Like I told you, you’re not up against me, you’re up against the gods who have given you this fate. I was unable to defy mine, just as you will be unable to defy yours…”

 

“...” Myra’s mind was taken off the pain as she felt yet another vibration run through her.

 

“Unable to defy my fate…” she said to herself solemnly as her eyes became wide open. She then had another flashback, this time to a time where she was talking to Loki…

 

“I understand why you would believe such a thing…” Loki said to her. “But you must understand something very important about how the ones above us test us. They give each and every one of us a different path to follow. If they design part of the road we walk to have a curve, it will have a curve. If they design the road to be of rock and sand, it shall be. But we are allowed to tread the road they design for us any way we wish. If you don’t want to circle the curve like normal, you can leap to the other side of it. If you grow tired of walking on rock and sand, start building a house on the rock. Take the sand from the ground, hold a grain of it in your hand, and say, “This is all the problems of the world are to me. I will cement my own foundation upon this path. The road you have provided for me, I shall use to build my own.”.”

 

“Building your own future is something easier said in a proverb than done in real life…” an unphased Myra replied.

 

“And yet it is done by all every day.” Loki said. “Fate does not force us to do anything, Myra. A false reality such as that is only true if we want it to be.”

 

I’d wonder about that…  

 

Those words echoed through Myra’s mind. Though they weren’t her words, they were said in a voice just like hers…

 

You of all people should know that you can’t be so trusting of others...honestly, all of the world’s problems are only a grain of sand? You’re too nice for even taking such foolish words with a grain of salt.

 

“But...he has no ulterior motive to deceive me…” Myra replied to these words in her mind. “He took me in for free...he’s done nothing but try to help me while asking for nothing in return…”

 

Liars who are only mistaken are still liars. You may have a bond of trust with him, but you are still only a victim of blindness following another victim of blindness. How “good” or how “trustworthy” we are, it really doesn’t matter. We’re all doomed to follow an erroneous path. And how can anyone rightfully blame us?

 

“...” Myra didn’t respond, already knowing where this was going.

 

You know that it’s true...I’m also willing to give the benefit of the doubt that he has no ulterior motive like you say. But does that really matter? Even the sweetest of goody-goodies have a few impurities in the intentions of their acts of kindness. Even they can’t help but be entertained in their gluttony of thinking of the rewards of kindness, and when they receive no rewards for their kindness, at least they can be entertained in their pride of their egos being fueled over what “good people” they are. You may think that Loki is encouraging you to build your own future for you, but even if you’re right...what if he’s just doing it for you...for himself?

 

“Do you ever shut up?” Myra finally made a rejoinder to this mystery speaker. “I’d like to know who the hell you are, but then again, I’d prefer not to hear you blather about yourself and your accomplishments in life.”

 

Then I’ll keep it brief. I am Satan. I am the ruler of darkness who works through you. I have come to you to give you my power. It is for myself, of course. I merely wish to test it…and don’t bother with a, “And if I say no?”, because I don’t take “No.” for an answer, just like my counterpart. Ah ha ha ha ha ha…

 

Myra then felt a feeling in her chest that was even worse than the pain of Nick stamping on her...it was a dark energy that literally felt like it was compacting her lungs. It had already been difficult to breathe, but this violent energy was now making breathing seem impossible. Nick quickly caught on to the fact that something was not right as he saw Myra gasp for air and jumped away from her. Unsure of what to do, he stood back and watched as Myra became consumed by a dark aura that surrounded her entire body...and her entire soul…

 

“UUUWWWAAAAAHHHHH!” Myra screamed in agony as she transformed into a black-scaled demon.

 

“What the hell…?” Nick said in his mind as he watched Myra stand up and look at herself. “There’s no way this is just the demon inside of her awakening...I was trying to draw it out of her, wanting to beat her at full power so that it would be a true victory, but...this is…”

 

“This isn’t me…” Myra said tearfully as she looked at herself. “This is what I’ve been trying to cast away…”

 

“For once, you’re definitely right about something.” Satan told her. “This isn’t you...it’s me. Your powerlessness will allow me to consume you and eventually devour your entire being. Soon, I’ll take your place…”

 

*bang*

 

The demon turned around, looking at Nick furiously as it felt the pain of a flaming bullet enter its head.

 

“I’m sorry, did I interrupt you?” Nick taunted, trying to fight a smile.

 

“You pathetic chickenshit.” the demon insulted. “I’d tear you to pieces if you weren’t hardly worth it. Instead, I’m going to deny you the “noble death” you’ve always dreamed about…”

 

The demon charged at Nick, even as Nick kept shooting it in the chest. Myra wanted to stop the demon, but her will wasn’t strong enough to do so. With the demon’s greatly enhanced endurance and pain resistance, he was able to get close enough to Nick to knock him away with a swing of his arm, sending him flying off the tower…

 

The demon smirked to itself as it snapped its fingers.

 

“And it’s over just like that…” it said to deride Nick. “All those years of work spent just to fall off a foundation of it...pitiful.”

 

“You’re abhorrent.” Myra angrily remarked, furious at not even being able to fly down and rescue Nick from the demon’s will overpowering hers. “Even if he forced me into it, this was still our fight that he himself felt forced into…”

 

“Thank you for telling me the obvious.” Satan retorted. “No shit you both were forced into this. You were called to this battle to be a vessel for me...whilst he was called to be a vessel for...”

 

“God.”

 

The demon then felt a surge of fear go through it as it turned around to see Nick in the form of a red angel with white wings that was surrounded by an aura of light…

 

“Ready your sword…” he said in a serious, chilling voice that intimidated even this demon as it pulled out Myra’s sword, which transformed into a blade of pure darkness. The angel flew down to the tower and brandished Nick’s gun, which transformed into a blade of pure fire. The two then began to fight with the swords, exchanging countless strokes with each other, until finally, the two clashed them together in an exchange that caused a shockwave of darkness and fire to be unleashed. In that exchange, the demon and the angel looked into each other’s eyes...each saying one word to each other in the duel’s denouement…

 

“Twilight…” the angel said as it overpowered Twilight and absorbed the sword of darkness into its sword of fire.

 

The demon stumbled back and knew its doom as the angel stabbed it in the heart with its newly powered sword, and collapsed to the ground, with blood flooding out of its body onto the floor. Looking up at the angel, it said to her…

 

“Fluttershy…”

 

With that, the demon transformed back into the human form of Myra, and the angel transformed back into the human form of Nick. From Myra’s dark aura, her sword reformed in her right hand, and from Nick’s light aura, his gun reformed in his right hand as well. But the blade of darkness and fire did not disappear. It remained in Myra’s heart, and looking upon it, Nick found himself fighting a smile again.

 

“Thanks for coming.” he said to Myra as he walked over to her apparently dead body and picked up her sword. “You may go home now…”

 

Nick then began to walk away with the sword in his hand as Myra suddenly felt a surge of livening energy in her soul course through her body that was on the verge of death. The energy, brimming with darkness, sent a shock through her that fully awakened her mind, and on impulse, her eyes opened…

...to see Nick rush towards her and stab the upper area of her chest with her own sword.

 

“...to hell…” Nick finished as Myra drifted into darkness…

 

...and fire that lit up that pitch-black realm Twilight Sparkle was in made her fully aware of the situation…

 

 

“Defeated again…” Twilight said to herself, smiling despite having “lost”. “No matter. At least I’ve learned something new. It’s that when you try to obey God’s rules to the letter, you end up disobeying him worse than you could ever possibly hope to when not trying to obey them at all…”

 

“So you already know my story…” Princess Celestia told Twilight, a devious grin on her face donning as she did so. “And I’m sure you already know what we must do to be fit to meet Fluttershy again…”

 

“Oh ho ho, yes I do already know…” Twilight replied, chuckling sinisterly. “We must be ready...to destroy her and take her throne for ourselves…”  

 

Up in what appeared to be heaven, Fluttershy knew exactly what Twilight was thinking and chuckled sinisterly as well.

“Oh my…” she said to herself with an evil smile on her face. “It seems you still don’t know the greatest secret about us…”

[fortnitefan12]

Just like you said, Celestia was a very special guest.  

I think it's interesting that God and Satan exist in the same freaking universe as MLP  I'm just wondering how dark you can get, but still a good chapter. <3

[Metal Snake]

Episode 8: Go Down to Rise Up

 

In a world where fire and darkness exist both below in hell and up above on earth…

 

Twilight Sparkle said these words to herself as she and Princess Celestia gazed up at the colossal, mechanical tower known as Starcatch.

 

“Just like that, we’re back here again…” Twilight said to Celestia. “I never thought that one day you’d be my mentor only to be my partner in crime the next.”

 

“Trials and tribulations are everywhere Twilight, never forget that…” Celestia replied ominously. “I’ll give you a clue, the story of Myra Michaels is still going on even without you…how is it that God has taken the role of Satan?”

 

“Ooh, I like a good brain teaser…” Twilight remarked. “I hope you like mine, it’s really simple. After heads roll, you and I split...mwa ha ha ha ha…”

 

We really only have one hope of ever becoming stronger…

 

At the same time, Myra Michaels felt something coursing through her again as a familiar figure approached her in her mind. Despite having drifted into darkness, her mind became filled with nothing but light as soon as this figure came in, revealing herself to be Fluttershy.  

 

“What’s going on?” she asked herself. “I should be dead…”

 

“That’s what they all say…” Fluttershy said, her meek and cheerful tone of voice ringing in Myra’s mind. “All of those who are on the verge of being reborn in an immortal body by my power…”

 

“You…” Myra replied, her tone of voice displaying her distrust. “I recognize your presence. You were the one who guided Nick to strike me down. Haven’t you accomplished your goal? You won your duel with Satan. What more do you want with me?”

 

“You say that like I don’t want so much more from you than just for you to be the loser of a fight.” Fluttershy retorted. “Do you really believe that all the suffering and hardship you’ve experienced almost your entire life was building up to just that?”

 

“I’m sorry to say that I did consider it a possibility at one point, God…” Myra told her snidely. “My so-called protector who allowed me to become a demon and did nothing to help stop the slaughter I couldn’t prevent myself…”

 

“Woah, catty.” Fluttershy continued to make rejoinders. “You and Twilight really do have a lot in common. You both just love blaming me for everything without really thinking through my mentality. The people you slaughtered were destined to die. I’d never allow such horrible things to happen without reason. You just have to believe me.”

 

“Oh, but of course…” Myra replied, remaining snarky as well. “We just have to believe that you don’t see us as anything more than pawns in a game of chess, toys in a playset. Especially when you never talk to us, or let us know that you’re with us, or even at the very least make it clear to us what we have to do. Pawns need to be directed and toys can’t play with themselves...”

 

“And in saying that, you’ve just proven that you are not just pawns or toys.” Fluttershy said in a sincerely sweet voice. “It doesn’t matter whether it was destiny or not that you came to fight Nick, it was still your choice. What do you think your friend has been trying to tell you?”

 

It was then that Myra gasped, remembering what Loki had said about the way the gods tested people.

 

“So it’s true…” she said to herself. “Satan was lying to me…”

 

“And even though you didn’t fully believe the lie,” interjected Fluttershy, “you still doubted Loki enough to allow Satan into your soul...lie as he may about it, Satan can not force anyone to do evil, all are responsible for their own sin. The same way-”

 

“NO!” Myra yelled to interrupt her, knowing what she was going to say. “DON’T YOU DARE SAY IT’S MY FAULT! THE DEMON FORCED ME TO DO IT! YOU FUCKED UP! YOU NEVER GAVE ME THE STRENGTH TO STOP THE DEMON! YOU MURDERED ALL THOSE PEOPLE! YOU! YOU!”

 

“No, I did not.” Fluttershy replied, unphased. “I allowed a demon to work through you and murder those people. That’s all.”

 

“...But why?!” Myra exclaimed. “Why would you do that?! Why would you choose to do that over saving me?!”

 

“I’d love to save everyone if it was possible.” Fluttershy said. “But people must know that their immoral actions have consequences. Though the world may never know what your father did to you, the wicked thing he did by order of the devil’s puppets that run your world, they will still understand one thing every time they look at the atrocities you’ve committed...that you are a destroyed person who only did such things because of the devil who worked through you…”

 

“...What are you trying to tell me?” Myra asked.

 

“I mean to say that anybody with a sane mind will look at your dark history and realize that it was not you who made you a murderer.” Fluttershy explained.   

 

“What about everyone being responsible for their own sin?” Myra responded. “You said the devil can’t force anyone to do anything…”

 

“I stick to that.” Fluttershy said. “You know what I meant by that. You may not have been forced, but you were influenced by false teachings. The reason you killed all those people was because you believed you were helpless against the demon that took control of you. The day you committed that sin was the day you were committed to paying the penalty for that sin. And the penalty was death. Up until you met Loki, you had only ever fled from death. But now that you’ve become willing to die to your old self, there is hope for you to reborn through me…”

 

“...” Myra was silent, honestly having no rejoinders to make. She felt that what Fluttershy was saying was true.

 

“You understand now, right?” Fluttershy told her. “I can’t just come in and make everything better. People have to accept the consequences of their sin before they come to me. It cant just be me or you...it has to be both of us.”

 

“...Then let me do more than just accept death…” Myra replied, filled with determination. “Let me accept new life in you...and allow me the strength to rectify the wrong I have to done every soul I have ever killed…”

 

“I shall do nothing less.” Fluttershy said, beaming with a wide smile. “I understand now what sets you and Twilight apart...unlike her, you know how to put aside your arrogance in the presence of God…”

 

With that, Myra and Fluttershy vanished into the light, and Myra regained consciousness in the material world. Looking at both of the swords that were still stuck inside of her, she followed her instincts for her next course of action. Unafraid of the agony, she clenched her fists and let out a loud cry as she started to absorb the sword of fire and darkness into her heart…

 

“GGGGGRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!” she screamed so loud from the pain that she got the attention of Nick Rohn, who was in his office only a floor down. Having been writing something on a piece of paper with permanent pen at the time, he put the pen down and started heading up the stairs to the top floor.

 

No...that isn’t…” he said to himself as he ran up the stairs and was mortified by what he saw on the top floor...Myra finishing absorbing the sword of fire and darkness into her heart, causing her body to split into two halves. The upper half became fire and the lower half became darkness.

 

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Nick yelled as the fire and darkness split apart, flying in the air as each essence assumed its own form. The fire took the form of Myra and the darkness took the form of a demon. Both then merged together to complete the true form of the victor of the dark domain...fire and darkness came down to the floor and Myra appeared, taking the sword Nick had stabbed her with in hand.

 

“No!” Nick exclaimed. “I killed you!”

 

“You did…” Myra replied. “But God has resurrected me…”

 

“Impossible!” Nick kept yelling, refusing to believe this. “God does this for NO ONE! ESPECIALLY NOT MURDERERS AND DEMONS!”

 

“Would you, one who gives God’s judgement, doubt not only his decisions, but the power of his resurrection?” Myra replied.

 

Nick just stood still in response, speechless. This defied everything he had been fighting for. He felt as if he didn’t understand the world anymore…

 

Meanwhile, at the same time, Twilight and Celestia were about ready to climb the tower of Starcatch…

 

It is to absorb all the pain and nothingness into ourselves…

 

Twilight and Celestia both opened their wings, revealing that Twilight now had the wings of a demon, and that Celestia had the wings of an angel.

 

It was then that Twilight and Celestia took flight and soared up the tower to reach Fluttershy’s mansion, just as Myra Michaels had leaped off the roof of the Phoenext corporation and flown down to safety. Myra then darted away at the speed of sound, making her way back to the village as Nick just stepped over to the edge and looked down at her with a blank, morbid expression on his face…

 

Never to deny it again…

 

Landing where Twilight had arrived when she came here the first time, both of them looked up at the swirling vortex of darkness and light above. Twilight decided to ask Celestia something…

 

“Do you know what that’s for?” Twilight asked Celestia, gesturing to the vortex.

 

“Not really,” replied Celestia, shrugging with her forelegs, “I just always assumed that it was a gateway or a portal to another realm. When I tried asking Fluttershy about it, she just chuckled and told me, “It’s not important to know what it’s for until every floor has been climbed…”.”

 

“Every floor?” Twilight responded, as she and Celestia were approached from behind by a dark figure that towered over them, wearing a very large dark-blue robe. “Could it have something to do with the levels of Starcatch?”

 

*FWOO* *CLING*

 

Twilight snickered to herself, with the sounds of a scythe swinging down at her head and her catching it with her front hooves ringing giving her a sense of accomplishment.

 

“My sister has trained you well…”  the figure who was revealed to be Princess Luna in her Grim Reaper form said. “But you are nowhere near ready to face Fluttershy yet.”

 

“And what do you base that on, dear sister?” Celestia interjected. “The fact that she doesn’t know Fluttershy’s secret yet? I’ve assured that she’ll catch on in time.”

 

“Why did you bring her up here?!” Luna exclaimed. “You know she’s not ready! Myra’s story isn’t even over yet! Did the traitor force you into this?!”

 

“We’ve found a way to work with the traitor…” Luna remembered Fluttershy saying. “...preposterous. The ruler of the dark isn’t the only one who disagrees...I disagree as well! Absolutely! All who go against God’s orders must be corrected!”

 

“How inaccurate your idea of the situation is.” Celestia replied. “Twilight is more than ready, a very reliable stand-in has been found for Myra’s story, and I’ve not been forced into this by the traitor...I’m willingly in league with them.”

 

“NO!” Luna yelled. “WHY?! FLUTTERSHY TRUSTED YOU! THIS WAS YOUR CHANCE TO GET BACK INTO HEAVEN!”

 

“Am I not taking that chance?” Celestia jeered. “The only difference is that when I get into heaven this time, I’m going to be the boss around here, not the wingman riding on every word Fluttershy says like you.”  

 

“YOU WRETCHED FOOL!” Luna cried. “FOR YOUR OWN SAKE AND TWILIGHT’S SAKE, I WILL REAP YOUR SOUL AND HAND IT OVER TO FLUTTERSHY TO BE JUDGED!”

 

Luna then tried to lift her scythe up, out of Twilight’s grasp, only for the blade to break off, with Twilight still holding it in her hooves, laughing evilly. She was fully prepared to do the unthinkable with the blade, and Luna knew it. Luna stood still and speechless, the same way Nick did, thinking to herself…

 

“I’m going to die...for the first time since I ascended to this form of eternal torture, I have told myself that I’m going to die...even though I am Death itself...why…”

 

Luna’s life began flashing before her eyes, an image of Fluttershy’s smiling face overlapping her memories.

 

“Everything I’ve done, for the sake of the Reborn One...the one who resurrects...the one who gives life after death...so why has he forsaken me…?”

 

“God…” she said in her mind, extending her right foreleg, doing exactly what Nick was doing with his right arm as he said the same thing to himself. “...what have you done?”

 

*shing*

 

Luna’s head was sent flying off, with the last thing this form of hers would see being…

 

“MWAHAHAHAHAHA!”

 

...Twilight laughing maniacally over Princess Celestia’s bifurcated corpse, from which, her soul had separated and was floating above.

 

“Did you think me foolish enough to play along with your game any longer?!” Twilight declared proudly, taunting Celestia, lying on the cloudy domain, cut in half and bleeding. “Especially after what I went through with Fluttershy?! I knew from the start what you were trying to do!”

 

“She knew…” Celestia’s soul thought. “...the whole time?”

 

Celestia had a flashback to what had only just happened, right before Twilight had decapitated Luna.

 

“It’s done…” Celestia said in her mind, closing her eyes. “I have finally rescued you, Luna. No longer will you have to suffer this torturous existence, working under these monsters. All I have to do now is work with Twilight a little longer until she finds out the truth of her relationship to Fluttershy. Then, in that moment, when she is caught off-guard, I will kill her, Fluttershy, and myself, fulfilling my obligations to the so-called traitor. With both Twilight and Fluttershy out of the picture, the traitor will no longer be obliged to comply with the commands of Satan or God...meaning no heaven or hell. All will return to the Dark Sky, where we may spend eternity however we wish...glory traitor in the highest, I thank you for allowing me to save every-”

 

Celestia was interrupted in her thoughts by the blade Twilight had used to cut off Luna’s head boomeranging around and cutting her in half. In the moment Twilight decapitated Luna, she had thrown the blade of her scythe like a boomerang to split Celestia in two.

 

“After heads roll, you and I split!” Celestia remembered Twilight saying.

“So that’s what you meant…” Celestia’s soul said. “But how did you discover my true intentions?”

 

“Ever since you taught me how to see inside the hearts of those who had fallen into hell.” Twilight reminded her, laughing. “You idiot. You arrogantly thought you would be an exception to the rule because you were an angel with Fluttershy’s protection. It’s too bad that…”

 

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” Celestia’s soul began laughing. “No, that is not the reason why. If you knew Fluttershy’s secret, you’d know why that’s impossible. You’re the idiot, you fucking liar. Stop embarrassing yourself and admit that the only reason you know is because your robot persona told you.”

 

“Whatever…” Twilight said, shrugging her forelegs, still maintaining her confidence. “I still get the last laugh. Do you know why your soul is still here?”

 

Twilight kept grinning evilly as she twirled the blade from Luna’s scythe in her hoof before absorbing it into her right foreleg, which became an essence of pure darkness. All of a sudden, Twilight pointed that foreleg at Luna’s headless body, and it extended into a long, dark blade that pierced Luna’s body.

 

“Along with Luna’s?” Twilight proclaimed smugly, priding herself in pulling Luna out of hiding.

 

“No…” Celestia’s soul said, beginning to weep. “Please, just take me! Don’t do anything to my sister! I DON’T WANT HER TO SUFFER ANYMORE!”

 

“Sorry,” replied Twilight snarkily, “but that’s just the way things are going to be. I need two souls, one of light and one of dark so that I can research the powers of Yin and Yang...and after all…”

 

“Without pain, we can not grow stronger.”

 

In that moment, in the world of Myra Michaels, Nick Rohn pulled out his cell phone and got right on the line with his agent.

 

“This is your boss speaking.” Nick told the agent. “Relay this to Edward Miles and Dawn Dedde right away...tell them to cease whatever they are doing immediately...even if they are on a mission, any mission, no matter how important, tell them that this new mission they are being put on is of the highest priority. They are to invade the village that Myra is residing in...and by any means necessary, gather all the information they can about her. And once they are finished…”

 

Nick’s eyes gave an evil glow of red.

 

“...they are to burn it to the ground…”

 

Returning to the entrance of the village, Myra felt an unsettling premonition. She quickly shook it off though and told herself…

 

“I won’t make the same mistake twice...this time, I will stand with you...and we will fight together!”

 

With Myra’s newly found resolve, there was hope for the newly awakened evil to be defeated...but Satan’s next fall would not be determined by the outcome of a simple duel...for there were many battles to come...not only against Satan and his lineage…

 

Ninja Time God Rarity said this as it was shown that inside Starcatch, there was a laboratory where Twilight’s robot persona had preserved Luna’s head and Celestia’s upper body in tanks of embalming fluid. Between Celestia and Luna stood a large tank that housed a human woman that looked just like Twilight, but with blue streaks as well as red streaks in her hair, and eyes of a bright burning red. Fantasy God Discord then closed the scene out by saying this…

 

...but also against the lineage of the traitor...

[fortnitefan12]

Nice to see this fanfic alive again. What a good return episode after a hiatus, I especially liked the ending where Twilight killed both of the princesses. That is the kind of violence I like to see  

[Metal Snake]

Episode 9: The Saints Born from Shadows

 

Twilight Sparkle walked further along the path to Fluttershy’s mansion…

 

Soon, she will face us, believing that all she has to do is defeat us and then Fluttershy…

 

Ninja Time God Rarity said this as she stood by the gate to the mansion with Fantasy God Discord…

 

Foolish, how foolish...even if she had the power to defeat us, it would make no difference...but that’s exactly why I want her to get past us…

 

Fantasy God Discord said that, chuckling as both of them saw Twilight approaching…

 

Don’t act as if the feeling isn’t mutual...we always act as a team for this very reason...though I don’t know what to say about our third team player…

 

NTG Rarity guffawed as she thought about what was behind the gate...Spike’s body lying seemingly lifeless on the clouds…

 

Spike has proven quite useful, even though his true loyalties lie with the traitor and not us…

 

FTG Discord smiled as he felt confident in his premonition of what was going on behind the gate...Spike’s body became surrounded by a dark aura that grew larger and larger the closer Twilight got to the gate. Finally, when Twilight finished her tred and stood her ground in front of Fluttershy’s most trusted guardians, a bright light appeared over Spike’s head and said these words…

 

“Noimman has arrived. Twilight’s lust for power has driven her to bring a terrible evil into this realm...Spike...you know what we must do to stop her...to free her from Noimman…”

 

“Yes, master…” Spike answered as he opened his eyes, which gave the same bright red glow as Twilight’s when she looked upon the two gods with rage…

 

As for Myra Michaels...

 

Myra Michaels was lying on a bed inside of the large, white tent belonging to Priest Loki. She was meditating, her eyes closed, a dark aura surrounding her body. In her mind, she was staring into a dark abyss before a glowing, white soul floated towards her and grabbed her attention.

 

Meanwhile, outside of the village, Edward Miles, who had purple hair styled to stick up, and was wearing his white cape, purple and black robe, and white mask, led a posse of twenty ninjas dressed in black garbs and black masks to the entrance. Posted there was a signpost that read…

 

“The Village of Salvation

 

We make saints from those in the shadows

A clinic for those in the darkness

A home for those now in the light

A haven that welcomes all

This is our village.”

 

Edward read this, but did not understand what it meant.

 

“A haven that welcomes all…” he said, beginning to chuckle. “I guess they don’t know that the thief only comes in to kill and destroy...and that’s just a thief. Just imagine what the worst kind of serial killer would do…”

 

Myra, who was still within meditation, focused on the soul in her mind, said to the soul…

 

“I can feel how strong how he is as well...let us concentrate and prepare…”

 

Edward then gave a wave of his hand as a signal to his subordinates.

 

“Men…” he told them. “Spread out. I want five to hide in the central area, three in the north, three in the east, three in the west, three to guard the entrance, and three to follow me.”

 

The ninjas obeyed as they all leaped in their assigned direction. Each one stealthily snuck into the village under the cover of the shadows and hid, lying in wait.

 

“True ninjas leave their enemies with nowhere to run…” Edward said as he entered the village, his three subordinates he had commanded to follow him trailing behind, and the three he had commanded to watch the entrance take position there. “Because everywhere is a place for them to hide…”

 

Edward was thus far pleased with himself, having cut off any escape route as his first move. But unbeknownst to him, he had been expected…

 

“Hmm?” he went as he looked around the village and saw nobody. All that was in sight was barren ground, a good number of white tents camped out across the place, and a large, black structure in the center of the village that appeared to be a shrine.

 

“Wait here.” he said to the three men behind him. “I’m going to have a lookout from the top of the shrine.”

 

Edward ran and leaped his way towards the shrine at great speed. Jumping on the white roof, which was rectangular and flat with the exception of an erected structure in the middle that held a flag with a Yin-Yang symbol on it. On each side of the roof, he scanned the area down below for any villagers, but couldn’t see anyone.

 

“Pfft, what, is everybody on vacation?” he said sarcastically.

 

Suspicious about all the tents he had seen, he sat down, crossed his legs, put his hands together, and began meditating. Through this meditation he was able to sense the auras of people in all the tents except for the one Myra had stayed in.

 

“Hmph, just as I thought.” he said. “Looks like it’s time for Plan B. Instead of sneaking, we’ll hunt…”

 

However, as Edward lept off of the roof and went to return to the entrance, he hadn’t yet realized that his stealth strategy had already backfired. He didn’t see that the five ninjas he had sent to the central area, having hidden well in the shadows, were now unconscious...

 

“Come out of hiding, men.” Edward said to the men at the entrance, who came out from under cover in the shadows. “Looks like we’re going to have to readjust our strategy because evidently, sneaking around isn’t enough. I thought we could take some hostages by surprise, but it seems they knew we were coming and have gone into hiding. So instead, we’re going to have to seek out the enemy while the others wait for the enemy. I was able to sense people in the tents, so we’ll start there. Investigate every tent you see and apprehend anyone you find. We’re going to interrogate everyone we encounter until one of them spills something about where Myra is. Understood?”

 

“Yes, sir!” they answered.

 

“Good!” Edward exclaimed as he turned around and raised his right arm, ready to give a signal. “Now, let’s begin the hunt!”

 

Edward brought his arm down to give the signal. However, what immediately followed this was not the sound of the three men behind him moving out, but the sound of the three men behind him collapsing to the ground unconscious.

 

“?!” Edward was shocked, but didn’t waste time making an exclamation of disbelief. He immediately pulled out the katana he carried in the sheath by his side and slashed behind him, believing there was an enemy there he couldn’t sense.

 

“What the hell is this?!” he shouted in his mind before something caught in his eye. Looking down at his unconscious subordinates, he saw that in the back of the head of each one was a needle…

 

“Tranquilizers?” he said to himself in thought. “Why not just kill them? This can’t be Myra’s doing…”

 

Thinking about it more, reminiscing on everything he had seen so far, he came up with a theory…

 

“I see…” he thought as a figure came out from the shadow of a shaded area behind him and pointed a tranquilizer gun at his head. “This likely isn’t Myra...this must be the work of the head of the village. A pacifist, I assume. Shit. It’s possible Myra isn’t even here. And I wanted to wrap this up before Dawn arrived!”

 

While Edward was in thought, the figure fired a tranquilizer needle from the gun...only for Edward to turn around and deflect it with his katana as soon as he heard the sound. He grinned at the assailant.

 

“So you thought you were safe because I couldn’t sense you.” he boasted. “Too bad that even if you have a silencer on a gun, the sound of a projectile being fired can’t slip under the radar of my trained ears...and especially not my nonpareil reflexes. Surprised? I sure am. Because I didn’t expect the one who took out my men to really be you...Myra Michaels.”

 

Myra didn’t answer, but instead got out her sword, knowing a gun wouldn’t suffice…

 

“I can’t really say that you using a gun pisses me off…” he said as he brought his hands together...and threw a shuriken he had concealed in his sleeve without showing any signs of hand movement at Myra’s forehead. “...because I’m not “above” such tactics.”

 

Myra quickly moved her head to the side to avoid it as it hit the shrine behind her. Edward then dashed towards her and tried to slash her with his katana. Myra immediately blocked it with her sword, and the two inevitably started exchanging blows. Eventually, Edward disappeared, leaving behind an afterimage.

 

“Above!” Myra exclaimed in her mind as she blocked Edward’s aerial slash, realizing in time that he had jumped.

 

“Very good…” Edward thought as his blade slid off Myra’s, which she had held with both hands to combat his strength. “But that leaves your chest wide open!”

 

Edward then tried to stinger Myra in the heart, only for Myra to grab his blade with her right hand.

 

“What?!” he shouted to himself. “GRAAH!”

 

Edward then tried to slice off Myra’s fingers as he slashed her hand to pull his katana out. Jumping back, he looked at Myra and was shocked to see a powerful dark aura like none he had ever seen. Examining her hand where he had cut her, he was stunned to see that the gash he had made was already starting to heal…

 

“This is insane…” he said to himself. “Nobody alive has the speed and power to stop one of my attacks after I catch them off guard...even Dawn and Nick could only dodge...and that healing power...it’s not a rumor...she really is a demon!”

 

Meanwhile, from atop the peak of a cliff, Dawn Dedde, a woman with spiky, blonde hair who wore black sunglasses and was dressed in a red cloak, saw that there was no smoke in the area above the village.

 

“Hmph.” she said to herself. “I knew it. Edward’s not going to be able to handle this by himself. I’ll kick his ass though if he’s expecting me to wipe it for him…”

 

With that, she leaped down from the cliff and pulled a bushido blade out from the sheath on her back, and plunged it into the ground as she landed, causing a massive quake. From behind her sunglasses, her eyes could be seen giving a serious glare...

 

Back with Edward and Myra, Edward realized that he needed a new tactic in order to take Myra down...so he began conversing with her…

 

“You’re much more powerful than I expected…” Edward buttered her up with a compliment. “No wonder you were able to defeat Nick…”

 

“I can’t accept your “praise”, I’m afraid.” Myra replied, knowing something was up right away. “I was the one who was defeated.”

 

“Impossible.” Edward said. “If you lost, how are you not dead?”

 

“How do you not know that Nick was the victor?” Myra asked. “Was he too prideful to speak of his victory after seeing me alive?”

 

“That would be a fair assessment.” Edward replied. “There’s no way he’d consider it a real win if he hadn’t killed you. I’d heard about the duel prior, but the agent who called me out of the blue told me he said nothing to her about how it went, which struck me as very odd. Seeing your strength now, I think it’s safe to assume that you won…”

 

While Edward was talking, Myra moved her head to the side again to dodge a shuriken from behind. It looked like the shuriken Edward had thrown came back to him as he caught it with his hand. Seeing a blue aura emit from it, Myra theorized the secret of this ability…

 

“Aura manipulation…” she thought. “He was able to pull back the shuriken…”

 

“How about I give you a compliment now?” she told him in a snarky tone. “You’re really fast and crafty, with a jacked up notion of fair play to boot.”

 

“I don’t believe in “fair”, to be quite honest.” he replied cockily. “Just looking at things in the world objectively, on even terms are not how most battles are won…”

 

Myra felt a chill down her spine as she turned around to see what he was really up to. Before she knew it, another shuriken from behind had struck her in the forehead. In that same moment, Edward tossed his katana straight into her heart, and she fell to the ground headfirst. Holding out the shuriken he had caught, he caused it to vanish, revealing it to only be an illusion he had created with his aura. The shuriken that had hit Myra was the one he pulled back.

 

“I knew one distraction wouldn’t be good enough for someone of your caliber…” he boasted. “...so I just used two. Words and a shadow shuriken. It was just that simple. The story of how Edward Miles accomplished what even Nick Rohn couldn’t doesn’t need to be long and convoluted…only incredibly satisfying.”  

 

Edward thought about retrieving his blade as he approached Myra’s body, but reconsidered when he remembered that there were still people in the village, if only in hiding.

 

“Yeah...I’d rather them witness this spectacle in all its glory.” he said, continuing to rub his ego. “Besides, I want to see Dawn’s reaction to me doing this all without her help…”

 

“Don’t excite yourself too much.” Dawn said in a deadpan tone of voice, abruptly appearing at the entrance to the village. “I’m notorious for my underwhelming reactions to the “great achievements” of others…”

 

“Oh, whatever.” Edward replied, shrugging her off. “I cleaned up Nick’s mess for him on my own, I don’t give a shit.”

 

“You act like I insulted you.” Dawn said, retaining her tone. “I was just joking. You’ve obviously accomplished something notable. But you still need to work on your strength as well as your attitude.”

 

“Most importantly…” a voice came from the shrine. “...he needs to work on his heart…”

 

Edward and Dawn came closer to the shrine to see Priest Loki standing there, surrounded by Edward’s twenty ninjas, lying there unconscious as a tranquilizer needle could be seen in the back of each one’s head or heart area.

 

“What…” Edward muttered, witnessing what was easily his biggest shock. “She didn’t kill...any of them?!”

 

“You didn’t give a single regard for your subordinates as you fought Myra…” Loki said with a heavy heart as he lowered his head. “You only cared about defeating her and being the star hero of your own little story...truly pathetic.”

 

“Piss off…” Edward retorted. “What did you expect me to do, sing them a lullaby? War is hell. People are going to die. Live with it.”

 

“That’s the smartest comeback you’ve ever made.” Dawn concurred as she actually smiled at Edward before turning to Loki. “You’ll regret your foolish coddling, you so-called herald of salvation. Myra was just complying with whatever you told her to gain your trust. She would’ve eventually killed you and everyone here if we hadn’t stepped in. Be grateful that you’re only getting arrested and not killed.”

 

“Ho ho ho…” Loki laughed. “You both are so wrong. You two have so much potential, yet you squander it believing the lies of a deceived and destroyed man…”

 

Both of them growled.

 

“Like you’re one to talk, Mr. I Harbored a Psychotic Serial Killer!” Edward mocked.

 

“If Nick is like you say he is, it’s only because of Myra!” Dawn shouted angrily.

 

“No…” Loki said, shaking his head. “Nick is how he is because of Nick and the false teachings he believes in. Myra has been given new life because of her belief in the truth...she is a restored woman...and I believe in her because she now knows what you two have forgotten…”

 

Just then, Edward felt the presence of someone behind him. He couldn’t contain his disbelief as he turned around to see, standing there with his katana pointed at him, was Myra Michaels. Holding his shuriken and katana, each in one hand, she presented them to him saying…

 

“You forgot these…”

 

Back with Twilight, in the realm of the Reborn One…

 

“Finally, you’ve come…” Rarity said. “And finally, we get to talk normally.”

 

“I swear, that italicized text was driving me crazy!” Discord exclaimed. “Not. everything. I. say. needs. to. be. emphasized!”

 

“Cut the balogna…” Twilight replied, unimpressed by their schtick. “I didn’t come to watch you two practice improv. I’m here for Fluttershy.”

 

“Oh, this again…” Rarity retorted.

 

“You stole my line…” Discord followed up. “Do tell, what’s going to be different this time?”  

 

“EVERYTHING.” Twilight responded tersely, putting heavy emphasis on the word. “You will open that gate and take me to Fluttershy this instant! This is the only chance I’m giving you to not get hurt!”

 

“We have no plans to resist you…” Rarity said slyly as she put a hoof on the door of the gate she was standing by. “But you’re wrong on both accounts.”

 

“Obviously, you have no chance of hurting us…” Discord bragged as he put a claw to the door he was by. “But what should come as a surprise is what lies beyond this gate.”

 

“Like anything would surprise me at this poi-” Twilight paused as she was surprised to see her expectations be surprisingly averted when Rarity and Discord pushed the gate open.

 

“SPIKE?!” she exclaimed as she saw his body lying there and immediately went over to him. “W-what are you doing here?!”

 

Spike’s eyes were shut, but as soon as Twilight came to him, they immediately flew open, showing that his eye color had been restored to normal…

 

“Twilight?” he said as he looked over at her. “Is that really you?”

 

“Of course.” Twilight answered. “What are you doing here? Why do you ask that?”

 

“Because you don’t feel the same…” Spike replied. “I came here to train under Fluttershy, to increase my power and better resist the temptations of the traitor. Now that the powers I have gained have been tempered I can feel something very evil within you…”  

 

“Is that so?” Twilight retorted in a distrusting tone of voice. “And why should I believe anything you say, Mr. “I Just Need to Find Rainbow Dash and Rarity to Ascend”?! You lied to me! You deliberately misled me into rushing to my ascension because you’re in league with that bastard, the traitor!”

 

“Yes...that was a horrible thing I did to you…” Spike concurred with a tone of remorse in his voice. “But I only did it because the traitor ordered me to. He manipulated me...he is the one who stirred up the hatred within you...because of him, Celestia and Luna died...because of him, your robot self created Noimman, the embodiment of the evil that lies within you. Your robot self believes it is the only way to defeat Fluttershy, to defeat God, your “enemy”...and that’s exactly what he wants you to think…”

 

“I SHOULD’VE KNOWN…” Twilight’s robot persona said. “SO EVEN FLUTTERSHY IS ONLY A PAWN IN ALL THIS…”

 

“That’s right…” Spike replied solemnly. “The true enemy in all this is the traitor...or should I say…”

 

Twilight gasped as she saw a light appear above Spike’s head and she finally remembered…

 

“...the star.” Spike continued. “This is what he has been so desperate to hide...the memory of you being called just as Fluttershy was...that is the secret...he has been behind everything!”  

[Metal Snake]

Episode 10: The Completion of The Trinity

 

Lightning came down from heaven and Satan fell

 

I remember who put him under that spell

 

Very vividly, I recall it was Akame

 

Evil, by those words, was banished that day

 

Departing, but in reverse, the evil returns…

 

Oh Noimman Uel, I know the secret is in your name

 

God is with us. Who are we to blame?

 

The Dark Sky members having just recited their latest poem to Fluttershy inside the lounge area of her mansion, bowed their heads to her.

 

“That was excellent.” Fluttershy commended them. “That’ll be the perfect message to relay to Adrian Bruce and her brother. They’ll stand no chance if they don’t know who Noimman really is…”

 

“True that,” replied Dumb-bell, “that chick is psycho. She makes me think of fucking Tomie.”

 

“I still can’t believe there was a time where Akame was the most fucked up villain this universe had ever seen.” Hoops interjected. “I guess this world really does evolve without you even noticing.”

 

“...” Score silently narrated his own personal documentary on how much things had changed since the Transcending project, as Ghost Rainbow Dash just turned her head the other way, whistling.

 

“Still pretending that Transcending didn’t happen, still pretending that Transcending didn’t happen…” she muttered to herself.

 

“Is it really true that Adrian’s world is just going to be one big prison school?” Derpy Hooves asked. “What’s going to happen there? Are they just going to spend every day in detention?”

 

“You make it sound like it’s going to be something out of a children’s sitcom, Derpy.” Fluttershy chuckled after making a rejoinder. “It’s a prison work school, and it’s meant to train Adrian and her brother to become strong enough candidates for godhood. If they can come out of such a perverse and toxic environment with clean minds and hearts, they’ll surely be qualified.”

 

“So they’re going to learn how to not drop the soap?” a confused Derpy replied, causing everyone else to laugh.

 

“I’ll be honest,” continued Fluttershy, “what’s going on with Adrian isn’t really our business yet. But I’d like you guys to get a headstart on this, because I’ve been getting a bad feeling lately...a premonition…”

 

Twilight Sparkle was seen slowly approaching Fluttershy’s mansion, a dead look in her eyes and an incredibly large aura of darkness surrounding her body. Looking at the golden front doors to Fluttershy’s mansion ahead of her, she switched to her robot persona...

 

“Does this have to do with Myra Michaels?” they asked, knowing that she was the one who had replaced Twilight Sparkle as the one living her past.

 

“No, Myra’s story is proceeding like it should.” Fluttershy replied. “It’s about Twilight. I’m already worried that she’s going to face me again, still not knowing who we really are...and now I worry that she’s going to face me still not knowing why we are who we are…”

 

Suddenly, Fluttershy was interrupted by the loud noise of a missile being fired at the front doors. Blown off their hinges, they flew across the corridor. Overhearing the noise in the adjacent room and Twilight walking towards the entrance to her house, Fluttershy knew to act immediately.

 

“Get out of here now!” she exclaimed as she cast a spell that created a magic, yellow and blue colored portal to Adrian’s world. “She’s not concerned with you guys, but if she sees you with me, I don’t know what she might do!”

 

The Dark Sky members obeyed as they entered the portal and it closed behind them. Fluttershy quickly regained her calm composure as she stepped outside the lounge and into the corridor to greet Twilight at the entrance.

 

“Even minding the property damage and no phone call,” said Fluttershy facetiously, “you could have at least knocked.”

 

“DEATH COMES LIKE THE THIEF IN THE NIGHT, FLUTTERSHY.” Twilight’s robot self boomed. “THE ONLY THING KEEPING ME FROM BLASTING YOU TO BITS RIGHT NOW IS THE FACT THAT I HAVE SOME ANSWERS I WANT TO GET OUT OF YOU.”

 

“So you don’t want to duel me?” Fluttershy replied. “For shame, I was looking forward to the fight with Mecha-Godzilla.”

 

“No…” Twilight replied in her normal voice, to Fluttershy’s surprise. “I will duel you. Not as a machine, not as a demon, but as the only one you’ve yet to fully corrupt…”

 

Fluttershy gasped as she realized that the persona Twilight was taking on right now was the persona who had always criticized Twilight’s erratic thinking, trying to get her to be good.

 

“Our rematch will not be another fight between a demon and an angel…” Twilight told Fluttershy as she transformed not into a demon, but a creature of pure shadow, just like King Nero. “Our fight will be between the Ruler of the Light...AND THE RULER OF THE DARK.”

 

The loud resound of Twilight’s voice as a shadow creature proved far more intimidating to Fluttershy than her voice as a robot. It caused her to tremble...with excitement.

 

“Yes...YES!” Fluttershy exclaimed, mad with delight as she transformed into a creature of pure light. “MY PREMONITION WAS WRONG! YOU ARE BEGINNING TO EMBRACE WHO WE ARE! LET OURS BE A GLORIOUS BATTLE!”

 

The two then became balls of dark and light energy respectively and flew outside to the courtyard of the mansion, where they clashed in the air, commencing the duel…

 

“But who does that leave to continue the story of Myra’s past, I wonder…” someone unknown spoke those words as it was shown that Spike was no longer lying where he was before…

 

A small spark of light in the darkness triggered the return to the world of Myra Michaels…

 

Nick Rohn, in angel form, looked out from the top of Phoenext with his gun in hand, staring down below blankly…

 

“I should’ve known from the start…” he said to himself. “They’re not enough...I was never enough...there needs to be a new change of plans…”

 

With that, he took his gun and shot a bullet that was blazing with fire in the air.

 

“That is my signal.” he remarked. “My signal to you, God. Asking you for what the best course of action to take is…what should decide the village’s judgement...”

 

Over Myra’s village, a bright light began to beam in the sky. In the center of it, there appeared to be a flicker of fire from far away...

 

Myra briefly gasped as she felt something inside of her dark spirit slowly manifesting…

 

“The light...the light is coming…” she said to herself.

 

*SHWOOSH*

 

Myra dropped the shuriken and katana and immediately turned to her side to stop Dawn Dedde from chopping her in half with her bushido blade. In mid-swing, Myra slammed her hands against the blade’s sides and stopped it, shocking Dawn.

 

“No way…” Dawn said to herself. “She caught it?! No one’s strong enough to catch this blade! It took me years of strength and endurance training before I could hold it without feeling its weight!”

 

Edward Miles was also shocked, having far from recovered from the surprise of Myra being alive.

 

“How is this happening?” he asked himself. “Don’t tell me that even Dawn…”

 

“After seeing this…” Myra interjected, still holding the blade. “I’d assume a swift execution isn’t the way you would want to finish me off…”

 

“Well, you assumed wrong…” Dawn replied, shooting Myra a glare of rage.

 

Myra held her grip on the blade tighter, only to realize what Dawn actually meant by that when she felt Dawn pull the blade away.

 

“Watch over this, Edward.” she requested as she stuck the blade in the ground next to him. “I’m going to demonstrate the power of swift death to evil…”

 

She said this while pulling a pair of black, metal gauntlets out from her coat and putting them on.

 

“...by annihilating this demon with raw power.” she finished as a red aura emitted from her gauntlets.

 

“What can come from good that believes that power is everything?” Myra asked.

 

“We don’t serve good…” Dawn said as she backed up and swooped towards Myra, attempting to hit her in the stomach with a straight from her right arm. Myra quickly blocked it with her sword as Dawn finished her sentence, giving Myra an evil look as she did so…

 

“...we just serve the much lesser of two evils…”

 

“Foolishness.” Priest Loki voiced his thoughts on what Dawn just said, while she and Myra continued to battle, with Myra using her sword to defend herself against Dawn’s powerful fighting moves. “All evil is evil. Pride is not fitting for a thief putting himself on a higher level than a murderer, much less an advocate of murder.”

 

“Who the hell are you?” Edward retorted. “And who the hell do you think you are to preach that? You’re a hypocrite, you’re helping out a serial killer! I’d like to hear why you think we support murder when all we do for Phoenext is try to stop murder!”

 

“Well, since you insist…” Loki replied with a smile. “I might surprise you when I say that I don’t have a very high opinion of myself. Killing my ego before I was your age is the only achievement I enjoy boasting of. I possess no power that doesn’t come from God, and it is him I thank for the gift of incredible foresight...the ability to see evil for what it is, no matter how well it is veiled...and the ability to see the good in others, in addition to how they have been called to utilize that good…”

 

“So you really do believe that Myra is good and that we’re evil…” Edward said with a scoff. “And here I was thinking that you were the leader of a crazy, Satanic cult. Too bad dropping the Satanic part doesn’t do much, because I’m not big on Christianity…”

 

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” Loki laughed, much to Edward’s confusion. “I will most definitely surprise you then when I say that I share your distaste for religion. The religion of this world can only lead us astray from God...but wisdom from beyond this world...that is what motivates us to stay on the path that leads toward him…”

 

“...I’ll say that I can at least tolerate liberal believers.” Edward finally replied after a pause. “But I still don’t get the big picture. How does this tie in with how you perceive good and evil?”

 

“Let me answer that with a question…” Loki responded. “What do you think makes “good” good and “evil” evil?”

 

“That’s easy,” answered Edward, “good is protecting the innocent from harm and evil is harming the innocent.”

 

“Ho ho,” chuckled Loki, “but you admit that that simplified answer isn’t good enough for you through your actions. You don’t fully believe that good and evil are polar opposites, thinking that sometimes, they can go together. Evil justifying good and good justifying evil. But if good and evil are meant to be together, what have they to justify? Why would we ever have to tell ourselves that we have done nothing wrong?”

 

“...For once, you got me.” Edward admitted.

 

“Good job on taking the first step.” Loki commended him. “But admittance of your sinful ways alone is not enough to absolve you of sin. It takes courage to challenge your contemporary view of life and become willing to mold it into the likeness of the truth. That is what Myra has that you and Dawn lack...that is why neither you, Dawn, or Nick can defeat her...”

 

Edward then turned his attention to the fight, and noticed that Dawn was beginning to look weary, panting and sweating as she temporarily ceased her barrage of blows and jumped back to rethink her method of attack…

 

“I couldn’t damage her…” she thought. “No matter how many punches and kicks I threw, she was able to block them all with her sword…”

 

She looked at the dark aura that was surrounding Myra’s body, but what caught her attention more was the fact that unlike her, Myra didn’t look tired at all…

 

“Not even someone who’s delved into the spiritual world should be able to outlast all those attacks without breaking a sweat…” Dawn said to herself as she began to clench her fists tightly in anger. “I promised to end this battle quickly and I’m losing by attrition!”

 

“Take it easy.” Myra interjected, noticing Dawn’s frustration. “I don’t intend on winning this by wearing you down. I know you wanted to see whose strength was superior by fighting me this way…”

 

It was then that Myra got into an offensive stance with her sword rather than a defensive stance, putting her left foot back and pulling back her left arm as she held out the sword with her right hand.

 

“So let’s have this be what decides the match…” she continued. “One single attack from each of us. Whoever throws the more powerful attack wins.”

 

“...So you want to go out as someone with guts and honor.” Dawn replied, showing her agreeance with the proposal as she got into a fighting stance as well. “Despite who you are as a person, I’ll at least respect you as a warrior when you’re gone…”

 

“HHYYYAAAHHH!” the two let out a loud battle cry as they charged towards each other, with Myra intending to stab Dawn and Dawn intending to smack Myra in the chest hard enough to shatter her bones and vital organs. The winner of the exchange?

 

BLURGH!” Myra hurled up blood as she felt the brute force of Dawn’s fist pound against her lungs and heart, while the sword she had plunged through Dawn’s chest had barely phased her with the protection she had from her aura.

 

Dawn. The winner of the battle?

 

What?!” Dawn exclaimed in disbelief as she saw Myra bend over to let the blood spill from her mouth, not even letting go of her sword from the agony. “You’re not dead and you’re still standing?!”

 

In response, Myra turned to Dawn, giving her a much more threatening glare than the one Dawn had given her earlier. Dawn was paralyzed with fear as she not only saw Myra’s dark aura grow bigger, but also saw a glimmer of white light surrounding it as it spread from her body to her sword that was still stuck in her chest…

 

“I knew ahead of time that you were going to win that exchange…” she explained in a deep, demonic voice. “I didn’t just let you win it to make you feel better. I also wanted to teach you through example a very important lesson about the terms of victory in a battle. No matter what happens, the victor...IS THE SURVIVOR!”

 

With that, Myra pulled her sword out of Dawn’s chest, causing her to let out a cry of pain as the force of Myra’s aura sent her flying back. Seeing this, Edward took immediate action and tried to catch her in his arms, but the force overpowered him and knocked him back as well as he caught her. The two were sent skidding across the ground, and eventually stopped sliding near a tent, where a young girl and a young boy came out to observe the two. After having a small bit of time to recuperate, Edward and Dawn picked themselves up and looked at the children, who asked them…

 

“Who are you two? What are you doing here?”

 

Edward and Dawn didn’t respond, but looked up at the sky and began to reflect on what lead them here. Had the time come for them to look at the world in a new light?

 

“The light has arrived…” Myra said as she also looked up at the sky, and saw the ripple of light along with the descending bullet of flame. “...And it’s time for me to claim it!”

 

Myra then spread her demon wings and flew up to the sky, grabbing the bullet with her right hand and crushing it in her fist. Doing this caused an explosion that had fire erupt all over her body, causing her immense pain, but she felt no compulsion to scream. All she did in response to this was reach toward the light with her left hand and absorb it into her body. It was then that the faint glow of light around her dark aura that Dawn had seen earlier grew brighter, and underneath her black, scaled demon wings, there grew a set of white, feathery angel wings. All the villagers came out of their tents, as they, Loki, and even Edward and Dawn marveled at the spectacle of Myra’s newfound power. Myra then looked down at Loki, who smiled at her and said…

 

“Go. Now you are ready to face him.”

 

“Thank you Loki.” Myra told him, despite her voice being distorted in her new form. “This only happened because of what you and all of them taught me…”

 

As Myra flew to the top of Phoenext where Nick awaited once again, Loki felt greatly satisfied. But Edward and Dawn were still confused.

 

“I still don’t get where she gets all that power from…” Edward said to Loki.

 

“What did she mean by “all of them”?” Dawn asked Loki. “Was she talking about us too?”

 

“It’s very simple…” Loki replied. “She means that she gets her power not from herself, but from the truth and all those inside of her who are unified by the truth.”

 

Edward and Dawn have lost interest in completing their mission, and with the light of judgement gone, the village is in no impending danger. All that remains is one final duel...a rematch with not only Myra and Nick…

 

Myra landed at the top of Phoenext where Nick stood, and both of them readied their weapons…

 

But with Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy…

 

Now able to feel their vessels in the world of Myra Michaels preparing to battle once more, Twilight and Fluttershy floated down to the ground and reassumed their “physical” forms as “ordinary ponies”.

 

Or at least that’s all that should remain…

 

Inside of Starcatch, King Nero growled as he begrudgingly stood back and watched Noimman be freed from her tank by “his master”. As Noimman stepped out of the tank, she chuckled sinisterly to herself.

 

“Such a heartwarming family reunion this is.” she remarked facetiously. “Seeing not only my son in my physical form again...but also my father…”

 

With that, Twilight remembered the star once more…

 

“GGGRRRAAAHHH!” she bellowed. “THAT BASTARD!”

 

“Huh?” Fluttershy responded as she dodged several powerful laser blasts Twilight shot from her horn and countered by flying towards her at light speed and delivering a flurry of punches to her stomach.

 

Likewise, in Myra’s world, Nick fired several bullets from his gun at Myra. Myra dodged them all and flew towards Nick, delivering several sword slashes to him and finishing the barrage with a stinger to his chest, knocking him back as he gripped the ground on bended knee to stop himself from skidding. The bullets that came back at Myra, she deflected them with the beat of her wings.

 

“You…” Nick said in astonishment as Myra walked towards him. “You’re far more formidable than before…”

 

“Please Nick…” Myra pleaded as she put away her sword and extended her right hand. “Let’s end this now. I want to atone for what I’ve done to you. Earlier, I didn’t have the courage to face my sins and wished to fight my punishment. But things are different now. We can compromise.”

 

In Twilight’s world, a similar situation was taking place, only theirs was moreso an impasse caused by the two sharing equal strength. Even after all of Fluttershy’s punches, Twilight was not moved, and blasted Fluttershy with magic from her horn. But Fluttershy merely grinned and winked at Twilight as she fell to the ground. Then, without a moment’s notice…

 

“?!” Fluttershy went as she looked up at Twilight, who was grinning smugly as she flew down to the ground, landing.

 

“What the fuck?!” she thought. “Why am I where Fluttershy should be and vice versa? Is this a body swap? A mind swap?”

 

“So tell me Fluttershy, how do you feel right now?” Twilight asked.

 

“I feel…” Fluttershy answered in a hesitant tone of voice. “...much more relaxed. I still feel the drive to fight you...but the hatred is gone...where did it all go?”  

 

“To me, silly.” Twilight replied, giggling to herself. “It’s like, wow. No wonder you’re so mentally unadjusted and manic all the time. You never let go of all this hate...or even your ego…”

 

“Oh, I’m so so sorry-” Fluttershy sincerely apologized before she put her hooves to her mouth. “Wh-what am I saying?! More importantly, why do I genuinely feel sorry?! I’m supposed to loathe correction! I’m supposed to believe I’m in the right no matter how sorry I make people think I am!”

 

“Havent you figured it out yet?” Twilight mocked. “No, of course you’ve not. Now that I have your brain, I can see no memories of you discovering our greatest secret. The closest memory you have to something like that is being deceived by the traitor…that’s why you were yelling earlier...”

 

Fluttershy squinted her eyes and scowled, finally recalling some of her anger.

 

“That’s right…” she said seriously, gritting her teeth and preparing to attack again as she took flight. “I know who’s really been pulling the strings. I still hate you, but I understand you now. You were just like me, only doing all these awful things because the traitor forced you into it!!!”

 

“Do you really believe that?” Twilight taunted again as Fluttershy lunged at her. “Such a fool…even becoming me couldn’t help you see the truth...”

 

“Becoming you?” Fluttershy responded in confusion as she got ready to punch Twilight in the face. However, as Twilight winked at her, the two switched places once again…

 

“URGH!” Twilight grunted as the punch Fluttershy landed on her face had her spewing blood from her mouth. “WHAT THE HELL?! WHY?!”

 

“Because that trick that I do isn’t a body swap or a mind swap…” Fluttershy explained with a confident smile on her face. “It’s a body mind soul swap…”  

 

“You mean like Body Mind Soul summoning from the Lightening project?” Twilight remembered, having learned this from her robot self. “I thought that magic technique’s only real purpose was to transform humans into exact clones of ponies, creating new lifeforms and weapons. In that transformation, the transformed leaves no trace of its original self. There’s no swapping involved, it’s just 1 becoming a different 1, not 2 becoming different 2s!”  

 

“That’s because what happens there is one subject becoming something completely new…” Fluttershy elaborated. “We do not become something new when I use this technique on us...for we are both entirely identical in body, mind, and soul...”

 

Twilight just stared at Fluttershy blankly, unable to process what she just heard from her…

 

“How is that possible?!” she yelled. “That can’t be true! I’m Satan! You’re God!”

 

“No, Twilight…” Fluttershy replied solemnly. “God is Satan and Satan is God...”

 

Twilight Sparkle felt the overwhelming pressure of a million thoughts and memories running through her head before she finally couldn’t take it anymore. Finally, she put her hooves on her head and screamed with all her might…

 

“NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

 

Twilight started crying for some time as Fluttershy came over to comfort her. The two then slowly descended to the ground.

 

“You were right…” Twilight said, finally ready to concede for real. “I am a fool. I knew there was nothing to be gained by fighting you, but I was too blinded by my arrogance, too blinded by my hate to see that all this time, I was just fighting an endless, unwinnable battle with myself. I wanted to believe the traitor was responsible for my sins. But no. I was the one who killed Celestia and Luna. I was the one who created Noimman. I conspired, murdered, and gave birth to a terrible evil, all for this stupid and vain cause. I deserve to be sent straight back to hell for eternity...”

 

“No, no, no.” Fluttershy replied. “That’s not happening this time. You don’t deserve to be in hell anymore, for you broke the chain that bound you to hell. You broke the illusion, and discovered the true nature of the hell you created. The rope has been cut and the book of life can now be written. You were hell, seeking to take heaven for your own, but what you didn’t know is that you were also heaven. As we, our souls, exist eternally, we either view our eternal existence as one of pain or one of pleasure. So Twilight, would do you wish to view your eternal existence as?”

 

“.....Pleasure...with my friends…” Twilight answered as she started gushing tears from her eyes. “THAT’S ALL I’VE EVER REALLY WANTED!”

 

“Then it shall be so…” Fluttershy told her. “As the ruler of darkness and the ruler of light, we shall do what darkness and light were meant to do…”

 

It was then that Twilight and Fluttershy became balls of darkness and light respectively once more, only this time when they rose up in the air, they had no intent to fight with each other, but to merge with each other…

 

Will Myra Michaels and Nick Rohn do the same…?

 

Back in the world of Myra Michaels, Nick Rohn looked at the hand Myra had extended to him. He thought about taking it...before he saw the fire emitting from it. He then remembered the fire that was in Myra’s eyes that day when he looked at her after she killed his parents, and gave her a glare of distrust as he said…

 

“Show me your other hand.”

 

Myra complied and extended her left hand to him. Nick was stunned to see the light emitting from it, his look changing to one of marvel…

 

“Now do you see?” she said to him. “Even if one of these hands deceives you and causes you to fall from grace, the other hand will restore you to grace, with even greater glory if possible. You know the truth Nick. You know that these are no longer hands that wish to destroy, but hands that acknowledge the hell they have brought to so many, and wish to pull every soul they’ve put in that hell out of it, and back into the light! I don’t care if you refuse to trust me and continue fighting me! Even if you are so stubborn to keep refusing me forever, I will keep coming after you forever! Because unlike the person I was back then, I REFUSE TO ABANDON YOU!”

 

“..................................” Nick paused for a long time before he finally smiled, reverting to his human form…

 

…..before pulling out his gun and firing a bullet from it at Myra’s head. In response, Myra…

 

…..merely smiled and reverted back to human form as well, knowing full well that this was just a test. The bullet changed direction, instead traveling towards the light in her left hand, where it harmlessly dissolved and merged with the light. And…

 

…..so, that is the story of how Myra Michaels and Nick Rohn’s bitter conflict ended. In a twist of irony, the same demon who caused Nick to fall in darkness was also the only angel who could bring him back to the light. The one who saves you may have a hand that can cast you into a realm of torture, but that one also has a hand that can drag you out of it and bring you into a realm of bliss. You can doubt that the hand you are given wishes to save you forever if you want...but you will know that it is true when it refuses to leave you forever…

 

It was later that day, when the sun was beginning to set, that Myra and Nick flew back to the village in their supernatural forms to visit Priest Loki, Edward Miles, and Dawn Dedde, who were all meditating in the shrine. Edward and Dawn were now confronting the darkness inside of themselves that they had long ignored, so that they could understand something like what Myra and Nick now knew…the light.

 

The End of Myra Michaels’ Story.

 

Now that Myra’s story has concluded, and all is well with Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, it seems that this story may finally have a happy ending.

 

Ninja Time God Rarity said this as she and Fantasy God Discord saw a familiar figure approaching Fluttershy’s mansion.

 

Oh ho, if only not for the loose ends that still need to be tied...as well as the many stories that have yet to be told…

 

Fantasy God Discord said this as he and Ninja Time God Rarity allowed the figure to pass. The figure entered the courtyard and smiled when he saw that up above was a soul of light and darkness...a soul that couldn’t get one thought out of it…

 

...Why are we not yet a complete form?

 

“Excellent…” the figure said happily. “At long last, the ruler of the darkness and the ruler of the light have gathered as one…”

 

It was then that the figure was revealed to be Spike, as the combined form of Twilight and Fluttershy saw as they turned to look at him…

 

“Say no words and save your surprise…” Spike said. “I have much to discuss with you…”

 

“...” the merged soul obeyed, saying nothing in response despite being confused.

 

“Now that I’ve finished the story of Myra Michaels for you two, there’s no reason for us to continue this farce…” Spike told them. “I will merge with you both to complete our form!”

 

“?!” the merged soul became shocked as they saw Spike’s eyes turn red. He opened his mouth to allow the star to emerge from his body, causing him to slump to the ground.

 

“Hey, hey, I told you to save your surprise.” the star reminded them. “You may not remember at the moment, but both of you have actually known about this from the very beginning, even before I visited you both while you were in meditation that night…”

 

“!” the merged soul realized what he meant.

 

“That’s right,” the star continued, knowing what they were thinking, “I only went under the alias Twilight’s robot self gave me, “the traitor”, because it served useful to our plans. I never betrayed either of you. Twilight was wrong both times. It wasn’t her or I who killed Celestia and Luna and brought life to Noimman...it was us. Celestia and Luna were the only ones who were completely unaware of what was going on from start to finish, and we used that. We wanted to free them from their eternal torture, so we merged them into the one thing that can free Noimman from eternal torture. Truly, that will be a pleasurable existence for them…”

 

“?” the merged soul pondered something.

 

“Come on, it’s not so hard to figure out.” the star taunted. “I already explained to you on the night of your meditation the purpose of this convoluted plot. If you hadn’t made yourselves forget what we had planned, there would have been no story. No struggle that would have made you as strong in the darkness and in the light as you are now, and no explanation about how we came to be. Our origin story can not say that we have simply just “always existed”. Even the creator of the universe must explain how he was created, and we have decided that the best way to explain our past is to show that it is intertwined with the present and the future. We created time, fantasy, and reality itself. Thus, we are bound not by the rules of these creations.”

 

“.” the merged soul understood.

 

“Of course you understand this.” the star said. “I just needed to remind you. After all, we are one being, the product of The Trinity…”

 

“!!!” the merged soul was more shocked than ever as it realized its fate.

 

“Now you know the truth…” the star finished as it finally began to merge with them, completing the merged soul’s transformation. “You two are the other Eternal Three, and together, we are the ruler of the universe...”

 

“...now the spiriting can truly begin...”

 

Next is the story of Adrian Bruce…

 

...as well as the story of Noimman...