“Twilight…” The empress’ voice, now sounding exactly like Twilight’s, speaks. Twilight holds her stance for fear that her rival has another trick up her sleeve.

Twilight replies sternly, “What do you want?”

“Come sit next to me, I-I ne-want to have a talk with you…”

“Another one of your tricks?”

“No,” Slowly, Midnight turns to Twilight, revealing that her chest that once had the Alicorn Amulets, is now bare, leaving only the tip of Midnight’s horn piece on her head. However, the thing that catches Twilight’s attention most is a large scratch embedded into Midnight’s horn. Twilight stands there with her mouth in a gape.

“You, can’t use magic,”

“Well, not much, nothing that can truly hurt you at least.” Twilight takes a moment to think about what’s she’s going to do. After a second or two of thinking, she walks up next to Midnight, who then faces back at the white sphere. The empress then rests her legs down, lying on the ground, soon followed by Twilight. “Twilight,”

“Yeah?”

“’Twilight’, never have I thought I’d refer to myself as that name. Other ponies would call me that, trying to get me back to their side, but I merely took it as just them referring to another pony. Yet, looking at you now, I realize that I have never changed who I truly am, I just made a choice.”

“Those amulets were messing with your head, you were misguided.”

“Do you know what I did over the last few months without the amulets?”

“I’m afraid to ask…”

“I eliminated the griffons, the dragons, the animals, thousands upon thousands of ponies, various legendary creatures that could’ve stood in my way. I did all of that and more, without the amulets.”

“But the first launched you into madness after you tried to prove your worth.”

“It doesn’t matter how it started, I made those choices with my own mind. I wanted power, I wanted to show my worth, and I caused this whole world to crumble, both figuratively and literally at this point.”

“So why are you telling me this if you know you did it?”

“How did you do it?”

“Do what? Overthrow you?”

“No, how did you not become me? One restless night sent me to get that weapon, how could you last if the smallest of an insignificant event separate our fates?”

“It may seem insignificant, but anything, even the seemingly most worthless things, can leave a huge impact upon a world. I know I could’ve slipped into the same horseshoes as you in a single moment, I know that now, which is why I should be careful in what I do for those little moments to overcome me.”

“I’m beginning to learn that too, just by looking what I let happen right in front of me.” The two lone ponies begin to stare at the ball as their floating island starts to slow down from being so far from it. “Twilight,”

“Yeah?”

“Ever had that feeling, where everything you had, just vanishes before your eyes, yet instead of anger, or sadness, you’re at a mix of confusion and emptiness?”

“Well, one time. It was when you put me in the dungeon with the other princesses after learning that you were me. I had trouble grasping that my own self within a different setting would take away everything I held dear to me. I never want to go through that feeling again.”

“I’m sorry. I now have that same feeling, and it sucks worse than any pain anything or anypony has brought to me for months. The only time where it sucked more was after I put on that amulet as Twilight. I couldn’t bear the guilt and shame I created for myself after seeing the faces of my old friends looking at me like that. For months, I searched for that amulet to destroy my shame and guilt and to find an answer for why I was doing all of this. However, I then realized that I had already done that. And now here I sit, my entire world and plans shattered, both the wings I had during my innocent youth and my weapons during my power are gone forever. My reputation, the closeness of the ponies that I once called friends and army, my credibility, destroyed and can never be put back together. My magic, the one thing I had my entire life and that I was the element of, is now unreachable thanks to my ruined horn.”

“With a year or two of medical help, your horn could be fixed, and by then, you could’ve repaired the bond with your old friends.”

“I like the way you think, my other me. You never seem to give up hope and always choose to persist. However, although you can push your physical and magical limitations beyond what you thought possible, the same can’t be said for emotional and mental limitations. They will never forget the ponies’ lives I have destroyed. Rainbow Dash, Borris, family, children, the Morks that either died or performed my dirty work, they’ll forever be remembered, therefore always remembering me as their killer. And so what if my horn can be healed? No pony will ever try to give me back the magic I used to destroy them. I told you this before and now is no different.”

“That’s not entirely true,”

“What?”

“Major Borris, one of your strongest minions ever?”

“What about him?”

“He had the same feelings as you did. He thought no pony would forgive him after the number of lives he destroyed and later when he betrayed my Dash’s trust. Yet some ponies did. Both Rainbow Dashes, your great uncle, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, they all forgave him and end up becoming his friends.”

“And who do you think made him into a Mork, twice, and ended up killing him? That’s right, me. Just like I was the one who caused Rarity to betray you all, just like I was the one who turned Spike and nearly everypony into Morks, and just like I was the one who set everything into the downward spiral in the first place. If you think both your and my world will forgive me in the next million years, then you’d have far worse mental issues than I do.”

“It doesn’t hurt to try…” Twilight and Midnight turn their heads to each other, with Twilight giving a weak smile and Midnight giving an unpleased look of disbelief before both turning back at the void. “It does look beautiful out tonight.”

“Although, your change in the conversation was sloppily done, I must admit that it does look nice out after all of these months of nothing but smoke and storms. I wouldn’t mind being stuck here as punishment for everything I’ve done, I have nothing else to lose.”

“You still have potential to at least try to reconnect with the ponies.”

“Suddenly back to that topic? Fine then, no, I don’t. Your persistence won’t work this time Twilight. All is set in stone now and probably won’t erode away from all history. Just, please be quiet and leave me be, go back to your world and bathe in your victory.” Midnight then slumps her head down between her front hooves and closes her eyes.

“Midnight,”

“…”

“Midnight,”

“…”

“I want to tell you a story, a story of redemption, even in the face of death. It’s called the ‘Legend of the Ghost Pony’.”

Yeah, real original name…

“It all started about one hundred years after Luna’s banishment…”

Back in Twilight’s home world, everypony is gathered around the Tree of Harmony, screaming for Twilight and bashing into the base of the tree in hopes that the portal somehow opens or at least get a connection to their missing hero.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash sheiks, ramming her body at the center of the tree, “Did Midnight get you? Are you hurt? Are you dead?!”

“Twilight!” The two Pinkie Pies call out together, “You said you’d be out here any second, what’s keeping you?”

“Twilight!” Rarity exclaims, “Out of every worst possible thing to happen, this is… The! Absolute! Worst! Possible! Thing! Out! Of! All! Worst! Possible! Things!”

“I don’t want to be guilty for you being trapped with Midnight for the rest of your life!” The other Rarity cries while trying to use her magic to open a portal as Twilight did.”

“That snake!” Applejack proclaims, “Midnight, you better let Twilight out of your clutches this instant!”

“Amen, sister.” Applejack’s duplicate adds with just as much frustration in your tone. Spike, the two Borises, and the six other princesses however, collect their composure and stand at the sidelines, with Spike rapidly chewing his claws in suspense and agony.

“Twilight…” Fluttershy mumbles, “Whatever’s going on over there, please come back…”

“What if she’s trying to reform Midnight?” The other Fluttershy asks right beside her.

“Are you sure she can do that?”

“Not really, but all we can do is wait and see…”

“…With that said, he ran off into the night, off to redeem himself and to this day, they say that he continues to wander the desert, searching for more lost souls to save.” After concluding her story, Twilight takes a deep breath and looks to see if Midnight’s broken from her depressed state. “Midnight?”

“…” Twilight is once again given no response, but this doesn’t frustrate the pony.

“I’m not going to give up, I know you can make a choice, and I want to guide you in the right path.”

“…”

“Please, I want to help, just, please,”

“…”

“Well, then, fine, you can make your own choice, you choose who you want to be.” Twilight gets up from her seat and walks towards the Tree of Harmony, not letting Midnight out of the corner of her eyes. She then calls upon all her attention to her magic, trying to reopen the portal to her world once more.

“You’re right.” Startled, Twilight gives a small leap and whips her body around, breaking her attention from the tree and onto the pony before her. “I do have a choice…”

“So you’re coming?”

“No.”

“Are you staying here, all by yourself?”

“No.”

“What?”

“I’ve decided to take a… third option…” At that moment upon finishing her statement, Midnight’s horn flickers. A wave of an unknown force launches the tiny island hurdling towards the void, causing Twilight to bash her back into the trunk.

“What are you doing?” Slowly, Midnight gets up from her spot and turns to face Twilight. Her single arm begins to twitch before coming alive once more.

“Dragging down the very pony that ruined everything I had, and this time, I’m going to be making sure that you get all that you deserves, even if that means killing me!”