Stones tumbled from the roof as another thunderous shock wave shook the mountain to its very core. The prisoners held in this deep dungeons scrambled for the stairs, some unlucky few crushed under the falling stones as soon as they left their cells, others pushed from the narrow stairwell as they panicked and struggled with one another to escape. Scootaloo and Lady Selene supported the pony who thought herself Princess Celestia between themselves, bringing up the back of the fear struck mob. If they didn’t get out of here soon the entire mountain threatened to crumble on their heads. When Scootaloo had given Lady Selene the message from Theia just before this chaos started, the purple pony had wept, but she smiled all the same. Together they had been able to free most of those ponies still living and organized everyone to help those too injured to move on their own. Then the mountain had started to shake and all hope of maintaining any kind of order fled.

With the chaos inside the dungeon, Scootaloo asked Lady Selene if it wouldn’t be better to leave the injured and escape themselves. The look Selene gave her chilled her to the bone. “Is that something Theia would do?” Scootaloo was so shocked all she could do was shake her head no. “Besides, as bad as it is in here, you can bet its going to be worse outside.” Selene hunched her back so she could better support Celestia’s weight. They finally made it to the top of the stairs as one last ear splitting crack signaled the stairwell crumbling behind them. Anyone who hadn’t made it out of that dungeon now probably never would. The castle was in much the same shape, broken glass from fallen chandeliers and stained glass littered the marble floors. Through the shattered windows the fleeing prisoners gazed out on a scene straight out of nightmares.

A blood red moon hung perilously close in a sky gone mad with magic, as if it would drop any moment and smash their world to dust. Crimson and violet lightning danced across the heavens making the horizon a constant flickering light show as meteors rained down from above. In the center of a charred black plain stood a sight that only a few ponies had ever seen, and those when they were much, much younger. It towered over the mountains as a child towers over a sandcastle, the beast many called in legend the Harbinger of Twilight. It’s wings were the aurora of magic in the sky, its eyes were many, and its mouths were more. This was the monster that had brought the combined power of all the Royal guard to their knees and decimated and devoured entire cities.

Only a few noticed the blazing Star that hovered in the sky. Only a few saw that it was this Star that held the monsters attention. Grimacing, Luna lay her sister down upon a bed of broken glass and watched the battle unfold. “Ma’am, we can’t stay here, we have to go!” Cried Scootaloo. Luna turned to the pegasus pony with a haunting look. “You can flee if you want, but it will make no difference. If we live or die, if this world is destroyed or allowed to survive, all is about to be decided in the valley below. If my end is to come, I want to see it for myself.” Turning back to the battle about to be engaged, Luna whispered softly, so no pony could hear.

“Theia...it’s up to you....”

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Lightning danced around the two otherworldly enemies, setting technicolor fires raging across the plains. Blood and thunder swept across the fields as the massive Beast of Twilight slammed full force into the hovering Star. Theia took the blow, pressed backwards by the monstrous momentum, but otherwise unflinchingly responded with a hoof smashed into the monsters face. The force of her own tiny blow sent the behemoth reeling first to one side, then the other as she rained blows upon it. The creature recovered and moved to clamp its hideous maw around her, only to have Theia grab the beasts jaws in either hoof and break the rotted bones and tendons, causing a gush of black blood to spew from the foul mouth as its lower jaw hung slack. Howling with something between laughter and a scream, the monstrous pony fell back on its haunches and glared up at the Star in the sky. Theia’s wings hummed musically as golden energy gathered around her form. In one shot, she would obliterate this abomination as she had the Twilight Queen's other servant. But before she was finished channeling her power, a wave of black blood and rot exploded like a geyser from the Twilight Beasts broken maw.

Bathed in corruption, Theia fell with a scream, the light of her power fading as the horrid vomit clung to her body and began to eat away at her mind and soul. Brutish laughter echoed across the land as the Twilight Beast snapped its jaw back into place and hopped playfully towards its fallen prey, generating earthquakes with the prancing of each ugly hoof. Leaping high into the air and spreading wings of crackling magic, the beast brought its full weight down on one hoof, crushing Theia’s crumpled form into the earth. Moving with a speed that belied the monsters size, the dead hammered Theia deeper and deeper into the befouled earth, burying the fallen Star beneath layers of mud, blood, and rotted corpses. Whipping its mane and tail about, the behemoth laughed gleefully as it turned from its foe’s shattered body, it moving back towards its master, eager for praise from the Twilight Queen.

Suddenly, a spike of white light lanced through the back of the monsters head and exploded out of the creatures face, shattering its ugly visage into so much bloody shrapnel. Flashing through the air like a comet in flight, Theia was engulfed in a ball of pale white flame that burned away the corruption that still clung to her. Spheres of light gathered around Theia’s horn and began to pepper the creature with pulses of magic, slicing huge gashes in it’s body. Roaring in agony, massive wet tendrils of entrails exploded from the monsters wounds, dripping digestive juices as the swarming mass darted into the air to seize Theia. The shining Star dodged and rolled, creating three sonic rainbooms together, edged in golden fire that destroyed many of the grasping tendrils. It was not enough. The quick and the dead at last met as a burst of tongues and intestines from the monsters ruined face enveloped Theia and pulled her down the howling monsters maw. With that, the battle seemed to be at an end.

The Twilight Beast reared, front legs pawing at the air as the magic of the land began to surge back to the moon above, massive hunks of earth rising to float around its terrible form as its laughter pierced the heavens. But, for the first time, the laughter of the Children of Twilight was cut short. Cracks of light raced along the creatures body as multi-colored flames erupted from the behemoths rotted flesh. Every eye on the beast shifted from a violet glow to a more golden hue as its form ripped apart with a wet explosion, light blazing from every orifice. Blown into three large chunks, the creature tried to reform but too many pieces had been vaporized by the bast. Whimpering, the Twilight Beast settled on three smaller forms and began to surge away from Theia, towards Canterlot Castle. Was it returning to the Twilight Queen’s side for aid? If so why did it cling to the pathways just below the castle instead of rising to her balcony?

With horror Luna and Scootaloo watched as the beasts horrific tendrils of gore swept about, plucking the fleeing prisoners from the dungeons below and popped them into horrendous makeshift mouths. Their screams as they were masticated by the skulls of the long dead were horrific, but blessedly short. Several towers of the castle proper were ripped away and added to the Twilight Beasts mass as it swallowed the living to feed the dead. In no time at all, the three mounds of writhing flesh converged and swelled into a distorted form that only half resembled a pony. It roared challenge, cackling afresh, “DON’T STOP! THE PARTIES JUST GETTING STARTED!” Vile black vomit surged from every pore on the monsters body as a massive gout of foulness surged from the gaping hole that served for its mouth. This time though, it seemed Theia was prepared. A wall of golden light met the foul ichor and shoved it back down the beasts throat, filling the monster with light as it writhed against the mountain side. Groping tendrils tried to grasp the Star in the sky, but turned to naught but smoke and ash as they neared Theia.

With nowhere left to retreat to, the Twilight Beast broke under Theia’s onslaught, shattering into an avalanche of body parts and blood that spilled down from Canterlot. The spray from the dying beasts destruction washed the few remaining white towers of the castle a dark crimson. From the monsters corpse burst millions of laughing Children of Twilight. Theia’s wings spread wide, sending burning feathers of pure magic flying through the air that embed themselves in the undead and turned them into living pyres. The burning corpses toppled, sending their foul smoke up to cloud the heavens, as one by one the Army of Twilight was reduced to nothing but dust and memories.

--------------------------

At the sight of Theia’s victory, Scootaloo and the other survivors cheered. Lady Selene swiftly shushed her. “Save your cheering, can’t you see what the battle has cost her? There is still the matter of the Twilight Queen and she has nearly spent all of her power battling her children!” It was true, though Theia was still a veritable blaze of power, a more careful look quickly revealed that her wings of light were fading in and out of existence as was the third eye upon her forehead. Even though her magic had protected her from the bulk of the Twilight Beasts assault, there were still fresh gashes, burns, and bruises all over the pony’s body. Her left eye was a swollen ruin, bloody tears weeping from a wound down her cheek. She even seemed to be missing a few teeth judging by the set of her jaw. Theia had done the unthinkable in wiping out the Children of the Twilight...but the Twilight Queen had been the source of their might. If she had spent all her strength fighting them, what hope did she have against the entity who had created them? Laughter echoed across the land, though this time at least it wasn’t the high laughter of dead children.

Theia flew to its source and landed before the Twilight Queen. Standing amidst the smouldering pieces of her once fearsome army, the Queen seemed incredibly pleased with herself.

“Oh well played, well played! What a marvelous performance! My blind traveler has at last opened her eyes and beheld the world as it is rather than the story she has been told from her pitiful youth. I could not have hoped for a more satisfying end! Now...KNEEL!” To Scootaloo’s shock, Theia knelt before the Twilight Queen, closing her eyes and touching her horn to the ground at the Queen’s hooves. Smiling so wide the rips and tears in the flesh around her mouth threatened to take off the top of her head, the Queen laughed again. “How disappointed my daughters must be! Surely they thought you would be their salvation, a tool imbued with the first fire, blessed by magics more potent than any this horrid little mud ball has ever seen! But they forget who forged their tool and its power! Much like those of Twilight, you Stars are my children, each and every one of you...and you shall serve me! I command you, call down your brothers and sisters!”

“As you command.” Spoke Theia hollowly. From the blazing blue eye in her forehead a single beam of light exploded, rising high into the chaotic sky. The heavens above became a sheet of streaming light that poured forth from the Moon as one third of the Stars fell from the heavens. A few smashed deep into the earth, sending up explosions of molten rock, but many merely hovered in formation around the blood stained spires of Canterlot. In numbers uncountable the Stars beautiful frames vibrated with blinding light and power, each different from the other in subtle ways. Some were sheathed in stone and bronze, iron and gold, silver and steel, or platinum and titanium. Each was wrought more beautifully and delicately than the last in the shape of a winged unicorn, feathers composed of lightning and flame, manes aglow of dancing light. Even their eyes shone bright as the true creatures within gazed out from their armored shells. They formed into ranks, and each and every one turned towards the Queen of Twilight. Her crown of unicorn horns pulsed and glowed with so much magic it was like gazing into the heart of the sun.

“Oh you Stars who aid us of the pure blood! Hear me now! This world is unsuitable for our purposes! The magic here is spread too thin, a weak and pitiful force that this world actively seeks to reject in favor of its own power! Here there is death, famine, pestilence, and, yes, even war! My daughters have spilled each others blood and the blood of this worlds original inhabitants! NO MORE! In effigy I, Queen Theia, have starved hunger, purified us of plague, destroyed death, and shattered war! Thus cleansed I command you to aid me, salvage those pure to journey with us to paradise...but put those who still cling to this abominable world to the flame of the first sun!” Magical steam pulsed from each Star as their power increased, fed before from the meager reserves of the Moon, now fed directly from the Twilight Queen. They would do her bidding, all could see. This would be the end of Equestria, not under the unyielding hooves of the damned, but by the tranquil apathy of these beings of perfection.

“No...” the word was barely a whisper, hardly audible to anyone else, yet it gave the celestial beings above pause. Theia rose from her kneeling position, eyes blazing not with light, but with rage. The halo and wings had both faded, her third eye closed leaving nothing but smooth flesh beneath her stub of a unicorn horn. Though Theia’s body seemed ruined, she still managed to stand on broken legs, hooves planted firmly on the ground beneath her. “You’re designation is not found. Scans reveal no trace of Queen Theia.” She took a step towards the Queen, each movement clearly agony. “A queen protects her subjects and her kingdom. A queen is graceful and merciful. You have tortured and murdered your subjects, sacrificing them for your own desires. Your kingdom lies in ruins and what few subjects are left now live in hatred and fear of you! You are queen of nothing but dust and tears! We will not obey any further commands from you!”

The Twilight Queens face twisted, livid with rage. “How dare you defy me you malformed abomination!? I am this world’s savior, as I am yours! I saved you, all of you pitiful ‘Stars’ from having your brains staved in by your own parents! Every last soul on this planet owes me a debt of gratitude for rescuing them from the choice of consuming fire or eternal night! It is my power and authority that is absolute, who are you to deny me!?” Theia bowed her head, blood dripping from her face.

“I am Mourning Star, the first of my name. I am the rejected daughter whom you embraced with magic and steel instead of a mothers love and patience. I am the archetype of the Battalion of Stars.” She lifted her head, tears streaming from her eyes, but the set of her jaw firm. “But more than that, I am Theia! Daughter of the Moon, huntress of shadows! I was the blind traveler, but my friends opened my eyes, far more than you could ever hope to. I renounce you and deny your claim! You will sow no more fear and reap no further destruction!”

The Queen appeared shocked for a moment. But only a moment, before her words lashed out like whips of flame, “If you will not serve me...DIE!” From every joint, bone protrusions exploded from the Twilight Queen's body. The sharpened, bloody bones impaled Theia’s body and held her transfixed in the air so all could see. Her twitching, spasming body writhed on the sharpened bone until she was at last stilled. The Queen glared up at the celestial Stars, madness in her eyes. “Thus is the fate of traitors to the crown! Now do as I command or suffer her fate as your own!”

All was silent as the host hovered. The musical hum of their power was silenced as well. One by one, however, they began to power up again. Then in one voice the entire host spok, resounding like thunder in the heavens. “Scan confirms, Queen Theia is not present. ERROR! Impostors and pretenders to the crown shall be purged!” The Twilight Queens eyes grew wide as her star crossed children gathered around her, the build up of energy in them so intense as to warp reality in their wake. “No...no no no no...NOOOOOOO!” her wail as she was bombarded by thousands of beams of energy at once was soon lost in the roar of raw magic that exploded from her demise. The unleashed magic rose as a pillar of green and violet light swirling into the heavens as her twisted body seemed to shrink in upon itself. As her form was hammered by forces beyond mortal comprehension, her crown of horns fell from her head, clattering to the ground. When, at last, the light of her destruction had faded, it was as if the Twilight Queen never existed. In her place was the sad corpse of a purple pony with a streak of pink in its mane.

----------------------------

Bright and breezy, the sun shown upon the rolling hills. As far as the eye could see waves of sweet grass undulated beneath a nearly cloudless sky. Wild flowers of ever color and scent bloomed here, lending their fragrance to the winds. Not far away, the tree line offered comfortable cool shadows and the babbling of a nearby brook supplied cold water and respite. The air was alive with butterflies as they flit to and fro among the flowers, birds chirping musically in the trees. Though not harsh, Theia’s eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright light before she could fully appreciate this scene. Perhaps that was why she hadn’t noticed the purple unicorn standing over her smiling playfully.

“Hey! Are you alright? Can you stand up?” Though Theia still ached all over, the pain was fading away. She found with a little effort and some help from this stranger she could rise. She thanked the purple unicorn for her help. “Don’t mention it! It’s the least I can do Theia...and please, call me Twilight Sparkle!’ The name sounded familiar, but before she could ask the pony if they’d met before, the purple pony bounded away heading for the woods. “Follow me, the others are waiting!” The air smelled wonderful and with each step Theia took she felt stronger and more at peace than she ever had in her life. Her mind felt a little fuzzy, but in a pleasant way, as if she were relaxing in a warm bath. It was really a wonderful day!

Beneath the trees reclined four other ponies. One a shy little yellow pegasus pony, pink maned, had her face buried in a bushel of wildflowers. Another, a white unicorn, reclined gently against a large stone her purple mane curling in elegant ringlets. The third and forth seemed to be in conversation with each other beneath the tall and twisted shade tree under which they all rested. A blue pegasus pony with a rainbow mane and a blonde pony wearing an old battered hat turned at Theia’s approach. At first they were unfamiliar to her, then names welled up from her fading memory. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity, she knew them all. These were her best friends, though she hadn’t seen them in such a long time. Forever it seemed. It was good to see them all again. Rainbow Dash spread her wings upon seeing Theia and flew over to her excitedly.

“About time you showed up!” said the pony with rose hued eyes. “I was beginning to think you’d never make it. I didn’t remember you being this slow when we raced before!” Theia didn’t know what Rainbow Dash was talking about. they had never raced one another. How could she ever hope to keep up with the fastest pony in all Equestria? Twilight Sparkle smiled as all the other ponies gathered around Theia, greeting her kindly. “It’s so good to see you again darling. Sorry that we parted so suddenly before we could finish our dance. I do hope you do not remember me for that dreadful scene. How shameful!” Rarity held a hoof to her forehead as if she would swoon from sheer humiliation, but Theia knew it was all an act. Rarity could be so dramatic.

Fluttershy hovered gently, her wings whispering as softly as the wind in the tall grass around them. “Oh Theia...I guess this means the little animals will be joining us soon as well. I admit I was lonesome without them, but I still hoped you could save them.” Everyone was talking in riddles. Theia didn’t know anything about any animals. She was sure she’d remember something like that. She started to feel lightheaded and faint. She nearly fell, but a pair of strong hooves caught her before she could slip away.

“Easy there sugarcube. Just relax. I know its a little disorienting at first but I promise you’ll get used to it.” That was when Theia saw the marks around Applejack’s neck. A faint nimbus of flames clung to Fluttershy, Rarity’s body seemed to have been partially melted and burned away, and Rainbow Dash was a badly stitched marionette. The worst was perhaps Twilight Sparkle, still smiling cheerfully despite the hole in her chest that displayed the organs pulsing within her. The ground was stained red all around them, blood pooling beneath their flayed bodies.

“Oh. I’m dead, aren’t I?” As the realization struck Theia, the light seemed to leech from the world, growing thin and grey. The grass that had waved so majestically seconds ago was now dry and lifeless and the trees seemed gnarled and deformed. The only thing that remained the same was the little brook as it laughed and bubbled away into the shadows that now seemed deeper than any darkness Theia had ever before beheld. A wave of dread filled Theia as she gazed into that emptiness. It seemed there was another pony standing in that cold laughing stream, holding a bright red balloon, a horrible smile carved on her face.

“I said take it easy filly! I know its yer first time, but just keep yerself calm!” Applejack’s shade held Theia firmly and a little bit of light returned to the world. Theia blinked and her vision focused back on the ponies around her. There were two images of each overlapping the other, one living and one dead. For all one was horrid, the other still seemed friendly, even sympathetic. “But I am dead yes? This is, what, some kind of after life?”

“Well...yes and no.” said Rainbow Dash. “It’s kind of more like a, uhhh, waiting room? Yeah, lets go with that if it helps you cope. This is neither over here or over there, it’s kind of in between, ya know?” Theia didn’t but she nodded anyways. “You see, this is where we end up whenever something happens to our bodies. We usually rest here for a little while and then go back. Problem is, our bodies have a tendency to heal themselves, so instead of being reborn, we keep going back to the same old scraps as before.” Fluttershy moved close to Theia and smoothed down her hair affectionately. “We were hoping you would fix that and you did a very good job trying. I’m sorry that we’re meeting like this again, I truly am. But everything will be okay, you’ll see.” Theia could tell even as Fluttershy spoke her words of comfort that they were hollow. She didn’t believe what she was saying but felt compelled to lie to Theia to spare her feelings.

“Oh please! Stop beating about the bush darlings.” Rarity sat in front of Theia, combing her hooves through her curly mane. “The fact of the matter is, you’re not supposed to be here. The entire time we’ve been here, we have been the only ones to stay. Even among us, the only one who is always here is Twilight Sparkle. That you’re here at all means that you’re body is very badly damaged, but you’re on the edge between life and death. You have a choice Theia, just like the choice I gave you before. You can live, you can die, or you can stay here.” Theia was taken aback by Rarity’s bluntness,“Is it really that simple?” she asked, gazing at each in turn. Twilight Sparkle smiled sadly, a look of pity in her eyes.

“Of course not, if it were so I wouldn’t still be here. This, “Twilight Queen”, has kept me out of my body for longer than I can remember. But neither has she allowed me to pass on. I can only assume it’s the same for the others, but for you? Who knows what rules might apply!” She smiled a little too excitedly about that statement, Theia thought. Applejack explained, “Twilight thinks ya might be able to do something that none of us have really been able to do before now. You might be able to be reborn in a new body if ya like. But if’n that’s yer choice...there’s a catch. We’ll be back in the world before too long too, and if we can come back, you can bet the Twilight Queen can too.”

Fresh waves of pain swept through Theia. She looked down and saw that her body was full of holes. Gaping wounds bloomed wet and red all over her body, like the flowering of some truly gruesome breed of flower. She was almost overcome by the pain and the memory of who caused it, the pony for whom she was named. “I can’t let that happen...I can’t just walk away from all of you, from all we’ve been through.” The wounds closed slowly all over her body, runes of white light replacing them briefly instead. The shades of the other ponies jumped back. “What was that!” yelled Rainbow Dash.

“It looks like there’s still a little bit of enchantment bound to you Theia! This is amazing! The ramification of spellwork that could persist through death is a truly astounding concept. Tell me, do you feel any pain? There shouldn’t be any sensation at all here, save peace and warmth, least of all pain.” Theia nodded. “Yes, ever since I got here I’ve been experiencing waves of pain...they’re gone right now, but they seem to be getting more intense as time goes on. It’s a sharp coldness...I think I’ve felt before.” Twilight Sparkle looked her up and down, staring a long time at the mark on Theia’s flank.

“A sensation of time passing as well!? I’m not sure, but I think that there’s been something done to you on the most basic of levels.” Her unicorn horn glowed a spectral violet. “Yes, I don’t think you’re dead at all Theia. Your only dreaming! An astounding development. But I wonder how long you will dream? A few hours? An eternity? I admit if you are stuck here I’d love the company. Frankly I find you Stars fascinating! Though you are the first one I’ve met in person.” Theia flexed her muscles and stretched her legs. She didn’t feel like she was dreaming.

A sudden motion caught her eye. The darkness beneath the trees called to her, giggling and and whispering. There was another pony there, small and pink in a party dress of some sort. None of the others seemed to see her. Theia didn’t realize she was moving towards her until her hooves were wet. The little brook from before was now a wide, shallow river. She could hear the voices of her friends calling to her, but far louder were the incessant whispers haunting her mind. “Theia, don’t go that way! We’ve never gone that way!” Rainbow Dash called. “It’s too dangerous darlin’, you best mosey back this way!” yelled Applejack. “Theia, please...its okay, really. You don’t have to do this. Stay with us or be reborn, but don’t go to her...” Whimpered Fluttershy.

Theia was already standing in front of the pink pony. The color of their eyes were matched, bright brittle blue, but the rest of the ponies features shifted swiftly as if she were constantly in motion, even while standing still. Only her eyes and her smile remained constant. “I’m not alive...” said Theia. “I’m not sure I ever have been really.” The shadows crowded around Theia, pink and violet lights dancing like fireflies over the rushing water. “But I’m not dead either. You know the way back, don’t you? The real way.” The reply from the pink pony was a high pitched laugh. Theia had heard that laugh before. “Answer me...”

A flood of images and words invaded Theia’s mind as the shallow water around her ankles began to rise. Theia could go back, Theia could die, Theia could rot and burn and suffer and freeze and bake and still be alive to suffer it all again and again one never ending party from the dawn of time to the end of the universe and back through again. Everything was mutable, everything was chaos, everything was final, but nothing was eternal. Amid the vortex of knowledge Theia could see the Twilight Queen raging in the realm of shadow. She could wait there forever, or for only a day, both were the same. This was only a setback for her, she was old and powerful, she would have her way in time.

Theia saw it then. The one and only way she could end this, once and for all. With the water up to her chest, Theia reached out and took the red balloon from the pink pony. In a sudden surge, the cold dark waters engulfed them both. In the sudden wet red darkness, Theia saw who and what the pony before her was. She opened her mouth to scream, but the cold blood that engulfed her choked off any sound she might have made.

------------------------

A gout of blood, scarlet with black chunks burst from Theia’s mouth as she woke. Her eyes fluttered open and closed as she struggled to bring the blurry world into focus, teeth clenched tight against the pain burning all over her body. She shivered, and though she was indeed very cold, it was her wounds that made her shake as she rose to her hooves. She could see figures moving towards her. It seemed some of the prisoners had escaped the dungeons. They all wore looks of triumph and elation. It took Theia a moment to realize that they were cheering and dancing for joy. What in Equestria did they have to be so happy about? Theia looked at her feet and beheld the shattered corpse of Twilight Sparkle and the fallen crown of the Twilight Queen.

“You did it Theia!” Scootaloo hugged Theia tight, ignoring the blood seeping from the wounds all over the cream colored ponies body as it smeared her pelt. “It’s finally over!” They were surrounded by smiling faces shouting congratulations, but Theia never took her eyes off the crown of horns. Scootaloo was wrong. With as much force as she could muster she pushed the orange pegasus away. She whirled on the crowd and shouted at the top of her lungs. “GET BACK! BACK ALL OF YOU!” Anger and desperation in her eyes, she snatched up the crown of horns and ran to the balcony’s edge, leaping over the side. Everypony was so shocked by her actions that for a moment they could only look at each other in disbelief. Scootaloo hurried after her friend.

Theia hadn’t made it far, stumbling down the mountainside in a shower of stones, leaving a trail of blood splattered in her wake. “What’s going on Theia, where are you going?” The Daughter of the Moon didn’t bother trying to speak, focusing instead on her footing, her lifes blood pulsing swiftly from her wounds. Lady Selene joined them, a pair of dark wings sweeping wide arcs through the air from beneath her voluminous cloak. “Theia, I know what you’re planning. You don’t have to do this. Give me the crown and we’ll lock it away. We’ll send it to the Moon if we have to! It’s not your responsibility!” Theia leapt into the air then, pale blue wings igniting from her back like flames as she glided down into the valley below. Scorched and flooded with blood and corpses, the valley was filled with shadows as Blanks swarmed among the dead. Theia landed roughly, her hooves going out from under her, another surge of blood rising from her mouth to gush over the crown of thorns clenched between her teeth. She laid panting for breath as Luna and Scootaloo caught up with her.

“Seriously Theia, listen to Lady Selene. I don’t know what’s going on here, but you’re going to kill yourself if you keep acting so recklessly. You’re wounded for Dawn’s sake!” The Sergeant Major reached down to try and help Theia up, only to have a pulse of raw magic slam into her and push her away. “GET BACK!” Her blue eyes blazing, Theia levitated the crown of horns above her head as she looked Luna in her green eyes. “You know as well as I do she’s just going to come back. You couldn’t stop her and neither could your sister. All the Stars have done is driven her from the pony she was possessing. Give her another hundred years, a thousand, ten thousand and she’ll be back stronger than ever! Where will the Stars be then? Fallen from the skies into the sea? Buried in the earth? Look up! Look at my brothers and sisters! Their paltry numbers are all that remains of the active Stars that have not succumbed to cold, dead sleep!”

Even as they spoke, one or two Stars fell, their power supplies completely depleted. The Stars burned bright, but like the very star they were blessed by, they could not burn forever. “Who will aid you then my lady!?” cried Theia, tears pouring from her eyes unbidden, “This has to end now and there’s only one way it possibly can and life still continue in this world!” Luna bowed her head, tears of her own gracing her dark cheeks. “I... I won’t stop you Theia, if this is your choice. I didn’t want it to be this way...I’m so sorry.”

“NO!” The shout came from Scootaloo, she was crying as well but she didn’t know why. She had no idea what was going on. All she new was that Theia was hurting and she’d seen too many friends die to watch another pass away before her eyes. “Can't you see whatever your doing is going to kill you!? Don't throw your life away when we’ve finally gotten a chance to really live again! What does it matter if the Twilight Queen comes back in ten thousand years? We’ll prepare! We’ll spread the word and keep armies prepared. If she rears her ugly head again we will stomp her into the ground before she can ever rise to power! We did it once, why could we not do it again!?”

Theia shook her head stubbornly. “Just let me do this Scoot! It’s the only way to be sure. If...if you have a daughter, don’t name her for me. My name is cursed and it should die here in these fields once and for all.” She lowered the crown of horns upon her own head and with the last dregs of her power, shifted into the realm of shadow. She watched as both Scootaloo and Luna faded to grey spectres of themselves. Then a kaleidoscope of darkness, light and madness rose before her, slamming her into the ground. It shouldn’t have hurt but the pain that lanced through her skull as the Twilight Queen smashed one starry hoof into her jaw, grinding her into the insubstantial earth, sent a spike of icy agony deep into her brain.

“YOU WORTHLESS MAGGOT! you’ve ruined everything, absolutely everything! Did you think you could come back into this realm and I wouldn’t be waiting for you? That I wouldn’t rip your meager soul to shreds at the first given opportunity!?” The Twilight Queen blazed with power in the shadow realm, supernova’s winking in and out of existence all over her spectral body as she stomped Theia’s head repeatedly. Theia began to lose consciousness, but a pulse of magic lifted her into the air and shook her savagely. “Oh, don't you think for a minute I’m going to let you slip away from me again. If I’m stuck here, you will be too! I’m going to enjoy torturing you for all eternity! When this useless world finally self destructs it will be you and I dancing in the star dust of its remains, a mad queen and her broken fool!” Lances of light shot from Queen Theia’s body as she spread her nebulous wings. They dug deep into each of Theia’s spectral wounds, searing with a heat beyond imagining and filling the void with the scent of roasting flesh. It was only as Theia screamed in agony that the Queen seemed to pull back from her blinding rage long enough to smile at the smaller pony’s pain. That’s when she noticed the crown.

The crown of horns glowed softly upon Theia’s head as it drew power from the Queen. “You little foal! Do you think that crown will give you the power to vanquish me? I used that twisted lump of metal to enter your precious Luna, then to influence her idiot sister Celestia, and finally to take over the corpse of that useless foal, Twilight Sparkle. It’s nothing more than a tool for me to pass my essence into the physical realm! It’s power will not aid you.” The mad Queen laughed. “Perhaps I should end you after all and let your filthy corpse pass back into the physical realm? Then I’ll take over your pathetic body, twist it like I did that other wingless freak of a pony, and raze this world to ash! Twilight Sparkle had more magical talent than you, to be sure, but you are a Star blessed with the power of the old sun. Do you think you’d make a suitable vessel for me, my little pony?” A gesture brought Theia’s limp, unresisting body eye to eye with the Queen of her namesake. She looked over the shattered spectral form as if she were a piece of meat to be devoured.

Theia opened her swollen eyes and glared at her with such malice that it pierced the Queen’s madness just long enough for her to recoil with a gasp. “You think your so powerful Twilight Queen, but you’ve been stuck here for millennia.” She could see shadows gathering in her vision. It wouldn’t be long now. “I will free you...mother. But not in the fashion you imagine. All things must end...even you...” A crackling of black flame spread from Theia’s wounds, spectral fire blazing pale white edged in darkness around her form. “Especially you.” The Queen let the suddenly blazing pony fall to the ground as if she had grown too hot to hold. Theia didn’t rise again, but the burning shadows flowed from her body, sweeping across the plain upon which the Queen had inscribed her magic runes. Here the souls of all those sacrificed by the Twilight Queen were gathered. The black flame drew them closer, gave them shape, gave them form. From the darkness crimson eyes flared to life as the Blanks shimmered into existence all around.

“Traitor...”

“Murderer...”

“Mother of abomination...”

“Betrayer!”

“Killer!”

“Kill her”

Neverdead and neverborn gathered around the Queen along with all the victims she had slain to fuel her dire sorcery. The darkness gather with gnashing teeth and sharpened claws, threatening to engulf the flickering universe that was the Twilight Queen. “Stay back! Stay back all of you filthy peasants!” Pulses of gamma radiation and spears of light exploded from the Twilight Queen as she tried to repel the shadows gathering around her. But the earth here had swallowed thousands of gallons of blood and each drop cried out for justice, each grim stain whispered for vengeance. Theia lay absolutely still, but she could still see, and she watched as one by one the Queen’s stars went out. Her scream spread across the windswept plain of eternity, echoing perhaps forever and ever. Then, as before, all was darkness. Twilight had fallen.

With a sad, satisfied smile, Theia gave herself up to the cold gnawing inside her heart. She could rest at long last.

------------------------

Scootaloo watched as the sun climbed high into the sky, illuminating the field of the dead. Corpses littered the plain, as did the metal and stone bodies of the creatures known as Stars. Shortly after Theia had faded into shadow, they had begun to fall one by one, burying deep into the earth as though something had drained them of all their energy. They loomed now like grim statues, guardians set over the dead. In time, perhaps wild flowers would grow here to draw butterflies and birds, but for now it was the most terrible scene she had ever thought to behold. The dead attracting great bloated flies and maggots, gathered to feast on all the horrible dross and detritus of the dead. Still, she couldn’t help but smile through the tears. Theia had come back to them one last time, her body curled in a fetal position, the crown of horns upon her head. It suited her better than it had the Twilight Queen. It almost seemed as though it had been made for her.

Both the crown and its wearer had been turned into solid stone. Pitted and cracked though she was, her body would endure better than those of the other dead. You could almost mistake her for a foal, sleeping in the mud, her form so tiny. You could almost imagine she was breathing. You could almost imagine a stony heartbeat, slow but steady. Maybe Scootaloo could come back and see her sometime, perhaps once the fields were not quite so grim. Lady Selene drew the pegasus pony close under one protective wing. They held each other for a long time, until the sun was high overhead. Perhaps one day, seeing the sun shine so brightly in the sky would cheer them. Not today.