PoV: Twilight

Location: Golden Oaks Library

Time: 12:00 P.M, Monday

One month after the wedding

It's been a whole month since the wedding, since the invasion and since Jak left. At first, I thought he left me for good but I was reassured by the princesses that he wouldn't do anything of the sorts.

I've had Spike, Nyx, Scootaloo and all my friends to be there for me when I broke down, crying my eyes out. It's been two weeks since I had an emotional break down and I've been feeling a lot better.

I even got to learn how to control my Light powers with the help of Lokzii.

Now I'm reorganizing the library with the help of Nyx, Scootaloo and Spike. I looked at my checklist to see what else needs to be moved to another shelf.

"And we're done!" I declared, earning a few shout of hooray.

"Finally, I thought my hands would've fallen off." Nyx said, clutching her hand in fake agony.

"Hey, it wasn't that much." I said to her.

"Yeah but remember we had to do it twice!" Scootaloo shouted as she flooped on the couch.

"Now you two now what I have to do all the time." Spike said to then as he sat crossed leg on the floor.

"I'll remember that the next time we have to do this again." I said to Spike. He put his head down as he whined about it. He's whining was cut short by him burping out a letter.

"Excuse me." He said as pounded his chest and gave me the letter.

I read the letter, then re-read it again to make sure and I could feel my eye start to twitch.

"The princess is giving me a test!!" I shouted as I began to panick.

"Twilight, calm down! It's just a test!" Nyx shouted as she stared to shake me with the help of Scootaloo.

"That's just it! I don't know what I need to study and she wants me to take it today! I have to get some things!" I said as I stood up and ran to get some paper and pen but found no pen.

PoV: Spike

I've just watched Twilight have a panick attack over a test and I couldn't help but laugh. My laughter was cut short as I felt the library flip, making fall towards the ceiling.

"Ow!" I said with my face firmly planted on the wood. I raised my head and saw Nyx carrying Scootaloo, avoiding the fall.

"Traitor!" I shouted at them, earning the sound of their laughter.

They both landed next to and helped me up. We then went and tried to calm Twilight down.

"Seriously Twilight, you need to calm dowm. We're pretty sure you'll ace this test. Now, can you do us all a favor and flip the library back to normal." I said to her. She nodded and started to flip the library back to normal, resulting in the same outcome of me landing face first on the surface.

"You did that on purpose." I said, glaring at her as she whistled innocently.

"Twilight!" I heard the voices of Twilights friends as they barged in through the door.

"What happened? Why was the tree flipped?" AppleJack asked.

"And why was it flipped? I was napping on a cloud on top." Dash said, letting out a yawn.

"No, she just panicked because she just got a letter from the princess saying that she had a test to take to today." Pinkie said, breathing in a lot of air afterwards.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it in a nutshell." I said to them as Nyx flew down and let Scootaloo go.

"So when do we leave?" Fluttershy asked in a normal tone.

"You girls don't have to, this is my test." Twilight said.

"Oh darling we're your friends, we want to go so we can support you." Rarity said.

"Thanks girls." Twilight said to them as they started walking towards the train station. I looked back at the mess.

Books were scattered everywhere, some ink bottles broke and some spills, papers were gliding down and some shelves were tipped over.

"Fuck that!" I shouted as I stood up and followed the girls with Nyx and Scootaloo following behind me.

One hour later

Location: Canterlot

After getting off the traing, we walked to the palace and on the way, I could see some changelings backing away from me in fear. I felt bad for them but it's not like I had a choice.

There were even some in guard amor, probably to substitute for the actual guards who are injured.

Once we arrived at the gates, they let us in. I could see Chrysalis chatting with Discord as he helped her fix some of the walls. We finally went inside and had to walk through several hallways before reaching the throne room.

Once we arrived at the throne room, we saw Celestia and Luna talking with a clocked figure. The guy in the cloak looked back at us, I couldn't even see his eyes as he turned to look at us.

He then looked at Celestia and Luna.

"Niidro tiid fah zey wah lif, dahmaan dreh ni vosotiiv." He said as he vanished into a dark mist.

"Who was that?" I heard Nyx ask.

"I don't know." I said to her. He sounded familiar, could it be?

"I'm glad that you could come in such a short notice, Twilight." Celestia said as she stood up from her throne and walked down the steps with her sister.

"Who was that, princess?" Twilight asked as she looked at the area the stranger stood in.

"You'll know in time and as for now, your test." Celestia said.

"Speaking of which, you never said what the test was about." Twilight said.

"It's not your normal kind of test, I need you to head to the Frozen North to help free an empire that has resurfaced."  Celestia said.

"An empire in the north? How come I never heard of it?" Twilight asked.

"Father made sure of that." Luna said, making Twilight look down in sadness.

"Don't look sad, he's coming back today. It's already been a month." Celestia said, earning some happy shouts from Nyx and Scootaloo.

"Anyway, you must head north and help your brother and Cadence liberate the empire." She said, earning a nod of determination from Twilight.

"But be warned, you must face your fears in order to move forward." Luna said as we walked out. I didn't like the sound of that, not at all.

"What did she mean by that?" Scootaloo asked.

"I don't know but I really don't like the sound of that." I said as Twilight teleported us to the train station.

After arriving at the train station, we bought our tickets for a trip to the Frozen North. On the way, I could see a line of snow and dirt separating the Equestria from the North. Twilight was genuinely excited for two reasons, one is that she's going to see her brother and sister-in-law and the secong being is that Jak is coming back.

I decided to go talk to the conductor of the train. I opened the door and headed towards the engine.

I made it to the conductors area and found him looking at the horizon with a bord look.

"Hey man, you okay?" I asked him. He turned to me and then back.

"Yeah, just wish this day could go by faster. I have a mare waiting for me back home and this the first time in a month I get to see her." He said with a smile.

"Really? What's she like?" I asked him, trying to make a friendly conversation.

"Well, she's smart, beautiful, kind, funny, the perfect mare for me, my friend." He said as he pulled a few levers.

"So how come you had to leave?" I asked him as I found a crate I could sit on.

"Ugh, ever since the stupid invasion some of the stuck pricks of Canterlot high-tailed out of there and guess who had to take them places?" He said with a bemused look.

"I wonder how you survived that." I said to him as I chuckled a bit.

"So, where ya from, my scaly friend?" He asked.

"From Ponyville, nice little town but a hassle to live in sometimes." I said to him.

"Don't I know it, live there as well with the love of my life." He said as he pulled a something

"You live there too? Then how I never seen you before?" I asked him, gaining a chuckle from him.

"Maybe we just had things preoccupaying us, living there is quite the chore sometimes." He said, looking at me. I looked at his brown and saw a faint purple hue in them.

"Well, I think it's about time for me to leave." He said as a dark mist surrounded him, then disappeared leaving him wearing some sort of cloak.

"Face your fears in order to move forward." He said as smashed the control panel, then walked to the shadows and disappeared.

I looked back at the control panel and saw that it was completely bustes and sparking. I ran back to the girls, to warn them about the unstoppable train.

"Girls! The train, nopony is conducting the train!" I shouted as I ran in. The girls looked at me with wide eyes and I could see that Applejack was starting to hyperventilate.

"Ah don't want to ride this dang thing anymore! Get me off of this death trap!" She shouted.

"Face your fears in order to move forwards." I heard Nyx say to herself.

"Calm down!" Dash shouted as she grabbed A.J's arm.

"Don't tell me to calm down when I know we're all going to die!" AppleJack shouted as she shoved Dash away.

"AppleJack, you have to face your fear!" I shouted at her.

"No!" She said as she curled into a ball.

"If you don't we're all going to die! What kind of friend wouldn't face their fears to help others!" I shouted at her. She stopped and looked at all of us.

"Alright, but if I die, I'll haunt your ass." She said as she stood up and walked towards the train engine room with me following behind to help.

"The panel's busted! How are we going to stop this!" I shouted. She looked around and found a red lever, then pulled it has hard as she could. The train was screeching to a stop.

PoV: ???

Location: Hill overlooking the train

"Fear of trains? Really?" I asked the stallion standing next to me.

"That's what I found, I didn't think it was a legitimate fear." He said, shrugging his shoulders and holding his wooden staff.

"So, have you thought about it?" I asked him as we walked towards the Empire.

"I have and I'll do it, to teach her  all I know about Green Eco." He said as we walked down the hill.

"You know, Surprise would be overjoyed to hear that." I said to him, giving him a sad smile.

"I know, and I want to redeem myself for my mistakes." He said with a sad sigh.

"You will." I said as we were covered in the Dark Eco mist.

PoV: Spike

Location: Crystal Empire train Station

The train stop, yeah~. I think I'm going to hurl, nope that's just the feeling of being scared shitless.

"You did it, AppleJack. AppleJack?" I said as I sat up and saw AppleJack on the floor with most of her fur turned pale.

"AJ, it's done. You can get up now." I said as I shook her. She shook her head as most of her coat color returned.

"Can we get off now?" She asked, making me roll my eyes. I helped her up and we walked back to the girls. Everyone was panicking still, so I shouted at them to shut up.

"We're here." I said as I got off the train with Scootaloo and Nyx walking out behind me.

"It's not as cold as I'd imagined it to be." I said as I touched the snow.

I heard the rest of the girls walk out behind us. I felt the feeling of Dark eco nearby and I saw the same hooded stallon and the cloaked figure from Canterlot through the blizzard. The hooded one gave me a thumbs up as they walked further away in to the blizzard.

"Spike, are you okay?" Nyx asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said as I looked back at Twilight and her friends as they were talking with somepony.

"We need to move, somethings out here to get us!" The stallion shouted at everyone.

"What's out there, Shiny?" Twilight said. The stallion pulled down his hoody, revealing that it was Shining Armor.

"When the empire came back, something or somepony came back with it." He said as demonic laughter could be heard in the distance.

"Come on!" Shining shouted as he ran towards the empire with us following behind.

A shadow soon jumped out of the blizzard and blocked our way. Shining tried to attack it but failed as it easily knocked him out.

"Face your fear in order to move forwards!" The shouted as it took the shape of...Pinkie? But only difference was that her mane was straight and she was a darker shade of pink.

She was holding two sharp swords and looked ready to kill.

"You guys go on ahead this one's mine." We all heard Pinkie say as she stood in front of the other one. We waisted no time in running towards the empire while I carried Shining. As we all got in, I looked back at Pinkie then went in.

PoV: Pinkie Pie

"I thought I got rid of you five years ago." I growled at her.

"And you have, but ever since you started to develop a crush on a certain robotic stallion, you've been thinking about me." She said with a smirk as she sheathed her swords and crossed her arms.

"You're afraid of him finding out about me, about him rejecting you, your friends finding out and reject you." She said.

"My friends wouldn't reject me!" I shouted at her.

"You're right, your friends wouldn't. But what about him?" She asked with a chuckle.

"He wouldn't...would he?" I said to myself. Would he not like me if he found out about her?

"Face it! You're afraid of him rejecting you!" She shouted with a laugh. I clenched my hands in to a fist and hit her straight in the muzzle.

"So, what if I'm afraid of rejection? I'm still willing to try!" I shouted at her as she fell to the snow, holding her muzzle in pain. She let go of her muzzle and looked at me with a smile.

"There, was that so hard?" She asked as she disappeared in a dark mist. I stood there looking at the spot she laid on and I could hear somepony walk behind me and put their hand on my shoulder.

"Pinkie, I know how you feel and I'm sure Nano wouldn't hate you, no matter what. He likes you Pinkie, but he's afraid of you not liking him back because of him being what he is." I heard the Stallion say as he took his hand back and walked away. I looked behind me but couldn't see a thing due to the blizzard.

I looked towards the large shield and walked over to it.

PoV: ???

Location: Crystal Empire

"Fear of being rejected. I honeslty didn't think she was afraid of that." I said to Sombra

"Neither did I. Anyway, who's next?" He said as he put on his old reading glasses.

"Ugh, the fashionista and the animal caretaker. I'll go do Rarity and Fluttershy's while you do the rest." He said as he walked down the street. I looked back at Twilight and sighed as I started to climb up a building to follow them.

PoV: Twilight

It's been ten minuted since we left Pinkie out there and I've been getting worried. I was going to go out there to look for her but stopped as Pinkie came into view, walking towards us.

Shining got up and gave her an opening and let her in.

Me and the rest of the girls ran at her and tackled her in a hug.

"Pinkie, we so worried!" Dash said as she got up.

"I'm fine, just shaken up a little." Pinkie said as we let go of the hug.

"What happened out there?" Fluttershy asked her.

"I faced my fears." She said with a small smile.

"Come on everypony, Cadence need our help." I heard Shining say. We began to follow him towards a crystal palace and on the way, I felt as if something was watching me. I looked up at one of the building and saw a cloaked figure looking down at me. He waved at me as he jumped and disappeared in mid-air in a mist of darkness.

I looked around to see if I could find it again but to no avail.

"Do not worry about your friends, their test of fear is all illusions." I heard somepony say.

"Twilight! What are you waiting for!" I heard Spike shout out. I looked at him and sped up.

PoV: Rainbow Dash

'What the buck is going on? Ever since we left Canterlot, everthing kept getting from bad to worsr!' I mentally asked myself. I looked around and noticed I got separated from the rest and ended up somewhere else.

"What the buck are you doing here?" I heard somepony say behind me. I looked back and saw a face I had hoped to never see.

"Dad?" I said to him.

"Don't you dare call me 'dad', your not family. If you were my daughter you would have already made to the Wonder bolts." He sneered at me.

"Is that what you want from me!? Just for somepony from your family to be in the Wonder bolts!" I shouted at him. I've had this conversation before.

"Wasn't the Sonic Rainboom enought to make you proud!?" I shouted afterwards.

"Anypony could've done that with enough training. The fact that you did it as a filly was nothing short of a miracle." He said as he began to walk away.

"Maybe, but I did it and helped my friends with it." I said to him.

"Oh really?" He said as out surroundings changed into a graveyard. He was standing behind five graves with my friends cutie mark. I walked over to them and got on my knees as O read their names on the stones.

"You failed to save them, you failed in being loyal to them and chose being a Wonder Bolt and you failed yourself." He said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"You can change this, only if you face your fear of failing. Failing can defines who you are and how you do things." He said as I felt tears fell down my muzzle.

"Why are you doing this to me!?" I sobbed out.

"You need to know that being perfect in everything is impossible without failure. All I'm saying is that you need to learn from your mistakes, not do it again and hope for a different outcome." He said to me. He has a point.

"Okay, thanks." I said as I gave him a hug.

"I'm proud of you Dash, you face your fear of Failure." He said as my vision went white.

"Dash!" I heard Shys voice as I opened my eyes

"What happened?" I asked them as I sat up.

"We found you in the middle of the street knocked out cold." AppleJack said.

"Alright, did I miss anything?" I asked them.

"Well, there was this stranger standing above you as if he was waiting." Rarity said.

"Where's Twilight and Spike?" I asked them.

"They went to get something called the Crystal heart." Scootaloo said as she walked in.

"I need some water." I said.

"By the way, why were you crying?" Pinkie asked.

"I wasn't crying!" I shouted in defense.

PoV: Twilight

"Spike, I think we found it!" I shouted as I looked the crystal heart.

"Finally, I don't know how many nightmare gems I could've eaten because I am full!" He said as be let out a loud burp.

"Spike~!" I shouted as I swatted away the smell. I walked over to the heart but was soon stopped as I felt somepony watching me.

"It's your turn to face your fears, Twilight." I heard the same voice from earlier say as a dark mist appeared in the middle of the room and two figures stepped out of it

"Are you sure you already made them face their fears?" The one with the hood and face mask said.

"By the precursors child! Yes I'm sure!" The other said with an elderly voice. The dark hooded one looked at me as he raised his hand

"I'm really sorry." The dark hooded one said as he casted a spell at me, knocking me out cold.

Fear

I opened my eyes and sat up. I looked at my surrounding and saw bloodied claw marks. I could hear somepony laughing down the hall way. I stood up and walked towards the direction it came from.

Once I made it, I gasped at what I saw. Jak in his dark form while wearing armor, sitting on a stool, filing his claws and waiting for somepony to fight him.

"Come on! Anyone else!?" He shouted as something hoped in the small arena he was in.

"Heh, you guys just never learn." Jak said as he stood up and got ready to fight.

It ran at him ready to kill but was soon shredded down by Jak like nothing. More and more came in, he killed every last one of them.

"Not even the Dark makers can stop me, who's stopping me from taking over Equestria!?" He said as he ripped off one of their heads.

"Jak, stop!" I shouted, gaining his attention. With the way he looked at me, he didn't seem to happy about it.

"I thought I killed you with all your friends!" He shouted as he leaped towards me. I dodged out of the way as he pounded the ground.

"Jak, this isn't you! Please stop!" I shouted at him, feeling tears starting to fall.

"Stop what? The fun, I don't think so!" He said as he blasted me with dark eco. I raised my hand and focused my light eco and countered his blast.

"You always were tricky one to get rid of." He said as he ran at me.

"What about Nyx and Scootaloo!? Did you kill them too!?" I shouted at him, earning a confuse look from him.

"Who?" He asked.

"If you don't know who they are. Then your not the real Jak. He wouldn't do this!" I shouted as I dodged a swipe from him.

"He wouldn't kill for no reason!" I shouted, dodging another one.

"And he would sure as hell know who Nyx and Scootaloo are!" I shouted as I could feel myself change. I could feel wings sprouting out from my back and felt at peace.

"That's new." He said as he looked at me.

I looked at him as I raised my hand and fired a powerful light beam that pierced through him. He coughed out some blood as he blocked his wound and looked at me.

"Congrats, Twi. You freed me from myself." He said as his eyes turned back into their normal blue color.

"You passed the test." He said as he closed his eyes and let go of his last breath of air. I got on my knees and started to cry.

I just killed the one I loved, and he thanked me.

Reality

I felt somepony shake me awake as I opened my eyes. I saw the dark hooded stallion shake me. Once he saw that I was awake, he stood up and held out a hand for me. I grabbed his hand as he pulled me up.

"She fears that her lover will turn evil by the dark eco in him. I can see a few reasons why you would be afraid about that my dear, but the chances of that happening are none." The elderly hooded stallion said.

"W-w-what?" I stuttered as I noticed Spike was being held down by magic.

"You gave him something nopony could've ever given him, you gave him somepony to love. He wouldn't leave you for anything in the world." The dark hooded one said.

"How do you know that, how do you know that he won't leave me?" I asked as I slowly backed up towards the crystal heart, feeling tears sting my eyes.

"I know this because-" He lowered his hood took off mask.

"It's true." As he took off his mask, I could see that it was him, Jak.

"Hey, Twi." Jak said as he gave me a small smile.

"So, this is the mare you've talked about." The elderly stallion said as he lowered his hood.

"The love is strong in the both of you." He said.

"I'm sorry I had to put you through that." I heard Jak say as he stood next to the elderly stallion.

"I'm not expecting you to forgive me right away. Hell, I'm not expecting you to forgive me at all but what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry, sorry for leaving you all behind, sorry for leaving Nyx and Scootaloo, and I'm sorry for leaving you." He said as he looked at me with teary eyes.

I ran to him and tackled him to the ground as I cried in tears of joy. He put his arms around me in return.

"I love you, Twilight Sparke." He said to me. I looked up at him and saw some tears flowing down his cheeks.

"I love you too, Jak." I said as I gave him a passionate kiss.

PoV: Spike

As Twilight was crying on Jak, I had walked towards the elderly stallion.

"So, who are you?" I asked him as he wiped a few tears away.

"My name is Sombra. Jak calls me by my old name, Samos." He said as he walked towards the crystal heart.

"Help me take this to the center of the city." He said as he grabbed the heart and gave it to me. We walked back to the center of the city to place the heart.

PoV: Jak

We've laying for what felt like hours. We finally got up and noticed Samos and Spike were gone along with the Crystal heart.

"Come on, I've got two fillies I need to apologize to." I said to her as a purple mist surrounded us both. We then appeared at the crystal palace.

The girls were surprised to see me while I tried to look for Nyx and Scootaloo. I looked back at Twilight and saw nod at me as I walked away in search of my two daughters.

"Nyx?" I said as I saw a her sitting next to Scootaloo as her sister slept.

"Hmm?" She said as she looked at me with a tired look in her eyes. Once she saw me, she let out a small gasp.

"Dad?" She said as she woke up Scootaloo.

"Hey you two." I said as I knelt down to their eye level. Scootaloo opened her eyes and saw me.

"I'm back, and I'm not leaving anytime soon." I said as Nyx walked up hugged me along with Scootaloo.

"Your back!" They both cried out in joy.

I stood there on one knee, hugging my two beautiful fillies. I felt someone tap my shoulders, I looked and saw Samos. I noticed that he's regaining some of his green fur back.

"Come, we must not missed the revelation of the new rulers of the empire." He said as he walked back out. I looked back at Nyx and Scoots, then picked them both up and held them.

"Let's go." I said as I followed Samos outside.

"I know that you all despise me with every fiber of your being but I am here to reveal the new rulers of the empire, so they may succeed in where I have failed!" I heard Samos shout out as I got closer to the exit. As I walked out with Nyx and Scootaloo, I saw Samos cast a spell in the air. The spell then headed straight for Cadence and Shining, lifting them up as it changed them.

Once the spell put them back down, they were changed to look exactly like a crystal pony, making all of the crystal ponies bow down to their new rulers. I saw Samos grip his staff as he almost fell.

Twiligh walked towards me as Samos looked at me. I let Nyx and Scootaloo down but they stood next to me, not wanting to leave my side.

"Jak, my boy. I need you for this." He said as he weakly walked towards the heart. He raised his staff and made green eco appear on the tip of it, then injected to the heart. The heart soon started to glow and the markings on the floor were glowing a bright green as it traversed through the floor around everyone.

A pedestal soon rose from the ground in front of me. I looked at Twilight and saw her about to put her hand on it and I did the same. We looked at each other as our eyes turned white while channeling Light eco onto the pedestal.

The Light eco soon merged with the green as it then spread through the empire. The blizzard soon stopped as Cadence took down the shield while the empire soon glowed in eco.

The empire shook as the heart flouted up in the air while it spun around in incredible speed. It soon fired a beam of pure light eco at Samos, lifting him up in to the air as he was consumed in the light.

Once the light died down, I saw a green Earth pony stallion with a dark green mane, wearing a green tunic with dark green pants and log shoes laying, down on the floor. The pedestal soon went back to the ground, letting us stop using our light powers.

"You learned how to use them?" I asked Twilight with a smile as walked towards the downed stallion.

"You can thank Lokzii for that." She said as she looked at the stallion. The stallion opened his eyes and narrowed them at us. He pulled out a familiar pair of glasses and put them on.

"Can't an old sage get some space!?" He said as he stood up.

"Honeslty, this worse than that time were Onin got very drunk." He said as he grabbed his staff and flouted off the ground.

"The Tyrant king, he's been freed from his curse!" A random crystal pony shouted, making the rest cheer.

"Long live the Sage!" They shouted in unison.

"Please, I don't deserve your praise. I've caused you all to suffer, I deserve nothing but hate." Samos said as he looked down in shame.

"That doesn't mean you can't redeem yourself." Twilight said to him.

"Yeah, and will help you along the way." I said with grin of determination. He closed his eyes as he smiled and nodded at us.

"Now, Spike." He said as he turned to look at Spike.

"You wanted to face your fear?" He asked, gaining a nod from Spike.

"You will, but not now for I've used a lot of magic and Eco." Samos said as he walked towards the new crystal rulers.

"I hope you two will be better rulers than I was." He said, bowing his head a little. He flouted back to me.

"Now, when do we leave, because honeslty this place is a deadly hazard with all the Crystals around. I learned that the hard way." He said as be rubbed his flank as he remembered his first encounter with the hazardous crystals, making us chuckle at him.

"Dad." I heard Scootaloo call me. I looked to my left and saw her and Nyx.

"It's good to have you back, Dad." They said as they hugged me. I returned the embrace as I put my arms around them and knelt down. I felt someone put their arms around and saw that it was Twilight.

"I'm in trouble now, aren't I?" I asked her with a smile.

"Big time." Twilight said as she kissed me.

'I'll never leave you again.' I thought as we stood up and looked at the sunrise. I felt Twilight hold my hand while Nyx and Scootaloo were in front of me.

"It's good to be back." I said to myself as Twilight laid her head on my shoulder. Next Chapter: The lessons we learn, with a side of boom Estimated time remaining: 13 Minutes