Twilight could feel nothing but pain. The pain filled her entire body, originating from her horn. It felt as if she was being crushed and stretched; burned and frozen; carved and sewn all at once. Every now and then, she would hear screaming. It would confuse her for a moment before she realised it was her own.

The purple mare felt as if she were going mad. The endless pain, the way she refused to feel anything else. Refused… No… She didn’t want to feel like this anymore… She just wanted it to stop!

It took what felt like years, but she did it. She forced away the pain. Finally, she just ached. Her horn still burnt, but it was nothing compared to her previous agony. Twilight continued to simply float in the void, mind blank.

“My… My name is Twilight Sparkle…” she whimpered. “I am the P-princess of Frien- Darkness… My parents are Twil- Queen N-nightmare Moon and Nigh- King Sombra…” She could feel tears filling her eyes. “I am just… just a copy… I’m not a r-real pony…” She had been considering it ever since her talk with Magic. When Princess Luna, disguised as Nightmare Moon, confessed, she knew it was true. “I’m j-just a copy of the original T-twilight…”

The alicorn shook her head furiously, scattering tears into the darkness. She gasped for breath as tears began to flow down her cheeks.

“F-fate… Magic… D-destiny? S-something is giving me a ch-chance to… to become the r-real Twilight…” she sobbed. “B-but I don’t want to replace her! I w-want to help Magic! I w-want to m-make her whole again! I… I… I w-want to… to…”

Twilight’s eyes opened wider as the realisation hit her. The void seemed to brighten, glowing a light blue and sparkling with stars. Her horn began to glow brightly.

“I want to be my own pony.” She murmured. “I don’t want to be a replacement, or a weapon, or a copy. I just want to be somepony who can make their own decisions, instead of being guided through every stage of my life! Especially if I’m being guided to kill ponies that are simply being guided as I am!”

The alicorn’s horn began to glow brighter. She cried out as her pain returned. It flowed from her head, down her back, into every limb. She heard a scream and then her vision went black.

When Twilight opened her eyes the first thing she saw was dark crystals. Hundreds of the things had fallen around her. A few smaller ones lay on top of her. She shrugged them off and rose to her hooves. One of her horseshoes had been knocked clean off, and her crown lay on the ground in front of her. A quick burst of magic returned both items to her.

The alicorn looked around for a moment before her gaze rested on an unmoving, dark blue shape.

“M-mother!” Twilight gasped. She began to run forward, only to stop as waves of pain rolled up her wing. She screeched in shock and pain as blood began to drip from her wing.

The alicorn hesitantly looked back at her wing. The feathered limb was trapped between some fallen crystals. It was pinned to the point where she could stand comfortably, but by jumping forward she had ripped part of her wing.

Twilight began to hyperventilate. Her wing was laying, mangled in front of her. She tried to focus her magic, but whenever she tried to shift the rock her wing screamed in protest. The alicorn finally gave up and simply collapsed. She continued to stare at her ruined wing as blood dripped to the ground. Tears filled her eyes and small sobs escaped her.

After what seemed like an eternity, Twilight’s ears perked. She could hear hoofsteps. She whimpered and lowered her head even more.

The alicorn was surprised when a blue aura surrounded the crystal trapping her wing. She was equally surprised when a purple wing gently turned her head away from the sight. She understood why a second later as pain filled the right side of her body, accompanied by a sickening crunch.

Twilight screamed in pain. Her horn sputtered, sending sparks of magic flying. The purple wing flinched as magic struck its owner. The alicorn panted heavily as her wing fell limply to her side. A small pool of blood had gathered under the feathered limb, resulting in a red-stained wing.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” asked the purple pegasus beside her.

“C-comet Trail?” Twilight whimpered as blue magic surrounded her injured wing.

“Right here.” He assured her.

Twilight screamed again as her wing was folded to her side. Some of her feathers were trapped in a bandage that wrapped around the frame of her wing.

“Not my best work but we don’t have much time.” Night Watch mused as she used another bandage to pin the wing to Twilight’s side.

“Wh-why… wh-what about f-father?” Twilight panted.

The two guards exchanged a quick glance.

“Well…” Comet frowned. “The king came back to the throne room looking a little worse for wear. He explained that the queen had betrayed him, and that if anypony were to find her-”

“Or you.” Night added.

“-They should attack, and kill if need be.” Comet finished.

Twilight squeaked in fear, burying her head in her hooves.

“It’s okay ma’am. We’re going to help you out of this.” Night assured her.

“B-but why?” Twilight whimpered.

“It’s like you said, ma’am.” Comet smiled. “We’ve been with you since you were a foal!”

Twilight looked up at the pegasus accusingly. “But you’ve been here even longer, haven’t you? And possibly Night Watch too, considering she’s your sister. I bet you joined the royal guard together, didn’t you? And then when Comet went missing, Night came after him and got captured too!”

The guards recoiled, visibly terrified.

“H-how did you know about that?” Night gasped.

“The old Twilight’s Element is now mine… But I don’t want it or the memories that come with it but that’s not important right now because we need to get mother and get out of here before the guards start searching the rubble!” Twilight insisted.

“Good idea.” Comet agreed. The two guards leant down and got their shoulders beneath the alicorn. Once Twilight was standing, Night broke away and trotted over to Nightmare.

Soon the group was traveling away from the wreckage, out into the Badlands.

“Are you sure you don’t want any help, Night? I know for a fact that when levitating something you feel part of the weight of it. For a pony of your size, carrying an alicorn must be hard.” Twilight worried.

“I-it’s fine, ma’am.” Night winced as she trudged onwards.

“Um, no offense, ma’am, but do we have a goal?” Comet asked.

“Yes, actually.” Twilight sighed. “We’re heading towards the edge of our territory. Once there we will search for Celestrians and have them take us straight to Celestia.”

“Wh-what? But why?” Comet gasped.

“I thought that news would make you happy.” Twilight frowned. “We’re going home, after all.”

The pegasus looked away guiltily. His wings drooped a little. Twilight sighed sadly. It was going to be a long trip.

After what seemed like hours, Twilight felt the magic in the air change. Instead of the heavy pressure of dark magic, there was the light breeze of Celestrian magic. Despite her doubts, Twilight felt a small smile playing at the edges of her muzzle. She had no idea how Celestia, or any of the other ponies there would react. Maybe they would welcome her and celebrate the return of their princess. Or maybe they would recognise her as an imposter and have her banished. Or thrown in a dungeon. Or banished and then thrown into a dungeon in the place she was banished to.

Twilight shook her head to clear it as they neared a stream. She glanced back at her companions with uncertainty.

“I’ll take mother.” The alicorn decided, stealing the dark alicorn from Night’s magical grasp.

The unicorn attempted to take her back, but she stood no chance against alicorn magic. Hesitantly, she allowed Comet to lift her up and over the water. Twilight was about to follow when she remembered her wing. In the end she settled on self-levitation, lifting herself across the water and touching down gently on the other side.

“Now what do we do?” Night frowned.

“We wait.” Twilight stated calmly. She lay Nightmare down beside the stream and sat next to her.

The first thing they expected to see was some of the royal guards. What they didn’t expect was a green explosion a few miles away.

“Should we check that out, or…” Comet trailed off uncertainly.

“We probably should.” Twilight decided.

The group found themselves looking down into a valley, which Twilight recognised as the one from her vision. Batponies were fighting furiously against a small army of changelings. Leading them was none other than Queen Chrysalis herself.

“What’s going on down there?” Night asked. “Why would the changelings just suddenly attack?”

“Well, for one, they’re on Celestia’s side.” Twilight mused. “And two, they probably sensed the love I gave to Nightlock and came looking for her.”

“Why would you give Sha- um, Nightlock love?” Comet frowned.

“She would’ve died otherwise.” Twilight sighed.

“So what?”

Twilight really had no idea. “So… nothing. It just didn’t seem right to leave her.”

“Fair enough.” Comet snorted.

The battle seemed to be fairly well matched. Batponies and changelings fell on both sides, and neither seemed to be winning.

“We should probably head back to the river.” Twilight decided, backing away from the edge.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Claimed a voice behind her.

Twilight began to turn around, only to fall as a blast of magic hit her square in the side. She shrieked in pain as she fell on her wing, crushing the twisted limb beneath her weight.

Night and Comet quickly fell beside her, blue magic striking them.

“So sorry darling.” The voice sighed.

“Don’t feel sorry, Sugarcube. They probably deserve it.” Another reassured them.

Best idea ever, Twilight. Check out an active battlefield, of course there’s going to be guards! Twilight scolded herself.

The alicorn could only watch as she was lifted into the air and carried away. It didn’t take long for her vision to start blurring.

I r-really need to stop passing out so much… Twilight thought as her world slipped away.