Tirek was defeated. Harmony Magic was spreading across the land to restore everyone’s Magic to them. It should have been a happy time. Yet for a small group a new tragedy was just beginning to unfold.

“Tom if- if this is some kinda joke…” Rainbow hesitantly said. She had heard the screams just the same as the rest of them. Some things couldn’t be faked. The purple Alicorn collapsed in on themself, muttering too fast for anyone to pick out the words. A violent trembling shook their body.

Moon Dancer stumbled forward like a sleep walker. She took hold of the Alicorn like a drowning mare grasps a life preserver and started weeping earnestly. If the Alicorn even noticed, they didn’t show it.

“It is no joke, Rainbow Dash,” Discord responded in more solemn a voice than any of them had ever heard from the draconequus.

“What happened to them?” Rarity asked quietly. She was struggling to keep her composure for the sake of her friends. Maybe what had happened hadn’t quite sunk in yet, but doing so was both easier and infinitely harder than she had ever imagined. It didn’t help much. Fluttershy was already crying and Pinkie…well, she looked like someone had just killed her best friend.

“The amount of Power they were forced to contain… if they knew how to embrace their goddesshood…no, what ifs are pointless now. All that matters is Twilight and Tom’s Souls have fused so completely that, if we didn’t have our memories of the fact, no one would know this Soul was once two Souls,” Discord answered sadly.

“Can’t ya’ll do somethin’?! Anything!” Applejack begged.

“I can toy with Minds and deceive Hearts, but I have never had power over Souls. Even for gods who hold domain over Souls, I don’t know if there is anything that can be done,” As much as he hated himself for delivering that news, better to tell them the truth than to offer them false hope that would be shattered.

Apparently the Alicorn heard him too, because they let out a primordial scream. Maybe they were shouting ‘no’, but no one could be sure.

“Is there any way to help them?” Fluttershy, ever the empath, couldn’t stand the amount of pain the Alicorn was in.

“I don’t know, Fluttershy, but first things first, we have to get them to calm down,” Discord snapped his talons and bottle filled with a blue substance appeared before jamming itself in the Alicorn’s mouth. They tried to spit it out, but couldn’t before taking a few gulps of the liquid. A moment later and the Alicorn shuttered before falling flat on their back, utterly silent.

“What was that?!” Applejack demanded to know.

“Relax, my dear farm mare, it was only some calming draught. If we’re going to help them, first we need to know what state their mind is in. A violent fusion like that could have any number of results,” Discord defended himself. He snapped his talons again and a medical coat appeared on him. “Do you know who you are?”

“They’re dead,” The Alicorn muttered in a monotone.

“Subject appears aware that they are not the originals,” Discord noted. Fluttershy stepped up beside him and in an instant a nurse’s hat was on her head.

“What do you last remember?” The Alicorn shook, as if trying to fight off the effects of the calming draught.

“Rage. Pain. Desire to kill. Tom and Twilight. Then just me…” Despite the calming draught, a few tears started to leak out, “Oh God, Tom was right. They did merge. But it’s so much worse!”

“How much of Tom and Twilight do you remember?” Fluttershy had to fight to keep her voice steady. She wanted to sob and wail at the injustice of it all right beside Moon Dancer, but that wouldn’t help anyone.

“I’m an abomination! I shouldn’t exist! I-” Just as the Alicorn started hyperventilating Discord summoned another potion and the Alicorn instantly fell asleep.

“Dreamless Sleep,” Discord said by way of explanation, “I thought for sure the calming draught would be enough.”

“So what do we do now? We can’t just give up!” Rainbow insisted.

“The only thing we can do is keep this fusion safe,” Moon Dancer suddenly spoke up.

“They are an Alicorn. They can’t do lasting damage to themself. But!” Discord cut off the angry shouts, “We should take care of their mental health. What is a Body without the Mind, Heart, and Soul? I fear poisonous thoughts are going to threaten to destroy them. Only with the help of friends will they be able to survive.”

“I’ll do it,” Pinkie declared with a steely look in her eyes, “Laughter is the best medicine and this one is going to need a whole lot of it!”

“I’ll help too,” Rarity stepped forward, conviction in every movement, “Generosity demands nothing less than to give to those in need.”

“I’m in!” Rainbow shouted, a fire in her belly, “Loyalty doesn’t stop just because they aren’t- they…just because Tom and Twilight aren’t here right now!”

“Of course I’ll help,” Fluttershy spoke up, courage welling up inside her, “They will need Kindness to soothe the hatred of themself I can see in them.”

“They’ll need Honesty to tell ‘em that things honestly aren’t as hopeless as they seem,” Applejack declared, certainty taking root in her Heart.

“They’re going to need each and every one of us, those here right now and all the friends that aren’t beside us. Twilight and Tom would’ve done the same for any of us,” Moon Dancer felt a steady calm come over her as she said those words.

“Truly, you are some of the best friends anyone could ask for,” Discord smiled at them, “But we still have a few things to take care of.” With a snap of his talons, everyone was in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. The Princesses and Queen Chrysalis were there as well. For the sake of privacy, Discord isolated the room.

“I’m never going back to Tartarus,” Chrysalis declared with a shiver.

“Everyone, well done! You’ve defeated Tirek and saved Equuis once more!” Celestia cheered. The group’s faces all turned dark at Celestia’s praise.

“What is wrong? You all look so sorrowful?” Luna asked.

“The truth is…” Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to finish. The words caught in her throat.

“The ones who saved us all, the ones who should be celebrating…” Rarity’s voice failed her as well.

“Tom and Twilight died in the final fight to buy us enough time to vanquish Tirek,” Fluttershy finally finished. The eyes of three Alicorns and one Changeling snapped to the sleeping form of the fusion.

“You’re lying,” Even to her own ears, Celestia’s words sounded hollow. She knew they wouldn’t joke about something like this and the looks on their faces were genuine.

“All the Magic you gave to them caused their Souls to fuse. I’m sorry,” Discord looked away. He didn’t realize until just then how much he hated delivering bad news.

“NO!” Not caring about appearances, Celestia scrambled to the sleeping fusion and held them close, “Twilight, you were an Alicorn. You weren’t supposed to leave me.”

Everyone turned away, to give the grieving Alicorn some small measure of dignity as she wept over her lost child.

“This was our fault, wasn’t it?” Luna whispered. She didn’t know how should could live with herself if she knew she had brought about the end of not only two friends, those that had reunited her with Chrysalis, but one of who had saved her from the Nightmare.

“NO!” Pinkie suddenly appeared to shout in her face, “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Tirek! Don’t you forget it, missy!”

“You are right, Pinkie. We must carry on, for their sake,” Chrysalis tried to comfort her old friend, even if her Heart was breaking right alongside the others.

Cadence just stood there in numb disbelief. Not even the return of her Alicorn Magic could shake her from her shock. Twilight had survived so much over the past year and this is what brought her down? It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t right! It might even hurt worse because they still saw Twilight’s face and would no doubt hear her voice when the fusion awoke.

“When will they awake?” Celestia asked after finally collecting herself.

“Should be any moment now,” Discord replied and no sooner were the words out of his mouth than heterochromatic eyes snapped open.

Author's Notes:

So begins Shattered Souls. Next chapter the fusion will be choosing their name. After coming to grips with existing, at least somewhat.

Chapter 3 will be Rainbow Rocks, which is sure to be messy with the fusion still being in the state they're in.

Then we move on to Starlight's little cult and the existential crisis can really begin!