Duskfall and Lightning had been in this version of Equestria for nearly 3 months now. Duskfall had all but perfected the ability to free people from Sombra’s mind control. She was finally feeling confident enough to free Snowfall from her prison.

The only annoyance in Duskfall’s mind was that she couldn’t free more than three ponies at a time. Her fine control simply wasn’t great enough to manage more than that without consequences. Thankfully her Alicorn nature granted her enough endurance to be able to keep freeing ponies for several hours before needing a break. Since it only took a couple of minutes to free each batch, it would probably only take a week to free all of Sombra’s troops.

It was just a shame the Elements were defunct. They’d been defunct since Twilight went missing. Duskfall’s working theory was somehow the Dark Magic on the door had slipped through Twilight’s connection to Magic and the Elements shut down to protect themselves. Of course, Duskfall hadn’t had the time to test that theory, but it was a theory that didn’t require Twilight being dead to function. All Duskfall knew was the one time she had tried to interact with the Elements she had gotten laid up for over a day with a crippling headache. And that was with her Healing Darkness helping out.

“I bet you’ll be happy to finally learn Snowfall’s real name,” Moon Dancer quipped as Duskfall prepared to free the filly.

“But Snowfall is such a cute name,” Duskfall pouted.

“Maybe she’ll adopt the name in gratitude,” Deep Thinker joked. Duskfall stuck her tongue out at him.

“Just a shame she won’t be waking up to her family,” Moon Dancer noted.

“Assuming she has a family to wake up to,” Deep Thinker was immediately treated to twin glares from the mares in the room.

“Don’t say things like that!” Duskfall barked.

“Really, for such a smart pony you can really say some dumb things,” Moon Dancer agreed.

“What? Refusing to talk about the possibility doesn’t remove the possibility,” Deep Thinker pointed out.

“A while ago I might have agreed and said any notions of bad luck were ‘unscientific’. That was before I became a living embodiment of a primordial force of nature and bad mental health,” Duskfall deadpanned.

“That’s fair,” Deep Thinker conceded.

“Anyway, I’m ready to roll, so let’s light this candle!” Duskfall carefully infused the prerequisite amount of Healing Darkness into the filly and she relaxed as the Dark Magic dissolved as per usual. The helmet came off as expected and Duskfall had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. It looked like Apple Bloom was somehow a Crystal Pony in this world. She had even been wearing the bow under the helmet.

“Someone you know?” Duskfall’s reaction hadn’t gone unnoticed by Moon Dancer.

“Maybe? Something strange is going on either way. Can you two watch her while I go grab Applejack?” Duskfall asked.

“Applejack? Why do you need-” Deep Thinker didn’t get to finish his question as Duskfall teleported away, “I hate it when she does that.”

“Hmmm… where am I?” The filly opened her eyes.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Moon Dancer said not unkindly.

“Who are you? Why do you ponies look funny?” She asked.

“Well, you’re a Crystal Pony and we’re both Equestrian Unicorns,” Deep Thinker answered.

“And generally it’s quite rude to tell ponies they look funny,” Moon Dancer added.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” The filly apologized. Just then Duskfall returned with Applejack and Apple Bloom in tow.

“Well Ah’ll be, she is real,” Applejack muttered.

“Told you I wasn’t high on my Insanity,” Duskfall pouted.

“Cool! Ah got a twin!” Apple Bloom chirped.

“Why do you look like me?” The young Crystal Pony asked.

“Wait, before we go any further, can we have your name kid?” Duskfall asked.

“Opal Bloom,” She answered.

“Ah’m Apple Bloom!” The young Earth Pony said excitedly.

“Pleased to meet you, I think? Isn’t that what the adults say?” Opal questioned.

“It’s certainly polite to say something like that,” Deep Thinker replied.

“So, Applejack, did you ever have any family from up north?” Duskfall asked.

“Granny Smith’d know fer sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me none if we did. A thousand years ago was a long time,” Applejack answered.

“You look like my sister, Opaljack, but you sound different,” Opal said curiously.

“Opaljack?” Applejack asked blankly.

“Opium-jack,” Duskfall snickered, quickly getting swatted by Moon Dancer. Applejack didn’t look particularly impressed either.

“Wha’s opium?” Bloom asked.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Deep Thinker tried to deflect.

“But-” Bloom tried to protest.

“Apple Bloom, please just drop it fer now. Big sister request?” Applejack nearly begged.

“Fine,” Bloom pouted.

“Where is my sister anyway?” Opal asked. The three researchers suddenly got very apprehensive. Applejack picked up on this and quickly realized the reason.

“Yer sister is…trapped. And we’re tryin’ ta rescue her!” Applejack explained as tactfully as she could.

“What?! Where is she?! How soon until I see her again?! She’s all I have left after our parents died!” Opal started crying. By some sisterly instinct, Applejack and Apple Bloom both moved in to comfort the distressed filly.

“Hopefully ya’ll will see her soon. We’re just about ready to go after tha varmint that has her,” Applejack told Opal. Opal gave a watery nod, “You can stay with mah family until we get yer sister back, all right?”

Duskfall just quietly watched. How many families had Sombra torn asunder? How many sisters would wake from their brainwashing to find their siblings dead? How many fathers would mourn the loss of their sons? Duskfall prayed Opaljack was still alive. No matter what happened, Duskfall would take joy in ending Sombra’s reign once and for all.

This was it, the final assault on the Crystal Empire. The siege had been going on for three days and the all important anti-teleport ward was just about ready to crack. At the moment, Duskfall really was high on her Insanity and more than eager to snuff out Sombra once and for all. If it wasn’t for Lightning forcefully reminding her that she needed to save her strength for the confrontation, Duskfall would have been pounding against the wards herself. As it was, Celestia and Luna were pushing themselves to near exhaustion. A corrupted Crystal Heart was proving to be quite the power source.

“Ready to go, Lady Duskfall?” Lightning asked once again.

“I’m a lot more ready than I was three days ago. Being on a low key permanent Insanity high for three days makes it a lot easier to tell what’s reality and what’s my madness,” Duskfall admitted.

“I don’t envy that one bit, Lady Duskfall. Having to constantly question what’s real and what’s not while fighting? You’re lucky you’re immortal, that’s all I’m sayin’,” Lightning remarked.

“Yeah, speaking of, you’ve been awfully quiet about that. I-”

“We’ll talk about it after we’re done fighting a damn war, m’lady,” Lightning responded surprisingly shortly. Was she upset with Duskfall or just stressed over the war and wanted to give the subject her full attention?

Before Duskfall could follow up, the royal sisters and the team of mages finally managed to break the defensive wards. Immediately Duskfall’s bloodlust shot to the forefront of her mind. Fortunately, that was already accounted for in the plan. The army would keep Sombra’s troops busy and Duskfall would confront the stallion himself. Ideally he’d be in the throne room, but Duskfall was more than willing to hunt him down like a dog.

Duskfall used Twilight and Tom’s memories of the castle to teleport directly to the throne room. Much to her frustration, Sombra was nowhere to be seen, even if Duskfall could sense his Darkness of Evil permeating the room.

“FUCK!” Duskfall shouted.

“You shouldn’t swear like that, it’s unbecoming,” Duskfall felt a chill run down her spine. From behind the throne walked Twilight Sparkle. Duskfall could recognize her anywhere, even with the changes. Darker coat, a black streak through her mane where the pink used to be, and most jarring, a pair of sickly looking black bat wings set this Twilight apart from any of her counterparts. Then Duskfall saw her eyes. Red with green sclera.

“Fuck, you’ve been ‘Norted,” Duskfall swore.

“If you don’t watch your tongue, I’m going to have to remove it from your head,” Twilight threatened calmly.

“Twilight, you don’t have to do this,” Duskfall said the first thing that came to mind as she forced herself down from her Insanity high.

“Why not? Sombra’s the only one who would tell me THE TRUTH!” Twilight screamed suddenly, her bat wings flaring.

“And what truth would that be?” Duskfall felt bad for burning time like this, but recovering Twilight took top priority every time.

“No one cares about me. I was just a useful tool. I still am, but at least he’s honest about his desire to use me! Celestia groomed me since I was a filly to be a soldier! Someone to save her sister or die trying! She didn’t care about my anxiety attacks or my OCD, just so long as she had her weapon to wield the Elements with. Then Sombra told me about Starswirl’s final spell. What it was supposed to do…” Twilight trailed off as she became overwhelmed by her fury.

“Twilight, I-”

“And you’re living proof he was right! Celestia wanted to make me an Alicorn, a princess, for her own inscrutable reasons! To make me her perfect little toy for all eternity! Tell me, how do you survive? What’s your secret, other me? I probably would’ve tried to kill myself a month or two after being made a princess,” Twilight’s tone turned conversational.

“I’m not exactly you, Twilight. I’m only half you,” Duskfall tried to deflect from the question. During her exile, a dark question of what would have happened to Twilight if Tom hadn’t come into her life immediately after her ascension had plagued her. What if her Twilight had never grown out of the fanatical loyalty, near worship, of Celestia? Duskfall was no fool. She knew how Twilight handled stress. Or rather, how she didn’t handle it.

“They got you to replace me, so you’re clearly close enough to me to be able to answer the question,” Twilight said icily.

“They didn’t get me to replace you! I’m just bumbling through the multiverse at the moment and happened to end up here and because some cosmic being is demanding I stick my nose in where it doesn’t really belong, here I am,” Duskfall snapped before sighing, “But there is no secret. The Twilight that went into making me didn’t get a chance to be a princess. Twilight performed a summoning ritual and wound up trapped in her own body with the other person that eventually became me in control. I can’t argue with any of what you’ve said. Celestia loves you like a daughter. But it’s a selfish sort of love, toxic to its core. My Celestia was getting better about it when I left, but if things had continued on course… I fear you might be right. Twilight would’ve had an episode and gone full villain like you have or would have been ground to dust by the pressure.”

“Then why are we fighting? Celestia is a terrible pony content to ruin the lives of everyone around her for her own selfish desires! It isn’t just me; she did and continues to do the same thing to Luna! ‘I feel bad for what I did to my sister’ not ‘I was a terrible pony and ignored what my sister needed from me’,” Twilight sneered.

“I don’t want to fight you! In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m fairly steeped in Darkness myself!” Duskfall flicked a wing, sending out a wisp of Darkness, “I’m here to kill Sombra for what he’s doing to these ponies and especially what he did to Shining.”

“And Spike…” Twilight whispered, but not quietly enough for Duskfall to miss it. She felt a stab in her Heart. Seeing Twilight had made her hope Spike was alive too. Apparently that had been a foolish hope.

“Right, so let’s kill Sombra and then we can sit Celestia down and air your grievance together. She’s an egomaniac, but she’s not beyond hope,” Duskfall offered.

“I…don’t know…I can’t claim Sombra’s been good to me, yet he’s offered me more decency than Celestia ever did. I’m not the Twilight Sparkle I was years ago. Maybe it’s the conditioning talking, but I like who I’ve become. I’m not as prone to stress, I can finally manage my OCD and it doesn’t rule me anymore. I know I’ve been party to something terrible. He killed Shining and Spike and got a lot of other ponies killed. Is it strange that I feel like I owe him something?” Twilight sounded so lost.

“I’m really not the best person to ask that question. I’ve done some pretty bad things myself and formed…attachments that weren’t particularly healthy. I still look fondly on one or two of them, even if I know it’s absolutely not healthy to do so. I’m going to kill Sombra regardless. I’d rather not have to go through you to do so, but I’m capable of doing so. I’m not asking you to slit his throat or anything. Just to stand aside,” Duskfall pleaded.

“I…can do that,” Twilight sounded like she was in pain as she folded her wings to her sides, “I guess your me was a lot stronger than I am. That door beat me. I failed so Spike and Shiny are dead. I’m fully aware that Celestia should get a lot of the blame for setting up this whole mess as a ‘test’, but logic and emotions have a strained relationship more often than not.”

“Twilight, I have a version of your memories, if what the door did in this world is anything like mine, I hardly blame you. Although, why didn’t your Spike snap you out of it?” Duskfall questioned.

“How could Spike have snapped me out of it?” Twilight asked, sounding confused.

“Twilight went to the door alone, leaving Spike at the top, and she encountered the door alone. Ah, you both went down together, didn’t you?” Suddenly it made sense.

“Why would I leave my number 1 assistant behind? What a difference one little choice can make…” Twilight shook her head ruefully, “It’s so funny I think I might laugh until I cry.” She didn’t laugh. She just stood there with a miserable expression. Duskfall hated seeing that look, so she did something about it in the form of a hug.

“Isn’t this just so sweet?” Duskfall and Twilight could practically feel the condescension dripping from that voice and Duskfall had the question of where Starlight had gotten off to answered in the worse possible way.

“Fuck off Starlight!” Duskfall barked as she broke the hug with Twilight. Standing at the door to the throne room was the source of all of Duskfall’s woes. She’d obviously taken a hit of Sombra’s Dark Magic, but thankfully she hadn’t sprouted wings yet. Even if Duskfall wasn’t sure if those were some kind of twisted Alicorn wings or just constructs of Dark Magic yet.

“Now why would I go and do a thing like that when I’ve finally leveled the playing field with you, Duskfall?” Duskfall couldn’t help but burst out laughing, “What’s so funny?!”

“You’re a powerful Unicorn, Starlight. With Dark Magic boosting you, you’d certainly be a match for me, hell, probably smear me against wall…300 years ago,” Duskfall grew a smirk.

“300 years?! What are you talking about?!” Starlight demanded to know.

“Yeah, while you were screwing about after you shattered Twilight’s Cutie Mark, I legitimately went insane. I was too powerful to contain and too mentally unbalanced to let be free. So Celestia and a guy with a time machine dumped me off on an isolated planet in the armpit of the galaxy sometime in the far flung future. They hoped I’d burn myself out and come to my senses. What actually happened was I learned to embrace my Insanity alongside my Darkness and became the Alicorn of both. That process took a little over 350 years and I grew stronger with every year. Unlike with the troops, I don’t have to hold anything back. So come on, let’s see how ‘level’ the playing field actually is!” Duskfall taunted.

Starlight gave a wordless roar of anger and fired off a blast of Dark Magic. Duskfall threw up a barrier of Wild Darkness and the two canceled each other out. Duskfall was surprised at this outcome, but didn’t let it show on her face. How much visceral hatred was Starlight holding onto? Her Dark Magic shouldn’t have been that powerful!

“Starlight, that’s enough!” Twilight shouted.

“NO! IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH! This bitch took everything from me! Now I’ll do the same to her!” Starlight swore as she stamped her hoof, dozens of inky black tentacles of Dark Magic springing up around Duskfall in an attempt to either capture or crush her. A quick teleport for some distance and Duskfall let loose with her own blast of Wild Darkness. Starlight responded with a pillar of crystal to bounce Duskfall’s attack back at her. Duskfall simply absorbed her Darkness back into herself.

“Starlight, stop!” Twilight tried again. Starlight apparently had enough and attempted to fire a laser at Twilight. She countered with a crystal of her own, refracting the laser into the walls, leaving trails of destruction where they struck, “Well, that changes things.”

Twilight coated herself in Dark Magic and charged Starlight who tried to throw up a kinetic barrier to stop her, but Duskfall shattered it with a quick spell, allowing Twilight to plow into the Unicorn.

“You really don’t know how to quit when you’re ahead, do you Glim Glam?” Duskfall noted as Starlight disengaged from Twilight by teleporting to the other side of the room.

“I haven’t come this far just to fail now!” Starlight screeched and let loose a torrent of Dark Magic flames from her horn. The heat of it was such that the carpet and other fabrics adorning the room burst into flames themselves. Twilight and Duskfall both cast spells to counter it and Duskfall had to take extra care to make sure her Darkness didn’t eradicate Twilight’s spell along with Starlight’s. Together the pair’s might made quick work of Starlight’s fire, but the Unicorn was by no means done. When the area cleared of the leftovers of the spells, there were more than a dozen Starlight Glimmers, some Shadow Clones, others illusions.

“Had to be Shadow Clones,” Duskfall murmured before shaking it off.

“I’ll destroy you while you waste time trying to find the real me!” Starlight boasted. Duskfall just smirked. As much as she couldn’t stand using Shadow Clones herself these days, she did know how to break them and illusions as well. A pulse of Void Darkness took care of them, even if using such Darkness left Duskfall feeling a bit lightheaded.

Twilight and Duskfall together advanced on Starlight, both glowing with power.

“No! NO! This isn’t fair! I have all this power and I still couldn’t beat you!” Starlight started crying with despair.

“You’re the idiot who dragged Twilight into our fight,” Duskfall pointed out.

“I-I-”

“Sleep,” With that command, Starlight collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“What did you do to her?” Twilight asked.

“Healing Darkness and Sleeping Darkness are very closely related. It was a simple matter for me to force her to sleep after she wore herself out a bit. She won’t awake until I allow it, I don’t think. Still kinda new to this,” Duskfall admitted sheepishly.

“So you’ve turned one of my pawns against me and incapacitated the other. Color me… mildly impressed,” From out of the gloom of the destroyed throne room, Sombra coalesced. Duskfall felt a fury begin to bubble in her gut, but noticed something that stopped her cold. Sombra hadn’t remodeled his body into a golem of Dark Magic like everyone had been assuming. At some point he had become a living mass of Darkness of Evil.

Did this make him a Greater Spirit of Darkness? Was that even possible? What would that mean for the fight? According to Discord, her power should be greater than a Greater Spirit, but that also hinged on her being fully connected to her goddesshood. In any event, Duskfall was looking at the fight of her life.

“You have been a pain for some time now, you and that Pegasus. Freeing my soldiers from my control, you have almost singlehandedly turned the tide of this war. However, you are the only one capable of doing so. Once I crush you I can begin recapturing my troops and eventually march to conquer all of Equuis!” Sombra gave his evil speech. Duskfall at least appreciated he made no offer for her to join him.

“Haven’t you read a book, Sombra? The daring heroine with a need to avenge her fallen family always defeats the evil overlord!” Duskfall exclaimed with far more confidence than she felt. If real life were like a book, she wouldn’t have existed to begin with.

“Well, we will just have to see if reality reflects fiction, won’t we?” Sombra purred. Both Sombra and Duskfall marshaled their strength, black auras forming around them both, but around Duskfall a sort of TV static seemed to also come into being around her. That was Duskfall’s ace in the hole, her Insanity.

Twilight decided to make herself useful by dragging Starlight’s sleeping body away from where the carnage was about to happen. Truthfully, Twilight wouldn’t be surprised if the two leveled the whole castle. She knew she was going to regret this but Twilight teleported to the Equestrian camp with Starlight in tow. Not a moment too late, as a powerful blast of Darkness shot out from the throne room and destroyed a few of the pillars of the castle.

“TWILIGHT?!” Of course Celestia had to be the first one to find her. Twilight was not in the mood to deal with her former mentor without someone to mediate for her. Celestia rushed up to her and crushed her in a hug.

“I thought I had lost you. Oh, thank the stars you’re alive!” A long time ago, Twilight might have been touched by something like this. She knew better now.

“Let. Me. Go,” Twilight ground out.

“Twilight, what-?” Celestia gasped as she looked down, directly into Twilight’s red and green eyes. She gasped and stumbled away.

“What’s the matter, Celestia, I thought you’d be glad to see me?” Twilight asked sardonically.

“What happened to you, Twilight?” Celestia asked in a horrified whisper.

“Well, let’s think about it, what do you think might happen when a young adult mare with more power than common sense is held prisoner by an evil tyrant for almost five years? I’m clearly not dead, so I’m pretty sure you can fill in the rest!” Twilight spat, “Five years of being beaten, assaulted, and used as a plaything for his amusement. Do you know what the most galling thing is? For all that he did to me; he still treated me better than you ever did.”

Celestia reeled as if struck. How could Twilight say something like that?! Celestia loved Twilight like a daughter! How could Twilight compare her and someone by her own admission had physically, mentally, and maybe even sexually assaulted her!

“And look, Celestia, you got exactly what you wanted in the end,” Twilight spread her leathery wings, only increasing Celestia’s horror, “The only good you’ve ever done me wasn’t even intentional. It was when you forced me to go to Ponyville to become the Element of Magic and I wound up finding some real friends. Not that you cared. All you wanted was your sister so you could go back to controlling her like you controlled me!”

“I don’t control either of you!” Celestia protested, “Luna, tell her!”

The younger Alicorn’s silence was damning.

“Luna..?” The Alicorn in question started fidgeting.

“You can…at times…be somewhat…overbearing, Sister,” Luna admitted.

“But I’m not-”

“OH REALLY?! Then why were you trying to make me an Alicorn princess?! If you knew me at all you’d know I would’ve hated every second of it! But you also know I would’ve never said a word against you. So which is it? Do you only know me as the loyal lapdog that would have done literally anything you asked of me without question or do you know me as the pony that had OCD and an extreme anxiety disorder? Either way there’s no excuse for wanting to make me a princess. So, Celestia, why do it?” Twilight’s fury had turned cold as she bored into her former mentor with her gaze.

“Twilight, I… I thought you would’ve been happy to spread friendship across Equestria,” Celestia said weakly.

“So I was just a lapdog after all. Does the word ‘introvert’ mean anything to you? I’m perfectly capable of enjoying time with my friends, but I need time to myself too. If you had used those words on me back then, if you had told me I was supposed to spread the magic of friendship to all of Equestria, I would have killed myself trying to do it. Maybe literally but definitely emotionally, day in and day out forcing myself to attend more social events, forcing myself to take on more work. That’s on top of whatever monster-of-the-week or world ending event was happening. Do you not see where that might be a problem?” Twilight asked.

“But your friends would have helped you!” Celestia protested.

“HA! I wouldn’t have bothered my friends for something you assigned me with. Even if I did, where would they find the time? Applejack takes care of her farm, Rarity has her business she was trying to expand last I heard, Pinkie has to take care of Pound and Pumpkin Cake on top of helping out around Sugar Cube Corner, Rainbow was training for the Wonderbolts and managing Ponyville’s weather, and Fluttershy has a more than full schedule taking care of her animals. Have you ever stopped to think how much trouble they go through just for being the Elements of Harmony? Whenever duty calls they have to drop everything and go or the world could be doomed. Yet they haven’t seen a single bit of compensation last I knew. So no, my friends wouldn’t have been able to help me,” Twilight countered sourly.

Celestia was stunned. No one witnessing her argument with Twilight even took note of the half the castle collapsing from Duskfall and Sombra’s duel. Where things really as bad as Twilight had said? She had never heard complaint from the other Elements.

“Twilight, are you being truthful? Heroes of the Realm are due a certain amount of recompense and a number of privileges and even a noble title in their own right. You received none of these things?” There was a dangerous note in Luna’s voice as she looked at her sister.

“Luna, some of those practices fell out of favor-”

“THEN I WOULD HAVE GLADLY REPAID THEM WITH MY OWN FINANCES! AM I NOT A PRINCESS?! I WOULD HAVE GRANTED THEM THEIR DUE MYSELF!” Luna exploded into the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“And the law concerning financial compensation for labor lost when called to arms was still on the books five years ago,” Twilight noted, “I checked after the Discord incident, so we should have received compensation when called on to deal with him. Technically the way the law is written means we could also be eligible for when we went to fight Nightmare Moon, but that would be up to the others if they wanted to pursue that.” And there went the rest of the castle.

“Sister, you had better have a very good explanation for this,” Luna said coldly.

“It slipped my mind! We were so caught up in making sure everything went back to normal after Discord that I forgot! I’m not perfect!” Celestia tried to defend herself.

“That’s all you had to say,” Twilight sighed, “But none of that gives a reason as to why you wanted me to be a princess in the first place. So, what was that defining moment? That train of logic that dropped you off at the station that made you think it was a good idea?”

Celestia knew she was very much in trouble. At this point Luna would absolutely murder her when she learned what Celestia had been planning and Celestia was starting to suspect Twilight would piss on her grave. At the same time, trying to hide her intentions now would never work. These two were on to her and trying to weasel something past Luna at this stage had never ended well for Celestia in the past.

“I suppose I’ll tell you when Duskfall returns from battling Sombra. This probably involves her as well, after all,” Celestia could only hope Duskfall would help reign in her sister and Twilight. That cooler heads would prevail… Celestia was asking for the Alicorn of Insanity to help others be reasonable…she was so screwed.

“Don’t think I don’t realize this is a stalling tactic, but I’ll allow it. You are right in that Duskfall should probably hear this,” Twilight conceded.

“Oh, and Celestia, should you try and duck out of this, I will be telling everyone about the Dark Stone incident,” Luna promised.

“YOU SAID YOU’D TAKE THAT TO YOUR GRAVE!” Celestia shouted in surprise.

“And that makes it perfect blackmail to keep you from flying off into the sunset and pretending this conversation doesn’t need to happen,” Luna replied dryly. Before Celestia could reply, the rubble of the castle was encased in an orb of Darkness and when it vanished all that was left behind was a crater.

“Holy shit,” One of the nearby ponies uttered. That just about summed up almost everyone’s thoughts. It looked as if the castle and the area around it, just barely missing the residential area, had been surgically removed from existence.

“Lady Duskfall!” Twilight barely heard the shout, but she definitely heard the rainboom that came after. Given Rainbow would likely never refer to someone else as their ‘lady’ and the contrail and magical signature were completely different, Twilight made the easy assumption that it was the other rainboom capable Pegasus that had come along with Duskfall. A moment later she returned with Duskfall on her back.

“I’m gonna feel that in the morning,” Duskfall moaned and flopped onto the ground bonelessly. Arcs of black electricity skittered across her body.

“You OK? What happened to Sombra?” Twilight asked as the Pegasus started to fret over Duskfall. Lightning something, wasn’t it?

“I ate him, I think?” This answer was obviously met with cries of shock, “He tried to possess me as I was running low on juice. Jokes on him, while we fought for control my Wild Darkness started eating away at his Darkness of Evil. By the time we noticed, I was strong enough to trap him in me, but, well, he had one last hurrah in him.”

“The crater?” Celestia asked.

“Yeah. I think a few of my internal organs have ruptured, so if you could find me an out of the way place before I die, that’d be great,” Twilight gasped.

“You can’t die! You have to yell at Celestia with me! Where’s a medic?!” Twilight shouted.

“Relax, Twi, death’s not an issue for me. I’ll just pop back up right as rain in about an hour. Lightning, I’m starting to fade. Put me somewhere quiet and I swear to God if you do anything funny to my body I will know and I will make you pay for it,” Twilight was shocked at how uncaring Duskfall was about her impending death. Was she really going to revive just like that? The look on Lighting’s face spoke of apprehension, which definitely didn’t reassure Twilight. But according to Duskfall it was already too late for her.

How surreal was it to watch someone else who had your body die? Twilight could now answer that question. She regretted following Lightning to the place the Pegasus intended to let Duskfall die and just standing there quietly as Duskfall’s body became still in death. With her eyes closed and her mouth shut, it was disturbingly easy for Twilight to see her own dead body on that bed.

“So, does this ever get easier?” Twilight tried to make conversation.

“This is the first time I’ve seen her die,” Lightning answered, “The first I ever heard of her ability to die and resurrect was when we first came to this dimension. I’m still not sure it isn’t a crazy delusion she’s convinced herself is real somehow. Yet there she is, completely dead, so I guess we’ll find out in an hour.”

Over the course of the hour, a couple of ponies came through. Celestia and Luna probably would’ve been among them if they weren’t busy trying to get the ‘hibernating’ troops to a place Duskfall could hopefully free them. Assuming she did revive like she claimed she did. But Lightning and Twilight stood vigil over her body. As the end of the hour drew closer, they became more and more agitated.

“What if she’s really dead? What do we do? What do I do? I’ve devoted my life to her. I’ve only known her a couple of months but something about her makes me want to be better than I was. I’m part Changeling. I don’t need emotions to survive like a full-blood one, but I can still taste them. Before Lady Duskfall, I was awful. I gorged myself on fear and terror and hatred. Then she showed me kindness and compassion is so much better. The funny part? She did it while pretending to give me a taste of my own medicine, forcing me into bed with her. Of course, being able to read emotions, I was able to see through her, but for a moment I was so scared and I thought ‘is this what everyone else felt’? It’s one thing to be eating emotions. It’s another to be the source of those emotions. It really opened my eyes,” Lightning confessed.

“Now I kinda feel inadequate. I’m just here because she promised to help me yell at Celestia. I guess we both kinda fall into the same category. We end up following the first people who show us kindness. For me it was my Ponyville friends and now Duskfall. For you it’s Duskfall again,” Twilight noted.

“And she doesn’t think she has any leadership skills,” Lighting and Twilight shared a giggle over that. Leadership came in many different forms, after all.

“Who’s besmirching my good name?”

“Duskfall!” Both mares exclaimed. Both then tried to smother Duskfall with hugs.

“I told you I’d be fine, didn’t I? Geez, have a little faith,” Duskfall tried to sound sour, but failed miserably.

“I was never worried, Lady Duskfall,” Lightning lied through her teeth.

“So that was a ‘welcome back, sweetie’ hug, was it?” Duskfall teased, “What’s your excuse, Twi?”

“You try watching a body double die and see how that affects you,” Twilight huffed.

“I do have video recordings of me killing myself, but I am the Alicorn of Insanity, soooo…” Duskfall trailed off, “Did you get to talk with Celestia while I was down?”

“We started, but someone destroyed the entire Crystal Empire,” Twilight teased.

“Last I recall, I was able to keep the blast to just the castle,” Duskfall deadpanned.

“Still a fucking big explosion,” Lighting remarked.

“Alright, well, do you wanna have your ‘talk’ with Celestia now or wait until after I break all the mind control?” Duskfall asked.

“I…ugh, wait until after you’ve freed everyone. I’ve held these grievances for about five years now, what’s a little bit longer?” Twilight grumbled.

Luna, Duskfall, Celestia, and Twilight all sat around a table in a private chamber in Canterlot Castle. The last of the mind control had been broken by Duskfall yesterday. Celestia knew this day was coming. At least Twilight had her normal purple eyes again instead of the Dark Magic red and green.

The past week had been draining on everyone, but Duskfall most of all. Freeing all the Crystal Ponies and POW from Sombra's control had taken a lot more out of her than she had expected. Yet the look on Opal Bloom's face when she reunited with her sister had been well worth it. Still, before the week could properly finish, there was one last order of business to take care of.

“So, let’s pick up from where the conversation ended. Why did you want to make me a princess?” Twilight jumped straight into the issue, no formalities.

“I’ve had time to think it over. My reasons were not as pure as I thought they were… I wanted to make you a princess, Twilight, because I thought it was time for someone new to take over ruling Equestria,” Celestia admitted.

“Sister, did you misspeak? I’m sure you meant to say you were ready to step down and wanted to make Twilight a princess so she could rule beside me, correct?” Luna’s voice was perfectly even, but her body was radiating fury.

“No…I thought it would be best to give Twilight a fresh slate. As I said before I thought her friends would assist her, but reflecting upon that I realize how foolish that was. Traveling back and forth from Ponyville to Canterlot would be draining on anyone, even if the tickets were free. But I have reflected and now I wonder if I didn’t just want a vacation so badly I decided you were my ticket to freedom and nothing more, Twilight,” Celestia was honestly ashamed of herself.

“That sounds distressingly similar to something my Celestia might have thought once…” Duskfall murmured.

“And how did you intend to make me step down, Celestia?” The near absolute zero depths of space held more warmth than Luna’s voice.

“I…probably would have tried to browbeat you as I have before,” Celestia admitted. Luna stood up and stormed from the room.

“I suppose it’s nice to finally have confirmation. I just hate that I had to go through all this to get it,” Twilight said in a disconnected sort of voice, her bat-like wings fidgeting.

“What are you going to do now, Twilight?” Duskfall asked.

“I’m tempted to just pack up and see if I can’t leave with you. But my parents don’t deserve that and neither do the girls. Luna will probably need some help in the near future too,” Twilight shot a dirty look at Celestia, who wilted, “I’m not even sure if I’m a real Alicorn or not and besides that I have to stick around to try and fix the Elements.”

“Well, I’ll try and help where I can, but I don’t know how much longer Lightning and I will be here. Hopefully we’ll get to go home soon, but I doubt we’ll be that lucky,” Duskfall sighed, “If Lightning and I vanish from our beds and Starlight is missing from her cell, just presume we’ve been called on to our next mission none of us asked for.”

Twilight got out of her seat to hug Duskfall.

“You may not have asked for it, but you were certainly needed. Thank you, Duskfall and tell Lightning I said thanks too if I don’t see her again,” Twilight said.

As Equestria slept that night, three mares vanished from that world without a trace. Yet their impact would be felt for a long time to come. When Duskfall, Starlight, and Lightning awoke, they’d find themselves in the Everfree once again.

Author's Notes:

I am so sorry this took as long as it did, but there's a reason for it. Even if that reason is so stupid I can hardly bare to think about it.

So, I've mentioned before I have insomnia. Two days after I posted the last chapter and when I was about half done with this chapter, I had a pretty nasty bout. I was up for about 38 hours before I finally managed to sleep. Then I was awoken AN HOUR LATER by my father telling me to clean our cat's litter box. The litter box I had just cleaned before going to bed.

This was basically what's been happening this whole week. In the last 5 days I've gotten about 3 hours of sleep. That's why this took so long. I was having such a hard time focusing that I could barely type a sentence at a time.

Some masochistic part of me is just glad I managed to finish this within my self-imposed weekly deadline. I feel like that attitude is pretty self-destructive...

So that's why the last segment is a bit weaker than it could've been. I'm just losing all will to live until I get a solid night's sleep at least. Ideally I'll pull the same stunt I did when a sleeping pill forced me to stay awake for 3 days straight and somehow my parents will let me hibernate for 2 days. Ha. Not likely...