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Pony POV Series Season Six: Dark World/Shining Armor

by Alex Warlorn

Chapter 66: Episode 123: (Shining Armor) SemiT malC-Calm Times Part 3 of 3

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Pony POV Series Alicorn Ascension
My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
Part 36
Duel To The Death At The Dawn Of Time
By Alex Warlorn
Edited by Louis and Kendell2

I had told Razzaroo that I would never set hoof at the Dawn of Time. From Rarigreed to Razzaroo, herself, I had slogged through battle after battle after battle after BATTLE...I'll admit, they were exciting and bond-building, and the victories were wonderful, and it was always great rescuing my friends from their darkness...but I'd HAD MY FILL of needing to regrow my own brain!

Let this 'unreasonable nemesis,' whoever he was, wait all eternity for me in vain!

Most satisfying victory imaginable against a savage maniac I didn't even want to know, let alone deal with.

But the cruel truth was that if you were a god, and you wanted access to everywhere, every possibility, and every-when, you need to enter at the very beginning. You had to start climbing at the base of the tree. And to do what I needed to be do, that was where I went.

I had spent plenty of time in the world where Spike and Queen Libra had wed to unwind, rediscover my happy place, roll up my divine sleeves, and gird myself for this stupid, aggravating, and thoroughly unnecessary battle with whoever. I'd beat this idiot, have tea, and get on with my life.

How far back WAS the Dawn Of Time? It was where the first version of the Heart World was born, and from where all other Heart Worlds originated thereafter. This was the beginning. Of everything.

Since time didn't exist yet, there wasn't much happening.
Since this was the moment that my universe would come into being, there wasn't much here.
Mortal perceptions didn't exist yet.
There were no souls in this proto-universe yet.

Merely the one point of existence, that Entropy hated beyond all reason. That tiny point that dared disturbed the darkness, that brought energy, matter, and ultimately, life.

I saw my brother Pensilis, Alicorn of the Hanged Mare Tarot, with his signature noose around his neck. And with him was another of my brothers, Puerilis, the Alicorn known as the Fool Tarot.

At first Pensilis looked downright elderly, but as he was getting closer to the newborn point of existence, he looked like a colt! Puerilis must have noticed me because he looked at me and waved, "Hey, Sister-I-Don't-Know-Yet!"

I politely waved at him. He could feel his Mother in me, as would all my siblings. Regardless of the timeline, the universe, the point in history, which version of them it was, we would know we were siblings. It was a very enjoyable feeling.

Pensilis and Puerilis were here to do their duty at the appointed 'first-moment' to awaken the newborn universe where she lay, comfortably sleeping, their duty to protect her and not leave her side no matter what until she fully awakened.

Libra looked positively adorable as unborn Alicorn foal, curled up, sleeping peacefully, giving off a soft glowing, snuggled up in that speck of existence smaller than an atom, waiting for the nanosecond which she'd awaken, and the mortal universe, herself, would become a solid defined Concept.

It seemed like they were an infinite distance away, when I tried to fly closer to them, it was like I was standing still.

Then suddenly I was face to face with death itself. A black and white Alicorn with skeletal wings.

"Amicitia Zorya Spes," the Alicorn of the 13th Tarot recognized me at once.

= 'Otherside Otherstory/Riku Boss Battle' 358 Days/2 Kingdom Hearts =

"Mortis..." I whispered.

"Welcome to the Dawn of Time, little sister," death smiled. "You and I are destined to fight."

I tensed myself. I charged up my magic. A showdown against Death, himself...

"So...this is it?"

"No. I'm not here to fight you at all."

My power deflated. "HUH-?!" I felt like I had just studied for a test I forgot that I had already taken. Okay, I didn't want to fight my brother: I didn't want to fight at all but I had this weird feeling of wasted feelings.

"Our grand fight is not to occur until the end of the fourth iteration of this universe, and before the eve of the fifth. As this is the dawn of the fourth iteration..."

"I have an idea, Mortis." I interrupted. "Let's both agree, here and now, to never let any bad blood develop between us. That way, we'll never have to fight at all, my dear brother."

"Your common sense is refreshing, but your misunderstand. It'll be our duty to cross horns when this universe is dying of old age. And I would make a pathetic opponent at this point in time. Since there is no life, there is no death. Thus, I am effectively powerless because the Concept of Death is meaningless if there is nothing to die. Now that I have your undivided attention, I came here to tell you something very important: DUCK NOW!"

I did. A blue flare of magic that would have gone straight through my brain passed overhead, burning at a few hairs of mane.

"MORTIS! You backstabber! Why did you warn her?!"

"Because I agreed to be your distraction so I could warn her since I've taken a vow not fight my own blood siblings until my duty commands it, and as a favor," Mortis said simply.

I turned my head to see who had just tried to kill me.

It was the Alicorn of The 14th Major Arcana. But, that didn't, it couldn't.

"Cadence?"

But this Cadence was younger, looking like the teenage Cadence did when she foal sat me. And her mane was completely blond and was longer. Around her neck and tail was a large ruby shaped like a heart, held by a pink-bow. She looked at me...defiantly? Determined? Like she was a knight in shining armor about to risk her life for the sake of those she loved against something terrible? Against something evil?

I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. No...not her...please not her...

"How could you! I chose here so no one else would get hurt!" The pink Alicorn snapped at the black Alicorn who didn't respond. "Amicitia Zorya Spes! I, Mi Amore Cadenza, will protect all of creation, no, ALL LIVING THINGS FROM YOU!"

I paled. "You're...but...there's no reason to...no."

"There is every reason Witch Zorya! I'll never let your taint enter the universe!"

"Taint?! What are you talking about?"

"MAGIC!!!" Cadenza hissed.

"Magic?"

"Don't play dumb with me! Magic is chaotic and dangerous! All magic does is disrupt harmony and worse, it gives others the power to manipulate and twist the free will of others!" She stomped a hoof in the nothingness causing blue fire to bloom around her hooves. "I won't let magic bring misery and death to innocent mortals!"

"But...that's not all magic is."

"That's all it NEEDS to be! A pretty poisonous flower is still poisonous and needs to be weeded! I won't let you bring your venom here! I won't let you poison Libra you Wicked Witch!"

Mortis merely bowed and began to trot away backwards, not taking his eyes off either of us. " I am sorry. I've vowed never to fight family. I bid ye good luck my sister, may I see you again. Or will fate change? We'll see soon enough."

"Thank you," I and Cadenza said at the same time. We look at each other, Cadenza growled.

"Cadence! There's no POINT to this! Please! I don't want to fight you! You've got magic all wrong!"

"My name is Cadenza! Protecting freewill and life is NOT pointless! It's what gives life meaning! Whether YOU want to fight me is meaningless. And 'all wrong'? I've seen what magic does with my own eyes! I've seen countless realities were magic exists. And it's always grabbed by maniacs and power mongers. Those who DO use magic for good are only fighting against tyrants who would never have risen to power if magic didn't exist in the first place! You're a disease, Witch Zorya, and I won't let you infect innocent Liberalis!"

"Yeeeee-Haaaaa! This Is Gonna Be One Heck Of A Fight! Aren't You Glad I Brought You Along Now, Sweetie?"

"Yes, Papa! It really looks like she's ready to kill her!"

Oh no. Both of us turned to see Havoc, seated on a highway sized couch with a draconequus hatchling made out of extinct (by my original time) animals. Young Rancor had a big black spear taller than she was, and ate from a bowl of popcorn.

"You! Havoc!" I shouted at the Elder, "You manipulated Cadence into thinking I'm evil didn't you?! You have her under mind control! You took somepony hostage!"

The Elder looked at me bored and rolled his eyes royally. "Geeze. Blame the papa of the Draconequus, How Original. Get A Clue, Amicitia. If This Was My Design, You'd Never Know Unless I Wanted You To. If I Arranged For Two Alicorns To Fight Each Other, You'd Both Be Hot-Heads with Hero-Complexes. I'm Here To Show My Baby Violence And Passion, Like Showing Her A Mirror. There Is Nothing To Fear In Nothingness. So Please Don't Waste My Baby's Time With Barking Up The Wrong Tree."

I didn't even need Applejack or Rarity with me to instantaneously know he was being totally honest with me. Cadence, Cadence she really, she really wanted to... oh Cadence! I felt like I was inside a black hole.

"I Would Never Be Part Of Any Scheme Of The Draconequi!"

"Father Of The Draconequi. Keep Your Terms Straight Please."

"Cadence," I said sadly.

"For the last time, my name is Cadenza!"

"Dadoo, why arin't they fightin' yet?" Baby Rancor looked up at her father, slurping on a 'Big Gulp!' soda that she could likely fit inside (she only relatively bigger than the CMC had been before the day of chaos).

"Give Them Time Dear, Give Them Time, They're Just Getting Through The Pre-Battle Banter."

"Oh, okay. Do I have time to go get another snack?"

"I Don't Think So."

"Ahhhh. Can you get me one?"

"No."

"But-"

"I Said No, You Can Make Due With What You Have. Trust Me, You'll Enjoy The Show."

"Okay." She shouted at us, "YOU GUYS BETTER BE PRETTY VIOLENT! I wanna see lots and lots of blood like in that Pony Kombat video game!"

I visibly shuddered in disgust at the display.

"My Kid Is The Concept Of Violence. What Were You Expecting? Pollyanna?"

I looked to Cadenza. Cadence, when I was born and we spoke, you knew this was coming, because it already happened for you. Where you sad because we fought? Or were you sad because you won? It's... It's alright Cadence, I... I forgive you.

Cadenza looked less than happy at the Elder. "I am NOT some performer to amuse you! I'm here to protect mortals' freedom to think!" she snarled in tones that reminded me horribly of Angry Pie. Then she looked at me. "Say goodbye, witch Zorya!"

='We Survive' Kotoko=

Cadenza fired off fireballs at me like a machine gun, I brought up my barrier, it lasted a few seconds before it shattered and I bid a hasty retreat, but Cadenza quickly began aiming for where I was going rather than where I was and I struck in the back hard, followed by several more, I quickly adopted the Derpy school of aerial dodging. "Burn!"

I teleported away, but not nearly as far as I thought I would, seems there wasn't much universe to fight in. Cadenza fired off another of the high charged spell flares that she had nearly vaporized my head with before, her horn glowing bright blue. I had always thought of that magic glow as comforting, warm, safe, now it was trying to kill me.

Thankfully the shot was a little slow, took a while to charge, and it seemed she had to be stationary to charge it. Once it missed, she just charged up another to fire that I thankfully managed to dodge.

"Hey, Cadence! That's some skillful MAGIC you're casting, there! But if you don't BELIEVE magic should exist...why aren't you attacking me with lots and lots of SCIENCE instead!!?" I threw out hoping for something to stick.

"I'm not a hypocrite!" She looked at me indignant, it reminded me of when my friends had told the Nightmares they wouldn't give up to the end, "Police use guns against criminals gunslingers. And I'll use your own evil against you! That is my choice I'll take up for the sake of EVERYONE ELSE! Die, Witch, and let this be the last time magic is ever cast!"

Her magic flickered again, and a raincloud formed above me, and...just rain? Huh?

That was when I noticed the force field bubble around me that quickly filled up. Trapping me inside.

"Water to drown a witch, should have thought of this one first," Cadenza said proudly like Pony Rangers after they had made the monster of the episode blow up with a strike from their giant robot's sword.

'Failsafe spell,' I thought. The forcefield vanished, and because Cadenza had introduced directional gravity and atmosphere to create her raincloud, the water splashed down.

If she had thought it through, she'd had conjured the water by another means and telekinetically thrown the mass at me, THEN put up the force field, so even if I used my failsafe spell, the sphere of water would have remained and she could have frozen me in it, leaving me a sitting duck for her attack she'd have spent the time charging up which wouldn't have been effected by my failsafe since the spell hadn't technically been cast.

"HEY! How'd you do that!" Cadenza exclaimed.

"You don't know, I"m not telling."

"Ding-Dong!" I should have seen the next one coming as a house fell on me.

I came out the front door, battered but still in one piece, it would more than that to destroy all magic in existence.

"Hey! Witches are supposed to die when you drop houses on them idiot!"

As an afterthought I teleported the house back wherever in time and space it came from after quickly repairing it!

+
"I'm telling you our club house in the Berrytown's front yard was gone!"

"I think you've been hanging out with Patch too long Clover," Melody said.
+

"Daaaad! They're not even really fighting! The pink one is just attacking and the purple one is just defending!"

"Give them time dear, things will spice up in a second when Amicitia realizes that Cadenza isn't going to stop."

'We'll see about that.' I conjured up a wall completely smeared with crazy glue and had it ram into Cadence from behind. Like a fly on flypaper!
--
"NOW I AM THE GOD OF MAGIC!" Laughed Kefka Puzzle-Zoo The Unicron after absorbing the magic of the Conflicting Trio, "ALL WILL WORSHIP ME OR DIE...OR WORSHIP ME AND DIE ANYWAY. WUWUWUWU!"
--
Baby Cadence loved this beautiful gallery, all the statues were so alive, mortal could make such wonderful things! Those foals and adult statues looked like mortals she had helped stop fighting and be friends again, they got statues of themselves! Cool!

She looked inside the studio to bless the artist and see the art made...no... he couldn't...he didn't!...She check the 'statues'...they were dead... their spirits and lifeforce weren't inside the stone bodies...they were all dead!

"Aren't you worried the police will find out?" Asked a buyer.

The unicorn with a medusa cutie mark laughed. "Silly, I use a 'forget-me-yes' curse on all my works. Besides, they were just low class pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns, now they serve a purpose through magic."

She told Justitia, "Working on it!", she replied, whatever that meant. Cadence's spirit cried in the gallery. She looked at the dead stone bodies... "I promise...I'll save all of you."
++
"There! Now! We are not going to fight! We are going to discuss this rationally and logically sister! The only way you could get free of that mess would be to..."

I don't know what was more sickening...the SCREEEEEEEAM of pain or the RIIIIIP of flesh.

"tear off...your own wings..." She got free of that mess, and cast the gossamer wing spell in the blink of an eye like it was nothing.

"I will never, ever, ever give up!" She shouted through tears.

She blinded me with a flash spell and focusing it with the gossamer wings, then I sensed another Magic shot. This was crazy. RANCOR wasn't effected by violence, but I was being hurt by MAGIC? How was that fair?!

"Have a taste of the power of music and harmony!" She then used a sonic attack that made my ears bleed, thankfully that killing spell was still way too slow.

How was magic effecting me? Was it something about this non-place? Was it something about Cadenza? This isn't make any sense! Think. That's how she was doing it. The house wasn't magic in of itself, neither was the water. She's mixing her other attack with her own spiritual essence and using instantaneous magic, which are no longer technically magic after being cast. On the bright side at least using instantaneous magic meant she was burning through her mana a lot quicker!

"Cadence, please listen to me! This isn't who you really are! The Cadence I know is one of the sweetest, most good-natured beings in all existence!"

"And that's why I'll save Libra from you! No matter what it costs me! As long as others don't have to pay the price for your lazy and fast-track power!"

She conjured up a bunch of crossbows with a rose and heart motif. And began firing them in waves. I began catching them with my telekinesis.

She let out a battle cry and charged me horn first, I had to let go of the arrows to catch her, she then caught them with her telekinesis and made them continue where they left off, stabbing me in several places, making me shout out, then she completed her charge as I lost my concentration and she stabbed me in the gut with her horn.

"How's THAT for a taste of how ugly and destructive magic really is?!" She shouted as she tried to electrify me with magic straight from her horn, but THIS I was able to negate being magic itself. But I was still bleeding from several arrow wounds and bleeding even worse from the stab wound in my stomach.

"PLEASE!" I begged one more time, feeling the tears course my face. "The real Cadence would never be hateful and irrational, or commit violence right off the bat! Please!"

"'Real Cadence' 'Real Cadence!' You stuck-up bully! You don't get to decide who someone else is! I won't let your Concept take away mortals' right to be who they chose to be! There will never be another World of Ruin as long as I live!"

"If you believe I'm evil, bring me before Judicium, our Parents! I'll gladly suffer anything, only please, there are so few and precious things that are hundred percent good, please just always remain the pure and incorruptible Angel of Mercy you've always been! In the name of Our Father, Cadence, don't make me repeat the vilest, evilest deed I've ever done! YOU'RE MY SISTER, AND I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!"

"I don't know what you're talking about! I've never met you before in this or any life! But if you really loved me, you wouldn't let this awful power into the world to strip mortals of their free will! If you really care about others, you'd stay away! I won't let you slither along with fancy talk to my brother! If this the price for the love and freedom of everyone, then I accept it!"

I teleported away again teleported the arrows out one by one, then quickly healing the injury while working on the much larger hole in my stomach at the same time.

"You can't run! And you can't hide!" Cadenza swore. "Hii-ya!"

She drop kicked me in the horn, that hurt SO much! She had stopped trying to give me a taste of my own medicine and began to trample, bite and gore me! I couldn't concentrate like this!

...I just might die if this kept up. Then...if I died, then Magic never existed. And...it might mean Twilight Sparkle never existed. No. No. NO!

...But I can't fight Cadence.

"You don't fixate on things that haven't happened yet. I won't fixate on things that already have happened. I already know you're going to be a wonderful goddess,"

Cadence, you knew I'd never come here if I knew it was you I'd have to fight. You knew I'd hold back for the mare you'd become. And you knew if I didn't truly fight back...

"I don't want to die!" I shouted, blinding Cadence with a flash spell. I head butted her sending her back. "And a very dear friend of mine doesn't want me to either! Thank you Cadence! I promise big sister! I won't lose!"

"It's About Time Survive Instinct Kicked In," Havoc said, "Now Watch Closely Baby, This'll Be Short, But Very Much Worth It."

Rancor stared with eager eyes.

"Which One Do You Want To Win?"

"I want the Purple One to win cause I want the Pink One's ribbon."

"Now Now Rancor, You Need To Remember That Violence Breeds Violence, It Shouldn't Matter To You Who Wins."

Cadenza summoned a sword longer than we were, and slashed it at me with telekinesis so fast my magic wasn't about to catch it. And with the atmospheric laws she had introduced when she had created her raincloud, it also spawned one Sonic Rainboom after another that were just as destructive as the sword slashes.

I stupidly fired off lightning bolts that the sword caught like a giant lightning rod and threw right back at me.

"This world's dawn will be perfect, the kind of dawn of which I've dreamed of since I was small." Cadenza sang.

She summoned scythes from all around me, threw them at me in pattern with the music, then promptly changed rhythm just as I had gotten used to it.

I summoned a few crystals in front of me and fired a laser. The laser separated into seven and reflected off the other crystals coming at her from all angles.

She formed a shell of armor around herself. But she didn't make it reflective, so instead of deflecting the attack it absorbed it, I adjusted the wavelength slightly, and Cadenza was burning inside her own shell that she quickly escaped from but now had burns over her.

"And for all life's sake, I'll see you fall in nothing's lake!"

"For you, creation holds no room at all!"

I fired rust dust at Cadenza's sword reducing it to base atoms.

She created two replacements and duel wielded.

"For the light of mortals hearts my joy does bloom.
For them in my heart there shall always be room.
Dawn is coming is very soon."

I teleported behind her and summoned up a sand storm blinding her, and then released a fireball turning the sand to glass. She teleported out of the mess leaving her swords behind and I fired a laser behind me without even looking. It hit Cadenza just as she reappeared, catching her completely off guard.

"AGH!"

One eye was closed as blood came down one side of her face.

She flew at me, teleported again, this time appearing right in front of me and began to pummel and bite me, and I electrified my body making melee not as sweet to her. She created a set of claw weapons made of wood and cut along my side. I hit her with a fireball at point blank range, but I brought my shield up right after firing while she didn't have time to.

Cadenza burned. It made my heart feel like it was being torn apart to watch it, but I couldn't afford to lose.

"You'll be stopped!
Because I'll never give up!"

I cast a mustache on her face. "Huh?" And I punched her in the face in the moment of distraction, she tore it off and kept coming. She transformed into a swarm of wasps that covered me, stinging me. I increased the heat around me, baking them, all except one that transformed back into her Alicorn form.

Then she transformed into a pink dragon, the vertical slit-eyes of a dragon looking back at me as she breathed fire, clawed and bit at me, slashing with her wings and tail in a storm of melee attacks.

I summoned up a snow storm that she just fire breathed into nothing.

"No matter the price might be to me,
I pay so the future chose by the mortals they'll see."

I teleported back, she dove straight at me. That was when I summoned a salvo's worth of air to air missiles and fired. Each one tipped with the familiar crown head of a dragon slayer's sword and dipped in dragon's bane.

She tried to flap back, but all that did was make her aslightly more stationary target in the moment between her changing directions.

The missiles hit their target and detonated.

Cadenza screamed as she shrank back down, the dragon bane almost killing her dragon body, shifting back to Alicorn form.

"I'll protect free will along with all that's on the line!"

Rainbow colors began to seep towards Cadenza, covering her in an simmering aura.

"You. Are. Mine!"

She flew at me like a rainbow streak of lightning with the force an extinction level meteorite. My extinction.

I created a sun in her path. I'd apologize to Celly later for stealing making the first sun from her. I caught out of the corner of my eye a toddler Celly indignantly having created a micro blue star in her hooves some distance away.

Cadenza screamed as she couldn't stop her momentum and tore right through my sun core, going through millions of atomic blasts going on at once. And she came out the other side, damaged but still going strong.

I think it took her a couple seconds to realize the sun was a distraction.

In those couple seconds the black rods were already flying straight at her. She brought up her legs and lowered her horn and folded her wings protectively in a desperate move to block them. It only partially worked as they were impaled too, the force of the impact actually knocking her back INTO the sun she had just escaped from.

The short lived sun burned itself out.
+

Wicked witch.

My body, it won't move. My magic, won't form. My voice, is burned away.

My body is helpless, it's worthless. It's failed me. I have no need for a form that failed me when I needed it most. No. I failed. I couldn't protect them. I tried, but my hardest wasn't enough. Libra, and all you inside her, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. I failed all of you. I couldn't stop her. She was stronger than me. I have nothing left. I'm so sorry. Please, forgive me.

What power has living a mortal life given this Alicorn? I thought Luna was right that we didn't need to see how mortals lived. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe I should see what this witch learned that granted her the power to beat me. Me. Who was fighting for the right cause for the right reasons. For everyone.

I have to find out. My inner self glow brightly. I'll enter the mortal world as one of them, and see what they learned.

I am sorry little Libra, I couldn't stop this witch from infecting you with the disease of magic. I failed.

I shed this form, like a butterfly does it's chrysalis. And leave, traveling along the river of time to where I can enter and learn.

+

C-Chr-ysal...is?

+

I saw...I saw Cadenza. Her body was burned pitch black, her golden mane had been burned an ashen blue, along with her Gossamer wings. And the holes...the holes I had made, where everywhere. The same rods, it seems nopony can escape their past.

A light flew from the body suddenly, as it floated away in the distant nothingness. It was a blue light. I braced myself.

"We will meet again," I hear Cadenza's voice say as it flew off in an opposite direction across the river of time.

I feel my heart quiver. I...I can't believe I just had to almost kill my own childhood friend over a misunderstanding...I just wanted to cry, but I knew I couldn't. I felt no regrets. Instead, I felt joy knowing the wonderful goddess that Cadence would become. "I know we will." I echo my warm voice in the darkness. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves, and do a little shake."

I heard thunderous applause.

I turned to see Havoc and Rancor cheering and whooping.

"Wonderful! Beautiful! Truly A Worthy Object Lesson To My Child! It Seems I'm In Your Debt," Havoc said.

I wanted to scream and shout at him, to curse him, to tell him I wasn't something for his entertainment. But I didn't. I would not be reduced to 'Havoc made me do it.'

"You could have done SOMETHING to stop this insanity!"

"Why Would I Interfere In The Quarrel Of Another Family? I Do Not See Alicorns Meddling In Draconequus Affairs. Far Be It From The Father Of Draconequi To Meddle In An Alicorn Matter. I Allowed A Fluttering Pegasus To Interfere With My Granddaughter On Account Of Being My Daughter-In-Law. This Is The First Act Of Violence In The Universe, Why Would I Not Use It To Teach My Daughter? And What Is There To Fear Before The Universe Exists? Do You Think Your Family Doesn't Fear For You? Why Do You Think Your Sister Chose To Kill You Here? Where Most Of Your Siblings are Powerless Or Can't Leave Their Stations Least This New Universe Dies Before It's Even Born?"

I wilted under Havoc's gaze.

"Tell Me, Little Alicorn, What Do You Suppose I'd Be Doing Right Now If Cadence Had Listened To Her Fears And Fled For Her Life?"

"...Applauded her for listening to her fears and enjoyed watching it save her from harm..."

"Correct! Now. I Believe There Is One More Things You Have To Do Here. Can't Have You Dawdling, Amicitia."

That was when I saw it. The pink ribbon. From Cadenza. The jewel was blown off, but ribbon itself had come loose during the chaos, slipping off before Cadenza had flown into the sun. I caught it with my magic.

"You know..." I stared at the ribbon, "I came here thinking this fight would be a triviality, that no matter who my opponent was, it wouldn't matter, because we had fought a gallery of Nightmares and still won. I thought there was nothing left that could daunt me...

"I was dead wrong. I had to fight a friend, a sister, who I loved before we were family, who as a slave I tried to kill....But I never once thought about just turning and running! There are too many tiny lives that are lost in shadow for me to run away!"

"So You Feared Failing Them More, Than You Feared Fighting Her."

"No! I didn't fear fighting her! I feared hurting her! And I feared repeating my sins more than I feared failure! But that isn't how the universe works! There are so many little ponies depending on me whether they know it or not! I left with my friends love that I would heal those who can't heal themselves! I won't let my fears, I won't let You stop me Havoc! Understand?!"

"So You Turned Your Fear Of Failing All Those Little Ponies You feel Need You, Into Passion And Drive To Conquer Your Other Fears? Hehe, Impressive, After All, Turning Fear That Hinders Into Fear That Drives Is Still Listening To Your Fears. My Little Princess, How Do You Judge The Act Of Youself That Amicitia Displays? Your Opinion Is The One That Matters."

Rancor let out an awed breath.

"You're...COOL." she whispered.

I couldn't help smiling at the delight in her eyes, even knowing the cause. There was such, even knowing what she was, there that same joy I always knew at discovering something new and wonderful. Maybe I felt a little ashamed, but there were things I had to do. "Thanks. Here, take this."

I helped Rancor tie the ribbon onto the base of her spear, joining a little skull keychain. She stared at me with hero worship in her eyes.

"What Now Do You Say Dear?"

"Thank you."

"Good Girl. Now Say It To Her."

"Thank you Purple One, er, Amicitia."

"I Believe You Will Find All Involved Have Learned From This Experience And Grown Better For It, Miss Amicitia. Why Is It So Hard For Ponies To Understand That Fear Has Its Upsides And Downsides Like All Things? It Can Be A Mind Destroyer Or The Best Teacher One Can Find. Let It Never Be Said My Family Doesn't Make Good On Its Debts."

"I see." I looked at Rancor, "See you later little one."

Then gave Havoc a little bow, and I left for everywhere.

None of us bore witness to what happened to Cadence's body.
+

The empty shell, a shadow of existence, drifted away, forgotten, discorded, forsaken. Then several tentacled things that defied pony sanity gathered around it, each one as unique as a nightmare.

It took hold of the shadow of an Alicorn, the empty vessel, and carried it away.

Across infinity, they entered a mass of pastel-colored geometric shapes, no up, no down. Forming a maze. Countless windows showing fantastic and not so fantastic images, some showing a pony as king of the world, others showing a colt running from some dark primal thing, others showing a filly playing Pony Rangers with frogs. Images of flights of fancy flowing everywhere.
-
"Where, where am I? What's going on? Nothing makes any sense."
-
"!cousin! .we've done as you asked. we have brought the shadow" The cyclopian tendril creatures spoke as one.
-
"Shadow? No. My...my name is...is...is it Chrysalis? Was that me?"
-
Pandora skipped and hopped, a new geometric shape coming into being with every step she took underneath her. "Thank you, Yog-Sothorse! I can always count on you!"

"nyarlathotrot is still bitter that you don't let him visit anymore"

"Only until he says he's SORRY for tormenting poor H.P. Horsecraft with nightmares, and then driving him crazy too."

"cousin, you drove him crazy" They echoed together.

"No, I didn't!" The teenage Pandora stomped her duckling foot. The entire maze changed colors and configuration.

Pandora looked over the blackened remains. "So this is it, eh? Maybe I was wrong, maybe it is just-"

One of the black hooves reached out to grasp her. "W-wicked--witch."

The two abominations looked at each other in shock. The shadow, it had, it had...

"Get her to the infirmary!"

"cousin you don't have-"

Stomped her black cat foot, "I do now! Get her there fast!"

Being the Embodiment of Imagination, it didn't take Pandora long at all to convert one of her geometrically impossibly throne rooms into an intensive care unit. Pacing up and down the hallway, she turned to one of her geometric shapes and waved her paw, it split apart into a window so she could check in on her patient.

"Cousin, what do you have to report?"

Yog-Sothorse replied; "it is incredible pandora, we have never seen such a will to live within a shadow of existence. such inner determination. she's even has a name"

Pandora was shocked, shadows didn't have names, they lost them when their light of existence moved on. Pandora looked closer at the window, at the blackened and broken alicorn on the table, an IV in her leg, laying deceptively lifeless as Yog-Sothorse worked on her.

".a normal shadow would have faded into oblivion or been destroyed instantly. we say again: a normal shadow would have never survived"

"Yes...she is a most unusual shadow. No. An unusual pony."
-
A good deal of time later, Pandora floated over the black Alicorn. What she found up-close left all other discoveries to shame. If Pandora didn't know better, she was swearing the shadow was trying to bring a light of existence into being on its own! A shadow trying to cast a light. The will to live would have had Strife praising the shadow to the ends of creation. The survival instinct would have even Her Father amazed.

"Yog-Sothorse is right. I've never seen such a desire to live."

Pandora reached inside herself, colors swirled from her, then condensed into a tiny light.

Yog-Sothorse saw this, "?will auntie be furious for you creating that?"

"We're as much a part of life as the Alicorns, so there. Besides, she is quite unusual, she deserves unusual happenstance."

"?but what about how your other experiments went?"

Pandora peaked over her shoulder at her Box that served as her container for things that had 'gone horribly wrong or had gone too right'. "Eh, this is different, this one is almost done already, I just need to give her the living touch."

Pandora slowly turned her bear paw over, and let the tiny light drift into the shadow.

Chrysalis gasped for breath, eyes wide, they looked like the eyes of a dragon. Then she began to glow and shrink and condense, becoming a small glowing shape like a foal in a fetal position.

"Let's see what story you write." Pandora blew gently, and the life went into the mortal universe.

+

"Mortis. I need you to do me a favor. When Cadence before she lives as a mortal asks you to help kill me, agree and explain to me our destine fight, and tell me to duck just before she attacks!"

"I see...Heh. Very well. Just don't make too grand a habit of this sister, it can get very confusing."

"No more than I have to."

+

"This is it. Do I dare disturb the universe?" I asked myself.

"My dear sister, all that lives, all that is, disturbs the universe merely by living. Those that don't merely exist. In that way, you were right when you were a Nightmare."

"Libra?!"

"Hello sister Amicitia. Time is liquid outside the mortal universe remember? Been a while since I saw you, but I figured you might need a slight push to get started. Anasi would've, but she's busy with her job right now."

"But do I dare start? Do I dare act? What if I never stop? Do I have the right to knock them off path?"

"Don't think like a mortal pony Amicitia. Ponies, wonderful as they are, are like mites on a piece of string when it comes to time. Because there are only two directions to go on it they think it's only way to move. Time is not a river, it is an ocean. You are not 'knocking them off a path' you are changing course to keep them from crashing into rocks. A conscience is good sister, the little voice that keeps you from thinking all that you do is automatically correct. But do not let it be the leader, ever. You are Magic. You have knowledge, experience, perception, use it: to help me, your friend and sister. And all the souls who live within me," said the Alicorn Of the Mortal World.

I nuzzled my white sister, "Thank you Libra, you are a true rarity."

I begin.

+

'To get help!', I said' Firefly thought, 'Get help from where? The Stratadons begin kidnapping my friends left and right, and I tell everypony I'm gonna find help! And they all tell me it's too dangerous and I ignore my friends begging me to stay safe. Help from where? Did I really think I was gonna find somepony just flying in a random direction?'

*Maybe you should go further that way.*

'One direction is as good as another so, hey! That's a weird rainbow. Where did this come from? Well, through the clouds I go. And, NASTY WIND! Agh! No! Can't! Gonna crash! WHOO! WHOO! STUPID WEATHER VANE...Right into a well.'

'Looks like I ended up in the bucket, huh? I'm being pulled up?'

"Whatever it is, it sure is heavy," A young female voice said.

'PLEASE let Surprise never find out about this.'

And Firefly, came face to face with...what were those strange beings from the neighboring land called? Oh right, 'humans.'

"Hello." Firefly smiled.

"A talking pony!" She acted like she had never seen a Pegasus before.

"I can fly too!" Firefly said indignant as she climbed out of the bucket, "Least I could before my wings got soaked."

Firefly took a breath and like a bird fluttered her wings dry. The odd pony in the barn laughing as she accidentally got the human wet too.

"Heh, sorry."

"Who, who are you?"

"Name's Firefly, what's yours?"

"I'm Megan, and, that's my pony TJ."

*You know Firefly. A member of the race as strange and mythical as the humans might be the help you need. Look at her, she clearly cares for your people.*
+
A middle aged blond woman on a horse farm looked out a window, seeing a faded rainbow, but knowing it would never be the rainbow, never again.

*Megan. It's alright. Your friends BEAT Discord. They're all safe now.*
+
A green unicorn, a curse placed on her by Nightmare Moon, doomed to be forgotten by all as soon as she was of eye-sight, and any traces of her simply gone, as she lived in a living limbo, even her memories of herself fading in the end, even the memories of her special talent simply gone.

*All will be well, Lyra.*
I kissed her on the forehead right above her horn.

And a tidal wave of memories across Ponyville came crashing down.
+
Doctor Whooves heard a knocking on his TARDIS door, rather strange since he was currently in the time vortex, still, best not be rude.

He opened the door to reveal a purple Alicorn who hoofed him a delicious fruit cake. The tiny tag read 'Congratulations!'

"Bye." The Alicorn said politely as she trotted out backwards and closed the door behind her.
+

"Wow, so you became an Alicorn? Never saw that one coming."

*I never saw me inadvertently saving your soul coming either.*

"So true, so true."

*Just wanted to let you know everything worked out back in my timeline.*

"I figured it would," said this universe's Discord in the white void. He was putting the finishing touches on New Chaos with the help of the phoenix, alligator, rabbit, snake, and skunk Chimera he'd promised to make as a companion for the construct Twilight Sparkle before her death. He wanted to surprise his little angel when she returned from visiting her mother. "...Thank you for saving me, and allowing me save Fluttercruel."

*You're welcome, Discord.*

"Now, do you think the bitter chocolate lake should go next to the candy cane forest or the trick flying course?"

+
"Hello, Strife Zelus Typhon."

"Hello, Amicitia Zorya Spes Equestria."

"I have a favor to ask you."

"An Alicorn asking a Draconequus for a favor, this must be dire."

"I want you to collect information on Alicornification, the transition of mortal ponies who eventually become Alicorns, or Alicorns who had sealed themselves in mortal form before being born, but then awaken to their true selves. I want to know every piece of vital information there is."

"Strife is not generous, and Strife does not give for free."

"No but you are the most fair of your entire family. Which is what I need."

"And you don't ask this of your family because?"

"Who better to ask for gathering knowledge on the subject of life improving itself, than the spirit of natural selection?"

"But what shall be in exchange?"

What COULD magic possibly have to offer natural selection?

"...first the knowledge you collect is bound to be useful to you."

"I hope the rest of your offer is better."

"I'll tell you where to find the perfect birthday gift to your baby sister who's born 'after' Discord."

"Better, but not quite."

"And I'll tell you the 'future' of my sister Luna Nyx Selena that hasn't happened yet for her or you. And if the correct paths of fate are followed, you'll finally be able to go all out against an Alicorn."

"It seems that I am in your service."

+
*Hello.*

"Hi! Welcome to Ponyville!"

*I'm new.*

"Nice to meet you. Let me show you around. I haven't seen you around here before."

*I'm new, could you tell me about the ponies around here? How do ponies like to do things?*

'Ponies love to do fun things in big ways, and I mean big. Like my friend Minty here." A green pony happily ran into town. "Oh, I should introduce myself. My name is Razzaroo. And today is a very big day. And I mean big, in ah, charming sort of way of course. Come on, I'll show you!'

Minty without needing to be asked engaged in a quick gap of hopscotch. A blue earth pony with a rainbow cutie mark carried a set of rainbow teacups on top of each other on her head bumped into her from behind.

Minty managed to catch them all on her head. The ponies cheered and clapped. Minty bowed... the rainbow teacups came crash down... only one was spared by her cat-like reflexes.

"Of course she saved the green one of course, my friend Minty sees the world through, green colored glasses. This is my official Ponyville Surprise Birthday Book!" The book opened to show pictures of Minty and her love of the color green, climaxing in painting the castle green on her birthday.

I remember when I had a visitor come to Ponyville, and I explained the ins and outs of Ponyville to her, in particular how ponies loved to do things in big ways and 'too over the top' rarely fit into their mental process. "Ponies love to do fun things in big ways and I mean big. Like my friend Minty."

It was nice having someone to talk to and share my profiles of the ponies with. It was on the day of Kimono's birthday.

I looked up, the sky was black, the world was dark, it wasn't cold anymore, it wasn't anything. It was hard to see, my eyes hurt from struggling to keep focused on my work without a light source so it could be read. I didn't know by who, but I wouldn't let it be any less of value than those it was about. My friends. I felt so tired. I had just a couple pages left to write though. Just a couple pages and it would be done. I wanted to sleep so badly, but I had to finish before laying down. I wrote next to Kimono's sleeping form. She had stripes.

A firefly flew towards me, behind her was a purple unicorn with a glowing horn.

"Lilly Lightly?"

"My friend...my friend said you needed a little light," The unicorn said, sounding asleep on her hooves.

"I had her dream of the pony she was in this world, and then made that dream real, so she can help you with the light," The firefly said.

I didn't know what she meant, and I don't think I need to know. The book, just the book. Almost. I was grateful for Lilly's light.

Then the firefly turned into a chinese dragon with very unique animal parts making her up. And a purple pegasus/unicorn in white armor floated down in front of me.

She felt, familiar? Had I seen her before? Lilly didn't even seem to notice the changes or just accepted them.

"Oh...hell-lo, who are you?..."

"I am...please just call me Pandora."

"I'm...please call me Princess Amicitia."

"Those, that's an interesting name....Nice to meet you. I'm Razzaroo, could, could you help me hold my hoof steady?"

The unicorn/pegasus' horn glow, like Lilly Lightly's but my forehoof feel lighter now as it glows that same color.

"...Thanks...I...just need to finish this last bit and...done."

I fell back, all I wanted to do now was rest. "This was very important, something that couldn't wait...it would never be finished if I let it wait. Thank you. Now I can, get some rest." I closed my eyes, and gave a tired smile as I finally let my fatigue catch up with me. I think I was asleep before I tilted over.

*She faded away before she hit the ground. Only her book remained. Lilly Lightly was also now just sleeping peacefully. Pandora petted her coat.*

"Shine on Lilly, please have brave dreams some day." *The unicorn turned into the Earth Pony named Lilly I knew and faded into the new world. Leaving this world behind.*

"Thank you for letting Razzaroo finish her last duty." *I told her.*

"A final work is one that deserves to be finished, even if the artist won't even remember writing it and no one will have the chance to read it. But who knows? That's why any work worth starting, is worth finishing."

"No, it will be read, and it will be remembered." *I promised her. I lifted up the book, and sent it after its mistress, Razzaroo's duty here was done for now. But her real work was just beginning.*

*And I noticed Kimono, sleeping, except now, she was a Zebra, her cutie mark a spiral sun.* "All will be well Kimono," *I whispered to her* "All will be well...Zecora. And thank you for everything." *I let her go to the new world. To await time to catch up with her and all that had been her.*

+
*Twilight. Maybe you should offer to take the vows.*

Twilight The First looked around as Patch finished telling Buddy that they were going to get married that day like he had been asking her for years whether he liked it or not.

'But, I'm not a priest.'

*You're the Keeper of The Rainbow Of Light whether it's here or not. And, I'll be with you, you can be so much more.*

'Together. We'll be so much more.'

I think Patch noticed me, as she glanced at Twilight/me for a second, at our shadow, which betrayed my presence for a brief moment to her.

"Patch, let me take the vows for you and Buddy!"

"Sure thing!" Patch said without hesitation, wanting to get the ball rolling and not wanting a thing to stop it.

At the wedding, I/Twilight turned to Buddy, "Do you, Buddy, agree to take this mare as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," he said.

I/Twilight turned to Patch next, "And do you, Patch, agree to take this stallion as your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"Then by the power vested within me, as the Keeper of the Rainbow Of Light* And as the Concept of Magic*...you may kiss the bride. *You are now wife and husband.*"

They kissed to the applauds of everypony.

+

"Extinct," Strife deadpanned as she dove a stone claw into Celestia's brain. Or would have if she wasn't then blasted several thousand miles away by me.

Celestia didn't look up. I think she had wanted Strife to erase her after Discord had told her she wanted this war to happen. I hurt me seeing my mentor/teacher/mother/sister like this.

I whispered to her, "Don't believe his lies Celestia. You've never been like him."

I protect her through the rest of the battle.
+
"Amicitia, thank you," Galaxia said to me as she carried various spiritual items, and the mirrors Entropy had given to Celestia (Galaxia felt that all things considered, Celestia had been taught a GOOD lesson by Entropy, and the mirrors were a reminder of that lesson).

"The amount of power I'm using to create a gateway this big to allow you and your...luggage to enter is massive even for me. You'll have to seal away most of your power to pass through."

"That is nothing new for an Alicorn. Amicitia, thank you. You sure you won't come with me? Celestia and Luna could use the extra looking-after."

"Thank you Galaxia, but I have a lot more I need to do." You have no idea how badly I wanted to take her up on that offer.

"I understand." She said regretfully, "Good luck, little sister."
+

*All will be well.* I whispered to the little child Discord as he struggled with a fever one night in his mother's hooves. He seemed to rest just a little more comfortably that night.

+

I find Dinky curled up in her bed, she's dirty, clearly dehydrated and starved. Her eyes are closed, but the look of hate for everything that was, particularky her mother, was horrifying. The sun and the moon were wild outside. She didn't notice my presence.

I hugged her and whispered. *All will be well, just wait, I promise everything will okay someday, just have faith, I promise. You'll all be together again and you'll be happy. Just have the courage to believe.*

I transformed her back into a unicorn (not that being a pegasus like her mother wouldn't have made her happy, but she had a task to do with that horn), and impart to her the memory spell that her mind absorbs like a sponge. She is a clever filly. She galloped out the door to find her mother before I could feed her or clean her up.

+

* Twilight! Stop! *

[Why should I?)

*This isn't how Trixie would want you to use her Element! *

[Trixie was always vindictive.)

*Then would her Element have saved your life? Dead or not, if Trixie's spirit didn't want you having her Element of Magic, you would NOT have found it in her grave! Besides, you're not Desire! You can't just TAKE an Element.*

[So Angry Pie's death would be permissible if RARITY were executioner?)

*I'm Not Talking about Angry Pie's Element! You couldn't have Trixie's if she didn't WANT you to have it! Just like Applejack couldn't have Applebloom's Element without being GIVEN it! Does saving your life sound 'vindictive' to you?!*

*This isn't what any of your friends want for you...*

[I know better than they do about this! I almost died for real! Know what that taught me? That the merciful are all eventually doomed to be victimized! THAT'S where mercy lands you! THAT'S what comes of being the Big Good!)

*...Or Celestia.*

[She got turned to gold!)

*...Or Luna.*

[Silver!)

*...Or Cadence.*

[Cannibalized, poor thing.)

*...Or your parents.*

[I'm shocked they lasted THIS long, even as plants!)

*Or Smarty Pants.*

[...Where DID I put that doll? Maybe it disintegrated away.)

*Or Minty Pie.*

[Unable to help anyone. Lucky to be beneath Discord's notice...so far.)

*And this isn't what Pinkie Pie would want.*

[Heh heh! No doubt, since I'm about to KILL HER...)

*I thought you said you were about to kill 'Angry Pie.'*

[I! I did!)

*No! You said you were about to kill 'Pinkie Pie!' Your friend!*

[She isn't!)

*Who is she crying out for?!*

[Not mine!)

*You sure? Names are just labels.*

[I feel absolutely nothing for her anymore, her only cure is her permanent death, so she'll never hurt another soul.)

* So the guilty should be punished without mercy or pity or compassion? *

[Yes. Those things should be reserved for the innocent.)

*So you agree with Angry Pie.*

[No I don't!)

*The guilty must be punished without mercy? That's the innocent are the only ones who deserve compassion? That defines her sense of justice.*

[She kills in the innocent and spares the guilty!)

*Not in her deflowered mind.*

[ She can't be redeemed! )

*Who are you to say who and can't be redeemed? Is killing her what YOU want? What your heart wants?*

[What...my heart...wants...?)

*You heart that connects you to everypony. The heart that valued her friends more than anything.*

[I feel...my lips quiver.) 'I'm not at all surprised when a tear falls.)

*Twilight. Pinkie Pie's heart wants to connect with others. Always has. But she's afraid of being hurt. The taint tells her everypony is trying to hurt her. You can't say you can't remove Discord's sickness, you haven't tried every road yet. Twilight. Look around you. These ponies are still Pinkie Pie's friends. They're still willing to try and save her. Will you disappoint them?*

'I dispersed the red sphere, canceling my Destruction Spell.) 'I feel a rain inside me.] 'I feel it does the flames and wash away the ashes.] 'I'm free again.'

-
A magic wand shaped jewel emitted a burst of light, chasing the darkness away to reveal the polished purple crystal composing it.

-

(GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!) I hear Nightmare Paradox, myself, roar.

I also gave myself, Twilight, the wisdom and encouragement she needed when she needed it. And Kept Nightmare Paradox from causing Twilight to become Nightmare Purgatory with her appealing to Twilight's pain, ego, rage, and pride. The joke of course was that I couldn't change my own past, since a spirit has to be self consistent. I was merely doing what I needed to do to ensure fate happened the way it had. I would have changed a hundred things if I could have, (Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Trixie,) but I couldn't. This was MY past, I was merely closing the loop so Paradox's nightmare would finally end once and for all as the past in which she was beaten was set in stone.

+

The loops were closed, the past was stabilized. Now for what I had chosen to be born to do. What drove me to leave my friends and family and new mortal sister. Now I stand on the edge of threads that dive into the blackness, mixed with horror and blood.

I stand on the edge of where the threads of fate dive into the darkness, rule by not only by the Draconequi, but by their cousins as well.

But do I dare became an invader, an infection? All for the 'hope' of bring these threads out of the dark and back into the light? I am not fate, do I dare, how can I dare? Am I still acting how I did when I tortured Discord over and over to get what I wanted? Trying to strip cause and effect from creation even as I trapped Discord in it forever? Would I be what Cadence's past self had believed me to be? What actions can I take? That don't run parallel to the Nightmare?

Now I know how Luna feels.

"HAVE YOU SEEN THE UNIVERSE WHERE DISCORD SAW THE LIGHT AND RAISED HIS DAUGHTER ON THE RIGHT PATH?"

I startle as I see a snow white Earth pony filly with blue eyes, her cutie mark was a nebula. As she walks around me, stars come into being in her hoof steps.

"I have Mother." That Discord was not our Discord (only the Elders were multiversal singularities), that universe was very different than ours, in it Discord, Celestia, and Luna were siblings, or simply perceived themselves as such (I'm not sure which), but the Elders and Pantheon still existed. The multiverse is a very peculiar place. But he'd not done anything our Discord could not have.

The filly sat down in front of me, sitting her flanks on the edge/limit/final check-point of the 'cliff/edge/border/dividing line.' "WELL, WERE YOU LIKE NIGHTMARE PARADOX BY BRINGING THAT ABOUT?"

"You mean how Discord saw there was a spark of a soul still inside Twilight Tragedy, and that began to pull him out of his own darkness?"

"YES INDEED!" The filly laughed and clapped her hooves, entire populations of plants came into being.

"I fail to see how they relate Mother."

The filly stood up and came up to me and nuzzled me. "THEN I SHALL TELL YOU HOW THEY RELATE. YOU ARE MY BABY. YOU BE. REMEMBER, YOU ARE A CONCEPT. YOUR EXISTENCE ITSELF IS PART OF WHAT DEFINES CREATIONS AND LEVELS THE EQUILIBRIUM. AS A NIGHTMARE YOU WERE INCOMPLETE, IGNORANT, BELIEVING THAT WITH POWER CAME RIGHT. NOW YOU ARE WHOLE. IT IS WITH RIGHT COMES POWER. CHILDREN AND ADULTS ARE ALIKE IN MANY WAYS, BUT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FIVE YEAR OLD TRYING TO FLY A PLANE, AND HIM FLYING THAT PLANE WHEN HE IS TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD AND HAS TAKEN COUNTLESS LESSONS AND LEARNED AND EARNED THE RESPECT AND BEEN RECOGNIZED TO BE TRUSTED TO FLY IT...NIGHTMARES ARE CHILDREN WHO THINK THEY ARE ADULTS, OR ADULTS WHO BEGIN TO ACT LIKE CHILDREN. I TRUST YOU NOT TO CROSS THAT LINE, AMICITIA. YOU UNDERSTAND DEEP WITHIN WHERE ENSLAVING AND HELPING ARE DIVIDED. TRUST IN YOURSELF."

I bowed my head. "Yes Mother."

"ALSO."

"Yes Mother?"

"THERE ARE TIMES WHEN YA GOTTA GIVE EVENTS A GOOD KICK IN THE FLANKS. IN OTHER WORDS, THERE ARE TIMES WHEN NOT GETTING INVOLVED IS THE SELFISH ACT. BUT YOU UNDERSTAND IT'S NOT ALWAYS. NEVER FORGET THAT. AND YOU'LL NEVER FALL INTO DARKNESS, MY HAPPY ENDING."

"...thanks mom."

I look towards the darkness, and all the tiny souls marching along the threads seeped in it. I don't care how cliche it sounded. The first thing I told all of them was, "You are loved."

Author's Notes:

Art by Morningstar-1337 here

Next Chapter: Episode 124: ("Light World" Alicorn Ascension): Duel To The Death At the Dawn Of Time Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 47 Minutes
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