A bright flash of yellow light signaled the unmistakable teleportation field of Princess Celestia, and a second later, the group of shaken friends emerged from the spell to find themselves inside the main chambers of the Canterlot castle. The dying rays of Celestia’s sun graced the throne room, made all the more brilliant by the stained windows through which they passed.

The ponies shifted around anxiously, still on edge from the encounter with their deformed friend in the forest. Celestia walked up the steps to her throne and set the mysterious book down, flipping through the pages as she took in what the book had to offer.

Those behind her stepped away from her as they started to converse among themselves, each one desperately searching for an answer to the countless questions they had. “Ah… ah just don’ get it… how did Twi get like that?” Applejack asked her friends, hoping one of them would have an explanation.

Rainbow stared at the floor, too caught up in her own thoughts to answer her friend. Pinkie Pie kept her silence as usual, and Spike just waited for someone else to begin. Fluttershy, however, spoke up in barely more than a whisper. “That… that wasn’t Twilight.” The others looked to her, waiting to see what she meant. “At least… I don’t think it was.” She muttered, looking down at the floor. “Our Twilight wouldn’t attack the princess. She wouldn’t attack us.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, backing Fluttershy up, “that thing couldn’t have been her!” There was a murmur of agreement from the ponies, thought their conviction was more hopeful than factual. “I mean, yeah, since…” Rainbow paused, searching for the right words, “the accident, Twilight hasn’t been herself, but she wouldn’t attack us!”

The sudden sound of a book slamming shut caused them all to jump and turn to the source of the noise. Never before had any of those in the throne room seen Princess Celestia show a hint of fear or worry, except for times of great duress, but as the princess turned and faced them with wide eyes, a sense of overwhelming dread spread throughout them. Celestia, an immortal being, was looking at them in a primal fear, and they could only listen with dulled senses as she spoke.

“I must find Luna. She will know more about this than me. I shall return soon, and for no reason will you leave the castle.” It wasn’t a request. In a flash of golden magic, Celestia teleported to some unknown location in hopes of finding Luna, if her words were to be believed. This left only the five friends, alone in the great chambers of Canterlot castle.

The tension in the air was palpable, and the silence as the friends waited weighed down on them along with their newly found fears for Twilight. Applejack, stretched to her breaking point, finally broke the sickening silence. “Now, don’t y’all go worryin’, I’m sure the princesses will be able to do somethin’ about all this, we just gotta believe in ‘em.” Her flash of optimism did nothing but elicit blank stares from her friends, and she withdrew away from them with a sigh, lowering her head as she did so.

“Hold on…” Spike said, looking at the book. The ponies watched as he made his way up the steps towards the throne, eyeing the book carefully as he did so. His eyes were narrowed as he approached it, and he let out a gasp as realization struck him. He ran up to and grabbed hold of it, closing it and inspecting its cover. After a moment, he turned to address the ponies waiting on him. “I knew I saw this somewhere.” He said somberly. “This… this is the diary Rarity gave Twilight on her birthday last year.” He walked back down the steps and started to flip through the pages, much like the princess had minutes ago.

“What’s it say?” Rainbow Dash said, trying to get a closer look at the pages. The others crowded around him, each trying to see what insight the diary had into Twilight’s possibly demented mind.

The diary started simply enough. The first few entries went into her daily life, mundane things long forgotten, and other things typical of a pony’s diary. However, a pattern began to emerge in the pages. The mention of a fight with Rarity in one of the first entries, then a mention of another incident between the two. The ponies and dragon reading stopped and looked at each other, knowing full well what was to come. Fluttershy’s eyes began to tear up, waiting for the inevitable. The journal continued as Twilight and Rarity’s friendship deteriorated, eventually culminating in the day that still haunted those reading. Spike’s voice had begun to crack while reading towards the page they all knew was coming, and on entry thirteen he had to hand the book over to Applejack, his eyes blinded by his tears. He took a seat on the steps and buried his face in his hands, quietly sobbing as Applejack read on.

“Oh no…” She whispered, looking at a page covered in jumbled words and seemingly pointless scribbling. “Ah didn’ know it affected her this much…”

“Well obviously it did!” Rainbow shouted in a sudden burst of anger. “Damn it, why didn’t she tell us about this!? We could have helped her!” Rainbow’s shouting caused Fluttershy to squeak and burrow into the floor while Pinkie and Applejack took a step back.

“Rainbow, don’ get upset! We can still help her, ah’m sure of it!” Applejack scolded the flustered Rainbow, turning her attention back to the diary. She skipped around, since there were hundreds of entries to be found, but it was obvious by the random words and scribbling that Twilight had fallen deeper and deeper into insanity as time went on. This continued until entry one seventy four, when the crazed writing suddenly disappeared and the journal took on the pristine look it had before the accident happened. “What the hay? It looks like Twilight just stopped bein’ loopy here.” She quickly read the page, but what she found only left her with more questions than answers. “Necromancy? Study of the dead? Does this mean anythin’ to you?” She asked the ponies still listening.

“It means that Twilight Sparkle has enacted a plot that endangers us all.”

The ponies jumped at the unexpected voice, turning to the throne to find Princess Celestia and Princess Luna watching them. “P-Princess! Ah didn’ know you were back!” Applejack forced a chuckle out, but fell silent under Celestia’s steel gaze.

Luna walked down the steps, past the dry eyed yet silent dragon. “May I see that book?” Applejack offered it up in an outstretched hoof and Luna hovered it over to herself, quickly reading through the page. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked to her sister with a hint of anxiety in her voice. “I am afraid your fears are true, sister. If this journal is to be believed, then Twilight Sparkle has indeed taken a dark path.”

Rainbow Dash, fed up with being kept in the dark, let her annoyance overtake her. “Hold on! What do you mean Twilight has ‘taken a dark path’?” Rainbow looked to Celestia for answers, but she simply pointed towards her sister. Rainbow followed her hoof and stared Luna down, waiting for anything that would explain what their friend had become.

“The journal mentions a book Twilight found in the archives.” All eyes were on her, no one so much as breathing while Luna spoke. “It is my belief that she will use it in an attempt to transform us all into something…” She couldn’t finish her sentence. The others waited for her to say something, but she wasn’t paying them any attention. She was thinking things over, with no consideration for the ponies that she had just left in silence.

“Wait a minute, princess,” Applejack asked, looking up at Luna, though the princess was still studying the journal, “what exactly are you talkin’ about? Ah mean, yeah, Twi ain’t in the best of shape, but she can still be saved!”

“I am sorry,” Luna responded, her attention divided between Applejack and the book, “you do not know of the dark magic that has festered inside Twilight Sparkle.” Luna, convinced that she had their undivided attention, continued. “During my reign as Nightmare Moon, I had many subjects under my control. As you can imagine, they explored the darkest reaches of magic in order to bring about my return.” She was visibly uncomfortable, as if she had banned herself from talking about this particular subject. “Those ponies… they crossed the barriers of life and death in their search. They defied the rules of nature itself, and in doing so, they could shape reality into any form they wanted.” Luna looked to her sister, almost unsure if she should continue speaking. Celestia nodded, eliciting a sigh from Luna as she resumed. “The darkness they uncovered was collected over the years, eventually resulting in a book that combined the most horrific spells and incantations imaginable.”

“A book that I thought was out of reach,” Celestia said, cutting Luna off. She lowered her gaze to the floor, away from those looking to her. “I hoped it would, after you all rescued Luna from Nightmare Moon, simply vanish from memory, lost to time like so many things before it.”

Luna nodded solemnly. “But it would seem that Twilight Sparkle has found it, and if we do not act soon, she will undoubtedly do something that will endanger us all.”

“I can’t take it anymore!” To everyone’s surprise, Rainbow Dash ran up to a shocked Princess Celestia, their faces nearly touching as she let the emotions of the past year out in a furious tirade aimed at the poor princess. “You won’t tell us anything about Twilight, and now you’re saying she’s going to ‘endanger’ us, whatever the hell that means! We’ve already lost Rarity, and now you’re saying we’ve lost Twilight, too!? Fuck you!!” There was a gasp from everyone in the room as Rainbow took a breather. Celestia could do nothing but take the verbal onslaught as Rainbow continued to shout. “Twilight needs us right now whether she wants us or not, and here you both are,” she glared with misplaced hatred at an innocent Luna before turning back to Celestia, “telling us she’s some kind of monster who’s going to kill us!” Tears were running down her face now, but she was too caught up in her emotions to notice them. “She’s not a monster! She’s. Our. Friend!!” The castle nearly shook with Rainbow’s last words, and she was panting hard as she finally finished. There wasn’t a closed mouth in the chamber as she walked away from them all. She made it to one of the nearby windows before curling up into a ball and sobbing loudly. Applejack and Fluttershy rushed to her aid, and all three wrapped each other in a hug as Rainbow wept.

Celestia, having recovered from the spontaneous outburst, began walking towards the group of traumatized friends. She stood over Rainbow Dash, but it was not in anger. Rather, she fell to her knees and wrapped the three in her wings, holding them close as tears silently rolled down her cheeks. Rainbow couldn’t help but stop crying as she watched in awe. This was Princess Celestia, the omnipotent being that she had heard stories and legends about growing up, and here she was, crying like a filly that had just broken its favorite toy. “Princess?” Rainbow asked tentatively, uncomfortable with the whole situation. “A-are you okay?”

Celestia wiped her eyes with her wings and looked to the three ponies watching her intently. “No, Rainbow Dash. I am not okay.” She raised her head and saw the nearly vanquished sun from behind the stained glass window. Her horn glowed with magic, and Luna’s followed suit. The two sisters struggled slightly, but they had done this hundreds of times before, and in a coordinated effort, Celestia banished the sun as Luna raised the moon. The castle’s interior darkened, but not to the point where those inside were blinded. Celestia looked back to Rainbow, whose face echoed the princess’ fear and worry. “I just fought the best and brightest student I’ve ever had, and there is no doubt in my mind that she has been corrupted by the book.” Her eyes dry, Celestia rose up and walked back to the throne, the heads of her subjects following her path. “I cannot face her again. I cannot… look upon what she has become…” she trailed off, unable to finish her thought. “There is only one hope for her now.” She turned around, looking to the remaining Elements of Harmony. “It is up to you to convince her to stop. If you do not, the consequences will be unimaginable.”

There was silence. The Elements looked to each other, trying to grasp what they had just been told. The life of their friend, and possibly the lives of all the ponies they knew and loved depended on whether or not they could pull Twilight back from the brink of insanity. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack joined the others near the throne. Rainbow looked to each of her friends, speaking for all of them as she addressed Celestia. “Fine. We know what to do. But where’s Twilight now?”

“Her journal describes how precious you are all to her, and it is my belief that she would return to the spot that held the most significance for your friendships.” Celestia herself wasn’t convinced with this theory, but it made the most sense to her, and if she was wrong, well, there wouldn’t be a chance to regret anything. “If this is indeed the case, then I think Twilight has fled to the spot where you all first received the Elements of Harmony.”

“Ya mean…”

“Yes. The castle where you stopped Nightmare Moon.” Celestia allowed them time to gain their thoughts before continuing. “We must act now. Luna can teleport you all there.”

“But..” Fluttershy whispered, her voice barely audible, “what about you, princess? Won’t you come with us?”

Like so many times before, Celestia looked away before saying anything. “No… I… cannot face Twilight now…” she wrapped her wings around herself, almost as if she was trying to hide from the others. “I am sorry.”

The princess said no more, and the others reluctantly forgot about her for the moment being. “Alright,” Rainbow said, her voice barely retaining the brashness it had boasted so many times before, “we teleport in, save Twilight, and get on with our lives.” The others nodded, though the straightforward attitude was only present in the determined pegasus.

Luna’s horn began to shimmer with a deep lavender aura. “Hold on, my subjects. It has been a while since I teleported so many at one time.” Her horn flashed, and an instant later, the castle’s throne room was empty save one distressed princess.

“Twilight Sparkle… please, come back to us… come back to me…” The princess’ words echoed in the huge chamber, but the only pony to hear them was a lonely Celestia, her figure dwarfed by the immense properties of the castle.

“Why have you done this to us?”

*********

Deep within the Everfree Forest, the ruins of a once great castle towered above the trees, the crumbling stone and mortar of its decayed towers a testament to the castle’s faded glory. Inside the throne room of the ruined castle, the creature once known as Twilight Sparkle was staring at the platform that once held Nightmare Moon. It was in this very spot that Twilight and her friends had first discovered the bonds that connected them, this very spot that they had defeated Nightmare Moon and saved Princess Luna. It was in the same spot that Twilight now stood, a year gone by since their bonds had been severed on that fateful day.

In front of her floated a decrepit and aged tome, the same one she had found buried deep within the archives of the Canterlot castle. Twilight set it down in front of the empty platform in front of her, opening it to a page filled with strange symbols and a crude drawing of a sphere that was made of a swirling black energy. She studied the symbols, though she was already quite familiar with them. In the days before she fled the castle, she had in secret riffled through the book in search of something, anything, that would hold even a glimmer of hope for her and friends to be reunited with Rarity.

She had found it.

The spell had no name, for even those who wrote it were frightened of the terrible prospect of the spell being casted. The symbols outlined how, through the intense concentration and magic only an extremely powerful unicorn could possess, the spell would cast them all into the limbo state that Rarity was held in. There were warnings inscribed in the book, cautioning that the effects would be irreversible and that it should be used only as a last resort. Twilight almost laughed at the notion that such a terrible book would caution the reader in any way.

She finished reading through the instructions and tossed the book aside. This was the moment she had been waiting for, and she had already memorized each and every step it would take to reunite herself and her friends with Rarity. She hunkered down and concentrated, her horn glowing with the black magic that had overtaken her magic’s normal purple color. Sweat broke onto her forehead as she dug deep, reaching into every magical reserve she had in order to make the spell work. Her energy was slowly increasing, and a second layer of magic formed, somehow even darker than the first one. Twilight’s eyes closed and her face twisted in pain as her horn started to burn as if it was on fire. Her legs nearly gave out on her, but she stayed on her hooves through sheer force of will. She had come this far, and she wasn’t about to let a little physical toil stop her now.

She yelled in pain as her horn was concealed in another layer of darkness, this one so dark her horn disappeared from view. Her body was shaking violently, and she had no choice but to fall onto her back legs. Her horn was now burning in agonizing, searing torture, and Twilight was certain that it would burst into actual flames at any second. Tears of blood started to seep from her eyes. She felt that she was about to pass out when she finally let her collected energy go free.

The darkness exploded from her horn, casting the entire chamber into blackness that put the Everfree Forest to shame. The swirling mass of magic suddenly shot towards the empty pedestal and started to whirl around it, taking the shape of the sphere in the book. The dark magic whipped around like a tornado, slowly gaining mass and energy. Twilight, battered and exhausted, looked upon the horrible mass of black as a smile spread across her face. She rose up and slowly backed away from the pedestal, taking care to not fall as she was still extremely weak from the effort of casting the spell. She backed up to and slid down one of the decayed walls of the castle, still staring with glee at the black mass.

“Just a matter of time…” She murmured to herself, fiddling with her hooves. She looked up to the ceiling and saw a quickly darkening sky through the cracks of the castle. “Soon, Rarity. Soon, we’ll be back together.” Twilight closed her eyes, weary from the effort of creating her salvation. No longer would she be in pain, no longer would her and her friends be separated. This is for the best, she thought, as she began drifting into what would be her final slumber.

“Do you really believe that this will bring us together?”

Twilight’s eyes shot open at the sound and found herself face to face with herself. In front of her stood Twilight Sparkle, but this Twilight was different. Her coat and mane were immaculate, and her eyes were back to their old, purple selves. The dried blood that caked the now shivering Twilight on the floor was nowhere to be found on the one standing above her. For a reason she couldn’t realize, this version of herself scared her more than anything else in her life had before. The emancipated and monstrous Twilight turned and nearly stumbled as she began running away in a desperate bid for escape, but it was no use. Wherever Twilight would run to, the other one would always be there, waiting for her. Whoever, whatever, this thing was, she wouldn’t let Twilight go free.

“Who… who are you!?” Twilight screamed as she tripped over her frantic hooves, yelling out in surprise and pain as she hit the floor hard. She moaned and was rubbing her scrapped leg when she remembered why she was running in the first place. She threw herself around to find Twilight standing over her. “What do you want!?!” Her white irises were dilated in fear, and she could barely stand to look up at herself.

“Do you really think this will bring us together?” Twilight asked in the same emotionless tone she had used before. Her face was static as she stared down at her corrupted self, no hint of emotion showing through.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Twilight shouted at herself. The unicorn standing above her turned and looked at the mass of blackness that was still gaining mass. She turned back to the panicking unicorn and said nothing, electing to simply stare at her with the expressionless face that burrowed into Twilight. “What… that?” Twilight tore her gaze away from the strange sight of herself and looked to the sphere of black energy, then back to Twilight. “That’s going to save me! That’s going to save us!” For the first time, the normal Twilight showed emotion in a flash of anger.

“You don’t get it, do you?” She asked with hateful eyes.

“What’s not to get!?” Twilight’s shouting echoed out in the empty castle. She pointed a hoof at the swirling blackness. “That spell will send us all into the same plane of existence! We can finally be together again!”

Twilight simply shook her head at the corrupted unicorn below her. Her face had become passive once more. “Twilight... how did you get like this?” The Twilight on the ground looked at herself with fearful confusion, though kept her silence. “What happened on the platform that day wasn’t your fault.”

“No,” Twilight’s eyes shifted to the left, away from the gaze of their purple counterparts, “this was, is, and always will be my fault. What I’m doing here, I’m doing for my friends.”

“Is that what you really think?” Twilight’s voice was starting to rise with a deep hatred, and her face reflected the shift in her tone. “Do you honestly think your friends would want you to do this? To kill everypony just so you can see Rarity again!?” Twilight was on the verge of shouting. “They’ve all accepted her death! If you weren’t so blinded by the idiotic belief that you could somehow bring her back, you would have seen that!”

Twilight was trying to back away from herself, but for every inch she backed up, the other unicorn stepped with her. “What do you want from me!? What are you!?”

Quicker than Twilight could see, a purple hoof struck her face, causing her to reel back from the sharp pain that hit her an instant after the hoof. She gently touched the stinging sensation on her face as she looked up at herself with wide black eyes. There was an unmistakable look of anger on Twilight’s face now as she stared down at her cowering doppelganger.

“I am Twilight Sparkle. I cannot say what you are, but if there is any shred of decency left in the wretched husk you call your body, you will stop this madness, not matter the cost.” Twilight gave a final disgusted look before turning away and walking towards the vortex, which had grown to be larger than the pony that now stood before it. “What you have done is irredeemable,” she said without looking at herself. “This… this proves it.” She turned around, making eye contact with Twilight. Her face, while still filled with anger, had taken on an air of sadness as well. “What have we become?”

Twilight didn’t answer. The two’s eyes were locked for several seconds before the one standing near the black mass looked away. There came the sound of thunder, and a moment later the gentle patter of raindrops filled the broken castle, let in through the cracks in the ceiling. Twilight once again turned away from the vortex and walked back to her corrupted self, stopping just short of her. “Who do you think I am, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight stared at herself while she tried to answer the question. “I… I don’t know who you are…”

Twilight seemed sad to hear this, and shook her head with closed eyes. “Then I cannot help you.” She opened her eyes, and looked at Twilight with a sad frown. “It would seem that the Element of Magic is truly and forever dead.”

Twilight could only watch in silence as her doppelganger stepped closer to her. She didn’t move back, as she knew there was nowhere she could run where she could escape. The rain had picked up, and it came crashing down on the two unicorns as Twilight stared up at herself, waiting for something to happen. “I have done everything I can to stop you, Twilight. If you continue on this path,” the crack of thunder filled the sky, “you will lose the only remaining friends you have left.”

*********

Twilight awoke gasping and panting, the image of deep purple eyes burned into her mind. She was slumped against the wall of the castle, and the dying crack of thunder could be heard in the distance. A hard rainstorm had rolled in, and the cracked stone floor was lined with newly formed puddles. Twilight’s heart was racing, and she stood up on shaky hooves as the dream played back in her mind.

“I… I was dreaming…” she muttered to herself. “Just a dream… not real…” She continued to ramble on as she made her way over to the still swirling black spell that was now the size of the pedestal it hung over. She stopped in front of it and took in the spell that would transform all of her friends into the same monstrous creatures that she turned Rarity into. By simple chance, she looked down into one of the puddles that had formed and nearly gave herself a heart attack as she screamed and jumped away from the rainwater. The fleeting image of horrible black pits with white centers replaced the image of purple eyes she had awoken to.

Twilight fell to her haunches and put a hoof to her eye as she stared at the black vortex. Slowly, she looked back into the puddle, and while she didn’t flee in terror, she was overcome with a sense of terror at the sight of the demonic unicorn looking back at her. She knew that the creature looking back at her was indeed herself, but she didn’t want to believe it. She realized that her mane had uncharacteristic shades of red in it, and she frantically ran her hooves through it. She could only tremble in shock as the blood ran down her face and dripped off her chin, its soft patter indistinguishable from the rain that continued to pour down on her.

Twilight cleaned her mane as quickly as she could, desperately trying to erase all evidence of the murders she had committed while she murmured incoherently to herself. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, I can fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this.” Her eyes shifted to the right and came upon the discarded book. Forgetting her mane, she rushed over to it and began aimlessly flipping through pages. With no clear goal in mind, Twilight turned to the spell’s page and absent-mindedly skimmed over it.

“Yes… this will fix everything… won’t it?” she hesitantly asked herself. “I… I think it will. Why wouldn’t it?” She collected the book with her magic and brought it back over to the spell. It was now roughly the size of five ponies, and steadily increasing in size. Twilight’s blackened eyes were set in stone on the vortex. “They don’t understand now… but they will… I think.” She sat down, her figure noticeable against the dark sphere. She began to run her hooves through her mane, eliminating any of the blood that survived her first attempts. “I think… I think… I think…”

Her muttering eventually broke down into unintelligible blubbering as the black mass marched slowly onwards to its intended goal.