Knights of Equestria: part 10

A/N: I own nothing except for the characters Yellow Jacket, Cirrus Maw, and Aurora, and the Magicahedron. I make no money from this writing.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Knights of Equestria, part 10: Good and Evil

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     Yellow Jacket awoke to cold and darkness. Lying on his left side, nothing met his open eyes but an old, decaying wall of blueish grey stone. Seconds seemed to stretch into hours to him as his eyes traced over the line work and delicate details, all but faded away through the ages. It reminded him somewhat of the older halls and passages in Canterlot University, if they were allowed to face the ravages of time like anything else.

     A slight shuffling, a tapping of hooves on stone, eventually caught the Pegasus's attention. He rolled over onto his other side and looked to see Twilight Sparkle. She was a few feet away from Jack and with her back to him, ruffling through multiple knapsacks and saddlebags for something or other. He did not know, and right then he did not care. In fact, it was strangely difficult to feel anything at all.

     As if sensing his gaze on her back, she stopped what she was doing and looked over her shoulder at him. Jack startled when, a split-second following her turning to look at him an afterimage of the same movement occurred. This second Twilight had a fiery mane and tail. Her coat was a deeper purple than regular Twilight's and her eyes were the red of open flame. The last thing Jack noticed of the ghostly afterimage was the pair of sky-blue wings on her back.

     "Oh, you're awake," Twilight spoke, barely above a whisper. The echoes of her voice rang through the area they were in, which Jack only then noticed to be a large room, some kind of castle's court. She frowned at the echoes. "I had hoped you would sleep for a little longer. I didn't want to deal with you so soon."

     Twilight's voice was broken, lifeless. It sent shivers down Jack's spine, and a dark chill through his gut. Even these feelings were strangely muted, and after scant seconds had faded away. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry...I never wanted to make you choose between me and your friends..."

     Twilight's eyes went to somewhere just behind Jack for a moment, but then she shook her head and turned away. She began again to look through the saddlebags. "You were leaving on your own; I understand that you didn't mean this...at an intellectual level. At the emotional level...I wish you had never come back into my life. You and Trixie. I...think I hate both of you at the moment. It feels weird and horrible; I don't think I've ever hated anypony before."

     "...I'm sorry." Something nagged Jack in the back of his mind. Something felt missing, something so important to him he was a different pony without it, but he couldn't seem to focus. All he could seem to manage was to feel a dull throbbing around his back. He turned his head to look, and his entire midsection wrapped in bandages. A pair of small bumps rose from the bandages on his back, discolored an ugly brownish-red. Then it all fell into place for Jack.

     "My wings...oh, my wings..."

     Here Twilight's eyes, up to that moment as dull and lifeless as her voice, took on some measure of real emotion. It was sorrow, Jack decided, though he could not feel it himself any longer. "Jack...I'm afraid those are totally lost. I don't know any real healing magic beyond simple scrapes and bruises, I couldn't heal them even if I wanted to. The best I could do after we...after we escaped...was to even out the stumps so that the skin could properly heal over them."

     Jack nodded in understanding to this, but then frowned. He had the idea that he should have been screaming, or raging, or sobbing his eyes out; something. But he realized he wasn't doing any of this. "I can't feel anything."

     "Yeah..." Twilight gulped and looked away from Jack. Her attention seemed drawn to a five-branched pedestal of some sort at the far end of the chamber. "After I teleported us here, to the ancient castle where Celestia and Luna once ruled Equestria, you were...unconscious, but in so much pain you were still screaming. Plus working on your wing stumps would have caused you even more pain. I cast a spell to numb your feelings before I set to work, but...I'm not very practiced in the spell, I guess it affected more than just physical feeling."

     "Oh...will it wear off?"

     Twilight shrugged. "Eventually. You've been asleep for several hours while I procured supplies, including the cloak you left at the park, so I can't imagine it lasting any longer than until sun up."

     "Okay then, good." Jack grunted and climbed to his hooves. Looking over the gathered stuff a moment, he spotted his cloak and began moving for it.

     "Jack...did you attack Fluttershy?"

     Jack stopped mid-step and looked at Twilight Sparkle. They were closer now, and he could more easily see the signs of crying around her eyes. He could not feel any reason to lie to her. He could not feel any reason to tell the truth to her. "Her name is Fluttershy? I only knew of her from Foto Finish's work with her, I though her name was Flootershy. I believe it was whatever started the Ponyville fire that attacked her."

     Twilight stepped closer to Jack, moving in between him and his cloak. "And what about Rainbow Dash? Did you cast the illusion spell on her like everypony is saying?"

     Again, Jack felt no reason to lie or tell the truth. He just felt numbness, through which came through a vague want of survival. "I did. But it was the spell you showed me when you still lived in Canterlot, for use entertainment during All Hallows Eve. Something...in Rainbow Dash's mind warped it, I guess. No harm had been meant or expected, I was just bored."

     Twilight Sparkle frowned and looked away from Jack. To Jack, she seemed to be remembering something. "When I removed the corrupted magic from Rainbow Dash...I found a dream in it, a nightmare. In it Dash was confronted by an evil force..."

     "...taunting her that she would fail? That she wasn't good enough?" When Twilight looked back at him Jack shrugged. "It is a dream I am familiar with. It is why I am so convinced there is some THING behind these fires, and that the legend of the Knights of Equestria is the key. Something has been working against us. Playing both sides to destroy us all with suspicion and violence."

     "That makes sense..." Twilight frowned and began to pace. Being presented with a problem like this, being able to focus her thoughts on one singular goal, made coping with everything so much easier. Of course, the magnitude of what they were talking about terrified her almost beyond rational thought, but that was still an improvement. "The list of beings powerful enough to do something like this is depressingly low, of course. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna...Trixie..."

     "This could be a well-timed plan on her part to get revenge on the lot of you," responded Jack. He pulled a vial of red fluid from a hidden pocket in his cloak and set it aside, before looking over at Twilight. "My magic and subsequent disappearance from Canterlot could have been just the excuses she was waiting for before enacting her plan, with me as the improvised scapegoat."

     Jack popped the cork from the vial and downed the contents in one gulp. Giving his head a shake he tossed the bottle away, where it shattered against a stone wall. "Or this could all be over-thinking, spurred on by a desperate need to cope with all the horrific events that have transpired this day. Hm, the two of us could be losing our minds."

     Twilight...Twilight laughed at this. Stopping her pacing she spun around to face him, and Jack once again saw that strange afterimage. "Oh Jack, it is so funny you said that! I, hehe, was just thinking about how crazy I am to do what I have to do!"

     Jack blinked. It appeared that Twilight's numbness spell did not affect confusion. "What do you mean, what you have to do?"

     Twilight laughed again; it was not a happy laugh. Jack could very nearly smell the desperation she felt, coming off her like waves. "Well you see, obviously we can't go back to my library quite yet, hehe. And there's only, Haha, one other place in all of Equestria with the information that could possibly lead us to Midnight Castle and to, hehe, saving us from being traitors to the throne and the execution that entails. Hehehe...

     "I want my friends..."

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     Most everything was quiet at the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse. As usual for when not all members of the Apple family were home, many of the lights in the house were still on, even that late into the night. Rarity shut and locked the front door as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake anyone that might have been asleep. That done she turned and started down the main hallway of the house to the stairs, and from there to the guest room and what she hoped would be a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

     The ivory Unicorn had just begun to pass by the open kitchen door when a cleared throat made her stop. She looked and found Big Macintosh sitting at the kitchen table, a mug of coffee at his hooves and an indescribably tired expression on his face. "Rarity."

     "Big Mac..." Rarity shuffled into the kitchen, taking the seat opposite the big draft pony. She made no effort to fix up the frazzled and limp state her mane and tail were in. "Darling, what are you still doing up at this hour? I figured you country types have to get up early for your farmwork."

     Big Mac nodded his head, and as he did he pushed the mug of coffee across the table towards Rarity. "You figured right. However, I thought of somethin' a might bit more important than a good night's rest." He looked her square in the eyes, and Rarity saw that it was not exhaustion hanging off his shoulders, but concern. "Are you alright, Rarity?"

     A sniffle escaped from Rarity before she could stop it. Looking away from him, down at the table where the wood was old and the coffee stains of a dozen generations lingered, she wiped a hoof over her eyes. It came back wet and smeared black, her makeup running from the crying she had done on the long, lonely walk from Twilight Sparkle's library to Sweet Apple Acres. She hadn't even thought about what it might do to her complexion.

     "I..." Rarity sniffled again and shook her head. "No Big Mac, I'm not alright. Nothing's alright anymore, everything's ruined! Trixie's been hurt, and that sc-scoundrel Yellow Jack escaped, and Twi-Twilight Sparkle, she...she helped..."

     Big Mac circled around the table and pulled Rarity into tight embrace, which she gratefully buried herself in. For the longest time the pair stood there, Rarity silently crying against Big Mac's shoulder, and Big Mac brushing over her mane with his muzzle. For those endless minutes, time stretching into eternity, not a word was said and not a word needed to be said.

     The moment was broken by the soft clip-clop of hooves on the hardwood floor. "Big sis?"

     Rarity oh so reluctantly pulled away from that strong, warm, protective shoulder and looked toward the door, the red earth pony following suit. Sweetie Belle stood there in the open doorway, a tired but worried expression in her olive eyes. "Big sis, what's wrong?"

     Rarity sniffled and wiped at her eyes, inadvertently smearing her makeup further. "Oh, oh yes, yes I'm fine Sweetie Belle. G-go back to bed now darling, I'll be up in a moment."

     Despite the request to leave, the little Unicorn filly stayed there, hanging her head and shuffling her hooves nervously. Letting out a little whimper she looked up at her only sister. "Big sis, you don't look fine too me..."

     Rarity's heart nearly broke at this. Moving toward her sister she kneeled down and pulled Sweetie Belle into a hug of her own. "You are right, Sweetie. So right..."

     The loud clop of heavy hooves, and Big Mac walked up from behind and placed a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "Why don't you wash up and head on to bed, hun. I'll take care of Sweetie Belle down here."

     Rarity pulled away from Sweetie Belle's hold and smiled up at him. It was a weak smile, small, but it was genuine. "Yes, I-...thank you, darling."

     Rarity placed soft kiss on his cheek, and then turned back around to her sister and placed a kiss on top of Sweetie Belle's head. Giving them both a final look, Rarity exited through the doorway she and then Sweetie Belle had come through, and left.

     Sweetie Belle waited until Rarity's hoofsteps had faded up the stairs, and then turned to look up at the red stallion beside her. "Big Mac, what's been going on? Rarity has been so sad lately...and I don't think it's just because we lost our house."

     "Why do you think that," asked Big Mac, curious on what had led the little filly beside him to that conclusion. It might also help him decide how much she needed to know.

     "Well..." Sweetie brought a hoof up to her chin and thought. "I just noticed that a lot of other ponies in town who lost their homes seem happier than her, that's all. I've seen them sad yeah, but also laughing and smiling and stuff with their friend...oh! Is that what's gotten Rarity all upset?"

     Big Mac let out a heavy sigh and sat down on his haunches. "Yes Sweetie Belle, I reckon it is. She and her friends are having...just a little spat, is all."

     Sweetie Belle frowned and sat down next to the older pony. "But I don't understand. They're all friends, and heroes! Applebloom and Scootaloo and I never upset each other like this. Friends are supposed to be for each other!"

     Big Mac found himself sighing much more often than he liked. Scooting closer to Sweetie Belle, he wrapped a foreleg around the filly's shoulders in a half-hug. "Eyup, you're certainly right about that, Sweetie. Friends should always be for each other. It's the other business, I'm afraid. You see, they've a, uh..." He wracked his brain for the right thing to say. "Well, all heroes want to do good and follow the right path. Sometimes though, heroes can't decide what the Good is exactly, so they fight on it."

     Sweetie Belle looked up at Big Mac suddenly. "Is Twilight evil then? I, er, I heard some of what Rarity said...I'm sorry, I know it's wrong to eavesdrop..."

     Big Mac only hugged her tighter after this question. At a time like this, he thought, he would gladly trade places with Applejack and let her do the talking. But she wasn't there, just him. So he would have to do. "No Sweetie, I don't think Miss Sparkle is evil. She just...did what she thought was best for the Good. That don't mean she's in the right though."

     Smiling as well he could, he stood up and ruffled Sweetie's mane. "Go on ta bed now, and don't you worry about a thing. Miss Rarity and Miss Sparkle's other friends will get that girl sorted out well enough. That's what friends are for, I reckon."

     "You really think so, Big Mac?"

     "Eyup."

     Sweetie Belle bounced back to her hooves and pressed against him in a hug. "Thank you, Big Mac! Now I'm even gladder my sister likes you!"

     Before the red stallion could say anything to dispel the bright blush that had enveloped his cheeks Sweetie was off, running as fast but as quietly as she could. After a silent moment he shook his head and grinned. "Likes me, eh? Well then, now I just feel like a million bits."

     Upstairs, Sweetie Belle stood between a pair of doors facing each other across the width of the hall. To her left stood the door to Applebloom's room, where she and Scootaloo were sleeping in during their sleepover. To her right stood the door to the guest room Sweetie knew her sister was staying in. She could just barely make out some soft crying coming from that room. Looking at Applebloom's room a final time, Sweetie Belle turned and entered Rarity's room.

     Inside the room was almost pitch black. The lights were shut off, and the window across the room from the door had its curtains open only a sliver. After waiting several minutes for her eyesight to adjust to the darkness, Sweetie Belle silently made her way to the bed situated just beneath the window. She climbed up onto the bed and lay down next to her sister. Rarity's body shook beneath the dull orange covers, the older Unicorn having fallen asleep crying.

     A sudden compulsion filled Sweetie Belle as she looked at her uncharacteristically vulnerable older sister, and all that she and Big Mac had discussed swam in her head. Snuggling in against her sister's back, Sweetie Belle cleared her throat and leaned in close to Rarity's ear. And then, as if from somewhere else, the words came to her.

                        "Here we're standing in the night
                         All your hope gone from your sight
                         Alone against your darkest fear
                         Remember that your friends are near
                         Draw from each the power you need
                         This dark thing you will defeat."

     If Sweetie Belle had looked, she would have seen that Rarity's crying had begun to slow. But she didn't, as the song inside demanded release.

                        "You have the strength to carry on
                         With friendship's love, you can't go wrong
                         Only together you face the fight
                         Nothing can stand against your light."

     Rarity's crying had stopped completely. Whatever fears and horrors had been plaguing her mind were driven away by Sweetie's gentle, clear voice.

                        "You have the strength to carry on
                         With friendship's love, you can't go wrong
                         Only together you face the fight
                         Nothing can stand against your light
                         With Rainbow's Light the battle's won
                         With friendship's love, you can't go wrong
                         You have the strength to carry on..."

     Sweetie Belle's voice faded to silence. Rarity slept peacefully, a content smile shining through the tear-covered cheeks. Yawning, Sweetie snuggled up closer against her sister and quickly fell asleep as well, not taking notice of the pair of musical notes adorning each of her flanks.

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     The Royal Academy of Equestria, better known locally as Canterlot University, enveloped several hills just to the east of Canterlot proper, though with its similar aesthetic it was easy to mistake as part of the city from a distance. Its many towering turrets and trappings told travelers of teachers with tricky taste, with some specific sites showing silly results of some soon-expelled student's stunts. The tallest tower was the Academy library, where many of the older students recalled a yellow and black Pegasus living and working, and a purple-grey Unicorn practically living.

     With a blinding flash of light and bang of noise, that Unicorn teleported right at the bottom step of the stairs leading up to the library entrance. Twilight Sparkle pulled the cloak she had borrowed from Yellow Jacket closer around her body and looked around. As it was the middle of the night no others were around, though a few lighted windows in surrounding towers showed that some late night researchers were still awake, and possibly taking notice of the loud bang of her appearance. She would have to move quickly.

     Twilight strode up the two dozen steps to the tower's entrance. The edges of her cloak flitted in the weak breeze as she stared up at the double doors, each tall and wide enough to allow passage of a pony as towering as Princess Celestia herself. With a glow of magic from her horn, hidden by the hood draped over her head, Twilight inched one door open and slipped inside. The door shut behind her with little more than a squeak.

     Inside, Twilight lowered her hood and looked around. Long used to late nights reading, it took her eyes no time at all to adjust to the darkness. It was a circular area much like her old home in Canterlot, yet multitudes greater in size. Bookshelves lined the walls, going up, up, up all the way to the top of the tower, the different levels reached by a staircase that started just to Twilight's right. Twilight craned her head back as far as she could, but the top of the library tower and her destination remained shrouded in shadow, untouched by the beams of moonlight shining in through the windows that circled the walls.

     Twilight turned to the staircase and began ascending. Her steps rang out uncomfortably loud in the still and silent library, and a small part in the back of Twilight's mind half-expected a librarian to burst through one of the countless windows and scream for silence in the library. The thought made Twilight giggle, as she remembered a time when that did happen. Poor Moondancer had not spoken a word for nearly two weeks afterwards.

     Twilight's hoofsteps faded away as reached the final level and came to a stop. 10 minutes after starting. "This library...needs...elevator..." Twilight wheezed out, staggering the few steps from the stairs to the nearest bookcase and leaning against it to catch her breath. This top level of the library was enclosed, with no windows for moonlight to shine through and illuminate. With a bit of imagination, she could almost imagine the echoes of her ragged gasping as belong to a whole host of ponies hiding in the darkness. This thought...did nothing to calm her nerves.

     After some minutes Twilight's breathing returned to normal, and when it no longer felt as if her heart would burst from her chest at any moment she looked to the location of her destination. On the topmost floor of the library there were no windows, and no entrances or exits besides the stairs that she had just come up. And yet, set into the far wall from the stairs was a door. A simple wooden door, painted blue with a gold handle, that logically led to nothing. Twilight Sparkle knew better. Her mentor Princess Celestia had once told her of what lay behind that door. A hidden room, a secret room, hidden and secret from the whole universe itself. And within that room...well, Twilight could not precisely say. But there were rumors.

     Striding as quietly over to the door as she could, the purple Unicorn tried to grasp the handle with her magic and pull; nothing happened. She frowned and tried again, but no matter how much power she put into it, her magic could not reach the door or its handle. Huffing, she reached out with her magic to feel around the contours of the door, but to her shock found nothing. The whole thing was an empty space, a vacuum pocket of non-magic.

     "So, it's going to have to be like that, is it? Fine then." Pulling her magic back, Twilight leaned forward and gripped the handle between her teeth, being careful not to let her tongue touch the metal. Backing up she pulled the door open. A gust of freezing wind blew from the now-open doorway, sending chills down Twilight's spine and making her cloak flutter. Looking into the room beyond the door, Twilight could see nothing. A wall of blackness barred any sight into what lay beyond. This was a cloaking spell beyond any Twilight had ever encountered before.

     "Well then, here goes..." Taking a deep breath, as if for a sudden plunge, Twilight stepped forward and through the darkness...

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     ...into a room that dwarfed any that she had ever been in before. Twilight gaped all around her, taking in the most magnificent sight. It was a room, a massive room. The whole of Celestia's castle in Canterlot could have fit inside with room to spare for a battalion of full-grown dragons. Everything was black marble, inlaid with a strange blue metal that danced and flickered with a ghostly inner light. Above her the vaulted ceiling glistened with a hundred million pinpricks of light, precious diamonds of the clearest and sharpest quality as a simulacrum of the night sky in all its glory. Within it she could see a million constellations she recognized and a million more she did not. She did not know if it was a trick of the eyes or some magic in the room, but above her the faux-constellations seemed to dance and move about, playing out some unknown and far-reaching struggle that had begun long before Twilight had been born, and would not be resolved until long after the bones of her final descendant had crumbled to dust.

     At the center of the room, however, floated the object of her search, the subject of so many myths and legends. A dodecahedron of pure crystal and the rough size of Twilight's library home slowly rotated clockwise. Bolts of blue and violet energy crackled over its surface, at seemingly random moments jumping out and striking a glowing diamondstar above.

     "The Magicahedron, storage unit of all knowledge and wisdom past, present, and future."

     Twilight shrieked and spun around, freezing in sudden terror at the sight of the pony who had come through the door after her. "Pr-Princess Celestia!"

     "Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student." The pink-white Alicorn towered above Twilight Sparkle, looking down at her with eyes that spoke of love, understanding...and a deep disappointment. "I had come here to consult the Magicahedron on the coming return of the Rainbow of Light, when I received some...disturbing news from my dear sister. And now I find you here, far from home and wearing a traitor's cloak. My student, why have you come here?"

     Twilight gulped and began slowly backing away from the princess. As she did her mind scrambled to answer the question. "I-I came here to find the answer to the Ponyville fire, to discover the cause of it, and how to keep it from happening again. Also to find the location of Midnight Castle, as well as...personal questions."

     Celestia nodded. Stepping forward she turned Twilight around with a wing and began to lead her to the Magicahedron. "Twilight Sparkle, your intentions are true and good, but the path you trod is very dangerous. I can feel in your heart of hearts much confusion, anger...and so much fear. As your mentor, please, let me help you."

     Twilight hung her head, averting her gaze from Celestia to the floor. "I...I just want to do what's right, Princess. But I don't know what that is anymore. Jack needs my help, he wants to stop the fires too, but he's hurt my friends; Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, maybe even Fluttershy. And then there's Trixie. She says she's good, she says that Princess Luna has helped her. But in the forest with Jack, she was so dark, so cold and merciless. She seemed more like the villain than Jack ever did."

     "I see."

     Twilight looked up at her mentor. In the shifting glow of the room's magic Celestia's face was cast into sharp shadows, yet she could easily make out the growing frown on the Alicorn's face. She gulped and looked away, forward to the Magicahedron. Now that they were closer, she could hear a steady thrumming sound emanating from the massive crystalline apparatus before her. Her skin felt saturated with the raw excess magic energy around the device, a feeling she would compare to being in a steam room. It was stifling.

     "Princess Celestia..." Twilight looked back up at her teacher. When Celestia looked down and met her gaze she continued. "Princess, I have so many questions I need answers to. Why have I survived death two times now? How can I protect from the fires? And...and about your playing me and my friends like chess piec-"

     "Twilight Sparkle." The named Unicorn shut up at the sound of her name. Celestia leaned down and nuzzled her cheek. "Don't think on how your friendships have come to be, but on what you have done with the friendships given you. Whatever role my plans played in forging the bonds of friendship between you and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy, remember that it was all you that kept those bonds strong and pure."

     Pulling away, Celestia looked from Twilight to the Magicahedron. Twilight followed her gaze. "My student, I have no wisdom to impart to you now except to be careful. Pure, absolute knowledge such as the Magicahedron provides can be more dangerous than any spell or curse. Not even I fully understand its workings. So please, no matter what you may find in there, please...stay yourself."

     Something about that sounded strange to Twilight. She turned to look at Celestia. "Do you know what I will find?"

     Celestia bowed her head and backed a few paces back. "Just stay yourself."

     Whatever Twilight Sparkle would have normally thought to this statement was swept away with a pulse of ancient magic. As if pulled by some outside force Twilight turned back to the Magicahedron, her pupils shrinking and eyes glazing over as she stared into the device's crystalline depths. Within it a blue light flared, shifting without a moment's pause between azure, cobalt, indigo, and cerulean. Unknown to her, a matching glow enveloped her horn.

     From the Magicahedron images began to appear in Twilight's mind, flashing by in the blink of an eye. Faces past by; dragon, manticore, phoenix, diamond dog, before finally settling on the face of a pony with a red coat and blue mane. Strangely, this pony had two horns, set like a bull's horns rather than a normal Unicorn's.

     SPEAK.

     All at once the voice was like a hundred boulders tumbling down a mountain slope, a raging river rushing over the edge of a cliff and crashing down, a thousand metallic blades scraping against each other in a cacophony of chaos. Whatever magic fueled this device and gave it whatever sentience it had, it was so wholly unlike anything Twilight Sparkle had ever experienced before that it felt to the purple Unicorn like a disruption of the natural order. She felt sick, frightened, loving, and hateful towards it all at once from just a single word.

     SPEAK.

     Twilight's legs buckled beneath her. "I, I have come for information. What is the way to Midnight Castle?"

     New images began assaulting her mind, not of faces this time but places, starting with the decrepit castle she had left Jack in and culminating with a 360 degree view of a single massive tower, pitch black in stone and metal. It was only after this final image that Twilight was able to put what she had seen together as a visual map to her destination from what would be her starting point. She tried not to wonder how the device before her had known where that starting point was.

     "Thu-thank you. How...how do I harness the power of the six Knights of Equestria to save this world?"

     A flash of light, and suddenly Twilight's mind began to fill with the details of a vast, intricate spell. Twilight felt the corners of her mouth pull back into a smile as a sort of knowledge she had only ever dreamed of filled her. Not just a spell but theories, plans, ancient techniques and rites, theoretical and metaphorical ideas on the magic superstructure of the world itself. Within the blink of an eye and an eon Twilight knew everything to do with not just the Knights and how to harness their power, but with how their power worked as well, how to restore it to the world...and how to draw more from the world.

     IS THIS KNOWLEDGE...SATISFACTORY?

     Twilight climbed back to her hooves, bringing one up to wipe absently at the stream of blood leaking from her right nostril. "No, no I have one more question. Why have I survived death two times now?"

     For the first time since it had appeared in her head, the image of the blue and red pony with two horns showed an emotion. It was something akin to amusement. Before Twilight could ask what was funny a stab of pain shot through her brain. She screamed and fell to the ground, which she only just then found to be covered in freshly-written runes. She lay in a circle of them. Panicking she shot back to her hooves, screaming as another stab of pain rent her mind. Strange images flashed before her mind's eye, of a towering Unicorn pony, his shining eyes seeming to make his purple coat catch fire; dank, lightless dungeons; a young Pegasus mare, her white coat bloodied and torn, her belly distended with an advanced pregnancy.

     YOU HAVE BRAVED THE SILENCE FOR THIS KNOWLEDGE. DO WITH IT...WHAT YOU WILL, AND LET THE REST FALL.

     "AAAAAAAUUGH!"

     Another flash, and now the fiery pony stood with five others, their eyes shining with light as red and blue flames assaulted them and a towering figure of darkness stood in the distance; the first stallion again, standing above the mare and looking down at her and the bawling filly in her hooves; Princess Luna and Princess Celestia standing together, wrapping tendrils of sunlight and moonlight around the six ponies until they were completely hidden.

     Twilight's body shuddered, her screams growing in pain and torment. Blood seeped from her nose, her mouth, the corners of her eyes as raw magic began to consume her. Then suddenly, blessed relief came to her as the runes around her took on a golden glow, and she felt herself forcibly disconnected from the Magicahedron.

     Princess Celestia was at Twilight's side in an instant, catching the Unicorn as she collapsed to the ground and holding her close to her chest. Her cloak had been burned away in the event. Twilight sobbed and looked up at her princess with bloody eyes. "I am...a descendant of the Six."

     Princess Celestia nodded, her face set in a grim mask. "The leader, Skyfire. The only one of them to sire a foal after taking in the magic of the world. His power, flowing down through the generations, only fully began to manifest in you through such close contact to me. My student, I am so sorry..."

     Twilight felt sick, her whole body aching. All she wanted was to stay there in the Alicorn's embrace, where it was warm and soft and safe. Yet still she looked around at the runes on the floor. Her eyes widened in realization of what they were, and she looked back at Celestia with her tears renewed. "M-magic absorption runes? Why...I don't, I don't understand...why would you try to take away my magic?"

     Twilight's tears grew hotter when Celestia looked away, tears in her own eyes. "I...only tried for your own good, Twilight. Skyfire's magic has begun to grow rampant in your system, it could-"

     "I can't protect my friends without my magic!" Twilight's horn flared with magic. Shock flashed across Celestia's face as an invisible power shoved her away from Twilight.
Twilight rolled back to her hooves and continued the pressure, pushing her mentor back until she slammed back-first into the wood door. A cry of pain came from the Alicorn as a wing bent the wrong way, but Twilight didn't care. In her blazing eyes she no longer saw the kind, patient, wise, ever-loving Princess she had lived much of her life with, but instead a monster. A twisted fiend, who had waited until a moment of horrible emotional anguish before making her move.

     "Yes, that's it," Twilight muttered to herself. She stalked towards the princess pinned to the one exit, the glow of her horn growing with every passing second. "You...knew what I would learn in there, counted on it. That, hehe, that's why you allowed me access so easily, the Magicahedron would provide, hah, the perfect distraction as you drained me of my magic!"

     Celestia's horn flickered and she burst free from the telekinetic hold. "No Twilight, that's not true, you know it! I only wanted to protect you, and Equestria! You have no idea what will happen if you unleash the power of the Knights of Equestria, stop acting like such a foal!"

     "No, I don't know what will happen!" Twilight's horn glowed ever brighter, the skin and hair around it going transparent from the raw energy flowing through it. Through the room a fierce wind developed. Once again Celestia was pinned to the door, and this time she stayed there. "And you know? I'm glad I don't know! It's so sickening to always know, always have all the answers, and always to be EXPECTED to have all the answers! It's just such a rush to not know what's going to happen next!"

     With that final shout, Twilight leapt forward. The thick layers of magic around her horn slid back and enveloped her body, and suddenly that form transformed into a purple blur, crackling with lightning. Celestia had only the time to widen her eyes before the blur smashed into her chest. She was sent hurtling backwards, through the door back into the library, and then through the stone and mortar library wall out into the night beyond.

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     To the ponies below that flocked to their windows and out into the courtyards, a sight met them that filled their hearts with dread. Their beloved ruler, the symbol of love and wisdom that had ruled over them in peace for over a thousand years, was being torn apart before their eyes. A red and purple blur sped around the form of the Alicorn princess, almost too fast for the eyes of those below to track, battering her again and again from all sides, obviously being the only thing keeping Celestia from falling the hundreds of feet to the ground. Very faintly screaming could be heard, though whether it came from the Princess or the attacker none on the ground could say.

     But then, suddenly, more figures joined the sky; royal Pegasi guardsponies from the Canterlot garrison. A wild cheer burst from the watching ponies below as above their heads sped Cirrus Maw, who held the line at Fort Hollow against Diamond Dog raiders; Aurora, who banished the frost giants back to their northern lairs; Skydancer, the only known Pegasus to learn how to harness natural lightning in battle; and greatest of all, leading the charge, flew Firefly, captain of Princess Celestia's personal Pegasi guards.

     At the approach of the newcomers the purple blur slowed to a stop, fading back into the form of a strangely tall Unicorn, her horn glowing with magical light and a pair of massive Pegasi wings on her back. With the sudden cessation of strikes Princess Celestia finally began plummeting to the ground, until she was saved from a messy end on the cobblestone courtyard below by the combined efforts of every University student and faculty member gathered there.

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     Twilight watched the group of Pegasi approach, hovering in place with a slow and steady flap of her wings. She neither wondered where they had come from nor cared.

     Once Firefly and the others had come within range Twilight's glowed, and a massive blast of sheet lightning flew towards them. The Pegasi scattered, dodging around the bolts of deadly energy as easily as they would butterflies. Before Twilight could ready another volley Firefly swooped in from above and smashed into her hooves first, sending her tumbling through the air and into the side of a tower. Before Twilight could reclaim her senses another blinding blow came from Skydancer, and then one from Aurora. Twilight tumbled end over end through the sky, the Pegasi timing their swooping attacks in perfect harmony as they bounced her back and forth between them.

     Twilight Sparkle planned to fix that.

     As soon as she was hit the next time her horn flashed and a telekinetic grip kept the Pegasus and new Alicorn from separating. Skydancer yelped in shock and flapped her wings in a panic, before Twilight twisted the two of them around in midair and slammed Skydancer into the side of a building. Her opponent slumped unconscious.

     Undoing the holding spell she had cast, Twilight flipped up and out of the way of Cirrus Maw's reckless charge at her from behind. She smirked as he impacted against the unconscious Skydancer and sent both Pegasi crashing through the wall into whatever lay beyond in an orange and green blur. "Come on soldiers, I just got my wings five minutes ago! Impress me!"

     "Okay!" A pink and blue blur slammed into Twilight from the side. Continuing to fly forward with Twilight, Firefly maneuvered around to Twilight's back and hooked her forelegs around the other pony's forelegs while pinning Twilight's wings to her back with her body. Then she twisted them both around, slamming Twilight through the side of a tower as they flew past it at blinding speeds. "Traitor! Twilight Sparkle, how dare you harm your princess and fellow ponies like this!"

     "She started it!" Twilight shouted back. Her horn gave off a pulse of light, and suddenly Firefly let go of Twilight to clutch at her blinded eyes. Twilight's momentum carried her forward, until she flipped around and landed with all four hooves onto the top of a rounded dome. By this point the aerial fight had made its way to the skies and rooftops of Canterlot proper, and a whole new throng of ponies was leaving their homes to watch.

     A sharp whistling sound made Twilight's ears perk up. The next moment a sharp pain hit her right side, and she looked to see a thrown spear had grazed her flank just above her cutie mark. With barely a mental shrug she telekinetically caught the next spear and flung it back at Aurora, making the Pegasus dodge out of the way. "Keep your toys out of this."

     Firefly tackled Twilight from the side, and together the two began to roll back and forth across the dome. The dagger clutched in the pink Pegasus's mouth flashed, and a shallow slash appeared down Twilight's left shoulder. At this Twilight grunted and kicked Firefly away with her hind legs. Firefly righted herself in midair and glared down at Twilight. "Just why, why are you doing this?!"

     "You wouldn't understand!" Twilight telekinetically seized Firefly and threw her into the tower across the street from them. Flying forward she built up a massive charge of telekinetic energy around her hooves and let it go in one burst, blowing apart the tower and sending pieces flying in all directions. Screams came from the ponies on the streets below as hundreds of tons of debris showered down towards them, but with simply a flicker of her horn Twilight caught it all and threw it at Aurora. The white and blue Pegasus had only a moment to scream before she was buried beneath the several tons of rubble.

     Twilight made to teleport away, before an organized movement caught her attention. From Canterlot Castle she could see dozens of Pegasus soldiers flying in towards her. Through the streets dozens more of the royal guards, these Unicorns, hurried to form a circle around her, their horns charging with, judging from the color, lightning spells. And then, silhouetted against the moon, Twilight could see Princess Luna flying in.

     "I have no intention of killing any of you, or Celestia" Twilight shouted to the gathering soldiers. Her horn glowed, and the air around Twilight's body began to blur, condensing. A deep breathe in, and then out, and wisps of smoke curled from between her lips. "I don't think I could either, I just don't have the combat training like all of you or my sister has. But..." The air around her now formed a thick wall, almost like a bubble. Through it her form was difficult to make out, just as Twilight wanted. "I think I make up for that in sheer power. FIRE!"

     With this roar a stream of fire poured from Twilight's mouth and into what was not simply condensed air, but oxygen. It ignited, and with another roar Twilight sent the fireball flying downwards. It impacted the ground and exploded, and suddenly the gathered soldiers were faced with a choice; continue fighting the madmare they had surrounded, or save the city and its citizens from a fiery death.

     It was no choice at all. Twilight Sparkle teleported from Canterlot with no more attempts to stop her.

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     Back in Canterlot University, the healers had arrived, and set to work immediately on the bloody, beaten form of their beloved princess. Students and faculty joined in however they could, and the courtyard shone with the light of a hundred horns, hummed with the sound of a hundred healing spells. Through all this, there were but a few who noticed Celestia awake and mumble out three simple words.

     "The Rainbow...comes..."