The Chaos Within

by contodaslasganas

What Really Happened...

Twilight was staring at herself.

Well, actually, Twilight was staring at a past version of herself, less than a day old, if what Zecora had said about the potion was correct. She watched in silent awe as the other Twilight (who we shall now refer to as Past Twilight) tossed and turned in her bed, the exact same way as the purple mare remembered.

Right hoof, left hoof, turn over…

Wow! That potion must have been the real deal! It does leave a pony a bit woozy, though…

Out of nowhere, she began feeling a small amount of pressure, almost as if something were wanting to push her out of the recollection. Though at first she had dismissed it as a side effect of the concoction, it began to bug here more and more as she continued to watch the tossing and turning.

Mentally, however, Twilight forced the pressure back, paying it no heed, and in the end Twilight’s curiosity counteracted that discomfiting force as she saw Past Twilight rise up from the bed and begin to walk towards the door. She was unable to make out any other features apart from the unicorn’s silhouette, but so far it looked just like her.

Wait a second…

Twilight quickly understood the reason for the lack of light:

The blinds are already closed… I don’t remember getting out of bed after I closed them!

Twilight observed closely as her other self walked slowly down the stairs to the library’s entrance, and she noticed how her gait was monoton. She inspected everything as best she could in the darkness, not letting any minute detail slip by. That was when she noticed how all the books and the quills were… in their correct places?

Just like I left them last night.

But this can’t be right… I don’t remember any of this!

Still, something inside the unicorn wouldn’t let go of the possibility that all this was true. As she followed Past Twilight and galloped forward, she decided to check once and for all the validity of the scenes she was witnessing.

I’ll get a thorough look at myself. That should clear up any doubt! Any small difference can debunk the legitimacy of this “memory!”

In a manner of seconds, she had passed her other self, her mind prepared to take in every small detail of this other Twilight. She briskly turned around to face Past Twilight, and only then did she notice how the counterpart looked exactly like her – the purple coat, the stripe in her mane, the unique cutie mark – except for one striking difference:

The eyes.

Those horrible eyes.

Past Twilight’s eyes were a dull yellow, the stare so cold that Twilight froze while looking upon them, a darkness emanating from these windows to the soul. Past Twilight simply passed right through her, unflinching, as if the real Twilight wasn’t even there.

This doesn’t seem right… But why does it seem familiar?

And then, to Twilight’s dismay, her other self began to charge some magic, and then the unexpected happened, the worst possible thing:

The chaos started.

The purple unicorn simply stood there, astounded at what was occurring right in front of her, too stunned to even lift a hoof. Unfortunately for her, there was no need for her to move: whenever Past Twilight galloped or teleported away, Twilight’s surroundings would shift around her.

And every shift brought forth even more traumatic images.

Past Twilight began casting spells unknown to the real purple unicorn, spells that only high-level unicorns and alicorns could hope to perform.

Spells of mass destruction. Black beams of magic would strike different houses, starting fires and sometimes even creating explosions. Ponies everywhere were screaming their heads off, galloping every which way in a worried frenzy.

One teleport later, the real Twilight watched as an entire orchard burned up, not even the tree trunks saved from the scorching heat. Most of the apples and leaves melted, a couple of farm ponies attempting to save what few items they could.

Another shift afterwards, she saw her counterpart freeze entire houses, summon small tornadoes, and shoot more black beams of magic.

The chaos was simply horrific.

Then, out of a small corner, a crème-colored filly a bit younger than Apple Bloom slowly walked out, attempting to escape as fright tried to glue her hooves to the ground. Past Twilight took notice of this and began to charge another dark beam of magic, Twilight immediately recognizing who that attack would be aimed at.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP IT!”

Twilight could take it no longer, summoning a small beam of purple magic from her own horn and shooting it towards her counterpart. The beam simply went right through the antagonist, unable to stop the pony from amassing more of that black magic.

Tears began to build up in those purple eyes, her ears hurting from all the screams of terror and loud explosions.

NO, NO, NO! THIS CAN’T BE TRUE!

That feeling of uselessness, being unable to stop that small foal from being incinerated… it was just too much for one pony to bear.

And then there arose a sound different from the early cacophony: a set of organized hoofsteps was approaching rapidly.

“Stop right there!”

Both Twilights turned at the same time, an image of five guards filling their vision, Past Twilight directing her aim instead towards the group and letting loose another large explosion, blowing them all away.

In that instant, Twilight noticed that the small filly had broken from fear’s trance and had scurried away, hopefully to somewhere far from all the destruction. No matter, because that face, that expression of utter terror was already etched into her memory, unyielding to any attempts at forgetting.

Not a second later, a small streak of rainbow colors quickly approached from the sky.

“Hey, Twilight, what’s h–”

That was as far as the cerulean pegasus got, for another seven guards had arrived, shooting spells towards the two ponies.

“Hey, what gives? Twilight, what’s happening?”

The pegasus received no response from either purple mare, Past Twilight simply sporting a devilish smile as she expertly blocked all of the spells hurtling towards her.

Or so she had thought. Another guard had arrived and hidden behind one of the smoldering houses, shooting off a small electrifying beam that hit the purple mare square in the face.

That was all the instigation Rainbow Dash needed: without hesitation, she flew up to the nearest guards and knocked their heads together, all the while dodging small missiles of magic careening dangerously close to her fur.

Past Twilight’s entire body began to tremble a bit, her eyes slowly returning to their original purple.

To Twilight’s horror, the scene that followed played out exactly as she remembered it.

“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?”

“Twilight, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but what’s happening? What are you doing, and why are there guards here? And what’s with the fires?”

“Twilight, listen! I’m getting you out of h–”

It wasn’t a dream at all! NO, NO, No, no, no…

But the vision was not done yet: there was still more torture to be dealt. Those demonic, yellow eyes had returned to Past Twilight’s face, and now some sort of dark smoke emanated from her mane and coat.

One second, the guards had their horns and weapons pointed at the duo; the next second, they were in the air hurtling towards the ground at incredible speeds, leaving Rainbow Dash very surprised.

“Hey, Twilight! You should be careful with your magic! You could have k–”

Unexpectedly, Past Twilight charged up and shot a dark beam at her friend with impressionable speed, a shot that would have incinerated the pony had her instincts been a tad slower.

“Twilight, what are you doing? I’m here to help you!”

A couple more beams of that dark magic was the purple mare’s response, the real Twilight unable to respond as she broke down, crying her eyes out. So much did she want to leave this nightmare, but her never-ending curiosity would not let her exit the memory, the purple mare slowly opening her eyes to watch the scene unfurl.

Beam after beam threatened to destroy her friend, each time the magic getting closer and closer as the pegasus struggled to evade them.

I’m here, and I can’t do anything to stop this…

Then, in the blink of an eye, the real Twilight heard a small sound, a short sentence that tore at her heart from that moment on:

“I’m sorry, Twilight.”

And with that, Rainbow Dash flew up, gaining enough speed to rival anypony in Equestria, and lunged towards the alternate Twilight, the rapidly-flowing air providing a shield of sorts from the attacks as the pegasus sped up. A fraction of a second later, at the point where purple and cerulean collided, a small Sonic Rainboom blew Past Twilight away with incredible force, knocking her on her back as the immense rush of air quelled many of the fires down to piles of hot ashes.

Rainbow Dash slowly landed in front of the fallen pony, a couple of small bruises showing from the last few beams she could not dodge. With tears slowly accumulating in her eyes, Rainbow was about to wake up the purple mare when another group of guards appeared.

Then came Rainbow’s last sentence, one that Twilight barely heard but filled her with even more guilt at what she had done to one of her friends:

“You’re not taking Twilight.”

The pegasus summoned all her energy and carried Past Twilight in the direction of the Everfree Forest, struggling with the added weight to evade beams of magic at every turn.

I can’t take any more of this.

The real Twilight rapidly blinked three times, wanting the nightmare to be over, not wanting to accept the images that she had witnessed, but she knew, deep down, that this was the undeniable truth.

The scenery around her began to swirl, the sounds and sights growing duller by the second, but those images had already ingrained themselves into her mind, haunting her every thought.

The panicked hoofsteps, the screams, the destruction…

I’m sorry, everypony.

…

…

I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash.