Author's note: We're back everypony and I must say that I hope that I can make this story better than it was before. Again, if anypony wants to help me out with this (Grammar, collaborative advice, etc) just PM me. While I have your attention, check out The Mildly Cliched Quest by Figment (aka the mad derper) and Spazz (aka me). Thank you all for your continued support of Spark's love story. Now... without further adieu:
Chapter 12: Intense negotiations
Twilight Sparkle
The mayor of Ponyville would have rolled her eyes at the smirking blue unicorn before her if it weren't for the handful of huge, not to mention armed, stallions that were escorting her. Before the catastrophe, "The Great and Powerful Trixie" had been nothing but a showpony with an over inflated ego. Now, "Commissar Trixie" had somehow placed herself at the head of some sort of rebellion against Luna. All of this should have surprised her, but for some unknown reason, it didn't.
Okay, I have to handle this carefully. She's only got a few guards with her, but she undoubtedly has more outside of the city. Twilight thought to herself. She looked over to Spark. He was standing there, silently looking over Trixie. Twilight felt a sudden burst of anger, Is he checking her out?! she thought angrily, then she stopped herself, No, probably not. Odds are, he's just looking her over to try to get a feel for her. You can tell a lot about a pony from how they stand, after all.
Then, she started trying to formulate a response to the other mare's words when the lavender mare was struck with a question. Wait, why do I care if he's checking her out? Yes, we did have a bit of a moment last night, but nothing happened. It was nothing more than me being hospitable. I mean, it's not like I have feelings for him... right?
This isn't the time for that! Twilight thought to herself as she pushed the questions to the back of her mind and addressed the situation at hoof.
"What are you talking about, Trixie?" She asked.
The blue unicorn chuckled, "Oh, it's nothing, really. My comrades and I were in the area, fighting our glorious crusade against the tyrannous bourgeois, when we remembered that Ponyville had yet to join our righteous cause. So, naturally, I came with a detachment of my guard to offer our aid, in exchange for yours."
"What kind of aid would you want from us?"
"Well, seeing as you were the deceased princess' dearest and most faithful student, you of all ponies would know how to overcome her sister."
"That's crazy! Why would we fight Princess Luna?"
Trixie began to pontificate, "Because they KNEW about the destroyers, yet they did NOTHING!"
It was clear that she'd said that more for the guards than anypony else. Twilight was shocked by the accusation none the less, "That's a lie."
"Face it! Celesta LIED to you... she lied to all of us!"
"She wouldn't lie about this."
"How would you know? Until three years ago, she lied to you about Nightmare Moon! Face it, Twilight Sparkle, she never cared about you! Why would she? Her age was measured in centuries, not years! Did you really think you were her only dearest and most faithful student? Your lifetime is a blink of an eye compared to hers!"
All Twilight's bitterness and despair at the death of her beloved mentor suddenly burst forth.
"No! It's not true!" Twilight screamed as she fired several bolts of mana at Trixie in rage.
Trixies face contorted into a deranged grin as she deflected the hastily conjured salvo. "You know, Twilight Sparkle, that constitutes a direct act of aggression." She said, Twilight cringed as the mare continued, "Not that I'm disappointed, I've been looking forward to my revenge for quite some time now."
Fear ran through every fiber of Twilght's being as the former show pony began laughing hysterically, "Oh, the poetic justice! You took everything from me, and now... I get to take everything from you! I'm going to capture every citizen of this decrepit town and make you watch as I kill each of them, one at a time. I'll make sure they know that you could have saved them. Then, I'll burn this rat hole to the ground. And then... Finally... I will end you... In the slowest, most agonizing way possible... and I will enjoy every.last.second of it!" The crazed mare cackled.
After a moment of silence the blue mare gestured to three of her guards, "You three are to keep these two here until Trixie returns."
Then she turned and walked out of the library, the door slamming shut behind her. There was no way out for them, Twilight only knew a couple spells that could be used for combat, and they wouldn't be able to overcome all three of the guards in time. Twilight looked over to Spark just in time to see a blinding flash coupled with a deafening bang.
--Galvanic Spark--
Reaching up to his throbbing horn, which still had bits of electricity arcing across it here and there, Spark realized just how out of practice he was. Before, he'd been able to use that sort of charge on an almost daily basis. Now, he could barely manage it once. Well, at least there isn't any real damage. He thought as he felt for fractures, I probably should lay off the magic for a while, though.
Taking a few moments to allow the pain to subside, Spark looked at the three stallions that now laid dead before him.
Hearing Twilight groan, the colt uneasily stood up. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"I think so." She said as she rubbed her eyes to readjust from the flash, "What was that?"
"Electrical arc."
Twilight froze in place once she noticed the bodies, "You killed them." she said quietly
"Yes, I did. Now, if we hurry we can still stop that lunatic." Spark said as he trotted towards the door. When he noticed that Twilight's hoof steps weren't behind him, he stopped and turned around. She was still staring at the deceased stallions, guilt plastered on her face.
"Why did you have to kill them? Couldn't you have just stunned them or something?" She asked with tears forming in her eyes.
"Yes, I could have. But then we have three more guys here that are out for our blood and the blood of everypony else that lives here." He answered as he opened the door and looked outside
"Don't you care that you just took the lives of three strangers?!"
The question stopped the colt mid-trot. In that instant, dozens of images passed through Spark's mind: An orange pegasus mare with wiry red hair and a knife in her side; a dirty green earth pony whose head was turned to an unnatural angle; a young white unicorn floating face down in a river, his spear still gripped for battle. Every image was of a pony whose life he ended in an attempts to preserve his own.
With the memories came a realization: No, he didn't care. Spark felt nothing for those ponies. He couldn't care less about the lives they led. Why SHOULD I care?! I'm going to do what it takes to survive, and that means ending those whose plans conflict with that.
"You know what," He said bitterly, "I can't say I do."