Upheaval: Breaking Point

by Visiden Visidane

A Desperate Battle

Upheaval: Breaking Point

Chapter 44: A Desperate Battle

Applejack opened her eyes, and found herself propped against the wall of a nearby house. 'What in the-- How'd I get here?' She was upside down, and her sides were aching badly. She righted herself, but her legs were unsteady. Her vision was still blurry, and the distortions caused by the heat and smoke were not helping. 'What happened? How'd I--' She looked ahead of her, and got a good idea.

Nightmare Moon stood at the center of the very same street that they had been gathered. The smoke stung Applejack's eyes, but the figure of a pony underneath the flames was there. The memory of the last few seconds came rushing back. Nightmare Moon had landed before them in a terrific, fiery explosion that knocked them flying. She rolled on the hard, broken pavement. The bitter cold of King Fenrir's blizzard, and the fierce heat of Nightmare Moon's tainted flames took turns in hurting her. Then, she hit her head on something, and got knocked out. She looked for her friends. The first attack alone could have incinerated them.

Twilight was still standing before Nightmare Moon, a small globe of crackling purple energy surrounding her. Pinkie, and Fluttershy huddled inside the globe. The others were still missing. Once her legs were stable enough, Applejack rushed back into the fray.

"Isn't this a fine sight?" Nightmare Moon said. "Without the Elements of Harmony, you are mere fillies playing soldier! I'm going to enjoy roasting you until the flesh falls off your bones!"

"You're a coward," Twilight replied. Her words were almost lost to the howl of the wind, and clangor the fighting.

"Oh, am I? Big talk from the unicorn who can't even protect all of her friends."

"Shut up!" Twilight snarled. "I'm not talking to you!"

Applejack hesitated. Likewise, Pinkie, and Fluttershy also looked to Twilight in confusion. Twilight, on the other hoof, focused entirely on her enemy. "I thought you were a fighter, Pyre Valor," she shouted. "We're not done yet! Why are you hiding behind Nightmare Moon?"

Nightmare Moon's flames wavered. The tainted flames that burned brightly despite the howling windstorm briefly wavered at Twilight's challenge.

'Dunno what she's trying, but it looks like it's working!' Applejack thought.

Although Nightmare Moon's distraction only lasted a few seconds, it was enough for them to regroup. Scarlet flew up, and fired a bolt at Nightmare Moon. Rainbow burst out of a small pile of rubble, and fired one as well. The bolts were still a good distance away when enormous "claws" of flame grabbed them. When the flames receded, the bolts were gone.

As soon as Nightmare Moon shifted her attention to her aerial attackers, Vanguard galloped from one side with his two-bladed sword in his mouth. With a swing of his neck, he slashed at Nightmare Moon's exposed side. Applejack galloped from the other side. As she neared, she leaped towards Nightmare Moon, her front tramplers outstretched.

The mass of smoke and flame wavered again as Vanguard struck. Nightmare Moon jumped back in time to avoid the two-bladed sword. She spun to dodge Applejack as well, but could not do so completely. A trampler-fitted hoof glanced heavily off her coat.

Applejack recoiled as soon as her hoof struck Nightmare Moon. She should have struck flesh, but her trampler had glanced off something hard. The heat was so intense that, for a moment, she thought her hoof had burst into flame, or that her trampler had melted. Nightmare Moon, on the other hoof, looked barely hurt. Applejack instinctively brought the burned hoof to her chest to nurse it as soon as she landed. 'Okay, hitting a flaming pony with my legs is a bad idea.' Nightmare Moon's horn crackled with magic. Applejack twisted her body, but there was no way she was going to be able to jump back. Desperately, she threw her forelegs in front of her.

"Applejack!" Vanguard shouted. He slammed into her in time. They fell to one side as a torrent of flame passed through Vanguard's back. Fortunately, his armor held. From the wince on Vanguard's face, he'd probably be a little red around that spot later.

"Thanks Vanguard," Applejack said from underneath him.

"Save it until we're out of danger." Vanguard grunted. He got to his hooves, and faced Nightmare Moon. Applejack followed suit. They did so in time to see the enormous bolt of lightning fly from Twilight's horn.

Nightmare Moon countered with her own arc of electricity. The spells collided with a thunderous explosion, spending sparks flying in all directions. Applejack winced at the deafening boom. When the blast cleared, there was already a wave of flame about to crash where Twilight was. Pinkie screeched, fell to the ground, and covered her face. Fluttershy simply froze.

The wave crashed and parted against Twilight's shield. The magical globe fizzled, and disappeared, but it had done its job. Twilight's focus was so intense that she didn't even blink as the torrent of flames parted mere inches from her face. "Stay behind me," she told the two next to her.

---

Nightmare Moon glared back at the intense stare from Twilight. This was a different pony from the one who had so recklessly charged at her back in Everfree. This wasn't a scared little filly who reached out to others just to be strong. This was a driven, and powerful mare, one willing to stand, and trade spells with her.

This fight was not what she expected. These were the Elements of Harmony, the same ponies that united to drive her out of Luna. She had expected them to have become more resilient after joining the Legion, as well as having learned a few new tricks. She had not expected them to be so…scattered. The light they had emanated during that humiliating day was not there. This was beyond not merely having the physical devices. These ponies were simply not in harmony. The two pegasi were mere distractions and they knew it. The two standing behind Twilight were negligible.

The two earth ponies were dangerous in their own way. The stallion was Vanguard Clash, her host's foalhood friend. Pyre had previously "killed" him, but was now having problems just facing him. This dissonance between her and Nightmare Moon, combined with her ridiculously excessive hatred of Twilight was a problem. As for the mare, she emanated a different sort of light, one that only Nightmare Moon noticed. Though it was faint, that light was familiar: a hateful light from a place she had abandoned a long time ago. If these ponies had so much as a sliver of a chance against her, that chance would be anchored in that light. Finally, there was the other unicorn and the young dragon who have yet to--

Nightmare Moon cried out as a sharp pain pierced both her train of thought, and her flank. At that moment, Twilight unleashed a swarm of purple energy bolts, each one no bigger than a hoof-held rock. The bolts wheeled about and surrounded her, pausing for a moment as if they were a living cloud of creatures, then diving in altogether.

At that one pause before the energy bolts descended, Pyre's fighting instincts kicked in. Twilight had fired a thin ray of light from her horn: a dimensional anchor. She had purposely picked a spectacularly flashy spell as a distraction. The dimensional anchor would have connected, and there would have been no dodging that swarm. Nightmare Moon easily deflected the spell, and teleported with the energy bolts mere inches from connecting. A terrific explosion rocked the area where she was previously standing. Twilight's stomp of frustration put a smile on Nightmare Moon's face as she reappeared behind her. Even Pyre felt a brief satisfaction at foiling the offense. The two cowering ponies yelped, and moved to keep Twilight between them and Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon focused on what had struck her. She pulled out a piece of metal with her telekinesis, and tossed it aside. A dagger? How could something so mundane have struck her? Three more flew at her in rapid succession. With the element of surprise gone, she dodged them with ease. A white glow of magical energy surrounded the blades, and pulled them through the air. Following their path, she found their source. The white unicorn, the one that she had dismissed earlier, had somehow made a successful attack. She focused on this new threat. This was the bearer of the Element of Generosity, still dangerous after all. The amount of magical energy from this one was laughably weak, yet the blade had somehow pierced her defensive magic.

It was the strange twinkling by the white unicorn that gave Nightmare Moon pause. A point of light, no bigger than a coin, was shining through her mage-coat. The same light thinly covered the blades. It was not like the one that emanated from the earth pony mare. Far from it. This light had an ominous glow. It had the aura of alicorn magic, but this was not from an alicorn she recognized.

Nightmare Moon was in more danger than she had first anticipated. These ponies had no chance in driving her out of Pyre's body. However, there were individual sources of danger she hadn't expected. Toying with them out of the question. She stomped with both her forelegs, sending a great torrent of blackened flame towards the white unicorn. Those blades, combined with that strange light, were dangerous weapons, but they were useless as defenses. The white unicorn gasped, and simply stared at her looming destruction.

"Rarity!"

A young dragon had somehow found its way to the north, and was helping what its kind considered barely-passable snacks. It jumped in front of the flames, and exhaled a gout of green dragonfire. The blast was impressive for one so small. The dragonflame momentarily pushed back Nightmare Moon's flames. In that moment, the sky blue pegasus swooped in, and knocked Rarity out of the way. That space quickly passed, and the power of nightmare completely overwhelmed this foolish dragon. The dragon cried out as the flames engulfed it. When they died down, it was flat on its back, and unconscious. To Nightmare Moon's irritation, but not surprise, it was still alive.

"Spike!" Rarity galloped towards her fallen ally. The yellow pegasus cowering behind Twilight flew towards the dragon, ignoring the flames that she was shrinking from just a moment ago. After seeing that the dragon was still alive, both ponies breathed a sigh of relief. That relief turned into fury for Rarity, and the blades above her spun swiftly. Nightmare Moon focused on wrenching telekinetic control over the blades. With Rarity's low magical presence, it shouldn't be a problem. Instead, she could not even slow the spinning. The blades arced up, and spread out, flying towards her from different directions. With the blades unstoppable, Nightmare Moon focused on taking down their controller. Nearby, the two earth ponies charged at her again. Twilight was also intoning another spell.

"Enough! Your attacks are an insult!"

A mass of shadow burst from Nightmare Moon, spreading out in all directions like a gigantic web. It wasn't fire this time. The shadows engulfed everypony nearby, lifting them off their hooves, and trapping them in place. They even caught, and brought down the pegasi. Twilight's spell casting halted, and Rarity's blades snagged.

"Time to burn!" Nightmare Moon's horn crackled as she prepared to ignite the spell.

The shadow strands did ignite, not with Nightmare Moon's tainted flame, but a brilliant, silvery one. The others fell to the ground, and began to get the last of the shadow-stuff off their bodies. More alicorn magic. This time, Nightmare Moon was all too familiar with the source. Princess Luna was nearby, barely able to even stand.

"You can barely keep away Fenrir's presence away, and you're finding strength to attack me? You've come far from the whining filly who agreed so easily to a merging."

"Be quiet!" Luna retorted. When Nightmare Moon focused on her, she smiled wryly. "Are you going to burn me, Nightmare Moon?" she asked. "'Your king won't appreciate finding his bride a little crispy!"

"I don't have to. You'll keel over without any help from me." Nightmare Moon concentrated on another spell. The mighty Princess of the Night who once matched Princess Celestia spell for spell in a grand duel for Equestria's throne was reduced to a crumbling figurehead in a backwater city at Equestria's fringes. Luna was a failure on all fronts, and a failure didn't deserve any attention. As she expected, Luna fell to one knee.

The other ponies had just recovered from her last spell, and Nightmare Moon needed to keep them off-balance. Strands of shadow poured out of her horn like a hundred slender tentacles wreathed in dark flame. They writhed, and snaked their way towards their targets, cutting off escape routes, and threatening to ensnare each one in burning coils.

---

Spells continued to race through Twilight's mind as she desperately dodged the tentacles. She tried to dispel them as they came at her, but only one strand faded with each casting. She was going to tire herself just stopping this attack.

"Twilight, help!" Pinkie cried out as she ducked one tentacle, then jumped over another one that tried to entangle her legs. Twilight concentrated, and both tentacles faded away. She needed a spell to subdue these things in one fell swoop. Failing that, she needed to bring down Nightmare Moon before they all burned to a crisp. A frost spell came to mind. A big enough cone of pure cold might freeze all these tentacles, and snap them like twigs. She was about to concentrate on the spell when a trio of the tentacles reached out for her.

"Twilight!" Vanguard jumped on the tentacles, crushing them with his hooves. He swung his neck about, slicing up more that threatened to grab him. One of them reared up, and struck his back like a whip, but his barding held true.

"Just in time, Vanguard," Twilight said. "Keep those things off me while I freeze them!"

"Nevermind that," Vanguard replied. He crushed more of the writhing things. "The rest of us will manage. Did you learn some spells that enhance physical prowess?"

"A few," Twilight said. She didn't want to admit that she didn't think they were of as much use as the others. Wading into a melee was not something she planned on doing.

Vanguard nodded. "Good. Stack every one you know on Rarity over there."

"Rarity?" Twilight's eyes widened. "Why Rarity?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Vanguard ducked another whipping attack. "She's the only one whose attack has gotten through!"

Twilight glanced towards Rarity. Applejack was already over there for support. Sure enough, there were a lot of tentacles concentrated on Rarity. Nightmare Moon was going after the one pony who had cut through her defenses. "Boost her with some magical support while the rest of us find a way to get her an opening," Vanguard said. "Until something else comes up, she's our best chance!"

Twilight watched as four glowing blades whirled around Rarity, slicing up tentacles with ease. With Applejack guarding her back, even a swarm of the things could not get at her. Past them, Fluttershy was tending to Spike's injuries. Twilight snorted. Despite so many hours of study and training on her part, it was Rarity who had successfully made an attack. Rarity, who had failed Owlsight's aptitude test, was their best chance at the moment. "I'm on it," she answered. She galloped past the tentacles with Vanguard clearing the way, and Pinkie right behind her.

---

With Twilight on her way, Vanguard concentrated on working with the rest of his new squad to create an opening. Rarity's mage blades were difficult to keep track of, and she maneuvered them with graceful ease. She could also project them from a good distance so there was no need to get her that close. What he needed was for Nightmare Moon to waver again. To do that, he fell back to what Twilight had accomplished earlier. He gestured towards the pegasi, urging them to keep firing. Despite having to fly about frantically just to keep from being tangled up, Scarlet, and Rainbow did their best to comply.

Vanguard charged towards Nightmare Moon, wading into a morass of tentacles. Several struck him while more wrapped around his torso. Nevertheless, he charged on. "Is this all you've been reduced to, Pyre?" he shouted. "Hiding behind a cloud of smoke while chosen do your fighting for you?"

That struck a nerve. Vanguard didn't need to see if the flames bathing Nightmare Moon wavered. He didn't need to hear the Nightmare Moon struggle against a personality far more fiery than anything a spell could conjure. In all the time he had spent with Pyre, he had developed an instinctive awareness of whether something would set her off or not. He leaped forward, gathering as much of the fiery tentacles in his forelegs before crashing to the ground. The flames hurt, but he ignored the pain. He was getting used to the fire at this point. "Now, Rarity!" he shouted.

Nightmare Moon had aimed a blast of flame at Vanguard, but she changed her target at the last moment. With Pyre acting up again, her aim faltered, as did her control over the tentacles. The flames engulfed Rarity. To everypony's surprise, she leaped through without so much as a singed coat. An aura of purple magic surrounded her while her blades spun towards Nightmare Moon like an enormous disc. Nightmare Moon was about to cast a teleportation spell, but another spell hit her, enveloping her in green light. "No!" she shouted. With the dimensional anchor in place, she was reduced to simply jumping aside. The disc cut against her side deeply, and Pyre's blood splattered against the snowy pavement. "Miserable wretch!"

The number of shadowy strands doubled, turning into a forest of madly whipping blackness. A mass of them wrapped around Vanguard, lifting him off his hooves. More chased after Rarity, but she sprinted past them with ease while her blades flew back to her. Vanguard inhaled sharply when his hooves lost traction, and could only brace for impact as the hard stone quickly filled his vision.

---

"Vanguard!" Twilight cried out. She rushed towards him, wincing when she heard the violent bang of metal striking pavement. It wasn't just her. Applejack also galloped hard.

Nightmare Moon slammed Vanguard into the pavement again. His head struck stone on the third, and his legs went limp. His two-bladed sword clattered on the ground.

Something snapped inside Twilight. She pointed her horn at the tentacles, and a blast of wind, even colder than the blizzard, struck the writhing mass. The flaming strands went out, then shattered. She, and Applejack got Vanguard just as more tentacles snaked towards them, cutting off any escape route.

"Some really flashy magic's good right about now, Twi," Applejack said. She stomped on one tentacle that got too close. Portions of her coat were already charred, and she was panting heavily.

Twilight thought so too. However, she had already expended a lot of her strength just fending off Nightmare Moon's attacks, and protecting Rarity. Not only that, the dimensional anchor wasn't going to last long unless she maintained it. The cold was beginning to pick up, and more of Fenrir's aura was returning. Luna was kneeling, and looked ready to faint. Without the princess' presence, Fenrir's blizzard would overwhelm the entire city. 'There must be something we can do,' she thought. 'At this rate, the city will fall!'

Twilight cast about her mind. The tentacles were all over the place now, and they were closing in fast. There was only room for one more spell, one that she was going to have to put all her strength into. An enormous shadow fell across her in the middle of her spell casting. A great mass of the shadowy strands had coiled together to form a single massive tentacle, as thick and as tall as a great oak, about to crash into them.

"Twilight!" Applejack shouted.

There was no time to cast a spell, Twilight shut her eyes tightly.

"Darn it, not again!" Applejack cried out. "I'm not letting my friends get hurt again!"

Twilight braced herself for a crushing impact, followed by death. Seconds passed, and she was still waiting. There was a loud thud of something blunt striking the ground. She opened her eyes and, to her surprise, the three of them were unhurt. Vanguard was beginning to stir, but it was Applejack that held Twilight's attention. Applejack had reared up with her forelegs extended in some desperate attempt to catch the massive tentacle. Now, she was looking above her incredulously.

"Applejack, what happened?" Twilight asked. "What did you do?"

"I…I dunno! " Applejack replied. "I thought we were about to be squished, but it just…it just bounced off something!" She paused. "Is…is this what the Queen was talking about?"

Twilight squinted. Was it just her, or was Applejack…glowing? She rubbed her eyes. The glow was not only actually there, but it took the shape of an enormous golden disc centered on Applejack, and floating above them. "Applejack! How did you do that?" Twilight asked. She pointed at the disc.

"Me?" Applejack's eyes widened. "I thought you did that!"

The massive tentacle rose again for another strike. This time, several smaller ones followed it. They lashed at the disc, but each one recoiled. The massive one fell only to bounce off, and crash just a few feet away.

"What's going on?" Vanguard groaned as he rose unsteadily to his feet.

Twilight ignored Vanguard for now. She had only one more shot at Pyre. The city's continued survival was still unsure even if they drove Nightmare Moon back. The blizzard was getting worse, and her heart was hammering in her chest. Past the howling of the wind, and the crackle of flames, were the sounds of battle. The wolven were getting their scaling ladders up, and they were starting to battle the defenders for occupation of the wall. "One more spell for you, Pyre Valor…" she muttered. Her horn glowed bright. Whatever miracle that Applejack managed had given her this one uninterrupted shot. She aimed the spell towards the burning, smoking pony at the center of all the tentacles.

In the time she had spent studying combat spells, Twilight had discovered a strange thing when it came to fighting. More powerful sometimes didn't equal more complicated. Magical energy built up around her, coalescing into a glowing mass. Her knees started to give way before she could complete the spell. Summoning the last bit of her strength, she released the energy. A brilliant blast of light: raw magic compressed into a beam with only enough control to tell it where to go, burst from her horn.

In response, Nightmare Moon weaved her shadow strands into a single, massive wall of blackness. The beam struck the wall, shaking it violently.

Cracks quickly appeared on the wall and light started to seep through them. Even though she couldn't see Nightmare Moon, Twilight could feel her opponent's fear. For the first time since this fight started, Nightmare Moon feared for her life. Small as the chance may be, Nightmare Moon was in danger of being destroyed. Another crack raced through the wall. Nightmare Moon redoubled her efforts in desperation, and Twilight did the same. This was her final attack. If this failed, it would all be over.

A sudden cry from above broke through the tense humming of magical energy. Rainbow tossed her light crossbow aside, and charged head-first into the wall.

The motion was that simple, but the speed was such that Twilight almost thought that Rainbow had cast a teleportation spell. For half a second, she was hovering in the air. By the second half, she was gone, leaving only a streak of prismatic colors. A powerful boom followed in Rainbow's wake. An explosive riot of bright colors flooded Twilight's vision as the mass of blackness protecting Nightmare Moon shattered like glass.

"Beautiful!" Scarlet shouted as he laughed hysterically. "That was beautiful!"

The beam went through, and met Nightmare Moon head on. Another explosion followed and a great portion of the pavement tore apart. Most of them dodged left and right as bits of rubble accompanied the falling snow. Vanguard, and Twilight simply stood next to Applejack as large fragments of stone bounced off the golden disc.

As the smoke and dust cleared, Twilight collapsed on her belly. She opened her eyes weakly only to find that she couldn't move a single muscle. Vanguard, and Applejack looked her over. She wasn't concerned about her own well-being for now, however. She fought for consciousness, and squinted ahead of her, trying to see how her attack had worked.

A figure walked out of the titanic blast. It was a unicorn mare, her wild, black mane billowing in the blizzard. Her white coat was covered with soot, dust, and several charred patches. She was bleeding from a deep cut to her side. Despite her obviously horrific pain, the unicorn kept her intense stare. "I will admit this, Twilight Sparkle," she said. Her voice was ragged, and came out in pants.

Twilight strained to hear the words. This was Pyre Valor: the unicorn mage she met when she first arrived in the Barrier Lands, not some possessed traitor.

"I will admit that you are strong," Pyre said. "Stronger than I would have ever expected. Strong enough for the right to wear that coat." She reared up, and struck the ruined pavement with her front hooves. "And it pisses me off even more! How unjust that the Heartland would have such strength, but it's us who have to fight out here!"

Twilight ground her teeth. Was there no pleasing this mare? Pyre hated her for being weak, and now hated her even more for being strong. It wasn't just that. It that kernel of truth in Pyre's words. How much more could she have done if she knew of this place all along? So much time lost. So much strength left unused.

"I want to kill you more than ever, Twilight Sparkle," Pyre growled. A creeping shadow covered her legs, and slowly went up to taint the rest of her. "For daring to show me this truth, I will kill you." The shadow overtook her completely.

"Time to end this!"

Twilight raised her horn, concentrated...and wilted. She had given it her best shot and failed. Rainbow was face-first in a pile of rubble. Rarity was panting, and the spells that reinforced her were fading. Vanguard, Applejack, and Scarlet, were still game, but they were also tired, and didn't have much means to hurt Nightmare Moon. More so Fluttershy, and Pinkie. Spike was beginning to wake up, but it was unlikely that he had anything more to contribute. Princess Luna was flat on her belly, and barely conscious. She still kept her magic up desperately, putting in every single ounce of her strength to give the Legion a fighting chance. 'We've lost.' Twilight thought. 'There's nothing stopping Nightmare Moon now.'

"Twilight!" Spike cried out. He broke free from Fluttershy. He clutched the same bag that he had been carrying around for some time now, and fiddled with something inside it. "Twilight, are you okay?" he asked.

"Steady now," Vanguard said. He eyed the approaching Nightmare Moon grimly.

"I'm all out, Spike," Twilight said weakly. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, Twilight," Spike said. He pulled out an orb from his bag. "I knew this would be helpful!" He held it out over Twilight, and gazed intently at it.

"Spike what are you-- Aaah!" Dark electricity crackled around the orb, and surged through Twilight. Arcs of purple bolts joined with them, surging back and forth between her and the orb.

---

Applejack gasped. "Spike! what did you just do?"

"It's a mana battery!" Spike said. He couldn't take his eyes off Twilight, even as his claws went to his mouth. "It should help her!"

"That cry of pain didn't sound very helped!" Vanguard growled.

As quickly as it had acted up, the orb became dormant. Now, it was slightly glowing purple.

Twilight stood up with ease, then put a hoof on Spike's head. "I feel great! Thank you so much, Spike! That was perfect timing!" she said. Spike breathed a sigh of relief.

Applejack's eyes narrowed. Something was wrong here. Maybe it was that sudden serene smile on Twilight's face, or the ominous color of the orb's magic. She just didn't feel as relieved as Spike. One look at the frown on Vanguard's face told her that he felt the same.

"Something's coming!"

All of them turned towards the source of the high-pitched yell. Pinkie was jumping up and down, her entire body twitching.

"What's she talking about?" Vanguard asked.

"It's her Pinkie Sense!" Applejack replied. "Something's going to happen!"

"Good," Vanguard muttered. He picked up his two-bladed sword, stretched out his neck. "I could have sworn we were all just going to stand still."

A beacon of blazing brilliance erupted above Bastion City, warming their bodies, and driving away the blizzard's winds.

"Enough!"

Princess Celestia descended in the middle of all the fighting. She looked a little surprised at the sight, but she quickly recovered, and brought her regal bearing upon their foe. Impressive as her entrance was, however, there was no hiding how tired she looked.

"Begone, Nightmare Moon!" Celestia said. "Stay, and it's me you will face in battle!"

Merely looking at the light emanating from Celestia seemed to pain Nightmare Moon. She faded into smoke, and flew away. There was a renewed cry from the walls' defenders, and the sounds of battle increased.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight cried out. She ran towards the princess, her face ecstatic.

The look of exhaustion faded from Celestia's face. "Twilight!" she cried. They met each other with a joyful embrace. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike, looked just as happy. Vanguard, and Scarlet were already focusing on other matters.

Applejack's unease only grew.

Comments

[Nightnote]

I am really afraid of what that orb just did

[Andy Grey]

yup, really don't trust that mana battery.

[Zelda Spectrum]

Wait, that mana battery was black before; but after using it on Twilight, it suddenly turned purple? That's not a good sign!

[WhitePaper]

I'm routing for some kind of evil to happen :D

[Thread Necromancer]

I don't like that magical Duracell.

[PaulAsaran]

What is Twilight going to do? I guarantee she's possessed or mind controlled or something like that. Damn it all...

[Commander Darklight]

congrats spike ya fucked it up when does the colour black mean anything good in magic

[HiddenMaster]

"I want to kill you more than ever, Twilight Sparkle," Pyre growled. A creeping shadow covered her legs, and slowly went up to taint the rest of her. "For daring to show me this truth, I will kill you." The shadow overtook her completely.

Oh. I get it now.

Pyre is completely fucking insane.

She hates the heartland, yet is supposedly loyal. She loves the Legion, yet gleefully let thousands die. She encountered a dark, malicious spirit that corrupted one of the fucking princesses and made its intentions completely clear to destroy pony kind, and all but yelled "come on in!". And, when Twilight finally shows her strength, Pyre can't handle the thought that a strong chosen pony exist and she must die. Honestly, if Pyre dies, I would love to see someone judging her and bringing all this up without her being able to immediately kill/set them on fire. That would be a hilarious fic- probably one that won't ever come about, but it's nice to dream.