• Published 25th Mar 2014
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TiM: Best of Intentions, Worst of Results - Twidashforever



TiM #3: The cost of inactions is often higher then the cost of action, yet who pays the price? Sequel to The Truth in Meanings

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Unforgivable

Ruins of Ponyville

Known all over Equestria and parts beyond as the Princess of Love, Princess Cadance is one of the kindest mares in all of the land. As Twilight’s former foal sitter, she and the alicorn had a lifelong connection. Cadance’s connection to Twilight only increased when she married Twilight’s brother; Shining Armor, and despite her status as a princess she would continue foal sitting for Twilight after she and Rainbow had their kids. The love Cadance had for Twilight and her family was absolute.

Cadance and Ataxia arrived on the scene of the battle and saw Twilight fall to the ground dead. Her thoughts of the memories they shared became all-consuming in her mind. The times they shared and the love she had for that filly: Love for the little filly she used to watch. Love for the young mare that rescued her from the Changeling Queen and saved her wedding. Love for the mare that saved Equestria from the worst villains that have tried to overthrow it throughout the years. Love for her foals and how adorable they were. Twilight’s love for her wife, one that as far as Cadance was concerned had its place in the history books. Rainbow’s all-consuming love for Twilight and the abominable, abhorrent nature of what this pony did in ending it. It is said that no force is more powerful in the world than love, because those who love somepony so unconditionally can achieve the impossible. There is no limit to their strength when they fight for one they love, or when they fight to avenge the pony they love.

Cadance no longer saw anything else. This pony, he killed Twilight Sparkle. In a process that normally takes months if not years, Cadance began traversing through the seven stages of grief. Shock over the sight of Twilight’s body and the horrible loss of what occurred, denial that the loss even took place. Denial that somepony like Twilight could even die. It was unthinkable in any situation she could conceive. Cadance felt fear when Rainbow Dash fell, it did not seem like she was hurt. Acceptance at why Rainbow fell. Cadance could feel it, the bond they shared... somehow her death destroyed it. That was why she fell; it was not because of an injury, as it was her inability to stand. Relief that Rainbow was not physical hurt. Then she reached anger: Anger at the pony that caused Rainbow such suffering. Anger at the pony that killed Twilight. Anger at the pony that destroyed something so beautiful. She was stuck on anger.

Pink energy coalesced around the princess. She drew on all the magic power she had, increased several fold by the events that took place. As one of the alicorn princesses, Cadance is considered the weakest of the five. In many ways, those who thought that way were right: Cadance did not have the power of Twilight, the force of will of Celestia, the battle experience of Luna, or the raw natural talent of Shimmering Night. However, they were also wrong: Yes, she was not any of those things, but threaten someone she loved, attack someone she cared for, and Tartarus itself would tremble before her wrath.

Princess Cadance attacked, in a burst of speed that left Ataxia’s jaw hanging on the ground. Cadance launched herself forward at the pony in front of them. He was a big target, easily bigger than any alicorn. As far as Cadance was concerned, that just meant she could not miss.

Her energy blast struck square on target, and she followed it up with another. Six more came afterwards. Each blast threw up a cloud of dirt over the pony; each blast caused a noticeable reaction from the pony it hit. They hurt it. That was all she needed to know, if she could hurt it, then she could kill it. Cadance flew forward, seeking to impale the pony on her horn. The smoke from her earlier blasts obscuring her vision of the target, it did not matter. She could feel him; she could feel his presence. It was a presence she wanted to erase from the world. Love is always at its strongest when fighting for another, even if it is just to avenge them.

The power in front of her increased several times over. Whoever this pony was, he was strong. It was too late to pull up, Cadance overcommitted to the battle. She did not care; all she wanted was this pony dead, no matter the cost. The dust cloud blew away in a wave of force, at the last second before being impaled by her horn, the red earth pony grabbed her by the horn and chucked her against the wall of the house. Cadance turned just in time to avoid a head on collision, her back struck the house with a loud thud.

“You challenge me?! You dare attack me?! You pathetic mortal, I'm a God!” his laughter only served to increases Cadance’s rage.

“Gods don’t bleed.”

Tartarus looked down at his flank. It was small and slight. Nevertheless, there was blood coming out of his side. “What? How?” Realization dawned on the red pony. He knew who this was. Tartarus started laughing again. “Eros’s Avatar. Thank you for saving me the trouble of looking for you. I was going to find and kill Chaos next, but since you came to me I will do you the honor of being the next to die.”

“Anyone ever tell you, you talk too bucking much.”

“Wha…”

Tartarus never had a chance to finish that sentence, a huge wave of raw magical energy slammed into him. Sending the God several hundred miles to the north, he slammed though several mountains in his path. Cadance glanced over and saw Ataxia standing to the south. Ataxia’s horn was smoking from the release of that much magical power.

“Thanks.”

“No need to thank me, I couldn’t stand to hear another word from his filthy mouth.”

“Do you think that did it?”

Ataxia shook her head. “He’s strong; I've never felt such magical power before, not even from Twilight. I might have just made him mad with that one.”

“You got that right.”

They both turned and stared at the red pony that appeared behind them. Raw hatred radiated from Tartarus, blood poured down his flank from another wound on his side. “So Chaos’s Avatar is here as well, well I guess I should be grateful for small favors. I can end this all now.”

Ataxia and Cadance looked at each other. “Together.” They did not say the word as they did not have to. They each nodded at the other and turned back to this pony.

Again, Cadance attacked first. She flew at the pony, closing the gap in a second. Tartarus deflected her energy blast away with a flick of his hoof, and with a second sent the alicorn princess flying off in the other direction. Too late did he realize that Cadance was the diversion. As soon as the Princess of Love was out of the way, Ataxia Let loose with her flame breathe. A magically imbued dragon fire engulfed the God; Ataxia could hear his cries of pain as a fire that burned hot enough to kill dragons covered him from head to hoof. She did not let up; Ataxia kept the flames going as long as she was able. This freak would pay for everything he did.

When Cadance returned to the battlefield, the dragacorn’s fire was still going. She landed next to Ataxia. “Fry you monster.” A smile overtook her face. As far as Cadance was concerned, this creature deserved every agonizing moment it suffered, and if she took a little enjoyment from it, nopony would blame her.

When at last Ataxia could no longer maintain the fire, she let it go. Ataxia started coughing from the sudden intake of air after. Cadance placed a hoof on her back and immediately pulled it off as the contact caused second-degree burns to the alicorn.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just give me a minute.”

“You’ve both lived for a minute too long in my book.”

They looked up at the pony that just spoke, as the fire burned itself out the pony was still standing. His face a grimace of rage at those who injured him so, the pony was no longer red. Burns covered his body from head to hoof, and his mane and tail were gone. It was obvious he felt every agonizing second of that and wanted revenge. “I underestimated you two, I didn’t believe my siblings would share that much of their power with you.” He glanced at Ataxia with that comment. “I won’t make that mistake again.”

The scythe flew from his back and soared after the dragacorn. Ataxia shot several beams at it but the scythe simply deflected them. She had no choice; Ataxia took off in flight while the scythe gave chase. Tartarus turned to Cadance. “That just leaves you and me, Eros; I've been itching for another go at you after what happened under the Crystal Palace forty years ago.”

Cadance did not know why Tartarus called her Eros, but she did know that she needed to fly and quickly. His first shot conjured from his hoof missed, but she suspected he was missing on purpose. Cadance knew just how fast he could be when he wanted to. It seemed as if this pony was simply toying with her now. Cadance resolved to make him pay for that when she got the opportunity. As for now, all she could do is dodge.

…………

“You have our thanks, fair Night.”

Shimmering Night held Luna in a magical grasp. She saw the Princess of the Night get hit by the magical red energy coming off the Titan. It was a luck shot but there was no time for Luna to avoid the blow, she was able to raise a shield just in time to reduce that damage. Night could not help but wince as she felt the blood flow from a new cut along Luna’s flank.

“Are you going to be ok?”

“Tis’ merely a flesh wound. We have not felt more alive in ages!”

Shimmering Night did not believe that a cut like that was merely a flesh wound, but she knew from personal experience that arguing with Luna while she was in a such a state was pointless on the best of days.

“You want some help?” Night knew better than to ask under normal situations. Princess Luna took such offers as an insult to her honor. She figured that, as this was not a normal situation, it might be received as a genuine offer this time around.

“You would insinuate that we cannot do this ourself?! We handle creatures like this all the time!”

She was wrong; Luna did take it as an insult. “No, not at all, it’s just that he seems a bit bigger than what you normally go after.”

As Luna took flight out of Shimmering Night’s magic hold, she winced at the pain in her flank from the wound caused by the Titan. “Well, perhaps you are right. Very well, we accept your offer of help. Just this once though.”

The Titan’s tread in the backdrop indicated its approach; whatever they were going to do, they had to do it soon.

“Of course, what can I do to help?”

“We need some way to bypass his magic shield. If we could land a direct hit, we know we can finish this.”

Shimmering Night thought about that for a second before smiling at a memory she had of a conversation with a certain draconequus. “If it works, I think I might be able to help with that. Alright, here’s the plan.”

………...

Prince Radiant Star ran from triage station to triage station, looking and asking every pony and griffin he came across for any information about Commander Firestar. After his fourth such station, he finally caught a break. One of the survivors of the Titan’s initial magic attack woke up.

“You’re looking for the commander. “ Radiant could barely make out the pony’s voice. It came out as weak as a newborn foal.

“You’ve seen her?”

“I was in one of the first squads that went back in after you knocked it down. It killed most of my squad, but somehow it just knocked me unconscious. I awoke several seconds later to see the Commander push me out of the way of its next attack. I… I… I’m sorry, she was hit.”

“Where?”

“Where what?”

“Where did she land? Which direction?”

He would not believe it without a body in front of him, Radiant could not imagine a world so cruel that it would take her away from him.

“South.”

He took off out of the tent. He did not have the magic left to teleport anywhere but this news gave him his second wind. He bolted south as fast as he could. After the pony he loved, after Firestar.

“I will find you, whatever it takes.”

………...

Rainbow’s consciousness retreated into herself, into her inner world. On the outer world, her wife was dead. That was not a world she wanted any part of. Rainbow did not want to live in that world anymore, so she left that world and went to a different one, one where Twilight was still alive.

Her mind’s eye saw their bedroom; she was in their bedroom. Nothing was wrong; it was simply another day. Rainbow jumped on the bed and stretched out. In the distance, she could hear the shower stop and somepony step out of it. That made her smile; Twilight was always in a better mood when she finished showering. As such, Rainbow laid out on the bed in her most seductive pose and waited for her wife to join her.

Twilight Sparkle walked out of their bathroom. Her mane wrapped up in a towel around her head. Rainbow smiled; part of her believed she would never see this sight again. That Twilight would never do anything again. Rainbow knew that part was right, but right now that part could buck off. It might not be physically real, but it was real enough for her.

Twilight looked at her in shock. “What are you doing, Rainbow?”

“Waiting for you, what else?”

“No, why are you here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“I don’t think the weather team will miss me, Twi.”

“That’s not what I meant; the others are counting on you right now.”

“Can we not?”

“Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow cringed with Twilight’s use of her full name; Twilight only ever did that when she was mad at Rainbow. A mad wife meant an unhappy life.

“Are you giving up? Is that why you're here?”

“Yes.”

There was no point hiding the truth, Twilight always knew when she was lying. Trying to hide it would only make things worse. Rainbow supposed that went double when Twilight was nothing more than part of her own mind. If lying to Twilight never worked, lying to a Twilight conjured by her mind could only be worse.

“That’s not the Rainbow Dash I fell in love with, and that’s not the Rainbow Dash I married.”

“Yeah, but…”

“No buts! I want to see my wife right this second. Show me that she's still in there.”

“What if I don’t want to be her anymore? What if I can’t be her anymore, not without you?”

Twilight walked up and lay down next to her wife. “You can, I know you can. You can because you are Rainbow Dash, the most awesome mare in all of Equestria. The mare I married, the mare I raised our children with. The mare I fell in love with.”

Rainbow rolled on her side, not convinced in the slightest. “Not anymore.”

Twilight shoved her off the bed with her hoof. Rainbow landed on the floor with a loud thud.

“Ouch! What the hell Twi?”

“Rainbow Dash, get your flank up and help our friends!”

“Why should I?”

“Because you know it’s what I would have wanted you to do, and you love me too much to disrespect my memory like that.”

Rainbow stood up, tears in her eyes. The illusion was gone; she could no longer deny it. This was not Twilight. She looked at the form of her wife with sorrow written on her face. “I… I’m sorry Twi, I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough to save you. I want you to know that I’m sorry for not saving you, for not being fast enough, and I love you. I always have and I always will. I know I said it a million times but it was never enough. I could have said it a million more times and it still never would have been enough.”

“She knows Rainbow; she doesn’t blame you for what happened. She loves you too, more than life itself.”

“I can’t help them though. I don’t have the power to defeat Tartarus.”

“Yes, you do. Your love for me will give you that power. When in doubt, think about her, think about your wife. That's all the power you need. That will be more than enough.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, you simply went down the wrong track, but you’re back now. That’s what matters.”

Rainbow climbed back on the bed. Twilight leaned over and wrapped a hoof around her wife. She gingerly pushed a strand of hair away from Rainbow eyes. The two moved ever so closer, until their lips met for one, last, kiss. A brilliant golden light blinded Rainbow as her world suddenly changed.

……...

Radiant ran south. Any other day and he would bring himself up on a court-martial offence for leaving his post like this. Any other day and the love of his life would not be in mortal danger. He decided to pardon his actions this time around. Besides, without his magic it's not like he could help out anyway.

The farther he got away from the Titan the easier it became to see. The stories of war and battle would always forget one key factor of any conflict. You cannot see shit after a while. The dust and dirt went everywhere. The only reason they were able to fight at all was the sheer size of their opponent. Even with a blanket of dust covering everything, it was hard to miss a mountain walking around.

As he ran farther away the dust thinned out, his destination became obvious. It was a hole in the ground, several hundred hooves away from his current location. Again, he cursed himself for not having any magic energy left, so he ran faster.

At the top of the hole he saw her, Commander Firestar, the tan mare with the most gorgeous blue eyes he ever saw. She lay at the bottom, unmoving. Radiant jumped down into the hole and scooped her up in his hooves. Careful not to worsen her broken limbs, a quick glance at her back legs told him it would be a small miracle if she could ever walk again.

Despite his best attempts, the sudden movement did cause her enough pain to wake up. Radiant smiled as she cried out, relief that she was still alive.

Firestar noticed the tears falling onto her face as Radiant held her close. With a soft voice, lacking any of the strength it is known for, she spoke. “Radiant I… I…”

“Don’t talk; there's nothing you need to say. Firestar, I'm so sorry. I love you and I want to be with you. What I did, it was the dumbest thing I have ever done in my life. If you will let me, I want to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

Firestar noticed new tears running down her face. These were her own.

…………………

“I think it’s time we end this, little pony.”

Tartarus’s next shot struck Cadance square in the chest. She gasped as pain coursed through her body and caused her to fall out of the sky. She landed on the ground in a heap. The pain from the fall heavily outweighed by the pain from the shot she took.

Tartarus walked over to her until he stood over Cadance’s body. “I'm Tartarus, the God of Death. You and your friend dare attack me?! You have only succeeded in making me angry.”

“We don’t go down that easy.”

“What? You think the other one will save you?”

The scythe returned to his back in a flash, soon accompanied by a loud noise as Ataxia fell nearby. Blood leaking out of multiple cuts on her scales. The Dragon Steel Armor did nothing to stop them. Relief flooded into Cadance as she saw that Ataxia was still alive. “As I said, I'm a god. You two might have been able to hurt me, but nothing can kill me. I do have to admit; this was much more entertaining than I expected it to be. However, all good things must end. As the God of Death, guess whose job that is?”

“Just be done with it, monster.”

“What purpose would that serve, I don’t care about you. I want to kill my sister inside of you. I want to kill Eros and only one weapon is capable of such a feat. The same one I used on Twilight Sparkle.”

He broke her right wing with a hoof. Cadance screamed in pain from the limb snapping. “Have to make sure my little birdy doesn’t fly away now, don’t I?”

“Why… why are you doing this?”

“Why? I've spent eternity watching all the others playing around with the universe we all created. While I serve as a glorified jailer for the fuckups of the Gods.” He pulled out the scythe and stuck it into the ground. “Then this was the final straw. They would have me serve as cleanup crew when you little ants die. I'm a God! Soon, I will be the only God that exists. When Cronus hatched his plan; it was easy enough to augment certain aspects. I let his minions escape. I let them have their fun so the others would not be aware of what I was up to. It served as the perfect distraction while you three played around at being mortal. That’s why Gaia had to be first, only she has the ability to pull you out of that body.”

“So all this is because you don’t like your lot in life.”

“Isn’t that what mortal’s say, if you don’t like your life change it? Enough talking, it’s time to end this once and for all.”

“Unforgivable.”

The sound shocked both of them; Tartarus turned around and stared at a golden pegasus mare that stood next to Twilight’s corpse.

“Unforgivable.”

Her wings spread out, easily twenty hoofs in length. Golden energy radiated off her in waves so thick they were visible with the naked eye.

“Unforgivable.”

Her eyes, her eyes identified who this mare was. Cadance looked on in shock. “Rainbow Dash?”

“UNFORGIVABLE!”

“I promise I will kill you.” Rainbow growled the last part.

Rainbow flew straight at Tartarus, her wingtips held out like two spears in front of her. A new calmness overcame Rainbow: This was not the rage she felt when the shadowbeing was taunting her. This was something that needed to happen. This was the Universe acting through her, trying to prevent something that it did not want to happen from happening. Rainbow accepted it, if the Universe wanted to use her in that way, she would let it. As long as she got to hurt Tartarus, she did not bucking care what else happened.

Tartarus could dodge the attack, but barely. Even with his speed, the gashes down his side were testament to the fact that Rainbow was a very serious threat to him. As a God he never knew if he could actually die, not from anything less than what he used to kill Gaia. However, he never put it to the test either.

“How did you get this much power?” It felt familiar but he could not place it.

Rainbow's reply came in the form of a ninety-degree turn and a hoof to his chest. At the speed she was travelling at the God was sent flying into the distance. Rainbow did not stop there; she increased her speed ten-fold. Rainbow appeared directly above the God and lashed out with both wings.

Tartarus cried out in pain as that attack caused several magical gashes across his stomach and legs. Rainbow kept it up; she flew straight down and slammed her back hooves into his chest. Causing them both to impact the ground with enough force to cause small tremors across the land.

Tartarus grabbed one of her back hooves and slammed her into the dirt. He did not let go of her, he directed several magical blasts into the mare at point blank range. They impacted her face and chest. Tartarus then threw Rainbow into the house. Shattering the spell cast upon it that saved it from the destruction of Ponyville. Rainbow went through every wall and out the other side before catching herself with her wings.

“I don’t know how you got so strong, but you still can’t beat me by yourself!”

“Who said she was by herself?”

Ataxia and Cadance both stood back up, they were exhausted and wounded, but neither of them gave a moment’s consideration to stepping down from this fight. Tartarus had to be stopped, no matter the cost, and they were the only ones who could do it.

Tartarus detached the scythe from his back. “Very well, let’s end this.” black wings sprouted from his back, giving him the look of a huge black bat pony.

All four of them charged forward. Ataxia and Cadance both tried to divert his attention away from Rainbow Dash. The scythe threw up a shield, stopping their attacks a moment before they impacted. As both the scythe and Tartarus flew at Rainbow, the scythe attacked first with a swipe for her neck. Rainbow responded in kind with her wings and broke the accursed thing in two. Each piece of the scythe landed on the ground, impaling into the dirt. While Rainbow was distracted, Tartarus attacked next, landing several telling blows on the mare that penetrated the golden light that surrounded her. The force of his attacks slammed her into the ground. She bounced a few times before coming to a stop right next to Twilight’s corpse, her blood mixing with that of Twilight's. Rainbow lay, unmoving on the ground.

Ataxia flew up to attack Tartarus. He blew her back with a gust of his wings. The wing power generated easily exceeding that of a Titan’s breath. Cadance caught Ataxia in her hooves, which caused them both to fall down in the process.

Tartarus landed nearby, his intent clear. “As I said, I'm a God. You cannot defeat me.”

……………………

Luna had to admit, Nights plan was ambitious, but it could end this once and for all.

She flew at the Titan, immediately getting the attention of the red energy that protected it. Luna flew around the walking mountain several times, until it was facing north. As the energy chased after her, she launched several attacks at it, forcing even more of its power to generate. When she was had just enough after her, Luna gave Shimmering Night the signal.

Shimmering Night attacked from the south with every bit of power she had. With all the energy concentrated on Luna, the Titan’s back was completely unprotected. The plan worked. Her magic blew a large hole in her target. However, the Titan did not fall.

The red energy ceased chasing Luna and returned to the Titan, that energy gathering around the new hole in its back. It began healing, just as they planned.

‘Now comes the hard part. Let’s see if what Discord said is the truth.’ Night thought.

Shimmering Night concentrated on that energy. Discord, or was it Chaos? Told her she was the daughter of Gaia, the God of Life and Magic. If that was true, this might just work. Night willed the energy away from the Titan; she poured her magic through her horn to that end.

At first, nothing happened. Then she saw it, the red energy began leaving the wound. Dispersing into the air, slowly at first, then more and more of the energy left. Soon the hole in his back was completely un-healed. More important than that, the Titan was unprotected, Shimmering Night gave the signal.

Princess Luna channeled all the energy she had, every last shred of it into her horn. She directed her attack at the Titan’s head and released it. As Luna fell from the sky, too exhausted to fly she saw that her attack was true. The Titan’s head exploded in a cloud of dust.

Shimmering Night barely had time to fly out of the way as the Titan fell to the south.

…………...

“Radiant if you squeeze me any tighter you’re going to break something.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“You’re still an idiot you know.”

“Yes I know. I want you to remind me of that fact for every day of my life.”

“I promise.”

“…”

“…”

“You need to run!” Fear radiated in her voice,

“What? Why?”

The Titan’s shadow soon covered the two of them, Radiant turned around with a look of disbelief on his face. Somepony had felled the Titan, but it was landing right on them.

“Run, you idiot!”

“I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“You can’t get us both out in time, go! Now!”

She hit him in the face with a hoof, in a desperate attempt to save his life. Radiant caught the third blow and pulled her into a kiss. One she eagerly returned. It was too late now; there was no way he could escape. As the Titan fell on them both, Radiant’s horn sparked to life.

……………………

Ataxia and Cadance stood up. “Ataxia I just want to say, before the end, I've never been more proud of you then at this moment.”

“Thanks, I think?”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“What you mean like ‘I was a fuck-up until the end.’ Now how could I have possibly gotten that idea?”

“Ataxia…”

“Relax; I'm just bucking with you.”

“Well, now that you said your final words. Prepare yourselves. I'm going to bring you both to an inch of your lives and then flay you with the sickle.”

“Eat a dick.”

Ataxia looked at Cadance in shock at that comment. She never heard the Princess of Love use such vulgar language before. “Cadance I just want to say, before the end, I've never been more proud of you then at this moment.”

At that, they both launched an attack at Tartarus, Cadance from the ground and Ataxia in the air. He simply grinned at them and with one beat of his wings, blew them both into the dirt. “I can’t say this hasn’t been entertaining but it’s time for this to en…”

Tartarus did not finish that sentence. Tartarus was physically unable to finish that sentence. The blade of Cronus’s Sickle was sticking out of his mouth. Rainbow landed on his back, forcing the God to his stomach. She leaned in and whispered into his ear.

“I told you I would kill you, and Rainbow Dash always keeps her promises.”

With a yank, she pulled the sickle straight up; right through Tartarus’s brain. In that one moment, Tartarus the God of Death, died.

Author's Note:

Thanks goes out to Crystal_bombshell for his help pre reading.

I would like to have 22 out sunday night.

Thanks to Electrostatic for edits!