17 - Wounds of a Nightmare
Succession
Chapter 17 - Wounds of a Nightmare
Celestia screamed in agony as her murderer’s magic dug mercilessly into her flesh, tearing her apart from the inside and setting the world on fire. She could do nothing but watch in horror, and her inaction was soon punished, a wave of immeasurable heat washing over her and boiling away her skin as flames rushed toward her. She was thrown through a marble wall, blinded by the brightness of the explosion as she soared across the sky.
The glare of the fires engulfing her dulled somewhat, and she opened her eyes to find herself standing in Cristallum, her solite roaring fiercely as it tore apart the council’s conclave. She fought to gain control of the liquid orb of fire, but was too late.
The solite erupted into a pillar of all-consuming flames that decimated the Canterlot palace and tore into the night sky, destroying all that she held dear.
“Incoming!” The fiery column spun around and became the flames spewing forth from a dragon’s maw, incinerating the flying chariot above Dragoncrest Valley. She found herself running through the dark woods, the roars and growls of pursuing dragons surrounding her wherever she went. She reached a cavern, dark at first, but then illuminated by letters of blood written upon the stone wall. “I could have killed him!” a distorted voice gloated as the glowing words illuminated the grotesque corpse of Spike, blood pooling about his cold body. “It would have been so very, very easy!”
Her vision distorted as she began seeing with eyes that were not her own, the crimson letters on the wall becoming the blazing red eyes of her enemy, leaping about savagely and bearing down upon all manner of prey. The scene shifted constantly between the Canterlot caverns where Team Cyan was slowly killed off one by one, to Wild Weald where bears, foxes, and timberwolves alike were brought down by the merciless predator. “I know you’re there, Twilight!” the creature cackled as the unicorn stumbled out of her connection with the enormous ursa major. Lightning poured forth from the sky, flowing straight into the ursine’s mind and she once again found herself staring helplessly as the creature was killed in cold blood.
The lightning shifted and pivoted about until it was rushing out of her own horn, knocking back the pack of timberwolves threatening her while Rainbow Dash’s despairing pleas for Fluttershy to be safe echoed in her ears.
The cottage she sought to defend melted away into the underbrush and was replaced by hundreds of pine trees shooting out of the ground, and Twilight found herself blasting apart the horde of timberwolves within Greengloom.
The savage beasts’ snarling was replaced by whimpering as she proceeded with her slaughter, and she found herself in the diamond dog tunnels beneath Ponyville. The disgusting creatures before her were blasted to pieces as the timberwolves had been, and she felt the fires of hatred and misery well up within her, that terrible redness overcoming her and relieving her of all mercy.
The redness in her vision was blood, she realized, forming an enormous pool about her hooves as it gushed forth from her front leg. She raised her head and found herself standing in the ruins of Canterlot, surrounded by innumerable foes. She summoned that terrible spell, ripping out the very souls of her enemies so that she might sustain herself, torturing them beyond imagination and bringing them infinite pain so that she might live.
“You’re up!” Twilight heard Applejack exclaim as she opened her eyes and lifted her head to investigate her surroundings, slightly on edge after the veritable medley of nightmares. “Ah was half expecting ya ta stay asleep for another two months!” Twilight’s eyes finally focused, and she immediately recognized the interior of the Ponyville hospital.
“Two months!?” the unicorn exclaimed in a panic, raising herself up into a sitting position. Her vision fogged over, and she didn’t resist when a cyan hoof gently pushed her back into a lying position.
“Cool down, Twi,” Rainbow Dash urged her. “You’ve only been out for half a day or something this time. No comas.” Twilight’s vision cleared, and to either side of the bed she lay in, she saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash looking back at her, the former smiling reassuringly at her while the latter gave her a worried look. A catheter inserted into her right foreleg was connected to an IV bag filled with some sort of clear liquid, and her left leg had been wrapped completely in bandages. “Pinkie had one of her twitches, said you’d be waking up soon half an hour ago, and went off to gather some party supplies,” the pegasus continued. “Guess she got held up somewhere.”
“Fluttershy couldn’t come either,” Applejack explained. “Said she was busy.” Without the earth pony noticing, Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a sad, but knowing look.
The unicorn propped herself up against the bed’s headrest, grunting from the exertion of only using her right foreleg for the task. “What happened?” she finally asked of her two friends, bringing a hoof to her head as she already began feeling dizzy.
“Ah was out sellin’ apples when Ah saw a bright flash from somewhere on the other side of the town square,” Applejack told her. “Couldn’t quite see what was goin’ on account of so many ponies crowdin’ around ya, but then Ah saw Lyra and Davenport helpin’ you to the hospital. Didn’t make it that far before you collapsed, though.”
“Lyra says you just popped up out of nowhere with these massive gashes in your left leg and started bleeding all over the place,” Rainbow Dash continued. “We got you to the hospital as soon as we could. Doctors patched up your leg and gave you a blood transfusion. They said you might be suffering from some sort of circulatory shock because of all that blood you’ve lost, so they got you hooked up to...” the pegasus gestured at the IV bag next to her. “Whatever that is.”
Twilight nodded her head dimly, her vision blurring for a while before returning to normal.
“You alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asked worriedly of her, and she nodded her head again. The three were silent for a while more before the earth pony spoke again. “So, uh, d’ya know what happened? Ah mean, before you teleported to Ponyville? Some kind of timberwolf or bear attack ya? Or a small dragon?”
“A monster,” Twilight replied. “From Tartarus,” she added almost automatically, frowning at her own words. “I... I didn’t know that...”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know,” she told Rainbow Dash. “It came from Tartarus, the gates are weakened, Cerberus is dead, it stayed in the Everfree Forest for a while... but then it went to Canterlot and found me.”
Her two friends shared a worried look with each other before Applejack spoke. “In Canterlot? What were ya doin’ there?”
“Sword of Equestria mission,” Twilight replied. “It’s a long story, and I’m really not up for explaining the whole thing right now.”
“Ah hear ya, sugarcube,” the earth pony comforted her. “Whatever happened, it took a lot outta ya. Rest up some more and we’ll talk later.” Applejack looked to Rainbow Dash and motioned toward the door, but the pegasus shook her head.
“Go on ahead, AJ. I need a moment alone with Twi.”
The farmer raised an eyebrow, but when no further explanation seemed forthcoming, she left all the same.
As the door clicked shut, Twilight’s eyes turned apprehensively to Rainbow Dash, knowing full well what the pegasus had on her mind. “We need to talk,” she told the unicorn, her eyes fixed on the IV bag next to the bed. “About the diamond dogs. I-I’m sorry I didn’t write you back when you finally answered, I mean, I don’t think you’re a...” Rainbow Dash hesitated and gave an annoyed huff as her words failed her, and she locked eyes with the unicorn instead. “We’re still pals, Twi. No matter what happened or what happens. I don’t want you believing anything else. I just didn’t know what exactly to write and... kinda figured it’d be better to talk about it face to face.”
Twilight averted her gaze from the pegasus. “I told you everything, Rainbow. I don’t know why I did it, but...” The unicorn shook her head. “I can’t dwell on it. The more I think about it, the more it... the more it breaks me.”
“Well then stop thinking and start talking,” Rainbow Dash urged her. “What you did... It’ll eat you up if you let it. And not just you. Fluttershy’s a lot worse off than AJ let on. So whatever’s gnawing at you, tell me. I’ll listen, and then we’ll help Fluttershy.”
“You will not hurt her, you will not hurt my friends, you will not hurt a single creature ever again!”
Twilight shut her eyes tight in concentration as she saw underground passages flooded with searing fires and once ferocious diamond dogs bleeding to death as she marched past them. She saw Fluttershy, she saw the axe, and she saw the captor’s head explode as it was struck by lightning, the fragments of flesh and bone burning away to nothing within a fraction of a second.
She released a deep shuddering sigh as she finally drove away the vivid images, taking a few deep breaths before opening her eyes. She was dismayed, however, to see her horn aglow, preparing some spell she didn’t know what was. The glow was quickly cut off, and Twilight shook her head slowly at Rainbow Dash.
“I... I can’t.”
“I’ll help you then,” Rainbow Dash said simply. “It must’ve started with that nightmare you had, right? You thought you saw us all die.”
“Rainbow, don’t.”
“What did you feel?”
Twilight sighed with exasperation and closed her eyes, gritting her teeth against the onslaught of painful memories. “Bottomless grief, Rainbow. He took away my entire world and crushed it underhoof!”
“And then... you got angry?” Rainbow Dash pressed.
“Die!” The scream was choked off as blood filled her mouth, but she didn’t care. The endless vortex of energy pouring forth from her horn and tearing across Ponyville turned the air around her to fire, burning away her fur and skin, but she didn’t care. The venomous ocean of pure hatred that propelled her, that now constituted all that was left of her being, was blind to everything but the alicorn.
With an audible grunt of exertion, Twilight forced away her memories. “Rainbow!” she pled with the pegasus. “Don’t! I am literally going to explode!”
“You don’t want to hurt me!” Rainbow Dash assured her. “You don’t want to hurt anypony! Just...”
“You will not hurt her, you will not hurt my friends, you will not hurt a single creature ever again! Do you want to know why!?”
Twilight practically snarled as she arched her back, the distinctive smell of ozone becoming readily apparent to both ponies as her horn began humming intensely, begging for release.
“Open the window!” she shouted at Rainbow Dash, who, sensing her urgency, quickly obliged. She levelled her horn at the small opening as the pegasus quickly got out of the way. A bolt of lightning streaked across the room and into the sky as Twilight released her pent-up anger, sighing as she felt control return to her.
“What in Tarnation are you doin’!?” Applejack shouted over the sound of crackling lightning, throwing the door open wide as she and two nurses appeared.
Rainbow Dash could only stutter in response as the burning stream of energy flowing from Twilight’s horn tapered off, the unicorn slumping backwards with a deep, shuddering sigh.
“Mind tellin’ us all what that‒?”
“Out,” Twilight groaned at Applejack, holding a hoof to her head dizzily. “Please... just... get out,” she groaned again when none of the ponies seemed to immediately comply. She closed her eyes and pressed her hooves against them, as if physical pressure could help suppress the rampant emotions within.
“N-now hang on...”
“AJ, I think it’s best if we just... give her some space,” Rainbow Dash cut the farmer off. “Like you said, right?”
Applejack grunted in response, suggesting that the pegasus was trying to push her out the door again. “Ah heard shoutin’, and Ah sure as heck saw Twilight shootin’ lightning outta the window! Ah wanna know what the hay is goin’ on!”
“It’s... complicated,” Rainbow Dash panted, obviously still trying to make the others leave.
“Nuh-uh, there’s somethin’ y’all ain’t tellin’ me! True friends don’t keep these kinds of secrets from each other, ya hear?”
“We’re not keeping secrets!” Rainbow Dash protested in defense. “It’s just... well, Twilight’s obviously not ready to talk about it right now. Give her some time to wind down!”
The two ponies’ argument was cut short by the sound of marching hooves and the halfhearted protests of a nurse. “Captain de Grâce, she really is in no fit state to travel!”
Twilight lowered her hooves and opened her eyes in time to see none other than Coup de Grâce shouldering roughly past the two nurses and Applejack standing in the doorway, her expression positively livid. Centurion, Fire Streak and nurse Redheart followed in her wake as the captain’s eyes fixed on the bedridden unicorn, the sheer intensity of the glare telling Twilight that she wasn’t the only one on the verge of exploding. “Somehow, I just knew I’d find you here!” she hissed, continuing in a more formal tone of voice. “Twilight Sparkle, you stand accused of insubordination and desertion, jeopardizing the lives of your fellow soldiers, three of which are now dead thanks to you! Given your special status,” she sneered, “you are to be brought to Cristallum and incarcerated while the Council of Nine decides your fate! You will be taken to Manehattan by the Sword of Equestria as our prisoner. We leave immediately.”
“Hang on!” Rainbow Dash protested, putting herself between the captain and Twilight. “Open your eyes, for pony’s sake! She was in Canterlot! She got attacked by some monster from Tartarus!”
“She’s suffering from severe hypovolemia!” Redheart backed the pegasus up, pushing past the other guards and nurses. “We performed a successful blood transfusion a few hours ago, but you can’t pull her out of treatment yet! In her current state, she’s much too prone to hypothermia, dehydration, or even cardiac arrest!”
“This is the unicorn who found herself in the center of the Canterlot explosion and was running six days later!” Coup de Grâce countered, pushing aside Rainbow Dash. “We’ll take the IV supplies with us along with a blanket. I’ll have a medic at her side and several unicorns and pegasi keeping an eye on her for the duration of the entire flight. I’m sure she’ll be fine!”
“Well it ain’t up to you!” Rainbow Dash insisted, succeeding in pushing the captain back a step. Coup de Grâce reclaimed the lost ground immediately, nearly bumping into Rainbow Dash and using the fact that she was nearly a head taller than the smaller pegasus to stare her down.
“Don’t think I won’t punch a former Wonderbolt,” Coup de Grâce growled menacingly, but to no avail.
“Try me!” Rainbow Dash challenged her aggressively.
“Rainbow, don’t!” Twilight pled with her friend, but the cyan pegasus ignored her.
“I’d listen to your friend,” Coup suggested with another growl.
“Element of Loyalty, pal!” Rainbow Dash shot back, pushing her head against Coup’s. “If you want her, you’ll have to go through me!”
“I ain’t your pal, blunderbolt!” Coup hissed. “Now get out of my way!”
Rainbow Dash didn’t move, however, and with both ponies too stubborn for either to step aside, the staredown continued for a few moments longer.
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Rainbow...”
“If you want her that bad,” Rainbow Dash suggested, “whaddya say we take it outside, pal? If you manage to beat me, you take Twilight to Manehattan! When I kick your flank, Twi stays!”
“Whoah there, partner,” Applejack tried to cut in, but standing at the back of the small crowd that had gathered in the small room, she failed to catch anyone’s attention.
Coup de Grâce chuckled, pushing back against Rainbow Dash, who stumbled into Twilight’s bed. “I have a few frustrations to vent. Want me to take it out on you? Fine!”
What are you doing, Rainbow? Twilight silently despaired as she, Applejack, and nurse Redheart turned a corner and arrived at the area behind the Canterlot hospital. She’s twice your size! A small throng had already amassed around the two pegasi standing before each other, consisting mainly of the soldiers of the Sword of Equestria, but despite their initial protests at the idea, a significant portion of the hospital staff had gathered as well. The spectators had formed a large circle around Rainbow Dash and Coup de Grâce, who were at the moment preparing for the fight, the ex-Wonderbolt hopping in place to warm herself up while the chocolate brown pegasus was busy stretching her heavily muscled limbs.
Nurse Redheart sighed as she started working Twilight’s wheelchair into the midst of the gathered ponies. “I’m not sure you’re ready for this kind of excitement, Twilight. But...”
“But it’s Rainbow,” Twilight agreed as they reached the front row of the circle. “If she’s going to have herself beaten up for me, the least I can do is be there for her.”
“Hey, now,” Applejack reprimanded her as the trio came to a halt. “Give Rainbow some credit. Fastest pegasus alive might just surprise ya.”
“Coup’s an elite soldier hoofpicked by Scarlet Bolt,” Twilight whispered back at the farmer. “She specializes in hoof-to-hoof combat. As far as I know, Rainbow doesn’t have all that much experience with this kind of thing.”
“Twilight!” Amber Vane called out to her in a whisper as he made his way to her side, as if afraid to be overhead by the colleagues surrounding him. “What happened to you?” he asked worriedly after having looked her over.
“Pretty much everything I deserved,” Twilight sighed. “Coup says three of you died because of me.”
“Oak and Bolt Basher got caught in that explosion that wiped out the canyon,” Amber Vane replied. “We lost Blitz when the ceiling came down on top of us. Most of us had already pulled back to avoid the ursa major poking around our position and to seal the opening we’d come from, so I guess we were lucky.” The unicorn soldier put a reassuring hoof on Twilight shoulder. “But unless you’re the one that blew us up, it’s not your fault they died. Coup’s just... going through a lot. She, Lightning Rod, and Iron Sword were pretty close and she’s lost both of them. Especially with Iron Sword... the way he went...”
“I was trying to chase down the thing that killed him,” Twilight pointed out with an annoyed sigh. “But I think I’ll have a better chance at convincing the council of that than Coup.”
“Yeah, she’s really got it out for you,” Amber Vane admitted. “Had us going through the caves double time after she heard what you did so she could come after you.” He gestured subtly at the scene before them. “And now look at her. She’s about to beat up an Element of Harmony.”
“Beat up Rainbow Dash? Yeah right!” a voice said from above, and Scootaloo dropped down to stand next to Amber Vane. “Rainbow’s got this!” she declared confidently, waving a hoof to catch her idol’s attention. “Kick her flank, Rainbow!”
“Scootaloo? How did you...” Twilight’s question was interrupted by a pair of pink hooves wrapping around her shoulders in a comfort-seeking hug.
“Is it over!? Has it begun!? Why are they fighting!? I can’t watch!”
Twilight turned her head to see that nurse Redheart had vanished, somehow replaced by Pinkie Pie who stood behind her wheelchair.
“So what exactly’s going on?” Scootaloo inquired of the unicorn. “Didn’t really get that much out of Pinkie.”
“Coup’s my captain,” Twilight explained to new arrivals. “She’s accusing me of insubordination and desertion and wants to take me back to Manehattan to put me in jail... I think... Rainbow wants me to stay, which led to... this.”
“I thought you were the captain,” Pinkie Pie spoke up, her discomfort momentarily replaced by confusion. “What gives?”
“It’s a long story, but... technically, she’s got every right to accuse me.”
“So ya weren’t s’posed to be in Canterlot,” Applejack gathered, and Twilight nodded.
Before the unicorn could answer, Coup de Grâce spoke up as she finished warming up. “Alright! You ready, Wonderbolt? I’ve got places to be.”
“You’re the one that kept us waiting!” Rainbow Dash jeered as she entered into a combat stance. “Let’s do this!”
With no further encouragement needed, Coup de Grâce lunged at her opponent, who easily dodged to the side. The captain seemed to have anticipated this, however, as she did a quarter turn while leaping, landing with her back to Rainbow Dash. A powerful kick from her hind legs sent the ex-Wonderbolt flying ten feet before crashing onto her side with a pained grunt.
Coup de Grâce was upon her almost immediately, but Rainbow Dash was quicker, rolling onto her back and slamming her hind hooves into the captain’s chest. Carried both by the momentum of her own charge and the upwards force of the smaller pegasus’ kick, Coup de Grâce was effectively flipped over in midair, and although she managed to recover before landing, Rainbow Dash had been given enough time to get back on her hooves.
“Send her packing, Rainbow!” Scootaloo cheered as Coup de Grâce lunged again. In response, Rainbow Dash did half a cartwheel to the side, moving her forehooves and shifting her weight onto them before swinging her hindquarters around and delivering a swift kick to the larger pegasus’ head with a back hoof, pivoting about on one forehoof and facing her opponent again. Coup de Grâce only grunted in response, unfazed by the blow, and swung a forehoof at Rainbow Dash, who once again dodged nimbly to the side. The captain, however, followed up with an unexpectedly quick thrust of her other foreleg, connecting with the chin and causing Rainbow Dash to stumble backwards. Coup de Grâce leapt at her again, but since her opponent had been thoroughly stunned this time, she had ample opportunity to bring both forehooves down upon the back of the smaller pegasus’ lowered head.
“You okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked softly of Twilight as she flinched at the sound of her friend’s pained yelp as she collapsed to the ground. Twilight gritted her teeth, but nodded, unable to take her eyes off Rainbow Dash. “It’s just... yer horn’s glowin’...”
“You will not hurt her!”
As the light in Twilight’s horn faded, Coup de Grâce seemed to show a measure of restraint, backing away from Rainbow Dash and allowing her to recover from the skull-rattling blow.
“That all ya got?” the smaller pegasus taunted her opponent as she got to her hooves, shaking her head to clear her mind. “I’ve had worse from Fluttershy!”
“I’m just getting warmed up!” Coup de Grâce promised her, stopping ten feet from the rainbow-maned pegasus.
In response, Rainbow Dash started advancing, taking slow tentative steps toward her foe in order to close the gap between them. Displaying her legendary speed, the pegasus feinted first right then left in order to confuse her opponent, finally leaping straight forward to strike at Coup de Grâce. The captain, however, was either able to recover with blinding speed or simply feinted confusion. Either way, Rainbow Dash was met by a powerful blow that struck her square in the face.
Again, Twilight cringed at the sight of her friend being hurt and her horn flickered for a brief moment before she regained control of her faculties. The dark area of her mind she had banished all things unpleasant to stirred, the faint echoes of timberwolves and diamond dogs howling and whimpering starting to fill her mind.
Coup de Grâce moved in for another blow, but Rainbow Dash retaliated with a hefty uppercut that forced the larger pegasus back a step. Before Coup de Grâce could recover, Rainbow Dash had spun around and delivered another powerful blow to her enemy using her hind legs.
While Applejack and Scootaloo cheered her on, Rainbow Dash circled her enemy with blinding speed, punching her forehoof into the area just below the root of her opponent’s right wing. Coup de Grâce grunted and swung at the smaller pegasus’ legs with her forehoof. Rainbow Dash avoided the attack by jumping, striking the captain twice in the face with her front hooves, using the pushback of her own blows to distance herself from her foe.
“Slowing down a bit there, champ,” Rainbow Dash taunted Coup de Grâce, breathing heavily. “Can’t blame ya; you are fighting the pegasus who won the mother of all marathons!”
The captain grinned as she wiped a trickle of blood from her nose. “Please! Why don’t you throw a proper punch instead of poking at me with those tiny hooves of yours!”
Both pegasi began pacing toward each other, but before anyone could react, the larger one set into a charge, knocking her shoulder into her foe and driving her backwards. The crowd parted before the two combatants as Coup de Grâce continued bulldozing into her opponent, Rainbow Dash finally managing to break away from the captain as they exited the circle of spectators.
The smaller pegasus threw a punch at her opponent, but Coup de Grâce turned to face her with surprising speed, using one forehoof to redirect Rainbow Dash’s attack and, using all her strength, smashed her other hoof into Rainbow Dash’s exposed ribs. The pegasus gasped in pain but was interrupted by a swift headbutt that knocked her to the ground. The captain bit onto her enemy’s mane and lifted her up by it, swinging her head around and throwing the pegasus back into the center of the broken circle formed by the onlookers. Coup de Grâce spat out a large tuft of red and green hair and trotted calmly toward the downed pegasus.
“You will not hurt my friends!”
Twilight’s breathing grew ragged as redness began clouding her peripheral vision, the death howls within her mind growing louder and joined by the despairing roars of the ursas from both Wild Weald and Canterlot.
Rainbow Dash got to her hooves slowly, rubbing her neck where the captain had torn out a large portion of her mane. Before she could do anything to take in her surroundings, however, she was suckerpunched to the ground. The blow seemed to somehow bring the smaller pegasus out of her stupor, for she immediately counterattacked, ramming head-first into Coup de Grâce’s chest. The larger pegasus only sighed at the attempt before bringing her front hooves down hard on Rainbow Dash’s back, causing her to collapse as she uttered another pained yelp. In response, Twilight flinched and the pink hooves that were still around her shoulders tightened noticeably.
“Ready to give up, lightweight?” Coup de Grâce asked of her opponent, once again backing away from the pegasus to let her recover.
“Twilight’s saved Equestria at least four times!” Rainbow Dash replied as she stood up, determined eyes locking onto her enemy. “You aren’t throwing her in jail on my watch!”
The smaller pegasus set into a gallop, sidestepping quickly just as she reached Coup de Grâce in an effort to confuse her. The effort was ultimately unsuccessful, however, and as Rainbow Dash reared up on her hind legs to strike at her foe, Coup de Grâce rose with her, knocking away the cyan pegasus’ forelegs with her own before thrusting her forehooves into Rainbow Dash’s exposed chest, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her back on all fours.
Coup de Grâce fell back on her forehooves as well, headbutting her opponent in the process. She followed up with a swing of her right forehoof that connected perfectly with Rainbow Dash’s jaw before turning around and delivering a devastating kick to both of Rainbow Dash’s shoulders that sent her hurtling backwards with a strained scream of pain.
“You will not hurt a single creature ever again!”
Twilight twitched and spasmed violently, causing Pinkie Pie to let go of her in shock. Redness clouded her vision fully as she saw Coup de Grâce lunge at the downed pegasus and she shut her eyes tight, putting every ounce of her will into extinguishing her horn, which had abruptly sprung to life.
“Twilight!?”
She was hungry. She had not fed for weeks, months perhaps. It was too hard to tell. All around were only spirit creatures, things and beings of ice and darkness, but a unicorn had wandered into its territory. She tried to kill it, dig its claws into those thick, pulsing arteries and drain her of all it had. Her prey was strong, however. Never before had she encountered something her claws could not cut through, and the unicorn’s defenses were no different, but its sheer power was unlike any of the ponies her ancestors had once fed upon. When it had been cornered, it unleashed a blast of magic that not even she could withstand. And then it began feasting.
The ice people were the first to feel it, falling to their knees as the unicorn tore at their essence. Then she felt it. The invisible, ice-cold claws that dug into her body, making it feel as if her flesh was being slowly parted, although no visible wound was made. For hours and hours the torture wore on, the unicorn’s vile magical grip not tightening, but simply extending further and further into the core of her being, working with infinite slowness. Then, with an abruptness that made her mind explode with indescribable pain, the wicked magic seized her very soul, its vice-like grip unbreakable and the agony it inflicted upon every aspect of her being challenging her very will to live.
Ever so slowly, the magical grip inched its way out of her body, taking her soul with it. This time, it felt as if the flesh not only parted before the unicorn’s magic, but clawed and tore at itself in an effort to get away from the terrible spell, the already unbearable pain doubling and tripling in intensity. In a final desperate attempt to rid herself of the evil ripping her insides apart, she stumbled toward the prey turned hunter. She swung her deadly claws, but was too far away. Finally, after an eternity of torture, emptiness overcame her and she fell to the ground.
Twilight opened her eyes and saw only redness, felt only the agony of those who had died at her hooves in Canterlot. She grew vaguely aware of her surroundings, noting with surprise that she had hardly moved a muscle during her excorporeal flashback. Through the red haze clouding her vision, she saw Coup de Grâce catch Rainbow Dash in a fierce headlock, the smaller pegasus’s choked scream barely noticeable among the hundreds of shrieks and howls that echoed about in her mind.
Every single muscle in the unicorn’s body tensed in reaction to Rainbow Dash’s pain, and she felt her horn buzzing fiercely, begging once more for release.
I can save her, she whispered to herself. Coup may be stronger than Rainbow, but me? She wouldn’t see what hit her! Once again, the nightmarish vision of her friends burning away to nothing appeared before her, blocking out all other thoughts for the briefest of moments. I could just kill her, she suggested to herself, her legs cramping up as muscles kept tensing. She’ll never hurt anyone again. I don’t have to go to Manehattan. If the other soldiers try to arrest me... She suppressed a chuckle. What can they do!? I would be the most powerful creature they’ve ever fought! I can hold my own against a dragon, an ursa, anything! I could‒
No! The redness, the screams, the memories that were not her own, her own poisonous thoughts abruptly vanished as Twilight regained control, forcing it all into the farthest, deepest recesses of her mind and sealing it away. Her aberrant hatred, born of the dark alicorn’s magic and nourished by all that had transpired since Celestia’s death, pulsed violently as it struggled against her, and the unicorn visibly flinched in her wheelchair.
“Ah think something’s wrong with Twi, we need ta git her outta here!”
The unicorn opened her eyes for a brief moment and saw Coup de Grâce deliver another well-aimed kick of her hind legs to Rainbow Dash’s side, the dull thud of hooves against ribs loud enough to be heard over Applejack’s panicked voice. In response, the red ocean of rage pulsed once more, nearly breaking free of her grip, and Twilight grunted with the effort of quelling it.
She sensed movement as nurse Redheart took control of her wheelchair again and pulled her away from the fighting, Applejack and Amber Vane positioning themselves in front of Twilight to block the view as they followed.
“What’s going on!?” Amber Vane asked of the nurse as they turned the corner around the hospital, heading for the main entrance.
“I told her she’d be better off staying in bed!” Redheart muttered, more to herself than the soldier. “It’s just too much excitement for somepony in her condition!”
“She’s not been good about listening to doctors since The Great Tragedy,” Applejack observed, opening the door for the others.
“We... can’t leave Rainbow,” Twilight muttered, her vision blurring as it had done when she first woke up.
“She’ll be...” Applejack began, but thought better of it. “She’ll make it, sugarcube. Maybe we oughtta stow you away, though. Ah can’t just let ‘em cart ya off to jail like that...”
“Uhm,” Amber Vane interjected. “That’s really not a good idea.”
“Ah’ll hogtie ya if Ah have to, Amber.”
“No, no,” Twilight protested weakly, her voice slurring slightly as she felt her exertions take their toll on her not yet fully recovered body, her rage receding as exhaustion replaced it. “I’ll be fine, AJ. The council needs me to... to...” Her vision darkened and blurred, and her body went almost completely numb as her sentence trailed off.
“Twi!? Twilight!” Feeling slowly returned to the unicorn and with it the sensation of somepony nudging her shoulder with a hoof. “Wakey, wakey, Twi!”
“Pinkie...”
“Twilight!” the pink pony called out to her in a singsong voice despite Applejack’s halfhearted reprimand, encouraged as the unicorn began to stir again. “I know you’re there!”
“I know you’re there!”
“I know you’re there!”
“I know you’re there, Twilight!”
The unicorn’s eyes shot open, her pupils lost in an intense white blaze as she summoned her powers, aiming them at the source of the harrowing voice.
“Oh, how I would have loved to devour him, Twilight!”
“Twilight?”
“I’ve got something to show you!”
She unleashed her powers just as the blaze in her eyes faded, allowing her to see Pinkie Pie leaning down in front of her.
Pinkie! Nononono! Pinkie, Pinkie! No!
Twilight screamed, and a searing pain in her horn robbed her once again of all sensation as unconsciousness claimed her.
“Ah, so good to see you haven’t forgotten me! I admit, I was starting to have my doubts... Hah, I mean, it’s been more than a thousand years since I last saw any of you...” The hint of danger tinging the last few words melted away instantaneously as her father continued. “But here we are, my little children of strife. So good to see you all pulled through a millenium of harmony without me.”
She opened her eyes for the first time and found herself encased in ice. Rather, she was part of the ice. Only faintly could she distinguish her limbs from everything else surrounding her.
“It’s been so terribly dull under Celestia’s rule, but now...” an unseen force took hold of her, outlining her body and shattering everything around it. Freed of the ice, she rose to her feet, finding herself standing in one of the alleyways of Canterlot. “Now, we change things.” To her mild surprise, a lavender unicorn had just galloped past her, but it wasn’t long before another being of ice apprehended the pony. “Let’s make things a little... unpredictable. Let’s make things as they once were. Before Celestia and after... Luna. When nothing made sense and everything made sense...”
It was cold by the time she woke up. She was greeted by the sound of wind rushing past her and the sight of Primrose, one of the field medics of the Sword of Equestria, sitting beside her. She found herself lying in a flying chariot, cocooned in a multitude of blankets. She grit her teeth as she realized her horn had been somehow injured, the sensitive appendage throbbing painfully in tandem with the magical wound in her neck.
“Twilight,” the earth pony beside her greeted her hesitantly, eyeing her with worry. “I need you to remain calm. Don’t use any magic. Nopony’s sure exactly what happened, but you’ve suffered from a bad case of ceratic overload.”
“Where are we?” Twilight asked, her mind still foggy from sleep.
“About halfway between Ponyville and Manehattan,” Primrose answered her, sighing. “I’m afraid your friend didn’t win that brawl.”
Twilight’s eyes suddenly shot open as she remembered what had happened before she lost consciousness. “P-Pinkie! I-is Pinkie Pie alright!?”
Primrose hesitated for a second. “You mean... Rainbow Dash?”
“No! Pinkie Pie! Pink all over, poofy mane, bounces around..!”
“I know... who the Element of Laughter is...” the field medic answered her haltingly, clearly confused at the unicorn’s outburst. “Pinkie Pie is fine. She’s a little shaken at the thrashing Rainbow Dash received, but I’m sure she’ll be alright.”
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes, guilt quickly replacing her overwhelming worry. She’s okay. I didn’t shoot her. I cancelled my spell in time, or... at least managed to force it to misfire. Which would explain why my horn is hurting.
But... I almost did it... Oh Celestia, I almost shot Pinkie Pie! I could have killed her! My magic’s spiralling out of control! First the diamond dogs, then... whatever I did in Canterlot, and now Pinkie... Almost Pinkie...
Twilight let out a choked sob as she briefly considered the consequences of what might have happened. It’s all his fault! she concluded, remembering the visions she had had of her inner being, the golden cages of glass that had been shattered by the alicorn’s magic. Whatever he did at The Great Tragedy, it destroyed all the wards Celestia had placed upon me. It was slow at first, but after running into him during my time travel, my powers escalated. I could barely control them then, but I pulled through. But since we met in Neighbury... I’ve become even more powerful. I’ve got more magic than I can deal with, so much that it’s starting to mess with my emotional responses. All that anger... killing the diamond dogs, wanting to kill Coup, chasing after the alicorn back in Canterlot even when I knew it was too dangerous... it’s his fault. Not just because of that nightmare, but because he’s been amplifying my magic every time we’ve met.
But why? Why would he want to make me stronger? Did he really expect me to accept his friendship? To join him!? He wiped out Neighbury with one spell and destroyed the Canterlot palace! What can I do that he can’t? Why is he doing this to me!?
“Is something the matter?” Primrose asked worriedly, and Twilight realized tears were running down her face.
“My magic,” she sighed, gazing out the back of the chariot at dozens of similar vehicles behind her. “It’s what caused my ceratic overload. I’m losing control of it.”
“You?” Primrose remarked dubiously. “The Element of Magic losing control of her... magic?”
“You must have seen my horn lighting up while Coup and Rainbow were fighting. It... it wasn’t me. It’s as if my magic had a will of its own, trying to lash out at Coup for hurting my friend.”
The earth pony was silent for a long while. “I’ve heard of unicorn health disorders caused by a deficiency of magic, but not a surplus... Maybe there’s some kind of therapy you could go through, somepony has to know something about it.”
“I doubt it.”
Whatever his reasons are, I can’t allow him to make me lose control. Not again. But... this is why I was taken on as Princess Celestia’s personal student, right? She’s the one who taught me how to use my powers in the first place. How to control them and how to keep them from exploding out of my horn. There are hundreds of exercises that can help me, all I need is some time alone.
Twilight reached out to her magic tentatively, but winced when her burnt horn sputtered and crackled in protest.
Hearing the noise, Primrose turned her attention from a neighboring chariot to the unicorn lying at her side. “I told you not to use your magic, Twilight,” she sighed. “It’ll heal by itself, but you need to give it some time. I’m sure you’ll be getting plenty of that when we reach Manehattan.”
“Coup said I was going to prison... For how long?”
“I really don’t know a lot about those kinds of things,” Primrose admitted. “It’ll just be temporary at first, of course. Normally, it’d be officials within the Equestrian military deciding this, but the council’s decided to involve itself directly in your particular case. Which is probably a good thing,” the earth pony added reassuringly. “If you’re lucky, you’ll find yourself serving under the council for quite a while. If things go south, I think the highest level of punishment you’re looking at would be five or six years prison. In any case, there’s no way you’re getting back into any branch of the Equestrian military again.”
“That not much of a loss...” Twilight muttered, somewhat relieved at the field medic’s statement.
“Oak, Bolt Basher, and Blitz died,” Primrose snapped at her, her temper flaring for a second before she began massaging her temple with a forehoof. “Could you please just take this seriously, Twilight? Most likely, the council’s going to interrogate me since I’m spending this entire flight with you. I’m going to tell them what I think is true, and right now, it seems to me like you’re not overly concerned that your actions killed three of your fellow soldiers.”
“It’s not my fault!” Twilight insisted angrily. “The only reason they died is because they were standing too close to an ursa major! An alicorn wiped out the entire area! There was nothing I could have done!” With a sigh, the unicorn let her head drop to the floor of the chariot as she too forced herself to be calm. “I am sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever met any of those three, but I didn’t want them to die. I just can’t... look back at things like I used to be able to... Because of my magic. I allowed myself to get angry a few weeks ago and... I’ve been regretting it ever since. I can’t even look back at that without my magic beginning to flare. I should never have rejoined the Sword. Scarlet should never have let me back on.”
In fact, I should never have been on the Sword to begin with. I would never have been forced into killing in the first place, and I’d never have run into that alicorn. That one misfire with the solite in Cristallum changed everything! It’s been months! I could be lighting up all of Manehattan with my solar magic by now!
No. No. It’s not the council’s fault. It’s not anypony’s fault. It’s... done. Calm down. Twilight sighed with frustration at herself.
Primrose was silent for a while following the unicorn’s explanation, gazing at something ahead them that was outside Twilight’s field of vision. “It sounds like you’ve got a lot on your mind,” she finally sighed. “Honestly, I have no idea what happened. You say Nightmare Moon destroyed that fissure, most of Team Gold was certain the ursa did it. You were forbidden to enter the Canterlot zone, but you’d also been ordered to kill that thing hunting Team Cyan. Really, you should tell the council, not me.” The pony was silent for a while more before speaking again. “There’s still three or four hours until we reach Cristallum, and you look pretty worn out. Might as well get some more rest.”
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Fun fact: I never intended for Rainbow Dash and Coup to get in a fight.
I just wrote about them being in the same room and... things escalated pretty quickly from there.
This story man... It was going good. It had great potential!.... Then the Council turned into assholes and Twilight was forced into the military, thus the story just went down hill from there.
The story was doing awesome with Twilight just trying to make a sun, and maybe turning into the new Celestia. Why Author, Why did you fuck it up by turning it into a horribly done, boring-adventure, Twilight is evil twist, mind-fuck jumble all over the place?! 
So much goodness, just down the drain for nothing...
Aww, poor Dashie. She's not going to take this loss very well, is she?
Though honestly, I'm kind of wishing Twi had blasted Coup right off his hooves. He seemed okay when he first appeared, and then he turned into a total asshole.
and Now I want to do Coup de grâce's NAMESAKE TO HIM.
3793355 Sorry you feel that way. It's a long story, and it's bound to change direction every now and then, and some people are bound to dislike it. Good on you for leaving a comment instead of just silently unfavoriting and disliking.
The whole thing about trying to make a sun and maybe turning into the new Celestia is still a goal I'm working towards (among others), but you'll have to agree; it is an ambitious goal. Creating a sun in a post-apocalyptic Equestria submerged in everlasting darkness is extremely difficult, and doesn't come without its hurdles along the way.
This Sword of Equestria arc has been one such hurdle, but as Primrose observes here in chapter 17, it's an arc that's coming to a close, to be resolved and terminated in the next chapter. Truth be told, the arc's been grating on me as well, and I've not always enjoyed writing it, although I did always find it necessary.
I had the same issues with Twilight's hospitalization in the beginning of the story, and you might have noticed that I actually went ahead and blew that hospital to smithereens in chapter 16. Maybe I'll have my revenge on the Sword as well one day. And the council. Definitely the council.
If you're interested in knowing, and still willing to follow the story, Twilight returns to her solite studies in chapter 21. Twilight's mental issues will remain a problem for quite a while longer, though.
Gah. Thanks for robbing my precious hours of sleeping. Damn you, mailing system!!
Oh. And whatever you said at the start of this chapter was undone by the last bit. Heheheheh...
3793371 3793463 Coup's a mare
A very manly mare, and there might not be any pronouns describing her as a female in this chapter, so fair enough.
3793559 Um ... derp?
Though now you have that song stuck in my head from the last Muppet movie.
3793542 I hated the entire thing because the council elected itself. Logically, Twilight should have been the highest order. Under the princesses, she was her faithful student, trained pretty much to be her replacement. In the eyes of the people anyways. And also, indeed saving the world many times over, and being the leader of the elements of harmony, their only defense against danger as we have seen. What's more, Twilight's magic is SO more powerful than anypony else alive, and is more smarter than anyone else too. She made a SUN, something no one else could! And instead, they beat her down and put her in the army!
So they could not, logically, touch Twilight! She would just have to say, 'The council is corrupt!' and ponies everywhere would believe her, the hero from many times over, instead of a bunch of ponies that put themselves in change just because. The Council makes NO sense at all, as we seen they are not really doing much to help. For months they wouldn't even talk to anyone, so for month they didn't even exist to the population of ponies. Why is anyone listening to them?! Are ponies just... Sitting in home crying all day every day or something? Why haven't some tried to fight against the council, or strike out on their own in Anarchy? Instead everyone is following whatever this... 'council' says, and Twilight, a natural born leader, turns herself into fluttershy and lets herself get bullied into something she doesn't want, even tho she should know they can't touch her and that she has more rights to 'rule' than any of them.
It just doesn't make sense, and as far as we know, Time has stopped for everyone but Twilight and the Council, because nothing seems to be going on in the background. There doesn't seem to be any panic, Anarchy, fighting, or anything. It seems everyone is just, sitting at home crying and doing nothing else....
3793559
my mistake, but my Comment pretty much Still Stands: i stil want to Rip Coup de grâce a New Plothole for the way she wanted to Drag Twilight OUT OF A FREAKING HOSPITAL to face TRUMPED UP CHARGES.
3793623 To be honest, even I don't know how the council ended up ruling the country.
You're right about it being pretty quiet in the background. The story's been told from Twi's point of view, and she hasn't really been interacting with society a lot lately. She's been holed up in Cristallum, going on missions with the Sword, and been in a coma for two months.
She has of course been trying to keep up by reading newspapers and such, but that's just not something I've deemed necessary to write about. Too much telling and not enough showing.
I wish I could have described the rising dissent in Equestria more, but I've just not had the opportunity to. So far, the windigoes' presence has been my only way of indicating unrest.
It's funny you mention it, because the entire province of Coltdoba, greatest supplier of crops in the country, declares itself independent from Equestria in the next chapter.
As for the Twilight vs. council problem...
It's complicated. For me, at least. The council might not be doing a stellar job, but they are getting it done. The economy is stable-ish, the country isn't in a state of panic, most of the farms get enough water and sunlight to get by, etc.
Furthermore, there is, in this case, a fine line between being a natural-born leader sharing your gift with others, and being a control freak. Not that Twilight would be a control freak if she led a campaign against the council, but to me, Twilight seems like the type of leader that will offer to lead (or have it offered to her), not take a position of leadership forcefully.
She could declare the council unfit to rule, and they might get deposed, but someone would have to take their place, and that someone would most likely be Twilight.
Could she rule the country better than the council? Maybe. But not in her current state.
Would the position bury her in innumerable duties and stagnate her growth for a long time? I don't see how it wouldn't.
Would she have more time to study solar magic? Definitely not.
My pacing may be slower than many would like, but when the payoffs come, I hope to wow you all.
Tl;dr: A lot of the things you're asking for will be discussed in the next chapter.
3793874 Well then... Get onto the next chapter! Unlike Twilight, you're not sitting in a coma for 2 months as an excuse. So get to work!
3793893 It's been finished for quite a while already, actually!
Which I split. 
But then it grew by another 5000 words! 
But 18 is the ungodly long one!
You can't have it yet.
I'll ready it for publishing (and publish it) when I'm satisfied with chapter 20, I think.
So I guess I'll get to work on that, then. Tomorrow. It's 3 am where I am now. But worth it. I love discussing my story with people!
WEll i for one think u have done a very goodjob so far as i read threw this story i think the ending will be her becoming the next princess or something besides the fanfiction season 4 alredy got her in that place or it least traing her to. ^_^ but good job no matter how i see it.
3795202 It's hard to say how many chapters this thing will encompass. I've been diverging quite a bit from my original story line lately. Hopefully, it'll save me some chapters in the long run (and make for a better story), but I also tend to underestimate how many chapters a given arc will take up.
A third of the way is a pretty good guess. I'm getting pretty excited myself because I'll be hitting one of the real big plot points in a few chapters. It's something I've really wanted to write for a long time, and it should mark the thirdway point of the story.
after giving it some thought, I'm going to call it now that as soon as Twilight gets to Cristallum, its gonna be a FULL BLOWN Kangaroo Court, to where Twilight has ZERO CHANCE of being Aquitted on the Charges.
and she opened her eyes to find herself standing in Cristallum
to be brought to Cristallum
with the solite in Cristallum
I think you meant; the Cristallum... But that could just be me.