Explosions littered the grounds of the mansion as fire and lightning, and arcane magic dueled. Spike flew in the sky and ignited both his claws, the flames and lightning then formed into large dragon wings as he came down on The Beast. Spike roared out as he struck both hands against the collarbone of The Beast, another explosion went off and sent The Beast flying in the opposite direction, but after a few seconds the monster regained its balance and skidded to a halt.
The deformed horns of The Beast began to charge up with Xanthos magic, and at the same time, Spike inhaled deeply, his cheeks puffing out. The Beast cried out as it fired a beam of scarlet light at the super powered drake, but then Spike exhaled, unleashing a huge jet of emerald, lightning laced flames that tore the ground beneath it.
Both the beam and the flames struck, slamming with resounding thunder. Spike dug his claws into the dirt, anchoring himself as he continued to bellow out his dragon fire. At the same time, The Beast snarled and snorted, doing all it could to keep the flames from reaching him.
The beam and flames began to churn at the center, mixing and clashing as the opposite powers dueled each other. After another moment the two opposing forces built up and exploded, sending up a thick dust cloud into the air. However, that did not stop either one from continuing the attack, both The Beast and Spike had charged for the center and met each other halfway.
Thunder erupted from each traded blow, shaking the air above and ground beneath. Spike struck the monster in the stomach, making it hack up bile, but The Beast returned the favor by punching him right across the face and making Spike fall back just a tad. But Spike pulled himself back and struck The Beast across its left cheek, knocking out a few of its teeth, and sending some blood flying through the air. Their blows only became more savage and faster, the naked eye only catching blurred images of their fists.
Spike came in with a right hook, and at the same time, The Beast was delivering its own right hook. The empowered dragon saw this and angled his fist to intercept, the end result had both of their arms pass by each other and connect with the jaw of their intended targets in the form of a cross counter. The power generated by their blows sent Spike and The Beast jetting off in opposite directions. The Beast skidded across the ground, occasionally skipping like a stone on water before it came to a stop and formed a body sized crater.
Spike ended up skipping on the ground in much the same manner, smashing through a few trees and what remained of the ornate stone columns that decorated the grounds. He eventually stopped, plowing into a water fountain and sending a plume of dirt, water, and dust into the air. Spike groaned as he picked himself up from the rubble, panting hard from the arduous duel he was having. Thanks to the power up, Spike was able to see from his current distance the damage the monster was taking.
Compared to what he saw in Ponyville, The Beast was healing slower if not at all, Spike chuckled as he began walking towards his opponent. “You wondering why you can’t heal up as fast as you used to?”
The Beast turned to Spike and snorted.
“Thanks to this Wisdom of Starswirl, I learned something about myself. Dragons have a slight nullifying ability to offensive magic, and when applied right, can negate other magical abilities. Like say, the ability to heal yourself,” said Spike with a cocky tone to his voice.
The Beast snarled as it rose on its four legs, but stumbled a bit, catching itself on its arms before it could do a full face plant.
Spike took a fighting stance, lightning arcing off his body as he charged up. “I’m going to end this in one shot, I’m done wasting time with you, Scoots needs my help! FIRE LOTUS –!!!”
Suddenly, a giant column of violet lightning shot forth from the ground right beneath The Beast. The creature as completely engulfed in the torrent of power, its body turning into nothingness without so much as a wail or scream. Spike’s aura fizzled out, and his left eye twitched, he then stomped the ground and growled in anger.
“Oh c’mon! I was about to use my finishing move!” Spike shouted. However, his anger over his stolen victory was quickly replaced by shock when he saw Scootaloo flying out of the column of lightning and landed before him in a heap. “SCOOTS!”
The young drake ran to the alicorn mare, skidding across the ground as he knelt down beside the heroine. Her armor was singed, and she was bruised all over, with blood trickling down her head. Spike glanced over to the column of violet lightning, which was now slowly fading away. From the giant hole in the ground something shot out, zipped around in the sky and then landed a few feet away in a large cloud of smoke.
Spike’s eyes widened when he saw the responsible party, a vanilla alicorn with piercing sky blue eyes. The empowered dragon growled as he snorted flames from his nostrils. “Did you do this to her?! I’ll make you pay –!”
“Stop…!” Scootaloo cried. “Don’t hurt her…!”
Spike looked down to his friend in utter confusion. “Give me one good reason why!”
Scootaloo rose to her hooves slowly, groaning from the effort as she turned around to face the alicorn mare ahead of them. “Because…that’s Alula!”
“No…that-that’s not possible! How can she be an alicorn?!”
“Some Kingdom whorse messed with her mind and used some weird magic-science to do it! I don’t know how, but her powers are similar to mine!”
Spike looked upon the transformed mare, with his magic vision, he could see a raging torrent of both Xanthos and the Ancient Magic swirling around her, both were fighting within her, but at the same time they created a strange balance that kept either one from destroying her.
“You want to kill my mother, destroy my home! I lost my home, my town! The…THE PONY I LOVED! I WON’T LET ANYONE TAKE ANYTHING FROM ME!”
Alula’s horn released violet lightning, striking the ground and everything else around her. The dirt and rock began to rise up, the magical lightning changing the properties of the raw material into something else. With a flash of her horn, Alula willed the newly formed matter to rush to her and cover her body, finally, with another magical flash, the material hardened and took shape.
In an instant, Alula was covered in obsidian armor, with violet metal boots on and gauntlets. Upon her chest was a gold outline of a lightning bolt, but within the symbol raged violet lighting. Alula flared her wings, her purple mane flowing in the crosswinds generated by her power, as her eyes glared at the two heroes.
Spike got into an attack stance, but spared Scootaloo a glance and saw a peculiar look on her face, her cheeks were red. “Are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah…She just…looks sorta, kinda…hot.”
Spike face palmed himself. “Really?!”
“Give me a break, she’s my fillyfirend!”
“Yeah, will here she comes!”
Alula dashed across the field with great speed, prompting Scootaloo to form a barrier. A dome of magical energy appeared around Spike and herself, just in time to have Alula slam into it, her lightning aura was already covering her body, acting as both armor and battering ram as she pushed forward, trying to get at her opponents inside.
Spike prepared to attack, but Scootaloo quickly shot out a hoof in front of him to halt any action. “What are you doing?!” he asked incredulously.
“We can’t hurt her! It’s still Alula, she’s just messed up in the head right now!” Scootaloo argued.
“Even if she is, we can’t help her if she’s trying to kill us! We can at least knock her out!”
Scootaloo had a pensive look on her face, she knew Spike was right, but this was Alula, her friend, her fillyfriend, how could she hurt her when she came to save her?
The shield began to crack, showing signs of Scootaloo’s lack of concentration. Alula capitalized on this, cocking back her right hoof and charging it with violet lightning. She threw the punch against the barrier and shattered it like fragile glass. Scootaloo and Spike quickly shot off in different directions, allowing Alula to plow through down the middle until she came to a halt, realizing her targets weren’t there.
Alula growled as she scanned the area for her opponents, but she didn’t have to look long as a giant fireball came flying towards her. Alula flew up in time to avoid the hit, the fireball exploding at the spot where she once was. However, it was nothing more than a feint, allowing Spike to reappear behind the alciorn mare.
Before she could react, Spike used his tail to whip her across the back of her head. The blow sent Alula’s head reeling as she spiraled away, after a moment she regained her senses and halted herself in midair. Suddenly, chains made of azure lightning sprang up around her, going taut and locking up her hooves and wings, keeping her held in the air.
Scootaloo flew to her, looking at her with saddened eyes. “Alula it’s me, Scootaloo! Whatever that witch did you, you have to fight it! Remember Ponyville, remember our friends, remember ME!”
Alula growled angrily at Scootaloo, glaring at her with fury in her eyes. “The place I loved is gone! This is my home now, and my mother is here! I know your lies, you have her face, but you’re not Scootaloo! Just some imposter!”
The orange alicorn mare shook her head in disbelief. “What did she do to you…?”
A spark of violet lightning went off, snapping the chains that bound Alula. Before Scootaloo could react, Alula struck Scootaloo in her barrel with her left hoof, causing a shockwave to erupt through the air. Scootaloo gagged as she felt the wind leave her lungs, hunching over in pain. Alula then brought both hooves up and brought them down over Scootaloo’s head in a double hammer blow.
Magic’s Champion was sent all the way down to terra firma, making her eat the dirt. Alula prepared a spell cannon blast to rain down on Shazam, but at the last second Spike bathed her in a torrent of emerald, lightning infused flames. Alula quickly erected a shield, but it was hastily erected, and could not withstand all of the power behind the dragon fire.
The shield shattered right then, and without missing a second, Spike snapped his jaws shut and flew through his own flames. He then emerged from the other side, and, with a grimace, struck the alicorn mare in the face. Spike slammed the flat of his palms together, concentrating as fire and lightning coalesced in between them. Within seconds a fireball formed, Spike hefted it overhead and brought it down on Alula. The fireball exploded brilliantly and set the alicorn flying backwards.
Spike flew down to Scootaloo, wanting to see if she was alright to get back into the fight. When he landed he saw Scootaloo, half risen, with tears in her eyes. “Scoots, are you alright?! How bad are you hurt?!”
“I…I can’t do it, Spike, I can’t…It’s her! It’s Alula! I don’t want to hurt her, she would never want to do any of this!” Scootaloo cried.
“Scootaloo I get it! I didn’t like what I just did, in fact, I hated it! But if I didn’t she would’ve killed you!” Spike grabbed the alicorn mare by the face and brought her eyes to meet his. “If there’s anypony who can snap her out of it, it’s you, Scootaloo! So what are you going to do?!”
Before a reply could be properly given, Alula appeared behind Spike, her eyes glowing with violet lightning as something formed above her. A construct scythe formed from the violet lightning was brandished, preparing to behead her friend – and potential sibling. Scootaloo’s instincts took hold, tapping into her wellspring of power as she pushed Spike out of the way.
An azure lightning construct sword formed next to Scootaloo as she let out a fierce battle cry, swinging the weapon at Alula. The two weapons clashed, causing a shockwave of power to roar out from the epicenter, arcs of violet and azure lightning shot off wildly from their weapons as either mare struggled to push back the other.
Scootlaoo looked into the eyes of the mare, filly, she cared for and loved, but all she could see were pools of raging power, hell-bent on destroying the enemy before her. Tears began to fall from Scootlaoo’s eyes, shutting them for a moment as her strength waned.
Alula, I know that’s you, I know you’re in there somewhere…
The scythe began to push forward, bringing the blades close to Scootaloo’s neck.
But right now, this isn’t you…you’re not in control!
Scootaloo’s eyes shot open and had now become pools of azure lightning energy.
“That madmare messed with your head, and turned you into some kind of weapon! I’ll bring you back, Alula! Even if I have to knock you out and drag you back to Ponyville, I will bring you back!”
The lightning sword shined brighter, pushing back the scythe and surprising Alula. But the anti-alicorn would not be discouraged, pouring more of her own power into the weapon and attempting to get the upper hoof on her enemy. With a fierce cry, Scootaloo knocked the blade away with an upward strike, leaving Alula wide open.
Scootaloo drew back her right hoof and struck Alula in the chest, sending her zooming away as thunder erupted from the point of impact. Scootaloo became azure lightning as she sped away after Alula, Spike grinned and did the same, green lightning chasing after the blue.
Alula caught her breath and stopped, spotting the two streaks of lightning heading right for her. With a flap of her majestic wings, Alula took off for them both, becoming a streak of violet lightning. The three streaks clashed at the center, creating a powerful explosion that flattened everything in the area. From there the three streaks shot up into the air.
The azure streak would attack the violet, break off, and then the violet streak would come in, but at the last second the green streak would intercept and stop the violet. Their battle continued in the air as fire and lightning of three colors were traded in the air, the ground below shook from their titanic blows, even the air trembled from their might.
Scootaloo traded blows with Alula, punch for punch, bolt for bolt, but unfortunately, it was Scootaloo who was getting more worn down, and so was Spike. Alula, however, seemed to be running at full steam, which was quickly giving her the edge. She disappeared from Scootaloo’s sight for a split second, before reappearing and delivering a powerful uppercut to Scootaloo’s jaw.
Spike came in from behind about to attack with a fiery punch, but Alula teleported at the last second, appearing above the drake and creating a noose of violet lightning that wrapped around his neck. Alula pulled up on the noose, and dragged Spike along for a ride. She proceeded to slam the empowered dragon right into the semi-destroyed mansion, she then pulled on the line as if reeling in a fish. Alula released the line and charged up her left hoof, when Spike was in range, Alula slammed her hoof into the side of his head, sending Spike blasting off to the ground below, kicking up a huge plume of dust and dirt upon impact.
Scootaloo flew off towards Spike, but Alula intercepted her at the last second, appearing right in her path. The empowered filly fired a lightning bolt that was deflected off of Alula’s barrier, but then gave a strong flap of her wings, creating a buffeting gale force wind that created a tornado funnel, forcing Alula back into the tree line in the distance.
Thankfully the gust had the added bonus of clearing away the dust cloud, allowing Scootaloo to quickly come to the aid of her friend, and soon-to-be brother. “Spike are you alright?!”
The young drake coughed, taking in raspy breaths, “I’ll live…I think,” he managed to croak.
“She’s stronger than I thought, the Xanthos and Living Lightning are giving more power, enough to counter us,” said Scootaloo.
Spike glanced to Scootaloo and then back to where he knew Alula had been thrown. It was then that he came to a decision. Spike placed his right claw on Scootaloo’s shoulder, earning him a confused look from the filly turned mare.
“SHAZAM!!!”
Suddenly a bolt of lightning shot down on Spike, and at the same time, the magical lightning zipped right into Scootaloo’s body, granting her more power and melting away her fatigue almost immediately. Scootaloo cleared away the smoke and saw the tiny dragon on his back with a look of exhaustion on his face.
“Spike what did you do?!” she asked.
“I gave you back the power you lent me, it takes away from yours when you share it, so now you should be able to go one on one with Alula,” said Spike.
“But you’re still hurt, take it back, at least enough to heal yourself!”
“No time, hurry and beat her so we can take her back and go home!” Spike shouted weakly.
Before any more protests could be given, Alula had zoomed out of the foliage and prepared to strike Shazam. But when she threw her punch, Alula found it halted with a great, thundering BOOM. Alula’s eyes were wide with shock as she saw her punch stopped by Shazam’s own hoof.
With a flash of her horn, Shazam teleported Spike away from the battlefield and to the safe haven of the Rock of Eternity. Murmur, help Spike out and get him back to Twilight once he’s healed up, Shazam projected this thought to the Rock of Eternity, and once she felt that it was received, she went to work.
The rubble around Shazam began to rise up as a great amount of magical power was released from her, in the blink of an eye, Shazam slapped Alula’s hoof away and spun around to deliver a kick with her left hind leg. The blow hit the anti-alicorn in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Shazam whirled around and began striking with a flurry of blows that came in at a rapid fire rate.
Before Alula could recover, Shazam created a magic circle beneath them. With a mighty battle cry, the circle erupted into a pillar of azure lightning that reached high into the sky, eclipsing both Shazam and Alula from sight. After a few seconds, the pillar of light faded away, with only faint electrical crackles and arcs going off here and there.
Unfortunately, the attack had caused a cave in, the ground having become unstable from the prolonged and heavy hitting battle, which left both Shazam and Alula to fall back down into the underground complex. Shazam groaned as she rose up, looking above to see where they had fallen from and then around to verify where she was. Her eyes finally fell upon Alula, who was getting back up to her hooves and staring her down menacingly.
Shazam released a tired sigh. “We can go at this for hours on end, and I doubt either of us will win, at best we’ll destroy each other!”
“It doesn’t matter, everypony I cared about died! All that’s left is my mother, and you want to take her away from me!” Alula spat.
“Maybe she is, maybe she’s not, but everypony is still alive – I’m alive!” Shazam argued. “I-I love you, Alula!”
“LIES!” Alula shouted, her aura raging as her eyes once again were aglow with violet lightning. “You’re not her! You’re not Scootaloo!”
Shazam stood before Alula and fixed her with a firm gaze. “I am…SHAZAM!!!”
A bolt of lightning shot down from high above them and struck the red armored mare. Alula entered an aggressive stance, prepared to fight tooth and hoof against her opponent, however, her aggression faltered when she saw who emerged from the white smoke. A pegasus filly, with an orange coat and wings, a purple mane, and amethyst eyes. She looked up at Alula, a smile on her face, with no evidence of fear.
“Alula?” Scootaloo asked.
“No…No it’s a trick! Y-You’re…S-She’s…!” Alula stammered as her lower lip trembled.
“I’m not dead, everypony’s alive! Whatever was done to you has messed up your head! You have part of the Ancient Magic inside you! You can tell I’m not lying, you know that
I’m Shazam, you’ve met Murmur, been to the Rock of Eternity! We’ve done all of that, please remember!” Scootaloo pleaded.
Alula shook her head, part of her wanted to rip the filly apart, but at the same time, another part said that she wasn’t lying, that this was the filly she cared for and had a crush on for a long time. Alula put her left hoof to her head, feeling a bad headache spawning as she struggled with indecision.
“If you really believe that that mare is your…mom…then do it.” Scootaloo took a step back and sat on her haunches. She then flared her wings and closed her eyes, keeping her head held high. “I won’t fight you anymore, I don’t like hurting my fillyfriend! It’s your choice, Alula.”
The anti-alicorn looked to Scootaloo, her heart and mind were in conflict with each other, what she knew didn’t match with what she felt. The two powers inside were also warring, the power of the Xanthos magic ignored all thoughts of love and sought only destruction and death, and right now it was urging her to slay the filly before her. However, the Living Lightning fought back, telling Alula that Scootaloo’s words were true, that everything she was feeling was right.
Alula screamed into the underground chamber as a scythe of violet lightning formed before her. Her horn glowed as she hefted the construct weapon up to behead the filly, but even hearing this, Scootaloo didn’t waiver; she still sat there, unafraid. Alula did not know if this was just a matter of giving up or if she believed she was right enough to risk her life in the process.
‘I love you, Alula…’
The anti-alicorn roared with fury as she brought down the scythe, creating a crescent of lightning energy that flew off and cut the wall behind Scootaloo. The orange filly opened her eyes, and gasped.
Alula had tears in her eyes, her horn now sparking with blue and red lightning, occasionally reforming into the violet form. “S-Scootaloo…?”
Scootaloo’s ears perked up, eyes wide with happiness as she saw that her fillyfriend recognized her. However, that moment of happiness would not last. A spike of red mana shot through the darkness and pierced through Scootaloo’s right shoulder. The young flier yelped in pain, gritting her teeth as the spike burned in her shoulder, sending every nerve in her body on fire with pain. Scootaloo managed to glance in the direction the attack came from, and glared when she saw who it was.
At first, only red, tribal markings could be seen in the darkness, but the markings were approaching them at a steady pace, until the one wearing them stepped into the light. It was Thorn, her eyes were colored that of the Xanthos magic, her brown fur marked with red lines that brimmed with the killer magic.
“I would appreciate that you not seduce or otherwise corrupt my daughter, thank you,” said Thorn with a cool voice.
“Y-You! AH! W-Wh-What did you – Mother of Celestia this hurts!” Scootaloo shouted as she tried to focus.
Thorn walked up beside the little filly and smiled cruelly at her. “Who would have thought, Shazam, Equestria’s Mightiest Mare, is in fact a little filly. Interesting magic you have, but it looks like you can’t transform with your body wracked with such pain, can you?”
Scootaloo opened her mouth to respond, but the spike again shot a jolt of pain through her that turned her words into a scream.
“I thought not.” Thorn made her way to Alula and placed a hoof, gently, on her daughter’s cheek. “Honey, it’s time to be rid of our biggest obstacle.”
“B-But Mom, it’s Scootaloo! The pony I told you I liked, my fillyfriend! She’s alive! She’s…She’s…please stop it!” Alula pleaded.
Thorn shook her head. “My little Erroria, she’s just an imposter, she so easily changed her form from Shazam to the filly you loved, how can you be sure that this form is not some illusion?”
“D-D-Don’t – AAAH! – listen to her!”
Thorn moved into Alula’s field of vision, blocking Scootaloo. “I’m ready, my little one, and so are the others.” At this, several of the Blank Ponies began to emerge from the shadows, each androgynous pony had opaque colored fur, and eyes as black as tar. “With your power, we can mold them into the fighting force needed to overturn the corruption of the Princesses, and the nuisance of The Kingdom.”
Scootaloo forced herself to stand on her three legs while her right leg hung limply, blood streamed from the wound as red lightning continued to course through the young filly’s body. “Y-You know what’s right – Alula! I know the kind of pony you are, you’re kind, you’re caring, thoughtful, and stubborn enough to put up with a filly like me! You have the Living Lightning inside you, same as me, do not let the chaos outweigh the harmony inside you –!”
“BE SILENT YOU LITTLE TRAMP!” Thorn shouted with a distorted voice.
Another construct spike appeared and launched itself from up above. Scootaloo noticed it at the last second, but not in time for the spike to pierce her side. She was sure no vital organs were hit, but the now lodged spike was sending even more pain inducing energy into her body, making her wail and cry.
Alula was hesitant, she didn’t know what to do. If Scootaloo was right, her mother was lying, and if her mother was right, then Scootaloo was lying. Her mind told her one thing, but her heart was saying another.
“I…I…I know you’ll – AAAH!!! – make the right choice!” Scootaloo managed.
Thorn turned around and faced the filly, looking at her with a mixture of annoyance and mild impressiveness. “I can’t believe you haven’t completely fallen into a coma from the pain you’re experiencing right now. Even grown ponies would have lost their minds from this.”
Scootaloo managed to shoot Thorn a steely glare and smirked. “I had a mother, she was messed up, too, and put me through all kinds of things that you can’t imagine! So THIS?! THIS! IS! NOTHING!”
Thorn pursed her lips in an indignant grimace. “I see, so you’ve been abused have you? Disgusting, despite what you may think, I don’t condone such things to foals. I’ll be sure to rid Equestria of such ponies once we’ve reformed it.”
“AND WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS?!”
“A battle between foes, but since you’ve told me your pain, I’ll grant you mercy.” A third spike appeared above Thorn. “And grant you a quick death.”
Scootaloo didn’t avert her eyes, she was too stubborn to look away even if it was her impending death. Meanwhile, Alula’s internal struggle was reaching its boiling point, at the last second, her lightning changed to blue, her eyes snapping wide open as she tapped into her magic to boost her speed.
Time slowed down to a snail’s pace as Alula zipped between Scootaloo and Thorn, Alula quickly took Scootaloo, using her magic to dispel the spikes and zip away. When time resumed its normal course, Thorn’s spike struck nothing but bedrock. The unicorn mare looked to and fro, finally spotting Alula and Scootaloo in the corner.
Scootaloo looked up at Alula, her beautiful eyes glistened with tears, and her lips curled into a smile. “I-I remember…Scootaloo, I remember!”
“Alula – ahhh!” Scootaloo grunted, her wounds still bleeding.
“You need to change back, your power will heal you if you do!” Alula urged.
“Erroria!” Thorn shouted, causing the alicorn mare to turn and face her mother. “What are you doing?!”
“Mom…I can’t do this! I don’t want to hurt anypony!”
Thorn’s eyes narrowed as she glared at her created daughter. “Erroria, you have the power to reshape this land – the world itself! Ponies like the Princesses, and her, would rather keep it as such, stagnant, and unchanging! It’s time for an upheaval! The Kingdom has its own lofty goals, more for the betterment of themselves, but we will work towards the future for everypony!”
Alula waved to the Blank Ponies. “With this army of created ponies, killing machines that are soulless?! Mother, you’ve even infused your body with Xanthos!”
Thorn looked her body over and waved a hoof dismissively. “I do not wish to be weak, to not be able to stand my ground beside you when the fighting starts, and these Blanks will be more obedient and trustworthy than so called ‘allies’!”
“This is still wrong! I--AAAGHH!” Alula screamed.
Suddenly, Alula’s body began to release arcs of red and blue lightning as a pained expression befell her. Scootaloo sprang to her hooves, but quickly regretted it as her wounds spiked with pain and forcing the tween filly to flop back to the floor. Thorn, however, shook her head as if disappointed.
“My little Erroria, the more you allow these dangerous thoughts and emotions to overtake you, the more your alignment with the Xanthos and Ancient Magic will diverge and struggle within you. It will literally tear you apart!” Thorn warned.
Now Scootaloo understood why Alula’s magic lightning was violet, it was mixed between the destructive Xanthos and protective Living Lightning, somehow the mad scientist found a way to unite both powers inside Alula, which made her just as strong as Shazam, if not stronger. Alula looked to Scootaloo, she remembered everything, their feelings, and she also knew that her mother wasn’t lying. Thorn was her mother, biologically, and she knew the mare’s feelings for her were genuine. So too, however, were her ambitions. The warring energies of destruction and creation, primal and harmonic, they waged war within Alula, threatening to devour her if there was not balance.
“I understand…” Alula whispered. Suddenly, Alula’s horn flashed with red lightning, and in a harsh tone, she yelled “DUCK!”
A wave of crimson lightning blasted forth from her horn and thinned itself out into a sharpened edge. The the lightning ring blade whipped out, making Thorn and Scootaloo get as close to the floor as possible, and sliced through the heads of Blank Pony that was around them. Multiple thuds were heard as heads hit the floor, eerily, red blood did not seep from the wound, only black tar. Thorn shot back up to her hooves and looked about in shock as the bodies of the Blank Ponies all hit the floor, unmoving. The the empowered mare glared at her daughter as her marks glowed brighter with her anger.
“What have you done, Erroria?!” Thorn shouted.
“What needed to be done. This isn’t the way, Mom! Just stop now, and maybe we can be a real family?!” Alula pleaded.
Thorn’s eyes glowed red, matching the brightness of her Xanthos laced markings. “We are a family! You were made from my egg, I grew you here, in this lab!” Thorn’s horn flared with Xanthos magic, and in the next moment, fired a beam of pure energy at both of them.
Alula quickly erected a shield, the color turning blue in response to her need to defend. Scootaloo tried to concentrate, to muster the strength to call out the Word of Power, but even with the Xanthos spikes gone, the pain they inflicted still radiated enough to make break her concentration.
“I watched over you every day and night! I made sure you were getting enough nutrients in your tank! I treated you better than any of my creations because you were mine! My flesh and blood, not a ‘Blank’, not some throwaway! I could call you my daughter, Erroria!”
Thorn’s horn shined brighter, causing the beam to double in size and wash over the barrier Alula had constructed. Alula and Scootaloo watched as cracks began to spread all across the bubble, and Alula could feel the power inside her tearing her up, wanting to split her in half like a ragdoll, but she had to persevere, for Scootaloo’s sake.
Gritting her teeth, Scootaloo stood up on all four hooves, blood continued to seep from her wounds, and the pain came back again, threatening to make her fall back to the ground. “Scootaloo!”
“I’m…standing…with you!” Scootaloo’s eyes had sparks of lightning coming out of the corners as she called forth the Word of Power. “SHAZAM!!!”
Within the beam a bubble formed inside, growing bigger and bigger until it burst apart, revealing Shazam and Alula standing side-by-side. However, Shazam looked fatigued, her brow already glistening with sweat. For a moment she lost feeling in her legs and almost collapsed, but Alula quickly got next to her for support, keeping her standing.
“Thanks, Alula,” said Shazam.
“Looks like I get to return the favor for once,” said Alula with a smile.
Thorn continued to glare at both of them as she stamped her hoof on the floor in anger. “Okay, you had your little fun, but this rebellious phase ends now!”
Alula shook her head. “You’re right, it will end. I’m not going to kill the Princesses, and I’m not going to kill Scootaloo!”
Thorn smacked her hoof to her forehead. “Would it make a difference if I said we can seal her powers and you can continue with your little relationship?” Alula and Shazam only narrowed their gaze at the mare. “Very well, I’ll just have to discipline you, young lady!”
The unicorn mare released a burst wave of Xanthos magic, throwing both alicorns back a few feet. Shazam tried to counterattack, but her body was not responding as well as it should.
What’s wrong with me, I can’t move right and I’m still aching all over, thought Shazam.
‘The Xanthos magic is interfering with your accelerated healing,’ said Murmur. ‘When you transformed you forced your magic to purge the Xanthos from you and heal you, so you’re weaker right now! You need time to regain your strength, Mistress!’
Unfortunately, Murmur, I don’t think she’ll give me that luxury…!
“Alula, I’m pretty banged up…but I think if we work together…” Shazam trailed off once she looked at Alula.
The anti-alicorn’s body had red and blue lightning arcing around her, making her body glow as a pain filled look was plastered on her face. “I-I-I’m not that good for fighting, either…in fact…I don’t know how much longer I can stay like this!”
“Alula!”
“I can’t hold onto both, they want to separate, and it’s not going to be pretty for anypony,” said Alula.
Shazam shook her head in disbelief. “NO! We can find a way, I can take you back to the Rock of Eternity and--MMPH!”
Before Shazam could finish her sentence, Alula captured her lips in a kiss. For a moment, Shazam forgot about everything, the pain, the fighting, all of it faded for this kiss. Alula pulled away, blushing and giggling at the stunned expression on her fillyfriend’s face. “I love you, Scootaloo, I always will.”
“ALU--!!!”
A bright flash of blue light went off, and in less than a second, Shazam was gone. Alula sighed, but then winced when she felt the energy strain her body. Thorn growled yet again, not understanding what was going on with her daughter, but the anger slowly dissipated as she analyzed the situation.
“I see, it’s not your fault, I wasn’t there with you as long as I should have, and you weren’t properly brought up,” said Thorn.
“So now what will you do?” Alula asked.
“I promise not to make the same mistakes twice. I have saved samples of your blood, and with that I can create you anew, do not worry, I’ll bring you back,” said Thorn.
Soon Thorn’s horn glowed as she prepared to teleport away from the danger zone. However, the moment she tried, her magic fizzled out, with an annoyed grunt Thorn tried again, but the result was the same. Again and again her horn continued to cast the teleportation spell, but it continued to fail. “I…I don’t understand, why can’t I teleport?!”
Alula walked over to her mother, showing that her horn was glowing and flashing each time she tried to cast the spell. “I can’t let you do that, Mom. I can’t let anything of this place be used to hurt other ponies…”
Thorn shook her head in dismay, she couldn’t believe that this was how it was going to end. “Erroria…”
Alula quickly enveloped Thorn in a hug. “I love you…Mom.” Red and blue lightning began to wildly shoot off from her body, blasting the walls and ground beneath. Her body began to wrap them in the dual magics, as everything around them began to crumble with the ever increasing power buildup. “I love you…Scootaloo…”