3:08 PM
“WHAT?!”
Heads throughout the infirmary turned towards the sudden noise, and Celestia frowned at her student’s outburst. “Twilight…” she murmured, reproach in her voice.
Twilight glared at her mentor, but her horn glowed, creating a bubble of silence around the two alicorns. “How can you do this?!” she continued at full volume.
“You saw the letter,” Celestia said. “They massacred the dragons.”
“Yes! Which is why we have to keep fighting them! All they care about is murdering us, and if we don’t stop them, that’s all they’ll continue to do! They’ll kill and kill and kill until there’s nopony left! The only way to stop them is if we kill them first. Can’t you see that?”
Celestia shook her head. “Killing is never the only option, and very rarely is it the best one. We can’t fight them anymore, Twilight. I know it hurts, but I also know that deep down, you know it too. What they did to the dragons, and what happened to those griffons… I won’t let something like that happen to my little ponies. I have to protect them, no matter what.”
“We don’t even know how they did that!” Twilight protested. “I know we can defend against it somehow. Hay, we don’t even know if they can do it again! Maybe they could only do something like that once.”
Celestia smiled ruefully. “Oh, Twilight…”
“Okay, fine. But we can’t just give up! They’re monsters! Worse than monsters! At least the monsters of the Everfree don’t really understand that what they’re doing is wrong!”
“The humans don’t know that, either,” Celestia reminded her quietly.
“Don’t call them ‘humans!’” Twilight snapped. “They aren’t! Humans aren’t evil! They’re flawed, sure, but they aren’t murderers! These… fiends… aren’t worthy of being called ‘human.’”
Celestia sighed. “Be that as it may, they’re only going to keep killing until they take over, and even if we somehow won, it wouldn’t be worth the cost. I won’t take a course of action that will result in almost all ponies being killed.”
“They’ll do that anyways! They’re cruel, vindictive murderers! If we’re all going to die no matter what, then we might as well take as many of them with us as possible!”
“I won’t condone such pointless killing,” Celestia replied as firmly as she could through her tears. “And I don’t think you really want that, either. There’s a chance the humans will restrain themselves, and a slim chance is better than most ponies will have if we keep fighting. I’m sorry, Twilight, but this is the best option left.” She dispelled the bubble and turned to leave, then stiffened.
“No,” Twilight snarled. “We aren’t surrendering.” She turned Celestia around to face her. The alicorn of the sun was trying desperately to speak, but all that came out of her mouth was a faint rasp.
In the next bed over, Rainbow Dash moved for the first time since the battle three days ago, looking at her friend. “Twilight…” she whispered. “Your eyes… they’re… yellow…”
A look of shock spread across Twilight’s face, and she snatched up a mirror from the bed stand. She looked into it just in time to see the last golden specks fade from her irises. “What… what happened?” Celestia drew in a long, rattling gasp, and Twilight looked at her in concern. “Celestia? Are you okay?” A wave of realization rolled over her. “Did… did I do that?”
“In your dream,” Rainbow Dash told her gently, “you looked like that when that Bogan monster was controlling you.”
“And the Inquisitor’s eyes used to be brown,” Twilight whispered to herself. “Now they’re yellow, too.”
Celestia cleared her throat. “Another reason to end this war without further bloodshed. Clearly, Bogan wasn’t entirely destroyed when we fought him in your mind, and he’s using the hate and killing to grow stronger. We can’t allow that to happen.”
“But…” Twilight started to protest, then she lowered her head and closed her eyes. “You’re right,” she admitted, almost silently.
“I’m sorry,” Celestia told her one final time, and turned to leave, trying not to listen to Twilight’s quiet sobs.
Location: Everfree Forest
Local Time: 15:42
“So, what’s the difference between a Trandoshan and a pair of boots?”
Private Harkun lowered his hands from where they had been protecting his face from the winter air just long enough to respond. “A taxidermist,” he growled. “Get some new jokes.”
Private Dren took a long, thoughtful pull on his cigarette, then smiled. “Okay, how ’bout this one? A Seppie, a Vigo, and an ISB agent walk into a cantina. The agent looks around and says – BY THE EMPEROR!” he shrieked, pointing down the snowy path they were guarding.
Harkun groaned, not looking up. “Yes, Dren, ISB agents say that a lot. Where’s the karkin’ joke?”
“No, I – I –” Dren stammered, then gave up trying to talk and just aimed his rifle where he had just pointed.
Harkun suddenly realized that this wasn’t part of a really bad joke, and he stared down the path to see none other than Celestia at the next bend. His own scream was wordless, and it choked into silence while still half-formed. He fumbled for his own rifle, which he had tucked under his arm, but it slipped out of his gloved fingers. He lunged for it, only to end up with handfuls of snow as it was wrapped in a golden light and flew away. Above and behind him, he heard two shots ring out, and then Dren’s blaster went silent. He braced himself for death. Oh, Taria, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’m so, so, so sorry. I’m so, so, so, so, so… still alive. Why am I still alive? He looked up from where he lay in the snow to see that Celestia held both rifles in her telekinetic grip, but she was making no move to attack. Instead, she asked, “Would you please bring me to your base? I wish to surrender.”