Celestia was mad. Not just disappointed or disapproving, but fully, absolutely livid. I had never seen her like this, not in my time as her student. I felt Twilight pressed up against me, helping me stay upright but the world was fogged with pain and indistinct. Nothing seemed right, and everything was numb except for my horn.
That was flared with pain and fire.
“What’s happening?” I whispered. “I can’t really see, everything is dim.”
“Relax, Sunset,” Twilight whispered back. “Don’t push yourself. Celestia will finish this.”
But something about those words immediately struck me as wrong. I had felt Entropy’s full force, and it had overwhelmed me. The backlash spell had taken down demonspawned undead without leaving a trace, but he looked little the worse for wear.
And despite the Sun Princess having restored the armor and stood in an intimidating pose, she hadn’t struck yet. Nor had Luna, despite her being the more militant of the Diarchs. Everything was striking me as wrong.
Cadence backed up, taking subtle steps to put herself between myself and the still indistinct embodiment of destruction, wings slightly flared. She kept her horn pointed forward, just as her aunts did, but none of the three were lit. Or were they, and I just couldn’t see the ambient magic without my horn? I wasn’t sure, I had never really studied the effects of horn loss on unicorns.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” I whispered again, though it hurt to speak.
Cadence glanced back, pitching her voice so that only Twilight and I could hear.
“They aren’t at full power,” she told us. “Interrupting the renewal ritual means their power will be slow to return.”
“They’re bluffing,” Twilight whispered. “Waiting for their mana to rebuild.”
“And I drained her armor,” I mumbled. “Trying to stop him. Failing to stop him.”
“You didn’t fail,” Twilight insisted, her armor clinking. “He just had more power than we thought. Rest, we’ll take care of the rest.”
I slowly settled down on my belly, the pain and fatigue rising up. I don’t know why or how I had woken up from having passed out earlier, but whatever power I had was gone and my eyes slowly slipped closed.
I heard the shuffling of hooves, feathers rustling, and armor rattling. I could smell the burnt end of my horn, acrid and coppery. Unconciousness was slowly taking me into it’s arms, and any of my concerns fled my mind.
Are you giving up? a voice broke through the haze. There was something familiar about it.
“I don’t have the power to move.”
Then you are giving up.
“What do you want from me?” I snarled. “I’ve lost my horn, my mana is exhausted, and nothing I’ve thrown had any lasting impact. I’m useless now.”
You didn’t have magic when you faced down the Sirens.
“But I had my friends then,” I growled. “We faced those issues together, our innate magic was greater than the sum of our parts. And I can’t tap my magic without my horn.”
You are a silly mare, aren’t you? the voice sighed, growing more familiar. Time away from Equestria has dulled your wits.
“What do you know?” I whispered. “Who are you?”
Someone that knows you just as well as you do yourself.
“Well, way to be cryptic.”
Fine, the voice said, taking on an exasperated tone. Your horn is gone, but your magic isn’t. You still have it.
“What are you talking about?”
You’re an Alicorn, the voice explained. Magic of all three tribes. Unicorn, Earth Pony, and Pegasi. And you have other magic as well.
“What?”
What did you think happened to your Element when you crossed over and it wasn’t present? it teased, the voice recognizable now. Familiar.
In my mind’s eye, I saw myself, a bit more hardened, her arms crossed and a sardonic look on her face. She wore what looked like a cross between a lab coat and a trench coat over beaten combat fatigues. When she noted that I could see her, she reached up to her throat and a small red crystal appeared.
“Who are you?” I asked, baffled.
“You,” my double replied. “Just from a few realities over.”
“But then…”
“There was a brief moment a few moments ago where a host of realities got linked by a magic surge,” she explained. “I felt your desperation, and was able to set up a link before, well…” She gestured at her own forehead. She brushed her hands and grunted. “Well then, time to get up and stop napping.”
“What do you think I can do?” I muttered. “No horn and I can barely see through the pain.”
My counterpart threw up her hands. “Ugh!” she growled. “You just don’t get it, do you? So new to your wings that you don’t get what it all means. You can tap the magic of your other inherited traits just as easily as you could with your horn! Use the endurance of your Earth Pony magic to push down the pain and your Pegasi magic to get up! Use that mind of yours!”
She vanished suddenly and my eyes flew open. From the positions of the other princessess, maybe a few moments had passed. I struggled to my hooves, pushing through the pain and reaching out with my wing to touch Twilight, and I saw her hesitate at the contact.
“Sunset,” she began, but I shook my head, getting my hooves solidly under me.
“We can’t stall him forever,” I rasped, eyeing Entropy as he reformed his disguise. I stepped forward, reaching inside. “I can buy you a little more time.”
And before Twilight could say anything or my mind could back out, I shoved forward with my wings, feeling the thrum of magic through my wings. I shot past Celestia and bowled over Entropy, shoving a hoof against what would have been his head.
I heard my friends cry out behind me, but I closed my eyes and let the power of my geode flow out, and I was drawn into the mind of Entropy.