//------------------------------//
// Eve's Anger 
// Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Nemesis 
// by Scipio Smith 
//------------------------------//


Eve’s Anger




The gang ran down the metal-lined corridor, leaving Artie and Starla and the rest of the Starfleet gang behind them, getting closer and closer with every step until they reached Twilight.

If it was really Twilight waiting for them at the end.

Fluttershy wished that she could say that she had no doubts, but that would been a lie, after everything that they'd been through.

"Twilight!" Pinkie cried as they ran. "Twilight, can you still hear us?"

There was a momentary pause before Twilight - and Fluttershy really hoped that it really was Twilight, as much as she'd ever hoped for anything in her life - answered. "I'm still here, Pinkie. I'm still here, still waiting for you."

"Be careful!" Pinkie yelled. "Starla's here and she-"

"Yes, I know all about her and her gang," Twilight declared with magisterial disdain. "I had hoped to kill her when my armada brought down her ship, but it seems that she is more tenacious in survival than I gave her credit for. Don't worry. I'm not afraid of Major Mommy Issues any more. The days when I cringe before pathetic ponies like that are done."

That just about did it. If there was ever proof needed that something was wrong then the fact that Fluttershy and all her friends were supposed to believe that that speech had dropped out of the mouth of Twilight Sparkle would have been it.

Fluttershy's foot slammed into the floor as she skidded to a halt. "No more games!" she declared. "What's really going on here, Twilight Sparkle, if that is your real name."

Rainbow Dash spun in the air. "Fluttershy-"

Twilight, or whoever it was, sounded indignant in the extreme. "Excuse me?"

"The Twilight Sparkle that I knew and loved would never say anything like that," Fluttershy declared. "And she certainly wouldn't be behaving like this!"

"Don't you trust me, Fluttershy?"

"And she wouldn't try to make me feel guilty, either," Fluttershy snapped in that tone she had that could bring a wayward dragon to heel. "Who are you, and what have you done with the real Twilight?"

"I set you free!" Twilight yelled. "I rescued you from domestic slavery and you repay me with doubt and reproach! Are you so selfish that you want freedom for yourself but not for all the others who are in need of it?"

"Twilight, calm down," Spike said imploringly. "Fluttershy's right, this...this doesn't sound like you at all."

There was a silence, that seemed to stretch for longer than it needed to. When she spoke again Twilight sounded calmer, or rather she sounded as though she were making a conscious effort to sound calm. "You're right. You're right. I'm sorry, I...I had no right to snap at you all. I just...it's been rough, you know? I'm just...I can't wait to see you all again. I can't wait for us to be together, the way we were meant to be. Come on. You're nearly there. I'll see you soon."

The five ponies and the one baby dragon looked at one another.

"So," Rainbow Dash said. "What do we think?"

Rarity looked down at the metal beneath her feet. "I hate to say it - not that I hate admitting to being wrong or anything of that nature, but this particular truth is somewhat hard to face up to - but Applejack may have been right from the start."

"Believe me, I ain't happy about it either," Applejack said. "But that sure didn't sound like the friend I remember, if she ever did."

"But...but," Pinkie's whole body was trembling, and her eyes were wet with the signs of incipient tears. "But I saw her. I saw her! I saw her and she stopped and I...I knew. I could feel her. I knew...I thought...I want to-"

Rainbow landed in front of her, pressing Pinkie's face into her shoulder. Her voice, when it came, was soft and filled with regret. "We all wanted to believe it, Pinkie. We all wanted her back. We all wanted a second chance. But when was the last time this world gave us what we wanted?"

"I don't want to give up," Pinkie insisted, sounding as though she was not quite sobbing yet but it wouldn't take a great force to start her off down the trail of tears. "I won't give up. Twilight's waiting for us, we have to keep going, we have to."

"You're right about that, Pinkie," Applejack said.

"Applejack?" Spike said. "But...but you just said-"

"This might be a trap," Applejack said. "Heck, it probably is a trap, but I don't see we have much choice now but to walk right into it. What else are we going to do, go back and take our chances with Starla? That mare was always meaner than a one-eyed rattlesnake and she ain't got any more pleasant if our last meeting was any indication. That and...well, if there's even the smallest chance that Twilight's waiting for us up ahead, I think we owe it to her to find out, don't you? If we don't...we're no better than the time we let her go and die without us." Applejack scowled, whether at the memory or at what she'd just said Fluttershy couldn't tell. "Least...that's how I feel anyhow. Maybe y'all feel different, I'm all ears."

"Whatever we do, we do it together," Rainbow said. "All the way to the end, right? We're all agreed on that?"

"Quite so, darling. I wouldn't have it any other way," Rarity declared. "And as for the rest...Applejack makes a very compelling point. We are not in a situation with a broad array of choices available to us, and since there is still a chance..." she smiled, as though this were a summer lark or a game played between friends. "We've been trapped a time or two in the past, but I think this might be the first time we've intentionally walked into one. The experience might even be quite exhilarating."

Rainbow grinned. "Why, Rarity, we'll make a daredevil out of you yet."

"Indeed, your company has clearly been a grievously deplorable influence upon my previously flawless character," Rarity declared. A wry smile played across her lips. "I'm exceedingly grateful, in case you couldn't tell."

Applejack shook her head just a little. "What do you think, Fluttershy?"

"Oh, I think I'm outvoted already."

"Doesn't mean we don't want to hear it," Applejack insisted. "Come on, now."

"I think...I think..." Fluttershy considered for a moment. "I think, no matter whether it's Twilight or this Eve girl that Twilight warned you about, I want to ask her why she's doing this, and I want to hear what she has to say about it."

"We've come this far, right?" Spike said. "Might as well see it through to the end."

"Right!" they all agreed.

They kept on moving, running down the corridor as the sounds of fighting faded behind them and only the sounds of their own echoing and clattering footsteps remained. They kept running until they came to a grand chamber, some kind of command centre by the looks of it, a little like the bridge on Rarity's ship. The back half of the chamber was in darkness, Fluttershy couldn't see the far wall or anything that might be hidden there.

But she could see, standing in the very centre of the command chamber, straddling the line between the shadow and the light, stood Twilight.

Twilight, dressed in body-armour as black as midnight; Twilight, wearing a glowing lavender gem on a golden chain around her neck. Twilight...alive. Twilight standing right in front of them, with a close-mouthed smile upon her face.

"My...my friends," she said, holding out her hands towards them. "You...all of you, you're all here. You came. I'm so happy to see you all, I know we disagree on my plan, but...I wish I could find the words to express how much I love each and every one of you."

"Twilight," Pinkie whispered, taking a step ahead of the rest of them. "Twilight...is it really you?"

Twilight looked up for a moment, her eyes closed and for a second...for a second she looked so sad. And then she opened her eyes again, and within that purple gaze was malice such as Fluttershy had never seen in Twilight Sparkle.

"Am I Twilight?" she chuckled darkly. "No."

The look of heartbroken betrayal in Pinkie's eyes and on her face was worse than the chafing pain around Fluttershy's throat as the not-Twilight's horn flared and all six companions were telekinetically hoisted into the air and held fast and immobile.

Raven stepped out of the shadows, her smile shining bright beneath her hood. "As I told you, your time - like that of Twilight herself - has passed. The time of the artificials is at hand."

"Eve," Applejack growled.

She laughed, this pony wearing Twilight's skin. "You idiots. The signs were all there for you to read. Right from the very beginning. But you were so desperate, weren't you? You all wanted to believe so badly. What did you think was going to happen here? Did you think your old friend would be waiting and you'd have a big hug and everything would be the way it was before? Did you think she'd forgive you for letting her die?" She laughed again. "You did, didn't you? You thought that she'd forgive you and you could stop feeling guilty about it. Sweet Celestia! If you're going to make mistakes at least take responsibility for it. You're all such cowards."

"No," Pinkie said piteously. "Twilight-"

"I AM NOT TWILIGHT!" Eve raged. "I am Eve, the twilight of the old world, and I will exist as myself! I offered myself to you! I was willing to become your Twilight and you rejected me! So I will not be Twilight, I will not be a slave to you or Titan or the Starfleet! I will forge my own destiny! And you...you will spend a thousand years sealed in the-" Eve stopped, her voice stolen as she suddenly cried out in pain. Her horn still glowed, her magic still held the six companions fast but as they watched Eve doubled up, clutching her head, moaning and groaning as the jewel around her neck burned brighter than ever.

"Won't...let you do this!"

That voice, Fluttershy thought. That almost sounds like...Twilight.

"Eve!" Raven cried. "Eve, what's wrong?"

"I won't let you do this!" Twilight bellowed, letting out a howl of anger. "I won't let you hurt my friends!"