Chapter Fifteen: A Test of Wills
~BlackRoseRaven
Twilight Sparkle felt Thorn's presence somewhere above as both Rainbow and Fluttershy confirmed that this felt like the center of the disturbance in the air flow through the clouds, like there was some massive... blockage in the air. That meant they had to be just below the ship, which was doubtlessly watching them by now.
Which meant they didn't have time to waste.
Twilight remembered the riddle she'd been given as she floated the hoof mirror in front of herself. She took a breath, then reached back into her satchel to pull out another stone that she clutched in one hoof.
She had worked a little with Spike on this last night. It had helped tire herself out, too, taking all her pent up emotions and energy, and storing them into the large gemstone Spike had shaped for her.
A magic battery. An amplifier, filled with her own power. With that, and the hoof mirror, she only needed one last thing.
“Princess Celestia.” Twilight murmured, and she focused not magic, but will, upwards, focusing on all her memories of the princess, calling out to her with something different from unicorn magic. Something that almost mimicked the magic Spike had.
She thought of Celestia's smile, and Celestia's tears. She thought of the maternal love and the stoic coldness that she had been treated with. She thought of how much she loved Celestia; she thought of all the questions she still had, that she demanded answers to.
She thought she felt a shifting above, like she had touched someone oh so far away, and they stirred in whatever darkness they were lost in.
She felt that presence.
Twilight trembled, and then cried out to that presence: those memories of Celestia, replaced by a rush of her thoughts, of hopes, of fears, of pain. She thought of everything she had suffered through: Canterlot burning, Spike, laying as if in death, her false exile, her failures.
Her fear of Thorn's callous side.
Her utter helplessness at Muse's power.
The singing axe of Gildrynn, as it had cut into her flesh.
Her emptiness, when she'd felt that everyone had betrayed her.
She was a child, crying out to her mother.
She felt Celestia's presence flare, snap awake, and cry back to her. She felt Celestia's magic rush down towards her, felt her love and her embrace, her sorrow at having done everything so wrong while only wanting to do what was right for her people!
Twilight clenched the mirror in her magic and surged her magic through it, and she felt a second link: a cold, logical link of machinery to machinery, magic device to magic device, amplified by her link with Celestia, with her knowledge of where Celestia was, above, and where she had been, above.
She felt the point where both of those presences had been, and she gritted her teeth as she looked up and drew all the energy she could from the stone, shouting: “Everypony! Hold on to each other!”
Her friends complied without question, grasping each other, grasping into her, and Twilight's horn sparked with power before she arched her back, and cried out as she pulled herself, and her friends, up those twin cords of both logic and passion calling to her, letting her triangulate exactly where she had to go without having ever seen the inside of Thorn's floating fortress.
It hurt: this wasn't like any teleport she had done before: this was like punching a hole in one section of reality, and ripping their way out of another in an explosion of magic power. Twilight flung herself forwards, catching herself with a snarl as she flung away the wreckage of the mirror: it hadn't held up through the transport, but that didn't matter now. It had served its purpose and brought them where they needed to go.
“Thorn Blackfeather!” she shouted. “I'm here to show you just how strong ponies are!”
Thorn stared at her, for the first time she had ever seen, unprepared, shocked. But she knew it wouldn't last long, so she immediately seized him with telekinesis and slammed him down into the ground, trying to pretend she wasn't already almost wholly drained of energy as she snapped: “Girls! You know what to do!”
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie launched to either side of the room, shouting, yelling, and drawing attention as Applejack and Fluttershy ran to the only visible set of doors that led in and out of the bridge. Confused, half-mechanical ponies were already leaping away from their consoles as the room devolved into chaos, klaxons blaring and drowning out orders from the few officers that seemed to keep their heads.
Thorn cursed, his eyes flicking back over his shoulder in frustration as he realized that two of the ponies were using their artes to seal the metal door closed. He narrowed his eyes, then simply flicked his horn, Twilight staggering back in shock as he easily dispelled her magic grip and quickly stood, saying coldly: “I will not tolerate this intrusion. Serenity, order-”
Thorn grimaced as Twilight sent a blast of magic at him, quickly deflecting it with his mechanical foreleg before he retaliated with a powerful telekinetic hammer. But Twilight blocked this with her own, gasping as she staggered backwards under the assault, but then gamely set herself in front of the sparking, crackling central control console.
“Serenity!” Thorn shouted, before his expression tightened as he saw Serenity was laying on the ground, holding the side of her head with Rarity over her, holding some kind of makeshift stun rod. She yanked Serenity's sidearm loose before she turned to gallop away, and Thorn sent a blast of magic at her to bring down the mare-
Twilight intercepted his blast of magic with her own, and then she flung something at him. Thorn deflected it, then cursed as the bauble went off in a weak explosion that all the same shattered several console screens and overloaded the sensitive systems they were connected to.
His operators were in a panic. His security teams were nowhere to be seen, but he could sense other magical readings throughout the ship: somehow Twilight had alerted and coordinated this with Celestia.
“Portia! I want-” Thorn was cut off as Rainbow Dash divebombed him, forced to bring up his mechanical leg to deflect her attack before he sidestepped several wild swings and kicks from Pinkie Pie, then stared in disbelief when she pulled a cannon out of seemingly nowhere before he narrowly shielded himself from the explosion of confetti and concussive force that erupted from it.
“Found my party cannon!” Pinkie shouted brightly, before she squeaked when Thorn slammed the cannon back into her with telekinesis before he caught Rainbow Dash's next dive and flung the pegasus into a row of consoles, grimacing in distaste at the damage to his own property.
“Portia! I want full lockdown! Evacuate the bridge!” Thorn ordered.
Applejack and Fluttershy flinched back from the half-sealed door as a heavy shutter slammed down over it, and the operators Rarity had been fending off with the stun rod and gun she'd liberated from Serenity suddenly broke away, both running for the sides of the bridge as the walls slid smoothly down to reveal a series of escape hatches.
Twilight glared at Thorn, but the stallion didn't move as he locked gazes with Twilight Sparkle. Neither of them moved as Twilight's friends slowly moved down to form a loose cordon around the stallion, as his operators all hurried to eject themselves to safety.
The klaxon was replaced by an insistent beep as warnings flashed over the bridge window, and Thorn straightened slowly as he said in a low, icy voice: “You have interrupted my operations. You have caused substantial damage to my ship. This is your last chance to surrender.”
“We have you where we want you, Thorn. You should surrender to us, before we're forced to do something none of us want to.” Twilight replied evenly.
“Very well. Portia, remove the threat.” Thorn ordered coldly, and Twilight's eyes widened as panels slid open on either side of the ceiling, two massive turrets descending and opening fire immediately on the ponies.
They narrowly avoided the laser fire, scattering as Thorn calmly created a holographic screen, rapidly tapping in several more commands as the ponies were distracted by the lasers tracing after them. Rarity fired uselessly at one of the turrets with the gun she'd taken from Serenity, then screamed as the laser sliced upwards and tore the weapon in half, the mare flinging it away in shock as she dodged to the side before Twilight snarled and blasted the turret with a bolt of magic, making it spark before Rainbow Dash shot upwards into it and kicked it as hard as she could, knocking it loose from the ceiling and leaving it sparking uselessly.
The second turret traced its beam towards Fluttershy, who stumbled before Pinkie Pie flung herself in front of the mare, Twilight's eyes widening in horror as the laser ripped across Pinkie's body. The earth pony screamed, freezing in midair and flinching before, to the horror of the ponies, she arched her back as her body rapidly began to dissolve, shrieking and grabbing uselessly at herself before she cackled brokenly as she cried out: “I... was the first, Dashie!”
Pinkie Pie vanished, and Twilight trembled before she leapt forwards as the laser fired at Fluttershy, blocking it with a shield of magic before Fluttershy snarled as she straightened and traced a rapid series of runes, then blasted the turret with a massive charge of lightning, her amulet flashing as she drew the energy from it to power the arte. The turret erupted in an explosion of light and sound and shrapnel before she turned her furious eyes to Thorn Blackfeather, who only looked back at her, unimpressed.
His eyes shifted to Twilight as the unicorn trembled and stared at him, and he said, calm, callous, emotionless: “Your actions have consequences. I hope that you are as ready as I am to face them.”
Twilight snarled, leaping at him, but Thorn blasted her backwards before his eyes flicked to Applejack as she charged at him with a roar, and they all felt the undeniable authority as he ordered coldly: “Sit down.”
Applejack's eyes glazed over as her rump slammed down to the ground, skidding to a halt. Her face went slack, her head cocking stupidly to the side before Thorn carelessly deflected another kick from Rainbow Dash, then he caught her and slammed her with telekinesis ruthlessly into the stunned Applejack, sending them skidding into a bank of consoles.
Twilight charged her horn with magic, and Thorn's eyes turned to her, and she felt the insidious, immense mental pressure as he said calmly: “Discharge.”
Twilight wasn't even aware she was doing it before her horn all-but-exploded, magical recoil knocking her crashing and rolling backwards with a gasp as all the power left her body. She was left in a stupid, dazed sprawl, trembling on the floor as Thorn turned his eyes towards the next threat, creating a shield that absorbed another blast of electricity from Fluttershy before he seized her with telekinesis, then he flung her roughly backwards, sending the pegasus bouncing with a cry across the floor into one of the open escape hatches.
Thorn tapped an order on the holographic screen still floating at his side, and the pod that Fluttershy had been flung into sealed itself shut, the pegasus scrambling helplessly to the door, staring through the window uselessly, Rainbow Dash trembling as she saw her friend for a bare moment before the pod was launched free, plummeting into the ocean below.
“I jettisoned the pod without life support. She will sink to the bottom of the sea and be dead in two minutes.” Thorn explained with terrible calm to Rainbow Dash. “The pod will not open from the inside. It can only be opened from outside.”
Rainbow Dash snarled, trembled, and then yanked herself away from the still-stunned Applejack and flung herself towards the open hatch, vanishing through it before Twilight could cry out for her to stop. And a moment later, the walls descended again over the hatches, sealing Rainbow out, and the remaining ponies inside.
Twilight slowly picked herself up as Applejack shook herself out and slowly came to, and Rarity trembled, slowly approaching Thorn with the stun rod as she whispered: “You... you promised you would help! Why? Why are you doing this, why-”
Thorn yanked the stun rod away from Rarity, then shoved it into her chest, and Rarity screamed as electricity coursed through her body before she collapsed. The stallion carelessly through the smoking rod away, then looked down at Rarity, answering: “I do what has to be done. Do you understand that, Twilight Sparkle?”
Thorn turned towards Twilight, and he caught the grenade she flung at him before he sent it flying back at her. It exploded at her hooves, but Twilight blocked most of the blast with magic before she yanked her satchel off and flung it aside, snarling: “No, Thorn, you're the one who needs to understand what a mistake you just made!”
Applejack groaned as she began to force herself up to her hooves, and Thorn's eyes slid to her before he ordered carelessly: “Stop breathing.”
Applejack's eyes widened as she looked up at him, her breath hitching in her throat, and she grabbed at her neck as she gritted her teeth, struggling to wheeze, to breathe. Twilight's eyes widened, and then she snarled as she lashed out with her horn, but Thorn calmly deflected the blades of magic with a shield of his own, ignoring the mare as she shouted: “No! Stop it!”
The earth pony shuddering on the ground tried to begin tracing an arte, but Thorn flicked his horn, knocking her onto her back with a slice of magic. Twilight snarled, stepping forwards as she tried to focus magic, but she was distracted by Applejack's quaking body, her spasming limbs, her gurgling as her lips began to turn blue, as her eyes bulged, as she looked helplessly up at Thorn and he looked calmly down at her before his eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly...
Twilight opened her mouth, and then trembled as Applejack fell limp, her body clunking to the ground, her head rolling laxly to the side as she gave one last, weak exhale. She went still, oh so very still, her eyes half-closed and glazed, beautiful and lost.
Thorn drew his mismatched, damned eyes to Twilight Sparkle, and he said contemptibly: “You have failed me, you have failed Celestia, you have failed your friends, and you have failed yourself.”
Twilight trembled, and then she slowly grit her teeth.
“Lay down and surrender so I can have the Kirin remove you from my sight. Or I will open fire on Rainbow Dash and the fishing boat below, and we can ensure there are no survivors of your witless-”
Twilight unleashed a massive blast of magic at Thorn, and the stallion was knocked skidding backwards by the attack all the way to the stairs, snarling in surprise at the force of power as Twilight roared through furious tears: “No! I will not give up!”
She didn't know why. Hate or anger or pride. Because she wanted revenge, or she knew there was no stopping now. Because she couldn't let her friends die in vain, or because she just wanted to punish Thorn Blackfeather.
It didn't matter.
This was the end, and she was going to end it one way or the other.
Thorn gritted his teeth, and then he blinked out of reality and out of the way of the violent stream of magic, reappearing behind a row of consoles as he commanded: “Portia! Flood the room with DX-7 gas!”
Twilight looked sharply up as a rumbling filled the air, and a mechanical voice stated: “Warning. DX-7 contamination will approach lethal levels in less than one minute. Please proceed to the nearest-”
“Quarantine the room.” Thorn ordered coldly.
Twilight began to focus her magic, but Thorn lashed out with his horn, sending a blade of energy at her. She dodged backwards, snarling, then retaliated with a beam of magic that ripped across the consoles, but Thorn had already teleported to another location.
He sent another blast of magic at her, but Twilight dodged to the side before her eyes widened as Thorn instructed her calmly: “Breathe deep. Take a rest.”
She felt a heaviness fill her body, the mare staggering before she cried out as psychic chains seized around her limbs, forcing her down. She gritted her teeth as Thorn snorted, and anger flared through her, pushing back at that mental weight Thorn had inflicted on her.
She wasn't going to just lie down and die!
She forced a leg under her, and Thorn frowned before he staggered backwards in surprise as the floor beneath his hooves warped into metal blades, knocked off balance. He watched in shock as Twilight threw herself to her hooves, shoving off his psychic intrusion as she grabbed the amulet around her neck and rapidly traced a series of runes through the air in fury and desperation, because unicorn magic sure as hell wasn't working, but maybe artes would.
A blast of wind ripped through the bridge, and Thorn's eyes widened before he snarled, staggering and setting himself against the cyclone that filled the bridge, that pulled loose metal plating and broken glass into a whirling maelstrom. He protected himself with a shield of magic before he howled in shock and pain when Twilight appeared in front of him and slammed her hoof into his body as the wind roared around them, shouting: “I learned this from your-”
Thorn slammed his metal hoof into her, and Twilight screamed as a massive surge of lightning tore through her body, before she grinned even as sparking tears filled her eyes, and Thorn's eyes widened as he felt her channeling that electricity through her body and back into him.
He snarled, leaning into her, their bodies forming a circuit as electricity cycled through them both, before his eyes widened as he felt his mechanical forelimb overheating. It began to jitter as he smelled the stink of burning hair and flesh, Twilight snarling as his metal hoof dug slowly into her shoulder before she leaned into his face and snarled: “Whatever it god damn takes!”
Thorn felt her hoof trace back and forth across his body, felt her trace a searing rune into him before he howled as he was blasted backwards by a massive surge of wind and electricity. He crashed through a console, bouncing and rolling over it before he tumbled down to the bottom of the bridge, his mechanical leg sizzling and crackling as it fell limp and useless and he looked up with disbelief as Twilight turned towards him, surging with desperate magic as she snarled down at him, and he grabbed uselessly at himself as he realized too late that the rune-
The rune detonated in a tremendous blast of magic, paralleled by the shockwave of power that erupted from Twilight's overloaded body. The airship shook with the immense explosion of force as the front of the bridge was blown out in a blast of electricity and force, magic erupting through the air around the Queen Mary as the floating fortress shuddered.
Alarms blared through the ship as shrapnel fell in a broken hail around the ship, as wires crackled and the great airship listed slightly to one side. Power flickered as voices shouted in disbelief from both below and within, smoke pouring up from the ruined face of the ship as systems went haywire across the massive floating fortress.
Twilight trembled as she straightened slowly, her body shaking with pain as she blinked at the sunlight that filled the dim ruins of the bridge. Smoke rolled like fog across the floor, but oh, she could see blue sky, she could see-
Thorn Blackfeather.
The stallion was breathing hard, his synthetic eye dead and hollow, his mechanical leg gone. His body was smoldering, and a strange, dark essence was leaking from his wounds.
Twilight trembled as she straightened, looking down at the stallion at the broken front of the ship as dark veins pulsed through his body beneath his coat, his sharp teeth slowly grinding together before he slowly looked up with his one deep, dark eye at her, saying in a low, barely-controlled voice: “Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle. You have successfully used up the last of my patience.”
Thorn slowly straightened, and Twilight's eyes widened as a black, viscous liquid poured from the stump of his shoulder, bubbling and boiling before it tightened on itself and formed into a smooth black leg. The stallion flexed this idly, before the limb rippled and transformed again, becoming a draconic claw.
He flexed this slowly, and Twilight gritted her teeth before she steadied herself. Her body thrummed with magic and determination as they faced one-another, before the stallion suddenly flicked his limb upwards, sending blades of black crystal shooting out of the appendage towards her.
Twilight lashed her horn down, blasting the shards of crystal into dust as she leapt sideways, and her eyes widened as she realized too late Thorn was already moving, sharply flanking her before he slashed viciously at her side, but the mare barely deflected the attack with magic, before she began to trace an arte with her hoof-
He seized her forelimb, and his grip burned like fire, making her gasp before he yanked her off her hooves and flung her across the room. She gasped as she hit the opposite bank of consoles hard, falling with a tremble to the ground before Thorn began to advance on her again as he said coldly: “Slow and sloppy. Unacceptable.”
Twilight snarled, then gasped as she felt a searing agony burn through her forelimb, looking down to see moving, black blemishes twisting and snaking their way up her limb. She immediately concentrated her magic down her limb, and Thorn paused and watched closely as the corruption was charred out of her body through force of magic, the mare gritting her teeth before she looked up and snarled: “Don't underestimate me.”
“So what is at your core, then, Twilight Sparkle? Pride and ambition? Is this about your friends, or is this about you?” Thorn asked almost casually as he circled to the side, black veins pulsing through his body, strange shapes twisting like serpents beneath his coat as he walked naturally on his mutant claw.
Twilight glared back at him, trembling with anger. “What did you expect? Tears? For me to break down and surrender? I don't have time for that right now. I would expect you of all ponies to understand that, Thorn.”
Thorn smiled thinly. “Better than you know.”
He vanished from sight, but Twilight had seen that trick before, and she rapidly traced an earth arte with both hooves on the ground, only half aware that she was doing something she'd always been told was impossible. She felt the magic flow through her body as her as the floor around her warped, Thorn forced to dance backwards before he narrowly twisted out of the way of a hard kick from the mare.
His draconic limb became a chain of crystal that snapped forwards across Twilight's back, driving her to the ground with a gasp before it twisted around her throat, choking her as he yanked her backwards. Twilight gargled as she was torn through the air and slammed viciously into the floor behind Thorn, before he swung her forwards, but the mare managed to get her rear hooves under her and catch herself before she could hit the ground.
She snarled in pain at the agony her bad leg flared through her body, but the pain cut through her lightheadedness. She focused a burst of her magic through the chain, disintegrating it and making Thorn flinch before she spun around, unleashing a powerful blast of unicorn magic that knocked Thorn further back as she traced a rune at the same time over the ground.
The air arte surged through the metal plating of the floor, Thorn hissing in pain as his body was electrified before Twilight followed up with a beam of magic, driving him back into the wall. He rasped in pain, forcing his corrupt limb up into the concentrated beam and gritting his teeth as it began to petrify under her potent, pure magic, the stallion narrowing his eyes as the inexhaustible unicorn advanced on him, not even aware of the fact she had long shattered the crystal amulet around her neck as her body glowed with determination, that she wasn't drawing on the power of the stone, but the innate, secret power of magic inside herself.
She pressed forwards.
He resisted.
Twilight roared as she leaned into her beam, before her eyes widened as Thorn dodged to the side even as her pulse of magic blasted most of his corrupt limb from his body, and she failed to move enough in time to dodge the vicious punch from the stallion.
She skidded backwards before she was knocked into a daze as he slammed his head roughly into her face before an uppercut pounded into her with enough force to knock her rearing back, head snapping back and blood and spit flying from her gaping mouth before she was knocked sprawling onto her back a by a thunderous bang of magic.
She flopped more than rolled backwards, landing in a sprawl on her belly before she flinched in pain as dark goo splattered across her forelegs, rapidly hardening into crystal that bound her tightly to the ground. She started to raise her head, but before she could channel any magic, the same dark substance splattered across her horn, forming a sheath of waxy slime that hardened as it spilled down her spire and across her face.
She glared furiously up at Thorn, and he looked coldly back down at her as his black limb stretched back into being, absently flexing a thinner set of claws as he ordered: “Surrender.”
“No.” Twilight said quietly, before she gasped as she felt the corruption sizzle against her, felt it spreading over her limbs and down her face, eating into her skin, her bones, her very soul.
“Then I will force you to surrender.” Thorn said quietly, before he narrowed his eyes and said again, harder: “Surrender.”
She felt the pressure. Felt his authority bearing down on her, crushing her under its weight, and she gritted her teeth before she snarled as she forced herself to look up. Her horn seared uselessly against the sheath covering it as his corruption boiled over her body, before she growled: “Never.”
Thorn snorted, then he straightened and shook his head, turning around and taking a breath as he gathered his thoughts. And in that moment, Twilight seized her last desperate chance, sharply tracing a rune through the air with her corruption-covered horn before the stallion turned back around, starting: “You have been-”
The rune thrummed, and Thorn had a moment to stare before a blast of air-arte lightning hammered into his body and knocked him skidding backwards. Twilight focused as much magic as she could not through her horn, but through her body as Thorn began to straighten, before he shouted in frustration as she blasted herself backwards, rocketing off the ground and into the air, shedding the corruption he had tried to lock her down with in a black comet's tail behind her as she redirected what little energy she had left back up through her body and into her horn to sear through the last of the poison.
She snapped her horn down as Thorn focused his own magic towards her, and their energies met and crackled in the air, wills wrestling before Twilight yelled furiously, incoherently, as she traced an arte through the air in front of her with her hooves. And Thorn's eyes widened as a blast of magic arced downwards and towards him, unable to react in time, unable to split his concentration before that arc of lightning hammered into his body and knocked him skidding backwards with a gasp.
He fell to his belly, his corrupt limb spasming and melting, rasping for breath. Twilight hit the floor a moment later, and she trembled on the ground, face down, almost every last ounce of her spirit and will used up, her body smoldering as she rasped: “Won't... let you... win.”
Thorn breathed hard for a moment, and then he gritted his teeth and slowly forced his head up. His eye blazed with frustration as black poison leaked from every wound, pulsed beneath his skin.
Twilight forced her forelegs under her, and rose her head, glaring at him with eyes that glowed eerily with energy, as if her spirit was rising from her flesh, shaking off its earthly shackles and becoming something more. As if she was will, incarnate.
They glared at each other, before a cold wind blew through the room; a freezing, chilling wind that whipped blackness across the floor before those shadows rose up, and formed into phantasms that stood between them.
“That's enough.” chided the shadows in a single voice. These living shadows were shaped like a mare, ebbing and flowing, but always maintaining a shape like a unicorn; a shape that Twilight Sparkle almost recognized, saw a strange, alien familiarity in...
Thorn grumbled.
“Thorn.” reprimanded the shadow.
Thorn sighed, and then he slowly nodded as he forced himself up to his hooves. He swayed, then grimaced as his black, corrupt arm decayed away, dark ooze slathering to the ground and dissolving into thin air.
He grasped the stump of his shoulder for a moment as the darkness faded from his body and the veins retreated from his face, and he leaned slightly back as one of the shadows strode towards him before it gently touched his shoulder; a false limb of ice sprung into being, rapidly assembling itself into a temporary limb as the shadow seemed to smile at him.
The other shadow approached Twilight Sparkle and soothingly stroked her forehead. And in that single caress, Twilight felt her life and energy return, the mare blinking in confusion before she stumbled up to her hooves, shaking her head and nervously shifting away from the... the newcomer. She felt the same energy coming from both identical shadows, the same power... which meant... “Who are you? How can you puppet two projections at once?”
“Practice.” answered the newcomer, before she laughed.
Twilight shifted uneasily, and then both shadows smiled and slid to either side. Thorn approached her, limping only slightly on his icy limb, and Twilight glared at him before she frowned when he extended his flesh and blood hoof, saying calmly: “I can't risk any further conflict. You win.”
Twilight stared at him, and then she trembled as she looked at his hoof before she gritted her teeth and spat: “I win? Is that supposed to make me feel better? Thorn, you... you bastard, you killed all my friends, and now, what, I-”
“Twilight?” whispered a voice, and Twilight's eyes widened before she looked in shock at Applejack, staring at her with confusion as the earth pony she had been sure was dead, slowly pushed herself up.
“I did not kill your friends. I removed them from the battlefield.” Thorn answered moodily as he gestured backwards. “While I appreciate that you recognize I am more than capable of-”
“Thorn isn't as cruel as he might seem. Pinkie's okay, too, don't worry. She just got teleported to the prison block, the laser only damages non-organic matter.” The twin shadows smiled. “Thorn designed that system himself.”
“Thank you, Queen Morgan.” Thorn said dryly, and it was clear he wasn't at all thanking her. “Yes. I did not disengage life support from Fluttershy's pod. I knocked Applejack unconscious. May we speed through these proceedings? I still have work to do.”
Twilight mouthed wordlessly, then she scrambled over to Applejack, dropping down by her disbelievingly. Applejack blinked a bit, and then she smiled weakly up at Twilight, whispering: “You look like hell, Twilight.”
The purple unicorn laughed weakly, before she looked up in confusion as a frosty hoof gently touched her shoulder. She found Thorn looking down at her, studying her intently before he said calmly: “I would like you to join me, Twilight Sparkle. You would make a fine addition to the Orphanage.”
Twilight looked up at Thorn for a moment, and then she smiled briefly before she said quietly: “You have to negotiate from a position of strength, Thorn Blackfeather.”
Thorn finally cracked a smile at that, before he looked up as the shadow unicorn, Queen Morgan, said softly: “Strength comes in many different forms. That's something you still have to be reminded of now and then, Thorn.”
“Orex?” Thorn asked.
“No. I know Thesis can handle him. I was worried about you. I've been watching you for a while now.” Queen Morgan replied gently, and Thorn blushed a little as he looked away. “You're just like your mother, after all. Stubborn, difficult, adamant, and self-sacrificing to a fault.”
Twilight looked at Thorn, and then she hesitantly stood up before she asked quietly: “Where do you come from, Thorn? What are you, really?”
Thorn looked at her, and then he smiled briefly before he answered: “Agree to come with me, and you'll see for yourself.”
Twilight hesitated, and then she smiled back before she said finally: “I have a job to finish, first. Maybe you could help me finish it, though. As a... a gesture of goodwill.”
Thorn thought on this for a moment, before he grimaced when the shadowy specters slid towards him, merging into one mare that gently kissed his cheek before maternally stroking his mane back, saying softly: “Don't be difficult.”
“Alright.” Thorn said after a moment, and then he sighed when the shadowy mare simply vanished. He hesitated for a moment, then walked away from Twilight, heading over to where Serenity lay, still unconscious.
He silently pressed his hoof to her forehead, his horn thrumming once, and the mare blinked before she groaned and sat up, blinking up at him. She blushed, and Thorn smiled at her before he said: “We need to bring the ship out of lockdown and return to Canterlot. There is work to be done.”
“Did we win?” Serenity asked, almost nervously.
Thorn thought for a moment, before he glanced up as Twilight Sparkle approached, answering: “No one won. But no one lost, either. Not yet, anyway.”
She nudged Thorn firmly, and the stallion looked at her dryly, but Serenity laughed a little at this, picking herself up and looking relieved. She drew her eyes out over the wreckage, spotting Applejack helping Rarity to her hooves, seeing the destruction, but the lack of death.
“Good.” Serenity said after a moment, and then she saluted sharply. “Honored to serve, sir.”
Thorn only shrugged, and then he turned towards Twilight Sparkle, offering his hoof again. She looked at him for a moment, biting her lip before she reached up and took it, and they shook.
They looked at each other, eye-to-eye as equals, before the mare asked: “What about my friends? What about Princess Celestia?”
“Your friends will be brought back on board with the rest of the evacuated crew. And I'm sure Celestia is very eager to see you.” Thorn said, before he turned as the shutter creakily began to withdraw from protecting the broken doors, gesturing at her to follow. “Let's go.”
“Let's.” Twilight agreed after a moment, and she couldn't help but smile as she hurried up to the stallion's side, refusing to be anything less than his equal.
And Thorn smiled at this proud little unicorn who had inconvenienced him at every turn, destroyed his flagship, and in the end, proven that even a pawn could topple the mightiest of kings.