This time the eruption of power was so great Twilight felt she had been struck with something when the resulting wind erupted from Sunset. She thought she heard the skyhook go flying but she couldn’t be sure; more concerned with her own fate. She felt herself fly away for several seconds before an arm seized her, and after that she shielded her face as her hat was blown away and her cloak nearly torn off. The noise that came from Sunset was deafening for several seconds before it diminished enough for her to open her eyes again.
The others had likewise nearly been blown back. Spike had at least managed to get up and hobble to Twilight’s side, though. Applejack was nearly thrown off the railing all over again, and Rarity was standing behind Dash (the one who had caught her) gasping as she had used her as a windbreak. Pinkie was clutching Fluttershy’s hand, who apparently was slowly lowering to the ground after having nearly been forced off the ship too.
She couldn’t concentrate on them long. Her eyes were on the upper hatchway, which, by now, had ignited into flame from the cast-off power of equipping five Anima Viris at once. Walking out from the midst of the ruin was a shadow with gleaming eyes. Neither Twilight nor the others could help but stare in growing fear as she emerged. Spike let out an audible whine and cringed closer to Twilight as she became visible.
Sunset was now clad in a suit of armor like a proper knight, only the pieces were black, cruel, sharp, and edged. They looked more like twisted metal shards pieced together to give her something deadly-looking to even wear. Somehow she had rearmed, for she was trailing behind her a monstrous greatsword as cruel looking as her suit. Even the clothing beneath the armor looked like it was intentionally tattered, giving the impression of something war-torn and, more importantly, used to slaying in battle.
Her twisted helmet had a pair of horns protruding with sharp tips from the back of it, and her visor, which was drawn back, gave the appearance of a crow or raven. Her face was still visible, panting harder than ever now. She was sweating freely and her body twitched every now and then, yet she still forced herself to walk forward. Her blade began to emit an aura of its own, only this one seemed to be raw darkness. Almost like the same darkness that came from Light Eaters.
Lastly, her hand was blazing with all five sigils, and so bright that even from a distance Twilight could make out the emblem on it. It was one she had never seen before, but she could translate what the symbol denoted.
Draconian.
“Ok…” Sunset seethed in between gasps, “now I’m pissed.”
“So…” Dash spoke up in a near whisper behind Twilight, “how many spells would you say you have left?”
“About three… Two if one of them is really big…”
“I’m…afraid I’m out, darlings,” Rarity spoke, still behind Dash and swallowing. “What do we do?”
“The only thing we can.”
A moment later, Twilight stepped forward, raised her wand, performed a sigil for another sphere of wind, and then sent it sailing into Sunset’s middle. As wavering as Sunset was and as exhausted as she looked, she hoped it would be enough to do something to her in spite of her new power.
No such luck. She answered by swinging her large sword right at it with the flat side of her blade. In spite of the fact it was no more than wind, on striking it the dark aura seemed to flare, and in the night sky Twilight almost thought she could see it snaking around in tendrils like black lightning. She grunted and shifted the blade all the way to one side; sending the sphere flying out into the night sky.
As shocking, and unsettling, as that was it didn’t stop the others. Instantly they all rushed in at her together.
Both Dash and Applejack came from either side, one swinging her fist and the other swinging her new club. She raised either arm to block them. To Dash’s shock, her gauntlet not only stopped her fist cold but she registered visible pain on driving her hand into the jagged metal. Applejack’s own attempt to smash her over the head was blocked by the cross of her fat blade. A moment later, she hissed through her teeth before swinging her arms back. Her sword easily caught Applejack’s weapon and flung it away; ripping it out of her hands to fast that the farmer yelled in pain. Her other hand attempted to cuff Dash again, but this time the Disciple didn’t stand for it. She darted underneath the blow and quickly shot inward, smashing her fists three times into Sunset’s stomach.
Unfortunately, each thunderous punch only drove Dash into greater pain, and when she was done the armor was intact but her knuckles were bloody. Looking up in a mix of astonishment as well as pain, she stared at Sunset a moment before snapping her fist back and driving it into her exposed face.
Yet as her hand slowly peeled off, the only thing she had done was stain it with some of her blood; leaving Sunset devilishly smirking at her.
Dash was frozen in shock for a moment, before she peeled her hand back and took another swing. This time, however, Sunset moved her gauntlet out and caught it with ease. Her hand tightened in a crushing grip, enough to where all four knuckles popped instantly. Dash’s face tightened in pain as she began to twist, and it rapidly began to escalae into agony…
Until Applejack sprung on her other side. Not only had she recovered, but she had discarded eschewed another broken plank for a section of railing; which had turned into an iron baton in her grip. She swung it with both hands with all of her might for Sunset’s exposed neck joint. The woman’s feet didn’t even shift, but her head did go down slightly and she grit her teeth in irritation. She drove her hand clutching Dash’s fist to smash her in the face with her own blow, knocking her sprawling again, and shrugged off Applejack’s second smack across her face as she put her hand on her sword and snapped her arms around. For the second time in moments, Applejack found herself disarmed—this time by the sword cleaving through her weapon and nearly through her chest. She peeled back in alarm, only for Sunset to aim the sword at her again and slice out once more; this time raking it across her thighs. Although she struggled to pull back, she shouted as two bloody gashes were ripped across them, before she fell back to the ground and sprawled out.
She nearly followed up for another hit, when a stream of goop nailed her right in the eyes—courtesy of Pinkie Pie bringing up her stolen weapon again. Cursing, she began to rub for them as best as she could, only showing the slightest slow-down in movement from the magical effects, but even as she did Rarity used the moment to dart in with her reclaimed saber. Taking aim at her side, she put both hands on the blade and thrust it inward…only to gasp as the durability of the armor plus her body caused it to bend only slightly from the force of the thrust before snapping the blade all together.
It was enough to at least make her wince, and as a result she swung her blade around and overhead to try and cleave Rarity in half. The woman gasped and scurried back as the sword came down and cleaved the deck in two where she had stood, before she threw her broken sword aside and ran away. Sunset clawed the last bit of goop out of her eyes she needed to see; only to watch both Twilight and Fluttershy rush at her together. They were both going for Dash, but Fluttershy was holding her hand and staff on Twilight as she ran to try and heal her at the same time. Quickly, she brandished her blade and rushed out to meet them, going past Dash to insert herself in front of the Hunstman and raising her blade behind her head.
Yet in her desperation, she didn’t see Twilight, through her own sweat and pain, finish preparing a spell with her own wand. She held it up a moment later and executed it. Nothing big or flashy this time. Nothing but a wad of green, bubbling fluid appearing on the tip of her wand before it was flung through the air and right against Sunset’s chest. Nevertheless, she went wide-eyed on seeing it hit her; splashing across her before it immediately soaked through her armor and onto the woman beneath.
Sunset’s face began to pale as her stamina loss seemed to double. Enough to where she actually couldn’t finish her swing and had to lower her weapon momentarily. Bullets of sweat now ran down her cheeks and chin. Twilight stood her ground in spite of her own exhausted state, quivering as she tried a follow-up spell. Fluttershy used the fact Sunset focused on her to quickly go for Dash.
“Magical fever…you little worm…” Sunset half-muttered, half-gasped. “Trying to make me lose through attrition…”
She heaved a moment longer before she suddenly took off for Twilight. Before the mage could even react, she gasped and cut off her incantation as she felt a gauntlet wrap around her throat in a crushing grip. Sunset’s powerful strength forced her down to her knees like she was nothing more than a rag doll.
“Too bad even me weakened is still enough to crush a bug…”
Twilight managed to feebly grasp one hand on the gauntlet clutching her throat, but she couldn’t focus on chanting a spell. Her eyes were fearfully on the hand holding the blade.
It didn’t fall. Before Sunset could make a move of any kind, a pink blur darted behind her. A moment later, her visor, disconnected, suddenly slammed down over her eyes.
“Wh…what?! Damnit!”
Practically snarling, she released Twilight’s throat and grasped for her visor. However, it didn’t end there. A moment later, Pinkie was popping up all around her, using her knife to dart in again and again. With each cut, another tiny scrap of her armor was removed. First one on her boot, then one on her side, then one on her shoulder, and so on.
Finally, she let out an angry shout as she swung her blade around in a wide arc. Twilight fell back just to try and avoid it, but the force of the slice was enough to catch Pinkie and force her back. Yanking her visor free all together, Sunset snapped to her and quickly readied her blade to thrust while she was still off balance.
She didn’t get the chance. Giving a yell of her own, Applejack used one arm to yank herself forward to her exposed boot. She hadn’t had the chance to rearm herself, but she still had half of the severed pipe in her other hand. She used the moment to drive it down into the space of the exposed armor with all of her might. Sunset’s angry look suddenly stretched out further, and she froze in her spot as she gave an audible cry of pain.
Twilight, stilling herself, began to raise her wand to try and generate another symbol while Applejack continued to drive her hand in as deeply as she could. As Pinkie regained her balance and Dash grunted and struggled to rise again, Sunset swung her blade out for her feet. The farmer was forced to break off and pull back, but still cried out again and cradled her hand to her chest a moment later. It was split across the middle and fountaining out blood. However, Sunset didn’t follow up for the next blow. Instead, just as Pinkie was readying the same goop as before, she dashed past the Warrior and seized the Rogue by the wrist. The woman froze in alarm, and Sunset gnashed her teeth as she tightened her grip and compressed the nozzle like it was no more than newspaper in her hands. Pinkie began to curl and wince in pain in her grip, and a moment later Sunset brought up her sword again to strike her down.
She was stopped when the thunder of gunpowder went off, snapping her head back like it was yanked on a string. A spurt of blood traced through the air as she staggered back. Twilight gasped, realizing she had actually been shot at. She spun her head around just long enough to see that Rarity hadn’t gone far; just enough to grab one of the discarded conventional sidearms from the former crew of the Legacy. She looked back at Sunset soon after, wondering, for a moment, if that had actually done the job.
She had not. The woman regained her footing, lowering her head to reveal a bloody gash alongside one of her eyes, but no more. She was strong enough to where the bullet had bounced off. More fury and rage was in her eyes as she stabilized herself…
The air was pierced by Dash’s cry as she nearly threw herself at her, swinging her legs up and catching her under the chin with both feet in a double kick. That shouldn’t have been enough to do much to her, but at her current weakness it was enough to send her staggering back again. Twilight saw her stumble all the way to the railing. For a moment, her shoulder actually passed over the edge. Seeing a sliver of a chance, she quickly resumed her incantation. In spite of the strain it almost immediately put her into, she struggled for the advanced spell again.
Unfortunately she didn’t have time. Sunset stopped herself when she was only halfway through the emblem, and when her eyes opened they were filled with the most violence yet.
“That’s…IT!”
For a brief moment, Twilight saw the darkness exuding from Sunset’s blade grow stronger yet, until it was pouring off of it like a dark mist, as she held the blade straight in the air. She had just enough time to realize something bad was about to happen before it exploded off of the blade and swept over all six ladies together.
Twilight’s spell broke again, as did her thoughts of the fight with Sunset, the other girls, or the ship. All she could focus on a moment later was feeling cold, stabbing, twisting pain permeate every square inch of her body. She wasn’t sure if she screamed. She certainly tried to, but her lungs were no less agonized than her arms, her legs, her head, her guts, and even her heartbeats. She assumed she had to have screamed because through the horrible agony she thought she heard the other five girls scream too. It was like the lifeblood in her veins was being wrung out of her everywhere at once. Her eyes burned so much that her vision blackened, and she barely sensed the feeling of her body collapsing to the deck through it all.
She wasn’t sure when it subsided. She still felt agonized, like every part of her had been run through a wringer. Yet her eyes finally cleared enough to see herself on the deck again. The wave of darkness was gone or at least back into Sunset’s sword. Everyone around her had collapsed, although she couldn’t move her head or even her eyes to see everything. What she clearly saw, however, was Applejack sprawled out and Pinkie Pie nearby.
Something else, more unexpected, was also there. Sunset was falling to one knee. She spread out her own blade to use as a crutch, but even then she nearly collapsed. She was hissing worse than every now…gasping even. Like she had nearly been drowned. She craned her head upward, raggedly breathing, and Twilight saw she was white as a sheet. For a moment, the veins and arteries running through her face darkened so much she could actually see them through her skin, and the light in her eyes dimmed when her pupils shrank into pinpricks. Whatever move she had just done it had hurt her too. And weakened as she was, it looked like it had nearly hurt her even more. She didn’t even look like she could stand.
A few minutes passed, but slowly Twilight began to feel again. Her fingers felt enough relief to start moving again and she was able to look around more. She could see Dash starting to squirm a little on the ground, and while she couldn’t see Rarity or Fluttershy, she could hear both of them behind her. However, Sunset’s breathing had evened out in spite of being deep and exhausted, and the light in her eyes was coming back. She was starting to push herself up again.
Twilight swallowed. Even the thought of a spell began to give her a splitting headache, but she slowly clenched her fingers and felt her wand was still in them. Biting down, crying out and almost tearing from the pain, she forced her hand to clench around it. She struggled to get her wrist to move afterward, but it was agony not only for the spell but to even move it. She barely began to lift her head off the ground and start performing the first gesture when Dash managed to roll over onto all fours. She heard sharper breathing behind her. Maybe Fluttershy was coming…
Yet in the midst of all that, Sunset rose to both feet at last. She saw her look around once, then scowl once again before her eyes looked at her feet. Pinkie Pie was there and still out of it. Straining and struggling all the way, looking like the move was hurting her and taxing her stamina, she reached out and seized her hair just as Dash started to push herself up. Yanking back sharply, she hoisted her head off the ground by the scalp and swung her blade to rest against her neck.
“Stop!”
By now, Applejack was able to look up as well, and Twilight assumed the others were the same. She had only performed the first three traces for her own sigil when she froze. The deck was silent save for the heavy breathing.
“This has gone on long enough! Weapons down! Stand down now or I take her head off!”
No one moved. Twilight could only see Dash and Applejack, but both of them looked nervous as Pinkie continued to hang limp from her poofy hair.
Sunset’s eyes narrowed. Her blade suddenly went in, and Twilight gasped as she saw Pinkie’s blood suddenly well up along the edge of her sword. Applejack recoiled to sudden life and Dash nearly made a move.
“You think I’m joking?! Now!”
Everyone halted. Applejack’s teeth clenched. Dash inhaled and exhaled a few times. Finally, she relaxed. Applejack tossed her now-bloody scrap of pipe away. Behind her, she heard Fluttershy’s staff and Rarity’s own weapon clatter to the ground. At that, Sunset’s eyes turned to the mage.
“You too, Twilight.”
She swallowed on realizing she noticed, while her hand was on the ground, her first three sigils were still in the air. It had taken her a lot of focus to make those, so she winced as she swung her wand to one side to sweep them away.
Sunset actually looked worn out just from yelling, and took a long blink. Dash didn’t have the chance to use it before her eyes opened again and she motioned to the ruined upper hatchway. “Get this ship on the ground. You got five minutes before I cut her throat.”
Twilight began to straighten up a bit more as the other girls looked back tensely. “You…you ruined the hatch…” she heard Rarity speak up. “It’ll take us some time to dig it out-”
“Then you better get started, shouldn’t you? Less than five minutes now.”
Dash gave her a deadly look before she reluctantly began to step backward. Sunset flashed her eyes to Applejack next. The farmer looked like she wanted to strangle her but began to drag her body back. She looked up and behind her afterward, motioning with her head. “I said now. Move it!”
Twilight looked behind her as she pushed herself up more to see Rarity, far more timidly and readily, back off and begin to move to the half-smashed hatchway. Dash did the same, never taking her eyes off of Sunset. She only got to watch them a moment, however, before she felt a metal edge drive itself on her own hand hard enough to break one of her carpals.
Twilight’s eyes bulged and she cried out in pain. She wheeled back around as she sprawled back on the deck, seeing that Sunset had dragged Pinkie over to her, still by the scalp, and had just smashed her hand with one of her iron boots.
As soon as she spun back on her, however, Sunset planted the same boot on her chest. She instantly began to smash down; hard enough to make each one of Twilight’s ribs feel like they were bending to the breaking point. She was soon writhing and clutching for it, but unable to pull it off.
“I hope you thought all of this was worth it…Twilight…” she seethed, her voice growing weak between gasps again. “You know…I was considering letting you live after all this… But seeing as you decided to make this so difficult…I think it’s clear you’ll be a pain in my neck even after I’m a god…”
Twilight didn’t answer. She only stared on at her, mind trying to think of a way out of this. Sunset continued to stare a little longer, before she once again looked up. Her look turned into a frown again.
“What are you looking at…?”
Twilight was confused, before she too turned her head. While the rest of the girls were falling back, Fluttershy, unarmed, cringing and nearly drawing beneath her hood and robe, was still standing there. The noise that Sunset had made, however, prompted the others to pause and look back.
After a moment, Fluttershy looked away. She cringed more and swallowed. Twilight almost swore she could see her knees knocking.
“Shouldn’t you be helping your little friends…? Or are you trying to say you want a piece of me…?”
Fluttershy didn’t answer. She kept cringing.
In spite of her weakness, Sunset let out a chuckle. “That’s a laugh… What’s a Healer going to do…? Make my wounds sting…? If you’re going to do something…hurry up and do it… I’m getting sick of looking at you…”
Fluttershy swallowed deeply. She said something but it was so soft that no one could hear it. From where Twilight lay, however, she could read her lips: “I have no choice”.
She trembled only a moment longer, before she snapped her head up, let her hood fly back, and stared directly into Sunset’s eyes.
Twilight had not seen Fluttershy’s eyes the night of the trip down the river. Even now, she wasn’t looking right at her, but she could see that something had changed about her. It was impossible to say what or how, but the look that she gave radiated a power that was not only unusual for Fluttershy but was something else all together. Something that made her own limbs seize and her own thoughts almost muddle.
Most importantly, something that even Sunset’s own power couldn’t overwhelm.
The sneer and exhaustion alike almost instantly vanished from her face. Confusion…and surprise…replaced it. “Wh…what…?”
“Let her go.”
Sunset’s face contorted a little at that, before it tightened in irritation. “What are you…?”
“Let her go.”
Again, her face contorted, making her even more upset that before. Twilight saw her eyelids sag, as if she was trying to shut them. However, she couldn’t do it. They popped open again a bit later. Straining, she tried to turn her head away. “How…how are you…?! This…this doesn’t make…!”
Fluttershy herself began to tremble again. It looked like she too was starting to strain. “Let her go.”
“You…you little…”
“Let her go…now.”
Involuntarily, Sunset’s hand relaxed. Pinkie fell to the deck. However, Sunset immediately shifted her now-free hand to the hilt of her sword. The darkness began to gather on it again.
“Stop!” Fluttershy shouted.
Sunset froze in her place, still holding onto her sword, but going no further. The darkness kept exuding off of it, however, and she was straining again. Her eyes continued to try and shut while her head kept trying to look away.
“Step back!”
Twilight felt the pressure on her chest lessen, but Sunset let out a strained grunt before she snapped back. “…No!”
“Step back!”
“No!” her grip began to tighten on the blade. The darkness on it rippled a moment.
Fluttershy began to let out a strained noise of her own. She was shaking more all the time. “Twi…Twilight…” she meekly called. “I…I can’t…hold…”
The pressure began to waver on her chest, stepping on and back. Sunset was struggling to exert control, and the more she struggled the more of the edge she got. She tried to close her eyes again and got halfway before she was stopped this time. Her body began to twist more and more, forcing itself to start looking away from Fluttershy.
There was no time. Although her own head was on fire and she was past her limit, Twilight reached back down and grasped her wand with her unbroken hand. Even moving was agony now, but she raised it again and pointed at Sunset. The woman struggled more than ever now. She knew what was coming, and now she was racing to get free. Twilight herself took a deep breath and began to chant her largest spell again.
This time, it was torture. Every stroke she made was a forced, concerted effort. It felt like a nail was being driven into her head with each mark. She grew dizzier with each gesture as she felt her body stretch and strain under the power. She tried to do it as fast as she could as Sunset kept squirming and freeing herself. Somehow, she managed to draw the first few lines. She proceeded past the others, each one becoming more agonizing than the last until she barely knew how she was keeping conscious…
But two lines before completion, it broke. Sunset finally shut her eyes. The moment she did, she bellowed in rage and swung her blade out in Fluttershy’s direction. None of the darkness came off of it, but it didn’t matter. Even the force of the swing was enough to send out a force strong enough to sweep her off of her feet and knock her to the deck. Immediately, Sunset raised her sword again as she had before. In spite of the fact she looked barely balanced, she let the darkness coalesce around it. Through her own semi-consciousness, Twilight’s look turned to hopeless defeat.
Before Sunset could release it, a purple and green blur moved in front of her. Spike, seeing his opportunity at last, dashed forward and leapt. He didn’t go for a biting lunge this time. Instead, he simply threw his body and pounced against her with his front paws extended.
This shouldn’t have been enough to even make Sunset flinch normally, but everything else had taken its toll. In spite of her best efforts the dog striking and bouncing off of her was enough to knock her off balance. She actually stumbled and let her sword falter.
That was all Twilight needed. Forcing out the last two strokes, she drove her wand into the center of it and spoke the arcane incantation.
Sunset regained her balance only to look back at Twilight and see her body once again igniting in lavender light. In moments, it peeled off of her and condensed into a missile—aimed right at her.
“No…”
A half a second later, the pulse of nonelemental magical energy erupted from Twilight’s arm like a cannon shell and slammed into Sunset. Her face barely had time to register the mixture of surprise and pain before her body crumpled around it. Unable to brace or stop herself, the force propelled her backward, clear to the railing, and then smashed her straight through it.
Twilight managed to look a bit longer as the lavender blast sent Sunset flying far from the deck of the Legacy and beyond the range of its Morning Glory. Only when it was that far did it finally ignite in a blaze of lavender energy. She vanished into the purple vapors and aether, only to fall out of the gleaming cloud moments later. Somehow, she was still able to flail around and desperately reach out for nothing as she sunk down into the blackness.
Twilight might have heard her give one final cry of rage, or perhaps it was just her imagination or the ringing in her head, but in either case Sunset vanished into the darkness.
She was gone.
Twilight let out a tired exhale as her hand fell. She didn’t even notice that both of her nostrils were freely bleeding now before her eyes rolled back in her head, and she remembered no more.