//------------------------------// // Animosity // Story: Titan's Arcology // by pushi //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash was hyperventilating. Fluttershy was trembling, eyes popping. Twilight’s mouth still hung open in shock. They had been powerless to save her. All they could do was watch in horror through the barrier as that towering demon had seized the poor mare with invisible claws, and jammed her into that wretched, crystalline cocoon. The screaming had been unbearable. She had clearly undergone massive pain as her body was contorted so that it fit into the crystal. The sight still lingered in Twilight's mind. Ponies weren't supposed to bend that way. The shrill sound still echoed too. The worst part was when their eyes had met. It was only for a second, before the purple rock had enveloped her entirely, but in that instant, Twilight felt worse than she had ever felt in her life. When those brilliant, beautiful green eyes had met Twilight’s purple irises, she knew that she had failed. For the first time, she hadn't been able to prevent a death, when the one whom she could have saved was mere meters away. She cursed herself. Why couldn't she destroy that barrier? She threw everything she had at it, before collapsing of exhaustion on the worm-ridden ground, only capable of watching as the horrific scene unfurled. That beast that had done it. That shadowy, dancing witch that swam through the air. It was unlike any other Hive Wizard Twilight had encountered before. It had seemed almost aware of the suffering it was causing to the poor pony it had murdered. It sang as it killed her, laughing a horrible, shrieking laugh, its purple, glowing horns shining with Darkness. Twilight couldn't understand. Normal Wizards didn't act like that. Not even other Wizard generals of the Hive did things even close to that. Twilight could sense a difference with the Wizard, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on what exactly it was. She glanced over at her friends, who had calmed themselves at last. Rainbow Dash was staring at the ground, and Fluttershy sat with her, rubbing her back comfortingly. Twilight knew why she was so upset. She had failed too. There was nothing she took harder than the loss of a fellow a Guardian. Brought up under the eye of Shaxx, the companionship she held for her fellows was unrivaled. Fluttershy too, looked glum, but not to the extent of Rainbow. She stared absently at a blooming petal as she massaged the cyan pegasus, avoiding Twilight’s eye, but she eventually got to her hooves. “I think we should leave.” Fluttershy said. “Before any of us get - before that Wizard finds us.” Twilight looked to her. “The Wizard won't attack us three on one, and Thrall aren't a problem for us. Didn't you see it after it - did what it did? It caught sight of us, and straight up vanished. I think we should try and track it down ourselves. I don't think we should just let a Wizard with this kind of power be allowed to live.” Rainbow too got to her hooves, nodding. “We’re going to find that bitch. And make her pay.” she growled, wiping away an angry tear from her eye. At that very moment, the radio tucked under Twilight’s robes buzzed, and a voice came through, sounding panicked and urgent. She hastened to pull it out, and held it to her ear. “Hello?” she cried. “Hello? Can you hear me? Don’t worry, we’re coming for you! Just hang tight and-” “Twilight? What the hell are you talking about?” Twilight paused, the voice not what she had expected. It was not the panicked, distressed voice of a Guardian in peril, but instead, the deep voice of Commander Zavala. It did however, sound muffled, and was the sound of a yelling crowd almost drowning it out. “Doesn’t matter, Twilight, we need you right now! They’re swarming me! Get to the tower plaza immediately, and come take some of them off me!” Horror flooded into Twilight’s mind, and she collapsed on the ground in despair. An attack on the Last City. One that had breached the Tower itself. Just when she had thought they would safe. She hadn’t told anyone of their unsanctioned mission. And now, Twilight was useless to them, just like she had been to that mare. Trembling, she spoke again. “Who’s attacking?” she managed to whisper. “Surely you’ve heard them! These blasted foals! They all want autographs!”  Twilight froze, barely daring to believe what she was hearing. The unfathomable despair she had just felt began to shift into something else, as her brain processed what she had just heard. Slowly, she got up, clutching the radio in her still shaking hooves. This was what Zavala was doing then. While Twilight and her team crawled around a forsaken rig in the middle of a methane ocean, searching for a lost party of thirteen Guardians, Zavala, the commander of those lost there - was calling her for help with childrens’ autographs.  Then, the anger that had been building up in her burst free in a shriek of rage, and she flung the device to the ground, where it collided with the ground, smashing into a thousand pieces. “That idiot!” she screamed. “That cowardly, lazy, worthless bastard!” She stomped the radio with all her might, head pounding with anger. Her hooves hit the edge of a sharp rock, and she tripped over, the pain only angering her further. She prowled up and down the room, head bowed, fuming. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stared at her, concern evident in their wide eyes. Fluttershy began, “Twilight, you-” “Quiet!” she shouted suddenly, rounding on the yellow pegasus, her fury overtaking her. “I don’t want to hear any useless thing you have to say! All you've done these past months is whimper and cry and say: ‘oh, the Light makes everything okay’ - wrong! You’ve always been with a team! You don’t know what it’s like to fight alone! You wouldn’t last an hour outside the city without somepony to ‘save’ you every time a Dreg crawls out of its hole!” Fluttershy had curled up in fright of Twilight, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Twilight's nostrils flared as she gazed down at the pathetic sight. "How you ever became part of our team is beyond me." she spat. Rainbow leaped forwards furiously in between the pair, cutting Twilight off before she could continue her verbal barrage. “Calm down!” Dash shouted, holding a hoof against the purple alicorn. “This isn’t what we need right now! We’ve got to work together. Please, Twilight. Just focus on rescuing those Guardians.” There was a moment when it seemed Twilight would oblige Rainbow’s plead. Her purple eyes had flashed with guilt at the sight of her friend’s misery, but she shook that feeling away. The anger she felt towards the Hive, towards Zavala, and towards herself at her failure would not be abated so quickly. “That’s rich.” Twilight spat, stepping forwards, forcing her muzzle dangerously close to Rainbow’s, “coming from the mare who used to do nothing but kill other Guardians!” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Come on Twi, that isn’t fair. You’ve been in the Crucible before. It’s a training exercise. Nothing else.” Twilight let out a harsh, mirthless cackle. “A training exercise? Oh, don’t make me laugh. Installing illegal modded hilts for your blades so you get an unfair advantage? Sat there with Cayde, discussing tournaments and throwing around your Glimmer over matches? Getting drunk, and running around Starlight Gap, throwing axes at everypony you see? You call that training?” Twilight stepped even closer, closing the gap between their faces completely. “You know what?” she hissed, her voice trembling with poorly suppressed rage. “You’re more lazy than Zavala. When you’re not wasting your time on mindless games, you’re either sleeping or eating. At least he does something worthwhile for the City, even if it's only organization, but you - all you do is swagger around the Tower, thinking you’re so amazing because of your pointless games! Why don’t you just go back to your Crucible, since you don’t give a damn what happens here!” Rainbow’s nostrils flared in indignation, but Twilight turned her back on the cyan mare, and sprinted off, leaving her stood in the center of the cracked room, breaths heavy with anger. “Twilight!” cried Fluttershy, “come back!” But the purple tail had vanished behind a corner, and Rainbow Dash did not follow after her.