"-you're as mortal as any of us, consider it's destruction your resurrection and Twilight's decision your baptize, Twilight, do what it is that you feel is right in your heart, but think on your decision, give her the retribution she's earned but only resort to that if fear ever consumes you, I for one say Redemption should take course."

Her vision was blurry, she felt nausea's, near the point of vomiting. After all they've been through, together as a family, it was time Twilight put the blade to her history, to end the torment once and for all. The decision made at that moment would carve a new history for Twilight and her friends and ending her past one. What had she learned from all this? Did her choice of fate tell the road she walked or the road she must walk?

A part of Hubert began walking forth and the other half stood planted. "Let me at her Huey, let me at her!" she was shouting. "Easy now Ace, that's what she wants and with a horn like that, I'd rather keep my distance" returned Hubert. Twilight put her brain to work, circling the thought that sprung to her head when Kale said "Lives and feeds off evil, spawns new demons". Paying close attention to everyone's movement, she thought of what would be the surprise plan she had to be part of, after all, Kale never really explained what to do other than to protect Hubert; hopefully he has no trouble kissing a dead pony.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time Syra" said Victor as he un-sheathed a vicious metallic knife from his side and held it in his mouth. "Have you now?" Syra and Victor were both started to walk closer to each other. "This is no jungle warfare where you fight like monkeys by playing in the trees and mud" chuckled Syra. Twilight could see Victor's veins pop out in rage, he wasn't pleased with the words Syra was saying. She gulped down the saliva colllecting in her throat and signaled Hubert to walk towards her, Twilight standing next to Rainbow Dash's body which still had a black blast to the chest where she had launched a bolt of magic. Charlie went on the right and Hubert to the left. Victor continued to walk forward with Kale standing in the position he was once standing at.

The red coated stallion took the knife from his mouth and held it in place while he strapped on a yellow fabric onto his hoof, the same fabric he wore during her nightmare. "I still have a mission to accomplish" he said. "Don't we all Vic? I'm sorry that the same can't be said to your platoon, all gunned down like animals" returned the ghostly unicorn. Everyone in the room could tell Victor was getting close to returning to his old identity from back in La Drang.

"Hey Twi, so what's the plan?" Hubert asked urgently, both him and his Rainbow Dash counter-part were watching eagerly to see the brawl occur. Turning their head back to Twilight, Rainbow Dash spoke, "Damn Twilight, Syra really gave a number on you, you're really beaten up!" Twilight narrowed her eyes at Hubert. "What?"

"LET'S ROCK!" everyone put their attention to the Charlie who was going in for what seemed to be a tackle. Syra, being distracted on the concomin gold stallion, forgot that it was Victor that was the more menacing, he was the one witht eh knife after all. "This is going to sound weird Hubert but..." he was nodding eager to hear the requirement. "To bring back Dash you need to..." she was starting to find another way to say it. "Spit it out egghead!" cried out Rainbow. "You need to kiss Rainbow's body..." she finally spilled out. Hubert and Dash stood there motionless and speechless on what she said.

"Uhm... run that by me again Twi?"
"You, Hubert, need to play tounge twister with Rainbow Dash's body, she'll be able to transfer from your body to hers"

he began to rub the back of his head trying to find a way not to make what he was about to do weird. "Do it Huey, I want my body back and besides, it's not like it's the first time we kiss" said Rainbow. He was unsteady with the thought even as he leaned in to place his tongue inside Rainbow's corpse. "Twilight... whatever happens... it never happened... okay?" Twilight nodded to assure what he meant. She was more focused on the twins and Kale trying to fight off the raging ghost. Syra pinned Charlie to the ground getting her horn near his throat when Victor came in to stab her on her flank, she shook off the stab like it was nothing. Letting go of the pinned stallion, she turned her attention to Victor quickly enough for her to be in reach to cut the out layer of his fur right across his chest. He fell back bleeding steadily but not fatally.

When Twilight looked back at Hubert, he was already locking mouths with Rainbow Dash when a light was bursting through his eyes. It was strange, she was watching in awe as a light shone from the back of his eyes moving around his head like a firefly caught inside a lantern. Soon enough a white smoke that was bright was coming from his mouth to the corpse steadily. As the soul flowed from his mouth, his eyes were completely white during the procss and so were Rainbow Dash's, with eyes glowing just as white.

The magenta pony looked back to the brawl seeing Kale and Syra dueling with horn and wings. Syra having the advantage of magic at her side, leviated Kale and threw him upwards towards the ceiling, attempting to impale him with whatever icicles remained up there. When he went up toward the darkness, he never came back down. Twilight wasn't worried, she knew better than for Kale to actually die by such an easy trap, he was only waiting for the precise moment to come back to strike while the twins kept Syra distracted, using the shadows to his advantage.

The tips of her mane stood up with a sudden chilling presence that was came about.
"Forgive me..."
Twilight looked around to see who said those words, no one but the two lip-locked pegasus.

"Uhm, Twi! Can you and Hubert hurry up! I don't know how much more we...can..take..urg! THIS!" Syra began to choke Victor with her powers until she heard the word "Twilight". "SPARKLE!" she shouted. Twilight gulped with how powerful and terrifying her tone was. The twins could barely do anything as Syra levitated Charlie and threw him back into the metal machine they flew in. Victor's was a nasty one to watch. She picked him up and slammed him on the ground. Again using magic, she hovered his limp body off the ground and pushed her face close to his until both made direct eye contact. "Look into my eyes and witness your fears". Whatever sick magic she was doing, it was eating Victor alive.

"Keep guarding Hubert, I'll handle this!" said Kale, standing next to Twilight. Just before he took off, Twilight layed a good slap on him across the face. "Stop sneaking up on me like that, it scares me everytime" she hissed. He chuckled and speared Syra onto the wall, knocking over blue fire torch. "This has gone on for far too long!"a black bolt that was as dark as space started charging over the tip of her horn before she discharged it and sent Kale flying with a black bruise on his stomach, he was out for the moment. Hoping that Victor would be the last obstacle, it was of no use. Victor was balled up on the ground shaking violently with his pupils shrunk down to the size of raisins while he sweat buckets. He kept mumbling the same few words over and over again in a cycle.

"Drang... Cong... Tet... Coach... oh why Celestia, why coach?! Everywhere... everywhere... they're everywhere..."

"Damnit Twilight thought. At that exact moment, Hubert startled Twilight with a huge gasp for air he was begging to take. He was spitting on the ground still recovering his breath from the long transaction he was in. A strange force pulled Twilight away from her friend and towards the ridiculously overpowered white unicorn. "I wouldn't count on her coming back to this realm anytime soon, last I check... you DID lay quiet the mark on her chest. I'm not an idiot Sparkle, you just transferred a live soul into a carcass, she'll be trapped in that shell forever, you only doomed her by your own foolish idea'!"

"Wait what?" said Twilight and Hubert at the same time. Syra laughed hard at the unfortunate outcome leaving Twilight and Hubert speechless. "Go check if she's alive... now..." Hubert backed up slowly and then turned around in a trot to go check on Dash while Twilight finally confronted Syra yet again for their 2nd duel.

"So this is how it all ends, in one bloody beat down"
"Indeed it had come down to such an event, although that's an alternative, I have no intentions on beating the life out of you"
"Then what do you have in mind?"
"Let's be more sophisticated... a duel like we originally started doing would put an end to this quickly, as I said, you were never much of a fighter"
"I beg to differ... throughout this journey I've seen the errors and horrors you have laid out across Equestria, horrors that would break a will, that would snap those to insantiy"
"And surprisingly you've survived all that, originally I was going to have you kill yourself, I don't need to stoop down to such low levels but do to the new circumstances... it's a change of plan"
"Well then... while the night is still alive and hopefully young, I have no intentions on letting your reign continue"
"And my intentions revolve around finally putting you down"

Both enchanted their horns to have their magic glow like a blade that was lethal enough to cut bones. Syra's with an aura of a cyan blue while Twilight's was a white, the colors still drained from whatever wicked curse was put onto the season. It was like watching two skilled warriors focus on their opponents strength's and weaknesses. Twilight's eyes pulsating furiously and Syra's eyes narrowed to the point where only blue glowing slits remained. They paced their steps forward cautiously having their eyes focus strongly on both the leg and hoof movements, none let their guard down for even a second. the faintest sound of a drop of water from the dome ceiling had both friends frenzy into a series of blocks, parry's, and locks.

Twilight lay a good cut on the very edge of her skin by swishing her horn upwards. Exposed, Syra stepped back and wiped the black ooze coming the wound off. While doing so, she was even dirty enough to throw snow into Twilight's eyes, forcing her to be very exposed to an attack. "That dirty fighter" she said in her mind. Hearing the footsteps of Syra get closer and closer in a charge, she waited for the precise moment until she lay out a heavy buck with her hind legs right into her body core.

Twilight stepped back to regain her lost stamina while Syra gasped for breath only momentarelly. Both of them again walked towards each other until only a meter separated them, both eyeing each other down.

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you've ever dreamed of, in death, if I am to join the world of spirits, who's to say the battle between us is to end? It'll never stop!" said Twilight.

"Who ever said i planned on staying in the Dead Realm? I have no plans on settling there, waiting for me to die out" Syra said again, locking horns with Twilight. It was no longer a matter of strength and attack, their power was fueled by their rage and anger towards one another, that was what kept their lock balanced, neither one pushing the other down. Twilight slid her horn a little lower, attempting to cut around the base of Syra's horn but Syra was smarter, she broke the lock and yet again both of them were apart.

"Twilight! Twi! It's Dash, she isn't waking up!" said Hubert in despair. Twilight looked back to see Rainbow Dash was lifeless and eyelids closed. See the orb in the center of the room having that same Rainbow aura, the idea of Kale had given her a theory, only one way to confirm it however. "i'll regret playing dirty...".

"Hey Syra! This duel is pointless, let's battle this out like we were meant to do!" she shouted across the dome. Syra, who was stroking her horn with an obsidian pebble, looked back at the very last second to see a large magenta ball strike her right on the face, knocking her on the floor.

"Hue, take Rainbow's body okay? Take it and throw it into that black ball in right over there!" she pointed at the black orb now glowing brighter. "OKAY?!" she demanded to know if he understood. He was too busy tearing up, grasping the small frame of Rainbow Dash before he stood up and dropped down again. Twilight picked up levitated Dash's body onto his back unexpectindely. "Stand up! See that light in her eyes?" Hubert saw that although her eyes were shut, a light was shining behind them, slowly getting fainter with every passing second.

"Before the light dies out! Hur- URGH" a sapphire force glowed around her throat pulling her away from Hubert who only saw her float away not being able to do anything but listen to the orders he was given. "You all are so stupid, as if the Carkoon will actually re spawn you're friend, it only spawns my wolves! If you were to place a good being in there it would..." everyone in the room stood still, Kale was creeping out of 'Ol Reliable towards Syra with an Obsidian blade held in his mouth.

Her worn out purple oppenent stood there with jaw hanging.
"... Pardon my language"

Seeing Hubert run faster to the so called "Carkoon" she launched Twilight to herself. Twilight was going too fast to stop herself. Her small flight suddenly ceased when Syra's horn impaled her right on the left side of her chest, she coughed out a mouthful of blood and her vision blurred. Syra jerked her head left and then to the right instantly to have Twilight thrown onto the ground, bleeding quickly. Darkness formed around her eyes as they slowly grew around the outskirts of her vision, the bleeding was not possible. With every breath she took, her bleeding grew more until finally, the life in Twilight seemed to finally whither out.

"Well that's that, now, YOU FOOLS! Get back here!"

Just as Hubert reached the perimiter of the black orb, Syra teleported right in front of him to cease his action. She licked her lips slowly and smacked them to let out a refreshing sound of satisfaction. "Palpable, I can taste your... fear, no, or is it... yes, it is, I can taste your fury, it's just coming off of you, that's what I love, that's what the Carkoon loves. Gaze upon it's darkness Hubert, here you can see the sins and memories you've experienced. The higher your fury, the more probable of finally being the last step into completing the ritual... of course, throwing your... "Dash" in there would completely kill the equation" she chortled lightly and put her face up against Huey's. "I'm going to have to kill you, the Carkoon loves the sight and smell of blood as well, maybe you are the last step to the equation, no?"

Her horn lit up again to that same sapphire blade when she urked out a cry of pain. "Kale?" Hubert mumbled to himself, looking back to see if the light in Rainbow's eyes would die out yet.

responded a feminine voice with a distinct tone. When Syra turned back, she saw Twilight's wound mended with what seemed to be a patch of ice that formed. An obsidian blade was lodged on Syra's back. "Hubert, throw Dash in, just throw her in, she'll be fine" said the disembodied voice of Kale, now pinning Syra on the ground twisting the stake lodged inside her.

"You fool! You stand away from the Carkoon!"
"Throw her in Huey!"
"I will not allow it! We must be saved, Twilight and you all must be punished for betreya!"

She shook violently shaking off Twilight and forcefully removing the obsidian stone with her magic and held the end of it in her mouth, ready to kill Hubert, by the time she looked back, he was standing there looking at her with a smile smeared across his face and no Rainbow Dash on his back. She looked at him and back at the orb at least three times before she her mouth gaped open at the deed and took a few steps back.

"Y-Y-YOU FOOL! YOU FOOL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! YEARS AND YEARS OF WORK, RUINED! Twilight, you were the final step in all this,! you're death was all that was needed before revenge was finally taken and I finally can revive the winter's minions! Argghh!"

In the blink of an eye, Syra was choking Hubert with her barehooves and with a piece of obsidian held on her mouth, inching closer and closer to his eyes, attempting to do one swift motion that would cut both at the same time. From nowhere, Syra launched across the dome room and so did Twilight. It wasn't a single pony that did this act, no, it was the force and divine power of whatever the Orb was expelling that had launched them apart. Hubert sat up gasping for breath and seeing the one of the twin's rise from his wreckage while Victor's little flashbacks were quickly resolved and was standing back up, angry and amused at the situation.

"NO! NO NO NO NO NO! YEARS OF PLANNING! RUINED!"

After Syra said her final words, the orb grew bigger and bigger until finally it combusted having it's black shell shatter in all directions. What was inside the orb is what truly amazed everyone within the dome. Colors of all kinds and everykind splashed onto the walls and the ponies in the room, as if a can of paint fell from a height and exploded upon impact on the ground. Before them all, color began to return to all of them and the screams of joy from lost souls began to bounce on the walls until their sounds dissappeared. Color was returning to slowly to everyone, to the room, to the world. It went through walls, through air, liquid, in everything, color was spreading to everything, including Syra.

"Shweeeeeeeeee!!!!! Yeaaaaah! I'm not colorblind anymore!"

Hubert stood up looking at his hooves and around him, he smirked to see the dome wasn't as dark as he made it out to be when it was black, exacept one thing was odd. Those torches of blue and anything that originally emitted color was jinxed into automatically turning black and or gray, a strange invert if you would call it that. Hubert looked around until he at last saw Rainbow Dash lying where the orb once was before it erupted, she stay there motionless with black shadow on her like water, starting to slowly come off and go through the crevices of the broken earth beneath her.

"Dash?" mumbled Hubert, walking towards her body and staring down at her. She was near lifeless, he could see her chest going up and down, regulating breathing. A tear rolled down his face and stopped at the ridge of his smile. "Dash!" he dropped down to wrap his hooves around her. "Hubert..." she whispered, returning the hug.

Her hooves wrapped around his neck tighter with every passing moment. "Okay Dash, i'm glad to see you too" her grip continued to grow. "Alright Dashie... that's a little too tight" still her constricting became more powerful. "ooh, ow, okay, that's a little too tight!" Hubert's breathe was starting to run out, breathing was difficult. "Dash, let go, too tight!" upon saying that, her eyes widened up to reveal a blood read iris staring at him and her powerful squeeze began to suffocate him. "TOO TIGHT! TOO TIGHT!". She growled at him, "Time to die, Hube-" a blue glowing hoof slapped her right across the face, knocking the evil out of her.

She let go and started to rub the area where she was slapped "OW! What was that for?!" Rainbow Dash finally said, with her regular magenta-like eye color returning. Hubert was gasping for his breath while on his stomach on the ground. Kale stood there in his ghostly form, majestic as always, looking down at the two lovebirds. He smiled at them and walked towards the twins who were watching him.

"Holy shit Kale, what was all that about?!" asked Charlie
"It was a Carkoon... some sort of... spiritual keeper, used to summon evils, demons, and such at the cost of soul, a malicious act nearby it, or the sacrifice of a pure soul, whatever Syra was planning to summon, it wasn't any timberwolf" he finished saying.

Syra limped over in her ghostly body, her left eye gone black while her right eye still glowing that beautiful sapphire, blinking in an out from black to blue like a TV with going to static. "This... this isn't... over!" she shot out a small little blue bolt at Kale. As the bolt came, he let the magic hit him straight on the chest, he was unphased. "She's weak, when Syra took Rainbow's life, Rainbow Dash consisted of all the colors of the spectrum, a fine and mighty prize, all the color was removed and directed to the carkoon, all that was needed was a soul of heart, what better one than Twilight's? Now that it's been destroyed, Syra's powers are gone. She's useless and strengthless... although, she still... nah, nevermind"

Twilight emerged from a dark edge of the dome and limped herself towards everyone gathering in the middle of the room. Syra saw her out of the corner of her eye and put all her attention towards her. "Twilight... why, why couldn't you just DIE! DIE LIKE YOU WERE MEANT TO!" she charged at Twilight, as weak as she was, and threw speared her to the ground. The blade like spell again enchanted her horn and edged towards Twilight. The purple unicorn had enough, throwing the weakened demon off herself, she dealt two punches, one on Syra's left and right side of her face. Syra returned her attacks with a sweep. Twilight fell back to the ground only to be in the same situation, Syra edging her horn near. "Die...die...die...".

Victor and Charlie came running towards Twilight and threw Syra off. Twilight wiped her bruised face and checked on her chest wound Syra had lodged her horn into.Everyone in the dome walked towards the two exhausted ponies now staring at each other. Charlie and Victor were both holding Syra by her arms. "GET OFF OF ME!" she said, shaking their hooves off her arms.

"So what will it be Sparkle? Huh? I'm not afraid to die,no, how about you?! I'm dead already, what're you going to do to me, HUH?!

She walked towards Twilight and dropped down to her hind legs, sitting with her forehooves open.

"YOU CAN'T KILL A GHOST YOU IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO!"

"The only thing that kept you alive Twilight was that Carkoon, it's gone now, you're as mortal as any of us, consider it's destruction your resurrection and Twilight's decision your baptize, Twilight, do what it is that you feel is right in your heart but think on your decision, giver her the retribution she's earned but only resort to that if fear ever consumes you, I for one say Redemption should take course."

Syra sat there defeated with tears streaming down her face, her hooves still open waiting for Twilight finishing blow. Twilight knew she couldn't kill a ghost, but she could banish one from the existence of Equestria, that spell on her horn wasn't only made to slice through matter, it was magic after all, it could slice through anything... at least ALMOST anything.

"Kill her Twi! I've had enough of her Bullshit!" said Victor.
"No, Twilight, didn't Kale say you can save her? You can save her! This isn't our Syra, this is some monster!" said Charlie.

"I'm with Victor on this one Twilight, kill her already, she took my Rainbow Dash, I don't want ot lose her again..." said Hubert

"Wait up Egghead! I'm all for the killing, but when I was possessed, I saw something in her that was un-explainable, something isn't right... not right at all" returned Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight dear... remember what I told you, you had no role in this, you never killed us, whoeve-... whatever that thing is, it's not our Syra, find it in your heart to give her a proper retribution, let it be out of mercy, not out of revenge"

"F*** you and your bulls*** Kale, I've been getting s*** from this bitch for YEARS! time to pay up Syra!" shouted Victor.

"Victor, you know for a fact something isn't right here, you know this isn't Syra, she's in there, but inside not out"

"That's some bologna Kale and you know it, slay the demon Sparkle, I never want to live through this nightmare again!"

"Well Sparkle? What are you waiting for? Pick your posion sweetie"

The beads of sweat rolled down Twilight neck down to her torso. Her saliva collected in her mouth, nearly oozing our of the seeps of her mouth. Her eyes, were they dilating with anger? Rage? Power? Possibly Fear? She gulped before her fluid would leak out and took in a deep breath. Her decision was difficult, the support from her friends made it no easier, all of them were filling her head with idea's that all seemed so reasonable, so, true. Her horn started to glow bright and was translucent, before everyone was a vicious and razor bladed force of magic formed around her horn.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP! I'M ENDING THIS NOW!"

Everyone int he dome was silent awaiting for the next action. Twilight was hesistant about performing it but she knew it had to come down to this, it wasn't her friends or Kale, not even Syra that made her decision, it was Twilight herself that made the decision.

Q: Is this the end?
A: You bet. The next two chapters are the endings, as I said, whatever you believe is right will happen... just be sure to know with your choice... comes a great cost. The endings can't exactly be... "perfect"

So there you have it, think hard on what you'd like to see happens with Syra. Here's something nice to know, ONE of the endings is already done but I'm having trouble on what to do with the other one, I need all the elements to play out nicely so it's going to take about 1-2 weeks to finish and check over BOTH chapters. Hope you enjoyed this.

Go read my other short story I wrote in 30 minutes. It sucks but whatever, Insane Clown Posse goes to Ponyville. Go to it, dislike it, leave. Thanks - Rambo.

Unforgiven Winter

by Rambo

Fate (Split Endings)