//------------------------------// // Goodbye to our Beloved Friend and Enemy // Story: Night Patrol 2: Awakening // by Foxgear //------------------------------// Night Patrol 2 Awakening Chapter 72 By Foxgear Deep, deep in the earth, in the dark pit formed by Kira’s final attack. A great power slumbered. That power was the Black Alicorn Amulet, Romulus Rex. The King of the Alicorns and Alicorn of Creation. The black gem floated over a deep crater, the souls of all the slain Alicorns flocking to it like bees to honey. Its aura shone brightly, engulfing everything around it. At the edge of the crater stood Morrigan, gleeful like a cat as the Black Amulet continued to grow in power. A power she would control! Soon she would recreate the world as she saw fit! All this nonsense of inferior races, pony or not, would be settled once and for all! “Soon, everything will be as it should be!” Morrigan boldly declared. “And how should things be, dear sister?” Minerva asked, appearing from the shadows of a tunnel. Circling around her sister with a steely eye. “Please, continue.” “Oh, Minerva, you’re alive… great.” “You don’t have to sound so disappointed. We’re sisters, we may not always get along, but there are no secrets between us? Right?” “Says the pony that didn’t want to revive me.” “So says the pony that slept with my husband and still is, by the looks of it.” “Well, you didn’t seem to want him back,” Morrigan countered as the two began to circle each other. “This World, our World, has gone to hell. Don’t you think it’s only proper that we, its creators, the ones that toiled to make it, reset it? Things could be like they were in the past. It could be you, me, and Rex. As a herd this time?” Minerva snorted, “We’d be at each other’s throats in a week.” “Well, it would be a fun week, right?” Minerva’s expression remained unchanged, causing Morrigan to sigh. “Alright, enough bullshit. Look at what you’ve turned us into! We’re freaks! We were the pinnacle of Pony kind! Now… RAGH! I don’t know what we are! Is this what you wanted?” “Not exactly, but this is how things are. It’s what I, we need to survive. If you don’t understand that, then you can die with the rest of our kind, again! Sixes is coming, and he is something I can’t even fathom anymore! I need to… to eat Romulus if we’re going to survive!” Morrigan reeled away from her sister in disgust. “What’s happened to you! Where’s your pride! You’ve… changed!” “Of course, I’ve changed!” Minerva snapped. “I’ve lived for thousands of years, living by the skin of my teeth, jumping from body to body just to stay alive! And when I finally created a habitable life, it was taken from me because of a single mistake! All you’ve done, all of you, is sleep! I’ve lived life! I know how the ponies below us, our children, my children, Gaia’s children, live! I’ve experienced it! Unlike you!” “You’re just a fool, romantically emulating those slaves’ lives!” “Don’t call them that!” “Don’t call who what? Gaia’s mud pony slave spawn? Or your degenerate slave spawn? They’re both equal in my eyes. Pathetic, worthless creations that you two killed our glorious race over!” Morrigan’s rant was cut short as Minerva’s Gladius ripped through her auto-barrier. She tried to chant a spell, but her sister had her by the throat, with her wand glowing sinisterly. “Minerva… you… wouldn’t…” Fwoosh! A magic bolt blew clean through Morrigan’s head, and to finish the job, Minerva tossed her sister into the pull of the Black Amulet, which crushed her body and soul before absorbing both into its depths. “Now, to set things right,” Minerva said, calling the Black Amulet to her. The earth shook. She looked up, sensing two powerful presences. “And now Luna too, well, I hope the others buy me enough time. Even another minute would be enough.” Condensing the power of the black Amulet, Minerva readied herself, biting into the crystal. Sixes was barely halfway to the pit when he encountered two problems. One the alicorns barring his way, and two, the sense of dread when he saw the pillar of light touch the sky where he left Luna. “Fuck…” Defying logic and tactics, he turned around to check on his wife when some idiots got in his way. “Why don’t you take what’s left of your fucking lives and run with them before I snuff them out!” He’s been using all sorts of new abilities, but the familiar pulse of gold veins across his body bought him a strange comfort that not everything changed. The gold was coming out of his palms like sweat, but what can you do? Mashing the two glops of gold together in his claws, Sixes was inspired to craft a new weapon. Really, he was ashamed for not thinking of it sooner. Tossing the mass of gold, he smirked devilishly as it broke apart into dozens, possibly hundreds of two-inch Star Blades. With Levitation, he took control of them all and gave them a much-needed boost. Willing them to fly like arrows. “FALLING STARS!” It wasn’t a big explosion like Apollo’s ax or Solaris’s Spear, but what it did have was a more significant area of effect and shredding damage. Each star was like a mini buzz saw carving through the target, leaving behind a bloody mess. Best of all, they exploded too. “He’s a monster!” A random red Alicorn screamed. He grabbed him by the neck before the Alicorn could flee. “No, I just kill them.” Sixes proceeded to bite clean into the alicorns’ skull, spitting bone and brains from his mouth. “Well? Come on! You think I’m a monster, right? So come and slay me! If you think you can!” One Alicorn, a yellow one, took charge. “Come on! We’ve faced down the Dragon Gods! He is nothing compared to that!” “We’ll see about that,” Sixes grumbled as blue energy arced from his back, lighting it up with a brilliant blue light. “ATOMIC DESTROYER!” A concentrated beam of blue flames shot from his mouth, incinerating the charging alicorns. Though some tried to flee, he adjusted his aim and got them as well. When the breath attack faded, he formed swords of black fire and blasted another two that tried to jump him. “Swarm him! Don’t give him an inch!” Goldie ordered the remaining alicorns, forming a circle around him, and began flying in one direction, shooting magic bullets at him. “That kind of hurt,” Sixes said dryly, getting knockback from the shot. A small smoking wound was all the damage he took. He doubted they were holding back, that had to be a full-powered shot, yet he hardly felt it. That said, the constant barrage was noticeable. “FUCK OFF!” Forming two black spheres in his claws, Sixes crushed them, creating two burning Xs in the sky! “This one’s for you, Fury! HELLROAD CROSSFIRE!” It was fun shouting the names of these attacks, it was childish, but it helped give him a clear idea of the technique. Alone in the sky with only the charred remains of his enemies, Sixes paused to grab his head. Another flood of memories, or maybe they were thoughts, rushed through his mind. The voices were like a scatter blast to his brain, each one as loud as the other. Making it almost impossible to pick out what they were saying. But there was one clear voice, a voice that silenced the others. Saying only one phrase over and over, ‘I got this, brother.’ The others went quiet, and Sixes was alone in his thoughts once more. “I don’t know what’s going on in there,” he said, rapping his fist against his skull. “But this is my body, so shut up!” Sixes turned toward the dark pit, getting a neat view of the souls of his recent kills getting swallowed by the darkness below. He quickly concluded that probably wasn’t good. Whatever was going on down there. Inhaling, Sixes charged up an Atomic Destroyer and fired down into the pit. The blue light parted the darkness, cracked the earth, and set off a chain of explosions that could blow up Ponyville five times over. Yet as soon as he let off, the darkness swiftly returned, as if swallowing the light. “I wonder if I make a giant spear….” He muttered, calculating how much gold he’d need and how giant the crater was going to be. He needed to calculate the collateral cost. Ponyville wasn’t that close, right? While in his figures, bolts of lightning shot on either side of him, striking down two would-be attackers. Nope, make that four. The lightning arced upwards to kill another two Alicorns. So that raised some questions. “Lost in thought?” He turned to the voice of his beloved… and hesitated to embrace who he thought was Luna. It was her voice, and her face was the same, but everything else. “I know.” Luna seethed, “You don’t need to bring it up.” He laughed, running his claws through his mane, or what he thought was his mane. Was ethereal hair still hair? “Right, well, I’m not much better.” “You gained some bulk and have different horns! I have two horns! My wings remind me too much of Nightmare Moon and these fangs! I bit my lip three times already! How do you manage to live with a mouth full of knives all the time!” Chuckling, Sixes embraced his wife, “After this, we’ll get you back to normal. If not, I’ll hang Hades by his own intestines.” “That’s not very romantic, but it does make me excited,” Luna pecked Sixes on the lips, enjoying the lull in the chaos. “So, do you even know who we’re fighting?” “Some bitch named Minerva, I think.” Luna broke away, surprised, yet not. “Okay, there are several things you need to know… starting with….” She brought him up to speed. Explaining Minerva was VeeVee, and Vi Violetblood, which surprised Sixes to the point that he didn’t know how to react to the news. He hadn’t really interacted with Vi, who had been an enemy. He hadn’t been the closest to VeeVee, yet remembered the missions they went on together and how she provided first aid to Platinum during the Prench campaign and the Apples during the Tealblood incident. On top of this, he had a son. “I left Templar in the Otherworld under the care of Mac and Adagio, Cadence is there too, but we need to hurry. Every hour here is a month over there, now.” Luna trailed off, turning her head away. “Are you upset that I abandoned our child?” Sixes’ reply was to embrace her again, kissing her deeply. “I can’t say I’m completely okay with it, but I probably would have done the same to save you if given a chance. So, I can’t judge you. All we can do is wrap this up as quick as possible and go get our son back.” “Yeah,” Luna agreed, nuzzling his neck. “Let’s get this over with.” Together, the two Olympian ponies stared down the dark pit and plunged headlong into the darkness. In the void, they appeared as two shining lights traveling further and further into the abyss. “How fucking deep is this thing?” “I think I see something up ahead!” Ahead was a tunnel emitting a purplish light. The two dive, flying through ruins of the crystal caverns, emerging into a large chamber with another bottomless pit that seemed to run to the core of the earth. Floating above that was Minerva. “Ah… you’re finally here,” Minerva said calmly, floating down, so they were level with each other. She walked across the air, a pathway forming beneath her feet. “But you’re too late. I hold the Keys to the world. Your resistance is futile. I recommend you surrender.” Sixes scoffed, snorting smoke, “That’s funny after you gave the okay to kill us. I thought we were friends, VeeVee?” Minerva closed her eyes, chuckling sadly, “Yes, but it’s frustrating when ponies you love won’t follow your plans. I misspoke, I don’t want you or any of the others to die, but you keep forcing my claw.” “Call me an ingrate then, but if you have any shred of comradery left, you’ll stop… whatever the hell it is your doing.” “Hmm, of course, you would say that, but since we’re talking, why not hear me out, Sixes? You to Luna. Do you really think it’s wise to stop me? Do you even know what you’re trying to stop me from doing? Because I’ll tell you myself. You’re stopping me from bringing peace and harmony to the world!” “I think we have different definitions of Peace and Harmony,” Luna replied dryly, edging into a better attack position. “You’re just a mad old nag.” “And you’re a foolish youngster! Neither of you has any idea what the world was like before Rex and I came along! You would subject our kind to suffering and a hellish existence!” “So says the pony that plunged the world into total war! Monsters are everywhere. Ponies are dying as we speak!” Sixes roared, his chest glowing. “Yes, the last monsters have finally left their hiding holes! Had you given me the time, I would have resurrected a select number of Alicorns to eliminate them forever! But then everypony was revived thanks to Kira, and they just started killing each other again! And now I am forced to use HIS power! To bring order back to this world of chaos!” Black magic erupted from Minerva’s eyes, her mane turning into a starless void of ethereal. “Looks like talks are over!” Sixes let loose an atomic breath. The blast mysteriously curved around Minerva, deflected by an invisible force. “I got her! GIGATHUNDER!” At Luna’s command, dark storm clouds formed in the ceiling of the rocky chamber, dropping bolts of powerful lightning down on Minerva! Yet, the same mysterious barrier deflected the weather attack, causing the bolts to ricochet. The bolts curved in the air, coming back for another attack, but were repelled again. Canceling the world’s most powerful lightning spell, Luna hugged the wall of the pit while she flew, looking for weaknesses to exploit while Sixes charged head-on, keeping Minerva busy. “Let’s try this,” channeling the power of the moon, Luna imagined a sphere around the Alirin, willing it to grow smaller and smaller. A faint purple barrier appeared around Minerva before giving way. Minerva stiffened, feeling the intense gravity assaulting her, and performed a high-level Teleportation that evacuated her out of sight. “Where did she go?” Sixes yelled, looking frantically for the Alirin. A concentrated beam of magic cut through the wall. They both evaded it, with Sixes firing and atomic breath in the same direction. This caused the underground caverns to give way, the ceiling falling into the bottomless pit. Even this didn’t deter them as Sixes and Luna rushed to the other chamber after Minerva, who was waiting with a Rainbow Barrage! The multicolored and multi-elemental attack slowed them down, pelting them with a salvo of weaker spells. Luna threw up a barrier that Sixes then blasted through, forcing Minerva to abandon the attack. “Swords of Black Flame!” Wielding two Black Flame swords, Sixes slashed at Minerva while Luna created a whirlwind, filling the chamber with fire. And then throwing up a barrier to keep them safe. A bright black light suddenly cut through the flames, turning the inferno into stylized ice sculptures of fire. Minerva’s horn shined brightly, engulfing them all, and suddenly the trio was in the desert. “Is this the Equestrian wastelands? No, this sand… we’re in Saddle Arabia!” Luna shouted, amazed. Minerva teleported them halfway across the planet! “We should all have some much-needed breathing room here, right? Plus, there are no ponies around for hundreds of miles. So, we can all really cut loose!” Minerva’s horn crackled, purplish storm clouds forming above them. “Gigathunder!” Purple bolts of lightning rained down upon them! Luna flared her magic, countering with her own Gigathunder, the two attacks canceling each other out. “ATOMIC DESTROYER!” Sixes fired another atomic breath, turning the sand to glass as he chased after Minerva. She dodged adeptly with that same barrier surrounding her, reflecting Sixes’ attack whenever he happened to hit her. Luna increased the gravity of the area, slowing Minerva down, but she wasn’t done. This time, she called upon the power of Celestia and Gaia. Tendrils of coarse sand shot from the desert floor, grabbing at the Alirin while the stars brightened in the sky. “SIXES, GET BACK!!” Five stars began to shine brighter and brighter and then vanished from the night sky. A blazing six-point pentagram circle formed before Luna, “Stargate Cannon!” The ring flashed brightly, and then a massive beam of scorching hot energy hit Minerva head-on! For the moment, it appeared the Alirin was gone, but both knew better. From thin air, a black vortex appeared, Minerva reforming before their very eyes. “If you think five stars is enough to kill me, you seriously underestimate me! Let me show you the power of the Alicorn of Creation!” Minerva did… something that neither Sixes nor Luna could see with a quick flash of her horn. And then a massive shadow appeared beneath them, causing them to look up. There was a mountain falling from the sky. “Shit!” With no time to think or fly, Sixes charged up his atomic breath, shooting a hole through the newly created mountain while Luna clung to him. Once he burrowed through, they flew out of what should have been the base, only for three more to come crashing down. “I got this!” Luna flared her magic, her hair becoming pure fire. Suddenly, three stars disappeared from the sky. “Stargate Cannon!” Firing the ultimate Fire Spell three times, she blew up each falling mountain, scattering hot molten fragments across the desert in every direction. Simulating a mini meteor shower. Sixes quickly formed a massive glop of gold, molding them into Star Blades, launching them up high, and then willing them back down at high speeds. “Falling Stars!” Each star exploded on impact, creating a choir of explosions in every direction. The attack wasn’t to hurt Minerva but flush her out. Sure, enough a familiar barrier shape emerged from the plumes. “GOT YA!” Forging a Spear, Sixes reared back for his old favorite, but with a bit of a twist. Breathing black fire onto the Spear and then sent it flying with rotation. The Spear exploded into a coiling ball of black and gold fire. It shattered Minerva’s barrier and killed her once more. “How do you like that!” he bragged, pumping his claw, but a sudden, dizzy spell hit him. “Sixes?” Luna flew up to support him as the fight seemed to leave his body. “You’re burning up!” Hot steam billowed off Sixes’ skin, his body losing mass rapidly, returning him closer to his original size. His hair lost its ethereal appearance, turning to a gold color but normal. That wasn’t the only change, his wings were much more proportional to his body, and he frankly looked how he initially did. Safe for the gold hair, the Bicorn horn, and phoenix wings, Sixes looked normal again. “The hell is happening?” He rasped, feeling a lot weaker. “Finally, I thought that transformation would never end,” Minerva said, rematerializing before them. “That fool Hades, he thought he could actually create a permanent Olympian form? What a fool!” “Olympian form?” Luna inquired, suddenly noticing the magic reserves she started out with were not replenishing. In fact, even just floating here was burning through magic at an alarming rate! “Correct,” Minerva sang, creating a projection board with a bunch of diagrams. “The Olympian form is a transformation that occurs when a pony or any creature acquires more magic than they can physically handle. Think of it as temporary godhood. It ascends you to your highest level for a period. Unfortunately, its efficiency rate is abysmal; it literally burns energy as fast as it needs to keep you from dying. So, more power equals less time. You should be running out any second… and there you go.” Luna suddenly felt weak herself, her body glowing and then changing again. Though her transformation back wasn’t quite as dramatic as Sixes. She was about the size of Celestia but only had one horn now, and her wings were fluffy feathers again. And her color had returned to somewhat normal. She was midnight blue again, but her black spot was now white, and her mark was now a black moon overlapping with the sun. As thankful as she was to be closer to normal, the dramatic power shift was not good. “Shit…” She cursed, teleporting Sixes and herself as far away as she could, but Minerva was waiting for her there! “Aw, is the fun over already? Here let’s try the mountain game again!” Once more, wonders of the world formed from thin air above the couple. Luna tried to fly them to safety, too taxed to teleport again, but there was no way to dodge a mountain. Sixes broke free from her grasp, spitting gold into his claws and crafting an Ax, “Ax of Apollo!” The spinning Ax hacked through the thinner part of the mountain’s base, breaking a chunk loose. Giving Luna and Sixes a small margin of escape. “We made… GUK!” Luna’s breath escaped her when Minerva batted her with the blunt side of her Gladius. The Alirin then smacked Sixes on the head, breaking the skin, and bloodying his face. Sixes let loose a stream of fire in rage, creating some breathing room between him and Minerva. He gathered flames in his claws, forming a flame sword, and swung, causing an explosion. “Why don’t you just give up! This doesn’t need to be this painful!” “Shut up!” Sixes roared, creating another sword. Leaping through the flames to tackle Minerva, who teleported from his grasp. He slashed the air in an attempt to catch her in an explosion, but she reappeared well outside the danger zone. “I’m trying to be nice!” She screeched, creating a massive block of ice. “Why don’t you cool off!” Sixes spat lava to melt through the ice, emerging out the top, as Luna went in with a mana blade. He quickly created a Spear of Solaris, trying to get a lock on the Alirin. “Hold her down!” “Easier said than done!” Luna seethed, locking horns with Minerva. The Alirin took advantage of her morphable limbs and grabbed Luna with her claws. To Minerva’s surprise, Luna did the same. “Huh, I didn’t think you had those anymore,” Minerva grunted as Luna’s talons sank into her flesh. She copied the action and bit into Luna’s neck for good measure, producing a scream from the blue pony. “SIXES!” With only a moment of hesitation, Sixes charged with Spear in claw and stabbed Minerva in the side. The golden Spear pulsed and then fired a focused beam from its tip, ripping Minerva in half! Sixes inspected the smoking half of the shaft that remained in his grasp, “Huh, didn’t know it could do that.” “A spear is primary a stabbing tool,” Luna commented, embracing Sixes, so she could teleport them away. She did several random jumps, ending up in an artificial cave formed from mountain rubble. “Okay, we should have a minute to breathe.” “Yeah,” Sixes fell back against the crumbling wall, feeling exhausted. “What are we going to do?” Luna stared at the ceiling, wondering the same thing. “Depending on how many lives she has left, we might be able to manage… maybe….” Luna and Sixes needed to take advantage of the fact there were two of them. That was their only advantage over Minerva. They needed to use that, but how? How could they make up the massive difference in strength? “We need to fight smarter, more efficiently,” Luna muttered, her brow frowned tightly as she tried to formulate a plan. Sixes held up the broken spear shaft, “I think I have an idea….” Luna listened intently, nodding solemnly at their choices. “If that’s what we have to do, but one of us needs to survive for Templar.” Sixes wrapped her in a hug, kissing her softly. “We’re both gonna survive.” “Famous last words, dear.” Sixes only grinned cockily, “Don’t go writing my will just yet.” Minerva shook herself as her front and back end reconnected. She thought absorbing Romulus Rex’s creation magic would have a more significant effect than it did. Course, she wasn’t as imaginative as he was. A bit too grounded, as he used to tell her. Still, it was a magic that incorporated all other magics, at least those of the defeated Alicorns. Shouldn’t it be more impressive? Creating mountains from sand not applied. “It would help if my brain didn’t feel like it was going to melt out of my nose.” The constant attack on her psyche did not help foster her creativity. Really, she wasn’t even creative. She was copying what Rex had done when they fought the primordial Dragonlords. And really, did she really need anything new? The spell was good enough to kill those continent burners. “I guess being city size did make them easier to hit.” She mused, taking to the sky. “How to flush them out… oh, there’s an idea!” Once again, she created mountains in the sky, but she made volcanoes instead of plain dull old mountains! Lava plunged downward like water from a toppled cup, splashing the molten liquid everywhere! Rivers of fire rolled through the rubble, hitting the desert sand and leaving sheets of Obsidian in their wake. It looked like a literal hellscape, yet Sixes and Luna remained rooted in their hideaway. “Okay… let’s try this!” Summoning rain clouds, Minerva fired bolts of purple lightning randomly. The charged plasma bolts blew rocks sky-high but still failed to scare the two ponies from their bunker. And then one of the bolts curved unnaturally, turning upwards toward the sky it came from. “Found you!” Minerva rushed in the direction of the reflected bolt, finding Luna out in the open. Just Luna. Breaking hard, she looked for Sixes but was too late. Sixes appeared at her flank, holding a shining object in his claw. “Celestial Javelin!” A flash of light pierced her barrier, her body, and then her heart, continuing through and out the other side. Minerva vomited blood, stunned by the surprise attack and how easily one of her lives was extinguished. Sixes stood proud of his craftsmanship, having created the impromptu weapon from the remains of Solaris’s Spear. It was a simple weapon to make. A sharpened rod was all it really was, trading the Spear’s massive explosion for maximum piercing power! “You!” Minerva reared towards Sixes and then got Javelined again! This time by Luna, who had hidden the shiny weapon beneath her wing. In less than a minute, Minerva lost two of her lives. Sixes and Luna began jumping around, moving randomly and always at a distance from each other. Forcing her to keep swiveling her head side to side. In anger, Minerva created a tornado of fire, sending it at Luna. And then got hooked by Sixes, who tugged hard on the attached chain, ripping a piece of meat from her body. This made her extremely angry. Minerva could feel the vein in her head about to pop! “Don’t think these little tricks will keep working!” She gathered magic into her claw, only to lose said claw to a zooming Star blade! “RAGH! FUCK! THIS!” Flying high into the clouds, Minerva willed four, no eight mountains in the shape of perfectly square cubes to form and let them drop. They flattened the landscape, creating almost a perfectly level floor in the windy sands of the Saddle Arabian desert. One of the cubes began to shake, slowly rising, and then suddenly shoot into the air like a cork from a wine bottle. This was perplexing. How did they manage that? Luna and Sixes emerged unharmed; Luna’s usual magic mixed with an orange tint. Minerva didn’t have to think too hard to know whose magic that was. It was Gaia’s, so what Luna did next didn’t surprise her either. The blue Alicorn tilted her head, causing all the cubes to shake and shoot up like the first. Now it was Minerva’s turn to dodge mountains, and she took the easy way by reverting them to sand. Willing the sands below, Minerva launched a wave of the fine mineral at the couple, but a flash from Luna’s horn turned the sand tsunami into a playful splash. “Shit,” With Luna now understand Gaia’s magic, all earth-based attacks were now null and void. Firing a Rainbow Barrage, Minerva watched intently as all her light spells, fire spells, gravity spells, shadow spells, and storm spells were all negated. “That cheeky fucker.” She cursed under her breath. That only left her with water magic, non-elemental magic, and the obscure. It wasn’t hard to pick which one she’d be using. Gathering massive amounts of pure energy in her horn and palms, Minerva let loose a concentrated blast of pure magic. The two deftly dodging the lavender beam of death. A glimmer appeared in her eye, and she moved left, losing a foreleg to another javelin attack. “This is futile!” Minerva screamed, forming five, no ten! Magic barriers around herself. Instantly five were shattered, but it didn’t matter! She had the magic to remake them! She had all the magic in the world! “I AM INVINC…SPAK!” Minerva’s reveling was cut short by a sudden pain in her chest and a surprising amount of blood gushing out of her mouth. She touched her chest, feeling no wound, yet her heart stopped beating. All her defenses crumbled as she mysteriously and unexpectedly died. “Here’s our chance. Let’s get her!” Sixes roared, wrapping Minerva’s body in anti-magic chains. His hooks burrowing deep into her flesh. Meanwhile, Luna focused hard, gathering all the magic she could into a pentagram projection. “What happened to her, though?” “Don’t know, don’t care! She’s waking up!” Minerva’s eyes popped open, surprised by the sudden turnaround. Angerly, she began to gather massive amounts of magic again, the golden chains overwhelmed by the pure volume. Causing them to shatter. However, before she could do anything with all that power, she coughed blood and fell on her side. Dead, once again. That didn’t slow Sixes and Luna down. Sixes crafted Flame’s swords, slashing Minerva the moment she woke up, burning her alive. Upon her next revival, she awoke, raging with power, and the same mysterious force killed her. Luna began to sweat as she put the finishing touches on her spell, waiting for Minerva’s return. When the Alirin twitched back to life, Luna fired another Stargate Cannon. This time she extinguished seven stars. The damage was apparent as a massive swath of the desert was blown away, leaving behind a glass crater. She and Sixes waited. Minerva taking an unusually long time to revive. They just about dared to hope this was the final time until she reformed. Kind of. “What’s happening? Why do I keep dying every time I use my magic! Why! WHY! WHY?” Minerva sobbed, her face flooded with tears. Her body a twisted mess, as it reformed improperly. Her wings were on her belly. She had three extra legs and two tails. It was weird to look at. Minerva tried to use her magic, prompting another round of bloody vomit and slumping over. Her body breaking down into flakes of ash and reforming again, but this time, she had the body of an earth pony. “Why…” Minerva pleaded in great pain. “Why…” She tried to activate her magic, and this time, Luna and Sixes got a clear view of what was happening. A bright flash of white light, or perhaps lightning, shot out from Minerva’s heart. Resulting in her termination. Neither of them knew what it was. But Minerva did, all too late realizing Kira’s parting gift to her. It was a cunning, sinister attack for those considered immortal. A simple attack that inflicted a fatal wound repeatedly, time, after time. An Eternal Scar. Minerva reflected on the previous battles, realizing after every death, every use of magic, Kira’s last attack was getting stronger, using Minerva’s own magic as its power source. With every use of magic, the fatal technique became more powerful and was tied to her own use of magic. She didn’t understand the mechanics exactly, but it effectively sealed her magic. The more power she used, the more powerful Kira’s attack. As a test, she gathered a tiny bit of magic, slowly building it up until she felt what seemed like a blade just barely touching her heart. She added more, and the pain increased, so she let the magic go, feeling relief. Yet the magic she was able to gather was a pitiful amount, barely enough for a levitation spell. Minerva wiped away her tears, staring at Sixes and Luna, and then smiled sadly, lying her head against the ground. It was over. “Just kill me, get it over with,” Minerva demanded, utterly defeated. Thinking it was a trick, Luna and Sixes were on guard, both ready to attack, waiting for Minerva to make a move, but she didn’t. She just laid there. “VeeVee,” Sixes said, looking over the mare who had been a friend and enemy. “Why the fuck did you do all this?” She smiled, “VeeVee… of all my lives, I think that life was the most enjoyable. Ever since I first transferred my soul, I’ve been so many things. A Chief’s wife, a princess, a Queen, or just an obscure noble. The latter was the easiest to be. I always tried to maintain my lifestyle. I thought, even if I was merely a unicorn, I was still the Alicorn of Magic. I deserved more. I wanted more! I thought I was better than everypony.” Minerva looked at them, wondering if she should continue, but if they were listening, she might as well. “When I took over that Rinin, BeeBee, it was the first time I was without a horn. I didn’t know what to do or how to act. So, I kept my distance, I took a position as far away from the castle as possible. I was in the middle of nowhere, just me and four other rinin. It was awkward at first, but I think we became friends. I was using my charm on them, but I enjoyed my time with them. It reminded me of how things used to be… before we became THE Alicorns.” “What do you mean when you became Alicorns? Weren’t you always alicorns?” Luna inquired, confused. “Ah, I suppose I should be clearer.” Minerva closed her eyes, thinking of the very distant past. “The pony race, believe it or not, were not the dominant species in this world. We could fly, levitate objects with our horns, and had amazing endurance, but we were nothing before the Primordial Dragonlords and Grogar’s monster hordes. We hid to survive while the creatures around us fought and destroyed. It was a chaotic and fearful time. Our clan was on the brink of extinction.” She paused dramatically, smiling brightly, “And then Romulus stole Grogar’s bell, we stole the magic from the earth, the sky, sun, and stars. We took the magic from the world and brought order! We ascended, from mere ponies with wings and horns to gods!” Luna was taken aback, her eyes widening in horror, “Then the reason we need to make clouds, control the weather, and move the Sun and Moon, is because….” “Yes, because we stole their magic. Almost all of it is split between you and me.” Minerva closed her eyes, looking pleased with herself. “That’s the secret of Alicorn Magic. I wanted to go back to those days. The days when we ruled with certainty when everything was controlled. When there was only peace. I saw so many things… monsters, dragons, wars, we ponies are weaker than other creatures. I wanted us to be safe. Is that not what you wanted, Luna? For ponies to be safe?” Luna was at a loss for words, wondering if Minerva was a dark reflection of herself or just trying to get some sympathy in her last moments. “I wanted ponies to be able to live without fear of monsters, to enjoy the nights I created. That was why I started Night Patrol. I wanted to protect them, but… no… I cannot and will not impose my selfishness on them like you.” Luna looked up at her starry sky, mourning the loss of the stars. And what she and Celestia sacrificed. “And I have new priorities now.” “I see,” Minerva stood on wobbly legs, gathering magic. The blade of white lightning erupted from her chest, and she revived as an Alirin once more. She panted. The strain of restoring catching up with her. “I… still have my pride.” She rasped, creating a mana horn. Her chest exploded in pain, but she stood firm, even as blood seeped through her teeth. She gave a bloody grin to her two friends and rushed them, aiming for Luna. Luna lit her own horn and met Minerva head-on, stabbing the Alirin in the heart and swung her head. Nearly decapitating Minerva, who staggered back with a strained smile. “I guess… that was the last one….” Minerva fell back on her hind legs, sitting regally as if she were on a throne. She tried to speak, but only garbled words came as blood poured from her mouth and barrel. Only when her head hung down did Sixes and Luna sigh and collapse to the ground. “It’s over,” Luna sighed, utterly exhausted. “It’s finally over.” She closed her eyes, entangling her claws in Sixes’, who smiled tiredly at her. They won. “Child of Solaris…” A deep, ominous voice said. Luna’s eyes snapped wide open, both she and Sixes scrambled to their feet, their hearts pounding with adrenaline. “Whose there?” From Minerva’s slowly crystallizing corpse, a black gem broke through floating by its own power and created a shape of a pony. Sixes though tired, scoffed, “Fuck this!” And fired an Atomic Breath, a weak one, but it hit the black gem, cracking and then shattering it! A rainbow of colors shot across the sky, raining a multicolored glitter from their comet trails. The two of them stood shocked as bright green grass began to grow from under the desert sands.