On a normal day the view from Misty-Hill was exquisite, rolling hills, large mountains in the distance, the towers of the Canterlot citadel and a postcard worthy view of Ponyville. Many families would come to spend the day on Misty-Hill flying kites and enjoying the view.
If they had come today however they would have been treated to a front row seat of one of the largest shows of magical prowess and destruction in recent ages.
A large storm of dark clouds rested over Ponyville with swirls of ice and snow blasting down streets and alleys. The inhabitants had evacuated long ago to avoid the magical battle that now raged in the town square.
Or that’s what Twilight Sparkle assumed in her brief moments of thought that were not consumed with killing a pony. Above the centre of town was the target of her ire a pony that had singlehandedly destroyed her life. This pony was in a garb of heavy black cloth that covered her head to hoof, a pair of magical wings glistened on her back and she was in the process of dodging and weaving between blasts of fiery smoke and flying shrapnel.
Each blast left small flakes of ash that burned and billowed like the leaves in autumn. Each light reflected off the ice on the streets painting the town in rich reds and brilliant amber.
It might have been pretty under other circumstances.
In the town square stood Twilight Sparkle who was using her magic to peel slivers of stone from the floor and ignite them to hurl at the airborne foe.
In more peaceful times this would have been very taxing on Twilight’s stamina as it consisted of a timing spell, a fire spell and an air pressure spell. However when a mind is inflicted with grief and rage a lot of strength can be pulled from within.
Twilight Sparkle was determined to kill the pony, this murderer, she had watched the thing kill her best friends and now she was after vengeance.
“You can’t dodge forever!” She bellowed. “I’ll get you for what you’ve done!”
“Oh, I’m so scared~” The murderer taunted. “Are you going to throw exploding plant pots next?”
“Besides I’m only doing this for you little Sparkle.” She continued. “You spent all that time and energy foaling around with those freaks that you could barely study. Now you’ve got all the time in the world, providing that you can beat me however.”
Twilight felt fury build up from her hoofs and snorted fire as she directed another volley of explosive rounds at the fiend.
“Now I’ve got her.” She thought with elation.
When the burst of stones reached the murderer however they shattered harmlessly around her as a powerful shield spell reflected the fire and stone.
“Huh? She didn’t use a shield spell before.” Twilight said with a start as the elation died away.
“What you think that I’m bragging about being powerful Sparkle? Here let me show you some real Magic.”
With that the murderer dove into the ground and smashed into the snow covered streets. All of a sudden a rumble was felt threw the ground and a large chunk of ice shot into the sky and impacted on the floor in front of her.
The chunk of ice groaned and crackled before breaking into pieces that glowed with magical static. The shards of ice formed a bipedal creature that echoed viciousness.
“A golem. Great.” Twilight hissed.
With another snort she sped off down the closest back alley in sight. The huge beast quickly pulled another shard of ice out of the ground and lumbered after her swinging it like a large club. Each house Twilight past was smashed to pieces as the golem rampaged after her. As she ran she formed a plan to defeat the golem. Upon turning down a street she ran past Sugercube Corner and at this point she slowed her pace enough to guarantee that the golem would swing for her.
As it did Twilight used a quick teleport and jumped out of the way. The golem’s club was swiped into the house and became imbedded in the gingerbread and candy canes.
As it tried to pull the club free Twilight Sparkle used another quick teleport and landed on the golems shoulder. The golem was so focused on extracting the club it didn’t even notice.
Taking all her rage and anger she focused it into her horn and let lose a stream of fire and heat that blasted the golems head. She watched as the face distorted and quickly became liquid that streamed down onto the street below. The golem now headless lost all magical power and fell into the ground before shattering into countless pieces.
Twilight looked up and saw the smirking demon hovering above the ice husk.
“Bravo, Bravo!” The murderer giggled.
Twilight had enough of this piece of dirt her blood and bone demanded that she expire. She called on more magical energy than she had ever used before and summoned a sword from the stone beneath her. Small and sharp it was dripping in magma that reflected the master’s soul.
“Is that a sword Twilight Sparkle? Just one?” The murderer actually looked perplexed.
“One? Nah.” Twilight held a grin. “Try, One Hundred!”
At once a hundred flame bathed swords blasted out of the ground and shot toward the murderer. A brief moment of surprise was replaced with another malicious smirk as she was not going to be outdone.
A snapping sound was heard as one hundred spears of frozen air appeared around the monster and shot off towards the flaming weapons. They clashed and as both mages used their power to direct them to fight and parry each other they began to shower the town with fire and ice.
Twilight however was not going to just sit and stare she quick teleported right in front of the murderer who was distracted by directing the battle. Twilight Sparkle however was used to doing many mental jumps at once what with often being in charge of organizing events around Ponyville. With this advantage she managed to strike the murderer in the muzzle with her hoof.
The murderer tumbled and fell out of the sky landing in the remains of the golem while Twilight teleported back to the ground. Before the murderer could summon another set of wings and fly away Twilight leapt onto her and bucked her in the side causing a break in the murderer’s ribs.
“That’s for my friends!” She roared.
The aerial battle of swords and spears picked up a fevered pace as both mages alternated between trying to get their weapons to attack the other and defend themselves. Both ponies launched into a melee with each strike being countered by one defence or spell. As Twilight pressed her advantage and went to hit her opponent she noticed that the demon was casting a spell. She felt this directly underneath her and she managed to use her own magic push it away just as the spell was completed.
A large spike of ice shot out of the ground and gouged the cobbled street leaving Twilight bewildered. This allowed the murderer to gain an advantage and land three strikes onto Twilight.
Rolling away and placing a hoof to her bloodied muzzle rage blossomed again and was personified in Twilights next spell. She tried the same trick as the fiend and began to create large gouts of magma and smoke that would burst forth from underneath.
As Twilight brought this spell forward the murderer tried again with her own counter as Twilight pushed it away leaving another spike of ice in the street. She cast her own spell and the murderer saw this and used her own magic to push it away resulting in a blast of fire and a spray of molten rock next to them.
As they fought for life and limb, as the magical weapons twisted and parried each other in the sky, as vicious spikes of cold and jets of heat shook the ground Twilight Sparkle did not notice that her vision was cracking.
She did not notice that the world around her was turning into a white void and that the cobbled street was being replaced with large glowing cracks. It did not matter though her mind was set and she was going to kill this pony.
With the last of her rage she cast a single spell that obliterated all the defence spells the murderer had destroying the cloak and leaving her sprawled on the floor burnt and bleeding. The sight however caused all the rage to cease, all the grief to flush away and left only one thing in her mind.
Fear.
The pony that lay before her was a purple thing with a lavender coloured mane and a star for her cutie mark.
It was her.
It was another Twilight Sparkle.