Luster sat on her haunches, eyeing her potential prey. The iron border seemed to caress her evil spirit, singing songs to it that were straight out of Tartarus itself. She cracked a wide grin, playing with her victims. Gloating was one of her favorite pastimes. She took to it with a sick sense of brilliance, toying with Hitch first and then Izzy. Though she didn’t quite know them on a first name basis yet, she knew what was in their souls: the fear that her beloved organization had put there. If she had things her way, soon they too would fall to Scarlet Wing…just as her mentor, Twilight Sparkle, had done before them. Equestria would once again become a friendless place, and progress and evolve further into oblivion. Lawlessness would abound, and who would be there to help? Nopony…but Scarlet Wing.
“Ah, yes,” she said as she began her tale, “life was terrific in Canterlot, for a time, at least. I was studying book after book, improving my magic, pushing myself further and further into absolute excellence. I could do so many spells, incantations, and the like. Warding off evil became second nature to me, and I constantly presented myself before Princess Twilight, hoping that she’d finally see my true potential. But, she never did. Instead, she said my potential lay in friendship. That was the last thing I wanted. I was desperate to attain Alicornhood and show my mentor and my family that I was worth something…something more than just a mind.
See, in ancient Equestria, Alicornhood was the pinnacle. Life would have been grand for me if I were to have been made a Princess…a member of the royal pantheon! Ponies would have seen me more than through the prism that Twilight concocted around me. Sure, I was smart and I could memorize facts and figures without any difficulty. But I wanted more! I wanted to stand on the same dais and hold my head high just like my mentor! I would’ve been more than ‘the bookworm of Canterlot.’ Sure, my mentor once held a similar title, but then she found this thing called friendship…and it destroyed her!”
“How could friendship destroy anypony?” Izzy asked, eyes brimming with tears. “Friendship is the greatest attribute that anypony can have!”
“Good question, young Unicorn,” Luster said, “and if you’ll SHUT YOUR MOUTH, I’ll tell you.”
Izzy, frightened by Luster’s thunder, immediately kept quiet.
Luster nodded before continuing. “Friendship is for weaklings. That’s a simple fact. Do you really need to lean on anypony else? That makes one weak, but I wanted strength. I wanted courage. I wanted power. These were all things my mentor had, true, but she had them facetiously. She actually thought ponies respected her because she held friendship. For a time, I even followed after her teachings, befriending members of different species at Twilight’s School of Friendship. I did what I was told. I made straight As, passing every friendship test with flying colors. There were even moments when I defended my mentor as ponies snickered at her behind her back.
As the months, moons, and years rolled on, I realized that I had become nothing more than a lemming. I was a pawn in Twilight’s game of friendship. Why? Because I thought that this was what led to power and success. I figured that, sooner or later, Twilight would grant me Alicornhood. Just one more test…one more assignment…one more friendship quest…one more. Just…one…more. That was what always haunted me. The idea of there ever being something beyond just one more. I quickly began to see that my mentor had lied to me from the very beginning. The Element of Honesty had left even her. She had no intentions of making me an Alicorn, nor did she ever see me as an equal. I was simply her plaything, her pet project to trot about on the streets of Canterlot and Ponyville so that everyone thought she was busily preparing the future of Equestria.”
“What’s a Canterlot?” Izzy asked.
“What did I tell you about zipping it?” Luster warned, causing Izzy to immediately shut up once more. “Good. In answer to your rude question, Canterlot was once the capital of this nation…and since I see you opening your mouth once more, Ponyville was a small town where Twilight met all her friends. Satisfied?”
Izzy nodded, scared to death of the much older Alicorn.
“Right. Now, then, where was I? Oh, yes! Me being Princess Twilight’s pet project. I felt miserable and alone, even when I was with my so-called friends. So, while visiting my mentor, I went digging around in the Canterlot Historical Archives one evening. I found some Friendship Journals that I swiped…but I also found something much more interesting. It was a journal that Twilight kept where she communicated with someone from another world.”
“What?” Sunny asked, eyes wide.
“Mm-hmm,” Luster said, nodding and striking a fiercely deviant smile. “This being’s name was Sunset Shimmer, and upon researching further, I found that she and I were exactly alike. Sunset wanted to be an Alicorn back when Twilight’s mentor, Princess Celestia, ruled Equestria. But Celestia wouldn’t grant this privilege, so Sunset ran off to another world. After failing to overthrow it, she became weak and turned to friendship as well. But I received a lot of inspiration from her. I admired her old self, even though she turned into a complete coward. It was then and there that I swore to finish her work…I would become an Alicorn, kill Twilight, and take over Equestria.
So, I went about my plans. I invented the phrase ‘EVOLVE BEYOND’ as a starting point before beginning my quest to create Scarlet Wing. While recruitment went on in the Canterlot underground, I began pouring over books, trying to find some spell to force myself into Alicornhood. Finally, after months of trying…I completed it. I transformed myself into an Alicorn! I felt strength and power coursing through my veins, and I was certain that my mentor would be shocked. So, with four agents at my side, I burst through her door one day and proudly struck up a stance. She was shocked, and also very angry. A spell to force Alicornhood upon one’s self was one of the most carefully guarded secrets in all of Equestria because of how apparently dangerous it was. She warned me that an unnatural Alicorn’s magic corrupted the spirit, leading to destruction and rage. But I didn’t care. I was too thrilled with my new self.
I ran her through five times with my horn, cackling as her blood pooled around my hooves. The final thing I whispered in her ear before she died was that I would rule Equestria one day, and since I was now granted an Alicorn’s lifespan, I had all the time in the world. She gasped, coughed up more crimson liquid, and died right there. I knew there was no turning back from this, so I gathered all my new agents, left a stamp of our presence in Twilight’s room, and ran off into the mountains. There, we created Distrust Dust and saw as Equestria descended into a delightful hell of betrayal and accusations. Once that particular pot boiled properly, the Dust was added…and all Tartarus broke loose.”