//------------------------------// // No enemy like the past // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Eternal // by AlphaToothless95 //------------------------------// This was already boring. They had been waiting for three minutes and the race hadn’t even started yet. Lightning Dust didn’t remember what specific point in the race she actually showed up at, but she knew it was after the race had started. Twilight actually didn’t mind the wait, surprisingly. She actually wanted to spend more time learning about Dash's childhood and past experiences. Makes her feel…close to her again. As strange as it sounds…she just wished she could talk to Dash again…share a few things with her in the hopes that she would do the same, but now… No, she couldn’t think like that…they were going to save Dash and she would come home. “Can I ask you something…?” Lightning Dust asks and Twilight, despite still being angry and having the urge to kill the pegasus, just sighs and nods. “So…you know I regret…doing what I did, right? I mean…why else would I be helping you save Dash from me?” She asks, shuffling uncomfortably and Twilight thinks about it for a bit. It makes sense, right? Maybe Lightning Dust was feeling guilty about all the pain she had caused or helped cause, as she should. Twilight looks down, the feeling still burned into her memory of all the pain she caused as Twivine…all the pain she could’ve prevented. “Seems like that’s one- if not the only thing we have in common. I caused so much pain as Twivine…yet I’m trying to fix it as Twilight…I never really have time to just not worry about that…no time to just…be me. To focus on who I am rather than who I was.” Twilight says and Lightning Dust just stares for a bit before awkwardly nodding. “She wanted me to kill you, ya know. Back in the castle when I had you pinned…and honestly I wanted to…” Twilight says and that comment seems to set Lightning Dust on edge as she shuffled uncomfortably again. “Why…why didn’t you? You don’t really need me for this, do you? You’re unstoppable by yourself, so you could save Dash with no trouble at all, with or without me…so why?” She asks and Twilight frowns and looks at Dash then at her own hands. “For…multiple reasons actually… One was because I don’t know what I’d do if I got my hands on this past you…I would’ve killed you if my friends hadn’t stopped me so…I wanted you here just in case I start…acting like that again.” Twilight says and Lightning Dust keeps listening as she continues. “The second one is because of what Fluttershy said…that this isn’t what Dash would want for me. Honestly…it’s not what I want either…I still wanna try and believe that everyone deserves a chance…even you… You’re not a bad pony Lightning Dust…or at least you weren’t until you took your disregard for the safety of others, as well as your vengeance, too far. But it doesn’t mean you can’t change.” This hits Lightning Dust hard and she’s left shocked and…conflicted. On one hand, she doesn’t believe she can change or that she even wants to, but…on the other, she…kinda does want to. She could use her powers for good, to help others instead of hurting them. She frowns and looks down, seeming to think about it until they both hear a noise and look towards another cloud, only to see Lightning Dust, the one from the past, coming through a time portal and sitting down on the cloud…frowning. They look at each other and nod before Twilight teleports them onto the same cloud as her, causing her to quickly stand up and point one of her swords at them, only to grow a shocked look as she sees who’s standing before her. “Trust me when I say…you really don’t wanna do that.” Lightning Dust says to her past self, earning an even more confused look, her gaze shifting between her and Twilight. “Believe me…it doesn’t end well.” She says and her past self looks shocked as the realization seems to hit her of how this was possible. “You’re…from the future, right?” She asks and the present Lightning Dust nods. “So…why are you helping her? To protect Dash, of all ponies?” She asks and when Twilight steps closer, she charges the sword with lightning and points it towards her. “Not. Another. Step.” She says and Twilight glares but holds her hands up and heeds her advice. “I’m helping her because this is a mistake. I know you feel that way too. Deep down, we both know that this isn’t right…none of what we’ve done is right.” The present Lightning Dust says and the past one seems to hesitate and think about it before the present one continues. “We’ve done a lot of terrible things…how’s about you avoid my mistake and don’t add one more thing to the list…” She offers and the past Lightning Dust slowly lowers the sword and turns back towards the race…not saying or doing anything for a bit. This unsettles them both and they slowly step closer. Suddenly, the past Lightning Dust screams and blasts them both with lightning, knocking them off the cloud and straight through more. She then makes a lightning bolt and tries throwing it at Dash but a magical purple tendril wraps around it and swings it around before throwing it back at her and she just barely manages to dodge it, allowing it to most likely fly into space. She glares at Twilight, who glares back before teleporting behind her and tackling her away from the race, teleporting again. They land on the ground hard enough to make a crater, knocking over trees with the shockwave in the process. Twilight rolls away from Lightning Dust who sends lightning daggers towards her, only for them to be deflected with magic. Lightning Dust tackles Twilight faster than the eye can see and drags her along the ground, dragging her face along it. Twilight quickly gets even more annoyed and punches Lightning Dust multiple times until she falters and crashes, both of them tumbling through trees. Lightning Dust recovers first and starts endlessly firing on her with electricity, causing her to grunt and squirm in pain. After a few seconds, the present Lightning Dust drop kicks the past one before uppercutting her, then finally lightning punching her in the stomach, knocking her at least 20 feet away. She grunts in pain and holds her stomach when she feels a sudden sting and some soreness shortly after. She grows a scared look when she realizes just what she signed up for. She’s so deep in her thoughts that she doesn’t notice her past self zoom towards her and she receives a lightning kick to the face for it. Just as she tumbles to a stop, she tries to get up, only for her past self to drop down on her and start punching her repeatedly, eventually reaching the speed of 10 punches a second and going faster with each punch. Twilight soon grabs her and pulls her off harshly, causing her to spin a bit and before she can fully recover, Twilight delivers a roundhouse kick to her side, cracking a few ribs in the process. This causes both Lightning Dusts to scream out in pain. Their screams go unheard though as Twilight is now fighting with blind rage. The past Lightning Dust swings a left punch at her, only to have her punch blocked, leading to Twilight grabbing and dislocating her arm, prompting another scream from both the Lightning Dusts. “T-Twilight! Stop!” The present one yells but Twilight just stalks towards the past one as she cowers away, towering over her. Twilight was clearly still holding back…but not as much. If she hadn’t held back, both of them would be dead already. She takes out one of her swords and swings at her but Twilight stops her by her wrist, takes the sword, slashes Lightning Dust twice before hitting her in the back of the head with the hilt of the sword, making her fall onto her stomach. She tries to crawl away, grunting and whimpering in pain while fearing for her life, but Twilight steps on her ankle with a painful amount of force and she turns onto her side to look up at her. “Now’s your chance Twilight…finish her. You know that as long as she lives, Dash will never be safe. Nopony will ever be safe. Not as long…as either of them lives.” Twivine says from inside Twilights head and Twilights irises turn a dark purple as she starts to give in to Twivine’s influence. She slowly looks at the present Lightning Dust, who’s slowly starting to recover from the pain and stand up. “Now…what’s the best way to take out a future enemy…?” Twivine asks and Twilight slowly looks at the past Lightning Dust again and she and Twivine say the same words at the same time. “Take out it’s past.” They say before Twilight raises the sword as high as she can, both Lightning Dusts looking on in horror. “This is for Dash…for all my friends…for everyone that you’ve made suffer!” Twilight yells as she gets ready to end the life of the cowering enemy below her. “Twilight! No! Please! Think about Dash, what she would want! You don’t have to do this…everyone deserves a chance, even me…right?!” Lightning Dust asks, reminding Twilight of everything she had told and been told. All of a sudden, a loud boom happens at the same time as a burst of color and they all look to see that Dash had done the Sonic Rainboom. As she sees it, her eyes slowly turn back to normal and she slowly drops the sword, breathing in and letting out terrified, shaky pants. Twivine screams in annoyance before going completely quiet and Twilight looks down at Lightning Dust- both of them- before going to the present one and helping her up stand up fully. “I’m…I’m so sorry… I… That wasn’t me, I would never-“ Twilight tries to explain but Lightning Dust just holds up one hand and shakes her head, smiling. “No need to explain…not to me.” She says and Twilight smiles a bit before they’re both blasted onto the ground by the other Lightning Dust. “You know what?! I may not be able to stop the Rainboom now…” She starts before looking up at Dash who was currently still flying around, happy to have her cutie mark. She forms a lightning bolt and aims it at her. “But I can still. Kill. Dash!” She yells as the bolt charges with electricity, her eyes temporarily turning black before also becoming charged with electricity and before Twilight can try and catch it, Lightning Dust flys up just as her past self throws it and gets in the way of it. Twilight watches in shock and horror…as it gets closer and closer to her…before hitting her right in the chest…and exploding. The explosion sends Twilight and the past Lightning Dust flying away until they both crash and stay down for a bit. Twilight recovers first, slowly sitting up then looking around…finding the present Lightning Dust far to her right…critically injured, badly burnt, and bleeding a lot. She quickly gets up and runs to her, kneeling down next to her. She sees that she’s unconscious and checks her pulse, finding that she’s alive…barely. She immediately tries to heal her and Lightning Dust lets out a dry, pained cough and slowly opens her eyes and looks at Twilight. Twilight tries to give a reassuring smile but she could tell that Lightning Dust already knew…she was as good as dead. “W-Well…gotta say that…t-the…irony of this isn’t…lost on me…” Lightning Dust says, struggling the whole time not to cough. Killed by her own lightning bolt in the same way she killed Light Hope… How fitting. “D-Don’t worry, I can fix this. I can save you.” Twilight says and Lightning Dust slowly shakes her head, frowning and looking at her. “No…you can’t… W-We…both know that…so while I…while I still have t-time…can I…ask you to…do something for me? …J-Just one thing…?” She asks and Twilight nods, prompting Lightning Dust to continue. “T-Tell Dash…that I forgive her…and that…I’m sorry…” Lightning Dust says and Twilight smiles a bit and nods. “I promise…” Twilight says and Lightning Dust smiles back before slowly closing her eyes, letting out her last breath…and dying with a smile on her face. Twilight frowns and lowers head, slowly shaking it. Lightning Dust had sacrificed herself to save Dash…from her. For that…Lightning Dust had earned her forgiveness…and respect. Twilight hears something and looks behind herself to see the past Lightning Dust standing there with a distraught and shocked look on her face. A time portal opens behind her and she slowly backs up into it…still in shock as if she couldn’t comprehend what had just happened or what she just did…or both. The portal closes and Twilight frowns more before looking at Lightning Dusts body, noticing it starting to disappear. “So long, Lightning Dust… Thank you.” Twilight says before her body completely disappears and a time opens above Twilight. She stands up, looking one more time at Dash who looked happier than ever and she smiles, happy to know that she would have her back now. She jumps into the portal, instantly being transported back to the present and landing in the same room that she left in. She looks around and notices that the others are gone…no sign of Midnight either. She starts getting worried and runs throughout the castle, looking for them but she can’t find them anywhere. She runs outside and is instantly startled by the loud booms, followed by the confetti that flew out of the party cannons that could only belong to Pinkie. “SURPRISE!!!” Everyone yells, confusing Twilight as she looks around at everyone but then sighs in relief. “Thanks everypony, this is… Wait, what’s the occasion?” Twilight asks and Pinkie hops up to her and giggles. “Oh Twilight, this is your “Thank you for saving all of us from total and certain doom.” And the “Welcome Home.” Party for Rainbow Dash, silly!” Pinkie says super quickly like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Twilight sighs in relief again when she hears confirmation that Dash is alive and well again. She then looks around, just now noticing something. “Wait, where IS Rainbow? And how do you all remember what happened?” She asks before suddenly hearing that familiar, raspy but beautiful voice. “Up top, egghead. And nobody knows, we just…do.” Rainbow says, prompting Twilight to look up at her and see her slowly descending to the ground. “Miss me?” She asks with a smirk and Twilight slowly shakes her head before pulling Rainbow to her and hugging her as close and as tight as she can. “More than you could ever know…I actually have something…well, a few things to tell you actually. But…they can wait till after the party… I could use a break after what we all just went through.” Twilight says and Rainbow tilts her head before nodding, and with that, everyone proceeds to get their party on, happy that everything was back to normal…for now. “So the plan was a failure?! And you somehow managed to kill your future self rather than Rainbow Dash?!” Ragnar asks angrily, Lightning Dust just nodding in response. She was still shaken up by it…but also more determined to get payback. “Forget that plan, we need a new one!” She yells, walking towards him before suddenly remembering a certain something…or someone. “Speaking of 'new…'” She says before walking to a cauldron and looking into the black, magical liquid in it, seeing her reflection. “I think it’s about time the newbie came out to play…don’t you?” She asks before slightly touching the liquid, causing it to ripple and as if it could sense exactly who she was talking about, an image of…Sky Blazer appears before the liquid swirls, lightning temporarily coming off it as it forms an image of…the new alicorn. “See you soon…Blaze…”