Twilight awoke to a cloud of black smoke entering her mouth. She quickly snapped awake, gagging, willing the smoke to exit her body to no avail.
“Easy there.” Midnight said. “I’m just absorbing his magic and abilities. You’re welcome.”
“That-“ she coughed violently. “That’s something you can do?” She had never known Midnight had such power. It made her very anxious.
“It is now. I managed to feed on some of that magic you shot out at our dear deceased friend over there.” Midnight forced Twilight’s head in the direction of what was left of Winter. His dismembered corpse lay on a base of now dried blood. I must have been out for a while Twi reasoned. “Oh, you’ve been sleeping for a few hours.” Midnight responded. Twilight grit her teeth in frustration that Midnight was reading her thoughts again, before realising what she’d actually said.
“Are you sure? Where are the police?” Twilight looked around, and found the school to be eerily silent. “They should have been here ages ago.”
“I’m keeping them out.” Midnight replied matter-of-factly. “We were just waiting for you to stir.”
“Who’s we?”
“Just an old friend of ours.” She forced Twilight to turn around, and her jaw dropped. No no no no no no. She began to panic. Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse. Before her stood a tall, winged demon, like something straight out of a fantasy book. She was tall and slender, with bright red skin and elongated ears that resembled those of the goblins of fiction. Her arms ended in sharp claws, and her face was twisted into an evil smile.
“Hello Twilight.” She snarled “ missed me?”
“How’re you even here? The others…” She got choked up as she said it, remembering through the fog of exhaustion in her mind that her friends lay dead beside her. “…They erased you.”
“Oh Twi. They didn’t erase me, I just went into hiding. Even poor Sunset truly thought I was gone, but I was there. I’m every doubt she’s ever had, every cruel comment she’s ever said, and I never die. And now I’m in control now thanks to Winter here.” She indicated towards his corpse. “He kindly went and used Sunset’s powers against herself when he snatched her geode, completely erasing even the concept of Sunset from our mind, leaving me the sole owner of our body.” Twilight was heartbroken. Not only had all her closest friends died, but she had both committed murder and been too weak to save her best friend, the only person who’d ever truly understood her. She broke down into violent sobbing, until Midnight began to cackle at her despair.
“As fun as this has been Twilight, I’m afraid it must now end.” She declared. Twilight ceased her crying, confused. “Quite simply, Supernova’s promised me that she’s going to rip you from the driver’s seat.” Twilight sobered up fast. She tried to force Supernova away with a burst of magic, but as she forced her arms towards her, Supernova didn’t even flinch. No magic came pouring out of her, nothing pushed her enemy back, down the rubble-strewn corridor. Why is nothing happening? Twilight thought. Again, Midnight just laughed at her.
“You really thought you had anything left after what you did to Winter? Your fight with him took everything from you, both your magic and your friends. Quite simply, you used so much of your magic, that you have none left for now. Your batteries are drained. I, however, leached off of your little magical outburst, and am now by far the more powerful of us two.” Against her will, Twilight was forced to the ground, crying out as Midnight took control. Supernova reached out, placing her hand on Twilight’s forehead. In an instant, Twilight Sparkle was erased from existence.
All of a sudden, Midnight found herself alone. In an instant, any trace of Twilight vanished. The sudden quiet brought with it a sudden realisation; She was free. No more hiding herself, no more watching from Twilight’s mind. My mind now, she corrected herself. For months now she had hidden, since the events at Camp Everfree when Twilight had stopped fearing her. The noise of her irritating thoughts meant that Midnight had never experienced calm before, and she was stunned by it.
She let out a sigh of relief, and threw off her glasses as she began to transform. Feathers rapidly grew from her back, tearing her clothes which too were beginning to change, creating an itching sensation so horrific that she would not soon forget it, and glasses made of pure light burst into flame in front of her face. Finally, a transparent blue horn forced its way out of her forehead with a sudden and sharp pain that caused her to cry out. She was finally herself again, after what felt like a lifetime. The immense relief she felt at finally being free to be who she really was, rather than merely play the part of the dark side of a confused teen, sent her soaring to new heights of euphoria.
“Feels great, doesn’t it?” Supernova queried, derailing Midnight’s train of thought abruptly.
“It really does.” She agreed. “There’s nothing like freedom.” They locked eyes as she spoke, and Supernova shot Midnight a cheesy grin, and for the second time that day, she felt something she never had before. No time for thoughts like that she reminded herself. We’ve got the police to deal with.
As it turned out, it wasn’t just the police they had to contend with. Clearly the sudden appearance of a seemingly unexplainable glowing bubble around what appeared to be an ordinary school had caused serious concern. As the pair exited the front doors of the school, leisurely sauntering up to the barrier, they heard cries of alarm from the other side.
“Stop right there!” One of the uniformed men barked. “If you move, we’ll shoot.” Before her stood several dozen men, and behind them their armoured vehicles. They brandished assault rifles and pistols, all of which were now trained on the two girls. Supernova rolled her eyes, before responding.
“You do realise that my friend here has erected a force field? Trust me, your bullets will do nothing so long as it stands.” The troops began to murmur amongst themselves nervously. In their defence, they’re doing pretty well for their first time coming across magic, she reasoned.
“That a challenge?” The soldier hollered, his voice wavering due to nerves. Poor guy. Midnight sympathised. Oh well, soon he’ll be nervous no longer.
“Without a shadow of a doubt.” Supernova calmly said back, locking eyes with him.
“Men, fire!” He shakily ordered, and they let loose. Very quickly however, they realised that she was right, the forcefield held strong. The soldiers were dumbfounded.
“Come now Supernova, stop playing with them, however adorable it is.” Midnight implored her fiery companion sarcastically.
“Fine.” Supernova sighed exaggeratedly as she rolled her eyes. Then, the forcefield vanished. Supernova let out a guttural shriek as she lunged forward at the soldiers, her claws glinting in the sunlight. She tore into them as they reeled, taken aback by her ferocity. She slashed one’s face as she punched another in the jaw, breaking it clean off, before spinning around and leaping through the air to avoid the spray of bullets.
“Oh, I have so been looking forward to this.” She said to herself as she massacred them all, leaving only bloodied bodies and cries of anguish in her wake. And then, there was one. The commanding officer sat shaking behind a bush, having run away from the street in a failed attempt to hide from the monsters that slew his men. Supernova crept up on him from behind, before grabbing him, spinning him around and ripping out his throat with her elongated fangs, spitting the flesh to the ground before hurling the rest of his remains up into a tree, as a surprise for whoever the government sent to check up on the scene later.
Midnight clapped slowly as she approached Supernova.
“Brutally efficient as always.” She declared. “Right, how about we go pay a visit to our friends back in Equestria? I’ve always wanted to visit.”
“Oh, we won’t just be visiting this time.” Supernova smirked. “This time, we’re taking over.”