Time seemed to slow down for Twilight as she watched Celestia lower her horn towards her. Panicking, she tried to thrash around, but the alicorn’s magic held her body tight to the wall to restrict her movements. The young unicorn felt helpless as the glow on the princess’s horn began focusing down its length to the tip, concentrating into a bright ball of light at the end. Celestia glanced upwards, her eyes locking with Twilight’s for several moments. “You will not destroy this world again.” She grimaced, tears in her eyes.
Twilight cringed not at the attack that was coming her way, but by the look that was inside of the eyes of the princess. A swirling mass of hatred boiled at the surface, mixed with the pain from past memories in her mind. Seeing the ball about to fire, Twilight closed her eyes and focused her magic as fast as she possibly could. A moment later, she illuminated herself in a flash of purple light before teleporting outside of the grip of the restricting magic.
Celestia’s eyes went wide in shock as her target disappeared before her, leaving a blank wall in her front. Deactivating her magic, she stared at where her student escaped. “What!?” whipping her head around, she saw Twilight appear by the table in the center of the room. Opening her wings, Celestia launched herself through the air, her face twisted with anger. Her horn refocused the attack she had prepared, lighting up the entire room in a brilliant white glow. A split second later, she released the shining attack forward.
Heart racing, Twilight enveloped the table next to her and lifted it into the air between her and the incoming attack. The ball of light struck the table, obliterating the oak into hundreds of small pieces. The flash from the blast was so bright that both Twilight and Celestia had to cover their eyes to keep the light from doing more than causing spots to appear in their field of vision. Once it dissipated, Twilight looked up to see Celestia slowly trotting towards her, her horn glowing once again. The sight of her once beloved mentor attacking her caused the unicorn to drop to the ground, trembling on the floor. “P-princess, what are you doing!? What did I do!?”
“I have to do this Twilight…” Celestia continued trotting forward, her golden horseshoes crashing down and splintering a section of the table below her. “I cannot allow you to live on to fulfill your fate.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide in confusion, “What are you talking about? What fate?”
“The one where you destroy everything.” Celestia tilted her head and fired a bright stream of magic at her student. Twilight quickly jumped to her right, rolling out of the way before the magic blasted a hole into the flooring. Twilight crawled back up to her hooves as she looked back to her still approaching teacher. Before the young pony could plead anymore, several more attacks screamed through the air at her. Reacting on instinct, Twilight created a force field in front of her, solidifying into a round bubble around herself. The trio of attacks struck the shield simultaneously, catapulting the bubble and Twilight through the entire courtroom and smashing into the far wall.
The shield created a deep imprint into the marble wall, splintering an area eight feet across. Despite the shield taking the majority of the impact, Twilight still felt the painful experience of smacking into the back of her own shield. Deactivating her magic, Twilight passed through the dissipating shield and landed onto the floor below her. Shaking her dazed head, she quickly got back up to her hooves as Celestia came forward once again for another attack. Eyes scanning the room, Twilight caught glimpse of the only way for her to escape the courtroom. ‘I have to get out of here. She really wants to kill me.’ She said to herself.
Celestia rushed forward, her shoes pounding into the ground as she was intent on making sure she finished what she started. Before she could strike, a cloud of smoke spread out from Twilight’s horn until it covered the entire side of the room. Skidding to a stop, the prepared her horn for anything that may be happening. A second later, she saw Twilight burst through the right side of the cloud and sprinting for one of the windows. “No, you won’t have the chance to unleash your power!” Celestia screamed out. Firing a large beam of magic, Celestia watched as the stream shot through the room and struck her student in the side, launching her into the wall as she-
POOF!
“WHAT!?” Celestia yelled as she watched Twilight blow up into a cloud of dust. A frown spread across the muzzle of the princess when she realized what she attacked was simply a materialized clone, a special trick that she had taught Twilight just several weeks before. “She would use my own trick to evade me. No wonder she is my student.” She sneered to herself. Turning her gaze back to the dissipating cloud, she saw the open door that led back into the interior of the castle. “She thinks she can get away from me.”
The doors on the other side of the courtroom burst open, followed by a platoon of six unicorn guards. “Your highness, we heard the disturbance and-“ the lead unicorn paused as his eyes scanned the decimated room. “Wh-what happened in here?”
Celestia turned around to face the guards. “Go and search the castle. Find Twilight Sparkle and bring her down.”
Every guards eyes went wide at hearing the order. “But, princess, she is your student! Why are we-
“I GAVE YOU AN ORDER SOLDIERS!” Celestia’s royal canterlot voice boomed inside of the room, shaking the windows to the point of near shattering. The guards cringed as they brought their hooves to their heads to try to block the powerful shouting. By the time the ringing in their ears stopped, the princess of the sun was standing above them, her furious eyes staring down at them. “Find Twilight Sparkle and use everything you are capable of to strike her down. If you are unable to, hold her until I arrive myself.”
---
Skidding around a hallway corner, Twilight’s hooves scraped across the flooring as she sprinted down the empty corridor away from the courtroom. Her heart was hammering inside of her chest so quickly that it was pausing pain to run through her excited nervous system, sending messages to her already overloaded and turning mind. She ran as fast as she could, her legs burning from exertion before she slowed her pace, realizing she was alone.
Panting, she looked back and forth down another hallway, trying to find anypony that could give her position away. Squatting low, she made her way into the new path, looking for someplace she could at least escape into. She knew the door she went to led her towards the center of the castle, but she couldn’t take the risk of going across the entire courtroom to the other side where the door leading out of the palace was. She didn’t care at the moment though, because all she cared about right now was knowing that she was alive.
“*Huff* alright, now I just have to make my way to the-
“She probably went this way!”
Twilight’s hair stood on end hearing the voices coming her direction from behind. Turning her head, she could see the shadows of the figures making their way down the hallway towards her. “She’s sending the guards after me now?” She whispered to herself. Turning back forward, she ran to the nearest door on her right and twisted the handle open. Closing it behind her, Twilight turned to see herself inside of a massive storage room approximately thirty feet across. Set up throughout the interior were large boxes of food, and in the center were dozens stacked high in a large tower. Running forward, she dropped down and huddled behind the boxes.
Sitting quietly, her ears could pick up the hoof steps coming through the hallways searching for her. Sweat dripped down the back of her neck, causing a chilling crawl across her skin. while she sat there, a crushing feeling gripped her heart, causing a wave of powerful emotions to overwhelm the unicorn. Curling into a tight ball, she began to weep in her hooves. “What is happening to me? Why is she trying to kill me?”
‘It’s because she fears your power.’
Twilight yelped out of shock from the sudden dark voice. Wiping the tears out of her eyes, she looked around the room trying to find the host. To her fear, nopony was with her. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”
‘I can’t show myself to you.’ The voice responded.
“Why not? Just come out!”
‘I would, but you keep trying to hold me back.’
An icy chill ran up Twilight’s spine when she realized she was talking to the voice inside of her mind. “No, get out of my head!”
‘Twilight, quit trying to fight your destiny. I have told you before, it is going to happen.’
Gritting her teeth, Twilight shut her eyes and concentrated, once again entering the black void of her mind. Presenting itself once again was the horrid figure that tormented her dreams. The white unicorn beamed a large grin her direction, which in turn brought a frown to her own. “Why are you doing this to me?”
The white unicorn trotted her direction, its burning tail swinging back and forth. ‘Don’t be angry at me Twilight, I can’t help it that you were the one destined to become this.’
Twilight glared at the approaching fire form of herself. “Why won’t somepony tell me what is going on? I have been told about fate and destiny, but what does that even mean? Why is the princess trying to kill me!?”
‘Have I not already said? She is afraid of you.’
Shock was the next feeling to overcome Twilight. “Afraid? Why would she be afraid of me? I haven’t done anything.”
‘Of course you haven’t. She is afraid of what you are to become. The very same evil that she fought all those years ago.’
“Wh-what do you mean the same as…” Twilight froze as her fire counterpart walked by and flicked its burning tail up below her neck. The flames enveloped her throat but did not burn, instead giving a warm sensation to spread along her skin. Taking a deep breath, she turned her head to see the burning red eyes staring right back at her, imprinting on her mind. “What do you mean the same evil?”
‘Twilight, how many times have I told you? You are destined to become the most powerful unicorn in the history of all of Equestria. Your abilities will grant you the level of power to take this world for your own.’
Stomping her hoof in frustration, Twilight stepped back away from her fire self. “Quit avoiding the question, what are you talking about destiny!?”
The sound of the door to the room which Twilight was hiding in opening up rang inside the void like a drum in the night. The fire Twilight smiled as her form began to dissipate. ‘You should prepare yourself. Oh, and about your question, here is your answer; A phoenix must die in flames, and be reborn from the ashes.’
Before Twilight could respond, she felt herself pulled out of her mind and thrown back into consciousness. Opening her eyes, she gazed around the boxes to catch sight of several guards entering the room. Panicking, she tried to hide back down, but not before one of the guards caught sight of movement.
“Hey, she’s right there!”
Cursing to herself, Twilight rammed the tall stack of boxes towards the guards, causing the entire stack to crash down. Jumping back, the trio of unicorns now stood out of the doorway, allowing Twilight to quickly jump out of the room and sprinted down the hallway, only to have her way blocked by three more unicorns. The guards were in defensive stances, horns pointed at Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle, you are to surrender immediately. By…” The soldier’s eyes looked around in uncertainty, “By order of Princess Celestia.”
Looking behind herself, Twilight saw the other three guards lined up to prevent her from running the other way. Turning back around, her eyes fixated on the main doors at the very end of the corridor that would lead to the main castle entrance. Turning back to the guard, she stood down into her fighting stance and charged her horn. “I am not going to let the princess kill me. Get out of my way.”
The lead guard in front of her closed his eyes in regret. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” He reopened his eyes as he fired a beam of magic towards her. Charging her horn, Twilight created a shield in front of her and reflected the beam to the side of the corridor. Leaping forward, she enshrouded one of the guards in her aura and threw him out of her way into the wall. As she spun around, she barely had enough time to duck under the ball of shock magic that rushed past her head, grazing the end of her mane. Quickly creating her own ball of magic, she shot it and struck the guard in the chest, knocking him into the wall and knocking him out.
Twilight felt a strange feeling inside of her as she watched the guard slump down onto the ground. Normally, committing any form of pain to another pony would cause her horrible feelings and regret. Now though, she didn’t feel that. Even as the other guards charged her, she retaliated with her own powerful magic attacks. Her body was almost responding naturally to the incoming strikes of the other ponies. As one of the stallions jumped at her, she quickly grabbed him with her magic and threw him into one of his companions. Deep inside her chest, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of adrenaline course through her veins as the guards were tossed about in her power, as if she was meant to do this. She enjoyed using her power against others.
After several intense minutes, all six guards were on the ground, unconscious. Now with that obstacle out of her way, Twilight ran to the exit. Bursting through the door, Twilight found herself on top of the large staircase that travelled down to the main castle doorway which lead to the outskirts of the palace. Sighing in relief, she teleported herself to the bottom of the stairs and sprinted to the doors. “I’m almost there, I can make it out and-
The bright flash of light in front of her caused her to turn around and shield her eyes. Using her hoof to cover her eyes, she looked at the source of the light, only to be blindsided by a powerful wing connecting to the side of her head. Shaking off her daze, she watched as the light diminished, revealing Celestia standing in front of the doorway. Stepping forward, the tall alicorn towering over her terrified student. “Did you think that I would allow you to leave and burn this world?”
Twilight cringed under the terrifying gaze of her master, backpedaling away from her. Watching Celestia fire another blast, she raised up her head and formed her shield around herself. The beam sent her several feet back towards the stairs before she could catch her footing. As she looked up, another beam rushed towards her head. Shooting her own beam out, the two magic streams collided and began creating a swirling mass of pulsating energy. The next moment, the mixed magic burst outward, sending both unicorn and alicorn backwards across the room.
Crawling off the ground, Twilight felt every muscle in her body sore from the blast. Looking to her left, she saw the door to the outside unblocked, giving her hope to get out. As she ran to her freedom however, she became enveloped in a powerful magic that held her back. Trying to focus her magic, she attempted to teleport once again, but a band of magic tightened around her horn, restricting her flow of own magic. Now terrified, she began trying to thrash about with no avail as the tall princess rose up once again.
Celestia stared down onto her captured student, knowing now this was her chance to end the fear that had been inside her heart for years. “I will not let his prophecy come to pass. I have to end this now.” Charging on the tip of her long horn, she created a massive ball of energy a foot across, far more powerful than anything she had used in the last five hundred years, and prepared to release it on her target.
Twilight stared in fear as the glowing ball of magic hovered just several feet away from her, awaiting to end her life that very instant. “Let me go, Celestia! Please!” she cried out. Her pleas seemed to go unanswered as the princess pointed the attack directly at her. Not wanting it to end like this, Twilight closed her eyes and continued to thrash about, angered that she was completely defenseless and helpless like this. Death was something that she always feared, and she was determined not to let it take her.
While she struggled, she didn’t notice the ball of light dissipating away from the horn of the princess until it didn’t exist anymore. Lifting her head up, Celestia’s eyes were dripping tears as she looked at her student. While she knew what was to happen, memories of the horrid actions that occurred to her all those years ago at the hooves of Crimson Flames, she couldn’t stop all of the wonderful and happy memories she shared with the purple unicorn at her hooves. The time she first met her when Twilight gained her cutie mark, or her rescuing her sister from the control of Nightmare Moon. All of the happiness that she shared with her.
“I can’t do it.” Celestia whispered to herself, “I can’t bring myself to do it, no matter what you are to become. I couldn’t the first time, and I can’t now.” A strange and warm sensation suddenly began blowing past the princess, causing her mane to flow backwards. “Huh?” looking up, her heart felt like it stopped beating all together. “No…”
Twilight’s body was radiating red waves of energy, pulsing out every few seconds like the heartbeat on a monitor. Her mane and tail were dancing in the air above her, and after a moment, began smoking at the tips. Small sparks were shooting off the end of her horn, fighting its way past the restriction spell holding her magic back. Her coat’s purple tone began to begin fading lighter throughout, becoming almost translucent in several spots. Her nostrils flared out as she snorted in anger several times, soon followed by smoke escaping along with her exhales.
Something inside of Twilights body was urging itself to come out, and at this moment, she allowed it to show itself. “I said…” her cold voice echoed in the silent palace as she looked up to her mentor, her eyes a blazing pool of red, “Let. Me. Go.”