Dusk's Dangerous Game

by Airstream


Red Pieces, Black Magic

Cadance shivered, looking out over the city below from her quarters in Canterlot’s palace. The wind had become unnaturally chilly in the past hours, enough so that ponies had all but abandoned clearing rubble from the streets and had instead chosen to shelter in whatever homes were still standing nearby. The wind howled malevolently as it whipped through the spires of the city, but that was not what had made her shiver. That wasn’t it at all.

Cadance had become acclimatized to her power by degrees, noticing greater and greater refinement of her abilities as the day spun into night and the sun san down below the horizon. She could still feel everything, and could still focus on individual ponies. While she couldn’t access minds, she could experience the emotions that they were feeling. And she had spent much of her time focusing on Twilight Sparkle. She had attempted to access her mind, to force a surrender from her, but the little unicorn was protected behind thick mental barriers, ones that could only be gained by years of intense practice. So, she was limited to riding along with her opposite number, and attempting to put her emotional state into some kind of frame of reference.

Just then, she had noticed an abrupt shift in moods from her sister-in-law. Before, she had been angry, yes. She had also been frightened, exhausted in body and mind, and perhaps she was even a bit saddened, deep down, by what she was doing to her teacher. And Cadance knew that she was fighting Celestia. She could feel the power of their blows even though they were far over the horizon. Twilight’s emotions had shifted and changed, as the tide of battle ebbed and flowed. She had almost regained some of her confidence for a brief moment, clearly gaining a temporary advantage, but that had quickly ebbed. Then came a spike of terror, followed by a burning, passionate hate.

Her latest shift, though, had been the most frightening. Her rage had suddenly been inundated with grief, so powerful that it actually made Cadance’s heart ache in sympathy. The fires of her wrath had blazed higher and higher still, until, with a sudden wrench, the feeling had shifted entirely. If she were forced to describe it, the Dawn Alicorn would have used the analogy of fire suddenly turning into ice, sucking the warmth out of the surrounding air in the same way it would have emanated from the flames. Twilight Sparkle was feeling something Cadance had never encountered before, something raw, and powerful, and unpredictable. It was beyond anger, beyond rage. It was…

“Hatred is such an interesting emotion, don’t you think?” a mocking voice came from behind her. “So powerful, and yet so… self-destructive.”

Cadance whirled, her horn lighting up as she faced the one who had spoken. “Who goes there? This section of the Castle has been sealed!”

The voice chuckled, echoing from all directions. “My goodness, Celly finally did it. She actually managed to get you onto your hooves, and she might actually manage to finally breed that whelp Twilight Sparkle.” It spoke again, this time directly in her ear. “Dear old Celestia might actually win, and that means the game would be over.” Cadance spun to face where it had come from, directly over the open air by the balcony. The voice spoke again, from behind her. “We can’t have that, now can we?”

The blow that whistled through the air knocked Cadance off of the balcony, causing her so much pain that her wings refused to flap. She landed on a terrace fifty feet below with an earth-shattering crack. Her vision swam with spots in different colors as starbursts exploded in front of her eyes, causing her to blink blearily. Through the haze, she could see a sinuous shape crawling down the side of the tower like a lizard, tail flicking back and forth like that of a cat. It grinned, and in that grin Cadance could see one long, jagged fang, gleaming dully in the light of the city.

Discord unlatched from the side of the tower, floating lazily over to the Princess against the breeze. His grin was wide and hungry like a crocodile’s. “Cadance, dear, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m a dear old friend of your Aunt’s, and I’ve just come back to town. You can call me…”

“Discord.” Cadance whispered, rising shakily to her hooves. “How did you escape your prison without alerting Celestia?”

The draconeqqus grimaced. “I’d prefer it if you called me ‘Uncle Discord’, but we can work on that later. And as to how I escaped?” his grin returned, wider than ever and full of madness. “With so much Chaos filling every corner of Equestria and the Elements Unbound, how could I stay away? Really, I was just awaiting the opportune moment, and here you little ponies have handed it to me on a silver platter.”

The wind picked up again, even louder than before, and colder. Even Cadance noticed the chill through her coat. It seemed to creep into everything, and she could actually feel ice forming on the nearby buildings. She shivered, and Discord’s smug expression only grew.

“Feeling a bit chilly, Cadance? When was the last time you had contact with anypony up north? They’re feeling a lot colder now. If they’re still feeling anything, of course.”

Cadance felt anger boiling deep in her chest as she realized that she could no longer sense anything up north save for a few flickering points of light, guttering like candles in an arctic gale. “What have you done, Discord?” she demanded, her horn lighting up.

“What have I done? Nothing at all!” he laughed, floating on his back and gazing up at the stars. “It’s more a question of what you’ve done. Twilight kicked off this wonderful celebration of disorder and strife last night with some fireworks, and Celestia went right ahead and obliged her with a dance. The Forest is gorging itself on Equestria’s finest soldiers right now, and it looks like the festivities are well underway. But you’re missing something.”

His claw shot out, grabbing Cadance roughly by the throat faster than she could blink, his talons just barely breaking the skin of her neck as he began to squeeze slowly. “Dear Cadance, you forgot guests. So I went and brought them.”

Discord rammed her into the marble side of the castle as he leaned in close, close enough Cadance could smell his rancid breath, like foulest carrion, blowing into her face. “And you’ll be the one entertaining them, dear. I won’t be able to stay, I’ve got to get up north for a bit.” His other hand, the lion’s paw, lovingly traced the scar on her cheek, lingering near her eye as he debated on whether or not to take it. “So sorry to dine and dash, but you know how it is. Lots to do, and so very little time in which to do it.”

His eyes lit up malevolently as he pulled the feebly struggling Alicorn in. “Now, give us a kiss, dear.” Cadance twisted her head, trying to get away, but her caught her fast and their lips met, his loathsome snake’s tongue forcing its way into her mouth, filling it with the taste of carbon and writhing obscenely. It seemed to last for an age before he withdrew the offending appendage and dropped the panting, violated Alicorn onto the ground roughly. His smirk made her sick to her stomach. “Seemed like you were starting to enjoy that. Whatever would Shining Armor think?”

Cadance felt her fear vanish, replaced in an instant by white-hot fury. A bolt of magic spat from her horn, hissing as it crackled through the air, but the draconeqqus was too fast. His tail whipped around, stinging her on the nose and causing her to blink, and when she was finally able to see clearly, he was gone, vanished into the night.

And then, the alarm bells of Canterlot began to ring. The wind picked up again, and Cadance realized that it wasn’t the breeze making that peculiar howling noise. It was coming from a massive bank of black clouds, roiling violently in the night sky as if they were ready to burst forth with rage at any moment. Cadance looked more closely, and her heart nearly stopped when she realized what it was that was approaching Canterlot.

Windigos. Thousands, tens of thousands. And they were all headed straight for her.


Sweetie Belle dodged Applebloom’s spear thrust neatly, ready to land a strike on her friend’s unprotected neck. She was cut short, however, when Applebloom spun the haft around and struck her squarely across the ribs with it, causing them to groan in warning. They weren’t cracked, not quite, but it had been close. Silently she thanked Rarity for making her wear the armor, as it had caught much of the blow. Backing up, she tried to get away from Applebloom, who pressed her close.

The Earth pony’s head snapped around, and she left her attack on Sweetie Belle to fend off a countering move from Scootaloo, who had found Brick’s trident. The Pegasus thrust downward, hoping to lame Applebloom, but she was brought up short when Applebloom thrust the spear haft, missing its head, in between two of the tines. The struggle was brief, but titanic. Scootaloo twisted the deadly weapon in her hooves, and Applebloom’s spear snapped. The Sunborn growled as she raised a length in each hoof, backing away from Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle’s hoof reached for a knife, only to find that she had lost her last dagger. It was down to her and the jambiyah. Silently, she drew the long blade, holding it lightly in one hoof. Applebloom’s eyes widened slightly upon seeing the blade, and Sweetie Belle knew that Applebloom was acutely aware of the significance of her drawing it now.

“Planning to kill me, Sweetie?” she asked, twirling the two staves of wood in both hooves. Sweetie Belle was very suddenly reminded of her practice sessions with Glimmer, and how she had won last time. Sure enough, Applebloom presented her front, and Sweetie Belle felt her hoof twitch, ready to throw the dagger and end her once and for all. But something stopped her, and before she could think better of herself, Applebloom had closed the opening.

“Please, Bloom. We don’t want to hurt you.”

“All evidence to the contrary, traitor.” Applebloom said, indicating the knife. “Scootaloo seemed a mite eager to do it.”

The orange Pegasus hefted her three-pointed spear. “Only when you tried to hurt Sweetie Belle.”

The three Crusaders circled, their orbits drawing in tighter. Scootaloo jabbed at Applebloom with her trident, the Sunborn knocking the halfhearted attempts aside contemptuously. Sweetie Belle flipped her dagger from an overhand grip into an underhand, holding the blade close. If she could get in close enough to Applebloom, they might be able to disable her. If she hamstrung her, the unicorn medics would be able to repair the damaged muscle one they got her back to the Fort. It wasn’t far. The conflict had pushed them back to the plains right below the rise they had charged down earlier.

Sweetie Belle spoke, her voice cracking for the first time in years. “Please, Applebloom. This isn’t like you. We’re your friends, we don’t want to fight you. All we want is to keep you safe.”

Applebloom’s expression flickered, doubt crossing her face for a moment as she considered Sweetie Belle’s words. Something like pity warred with another, alien emotion on the mare’s face before the impassive mask slammed back into place. “If you were my friends, you’d be on the right side. You ain’t friends of mine. You’re Ever Free, the scum who destroyed my home to save your own sorry hides years ago. You ain’t even ponies anymore. You’re traitors.”

“I guess that’s it, then.” Scootaloo said, her voice resigned.

“I guess it is.” Applebloom replied.

Sweetie Belle could feel the tension rising in the air, it wouldn’t be long now. Applebloom’s staves rose, her shoulders rising again.

“For what it’s worth,” Scootaloo said, readying her trident. “I’m sorry for what I did to the orchard. I did what I had to do to survive.”

Applebloom’s face contorted. “Die, heretic!” she snarled, and she charged straight at Scootaloo, driving her back as she slipped inside of the Pegasus’s guard. The stave battered at her once, twice, before Scootaloo dropped the trident and swung out with her horseshoes, catching the edge of Applebloom’s shoulder with one of her powerful blows. Applebloom rolled with the punch, using her momentum to spin, facing Sweetie Belle. Her front hooves came down, back end coiling like a spring right before she bucked Scootaloo squarely in the chest.

Sweetie Belle heard ribs cracking even as she charged, and some of the blood Scootaloo spat up sprayed across her face, speckling her grimy white coat with bright red. Applebloom dropped out of the classic “bucker” stance, rolling to the side as Sweetie Belle’s jambiyah came down, pommel first, where her head would have been.

Applebloom rolled to her hooves, skidding a bit as pebbled flew from the furrows her hooves dug in the earth. A new weapon was in her hooves. Sweetie Belle rolled to the side as the quarrel from the crossbow buzzed through where her left eye would have been. Applebloom dropped the crossbow as Sweetie Belle charged her, scooping up a hoof full of dirt and throwing it into the young unicorn’s eyes, blinding her. Sweetie Belle felt rather than saw Scootaloo leap over her as she cleared the grit from her eyes.

Scootaloo’s hooves were a blur, as she landed a one-two combo on Applebloom’s body before flipping over the back of the Sunborn, her rear hoof kicking up, past her face, and then slamming down in between Applebloom’s shoulder blades. Scootaloo wasn’t pulling her punches anymore, and Applebloom was starting to feel her injuries. Scootaloo’s next punch, a wicked right hook, caught Applebloom in the jaw, and a few teeth flew from her jaw as Applebloom’s head snapped back.

But then she rallied, and came after Scootaloo with a vengeance. Ignoring the hammer strikes Scootaloo was raining on her back with her hooves, she picked up the Pegasus bodily, slamming her into the ground mercilessly once, and then twice, before throwing her into the dirt. Applebloom wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, licking it off of her hoof as she approached the gravely injured Pegasus.

Sweetie Belle cleared her eyes in time to see Applebloom plant a vicious kick into Scootaloo’s already-broken ribs, causing the Pegasus to cough up still more blood, curling into a ball. The Sunborn kicked her again, and again, rearing up to slam her front hooves down into Scootaloo’s unprotected belly as Sweetie Belle tackled her from behind. The jambiyah was lost, and she had no weapon. But Sweetie Belle was past weapons.

Her teeth latched onto Applebloom’s ear, and as the latter screamed in pain, she yanked her head back, tasting the coppery tang of blood. Applebloom’s hooves scrabbled at Sweetie Belle’s back as she spat the ear out, ramming her head into the base of Applebloom’s skull. The soldier’s hooves caught on one of the leather straps, and Sweetie Belle was hurled through the air, hitting the dirt at the base of the hill she had just charged down hard. Applebloom’s face was ugly as she approached the unicorn mare, who attempted to rise. Her leg crumpled, the newly healed bone unable to maintain its integrity any longer, and she hissed in pain.

Applebloom picked up a spear, this one with a head. Twirling it once, she stalked toward Sweetie Belle, blood streaking down her face. One eye was swollen shut, and she walked with a limp in her step. Soon, she stood over her onetime friend, looking down at her with contempt.

“You bitch.” she snarled, “You were supposed to be on my side in all of this. I knew Scootaloo had turned traitor, but I thought you were smarter than that.”

Sweetie Belle coughed weakly, her throat suddenly dry. “You…you’re on the wrong side. Not us, you.”

Applebloom smacked Sweetie Belle in the face with the butt of the spear, snapping her head to one side. “How dare you?!?” she cried. “The Ever Free attacked my home, hurt my family’s livelihood, they almost burnt down half of Ponyville, and you have the nerve to say to my face that my side is wrong? I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for Whitetail. Damn near killed my family.”

Sweetie Belle laughed, knowing that she likely had moments left. “Look around you, Applebloom. The Forest was burning long before the dragons showed up. And I know you were part of the group that set Trottingham on fire this afternoon. We may be bad, but you’re far, far worse.”

Applebloom’s face darkened. “I ain’t got nothin’ more to say to you.” She lifted the spear, ready to drive it down into Sweetie’s gut.

A wave of panic washed over the unicorn as the spear came down. “Applebloom, I’m preg-“


Twilight stared numbly at the dragon in front of her, the lifeless shell that had once held Spike. It couldn’t be. He was hurt. He was badly hurt, but he wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead. He was a constant, a dependable friend and a brother, something like the child she had never had. Spike was still alive, he had to be alive, her number one assistant couldn’t have died for her…

“Spike, get up.” she whispered. “Please, get up. You’re scaring me, please, Spike… I need you. Help me, Spike, don’t die…”

Celestia landed, walking toward her student with an air of detached calm. “I am sorry, Twilight. But this had to end. I regret his death, but the time has come for you to cease struggling and come with me.”

Twilight heard the words from very, very far away as her mind turned in on itself. Celestia’s words echoed in her head, but Twilight was no longer paying attention to them. In fact, she was no longer standing on the same battlefield. Her body stayed, but her mind had fled.

Instead, Twilight found herself standing on the precipice of her psyche, looking down at a very familiar sight. Below her, the ocean of Breaking magic surged and boiled, frothing with rage as cold spray clawed at her face and soaked her coat, tasting of salty tears. Twilight regarded this vast reservoir of dark energy with eyes that were completely dry and a heart that was now far colder than anything she had ever encountered before, even that icy black abyss.

Here was magic enough to destroy her enemy, but she knew that she could not wield it all. She was just one conduit, after all. Celestia was powerful, far more powerful than she could ever hope to be on her own. There was no way she could use it all, but maybe, just maybe, it could wield her, instead of the other way around. Twilight closed her eyes, and jumped off of that cliff, claimed by the icy ocean of hatred.

And when she opened her eyes, Twilight Sparkle had gone quite mad.

Her prone form, still steaming with the blood of the dragon she had loved more than anything in this world save Tarantella, rose from the earth, her broken and cracked bones snapping back into place while crackling and popping like twigs, while her eyes remained tightly shut. Celestia’s horn lit up, and a dome of golden energy appeared as she prepared for a counterattack from her student.

Twilight opened her eyes, and they were black through and through, just like the magic that had enveloped her horn. The crystal in her chestplate pulsed like a second heartbeat, and tendrils of shadow crept through her armor as she drew on the icy energy of hatred, letting it flow like quicksilver through her entire being, caressing her like a lover as she thought of all the pain Celestia had caused her, her lost life, her false love, the years of hardship, the betrayal of those closest to her, her years of sacrifice and paranoia…and Spike. All this and more flowed through her like dark water, coalescing at the tip of her horn.

The ribbon of shadow that escaped from her horn took Celestia high in the chest, shattering her barrier like sugar glass before driving her a full meter into the dirt, leaving a crater that actually smoked from the friction. Before Celestia could recover, Twilight let loose with a torrent of black energy that ate away at the ground around Celestia, tearing at her flesh and bone with all the force of a howling, gale force wind. The monarch of the Sun barely managed to struggle to her hooves in the face of this energy before Twilight bore her to the ground again, pinning her to the earth with the sheer force of her wrath.

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash called, red aura sparking as she tried to fly closer to her friend. “Calm down, you’re out of control!”

Another tendril of shadow snaked out, grabbing at all five of her friends before hurling them through the air like toys tossed by her will. They barely managed to steady their falls, landing near the Fort unharmed. Twilight’s rage was all-consuming, her hatred implacable, but she felt herself in complete control of her actions, and her friends were not the target. She inhabited a strange place of tranquil fury, raining down blow after ruinous blow on Celestia as she became aware of the fact that she was screaming wordlessly, an endless howl of pain and rage and sorrow.

The crystal in her chestplate began to spark as its grey began to separate, coalescing into white and black along the near-invisible flaw Luna had introduced. More and more magic began to flow through it as Twilight pushed herself to the limit. Clouds began to form in the sky, trailing in from the direction of Canterlot as Twilight felt frost rime her coat and horn. A blue, glowing shape was sucked through her horn, efficiently stripped of its energy and tossed aside without consequence. Twilight Sparkle did it again, and again, consuming hundreds of lifetimes worth of hatred. The crystal flared, cracked.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she felt something go very, very wrong.

The crystal shattered into a hundred pieces, fifty black and fifty white, as all of its energy was directed forward. The crystals, in turn, were blown backward, and Twilight Sparkle collapsed on the battlefield, riddled with holes. Snow began to fall from the sky, and as the sun rose, Twilight’s final expression of rage spiraled across the battlefield towards the river, eating through friend and foe alike as it dug a furrow hundreds of meters deep.

Water began to rush in as the river itself began to fill in the expanding crater, consuming all in its path as a new lake was formed. Through dimming vision, Twilight could see Celestia take to the sky, wings smoking as she searched for Twilight. She dove, but it was far too late. Water rushed towards Twilight, and she felt herself moving forward to reach it. Snow whipped around her face as she felt herself falling, and as her eyes fluttered closed, Twilight Sparkle saw one last thing.

A six pointed star, gleaming in pink and gold. She reached for it, and as her heart failed her, Twilight Sparkle allowed herself to embrace her Element.