White sheets were draped over the bodies of Rainbow Dash and Applejack as they laid down on cold, metal gurneys separate from the rest of the beds in the infirmary. All the ponies looked over the two draped bodies. Some ponies had tears spill out from the event, some ponies were hopeful about resurrection, but Twilight Sparkle had the most bizarre reaction out of everypony: she stood there silently, emotionlessly. Her eyes were void of life. Celestia moved her head towards Twilight with an uncomforted frown present on her face.
“Twilight, I understand that everypony here is grieving, but you look absolutely lifeless.” She stated. Twilight did not respond. She stood there, frozen in place. As Celestia saw that her torso inflated and deflated slightly with passing air, she sighed a breath of relief, but was still felt her stomach twist in concern. In concern, Celestia nudged the mentally-disturbed twilight with her snout out of the infirmary. Twilight still did not move. She sighed as the both of them went off into the hallway. Meanwhile, Fluttershy timidly walked over to one of the robots with tears fresh in her eyes.
“E-e-excuse me, um Mr. Robot?” As Fluttershy said this, the robot coldly turned over to Fluttershy. Fluttershy tucked herself in and shuddered in intimidation.
“I understand what you are going to ask, but I’m afraid I cannot resurrect your companions at the moment.” The robot coldly said. Fluttershy’s eyes opened widely and stepped back in shock.
“W-w-what?! But why?!” Fluttershy shouted at a very low decibel.
“It is true that I can resurrect your friends. However, I can only resurrect your friends if there is a strong enough desire to do so.”
“S-s-strong enough… desire?” Fluttershy said with uncertainty dripping in her voice. “I really want my friends to be alive really badly though. What are you saying that there isn’t a strong enough desire?” Fluttershy murmured.
“Every character in this room is in mourning. They are focused too much on the event rather than wanting their friends to be back. Chaos energy is formed out of desire, and desire is the fuel that we run on. In order to perform this task, I have to ask you if you truly do desire, with the bottom of your beating heart, to see your friends alive and well again.” The robot said. Fluttershy stood her place and stared at the robot.
“I do want to see my friend alive, and I am willing to do anything to get them back from the cold hooves of death!” Fluttershy stated with resolution. The robot stared down towards Fluttershy with its big red optic receptor.
“Very well. You have a lot of will power for one that is timid as yourself.” As the robot said this, its hands flashed in an orange aura, which surrounded Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
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The automatic doors before Twilight and Celestia opened as Celestia forcibly nudged Twilight away into her room. As the two alicorns entered the room, Celestia moved her hoof over the blue light switch, where the electricity contained within the lamp became brilliant. Twilight did not move at all. Even after the confirmation, Celestia twinged from Twilight’s inactions. She sighed.
“Twilight, I want to know if you are okay. Ever since that match, you haven’t exactly been yourself. When I talked to you, you didn’t respond in any way. Care to tell me what is on your mind?” She asked as carefully and sympathetically as possible. In all of a sudden, Twilight’s eyes sparked with life and her mouth slowly moved.
“Princess, why are ponies filled with such vice?” She said in a deadpanned, monotone voice. Celestia took in air as she was about to gasp, but she stopped herself before the action was done.
“Ponies aren’t filled with vice Twilight. The gauntlets and this world only give us those impressions.” She reassured.
“Until the last match, I used to believe that it was just this world, and I genuinely believed that it was only the actions of the gauntlets. But, I realized two things: first, the gauntlets amplify the subconscious desires of our hearts and minds. Second, nopony can truly claim that their hearts and minds are free from unconscious desires. Not even Lyra was able to fight it. She seemingly was unaffected because she desired to rescue her friend more than anything else. Rainbow Dash and Applejack may claim to have not been right in the head, and I would believe it. Yet, I’ve seen what is in their hearts today. They both harbor jealousy and hatred for each other. They just only wanted to cover it up so as to make it seem that they did forgive each other.” Twilight uttered in pain. Celestia visibly winced. “I have seen enough of this place to know that all ponies are equally rotten down to the core. We all have facades that we use in the day, but unveil our subconscious desires at night. We ponies are no more of savages than Griffons or Dragons are, we just keep a double-faced expression from everypony else and pretend that we are holier than thou. In reality, we are all nothing but just a bunch of sinners.”
“Twilight… those words… you said them with such scorn, such vile intent. Why?!” Celestia asked. Twilight stood angrily and stared towards Celestia’s general direction.
“Because you were the pony that introduced me to the concept of friendship. You told me that if I believed in myself and believed in the magic of friendship, then we can get through anything together. I believed every single lie that you uttered towards me. I always believed in the best of things, even if the worst reared their ugly heads. Even when Discord turned me against my true self, I genuinely believed that there was a way to change back. However, this world made me believe otherwise. This world reveals the truth that I was robbed of. I… I hate this truth. I genuinely hate it, but nopony can ever argue against the solid truth. We ponies are just vile creatures that deserve to be cleansed from Equestria. I feel that I am the pony for that particular job.” Twilight spat every word with the vilest of venom.
“Twilight, are you even listening to yourself?! You cannot just decide that you will purge the entire pony race just because we are imperfect! Every pony is naturally flawed, and learning to overcome those flaws is what makes us better than what we previously were!” Celestia shouted. Her eyes were wide open, and her snout was stunned open in distress.
“Lies, all lies! If we go past one flaw, then there will always be another fatal flaw lurking nearby. Ponies can never conquer all their flaws, so why should I give two thoughts on why the pony race should be preserved?! Rainbow Dash admitted that her spirit let her become as abusive as she was, and I was a fool to try to comfort a sinner such as her.” Twilight angrily shouted.
“Twilight… you were never like this. You weren’t this vicious five minutes ago. In fact, you hoped and believed the best in your friends.” Celestia stated with mouth ajar, understanding the gravity of the situation.
“Celestia, I witnessed two ponies die from their vices and desires! Do you earnestly expect me to just sit by, pretend nothing happened and be your goody-goody princess?! I know that this might seem very different to you, but in those moments that we were over in the infirmary, I had the time to piece together the pieces in the puzzle. Originally, I thought that this puzzle would have been very complex. In reality, it only needed a few pieces before I knew what the picture was about. The puzzle was very different than what I expected, and now I understand everything.” Twilight continued. Celestia sighed painfully with closed eyes. She slowly opened them to form a stern stare focused towards Twilight.
“I see… then you have been lost, and never want to return. I can’t say that I am happy to hear your opinion. In fact, I am very perturbed by what you had to say. Normally, I would not think carefully about these words and let you go your way, but you are so adamant about where you stand. You also speak of genocide for our kind and stand resolutely with it. You know under any circumstance, I will not let harm befall my ponies, even if the one that threatens to harm them is close to me. I will have to deal with you personally.” She said as straight-forward as possible. Her gauntlet flashed from the intense desires that emanated through her mind. The flash did not go unnoticed by Twilight, as she looked down upon the leg with a stern expression.
“It seems that you wish to keep me quiet. Under normal circumstances, you would have just banished me to an area where I can never do any harm. However, we aren’t under normal circumstances, aren’t we? We are in a universe where our abilities are surpressed. I’m afraid you’ll just have to kill me if you don’t want me to do what I have to do.” She said with an uncomfortably dark tone. These words caused the gauntlet on Celestia’s hoof to fill instantly with the chaotic energy, which caused the same transformation flash to occur when a pony puts on a gauntlet for the first time. She was in her captain’s uniform and blazed with a radiating heat.
“If that is what it will take to keep my ponies safe, then I will have to perform regicide. Twilight, your life is mine!” Celestia shouted as she jumped towards Twilight. Twilight fearfully jumped out of the way as Celestia’s hoof smashed down against the metallic floor, causing a severe, noticeable dent in it. She ran outside of the room through the automatic door and ran down the halls as quick as she possibly could. Celestia jumped through the door with such ferocity and determination in her eyes. Her keen eyes detected Twilight running down the corner of the hallway. Celestia held her gauntlet out and tapped it several times. When this happened, two Dry Bones and a Monty Mole, all in white uniforms, spawned from the beams shot from the gauntlet. “The three of you, I want you to hunt down my former student and traitorous princess Twilight Sparkle in cold blood, and I want you to exterminate her.” Celestia said strongly. “And make sure that she does not hurt any ponies onboard this ship.” Her three comrades visibly shook, but nodded in understanding. They all stared angrily and sprinted down each hallway.
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Twilight Sparkle had never felt so alive in her life. She grinned from the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Her eyes were filled with lawlessness. She panted from slight exhaustion, but kept running.
“I guess I’ll have to even out the score with a gauntlet of my own. From there, I can bring about true purification.” As she said this, a Monty Mole popped out from behind a passage in the corridor. The Monty Mole ran towards Twilight with rampaging claws extended. “You want a piece of me motherbucker? You’ll just have to catch me then!” Twilight screamed as she sprinted. She took full advantage of her natural speed when compared to the slow sprinting speed of her pursuer. Even then, the Monty Mole still had a bloodthirsty expression on his face as he jumped from hallway to hallway. Soon, the Monty Mole eventually jumped in front of her through an open corridor. Twilight skidded on the floor until she stopped. Her eyes and mouth opened widely in fear. The Monty Mole grinded his extended claws together for intimidation factor. Twilight noticed a hallway to the side of her and smirked. Just as the Monty Mole was about to slash her, Twilight ran down the corridor and laughed at the face of death. The Monty Mole sighed at his failure and tried running after Twilight. Twilight was far ahead of the Monty Mole.
She smiled viciously as she saw the very familiar halls that led to the navigation room. As she ran down the corridors, she turned around to the sound of rattling bones. Her eyes opened widely as she saw two Dry Bones run down the hall. The sight of the two skeletal creatures caused her heart to beat faster than what it should be like under sprinting circumstances. The two Dry Bones were slowly, but steadily catching up to her. One of the Dry Bones grabbed its head and tossed it to the other Dry Bones. The Dry Bones’ foot charged with electricity as it kicked its companion’s skull towards Twilight. Twilight dodged the electrified skull by hopping to the left. The skull kept flying until it hit a wall at the end of the corridor. Twilight took a right and panted in relief. The Dry Bones without the skull stopped at the end of the corridor and grabbed its skull. The other Dry Bones mercilessly chased after Twilight. Twilight ran as fast as she could, but the Dry Bones was closing in on her very quickly.
“If this keeps up, then I’m done for! However, it isn’t whether or not if I can run away from the Dry Bones. It is if I can reach the gauntlet before this Dry Bones catches up to me.” Twilight thought to herself. She smiled as the sight of a room with frayed wires greeted her. The Dry Bones was an inch away from her tail. In an attempt of desperation, Twilight jumped and tilted towards her side and went into a roll. The pounding gravity allowed her to skip along the floor. She made it towards the central shelf in the room. As quick as she possibly could, she grabbed a gauntlet and moved it over her right forehoof. The gauntlet flashed a blue before Twilight was taken into the brilliant light. As the light dissipated, she was covered in metallic regalia-esque armor: her helmet shone a brilliant purple as it was topped with six twisted spires. She had a metal plate on her chest that had the emblem of her cutie mark on it. She had several purple, metal plates covering her shoulders and hips, which extended downward to her legs. Her gauntlet became a shiny purple color, which fit the purple, spiky cleats that were now on her hooves. Finally, her mane became fully ethereal. It has a wispy appearance of purple with a pink wisp down the center. Twilight pulled out her forehoof dramatically and used the energy she gained from the transformation to levitate a stylus from the glove. She looked at her screen and saw a sprite of her head along with three empty boxes. She tapped each of them at a speed quicker than light. As she did, three blue beams shot from her gauntlet in a line pattern in front of her. A Birdo clad in purple, a Shy Guy in purple robes, and a Dry Bones smeared in purple paint spawned in front of her. As Celestia and her sidekicks reached the navigation room, the four of them stopped in their tracks and saw Twilight with a crazed expression on her face.
“Give up Twilight! I’ll be merciful and allow you to rethink your decisions, but you only have a moment to think about them before I tear you apart with my hooves.” Celestia said in a threatening voice. Twilight only laughed hysterically.
“You no longer have any power over me Celestia. I found what my true purpose as a bringer of harmony is. As long as there is life, harmony can never exist! You may be able to maintain the illusion of harmony, but I know that there will always be a difference in opinions. Differences in opinions will always lead to chaos, and everypony suffers because of it!” Twilight shouted. Luna ran down into the room with eyes widened in worry.
“Sister! What happened?!” Luna shouted fearfully. “We heard a large commotion erupt from your room and in the halls. When I saw that you were in your uniform chasing Twilight, I just had to follow!” Celestia looked back towards her sister.
“Lulu, Twilight has gone mad from the revelation! She has to be stopped immediately. Otherwise, the lives of ponies are going to be in danger!” Celestia shouted. Luna looked towards the eyes of Twilight. She stood back with shaky legs.
“Those eyes… it cannot be!” She shouted. “Twilight! Cease your actions now. Otherwise, you’ll let evil enter into your body!” Luna demanded with the Royal Canterlot Voice. Twilight was unfazed.
“Don’t you see Luna? Everypony is full of dark desires and hidden motives! These gauntlets have shown that to me! Everypony is evil, so everypony must be exterminated!” Twilight shouted. Luna took a deep breath in before the light on her gauntlet flashed. As she was enveloped in a flash of light, she became fleshed out in her uniform.
“Sister, allow us to assist you in literally beating sense into your student.” Luna fiercely said. She held out her gauntlet and hit a yellow, upside-down triangle on the screen that said “Previous Settings.” The gauntlet shot three beams that spawned a Dry Bones, a Boo and a Birdo, all fleshed out in their midnight blue uniforms. Her three sidekicks chattered in confusion. “My companions, though we have fought our sister in the name of competitive vengeance, we’ll be teaming up with her team in order to take down a common foe. That purple captain and team in front of you, she is the enemy. She wants to exterminate ponykind. I want the each of you to neutralize the threat!” Luna commanded. Her sidekicks nodded in agreement as they faced the team in front of them.
“Celestia, Luna… I see the two of you have allied with each other to take me down. This isn’t necessarily fair you know.” Twilight said in a sarcastic tone.
“I’m through entertaining your thoughts Twilight! The last thing I would ever want to sound like is a fascist ruler, but I’m afraid that I’m going to have to turn you into a good pony and beat you down into a bloody pulp if it means preserving the peace and freedom that Equestria has long strived towards!” Celestia shouted in her Royal Canterlot Voice.
“I know you feel this way Celestia, and I know that you’ll do everything to protect your ponies. But for that reason, that is why I’m going to have to end your life first. Then, I’ll end Luna’s life next.” Twilight said. She looked downwards upon the two royal sisters that threatened to stop her. The adrenaline pumped into her bloodstream again. She knew that she would enjoy every single moment of this large battle.