“Either your courage is really uncanny or you’re just plain stupid.” Night Watch declared, observing from her position as Trixie parted ways with Twilight.
The unicorn laughed, mocking the moori commander, and turned around, looking straight at her eyes, "I don't care what you think of me. I won't let you harm her..."
Trixie stepped out of the icy fog she had used to encase the knights. Her long, crimson cape flowed with the breeze, her pointy hat obscuring one side of her face. She puffed her chest proudly, her left eye glowing with a powerful azure light, “She’s Twilight Sparkle! The same heroine who saved your flanks from Nightmare Moon! She’s not a traitor, nor a monster, nor a betrayer! She will never use those powers of hers to harm our kingdom! I’m sure of it, and I will fight with all my strength to protect her, until she can shout out to the world the truth you have been hiding from her!”
“This cannot be…” Jasper whispered, attracting Night Watch’s attention.
“What’s the matter, Jasper?” The moori asked promptly.
“She is… Using a rare kind of magic. It’s Rune Casting! I thought it was just a legend!"
“I don’t understand those magic-babble terms.” Night Watch’s face contorted into a confused frown, “Just tell me, it’s really that powerful?”
The nightcorn slowly nodded, eyes still gazing in awe towards Trixie. Her commander displayed a content, mocking grin and patted her knight on the shoulder, “I guess this is a little too much for you, then.”
Both Trixie and Jasper looked perplexed towards the moori.
“Get going. I want you to track down the Twilight Princess with the rest of our battalion. I will fight this knightress of hers, and see if this Rune Casting of hers is so powerful as to strike such fear in the heart of my right-hoof mare.”
Jasper bowed, and her horn flared with a strange grayish-white glow. In seconds, the nightcorn vanished from Trixie’s field of view, as if she had just fused with the night itself. As soon as she disappeared, the rest of Night Watch’s troops took flight, leaving only their commander behind…
Trixie observed as Night Watch begun to move her neck to the sides, stretching it. She had a small smile on her muzzle, much for Trixie’s disgust.
Is this freak mocking me or something?
“Your knightress says my magic is uncommon, but she displays a very uncommon magic herself.” Trixie called the commander with a grin plastered on her face.
“Jasper’s special talent is illusion and concealment magic. She’s the perfect asset for a division of assassins, like mine.” Night Watch replied, her small smile turning into a grin as huge as Trixie’s.
Both ponies started walking very slowly in circles, going in opposite directions, studying their opponent with attention…
“So, you dismissed your whole battalion and decided to stay behind, alone? You’re going to duel me? Isn’t that a little old fashioned and stupid for a pony who takes pride in commanding an assassination squad?” Trixie provoked, smile only getting larger.
“You got it, filly. Besides, that’s how Equestria solves its problems; with minimum bloodshed. Taking in consideration what you did with Leather Flap, Sonic Boom and Rat Trap over there, I don’t wanna see more companions of mine turned into ice cubes.” The commander replied, pointing to the three guards Trixie had transformed into ice statues earlier.
“Oh, that!” Trixie motioned her gaze towards them and returned to the moori, “Don’t worry, they aren’t dead. They will defrost in a couple of minutes, probably with a tremendous headache, and a cold.”
Night Watch laughed, “That’s good to know! For a moment there, I thought you were some kind of zealot, capable of killing in the name of your Princess.”
“Just like you are, Commander Night Watch?” Trixie launched the rhetorical question with a mocking grin, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah… Just like me!” Night Watch shouted. The gaze from her magenta eyes suddenly became much more threatening. With her left forehoof, she reached behind her armor, and produced a small metal bar. She activated some sort of contraption, and the metal cane sprung to life, doubling its size and turning into a spear, bigger than her body.
Using her pastern to get a firm hold of the weapon, she pointed the tip towards Trixie and declared, “You’re messing in business you shouldn’t, filly! This event is about to evolve into a serious conflict! Just like it happened with the Changeling Invasion or with Sombra’s Return! Back away now! What did the Twilight Princess gave you that’s so important to risk your life fighting for?”
Trixie’s expression grew serious. For the first time, she was about to ‘fight’ a real battle, where she could end up dead…
Her old self could run away, and leave this whole ‘Twilight Princess’ business to somepony else. However, things had changed…
“Friendship.”
Night Watch blinked a couple of times, probably still trying to process that answer. Nonetheless, she stretched her leathery wings, and getting ahold of her weapon with both forehooves, she took flight, charging at Trixie with amazing speed.
Immediately, Trixie’s horn flared with an intense pink glow, and from the tip, a powerful blast of pink energy was shot in a straight line towards the flying moori. Night Watch got surprised for a moment, but she maneuvered to the side, escaping from the blast, which exploded behind her, against the wall of a random house, turning the construction into smithereens.
Although her direct trajectory changed, the commander still had momentum to attack the unicorn from her side, reaching her position in seconds, brandishing her huge spear in a descendent arc.
Trixie quickly summoned her weak and small pink ward, at the exact moment before being cut. The spear clanged against its surface, producing sparks, and then shattering it. Even though she took some recoil, Trixie was ready for a counter-attack: She raised the front part of her body and thundered both fore hooves against the ground, activating a rune encircled by a magic circle.
In front of her, right below the commander, a razor sharp icicle appeared violently from the ground , ready to impale the moori mercilessly.
Night Watch widened her magenta eyes in shock, and backed away, flapping her bat wings as fast as she could, escaping gaining a hole on her chest by inches.
Taking the chance to keep bombarding her opponent, Trixie rolled from behind the ice spear, and after finishing a rune on the air, several smaller ice bolts formed all around her. With a gesture from her right fore hoof, the unicorn commanded them to attack Night Watch.
Her target continued to back away, flying in her opposite direction. This time, each blue bolt was deflected by precise, lightning-fast slashes, as she swung her weapon like a whip in order to avoid being stung.
After all the bolts were deflected, the moori laughed loudly, “Amazing! This is freakin’ amazing! You can just defy one of the magic’s laws using this exotic art of yours! You’re a monster!”
Trixie felt a little scared by her reaction. Although, she used the best of her acting skills to not let her fear show itself for Night Watch to see.
How can she laugh like this in the middle of a fight? Is this the difference between an experienced warrior and a mere civilian like me, just like Twilight said there was?
“Defying the magical laws that disables an unicorn from tampering with the forces of nature is just one of the aspects of my art, commander! It matters not to me if you think I am a monster!” She shouted at Night Watch, seriousness weighed on both her voice and expression.
Still floating a few meters above Trixie, Night Watch spun her spear, readying it again to strike.”I can go even faster, filly. Think you can keep up with me?”
In a flash, Night Watch vanished.
Trixie gulped, scared.
Her eyes widened in shock, as she finally spotted Night Watch behind her in the corner of her vision, hooves flexed, her spear positioned to pierce Trixie without mercy. The only possible action was to roll to the side for an escape.
Night Watch stabbed the ground, an electric spark blasting from the tip of her weapon, causing debris to fly in all directions.
Rapidly, Trixie got on all four again, readying yet another rune while maneuvering out of harm’s way. Her horn glowed with an azure shine, and this time, a thinner,longer, spear-like icicle appeared by Trixie’s side from a blue mist. With a gesture, as if throwing the protrusion towards Night Watch, moving her hoof in a crescent arc, Trixie sent the floating spike against her.
Night Watch awaited until the icicle was just about to hit her, and vanished again, then reappeared right in front of Trixie with her weapon positioned to apply a cutting attack in a horizontal fashion against the unicorn.
Trixie motioned her hoof, calling the ice spear back, and the construct obliged, coming back to attack the moori from behind. Night Watch changed her attention, focusing her gaze onto the object, then instead of hitting Trixie, she brandished her spear while rotating her body to the opposite direction, striking and shattering it.
The unicorn saw it as an opening for striking down the commander. Trixie backpedaled, gaining enough distance to take aim, and after concentrating her best Magic Blast, she assaulted Night Watch’s back mercilessly nailing her with an almost point-blank shot. The strike sent the moori flying, as the beam launched her back, towards another random house, where both the energy and the wall seemed to explode in a cloud of sparks, debris and dust.
Trixie landed a few meters away, observing the cloud of dust and debris left from her attack.
And then a macabre laugh filled her ears with shock, and her heart with despair…
“Where did you learn those moves, filly? Are you sure you never joined the army? We could certainly use somepony with your abilities…”
Night Watch’s brash, raspy voice came out of the mist, as it slowly settled, and revealed her form. The commander had gained several bruises on her face and hooves, and her armor had cracked in a few places, but she was surprisingly okay for somepony who was just hit by that amount of energy…
“How did you-!” Trixie was at a loss for words.
The moori motioned one of her hooves to her chest, punching the sturdy armor protecting her, “Obsidian armour. Extreme resilience against any kind of magic. We came to capture a goddess, filly, we aren’t dumb enough to jump into battle without being prepared… Though I must admit you’re damn powerful! I don’t think a spellcaster less than class A would be able to crack this armor like this! I did well in sending Jasper away, she’s only class B, and she’s one of the strongest nightcorns we have. ”
Calmly , Night Watch picked up her spear from the ground, and plunged the tip into the earth. She moved her gaze across the battlefield, stopping over the giant icicle Trixie had called previously.
“You like to use ice spells… Why?”
Trixie wasn’t sure if she should feel offended or flattered from having her art attracting the curiosity of one from the mythical ‘Unseen’ in the middle of a death battle.
“Runes are commandments to the forces of nature encircling us. They are words of power, communicating with the elements that one day, formed our planet. I need the right atmosphere to fully create a spell using them. Lightning-based ones asks for high electrically charged climates; Fire-based ones requires a high amount of heat or combustible material; However, all that ice-based runes needs is-”
Trixie quickly drew a rune on the air, by motioning her right fore hoof. A blue mist formed around it, and a small ball of ice appeared, sitting atop its back.
“Water. As you must be aware, there’s water everywhere, diluted into the atmosphere in the form of vapor. The runes serve to gather this water, and then lower its temperature until I can reshape it in any form I desire, thus creating ice constructs embedded with my magic.”
“I can’t help but keep feeling surprised by this.” Night Watch affirmed, picking her spear back, preparing it for her next assault.
“It’s my mother’s legacy. She died, poisoned from the gases the special stones she used to craft them generated. She wanted to cure the world using healing runes, but her dream never came to be… That’s why, I will fulfill her desire, and not only continue her legacy, but I will protect my friends and family!”
“I admire your determination, but you will yield! The Two Sisters will not allow your Princess to destroy what they fought so hard to build!”
“That’s the problem, Night Watch!” Trixie shouted, angrily, “My Princess will not destroy what yours built! She just wants to have her life back to how it used to be!”
The moori smirked, “The throne of Equestria doesn’t have three seats, Trixie. Even though Selena rules the night, only her Holy Lady Celestia reigns supreme. A third alicorn can’t exist without throwing the balance off even more.”
“But Twilight doesn’t want to rule!” Trixie yelled, even more angry.
She was first replied to with a mocking cackle, which almost made her explode with wrath.
After wiping a single tear falling from the corner of her eye with a hoof, Night Watch answered further, “Alicorns rule, Trixie. That’s their destiny; the reason behind their existences. Your Princess can try to run as long as she want; sooner or later, it will be for naught. She will rule, or she will vanish.”
Night Watch disappeared for an instant, until surging back right above Trixie, her eyes filled with murderous intent, her weapon ready to strike from above with a descending cut.
“And if you keep getting the way of me stopping her... I will kill you!”
The strike was vicious. All the unicorn could do was to put on her weak, pink shield and brace herself. The spear scratched the magical construct, producing sparks as Night Watch continued to ravage Trixie’s defense with her weapon.
And before long, the shield shattered, and the razor sharp tip penetrated Trixie’s flesh.
A shallow wound right above the left side of her withers, but deep enough to draw blood from her. The pain of having, for the very first time in her whole life, the coldness of the iron cutting her made Trixie almost pass out.
It seared, even though it wasn’t hot. Her eyes immediately filled with tears and she had to swallow a pained scream about to escape from her mouth; losing psychologically to Night Watch was the last thing she wanted at that point.
Using all of her will power, Trixie jumped backwards, to escape from another possible incoming attack. She was scared, afraid and due to it she crashed pathetically on the ground, rolling.
As quickly as she could, Trixie recovered and got back on all four. The pain coming from the wound was intense.
She could feel some blood escaping from the wound and rolling down through her skin, drenching her foreleg. The hot liquid, her own life force escaping her, flowing through her body made Trixie panic…
The crushing pain made her vision blur… Trixie begun to have doubts about her victory.
I still have the Command Rune…
Trixie focused her vision at Night Watch. The moori smiled widely, showing her pointy fangs with satisfaction. She had just readied her weapon for the next assault.
If I - Wait! What am I talking about?
Trixie braced herself. Her breathing was heavy and pained.
Is spending one year of my life span to win against this mare really what I was planning?
Her opponent wasn’t interested about Trixie’s thoughts. She charged forth, spear prepared to impale the unicorn.
Trixie saw an image of Twilight in her glorious alicorn form flashing in front of her eyes...
That star I couldn’t grasp… She’s the one worthy of giving my life to!
Moving her hoof towards a hidden pocket inside her long crimson cape, the unicorn snatched a small piece of stone. She waited patiently for Night Watch to be closer to her. In a single motion, Trixie threw the small stone on the ground, a few meters in front of her.
“Banshee’s Scream…”
The round stone had several circular designs on it. Those strange scribblings lit in an intense azure glow when they touched the soil, provoking a monumental sound shockwave.
The wind blast was so strong that Night Watch had to stop midway to Trixie, and close her eyes. Everything around the ponies was engulfed by debris from the soil. Even some pieces of the nearby houses begun to extricate from the structures and fly away.
The moori landed and took a step backwards, covering her eyes with her forearm, Trixie however, seemed to be completely unfazed by that malevolent catastrophe.
“If you ain’t going down by my magic-“
Trixie motioned her hoof to her side, quickly making it dance, drawing a symbol on the air, which complicated lines glowed through the night. The moment she finished, the wind ceased.
“-I will smash you with my strength!”
Cold dust gathered around her hoof and in no time, a giant sledgehammer made purely out of blue ice appeared. The unicorn rapidly wielded the maul with both hooves, and leaped towards the commander, with her weapon right above her head.
Night Watch tried to peek with one eye what was happening, but before she could take any action, it was too late; Trixie smashed the moori under the head of her sledgehammer, crashing the icy construct with all her strength she had left. The impact was so strong, that even the weapon was reduced to pieces, as ice shards flew in all directions, and a creepy bluish-white mist formed where the commander was supposed to be.
Trixie felt her whole body going numb...
It was the last of her stamina. She couldn’t even remain on hoof.
After the attack, the unicorn fell to the ground, panting heavily. She just remembered how Rune Casting is tiresome for the caster, and how her mother’s books described that one should never dream about using it for long periods. She had outdone herself this time.
“Colt, I’m gonna be sore tomorrow!”
Trixie’s eyes shot open in surprise.
This cannot be!
Amid the blue mist, the unicorn could see the commander rising from the ground, ice shards falling all over her body, her armour even more cracked, about to break and two trails of fresh blood falling from both sides of her mouth. Night Watch stepped in her direction, ever so slowly, licking the blood escaping from her snout, and staring at Trixie with an evil intent, “If you had played this card earlier, maybe before I cut you, maybe... You could have won. However, your strike was weakened by the pain from your wound. Try to mask it all you want filly, I was victorious the moment I drew first blood. You aren’t mentally prepared for a battle, a true warrior doesn’t shake when their opponent hurts them.”
Her words echoed inside Trixie’s mind like a knife penetrating her chest. Twilight was right again; and Celestia know how she detested when that egghead had reason backing her!
Get up!
She yelled mentally, forcing her numb legs to respond.
Get up you damned foal! Get back on your hooves and keep on fighting! This isn’t the Grand Finale you promised to your old man!
Night Watch witnessed Trixie drawing power from her will alone, and slowly, clumsily, the unicorn was back on all four of her hooves. Her weak legs trembled, and her expression was one of pure pain, but nonetheless Trixie’s horn flared with the same azure glow from before.
“Lay down. You’re finished,” the moori hissed, bewildered by Trixie’s stubbornness.
“Even if it kills me, I will defeat you, Night Watch! I won’t let a bat get the best of me! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, and I will prove my power!”
She wasn’t even sure as to why she just shouted that. Maybe it was her way to rally the last amount of energy she had left and try some kind of desperate tactic. However, her energetic yell won nothing more than a smirk from the commander...
“You didn’t understand, I said you are finished. I’m not holding back anymore...”
Upon declaring that, Night Watch fiddled with her spear, turning the handle as if turning the lid of a bottle. The weapon divided into two halves, and from both hollow sides, a strange black powder flowed down to the ground, quickly forming a pile in front of her.
“Minimal bloodshed. Doesn’t mean we don’t know how to completely obliterate an enemy.”
The moori spread her leather wings upwards, and then on a single motion, she flapped them, producing a strong blow of wind; stronger than it would seem that a simple beat of wings would be capable of producing.
It made the pile of black powder spread rapidly, becoming a thick, huge ebon cloud. Unable to run, the unicorn could only stare at it as it covered everything around her, reducing her visibility to zero. The strong smell it had made Trixie immediately cough, the thickness of it invaded her nostrils and made they sear.
Even with her eyes firmly closed, it was almost like feeling them burn. She tried to move away, but no matter to where she turned, she could still feel the powder all around her.
What’s this? What the hay is this? Is that freak trying to asphyxiate me?
This black powder... Wait a minute!
Night Watch swiftly flew towards the ceiling of the Ponyville townhouse, observing her black mist spreading more and more like a stain on the surfacing of the ocean. Almost the entirety of Ponyville square was now tinged pitch-black.
“This is an alchemically enhanced blast powder, Trixie. Equestria never bares its fangs, but that it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have them. We know how to destroy, and unless we are caught by surprise, like when Chrysalis tried to conquer us, no opponent in this world can defeat the Land Where The Sun And The Moon Sleep.”
Calmly, the moori picked up a strategically positioned bow from the town house's ceiling, waiting for her at that location. Still holding the tip of her spear with one hoof, she scratched it against the tiles at her hooves, setting the tip aflame.
“Black Death...”
Using half of her spear as an arrow, Night Watch took aim and attacked. The moment the fire dart made contact with the black powder spreading across the vicinities, a monumental explosion took place, illuminating the dark night. Buildings, houses, memories... Everything reduced to pieces by Night Watch’s arrow, and by Luna’s will.
“Goodbye, Rune Witch.”
“You are... Lightning Dust! That mare from he Wonderbolts Academy!”
Twilight’s jaw dropped. The cocky mare who had almost killed her and four of her friends so many months ago during Rainbow Dash’s training at the Junior Wonderbolts Academy was right in front of her.
She shot an unsure glance at Twilight, surprised by her reaction to her presence, “What about it? You speak as if you were there...”
“I was!” Shouted Twilight, enraged.
She received a mocking laugh as reply from Lightning Dust, “Yeah! Right! As if there ever was some kind of a freakin’ alicorn around there.”
“Don’t you recognize me? I’m Rainbow Dash’s friend! I was with four other mares on the balloon that you almost shot down with a tornado!”
“Shut up, dammit!” She yelled, expression filling to the brim with rage, “Stop lying you monster! Hearing her name coming from your foul mouth makes me sick!”
“Fine...” Breathed Twilight, lowering both her face and her voice, “What do you want from the monster who killed the Elements of Harmony?”
“Revenge...” She hissed, her intention clear.
“Why are you taking so long, then?” Asked the alicorn, a mixture of apprehension and anger constricting her chest, “You already subdued me, just finish what you started...”
“That’s what is bothering me, freak,” Lightning Dust sat on the ground, observing Twilight’s wings and horn with attention, “Aren’t you supposed to be a freakin’ God? Or at least a ‘fake God’, like the newspaper dubbed it. How could I have defeated you so easily, if you destroyed Dash and her bunch while they were using those fancy Elements of theirs."
“Should I ask you why do you want to exact vengeance upon Rainbow Dash’s death, if you and her didn’t ended in good terms?”
Lighting Dust’s eyes shot open in surprise, “How could you know that?”
Twilight was cornered, but since her captor wanted to chat, she was sure to give her one heck of a ride...
“Like you just said, I am a ‘freakin’ God’. Maybe, I do know a few things I wasn’t supposed to.” Twilight declared that with a malicious smile plastered across her muzzle.
“Figures... Are you trying to scare me or something?” Her captor smiled even wider, looking straight to her eyes without a hint of fear, “To the hay you know, I don’t give a damn about it. It’s simple you freak; you killed that bastard, so you’re better than her. If I kill you, it will prove once and for all that I’m better than both!”
Twilight’s expression contorted into a confused frown. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t understand Lightning Dust’s twisted logic, but what exactly did she want?
“You mean... You wanted to kill Dashie right from the start?” Asked the alicorn with a hint of fear on her voice.
Once again, Lightning Dust replied with a cackle. It made a cold chill run down Twilight’s spine.
“Are you dense, monster?” She yelled, face twisting into hatred in a couple of seconds, “I wanted to crush her cyan skull under my hoof! I wanted to make her taste the dirt on them with her tongue! However, you had to appear and snatch her away from me!”
Twilight blinked in rapid succession, trying to process what just happened. She never heard somepony yelling with so much ‘passionate’ hate before, let alone directed at one of her best and closest friends.
“Why do you hate Dashie so much?” Inquired Twilight, curious about her captor’s reason.
“Why should I tell you? I should simply go and crush your ribcage between my forehoof and that tree, and turn your lungs into swiss cheese.”
Twilight gulped. Lightning Dust’s borderline behavior scared her to the bone. That mare had a clear intention of killing her, and she could feel it from a mile away. From the corner of her eye, she took a quick glance at the rope Lightning Dust used to subdue her, and concluded something a little unsettling...
This rope is made of obsidian enriched thread. My magic is completely useless on it! She came prepared...
“Killing me isn't going to get you anything!"
“It doesn’t matter. All I want is make somepony pay for what they did to me!” Lightning hissed back, furious.
Twilight narrowed her eyes, she wasn’t going down without a fight, “What did they do to you, Lightning Dust? What the hay are you talking about?”
“Rainbow Dash destroyed my dream! She destroyed my only chance of proving my father I’m not useless!” The pegasus shouted, furiously.
“Who is’s your father? Why do you need to prove anything to him?”
Upon hearing Twilight’s question, Lightning Dust smirked, lowering her head and throwing away her gaze.
“Soarin’. From the Wonderbolts...”
The alicorn wasn’t sure how to absorb the shock. Was Lightning Dust telling her the truth?
“Y-You’re – Soarin’s daughter?!”
Still smirking, the pegasus turned her eyes back at Twilight, “If you doesn’t believe me, I don’t care. I’m his daughter; the one he never wanted, the result of a night on Las Pegasus, too much alcohol, a young stallion with too much fame over his head, and a poor and young whorse trying to make some profit of an easy night with a celebrity.”
There was a strange, yet profound honest on her expression, observed Twilight. Her eyes never flicked or felt weak.
“Lightning Dust...”
“What?!” She yelled, her face immediately becoming full of hate, “Are you going to pity me?! If you’re thinking about feeling pity over me, I will break your neck you fake goddess!"
“What exactly are you trying to prove?” Inquired Twilight, feeling more curious than fearful with the recent turn of events.
“That I don’t need him to be the best there is in what I do! I will become Equestria’s number one flyer! I will best him, and Rainbow Dash, and any whorse who dares to cross my way! I will kick him out of the Wonderbolts and-“
She paused, much for Twilight’s surprise, and suddenly, the pegasus begun to laugh maniacally.
“I can’t! I almost forgot that Rainbow Dash destroyed my only chance of joining their ranks! I can’t give that bastard a satisfying kick on his sorry arse outta his own team! All thanks to the said fastest flyer of Equestria... Is it explanation enough for you, Twilight Princess?!”
Twilight sighed.
“Rainbow Dash is still alive...” Said Twilight, sobbing.
“Say it again?!” Lightning almost jumped at Twilight upon hearing that.
“She’s alive, Lightning Dust. I didn’t kill her, nor did I kill any of the six elements of harmony. The media lied to you, as it lied to everypony in this country only to avoid mass hysteria that would follow if they knew the truth...”
Although Twilight was aware that a few words weren’t going to change the rage-fuelled beast in front of her, she had to try and convince Lightning Dust of her innocence; dying at her hooves and leaving Trixie behind to die as well was the last thing she wanted.
Lightning Dust looked at Twilight with a confused expression and asked shouting, “Truth? What the hay are you talking about you freak of nature?”
“That Twilight Sparkle and me, the Twilight Princess are one and the same.”
Just like Lightning Dust did previously, Twilight replied to her question with a calm expression, never letting her eyes falter for a single instant.
The pegasus mare was certainly taken aback by that, “You’re lying! Of course you’re lying, there’s no way in hay you could be the Element of Magic! Why her Holy Lady Celestia would hunt you down if you were her own prized student?”
“That’s what I’m trying to discover as well. Somehow, after the invasion by Grogar weeks ago, I’ve become an alicorn, and because of this strange transformation, the Princesses are hunting me after I escaped from Canterlot, and are trying to capture me, accusing me of killing my friends. However, they aren’t dead! I know they aren’t!”
Lightning Dust gulped, “I-It’s doesn’t prove anything!”
“Did you read the letter?” Asked Twilight, out of the blue. She was referring to a short letter Rainbow Dash asked her to help write, right after they came back from the Wonderbolts Junior Academy. That letter was somehow an apology for what had happened between the two at the academy.
The pegasus blinked in rapid succession, surprised.
“H-How could you know? Y-You’re doing that again, right?!”
“You didn’t read it, am I right? I bet you didn’t, seeing how you are furious with Dashie, but believe me, Lightning Dust, she never wanted anything like that to happen. She didn’t want to destroy your dream...”
Lightning stomped a hoof against the ground and grinded her teeth, “Shut the hay up! I don’t believe you! You can’t sweet talk your way out of this! I’m going to kill you and satisfy my hunger for revenge, right here, right now!”
The sound of an explosion of monumental proportions cut their talk like a razor sharp sword.
The giant column of fire and smoke rose from the distance, above the green sea of trees, illuminating the dark night. The ground trembled with fury, startling both mares as they watched the scene playing in front of their eyes with mouths agape in shock.
Judging from the position of the flames, Twilight was certain; the explosion came from Ponyville. On that moment, her heart felt constricted, smashed by an unknown force.
Something was terribly wrong with that. Something regarding a pony too precious for her to ignore…
Trixie?
The alicorn asked herself, as the fire and the smoke from the distance begun to settle. Her eyes went even wider as she could clearly hear a whisper at her ear, as if the night itself had spoken to her.
Save your friend...
Twilight closed her eyes tightly, and screamed with all the strength from her lungs, “Trixie!”
The air around her suddenly became noticeably hotter. Twilight was enveloped in a raging purple flame, as her giant horn begun to spark, just like when she tried to conjure her magic by the wrong means. When she opened her eyes again, something was different with them; their purple color was darker and the pupils fended, just like those of the moori guards she had just fought.
“What the hay...?”
Lightning observed the raging tempest of magic happening right there and paralyzed. She could only stare at Twilight, something strange happening with her.
Trixie isn’t going to die because of me! I won’t let anypony else die because of me! If it gives me power to save her... I will let loose every last inch of the rage that is inside my heart!
The ground that had stopped from trembling after the explosion settled, begun once again to shake violently as debris from the ground rose and started to levitate near the tree where the alicorn was tied in.
In no time, the fiery aura covering the alicorn illuminated everything around, and she struggled to destroy the obsidian rope.
“Give up! You can’t break free from that rope! It’s magic proof, and not even an earth-pony stallion in his top physical condition would manage to destroy it with sheer strength alone!”
Lightning Dust shouted, scared.
“Really?!”
Twilight spoke, but she felt as if it wasn’t her. The voice coming from her mouth boomed and echoed through the vicinities with malice not there before. "Your trinket can stop us! Great! However, what about this little tree behind us?”
Twilight’s horn flickered in a darker shade of purple. Quickly, she enveloped the tree behind her back with her strange magic, applying her telekinesis, and then, with cruelty, the alicorn begun to smash the plant, crushing it inside her arcane field.
The sheer amount of magic applied to perform the task seemed to bend the reality around the tree, a feat that only Discord had previously achieved. The plant deformed, and then an explosion happened, throwing debris and smoke all over the place.
A pair of menacing purple irises lit amid it. Twilight was free.
She trotted out of the cloud of smoke, the tree and the rope vanished from sight.
“What kind of monster are you?” Lightning Dust asked, perplexed.
Twilight wanted to reply, but her mouth didn’t answer. She begun to feel strange, as if her body was taken by something and she could only watch as it moved by its will alone.
“Out of our way, miscreant, you deserve no longer to remain in our presence.” She replied, even though she didn’t want to say any of those words.
“Say that again?! Who do you think you are, freak?!” Lightning Dust declared, and using her amazing speed jumped at Twilight, ready to hit her face with a punch.
“I've defeated you once, I can do it again!”
“I SAID OUT OF OUR WAY, VERMIN!”
Somehow, in a way not even her understood, Twilight moved her forehoof faster than the pegasus, and punched her gut while avoiding Lightning’s attack. She could feel her limb crushing the pegasus’s inner organs, smashing her body with earth-pony strength. Her victim spurted a thick cloud of crimson, fresh blood from her mouth, before being send staggering backwards by the mighty blow meters away from the alicorn, close to the border of the opening.
Twilight couldn't understand... What had she done? What was happening with her? Why couldn't she control her own body?
She despaired...
She was out of control, and was set on killing Lightning in case she continued to stand on her way; she could feel the murderous intent as strong as a force crushing everything around her.
Lightning Dust finally crashed near the trees. The pegasus rolled on the ground, coughing, getting back on her hooves slowly.
“Do you want a piece of me, monster?” She asked, challenging the berserk alicorn. Two trails of blood tinged the sides of her muzzle, but even though she smirked with confidence.
Without uttering a single word, Twilight’s giant horn flared with a dark purple light. She took aim, seemingly pointing the spell at Lightning Dust. A bulge of energy formed at the tip, and once again, small stones started to float around the alicorn, as her magical power surged with fury, even a few sparks of pink color flashed through her body at random places.
The alicorn was afraid of herself. She wanted to stop, but she couldn’t…
“Kneel, mortal. Vanish from our sight, by your will, or be reduced to atoms by our power.”
“I’m not going anywhere! Not without my revenge!” Lightning declared, and spreads open her wings, preparing to attack again.
“Foolishness!” Twilight yelled, “We only want to save the life of our friend! Cease your petty attacks and let us pass!”
“Your friend?”
Lightning stopped. She looked at Twilight with interest and curiosity.
The alicorn smirked, and then, she launched a giant beam of dark purple energy from the tip of her horn, blinding everypony around, even herself. The blast was so powerful, that not even Trixie could compare.
Deep inside, what was left of Twilight’s true persona prayed for her attack to not have hit Lightning Dust...
Seconds after the assault, the alicorn observed a straight trail of destroyed trees linking the opening, all the way towards Ponyville, smoke still fuming from the ravaged soil.
She could only wonder about how powerful the blast was... It opened kilometers of forest with a single attack, reducing the strong, old trees to nothing but dust…
Slowly, she felt the strange power driving her going away, giving her control of her body once more. Her irises returned to their usual shape and coloration.
“All of this, to save your friend?”
She darted her eyes to the side, to find Lightning Dust, still alive, sitting on the ground looking at the scar she just left in the vegetation. The pegasus seemed perplexed and curious at the same time.
Panting, the alicorn nodded.
“I believe in you now,” the pegasus declared, surprising Twilight, “This is just the kind of thing that Dashie would do for her friends.”
“I learned a lot from her.” Still trying to recover from the last shock of having her body taken by something she couldn’t understand, Twilight replied in a small voice.
“Are you sure she still alive?” Lightning Dust inquired, locking her eyes with Twilight’s lost gaze.
“Actually, no. However, I’m not giving up hope, not before being sure.”
Lightning Dust laughed, startling Twilight.
“That’s rich!” She yelled, all of a sudden, “So you’re looking for her, just like me?”
Once again, she nodded in silence, and without thinking twice, Twilight begun to trot towards the town, in order to save Trixie.
“I can’t believe that cursed mongrel died so easily, either. If I help you find her, are you going to let me settle my score with her?”
The alicorn stopped and then looked straight to Lightning Dust’s eyes, smirking, “If we ever find her, she’s going to kick your flank so hard that you will kiss the moon. Come with us, and we will find out.”
Laughing, Lightning Dust got back on all four and begun following the alicorn, “Sure.”
Suddenly, Jasper appeared besides Night Watch, atop Ponyville’s town hall.
“Commander! I’m sorry, but when I saw your Black Death, I had to come back and see what happened!”
The moori dropped her bow, and sat. She was feeling beyond exhausted; the fight against the unicorn was hard, even for her, an experienced soldier.
“Did you guys get that alicorn, dammit?” She complained her eyelids about to close by against her will.
“We had to divide our patrols to look for the Twilight Princess in different areas. I’ve lost contact with the fifth division, and I’m a little afraid that she could have-“
The moori laughed, startling the nightcorn.
“Calm down, Jasper. If you are thinking she maybe had attacked them or hurt them, believe me; she didn’t.”
With wide open eyes Jasper protested, “But commander! She killed the Elements of Harmony only to gain power! What would stop her from killing some soldiers?”
Night Watch’s gaze was still locked at the ground of her genocide attack. There was still smoke covering the site, and debris falling from the sky, but her instinct was telling her that something was wrong…
“Commander Night Watch, is there something wrong?”
She raised a hoof, asking her soldier to remain in silence, “Just a minute, Jasper.”
From a small opening on the thick smoke screen dampening her vision, Night Watch spotted a blue body, still standing down there…
Her eyes almost popped out of her skull.
“She’s still alive!?”
Jasper got startled from Night’s surprised reaction and looked towards the same place as her commander, only to find the same pony standing still against all odds.
“That’s impossible... Nopony has ever survived after being hit by the Black Death before... Even Princess Selena demanded from you that you would never use this technique against any equine...”
Immediately, Night Watch flew from her position, towards the ground. With care, she landed a few meters from where Trixie was still standing, and studied with caution.
The unicorn’s pupils were blank, as if she was unconscious but still on hooves.
“Tell me you’re dead, witch. Because if you aren’t at least outta in dream land, I will start believing you aren’t pony.” Declared the commander, smiling.
Trixie suddenly gasped, inhaling sharply, and then coughing a immense cloud of smoke, finally plummeting to the ground like a potato sack.
The sound of her opponent finally kissing the dirty filled Night Watch’s heart with content. On that moment, Jasper teleported near them, even more worried.
“She should be nothing more than a red stain on the ground,” the nightcorn commented, looking at the unconscious Trixie in fear.
Slowly, Night Watch walked towards Trixie and touched her neck with a hoof in order to check if she was still alive.
To her surprise, she was.
On top of that, the commander observed her skin was freezing cold, but slowly heating up once again.
With a short laugh Night Watch raised her body. Jasper looked at her with curiosity and asked, “What happened commander? How did she survive?”
“This mare is worthy a medal. Her strategies on the battlefield are uncanny, even though she’s a civilian. She saw through my Black Death, and moments before being hit, she encased her body in ice. It prevented her from being fried alive or being reduced to pieces, but she still received the impact. She lost the battle, but escaped alive.”
Jasper’s mouth opened in surprised, “That’s – a wicked tactic indeed!”
“Call back the other divisions’ outta there. I want you to take Trixie to the town hall and tighten the security around this perimeter.”
“I’m sorry commander, but our priority is to capture the Twilight Princess!” Replied Jasper, startled by Night’s strange order.
“I’m aware, Jasper. She will come back here to try and save her knightress,” the commander answered with complete confidence.
“But commander, she’s just a monster! What makes you think she would care for a single knightress?”
“Friendship,” said Night Watch, “Now stop questioning my orders and go, dammit!”
Jasper immediately saluted, and took Trixie’s unconscious body within her magic field, trotting away with her towards the town hall.
After watching her soldier going, the moori looked over the forest beyond the horizon with defiant eyes.
“Come Twilight Sparkle! I will make you pay for Luna’s plight!