//------------------------------// // Monster // Story: The Unforgiven // by Dillena Monger //------------------------------// “In the end, I became Equestria’s worse enemy,” Twilight said, her face down, not able to look on Daring Rose’s eyes. “What? NO!” the unicorn shot right up more than a little angry at that statement. Twilight only looked at her curiously. “If it wasn’t for you, the kitsune would have taken over the whole Equestria back then!” “Even so, young one, there are many ways to do ‘the right thing’. I choose the wrong one to save Equestria, believing that magic itself could make anything. I just forgot there was one thing no amount of magic in the whole world will ever be able to do: magic alone cannot and will not ever be able to give life.” “But that…” “With my burst of rage and magic, I killed the ponies most important to my life. My mentor, my sister-in-law, my parents, and most of my best friends, they all became ashes in…” even with the somber moment, Twilight couldn’t hold a chuckle at her thought, “… in ten seconds flat…” ================== “Gates north and west are giving up by now! Twi! What are we supposed to do?” Rainbow Dash asked still in her rainbow-powered form. The speed she had with that power made her the most viable way of communication between the many defense points of Canterlot. “Applejack and Pinkie Pie must hold on a little longer! Tell them that they can go up to 60% of their power!” Twilight answered and Rainbow Dash vanished in a rainbow stream. Earlier in the battle, Princesses Celestia and Luna were hit by a magic poison or something that made them sick. They were out of danger by now but still recovering over their sickness before returning to the battlefield, so they both gave their powers to Twilight, just in case they were needed. “I should be able to help them, Twily!” Shining Armor called from her wife’s side. “I know it, Shining. However, we can’t afford them finding out where we’re hiding Luna and Celestia and with me having to move constantly between there and the frontlines, your invisible barrier allied with the power of Cadance are our best chance to give Luna and Celestia time to recover!” “Twilight is right, Shining!” Cadance agreed. “We must trust our ponies to protect their land and loved ones!” Shining Armor was ready to protest further, but shook his head. “Maybe you’re right…” he said. “Sorry… Just too long being captain of the Royal Guard…” Twilight looked up from where she stood, “Incoming Fire Bombs!” She then opened her wings and teleported before flapping them, focusing her magic and enveloping all five immense fire balls the kitsunes had lanced from behind the walls. As answer, she threw all of them high up and forcing them to shock each other and explode where they would likely be harmless. They’ve learned hard enough that the kitsunes’ ‘paint magic’ do not seems to respect ponies’ knowledge about magic. From her vantage point, Twilight looked around and noticed the four walls of what was now the Inner Circle, they all being protected by Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash acted mostly on advanced attack, flying above the wall erected by Rarity’s magic, and delivered of messages. Some even thought to see two of her at same place going in different directions, both allies and enemies. When Rainbow Dash approached her for more news on the battlefront, Twilight noticed something different. “Twilight! They got a demon with eight tails in their numbers! She’s not as powerful as the other but having to deal with her and the whole kitsune army is just impossible!” Twilight focused her eyes, “Warn the others and keep the Inner Circle safe and fighting. Change tactics with Shining Armor and Cadance, they are to place a hiding and a shield spell over Celestia and Luna and move into battlefield. You shall check on them regularly and ensure they’re safe. Sorry, Dash. I know you feel better in the frontline and all, but with me going there, I trust you to keep them coordinated.” Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. “Fine, Twi. If there’s no other way, I’ll do it. I assume Cadance is responsible for Inner Circle then?” “Cadance shall help and protect ponies. I’m expecting Shining to become military leader,” Twilight answered simple. “Better I go now. Where’s this eight tailed kitsune?” “North. Not hard to find, I swear it!” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight then turned to north and went flying there full speed. True to Dash’s words, it was not hard to see where she was, after all, she was casting most of the fire bombs anyway. Twilight hovered in place and shot in her direction a single powerful magic blast. The eight tailed kitsune managed to evade the blast, but a few weaker kitsunes didn’t have that luck and most of them died instantly, a few even unluckier were slowly dying from the burnt caused by the massive spell. The Princess of Friendship landed in front of her new rival, both looking each other in the eye and the kitsune was first to attack. Jumping against Twilight to bite her neck, she got surprised by the strength of the pony princess’ wings which threw her behind. Using a brush-tail, she ‘painted’ herself a support to break her fall before jumping back and using that support as a shield against Twilight’s blast. From the sides of her shield, the kitsune threw eight fireballs against Twilight which then teleported behind the kitsune ready to steal her magic once and for all. She was met, though, by a wave of the eight tails, creating a wind powerful enough to knock her out of balance and all but destroy a wall by the impact. Focusing all eight tails to send a dark ray against the place the alicorn was supposed to be, the kitsune never thought of the possibility of Twilight flying and reaching her from above. To their merit, the kitsunes could be very elusive when they wanted to. They now stood, eye to eye, looking each other over. “You’re holding back…” Twilight called. “I want slaves, not bodies,” the kitsune answered. “Who else would dig the gems for us to use?” “I see.” “What you’ll do about it, Princess?” she asked. “I happen to know you’re the weakest of them all… Being just recently crowned…” “So you have nothing to fear, right?” “Why that comment?” “Because you forgot to watch out your other sides.” The kitsune looked at her both sides and only then noticed herself surrounded by all sides by Twilight’s spell, a variation of Celestia’s Solstice Wrath that Twilight tuned up a bit. It locks the enemy into a strong force field and then feed heat until it’s no more. Soon the magic enveloped the kitsune and she put out her best shields, not sure what was going to happen. Soon, flare after flare, the interior of the shield began hammering the kitsune’s shield, the heat increasing more and more. Twilight called this spell Flashfire, which was based on a ‘natural’ phenomenon where the heat raised so much that even the air itself burned, giving out a strong flash before burning everything in a confined space. The kitsune could feel the heat building in and she knew she had done exactly what the alicorn had wanted her to do. However, she still had a trick upon her tail. Using only one, so her shield wouldn’t break up too soon, she soon enveloped herself in a dark cloud. And then, all of a sudden, her shield gave up and the Flashfire gave its characteristic bright flash before disappearing altogether. Twilight, though, looked up to the top of a building. “So kitsunes can teleport too…” Twilight commented. “Rather rare ability,” the kitsune assumed. “You almost had me, Princess.” “‘Almost’ is not good enough.” “I assume it’s not.” The kitsune then smiled at her, “But there’s nothing much you can do about it. You, ponies, will pay for killing my mother!” All of a sudden, the Kitsune started to gather the magic in her tails. Noticing the amount of magic the kitsune was going to throw at them, Twilight’s eyes widened and she teleported away. Luck of lucks, Rainbow Dash was bringing another report to Shining Armor when she appeared. “Dash! I’m so glad you’re here! Bring all the girls there! RIGHT NOW!” Twilight called. As Rainbow Dash was gone, Twilight called another ally. “Discord! I need you to evacuate every single pony you can as soon as you’re able! You have my authorization to not wait for permission!” her answer came in form of a griffin claw coming out of a stone pillar with a thumbs up, which also quickly disappeared. She then turned to Cadance. “Sorry, but I’m afraid I’ll need to borrow your magic once again.” The other girls reached them just in time to hear Cadance, “You have my consent.” Suddenly understanding what was going on, only Shining Armor not quite grasping that, Twilight reached out with her magic to take to her again all the magic from her friends, and as she was already with Celestia’s and Luna’s magic, once again she became the de facto most powerful being in all Equestria. Her last vision was Discord taking her friends and letting out a vocal message to her: Discord did all he could by now. Clear from her inhibitions, Twilight charged her horn with practiced easy, what the kitsune probably lacked, and shot it in the proper direction. Suddenly both behemoths of magic hit exactly in the middle of them both, each one almost in an extremity of the city. Every single kitsune and building got in the middle of the blast was utterly destroyed, not even ashes remaining. However, the eight tailed kitsune had no chance whatsoever to survive a blast that killed a nine tailed one. In ten seconds of struggles, Twilight’s magic hit the kitsune and, from there, a huge spherical explosion took over all of Canterlot. Extending her shield as strong and as far as she could, Twilight only managed to protect Canterlot’s castle, the rest of the once beautiful city was now a huge crater from where their magic collided, a continuous groove from the blasts to each side, an even bigger crater where the magic hit the kitsune or ruins due to the after effect of Twilight’s spell. The only difference between Canterlot and Ponyville was the capital had a long time of influence of alicorns’ magic, so most of its buildings survived, even more the closer to the castle they were. After making sure the battle was over, Discord came over to see Twilight. Also, different from the aftermath of Ponyville, Twilight survived this blast a lot less tired and a lot more intact. “We won, Twilight,” he claimed. “Come and we’ll…” “I’m going to the Kitsune Empire,” she said with determination. “Alone. Finish this off once and for all, destroying all their library about their magic and killing everyone with more than three tails. After all, every soldier that we faced today had four tails or more.” “Twilight… look at what you’re saying!” Discord tried. The Princess of Friendship then cast him a glance that frozen his spine -- quite literally, after all, small icicles formed along his spine -- and after he shook it off, she continued, “I’m not doing this for revenge, Discord. This will continue until they are terminated or we become their slaves. I’m not accepting any options, so I’ll make sure there’s no chance in Tartarus they’ll be able to fight once again, not in the very distant future!” ================== “And then I did just that,” Twilight said. “Destroyed every single magic school and library in the Kitsune Empire and killed every kitsune with more than four tails I found. I used my magic to conceal my form, so they wouldn’t associate the sudden attack to Equestria, and no race would ever think in attacking a dragon after their whole Empire was almost totally destroyed by a single one of them.” “But… what happened to the other Princesses?” Daring Rose asked. Twilight’s head feel, “My campaign in the in the Kitsune Empire, even with my power and speed, took a full month…” ================== Twilight walked back into the refuge they had created for the ponies in case there was the need for Twilight to use her full power again. As she walked, though, ponies were saddened and altogether weak, about to break. There was a private area where the Princesses and her friends would stay, for they needed a lot more care now that they didn’t had their magic to help them. As the Princess of Friendship approached, she was greeted by her brother. “Twily…” he said in a very low tone. “Shining? What happened?” “We tried, Twily… We tried everything… but…” Twilight’s eyes widened and she all but pushed her brother aside. There was nopony else inside but the eight ponies above their beddings. The two central ones held Princesses Luna and Celestia, their manes and tails not flowing anymore, with Celestia’s now a pink common pony mane and Luna’s light blue. At Celestia’s left side stood Cadance, Rarity and Pinkie Pie and at Luna’s right, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack. To this day, their flanks were still blank by the lack of magic in their bodies, but as soon as Twilight saw them, she began crying. There was no need to try and return their magic. There were no living beings to return magic to. Shining Armor came after her a little later, touched her shoulder, “Discord told us what you did Twily. Nopony blames you, and you were right. Celestia and Luna would--” “They would be alive…” Twilight cut him, still crying. “I killed them… I knew they needed their magic back, but I left… We should have gone all together… I would take their magic with me and by the end of the day, I could return it to them… So they would stay alive and we would have won same way… I was foolish, stupid and impulsive… I… I killed them… I KILLED THEM ALL!” The last words accidentally triggering the Royal Canterlot Voice shook the whole cave they were hiding in. Nopony needed a clue to say what that was about and, somehow, Twilight felt their sympathy. Nopony blamed her, truly. And it only hurt her more, for she knew it was her fault. Why couldn’t they see it? Why couldn’t they see the monster she became? Monster… as Nightmare Moon… Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra… Tirek… Nikko… A new monster entered in the Hall of Shame: Twilight Sparkle, the monster that killed Princesses Luna and Celestia, a monster that killed every single of the most powerful beings in the world, a monster that was unmatchable in power and knowledge… A monster that would live forever to mourn the loss of those she once, and still, loved… A monster that killed those she loved… Discord appeared by her side and touched her other shoulder and, with his head, signaled to Shining Armor to leave. The prince nodded and left the small sanctuary. “Twilight?” “Better you go away, Discord, before I kill you too…” Twilight said between her sobs. “It was an accident, Twilight,” Discord answered. “Nopony knew the effects magic drain could cause in a pony. When Tirek attacked, it lasted a few hours before you girls returned it so there was no time gap to analyze. The ponies which lost it for more time were for a couple days max, but your friends stood without their powers for a full month. There was simply no way for us to anticipate what would happen…” “And does it change the fact that I killed them?” Twilight asked. “Your ponies need you Twilight. They have nopony else to run to!” Twilight stood in silence for some time. Then she closed her eyes and sighed, “They have Shining Armor.” And before anything else could be said, Twilight Sparkle teleported away. ================== “She hid her presence so well it took me ten years to find her there,” Discord assumed. “Y-Y-You named first Chancellor Shining Armor?” Daring Rose asked. “Maybe,” Twilight allowed. “White coat, blue mane and tail, shield cutie mark.” “That’s him…” Daring Rose said. “He… History said that he became the first Chancellor after the Princesses passed away… But nothing proves that one of them given him the power!” “And since it was a verbal… order only, there will never be a way to prove that.”