Chapter 10: Still Alive
With all of the new dark energy she had discovered, Twilight had become so excited that it clouded her judgement, warping what had once been a logical mind.
A foal unicorn barely adept in magic could plainly see the differences between the two combatants and yet, Twilight could not speculate how it could all go so very wrong, so very quickly.
All the warning signs were laid before her plain as day, yet her typically sound logical mind was filled with nothing but violent images of retribution against her enemy; standing victorious over the corpse of the true form of her tormentor.
And who could blame her?
Only minutes ago she was dispatching the gryphon scum that had derailed the train with terrible and merciless ease; fulfilling her unflinching desperation to protect her remaining friends. Now, though, she found her body aching and the situation reversed in favor of an imposter who dared deny the singular crime Twilight Sparkle could never forgive by impersonating her princess, the mare that was cruelly taken away from her, the mare that she loved so dearly.
How dare she talk to me that way!
We are a Princess and she is nothing more than a pretender.
“Are you saying I am no match for you?” Twilight Sparkle hissed, the very notion making her sick to the very pit of her stomach, causing her to gnash her teeth together, dark power pulsing around the tip of her horn as she tumbled down the endless spiral of emotional instability.
Taking a threatening hoofstep forward, Twilight ignited her horn brighter still, the dark purple glow bleeding blacker with every passing second. “I have defeated a bearer of the Alicorn Amulet in the past. Unlike the last time, though, you will see no mercy from me! You may take Celestia’s form and alter your voice to sound like her, but you will never have the righteous power she once possessed! You are nothing; a weak, pathetic coward hiding behind the image of a mare whose shoes you are not fit to wear! I will make you pay ten times over for such a disgrace!”
‘Celestia’ scoffed a laugh at Twilight’s threatening demeanor, evidently finding it far more amusing than intimidating. A wicked grin formed on the false princess’s lips, causing Twilight’s scowl to deepen in response.
“Is that so?” Remarked the taller alicorn as she tilted a brow, smirk widening. “Well then, I suppose we best put that to the test.”
Not a moment later, Celestia whirled about, cackling as her reddened eyes gleamed a thick shade of blood. The Alicorn Amulet burned on her chest, a red beam shooting from her horn straight towards Rainbow Dash, its thin, branching, hungry tendrils threatening to consume her. Leaping into action, the cyan mare instinctively placed herself between the bolt and the wounded Applejack, who was still unable to even steady her hooves.
Twilight Sparkle screamed, the cold grip of fear constricting tightly around her throat. She should have expected as much. “Leave them alone!”
In a flash of purple, Twilight Sparkle teleported herself directly in front of her friends, barely managing to erect a shield around the group in time to block the volley with a growl of frustration and sweat lacing her brow.
The impostor's attack struck Twilight’s shield with enough force to cause several cracks to appear across the transparent purple dome’s surface instantaneously, pushing Twilight to pour more of her darker energies into the defense, sending blotches of inky darkness to swirl across the barrier’s surface until the final bolt of red finally dissipated.
Panting, Twilight looked back to her friends, huddled together and looking up at Twilight with a mixture of gratitude and fear.
Twilight shook her head, swinging her serpentine, singular eyed away from the duo to glower at the casually advancing Celestia. Twilight could not deny the attack packed quite a punch, requiring substantially more effort to maintain her magical barrier than she had anticipated.
The seed of doubt was planted, but her confidence in victory remained. After all, if this had been the real Celestia, none of them would have been left standing after that initial attack.
“Your friends will be the death of you, Princess.” With a wave of her horn, Celestia launched another red electrical barrage at Twilight, cracking her defenses more deeply and nearly forcing the lavender mare to her knees. “You don’t have to fall here, you know. You can just run away and leave them to their fate.”
She thinks you are a coward.
“I would never abandon them!” Twilight’s snapped, earning loving smiles from the two friends standing behind her, each leaning against the other for support.
“Oh?” Celestia cooed as she stopped her direct advance, a smug grin upon her lips. “Even though they’ve just watched their best friend relish in the murder of others? Even though they watched her rip them apart as if they were nothing but lifeless dolls with no loved ones, bathing in their blood as if it were mere amusement to her?”
She’s not wrong.
Twilight lowered her gaze to her bloodied hooves before glancing back over her shoulder to note the same fear in their eyes she had noticed before, even though they were desperately trying to hide it behind a smile.
Are they… afraid of me?
Wouldn’t you be afraid if you saw one them do the same?
“Don’t listen to her, Twi’...” Applejack croaked with a cough, “tha’ monster is jus’ tryin’ to get into our heads. We trust in ya to protect us like Ah hope you trust in us to protect you.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. “Don’t worry about us, egghead,” Rainbow flexed her wings, wincing a little at their stiffness, “if things go south, I’ll get us all out of here in less than ten seconds flat.”
The icy chill in Twilight’s heart thawed, a soft smile breaking across her lips as a tear slipped from her only working eye. “Girls…”
“We promise, Twi’, we’ll never abandon you, no matter what.” Applejack smiled warmly, a trickle of blood drooling from the corner of her lips.
And I won’t abandon you, either.
That much we promise.
“Urgh! I almost threw up in my mouth.” Celestia remarked as she reared back and launched herself high into the air. “Spare me this sappy manure and surrender, Twilight Sparkle! If you come with me now, without a struggle, I will spare you the torture of witnessing the death of your friends one by one… and I’ll make sure Rainbow Dash’s death will be the most excruciating of all.”
So this isn’t just about me, Twilight thought as she growled, she plans to take out my friends as well. The Elements… she must be after the Elements! Then that means Rarity and Pinkie Pie as well...
Rainbow Dash finally snapped, her words finally coming to her in a squeal of anger. “What have I ever done to you? What have we ever done to you to make you do this?!”
Celestia’s eyes snapped from her target, to her true cyan desire. “The only reason I wear this amulet and the only reason I am here doing the Princess’s bidding to capture Twilight Sparkle and to eliminate the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony, is all because of you, Rainbow Dash, old friend!” She spat the words as though they were poison, her deep-seated hatred worn all too plainly on her sleeve. “It is your fault!”
What did she just say?
Twilight felt her mouth drop, her mind snapping away from her desperation to protect her friends to a sudden intrigue, repeating what the imposter had spoken in a shocked whisper. “Princess?”
Rainbow Dash shrank back, shaking her head as Applejack looked towards her as baffled as she was. “I-I don’t understand! I’ve never done anything wrong to anypony before!”
“Nothing wrong…?” Celestia muttered to herself, her voice suddenly rising to a fevered screech. “You destroyed my dreams! You ruined what I loved more than anything else in all of Equestria!” Celestia’s red eyes shone with a ferocity that no sane pony would ever show as the Alicorn Amulet trembled about on her neck, the power within fighting to get out. “You were supposed to be my friend, yet you turned your back on me when I needed you most! I thought we were partners… so much for an Element of Loyalty. You’re nothing more than a backstabbing mule and I will see you destroyed! I will grind you to the dirt Dash until you are nothing more than a paste beneath my hoof!”
Twilight gazed blankly, having tuned out the tense conversation around her in favor of attempting to amalgamate her chaotic thoughts into some kind of coherent thought process. If the imposter was indeed telling the truth, a Princess had issued this attack upon her friends and herself.
Princess Luna would never do this… she saved my life! And Cadence would never—
Can we be sure?
No… why would that creature say something like that unless it was the—
To confuse us; to take us out of the battle. To make us lose focus, perhaps?
But my dreams… the figure.
I recall. It was slender, tall, with wings and a horn.
It can’t be true, can it?
It had white eyes and was dark.
But a gryphon did it! I saw it!
Don’t be illogical, Twilight Sparkle, what else to kill an Alicorn better than another—
Alicorn…
Precisely. We have been played for foals.
“No… it can’t be true.” Twilight solidified that conviction and brought her attention towards her enemy just a little too late. It took Applejack’s terrified screech of her name and the sudden collapse of her barrier to fully shake her out of her inner turmoil.
Pain ripped through Twilight’s body,her breath hitching in her throat as the red energy coursed through her body, causing it to seize instantly. Rearing up, she howled as blotches of fur burned and peeled off of her already damaged body as she was thrown through the air, smashing painfully into the side of an upturned train carriage.
Striking the ground, Twilight coughed up blood, struggling to breathe. The air had been knocked straight out of her during the impact, harsh enough that even the wall she’d struck had dented under the force.
Struggling to her hooves, sucking in mouthfuls of air, Twilight reared her head up long enough to stare face-to-face with Celestia. Before her eyes, a fiery red aura consumed the alicorn’s figure, transforming into what Twilight Sparkle surmised to be her true form.
I’ll kill her.
“Lightning Dust!” Twilight stared at the maniacally grinning mare, buckling as a searing bright lance pierced through the center of her chest and violently thrust her back against the warped metal remains of the train carriage, pinning her there.
My body feels so heavy. I can’t feel my legs anymore.
Blood splattered from Twilight’s mouth, staining Lightning Dust’s chest and drenching the Alicorn Amulet. Wordlessly, the young Princess slipped her gaze down and placed a shaking hoof on the red spear crackling with energy that had been magically summoned to impale her, groaning at such a sight.
Leaning in, Lightning Dust whispered over the screams of Twilight’s friends straight into her twitching left ear. “Princess Luna told me to keep you alive long enough to take back what is rightfully hers, but, guess what else I know?”
Twilight’s eyes widened.
No… Luna would never…
Who else is strong enough to take out Princess Celestia? Discord perhaps, but he would never do that now since he has reformed.
But why would she kill her own sister? It does not make any sense!
Then Lightning Dust must be lying.
Twilight reached her bloodied hooves towards Lightning Dust’s neck, trembling as she forced herself to lean forward, determined to strangle the mare there and then, even her body burned with pain as her body slipped back up the spear. “L-liar!”
“Other Alicorns can absorb an Alicorn’s power even from their corpse, providing the horn is still attached. I do hope you last long enough for the Princess to take what she deserves, but, I am sure she won’t mind if you ‘accidentally’ bleed out before that happens. After all, during the heat of battle, sometimes ponies lose themselves to their hidden battlelust. I am sure she will forgive me for going a bit too far with you.”
Tears streamed down Twilight’s cheeks, her gaze drawn over Lightning Dust’s withers to a struggling Rainbow Dash, desperately attempting to restrain an irate Applejack.
Who else knew we were departing from Canterlot by train?
Not many… but the Princess… she…
Precisely. She has betrayed us. Her true intentions have finally shone through.
But, the Elements… it cleansed her of Nightmare Moon’s influence! Why would she—
Did it ever occur to us that maybe, Princess Luna has always been this way? That it was her destiny.
Silently pleading for her friends to run, Twilight sobbed as the full weight of the possibility that Luna had indeed betrayed them became all the more fact than fiction.
“S-spare them, p-p-please,” Twilight choked, “d-don’t…”
Lightning Dust placed a gentle kiss on Twilight’s cheeks. “Don’t worry, Princess, it’ll all be over soon.”
Summoning her remaining strength, Twilight sucked in a large gulp of air to scream for her friends to flee as Lightning Dust turned menacingly towards them both, the Alicorn Amulet aglow with a sinister intent.