From behind the magical shield they saw it all, they heard it all, they felt it all! Far beyond the feeling of Pink and her friend’s arrival, the magical energy that tore this hole is space was something strong, powerful, and dark. Twilight’s throat flared up, Armour saw her face go green and barely had time to jump away before he was hit by a jet of vomit from his sister’s mouth. As he landed back on his hooves however, his head gave a giant pang and he swayed for a moment before toppling to the ground.
AJ took a firm hold of Twi, ensuring she didn’t fall. Rarity clung to her ears still screaming. But all of it was less severe than the night before. Celestia was right, though they would feel the effects; they were no way near as bad as before. Amidst the panic, the tall slender figure stepped out from the newly forged doorway. She watched the unicorns all writhing in pain and suppressed a girlish giggle at the site, what a wonderful welcome for her!
With a calm sigh she allowed her horn to glow profusely with an aura of purple light, the same light surrounded the tear between world’s and sealed it in a bubble similar to that of the golden one before the figure. As soon as the barrier was complete, each symptom in every unicorn vanished without a trace. Twilight and her friends all stumbled to their feet to gaze at the figure before them.
Princess Celestia lowered her own barrier, to allow a better view to the slender alicorn. She looked the same as the princess, except –like Pink and her friends- for some minor details. Instead of the golden armouring that clad the princess, Empress Celestia wore armour of a blue tinted silver, the reflection of which shone back to her face creating a dark and twisted glow about her face. Her horn seemed longer than the princess’s. But the largest difference came, when the calm ruler of the other world opened her eyes for the first time.
They were a deep shade of blood red, not the beautiful magenta colour the local ponies had come to expect. The empress scanned her surroundings lazily, taking in the faces of every creature before her. “Thank you.” Her voice was cool and ominous, Twilight could almost hear another voice speaking simultaneously, a deep and demonic tone repeating every word past the Empress’s lips.
Princess Celestia approached the silver clad ruler. “Who are you?” She demanded. The dark Empress cackled madly at the question, behind her, beneath the barricade it seemed like the world beyond flashed with lightning.
“Oh come now! Surely I’m not that dim-witted in this world? If I am this isn’t going to be any fun at all!” she gazed past the princess and towards the group headed by Pink. “Well, well, well.” She purred. “Tia, you really have done me a favour.” She said sycophantically as she approached the line of soldiers separating her from her prey.
“Excuse me, but My name is not ‘Tia’ to you! I am princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria.” The empress stopped suddenly, staring into space dreamily.
“Hmmm.” She laughed softly. “Equestria... Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while!” She then snapped from her reverie. “Princess?!?” she stared at Princess Celestia astonished. “A PRINCESS? Honestly? With all the regal terms in all creation, you went with princess.” The golden plated alicorn looked back coldly, so the empress shrugged and continued.
“I said thank you because you made my job a lot easier for me. Instead of running around after these little pests, you’ve trapped them for me to take back to where they belong without a fight.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that!” Whispered Flutt, with a voice that carried across the silent town square. The empress’s eyes focused on Flutt.
“I’m sorry, Pegasus! But what was that?” She emphasised the name of Flutt’s race as though it were an insult, and that only made Flutt more angry.
“I said I wouldn’t bet on us going without a fight.”
“Oh I see.” The silver plated Alicorn scoffed. “And here I thought you were actually going to say something relevant and not make idle threats.” She rolled her eyes, but froze mid gesture. He eyes dropped back to the Pegasus slowly, glinting with sudden malice.
“Now I know you!” She said, approaching the group. “Fluttershy I presume?” Flutt gulped slightly in surprise, her expression faltering only for a second before it became hard as stone once again.
“Not what I tend to go by these days, but close enough. Your ex-el-en-cy.” She emphasised each syllable slowly and deliberately, trying to bring out some kind of reaction from the Empress of her world.
Empress simply chuckled, closing her eyes for a moment in mirth, then she opened them again and stared down the little Pegasus. “Big Macintosh has a message for you.” Flutt’s stomach clenched suddenly. “Then again, I’m only guessing, I only got your name between his senseless babbling as her... burned!” Flutt exploded! She flung herself at the Empress aiming for her red eyes as her heart shattered at the confirmation of the loss of her beloved Macintosh!
The Empress disposed of Flutt easily enough, as the pony soared towards the alicorn’s face, Celestia’s horn glowed momentarily, this time a flash of dark blue. The magic consumed Flutt mid-jump. Holding her in the air.
Flutt looked into the eyes of the empress, and saw her demise. She turned her head up, with one final scream she shouted to Rainbow Dash, her newest friend. “RAINBO”- She was cut short with a terrible SNAP as the magic applied pressure to the Pegasus’s neck until it snapped. Immediately Flutt went limp; her face frozen in that look of permanent fear. The mare she had called yelled out to looked horrified, as each of the local ponies stumbled as though the attack had hurt them themselves. Each felt cold as they watched in frozen shock and horror.
Flutt’s mane hung sadly, as did her limbs and head as she hovered by the cloud of magic. With a short and curt “Hmmph.” The empress twitched her head, and flung the lifeless pony back towards her friends.
Flutt collapsed like a rag doll, rolling and landing with her legs sprawled out awkwardly. Dashie’s eyes peaked out from behind her mane and her foreleg, looking into the now misted over eyes of her fellow other worldly Pegasus. Dashie screamed, scurrying away, sending little Macintosh running in fear. The cyan mare stumbled back clumsily and fell into Pink, who propped her up. The pink mare’s eyes were frosted with the threat of tears as she stared at her dead friend.
“Now that’s the first casualty!” Laughed Empress Celestia as she cackled, preparing her magic for a second attack on the group before her. Her horn glowed that colour of purple once again, ready to strike the ponies before her. “You come with me now girls, you’ll come back to our world, and pay for leaving it, and the”- The empress was cut short by the sudden hulking mass of the princess that blocked her site.
The princess’s eyes seemed to burn with a fury none of them had seen before in their lives. “H-h-how dare you.” She whispered lividly. Looking up in moderate surprise, the Empress’s horn ceased to glow as she straightened up before her other self. “How dare you!” Repeated princess Celestia.
“What?” Asked the Empress, obviously bored with the seriousness of the princess in front of her, then her eyes found the slumped body of Flutt on the ground. “Oh!” She gasped with realisation, “Yes, that. Well she made and attempt on my life, and that’s a crime punishable by death.
Suddenly, Rainbow burst into the gathering of guards; she flew straight over them and sped towards her motionless friend. “FLUTT!” She screamed as she fell to the ground beside her, slowly lifting her head up. The yellow Pegasus didn’t respond, her face was frozen in one final look of terror; her eyes frozen in fear. But there was no life in them, no sparkle of thought or consciousness. Rainbow bit back tears as she knelt by her dead friend. She looked up to the group before her, now only four left, the group looked more terrified and vulnerable than ever!
“We have to help them!” Rainbow screamed at Twilight, who nodded in agreement with her friend, as did all the other’s. They pushed their way past the guards, all of whom now focused on the two alicorn’s staring each other down. As the group approached their other selves, the Empress giggled with that same childish laugh.
“Come now! You should be happy, she ended nice and quickly, if she’d been brought back home the punishment would have been far worse.” She stared at the motionless mare, her lips curled into a terrible smile. “She gets off easily, sad to say her boyfriend didn’t suffer the same mercy!”
“That’s enough!” Bellowed the princess, stopping the other ponies screaming at the empress. AJ’s teeth looked like they were about to shatter from how much she was grinding them, and Twi held her shoulder tightly, stopping her country friend from charging like the unfortunate Flutt had done.
“You dare threaten your own subjects! They are the ones who give you power, and you dare to take one of their lives so needlessly?” Yelled the princess, trying to fathom her other self’s actions. The empress raised a mocking eyebrow. She moved away from the princess, and further into the circle of guards. She came to halt before the group of doubles before her. She looked past the furious Twilight and stubborn faced Rainbow, and looked at Twi. “Do you care to explain to that simpleton behind me as to why she is completely wrong unicorn? You all know the story I believe.”
Twi gulped, and breathed shakily as she stared into the dark red eyes of the monster of legend in her world. “She... she once needed loyalty. But that was only fleeting.
For she would gain their power, once their heart stopped beating.
Their magic great and their life strong.
Their force is added to the throng.
For she is queen, empress and lord
and she wields the power of the unicorn hoard.” The empress twitched her hooves to the chant, conducting some unseen orchestra. When the magenta pony finished and shivered in fear, the alicorn turned to her other self and smiled.
“That rhyme is referring to the royal family, as you probably know.” Princess Celestia’s eyes were wide in horror. She replayed the death of the little yellow unicorn. The magic that had been used was... not the colour of her own magical power, but that of Luna’s.
“You... monster.” She whispered in terror. “You killed her...your own sister, to gain her power... and before...” She looked to the shield covering the gap in space. The hew was yet another colour, that of her nephew. “Blueblood” She whispered. “You monster!”
“A monster? Moi? Oh no, I’m not a monster...” With an explosion of light, the empress disappeared with a teleporting spell. Everypony searched for her, it was Armour who spotted her, standing just beside the rip between the worlds. He pointed her out, and every head snapped in her direction. “Now this...” The empress cooed, as she pried open a hole in the shield big enough for a pony to fit through. From within the world of darkness and lightning something began to stir. “Is a monster.” She finished as a purple scaled claw pried its way through the doorway and into the new world. The gap in the shield expanded around it as it made its way through, watching everypony with a large green eye.