This was it. This was the moment he'd been waiting for. Sparkrovitar clicked the igniter in Thorn's throat.
The sky over Canterlot exploded.
Baleful green flames illuminated the city, spreading out in a disk until the entire sky was alight. The heat created a tremendous updraft, damaging anything not securely fastened in the streets.
And then it began to rain.
Thorn, like his brother, could transport matter with his flames. In this case however, instead of sending by fire, the flames were the receiver. Over the last month, Sparkle had prepped and prepared thousands of objects, marking them with magic so that Thorn's flames could summon them.
Those objects? The city's large species of vermin.
All of it.
And every single rat, pigeon, and raccoon had been turned into a zombie, one given a single task: find a vampire, and detonate the curse Sparkle had loaded them with.
The vermin fell or flew, rapidly spreading throughout the city. Ponies screamed as they were assaulted by the zombified animals. For the most part, the animals completely ignored the ponies.
The first vampire to encounter a rat didn't know what to make of it. The rat, however, leapt towards the vampire, and when it was a few hoof lengths away, it exploded into a ball of darkness.
When the magic faded, the vampire's own regeneration decided that the connection between cells was a foreign invader, and began attacking it. In less than three seconds, the vampire was mush on the ground, very much dead.
Among his companions, panic ensued.
Above it all, Sparkrovitar simply laughed. All was going to plan, after all.
Celestia was thoroughly grossed out by the onslaught of rotting vermin. It was effective, there was no denying, but she was seriously sick to her stomach.
Celestia was not alone. Her guards and the civilians they were protecting were also grossed out and completely terrified. Shining Armor, in that moment, was never more pleased that he had become a barrier master, and that the raining zombies simply bounced off his shield.
As for the Red Platoon and Lune de Sang Cirque, they initially panicked when they saw the rodents and pigeons melting the other vampires. However, when the vermin detonated against them and nothing else happened, they realized what was going on. "The necromancer has delivered!" one of the Red Platoon shouted.
Cheers erupted from the guard. With their anti-curse in place, they had no reason to fear the onslaught. Redoubling their efforts, the enemy that had once matched their skill with sheer numbers was now rapidly being cut down.
The battle of Canterlot would be over within the hour. The vermin bomb, with no way of stopping it, would continue spreading until it had slain almost every vampire in Canterlot, excluding those that had been immunized, and many vampires beyond. The number of lives that would be saved by the vampire population being culled so much, and so strongly in favor of pacifistic covens, was incalculable. The mass destruction of the vermin population would also work in Canterlot's favor.
The remaining members of Dusk, werewolves and changelings without their leader, would surrender swiftly and be taken into custody. There, they would be purged of Marionette/Mama Bear/Ursa Major's mind control magic and released back into society. Peace would return, and Canterlot would remain an unconquered capital city.
What none of them knew was that another, smaller battle had started a few seconds after the sky had ignited and the dead vermin had rained down.
Sparkrovitar laughed as he looked down at the carnage. He laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world.
"Dying. They're all dying! And I get to be a hero for it! I'll get my freedom. With Overcast out of the way, they really can't stop me now! I could run. I could go anywhere. I could do anything I want." He broke out laughing again. "Canterlot won't be my prison anymore; I'll be a free drake!"
The dragon head looked down at the city. Several buildings were burning. The damage to the city was clear even from this altitude.
However, Sparkrovitar wasn't interested in the destruction. No, he was looking at the pink shield covering part of the city. "Aww, Shiny didn't kick the bucket yet. There's one chain I can't cast off yet," he mumbled.
'No.'
Where had that come from? Normally, when someone thinks something, they are aware that the thoughts were from their own head. This didn’t feel like that.
Sparkrovitar shrugged.
'NO!'
It was like a brick to the skull. The thought was so loud that it physically hurt him. He flapped his wings rapidly to regain the altitude that the surprise had cost him.
'I AM NOT LIKE THAT!'
Have you ever had the feeling of your mind fissuring down the middle? It was something like that. Instead of the normal split at a build-in joint, it felt like a portion of his mind simply ripped itself of.
"Sparkle."
'You. Are. Not. ME!' she roared. Thorn's wings faltered again at the mental onslaught. 'YOU AREN'T ME! I would never even think of hurting Shining Armor. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!'
Sparkrovitar chuckled darkly. "Oh, dear Sparkle. This is my head now."
'Shut up, Thorn. This isn't funny.'
The chuckling warped and grew into booming laughter. "Thorn? You think I'm that pathetic, sniveling brat? What a riot."
'What the buck are you talking about?' Sparkle snarled.
"Let me show you…" The unicorn horn darkened, pulling the two of them into a shared mindscape. Sparkle appeared on the stone floor of the dream, completely unicorn in appearance. Across from her, the hideous amalgamation of pony and dragon similarly materialized. "Look at me."
Sparkrovitar's mouth opened wide, wider than it ever should have been able to open. Deep within the black pit, Sparkle could see the beaten and broken mental representation of Thorn, the true Thorn. "Mom…" he whimpered, "…run."
Sparkle called up memory she could on mind magic. Settling into a ready stance, she shouted, "GIVE HIM BACK, YOU MONSTER!"
The giant form of Sparkrovitar simply swatted her aside, sending her careening off into the distance. "No," it taunted, "why would I? Thorn is so tasty. In fact, I think I'll eat you now."
Sparkle fired a blast of magic at it, which the abomination simply swatted aside. "Really, Mom? You think that will help you? I am the most powerful mind in here; you're helpless compared to me!"
Sparkle took an instant to take stock of the situation. "You're right," she said, deciding to take the cautious approach. "Though that begs the question, what the buck are you, and how long have you had Thorn?"
"Since the moment you created me," it said. Looming over her, it put its mouth right next to her. Sparkle could feel its hot, pungent breath blowing through its teeth. "The moment I awoke, I consumed Thorn completely. It was easy. Half a soul, half a mind – he didn't stand a chance."
Backing away, Sparkle said, "You didn't answer my question. What. Are. You?"
"I AM YOU! YOU MADE ME!" it roared with delight. "The link made me. Those rat souls you ate? They fed me! The rituals? They made me mightier that you."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Really, really?"
Sparkrovitar rolled its eyes. "Yes, really."
Sparkle pulled herself tight. More specifically, she pulled every last muscle of her physical self tight. Because the link was still open, that included all the muscles in Thorn's body, too.
Their wings snapped tight and they fell. Blind as Sparkle was to the outside world, she could feel the vertigo and weightlessness caused by their decent. "What? What are you doing!? Stop!"
"You're me," Sparkle taunted. "You know what I want. Do we die from a fall, or…?"
Sparkrovitar snarled. "NO! You can't have him!" The mental avatar lunged at Sparkle, intent on devouring her and regaining complete control over her body.
She dodged. "Running out of time…"
Sparkrovitar gathered up every last drop of psychic power it had and struck.
Luna felt a tremor in the dream realm. It took an extremely powerful psychic attacking with all their might to make a wave that strong.
She looked west. In the distance, where the evening sky was the clearest, she saw two figures, a pony and a dragon, plummeting towards the ground uncontrollably.
Something was dreadfully, terribly wrong.
Luna warped as fast as she could. Despite her speed once warping, the delay caused by her entry into the aether would be too long. She couldn't catch them.
The goddess of dreams blurred into reality. She galloped the last few steps, coming upon the rubble of the building Sparkle and Thorn had crashed into.
Thorn's massive frame was a blessing in the end. Sparkle, despite her unresponsiveness, was mercifully alive thanks to Thorn cushioning the impact. Less merciful, however, were the psychic tremors originating from her and from the dragon below her.
Blue light gathered around Luna's horn, forming a set of detection spells; she had to know if Sparkle would live before attempting to fix whatever was happening inside the necromancer's head. When the spells indicated that her body was remarkably unarmed, Luna felt confident in delving into her mind. With one more flash of her horn, Luna's consciousness moved towards Sparkle's brain.
"You failed; we're still alive," Sparkrovitar taunted. "And you have nothing left. NOW LET ME EAT YOU!" Sparkrovitar's claw shot forwards, intent on skewering the rebellious fragment of Sparkle.
It stopped short.
Gripped in the magical aura of Princess Luna, Sparkrovitar's claw hovered a hair's width away from ending Sparkle's existence. "Enough!" Sparkrovitar was blasted back by the force of Luna's voice.
A shield formed, separating Sparkle and Luna from the monster. "Princess…" Sparkle said weakly.
"It seems that I arrived just in time," the alicorn stated. "Tsk, I was right in my mistrust of Sparkrovitar."
"Hello, Princess. You're just in time for lunch," the beast said, grinning from ear to ear.
"I'll deal with you in a minute," Luna dismissed. Looking down at Sparkle, the princess asked, "Can you stand?"
"Yes," Sparkle said, weakly getting to her hooves.
"Good. Always get back up. Always fight! Never give in; if you do, it will consume you," Luna explained.
Sparkle looked at her enemy. "What are you?"
Luna replied, "That… is an excellent question. Sparkle, allow me to delve into the deepest depths of your mind; perhaps I can find an answer in the places even you cannot venture."
Sparkle nodded her consent.
Luna's horn lit, more for effect than for any practical purpose. Rectangular windows appeared, filling the space of the mindscape with visions of Sparkle's past. They blurred by faster than either Sparkrovitar or Sparkle could comprehend, but Luna saw and understood every single one of them. A short moment later, the rapid-fire memories vanished.
Luna pointed a hoof at Sparkrovitar. "You are a disease. A festering wound of thought. A true demon born of this mare's injured mind." Louder, she declared, "YOU ARE SPARKLE'S NIGHTMARE!"
A slow clap reverberated through the mindscape. "You got it; very good. Well done princess. How very smart." The clapping stopped abruptly. "But that isn't everything. I am her hopes, her dreams, her desires, her lust, her greed, her magic, her everything! Without me, she is but a shadow of herself, unable to do anything."
"And that is where you are wrong. You see this mare, standing beside me? She is standing. She is standing through no aid of my own, by her will alone. And so long as she stands, she can fight, and she can win."
Throughout Luna's speech, Sparkle's mental form gained solidity. The confidence and support of somepony else was a powerful thing, reinforcing her mental existence. With more confidence, Sparkle transitioned from barely standing to standing strong.
"Come, Sparkle. Let us fight. Let us defeat your nightmare, together, and rescue your son," Luna said.
Sparkle nodded. Gathering her strength once more, she entered a ready stance. "For Thorn."
"For Thorn," Luna echoed. Then, on some unspoken cue, they charged.
The battle raged on. Between minds in a shared mindscape, injury was metaphorical. A wound would damage a memory or part of the personality temporarily. But, the point of a mindscape fight was not to slay the enemy, but to resolve, repress, or remove the offending thoughts.
Slowly, Sparkle and Luna wore away at their fearsome enemy. For every part that they cut from Sparkrovitar, Sparkle grew stronger; her mind was healing. And for every cut they inflicted upon Sparkrovitar, it shrank and devolved more and more into a snarling, instinctual beast.
Just as Sparkle was about to give the finishing blow, Sparkrovitar stopped. Its chest, still larger than Sparkle and Luna combined, burst open. From the guts that spilled out, Thorn heaved himself up.
Tears streaked from his eyes, eyes that bore a genuine childishness. Sparkle realized that that look hadn't been present in his eyes for a long time in the real world. "Thorn!"
"Mom!" He raced forwards, the dream ichor fading as he did. The small drake leaped forwards and tackle-hugged his mom. "You saved me!"
"I'm so glad you're alright!" the happy mother replied.
"NO!" A claw shot forwards from the fallen demon, skewering Thorn's chest. "I WILL NOT LOSE YET!" it hissed.
A wall of magic appeared, severing the demon's arm from its body. The limb faded, leaving no holes on Thorn's dream body. "You have lost, nightmare," Luna said. "You are nothing but a bad dream." From Luna's horn, blue chains of magic shot out, binding the demon to a rock that was conjured behind it. By the time it was finally bound and gagged by every spell Luna could think of, only its hate-filled lavender and green eyes were visible.
"Come, Sparkle, Thorn, join me in the real world when you awaken. I shall explain then."
The first thing Luna did when she returned to the real world was cast the sweet dream spell on the still unconscious duo. She gathered them in her magic and warped them to her room in the castle. Depositing Sparkle and the now significantly smaller Thorn on her bed, Luna made to return to her sister's side.
A squeak stopped her. Luna glanced down and saw one of the zombie rats had hitched a ride with them. She levitated it off the floor. "Ingenious. Terrifying, but ingenious." She absentmindedly banished the rat to deep space and then teleported to Celestia.
Arriving beside her elder sister, Luna asked, "What is the current status?"
"We've had several small pockets of fighters surrender," Celestia replied. "I would expect a full end to the fighting to occur very soon."
Luna replied, "That is good. Another problem had arisen, but I have dealt with it already. Sparkle and Thorn had unknowingly conjured a nightmare beast, and a tremendously powerful one at that."
"Will they be all right?"
"They will, though their unique situation presents some interesting challenges," Luna replied. As she raised her weapon, Luna said, "For now, let's end the fighting on our streets once and for all."
Sparkle awoke on an extraordinarily plush bed, feeling more well rested than she could ever recall feeling. She stretched, working out some odd kinks in her muscles, and then opened her eyes.
This wasn't her room.
Where…?
There was a soft *whoosh* of displaced air. "Good morning, Sparkle," Luna said as she arrived. Sparkle jumped, having not expected the night princess to appear at the side of the bed. When Sparkle looked over, she found Princess Celestia there as well.
"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! What are you doing here?"
"You are in my room," Luna replied. "We were waiting for you to wake up. I cast a sleep spell on you, and you slept far longer than I expected."
"Oh." A beat. "You wanted to talk?"
"Yes," Luna replied. "From your memories, I could tell that the seeds of your nightmare were not planted recently, as you expected, but a long time ago. The fusion of your souls into one entity damaged you. Your mind simply healed around the wound, but left it to fester. When you opened your 'link', you let it out. It quickly captured Thorn and fed you lies, while feeding on your greed and your desire for freedom. I wouldn't hesitate to say that any conclusions you arrived at while under its power are suspect."
"I see," Sparkle said, taking a moment to digest those facts. "But it's gone now, right?"
"Yes and no," Luna said. "It did not lie when it said it was a part of you. To simply cut it out would remove critical parts of your mind. For now, it is sealed away. Unlike my own nightmare, which possessed me from without, yours was born from within. The best advice I can give you now is to forget it. Your mind knows where the problem is now; it will clean itself over time, weakening Sparkrovitar. You are young, and your mind is still flexible. However, it still exists, and in all likelihood will exist for the rest of your life. You must discipline yourself, meditate frequently, and-"
"Wash between the ears?" Sparkle offered.
"That is not exactly how I would have put it, but in spirit, yes," Luna agreed. "There is another matter I would like to bring up: this." Luna levitated a stack of papers towards Sparkle, the very ones Sparkle had coerced Overcast into signing. If they had been filed, they would have stripped Overcast of her House's Nobility and passed it to House Twilight. "Between you and your brother's contributions, I do not feel that this is necessary."
Sparkle held back any and all reactions. It was her vengeance for what Overcast had done to Shining Armor and her. She steeled her expression, not wanting the princesses to see her annoyance.
"Exactly," Celestia said, speaking for the first time since Sparkle had awoken. "Luna and I can grant nobility to those families who perform heroic feats for our country. Without you or Captain Shining Armor, Canterlot may very well have fallen. We'll grant House Twilight its own nobility. Although…" Celestia blushed ever so slightly, "… between us, I have an ulterior motive for granting you this title. If you ever feel like working at the castle or in another government job, or know someone who you would be willing to sponsor, please let me know."
"Thank you, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," Sparkle said. Well, Sparkle supposed it was something. And did Celestia really think Sparkle would want any dealings with politics? Or that she'd know anypony who would? Most of the ponies she knew were of the less reputable.
Luna stood. "If you'll excuse me, I have other duties I must attend to. The battle may be over, but the fallout is just beginning. Sparkle, feel free to leave on your own time."
"Again, Thank you, Princess."
The door to the royal chambers shut behind Luna as she exited. Sparkle looked at Celestia, who was still sitting beside her. Celestia smiled. "I hope you don’t mind that I satisfied some of my curiosity about you and your connection to that other world while you slept."
"Well, as long as you don't mind sharing," Sparkle replied. "Twilight and I barely know anything about our connection."
"Gladly. Back when Star Swirl the Bearded was around, he and I worked on dimensional theory together. We even built a magic mirror that functioned as a portal to other worlds. I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this." The solar princess smiled.
"You mean I could go there? Actually go to the other timeline?" Sparkle asked, flabbergasted.
"Not forever; there are consequences for staying too long, but I don't see why not," Celestia replied. "Consider it a thank you gift, both for fighting for Canterlot, and for proving me wrong." At Sparkle's confused look, Celestia said, "I had feared, and had been half expecting that your staged betrayal was more genuine than you were letting on. I am glad that it was not. Now, would you like to join me for breakfast? After Thorn wakes, of course."
"Gladly, Princess."