The Sparkle in his Eye

by Tatsurou


Deadlocked: Vindicated

When the time came for Twilight to hit the next off station course, the hype was high. The cameras panned over a massive field of asteroids floating back and forth, in constant motion around each other. Each asteroid had several launch pads on it, highly charged.

Dallas began his introduction. "We're live from the Hexadon Asteroid Belt. Unique in any explored region of space, each of the asteroids in the belt have an intense, highly localized gravitational field, making it impossible for anyone standing on one to jump without utilizing one of the rocket jump pads scattered throughout the Belt. Twilight will have to navigate her way from the landing point to the exit while dealing with the intense gravity slowing her down. Not only that, she can't take her time, as she only has so much air in her tanks...and the only refill points are at the entrance and exit to this maze."

"And if she's not careful in timing her launches," Juanita pointed out, "she'll shoot off into space, never to be seen again."

"Well, it looks like Twilight's ready to begin her run," Dallas commented. "She's launching, and...she's missed the first asteroid by such a small margin! What a lethal miscalcu-...what's happening?"

"It...it appears she shot close enough to the asteroid to be caught in the asteroid's gravity well," Juanita explained, "but not so close as to be dragged to its surface. She's...slingshot around it!"

"Well, that's an interesting strategy, but won't do much good unless she plans to slingshot around all the asteroids all the way to the exit!" Dallas laughed. "She has to throw several switches on her way to the end of the course to open the exit, as well as destroy several enemies holding keys, which she can't really do as she goes flying by, now can she?"

"She just did," Juanita pointed out. "She used the recoil from her guns to correct course while obliterating the key enemies, sending her battle bots down as she passes to activate switches and collect the keys."

"And...she appears to have completed the course in under a minute," Dallas allowed as Twilight reached the end of the course.

"What was this filly's IQ again?" Juanita asked.

"It's over 9000-"

Juanita promptly smacked Dallas in the back of the head. "Be serious, Dallas."

"I am being serious!" Dallas countered. "She's rated on the Terachnoid IQ scale!"


As the cameras zoomed in on the next course, Dallas' tone was somewhat bored. "And now we're live from the mobile planetary fortress Primus, an artificial Dyson Sphere originally designed to be a space colony, then transformed into a battle fortress, and now acquired by Dreadzone as a new death course has Twilight cleared it yet?"

"Not yet," Juanita pointed out.

"I guess I have to read the goal here then," Dallas continued, still sounding bored. "In this course, Team Vampony will have to ride the transport vehicles of Primus throughout the sphere, making their way to the center in order to disengage the self-destruct and use the escape pod to make it back to the surface and is she out yet?"

"No, she's not out yet," Juanita replied.

"What's taking her so long?" Dallas demanded.

"She already disabled the self destruct, but she's hotwired the gravity generators and the transport systems to turn the entire sphere's interior into a combination roller coaster and shooting gallery."

Dallas was silent for a time. "...god, that's adorable."


Back in Dreadzone, Twilight braced herself in the arena alongside Barb and Owliscious, waiting for the next Tournament to begin. Dallas began his announcement. "Due to what can only be described as game breaking adorable shenanigans, Twilight has made it all the way to the Vindicator Tournament. But, before she earns the rank of Vindicator, she'll have to survive the Battledome's deadliest challenges yet, and then take on the Bio-Crusher!"

Twilight smiled to herself as she prepared herself for the battles ahead. The first round was weapon cycling, which Twilight had no trouble with...especially since it meant she had no ammo limits. She just went nuts blasting everything in sight with whatever weapon she had at the time, giggling all the while.

The next challenge involved dodging bombs while blasting away at enemies, this time with her choice of weapons and the usual ammo limits. This proved challenging as she didn't get much warning before the bomb hit the ground, although her small size meant rolling to safety was much easier. Thankfully, the challenge only lasted for a specific period of time.

After that, Dallas and Juanita came in on the announcer's mobile box. "Welcome to the matchup of a lifetime, Dreadzone fans!" Dallas proclaimed. "Our challenger, a shining star of adorable badassery, here's...Twilight!"

Blushing, Twilight waved to the cheering crowd.

"Her opponent is a creation of science gone terribly wrong," Juanita explained. "Created specifically for this competition, it is the beast's first battle, so we'll just have to see how it stands up against Twilight! Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome...the Bio-Crusher!"

A massive roar tore through the arena. A cage was wheeled out, a frenzied beast contained within. It looked like someone had crossed a gorilla with a lizard, gave it a lion's mane, and then fused razor blades to every part of its body it could fit. The blades stretched out several feet, and the flesh around the metal blades constantly wept blood. Its eyes were blood red with madness, and its mouth were full of fangs that dripped acid. As the cage was opened, the beast leapt out, smashing the bots that had handled the cage.

The beast just so happened to be 30 feet tall, pure muscle and bone and bio-metal.

Twilight, however, couldn't look away from the beast's eyes. She recognized the look. It was the same look Mr. Fuzzy-Biter had when she'd first met him, when too much of a brain chemical had driven him to madness and absolute agony. As the battle began, she ordered her bots not to fire as she dodged around the attacks, trying to learn the creature's patterns.

After a time, she was able to predict its movements, and leapt onto an extended arm as it took a swing. Racing up the arm - and dodging around tentacles that leapt out of the flesh to ensnare her - she reached the back of the beast's head and pressed her horn to it, diving into its mind.

As she had suspected, it was in continuous agony from its very existence. She had thought she could reduce the neurochemical production like she had with Mr. Fuzzy-Biter...but she quickly discovered that the high levels of that particular chemical were the only thing keeping it alive. If she reduced the production, it wouldn't be able to heal from the damage it did to itself just by moving.

It could either live in agony and madness...or die in agony and madness.

Pulling back, Twilight stared down at the creature, tears pouring from her eyes. "I...I'm so sorry," she whimpered, drawing her anti-matter sniper rifle. She placed it to the base of the beast's skull.

And pulled the trigger.


Ace was unsurprised when he found Twilight weeping in her containment suite, curled up tight inside her 'Congrats, Cutie Mark Crusader' sweater, worn over her new Vindicator armor, the black and orange not looking too good with either her purple coat or the red, blue, and silver of the sweater. He sat down beside her. "I take it that last fight was rough?" he asked, stroking the back of her neck.

"H...he was in constant pain," Twilight whispered through her tears. "He...he could never rest, never be comfortable...his very existence was agony. I...I couldn't fix him...couldn't help him...could...could only..." Her choked sobs continued.

Ace gently pulled her into his lap, holding her close. "You freed him from pain," he said softly. "Sometimes...that's all you can do..."

"But...but how do I..."

He placed a finger to her lips. "The pain will fade in time. Comfort yourself knowing that you do more good than harm, and that he would thank you if he could."

Twilight closed her eyes as she shivered. "I...I don't think I want to sleep tonight," she whimpered.

Ace chuckled as he wrapped the cape he gave her around her like a blanket. "Not even if I read you a bedtime story?" he asked, pulling out a genuine book with leather binding and paper pages.

Twilight gasped, and her face split into a wide grin.

Smiling, Ace opened the book. "’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves..." he began.

"Are...are those real words?" Twilight asked, her mouth twisting like she'd sucked a lemon.

Ace shook his head. "Nah. The author made up a bunch of words just for this story. It's classic Literature from Old Earth."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Humans are weird."

"Hey!" Ace complained. "I resemble that remark!"

They shared a laugh before Ace continued to read her to peaceful sleep.