The mare who entered Ponyville hours ago paced back and forth on the grass outside of Twilight’s castle. She had gazed at it earlier, not in awe but sadness. The splendor of its crystal had faded with the light dimming behind a curtain of thick clouds. She was blind to the goodness of this town. Like many times before, the town went into a state of shock: windows boarded, doors locked tight and those fortunate enough to avoid her relatively safe in their homes. She didn’t care. Being avoided was her never ending reality. She would never guess that this town was a place that offered many open hooves to strangers; with rare exceptions in cases of strange zebra potion makers, Ponyville wasn’t like the royal capital and its citizens who turned their noses up at others or the bigger cities and theirs who pushed ponies out of the way and greeted strangers with a snarl on the best of days. All she could see was an atmosphere of dread and it made her mission so very clear.
She was using her crystal to mentally track Twilight. When it came to power, she was no match to the princess. Her greatest power was to put ponies to sleep. She lacked the ability to teleport from one place to another with a mere thought. She even lacked a horn. She was reminded all the time that the crystal around her neck was her only salvation. Suddenly, the crystal alerted her with a rush of energy through her mind, a tingling sense like electricity. She felt it so much that it had become comfortable. Twilight had teleported again. The princess couldn’t hide and she knew that the unicorn was back in her kingdom, somewhere near. She swung the crystal around her neck, the gem glowing and releasing spores which floated in the air. They collected into clouds which released glowing petals, with many fallen on the bodies of those ponies already too far gone into the realm of dreams.
Twilight and Starlight snuck through town, weaving through alleys and down narrow streets. Twilight kept a hope alive that if she was fast enough, she could take the mare by surprise.
Starlight stopped in her tracks and sniffed deeply.
“What is it?” Twilight huffed.
“There’s something off about the air. I don’t know what it is but I can smell it.” Twilight took a deep breath through her nose. Starlight was right. The smell was faint but she could distinguish what she thought was the smell from a rose. She was sure of it. She had studied many a specimen before.
“I think we’ve been found out,” Twilight said.
The two rushed towards the castle. On the way, they saw many ponies lying around, their bodies coated in flowers as if they were at the center of a potpourri accident. “This is ridiculous! What now…?” Twilight thought.
At the last house before the clearing where the castle was, Starlight broke off a piece of reflective glass and angled it so they could see around the corner. Twilight looked over her shoulder as she moved the glass slowly.
“Is that her?” Twilight said, pointing to a small pink thing. It was hard to see with what appeared to be a fog rising around her.
“It has to be. I could see the glint of her gem,” Starlight said. “Let’s go. We’re more than powerful enough to beat her if we’re smart about it. Let’s approach from two different sides. If you want, I can strike first from behind then you from here.”
“You’re right. She might not expect you,” Twilight agreed. “Go now. I’ll wait here for your signal.”
Starlight slipped away with her powerful legs carrying her swiftly. As she waited, Twilight almost wished that she had her crown on her, the symbol of the kingdom of friendship that she loved so dearly. She looked up and saw a blue light cast into the sky. That was enough. She ran around the corner, her hooves creating a trail of flowers in her wake. She could see the mare clearly now. She was just up ahead, her head turned away to where Starlight had made her move.
The light of the gem reflected in Starlight’s eyes but even as she seemed to stare at it, she didn’t fall.
Her eyes were angled, burning holes in the mare’s coat. “You’ve done enough!” she yelled. She cast a powerful wind spell which blew the spores away from the area. The mare cried out, her voice matching the wind’s howl.
“No, not my floral powder!” Her eyes were glassy and her body spun around to watch it all drift away. The scene before Twilight made her give pause. She never before met an enemy that wasn’t as firm and imposing as a cliff face. The mare then gave an icy stare to Twilight, a sure sign of a threat more real than the unknown magic she wielded. “How could you do this? The powder was meant to help those ponies!” She spoke as if all this was Twilight’s fault for interfering. Like she was the bad mare in all of this.
“If you want to help then bring them back from the dream world!” Starlight demanded, her teeth locked in anger.
“No…but what I will do is let you both join them. You will thank me someday…even if you don’t understand now. I am truly sorry,” she said, her voice falling to a meek murmur like she was Fluttershy. She squeezed her eyes shut as if the very thought was painful.
Twilight took the initative and leapt into the sky, arcing to prepare an attack. It was risky, her aiming to take the gem, but she wished to do as little harm as possible to the mare herself. Right at the apex of her jump, the gem acted like it had a mind of its own, anticipating her and sending out magical tendrils of light. It wrapped around her body like ribbons, felt her like snakes, and made her immobile. She tried to fight it but it was already draining her consciousness away. There were only seconds left.
Starlight’s body burst with adrenaline. She had two choices. Run or fight. Only one could be picked. She hadn’t learned the value of friendship for nothing. Her horn focused as much power as it could in the span of time she had. When released, it was a meteor, a spiral of fire which scorched the open air. The mare didn’t bother to move. She didn’t even blink. The impact tore through pink coat and nearly turned her tail to ash. Her broken body was cast away, fallen on a pile of flowers now turning deep red.
Twilight’s body had gone limp. It was suspended in the air, the magic of the gem keeping her afloat.
“No, Twilight!” Starlight couldn’t believe it. She had failed her. Then it was her turn, the tendrils grabbing on her hooves. She tried to shake them off in horror. It was no use to resist. Her horn was seized and her muzzle wrapped so she couldn’t even scream. She didn’t know if they were going to crush her in revenge for what she did to its master but she was only focused on Twilight for what little time she had left. She looked peaceful, she had to admit…but did it matter? The dead looked just as peaceful, didn’t they? If the sinking feeling in her mind was death then she could only let it come as it may. She had just one thought left. Goodbye, Twilight…and Equestria.
The two bodies of Twilight and Starlight were laid on the ground. They were very much alive, just fast asleep. That could not be said for the mare on the pile of flowers, her hair now half blonde and half black and her bonnet in tatters. She choked on blood.
“What a beautiful sacrifice,” she said with her last ounce of strength. “I only hope it was good enough…”
With her last heartbeat, she died.