//------------------------------// // Chapter V: Hatred // Story: To End A Life // by Diceman //------------------------------// Chapter V:Hatred Twilight stared directly at Celestia, her eyes narrow and her teeth grinding together in anger. One could feel the heat of Twilight's gaze on Celestia and Celestia alone. The cauldron behind her popped as an air bubble exploded at the surface of the potion, but that did not advert her gaze in the slightest. The opposite was true for Celestia though. She seemed to have a face that showed both worry, but at the same time curiosity as she scanned the room, as if she was trying to make sense of all the strange contraptions in the area. She also seemed to intentionally miss direct eye contact with Twilight. Whether this was to keep her composure or to avoid a staring contest with her former pupil, one could not say. Iron Eagle could barely keep his eyes off them, they seemed to be locked in a game of cat and mouse, each of them waiting for the other to make the first move. It was like watching two mighty samurai meet. One being the old master and the other being the pupil ready to subvert her power and prove herself an equal. Then It came back, the pain in his chest was intense. Every breath he took felt labored and only half complete, as if he were drowning in a pool. He didn't know if he was lung-shot or not. Everything he remembered from his emergency first aid told him that being lung-shot usually resulted in the affected pony coughing up blood. While such injury had a reasonably high mortality rate with Earth ponies, it was exceptionally lethal in Pegasi, due to their highly efficient lung structure. However, while he did manage to cough a few times and the wound hurt quite a bit, there was no blood. Twilight's attack had cauterized the wound all the way through. "Hate to interrupt the staring contest, but' I'm not sure if' I'm bleeding out or not. Some medical attention would be nice" Iron Eagle sat up, his back against of of the many machines in the room, breathing heavily. "Twilight! What did you do to him?" Princess Cadence rushed forward, breaking the staring contest between Celestia and Twilight. "It's very hard to restrain my power. The wound is cauterized, you may pass to administer medical aid. However, promise me you will not get between me and Celestia's fight." Twilight motioned Cadence to go past her, but kept one eye on her as she passed. Cadence quickly moved over to where Iron Eagle was sitting and probed his injury with her magic. "There doesn't seem to be any bleeding though a inch more to the side and she would have severed your aorta." Iron Eagle winced in pain as Cadences magic slowly closed the wound. "N-nice to know that I almost died, builds character ya know." "You just concentrate on healing. You did your job admirably, it's time for Celestia to deal with the rest" Cadence said. "I'm sorry about going a bit overboard Iron eagle. That shot was intended to stun you, not nearly kill you." Twilight said, though her attention was still entirely on Celestia. "Twilight, we need to talk. I know what I did was wrong and I'm here to fix it. that potion you are cooking up will not kill you, it will just keep you in an eternal memory loop. There are other ways to fix - "Silence!" Twilight yelled, interrupting Celestia. "I will not be talked down by you, your sister or anypony. If you take so much as a step toward stopping me and my potion, I will not hold back." "Surely you jest? You would have to take on three Alicorns. Even if you're the element of Magic you will most assuredly be overpowered" Luna said as she stepped forward. "Please Twilight, end this silliness. A fight here would only end in you being hurt. Besides, we are all immortal here-" Iron Eagle rolled his eyes and sighed. "Almost all immortal here. A fight would be an exercise in futility." Luna stepped forward "do as we say Twilight, we can work this out." Twilight stared at Luna and then back at Celestia. "Do you really think that I have been slacking off in my practice the last few centuries? I am more than powerful enough on my own to fight off you and the entire S class unicorn battalions." "You bluff, that amount of magical power would be nearly impossible to control!" Luna balked. "Luna, I want you to stay out of this fight, you too Cadence" Celestia said calmly. "I wasn't going to fight her to begin with. I came here to talk with Twilight, not fight her" Cadence said. "Are you sure about this sister? We can overpower her, lock her down. Make her see reason" Luna pleaded. "I'm sure. I only want intervention if she gets anywhere near that potion. Cadence, get your kin out of here, his job is done. Luna I want all detachments of troops moved at least three hundred miles away and a barrier put around them and any nearby villages. I don't want collateral damage." Celestia's eyes fixed upon Twilight, a combination of anger and pity in them. "Sister, I can-" Luna was cutoff by a quick glare from Celestia. She had the sudden urge to defy her sister, she wanted to for all the right reasons, but anypony could see it; Luna fur was standing on end and her lip quivering. Whatever Celestia had planned for Twilight; it shook Luna to the core. Luna paused for a moment as if contemplating her next few words. "Fine, but if I see your fat behind losing, I will step in." Luna swished her tail flippantly as she turned around and headed through the hole in the wall. "Don't you dare lose sister." "You will have to excuse her Twilight, she has always had that rebellious streak in her. Besides, I couldn't bare to see her get hurt for my battles. I'm the one you want, not her or Cadence, right?" Twilight stepped forward, spreading her wings. "No, she never wrong me. You on the other hoof have the audacity to bully your own sister in front of me. Just like you did to me back then..." Twilight turned her head towards Cadence. "Cadence, there is a no teleportation zone around my home of around twenty miles or so. It allows me access, but no other pony. I suggest putting up a barrier around you and Iron." "Twilight, you can't be serious. There are other ways to work out our-" A quick glare from Twilight stopped Cadence short. Iron Eagle watched as drips of sweat rolled down Cadence's neck. The look of fear was unmistakable on her face, a look that he had only seen a few times in his lifetime; one of them being his sisters grand master magic test. It wasn't just the look either, there was unmistakable trembling involved as well. Is she afraid of Twilight? The magic gap between them can't be that great can it? Cadence is far older... Iron Eagles thoughts raced, trying to search for answers. Twilight turned her attention back to her potion, quickly erecting a barrier around it before turning her attention back on Celestia. "Now to give you back some of the pain you forced me to live through." Twilight erupted in a ball of purple flame and before Celestia could even defend herself, rammed her into, then through the ceiling. Cadence quickly erected a barrier around herself and Iron Eagle, just in time to prevent several heavy wooden beams from crushing them. "She's completely out of her mind. The Twilight I knew would never endanger her friends and family so...so.." Cadence seemed at a loss for words. "Recklessly?" Iron Eagle said. "No, it's more than just recklessness. So was prone to being reckless every so often, usually with mostly benign effects. This however is entirely different. She seems detached from those around her, only focusing on herself and what she wants in that moment." Cadence used her magic to sure up the barrier as a few spare bricks hit it. "Grandma-" "Call me Cadence, please. You know calling me that makes me feel old" Cadence snapped, cutting Iron Eagle off. "Sorry, Cadence. Why were you so...terrified of Twilight when she glared at you? I was under the impression you were much older and thus more powerful than her, was I wrong?" Iron Eagle asked. "More experienced maybe, but not anywhere near her. You can't feel how deep her power is because well, you're not a unicorn." Cadence tried to sound as non-patronizing as possible, but a sigh from Iron Eagle made her think it sounded as such anyways. "Can you try to explain it to me at least?" Iron Eagle asked. "I'll try and boil it down to layman terms. Imagine all of powers were converted to water. Mine would be enough to fill an Olympic pool while the average unicorn could fill a couple gallons, maybe a kiddie pool at most. Now Imagine Luna is about on par with a great lake and Celestia is on par with a sea." Cadence began flashing picture examples in the air with her magic, in an attempt to visualize each Alicorns total power. "I figured as much. So, where does Twilight stand? She can't be anywhere near Celestia or Luna." "And that is where you would be wrong." Cadence used her magic to project a picture that was nothing but solid blue. The picture slowly panned out until one could see the entirety. "An ocean?" Iron Eagle stepped back, bumping his head on the barrier behind him. "All of the oceans." Cadence panned out the picture further to show the entire planet. "But, that doesn't make any sense!" Iron Eagle complained. "No, no it doesn't. I have a working theory though. There's a possibility that Twilight is directly connected to all magic, just like how Celestia is connected to the sun. The problem is that kind of vast power should not be possible under normal circumstances." Cadence checked the ceiling, making sure no more debris was going to fall on them and then lowered the shield. "There must be some kind of device here that is funneling power to her" Cadence said as she looked about the room for anything suspicious. Iron Eagle staggered to his feet holding his chest where his wound was. "And if all that power she has is natural?" "Then Celestia is only fighting her to buy us time or has some plan to use her experience as a buffer to fill the power gap. I'm a fan of the former plan, if we can break that barrier around the potion and fill it with random ingredients..." "Then it will be the same as capturing Twilight, except you know; not suicidal" Iron Eagle finished Cadence's train of thought for her. "I would have used words that were less blunt about our situation, but yes; direct conflict with her is a foals game. You wouldn't happen to know how to go about finding a solution to our dilemma Iron Eagle?" Cadence asked. Iron Eagle looked around him, noticing Sam was listening in on them around the corner. "I may know of a particular being that can be of help..." *** Celestia and Twilight circled one another, each of them sizing up the other. Celestia's gaze however kept adverting to her troops moving away from them and a few very foolish guards that tried to attack Twilight the moment she left her home, of which at least a dozen of them lay on the ground unconscious. "Don't worry Celestia, they will recover. I have no intention of killing anypony today, even you. Though I will have zero qualms about making you suffer for what you have done." Twilight used her magic to lift up one of the bodies of a knocked out sky guard and moved it over to a nearby stretcher. "I have no idea if you're going to keep your word or not Twilight. You have already broken one of the key rules of being an Alicorn already. Keeping your emotions in check. You've changed so much from the mare I used to know that I can no longer remotely predict what you're going to do next." Celestia adverted her gaze from Twilight to Luna, nodding at her sister as she directed the last few squadrons away from her and Twilight. "That and the sucker punch ram though the ceiling. Completely unsportsmanlike." "What would you know about sympathy, compassion? You who has been around for thousands of years, but did nothing but sit on your fat behind eating cake in your pearly palace." Twilight spat on the ground. "You do nothing while all of Equestria is left to fend for itself. Fighting creatures that are way outside their talent, dealing with disease, disability and famine all on their own while you just sit about and raise the sun every morning." "And what would you have me do Twilight? Spend every waking moment fixing every little leak and crack that appears on the surface of our country? Ponies need to know how to take care of themselves. We tried the whole fixing all the problems thing eons ago and you know what it led to?" Celestia asked. "No, because you destroyed or sealed all the historic records from that far back." Twilight growled. "Wars upon wars, all for either getting my attention or some religious zealot trying to appease us. A hooves off approach was the best option. We only ever intervened in the most dire of circumstances." Celestia lowered her head. "I know the a lot of suffering happens, but if I just fly around fixing every scrapped knee then there will be no progress as a whole. Worse I will take away those little victories from them when they do fix a problem on their own." "No, the real reason is you're lazy. In just a few centuries I have cured diseases, helped the disabled live a better life and even fixed problems long before they ever became a crisis. The changelings are no longer starving, dangerous magical creatures of all kinds are either placated or afraid of pony kind and there's no chance of another Tirek every arising again. Face it Celestia, I accomplished more in a few mortal lifetimes than you have in a hundred." "And there it is, doing exactly what I said you were doing from the start. Not keeping your emotions in check." Celestia looked into the sky, looking for any pony that may be too close. However, taking her eyes off Twilight was a mistake. She felt a hot stinging sensation in her chest and her body lurch backward from the impact, slamming her into the ground and dragging her back several feet. She managed to kick her back legs into the ground, flipping her upright to defend against Twilight's next attack. Sure enough Twilight was charging right at her, a purple aura surrounding her body, ready to ram her again. Celestia lowered her head and fired a black bolt of energy from her horn, but the beam just went right through Twilight. "Where are you looking?" Celestia turned her head to the left just as a Twilight grabbed her by the horn and slammed her face right into Twilight back hoof. She instinctively closed her eyes, the pain was absolutely blinding though; like somepony had slammed her face into the side of a mountain at a thousand miles an hour. There was something else though, a cold sensation flowing out her nose. She opened one eye and watched as small blobs of red floated through the air in what seemed like slow motion. It was blood, her own blood. Before she could recover, Twilight threw a tremendous right hook into her stomach followed by another left hook into her ribs. If the first blow was enough to wind her, the next was obviously designed to keep her winded and off balance. It wasn't just tactical, but Twilight was hitting her far harder than her small frame should allow. Each of her blows easily registered in the hundreds of tons region, she could feel her bone creaking under the force of her blows, just barely staying intact. Before Twilight could land another blow, Celestia guarded her midsection with her legs and put up a hasty barrier. Twilight however, seemed undeterred in her assault and continued to attack the shield; each strike putting cracks in it. This doesn't make any sense, Twilight has never used melee as a means to handle a situation unless under the most dire of circumstances Celestia watched as her shield began to give way from Twilight's furious strikes. Her tactics were completely unorthodox for a unicorn and entirely unexpected. She knew that there was no way she could match Twilight in martial combat like this, she wasn't used to fighting anything in this way. I have to get some distance between us, formulate a plan to counter her melee... Celestia lowered her horn and fired a massive ball of energy at the ground below her, kicking up a large dust cloud to mask her movements. Just as Twilight shattered the barrier Celestia took to the skies, trying to put as much distance between her and Twilight as she could. "If I can just keep her at range..." Twilight erupted from the cloud of dust and smoke and headed right for Celestia. Celestia focused her power and fired a volley of energy at her. However, just as they were about to collide Twilight fired a massive blast of energy from her horn, easily tearing through Celestia's volley and striking her in the left wing. Surprised Celestia attempted to roll in the air to recover, but found her left wing entirely immobile. A quick glance revealed as to why, the entire wing was encased in ice. Twilight capitalized on Celestia's inability to dodge and flew above her, she raised both forelegs above her head and swung them down in between Celestia's wings in a vicious double axe handle. Celestia went crashing into the ground, skipping a few times before coming to a halt a few feet from Twilight's home. "Is this seriously all you have?" Twilight taunted as she landed a dozen or so yards away. "No wonder Chrysalis put you on the ground so easily all those years ago, you're barely any more powerful than a top end unicorn. The only thing keeping you alive is your immortality." Celestia staggered to her feet. She could feel a few of her ribs were broken and the bones in her left wing were entirely mangled and unusable. "The- the only reason you're so cocky right now is because you are fighting in a manner entirely uncouth for an Alicorn. If you were to challenge me in-" Before Celestia could put up her guard, she felt both of Twilight's back legs dig into her midsection, winding her and knocking her back onto the ground. Twilight then used her chest as a springboard to jump a few yards away. The pain was unimaginable. He mind raced at how such a small Alicorn could be inflicting this much damage from simple melee combat. "Still trying to wrap your head around it aren't you?" Twilight fired a beam at Celestia that turned into a large golden chain midair that quickly coiled around Celestia's body, holding her in place. Celestia tried with all her might to get the magically created object off her, but without any luck. The chain itself was easily just as strong as Twilight was physically. Strong enough to possibly choke her unconscious if Twilight willed it. She then has and Ideal, maybe if she used a high end transmogrification spell, she could make it little more than a strand of spaghetti. Celestia horn lit up, in preparation for the spell... "I wouldn't do that if I were in your position" Twilight warned. Sure enough the end of the chain wrapped around Celestia's snout and squeezed down on her entire body all at once. She wanted to scream, but all she could manage was a yelp as all of the air was forced out of her lungs. Any attempt to breathe was only met with unimaginable pain. The chain dug in hard, crushing her hips like a twig, the bones now grinding against one another inside her body. Every one of her ribs snapped as if they were made of toothpicks, both front legs were also in shambles and the coil around her neck broke it and collapsed her trachea. The more she struggled, the harder the object would squeeze; every second was agony. "That's enough, she gets the idea" Twilight commanded. The chain removed it's grip over Celestia mouth and let the links along the length relax. Celestia gasped for air, before coughing up blood and moaning as her immortality went to work fixing the damage the chain had done. Tears rolled down her eyes, as her body twitched and gasped, trying to even measure the damage done to her. "I don't suggest trying to escape again. The next time you try I'll make sure it grinds you into a fine pulp, if you think your immortality healing you from those injuries was painful, imagine trying to come back from a fine mush" Twilight nodded toward the chain and he loosened up further, allowing Celestia to take in larger gulps of air. "So, in case you were too dense to notice I have been planning this for a long time. I knew that you favored magic heavily and worked on the quickest way to dismantle any defense or offense you might undertake. Personally I hate self monologue, but I have the time before that potion is complete." Twilight walked toward Celestia, each one of her steps cracking the ground beneath her as she walked. Celestia watched, but couldn't say anything. Her body had yet to heal enough to allow her to speak properly. "You see, Earth ponies are physically stronger than both Pegasus and Unicorns by a far margin and have more stamina. I figured that if I used both a combat tactic you are unfamiliar with and magic that you typically ignore, that you wouldn't be able to counter it. Seems I was correct in my assumption." Twilight walked around Celestia, watching her take in one staggered breath after another. "Well, I'll get back to my potion then. chain, if she tries to escape, crush her till she loses consciousness. I don't want any more interruptions." Twilight turned around and headed toward her home. Must find a way to stop her... Celestia tried her magic once more, this time trying to overpower the snake by funneling her magic through her body. Again the chain responded immediately and clamped down on her body with all of its might, winding her and re-braking all the bones it previously had. "Agggrrrrrhhhh!" Celestia screamed. "Now you understand the pain you put me through" Twilight said in a matter if fact tone. Suddenly a black fireball flew over Twilight's home, slamming into the chain and evaporating it with black flame. Twilight looked up, a scowl on her face. "Luna, I don't want to fight you. You never did anything to harm me and even tried to argue on my behalf. Take your broken sister and leave me before I do something I will regret." Luna stared at Celestia and shook her head. "Always with the fight losing, I swear Celestia if you were any worse at combat you would end up kicking your own posterior by accident." Luna moved her gaze to Twilight. "As for your threat Twilight, it does not phase me in the least. I am not the easy target fluffy cupcake that my sister is. To put it bluntly, take the first shot if you feel hard enough." Twilight bent her legs slightly, then sprung into the air, the force of her liftoff creating a small crater below her. "No pony will stop me!" As Twilight threw a punch with her front leg at Luna's chest, Luna moved her body slightly higher, letting the attack hit her square in the stomach. However, when Twilight tried to follow up her attach with kick just under her ribs Luna grabbed both of her back legs and began swinging her around in a circle. Before Twilight could react she found herself hurling down, crashing through the roof of her home. "H-how? How did you-" Celestia said, her mouth agape in amazement. Luna hovered in the air for a few brief moments, clutching her stomach and coughing up blood. "She was using a very aggressive form of pony Tae Kwon Do. There was no way I could counter her speed, but Judo is a natural counter. For every hit I take she will harm herself just as much just from her own momentum." Luna spread her wings out and glided to the ground next to Celestia, a foreleg still over her stomach and one eye closed as she winced in pain. "That's odd though, she didn't have enough momentum to knock herself out. She should have been out of there and angry as a hornets nest by now... Celestia stared at the hole in he roof and her ears folded back. "Luna?" "What is it? Is she preparing some kind of magical counter attack?" Luna asked. "No, I think it's far worse. Follow me." Celestia staggered to her feet and limped forward, walking through the hole in the wall they had made earlier, Luna not far behind her. As they walked into the lab they noticed a pink glow up in the rafters of the ceiling. "Stop!" Don't step in it!" Cadence cried. Celestia and Luna looked at one another, each knowing what happened as they both made lights with their horns. On the floor was a thick half burned coating of purest black and as their light stretched across the room, they found both Twilight Sparkle and Iron Eagle huddled together, both covered in the remnants of the potion. "I...I tried, I tried to make a barrier to stop her fall, but she broke right through it and knocked the potion over on herself and Iron. I'm ...I'm" Cadence collapsed on the wooden beam she was clinging to, bawling her eyes out. "I'm so, so sorry." Luna lowered her head somberly. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't- "No, don't blame yourself. We need to act quickly. Send out a command, I want they very best chemists and potion masters on this planet here as quickly as possible" Celestia said. "I thought it wasn't curable?" Luna asked. "Doesn't mean we can't try." Celestia stared at the black covered heap that was Twilight and Iron eagle, noting that arch of Twilight's magic were hitting Iron Eagle's head. I'll save both of you, mark my words.