• Published 8th Mar 2014
  • 767 Views, 15 Comments

Love is Power II: Crash and Burn - ThaStrangr



After one year together, Twilight appears to be having misgivings about her relationship with Fluttershy. Will their love survive the fall or will it crash and burn?

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An Unexpected Turn

“Twilight,” the yellow figure called, pulling the aforementioned unicorn from her deep stupor. Twilight shot her gaze towards the source of the disrupting sound. She was met with the image of widely-grinning Fluttershy staring back at her.

“Hmmm?” she asked rather nonchalantly.

“Well, I was thinking… it’s been a while since we’ve had a quiet evening together. Alone. Maybe it would be nice to have a night out. It would give us a chance to… reconnect.”

Twilight smiled.

“That would be lovely, Fluttershy. We really do need some time alone to talk. How about tonight? 7:00?” Fluttershy leaned in and quickly caught the lavender unicorn’s cheek with her lips.

“Wonderful.” Fluttershy began a slow trot away from her love as an eerie notion invaded her mind. What was Twilight so eager to talk about?

_____________________________________________________________

Maybe she was mistaken. Through the evening, Twilight had served purely to prove Fluttershy’s instincts incorrect. It had been a blissful date. They had eaten an amazing meal at a new restaurant specializing in griffon cuisine. They stepped into Sugarcube Corner, in which all of their friends had assembled, for a nice cupcake dessert. Finally they seated themselves on a park bench, and simply pony watched, just being together.

As they began the walk home, counting the stars twinkling in the night sky, Fluttershy finally felt her nerves relaxing. Though one little idea kept pushing into her mind.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” The unicorn visibly shuddered at her date’s query. Fluttershy’s heart immediately began to pound once more.

“Oh, it’s been a good night. Let’s discuss that in the morning.”

“It seemed important. I, um, really think it would be best to discuss it now.” Twilight sighed, seating herself at the spot of land where she stood.

“This isn’t how I wanted to go about this. Out of the blue, in the middle of the street.”

Fluttershy had heard all she needed to confirm her theory.

“I have been having a great time this past year, but I-” Twilight didn’t realize until that moment that her partner was already gone. She gazed off, spotting the pony in a desperate gallop for what appeared to be Sugarcube Corner.

“Fluttershy!” she called frantically, breaking into a dazed sprint, the idea of teleporting not even having time to reach her mind. She ran, fast as her legs could carry her, the colorful pastry shop coming slowly into view. As Twilight came upon the door, she noticed it accompanied by a guard of sorts.

“You,” the blue pegasus began with a glare, “have a LOT of nerve to show up here.”

“I need to talk to her, Dash.” Twilight spoke as she began walking to the door. Rainbow Dash snapped into her path, her face merely a few inches from the other’s. She flared her wings aggressively.

“Go. Away. NOW!” For an instant, Twilight’s horn was set alight. Knowing getting into a fight would simply elevate the seriousness of the situation, she dispensed the power.

“Hit me.” Rainbow stepped back and looked the unicorn over.

“What?”

“Hit me, Dash. Throw me into the wall. Break my horn. Do whatever will make you feel better and get me through that door.” Dash simply stood, dumbfounded, until she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked back to see a yellow pegasus standing behind her, eyes still glossy with tears. Fluttershy gestured back into the building.

“Rainbow Dash, give us a minute please.” Dash considered arguing, but ultimately decided against it, walking back into the store. Fluttershy lowered her gaze to the ground, lacking the strength to look the unicorn in the eyes. She felt her eyes becoming moist.

“So, I suppose this is it,” Fluttershy trembled as she spoke, “One year… isn’t so bad. I want you to know, I understa-” A hoof pressed gently against her lips. She looked up to at last meet the lavender mare’s gaze.

“Fluttershy, I-”

The noise echoed through the air. It shook them to their very cores. The ground began to quake.

“W-what,” Fluttershy’s eyes darted here and there, searching for the source of the sound. The group froze as the sound grew louder. Then, suddenly, it ceased. Twilight felt uneasy, anxious.

She noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A slight blue glow, emanating from around the corner of the building. A glow she knew all too well.

She pulled at a sprint away from the door, spinning on her hooves after several yards and looking back to the candy store. A large, ethereal being stood tall above the shop. It stood on four legs and it’s head held two sharp, massive horns.

Twilight gazed in awe at the creature before her. She had read so many legends about the Taurus Major, yet there had never been any account of the beast actually being seen.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

She shot around to face the speaker as the other five mares caught up with her. An orange stallion stood before her. His hair was a diluted yellow and a small scar was noticeable on his muzzle. He smirked from the corner of his mouth with obvious pride and enthusiasm.

“The great Twilight Sparkle. How good to finally meet you.”

Twilight adjusted her stance, preparing herself in the case that he would charge.

“You know my name,” she began defensively, “but you haven’t given me yours.”

“I dropped my birth name many years ago. You may call me Torero,” he motioned back to the beast to explicate his new title.

“Which reminds me. I’m certain you’re wondering where I managed to acquire such a rare and magnificent creature. Quite simply, I found a rather large cavern deep in the heart of the Everfree forest, where I discovered him in some sort of stasis. I woke him and, using a simple binding spell i created, leashed him to me.”

Fluttershy stepped forward with an uncharacteristic glare plastered on her face.

“You find an undocumented animal sleeping in the forest and your first instinct is to make it your slave?!”

He chuckled at her reaction.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll return it to the forest as soon as I accomplish my goal.”

“And what goal is that?”

“I want my name to go down in history. And to do that, I’m going to do what so many others were too weak or childish to… I will be the one to bring down the great Twilight Sparkle.” He whistled a command to the monster, which began to step toward the group, only barely missing the building before him.

“Oh, that looks like it may be a bit of trouble. Too bad you don’t have your Elements to help you.

The ethereal bull stood before them and lifted a hoof high above it’s head. Twilight pulled her friends close and flashed away mere seconds before the hoof connected with the ground. The force of the impact pulled the town from it’s slumber. Ponies began to flood the streets, watching the titanic animal in terror.

Twilight and company reappeared several yards away and looked over the expanding crowd. She looked between her friends as calmly as she could.

“Girls, I need you to clear out this area. Get all of the ponies back so they don’t get caught in the crossfire. I’ll tend to our guest.” Without another word, they broke their huddle, spanning out in all directions. Except for one pegasus. Fluttershy stood, watching Twilight charge at the beast fearlessly. Though Twilight wasn’t scared for herself, Fluttershy was. She wanted to stand beside her, keep her safe; but she was needed elsewhere, and she knew Twilight could take care of herself.

The monster acted exactly as Twilight anticipated. It ignored all other animals scurrying around it’s hooves, choosing to focus solely on her. It swung it’s foreleg around at her. She dropped to the ground, allowing the strength to build in her legs, and pounced, narrowly avoiding the oncoming appendage. She gathered energy in her horn and unleashed a magic brace to lock the attacking hoof to the ground. The beast roared with rage at it’s current situation.

“That should buy me enough time to prepare that unbinding spell I learned.” Her horn once more ignited as magical energy amassed within it. Majors were almost nothing but pure energy, and could easily break magic constructs. Being a completely undocumented species, Twilight was unsure just how powerful this beast was.

The great bull roared as it slammed it’s free hoof against it’s restraint. Again and again, it smashed at the lock on it’s foreleg, until a crack began to form. It raised the hoof once more, and brought it down with all of it’s might. The brace shattered, allowing the creature to resume it’s onslaught. Twilight began to sweat, as her spell required several seconds more to cast. The beast stepped closer to her, rearing into an offensive position. Before it could make a move, however, a streak of blue light shot across it’s face and doubled back to latch onto one of it’s horns.

Rainbow Dash cried out heroically, “Time to take the bull by the horns!” If Twilight didn’t need to focus on her magic, she would have face-hoofed so hard her skull would have compressed. The bull’s other horn was soon caught by a length of rope. The orange mare wielding the other end wrapped it around a nearby tree. She reared up and pounced forward, chuckling.

“Come along, ya wily varmint!”

Twilight smirked and looked between the two as she felt the necessary amount of energy fill her magical appendage.

“Finally!” Raising her horn skyward, she unleashed the power built up in her in a violet flash. For an instant, a yellow could be seen around the beast’s neck, before it vanished once more. The six friends cheered in celebration of their victory. Twilight’s eye caught one in particular, whom she immediately began to sprint to. The yellow mare in her sights spotted her as well, and quickly broke into a run to meet her. Through the joy and relief she was feeling, though, Twilight had the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something.

“Would you like to see the new spell I’ve been working on?”

Twilight skidded to a staggering halt and looked around her for the source of the voice, mentally slapping herself for disregarding him.

“Now you see her…”

Before she could react, a yellow streak of light bore down on her and engulfed her.

“... now you don’t.”

Author's Note:

All right! Only one more chapter in this disaster of a story! The next installment will be better, I assure you.
Taurus Major reference here -> https://derpicdn.net/img/2013/4/23/306180/full.png on the far left.