Harmony's Wrath

by hahatimeforponies

The Darkest Hour

"Oh, uhm... Twilight..." Princess Celestia looked around, bewildered as much as anything else. "What are you doing here?"

"You know what's coming, Celestia. And you have for a long time." Twilight took a step forward, conviction dripping from every word she spoke.

"I... I don't understand, what's going..." The alicorn backed into the doorway again, only for her flank to press against the translucent purple haze across it, forming a solid barrier. "... on?"

"Don't play dumb with me." With every step Celestia took back, Twilight took one forward. "Your time is up."

"She is just milking this for all it's worth, isn't she?" Rarity whispered to Applejack beside her.

"Twilight, what are you doing..." Confusion faded to concern on Celestia's face. Twilight's horn lit up a second time, shooting another small lilac fireball from the tip. The flame danced through the air and drifted to the floor. It lit up a second circle around the first in a similar purple flame, and the fire faded to blue. Faint white and orange glowing wisps of light started to seep from Celestia's body, being drawn into the air above the blue ring of fire, and circled it like a miniature cyclone. The alicorn's knees buckled, and she began to grunt and struggle.

"Isn't it obvious? It's a power drain." Twilight smirked, unerring in her certainty. Celestia grimaced, dropping on to her belly. Fighting through a pained expression, she could only whisper back;

"... why?" She stammered, batting a hoof on the floor towards her unsympathetic assailant. "Why are you... ngh... why are you doing this to me, Twilight?" Twilight just raised her nose a little, staring down it at the limp, flailing Princess. "What did I do?" Twilight ignored her. Keep it together, Twilight. They're just crocodile tears. Nothing to worry about...

Behind her, a few doubtful murmurs circulated among her party. Applejack whispered something to Rainbow Dash, and they both nodded with uncertain looks. Trixie was just transfixed with horror. Fluttershy cowered behind Pinkie Pie.

The ethereal clouds of light circling the blue flames maintained a constant thickness, energy disappearing into the centre and vanishing as quickly as more joined the top. Celestia whimpered, her face flattening against the floor, her voice sinking to a mere croak, barely audible above the soft swirling of the energy seeping from her body. "I have shown you nothing but love and kindness, Twi... Twilight... and this... this is how you repay me? Have you lost your mind?" She coughed.

"Your facade isn't fooling anypony, Celestia. If that even is your name." Twilight growled. Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other again, and nodded. Subtly, quietly, they pushed their way out of the small crowd, delicately creeping up behind Twilight. "We know the truth. We know what you've been hiding." She leaned down, oblivious to the two ponies sneaking up on her. "We know the whole story. And the best part?" They got into a formation behind her, keeping just out of her peripheral vision, Dash preparing to grab high, Applejack to grab low. The clueless Twilight smirked, and lowered her body down to Celestia's level, their faces inches apart. "We know how it ends, Djinn."

Lines of thought tumbled over each other in Celestia's mind. There was no telling what they were; but the cascade of realisations were obvious from her face. The pronounced pain drained from her expression, her eyes opened wide, her pupils like pin-pricks. Little by little, her brow began to furrow, and the eyes themselves began to change; a tiny glow in the middle of the eyeball started to grow, quickly enveloping the whole eye, and swirled and flicker like a flame. Her lip pulled back in a snarl and a huff. That's it, come on out.

"You will pay dearly for your insolence!" A deep, guttural, rumbling voice cried out from the floored alicorn. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were caught off guard. The three of them backed up promptly, and a little vindicated smirk spread across Twilight's face. The two ponies behind her shared startled looks and a shrug. Celestia floated up from the floor with a few long, sweeping beats of her wings, the flames in her eyes spreading across her body; the soft, pastel hues of her mane and tail lit up with orange fire, and her body's smooth white began to smoulder and crackle into a mosaic of hot whites, yellows and reds.

"Not as bright as you remember?" Twilight taunted. "Why aren't we blind yet, I hear you wonder." Celestia - if she could even still be called that - examined her changing body with growing confusion. "You've been out of your own plane for too long, Djinn. Your connection to your original form has faded. Your magic is weak here. Your body can't tap this plane's arcane energy."

"Then maybe I should send you all somewhere I do have power!" The demon bellowed. An ethereal, orange mist seeped out from her body and rapidly encircled the ponies on the ground, constricting their bodies, inhibiting their motion. It scalded to the touch, like boiling water washing over them, and as much as they thrashed about against the searing pain, it was inescapable. With all seven in her grasp, she lifted them into the air, watching them all groan in agony. All, except one. "What are you smiling about?" It barked at Twilight. The unicorn smirked knowingly, even in the face of imminent doom.

"See for yourself." Twilight and her leer faded with a shimmer, replaced with a completely different pony - a grey, yellow-maned pegasus, eyes slightly askew. Celestia blinked incredulously. The substitute in her grip just gave her a goofy, innocent grin.

"Wha-!" The djinn's exclamation of disbelief was interrupted by a loud crack. The demon and her captives dropped to the floor with a series of thumps, followed by the clattering of horn fragments across the stone floor. Overhead, an old, burnt sword, held aloft with a lilac glow, swung around and returned to its owner; a similarly coloured unicorn, with a long, deliberate gash on her front leg, fading into view with another distorted shimmer. I'll have to thank Rarity for that one later.

"You're getting slower, too." Incensed, Celestia turned and staggered to her hooves. She barrelled clumsily towards Twilight, only to meet a wall of dirt when her target winked out, reappearing behind her. Twilight dug her hooves in and concentrated, generating a small magical cage around the stunned demon. It thrashed and flailed around inside, bending and stretching it, but in its weakened state, it ultimately failed to break free. With every ounce of Twilight's focus kept on containing the beast, Luna stepped forth from hiding - concealed with a similar spell - to start dragging the cage across the floor.

"You!" Celestia lashed a hoof in the direction of the other alicorn. "This was your idea! Your plan, wasn't it?"

"What can I say, 'sis'? You gave me a long time to think." Luna chuckled. The demon just screeched and pounded against the translucent purple walls of its prison. Rarity helped guide the sphere to the ground in the centre of the hall, where most of the rubble had been cleared away.

"Trixie! Start the ritual!" She yelled. Trixie yanked the stone ornament from her cape, the tattered garment whipping off her back, discarded. She tossed it on the ground next to Celestia, and prepared her sword, untangling the hempen wrappings around the blade.

"The Elements! Impossible!"

"Oh, the Elements of Harmony are here alright. And they're pissed off." Rainbow Dash jeered, squatting down to look the demon in its flaming eyes, showing off a leg wound similar to Twilight's. Applejack yanked her away by the tail just in time to avoid a hoof, swung at her, bowing the side of the cage outwards.

"Now where'd you learn language like that, sugarcube?"

Trixie began to hyperventilate a little as she reached the end of the blade, pulling the last few folds of hemp bandage away. She looked for a brief moment at her reflection. It was a little dulled, but still clear enough to make out the vexation on the face staring back at her. She tore her eyes away, and turned to Luna. The alicorn was facing away from the fray, flipping through the last pages of a book. Once ready, she snapped it shut, and turned to face Trixie. Silently, calmly, even casually, she lifted off her crown, her neck ornament and her horseshoes, and set them aside. She laid her book on the floor, and nudged it over to her jewels with a hoof. She could tell from Trixie's wild eyes and deep panting that the sword hanging in the air wasn't going to come any closer by itself. She stepped forward, pulling the edge of the sword to her neck, but no closer. Her face mere inches from Trixie's, she whispered, barely discernible above the din behind them;

"Cry not for me. This is the least I could do." Her voice was ice-cool and soothing to the panicking unicorn. Trixie clenched her eyes shut, took three more deep breaths, and concentrated.

Schling.

Her ears were filled with sickening, wet tearing sound, inaudible to anypony but her.

Thump.

Luna crumpled, first her knees giving way, and with one side losing support quicker than the other, she collapsed to her side, lifeless. The clatter of metal on stone quickly followed. Trixie stood aghast, horrified by her own work.

"Quit yer stallin'!" Applejack shoved her to bring her back to reality. "Twilight can't hold on much longer!" Behind her, Twilight was laid on the floor, struggling to keep Celestia contained, even with Rarity's help.

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening!" Trixie backed away from the body as blood began to seep out, pooling between the cobblestones. Rainbow Dash jumped in and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her firmly.

"Keep it together, Trixie! This is no time to freak out on us!" Dash held her hooves pressed to her sides until she stopped trying to struggle away. "It's too late to back out! Stick to the plan!" With a reluctant, tearful nod, Trixie started towards the growing puddle of blood.

"Okay... stick to the plan... stick to the plan..." She chanted to herself, as she set about the messy business of tracing shapes with the fresh blood. Steam rose from the viscous red fluid as she levitated a few small blobs at a time through the air, sticky threads hanging between them. She fought to keep her nausea under control as she guided the fluid into the required shape. She paused every so often to consult Twilight's book, and lower some to the ground.

"Some time today would be good!" Dash yelled. Applejack thumped her side.

Fshew.

The alien noise cut through the dull thumping of hooves on stone, drawing everypony's attention to the centre of the room. The last few ethereal wafers of Twilight's cage filtered away, and Celestia screeched, stretching out once more. With most of her conscious magic drained to another plane or dissipated with her shattered horn, she was limited to strictly physical offence, and even her wings were useless; however, this did not make her a weak opponent. Her body still brimmed with innate, arcane energies, her coat the texture of hot coals. Twilight lay on her stomach on the floor a few lengths away, panting. Celestia reared up, releasing what can only be described as the most infernal approximation of a whinny ever to fall upon pony ears, and charged towards the fallen unicorn. Rainbow Dash didn't need another hint.

Thump.

With less than a length to spare, close enough to feel the simmering heat radiating from the demon's body, Dash scooped Twilight out of Celestia's path, and the two rolled off to the side.

Clatter.

Celestia's momentum carried her onwards into the remains of the altar. She stumbled and wiped out, flailing her hooves around clumsily as she tried to right herself.

"Applejack! You cover Trixie!" Dash barked, helping the groaning Twilight to her hooves. "The rest of you, you're with me. We're takin' her down the old fashioned way!" She couldn't help but smirk; regardless of the gravity of the situation, of the stakes of failure, this was intense.

"What? N-" was all Twilight could manage, before Rainbow leapt headlong toward Celestia's flailing body, delivering a firm double-hoofed kick to her head. Oww, hot hot hot! She whipped around in the air, somersaulting to try and wash some cold air over her singed hooves. However, it did have the desired effect; the blow knocked the djinn to the floor again, scuppering her recovery. Twilight watched and postulated. It's... plausible. In a weakened state like this, she might be vulnerable to physical attack.

"Well what are we waiting for, girls?" Pinkie chuckled. "Hiyaaa!" She galloped across the hall, dancing over the burning patterns on the floor, and initiating a similar lunge. She winced when her hoof made contact with Celestia's side, and flipped away deftly. Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves skirted around the edges of the fray, reluctant to make physical contact. Rarity danced in front of the demon, swinging her dagger around and teasing it with illusions. Spike stuck close to Twilight, helping her recover.

"How we doin' back there?" Applejack called back to Trixie, faithfully standing her ground.

"G-... g-g-g... getting there..." Trixie stammered, drop by drop tracing out the pattern.

"Well hurry it up, we ain't got all night!"

Twilight looked over to the centre of the hall, the pattern slowly taking shape. Some ash lay on the floor where Celestia had been struggling. Now how are we going to keep her there long enough... Experimentally, she whipped her sword out, and swung it around. Spike fell backwards.

"Watch where you're swinging that thing!" He yelped. Hmm...

"Gangway!" She called, and hurled the sword through the air like a spear towards Celestia. Amidst the constant peppering, she was still having trouble recovering. Rainbow Dash eeped and ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding the twirling blade. Celestia emitted another ear-piercing shriek when the weapon connected with her body, the indestructible blade penetrating her molten flesh like a watermelon. Rather than leaving her this way, Twilight telekinetically yanked it back out. The blade was fine; the white-hot blobs of Princess rolled off it casually, and solidified into stone on the floor. That's it!

She galloped into the clearing at the far end of the hall.

"Uhh, Twi, what the hay d'you think yer doin'?" Applejack blurted.

"C'mere, you pathetic excuse for a fire demon!" Twilight screamed, making every effort to catch Celestia's attention.

"Twilight, are you crazy?" Pinkie yelped, half-way through an oddly acrobatic rebound kick.

"You want a piece of this?" The unicorn laughed. One-by-one, the other ponies worked out her angle; she just hoped Celestia would be too blinded with rage to figure it out. Their barrage of blows ceased, and Celestia scrambled to her hooves, more infuriated than ever.

"You will burn for all eternity!" She screeched, and delved straight into a hasty charge. Twilight confidently met her charge, adjusting her pace so as to meet her at roughly the middle of the hall, where Trixie was shakily tracing out the last parts of the symbol. Hooves thundered on cobblestone, and neither showed any signs of letting up. With every fraction of a second, the gap closed. Their eyes locked together, exchanging expressions, one incensed, the other devious.

Fshwing.

Celestia skidded to a sudden halt. Her opponent had just... disappeared. Vanished in a flash, right before her eyes.

Fshwsh.

Reappearing just behind the djinn, Twilight couldn't help but chuckle. I can't believe that worked twice! Not wasting any more time, she grabbed her sword and positioned it in the air above Celestia, blade pointed down.

"Hey!" She yelled, grabbing the snarling demon's attention. "Boo." With just that whisper, she drove the sword straight down, first planting it in the back of Celestia's neck. The momentum carried the tip of the blade out the other side, and the handguard jerked her whole body down. Finally, the blade wedged itself firmly between two stones, fixing her in place.

"What? No!" Down to the last of her strength, Celestia thrashed and strained against the indestructible weapon, to no avail.

"Spike..." Twilight called, a wry smile creeping across her face. The baby dragon snapped to attention and scurried over to her side. "... take a letter."

"Right away!" He chuckled, pulling up an imaginary scroll and quill. Trixie was still finishing the pattern. Everypony else was transfixed, unsure whether to scream or burst out laughing.

"This is madness!"

"Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight began dictating. Spike diligently scribbled on the phantom piece of paper, struggling to contain his grin. "Today I learned that you are in fact a demon from another dimension. That you deceived me, my nation, and my friends, and have been for a very long time. Fortunately, I also learned the way to fight back against you, and together, me and my friends rose to the task, and as I speak, we are just about to send you back where you came from. I hope the weather is nice in the plane of fire! Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." As she finished the dictation, a mortified Trixie gave her a nod.

"No!" Celestia continued to flail and kick against the ground.

"I... think you'd better send it, Spike." Twilight smiled to the dragon.

"With pleasure!" He beamed. He rolled up the imaginary scroll, held out two fingers as if preparing to send it and took a deep breath.

"No! No!" Everypony took a couple of steps back, when instead of exhaling into his claws, he leaned over and spat a thin, green flame at the ground, igniting the trail of blood. "Nooooagghhh!" The flame spread quickly across the pattern, the green fading rapidly to white. Celestia's cries of protest descended into incoherent screaming, as the floor contained within the circle of stone began to emit an intense beam of light.

Thump.

"Uhm... Twilight?" Spike blinked. The unicorn had collapsed next to him. He took a brief look around; all of the ponies had just dropped to the floor. "Guys?"

Comments

[catrianheir]

"This is madness!" "No, this is EQUESTRIA!!!!!"

[EvilEnchantress]

I found this epic when I listened to this

[Shadow Scryer]

That is, without question, the best letter ever sent. In any reality.

That's the truth.

[wirriam]

oohhh that last letter was so freaking epic