Chaotic Dreams

by Czar_Yoshi

Murderous Masterminds

The two rolled to a stop inside an empty classroom, punching and grabbing and struggling for the upper hand. "Take it off! Off!" Sunset grappled for the Element of Magic, but Starlight's writhing head eluded her grasp.

As she struggled, Starlight pinned her train to the ground with a knee, forcing her down. Spitting, Starlight snarled and summoned a field of telekinesis, gathering shards of glass from the floor and aiming them at Sunset before firing.

With a gasp, Sunset braced her wings against the floor and pushed. "Httt!" Starlight was thrown off, and Sunset shot upwards, kicking off the ceiling and narrowly dodging the storm. Orienting herself, she sailed back down toward Starlight's head, legs extended in a ferocious dropkick. Starlight reached out, grabbed her and slid to the side, sending Sunset crashing to the floor and rolling, her momentum carrying her to the far wall.

As Sunset struggled to get up, Starlight's crown strobed purple. With a yell, she fired a wide beam of telekinesis across the floor. Everything caught in the field surged upward, and Sunset smashed a hole in the dilapidated roof as she involuntarily ascended to the next floor.

With a groan, the ceiling cracked from the strain, webs of fissures trailing out from the hole Sunset had made. Starlight blasted the door to the classroom with a frown, and began dragging in fallen lockers and firing them upwards through the roof, hoping to hit her golden adversary.

Above, Sunset flapped her wings, accelerating free of Starlight's field with a cry. Inverting her momentum, she dropped to the roof like a fiery comet. "Hrrraaugh!"

Sunset slammed down on the roof, pummeling the floor, causing cracks to intensify. The ground exploded beside her, chunks of twisted metal hurtling past. Feeling it begin to give way, Sunset soared up for another strike, bringing the ceiling crashing down to the level below.

Starlight jumped free of the collapse, taking shelter in the freshly exposed hallway. Lunging, she jumped at the falling Sunset, catching her off guard with a punch to the jaw. Sunset fell back, catching herself on a chunk of ceiling and lashing out with both feet in a counterattack.

"Unnngh!" Starlight took the buck hard, flying back into the hallway. Sunset pounced, grabbing a desk chair mid-flight and swinging it toward Starlight's prone form. Another wall of lavender telekinesis slammed into her as Starlight summoned a shield, and she bounced back, throwing the chair as she did so in hopes Starlight would drop the shield.

She didn't get a chance to see, as the roof cave-in intensified, closing off the hole Starlight had escaped through. With a snarl, Sunset fired a beam of blazing energy, causing the wall of debris to explode in a shower of flames. Sunset soared through, perching hawklike at the entrance to watch for her enemy.

With a cacophonous roar, Starlight came rocketing down the tunnel, riding a wave of debris that had been energized by magic. She slammed into Sunset Shimmer, causing them to crash to the floor, residual rainwater splashing upward in a violent display. Starlight raised a pink fist to strike again, but Sunset caught it, pulling forward and throwing the pink girl under her. With a backflip, Sunset pulled away and withdrew a flaming plank from the wreckage behind her, holding it out in front like a ward.

"Stop this, Starlight!" Sunset shouted, footing unsteady on the shifting pile of mortar and snapped planks. "Twilight is here! I don't know if you're somehow willfully ignorant of that, or... or what! But you put so much behind you to study with her, and live a better life! Don't jeopardize all that by attacking me! I've changed, and you've only your own underhanded methods to thank for not noticing! By hunting me like this, all you're proving is that you're the one who hasn't changed!"

Starlight spat, eyes glaring out of the flame-lit darkness like spikes of obsidian. "I gave you chances, and you threw them away! Perhaps you're right, and I haven't changed in my methods. But where you and I will always be different is that I take my worse nature and use it for good! Twilight gave me a better life. She gave me something to believe in other than myself! And you want to take that away!"

"I don't! I've changed! And you can change, too!" Sunset wobbled, spreading her wings for balance. "Don't you realize what you're throwing away by hurting us? She forgave you! She'd do it again, and I would too, if you could only trust in your friends and not do things like this!"

"I forfeited my right to be Twilight's friend the moment I allowed her to be hurt by you!" Starlight shrieked, the glow about her crown intensifying. "The most I can possibly do now is protect her, whether she thinks she wants it or not... protect her from you!"

Before Sunset could respond, Starlight fired three blasts of forceful telekinesis at her. Eyes widening, Sunset nimbly backflipped out of the way, landing atop a desk and jumping down in front of Starlight. With a growl, Starlight swung a plank for her head, but Sunset parried it with her own, single-handedly, and punched Starlight with the other.

Her concentration broken, Starlight fumbled, and Sunset grabbed her and kicked her upwards. Starlight tried to ready a blast, but Sunset flew at her face, kicking off her once again and sending her rocketing to the ground.

Starlight broke her fall with a bubble of telekinesis, but before she could right herself, Sunset shoulder-bombed her in a blazing streak, winding her and reaching for the Element of Magic on her head.

Flailing, Starlight grabbed at the ceiling with telekinesis, shattering it and bringing down towards the golden angel. Sunset instantly rolled them over so her adversary would take the brunt of the blow. Taking advantage of the reprieve, Starlight paused the mortar storm and kicked away, before entombing Sunset in rubble.

"Hrrrraaaugh!" The pile burned bright, wisps of light erupting from its cracks before exploding, sending fiery shrapnel and ashes streaking across the corridor. Sunset floated where it had been, grimacing in pain and anger. "Twilight is here, Starlight! The real Twilight! And so far, you've done nothing here but hurt her! You care about her so much? Then stop attacking her friends!"

With a bubble of magic, Starlight caught the flaming debris, sucking in more and more from the surrounding chaos. "In time, she will see that my purpose is righteousss!" With a flash and a yell, she shoved the wall toward Sunset, sandwiching her between the projectile and the advancing flames behind.

Calculating, Sunset unleashed a bolt of flame at the ceiling that remained, careful to aim away from Starlight lest her magic be drawn in. The resulting fiery explosion gave her enough leeway to jump over Starlight's projectile, and she rocketed down with a bicycle kick.

Starlight was too slow to intercept her, and was struck twice in the face. Reeling, she formed a telekinetic shield around herself with a snarl. Sunset twirled, grabbing a beam from the crashed wall, and shoved it like a lance at Starlight. The shield took the blow, but Starlight cried out in pain as the crown on her head strobed black from the effort. "Aaaaaaahh-haaugh!"

Sensing an opportunity, Sunset stabbed again, and the shield shattered, sending Starlight sprawling across the floor. A bolt of black energy lanced across her face as she propped herself up, hissing murderously at Sunset. "Hressssh!"

Rather than allowing the shattered shield to dissipate, Starlight grabbed the hardened shards in her telekinesis, swinging them like knives at Sunset as she got to her feet. Panting, Sunset swiftly rotated her plank as a fiery shield, knocking the shards away.

Several embedded in the beam like nails, and Sunset swung again. Starlight's crown flashed, and the shards vanished in a glow of light, allowing her to intercept the swing with her hands. Immediately, she raised a knee in a jump kick, slamming her leg into Sunset's stomach.

Sunset doubled over, gasping, and Starlight wrenched the plank from her, smashing it down towards Sunset's exposed head. Before she could make contact, Sunset's wings flared out, blasting her forward and catching Starlight with a vicious headbutt. The two flew backward, crashing through a brittle wall in a cloud of ash.

---

This time, Sunset got the upper hand when they landed. She grasped for the crown, feeling it singe her hands with infernal temperatures.

"Grrrrgh... aaghh..." Sunset tugged and tugged, but it was fused in place, held down by a sticky artifact charm. Switching tactics before Starlight could recover, she grabbed Starlight's face in the crook of her arm and soared upward, raking the pink girl along the wall beside them, grinding the crown against plaster, mortar and wood. An explosion of lavender magic surged outward, and the wall imploded, catching them both in an infernal backdraft from the lit corridor beyond.

Sunset dropped her and flipped away, roaring back in for another blow. Shaking her head to clear it, Starlight summoned another cloud of telekinesis between the two. Sunset wasn't fast enough to dodge, and flew straight into it. Combining with her momentum, Starlight flung the cloud back, throwing Sunset into the growing inferno.

Against that much open flame, Sunset felt her magical heat resistance beginning to wane. Panting, she rocketed upwards, soaring into the storm above, and raised a hand to conjure a burning meteor. Taking aim, she launched it where she recalled the door to the classroom having been.

In tandem with her projectile, Sunset dropped like a lightning bolt, plowing again through the roof in a cascade of sparks and ash. Starlight stood several meters away, clothing torn and scraped, looking at her with flame reflected in her eyes. A crash of thunder masked Starlight's scream as she fired her telekinesis upwards, this time trying to bring down the roof on Sunset as the room exploded behind her.

Sunset bravely charged forward, catching Starlight in a hug as the fiery debris soared toward her. Starlight was forced to put up a shield to defend herself, and Sunset took advantage of the change in focus to suplex her, slamming Starlight against the floor. Sunset jumped up, spinning around and preparing to shoulder-bomb the prone Starlight. "Hrrraaugh!"

Starlight reacted with a gleam, catching Sunset again in her magic, darkness leaking from her crown. "Hsst... Sunset, I offered you forgiveness! I gave you my hand, and you took Twilight and kept her! Whyyy didn't you join me?"

"I didn't!" Sunset shouted, struggling and flapping her wings. "I didn't do anything to her! I was possessed, and demon me tried to, but couldn't! You were in time, Starlight! Nothing happened to her! Now take off that crown!"

"Grkk... No!" Starlight shoved her away, and Sunset braced for impact with the intact wall, throwing out her arms. But Starlight viciously yanked her back mid-flight, boomeranging the lavender field and throwing a heavy punch at Sunset as she passed.

Her aim was off, and Sunset took the brunt of the force on her bare shoulder, spinning to deflect the blow. Starlight pulsed with magic again and swung her back in for another go, summoning a plank for her next assault. Stretching her wings, Sunset kicked the cloud of telekinesis and exploded out of it, soaring toward Starlight with flames pouring from her wings.

She reached Starlight far faster than expected, catching the mage off-guard. Instead of a return punch, Sunset spun around, hooking an arm across Starlight's torso and slamming her to the ground. Starlight picked up a concrete boulder in her grasp and flung it at Sunset from behind, but Sunset laid flat, keeping Starlight in her grip and holding her up as a shield.

The rock struck Starlight, sending both of them flying. Sunset hit the wall first, cushioning Starlight's impact with a crunch. Starlight recovered first and grabbed Sunset's head, slamming it against the wall again and again. "Hkkkt! Hresssh! Snkkt- take... that!" Briefly, Starlight's eyes pulsed red-on-yellow as the Element of Magic crackled atop her head with dark flame.

In response, Sunset's ethereal horn strobed with a brilliant flash. Starlight's magic pendant swiftly absorbed the energy, but not before the blast could achieve its intended effect. "Aaaaaaaaaa-haaaaaughhh!" Starlight screamed, falling back and furiously rubbing her eyes.

Sunset took the time to recover, focusing her swimming vision and soaring up to the now-completely-exposed second story. Panting, she rubbed the back of her head, ruing more than ever that she was not invincible while transformed. Nnngh... She's been a human for only a few days! How does she know how to fight like this? For that matter, why couldn't any of the monsters we fight normally be vulnerable to being beaten up?

Demon Sunset perked up. Friendly reminder: transformations come with a free heal! Get that crown, and you'll be right as rain! Of course, good luck with that, as it's affixed with a clinging spell- it'll only come off if she takes it off or dies! Oh well, at least you'll get a full heal after the battle. Just don't forget to win!

Sunset groaned, fighting to keep her bearings as the world swam around her. I liked it better when you were quiet...

Just popping in for the break, dear Sunset! I'll leave you to your fighting now, and good luck!

"Nghh..." Sunset panted, hands on her knees. If Starlight turns into a monster now, I'll probably be done for... I have to... gotta get back to Twilight...

Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed behind her, dragged down by lavender magic. Starlight Glimmer climbed the newly formed slope, silhouetted against the murky flame and smoke rising behind her. "Keep coming, monster. Snkkt- There is... there is no card you hold I don't have an answer to. Or would you prefer to talk, again? Try to end this peacefully?" She panted, stumbling once, covered in soot and mud.

"You started this!" Sunset cried in return. "I never wanted to fight! I've never even met you before! Of course I want to end this peacefully, I never wanted it to start in the first place!"

"Liar!" Starlight shrieked, and flung pulse after pulse of telekinesis at Sunset, crown glowing like a miniature sun.

Sunset took flight, flipping and weaving among the blasts, using the distortions they formed in the falling raindrops to expertly gauge their location. Then a burst of lightning flared across the sky, temporarily blinding her in the ensuing orange darkness.

"Hnnnaugh!" Starlight fired a particularly large blast slightly below Sunset, taking advantage of her confusion. Immediately, she aimed high, above Sunset's head, and fired a second blast.

Sunset's head cleared in time to see the first blast, and she instinctively darted upwards. Comprehending the second one milliseconds before it hit, she swooped back down... into a sea of wooden shrapnel Starlight was levitating in wait, having anticipated her course of flight perfectly.

Sunset's back arched instinctively as hundreds of matchstick-sized splinters slammed into her bare legs. "Gyaaaughhhh!" she howled into the rain and the dark, summoning a fiery aura that incinerated the remainder of the projectiles, littering the rooftop with cinders. The aura was quickly consumed by Starlight Glimmer, who stalked toward her, rasping.

"Predictable," Starlight spat, and smashed Sunset to the ground with a hammer of telekinesis. As Sunset writhed, a gust of wind changed direction, causing Starlight's tattered coat to billow, and a flash of lightning illuminated her graying face. With a swing of her hand, she picked Sunset's limp form up in her telekinesis and slammed her against a portion of wall that still stood. Swinging it again, she smashed Sunset back to the floor, causing the light of her wings to dim. A final slash, and Sunset was hurled up, up out of sight and into the chaos of the storm. Starlight fired several telekinetic blasts after her, then stood to watch, a tortured grin etched on her face as the Element of Magic sparked with darkness.

---

Outside the school, on the courtyard below, Adagio and Twilight stood, encased in blocks of mana, neither possessing the telekinetic magic required to free themselves. Out of the shadows, Aria and Sonata stepped, both in possession of wings and ears of their own, bickering heatedly with themselves.

"Aren't we gonna make Adagio mad, sneaking off to find her? She told us to feed on that army!"

"Pfft, please. Even when we're full? I don't want to ruin my first good meal in ages!"

"Oh yeah? Then why are we looking for even more trouble, huh?"

"Don't question me! I'm the leader when Adagio's gone, and you know it!"

"Huh, that's funny. I always thought she said she was the leader!"

"Shut up, Sonata. I'm full, now I want some after-dinner entertainment."

Both Sirens stopped abruptly, staring at the blazing wing of the building and two figures encased in manacrystals.

"Adagio!?"

"Hey, I wonder who this one is. Feels like they have Equestrian magic too! Who wants dessert?"

Crack! Smash! Both crystals shattered from Aria and Sonata's pounding. Twilight, mouth and hands free but still tied to the pole, gasped for breath. Adagio looked around, steamed with malice, and composed her expression into a shark-like smirk, strumming her fingers.

---

Starlight Glimmer scanned the skies, and saw a dim golden light falling several rooms away. Using a telekinetic broom to clear her path, she paced through a ruined second-story corridor, intent on the site of Sunset's apparent landing. Turning through the empty frame of a door which had somehow survived the destruction of its accompanying wall, Starlight found herself standing in yet another classroom. This one hadn't been emptied of its educational equipment, and a maze of desks stood in her path.

"Ironic, isn't it," Starlight monotoned, charging another burst of telekinesis in her crown, "that it's here, in a... Snkkkt! A place of learning..." She catapulted a desk upwards. "That you get to learn when you've been stepped on!"

The space under the desk was empty. Starlight frowned, and threw up another desk. The first one crashed in the distance as it landed, sending up a plume of ash that was quickly deadened by the rain. Still nothing.

"If you think you're cute, hiding like thisss," Starlight hissed, throwing another desk, "then knock it... it off! Your last emotion doesn't deserve to be pride, not after... after all you've done!" Fighting back the fire in her head, she forced her magic back out, continuing to comb the ruined furniture for life.

"Hmm. Odd," said a voice from behind her. Starlight swirled, but saw nobody. "Most ordinary people would consider pride to be a vice! Unless, of course, you were... nobly complementing your adversary?"

The space in front of Starlight was empty, save for a chalkboard and a desk. Frowning, Starlight summoned another surge of lavender light and telekinetically brought a student desk from behind smashing down on the one in front of her, reducing it to splinters. No screams of pain emanated, only a low giggle.

"Of course, as cute as you two would be together..." Starlight glared, looking for the voice. "A part of me really hopes you meant that for me, instead! After all..."

A squeak, barely perceptible between crashes of thunder. Then the chalkboard rotated, revealing Adagio clinging to the back of the frame, Starlight's forgotten twin swords in her grasp. "You're so adorable when you're angry." Adagio's wings pushed off against the chalkboard, and she lunged.

"Raaaugh!" Unable to continue her pursuit of Sunset Shimmer, Starlight telekinetically snapped off a few chair legs, holding them at length and swirling to combat Adagio's dual-bladed push. The Siren effortlessly batted them aside, stabbing straight for Starlight.

Her aim was to nick, to enrage, and she succeeded. Starlight staggered, clutching her side, and fired a wall of telekinesis that threw Adagio back. Unaccustomed to dodging magical projectiles, the Siren crashed through the chalkboard in a daze.

Sonata and Aria appeared, alighting atop the highest nearby wall that was still standing. With a hearty moan, they began to sing to the battlers, neither needing nor expecting food, but thoroughly enjoying making a contribution to their own entertainment.

Adagio got up, tossing the chalkboard in the air and swirling her swords, slicing it into several pieces. Deftly, she grabbed them like shuriken and spun them at Starlight, who laughed and caught them all in a field of telekinesis. Squeezing, she crushed them and threw them aside, advancing on Adagio. "You think that'll... that'll stop... me?" Starlight panted, burning with lavender flame, eyes lit with madness.

Performing a show of agility with glee, Adagio spun and danced her blades, standing in wait as Starlight advanced, battered and rasping. Starlight raised a hand, beginning to summon magic.

Adagio scoffed, preparing to dodge an incoming projectile or escape a telekinetic grab. What she wasn't prepared for was Starlight to levitate a collection of metal legs together, swirling them about the room as they coalesced into a shaft above Adagio. With a grunt, the Siren flipped away, and milliseconds later the metal channeled a lightning strike, causing the floor below to explode. Starlight's pole melted and fused into slag, but she held it together, shifting it and pointing it at the Siren again and again, discharging colossal weather-powered blasts. "Hresssh! Hkkgt- hressssha!"

The floor groaned from the abuse, and abruptly collapsed. Starlight shrieked and plummeted a floor, Adagio flitting above her with glee. She held her lightning rod together, however, above the Siren's sight. Adagio laughed triumphantly, and raised her sword to dive at the pink girl.

With a snarl, Starlight moved the pole down, until it touched the tip of Adagio's sword. The sky strobed, and Adagio exploded, falling to the ground in a curtain of flames. Gasping, the other two Sirens stopped singing, flitting down from their perch to cradle their injured sister.

Oozing emerald mist, Adagio hacked and rasped. "Snkkt... this... isn't over... I'll be... back... uuurgh-gah!" She keeled over backwards, losing her transformation as her powers slowly, agonizingly worked to knit her body back together.

A pillar of flame erupted somewhere above, as the fire spread to another room. Starlight sucked in a hissing breath, gripping her soggy fists as she re-focused on her original target, the Sirens apparently neutralized.

---

"Sunset... Hresssshset Shimmer, little monster... where aaare you?" Starlight crooned menacingly, stepping out into the hallway adjacent to the room where she had fallen. No response came.

Starlight doubled over as a wave of nausea flooded down from her head, the crown flickering even though she wasn't using an attack. Leaning against a dilapidated wall, she held herself and waited for it to pass, hunched down with rain strumming on her back. "Snkkt... Sunssset... whatever you do to me, it will be worth it to rid you of the world!" She straightened up, unfocused eyes on the corridor ahead.

"I gave your my ch-chances!" Starlight rasped, as loud as she was able, speech fragmenting. "I... Hresssh! I was a good little friendship student, wasn't I? I gave you the- snkkt- chance to walk out before you even did the deed, to prove all my mistrust of you was for mistrust... nothing! I let other savor... unsavory villains roam these castle grounds, to see you if could... see if you... at least could manage to be a hypocrrritical hero! I extended my o-own hand to you in peace and harmony and friendship and peace, and you had to do was all was turn your backkk on her you are, like I... haugh... like I did! And I threw that in my face! I haven't much more merciful... more... to give you, Sunset S-Shimmer. But if you surrender now, I will at least let you face death with digni... dignity! DignitHRESSSH!"

Suddenly unable to stand, Starlight toppled forward, hissing. Clawing at her head, she tore the crown off, watching it clank to the floor before her, steam rising around it.

Slowly, the pain that clouded her head began to fade, though it almost made her more aware of the other injuries she had sustained. She felt her bile rise as her thoughts and sensations slowly returned to normal, and forced it back down.

"Unnngh... Sunset..." She stared at the crown, slumped against the wall behind her. "I can't... can't take this. It's too much...

"I'm in here..." a small voice whispered, coming from the open entrance to a nearby bathroom.

Starlight eyed the doorway, blinking. She looked down at the crown in front of her, and then at herself. Her clothing was seared and torn, her hair was ragged, and she was laced with scrapes and bruises... but nothing major seemed to be broken. She felt her legs, and could still stand. She looked back to the door.

Reaching forward, she grabbed the still-scalding crown and held it back over her head. "Just a little bit more, I... I've come this far..."

The pain returned much more quickly than it had when she first used the crown, but Starlight struggled to her feet nonetheless, face a distorted, battered image of a smile, tears turning to steam before they could even leave her eyes. She turned and stepped into the bathroom. A vicious hole had been torn in the ceiling, and embers and ashes coated the floor beneath it. But Sunset Shimmer was nowhere to be seen.

"We are not game... that again!" Starlight shrieked, and summoned a surge of discolored magic, ripping the sinks from the walls, and the thin walls out that protected the toilet stalls. "Hresssssh!" With a heave, she flung them out the hole in the roof, leaving the room bare.

Sunset hovered where a stall had once stood, legs dangling uselessly below her. She looked sadly at Starlight's broken form. "You're not yourself, Starlight. That crown is hurting you. It isn't yours. What will it take for you to take it off?" Sunset asked, floating calmly.

"You don't get to ask that," Starlight snarled, stalking forward and readying a final telekinetic blast. Sunset had only one way to run- up. All Starlight had to do was cover her bases, and it would be over.

As she discharged the bolt, Sunset, defying all expectations, flew toward Starlight, hooking her arms around her before the lavender blast could leave the crown. But leave it did, and the mutual recoil prevented either of the two from flying much. Sunset shrieked in pain, but her grip held solid.

Rather than returning with a blow of her own, Sunset intensified her grip on Starlight and soared up, out the hole in the roof, into the cacophonous storm above, Starlight in tow. Upward they flew, Starlight squirming and kicking ineffectually, building more and more height, dodging and flickering around thunderbolts and miscellaneous rubble caught in the gale.

Suddenly, the dark mist dissipated, and Sunset and Starlight hovered above the roiling clouds of the storm. Framing them was the colossal setting sun, its rays glaring upon Starlight's crown, making Sunset not realize it was glowing.

"Starlight Glimmer!" Sunset held her out at arms' length. "You think I'm irredeemable? Tonight, you've tried to kill me a hundred times over. More than anyone I've ever met, I have every reason to be rid of you, and right now, you're at my mercy. And I've been here before, Starlight."

The red band around Sunset's eyes darkened, and she continued. "If I drop you, you die. If I carry you to the ground, you live. Tell me, if I do the latter, what possible motivation will you still have for believing me to be evil?"

Starlight's face stretched in a demented smirk, eyes flickering. "Snkkt... We'll never give you the pleasure of finding out." And she kicked Sunset hard, backflipping off her and out of her grasp.

Suddenly, a cloud of rubble shot out of the storm, having been dragged along by Starlight's telekinesis. She released it, landing on a platform that was still rising from its momentum. Grabbing the stunned Sunset in her magic, she dragged her forward, slamming her against the platform. The crown flashed, and she summoned a wooden stake to her hand, raising it high above and slamming it into Sunset's flesh. "Hacgktt-HRESSSH!"

Blackness enveloped them both as the platform sunk below the storm horizon. Stretching with her magic, head steaming, Starlight gathered up the things she had brought and congealed them together above her, holding a makeshift parachute in relative position to her head. Grabbing Sunset in her arms, she descended rapidly, the orange blaze of Canterlot High swiftly coming into view.

As the ground rushed up, Starlight took her rubble and fired it viciously downward, the recoil providing momentum to further break her fall. She slammed hard into the ground, but straightened up, unhurt, and laid the wounded Sunset on the steps to the grand entrance.

"Twilight Shimmer!" Starlight called, a harsh edge to her voice born of smoke inhalation and madness. "Twilight, I've you- freed- snkkt- how you've freed yourself! Where aaare she is?" She staggered, clutching at her head. Can't think... nngh... almost...

Sunset, breathing labored, tears streaming from her eyes, gathered the strength to lift her head and look. Twilight was running forward from the Wondercolt statue, where she had been trying to get a vantage.

"Starlight Glimmer," Twilight snarled, face thunderous. "What do you think you're-"

Starlight cut her off with a finger, black lightning streaking across her body in wicked arcs. "Watchhhh!" And with a swing of her hand, she plucked the Element of Magic from her head. As wisps of lavender and black energy exploded away from her skin, she turned to the fallen Sunset. "Time to see, one last, what she's made offfhresssshaaa!" And she slammed the crown down on Sunset's head.

Comments

[Cursed Quill]

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