• Published 1st Jul 2017
  • 1,311 Views, 9 Comments

Nothing Special - hironakamura



Starlight travels with Sunburst to an old abandoned unicorn settlement that predates the ruling era of the Two Sisters. They're searching for ancient lost spells but something "bad" happens to them.

  • ...
2
 9
 1,311

Chapter 3: A Princess and A Monster

Twilight, the alicorn Princess of Friendship, arrives soaring above the pony Kingdom of Canterlot. Together with her faithful assistant, Spike the dragon, riding on her back, the two watch in horror as they see Canterlot, once their former home, now up in smoke and flames. Several of the scenic ivory colored towers and buildings that the kingdom is known for are demolished to rubble. Royal Guards are seen assisting the frightened pony citizens with a kingdom wide evacuation.

"Did... Tirek escape again because... Heh, no pony told us." Joked Spike, trying to lighten the situation. Twilight glances back at him with a quick smile, appreciating his attempt but she quickly looks again at the chaos happening below them with a serious expression.

Spike squints as he sees something in the distance. He leans forward, hangging tightly on Twilight's neck. "Twilight, look. Is that Starlight?" He asked as he points to a light heliotrope colored pony waiting on the roof top of one of the remaining standing towers in the distance.

Twilight looks at the direction Spike pointed to and strains her vision. "Oh my gosh! That is Starlight!" She exclaimed.

With Spike hanging tightly on Twilight's neck, the two swoop down quickly and land on the tower where they saw their friend. Upon landing, Twilight trots over to the waiting pony to meet her. "Starlight, you're okay. Where have you been these past few days? What happened to Canterlot?"

Starlight smiles darkly at her mentor. "Welcome to Canterlot, Twilight. Do you like what I've done with the place?" She replied.

Twilight takes a step back. "S-Starlight?"

Turquoise light begins to glow from Starlight's horn. She aims her horn at Twilight as a turquoise stream of magical energy several feet wide projects from it without warning. The ground shakes and the air around them fizzles. Because of the width of the stream, it seemingly swallows Twilight and Spike only to reveal that Twilight had defended herself. A brilliant raspberry colored bubble shield of magical energy completely surrounds Twilight, protecting her and Spike. The shield causes the stream to splinter into several smaller streams spreading in different directions. Each one slices through any nearby structures, demolishing them.

Starlight's magical attack continued to persist, burning the air around them and now slowly pushing Twilight back. The Princess of Friendship strains to keep her protection up as small cracks now begin to appear on her shield. The brilliant raspberry glow of her horn starts to fade but a flash of light takes Twilight and Spike away. Starlight ceases her attack and looks around, still smiling evilly.

From behind the nearby rubble of a destroyed building over looking Starlight's tower, Twilight and Spike reappear in a flash of light. Confused and scared, the two quietly take cover from behind the rubble making sure to hide from Starlight's view.

"What the-? W-why is Starlight attacking us?" Nervously asked Spike, keeping his voice down.

"I dunno, Spike." Panted Twilight, still recovering her strength from the encounter. "There's something odd about Starlight and... Her magic. It felt like it kept getting stronger and stronger. If I didn't teleport us out of the way, her spell would have eventually broke my shield!"

"C'mon out, Twilight." Mocked Starlight. "My skill set got an upgrade since the last time we dueled. And this time, I'm playing for keeps!" She said, slowly looking around for her targets.

Twilight decides to peak out from behind the rubble hoping to reason with her friend and only pupil and maybe even find out what's going on. "Starlight, I don't understand. Why are you doing this?" She asked desperately.

Starlight projects another powerful attack upon hearing Twilight's voice. She aims her horn toward's Twilight's direction causing the even wider and more destructive turquoise colored blast to sweep through several Canterlot buildings, cutting them in half.

The heat felt from burned air and the scent of the singed surroundings caused by the blast comes close. Twilight with Spike on her back quickly takes off to the sky, leaving their cover behind to be vaporized by Starlight's attack. Starlight continues to aim with her spell but Twilight flys skillfully, dodging the flood light like turquoise colored stream of destruction and gains distance from Starlight high in the sky.

Starlight's attack stops. Her horn continues to glow with magical light as she looks at her targets flying high above her with contempt. "You lied to me! All those lessons, all that studying, they were all lies!" She shouted.

Turquoise colored energy begins to envelope Starlight and it slowly levitates her into the air. The energy surrounding her body reforms and concentrates into a pair of turquoise colored wings of magical energy on both her sides.

"All you wanted to do was keep me away from him!" Starlight screamed as she flaps her new wings shooting her upward with blinding speed. The shock wave of her take off shatters the ivory tower she was standing on.

Starlight passes Twilight in an instant and is now hovering above her. The speed and the massive shock wave of air being pushed apart caused by Starlight's flight stuns and surprises Twilight. Starlight takes the opportunity to project another deadly blast from her horn aimed at the unprepared alicorn.

Just barely, Twilight manages to dodge the spell by the tips of her wing's feathers. "Stop this!" Desperately pleaded the alicorn. "I don't know what you're talking about. Keep you away from who?"

Twilight continues to maintain her distance as the stream of magical energy thins, weakens and eventually ceases. Starlight attacks once again, this time, using her magical wings to fly directly at Twilight like a missile. With incredible speed, Starlight mows through Twilight like a dart knocking her off balance.

"Twilight!" Spike yells as the force of impact topples him off of Twilight's back. The young dragon starts falling towards Canterlot from hundreds of feet in the air.

"Spike!" Twilight yells back. The alicorn mare quickly regains her balance and swoops in as quickly as she can to catch her falling friend. She safely catches Spike on her back and the two slowly land on a nearby pile of rubble that used to be a building.

Twilight worriedly checks on Spike prone on her back to make sure that he's safe. The little dragon, not looking up, gestures with a clawed thumbs up, relieving his partner. Twilight then slowly turns her head and glares at a hovering Starlight menacingly. "If this is what you want, then fine. I'm gonna beat some sense into you even if it means I have to beat you senseless!"

Starlight mocks her teacher with a sinister smile. "Bring it, Prince-!"

In a blink of an eye, Twilight disappears by a flash of raspberry colored light and reappears instantly above Starlight. As quickly as she reappeared, Twilight projects moderately strong raspberry colored magic bolts from her horn aimed at Starlight.

Because of Starlight's magic wings, she dodges the attack effortlessly and returns fire with her own massive attack, laughing maniacally. Her laughter is short lived when she realizes her target has now vanished even before she aimed her attack. A flash of light and Twilight reappears once again, now underneath and very close to Starlight. She gives Starlight a strong buck to the belly with both hind hooves.

The shock of the kick breaks Starlight's spell attack. It knocks the wind out of her for an instance. When she regained her composure, she's greeted by the sight of an alicorn princess before her, wings spread and charging magical energy into her horn. A massive glyph in the form of a six pointed sparkle appears behind Twilight. Each of the six points of the glyph starts to glow. The air around the dueling ponies electrifies and fizzles intensely. Soon, each point of the glyph projects a powerful energy bolt and all six of them are aimed at Starlight.

As each bolt closes in on Starlight, her horn begins to glow. Her entire body becomes enveloped by her own magical energy, turning her transparent. When the bolts seemingly make contact with Starlight, they pass through her as if she was a ghost.

"What?!" Twilight hovers in shock, eyes wide after witnessing her attack phasing through her opponent.

"You still haven't worked on your aim!" Laughed Starlight. She flys and twirls in the air, re-materializes into a solid form and projects another powerful stream of magical energy at Twilight.

Still surprised and unable to dodge, Twilight blocks the full force of Starlight's massive attack spell once again with her bubble shield spell. "Agh!" This time, knowing her spell cannot outlast Starlight's spell, Twilight quickly teleports away, disappearing in a flash of light. She reappears behind the rubble of a destroyed building far away from Starlight and drops prone on the ground, panting and tired.

Spike, still on Twilight's back worriedly looks at his best friend. "Twilight?..."

"I'm fine, Spike." Twilight replied, comforting her best friend. "But I've never seen spells like these before. She's faster, stronger and my magic just phases right through her. I don't know how to deal with this."

With a turquoise flash of light, Starlight appears hovering high above the resting alicorn and her dragon friend. "If you think I'm a hoof full now, wait till you get a load of this." Starlight boasted while her horn gathers magical energy.

Twilight and Spike watch in fear. A large orb of pure magic forms from Starlight's horn. Starlight looks at her spell with an evil smile then looks at her two targets below. The orb then slowly moves towards Twilight and begins to accelerate.

Seeing the magic orb now quickly closing in on them, Twilight leaps into the air and flys herself and Spike to safety. But to Spike's horror, the orb changes directions and aims itself right back at them. "I-is it just me or is that thing chasing us?" Asked the young dragon.

"Oh it is." Starlight laughs. "It'll chase you to the ends of Equestria if it has to. Its the magical manifestation of obsession, drawing power from its caster's feelings. One of the many spells my Sunburst wrote to protect me from the likes of you." The unicorn mare hovers in place with her magic wings, watching in amusement as her orb tirelessly chases Twilight and Spike.

No matter where Twilight flys to, no matter where Twilight teleports to, her efforts to avoid the orb of magical energy are made futile. It continues to chase her and Spike and continues to accelerate. Soon, she won't be able to avoid it at all.

"You don't seriously think you can keep this up forever, do you? Go easy on yourself and just quit already!" Starlight yelled, almost sounding frustrated. "The sooner I beat you the sooner Sunburst and I can go after all the remaining alicorn magic in Equestria!"

Just as Starlight finishes talking, she sees Twilight flying straight for her followed by the rapidly approaching energy orb. Starlight prepares to cast another attack spell on Twilight but the alicorn princess teleports in a flash of light. She reappears behind Starlight but the energy orb maintains its course. For the orb to reach Twilight, it will have to go through Starlight first.

"Oh no!" Starlight exclaimed with a worried look on her face. She tries to dodge the fast flying magic orb but it was too late. It hits Starlight... "Just kidding!" It phases through her. A now transparent Starlight evilly laughs at a tired and exhausted Twilight.

After flying straight through Starlight, the magic orb does the inevitable and hits Twilight who desperately blocks the orb with her bubble shield spell but it was no use. Like all of Starlight's attacks, Twilight begins to realize that the orb is not weakening like a normal spell. Instead, it does the opposite and continues to gather power, stronger and stronger, eating away at her shield. Twilight strains at the effort of maintaining her shield spell that is now beginning to crack.

From within her shield, Twilight, the alicorn Princess of Friendship looks at her sole pupil with compassion. "Starlight. I don't understand what's going on but I refuse to believe you've turned evil again." She then looks at Spike with a warm smile and says. "Spike, stay safe. This is as far as I can go. I believe in Starlight. She's our friend. I promise, we'll see each other again."

With Twilight's last remaining ounce of magical power, she casts a teleportation spell on her dragon friend. "Twilight wai-" And Spike disappears in a flash of light.

Being completely drained of all magical power, Twilight's shield shatters and Starlight's orb of energy hits her. A bright explosion of turquoise light erupts from the impact covering the sky. When the bright explosion clears, Twilight is now seen suspended and encased in a glowing turquoise crystal of magical energy.

Starlight hovers over her defeated teacher. "See? Now that wasn't so hard. I know you can't hear me being suspended in time and all but trust me, this'll all be over before you know it." She said and begins to cast a teleport spell for herself and the captured Twilight. Seconds later, in a flash of light, they are gone.

From behind the ruins of a nearby demolished building, a disheartened little dragon watches as his best friend is taken away from him. "Twilight..."

Later, back at the throne room of the Two sisters, the unicorn stallion, Sunburst, continues to sit quietly and watch over the two crystal prisons before him that seals the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon. He hears hoof steps coming from the castle's empty halls. He looks over his shoulder to see a familiar unicorn mare enter the throne room levitating a third crystal prison with her magic.

"I'm back!" Starlight sang as she gently lowers the crystal holding the Princess of Friendship beside the other two crystal prisons.

"Already? I take it she wasn't that much of a challenge for a pony of your talents." Said Sunburst, smiling at his partner's return.

"It was a one sided fight." She boasted.

Sunburst pushes his cracked glasses up. "Was Spike with her?"

Starlight nods and smiles. "Yes, like you predicted."

"Did you make sure he heard we're after all alicorn magic before letting him go?" Sunburst asked.

Starlight nods and smiles again. "Yup, like you wanted."

Sunburst makes a sinister grin as he looks at the three captured princesses, suspended and helpless before him and Starlight. "He is little but he is brave. Soon, the young dragon will be on his way to warn our fourth target. After what happened here, the Crystal Empire's princess will likely evacuate her subjects to protect them and when she does, we'll have her exactly where we want her."

"Mmhm. Exactly like you planned... But do you absolutely need any of these... Alicorns?" Starlight asked, walking beside Sunburst. She sits on her hind legs and leans on his side gently. She smiles then snuggles him affectionately and adds. "When all you really need is me."

Sunburst looks at Starlight warmly and returns the affection. "Alicorn magic will serve as a battery for my Grand Master Spell. Once cast, their magic will be drained forever and their bodies will be destroyed."

He then gently puts a hoof around Starlight, pulls her closer and softly says . "These so called princesses, they think they're so special. Bearers of the Elements chosen by fate, but really, they're expendable tools to fate. And so, I will use them as they are. Nothing more but tools."

Sunburst closes his eyes, leans in and gives Starlight a loving kiss on her forehead. "Unlike you, you're irreplaceable. One of a kind. Even though destiny refused you, you made yourself special. I already lost you once, Starlight. I won't make that mistake again. When my Grand Master Spell is cast, fate and destiny will bend to our will. No pony will have to feel the pain of being torn away from their loved ones and nothing will ever tear us apart ever again."

"S-Sunburst..." Starlight blushes, her heart races, elated and content in the affection and love of her stallion. The more overwhelming emotions flow through her, the more her magic over flows with power. The Cutie Mark on her flank glows wildly with radiant light as if its unable to contain her feelings and unable to contain the limit of her magical potential.