A Raven’s Greatest Flight

by Chemtest

Winters Rage

I land somewhere, some type of abandoned castle. I quickly collapse to the ground as I think over everything. Open could never have been Celestia. Open was good, Celestia isn’t! She... she must have taken her out and taken her place to try and get to me! Nothing else would make sense, it has to be that! Celestia would never have acted liked Open. Unless if it was to kill me.

Another case of murder towards her, I will take pleasure dispensing justice. She will pay for this, she will!

I hear a thud behind me, “Hopeful? Why are you all the way out here?”

I look around to stare into Celestia’s eyes, “Where is Open? What did you do to her?”

She tilts her head, “I’m right here, Hopeful. Why are you acting like this?”

I laugh, “Oh, you believe you can trick me, don’t you!? Think I will fall for your tricks!”

She starts to approach me, “You’re scaring me, Hopeful. Snap out of it!”

I stare into her, “Hopeful never existed. He was simply me with different memories. I’m more worried about Open, and what you did with her.”

She shakes her head, “Hopeful, I’m right here!”

I stand up quickly, “Hopeful never existed! I am Ravens Breath, Element of Unity, Death himself! Stop playing these dumb games, Celestia!”

As soon as I say her name, her confused look turns into one of anger, “Necromancer, what have you done to Hopeful!?”

I afix her with a glare of my own, “Hopeful never existed! What did you do to Open!?”

She takes out my halberd, “Open never existed!”

I... I can’t see deceit in her eyes, “Was it all a trick, an illusion to try and kill me!?”

She glares harder, “I was just about to ask the same! Hopeful obviously was a trick!”

I laugh darkly, “Oh, that makes me sound like a villain! Now, I’m no good guy, but I’m no villain. You wanna see a villain, look in the mirror!”

She takes an offensive stance, “You dare imply I am evil!? No matter, villains usually lie!”

I take out my scythe, “Celestia, you were found guilty by the court! You fled justice, and now you come back mocking its name once again! It is because of you the whole world ended! You will pay for that, and then Blueblood shall as well!”

She throws the halberd at me, the speed braking the light barrier. I transform into my Reaper form, and slap it away.

She follows it up with a burst of solar energy to my head. I simply transform back, and thus go under it.

I use a second to whip out a 9mm I had in a pocket dimension. I think back to the lessons Courier and Survivor thought me.

With nary a seconds notice, I fire off five shots. All of wich are aimed at different organs in her body.

And, they land, “Ahhhh!”

She collapses right there, and I float over to her.

I take a second to look up, and I see all of the Knights there. Frey, Burion, and Balder all watch along with their leaders. Ink watches in horror, “Hopeful, Raven, stop!”

I stop my advance, and look over at him, “Ink, I’ll explain it all later. Celestia is a very bad pony, and she needs to be put down.”

Ink shakes his head, “Don’t talk to me like I’m a foal, Raven. You know me better than that. Is there no way to do this better?”

I sigh, “Ink, I wish there was. I hoped when I arrived on Equestria that all would go well. She fucked it up, she fucked everything up. She already died once for her crimes, I plan to make it twice.”

Ink stamps down his hoof, “If she died once than her sentence is over!”

I look forward blankly, “I’m sorry Ink, but this has to happen. I promise I will tell you why later.”

He holds out a hoof, “Promise?”

I take it in my skeletal fingers, “Promise.”

He steps back, “I trust you. I know you will make the right decision.”

I nod, “Thank you.”

I continue floating towards her as Decivers join the crowd. I take out Raven’s Talons, my scythe is too good for her.

I stop in front of her, “It didn’t have to go like this, Celestia. Things could have gone differently, better. I never would have hoped for what happened, but you made it happen.”

She coughs a bit, and looks up at me, “Don’t make me laugh, that would hurt. Ever since you came into our world, it was set towards destruction. You are evil, pure unadulterated evil.”

I lean down toward her level, “Villians usually lie, don’t they? That’s the only explanation for what you just said.”

She punches my face, doing no damage to anyone but herself, “You Necromancers are all the same! All lies and deceit about being good! I won’t be tricked again by one of your kind!”

I wipe off the dust she got on my face, “Tricked again? I’ve caught on to that, and I feel there is a story.”

She collapses further down, “I won’t let this happen again. I will have payback for father, I will kill you, Necromancer! I never should have trusted those fillies, I should have killed you right then! Just like Sombra, drive a sword through your chest!”

I kick away her halberd, just in case, “Sombra had changed, he was good!”

She affixes me with the angriest eyes I’ve ever seen, “Lies! Evil can never become good! I won’t let myself get tricked by evil again! I can’t allow someone else to die becuase of stupid trust! Father should never have trusted Vogrim!”

I tilt my head, “Vogrim? The Last Necromancer before I came into the world?”

She starts to cry, “He was supposed to be good. He laughed, he cried, he smiled, he was an uncle to me. A show that even the most evil can become good. He was family to us. Then... father was found dead, with him holding the knife. Betrayal, from who was supposed to be redeemed. I knew since then, evil is evil, evil can never be trusted to become good. If you trust evil to be good, they will betray you.”

So that’s why. I sigh, “Celestia, I’m not Vogrim. I didn’t murder your father, I didn’t betray you, I barely even know you. People are people, Celestia. You cannot judge me off of someone else a thousand years ago. I am Ravens Breath, Element of Unity, not Volgrim the betrayer. Your rash judgment of me has eventually led to the world being destroyed.”

She starts to break down, “I’m so sorry, father, I’m so sorry. I- I’ve been blind. I’m so sorry.”

I stare at her breaking down in front of me. A mare, not evil, not good, just a flawed mare who did the wrong thing for the right reasons. She’s done so much wrong, but for the right reasons.

”He fought for peace, and here we are killing those we fought with back then.”

”He looked at me, right in my eyes, he said ‘peace’ right before he died. These wars we declare now are stupid, but we still commit to them. We fight when the only good option is peace.”

”His last words were that he forgave me, and he died. Forgiveness is the one thing beings lack today. We can’t forgive others, much less ourselves for so many things. We need to learn how. This is the one opportunity for forgiveness, and I am glad it is finnaly happening.”

“If she died once than her sentence is over!”

I look at her, and realize what the challenge was.

I drop my scythe, turning back to being a foal. I hug her, “I forgive you.”