Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Starwrath

Twilight drew back just in time to shield herself against Nightmare Moon's blast. Having to switch to defending herself like that did mean that the other alicorn had a chance to get on the offensive, but even if she did she'd been remarkably subdued in her aggressiveness. Twilight was no expert in combat, but even she could tell that Nightmare Moon was mostly being defensive. The wound on her chest still hadn't fully healed, and it was most likely that she was trying to wait things out until it did.

Nightmare Moon's subsequent attacks were powerful, but still rather contained. They were more like pokes, if Twilight had to compare the fight to a more physical duel, rather than full assaults. Something that didn't risk exposing the attacker, but was unlikely to get past the other's defence. Something mostly done to keep the situation as it was, one of them forced to shield herself and not given a chance to counterattack.

If it had been a more physical duel, the kind fought with weapons or bare body parts, Twilight could have always regained the offensive by deflecting one of those pokes, maybe catching a blade or dodging a kick the right way. But there was little of that gain in parrying a magic shot, with the opponent still slightly at a distance and unaffected by what was done with their spells. Magic was a weapon, but it was unlike a weapon in that it could not so easily be removed from someone while it was used by them.

But an idea did form in Twilight's mind. An idea that would have been really stupid and impractical under regular circumstances, and definitely something that magic fighting teachers would have to advise against if news ever got out that she'd done something like that, or if some student ever got a similar idea. But her circumstances were not the regular kind. The most simple approach to solving most issues is often the least practical, that being going at the problem straight on and brute forcing one's way through. For most problems, most creatures simply do not have the means to even consider attempting that kind of approach.

Twilight was not most creatures.

She'd wielded Celestia's powers before, alongside Luna's and Cadence's, but she'd been far less experienced back then. And far less angry. The moment she'd seen Luna bleeding on the ground, the moment she'd seen Nightmare Moon standing over her body, something had snapped inside of her. Some kind of internal caution about how she used her magic that her brain had simply ignored, completely bypassed as she'd fired at the alicorn without even thinking about what she was doing beyond making sure the spell hit her and not the town around her.

And since that moment, it had felt like a whole new world of possibilities had opened to her. Celestia's whole magic, and parts of her own she'd never fully tapped into, spread through her body like fire flowing into her arteries. She did not have to worry much about how she did things, because she had enough power to just do them. And as Nightmare Moon's next blast came towards her, she did just that, pouring energy out of her horn as she shielded against the spell and fired one back at the same time, turning her entire shield into a wave of energy.

Comments

[Speckle]

Get'er, Twilight!