Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Lot

Reality collapsed and crashed around the bubble of Stella's barrier, chunks of Twilight's pocket dimension ramming into each other like ice banks and pushing themselves all around her shield, growing more and more dense with every passing second, glowing brighter and heating up like iron forced to bend and strain under weight. It was like the matter of stars was covering her, boiling plasma born of space folded on itself to the breaking point. It was a white hot, immensely heavy fluid pulled towards her like by a magnet, a space nothing could survive in. Nevertheless, her shield held, for as much as her magic was strained, and eventually all the mass and crumbling space was consumed away as it bent on itself and faded.

The two alicorns were back in the clearing, where they had always been. The last traces of Twilight's artificial universe dripped down the sphere of Stella's magic like molten iron, turning the sand below her to glass and igniting the stray bubbles and shreds of air that had made it back in the area after Twilight had pushed it all away. Twilight's eyes were still glowing bright, her wings were still spread. The moment Stella's shell of energy became fully liberated by the ruins of Twilight's dimension, the alicorn undid it, and darted forward at a speed so great it would have burnt the air around her had there been any left.

Twilight wasn't unprepared. They clashed once again, horn against horn, without truly touching each other. The auras of their magics pressed against one another, singing and glowing like metal being cut through. The sand around them flowed upwards, turning to glass and shattering too quickly to form into sheets, a cloud of shimmering dust reflecting the light of their spells all around them. The ground beneath them bent down into a crater and the two alicorn kept floating above it. The light passing through the space between them came distorted and warped. Winds began to pick up around the area of their clash.

Twilight didn't move from her position. The strain on her body was deep, but barely evident, completely hidden by the bright flashing of magic around her. Sweat was pouring down her back and brow, but turning to vapour too quickly against her skin to ever form into drops. Her mane was flowing behind her, sparks twinkling in it like stars in the night sky. Her eyes were pools of white light, but her expression was stern, not one of exertion. Her mouth was closed and her lips just slightly bent, her jaw at rest. Stella's was clenched, her teeth bared partly by her slightly parted lips. She glared at Twilight with piercing eyes, her neck and back visibly tense as she pushed against her with her horn held forward.

Twilight was holding on for the time being, but she was exhausting herself. She knew she couldn't push back, neither could she hold on forever. But she would keep going awhile.

Comments

[Speckle]

Stella, Stella, Stella....how pointless this whole thing has become Still trying to prove a point nobody else gives a crap about, you're exhausting yourself just as much as Twilight is and causing so much needless damage. In fact, going over everything you've done so far, from the moment you 'awoke', has been nothing but poorly veiled attempts at getting attention, importance, relevance in the life given to you.

Normally, I'd be more than sympathetic to your plight, but you did all those bad things to Starlight, threatened the destruction of several cities and all the people in them with your ego, drove your mother - insane as she herself was - to her death, and you refuse to even show yourself to the world. In Homestuck terms, I think you might be considered either a Prince or Bard of Light, hiding yourself behind the plot, important but not, hellbent on a form of destruction that may cause collateral benefits in some places, but is ultimately harmful to all those around you.

All because you want someone to look at you, praise you, say you're meant to be.

Hon, there were so many ways you could've asked that question. Why did you choose this one?