Final Confrontation

by Tower of 0

Overcast

"Just need a minute to prepare a few spells."

Twilight trots around the library while being watched by Justin. The man is floating near a wall while lounging, with a small serving of nachos. He can feel that excitement that his friend has for... whatever it is that she has planned. It's kind of cute really, seeing the princess this excited for a change. He takes up another tortilla chip and pops it into his mouth. His eyes continue to follow the lavender mare as she continues her way around the library and casting a variety of spells.

"All right, that should be all we need for our next test." Twilight proudly as she trots up to the human, using her magic to take a chip, and munch on it herself.

"Okay, but you never told me what it is." Justin comments, floating a bit lower to the floor.

"I want you to hypnotize me." Twilight tells him in a matter-of-factly tone.

Justin just stares at her, setting his feet on the ground. "What. Why?"

"Well, you remember about a couple years back when Discord escaped his stone prison?" Twilight asks, taking a trot around the library's center piece, seeing the human nod. "During that time, he more or less hypnotized all of my friends into acting the opposite of what they represent. I want to know if you can do it."

"No. Absolutely not." Justin tells her with a determined shake of his head. "I refuse to do that to any of you."

"Then how will we know if you can cast such a magic?" Twilight asks, trotting up to him. "By now, you know that I feel okay with it, the excitement."

"And you know I feel the opposite of that, Twi. My answer is still no, I don't want to know if I can or can't on you." Justin still stares at her, determined to stand his ground on the matter.

Twilight continues to stare back in to his eyes. "I've casted enough spells so that you won't have complete sway over me."

"My answer is still no."

Twilight stands there and stares at the human. Letting the gears turn in her head as she tries to think of a way to coax him into the idea. His face doesn't change and neither does his feeling about the whole ordeal. Twilight opens her mouth to say something when the door to the library is thrown open. The two look over to the front to see what appears to be a rather annoyed looking Rainbow Dash. Upon making eye contact with the human, she points a hoof his direction.

"Hey! What's the big idea, huh?" Rainbow yells at him as she stomps his way.

Justin just raises a brow at the mare coming his way. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Rainbow says as she starts to float up to be level with him. "I know it's you messing with the weather!"

"Alright, Hotshot, why would I mess with your weather?" Justin inquires while maintaining eye contact with her.

Twilight is looking at the both of them with her head tilted in confusion.

"I dunno! To screw with me or something!" Rainbow accuses.

"I don't think Justin would do that to you, Rainbow." Twilight finally chimes in.

"I leave the weather manipulation to the pros." Justin tells the athlete. "Even if it' just to mess with you."

"Then what's with that?!" Rainbow gestures towards the still-open door.

Both Justin and Twilight peer out the door to see what exactly Rainbow is talking about. A massive cloud hangs over the center of Ponyville with pegasi weather teams trying their best to get it dissipated or moved away from the town. A lot of their attempts are futile with such a dark mass of clouds refusing to leave. The two walk their way over to the door and poke both their heads out to see just how massive the cloud is.

"Rainbow." Justin leans back in and looks at her. "Just how long have you been dealing with this?"

"Almost all afternoon when it started showing up." Rainbow answers. "At first we thought they were clouds coming from the Everfree with all that scary lightning trying to strike my team out of the sky."

"Scary lightning?" Justin raises a brow.

"You haven't been paying attention to what's been going on outside?" Rainbow crosses her forelegs at him.

"Uh... no? I've been with Twilight all morning while she tries to convince me to mind control her." Justin explains.

"Hypnotize!" Twilight corrects.

"Whatever, same thing." Justin waves off.

A lightning bolt arcs out from the cloud in order to get the weather teams to leave it be. Twilight sees the color of the bolt is crimson. She opens a wing and hits the human right in his side with a loud whump. He stops talking with Dash to look a her somewhat annoyed, but is met with with a worried look instead. His brow raises a visible smidge while looking at her.

"Rainbow, go get the girls." Twilight tells her friend. "Bring them here, we got work to do. Make sure everypony stays inside and get your teams away from that cloud."

Understanding the tone, Rainbow salutes the princess before bolting out the door.

Twilight then turns her attention back to the human. "We need to get you some place safe."

"Now wait a minute, Twi." Justin starts to kneel down next to her to be eye-level. "What exactly is going on?"

"It's Him. I thought we had more time, but He's here and we have no time." Twilight seems to shake a bit, on the verge of freaking out.

"No." Justin tells her.

"What do you mean 'no?!' You aren't prepared for this and neither are we!" Twilight yells at him.

Justin just stands up and crosses his arms, giving her a bit of a stink eye. "I'm not going to let you all take a blow for my sake. This is my fight as much as yours."

Twilight seeing that it's no use in arguing with him, begrudgingly agrees to let him follow along. The both of them make way from the library towards the center of town where the eye of this particular storm may be. The streets were emptying at an alarming rate as panicking ponies barricade themselves inside. They farther they get underneath the overcast, the darker things get until they happen upon their destination. Standing in front of the fountain, draped in a cloak is Kronos. Levitating his journal in an aura of red magic while flipping through the pages.

"I was wondering when you'd show your faces." Kronos turns to them. He seems older somehow. He was always an older version of their human, but this time was different. "Watching these pegasi try to dispel my storm was... amusing." A small smirk crosses his face as the book closes, his magic dissipates, and the brooch keeping his cloak close stops glowing along with it.

The brooch catches Justin's attention. "Ey! Me Two: Electric Boogaloo! What's with the weird glowy shit on ya cloaks?"

Twilight damn near keels over at his words. Shooting the human a dirty look.

"This old thing? Just something I found way back when. It's a marvelous little trinket that bestowed me with the power I needed to learn spells and use magic. I believe it's called the Alicorn Amulet." Kronos starts to monologue on and on about his conquests with said amulet.

"Wow, and here I thought you talked a lot." Twilight comments in a quiet tone.

"Ouch." Justin replies at the same volume.

"... With it, I have used it to bring the Princess of the Sun to her knees along with her weak sister..."

"Hey, Twi, don't we have one of those amulet things?" Justin asks while the evil him continues his ramblings.

"Yes, and you're not getting your hands on it. I had Zecora hide it." Twilight replies.

"Good."

"It has allowed me to challenge the very spirit of chaos and best them." Kronos seems to finish off with and stares the two of them down. Not having to notice that they had their own little conversation. "It has taken considerable power just to get here to reclaim what is rightfully mine."

"Which is?" Twilight shoots out before Justin, as if reading his mind.

"The Powers of Chaos which have been promised to me as per terms of our bet by the Spirit of Chaos herself!" Kronos' hands start to light up, preparing to cast a spell.

Herself?!

"Dunno how to tell ya this, pal, but making deals with the Spirit of Chao means you should really have read the fine print. Cuz they seem at home here." Justin comments.

"Then I will take them myself." Kronos growls.

Kronos is quick on the draw and fires off the spell he's been charging right in Justin's direction. Twilight is quicker to react and fires off a similar spell to fight his off. Both spells collided in the middle with a spectacular explosion of colors. The alicorn snarls as she steps in front of her human with her horn charged and ready for a fight. Kronos just smiles at this and fires a concentrated beam from his hand. Twilight mimics the spell, firing off her own beam. Crimson and Magenta magic collide once more. Both spellcasters gritting teeth as they pour more power to overcome the other. Justin just watches on as the two's magic duel starts to get a little heated. At the moment Twilight is about to give it her all when a rainbow streak breaks through the large storm cloud above and aims right for the slinging human.

"You leave my friends alone!" A raspy voice yells.

Kronos holds his hand up in her direction before she makes contact and grabs Rainbow by the neck before throwing her to the ground before him. He places a foot on the side of the athletes neck to keep her there while giving Twilight a smile most wicked.

"Rainbow!" Both Twilight and Justin yell out.

"I'm... sorry... Twilight." Rainbow struggles to get out from underneath the other human. "I... couldn't find... the others!"

"The others?" Kronos asks with a laugh. "My, they aren't very far."

With a snap of his free hand, four ponies round the corner. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all look distant, but their eyes are glowing a soft shade of red. This is it, the final straw that broke Twilight's concentration and causes her magic to weaken just enough for a beam of crimson to hit her square in the chest and send her flying backwards. Luckily Justin is there to catch her with a grunt and holds on to her in a tight hug. She groans out in pain and flutters her eyes open to look up at him, both worry and defeat present on her. Justin looks down at her and nods a little, knowing what she's about to do next.

Another blast of magic is slung their way, but Twilight reacts with a shield spell and holds it there.

"Justin." Twilight weakly says as he sets her down.

A beam strikes the shield, causing it to break as she struggles to hold on.

"I know, Twi." Justin laments as he accepts what's about to happen. "Do it."

More cracks form as a second beam strikes her shield. Twilight gazes back at him and nods a little. Her horn lights up further and in a light of magenta, the human is gone. The shield finally gives way and Twilight is struck by both red beams, putting her back on the ground. Kronos slowly approaches with the four of her friends that are under his control now.

"Where did you send him?" Is all he asks, picking the mare up with his magic.

"I'll never tell you." Twilight rebuttals before weakly spitting at him.

"You will tell me what I want, in due time, Twilight Sparkle." Kronos replies to her while wiping the spit from his face. "Maybe you'll be more... persuaded... once I have you in my ranks."

---

I'll find a way, I promise

A pop rings out in his ears, momentarily blinded, and hitting the hard surface of stone. He lets out a grunt in pain and rolls over on to his belly. He groans out, holding his side as he pushes off the stone floor to get more of his bearings. His eyes adjusting to the brief flash. Ruined stone structure surrounds him. Crumbling pillars, walls missing most of their work. He looks around a bit further to see tapestry hanging from the walls depicting sun and moon motifs. Of course he sends him here.

"The Castle of the Two Sisters." Justin mutters to noone in particular. "But... I hope Fudge and Derpy are okay."

With a heavy sigh, Justin finally sits up to look up at the sky. The Everfree sky doesn't look all that different from the typical Equestrian sky. It seems calm at the moment, almost inviting. He closes his eyes and begins to focus a bit, trying to reach out to see if Twilight is still there. Everything is quiet around him save for some ambient noises from the local wildlife. It was perfect white noise for him to attempt his reach.

Twilight?

No answer.

His brow furrows and he opens his eyes. He can't discern anything she's feeling. Almost like it's being blocked. Justin grits his teeth as a fire begins to rise inside of him. He balls his hands into fists, letting out a yell and raising them above his head before slamming the sides of his fists against the stone floor. The impact causes the floor to crack from the force of his hands and small craters where they landed. His breathing gets heavy as he starts to stand up.