...No really...
*2*
The magic attack hit and the shock wave and volume of the explosion of Tirek’s magic were so powerful that it kicked up quite a bit of dust, hiding the meadow from the view of the approaching cavalry and three friends, as many of the creatures held their claws, hooves or hands to their ears in shock. But something was wrong, the sound of the impact sounded different than expected. It was a deafening crash of magic into a shield, followed by a disbelieving gasp from Fluttershy, Pinkie, and lastly Rarity as the dust had cleared enough.
The first of the two foolish mares to open her eyes to the environment once more, was Applejack, whose muzzle also dropped a lot as she looked around the immediate area. Less than a minute ago, it had been a beautiful late afternoon, yet now the sun, as well as the moon, were firmly in their places in the dawn at either end of the horizon. Creating a Twilight over the entire sky. On top of that, the firmament was dotted with thousands of bright twinkling stars, expected for when the moon normally had risen. What was unnatural about them, however, was the fact that they shone much more brightly than they should at this time of day and their light seemed to increase with any given second.
Turning her head further forward, toward the direction from which Tirek's attack had come just moments ago, Applejack spotted an enormous, solid nearly 15-meter-high force field that was also about 60 meter wide. Shimmering in all the colors of the Rainbow and looming a few feet away from the two mares in a semi-circle ahead of them. The force field itself was layered with runes, so deeply interwoven in various hexagonal constellations on top and between each other, that Applejack didn't even know where one of the reinforcements ended and another began. It just seemed heavenly.
No matter what was the case, Applejack herself never had much knowledge about magic and even less about enchantments in general. Such things simply weren't necessary when working on her apple farm. A farm which had been in her family for fifteen generations, guided by good old hard-fashioned earth pony hoof work. The sheer level of power emanating from the force field, despite the distance, however was incredible, that much was clear even without any previous knowledge in magic. And as Applejack turned her gaze to Rainbow Dash, her pegasus friend too shook her head slightly from left to right. She, too, seemed to be as clueless as she was, where the force field came from so suddenly, but gestured backward with her head questioningly afterwards. Presumably, Dash assumed that it was created and maintained by the combined forces of the approaching army. A pretty solid assumption all things considered.
One thing the earth pony mare knew, however, from tales and descriptions of her alicorn friend who was so well gifted and read in magical arts. Such an interwoven construct of hexagonal enchantments was at least a level 8 spell, if not level 9. The two highest levels that existed. Well, okay, there was still the legendary 10th level, but that one had never before been able to be cast by anyone other than an alicorn and therefore created very few times. Plus, Luna and Celestia had no magic to create such a field at the moment and Applejack had yet to catch sight of Cadance among the cavalry, let alone see a crystal pony. Something was not right she could feel it, but like anyone else of her friend´s she got no direct clue what.
A sudden gasp made Applejack's head spin around.
"But that's entirely impossible girls, look."
Rarity's gaze had wandered to the center of the shield, her left hoof outstretched and pointing to the center of the force field and that's when the remaining four mares saw it, too. A golden, dodecagonal Chanty rune with a silver, seven-pointed Novum star in the center, both parts at each corner connected to all the other corners of the rune by thin, purple lines. The unmistakable hallmark of a legendary level 10 spell, a spell literally only creatable by gods. It was way beyond them how none of them had noticed it until now, but they certainly hadn't time to think about it.
The tables had turned. Cadance had to be somewhere among the cavalry, so they still had a chance of winning. Filled with new hope Applejack and Rainbow hugged each other in a tight embrace and even though the situation was dire they loved every single moment of their snuggle – even Dash didn’t complain about being hugged, the last minutes had been too dire for her to even care. They were quickly joined by the rest of the bunch and the hugging got a second round, lasting almost two more minutes.
Sadly, their snuggle came to an end as Rainbow Dash spotted something behind them and made a remark for everypony else to look backwards. The cyan Pegamare pushed from their embrace and took to the air as she gave especially Rarity a scowl as the white Unicorn attempted to argue about Dash’s behavior.
“Look!”
As everyone looked up at what Dash had spotted, they saw it too and none of them could believe what they saw as their muzzles dropped once more, they were speechless. Rainbow was hovering two feet above the ground with her front hoof raised and pointing out in the opposite direction of the forcefield.
The entire army behind them was shrouded in a raspberry glow, hovering a good few inches above the ground. Applejack's gaze drifted to the rest of her friends and as their eyes met it slowly began to dawn on her. This wasn't Cadance's doing, there was no reason for the pink alicorn to stop the entire army. She probably could as an alicorn, even if none of them knew. But hindering their entire combined force in defending and reconquering Equestria would be nuts and they knew Cadance wouldn´t do such a foolish thing.
Suddenly, before anyone could spin their nascent suspicions any further, the ground beneath their hooves began to shake violently and it took some effort from the mares to not topple to the ground. As a deep rumble went through the immediate area, it was followed suddenly by the ripping off the ground into a long rift running square across the still dust-covered battlefield with many equally deep, but quite smaller branches extending through the ground from the main rift.
A deafening mighty roar, not sounding like anything they had heard ever before made all five mares jump in sudden fright, which was quickly replaced by a spark of hope that washed over them. They didn’t know why exactly, but something great was about to happen, they kind of instinctively knew it and their heads snapped to the origin of the sound.
While none of the mares had a clue what was going to happen, they weren’t frightened as they watched in amazement to their left. The roar got louder with every given second and without warning, the entire rock wall between them and the magic-trapped army detonated in a huge, blinding colorful explosion into several thousands of rocky projectiles that were shot mostly toward them with supersonic speed and microscopic spacing between each.
Although there was no possibility of not being seriously injured by at least one of the projectiles, by instinct the mares ducked as low as possible in the vain hope that they might somehow escape unscathed in the least survived the deadly threat. Rainbow and Applejack used their wings and body to shield Fluttershy from the incoming stones, while Rarity hastily gathered some magic into her horn to create a small protection shield. Even if she knew she would never succeed in raising it fast and strong enough to protect the others or even herself in the time she had. While Pinkie began to dance left and right to try using her Pinkie sense to dodge the projectiles, Fluttershy flopped to the ground terrified. The poor butter-yellow pegamare was not able to do anything else as her legs wouldn’t support her anymore.
Their concerns, however, were without merit, as every last one of the peaked stones was disintegrated by an incredible force wave into the subatomic level before the stones had progressed any further than ten meters. It was a sight none of them had ever anticipated, but it was a welcomed one by any means.
As they scrambled up from the ground and checked each other and their own for any injuries, their wits were scared once more by a very loud, powerful, kinda familiar, rage-filled voice, that made the eardrums of the five ring but gave them a spark of confidence no less. Luckily the voice didn´t seem to be raised against them. Yet, whoever was the target had their pity, as it didn´t seem like the being the voice belonged to had just talking in mind. And while they just couldn´t quite grasp whose voice it was, it was very familiar but still so entirely different at the same time. With no more opportunities left, they pricked up their ears as they were eager to find out why it sounded so familiar.
"You dirty, little motherbucker...how dare you have so little f*** honor. You shouldn't have dared to shoot me."
The surrounding clouds were easily pushed back several lengths just from the force of the voice alone and half of them got disintegrated. Several seconds later the gathered mares' eyes went wide to the extreme, for something had clicked in their minds. They suddenly recognized the familiar voice that reignited to burning fire in their chest that the fall of their leader had extinguished. Up until a few seconds ago, they had thought they would never be able to hear HER voice again.
Focusing their gazes upon the cliffside, they were presented with a sight they had not anticipated. For starters, there was no longer a cliff, just a slight slope across the entire side of the field with a few small boulders rolling downwards. Which, about halfway through their descent, were pushed to the side by a tremendous force or simply vaporized in thin air.
The very force itself emanated from a large four-legged creature, whose powers were the subject of many legends and myths and with whom one did not want to engage in combat, especially in the case one of them was in a terribly bad mood like it was the case right now - at least if one was not completely suicidal that was.
In front of them Princess Twilight Amicitia Aurora Sparkle, their lost dear friend and trusted leader was lying on the ground, just as injured as she had been when struck by Tirek’s magic. Her eyes were still closed, the corners of her muzzle pulled back as far as they could go and her teeth bared in a sharp snarl. But that all didn’t matter for the six as Twilight was alive – alive for freaking sake. Well for reasons currently unknown to them, but back under the living no less and that was what counted.
Even if the sudden resurrection of a pony believe to be dead was something not experienced often, it was the slightest of perplexities the mares noticed. This was only the smallest change to the situation since Twilight’s unfortunate impact with the rocky wall.
For one thing, there were a lot of different kinds of magic, runes, symbols, and wards whirring around the alicorn mare in eye-bleeding speed, making it unachievable to even get a remote idea of how many symbols there truly were. Even the immediate area around Twilight seemed to be convulsing, near the point of collapsing onto itself, a both fascinating and shocking sight. As a result, it was somewhat difficult for the stunned friends to see the rest of their alicorn friend's alterations.
Both the mane and tail of the lavender alicorn had drastically changed. Its length had nearly tripled and was now slowly blowing past her face in a constant breeze. Or at least the appendage would if the mare wasn't still lying sideways on the ground. Her tail also showed about twice the length in contrast to before, yet it was still easy to see that the fundamental appearance of both was massively altered.
First of all, both hairy appendages no longer displayed any fire damage at all and were once more completely intact, as well as sparkling in an almost otherworldly splendor. Further, the coloring of Twilight's mane and tail had darkened by several accents and now bordered on a very deep blue, nearly black. In both, hundreds of small, sparkling, white objects could be made out by the watching mares. In their opinion most likely stars, arranged in a perfect replica of the real stars in the sky.
Once the friends were finally able to tear their gaze away from Twilight's flowing hair, their eyes were immediately fixed on another visible change that had occurred on their friend's body.
Neither of them had ever seen anything like that, although many things had never been known about alicorns anyway, except that they possessed extraordinary abilities and powers. Some even said they were godlike. So, the chance that what they saw might just be an ability known only to alicorns or was not officially documented was existent. Even if it didn’t make much sense for any of them.
Shortly after Twilight’s ascension, the other princesses had invited the freshly minted alicorn and the rest of her friends to Canterlot Castle, where they had a private conversation with the newest princess that lasted several hours in the throne room of the castle. Afterward, they all, too, were made privy to their friend’s latest changes and Twilight was presented with a host of books – much to the delight of the academic pony. Since then, it had become almost the norm that around every two weeks, that the girls were informed about the latest findings and discoveries about Twilight’s abilities and alicorns in general. So, they kept a close eye on what happened next to maybe gather further Information, about what had happened to Twilight’s appearance.
As they looked back to Twilight, they could discern a new and to them unknown magical flow from the alicorn's wings, while her hooves gave off the same spectacle. However, what they realized was that the magic not just flowed from them, but poured into the ground and the air, giving new life to the battered ground, letting grass and flowers grow in seconds until the soil was healthier than it probably ever had been. While constantly more and more stars appeared in the sky the Wendigos writhed in pain under the spell of the unknown magic, trying in vain to escape from it. In the end, however, they lost and were cast into thin air. Almost immediately, the chilly temperature began to return to normal, adapting to the late summer season it had been previously.
Rainbow Dash, even if she never would admit it, was speechless and also a little afraid of what had just occurred. In her entire life, she never witnessed a display of such graze power as well as skill happening so easily. According to every tale, she had received from her teachers at the Pegasus Flight School, the Wendigos were spirits with limitless abilities and fury for the ponies, rendering them the most dangerous beings in existence for the pony’s living on Equus below. Drilled only to plunge the planet into eternal ice that not even the princesses were able to do anything about - at least that was what was said and believed until this morning by Dash. Only the cohesion and bond of all three pony species could have a chance of withstanding the rage of the Wendigos and keeping them in check but never defeat them.
Yet Twilight - alicorn princess Twilight, master and guardian of magic, her dear friend and youngest alicorn, had just managed without batting an eye, what no one would ever have thought possible. And that simple unhindered power scared the wits out of Dash, but she would held onto the unbreakable faith she had in Twilight, that the mare would stay peaceful and kind to her subjects. With such might came great responsibility, but also one was a serious danger towards others if one couldn´t stand it and Dash wasn´t sure if she ever could begin fighting Twilight if she ever had to. Ignoring the fact that despite her agility, swiftness, and above-average physical fitness, she still didn’t have a shred of a chance against an alicorn anyway.
As a unicorn, Twilight had spent most of her time in a library and never really done much sport. Still, she was mighty good at magic and that alone had compensated almost all of her lack of sport, nearly granting her the second place in physical fitness, shortly after Applejack - at least in fitness, not raw strength, earth ponies were still a good deal thougher. And while the last few years had done good for all their cardio, with all the constant world-saving, Twilight remained a pony training her brain rather than her body. But that fact alone gave her the advantage of being able to make decisions and weigh the chances of attack and defense much faster than Dash was able to. In addition, after her transformation into an alicorn, her already impressive unicorn magic was probably enhanced by a factor of hundreds by the alicorn magic she now possessed – Rainbow didn’t know exactly, as she had never asked Twilight directly.
Additionally, the alicorn mare had received attributes from each of the three races through her ascension, which of course had not only amplified her magic alone. Her flying skills had also improved greatly over the last few years and even in the beginning, it had not been as easy for Dash to outfly Twilight as the cyan pegasus had expected it to be. Due to the mare’s much more densely feathered and larger alicorn wings, Twilight possessed much more wing area to get and keep her in the air, which allowed Twilight to keep up very well with Dash’s longer practice and experience.
And even if she was faster, Twilight was flawlessly able to track and teleport exactly where Dash was with her magic and that was longer than Dash’s stamina held. It had something to do with a pony´s unique magic signature or so Twilight had said, that she could track and teleport to, but Dash hadn’t understood half of it – or listened in the first place. So, there had never been a way of knowing if she really outpaced Twilight or if the alicorn was still on her tail.
All that coupled with the fact that the general amount of muscles an alicorn possessed, not only in the wings, wasn´t a fact to be neglected either. Even the rest of the young alicorn’s musculature had gotten a decent upgrade from her old unicorn self and Rainbow had lost quite a few bits when she had bet on the orange earth pony in a hoof wrestling match between Applejack and Twilight.
Twilight was even able to defeat Big Mac and AJ at the same time without any visible effort at all and after it had been agreed not to use magic or other tricks, an alicorn was stronger than even the fittest of earth ponies.
Clearing her mind, Dash energetically shook her head, such a thing she would nor could she think about, it in fact would never come to that, she assured herself. Twilight had been always pure and loyal towards everyone she ever encountered and as the element of loyalty, she knew what it meant to rely without a doubt on others. Alicorns were something like a benevolent might in Equestria and that was enough for Dash to hold her faith. So, without any further thought, she moved her gaze back to the meadow or more precisely Twilight.
The alicorn mare seemed to be partially transparent, or rather some parts of her body no longer looked like they were made from flesh or fur, but pure magic, the same color as her coat. The mare's cuts and burns blazed brightly in a golden glow that moved down the whole alicorn´s body, as they slowly closed and healed, then took on the same appearance of see-through magic as well. The shattered stump of Twilight´s horn was still present, but now rising from it was a brilliant blazing ethereal horn about twice the length of her old one.
The raw passive output of power, alone from Twilight being there was stunning, and the environment, which was already heavily influenced and twisted around the alicorn, was almost completely non-existent directly around the alicorn's ethereal horn.
Despite all things happening and Twilight´s body regenerating in a matter of seconds, seemingly out of nowhere, the remaining injuries such as the fracture of her left wing, leg, and twisted lower body remained completely untouched by the unusual healing.
Fluttershy was already turning her body to Rarity and Applejack to ask the burning question of whether one of them knew what the hell was happening or not. But was interrupted by a grunt from Twilight before she could even begin asking her question and get an answer from the girls. Her head snapped back to the action and Twilight, as the lavender alicorn had begun to straighten herself up – and so far everything looked fine. But when Twilight tried to shift her weight to her front hooves, she for reasons well known, of course, nipped off to the left, due to her leg in not a very good condition to hold her weight or Balance. Her snout implanted in the soil and grassy plain, Twilight seemed to be mildly frustrated.
"Buck!"
With a furious comment, the alicorn mare once more tried to raise herself, but as the first time failed rather miserably. So, she pressed up as far as she could with her one good hoof before stretching both her wing and hoof apart in one swift, hard movement, batting no eye doing so.
With a mighty, dreadful pop, both limbs snapped back into their rightful place, which the rest of the girls watched, wincing.
A golden glow passed over both extremities subsequently, most likely indicating that the alicorn had healed herself - at least that's what the mares suspected, they wouldn´t know what else it could be other than that.
As crazy as it all seemed, by all appearances and the lack of painful responses from Twilight while “fixing” her limbs, the alicorn mare didn´t seem to feel pain in any way. The alicorn's stature was tense, as was to be expected in the situation of an upcoming fight - yet not the slightest bit in pain.
The very fact alone, that Twilight didn’t seem to experience agony, gave her friends the confidence they needed to remain watching. And they flinched less this time, seeing the alicorn do the same with the lower half of her body. However, at that time Twilight used her magic and one single, swift movement as she brought her hind hooves to where they anatomically belonged. Her task accomplished, Twilight this time successfully straightened up and moved her entire extremities as a test, while her body glowed golden one more time. Her gaze slowly wandered over her own body.
Due to the foreign magic that was still permanently buzzing around the alicorn in rapid circles, it was hard for the outside standing mares to tell every little detail, of what was happening in the last minutes. What they could see, however, was that Twilight's magic aura had radically changed its basic color. Which was now a pleasant pure white and surrounded by all the colors of the rainbow as its outermost corona. Also swirling in many layers around her horn and the rest of the alicorn's body were several runes, enhancements, and other symbols that none of the girls had even the slightest idea what they were doing.
What was clear, however, was that they were some very powerful charms created by someone who knew exactly what he was doing. Most of them probably to either strengthen, protect or otherwise enhance the lavender alicorn mare some meters behind them. In some rare cases, the runes also overlapped in more than 20 or 30 different layers and were so gracefully and skillfully drawn into the surroundings that one could become envious just by looking at them.
"Ha, yeah, that's way better! Finally feels like it should."
Simply hearing Twilight’s voice was enough for the six close friends to relax their bodies and melt their tension and they all sat beside each other on the ground, smiling at each other companion in happiness.
Their serenity lasted but a few seconds. As Twilight raised her head and directed her gaze forward in the direction of them, a cold icy shiver immediately ran down the spines of all five of them, instinctively causing them to flinch their body’s slightly away from Twilight. The auras surrounding the alicorn had intensified many times over in an instant and even if no direct fear was triggered, the power was still enormous and to be respected.
Instead of their friend's usually deep violet, gentle, intelligent, and sharp eyes, all they could see now was an almost eye-aching pure white, and every kind of emotion was completely gone. From both eyes and the remaining features of the alicorn's face.
The girls also recognized that white vapors were constantly gliding out of the corners of their friend's eyes. Just as they had seen with King Sombra, only Twilight's seemed less threatening and not evil due to their color. Yet the mare's piercing white eyes took care of that worry well enough on its own.
The tension quickly left them, however, when they saw the corners of Twilight's mouth began to curve upward as her gaze fully fell onto them. The alicorn also slightly lowered her head into a dip.
The big smile they received from their friend was somehow extremely reassuring letting them suspect there was something special about the magic that now circled less prominently and frightening but still visibly around the alicorn. It took a moment for the mares to realize, but once they did that Twilight's eye color might have changed drastically and unknown powers and magic were continuing to circle her. She nevertheless remained the cunning and benevolent friend they knew and not a dangerous mindless entity bend on inflicting hurt and pain.
"Girls! Please! Don't worry, I would never be able to hurt any of you, even if I tried", they heard the lavender alicorn say in a gentle, reassuring voice.
Before any of Twilight´s friends could say anything in response, they were enveloped in the characteristic glow of their friend's powerful, warm magic and slowly lifted off the ground, towards the alicorn mare itself.
While they got closer to Twilight, the overall sensations of magic and power intensified more and more. Still, the feeling was not intimidating, but reassuring to the mares. Furthermore, the longer they floated in Twilight’s magic and the closer they came to the alicorn in general, the more they all felt filled with new strength and energy.
Soon they were all floating past Twilight and it felt like someone was lovingly running its hoof through their fur, calming the five mares even more.
Carefully they were lowered to the ground behind the lavender alicorn and as the magic vanished from their bodies, Twilight's strange magical construct of a horn continued to glow steadily in brilliant colors. Immediately, many different runes, wards, and magic lines formed on the ground below and around the mares, glowing with the same signature of color and power they had grown accustomed to over the years of their Friendship with Twilight. A soft hiss could be heard as the magic was inscribed into the ground.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash in particular were fascinated by the runes forming around them and Twilight’s ethereal horn as it glowed and worked its magic. Rainbow was still impressed and a little frightened at how easy it seemed for Twilight to cast such complicated protective spells, the mare didn’t even bat an eyelid as she created increasingly complex and multi-level spells without end. Rarity on the other hoof had learned from Twilight a little over two years ago how to gain better knowledge of spells being used by observing others casting them. Of course, she was not a professional in magic like Twilight and required more than one observation to have learned and be able to cast a specific spell. But she wasn’t bad now either. Still, the longer she watched the alicorn’s actions, the less she understood what Twilight was doing. Both were jolted back to reality when they heard Twilight’s voice anew.
"Please, would you all stay, here?! The wards will protect you more than well. I'll handle this myself; you won’t need to worry, I got it." The alicorn mare didn´t await an answer and began to turn around while she extended her wings to their full span.
Her friends nodded in confirmation that they understood what was being asked of them. There wasn´t really much anything else they could do in contrast to the young alicorns abilities. Even if there seemed to be some new, they didn’t know anything about. So that was even better. Twilight had the best chances of actually doing something against the villains and it seemed like the smartest idea so far letting the lavender alicorn do what she had in mind.
With the runes the alicorn had erected around them, a stable rainbow-colored hemisphere of force was now in front of them. 7 meters high, and about 20 meters wide, fully encircling them and even extending a small distance into the ground.
Taking all this into consideration, it would be an ill-conceived idea to leave this clearly potent protection. More so since it definitely didn't look like Twilight would need any help at present in kicking the bad guys’ asses in earnest.
The alicorn's gaze fell on the three villains as she turned around, as did all her features, which changed back to an infuriated one.
“YOU!”, the force behind the royal Canterlot voice caused the dust to be blown once more all over the battlefield. But was redirected by a lazy wave of Tirek’s hand and magic before the cloud of dust could hit the three.
"Be grateful, that I'm in a very good mood right now. I'll give you one last chance to justify your actions." To further demonstrate, Twilight stomped violently with her right front hoof on the ground covered with short, green grass, causing the ground in the near vicinity to shake, and a few small cracks to appear several meters around her.
Tirek and Chrysalis seemed not very impressed. After all, they had already defeated the alicorn once with relative ease - what should be different now? Merely because she now gleamed did not inevitably make her a tough opponent.As a result, both of them, led by Tirek, charged forward beside each other with their magics raised.
Cozy Glow, on the other hoof, stepped back and hid behind a small nearby rock, observing the situation for the time being. She had not liked it before, and though Cozy would never admit it to others, she was quite intimidated by the alicorn princess and her impressive display of magic.
No, she wouldn't try to mess with her. Somehow that seemed like an extremely stupid idea to the young pegacorn. Even though she had a good hunch that even if she attacked Twilight as well, the alicorn wouldn't harm her, at least not intentionally. Despite the powerful and crushing magic around the alicorn, Twilight seemed as composed as Cozy knew her to be. A great perk of incredible intelligence, not to be underestimated. Why fuzzing about a problem, if you were able to consider the most likely outcome and risks in record times with precise certainty?
The official “School of Friendship”, sometimes also named “Royal Academy of Harmony”, seemed to have been the perfect chance for Twilight to become more confident in her role as a leader. Over the two years that Cozy had assisted Twilight as the right-hoof of the school head mare, the young princess had grown more and more familiar with the idea of taking on leading responsibility. Not that she wasn’t a great leader before, but that probably never could have been said about the lavender alicorn mare. So, although both were enemies, Cozy had to admit that she was glad that the alicorn became the leader Cozy knew she was. Twilight had earned it.
Some months before she had infiltrated Twilight's School of Friendship, Cozy had first read up as much as possible on everything that had to do remotely with magic and gathered as much information as she could about Twilight and her council. Which, given the level of popularity of the six mares, had been quite easy on the one hoof, but also quite a lot to go through.
Therefore, Cozy also knew that Twilight might be by far the youngest of all four alicorns. In terms of raw knowledge, skill in magic and the mutual understanding of ponies between each other, she was by far the one with the highest, unsurpassed knowledge and skill. Researchers estimated an incredible knowledge of more than 11,000 different spells, without counting the different variations of them that the alicorn remembered and could cast without any other help. Along with an already nearly as high mana level as the two oldest alicorn sisters possessed, despite being so young herself. Wherever Twilight had stored this power and knowledge Cozy didn´t know, but alicorn physiology still was a great mystery to everyone. So, it was likely, to be all true.
Through further research, she also found an article in which Celestia was supposed to have confirmed that due to Twilight's deep connection with magic, she was something special and unheard of, likely having more mana at her disposal than she or her younger sister had, even with barely an age of 23. Which would confirm the first theory - but whether it was true in the end she was sadly unable to find out.
What Cozy did know, however, was that in her research she discovered that Twilight had taken her academy/school through Equestria's complex teaching control system in just under two weeks. Something that in normal cases would take a private person months, if not years of forms, papers, and other bureaucratic stuff. That is if you could even get through the numerous tests, assessments, and other hurdles to approving a teaching institution in the first place.
But as one of Equestria's princesses; especially with the title of princess of friendship, a position known for expertise in interspecies bonds and with further proof that she had three PhD's in quantum mechanics, biology and physiology alone. And not even counting the probably many more certificates the mare got. Twilight had managed to avoid taking almost every single test necessary and almost instantly get her school accepted. The alicorn had been 19 at the time damn it. How the hell smart did you have to be to accomplish such a thing? She struggled to even pass the entry to junior high and barely passed the needed tests.
Still, no matter what the facts were, what was right or wrong about alicorns and Twilight. She definitely wouldn't want to mess with Luna, Celestia, Cadance, or Twilight today or anytime in the future directly. Each of the four princesses was far too strong on their own for that. Tirek´s attack on a single alicorn was foolish enough and she was surprised he even got so far in actually hurting and killing one of them. Or not? - As Twilight was clearly alive.
Nevertheless, lastly with the close, even to be described as familial ties that existed between the four highest representatives of the royal house, it would be necessary to mess with all four in the short term. The single way out of that would be to eliminate all four of them. A simple thought really. Yet one that was unlikely - kind of impossible, such luck, not even Tirek, Chrysalis, or she had. Also as it seemed from what had happened with Twilight a quarter of an hour ago, not even killing an alicorn hindered them for long. However, they could survive something like that.
Through reports of the battle between Lord Tirek and Princess Twilight, it had been also confirmed that the combined magic of four alicorns could rival that of the entire rest of the planet. Had the young princess been more familiar with such powers, the fight would have been much shorter and more definite. So lucky for Tirek, Cozy would say.
Still lost in her mind, sorting her thoughts Cozy almost missed what happened next. But she compost herself early enough to peek once more over the edge of the stone she was hiding behind and saw Twilight raising one of her front hooves with an unimpressed snort. While her ethereal horn, as well as her eyes, lit up in a white light, she swung the hoof in the direction of the two attackers. As a result, both of them were thrown back to the ground several meters by a strong, invisible force. Even Tirek, with his by far greater mass than Chrysalis, though it caught the latter far worse, knocking her through the nearest rock with a yelp. At first glance not physically hurt, the queen proceeded to lay there unmoving.
"Really? You'll have to do a little better than that. This - this is ridiculous, even for you," Twilight retorted as she lowered her hoof back down and shook her head in mock amusement. Her inner rage seemed to slowly dissipate, even if she still showed no empathy for the villains. However, mustering such a simple attack from the alicorn's side with such a high effect on her opponents' side, it was clear that she was massively holding back and didn't really want to hurt Tirek and Chrysalis.
What would Twilight be able to do, if the mare gave her full potential without care? Cozy had faith it wouldn´t come to that, but it was better to hope and be safe than sorry as well.
Tirek slowly recovered from Twilight's defense. He took a cursory glance at the changeling queen to make sure she was reasonably well. There he saw that she had fainted from the impact and had also received some scratches, but otherwise appeared unharmed. That was obviously enough for him as Tirek turned to the lavender alicorn, angry but also massively surprised.
"That's impossible, you no longer possess a horn to cast magic, I shattered it." At which he gestured to the aborted horn of Twilight still lying on the edge of the battlefield, where it had been lying the entire time.
Turning her head to the direction Tirek was pointing to, Twilight gave a hearty laugh after a few second. Her eyes widening, for it seemed that the alicorn hadn’t even noticed until now that most of her horn was missing from her forehead.
"Oh…that. Yeah, who says I even need a horn to use my magic, but if you ask for it..."
Once again illuminating her etheric horn, the princess closed her brilliant white eyes. The etheric construct began to blaze with a bright light, that despite its brightness strangely didn’t hurt the eyes. Breathless all present watched as the broken horn at the edge of the meadow began to dissolve into thousands of golden sparks, as a completely new one began to form on the very front of Twilight´s head out of the broken stump of her old horn. The new horn was the same size, diameter, and length as the etheric one had been just seconds ago and the power it blazed with was still as great, if not even greater.
Yet, Twilight’s brand new horn no longer looked the way her old one had. It was still slightly arched forwards, as was typical for an alicorn and very rarely for unicorns. But all along its entire length and around its diameter there were now low pulsating runic markings that looked to be engraved directly into the bony substance – or whatever Twilight’s new horn was composed of. With the unknown new abilities of Twilight, it was certainly possible for the alicorn’s horn to be made of something entirely different and far more powerful than what it had been before.
Tirek could only watch speechlessly as the impossible happened right in front of his eyes. The entire process only took no more than a few seconds, but then his greatest arch-enemy and incredibly powerful princess stood before him looking more impressive than ever, now completely refreshed and unharmed once more. It was like the mare herself reset time itself and brought her previous self from a few hours back to battle – just mightier. The young princess also did not indicate that the creation of her completely new horn in but a few short seconds had been any effort for her alicorn self.
“I- impossible! You cannot create or restore a destroyed horn with magic. That goes against the third fundamental law of magic itself!"
The red centaur lord would have expected many things as a response, but that the little alicorn - well for him at least, started and proceeded to heartily laugh and held her hoofs in front of her breast and muzzle, he had not expected.
"Oh, please. If you had even remotely my new understanding of magic, you wouldn't be uttering something like that right now dear Tirek. Besides, do you honestly want to know how much I give a damn about your opinion? - That's right, aaaaaabsolutely nothing!", Twilight extended the last part of her sentence extra-long, to give Tirek a good understanding of how false his statement actually was. A smug grin crossed Twilight´s muzzle and her posture relaxed even more, as she craned her neck and wings lazily - a simple gesture that mocked the nerves of Tirek to the very edges. Something Twilight knew exactly as her stretch implied she was bored so much she didn´t even need to watch Tirek to stay safe from his attacks.
"But if you seem to know the three fundamental laws of magic so well, you do have my attention. I'm all ears." It was clearly obvious that Twilight was not taking Tirek fully honest in any way at this point anymore. But why should she even? After all, his attitude towards her wasn't particularly friendly either.
Tirek briefly considered whether to play the alicorn's game or not, but she dared him and he certainly wouldn´t withdraw from the business of answering and therefore utterly crushing the confidence Twilight had in her mind. That would be weakness towards Twilight and he didn´t grant the alicorn that joy, it would be fun seeing Twilight dumb folded. His mind made he responded to the young princess.
"All right little princess. Listen here. The first two are a combined one, 'magic can´t be destroyed or created, only transformed and reused.' The third is many times newer and was added just some years ago, after hard considerations. Any bio-magical construct, such as a horn, is irrevocably destroyed should it be severed or otherwise damaged. The only exception is regeneration using healing spells applied to organic tissue to heal injuries, cuts. or breaks for example - either light or hard. However, your horn is certainly not one of those, so you better tell me right now what tricks you used, or I'm going to get nasty."
Nodding, Twilight acknowledged Tirek’s efforts in clarification and trying to intimidate her. The wide smile never left her muzzle.
"Very good, good boy”, Twilight teased. “Though, as you can see, I can change and break said laws, there’s no other explanation than that. Not even you will find one, trust me. Rather nice isn't it?" Twilight chuckled, adding a moment later." However, we need to add one more law to the list as it seemed."
That was as far as the alicorn got in speaking, as Tirek interrupted her, more than mad.
"WATCH WHAT YOU´R VOICE YOU LITTLE ALICORN, I'M NOT HAVING YOU MAKE A FOOL OUT OF ME! But I’m curious, so let me be sloppy before I wipe you out. What’s your so mighty fourth fundamental law of magic? Let's hear it!", Tirek's tone was bored and annoyed. He had no desire to be made to look like an idiot. Even less so from the young alicorn he despised so much.
Twilight´s face dropped as her gaze focused onto Tirek with a last mischievous grin. Her eyes became even more white than white, something that should technically not be possible and she scrunched up her muzzle as she bared her teeth in the process.
"Never, ever bucking mess with someone whose true powers you don't remotely know and are unable to hurt and defeat. Furthermore don´t you dare ever mess again with my friends. You probably have made the greatest mistake of your life today by attacking me, the supreme master and literal physical embodiment of magic – one of the true fundamental aspects of reality itself."
"You? Invincible? One of the fundamental aspects of reality? Don't make me laugh, I'll take you down a second time with my hands bound to my back," Tirek grumbled, at which the centaur pointed at Twilight, a red ball of magic forming between his horns.
Whatever exactly he had in mind never happened and Tirek’s attack never came, as Twilight merely raised her right hoof and blew across it in Tirek's direction. Resulting in his attack simply vanishing into thin air without a trace of ever being there. Much to the centaur's utter shock.
"What! How could something like that be possible? No one can be that strong to just blow magic away. Stop your tricks and play fair."
Twilight chuckled heartily, she still couldn´t be truly angry at Tirek, despite his behavior towards her and her friends, it was quite cute that he thought he still had anything to demand from her.
"You still don't quite get it, do you? I’m not any pony or alicorn, I’m THE ONE alicorn and mistress of magic. You can’t beat something that is magic with working magic, you should remember that. And wow, that's just the right thing to say coming from you, isn't it? Stopping tricks and pretending stuff. Or do I have to remind your little centaur brain, what you have done - tricks, lies, harm you name it? Not the best place to demand, I might suggest."
Tirek angrily shook his head, despite his rage and disgust towards the alicorn, she didn´t have to say more for him to know exactly what Twilight was implying. As unlikely as he wanted to admit it, the lavender alicorn was right. He had a vast known record for lying, tricking, and betraying others, and even against the comment of his little brain, there was little to say from his side. He was over 1,700 years old, but Twilight with her 22 Years of age had outsmarted him in every category in their last encounter and precisely always knew what his next move had been. So, he stayed silent and proceeded to angry glare at the young mare standing about 50 Meters in front of him, to hold the last dignity he still had left.
Whilst the two had been exchanging stares, Cozy Glow had crawled out from behind her rock and scurried over to Chrysalis. Hiding some minutes carefully behind the larger changeling, before she was confident enough to do anything else.
At first she had tried with a soft voice and careful nudging to wake the changeling queen. Seeing that this had no success, she moved on to more drastic measures. With a violent, but precise slap of her hoof across the face of the changeling, she managed to wake the big bug back up to the world of the wake.
Chrysalis´s vision began to clear and once it had done so enough for her to realize where exactly she was and who had slapped her, she jumped up onto all fours and hissed at the young pegacorn. Cozy jumping back in mild fear, but more out of surprise of Chrysalis´s rather fast recovery. The former queen was about to attack Cozy, but the sight of Tirek's magic being blown away just like that by Twilight silenced her. The magic attack she had for Cozy dropped and she fumbled for words but found none. Shortly after, she composed, jumped up into the air and swiftly teleported to Tirek's side, grimly looking up at him.
"Tirek, we don´t need our magic. There are three of us and only one of her.” Chrysalis extended her hoof and indicated up and down the centaur´s body. “Plus, look at you, you've got a good hundred fifty times the mass of that puny princess. If that's not enough, I don´t know what else would."
Nodding, Tirek steeled his body and with no further words needed, together they both charged forward in Twilight's direction. Even Cozy Glow followed close behind. Though in the process she was first half dragged behind by Tirek's magic before she accepted her defeat, beat her wings down hard, and catapulted her body to the same height as the centaur and the changeling queen, her horn however, she didn’t ignite. After all, there was no point to resist Tirek´s magic. The centaur was way too strong and cruel for that and probably would seriously hurt her the moment she further resisted his will.
She'd rather battle Twilight a hundred times over than get in Tirek's way. The alicorn mare at least still had honest morals at heart and she trusted that the good nature for which the lavender alicorn was known also applied to her. Despite their rather hostile encounter so far and the fact that she had tried to sabotage and betray Twilight as well as her circle of friends several times in the last two and a half years.
Well – yeah, she tried stealing all of Equestria´s magic once, wronged and abused Twilight´s trust down to the core for nearly two semesters, and locked them all in Tartarus, to get what she wanted. Once they got out and she was defeated, she told Princess Twilight, that´s what Friendship was, a simple yet powerful and efficient way to get power and command over creatures.
But everyone made mistakes, so she could be forgiven - right? At least that was what Cozy hopped. She just had to find a way to get out of this battle alive and flee. Her heart and especially her mind was a terrible mess and she wasn’t able to think clearly, but her heart was locked onto one thing for sure. It wouldn´t let her attack Twilight anymore no matter what she thought. If she even still stood a chance in the first place, with the powers the lavender alicorn now seemed to possess. The young princess had simply shown too much kindness, cooperation, and endless care, even to her enemies, to which she did not need too for Cozy to be able to do so. All that her enemies she fought in her life ever wanted was nothing else than her dead and gone. Twilight in all rights was a truly honorable mare alone for that single fact and there was so much more she could list.
Then, once this madness came to an end and Twilight was officially crowned permanent sole ruler of Equestria and supreme princess of the kingdom she could step in front of Twilight and surrender to her judgment. She knew she deserved punishment for her actions, but only high Princess Twilight was supposed to decide her fate in her opinion. Although the young pegacorn had like no idea how the legal system of Equestria worked, as long as the two pony sisters were still on the throne by law, she would keep a low profile no matter her personal costs.
Chances, as little and nonexistent they were, still existed that she would simply be thrown back into Tartarus by the two alicorns, as she had been once before. Celestia, in particular, had not been overjoyed when informed of what she had done. Even Luna returned to her former, cold self, for which she had been known so often a thousand years before, but left behind since her return for her subjects. She knew she did much wrong but was eternally throwing a child into Tartarus really the right thing to do?
Should Twilight also decide to exile her to Tartarus, at least Cozy knew that she genuinely deserved to end up there. As the princess of friendship and harmony, the young lavender alicorn paid considerably greater attention to the mental impact and consequences of her actions, than even the other three princesses combined. The three still paid a lot of heed to it, but simply not as much as Twilight herself did. If her decision was to send her to Tartarus then that was what Cozy would embrace, for she trusted Twilight to do the right thing.
"Cocky as ever," Twilight rolled her eyes and spread both wings to their full span. If Tirek and Chrysalis were determined to stand against her then it had to be that way. Cozy, on the other hoof, didn't look particularly convinced, a fact she intended to keep in mind and consider for later.
With both attackers firmly focused on her, they charged at Twilight at full speed, horns and hands raised. She could have simply created a force field and the matter would have been settled, but that would be neither effective nor remotely as interesting. Checking that all the protection spells and runes around her friends were still intact and charged, she turned her focus fully to the front and watched the charging three.
Tirek, Chrysalis, and lastly a terrified Cozy had their target perfectly in sight till all of a sudden they didn't. The only thing that warned them of Twilight was a deafening thunder with a five-meter crater where the young princess had just been standing seconds ago. Before, with a loud command, a powerful raspberry-colored beam of magic struck ten meters in front of them, tearing up the ground three meters in depth and almost across the entire surface of the grassy field.
"Enough!", thundered the alicorn's voice, so loud it was almost unbearable. Not only startled by the beam of magic in front of them, which almost scorched their fur with its heat but also out of a sudden primal fear caused by the voice, all three villains stopped abruptly. Cozy dropped to the ground, her wings folded back to her sides and no longer under her control, as she looked up at the sky fearfully.
Seeing the image before them sent a shiver down everyone's spine and froze the blood in their veins. Cozy Glow tried fluttering back several feet in fright, clearly unsettled. Even if she knew Twilight wouldn’t hurt her, she couldn’t overpower her basic instincts. Some tries later, she successfully managed to get some ground. She might have been a villain once who once planned to let Equestria kiss her hooves. But still, she knew she was wrong now and only an 11 year-old pegasus child. Drawing her limbs closer to her she stayed behind Tirek and Chrysalis, her fear paralyzing her almost completely. Somehow even fleeing a battle she didn’t want to fight anymore was harder than she had thought.
Princess Twilight Sparkle hovered a few feet above them. Her new horn lit up in the brightest glow they had ever seen, tenth if not hundreds of symbols circling around it, ready to rain down another spell on them at any time.
Around her entire body still swarmed the known runes, but now at least two dozen new wards and another circle of many complex runes in any color and shape imaginable. The entire alicorn still glowed with the unknown magic and reality-bending effects still made it somewhat difficult to see the mare clearly.
The numerous circles of runes, in every color and shape surrounded Twilight´s body in perfect slow arcs. The most significant of these were two large circles, consisting of many lines of force leading to each other, ending in a particular kind of rune each.
The first contained an Uruz-rune, a sign of inner strength, courage, tenacity or vitality. The second was even more special and consisted of an Ansuz-rune, the most powerful of all runes there was not to be counted among the 10th level. Standing for the divine and otherworldly, it was virtually impossible for a non-alicorn to create it. Only Starswirl the Bearded had succeeded so far besides the princesses and it had been his greatest accomplishment and the most noteworthy event created by a non-alicorn.
Finally, just a couple of meters directly behind the alicorn was once more the golden, dodecagonal Chanty rune with its silver, seven-pointed Novum star in the center. Only this time it seemed to pulsate with even more power than before.
Chrysalis was intimidated, a lot actually, but emotions were a vital thing to a changeling, so she managed to bear it. About to take a step forward, Twilight lazily lifted her right hoof in the air and pushed it slightly forward off of her center. Pushing the changeling queen back a foot with unseen force.
"Did I give you permission to step forward? I think not!" Twilight's voice was still friendly but also determined, leaving no room for rejoinder.
Nodding, Chrysalis kept quiet and even Tirek choose to say nothing. By now, they both were not so sure anymore that the alicorn would not attack them, no matter how friendly Twilight was, at one time even her patience would have to have an end.
With magic seemingly no longer having any harmful impact at all upon Twilight and the alicorn repelling any attempt of it against her without any effort or hardship, there was very little left for them to oppose her with. Twilight had not been lying when she claimed to be the supreme mistress of magical arts, the mare really did seem to hold ultimate control.
Whatever magic was circling around the alicorn, it strengthened her beyond measure and possibly made her even invulnerable. Even from this great distance, the power was overwhelming and sought to push them to the ground.
Looking up, as there was nothing else to do for them, all three watched and pricked their ears as the princess began to speak anew.
"I tried, no really I did with every fiber of my being. I would describe myself as kind, more forgiving than most, and very patient, after all, that's what my job as Princess of Friendship requires of me. I have to be precise, diligent, and caring to really understand the problems my ponies have. No matter if on the physical, mental, and metaphysical plane. But you – you just won't understand or listen to me and my patience begins wearing thin.”
That was what they all feared, Twilight´s patience was depleted and now she would put a quick end to them all. Cozy closed her eyes, tears beginning to well at the corners of her eyes. She had still hope in Twilight, no matter what the mare was a highly caring one. The alicorn wouldn’t actually hurt her, but the young pegacorn was still to terrified for the realization to be burned into her mind.
The feared attack however never came, as quite the opposite happened. The power previously trying to push them to the ground demised, even though the magic show Twilight delivered remained unchanged. The background presence of an incredibly powerful being also didn´t change in the slightest. An effect known to surround every alicorn and amaze everyone they encountered, but here...it was on a new level entirely.
"I'm sorry to say that, but even I don't seem to be able to help you. I have tried several times to show you that there are other ways than violence and oppression. We talked much and long in Tartarus Tirek and Cozy, at least for three hours straight every time I visited and brought the news of the kingdom to you, don´t forget that. And Chrysalis! I would have also very much liked to talk to you, but not even with my alicorn senses I was able to locate you. But I´m keen to remember that we had one or two nice small talk in the past, so I at least tried with the chances I had. And Sombra — well that ˋthingˋ is not more than that. You can believe me when I say how surprised I was as I found out that Sombra isnˋt even anymore a Pony, but a collection of dark semi-sentient energies. Thrilled to submit every being on Equus. So me and my friends might have ˋkilledˋ him, but did we really? It is like cutting down a tree, itˋs alive and once you do the tree dies, but it doesnˋt have a mind on its own to think about said concept — Letˋs say we maybe did and move along. Yes?"
Twilight didnˋt await the answer of the other creatures gathered before her.
"Unfortunately, I have to tell you that if you are not willing, I have no other choice left. I cannot put the welfare of three individuals above the overall welfare of my subjects and the safety of other kingdoms.” Twilight raised her hoof in the air to stall any comment, the three could argue. ”However, I´m willing to offer you one last chance for better treatment. Surrender now, and we will find a solution to your punishment that is appropriate but not heartless."
Tirek laughed. "Ha, yeah right. Guess that's what you're thinking we would do. As soon as we surrender, you break and disregard your promise, we'll be arrested and then Luna and Celestia will throw away the key to our cells for good. The three of us will never surrender to you or anyone else, we'd rather die."
I have a flawless record of keeping my promises, no matter how big or small, and a good reputation for being honest, faithful, and trustworthy”, Twilight voiced smirking.
Out of the corner of her eye Twilight saw Cozy re-emerging from her cover behind Chrysalis and stand beside the Queen, her hoof was raised. She didn't seem to like Tirek's statement very much. A new shiver went down her spine, as Twilight looked in her direction.
Ah little Cozy, now things are gonna get interesting. How will you decide? You know what’s at stake and what I could do to and for you. You know my reputation, have faith in it.
Twilight’s impression was unreadable as she gazed above the scene in front of her.
"Eh, do I have an own say in that too? I for one would like to stay alive."
"YOU! Shut your stupid mouth, or I'll see to it myself."
"Tirek!!" The centaur's mouth, was forcefully slammed shut in the gleam of rainbow-colored magic and held close without mercy before he could say anything else.
"I will NOT, under any given circumstances, allow a foal to be threatened and oppressed in my kingdom by word or force. Cease immediately or I will have no choice but to ensure it myself."
Twilight's voice was sharp and had a slight note of threatening to it. She knew now that it was simply not possible to talk sensibly with this specific centaur. Nor would he surrender to her, she knew that as well. Yet Tirek was far from being stupid. She was a serious threat to him and by now it must have been clear to him as well, that his earlier plan of subduing the kingdom would no longer have success.
“Cozy Glow!“
At the mere sound of her name, the young mare jumped as she looked up fearfully at the alicorn. Her fear faded somewhat as she looked into the princess' kind and empathetic face and it vanished in full as she almost lost herself in her caring eyes. Her hopes were still there, Twilight hadn´t lost her faith in Cozy and knew that she wasn´t fully willing. As it seemed the alicorn mare had something in mind for her – something good.
"Cozy, I can tell you never really wanted to have something like today happening. I can help you if that's what you want. The only thing you have to do is surrender to the guards and step up here. I promise by what my name is worth, nothing bad will happen to you. My promise as a princess of Equestria is, I will protect you from harm as long as you are honest and remain peaceable."
Resting her right front hoof on her chest, in the place where her heart was, Twilight nodded her head slightly in Cozy's direction. With a brief flash of her horn, a purple magic circle began to form two feet in front of Cozy, about the same diameter as her own height. The circle glowed with a calm and steady force, that vanished every worry the young mare still had in her being. Steadying her hoof, Twilight pointed at the circle, and Cozy understood what Twilight was offering her. She was interrupted before she could make up her mind.
"You-" "QUIET!", Twilight's very voice was enough to interrupt Chrysalis’s comment ever before she could voice it. "I was asking her, not you. You Chrysalis, aren't one bit better than Tirek. We'll deal with that in a minute." Focusing her gaze back on the young pegacorn, she awaited her response.
Cozy still had worries. "W-what will happen if I decide to surrender?" Cozy's voice was so low and meek that Twilight's friends, who had been silently observing the whole situation from behind the alicorn on the ground, had to perk up their ears to even vaguely hear her. Twilight, on the other hoof, seemed to have no trouble hearing the young child.
In a calm voice, Twilight replied Cozy. "Of course, you will be arrested for the time being, after all, you are one of the three who directly attacked Luna, Celestia, and myself, and caused severe damage to Canterlot and its castle. Besides, the first one is even high treason towards the royal house - three times, to be precise, and although there is no final punishment on it for minors. So, it remains still the gravest of all crimes with punishment most wouldn’t even dare to sentence onto others."
Twilight initiated a brief pause for Cozy to let the knowledge sink in. "Fortunately, however, I am in a suitable position to save you from that fate. I´m kind of already the leader of this kingdom, even without documents saying so, and even then I remain one of the four royal princesses governing Equestria. That said, I promise you no more than I can deliver." Twilight tilted her head slightly to the side. "So, what will your answer be?"
Just for a tiny moment, a faint insecurity could be seen in Cozy's gesture, moments before she looked back up at the alicorn overhead in the air, directly into Twilight's violet eyes. The kindness and reassurance radiating from the mare's eyes made her decision that much easier.
Lowering her head and her whole body reverently, she spoke. "Princess Twilight Amicitia Aurora Sparkle I Cozy Glow surrender myself to you and Equestria. I never intended for anyone to be seriously hurt by my actions. There were reasons, but in hindsight, they are beyond ridiculous." Cozy stayed where she was and proceeded to bow where she was.
Hearing the alicorn's calm and friendly voice above her, Cozy glanced up and raised to stand.
"Rise! I'm sure we'll find a solution to your problem little one. I will help you and together we can overcome every hardship there might be. I for my part will not stop until we are both happy and you can walk through Equestria with confidence and pride, that you are now a better mare than before. As I believe, I know you well enough to be able to tell that you Cozy, believe as well you could overcome any problem if you had the right help. As the princess of friendship, it's my prime obligation to make sure that everyone has a happy and enjoyable life and well, me and my friends have a generally pretty decent reputation for fixing bad guys", Twilight chuckled as she held one of her front hoofs right in front of her muzzle to cover up the laugh. After all, such a thing was not proper for a princess to do in public, even if no one would probably dare to blame her today.
"If you are still willing, stand here on this rune circle, please. You will be enclosed in a forcefield, brought back to your original self, and teleported to safety as well. I think you can understand why I have to do this."
Nodding, Cozy Glow trotted the short distance to the magical sigil on the ground in front of her. She knew she would be arrested at first, that was only logical and she had also nothing to argue against it. Reaching the center of the rune, she dropped to her haunches and winced slightly as the magic around her sprang into action with a gentle, low-toned hum. Nothing will happen, nothing will happen, that was the thing going through her mind. She didn’t feel any fear, but couldn’t strip the thought out of her mind.
As the magic circle became steadily more filled with Twilight’s power, she felt the evil Goat's magic, all-encompassing her body and always trying to corrupt her thoughts, begin to be driven out of her system. Back when the other two villains and she yesterday morning had used Grogar's bell to empower themselves, the power given to them was overwhelming, but also cruel, unforgiving, and corruptive. Now feeling Twilight's alicorn magic beginning to flow and spread in her body, driving the dark power outward, she got a new sense of what was truly powerful and pure magic.
Cozy felt free and stronger than she had ever felt in her life, despite knowing that none of the alicorn's magic was permanently staying in her body she welcomed it nonetheless with free hooves and mind.
As Twilight's magic proceeded to stream up through her body like an impassable barrier from below, driving Grogar's magic ahead, Cozy´s tense posture relaxed. The magic coursed relentlessly from the sigil through her hooves and into her body, steadily increasing the pressure on her horn.
Soon a small dark magic sphere with red veins running across the surface and fizzling angrily started to form at the tip of her horn, growing by the second. Before long, Twilight’s magic slid over her wings, returning them from the pumped-up status of large alicorn wings to her normal pegasus, the way she was born with them. And to be honest, she was incredibly glad it did. Grogar's magic might have given her increased wingspan and feather density like it was common for any alicorn. The extra needed strength, endurance, and skill such huge appendages required however the magic didn´t accompany and the difficulty she had flying with them truly had been agonizing. Of course, she hadn´t shown it in front of Chrysalis and Tirek, that would have been showing weakness and not helpful in her case of assuring the two others that she was as strong as them.
Twilight's inscribed magical power, rising from the runic circle, increasing at least twice in force, and the pressure on Grogar's magic many times over, jolted Cozy out of her thoughts. Despite the higher pressure, the feeling was not crushing but liberating. Cozy waited breathlessly for a few more seconds until the dark magic began to sputter from her proto-horn, adding to the ball of ominously black, billowing magic that had accumulated to about half the size of a hoofball. The outline of her magic-granted horn began to grow vaguer and vaguer, finally fading from existence in golden sparks beginning from the tip. Erasing the last detail of Grogar´s magic from her body and finally freeing the young pegamare in the process out of the embrace.
The instant the last shred of corrupt magic left her body, a fuzzy warm feeling began to swell in Cozy’s chest and proceeded to linger through her whole body. The alicorn magic continued to flood her body while seemingly eliminating every minor problem she had been experiencing until now. Whether it had been her fatigue, her slight headache, or her aching muscles, after only a few short moments, she no longer felt any of it. It was no travesty that many said alicorn magic was sacred, supernatural, or divine. For Cozy, all of it was correct, she had never felt more at ease and refreshed than she was right at that moment.
Cozy´s muzzle crossed a wide smile, but hence she could think about it more, she already felt the characteristic sensation of magic wrapping around her whole body and a teleportation spell beginning to charge up beneath her hooves. A second later, her vision blurred briefly and she saw only white, as she was teleported, sparks appearing in her vision and a slight nausea settling in her stomach, due to having never been warped much in her life. The alicorn’s magic in her system, however, made a short process of Cozy’s discomfort, and her nausea was faster gone, than she could blink the sparks out of her vision. As her eyes finally focused, Cozy directed her gaze forward.
She was now no longer seated on the rune circle in the meadow near Chrysalis and Tirek, but rather behind and below Twilight on the ground. Surrounded by a separate force field, right on the edge of the larger force field that still protected the remaining six friends of the alicorn. Her field as well sprouted some of the characteristic strengthening enchantments, she had seen on the much larger one. The bigger one still would hold like 50 Times plus more than hers, but even the smaller one she was seated in seemed to be quite unbreakable.
A simple but significant fact that made her hopes soar to new heights. Nothing the other two villains had to offer would be coming close to hurting her inside here or beginning to damage the force field. Besides the obvious fact, the alicorn princess above her in the air would see to it, that their attacks wouldn´t even come as far as to impact the force field in the first place.
Relaxed, she let both her wings, drawn close to her sides with tension until now, fall to the ground next to her and let go of a breath she didn´t know was holding. Finally able to relax.
Looking over at the six friends, she was greeted by five friendly and sympathetic grinning mares, as well as a young drake giving her a thumbs up.
"Hey Cozy!”
Cozy turned to the kind voice of Fluttershy, the butter-yellow pegasus grinning above both ears and her posture was relatively firm. More than Cozy had thought the shy mare would be capable of, she was – well known for being nervous and litteraly named after a synonym.
Her friendship with the others and especially Twilight in the last years had improved her self-confidence. Even just interacting with the others had aided the yellow pegasus to become more assertive. Plus, Twilight was such a skilled leader that even her very presence and friendship with the others strengthened them and empowered them to become greater. The lavender alicorn was able to contribute and help her friends, even without having to actively talk to them, they believed in their friend and leader well enough to uphold confidentiality at all times, Cozy had come to realize over the past few years.
“Cozy, there is no need to worry, Twilight got this.”
“Yeah, don't worry Twi is super-duper mega awesome at healing bad guys. She'll have you back on all four hooves in zero coma nothing." For Cozy's taste, the pink earth pony mare Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down on the spot as she said all this in the space of a breath, was a bit too hyperactive. Nonetheless, she smiled back as well and proceeded to look back at the rest of the Events unfolding.
Twilight had briefly glanced over her shoulder down at Cozy, but seeing that the young pegasus was safe, she turned back to the other two aggressors, whom she had so far kept quiet with a sound-absorbing spell.
With a calm rainbow-colored glow of her horn, she dropped the spell but subsequently raised her hoof into the air. With the force that proceeded to emanate from it each second, she prevented either of them from making a sound.
As she began to speak, her entire body slowly glowed brighter and brighter in a white glow, the sheer power of which could be felt even through the force fields. Her space-warping effects likewise became increasingly apparent near the alicorn.
"No, you two will listen to me VERY carefully for once. Because of you, I had almost lost my faith in myself and you almost succeeded in convincing me that Equestria is inevitably broken. But now I have truly understood ONE thing. Equestria is stronger than that, MUCH stronger. The community and solidarity of our kingdom can't be crushed just like that by a hoof full of bad guys like you."
Twilight turned back and roamed her hoof over the army gathered behind her. Now seated once more on the ground and watching with astonishment the young alicorn, that had batted no eye or sweat putting the three attackers in their place.
"We've made many alliances with other kingdoms on Equus over the past few Years. There is no need for them to be all here now, but nevertheless they are. So, as you can see, even you couldn't break that cohesion in the slightest. Neither was the willingness of the ponies to fight for their kingdom muted, even after they saw your deeds towards me. No, this only welded them together even more tightly and against a rebellion of millions of battle-ready ponies, even you wouldn't stand a chance."
By now, a white glow also had settled around the bodies of Twilight's friends on the ground, which shortly thereafter began lifting them upwards into the air, just barely five feet below their alicorn friend. The force field disintegrated into familiar golden sparks as the last mare passed through it.
"The elements of harmony were never the gems. They were only physical representatives of each aspect, objects with which one could identify. What the elements truly are, however, is what they stand for. Honesty, loyalty, joy, generosity, kindness, and lastly myself – friendship, as magic is friendship and the other five aspects are also things one defines as the key elements of a trustworthy friendly bond.”
“They are not simply defined by gemstones. No, it is the faith and strength that each of us finds within, doing our best for the land every single day. Except some do that more than others and are thus known as the current bearers of the elements." The lavender alicorn's gaze solidified and her voice was a good deal lower when she spoke next.
"I will see to it that this knowledge is passed on to the next generations when the time comes. I will carry my duty as the everlasting element of magic with both pride and honor, leading; protecting; and raising every generation with the same unbound burning will as the last. That's my solemn oath to my ponies in Equestria and the rest of Equus. For I do not just represent magic, I AM MAGIC."
In saying that last sentence, Twilight spread both her front hooves and wings wide to her sides. Triggering a tremendous shockwave of magic in all possible colors in the process. That spread out from the sides of her body more than 200 meters wide and shock the very foundation of reality itself. Creating some small, pure white dimensional cracks in the sky in the process, that were hastily closed by Twilight with a beam of rainbow magic. Her cheeks were slightly red and the mare was mildly embarrassed by her little slip. “Oops,” one might have heard the lavender alicorn say softly if they had listened closely. However, every individual was far too enchanted by the countless colorful lights that now streaked across the sky further and further or were otherwise distracted, to notice. The colors stretched out for several kilometers already as they watched breathlessly.
So powerful was the wave that both Tirek and Chrysalis, as well as most of the entire army, were pushed back several meters, even though the gathered allies, protected by Twilight's magic, suffered no direct harm. The two attackers however were thrown to the ground and it took some seconds for them to get back to their hooves.
While some of the smaller species of Equus were hit harder than the bigger ones and most of them stumbled to the ground, they fared still way better than the two attackers did. Especially those who hadn´t had much knowledge and experience with an alicorn and its powers directly were highly surprised and still proceeded to watch the lights as the others helped their allies.
Most knew that an alicorn was powerful, but never expected that they would be due for something like today in any regard.
Upon picking themselves up and gathering back together, the assembled population of Equus turned their eyes back to Twilight. There they observed that by now, in addition to the alicorn's closest friends, the former Pillars of Equestria and the latest peacekeeping force of various creatures had also been enveloped in the same white glow and lifted off the ground into the air to Twilight. One left and the other right from the six close friends of Twilight.
Their surprise at what would happen next was short-lived as a good few seconds later, there was a strong flickering of magic to see in the air and all three groups suspended in the air simultaneously looked up at the young princess.
All their bodies shone ever more brightly. Flashes of magic passed through the sky and lightning cracked in the air without striking something specific, but at the same time seemed to emanate from the alicorn of magic without hurting her in the slightest. By all means, however, the event was not terrifying, but astounding and impressive as the gathered creatures could do nothing except watch with their breaths held.
Three brightly rainbow-colored beams burst upward moments later from the assembled position of each of the three groups, gathering directly inside Twilight's back.
The princess herself seemed to practically absorb the magic, while the reality around the alicorn continued to shake and sway more violently. Whatever new powers the alicorn now possessed, reality didn’t seem to like them very much. Or the alicorn mare was just too powerful for reality to handle so her special powers had a visible effect on the concept itself as she used them. The dim white aura that surrounded the alicorn since she had woken up, slowly began to turn the same colors as the energy that was flowing into her.
For a short moment, it looked like the alicorn was about to attack, as Twilight's horn lit up in an incredibly bright arc with many flashes, sparks, and runs circles its entire length. About half of the gathered allies had to briefly look away as the light was just too bright for them to look at. Two seconds passed and most of the magic subsided - at least for now.
Twilight's voice was loud and thunderous as she spoke next. The alicorn used once more her royal Canterlot voice, a special voice that any alicorn could call upon to make itself heard or to simply override the volume of large groups of ponies and other creatures.
With each word she emphasized, a new wave of rainbow-colored magic, however, this time smaller but still very powerful, broke from either of her sides in response. Whether and if so, which affect this magic of Twilight had, probably no one except the alicorn itself knew, but looking impressive it did in any case.
"I will ask one LAST time. Are you both seriously ABSOLUTE sure that you DON’T want to surrender? NO ONE but ME would have given you another chance for such long. YOU! HAVE! LOST! Accept it.”
Twilight took a deep breath, something she hadn't done in half an hour she realized. Fixing her gaze, eyes narrowed even more now, back upon the two of them, but especially Tirek and what he would do. The centaur was by far the harder case of both villains.
“Surrender now, there is nothing left for you to gain. Give up and we will find a peaceful solution. As I did with Cozy I also voice to you my promise that I will do my best to ensure that you get an appropriate, but still as mild as possible punishment possible. I´m no monster after all and neither are my fellow princesses. To be hateful or vindictive is not inherent to an alicornˋs nature, we are most likely the complete contrary. Something our species has been honored for by others for generations and while you may see it that way, it is not a sign of subservience or failing. Being kind and forgiving is not weakness, but rather a fortitude and great leadership.”
“However, with your aggressive attitude towards Equestria, me, or the other princesses, the sentence had to be a lot harsher than Cozy’s - even I can't do anything about that.”
Twilight subsequently scratched her chin with a lavender hoof and her gaze darted skywards in thought.
“Technically I could. I´m an equestrian princess and soon sole ruler of this kingdom, but that would be heavy abuse of my powers and certainly meet with ill will from my dear ponies in your particular case."
Twilight hadn´t had to wait long for a response, as almost immediately she received her answer from Tirek. Chrysalis herself stayed silent and agreed with Tirek without words, her gaze only a little uncertain, but still, her statement was pretty clear.
"We will never submit to you or anyone else for that matter, I would rather die before I do. By no means you are capable of becoming anyone's leader, you are a disappointment to Equestria, and your weak behavior and inability to fight only show how low the ponies have sunk.” Tirek raised both his hands high into the sky.
“Not until this kingdom is under my merciless rule will I be happy bringing Equestria back to a kingdom that is feared and respected above all means. You should join us, with our combined might, anyone who opposes the realm will be utterly eliminated." Clenching his fists as he said that, Tirek looked up aggressively at the alicorn princess. His eyes bore no mercy for what he had in mind and Twilight knew he meant what he said with every fiber of his being. Nevertheless, she could nothing other than give a sly smile to the centaur. Sweet, he thinks he has something to demand or oppose me with. I feel almost bad for him – almost!
"Hmm, I guess that's your independent opinion then. I'm sure plenty of the inhabitants of Equestria and the allied kingdoms beyond would see my leadership qualities in a different light than you. After all, if I hadn't at least good capabilities, I'd have had a hard time becoming the crown princess and soon-to-be ruler of Equestria, wouldn´t you agree?"
Shrugging her shoulders and grinning mischievously, Twilight´s statement was echoed by hundreds of individual cheers of consent through the ranks. It was clear to them Twilight had the situation fully under her control and today above all means the young alicorn had shown she not only cared about her subjects but also her allies. A very noble gesture in such a dire situation, where her kingdom had been at the edge of doom just less than an hour ago. Still, they remained battle-ready to spring into action immediately if the young lavender alicorn needed help. Even if the raw unfocused power the lavender princess emitted alone was likely greater than their combined forces anyway.
"If that´s your finale answer then I'm sorry to say, there is nothing more I can do for you. You have made up your minds."
Twilight crossed both forelocks in front of her chest while she glared down at the changeling queen and the centaur with a hard scowl.
"I Princess Twilight Amicitia Aurora Sparkle the First; Goddess of Magic, Stars, Harmony/Peace and Friendship; Crown Princess and next ruler of the divine kingdom of Equestria hereby convict you guilty of the following charges.”
"Inflicting several millions of bits’ worth of damage through Equestria, destroying about a third of the capitol Canterlot and half of the royal castle Canterlot. Breaking Law §257 - threatening the lives of innocent people and/or residents of Equestria. Disregarding the law §365, serious assault and endangering allies of the Crown in more than a dozen cases. Further violation of Law §456 - threatening the safety of other allied kingdoms with Equestria. Breach of Law §555, the threat of violence against minors and/or mentally impaired creatures followed by the final breach of Law §777 by far the worst of all - attempted regicide.”
Twilight facepalmed and groaned, shaking her head in disappointment. "Seriously! Did anyone of you even remotely think about what they were doing and the resulting consequences, before acting? Doesn´t seem like it to me. The last law is the only one of all 65.536 laws or paragraphs in Equestria still punishable by death. By law §1,337 and paragraph 42,069, I would have to sentence you to immediate death without consultation, but I neither will do that nor do I agree with it to be an efficient punishment for any crimes and it shouldn’t even be there in the first place. I will see to that later, personally.”
Twilight stopped for a brief pause. “Do you have anything else to say in your defense? You see, this is your last chance to improve your chances and explain your motives to me, so I might have something to work with." Oh, boy, I said I won’t decide to unleash the punishment I technically could and some would, but Tirek will see that just as another weakness. Urrrgh, maybe Chrysalis will choose otherwise.
"We got no regrets, especially to you" Tirek immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, both for himself and Chrysalis. The latter, in turn, did not outright contradict the centaur, but still uttered a shocked comment.
"Whaaaaat? But I don't want to die! Please, your highness, there has to be a different and better way!" Chrysalis flailed her front hooves wildly in the air and looked up at the literally brilliant gleaming alicorn in the air.
Tirek, as expected, furiously turned to the female changeling, his eyes almost flaming. "Hey, don't you dare beg that puny pony princess up there for mercy. You and I are better than that."
However, what the centaur didn't seem to have thought was for Chrysalis to fly up to his chest and thrust one of her hooves vigorously into his chest while looking him in the eye with a fierce look. She too had enough of his angry shouts.
"Oh, shut up, Tirek, whenever it comes to my life, I still like to make my decisions buddy. I don't give a damn what happens to you for that matter - it's your decision."
A sharp clearing of a throat from behind the two of them made them look back to the sky. Twilight was still floating in the air without even bothering to use her wings, surrounded by her friends, allies, and the bizarre magic.
"Do I still have your attention, or what? It's rude to ignore me, you know after I made you such a friendly offer that you so plainly refused. Chrysalis, while it’s nice to hear you’re not just repeating Tirek’s words, but have still your mind. Your life or rather a punishment however, is in my hooves entirely. Either way, be glad that an alicorn is generally so pliable. As said, I will not use the laws I had every right to, yet I must inflict an otherwise harsh punishment as a substitute. A princess of Equestria may be above the laws we rule and is rendered generally not liable to imprisonment for any crime, but even we cannot disobey every rule. A few basic ones, even we must follow to ensure the safety of our subjects and allies. That is why, unfortunately, I will have to do this."
Twilight's expression had drastically shifted in the last few seconds, first to a thoughtful, then a partially pitying one and lastly, her features relaxed completely almost immediately afterward as her body began to glow with renewed vigor.
The three magical rainbows that had bound each of the friends' groups to the alicorn over the entire time of the conversation had lingered in a kind of dormant state, but now began flowing in slow waves to the alicorn. Glowing ever more vibrantly in the seven characteristic colors of the rainbow. Even nearly to the point of colorfulness that it seemed unrealistic. The raw power that saturated the very air, despite its sheer strength, was reassuring to all who witnessed.
Alicorn magic truly was a particular and pure might, not just held in high esteems and everyone present knew why the legend of the ancient alicorns was so widespread and known as it was.
No matter how great the legends about alicorns are. Yet by far, the most incredible sight emanated from the lavender alicorn hovering in the center of it all. Forceful and seemingly unbothered by all that was happening around her. Princess Twilight Amicitia Aurora Sparkle herself was a brilliant star of light and color, that absorb all the magic emitting from the three groups of friends into her body. Her horn, wings, eyes, coat, and hair sparkled just as bright and colorful as they had been just a few minutes before.
A few seconds passed in silence, with no one daring to say a word to break the silence. Nothing else to be heard but an ever-increasing hum of accumulating magic. As the horn of the alicorn of magic flashed much brighter once more, in all imaginary colors. A golden/rainbow glow traveling up Twilight’s body from the tips of her hooves to the very top of her long, curved horn. Seemingly Twilight had collected all of her absorbed magic into her horn as a beam of harmonious energies about five inches wide erupted upward from Twilight's horn. The alicorn mare herself, meanwhile, had placed her right front hoof over her chest the location of her heart. Her snout was lifted to the sky and a broad smile crossed her entire muzzle.
Twilight´s friends could feel an unbelievably strong and calm force coursing through her veins, probably the unique magic of their magical skilled alicorn friend herself. So tranquil and yet so powerful at the same time, that it left them speechless. While none of them exactly knew where this energy was coming from, each of them suspected that it had something to do with Twilight and her seemingly recently acquired capabilities.
The beam of rainbow magic proceeded to rise higher and higher into the sky and soon passed through the gray clouds still hanging in the sky. As the beam passed through them, the clouds were swept from the sky as if by a gigantic invisible hoof and vanished into thin air as if they had never been there in the first place. Though, everyone watching the event knew that it was the merit of the alicorn above them in the sky.
Two breathless seconds later, the rise of magic slowed and the world was bathed in a blanket of calm and confidence. Putting even the previous spectacle of light show Twilight created earlier to shame. As the tendrils of magic, like horizon lights, extended beyond even the curvature of Equus and likely wrapped around the entire planet.
Eventually, the beam of magic began to fall back to the ground - directly upon the centaur and the changeling queen. At first slowly but increasingly faster. Whether the two stayed in place due to fear of Twilight or because of some force of the alicorn´s magic binding them to the ground no one knew - but likely a combination of both.
As the magic struck both villains simultaneously, in the semitransparent glow of the multicolored beam one could see, magic freely being pulled from the centaur and Tirek's size rapidly diminishing as did Chrysalis. The physical appearance of the changeling also reverted back to its original state. Even though she did not shrink nearly as much as the centaur did.
The magic beam continued for a few more seconds before it slowly became thinner and finally disappeared completely from the sky.
Meanwhile, each of the three pony/creature groups had descended back to the ground and Twilight's hooves also made contact with the ground some seconds thereafter as the magical flow that had surrounded her until now diminished noticeably. It didn’t fade completely however and an aura of great magic proceed to surround the lavender alicorn no matter if she actively used her magic or not. Upon touching the ground with her hooves, the entire area shock with a light rumble, but there were no cracks in the ground or anything close to that this time. Twilight seemed to slowly get flawless control over her magic if she turned it up to eleven. Despite all craziness of the situation, a slight, almost invisible glow remained on Twilight’s entire lavender coat, even if the ambient bending effects vanished as the world bends one last time around Twilight.
Tirek almost immediately grabbed his shoulders with both his hands and began to shiver, whether from cold or fear for the things the alicorn might do to him was not apparent. At the same time, Chrysalis was shaking her head in bewilderment, trying to sort out her thoughts. As her vision had cleared enough for her to finally see, she took two fearful steps back from the gathered creatures, but mostly the young alicorn princess herself. Without any problems, Twilight had with her rainbow blast just taken away any strength they had received from Grogar's magic and that easiness was a terrifying thing to know.
The extracted magic of Grogar itself, was hovering in the air three meters in front of the two of them, now an around six inches sized yellow/black ball of aggressively swirling magic, that sparked every second with tiny red lightning bolts. It however rapidly moved away from them and towards the lavender alicorn before either of them could even begin to reach for it.
Without batting an eye, Twilight kept watching in the direction of the two former villains. And also remained motionless as Grogar's magic rose to her horn and began to flow into it with a series of waves that ran down her long accessory. Once the magic was done flowing into the horn of the alicorn, Twilight’s appendage flashed shortly with her now familiar white/rainbow magic. The alicorn mare looked up to her horn briefly and she looked down to set up a bright and cheeky smile.
"Ah, perfect! No one will ever be able to do harm with that magic again!", Twilight cheered delightedly as she looked over at both of them. Her gaze got rigid and cold as ice, as soon as her gaze focused on the two. Just taking their magic away and showing how powerful she truly was, would sadly never succeed in getting sense into them. As hard as she wished it would.
“You-“ Was all she said, but fell silent and closed her muzzle. She would wait until either Chrysalis or Tirek worded something in their defense - or at least anything other than a curse. At this point, she didn’t care, just not another insult.
Chrysalis maw hung agape. While she had Grogar's magic at her disposal until recently, she had been able to feel to her core, how corrupt and warped Grogar’s magic had truly been. Never had she met the goat herself, she wasn't that old, but it was known from tales and stories that he was arguably the cruelest and heartless creature that had ever set foot on Equus. Slaying thousands and tainting the land for many years even after his death. At least until the alicorns had risen and pushed back the dark forces, slowly purifying Equestria as it had been before. His magic signature had exemplified that same fact very well as well – corruptive and cruel with every ounce of force it had.
It had consumed a lot of her concentration to keep the magic under control after receiving it and not be overwhelmed by his corruption. Every single second of magical reinforcement had been plagued by a dark and ominous-sounding voice that had been whispering in the back of her mind all along to surrender and stop fighting it. Every single sentence accompanied by the promise of endless power and dominance over others.
Twilight, however, showed not a single indication that absorbing the magic had impressed her in any way. It was as if the magic could have no impact on the alicorn - apart from the fact that she probably had gained new abilities from unifying Grogar´s bell magic with her own. At least that was how the basic concept of magic worked that Chrysalis knew and believed to be true. She was sure it was the case, it felt like it, even if she had no idea what kind of powers that could be. Twilight´s magic remained intimidating, but also had now an underlay of new strength and power, Chrysalis had felt just until some minutes ago herself.
By all means visible, the young lavender alicorn princess was resistant to the corrupting effects, though Chrysalis couldn't recall ever having heard of an alicorn being immune to such a thing. Yet her entire image of an alicorn had been shattered several times today anyway, so she didn't question it. Nope, such an opponent was impossible to combat, Chrysalis knew she had bucked up hard. Staying silent seemed to be the best idea, so she did.
While the changeling queen had been lost in her thoughts, Tirek had used his hands to right himself once again back to his feet. However, his previously upfront tongue was speechless as well. He likewise just stared over at the alicorn and studied the princess' movements. Twilight returned his gaze without blinking, this silent conversation continued for about a minute, until the alicorn energized her horn in a bright white glow, still surrounded by a rainbow-colored corona, which seemed to be her new magic color.
Chrysalis was rudely jolted out of her thoughts when she felt a cold sensation creeping along her leg. As the former queen looked down, she witnessed her right hind hoof slowly changing at its base, no longer it’s characteristic hard, black chitin, but a lighter shade of white - pale as granite.
Moments later, she lost all feeling in the end of her limb as the discoloration slowly crept up her hind hoof and also had begun at the other one. Chrysalis suddenly realized that she had seen something like that before, it really was stone - Twilight was working a petrification spell on her body. Panicked, Chrysalis attempted to use several counter-spells and every other magic she could think of, but her horn only sparked and fizzled out every time she tried.
Her magic was unable to overcome Twilight’s even in the slightest and as she thought about it, the only time she had been able to counter alicorn magic had been with Celestia at the Canterlot wedding of princess Cadance and the lavender alicorn’s brother Shining Armor. And even that had been nothing more than a simple trick as the white alicorn had had a serve alicorn cold just some days before. The only illness an alicorn could get once in their life and that almost completely rendered their magic useless. More than a simple telekinetic spell or light teleportation was out of the frame for about one week.
So, Chrysalis had been incredibly lucky Celestia was so weakened, Luna too occupied with taking over Celestia’s duties, Cadance incredibly stressed and therefore careless, and unicorn Twilight too insecure to try fighting her directly in combat. Even if her massive love boost would have made the battle an intense one, she wasn’t sure she would have won. After all, even before her ascension, Twilight had been the unicorn with the strongest magic and most incredible abilities in the past thousand years.
As the transformation progressed up her legs, it squeezed her flesh from all sides and it felt like a stocking being pulled up her leg that was far too tight as soft flesh was turned to hard stone.
A glance at Tirek revealed that he was not faring any better than her. Even worse, the stone had already moved over his hips and was now heading up his lower body. She quickly turned her head back to the alicorn and her friends, one of the last movements she could make, a hiss on her face. For what Twilight did, she intended to throw as many insults as she could at the small assembled group of ponies in her LAST moments of being able to voice anything. But the look that was given her way by the troop, especially by the young alicorn made her fall silent. There was true undeniable pity in Twilight's eyes, her head lowered a third. Chrysalis instantly understood that it was very hard for the alicorn mare to carry out her petrification punishment, but she saw no other option left for them to contain Tirek and her.
With the last three seconds she had left, Chrysalis lowered her head in reverence to Twilight and flashed a small smile to raise her spirit at least somewhat. She had understood what the alicorn was doing and in a way, she could comprehend it. Even if her inner anger towards the mares still prevented her from truly forgiving them just now. But as she would suggest right, both Tirek and she would have more than enough time to overthink and see their wrongs.
Tirek himself spoke surprisingly nothing, taken far too aback by what happened. The last voice he heard, however, right before his body completely turned to solid stone, was Twilight's. The alicorn mare had laid her hoof over her chest and slightly turned her gaze down.
"With the power, I possess as a princess of Equestria, I condemn you. I am truly sorry, just so you know. You will not be permitted to leave your prison for the next 1,000 years. After that, we will meet again when I make another attempt to converse with the two of you. By then, I hope you will have realized the error of your ways."
There was a dull thud as the statue hit the ground and once the dust had settled, it was clear that Tirek and Chrysalis had been turned into white, markless granite. In the eyes of many, even that was a punishment too severe, but they wouldn’t contradict the lavender alicorn princess's decision. After all, it was her choice to make alone and not theirs.
The deed done, Twilight seated on the ground and looked at the statue of the two villains in front of her. The two same villains she had just sentenced to a one thousand year imprisonment in stone. Her mind reeled at incomparable speeds and a lone tear rolled down her chin.
No matter how much they deserved punishment, she couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for them. It was not an easy decision to make for her to convict someone, less so for an alicorn with it´s inherit peaceful nature. But sadly, that was the job she had to do as a princess and would have to continue doing as a ruler for probably many instances. Some things were hard, but she knew she had many allies to help her through these mentally difficult times – her six close friends for starters. The same that after the danger had been averted slowly trotted over to her. Probably to console their alicorn leader. That fact alone lifted Twilight’s spirit a great deal and she proceeded to sit there in thought.
Over the years, she had learned, that panic or fried were normal things everyone had to cope with, even a born leader and alicorn princess like her, but as long as you didn´t let them get the better of you it was totally fine. Panic and fried were both feelings time would cure, a thing she had more than enough as an alicorn.
Twilight proceeded seated onto the ground for several minutes, lost in her thoughts. Nothing occupying her mind except the thought if what she had done was right…
*End of Chapter Two*
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... No. You did not. That's a lie. Tirek never got a second chance. Cozy was thrown in Tartarus where none of you cared. Chrysalis got a second chance, but that wasn't you. You KILLED Sombra.
See above. She got Tartarus.
This story... is just all over the place. It says Twilight is a merciful being and doesn't want to punish them too harshly, but then she shows herself to be petty and smug in her thoughts. She gets shot with magic, but then she's suddenly a god and all tension goes out the window. Heck, she gives Tirek and Chrysalis the SAME PUNISHMENT, even though one of them didn't even get the CHANCE to defend herself after Twilight said they could defend themselves. So that's another lie right there.
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The Story is tagged "Alternate Universe" for a Reason. Twilight had many talks with all three of them and Sombra isnˋt a pony in my opinion. Heˋs a collection of dark energy's thrilled to submit everything.
And while you might have a point, Iˋm not a person of logic. (If you like logic, you wonˋt find much in my Storys, sry) So yes Twilight gets shot, awakens her true powers and is now a god.
Yep Cozy got to Tartarus, but it wasnˋt Twilightˋs doing and I never said she agreed with it. But with Luna and Tia as the regents at the time she couldnˋt demand her to be released from Tartarus. Just ask both of them if they would. One of Twìs first actions would probably have been releasing Cozy from their. (Obviously she doesnˋt has to anymore).
Yes I see alicorns as merciful beings that have quiet infinite power but want nothing more than peace.
Which of the both doesnˋt get a chance? Tirek? If yes, he doesnˋt want too, he sees all heˋs done as justice.
11344851
I added some text here. That will likely not solve your problem you mentioned, but its better at least
So....is Twilight a god now? Might as well be, being called a "princess" now seems like an understatement by 1,000,000,000%.
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Yes, Twilight unlocked her full potential as an alicorn and became a true immortal goddess. I know what you mean with understatement, but thats precisely WHY I keep it that way in my stories. While alicorn's are immensivly powerful deities they are also very kind, level-headed and harmonic. Never forcing anyone to acknowledge them as a goddess if they dont do so by their free will.
I think you will do it anyway but I advise you to read the rest of my story. Its more fun to come. I personally liked it very much while writing. Have reread it myself two times now.