Ascension

Keep... moving!

Charred Corinthian Columns stood tall to the ceiling, a violet unicorn limps across the ceramic tile floor. Dry panting echoed off the walls, its appearance cracked and washed in color. The stained glass windows in the throne room were fragmented beyond recognition, and revealed a rusty sky;

Twilight could only assume through her swimming mind that the atmosphere was consistently getting warmer, slowly killing the planet should it continue to increase.

Just... keep moving!

Tendrils of pain licked her lower body of what was akin to cold coals searing her abdomen with each trudging step. She had to wipe sweat from her brow multiple times during her agonizingly slow canter, further accentuating her physical exertion. There were cuts and scrapes all over her body. Her right forehoof especially was weak and pressuring it with weight was agonizing to maintain.

There's no time to lose. Just. Keep. Moving!

Adrenaline kept her moving forward. The unrelenting drive to see her former mentor and to find out what happened protected her mental well-being. Combined with the desperation of the situation, Twilight had one intense motivator to keep going.

The throne room was noticeably vacant. No Guards, no Servants, no Princesses. Her heart painfully throbbed, hot coals seared the bottom of her lungs.

Nopony but a battered, fledgling Unicorn.

She didn’t know what to make out of this. Trying to think logically in a situation such as this would only achieve insane delusions, nausea wracking her stomach. It was impossible to materialize a rational hypothesis to this madness.

She trudged across the damaged hallways, stopping just short of the grand staircases that lead to the single throne of Celestia. Just behind that was the doorway leading towards Celestia's bed chambers. There were black splotches of explosive residue painting the central handles of the door, permanently damaging the door with burns. Celestia seemed to have relinquished any and all aspects of restraint and control with her magical abilities.

Twilight wasn’t sure she should still be calling her Celestia at this point. Whatever was happening to Equestria, this was something that her mentor would never allow to happen. This was something else entirely.

But as insane as it sounded, she couldn’t blame Celestia entirely. It was too much; Nopony could remain sane after what had happened.

Not even alicorn Princesses.

The day arrived just as Celestia had predicted it. And yet, she could still hardly believe it.

Celestia had one-thousand years to prepare for this day, and she had not been idle. She knew the Elements of Harmony would be the only line of defense that she had against the corrupt nature of Nightmare Moon, thus she leaned heavily into that advantage.

Planning, calculating, hypothesizing, predicting, analyzing, experimenting, meditating; all of the preparation in the world could not hinder one simple truth that Celestia was reluctant to accept:

She was still afraid. And in her situation, who wouldn’t be?

More than anything, all that Celestia wanted was to be reunited with her younger sister; to be ruling alongside each other as Diarchs rather than a sole ruler.

Peace of mind, one that could only be achieved when Luna returns to her former self.

Many moons before this fateful day, Celestia steeled herself assuredly that her plan was just and good. That it would end the right way. And she would finally see her sister again—her true sister.

The plan of action for freeing Luna would be heavily reliant on not only the elements but also her prized pupil. She knew that Twilight would be erudite and proactive enough in her studies to learn the legend of Nightmare Moon on her own accord. She will pique her own curiosity enough for her look into Predictions and Prophecies before Nightmare Moon’s return. It was guaranteed.

Afterward, it would be a matter of feigning ignorance. She would be sending Twilight to Ponyville to finish the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. But more importantly, to “make new friends”—those were the instructions Twilight was given after being told to stop reading “dusty old books.”

At least that’s what Twilight would interpret. The real reason she was sent there was to encounter Nightmare Moon first hoof upon her return. And once Twilight discovers the prophecy of Nightmare Moon to be true, she will backtrack her steps and inevitably discover the existence of the Elements of Harmony.

The discovery of which will inspire her and her newfound companions to retrieve the elements, further proving their testament that they are truly worthy of being the bearers of the elements. If there was one thing Celestia could reliably count on, it would be her pupil’s determination to succeed and to make her mentor proud.

Yet despite this crumb of comfort, she was undoubtedly terrified of what was to come. And it is because of one key variable to this grand plan of hers that could unhinge everything she has toiled to achieve:

The Elements of Harmony.

To retrieve and activate the elements to their former glory would be no small feat for 6 ponies whose pasts had just met. Even if one of them was her own pupil, there were still many trials to be faced before they even got close to the elements. Celestia knew she was sending them into the everfree, thus into danger.

And Celestia knew that Nightmare Moon would attempt to stop them along the way.

Direct confrontation was off the table.

Painful memories began to flood Celestia’s mind; she vividly remembers the night of the banishment more than she would like. The unrelenting force of Nightmare Moon’s attacks that night was forever seared into her mind—the measure of hate and malice seemingly immeasurable.

That hate would no doubt return in full force against Twilight and her friends. And maybe it was weak of her to admit, but she did not wish to face Nightmare Moon a second time alone.

If she was to risk direct intervention with Nightmare Moon… it would almost certainly end badly. And so, Celestia’s hooves were metaphorically tied.

She had been dreading the day of sending Twilight away for so many reasons, and not because of her foolish belief that she would not make any friends. She was confident in her pupil; she had to be.

She was dreading what would come afterward.

The last time the Elements of Harmony were used, Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. To wield it with only her own magic limited the elements’ potential, hence the harsh and unfair punishment that Celestia had to bestow upon her sister. Even when she and Luna wielded them simultaneously, it was only barely enough to save their realm from a seemingly unstoppable adversary prior to the banishment.

But never before had the elements been used by six separate users before. It was theorized by Starswirl the Bearded that if each of the six elements of Harmony were to be respectfully wielded by six ponies that naturally inherited those traits, it would ultimately unlock their full potential to do good.

But this theory had never been tested in a direct altercation like so, in all of its records surviving countless millennia of overcoming foes. Yet before Twilight could properly utilize the elements, five must be activated for the spark of the sixth to be revealed. And such a task required unwavering cooperation among Twilight’s companions.

And it was there and then, pacing in front of her throne that Celestia was struck with an epiphany.

For all the time either Luna or Celestia wielded the Elements, it was used in a manner that enforced hard power onto their enemies; Subjugation, Exile, Banishment, or Petrification—punishments that Celestia did not want to enforce on her sister after a thousand years of exile.

It would be Twilight's responsibility, and the responsibility of her newfound companions, to restore and use the elements in a manner of soft power, rather than hard power. Doing so would be simple: Twilight had no earthly idea how to properly wield the magical properties infused within the elements, but she didn't need to. The Elements would do most of the work for her when the time came.

All that Twilight and her friends had to do was persevere and believe they would succeed. Otherwise, there's no point.

Celestia had faith in Twilight for finding suitable bearers for the elements. In truth, it was not challenging to find ponies suitable for being the bearers of the elements, especially for a pony as astute and shrewd as Twilight Sparkle. If Twilight received instructions from Celestia, she would carry through regardless of her grudges and trials that might hold her back. She would always charge with her problems head-on.

And it wasn’t that Twilight was incapable of making friends, it would just be somewhat hindering to her given her reclusive nature. The difficulties would come after their union was formed.

In conclusion to her epiphany, It was risky. Very risky in more ways than one, but every worry she had possibly conceived a thousand years prior had been challenged by some fabricated rebuttal within Celestia’s mind. And they were not just mere mental apparatuses created out of wishful thinking. They had sound logic hooked around them.

… But that thought, that one epiphany. It was the one thing she could have never dared to inquire at any point in her one-thousand years of planning for this night. And she dared not to imagine it in her mind with any surrounding logic because it lacked just that. Regardless of it being a valid theory, to even conjure such a thought would be madness—never mind the fact it was impossible to plan ahead for nearly a millennia prior.

And yet she thought of it still.

"What if Twilight fails?"

Smoke obscured her vision and her lungs as Twilight found herself forcefully teleported away from her companions. Coughing and gathering her breath, she found herself in a different place entirely. A used-to-be grandiose hall, withered and decayed from the floor up to the roof. Large gashes of erosion and time could be seen on the floors and the walls. Only mossy remnants of the foundation remained.

And standing in front of a weathered fixed-frame window atop a platform stood Nightmare Moon herself. Her condescending chuckle reverberated across what remained of the ancient hallway, the elements orbiting around her within her magic. The night sky was still unchanged, and much of the ceilings and walls revealed the stars and the moon.

Paralyzed in awesome fear, Twilight had finally interpreted the perilous situation she was in. Being teleported forcefully into a one-on-one altercation with Nightmare Moon—with the only known objects on the face of the planet able to stop her standing right beneath her—was an egregiously bad position to be in.

She needed a plan, now.

Nightmare Moon seemed content with just standing her ground as if she was expecting no fight to come at all—that the unicorn would just give in to her fears and submit.

Twilight opted to challenge misconception, lowering her body in a combative stance and scraping her front hooves on the floor. With a grimace, her body was leaning and ready to pounce.

"... You’re kidding." Nightmare moon jested, her voice booming across the halls. Then the words turned bitter. "You’re kidding, right?"

Twilight didn’t bother with a reply, dashing to a sprint towards her opponent. The Lavender glow of Twilight’s horn was growing brighter as she got closer.

Nightmare Moon had her stance lowered to meet her head-on with a charge of her own.

She paused.

… Is she charging me?... What is she thinking?

Nightmare Moon, instead of charging Twilight, opted instead to stand her ground. With each step that Twilight galloped, her horn festered with overlapping auras of arcane energy.

Nightmare Moon frowned. Contrary to charging Twilight's head on herself, she stepped down from the platform a couple of steps and lowered her posture to a defensive stance, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Her horn began to glow as well.

Twilight could feel her stomach sink to the abyss.

She didn’t fall for it!

Time seemed to slow down as the Lavender Unicorn improvised. In her immediate hindsight, it was a presumptuous idea to assume that Nightmare Moon would be fooled by a foalish cantrip of teleportation. Or perhaps her tricks weren’t necessarily tricky enough for an alicorn waiting for revenge after 1000 years in exile.

Both were logically sound, and they did not bode well.

At about 5 meters distance from each other, Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. In a flash of whitish-pink light, she blipped out of existence.

Nightmare Moon allowed herself to smirk as she caught the unicorn in her trap, like a fly in a web. She made a swift 180-turn behind her towards the platform, fully expecting the spell to transport her directly atop the elements.

Instead, she heard the spell rematerialize the unicorn above her.

Nightmare Moon barely looked up in time to see Twilight tackle her to the floor with her body weight. A blast of energy from Nightmare Moon’s horn barely missed the unicorn by just a few inches as they collapsed atop each other.

The two rolled on the floor in a tangled mess of appendages, Nightmare Moon skidding away from her merely a hoof’s length away. With the alicorn distracted and her magic inactive for a few precious seconds, Twilight charged her horn once more to fire a beam of energy.

Powerful enough for the alicorn to be sent flying backward towards one of the broken walls, crying in pain upon impact. But not enough to knock her down for the count, by any means. Dust and soot billowed wildly around the alicorn upon impact

Twilight Kneeled down on the platform, groaning as the world around her spun. Feeling light-headed, she still charged her horn.

"Just one spark," she mumbled herself. "Come on, come on!"

Twilight could feel her energy envelope the artifacts, channeling some of her magic into it to trigger… something. Any kind of magical reaction was a welcome sight at this point, and she was running out of options.

Something suddenly tugged at her horn, as if something was pulling on it from behind. For a brief moment, she opened her eyes just in time to see a narrow beam of Nightmare’s magic speeding towards her from the side. With no hope of deflection or evasion, she felt a hot, plasma-infused impact on her abdomen—with her soaring through the air with the dumbfound elegance of a ragdoll as she landed roughly onto the floor.

Scrapes and small cuts paint Twilight’s body, causing her to wince upon contact.

Twilight tried to stand up, only to suddenly feel herself being slammed down onto her stomach by an unknown force. With the wind knocked out of her, she struggled to breathe for a few seconds before gasping loudly for precious oxygen.

The azure wisp of energy billowed violently onto the platform once more to reveal Nightmare Moon, a little scratched but none the worse for wear.

"Not good enough!" Nightmare Moon sneered.

Twilight grimaced as she tried to stand up again, only to feel that very familiar force push her back to the floor as she struggled to breathe.

Then something caught Twilight's ear, causing them to flick at attention. A new sound.

The sound of something humming, like an arcane machine powering up.

Both figures stopped and stared at the platform with wide eyes.

The five elements were still surrounded by that same magical glow from Twilight’s horn.

Both Mares reacted simultaneously.

This is it! This must be the spark!

"No, NO!" Nightmare Moon stepped back a few steps, a very familiar fear clamping the essence of her being. She felt herself back up into the mechanism designed for holding the elements, finding herself with nowhere to flee. In her fear, Nightmare Moon was paralyzed of what was to come.

That was until the elements ceased humming, and the hall grew silent once more.

"What!? But-but, where’s the sixth element?!" Twilight stammered, flabbergasted in what she was witnessing.

Before Twilight could do anything else, Nightmare Moon reared on her hind legs with a cackle to raise her forehooves as high as she could. She had them charged by the magic of her horn, sparks of lightning cracking along the floor around her like a plasma ball—before crashing them down onto the platform with magically enhanced might.

The sound.

The shattering still reverberated in her mind.

Twilight felt as if her soul left her body.

The elements were shattered; fragmented; destroyed.

She tried to stand up again. And, again, Nightmare Moon kept her pinned to the floor with her newfound energy. For a moment, Twilight lay motionless.

Time felt slow once more. Twilight could only watch the ground in spite, hearing the arrogant cackles of her opponents behind her. that laugh pierced through her mind as if echoing in her own thoughts, making it impossible to think a rational thought.

There and then, Twilight felt… something. She didn't quite know what it was, but could only describe it; a form of energy she was not familiar with, in all her years of training to channel magic. It felt intoxicatingly numb, goosebumps plaguing her appendages as she felt what was an equivalent of an electric fire tingling her entire being. A valve that was on the verge of explosion; a tight sphincter of pressure, ever-expanding without end.

And all of it projected towards her, the midnight black alicorn. She turned to scowl at her.

Yet as she tried to stand up one last time to cope with her manic sensation, the magical grasp of Nightmare Moon slammed her to the ground with more force than the last.

She cackled, relishing her victory and in her chance to toy with her defeated opponent.

"You little foal! Thinking you can defeat me?!"

Unbeknownst to Twilight, the lavender glow of her magic enveloped her horn. As the intensity of her opponents' magic grew, so too did her own. A surreal sensation coursed her veins. Twilight suddenly felt her blood physically boil as her scowl intensified.

A tipping point was about to be reached, and she was getting closer to release. Her thoughts were garbled and foggy beyond recognition. She couldn't think, she could only feel. And she felt more than angry; she was seething with white-hot rage.

She was at the boiling point.

All it took was one more push over the precipice.

"Now, you will never see your precious princess or your sun! The Night! Will last! FOREVER!"

That did it.

Nightmare Moon barely had time to react to the spontaneous shockwave of energy repulsing everything in its wake. Expanding outward across the entirety of the hall, Nightmare Moon is being shielded from the blast by a protective sphere of her magic.

Standing on the platform, she had only para seconds to spare before the shield resonated—steadfast against the sudden repulsion of energy. Nightmare Moon expensed a large margin of her arcane energy to maintain this form, something she had not grown accustomed to yet being away for so long.

Her horn never ceased glowing, even after the initial repulse of her blast; finally dying down now as a gust of wind whirled into a visible but very brief twister in the air. Nightmare remained steadfast, sensing the wrath and deep-rooted vexation within Twilight’s being.

Twilight on the other hoof had become… something else.

Umbral energy had encompassed her entire being, billowing gently from her body like nebulae in motion. Ethereal wisps resonated from where her mane and tail should be, now a darker shade of mulberry—of which was longer in length. Her coat was no longer Lavender but accentuating, if not mimicking the hue of her mane and tail. Her horn surged with unfathomable energy from a fledgling unicorn... or so she thought until Twilight unfurled her thestral wings.

An Alicorn.

Of all the things Nightmare Moon had planned and expected for tonight, witnessing an alicorn being manifested in front of her eyes was not one of them. It certainly was the biggest surprise of the night, to be sure. But despite the sudden ascension, she did not seem that much different in size from her unicorn form. Nightmare internally suspected the transformation also must have taken a great physical toll on her.

Yet she did not see it.

Nightmare Moon stood her ground, her scowl fighting back against Twilight’s energy. The latter's horn never ceased glowing, even after the initial repulse of her blast; the raw encompassing energy that had surrounded Twilight seemed to be empowering her in some way. The initial shockwave died down to a strong gust of wind. Nightmare Moon remained steadfast, immediately sensing the wrath and vexation within Twilight’s being.

Yet she did not see it.

Nightmare Moon expected some kind of reaction from the empowered alicorn, only to find her seemingly comatose in a standing posture. Nightmare assumed that whatever physical and mental exertion that Twilight must be suffering to maintain this form must be taking its toll.

Yet she did not see it.

When Twilight finally opened her eyes, she saw the world differently. Nightmare Moon saw amethyst green sclera and crimson irises, and she couldn't help but grimace. For the first time in moons immemorable, Nightmare Moon felt dreadful of what was to come.

Twilight felt the corners of her lips twitch upward into a forced smile. A single tear escapes her eyes.

Apotheosis

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Red.

This was all that Twilight could see through the windows or the cracks in the walls. The clouds and the atmosphere were of an orange-crimson, with the only exception being the slightly darker hue of that same color illuminating the landscape as far as the eye could see. She couldn’t see the state of the sun nor moon through her small hole in the wall. But she could guess the sun grew brighter and hotter by the minute.

Dashing at the very top of the spiral staircase leading to the bed chambers, she was stopped by a finely decorated pair of heavy double doors—its design befitting for Royalty. Golden metallic arches resembling shapes similar to that of ponytails; painted carved wood, with figurines of pony heads and rearing stallions.

The door handles were welded shut via magic, preventing any conventional entry from the outside. Or rather it should be said that the handles were melted shut, as the physical appearance did not resemble a handle at all but rather an amalgamated mass of molten metal that had stuck like wet clay.

Twilight groaned in agonizing frustration, the burning coals in her lungs painfully stabbing her with each inhale of hot air she took. Breathing was a challenge, and coughing was so painful she would be physically incapable of moving for a short while in doing so.

Taking a breather to recover her stamina, Twilight knew of another way in. But knowing how physically and mentally draining what she was about to do was going to be, she allowed herself to breathe and rest for a few precious moments.

In this brief respite, her mind ruminated. Thinking back onto the encounter with Nightmare Moon, her body quaked and her eyes stung with tears, stomach-churning nauseously against her—much to her dismay as she was threatened with losing her stomach’s contents amidst the already mind-numbing panic attack that she was experiencing at that particular moment.

She thought back onto the Elements of Harmony. How they were nothing more but shattered fragments of stone, sitting at the bottom of ruined castle miles away. How they briefly powered up for a moment, giving Twilight an elated premonition of hope. Hope that she would succeed against Nightmare Moon.

Only for them to pathetically stop and to be effortlessly destroyed.

It plagued Twilight's mind without end. How could this be the best line of defense that Celestia had? They didn't seem to do anything! In her pragmatic mind, Twilight had every chance to succeed. the math was just right there, and it was literally staring them both in the face at one point.

And yet, here she stood. About to Confront the mare who is tearing the world apart now.

Twilight rocked back and forth, huddled against a wall. She felt the urge to cry again but fought against it. A gravelly voice mumbled aloud to herself.

"It wasn’t my fault! I tried to do everything! I had no other choice! I had no other choice!"

It was difficult to assuage oneself with reassuring words if one struggles to believe in them. Even if she did so, did that really justify what had happened? Was all of this just a byproduct of her actions? Was this the ultimate consequence of her failure? To see all that was normal and right being reduced to ashes?

Twilight chose not to delve into that particular mental rabbit hole, to preserve long-term mental sanity if nothing else.

But she couldn’t rest for long. Twilight glanced at the door handles tentatively. Seeing no other alternative, she mentally steeled herself for what was about to happen next. She knew what she was doing was going to be exerting at the very least

As for the not-so-successful outcomes that could happen, Twilight again chose not to delve into those thoughts.

Closing her eyes, she felt a pressure in her head growing tighter and heavier, as she preempted a simple teleportation spell. It took a bit of effort to power through the painful throbbing, but she felt the spell nearing its completion.

And with a flash, everything went white.

A narrow beam of arcane energy bulleted past an airborne Nightmare Moon, narrowly avoiding her as she tucked in her right wing to roll away to the side.

She unfurled again and banked around above the open roof of the Castle—blasted open by a volley of explosive projectiles from Twilight.

The new alicorn was still blasting anti-air fire onto the Nightmare above her, rapid-firing projectiles that packed far more destructive potential than Nightmare Moon had anticipated. The latter had no opening for an attack, and could only continue to dodge her foe's projectiles.

One stray shot had missed, effortlessly piercing through a thick trunk of an everfree tree just behind her, leaving a unicorn-sized hole on both sides where it had struck.

It would take a lot of magical protection to shield one from a blast like that and emerge unharmed, too much so to do it consistently throughout the fight.

Nightmare Moon immediately accessed after the initial shock of her foe's transformation that it would be a struggle to continue shielding against her attacks.

So she instead changed her tactics to ‘booming and zooming’ physical attacks instead; strike hard and fast in a dive, then retreat and evade in a steep climb upward.

Batter her stamina and resolve down to the point where she collapses of exertion. It was working to some extent. She would attack with such temerity that Twilight barely had enough time to raise a magical shield in defense.

The latter was smart enough to anticipate her opponent's dives to defend against it, but she couldn't spend her energy like this forever. As for Nightmare Moon, she could only continue to chip away the outer defenses of Twilight's magic.

It was starting to take a toll on Twilight though.

Even with such power flowing through her still, Nightmare anticipated that her opponent was a novice at pacing herself in combat. It would only be a matter of time until she collapsed. She had already dove down numerous times, the blasts of Twilight’s horn narrowly missing her target with each dive.

Yet Twilight was getting more accurate with each pass, despite the relentless tackles she took against the shield. She avoided some of the initial dives, but both opponents found it being more and more difficult to evade each other after each dive. Nightmare Moon especially had to switch her tactics soon.

The latter knew that she had the advantage in this battle, and she vowed to maintain it. As long as she remained airborne and off the ground from where Twilight was, she could evade her attacks with relative ease and perhaps tire her out.

Then she could go for the final strike. And she was going to ensure she wouldn’t get back up.

This one pony had already proved to be quite a nuisance to her plans since she had returned to Equestria, and now she was fighting her in a pitched altercation as an Alicorn. And was still holding her own.

This achieved nothing but wasted time for her, and she needed to end this fight sooner rather than later. In her mind, this dance had gone on long enough.

First the elements, then the alicorn, then she could deal with Celestia. She could draw this fight out slowly to secure her win if she had to, but she didn’t want to.

She had already wasted enough time destroying the elements, and she did not want to waste anymore fighting against another Alicorn.

Nightmare Moon circled above twilight erratically, occasionally banking and pitching to avoid incoming arcane projectiles. In her initial attacks, Twilight had shown blind rage in her strikes and spells—accentuating raw power at the expense of her stamina and brevity of performing said spells.

But as time passed and when Twilight learned out that her opponent wasn't going to throw away her altitude advantage, she composed herself.

The projectiles were launched at a more steady pace, and she was finally starting to get into the groove of channeling combat magic for the first time in her life.

Her attacks were now limited to nothing but ranged magical arrows, but they were far less demanding of her constitution in comparison to her previous attacks.

She opted instead to fight a battle of wills and attrition, rather than a metaphysical brawl. In this brief change of strategy, Twilight threw the idea of a peaceful solution out the window entirely.

There would be no negotiated peace.

And even if she wanted to, how could she? The elements were destroyed. Celestia wasn't here. and Twilight wasn't herself. In her wrath, she thought of no other solution but to fight.

Fight, fight, fight, her mind ruminates and repeats. She showed you no quarter, so give none in return!

Nightmare Moon banked upward, leading with a series of barrel rolls as her wings collapsed to the sides. Her form would’ve looked majestically sanguine with the moon overshadowing the figure behind it—if it weren’t for the fact they were trying to incapacitate each other so viciously.

Nightmare Moon approached the zenith of her ascension, unfurling and levitating her in place as the moon shone down its darkened limelight and glazed the weary trees of the Everfree. There, both adversaries took a small moment of respite.

Twilight was sweating and panting, her knees buckling as she struggled to maintain the weight of a sudden power surge that encompassed her horn. Nightmare Moon however was cool and collected, merely staring down upon her opponent like she was about to squish an ant.

They weren’t too far away from each other, and Twilight could make out her face. A sneer formed on Nightmare's features, her acrid slitted eyes piercing through Twilight’s soul.

They looked so mocking. Condescending.

And oh, how Twilight loathed them.

The horn flared once more, threatening to send Twilight collapsing to the ground. The temptation for retribution against Nightmare Moon was taking hold of her; nearsightedness clouded her judgment and perception. She felt her abdomen quake with anticipation and power, the muscles in her legs burning as they stood stiff and upright. her stomach violently churned against her will.

Every ounce of mental and physical focus was poured onto the new spell that Twilight was conjuring. Rage blinded her, in every sense of the word. But yet, it soothed her. It made her driven to continue. like a presence was silently encouraging her to keep going.

Nightmare Moon grimaced with sealed lips as she could see the Alicorn powering up yet another spell. She assumed she would’ve been spent by now.

Doesn't matter. Just wait for an opening.

Nightmare Moon stayed floating in the air, her mind readying to dodge whatever attack she has planned.

Twilight on the other hoof was still over-encumbered with righteous rage, fabricated out of a pretense of dispensing justice. By this point of her spell, an orb of sickly violet light began to manifest at her horn.

Draining her stamina more and more with each passing second, it grew and festered with the same belligerent determination that the wielder possessed. Arcs of arcane lightning crackled and snapped all along the surface of the glowing orb, overcharged with such energy to the brink of a serious magical overburn.

Groaning, stutter-stepping from side to side, sweating profusely along her brow as she closed her eyes to concentrate; Twilight was on the verge of collapse.

Nightmare Moon, however, looked downward with caution. She could attack now, but… If she was right, a spell-like that of Twilight’s would be slow enough to get out of the way, but just how powerful of a blast would it wield upon impact? That remained to be seen, and she still hadn’t even released the spell yet.

By this point, it was already bigger than her. Should Nightmare attack now, there would be no telling whether or not the collateral damage of the spell would be enough to seriously damage her.

If Nightmare was going to attack, it would be after Twilight made her move first.

And with a shriek and a stomp of a hoof, the latter’s horn finally released a ball of pure magical devastation; gliding at its target with a very slow speed. The final discharge projected a proportionally small shockwave upon release, causing twilight to recoil backward a few steps.

Just as Nightmare predicted, the spell projectile was moving far too slow to pose a significant threat. Flying away from an oversized tree that stood near the castle where she suspected the spell would land, Nightmare floated upward effortlessly. Her eyes on Twilight, she readied herself for one more diving attack. Before doing so, she gave one more glance down on the incoming spell.

there came a bright, intolerable light.

For a moment Nightmare Moon saw nothing but blinding white as if the sun had momentarily exploded in front of her with its atomized-helium induced glory; the shockwave that traveled was enough to stagger Twilight back for a few more steps.

The spell never landed on its target; it was remotely detonated. And it was more than enough to send Nightmare Moon flailing a great distance like a ragdoll. Far, far away from the castle and into the derelict plains surrounding it did she land without grace, causing a crater to rupture the ground.

Twilight was left an over-encumbered mess, each breath she took pierced the bottom of her lungs with searing daggers. She dared not to move her appendages, each of them struggling to maintain her weight. She found herself in a physically strange predicament. It was as if her legs refused to move, not once responding to Twilight’s commands from her brain and opting instead to stay still.

There, nausea that wracked her stomach finally overcame Twilight's psyche, and she promptly hurled most of the contents onto the floor. It took a few moments afterward, but the sensation thankfully passed just as quickly as it came. There, she felt her mind focusing on the task at hoof.

There was a chance to finally end this now. Twilight just needed to press her advantage that she had just now achieved while she still could. With a swift flourish of her wings, she gave a few mighty flaps to take to the sky.

Only to have her fall flat on her face.

Alicorn or not, she could not learn years of flying experience just on ascension day alone.

Frustration; Twilight tried to charge her horn to teleport outside.

Pain; a throbbing, but manageable headache encompasses Twilight as she channels for a teleportation spell.

Concentration; she is nearly charged...

Just a few more seconds, just a few more seconds.

The horn glows brightly.

"Twilight?"

"Where are you?!"

"Twilight!"

Shouting voices; they suddenly grab hold of the folds of Twilight’s splintered mind, reverberating from a staircase to her left. the spell instantly dissipated as her focus shatters.

In the heat of the moment, clarity finally cleared a channel through the grime and plague of emotions that clouded her mind. Twilight still felt something tugging in her chest as she turned to look.

"Twilight, answer us!"

She could see the shadows. They were so close. Her companions.

The ones that got her this far.

A moment came, and she felt the dark magic loosen its hold of her. Her eyes stung with newfound tears.

She never saw Nightmare Moon diving in at full speed.

Until collision.

The air around twilight tingled and vibrated around as she popped back into existence and landed painfully on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. The sudden stench of Ozone immediately took her attention away as she struggled to breathe, her stomach also heaving dryly at the same time. For several agonizing seconds, she suffocated under her own bile. Her eyes stung, streaming tears without relent.

A sudden, violent wretch of the throat, and soon the contents began to flow from within. Vomit, bile, saliva, and other unwanted unpleasantries. The stains on the rugs would never be truly washed away. upon completion, she collapsed on her side.

Gaaaasp!

Coughing. Wheezing. Choking. Spitting a little while coughing.

Breathing. A mundane, yet wonderful sensation she had taken for granted until now.

Oxygen finally started to flow into her systems after the teleport, which was messy, to say the least. She finally looked up and took heed of her surroundings, she noticed that she was sitting right beneath the footboard slat of an oversized bed fit for multiple Alicorns. The sheets were draped off to the sides and were untidy. The pillows were missing.

Performing the spell felt nauseating. It was more draining than it should for such a simple teleport, and it physically almost killed her with the way she landed it so poorly. Luckily, she was still alive and breathing, albeit without consequences.

These magical mishaps weren't just afflicting Twilight alone; all of the magic in Equestria seemed to be malfunctioning—for lack of a better term—for everypony. Earth Ponies felt extraordinarily weak in the muscles, a good number of them unable to stand up on their legs anymore. To some, they were essentially crippled. Pegasi found it much harder to fly, not counting the atrocious weather they were already experiencing. And why couldn’t the weather be changed? Because they couldn't anymore. They tried, but something inhibited them from doing so. And as such, natural disasters that happened to be occurring right now were unstoppable. And finally, unicorns were somehow unable to perform even the simplest of spells. All of it left them absolutely exhausted when they were finally done, some even having perished for performing such complex spells at this time if not succumbing to worse fates. Fates such as permanent paralyzation, molecular disintegration, fusing into materials for them to perish.

Tartarus on earth.

Twilight needed to find a way to fix this... if there was a way.

Each of Twilight’s friends stood in morbid paralysis as they watched Twilight (at least what looked like Twilight) being slammed into a wall so hard that it collapsed, causing her to fly through onto the other side limply.

None of them dared to move or speak.

Nightmare Moon was panting without brevity as she regained her breath. As she stood on all fours towards the unicorn-sized hole, she expected no more resistance after a brutal attack like that.

Stepping forward towards the hole and peering down on the other side, she expected to see a body lying limp onto the ground incapacitated.

Instead what she found was nothing but trees and broken stone onto the ground.

And then the hoof came.

Faster than Nightmare’s eyes could even register, a very pissed off Twilight suddenly punched Nightmare under the chin with the speed equivalent to that of a magical arrow, and with the force of a charging minotaur.

Flying backward without control, she was unable to cushion the very rough landing that sent her tumbling toward the wall.

Twilight floated through the hole with her wings clumsily, her right forehoof throbbing as she dared not to put any weight on it. Struggling to walk on three hooves, her eyes locked onto the collapsed pile of rubble that half-buried Nightmare Moon.

It was there that she felt another unfamiliar sensation. Hatred; It stained her thoughts like a thick cloak, and coursed her heart with adrenaline and energy. Her mind could think of nothing but of all the ways to hurt this Alicorn.

Although she had a splitting headache and probably a few broken bones, dark energy began manifesting from her horn, her eyes still that same hue of dark crimson and amethyst. She would not allow her to get the upper hand on anypony ever again!

One more spell. One more spell, and she will be no more!

"Twilight!"

Again, she paused. Her heart hammering, limbs locked, and head woozy, she felt that same wave of cooling clarity clash against the tendrils of pain licking her body.

A tilt of the head and she found them. Her friends.

In a brief moment, she could see.

They looked so horrified.

"Girls?" she spoke, shocked by the sudden amplification of her voice.

"Wha- Twilight? Is that you?" Rainbow Squeaked in absolute shock.

"What… what are you doing here?!" she yelled at them, unable to process why they would risk their lives in the presence of such almighty beings.

"We were looking for you!"

"Me?"

"We heard you cry out, and then you were just gone!" she emphasized with an expanding motion from her hooves, as if something poofed out of thin air. "We saw a buncha light flying around, a buncha sparks, and we thought that you-"

"Well, Look at that,"

Shivers of the spines were felt for everyone as a cold, and malicious growl of a voice suddenly spoke out from the puff of smoke. Nightmare Moon was still standing, blood gushing freely from her head and between her eyes from where her horn was, which was now cracked at the base but still intact. Yet somehow, she was still standing. And Twilight saw why.

Her eyes. They too were dark in magic. Nightmare Moon was playing her final move.

"These ponies seem to really care about you," she sneered at the five, speaking the latter word as if it held all of her troubles and vices that she wished to exterminate. The five in question stood back in fear (apart from Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be standing in front of the group trying to shield them.)

"And you seem to really, really care about them,"

Nightmare’s gaze locked onto Twilight’s, a crazed hunger for violence apparent in her eyes.

Twilight, despite her scowl, felt her soul shaken.

"DON'T YOU!?"

Nightmare Moon Launched.

Time really did seem to slow down for what was the third time that night for Twilight. It was almost too slow as if she had all the time in the world to react.

Her adversary had completely ignored her, vowing instead to dive towards the other five ponies. Twilight couldn’t even look at their reactions.

Morbid paralyzation would’ve taken hold of her if she didn’t have this window of time. But what could she do? In the midst of her clarity from her friends, she found them being threatened with their very lives.

To toss her life away in favor of destroying Equestria was one thing. Going after them, however...

Twilight felt wrath reinvigorate her once more. Her horn had been glowing throughout the whole sequence of time being dilated.

Only now did she release it.

She didn’t see what had happened next, only that the spell was discharged at Nightmare Moon with all the power she could muster.

Celestia had been observing the show of sparks, beams of light, and the occasional explosion that had been rapidly discharged from the old Castle of the Two Sisters. It was an entrancing light show, one that evoked fear for Celestia. Up until recently, the amount of magic that was being fired at the dashing, minuscule figure of Nightmare Moon she could see through her telescope surmised one solid theory in her mind; this was not ordinary magic.

The only possible explanation for these events was that a fight of some kind was taking place, but she had no way of knowing who was the aggressor and who was winning. Or whether or not this was the Element's doing or their own.

Anxiety-inducing as it is for Celestia to sit back idly twiddling her hooves, she knew it would be in the best interests of everypony in Equestria to move in as the peacemaker to this altercation only when it was done. She can't risk another confrontation with Nightmare Moon to end badly by her hooves, there was not a lot of room for maneuver around that. But it had still been excruciatingly difficult to sit back and watch, and only continued to be so as time progressed.

This was the best chance that she will have gotten, the culmination of all one-thousand years of planning leading to this frozen moment in time. Idly staring in the distance, lights and fractal wisps of hard arcane energy being fired away without a care in the world, amidst a forever hostile forest.

But she was still hopeful. She was confident in her pupil and felt she made the best possible choice in picking someone to activate the elements. And she was also confident that she would make a well-suited group of friends for herself, and not just for this mission but for long-term coping as well.

Apropos, she felt exceedingly apprehensive as the battle continued. Celestia could feel it in her magic; the world seemed to be collectively holding its breath as the possessed-being of Luna was still being projected as Nightmare-Moon. With such a foreign yet overpowering figure accessing the magic of the celestial bodies to her realm, disharmony will be apparent in her world for only so long. Especially with one being who had no chemistry nor real commitment to stay in the warmth of the sun, when all that they had was the tainted limelight that learned to loathe and hate.

And with yet each passing minute, more magic was being exchanged. Its colors were faint and hard to spot at such a long distance away, but she could see what appeared to be a picturesque meteor shower occurring right upon the ground, slamming balls of light and magic into various trees, if not at the old castle itself.

Celestia stepped back from the balcony in her tower, pacing back and forth in her room. She felt… invaded, for lack of a better term. Physically, she could feel her limbs were shaking. No amount of magic would cease their shaking, and she did try to. It would only last for a few minutes in time before it came back again.

Mentally, however, she felt indecisively oblivious to the perilous situation that was developing within the castle—and she despised that aspect more than Tartarus itself. And pacing back and forth in the bedroom was not making her feel reassured in the slightest. Pacing quickly back towards the telescope again, she brought her view back towards the everfree.

Looking around the forest, she couldn’t see much but trees and open skies. Her view being obscured by the zoom of her instrument, she did a doubletake, relying on both the scope and the naked eye. After bearing her view onto the now even more devastated castle of the two sisters, she couldn’t see any light or fire—no energy of any kind.

In fact, it was eerily still.

... It stopped?

Celestia was puzzled, yet somewhat at ease for a brief moment. No further destruction was being made, yet nothing else happened either. A cool breeze wisped through her coat and mane, chilling her just a little. She didn’t see what happened to warrant such a sudden silence.

She looked up towards the stars. The moon was still the same as it had been for the night, a welcoming sight compared to seeing her sister on the surface for millennia.

It was very quiet. The sky remained unchanged.

Yet the silence was not meant to be as a flash of violet light had erupted within the castle.

It was bright—as if the sun itself had momentarily flashed down from the heavens to deliver a righteous smite. Bright enough for Celestia to raise a hoof to prevent herself from being blinded. Under her hoof, she could see a narrow, but long beam of energy piercing everything in its path. It effortlessly shot through the castle and many of the trees in the Everfree. The beam was bright enough that Celestia couldn't see its hue of color, only its luminosity.

Torrents of wind galed violently past the origin point of whatever spell that was cast. She watched with rigid horror the decrypt castle in the distance being sliced apart. A minuscule mist tinted with that of dark wine billowed outward in every point that had made contact, discharged energy with snippets of electrical crackles that caused small flames around some of the trees.

Celestia felt everything in her body simply cease for a time. She pondered if what she saw was truly real or not, or if she was simply having another nightmare. But her world remained the same. She heard no sound of the spell from where she stood.

In fact, it was quiet and tranquil; Sanguine, even. And all in the worst possible ways.

The moon then turned dark.

When Twilight accessed that she was indeed not dead from her teleportation and that she was inside Celestia’s room, she stood with shaky resolve on her three good hooves. The dim room hinted no presence of her former mentor anywhere, no alicorn anywhere in sight.

But she was here. Residue from magical fire stained all around the walls and ceilings, some of the poor books in her bookshelves taking the brunt of the damage. Being an innate bookworm, it pained Twilight greatly to see this blatant disregard for literature from Celestia of all ponies.

But she couldn’t dwell on that now, she had to find her. If she wasn’t in the room, where was she? Peering through the wide ogee arch leading towards the balcony, still, no Celestia to be found.

She couldn’t ascertain where else to look, so opted to limp towards the balcony. Upon making it outside, she froze.

Wildfires were burning all along the soft and bumpy hills, much of it originating from the Everfree forest as it still continues to singe in the colossal inferno. The sky was overwhelmed with carbon monoxide as the air continuously got warmer and warmer. Ponyville down below looked desolate and empty, yet relatively unscathed. Although given the state of the wildfire in the Everfree Forest continuing its spread, who knew how long that would last?

Cloudsdale was evaporating. Over time, the wondrous city in the clouds had been steadily losing water vapor and its clouds as the air heated up. The signature rainbow falls had long since dried up. The city was being vaporized.

Clouds obscured the sky and the sun everywhere, no hint of any celestial bodies in sight apart from the telltale orange glow of an overactive sun. The air was dim as if it was a late winter evening, only lit by the roaring inferno that raged out of control.

She stared into it all. And she found herself lost. And it seemed to stare back at her, the distant fires. No resignation of extinguishment threatened them. It only festered and grew.

It was not light, it was a dim shadow of the destruction that had overtaken the land. It was not warmth, it was uncomforting and unforgiving as it consumed everything in its wake. It was as if a being of damnation had struck the land without compromise.

An Apocalypse, now.

And staring in the distance now was just Twilight, her thoughts, and a potential eternity of waiting in relative sufferance where she could do nothing but sit in silence, listening to the air searing around her. And she was tired of it all, the hot air. Her lungs still hadn’t fully recovered from her mad sprint into Canterlot from the Everfree.

In fact, she was content on just sitting here and waiting for Celestia to come back. In some twisted way, Twilight assumed that she would indeed come back here for one reason or another. Whether to finally confront her or to escape into her only abode, it was uncertain.

There was a particular streak of fire she was watching from the Everfree that had taken her attention for some time, as Twilight caught her breath. With nothing else to do but waiting, she stared at it in morbid fascination.

... A fickle yet overpowering conundrum, fire. It seemed to be the source of all things great and terrible. From the dawn of ponykind and since time immemorial, the first thing they learned was the knowledge of fire. And soon followed the knowledge of everything;

The acknowledgement of knowledge itself.

And now, sitting here, it appears that the same fire that helped Ponykind from its humble beginnings would prove to be Ponykind’s enemy. Perhaps even it’s undoing as it billowed back and forth from the Everfree forest… repeatedly.

Almost... methodically.

Twilight squinted her eyes and peered at the inferno in the distance, as it began to move on its own. Like it had a sense of cardinal direction, opting for the path of the most potential destruction.

Then it breathed.

The inferno was rising and falling as if it was in the notion of breathing. Up and down, rising and falling. It looked impossibly mesmerizing, and Twilight had no idea as to how this was possible.

Then it lurched.

A fiery twister manifested from the blaze as it spiraled into the air, rising and rising. Higher and higher. It soon disappeared behind the overcast cloud cover, where it continued to billow with ferocity even as it went up higher.

Twilight couldn’t fathom what she was witnessing. It looked like a fire tornado, but there was no fathomable way for such a thing to exist. Surreally enough, it seemed to be thinning out as it continued to spin.

Until it landed.

Whirlwinds of ignited oxygen impacted the balcony in front of twilight, narrowly missing her as she jumped backward. Forgetting that she had a nearly broken hoof, she landed painfully so on it and collapsed.

Lying on her side now, she could see in the distance as the fire twister in the everfree finally thinned out of existence, manifesting instead onto the balcony as it grew in size in perpetual motion. Faster and faster, the whirlwind spun as embers glided and drifted aimlessly.

It suddenly slowed down. The twister was dimming and shrinking, as the size of it greatly diminished from a twister to an ethereal wisp of fire. Beyond the charcoal-tinted ash and smoke, she could see somepony standing in where the whirlwind was just manifested.

And an ashen alicorn emerged, its fiery mane and tail sagging with the weight of molten magma. Her hooves encased with shin guards of golden metal, her shaffron shielding the crown and cheeks of her head.

Twilight struggled to stand up once more, slowly this time to avoid pain. Tears flowed freely, as her leg pierced her nerves with sharp pain.

When finally standing, she couldn’t fathom what she was seeing… this wasn’t Celestia. She had her cutie mark, her physique perhaps, but this was somepony else entirely. It was as if a physical manifestation of the sun itself had landed in front of the Unicorn for punishment, its form overpowering and beyond imposing.

Celestia (if one could call her that) finally opened her eyes. Golden orbs of light replaced where her pupils should be, staring down upon the unicorn with an aggressive lean.

Twilight could only cower.

Agony

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Stillness.

Darkness unto silence in totality. It latched onto the world, unwilling to release the iron grip it had thus maintained. Darkness reigned and it was supreme, but not absolute; the glow from the stars granted an iota of illumination, but the moon remained dark.

Crickets that had once chirped incessantly lay silent. A breeze tickling through leaves and blades of grass morphed into the comatose atmosphere.

Then, even nothingness was not, nor existence. There was no air then, nor the heavens beyond it. What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping?

Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed?

Soprose.

Claustrophobic.

Suffocating.

... Then came light.

Bright and unblinding, the sun rose from the horizon to bless the land with its warmth and light. It ascended with such grace and majesty that it was impossibly indescribable. Casting its golden rays down onto the surface, a figurine soon took shape within the Castle of the Two Sisters.

The silhouette began to descend, the sun behind them still ascending in the sky without hindrance. The light dimmed around a silver-white alicorn, revealing the solar diarch in the flesh.

Strangely enough for her, the process of raising the sun was effortless and minuscule in difficulty, not at all how it was earlier; during Nightmare Moon’s return, the celestial body of her realm would be unwilling to respond to the calls of her magic, so long as the foreign and hostile entity of the Nightmare was still latching its iron grip onto the other.

As such, she expected the situation to… well, she didn’t really know what to expect—a faux de pas that had revealed itself in a creeping revelation, making Celestia painfully aware only now of all times that she was unprepared for this moment. Something reminiscent of a painful vice tugged at her heart, given her lack of preparation for such a climax.

The pale alicorn, finally standing within the interior of the old Castle of the Two Sisters, inhaled a breath of reassurance with her eyes closed. Upon exhaling, she opened them. At first, she found nothing but gaping mouths and wide eyes.

All of them locked eye contact with her, morbid horror apparent on their features. There were five colorful ponies that were huddling one another while simultaneously hugging a wall. Among them was Twilight Sparkle, who did not look like the Twilight that the pale alicorn remembered. An aura of foreign yet unimaginably pure arcane energy that looked like the night sky had surrounded her, and her physique was… that of an Alicorn.

Celestia was understandably confused. Twilight was separated from the rest of the group, the latter of which was still clustered for protection, a rainbow-maned pegasus standing between the alicorn and her companions as if she was protecting them.

"Twilight." The deity spoke atonally. She could see it in Twilight’s eyes, the essence of Dark Magic taking hold of her. Celestia had seen dark possession of this magnitude only once before when ancient Umbrum before time immemorial once possessed an Earth Pony from the Crystal Empire—a stallion named Sombra.

A stabbing vice pierced Celestia’s heart; A spiked-talon claw that refused to let go. She allowed this to happen to her, to her own pupil of all ponies. Sending her by herself… in hindsight, it was stupidly dangerous for her to send her into the fray without proper information to prepare. How could she have not realized that beforehoof?

Celestia rightfully cursed herself mentally, maintaining a steely facade on the surface of her features.

But Twilight doesn't seem too far gone yet. And with her knowledge of dispelling dark magic, Celestia knew where to start on fixing this mess. Focusing on her student’s well-being, Celestia allowed her magic to scratch a few… itches in Twilight’s mind that needed to be soothed, allowing her to finally think with clarity.

As such, Twilight’s physique was changing in front of everyone’s eyes, Celestia’s dispelling magic finally curing her mind. Her newfound wings also dissipated into thin air, billowing into mist and before vanishing out of sight. Golden auras of magic enveloped her entire being, altering her physical appearance to be reverted to her former state. Lavender replaced Mulberry on her coat; the mane and tail were of the same striped style with their original palette of color.

Just like that, Twilight’s “Ascension” had been reverted.

Upon completion, Twilight stood flabbergasted. Inspecting thoroughly, she found she indeed was reverted to her normal self once again. Her wings were gone, her coat and mane back to their previous pigment of various purples. But yet, she looked just as wide-eyed and paralyzed as before.

Celestia stood still, carefully inspecting the group of ponies in front of her. Each of them dared not to speak a word.

And then Celestia saw finally that their eye contact was not meant to be directed at her.

They peered behind her.

Celestia felt something… ‘pin’ her for lack of a better term, somewhere deep inside like a dart piercing her. She felt her breathing hitch for a moment, holding in a breath she didn’t realize she inhaled. Her muscles tense and stiff, her neck craning around behind her back with dread.

The Alicorn found her whole body soon turning with her head. There she remained as joint-locked as she did before. Everypony that was standing behind her now started to back up, the group now looking at Twilight with the same encompassing dread that had taken hold of everypony. She found herself cornered between an Alicorn and a group of ponies she had just met, the latter looking at her with wide eyes.

Twilight felt like she needed to cry, digging a hole beneath the earth so far deep where nopony could find her to just cradle herself for comfort. Yet she found herself paralyzed, panting as a panic attack was starting to sink its fangs into Twilight’s psyche. She couldn’t look at Celestia and instead peered at the girls with pleading eyes.

None of them were willing to forgive nor forget what they had seen, she could tell. They looked even more terrified than before.

"Girls?" she whimpered, barely a whisper.

No reply. Only confused, contemplating, scared, and angry stares.

"What."

Everypony froze as Celestia finally spoke again for the second time since arriving here. The word was barely even a word at that, spoken as if Celestia was choking on the word and struggling to pry it out of her mouth. Everypony turned to her, all of them terrified of what was to come.

Celestia was on the verge of hyperventilation, her muscles gluing her to the floor she stood on.

"W-What." A whispered stammer escaped her tight throat.

"C-Celestia?" Twilight summoned whatever iota of willpower that was left in her being to speak out.

"What did you do." Those four words did not sound like a question; the tone was too hollow and withered to suggest as such. A phlegm-induced choking sound emitted from her throat as if she was struggling to breathe. Celestia remained petrified.

Twilight on the other hoof felt her soul die upon those four words. Frozen in place, physically unable to move out of a deep-rooted, hoof-pounding terror of what was to come.

"What have you done?" she spoke again, this time a little louder.

Twilight dared to tilt her body to the side, peeking around Celestia’s body in front of her.

And still smoking from the blast that she was struck by laid a motionless body of a Charcoal, Thestral Alicorn. Never once did she move a muscle after the discharge of the spell.

Burned. Singed. Pierced by magic. A hole in her abdomen, cauterized by the intense heat of the blast.

Still and dead.

Celestia finally tilted her head off to the side; barely able to see a part of her features but not her eyes. "What have you done?" She grimaced. A golden aura of energy encompassed her horn.

"I-I… I don’t… S-she…" Twilight felt tears streaming her cheeks, her mind unable to come up with an answer of any kind.

"What have you done!?" Her Canterlot Voice boomed.

Her magic had enveloped Luna’s still body as if she was getting a feel for the being she was ‘holding’ in her grip. Celestia found no warmth, no energy, no emotion, no movement; no life.

Celestia’s stomach was churning and hot, and her limbs aching as they quaked relentlessly. The illumination from her horn only increased tenfold as time passed. Seconds passed agonizingly uneventful, and yet it lasted for what felt like years.

Twilight could see it coming, a discharge was inevitable.

The last thing she remembered before casting a shield spell was the tormented cries of her mentor.

And everything went white.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

Two beings stood idly atop a balcony of the Princess's Tower, overseeing the end of all things.

Acclimatization of the persistent heat that had blighted much of the troposphere had allowed Twilight to think in (relative) clarity and sanity. It hadn’t been easy getting to Canterlot by any means since this all began, but she was nothing if not persistent for Celestia… what was left of Celestia anyway.

She was tall. Taller than she was previously before transforming into this. Her frame was naturally bulky, yet sleek in the appendages. Her horn grew in length, along with her wingspan. Everything about her seemed to have changed, even her Cutie Mark. What was once a gentle and caring Princess Celestia, was now replaced by the wrath of a sundered sun.

But upon her dramatic arrival, as she phased into existence, Twilight found herself distraught by her mentor’s radical change in appearance. She could have sworn that the air that was immediately surrounding Celestia was a couple of degrees warmer, which did not help to soothe the already unrelenting firestorm gripping the world by its talons.

It probably had to do something with the fact that she was literally radiating and that she had hair made out of magma.

Yeah. Probably. She thought to herself.

"Twilight." she finally spoke. Bitterness and malice dripping from her voice like thick venom.

"Celestia?" a daring whimper from the unicorn.

"DO NOT SPEAK THAT NAME!"

The shockwave of the Royal Canterlot Voice was always hard to withstand, but this one felt more invigorated and powerful than any usage of the voice before. Twilight could not remain to stand and was toppled backward a couple of meters as the world spun all around her.

Landing painfully against the frame of Celestia’s ruined bed, Twilight struggled to stand on her hooves as she felt something being cork-screwed in all the wrong ways somewhere in her lower back. Apparently, the landing was rougher than she would like.

"You are a foal if you think calling me that name will help you. Celestia is not here."

Twilight didn’t answer, or rather she couldn’t. Her mind was drawing a blank from all of this heat that was still enveloping the air. The scent of carbon and sulfur pervaded her nostrils relentlessly, and the air felt unnaturally thin to breathe. The only reply was a coughing fit from Twilight.

Celestia (or whatever she preferred to be called) chose not to continue her conversation, and instead opted to turn her back on Twilight—not even gracing her with an acknowledging glance. Somehow despite all that had happened, Twilight felt more hurt than she could remember from what happened so far in this bleak Tartarus of a reality.

Twilight looked ahead with blurred vision, still dizzy from the knockback she had endured. Aching all over and struggling to stand, whatever was left of her rational mind was screaming at her that this was suicidal and hopeless.

Yet every option was also like that, so really those thoughts didn’t hold any weight to them. But she still didn’t have a plan on what to do. Whatever was left of Celestia was standing right in front of her, but she didn't even care for her presence enough to hurt Twilight or otherwise.

Twilight knew that she was going to be fighting an uphill battle in this debate; the equivalent of climbing a cliff with hooves and no wings. Extreme in the difficulty slope, and yet despite the very slim possibility of success, the prominent probability that Twilight would fail with losing her life—and therefore losing Equestria as a whole—was discombobulating to her exerted mind.

Yet she knew already. She can’t turn back now, not after all the distance she had traveled. It couldn’t have been for naught. And in reality, she knew had no better choice or any choice for that matter. This was the only way forward.

Against her.

Twilight awoke. Coming to, she couldn’t see anything but the dirt she face-planted against. For a moment, no physical sensation came to her. She felt still in the body, and it refused to respond to her commands. For a few horrifying moments, Twilight thought she was completely paralyzed from the neck down.

Clammy sweat was the first sensation she could feel at all. It clung to her coat and the supple skin beneath it. She could breathe, but it felt beyond weird; it was hollow and lifeless. She could feel the air, but not the lungs that held it.

Heat was the next sensation. It surrounded her uncomfortably, beyond warm, and instead sweltered in the dry, coarse air. It would explain the profuse sweating she was experiencing. The heat, while not particularly unbearable, was agonizingly uncomfortable.

Her ears stood at attention as her hearing finally came to. She could hear a new sound; Flames. A fire uncontrolled. The wind was howling quite loudly too as if it was a Gale.

Finally, another physical sensation came back to her; touch. She could feel her underbelly planted against the grass, her hooves in a tangled mess of limbs. Immediately after re-contacting the nerves in her body, she commanded them to move.

Only to be awarded by an overwhelming stabbing sensation in her abdomen.

Pain. It felt unbearably long and drawn out, any hint of movement only achieved further aggravation. Turning her head along the ground, she got a good look at herself. She was covered in her blood, of which was leaking slowly out of several large gashes that ruined her coat. The cuts were deep enough to leave scars. She could also feel bruises in some parts of her hooves and on her body.

Twilight’s mind reeled. She tried to recollect the closest memory she had. She remembered standing behind Celestia and in front of the girls. A flash of magic from her horn later, and everything became blurry and white.

Her heart suddenly fell to the pit that was her cold stomach as a new memory surfaced. One of her and Nightmare Moon’s altercation. Twilight remembered trying to protect her friends, unleashing every ounce of magic she had left. All on Nightmare Moon. Despair wracked Twilight’s soul. She felt the overwhelming urge to cradle herself and cry.

Turning her head a little to the sky, she finally found the source of the unrelenting heat. A great wildfire was burning a part of the Everfree Forest down. To her, it was shocking in itself to see such an ancient forest being able to burn like this. She would’ve thought it impossible if it wasn’t happening in front of her very eyes. Luckily to her, she landed in the one open spot of the Everfree that had grassland instead of an endless forest. The sky around her seemed to have tinted slightly more orange, and the sun was unnaturally brighter. In her haze, Twilight assumed the color change was directly tied to the fires next to her.

She tried to recollect memories of how she got here, but simply couldn’t. Everything is dark and fuzzy in her mind, and the pain all over her body didn’t help with that. Upon turning a little more with her head, she found the ruins of the old Castle of the Two Sisters… or what was left of it.

The upper tower that held the elements was completely destroyed, blown apart from the upper levels, and left nothing but a smoldering foundation; A fire still raged inside the castle. The blast was large enough to send chunks of flying debris everywhere, which was apparent to Twilight with the number of stray piles of rubble that were embedded into the ground all around her.

The urge to cry was irresistible now. Twilight remembered Nightmare Moon. The girls-

She felt her heart sink to the abyss.

Oh gods! The girls!

A piercing surge of panic overtook her psyche as she tried to will her body to move. Doing so only sent electric fire tingling down her nerves, sending thousands of sharp needles through her nervous system. She made an attempt to will her legs into motion, only to find that they did not respond to any of her commands. She looked down at her lacerated body with contempt.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, Twilight tried to move past the agony. She was rewarded with a few inches of crawling movement from her forehooves, desperate and pathetic. She collapsed mere seconds later, tears staining her cheeks as her nostrils clogged violently with blood and snot.

Her head was throbbing terribly, her vision swam. It threatened to transform into a migraine upon the strain and stress she was undergoing. There, Twilight found herself staring at the ground in despair.

She turned head at the once decrepit and derelict castle of the two sisters. Her companions nowhere to be found. Upon seeing the sight of the burning castle where she once stood, her throat tightened to the diameter of a straw.

She was truly alone.

The forest was mostly engulfed in flames, disintegrating into cinders wherever she looked. Balling herself up with her tail and body, Twilight could only choke on her own words while sobbing.

I failed. I failed. I failed. I failed. I failed. I failed. I failed. I failed.

Timid and weak hoofsteps trotted forward at a sluggish pace. The Lavender unicorn cautiously approached her former mentor, not getting too close to the magma-like tail that billowed in the turbulent wind. No words were shared. And Twilight struggled to fabricate an appropriate dialogue. Both ponies tempted the silence to stay.

Twilight idly looked around. Her eyes drifted back to the Everfree forest as flames licked its tongue along the countryside, eviscerating everything in its wake. Not even embers only soot and ash. Ponyville—or where was Ponyville—had been engulfed as well, leaving no original silhouette of its small skyline to show any hint of longevity from the town. This too was beyond recognition, with many of the structures long since collapsed on their foundation. She couldn’t even see Cloudsdale anymore. The City was all gone.

The sweat on Twilight’s brow was damp, forcing her to wipe her face several times with matted fur. The ambient heat seemed to be past triple digits, and she could feel blisters forming beneath her coat already. It was painful to even think; her head swam with a cold, piercing throb that pulsated agonizingly every second.

Closing her eyes and clutching her head with her forehooves, Twilight felt impossibly claustrophobic. Trapped within her own mortal body’s immediate demands, she was unable to conjure a coherent train of thought.

No Clarity. Only muddied waters. Constantly rippled and churning, like a storm’s tide crashing against a precipice. Uncertainty loomed in an unrelenting presence.

Opening her eyes again, Twilight was shocked to see her former mentor twisting her body to stare down at Twilight, with condescending contempt.

The eyes still glowed with golden orbs. Not even irises and sclera remained; the orbs of light were the sclera and iris.

"They are all suns." The ashen goddess finally spoke, eyes piercing Twilight.

The latter didn't dare to reply. The alicorn continued.

"I learned today that the stars in the sky are nothing more than just balls of heat and gas. Moved by magic, perhaps... If not by other forces. But they are all more or less the same. They are all just like the sun itself. They are all the sun. And the Sun is all of them."

Twilight approached, only by a single step. She couldn't see any stars in the sky. Only molten ash and soot poison the atmosphere.

"Luna had no control over the stars, really. And she never would have, if they are simply the byproduct of stellar dust drifting endlessly over a cold, empty void that for so long I thought was a prison."

Another step.

"Luna was destined to control the moon and her tides. I was destined to control the sun and her warmth. Neither of us was destined for the stars... Only fools would ask for power from the stars."

The alicorn twisted her body, her glowing pupils radiating an omnipotent aura. But beyond that grim glare, her voice was uncharacteristically somber.

"But I never asked for the power of the stars. I never asked for any kind of power, in fact. I never was given a choice from the start, and it cursed me to this life. Me and..."

her head hung low for a brief moment, causing a pause. Upon raising it again, her face was now stern with spite.

"You were a fool to return here. I assumed you perished in my ascension."

Twilight struggled to breathe. Talking was horribly dry and painful in her throat, her tongue cracked as if she was dehydrated. It was entirely possible that she was dehydrated and delirious, but it didn’t particularly matter to Twilight right away.

"Y-you mean the explosion... at the castle of the two sisters?" Twilight wheezed with raspy breaths in between sentences.

"You call it an explosion."

"Well I certainly didn’t see what could classify that lightshow as an ascension."

"Of course you wouldn't. Mere mortals are not expected to understand the work of Divinity."

"You claim yourself to be a Goddess?"

She spoke not as a caring and empathetic mother, but as a hag who ridicules foals for the sake of mirth and entertainment. To hate for the sole purpose of projecting hate onto others, to find catharsis. Twilight couldn’t see anything cathartic about this nightmare.

Spite.

It perversely clung to Twilight’s psyche, even now. She could practically taste the venom dripping from her. Memories of her altercation with Nightmare Moon were flooding back with bitter implications.

"Do you not see? The splendor and majesty before you? The beauty of my light? Did you not hear my soliloquy of how the stars are merely just distant suns? Do you not see what that means?"

"All I see is a Madmare." Twilight spoke, with just as much fear as well as audacity that she could muster.

"All I see is a dying world. There is nothing beautiful about it."

The fiery goddess of the Sun stared down at her former student with derision.

A smile slowly stretched her cheeks, lacking all subtlety to mask her malice.

Twilight felt her body lunge upward against her will, floating effortlessly off the ground. Surrounded in a magical aura, Twilight’s body moved in the direction leading towards the edge. She cried out in pain as the telekinetic magic enveloped her roughly and without care for her wounds.

Heart burrowing through her chest, Twilight’s delirious mind couldn’t think of a rational way to escape this predicament. Fear seized her, her eyes darted around looking for an escape only to find new avenues for her demise. Her legs felt limp and thick like jelly.

She then made the mistake of looking down at her legs, only to find herself standing on absolutely nothing but air. The only thing holding her in place is a thin layer of telekinesis, at the complete mercy of a deranged Alicorn.

Her body twisted around forcefully, and Twilight came face to face with the earth itself.

Everything was lifeless, or soon to be; vaporized into atoms. The Devastation was absolute.

Equestria wasn't just dying; It was suffering.

"You claim that I am a madmare when it is your doing that made me lose all my faith in ponykind. Your newfound 'friends' that you had made? They were quick to abandon you; or, perhaps they've perished, after my ascension? Who is to blame for the needless violence that befell my sister? Was it not them, and instead you?"

Twilight tried struggling against the unrelenting force that held her in place. Although her limbs flailed, she lacked the momentum to move.

"You think that you can hold the blame over my head because of what had happened? Latching it onto me when there was nothing more I could do?!"

Wings flapping, Twilight felt the hot air blast against her body from behind. Hearing the Alicorn take off, her mind momentarily froze when she saw her former mentor floating in front of her. The glowing eyes pierced through Twilight's soul.

Seeing her. Judging her. Looking through her corporeal shell with such ferocity, it would be mistaken her to be frowning in absolute disgust.

Or perhaps she was. It was getting hard to think for Twilight. The heat was impeding her ability to think rationally and logically.

"Do not play such foalish games with me. You are not above consequences just because you are brave enough to confront me. And the consequences are very clear, based on what you did; If you claim to know the whole truth, then enlighten me."

"What… What do I even call you as now?! Because you are clearly not Celestia! The Celestia that everypony knows and loves would never burn the land she rules! This is beyond cruel!"

"Was killing my sister any less cruel?"

"Less cruel?! Is that why you’re doing this!?" Twilight paused for a fast, deep breath. Your sister, Luna; I am so, so, so sorry for what had happened—but you are using her death as an excuse!"

"And what excuse did you have to commit regicide?"

"I HAD NO CHOICE! SHE WAS GOING TO KILL MY FRIENDS! SHE FORCED MY HOOF!"

"YET YOU KILLED HER! IT WAS YOUR CONSCIOUS DECISION TO KILL HER!"

The scream shattered any resolve that was left within Twilight. She had put on a good facade of bravery, but it was too much. The tears began to stream freely.

And she ashamedly felt a hint of dampness coming from her rear legs.

So many arguments. So many points of debate to choose from. And yet all for naught. And all for her death if she can't think straight.

Even now, Twilight could see it in her eyes. This Alicorn, whoever she is, was too far gone. Twilight hoped—pleaded to herself, even—for even the fledgling of a chance to have a peaceful solution. To find a way to amicably end the madness that plagued Equestria.

With the power of hindsight, she was no better off than she was before. She still felt just as hopelessly lost.

She still felt just as powerless and defenseless against such a force of nature. The incarnation of a Solar Flare cursing the world with its presence, seemingly insurmountable.

The only difference between now and before was that she was now dangling thousands of meters in the air completely helpless—again, at the mercy of a deranged alicorn.

Twilight choked as she cried. "I... I'm s-sorry."

Her eyes closed.

This had to be the end.

Twilight didn't know how long she had laid there, only that she laid there for a long time.

The tears had long since run out. She only choked on dry sobs at this point. Still remaining in that same fetal position since she first curled up from what seemed like days ago.

How long had it truly been? Only a few hours perhaps? A whole day?

She felt the air being hot as a summer's day since she began, the raging fires of the Everfree dissipating and spreading away from her as she hunkered in the middle of the open grassland. The temperature, despite the wildfires being so far from her, had continued to rise over the course of time. The sky was blue at first as if it was a normal day. In the few times Twilight willed herself to look up, she saw it morph into different colors.

Lemon. Citrus. Crimson.

It stuck on the latter for the longest time, and it grew hotter. Enough for Twilight to feel her skin starting to develop burns and blisters.

She was somewhat content with that. She felt she deserved to be punished. Punished for killing the returning princess of the night, after being imprisoned for so long.

She thought about what could have been different, and a thousand scenarios came to mind. all of them unpleasant to think about, yet somewhat better than the current reality she lived in. In an endless, repetitive cycle of mental fabrication and deprecation, she felt that the only person to blame was her.

It all fell on her.

The weight of the world was on her shoulders, and she couldn't succeed.

How is anyone supposed to recover from that?

A distant explosion caught her ears, forcing her to lift her head ever so slowly. She couldn't see from where exactly, but something was being blown up.

Was it Celestia?

... Celestia wouldn't do that, would she?

She peered to the sky, only to find a red overcast ceiling of clouds. The sun was nowhere to be seen, though its illumination remained.

And yet, it was wrong. The sky should not look red.

Why hadn't Celestia fixed the sky yet?

It wasn't lost onto Twilight that the death of Luna would have some drastic effect on the Harmony between the two Celestial Bodies, the Moon and the Sun. With the loss of one, the other might surely be thrown into disarray, to put it lightly.

From what Twilight saw, it seemed apocalyptic. The sun grew hotter by the second.

Suffocating dread was soon replaced by a horrific premonition in Twilight's psyche. If the sun continued to grow hotter, Twilight anticipated severe consequences to the delicate biosphere of the planet. And Celestia seemed to have no warrant on stopping it.

Perhaps she couldn't? Something was preventing her, maybe?

But what? And why?

...

Twilight, unwillingly, felt her aching hooves slowly lift herself up off the ground.

Groaning and stretching uncomfortably, she felt blood rush through parts of her body that were still asleep.

The sky remained unchanged. She peered at the mountain ranges in the distance.

Canterlot was there. And so, so far away.

It seemed impossible.

But the alternative would be to continue to lay here until she dropped dead.

... Despite everything, there was still some fight left in the Unicorn.

...

Twilight, reluctantly, opened her eyes.

And found herself still floating off the ground. A deep, plummeting demise still beckoning her below. Her breathing hitched upon seeing how high up she was, thinking for a moment that she had fallen.

The alicorn that held her felt a brief moment of hesitation. And a strange sensation took hold of her. Though her intentions were hostile and she fully intended to drop this pathetic pile of flesh, she felt a twinge of... something, tugging deep within her abdomen.

Her mind demanded, behested even, to give in to the temptation of releasing her. To rid the world of her presence.

Yet something else was screaming at her otherwise. A premonition of sorts, ephemeral and fleeting. Yet she still felt its presence quaking her inside, with resolute determination.

Tears began to pool in the eyes of the Alicorn.

"Hrmph." She grunted, wiping a hoof across her eyes to dry them. "You must be reminding the Celestia inside of something painful." She spoke with annoyance. "She hasn't been this vocal with me since I took over."

Twilight felt her heart skip a beat with those words.

"Took over? W-what do you mean? Then... who even are you, If you're not Celestia?" Twilight dared to ask, dangling over certain death.

The ashen alicorn seemed to have taken the question with a hint of reverence. Because she suddenly struck a tall and intimidating pose while standing completely still.

"Umbrae Nova. As you used to call 'Celestia,' she is now under my will. Technically I am both, but this is merely a corporeal vessel under my command. The reach of my will is infinite, child—I dare say it is beyond your comprehension, but that would be an insult to you. However, you still have a long way from understanding. And you are wasting my time with these frivolous questions!"

"What exactly is so urgent that it demands your immediate attention from everything dying and burning in Equestria!? What exactly do you have left that is so important?!"

"... Did you forget so easily? She sneered. I not only was destined to control the sun, but all of the stars! The very fabric of the aethers is under my command!"

"What does that have to do-"

"SILENCE!"

Twilight made a choking noise in her throat as she couldn't hold back the floodgates anymore. Whimpering and crying, she dangled her hooves helplessly.

"I should drop you here and now for being so impetuous and rude, not to mention you killing my sister."

"I... I know. A-and I-I don't forgive myself f-for it." Twilight pathetically cried between sobs.

She tried to remember why she came here. What was the one thing that she was willing to do for so many others before her time that she failed to realize now?

It was getting so hot she couldn't think straight. In Umbrae Nova's magic, Twilight had no chance at all for escape and was still at her mercy.

Her mind struggled to conjure anything.

"Then why did you struggle all this way from the everfree just to get here? Why did you will the courage to get back up and try to talk to me? Why go all this way, fighting against inevitability just to die at my hooves in the end? Were you hoping for a mercy killing?"

"N-no."

"Have you come to beg for my forgiveness?"

"No! I-I don't even forgive myself!"

"... Come to sow words of pity and sorrow into my heart to free my soul?"

"I... I..."

She had enough. Umbrae Nova was at her wit's end. if she failed to answer even a simple question, she shouldn't be here on this planet any longer. One more chance, she gave her.

The very bones of the earth shook when the ashen goddess spoke.

"ANSWER ME!"

"I DON'T KNOW, OKAY! I DON'T KNOW! I JUST WANTED TO SEE YOU ONE LAST TIME, TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY! I WAS ALONE AND I WANTED SOMEPONY TO BE WITH, TO GIVE ME ANSWERS! I'M SORRY!"

Her throat was scratchy and torn after such an episode. She opened her eyes after her episode and found more tears relentlessly streaming down her face.

... And Yet.

She could have sworn that she saw what looked like liquid lava pooling in her former mentor's eyes.

Might it be tears? Or... something else?

"You have nopony now. Your first and final mistake was assuming a companion in me. She stepped forward, each hoof being stomped upon the emphasis of every word uttered. Kin Killers. Deserve. Capital. Punishment."

Each step closer to twilight was also emphasized with a squeeze of her magical grip, suffocating Twilight by the throat. Panic took hold of her, her eyes struggling to blink as they darted incessantly for an exit. But there was none.

No way out. And fate tempting her below.

"Would you like to know the fate that will befall this planet when I am through with you?"

Twilight couldn't answer. Not that she had a choice.

"Because I have control of all of the suns, I will launch a crusade against the other solar bodies of the cosmos. I will evaporate this world first before I move on to vaporize other entire worlds by engulfing them in atomized, helium fire. And when their solar system is dead and gone, I will gladly find new ones to destroy. Space is a very, very big place. I will have my fair share. And I will build a new empire from the ashes where all are loyal only to me."

Twilight's vision began to darken, and her head felt like it was going to explode outward from the lack of circulation.

"And yet, what of you? What would you have, 60 years from now when you are on death's bed? Your lives and the lives of all of the ponies here are mere motes of dust in the cosmos, insignificant in the grand scheme of things!"

Twilight continued to cry through the pain; though the suffocation was unbearable, hearing her former mentor and ruler speaking these horrible repartees hurt her more than it should.

"So answer me this before I release you into oblivion: What do you have now, to warrant your existence? What is so special about this planet of yours, and your life as well, that you would continue to persist?"

Twilight didn't answer right away—or more accurately, couldn't answer right away; Her vocal cords felt torn; her lungs were burning inside due to a lack of oxygen; her eyes were dry and stinging like mad, even with the tears; for a few terrifying seconds, she couldn't speak a single word.

Twilight concluded that it didn't matter at this point. She knew that any coherent thought would prove incalculable and achieve nothing.

She failed at everything, even though she was so close.

So why should she convince her to live?

In her rational mind, she thought of it as suicide.

But in that ephemeral, seemingly frozen moment in time, her rationale was thrown out the window.

She only spoke what felt right.

An iota of willpower remained, and every ounce of it was used.

She rasped with whatever fleeting oxygen remained in her lungs before she would lose consciousness.

"I had you."

"..."

A rush of wind. Something collided.

Just as fast as it happened, it stopped.