Her last flame
"Well, well, well, I guess your little plan didn't work after all." The white alicorn taunted, stalking around the crippled creature. "One simple monitor, trying to conquer the very paradise that holds the last living alicorns? You must be dreaming. Surely that big head of yours knew that you couldn't defeat a creature closest to god; it's just absurd."
The orange-armoured mare paused circling her victim, now edging closer with a big grin plastered across her muzzle. "You may have taken one of my fellow princesses by surprise, but you've ignored the possibility of us alicorns having more power than you imagined." She eyed Tirek intriguingly. "I mean, have you ever wondered where our power truly comes from? We may be immortal beings, but that doesn't mean we have an unlimited source of power."
"For some of you, at least." The centaur spat, glancing to his left. "One of you, however, doesn't need another source of power, does she?" He questioned, eyeing his broken horn across the battlefield. "An adult who's just passed her teenage years has more raw power than you, a 'goddess' that can manipulate the celestial orbs and has been doing it for thousands of years?" He scoffed. "No wonder why you raised her like your own, better to have powerful allies than powerful enemies, am I right?"
She glared daggers into those golden eyes of his, yet didn't bother to answer him back. Because no matter what he said or did right now, his fate had already been sealed the very moment he set foot into Equestria.
It was a tragedy really. Back in her early years, just before Luna's downfall, Tirek was an honourable soldier, leading his clan to victory with intelligence like no other. The griffons coward towards the centaurs, Tirek's leadership skills overpowering the enemy and saving his homeland after years of war.
But yet again, the hunger for power had to poison another mind. His eagerness for control drove him to the darkness and for that, she couldn't feel true pity towards the broken soldier. He chose this path. He decided to betray his clan and would do anything to regain that power he lost hundreds of years ago.
But that wasn't what hurt her the most. He hurt the most important pony in her life, the pony who took away that loneliness and helped her become a better mare. He had hurt her. He had nearly killed her precious friend.
And that was something she couldn't accept.
Flames grew larger and hotter around the pair, crackling angrily under the sun's flare. It never waved, and it never stopped growing, engulfing the once tranquil fields into nothing more than a pile of ash.
Yet even after she displayed power, he never stopped smiling. That same old smile never faltered on his face.
And it was killing her.
He was taunting her, angering her. And it was working. She didn't care if he was getting the best of her because it would be him that would be suffering very soon. And she will enjoy every second of asserting revenge on this corrupted being.
Golden hooves crunched under the scorched earth, now only mere inches from the disappointment of a foe. The red monitor lay there on his side, his right horn missing and burns and gashes all along his body. His right hand was missing as well, every hoove severed in the battle, leaving him helpless before her might.
He didn't dare to move under the solar reagent's eye, just knowing that any sudden movements could quicked his trip to Tartarus. And even still, he never seized his smirk, reflecting the solar monarch's own, only making her angrier within every moment.
"You know, Celestia. Or should I say Daybreaker?" He chuckled. "Even if I'm about to die, I'm impressed with you ponies for once. I never thought another alicorn could even exist, especially one as powerful as she." Tirek mused, enjoying the look on Daybreakers' face. All he could see was rage. Pure, heated rage that only seemed to make him smile even more. She seemed blinded with anger for himself, which he couldn't blame; he did try and devour all the magic in Equestria and assaulted a fellow princess.
However, somewhere deep inside that ignorant princess, he could see the love she shared with her former student. The love he saw was pure and tender, like a mother's love for their child. He almost felt bad for the pair.
Almost.
"Yes," Daybreaker commented. "Twilight is quite the exceptional mare, someone who has surprised me many times through the years and never ceased to amaze me. She-"
"-She is a gifted mare, without a doubt your highness, yet what surprises me is you letting a young mare battle someone like me; a hungry 'monster' who would do anything to get what he wants," Tirek questioned, genuinely curious as to why she would pull such a foolish move. Sure, he wasn't the smartest creature on the planet, but even he knew that sending a young adult into the battlefield ALONE was a death wish, even if they did hold a lot of power. "Isn't she like a daughter to you or something? Because by the looks of it, you just want to get her ki-"
"DON'T YOU DARE ACCUSE ME OF WANTING TO MURDER TWILIGHT." A crimson sword appeared in an orange flash, aiming it straight into Tireks' throat. "I WOULD NEVER WANT HER TO SUFFER ANYMORE. NEVER." Daybreaker roared, her mane now blazing uncontrollably as her eyes glowed yellow.
'How DARE he accuse me of such felony. Who does he think he is, talking to his goddess like this?' She scowled at Tirek, edging that sword closer and closer to his vulnerable neck. 'Oh, when I ge-'
Cackles suddenly filled the area and went on and on, filling the deafening silence with a noise that may haunt her forever.
He was laughing.
He was laughing at her.
The solar monarch couldn't believe it. Did he find the idea of Twilight's demise... funny? Entertaining? She knew he was a good-for-nothing creature, someone who didn't deserve to live under her precious sun. But this? This was just heartless.
"Oh, sweet Celestia." He gasped. "Poor nieve, Celestia, are you sure you would never hurt your precious, little student? Because of the looks of things, it looks like you already have." He glanced to his right, focusing on something ahead.
The furious alicorn paused, confused as to what he was rambling on about. He didn't look back at her, only staring at something beside her. With nothing else to do, Daybreaker turned her head slowly, following Tireks gaze as curiosity filled her mind.
'What is he on about, I swe-'
She paused.
...
This couldn't be real.
It had to be a dream.
A really, really bad dream.
She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. It had to be a distraction, right? Some sort of trick to manipulate her into thinking she's lost, even though she's truly won.
Yet as much as she wanted to deny it, this was real. There were no changeling magic in that direction, no illusion spells or puppets designed to mimic her ex-student's appearance.
She was real.
She could feel the leftover magic resonating from Twilight's direction, that familiar feeling warming her frozen body, making her truly process the whole incident.
A sudden wave of realisation came to her as she remembered the battle just minutes ago. She had watched it all happen; she saw Tirek defeat Twilight and fall victim to his power. The younger mare was hurt severely, that she could tell. Yet now, after being close enough to see the damage, all she could see was a corpse of an alicorn.
Daybreaker trembled at the horror, trying her best to stand tall in front of the enemy. She glanced back at him, then back at her friend. Twilight lay motionless, blood covering most parts of her fur, noticing that the scars embedded in her haven't started to heal after she released the magic Tirek stole.
They should have healed by now. She should be okay. She SHOULD be alive right now.
If her eyes didn't deceive her, she swore she couldn't see a wing and a leg, only deepening the fears that she never thought were possible.
'How?... I don't understand, I released Tireks magic, she should have regenerated by now.'
Everyone knew that alicorns are immortal beings, being fueled by their magic and having tons of energy that cannot make them age, get ill or die. Magic keeps them together, it helps their organs heal and adapt to any conditions if necessary, even if your vessel was dead, any traces of your signature aura can raise you from the dead. Because without magic, they were just mortals.
Everyone got their magic back. But Twilight? All her magic was gone without a trace. She didn't know how it was possible to contain her magic or to even destroy it permanently.
Her friend was dead, permanently this time.
'Twilight... what have I done...'
Daybreaker's vision blurred. She didn't care if she cried in front of the menace beside her. She didn't care about anything in the world right now.
Because the filly she had loved and raised for all those years was lying there, dead.
Just yesterday, Twilight was sending letters to her, informing her about her studies (even if she isn't her student anymore) and discussed the little things, like how her day was going, or if anything interesting had happened in Cantorlot, or even recommending new cakes every now again. The most simplistic questions brought so much joy to Celestia, getting to answer her curious friend and chat about the wonders the world had to offer.
There was so much she wanted to do, so much she wanted to say to Twilight. So many experiments left to test, so many visits left to do and so many laughs they had left to share. But now? Now they couldn't. They couldn't be together once more, forever separated by the worlds of the living and the dead, having to wait years and years just to see each other once more. And that thought only brought loneliness and despair with it.
Because she just couldn't wait that long, not after what she had done to her.
It was her fault. She shouldn't have gone with that plan. Sure, they had the element of surprise or did before discord ruined it, but letting a 20-year-old battle a creature hundreds of years older was just a stupid idea. Twilight did have some experience with defeating ancient foes, yet she never faced such a ruthless creature before. Discord was nothing more than a prankster with too much power, Chrysalis was a starved Queen who just wanted food for her subjects (and Equestria but so they can control their food) and Nightmare moon just wanted love.
Sombra, however, was like Tirek; they were both poisoned by greed and wanted nothing more than power. But when Sombra wanted to rule the kingdom he was raised to protect them, even in harsh conditions, Tirek just wanted power for fun. For greed and most of all, for revenge.
'I should have fought Tirek in the first place, she wasn't ready for this...'
The white alicorn's eyes went cold, slowly turning towards the murderer before her. "She wasn't meant to end like this."
"She shouldn't of." A black claw pointed to herself. "It should have been you. I've been wanting to rip you open and enjoy your agonising death the very day you stole my kin away. You took my life from me, and now I wanted to do the same thing. I didn't mean to kill, Twinkle was it?-"
"-Twilight"
"Yes, Twilight or whatever." He continued. "But as I said, this never would have happened if you just faced me like a true warrior. You had too much confidence for your dear friend over there, and because of that ignorance, now she lays dead." Tirek hummed for a moment, shifting his body a little. "You could say we are equal now, you did kill my brother after all."
Daybreakers eyes flared, lighting the sword on fire still close to the monitor's neck. "I didn't kill him, you did. He changed, developed and became a new man. But you couldn't accept that, did y-"
"-HE WAS NOT MY BROTHER," Tirek growled. "That disgraceful piece of shit wasn't my brother, not after he sided with pathetic beings like you. He became soft, he became weak, HE BETRAYED HIS FAMI-"
"-ENOUGH!"
He paused, genuinely shocked to hear the volume of her voice. After some blinking, he gave her an unamused stare. "Jeez that was loud, couldn't you have just spoken it?" He grumbled, poking his claw in his ear.
Daybreaker inched closer, nearly touching faces with the very being she despised the most. "Then maybe, you shouldn't shout at a revengeful, grieving alicorn. As you said, you could have said it, not shouted it."
Tirek looked like he was going to talk even more, but started to cough a little. Blood started to drizzle from his mouth, now remembering the situation he was in. "I guess my time is running up, huh?" He chuckled. "It was worth it though, seeing you all depressed just before my demise. At least I got my revenge on you, even if it wasn't how I planned it to be."
Flames around the sword grew, now touching the neck of the monster below her. "Any last words, Tirek?" She ignored his last comment, not bearing to listen to this thing any longer.
The red centaur's grin widened amusingly, his eyes glistening with victory on his side. "I'll tell Twilight you said hi."
Daybreaker yelled as her blade surged forward, cutting right through the centaur's throat. He didn't make a sound, already dead by the flames eating his flesh inside out.
Fire burned through her eyes as she finally saw the villain defeated after all those years. It felt... good, great even. She got her revenge for the death of her most precious friend.
Tirek was dead, she had won.
But at what cost?