Purity Corruption

Chapters

Calm Before the Storm
The Broken Unicorn
A Secret to Fear
Action for a Reaction
Where It Began
In Like a Lion
Out Like a Lamb
Reign of the Night
Island of Independence
The Dangers of Anger
Spectrum of Guidance
Of Horn and Feather
Foreign Cloud
Epiphany of Despair
Castle Massacre
Corrupted Hopes
Altruism
Go for Broke
New Beginning
Unforeseen Doom

Calm Before the Storm

It was a peaceful day in Trottingham; warm and sunny with a gentle breeze that brought every pony in town outside from their homes and onto the streets. The stone roads and green lawns spread across the town beautifully, with individual gardens on each colourful house’s lawn. The many pretty flowers in each garden filled the air with peaceful aromas. The large road stretched from both ends of the town from east to west with houses on either side of the street, and a glamorous view of Canterlot Castle in the vast, distant, western horizon where the sun would rise every morning. In the center of town there was a roundabout in the road, with a tall statue on a pedestal of the Equestrian Princess who ruled in the western castle, Princess Celestia.

Ponies all over town were greeting each other with smiles and expressing ‘good mornings’. Indeed a friendly place, and not too large or too small. Just big enough that everypony in town knew each other by name. There was one young filly in town who just recently turned the age of seven, who seemed to collect the most attention from the other ponies: A white unicorn with a soft golden mane, dazzling blue eyes and a bright smiling attitude they all knew too well.

The white filly trotted happily along the street, greeting every pony she passed along the way with a big open-mouth smile. By the way she was jogging as such with a pair of saddlebags resting over her back; it appeared as though she was on a mission. Galloping closer to her destination, she reached a booth of fruits in the market where a pony was perched behind it, crouching down beneath the stand, seemingly searching for something.

“Good morning, Hearth!” The young filly beamed with a tall posture and huge smile. The pony behind the booth paused her search and quickly lifted her head where the filly could see her. A green coloured mare with a light red mane and eyes the colour of blueberry. Her cutie mark was a pair of cherries, which was easily picked up with her passion for gardening and marketing tasty fruit. The name ‘Hearth’ wasn’t her real name, but everypony tended to call her that jokingly because of her Christmasy colours, which she accepted respectably.

“Altruise, good morning!” The green mare greeted the small familiar white unicorn. “Oh! Your package is right here, darling.” She exclaimed, reaching beneath the booth and picked up a basket of multiple fruits with her teeth at the handle, and reached it over to the seven-year-old. Altruise leaned up and got a hold of the basket in her jaw, and once the green mare released the basket, it thumped into the ground from the weight. The basket was about half the size of the young filly, so her attempts to lift the heavy basket seemed rather amusing, or in a better word, cute. Altruise reached into her left saddlebag and pulled out a glass piggy bank, holding it up to the merchant behind the booth.

“I’ve been saving for a week for this!” Altruise beamed as Hearth plucked the cork from the bottom of the piggy bank, and started shaking out the coins onto the counter. They made a tapping sound with each coin dropping to the wooden countertop. The mare counted out the coins and happily put the filly’s change back into the piggy bank.

“This was quite generous of you, I’m sure they will love it.” Hearth smiled warmly at the filly, handing the piggy bank back to her. “You have yourself an excellent day! Tell your mom and dad I said hello.”

“I will, Hearth. You have a good day too!” With that, the filly put her piggy bank back into her left saddlebag, then grasped the basket of fruit with her teeth by the handle, and began dragging it backwards along the stone ground with her. Hearth watched her leave the booth, giggling at the filly dragging the basket that was much too heavy for her to lift.

Dragging the basket through town, other Trottingham ponies watched the filly and adored her cute motives. She was always on the run, always looking for a pony to brighten their day. Her kind nature told the story of her cutie mark as it was: A solid outline of a silver heart with golden sparkles. Whenever she had a package being dragged around in town like this, it was never for herself. She always had somepony on her mind she wanted to give something to.

Altruise made her way to a yellow house and dragged the basket of fruit down the entrance path to their door. She released the handle of the basket and knocked her right forehoof against the door, and sat waiting patiently with a big smile and an excited swaying tail. Moments later, the door gracefully swung open, and in the door was a blue mare and a red stallion, with a purple baby foal crawling around in the background living room of the house.

“Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Chili!” Altruise greeted happily.

“Oh! Altruise!” The blue mare beamed.

“Well, well. What a surprise!” The red stallion exclaimed. The two ponies then peered down at the fruit basket.

“What’s all this?” Mrs. Chili questioned in awe, pointing a hoof down at the large basket. Altruise grasped the basket handle with her teeth and pushed it toward them, and she sat back down on the doorstep with her well-known joyful smile looking up at them.

“I wanted to congratulate you on your new foal!” Altruise exclaimed, expressing herself joyfully with eyes as bright as the clear blue sky. “I saved up to buy this basket of fruit for you for the occasion.”

“Oh my, Altruise thank you, but you really didn’t have to do this for us.” Mrs. Chili was overwhelmed. This was far more than she’d expect from any pony, let alone a young filly. However, this wasn’t an uncommon gesture from this particular pony.

“Of course I did.” Altruise insisted, pushing the basket closer to the new parents. She looked back up at the couple and perked her ears with a smile. “Please enjoy.”

“Oh, we most certainly will. Thank you very much.” Mrs. Chili finally accepted, picking the basket up by the handle with her teeth. Mr. Chili chuckled and patted Altruise on the head in a friendly gesture.

“You sure are one of a kind, Altruise. Thanks for thinking of us.” He exclaimed happily.

“Hehe… Well have a good day!” Altruise bid them a fare well and started skipping off their property.

“We certainly will. You too.” The stallion saw her off their yard and closed the door behind them as Altruise made her way back onto the street, trotting westward. Skipping along, she looked over the distant horizon at Canterlot. The excited grin on her face suddenly turned plastic, as if the view of the castle bothered her.

“Well… Just two more days before I’m back in school.” Altruise murmured to herself in the attempt to try and at least sound excited. Shaking off her view of the castle, she trotted onward with a renewed bright smile, turning to her left approaching a teal house. On the front yard working outside on the lawn was a mare working in the garden planting flowers, and a stallion which was trimming the trees while flying near the higher branches with his full pegasi wings.

The mare was a cyan coloured unicorn with a golden mane and sparkling blue eyes. Her cutie mark resembled a heart-shape cut out of the center of a golden sparkle-shape star, vaguely similar to Altruise’s cutie mark. She was a gifted unicorn with a talent of particularly strong healing magic.

The pegasus stallion had a white coat with a dark red mane. He had a dark shade of green eyes, and his cutie mark resembled that of a shield and sword crossing through it. Nopony could really tell the exact tale on how he received his cutie mark, but as far as the stories Altruise has heard from the stallion himself, he was once a warrior at Canterlot protecting the castle, but he stepped down from his guardian position when he met the cyan mare and moved to Trottingham with her to start a new and more peaceful life.

“Hi Mom, hi Dad!” Altruise greeted these two ponies, trotting onto the yard with graceful bounding hooves.

“Hello, sweetie.” Altruise’s mother turned to the filly with perked ears, “Did Mr. and Mrs. Chili like their gift?”

“Oh yes.” The filly nodded, swishing her tail through the air excitedly.

“That was sure generous of you.” Her father pointed out proudly, flying down to the filly from up in the tree and landing next to her. “You should really save up to buy something for yourself though.”

“Money doesn’t buy happiness. Giving creates it.” Altruise exclaimed, repeating one of the lessons her father has taught her several times before.

The stallion just shook his head in a proud manner and chuckled, patting her on the back. “That’s my girl.”

The unicorn mother planted the last of her flowers into her garden and turned to trot toward her daughter. “It’s passed noon, you must be hungry!” She presumed with a beaming smile.

“Starving.” Altruise replied quickly, swaying her tail back and forth.

“Well alright then.” Her mother giggled, “Why don’t we all go inside and have some lunch?”

Altruise nodded and skipped ahead toward the house. “I’m so hungry I could eat whole watermelon.” Using her front hooves she swung the door open and trotted inside. A pleasant aroma filled the entrance of the home, lifting her snout into the air as she licked her lips, closing her eyes to absorb as much of the scent as she could through her nostrils. “…Or whatever that is that I’m smelling.”

Her parents followed behind, entering the house after her. They closed the door behind them, watching the filly skip off into the kitchen with interest to see what was on the menu. Altruise peered up over the stove finding a pot of freshly simmering vegetable soup, and the additional spices sang to her sniffer with grace.

“Oh my, this smells good…” The unicorn inhaled deeply through her nose above the pot of soup, breathing in the scented steam with fervor. With a thrilling bound, she trotted to the kitchen table just a few feet over and sat down patiently waiting for her parents to sit at the table with her.

Her father was the first to seat himself at the table, and her mother approached the stove. Using her unicorn magic, a magical cyan aura surrounded the scoop in the pot of soup. A cupboard magically opened up, and three hovering empty bowls floated over to her from within the cupboard of dishes. “I did something a little different with the recipe this time with the spices you got me for my birthday, Altruise.” She said as she scooped some of the soup up from the contents of the pot with the same levitation spell, and poured some steaming vegetables into each bowl, and then levitated the three bowls over to the table as she followed along and sat in her seat.

Altruise was the first to taste the soup, putting her lip to the rim of the bowl and tipped it to the side to slurp the broth into her awaiting mouth. “Mmmh…” The warm broth and vegetables poured over her tongue that soothed her mind. She let the bowl tip back right-side up and she lifted her head to chew the vegetables in her mouth, swallowing the contents that felt like a gentle hug from the inside out once it hit her empty stomach.

“It turn out okay?” The mother anxiously questioned the filly, who quickly nodded back to her with a gasp for air.

“Wow, Mom.” Altruise exclaimed, licking her lips clean of broth. “This has to be the best soup you’ve ever made.” She tipped her bowl back and drank some more gumbo.

Her mother gave a warm smile. “I’m glad you like it. I’ll have to make this again then.”

The pegasus father was slurping some soup himself while holding the bowl closer to his mouth with his front hooves, nodding his head in agreement. “Mmmhm!” He managed as he swallowed the warm broth. He put the bowl down and glanced over at his daughter. “Altruise, you must be excited.”

“Excited?” Altruise perked her ears and lifted her head curiously, “About what?”

“School, ya silly filly.” Her father snickered, “Just two more days!”

“Oh. Heh… Yeah.” Altruise stuttered in response, which didn’t sound too thrilling of a reaction. “Right.”

“Is something the matter, dear?” Her mother questioned her stuttering, “You should be thrilled to get to go back to school. Wouldn’t it be splendid to finally be able to use unicorn magic?”

“Well, I am excited to go.” Altruise tried to explain herself, “But the thing is, what if I don’t do well? I mean, you remember Magic Kindergarten?” She groaned to herself at the thought and planted her face into her hoof.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of that you weren’t able to use magic at that age.” Her father reassured her, “Magic isn’t something you learn over night.”

“You’re not a unicorn, Dad. You wouldn’t understand.” Altruise sighed and sipped some more soup.

“I mean just look: They may have learned some magic, but you received something else before any of the other students did.”

Altruise nodded with a sigh, looking at the heart on her flank. “Yeah.” She looked back up at her father, trying to ease her thoughts on school. “I think I might just be nervous, is all.”

“Oh honey, you’ll do just fine.” The cyan unicorn waved her hoof like it was no big deal, holding her bowl of soup with her magic aura near her mouth. “It took me until I was half-way through Kindergarten to actually cast my first spell. Did you know that the very first time I used magic, I gave my Kindergarten teacher a wicked hilarious hair-do?” She tipped back giggling, “The look on that stallion’s face was priceless!” She leaned forward, taking a sip of her soup. “Total accident, I swear.”

“Right honey.” The pegasus chuckled.

“Yeah, it kinda looked something like this.” The mare’s horn illuminated, and with a puff of static magic sparkles atop the pegasus’ head, his mane was suddenly all tangled and curly, like he had just got out of bed the morning after a shower before he slept. With a mouth-full of soup, Altruise started laughing hysterically at her father’s bed head, trying to contain the broth sealed behind her lips without spitting any from her laughter.

“What?” The pegasus looked at the other two ponies unsure what was going on at first, “What’s so funn—Oh! Ohh no you didn’t.” He threw his hooves onto his head, brushing his messy mane.

Altruise swallowed her soup to speak. “Oh yes she did!” She laughed, tipping back in her chair, pointing a hoof at him with intense giggles. The stallion continued brushing his mane with his hooves to get the tangles out.

“Oh, Mom?” Altruise peered over to the cyan mare, “Is it okay if I hang out with Mila after lunch? A group of her friends are going to be there, and she wanted me to come too.”

“Oh that’s fine.” Her mother replied smiling, “Will you be back for supper?”

“Yeah, I think it’s just for a few hours, so I’ll be home for then.” Altruise exclaimed, sipping some more of her soup, “She wanted to get together with all of her friends one last time before summer break was over.”

“Sounds like fun!” The cyan mare encouraged the idea, “What sorts of things do they plan on doing?”

Altruise shrugged, “I don’t know, probably play some games.” She tipped her bowl back and drank the last of her vegetable soup, wiping her lips dry with the side of her hoof. “Thank you for the lunch, Mom. That was really good.”

“Of course! I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

Altruise smiled and trotted away from the table, “Well I think I’ll go then. I’ll be back later.”

“Well alright, enjoy your afternoon.” Her mother encouraged.

Her father snickered as the filly skipped by, “Have fun.”

“I will, thanks!” That said, she opened the door to the house and trotted outside, closing it behind her. From there she skipped off their property and back onto the stone road and turned to the west, her friend’s home just a block away. During her walk, she kept glancing up at the castle in the horizon. Though she was excited, there was this nervous feeling that she just couldn’t seem to shake off.

* * * * *

Altruise approached the entrance of a blue home with multiple flowers on either side of the sidewalk to the doorway. She trotted up to the entrance and with her right forehoof she knocked at the door and sat patiently waiting. Moments later, the door opened and a pink unicorn filly with white hair—who was roughly Altruise’s age—was in the opening of the house.

“Hey Altruise!” The pink filly beamed, swinging the door open wider, “Come on in!”

“Thanks Mila!” Altruise smiled and entered her friend’s home, closing the door gently behind her.

“The other girls are in the living room.” Mila exclaimed, skipping further into the house with Altruise following along. When they got around the corner in the hall, entering the living room, Altruise saw five other fillies all roughly the same age as herself and Mila. One green, another purple, a couple of them were different shades of red, and last but not least a white one.

At first, Altruise was excited to meet Mila’s group of friends, until she made the sudden realization, every single one of them was a unicorn. That wouldn’t bother her so much if they weren’t all using levitation magic on crafts.

“Er, hi.” Altruise managed to say in a squeak. She suddenly felt a great deal of pressure. The first thing crossing her mind was being laughed at if the other girls found out she couldn’t do magic.

“Oh, another white unicorn!” The white filly in the group glanced over to the newcomer, “You must be Altruise! Mila has told us about you.”

“Sh-she has?” Altruise tried to stop thinking about what was bothering her and to try act normal. “Ahem—well, I certainly hope nopony has heard anything silly!”

“Silly?” The white filly chuckled, “Oh heavens no! Come sit. We’re making dresses out of construction paper and fabric for our pony dolls.” She lifted her doll into the air with her magic to show off her precious dress design.

“That looks… Pretty good.” Altruise blinked, impressed with the white filly’s work of art.

“Friends, this is Altruise!” Mila finally began introducing one another, “Altruise, these are my friends from out of town: We don’t get to see each other too often. The green one there is Jill, the purple one’s Violet. The two red ones are twins, Cherry and Blossom. And the white one there is Rarity. She is particularly from Ponyville; the others are all from Canterlot.”

“Nice to meet you.” Altruise exclaimed.

“Nice to meet you too.” The girls all replied, almost simultaneously.

Mila trotted over to her friends and sat down on the carpet, levitating a doll of her own and some fabric to piece together. Altruise slowly followed behind, and sat down with the rest of the girls. She looked down at the crafts on the carpet and gulped nervously, and figured that perhaps she would be able to get around her obvious lack of magic ability by simply not mentioning it, and she lifted a doll with her left hoof. She picked up some fabric with her right and looked at the two to think about what she could do to make them piece together.

“I don’t do a lot of crafts at home.” Altruise factually explained, using her hooves to attach the fabric to the doll. She picked up some ribbon as well and tried tying a bow to the top of her poorly constructed dress. The other ponies watched her putting her craft together, and she kept glancing up at them every few moments, getting cautious if they were staring at her because she wasn’t using her horn or not.

“You know, it’s like, ten times easier to tie a bow with magic.” Jill blurted, using her unicorn magic to tie the bow on Altruise’s doll for her.

Altruise felt a lump in her throat from her nervousness and swallowed, “Ahem—Yeah. Right.”

“Hey! Altruise has a cutie mark!” Violet exclaimed aloud, bringing up several gasps in the room from the other ponies, excluding Mila who obviously already knew about it. The rest of the fillies in the room were all blank flanks.

“Oh, yeah.” Altruise put her doll on the floor, peering down at the heart on her flank, “I just got it a few weeks ago.”

“How’d you get it so early?” Cherry questioned, pouncing in her seat.

“What does it mean?” Blossom added abruptly, tilting her head.

“Yeah, what kind of talent does a heart represent?” Jill was also now trying to get information out of her.

Altruise smiled with her common joyful expression, happy to tell them about it. She sat up straight and began her explanation. “Well, a heart, as everypony knows, represents love. You see, when I—”

“—Love?” Cherry interrupted, “Love isn’t a talent. Is it?” She peered over at her twin sister, directing her question at her.

Blossom shrugged. “I’unno. I thought it was just an emotion.”

“Well, I—Sure it’s a talent.” Altruise tried covering her story after the sudden built pressure from the abrupt question. “Well, perhaps not necessarily your regular ability talent, per say. It’s just… something I really love to share. Nothing brings a smile to another pony than simple kindness. And nothing makes me happier than to see another pony happy. I got my cutie mark realizing that I can make any frown disappear with just a little bit of cheer.”

The other fillies all blinked silently. Altruise’s ears lowered, thinking her story may have sounded pathetic.

“Sssoooooooo… Your talent is making ponies smile?” Violet tried to figure her explanation out.

“Yea—well, sorta, I… It’s hard to explain.” Altruise sighed, frustrated at her lack of understanding it herself. “Love is more than just an emotion. Not very many ponies quite see it that way though.” She smiled warmly, “It’s something bigger, something every pony needs. Every pony needs to smile, so that’s what I do.”

“You smile?” Jill raised a brow, “That’s your talent?”

“No!—I mean I can make other ponies smile.” Altruise rolled her eyes, then peered back at her new friends. “My cutie mark may not seem all that exciting, and perhaps it’s just because I can’t explain it right. Love is very complicated to understand, even for me. But I’m proud of this cutie mark, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.”

More silence and blinking eyes.

“Well, Altruise. Do you want to know what I think of your cutie mark?” Rarity spoke up from in the group, “I think it’s a beautiful thing, you should feel completely blessed. You are totally right, love is a hard feeling to explain, but it is an essential part of life.”

Altruise’s ears perked and she smiled, “Thank you, Rarity.”

“I can’t say that I quite understand it myself.” Jill confessed, “But I know it plays an important role in everypony.”

“Yeah… Without love, we’re all just…” Blossom scratched her head with her right forehoof, trying to figure out how she would be able to finish that sentence.

“Empty.” Cherry finished Blossom’s sentence with a word that she felt was appropriate. Blossom looked over to her and nodded. The other ponies all looked back and forth at each other, nodding in agreement to their statements.

“Any pony without love is like… A unicorn without its magic.” Violet exclaimed, and noticed right then when Mila looked at her with a cut-it expression. Violet looked at her and shrugged. “What?”

Altruise’s ears slowly lowered, and she looked down at her cutie mark. She glanced back up at the group, trying not to make that last comment from Violet a big deal, as she knew it was unintentional, but it caught her off guard. “I-I um.” She stuttered, but couldn’t bring herself to say anything further.

“Was it something I said?” Violet asked, acknowledging Altruise’s hurt expression. “I didn’t mean anything bad—”

“—I know.” Altruise interrupted, and sighed, slouching lower to the floor.

Mila leaned in closer to Violet to whisper. “She doesn’t know how to use magic.” She said very quietly, though obviously not quiet enough, as everypony else heard it. The other ponies all jumped, and Altruise let out a little whimper as she slouched even lower into the floor, with her ears to her sides, embarrassed.

“Huh?” Jill was blinking from what didn’t seem to make sense to her, “You got your cutie mark already, but you don’t even know how to use magic yet?”

“Usually unicorns learn magic first.” Cherry exclaimed abruptly.

“Yeah, and normally by the time they’re five.” Blossom added to Cherry’s statement.

“I learned my first spell when I was four.” Violet exclaimed proudly.

“I-I um…” Altruise just couldn’t speak. The humility was just too much. She suddenly felt like a younger, helpless foal.

“Girls…” Mila tried shushing the others, as she knew the subject was very sensitive to Altruise. The room went silent, all eyes on the unicorn of no magic. Moments passed, and Altruise limply stood up.

“I-I’m um… I’m gonna… I forgot to uh… I-I…” She stuttered, and with a fluttered sigh, she walked away from the group, “I gotta go.”

“Altruise, come on, wait.” Mila stood up and trotted over and around her friend, standing in front of the hurt unicorn eye to eye. “I’m sure they didn’t mean anything offensive out of this conversation.”

“A unicorn without magic at the age of seven.” Altruise’s eyes were half-open, with a hint of tears beginning to form. “Do you remember me struggling in Magic Kindergarten?” She whispered to Mila so the others wouldn’t hear her. “Everypony laughed at me…”

“Altruise, that doesn’t matter.” Mila tried to ease her humiliation, “You’re unique in your own way. That’s what you told me when you got your cutie mark and I was all jealous…” She tried to hint a little chuckle to lighten the conversation.

Altruise sighed, “It’s a miracle they didn’t bump me back into Magic Kindergarten this year.”

“Hey, at least you get to move up into my class with me again this year.” Mila smiled.

“Yeah…” Altruise looked to the side, feeling warmth from that comment. “You’ve always been a good friend and supportive to me.”

“Altruise, we didn’t mean to make a fuss out of this.” Rarity tried to join in and cheer her up as well. “Come back and sit with us. Let’s talk about something else.”

“I only have two days before school…” Altruise realized to herself with sudden gasps in her breathe, disregarding Rarity’s suggestion. “W-what am I going to do? How will I get through classes?”

“Don’t worry so much about it.” Mila put a hoof on her shoulder, “It’ll work itself out. Now let’s go sit with the girls and make some crafts.”

With a long sigh, Altruise tried to calm herself. “Yeah…” She nodded plastically, and they went back to the other fillies to carry on with their doll dress designing. She could never figure out why her magic was so late. Needless to say, she has practiced; a lot. But the unicorn could never even make a spark. Though it was difficult, she put the thought aside, and tried to enjoy the rest of her afternoon with her new friends.

* * * * *

The Broken Unicorn

Throughout the remaining afternoon, the fillies continued with their crafts and played cards and board games. Altruise seemed to notice that the other fillies were using their magic less after acknowledging that she couldn’t use it. She could tell that they were trying to make her feel less out of place, though it still bothered her.

“Altruise, you’ve been so quiet all afternoon.” Rarity pointed out, shuffling a deck of cards with her hooves.

“Oh, I…” Altruise paused briefly, biting her lip. “It’s nothing. I guess I’m still a little jealous about all of your magic.” She exclaimed honestly, “But I shouldn’t let that get in the way of our afternoon. Don’t mind me. Just have fun!” She tried smiling to ease any concerns.

Rarity began dealing cards to the individual fillies. “Well, we all want you to have fun too. I do wish there was something we could do to help.”

“That’s awfully kind of you, Rarity.” Altruise smiled warmly at the Ponyvillian, “Really though, I’m fine. And you don’t need to avoid using spells to make me feel any better.”

“Well, I don’t want to do something that bothers you.” Rarity said, momentarily stopping her dealing to look up at the filly of no magic.

“It’s alright.” Altruise insisted calmly, “You should be grateful that you can do it.”

Rarity shrugged briefly. “Well, okay, if it isn’t going to bother you.” With that, she used her magic to deal the rest of the cards all at once in a mere second.

Altruise immediately felt a lump in her throat watching Rarity pull it off, and gulped hard. She picked up her cards that was set face down in front of her, and held them in her hoof in front of her. The rest of the unicorns did the same with their cards, except using levitation magic and no hooves.

The more she watched her friends doing magic, the more she envied them. Thoughts began to stir in her mind with questions she’d often ask herself. Why is it that she got her cutie mark before her magic? Is it normal for some unicorns to have to wait this long to be able to use magic? Was it a defect in her horn?

She shook her head, trying to scratch the questions from her mind. A quiet sigh and a fake smile, she carried on throughout the afternoon.

* * * * *

Altruise returned home, silently and slowly entering the front entrance. She took a few steps into the house before her father caught her sour expression entering from the living room.

“Hey, why the long face?” He questioned, approaching his daughter.

“Meh…” Altruise rolled her eyes and sat on her flank on the floor, looking to the side. “It’s nothing.”

“This isn’t about the whole magic thing is it?”

“Maybe.” Altruise murmured before looking up to her father in frustration, “Why is it taking me so long to learn?”

“In time, you will.” The pegasus declared, “Every pony is different when it comes to discovering their talents and abilities. Some take longer than others.”

“Dad, I already have my cutie mark.” Altruise took a glance down at her flank, then back up at her father. “Doesn’t that just seem a bit strange to you that I’d get that before I learn how to use magic? That never happens, at least not from what I’ve heard. What if my horn is defective or something and I never learn?”

Her father sighed and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “It’ll come.”

“I should’ve learned magic at least when I was five.” The young unicorn continued ranting, “You know what the other ponies at school called me? A Fake Unicorn.” She lowered her ears and exhaled an annoyed grunt, “I don’t know if I want to go back this year.”

“Ah, c’mon. Give it a chance. I’m sure you’ll find your place.” He smiled reassuringly. This didn’t seem to affect the filly however; she just glanced back at him with half-open depressed eyes. The father’s smile turned somewhat plastic, and he sighed, uncertain how he could make the filly feel better.

“Dinner’s ready!” They heard a sudden voice call from the kitchen.

“Alright. Let’s go eat.” Altruise’s father suggested, trotting toward the kitchen. “Perhaps food will help.”

Altruise sighed and followed her father to the kitchen. “Yeah.” She murmured with a lack of enthusiasm.

The kitchen table was already set, plates at each seat, and a vegetable pizza in the center. The three ponies all sat down at their seats and helped themselves from the plate of pizza, putting a piece in their plates. Altruise’s mother lifted her slice with her magic to her mouth and began eating, and her father lifted his own with his hoof like a pegasi. They took a few bites before they realized that Altruise wasn’t eating her piece, but simply staring at it with squinting eyes.

“Altruise?” Her mother questioned the small unicorn, lowering her slice of pizza.

“I’m concentrating.” Altruise grunted, staring even harder into the food in her plate. After a few moments, her face was beginning to turn red.

“Honey, don’t try so hard.” Her mother suggested to the filly, “You’ll only hurt yourself—”

“I can do it!” Altruise raised her head over the table above her plate, and placed her hooves on the table. She looked down at the pizza beneath her head with frustration as she made loud grunting sounds, trying with all her might to cast a spell.

The unicorn and pegasus parents looked at each other in concern, then back to their filly in pity. They wanted their daughter to be happy and proud of who she was, but seeing her try so desperately to cast a spell like this was painful for them to watch. They didn’t want to admit it, but this was indeed abnormal for any unicorn her age to be struggling this bad with magic. It was becoming a concern even for them that perhaps her horn may even be defective in some way or another.

“Altruise.” Her father sighed, putting his pizza back in his plate, and kept watching her struggle. Altruise was beginning to hiccup tiny sobs during her aggressive grunts to cast a simple levitation spell on her food in her plate.

“Sweetie, please…” The mother leaned forward, speaking softly to her daughter. Tears began to drip from Altruise’s saddened eyes while maintaining full concentration on her attempts to cast a spell. Her mother continued, “You’re working yourself way too hard. You’ll tire yourself out… Please, don’t do this to yourself—”

“AAAAHH!” Altruise screamed. Her sudden loud voice nearly raddled the room, startling her parents. With a quick, angry swipe of her front right hoof, she swatted her plate off the table, which shattered on the floor with a smear of tomato sauce. She collapsed into her seat, and folded her front limbs upon the table, sobbing hard into her arms with her head down. She hiccupped and she cried, loud, with her screaming cries being muffled by the pillow of her own hooves.

“Altruise…” Her mother stood up and trotted around the table, leaning against her daughter gently, with her hoof against her shoulder. “Honey, please… It’s okay. You’ll get it…”

“NEVER!…” Altruise spat, rolling her head in her folded hooves on the table, sobbing and gasping for air lost during her cries, “I’ll never get it! I’m broken I’m a Fake Unicorn!…”

“Honey, no.” Her mother rubbed her hoof against her shoulder, “Don’t think like that.” She sighed, trying not to cry herself. “C-calm down, please.”

“I can’t take it any more!!” Altruise yelled, quickly jumping out of her seat, and she ran out of the kitchen, through the living room, and up the stairs toward her bedroom where her parents heard a loud slam from the kitchen.

They looked up to the ceiling in the direction to where they followed her hoofsteps on the upper floor, and then looked down at each other wide-eyed.

“I’ve never seen her act like this.” The stallion blinked a few times, feeling sick to his stomach. “Ever.”

The cyan unicorn was holding back tears that wanted to leak. With a fluttered breath, she sighed. “What ever can we do for her?”

The white pegasus looked to the side in thought. “I just want the best for our daughter.” He humbly declared, looking back at his wife, “Maybe we need to think about holding her back from school for another year.”

“Do you think she would want that?” The worried mother’s eyes squinted.

A pause. The two looked at each other for a moment to think. With a sigh, the stallion stood up and slowly trotted out of the kitchen. “I’ll go talk to her.”

* * * * *

Altruise’s father went up the stairs and made his way to her room. Approaching her wooden door, he heard her sobbing to herself on the other side. Raising his right front hoof, he knocked on her door.

“Altruise, can I come in?” The stallion asked politely.

There was a long pause of silence. The filly’s cries went softer briefly, and she sniffled and panted, trying not to cry so loud in the presence of her father. Without a response, the father quietly pushed the door open and let himself in anyway. Peering into the room, he saw his daughter lying in her bed under the covers, facing the other way.

With a sigh, he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. The pegasus sauntered toward the young filly.

“I know you’re upset about the whole magic thing.” He said to her, standing next to the bed. “Don’t give up though. I know you have so much potential waiting to be exposed to the world, that no pony could ever fathom.”

“Dad, how could you know?” Altruise murmured, keeping her eyes on the wall beside her bed. “You’re a pegasus, and the best flyer in Trottingham.” She looked up at him, tears still rolling down her face. “You wouldn’t understand what it’s like to be broken.”

“I wouldn’t?” The pegasus looked down at her, extending his right wing. “Feel my wing, on the joint where it meets my shoulder.”

Altruise blinked briefly, and curious, she sat up. Extending out her hoof, she did as he requested and put her hoof on the joint where his wing met his shoulder. She felt a noticeable bump in the wing. “Dad? What is this?”

“I didn’t start flying until I was nine.” The pegasus confessed, “When I was five, on my first day of flying school, I broke my wing at the shoulder there.”

Altruise’s eyes widened, and she looked up into his serious face, “W-what happened to you?”

“Well, I was being picked on, and during my first take-off, one of the colts in my class tripped me. I fell wrong, and landed on my wing.” The stallion looked back at his shoulder, “They took me to the hospital. The doctor claimed I would never fly.” Looking back down at his daughter, he gave her a reassuring smile that she could do anything if she really tried. “Being broken never stopped me.”

“Wow, Dad…” Altruise sat on her flank on her mattress, keeping her eyes on her father, “No wonder so many ponies respect you so much around here. But… how did you manage to fly after an accident like that?”

“I just never gave up. I always told myself I could do anything, even if doctors themselves told me it was impossible.” The pegasus shrugged, “They pulled me from flight school, but every day I still practiced on my own; sometimes for hours. It took me a few years, but eventually I was able to learn how to coop with my disfigured joint in my shoulder, and with dedication and a proper balance, I taught myself to fly.”

“Wow…” The filly slumped and looked to the side; her father really had a way to pep talk.

“Nothing spectacular happens over night.” Her father declared, “But the greatest things happen to those who give it time and faith.” With a smile, he pat his daughter on the shoulder. “I know you will come around soon enough, and when you do, you’ll be a powerful unicorn.”

“You really think so?” Altruise looked back to her father.

“Absolutely.” He nodded proudly. “Your horn is far from broken. You just need a little self confidence.”

“Yeah, I know you’re right… It’s still hard to accept sometimes.”

“Oh I know; I’ve been in that boat.” Altruise’s father chuckled, “You look rather sleepy. Been a long day?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” Altruise murmured, opening her mouth wide to yawn. “I think I’m going to stay up here and sleep early tonight.”

“I see. You haven’t eaten any of your pizza, you sure you don’t want supper first?”

“Think I’ll pass.” Altruise exclaimed tiredly, “I’m not hungry.”

The father nodded and shrugged, “Alright, you sleep well then.” He stood up and sauntered to the door, looking back at her, “I’ll leave you some leftovers for tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.” Altruise yawned, “Good night.”

“Good night, Altruise.” The pegasus smiled and exit the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

Altruise crawled back under her covers and looked up at the ceiling. Several moments passed, and she did feel sleepy, but she couldn’t bring herself to close her eyes. Even with her father’s pep talk, her lack of magic still bothered her.

“You know, it’s like, ten times easier to tie a bow with magic.” Voices of the fillies at the party rang in her memories.

“Any pony without love is like… A unicorn without its magic.”

“You got your cutie mark already, but you don’t even know how to use magic yet?” She heard more voices that sunk her into deeper humiliation. “Usually unicorns learn magic first. And normally by the time they’re five.”

Altruise grumbled, and threw her hooves over her eyes in self-pity. Further memories stirred in her mind, all the way back from Magic Kindergarten.

“Hey, well if it isn’t the Fake Unicorn.”

“What’s the matter, show me a magic trick.”

“Can’t do it can she? She should go back a grade. Oh wait! There are no lower grades than this.”

Altruise shot upright in her bed, sitting on her flank with her pillow being pressed over her ears atop her head by her hooves. “Uuugh shut uuup!” She growled, gritting her teeth.

“She’ll never do it. She’s broken.”

That memory did it. She couldn’t take it any longer. Slamming her pillow back into her bed, she stood to her hooves on her mattress and looked out her window. It was nearing dusk; the sun was setting in the background horizon. Frowning, she pushed the window open and stepped out onto the roof. She closed the window behind her, and from there, she leapt into the tree ahead of her off the roof, and carefully climbed across the branch into the window of her tree house in the backyard.

Altruise exit her tree house at the main entrance of it, and climbed down the steps and made her way to the grass. From there, she ran south, away from the town through the grass field, and into the forest. She was beyond upset, and wanted to be alone.

* * * * *

Altruise wandered into the forest on her lonesome as the dusking sun slowly lowered over the horizon. She scampered deeper and deeper into the woods, without turning back. The small unicorn has never been this far into the forest before, let alone by herself.

From every shadowy corner of the trees, she took a nervous glance as she moved onward. She heard mysterious hoots in the trees, and crickets in the long grass. It made her feel uneasy, but she was able to ignore the sounds in the fading light and pressed on deeper into the forest.

Eventually, the forlorn filly found a clearing in the woods. There were fewer trees here, and more of a grass field. Altruise sauntered over to the center of this open grass field and looked up to the sky that was beginning to expose its stars beyond the darkening blue.

“Why am I so different?” She questioned while looking to the stars, “Why can’t I do magic?” She sat on her flank, as if waiting for a response. As expected though, she didn’t hear any voices reply to her. A sudden gust of wind rippled passed her mane, and a single leaf from a tree in the distance plucked off its branch and fluttered through the air, and as if entirely intentional, it floated down at her hooves, right in front of her.

The unicorn looked down at her hooves where the leaf rested motionlessly. She blinked, and looked back up at the sky frowning. “What is this all about?” She wondered aloud, “Some kind of joke? Yeah, that’s funny, Celestia!”

Another gust of wind, and the leaf blew around in circles, and pelted her in the snout with its stem. “Ouch—Hey!” The leaf then floated back down into the grass, resting motionlessly in front of her once more.

Rubbing her snout with a hoof, she looked curiously down at the leaf, then back up at the sky. She blinked, and stood on four hooves, perking her ears and glancing down at the leaf.

Her eyes furrowed, but this time in a sense of determination rather than frustration. Standing with a sudden inspired posture, she lowered her head to point her horn at the leaf.

“Move.” Altruise commanded in a voice of authority. “C’mon, horn. Do something!”

Nothing was happening. She clenched her teeth and focused even harder on her resting target in the grass. Bending her knees, she focused harder. Her eyes clamped shut, and her head was trembling from her efforts. Still, nothing; not even a spark.

So desperate for her magic to come, so determined to press on no matter how hopeless she knew it was for her, there was a voice in her head telling her otherwise; the voice of her father.

“Being broken never stopped me.”

Suddenly with a burst of strength in her limbs, her hooves were pressed into the grass to the point they clamped into the dirt, and she began growling. Minutes passed, and she continued the same posture, the same desperate attempts to move that leaf. She so badly wanted to see her own aura of magic surround it with brilliance.

Exhausting herself, she remained in her determined state. It was almost painful already trying to force magic like this, but even the pain wouldn’t make her rest on it. She continued, pushing, pushing, pushing…

Then all at once, she felt the upmost energetic feeling she has ever experienced, coming from her horn. It hurt; a lot. It felt as though all of the magic in Equestria had suddenly erupted inside of her horn, and suddenly from an enormous blast of light that came from her horn, an explosion of magical energy burst like lightning. It was loud, the sound crackled and echoed back to her from the sky like a storm.

“AAAH!” The power escaping her horn was so great it pushed her off her hooves, it knocked her back; it hurt her. A sudden radius of lightning in all directions came from her horn in an instantaneous moment from nothing. She squinted, and slumped into the grass, holding her head in pain. The sky was suddenly forming black funneling clouds of thunder and lightning, all from the tremendous amount of magic escaping her, and the scariest thing about it to her, was she was in no control of it. And she realized that she couldn’t even turn off her horn’s magic.

“HELP ME!” She screamed in pain, but she was far from civilization for anypony to hear her cries. “It hurts, Oh Celestia help me!! What’s happening to me?!!” She pressed her hooves against her aching skull, slumped into the ground in tears. “MOM! DAD!” Her cries were challenged by the loud intense magic, and everything around her started to explode from the lightning that was cast from her horn and the sky, blowing craters of rubble around her.

It started to rain, hard. And moments after the loud shower of the rain, it began to hail. The hailstones were heard pattering across the land, and they pelted the filly with thousands of tiny shards of ice.

Altruise squirmed backward, and shook her head immensely from the stinging of the pelting hail. Her horn still felt like a vice was trying to pry it off, and she could feel herself become weaker, and exhaustion was getting the best of her. She could hardly make herself scream any more, and eventually, her world around her vision went dark, and she collapsed onto her side, unconscious.

Once she was out cold, her horn’s magic finally died off, and the lightning gradually slowed down, with a few sparks of electrical energy here and there from the sky to her horn like a lightning rod. Moments after, the rain and the lightning completely stopped, and the dark clouds in the sky faded away, exposing the stars once more.

Altruise laid there in the center of a large smoking crater, and the sun in the distant horizon finally disappeared behind the hills, and everything went black.

* * * * *

A Secret to Fear

Dawn had come, and the gold of the sun barely rising in the horizon pried the unconscious unicorn’s eyes weakly open. Altruise murmured with her eyes squinting to the sunlight, and she rolled over with a groan.

“Uuughh… Wh…what happened…?” The filly muttered, trying to stand to her hooves, her knees weakly lifting her body up from the ground. She glanced around herself with tired eyes, and they jolted open when she realized she was standing in the center of a field of craters and rubble.

“I-it wasn’t a dream?” She panicked to herself, looking up at her horn between her eyes, “I r-really did this? Oh goddess… Oh Celestia, what’s wrong with me? What did I do?”

Altruise looked around, seeing random destroyed debris of rock and burnt trees in the area. Circling where she stood, her lips separated from disbelief and terror. She bit her lip and let out a small whimper, and she turned and ran from the scene, back into the forest in Trottingham’s direction.

The white unicorn covered in soot ran, not looking back at her self-inflicted destruction. She was frightened; frightened of herself.

* * * * *

Returning home, Altruise contemplated going through the front door, but felt that she didn’t want to raise questions as to why she was even outside. She knew she couldn’t tell her parents what just happened. What would they say? What would they do? And most importantly, what would Princess Celestia have to say about this? Even so, would they believe her if she told them anyway?

Altruise climbed up the ladder into her tree house, trotted to the open window of the structure and onto the branch leading to the roof of her house where she had exit from. Carefully balancing across the thick branch, she leapt onto the roof, and opened her bedroom window, climbing through it quietly onto her bed, and closed the window behind her.

Exhausted, she stepped off her bed and sauntered toward her dresser at the mirror. She squinted at the sight of herself; she was filthy of soot and her mane was a tangled mess.

“Aw, man…” She needed to clean herself up if she was going to hide all this from her parents. Opening her top dresser drawer, she pulled out a red towel with her front hooves and began wiping her dirty face with it. Just then, she heard a voice behind the door.

“Altruise?” It was her father, “You awake?”

“Uh…” Altruise stuttered, and quickly threw the dirty towel into her laundry hamper and trotted silently toward her bed, crawling under her covers to avoid suspicion. “Yes, Dad, I’m awake.”

The door creaked open and the pegasus trotted into her room with a booming voice and wide eyes. “Wow, did you hear that wicked storm last night? I haven’t seen anything like that!” He looked out the window at the dawning sun, “I’m surprised the sky patrol didn’t call for a storm like that.”

“Heh… S-storm?” Altruise blinked, trying to hide any suspicions.

“What? You mean you slept through that?” The father blinked a few times, “Wow. You must’ve been really tired then.”

Altruise nodded, forcing a fake yawn. “Yeah, I sure was.”

“Nice bed-mane.” Her father pointed out her tangled gold mane with a bit of a chuckle, “You sleep okay?”

“Uh… Yeah.” Altruise murmured, “I think I’m going to lie down a bit longer though.”

The father shrugged, “Well, alright then. Come down when you’re ready for breakfast.”

“Okay, Dad.” The filly nodded, waiting for the pegasus to leave her room, hiding the rest of her soot-covered body under her blanket.

With that, the stallion turned around and exit her room, closing the door behind him. A relieved sigh escaped her lips with the fortune that he didn’t suspect anything. Once he had left her room, the filly threw her bed sheets off of her and hopped out of bed, trotting back to the mirror in silence. If she was going to go downstairs, she was going to need to bathe first. The unicorn looked like she had just rolled in the garden.

Through the mirror, Altruise glared at her horn. Her eyes were fixed on the small pointed object on her forehead. For so long she had been pouring all her heart into casting magic, but after the aftermath from last night, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to cast magic any more at all. What if she hurts somepony the next time she tries using magic? She would be feared if ponies saw what she was suddenly capable of.

She glanced down at her heart-shaped cutie mark. This magic outburst didn’t represent her in any way. Glancing back into the mirror, she gave herself a concerned look, a look of fear; scared of herself, of her magic.

With a deep sigh, Altruise sauntered to the door and quietly opened it, glancing through the crack of the door to see if her parents were in view. With the coast clear, she trotted out of her room and down the upstairs hall toward the bathroom where she would clean herself off.

* * * * *

Altruise’s parents were relaxing in the living room, reading books. The silence was broken to the sound of trotting hooves coming down the stairs. They both glanced up at their daughter—who was now properly cleansed from soot—making her way down the steps into the living room.

“Good morning, Sweetie.” Her mother smiled up at her, “You feeling better today?”

“Sure.” Altruise exclaimed, trotting over to a sofa chair to take a seat.

“Can I make you breakfast?” The unicorn mother requested, “What would you like? Pancakes? Toast? An omelet?”

“Not hungry, Mom.” The filly replied quietly.

The father couldn’t help but notice her bitter behaviour. “Altruise, are you feeling okay?”

“Fine, Dad.”

The pegasus squinted his eyes, “Is there something you’re not telling us?”

“Huh?” Altruise gulped, trying to act natural, “I don’t think so, why?”

“You’re just acting…” Her father couldn’t pin-point the exact word to use. “…different.” He finished.

“Different…? Huh?” Altruise blinked, “I, er, it’s…” She thought up a quick and believable fib. “I think I’m still just nervous about school tomorrow.”

“Hm, I see…” The stallion nodded, leaning forward in his seat, “Don’t worry, you’ll figure out how to use your magic when the time’s right.” He smiled at her, “Soon you’ll start casting spells you didn’t even think you possibly could!”

Altruise looked back at him, and gulped. “Y-yeah.”

“Oh you’ll do just fine, Honey.” Her mother exclaimed in a cheerful manner, “Come now Sweetie, I haven’t seen you smile since yesterday morning. Let me see a smile!”

Hesitant at first, Altruise faked a convincing smile.

“There it is!” The cyan unicorn beamed, “Now come on, there must be something you’re hungry for. What would you like?”

“Ehh…” Altruise shrugged, contemplating on what to eat. “Pancakes sounded good.” She managed to say, keeping her smile.

“Pancakes it is!” Her mother stood up and trotted to the kitchen, “I’ll call you to the kitchen when they’re done.”

“Okay Mom, thanks.”

“So, Altruise.” The pegasus glanced over to her daughter from across the coffee table in the center of the living room, “One more day before school. What would you like to do on your last day off?”

“Ehh, I dunno.” The filly shrugged with a very plastic expression.

“Perhaps we could play some soccer in the backyard.” The stallion suggested with enthusiasm, “Or do some piano practice. Would you want to try practicing your magic? I’m sure you—”

He was cut off by his daughter with a loud and abrupt “NO!”

He blinked a few times, and gave her a look, “Sweetie, you’ve been acting very strange.”

“I-I mean, no.” Altruise corrected her sudden spasm with a quieter response. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice… I…”

“Sweetie, its fine.” Her father tried to smile, “Please, I just want to know what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong…”

“You’re acting like you’ve seen a ghost.” The stallion exclaimed, raising a brow.

Altruise sighed, “Can we not talk about this, please?”

“Sweetie, I’m your father, you can tell me these things.”

“No.” Altruise shook her head frightfully, “I can’t.”

There was a glare between the two ponies in the living room, and a long pause of silence.

“It’s just better if we don’t.” The filly added to her statement.

Her father sighed, and stood up from his seat. “Alright. Some other time.” He said in a concerned voice, sauntering to the kitchen to talk to his wife. “Just don’t forget who you are.” He requested, turning to her as he said that, then turned back to the kitchen and moved on out of view.

Altruise sighed, and looked out the window, seeing her mirrored reflection in the glass. Her eyes squinted thinking about what her father just told her, and she silently asked herself, “And who is that?” She glared at her horn in the reflection, thinking of the destruction, fearing it. She was the gentlest unicorn in town, but with the strangest and most dangerous magic condition she’s never heard of. “I… I’m not doing magic. Ever again.”

* * * * *

After a quiet breakfast, Altruise left the house to get some air. Since what happened to her last night, her motives have flipped upside-down. She felt just as broken without magic as she does now with it. The filly strolled onward to the south in the open grass park just outside of the forest.

She rested on a park bench in relaxation, watching other foals play. The specific groups she watched were the unicorns, all using magic to play their games. A sudden daydream took over her thoughts as she imagined herself playing catch with magic, and a wave of destruction over the park filled her thoughts.

“No…” Altruise shook her head and snapped out of her brief daydream, looking back up at the joyful ponies. With a sigh, she looked down at her cutie mark. She couldn’t seem to take it seriously now.

“How can a unicorn with uncontrollable, dangerous power have a cutie mark that represents the very nature of love?” The filly suddenly felt alone. Now even her cutie mark was mocking her. At first she thought she understood it, being the upmost caring filly in Trottingham, but now that she feels like a walking bomb that could go off at any unwanted moment, she couldn’t picture herself as a pony that could bring out the happiness in others. She could hardly even bring out the happiness in herself at the moment.

Altruise looked up to the noon sun with a deep sigh. She couldn’t stop thinking about going back to school tomorrow. What if the same thing happens in class that happened to her in the forest?

“Oh, Celestia help me… What do I do? I really shouldn’t go to school to avoid anything from happening. But if I don’t go, what would my parents think…?” The more she thought about it, the more it bothered her. “I should still go… Maybe I just won’t do magic and act like I’m trying to.” She grumbled to herself, “Ughh, but then the class will make fun of me like in Magic Kindergarten…” She blinked a few times and glanced down at the ground, “Maybe it won’t happen again… Maybe if I just tried again, my magic will be easier to control… Perhaps it was just a buildup from not being able to use it for so long.”

Altruise sat there, deep in her thoughts. She looked down at her cutie mark, and back to the sun in the blue sky. “Where’s the connection?” She asked in a forlorn voice, as if expecting an answer. “How does my deadly magic have anything to do with my talent?” She sighed and looked back at the ground, “Maybe the heart doesn’t mean what I thought it meant.” She knew this was an absurd thought to ponder; she knew what it meant, through and through. It was just a very hard thing for her to accept or understand at this point.

With a deep sigh, Altruise stood from the bench and sauntered back home.

* * * * *

The rest of the afternoon was rather quiet. Altruise really had nothing to say, and her parents were obviously concerned about that. She kept looking at the clock and the sun as if time was her enemy.

“Altruise.” Her father caught her in mid-daydream. She turned away from the living room window and glanced at her father.

“Dad…” She tried to smile, “You scared me.”

Her father raised a brow, “And you’re scaring me.”

“I… I am?” Altruise blinked, followed by a nervous gulp.

“You have never been like this before.” He openly said to her, “Not one day of your life.”

“Never been like what, Dad?”

“Mysterious. Silent.” He replied, pacing toward her, “You’re hiding something. Now I don’t know what that is, and it seems very important. I won’t pry it out of you, but if it’s something that your mother and I should know, you should really tell us.”

“Uh… It’s…” Altruise winced, and turned back to the window. “It’s nothing.”

“Well that is a lot of nothing then.” The pegasus stood beside her, looking out the window along side of her. “I can tell you’re afraid of something.”

“Afraid?” Altruise turned to look up at her father, who kept his eyes focused out the window. “What would I be afraid of?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” He glanced down at his daughter. “But whatever it is you’re afraid of, know that I’m here for you. I’ll always be here to protect you.”

“Yeah…” Altruise glanced back out the window with a deep sigh. “I’ll be alright, Dad. I just need some time to think.”

The pegasus sighed and shrugged, and turned to trot the other way. “Well, alright. Just let me know if there is anything at all that I can help you with. I’ll understand.”

“Yeah, thanks Dad.” She kept her glare out the window, eyes half open with a self-pity expression. It was as if all of the joy had been ripped out of her horn along with that outburst of magic. Focusing on her reflection in the window, she saw her pitiful expression staring back at her. Even she saw the disappointing difference in her personality just by looking at herself.

“No, this isn’t who I am…” Altruise shook her head, trying to stop thinking about what was depressing her. “I’m a happy pony, I’m supposed to be a happy pony.” She told herself, looking back at her mirror image, attempting a faint smile. Though, it didn’t take very long for her smile to slowly disappear again. With a sigh, she looked to the floor. “So… Who am I then…?”

* * * * *

Later that night, Altruise laid there in bed, staring at the ceiling with her mind spinning like a turbine engine. School was just around the corner, and now she was more concerned about it with magic than she was without. Tossing and turning, she murmured and grumbled.

She had a great deal of pride over her cutie mark, and she still had no thoughts about wishing she didn’t have it. Her magic on the other hand, would this affect the way other ponies viewed who she was?

Slowly as time went by, she felt herself growing sleepier. Her eyes grew heavier, and slowly her tired body gave in to her exhaustion, and she fell into a deep sleep, where her dreams took over her foal mind…

* * * * *

Explosions casting from horizon to deathly horizon, a grey cloud filled the sky as lightning kept pouring down over Trottingham. A white filly unicorn consumed by a magical aura, ponies all around her were shrieking in fear as her world was being torn apart by her own magic.

“Celestia help us!” She heard familiar voices cry among the streets.

“Altruise, what are you doing?!” Her mother screamed at her, angrily and frightfully, “You’re going to kill everypony!”

“I—I don’t know!” The filly sobbed as her horn released powerful blazing energy. “H-help me!”

Ponies ran around, screaming, all uncertain where to hide from her endless destruction. There was nothing she could do other than watch them all fear her, hate her, scream at her. She then turned to her father who was standing aside her mother. He only gave her a glance; a shameful glance.

“D-dad, help me!” She cried, “Protect me! You said you’d be there for me! Please help!”

“You’re a broken unicorn.” He said to her, in the upmost cold voice she had ever heard. “I’m ashamed of you, Altruise. You’re not my daughter.”

“D-dad?” Altruise hiccupped and sobbed, her horn sparking of endless magic, “W-what? B-but I—”

With that, her father turned around, and he and her mother just left her; they ran. And they didn’t look back at her. She sat there, alone with the echoing screams of the surrounding ponies, and the flares of the loud explosions that consumed the streets and homes.

“Dad!” She hollered, but he was gone; vanished in the distant grey fog of Trottingham’s debris. “DAAAAA—”

* * * * *

“—AAAAD!” Altruise jolted up from her bed in a shriek, followed by sobbing gasps. She panicked, quickly glancing at the entirety of her dark room, wide-eyed.

“J-just a dream.” She told herself in a panting breath. “I-it was o-only a dream…” She threw her hooves over her eyes to wipe her tears as she caught a few needed breathes.

She heard hoofs trotting through the halls through the other side of her door, and her door was thrown open, and the bedroom light was flicked on. Her parents were there, both with concern. Altruise first glanced at them from across the room, and then slouched in her bed with her ears lowered and her blanket lifted to cover most of her face.

“I-I’m sorry I woke you.” She whimpered in tears, “Please don’t leave me…”

“Leave you?” Her father went wide-eyed, and he trotted into the room to sit next to her at the side of her bed, “Now why in Equestria would I do that?”

Altruise bit her lip. At this point, she wanted to tell her parents everything about her magic condition. But after that nightmare…

“I-I…” She hiccupped, and leaned into her father’s shoulder. Tiny whimpers escaped her lips that as she pressed her damp eyes against his wing.

“Altruise.” Her father wrapped a wing around her, looking down at the sobbing foal with deep concern. “I would never leave you.”

No words were able to be said from Altruise; only sobs. She continued crying, and her body trembled from her continuous tears. The pegasus looked up at his wife, and she looked back at him just as concerned as he was.

“Altruise, what is wrong?” The mother questioned her in a gentle voice, walking into the room to look down at her trembling foal wrapped in a pegasi wing. “Honey, it was only a dream.”

“I-I know…” Altruise looked up at her mother with her eyes damp of tears, “I just… I… I’m scared.”

“Aw, honey, there’s nothing to be afraid of…” Her mother softly said, “Your father and I are here.”

“I-I don’t… I…”

Altruise’s parents looked at each other, and then back down at their daughter. “Hush.” Her mother whispered.

“Don’t worry, my little pony.” The father exclaimed in a warm tone, gently lifting her daughter and placing her back in her bed.

“B-but I…”

“Hush, Altruise.” Her father covered her with her blanket.

“I… I’m sorry.” Altruise whispered a weep, with a yawn to follow.

Her mother tucked her in, and began to whisper a soothing song. “Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to rest your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed…”

The filly’s parents sat by her side for the remaining moments until she finally fell back to sleep. Once she was fast asleep, the mother and father stood and crept out of the bedroom, flicking off the light and slowly closed the door behind them, leaving a small gap. They looked at each other, uncertainty filling their thoughts.

“What was that all about?” The unicorn mother’s mind was boggled.

“I have no idea…” The pegasus peeked through the crack between the door and the frame, glancing at their sleeping daughter. “I don’t recall her having any nightmares that intense on her before. I can’t help but think that something happened to her.”

“Well… what would’ve happened to her?”

“I don’t know.” The pegasus looked at his wife, closing the door the rest of the way in silence.

“Maybe this all has to do with her unable to use magic.” The unicorn suggested, “Maybe she’s worried that she won’t discover it at school.”

The stallion shrugged, “As easy as that is to agree with, I kind of don’t think that’s the case. This is far different.” His eyes squinted as this puzzled him, “When she looked at me… It was as if she wasn’t sure who I was; like she suddenly wasn’t sure if she could trust me.”

“That’s just absurd.” His wife disagreed, “Now why would she even think that way about you? You’re a wonderful father to her.”

“Heh… Well, I do try.”

The cyan mare smiled at him and gave him a quick tension-easing kiss on the cheek, “Come on, you’re thinking too hard. Let’s go back to bed.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right…” The stallion sighed, trying not to think about it. With that, the couple sauntered back down the hall to their room.

* * * * *

Action for a Reaction

Altruise was at the door of the entrance to their home with her parents, packing the last of her things into her saddlebags.

“Okay, so you got your books, your pencils, your—”

“Yeah, I got it, Mom.” Altruise rolled her eyes with a playful smile.

The mother sighed, licking her hoof and rubbing it through Altruise’s head to fix her mane. “You sure you’re going to be alright today?”

“Bah, she’ll do fine.” Her father snickered, re-fixing her mane so that it was back to the way it looked before her mother fixed it.

“You sure you don’t want us to walk you to school?” The cyan mare questioned.

“I know the way. I’ll be fine.” Altruise exclaimed with confidence.

“Well, okay. Have a good day, okay?” Her mother beamed.

“Go knock ‘em dead!” Her father burst with enthusiasm.

Altruise squinted at that last remark as she stepped out the door. She tried to ignore it. “Bye Dad, bye Mom.”

The filly trotted to the street and turned west. The view of the castle furrowed her eyes with disastrous thoughts. Attempting to shake it off, she moved westward, and passed Mila’s house. Mila was just trotting out the door at that moment with saddlebags of her own, and she skipped toward Altruise with a bright smile.

“Good morning, Altruise!” The pink unicorn beamed, trotting up beside her.

“Hi, Mila.” Altruise smiled back at her, and the two started walking toward Canterlot beside each other.

“I’m so excited!” Mila chirped with a few bounding skips.

“Well at least that makes one of us.” Altruise bluntly replied. Mila slowed her bounding to glance at her with a raised brow.

“Aw c’mon, you’re not worried about your magic, are you?”

“Well, yeah. I am.” Altruise replied, looking back at her, “Except not in the way that you think I am.” Her eyes squinted and she glanced passed her friend, avoiding eye contact. “I shouldn’t be going to school.”

Mila was puzzled at this. She blinked a few times, and a few hoofsteps down the path later she finally questioned back at her. “Why not?”

Altruise bit her lip and looked ahead in silence, ignoring the question. The pink unicorn kept glancing at her with curiosity. Mila kept noticing the mysterious expression on Altruise’s face that was filled with what appeared to seem rather ominous to her.

“You are so not yourself this morning.” Mila exclaimed.

“I haven’t been myself since two nights ago.” Altruise admitted, “I’d rather not talk about it though, okay? I don’t want you to worry about me.” She tried to smile at her.

Mila raised a brow at that, “Well it’s too late, you’ve worried me. Now what’s wrong?”

Altruise stopped walking for a brief moment to groan, “I couldn’t even tell my parents. I can’t tell anypony what happened to me.”

“What? Something happened to you?”

Altruise bit her lip, realizing she had said too much.

“Altruise, you can tell me.” Mila pushed further, “I’m your best friend. I won’t tell anypony else.”

“Mila, this is serious.” Altruise leaned forward to express herself, “I can’t tell anypony; not even my best friend.”

“Why not?” Mila blinked.

“I… I…” Altruise let out a loud sigh and slouched closer to the cobblestone path, “It’s nothing.”

“Oh come on.” Mila continued to push, “Tell meeee.”

“No.”

“Please? I’ll be your best friend.” Mila jokingly grinned.

“You are my best friend!”

“So then tell me.”

“I—it—you—ugh!” Altruise threw her hoof into her noggin and put her hoof back to the cobblestone with a new annoyed expression on her face. “Alright, fine, fine, but!” She leaned in to emphasize just how strictly important this was to her, “Promise me, that you will not tell anypony. Not your parents, not your other friends… Nopony.”

“Yeah, I promise, I already said I wouldn’t.” Mila expressed her honesty with a smile.

“You might also think I’m crazy.” Altruise exclaimed, “So please don’t run from me.”

“Why would I do that?” Mila raised a brow again.

“Okay…” Altruise glanced left, then right, and then back at Mila with a serious and concerned look on her face, leaning in for secrecy. “Two nights ago, the night after your little party with your friends, I er…” She stopped herself in mid-speech briefly, then continued, “…I cast a spell.”

“You did?” Mila beamed and bounded in place, “That’s great!”

“No, Mila. It isn’t.” Altruise frowned.

“What?” Mila stopped bounding briefly, “Why wouldn’t that be? That’s what you wanted. Right?”

“Mila, you don’t understand… This is bad. This is very, very bad.” Altruise looked at her with very deep concern, “I… uh… Were you awake during the storm that night?”

Mila blinked and nodded, “Yeah, that was one crazy storm! Normally I like falling asleep to a little thunder shower, but that was creepy!”

“That was me!” Altruise almost sobbed as she blurted that out, “I did that! And I had no control, I couldn’t stop!”

There was a moment of silence, and Mila just stared at her.

“You made that storm?” She finally asked to confirm if she heard right. Altruise didn’t respond, but Mila investigated Altruise’s serious expression. She took a few trots back and flinched, “That’s impossible, no pony, let alone a filly our age could create such a spell.”

“I didn’t say it was easy to believe.” Altruise winced, “I can’t even believe it myself…”

“Prove it to me?” Mila requested.

“I… What?” Altruise was dumbfounded, “But I… No, I’m not doing that again!”

Mila shrugged, “Then how do I know if you’re telling me the truth.”

“Mila, I’m your friend. I wouldn’t lie to you about something like that!”

“Yea okay.” Mila rolled her eyes and continued sauntering toward Canterlot, “Well let’s keep going or we’ll be late.”

“You don’t believe me…” Altruise murmured in a cold tone, trotting beside Mila to keep up.

“Sorry, Altruise, that’s a bit far-fetched. Like I said, nopony can do that.” The pink unicorn glanced ahead, “Only a goddess could make a storm that great. If a mere unicorn were to try a spell like that, they’d probably need a whole army of unicorns to assist the magic.”

Altruise squinted at that, but she knew she couldn’t blame Mila for disbelieving her; even if she was her friend. For the moment, it occurred to Altruise that perhaps it was better that Mila didn’t believe her. If she did believe her, Mila would likely have an entirely different reaction about it, which likely would’ve turned out bad.

“If you say so.” Altruise sighed as they continued westward.

* * * * *

Trotting into Canterlot, Altruise and Mila took a couple of turns through the streets until they arrived at the school. They entered through the main double-doors and pressed on through the halls of lockers and classrooms. There were several other unicorn fillies and colts all across the length of the hall from ages five all the way up to roughly nine years that filled the air with chatter.

“So which classroom was ours?” Altruise asked, glancing over at the pink unicorn beside her.

“Um…” Mila’s horn glowed, and her right saddlebag opened up. From within the saddlebag she levitated a piece of paper and held it in front of her. Enlisted on this sheet of paper were all of the spell categories they were going to learn from throughout the year. At the top of the form it disclosed her room number, G1B.

Altruise reached into her own right saddlebag with her snout, and pulled her own form out with her teeth. She gripped it in her hoof and held it up to read it. It had identical information on her form as Mila’s.

“Looks like we’re in the same classroom again.” Mila smiled as she peered over at Altruise’s form.

“Wow… That’s a lot to learn throughout the year.” Altruise winced uncomfortably at the list, “A lot more than in Magic Kindergarten.”

“Eh, a few of these aren’t so hard…” Mila exclaimed, pointing at a couple of the categories on the list, “I can kinda do these already…” She looked up at Altruise, who looked back at her with a lack of enthusiasm. “What? They’re not that hard.”

“Uh huh.” Altruise murmured with sarcasm.

“Oh Altruise, you’ll be fine.” Mila patted her on the shoulder with a hint of a chuckle, “I mean if you can summon a storm, these should be a breeze for you, eh?”

Altruise gave her a squinting look in response. “That’s not funny.”

Mila just snickered at that last comment and carried on forward. Altruise raised a brow and followed her down the hall. On their way to their classroom, they recognized a few unicorns from Magic Kindergarten. There were also many new fillies and colts roaming the halls, the younger ones with their parents.

“E-excuse me?” A voice called to them in a nervous manner. Altruise and Mila turned to the filly speaking to them. She was a purple unicorn of no cutie mark, with a dark blue mane that had a pink stripe through it, and she appeared to be a year or two younger than them.

“Can you tell me where room K1C is?” The newcomer asked politely.

Altruise smiled at the younger filly and nodded, “It’s on the east side. That was my classroom last year.” She exclaimed with serenity, “Would you like me to show you the way there?”

“That would be nice of you.” The filly exclaimed with a smile.

“Should I go on ahead and meet you in class?” Mila directed her question at Altruise.

“Sure. Reserve a desk beside you.” Altruise replied.

Mila giggled and trotted to their class. “I will. See you in a couple minutes.”

“See ya, Mila.” Altruise bid her goodbye, and then turned to the purple filly beside her. “Okay, follow me.” That said, she trotted through the halls with the smiling purple filly following her.

“Thank you.” The younger one exclaimed.

“It’s the least I could do.” Altruise beamed, “I remember coming into school my first time, I was so lost!” She turned to the purple foal with her friendly smile, “My name’s Altruise by the way. What’s your name?”

“Twilight Sparkle.” The purple filly replied happily.

* * * * *

The two ponies trotted through the eastern halls where the younger students were. Altruise lead Twilight to a door near the end of the hall that had a tag on the door which read K1C in a large bold font. Approaching this door, Altruise already started picking up some unpleasant memories from last year. Shaking it off, she turned to Twilight, keeping her smile. “Well, here it is.”

“Thanks!” Twilight beamed and reached up for the door handle, turning the knob. She trotted through the door and turned back to Altruise. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Alright, have a good day.”

With that, Altruise turned away from the kindergarten classroom and sauntered back down the halls to get to her own class.

“Well, well, well! If it isn’t the Fake Unicorn!” She heard a familiar, irritating voice that made her eyes squint and her ears drop to the sides. Altruise slowly turned her head to a blue filly of violet eyes and a silver mane. “Did so bad last year you’ve gone back to the kindergarten hallways, huh?”

“Hi, Trixie…” Altruise rolled her eyes and continued onward down the hall, making the attempt to ignore her.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Trixie illuminated her horn, and with a jolt of magic, she forced Altruise to turn around and face her with a quick levitation spell.

“I, er… Shouldn’t you be going to class?” Altruise backed away from her in a slump.

“Pfff.” Trixie shook a hoof in the air as if she didn’t care, then noticed the heart on Altruise’s flank. Her eyes widened with a mocking grin. “Nice cutie mark.”

“Th-thanks…” Altruise replied, uncertain if she meant that or not. She then noticed Trixie’s cutie mark; a symbolic silver wave pattern with a star-tipped wand. “I see you got yours too.”

“Yeah at least mine represents something useful.” Trixie laughed menacingly, “What does yours mean? It’s probably fake like your horn.”

Altruise frowned at that. “What?”

“Can you do magic yet?” Trixie grinned.

“I-I…”

“Hahaha!” The blue filly burst out in more laughter, “Seriously, what are you doing in this grade?”

“I should be asking you the same question.” Altruise frowned, “Act your age, Trixie.”

Trixie ignored that statement. “Magic Kindergarten is that way.” She pointed a hoof down the eastern hall. “That’s where broken unicorns belong.” She put her hoof back down and stood tall and proud, “I on the other hoof have done so well last year, they have moved me up a grade.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Altruise’s eyes squinted at that, “One of these days, Trixie, I bet one of those kindergarteners will show you up. Then we’ll see who’s broken.”

“Pffff.” The blue filly boasted with a hoof to her noble chest, “No pony would ever dare challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“The great and powerful…?” Altruise’s ears twitched, “Really? Did you just come up with that now?”

“Yes, in fact I did.” Trixie proudly glanced at her elegantly postured hoof, “I think I might just use that from now on.” She put her hoof down and grinned, “And what do you have to show for yourself?”

“Well… I—” Altruise was suddenly cut off when the school buzzer went off. “Aw, oats! I’m late!” With that, she turned and galloped down the hall, completely disregarding Trixie’s laughter behind her.

“See ya around, Fake Unicorn!”

* * * * *

“So you all remember the basic levitation from last year, right class?” A blue mare stood in the front end of the class by the black board, holding up a piece of chalk with her magic. She had a light blue mane and scarlet eyes; her cutie mark was a simple wand with sparkles. The lesson introduction was cut short when there was a knock at the door. She peered over at the door, and with a levitation spell, she opened it up from her distance, seeing an aggravated white filly at the door.

“Ah, Altruise.” The teacher raised a brow, “Late I see.”

“Sorry about that…” Altruise let herself in and trotted over to the empty desk next to Mila’s seat.

“It’s your first day back, that’s fine. Just don’t make that a regular habit.” The teacher turned back to the black board, “Now where was I…”

Mila leaned in toward Altruise. “Where’d you disappear to?” She whispered.

Altruise rolled her eyes and whispered back. “Ugh… Trixie…”

“Oh. Ouch.” Mila squinted, “Well at least she’s not in the same class as us this year.”

“Yeah, well, it seems that isn’t going to happen any more anyway.” Altruise exclaimed.

Mila blinked, “What do you mean?”

Altruise rolled her eyes again, “They moved her up a grade this year.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.” Mila raised a brow and sat up straight, “Perhaps we can look at this as a good thing. We won’t have to worry about her again.”

“Yeah, I suppose you have a point there.”

“Altruise! Mila!” The teacher spoke up from among the classroom, “Stop talking while I’m teaching!”

“Sorry.” Altruise and Mila sat up and made eye contact with her simultaneously.

“Now… Where was I…?” The teacher turned back to the board, clearing her throat.

“Too bad we have to put up with her…” Mila pointed her snout at the teacher with emphasis.

Altruise blinked, “What about her?”

“You don’t recognize her similarities?” Mila pointed at the teacher’s cutie mark, her mane and features.

Altruise glanced at the teacher, and took a moment to figure it out. “Wait… She’s Trixie’s mom?” Her ears sank to her sides with that sudden realization and she slumped back in her seat, “Well, this day just seems to be getting better, doesn’t it.” She leaned in closer to Mila, “Well I suppose that explains why Trixie gets the spoiled benefit of skipping a grade.”

“Altruise! Mila!” The blue mare snapped, eyes twitching. “Are you two done?”

“Sorry.” The two fillies sat up straight again. “Yes ma’am.”

“Good.” The teacher’s eyes squinted at them, and then looked back at the rest of the class with a renewed smile. “Now, for our first day back, why don’t we show each other what types of spells we already know?”

There was some enthusiastic chatter among the class, save for Altruise who slouched lower in her seat.

“Who would like to go first?”

Several fillies and colts raised their hooves. The teacher looked over the class and picked a student at random.

“Okay, Dyno, why don’t you come up here and demonstrate what you can do?”

“Yes ma’am.” The orange colt nodded his frizzy red-maned head, and slipped off his seat, trotting to the front of the classroom.

“What type of spell are you going to perform?” The teacher questioned the colt.

Dyno’s right saddlebag opened up, and a red apple levitated out of the pouch with an orange aura of magic around it. “I’m going to make this here apple explode!”

“Uhm, Dyno?” The blue mare jumped and nervously chuckled, “Maaaybe we should do something a little less… Messy.”

“What, you don’t like applesauce?”

“No, that isn’t what I mean, Dyno, I—”

“Cus I could make my orange explode if you’d prefer—”

“Dyno!” The teacher’s eyes twitched, “Different spell.”

Dyno blinked a few times, nodding nervously. “Okay, uhm…” The colt took a moment to think about a different spell to try. His horn sparked a beam of magic at the apple, and it turned the red skin on the apple green. The rest of the class applauded.

“That’s much better!” Trixie’s mom exclaimed, “Good for you, you can take your seat.”

The orange colt put his green apple back into his saddlebag, and trotted back to his desk and sat down.

“Anypony else?” The teacher peered over the class, looking for more raised hooves. “Okay, Mila.” She pointed at the pink unicorn. This got Altruise’s attention, and her ears perked questioning herself how the outcome of her friend’s magic would turn out.

Mila smiled and got up off her seat, opened her saddlebag and levitated a red apple of her own out and placed it on her desk. She then trotted over to the front of the classroom.

“Alright, what are you going to do?” The teacher asked the filly.

“Levitation magic from a distance.” Mila declared, and her horn illuminated. From across the classroom, the apple on her desk was surrounded by her magic pink aura, and lifted into the air. She gracefully levitated the apple over the heads of the other students, and brought it in front of her. The class applauded, and she put her apple back in her saddlebag.

“Very well executed.” The blue mare smiled.

“Thank you.” Mila smiled and trotted back to her desk. Sitting in her seat, she turned to Altruise, noticing that she was behaving nervously. “Altruise, you’ll be fine.” She reassured her.

“Whatever you say.” The white filly murmured with slumped ears.

“Come on, I’m sure you could get it if you’d give it a try.”

“And risk the safety of the rest of the class?” Altruise corrected that statement, “Or the entire school for that matter? I don’t think so.”

“Altruise, I think that whole storm spell was all in your head.” Mila suggested, “Perhaps you were dreaming when that storm hit and made you think you’re responsible.”

Altruise frowned at that, “Mila, you don’t understand, that really happened. You have no idea how dangerous my magic is…”

“Altruise!” The teacher snapped, causing both Mila and Altruise to sit upright in their seats again. “Well, since you’re all chatty, why don’t you come up and have a turn?”

The white filly’s eyes widened, and she felt a wave of heat from nervous stress. “Uh… N-no ma’am I think I’m good.”

“That wasn’t a request.” The blue mare’s eyes squinted, “Come up here, now.”

“I-I…”

“Altruise.”

The nervous unicorn gulped, and got off her seat. Slowly, she sauntered to the front of the class, glancing at the other students around her who were all staring at her, a few giggling. When she got to the front of the class, she turned to face the students, then looked over at the teacher with a nervous gulp.

“And, what kind of spell are you going to do?” The teacher asked her with expectation.

“I-I um…” Altruise turned her neck to her left side, and with her teeth she opened her saddlebag, and pulled out her own apple with her mouth. She put the apple in her hoof, and noticed the class was silently chuckling at her.

“Class, don’t be rude.” The teacher snapped, and then turned back to Altruise. “So?”

Altruise stared at the apple in front of her. She was entirely clueless, and had no idea what to do. “Uhm…” She kept her eyes on the apple, and suddenly an aura of magic surrounded it. Her ears perked, and she twitched, confused. The apple levitated out of her hoof, and that’s when she caught onto the pink aura. Altruise peered over at Mila from across the classroom, who smiled back at her with an illuminated horn. Altruise smiled back at her and looked back at her apple, feeling much of her stress relieved.

“Okay, I uhm…” Altruise tried to come up with something simple that Mila would obviously know how to do. She then thought of something she and Mila practiced together when Mila first learned levitation magic last year.

“I’ll peel the apple.” She declared, leaning her horn forward. The apple then levitated to her horn and pressed against it, puncturing the skin of the apple. It began to slowly rotate, and the peel on the apple was being scraped off by the pointed tip of her horn like an apple peeler.

With the apple peel properly scraped off, she held up her hoof, and the peeled apple levitated back down into her hoof, and the magic aura around it vanished. The classroom applauded.

“That was very clever, Altruise.” The teacher applauded herself, “Well done. You can take your seat now.”

Altruise smiled and nodded. She put the apple in her mouth, and trotted happily over to her desk. She sat down in her seat, pulled the peeled apple out of her mouth and put it on her desk, and then leaned over to Mila to whisper. “Thank you…”

Mila smiled back at her. “Don’t mention it.” She quietly said.

* * * * *

After class was over, the students were all dismissed for recess. On their way out into the hall, Altruise and Mila walked beside each other, heading for the school doors to go outside to the playground.

“You totally saved my flank in there.” Altruise murmured, “I had no idea what to do.”

“Hey, I’m sure you would’ve done the same for me if I was in your hooves.”

Exiting the doors out into the playground, the two fillies trotted outside. “So what should we do?” Mila asked, “You want me to help you practice your magic before next class?”

“No.” Altruise gave her a look.

“What? I’m only trying to help.”

“I know, and I appreciate it.” Altruise sighed, “I’m just worried something bad will happen like the other night.”

“Altruise, nothing happened the other night.” Mila rolled her eyes, “There was a storm, and you were likely dreaming.”

“Mila.” Altruise’s eyes furrowed, “I don’t want to discuss that.”

Suddenly a loud voice was echoing through the air, catching all of the ponies on the playground’s attention.

“Come one, come all! Witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

There in the center of the playground was Trixie, wearing a purple cape and a wizard hat from cutout fabrics. She was shouting with a voice amplifier spell, and fillies and colts from different age groups were all gathering around her in a circle to watch her perform. Altruise and Mila stayed where they were, staring with a lack of enthusiasm.

“Watch, fillies and gentlecolts, as I magically turn this apple into an orange!” Trixie levitated the apple in front of her, and stood back, waving her hooves at it. After a few moments, like she declared, the apple turned into an orange. Her audience around her applauded, and she bowed boastfully.

“Pff. I can do that.” Mila rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, well there’s nothing spectacular about showing off magic.” Altruise exclaimed, “Magic is supposed to be used for the purpose of pursuing our talents, not making other unicorns look bad because you have stronger magic.”

“Well, well, well!” Trixie noticed Altruise there beyond her audience. “If it isn’t the Fake Unicorn.”

Altruise’s eyes winced, and she slumped lower where she stood. “Ugh, why me?”

The rest of the audience all turned to Altruise, many with mocking grins. Most of the grinning faces came from the unicorns who knew her from last year as the only student who couldn’t cast a spell.

“Why don’t you come up here?” Trixie waved her hoof, gesturing her over.

“I’d rather not, Trixie.” Altruise said aloud.

“What’s the matter? Horn still broken?” Trixie laughed.

“I—What the—? Hey!” Altruise was suddenly lifted into the air surrounded by Trixie’s blue magic aura. Trixie levitated the white unicorn over the crowd of ponies toward her. Altruise struggled, but she couldn’t fight herself out of Trixie’s magic.

“Trixie, put her down!” Mila yelled.

“It’s the Great and Powerful Trixie.” The silver maned filly boasted, and deactivated her aura of magic around Altruise, who then fell from the air a couple of meters, and landed in the grass in front of her with a thump.

“W-why do you always have to pick on me?” Altruise limply stood back up from in the grass, glaring up at the blue filly in front of her. “I’ve never done anything to hurt you.”

“You make the rest of us unicorns look bad.” Trixie frowned at her, “You’re a burden to this school, what do you think you’re doing here?”

“What…?”

“Come on, prove me wrong.” Trixie dropped her orange into the ground and gently kicked it toward Altruise; it rolled and stopped at her hooves in the grass. “Show me a trick. Let me see you do magic.”

“B-but I…”

“Show us all what you’re made of.” The blue filly grinned.

“Trixie, stop picking on her!” Mila galloped forward through the audience, and stood in front of her. “You don’t need to be such a jerk all the time.”

“Hey, this doesn’t concern you.” Trixie cast a telekinetic wave of magic, which pushed Mila over onto her back. She then turned back to Altruise and pointed a hoof to the orange in the grass. “Okay, let’s see some magic. Cast a spell on that orange.”

Altruise took a few steps backward, eyeing the blue filly. “No, Trixie.”

“Aw, can’t do it, can ya?” Trixie mocked her, peering over her audience with a grin, “What’s she doing at a magic school if she can’t cast magic?”

Laughter in the crowd echoed through the air, piercing Altruise’s ears with offending chanting.

“Fake Unicorn!”

“You’re a disgrace to all unicorns! Go home!”

“She’s broken!”

Mila was just getting up, peering over at Altruise who was looking into the grass. Tears were rolling down the white filly’s cheeks, and her cries were drowned out by the laughter of the ponies all around her. The pink unicorn slumped lower where she stood, unsure what she could do. Then she noticed a sudden change in Altruise’s facial expression.

Altruise’s saddened eyes turned into a frown, she gritted her teeth, and she started growling.

“Ooooh, somepony’s getting mad!” Trixie laughed.

Stepping back a little to give herself some room, Altruise pointed her horn at the orange in the grass. At first she was very hesitant. She knew what the possible outcome could be.

“Perhaps it won’t happen like it did last time…” She thought to herself, “I can do this… I am a unicorn…”

More chanting was heard from the audience.

“Come on, Fake Unicorn!”

Tensing her legs, she suddenly began pushing hard, attempting to cast a spell. She pushed so hard that her body trembled, and her head began to throb in pain, but that didn’t hold her back from trying even harder.

“I… am not… a Fake. Unicorn!”

Then suddenly, all at once—just as she feared—her horn exploded of loud, magical energy like lightning that echoed back down at them from the sky like roaring thunder. All of the ponies watching buckled their knees and their ears fell back in terrified shock. Directly above Altruise, funneling black clouds began to take formation in the sky, spiraling larger in size by the second.

Altruise dropped low to the ground, painfully holding her throbbing head from her outburst of magic. “No! No d-don’t! Not again!” She cried, “P-please! Celestia, help me!”

Surrounding her were screams of terror. Fillies and colts ran in every which direction, terrified of her magic. Even the Great and Powerful Trixie was running for cover. Trixie galloped as fast as her hooves could carry her toward the school, and she ran through the doors in a panic.

“Ooagh, goddess, it hurts…!” Altruise clenched her teeth, wincing in immense pain. The thunder from the sky grew louder, and clashes of lightning began to bolt from the clouds. Through her tearful eyes, she saw several teachers come out of the school to investigate what the sudden havoc was all about.

“S-somepony help me!” Altruise reached out a hoof in their direction, sobbing. “Please! It hurts—AHH!!” Lighting erupted from her horn, and a radius of uncontrollable energy spread around her, randomly blowing craters in the ground with highly intense electrical discharges.

“Everypony stand clear of her!” One of the teachers yelled with authority, “It’s too dangerous!!”

The students on the playground didn’t need to be told twice; they all stepped far away from her.

“W-what’s happening to me…?” Altruise gasped, slumping into the ground, thunder and lightning erupting in the sky that was now black of storm clouds. Wind started to pick up, and it began to rain. “Ohh, why can’t I stop it…!?”

Altruise limply tried to stand, looking at all of the terrified faces staring at her; even Mila was afraid. It hurt to see those faces look at her like that. It was just in like her nightmare. “W-why won’t anypony help me…?” She sobbed and collapsed back into the ground, unable to keep herself on her hooves.

More lightning emerged from Altruise’s horn, blowing more craters in the ground. Lightning bolts also clashed from the sky, and one struck a taller point of the school, blowing a hole in it. The stone debris from the hole in the school came crashing down, barely missing the ponies on the ground, who scampered away from the crashing rubble.

“AH!—OW!” Altruise then felt a strange energetic feeling in her horn that she didn’t sense the first time this happened. It was like her magic was trying to escape her. “W-what’s going on—AH!” Suddenly her horn illuminated as bright as the sun, and a bolt of lightning jolted from her horn directly into the wall of foals. With a loud clash, the lightning struck one of the fillies in the crowd, striking her directly in the horn.

Immediately, the rest of the crowd of ponies backed away from the filly who had been struck. What was strange, this bolt of lightning wouldn’t cancel itself out; it continued to jolt into this unicorn, as if their horns were channeled together.

“Twilight!” One of the fillies in the crowd of ponies shrieked, watching the purple unicorn taking the intense blow of electricity to the horn. She trembled from the blast of lightning, and slowly the channeled bolt of electricity began to lessen. A few moments, and the connection of lightning between their horns completely died off, and Altruise’s horn slowly began to dim back to its normal state once again.

The clouds in the sky gradually faded away, the rain slowed to a stop, and the thundering echoes silenced. Altruise was back to normal again, her magic explosion had come to a close.

She stared wide-eyed at the purple filly who was now lying on her side, sparking of electrical energy at the horn. Altruise’s ears fell to the sides, and she limply stood up to her hooves, slowly trotting toward the downed unicorn.

“T-Twilight?” She whimpered as she approached closer. As for the rest of the crowd, they all backed away from her as she moved closer.

“Altruise, stay away from that pony!” One of the teachers hollered in a threatening voice. Altruise was so focused on the wounded pony in the grass that she disregarded everything the teachers were trying to tell her.

She stepped up to the purple filly and stood over her, looking down at her motionless body. Twilight’s eyes were open, glowing white, and her horn was still sparking. Apart from that, she was completely still.

“Twilight?” Altruise knelt lower to her, “T-Twilight, are you okay?”

The purple unicorn remained lying there, motionless. Glowing at the eyes, and sparking at the horn. One of the teachers jumped into the scene and put a hoof in the way to enforce her to back away from Twilight.

“I said stay away from her!” She snapped, “You don’t need to cause any more damage than you already have!”

“I-I… I didn’t…” Altruise backed away slowly, whimpering. The teacher turned back to Twilight to check on her.

Twilight’s horn soon stopped sparking, and the glow in her eyes went away, exposing her violet irises again. She blinked a few times, then clenched her eyes shut, and raised her hooves to her head, letting out a loud painful groan. “M-my head…”

“I-I’m sorry.” Altruise whimpered, backing away further. She looked around her at all of the staring faces. “I-I’m so sorry everypony… I… I didn’t…” She hiccupped and wept a few times, “I didn’t mean for this to happen, I…”

All of the ponies on the playground—both foals and teachers—just stared at her, feared her. Their piercing eyes filling her with guilt. Altruise took one last glance at the staring ponies, and at the destroyed playground around her, and she turned and ran away in a trail of tears.

“Altruise, you need to stay here!” A teacher called out to her, but the filly didn’t respond. Nor did she even look back. Running off into the eastern distance, she disappeared beyond the haze of her own destruction.

* * * * *

Where It Began

“Celestia, what’s wrong with me?!” Altruise screamed at herself as she ran down the cobblestone path further and further away from Canterlot. Her head was aching, and her body was exhausted from her magic outburst. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as the images of the terrified ponies’ faces kept flooding her mind.

Once Trottingham came to view, she stopped dead in her tracks wide-eyed. “I-I can’t go back home.” She whimpered to herself, panicking, “Not how I am. Not like this.” She glanced to the north, then to the south. “Maybe I can hide. M-maybe I should run away…”

“You’re not going anywhere, Altruise.” She heard a powerful voice of feminine authority, which got her to slump, and her ears curved to her sides in trembling fear. That voice, she’s heard it before. Altruise gulped, and slowly, she turned around to the pony standing behind her.

“I-it’s you…” Altruise whimpered, trembling scared, “P-princess…”

The alicorn goddess of the sun stood tall before her in all her glory, glaring down at her. “The school contacted me after what had happened.” Celestia spoke clearly with royalty; it made Altruise feel like her ears were being pierced with intimidation. “I saw the damage for myself.”

“I-it was an accident!” Altruise shrieked, backing away from her. “I-I didn’t mean to, I—”

“I know.” Celestia calmly interrupted her frantic word fumbling.

Altruise froze, and her ears slowly stood back up. “Y… you’re… not mad?” She gulped and lowered her head, “Y-you’re not gonna s-send me to the moon, are you?”

Celestia faintly giggled at that. “Now why would I do that?” She looked down at the filly with a more reassuring expression, “I’m not mad at you, Altruise. But I am a little concerned.”

“Twilight… I… She—”

“She’s fine.” The princess exclaimed, “She was sent in for tests at the hospital, but I assure you she will be okay.”

Altruise sighed with relief hearing this, but then slumped back into the cobblestone. “I feel so stupid… I shouldn’t have gone to school.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Celestia questioned the filly.

“Well I—you see… I…” Altruise bit her lip, feeling guilt. “I knew that would happen if I tried to cast a spell…” She squinted her eyes and lowered her head, “I told myself I could handle my magic. I told myself I could control it. But I can’t—”

“You mean this has happened before?” The princess’ eyes pierced down at her, “You were fully aware of your power before you cast the spell, and you haven’t told anypony?” She furrowed her eyes, “Altruise, I think you need to do some explaining.”

“Please don’t send me to the moon with Nightmare Moon…” Altruise wept, sitting on the cobblestone with her head down.

Celestia rolled her eyes, “I’m not going to send you to the moon.” She stepped toward the filly and put a hoof on her shoulder, “Now let’s take you home, we’ll talk with your parents about all this.”

“N-no they can’t know, they won’t approve of this… They’d never forgive me, they won’t want me anymore…”

“Altruise, your parents are very loyal ponies, they wouldn’t do that. I know them very well; your father was once a guard at my castle. I’m sure he must’ve told you stories about that.” Celestia exclaimed reassuringly, “You’re worrying way too much, and you’re jumping to conclusions. Now come, let’s take you home.”

Altruise let out a soft, worried sigh as she limply stood up to her hooves. They turned eastward, and continued walking toward Trottingham beside each other down the cobblestone path.

* * * * *

Celestia and Altruise walked through Trottingham, and any pony that was outside to witness her arrival turned to face them with a loud and surprised gasp, and bowed with respect to the princess. Altruise noticed this, and watched all of the mares and stallions bow to her.

They approached the door to Altruise’s house, and Celestia knocked at the door with her hoof, waiting patiently beside the filly for her parents to answer. The door opened, and Altruise’s mother stood in the entrance. Her eyes immediately jolted open at the sight of Celestia.

“Princess Celestia! Wow, what brings you here?” She then glanced down at her daughter and was even more confused. “Altruise?” She looked up at the princess again and blinked a few times.

“May I come in?” Celestia requested with a gentle tone of authority.

“Uh—Yes. Of course.” The mother stuttered and opened the door wider for her, and the princess stepped in along side of Altruise. “What’s this all about?”

“Why don’t we sit down, I will explain everything.” Celestia suggested. Altruise’s ears fell to her sides and she slumped lower to the floor; she didn’t like the sound of that.

Altruise’s mother looked down at her, acknowledging her hiding behaviour, then back up at the princess. “Is there a problem?”

The father then stepped in from the other room and froze at the sight of Celestia with Altruise. “Your majesty? What brings you here?” He glanced down at his daughter, raising a brow, “What’s going on? Why isn’t she in school?”

“Come, let’s sit down.” Celestia suggested, letting herself into their home toward the living room. The parents shrugged and followed her there, and Altruise slowly dragged her nervous hooves along behind them. The ponies all gathered into the living room and sat on the sofa. The parents sat beside each other, Celestia and Altruise took their own seats across from each other.

“Did Altruise do something wrong?” The father continued questioning, “How serious is this?”

“This is a very serious matter, but no, your daughter didn’t do anything wrong.” The princess glanced over to Altruise, “Your daughter has a very powerful magic.”

“R… really?” The father blinked, “She cast a spell?”

“Oh I knew you had it in you, honey!” The mother jumped happily.

Altruise’s ears just fell to her sides. She didn’t feel any more enthusiastic with her mother trying to help.

“Now, your daughter has a condition that I’ve only ever seen maybe about twelve times in my lifetime.” Celestia explained, “It’s very rare, and very dangerous.”

“Condition?” The cyan unicorn twitched, “Is she sick?”

“No, she isn’t sick.” Celestia explained, “However, Altruise has no control over her magic. If she tries to cast a spell, even the simplest of spells, her magic will all be let loose at once without being able to stop herself.” She glanced back over to Altruise, “The best way I can describe this is, it’s like a salt shaker with a loose cap. If you try to shake a little bit of salt, the cap falls off, and it all spills out.” She looked back to her parents, “Normally an outburst like the one she caused at school would’ve rendered her unconscious, but her magic was interrupted by another unicorn’s horn on the playground, like a lightning rod.”

Altruise slouched lower in her chair thinking about Twilight.

“So… what should we do?” The father asked with concern, “Can this be treated?”

The princess turned to him, “Well, since I’m the only pony in Equestria who has experienced such magic before, I know how it works, and yes, I can help her.”

“You?” Altruise looked up at her and blinked.

The princess turned back to her and nodded, “It would be best if I trained you myself. That magic needs to be tamed before somepony gets hurt.” She declared and leaned forward, “I’m hereby pulling you from school until your magic is no longer a risk.”

Altruise’s ears perked, and she smiled enthusiastically.

“I have to ask you though.” Celestia exclaimed, “You told me that the magic outburst you cast at the school was not your first. When did it first happen?”

The parents both sat up straight, surprised to hear this.

“Altruise, you’ve done that before?” The pegasus questioned her, wide-eyed, “And you never told us?”

Altruise lowered her ears and made a whimpering sound. “I-I’m sorry… I should’ve told you. I didn’t want to disappoint you…” She murmured to her parents.

Her father blinked at that, “How would you have disappointed us? Your mother and I would’ve tried to help you.”

“I know…” Altruise squeaked.

The pegasus let out a sigh and leaned forward, “So, when did this first happen?”

Altruise gulped and with brief hesitation, she explained herself. “The other night… That storm we had.”

“That was you?” Her mother jumped.

The filly nodded and continued explaining. “I wasn’t in bed that night. I snuck out the window, and I ran into the forest…” She murmured and slouched lower.

“You were outside? In the forest?” The father questioned her frantically, “What on Equestia were you doing out there?”

Altruise sighed, “I was mad at myself for not being able to use magic; I wanted time to think. When I was there, I tried practicing my magic on a leaf. That’s where it started…” She whimpered and curled in her seat, “I-I was so scared, I didn’t know what was happening to me. I was afraid of what you’d think about it… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Glances were exchanging among the ponies in the room.

“I’d like to see where you were when this first happened.” Celestia requested. “Will you please take us there, Altruise?”

“I-I…” Altruise’s ears fell back again, and she sighed. “Yes, Princess…”

* * * * *

Celestia and Altruise’s parents followed the filly through the forest. The deeper they went, the quieter the woods seemed to be; less birds chirping or animals scampering. It made the forest feel more ominous and lonely, even with the warmth of the afternoon sun overhead.

“Altruise, how far did you go out here?” Her father questioned her in surprise.

“Uh…” Altruise bit her lip and lowered her head, “Pretty far…”

As they got further, the trees seemed to get deader; less leaves, less branches, some trees even scorched or completely knocked over. Missing patches of grass were growing more noticeable the further they went as well. Then finally, they came to the opening in the forest where Altruise had been during her first magic outburst.

The landscape was completely scorched in a full mile radius of craters and debris. Altruise felt her heart sink seeing this place again. Her parents were wide-eyed, and even the princess was astonished by this.

“Uhm… Here we are.” Altruise gulped, looking up to the other three ponies who were staring at the blighted field.

“You were all the way out here when you caused that storm?” Her father twitched, “Good goddess, we felt that all the way in town…”

Celestia stepped further into the field of scorched earth. She examined the craters, and looked up at the sky, circling where she stood to get a full view of the field. “Altruise, why don’t we do your training here?”

“Here?” Altruise winced, “Why here?”

“Well, it’s a nice size location, and you won’t be affecting civilization outside of the forest from here.” The princess turned back to her, “This way you won’t have to destroy anything else in the process of taming your magic. It’s bare here; we may as well use it.”

“I guess…” Altruise didn’t like the idea of returning to this spot, but Celestia had a point. If they were to train anywhere else, she’d inevitably scorch that too anyway. “Uhm… Princess Celestia? How long do you think it will take?”

“What? To tame you?” Celestia shrugged, “All depends. Could be a couple weeks, could be months.” She explained and sighed, “I can’t determine how hard this will be to calm your magic down. It’s quite powerful as far as I can see right now.”

“I see…” Altruise sighed.

“Why don’t we start in the morning?” The princess suggested, walking back to the other three ponies. “I’ll meet you here; we’ll start during your regular school hour.”

“Okay.” The filly nodded obediently.

“Good. Now, I suggest you go home.” The princess flapped her wings and floated up into the air, looking down to the other three. “Get plenty of rest for tomorrow. I need to get back to the castle.”

“Alright, thanks Princess Celestia.” Altruise smiled up at her.

Celestia smiled back at her. “Take care, Altruise.” With that, she turned and flew back to Canterlot. Altruise waved her off, and she and her parents turned back home.

* * * * *

It was a quiet and awkward walk home through the forest. Altruise didn’t really have a lot to say, and she could tell that her parents weren’t very pleased with her. There wasn’t a lot of eye contact.

When they returned home, they silently stepped into their house, Altruise being the last to saunter through the door. They all stood there in silence, until the pegasus finally turned to his daughter and looked down at her. His eyes were furrowed, but not to a furious extent; more-so a look of disappointment.

Altruise’s ears sank to the side, and she slouched lower into the floor, looking back at him. “I-I’m sorry.”

“Altruise, I…” The father squinted and put his hoof over his eyes, trying to think of what to say.

“I-I knew this would happen if you found out…” Altruise whimpered, sitting on her flank, hiccupping silently as a few tears leaked down her cheeks. Her eyes were staring at the floor in shame.

The pegasus sighed and put his hoof back down on the floor. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

The young filly looked up to her father. “I-I didn’t want you to think of me differently.” She sniffed, and breathed a sorrowful sigh, “I didn’t want you to be ashamed of me because of my magic…”

“I’m not disappointed about your magic, Altruise.” Her father raised a brow at that, “Why would I be ashamed of you because of something you can’t control?”

“B-because I’m dangerous…” Altruise wept, sinking lower to the floor as more gasps and tears leaked, “Please don’t leave me…”

Those words that came from the filly’s mouth immediately threw the pegasus’ mind back to last night, when Altruise awoke from that nightmare. She said the same thing to him, in the same, hurt tone as she did just now. It suddenly made sense to him; her dream must’ve had to do with this. Putting himself in her hooves for that brief moment, he felt more understanding about her reasons for keeping quiet.

“So… that’s what the silence has been about…” The father knelt lower to the filly and placed a wing on her shoulder. “Sweetie, you don’t need to be afraid of that. I’d never leave you, no matter what.”

Altruise sniffed, and looked eye to eye with him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…” She whimpered, leaning into his shoulder, “I’m sorry…”

With a sigh, the pegasus wrapped his wing around her. “I forgive you, Altruise. Please stop crying.”

“I shouldn’t lie to you.” Altruise continued her whimpers against his shoulder, “I was just scared…”

“I know. I know, Altruise. It’s okay.” He reassured her, nuzzling her, “Your mother and I, we love you so much. No matter what any of us go through, we will always love you.”

“I love you too…” The foal murmured.

* * * * *

As the tensions settled down throughout the afternoon, the family spent more quality time together in the living room. They spent the next hour or so relaxing, talking, and playing some board games to pass the time.

Breaking the calm silence, they heard a knock at the door. “I’ll get it.” Altruise’s mother stood up and trotted out of the living room to the door. From the living room they heard her open the door, and greeting the visitor.

“Hi. Is Altruise home?” The visitor’s familiar voice was heard in the living room, which grabbed Altruise’s attention. Her ears perked, and she turned to glance over at the door.

“Yes she is, Mila. I’ll go get her for you.” The cyan mare smiled down at the pink filly, and trotted back into the living room. “Altruise, Mila’s here.”

Altruise felt hesitant at first to go talk to her. She kept thinking about the way Mila looked at her at school when her magic outburst went off. With a sigh, Altruise slipped off the couch onto her hooves, and quietly trotted out of the living room and to the door.

They exchanged glares, and at first both were quiet. They awkwardly brushed their hooves on the floor, thinking of something to say.

“Uh… Hi, Altruise.” Mila managed, biting her lip.

“You’re back early.” Altruise blinked at her.

Mila nodded, “They closed down the school for the rest of the day due to the um…” She paused in mid-sentence, assuming Altruise knew what she was going to say. “…Yeah.”

“I never should’ve gone to school.” Altruise furrowed her eyes, looking to the side.

“Hey um… about all that…” Mila sighed, “I’m really sorry.”

Altruise blinked and looked back at her.

“It was wrong of me not to believe you.” Mila apologized in a murmur, “We’re friends, I should be more supportive for you when it comes to serious matters like that. I’ve just… never seen anything like that before.”

“It’s okay, Mila.” Altruise smiled back at her, “I understand. If you were telling me that was happening to you, I’d probably have a hard time believing it myself.” She raised a brow humourously, “It isn’t exactly all that common for a foal unicorn to have this kind of magic.”

“Heh… Yeah.” Mila exchanged a smile back at her, “So um… How’s the whole thing with your magic going now?”

“Uh, well… You’re not going to believe this, but, Princess Celestia came to us earlier this afternoon and offered to help me with it.” Altruise was slightly enthusiastic, but at the same time she was nervous about it.

Mila went wide-eyed at that. “Really? The Princess herself came to you?”

Altruise shrugged and nodded, “Apparently what I have is extremely rare, and is something only she has any knowledge about. She said that in her lifetime she’s only experienced maybe twelve other foals with this kind of magic, and she’s going to train me herself for the next while until my magic is tame so it’s not so dangerous.”

“Well, that’s… interesting.” Mila blinked, and she grinned, “I’m totally jealous.”

“Heh.” Altruise smirked back at her, “Well thanks for stopping by, Mila. I appreciate your concerns.”

“Hey, we’re friends.” Mila smiled, “Friends look out for each other, don’t they?”

Altruise smiled back at that.

“Well, I need to head back.” Mila sighed, “After what happened at school, my parents want me to stay home.” She rolled her eyes, “They’re all worried about me being out of the house now.”

“Heh, well you’d better get back before they start wondering where you ran off to.” Altruise grinned, “Thanks again for checking up on me.”

“Of course.” Mila then turned and trotted back to the street, looking back at her. “You take care, Altruise. I doubt the school will be open for at least a week, so I’ll probably see you tomorrow.”

“Alright, Mila. Thanks, you take care too.”

With that, Altruise closed the door, and trotted back into the living room where she spent the rest of the day with her family. Their day felt pretty full already as it was, so the remainder of the day was spent relaxing. There were concerns about her training tomorrow, but none of them really spoke of her magic, and focused more on other important matters. Celestia was sure to take care of her during her training, so there was no sense in worrying about it.

* * * * *

In Like a Lion

Altruise was just preparing to leave the house the following morning with her parents seeing her out of the door.

“Altruise, you be careful.” Her mother suggested.

“I will, Mom.” Altruise rolled her eyes with a grin, “I’m pretty sure Princess Celestia knows what she’s doing.”

“Ehh you’ll be fine.” The father let out a chuckle and patted her shoulder, “The Princess is a great pony to be around. She is very kind, and very wise.”

Altruise smiled and looked up to him, “Dad, what was it like to work for her?”

“Hmm…” The pegasus put his hoof to his chin to think about that one. “I can’t really describe the honour I felt when she first hired me. Before I worked for her, I was searching for jobs everywhere else in Canterlot. But nopony would hire me because of my mangled wing.” He put his hoof down and smiled, “The Princess saw right through my broken wing and gave me a chance to work for her on the spot. She could see how strong I was, and gave me a guard position in the higher part of the castle where pegasi work.” He grinned at the thought, “At first, the other guards didn’t approve of the Princess’ judgment toward me, but they soon could see that I was capable of handling the job and accepted me there like anypony else.” The pegasus smiled down at her again, “Never judge a pony by their cover. The Princess never does.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool, Dad.” Altruise beamed.

“Well, you’d better run along.” The pegasus scooted her toward the door, “Don’t wanna be late meeting the Princess!”

Altruise giggled and skipped out the door, “Yeah, I’ll see you later. Bye Mom, bye Dad!”

* * * * *

Passing through the southern forest, Altruise arrived at the open field of rubble and craters. As Celestia had said she would be, she was there waiting for her.

“Good morning, Altruise.” She greeted her with a smile, “Sleep well?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Altruise exclaimed, “Did you?”

“Oh, I don’t sleep.” Celestia giggled, “Never have.”

Altruise blinked a few times at that. “Oh. Interesting…” She raised a brow, “And you don’t get tired?”

The princess giggled some more, “I’m the alicorn goddess of the sun. I don’t need to sleep.”

“Huh…”

“So are you ready to begin your training?” Celestia asked the filly at her hooves.

“I um, I think so.” Altruise shrugged, “I’m a little worried about what could happen though…”

“Understandable. But I assure you that you’ll be fine.”

“How difficult do you think this is going to be?”

The princess shrugged, “I don’t know. Every pony is different to train.” She glanced down at a stone in the ground and pointed a hoof at it. “Can you show me what happens when you try to levitate this rock?”

Altruise gulped, and looked up at her to see if she was serious. Celestia looked back at her; this wasn’t a joking matter. “Uh… What if I hurt you?” The filly whimpered.

“Don’t worry about that. It’ll be fine.”

“Uh…” Altruise leaned down toward the rock, then she looked back up to the princess. “You’re sure about this?”

“I wouldn’t tell you to do it if I wasn’t sure about it.” The princess exclaimed, “Take your time. I’m not going to rush you; I know this is hard for you to go through.”

Altruise glanced back down at the rock, took a deep breath, and leaned down to point her horn at it. She hesitated, and at first didn’t concentrate on casting a spell. After a few breathing moments, Altruise went for it, and tried to push the magic from her horn to levitate the rock. At first, nothing was happening.

“Just by the way you’re trying to push your horn to cast a spell, I can already see a little bit of what’s going on.” Celestia exclaimed, and Altruise stopped herself to look up at the princess with a raised brow.

“What do you mean?” The filly questioned.

“It’s like a shaken soda bottle with a tightly sealed cap.” The princess explained the situation for the filly to understand, “Takes a lot of effort to open, then when you do, it erupts.” She pointed at the rock in the ground, “Try again.”

The little unicorn sighed, thinking this was an absurd idea, but she didn’t question the princess and went back to trying to cast her spell. She pushed for a few moments, and gritted her teeth as she grunted.

Celestia watched the expressions on the filly. “Does it hurt when you try this?”

Altruise stopped briefly and sat on her flank. “Yeah, a bit…” She murmured, “And it’s also kind of exhausting.”

“Hmm…” Celestia put a hoof on her chin, squinting her eyes in thought. “And when you do cast your magic, does that hurt also?”

“A lot more…” Altruise sighed.

“I see…” The alicorn briefly paused, then pointed a hoof at the rock. “Try doing it again, but don’t push so hard. If it hurts too much, calm yourself down.”

“Uh… Alright…” Altruise murmured, and leaned over to try pushing her magic again. Steadily, taking her time, Altruise could feel the magic in her horn trying to burst forth, but not even a spark of it was being cast. “Ah…” She winced a little, which made Celestia twitch.

“Altruise, don’t hurt yourself—WOAH!?”

Just then, the magic from her horn erupted in a loud crackle of lightning that struck to the sky from her horn. “AAHH!!” Altruise shrieked, and a black funneling cloud immediately began to take form in the sky, and the wind around them picked up at an exceeding rate.

Celestia’s eyes were widened, and her jaw had dropped. She wasn’t about to admit it, but this was the first time she has ever seen anything like this from a foal. “A-Altruise, calm down.” She put a hoof on her shoulder, “You need to calm yourself. Altruise? Altr—AHH!” In a flash of lightning, the alicorn was shot back several meters, and she collapsed into the ground, and rolled to a stop.

The princess limped back up to her feet and stared at the unicorn exploding of electrical energy from her horn. Altruise was shaking her head, crying, and she collapsed into the ground with her hooves on her head.

“CelestiaaAAAA!!!” The foal shrieked loudly, sending panic chills down the princess’ spine.

“Altruise!” The princess daringly approached the exploding foal, and the clouds above them were thickening, making everything darker. And not too soon after, it began to rain, and lightning was striking from the sky. “Altruise, calm down!” She yelled to the foal, trying to make her voice heard over the thunderous magic.

“H-help me!” Altruise sobbed, looking up at the princess, “I-I can’t stop it!”

“Yes you can!” Celestia shouted at her with her royal voice, “You need to control yourself!”

“Celestia, it huuurts…” The foal whimpered in more tears, holding her head.

The princess panicked, trying to come up with something. Then she prepared herself, and leaned forward to point her horn at the foal. She clenched her teeth and winced, expecting a great deal of pain out of this.

As she had expected, a bolt of lightning was fired from Altruise’s horn, and struck the princess in the horn like a lightning rod.

“Gha!!” Celestia buckled her knees, clenching her teeth tighter. The bolt of lightning that was channeling from each other’s horns slowly died off, and like what had happened when she struck Twilight, Altruise’s horn stopped exploding of magic, and she went back to normal.

Celestia immediately backed away from the foal, coughing black puffs of smoke. She collapsed onto her haunches, wheezing, her horn sparking of electrical static. The clouds in the sky slowly faded, and the rain and horrendous wind died off. The roars of the thunder all silenced as well.

“H-ow on E-Equesti-a c-can this be p-ossible?” The princess muttered in between coughs, and she glanced back up at Altruise, wide-eyed. Standing back to her hooves, she slowly approached the filly. “Altruise are you okay?”

Altruise was holding her aching head, looking up at the princess, nodding slowly. “I-I hurt you…” She whimpered, lowering her ears shamefully. “I’m sorry…”

“No, no.” The princess shook her head, still in shock of what had just happened. “That was um… Well…” She blinked a few times, “I didn’t expect that.” A pause. “…At all.”

“What? But I thought you said you’ve dealt with magic like mine before.” Altruise lowered her ears, “How bad is it?”

“You just knocked an alicorn through the air.” Celestia said in a joking tone, and rubbed it off like that it was no big deal and waved her hoof, “I’m sure we’ll figure out how we can tame it.”

“I could’ve killed you!” Altruise squinted at the thought, “Why are you risking your life over me?”

“Because you are an innocent foal who has done nothing wrong, and it is my royal duty to protect you and everypony else.” The princess leaned forward for emphasis, “I would give my life to ensure that Equestria remains at the peaceful balance that it is forever.” She cleared her throat and stood back up, pointing at another rock in the ground. “Now, try it again.”

“What?” Altruise went wide-eyed, “Again? You serious?”

“No I’m Celestia.” The princess giggled, “Yes, I’m serious. At least I know what I’m dealing with now. Try it again.”

Altruise groaned and rolled her eyes at the princess. “Fiiiiiine.” She leaned down toward the rock and focused her horn for a spell. She tensed her legs, and continued pushing her magic like before.

It didn’t take nearly as long as the last time, and her horn erupted of magic like before. An explosion of lightning burst forth from her horn in all directions. This time however, all of the lightning coming from her horn was all directing themselves straight into Celestia’s horn. A matter of ten seconds, and the lighting all faded away, and Altruise was back to her normal state again.

Celestia put a hoof on her horn and coughed a few times. “Ok-ay, I thi-nk we can ma-ke this w-ork.” She muttered between electrifying coughs.

“I don’t wanna do this any more!” Altruise winced, lowering to the ground, “You keep getting hurt! It’s not worth it. I’ll just stop using my magic…”

“Don’t be absurd.” The princess rolled her eyes, “Did you notice how much easier it was for you to activate your magic this time?”

“Uh, yeah, but I—”

“And how quickly I was able to cancel it out?”

“At what cost though?” The filly groaned, “I don’t want you to keep hurting yourself.”

“Oh I’m fine.” Celestia rubbed it off again, and coughed.

Altruise gave her a look of uncertainty.

“Altruise, when our training is finished, you will be able to properly activate and deactivate magic.” The princess declared.

“Just why are you helping me, rather than sending another unicorn to train me?”

“I don’t risk the safety of my unicorn guards or teachers.” Celestia exclaimed with a noble posture, “Your first burst of magic that knocked me off my hooves could have been fatal to the average unicorn. I can not allow another pony risk their life; this is my royal duty.”

“Heh, my father had always told me how kind you are.” Altruise smiled, “I can certainly see that. You don’t put yourself before anypony.”

Celestia giggled at that, “Well thank you, I do my best.” She pointed at another rock. “Try again?”

Altruise looked down at the rock, then glanced back up her with a more trusting nod. Stepping forward, she lowered her head to the rock and concentrated casting a spell on it again.

“Don’t push the magic out.” Celestia suggested, “Relax, let it flow naturally. Try to remain calm.”

The filly wasn’t sure how that was going to help, but she did as she was told, and continued concentrating on the rock, this time without trying to push as hard as she usually did. Bracing herself, she carried on with more determination now that she knew Celestia was here no matter what the outcome. The princess wasn’t going to let her down.

At least three minutes had passed, and the filly sat on her flank and looked up at the princess with a sigh. “How am I supposed to cast a spell if I don’t force it out?”

“With patience.” Celestia gestured to the rock to signal the filly to keep trying.

Altruise sighed again and went back to focusing on the rock like before. Keeping herself calm didn’t seem to be having any effect on casting a spell; it clearly wasn’t working. She braced herself and buckled her knees, attempting to push it again.

“Altruise, calm.” The princess reminded her.

The unicorn sat back on her flank with a grunt, “But it doesn’t work.”

“That’s because you’re not being patient with it.” Celestia nobly explained with a smile, “Trust me. If you want your magic to be tamed, you need to focus more on the desired spell you are casting, and less about the dangerous outcome it could result. You’re focusing on too much at a time when you push your magic so hard, and it makes you worry. And when you worry, there is more potential for a spell to go wrong.” She pointed at the rock again, “Now, calmly.”

Rolling her eyes, Altruise went back to focusing her horn on the rock, calmly like the princess said. She kept staring at it, concentrating, without attempting to force it. Nothing was happening still.

“Every time you casted your magic before, what was on your mind?” The princess questioned the filly.

Altruise paused briefly to think about an answer. “Uh… I don’t really know.” She squinted in thought, “Different things I guess.”

“But how did you feel?” Celestia asked.

The filly looked up at the princess with a curious look. “What do you mean, how did I feel?”

“Any particular emotions?”

“Uh…” She thought about the other times she was casting magic. Every time she’d force it out, her mind was set on one specific mood. “…Frustration?”

“Frustration, or anger?” The princess looked down at the filly, who looked back up at her now even more confused.

“Um… Would being angry about something have an effect on it?”

“When a unicorn uses magic while they are angry, it can come out as something much less predictable.” The princess explained, “An angry unicorn is a dangerous one.”

Altruise murmured at that. “I guess, yeah… It could’ve been anger.” She admitted when she realized, “The first time it happened, I was just mad at myself because I was unable to cast magic at all… The second time, at school, I was angry at another student for teasing me about being unable to cast a spell.”

“Okay, and after those two, you’ve been casting your magic here with me.” Celestia pointed out, “What is angering you right now?”

The filly put that to thought. “Uh, well I’m not sure, I…” She paused to think about it further. “Every time I cast a spell, I’m angry because it hurts a lot.” This epiphany was beginning to make sense to her, “Whenever I push my magic out so hard, it hurts. And I feel anger from the pain once I can’t handle it. And that’s when it goes off.”

“I see.” Celestia gestured back to the rock again, “In that case, start off trying to cast a spell like you normally do. Push your magic, but only a little bit. If you feel it hurting, don’t push as hard. If you begin to feel angry, stop yourself before it gets out of hand.”

Altruise nodded, and went back to focusing on the rock. She pointed her horn at it, and concentrated her magic. She pushed a little harder, bit by bit, and she eventually felt a sharp pain in her horn. This made her wince, and as she was directed, she calmed herself a little.

Several minutes had passed, and Altruise was beginning to get impatient with it. She frowned, and began to grumble. “Stupid, dumb, rock, why don’t you move…”

“Altruise.” Celestia called to her, as a reminder that she was beginning to feel anger again.

With a sigh, Altruise calmed down and continued concentrating, relieving her angers with a few gentle breaths through her snout.

Another couple of minutes had passed. “Dumb… Dumb, rock…”

“Altruise.”

“What?” The unicorn twitched.

“Calm.”

“Ugh…” Altruise rolled her eyes and then went back to focusing on the rock in the ground, trying to feel less frustrated.

“Just focus on what you’re trying to do. Don’t focus on not being able to, or you’ll make it more difficult for yourself.” The princess suggested.

With a deep breath, Altruise allowed her tensions to relax, and she tried concentrating on her magic with less on her mind. Determined, she focused on the one goal ahead of her; moving the rock.

Several more minutes had passed, but this time Altruise wasn’t pushing any harder, or any less. Eventually, Altruise felt an energy that was trying to escape from her horn.

“C-Celestia?” Altruise panicked when she felt that familiar sensation that she now feared, as it always came up with a bad result to follow.

“Altruise, be calm.” The princess instructed, “Keep focusing on what you’re doing, don’t panic.”

The filly gulped, and went back to concentrating, but that feeling in her horn was growing. She was concerned, but not like she normally was; the princess was here to ensure she was okay, so there was no sense in panicking. Taking a deep breath, she tried not to think about the energy she felt, and went back to focus on the rock.

A quick flash of electricity sparked from her horn, which made her flinch; but this time, it was not to an extreme level. There was about a meter radius of electricity around her horn, which made her clench her teeth.

“I-it hurts…” Altrusie whimpered, but immediately shook it off, and tried to keep focusing on what she was doing. “I… I can…” She looked at the rock, and the electricity formed around her horn lessened. Celestia watched the filly’s progress, and smiled.

The rock had a golden aura around it. Altruise noticed this and she gasped. “I-I’m doing it!” She beamed, her smile brighter than ever. She concentrated a little harder. Though electricity was still surrounding her horn, she tried her best to ignore it, and with as much determination as she could muster, she moved the rock, slowly, gracefully up into the air.

It reached about a foot off the ground, and Altruise suddenly felt a twitch of pain that immediately broke her concentration. The lighting from her horn escalated, and clashed loudly with thunder. “OW!” She winced, and the levitating rock in her golden aura cracked into pieces; the aura then vanished, and the pebbled remains of the rock fell into the ground in a pile of smoking rubble.

“AAhhH!...” Altruise’s horn was emanating more lightning, which was slowly becoming less stable. “No…! S-stop…!” She grumbled to herself, and attempted to ease herself, and relax. “Stop.” She murmured again, sitting on her flank with her eyes closed, calming her mind.

The electricity from her horn gradually began to lessen, little by little. It took a few moments, but eventually on her own, she canceled out her magic. The lightning had slowed to a stop, her horn had quit glowing, and there was a peaceful silence.

The filly opened her eyes, and released a deep sigh, slumping over in exhaustion. She glanced over at the princess, who was smiling at her.

“Very good, Altruise. Very good!” Celestia chanted with clapping hooves. “You’ve made so much progress today already.”

Altruise stood up straight with a beaming smile. The result of her first levitation spell may have ended in a heap of pebbles, but she could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. “My aura’s gold!” She squeaked enthusiastically, “I can’t wait to tell Mom and Dad!”

Celestia giggled, “I’m sure they’ll be very proud.” She stood taller and leaned forward in a serious manner, “Altruise, for safety sake, I don’t want you to use magic outside of our training until I give the word that it’s okay.”

“Yeah…” Altrusie glanced over to the pile of smoking rocks, “I understand.”

“Good.” The princess peered up at the sun, “Its noon, you should probably go home for lunch.” She looked back at the filly at her feet, “Same time again tomorrow?”

Altruise nodded with a smile. “Yes, I’ll be here.”

Celestia smiled back at the filly, “Very good. I’ll walk you home, and I’ll talk to your parents about your progress.”

The filly unicorn filly nodded and followed the princess back to town, wandering back home through the forest.

* * * * *

Altruise and Celestia returned to Trottingham, and let themselves into Altruise’s home. Trotting inside, the filly’s parents came to the door from the living room.

“You’re back! How’d everything go?” The father asked, with a little bit of a concerned expression, “There was a quick thundershower that lasted a few minutes; assuming that was you. Are you okay?”

“I’m great!” The filly beamed, bounding in place like the old happy Altruise they all knew so well, “It went off to a rough start, and I’m still very rusty, but there was progress!” She hopped over to her parents and stood proudly, “My aura is gold!”

“That’s wonderful!” Her mother cheered, and peered up to Celestia. “Thank you so much for all your help, Princess Celestia.”

“It was my pleasure.” Celestia smiled at Altruise’s parents, “She did exceptionally well for her first day. However, needless to say, there is much work that is needed to be done.” She turned back to the filly, “Now, Altruise, remember what we discussed. No magic outside of our training until I permit you to.”

“Yes, Princess.” Altruise nodded respectfully.

“Very good then.” The princess looked up to her parents, “Quite the daughter you have here.” She smiled, “You taught her to be very well-mannered.”

“Heh, we do our best.” The pegasus exclaimed modestly.

“Well, you’re doing a marvelous job.” Celestia smiled, “I must return to Canterlot now; royal duties.” She turned to Altruise, “Enjoy the rest of your day, and sleep well tonight. I’ll see you at the same time and place.”

“Okay, thanks again Princess Celestia!” Altruise beamed, “You sleep well too.”

Celestia giggled at that, “I don’t sleep, remember?”

“Oh. Right.” Altruise grinned, “Well have a good night anyway.”

The princess turned and exit, “Alright, see you in the morning.” She took a few trots out the door, spread her wings, and flew off into the sky. The other three waved her off and bid their goodbyes before closing the door.

For the first time in a few days, Altruise finally felt like her happy self again. With Celestia to help her, she was no longer afraid of her magic. Excitement filled the house; everything could only have potential to go uphill from here.

* * * * *

Out Like a Lamb

Each passing day, Altruise’s training with Celestia had slowly begun to show improvements. After three weeks of training in the mornings, Altruise was able to control when her magic was active, and when to deactivate it. Casting spells properly had become easier, and among other things, it no longer hurt her to cast any.

Altruise was holding up a large boulder with a golden aura of magic. Celestia was beside her, keeping an eye on her magic in case anything went wrong, but it’s been about a week since she’s noticed any flaws in the filly’s spells. They were all being executed naturally like it should.

“Very good, Altruise.” The Princess smiled at the filly, “Now let’s see you lift two rocks at the same time to test your concentration.”

“Okay.” Altruise nodded, and with ease, she lifted another rock with a golden aura while simultaneously holding up the other. To test herself further, she lifted a third and forth rock as well, with no flaws. There was no lightning or thunder, there was no pain; it was calm, tame magic.

“Excellent!” Celestia beamed, “Okay, you can put the rocks down now.”

Altruise gently lowered the four rocks back into the ground, deactivated her horn, and turned to Celestia with a smile, sitting on her flank obediently.

“Hmm… You know what? I think we’re done here.”

“Oh, okay. So I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Well, no that isn’t exactly what I mean.” Celestia giggled at the foal, “I believe your training is finished. Your magic is perfectly fine now it seems.”

“Really?” The unicorn beamed, “So um… Can I use my magic in public now?”

“Yes, of course.” Celestia declared, “And I can put you back in school. How would you like to start again on Monday? It’s Tuesday today; that should give you a few days to readjust.”

At first that sounded great to her, but she quickly thought of the negativity toward it. “You sure that’s a good idea? I mean, they’re probably all scared of me now…”

“That was nothing but a misunderstanding.” Celestia reassured the unicorn, “I’ll take you to school myself, if that’d make you feel better about it.”

“Well, I suppose I could try going again.” Altruise shrugged, though still feeling a bit iffy about it.

“It’ll be fine.” The alicorn smiled, turning back to Trottingham, “Come, let’s get you home.”

* * * * *

When Altruise and Celestia returned to the filly’s home, they let themselves in. The welcoming aroma of her mother’s cooking filled the air. “Mom, Dad, we’re home.” Altruise called to her parents, who then came to the door from the living room.

“Well somepony looks happy.” Her mother exclaimed with a smile.

“How’d today go?” The father asked eagerly.

“Exceptionally well.” Celestia declared, “I believe my training with your daughter is finished. I don’t see any more flaws in her magic; she experiences no pain and executes her spells perfectly normal.”

“That’s great!” Her father chanted, rubbing a hoof in his daughter’s mane, “That a girl!”

“How can we ever repay you, Princess?” The mother asked with sincerity.

“Please, it was my pleasure.” Celestia exclaimed happily, “Altruise is quite the unicorn; her cutie mark fits her well.”

The young unicorn turned to the princess, smiling up at her.

“So.” The Princess cleared her throat, “I’m putting her back in school on Monday; she should be good to go. I fully give her permission to practice and share her magic in public.” She turned to the filly at her feet, “You did very well in the last three weeks, Altruise.”

“Thank you, Princess Celestia.” Altruise beamed, “You helped me so much.”

Celestia giggled, “I do my best. Now, why don’t you show your parents something you learned?”

Altruise nodded with an open grin, and turned to her parents. With a glowing horn, she directed her magic to a vase of roses on the windowsill, and levitated it into the air. Carefully, she guided the vase toward her parents. Immediately they began applauding.

“We’re so proud of you, sweetie!” Her mother chanted.

Furthering her magic, Altruise brought the vase into the kitchen. She lifted the roses out of the vase while simultaneously turning on the sink faucet, and put the vase beneath the running water to refill it. Shutting off the tap, she put the roses back into the vase, and levitated it back to the windowsill, carefully placing it where it came from.

“Very good, Altruise.” Her father nudged her shoulder, “I knew you had it in you! See? What’d I tell ya?”

Altruise giggled at that, and turned to the princess. “So um, I guess you need to head back to Canterlot?”

Celestia nodded to the filly, “Unfortunately, I do. I’ll be back on Monday morning to pick you up for school as promised, okay?”

The filly nodded and smiled, “I look forward to it.”

“Okay, everypony take care now.” Celestia turned to the door and exit.

“Goodbye, Princess.” The father bid his fare well.

With that, the alicorn spread her wings at the doorstep, and took off to the air with a series of strong flaps. She turned west, and headed to the castle in the distance, and Altruise closed the door with a quick spell.

“Well, how about some lunch?” The cyan unicorn suggested, trotting happily to the kitchen.

“Yeah! I’m hungry.” Altruise beamed, following her mother. The pegasus smiled at the sight of his happy daughter, and followed the other two to the table.

* * * * *

Later that evening, after some quality family time at the table and playing board games in the living room, they heard knocking at the door. Altruise stood and trotted over to the door from the living room; she opened the door, and her eyes dilated in shock to see who was there. Three unicorns; a blue stallion with a darker mane, a white mare with a purple and white striped mane, and standing at their feet was Twilight Sparkle.

“Hello, you must be Altruise?” The stallion glanced down at her.

Altruise was at a blank state of mine. Her eyes were wide open, and she couldn’t gather words to say anything. Backing away slowly, her eyes were fixed on the lavender filly’s parents.

“Mooooom? Daaaaad?” Altruise called off to the side in an uncomfortable tone. Hearing her call, they trotted into the scene from the living room.

“Oh, hello Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle.” Altruise’s mom greeted them.

“I appreciate that you could stop in.” The pegasi father exclaimed.

“Yes, I hope we didn’t show at a bad time. We just received your invite an hour ago.” The father of the lavender pony exclaimed.

Altruise looked up at her parents with wide eyes. “Wait, you invited them?” She turned her glance back at the guests, and gulped.

“Yeah, I did.” Her father replied, “I hope that isn’t a bad thing, I thought it would be nice to get acquainted with them.”

“Yes, why don’t the four of us go have a chat, hm?” Twilight’s father suggested, then glanced down at his daughter, “While we have our little grownup chat, why don’t you two get to know each other?”

Twilight nodded and smiled to her father. Altruise on the other hand sank lower to the floor at the idea.

“Very good.” Twilight’s father exclaimed as the four adult ponies wandered off into the living room. The two fillies waited until their parents were in the other room before any talking between them began.

“Hi, Altruise.” Twilight smiled at her, trotting up to her with a mostly healed limp.

“You’re… not… mad at me?” Altruise was dumbfounded, “But, I… You could’ve died…”

“It was an accident.” Twilight exclaimed, suddenly wincing a little, holding her head with a hoof briefly, before putting her hoof back on the floor and returning her glance to Altruise with her smile again.

Altruise’s ears fell to her sides in concern as she leaned forward, “You’re still hurt?”

“It’s gotten a lot better.” Twilight twitched with a sudden painful spasm sensation in her head, “Overall I’m fine, I just get these random—OW! …pinches in my head. It’s slowed down a lot though. And they don’t hurt so badly any more.”

“I feel so awful about what happened…” Altruise sighed, “I’m so sorry, Twilight.”

“It’s okay.” Twilight smiled, “It was an—OW! …a-an accident.” Her smile brightened, “I’ve never seen anything like that!”

“Like what?” Altruise wondered.

“What you did. That magic.” Twilight exclaimed, “I haven’t ever seen that much magic come from even Princess Celestia herself! I know you didn’t mean it, but at the same time, it was inspiring to me.”

“Inspiring?” The white filly felt dumbfounded by Twilight’s reaction, “How was that inspiring?? That was terrible!”

“You showed me something I didn’t even think was possible.” Twilight winced suddenly, and looked back at the white filly, “You made a full storm in like a minute!”

“I’m not proud of that…” Altruise sighed, sinking low where she stood, “Somepony could’ve died.”

“But nopony did.” Twilight leaned forward, “I heard that Princess Celestia cured you though. She trained you herself?”

“Uh, yeah, but—”

“That must’ve been amazing!!” Twilight skipped around in a circle before returning to a tall posture, glaring at the white unicorn with excitement, “What’s it like in the presence of the Princess? You must’ve felt honoured!”

“Well, yeah, but I—”

“It is my dream to become as great as she is!” Twilight finally finished her interruptions.

“Heh… Yeah, well, she is pretty great.” Altruise agreed.

“I’m not all that great with magic yet. I’ve made my horn spark a few times, but I haven’t casted any spells yet.” The lavender unicorn of no cutie mark grinned, “I’ll get it yet, I’m sure of it!”

Altruise smiled at the lavender pony’s optimism, “Well, I am glad that I was able to make you feel inspired in some way.” She grinned, “Who knows, maybe you’ll get to meet the Princess someday! Perhaps she’ll even teach you something.”

“Pfft. Like that’ll ever happen.” Twilight exclaimed jokingly with a giggle.

* * * * *

Meanwhile in the living room.

“I’m glad to hear that your daughter has been doing better.” Altruise’s father exclaimed to Twilight’s parents.

“Yes, thank you.” Twilight’s father replied, “Twilight told me that Altruise helped her find her way to her classroom. She seems like a really nice filly.” He sighed, “It’s good to know she’s recovered herself with Princess Celestia’s help. I’ve never heard of such powerful magic.”

“Twilight was telling us how your daughter was an inspiration.” The lavender filly’s mother murmured, “She keeps telling us how she’d love to be trained by the Princess herself.” She chuckled, “Oh, silly filly. She absolutely loves magic.”

“We got lucky.” Altruise’s mother smiled, “It’s not every day that the Princess herself does this sort of thing.”

“Oh I know; what an honour.” Twilight’s mother replied.

“Hmm, since your daughter’s so fascinated with magic, would she be interested in enrolling in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?” Altruise’s father asked.

“School for Gifted Unicorns?” The mother leaned forward with interest, “I’ve heard about it, but I’ve been told it’s really hard to get in.”

“Yeah, it is a bit difficult to get accepted in that school.” Altruise’s father smiled, “I could help you though; I used to work for the Princess. We have our connections.”

“Oh, really?” The lavender filly’s mother was thrilled, “That would be wonderful if I could get her in there! She would absolutely love that.”

“Heh. Once she’s accepted though, she’ll have to pass an entrance exam to get in.” Altruise’s father explained, “Though I’m not sure what sort of test they make the foals perform. If you want to get your daughter in that school, I’ll give a good word to the Princess for you.”

“Well, we certainly appreciate this.” Twilight’s father exclaimed. “If you’d do that for Twilight, it’d mean the world to us.”

“It would be my pleasure.” Altruise’s father declared.

* * * * *

After the conversations came to a close around the household, Twilight and her parents left, heading back home to Canterlot. Closing the door behind them, Altruise and her parents stood at the main entrance with a brief chat.

“It’s good to know she’s gotten better.” Altruise sighed with relief.

“Yes, it was good to see how she is.” Her mother agreed.

“It’s starting to get late.” The pegasus declared, “You should probably get to bed soon, Altruise.”

Altruise yawned and nodded, “Yeah, I’m pretty tired.”

“Well it’s been quite a busy day.” Her mother exclaimed with a chuckle, “So what’re you going to do for the next few days before school?”

“Well, I’ll likely be doing a lot of practicing.” Altruise replied happily, “It feels good to not have to worry about my magic being dangerous any more.” With that, she trotted for the stairs. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night, sweetie!” Her mother beamed.

“Sleep well, Altruise.” The stallion pegasus added.

“Love you Mom, love you Dad.” Altruise presented a bright smile before making her way up the stairs.

“We love you too.” They replied with heartwarming smiles as their daughter trotted into her room and closed the door behind her. Things were finally looking up to the way they should be.

* * * * *

Reign of the Night

Sunday night seemed to come pretty fast with the uprising excitement of going back to school. Altruise practiced and shared her magic with the other ponies in Trottingham over the passing week, full of confidence and full of her regained joy.

School was just a morning ahead. With all this excitement, it was hard for Altruise to put herself to sleep. She began thinking about how fun it was going to be, how things will be different now that she could execute magic properly; to learn new magic, to be like the rest of the unicorns. With a spinning mind of enthusiastic joy, and as well as nervousness, eventually Altruise managed to put herself to sleep.

* * * * *

In the middle of the night, Altruise woke up to loud whispering chatter coming from her window. A groan, and the filly sat up in her bed, glancing tiredly at her clock. It was only midnight; she had slept for merely two hours.

Standing to her hooves on her bed, she tiredly motioned to her window and opened it up and glanced outside. With the window open, the chattering outside was amplified; ponies from all over town were on the streets, all looking up at the sky. They were all pointing a hoof, and many of them were panicking. Altruise looked up at the sky to see what they were all looking at.

In the black and starry sky, there was an alicorn, black as the night itself. “Nightmare Moon…?” Altruise immediately assumed, but that didn’t make sense. Nightmare Moon was still trapped on the moon from nearly a thousand years ago when Celestia banished her there. Squinting her eyes, Altruise took a more careful gander at the alicorn; it was no mare, it was in fact a stallion. His cutie mark stood out significantly; it was a golden supernova.

“Altruise, get away from the window!” Altruise immediately heard her father gallop up from behind her. He quickly shut the window and pulled the filly away to the exit of her bedroom.

“Dad!? What’s going on out there?” The filly questioned, struggling to move in her father’s grip.

“There’s no time for that. Downstairs, now!” The pegasus brought his daughter down the steps in a rushing pace, muttering to himself loud enough for Altruise to hear him. “Not now, goddess, not today…”

“Dad, what are you talking about?” Altruise began to panic herself, “Dad, what’s happening!?”

“Altruise, silence!” Her father ordered, entering the living room where her mother was. The pegasus and his wife shared a concerned look with each other, and the mother activated her horn.

“Mom? Dad? What’re you doing?” Altruise whimpered.

From the spell being cast from her mother’s horn, the sofa all lifted off of the floor, and the carpet across the floor rolled up in her magic aura to the wall, revealing the floorboards beneath the carpet. In the center of the room there was a trapdoor; furthering her spell, she opened up the trapdoor, which lead to a staircase to a cellar.

“Altruise, get in.” The pegasus instructed in a fatherly voice.

“Dad, why do we have a basement—”

“There’s no time!” Her father interrupted, “Get down, now!”

Altrusie’s eyes began to fill with tears. “I-I don’t want to leave you though.”

“Altruise.” Her father glared at her, “Down!”

Altruise wept and hiccupped, “Y-yes Dad.” With sobbing eyes, she obeyed and limply trotted down the stairs. When she was half way down the steps, she turned to look up at her parents looking back down at her. Expecting them to come with her, the trapdoor shut on her.

“MOM!! DAD!!” Altruise galloped up the stairs, trying to push the trapdoor open, but it wouldn’t budge. “NOoo!” She gasped for air through her sobs, “Don’t leave me in here!”

A sudden crash shook the entire house, and Altruise lost her footing, tumbling down the stairs to a concrete floor below. Limply standing back up, she looked around her; the walls were made of solid rock. This was no basement or cellar; this was built to be a bomb shelter.

* * * * *

On the surface, Altruise’s mother covered the flooring back up with the carpet, and put the furniture back down on the floor.

“I-I didn’t think he’d be back.” The mother turned to the pegasus with tears, “Nopony has heard of anything from him for so long… We haven’t practiced enough!”

“Nonsense.” The stallion declared, “Everything will be alright.”

The unicorn whimpered a few times, but nodded. “We need to do this. For Altruise.”

The ground suddenly rumbled, and the walls around them began to crackle and rip apart with a black aura like a swimming shadow, and their roof was lifted off of their house.

“WHERE’S THE GIRL!?!” The alicorn peered down below at them, as their roof was hurled far off into the southern forest with ease.

“She’s not here.” Altruise’s mother called up to the alicorn in furious tears.

“Is that a fact?” The dark alicorn of a flaming shadow for a mane growled. “Then why don’t you spare yourself a humiliating death and tell me where she is?”

The pegasus turned to his wife and took a deep breath. “Okay. Like we’ve practiced.” His wife nodded to him briefly, and he returned his furious glance to the alicorn in the sky.

The unicorn activated her horn, and she surrounded herself in a magical blue sphere, while from this magical sphere, a chain of lightning beamed into the pegasus; a gentle cyan aura of his wife’s magic surrounded him. “You have your magic focused?”

“Yes.” The cyan unicorn replied.

“Good. Now go to the streets.” The stallion father growled, and took off to the sky. The unicorn galloped to the street to avoid any destruction on their home with their daughter beneath it.

“Nebulous, get out of Trottingham!” The pegasus charged with the full force of his speed. The alicorn just glared down at him with a very bored look.

“EAAAH!!” Altruise’s father lunged himself into Nebulous, who teleported the moment he got anywhere near him. The pegasus stopped and searched around for the teleported alicorn, and felt a sharp slam to his back with the hind legs of his enemy’s hooves.

“GAH!” The pegasus flipped through the air in pain, and caught himself in the air during flight again. Wincing in pain, slowly, he looked back up at the alicorn with a bit of a smirk.

Nebulous looked back at him with somewhat impressed widened eyes, then he took a glance down at the unicorn surrounded by the blue bubble. “Healing magic.” He determined, looking back at the pegasus. “I guess I’ll just have to kill you faster then so she can’t heal you quick enough.” With that, he flew toward the pegasus with a glowing horn. “I’m interested to see how you plan on getting through this alive!”

“Shut up!” The pegasus yelled, swiftly shifting around the alicorn in zigzagging circles. The alicorn rolled his eyes, and began firing black sparks of magic at the pegasus flying around him. He kept missing, as the pegasus was just too fast of a target.

“You’re beginning to annoy me.” Nebulous muttered in a cold and bored voice. Rolling his eyes, he glanced back down at the streets at the ponies watching. “I know what’ll slow you down.” A twisted grin, and he illuminated his horn, glaring down at the ponies on the streets. “EAAAAAH!!!!” After a loud growl, a powerful bolt of lightning struck to the ground from his horn, and trailed across the street in explosions of dust, debris and fire; the lightning trailed through the wall of ponies, and shrieks were heard echoing through the skies as the pegasus watched them all burn to death.

“NOO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!” The pegasus shrieked angrily and slammed a hoof into the back of Nebulous’ head, ending his chained trail of lightning, “THIS IS OUR FIGHT!!” He glanced back down at many of his dead friends and felt a lump in his throat, “Oohh, no… W-what have you done?!”

Nebulous rubbed the back of his head with a grin, “The same thing I’m going to do to you and your pathetic wife.”

“GAAAH!!!” The pegasus roared furiously, slamming hoof after hoof into the alicorn, who was being struck by each assault, completing his combo with a solid buck to the alicorn’s skull, sending him flipping through the air.

Nebulous flipped around a few times, and caught himself in flight again, cackling hysterically, “Oh, how I miss the pain!” He coldly laughed through his crooked teeth, “I want to see how much of a punch you can pack with even more rage rushing through you.” With that, he focused his magic on many of the Trottingham houses, and tore them out of the ground, lifting them all up at once. Hiding ponies were exposed beneath the shelter of their homes that he had lifted away from them, and he laughed, “Look at them. They’re like useless little insects.”

“NO DON’T!—”

With a loud crash, the pegasus watched the homes all drop down on top of the ponies inside, and the roofs all caved in on top of them all in a cloud of debris.

“NOO! STOP IT!!” The pegasus shrieked.

Nebulous then quickly turned to Altruise’s father and gripped him in the air with his levitation magic, holding him in place. “What’s the matter? I thought you’d put up a better fight than this.”

“W-why are you doing this?” The pegasus whimpered, being held in place by Nebulous’ magic.

The alicorn looked around, thinking about an answer, then he shrugged. He looked back into the eyes of the pegasus with his blood-red piercing irises, and grinned. “I could put you down nice and gently if you tell me where I can find your pathetic little girl.”

The pegasus flared his nostrils in anger, “If you so much as TOUCH her—GAAAH!!!” With the twist of his wing, he felt the burning sensation of it being broken.

“You’ll do what?” Nebulous grinned, holding up the pegasus.

* * * * *

Meanwhile beneath their home, Altruise continued her efforts to shove the trapdoor open.

“MOM! DAD!” She sobbed, and with the attempt to use her magic, she put a levitation aura around the trapdoor, and tried pushing it up. She forced it harder, and it lifted up a little. Through the little space she had opened the trapdoor from, she could see the carpet rolled over the trapdoor. With a panic, she pushed her magic out harder. “COME ON!” With a full thrust, the trapdoor slowly tore through the fabric of the carpet, and once she had opened it up, the first thing she saw was the night sky above her; no roof.

In the sky, she saw her father in the black aura of the alicorn’s levitation, with Nebulous staring him down. Frightened, she lowered the trapdoor to hide herself, but kept it open enough to continue watching; tears ran down her face. “Daaad…”

* * * * *

“Well if you want to fight back so bad I could just let you go now and give you a second chance at fighting me…” The alicorn suggested coldly.

“W-wait, NO!” The black aura surrounding the pegasus vanished, and he began falling to the ground. Attempting to fly, he felt a stinging pain in his wing. A few pathetic flaps here and there, the pegasus plunged to the ground like a rock in a cloud of dust.

“Now… Let’s put you out of your misery—GAH!” An explosion of energy struck his wing; the alicorn was caught by surprise. Glaring down at the unicorn surrounded by her blue bubble, he frowned at her. “Hmm, that wasn’t very nice.” Taking a nose-dive, he flew down toward her. The unicorn panicked and backed away in a frantic motion. Nebulous slowed down, and landed on the pavement of the street in front of her.

“D-don’t come any closer!” She wept.

“Aw, but that spell was so inviting.” Nebulous gritted his teeth in a grin, “That’s a nice shield. How many kicks does it take to get to the center?” With that, he turned and bucked the sphere, which made a loud static sound, with damaged ripples through the force field.

“OW!!” The unicorn grabbed her head.

“Ohh felt that did you?” Again, he turned to buck the shield a second time, sending another jolt of pain through her head.

“AH! Please, stop!” Altruise’s mother went to her haunches and began to sob, “Oh please, goddess, please…”

“Please, goddess, please.” The alicorn imitated in a mocking way, “Oh how pathetic that sounds.” He turned, and bucked her shield again.

“GAH!!” She clenched her head tighter around her horn, crying. “P-please…”

“How annoying. Let’s shut that trap of yours.” Just as Nebulous readied another buck to her shield, the pegasus lunged into him from the side; they tumbled across the pavement, rolling to a stop with the pegasus on top and his wings spread out.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” He roared from the throat.

“Hmh.” Nebulous grinned, “That healing magic is pretty powerful.” He teleported, appearing a couple stories in the air. “C’mon, pegasus, let me see you fly with that crippled wing.”

Angrily, the pegasus jumped off the ground, flapping his wings; he made it a few feet in the air—with the wing partly healed from the magic—but collapsed back into the ground. A second attempt, he jumped and flapped his wings, trying to reach the alicorn. “AAAAAH!!” Another fail, and he collapsed into the ground in a cloud of dust.

Nebulous rolled his eyes, “Put some effort into it. This is pathetic.”

“SHUT UP!” Altruise’s father shrieked, jumping up toward him, flapped his wings, and made it about half way between Nebulous and the ground before he lost control and fell to the ground again.

“Here’s some motivation.” Nebulous turned to the unicorn, and with an illuminated horn, he struck her with a tense bolt of lightning, striking her directly on the top of the shield.

“AAAHHH!! I CAN’T HOLD IT!!” She shrieked painfully, clenching her horn, “GODDESS HELP ME!”

A burst of adrenaline, and the pegasus lifted off from the ground at an incredibly powerful velocity, and slammed the alicorn straight into the chest—ending his lightning chain attack—and knocking him out of the air and to the ground with him. Landing on the pavement, he began slamming his front hooves into the alicorn’s snout repeatedly, cursing at the alicorn at the top of his angry lungs.

With a forceful blast of magic from the alicorn’s horn, the pegasus was knocked back, and he rolled across the pavement to a stop. Limply, he stood up back into a battle posture. The alicorn stood up himself, and wiped blood away from his lips, keeping his crooked grin. The cuts and bruises on the pegasus slowly and magically healed up, and his battle posture grew stronger with each passing second.

“The only thing you are doing with your wife’s healing magic, pegasus, is prolonging your death by a few sparing moments.” Nebulous gritted his teeth, “And you’re making this so much more fun for me… I get to torture you longer this way…”

An explosion struck the alicorn from the back again; he twitched angrily and turned back to the frantic unicorn in her bubble. “You just don’t learn.” With his back turned, the pegasus flew up to him from behind and bucked him in the back of the head; Nebulous flung forward and slid across the pavement on his front. With a limp, he stood to his feet and turned back to the pegasus, laughing, “You’ve got a lot of nerve to—” His back turned from the unicorn, she struck him with another force of magic that exploded against his backside, sending him collapsing forward toward the pegasus, who again bucked him into the chest, and Nebulous rolled backwards on the pavement.

Lying there in ground for a few moments, he stood to his feet, and turned his head to the pegasus, then to the unicorn, back to the pegasus, then he looked to the ground, chuckling.

“What is it with you and your laughing?!” The pegasus growled, “Shut up!”

“Heh… Well I’ve had enough fun for one night.” The alicorn grinned, and quickly he turned to the mare in the bubble, and from his glowing horn, he struck her shield with a bolt of black lightning.

“AAAAHH!!” The unicorn shrieked and trembled, collapsing to her haunches, “AAH I-I CAN’T!! I—I—” A loud energetic shatter, and the shield around her vanished in a vapourizing explosion. When the shield was destroyed, the unicorn collapsed into the ground, merely unconscious. A weak and helpless groan, she tried getting up, but was unable to. “I-I… uh…” She collapsed again, weakly limping herself to her hooves; shattering the shield put a toll on her energy. The connection of healing magic that she was transferring to the pegasus was no longer in effect.

The pegasus galloped up to the alicorn yelling, “LEAVE HER ALONE!!”

“So persistent, but so stupid.” Nebulous declared, waiting for the pegasus to reach him. When the pegasus was close enough, the alicorn sent a bolt of magic that struck him in the chest; the pegasus tumbled across the pavement to a stop, and winced painfully.

Limping to his feet, the pegasus grumbled. “I-I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” Nebulous grinned, lifting the limp pegasus in an aura of magic. He turned to the weak unicorn, and picked her up in an aura as well. Helplessly, they levitated there in surrounded black auras of his magic. “You’ve bored me. I’m done here.” With that, he hurled the two ponies through the air, and they each collided with the statue of Celestia in the center of town, dropping like stones to the ground beneath it.

Nebulous marched up to the two helpless ponies and glared down at them. “Very well. Since you won’t tell me where the girl is, I’ll give her a reason to come looking for me.” His horn began to glow, and the two wounded ponies looked up into his blood-red eyes with terror.

* * * * *

Altruise frantically made her way through her broken home, and exit her house through the non-existent door. Looking around her at the debris of broken buildings, rubble and dead ponies, she lowered to the ground in traumatic shock. There was a grey haze of dust that covered the place with ominous feelings.

“Mom? Dad?” She heard her voice echo back to her in the silent ghost town. “W-what?” Down the pavement road, she saw her parents beneath the statue of Celestia, and Nebulous standing over them with a menacing glowing horn. He lifted onto his hind legs, and with a yell, he dropped his front hooves to the ground and struck the two ponies with a crackling burst of lightning from the sky. The moment the bolt of lightning hit, Altruise’s eyes dilated, and her entire life with her parents flashed before her in a blink. In a panic, she hid behind a rock, peeking up over at the alicorn with tears running down her cheeks.

Nebulous stood tall, and looked around at the ghost town; his glare turned to Altruise, but she hid lower behind the rock in time, and he didn’t see her. With powerful flapping wings, he took off to the sky, and flew off into the distant horizon, without looking back.

Once the alicorn was out of view, Altruise whimpered and came out from hiding, slowly trotting to her parents beneath Celestia’s statue. The closer she got, the more her cries echoed back at her.

“Mooom…? Daaad…?” Altruise hiccupped between her sobs. When she got close enough, she looked down at them, and her tears ran down her face even harder.

A slight squirm and her father weakly coughed.

“DAD!” Altruise cried, collapsing next to him. “Dad…??”

Slowly, the pegasus opened his weak eyes, and painfully turned his neck to look up at his daughter. “A… Altruise.” He winced in pain, and tears streamed down his own cheeks. “I…” Feeling himself drift away, he took the last bit of his strength to say one last thing. “Don’t forget who you are…” That said, his head collapsed back into the ground, motionless.

“Dad?” She nudged him, but there was no response. She turned to her mother, and nudged her too. “Mom?” She glanced back and forth between her parents, and the more she did, the more she felt a painful dagger striking her heart. A whimper, and she collapsed to the ground, cuddling between them in tears.

“Why, Celestia…?” She wept and hiccupped, looking up at the statue, “Why…?” Sobbing, she laid there nestled between her parents, and cried herself to sleep under the starlight.

* * * * *

Hours had passed since Altruise fell asleep in tears. She kept dreaming and gasping in her sleep, twitching her legs. The same nightmare repeated over and over, watching her parents dying repeatedly, being murdered by that black alicorn. Suddenly she felt a hoof on her shoulder, and she immediately woke from her sleep shrieking.

“NOO!” She flipped around and swatted the hoof of a stranger who had just woken her up from her slumber. She looked up at the stallion stranger who stared back down at her with his grey eyes. He was a full grown pegasus who had a dark navy coat and a black mane. His cutie mark was that of two silver swords crossing.

“Are you alright…?” The stranger asked the filly with a calming tone.

“Who… who are you?” Altruise whimpered fearfully; after her current events, she was struggling to trust him, and would probably have a difficult time to trust anypony else at this point.

“My name is Drake. I don’t mean any harm.” He ensured her, lending a hoof, “Let me help you…”

Altruise looked around her at the ghost town, and then back down at her mom and dad. She was seemingly hesitant, and didn’t want to leave her parents.

“Can I have your name?” Drake requested, trying to befriend the poor filly.

“A…Altruise…” She replied, keeping her eyes on her parents. A chilling breeze rushed through the air, with ashes scattering in the wind.

“I’m guessing that these are your mom and dad…” Drake calmly exclaimed. Altruise just nodded in response, but didn’t turn to look Drake in the eye.

“I was flying overhead and saw what happened to Trottingham, I’m surprised to have found a survivor.”

Altruise continued to remain silent.

“How did you survive this…?” He kept trying to get the poor unicorn to speak.

“They protected me.” Altruise said, feeling heartbroken.

There was a pause for silence. Just the cold breeze was heard.

“Altruise…” Drake placed his hoof on her shoulder, “I’m sorry, but there isn’t anything we can do for them now.”

“Please don’t tell me that.” Altruise spoke between sobs, “I should be dead too. That way I wouldn’t have to feel so alone.”

Drake sighed and looked at their surroundings. “I can’t leave you here.”

“Yes you can.” Altruise wept, lying down beside her parents, wanting to just give up there.

“Tell me, what happened…?” The Pegasus whispered.

There was a pause, but Altruise managed to answer after a few moments. “A black alicorn was here. He destroyed everything… My mom and dad hid me before this happened.”

“A black alicorn? But Princess Celestia is the only alicorn in existence right now I thought… Apart from Nightmare Moon who has been trapped on the moon for almost a thousand years now.”

“No, it wasn’t Nightmare Moon…” Altruise tried to explain herself. “It was a stallion; his cutie mark was a supernova.”

Drake’s eyes widened a little, “I know who that is…”

“Y…you do?” Altruise turned to face him to listen.

“His name is Nebulous, and he isn’t an alicorn at all. He is merely a unicorn, who knows how to create the most advanced spells known in Equestria. His wings aren’t real; they are made from his magic.”

“How do you know him?” Altruise questioned.

Drake looked down at the filly and deeply sighed, “The same reason as you… My parents are also both deceased.”

Altruise’s ears lowered, feeling a related connection to the pegasus.

“This was years ago, I was maybe just a few years older than you when it happened.” Drake explained, “I know what you’re going through right now… I know what this is like.”

Altruise sniffed, and more tears trickled down her cheeks. “It hurts…”

Drake let out another sigh and knelt down beside her. “I’ll take care of you, Altruise.”

The filly looked up to the pegasus, acknowledging that she had no other options. Hesitantly, she stood up from next to her parents, and took one last glance down at them. Drake put his hoof over her shoulder to try and comfort her.

They turned around together, and walked side by side through the rubble, leaving Trottingham. Altruise kept looking around her at all of the dead ponies, whimpering. Drake looked down at her with a sigh.

“Hop on my back.” He suggested, “Close your eyes, you shouldn’t be seeing any of this… I’ll fly us somewhere safe.”

Altruise whimpered and nodded, crawling onto Drake’s back like he suggested and gripped onto him. She closed her tired, tear drenched eyes, and Drake gently started flapping his wings, and lifted into the air away from the ghost town. Altruise kept her eyes closed as they got further from Trottingham, until her destroyed hometown was no longer visible over the horizon.

* * * * *

Island of Independence

High in the sky, Drake carried Altruise through the air on his back. The filly was already feeling homesick since they left Trottingham, but even more-so knowing there was nothing to go back to. She’s been awfully quiet during the flight, which was understandable to Drake. Soon the flight took them over the ocean.

“Where are we going…?” Altruise asked the pegasus, feeling very distant from home.

“Where I live.” Drake exclaimed. “It’s a safe location. We’ll arrive in just a few minutes.”

“Oh… Okay.”

“You doing alright up there?” Drake noticed her quivering.

Altruise looked below her and gulped, then lowered her head closer to him, holding on tighter. “Uhh… I’m a little afraid of heights, but… I’m okay.”

Drake turned his head to talk to the filly easier, “Should I fly lower?”

“Would be nice…” Altruise exclaimed nervously, “And, maybe a bit slower.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry.” Drake apologized, looking forward again, “I’m not used to flying with another pony on my back.” He decelerated and lowered his altitude, flying closer to the open waters more gracefully. They were about fifteen feet above the ocean; Altruise raised her head again, looking at the view around them. Though the height was intimidating, she couldn’t deny that it was a beautiful feeling to be soaring through the air like this.

Drake turned his head to the filly, “This better?”

“A lot better, yes.” Altruise exclaimed, smiling.

“Aha. I knew you could smile.” Drake caught her, looking ahead again.

“Uh?” Altruise paused briefly, and chuckled at his reaction. “Yea, well…” She sighed and watched ahead, feeling the warm breeze rush through her mane. “Thank you.”

Drake turned to look up at her again and smiled back at her, “Hey, any time. If you want to fly again just let me know.”

“No, not for that, I mean… for everything.” Altruise exclaimed, “You saved my life back there. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you didn’t come…”

“Oh…” Drake nodded and looked ahead. “You’re welcome.”

Up ahead in the distant horizon, Altruise could see a body of land, surrounded by water on all sides.

“An island?” Altruise asked, looking down at the pegasus, “Is that where you live?”

“Yep. Since I was a young colt I’ve lived there all by myself.”

Altruise paused, and asked a further question, “Is this where you went when your parents, um…”

Drake could hear her hesitation, and he nodded. “It’s okay. Yeah, this is where I went. After they died, I just flew off without knowing where to go. And I found this place. Quiet, peaceful… I liked it. So I stayed.”

There was a pause, and he noticed she went all quiet again. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just…” Altruise wiped a tear from her eye with her hoof, “I can’t stop thinking about my parents.”

Drake sighed and nodded, closing in near the island. “Yeah, I know. It’ll all be okay.” He decelerated as he got closer to the beach, and landed in the sand next to the ocean. He knelt down, giving Altruise room to slide off his back.

She slipped off to his side and her hooves landed in the soft, warm sand. She looked at her surroundings to examine where she was likely going to be staying for a long time.

It was a tropical place with a palm tree forest casting throughout the island. Off to one side there was a large mountain of neatly shaped rocks. It was indeed quiet; the only sounds heard were the gentle waves of the ocean and birds chirping in the trees.

“I’ve never seen a place like this before…” Altruise exclaimed in both awe and curiosity.

“Well, you can go wherever you like on the island.” Drake welcomed.

“Is that mountain active?” The filly asked, raising her head with her ears to their sides, peering over at the rocky mountain.

“Huh?” The stallion chuckled, “No, it’s quite alright. That isn’t a volcano.”

“Oh.” Altruise’s ears perked and she kept turning her head examining more of the island. She trotted into the forest of palm trees and looked up into the leaves at the very top where the coconuts were. She licked her lips and stood up on her hind legs, leaning her front hooves against the tree.

“Oh, um, food. Right.” Drake flew up into the tree and plucked a coconut, letting it drop into the ground below. Needless to say, he wasn’t exactly used to having other company at his island, let alone being a host.

Altruise walked up to the coconut and looked down at it. She knew it was edible, but had no idea how somepony was supposed to eat one. Hunger on the brain, she opened her mouth and tried biting into the solid coconut. Her teeth clamped down onto its shell, and it rolled away from her when her teeth bit together, failing to bite into it.

Puzzled at the hard fruit, Altruise went up to it again to try and take another bite, but it just rolled away again on her when she tried to bite it. Drake just watched, not sure if he was supposed to help the filly or if she was supposed to figure it out by herself. What would a parent do?

The filly made another attempt and grabbed onto the coconut with her front hooves so it wouldn’t roll away. With the fruit now secure in her grasp, she tried to take another bite out of the coconut, but her teeth just scraped the edges.

“Uhhh… Need help?” Drake questioned her like he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to ask.

“How are you supposed to eat these things?” Altruise grumbled, banging on it with her right hoof while she held onto it with her left.

“I uh… Should I help?”

Altruise looked up at the flying stallion with an expression on her face that signaled he was asking a stupid question.

“Sooo, that’s a no?” Drake assumed.

“Yes please.” The filly requested with a monotone irritated voice.

Drake nodded and flew down to the unicorn and took the coconut out of her hooves. He brought it over to a flat rock and placed the fruit on top, then raised his front hooves, dropping them on top of the coconut. It smashed open with a cracking sound into a few chunks, and the coconut milk ran down the sides of the rock.

“There.” Drake stepped back from the coconut and allowed Altruise to proceed. Altruise approached the coconut with a clueless expression.

“You eat the white layer on the inside of the shell.” The pegasus explained. Altruise shrugged and bit into the edible core layer of the coconut. She chewed it a few times, then her chewing slowed down and she had an indecisive expression on her face, whether she liked the fruit or not. It had a very interesting taste to say the least. She started chewing with her mouth open, figuring out the new flavour in her mouth before she finally decided to swallow it.

“Um… Do you like it?” Drake asked, though with the expression she just made he kind of doubted it.

“It’s interesting.” Altruise replied, taking another bite of the fruit. She chewed on it for a bit before making another weird facial expression.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t need to eat it.” The pegasus insisted. With that remark, the unicorn spat the chunks of coconut out of her mouth and looked up at Drake with an assumed apology look on her face.

“Is there anything else on this island that is edible?” Altruise asked, smacking her lips trying to get the taste out of her mouth. Drake was beginning to realize just how much work taking care of a filly was going to be.

“Uuuuh…” The clueless stallion shrugged.

Altruise paused for a moment, waiting for Drake to possibly offer something else. “Are coconuts all you eat here?” She questioned, beginning to think living here was going to have a burdened menu.

Drake blinked a few times, thinking how he was going to reply to that. “Yes.”

Altruise’s jaw dropped and she sat in the ground with her stomach making a hungry growl. “Don’t you get bored of eating the same thing over and over again?”

“I’m not picky.” Drake simply answered. “And coconuts are good for you.”

“Bleh.” The unicorn made a disgusted face with her tongue hanging out. Drake’s patience was beginning to flip, but he tried to reason this with the filly.

“Well… What do you like to eat?” He asked abruptly, pacing around in circles. He then got an idea and flew off over the forest. Altruise watched him land somewhere in the midst of the forest momentarily, then spotted him flying back into the air toward her. He landed near her with a quill and a piece of paper in his possession.

“Here.” Impatiently, he dropped the paper and quill in the ground, “Write a list of what you will eat. I’ll fly off the island and get it.”

“Where did you get this quill and paper?” She asked curiously.

“I have a shack off in the forest where I keep my things.” The stallion exclaimed, pacing around again. Altruise nodded and illuminated her horn activating a levitation spell. She lifted the quill and paper, when suddenly to her surprise they caught fire in mid-spell, and her horn was producing electrical sparks.

“AH?!” She panicked and immediately turned off her spell, and the quill and paper crumpled up in the flames, turning into ashes in the sand. Her eyes were frightfully wide. “W-why’s this happening? I thought I was trained enough! Why’d it burn?”

Drake was speechless and a bit surprised and wide-eyed himself. The fire went out on its own in a few moments with just a pile of black charred remains of paper and feather. “It’s okay, I can get another—”

“No, it’s not okay!” Altruise interrupted with sudden frustration, “This is exactly what I’ve been training NOT to do! Why am I screwing up on even the simplest spell when I was doing so well before?”

“You’ve been having problems using your magic?” Drake asked, kneeling next to the filly to listen.

Altruise nodded, “Princess Celestia trained me in the last few weeks to help me fix it though. I needed it to be tamed so I wouldn’t hurt anypony with it.”

“The Princess herself trained you?”

Altruise nodded, “Before that I was a walking disaster, I couldn’t activate a simple spell without practically destroying everything around me!”

There was a pause between the two. Drake understandingly placed his hoof on her shoulder. “So explain to me, why were your spells so amplified?”

The filly put a hoof to her chin and thought out loud, “Well, the Princess said that it was mostly a cause from anger.”

“Then perhaps the reason this is happening is because you’re still mourning over your parents.” Drake determined, “You must be feeling anger, if that’s what sets it off.”

Altruise thought about it, and the image of her parents being murdered flashed in her memories. With a sigh, she frowned and nodded. “Yeah.”

“It is true that anger can bring out the worst in us.” Drake exclaimed, “But such incredible magic should not be tampered with.”

Altruise looked at him with confusion. “What do you mean, tampered with?”

“Well, it sounds to me like you were perfect the way you were before you were being trained by the Princess.” The pegasus explained, “Trust me, you don’t need her to show you how to use your magic.”

“But look what I did to the quill and—”

“Altruise.” Drake interrupted her with an assuring speech, “You see, you have a gift. A gift of the most powerful magic anypony has ever seen. You shouldn’t be taming it. You should be learning to control it.”

Puzzled, Altruise tried putting heads or tails on the difference. “Isn’t taming it and controlling it the same thing?”

“No, it is not.” Drake declared, “You said she was taming it. Tame, meaning weakening, so you’re no longer capable of doing those magnificent things that she considers destructive.” He expressed himself with enthusiasm, “You should be taught to control it so that you can use the magic exactly how you desire to the most amplified of your ability.”

Altruise paused, thinking about what he was explaining to her. She put her hoof on her chin, realizing he had some good points, but there were flaws in this. “But what if I hurt somepony with my magic?”

“How could you hurt somepony if you knew exactly what you were doing with it?” He replied with further explanation, “If you could control it perfectly with no flaws, imagine what kinds of things you could do?”

The unicorn looked off to the side, nodding slowly with an expression of realization, staring into space deep in thought. She never thought of it this way before. At first she thought it would be safer to soften her magic, but she began to think of the things she would be able to do with her magic at its full potential if it were under her control. She would be able to do amazing things and make big differences. Snapping out of her epiphany, she looked back up at the pegasus with further doubt.

“How will I be able to even do that though? If the Princess won’t train me to control it like that, then who will?” She raised a brow.

“I will.” Drake declared, standing tall with commitment. Altruise looked up at him like he was nuts.

“But… you’re a pegasus.”

“Indeed I am, but you see, my father was a unicorn; he was one of the greatest I’ve ever known.” Drake explained, “I may not be a unicorn, and I cannot use magic, but I know a thing or two about it. I’ve always been fascinated with spells, so I’ve always got my father to tell me how he did them. That and I’ve read many of his books.”

Altruise jumped, at first with full excitement and eagerness, but she quickly turned back down to feeling like it was a bad idea. “What if I hurt you though? You really don’t want to see my magic when it gets so overpowering…”

“If you keep fearing the worst possible outcome of your magic, you won’t see the true potential it has.” Drake declared, “Take a leap of faith.”

The filly took a moment to think about it, but this put a smile on her face. Ever since she discovered her tremendous magic, she had felt that her power was a curse. However, Drake let her see it in a whole different prospective; it was a gift. She stood tall and nodded agreeing to the task with determination.

“That a girl.” Drake patted her on the head. “Come with me to my shack and write down that list I wanted. And when I leave the island to get your food, if you want you can look into the books I still have from my father which I still keep.”

“Okay!” Altruise beamed and followed Drake into the forest. He showed her the path to get to his shack.

“It’s not a very long walk to get there from here.” He exclaimed to the filly beside her. Altruise had a look around at her surroundings, learning the new jungle-like forest of palm trees. This was definitely a different place than she’s ever been to before. There were vines and bushes, and everything seemed to string together. It was interesting to say the least.

After a few minutes they arrived to Drake’s shack. It was made of wood boards like an old cottage. There were only a few windows on the sides and a wooden door; it was very plain.

“It’s not much, but it’s all a lone pegasus needs on an island like this.” Drake exclaimed, pushing the door open. The two ponies walked into the shack and Altruise looked at her surroundings. The shack was simply one room with an old wooden table in the center, a few pillows in a corner, and shelves all over the walls. Some parts of the shelves had collected supplies, and there was a big shelf of books.

“Those I gather were your father’s spell books?” She asked, pointing her hoof at the big shelf of literature.

“Yes. They’re quite old actually; he got most of these from his grandfather, which were passed along from previous generations.”

“Wow… Do you have a good place to start reading?” She requested, scanning the shelf of books.

“Hmm…” Drake reached up to the second top shelf and pulled out a dark purple book with silver straps. It was labeled The Art of Levitation.

“This whole book is filled with many secrets to different levitation spells.” The stallion explained.

“Huh? You mean there’s more than one type of levitation?” Altruise was only aware of the one she currently knew about, which was the standard levitation that most unicorns learn.

“Yes. There’s your basic levitation magic, zeroing gravity, self-levitation, levitating much bigger objects…” Drake listed a few before Altruise got excited about it and started hopping on her hooves for the book.

“Oh, I’d love to read that one!” She said with hype. Drake smiled and placed the book on the table in the center of the room. Altruise climbed up onto the wooden chair and opened the book to page one. The pegasus went and got another blank sheet of paper and another quill from another shelf, placing it next to Altruise.

“Alright, so you want to write that list first so I can get you something to eat?” He asked, interrupting her on the first paragraph of her study.

“Oh, yes. Almost forgot about that.” Altruise exclaimed, picking up the quill with her teeth this time to avoid another accident like earlier. She started to scribble a list into the paper, and when done she put the quill down. The pegasus picked up the list and read through it; some of these things he hasn’t even heard of.

“What’s a nacho?” He asked, looking down at the filly with a raised brow.

“Uh…” Altruise scratched her chin thinking of a way to describe it. “A chip with cheese on it?”

“Uh… Okay?” Drake continued scanning the list; some of the names of these foods almost sounded fake or unrealistic. “Are you sure this list isn’t going to make you fat?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Nachos? Doughnuts? Pizza?” He read the list back to her, “Pasta? Cookies? Cupcakes? Twinkies? French Fries? Pony Joe’s? Muffins?”

Altruise shrugged innocently, “I’unno, I just wrote down what I like.”

Drake looked at Altruise for a few moments in silence before he decided to put the list back on the table. “I’ll just go and get something without a list and hope you like it…” He concluded, turning for the door. Before he left, he turned back to Altruise again with a last minute suggestion. “For safety sake, I recommend you don’t use your magic while I’m away. We’ll get to that when I return. For now just do some reading.”

“I understand.” Altruise nodded respectfully. Drake turned back to the door and was about to leave when he heard the filly hop off the chair and approached him, suddenly giving him a hug.

“W—… Altruise, I.” Drake looked down at the filly, unsure how to react to this. It was obvious he wasn’t used to this kind of affection.

“Thank you for everything.” Altruise exclaimed, looking up to the pegasus with a beaming smile.

“Really, you don’t need to thank me for anything.” Drake said, gently trying to move away from her hug, “I’m sure any other pony would’ve done the same thing for you if they found you there.”

“Maybe, but nopony else did.” She exclaimed, making it harder for Drake to step out the door. With a long and unpleasant sigh, Drake knelt down and awkwardly hugged her back. Then he stood up and exit the shack through the door.

“I’ll be back.” He declared, taking off into the air and soaring off the island. Altruise watched the pegasus disappear into the sky, and went back to the table to sit and read the old levitation book. For a book only about one type of spell, she was impressed at how thick it was. There must be much more about levitation than she had ever thought there would be. Intrigued, she read on.

* * * * *

Altruise had gone through about a quarter of the book before Drake had returned with food supplies in a basket an hour later. He stepped into the shack with the food and Altruise quickly turned to him when she heard him coming.

“You’re back!” She chanted happily as Drake put the basket of food on the table. Altruise took a glance into the open basket. There were a few different fruits like apples, oranges, bananas, grapes; there was a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, and a bag of chocolate chip cookies.

“You brought cookies?” Altruise exclaimed excitedly when she saw the cookie bag.

“Well I couldn’t leave everything off your list.” Drake chuckled, pushing the basket over to her. “Just don’t fill up on snacks. Is everything else in here edible to you?”

“Yep, this is perfect.” Altruise declared, picking an apple out of the basket by the stem with her teeth. She started chomping down on the fruit.

“I didn’t know fillies could eat this fast…” Drake said to himself silently; Altruise looked up at him and gave an excuse.

“I’m hungry.” She said with her mouth full, apple crumbs escaping her lips as she spoke.

“I can see that.” The pegasus just stood watching her eat. “When was the last time you ate anything?”

“Uuuuummm… Supper last night with my mom and dad.” Altruise replied, her talking slowing down with each following word in her sentence. She paused briefly and went back to eating her apple slower and went quiet again.

“Never mind.” Drake sighed; it didn’t seem what kinds of questions he asked her, everything triggered memories about her parents. It wasn’t going to be easy to help her get used to being an orphan. Altruise took a couple more bites and placed the rest of the apple back on the table, looking lost in her eyes. She chewed and swallowed the remains of the fruit in her mouth and sat silent for a moment.

“Thank you for the food.” She said politely in a silent tone. Drake could guess that she lost her appetite thinking about her parents again.

“You want a cookie?” He suggested, trying to cheer her up. She just shook her head and stepped off the chair, trotting slowly toward the door.

“I just need a minute… Can I step outside for a bit?” The filly requested.

“Uh, of course. Should I stay here?” Drake asked, unsure if she wanted him to follow her or not.

“I just need to be alone for a bit…” She said, exiting through the door. Drake sat on the chair and put his head on the table with a sigh.

* * * * *

By herself, Altruise wandered off into the forest toward the mountain, which the base of the mountain was just a few minutes from Drake’s shack. Looking up the side of the tall pile of rock, she sighed and began climbing. It wasn’t terribly steep, and not all too dangerous to climb, but it was very high.

After several minutes of climbing, she reached the peek of the mountain. Altruise stood on the tallest rock of the mountaintop and sat there silent. The chilly breeze blew by her, rippling her golden mane in the wind. She looked over the horizon, watching the sunset over the ocean. With a heartache and a few gasping weeps, she screamed at the setting sun.

“WHY?!!” She yelled standing up, with nopony around to hear her. Tears started escaping her eyes, thinking about her mourns. “It’s not fair…” She wept and sniffed, yelling at the sun again. “WHAT DID I DO?!”

She sat back down on the rock and rephrased her question in silence. “What do I do…”

As the sun lowered below the horizon, she saw its reflection in the water, rippling. Her watering eyes opened wide at the sight. The reflection reminded her clearly of the cutie mark of her parents’ murderer. The way the sun reflected in the water to her looked like a supernova rippling in the ocean’s waves.

She watched it every minute that passed before the sun finally disappeared, fully darkening the sky. Sudden anger began to fill her heart, and her sad expression slowly converted into an unforgiving frown. Electrical sparks emerged from her horn as she gritted her teeth.

From behind, she heard flapping wings approaching her. She jumped in surprise—her horn’s sparks vanishing—and she quickly turned around, seeing Drake flying toward her. He landed on top of the mountain next to her.

“You were gone for awhile, thought I should come check on you.” He exclaimed, sitting on a rock near the one Altruise was perched on. “Something I can help you with?”

Altruise looked back out into the horizon where the sun disappeared. She sighed and shook her head, “Thanks anyway…”

Drake nodded respecting her answer and looked out to where Altruise was looking. “You know, when I first found this island, this spot up here is the first place I set my hooves. It’s my favorite spot to think.”

Altruise tried returning his conversation. “What do you think about?”

“It varies.” Drake replied, “This is where I go whenever something bothers me. I sometimes come here to mourn, to talk to myself.”

The filly looked over to the pegasus with her innocent eyes, “Do you ever get lonely here all by yourself?”

Drake paused briefly, and answered with a nod. “Sometimes.”

“I see…” Altruise looked back out into the horizon. “Well… I hope that since I’m here you won’t feel that way any more…”

The pegasus looked at the filly who kept her gaze on the ocean. With a sigh, he looked down into the ground beneath his hooves. “I’m really sorry about what happened to your parents. I’ve never known what it’s like to be a parent, what it means to take care of a filly of my own. So I’m very new at this whole thing… So I’m sorry if I’m not the type of parent or guardian you were expecting.”

Altruise looked at the downed pegasus feeling sorry for both of them. She stood from her rock and trotted over to Drake; she sat down beside him and leaned into him. “You’ve already done more than I could’ve asked for from anypony.” She said silently.

Drake looked up when she made this sudden act of affection, and he looked down at the filly next to her. At first he was going to stand and avoid it, but he couldn’t do that in this predicament. He quietly sighed and reached his front hoof around her shoulder and held onto her.

“I’ll do the best I can.”

From there, they sat in silence, both looking over the ocean. Minutes passed, and Drake felt Altruise lean her head against his side. He looked down at the filly who had apparently fallen asleep like this.

Drake was pretty well ready to go to sleep himself. He reached around the sleeping filly and picked her up, looking down at her peaceful face. With a sigh, he flew off the mountain with her in his hooves. He took her back to his shack and quietly entered through the doorway, being sure not to wake her. He circled the room, wondering where he was going to possibly put her to sleep; he didn’t have a bed, he’d always sleep under the stars.

In the corner of the shack he recalled that he had a few coloured pillows that he never used. He trotted over to the pillows in the corner and gently placed Altruise over top of them. Drake stepped back and watched over the filly as she slept there. He kept frantically looking around thinking there was something else he should be doing yet.

In the basket of food there was a soft white fabric sheet that they used so the fruit wouldn’t bruise in the basket. He quickly pulled the sheet out of the basket and unfolded it. He took it back to the sleeping unicorn and tossed it over her, providing her with a blanket.

Looking back at the filly, Drake figured that she was good there now till morning. He then turned for the door and left the shack. Stepping out into the forest, he looked up at the moon in the sky and rested in the grass. Putting his head down, he closed his eyes and went to sleep there under the stars.

* * * * *

The Dangers of Anger

The following morning, Altruise woke up in the pile of pillows and slowly lifted her head with her eyes half-open. Her vision was still slightly blurry from just waking up. She looked around her before rubbing her eyes with her hooves and then put her hooves back down to her sides and blinked a few times, and her vision came back seeing Drake sitting at the table reading through a book.

“What’re you doing?” She asked in a groggy mumble, followed by a yawn and a stretch.

“Looking over some basics in the levitation book.” Drake replied, “Planning some things for your training today.”

“Oh, okay.” Altruise climbed off of the pile of pillows and trotted over to the table. “I’m hungry.” She exclaimed.

Drake pushed the basket of food toward her and went back to reading. “Everything in the basket is yours, Altruise, just fish out whatever you want when you want it.”

“Oh. Okay.” Altruise opened the cookie bag and pulled out a chocolate chip cookie, and bit into it. She chewed and swallowed, and pushed the cookie bag over to Drake. The pegasus looked at the bag in front of him, and then over to Altruise puzzled.

“Have you never had a cookie before?” She asked, hinting that he should try one.

“I have, but that was a very long time ago.” Drake replied.

“Come on, try one. They’re good.” Altruise continued to tempt the pegasus into eating something other than coconuts.

“I’d rather not.” The stubborn pegasus pushed the bag of cookies back to Altruise, “They’re your cookies.”

“One cookie.” The filly pushed the bag back to him, giggling as if this was turning into some game to her. Drake let out a grunt and reached into the cookie bag and pulled one out.

“If I take a bite of this cookie, will you be happy?”

Altruise nodded, awaiting his reaction. Drake sighed and brought the cookie closer to his mouth, and took a small bite out of it. He chewed and swallowed it, and looked back at the filly.

“Well?” She asked, anticipating an interesting response.

“I can’t understand how you can eat something this delicious.” Drake declared, his oxymoron sentence suddenly confusing the filly. She raised an eyebrow and looked at him funny.

“What?” She was trying to figure out how that made any sense. Then she caught Drake taking another bite out of the cookie.

“Okay, it’s good.” Drake answered more specifically, chewing his second bite of the cookie.

“Hah. See?” Altruise teased, biting into her own cookie. “I tooold you they were good.” She spoke in muffles with crumbs spewing from her lips.

Drake finished the rest of the cookie in one last bite, chewed and swallowed, then picked up his book and closed it, holding it to his side. “Okay, so are you ready to practice your magic today?”

“Oh, yes.” Altruise replied excitedly, “What are you going to teach me today?”

“Nothing too specific.” Drake exclaimed heading out the door, gesturing Altruise to follow him. “I want to see what you can currently do and work our way up from there.”

* * * * *

The two ponies went further into the forest to more of a clearing where she could practice easier. There were fewer trees in this area. Drake pointed to a tree that stood alone. “Cast a spell on that tree.” He ordered.

“Um… What kind of spell should I try?” Altruise questioned the pegasus.

“Doesn’t matter, do whatever you want. I want to see what you are able to do.” Drake stood where he was to watch her. The filly nodded to his request and trotted over to the tree in the middle of the wide field of grass. She took a deep breath, and focused her magic on the coconuts in the top of the tree.

“Focus…” She said to herself, trying to remain calm in the way Celestia taught her. Carefully she plucked the coconuts from the tree and levitated them to the ground. She was happy that nothing went wrong like yesterday when she tried levitating the quill. The filly turned to the pegasus to see how he thought she was doing, though he didn’t look too impressed.

“The Princess really watered you down.” Drake pointed out. “You told me you were able to summon storms and whatnot.”

“That would always happen against my will.” Altruise explained, feeling a bit upset that he didn’t like her little magic trick.

“So why’s it not happening now?” Drake asked.

“Because… I don’t know how I did it before. It would just happen.” The unicorn was having a hard time explaining herself, and she began to dislike the way Drake was teaching her.

“Sure you know how.” The pegasus exclaimed, “If you’ve done it before, you can do it again; even if it happened subconsciously. Okay, let’s review…” Drake tried to get to the bottom of her situation. “Explain to me how Princess Celestia tried to teach you.”

Altruise thought back to her training with the Princess and explained the best she could. “Her training was mostly about calming my mind. Before I wasn’t able to turn my unicorn magic off at all, and bad things just kept happening.”

“Okay, I want to try something.” Drake suggested, “Levitate a coconut. Don’t do anything specific, just let it float into the air.”

“Um… Okay.” Altruise shrugged and turned back around to the palm tree. She lifted one of the coconuts off of the ground and held it suspended in the air. “You mean like thi-AH!!” Suddenly Drake quickly flew up to her from behind without her aware of it, and he quickly and unexpectedly nudged her shoulders with his front hooves, startling her. Her mane stood on end, and the coconut she was levitated exploded with a crackle of lightning.

“W-what j-just happened?!” Altruise panicked from the loud exploding coconut, and she lost her footing as she moved backwards, tripping over her own hooves, landing on her flank in the grass. She quickly turned to look up at Drake who was standing next to her with a smirk.

“I screwed up the spell when you bumped me.” The filly complained feeling ashamed of her magic. “Why’d you do that??”

“Screwed up?” Drake corrected, “I think that was progress.”

“But… How is destroying something progress??” Altruise couldn’t understand how this was accomplishing anything.

“You see, Altruise, you have more power than you know. You’re hiding most of it by trying so hard not to cast something big with Celestia’s ‘calming your mind’ method.”

“But… That’s the only way I can control my magic, otherwise I do something I don’t want to do.”

“You call that control?” Drake chuckled, “Looks like it has control over you. You’re not setting free what wants to escape. You’re holding a hungry tiger in a cage without feeding it.”

Altruise kind of understood what he meant, but she really didn’t like where he was going with this. She didn’t want another recap of what happened on the school playground. She tried questioning his metaphor. “Yeah but if I set the tiger free, he’ll be all furious and do something terrible…”

“So feed it when you let it go.” Drake explained, “If you’re going to learn how to cast big spells, you need to know exactly what’s going on in your mind while it’s happening. If you try to conceal it while it’s active, it’s going to rebel against you so it doesn’t get sent back into its cage, and it’s going to do everything you don’t want it to so it can keep it that way. That is why you couldn’t turn off your magic before; you tried too hard to stop what didn’t want to be stopped. You understand?”

“Kind of…” Altruise scratched her head with her hooves thinking of all these metaphors and explanations.

“Think of it like a word stuck in your head.” Drake went further into detail. “When I tell you not to think of the word Tinder, what do you think of?”

Altruise thought about this to herself, and tried his method of training. She tried not to think about the word Tinder, but because she knew she wasn’t supposed to think about it, it kept popping back into her head every time she tried changing her mind’s subject.

“What are you thinking about?” Drake asked.

“Uh… Tinder.” Altruise admitted, suddenly understanding his explanation a lot more clearly.

“Hah, you see?” The pegasus snickered, “Well since you can’t stop thinking about the word Tinder, use the word. Let it flow in your head exactly how you want to use it.”

After Altruise got the idea that she could use the word Tinder if she really wanted to, she began to understand. If she tried to avoid thinking about the word, it would become natural that she would automatically think about the word, for the sole reason that she wasn’t supposed to.

“It’s like a mind game.” Drake explained. “Okay, pick up another coconut. Let’s try again.” He suggested, gesturing his hoof to a coconut in the ground. Altruise didn’t question and did as she was told. With her levitation magic, she picked up the coconut.

“Now, try something different.” The pegasus instructed, “Think about the things that happen that you don’t normally want to happen when you do a spell.”

When he told her this, Altruise began to think of the possible things that could go wrong. Her horn began to spark menacingly, and the coconut suddenly caught fire.

She panicked. “Wh-why are you telling me to do it like this, it isn’t working—”

“Don’t let this throw you off.” Drake interrupted, acknowledging that this was going to happen. “Now, think… Why is the coconut on fire?”

“I-I don’t know.” Altruise was slouching, fearing her magic. Her panicking state was rising, and she began to realize that she couldn’t turn off her magic. Everything she was taught before to avoid was all coming back. “I can’t stop! My magic won’t stop!”

“It’s because you’re letting it overpower you.” Drake explained, “Feel in your mind why the fire is there, and why it won’t stop. Control the fire, don’t extinguish it.”

Altruise nodded even though this just sounded like it was going to go nowhere. She focused on the fire that was currently out of control, and instead of trying to stop it, she allowed the flame to occur. The ripples in the flame slowed down, and she focused on wanting the fire to act according to her will. In a few moments, the flame was no longer rippling like a wildfire, and the coconut instead began to have a more even burn like a gentle candle light. Realizing that she could make the fire do this, she felt more at ease, and she was able to put out the flame with sudden simplicity.

“Good.” Drake put his hoof on her shoulder. “Now that’s how you control magic.”

The unicorn smiled, and started playing around with this new teaching method, turning the flame on the coconut on and off like a switch.

“You see, you have no reason to fear your magic.” Drake exclaimed, “If you can make your unintentional spells become intentional, there’s no telling what you’d be able to do over time with practice. It may take some time to fully train you. Nothing big happens over night, but I can tell that someday you’ll become a very powerful unicorn.”

Altruise put the coconut down on the ground, and turned to the pegasus. Looking up at the stallion, she sat on her flank and smiled with sudden obedience. That very moment when she used her fire magic on the coconut made her realize that her overpowering magic was a part of her life, and she didn’t want it to go to waste.

“I don’t want to be afraid of my magic any more.” Altruise committed obediently, “Your training is clearly working.”

Drake smiled with a proud tone in his voice, “Let’s get back to studying then, shall we?”

Altruise nodded, and the two of them went back to where they left off with her training. “What now?”

“Hmm…” Drake flipped the book open to a bookmarked page, and reviewed a bit. Scanning a few of the pages, he stopped and shut the book, holding it on his side under his wing once again. “Let’s try some target practice shall we?”

The filly raised a brow, “Target practice?”

A grin, and Drake flew off back to the shack, leaving Altruise here to wait. Waiting patiently, Drake flew back with a few wood planks in his grip. Puzzled, Altruise stepped toward the pegasus who hovered just above the ground above her.

“What are those for?” Altruise wondered.

Drake smirked, and flew off at a good distance from her, and shoved a few of the boards into the ground in different locations. “Targets.” He simply replied as he filled the grass field with them.

Once the wooden targets were all in place, Drake flew back to Altruise and landed next to her. “Alright, we’ll practice your levitation toss. Pick up a pebble.”

Altruise nodded, and picked up a small stone from the ground, and she looked back at Drake, waiting for him to direct her what to do next.

“Now without moving from that spot, try throwing the stone at one of the targets. See if you can hit it.”

“Well okay.” Altruise shrugged, and focused on a board target closer to her. With a twitch, she hurled the stone through the air; the stone landed in the grass before it even reached the target. Rolling her eyes with a grunt, she picked up another stone, and with another attempt, she tossed it at the same target, but again the stone didn’t reach very far and landed in the grass. “How am I supposed to throw something that far?”

“Keep practicing.” Drake suggested, “What you’re doing is you’re trying to toss the stone with a throwing motion of your spell. Don’t throw it, launch it.”

“Launch it?”

“Yes, a spell used to toss objects great distances. With a thrust of the spell, you can toss something much greater distances.”

With a shrug, Altruise tried again, and lifted a stone. Making grunting sound, she threw the stone again, a little further this time, but it still didn’t even reach the target. “Uuugh what am I doing wrong?”

“Don’t focus on throwing the stone at the target.” Drake suggested, “Focus on the target; aim, and don’t just throw, launch.”

“Yeah, launch, right.” She squinted, “How do I launch something? I haven’t been taught that lesson.”

“You um… Uh how did my father explain it…” Drake scratched his chin, “Hold the stone in place, while pushing a great force of magic on one side, then release the stone, and the pushing force of magic will launch it.”

“Er… Kay?” Altruise rolled her eyes and levitated another stone. Holding it in place, she tried thrusting the back of the stone with a second expanding aura. Sparks began to emerge from the stone that she was forcing weighted magic against one side. “Kayy, I think I got it… and um… Release—!!!” Releasing the stone, the pebble flung through the air like a bullet; it missed every single target and went practically in a straight line. It struck a tree with a loud clunk, and the coconuts in the tree all fell to the ground on impact.

“Hmm, you missed.” Drake shrugged, “Well, that was still impressed for a first try—”

“THAT WAS AWESOME!” Altruise interrupted with enthusiasm.

“Uh, er…” Drake cleared his throat, “Em, yes, good job.”

Altruise immediately picked up another stone and tried again. “Okay, hold in place… Force some magic on one side…” She stuck her tongue out as she concentrated, “And um… Aim…” She squinted her eyes, focusing, “And release!” The stone launched with a spark of thunder, and clashed into her target with a loud thud. The stone ricocheted off the board and flung into the air, and the target fell backwards to the ground.

“Bulls-eye!”

“Huh.” The pegasus went wide-eyed, “Well… You’re a fast learner—OUCH!!” The stone fell from the sky and landed on his head with a hollow clunk. Rubbing his head with a grunt, he winced. “Um… Nice shot.”

“Oh, you okay?”

“Fine. Keep practicing.”

Altruise nodded and lifted another stone, forcing magic behind it to prepare for another launch. “I can’t wait to get home and show mom and dad this new tri—…” The filly caught herself in mid sentence, and fully lost concentration. Her eyes stared blankly into space, and she dropped all focus. “Mom… Dad…” She whispered to herself, as images of Nebulous began to burn in her memories. A frown slowly formed on her face, and her horn began to spark of menacing electrical magic.

“Altruise? You okay?” The pegasus questioned her in a concerned manner.

The stone that she was holding in place began to make a humming noise, and it sparked and crackled. The stone itself began to glow red hot, and with a loud grunt, Altruise launched the stone at the furthest target on the field; an explosive sonic boom echoed through the air as it launched, and the pebble traveled through the air in a straight line glowing of red fire, and it struck the target directly in the center. The target exploded into hundreds of tiny pieces of bits of flaming wood and ashes that all slowly descended back into the ground like an extinguishing camp fire.

Drake was dumbfounded and wide-eyed. Altruise on the other hand, was frowning with gritted teeth, and she felt a heavy burn in the back of her head. Her horn was still sparking of electrical energy.

“Okay, now THAT was pretty awesome.” Drake declared, clapping his hooves together, and noticed her lack of enthusiasm. Clapping his hooves slower to a stop, he put them back into the grass. Her eyes were still fixed on the target of burning charred wood. “Hmh, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

Frowning, Altruise turned to the pegasus; tears of anger streamed down her cheeks, and electrical sparks constantly emerged from her horn.

“I’ve been feeling something.” Altruise exclaimed in an angry voice, “And I don’t like it.”

“Hmm, and what’s that?” The pegasus wondered.

“Drake, when your parents were killed… Did you ever have this… feeling in your heart, like you’re responsible? Like you have to do something to make yourself feel better?”

“You mean revenge?” Drake replied, wincing at her. “Yes, I have. But vengeance can lead a pony in the wrong direction.”

“Are you just saying that because you’re trying to forget what happened? Or are you saying that because you’re too scared to go after your parents’ murderer?”

Drake’s eyes widened; the words coming from this filly were very deep. He cleared his throat, and was about to say something, but didn’t.

“I want to kill him.” Altruise said with a cold, monotone voice.

* * * * *

Spectrum of Guidance

Altruise’s training with Drake had come to a close shortly after her new vengeful motives were announced. She wanted a break to get some air, so she wandered off on her lonesome, and she climbed back up to the top of the mountain. Sitting on the rock at the very top of the mountain under the noon sun overhead, she turned her neck at all angles. No land was in view over any horizon from here; just pure ocean in every direction.

Drake flew up to the mountain and landed next to her. “I thought I might find you here.” He murmured.

Altruise paused briefly before saying anything. “You’re probably not going to want to train me any more after what I said.” She muttered, avoiding eye contact.

“And why would I stop now?” Drake questioned her.

“Goddess knows what I’d wish to do with my magic if I was strong enough…” Altruise grumbled, “I was raised to be a good pony; loving and forgiving…” She frowned and lowered her head, “But how can somepony forgive what he did to my home and family?”

“You know, I’ve had the same thoughts my whole life since my parents were killed.” The pegasus admitted, “I’ve always wanted revenge. And… maybe you were right about what you said.”

Altruise turned to look at him, “Right about what?”

“I guess maybe it is because I’m too afraid to confront him that I choose to live a sheltered life. I’ve been alone all my life because I didn’t want to be known, afraid that he might find me and kill me too.” He sighed and frowned, turning away. “But I won’t lie that I’ve always wanted to kill him, so I feel your pain. But what kind of chance does a pegasus have against a unicorn with power like that.”

The two ponies sat in silence, looking over the horizon. The wind rippled through their manes, and Altruise stood to trot to the ledge of the cliff in front of her.

“I miss them.” She murmured in silence.

“I know.” Drake replied.

“Mom, Dad…” She lowered her head, thinking of everypony else, “Mila… Hearth… Mr. and Mrs. Chili and their foal…” She winced, and tears started to form, “They’re all gone… They’re dead…”

Drake sighed, “Right now you’re just a foal yourself, and facing against him now would be absolutely suicide.”

“I know…” Altruise grumbled, lowering her head in a frown.

“But after witnessing what you are capable of, I would not doubt that when you’re older, you may just have what it takes to defeat him.” Drake exclaimed, “You know… I’m still willing to help train you.”

“You’re… you’re going to help me?” The filly was a little shocked about that.

“I wouldn’t say revenge is the most harmonious action, but I desire it as much as you do.” Drake looked ahead, “There’s a significant difference between right and wrong, and vengeful justice is under a debatable category.”

“He doesn’t deserve to live after the things he’s done…” Altruise murmured, “I don’t even think the Princess herself would show him any mercy.” Lowering her head, she sighed, “What do I do though? I feel like I need to do this to make myself feel better; he needs to feel the same way I do now, and rot in the ground for all I care…” She looked up, her eyes still damp, “Just… I need a sign…”

Drake looked down at her, understanding her troubled mindset.

“What do I do?” She asked herself again, “It doesn’t feel right to want to kill somepony…” She frowned, “But he sure deserves it.” Standing tall, she yelled at the horizon in frustration, “Goddess, give me a SIGN!!”

The moment that was shouted, a full spectrum rainbow emerged from the distant horizon with a loud sonic boom explosion, and it flooded the sky with brilliant colours. Altruise merely fell back in surprise as she watched the ring of colours fade into the sky.

“Wh-what h-happened?!”

“I don’t believe it…” Drake stood up just as shocked as she was, and sauntered to the edge of the cliff to watch the ripples of the rainbow fade in the sky, “A Sonic Rainboom… I’ve never seen one of those before…” He turned to her, “I’ve always been told that if you’d ever see one of those, it’s a sign of good luck. They’re very rare.”

Altruise stood wide-eyed, and felt dumbfounded. She turned to Drake, and the pegasus looked back at her.

“I want to know everything.” The filly declared, “Everything you know, from every book, from every word you’ve ever been told by your father.” She stepped forward toward the pegasus, “I want that unicorn to know what he’s done. No mercy, I want him dead!” She leaned forward for emphasis, “We can get our revenge… Train me to be unstoppable. I have to do this!”

Drake turned to the horizon, and took a moment to think. He sighed, and somberly glanced back down at the unicorn. “As you wish.”

* * * * *

Back at their training ground in the open field, Altruise sat in the grass prepared, and Drake paced back and forth in front of her like she was a soldier.

“Alright, Altruise. If you’re going to want me to train you to know everything, you need to do everything I say.” He declared, “Some of the things I tell you to do you may not like, but if you want to become as powerful as Nebulous is, you need to listen to every word I say.” He stopped and turned to her, “You understand?”

Altruise nodded, “I’ll do anything.”

“Good.” Drake brought out the levitation book and flipped through it.

“I don’t really care to learn much levitation today.” Altruise exclaimed. Drake looked down at her with a puzzled expression.

“Well what do you want to learn?”

“I want to summon storms.” Altruise went right to the tricky spells, “Levitation is simple to learn, let’s start with the real thing. If I’m going to defeat him, I want to know the advanced spells ahead of time so I have time to practice and improve.”

Drake smiled at her sudden optimism and closed the levitation book. “Very well, we better get started then.” Putting the book down, he trotted up to her, “Now, you said you were able to do that beforehand.”

“Well… Not exactly.” Altruise winced, “The storms were unintentional, and very unpredictable. I don’t know how it happened.”

“They were a result of your anger.” Drake exclaimed, “Go ahead, try casting a storm spell and see what happens.”

Altruise shrugged and stood for preparation. Her horn glowed, and she focused on the sky. The white clouds in the blue sky began to swirl around at a steady pace, but this wasn’t amusing Drake.

“Are you going to cast a storm or spin clouds around in the air?”

“I’m trying!” Altruise grumbled, “Why won’t it work?” She turned her horn off and rolled her eyes.

There was a short pause, and Drake squinted at her, “Celestia weakened you. I know you can do better than that.”

The filly frowned, “What did I do different that made my magic so intense?”

“Like I said. Anger.” Drake declared, “I have an idea that may get this to work.”

“Um, okay?”

“You’re not going to like it though.”

Altruise winced, but nodded. “What is it?”

“Your parents are dead.”

The filly’s ears twitched when she heard that. “I know that, why are you reminding me?”

“Because there’s nothing you can do about it.” Drake continued, “They are dead, and Nebulous left you all alone.”

Altruise frowned, and her horn began to spark. “That’s enough, Drake, I don’t like what you’re trying to do here.”

“And you know what else?” The pegasus continued on, “You’re weak. And the Princess made you useless to do anything about it.”

“Drake.” Altruise’s eyes frowned heavier, and her horn was forming more electrical energy, “Stop it.”

“In fact, if it wasn’t for the Princess’ training, maybe you would’ve been strong enough to stop Nebulous when you had the chance.”

“DRAKE, SHUT UP!!” Altruise shrieked, and a black cloud began to form in the sky, with a bolt of lightning striking down to her horn. Breathing angrily through her nostrils, she stood on all fours in a tense battle formation, “You done?!!”

Drake went wide-eyed as the wind began to pick up. He just stopped speaking then and there, and his jaw hung open. Looking up at the sky, the black clouds grew thicker, and the wind picked up even stronger. And before they knew it, it began to rain with loud echoing thunder coming from the sky.

Altruise noticed what was happening, and she collapsed to her haunches, frightened. “Ah, AH!” She growled, holding her sparking horn, “I-I can’t control it. I-it hurts!—OW!!” A bolt of lightning cracked from her horn and struck a radius around her, “AaaH! Not again! I-it hurts!!”

Drake backed away, and looked around him with uncertainty. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”

“AAAGH!” Altruise growled, holding her head, “Nebulous… I-I’ll kill him! I’LL KILL HIM!!” More clashes of lightning, and the rain turned to hail; they could hear the hailstones patter across the land, and they fell upon them like stinging needles.

“Control it, Altruise!” Drake winced, “Like the fire on the coconut you did this morning, figure out why this is happening, and control it.” His shouting was being challenged by the loud constant thunder and lightning. Soon everything was going dark, and the entire sky was black of clouds.

“C-can’t… turn it off…” Altruise muttered, “I…AaaAAGH!” More lightning emerged from the sky, and blew craters of rubble into the ground; a few of them almost struck Drake.

“WOAH! Watch it!” Drake sneered.

“AAAgh!” Altruise growled, and dropped her head to the ground, holding her head by her horn. “AAaAAH!!” Tears began to fill her eyes and she murmured, “I-I c-can’t. I… I can’t stop it… It… it hurts…” Soon, she blacked out entirely, and fell to her side unconscious.

“Altruise??”

Once she was out cold, the lightning surrounding her slowly faded away, and the clouds in the sky slowed their spiraling. The hail turned back to rain, and eventually the rain soon stopped as well.

“Altruise, are you alright?” Once the lightning was cleared from her, Drake approached her and shook her shoulder, “Altruise?”

The thunder and lightning in the sky slowed down as well, with mere echoes remaining of the thunder as the storm gradually disappeared, along with the dark clouds, slowly revealing the blue sky once more.

“Ugh… Well, that went well.” Drake muttered, and picked the filly up, and he flew back to the shack.

* * * * *

Altruise slowly drifted in and out of consciousness with a blurred vision. Murmuring in her sleep, she finally came to, and put a hoof on her head. A grunt, and she limply sat up, finding herself on her bed of pillows. Slowly turning her neck, her blurry vision slowly regained focus, and she found Drake sitting at the table.

“How long was I out…?” The filly groaned.

“Couple hours.” Drake replied, “Not long. You doing alright?”

“Head kinda hurts…” Altruise murmured while rubbing a hoof through her mane, “But I’m okay…”

“I must admit, that was quite an impressive display you put on.”

“Huh?”

“Your magic.” Drake exclaimed, “Sure you weren’t able to control it, but the strength of that storm was impressive coming from a filly your age.”

Altruise frowned and turned away, “If you say so.”

The pegasus sighed, “I hope you’re not mad at me for the way I trained you.”

“Well… I guess I am a little.” The unicorn replied, “But it worked, I guess.”

“If anger is what caused your magic in the first place, that seems to be the best way to pinpoint exactly how you’re able to do it.”

Altruise stood up and took a few limping steps forward, “So, what, you’re trying to piss me off to see what I can do?”

“Huh?”

“Anger is not something I am used to, Drake.” Altruise grumbled, “I’ve never experienced this kind of anger, and I really don’t like how it feels.”

Drake sighed, “Do you want to avenge your parents or not?”

“Well, yeah, but I…”

“If experiencing anger is what causes your magic to outburst like that, then we need to make you feel anger. It seems that’s the best way to trigger it for now, until you can understand how you’re doing it so you can control it. Just like the coconut fire this morning.” The pegasus leaned into his hoof against the table, “I didn’t tell you it was going to be easy. I had already told you that you would not like all of my methods of training. They can be hard, and sometimes strict, but they’re going to work better than taming your mind.”

Altruise sighed, “Sometimes though, my magic hurts me…”

“That’s something you’re going to have to get used to.” Drake declared. The filly was a little surprised by this. “My father experienced pain when he performed the most difficult magic. No matter what, if you try to cast spells that are more designed for an alicorn’s horn, you’re going to experience at least some pain. Like summoning storms, they hurt because the magic is huge. Not because you’re not used to it, but because your horn is not an alicorn horn; unicorns are not exactly meant to be able to do that in the first place. And those who can, they experience pain, some more than others.”

“But I had thought that my magic hurt because I have no control…” Altruise was puzzled by this, “You’re telling me that it’s always going to hurt?”

“If Celestia told you that magic isn’t meant to hurt, she was right in some areas. It’s not meant to hurt if unicorns are doing their natural low-level spells. I suppose that is her way of telling you not to try casting high-level magic.” Drake let out a sigh, “It hurt you because that’s exactly what you were doing. The only difference is you were doing it unintentionally. If you were doing it intentionally, it would still hurt; and that is just something you are simply going to have to get used to, because the pain isn’t avoidable when performing that kind of magic.”

Altruise sighed and slumped to her haunches, “Who am I kidding anyway? There’s no way I could stand a chance against Nebulous.” She lowered her head, “I can’t keep focus on my spells when it hurts like that; it makes it so hard to control…”

“Practice, Altruise. And some day, I am sure the pain will be nothing but a tickle to you.” Drake reassured her, “Some day, when you’re older, you will become so powerful, even Nebulous himself will shake with fear.”

“And what makes you think so…”

“Your magic has only just begun.” Drake exclaimed, “You’ve got many years ahead of you to practice and train. And the very first spell you have ever performed was in fact one of the most difficult.” He leaned forward for emphasis, “You, Altruise, are a very significant unicorn. You’re more powerful than you realize.”

Altruise looked up at him with reassurance.

“So, really this is all up to you.” Drake declared, “I will continue training you, but only if you so choose. I can’t promise it will be simple, nor can I promise that you will like some of the methods I may use. But I assure you, that when all is said and done, you will get your revenge. That I promise.”

The unicorn took a moment to put that to thought, but was silent.

“I would certainly go after him myself, if I was a unicorn.” He spanned his wings with a sigh, looking left and right at his wings, “But I don’t think I can beat him with just hooves and feathers.” He put his wings back to his sides and looked back down at the filly, “At any rate, it’s your call.”

Altruise stood back to her hooves and looked up to him with somberness. “My family never really did have a chance…” She murmured, “I watched the last moment of their fight with Nebulous… I watched how my mom and dad worked together like a perfect team…” Tears began to fill her eyes, “I watched him strike them when they were down and helpless…” She gritted her teeth. “He just… looked them in the eyes, grinning, and… just… killed them. Right there in front of me.”

Drake felt a lump in his throat, and swallowed out of pity. “Sorry you had to see them like that…”

“I know what you’re trying to do.” Altruise murmured, “You want me to pursue my vengeance so you can get yours as well.”

The pegasus sighed and lowered his head, “I guess, in a way, perhaps I am a little guilty of that. I see the potential in you to be strong enough, but I can’t make you do this on my behalf. That’s selfish of me…”

“No.” Altruise shook her head.

“Beg your pardon?”

“I wouldn’t think of that as selfish, because you and I both feel the same way.”

“But you’re just a filly.” Drake muttered, “How could I forgive myself if you’d fail? And even if you weren’t in your foal years, if you died, I’d blame none other than myself.”

Altruise sighed, “I know where you’re coming from, but if Nebulous and I fight, it is an act on my own decision.” She stepped forward, “So, train me. Either way, I’m going after him. So if you want me to stand a chance, push me to become stronger. At least that way, you can say you did something to help.”

Drake glanced down at her with solemn eyes, “Are you absolutely certain this is what you want.”

The unicorn nodded, “Yes.”

That said, the pegasus stood from his seat. “Well then… If you are going to go after him, we should carry on, yes?”

Altruise grinned, “The sooner we train, the sooner I can be ready.”

“Alright.” Drake put a proud smile on and exit through the door, “Let’s go then, shall we?”

The filly nodded and trotted after him. Trailing through the trees, they made their way to their training grounds. The sun still had a few hours left in the sky.

“Uh… Drake?” Altruise murmured and sat in the grass. Drake stopped and turned to the filly with curiosity.

“Yes, Altruise, what is it?”

“Um… Would it be alright, if…” She looked up at him, then down to the ground. “If, I uh…”

Drake stood and patiently waited for her question.

“Could I call you my father…?” She looked up at him with somber tears. This question slammed Drake in the chest like a pile of bricks; he was not prepared for that.

“I… beg your pardon, Altruise?”

“Can I call you Father?” She asked again, this time more to the point.

The pegasus stood there in silence, and the wind rippled through the air passing through their manes. It took a long moment, but with serenity, he replied.

“As you wish.”

* * * * *

Of Horn and Feather

It was a calm afternoon, and only a gentle breeze was heard. Walking cautiously through the jungle, Altruise watched every angle around her; a frown upon her face of anticipation and preparation. The way she treaded the grounds of this jungle was as if she’s been doing this for a long time. She heard some rippling branches in a bush and she quickly turned to it.

“GOTCHA!!” Illuminating her horn, she casted a white ball of energy into the bush, making the leaves explode off the branches on impact, and they floated back down to the ground. To her dissatisfaction, her target was not in that bush. A bunny hopped out from hiding and scampered away from her. “Ugh… Stupid rabbit…” Raising her head, she glanced at all angles, focusing on her surroundings.

Suddenly from above her, she heard a whooshing sound of her target’s wings descending toward her at a rapid speed. Quickly, she turned her glance upward, and saw the silhouette of a pegasus blocked by the sunlight. With little time to react, the pegasus collapsed on top of her, and they rolled along the ground in a series of grumbling.

“AaAAH!!” Altruise growled, and shoved the pegasus off of her with a powerful force of concentrated magical energy. He flew back and slid across the ground, slamming against a tree to a stop.

“Ugh…” Drake rubbed his head and slowly stood back to his hooves.

“Ha! Got you this time!” Altruise stood proudly with half-squinting eyes. The smirk on her face made the pegasus roll his eyes.

“Yes, you did. But I still got you first.” Drake exclaimed abruptly, “If you can’t hold me back before I even strike, how do you plan on keeping a powerful unicorn off of you?”

“I um…” Altruise squinted, “I’m trying, Father.”

Drake sighed and sauntered up to the unicorn, “You can do better. You’ve got me a few times, but a few out of many isn’t a good sign if you plan on a real battle when the time comes.”

“Yeah… I know…” Altruise grumbled, and her horn sparked of anger, “I just want to go kill that creep. The sooner the better!!”

“In time, you will be ready. But right now, you are not.” Drake muttered solemnly.

“Well, when will I be ready?!” Altruise shouted, “It has been three years since you started training me! When will I be ready?”

“And in those three years you have indeed improved a lot. But there’s still much for you to learn.”

“UGH!!” The filly turned away from him and sat on her flank, frowning and looking to the grass beneath her feet.

“Patience, Altruise.” Drake put a hoof on her shoulder, “If you go after him too soon, you won’t stand a chance.”

“Father, I’ve perfected so many of my spells. Most forms of levitation I can do almost flawlessly, I can hit a target from a mile away, I can set things on fire at will…” Altruise turned to him with frustration. “Heck, I can even summon storm clouds when I choose to.”

“Yes, you can. But that doesn’t mean you’re strong enough.”

“I just… AGH!” She growled and fell to her haunches in frustration, “When will you allow me to leave this island to go looking for him?!”

“I told you, when you’re ready.” Drake declared, “I’m keeping you here for your own safety; until you’re prepared to battle Nebulous, I won’t allow you to go looking for him. I’d hate to watch you fall after all the hard work we’ve done to train you.”

Altruise just sat there and let out a long, aggravated and impatient growl.

“Come, let’s go eat.” Drake suggested, trotting off through the forest, “Maybe food will calm your frustrations.”

With a growling sigh, Altruise followed the stallion pegasus.

* * * * *

Returning to the shack, Altruise sat at the table. The unicorn was still frowning, and the pegasus wandered to his shelf of books, scanning them. Altruise glared at the basket of fruit in the center of the table that Drake had just gone to collect for her off the island that very morning. With a sigh, she levitated an apple and brought it to her mouth, biting into it.

“Okay, so I failed this afternoon’s test on defense against surprise attacks.” She muttered with a mouth full, followed by swallowing her food. “What else is new?”

“Your optimism has drained since I first met you.” Drake exclaimed, still cycling through the books on the shelf. Altruise ignored that statement and took another large bite out of her apple. The pegasus pulled out a book from the shelf and dropped it on the table in front of the filly.

“What?”

“I’m teaching you something new today.” Drake exclaimed, opening the blue book. He flipped a few pages with a hoof and stopped on a page with a sketched image of a pegasus. At the top of the page wrote “Pegasi Wings”.

Altruise swallowed the food in her mouth and it took her a moment to register what this spell was. She leaned toward the book in surprise, and her eyes widened. “You’re gonna teach me how to make artificial wings?” She looked up at him with ears twitching, “You’re gonna teach me how to fly?”

“Yes.” Drake announced. “I never showed you this spell before, because there are risks.”

“Risks?” Altruise raised a brow, “Father, just about every bit of your training is a risk.”

“Yes, but this is different.” Drake declared, “One wrong move, and you can end up killing yourself.”

“That’s comforting.” The filly muttered with sarcasm.

“This spell requires a strong sense of multitasking.” Drake explained, “You need to focus both on keeping your faux wings attached, and you need to focus on flapping them at the same time.” The pegasus educated her, “If you lose focus on the spell for just one second, they’ll vanish in a blink. If you lose focus on flapping them, you’ll lose control, and either way you’ll result in plummeting to the ground. Unicorns were not exactly made to fly, making this one of the hardest spells for a unicorn to learn.”

Altruise popped the remainder of the apple into her mouth, chewed and swallowed, and hopped off the chair. She trotted to the door and looked back to Drake. “Well, are we going out to practice then or what?”

“Heh.” Drake shook his head at the eager filly and picked up the book in his wing. “Alright. Let’s go then.”

* * * * *

Altruise and Drake trotted to their usual practicing grounds, which was now a field of mostly debris and charred wood from all of her magic over the years. Altruise paced back and forth impatiently as Drake read through the blue book.

“Okay so what do I do to grow wings?” Altruise was excited to learn this new spell, but all the same, she was impatient like she had grown to become.

“I’m figuring out how to properly explain this spell. It’s a little tricky.” Drake exclaimed, flipping through pages. “Practice something else for now; I need to read through this a bit.”

Altruise rolled her eyes and turned to a boulder three times her size. She lifted it with a quick levitation spell, and with a grunt, she hurled it over the forest, and it fell into the ocean with a large splash.

“Bored?” Drake presumed, acting casually about her sudden boulder toss, as if this had become a natural simplicity of hers.

“Very.” She muttered, sitting on her haunches.

“Ah, here we are…” Drake put the book down, “Now, to make these wings requires an open mind with a large imagination.”

Altruise was focusing on something else, daydreaming. She shook her head and looked up at him. “What was that?”

“Imagination.” Drake repeated, “That I see is covered.”

“Heh.” The filly glanced to the side, “Yea sorry. I’m just—”

“Bored. I know.” Drake cleared his throat and looked back into his book. “Now… To activate the wings, you must think like a pegasus.”

“And how, pray tell, does a pegasus think?” The unicorn muttered.

Drake spread his wings, and closed his eyes, breathing in through his nostrils. Gracefully flapping his wings in a standing position, he then exhaled. “Think, fly…”

“That… doesn’t help much.” Altruise rolled her eyes, and with a shrug she tried what he was doing. She closed her eyes and stood tall, thinking about flying.

Drake opened his eyes to see the filly standing with her eyes closed. Curiously, he watched her. “For this you need patience.” He said to her, “Concentrate…”

With her eyelids shut, Altruise raised a brow, and slightly nodded. Breathing in deeply, she exhaled with a gentle breath in a form of meditation.

The pegasus walked around her in circles, watching her as she did this practice. “For this spell, you do need to be calm. Imagine yourself in the sky, thousands of feet in the air; the gentle breeze rushing through your mane.” He stopped walking around her in circles, and stood in place in front of her, “Imagine your wings.”

A gentle glow was suddenly sparkling on her shoulders where pegasi wings usually start. Drake watched and smiled, “Keep thinking about the wings, Altruise; the graceful feeling of flying through the air.”

The sparks on her shoulders began to expand, and a silent humming sound echoed from the emerging glow of magic. The look on her face was that of total relaxation, deep in a dream. Her eyes closed, and her mouth slightly hanging open, she could see and feel herself in the sky, as if weightless.

“It’s remarkable…” Altruise murmured, enjoying the feeling.

“Open your eyes, Altruise.”

The filly slowly opened her eyes, and realized right then that she was hovering at least three feet above Drake. In a sudden panic, she looked left and right, and she had wings attached; her hooves were off the ground.

“WH-WHAT THE?!” Her wings suddenly vanished in a puff of magical sparks, and she fell to the ground with a thump. “WhAH—OW!” Recollecting herself, she stood up from her haunches and looked up at Drake wide-eyed. “The heck just happened?!”

“You were flying.” Drake snickered.

“That was creepy.” Altruise stood wide-eyed, “How’d that happen?”

“Well whatever you were doing, it worked.” The pegasus declared, “What were you thinking about?”

“Well… It was certainly interesting.” Altruise murmured, “Thought about flying, like you said.”

“And why did you panic when you opened your eyes?”

Altruise shrugged, “I’m afraid of heights.”

“Oh.” Drake scratched his chin with a hoof, “Yeah, I think I remember you telling me something like that once… That could do it.” He put his hooves down and cleared his throat, “Alright, well if you’re going to fly, you’re going to have to get over that fear.”

The filly grumbled, “I hate heights…” She looked back at her shoulders where she briefly had wings.

“You know, I’m impressed that you managed to sprout those wings on your first try.” The pegasus exclaimed, “Even if they only lasted a few seconds. It’s not an easy spell to keep a controlled focus on. Once you try multitasking with too many things, or if your mind wanders, your wings can disappear like they did.”

“I see…” Altruise winced, “I don’t know if I’m ready to fly then.”

“Nonsense.” Drake disagreed, “You’ve spread those wings on your very first attempt! Of course you’re ready.”

“Sheesh, you have way too much faith in me, Father…” Altruise murmured.

“Yes, yes… Try it again.”

“What?”

Drake cleared his throat, “Close your eyes and imagine yourself up in the clouds again. Do what you just did.” A pause, “Except, this time, when you open your eyes, don’t panic and don’t lose concentration on the spell.”

“That’s easy.” Altruise muttered sarcastically.

“Now then, what are you waiting for?” The pegasus waved his hoof to get her to carry on, “Once more. I’ll watch you and make sure you don’t fall and hurt yourself.”

The filly winced at that, “You didn’t catch me the first time.”

“I thought you’d land on your hooves; that wasn’t a very far drop.”

Altruise sighed and rolled her eyes. With a breath of concentration, she stood calmly and closed her eyes again like before. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled softly.

“Good… Now, think about the clouds. Think about flying.”

“Think pegasus, I got it, I got it.” Altruise grumbled, and tried to relax. Drake stood watch, waiting for something to happen, and kept quiet to allow her to concentrate. Raising her head, she pictured the clouds, and she imagined her wings once more; a peaceful feeling. Moments later, her shoulders began to spark again with a gentle hum of magic.

“Very good…” Drake murmured, trying to talk calmly not to disturb her concentration, “Hold that thought. You’re flying with the pegasi now.” The pegasus watched her wings slowly form from the magical glow on her shoulders. They spread out two feathery spans of beautiful wings.

Altruise began murmuring to herself like she was daydreaming, and she began to gracefully flap her wings. “I feel weightless…” She exclaimed to Drake as he watched her lift off her hooves. He decided to let her ascend, and didn’t tell her she was flying.

“Keep that thought.” He grinned, “You’re doing good.”

“I feel the wings…” Altruise exclaimed, and she opened her eyes, catching herself in the air again. She panicked again, but not as much as she did the first time; more of a jolt of surprise. She took a deep breath, and exhaled, trying to relax herself. The filly glanced to her left and right to witness her flapping wings. “I… I’m flying?”

“Don’t lose concentration on that spell. Hold onto it.” Drake exclaimed, “Keep thinking pegasus.”

“Th-this is p-pretty high…” She whimpered, looking down, trying not to let go of her concentration.

“Altruise, you’re four feet in the air…” Drake muttered unimpressed, “You’re fine when you climb that mountain, what’s wrong with this?”

“Uh… No support.” Altruise exclaimed, “I’m in the air, and I’m not holding onto anything.”

“You don’t need to, your wings are holding you up.” As Drake was speaking, her wings vanished in a puff of magical sparks, and she fell back to the ground, landing on her rump. “Or… maybe not.”

Altruise grumbled and stood back to her hooves, rubbing her sore flank with a hoof. “You said you’d catch me!”

“You were four feet in the air…” Drake rolled his eyes, “Whatever, keep practicing until you’re able to hold onto the spell.”

“For how long?” Altruise muttered, “It’s hard!”

“I’ll say ten minutes; if you can even just float for that long, I’ll take you higher and teach you how to fly like a pegasus.”

* * * * *

Several attempts later, Altruise was soon able to hold onto her wing spell longer with each try. After many failed attempts, she was soon able to hold onto it and deactivate it at her own concentration. She wasn’t able to fly too far with it without breaking concentration, but she was able to hold up in the air long enough to Drake’s satisfaction.

“Good, Altruise. Very good.” The pegasus called up to the filly floating about six feet above him with flapping wings. “Try flying forward again.”

“Um, okay.” Altruise murmured, trying to keep her spell focused. She tried flapping her wings in a motion to thrust herself forward; unlike her previous attempts, her wings didn’t vanish this time. “I think I’ve got it…”

“You’ve been up there for fifteen minutes now. How do you feel?”

“Well, I think I’ve figured out how to keep the spell from failing.” She exclaimed.

“Is the height still bothering you?”

Altruise squeaked, “Yeees…?”

“You want to go higher?”

The filly looked down at the pegasus like it was a stupid question. “Are you crazy??”

“I don’t think so…” Drake shrugged with a smirk, “In fact, going higher might help ease your fear of heights.”

“How in Equestria does that make any sense?” The filly shrieked, whining loudly, “This is dumb! I’m gonna die. I’m gonna fall and I’m gonna die.”

Drake rolled his eyes, and flapping his strong wings, he flew up to the filly and hovered next to her. “Here, don’t look down, and just follow me.” He began flying backwards, slowly so the filly could keep up. Altruise flew forward, following the pegasus as he looked back at her.

“Th-this is an uncomfortable height.”

“Altruise, we’re only six feet in the air.” Drake muttered, “Just don’t look down.”

“I don’t have to look down, I know how high I am!” Altruise panicked, still managing to concentrate on her spell to keep her wings intact. For a brief moment, she lost balance with her flapping, and she did an accidental flip to the side. “WOAH!!” Gliding sideways, she crashed into the ground. Grumbling, she stood up to see that her wings had vanished again. “Aw DANG it!” A frown on her face, and she tensed her legs. “Come BACK you stupid wings!” With a magical pop of light, her wings reformed back on her shoulders. A grin, and she looked up at Drake. “It’s easier to activate than it was.”

“Good. Now fly back up here.” Drake waved a hoof to gesture her back up.

“Ugh…” Altruise grumbled, and began flapping her wings. She lifted off the ground, and flew up to Drake; slowly and with a bit of trouble, she managed to reach his height. “Phew. There.”

“You flap like a buzzard.” Drake said with half-open bored eyes, “Full, graceful flaps. Like this.” He demonstrated by flapping his own wings, flying slowly backwards.

Altruise rolled her eyes and tried flapping like Drake was doing. “Okay, so, flap lightly, and—AH!!” Her wings vanished, and she began falling with flailing hooves in the air. She landed gently into a bush of leaves, and after a pause, she let out a loud grumble.

“You forgot to concentrate on the spell while you were trying to concentrate on flapping at the same time. Like I said, this requires multitasking.” Drake exclaimed, “Still, you’re doing quite well being that this is your first flying lesson; for a unicorn, at least.”

The unicorn muttered to herself and struggled her way out of the bush, then once she was back on the ground, she stood in concentration. “C’mon, wings.” She winced, and with a magical pop, the wings came back. Glancing left and right, she smirked. “Ha! Gotcha.”

“Good, now try again. Fly back up here.”

Altruise leaned forward, and lifted off, flapping her wings hard and fast. Drake watched her flapping and just shook his head.

“Stop flapping like a dodo bird.”

“Huh? Dodo birds can’t fly.” Altruise raised a brow.

“Exactly!” Drake replied, “Now, gracefully! Full, graceful flaps. You don’t need to flap so hard to stay in the air, humming birds do that. You’re not a humming bird, you’re a pony.”

Altruise was beginning to get aggravated, “Are you going to keep comparing me to different birds?”

“Until I see you fly like a pegasus, yes.”

The filly sighed and continued following the backwards flying pegasus, slowly and crookedly. She flapped and tilted left and right with gusts of wind trying to push her out of the air. “Wooaoah!” She leveled out her wings and glided for a moment. “Oh, neat. I can stay in the air without flapping.”

“Looks like you caught a gust of wind under your wings, very good.” Drake flapped a little higher, “Alright, let’s go higher.”

“Higher? Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Altruise winced.

“Of course, you’ll do better up here, trust me.”

“If you say so…” The winged unicorn sighed, flapping higher to follow the pegasus. Her flapping was becoming more natural and graceful to Drake’s satisfaction.

“You’re doing good, Altruise.” Drake flew a little faster, “Keep up. Eyes on me; focus on the spell and the flapping.”

“Uuhh…” Altruise pushed a little harder, flying faster to keep up with Drake. Flapping on, she was slowly improving her flying, and was starting to be able to keep up with the pegasus. Drake suddenly started flapping from side to side. “Woah, hey, hey! Stop making this so tricky for me.”

“Tilt to steer.” Drake exclaimed, demonstrating as he tilted from left to right like he just did. “C’mon it’s simple.”

“Yeah for you maybe.” Altruise grumbled, trying to tilt, “Alright, so um… Whoaah.” She was suddenly steering to the left, and her grin grew wider, “This is starting to get fun.”

“Good! Now tilt to the right.”

“Uh, right. Tilt to the right… Um…” She pushed her body to tilt the other direction, and she successfully began steering to the right.

“Perfect! Alright, higher now!”

Altruise nodded and straightened herself out, and tilted back to fly higher toward him. “This is so cool, I…” She looked down. “I…”

“You’re doing great so far—ALTRUISE!!!”

Suddenly in the puff of magic, her wings vanished five hundred feet in the air, and immediately she began plummeting downward. “AAAAAAAHHH!!! AAAH FATHER HELP ME!!”

Drake made a quick nose dive heading down for the falling unicorn, “Altruise, get those wings back on! Activate the spell!”

“I’M GONNA DIE!” Altruise panicked, flailing her helpless hooves in the air, “I’m gonna DIE!!”

“ALTRUISE, WINGS!!” Drake shouted to her, “CONCENTRATE, DO IT NOW!!”

Less than a hundred feet and still falling, Altruise felt a sinking feeling in her gut the closer she got to the floor of Equestria. Hyperventilating, she flailed her arms, and started doing flips in the air.

“STOP PANICKING!” Drake yelled.

Altruise tried snapping out of her fears, and stared at the island floor that was coming closer and closer. Closing her eyes tight, she gritted her teeth. Whimpering, sparks on either shoulder emerged, and with a distance of thirty feet above the ground, her wings magically popped back intact. “AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!” Her eyes sprung open, and quickly she leveled herself out, and just before she slammed into the ground, a gust of wind caught her and she did a full ninety degree flip, suddenly upright with the earth, going at an intense speed only a few feet above the ground. Ahead of her was a forest. “SHIIIII—” No time to pull up or react, she flew straight in through the trees, and steered menacingly as tree after tree whipped by her with a loud whoosh of air. After a heart pounding rush through the forest, she pulled back up into the sky, breathing hard.

Blinking a few times, the flying unicorn looked back at the forest she had just exit below, and the terrified look on her face was suddenly wiped clean with an enormous grin. “YEEEAAAHHH!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!!” She screamed with pride, stopping in the air to turn to the ground, pointing a hoof. “IN YOUR FACE, TREES!!”

Drake was flying at a hovering state not far from her, slowly and proudly clapping his hooves. “I am in awe.” He said with a bright grin, “Very good job, Altruise. Very good.”

Altruise looked back at him and smiled. She no longer had a reason to fear heights like this. Looking back down at the ground she smirked and flew down to the shack in the forest. “Last one home’s a rotten egg!”

“Hm?” Drake’s ears twitched and he realized she was already taking a head start. “Ohh, no you don’t.” He called out to her, nose diving after her toward the shack below.

* * * * *

Foreign Cloud

The white mare with the golden mane stood alone in the center of a smoking crater. Rain fell from the darkened sky, and the full-grown unicorn looked beneath her feet with a frown in her angry, blue eyes. Her faux wingspan spread out from either side, and her horn glowed of electrical energy.

Flapping wings were heard in the distance, and she closed her eyes with a sigh, anticipating her pegasi trainer to land next to her. The hooves of the stallion navy pegasus landed before her, and he looked down at her with solemn eyes.

“I heard the explosion.” He exclaimed, looking around at the large crater they stood in. “What are you mad about?”

A silent grunt, Altruise stared down at Drake’s hooves. “No matter how many times I blow holes in this island, no matter how many times I pin you down in a fight, you still won’t let me go looking for him.” She muttered coldly, glancing up at the pegasus in the rain, “Why is it that every time I try flying off your island, I go over the horizon and wind up finding myself back here? I go in a circle. Why?”

“The ocean is very big, Altruise. You wind up going in a circle because you don’t know your way across the sea; it’s easy to get lost over the open waters.” Drake explained with a sigh, “You tried leaving the island again?”

“I want to kill Nebulous, Father. I’m sick of all this training.” She sneered angrily, “It’s been twelve friggin years, and the only memories I have since I got here are blowing things up and amplifying my power through painful practices.”

Drake glanced left and right, examining the crater’s size. “This is quite the hole you put in my island. What spell did you use?”

“Black Lightning.” Altruise replied, “What does it matter, it’s not good enough to you. I want off this confounded island. I want that damn unicorn to pay. I want to rip his stupid horn off and shove it through his heart.”

The pegasus solemnly looked ahead into the eyes of the unicorn who he once had to look down to. A chilling wind blew through their manes, and Drake sighed to her. “You’ve indeed grown. You’ve become very powerful. But—”

“But nothing.” Altruise frowned, turning her back on him. She marched off toward the ocean and glanced over the horizon. A wince in her eyes, and a dagger in her heart, she growled with tense hooves. “I want him dead so badly, Father, let me go. Please, lead me off this island.”

Drake glanced to the side, and after a brief pause, he let out a sigh. “There is… one last test for you. Then we can finish our training.”

Altruise turned to the pegasus. “And what’s that?”

“Come with me.” Drake turned to the mountain, and slowly trotted toward it. The unicorn raised a brow and followed him.

* * * * *

Confronting the base of the mountain, the two ponies looked up at the steep cliff side. Altruise glanced over to Drake with wincing eyes. “What do you want me to do, Father? What is this next test?”

“Your test, Altruise, is this mountain.” Drake stood back, and nodded to her, “Lift it off the ground. Rip it out of the earth, and raise it into the sky.”

The unicorn looked into the stallion’s eyes, and the task didn’t even seem to phase her with self doubt. She turned back up to the mountain of rock; a mile wide, and a mile high. Looking up into the falling rain, she grinned.

Standing with tense hooves, she prepared herself with infuriated growls, and without wasting time, her horn began sparking menacingly with a golden aura. Gritting her teeth, she winced and growled, and Drake watched the base of the mountain beginning to crack.

“AAAAAAAAGH!!!!!” A sudden loud yell came from Altruise’s lungs of both pain and desperation. A radius of magical energy sparked from her horn, and the mountain continued crackling, and the ground beneath them began to shake. Drake stood back, and watched in awe as the mountain very slowly crumbled apart at the base, and the entire wall of rock began to rise out of the ground. Slowly, the mountain ascended in a golden aura, casting its large shadow over them.

“AAAAH!!! AAh-AAAAH!!” Altruise shrieked, holding the mountain fifty feet above their heads. Intensifying her magic, the mountain continued to crumble above their heads, and she slowly tore it apart into chunks, splitting it into thousands of pieces. One last holler, and from the center of the thousands of chunks of rock formed an explosion of energy, dispersing the rocks into many random directions, which spread across the island, many falling into the ocean, leaving the island covered in its debris.

Her horn’s glowing stopped, and she winced briefly, taking a deep breath through her snout, and turned to the pegasus with a cold frown. “There. You happy?”

Drake paused with a hanging jaw, and glancing left and right, he sighed with a nod. “I’ll take you off the island… first thing tomorrow…”

Altruise nodded respectfully, and without another word, she turned and sauntered back to the shack. Drake glanced over at her, and looked back ahead of him at the open crater where the mountain once stood. Looking up into the rain, he had a gleaming look in his eyes.

“It’s finally time…”

* * * * *

Altruise crawled onto her pillows in the corner, glancing up at Drake. The pegasus looked back down at her and nodded.

“Tomorrow you will get your chance. You know everything I could ever possibly teach you, and it is no doubt that from here, the rest of your destiny is in your hooves, and no longer in mine.”

The unicorn turned to the side and let out a gentle sigh. “As much as I am happy that you’re allowing me to go find him now, I’ll be honest, it is a strange feeling that we’re done…” She stared into space wide-eyed, “All those years… training, and training… and tomorrow I can finally put this all to an end.” She looked up at Drake solemnly, “Father, be honest… Do you think I am ready now?”

Drake took a brief glance down at her, and with a grin, he nodded. “No doubt in my mind, Altruise. I don’t think there is a thing you can not do.” That said, he turned to the door, and exit the shack to sleep outside. Altruise sighed and put her head down in the pillows, and with a full mind, she closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

* * * * *

A loud clash of thunder woke Altruise, and her eyes opened in a jolt. Blinking a few times, she tiredly stood to her hooves and trotted to a window, looking up at the storming sky. “That pegasus… I don’t get how he can sleep in the rain…” She rolled her eyes and trotted back to her pillows.

Lying back down, she closed her eyes, but only for a few brief moments before another louder clash of lightning forced her back to her hooves again. “Okay, what gives?” She growled, trotting back to the window. Looking up at the sky, she activated her horn, and attempted to challenge the clouds to change the weather with a spell. “Rain someplace else.” She grumbled, using her magic to move the storm clouds. However, to her surprise, the clouds were forcefully hard to budge with her magic. Raising a brow, she stood back a little. “That’s… odd.”

Leaning forward, she tried a weather change spell again. However, she was unable to clear the sky. Aggravated, she growled again and trotted to the door. “What the heck is going on here.”

Pushing herself out the door, she trotted out into the rain under the darkened sky. She glanced left and right, frowning. “Father!!” She yelled, and rolled her eyes. “Where is that pegasus… DRAKE!!!” She tried calling him a second time, but there was no response. Turning around, she saw a flying pegasus up in the sky near the storm clouds. “Ugh… there you are…”

With a grumble, she spread her faux wings, and with a strong thrust, she lifted off into the sky. Flying closer to the pegasus, she called to him.

“Father, what on Equestria are you doing up here?” She muttered to him loudly, “It’s pouring out here!!” She flew closer behind the pegasus and turned to the side, “This storm is weird, it’s not one of my own spells, and I can’t seem to control it. What gives?” She turned back to the pegasus, “I dunno, Father, this is strange.”

“Hello, Altruise.” The pegasus replied in a deeper voice than she recognized.

“I… What?”

The stallion slowly turned around and faced her, and the first thing she recognized was his blood-red eyes, and a horn atop his head. A clash of lightning lit the sky, and the supernova cutie mark on the black coated stallion stood out like a dagger in Altruise’s eyes.

Silence. Fear. Shock. Everything bundled into one, all flooded Altruise’s dumbfounded face. A lump in her throat, she swallowed out of nervousness, eyes wider than ever.

“I’ve been searching for you for a long time.” The black unicorn of faux wings exclaimed with a cold voice, “Heh, all this time I thought you’d come looking for me; were you really here in the past twelve years? This whole time?”

Altruise’s jaw was hanging open, and she had little words able to be said. Briefly, she instinctively flew backwards slightly away from him. She shook her head in denial, as if she didn’t believe this moment was real. “N…Nebulous…” She whimpered, followed by a clash of lightning that lit the sky for a quick half-second. The two flying ponies stood face to face for a long period of silence.

“Why…?” Altruise finally built the courage to speak to her parents’ murderer. “Why did you take everything away from me…?” She frowned, growling angrily, “Everything, everpony I’ve ever loved… Why?”

Nebulous snickered and shrugged, “Well, if your brave mommy and daddy would’ve handed you over nicely, they’d still be alive.” He looked aside and cleared his throat, “Scratch that, they’d still be dead.” He glanced back into the eyes of the furious mare in front of him. “At least now I can finally tell you how fun it was.”

“You… bastard…” Altruise pushed the mangled words out of her throat, and her head was trembling of fury.

“Really, what were you doing way out here all this time?” Nebulous cackled in his throat, “Hiding?”

“Waiting…” Altruise replied with a growling voice.

“Oh? Do tell, waiting for what?”

“This. Very. Moment.” Altruise slowly said in a cold and cracking voice, and her horn began to spark of menacing electricity.

“Ohoho, let’s have some fun then, yes?” Nebulous grinned beneath his frown, exposing his crooked teeth. His horn began to glow, and the storm clouds began to turn overhead.

Altruise growled, and her horn began glowing brighter. “Drake, this is our moment.” She murmured to herself within her growls, “This is the day, we get our revenge.”

Nebulous grinned with cold wincing eyes, “Hmm, who’s this Drake you speak of?” He widened his eyes a little, “Oooh yes I remember! A pegasus, if I’m not mistaken, am I right?”

The mare just frowned at that.

“Yes, right, I remember that pegasus… Two swords for a cutie mark.” Nebulous cackled, “You should’ve seen the look on his parents’ faces when I killed them. Priceless…”

“I’d like to see the look on your face when it’s decapitated off your neck!” Altruise roared, leaping with a full wing thrust toward the dark unicorn. Just as she was about to lunge into him, he teleported and she flung onward for a few feet before stopping herself. She quickly turned around, looking for the dark unicorn in the rain.

“Pretty harsh words for a mare with a heart for a cutie mark!” She heard Nebulous sneer at her from below, and he flung up into her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Altruise flipped up into the air a few times before she leveled herself out, holding her gut with wincing anger. She looked down below her at the cackling black unicorn, and growled angrily at him, diving down toward him.

She was about to reach him, when he suddenly teleported again. Furiously, Altruise stopped in her tracks and shrieked. “Stop doing that!” An explosion of lightning erupted from her horn, and a radius of electrical energy surrounded her in all directions, four meters in diameter. Deactivating her magic, she spun around to see if she hit her target; the dark unicorn was nowhere to be seen. “Show yourself!” She continued spinning around angrily, “Where are you?!”

Suddenly right in front of her, Nebulous popped into view from a teleport. “Here.” With that, he flipped back and bucked her in the forehead just below the horn, sending her flipping backwards several times through the rain; a clash of thunder echoed in the night.

“GAAHh!!” Altruise winced and held her hooves on her sore head. She put her hooves aside and blinked a few times; her vision appeared to be temporarily blurry from the shocking impact to the face.

Nebulous again teleported a mere foot in front of her, and flipped around, landing another hoof to her jaw, sending her flipping through the air again. Altruise spun a few times as thunder and lightning echoed through the sky. A whimper, she put her hoof to her sore jaw and looked up at Nebulous.

“You’ve had twelve years to practice your magic, and this is the result?” The dark unicorn gave her a bored look, “I’m unimpressed. I should just kill you and be done with it.”

Altruise gritted her teeth and frowned. She spread her wings in battle formation, and flapped them strong, hovering in place with hooves out and ready for war. Her horn began to glow, and she growled menacingly. A vibrant spark beamed from her horn, and surrounded her with black electrical energy.

“I’m waiting—OAGH!!” In a sudden blink, she had bolted directly into him with a launching teleport, slamming him into the chest. They flew through the air, and Altruise flipped him around a few times, tossing him off into the distance; with a shriek, she sent a bolt of lightning down which struck him in the sky while he flipped through the air.

In an explosion and a puff of black smoke, he was sent falling to the ground below. Altruise dove straight down after him, and landed her hind legs with a solid buck to his backside, sending him further below. He landed solidly into the ground with a cloud of dust and a thunderous impact took place. Altruise floated back up in the air, looking down beneath her, waiting cautiously.

When the smoke cleared, there was a small crater where Nebulous had crash-landed; but he was not there. “Wh-what the?—GAAH!!” Altruise was caught by surprise with a hoof to her back. She flipped around a few times, wincing in pain. When she leveled herself out, she opened her eyes just in time to see a black fireball being launched in her direction. With no time to react against this magic attack, she was struck with a loud flaming explosion, which sent her flying through the air at a high velocity at an angle toward the ground. She crashed into the grass, and slammed hard enough to penetrate into the soil as she slid several meters across the ground, crashing into a tree hard enough to bend it forty-five degrees with a cracking impact.

“Ugh…” Altruise sat there on her backside, limp and weak. Leaning forward, she shook herself off, and coughed up some dust. Looking up, the dark faux-winged unicorn was diving toward her. In an instinctive panic, she used her levitation magic to rip the tree next to her out of the ground, and with a launching toss, she hurled it toward the unicorn; he swiftly dodged it and kept coming. Altruise kept this act going, and threw the same tree back toward him from behind, slamming him in the back with it.

“OAh!!” The black unicorn flipped forward a couple times and landed in the ground just a few meters in front of Altruise. A moment’s pause, and he stood back to his haunches with a grin, “Ohahaha! Now that’s what I’m talking about!!” He cackled at the way she was fighting, “I always knew you’d be my match!!”

Altruise frowned at that, “This whole time you’ve been searching for me was to fight me?” She stood back to her hooves and leaned forward angrily, “What on Equestria for?!”

Nebulous grinned through his crooked teeth, and coldly murmured, “I’m tired of the simple fights. I never lose.” He wiped a bit of blood of his lip and sneered, “Since you’ve been a foal, I always knew you had potential for destruction.”

The white mare furrowed her brow furiously, tensing her legs. “For what you have done, you certainly will get the fight you’ve been looking for.” She charged toward him with a full, rapid gallop, “I’ll kill you!!”

“Oh I hope you do!!” Nebulous cackled, waiting for her with a glowing horn, “HAA!!” As she got closer, he sent four black fireballs her way. In an instinctive panic, Altruise rolled beneath the first one, then once back to her hooves, she sidestepped to dodge the second, leaped over the third, and the fourth one struck her in the chest. An explosion on impact sent her flying through the air, and she slid across the ground again, crashing into a rock. “OW!! Ohh…” She twitched on collision with the boulder, and held her shoulder where she was suddenly hurt. Breathing angrily, she limply stood back to her hooves.

“OH Haha!! You keep getting back up for more?” Nebulous cackled beneath the thundering clouds, and he slowly trotted toward her with gritting teeth, “You’re making this so much fun.”

Altruise limply tried staying on her hooves, but she kept falling over to her haunches. Nebulous approached her, closer and closer, with that cold grin and piercing red eyes.

“What’s the matter? Having troubles?” Nebulous suddenly froze in place, and he found himself surrounded in a golden aura. Altruise furiously stood to her hooves again, and her horn was sparking of golden flares. A shriek, and she threw her head to the left, sending Nebulous flying through the air in that direction with a levitation toss, and he crashed into the center of a palm tree, which split in two where he crashed into it, and he flipped down to the ground with a limp on his side.

Altruise then picked up the top half of the split tree with a levitation spell, and raised it into the air above him. “DIE!!” She screamed, slamming the sharp edge of the broken trunk of the palm tree toward the dark unicorn lying on the ground. Just before impact, he rolled out of the way, and the tree pierced into the dirt, sticking half its length down into the soil with a loud and crushing piercing sound. Quickly, she pulled it out of the ground, and tried slamming it back down on him again. “AAAH!!” Slamming it down on him again, he rolled out of the way once more, with the stump piercing deep into the soil. “DAMN YOU HOLD STILL!!” She screamed, pulling the tree back out.

Quickly, the dark unicorn jumped to his hooves, and activated a quick spell. Raising his front hooves, he slammed them back down onto the ground, and a shockwave rippled across the ground toward Altruise. Caught off guard by this, the shaking ground split, and she fell into a sudden crevice beneath her feet; the stump she had held onto with her magic was then dropped to the ground by this distraction. She collapsed in the dirt at the bottom of this small crack, and found that the walls were all of a sudden closing back in by the dark unicorn’s magic.

“Oh buck.” She panicked and stood to her hooves, flapping her faux wings to escape the enclosing walls. “Oh buck!! BUCK!!!” She shrieked, and the walls slammed shut on her before she could get out.

“Mm…” Nebulous looked beneath the ground with solemn pity, “It was a good fight. Too bad it was short-lived.” His ears twitched to the sound of an electrical surge beneath him. “Hm?” He looked below, and the ground began to shake, and a spark of lightning emerged from beneath him. “No…” He muttered in denial, and the earth beneath his feet exploded, sending him rocketing toward the sky.

Flipping up toward the clouds, as his velocity slowed to a stop, he found himself eye level with Altruise in the sky.

“You keep forgetting I can teleport just like yourself.” The mare with the golden mane sneered, firing a black bolt of lightning from her horn, which struck him, sending a surge through his body. An explosion, and he flew through the air further away with a groaning shriek. He collapsed into the ground once more, and lied there briefly stunned.

“Let’s put this to an end!” Altruise yelled, flying down to the ground. She landed on top of a large boulder—a piece of debris from the mountain—which was roughly ten times her size. “AAAH!!” She growled, activating her horn’s magic, and both her and the boulder were suddenly engulfed in a blinding light. In a blink, they vanished; she teleported with it in her possession.

Teleporting directly above the dark unicorn, the giant rock was then released, and dropped down toward him. Nebulous turned over, and his eyes shot open when he saw the falling rock. Quickly, he leapt out of the way, and the boulder crashed into the ground with a shaking impact. The dark unicorn turned and looked up for the mare in the sky, and found her struggling all of a sudden.

“Wh…what’s ha…happening…” She murmured, and her flight went all crooked. She tipped around a few times going downward, and her wings then vanished. She felt weak; completely drained of energy. She flipped through the air a few times on her way down, and landed into the dirt on her chest with a cloud of dust. “Uugh…” She mumbled weakly, lying still in the ground, too exhausted to get back up again.

Nebulous rolled his eyes and shook his head, trotting up to her slowly. “You foalish unicorn. Were you never taught that teleporting yourself with an object of that size is absolutely stupid?!” He stood above her with a pitiful expression, “Had that rock been any bigger, and it surely would’ve killed you.” His horn began to glow, “Oh well, too bad you had to learn the hard way. Good bye, Altruise.”

Altruise whimpered and tried standing to her hooves, “I-I… I-I will kill… you…” She muttered, pushing herself with all her strength back to her hooves, glaring up at him angrily.

The dark unicorn looked down at the determined unicorn with a raised brow. “Impressive.” He shrugged, and his horn sparked; lifting his front hooves to prepare to finish her off, he yelled, and slammed his hooves down to the ground. A sudden black bolt of lightning was cast from the sky down toward Altruise.

Just as it struck her, she teleported again. The bolt of lightning struck the ground, and exploded on impact in a flaming puff of smoke.

“What?” Nebulous twitched, and turned from side to side, “How were you still able to do that being so weak?”

“Don’t call me weak!!!” Altruise screamed from above, falling toward him. With a powerful crash, she slammed him into the ground with her on top of him, back hooves first with a kick on contact. She skipped off of him to the side, and landing on her hooves, she picked his limp body up in a golden aura of magic. “This is for my mother!!” She screamed, hurling him through the air into a tree. On collision with the tree, it crackled loudly, and he fell limp back to the ground. She picked him up again in another golden aura. “For my father!!!” She continued, lifting him up high into the air, and she slammed him hard down against the large rock she had just tried teleporting earlier. He rolled down the side of the rock like a ragdoll, and collapsed into the dirt. She marched up toward him, and raised her front hooves, “AND THIS IS FOR ME AND DRAKE!!!!” She screamed, slamming her front hooves back into the ground, sending a blinding and powerful bolt of blood-red lightning from the sky. Nebulous weakly looked up at the bolt descending toward him as if everything became slow-motion to him, and with no time to react, it struck him with its full force of immense power, landing every bit of energy she had left into this one final burst of magic.

“AAAGGH—” She heard Nebulous shriek in immense pain when the bolt struck him, and she watched his body char up, and burst into a fading cloud of ashes that blew away in the wind. The lightning that struck him then vanished along with his cloud of ashes that blew further and further away from her.

Altruise stood there, breathing heavily, filling her lungs with air on each breath, and breathing out hard with loud exhales. Her eyes were wide, and her pupils were dilated. It took her a long moment to register what she had just done.

“I… I did it…” She murmured to herself, falling to her haunches in a weak slump. “I… I killed him…” She knew she should feel victorious and proud of herself; she wanted to jump up and cheer, but something inside her just couldn’t do that. Something felt off about it.

The exhausted unicorn coughed, and stood back up to her hooves, shuffling herself across the ground in pain. A grumble escaped, and she collapsed back into the ground. “Drake… We won…” She murmured silently, “We… we won…”

Over time the rain eventually slowed to a stop. Altruise lied there for several minutes, and nearly dozed off, when she heard a flapping sound coming from the sky. Twitching her ears, she looked up into the air to see a familiar pegasus fly by.

“Oh, thank goddess…” She groaned, “Drake!”

The pegasus above her stopped, and he glanced down at her. Finding her lying on her haunches, he gasped and flew down to her in a hurry. “Altruise? What on Equestria happened?!?!” He freaked, landing next to her and he carelessly dropped the basket of fruit on the ground that tipped over, and the fruits all dumped out across the grass. He scanned her wounded body, checking her scars and bruises. “What were you doing?! Altruise, are you okay??”

“I…” She winced and lowered her head in pain, “I’m alright, Father.” She looked up at him with wincing eyes, “Where in the world were you…?”

“I had just gone for a couple hours to get some fruits.” He replied slowly, “I didn’t expect to come back to find you like this, or I never would’ve left! What happened??”

“Ugh…” Altruise tried standing, but couldn’t. “Nebulous was here…”

Drake went wide-eyed, and he stood in silence. After a brief pause, he spoke up in surprise. “H…how? How did he find this place?” He knelt closer to her, “I’m sorry.” He stuttered, “I’m sorry I left you here without telling you I was leaving.”

“Its okay, Father, you didn’t know he was going to be here…” The mare croaked a few times, “Nopony could’ve predicted this.” She looked up at him with half a grin, “He’s dead, Father. I beat him.”

“Altruise.” Drake sighed and tried help her to her hooves, “I’m just… really happy you’re alive.”

Altruise winced, and collapsed lower again. She coughed a few times, and put her front hooves in front of her, trying to push herself back up. Drake sighed and helped her up, holding her by the shoulder.

“Come, let’s get you home…” He murmured, helping her walk to the shack along side her.

* * * * *

Epiphany of Despair

Altruise slowly drifted in and out of consciousness. Every time she’d open her exhausted eyes, her vision was blurred, and she’d hear faint echoes of whispering. Whenever her eyes were closed, she continued seeing Nebulous in her dreams, mocking her, killing her parents.

After a long and intense series of nightmares, the unicorn finally came to, and found herself lying on the pillows in Drake’s shack. Altruise murmured weakly and slowly sat up to her haunches.

“About time you woke up.” Drake murmured, “I was beginning to worry.”

Yawning, the mare stretched, and sat back down with half-open eyes. “How long was it out?”

“Three days.” Drake exclaimed, “You appeared to be dreaming a lot.”

“Aw, man… Three days?” Altruise’s ears sank to her sides and she looked aside. After a pause, she turned back to the pegasus. “Well, uh… what’d I miss?”

“Not much.” Drake replied. “How’re you feeling?”

“Um… Well, much better than I did.” The unicorn sighed, standing to her hooves.

“Well, that’s good…” Drake murmured. There was a pause, and he cleared his throat. “So, Nebulous is finally gone, eh?” He mentioned with perked ears, “How’d you manage to kill him? What was it like?”

Altruise opened her mouth to speak, but briefly paused. She put his questions to thought, and her eyes trailed out of focus, and she stared into space as she slowly answered. “Uh… It was fulfilling at first…”

“At first?” The pegasus wondered.

“Well, he got what he deserved.” Altruise replied, “But… I don’t really feel much better.”

Drake raised a brow.

“I mean… my parents are still dead.” Altruise sighed, lowering her head, “Even after all I went through just to kill their murderer, they are still dead…” She looked back up at Drake, “Why can’t I be happy? I feel like something is still missing.”

The pegasus looked at her with a blank expression, and Altruise returned the same look. Drake slowly lowered his head, his eyes wandering with self-question. He turned back to her, and spoke after a deep sigh. “Altruise, there’s something I haven’t been telling you.” He confessed, “Something I didn’t reveal to you, because I didn’t know how you would react.”

Altruise stood taller and blinked a few times; she seemed surprised to hear that. “What is it?”

“I um…” Drake looked to the side, then turned back to her. “I need to show you something.” His eyes wandered, “Now that you’re old enough, I think you deserve to see this. Maybe it will help you figure out why you still feel this way.”

* * * * *

Drake took Altruise to the edge of the island on the sand of the beach, and he turned to her. The unicorn looked back to him curiously.

“It’s time to bring your wings out again.” Drake exclaimed.

“We’re… we’re leaving the island?” Altruise’s voice was merely a whisper.

“Yes.” He looked over the horizon, “Where I’m taking you though, I don’t know how it will make you feel.”

“I see.” Altruise murmured, “Where are you taking me?”

Drake paused, and he looked back to her. “Trottingham.”

The moment the name of her hometown was mentioned, she felt her heart sink, and her eyes widened. She felt like Drake had just thrown a ton of bricks at her, and she leaned back, wincing. “T…Trottingham?”

“There is something there which… I think you should see.” Drake sighed, “Are you ready for this?”

“I-I…” Altruise stuttered, and her ears sank to her sides, “I don’t know… What is it that you need to show me?”

“That I can’t tell you…” Drake replied solemnly, “It’s something that you need to just see for yourself.”

There was a pause between the two. Altruise was very hesitant, but something in her heart told her she needed to go see what he had to show her. A part of her wanted to return home, no matter what it may be like now. With a fluttering whisper, and a gulp, she nodded.

“Alright.” Altruise nodded through her quiet murmurs, and used her magic to create her faux wings. “Let’s go.”

Drake nodded respecting her hesitations, and spread out his wings. “Follow me.” He said quietly, and lifted off the ground, flying over the ocean. Altruise sighed, and took off from the ground after him, and followed him toward the horizon. Looking back to the island one last time, she felt a pinch of nervousness. This was the first time she has ever left the island since she got there twelve years ago.

Why was Drake taking her back to Trottingham? What was it that he had to show her there? Why was this so important? After her long glance back at the island, she turned to look ahead, and followed Drake toward the rising sun with those same questions spinning through her mind.

* * * * *

It was a long flight over the open waters, and for the first time in years, Altruise saw land over the horizon that wasn’t Drake’s island. It brought her many new, yet at the same time, old feelings; both nostalgic and forlorn mysterious feelings that she couldn’t quite understand herself.

Flying high over the land, Altruise looked beneath her as they traveled over forests and hills, and some towns, spotting the occasional pony below. Every time Altruise saw a pony, she felt a leap in her heart. It’s been years since she’s seen another individual apart from Drake, and it both thrilled and frightened her to witness other ponies. Nevertheless, she pressed on, following Drake to where he had to take her. And before she knew it, over the horizon, she saw the familiar castle of Canterlot in the distance. Which only meant one thing…

“I’m almost home…” She whispered to herself, feeling her heart skip a few beats. Drake flew lower, and Altruise followed him, and they landed on the Equestrian floor on a cobblestone path. Merely half a mile ahead from where they stood, clear as day—as if it was never touched—was Trottingham.

Altruise’s jaw was hanging, and she had a very confused look on her face. She wanted to cry looking at the place, and holding her tears back didn’t seem to work. A few drops of tears leaked from her eyes, and fell to the cobblestone. She wept a few times, and crept toward her old hometown with a lowered head, as if it felt forbidden to enter the perimeter.

“Altruise.” Drake briefly stopped her, “It would be wise that you turn off your wing spell before you set foot in public.”

The unicorn looked up at him, curious.

“They wouldn’t be used to seeing a random alicorn stranger walking through their town.” The pegasus exclaimed.

“Alicorn?”

“To them, you’d look like an alicorn. You have a horn and wings.” Drake explained to the confused mare, “Trust me, you don’t want that kind of attention right away. They’ll think you’re a princess or a goddess or something.”

“Oh. Okay.” Altruise nodded and her wings disappeared in a spark of magic. Turning back to Trottingham, she gulped, and continued creeping toward it. “W-what happened?” She whimpered with her ears sinking to her sides, “I-I thought… I thought it was destroyed…?”

“It was rebuilt.” Drake solemnly declared, following along side the unicorn.

Altruise gulped again, and tried keeping her head up as she pressed on toward the town, and entered the perimeter. As she and Drake walked through the town, the unicorn was a bit disappointed that none of the ponies seemed familiar, although it was to be expected. Turning left and right at the many houses along either side of the cobblestone street, the ponies all seemed to disregard her as a stranger, though they did notice her wandering through town.

The white mare continued feeling her gut turn; returning home like this didn’t feel at all like she thought it would. She felt like she didn’t belong here any more, at all. Perhaps it was simply because it wasn’t the original Trottingham she remembered? Or maybe it was because she didn’t recognize anypony. Regardless of these feelings that urged her to leave right then and there, she pressed onward through the town anyway; something kept telling her instincts that there was something here she needed to see.

Sauntering through town in silence, she looked ahead, and saw something that caught her eyes wide open. A quick and painful gasp escaped her, and more tears began spilling from her eyes.

There in the center of Trottingham was Celestia’s statue; refurnished. And beside the Princess’ statue were two other statues of ponies; her mother and father.

A long weep escaped Altruise’s lungs and she trotted ahead of Drake up to the three statues, in somewhat of a hurry, but at the same time with mass hesitation. She stood beneath the statues, looking up at them with eyes full of tears. Ponies around her seemed to acknowledge her reactions, and some began to pay more attention to her, giving her glances.

“Mom… Dad…” She wept, turning to Drake who stood alone off to the side, looking back to her with a solemn expression. Altruise turned back to the statues, realizing this was what he meant; this was what she needed to see.

“Oh goddess!” Altruise suddenly burst out into sobs and collapsed to her haunches, throwing her head to the ground. Ponies around her began to pay more attention to her, and some were even considering approaching her and see why she was crying; though they hesitated and let her be.

“Why?!” She screamed, in somewhat of an angry tone. Her eyes filled with more tears the more she sat there on her haunches; she opened her eyes, and through her teary eyes she saw the pedestal beneath their statues that wrote in stone:

Dedicated to the brave stallion and mare who gave their lives to the ponies of Trottingham.

Suddenly a flashback ripped through her mind, and she remembered her parents’ death; they died right where she was standing. She quickly stood up and stared at the cobblestone beneath her feet, as if she was standing on forbidden grounds. Looking back up at the statues, she took a glance at the one of Celestia, and her tearful eyes slowly, and coldly converted to a frown, as she had a sudden epiphany. Something that Drake had said to her long ago, when she was only a foal. Wincing her angry eyes, she repeated Drake’s words.

“…If it wasn’t for the Princess’ training… if she hadn’t tamed me…” She gritted her teeth, and her eyes opened up with realization as she spoke to herself, “…maybe I would’ve been strong enough to stop Nebulous when I had the chance.”

She felt her blood boil. Her horn began to spark, and she became suddenly furious. “CELESTIA!!!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. “AAAAAGH!!!!” Her fury began to frighten the ponyfolk, and they all backed away from her.

Then suddenly something happened, that nopony in Equestria has ever seen happen before, and there were gasps and wide eyes everywhere…

Altruise’s cutie mark was glowing, and sizzling of magic. Its image of the heart began to crack and split, and slowly it dissolved off the face of her flank. Her cutie mark disappeared, and blew away in the wind like the ashes of her former enemy.

“CELESTIAAAAAAAA!!!!” Altruise screamed, “YOU!! You… AAAAAAAAGH!!!” She raised her front hooves with a blinding glowing horn, and slamming her hooves back into the ground with a sobbing scream; a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, and struck Celestia’s statue. The moment the statue was struck by the blinding bolt of lightning, it exploded, and ponies in the town shrieked and ran as the debris of the statue collapsed into the ground, leaving her parents’ statues to stand alone.

Immediately after Celestia’s statue had crumbled to the ground, Altruise turned away from her parents’ statues that were left standing, and with a quick spark on her shoulders, her wingspan reappeared. A full gallop westward, she ran toward the castle in the horizon.

“Altruise??” Drake tried stepping in the way, and the unicorn lifted off the ground over his head, and with a sonic boom directly above him, she bolted off to Canterlot at an intense speed with her screams of anger echoing back at him. His eyes were wide, and he stood there watching the unicorn jet toward the castle, dumbfounded.

* * * * *

Castle Massacre

Within the halls at Canterlot’s castle, a couple of imperial guards soldiered back and forth down the extension of the hallway. The room was silent, and the clattering of their armoured boots clanked with each trotting step on the tiled floor. One of the white unicorn stallions turned to the stain-glass window to his left, and saw an incoming white figure in the distance.

“What’s this?” he turned his body to face the window and stepped up to it, “A pony?”

The other guard stopped to look through another window himself, and saw the pony coming in fast. “What in Equestria? What’s a pegasus doing way up here?”

His soldier friend winced to attempt to get a better look, “I think I can see a horn, too…”

“An alicorn?” The other guard raised a brow, “Is that Celestia flying out there?”

“It can’t be Celestia, she’s in the castle, isn’t she?”

The other stallion turned to his friend, “Well, yeah, that’s what I thought. But if she’s in the castle, then who is that—” Suddenly the pony in the distance came crashing through the window like a bullet, and shattered the stain-glass into thousands of tiny pieces, ramming straight into the guard, and she pinned him into the wall.

“WHERE’S THE PRINCESS?!” She screamed face to face with the unicorn guard, who was trembling and wide-eyed.

The other guard galloped toward her, “Hey! Get off of him!”

Altruise lifted the pony in her grip in a golden aura of magic, and she turned to the oncoming guard while he was stuck in place. She growled furiously and galloped for the unicorn charging her. The frowning guard’s horn glowed, and he launched a bright blue fireball at her. Altruise rolled under the oncoming fireball, and in mid-roll, she caught the fireball in a golden aura. “HYEAAAH!!” She rolled back up to her feet continuing her gallop, and the fireball made a full U-turn, and it fired back toward the guard. The guard went wide-eyed and hit the brakes in surprise. Altruise charged straight into him head first, with an explosion from her horn on impact, and he rocketed down the hall, sliding across the tile floor. Ramming against the double-doors to a stop, his fireball came down after him and struck him with an energetic explosion, which also burst the door open. When the smoke cleared, the guard lied on the tile floor, dead.

With that guard out of the way, she turned back to the other one stuck in her levitation grip. “Now!” She yelled, and pulled the unicorn toward her, stopping him inches from her furious face, “WHERE IS SHE?!”

“P-put me down.” The guard panicked, wide-eyed with his hooves flailing through the air like a helpless ragdoll.

“AAAGH!!” Altruise screamed impatiently, and hurled the guard through a stain-glass window, shattering it into pieces. She held the trembling unicorn just out the window, with a mile drop below him.

“P-please, d-don’t drop me…”

Altruise shook him a few times to snap him into attention, “TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!!”

Just then, another two royal guards rushed into the room from the door that had been broken down. They gasped at the dead guard on the floor, and then looked up at Altruise with frowns. “HALT!”

The mare turned to them with piercing eyes, “Come any closer and I’ll drop him!!”

The two guards went wide-eyed and stopped in their tracks.

“Somepony is going to tell me where the Princess is.” She declared, lurking back and forth between the guards, “And I won’t stop until I find her!”

“Easy now, let him back inside.” One of the other guards tried to calm her fury.

“NO!!” Altruise screamed, “Tell me where Celestia is!!”

“We are not permitted to give that information.” The guard declared. Altruise winced at that, and after a long stare back at him, she dropped the unicorn out the window, and he fell screaming to his death. “NO!” The guard took a leap toward a window, watching the guard fall to Equestria’s floor.

“What is the meaning of this?!” The other guard shouted, and galloped toward her, “That is enough!”

Altruise growled at the incoming unicorn, and her horn sparked furiously. Standing in battle formation, she wasted no time, and a magical force erupted from her horn that echoed through the room; all of the windows down the hallway shattered into pieces, startling the charging guard, making him stop in his tracks. The ground was shaking, and the walls began to crackle.

“What are you doing?” The guard panicked, backing away while his eyes trailed throughout the crackling room.

“In a few seconds, this room will disintegrate and you’ll both fall through the floor!!” Altruise yelled in a threatening voice, “Tell me where Celestia is!!”

“Wait, stop!” The floor beneath the guards began to crumble apart, and chunks of the floor began falling to Equestria below. Looking beneath their hooves, they could see the drop under them; they stumbled around on the crumbling floor, frantically trying to avoid the collapsing crevices.

Altruise quickly flew up to the guard, and stopped in front of him to glare into his eyes with menacing gritted teeth, and her furious eyes gave a fearful feeling in his gut. “Well?” She cringed, “WHERE IS SHE?!” The ground shook again, and more of the floor crumbled. Suddenly a chunk of the floor directly under the guard’s hoof gave way, and he fell through the cracks, and grabbed onto the floor on his way down, holding himself up with his hind legs dangling more than a mile in the air.

He hyperventilated, kicking his hooves to try and help himself back up. Turning his head, he saw the long drop beneath him, and gulped. “H-help me!”

The other guard was still trying to avoid the cracks, and to his misfortune, he stepped through a large gap in the floor, and dropped through the floor like a rock, plunging to Equestria below. “AAAAAAH!!”

The dangling guard watched his friend fall with wide-eyes, and he trailed his eyes back up to the blue eyes of the mare above him, who glared down at him with rage. “Help me back up!” He pleaded.

Altruise just stood tall, watching him struggle to keep himself from falling, dangling by his front hooves and kicking his hind legs frantically. “Are you going to tell me where the Princess is?”

“I-I—”

The mare lifted her front hooves, and was about to slam them down onto the floor to crumble the only support the guard had to hang onto.

“WAIT! WAIT NO!!”

Altruise slammed her front hooves mercilessly, and the floor gave way, and the stallion fell below. “AAAAAAAHH—?!” To his surprise, he stopped falling as he was captured in a golden glowing aura. “W…wha?”

The winged mare floated down to his elevation, and flapped her faux wings, hovering directly in front of him with a frown.

“OKAY!” The guard sobbed, “I’ll tell you where she is!!” He pleaded and wept, “Please! Just don’t drop me!”

“Okay then WHERE IS SHE?!” Altruise screamed again.

Raising a trembling hoof, the guard pointed up to a tall part of the castle. Altruise turned to look up at the tower, and squinted her eyes, she jet toward the tower.

“WAIT—” The aura around the guard vanished, and he dropped below. “NO! AAAAAAAHHH!!!!”

Ignoring the cries of the guard behind her, Altruise had her mind set on one thing, and cared nothing for anything or anypony else. Flying up to the peak of the tower, she flew into the stain-glass window, and shattered through it, landing on the tiled floor in battle formation.

It appeared to be a royal bedroom of white and purple colours; glancing left and right, she found the room empty. “GAAAAH!!!” Altruise shrieked, and searched the room, kicking things over, “THAT LIAR!!” She flipped the purple bed over, and it crashed into the wall, landing upside-down. “WHERE IS SHE?!” She growled loudly and galloped for the doorway. Bursting through the door, she found herself at the top of a spiral staircase that lead down the tower. Furiously, she trotted down the stairs.

When she got to the bottom of the torch-lit staircase, she found herself face to face with another door, which she kicked open with ease. On the other side of the door were two other guards facing right in front of her.

“HALT!” They ordered with strong voices, standing prepared for battle. Altruise looked at the guard to the left, then back to the other guard. Her eyes squinted, and she activated a spell, which casted a glowing ball of magic to appear in between the two stallions. They turned to look at the spark between them, curiously; too late to realize what was happening, the spark exploded loudly, and sent them flying into the walls on either side of the room. The walls crackled on impact, and they collapsed to the floor, motionless. Altruise furrowed her eyes and carried on, galloping down the hall, leaving the guards behind her.

She reached the door at the end of the hall, and burst it open with an eruption of magic. Charging into the next room, she found herself in a larger room with a banquet table in the center. Glancing left and right, she found this room to be empty as well.

Suddenly from the other side of the room, the double-doors opened up, and Celestia stepped in through the door into the room, glancing left and right. “Now what in Equestria is all that racket!?” She muttered to herself, before she looked ahead into the eyes of the furious mare on the other side of the room.

Altruise stood there, almost frozen in hate. “Celestia…” She growled through her throat.

“What is the meaning of this?” The Princess frowned, “Who are you, and what are you doing in my castle?”

“AAAAAH!!” Altruise leapt onto the banquet table and galloped across it toward her, knocking dishes over on her way across. Celestia went wide-eyed, and as Altruise lunged off the table to ram into her, the alicorn thrust her wings, dodging off to the side. The unicorn of faux wings landed on her hooves and skid to a stop on the tile floor, quickly turning to Celestia with a powerful glowing horn.

“Stop this right now!!” Celestia challenged the unicorn, arching over with a glowing horn herself.

“What’re you gonna do, Princess? Gonna send me to the moon?” Altruise snarled, teleporting out of sight. Celestia raised her head and glanced from left to right. Objects in the room all surrounded with a golden aura, and Altruise’s hateful laughter was heard echoing in the room, as dishes, cutlery and chairs all launched toward the Princess.

Projectiles slammed into her, shattering on contact with her into pieces. She galloped out of the way, but more projectiles continued launching into her, pelting her, smashing her.

When the projectiles all stopped flying, the entire banquet table lifted off the floor, and Altruise with a glowing horn stood beneath it. “DIE!!!” With a growl, she hurled the table into Celestia, which plowed her into the wall; the table crackled into splinters, and the Princess fell to the floor, though it didn’t take her long to get back up to her hooves.

Altruise lunged toward her with a powerful flap of her wings, and collided with the Princess, smashing straight through the stone wall. They rolled across the floor in the next room as dust and debris trailed along with them, and Celestia shoved Altruise off of her with an explosion of magic.

The unicorn of faux wings flipped through the air after she flung off of her, and leveled herself off, flapping her wings. Angrily, she looked below to Celestia. Glancing left and right, the room they were in had six guards, all galloping in her direction. One of the guards approached Celestia, and helped her to her hooves.

“Princess Celestia, let’s get you to safety.” The guard suggested. Celestia nodded, and followed the guard out of the room.

“NO!!” Altruise screamed, flying after them, when a blue fireball struck her from below. The explosion on impact sent her flipping through the air, and she collapsed into the ground, but quickly got back up, and stood angrily toward the other five guards who were charging at her.

“Leave the Princess alone!” One of them snarled.

“Does she really make you ponies do all the work?” Altruise spat, “That coward!”

The guards all ran around her in a circle, cornering her in the center. Altruise slowly turned to the guards surrounding her. Rolling her eyes, she sparked her horn of magic. “Any pony who gets in my way won’t be shown mercy!!” She growled, and from her horn a radius of powerful magic erupted, sending the five armoured guards flying across the room like ragdolls into the walls around them. With them out of the way, she galloped toward the exit the Princess took.

Rushing in through the next hallway, a wall of guards galloped in her direction. There were maybe twenty guards in all; half of them were unicorns, the other half were pegasi flying overhead.

“Stop right there!!” The unicorn guard in the front yelled.

Altruise didn’t even flinch at the sight of the oncoming guards, and she continued galloping with a glowing horn in their direction. Shrieking menacingly, her horn erupted a powerful blast of magic that shook and crackled the room, smashing every window in sight, and every single guard fell to the floor at the same time like a bunch of bugs that were just sprayed by a can of raid. Altruise kept running passed them, and attempted to plow through the next door, which appeared to be locked. Rolling he eyes, she stood back, and burst it open with a forceful eruption of magic that sent the door flipping off its hinges.

“Celestia!! I’ll find you!!” She screamed, and her voice echoed through the castle and back to her. Galloping through this next room, something caught her eye through a stain-glass window. Trotting up to it, she glared through it. In the distance she saw the Princess flying away with a couple of pegasi guards toward another part of the castle. They entered through a door on a balcony.

Furrowing her eyes, Altruise stepped back, and lunged forth, smashing through the window. Flapping her wings, she flew up toward that room. Landing her hooves on the balcony, she trotted angrily up to the door, and lowering her head, her horn glowed of menacing magic.

* * * * *

“Princess, you should be safe in here.” One of the two pegasus guards exclaimed to her.

“I appreciate your concerns for my wellbeing, but I am more concerned about the rest of you.” Celestia declared.

Suddenly they heard a loud crash at the door, and the entire room shook. Wide-eyes, they all backed away from the door, and heard Altruise screaming on the other side. Another crash, and the door burst open with the mare on the other side of the door in battle formation. She angrily marched into the room, staring furiously into the eyes of Celestia with gritting teeth.

“Go.” Celestia ordered the guards, eyes on Altruise.

“But Princess, what about you??”

“Leave me!” The Princess turned to the guards, “I will not allow another soul die for me here!”

“But.” The pegasi looked at each other, and with a sigh they nodded. Flapping their wings, they flew around the edges of the room, and exit behind Altruise, staying as far away from her as they could.

Celestia frowned at the mare, “Who are you?” She demanded.

Altruise marched toward her with fury, “Just an old friend.”

The Princess took a quick glance at the side of her flank to witness no cutie mark. She looked back up into the eyes of the mare, and backed away as Altruise stepped closer. “What reason do you have for being here?”

“Revenge.” Altruise replied with cold simplicity, “You will pay for my parents’ death.”

Celestia squinted her eyes, “You look familiar.”

“So it’s all coming back to you now is it?” The angry unicorn spat, “You’re a coward, Celestia. If it wasn’t for you and your ridiculous training, I would’ve been strong enough to stop what had happened!” She raised her voice as angry tears escaped her eyes, “And because of you, I was too weak to do anything to stop him before he killed my parents!!” She clenched her eyes shut, putting a hoof on her head as she screamed, “It’s your fault!!”

“Training?” Celestia raised a brow, and then slowly, her eyes went from confused, and turned into wide-eyed realization. “Altruise…?”

Altruise laughed at her answer, and her wide tearful eyes glared at the Princess with piercing anger. “So you remember!” She cackled furiously.

“What happened to you?” Celestia asked her with concern, “Altruise, this isn’t you. Not at all.” She shook her head in denial; she couldn’t possibly be speaking to the same Altruise she once knew, “What happened to your cutie mark?”

Altruise blinked at that, and turned to her flank. She was so carried away with her thoughts on vengeance, she didn’t even realize it was gone.

“You’ve forgotten who you are.” Celestia pitifully exclaimed.

The blank-flank unicorn frowned at that, and she turned to the Princess. “And how could you have ever known who I was?!” She screamed at her, “You turned me into a weak, helpless little foal!!”

“What? No, I was training you to become the way you wanted to be! You wanted your magic tamed so you wouldn’t hurt another pony.”

“NO!!!” Altruise shrieked, and her horn glowed, “You shouldn’t have tamed it!! Or my parents would still be alive!!!”

“Wait, Altruise! Stop what you’re doing!” Celestia demanded.

“MAKE ME!” Altruise growled, and the room began to crackle from her magic.

“Altruise, calm down.” Celestia tried taming her, and Altruise just frowned at that.

“STOP IT! YOU’RE DOING IT AGAIN!!” Altruise shrieked, and galloped toward her, “DON’T MESS WITH MY LIFE!!”

Celestia went wide-eyed and backed away, “Altr—AH!!” Altruise crashed into her, and an explosion of magic sent her flying into the wall behind her. Altruise marched up to her, her horn glowing again.

“Altruise, please.” Celestia stood to her hooves, wide-eyed in deep concern.

“You’re such a coward, Celestia.” Altruise frowned at her, “You’ve always used the ponies around you to assist you in every battle ever fought. And thanks to you, several guards back there are dead.”

“W-why would you do that??” Celestia went wide-eyed and tears flowed from her eyes.

“Doesn’t feel good to lose the ponies you care about, does it?”

“Stop it!” Celestia held back her tears, trying to be strong. “At least hear what I have to tell you!”

Altruise briefly paused, and frowned, awaiting her explanation.

“Altruise, I-I didn’t even know you were alive!”

Altruise raised a brow at that, “What the heck are you talking about?” She winced, “How can the goddess of the sun not know I was still alive all this time?!”

“I tried using my tracing magic to locate you when I found Trottingham up in flames.” Celestia explained frantically, “I came to get you that following Monday morning like I had promised so I could take you to school, but I found the town up in smoke.” She sighed, “I scanned the area for survivors with my tracing magic, and I found only a few alive, who I took back with me to Canterlot. But I didn’t find you.”

“So you just immediately assumed I was dead.”

“What else was I supposed to think?” Celestia frantically muttered, “The survivors I did find, they told me what happened. About Nebulous, about how he returned to Trottingham and destroyed everything. How he murdered everypony—”

“Wait, what?!” Altruise cut her off after acknowledging the word ‘returned’. “He was there once before?! You knew about him and you did nothing about him the first time?!”

“I-I…” Celestia stepped back a few times, “Yes, he was. And I did try to stop him the first time. But he got away, and he seemed to repel my tracing magic when I tried to locate him. I hadn’t heard from him since that day, until he came back and destroyed Trottingham.”

“When did you first encounter Nebulous?”

Celestia winced, “The day you were born.”

Altruise’s eyes widened a little, and she backed away, trying to piece the puzzle together. “My parents fought him off to protect me.” She winced, glancing to the left staring blankly into space, “They knew… They knew he’d come back…” Her eyes widened, “That’s why they had that bomb shelter in their basement. They knew about Nebulous.”

“We all did.” Celestia exclaimed. “You were too young back then; we thought it was best you didn’t know.”

Altruise’s eyes widened, “So you all knew about this?” She frowned. “And nopony ever told me?!”

“You were young!” Celestia raised her voice.

“If I knew he was going to come back, maybe I would’ve been able to prepare for him!!” Altruise shrieked, and her horn sparked of angry magic, “You want to see what you’ve held me back from all this time?!”

The room began to crackle and shake, and the Princess glanced at her surroundings, startled. “Altruise, what are you doing?”

“If you hadn’t tamed me, if I still had that powerful magic from the very beginning when Nebulous came back, I could’ve saved my parents!!” Altruise yelled, “And if I knew he was coming back, if you trained me to fight instead of tame me until I could barely summon clouds any more, I could’ve stood up to him and fought him!!”

“At that age?” Celestia winced, “You were seven!”

“AAAAAAAH SHUT UP!!” Altruise screamed and her horn sparked of golden magic, and the walls around them cracked and split.

“What are you doing to my castle?! Stop this at once!”

Celestia looked out through the open door, and her eyes widened. The clouds in the distant background were moving downward. Which meant one thing; they were moving upward.

“Altruise what are you doing?!” Celestia galloped to a window and looked outside. Her entire castle was surrounding by Altruise’s golden aura, and it was all being lifted into the air. “Altruise!! No!! Stop!!”

“SEE MY POTENTIAL?!” Altruise yelled, “I could’ve stopped him!! My parents could’ve been alive!! And Trottingham could’ve been spared of its destruction!!”

Celestia turned back to the mare, “Stop, please! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“AAAAAAAH!!!” Altruise cringed from the pain she was experiencing in her horn from the intense magic she was casting.

“Altruise that’s enough!!”

The walls continued to split and crumble, and the cracks spread all across the floors, walls and ceilings. Celestia looked back outside, and saw that the entirety of her castle was being ripped into chunks while they were all being lifted into the air.

“AAAAH!!!” Altruise growled, and the pillars in the room all came crashing down, while parts of the ceiling fell to the floor, piece by piece. The room rumbled and shook horrendously, so much so that Celestia had to brace her legs, yet could still barely keep herself on her hooves.

Suddenly a pillar off to the side in the room cracked at the base, and fell down on top of the Princess by pure dumb luck. “AAH!!—” With an echoing crackle in the shaking room, she screamed in pain; her left wing had been crushed underneath the pillar. Pinned to the floor, she kicked her legs, and using her horn’s magic, she levitated the pillar off of her wing, and tossed it off to the side. “MY WING!” She cried, curling on the floor.

Altruise watched the Princess struggle, and she grinned. “Now THIS aught to make things interesting!” She said in a cold, gritting voice. Tensing her legs, she activated another spell. Her horn glowed, and a humming sound echoed throughout the room, and a transparent sphere erupted from her horn that passed through the walls. Celestia looked out of the window wide-eyed, and found her castle was now surrounded by a golden barrier, and she felt a sharp pinch in her horn.

“W-what??” Celestia stood to her hooves, holding her left wing close to her as she sauntered to the window. “W-what is that??”

“I learned this spell from a unique spell book. Doubt you would’ve ever taught me this, Princess.” Altruise gritted her teeth, “Anypony within the perimeter of this barrier is unable to use a teleportation spell.”

Celestia went wide-eyed, and she turned to Altruise in time to see her spread her wings. “What are you doing?”

Altruise frowned, and backed away from her. “By the time you escape the destruction of your castle, Princess, everypony in Canterlot will be dead.” She winced at her, “Because of you I had to watch all of my friends and family die! Let’s see how you like it!” With that, she quickly turned to the door, and flew off with a powerful thrust, exiting from the balcony on the tower.

“ALTRUISE, WAIT!!” Celestia galloped to the exit, and lifted off to fly after her. “GAAHH!!” She shrieked and fell back to the ground, sliding into the balcony’s railing. “My wing…” She whimpered, slowly standing up. Peering over the edge of her balcony, she saw her castle floating around her in thousands of chunks, torn apart, and orbiting around as if weightless. Looking down, without the ability to fly or teleport at this moment, she felt very uneasy. “Ohh no…”

Looking at her surroundings, Celestia tried devising a plan to escape. Using her telekinetic magic, she tried moving some of the pieces of loose debris floating around closer to her so she could create her own bridge to the next room, which was further ahead and at a lower altitude. The only way she could get out of this mess is if she could make it to the ground, which was not an easy task without taking the fall.

After she moved a series of broken chunks from the castle to create her own bridge, she started hopping across the floating debris. It was tricky, and she almost slipped off a couple of times, but she made it to the next available room. The walls in this room were splitting and floating apart.

In this next room contained a spiral staircase in the center, which lead to upper and lower parts of the castle; the top half however was torn off and floating around overhead. She ran to the stairs and looked down into the stairwell. This spiral staircase was currently floating at an angle and had no walls around it.

Feeling uneasy about going down this insecure stairwell, it was pretty clear that she had no other options. She started climbing down the stairs, feeling gravity trying to pull her to the one side it was tilted. Below she could see that the base of the stairs had no end; it was cut off. Lower and off to the side she could see the next available room floating there.

Below the staircase, Celestia noticed a floating pillar slowly spinning around. Using her magic, she caught the pillar with a levitation spell and straightened it out, pulling it directly below the end of the stairs and aligning it with the next room’s door, making another bridge with it. She climbed down the rest of the stars and walked across the pillar that lead her to the next room.

This room was basically empty. She rushed over to the only exit on the other side of the room, which was merely another death drop out the door which had been torn off. Looking below, there were no other rooms for her to reach; just a bunch of debris floating around in the air.

Celestia’s only chance at this point was to make stairs of her own. Collecting whatever she could from the floating debris, she levitated the chunks over to the door, making platforms for her to jump down onto. She collected enough floating material to make the stair case reach the ground.

She started jumping down onto the floating platforms one after the other, trying to be careful not to slip and fall. Her wings would do no good in saving her from that if she did.

It took lots of concentration and balance to safely get to the bottom, and her hooves were getting tired from taking so many jumps. She was about fifteen feet from the ground before she stepped on a fragile platform that cracked at the side, and she slipped over the ledge.

“AAAH!” Celestia grabbed onto the platform with her front hooves and tried pulling herself up. She attempted to use her wings by flapping them to give herself more thrust to push herself up easier, but the sharp pain in her left wing when she tried using it distracted her and she slipped. She plummeted to the ground from this height and tried landing on her hooves, which her legs gave in and she fell over to her side.

Breathing heavily, she laid there for a bit before trying to get back up again. She tried lifting herself up after a moment of regaining her breath, and looked above her. She was saddened at the sight of her castle floating there in thousands of torn chunks above her.

Altruise suddenly appeared beside her and looked up at the sight too.

“Fascinating isn’t it?” The twisted unicorn exclaimed to the Princess. “Look what I could’ve been able to do all those years ago.”

“This isn’t funny… Please stop.” Celestia whimpered in despair.

“Stop? I could do that…” Altruise snickered and looked back up at the levitating destruction, “Sure you want me to let go of all that? Somepony in the castle might get hurt…”

Celestia’s eyes widened and she looked back up at the ruined castle in the sky, and stood up in a panic with the realization that there were still ponies in there. “Altruise, please, what’re you trying to prove?”

The chunks of the castle suddenly started to slowly float away from over their heads, and over to the city that was built next to the castle.

“Altruise…” Celestia gasped, seeing where this was all going, “Please, don’t…” she frantically turned to the psychotic unicorn in a battle stance, “Stop it!”

“I wouldn’t do that, Princess. Attacking me might make me lose my concentration on what I’m all carrying, and I might drop everything on all those helpless Canterlot ponies…”

“Altruise!” Celestia yelled at her, looking down at the city. The ponies were all frantic about the floating castle, running around in a panic.

She turned back to Altruise and screamed at her again. “STOP IT!”

Altruise turned her head to look at Celestia with a cold, frightening grin. She shrugged, and her illuminating horn suddenly went dim. “Alright.”

Celestia saw Altruise’s horn cancel her spell, and she quickly looked back to the city with a deep sinking feeling in her heart. Her pupils dilated at the horror; time felt like it slowed down as she watched her castle crash down onto the city, piece by piece, until the city was buried under her castle remains. A big cloud of dust took over the city after the loud crashing of the debris.

“NOO!!” The Princess shrieked, running in the direction of the destruction. There was nothing that could be done; Canterlot was completely destroyed. Her legs weakened from her sorrows, and she collapsed into the ground in sadness.

“WHY?!” The Princess cried, “What can you hope to gain over all this?!”

“Just as much as you, Princess.” Altruise exclaimed coldly, “So how does it feel?” She walked around the Princess in a circle, staring down at her with her squinting eyes, “Lonely feeling, isn’t it?”

Celestia looked up at her, frowning in tears. She stood up with a growl, and her horn began to spark.

“Getting mad are we?” Altruise tensed her legs, and fired a black fireball point blank into Celestia. It exploded on impact with the Princess, and she rolled across the ground, and came to a stop against a rock. Limply, she tried standing up, and turned to the approaching angry unicorn.

“I-I’m sorry, okay?” Celestia whimpered. “For whatever it is I did, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, so you’re sorry now.” Altruise rolled her eyes, and frowned back at the alicorn, “You know why you’re apologizing?” She gritted her teeth, “It’s because I’ve become a threat to you now, and there’s nothing you are able to do to stop me but plead for your life.”

“Altruise, please. You don’t realize what you’re doing.”

Altruise ignored her, and from her horn she launched another black fireball that struck the Princess again, which exploded and sent her rolling across the ground further away from her. The unicorn galloped after her with a glowing horn preparing to launch another one. “When I’m through with you I’m going to leave you with nothing!!”

Celestia quickly, but painfully stood back up and her eyes dilated when Altruise fired another fireball at her. Just before it struck her, she rolled out of the way, and though the explosion the fireball caused against the ground sent her rolling across the dirt like a ragdoll. Coughing, she stood back up, and turned back to Altruise. Frowning, she tensed her legs, preparing herself to fight back.

“Hahaha, now the Princess wants to play!” Altruise grinned.

The alicorn turned her head, devising a plan of action. The edge of Altruise’s golden anti-teleportation sphere was not far off; it was a mere sprint away from where she stood. Looking back at the unicorn, she quickly made an escape, galloping as hard as she could toward the edge of the barrier.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going, huh?!” Altruise shouted at her, launching another black fireball at her. It struck the Princess in the back, and exploded on contact.

“AAAGH!!” Celestia screamed and was sent rolling across the ground again in pain, and passed through the barrier as she tumbled across the soot. Altruise galloped after her, and Celestia weakly stood back up, seeing the incoming unicorn. Through a last ditch panic, now that she was outside of the anti-teleportation barrier, Celestia activated her horn, preparing for a teleportation spell.

“No you don’t!!” Altruise shrieked angrily, and galloped to her as hard as she could, “You’re not GETTING AWAY FROM ME!!!”

The very moment the Princess had teleported, Altruise leapt into her and collided with her, which caught her in Celestia’s teleportation. Both of them vanished out of sight in a blinding flash of light.

* * * * *

Corrupted Hopes

Back at the library in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were tidying up her books and putting them back on the shelves. It was currently raining out, with thunder rumbling in the background.

“Well Rainbow Dash wasn’t kidding when she called for rain.” Twilight exclaimed, putting away the last of the books.

“Yeah, it’s really pouring.” Spike agreed, sitting down on the steps of the staircase. “The weather patrol isn’t messing around today.”

Suddenly there was a loud clash of magic, and a blinding flash of light formed in the center of the library. Twilight and Spike both stared at the blinding spark that hummed, and all at once it vanished, and from the burst of light came forth Altruise and Celestia. They flung through the air, and crashed to the floor with Altruise pinning her on top with her hoof to the Princess’ throat.

Twilight and Spike both panicked and leapt back in shock, wide-eyed at the sight of two alicorns suddenly in the library.

“So you thought you could just get away, huh?!” Altruise screamed at the Princess, “Just like that?!”

Celestia winced, and her horn glowed. With a burst of magic, the faux-winged unicorn was launched off of her with a magic explosion, and she flung backwards and crashed into a book shelf. Collapsing to the floor, a ton of books fell off the shelf and piled on top of her. The Princess quickly stood up in concern; she didn’t expect Altruise to follow her here. Frantically she turned to Twilight.

“Get the Elements of Har—!”

The pile of books that collapsed on top of Altruise suddenly erupted off of her with a loud explosion, interrupting the Princess, and scattering the books throughout the library. Altruise stood there in a battle formation, furious with gritting teeth.

“Run!” Celestia shouted up to Twilight and Spike. Obediently, they nodded and dashed up the stairs.

Altruise paid no attention the pony and dragon escaping to the upper level of the library, and ignoring them she kept her eyes on her primary target, filled with rage. Face to face with Celestia in a standoff, they circled clockwise around each other, keeping their hooves to the floor as they sidestepped, their eyes fixed on one another’s menacingly.

The faux-winged unicorn frowned and charged for the Princess. “AAAAGH!!”

Seeing the unicorn charging toward her, Celestia charged after her as well. In this rundown game of chicken, they collided into each other, and an explosion between them shook the library, knocking books off their respective shelves and onto the floor. After their collision, Altruise remained standing in place, and Celestia slid across the floor and into Twilight’s desk.

“You’re holding back, aren’t you?” Altruise growled, trotting up to her. “What’s the matter with you? The great goddess off the sun can’t stand up to a unicorn like me?”

Celestia winced and stood back to her hooves. “You don’t realize what you are doing, do you?” She frowned, “Your magic is broken, Altruise.”

Suddenly flashbacks ripped through Altruise’s mind. She twitched, and huffed angrily a few times. She remembered being called that before; and she didn’t like it. “Broken?!”

“Your magic is unnatural.” Celestia declared, standing taller, “No unicorn should have this strength. Even as a foal, your magic was far too powerful for your own good.” She leaned forward for emphasis, “Why do you think I tried taming it? Look what it’s doing to you!”

Altruise gritted her teeth, “I think you should be taking into account what my magic is doing to you!!” Her horn glowed, and growling furiously she fired a black fireball at her. Celestia quickly sidestepped, and the fireball whipped by like a bullet and struck the wall behind her, causing an explosion; the impact caused Celestia to fly forward, and she collapsed to the floor, and rolled to a stop on her haunches beneath the unicorn’s feet.

Frantically, Altruise lifted the Princess into the air with her levitation magic while she was down and vulnerable. “I won’t quit until I see you die!!” With that shouted, she hurled Celestia into a window, and she shattered through it, falling onto the ground outside in the rain. Not too soon after, Altruise jumped out the window after her, landing on her hooves on the wet grass and trotted toward the downed alicorn.

Celestia quickly tried standing up, but Altruise reached up to her and stomped a hoof on her wounded left wing.

“AAAH!!” Celestia shrieked in pain.

“Call me broken will you?!” Altruise screamed, and her horn began to static with furious electrical energy, “I’ll show you broken!!” The sky suddenly lit with a clash of lightning, and the thunder echoed loudly throughout Ponyville. She cast a quick levitation spell to lift the Princess up, and with Celestia airborne in her grip, she delivered a solid buck to the horn, and hurled her through the air and her tiara flung off her head. Celestia crashed into ground, and slid to a stop in a puddle of mud, with her tiara rolling off to the side.

Another clash of lightning, and the Princess limply tried standing up, holding a hoof to her aching horn. She couldn’t seem to stand any higher than her haunches, and Altruise kept coming for her. A thunderous effect echoed from the sky from a spell that came from her horn, and she struck a quick half-second bolt of Lightning down onto Celestia from the clouds.

“AAGH!!” Celestia shrieked and collapsed back down to her side in the mud.

“Say I’m broken again.” Altruise growled, striking Celestia with another loud half-second bolt of lightning from the sky.

The commotion of their battle seemed to draw out the ponies of Ponyville, and they began to emerge from their homes. Opening windows, and peering through their doors, they watched in despair as their Princess was being thrown around like a ragdoll in the rain.

Altruise stepped over to Celestia’s tiara that was lying in the mud. A levitation spell, and she lifted it up to have a good look at it. “I can’t believe all these ponies look up to you, Princess.” She winced her eyes, and disrespectfully dropped the tiara back to the ground. She glanced around her, acknowledging the ponies watching her. “You think your Princess is so great?!” She screamed at them, and she lifted a hoof, stomping onto the tiara to shatter it into pieces, leaving traumatic gasps throughout Ponyville. Angrily, she turned back to the Princess and cast another quick bolt of lightning from the sky to strike her with a loud clash of thunder.

The cries of the Princess brought tears to the ponyfolk.

“Please, stop!” A random pony from her balcony pleaded.

“What are you doing, you monster??” Another pony cried.

“Sending a message!!” Altruise replied angrily, “Your Princess is a coward and a fake! She can’t stand up for herself, just look at her!” She glared back down at the Princess and spat. The rain and the thunder echoed forlornly from the sky. “Isn’t that right, Princess?”

Celestia just glared up at her, then trailed her eyes back to the ground, looking away.

“Look at me when I talk to you!!” Altruise growled, striking Celestia with another bolt of electricity from the sky. The shock made her body flinch, and she collapsed back to her side again in the mud. The Princess weakly opened her eyes back up and looked up at her, still glaring, as if unafraid. “What is the matter with you, Princess? Speak up!” Angrily, she picked up the Princess in an aura of her magic, and hurled the mud-coated alicorn into a tree, and she just collapsed helplessly into the ground. Altruise continued, and trotted toward the downed goddess.

“Hey!!” A strong voice shrieked from above, “Leave her alone!!”

Altruise’s ears twitched, and she glanced up into the sky to see a rainbow coloured pegasus nose diving toward her. She just rolled her eyes and cast a black fireball at the incoming pony in the sky.

“WOAH—AGH!!” The fireball struck the airborne pony and an explosion sent the pegasus flipping through the air; she fell from the sky and collapsed into the ground several meters away.

“Rainbow Dash!” Celestia’s eyes widened, and she managed to find strength to stand. Altruise turned to the Princess and just gave her a forceful push using an energetic blast of magic; she flung backwards and slid across the ground in the mud and crashed into a mailbox, which bent it at the base. “Uhh…”

Rainbow Dash limply tried standing up, and managed to get to her hooves. “Why you little…”

“Rainbow Dash, no…” Celestia whimpered, “Please, stay out of this. I don’t want you getting hurt on my behalf.” She managed to stand to her hooves, though it took lots of effort. Her horn glowed a little, but it was a very faint glow; the pain dealt to her had weakened her magic.

“You’ve been alive for how long? More than two thousand years? And yet you don’t even have the strength to fight a simple unicorn like myself.” Altruise turned to the crowd of ponies, “Tell these ponyfolk who you are, Celestia. Tell them, that you’re a fake! That you’re a coward!” She turned to her and yelled, “You make everypony do everything else for you, so much so in fact, that you’ve become weak and useless!”

“Celestia isn’t weak, nor is she useless.” A gentle voice was heard from among the crowd. Altruise grunted and turned to the pony.

“Who the HELL are you?!”

The yellow pony with a pink mane whimpered when she was turned to, and she backed away, avoiding eye contact with the angry unicorn. “N-n-nopony…”

“Get back in the crowd with the others then.”

The yellow pony whimpered and nodded, with tears dripping from her eyes. She turned and hid behind a white unicorn. Altruise was about to go back to what she was doing, and the white unicorn stepped forth.

“Nopony treats the Princess like this.” She frowned, “And nopony speaks to my friends that way. Fluttershy here is the kindest most loving pony in Ponyville; how can you be so black-hearted? What is the matter with you? Shame on you!”

Altruise sighed and turned to the white unicorn with a frown, “You ponies sure are a stubborn bunch.” She winced at her, “And what is your name, pray tell?”

“Rarity.” The unicorn declared in an angry voice.

Altruise’s frown slowly grew to wider eyes. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t pinpoint where from. Before she had any time to think it over, another voice was heard.

“Yer type just don’t sit right with us!” An orange pony with a cowgirl hat stepped forth from another part of the crowd, “Y’all can buck off!”

Altruise winced at the orange mare, and had her mouth open to say something, when she was interrupted by another annoying voice.

“Yeah, you tell her, Applejack!” A fluorescent pink pony twitched, standing tall with her chest out and her teeth gritting.

Rainbow Dash sneered at the faux-winged unicorn, “We won’t stand for this a second longer!”

A clash of lightning, and Twilight stepped in from the crowd, wearing her tiara that represented her Element of Magic. “None of us will.” The five necklaces that belonged to the respective others who had spoken up were levitating along with her in her magic aura. She trotted closer to the crazed unicorn standing over Celestia, and the other five all stepped beside her, confronting Altruise with frowns. Their necklaces all magically hovered over to them, and slipped onto their necks.

Altruise glared at the six ponies confronting her with the Elements of Harmony in their grasp. The unicorn rolled her eyes and trotted a few steps toward them. “So it’s come down to this has it?”

“We’re afraid it has.” Twilight turned to her friends, “Let’s show her the power of the Elements of Harmony. Ready, girls?”

“The Elements of Harmony, huh?” Altruise rolled her eyes, and stood with solemn words. “I’ve heard of those before. The Elements of Harmony; from my foal years, they were also known as the Elements of Friendship: honesty, kindness, loyalty, laughter, generosity, and last but not least, magic.” She glared menacingly at Twilight in the middle to emphasize her element, “Without that spark, the other five will not work. I know of those Elements, and I know of their power.” She stood in battle formation, and her horn began to glow, “I’ve lived twelve years preparing for my revenge, and I’m not about to stop when I’m this close.” She raised her front hooves angrily, “I won’t let you stop me!” Slamming her hooves back into the ground, a clash of lightning was cast from her horn, and it bolted toward Twilight and struck her straight in the horn.

When the bolt of lightning struck Twilight, there was a loud explosion of energy coming from her horn, and her eyes lit up on her sudden emotionless face. The lavender unicorn was knocked back several meters through the air, and her tiara flung off her head and bounced across the ground in the rain to a stop. Loud traumatizing gasps were heard throughout the Ponyville crowd, and Twilight rolled across the ground until she stopped, lying on her side, completely motionless.

Eyes all gawked at the downed purple mare, and her five friends all ran to her aid. Celestia was wide-eyed, and too weak to rush to her; she tried her best to get up, and managed to limp a few steps toward her in tears. “Twi… Twilight…” She whimpered sorrowfully.

“Now, Princess!” Altruise turned to Celestia and with a sparking horn, she cast a black fireball at her, striking her down; when the fireball struck her, there was a loud echoing explosion, and Celestia rolled across the ground in the mud again. The moment she stopped, a black bolt of lightning came crashing down on her.

This bolt that struck her was constant, it continued crashing down from the sky as Altruise held onto that spell, gritting her teeth furiously. “DIE!!” She screamed at the alicorn. Ponies all around Ponyville watched in their horrors as Altruise held onto that same spell for ten, twenty… thirty seconds on the Princess, who was screaming with each passing moment she was being tortured by the constant bolt of lightning clashing down on her, electrocuting her. She twitched painfully, gnashing teeth and dragging herself across the ground in the mud, and cried, unable to get out of Altruise’s thunderous blast of lightning; she was barely able to move at all.

Voices of despair cried throughout Ponyville.

“Stop!”

“Why are you doing this?!”

“Let her go!”

“Please, stop!”

Ignoring all voices around her, one voice called out to her angrily; one which she recognized.

“Altruise!!! That is enough!!!”

The deep male voice that echoed through the air startled Altruise, and her ears dropped to her sides almost instantly, and the bolt of lightning clashing down on the Princess came to a stop. Celestia was lying in the mud, hardly able to move an inch. There was a long pause of silence, and Altruise slowly turned around where she stood away from the Princess, and with wide eyes, she saw a familiar pegasus frowning at her.

“Father…”

The other ponies in the crowd began to chatter amongst each other in whispers as the navy blue pegasus sauntered toward the crazed unicorn. Celestia slowly lifted her head out of the mud and turned to the pegasus approaching them, confused. “Father…?”

Drake slowly made his way to Altruise, face to face. Altruise looked him in the eye, and turned to the Princess, then back to Drake. “I-I was just…”

“You’re being a fool.” Drake declared, shaking his head shamefully.

“But… It’s her fault my parents are dead!” Altruise growled, turning back to the Princess, “It’s her fault Nebulous got away! It’s her fault she weakened my magic so I couldn’t stop him!” She turned back to Drake, “She deserves to die!”

“Altruise.” Drake rolled his eyes, “You can’t kill a goddess.”

What Drake had just said brought lots of confused faces among the crowd. Even Celestia was raising a brow. The Princess began standing to her hooves, weakly. Drake watched her stand up, and Celestia glanced at him with wincing eyes, confused. The pegasus sauntered on passed Altruise and toward the Princess. “The only way to defeat a goddess, is to imprison them.”

“What?” Altruise raised a brow, and her eyes dilated at the sudden sight before her.

From Drake’s forehead, there emerged a black spark of magic, and a black unicorn horn suddenly appeared. His cutie mark ripped away from his flank, and his body glowed. Gasps were heard throughout the crowd, and Altruise was frantically backing away, traumatized at what she was witnessing. Slowly, the pegasus transformed into a black-coated unicorn of dark faux wings, and a disgustingly familiar cutie mark emerged from his flank; the supernova.

Altruise whimpered, shaking her head in denial, and her tear filled eyes widened. Her entire life was flashing through her mind. All those years of being cared for, trained, and loved by that father-figure pegasus; all painfully shattering in front of her.

Celestia went wide-eyed as the dark unicorn lifted his front hooves into the air, laughing. A clash of lightning lit the sky, and he slammed his hooves into the ground with a blinding glowing horn. Before Celestia could do or say anything, a blast of magic burst from Nebulous’ horn and struck the Princess.

“AAAAAH!!!—” Celestia’s full body glowed in a blinding light as she screamed, and suddenly her screaming came to a dead stop. The blinding light vanished, and she was a stone statue, frozen in place with wide, terrified eyes and a gaping maw.

“HAHAHA!!” Nebulous laughed and trotted up to the Princess, glaring into her stone eyes, “At last!! After all these years… You’re no longer my problem!” He turned to the traumatized mare behind him, “Couldn’t have done it without you.” He grinned evilly toward Altruise.

Altruise was still in denial, and had troubles saying anything. Whimpering, she backed away from him, trembling with many different emotions rushing through her mind. “Y-you… You used me…”

“Hmm…” Nebulous put his hoof on his chin, and shrugged with a blunt obvious answer, “Yep.”

“No.” Altruise shook her head, refusing to accept what was happening, and more tears streamed down her traumatized face, “It… It can’t be! Why?” She leaned forward and sobbed, “WHY?!”

“Well I wasn’t about to go fight her myself, so I had to find somepony dumb enough to do it for me so she was weak enough for me to trap her.” Nebulous winced at her, “Your usefulness has become mute now. Get out of my sight.” With that, he fired a black fireball at Altruise, which struck her and knocked her back across the ground. With a limp, she coughed and sat up to her haunches, looking up at the dark unicorn through her tearful eyes with her ears folded back in self-disgust.

Nebulous flapped his faux wings and laughed, flying higher into the air. “The sun and the moon belong to me now!” He roared to the ponies beneath him, and a clash of lightning echoed in the dark sky of storm clouds. “Bow to your King!!!”

* * * * *

Altruism

Altruise and Nebulous floated face to face in the air, glaring at each other with piercing eyes. The revealed moon and twinkling stars in the sky seemed brighter than ever before, gleaming down on the world with a bright twilight. The golden sphere of magic on the floor of Ponyville with protected ponies inside it seemed to light the town with a brilliant glow of warmth.

“I created you.” Nebulous sneered to the frowning mare, “If it weren’t for me, you’d never be who you are today. You’d be weak, like them.” He pointed his snout to the ponies below for emphasis, and glanced back up to her. “Face it. I’m the only father you’ve ever had.”

Altruise furrowed her eyes at that, “My true father stood up to you for the sake of protecting me from becoming like you.” She sighed in self-disgust, “I can’t believe I let that happen to me…”

“You’ve always been a foal, Altruise.” Nebulous growled, “You’ve never grown up, you’re still that pathetic unicorn filly I picked up from the ashes of Trottingham.” He spread his wings in a threatening manner, “You’re no less of a monster than I am; only weaker, pathetic, and useless.”

The white mare glared at Nebulous. “You won’t get away with what you did.”

“Still mad, are you?” Nebulous grinned, “Then come at me!”

He didn’t have to tell her twice. Altruise had already launched after him, growling angrily. As she was bulleting toward him, he charged up his horn and fired a black fireball at her. Altruise’s eyes widened at the sight of the oncoming fireball, and she quickly swerved sideways, dodging it. Flipping through the air, she regained her balance and continued moving toward him.

“Hahaha… Give it up!” Nebulous laughed, and suddenly teleported. In a spark of energy, he reappeared next to her, and gave her a solid buck to the back.

“Gah!” Altrusie groaned from the impact, and she lost balance momentarily, but caught herself and leveled herself out. Quickly turning to fight back, she charged up her horn and was about to strike him with a spell, when he vanished again. She winced, and waited for him to reappear.

Off in the distance, he reappeared in a flash of light… And suddenly vanished again. And reappeared in another location; and vanished; and reappeared, and again he vanished—

“AAAAGH! Stop doing that!!”

—and he suddenly reappeared right in front of her with a glowing horn. “Hah!!” A blinding flash of light burst from his horn like an explosion, and she was knocked back several meters flipping through the air.

“Aaaauugh!!” Altruise leveled herself as she was thrown back, and she made a quick U-turn, and reversed to charge after him again. Rocketing back toward Nebulous, he laughed at her.

“So what are you going to do to me, huh?” He grinned, and just as she approached him, his black fur faded into a navy-blue shade, and his horn disappeared; his cutie mark was exchanged with the two crossing sword symbol—Drake’s cutie mark—and he smirked at her through his grey eyes she knew too well. “You gonna kill me?”

Altruise went wide-eyed, and she stopped in her tracks, holding back her attack at the sight of Drake. “Uhh—w-wha—” She suddenly broke a sweat.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” He frowned at her, and quickly turned back into his Nebulous form, and while she was off guard, he fired another quick black fireball at her. With Altruise out of focus from nearly striking her former father figure, she lost concentration and failed to dodge.

“Oagh!” It struck her with an explosion of black flames, and she hurled through the air. Falling several meters below, she leveled her wings out and stopped herself from falling further. Wincing angrily, she looked back up to the dark unicorn in the sky and rocketed back toward him.

“That was a cheap shot!” She hollered angrily, “You coward!”

“Coward?” Nebulous grinned and transformed again to take the form of Drake. Altruise’s launch slowed down a bit, as she felt uneasy to attack. “If I’m the coward, what makes it so difficult for you to attack? Huh? Come at me!!”

“AAAH!!” Altruise shrieked and flew toward him, and her horn glowed, but she hesitated long enough for Nebulous to make the attack first. Quickly charging his horn, he fired a dark purple sphere of energy that was cast toward her.

Altruise just panicked, but managed to dodge out of the way.

“Come on!” Drake shouted to her, “This the best you can do?”

“Shut up!!!” Altruise screamed, tears dripping from her face, “Shut!!! UUUUP!!!!” With that, she suddenly launched toward him with a thunderous sonic boom, and she bulleted straight into him. Colliding with the pegasi-disguised unicorn, she knocked him several meters back; as she pushed him through the air, he grinned, and gripped onto her front hooves. With a quick flip, he used her momentum to throw her off course of her attack, and she went soaring through the air like an aimless bullet, and crashed into the side of the tall mountain just off the coast of Ponyville.

“Hmh…” The dark stallion switched back into his true unicorn form, and waited for Altruise to come back. Not a moment too soon, some of the debris caused from her collision with the mountain began floating in her golden aura. Hovering away from the mountain, Altruise glared back at him through her gritting teeth. Yelling in anger, Altruise began throwing the boulders toward the dark unicorn.

“Hahahah!” Nebulous laughed over the thrill, and he began swiftly dodging the oncoming boulders. Zigzagging up and down and from side to side, he dodged every single boulder that were thrown at him. “YEEeeah… Come at me!”

Altruise briefly went wide-eyed, but it didn’t take long for her to furrow her eyes back into a furious frown. “Come ON!”

“You should realize by now, Altruise, fighting me is a joke!!” Nebulous shouted, and suddenly teleported, appearing behind Altruise. Giving her no time to react, he swiftly bucked her in the head, and teleported again before she could react.

“AGh!” Altruise was knocked forward briefly, and she quickly turned around to see that he had disappeared. Waiting momentarily, she felt another hoof slam into her backside, and she flung forward briefly, and turned to the unicorn behind her; he had disappeared again. A sweat broke, and she quickly turned around to try and catch him doing this a third time, but he wasn’t there. He suddenly came from above, and slammed his hind hooves into her shoulders, sending her flipping through the air downward toward the ground.

At an intense speed, Altruise fell into a rushing river that was flowing through the forest. After a few moments, she resurfaced from the water and struggled with the river’s rapid current. Coughing a few times, she flew out of the water and wiped her hooves through her wet mane. “Uuugh…” Her eyes then jolted open at the realization her tiara was missing. “Aw, shoot…”

Nebulous was rocketing toward her from off in the distance. Taking a dive, she flew back down into the river and disappeared under the rushing rapids. The dark unicorn stopped and looked beneath him at the river below, waiting.

After a few seconds, Nebulous rolled his eyes impatiently, and he charged his horn with an electrical surge. A grin on his face, and he cast a loud lightning bolt into the rushing river; the water erupted of conducted electricity all the way down the river. After a few moments, he stopped his lightning attack, and watched as several fish floated to the surface of the water, dead, and floated down stream. However, there was no sign of Altruise.

Suddenly right in front of him, his target appeared in a flash of light, glaring right at him. She squinted with the tiara back on her head that she managed to retrieve from the river. “Two can play your game.” That grumbled, she teleported again out of sight.

Nebulous looked up and saw her reappear off in the distance, and immediately after, she teleported again, reappearing somewhere else, and continued teleporting to different random locations around the dark unicorn to confuse him.

“Hmm…” The stallion remained floating in place, waiting for her to act. Then in a quick random teleportation, Altruise appeared beside him to strike with a glowing horn, about to fire a spell at him point blank, but before she could even fire it, Nebulous quickly turned to her and cast a lightning spell on her. The lightning bolt struck from horn to horn, and Altruise was groaning in pain, slowly backing away. The black lightning bolt continued trailing from his horn to hers, and he growled at her.

“You can’t win, Altruise! Stop trying!”

“AaAahhh…” Altruise winced in pain, and tears began to trickle from her eyes. She was frozen in place now with his levitation magic, while being electrocuted each passing second.

“You’re a foal.” Nebulous frowned at her, holding her in place with his black aura, “You have no idea how much power I possess, do you?”

Altruise frightfully looked into the piercing eyes of her enemy, and he continued striking her with more magic attacks while he held her in place. At this point she was growing too weak to escape his levitation grip, and he continued pelting her with continuous spells. Fireballs, lightning, and dark energy; all blasting her, scorching her, torturing her.

She couldn’t move, and pain was constantly being delivered. She could feel herself fading, the way he kept striking her body with dark magic; she couldn’t stop anything, taking each blast with painful impacts.

* * * * *

The other ponies all watching the fight were frantically panicking, and standing at the edges of Celestia’s transparent golden magic shield. Twilight turned to the Princess and gasped to her. “Celestia, please, we have to get out and help her!”

Celestia sighed, “Altruise requested that I kept this shield up, and that I am to keep you inside.”

“I don’t care what Altruise said!” Twilight marched up to the Princess, “Please, she shouldn’t have to do this by herself…”

“And she doesn’t have to.” Celestia declared, “I still have faith in her, that she can protect all of us.”

“But just look at her!” Twilight frantically turned to look at the unicorn being tortured in the distant sky beyond the transparent wall of the magic shield. “She can’t do anything to fight back. She’s stuck; he’s killing her!”

“Twilight. You and your friends are all there for her.” The Princess exclaimed, “She asked you and your friends to do your part.”

“But… But I…”

“Believe in her.” Celestia solemnly said.

Twilight slouched, and her ears fell to the sides. In a whimper, she turned to her five friends; Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. With a brave nod, she trotted to them, and they formed a discussion circle.

“Altruise may have done her wrongs, but she needs our help…” Twilight said to them quietly.

Applejack sighed. “I know what she did was unforgivable.”

“What she did can’t be undone.” Rarity added.

“But everypony deserves a chance for redemption.” Fluttershy modestly whispered.

“And right now, she needs us!” Pinkie Pie chanted.

“Come on!” Rainbow Dash shouted, “Let’s help her!” With that, she stood tall, and she turned to face Altruise in the background beyond the magic barrier. The others all turned toward her too, strongly standing together.

Standing like soldiers, the other five stood with their elements all exposed, and solemnly looked over to the struggling unicorn up in the sky. Twilight’s horn glowed, and a faint spark of magic trailed like a chain through the other five element necklaces worn by the others.

“We’re all here for you Altruise!” Twilight shouted to her, with her horn glowing brighter. “Use the Element of Magic!”

* * * * *

Off in the distance in the sky, Altruise slowly opened her wincing eyes while more spells continued to pelt her; and though the ponies below were far, they felt so close. She could hear their voices, as if they were right there for her.

“Be strong!” She heard Applejack shout. Her ears perked, and suddenly the pain on her began to fade. She found herself in a purple aura, and her wounds were slowly being healed.

“You can do it!!” Pinkie Pie squeaked loudly, “Your friends are here for ya!”

Altruise felt sudden warmth in her heart, and she noticed the tiara on her head was slowly beginning to glow brighter. “Friends…?” She murmured, closing her eyes; it felt as though time had slowed down, as the attacks from Nebulous appeared to be mere echoes. Tears trickled from her eyes, and she felt as though she was being lifted up. “B-but I… I don’t deserve friends…”

“Nonsense!” Rarity snapped at her.

“What you need more than anything right now, is friends.” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“We all believe in you, Altruise.” Twilight exclaimed with emphasis from the heart. “We’re there for you. Until the end.”

“Now go kick his flank!” Rainbow Dash yelled cheerfully.

With that last voice echoing in the back of her mind, she felt the magic from her tiara, as if it had linked to her. With a sudden burst of motivational strength, her eyes shot open, and she glared into the eyes of the dark unicorn in front of her; and the black aura surrounding her shattered.

“AAgh!” Nebulous flinched and he threw his hooves to his horn; he felt a painful jolt in his horn when she broke free of his magic. After a quick wince in pain, he looked back toward her with sudden fear. “How did you…?”

Altruise floated there in a purple aura of magic; she solemnly glared at him. Nebulous noticed that the aura was coming from the tiara on her head.

“Impossible!” Nebulous backed away from her, “How can you possibly control it?” Frowning, he shook his head in disbelief. “No. You won’t stop me!! I’ve come too close to fail now!!” With that, he launched himself toward her, “I’ll end you!!”

Altruise gently closed her eyes, and focused. Her horn and tiara glowed with a golden aura, and she remained calm and somber. “You will not…” She whispered solemnly, and the moment he was a mere foot in front of her, he stopped in his tracks with a levitation spell catching him in mid-flight. “…I repeat… You will not… hurt anypony… ever again…” That said, an explosive aura of magic erupted from her tiara and horn, and Nebulous flung through the air like a missile toward the ground, and he crashed into a rock that exploded into debris on impact.

Collapsing into the ground, he quickly sprung back up to his hooves with an angry huff. “What is this?!”

Altruise gracefully floated down to the ground, and landed on her hooves in front of him, standing tall. She slowly sauntered toward him, as if casual. “No more, Nebulous.” She exclaimed to him factually, “You’re done.”

“No.” Nebulous frowned, “You can’t stop me!”

“You took me away from civilization and turned me into a monster, believing I’d never find another friend to stop you with this very tiara on my brow.” Altruise exclaimed, standing before him with pride, “You can’t defeat the one thing that keeps Equestria together.” Her eyes wandered a bit, “Yes, it is true I was weak all this time. But that’s because I’ve been alone.” She turned back to glare at him with a frown, “I’ve been alone all these years, Nebulous. We ponies? We need each other. It’s the bond that keeps us strong. Not power.” The tiara on her head began to spark. “Power is for the real weak ponies; the ones who have nothing.” She winced at him and her horn sparked brighter, “Ponies like you!”

Nebulous was sidestepping, wide-eyed. With a growl and a kick of dust, he galloped toward her with a glowing horn. “I can destroy you just as easily as I created you!”

“Honesty: Something you never showed me.” Altruise exclaimed as he galloped toward her, “Well allow me to be honest with you.” She stopped him in mid-gallop with another levitation spell, and she trotted up to him, glaring eye to eye.

“I will remain Loyal: The ponies beneath us are not to be harmed; they still have a chance to live and grow, so I won’t allow you to go any further!” With that, she hurled him backwards, and he slid across the ground, crashing into a tree with a loud thud.

“Laughter: Something everypony needs.” Altruise continued, trotting toward the frantic dark unicorn. “Nothing can be brought back that had been lost, but laughter and memories certainly can bring them back through the heart. Though my parents are both deceased, they are here with me, and they are supporting me!”

Nebulous panicked, and backed away from her wide-eyed. If there was one thing he was afraid of, it was the Elements of Harmony. He knew of their power, and he knew what they could do to him. “Get away from me!”

“Kindness: I used to know what that was; I used to be that kind pony that everypony knew.” Altruise continued, “And if it wasn’t for the Generosity expressed by these ponies who gave me a second chance, I would never have remembered what it all meant…” She looked up to the moon briefly, and back down to the cowering unicorn, and the tiara on her head suddenly burst of energy, and it glowed with several spiraling colours. “You shall harm nopony, ever again!”

Seeing the blazing colours of the Element of Magic shot fear through Nebulous’ spine, and he slouched where he stood like a coward, wide-eyed and trembling. “Altruise, don’t!”

Altruise briefly held back from her attack and looked down at the cowering unicorn, waiting an explanation.

“You… you wouldn’t… end my life…” Nebulous whimpered, and he turned into the form of Drake, which made Altruise feel hesitant. Slowly standing to his hooves, he looked to her with a friendly smile. “Would you…?”

Altruise froze. “I…” She looked up at the tiara on her brow, which had its attack readied to fire.

“I can change…” Nebulous murmured helplessly, “Please give me another chance… for redemption…”

The tone in his voice; the sadness, the fear and the sorrow. Altruise couldn’t attack him now. “Not like this.” She murmured to herself, backing away from him. “I-I can’t.”

Nebulous looked up at her through Drake’s trembling eyes. Altruise looked back, and there was a long pause between them. After a long brief hesitation, she heard Twilight’s voice in the back of her mind.

“Altruise…” Her voice was a mere echoing whisper in her mind.

Altruise’s ears perked, and she winced at the sound of the lavender pony’s voice. “Twilight, I can’t…” She clenched her eyes tight, and tears slowly trickled down her cheeks, “I can’t…”

Drake slowly approached her with innocence, looking to her fearfully, “I… I won’t hurt anypony anymore…” he whimpered, slouching low as he approached, “Please, have mercy…”

“Altruise, look out!” Twilight’s voice shrieked, but a moment too late. Drake jumped up without warning, and using a quick swipe of his wing, he batted the tiara off her head. Sudden silence; Altruise no longer could feel the connection with the other ponies, and the tiara hurled through the air, and bounced across the ground, landing in a patch of grass several meters away.

“AAAH!!!!” Yelling angrily, Nebulous transformed back into his true dark self, and fired a black fireball at her; it exploded on contact, and she flung backwards, rolling across the ground. In mid-tumble, with a quick maneuver she managed to flip herself back up onto her hooves, and stood up defensively to see a charging dark unicorn.

“I’ll destroy you!!” Nebulous shouted, galloping toward her with his powerful legs. During his charge, Altruise hollered and began galloping in his direction, playing a game of chicken. Both horns glowing menacingly, they galloped closer and closer to each other, growling at each other.

“HAA!” Nebulous was the first to fire a black fireball, and it launched forth toward Altruise. The white unicorn dove to the ground, and rolled under the oncoming black fireball. When she brought herself back to her hooves, she jumped up with her hind legs, and took off over Nebulous’ head. Just as she leapt over top of him, she used her hind legs to slam the back of his skull with a full-forced buck, which rammed Nebulous flat on his face into the ground, and he slid to a stop. Altruise landed gracefully back into the ground, and continued galloping away from him, running toward the spectrum glowing tiara.

Nebulous only took a moment, and he was back on his hooves. Angrily, he turned back to Altruise and with a glowing horn, he activated a large-scale barrier surrounding them for a good half a mile; the same spell Altruise used at the castle to prevent teleportation.

“You’re not going anywhere!” He growled, and fired several dark energy missiles at her. One of them struck her, and she fell over with a thud. Twitching a few times, and she managed to push herself back up to her hooves, and she continued galloping for the tiara.

“No you don’t!” Nebulous shouted, firing a dark missile toward the tiara. It struck the Element of Magic, and with an explosion, the tiara flung through the air and bounced further away from her. Nebulous then cast more lightning from the sky that struck down toward Altruise; she dodged from side to side, and continued running for the tiara as explosions erupted near her every step.

“Why don’t you just give up?!” Nebulous shrieked, lifting off the ground with his faux wings, and launched himself toward her. “AAAAH!!!” Colliding into her side, they tumbled across the ground, and came to a stop with Nebulous on top. He began vigorously throwing hooves to her jaw, ramming her to the ground. “You’ve messed with my plans enough!!” Hopping off of her, he lifted her in another aura of magic, and he flung her through the air; she collapsed into the ground and rolled to a stop. “The sun and the moon are mine! And nopony is taking away my victory!!” He stood tall and marched toward her furiously with a glowing horn.

Altruise pushed herself to her hooves once more, and stood before the dark unicorn. Nebulous was now in full gallop, running toward her, growling with a bright sparking horn.

“Twelve years you’ve been training me for battle!” Altruise shouted as he approached her, and just as he reached her, an explosion of magic burst forth from her horn, repelling Nebulous further away from her onto his back. “Not very wise!!” With that, she turned back to the tiara and continued galloping toward it.

“Stupid… Foal!!!” Nebulous quickly stood back up and galloped toward her. Altruise was nearing the tiara on the ground ahead of her. Yelling angrily, Nebulous fired a few dark energy missiles at her, and she sidestepped as she galloped toward the Element of Magic, with the bullets of magic zipping passed her and striking at her hooves, missing her. “No!!” He thrust his wings, and flew toward her as fast as he could. “No you don’t!!”

He flew closer to her, and Altruise took a dive for the Element of Magic. Grasping the fully charged tiara in her hooves, she quickly threw it upon her head, and turned to Nebulous who was a mere meter away and closing in. Time felt like it slowed down as she prepared herself as quickly as she could, and with all the courage in her heart, she unleashed the magic from the tiara that struck Nebulous point blank with its full spectrum, right in front of her.

A sonic boom echoed with thunder across the distant sky, and his barrier of anti-teleportation shattered. Nebulous was launched back with the spectrum of colours, shrieking in pain, and he flew across the sky, and fell back down toward Equestria. Crashing into rubble, a loud earth-shaking thud echoed across the land, and a cloud of dust emerged from his landing.

Silence…

The tiara on Altruise’s head was no longer glowing. Cautiously, she trotted toward the pile of rubble where Nebulous had crashed. Off to the side, she noticed the barrier that Celestia had held up had turned off. Curious, she turned to the Princess who was now approaching her, with the rest of the ponies along side.

“Princess Celestia…” Altruise murmured.

“Nopony could possibly take the full force of the Elements of Harmony at that close range.” Celestia declared, trotting toward the debris. Altruise and the other ponies all trotted toward the pile of rubble with suspense, and found Nebulous lying on his back in a pile of rock.

His eyes were half-open, and he could barely move. Looking up at the others looking over him, he squinted at them angrily. “You… ponies…” He grumbled, and gritted his teeth, “I… ugh…” He felt a pinch of pain, and noticed something that terrified him. Looking at his hooves, he was beginning to dissolve. “I… No…” He quickly stood up in a panic and held his hooves up, watching himself vaporize. “No!! What’s happening to me?!” Trotting backwards, he tripped over a rock, and frantically stood back up, feeling himself fade away with the wind. He took a glance up at the Princess with wide, terrified eyes. “I… I’m dying…” He collapsed to his haunches and looked up at the moon.

Slowly, his terrified, weak eyes gradually turned into a painful frown. His head trembled in anger, and his teeth gritted together. “If I can’t have the moon… Then nopony can have it…”

With one last ditch effort, using the last bit of his strength, he suddenly teleported out of sight.

“What? Where’d he go?” Altruise panicked, looking around frantically. Then from the sky, they heard a thunderous clash. They all watched in terror, as the dark unicorn used the last bit of his magic to push the entirety of the moon down toward Equestria. “I’ll kill you all!!” He shouted down to them, with his body continuously fading with the wind, “Die, you pathetic ponies!!! Dui…uh…” his last breath, and the rest of him burst into a puff of dust, and he blew away in the wind, dead.

The ponies on the ground all ran screaming, and the moon began falling toward them. The large ball in the sky came closer by the second, falling at an exceedingly fast rate.

“We’re gonna die!!” Voices were heard screaming.

“This is the end of Equestria!!” More voices of terror.

Altruise and Celestia stood dumbfounded, and they looked at each other with deep concern. The unicorn took the liberty to make some orders, and using her faux wings, she flew up above the others and raised her voice. “Everypony!!!” She shouted down to them, “Stop panicking!! We need to work together!!”

The ponies all stopped their frantic galloping, and they all stood and looked up to the flying unicorn.

“This isn’t the end!” Altruise shouted to them, pointing a hoof up at the moon, “Celestia! Unicorns! Use your horns and try to push the moon back into its orbit!”

The ponies all looked at each other, and back up to the mare overhead. Celestia was the first to listen, and she stood tall and strong, and used her horn’s magic to take control of the moon. “AAh!” She flinched and lowered her head, “It’s coming too fast! I can’t hold it…”

“Together!!” Altruise yelled at the other unicorns, “Help the Princess!”

The unicorns all looked at each other, and back up at her.

“Do it now! It’s our last hope! We only have a couple of minutes or Equestria will be destroyed!”

“Come on!” Twilight was next to obey, and she stood to point her horn up at the moon, taking control of it with her magic. “Hnn!” She winced, and gave it as much effort as she could to push it back up with her magic. Rarity nodded to the lavender unicorn, and she too activated her magic, trying to help push the moon.

A brief hesitation, and several nods, all of the unicorns on the ground pointed their horns to the sky, and took control of the moon, and tried pushing it back up like the others. Altruise then proceeded using her own magic as well, and tried pushing the giant orbit. “HHnH!”

With the Princess and all of the unicorns now pushing the moon with all their strength, the moon was gradually slowing down, but still rocketing toward Equestria at a critical speed. The closer it got, the more the ground beneath them began to rumble.

“It’s not enough!” Other ponies on the ground were freaking out.

“What do we do?!” More voices shrieked.

“Stop panicking!!” Altruise yelled again, “Pegasi! Go to the sky and use your wings! Try pushing the moon with a wind storm!!”

“Your heard her!” Rainbow Dash hollered and flew up into the sky, “Let’s get up there and help!!”

The pegasi all nodded, and flew up after her, flapping their wings upward toward the moon simultaneously. Not too long after they started, the wind began to pick up, all thrusting up into the sky like a hurricane.

Even with the pegasus’ help, the moon was still falling closer toward them, and didn’t seem to be slowing down at all. Each passing moment, the closer it got, the faster they felt their hearts beat with devastation.

“Keep trying!” Altruise yelled while using her horn to continue pushing the moon, “Everypony keep pushing!”

Soon everything began rumbling harder as the moon got closer. Equestria was shaking as if a dozen volcanoes were about to erupt in the vicinity. The ponies all on the ground lost their footing and collapsed. Altruise looked down beneath her at the struggling and panicking ponies, and she took a glance at the moon above them that was still falling faster with each passing second.

Nothing was working; it was all entirely hopeless. They only had seconds left before the moon were to reach them; it was long passed the atmosphere, and they could feel the moon dust falling over them like ashes as the rest of the giant rock continued falling.

Altruise’s ears fell back, and time felt like it slowed down…

“This… this can’t be it…” She whispered to herself, hearing the cries and echoes around her of the desperate struggling lives. “This… this can’t be the end…”

She looked up at the moon, staring straight into the heart of it; and for some reason… she stopped feeling scared. “Mom… Dad…” She whispered to herself, hearing the echoes of the voices around her, and the rumbling of the earth below. She closed her eyes, and a few tears fell from her face as she clenched her teeth. Her whole life flashed before her eyes… From when she was a foal, to the day she met Drake and carried on living a lie that turned her into somepony different. But there was one significant memory that stood out from all her other ones, and it pierced her mind.

“Altruise.” She heard the voice of her father; her real father. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she remembered his final words. “Don’t forget who you are…”

“Dad…” She cried, hearing the shrieks of the ponies. Opening her sobbing eyes, she smiled. Her smile was warm, and it was absolute with purpose. A glamorous spark emerged on her flank, and there on her blank flanks, her silver-outlined heart cutie mark reappeared with a magical flash of light.

Spreading her wings, she flew up toward the moon that was closing in on everypony else. Celestia witnessed her flying toward it and went wide-eyed. “Altruise, what are you doing?”

Altruise didn’t respond, and flew faster, toward the falling orb in the sky. And without looking back, her horn glowed powerfully, and she crashed straight into the surface of the moon; and upon impact, there was an enormous flash of light that lit the entire sky. The moon sparked and glowed, and the ponies all shielded their eyes from the blinding light. And all at once, everything that was bright went dark…

The ponies all looked up… and the moon was back in its orbit. Then from the sky, the tiara came falling down to the ground, and bounced across the land a few times, and rolled to Twilight’s hooves in the grass. Altruise was nowhere to be seen.

“She…” Celestia took a couple trots forward, looking up at the moon, “She teleported it…”

There was loud chatter among the crowd of ponies. Twilight knelt to the tiara, and levitated it before her, looking at it in front of her.

“But that’s suicide.” Rarity exclaimed in shock, “Nopony can teleport an object larger than one’s self and stay alive!”

Twilight looked over to Rarity, “And half the time anypony would even attempt it, chances are high that it won’t even work.”

“Wait, an object any bigger than your own size could kill you?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, “She teleported the flippin’ moon!”

“Nopony could survive that…” Fluttershy’s ears sank to her sides, and she lowered her head. They all looked up at the sky in their sorrows. A cold breeze whispered by, and the realization of the situation slowly began to sink in.

“She’s dead…?” Applejack whispered.

* * * * *

Go for Broke

A cold breeze of dust blew across the surface of the grey terrain. Every direction, every horizon, was an endless wasteland of moon dust. Nothing for miles; just craters, and an endless twilight sky of twinkling stars; Equestria was a small sphere in the sky. The surface of the moon was indeed forlorn and ominous.

A faint glow emerged on the land. The light grew brighter, and all at once it vanished into mist of magical sparkles, and from the light appeared a dark alicorn mare. Her constant rippling mane matched the sky and the stars, as if it were a galaxy of its own. A black smudge was on her flank with the cutie mark of a half-moon, as well as a black necklace around her neck with the same symbol.

After appearing on the surface of the moon, the alicorn slowly sauntered on the surface of the moon, glancing left and right with a forlorn expression. Through her expression, it was as if she had been here before, but had no blissful memories of the place. Pressing onward, she continued trotting the land of moon dust and craters beneath the starlit sky. The alicorn sighed to herself, searching the land of loneliness. She felt a shiver in her horn, like there was a presence here.

It felt like hours had passed, even though it had only been maybe ten minutes. Then off in the distance, something caught her eye; the thing that she sensed on the moon, which drove her to teleport herself here to investigate. Trotting faster, she approached the speck in the distance. As she got closer, she was surprised at what she saw.

A white unicorn with a golden mane; her cutie mark a silver outline of a heart. She was lying in the moon dust, motionless like the rest of the grey world beneath the alicorn’s feet. She approached for a closer look… Scars spread all over the white pony’s body, and to the alicorn, she appeared completely lifeless.

The dark alicorn stepped up to the pony in the moon dust, and using a hoof, she prodded her. The wounded unicorn remained limp, and kept silent and still.

“So, it was you who teleported my moon back into the sky when it was falling…” The alicorn exclaimed silently. A solemn expression, and the alicorn lowered to her haunches in front of the downed mare. Leaning closer to have a better look at the wounded unicorn, she noticed that the white mare was breathing; very weak and very slowly, as if every breath was going to be her last; but still breathing nevertheless.

“You survived it…?” This dumbfounded the alicorn, and she stood back up, squinting down at the near-dead unicorn. She tried to nudge the unicorn with a hoof once more, but received no response once again, and her body was as limp as a ragdoll’s.

A long moment had passed, and the white mare’s eyes slowly, weakly opened. Her body was completely still, and her breathing remained weak. Her eyes looked up to the alicorn, but the rest of her didn’t move at the slightest. The mare’s mouth painfully opened, as if she was going to try to say something, but she only made a painful squeak, and her eyes closed again.

The alicorn looked down to the wounded unicorn somberly; she was in a great deal of pain, and on the verge of death it seemed. With a sigh, she murmured to the downed mare. “I saw what you did, Altruise.”

A moment had passed, and Altruise’s eyes slowly, weakly opened once again, with her eye lids a quarter open. Again she looked up to the alicorn without moving an inch.

“I was there when you destroyed Canterlot.” The alicorn declared, “I saw what you did to the castle and the ponies, and I saw what you did to my sister.” She winced a little and turned away.

When the alicorn mentioned about her sister, Altruise began to realize who she was speaking to. “Luna…?” Her voice was weak. “I-I…” Her eyes glistened, and a few tears trickled down her cheeks.

“Yet here you lie on my moon, evident that it was you who saved us all.” Luna stood taller and looked down at her, confused. “Why save us after all that?”

There was a sudden pause; a long pause. Altruise closed her eyes, too painfully tired to keep them open. She breathed slowly a few times, and each breath sounded like it would be her last. She opened her weak lips, but couldn’t find words to reply.

“It confounds me that you’re still alive. Teleporting the moon… That should have killed you.” Luna raised a brow at her, “And you knew that when you did it… Didn’t you.”

Altruise slowly opened her eyes again; her eyes trailed aimlessly, and she looked to Luna’s hooves. She nodded slowly in response, and sighed with exhaustion.

“What you did was very brave.” Luna admitted modestly.

The white mare just sighed in response to that, and her eyes trailed to the soot beneath her. “I should be dead…” A brief pause, and she looked up to Luna once more. “In Canterlot… you saw me…? What I did…?”

Luna nodded with a slight wince, “I tried to get to you to stop you, but before I could reach you, you and Celestia had teleported.” A silent sigh and she continued, “After you vanished, I had a hard time pinpointing your location.” She looked up to the stars and breathed in through her nostrils, “I stayed in Canterlot, searching for survivors.”

Altruise slowly opened her weak eyes until they were a quarter open, and she quietly groaned a slow, painful cough. “Did… you find any…?”

Luna nodded in response to that. “There were many… Quite a miracle, actually…”

“Oh goddess…” Altruise clenched her eyes shut and squeezed tears out; she was very grateful to hear that. The unicorn weakly brought a hoof to her eyes and wept, “How could I ever fix what I did…?”

“Well, I think you should take that up with my sister.” Luna exclaimed, looking up to Equestria in the sky. “Although I am her sister, I’m not exactly in charge. I can’t decide what happens to you.”

Altruise looked up to Luna after she said that. “Do you… think she’d banish me…?” Her ears sank lower, “Or… or kill me?”

“Heh.” Luna smirked at her, “I doubt that, Altruise.” She knelt to her haunches and put a hoof over the white mare’s shoulder, “In fact… I think she’ll be happy to see you.”

Altruise opened her mouth, and was about to respond to Luna’s last comment, but all of a sudden they vanished in a cloud of moon dust. The dust on the moon danced around in the air, and in a rippling motion, the moon dust settled back onto the grey floor.

The moon was empty once more.

* * * * *

In the crowd of Ponyville, the mares and stallions were all lost for words. Altruise’s sacrifice had come as a shock, and it happened so fast.

In the center of the crowd, there emerged a bright light, and they all turned to it in surprise. Shielding their eyes at the momentary flash of light, it vanished in a cloud of magic, and from the light appeared two ponies; Altruise and Luna.

Luna was on her haunches, holding onto the wounded mare beside her. Altruise was still extremely weak, and she could hardly move an inch. The ponies were all surprised to see her alive, and there were many wide eyes in the crowd, and an instant chatter broke out among the ponies.

“Sister?” Celestia approached the two ponies, looking down at them. First she glanced at Luna, and then her eyes trailed to Altruise, who looked back up her. “Altruise… You’re alive…?”

There was a slow response. Luna sighed and responded for the weak mare. “Barely.” She stood up, and stepped away from the unicorn.

Celestia looked at Luna, and then turned her glance back to Altruise. Her eyes squinted at her, which made Altruise cower. “Altruise, are you able to stand?”

Altruise looked up at the sun goddess in pain. “I can… barely even breathe…”

Celestia looked down at her with a sigh, “I don’t know how, and I don’t know why you survived…” She looked up at the moon that was placed back in the sky, “Nopony has ever attempted such a feat before, and lived to tell about it…”

“I… I had to do it…” Altruise murmured weakly, “I couldn’t just… do nothing…” She closed her eyes and lifted her head, whimpering through her tears, “I’ve forgotten… who I was…” Opening her eyes again, she lowered her head back down and sighed painfully, “I was a foal to cause such horrors. I’ve dishonoured my mother and father… I’ve betrayed my own kind…” She bit her lip and looked up to Celestia, “I should have listened to you in the first place when you tamed my magic… I’ve let you down…”

There was a brief pause, and Celestia then noticed something. There was a black crack in Altruise’s horn, and her horn was dull and pale. “Altruise… Your horn.”

The other ponies then all noticed it too, and looked concerned for her. Altruise put a hoof to her horn and felt it. “W-What… I…” She immediately noticed the crack; it felt dry and lifeless.

“It looks like the teleportation put a toll on your horn…” Celestia murmured sensitively, “I’m sorry, Altruise. But you won’t be able to use magic again.”

Altruise bit her lip, and she put her hoof down. A depressing sigh, and she looked to the ground. She sank lower, and she felt a pinch in her gut. “I suppose I deserve it… It’s probably for the best…” She murmured and her ears fell back, “I guess I really am a broken unicorn…”

Everything then went silent. There was a very long pause, with sympathetic looks on all of the ponies. After awhile, Altruise broke the silence. “So… whatever my consequences are… I will honour them…”

Celestia looked back at the ponies around her, who were all nervous about what she was going to say. The alicorn turned back to the mare at her hooves, who had her head down, and her eyes closed, bowing respectably to the Princess. Clearing her throat, the Princess put her hooves down and made a statement.

“Altruise, for all you have done… For the destruction of Canterlot, and for assaulting your Princess…” She paused briefly, and looked up to see the other ponies were concerned. She cleared her throat again, and continued. “For your actions, I hereby sentence you… to help rebuilding Canterlot, to restore it to its former glory.”

Altruise’s eyes opened, and her ears perked. Confused, she somberly looked up to the Princess. “What…?” She had expected to hear something far worse than that.

Celestia looked down to the mare with a solemn smile, “You were willing to give your life to save Equestria from certain extinction; and for that, I give you my thanks.”

The wounded mare paused briefly, and to her surprise, the Princess bowed to her. “…W…what?” Trailing her eyes among the crowd, more ponies around her all followed Celestia’s lead in bowing their heads to express their respects. This brought tears to Altruise’s eyes, and her lips trembled in gratitude. She didn’t understand how they could be bowing to her; not after what she had done. “But… why…?”

“I forgive you, Altruise.” Celestia declared, standing and smiling down to the mare.

Altruise trembled in tears. “Bu-but I…” She bit her lip, not believing she deserved forgiveness of any kind.

“You are a good pony; you really are. You were lead astray, and I am grateful to see that you have rediscovered your true self.” Celestia pointed a hoof at the mare’s silver heart on her flank, “And I still stand by what I said all those years ago… That cutie mark suits you perfectly. And you are far from a broken unicorn.”

Altruise felt warmth in her heart, and she couldn’t hold back her tears. With all the strength she could muster, she stood up. Forcing herself as hard as she could, she gave every bit of her strength stand to her hooves, simply to hug the Princess, and sobbed over her shoulder. This caught Celestia off guard, and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

After Altruise dropped back onto her hooves, limply holding herself up, she looked up to the Princess with her damp and bright, blue eyes. The smile on her face; her bright smile that she had lost all those years ago had returned.

“So, what can I do to help with rebuilding Canterlot?” She beamed happily. Though her smile sort of disappeared in a moment, and she put her hoof on her horn, “Um… Without magic…”

“Don’t worry.” Celestia comforted the mare, resting a hoof on her shoulder, “We’ll improvise.”

Altruise looked back into the Princess’ eyes and smiled, nodding. Luna stepped forth and cleared her throat.

“So, I found many survivors in Canterlot…” She exclaimed happily. “I sent them all to Trottingham to rest until we begin rebuiding the city.”

“That’s wonderful news.” Celestia smiled to her sister, and glanced at the other ponies in the crowd. “Anypony who is willing to help rebuild Canterlot is welcome to join us, and I will be eternally grateful.”

“Anything for the Princess!” Twilight cheered, trotting to Celestia, smiling up at her.

Celestia giggled at her faithful student, and looked up at the crowd. More cheerful chatter emerged from the crowd, and one after the other, they all began following the Princess.

“Thank you everypony.” Celestia smiled warmly, and turned to Altruise. “Why don’t we all get some sleep for the remainder of the night… We’ll all travel to Canterlot in the morning.” She turned to Luna, “Could you travel to Trottingham and send the ponies to Canterlot in the morning? We’ll all meet up there together.”

“Sure thing, Sister.” Luna smiled, and spread her wings, flying off into the distance toward Trottingham.

“Rest sounds so good right now…” Altruise murmured in a joking manner. She then looked up to the Princess and raised a brow, “I thought you told me you don’t sleep.”

Celestia snickered, “I don’t.” She turned to the lavender mare beside her, “Twilight? Would it be too much trouble if Altruise and I spend the night at the library?”

“Trouble?” Altruise waved a hoof, “Pfff, no trouble at all! By all means!”

“Thank you, faithful student.” Celestia exclaimed with a smile, and followed Twilight to the library. Altruise limped after them, but she only managed a few hoofsteps, and she collapsed back into the ground. Celestia and Twilight both turned to her in surprise.

“Altruise. Are you alright?” Celestia jumped.

There was a moment of silence, and Altruise responded with a snore. She had fallen asleep from exhaustion. The other ponies all looked at each other, and couldn’t help but chuckle.

Twilight rolled her eyes and levitated the sleeping mare in an aura of her magic, and she carried her along with them in the air. “I’ve got her…” She murmured with amusement. With that, they trailed onward to Twilight’s library, where they would spend the remainder of the night.

* * * * *

When the bright morning came, all the ponies in Ponyville waited patiently outside of the library for Celestia, Twilight and Altruise to exit. Celestia and Twilight were the first to exit the library, and they turned to the door, waiting for Altruise. It took a few moments before Altruise reached the door, and she stepped outside with a limping hoof, looking up at the crowd; they were all smiling at her.

“You feel rested enough?” Celestia asked the limping mare.

Altruise nodded, “Ready when the rest of you are.”

Celestia smiled, “Alright. Let’s move on hoof to Canterlot then.” She declared, trotting at a pace that Altruise could keep up to, and they all headed for the city.

* * * * *

Arriving to Canterlot, the ponies all felt their hearts sink to see the city destroyed. Ponies from Ponyville and those formerly from Canterlot who stayed in Trottingham all met in the same place in an open field of rubble. Getting acquainted with one another, Celestia cleared her throat and was about to speak.

“I am very grateful you all decided to come help rebuild Canterlot.” She exclaimed with a smile, and turned to Altruise. “We all have done our wrongs; we have all put wounds in other ponies that may take time alone to heal.”

Altruise lowered her head at that statement.

“But we all deserve forgiveness and friendship.” Celestia smiled at her, “I am proud of you, Altruise, for taking a stand for Equestria; for willingly surrendering your life to save all of us.”

The white mare looked up at the Princess and smiled warmly. Celestia then turned to the rest of the crowd, “Well… Let’s begin rebuilding, shall we?”

The crowd cheered, and ponies everywhere trotted to different parts of the city. Unicorns used their horns to levitate debris and repair it; pegasi and earth ponies helped with the landscaping. Celestia stood proud of the ponies all putting their efforts into rebuilding the place. She glanced down at Altruise beside her, “Where would you like to help?”

“Well, I don’t know, I—”

“Mom?? Dad?!” Twilight suddenly galloped off, and ran toward two unicorns. Altruise watched her reunite with her parents in the distance who had survived the destruction in Canterlot, and it brought a moment of pain in her memories. Celestia smiled at the lavender unicorn, and she turned back to Altruise to see her down.

“Something the matter?”

Altruise continued watching Twilight and her parents who were holding each other like a loving family. A wince, and she looked up to the Princess. “I um…” She looked back down to the ground and sighed, “I just need some air.”

“I understand.” Celestia exclaimed, “I’ll leave you be.” That said, she turned and trotted away from the downed unicorn.

Altrusie sat on her haunches, deep in thought. She was truly happy for Twilight that she got to reunite with her parents; though it brought memories of her own parents that she still had a hard time letting go of. She turned her head and saw a broken sheet of glass, which she could see herself in its reflection. She stared at it, focusing on the one thing on her head that made her heart numb; her broken horn.

She took a moment to absorb the truth; she had literally lost everything. Her parents, all her old friends, her father figure who turned out to be her enemy, and now her magic.

“Hi, Altruise…” A voice gently called to her from behind. Altruise turned to the voice, and found a pink unicorn with a white mane looking down at her.

“H-…Hi?” Altruise murmured, and stood to her hooves. She squinted her eyes to focus at the unicorn in front of her, trying to pinpoint who she was talking to. “You… look so familiar.” After a brief moment, Altruise finally realized who she was talking to. Her eyes widened, and she stepped back. “M…Mila…?”

The pink mare nodded to her with a smile.

“Y…you survived Trottingham…?” Altruise whimpered, approaching her.

Mila nodded, “And Canterlot. Funny, doesn’t matter where I go, seems ponies like to go blowing those places up.”

“Oh…” Altruise lowered her ears, “S…sorry…”

“It’s alright; you’re still my best friend.” Mila smiled, hugging the white mare.

This brought tears to Altruise’s eyes, “Oh goddess it’s so good to see you…”

“Likewise.” Mila exclaimed, breaking the hug and stepping back. “Well, should we go help the others?”

“Yeah.” Altruise smiled, and briefly paused, “I-in a minute. You go ahead, I’ll catch up to you.”

Mila shrugged, “Alright, Altruise. See you in a bit!” With that, she trotted off to help the others build. Left alone, Altruise sighed and looked at her reflection in the broken piece of glass again. She slowly trotted toward it, and glared at herself.

A few hesitant moments passed, and she looked to her feet, she selected a stone in the ground, and she stepped back, bowing toward the stone. Clenching her teeth, she tried casting a spell on it. “HhnN…”

After a few moments, other ponies noticed what she was doing. Looking at each other, they all trotted to her in concern. She continued pushing, forcing her magic to come forth. Though nothing was happening; not even a spark.

Celestia approached her and sighed, “Altruise, don’t hurt yourself.”

Altruise didn’t respond, and continued pushing her magic, standing with determination. Though nothing was happening, nothing stopped her. She was reminded of that day in the forest; her first spell.

“Being broken never stopped my father…” Altruise exclaimed proudly, and pushed harder. Her optimism put a smile on Celestia’s face, and she stepped back, waiting. All of the other ponies all stood watch. In Altruise’s eyes, there was no frustration; only smiles. She relaxed herself like Celestia has taught her a long time ago, and she patiently waited for her magic to come forth, in a tame manner.

Minute after minute passed by, and still nothing was happening; but each passing minute didn’t phase the unicorn. Still, she continued on, relaxed and patient. The other ponies around her felt bad for her; the crack on her horn was a significant crack that represented dead magic.

Even Altruise knew this, but that didn’t stop her from trying or believing in herself. Gently pushing, pushing, pushing… She felt a warm and familiar sensation in her horn, which brought a joyful smile to her face.

There from within the black crack of her horn, the ponies around her could see a faint glow inside it, as if it was trying to escape. There was chatter among the crowd, and Altruise continued to hold onto her joyful thoughts that were bringing back her magic.

Her memories of her parents, her friends… Everything that has ever brought joy to her, she held onto and her smile grew brighter, just as her horn did. Then the ponies around her watched in awe, as the stone in the ground was surrounded by a faint golden aura. Concentrating and closing her eyes with blissful thoughts, Altruise lifted the stone from the ground. The strength of her magic was nowhere near as powerful as it was, but all the same, this put a smile on her face.

“You’ve always impressed me, Altruise…” Celestia exclaimed warmly, “Just like your father; he was never a quitter. I’m sure he’d be proud.”

Altruise smiled at that, and put the stone back down. “I’ll practice every day, just like he did when his wing was broken.” She honourably declared, and with that, she trotted off to a pile of debris, “I’ll get to work right away!” The mare was excited.

The other ponies all followed her lead and went to work on rebuilding Canterlot as well. Celestia watched the mares and stallions work, and a smile was brought to her face. Without further a do, she trotted to them, and helped with the rebuilding as well. It was going to be a long time to reconstruct everything back to the way it was, but how long it took didn’t matter. What mattered was all of the renewed hopes and pride.

Everything was at peace once more.

* * * * *

New Beginning

Under the golden noon sun, four young filly unicorns gallop through the streets of Trottingham with playful excitement. The townsfolk all watched them trot happily through town with smiles. It was indeed a peaceful day, and a friendly place to be. Parting their ways, the fillies went to their respective homes bidding each other their goodbyes.

Trotting up to the steps of her home, the orange filly with a golden mane reached for the doorknob with a hoof, and before she got her hoof on the handle, the door opened up with magic in a faint golden aura. On the other side of the door stood a white mare, who looked down at her with a smile.

“Oh, hello there, Marie.” The mare welcomed the filly, “You’re home early.”

“Hi Mom!” The little unicorn squeaked. “Yeah, my friends had to go home for lunch. We’re all going to meet again at the park in a couple hours.”

“Did you and your friends have fun?”

“Uh huh!” Marie beamed.

“Well that’s good.” The mother replied happily, when all of a sudden an explosion pop echoed through the house coming from the kitchen. Their eyes shot open, and the white mare turned around with perked ears. “Dyno?? Is everything alright in there??”

“Uhhh, everything’s fine, Altruise!” A stallion’s voice exclaimed nervously from within the house, “Ummm do we have any more broccoli? I uh, sort of… blew up our supper again.”

Altruise sighed amusingly, “I’ll go out and get some…”

“Okay, thanks honey.” The stallion from the other room exclaimed enthusiastically. “Uhhh, could you get some paper towel while you’re out? I kind of… made a mess in the kitchen…”

The white mare rolled her eyes, “Yes dear.”

“Dad’s cooking again?” Marie didn’t sound amused.

Altruise nodded with a bit of a giggling smirk, “Afraid so.” That said, she trotted out of the house and began heading downtown. Turning back to her daughter she smiled. “I’ll be back in twenty minutes or so.”

“Hey mom?” The filly trotted up to her mother and sat on her haunches, “I um… can we talk?”

“Huh? Well of course.” Altruise turned to her daughter with perked ears to listen. “What is it, sweetie?”

“Well, you see, I um…” The filly’s ears lowered, and she tilted her head with a sigh, “All of my friends can do magic already, but I can’t yet! What gives?”

“Give it time.” The white mare exclaimed with a smile, “Don’t forget my stories I’ve told you. Be yourself; it’ll come naturally, when it’s meant to.”

“Yeah, I know.” Marie sighed, “I just want my magic now!”

Altruise giggled and shook her head in amusement, “You’re so much like I was at your age.”

“I am?”

“Oh most definitely.” Altruise grinned and sat on her haunches next to her daughter, “I was the last unicorn in school to learn magic. And I was always so frustrated with myself for not being able to cast a spell.”

“You were?” Marie blinked at that, “I mean, you’ve always told me how your first spell was very powerful… You were scared of your magic, right?”

“I was, yes.” Altruise admitted with a nod, “And the reason it came out so powerfully, was because I tried too hard. And over my foal years, I’ve trained to use my magic for the wrong reasons…” She lowered her head, “I became cruel and coldhearted, because vengeance seemed to be the only thing I was willing to listen to. But sometimes what we want is not always the right thing.”

“Grandma and Grandpa would be proud of you, Mommy.”

Altruise turned to her daughter and smiled at that.

“I know what you did wasn’t you. Not at all.” Marie exclaimed, “Dad told me that you saved Equestria in the end of all that by bringing the moon back in the sky when it was falling.” She pointed a hoof at the dark crack in Altruise’s horn, “Is that how you got a broken horn?”

The white mare nodded modestly, “It is. And even Princess Celestia herself told me I’d never be able to cast magic again with it broken.” She stood up and pat her daughter on the head, “Your Grandpa was a pegasus who broke his wing as a foal, and was told he’d never fly. But he taught me to never give up. Being broken never stopped him, and it never stopped me either.” Stroking a hoof through her daughter’s mane, she continued. “If you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything. Some things take time, but with determination and patience, you will become exactly what you were destined to be.” A sigh, and she put her hooves down, “If you look for your purpose in the wrong path, you can become somepony you were never meant to be. Follow your heart; not your desires in selfishness.”

Marie put that to thought, and nodded to her mother with a smile. She then raised a brow and tilted her head, “Didn’t you get your cutie mark before you were able to cast magic? That’s what Dad said.” She glanced down at her blank flank, “Is that unusual? What if I get my cutie mark first?”

The mother giggled that Marie was more concerned about her magic than she was about her cutie mark. She put a hoof to her chin and put that to thought, “Hmm, well, it’s more often that a unicorn gains their magic before their cutie mark, yes. My magic was pretty late for my age.” She cleared her throat and tried sounding more reassuring, “But don’t worry about getting your cutie mark first. There’s no shame in that either! And if your magic comes late, then that’s just the way things are! That’s how you were made, and how you were meant to be.”

“Well, it’s still kind of hard.” Marie exclaimed, “I’m still holding a pencil in my mouth in class, while the rest of the class is able to use their magic to write in their books…”

Altruise smiled, “Don’t worry, I know how you feel about that. I was in that same boat when I was in school.” She snickered and pat her daughter on the shoulder, “Just you wait! I bet your magic will be spectacular.” She leaned forward to emphasize her exclamation, “But magic is not all that made me who I was…”

“Huh?” Marie raised a brow, “I don’t understand.”

“Being able to do what everypony else does doesn’t make a pony significant.” Her mother warmly explained, “The thing that makes us all who we are is our connection; our bonds between one another. Friends, family…” She stood up and solemnly smiled, “A wise pegasus once told me… Don’t forget who you are.”

* * * * *

Altruise sauntered onward through Trottingham, heading downtown to get her groceries. A few ponies along the way greeted her with hellos and respectable smiles. As she pressed on, she closed in toward the center of town, where a rebuilt statue of Princess Celestia stood, and her mother and father standing on either side of her.

The mare paused for a moment, looking forlornly at the statues. A sigh, and she trotted toward them to pay her respects. Slowly approaching the three statues, she looked up to them, and sat on her flank on the cobblestone path. A cold chill rushed through her mane as she sighed and cleared her throat.

“Celestia… Thank you for this chance… I don’t know where I would be right now if it wasn’t for you.” She murmured out loud to the Princess’ statue, and then turned to look at her mother.

“Mom… Thank you for sharing with me what it meant to be a loving pony… You were always so kind and so gentle. To everypony…” Chewing on her lip, she turned to her father. A sigh, and she murmured a whisper.

“Dad… Thank you for teaching me to never give up… To always believe in myself… No matter what the outcome, no matter how impossible things may seem… No matter what the loss, no matter what little gain…”

A pause… Tears suddenly filled her eyes, and she lowered her head to let the tears fall to the ground. A gasp, and she looked back up to the three statues with glistening eyes.

“Thank you all…” A warm smile, Altruise turned to look at her cutie mark.

* * * * *

The End…

* * * * *

Author Notes: There is a possible sequel planned, so keep a lookout for it! Before I get into writing that however, there are other fictions I have in mind which I’d like to write first. This was my first My Little Pony fanfic; I hope you enjoyed it.

Unforeseen Doom

Altruise stood dumbfounded as Nebulous floated overhead with his flapping faux wings. A clash of lightning lit the sky as the rain continued to pour down on the ponies. Glaring down at the ponies beneath him, Nebulous chuckled to himself through his crooked gritting teeth.

“You lied to me!” Altruise screamed through her tears of anger and disgust, “This entire time?!”

Nebulous shook his head at her in pity, “So useless, so pathetic.”

“Answer me!!” Altruise roared from below. “Everything you said? It was all a lie?!”

“Hmmm…” Nebulous scratched his chin and grinned, “Well, not everything. My parents were murdered like I said they were.”

Altruise just frowned at that.

“They didn’t approve of the way I was studying my magic.” The dark flying unicorn shrugged, “So I killed them.” He declared with a cackling voice, “They were just a waste of space, and got in my way.”

“That’s disgusting…” Altruise shook her head in disbelief.

“Pfff, so I’ve killed a few ponies.” He pointed a hoof, “And you single-handedly destroyed Canterlot, murdering thousands.”

Altruise backed away and went wide-eyed at that comment. “I-I…”

Twilight, who was knocked down earlier, had just gotten up to hear those words, and her eyes dilated, “W-what? Ca…Canterlot is… is destroyed…?”

“Yes, not so disgusting now, am I?” Nebulous murmured from the pit of his throat. “But I must admit, I did play part in that destruction…”

Altruise frowned and growled angrily.

“You want to know why you’re so powerful?” The dark unicorn grinned, “You want to know the truth?”

The golden mane unicorn winced at that.

“The reason you’re so powerful is because of me.” Nebulous declared with a cackle, “You were never born with that magic. I gave it to you.”

“I…” Altruise’s wincing eyes slowly opened with the sudden realization, “Celestia told me that you were there in Trottingham… the day I was born.” She raised her voice, “What did you do to me?!”

Nebulous grinned and explained, “I cast a spell that every unicorn can only cast one time in their life; so I only had one chance at this. It is a very high level spell, and due to the risks of using it, very forbidden by the Princess.” He pointed a hoof at her, “It’s called Horn Amplifier.”

“I… I read that spell in one of your books…” Altruise’s eyes widened and she whimpered, “You cast it on another unicorn by striking a connection of magic from either horn… The older the target unicorn is, the higher the chances are that the unicorn will die, with a fifty percent chance of killing them if they’re a mere foal… but if the unicorn survives, their magic throughout their life cycle will become far superior to the average unicorn…”

“You certainly did like studying those books, didn’t you…?” Nebulous chuckled, “That is correct. I had to pick a foal to cast it on for my plans to work…” He lowered his hooves as he explained, “Nineteen years ago, I broke into the Trottingham hospital to pick a foal… You just happened to be that lucky unicorn.” He sneered at her, “And wouldn’t you know it… you’ve casted that same spell on another pony; without even realizing it.”

“I… I what?” Altruise’s eyes widened, “What??”

Nebulous chuckled and pointed a hoof at the lavender unicorn, “You remember your old friend from school, don’t you?”

Altruise blinked a few times and turned to the purple unicorn, who glared back at her. Both of them were equally confused. It took Altruise a few moments, but soon she began to remember. Her eyes shot open, and she backed away from the mare, realizing that she was that foal she struck on the school playground all those years ago.

“Twilight?” Altruise gasped frantically with her epiphany, finally recognizing the mare.

Twilight went wide-eyed herself, remembering that day. “A-Altruise?”

“Hahaha… Celestia never told you did she, Twilight?” Nebulous grinned, “The Princess has kept you as her protégé for as long as she has because she was afraid of what you might become without her supervision.”

The lavender unicorn backed away, whimpering.

“As for you, Altruise; yes it is true, Celestia knew about the spell I cast on you when you were a foal. And so did your parents… They tried their hearts out to protect you from me since that day, and kept it a secret hoping you’d never have to know the truth.” A thunderous clash of lightning lit the storm-cloud sky as the dark unicorn laughed hysterically, “I’ve been planning this day every step of your life, since the moment you were born!”

“AAAAAH!!” Altruise suddenly snapped inside, and she thrust off the ground like a torpedo, launching up at the dark unicorn in the sky. With the full force of her self-propelling launch toward him, he just floated there waiting for her. The moment she reached a mere foot in front of him to knock him out of the sky, she was stopped by a sudden barrier of magic. “GAH!!” Colliding into the barrier was like slamming into a solid brick wall, and she flipped back a few times, trying to level herself out with her wings, shaking her dizzied head.

“Quite the temper you’ve built over the years.” Nebulous grinned at her, firing a black fireball at her from his horn. The dizzied unicorn had no time to react, and the fireball struck her with a loud explosion that echoed with the thunder and lightning. The explosion sent her hurling through the air, and she fell onto one of the Ponyville homes, crashing through the roof. Nebulous waited a few moments, and Altruise bulleted back out of the house, shattering through a window at the side, and she rocketed back up at him, screaming angrily.

As she launched toward him, she fired several powerful black fireballs of magic at him. The fireballs hurled toward the dark unicorn, and he caught all of them in an aura of his magic, stopping them in their tracks.

“So you want to play some catch, hm?” He grinned, and the fireballs all launched back at her. “Catch this then!”

Altruise went wide-eyed at the oncoming fireballs and she stopped in her tracks. Flying off to the side to dodge them, the black fireballs all steered toward her like seeking missiles. She tried swerving to dodge them, but they continued to follow her every path.

Meanwhile on the floor of Equestria, Twilight and the other ponies all approached the statue of Celestia. All in tears, Twilight stood in front of the statue looking up at the frozen eyes of the stone Princess.

“Celestia…?” She whimpered, “I… I don’t know if you can hear me or not right now… But if you can…” She sniffled and hiccupped as tears fell, “Thank you for everything you’ve ever done.” She wept and the other ponies all bowed in their respects for the Princess.

Closing her eyes tight to squeeze the tears out, Twilight opened them back up with a glare of determination. She took a few trots back, and stood preparing to activate a spell. “We need you back!”

Kneeling, her horn began to spark and illuminate. “Come back!” She cried, and she cast a beam of magic from her horn to the horn of the Princess. The other ponies all watched, and waited, hoping she could free Celestia from her stone prison.

“Come on!” Twilight gritted her teeth, trying to pour out as much magic as she could, “Please come back!”

Long moments passed, and her spell continued trailing into the statue, but nothing was happening. “Noooo, Celestia…” Twilight’s spell came to a stop, and she collapsed to her haunches sobbing. Her five friends all comforted her, and she looked up at them with sorrowful eyes.

“It’s alright, Sugarcube…” Applejack sighed.

“I can’t break her free…” Twilight whimpered, looking up at the Princess, “The spell Nebulous casted on her can only be broken if he alone frees her…”

“Like a security lock thing?” Pinkie Pie raised a brow.

“Yeah, I guess…” Twilight stood back up, looking at the other ponies, biting her lower lip, “I’m sorry, everypony… Celestia, she… she’s trapped…”

Back up in the sky, Altruise was constantly making loops and U-turns trying her heart out to dodge the black fireballs that were chasing her, but they kept getting closer. “AAAGH!” She growled angrily, and stopped in her tracks, turning back to face the oncoming fireballs. Daringly, she made a dash toward the black fireballs and flew through the center. On her way through them, they all made an inward U-turn toward her, and collided into each other with an explosion, setting all of the fireballs to die off.

After the fireballs were out of the way, Nebulous appeared right in front of Altruise after a quick teleportation. This caught Altruise off guard, and she hit the brakes, but not soon enough to get a solid buck to the jaw.

“OAGH!” Altruise flipped back a few times and rubbed her aching jaw with her hoof, shaking her dizzied head. Angrily, she glared at the dark unicorn who was laughing back at her.

“You really are a stubborn one, aren’t you.” Nebulous chuckled, “When will you ever learn.”

Altruise winced at that, “I don’t get it…” She growled, “I watched you die. I killed you.”

“What, the whole ash thing?” The dark unicorn laughed, “Haven’t you heard of a Phoenix Teleportation?”

“A… a what?” Altruise widened her eyes, remembering the spell from one of the books.

“That was an act.” Nebulous cackled, “I faked the whole fight; with the Phoenix Teleportation spell I was able to turn myself into ashes and regenerate in another location.” He grinned at her through his teeth, “I can’t believe you fell for that.”

“Well I’ll have to really kill you then!!” Altruise shrieked, flying after him again.

“Ugh… You are so naïve.” Nebulous rolled his eyes and charged a spell on his horn momentarily, and fired a large electrical beam at Altruise that hummed loud like thunder.

“Ah?!” Altruise was unable to dodge the attack, as it came at her too quickly. It struck her with its full force, and she fell out of the sky with her faux wings disintegrated. Flailing her hooves weakly through the air, she plummeted toward the ground along with the falling rain. She tried to reactivate her wing spell, but felt too weak and dizzy to pull it off. Unable to stop herself from the fall, she slammed into the wet ground with a splash of mud. A few moments of silence, and she tried to push herself back up with her hooves, but weakly collapsed back into the mud with another silent splash.

“Heh…” Nebulous glared down at her pitifully and rolled his eyes, “Now that that’s over with…” Looking up to the sky, he flew higher toward the clouds above. Glowing his horn, he began activating a spell to take control of the storm. “Let’s see that precious moon…”

While Nebulous was clearing the storm clouds, Altruise slowly lifted her head, and not far from her, Twilight was glaring down at her with a sparkling horn, frowning angrily. “You…” She snarled.

Altruise just looked at her, and though she felt strong enough to get back up and fight, she just trailed her eyes back to the ground, and rested her head in the mud. A silent whimper escaped her throat, and tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. She closed her eyes, and didn’t move.

Twilight raised a brow at Altruise’s reaction, and stepped forth with a growl, “What is the matter with you?”

“Just do it… Kill me…” Altruise whimpered, “I have nothing. I am nothing.”

The lavender unicorn hesitated her attack, and grumbled. She trotted slowly toward Altruise, and stood above her. Looking down at the downed unicorn, she muttered at her. “Why did you do it, huh?”

Altruise wasn’t sure how to respond. She felt too stupid about it to even answer.

“You realize… my parents lived in Canterlot.” Twilight throated angrily, tears rolling from her eyes.

“Your… parents?” Altruise raised her head and looked up at her. “Oh goddess…” She murmured and cried, putting her hooves over her head, “AaahhhhHH I’m just like him!” She sobbed, holding her head painfully, “W-what have I done?! Why?!” Screaming, she slammed her hooves in the mud a few times. “My life… it’s meaningless!”

“No life is meaningless.” Twilight solemnly replied, still frowning.

Altruise looked up at her with tearful eyes. “I-I don’t understand.” She whimpered, “Why aren’t you killing me?”

“Because, Altruise. Revenge is not the answer.” She looked up at Nebulous who was busy clearing the clouds, “That much I’m certain you’ve figured out by now.”

Altruise’s dumbfounded eyes wandered as she pondered to herself. Slowly, she stood up from the ground and weakly trailed her eyes to the lavender unicorn. “W-what can I even do?” She whimpered, “Everpony I’ve ever loved… they’re all gone…” She looked up at Nebulous with disgust, “He… he killed them… a-and he managed to get me to believe it was Celestia’s fault…” She looked at Twilight, who looked back at her, though Twilight was still frowning at her. Altruise whimpered, “H-how could anypony ever love me… ever again…?” Crying, she lowered her head and slouched. “I-I… I’m sorry…” she wept and hiccupped during her pitiful cries, “I-I’m so sorry…”

“If you’re sorry…” Twilight murmured, “Then now would be a good time to prove it.”

Altruise’s eyes opened a little, and she looked back up at the lavender unicorn. For a moment, she looked back up at Nebulous, and contemplated flying up to fight him. “Revenge has only ever brought me more hate…” She admitted, closing her eyes and turning away from the dark unicorn, “It never brought me happiness like I thought it would…” She opened her eyes and looked to the ground, seeing her reflection in a puddle. She frowned at herself painfully. “Just… look at me…”

“There’s always a chance for redemption, Altruise. No matter how deep of a hole you’ve buried yourself in.” Twilight exclaimed.

“How can that be…?” Altruise muttered, and looked up at Twilight, “Just look at all the things I’ve done…” She sighed and lowered her head, “Nothing I do could make up for what I did…”

There was a pause. Altruise raised her head, and trailed to look over to the crowd of ponies off in the far distance. “I… I can’t fix my life…” She said quietly, and began galloping toward the ponies, “But just maybe I can save theirs.”

Twilight watched Altruise run toward the ponies, and she smiled, following her.

Altruise approached the crowd of ponies, and they all noticed her coming closer. They turned toward her, all with frowns, and they all stood protectively. Altruise slowed to a stop and stood in front of the wall of angry ponies, and she lowered her ears. “I know you’re all mad at me.” She whimpered to them, “You have every right to be. And I could never be sorry enough for what I’ve done for you to forgive me.” She slowly trotted toward them. “But there is something I have to do.”

“Don’t come any closer!” One of the ponies stepped in front of her. Altruise stopped and trotted a couple steps back.

“It’s okay.” Twilight reassured them, “Let her through.”

The ponies in the crowd all looked at each other with uncertainty. All growling and glaring at her, they hesitated to allow Altruise to get anywhere closer. But Twilight hasn’t steered them wrong before, and so they obeyed, slowly trotting aside, clearing a path for Altruise to get through. Altruise glanced left and right at all of the ponies, and didn’t say much. She just nodded, and slowly trotted down the path of angry ponies on either side.

Altruise slowly and bravely soldiered toward Celestia’s statue. Ponies on either side of her cleared pathway glared at her, their eyes all following her with frowns as she continued.

Slowly, Altruise approached Celestia’s statue, and stood beneath her. A gulp, and she bowed, tensing her hooves. She closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow, and a calm beam of magic trailed from her horn to Celestia’s.

“What’s she doing…?” She heard angry voices whisper in the crowd among each other.

Altruise lowered her head, and tears continued forming, and her horn was glowing brighter. “Ah…!” She winced in pain.

“Altruise?” Twilight acknowledged that she was using a very large amount of magic.

“AhH!” The white unicorn cringed and her horn sparked and crackled menacingly. Then suddenly there was a faint cracking sound coming from the statue.

The eyes in the crowd all widened a little, as the statue slowly began to crack, starting up at the horn, and the tiny cracks slowly trailed down through the rest of the statue. Altruise growled in pain, holding onto the spell, and her legs began to tremble.

“It’s working?” Twilight’s raised a brow, wondering how that was possible if even she couldn’t free her. The spell that was cast on the Princess was only able to be broken by Nebulous’ magic. Her eyes shot wide open with the realization; part of Nebulous’ magic was within Altruise due to the Horn Amplifier spell.

Altruise knew full well that if she were to free Celestia, the Princess could come back at her and destroy her with ease if she so chose to. However, this didn’t stop her from trying. She knew this was something she had to do, no matter what the consequence.

“AAAAAAAH!!” Altruise shrieked, and the stone statue of the Princess continued to crackle and crumble, with tiny bits of stone rolling down the sides of the statue to the ground. Suddenly from within the split crevasses in the statue there was a faint light that began to shine brighter. The ground began to rumble, and from the bright cracks in the statue emerged sparks, and a golden glow like the sun. Then all at once, the statue exploded with bits of rock flinging off of the Princess, which made all of the ponies shield their eyes in surprise.

Standing there, Princess Celestia blinked a few times, and glanced over at all of the ponies who looked up at her with gaping maws. She then looked down at Altruise, who was now on her haunches, cowering from the Princess.

Whispers from the crowd were heard. “Goddess… She’s free…”

“What’s the Princess gonna do?”

“She’s gonna banish her…” Another voice declared, “Or kill her…”

Celestia glared down at Altruise, and she frowned at her. “Altruise, what is the meaning of this?”

“I…” Altruise winced, and slowly looked up at her, “I was wrong.”

The Princess just raised a brow at that.

“Please don’t forgive me for the things I’ve done. For I could never forgive myself…” Altruise whispered.

Celestia looked up at the ponies in the crowd, and slowly trailed her glare back down to Altruise. “You know very well what I could do to you…” She said in a threatening voice.

“Yes…” Altruise admitted.

“But you persisted in freeing me otherwise.” Celestia added with a less intimidating voice, standing taller.

Altruise looked up at her, remaining in her bowing posture.

“Freeing me was a very noble thing to do, Altruise.” She murmured, “And very brave.”

“Give me one last chance…” Altruise pleaded, “Give me a chance… to redeem myself. To give myself a purpose.” She lowered her head, “I could never fix my wrongs…” In tears, she looked back up at her, “But I want to do something right…”

Celestia looked up at the crowd, who were all waiting on her to answer. She looked back down at Altruise with half-open eyes. “What do you propose?” She murmured.

Altruise looked up at Nebulous, who had now cleared the sky, exposing the stars and the moon. “If I don’t stop him, Equestria will surely die…” She glanced at Celestia’s wing. “For your wing… for Canterlot and the lives lost… and for everything else… I’m sorry…”

With that, Altruise turned to Twilight and trotted up to her. “Twilight… Give me the Element of Magic…”

There was chatter among the crowd hearing this.

“What?” Twilight raised a brow, “Why?”

“You’ve put yourself through enough to stop me…” Altruise murmured, “I won’t let you, nor anypony else, go through any more pain. I will fight him myself. Not for revenge… But to ensure Equestria’s safety.”

Twilight blinked a few times, and she looked over to the Princess. There was a short pause, but Celestia nodded. Nodding back to her, Twilight looked back to Altruise, and her tiara glowed and levitated off her head, and slowly it trailed over to Altruise, and she placed it upon her brow.

Altruise briefly bowed respectfully to Twilight, and she turned to the other five of her friends with the other Elements. “I know you all probably hate me right about now…” She said to them somberly, “But if I’m going to stop him, I need your help.”

The other five just wandered their eyes, avoiding eye contact.

“Stay down here with the others, and please, just believe in me…” With that, Altruise’s faux wingspan reappeared on her shoulders, and she spread them out. She turned to Celestia and sighed, “Princess… I need you to do something as well…”

The Princess nodded, respecting her motives. “What is it?”

“When I leave to fight, use your magic to put up a barrier. Protect the ponies on the ground, and don’t let anything through.” Altruise murmured, “And don’t let anypony out to try and help me…”

There was a brief pause, but Celestia nodded. “As you wish.”

Altruise turned around, glancing at all of the ponies one last time. Looking up at Nebulous, she gulped, and looked back to the Princess. Without wasting any more time, she turned back to the sky, and with a thrust of her wings, she launched up into the air after Nebulous. Celestia then did her part, and her horn glowed with her golden aura, and a golden magical barrier surrounded the ponies on the ground, incasing them in a shield.

Flying toward the dark unicorn in the sky, he looked down at her, seeing her coming. He then noticed Celestia’s golden shield on the ground. “What…?” His eyes widened and furrowed. “She’s free…?” He growled angrily.

Altruise flew up to him at eye level, and she stopped a few meters away from him. “I’m done being your puppet.” She declared, “I will not allow you to harm another soul.”

Nebulous rolled his eyes at her and grumbled, “You just don’t know when to give up, do you?” He then noticed the tiara on her head. Furrowing his eyes, he glared at her. “Why do you persist??”

“In the past twelve years, you’ve been training me to fulfill my destiny.” Altruise spread her wings and prepared for battle. “This is my destiny.”

* * * * *