Justice

“Ty!!!”

“Please Ty wake up!!”

“Wake up!!!!!!”

I sit bolt upright in the bed and groggily look at Twilight screaming at me. Even through my drowsiness I can sense the panic and desperation in her voice. Only when she starts to pull me out of the bed do I see the blue fire that has engulfed the room. I finally snap out of my daze.

“Twilight! What’s going on?”

I cough, even though the blue fire appears to be magical, it is still putting off a lot of smoke.

“I don’t know, but we have to get out of here!” She frantically says, “I’m going to get Spike!”

With that she dashes out of the room.

I grab my sword and rush after her, while covering my mouth and nose with my sleeve. Once I am out into the hallway, I see Twilight emerge from Spike’s room with Spike on her back. We quickly run down the stairs, all the while dodging patches of spreading blue fire. Once we reach the bottom I run ahead and try to open the door. It doesn’t budge.

I look behind me, “Twilight, the door is jam-” A purple bolt streaks past me and blows the door off it’s hinges. Twilight gallops past me through the hole she created and I follow. Once safely outside, Twilight sets Spike down and we all take deep, gulping breaths.  Twilight and I look back at the Library. The blue fire has completely engulfed it, and we back even farther away from it due to the waves of cold emanating from it.

“That has to be magical fire, right?” I ask Twilight once I regain my breath.

She nods, “Yeah, no doubt about it…”

I sense the sad note in her voice, and the full reality of what just happened sets in.

“I’m so sorry about your house Twilight… and your books.” I lamely say. I can’t really think of anything better to say, consoling ponies hasn’t exactly been a strong suit of mine.

She bursts out sobbing.

I pull her into a hug, and she cries on the shirt she made for me. Spike hugs her as well, while doing his best to calm her down.

After a few moments, Twilight finally speaks, “Years of research, hundreds of books… all gone…”

I say nothing and just hold her tighter. My body suddenly stiffens as a loud, familiar voice attacks my eardrums.

“THY BOOKS ARE THE LEAST OF THY WORRIES, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

We quickly pull apart and turn to face her.

Luna.

“What are you doing here?!?” I yell at her.

“ISN’T IT OBVIOUS? I HAVE COME TO END THEE!”

Between the cold fire and Luna’s shouting, almost all of the Ponyville residents have woken up. About half the town has gathered in a large circle about fifty feet away from us, with more joining every second. Their gasps of surprise at seeing me turned into a low murmur as they took in the blazing blue fire and Luna.

“If you want to fight me, so be it! But leave Twilight out of this!” I step protectively in front of Twilight.

“I HAVE BEEN SENT BY MY ELDEST SISTER TO END THOU AS WELL! “

She points a hoof at Twilight. Twilight steps around me, and I see fury blazing in her eyes.

“Nopony destroys my books and gets away with it!”

I realize she is more upset about the books than her house or the threat to her life. I chuckle, but it quickly dies in my throat as Twilight’s mane and tail burst into red fire. Her horn glows a deep purple as she takes a stance.

Seeing Luna charge her horn, I summon my armor and shield while drawing my sword.

“You don’t have to fight us Luna, we have you outnumbered two-to-one!” I call out to her.

The ponies surrounding us back up even further in expectation of a battle.

“Actually, make that three-to-one.” Spike says, stepping forward.

I glance at him curiously. “What could a baby dragon do?” I think.

Twilight turns to Spike and fires a spell at him. Within seconds Spike is five stories tall.

I stare up at him wide-eyed.

“Holy shi-”

He breathes a giant plume of fire, cutting me off.

I glance back at Luna, and I am disturbed to see her smiling. Her horn glows, and Spike is surrounded by a cloud of darkness. I hear a roar echo from it, which slowly gets quieter. After a few seconds, the cloud disappears, leaving a normal-sized and dazed looking Spike sitting on the ground.

“THOU ART NOT THE ONLY EXPERT MAGIC USER HERE, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

Twilight growls, and fires a purple bolt at Luna.

It bounces off an invisible barrier around her.

The battle has begun.

I rush forward, and despite the heavy armor, I am upon Luna in seconds. She doesn’t even try to get away as I swing my kilij straight down on her neck. It passes right through and sticks into the ground.

“Wha-”

I blue bolt hits me in the side and I go flying. I hit a building, and the wind is knocked out of me. I heave myself up into a kneeling position, and I look up just in time for the fake Luna to disappear. I see Twilight surrounded by five Lunas. The Element of Justice finally speaks into my mind.

“Knowing Justice is to be able to see through the lies of this world. Concentrate.”

I focus with all my might at the five Lunas, and four of them begin to flicker.

“Twilight, your right!”

Twilight, with mane and tail still ablaze, turns right and fires another purple bolt. It connects and the real Luna staggers back while the apparitions disappear. I get up and rush to Twilight’s side. Luna looks annoyed, but is nowhere near scared. We both rush forward as one, and Luna takes to the air. Twilight continues firing spells at her, but I can only stand there and watch helplessly. I get an idea, and I sheathe my kilij. I summon my other sword, and extend it until it can reach Luna. I begin swinging my sword at her, and she dodges my sword and Twilights spells with ease.

“THE ONLY REASON THOU ART NOT DEAD IS BECAUSE WE WANTED SOME SPORT, BUT THOU ART WEAK! THOU DOST NOT DESERVE THY POWER!”

Her horn glows, and my sword disappears, along with my shield and armor.

I look towards Twilight, “What did she do?!?”

Luna begins shooting blue fire at us, and Twilight erects a shield that covers us both.

“She locked your element. It should automatically unlock in about an hour or so. It is something only she can do. When Celestia and Luna found the Elements, they created spells for controlling them. They never got Justice, but it is the same as the others.”

“Crap… what now?”

Twilight’s mane and tail return to normal, her rage apparently gone.

“I don’t know… I can’t hold this shield for much longer. I will try and pull her down, and you use your sword to attack, okay?”

“Alright, as good a plan as any.”

It is then I notice Spike in the shield with us.

“Spike, once this shield lets up, I need you to get out of here. Get somewhere safe, alright?”

He nods, too scared to speak because of the fireballs whizzing towards us.

Twilight’s shield fades to nothing, and Twilight quickly sends a tendril of magic at Luna. The tendril catches her hoof, and drags her down to earth. I rush forward, drawing my sword. Luna breaks the tendril before I arrive, and sends a bolt of pure energy at me. It hits me with a solid hump, and I fall down. I see another fly right over me, and another thump tells me Twilight is hit. Luna slowly trots towards us.

“THOU TWO ART TRULY PATHETIC! I WAS HOPING FOR SOME FUN, BUT ALL WE RECEIVED WAS AN UNWORTHY F-”

Luna suddenly stops talking.

In the glow from the burning Library, I see blood cascade down her neck from where her throat was slit.

She falls lifeless to the ground.

The crowd gasps in shock.

I stare at the body in an uncomprehending daze.

Several moments pass, and I am roused by Twilight trotting next to me. I heave myself to my feet and look around for whoever did it. The scared and shocked faces of the crowd are all that greet me. Until…

“Hello Ty… even though it hasn’t been very long, did you miss me?”

I froze.

I easily recognize the voice, but there is something else about it that has me terrified.

Twilight and I turn completely around, and face the burning library.

Hovering in front of us, is Fluttershy.

But she isn’t the same.

Pastel yellow coat has been replaced with the deepest black, and her normally light pink mane is a bright red. But it is the eyes that caught me off guard. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. Her eyes were colder than the blue fire behind her, devoid of all emotion. A long, wicked knife lay beside her, the blade saturated with blood. And to top it all off, she was riding on a pink cloud that appeared to be made out of… cotton candy?

“Fluttershy… is that really you?”

The blue fire gave her an eerie glow as she spoke.

“I’m wounded Ty, only gone for a couple of days and you already don’t recognize me… how sad.”

Her voice is a complete deadpan.

“What happened to you?!?” Twilight says in shock.

“I made a new friend, that’s all.” Fluttershy replies.

I look over my shoulder at Luna’s dead body.

“What really happened to you? The Fluttershy I know would never have done that.”

Fluttershy rolls her eyes.

“Dimwit. The Fluttershy you knew is dead. You should know, because you killed her.”

Her words are like a spear of ice to my heart. Mostly because they are true.

“Fluttershy… I never meant to hurt you.” I respond, taking a step closer. Twilight follows.

“Well you should have thought about that before you played with my heart, and then ripped it out.” Fluttershy says disinterestedly, while examining a hoof.

I can only look down in shame at those words. Twilight steps forward.

“Fluttershy, why have you teamed up with Discord?”

“Because killing ponies is fun, and he has given me the means to do it more often.” She pats the cotton candy cloud affectionately. “Luna didn’t even see me coming, these clouds are pretty fast. He also gave me this knife.” She points to the knife beside her. “So much more fun than just using my hooves, quicker too.”

Twilight and I both take a step back, completely horrified.

Fluttershy resumes speaking.

“Y’know, Celestia won’t be happy when she hears about what I did, but she will blame you two anyway. You should leave now, and go kill the dragon. That’s what you’re going to do, right?”

We just glare at her.

“Whatever, just trying to give you a warning, that’s all. I have places to be, so I will see you two very soon. Goodbye.”

“Fluttershy, wait!”

The cotton candy cloud speeds off into the night, taking her with it.

Twilight and I stand together, looking off into the distance where Fluttershy went. A crash breaks us out of our reverie and we turn to see the library fall in on itself.

“I guess it’s time to go…” Twilight mutters.

I nod.

Together we walk away from the destroyed library, and towards the crowd. A unicorn gallops back to their house, and quickly returns. As we get closer to the crowd, we hear mutters of condolence and good luck. The unicorn approaches us, and using magic levitates a bag of food towards us. I accept it with a solemn nod. The unicorn backs up into the crowd. I sling the bag over my shoulder, and we walk out of Ponyville, heading towards the mountains.

A/N Yeah this chapter is pretty short. If you think about it the chapter only covers about 30 minutes or so of actual time, so that may explain why it is so short. If there are mistakes, point them out and I’ll fix them.

Please let me know how it is going, see you.