Twilight sighed as she sank into the artificial hot spring in the royal baths of Canterlot Castle, the heated water soothing her still tender chest and wings. Running her hands over the numerous new scars on her chest, she reflected on the situation that gave them to her.

‘I still can’t believe that the Ligers were that goddamn brazen. Seriously, going up against a pair of immortals like that was not a good plan.’ She thought.

Two days prior

Twilight made her way to the throne room adjusting her fatigues as she walked. Approaching the door to the chamber, she gave one last critical look at her uniform, making sure that her new rank tab, a subdued version of her cutie mark, was straight and secure before conjuring a mirror. Looking in the mirror, she checked to make sure her mane was still securely pulled back into a bun and that there were no flyaways. Dispelling the mirror, she took the last few steps towards the doors, nodding at the guards who lit their horns to open the massive oaken doors.

“Presenting Princess-General Twilight Sparkle.” The crier announced as she crossed the threshold.

Walking into the room, she marched up to the dias where the three thrones were situated, Celestia and Luna already seated in theirs. In front of the dias was something that nearly cause her measured pace to falter.

Standing in front of the thrones stood over thirty Ligers, all in uniform. What struck her was the styling and color of them.

‘Jet black uniforms with silver piping that looks like it was pulled from a World War II museum? Gotta be seeing things. Get a grip Warlock.’ She thought to herself as she approached her throne with a polite nod to her fellow alicorns.

Taking a seat, she got a good look at the front of the uniforms, and more importantly that all of the Ligers were armed.

On the collars of all the assembled men, was a pair of stylized lightning bolts. The weapons that they carried gave her pause.

‘Shit. Those are StG 42s. Not good.’ She thought after recognizing the weapons.

She turned her attention to Celestia as she began speaking.

“You wished an audience Field Marshal. Now that we are all here, state your business.” She said, her tone guarded and direct, a change from her usual when greeting dignitaries.

‘Guess I got through to her. Picked a hell of a time to grow a pair with these guys though. Got a ton of civilians in the crossfire if this goes south.’ Twilight thought as she looked around the room, not turning her head. Up on one of the galleries, she saw her brother. Catching his eye, she twitched her hand, forming the hand signals that she had been able to teach him before the returned to Terra. He nodded, before signalling his readiness.

“We come here asking for the unconditional surrender of the kingdom of Equestria to the Liger nation.” The Field Marshal said, confidence in his voice.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed and the sound of ringing metal started in her ears. A quick glance showed that no one else seemed to hear it.

“You dare enter our kingdom, our citadel and demand that we surrender?” Luna said, disbelief in her voice. “Surely you jest.”

“I am serious your Highness.” The Field Marshal said, being both respectful and sarcastic at the same time.

“Then you have made your second mistake this week.” Twilight said speaking up for the first time.

“Second mistake?”

“Yes. Your first was the megaspell strike on Baltimare. But coming here, it just proves that you, your men, and your leader are bigger fools with matching egos than We thought.” She said as she stood, the ringing in her ears growing louder.

“You dare insult the Fuhrer?!?”

Twilight gave a sad chuckle as she shook her head. “I was really hoping that I was wrong when I saw those uniforms and those weapons. Seems like history is repeating, just on a different world. But yes I dare! I dare to challenge the will of a mad man bent on global conquest! I dare to challenge those that are a threat to freedom and liberty!”

“Your say that, when you are all tyrants!” The Field Marshal shouted back.

Twilight gave a grim smile. “Tyrants? I think not, because if we were you would have been ash in the wind once you got started on your unprovoked invasions of your neighboring countries. As to the nation of Equestria surrendering?” Twilight pause to look over her shoulder at the elder alicorns. Both gave her nods of consent. “You can tell your boss, that we will meet him on the field of battle and that we will break his will to fight before we break his will to live. We will sink your navy, destroy your air force and obliterate your army. What we do to you will be spoken of for the next ten thousand years.” She said, the ringing nearing its crescendo.

“Enough of this we have our orders. Your surrender or your heads. I would have preferred to be civilized, but you forced my hand. Open fire!”

“Shining barrier! Around the combatants!” Twilight shouted as she lunged forward, a hand and a half sword appearing in her right hand in a flash of lavender light as she did so, her mane and tail becoming undulating nebuli as she unleashed her aura.

A dome of pink energy sprang to life around the fighters. The Liger troops finally bringing their weapons to bear on the alicorn.

The sudden appearance of the charge, the sword materializing and the shield appearing caused the troops to pause, costing two to lose their lives as Twilight’s blade split one from the hip to the shoulder in an upward strike and the other to decapitation from her follow through.

28

Spinning on the balls of her feet, Twilight took three more heads before raising the blade high and bringing it down, cleaving one Liger in two, her alicorn strength and the enchantments on the blade making for little resistance.

24

Finally, the remaining Ligers began to fire, their automatic weapons spewing out leaden death.

Twilight twitched slightly as a round glanced off her right shoulder and punched through her wing as two more punched through her left wing, blood staining her feathers red.

But the shining death of her blade never faltered even as she took hits to her legs and torso, taking another pair straight across the waist before switching to a reverse grip, and stabbing backwards into the chest of another.

21

Suddenly her left arm began to glow and the hearts of four more were ripped from their chests, encased in lavender magic, stunned looks on the owners faces before they dropped dead.

17

One enterprising Liger charged the warrior princess, only to be back handed with a titanium alloy fist so hard his grey matter explode from the opposite side of his head as Twilight looked at another and tilted her head to the side as his followed but at such a speed the sickening crack of his cervical vertebrae snapping could be heard.

15

The edge of her blade began to glow as she held the blade over her left shoulder, sweeping it to the right, a blade of solidified mana arching out, catching nine across the chest before passing through them, their bodied hitting the ground in pieces.

6

A twitch of her magic materialized a scabbard on her belt, she then sheathed the blade after flicking off the blood with a twitch of her wrist, sending a blade of blood into the Field Marshal’s leg, causing him to drop his pistol and fall to the ground, his leg missing below the knee.

5

She picked up a pair of the rifles and after reloading them, she smiled at the remaining troops.

Licking her lips, she said: “My turn.” before pulling the triggers of the rifles, the rounds tearing through the last of the standing troops.

Once the last shell casing hit the ground, she dropped the rifles and walked over to the Field Marshal.

“Here is what you didn’t factor into your plans. That I would have returned and that I would be a much more proficient fighter than you could have imagined. I will tell you now. You have lost. Your bosses just don’t know it yet.” She said as she stooped to pick up the Marshal’s discarded pistol.

“You can’t do this. Please have mercy.” He begged.

Twilight looked at him with the dead eyes of a hardened warrior.

“Mercy? What do you know of mercy? Did you show it to any of your victims or prisoners before you shipped them off to those camps?” She asked, causing the Liger’s eyes to widen. “Oh yes, we know about them. I also know what they are for, I have seen something similar before, and that is why you will get no mercy from me.” She said as she pointed the pistol at the Field Marshal’s head.

The Liger looked at her in fear, seeing her not as an alicorn, but as a valkyrie, the warrior women of legend.

That was his last thought as the last bullet in his weapon drilled into his head.

Twilight dropped the empty weapon, her aura dying down as the shield dropped. The scabbard she conjured dispelled on its own, causing the blade to clatter to the floor.

She took a single staggering step before collapsing as the adrenaline and magic stopped pumping and her heart stopped, nothing left for it to move.

She had woken up about twelve hours later in the castle infirmary. She was told that she had over three dozen bullet wounds five of which had gone through her heart.

‘If I had still been a unicorn, I would not have woken up.’ She thought as she felt the star patterned scars over her sternum.

Her ears twitched as she heard the door to the baths open.

“Twilight, how are you feeling?” Celestia asked.

“Honestly, still feeling like shit. Immortality is nice, but that almost dying hurts like a bitch.” Twilight replied.

She heard Luna laugh at her response.

“Indeed it does Twilight Sparkle. Healing from mortal wounds is never pleasant.” The Night Princess said as she and her sister entered the bath.

Twilight watched the pair slide into the water.

“Huh. So I guess that is an alicorn thing then.” She said.

“What is Twilight?” Celestia asked.

Twilight stood up, showing the pair her sheath for a few seconds before sitting back down.

“Ah, yes, well it is something that normally happens after the third decade or so after ascension. At least as far as we can tell.” Celestia said, a blush staining her cheeks.

“Well, considering that there were only the two of you for the longest time, you didn’t really have a good sample set to compare. Though a heads up that it was possible would have been nice.” She said as she splashed the Solar alicorn.

Celestia sputtered as she clear the water from her eyes, causing Twilight and Luna to chuckle.

“So have you told Cadance about the impending change? She has been an alicorn for almost twenty years right?” Twilight inquired.

Celestia’s eyes widened and she shook her head guiltily.

“Well, Shining is going to be in for a surprise. That is if they haven’t been getting up to half the kinky shit that they could be with magic at their disposal.” Twilight said with a chuckle.

“What do you mean?” Luna asked.

“Temporary gender change spells are a thing.” Twilight said simply.

Luna’s eyes widened in surprise before her face took on a contemplative expression, causing Twilight to laugh.

“They only last a few hours and they are not fertile, so what ever plans are running through that perverted mind of yours won’t work.” She told the darker alicorn.

“How would you know what I am thinking of?” Luna asked, a regal eyebrow arching.

Twilight smirked. “I lived as a male for almost forty years. I know how guys think, and as someone who is bisexual, being able to swap places would be an amazing experience. Of course now I don’t have to.” She said, gesturing to her submerged lap.

“Very true. Is there a pony that you have your eye on?” Luna asked as Celestia sank lower and lower into the water which was now just below her nostrils.

Twilight sighed. “There is one, but I’m not sure if she would return the romantic feelings. That and she is a good distance away and right now I have more important things to worry about right now.” She said, rubbing a hand over her shoulder, the shiny flesh from one of many glancing shots she received visible through the still regrowing fur.

“True enough.” Luna said.

Twilight turned her head to Celestia.

“Now that I have a few moments of your undivided attention, I have a few pressing questions about Sunset Shimmer.” She said.

Celestia sat up to move her mouth above the waterline and nodded.

“Was she ever charged with anything when she ran off?” Twilight asked.

“No she was not. I never intended to drive her away like that.” Celestia said.

“But it was getting close to the thousandth year and the one who would bear the Element of Magic had not appeared. So when you received word of an extraordinarily powerful unicorn, you hoped and prayed she would be the one. But then when she got her cutie mark, you knew she wasn’t the one. And instead of treating her like you had up until that point, you let her ego and ambition get the better of her and instead of sitting down and bloody talking to the girl, you chastise her, show her the mirror that showed her the image of her as an alicorn and then said she wasn’t ready with no explanation. Then I come along. You see the one that is destined to save your sister and start paying attention to me more than you did to Sunset. I did a little digging before all this happened. I found out that Sunset was an orphan. Did you not realize that she had probably come to see you as her mother? That all she was trying to do was prove herself worthy of your love? Instead one mistake, serious as it was, and you cast her aside. I basically mind raped an entire town, just because I thought I was going to be tardy on an assignment and what happens? I get a disappointed look and a stern talking to.” Twilight shook her head. “Once this is over, I plan to go and see Sunset and the girls on the other side of the mirror for a couple of weeks. I plan to offer Sunset a place to stay should she desire to return. If she does, unless you are planning on getting on your knees and begging her for forgiveness, I wouldn’t even come see her. The emotional damage that you did to both of us is beyond words. You need to stop playing the long game so much when it will affect an individual more than the whole. I understand that you didn’t want to burden me, and I appreciate it, but telling me to stay out of the books and go make some friends? When I had just told you we were on the verge of armageddon? What would have happened if I hadn’t figured it out? What was your backup plan?”

Celestia hung her head, tears starting to leak out of her eyes.

Twilight took pity on the mare and moved to give her a hug.

“I’m sorry for taking you to task on this stuff, but it needed to be said. You need to change how you handle ponies in one on one relationships, be they student, family, or lover. I don’t know what made you this way, but you need to learn to open up and let ponies in.” Twilight said softly.

Celestia returned the hug as her tears flowed.

“I’m sorry. After what happened with Starseeker, I haven’t truly allowed myself to get close to anyone.” She said.

“Who was Starseeker?” Twilight asked.

“She was my last consort, nearly five hundred years ago. We loved each other deeply, but she desired to remain with me forever. As she grew older, she turned to finding magical methods to extend her life or make herself immortal.” Celestia said quietly.

“Equivalent exchange.” Twilight said.

The other two alicorns looked at her with quizzical looks.

“It is the first law of Alchemy. For something to be gained, something of equal value must be lost. The price for such magic is high and most often not worth the cost.” Twilight explained.

“It wasn’t. Starseeker wound up turning to necromancy to preserve her life. She ended up becoming a monster. I had to banish her. I just couldn’t bring myself to destroy her, I loved her so much.”

“Was she a lich or something else?” Twilight asked.

“She was a vampire. She was able to walk during the day though, which struck me as odd. I had never seen one that was capable of that, even when we hunted them all down. They all burned when exposed to sunlight.” Celestia said, her voice thick with regret.

“I have, though they were legends and most of them applied to the original vampire who was known as Dracula on Earth. He was the first, it was the people that were turned that had the weakness to sunlight. She must have found a way to replicate the curse and negate some of the weaknesses. Where was she banished to?” Twilight asked.

Celestia thought for a moment before her eyes widened in shock. “I, I banished her th-through the mirror.” The repercussions of her actions coming full circle.

Twilight froze. “You were planning on telling me about her right?”

Celestia nodded numbly.

“Good. Because I will track her down and deal with her if she hasn’t been already.” Twilight said.

“Twilight…”

“The Starseeker that you knew and loved died five hundred years ago. What you sent through the mirror is a monster wearing her face.” Twilight said, hugging Celestia tighter. “I know of a way to dispose of her body to ensure she won’t be a danger anymore.”

“How is that?”

“Remove her heart and her head then burn them and her body in three separate fires before putting the ashes into three separate moving bodies of water that do not meet. Messy for sure, but effective.” Twilight replied.

“Then once this problem with the Ligers is dealt with, I will leave it in your hands.” Celestia said quietly, her head in the crook of Twilight’s neck.

“I understand. By your will, it shall be done.” Twilight replied.

After a few moments, the pair separated after Luna, tired of the morose tone the conversation had taken, splashed both of them with a wave of water.

The pair yelped, and after clearing their vision, retaliated against the mare. Laughter soon filled the chamber as the three indulged in the childish behavior.

Author's Note

And that was a pain to write. Hope you all enjoy it and the hints of what is to come in a planned sequel to this. Also, I added the Gore tag to cover the flashback scene.