What Shall be True

Every time it passed a pony, the wave picked up power.

The wave of raw energy circled around her as it approached Twilight.

Curling around, wrapping her in a bubble of blinding white light that shook all of creation.

It tightened down.

And Twilight felt herself start to glow with it.

Growing in size as the power permeated through her.

The straps and buckles holding her weapons onto her snapped and broke and fell away as she grew larger and larger.

The bubble changed color, turning into a mixture of rich purples and reds and golds, speckled with flecks of silver that looked like early evening stars.

And then it broke, the pressure wave sweeping throughout the entire brood.

Twilight dropped back down onto her hooves from where she had been floating.

The pressure in her mind was gone. As were all her injuries.

As she opened her eyes, they flashed white, radiating raw magical power she knew everypony could feel.

She was taller. Almost as tall as Celestia had been in Twilight’s time. In fact, she looked a lot like Celestia had, if Celestia had a dark purple coat and Twilight’s cutie mark. Her mane and tail weren’t made of hair anymore, but instead looked and felt like the fabric of the universe had bonded itself to her body. They were colored like the sky was at sunset.

At twilight.

She felt stronger. She felt vast and powerful and mighty. She felt like she had an ocean of boundless energy in her reach, and all she needed to do to use it was ask.

She felt infinite.

As that feeling set in, she stared back down at Chrysalis. She knew everypony…everything who could see her was stunned into immobility.

Not for long.

Chrysalis scampered to her hooves, her horn lighting with green fire. “I’ll kill you myself, you insolent little WRETCH!”

Twilight’s horn lit up in response, and she felt the whole world around her bend to her whim.

She packed it up into a ball at the tip of her horn, readying a beam to unleash at the Changeling Queen.

The Queen had her own magic blast ready, and they fired at the same instant. For just a brief moment, they were evenly matched. Then Twilight tapped just a little more into that ocean, and quickly overpowered her.

She ducked to the side, wings buzzing as she started hovering where she had teleported, and let loose another magical blast.

Twilight deftly leaped aside, spreading her wings and curling around as hard as she could to aim for Chrysalis.

The battle around them resumed, but Twilight paid it only the briefest of mind. She was safe for now, as long as her friends held out.

She fired a stream of flame from her horn as she got close, but Chrysalis ducked aside and fired a flame of her own into Twilight as she passed.

Twilight screamed, but kept enough presence of mind to cast a quick teleport to the far side of her target.

She kicked out with her hooves the instant she re-formed.

CRACK!

The Queen faltered, tumbling through the air for a moment, before teleporting again.

Twilight followed her spell, and ended up on the far side of the drone horde.

She chased the Queen, and just as she started to turn around, Twilight grappled onto her back.

She prepped the spell in her mind, only to be interrupted by a searing pain on her hindleg.

She kicked the drone away and blasted him with a magic bolt, but the distraction gave Chrysalis a chance to escape and-

Twilight’s breath was knocked from her lungs as Chrysalis shot a bolt right into Twilight, throwing her to the ground with enough force to make a crater.

She fired a second blast, but Twilight had since moved, teleporting up behind her and firing a bolt of her own. Which then became a beam that overpowered Chrysalis’ hastily-erected barrier and pressed her into the ground.

It didn’t kill her, though.

Twilight dropped to avoid another drone and landed on the ground, just in time for a self-healing Chrysalis to stand up and let out a ground-shaking cry.

She gripped an entire tower of Canterlot in her magic and threw it at Twilight.

Twi shot out of the way, gliding just over the ground as it crashed down not inches behind her.

The dust and rubble blew Twilight off balance and sent her tumbling to the ground.

Her everything ached, and her wings felt shot. But she pulled herself to her hooves…

…and immediately formed a barrier not milliseconds before Chrysalis’ beam would have hit her.

It pushed her back, forcing her to slide across the ground as she futilely pushed back. Her body was slick with sweat, and her breaths came harsh and ragged. The ocean of energy was nearly depleted, and almost felt like it was angry at her for using so much of it.

‘Just a little more! Please!’

She felt the surge of strength hit her as it agreed, and she pressed onto Chrysalis’ beam.

They were matching each other, their spells mashing together in a wave of light and heat at the middle.

Twilight was overpowering her. She could feel it.

A little more…

Chrysalis let out one last blast before dodging out of the way of Twilight’s torrent of magic, firing another bolt right into Twi’s foreleg.

She buckled and fell, and could see Chrysalis charging—

With a single howl of fury, Twilight blasted out a wave of Telekinetic force, tearing up everything in front of her.

Chrysalis was thrown to the ground, and Twilight galloped right for her, seizing her ch-

Something clamped on her back and bit down, and Twilight screamed in agony and was thrown to the ground by pain.

She spotted it, clinging to her. One of the drones had gotten through her friends and hit her.

A quick levitation, and Twilight tore it from her back, climbed on top of it, and crushed it with the very last of her magic.

Now for—

Chrysalis leaped from nowhere, slamming into Twilight in a way that broke a few ribs minimum.

She pinned Twi to the ground, and Twilight tried desperately to escape.

But the ocean had dried up…

“Say goodbye!” Chrysalis hollered as her horn lit up with whatever spell she planned to finish Twilight with.

She tried to fight, until she realized she had nothing left to fight with.

All she could do was close her eyes, and hope her end would be painless.

…wait…

…there was something...

Where the ocean of power once sat, there was nothing except a single drop.

One, tiny, miniscule drop

Enough for a little telekinesis…

Twilight opened her eyes again, still locked in the infinite moment just milliseconds before her death.

She reached out with her magic…

…and grabbed and twisted Chrysalis’ horn just as she started casting her spell.

Her horn broke in two, and whatever spell Chrysalis had been casting backlashed into her.

Power and pain were reverting from funneling out Chrysalis’ horn to drilling into her head.

Her hooves let off of Twilight to clasp at her face, along which hairline fractures grew and spread.

Twilight rolled over, on top of Chrysalis, just as raw magic tore Chrysalis open and poured out of her in a powerful explosive blast of green fire.

Twi felt herself get thrown into the air, consciousness moving farther and farther from her reach.

She didn’t know what height she was thrown to, but she knew she’d likely die from the fall.

If the burns on her gut didn’t kill her first.

‘Funny,’ Twilight thought to herself as she fell. ‘I never thought it’d end this way.’

‘But at least Equestria is safe…’

That thought hovered in Twilight’s mind as she faded into the deepest slumber she’d ever known.