The Red Horn

Kill…mangle…destroy…murder…

The airy voice spoke throughout the flaming village. Houses were aflame. Ponies screamed and foals cried. Ponies were injured from head to hoof. Blood dripped from their heads and nostrils. Elder ponies that fell dead were trampled on by others. A vivid read horn speared ponies that tried to run. Their blood sprayed from their bodies and smacked walls and other ponies. Small foals watched with big frightened eyes.

Kill…mangle…destroy…murder

The sky was maroon. The thick clouds were black. Ponies galloped away from something, only to be dragged on the ground by black tentacles. Not even little foals were spared. They were dragged into dark alleys. The only things being heard were screams in agony.

If you do these things…

   Some familiar ponies were groveling in the dirt. There coats were covered in dried blood. Two of ponies were Pegasi. Their wings were removed from their sockets. The other two were earth ponies. Their throats were had deep slashes in them. Their eyes were wide open with tears streaming out of them. The other pony was a white, beautiful unicorn. Her horn was ripped out of her head. Rivers of blood seeped out of where her horn used to be.

…you will gain power…

A giant hoof hovered above the hornless unicorn. It crushed the head of the unicorn with a great stomp. Her head split in two. Blood and brain matter spread itself on the ground. The Alicorn that caused all of this was none other than Twilight. She looked different though. Her coat was metal gray. Her straight mane was dark violet with no streaks in it. The white in her eyes were sap green, her irises were scarlet. Violet smoke lingered on the corners of her eyes. Her wings were wider and had sharper ends. She was taller. Her fangs were stained with blood. Her horn was a vivid red. She blasted a black magic aura out of her horn into the sky. The black aura was engulfed by a violet and neon green aura. She cackled a blood curdling cackle as the ground trembled underneath her.

Twilight jolted out of her slumber. Cold sweat ran down her body. She found herself in one of the castle bedrooms. The carpet was mint colored. The ceiling was painted dark blue. The tall windows were covered in navy blue drapes. One window was left open. The gentle breeze made the drape snap. The crystal boarders around the room twinkled from light in the hallway. The light got in from the space underneath the tall door. The canopy bed was held together by indigo crystals. The crystal nightstand had an oil lamp sitting on it. Elegant paintings of crystal landscapes hung on the walls. The room had a lovely aroma of vanilla and brown sugar. The only sounds being made were Twilight’s heavy pants.

The princess slammed her head into the pillows under hear. A sharp throbbing sensation passed through her head. Twilight rubbed her head. She didn’t know why she was in bed. She couldn’t even recall what happened earlier. All could remember was her friends indifference and the rest was a haze.

She stumbled out of bed and hauled her body to the bathroom. The bathroom had light pink walls, ceiling and floor. A cream colored claw-foot tub stood in the center on a crystal platform. The toilet bowl was made out of smooth cream colored crystal. The sinks were light pink as well. Twilight went up to the sinks. She glared at her reflection in the large mirror. Her eyes were fine. Even though there were small bags under her eyes. Her horn was a little thicker, but it was fine. Her coat and mane was a little unkempt, but that was nothing to worry about. She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. It was pink and fleshy. She glared at her teeth. Her teeth were not flat and had a pale yellow tint. They were sharp and radiant.

Twilight glowered at her teeth. She poked her tooth. She winced when her fang nipped her hoof. There was only a drop of blood on her hoof. She sealed up the nick with her magic.

“Where did the fangs come from?” Twilight said under her breath.

She looked into the mirror again. She noticed something off about the bathroom. When she entered it, the walls were light pink. Twilight turned around and saw the walls turn blood red. Everything in the bathroom vanished. She found herself in Ponyville. Carts were toppled over. Homes, businesses, and restaurants were ablaze. Ponies sprinted in every other direction. Pegasi darted here and there, but there were shot down by dark magic. The magic set them aflame. The Pegasi hollered in pain as the black flames ate away at them.

Newborn foals lay on the ground lifeless. Their small heads were smashed into the ground or on the walls. Their mothers and father suffered the same fate. School foals dangled in trees, tree vines wrapped tightly around their necks.

A small filly, missing her hind hooves, dragged herself all the to Twilight’s hooves. She left a trail of wet, dark blood behind her.

“Princess Twilight why, why did you do this?” she said in an airy voice.

Before Twilight could answer, the filly collapsed to the ground. Her eyes rolled to the top of her eyes. Her soul left her body.

“No…” Twilight whispered, “This isn’t real…this isn’t real!”

The princess crumpled to the blood soaked ground. Her tail went in-between her legs. She took her tail into her hooves and stroked it. Warm tears rolled down her cheeks.

“This isn’t real, this isn’t real…” Twilight repeated to herself.

She clutched her eyes shut. She listened to the blood curdling screams and crying foals. She heard wood split open from the fires. Heavy hooves galloped on the ground and echoed throughout her mind.

Twilight opened her eyes. She was in the bathroom again. The sounds of Ponyville hell faded into nothing. She lifted herself up on quivering hooves. She hobbled out of the bathroom. She left the bathroom light on for obvious reasons. She crawled under the bulky comforter and laid her down on the plushy pillow.

She didn’t want to sleep, but that’s exactly what she did. Fortunately, she didn’t dream about Ponyville under attack by her.

On the other side of the castle, the rest of the mane six were sitting in the den. The maroon and amber walls made the den look like a cave. A roaring fire place warmed the room. Red velvet couches were being occupied by ponies and a dragon.

“Come on you guys. I have to see Twilight, I just want to see if she’s okay.” Spike bellowed.

Rarity laid a hoof on the dragon’s shoulder, “I’m sorry Spike. The doctor told us that she needs to rest.”

“I hope she’ll be alright. Jeezum, it must be toilsome beein a princess.” Applejack said.

“We didn’t even get a chance to party.” Pinkie moped.

“I wonder if we did this to her…” Fluttershy said under her breath. Even though she whispered, every pony heard her.

“Like we would even do that to her.” Rainbowdash snapped, “Twilight was overreacting.” She faced away from every pony and stared into the fire.

Applejack sat up on the couch, “Now Rainbow, Twilight and all the other leaders have a point. Chrysalis hasn’t attacked us in a couple of years. I couldn’t live with myself if I let a little one die.”

“It would be mighty selfish of us…to not let them feed, I guess.” Fluttershy added.

They remained silent for a moment.

“Okay, I have to say this. What the hay is up with Twilights new fangs?” Applejack asked finally.

A small mumble went throughout the room.

“Dunno, the doctor couldn’t even figure it out.” Rainbowdash replied.

“Well it’s not every day you see a pony with…fangs.” Rarity said wrinkling her nose.

Pinkie Pie got into Rarity’s face, “Well Fluttershy had fangs when she went all Flutterbat on us, and no one questioned that.”

“Pinkie, she was a bat.” Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Can we please stop talking about that event? That story is embarrassing.” Fluttershy bellowed. She blushed and twiddled with her rosy mane.

“More embarrassing on Twilight’s part. I mean she turned you into a bat, how crazy was that?” Rainbowdash chimed in with a smirk on her face.

“OMG!” Cried Pinkie Pie.

“What?” every pony and a dragon choired.

“Maybe Twilight got bit by a vampire pony!”

The room fell into awkward silence.

“Pinkie are you serious?” Rarity asked in disgust.

“No, I’m Pinkie Pie silly.” The pink pony replied with a chuckle.

“I hope you aren’t going to say that I did bit her.” Fluttershy said annoyed.

Pinkie’s ears flattened, “Never mind.”

***

The morning light wasn’t as bright. It was a bit cloudy out and the temperature was on the low side. Gloomy day or not, birds still sang. The crystal ponies were still in high spirits. The only one in low spirit was Twilight. She woke with a splitting headache. For some reason, her chest felt sore. She examined her chest. It was fine, otherwise a little swollen.

“What happened to me?”

The concerned knock at the door made her jump.

“Come in…” she said in weak voice.

The door opened revealing Princess Celestia.

Twilight was relieved to see her. “Good morning Princess Celestia.”

“Good morning Twilight…” but she didn’t go on. Twilight saw her mentor nailed up on a wall. Her wings were nothing but bone with bloody pieces of flesh hanging from them. Her eyes were even gouged out.

Kill her…go ahead and kill her…the airy voice said again.

Twilight let out a blaring yelp and ducked under the covers. Celestia raised her eyebrows and tiptoed towards Twilight. She crawled underneath the blanket and looked around for the frightened Alicorn.

“Princess Twilight?” the sun goddess said in a worried tone.

Her long horn poked something. She inched closer and found Twilight huddled near the center of the bed. Twilights eyes were shut tight.

“Please go away…please go away…” she muttered to herself.

“…Twilight?”

The young Alicorn blinked her eyes open and glowered at Celestia. The sun goddess wasn’t nailed to the wall. Her eyes were in her sockets and her wings were strong and firm. Above all, she was alive. Twilight huddled closer to Celestia. She buried her face in Celestia’s warm light pink chest.

“Oh Celestia, I keep seeing these visions of death and destruction. The worst part is, I’m the one causing it all.” Twilight continued to weep.

Celestia sighed, “Do not fret Twilight. I’ve seen this before.”

Twilight stopped weeping and looked up at her mentor with glassy eyes.

“You have?” she whispered.

“I have, do you remember King Sombra?”

Twilight wiped her eyes, “Yes, how could I forget?”

“Long ago there was an evil dragon. It was the very first dragon I’d ever seen. It was big, had black scales, and lava poured out of its mouth. Luna and I tried to kill it, but it was too powerful. What made it powerful was its red horn. I had no idea that dragons even possessed magic. It would blow up buildings and burn down villages with that horn. Luna had an idea that worked. While I distracted the dragon, she cut the horn off. This of course defeated the dragon. Before the dragon dispersed into millions of pieces, it told us thank you. That told Luna and me that it wasn’t the dragon, it was the red horn. Luna and I tried to destroy the horn, but nothing worked.”

“Luna and I kept the horn in a volt in our old castle. We told our servants and other ponies to stay away from the volt. A young, naïve crystal pony servant named Sombra cleaned the hallways. While he was cleaning, he came across the volt. When I found him, he was inside of the volt, unconscious and the horn was gone. A day after the incident, Sombra told me he kept seeing visons of dead crystal ponies. I told him not to worry about it, but I was wrong. The more and more the horn was on, the more and more evil Sombra became. At last he took over the Crystal Empire. He killed millions of crystal ponies. The empire became a blood bath. He kept the stronger ponies as slaves. He tortured weak ones. He pulled off their hooves and raped the little fillies. Luna and I tried to cut off the horn, but he became the horn. We had no choice but to banish him. Long story short, you came along and destroyed him. But, I believe the horn was not destroyed.”

Twilight pressed her cheek against Celestia’s chest. Twilight sighed deeply and crawled from under the blanket. She trotted over to the window and peeked outside. The crystal ponies looked like ants from where she stood. Twilight turned around and saw Celestia standing behind her.

“Princess Celestia,” she said in a meek voice, “I had visions and a nightmare. Ponyville was on fire. Ponies were badly burned or dead. I was the one who caused all of that destruction. If Sombra had visions of destroying the Crystal Empire and he did. Then, I might destroy Ponyville.”

Tears formed in Twilight’s eyes, “I even had a vision of you killing you.”

Celestia’s heart sank, “I’m sorry you had to see that Twilight.”

“It’s not your fault Celestia.” Twilight said in-between sobs. “But I do have a s-solution.”

Celestia perked up.

“I-I cannot return to Ponyville. I might end up destroying the ponies.”

Celestia’s eyes rounded, “Are you sure that is what you want?”

“Yes Princess, it is the only way.”