Author's Note
Hello everypony...
This is just a one-shot that has been stuck inside my head for a little. I know some of you have questioned about the next chapter in Season's of Darkness and Embracing The Sun, but I had to get this out my head first.
The next chapter in Season's of Darkness is already done and in edit by Fire Starter, so it should not be long. As for Embracing The Sun, I'm halfway done with it.
Anyway. I hope you like this One-Shot, but you'll be letting me know. I'm certain of that.
Enjoy.
I
"Get out of my way!" I dread those words more than I dread the pain that coursed through my body. An unbearable trail of gashes burned across my body as Canterlot was put to its knees.
Canterlot, their home, my home, was the most beautiful thing I saw since I came to this world. Those tall spires meant something to me, something to the country that has been put down with illusions of one's ideas. It protected me, it protected us, all of us, but now they lay around me as chunks of defiled rock.
All of this, no, all of it, was torn down in the months of my friend's dark intentions. She had unfortunately taken everything from us and used it to bring herself to power. When HE took everyone's magic, she, the one mare we never expected to have turned on us, fell from grace and resorted to a dictatorship of order and broken justice.
Everyone was stunned by this, but quickly recovered to a rebellion that is now resting on my shoulders. Everyone....yes, everyone of this world, played a part in stopping the madness that took our dearest friend from us. And yet she stands before me as the wrongful queen of a burning world, horn blazing the fires of ultimate magic.
The Elements of Harmony, twisted and remade, The Alicorn Amulet, absorbed completely, and The Crystal Heart, drained of all the magic it had.
She carried all that magic after Tirek's defeat and betrayed us for order. She destroyed them, destroyed us, destroyed the entire fucking world for one idea: To lead Equestria into a of Order and Peace.
"Twilight, I will not move!" I stood between the princesses, the rightful rulers of this world, who were too injured to fight. "What you have done is pure madness, and I will not let it go on!"
The remaining Harmonic Empire trembled beneath the alicorn's fury, even the dragons that stood valiantly for the longest. She stood silently on her throne as I kept my hands in my pockets, waiting for her to make the first move against me, her husband.
If anyone so much as breathed wrong, The Harmony Queen would see to it that they would never see daylight again. There were those who braved in the final battle against the Harmony Guard, to bring back freedom and peace. But like all the other rebels, they fell to the godly magic of our heartless queen.
Queen....My Queen...My Wife, who gave me children, but took them for traitors and removed them from our lives.
Isaiah, StarFire...my babies...
She took them from me, and she wears no guilt for destroying them. She wears no armor at all, for it would block her many advances of magic. Yet she has guards to keep her safe, even though she sleeps with mountains of magic blocking anything and everything from getting close.
And I was the fool that slept with her when I should have done something. Now most of my friends and family are dead.
Shining Armor, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity; it should have been me that died on that day.
Why did you save me?
...Why?
"Look at yourself Twilight." a weak voice cried at my left, the authority and will to live all but gone in the once sweet sounding voice, like her aunties. "Is this really the way to rule Equestria? After everything that has happened, after everything that has been lost in the fires, do you still believe that power and control will bring peace?"
Cadance, my dearest friend, you make the most valid of point in the most simple of words. You always do have some talent with speaking the truth in the softest way.
I wanted to smile at her, but the roars of my wife kept me focused and ready. She was bound to strike soon, it was bound to happen, because Twilight Sparkle no longer tolerates backtalk. That was the way Shining Armor died, for it was he who first took a stand against the tyrant.
But even Twilight could not see that she disintegrated her BBBFF.
"Twilight, listen to us." Celestia somehow stepped in front of me, voice cracked and wheezy from the broken ribs she suffers. I could see tears falling from said princess, tears of a love that is as strong as a mothers love for her filly. "You cannot rid the world of the balance, nor can you destroy everything that is against your laws. There is light and darkness, there is good and evil, and there always will be."
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Twilight lowered her horn and prepared to fire. My hand moved between her and the alabaster alicorn, thus stopping a hellfire of magic from hitting us...mostly. "This is not your kingdom anymore, this is not your country to rule. I am the savior of this world, I am its protector, and I will not have you standing between me and my goals!"
Like the other ponies she killed, a monstrous wave of magic erupted from the tip of her horn and blazed past us at the last second. It boomed across the sky as a warning shot and exploded across a former region of mountains.
She missed on purpose or changed her target when I moved my arm, but I was not contemplating the thought. My left arm was burnt by the licks of pure energy, burnt until it turned black and became crisp on the outside, and finally a pile of dust, leaving but a black spot of what use to be my shoulder.
I lost my left arm. I fell to my knees in a dire cry of agony, a rush of tears following. The first thought that came to me was my son suffering the same pain when his own mother wiped him from existence for trying to cut off her horn.
Isaiah...I'm sorry for failing you and your sister.
Silence fell over the castle as I whimpered to the broken tiled floor of what was my home. Loud clacking followed my suffering, wings lifting me as a muzzle pressed against my cheek.
Until...
"Don't touch him!"
Twilight was quick to hurl the princesses away from me, all three which were my reason to stand strong were now knocked unconscious, laying beneath the statues of every villain that was defeated by The Elements of Harmony. My sorrow stricken gaze was ripped from the princesses and forced onto the monster that I once loved.
Her eyes...her soulless, heartless, magic shrouded eyes, they widened in worry of my injury. She took me into her wings and nuzzled my lips, forgetting that my weapon is in my right pocket.
"No, no, no. Baby why did you do that just now?" she stuttered helplessly, distress full in her voice. "I was going to wipe them out, wipe them from our lives, so why...WHY DID YOU FORCE ME TO CHANGE DIRECTION?"
I shook my head wildly and glared at the alicorn, an emotion I had not felt in years coming over me. Twilight gasped in horror as said emotion burned as harshly as my injury, her body nigh shaking as I fought the urge to fall in the same pit my wife's sanity fell into.
I felt hatred, hatred unlike any other, hatred that was stronger than Sombra's. But I fought it off and regained what little composure I have left to gain, my body screaming for me to stay down.
Yet, I am the stupid fool that doesn't know when to quit.
"Honey...you're..." she stopped mumbling, a loud gasp of trepidation gracing her lips.
I turned around and limped towards the unconscious princesses. I was afraid of Twilight taking the chance to kill them while I was still down. Though I fought with all of my mental might to stay awake, the pain surged through me and continued without end. It was relentless by all means...but so was I.
I had a job to do, I had a mission that my friends gave to me, and I was going to finish it...even if it kills me.
"Tia," she did not respond to me, but her breathing was stable. I did the same with Luna and Cadance, and thank god they had the same results as the alabaster alicorn.
If they died...I don't think I...I mean it would...
"There's still hope for Equestria." I said quietly, the weapon spinning between my fingers. "As long as they are alive and well, Equestria can rebuild and become better."
"You still believe that they can make a difference," Twilight scolded heavily, flaring her next spell that would surely end this kingdom. "I am your wife, your queen; it is I who you should stand with, not those weaklings. We love eachother, we sleep together, we had foals together and-"
"No, I don't love you." I felt absolute fear flow through my veins, a harsh gasp from her making it so...hard. I stood back up and scowled at the mare. Mind you, I was starting to feel consciousness slip from my body. "I loved a mare that was both perfect in personality and a goddess of beauty."
She gasped again, a hoof thrown to her mouth.
I pointed a finger at her and said scathingly, "You stopped being my wife when you killed our friends, our children, and put Equestria in darkness. Twilight Sparkle was the love of my life, the sun and the moon of my living. You are just an empty shell of that mare, a monster that thrives on others' suffering. You're dead to me!"
Twilight either didn't know what to say or had complete shock....which was a first since Tirek's execution. Staring apprehensively at me, the purple alicorn began approaching us with every ounce of her magic now in this one spell of destruction, caring not for the future deaths of thousands.
"I. Am. Your. Wife." Twilight said scathingly, glaring down at me with what was once a cute glare; at least that is what I thought when she caught me and Isaiah making trash can bombs in her lab. "You love me, you love me without denial. It is I who made you a king, a god of great influence, and you will stay that way because I made it so. We are eternal, we are king and queen, and this world will see order, even if I must force it upon them."
"Like you did when Star Fire begged for you to stop conquering and come home to your family!?" I pushed her back with my hand, ending the spell before it was fully charged. "She was wanting you to stop and be a mother, to be a loving wife, a friend to us, and all you did is ignore it. But when she joined the rebellion, you had her horn and wings ripped, then had her beheaded!"
"She stopped being my daughter when she joined your rebellion, as did Isaiah stopped being my son when he attacked me."
"They were our children, our babies. Those were your babies, and you had the gall to kill them."
"Traitors are not family to me."
"Then what about me, huh!?" I yelled furiously, "I'm married to you, and yet I should be dead because I started the rebellion."
"You're my husband, the love of my life. I love you with all my heart, and we can have foals again, foals that will never betray me. We'll have a perfect family, but first I need to remove the loose ends that are preventing our future together."
I looked down and gave a hollow sigh to the floor, my hope of bringing Twilight back dead...as dead as everyone she killed. She nuzzled me comfortingly and leaned down to peck my lips, tongue forcing its way in.
"I love you, my king." she whispered sultrily.
Those words...her words...It didn't feel the same, she did not feel the same as I remember. The love wasn't there, not the love that bound us together, but an obsession of lust.
This mare doesn't love me...No...She is just possessive.
I could only grip the weapon tighter in my hand as the alicorn moaned heavily in my mouth. It was an eternity of torture before I stepped back and spat out the saliva she transferred.
I had always been the strongest of the two in this family; emotionally that is. But as of right now I felt myself fighting a battle that I could never win with love and forgiveness. And as this thought came to me, I frightened my 'wife' by turning my pocket inside-out, emptying it of the one thing that can stop her.
She knew it was in my hand. It sparkled in the dark corners of my curled fingers, the glow of enchantment telling Twilight all she needs to know about where I stand.
And as I pulled it out, faith died inside me...and magic rose to her horn again.
Several seconds of massive silence passed between me and the monster. She lowered her horn and sniffled as I narrowed my gaze and spread my legs apart, protecting the last hope of Equestria's rebuild. She unfolded her wings and braced herself for what it is my hand, tears imminent behind her almighty glow.
"My love," she said pathetically, rings of magic building in the tip of her horn. "Don't make me do this. Don't make me kill you too, because we have a life to live, a family to make."
I looked back my friends and smiled, their eyes fluttering as they regained consciousness.
"I have my family behind me." I returned to Twilight, held up my hand, and said uncharacteristically, "You are not my family, not Twilight Sparkle, and you are not my wife."
Tears overwhelmed the Magic Goddess as a nigh powerful pang of guilt sparked between us, her eyes wide, caring, and yet so wrong to me.
I opened my hand and held it up to her, the magic of greater power dangling on a silver chain. I allowed it to swing freely as Twilight dissipated her charge and gave me a puzzled look. Truly, she was confused by this weapon of mine, but said weapon was more powerful than she could ever imagine.
"Our wedding rings?" she questioned. "You're going to use our wedding rings against us."
"No, I'm going to use our marriage against you." I answered, dangling the necklace by a finger. "With these rings we took vows and promised to love one another. Through sickness and through health, for rich or poor, I married Twilight Sparkle and became her prince. But she is dead, she is gone, so my marriage no longer exists."
Twilight looked harder at the rings, before realizing that I had something stronger than any spell in the world. And as she realized this power, fear came into place, thus giving me a glimpse of the mare that she is on the inside.
"N-no...you can't do that," she stuttered, evidence of Twilight Sparkle now existing in her eyes. "You-you can't leave me. You took a vow to be my husband, and that vow is unbreakable. You...YOU CAN'T DIVORCE ME!"
I choked back a few tears. "I wasn't the one who made the divorce; it was you."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. When you did all of this, when you killed our children, I realized that my wife is dead."
I tossed the rings to her hooves, the sound of gold clanking against her metal slippers. Carelessly, I fell backwards and landed in Celestia's wings as she rose to her feet. She and Luna were the ones to lay me down while Cadance stared at the shaking alicorn. I knew that somewhere in the mare's heart I made the impact we need. Whether or not it worked depended on her, although I had a pretty good idea as to where this was going.
Besides the obvious changes that were happening, the magic that once devastated this world flowed out of her horn and returned to where it rightfully belongs. Celestia, Luna, Cadance, the three alicorns of power, given back their magic as the mare we know and love shrunk down to size and fell as a purple lump of defeat.
She laid there as the princesses put me to the ground. Gently, Celestia put me against the wall and took the rings, destroying them in front of the wide-eyed mare.
Celestia tried...truly she did with all her might, to not cry over me being the one that has to suffer this the most. But like all sad endings, the good guy is pitied by the ones that are still breathing.
"No, not the rings!" Twilight, the real Twilight Sparkle, screamed at the hooves of her former teacher. "Please don't; it's all I have left now, all I have of-"
Celestia looked back to me, sorrow splayed across her muzzle. "I'm sorry you had to do this."
As much as I wanted to ignore the rings being melted, my mind had yet to shut down. I was forced to watch in my last few moments of consciousness the most devastating yet satisfying scene a man can see. My wife, my true queen, bellowed a hysterical cry as Luna and Cadance stripped her of her horn, cutting it with a compressed blade of their combined auras.
And with the tears of my wife being true to her revival, I fell into a slumber that I would never wake up from.
My love...my faith...my will to keep going...gone.
It's over...
End
