Chapter 19-Black Nirvana

Black Nirvana:

Po…..BANG!

With a loud snap the two unicorn mares, and their baggage land with a thump on the floor, The two unconscious stallions barely groaning from the sudden jump through subspace as they hit the floor like a sack of flour. As for the mares, the sudden snapping of space and time around them due to their less than stellar teleport has done wonders for their nausea and throbbing headaches, doubling their pain in under a second. Groaning on the ground like two hung over party ponies, the two mares groggily rise to their hooves, their senses recoiling as if they were slapped upside the head. Yet unyielding to the pain the two mares try to gain a hold of their disoriented senses as they rise shakily to their hooves.

“Ugh!” Trixie groans loudly “Do you just have a talent for making botched teleports or are you actually trying to give Trixie a headache?”

Trixie winces from her own loud shout as an equally loud Twilight shouts back “Hey! I’ve been fighting against a horde of zombies all night! Cut me some slack Trixie, I got us here didn’t I?”

Both mares wince at Twilight’s booming voice as they both decide from that moment on to be as quiet as possible. “Whatever Twibright, But this is the last time Trixie trusts your teleports. I mean look at where you’ve brought the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

With a dramatic gesture of her hoof Trixie highlights to the shrouded room that is so dark her light blue coat can barely be seen against the backdrop. “It’s so dark here Trixie cannot even see her hooves. What, have you decided to teleport us to the basement?” Trixie straightens her mane as she looks around the run down appearance of the room around her. “All Trixie knows for sure is that next time she is teleporting herself next time.”

“Ugh.” Twilight rubs her horn cautiously as she glances around the room as well “if my calculations were right we should be in the entryway of the police station. It’s the only part of the police station I was familiar with so I thought it would be the best place for a teleport.”

Her headache finally having faded away Twilight creates a gentle magical current with her horn as she illuminates the scene around her with cautious optimism. However the room that greets her vision is nothing like the scene that she was familiar with. The glass windows, emblazoned with the seal of the ponyville police lie shattered, the cold night air drifting across the shattered frames producing a haunting whistle with every errant gust of wind. The front desk of the room once housed a friendly desk clerk lies overturned and shattered on the floor in thousands of pieces. The magazines and empty periodicals lie on the floor torn to shreds by bite marks. Even the seat cushions and potted plants lie scattered about in the room as if an tornado had decided to sweep through the room without any regard for the life that it once contained.

In short the familiar and welcoming entryway to the police station has seemingly been replaced with something out of a horror novel, the alien feeling of the room around her accentuating the apprehension the purple mare is trying to suppress. This apprehension is for now just simple nervousness however as the mare gropes around in the dark she begins to instinctively crave for the comfort and insight only brilliant light can bring. Noticing a nearby light switch, the lavender mare reaches out with her hoof towards the simple light stitch in high hopes. Yet as she flicks the switch the lights above her flicker for a scant moment before dying out like candles in the wind.

“The lights must have gone out, either they blew a fuse or the lights themselves were destroyed in the scuffle.” Twilight looks around as she finally manages to find the doors that lead further into the building. “That could be a problem for later, if there are no lights around us we’ll have to rely upon our horns for illumination.”

“Whatever, you said that Shining Armor is on the second floor of this place right?” Trixie remarks, completely dismissive of Twilight’s concerns “Let’s just drop these guys off with the captain and take a nice long nap. A good pampering is just what Trixie needs after all her hard work.”

Twilight rolls her eyes as the unicorn’s self-centered attitude but she suppresses a hearty yawn. Even the normally practical mare admits to herself that the ability to take a good night’s sleep sounds absolutely divine.

“Well I can tell you one thing for sure; this building definitely needs a new coat of paint after all of this. Hello Shining! We’re back!” Twilight states as she throws open the main doors of the police station entering the completely dark and gloomy first floor. Despite the darkness before them and the almost absence of light the illumination from the horns of the two mares is just powerful enough the reveal the outline of several prone bodies and dark blotches on the floor and walls; The dank coppery smell immediately informing the two mares that the dark blotches are in fact blood.

Twilight gulps as she diminishes the light from her horn not wanting to see any more than she has to of the remains of the battle before her. “Oh right, this building was home to a gruesome battle. Well let’s get a move on, we certainly don’t want to be here all day.”

“Trixie agrees with Twilight.” Trixie takes a deep breath as both mares step cautiously into the room. “I knew that there was conflict here, I… Trixie just did not imagine how brutal it was.”

“I’d skip over this if I could Trixie.” Twilight states “But if Shining’s barrier is still in place trying to jump into the second floor would have caused the entire teleport to backfire. Just keep your head down and try to block out the smell.”

However blocking out one’s senses is easy compared to blocking out the horrific images that try to force their way into the ponies’ minds. Images of death and battle, of blood and terror, these are the things that they cannot suppress or drown out, even as they try so hard to ignore the lives lost to the two stallions that they are now in the process of handing over to face a long and lengthy trial. Yet onwards they trod, every second in that room seaming like a year as they trip over various personal effects and grope about blindly searching for a path to take. Finding a relatively clean part of the floor in the center of the room Twilight looks around as she tries to recall where the stairs to the second floor were on such a building.

Propping the heavy and prone form of Caramel against a nearby table next to her Twilight does her best to ignore the gristly surroundings as she once again cries out for her brother. “Shining where are you? In case you can’t tell the hordes of zombies have been put to rest. We’ve got the guys responsible for this catastrophe and we need stand collars to put on them.”

Taking a cue from Twilight Trixie plops the unicorn Noteworthy on a nearby desk as she takes stock of the dark around her, thankful that their horn lights can only show them a fraction of the carnage around them. As the blue showmare lights her horn cautiously in the dark interior of the room around them she grows more cautious for every second that Twilight’s words go unanswered. “Trixie has a bad feeling about this. And this place is giving her the creeps.”

“Oh hush Trixie.” Twilight says condescendingly “We’re on the first floor, they had to barricade it off when the zombies attacked remember. Of course it would look a little creepy. My brother and the rest of the squad are probably still barricaded on the second floor.”

Clink.

“EEEEEEIIIIIII” Trixie shrilly screams as she grasps the purple mare next to her. “whatwasthatwasitanotherzombiedon’tletiteatmybrains!!!” Trixie screams out in a panic as her ears swivel around on her head listening for any more signs of the enemy.

Twilight blushes heavily as she struggles to push the showmare off of her body “Trixie! Let go! I know that this isn’t the nicest of places but there’s no reason to freak out like that!”

Trixie gulps heavily “But that sound was…..”

“…..Was my hoof knocking a glass bottle, Trixie.” Twilight confirms “There’s nothing to be afraid of here.”

“Oh right…. Trixie knew that she was just testing you!” Trixie blurts out embarrassed that she just showed her eternal rival a very fearful and not very powerful side of herself.

Ignoring Trixie’s normal shenanigans, Twilight glances around the room, thankful that in the dark she can’t make out the faces and gruesome injuries doubtless sustained by the soldiers and undead alike. “But you are right about one thing, this place is giving me the creeps. Lets’ grab our prisoners and get to the second floor already.”

Eager to save face Trixie eagerly takes Twilight’s advice. Exhibiting unnatural calm The Great and Powerful Trixie takes a few gracious and calming breaths as the turns around to retrieve their prisoners when she sees something that really scares her. “Um Twilight?” Trixie asks tensely.

Twilight groans “Yes Trixie what is it now?”

“What did you do with that earth pony?”

“You mean Caramel, I put him down right over….” Twilight points her hoof at shear nothingness, the spot that she had placed Caramel on a moment before completely vacant. “This is bad.”

Drip

Expressing her frustration with a few extra decibels Trixie snaps at the Purple bookworm. “You lost him!? He was right there and you let him get away!”

Drip

“Well excuse me Trixie, I thought that you were doing your job and watching them like a stand agent is supposed to!”

Drip

“Don’t heap the blame on Trixie, he was your prisoner! You know what his stand can do right, and you are the one that let him get away! Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Drip

“T-Trixie is that blood?” Twilight asks, a shiver passing through her body as she points to Trixie’s back.

Distracted by the librarian’s statement Trixie turns around to see that her pristine cape tarnished by several large drops of blood staining her cape crimson in several places. “Urgh and Trixie just cleaned this from undead slime.” Trixie grimaces as she once again applies her magic towards cleaning the bright red drops from her precious cape.

As Trixie applies a basic cleaning spell to her coat, the scientist in Twilight though repulsed by the fact of dripping blood, drives her to move closer to get a better look at the drops of red still staining Trixie’s cape. “It’s blood alright, and from its thickness, consistency and uniform position of the drops it looks to be fresh.”

Trixie rolls her eyes both from the inconvenience of cleaning her cape again and Twilight’s inane questions. “Well in case little miss bookworm couldn’t tell, this is a battlefield, of course there’s going to be blood.” Trixie’s eyes take on an unreadable expression as she finishes cleaning her precious cape. “It’s probably from somepony that I know, so I would prefer if you didn’t draw too much attention to it.”

“Y-Yes I understand that Trixie, but WHY is it fresh?” Twilight’s hooves shake as the hairs on her neck begin to stand on end. “Like I said they boarded off this part of the building hours ago….. so where did the fresh blood come from?”

Drip

“ARRRRGGGGHHHH!” Trixie explodes as another drop of blood falls on her cape from above. “That’s just great! Trixie demands to know where that infernal dripping is coming……”

Trixie and Twilight look up at the same time and both of them freeze in their tracks, as they find out where the source of fresh blood was coming from. Caramel was their donor, and from the way he has been pinned to the ceiling with various sharpened knives with a single jagged slash across his throat it is painfully evident that he is very very dead.  However the most horrifying aspect of Carmel’s appearance is his wide open and terror filled eyes, his overall visage conveying the fact that he died begging for mercy from whatever it was that killed him. The two mares look up at the bloody corpse above them and their hearts stop their breath grows shallow, as they nearly die from the sudden shock. The specter of death hangs over them and both mares now know one irrefutable truth….

“We’re not alone here Trixie.” Twilight says in a deathly quiet whisper, logic taking over so that her fear cannot. Blinking almost mechanically the mare immediately tries to drive the image of the flayed stallion from her mind even as her eyes continue to stare vacantly at his broken form.

Trixie doesn’t respond at all her entire body torn between dry heaving at the gruesome scene before her and fleeing in terror. “I-I didn’t hear anything….” Trixie finally manages to say after a while. “….How… how could a pony…..” Trixie suppresses a surge of bile from her stomach. “…how could anypony do that… without us noticing? It’s impossible.”

Twilight looks around her as her adrenaline begins to flow through her body. “Trixie! Where’s Noteworthy?”

Trixie swivels her head around finding no pony to greet her. Both relieved that whatever it was didn’t get her and horrified that something that brutal got close enough to her to snatch her target from behind her back Trixie flails around her head jerking every which way as she looks for signs of her foe. But the first sign of their captured foe comes not from their obfuscated sense of sight, but their ever keen sense of hearing, as the snide voice of the blue unicorn, Noteworthy echoes through the darkness.

“B-B-B-B-Boss!” The voice of Noteworthy Stutters, his previously confident voice conveys the level of fear he is currently feeling. “I-I-I Did as you commanded! I distracted the entire town, your ruse worked to perfection!”

“SILENCE!” The dark voice booms as even the two mares shudder echoing off the wall in a way that makes it sound like the terrible voice is closing in on them from all sides. “You have failed me Noteworthy, I placed you in change of this mission rather than Carmel who was the head of our prostitution ring. Do you know why?”

With their sense amplified by their fear the two mares can hear in the dark as the fearless unicorn Noteworthy shakes his head erratically. “It is because…” The dark voice continues “…I related to your mission of purifying the world and believed your resolve carry out your mission would give you victory.”

“B-B-But Boss I did exactly as you asked!” Noteworthy’s cries out with a desperate plea. “And if I must say so myself, it is thanks to my efforts that…...”

“I SAID SILENCE!” The voice booms even louder, the very darkness around the two mares seeming to dance like waves on a stormy sea from the sound of the voice. “You have lead my target here and for that I give you praise. But you have allowed yourself to be captured by the enemy, which means that you could have let slip elements of my plan, or movements of our gang.”

The mares can hear once against as the previously fearless unicorn gulps heavily in the dark as he vaguely suspects how horribly he has upset the demon in the dark. “Do you know why Melodia is so successful?” The dark voice asks. “Don’t answer; it is because few ponies if any know the full extent of my organization, it is our secrecy that leads to our success. Those that know anything of value are either my allies, or they are dead.”

“Now then.” The temperature drops ten degrees around them as the dark voice takes on a tone that is colder than the arctic wastes. “Why don’t you take a guess and tell me which one you are.”

“I’m going to die….” Noteworthy asks with a tome of what the two mares can barely comprehend; with a clear voice Noteworthy responds with a tone of hopefulness. “Are…. Are you really going to kill me? After so long I will finally know a merciful and quick death? Will I be saved from the impurity of this world?”

The dark voice chuckles along with noteworthy. “You have been awaiting this moment for years haven’t you? Since I respected you I shall not lie. Yes Noteworthy, I am going to kill you. However….” The voice, like a serpent playing with its meal suddenly turns dark and cold. “…. I never said that it would ‘quick’ or ‘merciful’. I might have been able to forgive your eccentrics but you know the rules of my gang and you know the rules of my stand!”

A loud snap fills the air followed by a blood curling scream as the voice booms out over the violence “ALL WHO BETRAY MY SECRETS MUST DIE!”

The sounds of a pony dying are not something that should or that can be expressed in words. The snapping of bones, the gurgle of fresh blood and the last strained breaths as a pony struggles against pain for the right to live another second more, is not something that ponies should want to hear. And needless to say the tortured screams of a pony, even an enemy serve as a potent form or psychological torture for any that may hear it. Twilight Sparkle and Trixie are no exception as she huddle together shaking in fear from the evil voice that is capable of inflicting so much pain, dreading the moment that the screams die and the voice turns its attention towards them. The screams grow louder; Trixie herself stands prone in the middle of the room trying to suppress the fear rapidly gaining control of her body. Twilight clutches her eyes yelling at the top of her lungs as she tries half successfully to drown out the screams echoing around her.

As the sound of the zebra’s screams finally die down, the room reverts back to the silent state it was before as the two ponies look around at the darkness around them. Their hormones and adrenaline racing as their instincts are stuck between two simple but impossible difficult choices. Two choices that will decide whether they live or die: to fight against the darkness, or to flee.

Drip

“We need to leave.” Twilight concludes without a second’s hesitation “NOW!”

The doors to the entrance slam shut with the resounding crash of a thunderbolt just as the mares turn to flee in that direction. The two mares have just enough time to gasp as the sound to be mirrored by the sound of every door out of the room they are in being slammed shut by an invisible force.

“Teleport NOW!” Twilight yells out as bath mares frantically ignite their horns as they prepare to teleport. However much to the two mare’s panic their horns fizzle out as their spells fade into nothing their magic fading harmlessly into the void without ever achieving their purpose.

“Why isn’t it working?!” Trixie shouts as her attempts to escape fizzle out “Come on work work work!”

“It’s no use Trixie!” Twilight shouts out as her horn glows with a dark red light “I don’t know what but there’s some strange spatial magic blocking us! Whoever is behind this they must be an extremely skilled magical practitioner or a stand user.” Twilight looks around fully expecting a cliché villain to pop out from the dark to monologue about his plan. “it’s probably both.”

“Well Well Well.” The dark voice chuckles “For once the slave of Celestia is wrong. You see as a prison in Equestria the runes around the building allow entry through subspace only when entering the building.”

Like a mountain lion toying with its prey, the dark presence circles around the two mares more than happy to forestall the inevitable bloodshed with empty banter. “As you know Teleportation uses the astral plane to sidestep physical matter and space allowing the travel of great distances in the blink of an eye. I won’t bore a foolish mare like you with the details, but the magic was designed that prisoners could be teleported in but prisoners couldn’t teleport out.”

The hairs on the coats of the two mares stand on end as they can practically feel the presence of the voice. Every syllable seems to strike their coats malevolently, probing their  bodies, revealing every weakness and dark fear.  “If you wanted to say, escape by teleporting, you would have to find a way of traveling through space other than the aether, like how that orange Pegasus turned himself into lightning and teleported himself along a fixed path.”

The voice laughs in the darkness as the two mares huddle together in an effort to appear brave. “Though you were right about one thing filly, I am an extremely skilled magical practitioner, as well as a peerless stand user.”

A sudden line by the voice gains Twilight’s immediate attention as she circles around to the direction the voice is coming from. “You know about Flash’s power? How long have you been watching us? Noteworthy called you ‘boss’, who are you? Is my Brother safe?! I swear if you have done anything to hurt him……”

“That is indeed a great many questions, Twilight.” the voice remarks “however I think that you only want the answer to one of them. “

“…..The necro…… Noteworthy  called you boss, and you mentioned the Gang Melodia.” With deep panting breaths Twilight forms her resolve as she tries to drive away her rising terror at being forced to commune with the voice in the darkness. “So who are you?”

The entire room grows silent as the two mares wait on baited breath for a response, for anything other than the all-consuming silence that could signal their demise. Twilight is about to repeat her question when the entire room is filled with dark and nefarious laughter so loud the wind itself blows their manes. “A most excellent Question, Twilight! Normally I would be sworn to kill any pony that knows anything about my gang.”

With wide eyes the two mares look directly in front of them as the darkness begins to congeal in front of them, a dark and nefarious figure pulling itself out of the shadows and into the light of their horns. “But for such a special filly as Trixie, and her…. Companion I will answer that particular question.”

Coming to a stop directly in front of them is a stallion of great height and charisma, his dark grey coat and sleek black mane styled to perfection, matching perfectly with his steam pressed black and white striped pinstripe suit. His wedding white tie contrasting sharply with his black undershirt, serves to draw the eyes of the two mares who could not believe such a pure shade of white could be worn by a stallion whose heart is so dark. His horn if such a sharp jagged protrusion could be called that looks almost crystalline as if somepony shoved a piece of glowing Red stone into his skull. However the most stunning and mesmerizing part of the stallion is not his garb, his coat, or his blood red cutie mark of a cluster of dark red crystals, but his eyes. His glowing green eyes surging with dark magic seem to stare through everything their evil gaze corrupting everything they set their vision on.

“My name is Sombra Leader of the criminal enterprise Melodia. And the reason I have told you this is simple. Any pony that knows my identity or my stand is either my ally or they are dead.” Grinning with razor sharp teeth the stallion licks his lips with a forked tongue as he stares at the mares before him. “Now then Twilight Sparkle, here is the real question, which one are you?”

Taking full advantage of the initiative of surprise Twilight lets loose a powerful burst of concentrated light energy directly towards the stallion. The beam of purple light dances haphazardly through the air as it soars like a thunderbolt towards Sombra’s skull. Yet at the last moment, an even more horrifying figure than Sombra Materializes behind him. The dark stand covered from hoof to head in ragged bandages and rusty iron nails razes its red crystal claws, and with one swing of its hoof parries the beam with its hoof causing the bolt of magic to explode with deafening force.

Even Twilight cannot help but lose her focus as her mind tries to comprehend the tortured stand before her. Part of Twilight wonders to herself what trauma such a pony would have to go through to obtain a psyche as twisted as the stand before her, while the more logical part wonders how it will kill her. Trixie for her part stares vacantly at the stand in front of her eyes her hooves shaking in their spot, while her teeth create a vice grip in her mouth.

Rubbing his smoking injured hoof Sombra groans as he clearly expresses his frustration with the mare before him as he clenches his teeth in pain. “Clearly manners were not something that Fraud Celestia was able to teach you. In case you didn’t know it is bad manners to try and kill a pony when they are talking to you. In any other circumstance I would have already…….”

“It’s you……”

The two ponies’ heads turn towards Trixie the sudden coldness of her words instantly gaining their attention. Her gaze though obscured by her wide brim hat, is leveled straight at the stallion. “Ah my dear Trixie Lulamoon.” Sombra remarks good naturedly. “Don’t you worry I will be with you in a second. Right after I have…..”

“Why?”

“Humh?” The stallion looks inquisitively towards the shaking blue showmare “Forgive me my dear but I fail to understand what you are asking, why what?”

“WHY DID YOU KILL MY PARENTS!?!” Putting all her power and anger behind a single blow Trixie leaps forward her stand’s hoof flashing as she throws perhaps the most powerful Cross in her life. Sombra, shocked by the mare’s sudden attack and the rage behind it barely has enough time to raise his stand’s crystalline guard as Trixie’s Magic Mare hits him full force. The room shudders from the shockwave of the blow as Sombra is sent skidding across the ground his stand’s guard shattered by Trixie’s act of retribution. As he comes to a stop the stallion glares back the blood dripping down his forehead an indication of how close the mare in front of him came to flattening him with a single punch.

“Trixie is sorry but correct her if she is wrong.” The Mare throws of the hat allowing her to stare straight into Sombra’s eyes. “You, the pony in front of me with the bandaged stand, said that any pony that knew your secrets was either dead or your ally.”

Sombra grimaces as the wound on his forehead patches itself up automatically “I fail to see how…”

“If so then that is a very fortunate prophecy, Sombra.” Trixie grows as she throws off her cape to the side “because since you know the secret of why you killed my parents I’m going to KILL YOU!”

Once again the mare leaps forward with a powerful shoulder blow, a blow that Sombra Barely dodges as he leaps dramatically into the air. Unwilling to let her hated enemy elude her for a second the blue showmare bombards the stallion’s form in midair with a merciless barrage of punches.

DOJA DOJA DOJA DOJA DOJA DOJA!!!

Guarding against the mare’s sudden blows the stallion rebounds off the mare’s attack, landing on a nearby table with a graceful backflip that one would not expect of a stallion of his girth. Brushing off his coat with his left hoof the stallion turns back towards the mare with a mildly perturbed look “Trixie, if you wished to prove your skills than you have succeeded. However this match is irrelevant. Now I don’t know why it is that you wish my demise but I can assure you….”

“YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER!?!” With her horn blazing Trixie fires off a powerful burst of fire where Sombra was standing not a moment before. As the temperatures scotch torch floor Trixie allows a second to feel proud of herself for vanquishing her enemy, only for her ears to perk at the sound of perplexed humming. The mare cranes her neck behind her to see in shock that the stallion that she thought that she had incinerated is sitting idly on top of a table his hoof rubbing his chin as if he was deciphering a difficult riddle.

“…..Ah you are recalling THAT night!” the dark stallion muses as he once again leaps onto the floor, his stand stands at ready to intercept any attack made. “Yes…… I see how you might hold a grudge against me for such an act. Murder is typically frowned upon in civilized society, typically if it is one’s caregivers. But to say that was a malicious act might be going a little too far, after all their deaths were not my intention either.”

The hairs on Trixie’s neck bristle in anger as she stomps her fore hoof into the ground “Don’t you DARE play coy you ….”

“Come to your senses FOOL!” Sombra roars with such force that even Trixie recoils a bit from the force of his words. Clearing his throat from the loud bellowing, the stallion’s chastising voice reverberates off the walls of the room, each echo restating the same point the stallion is trying with all of his might to convey. “Yes I am responsible for the deaths of those two ponies, however you have allowed your rage and anger to blind you to the truth! Such a small crime makes no difference in the greater scheme of things. A single life, a single drop of blood in the bucket amounts to nothing at all. It is the effect on the world that can be achieved by using such a life that matters! After all, had you known what your caregivers were really doing, than you would have thanked me for killing them!”

With a scream Trixie leaps forward with her stand punching all the while. Putting her stand’s power for illusions into effect as the mare seems to vanish in a second only for her blows to appear from out of nowhere. Yet despite her complete and unpredictable attacks, Sombra’s’ guard absorbs her blows with minimal damage as his hoof work allows him to circle around the mare’s attacks.

“DO YOU NOT KNOW?! Do you not know of the crimes committed by that fraud, by Celestia?! The disasters she has begot from that cursed womb of hers; the destruction she has wrought with the Corpse’s powers?!” His stand’s arms shot out in an instant as both stands engage in hoof to hoof in a flurry of blows. The barrages carries on as both side pours their all into overpowering the other with raw numbers. Yet in the end Sombra’s well-placed attacks win out as his accurate blows deflect Trixie’s attack allowing him a clear uppercut to the show mare’s gut. The blow causes the mare’s knees to shiver and buckle, her breath stuck in her throat as she tries to regain her footing, only for her to be knocked to her rump by straight across to her face.

“You know the extent of Celestia’s crimes, and you call me a murderer? If I am truly guilty of such a crime than Celestia is guilty of Genocide!”

“Trixie!” her sudden fears forgotten, Twilight sparkle, who had been sitting on the sidelines rushes over to the injured mare. Thinking on her hooves the mare erects a powerful barrier over the two of them, its luminous light cutting through the black of the room. Her defenses sound and secure, only then does Twilight divert attention away from the stallion as she looks over the injured showmare for signs of serious injuries. “Don’t move Trixie. You’ve fought well but it’s clear that you’re outmatched in terms of strength and skill, we both are.”

“Not only that…” Looking over towards the stallion through the transparent dome of lightest purple the mare takes in the dark radiance emanating from the stallion’s body. “Did you see his left hoof? I’m ninety two percent sure that my magic missile took a chunk off of it, but now there’s not even a scratch on it! I never even saw him cast his healing spell! And to top it off we still don’t even know what his stand power is, nor the extent of his magical powers!”

“Heh… so what….” With enormous willpower the showmare Trixie straightens her back as she pushes against the ground like a weary boxer. “So what… if he can heal himself…. Trixie will just have to…. Beat him down until he stays dead….”

“That’s not the point Trixie and you know it!!” Twilight shouts over the mare as grasps Trixie’s injured torso in an attempts to help her up. “We’re hopelessly outmatched here. Now I’m worried about my brother and the others solders too, but we need to regroup and get the rest of the crusaders so that we can….”

However Twilight’s firm grasp on the showmare is brushed away as Trixie laughs in her face. “Feh…. I should have suspected it….. you said that you were my ally my friend…. But here you are willing to abandon everything that I’ve struggled for because you’re scared.”

“T….Trixie….” Twilight bites down on her teeth, suppressing her rising anxiousness as the show mare’s comment rings true in her heart. “Okay, yes I’m afraid Trixie, but that doesn’t change the fact that we can’t beat Sombra now! We’re tired and we don’t know our enemy’s strengths and weaknesses, and to top it off we’re separated from our friends. We need to get out of here so that we can live to fight another day!”

“….Your bucked up logic may make sense in whatever little world you live in Twibright.” Trixie states with a measure of utmost certainty as she rises to her hooves. “But all Trixie hears are excuses. Sometimes in life you only get one chance to achieve your dream, one chance to be a winner. It may not be the best chance but you have to take it because if you don’t, you will regret it forever.”

Trixie’s eyes blaze with an inner fire her years of repressed hatred and rage bottled up for so long finally having an outlet upon which she can pour it all out on. Staring down the stallion before her the mare takes a step towards Sombra as she clenches her teeth. “And if I know anything Twibright, it’s that regret eats your soul from the inside out. So if Trixie is supposed to choose between death and regret, than Trixie chooses death. Bucking Tartarus if I’m going to run away with my tail between my legs and let some sociopath get away with murder!”

 Pounding her hoof against the purple barrier the Trixie turns back towards the purple mare with such suddenness that Twilight backpedals in fear. “If you were really my friend you’d be helping me kill this monster with everything you had!! But look at you. You’re a coward looking around for the easiest way out!”

“T-Trixie….. Are you stupid!? You’re stubbornness is going to get us all killed!”

“Fine then if Twibright wants to play coward then she can do so, But Trixie is no coward and she’s not about to let some dark loving freak get away with killing Trixie’s parents!!” Before Twilight can even respond the showmare flattens the mare with a single blow from the back of her hoof.  Clutching her injured horn Twilight clenches her teeth as the sudden interruption of her concentration causes her spell to fail and the barrier around them to fade away, leaving nothing between the two mares and Sombra himself.

With Twilight’s barrier having crumbled around her, Trixie manifests her stand in full as she attacks the stallion’s weaving body with a fast volley of punches. “You’re mine Sombra!!” Trixie shouts out as her missed punches shatter the desks and tables littering the room.

With deft and experienced movements the stallion manages to evade the mare’s blows and parry her attacks. Yet even his stand seems to be unable to keep up with the mare’s ferocious attacks as the occasional punch breaks through his guard. “So you’ve chosen to fight me Trixie, why?” The stallion dodges another of Trixie’s blow by a fraction of a hair as it scrapes across his chest. “True you have been wronged Trixie, but it has not been by me. Why do you still stand by the fraud Celestia after all she has done!? Do you not know the disasters she has wrought, the orphans she has created?”

“Shut up!” Trixie yells as she hits the stallion had on with another punch. Her body getting used to the stallions pattern of dodging the mare inwardly grins as she once again manages to slip in between the stallion’s guard inflicting a powerful body blow that lifts Sombra half a hoof off the ground. “Trixie does not care about your messed up social life or your grievances with Celestia’s use of the corpse. There is enough of that going around to frustrate even Trixie. All Trixie cares about now is bringing down a murderer, and that just so happens to be you!”

“I was not just talking about the Corpse, Trixie.” The stallion growls with such hatred that even the resolute showmare feels his limitless rage. Grabbing the showmare across the forearm the stallion applies his own body’s physical force as he throws the showmare to the ground. “I was talking about the RSG, the experiments and the actions of the ones closest to you; the ones that re-wove the threads of our destinies and played with our lives as if we were their toys!!!”

The hairs on the stallion’s neck bristle in rage as he expresses his resentment with the power of his booming voice “AND IT’S ALL HER FAULT!! THAT ARROGANT EVIL SUN GODDESS!! HER FAILURES, HER ARROGANCE THAT HAS LEAD TO THE DARKNESS OF THE WORLD!! SHE WILL PAY FOR WHAT SHE HAS DONE TO ME, TO US, TO HER!!!”

Calming down visibly, the stallion re-focuses his intent, the fires of his anger cool as his dark green eyes open, his gaze once again leveled on the showmare, rising once again to her hooves. “But I have a plan Trixie!” The stallion extends his hoof towards the showmare. “A plan to make everything right again! A plan to give not just you but all Ponykind the lives that they deserve! And for that, all I need is the corpse, and I’ve already obtained more than half of it from that guard captain!”

Twilight’s ears perk up at this. In the mind-numbing terror inflicted on her by the stallion before her she had nearly forgotten about the current whereabouts of her brother. “Shining?! What have you done with him you monster?!”

Speaking over the voice of the purple unicorn Sombra reaches the Crescendo of his speech with a flurry of fanaticism. “…..JOIN ME TRIXIE! Join me in the creation of a new world, and you will receive everything that you could possibly desire!! It is predestined!”

However in response to the stallion’s emphatic pleas and arguments the showmare only smirks. “That’s funny, Sombra, because there is only one thing that the Great and Powerful Trixie desires in the all of the world.” Her horn glowing as bright as the light of a distant star the mare locks eyes with the stallion making the full breadth of her hatred known. “And that is your DEATH!”

To the stallion’s great surprise the floor underneath him seems to close in around him, dark black walls surrounding him from all directions. Before the stallion can run or turn he finds his body encased in all manner of magical chains and padlocks manipulated by the show mare’s magical powers. Grinning in satisfaction the mare closes up the walls around the stallion of darkness forming an airtight black box surrounded with layer upon layers of protection spells that could prevent any method of escape, magical or physical.

“HA you thought that the Great and Powerful Trixie was unprepared?!” the showmare flaunts in her victory “FOOL Trixie has been planning this day her entire life! She was already leading you to with her great and powerful attacks so that you would be standing right where Trixie wanted you!”

With a satisfied smile and a racing pulse the showmare materializes several dozen of her sharpest most deadly swords as they sound the box currently encased in her magical field. “Now take this! Trixie’s first and Greatest Trick….”

“Trixie!” Twilight yells out “STOP!!”

“MAGICAL CUTTING BOXES!!!” With all the speed and precision a magi’s honed telekinesis could allow, Trixie swings her horn sending the steel bolts speeding towards the box with near supersonic speeds. In half an instant the swords crash into the box with deafening force Impaling the enclosed box from every single direction

The room grows silent as the swords impaled into the box reverberate from the force of the impact coursing through their frames. Breathing heavily Trixie pants as her levitation around the box falters and finally fails as the box comes crashing down to the floor with a resounding crash. Trixie recovering quickly from the sudden exertion stares at the box lying lengthwise on the floor as her keen eyes catch sight of small drops of blood dripping from the tips of the edged weapons.

Trixie stares at the droplets of watching the grisly scene with a dumbfounded expression as if unable to comprehend how it could be over so quickly. Half of her couldn’t believe that it was over, that the pony that tormented her for her entire life was dead; however the larger part of her was so elated she couldn’t have cared either way. Her slight curve of the muzzle, slowly transforms into a smile. Her smiles give way to nervous chuckling, and finally all her repressed anxiousness all her fears and pain over her entire life time cumulates in uproarious laughter. “H-H-H-Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!” The showmare extends her hooves to the heavens in relief. “How did you like that!? The great and powerful Trixie’s best performance to date! Surely a heart stopping performance, but then again was there ever any doubt?”

Trotting over towards the box the mare grins like a maniac as she fiddles with the lid with her hooves. “And Twilight doubted my skills! Now then, Sombra, do you have anything to say for…..”

The lid of the box lands on the floor with a resounding crash as the silence from before once again fills the room. Trixie’s mouth quivers and her knees threaten to buckle as she stares vacantly with deadened eyes at the inside of the box. Like a demented birthday present, or stepping on a landmine the shock of the sight before the mare, Trixie Lulamoon stops her heart and freezes her blood.

“T-Trixie…. PFHT!” Twilight cries silently as she coughs up her insides over the bottom of the box, blood from the multitude of sword wounds pooling around her critically injured form. “I-I…. Told your….. BLACK..…and-your stupid stubbornness was going…. Going to get us killed……”

Looking down at the scene before her the light blue showmare can only stare vacantly at the image of her dying friend as her mind futilely struggles to process what she has just seen. “T-T-T-Twi…… Twi……. How did you…. Why did you……. Twilight……”

“… well… that’s a first…..” Twilight smiles macabrely to herself. “For once you don’t have anything to say…. Trixie…..”

“TTTTTTTTTTTTWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!”

Her voice reaching the heavens themselves All of Trixie’s inner turmoil, her angst, her pain returns with tenfold force as the impact of what she has done shakes her more than any physical blow ever could. In front of her very eyes, against her most powerful attack her dreaded enemy had not only escaped but made her attack her ally, her rival, her friend. And now she was lying an inch from death’s door….. and it was all her fault. As the magically conjured swords vanish back into the aether, Trixie realizes with a pained admission that she has truly become a failure. Her plans of revenge have fallen on her face, her decisions have led her to a life of loneliness and isolation, and now more terrifyingly it looked like she would be joining her parents in the afterlife.

“Well Well Well!” Sombra grins like the Cheshire cat as he trots out of the darkness. “And I thought that you cared for the mare Twilight sparkle. Well I suppose that it is inevitable that lovers should quarrel every now and again.” Sombra chuckles. “Though I can hardly believe that you hated her enough to kill her.”

“YOU!” Her rage rekindled the mare spins around to attack to kill, to make the bloody stallion pay for every misdeed he has ever done. However before she can even attack she finds her throat grasped and her body shoved into a wall behind her with an echoing crash.

“Enough playing around, It is over Trixie Lulamoon.” The stallion clenches tighter around the mare’s throat with his stand, causing the mare pressed against the wall to visibly gasp for air. “And…. Given your…… situation…. I highly recommend that you give my offer to join me another thought.”

As the stallion tightens his grip around Trixie’s neck the showmare presses against Sombra’s superior strength, her hatred for the stallion returning with full force. “You expect me….” The mare seethes with rage as she looks down at the bleeding form of Twilight sparkle. “You expect me to join you? After everything you’ve done?! Are you insane? Don’t answer that…. I don’t care what your sick plan is I will NEVER serve you Sombra.”

“Ah but you underestimate how special my offer is. Have you forgotten that I can save your little friend?” Without giving the mare a chance to respond the stallion extends his other hoof and with sharpened teeth bites down with incredible force, a dark red substance forcing itself out of his veins. Trixie shocked by the stallion’s sudden self-mutilation tries to shy away only to find her face forced towards his injured hoof.

“Shhhhhhh!” Sombra shushes the mare as he extends his bloodied hoof. “Watch.”

Her eyes forced on Sombra’s hoof Trixie is forced to watch the scene before her. At first the mare fails to notice anything of any significance however after a single second of staring Trixie watches something that truly chills her bones. The gaping wound on Sombra’s hoof, slowly stitches itself together as the blood dripping out of the wound is drawn together as if by an unseen force. As the wound disappears into nothing the remainder of the blood on his hoof finds itself molded shaped by the dark black glow of the stallion’s horn as the blood is collected and gathered up; its’ substance distilled to the point that it becomes a solid blood red stone that glows as his magic flows through it.

“You see this substance flowing through my very veins is not pure blood. Coursing through my veins is the vital life force of the Red Stone which gives me unparalleled strength and regenerative abilities.” Sombra chuckles “And all it took was injecting Crystallized Red Stones into my bone marrow.”

Trixie gasps at the stallion’s profession as he continues. “I was……. a soldier in Celestia’s army when I was…. Recommended for this treatment. It was exceedingly painful at first but after screaming for a full week you get used to the incredible upsurge of vital energy constantly tearing your body apart.” Clenching his sharp teeth with such force that his grinding causes audible pops in the air, Sombra clenched teeth transform into a demented grin. “And it’s all thanks to Celestia.”

His rage towards the Goddess now reaching its fever pitch the Stallion continues to rant on as his anger causes him to press Trixie Lulamoon further and further into the wall. “Celestia was a fool, in more ways than one! She failed to notice the failure in the Corpse, she failed to notice how our gang was growing in power! She is so blind that she does not even see her age is over when it is as plain as her precious son.” The stallion barks “Even now she fails to notice the presence of the Traitor, but I suppose that you would know about that now wouldn’t you, Trixie?!”

Manifesting his stand the stallion glances over towards the form of the prone and bleeding librarian lying in the box like a corpse in a coffin. Without any respect or concern the stallion picks the mare out of the box with his stand only to drop her unceremoniously on the floor. As the mare’s prone form writhes in pain from her wounds as Sombra looks down on the injured mare with complete apathy.

Sombra instantly takes stock of the physical condition of Twilight as he grunts in disgust. “Humph her wounds were not as severe as I thought. Perhaps the great Trixie was holding back, or perhaps she was already healing the wounds even as she was being pierced?” Sombra raises his hoof as his stand’s sharpened needles protruding from its body catch the glint of his green eyes. “I’ll have to do something about that now won’t I?”

With a single precise swing of his hoof the sharpened crystal nails of his stand cut clean through the mare’s wrist, the spurt of blood signaling the direness of her situation. Without wasting a second Trixie tries to free herself, to rush over towards the profusely bleeding mare only to find herself pushed back into the wall. The showmare struggles to escape from Sombra’s grasp as the stallion presents the red stone made of his own blood to the desperate mare.

“One minute” Sombra states as he presents the red stone made from his blood to the showmare. “I shall give you one minute to make your decision! As you can see I’ve cut her wrist down to the vein. Therefore If you fail to accept my offer in and give this her this Red Stone within a minute she will lose consciousness and die!”

With wide beady eyes the mare looks between her tormenter, the stallion that she would trade her very life to kill, and the mare bleeding to death on the ground beneath her. On one hoof, vengeance, if she attacked while Sombra was distracted by his vile game she might be able to win, but then Twilight……

Could she save Twilight in time if she focused on Sombra? Should she save her? Twilight was…. Special no doubt…. But she was a fighter she voluntarily put her life on the line. It wouldn’t be Trixie’s fault if she had to defeat Sombra by sacrificing her life. Bringing down the head of Melodia was a calling greater than one mare’s life! It could save countless other lives! It could end organized crime in Equestria! It would elevate Trixie to the highest ranks of society and make her the most recognized mare in the country!

And most importantly, It would allow her parents to rest in peace….. and it would finally allow Trixie to once and for all bury her cursed and checkered past. It would give Trixie everything that she ever wanted…..

…..So why did it feel so wrong to Trixie?

‘A single life, a single drop of blood in the bucket amounts to nothing at all. It is the effect on the world that can be achieved by using such a life that matters!’

“……. Well Trixie?” Sombra grins evilly as he looks over upon the bleeding purple mare “you have a big decision to make…….and not much time to make it in. So then how will the Great and powerful Trixie reach her decision?”

…………………

Pant…. Pant…… pant……. Pant……..

“…I need…… more speed….. “ Pant “….If I am to get….” Paint “… just a bit……” Pant “…..of help…..”

The sound of hooves galloping through the night resounds off the dusty roads of Ponyville as a figure races through the late night early morning air. Everywhere that one can look signs of restoration can be seen: fires being put out, doors being put back on their hinges, family hugging and thanking the gods that they are all together and healthy despite the tragedy they have endured. And every which way members of the royal guard and medical personnel and honest hardworking citizens are helping those in need, of safety, first aid and warm food.

However these mean nothing to the Zebra Zecora, she barely pays notice to the few royal guards and doctors aiding the currently injured and comforting the few weeping ponies in their grief. Her need is far more urgent, and requires the aid of the best of the best, and so she runs as fast as she can while she searches for the only ponies who can help her.

It is just as the out of breath Zebra looks to have given up on hope that she spies a large gathering of very specific ponies gathered together near the great stone fountain in the center to town. Though the damage to the fountain is indicative of the harsh night the town has barely endured, the fiery spirits of the two ponies near it fill Zecora’s heart with a combination of relief and annoyance as she trots over towards the group.

“There…. Pant…. They are….pant….. see that wasn’t……. pant….. very far……”

Gathered near the center of town a temporary command post adorned with the crest of the Royal guard, a group of very special and specific ponies stands about as they do their best to alleviate the situation around them.

Handing out crates of warm baked goods as well as much needed courage are the twin bakers of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Having wasted no time and displaying their generosity, the two mares had managed to bake a small assortment of cakes and warm hot chocolate to the ponies of the town free of charge, assuring them that the situation was well in hoof.

Rarity spent her time more practically using her magic to repair and ‘spruce up’ the exteriors of the buildings in the town square that had been attacked. With a few scraps of metal, half a torn dress and a rock she had already managed to repair much of a nearby building’s structural weaknesses with a fashionista flair that one would expect from such a mare.

Fluttershy had taken it upon herself to watch over the children of the town who had perhaps been scarred for life by the horror of what they just witnessed. Yet just the presence of the butter yellow Pegasus was enough to drive off the fowl’s fears and promise them their nightmares were over.

Standing apart basking in the adoration of the praises of the other fowls were none other than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Together they has spent every second since the disaster ended regaling the other fowls on their ‘kill counts’ and the many numerous methods they had used to put the walking dead to rest. If one were more skeptical one might be inclined to not believe them, if not for the giant pile of burning corpses off in the distance. When Carmel’s curse had ended the adults who had been bitten had collaborated the youngster’s stories telling in horror the many ways in which the three youngsters had brought an army of the undead to heal with no more than a scooter, a chandelier, three bags of marbles, a tiara, a six very long sticks, a wagon and a three boxes of Sweetie Belle’s home cooked meals. All in all the three fillies (Plus Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon) had managed to kill thirty eight zombies and incapacitate nineteen infected ponies, and most of them were by accident.  After all who would expect a filly’s cooking to be so bad that it could literally kill zombies and cause an infective stand to foam at the mouth?

The nineteen ponies that had survived ten of them had been convinced that the three fillies were the spawn of Discord himself and resolved to move as far away from the three as the town limits would allow. The other nine had to have their stomachs pumped.

And Rainbow Dash…… Rainbow Dash was doing what she did best…….

Yelling.

“That’s a load of Horse Apples!” The rainbow mare shouted as she slammed her hoof into the table where Lightning Dust was sitting. “We got them all, didn’t we? These ponies have had enough scares for one night, we don’t suddenly need to force them into some smelly building cause you have ‘a feeling’.”

Clearing her throat the acting commander of her unit of the royal guards tries her best to keep her temper from rising despite her opponent’s antagonistic behavior. “And I say that safety takes priority over how these ponies feel. If there’s another stand user in the town, which there most likely is, then these ponies are in even more danger standing out here in the open. The town hall and the surrounding buildings are all stone walled and capable of housing the ponies of this town in one place so that we can protect them.”

Panting with all her might the Zecora finally manages to crawl her way up to the table holding on to the sides for support as she struggles for words. “…. Pant…. Everypony….. pant… I need ….. pant….. your…. Pant……”

“That or it could just make it a bigger target if there is another bad guy waiting around!” The rainbow mare crosses her hooves while hovering in midair. “Which there’s not. And if any evil villain had the guts to show up in the open, I’d knock them down in ten seconds flat!”

“….. is that your catchphrase or something? ‘Ten seconds Flat?’ cause if it is you definitely need a new one.”

“…..pant…… please…… pant…. Listen…..”

“That’s not funny! And my catchphrases are totally awesome!”

Lightning groans. “…. Seriously, if you were under my command I’d give you an order to think up some new material.”

“Come on Lightning Crud! Think of the fowls! We don’t need to scare the little guys any more than they have been!” Rainbow Dash gestures over towards the fillies playing under Fluttershy’s guidance. “Not that I was scared but these little guys just lived through a freaking ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! They’re probably all scarred for life!”

…………..

“…..So then after we nailed their hooves to the ground with Sweetie’s nail gun, we took out a chainsaw and tore through them like they did in the movie ‘Rise of the Dead’! There was like blood and guts everywhere, even in our manes! That’s how bloody it was!”

“COOL!”

“Totally awesome!”

“I wish my mom had bought me a chainsaw!”

Ever since they whole disaster ended Scootaloo had been ‘enlightening’ the other school fowls with her awesomeness, telling them all about how she, Scootaloo the Zombie slayer (and co.)  had killed over a hundred Zombies. The tales she wove were as biased towards her as they were ridiculously impossible and self-contradictory. However being prepubescent fowls who lived on action movies and comic books, convincing him that an untrained thirteen year old could kill over a hundred zombies with her bare hooves was easy as telling them that babies were dropped off by a large bird.

Well it was easy to fool almost all of them. “Um Scootaloo.” Sweetie belle asks with such shyness that even Fluttershy would be proud “it may just be me. But I don’t remember any of that happening!” The white filly cocks her head to the side “Are you SURE all of that stuff happened?” Sweetie belle gasps “You aren’t LYING now are you?”

Before the audience can even respond the orange filly thinks on her hooves as she grabs the white filly. “Just a second everypony! Need to straighten out our stories.” Grabbing Sweetie by the arm the desperate orange Pegasus pulls the white filly out of earshot of the others.

“S-Scootaloo…. You’re lying!” Sweetie states sorrowfully. “How could you! We all barely survived because we all worked together and you’re making it sound like a game!” Sweetie brushes her mane off to the side with dramatic flair “Besides I killed most of the Zombies with my ‘Wilber’s Surprise’! So if there is any pony that deserves all the credit it’s me!”

“Don’t blow this for me Sweetie!” Scootaloo pleads between clenched teeth. “This could be our only chance to be as popular as Rainbow Dash is! And by Celestia as my witness I’m going to squeeze every second of popularity out of this that I possibly can!” Turning back towards the group the orange filly straightens her expression as her young overactive mind generates more disturbing images of shear awesomeness.

“Now where was I…..” Scootaloo taps her chin as if she was some war hero trying to remember her long lost glory days. “Oh yeah! Then the boss showed up! He was as big mound of putrid undead flesh the size of a house! So I tied a rope around my waist and jumped into its mouth, from there it was easy to swim through its putrid flesh until I found it’s heart! Then I just pulled out my Gas can and lit it on fire! Then all Applebloom had to do was pull me out and we just watched as he burned to death from the inside out.”

“THAT’S THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER!!”

“You are so cool Scootaloo!”

“You’re way better than Diamond Tiara ever was!”

And speaking of Diamond Tiara, the drama Queen herself was not in the best of moods. Sitting with her hooves crossed on a nearby bench the filly was currently giving the yellow filly sitting right beside her the biggest upset pout in her little filly life. Her trademark crown, the symbol of her pride and dignity was currently being bent back into shape by the yellow filly beside her. With all the skill of a drunken surgeon Applebloom was currently using her strong teeth in an attempt to bend the dented charred head ornament back into place. Needless to say Diamond Tiara was noticeably upset.

“Look ah said that ah was sorry! But yawl know that we needed to spark the gas leak with some kind of metal!” Applebloom grunts as she tries to pull the dented body of the crown back into position. “And it just so happened that yer crown was made of…. Well some kind of metal.”

“….It’s made out of platinum, which is why I’m surprised that you managed to dent it.” Diamond Tiara pouts “then again I suppose you three blank flanks are experts at destroying priceless, irreplaceable objects now aren’t you!”

“………Is this about yer house?”

Diamond Tiara face hooves “Oh no Applebloom I’m not upset at all, I mean deciding to BLOW UP MY HOUSE was a perfectly sane and rational decision!” using her years of dramatic acting the pink filly attempts a very lady like swoon by laying down on the cold metal bench. “It was all done towards a great cause after all. How would I ever live with myself if Scootaloo beat your kill count and managed to kill more Zombies than you?”

Applebloom nods “Good! Ah glad that you think that too, aint no way ah was gonna give Scoots the gold! Even though it was Sweetie who beat us……” Applebloom looks back at Diamond whose eye is twitching erratically as she stares at her. “you sure you aint mad Diamond?”

“…….Nooooooooooooo! Of course I’m not mad Applebloom I’m just darn peachy that you destroyed my house on a whim!”

“……. Really? Well that’s mighty mature of you Diamond!”

Diamond raises her hooves in exasperation “Of course I’m mad at you! You blew up my house! You’re just lucky that you destroyed Daddy’s bottle cap collection and not any of my stuff otherwise I would have never forgiven you!”

Her attention currently redirected by the filly’s comment Applebloom looks over at the lounging pink filly. “Hey if it weren’t fer me comin ta save you yawl would be worm food! In anything you owe ME!” Applebloom smiles evilly. “Unless yawl fergot what kind of condition ya were in, as well as what ya did when ah saved yer hide!”

“I-I-I was hysterical! I wasn’t thinking straight, it’s not my fault you surprised me like that!” Diamond protests. “Besides I would have been completely fine! You said yourself that I’m not a princess, so I didn’t need you to come rescue me!”  Harnessing her year of maturity of experience and maturity offer the yellow filly Diamond Tiara responds in the way she always does.

That being Diamond Tiara turned to stick out her tongue at the yellow filly beside her. Applebloom stubborn as ever, and unwilling to give any ground, throws out a raspberry right back. And with that the fourth annual face making contest began between the two fillies, an event which of course went completely ignored by the adults and their more important conversations.

………………

“…..The kids look fine from where I’m standing.” Lightning coughs into her hoof. “But more importantly than how they feel we should insure that these ponies are safe. And if that means corralling them into a building than that’s what we are GOING to do, whether you like it or not.”

“Oh big surprise!” Dash shouts with feigned surprise. “The royal guard is here to make us common ponies follow your rules! You know I thought after cutting Twilight some slack that you guys were okay, but big surprise here you are trying to make everypony do what YOU think is best!”

At this the commander barely suppresses her rage, as she barely manages to keep a civil tone through clenched teeth. “I am TRYING to do what’s best for everypony. If you weren’t so stuck up you’d see that these ponies safety is more important than how they feel for a while!”

“And I SAY!” Dash slams her hoof into the table “That their freedom and how they feel IS important! We don’t need to round them up and stuff them in crates to protect them!”

“Their safety is too important to jeopardize!”

“Their freedoms are too important to jeopardize!”

“Safety!”

“Freedom!”

 “…… air………” The Zebra pants out as she collapses on the table in exasperation.

The disturbance of the table causes the two mares to finally notice that they currently have another interloper to their conversation. An exhausted interloper dressed in a sweaty black suit but an interloper not the less. Her decorum taking over, Lightning dust quickly gives a salute as the turns to face the Zebra. “…Secretary Zecora? When did you get here?”

“UUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!” Zecora screams.

“Wait, who?” Dash cocks her head

“She’s just Celestia’s secretary. She has the leader of the land’s ear but she doesn’t have any real command.” Lighting Dust Clears her throat as she prepares to resume the argument. “Now as I was saying Dash, Guard Captain Shining Armor placed me in charge of the safety of these ponies. As long as Shining Armor is holding down the fort over by the police station I’m in charge!”

“….commander Lightning Dust…..pant..… I really need to tell you…… pant….…that…. pant…..”

“Well then let her get your Boss over here and maybe he’ll tell you what a jerk you’re being!”

“Well that’s the first good idea that you’ve had all day, Rainbow Crash. Somepony definitely needs to straighten you out.” With all the decorum and command that the uniform allows Lightning turns to face the Zebra. “Zecora go fetch shining Armor and tell him we need….”

“HELP!!”

Just as it looks as though somepony is finally going to pay attention to the Zebra mare all eyes turn away as they lock on to the voice of a desperate sounding mare off in the distance. Trotting towards them, displaying an obvious amount of pain stands a mint green unicorn mare, her coat matted with red and upon her back a light tan pony with a candy colored mane rests gently as a droplets of blood fall from her hoof.

“Is… is that Lyra? And that sweet maker Bon Bon’s on her back…..” Fluttershy asks as she trots up to Dash, leaving the children unattended. “Oh my goodness she’s hurt!”

Those five words are all it takes, within seconds Zecora is completely forgotten again as an entire group of ponies rushes over to help the injured mare. Within seconds Lyra finds herself propped up by the strong supportive hooves of Lightning dust and Rainbow dash as she and her injured sister are taken over towards a nearby hospital bed. With all the care the two pegasi can muster the two mares find themselves picked up and placed on two clean cots as doctors and various medical personal surround them. As healing spells are cast and bandages placed around their injured limbs Lyra’s friends and acquaintances can only look on as two more casualties are added to the list of tonight’s damages done.

“Lyra, how did….” Applejack mouths as she looks upon the injured form of the green mare, measuring her shallow breaths as the mare struggles for air. To see the previously energetic and optimistic mare brought so low is hard to accept for a mare like Applejack. Yet her own curiosity and concern presses her to ask the hard question that is currently on everypony's mind. “Lyra… what happened ta you, and to Bon Bon? Ah mean yawl are a good fighter. So how the heck did you get so beat up?”

“Applejack!” Fluttershy states with an indignant outburst “These two need rest! I’m sorry but you’ll have to hold off your questions until……”

Applejack nearly jumps out of her skin as she feels a strong hoof grasp her arm, yelping with such shock that every pony stops talking. Wheezing from the strain, the mint maned unicorn grasps Applejack’s arm tighter as if afraid that if she let go she would be unable to finish. “It was…. It was another stand user….he was…. Dark… and strong…. Didn’t stand…. A chance……” a single tear streams down her face as she notices the tan coat of the mare beside her is matted with blood. “…. I couldn’t protect her….. I couldn’t protect Bonnie…. I failed her…..”

“L-Lyra…” Applejack clenches the hoof of the mare tightly.

“C-Couldn’t stop him….” Lyra admits shamefully as she breathes out in exhaustion, the dried blood matting her coat mashes with the dirt on her coat discolorating her light green pelt. “….F-Forget me…. Just tired….. P-Please…. .. Bonnie… is Bonnie…… is she……”

“Lyra….” Fluttershy sniffles along with everypony within earshot, their hearts stuck by Lyra’s plight. “It’s all right, you don’t have to say any more. You're safe now, and your sister’s safe too there’s no need to….”

“Let her finish Fluttershy.” Lightning dust says calmly and sternly. Trotting up to the mint green unicorn the solder gets to her knees and places a gentle hoof around the Lyra’s hoof, caressing it reassuringly as she looks straight into her eyes. “Don’t worry citizen, your wounds and that of your filly friend are severe, but not life threatening. Given time both of you will pull through.”

The mint green mare for the first time since she arrived cracks a subtle smile, perhaps at Lightning’s inference towards her ‘Filly Friend’. “However at this moment anything you can tell us about your attacker is vital.” Lightning states sternly but fairly. “Do you know what he was after? What was his stand power? Do you know what his name was? Or what kind of pony he was? These are the things that could help us save lives, so tell us all that you can.”

Lyra breathes in. then she breathes out, letting her sorrow escape into the air around her. Suddenly the crushed mare from before raises her body shakily as she puts all her strength towards sitting up. Despite the gestures of the medical personnel around her Lyra Heartstrings manages to rise up to the other ponies eye levels, her gaze focused and filled with resolve. “…Dark grey stallion…. Red curved horn that looked like a knife…. And his eyes… they were the worst part. They glowed green and had dark purple vapors, they weren’t the eyes of a pony.”

“And his cutie mark?”

“…Couldn’t see, it was too dark. I didn’t’ even see his stand either, he just vanished from sight before I could even land a punch.” Lyra’s eyes suddenly gain focus as she remembers a crucial sentence she had heard from just before she faded out of consciousness. “He said…. He said that he was after the miracle stones….”

“The what?” Lightning asks with genuine surprise.

“Um… I think she means the Corpse pieces….”

“Yeah, those stones that grant miracles. That guy he was after them, he said that he was going to ‘gather them up’ and ‘finish’ any pony that would get in his way.” Lyra exclaims as she looks over other sister hanging on to life in the bed next to her. “I’ve faced a lot of nasty guys ever since I got my stand… but this guy….. he’s a whole other league. He’s not misunderstood or ambitious, he’s just plain evil, and he’s stronger than I can believe. And right now he’s bent on getting every miracle stone that he can get his grubby little hooves on.”

The unicorn shivers as her body breaks out into a cold sweat “And worst of all….. I don’t’ see how we could stop him….”

“The pieces of the corpse?!” Lightning muses as a doctor bandages the two mares’ wounds. “Then this attack was just a distraction. And if the enemy is after the corpse then that means that Shining Armor…….”

“THE POLICE STATION IS UNDER ATTACK, BY A STAND USER!” Zecora blurts out with about as much tact as a stick of dynamite.

The entire group grows silent; the mares barely blink, as only the sound of the Zebra’s panting is heard over the silence. Then as suddenly as it descended the silence is blown away by loud words filled with hysteria.

“What? The police station is under attack? Why didn’t you say so sooner Zecora!” Lightning dust leaps to her wings “Shining Armor needs our help now!”

“Lightning Crud is right!” Dash states “You should have said that sooner! Twilight and Trixie are on their way there right now!”

“Twi’s in danger?!” Applejack asks with deep concern “That’s real important stuff Zeboria! Why didn’t yawl tell us sooner!”

The Zebra however only looks at the ponies around her with one of Twilight’s patented ‘are you kidding me’ faces. Her simple gaze expressing more hatred than a fowl who just found out that their elder sibling ate the last cookie. “…..pant….. pant…… hate you all …… pant… hate you all so much…….”

“Well whatever are we standing around here for girls?” Rarity asks with exasperation as she trots over to the road leading out of the town square. “If Twilight gets even a scratch on her coat I’ll never forgive myself!”

No more words are needed, no more pep talks or Pinkie themed jokes are permitted. Together all five of twilight’s closest friends and acquaintances put all their energy and focus towards getting to the police station at top speed. Their hooves blur, their wings flap and their breaths grow heavy as their bodies try to keep up with their racing minds, each one of them trying to suppress the images in their mind of what this mystery stallion did to Bon Bon and Lyra as they try not to imagine what gruesome fate is awaiting their friend.

…………..

Twilight lies crumpled on the floor a single sword covered in her blood, her prone form and stained pelt a sign of the serious blood loss she is currently suffering from. Pinned against the wall Trixie remains trapped, forced between choosing to serve the man who killed her parents to save a friend, or achieve her revenge and reap all the rewards that come with it. And of course watching the blood leaking out of the purple mare like it were some form of demented pastime is the villain himself, the leader of the gang that had just finished sacking the town, the dreaded boss of Melodia, Sombra.

“Well Trixie? Time is wasting; if you had some plan to save your friend now would be a good time to implement it.” Sombra smiles darkly as he looks over towards the ever paler Twilight sparkle. “Unless you were considering my gracious offer?”

A dark shudder passes through Trixie’s frame as she is forced to look deep into the luminous green eyes of the murderous stallion before her. ‘Well this is it, back against the wall, no chance of escape, and no desire to either. In front of me, the serial killer that I have been chasing for years, the very stallion that murdered my parents.’ Trixie narrows her gaze ‘and he has just made the fatal mistake of letting his guard down.’

Glaring at the grinning stallion before her the mare clenches her jaw as a rudimentary plan forms in her mind. ‘Alright Trixie, here is the plan, distract him with your words, make him believe that you’re going along with his insane plan. Then cut off his head with the garrote wire you have in your mane with your third trick: magic Rope trap! It’ll be instantaneous, and even with his ability to regenerate it will be impossible for him to survive.’

Her mind made up the mare takes one last glance down at the purple mare behind Sombra, her every breath growing weaker by the second. ‘Twilight…. I’m sorry but it was your own fault for being caught. I wasn’t responsible, it was something Sombra did! And I can’t’ pass up this chance to see justice be done, I’m not letting this psycho get away on my watch!’

“Well Trixie?” Sombra asks.

‘Alright Trixie!’ the showmare psyches herself up ‘it’s ShowTime! Carefully now, lure the stallion in with soft and difficult to hear words so that he’s right up next to you!’

With perfect acting skills the showmare subtly opens her mouth as she prepares to utter the words that will lure Sombra to his gruesome death. But to her surprise not words come out, as if her very body is rejecting the falseness of the words she was prepared to utter.

‘What!? What happened? Say it Trixie! Say you’d never join him, attack while he’s distracted! Do something!’

“I…… I……” the showmare stutters for perhaps the first time in her life as the tries with all her might to pronounce two simple words. The two words that will signal her counter attack, as well as the end to Twilight’s life.

‘No Way. How hard is that for you to say Trixie!? Two words, just tell this scum off and beat him down!’

“Well Trixie? Have you reached a decision? Regardless what you choose you are coming with me. And since you possess no chance of victory you might as well swear your undying loyalty to me and save yourself the heart ache.”

‘Say it Trixie! Twilight would understand! This stallion is evil, I need to kill him, he murdered my parents and will kill others if I don’t stop him right now!’

Glancing over at the lavender unicorn clutching one of the swords protruding from her body the stallion seizes the fact that the unicorn’s worsening condition to put more pressure on his captive. “Time grows short for your friend Trixie, and while I take great pleasure in seeing any pony close to the Sun Witch die I have a schedule to keep. So I would suggest that you MAKE A CHOICE.”

Trixie’s’ body shivers her entire system in revolt as her clenched hooves shiver in barely suppressed frustration and rage. “…I…. I……..”

‘SAY IT TRIXIE! SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY IT!’ The mare screams over and over in her mind, her body shakes her pupils dilate, her body sweats up a storm as she tries to put her entire being into saying two single words.

The words that will get her revenge.

The words that will make her the most respected mare in Equestria.

The words that will kill Twilight Sparkle.

“WELL TRIXIE!?” Sombra shouts over the showmare’s stuttering “What is your decision!? Time is running out for her friend so if you want to save her miserable life than I suggest that you buckle down and SAY IT!”

Trixie’s minds shatters, her body convulses, her heart skips a beat, and in a moment of utter powerlessness the mare’s arms fall to her side as all life leaves her eyes.

‘I…… I can’t say it……’

‘……good sweet Celestia I can’t say it……..

‘Dear sweet Celestia Forgive me, Forgive me mother, Forgive me father…….I just…….’

In that moment the light blue unicorns’ mask of stoic calm shatters tears course tragically down her face as she looks down at the innocent pony bleeding to death before her. ‘I just can’t say it……..’

Sombra confused at Trixie’s sudden loss of anger inches closer just as Trixie opens her mouth.“…. If… if you save Twilight… then….” The dark stallion presses closer towards Trixie, his mind and soul waiting on baited breath for the next words to come out of the show mare’s mouth. “…If you PROMISE…. You won’t hurt her…. Then I…..” The mare gulps every fiber in her being trying to reject the words she is about to say. “then I… I’ll…..”

What happened in those next two seconds was so instantaneous that even Trixie had difficulty following it. The stallion Sombra anticipating Trixie’s offer to join him had neglected to notice a simple fact about Twilight namely that the swords that Trixie had impaled her with had all disappeared when Trixie had opened the box. Thus even Trixie was surprised when the purple librarian pulled the very sword that was supposedly stuck in her body, only for the gag blade to reform in a slight glint of purple magic. Noticing the small flash Sombra had turned sharply around to witness just in time as Twilight’s glowing telekinesis shoved the glowing purple sword straight into his chest. With enough force to push clean through the stallion the sharpened blade had managed to pierce him, whether by coincidence or incredible precision, at the exact spot where the stallion’s heart would be. Understandably the surprise of being impaled and the pain of the attack itself caused the stallion to scream in pain dropping the red stone in his hoof that he had promised to Trixie. And finally Trixie herself never one to pass up an attack of opportunity, had manifested her stand and before Sombra had even hit the ground, he found his body pummeled by a barge of the showmare’ most powerful punches.

DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJA! DOJJJJAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Needless to say now no longer pressed against the wall Trixie’s punches sent Sombra spiraling through the air, his heart ruptured his body broken and beaten before he even knew what hit him.

Panting heavily, all her strength exerted in a single moment the showmare falls to her knees as her body greedily takes in the oxygen from the stale air around her. Her panting breath is the only constant in the silent darkness around her, the sound of her thudding heartbeat her only audible companion as her still reeling mind struggles to take in what just happened.

“……. Atta girl…… Trixie….” A small voice speaks out from the darkness.

“TWILIGHT!” The blue showmare rushes up to the prone form of Twilight instantly forgetting her own exhaustion. Not wasting a second, Trixie grasps the twilight mare in her hooves applying all her remaining focus and magic towards stopping Twilight’s bleeding. The showmare wastes no time at all at putting all her magical power behind her most powerful healing spell directing all its power directly into Twilight’s injuries as Twilight smiles back up at her.

“Heh we really…. We really got him good didn’t we Trixie……” Twilight grins her own blood staining her teeth a dark red “…….Just like you said….. just gotta…. Take a chance…..”

“Don’t talk Twilight.” Trixie wipes the tears from her eyes. “You…. You were great Twilight. You beat him just…. Just stay with me now. You aren’t going anywhere!” Trixie promises as her horn blazes brighter, all her magical expertise and ability channeled towards healing her friend’s injured form.

“….s-st…..”

“Twilight just calm down I’m currently doing everything that….”

“…..s-stone……”

Trixie’s’ ears perk up at this “Stone…. Sombra’s Red Stone!” The mare looks over the room as her horn’s light shines through the dark. “Red stones have immense healing properties, all I have to do in find it and….”

“And WHAT?! My Dear Trixie?” Trixie’s’ heart skips a beat, her pulse escalates, and her body tenses up as the sound of another voice echoes off the walls. It is a voice that fills the showmare with dread, it is a voice that she had never hoped to hear again, but the sound of hoof steps behind her lets the mare know that what she hears is not an illusion. Faster than she can even turn around the showmare finds herself tackled to the ground, her hooves pinned at her back and her face slammed into the ground as she is barely able to turn enough to make out her attacker.

Trixie’s frame shudders as she looks upon the figure pinning her to the ground. Standing over her like a triumphant conqueror his hoof pressing her face into the ground beneath her with the force of a steamroller, is none other than Lord Sombra. And from the look on his face she can tell not only is he alive, but he is very, very angry “N-No….” The showmare cries out as she is pressed further into the ground. “H-How can you even be alive!? Twilight, she stabbed you in the heart!”

“Tenacity my Dear Trixie.” Sombra growls “Pure rage and tenacity. After all this isn’t the first time I’ve had my heart ripped out, and if that fraud CELESTIA has her way it most certainly won’t be the last.” Sombra growls as he looks down at the lavender unicorn her raw wounds threatening to come apart under sudden shock of Sombra’s apparent return from the dead. Yet even as Trixie is being pressed into the ground her bones groaning in pain from the pressure of the stallions’ force, she still manages to pour all her available manna into healing Twilight’s wounds. “Though, to tell you the truth of all the ponies I have known, I never expected that YOU would be the one who would try to rip out my heart.”

Suddenly displaying an abnormal amount of rage the stallion pushes Trixie’s head against the ground with frightening strength. “But then you went and betrayed me! You tried to kill me! After everything I’ve done for you! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT YOU WOULD TRY AND BETRAY ME TOO!” The stallion screams out as he hacks up another liter of glowing red blood down the side of his coat as the gaping wound in his chest slowly but carefully stitches itself together. The pain of the wound causes the bestial stallion go growl out in pain as he pushes the show mare’s face into the ground. “I thought that I could use you Trixie Lulamoon, but now I’m beginning to have my doubts. Yet I am still more merciful than that fraud. Bow down to my will and you will live.”

Responding in kind the Trixie musters up her will to resist, pushing through the pain as she spits on the stallion’s hoof. “buck off.”

The stallion pushes the mare further into the ground, causing the mare to wince in pain. “You still defy me! I could have given you everything and you threw it back in my face! Why? Why would you….” Sombra eyes widen as he turns around his vision catching sight of the blood stained purple librarian laying prone on the ground barely managing shallow breaths.

“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” Sombra yells at the purple unicorn as he rushes over to Twilight’s side. His own fury aroused against the barely alive mare, the stallion throws aside all pretenses of sophistication and mercy as he savagely wails on the mare with his bare hooves. Blood flies as the mare’s wounds begin to open up again from the impact of the blows, all of Trixie ‘s efforts at patching her wounds are brought to naught. Normally Twilight would resist, she would fight, but in her current state she finds herself even too weak to scream as the stallion inflict blow after blow upon her hapless form. “YOU WORTHLESS, PATHETIC, PONY! I should have known the spawn of Celestia would be a thorn in my side! A hindrance to my plans, a blasphemy against everything I have ever struggled for!”

“YOU STUPID…..”

SPHCK!

“…UGLY…..”

CRACK!

“……PIECE. OF. FLITH!”

WHUM!

“ha… ha…..ha….” Sombra straightens out his bloodied tie as he wipes the blood from his face with his snaked tongue. With eyes filled to the brim with endless malice he stares down at the mare beneath him, still clinging to life despite his savagely delivered beating. “You made a quick decision in such a weak state; therefore as an opponent I will praise you Twilight Sparkle.” Manifesting his stand the dark stallion raises his stand’s nail driven and bandaged hoof as he looks down on the shallowly breathing mare beneath him. “But your acts were completely meaningless in the end. DIE!”

His hoof raised for the finishing blow it looks as though there is nothing that can stop Twilight’s end. Her body exhausted and far too weak to even beg for mercy from the psychopathic stallion prepared to crush her head with the level of concern that one musters when stepping on an ant.

Yet even in the darkest of moments a light always finds a way to shine. “Where… what do you think you’re doing…. Sombra…..”

Looking from behind his neck at the showmare behind him the stallion manages the faintest of smiles as he watches the cocky showmare struggle to even stand. “Still you insist on saving this pathetic unicorn? I commend you for your tenacity.” Sombra laughs mockingly as he raises his hoof to inflict what will undoubtedly be the finishing blow against Twilight sparkle. “However there is nothing on this green earth that you can say that will save….”

“I know how your stand works.”

Sombra’s hoof stops in mid swing, his stand shaking from the mental turmoil his is no doubt experiencing. His eyes previously so filled with his assurance of victory, grow beady and narrow, his breath catches in his throat as his entire body breaks out in a cold sweat. Turning around the stallion locks eyes with the mare rising shakily to her hooves and in a way a millionaire might ask a dragon not to eat him, the stallion gulps and with a quivering lip asks. “…… I beg your p-pardon?”

“Your stand power.” Trixie says with every degree of confidence and as much strength as she can muster. “I know how it works.”

The stallion’s mouth gapes in disbelief as he stands paralyzed by words, however the smirk crossing the show mare’s face lets the darks stallion she isn’t even close to being done. “And didn’t you say that any pony that ‘betrayed your secrets’ must die? That is what you said right? Therefore since I know what your stand does surely you mean to kill me, Trixie Lulamoon, in cold blood just as you killed my parents.” The mare fakes a swoon. “Oh woe is me! To die in the same way as my parents, well get on with it, I Trixie Lulamoon am prepared to accept my fate!”

“I TOLD you Trixie. They DESERVED to die! The stood in the way of my ascension!” The stallion shakes his head frantically. “Wait, This doesn’t make sense…..” Sombra tugs on his mane “Is this some ruse? A trick?!” His eyes bulge “You’d never just present yourself up for me to kill offer yourself up as a sacrifice! It has to be…..”

“I’ll give you ten seconds to make your decision.” Trixie states with a tone of finality “You can either kill me for knowing your stand’s power, or you can take me with you and risk me killing you in the future, it’s your call.”

“Wait… What?!” Sombra shouts as he accidently pulls a clump of his own mane out.

“T…Trixie….” Twilight mutters “Wha…What do you think you’re doing……”

“Those ten seconds start now.’ Trixie grins as she takes a step closer towards the dark stallion. “Ten….”

Sombra stutters. “F-For once I agree with your pathetic friend! If this is some kind of joke….”

“Nine…” Trixie says as she takes another shaky step towards Sombra her body completely defenseless.

“What…. What do you think you’re trying to pull?!”

“Eight….”

“Do you honestly think I’ll fall for another one of your tricks Lulamoon?” Sombra snarls.

“Seven…..Well Sombra?”

“Trixie would never do this….” Sombra futilely assures himself. “She’d never walk straight up to a superior opponent without something up her sleeves…. It’s impossible…..”

“Six….. time’s wasting….” Trixie states mockingly.

“I get it now! You’re just an illusion!” Sombra points his hoof towards the advancing blue mare. “You’re just an illusion created by Trixie’s stand! The real Trixie would never so haphazardly approach me!”

“Five….”

“Now I get it!” Sombra’s glowing green eyes swivel about as he scans the room. “The real Trixie’s somewhere in the shadows, just waiting to attack me….. BUT IT”S NOT GOING TO WORK TRIXIE!!”

“Four…..” Trixie stops not a hoof’s length from the dark stallion in front of her.

“Ha… hA…. HA! I’ve seen through your tricks Trixie…..” Sombra gulps as the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. “…haven’t I?”

“Three….” Trixie states as her star studded stand, it’s cape waving in a nonexistent wind, manifests out of her body.

“Trixie’s stand….. that means this is the real Trixie?!” Sombra shouts out as he takes a step back. “Is she stupid?! Doesn’t she know I can kill her in an instant from this range?!”

 “Two….” Trixie cracks her neck as she releases her pent up tension her body loosening up as her muscles relax.

“Is this a suicide attack? A feint? A stall for time?! The final part of an elaborate plan she’s been setting up from the beginning to kill me?!?!” Sombra raves while fear begins to course through his body.

“One…..” Trixie’s stand winds up for a punch

“You have to kill her Sombra, you have to kill her now! But it’s Trixie, I can’t kill her. You can and you will! But she knows how our stand works, we can’t use it! Shut up and attack, DO SOMETHING!!”

“Zero.”

In half a second two extremely skilled stand users react with all the speed and responsiveness that they can muster as their stands lash out with all their power like an erupting volcano. Trixie’s Magic Mare it’s glistening star spangled hoof, shots outwards it’s most powerful, most sharp, and most deadly left cross to date, the blow slicing through the air, directly towards Sombra’s terrified mug. Sombra on the other hoof, stunned by the mare’s audacity as well as his own crippling paranoia finds himself raising his stand cowardly it’s flailing hooves forming a ramshackle guard in an attempt to ward of whatever trick or scheme the mare in front of him has hatched to kill him.

However there is no trick in Trixie’s actions. No ruses, no falsehoods or second measures in her attack. No her blow is simply what it appears to be, one straight cross from her stand, thrown with everything she has. All of her rage towards her Sombra, all her remaining energy and power, all her desire for justice and her long nights of loneliness while sitting in an orphanage are put into the is one blow. And Twilight…… her punch is thrown with the desperation of a pony who is willing to risk everything, sacrifice all to protect a pony that is truly irreplaceable to her. All these traits ephemeral and physical alike are condensed, distilled and unleashed in one simple act of physical synchronicity as every part of her very being is put behind a single blow. The result of all this energy all this pain and practice is a punch, nothing special, just one simple, basic left cross.

KA-KROOM!!

Yet, though it is just a simple punch, it is said by many great warriors that with enough force behind a leaf one can cut through a dragonhide. Meaning that depending on the resolve on one’s heart that even a simple jab can become a fatal blow. And with everything behind Trixie’s’ one punch, it is no surprise that a simple cross becomes a blow that shakes the very air as her hoof impacts the Stallion’s face with the force of a thunderclap.  The stallion’s face bends from the impact, his body breaks as the blow presses further into his face the shock wave traveling through his body shattering the floor underneath him even as he is lifted into the air. His body spasms and bends like rubber as his entire body contorts under the righteous strength of Trixie’s hoof. His bones vibrate, his eyes bleed, and even his skin ripples from the blow’s resounding impact like miniature title waves.

DDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Sombra’s body cartwheels through the air smashing into the wall behind him with enough force to bring down the entire wall around him in a cloud of rubble. The dust drifts in the air as The Great and Powerful Trixie pants heavily her stand receding back into her body as her exhaustion reaches her peak. Taking a knee the mare pants harder as her hooves shiver like a frightened fowl, he body has reached its limit long before and even not it is taking her every ounce of energy just to keep herself upright.

Yet once again like a bad cold, or a notice From the IRS, the rubble flies apart as a dark bandaged stand pulls it’s user from the rubble, Sombra has returned. His body is bleeding and profusely bruised from the impact, his heavy breathing an indication of even his exhaustion, yet even so the stallion still manages to look intimidating even as he struggles to know what just happened. “W-What….” The bloodied stallion hacks up another cup of red stone infused blood as his injured body somehow manages to rise to its hooves. “It was….. it was just a punch?!”

Feeling his broken and bruised skull to his side the stallion’s sudden apprehension fades away in the wake of realization. “It…. It was a bluff! You never….. you never had a plan!” Sombra’s previous fears, his paranoia and angst all vanish in all of five seconds as he releases his nervousness in a burst of uproarious laughter. “BWA HA HA Ha ha ha……. Not a bad Trixie, you actually were successful in bluffing me! The head of Melodia of all ponies, with nothing more than a simple lie…. I should have known that you would never be able to decipher the mystery behind my stand. Ha ha ha ha ha ha…….”

Suddenly the room grows as deathly cold as Sombra’s voice. “However your pathetic ruse has failed, and with it your chances of victory have just reached absolute zero. In short you lose Trixie Lulamoon.”

Yet even in the wake of absolute defeat the showmare can’t help but smile. “No Sombra, Trixie did have a plan, one that you were actually able to guess.” Trixie stands over Twilights’ form her senses primed and ready to defend against any surprise attack the stallion may throw. “Trixie wasn’t trying to take you by surprise or make a foolhardy attack; Trixie simply put all her confidence and her strength into their best and fondest ability, her bluffing. You see Trixie knew that she couldn’t’ defeat you alone.…”

In a sudden Explosion of sound the door behind explodes a large colorful group of pastel ponies bursts into the room, their faces locked in a deathly serious expression as they survey the room around them and the carnage contained within.

Her face a mask or resolution and focus, Applejack tilts her hat fastening it firmly on her head as her stand manifests out of her body. Foundation smashes its wood covered hooves together with the force of a bomb blast as its’ flowing green leaf mane flutters in the eather.

Dash, being as quick as she is, lands with a loud crash, positioning herself on the front, ready to defend her friends behind her with body and soul. Her hooves, glowing with the golden aura of her Valkyrie drive off the dark around her as she stares down the dark abomination threatening to harm her friends.

Even Fluttershy, thought to be the weakest in her group can’t help but make a stand after seeing the condition of her two best friends fighting with everything they have. Standing like a vanguard in front of the injured Twilight and the exhausted Trixie, her dark formless eyes signify the power of her Stare ready to crush the wills of any who could hurt her friends.

Rarity her discerning eye having noticed her lavender friend even in the dark, suppressed her shock at seeing her friend Twilight in such a condition as she rushed over towards her injured friend. Her stand Quicksilver moving itself with expert precision only a seamstress could muster danced like starlight as Rarity worked her best towards sewing her friends wounds shut.

Pinkie’s flippant attitude had disappeared the moment that she walked through the door, her happy smile replaced by determination as her deft hooves work at patching Twilight’s wounds with bandages and gauze alike. Her stand Surprise works overtime pulling out disinfectant, Band-Aids and various medical supplies as her full attention goes towards keeping her friend breathing.

The showmare grins as a group of very familiar ponies enters the room each one of them ready for a fight at a moment’s notice. “…However Trixie never said that she was alone!”

“Trixie!” Lightning Dust shouts as she rushes up to the showmare “Are you okay? We heard that you needed….” The light green Pegasus looks over the room her eyes catching sight of a bleeding and prone mare lying off to the side”……Twilight?!”

“Reinforcements…… How troublesome.” Sombra growls as he retreats further into the darkness the entrance of the new arrivals forcing him back as he looks around for a way out.

Her plan having come together Trixie musters her rising enthusiasm as her stand manifests itself alongside the others. Her brash and confident attitude returning in full as she stands ready once again to fight. “Now if I were you…” Trixie says in a crude mimicry of the stallion before her. “I’d suggest running away, after all…. I never said that knowing your stand’s power was a bluff. And now that I know your stand’s weakness, your defeat is at hoof.”

“You LIE!” Sombra spits out with venom and ill will of a serpent.

“Then call my Bluff Sombra!” The showmare shouts as her hooves dig into the ground “Attack me, but I’ll have you know that we outnumber you seven to one, so if you’re willing to risk dying right now, then come and get some!”

Sombra smiles cruelly as he looks down on the ponies beneath him with animosity that could kill, his free hoof rubbing the still throbbing wound on his face inflicted by the offending showmare. “You think you’ve won Trixie Lulamoon?! You think you’ve duped me!? Well think again!” Sombra spits out with venom as his dark red horn glows with the aura of dark magic. “Though I will commend you for a Stellar performance, this battle was moot to begin with, for I have already achieved my objective!”

With perfect timing and no small amount of Dramatic flair the stallion reaches into the darkness underneath him and with a single tug pulls out a large object from out of thin air. Out from the shadows glistening in the dark with a powerful golden light the dark stallion holds out the crude glowing silhouette of the Corpse. Trixie and the other arrivals despite the horror of a pony like Sombra coming into possession of an object so powerful can’t help but be swayed by the object's’ inherent beauty as its light seems to mesh perfectly even with the darkness surrounding it. “This Corpse! This was my objective! And I succeeded in obtaining it! Victory, in the end belongs solely to me Sombra!”

“The corpse!” Lightning yells “Stop him! We can’t let him get away!”

Yet before the ponies can even react a gaping vortex of pure darkness emerges from around the dark stallion’s red glowing horn as he and his prize are sucked into the singularity with the force of a windstorm. Holding on to the ground for dear life the mane six are only able to shield their eyes as they watch Sombra disappear back into the darkness. Then, as suddenly as it began the vortex dies down and all that can be heard as the dark portal closes around the stallion is the soft echoing voice that seems to be amplified by the darkness itself. “Farewell Trixie Lulamoon….. and Twilight Sparkle….. we will most certainly meet again.”

Plip….

And with that Sombra vanished into thin air, the corpse was gone, and despite the overwhelming joy at just being alive, everypony knows that today’s fight for all its fanfare ended in their defeat. One would need only to look at the countless dead soldiers littered around the darkened room to know that. Despite all their best efforts in saving the town, their enemies had won, they had lost an object of limitless power to a psychopath who had nearly killed their best friend. And speaking of the unicorn in question, even now she her life was hanging by a thread.

“…he… he… he…” The purple blood stained unicorn chuckles on the ground in a feverish delusion as her eyes begin to dim. “….that’s right…. You’d…..better……. run…….” Twilight sparkle breathes out and to every pony’s shock the mare doesn’t breathe back in.  As her eyes begin to flutter closed, the last of her strength leaving her body as a large group of ponies surrounds her prone form shouting meaningless words of comfort and fear.

“Oh my gosh TWILIGHT!” Fluttershy shouts on the borderline of near hysteria.

“TWI! Stay with me Twi!” Applejack shouts as she grips the unicorn’s hoof firmly.

“Good Sweet Celestia what happened to her she looks like a pincushion!” Dash cries out

“EVERYPONY STAY BACK! SHE’S NEEDS MEDICAL ATTENTION!” Pinkie shouts with urgency.

“SHE’S GOING ITN SHOCK! Does anypony here have an ‘AB’ blood type!?” Rarity cries out even as she works her best at stitching her friend back together.

“How could you let this happen t……If anything happens I swear I’ll……”

“…Twilight stay with me Twilight….”

“..she’s gonna make it rig…. She al…..”

“…Rarity I need….. Bandage her…..”

“….Twili…… hear…….”

“…..Twilight…..”

“…o…that….. ge…… help……”

“…shu…..th……er…..pa….”

“…………..”

“………”

“…”

………….

Twilight……

Twilight………..

Now you really can’t expect to stay here forever now can you………

A dark figure emerges from the shadows its eyes blazing like the fires of Tartarus as it glares at a lone naked filly bound by the dark. The filly shivers at the darkness in front of her grows larger in front of her the path she was walking has been blown to smithereens the pieces of the cobblestone road hanging in midair as the darkness laughs.

You can’t die now Twilight……

The towering figure grins as it shows off it’s its’ serrated sharp teeth.

After all how could I let you die…..

The darkness licks its lips.

Before I made you taste true despair…….

The dark cloaked figure runs its forked tongue over its sharp teeth as its infinite black maw opens like the doors to hell.

AND SPEAKING OF TASTE YOU LOOK DELICIOUS ENOUGH TO EAT LITTLE FILLY!

I’LL GOBBLE YOU RIGHT UP!!!

Twilight looks up but she can’t even scream as the mouth descends over her, her limbs locked in place all the filly can do as the darkness closes its teeth around her neck is cry pathetically.  Reading herself for the end the filly flinches from her perceived death.

And then the light erupted around her. Even closing her eyes did nothing the as the light seeped through every crevice of her being cleansing her from the darkness that had threatened to consume her. Yet even as it burned her the filly did not mind, she knew that it only hurt a little and that was because the darkness was burning away from her, not because the light was trying to hurt her.

The light., the light was….. It was her mentor it was her parents, her brother her friends. It was formless but at the same time it was everypony she had ever met or known all rolled into one.

And the light was talking to her.

You have come already endured much on your travels, little one.

But a greater journey is yet to come.

But if you are to determine a new path you must endure, and more importantly you must….

WAKE UP!

…………..

“GASP!”

As suddenly as pulling one’s self from a nightmare, Twilight woke up with a start, her entire body rising like a coiled spring. And an instant later the wracking pains covering her body make her instantly regret her decision.

“urgh…..” The mare falls over clenching her sides. “That definitely hurt.” Twilight lays back on the bed as her frantically pacing mind looks at the room around her. The room is Spartan to say the least, yet the presence of an iv drip sticking out of her arm and the bandages covering many of the empty beds let her know that she is in a temporary hospital of some kind. . Yet despite the room’s identity as a hospital there appear to be only three mares in the room including her.

‘Okay, so it’s’ a private hospital’ Twilight thinks ‘given how badly I’m banged up I can’t say I’m surprised that I have my own room but who are….’

Twilight’s analytical mind quickly identifies the first of the ponies, a light green pegisi mare sleeping against the door standing up, as Lightning dust. Sleeping against the door was standard guard procedure in protecting important clientele, as it would allow a soldier to rest while protecting a vital entrance, it’s something only Lightning would do. And second a unicorn mare sleeping face first on her bed. The blue unicorns’ scraggly light blue mane, her lopsided magician’s hat, and her wrinkled cape letting Twilight know without a doubt who the slowly awaking mare on her bed is.

The light blue unicorn slowly rubs her eyes, Twilight’s sudden movements and outburst having awoken her. Rubbing her eyes with her hooves the light blue unicorn looks on the mare before her with a stunned look as joy begins to fill her face. “…..she’s awake….” Her voice chirps in barely constrained disbelief.

Shaking her head free from the cobwebs of sleep, the mare that sits in front of Twilight looks like she hadn’t gotten a moment’s rest in days. “Hey Lightning!” Trixie calls out to the light green mare sleeping against a wall. “She’s awake! Twibigh…. I mean Twilight is awake! And you said that she’d be out for twelve hours at least! You should have known better than try to compete with Trixie’s skill at approximating time a pony will sleep!”

“…Uh.. what?” The groggy mare rubs her eyes as she looks over to bed where the purple unicorn is lying. Instantly the mare’s groggy sleepy eyed stare is replaced with a broad and genuine smile. “Twilight good ta see ya!” The green mare yawns “I knew that of all ponies that you’d pull through, you gave us a bit of a scare, but I knew that you were too tough to go out like a loser!”

Once again in the company of friends the mare tries to make out a smile and a pleasant greeting. However the soreness of her body instantly turns her cheery morning disposition into, well……… “ARRRGGGHHHH……….” Twilight groans as she rubs her horn, her entire body sore and protesting. “How long have I been out? And somepony get me a cup of coffee!”

“Not long!” Lightning chirps “You’ve only been out for about six and a half hours so it’s still morning by military time.” Lightning smiles even more. “And no you can’t have any coffee while you’re recovering, doctor’s orders!”

“UUUURRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH….” Twilight groans as she rubs her aching forehead with more force as she contemplates the reality of a morning without her liquid energy.

“What was that Twilight? My ‘Zombie’ may be a little rusty but I though you just said ‘that’ll be fine Lightning, I’ll respect the doctor’s orders! You’re so cool!’ or maybe you were just groaning for brains, I can never really tell!” Lightning snickers as she laughs along with her own joke.

“…….Curse you morning people….” Twilight mutters under her breath “curses on all of you and your cheery dispositions too….”

“What was that Miss Twilight?” Trixie asks smugly.

“Nothing!” The librarian blurts out.

“Nothing hunh?!” Lightning says with a cock eyed stare “Cause from what I heard I sounded like you were cursing me Twilight Sparkle!”

“Cut Twilight some slack Lightning!” Trixie states as she pats the grumpy librarian on the head. “Besides while you were evacuating the town she and her other friends were fighting off an entire horde of Zombies, if anypony has the right to be a little grumpy it’s her!”

“Really?” Lightning asks “And why are you so defensive of Little Miss Twilight today Trixie?”

“N…No reason!” Trixie blurts out as a slight blush crosses her face. “Shut up! Trixie is just… making sure her fri… her compatriots get their rest! Goodness knows that they all need it after the fight they just went through.”

“My friends!” Twilight asks with the utmost urgency “My friends are they…”

“They’re fine Twilight.” Trixie states reassuringly. “They were pretty worried when your heart stopped and they refused to leave your side for a moment. But once you were stabilized, Trixie was able to convince them with her great oration skills that there was nothing to worry about.”

“They’re in the next room resting.” Lightning gestures to the door “It’s been a long night for everypony but I practically had to force them at spear point to take a nap. You have some pretty loyal friends miss Twilight.”

Twilight nods at this, knowing that her friends would swim through lava if it meant her safety, when something of far more crucial importance catches her attention. “Wait a second! My heart…. Stopped?!” Twilight asks with equal mixtures of curiosity and horror “Then… then how am I even…..”

“The Red Stone made from Sombra’s own Blood.” Trixie comments off-hoofidly. “It took all my magic to stabilize you Twibright, but if it wasn’t for the stone he made there’s no way you’d even be alive; Let alone able to move a few hours after you were cut to ribbons.”

Twilight shudders at this, both from the fact that she was seconds away from death, but also the fact that she was saved, even indirectly, by the very villainous stallion who gave her the wounds she was sporting. The fact that she had technically drank blood only increased her level of willies from a class three (Pinkie popping out of your cereal) to a class five (Pinkie popping out of your toilet), sending even more shivers up her spine.

“You’re lucky it’s just scars Twilight Sparkle.” Lightning dust restates “You’re lucky just to be alive. There were many others who weren’t as lucky.”

Trixie’s lip quivers as she stoically removes her hat. “The doctor said that despite your healing the scars will not heal, a result of Trixie’s’ reckless attack.” Levitating over a small hoof mirror to the bed ridden mare Trixie grovels nervously “Trixie…..Trixie apologizes, if it wasn’t for her attack….. well see for yourself.”

Glancing in the mirror Twilight is undoubtedly shocked to see the figure staring back at her. Her eyes are bloodshot, her mane is a mess and there as plain on her face as her horn is a deep jagged scar running directly over her left eye. Fortunately the scar stopped just short of injuring her vital sensory organ however the scar was painfully noticeable and very long. However its’ appearance though obviously painful was complimented well by a second longer scar running crosswise to the one running down her eye. Beginning at the eyebrow and going left at an upward angle the second scar gave the first a cool symmetrical look that drew attention away from the scar itself and served to better accentuate the left side of her face, namely her cheek and horn.

“It’s…. it’s not that bad…….” Twilight remarks impartially. “It’s not good certainly, but it’s not that bad either.” Placing the mirror by the bedside Twilight turns back to Trixie. “I don’t get it, normal magic should be enough to heal most wounds so why can’t you get rid of my face scars? Not that I’m complaining or anything I’m happy to be alive and the ones on my face do look pretty cool… but they also look bad…… do you know what I mean?”

“Trixie’s swords…. Well the ones that she used were…..” Trixie shuffles her hooves “Well they were cursed…. “ At this Twilight gasps knowing the heavy regulations that the showmare just broken when she decided to curse her weapons without a licensed request. “Trixie wanted to make sure that Sombra died so….. she sort of put a hex on the blades that would impede healing. It’s a level four curse.”

Cursing weapons, it was a major crime even for a stand agent, yet she broke her code in a second when presented with the idea of brutally killing the pony responsible for her parent’s demise. Yet the showmare’ remorse strikes the librarian as truly genuine, not an act or a ruse to gain the unicorn’s favor.

Since the first time Twilight has met Trixie she can see that the unicorn sitting in front of her is truly and unmistakably sorry. “Its’ fine Trixie.” Twilight says without a second of doubt. “I can tell that you really mean it, so I don’t hold it against you.” Twilight rubs her face and the visible scar that it contains. “Or this either.”

Gently picking up the mirror for a moment the unicorn looks once again at her sole disfigurement as she contemplates her new life with a scar. “So, this is really permanent.” Twilight states sorrowfully as she rubs the mark on her face like one would a new limb, placing the mirror off to the side of her bed. “Not even Celestia can undo a level four curse completely, not without some serious somatic components. I guess that I’ll just have to grow into it.”

“Atta girl Twilight!” Lightning dust smiles as she slaps the mare’s back “Just think of it as a reminder that you’re alive.”

With a newfound scar adorning her face Twilight rolls her eyes “Gee thanks Lightning, like I want to be reminded that I almost died. Fighting a super vampire that attacked the police station my brother was barely defending against a zombie horde, that’s definitely a something that I want to remember ten years from now.” Twilight remarks as she closes her eyes ready to once again drift off into sleep.

“…..Shining!” Twilight jumps up with a wince of pain. “I just remembered, I have to make sure check up on Shiney! That idiot would probably forget his own armor if I wasn’t there to check up on him every now and again.”

Both Trixie and Lightning dust become eerily silent at Twilight’s words as they try vainly to look anywhere but Where Twilight is. “Um…..” Trixie coughs into her hoof. “It…. It’s not necessary to have to report into the captain yet.”

“Hunh? But I thought that it was regulation to report in as soon as possible.” Twilight states as she throws the covers off her legs placing her hooves carefully back on the floor. “You know what; I should probably meet up with Shining just in case, so that we’re both on the same page.”

However Twilight finds her attempts to leave her confinement suddenly stopped by a stern powerful hoof of the Royal guard. Standing over the mare like a jailor over a captive the light green Pegasus growls. “Trixie said..…” Lightning pushes the purple unicorn back into her bed. “…...You need your rest. So if I were you I’d get some. Now go to sleep.”

Twilight blinks in surprise not expecting this kind of harsh resistance. “Lightning Dust? Why are you trying to keep me here?” Twilight asks as the two mares avert their eyes once again. “I know I’m still technically a prisoner until Celestia arrives to dole out my punishment but..….”

The purple librarian suddenly gasps “Is it because they’ve already decided my punishment?!” Twilight exclaims with eyes wide. “Oh my gosh it’s about me isn’t it? Is it because I didn’t defeat the stand users sooner? Did you get in trouble for letting me out? I didn’t mean for Sombra to get away, Please don’t throw me into the dungeon!”

“Twilight…..”

“Or banish me!”

“Twilight……”

“Or throw me in a dungeon in the place you banish me to!”

“Twilight! Will you PLEASE SHUT UP?!” Lightning dust yells at the top of her lungs.

Years of condition play their part instantly as Twilight’s voice is silenced by Lightning’s snapping tone. Twilight knew when a pony was supposed to talk, and from Lightning’s tone she knew she had said something that had deeply upset her. But for the life of her, Twilight couldn’t comprehend why lightning Dust would suddenly lash out like that without reason. The mare standing before her, full of frustration and rage does not seem like the pony that she had met before. Lightning was impulsive from time to time, free to express her frustrations, loud mouthed too, But outright hostile? Twilight had never seen that side of her before.

Lightning breathes out heavily as she takes a long calming breath, her fury replaced with shame. “I-I sorry Twilight….. I was just; I’m just not in my right mind right about now.” Lightning dust lowers her head in shame as she paws the ground with her hoof, much to Twilight’s ever growing confusion.

“Twilight…. It’s…” The light green solder takes off her helm placing it by it off to the side in an act of the greatest reverence. “It’s not about you….. it…..”

The lavender mare cocks her head.

Lightning dust shudders her sweat is cold, her voice hoarse, her muzzle stained by the residue of dried tears. And with that the solder utters the four words that will change her life. “It’s about your brother……”

The response is instant, Twilight’s earthly concerns are instantly forgotten as the worst possible reality comes to mind. Lightning’s upset behavior, the avoidance, the adverse stares, it all comes together in the young mare’s mind to form a terrifying and incomprehensible conclusion. “…..no…….”

“Twilight…” Lightning Struggles with the words. “This is never easy for any pony. But you have to know….”

Reason, thrown to the wayside is instantly replaced with cold, unyielding denial. “NO!”

With all the gentleness of a minesweeper Trixie places her hoof on Twilight’s shivering shoulder. “Twilight, I knew your brother, he was a brave noble…..”

But Twilight was gone. Before Trixie had even spoken Twilight’s horn was glowing like an eldritch fire and in less than a second the other two mares were thrown against the wall with unrestrained telekinetic force. Leaping to her hooves in desperation, the scared little filly reaches the door in less than a second ripping it off its hinges.

“TWI!”

“TWILIGHT STOP!”

Twilight could vaguely recognize the voice of her friends off in the distance however she didn’t even care. Not even Celestia herself could stop her now as she barreled down the hall and up the stairs to the upper levels of the building, tearing any object misfortunate enough to get in her way into subatomic particles. Her mind was blank, her wounds were aching and ripping open at the sudden exertion of physical force, but she didn’t care. Twilight Sparkle didn’t care about anything, and nothing in the world could stop her.

Arriving at the top of the stairs her eyes barely taking gawking soldiers before her.

The bodies they were covering with Equestrian flags lying lifeless on the floor.

Only one thing mattered to Twilight Sparkle. And that was the large ordinate flag lying by the window to the room, the Equestrian Grand Aegis. Twilight knew what that flag meant, it was the one that they only used for those soldiers that had received the highest honors and epitomized the very meaning of sacrifice. It was reserved as an honor for those that gave their lives to in service to protect the lives of those that could not defend themselves.

“M-Miss Twilight! I’m sorry for your loss mam but you can’t…….”

To her credit even in her state Twilight had just enough control to avoid inflicting serious damage on the guards she had tossed across the room. After a night like she had just endured screams had barely any impact on the young mare any more. Not that anything they said could stop her. With the most steel faced expression a pony could possibly muster the mare trotted silently over towards the flag stopping only a hoof length’s away from the pristinely creased tarp. Without even pausing to breath, without any regard for anything else in the world, the mare ripped off the flag, exposing the figure under it.

“……no……..”

And then she fell to her knees.

“Twilight! She’s in here yawl!”

“Twilight Darling You gave us quite a fright! You were…… oh my goodness gracious……”

“That’s… is that really…..”

“……….”

“That guy….. his isn’t…. that pony there isn’t Twilly’s……….”

“……Twilight……. Are…. Are you okay?”

And it all came out.

“NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

Throwing away all dignity, all self-imposed impressions of society, all restraint and discipline that the mare had honed over years of study in the magical arts, Twilight Sparkle fell to the floor before the only family that she had ever known.

And she wept.

She screamed.

She cursed Sombra, the world, and everything in it.

But mostly, the small little filly cried.

She cried for the loss of a pony so dear to her heart.

She cried for Shining Armor, her captain.

Her protector

Her brother.

And the little filly known as Twilight sparkle

WEPT

……………… I’m alone……….

…………………………I’m so terribly alone………………..

………………………………………is……. Is this what it feel like to die………………………

…………………………… Did Shining…………. Did he feel this way……………….

…………………Did he feel this alone when he died…………………

………………………….wait…….. is this……….. warmth…………….

………… I feel………. Warmth…………………

Where……….. where is it coming from.

Twilight opens her eyes to a display of colors, pinks, oranges, yellows, blues, whites all dance before her blurry tear filled eyes as she tries to shake free herself of the constricting force holding her.

The warm powerful force around her grows tighter.

…….what….. what’s going on………

The mare known as Twilight struggles against the constricting force.

Yet the force will not let her go, in fact it grows even tighter by the second.

……..why… why can’t you let me go………

………. Why……. Can’t I be with him again………..

The mare’s eyes finally open, the film from her eyes falls as she finally recognizes the force enveloping her entire being.

……… my….. my friends……….

Twilight’s eyes pool up as the tears that had been obscuring her sight fall down from her face dripping across the multitude of arms embracing her.

Twilight moves her eyes, turning towards the orange strong farm mare, her face soft but so unbelievably strong at the same time, her own loss giving Twilight the strength bear hers.

………..Applejack………

She turns her head to a white marshmallow fashionista, tears pooling down her face as she offers the only thing that she can, her own tears, without hesitation to alleviate her friend’s overwhelming sorrow.

…………Rarity………….

The sound of sniffling comes from a pure pink party pony her laughter replaced by crying as she feels her friends’ pain as deeply as her own. Her laughter is not forgotten only saved for the days ahead when her friend will need it the most.

……………Pinkie Pie………….

Dash stands solemnly by her side, her face stern and focused, her very demeanor conveying how absolutely she is there for her friend. Yet even with her face locked up as tight as a drum, the prismatic speedster can’t help but leak tears like a faucet.

……………..Rainbow Dash…………..

Her lip quivering, her body quaking in rage at any pony that would do this to her friend; Fluttershy the most cowardly and meek of ponies stands fearlessly by her side. Facing the enormity of Twilight’s loss embraces the mare in a deep powerful hug, assuring her without a doubt in her mind that everything will be all right.

……………Fluttershy………….

Feeling a tight grip from behind Twilight glances down at her shoulder at the light blue hoof gripping her ever so tightly. Without a thought the mare turns around to see the face of a mare obscured completely by a tall blue brimmed hat. Her eyes covered and her body distant from Twilight, from a distance one might even call such a gesture a futile and halfhearted attempt at comforting a mare. Yet even with her eyes covered Twilight can still hear the pitter patter of tears falling from her face.

The mare standing behind her is a mare who also knows the meaning of sacrifice. A mare that was willing to sacrifice everything she had ever wanted, everything she had set out to find. A mare who was willing to make a deal with the devil and sell her very soul to save the life of a pony that had given her nothing but trouble and pain her entire life.

There joining everypony else in their embrace.

The most anti-social.

The most stuck up.

The most friend-despising pony in ponyville.

Trixie Lulamoon

……………everypony……………….

…………… of course………..

……………….I’m such an idiot………….

……..I never really realized…….

……… I never truly told them……….

………why we’re friends…………

And with that In spite of her entire world collapsing around her.

In spite of Sombra’s overwhelming victory,

In spite of the loss of her brother, Shining Armor.

Twilight sparkle smiles

She smiles knowing that whatever may come her way, she has some ponies to help her hold it all together.

……………..I can’t believe I never realized the fact………

Twilight sparkle snuggles deeper into her friend’s embraces.

........ That I was Never alone……….

…….. I never was……….

……and I never will be……

And with that Twilight Sparkle fell asleep, never before feeling so safe and secure.