Twilight ducked a teal energy blast that cooked the air just above her mane. Or maybe just on it, considering the slight smell of burning hair and the five strands that fell from her mane. The unicorn fired again and the alicorn flung up a shield, deflecting the blast upward. The pair of sorceresses panted, lighting down onto the runway of Cloudsdale. Twilight had fought Starlight…she didn’t even know how many times it was now. Even alicorn stamina had its limits, and just when she had been starting to win too. The unicorn had, by comparison, only fought once, but it was against an already tired alicorn. Thus, they appeared to be evenly matched.
“G-give it up! You’re never going to lord your cutie mark over any other pony!” Starlight managed to snarl, getting control over her breathing and standing up taller. Twilight did not reply to the jab. She had heard it before, after all. Just as the alicorn was about to answer with a blast to shut Starlight’s confident face, she heard a squeak of fear. Both ponies did, in fact, and so they turned to see the source. One of Starlight’s awry beams had blown a bit sized hole into Rainbow’s ear, making her crash into a cloud in a terrified mess. Another Rainboom prevented. “Oops, failed again, didn’t you?” Starlight laughed triumphantly, clearly unaware of just how many times Twilight had tried this. Twilight’s rage burned, turning around and preparing to slug Starlight. Anything to make her shut up. The portal had different ideas, of course. In a flash of light, Starlight was gone.
“Twilight…oh no” came the voice of Spike, up and about before Twilight was. Twilight was tired, and being yanked through portals didn’t do her any favors in that department. She slowly rose to her hooves, and almost vomited at the sight. She was in a four meter high ditch, surrounded by emaciated, dead bodies. The princess froze, practically hyperventilating at the stench of death all around her. Spike actually did throw up, shaking uncontrollably. What kind of monster would do this? They got their answer in the form of two earth ponies shoveling more bodies into the ditch, the both of them with equality sign cutie marks. The ponies in the ditch had cutie marks. It suddenly became very clear what was going on as a unicorn wearing military garb appeared on the other side of the ditch, getting a salute from the earth ponies.
“Hail Equality!” said the earth ponies in unison, their twin grins even more horrifying in context of the death surrounding them.
“Hail Equality! How is the cleansing going?” asked the unicorn, not even sparing a second glance at the pile of bodies. Twilight looked from side to side and realized why. The ditch stretched on and on, with more and more bodies lined up in it. It was a slaughter ground.
“All is well! I can’t imagine so many ponies would try taking away our lovely society by being unique” sighed one of the earth ponies, getting mumbles of agreement from his comrades. The sound of a bell rang through the air, and the ponies disembarked. To where, Twilight did not know. Lunch break? It didn’t matter. These futures…they were horrific. What tiredness Twilight felt immediately burned away, replaced by a burning resolve.
“T-twilight…we can fix this, right?” asked Spike with a trembling voice, shaking in total fear of the massacre.
“Of course we can, Spike. Starlight goes down this time. No more Miss Nice Princess” Twilight growled, blasting the scroll and taking the pair back to Cloudsdale.
Twilight didn’t even bother with a spell this time. That was too impersonal. Starlight needed to feel this. The instant Starlight appeared, Twilight was on her. She slammed her left hoof into the unicorn’s face with enough force to send teeth flying.
“You lunatic! Do you have any idea what happened in these futures?!” Twilight roared, not giving Starlight a chance to move as she punched into Starlight’s belly with her right, making spittle and air fly from Starlight’s mouth. Twilight pulled back for another punch, only to have her arm grabbed and be slammed into the runway by telekinesis. Starlight panted, blood dribbling from her mouth as she clutched her abdomen.
“D-do you see why I have to do this? You think that because you’re the Element of Magic, you’re better than everypony else?” Starlight managed to spit out, her confident tone considerably less confident now that she had seen Twilight’s anger. What was going on? Twilight couldn’t have gotten so mad, right? “This is why I do this, because ponies like you will always turn their back on ponies, because they think they are just the best!” Starlight cried, expecting Twilight to give a speech on friendship. Instead, Twilight laughed. In any other situation, Twilight would have given her speech. But this…animal in front of her, deserved none of it. She didn’t need reformation, she needed a cold, isolated cell in a dungeon. “My own friend left me because of that!” Starlight sputtered, her eyes watering now. She was practically crying for help now, the help she really needed. Twilight didn’t care.
“You lost a friend?! Are you kidding me?! Plenty of ponies have lost friends, you pathetic foal! And you know what? None of them tried to rewrite time. Cry me a river! You make new friends when you lose old ones. You move on. It’s not an excuse for what you do, coward!” Twilight snapped, her chuckles of amusement immediately stopping. This was pathetic. Starlight was beyond hope now. Her cry for help had been denied, and her cause was proven right. Twilight had missed her chance.
“Don’t you dare mock me! My cause is just!” Starlight boomed, a barrage of teal beams erupting from her horn. Twilight dashed up, letting them blow open a hole in the road beneath them. Twilight retaliated with a single concussion blast, and this time it didn’t miss. There was a sickening crunch as Starlight’s left arm suddenly blew itself inwards, the joint turning in the wrong direction. Starlight screamed, pain tearing at her mind. “Y-you monster! Get away from me!” Starlight shrieked, real terror in her voice now. A storm of energy swirled over Starlight’s head before shattering into a rain of destructive bolts. Twilight had hoped to make Starlight give up with a single blow. Instead, she had strengthened her will to fight, for Starlight now fought for her very life. Twilight teleported out of the way, only making Starlight adjust the direction of the storm.
“Help me!” Spike screamed as five of the attacks rocketed towards him. Starlight wasn’t even aiming, she was just shooting everywhere in hopes of hitting Twilight before she could teleport. The princess appeared in front of Spike and erected a barrier, stopping the attacks. Twilight staggered back, the effort taking its toll. With a Herculean effort, she twisted the shield up, deflecting the blasts harmlessly upwards. Twilight realized now the danger that Starlight posed. With the way she was shooting, soon all of Cloudsdale would be in danger. On instinct, she embraced Starlight’s body with telekinesis.
“Agh, let go of me!” Starlight shrieked, struggling to turn around and hit Twilight with her attacks.
“Stop fighting me! I’m not trying to hurt you anymore!” Twilight pleaded, tightening her grip on Starlight. The unicorn squirmed about, but the telekinetic grip from behind was too strong. So she began to attack the small crowd of ponies who had gathered to watch the spectacle. “No!”
“Let me go or they die!” Starlight threatened as the pegasi took flight in terror of the deadly rain.
“Stop it!” Twilight screamed, extending her telekinetic grip to Starlight’s head. She yanked on the neck, trying to change Starlight’s aim. Starlight struggled and whinnied but did not stop her blasts, fear fueling her. “I SAID STOP!” CRACK! Starlight’s blasts suddenly stopped, her horn dimming. Her body stopped floating and she hit the pavement of the runway like a limp doll. Drool came from the side of her mouth while her big eyes glazed over, still open in an expression of utter shock.
“T-twilight. You just paralyzed her, right?” Spike whimpered, looking at the corpse with utter horror. Twilight lighted down, just as terrified. She lifted Starlight up with her magic, bringing her close to check her pulse. She winced as she saw the absolutely ruined neck. Vertebrae had been so moved out of place that she could feel the bones nestled in between her jugular and windpipe.
“I-i didn’t mean to! I was just trying to stop her!..” Twilight squeaked pathetically, bringing Starlight closer so she could attempt to revive her in some fashion. The head flopped about grotesquely, attached by little more than flesh and skin now. There was a resounding boom and a surge of rainbow coloring on the horizon. Rainbow Dash had managed to make her Rainboom out of flying away from the horrible sight in panic. The portal opened above Twilight and Spike and they were sucked in without any ceremony.
“Twilight! What was that noise?” was the first thing Twilight heard in the present. She looked around through eyes filled with tears and realized she was home. Her friends were all there and not corrupted. But at what cost? She looked at the limp corpse on her left and Spike to her right. She extended a hoof to bring Spike close. He shied away, pointing at Twilight’s hoof. Blood. There was blood on her hooves. The bones must have punctured an artery. That blood would never wash off. Never.
“I’m so sorry” Twilight whispered, looking at the pathetic corpse as red life fluid spilled from a small cut in Starlight’s neck.
“Murder!”
Author's Note
I wrote this up in less than an hour, so don't expect too much.
