It Didn't Have to End This Way
I remember it. The events that lead to this very moment. The events that lead to their deaths.
I remember it, just like it was yesterday. The day he came. The boy that fell from the sky into, our world; the land of Equestria. The boy who had more than one side, not one but two.
Good or Evil, one or the other. There was always that sense of struggle within him. I never paid it any mind though, I always believed that he would snap out of it.
Always whispering the words to him “Be strong.”
I always thought that my human friend would fight it. I had known him just as long as Spike and the others . In fact I was the first one to find him, and the one who introduced him to Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity.
I had just become princess at the time. And I was happy, to meet someone from a different world for once that wasn’t trying to kill us. Rarity fussed over his choice of clothing, Pinkie Pie was over filled with joy upon meeting what he called “humans” as his species were known as in their world.
Applejack was just as glad to meet the friendly guy. Rainbow Dash was suspicious but as time passed I knew she’d come to accept him. Spike just seemed fascinated to see our silent friend. And the rest of Equestria eventually had to adapt at the idea of there being a human among us.
Princess Celestia and Luna even met him. The boy who seemed to have no name. And the day they met, our princesses accepted him warmly into our world. It was a wondrous occasion, one we all enjoyed, one that we were sure he enjoyed just as well.
Though he never spoke much. Only spoke when spoken to. I had to admit, being the princess of friendship I had a duty, to make sure friendships ran smoothly, and well Justice, he didn’t seem to talk much. So I tried opening up to him a bit, letting him talk with the others. Trying to get him to speak bit by bit. And eventually he came to start talking.
Friendly discussions were made here and there, and eventually the others started to accept Justice as our friend, instead of just an acquaintance they’d met through me. And soon enough, after he’d opened up, I found myself seeing him as a friend of mine as well.
A very close friend I felt I could trust my life, along with the lives of my friends if times ever got too tough.
Now that I look back on it though I see how blind and wrong I was.
I had hoped he would be able to fight the evil within him. Make the right choices, and not follow whatever it was that compelled him to follow the desire to fight. But my hopes had gone on deaf ears.
I remember it. Just like it was yesterday, but in reality it was a month ago.
When it happened, when he took them. Took my friends away from me. Spike, my little brother, my number one assistant. The one who’d been interested in him the most, aside from Fluttershy. Rarity who had been nitpicky on the clothes he had worn. Applejack and Rainbow Dash who both at first were suspicious but just like Fluttershy welcomed him, with warm smiles.
And yet he still took them.
One by one, leaving me alone. And he did it all with a single knife.
I never understood why, how, when, what, or who could have possessed him to do such a thing. Justice had always been somewhat strange. An anomaly in our world, even when we became friends.
It enraged me when I thought about it. I trusted him. I believed he could change, I thought that he could fight those strange desires. And at first it looked like he did, at first he appeared to be neutral. Doing neither good nor bad.
But eventually even that neutral state, turned into nothing but a mass killer in the blink of an eye.
Just like that he snapped. Didn’t spare a single one, he killed them. All of them. Just like that. From good to evil in a second. And then he was gone, when the deed was done.
A month and not a sign of him. Just vanished into the air, leaving me with my emotions, My anger. My heartbroken memories that tortured me in my sleep. My failure as a princess of friendship who had lost not one friend but several in the process.
I recalled how he had looked when I discovered the truth right before my eyes. The bloody knife dripping on the crystal floor as he stood over Spike’s wounded body.
Justice had smiled. Smiled through those bloody glasses of his. When I’d asked him why he’d done this.
To talk to me, to take mercy as an option for hurting Spike.
But then he told me the truth, that he was behind the killings. That he’d done it all, and he’d come for me next.
I didn’t know what to do. Wasn’t sure what to say. I just stood there...trembling with fear, anger, sadness as I watched the blood drip off his knife.
He smiled one more time and was gone.
I quickly rushed to Spike’s side when he’d left and tried to save him but it was too late...too late to do anything.
So here I am. In the darkness that filled my common room of this castle. Where I and my friends had all sat together and laughed, before he came along and ruined it all.
My ear twitched as I heard footsteps come up the stairs.
I recognized them. They were his...they were the sound of genocide coming to finish what it started.
I rose, my ear twitching as his footsteps slowly made their way up my castle, then threw open the doors to the common room. Letting in a light I had not felt within me since this whole ordeal began.
I looked into his eyes, his glasses gone, the only thing reflecting in them now was the same thing that I’m sure he could see were reflected in mine.
Determination.
I said nothing. Simply staring at him with silent fury. Justice had been my friend, I’d trusted him and he’d taken that trust and thrown it away. He’d chosen his path and I’d chosen mine.
But I had to know. “Why?” I asked coldly, forcing away the emotions that threatened to break my voice.
“Why did you do it? Kill them? Kill him? All of them?” I said my eyes slanting as I blinked back the tears. “I thought we were friends. I didn’t want things to end like this but if you’ve changed this much then I have no choice.”
He said nothing, he remained silent. I thought my words had gotten through to him, that is till I saw a glint in his hand.
The knife, the same knife he’d used to take their lives.
“I see” my voice dropping to a whisper. Spreading my wings with my horn glowing as everything in the common room began to shake I glared down the human that had taken it all a small smile of relief now crossing my face as I thought about how I could now fight with no regrets.
“I didn’t want this you know” I stated taking slow steps in his direction. In his eyes I could see it, his soul was filled with determination.
But mine was filled with their anger. Their vengeance, and it was time I showed him just what happens, when you piss off the princess of magic.
My magic extended to the windows ripping the curtains off and allowing light to shine in the common room so I could face my opponent. Birds were chirping, the sun is shining, flowers blooming.
“I never wanted it to end like this Justice, but you’ve played your last card” I said callously, spreading my wings to increase my wrath. “Go ahead and try to hit me if you’re able, but you’ll see that mercy’s straight off the table.”
He charged, his movements fast, his agility quick, but my movements quicker. I ducked, his knife aiming for my throat. With a powerful flap of my wings I took off into the air, rearing my legs back and bucking him in the back as hard as I could. Justice fell with a thud.
I spun in the air letting my wings fall to my side and planned to slam into him with my hooves, he rolled out of the way, just barely managing to hit me.
My anger flared, igniting my horn I shot a blast at him, he managed to dodge it the wall suffering instead as a giant hole took place. Justice glanced at the rather large hole, his evil grin turning into a scowl charged once more, knife ready before leaping into the air.
I could feel it as he came down towards me, his soul fueled by determination. My eyes burning with rage, my horn ignited “kids like you should be burning in the deepest pits of Tartarus.”
I slammed him to the ground with a strong blast of magic, he landed with a crash, wincing in pain, but quickly recovering.
I didn’t hesitate to rip off Spike’s seat beside me and slam it into him when he tried to get up and make a retreat.
I watched him fly towards the opposite wall near the exit, before I shut the common room doors. My horn illuminating the coldness in my eyes and face as I trotted towards him and moved the knife away from him, out of his reach.
“Twilight” he said. I froze. His voice weak, cracked with emotion. I stared at him my horn still alight. “Mercy” he begged with a weak smile, wiping the blood off his mouth that had been dribbling down slowly.
I stared at him in silence for a few seconds letting his words wash over me.
Mercy... I leaned in, my nose nearly touching his own as my eyes slanted with rage, and my horn glowed even more so he could see the look of rage on my face and in my eyes.
His own determination now burning within me. I folded my wings staring silently at him for a few more seconds before speaking.
“You made your choice Justice, you stepped over the line when you did what you did. And now” I said a small grin of my own crossing my face. “You’re gonna have yourself a real bad time.”
