War games

War, such a harsh thing. It's also something ponies haven't been exposed to in a long time. However, that all changed ten years ago when Princess Twilight got herself teleported to a strange world after botching an experiment. In this world, war is just a game, a good bit of fun. I order to survive, Twilight has had to fight and kill almost every day, and it's changed her. While she never actively sought out conflict, she eventually came to find some enjoyment in it, and has not been opposed to it since.

Today was going to be a good day. Twilight had finally found a place with the technology to travel to other worlds. She intended to use this technology to travel back to Equestria. She gave no thought to how her current life would follow her, she only kept her focus on the goal of returning home. She and her new friends had infiltrated the target compound about a half hour ago, and, out of the seven that went in, only two remained: Twilight, and her second in command, a man by the name of Bill.

Now, in the final room, the portal could be seen. After quickly figuring out how to use the portal, Bill turned to Twilight with some rather bad news.

"Twilight, this gonna be a stretch and a half, you know," Bill said, "The portal will activate, but there's no way for me to set a destination. There's no telling where you'll end up once you go through".

"That's a risk we'll just have to take," Twilight said, "If we don't go through that portal, then our friends' sacrifices will be in vain".

BOOM

An explosion sounded from the other side of the doors leading into the room. Bill and Twilight both turned and opened fire on the door, aiming to kill whoever stepped through. The screams of pain brought a smile to Twilight's face. Bill was the only one in the group that hated killing, and he didn't bother looking at Twilight until after the shootout was over. The peace wouldn't last long, however, as footsteps could be heard approaching rather quickly.

"Go on ahead, I'll cover you," Bill said.

"We're going together," Twilight argued.

"We all fought to give you this chance," Bill pointed out, "Hell, most of us DIED to give you this chance. Go now, and I'll be right behind you soon as I finish off the next group".

"Not happ-" Twilight said before getting cut off.

Just before finishing her sentence, Twilight was blown back by an explosion. The blast sent the alicorn flying upside down and backwards through the portal. Bill was thrown against a wall by the blast. Weakened, and knowing he was going to die, he took aim and fired his last shot at the control console, cutting off the portal, and severing all ties to wherever Twilight had gone. He then dropped his gun arm and smiled. His ultimate mission was complete, and he'd made sure nobody could stand a chance at following his friend. As he laid on the ground, he closed his eyes and smiled victoriously. He didn't even see the barrel of the gun that was used to take his life.

BANG

A loud pop sounded throughout the throne room of the Canterlot castle as a strange black orb showed up out of nowhere. As the civilians fled in fear, five members of the royal guard escorted Princess Celestia out of the room, while the rest surrounded the strange orb, spears at the ready. A shockwave emitted from the orb, throwing every guard off balance as something flew out of the orb and against a wall. Almost immediately after whatever it was hit said wall, the orb disappeared. Instead of focusing on what they could no longer see, the guards decided to focus on the thing that flew out of the strange orb. After approaching the strange object, the guards found it was not an object, but a pony.

"Sir, that's an alicorn," One of the guards said.

"That's not just any alicorn, either," Another guard said, pointing to the pony's flank, "Look at her cutie mark".

"Well, I'll be Luna's uncle," The guard captain said after casting a changeling detection spell, "Hurry up and get her to the infirmary, I'll go inform Princess Celestia of the situation".

With the alicorn, confirmed to be the real Twilight Sparkle, on her way to the royal infirmary, the guard captain walked to the back room. After unlocking the doors, he walked in and saw Princess Celestia sitting ever so calmly behind her guards.

"What's the situation, Captain?" Celestia asked as the captain approached.

"Princess Twilight has returned, your highness," The captain said, "However, she was injured by something, we do not know what, and is currently-".

The captain didn't even get to finish his sentence before being tossed aside like a ragdoll as Celestia flew out of the room. After hearing that Twilight had returned, the princess was more than excited. However, upon hearing that Twilight was also injured, her motherly instincts kicked in and she raced in the direction of the infirmary to make sure Twilight would be alright. Not a pony alive today has ever seen their beloved princess so determined.

Upon reaching the infirmary, Celestia was informed of Twilight's unstable condition. She wasn't even allowed back to see Twilight. Every part of her screamed to demand to be let through, but she had to suppress the desire, hard as it was to do so. She waited ever so impatiently, trying to occupy her mind, and failing to do so until Luna had finally arrived.

"Sister, I just got the news," Luna said, "Is... is she alright?"

"I don't know at the moment," Celestia said, looking away from her sister and towards the door leading to the patient area. "They won't let me back there, and they've yet to give me any news in the past hour".

With each word, Celestia got closer to crying. As soon as Luna reached out and touched her sister's shoulder, she was pulled into a tight embrace. She wrapped her wings around her now crying sister for comfort.

"I've already lost her once," Celestia said, her voice slightly muffled, "I don't want to get her back just to lose her again, and for good this time".

"She's tough, sister," Luna said, "At worst, she'll probably just be stuck in here for a couple of weeks".

The sisters sat there in their embrace for several minutes, gathering the attention of any and all nearby ponies. As Celestia pushed herself away to wipe her eyes, a member of the infirmary staff approached.

"I have some good news and some bad news, Princess," The nurse said, "The good news is that though she's not awake, she's finally stable".

"One normally starts with the bad news first...," Luna pointed out in a slightly frustrated tone.

"Yes, well... the bad news is about her injuries," The nurse said, "Though she'll make it, it's going to take a long time for her properly heal completely. Her right side is scorched, her horn is broken near the base, she is missing her left eye, both of her wings are broken in several places. That's just the physical injuries. She's been through something rough, there's no telling what her mental state will be like when she finally wakes up".

"As long as she gets through this, I don't care what I have to do to help her fully recover," Celestia said, "She is like a daughter to me, and I'll do whatever I have to, to help her".

As soon as the nurse was gone, Luna closed her eyes and focused. Celestia sat back and wait, knowing full well what was going on. Luna was going to see if Twilight was dreaming and, if she was, enter her dream. As luck would have it, Luna was able to do just that. What she saw upon entering Twilight's dream, however, startled her to no end.

The landscape was a war torn city of an origin unknown to Luna. Dead bodies littered the ground, blood pooling around them. Her attention was soon caught by laughter nearby. When she looked in it's direction, she saw something she never wanted to think possible. Twilight was standing over a strange creature with a dark look in her eyes. The strange creature was holding it's arms up in a desperate defensive manner, but Twilight beat up on it regardless. When at last she was bored with simply wailing on the poor thing, Twilight placed her right hind leg in between the creature's legs. No amount of begging did the creature any good as Twilight put all her weight into her back, causing the creature's most private area to pop.

"Oh, sorry, you didn't need your balls did you?" Twilight asked tauntingly as the creature cried out, "I mean, it's not all that bad being female. Who knows, maybe you'll like it better this way".

Luna couldn't take it anymore and dispelled the horrific scene playing out in front of her. As soon as her victim disappeared, Twilight looked around, confused until she saw Luna.

"Well, guess this means I'm in Equestria," Twilight said, "Say uh... how much of that did you see?"

"More than I wanted to," Luna said.

"Well, he made the mistake of fighting me," Twilight said, "Who says I can't have when in combat?"

"That wasn't a fight, Twilight, that was straight up torture," Luna said.

"Not like he was even real," Twilight said.

"And what if he was?" Luna asked.

"Well, I'd let him writhe in agony for a minute or two to allow the regret to sink in before snapping his neck," Twilight said.

"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?" Luna growled.

"I'm still me, if only slightly more twisted than when I left," Twilight said.

Two days later, Twilight finally awoke. As soon as she got the news, Celestia flew right back to the infirmary. After arriving, and catching her breath, Celestia was led right to her destination. Upon entering the room, however, she took one look at Twilight and cringed for a few brief seconds before approaching.

"Princess?" Twilight asked weakly, "Is... is that really... really you?"

"It's really me, Twilight," Celestia said.

"I wish I could've met you under better circumstances," Twilight said, "I hate that you have to see me like this".

"Well, you DO look terrible," Celestia said, "But I'm just glad you're back, and that you're alive".

"I'm glad to be back and alive," Twilight said, "It's been a long ten years".

"Ten years?" Celestia asked, "Twilight, it's been but only five months".

"It was ten years for me," Twilight said, "Ten long, hard years of fighting and killing to survive".

"Ki... killing?" Celestia asked, stunned.

"I had no choice," Twilight said, "It was either them or me, and I'd much rather it be them. And after a while, it even becomes oddly fun".

"So, then Luna was right," Celestia said, "Seems like I have a lot of work ahead of me when you finally get out of here".

"Don't think of me as a heartless murderer," Twilight said, "I do not look for fights. However, should I find myself in one, I'll enjoy it".

"I'm going to do whatever it takes to get rid of that mindset," Celestia said, "You're not a killer Twilight, and I refuse to let you think like one".

"You wanna know why I'm a little more fucked up than when I left?" Twilight asked, "Well, take a seat and I'll tell you".