Stories of the Equestrian Republic

I gagged and coughed, blood seeping into my lungs faster than my magic could close the wounds. I was severely weakened. I didn't understand what  had happened! I activated the telematrix but everything exploded into bright lights and pain. "Look at you, crawling on the ground like the pathetic excuse of a goddess you are." I pulled my face across the dusty ground, trying to stand with shattered limbs.

"St–" I was cut off by hacking coughs and heaving lungs, trying to empty themselves of blood. I managed to get the words out, my magic spewing the blood out of my mouth over the ground. "Starfield!" I snorted unintentionally, spatters of blood speckling my upper lip. "I don't understand! What happened?!" I felt her magic wrap around me and lift me up, but it felt wrong and tainted.

"What happened? I took advantage of your foolishness." My face paled and my eyes widened as I saw her eyes, burning green with pitch smoke, the irises blood red. "You never would've even thought that one of your precious few friends would betray you, Twilight. But I've proven you wrong."

"Sombra." I growled, despite the agony in my lungs and limbs. "What did he do to you?"

She causally dropped me. I yelped as my broken limbs turned in all the wrong directions upon smacking limp into the ground, the pain was unbearable, tears streamed down my face as I struggled to concentrate, trying to reactivate a healing spell, a levitation spell—any kind of spell that might stop the pain. "He didn't do anything, Twilight. What matters is what you did." Starfield took a deep breath, rising onto her haunches and bringing her forelegs to her chest. "Smell that air! Can you sense it?" She snickered, falling back down and cracking a rib as her hooves slammed into my brittle sides. "Breathe in the ashes of your subjects, Twilight! Fill your lungs with their scorched bodies."

"B–Buck you to Tartarus!" I winced, nearly all my magic was gone. While I hadn't felt this empty, this incredibly weak for thousands of years, I'd never felt my magic ripped out so forcefully. It was like feeling something grab your brain with claws and swish it around like stirred soup. I could barely manage the few spells attempting to heal my lungs so I could even breathe. She, on the other hoof, stood proud and tall, her mane flowing at least a dozen hoofs behind her and spiraling into the air. She was weakened, but still powerful enough to easily be able to kill me in this state.

She twisted my face around, my neck popping painfully as it was nearly turned too far. My throat closed up for a second, a groan finding its way out before my broken body turned with me. My blurred vision was nothing to hide her sadistic grin and flaming eyes as she hissed and muttered madness, mere inches from my face. "You haven't sensed it yet huh? Your magic is, so, very weak right now..." She purred, "It would be so easy to just kill you, Twilight. I could just rip your chest open and splatter your heart across your face while you watched." Starfield giggled as she almost fell over backing up, her laugh slowly changing into something I cannot describe. "Oooh. But I have a better way to end this, Twilight."

Flash!

I flinched, my eyes closing as she teleported away. When my eyes opened, she was—of course—gone. I just laid there, breathing and crying as magic ran through my and tried to repair the damage as quick as it could. I had to find her before she did something else, I had to find out what had happened. I had to save her from Sombra's influence.

But instead I laid there, groaning as the tiniest amount of magic sparked into my mushy legs. When I finally gathered the strength to stand. My legs wobbled and shook as I painfully struggled to my hooves, I had no idea how long it had taken for my nearly nonexistent magic reserve to heal me. The iron bands in my mane fell and clanked on the ground, the runes rusted and melted away—useless and every bone in my body felt like they were replaced with searing fire as I tested each joint, bending them all just a little. I lifted my hooves, and started dragging myself on four hooves.

I was standing, but every twitch, every movement felt the same as being dragged. I was moving at a slow and agonizing pace, my heart pounding violently in my ears. I had to find out what she'd done, I had to get back to Trottingham and make sure she hadn't–I tripped over the edge of the crater, tumbling and rolling down a small hill before my head landed gracefully on a flat stone. My ears rang and my vision swam, my aching limbs were replaced with rubber as fresh red filled my view.

I cursed, but not with actual words. It was more–so grunts that sounded like curses. I flailed my numb legs below me, trying to find land until I realized I was on my back. I dug them under me, pushing myself into the air at the perceived speed of a sonic rainboom. As my senses returned, I noticed the artificial sun was gone. Even the stars were gone, the sky was nothing but pitch black as I struggled to find my hoofing in almost absolute darkness. There was a small amount of light still, possibly left over. My subjects were likely panicking, 'The sun is gone! The sky is falling! It's the apocalypse!' I can hear their insanity already. I just have to get to Trottingham, it wasn't far. Then I could try to fix things

I yelled as I stumbled to the ground again, one of my legs freshly broken. This was going to be a long day.

«♦»

Trottingham was... In ruins. What had Starfield's device done? All these hundreds of thousands of lives, gone. I stumbled over the burned corpses of my little ponies, wincing as I passed each forever screaming, scarred face. The shimmering walls of the gold tinged buildings were cracked; dirtied by the ashes of the recently dead. With each step through what was once the kingdom I and my friends had spent several tens of thousands of years creating wafted fresher and fresher scents of death through my nostrils.

Everything hurt. My broken wings hurt, my heaving, hole ridden sides hurt, breathing, blinking and walking hurt. But seeing this unbiased destruction? This burned and damned hell that was once my home where my friends lived? This wasn't painful, it was beyond that. Hearing absolute silence in the city center—the most bustling and active quarter square mile on the planet—was heart breaking. My horn flickered, the pale purple light wavering and fading slowly. I barely had any magic left, much less enough to be wasting it as a flashlight. But without it I couldn't see; couldn't dodge the charred corpses.

It had been a long—and I really mean a long—time since I had trotted slowly through these streets without being near trampled. It had been around as long since I had felt my hair tickling my face. Every hint of life had been drained from it, every tiny breeze fluttered the grayed strands in the air. I was vaguely aware of my tail dragging across the ground behind me, but I didn't have the luxury to care.

I turned frantically, my eyes shifting across the pitch canvas of shadows. I could have sworn I had heard somepony. Should I risk Starfield further damaging things to search for a survivor who may or may not even exist? The layered, quaking echo from the direction of the castle answered for me as I 'ran', muttering an apology under my breath. Though it wasn't much of a run. It was more of a quick jog, maybe a gait if I were to be so egotistical as to lie to myself like that.

I tried to pump more magic into the healing spells I knew, but it only caused everything to hurt worse as the dull headache of magic withdrawl kicked in.

Crac—koom!

I gazed up as the great walls of the castle exploded outwards in brilliant yellow–gold light. My light died out quickly as I receded into the shadows, nearly falling over as I rested my aching bones. Just as I had started to grow weary and suspicious, Glowheart pierced the clouds of smoke. She flew past me, far overhead. The winds raged as she neared rainboom levels of speed, the signature cone of kinetic energy visibly forming around her.

I started to call out but the nearly noise died in my throat as another flew after her. "Glowheart! Starfield!" They couldn't possibly have heard me, I of course knew that. I pulled another breath, watching them circle each other in the air. Glowheart throwing raw magic and a few combat spells towards Starfield; the latter raged at my former student with vile magic, it curled around Starfield like a living sheath of shadows.

I panted as I looked around in the dark, beams of light from Glowheart's golden glow illuminating bits and pieces. What could I do to gain her attention? The only thing I had at my disposal was darkness!

Darkness.

Darkness!

I frowned as I felt it enter my heart; my darkest thoughts and bleakest desires. Which: given the situation, rather easily emerged. All my pain and loss; in the back of my mind I felt the mad tickles, little giggles finding their way to my vocal cords. Keep control Twilight, you got this. The world exploded in color as clouds of baneful emotion pooled around my eyes.

I unleashed my fury upon the world, straining not to cackle with glee as buildings and sidewalk exploded and crumbled to dust. I forced my gaze towards Glowheart; she had noticed. So had Starfield unfortunately, smashing city blocks wasn't have  a very stealthy way of communicating. In an instant I reeled as I cut off the dark magic, instantly weakened. That magic doesn't draw from a magic reserve luckily—or unluckily. It is created from deep set hatred and malice. Giving even the weakest unicorn immense power if they are angry enough, but with the cost of their sanity.

"Twilight!" I gasped and struggled to my hooves as Glowheart flew overhead.

"Glowheart!" My hooves gave as two walls of air slammed into me, knocking me back and to the ground. Starfield was making chase after my  friend, flying obviously faster than my ex–student ever could, much less now. I coughed, gagging as ash flooded my lungs with each gasped breath. "Buck... Too weak..." I don't have to be. My thoughts were plummeting into that dark hell, I knew deep down it was the only way I could help Glowheart. Before I noticed a pale shimmer under some rubble.

Near blinding light from behind me reflected brighter off the golden object, causing me to crawl over to it, ducking under the raining debris of another shattered building. It couldn't–It shouldn't be! But as I dug my hooves into the powder and stone remains of Trottingham Royal Armory, I cringed. "Celestia's chest guard." I said under my breath, pulling it to myself. I closed my eyes, feeling in with my tiny magic. It still had a little, minuscule amount of ambient magic in it, the enchantments placed in it all those tens of thousands of years ago still holding after all this time.

I sighed, feeling even that tiny amount of magic mingle with my own felt heavenly. It wasn't enough for even a basic level teleport, but it was enough to get me someplace to help. I climbed to my hooves with renewed ease, almost smiling as I ran down the mountain of destruction. Miles away I caught a glimpse of brilliant golden bolts the size of carriages falling to the ground, entire mountains crumbling away. My eyes widened as I dove behind a larger chunk of what I think used to be a store, bracing for impact.

I curled down as hurricane like winds ravaged over me, the several ton heaps of rubble being tilted over like mounds of parchment. I swore my ears were bleeding, but as I peeked over the slightly smaller chunk of store stone, they surprisingly weren't. I hopped to my hooves, continuing down the mountain as fast as I could. In the distance, I saw my destination: Mickey's Magical Enhancement Pharmacy. Or at least the remains of the ridiculously old franchise of pharmacy. I might be able to scrape together some kind of drug to give me a little boost. Drat, if only I reread Supernaturals last decade instead of last century, I might be able to put together something of quality.

I cringed as a greasy feeling and hatred seemed to slide through me. I threw my gaze up and saw a cloud of a slightly darker darkness than usual, sailing away from the fight in the distance. Starfield's–Sombra's magic was growing more powerful inside her. Whatever hatred she held for me and Glowheart was likely feeding it. I shook my head as I almost literally dove into the rubble, digging around for any sort of alchemical scraps I could find. I almost yelped in glee as my hoof wrapped around what I believed to be the veins of a demon heart, magic–a–plenty!

I audibly groaned as I tossed the nigh useless leek behind me. How the damned onion mimic managed to survive unscathed baffled me. Even more baffling was when I yanked a pill bottle of stallion cough enhancement pills from the rubble. I almost tossed it too when a thought occurred to me. My heart was the source of my magic, right? And these things kinda made the heart go into overdrive so it can better pump blood to the downstairs control room. So by that reasoning...

I popped the container open, tipping my head back as all twenty pills fell into my open maw. I gulped them down and continued searching.

Floop!

I felt blood rush to my cheeks as my wings splayed out behind me, twitching frantically. I almost wasted what little magic I had on a toxin cleansing spell, but as I was gathering the charge, my heart started beating louder.

Bum bum... Bum bum... Bum bumbumbumbumbum...

And faster! My mane rose off my back, leaving it feeling strangely familiar and yet, unfamiliar. My breath hitched as my eyes rolled into the back of my skull, dear Mothers this felt like pure bliss. The raw change in power was like night and–My eyes shot open as I conjured the artificial sun. As the ball of fire and plasma formed, I couldn't help but smile at it. Familiar. I cast my gaze down from the sky, lighting finally reaching the plan...et. My thoughts froze as my jaw unhinged slightly, dipping just south of being closed. As far as the eye could see, and I had pretty damn good eyes, the world was charred and broken.

My wings fell back to my side as I struggled to find words for my world; some form of apology maybe? But before a revelation blessed my tongue, the light was clouded out as a mist of black magic fell around me. I didn't even bother to look at the cause as I closed my eyes.

Blink

I opened my eyes on the other side of Trottingham just in time to see the east district explode in black flame. I quickly cast a spell to find my friend. There! I shifted my eyes to her and blinked again, erecting my wings.

Blink

I flapped as the ground fell out from under me, "Twilight!" I almost fell from the air as I heard her voice again.

"Glowheart." I flew over the remaining bakers dozen of hooves to her, "We can recap later, what's the status?"

"She's immensely powerful." She remarked frowning at the black speck that was Starfield. "I don't think we'll be able to beat her." I probably could if I used that power.

"That's the talk of losers." I said before flapping straight into a rainboom with one movement. I arced around her, sending small flares of stunning magic to test her reaction speed. A worthless effort however, she had simply cast a mass shield spell around herself, likely laced with a detection charm to conserve energy. Maybe I could overwhelm it with speed and get a shot pas–As I dodge a tree trunk sized beam of super concentrated, pitch black energy however, I suddenly doubted that.

Lucidity found me in the form of a pair of golden hooves smashing into my side, tugging me from the radius of another blast. "She's powerful." I simply responded, taking flight from the forelegs of my friend. The shockwave of a miles off two hundred–ish megaton explosion rocked over us, the wind flicking and burning my face. "At the rate her hate is growing, she'll crack the planet in half try to pick up a tea cup." I muttered.

"We have to placate her somehow." Glowheart hissed, a long streak of singed coat and roasted skin trailing her side. "I don't want to hurt her."

I grunted, swerving out of the way of another blast. "What about a concentrat–" I was cut off rather rudely as the pitch I'd dodged a moment earlier arced back around, slamming into, "Glowheart!" I yelled, flapping my wings, I burst over to her.

Oh Mothers, her screams. When I reached her, the skin on her entire right side had been seared away, steaming liquid dripping from her hidden eye. I imagine there wasn't an eye there at all honestly. "One moment!" I said, tipping my horn down. I grimaced with closed eyes as my mane withered away again, my tiny magic fleeing as I corralled it into yet another healing spell. Slowly, her wails quieted, silencing abruptly with a slimy pop. I dared my eyes open, both her eyes were wide; her pupils mere pinpricks as painful tears burned away at the cuts and scrapes on her cheek.

I panted, the magic flow cutting off as I tried to keep at least enough to walk. My head turned as I scanned for-Ah. There she is. Starfield flapped above us calmly, watching with the most disturbed grin I'd seen since the king of fear himself. "Hey." I nudged Glowheart, "No time for rest. We'll rest when she's dealt with." Almost unresponsive, she twitched enough to tell me she heard me. I frowned, she needed a couple more moments I suppose.

I could protect her with dark magic for just a tiny while, long enough for her to gather her strength. In the back of my mind, I heard the screaming calls. I had to use it, or she'd die. I glanced back, her wide, teary eyes broke my heart.

The air in front of me compressed just enough for me to turn in time. Another beam of black magic. If I used my body as a shield, I would die. If I moved, she would die. Either way...

Thund

The dull gong as our vile magics collided wasn't at all satisfactory, but it managed to divert her blast enough for us to both survive. The pools of vile magic bubbled around my eyes, clouding and changing my view. But she only cackled loudly. No words, no struggle. Just mad laughter.

Oh wait, that was me.

I became happily reminded of my heaving lungs as they struggled to fill with oxygen in time for it to be quickly exhaled. I was power itself; I was god. The euphoria of the magic tickled every nerve I didn't know I had; nearly orgasmic in nature. My eyes threatened to bounce their gaze back into my skull. This was the real me, my real emotions.

"Twilight!" I turned as I felt the golden glow pouring into me. Glowheart, still crying, was pouring her own magic into me. Consciousness returned as the dark magic was at least counteracted enough for me to expel it. ...Directly into Starlight's face, knocking her at least a five minutes rest away.

I heaved, so very weak again by comparison. ''Glowheart..." I whispered under my breath before collapsing.

«♦»

“It's hard to tell who has your back, from who has it long enough just to stab you in it.”

― Nicole Richie