Damned Are the Guilty

No sound could be heard in the top of the tower, except for the sound of Punisher putting his hidden pistol back into the side of his boot. All eyes were glued to the dead Tirek, whose blood was starting to pool in the center of the room. Eternity seemed to pass as the ponies and dragon stared at the dead foe of theirs. Then, slowly, Twilight raised her head to look at the Punisher.

"Why?" she asked with tears welling in her eyes.

"I'm the Punisher. It's what I do," Punisher replied calmly before he grunted in pain slightly and held a hand to his side.

"B-but I thought...you promised that...I don't understand," Twilight stammered out, her normally sharp mind now finding it impossible to figure out a reason for what Frank had done. "I thought that we had finally made a breakthrough. You said that..."

"I wouldn't kill any of Tirek's henchmen. And I haven't. They're all still alive. Unless I decide to go change that," Punisher replied as he walked over to Tirek's body, staring down at it for a moment before lifting his head towards the ponies. Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity all had tears in their eyes and looks of shock on their faces, while Dash and AJ glared at Punisher with a wrath that was only eclipsed by his own. And Twilight continued to stare at him as if she was lost.

"And as for a breakthrough, don't kid yourself, Twilight. There was never any breakthrough. I planned to kill Tirek from the first time he got away from me," Punisher revealed to Twilight, whose eyes shrunk like his words had pierced her heart. "And I knew that all of you would lead me right to him, if I stuck around long enough."

"But...about Spike...you said that you weren't weak. You would prove..."

"Prove what? That I wasn't weak by sparing them? That's what I told you to get you off my back for a few minutes," Punisher said before looking back at Spike, whose rage and disbelief actually impressed Punisher. "I do like Spike. Because he's real. He understands what I am, more so than any of you. But you just wouldn't leave me alone. So I told you what you wanted to hear. In my own way, of course. That I'd give you a chance. That I'd fight with you. So you wouldn't be pointing your weapons at me."

"But...why lie to us? Frank, why did you-?"

"There's another thing. Frank Castle. Do you really think that by calling me by my real name that you're somehow reaching out to him?" Punisher asked Twilight as he walked right up to her, glaring into her eyes. "Allow me to make this perfectly clear. The very first person I killed as the Punisher...was Frank Castle."

Twilight sat down, staring at the floor like her whole world had come crashing down. Punisher walked back over to Tirek and placed a finger to his neck, making sure that the centaur hadn't magically come back from the dead, like some villains liked to do. Once he was certain that he was dead, Punisher rose up and glanced over his shoulder at the Ambassadors.

"Don't act all surprised. You should have seen this coming. But I guess all of you were so certain that I could change, that you never really thought that I'd be playing you," Punisher said to them before shaking his head and walking up to the stain glass image of the princesses. "These two would be the hardest to trick. They're old and have experience. Not to mention, I couldn't fight them or you. Not with your magic being too powerful for me. So I told them my story, hoping to gain their sympathy. Didn't count on getting yours, Twilight."

"He was going to be different! He was...he..."

"So he says, but it's like this. You believe that others are good and can be saved. That's why you got taken advantage of. And if I was willing to bet, Tirek was playing you as well. I see scum like this for what they really are and put them down before they can take advantage of others," Punisher said in a tone filled with finality. "And scum like this deserves to be put down. To be punished."

"So...everything you've said. All yours words, your actions...were just to trick me. To get me to help you?" Twilight asked Punisher, who never saw Spike back away from Twilight. As if he could sense what was coming, when nopony else could.

"You said it yourself. The only way I would get to Tirek is if you let me. So I had to trick you above everyone else. Fortunately for me, you wanted so badly to believe that you were saving me that you never saw through my ploy. Thanks to you, this was easier than it would have been," Punisher said with a small bow to Twilight before turning away. "So my killing Tirek is thanks to you, Twilight. I couldn't have done it so easily without you."

Twilight stared at the ground for a long moment, her eyes hidden by her bangs. The weight of Punishers words, and actions, finally seemed to be reaching her for the first time. Then she threw her head back and screamed.

"GGGGGGRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!"

Punisher spun around just in time to take a purple blur to the gut, one that hurled him through the stain glass and sent him tumbling onto the rooftop about a story below. He snarled in pain as he rolled up to his feet, but when he looked skyward he realized that he was in far worse shape than he thought.

Twilight floated above him, her eyes glowing completely violet. Her entire body was covered in magic and her sheer power shook the very planet beneath the both of them. And upon her face was a look of absolute wrath, all of which was directed towards the Punisher.

"I'LL END YOU!" Twilight screamed as she fired a beam of magic towards Punisher, one that tore apart the rooftop. Punisher hurled himself out of the way just in time, but when he looked behind him to see where the blast had gone a massive explosion erupted in the distance, shaking the landscape.

Instinct saved the Punisher's life, as it forced him to roll out of the way of a purple blur that sliced apart the air where he had been standing. He rolled to his feet and whipped out his pistol, but in a flash of magic he was hurled across the rooftops and into the a solid brick wall. Pain flooded through his body, but fear kept him focused and allowed him to take aim at Twilight.

He fired a shot at her leg, but the magical barrier disintegrated the bullet before it could reach her body. But when she saw the gun, her eyes narrowed and her magical aura seemed to increase even further. She fired a blast of magic at him that he barely managed to get out of the way of, but in a flash she was upon him, lifting him by his vest. He threw a left hook at her, but that turned out to be a terrible decision as magic grabbed his arm.

"ARGH!" Punisher screamed as Twilight's magic decimated his arm, incinerating the limb with her magic and burning it to ash. She snarled into his face before hurling him at one of the turrets beside her.

He smashed clean through the brick and fell another story onto a large rooftop, landing hard enough on his back to break a good number of his ribs. He slowly rolled onto his side and spat out blood, before weakly pushing himself back up in time to see Twilight descending upon him like a divine angle.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, PUNISHER! FOR THE FIRST TIME, I SEE YOU FOR WHAT YOU TRULY ARE!" Twilight spoke in a voice that sounded like the heavens themselves had come down. She spoke like a royal. "YOU ARE SCUM! YOU ARE EVIL! AND YOU DESERVED TO BE...PUNISHED! I, PRINCESS TWILIGHT, SENTANCE YOU TO DEATH!"

Twilight shot a blast of magic into the heavens that caused them to come crashing down a moment later, causing what looked to be stars to begin to decimate the area where the two were fighting. Punisher had to move faster than he ever had in his life to avoid being crushed and even then he could barely stay ahead. One star would have claimed his life if he hadn't thrown himself off of the side of the roof, slamming into the muddy ground far below.

'My left arm's gone. It's gone and most of my ribs are broken,' Punisher realized as he pulled himself out of the mud, everything hurting badly. He shakily pushed himself back up to his feet with his only arm and turned to see Twilight floating above him. The divine justice in her eyes would have driven any other being to their knees, but all Punisher did in response to looking into her eyes was narrow his own and spit to the side.

Twilight yanked him into the air with her magic, wrapping his entire body in it so he couldn't move. He strained with all of his might, but even if half of his body wasn't broken and he had both his arms he wouldn't have been able to break free. All he could do was glare coldly into the eyes of Twilight, as she took aim at his heart with her horn.

"And with this...Equestria is purged of a great evil," Twilight whispered as her horn glowed as bright as the sun. He was a dead man. He knew there was no chance of stopping her. Punisher wanted to close his eyes, to just let it finally happen, but he forced himself to glare into Twilight's until she finally killed him.

"TWILIGHT, NO!"

Twilight's horn stopped an inch from the skull on his vest and Twilight turned to see her friends and Spike flying down from above. Twilight lowered herself to the ground and stared at Spike, who ran over to her with tears in her eyes.

"Stay back, Spike. I am ending this," Twilight said to the dragon before glaring at Punisher once more.

"No Twilight, you can't do this! Don't kill him!" Spike begged.

"Why not? It is clear he doesn't care about life. It is clear that he feels no guilt for his actions nor does he have any hope of changing! Nopony would mourn his death," Twilight replied, her eyes burning a hole into Punishers soul.

"I don't care about that! I don't care what happens to him. But I do care what happens to you. Because I love you and don't want to see you go down this path!" Spike cried out, pleading with every ounce of his hearth. "You're consumed with vengeance. And if you kill him in this state, you might one day...become like him!"

The air turned silent at Spike's words, aside from the sinister humming that the alicorns magical pressure was causing. Twilight looked at Spike, her eyes still glowing purple but now some of the fury was gone. "But Spike, I wouldn't-"

"You're doing it right now! You've been doing it for days," Spike said with tears streaming from his face. "I've watched as you've changed. You've gotten angrier, meaner and far less caring than the Twilight I know. Fighting him has changed you, made you go down a path you normally wouldn't. But I didn't say anything because it was still you, because I could still see your normal self still in there. But now you're at the crossroad!"

"Spike, I-"

"You're going to kill him...because you couldn't stop him from killing Tirek. And that's what he did. He kills criminals...because he couldn't stop them from killing his family. He's trying to make up for his failure. And that was the very first step that led him to being the Punisher...and you're about to take that same step down a road you can't come back from. I know you're angry, I know you're hurt, but please. Don't be Punisher. Be Twilight. Be my mom."

Twilight stared at Spike for a long moment after he said this, her eyes still blazing with a light that was fueled with rage. But then, after a few moments, she blinked once and the violet vanished from her eyes. Her eyes returned to their regular color and surprised filled them, finally realizing that he was crying. She looked from Punisher to Spike, regret and pain filling up her eyes as she saw the pain the dragon was in. Twilight then let out a sigh before giving a thankful smile to Spike.

"You're right, Spike. You're always there giving me that advice when I need it," Twilight said before turning her gaze back to the Punisher. "And maybe that's what you lacked all these years. Somepony to tell you when you were about to go too far."

"Still trying to save me?" Punisher asked weakly.

"No. I'm done with you. I'm going to find the deepest hole in Equestria and dump you in there. I've given up on you," Twilight replied in a bitter tone as her horn began to glow again.

"Sorry, kid, but I'm done here."

Faster than any of the ponies thought possible Punisher whipped the pistol towards Twilight's legs. Twilight had been expecting the attack however, and swatted Punisher's hand to the side. What neither of them had been expecting was for the gun to go off because of the scuffle.

BANG!

The sound of the gunshot tore apart the air, but the surprise Punisher felt by the gun going off was quickly suppressed by the horror of what he heard after that. The sound of a child crying out in pain.

"SPIKE!" Twilight screamed as she chucked the Punisher to the side and raced over to Spike, who was laying on the ground with all of Twilight's friends trying to help him. Instantly Twilight used her magic to numb the pain while moving Spike to see that his left arm was bleeding.

"Don't worry, Twilight, it's a nick at best. It'll hurt like the dickens, but he'll be fine," AJ comforted Twilight. She flashed her friend a grateful look before using her magic to start to heal Spike.

"It's okay, Spike. It only glanced you. You're going to be alright," Twilight whispered as she held her baby dragon tight. For a moment, all was silent, except for the steady breathing of Spike. Twilight then gently placed him down at stood up.

Then the rage returned, but in a force that made the previous rage seem like a small outburst in comparison. The very sky above began to change as Twilight charged with magic. Holes in the very fabric of Equestria formed in the air as her sheer will tore apart the world. Her wrath was not one of a being seeking justice, not a being trying to avenge a fallen being. Hers was of a mother about to confront to one that hurt her child. A rage unmatchable. Twilight's body turned into a bright light as she slowly rounded on the Punisher, not sure herself what she was about to do to him. But all of her rage was slowed for a moment when she saw his face.

The fire in his eyes was gone. The stubbornness and will that had carried him to his point had vanished like the mist, leaving only a ragged old man missing a limb standing where a monster had once stood. But there was something in his eyes that Twilight never expected to see. Something that, as he gazed upon the injured Spike, stopped Twilight's anger. Guilt. There was guilt in his eyes, a guilt that had crushed the will and strength when nothing else could. And for a moment, Punisher looked human.

"He'll live?" Frank asked Twilight in a whisper, smirking when Twilight nodded. "Heh, I was...so determined to get away...to get back...that I shot a child. I shot...your son. All over a bullshit reason." Twilight narrowed her eyes, unable to predict what Punisher was about to do next. Then he looked at her one last time, with a look of finality in his eyes.

"I'm...so sorry, Twilight. So sorry for hurting him. He's a good kid. I actually respect him. And yet I just...you probably want to burn me alive right now. Tear me apart and throw me into the sun. And I would let you. But you won't have to. I'll burn soon enough. Because after what I just did," Frank whispered before placing the gun under his chin. "Means that someone...needs to punish me. Bye, kid."

BANG!