Violet Magica - The Arrow of Light

On the brink between nowhere and purgatory laid a forsaken graveyard where once heroes of an ancient war had been put to rest. The sun, barely visible on the horizon, soaked the area in a blood orange light through a layer of clouds that danced atop Violet and Rose's heads. The placement of the surrounding graves lacked any sort of order, the chaos among them emulated a jungle with graves for trees.

Rose had heard about this place from Amber. No pony would remember the names of these fallen heroes—the inscriptions on their gravestones were already faded out and illegible—so it would be the perfect place doubling as a memorial for Sorceresses, fates never to be recorded and names to fade away without any recognition for their deeds.

“You think Amber would have been okay with us coming here?” Rose reached the top of a hill in the center of the graveyard and looked back at Violet, who was just a few steps behind her. The land around them didn't even befit a graveyard. Many small hills and valleys cut through the area. According to some old rumor the place these corpses were buried was the very battlefield they died on.

Violet spoke up. “I think this was the only place to come to. Amber shares a fate similar to the warriors who lie here, she knew this day would come whenever she went into battle with a witch. Even if society will forget us like them, the least we can do as her companions is remember her as what she was: a hero.”

Rose's body broke down next to a gravestone which was halfway sunken into the ground and almost tipped over. “We don't even have anything of her to bury, what are we even doing here?”

Violet approached a stone statue resembling a pony in a victorious pose next to Rose. She placed her hoof on its side and moved it over the surface. “We can use this.” Her Soul Gem, inset in a singular earring, glowed as she traced the surface of the statue once more. When she removed her hoof, an inscription appeared on the statue.

“In memory of Amber Spirit. A great mentor, an even greater friend, and the greatest ally of justice to have ever lived.”

Violet gestured at the inscription and looked at Rose. “That's the least we can do.”

Rose wiped the tears from her face and embraced Violet. “Thank you so much Violet.”

Contrary to Rose, Violet had lost a friend before, yet this felt and played out completely different. Violet's mourning for Rose was cut short when she ascended to a Sorceress and rushed back to a reality where she was still alive. Losing Amber was different. The pain of losing her lingered around and festered inside her, yet she felt awkwardly indifferent about the prospect of having to brave a future without Amber. She wanted to express her sorrow as Rose did, yet all she could think about was continuing on and making sure Rose was safe.

Violet finally produced some sobs as she returned the embrace and strengthened her grip on Rose.

“We will be all right Violet, we still have each other to fight all the witches that come our way. We won't let Amber's training go to waste.”

***

Taking a break from their hunts did not present itself as a solution. The assault of witches and familiars would not ever give Sorceresses time to rest. And so Violet and Rose were already hunting a familiar again the next day, trying to suppress any lingering feelings of guilt or sadness and cramp them into the backs of their mind so they could stay focused.

This particular familiar did not yet hide itself in a barrier and instead flew across the outskirts of the city in the form of an ethereal toy plane. After following the familiar while untransformed to an area secluded from the eyes of bystanders, they came to a familiar bridge over the Kami river.

“I think we are far enough now!” Violet shouted back at Rose who was galloping a few meters behind her.

As Violet was about to gallop over the central point of the bridge, she immediately came to a halt as an elongated weapon dropped from the sky and landed right in front of her.

“Violet, are you okay?” Rose caught up with Violet.

“Relax, I wasn't even aiming at your friend.” An unfamiliar voice reached their ears, just a split-second before a peculiar pony of dim red coat dropped in front of them, next to the spear that dug itself into the cement of the bridge. Lifting up the spear—a weapon with a rather long staff of finely polished wood and a wide decorative tip of crimson steel—she spun it around and rested it on her back.

Unsure how to react, Violet instead tried to rush after the familiar before it escaped, but was stopped dead in her tracks once again by the crimson-tipped spear which now pointed directly at her throat. Violet took a closer look at the other pony. The Soul Gem in her horn sparkled with a color like the setting sun, barely gleaming over the horizon. Her unkempt and long crimson strands of mane were—apart from some stray strands of hair around her face—bound behind her neck with a ribbon of light black hue, while her tail looked almost like a waterfall of blood, trickling around strands of hair.

“What exactly do you think you're doing? I haven't even introduced myself. I am Crimson Phantasma nice to meet you. I–”

“We can talk later! We have to get this familiar before he circles back into the city and attacks someone!” Violet clenched her teeth to look menacing, but she was already aware that a pony with braids and glasses could never look the least bit threatening.

“So what? I think you should calm down first before you try to do any more of that stupid stuff.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Violet stomped her hooves in protest while Rose twisted her face in disbelief.

“As I was saying, I came to this city after I heard the Sorceresses over here needed some assistance and it seems like you need my help more than ever. I had a really hard time watching you there.”

With the familiar now completely gone both Violet resigned themselves to having lost their opportunity for the hunt, prompting Crimson to retreat her spear. She also produced an apple from an invisible bag behind her right fore-hoof and took a bite.

“Okay what is it? What have you come here to tell us that was so important you had to interrupt our hunt?” Violet finally spoke with a lowered voice.

“Well that's just it: you were hunting a familiar. You do know they don't drop any Grief Seeds right?” Crimson didn't mind speaking while chewing and took even more bites of her apple. “Just let it run around a bit, let it eat some ponies here and there and before you know it that thing turns into a witch on its own. And then we can come in and knock them down to get our well-deserved Grief Seed.”

Violet glanced back at Rose who was visibly distraught at what she just heard. Looking back at Crimson she crunched her teeth. “You are the type of Sorceress that Spirit warned us about. The type that would sit idly by while innocent ponies all over the city are ambushed and eaten by these creatures. The type that would only think about their own personal gains and disregard the needs of others. We don't need any help from your type.”

Instead of taking yet another bite, Crimson put her apple back into her invisible bag. “Yes that sounds like something she would say. Blinded by justice and her black-and-white view of what's right and wrong, she was never able to make the call that could save us all.”

“You knew her?”

“Of course, I'm from Bluegrass. Almost every Sorceress over there knew her. But let me tell you something, kid: you can't save everyone. The more you try the more you will realize your own weaknesses, your short-comings, the limits of what is possible even with our powers. Once you realize those it will be easier to live with yourself in a world like this. No matter what your magic capabilities are, you cannot refill your magic reserves faster than you deplete them if you spend magic on hunting familiars.”

The gears in Violet's head went into overdrive, rattling at dangerous speeds and threatening to break apart. Every word, every sentence flowed directly from her heart to her mouth and shot at her opponent. “And how does that justify sacrificing other ponies so that you get to have magic for longer? How many ponies have you even saved so far? What is the point of being a Sorceress if you don't even use your power for the greater good and instead watch the city burn?” Violet slowly reached for her earring and put her Soul Gem into her hoof. She then pulled it forwards and presented it to Crimson as a threat.

“You are greener behind your ears than I initially thought. Let me teach you a lesson Amber never told you.” With this, she readied her spear and pointed it at Violet while glancing at Rose. “Don't you worry back there, I will just have a little fun with her, but I can't guarantee I will leave in her one piece.”

Violet crunched her teeth even harder. “You make me sick.” Even the worst witches didn't produce such a revolting feeling.“The world would be better off without you.” She didn't want to stop herself. This right here would avenge Amber. She would show her what she could do.

“Don't!” Just as Violet's Soul Gem started glowing, Rose dashed past Violet and grabbed her Soul Gem from her hoof. With one quick motion she tossed it over the side of the bridge.

Violet rushed to the railing only to see her Soul Gem lose its radiance as it was washed away by the flowing water. “Why would you do that?” Violet turned back at Rose, whose glance escaped her.

“I don't want to watch something like this. Sorceresses shouldn't fight each other. Even if we can't agree we can't go around hurting each other. Do you think Amber would have been proud if you went and fought someone like this?”

Violet let out a deep sigh. “You make it hard for me to disagree but...” She pointed at the river. “Was that really necessary?”

“I wouldn't be able to stop you once you used your magic, so I panicked!”

Once again trying to figure out what to do about Crimson, Violet swung her head from side to side as she considered her options. Maybe Kiubee could make her a new Soul Gem.Meanwhile, Crimson approached them and was about to open her mouth as Violet's body suddenly went numb and hit the ground with a dull thud.

“Violet? Violet! Are you all right?” Rose rushed to lift her head off the ground and shouted at her frozen face.

“You really shouldn't have done that.” Turning around, Rose noticed Kiubee standing on the railing next to them. “Throwing your friend away is not something I can agree on.”

“What?” Rose stared at Kiubee in disbelief, her face almost freezing as much as Violet's. “What happened to Violet? Why did she fall asleep? Why doesn't she wake up?”

Kiubee quickly inspected Violet's lifeless body and then looked back at Rose. “This isn't Violet. You just threw Violet into the water.”

“Do you mean...” Crimson stepped next to Violet and placed her hoof on her neck. “I don't feel anything! She's dead!”

Rose dropped to the ground. The weight of Crimson's words crushed Rose underneath them and left her stunned.

An unbearable silence went over the three which would have lasted half an eternity if Kiubee did not break it after a few seconds. “You see, I couldn't let you fight monsters like these with the frail bodies you have. Even their weakest attacks could cause a great enough pain to incapacitate you, rendering you unable to fight. So I did the most logical thing and extracted your souls into a tiny and handy form that you could carry around with yourself. This way, the pain your body feels can be dampened by a large factor and allow you to fight while facing great odds.”

“You did what? You mean we don't even have our souls anymore? You turned us into zombies!” Crimson shouted at the top of her lungs at the emotionless face of Kiubee.

“Why are you ponies always so touchy about where your soul is placed? Handling it like this is a much better way when it comes to fighting. Seriously, you should be thanking me.”

Crimson pointed at Violet in a stabbing motion. “Then what is this? Is this what you had in mind with your great design?”

“Well, your Soul Gem can only control your body to up to about one hundred meters. You always carry them around with you so accidents like these are fairly rare. But don't worry, as long as her body doesn't rot away you can just retrieve her Soul Gem.”

“And you say that now?” With Rose still frozen in shock, Crimson mobilized her body, jumped onto the railing, and with another powerful jump leaped off the bridge and into the river.

Meanwhile, Kiubee slowly turned his head towards Rose. “It's because she didn't ask.”

“Do you have no consideration for how we feel?” Rose's voice trembled with every word. “Has it ever crossed your mind that we wouldn't want this?”

“Why are you making such a deal out of this? Of course I tried telling ponies in the past what I would do, but I found that fewer and fewer ponies would want to become a Sorceress. Meanwhile, the witches and familiars went rampant and reached a record number of ponies killed. I decided to leave this detail out on purpose to make sure the witches could continue to be fought and the balance upheld, and as I mentioned earlier, separating body from soul is a highly beneficial practice for you.”

A multitude of emotions washed over Rose as she felt her body revolt against what she just heard. Unknowing what to say in response, she instead resigned herself to silence. While hoping that Crimson would indeed be able to return Violet's Soul Gem, Rose sat next to her body, occasionally stroking her fur with an absent mind.

After about five minutes, Crimson finally reappeared on the bridge with soaked fur and mane. Walking over to Violet she placed Violet's Soul Gem next to her head and sat down on the ground. Slowly, the Soul Gem gained back its radiance.

Only a few seconds later, Violet suddenly gasped for air as the light returned to her eyes and she moved her body into an upright position. Rose immediately jumped at Violet and pressed her against her body, crying shouts of joy.

“What happened? Daybreak, why are you celebrating?”

Crimson bore her gaze into Violet's eyes as she approached her. “Listen...” Within the next minute, Crimson had told Violet everything that had just transpired.

“Are you feeling all right, Violet?” Rose was still clinging around Violet's neck.

“I think so... I don't feel any different even after... that. It felt like I blacked out and then came to again.” Violet shook her head and inspected her body. “I really don't have a soul anymore... I didn't even notice it.”

“The procedure leaves no seams one could feel.” Kiubee proclaimed, still sitting on the railing motionless.

While Kiubee spoke, Crimson slowly made her way away from the group.

“Wait, I didn't even thank you yet!” Rose rushed after her.

“Don't mention it.” With this, she pulled out an apple covered in bite marks and took a bite. “I think it's best if I just leave now and don't bother you again. I need some time to think about what I learned today; by myself.”

“Please help us with the familiars! I don't think we are as different as you think we are!”

Turning back one last time, Crimson pointed the hoof she used to hold her apple at Rose. “Don't get this mixed up. My beliefs and my way of handling my life as a Sorceress are something completely different from what I just did. Firstly, I wouldn't have seriously hurt any of you. And secondly, even if I did hate you with all my guts I don't think I could bring myself to watch any of you die. Just as I have before saved ponies I came across from familiars. Actually watching someone die or killing them with my own hands out of a craze of power? That is something only monsters and the utterly insane could do without regret.”

***

That dreaded day crept up on Violet once more. The day Kamino was beset by a catastrophic storm. The day Walpurgisnacht attacked. The day Rose died.

Despite everything she had learned about fighting witches, all the skills she acquired and all the victories she earned, she feared what would transpire if the Walpurgisnacht appeared today. Even if she was powerful enough to take it down together with Rose, Violet would not be ready to face the odds of losing her best friend once more. At least if it would not appear today Violet would have been relieved. The more she thought about when the Walpurgisnacht attacked the more she tried to suppress these very thoughts as the anticipation only sprouted dread inside her.

Still, in order to prepare for the eventuality of an attack, Violet subtly led Rose to the park after a day of witch hunting and searching for Azure, who was still missing. Leading Rose around did not take a lot of effort since she seemed to follow Violet around without asking questions, trusting her to know where they wanted to go.

The whole situation felt surreal. Not even two months ago Violet was a regular pony living a fairly normal life, and today she was leading her best friend around to prepare for a fight against an ungodly demon that could destroy the entire city and most regrettably kill her best friend a second time. Every time she recalled everything that had happened, the impossible things happening—ethereal beings in unworldly realms, powerful magic, fights between Sorceresses, even her time-travel—were all being filed under 'fact'. After everything she had witnessed, still calling any of it 'imagination' was a futile attack on reality. That did not mean, however, that she had built up a mental immunity to the surreal. She merely learned to accept it when confronted with it.

It was around the central area of the park when Violet felt the winds picking up. All of her planning evaporated on the spot and she instead turned to Rose who was tagging alongside her and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Daybreak! Listen! You have to be calm now okay?” Violet's whole body was overcome by anxiety. All the visions of losing Rose, all the possibilities of how they could fail had stacked to form a tower of terror, which in that moment collapsed above Violet and unleashed all of her pent-up emotions onto her. She had not trained her psyche well enough.

Right then, an extreme gust of wind swept through the park, robbing trees of their leaves, causing the water in the fountain to spray around and almost knocking both Violet and Rose off their hooves.

Violet tightened her grab on Rose but the grip of fear held Violet even tighter. “Listen! Daybreak, stay with me! You have to get ready!” She shook Rose far more vehemently than she wanted to, her whole body racing in a rush of adrenaline while Rose shook on her own, unable to comprehend where the gust of wind came from, why Violet was in a panic or why it suddenly started raining.

As expected, Kiubee appeared from behind a bush next to them and placed himself on the ground.

Rose immediately turned to him. “What is going on, Kiubee? Where did that sudden change in weather come from?”

Kiubee slowly turned his head to face Rose. “Ten... nine...”

Violet shook Rose again to regain her attention. “Daybreak, ignore him! A Walpurgisnacht is going to appear! It's one of those gargantuan witches Amber talked about! We have to defeat it!”

Rose ripped her eyes open as she stared back at Violet with an open mouth.

“Two... one...”

Once again, enormous chains materialized and pulled an even more enormous blackened being down from beyond the clouds. A cold shiver froze Violet's body as she identified the being as the very Walpurgisnacht of her memories.

Unable to avert her eyes from the witch, she took a deep breath. She shook her head and tried to slip back into a normal breathing pattern. Finally, able to grasp some slips of composure, she reached out for Rose again. “You have to listen very closely now, I have a strategy for this. I will tell you what you will have to do...”

Rose's expression of silent panic barely changed throughout Violet's instructions. Unsure at first if Rose was even following, Violet stopped after crucial points, waiting for Rose to nod in approval.

Violet held on to the hope that Rose listened to her and followed her closely enough, that she would find a certain strength in her words that animated her to fight with all her heart and not ask the questions that Violet could not explain at this point. Once the Walpurgisnacht was defeated, she could tell her everything.

“And remember, Daybreak, this is a two-versus-one, if we just keep it under control, we should be able to beat it handily.”

After the explanation was finished, Rose nodded one last time, transformed, and started by jumping up into the air and stabilizing herself using her magic. Then, she conjured her bow and readied her first shots. This must have been her way to show her agreement to Violet's plan. Meanwhile, Violet transformed and ran through the park below her and closed some of the distance between her and the Walpurgisnacht.

After a few of Rose's shots hit Walpurgisnacht, all focused on the same spot on its head, bits of torn off ethereal tissue and dust provided the witch with a sort of smokescreen to hide behind. The perfect time to retaliate. Bursts of energy of enormous speed blasted past the smokescreen and hurtled towards Rose's location.

About halfway to Rose, the bursts exploded in mid-air. Instead of a magical explosion, however, it was an explosion created by pony technology.

“It's working! Keep firing!” On Violet's command, Rose fired even more shots to deepen the crater in the witch's face. As expected, it didn't actually seem to feel any pain or change its behavior even after having a sizable hole in her head.

Violet barely had to wait for the next attack as the Walpurgisnacht lifted a couple of buildings next to it, clumped them together to form a ball of concrete and glass, and tossed it towards Rose.

In the heat of the battle for not only Kamino's future, but also for her own and Rose's survival, Violet's mind managed to reach a state of calculated focus.

Time Lock! Stopping time to grant her the opportunity she needed to reach Rose before the attack reached her, Violet leaped into the air and set herself on a course with Rose. She couldn't stop time for very long, but she should have plenty of time to reach her.

Time Release!

Just before the orb of buildings was about to hit Rose, Violet smashed into her in mid-air and knocked both of them to safety, causing only a few scrapes and bruises as they crashed back onto the ground, which was already covered in a layer of water from the rain.

“But... it wasn't supposed to release yet...” She took a closer look at her TCD and with a sudden realization her mouth fell wide open. She had only had enough sand in her device for about one month. Usually the metal lids on her reservoirs were closed, but now both of them laid open, revealing one empty and one full reservoir of glinting sand. Turning it counter-clockwise at this point to stop time was useless.

“Daybreak, are you okay?” She helped Rose stand up and then grabbed her by her shoulders again. “I can't stop time anymore, we need to improvise.”

For the first time since Walpurgisnacht appeared, Rose opened her mouth. “Don't worry, Violet. Just tell me what to do.” The focused state of mind Violet had been in had cracked and was about to shatter, yet Rose's surprisingly calm and collected words mentally stabilized her. Maybe a shard of Amber's spirit had been absorbed by Rose, granting her a newfound focus.

Just hearing Rose's voice took enough of Violet's fears away to allow her to speak without worries. “I can't deflect its attacks anymore or get you out of the way, so you have to dodge on your own for now. You won't be able to fire shots safely anymore, but I think the damage you did so far should be enough. I will try to finish the Walpurgisnacht off, just make sure to distract it while I get into position.”

Instead of simply agreeing, Rose grabbed Violet by her shoulders just as she did to her before. “Listen Violet: don't overdo it. We can always think of another strategy if this one fails.”

Between the words she heard and Rose's pained expression Violet spotted not a confident advice, but a desperate plea.

One last nod and Violet went off, rushing towards the Walpurgisnacht on the ground, while Rose once again levitated herself in the sky and began shooting quick volleys to bombard the entire body of the witch. Getting close enough to her destination, Violet leaped into the air herself and made directly for the crater on the witch's head.

Arriving there felt like what landing on an asteroid of alien material in another galaxy must have been like. The black ethereal tissue she landed on felt like a sort of jelly which wriggled and writhed around on its own; she got the feeling the tissue tried to separate itself from the rest while binding together in other spots to heal the wound. She also noticed that the outer shell of the Walpurgisnacht was made of an oddly hardened resin which felt a lot more resilient than the jelly. She didn't even want to try to blow a hole into the shell, but she didn't have to, since Rose's magic had created a crater for her just fine.

Without stopping time, moving around on the wriggling mass and taking all her bombs out proved fairly difficult, but since the Walpurgisnacht was focused on trying to deal with Rose, Violet managed to empty her invisible bag rather quickly. The only problem remaining was activating them and getting to safety. At least she could probably activate all of her bombs before the first one went off.

After pressing the trigger on every one of her bombs—somewhere between eighty and one hundred of them—Violet quickly leaped into the air as far as she could, but didn't get more than ten meters away from the bombs before the first one went off.

A blinding light, a deafening blast, the pain of searing fur, and lastly the shock of being flung against a concrete wall were the last things Violet remembered before blacking out.

Coming to, the first thing Violet witnessed was the light of the setting sun illuminating her eyes, the second thing being the sensation of open wounds submerged in water. Through some miracle her glasses survived the ordeal, if a bit singed.

Right when Violet got up, she heard Rose shouting from behind her. “Violet! I finally found you! Are you all right?”

“I should be fine... my magic will heal those wounds in no time. More importantly, did we win?” Violet looked upwards but saw only the sky.

“Seems like it. After that blast I didn't see anything left of that witch.”

Violet averted her eyes from the sky and instead took a closer look at Rose: she had terrible wounds all over her body, cuts around her neck—traces of blood still remaining below them—elongated bruises all along her shoulders, and burn marks around her face.

“What about you, Daybreak, are you all right?”

“Well I had some trouble dodging all of its shots, but I'm fine since I also still have my magic to heal myself.” Rose put a hoof on Violet's shoulder. “Well, now that's over, would you mind telling me what the hay that just was? Where did that thing come from and why did you know about it?”

Violet produced a smile. The first completely genuine one in a long time. “I can tell you all about that once we get someplace to rest. Also, we should check around to see how other ponies are doing.” She quickly looked around. The damage done to the city was a lot lower than last time. Only a handful of buildings were destroyed, yet the other ponies still didn't want to come out, probably because it was still raining—if not heavy as before.

After a month of keeping silent and training her powers, Violet finally managed to reap the rewards of her wish in full. When they arrived someplace calm, she would tell Rose everything about her travels, or so she planned. The weight of having tricked her for a month was not easily overcome, but if it was for a friend like her, she would understand.

Rose and Violet transformed back and took their first heavy steps towards the downtown area. After only a few meters, however, Rose suddenly stopped and twisted her face in terror.

“Daybreak, what's wrong? Did we forget something? Daybreak?”

Violet wanted to get closer to Rose, but was warded off as Rose suddenly threw herself onto the ground and tore off the Soul Gem from her earring in panic.

“Daybreak, answer me! What is going on?” While Violet's sight bounced around in panic, she caught a closer glimpse of Rose's Soul Gem. It was completely black.

Rose's body writhed on the ground in agony as she let out a blood-curdling scream which knocked every last spark of happiness out of Violet. It looked like Rose's body was revolting against itself, trying to kill itself in a fit of blind rage.

Finally, Rose's Soul Gem shattered violently and released black smoke into the air, which gathered a few meters above her. When the last bit of smoke left the fragments of what was once her Soul Gem, Rose's body stopped moving entirely, her face now frozen with an empty expression, eyes devoid of light. In her lifeless hoof she now held an infernal object where her Soul Gem used to be: a Grief Seed.

Above her, the smoke repeatedly changed in nature and shifted around until it took on the form of a new being: it sprouted numerous spindly tendrils that connected its center to the ground, while above it, something formed that resembled the front half of a pony, hooves and head pointed upwards towards the sky. It looked like it was grasping for something.

“No... why would this happen? Is this what happens when our magic runs out? We turn into witches? No, Daybreak please, you have to come back to me!” Violet grabbed Rose's body to shake her awake. “Come on, Daybreak, there must be something left in you! Even if it's just a faint light, you have to hang on to it! Don't end like this!” With her body and mind weakened from her fight against the Walpurgisnacht, her pleas sounded weak and empty. Instead of raging against what had happened, it sounded like Violet had resigned herself.

Without paying attention, Violet already found herself within a barrier, the witch now towering above her, a size greater than most witches she had encountered so far.

The witch of salvation: its desire to free and bring redemption to all its subjects gnawed away at it and created a shell that strove for the heavens. The witch wanted to become a beacon of hope and lead by example of self-sacrifice, yet all of those ideals were merely a fake. After all, the witch itself had never performed any of the actions it thought it did. It was merely a hollow husk that longed for nothing more but to have redemption brought upon itself and those around it, so that the circle may be closed and every being may receive peace.

Within that moment, Violet felt a stinging pain in her chest area, and without looking away from Rose she knew some of the tendrils had just impaled her body and pierced her heart. Grasping onto her light with her last powers, Violet streaked Rose's mane with a shaking hoof. “This was... supposed to be... our victory...” Her tears had long netted Rose's pale face as well as mixed with her own blood as they streamed down her neck and dripped off her face.

Violet fell to the ground, barely able to stay conscious. Kiubee was right. Her body was in a shape that would spell immediate death for any pony, yet—apart from a burning pain which wasn't enough to incapacitate her completely—she was still very much alive. Losing consciousness around a witch, however, would spell certain doom.

The dull colors of the barrier swirled around her peripheral vision as her eyes raced about, trying to escape this hellish scene. A multitude of emotions were locked in a mortal battle inside her, the anger burning inside her being smashed by the despair in her heart, almost completely engulfing Violet in a sinister aura. Yet, a single spark resided within her and ignited the flame of hope. A spark that was once given to her by Rose herself.

Mobilizing the last of her strength, Violet grasped for her TCD with her magic and turned it 180 degrees clock-wise, reversing the flow of sand and time. Today was not the day she gave up. “Forgive me, Daybreak, for even considering the thought of surrendering.”

“Just like the ancient magic in my foalhood dreams, I want to be armed with the power to shatter even the darkness in my hoof, the next time I see your innocent smile.”