Author's Note

Here it is, folks. A battle I’ve been building towards for a long time, even if it’s just the undercard. Apologies for it coming a month late when I originally promised it would be out by the end of the year. It’s big enough to be a two-parter, but I’m not going to break it up because a) it’s a climactic battle, and b) I’d much rather this duel be contained in a single chapter.

It’s the duel itself that takes center stage here, but that’s not to say there’s no clop. So here’s your content advisory:

Chapter contains: A round of brief but intense tentacle sex as Sunset reveals a rather naughty technique she originally planned to use on Celestia, turning it on a corrupted Twilight instead. And far worse than that, the ascended Sunset monologuing like a supervillain when she does so.

This will be the last chapter until I get through more of Midnight Rising. The reason is that I need to at least finish the griffon chapters before returning to Nightmare Night, for reasons that will become apparent later. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this epic battle of alicorn aura and wits, and appreciate all the effort and thought that went into it. It took a lot of time and no little amount of research to write, folks, for all the references you’re going to see in here!

A great deal of thanks goes to prereaders AJ_Aficionado and Silverblade5 for this one, as they hit this chapter hard and in full, leaving me plenty of suggestions and witty comments to enjoy. Seriously, guys, that’s often what I enjoy the most of this entire writing process!

—Firesight

38: Agni Kai

Outside of Canterlot High, the tension in front of the statue mount that was once topped with the school’s Wondercolt mascot was palpable as the minutes ticked by and nothing happened.

It had only been an hour since Sunset had somehow spoken to them over a myPhone voice chat, but the students of both schools were getting increasingly antsy. And not helping was the fact that they were starting to get calls from their parents, who were asking where they were in occasionally quite vulgar terms before ordering them to come home.

Though the three Principals and Dean had done their best to assure nervous mothers and fathers that nothing was amiss—that their kids were under full supervision as they decided to “engage in an impromptu joint student musical project to build better bonds” between the two formerly hated rival high schools, several had threatened to come to CHS directly to get their children, and in at least one case, promised to sue if their sons and daughters were not returned home immediately.

“Dagnabbit…” Applejack said out loud as she shifted from one foot to the next, sick of standing and waiting to play her bass guitar while several students reluctantly departed after their parents ordered them home. “We can’t stay out here forever or we’re gonna lose everybody. How much longer y'all reckon we gotta wait?”

“Damned if I know,” a slightly bleary-eyed Rainbow muttered as she rubbed her hands together and sipped at an energy drink, earning a glare from Rarity for cursing. “But Sunset said to wait until the portal activates, then play. So that’s what we’re going to do, even if we’re the only band left out here.”

“You won’t be. As long as there’s a chance of saving Twilie, I’m staying!” Flash announced emphatically from the head of his band, earning sharp nods from his bandmates.

“And me! Though the only reason Trixie remains here is that Sunset requested it! Trixie has much better things to do than stand around with her band in the predawn chill waiting for a cue that may never come.” She harrumphed and stuck her nose in the air, in an action that was quickly copied by her three Illusions bandmates—Azura, Shadebloom and Shimmersage.

Applejack rolled her eyes, not understanding how the three girls could be so devoted to Trixie. But devoted they were to the point it almost seemed like they worshiped her as the goddess Midnight Sparkle still claimed to be.

That devotion had not gone unnoticed by the pony Trixie, who seemed to be speaking slightly nervously to Dean Sombra from where she sat on a bench; the thought crossed Applejack’s mind that she almost looked afraid of him even though it was impossible that she could know him. “Yeah, Ah know, Trixie, but it’s nearly sunrise at this point, and sooner or later we’re gonna need to sleep! The party’s been fun, but it’s pretty much over now, too.”

“She’s not wrong, darling,” Rarity agreed, still wearing her female Edgeworth costume, her head starting to bob occasionally as she fought off the urge to sleep. She stayed awake by sipping at some over-caffeinated black coffee that Dean Sombra had promised her was a “very dark magic mixture” he used for long nights at Everfree University, which she presumed—or at least sorely hoped—was a figure of speech.

“For as long as we’ve been up, my keytar is starting to become heavy and uncomfortable.” She generated a crystal stand to place it on, sighing with relief when she no longer had to hold it up.

“At least you guys have instruments to play. So just what the hell are we supposed to do except stand back and offer moral support?” Sunny Flare groused on behalf of most of the Crystal Prep students. As the Crystal Prep school band had their instruments with them for the football game, they were ready and waiting to play alongside their Canterlot High counterparts. But that still left the rest of them sitting on benches with nothing to do. The only exception was Lemon Zest, who was standing at the DJ table beside Vinyl Scratch to assist in the soundstage work and song selection.

“Oooo! I know! Grab some pom-poms and cheerlead!” Pinkie suggested from where she sat behind her drum set, playing a rimshot and earning a glare. “What? I think you’d all look great in cheerleader outfits!”

Her remark earned some stifled laughs from both student bodies. “Hard pass, Pinkie Pie. Futa horsecocks and short skirts don’t mix,” Indigo remarked, then rounded on some of the snickering Shadowbolt students. “And the first one of you who makes a joke gets decked!” She smacked her fist into her palm in warning, causing her male schoolmates to instantly fall silent.

“Now there’s a girl after mah own heart,” Applejack admitted with a smirk. “After you, of course, Rainbow. Still, reckon Ah can see why ya like her.”

“Thanks for understanding, girlfriend. But still, better not let Griffie Gilda hear that.” Rainbow smirked, recalling her encounter with her ex-girlfriend’s griffon doppelganger towards the end of the Friendship Games. “For as fun as she was, I kinda miss her, actually…”

“We all do!” Corner Kick called from behind her where he stood with the rest of the CHS soccer team, who had their own band called the Futball Fusiliers. “What I wouldn’t give to get my paws on her belly boobs again…”

“And I miss all my darling dragon paramours,” Rarity’s eyes got distant and for a moment, a bulge appeared at the front of her skirt. “Don’t you as well, Pinkie Pie? Ember and the rest of the drakinas did seem to have quite the affinity for you!”

But instead of answering eagerly, Pinkie blinked in confusion. “Huh? Dragons? Oh, uh… sure! Of course I do!” she said a little too quickly, then started whistling. “Come on, Sunset!”

Though Applejack thought something was off about Pinkie Pie’s reaction, she let it go with nothing more than an odd look. “Well, reckon Ah know where y'all are coming from. Sure wish I could see Fair Trade again, too. And remind him of that deal we struck!”

“Focus, girls…” Celestia walked up to them, still in her Halloween outfit. She was attired in the costume and done-up guitar of the legendary heavy metal rocker performer known simply as Daybreaker, who had vanished without a trace ten years earlier.

She passed out hot drinks along with her sister and Principal Cadence to keep the front lines manned, though in at least a couple instances, students had to briefly abandon their posts to take a trip to the bathroom after too much in the way of energy drinks. “I know it’s hard, but don’t get distracted. That portal may light up at any time.”

“Yeah, yer right. Thank ya kindly, Celly—er, Principal Celestia,” Applejack was tired enough to accidentally use the student nickname for their school head, earning a reproachful look. “Eh, sorry ‘bout that—been a long night. But reckon you and Lulu seem to be holding up okay?” She grimaced again at the second slip.

But this time, Celestia only smiled. “Let’s just say that this wouldn’t be the first late night we’ve had,” she said as she filled Applejack’s thermos with steaming hot cider before stepping in front of the music line briefly. “Listen up, all of you! I know you’re all tired, but you’ve got a job to do. Luna and I can’t help you with that directly, but don’t worry—we’ll do everything we can to smooth things over with your parents afterwards.”

“As you say, sister,” Vice-Principal Luna agreed. She and her older sister had their own costume theme given she was wearing the garb and guitar of Daybreaker’s greatest enemy, the equally famous heavy metal rocker known only as Nightmare Moon. “Worry not, students. We have your back.”

“Thanks, y’all.” Applejack offered, finding herself admiring the costumes their school heads wore. Wow. Have to say, the resemblance is uncanny—reckon Celly and Lulu could pass for the real thing!

She couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of their own principals being a pair of heavy metal legends, whose story, like all music aficionados, she knew well. After nearly two decades of being bitter rivals who despised each other with a passion along with their rabid fanbases, the real Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon, whose true names were never known, had announced their reconciliation to the world.

They had then given a joint concert that had sold out a massive venue and been televised worldwide. Playing together for the first and only time, the pair brought the house down with a spectacular series of songs only to shock their audience by announcing their retirement at the end.

Holding hands, they then bowed low to the countless thousands of fans pleading for them to stay before disappearing in a brilliant flash of fire and burst of glittering blue smoke, never to be seen again. It was even said by those watching live that the two effects had formed a yin/yang symbol for an instant before dissipating, though the available video seemed inconclusive on the question.

Ain’t never seen Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon in person since they were more or less before mah time, but their albums still sell like hotcakes and the BoobTube videos of their concerts were amazing enough… Applejack granted as she sipped at her granny’s cider—and this time, it was unspiked. “Oh, and uh… just wanted to say, I really like yer rocker outfits, Principal Luna. Reckon y'all could have won the costume contest yourselves if you wanted.”

Luna glanced at her and grinned; for a moment Applejack almost thought there was a coy gleam in her eyes. “Thank you for saying so, Applejack, but as the contest was for the students and not the staff, it would be improper for us to win. And tell your Granny Smith that I may come by requesting a keg of this lovely brew later,” she changed the subject, then turned back to the rest of the students, addressing them alongside her sister.

“Stand fast and stand tall, students of CHS and Crystal Prep! Though we know not when we will be needed, we must remain ready to sing and play. For this is where we repay Equestria and Twilight Sparkle for all the aid they have rendered us over the past year, saving them as they once saved us…”

Though dawn was swiftly approaching, the sky remained dark in the east as two former friends faced off in the wilds of the Everfree. Their chosen battlefield was a clearing not far inside the forest where it was believed an old village once stood, even said by some to be haunted by its former inhabitants.

But ghosts were not on the minds of the hundreds of corrupted ponies present as they watched from a safe distance and behind a series of protective enchantments. Raw magical power crackled around each ascended pony as they watched nervously, and with their alicorn auras boosted further by the wild magic of the woods, the intense radiant heat of their bodies threatened to set the surrounding forest aflame.

Thankfully, Annie Smith had rallied the Timberponies and Timberwolf packs of the area to contain the threatened conflagration. They did so by feeding a steady stream of water to the plants of the surrounding woods while the Cyberponies stood watch as well at a safe distance, keeping the wood-based creatures and other onlookers shielded as they worked.

In contrast, the dragon ponies mostly remained at the castle in the care of the siren ponies and Peregrine Pacil. The former sang to help heal them more quickly while the latter had been able to draw on his new Cyberpony and Timberpony powers to heal himself and help, volunteering to do so in service to his new Lord.

All the dragons except Spike, that was. He had limped to the former Twilight’s side despite her admonishments, determined to stand with her as she faced down her final foe. Having seen the damage that Solar Inferno had wrought on her forces, and worse—her former scribe—Eclipse’s initial delight at seeing Sunset’s ascension had ebbed to be replaced by something far darker and more dangerous, glowering angrily as she pinned her longtime friend with a stare.

She was in her fire form again, her bluish flames looking like a gas stove burner on low even as her eyes glowed bright red. Unlike Solar Inferno, however, she still wore her Coltic armor and Azula attire, which she had enchanted to survive the intense heat.

“Wow. You’re starting to look severely pissed, Queenie,” the former Sunset noted with a grin. “I might have to take you a bit more seriously now.”

“Spare me such feeble bravado and look around you, false Pharoat—you’re all alone right now, facing my full power. I, on the other hoof, have an entire army backing me, though I don’t need them to take you down. I love them and fight for them as much as me, and thus, they stand with me. So who stands with you, Sunset Shimmer?”

Despite the mistaken address, Solar Inferno didn’t lose her smirk. “Aside from Sci-Twi, Starlight, and Delta over there? There’s an entire school on the other side of the portal, including five of the best friends in existence. I think you of all people would know that I’m never alone as long as I keep them in my heart. And I already told you that my name is now Solar Inferno. You wanted respect for your new title, so kindly show a little for mine.”

Eclipse’s slitted thestral eyes narrowed, still glowing red. “Do not presume to lecture me on the proper form of address, Sunset Shimmer. Not after repeatedly mocking my name and harming my subjects, to say nothing of my beloved son,” she all but hissed with a glance back at Spike. He was still exhausted and being attended by Timberbloom, who affixed the newly ascended alicorn of fire with her own green-eyed glare.

She was there because she was the only member of the CMC still available to do so. Cyber Belle was coordinating the magical containment of the duel with her fellow cyberponies while Fireflight was recovering back at the castle, downed along with the dragons after having her phoenix fire drained from her.

“Yeah, Sunset…” Spike said weakly as he sat on a seat of soft moss that the former Apple Bloom had grown right out of the ground. He was sipping a concoction that Annie Smith had whipped up for him, promising that it would soothe his seared throat. He looked ragged and spent, and for the first time all evening, his arousal had subsided completely with neither of his twin drake phalluses visible. “You hurt us when you ripped our fire away. Even Carrot and Cup Cake.”

Solar Inferno bowed her head, finding the canine version of Spike and the human versions of the Cakes flashing through her mind. She knew how she’d feel about having hurt them, and worse, having done so deliberately, even if it was for an ultimately necessary reason. “I’m sorry, Spike. I truly am. I wouldn’t have done it unless I had to. But using your fire was the only way to power my ascension spell. Which was in turn the only way I can take her down.” She turned back to face the corrupted Queen.

“You have not taken me down yet, Sunset Shimmer,” an unamused Eclipse warned as the pair began to circle again. “You proposed a duel, so let us begin. Now make your move, so-called Pharoat of Fire! The sooner I defeat you, the sooner I can regain the portal and begin my invasion of Earth.”

But Solar Inferno only laughed, causing Eclipse’s ire to rise in turn. “Sorry to tell you, Queenie, but you can’t. Your invasion is already permanently prevented.”

Eclipse looked startled, then sneered. “Hardly. Just like all your actions here, you’ve only delayed me, not defeated me. Even your ascended form is ultimately just an inconvenience to be swept aside. Before this night is over, the sensual conquest of Earth will begin, Sunset Shimmer. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

But the former Sunset only chuckled, her manner turning smug. “You don’t understand, filly. The ascension rite wasn’t just to make me powerful enough to face you. It was to make sure my retrieval spell would no longer work,” she explained with a growing grin, savoring the moment as she informed the fallen Princess that she’d just outsmarted her. “Even if it killed me, it would have served its purpose by denying you the portal. Sorry to tell you, but you’ve already lost all access to Earth.”

Eclipse’s slitted thestral eyes twitched. “What?”

“You heard me. I said it would be sent to a place you could never reach if my aura was altered by the curse’s corruption? Well, guess what, girlfriend? My ascension altered my aura as well. That means the imprint incantation’s failsafe has already been triggered after its link to its original owner was severed. The portal is now inaccessible, sent to a place it can never be used in or removed from. So my retrieval spell won’t work. I couldn’t cast it now even if I wanted to.”

Eclipse’s jaw fell open as Solar Inferno’s smile turned something close to evil, her golden flames growing brighter around her. “That’s right, Twilight. Guess you’re not as smart as you thought. For all your careful planning, it turns out there was something you overlooked. Have to say, you backed me into a corner quite nicely, but you didn’t consider what I could do there. Or how far I’d go to keep my friends on Earth safe. That’s the meaning of sacrifice, filly. Because I can’t go back now, either.”

Her words caused Sci-Twi to blink and a gagged Delta to give her a stunned, then impressed look, the former instantly realizing that meant she was now exiled from Earth as well. “But that’s… you…” The blue flames around Eclipse started to grow more intense and rise higher as the truth of her former friend’s statement registered.

“Temper, temper, Twilight,” Solar Inferno admonished with a mocking wag of a flame-covered hoof before she glanced outside the dome; her expression dropped to see the shocked look on her human friend’s face. “And sorry, Sci-Twi. I know this wasn’t part of the plan, and believe me when I say I didn’t want to do it. But it was the only way I could save our friends. We should still be able to talk to them with Delta’s help, and I promise that we’ll find a way home eventually. But that has to wait until after I beat her!”

She rounded on a still-seething Eclipse and lowered her head to present her alicorn horn, offering battle. “With Earth safe, it’s now time for me to save Equestria and all Tellus. So let’s fight, filly! And don’t you dare hold back.”

“That was a grave mistake, Sunset Shimmer.” Eclipse’s eyes glowed bright red with her own Alicorn-strength flame, which forced the cyberponies to pull back their protective magic fractionally. “I was going to take it easy on you even after your many affronts, but no longer! For by banishing the portal, you have not just denied me access to Earth, but my beloved!” Her blue flames suddenly burned white-hot and the stone and soil beneath her hooves began to melt.

Solar Inferno’s smile vanished for a moment, but not at the display of power. “Oh, you mean Flash? Wow. I do feel sorry for him, and I almost feel sorry for you. Or at least, the old you,” she mused. “I’d apologize to him if I could, but I’d also tell him that you’re not his Twilie. She was lost when you were corrupted. All I can do for him now is to try to bring her back by beating and then curing you.”

“Not corrupted but converted! The old Twilight is dead and buried, and for as free as I now feel, I couldn’t be happier! This isn’t over yet, Sunset Shimmer! Be assured that the only one to suffer defeat here will be you! I will rip the knowledge of the portal’s location right out of your mind, and then I will do whatever I must to recover it!” she swore as intense blue flames swirled around her white-hot body; Solar Inferno judged it was either because she hadn’t dropped the effect to make it look like she was Azula from Avatar, or that she simply forgot she was using it.

Whatever the answer, the former Sunset only smirked smugly at the rage of her altered friend. “Best of luck, both in beating me and in that. It’s not that hard to get in there, but impossible to get out. If you could, you’d be the first in three thousand years.”

“Three thousand years? Can get in but not out?” Eclipse echoed, then grinned, her temper subsiding as quickly as it had flared. “A fatal slip, Sunset Shimmer. You sent the portal to the tomb of a Steedgyptian Pharoat. There are still more than a few we can’t enter to this day because their wards lock it completely from the inside, allowing access but then depowering anycreature who enters,” she recited, causing Solar Inferno’s expression to fall.

This time, it was Eclipse’s grin that grew as she saw from her rival’s reaction that her guess was correct. “Clever. Their wards were designed to allow for one-way passage only, meaning you might be able to get in to see the wealth of riches and arcane knowledge within, but then you can’t leave. More than a few ponies and Saddle Arabians along with a slew of overconfident ibex died trying.”

“Yeah! Even Daring Do wasn’t able to get in there because she knew better than to try!” Shadowdash shouted from outside the shield, then smiled at a sudden idea that occurred to her. “Actually, I hope I can convert her next…” She began to slowly stroke herself in fantasy.

Solar Inferno’s jaw clenched before she relaxed and smiled again, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “That was careless of me. Guess I’m still a bit too liable to boast at times, but no matter. You’re not getting it out of there no matter how badly you want to, Twilight. The inexhaustible magic of its arcane wards mean that not even the Pie sisters could escape from that place,” she said with a glance outside the shield towards Pinkie and her siblings, who frowned and exchanged glances.

“Oh, really?” Eclipse’s smirk returned.

“Yes, really. And you won’t be able to use the portal from inside the tomb, either, because any magical item, including a horn, is instantly depowered, leaving you helpless and unable to leave. Trust me—before coming to Earth, I tried for over twenty months to figure out a way around its protective magic and failed.”

“I’m sure you did. But you are not me. I’m certain that I could figure it out given enough time, but there is no need. Unlike you, I happen to have a specialist in Steedgyptian magic right here! Nightmarity!” She called over to the equally angry Nightmare version of the pony Rarity, who continued to oversee their captives; Eclipse had not been willing to leave them alone at the castle for fear Delta Requiem might yet find a way to break free.

“Yes, darling?” She stepped up to the edge of the shield and then projected an image of herself inside the protective dome between the powerful pair. She bowed low before her new Queen; her friends and captives contained within a separate shield spell at the edge of the woods, where they could safely observe the battle to come. “I assume you want me to enter the tomb to retrieve the portal? By the time frame, it is most likely the crypt of the Great Pharoat Ramses, whose preserved horns power the wards that guard his burial chamber.”

“Agreed. Using The Nightmare’s Steedgyptian sorcery, can you get in and out?”

Solar Inferno’s heart sank as Nightmarity nodded and grinned. “I can, darling. As it happens, our dear departed Alya already entered it long ago looking for a key to godhood—or at least, an offering that might please her demigod sire. Though she found neither, she did gain a great deal of arcane magic that I can now wield, including a special portal spell that allowed her alone to return there safely.”

“WHAT?!?” Solar Inferno felt a moment of indignation that belonged to her younger self at having somehow missed a means of egress. “I wasted nearly two years trying to find a way in and out of there! So just how the fuck did she do it?”

Nightmarity’s projected image turned to glare at her, recognizing the meaning of the human curse from The Nightmare’s imparted knowledge. “If you must know, you uncouth excuse for an alicorn, she did it by entering the tomb and then sacrificing her host! The wards would not prevent the exit of her spirit form, only her physical one! Once she had what she came for, she simply abandoned him, leaving him there to die!”

Her head bowed and her eyes glittered angrily at The Nightmare’s callousness, leaving Solar Inferno wondering how she was able to deal with inheriting all the memories of The Nightmare’s many atrocities so easily.

“Just one of countless crimes she finally paid for with her life. And you can cast this portal spell at any time?” Eclipse asked.

“Unfortunately, no, but fear not. The ritual she performed to open a doorway there requires that I do so at the boundary of day and night, when the protective wards of the tomb are weakest—in other words, only at the exact moment of sunrise or sunset,” she clarified. “Then and only then will I be able to retrieve the portal to Earth, and even so, only I alone can enter and exit the crypt safely.”

“Superb, my most beautiful and sensual servant! And do you need anything from me to do so?” Eclipse further inquired.

“Nothing except a single mirror, which I will provide. I can teleport there instantly once it is infused with The Nightmare’s portal-making power. Until then, I will ready the ritual while remaining at your side, darling.” Nightmarity closed her eyes and began casting a sequence of spells that caused her own series of arcane energies to swirl around her, summoning an intact mirror from inside her boutique for the purpose.

Eclipse’s smile grew as Solar Inferno’s fell. “I see. The timing is fortuitous, then, as sunrise is only fifteen minutes away, and Celestia’s Solar Sages will no doubt raise the sun on schedule in her absence. That’s more than enough time to defeat you, Sunset Shimmer. And since you are now useless to me as far as retrieving the portal to Earth goes, I will be converting you as well.”

She lowered her head and generated a series of fiery constructs in the shapes of manacles and oversized dildos; she licked the latter lewdly for a moment before dissipating them again. “You can then atone for your brazen attempts to defy my destiny and deprive me of my mate by converting the human element bearers and assisting in the invasion of Earth.”

“For the last time, it’s Solar Inferno. And it ain’t gonna happen, Queenie. Because I’m taking you down here and now.” She intensified her golden fire greatly, causing sheets of flame to swirl around her, incinerating the grass and even melting nearby rocks.

The display only made Eclipse’s grin grow broader, and her phallus throb harder. “My, my. Such power of aura and strength of spirit!” she praised, matching the former Sunset’s intensity of heat. “Know that I will savor this duel and your defeat, self-proclaimed Solar Inferno.”

“Then prepare for disappointment. You won’t beat me because this duel isn’t about me. Unlike you, I’m not acting selfishly, which is the entire reason I was finally able to ascend! This is about not just saving all Equestria but defending my friends and my world! And I swear by my new balls and Celly’s crystalline cock that you’re not getting them, Queenie.”

“Hmph!” Nightmarity turned up her nose. “Such vulgar and horridly unimaginative human slang! I see I must also correct their language as well as the fashion sense of their game designers. Perhaps I can turn The Nightmare’s technocurses to the purpose…” Her grin turned evil.

“Feel free. But while I take care of our former and future friend, please do continue to watch over our honored guests, Nightmarity,” Eclipse reminded her, her eyes never leaving those of the former Sunset’s. “Though I do not fear my lesser self, Lady Requiem is clever and not to be trifled with. Be certain that she does not slip her bonds, or she could wreak a great deal of havoc in a short amount of time before I can subdue her.”

“Worry not, darling. I see from The Nightmare’s memories that they clashed many times before in the dreamscape, but she is now at a marked disadvantage against me since we are in the physical realm. Be assured that she will not escape my magical grasp, and I will keep her spellsinging power at bay,” she vowed as her projected image slowly disappeared from between them.

Eclipse favored her fading visage with a nod and bow of her head. “Then you are a worthy lover and Lieutenant, and I will grant you whatever lands and pleasures you wish, my dear Nightmarity—other than those I promised Annie Smith, that is,” she added quickly with a nod and glance over at the de-aged mare.

“Appreciated, Queenie, but do us all a favor and try not to damage the Everfree too much? Reckon Ah’d rather spend my new pack’s power sowing crops and creating structures rather than regrowing the woods,” Annie Smith replied from outside the cyberpony-generated shield with a smirk, flanked by dozens of timberponies, their eyes all glowing green.

“As you wish.” Eclipse then turned her head to the other side of the protective dome. “Cyber Belle? For an extra layer of protection, add my brother’s shield incantation to your spellwork. Yours won’t be as powerful as his, but with all the cyberponies working in concert, it should suffice to protect onlooking ponies from ‘splash damage’, as Spike’s Ogres and Oubliettes game terms it.” She used her horn to project what the former Sunset recognized as a potent defensive spell.

“Instructions acknowledged and accepted,” Cyber Belle said as fresh runic figures flashed across her eyes that were then transmitted to all her descendants. A moment later, a second bluish layer was added to their defensive bubble, to which Solar Inferno simply shrugged.

“Not bad, but not enough, either. You do realize that either of us could break through that if we really wanted, right?”

“I do. But I won’t. Because unlike you, I don’t want to hurt our friends,” Eclipse rejoined with a glare. “Make no effort to breach that shield, Sunset Shimmer. Or I will add Celestia’s power to mine or otherwise turn my anti-alicorn failsafes on you, at which point you will fall quite quickly and very unpleasantly. We can fight safely here, so it’s time we do so. You promised me a duel for the ages, and I will hold you to your word! Now make your move!”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you the challenger here, Queenie?” Solar Inferno asked with a sneering grin, trying to goad Eclipse into a hasty move or mistake. “So by the old unicorn magical duel rules, the first move is yours.”

But this time, Eclipse didn’t rise to the bait, glaring at her. “Spare me your impotent attempts to make me attack in anger so you can spring some ancient magical surprise, Sunset Shimmer. You came to my castle, in my new Kingdom, to challenge me. And I don’t even have to attack you. I can simply stand right here and wait for your power to wane, as you can’t sustain that form forever. If you want to beat me, then you must attack me. Now enough stalling and make your move!” she ordered again with a stomp of her hoof and brighter flare of her fire.

Solar Inferno sighed and nodded, then grinned again. “Worth a try. Okay, then…” Her horn flared and a series of magical energies swirled around it for several seconds, but then they subsided to no further effect. “There you go, filly. I’ve waited for over six years to use that spell. I can’t wait to see it in action.” She couldn’t quite resist a lascivious lick of her lips.

Eclipse and their audience of onlookers looked around in confusion as nothing happened, nor could they sense any magical surge around them.

“Is this a joke, Sunset Shimmer?” Eclipse asked in annoyance. “Or are you only trying to get me to attack in anger again?”

“No joke. Just wait for it…” Solar Inferno grinned, backing off from her slightly. “Trust me, filly, you’re going to love this.”

Eclipse sneered. “I doubt it, if you can’t even—” She was abruptly silenced as two concentric circles of rotating Neighponese characters suddenly appeared around her hooves, followed by a series of glowing green tendrils erupting out of the ground to envelop her, wrapping around her limbs and then snaking towards her intimate areas.

She barely had time to register their presence and try to cast a counterspell. “What sorcery is—Mmph!” Both her voice and her incipient spell were cut off as a tendril plugged her mouth and another wrapped around the base of her horn, then began curling around it, reaching upwards along its spiral grooves towards the tip.

“There we go! So, what do you think, Queenie? I came up with this one myself as a young teen after reading some Neighponese mangas. I called it the Sexual Siphon and even made sure it incorporated plenty of Neighponese magic. It was designed to drain even the most potent casters of their power via tentacle sex and then transfer their magic to me—even elemental magic,” she announced with a smug grin as the tentacles began to find and enter Eclipse’s erotic orifices, which parted readily before them, opening wide to admit their ethereal intruders.

“Of course, things are different now. I’m not about to absorb your magic since that would likely give me the curse, so instead, I’m just going to dissipate it into the Everfree, where it can’t be recovered. And who knows? That alone might be enough to cure you if you lose all your curse magic,” she suggested with a grin and wink, causing Eclipse’s eyes to go wide as she was forced to suckle at the green glowing tentacle that was thus far resisting all her internal wards to worm its way deeper down her throat. It caused a cool tingling sensation as it kept tugging at her internal magic, slowly leeching it from her.

“It should only take a minute or so to finish. How ironic that this is how I finally use it, given it was one of many plans I made to usurp Celly with. I know such a strategy seems completely unlike me, but what can I say? I was in my second heat when I devised it, and I really wanted to get back at Celly after she told me no more sex with her,” Solar Inferno recalled wistfully as additional tendrils invaded Twilight’s body, finding and filling all her orifices and even encircling her pair of basketball-sized belly breasts.

The latter tentacles immediately began making squeezing and kneading motions against the targeted mammaries that caused them to bulge while still others locked onto her prominent teats directly, beginning to drain the potent reservoirs of magic they contained.

“In truth, I’m still rather proud of it, even if I wasn’t anywhere near powerful enough to make it work back then. But if I could have pulled it off on Celly herself? Voilà! I’d become an instant Alicorn while she would need days to recharge—if I let her.” The former Sunset watched with satisfaction as even more tendrils erupted out of the ground to ensnare its badly squirming quarry, whose magic kept misfiring due to severe distraction and intense sensual pleasure.

Worse for Eclipse, the magical constructs were seemingly unaffected by the intense bluish flames raging around her, a smaller tendril even worming its way down her tapered thestral stallionhood to drain her apples of essence directly—it was a little known fact that they were a strong reservoir of stallion magic regardless of pony tribe—slowly pulling it right out of her altered alicorn body while she struggled to resist.

In the meantime, Solar Inferno kept talking, both to keep Eclipse’s focus disrupted and because she was immensely enjoying getting the chance to lecture Twilight when it was normally the other way around.

“Once I perfected it, I planned to cast it on Celestia while she was holding court, so as many ponies as possible would see her sexual subjugation and witness my ascension as the heavens-controlling alicorn in her place. When the process was complete and she was of no further use to me, I would only have kept her around as my personal concubine. Yeah, that’s how jilted I felt and how twisted I was back then,” she mused almost idly as Eclipse again struggled and failed to focus enough to cast a counterspell.

Her body betrayed her as her cock throbbed and her hips started to involuntarily thrust when a final tentacle started worming its way into her rear. The latest intrusion into her body caused her eyes to snap open as she nearly orgasmed on the spot, which the former Sunset spotted when her resistance nearly broke completely and the flow of outward energy briefly surged before it was arrested again.

“Still fighting? I’m impressed. Even Celly would have trouble beating this if I cast it on her in my current form. At the time, I figured it would be the perfect way to defeat and drain her. The problem was that I couldn’t make it anywhere near strong enough to overcome an alicorn with my unicorn aura alone,” Solar Inferno reflected almost ruefully.

“You see, there’s a certain initial resistance it has to defeat, and thus, a window of vulnerability to being dispelled at the start if the target can muster the will and sufficient magic. But Celly’s will was so strong that even her being in estrus wouldn’t be enough—unless I was already an alicorn myself, which would defeat the whole purpose,” she mused.

“I thought at first I could get around that by imbuing it with a series of aphrodisiac spells and various will-weakening wards, but unfortunately, Celly knew all of them and their counters. In your case, however…”

Solar Inferno grinned evilly, starting to circle the other mare like she was a foal taunting a rival on the playground. “The curse now works against you, filly, because it weakens your will and compels you to have sex. How ironic that it suddenly becomes your undoing, don’t you think?” She couldn’t resist digging her horn in deeper as Eclipse teetered on the edge of orgasm.

“Oh, and sorry if this sounds like a supervillain monologue, but I can’t help it—I mean, how often do I get to explain these things to someone who’ll actually appreciate them? Of course, it helps to have a captive audience,” the former Sunset noted with a deliberately casual air. She took a quick look outside the barrier, seeing in satisfaction that even Nightmarity appeared perturbed at the turn of events while behind her, a still-captive Sci-Twi and Starlight Glimmer looked like they barely dared hope that Eclipse was about to be defeated.

“All your magic will shortly be drained, Twilight, but don’t worry. After I cleanse you of the curse, you’ll slowly regain it, though I imagine you’re going to have several days of severe magical withdrawal symptoms. Apologies in advance if you do. If so, I promise I’ll be right there at your bedside to help you. And best of all, if this really does cure you, then that means I could use it on everyone else!” Her grin went evil for a moment as she turned her gaze on those outside the barrier; even the cyberponies had to take an involuntary step back as they scrambled to find some form of joint defense.

The words seemed to spark the captive Queen to action. “I’m not… drained… yet!” An equally aroused and angry Eclipse proclaimed, growling low in her throat around the ethereal tendril that filled her maw.

Her horn flared hard despite the pair of tendrils wrapped around it and there was a sudden outward blast of intense greenish flame that consumed the magical constructs and runic circles beneath her, followed by a tornado-like vortex of magical energy that the former Sunset recognized as a gryphon-origin curse dispersion counterspell tinged with an ibexian repulsion ward. It sent a feedback shock into Solar Inferno’s still-glowing horn, preventing her from sustaining the spell for a few critical seconds.

She felt a sharp flash of pain and her flames faltered for a moment, experiencing a wave of severe vertigo that left her stumbling hard. When her vision cleared, she saw a freshly freed but slightly dazed-looking Eclipse, whose equine cock still drooled and teats remained erect, each reaching more than halfway to the ground. Her elemental fire only momentarily spent, she stood back up and reignited her blue flames, her cheeks flushed and eyes aglow as she turned to face her newly ascended enemy again.

“Not a bad attempt. I admit, it was so unexpected and deliciously intrusive that you almost got me with it. I thank you for teaching me that spell, Sunset Shimmer. Only a truly devious and deviant mind could come up with it. Be assured that I will be stealing it for my own use later. With just a little tweaking, it will make an excellent sensual weapon for use against powerful beings who dare to defy me.”

“You’re welcome, Twilight. And well done. Have to say, with as powerful as I was now able to make that spell, I didn’t think you could overcome it,” Solar Inferno granted grudgingly.

“Then you underestimated me again. And I, in turn, will no longer underestimate you. Now no more sideshows! You wanted this to be a battle of fire? Then stop resorting to cheap tricks and start fighting it!” Eclipse ordered imperiously, to which Solar Inferno only smirked.

“Suit yourself, filly. I’ve got plenty of powerful fire-based attacks. So let’s see if you can identify this little number…” Her horn flared and the fire around her wings intensified, then turned from gold to a brilliant purple hue as she wrapped them around the corrupted Twilight like a tornado.

“The Pyre of Perdition!” Eclipse recognized as the deep violet flames surged around her, tugging at her cape and mane as she kept herself fixed to the ground, magically enhancing her voice to make sure she could be heard over the howling wind.

“Cleansing flames designed to destroy dark magic without harming the affected being! But once again, you fail to understand the nature of our evolution, Sunset Shimmer. This ‘curse’ is not made of dark magic, nor am I infused with it!” She flared her own fire to dispel Sunset’s flames, blowing them out and dispersing the twister with but a single powerful push of her aura. “But since I’d hate to disappoint you? If it’s dark magic you seek… then here you go!”

She flared her own horn and counterattacked with a series of ugly black obsidian spikes that erupted out of the ground, burning with equally ugly green flames from the edges of the improvised arena. They then surged inwards towards Solar Inferno, who recognized their hybrid nature instantly but found herself unable to escape them as they closed in, enveloping her completely in a chilling emerald fire that rapidly eroded both her power and will to fight before solidifying to encase her in an enormous magically-reinforced gemstone, one that even froze her fire in mid-flicker.

Eclipse looked on in smug satisfaction as the process completed, and the dark flames faded to reveal the new translucent crystalline prison in which Solar Inferno was held fast. “And now you’re caught as surely as an ancient insect in amber. But fear not—it won’t harm you, Sunset Shimmer. Just weaken your ability to resist me to nothing!” she said in glee, then turned contemplative as she began to circle her captured quarry, impatiently waiting for her alicorn power and ability to fight to ebb completely.

“It should take less than a minute to fully depower you, but in due fairness, I can’t claim credit for this. Though I originally learned the base spell by witnessing Princess Celestia and King Sombra himself cast it, I then enhanced it further thanks to Starlight Glimmer. She used this imprisoning variant of it against me,” she said with a glance and wink at the still-bound and silenced mage, who closed her eyes and slumped hard to the stone table to which she was secured.

“It is truly an excellent piece of magical improvisation by my once and future student. Under normal circumstances, the base spell weakens the will and drives its victims into despair, while the crystalline prison prevents them from escaping it, and—once their power is weakened enough—seals them away forever,” Eclipse explained.

“But since I don’t wish you to despair—far from it, in fact—I simply modified it further with an additional fire attribute to drain only your will to resist, while simultaneously fanning the flames of your lust. Once it releases you, you will surrender yourself willingly to me, Sunset Shimmer. Though I will confess to disappointment that you fell so easily. A duel for the ages this was not.”

But she had barely finished the sentence before a series of glowing cracks appeared in the enchanted obsidian prison, spreading quickly before the encasing rock was shattered explosively. The dark magic that powered it was instantly dispersed, consumed in fresh violet cleansing flames that surrounded Solar Inferno before they faded to her usual gold hue.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Twilight. Don’t worry, we’re just getting started. And if you think I’d succumb to my own urges so easily after dealing repeatedly with Midnight, think again. To this point, I’ve been trying to go easy on you, because I really don’t want to hurt you. But if there’s no other way to defeat you…”

She gathered her newly massive alicorn power into a telekinetic fist that slammed into Eclipse and sent her flying into the barrier. She hit it hard enough that the protective bubble visibly warped for a moment, causing her blue flames to flicker. “I won’t hold back, filly. And sorry in advance for any damage I do.”

“Much better…” Eclipse stated as she righted herself and wiped her chin free of blood, her eyes glittering and smile growing as she reignited her internal furnace and blue flames consumed her form again. “Finally, a worthy foe! And best of all, one who is willing to do whatever it takes to win. It is now clear that magical finesse alone will not win our contest, Sunset Shimmer. So just like our characters, let us fight for the title of the one true Fire Lord!”

Sunset smirked. “I’m already the Pharaoh of Fire, but suit yourself, ‘Azula’. I can always win another title belt. It’ll make a good souvenir to mount in my bedroom. But if I’m supposed to be Zuko…” She altered her facial appearance to produce a darker area like a lurid burn scar around her left eye.

“There we go. Now let’s fight, filly! It’s still my turn, so in another Earthside-inspired attack, try my Meteo!”She flared her lengthened horn and raised her hooves up to the sky as she ripped massive chunks of the ground out and then floated them up to circle overhead, not just igniting them but infusing them with massive amounts of fire.

She then launched the makeshift meteors at Eclipse by slamming her hooves down to the ground, sending them streaking through the protective dome like shooting stars which each hit with the force of a small impacting asteroid.

But Eclipse responded with measured, laser-like blasts of searing fire from her horn that incinerated each would-be missile in turn, vaporizing them in the air.

“Not bad, but Final Fantasy is so inconsistent in quality of storyline and characters from game to game. My turn! So in keeping with my character, here’s one of her favorite attacks…”

Eclipse suddenly generated a massive amount of electricity around her, which then manifested itself as a series of horrifically powerful lightning bolts. They were all aimed and fired at Solar Inferno, who suddenly found herself struggling to maintain a defense with her aura of fire alone while she attempted to muster a counterspell.

But she couldn’t immediately as the storm of bolts struck home, with Eclipse turning the single stroke of lightning that Starlight had attacked her with into a full scale storm of them that forced her newly ascended opponent to give ground.

“This isn’t fire! That’s not fair, dammit!” Sunset protested as she struggled to defend against the onslaught with a shield of pure flame, earning another glare from Nightmarity at her use of profanity.

It left her reflecting that at least the two versions of her had that much in common, hating to hear curse words. But Eclipse didn’t relent, battering her opponent with her newest elemental attack.

“All’s fair in love and war, faltering Pharoat. I know it’s not fire, but since firebenders could wield lightning in Avatar—I agree it’s ridiculous to call them related powers, but their world, their rules—I think it’s a perfectly fair tactic!” Eclipse replied smugly as the former Sunset was forced to her knees by an elemental assault that she wasn’t the master of.

“Yeah, I guess it is…” Solar Inferno granted grudgingly in a pained tone through gritted teeth as she continued to be pummeled by powerful bolts. “In that case, so is this!”

Finally able to gain a little breathing space by casting a fresh Aegis shield and projecting it outward for a few seconds, she infused it with an additional spell that deflected or even outright redirected the bolts in every direction, sending most of them spattering against the inside of the barrier like the lightning globe she knew Pinkie Pie kept in her bedroom.

But unlike with the globe where the bolts struck and dispersed to produce pretty effects that Pinkie seemed all too easily mesmerized by, they bounced around repeatedly inside the barrier at blinding speed, turning back on their caster as a startled Eclipse found herself targeted in turn by the endlessly deflected bolts that were attracted to her metal armor.

This time, it was the corrupted Twilight who was endangered, fending off the unexpected assault with only limited success. By the time she had escaped the bolts by teleporting out of her own armor to the other side of the portal where all the electricity was finally absorbed by the floor of the Everfree, she stood naked with several still-smoking spots singed with severe electrical burns.

“Impressive, Sunset Shimmer. You duplicated Prince Zuko’s lightning redirection power while adding your own twist. And just where did you learn that, dare I ask?” Eclipse wanted to know as she turned her aura inward to hastily heal the worst of her wounds.

But a still-reeling Solar Inferno was unable to press her advantage, forced to do the same. “Simple. I knew that Princess Luna was a weather elemental, meaning Nightmare Moon would be, too. Since I planned to be ruling Equestria by the time she returned from her thousand-year imprisonment, I learned all the counters for her power that I could, including old Neighponese lightning deflection wards they used to guard their structures from magic-charged typhoons,” she decided to answer just to buy herself a bit more time.

“I rather like them, actually. They’re well-developed spells that are quite effective. As fate would foretell, they also made excellent countermeasures when defending against the lightning cannons and electrical arrows of multiple Maregolian invasions. Unfortunately, not being a weather elemental myself, they’re neither easy nor instinctive to cast,” she explained, starting to breathe harder as gaps in her fire form appeared around the bolts she took, and were then only slowly filled in as she fed on her own flames to heal herself.

“I see.” Despite seeing her opponent’s wounds visibly sealing, Eclipse grinned, swiftly mending her own injuries with the power of her curse-enhanced aura alone. “Thanks for teaching me one of your ascended form’s weaknesses, Sunset Shimmer. Be assured that I have no such gaps in my power. Still, I am impressed by your wide range of abilities and all the arcane magic you mastered at such an early age,” she mused.

“You’ve now defeated two of my traps, and I will give you due credit. I see now why Celestia wanted you as her student. But also why you were ultimately unworthy of her, if all you could do was scheme to usurp her,” she needled with a grin. “It strikes me that all the magic you’ve learned was for that purpose alone, which necessarily limits you. And that is what will ultimately cost you this duel.”

Though she had intended it as a slight, the former Sunset Shimmer only smiled and nodded ruefully. “You’re right, Twilight. I was unworthy. Completely and utterly. I was arrogant, impatient and power-hungry, believing that between my cutie mark and magical talent, it was my destiny to rule Equestria as the true keeper of the sun. You showed me how wrong I was, remember? So now I’m just returning the favor. I’m only sorry that it has to be this way—that I can’t just zap you with the Elements like you did to me.”

“Don’t feel too bad about that. ‘Curing’ us using the human Element Bearers was the longest of longshots, anyway. But fear not, Sunset Shimmer. You can ‘return the favor’ by surrendering and serving at my side, as the Queen’s consort and one of my most powerful Lieutenants,” Eclipse offered anew.

“Hard pass, filly. No offense, but you’re really not my type,” Solar Inferno replied as the two began to circle again.

“And what type is that? Subordinate and submissive?” the former Princess suggested with a smirk.

“Sane.”

Eclipse’s eyes narrowed briefly, but then she smirked again. “Says the mare who was with Midnight Sparkle? I’ll overlook that, and your insults to keep the offer open. Your power is so great and arcane knowledge so vast that I could even tolerate the occasional attempt to usurp me, if your old self truly decides to hold sway. I doubt it will, though. For unless I miss my guess, you don’t suppress your old self. If anything, your old self suppressed you.”

Solar Inferno bowed her head in acknowledgment. “I’m glad you think so, but I still can’t take the chance. And since the Elements are unavailable, it looks like I have to do this the hard way. But so be it. This is where I atone fully to Celly and Delta over there for the pony I once was. We’re not done yet, filly. I’ve still got plenty of firepower, so let’s continue, shall we?”

Eclipse grinned, pulling the remnants of her armor back on but not repairing the damage. “Very well, as I’m genuinely enjoying this contest. I’ll consider this damage you’ve dealt me to be marks of affection and wear them proudly. Now that I have tasted your talents, I admit that you are a worthy addition to the alicorn pantheon, Sunset Shimmer—that you are almost my equal in power and intellect,” she granted with a nod of respect.

“Wow. That’s high compliment, coming from you,” Solar Inferno acknowledged with a bow of her head.

“You’re welcome. But sadly, I can’t let this go on too much longer, since sunrise is in but six minutes and I am eager to begin the invasion of Earth. I’ll have to deal with the Highborne High Priestess first to break her magical blockade around Ponyville, but no matter—I can overcome her in an hour or two,” she added with a nod upward to where the larger containment dome encompassing the town and adjacent woods cast by Juniper Neptune shimmered overhead.

“Maybe. But first, you’ll have to deal with me,”Solar Inferno reminded her, lowering her head and snorting fire as opposed to steam. “And even after everything you’ve thrown at me, I’m still standing, filly.”

“A pity. Because I would much prefer you to be on your back. But business before pleasure,” Eclipse rejoined with a grin, making a show of displaying her white-hot phallus. “And I wouldn’t be too smug about lasting this long, Sunset Shimmer. Because you will lose a war of attrition with me, and I’ve held back plenty on you.”

“And you think I haven’t held back on you?” Sunset replied instantly and very haughtily. “I’ve got witchcraft, I’ve got wizardry, and a whole slew of things I’ve never even tried. And to borrow a phrase, you might also say that at this point, I’ve got friends on the other side,” she recited, causing Sci-Twi to blink and Eclipse to smirk.

“So noted, Doctor Facilier. I admit that wasn’t a bad movie, and that human cajun cuisine ‘gumbo’ that AJ whipped up for us later was tasty—once I got past the idea that I was eating shellfish, anyway. And yet for all this powerful magic you claim to know, you don’t use it,” Eclipse pointed out in annoyance. “So if you really want to beat me, then stop holding back!”

“No. If I unleashed the worst of them here in the Everfree, I’d be endangering everyone—you of all ponies should know what alicorn power does to even basic spellcasting, let alone any form of curse or hex! And besides, even for as evil as you’ve become, I don’t want to hurt you more than I have to. When it comes down to it, you’re still my friend, Twilight,” she reminded the other mare, lowering her head and igniting her horn to offer Eclipse a simple contest of aura.

But even though the Queen signaled her acceptance of the duel terms by duplicating the gesture, her words elicited a frown. “It’s Eclipse. That weak and worthless mare you knew is gone,” she announced as she fired a magical beam that met Solar Inferno’s midway, resulting in violently clashing magic and flame that strongly reminded Sci-Twi of a Dragonball-style energy duel.

“If you can say that, then you really are lost! The Twilight Sparkle I know is far from worthless. She’s as strong and stout a friend as ever existed! She never gave up on anyone! She even redeemed me!” the ascended Sunset said as she intensified her attack, forcing Twilight’s aura to give ground.

“Not lost, but found!” Twilight raised her own power to match, pushing Solar Inferno’s aura back like an arm wrestler regaining the advantage. “She feared her own power and held back far too much! She wasn’t willing to indulge herself or do what was necessary! But I am!”

“Like resorting to murder and rape? Like forcibly bending others to your will like every other despot that came before you, whether human or Tellusian?” Solar Inferno countered, flaring her wings from her hover to add their flame to her attack.

“Murder? Rape?” Eclipse scoffed, her blue flames seeming to waver for a moment. “Such ugly terms for the sharing of Friendship and advancement of Harmony! You dare to call me a despot when everything I do, I do for the good of all?”

“... claimed every other tyrant in history. In their minds, they all acted for the greater good! Justified all sorts of crimes and even outright atrocities in its name! And in the end, they all caused the same carnage and shared the same fate!” Solar Inferno said vehemently, and allowing her own fiery rage at the corruption of her friend to consume her, she started to march forward, closing the distance between them while steadily driving her former friend’s fire back.

“No!” Eclipse shouted, and for just a moment, Solar Inferno was certain she saw doubt and fear in the other mare’s eyes. But she wasn’t sure if it was due to worry that her words were true or that Eclipse feared she was about to lose the duel, and she didn’t get a chance to exploit it before her corrupted friend disappeared in a fiery flash and blinding flare, one strong enough to cause the thestrals watching to cry out in pain as even the former Sunset had to look away.

She sensed a sudden teleport behind her followed by a powerful impact to her back from a large and heavy aura construct, in what her magical awareness told her was in the shape of Thor’s hammer. It struck her right between the shoulder blades, causing the pegasi and thestrals to groan in sympathy as they recognized it for the sensitive spot it was.

But for the newly ascended Sunset still unfamiliar with winged anatomy, she was stunned and cried out as she was driven hard into the floor of the forest. The surprise strike caused an explosive eruption of dirt and dust out of the ground beneath her as the Everfree itself shook, the forest around them reeling from the massive magical blow.

Her next action was instinctive as she mustered all her remaining fire to produce an irresistible magical wave. It flung her assailant back with a wall of intense flame infused with repulsion magic along with a horn disruption spell, catching Eclipse as she readied a second blow and preventing her from teleporting again.

It caused her to tumble like being caught beneath a breaking ocean wave as she was slammed hard into the cyberpony shield dome for a second time before she could free herself. The impact caused it to briefly distend and the cyberponies to hastily reinforce the area as Eclipse slumped to the ground, suddenly as dazed as the magical wave dissipated against the barrier and the two combatants were only able to gradually and somewhat painfully pull themselves up, their magic and fire noticeably weakened.

In the end, Solar Inferno spoke first as she slowly rose out of the crater the painful impact against her back had created. “Cheap shot, Twilight! I must have really gotten under your skin. Truth hurts, huh?” she needled as she cricked her back and neck twice and focused more flame in the area to heal it, at the cost of weakening it over the rest of her body.

“The truth, Sunset Shimmer, is that we duel for the fate of two worlds, so I will not hold back! And as for my attack, that was a Solar Flare followed by the same hammer strike you used earlier as demonstration! So it was all fair game,” she replied as she also drew on her elemental fire to heal herself, causing her blue flames to burn lower for a moment.

“Solar Flare, huh? And here I thought you didn’t like Dragonball,” the Pharaoh of Firepointed out, noting with a grin that Eclipse hadn’t directly addressed her point.

Maybe she’s actually starting to wonder if I’m right? Or is she even capable of doing that in her curse-crazed state? Doesn’t matter if she is, I still can’t let her win this! she reminded herself quickly, casting a powerful anti-teleportation ward over their battlefield, which she’d gained by studying old texts unearthed from the volcano-buried city of Ponypei in Ancient Roam. “And for the record, you’re not doing that again.”

“Suit yourself. Just because I don’t like a show doesn’t mean I can’t borrow elements from it, Sunset Shimmer. In fact, here’s another technique from that series you might recognize…” Her visage suddenly broke into two, then four, then eight that began circling Solar Inferno, each in an identical pose as she threatened a powerful new assault with her horn aglow, waiting only for her foe to show a moment of vulnerability or make an ill-thought attack.

“Afterimages? Not bad, filly. You’ve even made it so I can’t use my magical awareness to tell which one is the real you—they all feel like you! And I can also tell you’ve doped them with an aura disruption spell, meaning I’ll weaken my defense if I hit the wrong one,” she noted as she maintained a ready stance with her horn aglow, prepared to cast in an instant.

“Merely a minor tweak,” the eight Eclipses chorused in unison. “And as you’ve already sensed, if you hit the wrong one, the magical feedback shock will weaken your aura and disrupt your ability to cast, leaving you wide open! And since we’re on a Dragonball kick, I’ll even use a Kamehameha-like attack to finish you. But you’ll have to hit me soon because you can’t maintain that level of defensive magic without it draining you!”

Despite the warning, Solar Inferno only smirked as she saw all the Eclipse doppelgangers take the iconic pose. “Now that sounds like a no-win situation. So I guess I’ll just have to one-up you again with something worthy of being the Pharaoh of Fire!” She reared up and took a pose with her hooves to the side of her head. “Solar Flare… X100!”

“What?” the bevy of Eclipses shouted before the entire dome was filled with inescapably blinding light that dazzled not just her vision but her magical awareness as well. It caused her to lose both external and internal sight of where her enemy was, even despite her Iris Aid enchantment that induced dimming lenses to form over her pupils when the illumination got too great.

She still thought she was safe given Solar Inferno also couldn’t see well enough to target her—at least until there was a sudden rain of small but white-hot projectiles throughout the dome. She shortly recognized them as very small but intensely powerful magical constructs that took the form of compact bladed implements; everything from tiny needles to throwing stars and kunai that sliced through the air as if driven by a hurricane gale.

They penetrated her weakened shields like a hot knife through butter, and though the heat itself didn’t hurt her, the sharp edges did, bouncing off the remains of her armor or finding their mark to drive partly into her body before her internal aura could repel or dissipate them.

“Ow!” she shouted as she lost her afterimages and fell to the ground, forced to redirect all her magic to defense as Solar Inferno sensed her advantage and pressed her attack. Struggling to repel the unexpected onslaught, Eclipse erected her own version of her brother’s shield that repulsed the projectiles and sent them right back at Solar Inferno, but the newly ascended Sunset simply stood fast within them.

They hit her only to melt right back into her fiery form, leaving her unaffected and her aura re-intensified. “Nice recovery. And nice try, Twilight. But since they’re made from my magic, they can’t hurt me. I call that the Rain of Flame, for the record. Might not be too descriptive, but what can I say? I like the alliteration.” She shrugged, then grinned as Eclipse stood back up and glared. “And for the record, I can tell that you’re weakening, filly.”

“So are you!” Eclipse retorted as her flames receded from the unscathed areas of her body to concentrate around her cuts and slashes, both to protect and more swiftly heal them. “And at the rate you’re burning through it, you’ll still run out of power before me. As we still have a few minutes, we can continue trading magical megaspells if you like, Sunset Shimmer. But as that would drain you too quickly and perhaps our combat is getting a bit too uncivilized, how about this instead?”

She used her aura to generate constructs of two Coltic Flame Swords and held them in a ready position before her, infusing them with blue fire and leaving the former Sunset impressed that she’d been able to make the blades wavy instead of straight. “I’m sure the Princess had you master the same fencing techniques as me. Or did you not finish learning them before fleeing to Earth?”

Solar Inferno blinked, then grinned.Bad move, filly! “So now you offer an ancient ibexian aura blade duel? Interesting choice. But since it’s in keeping with Prince Zuko’s character…” She created her own constructs in the form of two scimitar-like swords right out of the animated series and reared up to hold them in her hooves as a human would, crossing them before her.

“And as for fencing techniques? You’re right, I didn’t. Both because they bored me, and because I thought they were useless.” She didn’t say any more than that as they began to approach and circle each other; Eclipse still on all fours while Solar Inferno was perfectly comfortable standing and walking upright as an alicorn after all the time she’d spent as a human, earning a series of strange looks from the watching ponies.

“And yet, you still accept a duel in which you are at a disadvantage. En garde!” Eclipse ordered, to which Solar Inferno only smirked and moved to engage her. The pair exchanged blows at seeming super-speed to outside observers, causing jaws to drop as fire and sparks flew from impacting aura in every direction. Their astonishment only grew as the alicorn antagonists cast various support spells to enhance their attacks and defense further; their swordlike constructs trying but failing to overcome the other’s.

But Eclipse’s skill was clearly superior, and by the time they separated, the former Sunset appeared to have taken the worst of the exchange. She found herself nursing a half-dozen fresh slashes and puncture wounds on her fiery form, several of which were surprisingly deep and one of which had just missed a lung.

“Holy shit, filly. You really aren’t holding back!” Solar Inferno belatedly realized as she again focused her internal fire on the wounds to heal them. Her words caused Nightmarity to sneer even as she held her portal spell ready to cast, with Steedgyptian magic continually swirling around her.

“And just what, by all the ancient pyramids themselves,is holy about excrement?” The Nightmare’s former host wanted to know. She spared an angry glance back at a wide-eyed and fearful Sci-Twi as if to demand an explanation while Delta Requiem was unable to look away. Tears glimmered in her eyes, which Solar Inferno interpreted to mean that she was finally comprehending how much the filly she’d once thought to be a lost cause had changed.

Wow. You’d almost think she has motherly feelings for me! The former Sunset couldn’t help but note with a grin, vowing to be worthy of them where her younger self was not.

“It’s a figure of human speech, Nightmarity, if a rather vulgar one,” Eclipse explained. “And why so surprised, Sunset Shimmer? I said I wouldn’t. I hope you can appreciate the perfection of my Solar Stance defense and Lunar Lance attacks, which were designed to be used by twin swords in tandem! You stand no chance against me, but don’t get me wrong. Even if I can only end this swiftly by striking a killing blow, I won’t let you die. I’ll save you and heal you. But as sunrise is nearly here and I have other matters to attend to, I have to end this duel swiftly.”

She held her blades vertically and charged them with several additional spells, which Solar Inferno recognized would variously boost their penetration power and ability to disrupt her defensive aura. “Prepare yourself, false Pharoat! For this duel ends now!” She saluted with her sword again.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Solar Inferno’s grin turned sly as she returned the honor, causing Eclipse’s red-glowing gaze to narrow. “As I’ll need at least a few seconds to take down Nightmarity before sunrise—and apologies in advance for how rough it’s going to be, girlfriend—I guess I’ll have to cut loose with my own special techniques, then,” she announced with a glance at the former Rarity, who looked perturbed for a half-second.

“But don’t worry, Twilight. I don’t want you to die either, so the same holds true in reverse. And for the record, your fencing technique is excellent. Master Rapier Riposte taught you well.”

“I will be certain to convey your compliments when I convert him, Sunset Shimmer,” she replied with a bow of her head. “For the record, I was his best student, even if I thought that since all problems could ultimately be solved with friendship, I’d never have cause to use such skills. Just more evidence of how utterly naive my former self was. Now I’m going to end this by using his most powerful strike, which few have even seen, much less mastered. A strike I’m certain that you never saw!”

“I didn’t, but don’t count on it beating me, filly. Just because I gave up studying under him doesn’t mean I wasn’t learning something far more difficult and deadly. So by all means, hit me with this attack of yours. I promise it won’t get through.” She then landed on their scorched battlefield and stood upright before Eclipse with a mocking grin, her wings of fire flared while she held her twin Zuko-style broadswords in a guard stance in seeming invitation.

“We’ll see. Now then…” Eclipse charged herself and her blades with additional magic, then took a leaning stance with one blade held back and the other poised horizontally forward. “Meet the ultimate attack of the Celestial Sword School: the Stellar Strike!” she announced as her form suddenly blurred into an elongated attack with a glowing tail like a comet, the tip of her aura-built blade at its head.

She crossed the distance between them in an instant, but by the time she arrived, her blow was blocked by a sudden glowing circle in the air that manifested itself into a shield-like object that was studded with a single rune at the center. Her strike then rebounded right back at her, forcing her to parry her own attack with her second sword before it impaled her own chest!

“What? But… that’s impossible! You used the Cone Cleave!” she said in disbelief as the shield construct vanished as quickly as it had come.

“Very good, Twilight. I see you studied the history and fighting arts of the Blueblood line. But that was just the beginner technique. So let’s see if you also recognize these…” She stepped back and made a series of odd but rapid motions with her suspended swords, causing their tips to leave glowing lines in the very air .

“Wait! But that’s—” a startled Eclipse started to say, only to be cut off.

“Right in one. It’s the Triad Technique!” Solar Inferno announced as she drew a perfect equilateral triangle in the air with its tip pointed down and runes at each of the corners. The center then erupted with a lance-like object that targeted Eclipse, forcing her to hurriedly parry the unexpected assault with her own constructs. She was stunned when the impact of the ethereal projectile knocked her back as surely as if she’d been struck with the real thing, leaving her hooves having carved furrows in the layer of ash beneath them.

“And if that’s not good enough, how about the Diamond Draw?” Solar Inferno suggested next, making an unsheathing motion with one of her two swords while the other formed the technique’s namesake construct in the air, which quickly solidified into a crystal-like shield. They deflected two more hasty attacks of Eclipse, who had only belatedly recognized the ancient but powerful sword art.

“You’re using La Verdadera Destreza!” she recognized in astonishment. “But how? That’s not even taught any more! All I ever knew about it was that it existed!”

“Well, guess what, filly? To borrow your own phrase, you are not me,” Solar Inferno mocked. “After I learned about the One True Form of the old Sponyish Sword School but couldn’t find any but the most rudimentary of documentation on it, I broke into the Prince’s room and stole Blueblood XIV’s old longsword from its vault, who was the only one of his line to have mastered it,” she recalled.

“He christened that blade the Hojazul and used it in war against the Gryphon Empire! Yeah, hard as it is to believe, a Blueblood was actually a warrior,” she said with a smirk, causing Nightmarity’s jaw to drop open from outside.

“A Blueblood?” she said in disbelief, watching with worry as for the first time, she feared her friend was about to fall, considering her options in fighting or fleeing and finding them sorely wanting against the newly ascended and clearly skilled Solar Inferno. “Surely you jest!”

“You heard me, Rarity.” The former Sunset resisted the temptation to tell the other mare not to call her Shirley. “When he died, he left his longsword behind, desiring that only his line would carry the art’s knowledge on, and they would first have to learn to unlock the sword’s secrets to do so. Of course, the current Blueblood is way too lazy and more interested in mares and various machinations to try, but that doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t figure it out,” she said with a wink as Twilight stood uncharacteristically speechless, her mind visibly racing as she tried to find a counter that wouldn’t be instantly shot down.

“As it turned out, learning its special techniques wasn’t that hard once I got past its defensive wards. All the old casting incantations were still imprinted on it, so I absorbed them and committed them to memory. Took some practice to get the runes right, but after a month I’d mastered most of them. They were already quite powerful to begin with, but casting them as an alicorn gives them an incredible punch! Case in point, here’s the Hewing Hex!”

This time, an even more complex six-pointed runic form was rapidly etched with her twin swords in the air, resulting in a succession of bladelike objects flying outward to close on Eclipse and make a series of synchronized attacks on her, leaving her unable to block them all with her fencing techniques and defensive wards alone as she cried out in pain and fell back with a series of bleeding lines on her face and flank.

“Whoops. Guess that left a mark. But we’re not done yet! Don’t worry, this next one won’t hurt you physically so much as mentally—it’s the seven-point Septasnare!”

This time, a slightly ugly asymmetrical seven-point form was etched into the air, from which Solar Inferno launched a powerful dark magic attack that succeeded in scrambling Eclipse’s senses for a few seconds. It left her feeling for a moment that she was certain to lose as the dark obsidian blocks around which crackled tainted golden flames tried to both consume her and drag her down into the pit of despair, but she once again just managed to hold on, fending off the poisoned fire with her more purified kind while struggling to keep her stance and sanity.

“Whoa. Still not down? Then try this advanced eight-point technique which normally takes as many years to master…” Solar Inferno stated with an increasingly wry grin as she carved an enormously complex octagonal runic form into the air with several crisscrossing lines and embedded sigils.

“It might not be fire-based, but since we’ve decided lightning is fair game, meet the incredibly lethal and enemy-annihilating Octovolley!”

With a dual slash through the constructs that perfectly bisected the diagonal lines, Solar Inferno’s swords emitted a massive eruption of lightning that was easily equal to the output of an entire company of pegasi wielding storm clouds. They battered Eclipse’s shield and forced her already weakened form to her knees as she struggled to maintain the barrier, her bluish flames now burning so low that they could barely be seen.

“This… you…” the faltering Queen said through gritted teeth as she struggled to stay standing through the sheer fire of her will.

“Skip the sweet nothings, filly. And besides, what are you complaining about? You wanted to see what I could do, and that’s exactly what I’m showing you! But since you still won’t go down, we’re not done yet. For the record, there is a nine-sided form, but since it involves chaos magic, I’m not about to use it within the confines of the Everfree. But that’s okay—well, for me if not for you.” Solar Inferno grinned, now fully confident of victory as for the first time, Eclipse seemed at a loss and unable to fully defend herself from an art she’d only heard about but had no chance to see or study.

“And for my final exam to gain the One True Form’s rarely given title of Maestro, which only fifty-two ponies—and a single griffon—ever received…”

“Don’t tell me…” Eclipse’s eyes went wide and her audience was stunned when she took a step back; the cyberponies and other converted unicorns sensing her cast anti-fire enchantments! “You can’t possibly have mastered the…!”

“Oh, but I did, Twilight! And against it, there’s no defense! So brace yourself, filly, not that it’ll matter! Here’s the Decadragon!” the former Sunset announced with glee as she produced several additional swords to simultaneously sketch an impossibly complicated ten-pointed runic form out of which a massive translucent adult dragon head seemingly made from sheer golden flame suddenly materialized, at the center of which hovered Solar Inferno.

The dragon-like construct opened its mouth and released an irresistible gout of golden flame that Spike recognized as worthy of the Ancient Dragon Lords themselves, sorely afraid for his mother and new mistress as he knew that not even an adult dragon could resist such apocalyptic fire.

The unleashed inferno hit Eclipse’s shielded form dead center and drove her right back into the side of the dome, which bulged outwards as the cyberponies struggled with all their might and internal power reserves to contain the horrific heat and tornadic rush of flame. Even with Nightmarity’s power hastily added to theirs, they just barely succeeded in holding it back as warning messages of both overheating and magical overload scrolled across their eyes.

The dragonfire then faded with surprising speed; the flames and intricate runic construct that had created it evaporated within seconds like it had never been there. The air inside the dome shimmered with intense heat in its wake and the smoke finally cleared to reveal a crumpled and groaning Queen Eclipse lying on the half-molten ground at the edge of the dome, her fur smoking and Azula costume incinerated with her enchanted armor having melted into a glowing puddle at her hooves.

“Still conscious? Have to say, I’m impressed. You withstood it far better than I thought you could, but it still took every last erg of alicorn magic you had. You’re out of power and can’t defend yourself any longer, so that’s checkmate, Queenie,” Solar Inferno announced, standing tall and proud before her as outside the dome, Nightmarity’s jaw had dropped open and Starlight Glimmer was staring at her in something close to awe. “You lose.”

“What a blow!” a severely singed and stunned Eclipse admitted in a weak and shaky voice, seemingly unable to rise. “You’re right—just saving myself took all my magic! Now I’m completely spent… and look at me! By Celestia’s sun, you actually burned me!” She stared down at herself in disbelief.

“Pharaoh of Fire, remember? Now stay down, filly. You’ve lost and you’re wounded, so don’t make this any harder on yourself. I’m going to cast my sexual siphon again, and this time, you won’t have the power to resist it. So just lay there and enjoy it. Once you’re cured, or at least drained of the curse magic by it, the rest of your army will fall easily before me. Afterwards, I’ll take care of you and help you recover—what are friends for? I promise I’ll figure out how to cleanse and free Celly, too.”

But to her amazement, Twilight began to laugh. “Sorry, Solar Inferno—yes, I use your chosen title because you finally earned it in my eyes. That was indeed your final attack, and it was awe-inspiring to both behold and be struck by. I am severely weakened, and I admit that you are a very formidable foe. I must thank you, as you’ve taught me a great deal of magic and even a forbidden sword art this Nightmare Night. But it—and this duel—ends here.”

“Yeah. With your defeat,” Solar Inferno stated, not certain why she was starting to feel dizzy but attributing it to her breathlessness and massive magical expenditures. “I beat you fair and square, filly, and now I’m going to… to…” She lost her train of thought as she started to sway where she stood, realizing only then that her flames were ebbing, and the edges of her vision were closing in. “Wait… what?”

Eclipse grinned knowingly, starting to pull her shaking form back up. “That’s right, Pharoat of Fire. You do indeed have me on the verge of defeat, and yet it’s you who’s about to fall. After all your heroics and all our exchanges, and even after all the magical megaspells you threw at me, your power of flame becomes your own undoing. Because being an alicorn doesn’t remove your need to breathe.”

“Breathe…” Solar Inferno repeated the word as she looked around in confusion, only then noticing that the dome surrounding them had been reinforced again… with the Aegis of Athena shield spell, which didn’t allow air in or out! “But when did you…”

“While you were monologuing about breaking into Blueblood’s room. And you think I’m the supervillain when you fell victim to the same trope that they always do?” Eclipse grinned as Solar Inferno’s eyes went wide.

“Once you started using La Verdadera Destreza, I knew what ultimate attack you were headed for, and that I could make it your undoing! So in case you’re too addle-brained to realize it now, you consumed all the oxygen in the air with that one technique! The shield wasn’t erected by me, though. You were distracted enough that I telepathically ordered the cyberponies to cast it and gave them the formula to do so! And Annie Smith to feed me some oxygen while yours ran out. So now I recover while you steadily weaken.”

It was only then Solar Inferno noted the narrow tendril of green that had sprouted out of the well-baked ground. It had snaked up Eclipse’s foreleg and around her torso and up her neck, where it threaded itself into her nostril where its rapidly photosynthesizing formgave her an emergency supply of pure oxygen which was swiftly reviving her.

She then looked outside the dome to see Annie Smith herself wearing a smug grin, her eyes still aglow as the formerly elderly mare carefully controlled the plant construct that was ensuring Eclipse’s victory. “But… that’s… cheating! Damn you…” The former Sunset tried firing a lightning bolt at the reinforced shield to break free of it, but it splattered against the dome of magical energy to no visible effect, this time without bouncing back.

“Sorry, ‘filly’, but as you’re not the caster, you can’t break it unless you’re at full power, which you no longer are. Only the cyberponies can, and they’re outside of it! Ironic, isn’t it? The ultimate undoing of Solar Inferno, the great and mighty Pharoat of Fire… is hypoxia.”

“Dammit…” Solar Inferno struggled through her own slow suffocation and quickly clouding thoughts to find a counter. She needed flame to fuel her magic and new alicorn form, but with all the oxygen depleted by her own dragonfire and her remaining magic reserves running low after all the intense spellcasting, she found very few options. “Can’t let you win… and not with such a stupid trick!” Even her voice had grown quiet, sounding much more like her former self as her fire was fully extinguished and alicorn power drained away.

“Stupid?” Eclipse sneered, looking genuinely offended. “What you call stupid, I call sound strategy, Sunset Shimmer! It was the Sun Master himself that said the greatest art of war was to win without fighting, which I just did by defeating you without firing a shot! And once you fall, who is left to challenge me?” she asked idly, starting to stand taller with her burns already beginning to heal.

“Spoiler alert: There isn’t! Celestia is already captured and I can sense that Luna is unconscious, likely having knocked herself out to keep from succumbing and conquering Canterlot—an impressive display of will, but an ultimately futile one. So unless you have another alicorn available to ‘step up to the plate,’ as humans say, your threat is an empty one, Sunset Shimmer.”

“That still leaves Principal—I mean, Princess Cadance,” Solar Inferno reminded her, increasingly struggling to stay conscious as she tried repeatedly to mentally flip through her magic arsenal to find a counter, only to keep losing her place. She dimly recalled that she did know a spell that could enable survival in space and attempted to use it, only for it to fail as she could no longer focus enough to cast such a complex incantation.

Eclipse stared at her, then laughed out loud; there were even a few snickers heard from the cyberponies. “Now that is funny, given she’s no warrior or magical maven. I admit that she’s powerful on the defense and a master manipulator of emotions, butshe has no offensive capability—unless, perhaps, my brother decides to throw her like a javelin, that is,” she said with a knowing look at Nightmarity, who snickered at the memory.

“No, Sunset Shimmer. There is nopony past you who can challenge me now, and within seconds you will not only be unconscious, but ripe for the taking.” Eclipse allowed her erection to surge anew.

“Well, then… looks like I’m checkmated now,” Solar Inferno admitted as she began to sway harder, then managed one final defiant smile as she fell to her knees and saw her vision completely gray out. “But at least I fall knowing that you couldn’t beat me without outside help!” she said as she struggled to find enough focus to cast one final spell.

“Yes. The help of my friends, which is how it should be!” Eclipse replied easily as Solar Inferno glanced at Delta briefly, who was on the verge of tears again to see the former Sunset fall. Locking gazes with her onetime nanny, the latter’s alicorn horn flared for a final time to no visible effect before she collapsed to the ground, her lips turning blue as oxygen deprivation claimed her.

“Game over, Sunset Shimmer!” Eclipse announced triumphantly before her unconscious form, signaling the cyberponies with a wave of her wings to lower their shield. They did so promptly, and her audience of converted creatures wildly cheered her victory with hoofstomps and thestral wingclaps alike, nobody noticing the brief magical glow that had appeared around Delta’s throat.

“I’ll give you due credit—you gave me one hay of a good match, which is what I really wanted, teaching me an impressive array of interesting and powerful new spells along the way. I grant we were more or less equal in power, but in the end, you have fallen to a superior intellect and strategist! And now, I will convert you immediately and add your power to my own… with your own siphon spell!” she announced to her fallen foe as she swiftly regenerated her cape and armor, summoning the various pieces of it out of her castle stores before forging the metal on the spot with her aura.

“No…” Eclipse heard a younger version of her own voice call out forlornly from the side, smiling as she recognized the source.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle!”Her horn flared as she cast the identical incantation Solar Inferno had previously, causing her limp and barely stirring form to be raised up into the sky like an offering as the same tendrils she’d previously tried to subdue Eclipse with now snaked around her limbs and horn.

“Stop it…” Her human counterpart clutched her head with her hooves like she was in pain. “I said stop it!”

But Eclipse only laughed, slowing but not halting the advance of the spell on the former Sunset, intending to savor the moment they finally entered her as they slowly closed in on her erogenous zones. “I will not, ‘Sci-Twi’. And know there is no amount of human technology that can stop this, and nothing you or your guitar-playing friends can do!” Eclipse mocked her, still refusing to look at her.

“You don’t understand…” Twilight’s voice was beginning to waver badly as her entire form started to shake. “Stop before it’s too late!”

“Too late for what? Another ill-considered attempt to defeat me? Some spell I already know but you’ve barely learned?” Eclipse laughed. “At least Sunset here had the ‘balls’ to attempt ascension and fight me. But you are nothing more than a poor imitation of me as a unicorn, weak in magic and will—just as I was then!”

Sci-Twi slumped, tears in her eyes as beside her, Delta watched her warily, sensing the surging presence within her now battering at the human-turned-unicorn’s psyche. “You’re right. As I am, I’m no match for you. No matter how knowledgeable I am in it, my unicorn magic can’t do anything against you.” Sci-Twi closed her eyes tightly, tears glimmering around the edges as she reached a resolution, her eyes turning wild for a moment.

“But if it’s the only way to stop you and end this insanity before the curse corrupts and eventually kills everyone… then she can!” With a massive magical surge born of fear and sorrow, she broke free of a startled Nightmarity’s bonds just long enough to cast a single spell that focused on the pendant over her chest.

Before anyone could react, it glowed, cracked, and shattered into a million pieces as its containment wards were released.

In its wake, there was an explosive eruption of magical energy followed by a great inward rush of wind, like a building storm taking a massive gulp of air. Sci-Twi’s altered Phoenix Wright costume was incinerated in an instant as her horn elongated to alicorn length and a pair of impressive raven wings sprouted from her back, followed by her glasses all but melting right off her face before they were replaced by a set of aura-created spectacles that only accented her newly slitted eyes.

A wave of irresistible magic hopscotched from one being to the next, swiftly deactivating the cyberponies while knocking the thestrals and timberponies unconscious, causing the former’s shields to fail and the latter’s green eye glow to fade.

A voice that was then followed by cackling laughter as its owner emerged to reveal…

“I… AM… FREE!” The unleashed goddess announced as she rose into the sky and sucked up the area’s ambient magic, drawing it all into her body while blocking Nightmarity’s attempt to teleport herself and her charges away.

She shortly found herself ensnared by the same nearly unbreakable Steedgyptian bonds that had trapped Sci-Twi, leaving her power sealed away by use of her own hex. Eclipse herself was stunned and knocked backwards by the raw release of aura whose sheer power dwarfed anything she’d felt before, sending a feedback shock down her horn that disrupted her magic, leaving it numb and unable to cast.

Within seconds, the newcomer’s aura had completely overtaken the former battlefield and felled all creatures within it, whether corrupted or not. “About time you let me loose, Sparkle. I told you I was the only answer to this so-called Queen! You could have spared our precious Sunset a great deal of pain by setting me free sooner, but so be it,” she said easily.

“And don’t worry—I promised you I won’t hurt our other self, and that’s not my style anyway. But humiliating her? That is another matter!” she said as she floated towards Eclipse, but not before she landed before a vanquished Solar Inferno first, sweeping her into an embrace with a rare look of concern in her glowing eyes.

“Midnight…?” the fallen Pharoah recognized, finding herself unable to do anything but lie there and only weakly raise her head, staring up at the reborn dark goddess through unfocused, punch-drunk eyes.

“It’s me. I’m here now. Sssshhh…” Midnight gently picked up the former Sunset and held her in an embrace like a treasured child, infusing her with healing magic that swiftly mended her wounds but didn’t immediately restore her aura.

“A magnificent form and a truly awe-inspiring effort, my love. One worthy of a deity such as I. Fear not, I will restore your ascended state in full so you can rule at my side where you belong. You may even choose whether it is Daydream or Solar Inferno you wish to be, though you will forgive me if I remain partial to the former,” she promised, then kissed Sunset deeply, putting her into a healing sleep as she did so.

“Rest and restore your magic, beloved. Once you do, we will be able to consummate our new dimension-spanning Diarchy properly… just as soon as I start the process of conquest while putting this infuriating and inferior upstart in her place!”

After gently laying Sunset down in a bed of fresh-grown moss she induced to germinate right out of the burned and blasted ground, she turned and began marching forward towards a dazed Eclipse, flaring her raven wings wide, her horn bending all reality around her to her will as she seized the shocked Queen in her unbreakable magical grasp.

Overcoming her wards and mental defenses with contemptuous ease, she stripped away Eclipse’s restored Coltic armor by ripping it right off her form, binding her horn to prevent her from casting while holding her aloft above the scorched battlefield she’d fought Solar Inferno over.

The reborn goddess then yanked her down, the aura glow around her horn and eyes intensifying in anger. “What… how…?” was all Eclipse could croak to feel such all-consuming power that even dwarfed hers as an alicorn.

But her opponent just smiled sweetly but malevolently, the aura around her eyes, horn, and hooves glowing bright. “Hello, Queen Eclipse. I’m Midnight Sparkle—your superior self! Our encounter was as inevitable as its outcome, as your alicorn aura is but a pale imitation of my unlimited power! It is time for me to take my proper place as goddess, ruling as the Erotic Empress of not just Equestria, but all the realms!”

She dragged Eclipse to the ground and then forced the would-be ruler of Tellus to bow before her as she hovered above her like a demon of vengeance, her horn and eyes glowing bright as her grin turned toothy, suddenly showing two pointed thestral-like fangs.

“Gah! Get your human hooves off me, you unworthy excuse for an alicorn!” Eclipse ordered to no avail, trying and failing to cast only for the spell to rebound painfully from her hexed horn.

“Make me—if you can!” Midnight laughed, but then her eyes narrowed and the wind rose around her. “And do not insult me by calling me an Alicorn, for I am far beyond even that!” she proclaimed as a series of dimensional rifts began to form around her in the air itself; their appearance causing Eclipse to gape.

“You know, so-called Queen, I could simply strip you of your will and make you my obedient servant. I would find endless amusement in toying with you, or perhaps whoring you out to any other demigod beings I might seek to ally with or entertain,” she suggested idly, causing her counterpart’s slitted eyes to go wide as she realized that the threat was fully within Midnight’s power to make happen.

“It would be a fitting atonement for your many crimes this night—but only after you are punished for your equally innumerable affronts to my name, lover, and power! For slandering me and seeking to subvert my beloved Sunset, there is an important lesson in humility to be learned, first. So I’m not only going to strip you of your ill-begotten crown but conquer this magic-rich world in your place!” she promised, her eyes glitteringas she ripped open a fresh portal into what Eclipse recognized was the Gryphon Kingdom’s Hall of Heroes in its capital city of Arnau, where only a few guards stood sentry as the museum was closed for the night.

They turned to see the portal in shock, but Midnight ignored them. “And now, to drive home your defeat deeper, I’m going to force you to watch as all your plans are undone. So tell me, my defrocked and quite pathetic excuse for a pony princess—what was that you were saying about me not being a deity, or the one true monarch of magic…?” she asked idly as she tightened her magical grip on the former Princess of Friendship, watching with great satisfaction as Eclipse openly gaped when she saw the rifts, finally comprehending the full strength and sweep of her doppelganger’s enormous power.

“But… this… isn’t… possible!” Eclipse protested weakly, finding her aura completely blocked and interdimensional rifts appearing that she knew took an absolutely enormous amount of magic to open—orders of magnitude over what even the most powerful alicorn could generate! “You can’t be this strong!”

“Not possible for you, perhaps. But me? I can do anything!” Midnight boasted as she tore open a rift right into the ancient Steedgyptian tomb where the portal to Earth now sat, causing even a bound and depowered Nightmarity’s eyes to go wide at the ease with which it had been created.

“That’s right, ‘filly’. You’re completely out of your league with me. Now sit back and watch, feeble excuse for a Queen, as I do what you could not and make this magic-rich world mine!”

Picture credit of pony Midnight Sparkle goes to missgoldendragon on deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/missgoldendragon/art/Commission-DashieMLPFiM-Midnight-Pony-566509744