Black Sun

As she teleported herself back to ground level, Tantabus took stock of her current situation. She was winded, her legs and shoulder still felt numb from all the staff hits and while her magic was still strong, there was already a noticeable drain on it. Her incoming opponent was very likely fresh, knew exactly where she was, and much as she hated to admit it, stronger than her right now. A strategy erring on the side of caution and defence wasn't usually her style, but it was the only way she was going to win the inevitable showdown. A small part of her reflected that she'd been forced to do that a lot since taking this body, coming down to the defects level. The sooner this was over, the better.

The world reappeared around her and she looked round quickly, reaffirming she was out of the forest. If she'd tried to fight there then her foe would likely have blown it up too, and she would have a harder time seeing it coming. She'd chosen an abandoned farm on the outskirts of Ponyville to make her stand, a piece of nowhere that only stuck in her mind for the squad of soldiers she'd torn up en route to the attack on the town. Memories of that night were comforting when the weight of her failures pressed upon her. There were bigger issues to deal with at present though. Like exactly how she was going to come out of this engagement victorious, or at least in one piece.

For several minutes she simply rested among the quaint farm buildings, getting air back into her lungs and gently using her magic to massage her aching muscles. All the while her mind was racing, dredging her memories for spells that would give her an advantage. Magic absorption combined with precision shield usage would be risky with such a strong opponent, always a chance of it becoming overcharged, but not impossible. Attempting to constantly control the flow of battle would take too much energy, meaning any teleportation or levitation would have to be reactionary. Stunning spells or anything to disorient would probably work best, low magic drain and anything that left them unable to focus would be critical. Unfortunately, there wouldn't be time to formulate a proper plan. She could sense that whatever it was, it was only moments away.

Tantabus gritted her teeth and got back onto her hooves, steeling herself for what was to come. As she stepped away from the buildings she saw a strong glow of magic in the sky to the north. Her incoming enemy. She'd expected to see a purple aura from their levitation, or a yellow one, or even blue at a stretch. It was red. Even as she watched, it glowed brighter and dropped toward the ground, kicking up clumps of dirt as it skidded to a halt roughly a hundred feet away. As the dust cleared and magic faded she dropped into a fighting stance, a sudden sinking feeling in her heart. Sure enough, an all too familiar figure was facing her. Cold determination in her eyes and an amulet resting against her chest. Steel clasps leading to the silhouette of a gray, red and black alicorn, atop a grey shield with a blood red gem at its center.

She recognised it instantly, and that her odds of survival had dropped even further.

"Twilight Sparkle," Tantabus called, digging her hooves into the ground slightly. A small part of her was amazed that her voice gave away none of her concerns. "Has desperation driven you so far as to use our gifts after all?"

"I'm doing whatever I must to stop you." Twilight called back. As anticipated, her violet eyes glowed the same red that was on the amulet at those last two words.

"That's all? Just, dealing with me?" Tantabus countered. The defects only saw the Alicorn Amulet as a corrupting influence. But she knew that was far more than that. The lekli of whoever wore it would steadily gain more control while their magical strength was amplified by the magic of the amulet. If Twilight dragged the fight out long enough, there would likely be nothing in the world that could stand against her.

"I..." Twilight glanced back at herself, doubt flickering across her features briefly. Then she looked forward again and her horn flared to life. It's aura remained pure red, as did the one surrounding the amulet that helped dictate her actions now. "I will do what I must to keep Equestria safe. Starting with tearing down everything you held dear. By sundown you and your world will have been ripped a-fucking-sunder!"

The glow had returned on those last few words, intensifying to the point that her eyes momentarily went pure red. No sooner had she finished speaking than she teleported away. Tantabus' reflexes went on full alert, bracing for the exact moment she heard or saw her opponent reappear. It was then that she realised what she needed to do if she wished to have any hope in this fight. Keep any engagement at close range and force Twilight to limit her magic usage until she could find a way to either disable the imposter alicorn or the amulet itself. The irony was not lost on her. Then her ears picked up magic behind her and she ducked near-instantly. A beam of red pierced the air where her head had been moments before and she swung round to see another coming straight for her.

'Stick to the plan. Quick and efficient.' She mentally told herself before jumping over the attack, briefly using her magic to hover long enough to be sure. Twilight was roughly twenty-five feet behind her now, still firing rapid bolts of magic in a furious barrage. It would be difficult, but it was still close enough to work with. Tantabus dropped back to the ground and threw up her shield, advancing as each of Twilight's attacks were absorbed or reflected. Before she could follow up with a counter-charge, her body froze in the grip of dark magic. Next thing she knew she was hurtling skyward, hundreds of feet up by the time she'd realised it. She was barely able to look back toward the ground in time to see even more magic being fired at her, bringing up another shield in front of her. The force of the glancing blow knocked her backward, forcing her to adjust her angle to block the follow up strike coming from behind her.

It was true that no plan survived contact with the enemy, but any plan currently depended on her having enough time to breathe and think. As it was, she was effectively reduced to a pinball, ricocheting through the sky as she barely blocked attack after attack. Twilight's assault was beyond relentless, teleporting into position for her next strike before the previous one had even landed. As she was blasted back toward the ground for what felt like the thirtieth time, Tantabus glanced back to see Twilight reappearing behind her. The fact she had enough time to do so meant she had enough time to get herself back into the fight. As the next beam came at her she strengthened her shield and rapidly added another spark of magic to it. This would either even the scales or end up being her do-or-die moment.

Twilight's beam hit the shield with enough force to halt Tantabus' fall, sparks of red flaring off in every direction. As much as her horn stung from keeping her magic going, Tantabus could feel it also getting stronger. Her strategy had worked. Even though she was still on the back hoof physically, the gap had been noticeably narrowed between them in terms of magical capability. After a few seconds of absorbing magic through the shield she teleported back to the ground. The rush that came from having such strength again sent an involuntary shudder of euphoria through her, confidence that she was able to stand her ground this time.

"Clever," Twilight said as she teleported down in front of her. There was the faintest hint of respect in the alicorn's voice, mixed with a lot of contempt. "I'm actually glad you did that. I was hoping for a chance to make you suffer before I crushed you."

"Me too..." Tantabus replied, gritting her teeth as she charged first.

"Are you sure that you saw something out there?" Fluttershy called as she ran after Peace Walker.

"I'm a scout, spotting the unusual is my thing," Peace called back, leading them toward the eastern edge of Ponyville. "There were a lot of unusual lights in the sky over this way. Some of them were the same colour as the beam that blew up Twilight's castle, so I'm pretty damn sure it's Tantabus."

"Do you think it has something to do with the fires?" Fluttershy asked as she moved alongside Peace, keeping pace much better when flying rather than running.

"Most likely. That makes it all the more important that we figure out what's happening and how to stop it before the whole Everfree burns down. Or worse!"

Fluttershy nodded, silently trying to convince herself that what she feared was happening was just a nagging fear in her head. Everything had escalated so fast. No sooner had Aurora returned the two of them to the castle than he had left again to gather the others from Canterlot. Almost immediately after, a group of pegasi from the weather team had arrived at the castle to report the Everfree fires and she had been forced to direct them toward Spike, wherever he was in Ponyville at the moment. And THEN Peace had rushed past her to go investigate what she had seen. It was a small mercy that her family was safe in Cloudsdale at the moment, because things here were rapidly spiralling out of control. Again.

Within minutes the two of them reached the edge of town and paused as they looked out onto the farmlands. Even from here they could make out the flashes of light from constant clashes of magic beyond the distant buildings. Teal and red sparks streaked skyward before falling rapidly, barely audible yet powerful enough to make the ground shake slightly on each impact. As they took in what was unfolding, a glow of teal shot skyward, followed by a red one. They smashed against each other several times before plummeting back to earth, neither seeming to have the upper hoof. Peace stood rooted in place, seemingly struggling to understand what she was seeing. For Fluttershy though, it only confirmed that gnawing doubt in her heart.

"Oh dear..." She said quietly, ears folding back. As she glanced over at Peace she realised that the earth mare was shaking slightly. It wasn't fear though, not with the faint grin at the edge of her lips. It was adrenaline, stemming from anticipation.

"Dear nothing. Whoever that is, they're kicking her flank!" Peace commented, her smile widening as she looked back at Fluttershy. "So, what's the plan?"

Fluttershy blinked as she realised that she was going to have to make the decision in this situation. Before them were two powerful magic users, strong enough to flatten them both even before the boosts they had. All she had to approach that at the moment was the Element of Kindness and a mare who likely wasn't thinking straight. There was no 'plan' that she could let happen as it was, not with so much at stake. The best she could do was keep everypony else out of danger and ensure Twilight didn't end up doing something they would all regret. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out how to say it, only to keep coming back to the same solution: Be like Rainbow Dash, authoritative and leading.

"Go find Spike," She told Peace, doing her best to put on a confident tone. "Send him this way and find as many of the others as you can."

"What?" Peace's face dropped as she looked from Fluttershy to the ongoing battle and back again. "What about you?"

"Twilight is out there, using the same amulet that the others fought so hard to keep out of Tantabus' grasp. She's desperate to win, but I don't know if she can control what'll happen when she does. Somepony needs to make sure she doesn't kill Sunset Shimmer or anything more extreme until everypony else gets here, and out of the two of us..."

"Right. Right..." Peace looked down, trying and failing to keep the disappointment out of her voice. As the ground shook again from another clash in the distance she nodded and looked up again, the look on her face distant but determined. "You can count on me. Just be careful...We've all suffered enough at this point."

Peace turned and ran back toward Ponyville at full speed, leaving Fluttershy to prepare herself alone. She normally wasn't the first to put herself in danger based on a what-if, but she would do it without hesitation to ensure a friend's safety. She took off and headed toward the battlefield, flying low to the ground. If she could reach the farmhouses then she should be close enough to intervene if needed, yet far away enough to keep her safe from the crossfire. Hopefully the others would arrive quickly and they could defuse the situation together. At least, assuming Twilight won her duel with Tantabus...

Before long she had reached the deserted farmhouses. There was nothing left here, no signs of life beyond broken fragments of armour, holes and streaks of land gouged away by magic strikes. Fluttershy landed and ducked behind the main farmhouse to get her bearings. The fighting didn't sound like it was coming to an end anytime soon. If anything, it seemed to be only getting worse. She slowly poked her head out from around the building and squinted, seeing little but feeling everything. The ground shuddered like a magnitude five earthquake from another nearby impact, forcing her to hold onto the building to keep her balance. At this distance she could almost make out the duelling ponies, their magic clashing at point blank range and their hooves attempting to strike when any opportunity presented itself.

As the battle momentarily moved back into the air, Fluttershy moved at a quick flap toward a barn. It offered a better view without sacrificing cover. Stray fire made her flinch as a red beam impacted a nearby rock formation, obliterating it and launching rubble like bullets in every direction. The next thing she knew, something speared into the side of her neck and she lost consciousness.

This was just too easy.

Twilight laughed as she launched herself skyward in pursuit of a retreating Tantabus, taking delight in the look of panic on her foe's face. Of course, she wasn't really Twilight right now. She didn't really have a name yet. The 'other' Twilight had never even known she'd existed and she'd been too busy flexing her magic to think of one. There would be plenty of time later, once she'd destroyed this petulant upstart and claimed her rightful place within this world. Beams of magic streaked past her as she closed the gap, attacking rapidly enough to drive Tantabus into her follow up strike. Although most of the blood red beam ended up missing, the glancing blow was enough to make the unicorn cry out as her flank was burned.

"Oh this is fun!" She called as Tantabus teleported back to a safe distance. "This must be what it felt like to be Garukan, strong enough to rip the world apart if I fancied. What'd you think I could do to you?"

"I've said it all before," Tantabus called back as she fired back, using the time Twilight was shielding herself from it to teleport in close and land a punch against her cheek. "You can't get cocky until you've won."

Twilight growled as she pulled upward, rubbing her cheek and looking for any weakness that could be used to overwhelm her foe. As she did, she noticed something on the ground below. Something that made her whole body freeze involuntarily. A trail of blood against one of the buildings, leading to a yellow body slumped against a wall. The sight should have meant nothing to her, yet emotions that were not her own were surging up out of nowhere. Fear, shock, care for somepony else. Or, was it Other Twilight having such an emotional moment it was overwhelming? She certainly wouldn't have done that. That said, she didn't seem to have any control of herself at the moment.

"FLUTTERSHY!!" She screamed, raw pain in her voice. Apparently that was as genuine as it got, as even Tantabus stopped and looked toward the body in surprise.

Why was she looking like that? More to the point, how DARE she?! This had to be her fault. One of her moments of wild fire must have done the damage that killed the defect. She could feel Other Twilight's emotions growing stronger, the restraints she'd momentarily been placed in dissolving like sugar in water. Emotion was such a fickle thing though, so easy for a lekli to twist for whatever they needed. All that fear and resentment was filtering into her own anger, strengthening her magic so quickly it gave her an adrenaline rush. Her cry of distress shifted into a roar of fury as her magic charged up rapidly enough for the Alicorn Amulet to start glowing. It may have been the sensitivity of her ears, but she could have sworn she could hear her strength cracking the air around her.

Without thinking she placed a hoof against the magic around her horn as she teleported. She reappeared right in front of Tantabus and swung her hoof forward quickly. The lingering magic against the hoof burned at her fur slightly, only for the motion to launch it into the unicorn's face like ethereal fire. Even as Tantabus took the hit fully in the eyes, Twilight's hoof struck the side of her muzzle. The double strike sent Tantabus flailing backward, barely biting back a cry as she fought to recover. Twilight was upon her again immediately. Flying in at speed and alternating between blasts of magic and her own hoofs, driving the fight back toward Ponyville and leaving blasted land from stray magic in her wake.

She was operating on instinct at this point, utilising everything that Other Twilight had learned on top of her raw emotion. Her anger fuelled her magic, which was being outpoured onto Tantabus, who's refusal to admit her failing and die only made her angrier. The loop was steadily building both her power and her frustration, to the point where burning everything in sight was feeling very tempting. Or even cutting out every last bit of restraint she had left and just dropping the moon on Tantabus, it wasn't like she or Nezzari would need it after this. If need be, she could just suck up the atmosphere and find a new planet to claim as her own. Most would consider that ludicrous, but she was a lekli. Anything was possible with enough power.

As the battle moved into the smoke clouds drifting away from the Everfree, Twilight cast a shield around her head to keep the smoke away. Tantabus had done the same while she had the chance, the glow giving her position away through the black fog. Offensive magic wasn't going to an option for now. Not unless either of them felt like firing into their shield and potentially blowing their own heads off. No matter, there was nothing wrong with getting her hooves bloody. Other Twilight wasted so much time trying to find ways around doing that, but this was so much easier. And cathartic. The two of them closed again and swung their hooves against the other, aiming to finish the other at close range.

Annoyingly, Tantabus seemed to be a lot more confident when only using her magic for defence and levitation. She kept weaving and twisting through the sky, pushing herself through tough g-forces to launch quick but solid strikes to her opponent's body. Twilight focused on counter-blows as a result, attempting to deflect each attack in a way that left Tantabus open to another hit. As it was though, each exchange of attacks only saw each of them scoring glancing blows at best and their magic reserves could last for days like this.

Impasse, which could go on forever if they only had the patience to do so.

After years of being so supressed she couldn't even awaken, Twilight was not in the mood for patience.

She snarled and spun herself round in time with the next incoming kick, straightening herself out vertically as she did. As Tantabus' hind leg just missed her body she clamped her own leg down against it and engulfed the trapped section in her magic. The teal glow flickered before shifting to red, a sign that the fight was over.

She could feel the wind movement behind her indicating that Tantabus was aiming to strike at the base of her neck. An opening she wouldn't have time to exploit. With a simple mental twist, Twilight yanked the leg she was holding toward her. The sideways pull snapped the bone almost effortlessly, making Tantabus howl in pain, momentarily going limp. This fight was over, now it was time to make sure there wouldn't be a repeat performance. She could practically hear Other Twilight protesting it inside her head, but they were both aiming for the same thing. Hers was just a more...Direct, and permanent, solution.

She bucked her back hooves out, catching Tantabus square in the side. The blow stunned the unicorn momentarily, enough for her magic to falter and send her dropping toward the ground. Twilight flipped over backward and dropping her shield to fire, reaching deep into her reserves and pouring it into her magic. The red beam struck Tantabus square in the stomach and blasted her downward like a missile. Twilight ramped up the attack until she felt her foe hit the ground and dived after her, dodging shards of earth, metal, wood, fire and magic as she did. Whatever her magic had hit on the ground must have been utterly obliterated. Sure enough, as she passed through the smoke layer she could see the scattered remains of whatever buildings had been below strewn across the outskirts of southern Ponyville. Trees and bushes lay along the edges of the impact crater, as either smouldering husks or outright reduced to ash.

"Is that it?!" Twilight called as she dropped into a hover over the center of the crater where Tantabus was lying, writhing in pain. From here she could see that it had been her hind left leg that had been broken. In addition, almost her entire underside had been scored with second-degree burns and her eyes were clenched shut after the hit they had taken earlier. It was clear she was in no shape to keep fighting.

'That's enough! You'll kill her if you keep this up!!'

"Shut up, Other Twilight!" Twilight snapped as she landed in front of Tantabus. For a few moments she simply stared down at her stricken foe, watching her heavily pant for air. To see a lekli that had been giving this world so much trouble reduced to this, it was almost enough to make her consider mercy. Then her lip curled in disgust and she reared up. Her front hooves held in place for the briefest of moments before she slammed them down on the broken leg.

"Fuurraaaaggh!!!" Tantabus yelled in distress, actually sounding like she was about to cry. Any further response was cut off as Twilight kicked her in the gut, then again in the neck.

"See where your resistance has got you?" Twilight growled as she kept striking her helpless adversary, leaning in and placing a hoof against Tantabus' neck properly even as she stomped the broken leg again. Her nose practically touched the unicorn's as she took in her victory, staring into those unfocused, choking eyes. "I'd ask if you had anything to say, but your-"

As she started to finish the sentence, Tantabus' eyes started dilating rapidly. Within two seconds they had shifted from their sleek and cold look to more natural pony eyes. Twilight stared in confusion for the briefest of moments before she saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Before she could react, a hoof wrapped around her horn, disrupting her magic and yanking her head to the side. Another gripped her front leg to keep her from pulling away. Tantabus's focus suddenly returned and despite the hoof to her neck, twisted her head round until the tip of her horn was pressed against the Alicorn Amulet. Twilight struggled to regain any purchase when she head a different voice coming from the unicorn's mouth.

"She warned you..." Sunset Shimmer said through gritted teeth.

Her words may only have hung for the briefest of moments, but it was enough for Twilight to realise. Her glance downwards confirmed it. The cracking she'd heard before had been from the gemstone embedded in the Alicorn Amulet. Even if it had been designed to boost a lekli's strength, it clearly hadn't been built to handle one as naturally strong as her.

Then her world went white as Sunset fired, every ounce of magic she had left being directed at the damaged amulet. Her veins felt like they were filled with liquid fire as all the energy she'd been drawing on was ripped away. Her chest went completely numb as the repeated assault vibrated intensely against her. She couldn't even gather the composure necessary to make her vocal cords work. Then as soon as it had begun, she felt a sudden force blasting her backward as her entire existence fell back into shadow.