Redemption of a Broken Mare
The only way to truly hurt a mare is to take away everything that she valued and degrade it and remind her if it every day of her life. But by doing this, you also create a monster. And you will regret ever harming that mare because she will be your greatest horror.
-unknown
The hooded mare trotted through the doorway to the large throne room. A room that at one point held happy and beautiful memories. Memories that were now tainted by one horrific, tragic event, one that she would never forget for the rest of her eternal life. Eternal; that's what they were supposed to be. They were supposed to live forever, just like the indomitable sun and moon they were bound to. But, no, even the power of love and the bond of friendship was nothing before the power of that monster. But she was about to make a new memory, one that, would not undo that tragic event, but one that would right the wrongs committed on that day.
The light of the evening sun shined through the ornately designed windows of the grand hall of the throne room. The mare turned to look upon one of the many murals designed into the stained glass windows. The mural depicted six ponies using a great power to defeat a dark mare. As she walked, she came to another mural, this one much like the previous but in place of the dark mare a creature that looked like a patchwork of multiple animals stitched together.
Further down there was another mural, this one was of two ponies an alicorn, and a Unicron bent so that together they took the shape of a heart with their horns meeting in the middle. The next one featured a young dragon with a large crystal heart radiating out energy in the middle.
The mare came to one last stained glass window, and this time she stopped before it. She stared up at it for a long time, her mind running wild with memories and thoughts. The mural was of a lavender alicorn with her wings spread wide and her eyes closed. Above her was the sun with a crescent moon designed into it. Clouds and stars surrounded the sun and below the alicorn was an open book. The alicorn was the depiction of magic and Harmony itself. It was also a painful memory of what used to be for the mare. She turned away from the stained glass and continued towards the throne.
She stopped before the dais and waited. The throne was empty, but she knew that it would not remain that way for long, so she waited. She did not have to wait long as intense energy began to gather above the seat of the throne. The power started to take a form, the form of an alicorn. There was a bright flash of light, but the mare did not look away, seemingly unfazed by the blinding light.
"So you've returned, at last. I was starting to think you had vanished from this plane of existence entirely," came a female voice. There now sitting on the throne lazily, with a bored expression on her muzzle was a large light-gray alicorn mare. Her mane and tail were of a slightly darker grey, but her eyes shone with a vibrant rainbow of colors that swirled violently. "But it seems you have returned to accept your fate. I knew it was only a matter of time before I got your power too. It's the only piece I'm missing before I can become whole so I would have to get it one way or another at some point." she prattled on, her tone showing how bored she was of this one-way conversation already. She stood with a stretch before stepping off the throne and down the dais to the hooded mare. The mare remained still, unfazed by her impending demise.
"My, you have accepted your fate, haven't you? You're not even going to show me a hint of that fear you showed me on our first encounter?" She asked in a teasing tone. Her sneer turned into a pout when she got no response. "Hmm… or is it something else? Oh! I know you here for your revenge on me, aren't you?" she said with a fake gasp of surprise. "The hero has come to exact her revenge on the villain for killing her friends, family, and loved ones! Oh no my time has come I am about to be slain by the noble hero! Oh, woe is me!" she pressed a hoof to her forehead and fell to the ground in a dramatic faint. She remained on the ground for a few more moments before bursting into joyous laughter. The alicorn's mirth was abruptly cut off when the hooded mare spoke.
"You're half right. I do want to avenge my family, but that's not the sole reason I am here. You are right that I do plane to end you here, but not purely for vengeance." She explained as alicorn gave her a confused look, but the hooded mare continued nonetheless. "Getting revenge will not undo what happened, and it will not bring them back. Also, it would be wrong to return such atrocities with more. Getting vengeance by killing you will not satisfy me alone." She explained.
"That being said it has still changed me it has made me stronger and turned me into something you should fear, but in the end, I eventually moved past it. That was until I saw what you had done to the world. You not only took the magic from all living things, but you also took their very essence making them into literal husks. That was something I could not allow to happen, so I have come to end your reign of destruction and decay. In a way I have come for vengeance, but not for my family alone. No, I have come to avenge the entire world for what you did to it. You have destroyed the Harmony that this world was built upon." She said with finality in your voice.
"Harmony? I am harmony incarnate! I am the perfect balance between chaos and order, light an dark, life and death!" She exclaimed, angered by the hooded mare's statement.
"No, you are a sick perversion of Harmony, you have forced chaos and order together in a disgusting vision of balance. You have halted the sun and moon in their tracks so that they both sit on the horizons, forced to share the sky. Life and death have been merged to create walking husks with no sense of self that exist in a never-ending torment! This is not Harmony; this is ordered chaos and chaotic order!" she said while pointing her hoof accusingly at the alicorn. The taller mare looked greatly offended and scowled at the hooded pony. That scowl, however, soon morphed into a wicked smile.
"Is that so? Last I checked your version of Harmony failed. In its place, my Harmony took over. Your "harmony" was flawed and too idealized, and it failed because of it. My Harmony was more realistic was and is enforced. That is why I succeeded on that day, and that is why I will follow up on that success with an even greater victory. On this day I'll finally be complete!" She finished with a wide smile. "Now just roll over and die, it will be over quickly," she said sweetly while before lighting her horn with prismatic magic. She stepped towards the hooded mare who remain still, unfazed. She went to lower horn onto the ponies head.
"NO," The hooded mare's voice boomed and echoed throughout the entire throne room. Her robe flared outward as an insane power exploded forward impacting the grey alicorn. The sound of a massive impact shattered the windows of the throne hall followed by a gigantic ploom of rock and dust shooting out of the now open windows of the castle. When the dust finally settled it reviled that the throne and dais had vanished and in its place was a massive crater in the wall that burrowed deep into the mountain the castle had been built upon.
"My you have gotten stronger," came the voice of the grey alicorn from the newly created hole. "Looks like you have developed your special talent far beyond what it was when we first met. Tell me Twilight Sparkle do you think that you can kill me with this kind of power? If you think so you are sorely mistaken!" her voice reverberated out of the crater followed by the mare herself flying towards Twilight at high speed. Her horn was alight with her prismatic magic with a devastating spell at the ready. "I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT TRULY, DEADLY POWER IS!"
The distance between them seemed to close in an instant before the grey alicorn brought her horn down on the cloaked pony, fully intending to kill her on the spot. That, however, is not what happened. The cloak evaporated revealing a pair of wings and a long spiral horn wrapped in an intense violet aura. The lavender alicorn seemed to grow as an air of regality seemed to surround her. She brought her horn up to meet the grey alicorn's as the grey tyrant released her spell upon the smaller alicorn. Twilight didn't even flinch as she cast her own spell deflecting the attack into the pillars of the throne room. The beam of destructive magic bathed the world with prismatic light as it shot past the horizon and into space. The look of surprise on the grey mare's muzzle quickly vanished as she flew past the purple alicorn, before gracefully flipping and landing on her hooves.
"So, you were holding back too I see, well it's no ma…"
"Shut up Zlamana; I'm tired of hearing you rattle on, you remind me too much of a storybook villain. You talk and talk, and it's rather annoying to listen too. I'm going to kill you and restore Harmony that's the end of it," she punctuated her remark with a mighty flap of her wings that sent her hurtling towards the gobsmacked alicorn. Zlamana wasn't even paying attention as she was slammed with a powerful beam of magic that sent her careening through the castle walls and outside into the city. The grey pony eventually used her wings to catch her self, and when she did, she was enraged. How dare she interrupt me when I'm speaking! She yelled internally. Twilight shot out of the hole that Zlamana had created. Zlamana did not wait to be attacked this time and flew towards the lavender mare with the same intense speed.
This time she was the one who got a hit in as she used her magic to increase her strength followed by twisting and flipping her body to bring her back hooves down violently on the head of the smaller alicorn. Twilight was sent straight down through the ground of the city and out the underside of the support structure and deep into the base of the mountain. Zlamana did not waste time and followed after the Twilight not willing to give her a chance to counter-attack and followed right after her slamming down upon the mare with enough force to send a crack up the mountain face. Using both her hooves and her magic Zlamana continued to beat down on Twilight sending them deeper and deeper into the crust of the planet.
It began to get very hot as the two approached the mantel of the planet. Most mortal creatures would have died long before this point; even the alicorn sisters did not take this long to kill when she fought them, so it was clear that Twilight would need to be dealt with more severely. Zlamana poured more magic into her attacks fully intending to send the smaller mare into the core of the planet. When they reached the mantel, the gray tyrant focused all the power she had been using up to that point into a single powerful blast of magic right into the lavender alicorn. Zlamana was sent back up to the surface by the recoil of the attack, but it had done exactly as she intended. Twilight passed through the mental and outer core within a minute before slamming deep into the inner core.
Back on the surface Zlamana was breathing heavily, trying to wrap her mind around how Twilight Sparkle got so powerful in only twenty short years. It doesn't matter she should be dead now; there is no way she could have survived that last attack. Not with temperatures and pressures of that magnitude. She thought, trying to reassure herself. However, as the minutes passed, she grew worried. Why has her essence not returned to the surface? I had to have killed her right there's no way she surv- Her thoughts were interrupted by a massive tremor that shook the world around her. A loud crack pierced her ears before she turned to the mountain that Canterlot was built on. More, giant cracks began to form on the mountain joining the one she had created when she spiked her opponent into its base. No, impossible! She thought as the mountain exploded.
Huge chunks of rock, dirt, and dust flew out in all directions, undoubtedly some of them being sent into orbit, others being sent over the horizon and into the countryside. Zlamana stared slack-jawed as debris flew past her. She could see where the mountain used to be was a bright violet light. She knew who it was, but did not move, too shocked too and still trying to wrap her head around how much power it would take to destroy a mountain that size. There was a streak of purple and a loud crack. Zlamana felt her chest cave around the hoof that impacted it. Blood shot out of her mouth before she was sent tumbling backward along the ground. She eventually skidded to a stop in the dirt.
She gasped for air as her bones and flesh re-nit, as her healing factor tried to keep her alive. She made me bleed? How! No one has ever done that; not even Discord had the power to do that! No! I've come too close to loose now. I'll have to tap into the full potential of my essence if I don't I risk losing everything! It's worth the risk of losing some of the essences to get the most crucial piece. She thought before she delved deep into her own being.
Twilight had finally landed an effective hit on her opponent. She just needed to keep doing that to push Zlamana into using her stollen essence. If she did that means every time Twilight made her bleed that essence would return to the world. I just have to hope I'm strong enough to harm her in that state. Twilight thought as she approached the grey alicorn ready to deal another devastating blow.
An insanely powerful wave of energy impacted the purple mare as Zlamana was engulfed in a huge sphere of white light. Twilight lost all sense of her surroundings as she was sent into a violent spiral away from her enemy. When she impacted the ground it was not an instant stop; instead, she went tumbling along the ground crashing into and through debris from the mountain she had destroyed moments before. Twilight impacted a particularly large chunk of mountain that finally halted her tumble. She quickly pulled herself off the rock and with a mighty flap of her wings she hurled herself back in the direction she had been thrown from.
In the distance, she could see a colorful pillar of light reaching up into the heavens. Twilight knew full well that Zlamana had tapped into her stolen essence. This was precisely what she was waiting for; the real battle for Harmony was about to begin. The pillar of energy contracted back into its source as Twilight landed before a much different looking Zlamana. Where there was once a mare of two grey tones now stood a white alicorn with a flowing rainbow mane and tail. Zlamana opened her mouth to speak. Not a single word paste her lips as a hoof impacted her jaw.
"What did I say about talking?" Twilight said as her hoof pushed into the jaw of the colorful alicorn. She followed up her physical attack by lighting her horn and firing a wide beam that engulfed the powered up alicorn. Zlamana screamed in agony, a scream that soon turned into one of rage. The larger alicorn retaliated with an explosion of energy that sent the two combatants in opposite directions. Twilight, who had enough of being thrown aside recovered quickly and was instantly upon Zlamana once again.
Twilight grabbed her opponent in her magic and began to throw her around like a rag doll. Zlamana was spun around a few times before she was swung sideways into a boulder at blistering speeds. She was pivoted into the air by the lavender alicorn before being slammed into the ground so hard a kilometer wide and instantly formed a shallow crater. Again she was lifted into the air before being slammed down making the creator deeper. Again and again, she was lifted into the air and slammed into the ground. The crater that had started out being merely five meters deep was now well over a hundred. Yet, Twilight did not slow, she did not waver, for she would not stop until her opponent literally bleeds Harmony back into the world.
Finally, after what felt like the thousandth impact it finally happened. Zlamana, in her empowered form, practically a goddess, coughed up blood onto the grey dead ground of the crater. Where her blood seeped into the lifeless soil green sprung up. Grass quickly began to spread outwards filling the crater and out to the rest of the world. Twilight had returned grass to the world through the blood of her enemy. She still wasn't done, no Zlamana had to bleed for all the sins she had committed, and Twilight was going to make that happen. Once more Zlamana was lifted into the air, but this time she was not slammed back down. No, this time she was sent high into the chaotic sky. Twilight poured her magic into a new spell, and the magic took on a form; a long, violet blade that hummed with divine energy. A might wing flap later, and she joined her enemy in the chaotic sky.
Green and red clouds swirled around them violently; reflecting the battle between the two alicorns. A lavender blade swung powerfully through the air before it met divine flesh, which it cut through with ease. Blood poured out of the large laceration in the barrel of the vibrant alicorn before a cry of agony escaped Zlamana's throat. Twilight frowned at her opponent's cry of pain. I'm tormenting her too much, despite her sins; not even she deserves suffering, and I'm no better for inflicting it upon her. Twilight thought to herself. I must finish this, but I will not take her life. I will give you a chance at redemption despite her wrongdoings.
Blood stopped pouring out as Zlamana's flesh knitted back together. Twilight dispelled her weapon before once more grabbing onto Zlamana with her magic once more. Around them, the sky shifted into a gradient of orange to blue from the light of the sun as it stretched onto the moon's half of the sky respectively. Twilight reached into Zlamana's being searching her for the stolen essence. The alicorn squirmed as the more powerful alicorn invaded her mind and soul. Twilight searched for two specific essences: the sun and moon. In her time away she learned that she was supposed to inherit the responsibility of guiding the two celestial bodies.
She found it; the two powerful forces that commanded the bodies that brought day and night were hidden deep in Zlamana's soul. Twilight grabbed hold of the essence and puled. Zlamana let out a gasp as her connection to the sun and moon was violently ripped from her. Twilight took the power of the sun and moon into her own soul. She sucked in a deep breath as they fused with soul signifying that she was destined to inherit this power. Zlamana's mane lost much of its color, and her coat became slightly more grey.
"Please s-stop," the mare begged, as tears began to leak from her eyes. Twilight frowned sympathetically at her enemy. Zlamana had been so confident minutes before, and now she looked like a scared foal.
"I'm sorry, but there is more pain I must inflict to return harmony to the world," she apologized as her horn lit up with white light. A narrow beam fired from the tip of the lavender alicorn's horn and pierced Zlamana's chest. Energy began to flow back into the world, as the husks of the land regained life or turned to dust to finally rest in peace. For the first time in a very long time, the world was filled with Harmony. Twilight had succeeded she had avenged the world for what had happened to it, but she was not done.
Zlamana shrunk as her stolen power returned from where it came, and her coat returned to its original grey. Zalman's body continued to regress as her cries became that of a foal. Finally Twilight pulled out five unique essences. Five virtues she knew all too well.
"I could kill you, I could kill the mare that destroyed the world, but seeing you now and how you are just a foal along with my own belief system I will not. Instead, I will give you a second chance." Twilight said as she returned to the ground holding the now infant Zlamana. A breeze blew through her mane before she turned away to look at the now restored world. Plants swayed in the wind as animals began to return to their lives after there long slumber as husks. "I would be no better if I killed you in the name of my version of harmony as you did; I'm better than that." She turned back to the motionless foal in her grasp. "Despite how much you hurt me I forgive you. And as part of that forgiveness, I will gift you with these five virtues. I'm doing this out of my generosity," as she said this the purple essence returned to Zlamana. "I will raise you with kindness as if you were my own. "The pink essence returned to the foal. "I will teach you to be honest with yourself," the orange essence this time. "I'll show you how to be loyal to both yourself and those you value most," the red essence. "And finally I'll be sure that your days will be filled with joy and laughter," the finale essence, blue, joined with the alicorn foal.
A minute passed, and finally, the foal opened her colorful eyes and looked upon the large mare before her with curiosity. She had no memory of what had just transpired or what she had done. She had been given a second chance.
"You are redeemed… Życie," Twilight said as, for the first time in over twenty years, smiled. Życie stared up at the mare for a few seconds before she giggled and reached out to, who she saw as, her mother. The lavender alicorn nuzzled her new daughter affectionately. "The future is unknown, but I will do my best to make sure it's bright for both of us. That I promise you," she said as happy tears flowed down her cheeks, for on this day the broken mare had been redeemed, both of them had.
END
Author's Note
For those who are curious Zlamana is the Polish word for Broken and Życie is the polish word for Life. As many of you can tell Julunis is having an influence on me.
Also a bit of reference for height; Twilight is about as tall as Luna in this and Zlamana is a good foot taller than Celestia.
Also, remember this was just me practicing with wrighting big fight scenes, there isn't meant to be much in terms of narrative or character development.
