“Never thought that I would ever hate myself so much. But here I am, and really, I kinda deserve all of it. Seriously, something is so completely wrong with me. I mean, why did I ever think this was a good idea? If something happens, it’ll be sorely because I am the universe’s greatest fool and totally deserving of all this shit.” This and many, many different iterations made up Sunny Flare’s thought and word as she was trying to sneak between the trees around her.

In truth, this had never been a good idea, and she had known that. However, the reason why she was here were twofold. First and foremost, in a way, this was her mistake and thus she had to assist in fixing it.

There was also the unavoidable fact that lifes were at stake. And as much as Sunny Flare wanted to believe that she always would have taken an opportunity to try and save people, her very own brush with a life-threatening force had made her jump at the chance to avoid a similar situation to end far worse for others then what had happened with her.

Twilight.

They had seen her a couple of times as she had driven them to this place. It had seemed so sporadic, how Twilight would just appear and then vanish again. She sincerily hoped that they had not been spotted, it was too difficult to tell since she had been driving very fast and rather reckless. No accidents, but only pure luck had kept them away from any police car.

Not that the officials were the biggest problem right now.

It was worrying. How full of rage and hatred the young girl had been. Ready to attack someone with a scalpel, very likely intending it to end lethally. That it was Twilight Sparkle made things only worse. The akward, bookish nerd was almost famous for not being able to stand for herself, nevermind actually hurting someone. And yet… things had apparently changed.

And now, she had seemed to absorb some sort of magic. Sunny wasn’t so scientific to immediately deny such a thing from being possible. Her recent personal experience certainly dispelled any actual doubt to what she was dealing with, especially since the red one of these two strange women had very quickly explained what the situation was.

Sunny Flare ducked lower to the ground as she heard Twilight’s angry cursing right ahead. For better or for, more likely, worse, she had found her. Thus, step one was partially completed.

Step 1: Find Twilight before she does any more damage.

Pecking around a tree she could see the purple student straighten herself. If her choice of curse words were any help, she still had trouble getting her teleporting-schtick correctly. Good for them. Still muttering angrily, Twilight stormed onwards into the forest, Sunny trailing her as best as she could. They must be close to whatever her target was.

Sunny wished the other two girls would be beside her. Following a maniac equipped with magic was not something that she wanted to do alone. Sure, the others were supposed to be to her left and right respectively, with enough distance between them to quickly run for help but still reduce detectibility. It still left her feeling alone, following a pissed off magician, or whatever she should call the would-be-scientist.

Said scientist was either a really good actor or terrible at noticing anything around herself, Sunny mused as her foot accidentally hit another branch with a crack of old wood, causing her to duck back into cover. But Twilight did not seem to care at all. She just continued to walk forward.

They were getting close, if the angry rambling was any indication. Meant that she had reached the pissed off newtime-magician just in the nick of time.

So then, onto step two.

This is probably the worst day in my entire life, Sunny Flare thought, closing her eyes for a moment and breathing once. Then she stood up straight, stepped out into the open and raised her voice.

“Twilight. Enough of this.” The reaction was immediate, as the purple girl turn towards her like a released springlock. There was confussion clearly visible, but only for as long until it was drowned out by the girl’s resurfacing hatred.

“I thought I took care of you already.” She snarled. Her hands and arms started to glow through the skin again as the magic filled them. Sunny tensed her body, preparing to throw herself to the left should her opponont attempt another blast at her. “No matter. This is good, actually. Now I can do things a bit more proper. So thank you for saving me all the trouble.”

Slowly, Twilight raised her right hand, before stopping it halfway. The air around it visibly rippled, before sparks of fire and lightning started to dance around it. Twilight cocked her head and seemed to ponder something, though to Sunny it came across as disgenuine and extremely mockingly. Tensing like a spring, she gritted her teeth.

“Ah but what to do? I mean, there are so many good options.” Twilight asked out loud into the forest, as several different elements coiled around her outstretched limb after one another in a worryingly proficient display of arcane might. Or, for Sunny, a simple, terrifying display of supernatural and quite lethal power.

Old leaves and little twigs crunched as Twilight took a casual step forward, causing Sunny to immediately take one backwards. It took all her determination and focus to not just bolt away into the trees. But she had to stick to the plan. The others would have to be getting very close by now, ready to intervene.

Step 2: Bait Twilight and distract her.

“Oh, oh-ho-ho!” The crazed young scientist laughed. “Now you’re afraid of me? Little ol’ me, puny meeky Twily, who just happens to have found a great new energy source?”

The cyan-skinned girl did not answer at first, taking another, very careful step backwards. Her ears were strained for any sound that would confirm that her two partners were already here. Meanwhile her mind desperately tried to think of something that she could say to Twilight to further stall her.

“Enough of this now. I think I got the perfect thing just for you, Sunny!” Twilight snarled. Her arms snapped out towards the target of her ire, immediately alight as the magical power was flowing through them in full force.

A beam of light zapped from her fingers. Luckily, Sunny had been prepared to dodge, able to narrowly escape the shot. She did not look behind her to see what this strangely solid light did, keeping her eyes on the actual threat right in front of her. The sound of wood melting and cracking told her enough.

“Nevermind!” Twilight yelled almost happily, pushing forward a hand that she clenched into a fist.

This time, Sunny Flare almost reacted too late as she dove to the side again. A loud crack sounded through the orchards, as an invisible force crushed into an empty space.

Barely able to keep herself on her own limbs, as displaced air rushed past her and threatened to push her down, Sunny sprinted forward in a mad dash. Her heart was immediately pounding in her head with the force of a jackhammer.

She didn’t make it far as suddenly patches of grass and dirt were flung upwards, and Sunny herself was flung up with them. There was no time for her to realize the terrible situation, feeling this unseen yet immensly powerful force yanking her upwards, tearing at her cloths and skin.

CRACK!

The impact was enough to break the branch off the entire tree. A loud and extremely pained cry echoed through the air as Sunny’s back exploded into agony. It had struck her at her waist, though mercifully not directly on her spine.

The tree branch fell heavily to the ground only for it to freeze right next to the girl. Then everything slowly floated downwards, coming to stop only a few feet above the ground, right before the purple student.

Twilight had her hands outstretched with splayed fingers, angled as if she was holding a sizeable object between them. An almost shark-like grin was etched into her features as she looked at the limb and groaning figure, suspended in mid-air between a tree branch and dirt.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I guess I put in a little bit too much of an effort.” One hand turned to face upwards, flames starting to crackle around her fingers. “You’re quite loud you know? Don’t worry, I have just the right idea to cur-“

The manic scientist was forcefully cut off as a blur slammed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Her concentration was broken almost instantly, releasing the badly hurt Sunny Flare from the telekinetic grip, just as two strong fuchsia arms wrapped around Twilight’s throat and arms in an attempt to restrain her.

Aria spoke no words as she struggled against the young girl beneath her. Her gem glowed aggressively underneath her clothes as she latched onto Twilight’s magical reserves.

Immediately the purple girl began to scream as if she was being tortured, struggling desperately as she felt her newfound power being leeched away. Wildly, almost like an animal, she swung around her hands as best she could, unable to access the might she had at her fingertips just seconds ago.

A figure rushed past them. Dawn tried her best to ignore the blood-curdling cries as she ran to the limb form of Sunny Flare. Dragging one arm over her shoulder she started to carry her away from the struggle behind her. She wanted to help, but Aria had been clear in her orders.

Behind her, Twilight had managed to give just enough space for her head to move and immediately used this opportunity to sink her teeth into Aria’s arm. The siren responded by driving her fist into the young student’s stomach, again and again, in an effort to get her to release her own limb. And during all this, even though she almost wavered, she still kept siphoning from Twilight’s magic.

Finally, Twilight released her teeth from the fuchsia skin, only to snap her head back, aiming for the one behind her. Instead, she found another spot.

Aria’s concentration was shattered as her gem was hit, her breath rushing out of her chest in one strangled gasp. Her quarry immediately felt her magical might returning to her command.

Without much thinking, she pressed on hand flat against the earthy ground, catapulting her and her assailant upwards towards the trees. With another cracking sound, Aria was slamming through several tree branches until they met one too thick to break against them.

Twilight felt the arms around her lose their strength to hold on. Her satisfaction was limited however, as gravity began to assert itself once more. Just mere moments before hitting the hard ground herself, her hands shot up. Energy coursed through her veins and exited her body as small yet strong flames. It seemed to work, as the young student hit the ground with nowhere near as much force as she would have.

Still, it took her a couple of seconds to stand up and catch her breath, before she began to scan the area around her. Aria was nowhere to be seen. However, she could make out the forms of Dawn Fire and Sunny Flare running away from her. Twilight smiled cruely, taking off after them.

Dawn had been focused on the way in front of her, weighed down by the extra body hanging onto her, which was why she noticed the sounds of crackling electricity only when it was too late.

The lightning bolt hit them with enormous force, slamming both girls on the ground and leaving them as spasming on the ground. The smell of burnt cloth began to fill the area, as Twilight casually walked towards the two struck forms in the grass. Her cold eyes wondered over Sunny’s twitching form, displeasure showing on her face.

“Damn, didn’t really pack that much power then I thought.” Planting one foot on the girl’s back she raised her hands, electricity once again darting between her fingers. So transfixed was she on the body beneath her that she failed to the notice the other one shakingly arising from the ground. “But that just means that I’ll have to keep experiementing. I will get it right so-“

Her word was cut short as a cardinal red fist slammed first into her stomach, followed by a second one connecting with her cheeck. Twilight was driven off Sunny’s back by the force of the double impact, stumbling across the ground as she managed to maintain her balance.

With a snarl she turned towards the girl charging her again. With unnatural speed her own hands snapped upwards, swatting the incoming attacker away with a telekenetic push. Then her hands curled into fists, and with sparks flying they were engulfed by flames. Immediately Dawn brought distance between them, causing Twilight to rush after her.

Her fiery fists cut through the air, the first blow meant for her opponent’s stomach missing as the red girl managed to jump backwards in time. More flaming strikes went out, their target only barely dodging them again and again. But Twilight’s assault was not without thought, as Dawn learned when her back hit the hard bark of a tree. Even with the jolt of pain from her recently aquired burn mark on her back, she could retain enough focus to see the two burning fists hurtling towards her.

Reacting on instinct, her own hands meeting Twilight’s and locking them in a grapple. The young student’s malicious grin froze in confusion as her opponent held against her. There was no cry of pain, not even a strained face, despite the hot fire engulfing now both of their hands. Instead, Dawn fought against the purple girl’s own strength, slowly but surely pushing her back.

Before Twilight could break the sudden stalemate, an unearthly screech pierced the air, physically slamming into the crazed scientist and carrying her several feet before she meet the ground, dragging a long grove after her.

Dawn looked after, before turning to the source of the screech when her name sounded.

“Dawn! Get her out of here!” Aria yelled as she ran past her friend as fast as the limb on her right leg allowed it.

“No, I’m helping you! We’ll take her together!” Dawn argued fiercely.

“You help me by staying out of my way so I don’t have to worry about you!” Aria all but snarled, eyes kept forward as Twilight was already getting up again. “You don’t have anything to throw against her, so GET AWAY!”

Punching into the air towards them, Twilight released a powerful blast of telekenetic force again, which was met by another of Aria’s screech. Leaves were ripped of nearby trees as the blast was forefully broken up and released into the air.

“Dawn. Please, go, now.” There was something in Aria’s voice that had never been there since Dawn had met her. Ice-cold focus. A calm but sharp tone. She backed away, pulling Sunny off the ground and over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Risking a short glance over her other shoulder she ran as fast as possible away from the fight.

Twilight stared with narrowed eyes against her opposition. She could see the ripples around Aria, the distortion in the air caused by small sonic waves. In fact, she could sense them. But she also knew that Aria was not really that powerful, not anymore. With as much energy as she had, accidentally mayhaps, taken from the woman, there should be enough left to overpower this strange woman. She just had to avoid getting her newfound power leeched away again.

Her arms reached out once again, this time grasping two of the thicker apple trees. Her arms went luminescent, pulsing heavily as she strained and ripped them out of the ground with most of the roots. Aria immediately started to charge her running between the trees with apparently little concern to them. Twilight flexed her fingers, and the trees were suddenly alight with fire, before hurtling themselves against the running siren.

With a loud crash the two burning trunks met in the air, shattering branches and falling to the ground heavily, but they had missed their target by a wide margin. Already planning her next attack, Twilight dropped to one knee.

Keeping her eyes locked on her enemy, she began to pound the ground with her fists. If she’d be of clearer mind, she would have wondered why such motions were even necessary for the casting, if they were at all, or maybe she would be concerened that she had a suprisingly good control and instinctive use over this magic.

Aria had only a moment to react as ice spikes shot out of the ground. The first one almost got her, but the ones after that she managed to dodge. She weaved through between them, not even getting a scratch but closing distance at great speed.

The moment she got too close, Twilight stopped her pounding to face her upright. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled a plume of fire like a dragon into the ice spikes, quickly melting them into water. She only stopped once her own breath ran out, but before she could scan for remains of her foe, a strong impact pushed her head into the dirt. Aria used Twilight’s head like a stepping stone, landing behind her and rolling off the rest of her leap’s momentum.

Quickly turning she prepared to stun her opponent with another cry. Just as the scream formed in her throat and was released, Twilight shot a haphazard bolt of lighting towards her. Both attacks went through eachother, hitting their target full on. Yet where Twilight’s bolt showed instant effect, sending Aria to her knees as electricity locked up her limbs, the scream was cut short and thus its effect minimized.

Twilight felt herself not able to move for a moment, before it began to lessen already and she managed to push it off and stand up. Aria was not able to recover as fast, trying to make her mouth work but only emitting stutters and cut up words.

With an angry scream, Twilight wrenched her off the ground and threw her straight behind her, through the trees.

The exact direction that Dawn had also made her escape into. And, as chance would have it, the direction from which they had originally been running from.

Dawn noticed this when she heard a loud crash behind her. Soon, a new screech she knew belonged to Aria and the following sound of splintering woods reached her ears, though they suddenly concerningly close to her. Pushing onwards she ran out into a clearing.

In the middle was a single tree, bigger then the rest of the ochard, with a sizable tree house just a few feet off the ground level.

Yet she had little time to take in the sight as new sounds of combat echoed behind her. Just as she had decided to keep going, Aria ran onto the clearing behind her, throwing herself to the right to dodge several icicles that embedded themselves into the rough dirt.

Rolling to a crouch, Aria let loose a shout like a rifle shot, sending a shockwave that threw up dirt, dust and leaves like a smokecloud into the ochard.

“We should split up, maybe-“ Her order was cut short as flames burst through the impromptu smoke cover, moving in a wide area and clearing much of the debris. Aria immediately went behind one of the thicker trees while Dawn tried to increase distance to the treeline.

Jumping out of cover, Aria was surprised by a new blast of telekenetic force, this one crashing into her from above, driving her into the earth and pressing a crater into the ground. Twilight stepped out from between the burning trees, her eyes fixated on where her opponent had just disappeared into. Her luminescent hands weaved through the air, willing the dirt to move over the whole, sealing it. With two fists Twilight pressed the loose material firm, leaving a relatively stable patch of dirt behind.

“Right, now to you two.” She said, turning to the fleeing girls. “Absconding, are we? No, no that won’t do.”

Dawn screamed out in pain as an invisbile force closed around her, ripping her backwards in the air while also threatening to crush her. Sunny was similarly pulled back, groaning as she weakly flailed around.

“D-don’t do this…” The red girl managed to speak out between her teeth clenched through the pain, as she came to a stop hovering over Twilight. Her limbs felt like they were all pulled backwards and in different directions.

The crazed student however stared at her with cold eyes and malicious intent. “Oh, like you are in any position to tell me what to do. I went here for you, but now you try to stop me! Can’t trust anyone these days.” She smiled smugly, increasing the crushing pressure on Dawn. “Good thing that I don’t have to trust people anymore. I have these wonderful powers! Should be enough to do what needs to be done alone. Starting here!”

The purple girl now put her eyes on Sunny Flare, taking a couple of steps towards the hovering girl. Fire once again engulfed her hand, making the cyan student whimper weakly. Reaching out, her victim rotated in the air so that her head came ever close to the flaming hand. Sunny’s own hands were dragged away to free her mouth, which was also forced open. Twilight prepared to exact her punishment-

“I-it w-o-n’t ma-ke y-ou h-ap-py.” She stopped, then turned her head slowly towards the croaked words. The hold on Dawn had lessened in strength, though the red girl still had to power through her pain to bring these words out.

“What. Did you. Just say?” Twilight’s words were quiet. Yet still her focus was entirely on Dawn now, dropping Sunny to the floor unceremoniously. So narrowed on the floating red girl was she that she didn’t even notice something breaking through the nearby ground and dragging itself out of a hole in the dirt.

“R-revenge won’t h-elp you…” Dawn pressed out. Her eyes had trouble to stay open, yet she tried to look into Twilight’s. Tears were trickling down her cheeks. “Yo-u’ll n-ever be happ-y. P-please, stop a-and f-forgi-“

The last word was the final straw.

“SHUT UP!” Twilight screamed. Her hands twisted and she pulled them apart as if she was ripping something.

Bones were broken with loud, ugly sounds, mixed with Dawn’s tortured sreeches. Then she was brutally smashed into the ground. Her arms, mangled and shattered beyond repair, twitched as she tried to move through the pain, but it was impossible. The same was for her legs.

“DAWN!” Twilight snapped to Aria, who had just stood up after crawling out of her temporary prison. The lightning summoned to the student’s hands was dissipated as an earsplitting screech ripped into her body. Cloth tore and cuts formed on her skin as blood trickled out of her ears.

Gasping for breath, Twilight had barely time to formulate a response before the next attack hit her, then the next and the next. She fell to one knee, now bleeding from more than a dozen small wounds.

Aria was walking towards her, her crimson eyes filled with murder and a lust for blood. It was the first time that Twilight was actually scared this day, especially since she had absorbed the energy. The next attack was met a blast of telekenetic force, which only succeeded on weakening the effect but not able to prevent it.

However, Aria also did not have the capability to sustain such a series of attacks, this far into the fight after having a large chunk of her reserves be siphoned away. Thus, the delay between each blast grew more and more and the force grew ever weaker.

Twilight, wounded though she was, was not yet defeated. Slamming one hand on the ground, she let a pillar of fire burst from where Aria had just stood. The siren immediately dodged to the right, but her attacks were now interrupted.

The purple student sent out another telekinetic grip, however this one was almost instantly hit by another blast which dissipated the magic quickly. Thinking on her feet, Twilight summoned multiple ice spikes from the ground to try and skewer Aria.

The nimble girl once again danced between them, even faster and more aggressively as the first time. Then, a ring of these spikes burst around Twilight just as she was about to reach the crazed girl. Aria jumped onto the outer side as the spikes grew out of the ground before swinging on and over them…

Right into a prepared blast of force, knocking her upwards into the air.

Twilight stretched her hands upwards, ripping one of the larger ice pillars out of the ground. Timing it almost perfectly, she swung it like a bat, sending Aria flying straight through the wooden wall and into the tree house.

Looking around her arms glowed stronger yet again as she gathered the fires around her, before sending them against the wooden structure. Immediately the flames caught on and started to consume it.

“And just stay down this time…” She grumbled angrily. Then she looked around before letting her eyes fall on Sunny Flare again, who was trying to sit up with great difficulty. “Alright. Where were we? Ah yes.”

Not far from her, Dawn was lying on the ground. Her limbs stuck out at angles that would make many people nauseous at the sight alone. They hurt her like hell, numbing her mind with all the pain. Only ragged, forced breaths and the occasional twitch when she fruitlessly tried to move showed that there was still life within the red-skinned girl.

It felt like she was underwater, barely able to breath, with everything muted and filtered. Even so she still recognized Twilight’s voice moving away from her. With great pain, she slowly lifted her head. Her sight was extremely blurry, fading in and out, yet with all the focus she could muster she saw the crazed girl casually walking towards the other student.

Then it changed.

She wasn’t in an apple orchard anymore. No. She was… in a building.

And Twilight was not there either. In her stead was a girl in a dress, a crown on her head. Her skin was amber instead of purple. Her hair was fiery. Yet the eyes stayed the same.

Hungry for power. Driven mad because of it.

Underneath it… wounded. Lost.

Alone.

She was in the Orchard again. Her mind was playing tricks on her. Did that mean that she was dying?

Everything changed once more, like the first time it was a flash, both places, both girls overlapping. Everytime, they blended more and more together.

Dawn tried to move, to do something to stop Twilight. But it was useless. She was useless. Broken.

The images flickered together constantly now. Then the amber girl started to change. Her skin deepened to a fleshy red tone. Her hair grew and started to float, revealing two bat-like wings that were growing out of her back. The entire figure started get taller, setting her more apart from the smaller Twilight. A tail sprouted, along with claws and fangs.

Yet the eyes didn’t change. Both still held the same anger, the lust for power, for magic. The same brokeness.

Dawn fought with all her might, yet the only thing she managed was to drive even more pain through her limbs. She had to stop this somehow. Otherwise, Twilight would do something that she would regret for the rest of her life.

She had to do something. If not then…

…then Twilight would make the same mistake she had almost done herself.

She couldn’t let another person fall down into the spiral of petty revenge. She owed it to Twilight.

She owed it to everybody.

Her left arm felt like it was stuck in molten magma, yet she strained it to the limit. Finally it moved, falling onto the grass. She screamed, but with her throat ravaged from all her previous cries, it came out as a hoarse whimper. The grass felt slick between her fingers, was it her blood? Did she finally ripped every bone loose from eachother?

Dawn didn’t care to think about it. Through the torment she focused on getting to Twilight and stopping this madness. Her left hand clutched the grass and, with burning muscles, it pulled.

One good thing about her torture here, Dawn was very quickly learning to bite through the pain. She couldn’t drag herself far with only one hand, but she was making progress.

Then, with similar effort, she slammed her other arm onto the ground, ignoring the pain in favor of dragging her body forward with both hands. Her pace picked up accordingly. With each pull, her arms managed to reach just a bit farther ahead, grasp with just a bit more strength.

The spot where she had crumbled down was soon behind her, just a patch of pressed down grass and upset earth. There was no blood.

Not anymore.

So ignorant, so accustomed to the constant pain had Dawn grown so quickly, she failed to notice it lessening. Her focus was solely on Twilight, and her wish to prevent the young girl from completely falling into the powerdriven madness.

One of her legs twitched as it was dragged along. It moved, unfocused and sloppy, before finally getting its foot on the ground. Then it pressed upwards.

Twilight was standing before Sunny Flare. Exhaustion was making itself known, she was somehow aware that her energy reserves were drastically depleted. She still had a good amount, but not nearly as much as even just fifteen minutes earlier.

In front of her, Sunny Flare stared back. The young student had regained enough strength to stand, albeit be it very wobbly. Her eyes were surprisingly not filled with hatred like her counterpart’s had been. Instead, she showed simple sadness. Behind her the treehouse was falling apart. The side facing them was quickly consumed by the flames, causing the other half to lose its stability and crush onto the ground. Luckily, any additional screams meant it had probably been empty.

“Twilight. I’m sorry.” Sunny said genuinely. “I know it sounds empty, after all this shit, but I mean it.”

The purple scientist just stood there, processing the answer before giving a weak laugh. It did not hold as much malice as before, giving Sunny a small piece of hope. “That’s a bit too late now, don’t you think?”

Twilight gestured around the ravaged orchard. In the distance, she could very faintly hear a dog barking wildly. “I won’t just turn back now, Sunny. I can’t stop and not do this to the end.”

“That is bullshit, Twilight.” Sunny replied, this time with more determination. “You cannot? What should stop you? It’s a choice, not a must!”

“I really don’t want to discuss philosophy right now.” Twilight once more fired up her hands. “Any last words?”

Sunny stared at her for a second, then she leaned her head slightly to peak behind the purple scientist. “I have not a single idea about all that happened today. Maybe I’m just hallucinating, but I gotta say…”

Although she was tired, she smiled. “…that’s disgusting, but kinda dope.”

Twilight frowned, confused. Her curiosity got the better of her and she turned to look behind herself, even as a part of her mind screamed to not fall for this obvious trick.

Said part was silenced as she saw Dawn standing behind her, almost within arms reach.

The flames around her hands spiked immediately as she whipped around, blasting them right into Dawn. But where it singed and burned at the red girl’s cloths, her skin was not affected. She simply braved the rush of flames like a strong gust of wind, stretching her arms towards Dawn.

Twilight cut the fire, now in a complete panic, and backed away horrified. One hand shot out and blasted Dawn’s right arm with powerful force, breaking the shoulder with a hearable impact.

But Dawn just ignored it. She rolled her shoulder, which emitted a horrible mixture of slithering and cracking sounds before jerking, and then it moved like nothing had been broken at all.

“W-w-what is this!?” Twilight stammered. She continued to stumble backwards when suddenly Sunny pushed into her back, sending the smaller girl forward and straight into Dawn.

Cardinal red arms wrapped around her as Dawn held the young scientist in a hug. She sank to her knees, dragging the other girl with her.

“I know what you’re going through.” She whispered. “You’re angry. Wanting to lash out against those that wronged you, who stiffled your growth and kept you down. You want to feel powerful. But this is not the way. This magic, it cannot help you in a way that will change this for the better, not now atleast.”

Twilight struggled, trying desperately to escape, but then she felt something behind her. Sunny knelt down beside them, leaning her own forehead against Dawn’s shoulder and putting one arm over each of the other girl’s backs.

“Please, just let it go. There are better ways to do it. Let me help you.” They both felt their magic touching. Twilight was scared, while Dawn grasped out. The purple student felt a tug and then a strong pull inside; it was pulling away at her magic. But unlike when Aria had tried something similar, this time it was less painful.

Atleast in the literal sense. She wanted to struggle, as she felt her power leaving her. It was almost like pain, becoming weaker and weaker, the warmth of this new energy being siphoned out of her body.

But right here, held by two girls she had hurt, even tried to kill, only for them to embrace and wanting to help her…

Her anger, sustained by all the accumulated pain and expressed by her destructive wrath, started to fade finally.

Her hatred, concentrated after years and years of bullying and stiflement in her school, it lost its focus.

It both left her, exposing what lay underneath the shy yet curios girl.

A lonely soul.

So, it all flowed out of her.

Her anger.

Her hate.

Her bitterness.

Her tears.

Her powers.

And as the last remains of her magic was softly taken, only young Twilight Sparkle remained.

Slow, heavy feet approached the hugging trio as the last of the quiet sobs began to subside. They stopped just short of them, still unnoticed. Akwardly, she coughed.

“I… I think we should go.” Aria said. Her face was half covered in blood, baked to her skin by the fire. Her once beautiful hair was now dirty, singed and frazzled, quite a bit of it lost in the fight. Her clothes were only slightly better then Dawn’s, though the siren had carried significantly more surface injuries. Such as burns, lots of burns.

Sunny seperated herself from the small group hug, shakingly getting to her feet and holding her still hurting back. Dawn followed. Instead of helping Twilight to stand too she wordlessly hoisted the young girl up in her arms.

Twilight did not seem to mind. Her eyes were almost shut, a few tears still staining her cheeks. She remained silent and lost.

“Come on, let’s get a move on.” Aria said, waving them away from the path of destruction wrought through the forest. “I can already hear someone running towards here. Don’t feel like arguing right now.”

The rest followed her into the woods as fast as they could, which was surprisingly quick for Dawn, who put on a slow jog even while carrying another person.

Sunny on the other hand could only manage a slightly faster limb, until Aria stopped beside her and helped steady the student. Together they made their exit into the trees.

Silence filled the living room of Aria’s house. All four occupants were sitting on the sofa or on the ground, leaning against it to sit comfortably. The atmosphere was gloomy, slightly tense, all occupants still recovering and coming down from a brutal battle just an hour ago.

It reminded Dawn about the night when she had attacked her siren friend. A depressing comparison.

Aria was slowly making a round, inspecting every single one of them for injuries and administering treatment with what was available in the house. Luckily, they had stocked up on emergency medical supplies since the last fight. Dawn had refused when the siren had wanted to start with her, quietly arguing for the two newcomers to be treated first.

They all had carried injuries from the last hour, though luckily nothing greater than small cuts and wounds as well as some burns and heavy bruises. The problem was that Sunny lacked any magical means to compensate for any taken damage, be it resilience or a sudden healing factor, so even though she had theoratically taken the lightest punishment, she suffered the most from it.

Twilight on the other hand could thank the abundant magical energy for not suffering any real damage in the fight, as it had been able to reduce and partially regenerate most of her injuries to a non-severe point. However, when the absorbed energy had been taken away again it left her feeling weak and unsteady.

Now they sitting were on opposite ends of the couch, listening as Aria checked them up.

And Dawn told them. She spoke about Equestria; she told them what she and Aria truly were, creatures considered mythical in this world. She explained magic, what it meant in her world and now in this one. This was puntcuated when Aria started to sing a wordless, quiet song. Soon enough, they could all feel a cozy warmth spreading over their skin, helping in mending the numerous small cuts and bruises they had suffered, while bigger injuries lessened in pain.

But Dawn did not stop there. Once more in the span of only a couple of days, she recounted her journey to this world, leading to her rebirth as Dawn Fire. After that Aria took the lead as she finished applying gauze and bandages to Twilight’s injuries. In only a few, short sentences she explained the deal she had made with the young would-be scientist to get to Anon-A-Miss. How she had offered Twilight a means of revenge against her bullies and fueled that desire whenever she could.

While Sunny Flare listened to everything with wide eyes and complete attention, the purple girl turned her face away to hide the guilt on her face. There was no anger left in her to direct towards the siren. Only the knowledge that she had herself be manipulated to comit such actions as she did today.

For her part, Dawn took in Aria’s side of the story with as neutral an expression as she could manage. Just like Twilight, she wasn’t angry even though she should have been.

She should not have been too surprised that Aria would go behind her back, maybe she should even have anticipated it. Afterall, she knew what sirens were, what their nature dictated. But she also knew her friend. Aria was aware of what she had caused, this realization and the drive to fix it had become apparent when she had duelled Twilight. Even after all this, Dawn trusted her.

It was all too late now anyway. Now, they had to focus on the two students sitting in their house and what to do with them.

“…and well, the rest you know.” Aria ended her short explanation, sitting down next to Dawn and folding her hands. Silence followed.

“So uhm… this new, weird magic thing inside you.” Sunny Flare eventually asked, though she obviously felt not completely comfortable talking. Wether that was because of her question or the still tense atmosphere in the room mattered little. “That was why you could… unbreak your arms?”

“I think so. It’s, well we don’t know much about it. It might not even be the same thing, we don’t know yet.” Dawn replied, rubbing her forearms. Under her hands, the skin moved with the fingers but failed to smooth itself out at a normal pace, instead it stayed for a couple of seconds in place before returning slowly to a smooth surface. It felt like kneading dough.

She tried her best to simply ignore it. “Which was why we wanted to return to our world. To try and learn about it, so that I could control it better. Because, my limbs still feel strange after… you know what happened. I may have gotten extremely lucky that no bad side effects came out of it.”

Sunny Flare nodded dumbly, not even knowing how to take that response. She had just sprung to the first question that fell into her mind out of an effort to say something. Now she was quiet again. Then, to everyone’s surprise, Twilight spoke up in a quiet voice.

“So, you are going to leave?”

Dawn and Aria exchanged looks, worry and uncertainty present in both. “Well, that was the original plan.”

“When?” The young student asked.

“Sometime soon.”

“Alright.” Without another word, Twilight stood up and walked towards the front door.

Nobody tried to stop her as she left the room, until Sunny scrambled to her feet and went after her as quickly as she could. She was able to catch Twilight right in front of the door.

“Twilight?!”

The girl swirled around in a sudden burst of anger and raised her voice against her schoolmate. “Go away! You never cared about me, so just leave me alone already!”

Sunny took an involuntary step back at those hard words. For a moment her body tensed up as if it was expecting another attack, to be slammed around like a puppet by Twilight’s magic. Only she had no magic anymore.

“T-twilight I… Y-you are right. But, p-please listen to me! Just let me ask, I… was terrified, when you held all that power and when you almost… did, did you feel like this, whenever we tormented you?”

“No. Only when someone actually threatened me, and that was barely necessary.” Twilight spat back, but her voice lacked the venom to give her words a strong enough edge. She turned away again as she felt another tear build up in her eyes. “I just felt alone, and depressed, and angry.”

“Then please! Please, let me just try to make up for it! I know you have not a single reason to trust me and what I am saying, but I just-“ Sunny hesitantly reached forward with a hand to hold the young scientist by the shoulder, but was shrugged off. With the same motion, the door was wrenched open.

“Really! Sunny, just spare yourself the effort. Why would you do anything for me?” Twilight said bitterly and walking out, leaving behind a stunned Sunny Flare. It was because she had already turned away that Twilight could not see the tears falling down from the other girl’s eyes.

“I… I just want to help… please.” She said softly. But Twilight was already too far away to hear her.

It was however not too far away for her voice to carry back into the living room and the two magical beings sitting there.

“This is a mess.” Aria said, rubbing her forehead while staring tiredly at the floor.

“Mhm.”

“You’re alright, Dawn?” The red girl was staring after the two students with sadness in her eyes. In her mind she was not completely there, her thoughts lost, remembering her many, many arguments with her former mentor.

“I don’t even know.” She said, her words feeling empty. “I-I want to help, but…”

“Yeah. That is the question, isn’t it? Do we stay or do we go?” Aria asked out into the room.

Dawn did not reply. In her mind, she retread the few she had spent in this world. Hiding, lying about her identity. Ruling over an entire school.

“Because the thing is; with all the shit that happened today, I can promise you that someone is going to take notice and start investigating thing. It is not that safe here anymore, not for us. So we could just go home, stay away from all the trouble there until things have calmed down. You can learn about your new magic and all that, I have a couple of things that I would like to do, eventually. Buuut…”

“We would be abandoning them to all this.” Like she had abandoned Celestia, choosing freedom and her own selfish needs.

Or how she had been abandoned by the Rainbooms. They had chosen to fall back to how things had been and take false safety with it.

Aria sighed heavily. “That is the big problem.” Not long ago, she would not have understood why this could ever actually bother her. Now, she did.

Dawn looked up at her, their eyes meeting. Both recognized the other’s look and with it, the other’s intention. “You don’t want to do that too.”

“Heh, can’t believe I am saying it but yes. This, this is all my mistake, all of it. And I don’t want to run away from it this time. The question is though, what are we going to do with them?” The siren spoke with an empty chuckle, nodding towards the main door.

How everything had come down upon her on that day. Years of ‘ruling’ a highschool, out of petty anger and a need to do ‘greatness’. Resulting to thievery and abuse of a powerful magical artefact. How great she had felt with it, even as Sunset had transformed into a true monster. And how horrible she had been when all of it had been taken away again.

“I know what Twilight is feeling right now. I was in that situation. She is confused. She has all these emotions suddenly caving in on her, maybe a bit more anger than I had. And now that she has come down from the power-high, she feels the guilt. Of all the things she has done, could have done. She needs help. She needs someone to guide her through all this.”

Dawn looked to where the two students had disappeared. She thought about all that had happened today, how narrowingly they had avoided an even greater catastrophe. It reminded her of the Fall Formal. There she had almost lost herself to the magic. She had almost killed someone, she had wanted it.

The similarities from that day to this one became more and more apparent to her. And with that also came a great realization.

Of the chance that was presented to her, in this very moment. To do it correctly this time.

“She needs friends, Aria. And the only possible friends for her right now are us!” She said with pure determination. She knew the mistakes made last time and she would be damned if she’d just let them be repeated. “We can’t go. If we do, she will be lost.”

The siren nodded thoughtfully.

“What about the other one?” She then asked. “I think she is genuine atleast, with wanting to help.”

Dawn sighed. “Yes, but it is going to take a long time for them to clear things and have a chance with eachother.”

“Well, that means we are going to take the hard road. But also means we will do the right thing.” Aria stood up, stretching her back. She scoffed slightly. “Eh, you’re better at this whole goodie friendship thing. We will have to be very careful though, lay low and not get anymore attention to us than necessary.”

Dawn got to her feet as well, standing beside Aria. Her eyes lingered on a seemingly random spot on the floor, where some weeks ago she had fought with Aria. “You think we can do it? We didn’t really have the best track record for the last few months.”

“Hey, I survived centuries with two others of my kind. You think I can’t hold my own? With you?” The siren replied, confidently. Then, after those last two words, she smiled warmly. Two fuchsia fingers pressed against a cardinal red chin, turning it so that their eyes were locked. “I’m not worrying too much. Afterall, we got through all this shit already. The rest should be relatively easy to handle.”

She couldn’t help but smile, the warm touch and genuine words of her friend pressing away the glum thoughts. “Thank you Aria.”

“You too, Dawn.” Aria chuckled. “Honestly, you did a lot to change me. Don’t think I would have done any of this a couple of months ago. Before we met.”

“Yeah, feels so long ago already.” Dawn said quietly, almost whispering. Subconsciously, she slightly leaned against Aria’s shoulder, both of them temporarily lost in shared memories.

“That it does. Feels nice though.” They stood for a few moments, before Aria straightened herself, causing Dawn to do similar. Making sure to lean into her own confidence she walked towards the door, waving Dawn to follow her. “Now come on, before they run away completely or do something even worse.”

She desperately hoped that the girl, who had changed her life around, would not notice the blush on her cheeks.

Dawn took a deep breath and followed her closest friend, letting her own, renewed confidence strengthen her. They had a goal now and the resolve to achieve it.

Turning to the main entrance both Equestrians could easily see through the still open door. Sunny Flare was sitting on the stairs in front of the house, somberly watching Twilight Sparkle cross the road.

She only needed to share a short look with Aria to know what either of them would do. Quickening her pace she jogged past her friend crouching next to Sunny. She crossed the short distance to the wooden fence gate and ran over the road after the young girl.

“Twilight!”

Going back home was now as distant in the future as the thought was in her mind. She wanted to, so bad, it would have to wait. Learning about her new magic, visiting Princess Twilight. Meeting her mentor again. All of it.

She had promised herself that she would not wait too long. She had told Twilight that she would do it soon. But now, she would have to push it away from her mind, to focus on this world first.

Twilight would understand, Dawn knew she would, especially when she would get the opportunity to write her another journal entry.

“Wait a moment!”

The young girl stopped and turned. Tears were still drying on her face.

An odd group they were. A centuries old mystical creature; a being that thrived the strife it caused. Yet this drive to create conflict not only provided the final piece for this “monster” to change, but in the end, it was what would bring them all together.

A bullied, weak girl that had managed to discover a whole new world on her own. And even though she had given in to temptation and almost committed great destruction, there was still the chance for great things in her.

Then a random, until today uninvolved girl. Pulled in by happenstance and the odd ways of fate, she had nevertheless proven herself by giving her all in matters not only life-threatening, but also alien to her.

And lastly, Dawn herself. Reborn in flames,

They were all strange, but she could make it work, with time.

She would do it right this time, she knew it.

Afterall, she had a great friend.

Author's Note

SURPRISE!

I know I said a time frame of max. two weeks, had no idea I could do it in less than one
So how did you like it? First time writing a magic fight and I must admit, it was really fun. Twilight didn't really get the whole ascend-to-demon-like-being-with-reality-powers treatment, but just enough so that she is a force to be reckoned with. The difference between her and an actual master of magic combat would lie in faster reaction-casting and more creative uses than simply using raw elemental force (which is still useful).

The second part was, of course, a bit harder to make. Originally, my idea was to end the main story with D+A leaving to Equestria and meeting Celestia, but then I realized that it wouldn't really work. So I focused on them staying and helping Twi, which gave the (maybe) kinda cheesy ending line, but it felt more appropriate. Prevent things from repeating, set a better example, et cetera.

Why was Sunny Flare suddenly involved? I don't know anymore It just kinda happened. Maybe, if I ever go through this story again, I will give her some scenes before. Who knows.

Lastly, Anon-A-Miss and the CMC.
To be honest, even though I have everything planned and set, I doubted how to resolve that. The problem lies in directing it where it makes sense but also write it satisfyingly.
It will be resolved in the Epilogue, which will have a typical small time jump, and I hope it will work with the rest of the story.

When will the Epilogue come out? As soon as I finish it. (Sorry but I don't want to tempt fate and set an exact time frame )

Thank you all very much for reading this story, it has been great. We'll see eachother next time when I finally complete it.
Until then, have a beautiful day.