Perception

"Nightmare Moon!" Twilight shrieked, her sudden high-pitched remark reverberating throughout the castle's hallway. The villainous appearance of Nightmare Moon ahead of her stunned Twilight's legs into stillness.

Starlight frowned in suspicion. She never heard of this 'Nightmare Moon' before, but whoever she was, she must be a considerable threat, as Twilight's body language revealed. She relaxed her control over her magical aura, dimming the luminosity emitted from her horn, to watch over the situation as it slowly unfolded before her very eyes. She might need to conserve her strength for later.

"Yes...it is I," Nightmare Moon proclaimed confidently, projecting an air of authority. "But I must thank you for destroying half of the castle's masonry; after all, the castle is due for some redecorating."

"Sorry?" Twilight muttered softly, as her hind hooves were beginning to slide backwards. She was unable to decipher whether Nightmare Moon was genuinely showing her appreciation for their actions as they busted their way into her abode, and so decided to play it safe.

"I see," Nightmare Moon responded, dangerously softer than prior. "So you two think that I will just let you go after such an apology?"

An uneasy silence filled the void of the castle's hallway. Nightmare Moon simply gazed onto the two with her lifeless eyes with her mature, brilliant wings outstretched. Twilight's eyebrows twitched slightly at her remark, as she dragged her vision away from Nightmare Moon's body, trying to avoid her unnerving stare. Twilight's body became increasingly rigid, as she kept her wings to her side tightly. However, Starlight was woefully unaware of the threat put forth by Nightmare Moon, as she continued locking eyes with her, her mouth straight and even.

"Yes?" Twilight replied, hoping to release some tension from the air within from the stupidity of her answer.

"NO!" Nightmare Moon bellowed as she stomped the carpet with her front hoof energetically for emphasis. "You shall be punished for what you have done! GUARDS!"

From the darkness along the unlit corners of the hallway, heavily equipped guards appeared to apprehend the two fugitives, outnumbering the two by a factor of five. They were a menacing threat; they were protected extensively from head to toe, except for a small hole that exposed their combat-ready eyes. Their equipment bore the insignia of the ominous crescent moon along their necks that were strapped to their body plates.

As they advanced uniformly towards the two to surround them, Twilight's hooves began to pedal backwards towards the side of Starlight Glimmer, who stood rooted to the ground at the sight of the attacking mob.

"Starlight!" Twilight screamed, trying to snap her out of her initial trance. "We need to work together to have any chance of survival!"

Starlight clasped her eyes shut for a short moment, before re-opening them again. She glanced at the impending threat that loomed ahead of them, finding battle-ready guards marching in a formulated combat formation to apprehend them. She sighed, as deep down she knew that she could not handle this threat by herself, but she hated to admit that she could not handle this by herself. Worse, she had to work with her nemesis that haunted her since the time they knew each other to fight it out together. She felt as though her heart was split into two, as her emotions battled it out from inside.

"Fine," Starlight responded reluctantly.

With that, they seized their magical aura and summoned their energies. Their horns glowed vibrantly, lighting the corner of the hallway they were in.

All of a sudden, some of the guards launched themselves onto the two of them, trying to knock them down onto the carpet before they could try to protect themselves. Twilight's pupils widened as she conjured beams of magical energy that disabled their attackers prior to impact, burning them into submission as the heat from the beams was easily conducted by the metal armour they were wearing. Their aerial advance were blunted as they howled in pain and shock. They collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

Although Twilight was able to dispatch some of the guards, some were able to evade her beams with their manoeuverable wings. They flew around in a seemingly random fashion, to prevent from being caught by Twilight's thin, concentrated beam to go in for the kill. However, despite their best attempts, they could not come into proximity for close quarter combat with Twilight, as the reach of her beam was too great for them to overcome. Ultimately, they were just avoiding the magical ray that Twilight was maintaining from her horn. As their wings grew fatigued as time dragged on, Twilight began disabling them, one by one.

At the same time, unicorn guards charged all their horns to begin firing a constant barrage of multicoloured magical beams of their own towards both Twilight and Starlight from the rear. Starlight proactively reacted as her instincts kicked in, summoning beams to intersect them before they could come threateningly close to harm the two. Despite the copious amount of missile fire raining down towards them, Starlight's magical aptitude and reaction speed were more than a match for the guards. Red and orange light flashed when conflicting magical energies scattered in all directions into nothingness.

Both Twilight and Starlight were beginning to feel the strain on their physical and magical capabilities while they continued to fight on. Sweat dripped off the side of their faces, slipping into their manes. Their vision became a blur as they executed a flurry of activity to fight their way through, the light from their horn blinding their view of the situation ahead of them. Their muscles began to cramp throughout their body, being unaccustomed to the heat of the action.

Not before too long, a solitary winged guard remained to confront Twilight. In spite of the seemingly endless beams of magic that Twilight could throw at her, she was able to dart around deftly, avoiding all of Twilight's attacks.

Out of the blue, Twilight's horn stopped glowing, causing her to be momentarily unable to cast any spells to protect herself. The winged guard grinned, and believing that Twilight was on her last legs, she gripped her ceremonial spear and went in for the kill. She dived down to Twilight, hoping to catch her off-guard.

"AH!" she screamed in discomfort, as a cyan beam came to Twilight's rescue. She collapsed onto the ground with a heavy thud, a mere metre in front of Twilight. The force of the impact dislodged her helm off her head to expose a familiar face that caught Starlight's eye.

"Night Glider?" Starlight exclaimed in shock, striding hurriedly towards her prone body.

No response came from the body that stood motionless before Starlight.

"Starlight! We are not done yet!" Twilight shouted, glancing at the never-ending barrage of magical missiles that were now going unchecked. Taking things into her own accord, Twilight fabricated a magical force screen to shield the two to absorb the attacks, her horn flaring up once again after a short hiatus.

Starlight did not listen to Twilight's outburst. She knelt down, her eyes filled with emptiness, as her mouth vibrated sporadically.

Twilight shook her head slowly at her actions, finally understanding that she was in no position to act upon the situation. Rapidly dispelling the shield that she upheld radially and vigorously, it reflected the incoming magical beams back towards the unicorn guards, who quickly felt the taste of their own medicine, especially as they were unprepared to counter the beams that flew back at them instantaneously. They were charred even before their faces lay flat on the carpeted floor.

It was quite a battle scene. Twilight looked on at the carnage that they have wreaked upon the ten guards that challenged them with a pain in her heart, her mouth unmoving. She never intended to kill anypony in her life, but when such a situation called for it, she simply had to do it. She felt a noose of guilt tightening around her neck, straggling her conscience into a slither of void, yet she also felt grateful that she had survived the ordeal.

Starlight's feelings could not be more different. Tears struggle to leave the confines of her eyes as she stared down hard onto the body. She brought her hooves to touch Night Glider's fur, experiencing the last shred of warmth radiating out into the dimly lit hallway. The body's white, eccentric mane was exactly how Starlight remembered it to be. Starlight could feel a cascade of emotions that she could be feeling, but her mind was not able to filter out what she really should be feeling.

She remembered the time when Night Glider was a fantastic and kind member to her community, her village and...even her home. Night Glider even assisted in the construction of Starlight's own house in her village, by laying the sandstone foundation together. There existed a bond between the two, though Starlight's intelligence failed her when she tried to put it into words. Certainly, Starlight could undoubtedly remember how Night Glider betrayed her thinking for Twilight's ideology. But, strangely, she did not really take it to heart anymore. Regardless, she eliminated someone she knew well, even if it were in this universe. No matter what had happened previously between the two, Night Glider still played a role in her life and perhaps even influenced her.

Tears finally gushed out from Starlight's eyes uncontrollably, even though she knew that Twilight and Nightmare Moon were watching her intensely. She saw no reason to hide how she truly felt, since she would have to live with this permanently, like an ugly scar left behind in her memories.

Twilight went ahead to Starlight's side. Twilight wanted to console her, but she had no idea how to go about doing it. She just stood there, motionless. Her mind grew a blank when she was trying to come up with something to help Starlight tide over her emotions. She felt a pang in her heart for Starlight now, despite of Starlight's betrayal of her kindness in the past, because she knew full well how genuine her emotions were.

"ENOUGH!" Nightmare Moon commanded loudly from her throne, unsure of why her response to the situation was so delayed. "You may have bested my guards, but you will not defeat ME!"

With that, she conjured a massive beam that surged through the air like lightning towards the both of them.

"Starlight!" Twilight exclaimed, leaping away from the point of impact as far as her two hind legs could go.