Purple storm

"They have arrived Tia."

Sighing the sun princess tore her gaze away from her reflection. Looking over towards the group Celestia nods before gesturing them to come inside. The ponies did so all though with a bit of hesitation. Once they were inside they began to gather around the table. As they did so Celestia began looking at each pony in turn. She took note of their wary expressions as well as their rigid posture. She of course couldn't fault them for that. After all, the challenge that waited for them was like no other. Especially in regards to who they were facing.

"Good evening every pony" Celestia began. Her voice is unusually stiff. In response, Luna cast a worried look in her direction. Ignoring her sister Celestia continued. "Now I'm pretty sure you all have figured out the reason as to why you were summoned." In response 1 out of two ponies nodded. One in particular however merely sighed before speaking.

"She's back again isn't she?"

Looking over at her past student Celestia nodded. The pony in question growled in anger and frustration. In response, Celestia raised a hoof.

"Calm yourself Star Swirl."

"How can I stay calm when she's out there?!" He snapped. Celestia merely sighed in repose. She understood his frustrations she did, but they needed to stay focused. After all, they couldn't afford to waste time. Looking at the pony across from Star Swirl Celestia nodded. Clearing her throat the pink pegasus with a diamond-shaped cutie mark began to speak. " approximately two days ago we have received reports 0f pony corpses going missing."

In response, a unicorn sitting by the pegasus snorted. "So what if a few corpses went missing so what?" That doesn't mean anything."

"Clover" Star Swirl warned. Said unicorn slammed her hoof on the table.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS DEAD!"

Silence.

For several long moments, no pony dared to speak. The atmosphere around them completely changed. Becoming even heavier than before. In truth Clover was right. At least somewhat. Twilight Sparkle should have been dead a long time ago.

"I cut off her head" clover stated coldly. Her expression is that of sneering hatred. "I tore her apart limb from bloody limb." "Then I light her body on fire and watched as she became nothing but a pile of bones."

"Then?" Star swirl asked after a moment of silence. Clover simply glared at her ex-lover before replying.

"I buried her."

"If that's true then who dug her up?" Luna asked coldly. Clover looked over at her in shock. Celestia herself merely stood back and let Luna do all the talking. "Thou is correct Twilight Sparkle should have been dead." Luna paused. Her gaze momentarily aimed at the floor. A sorrowful expression on her face. When she spoke her tone was that of past regret. "If twilight Sparks was mortal that is."

Silence.

It was a long moment before any pony spoke.

"Is there something you aren't telling us? Star Swirl asked. His expression being of disbelief. Luna merely sighed before speaking. "You are aware of Twilight"s unique healing abilities yes?"

Every pony nodded.

It was a well-known fact that Twilight was born gifted and cursed. One of these gifts other than her magic was her unique healing. Being able to heal most if not all injuries in seconds. This alone made her stand out even more. However, Clover took this into account. That is why she decided the best course of action was to cut off her head. After all as far as they were concerned Twilight has yet to regenerate entire limbs. The possibility alone never crossed their minds.

Until now.

"We believe that Twilight"s ability goes deeper than merely healing wounds.

"In other words, Twilight is immortal" Clover stated coldly. Luna could do nothing but nod. "I should have never interfered in the first place I'm sorry." The princess of the night bowed her head as a lone tear slid down her face. Celestia quickly went to her sister's side to comfort her. Wrapping a wing around her sibling she pulled Luna close. "It's okay Luna you did the best you could" Celestia soothed. "I knew something was wrong with the birth" Luna muttered quietly, "and yet I still choose to interfere."

Just as Celestia was about a sound stopped her. It was a sound that sent chills down her very core. A sound the young alicorn was all too familiar with.

The sound of screaming ponies.
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"Oh my god," Celestia whispered in horror. The others had similar reactions. All except Luna who was shaking with rage. The sight that greeted them was not a pleasant one. It was more akin to something you would see in some type of apocalyptic scenario. The bodies of ponies of all sex and ages lay littered about. Dozens of homes were either on fire or destroyed. Those who survived were trying desperately to escape. One such pony was a pregnant mare. Upon spotting the trio she ran towards them. Tears falling freely from her face as she screamed for help. For mercy.

Only to be crushed by a massive leg.

Said appendage belonged to a creature. It was massive. Nearly the size of a baby Ursa Major. If not bigger. The thing stood on two legs. With its body being made of a substance Celestia had never seen before. The head itself was simply made up of a large glowing eye. While the rest of its body was covered in dozens of glowing crystals.

"Help every pony evacuate!" Luna shouted. Before any pony could react she was already in the air heading straight towards the thing. "Luna!' Celestia called, but she was already far too late. Thinking quickly she looks towards Star Swirl and the others. "You heard what Luna said! Go! They wordlessly nodded. Not wanting to argue upon seeing the look in Celestia's eyes. With that done Celestia turns back towards the task at hoof.

Screaming in rage Luna casts a fire spell towards her opponent. However, all that did was merely get its attention. Furthermore when her spell contacted the crystals glowed brighter than before. Faster than Luna could react the massive being's first made contact. Said object punched her with enough force to send her hurtling towards the ground. In witch, a massive crater was formed upon landing.

"NO!" Celestia screamed. Her eyes becoming that of living flame. She rammed into the thing with enough force to cause a mini earthquake. Screaming Celestia fired a magic beam directly towards the eye. In response one of its massive hands grabs Celestia causing the sun princess to stop her assault. It then rammed her viciously into the ground. Temporary stunning Celestia. Aiming its massive eye at her the thing fired its very own beam. In doing so it nearly blinded every pony in the area. To add insult to injury once it was done it then proceeded to stomp on her.

Celestia screamed. Feeling like her entire body was gonna snap in half due to its massive weight. Suddenly something dark tore straight through Its leg. Leaving it to hobby around somewhat awkwardly. Grabbing its arms Luna used her immense strength to throw the thing temporarily off balance. Not wanting to waste the opportunity Luna then aimed to try and take out its other leg. However, before she could one of the crystals dislodged itself from the creature. Shooting out towards Luna it percied her wing. As such the princess couldn't help but scream in pain. That was short-lived as the creature struck her side with its fist. Sending the mare flying.

Picking itself back up the machine goes over and checks the hole it left Celestia in. Only to seemly tilts its head in confusion as said the the the princess was nowhere to be found.

Its confusion was answered as the sun princess herself tore straight its chest. Leaving a massive hole in her wake. This seemed to be fatal as the thing immediately collapsed.

"LUNA! Celestia shouts looking around for her sister. However, despite her best efforts, she could not spot the darker alicorn. Just as Celestia began to panic in earnest she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"I hope thou didn't think I was dead."

The two quickly embraced. With Luna flinching somewhat due to her injured wing. Upon seeing Celestia's worried expression Luna shook her head. "It is merely a flesh wound sister." Celestia opened her mouth to respond.

However, before she could a noise cut her off.

Looking back the two alicorns see the thing's eye slowly began to open. Wanting to know as much as she can Celestia went over to get a closer look. Once it was fully open she cast a peek inside.

What she saw next made her freeze solid.

Inside was a pony. Said pony was connected to dozens upon dozens of wires. If that wasn't enough said pony looked extremely malnourished. So much so that Celestia could visibly see her ribs, but most importantly instead of the yellow and red that Celestia was familiar with the pony was now a dull grey. So much so that it looked as if her entire being was sucked out of her.

"Sunset" Celestia whispers. Her voice was a mixture of horror, disbelief, and growing despair. In response, the pony opened one single eye.

An eye that was the color purple.

"Th-thanks C-Celestia c-couldn't d-do I-it w-without y- you." Sunset gave Celestia an emotionless smile before closing her eyes.

The sun goddess did the only thing she could.

She screamed.
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Twilight Sparkle stares emotionlessly into the glowing dark orb. Her little experiment was somewhat a success. As she thought no mere machine would stand toe to toe with the princesses for long.

At least not yet.

Though to be honest that wasn't the sole purpose of her experiment. As twilight thought this a knock was heard on her door. "Come in," the mare says. Her voice is devoid of any emotion. The door opens. A second later a purple baby dragon entered the room. A cheerful smile on his face. "Hey, Twilight!" The dragon waved.

"Hello, spike."

"How did your experiment go?"

Twilight glances towards the orb. The orb itself shows a crying Celestia as she cradled her dead adopted daughter. The orb zooms out showing a near hysteric Clover in the background. Said pony couldn't tear her gaze away from Sunset shimmer. She looked as if she wanted nothing more than to go up and cradle the pony herself.

Looking back at her brother Twilight shrugged.

"It did the job."