Haywire: Origins

[Starlight]

I sigh as I give my mane one last brush before setting it back down, walking past my mirror. I smile as I look at all my friends, and I realise Twilight was right: It is pretty great to look over at my friends all the time. I hurry out of my room, turning around to shut my door with magic and turning back to find myself muzzle against muzzle with Trixie.

I push her back slightly, “Trixie! What’re you doing up here? Shouldn’t you be down in the hall to find us a good seat at the viewing for the Sunrise and Moonset?”

She nervously trots in place a bit as she peeks down both ways of the hallway, “Starlight, don’t you think Twilight has been a bit strange since back from Canterlot? Why wouldn’t she have brought her friends with her?”

I roll my eyes with a groan, “Trixie if you’re once again worried that something is up with Twilight, just don’t. I tested her with every spell in the book, and nopony has magic powerful enough to block me out from being able to know for sure if it’s really her or not, even just a hint of concern would’ve set me off.”

Trixie bites her lip, “I just have a really bad feeling. Maybe we should just watch from outside, or maybe-”

I quickly walk and hug Trixie with a soft sigh, “Look Trix. Twilight’s only here for the sunrise and moonset part of the Festival, and then she’s heading right back to Canterlot afterwards. It’s not like I drag you out of town whenever I head to some random corner of Equestria for a day or two. If you don’t trust her, then just trust me?” I say as I back up with a hopeful smile.

She thinks for a moment and then groans heavily, “Fiiiiine. But if something goes wrong, I get to tell you I told you so.” She says with a light smile as she starts trotting ahead of me, and I sigh as I trot behind her.

She’s just worried over nothing. I checked everything, and there is absolutely nothing that could be wrong. Everything is gonna be fine, especially now that the master of perfection herself is here.

We make it down the main staircase, making our way down the light up pathways for the incoming crowds and find ourselves outside the massive doors for the Event Hall. Already the main standing area is crowded with ponies from the stage all the way to the door. With a large stage, alcoves in the wall both for ponies to sit in and to hang banners from, and lastly the large round skylight with Twilight’s cutie mark in the ceiling, this was the only logical place to have the event take place.

Trixie groans heavily, trying to squeeze past the crowd to no avail. “Greeeeat… Maybe you were right, and I should’ve gotten us those seats after all...” She says looking down dejectedly.

I roll my eyes with a chuckle, “Don’t worry, I had a backup plan.” I lean in close and then teleport us behind the main stage curtains, peeking out and looking at the large crowd of ponies of all kinds from all over Equestria, with a couple other creatures sprinkled in here and there, as well as the student group from Twilight’s School that helped save it and Equestria from Cozy Glow.

I hear a yelp behind me, and I turn to find a startled Rosegarden Shine, clearly not having seen us here a minute ago and suddenly standing here.

She groans in annoyance, slamming her hoof against her forehead, “Can everypony just stop teleporting in front of me or around me, or maybe just in general?!”

I grin nervously, “Yeah, sorry Rosegarden. How’s the music coming along?” I ask as I rub my front left leg with my right hoof.

She lifts up the instruments with red magic and floats them all around, “Fairly good. I’m just about to get started in fact, so if you don’t mind me…” She canters past us and stands just behind the curtains, her horn glowing bright as she begins to play a very grand, orchestral melody. I’m impressed she managed to master that spell, I’ve never been able to get it that great. Maybe it’s just that I’m just not a very musically talented pony in general, better to leave that kind of thing to more experienced ponies like the violinist Octavia or DJ-Pon3.

I hear a laugh behind us, “Oh there you girls are! Starlight, Trixie, how are you two doing?” Twilight says with a smile.

Trixie narrows her eyes at Twilight as we turn around, growling as she steps behind me. I laugh nervously as I brush my neck with my hoof, “Oh yeah just fine! Don’t mind her, she’s just a bit…” I think for a moment, “...Trixie, today.”

Twilight laughs, “Well I haven’t exactly been myself today either. Sorry I won’t be able to stay long, I gotta get back to Canterlot to take care of a few more things with the girls.”

I look around a bit, “Speaking of heading back to Canterlot, is that what Discord did? I haven’t really seen him around since I left to get ready earlier, and he isn’t really the one to… You know, stop.”

Twilight shrugs, “You know how Discord is. He could be halfway across the world or right behind you, and neither of us would know.”

I laugh a bit, “Yeah, that’s true. Well, I wouldn’t want to keep you busy before the big show. Good luck!”

She smiles and gives me a hug, “Thanks, Starlight. I’ll do my best to put on a great show for you guys.” She says with a wink as she trots off.

She then waves at Rosegarden, who begins playing triumphant music as Twilight steps out onto the main stage.

I turn around as Twilight begins her speech, “See Trixie? Nothing to worry about.” Trixie mumbles a bit, and I raise my eyebrow. “What did you say?” I ask while holding my hoof up to my ear.

She groans heavily, “Fine! I was wrong and you were right! Are you happy?”

I groan, patting her back, “That was never my point. Look, let’s just focus on the Festival and the very beautiful sunrise, hm?” She rolls her eyes with a ‘hmph’ as we peek our heads out of the curtains and listen in to Twilight’s speech.

“...and last but not least, I’d like to thank both all of my past students, as well as my first student, Starlight Glimmer. She’s taken over my School for me, and taken charge of teaching far and wide the magic of Friendship, and for that, I’m very grateful.” She says with a smile as everypony starts to clap their hooves.

She uses magic to summon the pendant Celestia and Luna gave her to control the sun and moon, “And now, everpony, without further ado…” She lifts it up high in the air as everypony watches in awe…. Except nothing happens.

The crowd begins to murmur as Trixie and I look at each other with equally concerned looks. Twilight then begins to laugh menacingly, which is never a good sign. “...Hm? Do you all like that? Waiting? Do you all enjoy how it feels? Because I have had to wait for this day for far too long… To finally have my revenge on ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle’ and her stupid friends and her stupid student!” She cries out as she whips around and looks directly at me, teleporting the pendant away and gripping me with magic, flinging me right over the stage as everypony begins crying out in fear, shock and surprise.

“You.” She snarls out, her eyes turning a deep violet with dragon-like pupils, reminiscent of Nightmare Moon or that Daybreaker I dreamt up. “You’re just as guilty as Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her annoying friends.” She says, as the curtains begin to burn away in purple flames, revealing Twilight and her friends all encased in stone statues, even Discord.

I glare down at ‘Twilight’, “Who in Equestria are you? Because I can clearly tell you’re not Princess Twilight!”

The figure scoffs, “Of course I’m not ‘Her royal highness Princess Twilight Sparkle!’ Bleh. I am here to help take vengeance for the common filly and foal, and the last thing I want is ponies like her or you in charge.” She says as she tosses me back against the backstage wall, and I groan in pain.

As she walks up to me, a swirl of purple flames soar around her, revealing a dark pink and grey pony with a long, sharp horn, swirling and flowing black curls and black and purple armor, with a matching purple amulet on the front.

She grins with sharp teeth as she taps her cheek and looks down at her other front hoof, “Ah yes… That’s much better…” She then walks up to me, using her magic to lift me up and pin me against the wall. “Hm… Should I turn you to stone like the rest of your friends? Or should I get creative with how to torment you? Make you really pay for what you’ve done…” I glare at her as I attempt to blast her with magic, which she deflects with a force field spell.

“Who even are you?! What did Twilight or I ever do to you?!” I cry out angrily, as she pins me harder against the wall, causing me to groan slightly in pain.

She laughs, “You really don’t recall? I suppose the messes you make really aren’t that big of an issue for you, are they?” She snarls out before blasting me with magic, causing me to blackout.

[Rosegarden]

I watch in fear and terror as Starlight is slammed against a wall and then zapped with magic, inevitably falling unconscious. I narrow my eyes at the mare, dropping the instruments and lighting up my horn, quickly trying to think up any of the combat spells I’ve learned.

She notices, turning with a devilish smile, “Awe, well isn’t that adorable. No offense, but I think you were more entertaining as a musician.” She zaps me with some spell, causing my horn to act on its own, lifting up all the instruments and playing a dark symphonic melody. I try to stop, but my horn just wouldn’t respond to my own commands.

In the background, I notice a group of pegasi fly up as the crowd begins charging up numerous different spells. The evil mare sighs, “Oh it’s so sad how many of you are clinging to this false story the royalty and the ‘heroes’ have told you…” She charges up her horn, sending out a shockwave of dark pink magic and knocking down the entire crowd, also knocking the pegasi out of the sky.

I feel my magic finally fade as all of the instruments quickly and suddenly drop with a crash on the stage floor. I groan as I fall over, struggling to keep myself up and staying coherent. The mare trots onto center stage, “All of the ponies you call heroes… All of them have made terrible mistakes and caused permanent and irreparable damage, that none of them have ever cared to look back on and fix. Luckily those days are over, and you can take comfort knowing a pony who cares not for these filthy mistakes is in charge. My name is Onyx Moonshade, but you can all call me your Queen.” She grins, baring her fangs and her eyes glowing bright with power.

She turns around, lighting up her horn as she slowly trots towards Starlight, “And now watch as I correct yet another mistake of the ‘heroes’ of old…” She readies to do Celestia knows what to her before Trixie begins screaming in an incoherent rage, leaping on top of Onyx, who begins yelling, “GET OFF OF ME YOU NOISY PEST!”

She grabs Trixie by the tip of her tail with magic, ripping her off and smiling as she recognizes her, “Ah, look what I have here… Starlight Glimmer’s little ‘friend’. What a nice catch I’ve made today… Did you honestly think you can stop me by yourself?”

“Good thing she isn’t alone!” I hear my brother yell out as I turn around to see Skai, Crimson and Burnt Apple.

“None of us are gonna stand by as you attack whoever you want!” Burnt Apple yells out at her. Onyx laughs as she throws Trixie against the wall above Starlight, causing her to yelp in pain but she quickly stands back up weakly.

“Oh and how are you going to stop me? You’ll be too busy attacking your friends!” She cries out as she zaps Skai with a spell, presumably the same one as she blasted me with as suddenly she inexplicably causes a blast of electrical energy from both her own horn and Skai’s.

Skai quickly shakes his head with a light grin, “Luckily for us, I can’t do magic. Unfortunately for you, it seems my magical backfire affects you too when you try that!” He says as they all run up to us, Skai helping me up as we walk over to Trixie and Starlight.

Onyx shakes her head, her eyes quickly beaming on us with her ominous purple glow. “Little pests. Clever and unique as you may be, I can just handle you all the old fashioned way.” Her horn begins to glow and we close our eyes and huddle close, prepared for the worst.

At least I thought so until I hear Trixie scream: “TELEPORT!” And then all of a sudden, we’re gone in a pink flash.