Transference: Epitome of Darkness

I slammed my body against the barrier, time and time again.

It wouldn't bulge. Other ponies, presumably trying to save their loved ones, made it through. Only for many of them to be picked up and tossed into the flames themselves.

There was something to it all, I had to admit that.

I sat myself down right outside the barrier, watching the show unfold. Misty was running around like a headless chicken, going in and then outside the barrier again multiple times, trying to warn them, telling them to leave, to hide, to run, eventually giving up, breaking down not far from me.

Unsure if she had been warning them because of the phoenixes or me, I mustered her from the side. Not that it made much of a difference, but still...

I made sure that none of the phoenixes got to her with the few familiars I had left. They were disintegrating one after another. Magic had become scarce again. The rainbow trail seemed to get dimmer and dimmer.

What else was I supposed to do?

With each passing hour, there were fewer and fewer phoenixes in the sky. They stopped tossing ponies into the fire at some point and joined the fate of their kin, diving into it, making the fire shoot up briefly into the sky each time.

I could see some of the ponies run into the fire on their own, followed by screams of pain and yelling, yelling of names. Names of ponies I had never heard before.

The sun came up in the distance, twilight giving it all an eerie flair.

Beautiful, I couldn't have done it better myself.

After a few more hours, as if to mark the end to the spectacle, a colorful explosion on top of the fire extinguished it all, rippling rainbow circles in the sky unleashing all magic withheld back into Equestria at once.

I shot up, standing on all fours, wings flared, almost overwhelmed by the feeling, the magic in the air. Been a while since I had felt so strong, so... unleashed.

I could feel the barrier shatter. I could feel another presence up in the remains of the Brightouse.

Time was of the essence now. Whatever the fuck had appeared up there, I had to get a jump on them.

I took to the sky, conjuring a few ravens, making them shoot in all directions to act as eyes for me.

Not forgetting Misty, I hauled her after me in my aura. She didn't react much, exhausted from it all.

The first vision came in. Right from above the remains.

There it was, right in the middle of still lit ember; something moving.

It seemed... rather small?

I made my way up, ponies all around, looking through the leftovers, shouting names. Some turned to me, seeing that I was an alicorn.

Knocking them aside, I made it to where I had seen it.

A foal. It was crying, like newborns usually do.

I stood there, dropping Misty right next to me in some still fiery embers close to it.

"AAH!"

Was I a joke to them? This had to be a joke or something.

The surrounding voices irritated me; the relentless begging, the sobbing, the snot.

Right, they didn't know who I was, so I guess it made sense to ask me for help.

I made use of my newfound powers, taking possession of all the pesky nuisances.

Like sweeping the floor clean, I made them all run off the nearby cliff, down into the ocean. I could feel every one of them drown, hitting the sharp rocks. Something I really needed right now. It helped relief some of the stress.

A foal, really?

I had some familiars of me follow Misty and intervene as she almost did a little lemming there, trying to hold them back.

I put her back in the same exact spot, this time making her cry in pain as I pressed her down into the embers with my familiars.

She was starting to irritate me.

I let go of her and looked down at the foal. It had stopped crying. It was looking at me, staring at me.

A white alicorn, a filly.

...Celestia?

I looked into the foal's eyes. They seemed different. It looked like it was judging me, making me grimace in disgust.

"Stop looking at me," I whispered, flaring my wings.

It didn't.

What the fuck was this, this feeling? Who was this?

Not that it mattered.

I looked at Misty, who was looking at the foal, then back at me.

"Kill it," I said, looking at her, smiling.

This was perfect, actually.

"W-What?" Misty said, looking at me with big eyes, then back at the foal before us, shacking her head. "No!"

"Come on, Misty," I started, "didn't you see all the ponies that had to die for this... thing?"

Misty shot up, anger showing in her face. "NO! This is because of you! ALL OF IT IS" she yelled at me, tears rolling down again.

I was taken aback for a moment there. Guess I had been a bit too obvious with my manipulation attempt there.

I sighed and looked at her.

As if she had seen it coming, she shot forward, grabbed the foal and tried to make a run for it.

Was I really such an open book? It kinda hurt in a way.

Misty didn't get far. What was she even thinking? Where would she go?

I immediately felt her strong emotions for me as I took over. Wow, she really didn't like me at all. Was I really that bad?

I circled around her a few times, seeing myself from her perspective as she held the foal.

I sighed again, internally this time. This would go nowhere. She wasn't another Luster, never would be.

"You mustn't!" Opaline's voice exclaimed in my head when I was already thinking ahead of things. "Please--"

I stopped the yapping.

There was a good side to this after all. I bit my lips as I looked at that juicy flank of hers. I came a bit closer and got myself a sneak peek by licking once across her mare bits and squeaky clean ponut in one swoop up to the end of her dock, feeling the sensation of my own tongue on her at the same time.

I shivered.

The presence of that stupid thing irritated me, though. It was still looking at me.

Guess I had to make time for a postnatal abortion of our little newcomer here first.

Making Misty drop that thing to the floor, I started looking around for something heavy enough in the rubble around us.

A brick stood out, blackened by soot.

That would do.

I sat myself down, watching Misty pick the brick up with magic first, but then decided she should hold it with her hooves.

It's just not the same with magic. She needed the experience first-hoof.

Loosening my grasp on Misty, just enough so that she had the illusion of a chance, I made her stand above the foal, lifting the brick above her head.

"NOO," Misty cried, looking at me with pleading eyes. "Please, don't do this!" Her tears fell down on the foal below her.

"Me?" I snickered. "You are the one doing it."

Misty closed her eyes, but I opened them again.

This was quite fun. I'd let her regain full control the moment it would be too late to change the outcome.

The foal was looking up at Misty now, hooves reaching up to her as if she wanted to be picked up.

Disgusting.

I made Misty bring the brick down full swing, breaking the connection between me and her right after.

Snap

The brick smashed into the ground.

"What?" I asked, unbelieving, wings retracting.

Misty and the foal had disappeared.