Rainbow held her daughter as close as she could while they both stared off into the distance in shock. In the distance, hundreds of miles away, a mountain was collapsing and neither of them had the slightest clue why. “Mom… what’s happening?” Shimmering Night asked. Despite herself, she had a very, very bad feeling about this. Her stomach was telling her that something had just gone horribly wrong.

And it was right.

“I don’t know, Night. Wait here, I’ll check it out.” Rainbow had to pry her daughter’s hooves off her body. She did not know what had just occurred and did not want to put her daughter in any unnecessary danger.

“Ok…” Night released her mother. Part of her felt silly; she was an adult, an alicorn, and the newest Princess of Equestria. When something like this happened, she should not want to cling to her mother like that, she should want to go and check it out. She should want to deal with the threat head on, so the ponies of Equestria can sleep soundly at night knowing their princesses were there to protect them.

Another part of her said ‘buck that’ and simply wanted the comfort that came with holding onto her mom for protection. Of course, that combined with a sinking feeling in her gut made the latter the far stronger emotion at that time. “Stay safe… ok?”

Rainbow grinned her cocky grin. “Hey, don’t worry; your mom’s the fastest flyer in the world. What can possibly go wrong?” with that, she took off in the air, heading straight for the collapsing mountain. “Of course, anything that can destroy a mountain like that might be a bit of an issue.” She said to herself as she flew off.

Night could only watch as Rainbow left her. Suddenly the wind bit that much colder, the hill they were on was that much higher, and the sinking feeling got that much deeper. That feeling only increased when she saw what had made the mountain collapse. “Why did you have to say that when you left? Don’t you know that is only asking for trouble?” Night shook her head in disbelief.

Even from this distance, Night could make it out. The creature… a purple dragon… no that was not right. She had never in her life seen a dragon that size. Even the dragon in Warclaw could not match its size. To say it was massive would be putting too much emphasis on the word… colossal, that was the right word to use, the right thing to describe this, this was a colossal dragon… with a horn? That part was strange to say the least.

It could stand at the base of the mountain Canterlot was built on and easily reach the top. Its wingspan covered the land, blacking out the moon for miles in its shadow. The purple scales covered her neck, legs, arms, and tail. The green spikes running down its back looked sharper than diamond, easily able to cut a building in half.

The dragon’s chest was fully covered with armor. Worse, Shimmering Night recognized that armor.

Suddenly Night knew why she felt the way she did, she knew why her gut was telling her that there was a problem… a big problem. She knew the identity of this dragon that had just destroyed a mountain with its rebirth, no that was the wrong word, with its transformation; it did it with its transformation from a pony into a dragacorn. “Ataxia…” Night said aloud to no one in particular.

She thought quickly, ‘Ataxia’s transformation has never been this big before…. She has never been this destructive… what happened? Why… why did she transform at all? What could possibly have occurred?“ All these questions, yet no answers were forthcoming in the young alicorn's mind.

She might not have known the answers to any of those questions, yet the decision on what to do next was made for her. As she sat there, the dragacorn let loose a mighty roar and preceded to spew fire all over the land, everything directly forward of it within three miles caught fire. Even from this distance, Ataxia could see the magical blaze burn hotter and brighter than any fire she had ever seen before.

‘I… we… we have to stop her; she will burn down all of Equestria if we let her go on like this.’ Night turned towards Ponyville, her mind instantly going to the one mare she knew could solve any issue… “Mom… Twilight, she can stop this.” Night took flight, her attention never drifting from the direction of her hometown, too afraid to see what her friend might be doing next.

It was a good thing she did not look back at it, for Rainbow Dash had just engaged Ataxia.

…………………..

Part of Rainbow simply wanted to engage this… this dragon at her full strength. To simply fly up and began attacking, and she knew she could do it. Regardless how big it was, it was no match for Rainbow Dash. Not in the air at least. However, she quickly thought better of it. Having been around Spike for all these years, she knew that dragons were not all bad. At least, not all dragons were all bad.

Plus this dragon was really big. Not that big was the right word to use, big just felt small when she looked at this thing, she needed another word to describe this… this thing. Gigantic? Humongous? Amazing?

She liked the last word; that was what this dragon was, for it was amazing... amazingly big. Of course, it was also amazingly quick, and amazingly destructive.

Rainbow barely dodged the attack. In less than a second, the dragon had let loose with a flame breath straight in her direction. Quick reactions took the mare over the dragon fire as it scorched the land within three miles of its location.

“Hey! There was no cause for that!” Rainbow flew up and yelled at its face.

The dragon roared its response. There was nothing intelligent, no reply, and no words. Nothing more than a simple bestial roar from its throat. Of course, such a roar also kicked up a lot of saliva, most of which now covered Rainbow as she looked on in disgust.

“Ok, destroying the land I might be able to forgive, but this? That was just rude!” Rainbow said as she flicked off as much of the offending liquid as she could. Part of her wished Fluttershy was still alive, she could easily tame any beast but there was no time to dwell on the past.

The dragon tried to eat her.

Rainbow laughed as she easily avoided the attack, flying up and over its head; she lashed out with her wings, seeking to cut the dragon right above the eye. Not enough to do any real damage but such cuts had a way to bleed. If she could blind the thing, she might be able to convince it to leave. ‘A dragon this big must be old, I can’t imagine it would willingly stay and fight if it knew its life was on the line.’

She cut through the scales on its head without issue, like a surgeon with a blade her wingtips dug deep into the actual skin and blood begun to pour out. Rainbow smiled as she saw that the dragon was forced to close its left eye. No longer able to keep it open, as the blood begun to sting its eye too badly.

That distraction was almost the end of her.

While she was looking back, she failed to notice the tail coming up and directly at her. It lashed out in her flight path, spikes pointed directly at her. She had a millisecond of notice before it hit. However, to a mare like Rainbow Dash, a millisecond was far, far too long to give her. Give her that much time and you might as well not bother at all.

Rainbow flew under the tail and began spinning on her y-axis, her wings extended several hooves out. In much the same way as a saw blade cuts through a tree, her golden wings cut off the tip of the dragon’s tail, removing that appendage as a threat once and for all.

The dragon screamed out in rage and pain at how something so small, so tiny could do this much damage, could cause it this much pain. It only served to increase its rage. The dragon lashed out with its right claw, followed quickly by its left.

Rainbow laughed as it tried in vain to hit her; every failed attempt seemed choreographed a mile away. She easily ducked and dodged each and every swing and repaid in kind with a blow of her own, each hit causing the dragon to scream its pain with more roaring.

Rainbow landed on its nose. “You give up yet? Or should I keep cutting into you until you do?” Part of Rainbow told her not to be this cocky, that a dragon this big was not to be taken lightly. However, the larger part of her knew that it was going easy simply because she was that awesome. After all, is it really bragging when you have the skills to pay the bills? She did not think so.

In a way of reply, the dragon lunged its claw to catch her on its nose. Rainbow let the claw come close, as close as she dared before lashing out; she cut off the claws tips on the dragon’s hand. “We can do this all da-“

Rainbow paused mid-sentence; she stared directly into the dragon’s eyes. ‘Those eyes… I’ve… I’ve seen them before.’ To make matters worse, she noticed one more fact while looking the dragon in its eyes. Its left eye was open again; the blood had stopped flowing from the wound, the nonexistent wound over its eye. It had healed the wound in less than a minute.

“You… You can heal?” Rainbow’s mind drew a blank, it tried to rationalize what her eyes were telling her. She could not remember ever hearing of a dragon that could heal its wounds, not this quickly. Whatever she was dealing with, it was not a normal dragon. That much she was sure of.

Rainbow was so flabbergasted by that she failed to notice the dragon’s left claw come up. It impacted against her body, forcing the mare to crash into the ground at breakneck speeds. The dragon arched its back and spewed its fire at the location Rainbow landed in, covering the area with magical dragon fire.

Rainbow mentally berated herself as soon as the dragon’s left claw impacted against her body. ‘Stupid’ She thought to herself. It was always a dumb idea to lose your focus when engaging such a creature, and against one this big? Well, stupid was really an understatement, it was just that she just did not know a better word for it at this moment. Rainbow cushioned the impact by raising her left wing and letting it absorb the damage from the impact with the ground. She rolled with the momentum. Spreading out her right wing, Rainbow caught the wind and forced herself back up into the air. Just in time to avoid the fire breath that again spewed out all over the land.

“So, you're playing for keeps.” Rainbow said aloud. A quick assessment of the damage revealed that her right back leg was broken. She supposed, logically, that she should consider it lucky that she got off so light. Against a blow like that most ponies would have died instantly.

The injuries would slow her down, but not by much. She did not need her legs to fly, her speed would be unaffected and she did not lose any real offensive capability. It simply meant she would be unable to land. Well, that and the pain, however, but she could live with that. The pain was simply a reminder not to be so carefree about this.

Besides, after the battle in Warclaw, this… well this was nothing. That creature had been far, far more dangerous.

Rainbow increased her speed and flew around the dragon. She extended her left wing and went to leave cuts up and down its chest and back. She tried to anyway. Even with her speed and her wings she was unable to cut through the armor it wore on its midriff.

Rainbow recognized that armor almost immediately, then as if someone flipped a switch in her brain it came to her just what this dragon was. Or to put it more precisely, who this dragon was. The eyes… the armor… it all came back to her.

“Ataxia….” Rainbow spoke the words aloud as she flew up into the clouds. She had to think, she had to plan, as she could not just cut up Rarity’s daughter…. However, thinking and planning were never Rainbow’s forte. She was a mare of action, not one of words and ideas. That was better left to Twilight.

As she saw Ataxia take flight and head directly for the cloud she was now sitting on, Rainbow wished that Twilight were here right now. She could force Ataxia to transform back; she could prevent anyone from getting hurt.

Rainbow briefly considered getting the mare herself. She dismissed that idea. The odds of luring the dragacorn to Ponyville were too great. She could not take that risk, Twilight would be upset if she put the town in danger like that, and an upset wife was far more intimidating than Ataxia would ever be. “I’ll just have to deal with this myself, at least until Twilight notices and comes here. It shouldn’t take long, we’re making such a commotion that somepony in Ponyville would inform Twilight what was going on. Then she would get here and put everything right. Yeah… not long at all.”

Rainbow just had to keep Ataxia busy until then. When she dodged the bite meant to take off her head, Rainbow got a quick glance of Ataxia’s tail. It was growing back, and quickly.

“Keep her busy until Twilight arrives… yeah this should be cake walk.” Rainbow said with a sly smile. If Ataxia could heal any damage she did this quickly, Rainbow did not have to worry about holding back anymore. She could let loose with an opponent she did not have to worry about killing. “Heck, it might even be fun.”

………………………………………………………

Shimmering Night landed in Ponyville with a little more force than she ever intended too. That is to say, she crash-landed into her mom’s house in much the same way Rainbow would always crash into the old library before Tirek destroyed it.

“Son of a-“ Night shook her head clear. “How does mom always make that look so easy?” She asked nopony in particular. As she stood up, her equilibrium reasserted itself. She took two steps forward before falling again. Her head still spinning from the impact, grunting, Night forced herself to stand again. ‘There’s no time for this.’ Night thought to herself.

It was an act of pure force of will that she got to her hooves and walked in the house. It would have been pointless to try and call out to Twilight from outside. She knew that her mom had recast the sound proof spell so they would not have been able to hear each other anyway. Of course, that brought back memories of why such a spell was even necessary. It was something that made her cringe to think of.

“If you two didn’t fuck like bunnies this wouldn’t be an issue.” Night said aloud.

“Hey, when you meet your special somepony you will begin to understand.” Twilight replied, walking down the stairs as she did so. The spell Twilight cast on the house alerted her as soon as someone entered. Only one time had it ever failed and that was when the God Tartarus had invited himself inside.

Twilight paused at the bottom of the stairs. “You were missed.” Twilight looked coldly into her daughter’s eyes. Night shrank back at that, she had forgotten the other thing she had to do when she next spoke to her mom, apologize for missing her aunt and uncle's funeral. Looking at Twilight hurt, not in any physical way but it might as well have been.

It was not her tone of voice, the way she looked, or even the knowledge that she upset her mom that hurt Night so. It was the eyes. Those big purple eyes staring at her, she could see her own reflection in those eyes, and her own flaws lay bare.

That was the worst part, she saw everything her mom thought she could be, everything she KNEW she could be and how because of one stupid selfish decision, she failed to live up to that. It was not hate, or anger, or her voice that hurt Shimmering Night. It was the disappointment she could read in Twilight’s eyes that truly made Night feel like crap.

“Mom… I’m… I’m sorry.” Night said the words from the bottom of her heart. She could only pray that Twilight could feel that, so that she would know just how badly Night knew she had messed up. That she really did not mean to be so pig-headed.

“I forgive you.”

“I said I’m sor-… Wait? What?” Night looked on in shock, Twilight’s demeanor changed abruptly, no longer was she staring at her youngest daughter with anything but the love she normally reserved for those who were special to her.

“Night, I said I forgive you. We all make stupid mistakes from time to time and this is no different. I’m not going to hold it over your head just because you made a bad decision. I love you too much for that. You were willing to apologize for it so I can move on.”

“Thanks mom.”

“Now, would you like some tea? I’m sure Rainbow will be back soon.”

Night mentally facehoofed, she forgot about that… “Actually, there is a more pressing reason why I came here.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“It might be easier if I showed you.” Walking up to Twilight, Night wrapped a wing around her mom’s back and teleported them both on top of the house.

“What the…” Twilight looked on in shock. “Is that… is that Ataxia?”

“Yes, she destroyed a mountain when she transformed. When Rainbow went ahead to see what was going on, I realized it was her after mom left…. I didn’t know what to do, so I came and got you. I don’t know why they are fighting though.” If Twilight had to guess the answer to that question she would say it was probably Rainbow’s fault.

They both stared on in shock; even from this distance even through the night sky, it was easy enough to see the two. The huge dragon was obviously chasing something in a cloudless sky, something that was leaving a golden and rainbow trail in its wake.

"We…. We should deal with that now.” Twilight stated.

“I was hoping you would say that.” Shimmering Night smiled and pressed herself closer to her mom. Twilight readied a Teleportation spell and cast it.

They went nowhere.

“Mom, whenever you’re ready.” Night looked at her with concern on her face.

“Sorry, I must have miscast it. Let me try again.”

Again Night stared at her mom with worry, she heard the stories of how Twilight would mess up this or that with a spell from her aunts at times, but that was a long, long, long time ago. Night had personally never seen her mom mess up a single spell in her life. She was always the best when it came to magic. For her to miscast a spell this day and age… it was unheard of.

Twilight concentrated on the spell. Focusing her magic on herself and her daughter and their destination. She willed herself and her daughter to go there. To transport just as she was taught all those years ago. She did not know why it failed earlier or for that matter, why it was so hard this time but she could figure that out later. Right now, she had a niece she had to stop.

It worked; the two teleported over a hundred miles in the blink of an eye.

…………………………………………………….

Rainbow ducked and dodged under the dragacorn’s attacks. Part of her balked at this… she should not be dodging attacks from Ataxia… it was unthinkable, so Rainbow did what she did best in these situations. If something is unthinkable, simply do not think about it, just do it.

Rainbow flew around another blow and attacked herself. Her idea was a simple one; after all, it’s the simple ideas that work the best. The more stuff you try, the more variables you add, the more ponies you get involved, the more likely something is going to go wrong, and normally in the worst possible way. This was just her and Ataxia. She wanted to put the dragacorn on the ground. True, she was a threat regardless of where she was, but if she could not fly for a while that simply meant she was only a threat to those nearby, not to every soul in Equestria.

To that end, Rainbow went after the one thing she knew would be the biggest detriment to such a large creature staying airborne, the lift of her wings. Rainbow slashed at the wings with her own, leaving great tears up and down the membrane that supported the lift Ataxia needed to stay in the air.

Such attacks did not physically hurt Ataxia, but they did cause her to put forth that much more energy to stay airborne. Something that increased with every swipe of Rainbow’s wings. Soon, the dragacorn was unable to stay in the air at all and gravity did the rest.

Rainbow made sure to time it just right, when they were as far up as she dared take them Rainbow lashed out one last time, leaving a great tear down Ataxia’s left wing. It no longer mattered what sort of ambient magic Ataxia used to maintain flight, she could no longer stay in the air. Not with her wings in such a state.

Ataxia began falling out of the sky, in much the same way as a meteorite would fall from the heavens. Rainbow watched her fall; the hatred on Ataxia’s face spoke volumes. She knew in that one moment of eye contact that there was nothing in that head other than pure unadulterated hate. There was no sign of the mare she knew, the one she watched grow up all her life. The famous troublemaker was gone, all that was left was this creature… this creature of hate.

‘She hates us, but why?’ Rainbow thought to herself. That train of thought ended as soon as it began. Rainbow instantly recognized what was about to happen. She lived in a house with three magic users for most of her life. Nopony had to tell Rainbow that Ataxia was readying a spell.

Rainbow flew down at top speed, she didn't now know what spell the dragacorn was about to cast but she knew enough to not let her cast it. Two sonic rainbooms erupted in her wake, each one shattering the clouds in the sky. While not intending to, they would remove any possible hiding places Rainbow could use in the air. Such was the cost of this maneuver though.

Milliseconds after Ataxia began casting Rainbow landed on top of her head and kicked Ataxia’s horn with her back hoof. The knowledge of what to do came from spending most of her life living around magic users. Powerful magic users at that. That knowledge did not stop Rainbow from grunting in pain as she was forced to put pressure on her broken hoof. She wrote it off; it was simply another lesson in why she should be more careful. ‘I should be the most knowledgeable mare in Equestria by now.’ Rainbow joked to herself.

The blow was enough; Ataxia’s spell fizzled and died before she could cast it. With a look of confusion written upon Ataxia’s face, Rainbow took off. Her job was done so there was no need to go down with the preverbal sinking dragon.

Rainbow smiled as her plan came to fruition. She grinned her cocky grin as Ataxia lashed out with every weapon at her disposal, the realization of what was about to occur written plainly on the huge dragacorn’s face. Rainbow stopped smiling when the dragacorn made impact with the ground. That was nothing to smile about….

The dragacorn’s impact shook the ground for miles in every direction. Those few trees and animals that survived the destruction of Ataxia’s flame breath would not survive this. The sheer weight and mass of the impact caused the very ground to split asunder. The shockwave from the impact felled all the trees directly around it.

Rainbow coughed as she began breathing in the dust cloud. “Ok, maybe that was a stupid idea…. Yeah, maybe…” She said to herself. It took a few minutes for the cloud to clear. When it finally did, Rainbow Dash stared down at the body lying in one of the most massive craters she has ever seen in her entire life.

The dragacorn, looked… dead. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” Rainbow began cursing to herself as she flew down to inspect the damage. She had not meant to do that. She simply wanted to incapacitate Ataxia until Twilight got here. Not kill her.

Ataxia’s wings were warped and shredded. Her neck bent at an impossible angle. It was easy to see that she had tried a last second correction before impact. One that only made things worse. Although, Rainbow suspected that there was no making things better, not from a fall like that. It was simple math and had she been any good at it Rainbow would have known that when an object of that mass falls at that distance, it would impact with more than enough force to kill itself.

“I’m so bucked….” Her thoughts turned to Night. About how sad her daughter would be, to Twilight, about how angry she would be for being so stupid and rash. Yes Ataxia needed to be stopped, but that did not mean she needed to be killed. They had stopped more threats than Rainbow could count without killing any of them.

“Did Nightmare Moon need to die? Did Chrysalis? Did Tirek? Ok, maybe the last two were bad examples, we would have been far better off killing them, but that’s not the point.” Rainbow berated herself.

She landed near Ataxia’s corpse. Rainbow did not want to look at it but she could not bring herself to look anywhere else. The events weighed heavily in Rainbow’s mind… she could not believe that this had just happened. She overdid it… again…

“I’m sorry.” Rainbow said as she reached the head of the great beast… the head of her friend… the head of her family member. “I didn’t mean for this to happen…. I… I was just trying to keep you on the ground… this… this was stupid of me and you paid the price. I don’t know what happened to cause you to be this way but I know Twilight could have fixed it, she could have… had I just given her a chance.” A tear fell down Rainbow’s face as she sat back on her flank. Wrapping one wing around her broken limbs she began to heal herself as she spoke.

“You didn’t deserve this; you didn’t deserve any of this.” Rainbow closed her eyes. No longer willing to look at the damage she had caused, at the blood all around the impact zone.

She felt it more than anything else, the strong pull of magic, Rainbow did not recognize the source of the magic, but she felt its power. It was a level of power that she normally only ever felt from her wife. Yet she knew, without even having to look that it definitely was not Twilight’s power, but it was still God magic at work.

Rainbow opened her eyes. What she saw made her jaw fall to the ground. White light surrounded the dragacorn’s body. Bones that were bent at odd angles straightened themselves. Gashes in her body closed, no longer bleeding. Ataxia’s wings mended themselves. Her eye… it was open, open and staring directly at Rainbow.

The rage… the hate… the anger… Rainbow could read all of these, and of these emotions and more in that glare.

“What the buck…”

It was Rainbow’s reflexes that saved her. In the blink of an eye, Ataxia let loose with her flame breath. It scorched the land, instantly disintegrating everything in its path. Unlike all the times before, it did not leave any fire behind, as everything it touched turned instantly to ash leaving nothing left to burn.

While Rainbow’s mind was still trying to figure out how something that was obviously dead could heal itself so quickly and then attack. Her subconscious took over; it forced the mare straight up into the air, nearly avoiding a certain death by flame.

That was not the only thing that she had to avoid. As she flew straight up, Ataxia lashed out at her with her tail. It was a level of speed Rainbow had not seen the dragacorn have before. It was easily the fastest attack Ataxia had performed that day.

Although, to catch Rainbow, she would have to be much, much faster. Rainbow dodged around it, flying through the green spikes on the tail she made for the safety of the clouds. Of course, there was one little problem with that idea.

“Buck me…” Rainbow said to nopony in particular as her mind took back control of her body. There were no clouds. No easy cover to hide from Ataxia’s gaze, her sonic rainbooms had eliminated them all. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to do this the hard way.”

She glanced back; Ataxia was glaring up at her. Her great wings began flapping and she took off like a bullet, directly for Rainbow’s location. A sonic rainboom of her own left in her wake.

‘She’s a lot quicker….’ Rainbow considered this as she dodged yet another attack. ‘Well, if it worked once, it should work again.’ Rainbow lashed out at Ataxia’s wings. Her own grew several times longer and sharper. She went into a spin and struck at them, seeking to tear a slice directly in the weak membrane.

It was like trying to cut steel with a piece of glass.

The magic wings, a gift from her wife during their kiss under the Crystal Palace, wings that could cut a mountain in half with a simple slice. They impacted Ataxia’s wings and simply bounced off. The jarring impact completely threw off Rainbow’s maneuver and she almost fell from the sky with surprise written on her face.

She was quick to recover; Rainbow’s flight based more on the will to fly as opposed to any use of wind currents or the like. However quick she was, she still only barely avoided Ataxia’s front claw as the dragacorn sought to take advantage of this situation. The tip of her claw cut into Rainbow’s midsection, drawing blood as it went. Rainbow supposed, logically, she should be grateful that she had avoided most of the damage. Although, that knowledge still did not make the wound hurt any less.

Rainbow took off, leading Ataxia on a hunt through the sky. She had to put on enough speed to keep her distance but not too much to lose her. The last thing Rainbow wanted was for Ataxia to lose interest and began hunting down other, easier prey.

“Keep up with me Ataxia!” Rainbow shouted as she looked behind her. There was no need for the encouragement. Just from what she could see Ataxia was indeed keeping up with her. The look in her eye told Rainbow that she would follow her until the end of the world. ‘Just what I was hoping for.’ Rainbow thought to herself with a smile. ‘I must be crazy.’ She laughed.

It was then that Rainbow saw the one thing she was looking for the most right now, the one thing that put a smile on her face more than anything else at that time. It occurred about a mile back, a bright flash of purple light. During this sort of fight, for anyone else they would have missed it, too concerned with simply keeping out of reach of the massive dragacorn, but Rainbow Dash was not anyone else, and she would never, ever miss the tell-tale sign of her wife’s teleportation.

“Took you long enough, Twi.” Rainbow said with a smile. This was it; Twilight would fix everything now. Rainbow increased her speed several fold; she had to get to Twilight with enough time to explain what was going on before Ataxia followed and attacked.

………………….

Twilight and Shimmering Night looked around. The damage… the destruction, it was immense. There was not a tree left standing within a thousand hooves of where they stood. Off in the distance they could both make out a huge gigantic crater. One that was surrounded with blood.

“Mom… What… What happened?” Night asked, her brain not processing what her eyes were seeing.

“Well, if I had two guesses I would only need one.” Twilight facehoofed. She could not believe that Rainbow had been this reckless. While she did not know what was going on, she knew enough to know that this would be Rainbow’s fault. That much was obvious to say the least.

“Hey! There were extenuating circumstances!” Rainbow yelled at the two as she flew over to the two.

“Rainbow you don’t even know the definition of extenuating circumstances.” Twilight replied. To which Rainbow just blew her wife a raspberry.

“MOM!” Night yelled as she ran up, she stopped right before making contact though, her eyes glued to the blood leaking out of Rainbow’s flank and her partly healed legs.

“Rainbow, are you ok?” Twilight asked, concern for her wife permeating each and every word she spoke.

“No time for that, Twilight, you may not believe it but that creature is A-“

“It’s Ataxia, I know, Night told me as much.”

Rainbow looked at her daughter. “How did you...? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Twi, I can’t seem to reach her, it’s like she doesn’t even understand anything I say to her, and I need you to transform her back into her pony form.”

“Let me talk to her first, maybe I can reason with her.” Night pleaded with her parents.

“No!” Rainbow shouted. “Night, I tried to talk to her, I looked for any sign that she even understood what I was trying to say. There was nothing there. Nothing to indicate anything other than hate. I know she’s your friend, but I need you to believe me on this. Whatever happened, we cannot reason with her, not without transforming her back first. It’s our only hope.”

“But… but.”

“No buts.”

“Can you get her on the ground?” Twilight asked. “It would be easier for me that way.”

“I tried that once…” Rainbow glanced over to the crater on the ground, her gaze causing the other two to know just what had happened and how it had occurred. Recognition to that fact crossed Twilight and Night’s faces.

“She healed almost instantly and became a lot more stronger, I… I can’t seem to cut her wings anymore.”

Twilight looked at her with shock on her face. “But… but your wings are magic… there has never been anything they can’t cut.”

“I know, but when I made her fall in the ground once, this… this white light surrounded her, it healed all her wounds and since then, I couldn’t cut her anymore.” Rainbow said with a worried expression on her face. “I tell you, she was dead and then she was back…” The look on Twilight’s face said she was anything but convinced, however, she accepted that maybe, possibly Rainbow was right. She augmented her plans for that eventuality. They had to risk it before this got out of hoof and somepony got hurt or even killed.

“Ehh… moms we are out of time.” Night said as she pointed a hoof up into the sky. Rainbow and Twilight both followed it. Ataxia was heading straight for them.

“Ok, here's the plan: Rainbow, Night I need you two to get her on the ground, it doesn’t matter for how long, just put her there. I’ll do the rest.

Rainbow looked at her daughter, “Are you up for this?” She asked, unsure if Night could do something like this to her friend.

“I better be.” Night replied, unsure of the answer herself.

Rainbow sighed; it was the answer she was expecting but not the one she wanted. Whatever was going to happen, she would have to keep an eye on her daughter at all times. Ataxia was quick, quicker than Night’s top speed, and that was a speed Rainbow was sure had gotten slower since she last measured Night’s wingpower.

Rainbow took off into the air, seeking to get the dragacorn’s attention before Night did something she was sure both of them would regret. Night followed, a heavy heart weighing her down.

“Hey Night.” Twilight spoke up before he daughter was out of range.

“Yeah mom, what’s up?”

“This is for her benefit. If you want to help your friend, you’ve got to do this, ok? Hit her with your most powerful attack, Rainbow will give you the opening you need.”

“Ok.”

“C’mon Night, we’re counting on you, I know you can do better than that.”

“OK!”

“That’s my girl.” Twilight said with a smile as her daughter increased her speed to help Rainbow. Twilight’s smile quickly faded as she realized that she still had the hard part of this. Transformation spells alone were a lot of work, but forcing someone to transform against their will was on a completely new level. To top that off, she had to force a mare the likes of Ataxia to transform. This would require all of her concentration to pull off, something she could only do on the ground.

Twilight let out a sigh as she lay down an enhancement ritual and stepped in the center. “Ok Twilight, they’re all counting on you. You've got to get this right.” She told herself, trying to ignore a nagging doubt in her stomach.

………………

Rainbow took off like a speeding bullet. In the blink of an eye she landed on Ataxia’s face and kicked her right between the eyeballs, hard. The great dragacorn roared back in pain, grasping at the cyan mare that had, yet again, caused that pain. She was too slow, far, far too slow for the likes of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow flew off her head and proceeded to circle the dragacorn fifty times a second, doing her best to increase Ataxia’s anger and keep her attention focused on her. It worked; Ataxia never even noticed the large purple alicorn fly up and over her. She did not notice when Night set up several enhancement circles directly below her and the great beast. She did not notice Night charge up her most powerful attack, lining it up directly with all three circles and Ataxia’s main body.

Ataxia did notice when it hit.

The magic energy built to a crescendo on Shimmering Night’s horn. She held it as long as she could, letting it build up in potency, until, at last, she could hold it no longer. With a final adjustment of her aim Night whispered a silent “I’m sorry,” before letting it go. The full magic power of an alicorn passed through her first enhancement ritual at the speed of light.

While never fully researched, Night’s enhancement ritual differed significantly from the ones Twilight and Dayspring discovered. Those had to be used on the ground and were tough to set up. Those could be broken; they had specific uses and could backfire on the user.

Shimmering Night’s had none of these. Ever since the first time she used one, in order to augment Ataxia’s dragon fire to put an end to Tirek’s evil once and for all, she had not used it again. They were destructive... very, very destructive. She had not intended for it to be that powerful when she cast it. The growth it caused on Ataxia’s magic scared her to say the least, but she made a promise to Twilight that she would hit Ataxia with her most powerful spell, and she would keep it. Even still, when Night fired her blast, there were tears in her eyes.

The energy released by the young alicorn passed right through the first ritual, the innate magic of Shimmering Night’s spell causing it to increase in power, ten times, a hundred times, five hundred times. It grew several times in diameter and sped down to the second circle.

Night knew enough to increase the size of the second and third circles. So when the energy passed through the second circle, the effect was the same, five hundred times became a thousand, then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand times more powerful, until it reached the third circle.

Three circles… truly Night did not know what would happen with the third circle. One was bad enough, two unheard of… three… three was all kinds of overkill. She simply hoped that her mom was right, that this would not kill her friend.

She should have been worried if the planet would survive the attack.

The already massive amount of energy reached the third circle and exploded forward in a colossal ball of light. It was no longer measurable, the energy coalesced into a beam the likes of which the Elements of Harmony would pale in comparison too. Rainbow noticed with just enough time to escape, shooting away from Ataxia before the energy hit her.

This much power… it scared Night, more than she could ever say, in any other circumstances, she would never, never use it. Not like this. However, that was not the thing that truly frightened her, what did frighten her was the fact she could have laid down a lot more of the circles had she wanted too.

She knew, in her heart, that these ritual circles were not like any magic she had ever been taught. They were different, all magic had limits but these did not, it seemed as if there were no limits for these. She had simply willed magic amplifiers into being and these are what showed up. She could only speculate that these were tied just to her, that they were unique just to her in the same way as her cutie mark.

Twilight watched it all go down; in the blink of an eye her daughter had released God level magic on this planet. How and why would have to wait. Twilight had to act fast, faster than ever before. She focused her own considerable levels of magic energy directly on the spot above Ataxia and dissipated as much as she could, it would not do any of them any good if Ataxia was vaporized and Night blew a hole directly through the planet.

She estimated that she dissipated roughly sixty-seven percent of her daughter’s magic before it hit Ataxia. Even still, the damage it caused was hard to look at. Part of her, the analytical part was impressed; she never knew Night was so powerful. She would have to remember never to tell Night to use her full power again. Another part of Twilight was slightly scared by this… if her daughter could do that… Twilight decided not to think about that, lest her thoughts go into a bad place.

Ataxia looked up right before it hit, the magic energy slammed down into her, her wings incinerated to stumps. She would have screamed out but the heat from the attack caught the air in her lungs on fire. Her scales fried off her body, leaving her skin unprotected.

Her skin boiled off in sickening bubbles, the muscles went next. Yet the energy wasn’t done, it forced the skeleton to slam into the ground with far more force than Rainbow’s little stunt not ten minutes earlier. The vibrations caused earthquakes that were only stopped when they reached the edge of the continent.

It was a small miracle that the fault lines avoided every populated city.

…………………………………………………….

It was yet another boring day in The Crystal Empire, another day where absolutely nothing was going on. To put it mildly, Cadance was bored. She liked it a little more when things were interesting. When there was a little excitement in the air. Not that things were always boring, indeed for the last few years she had been getting more than enough excitement, but such periods were almost always a little extreme, even for her taste. ‘If only things could find a happy medium.’ She thought to herself, ‘Like if we could take the excitement and stretch it out over a longer period of time, not increasing it, but making it last.’

Of course, she naturally did not want the consequences of such excitement… those normally resulted in a pony she loved dying, Shining Armor and Twilight coming to mind.

So Cadance did what she normally does when things get this way, she went to visit her son and daughter-in-law. Between the two of them there was more than enough excitement to last a few lifetimes.

‘Will they even be up at this hour?’ She dismissed that thought, yeah it was late, but knowing Radiant… no, knowing Firestar they would both be up. ‘Maybe I might catch them in the act again…’ That almost got her to pause, the last time she had walked in on the two of them, Firestar stated in no uncertain terms that if it happened again she would take a pair of hedge clippers to Cadance’s horn.

‘Why are young ponies so uptight about sex? It’s a perfectly normal function of the body. If she would only listen to me I could give her some tips to make Radiant pudding in her hooves.’ Cadance shook her head; she would never understand why some ponies were so modest about it. Her son was much the same way, normally ponies would be happy to have advice from the Alicorn of Love, their special someponies even happier with the advice she would give them. Alas, she could not understand why her son was so modest. She certainly had not raised him that way.

She went ahead to the hospital. Even if they were having sex, she could wait until they were done. It’s not like she could not sense them if they were doing it. That was part of the benefit of being the Alicorn of Love after all.

She made for the balcony and jumped out. It had been a while since the last time she simply took flight for the sake of flying. While it was true that she did have a destination in mind, she did not let that ruin her enjoyment of flight. It called her back to a simpler time, back to her pegasi roots, before all of this happened. Not that she would change anything at all, she loved every part of her life and the life her family had.

Well… she would change one thing. Her only wish was that Shining Armor was still alive, so that he might see everything his son and sister had accomplished.

Cadance dismissed that thought; it would not do any good to dwell in the past. The past was a lesson, something to learn from, not a place to dwell or live. Besides, she did not need to be told what he would think of all of this, she knew he would be proud of them both.

On top of the hospital she spotted a very interesting sight. Spitfire was lying on top of the building taking in the stars. Cadance landed next to her.

“Princess Cadance.” Spitfire made to get up.

“Please, I’m not here to interrupt. Stay where you are.” Cadance replied, her tone conveying nothing more than simple truth.

“Thanks, these old bones don’t quite work the way they used to.”

“Tell me about it.” Cadance stretched her own hooves, hearing a satisfying pop when she did.

Spitfire laughed, “Please, you’re an alicorn, the worst you have to deal with is a few stiff joints. Trust me, when you get old like me, other things stop working, I could tell you some horror stories if you want.”

“That’s quite alright.” Cadance smiled back. “What are you doing up here anyway?”

“Oh, they're at it again. I figured I would give them some privacy, I doubt Firestar wants her mom to hear her moan in the next room over.”

Cadance laughed, “Yes, I suppose that’s true.” She lay down next to Spitfire. “It’s pretty isn’t it?”

“The stars? Yes. I like to lay back and simply look at them ever since retiring. Luna definitely outdid herself tonight.”

“That she did.” Cadance smiled, her aunt was always an artist when it came to the night sky. “You know… you never did tell me what you thought of them.”

“Who?”

“Our kids, of them being together like this. You’ve had a little while to see them together, how they really are. I know you could have gone home a week ago, don’t give me that. So, what do you think?”

“Frankly?”

Cadance nodded.

“Cadance, my daughter can be an egotistical bitch at times. Don’t give me that look, we both know it's true. She’s headstrong, rash, arrogant, impulsive, and wants everything to go perfect. And I wouldn’t want her any other way.” Spitfire smiled as she remembered her daughter growing up.

“I… I never imagined she would actually settle down, that she could find someone who would make her slow down and enjoy life. I didn’t think anyone like that existed... until I met Prince Radiant Star, son of the renowned Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Cadance flinched at the use of her full name, an action that only caused Spitfire to chuckle.

“Your son… In so many ways he's the male version of her. He’s headstrong, rash, impulsive, ego driven. Yet, against all odds, they found each other, they came to love each other, and I think… I know they are both better off for it. I think you think that too, don’t you Cadance?”

Cadance visibly relaxed, “I do; I just wanted to know what you thought of it.”

“You could have just asked, you know?”

“You know what the rumors say about you, ever since you retired?”

“What? That I’m a stick up her ass bitch that is best avoided at all cost? Yeah, who do you think started those rumors?” Cadance looked at Spitfire in shock.

“C’mon Cadance, think about it, I’m the longest serving Captain of the Wonderbolts. If I ever wanted any peace at all in retirement I had to do something to keep all the fans away. I didn’t want my retirement to be spent being hounded to go here and there for Luna knows what reason.”

Cadance laughed at that. “I suppose that’s true.” She paused as she felt something from down below. A smile began to creep over her face.

Spitfire noticed this, “What? What happened?”

“Let's just say, my son definitely knows how to please his mare.”

Both mares began laughing at that one. It was a good five minutes before they came down from such a fit. “Shall we go say hi?” Cadance asked.

“Don’t you want to give them a minute to get cleaned up?”

“Nah, I love the look of utter embarrassment on Firestar’s face too much. I think it makes her look that much more adorable.”

“You’re awful, you know that?”

“I take that to mean you don’t want to go?”

“Oh I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The two old mares began laughing again as they made their way inside. Neither of them noticed the small tremors running through the land.

…………………………………………………….

When the energy finally spent itself, Ataxia, or what was left of her, was buried a thousand hoofs under the sea level. Shimmering Night created a hole in the ground that by all right should serve as her gravestone.

Rainbow flew up to her daughter. “What… what was that?” She asked, a look of disbelief evident on her face.

“I… I… I didn’t know it would be that powerful.” Night said. She looked down at the hole. “You… you said she can’t die right? I… I didn’t just kill her right? Mom… mom said I should give it all I had…” Night began shaking, visibly disturbed by what she just did. Her mind entered a state of shock at that horror of just having killed her best friend.

Rainbow caught her in a hoof before she fell; it did not take the greatest flyer in all of the world to know that Shimmering Night was about to fall from the sky, with her body no longer concentrating on holding her in the air. “C’mon, let’s go talk to Twi.” Rainbow said. Night just looked at her and nodded; she had not expected any of this, and it was all a lot, too much to take in. She was simply grateful to have an objective, something to do. Night's mind latched onto that command, it was easy to follow orders….

When Rainbow landed with Night in her hooves, she gently placed her down on the ground. It did not surprise either of her parents that she was unable to stand. Physically she was fine, just a little exhausted. Mentally, was a whole another story.

“Night,” Twilight softly spoke. “What was that?”

“You… you… you told me to hit her with my strongest attack.”

Twilight softly ran a hoof through Night’s mane, “I’m not mad Night, just tell me, what did you do?” there was no judgment in her voice, no anger, no hate, just the kind words of a mother trying to comfort her daughter in their time of stress.

“I… I found a… a way of augmenting Day’s enhancement rituals. I put three of them out there and attacked… I attacked…” She could not bring herself to say the last part, it still felt too wrong to her.

“Three…” Twilight thought about it, “You can cast them in the air, and you sent your power through three of them?” Disbelief evident in her voice.

Night merely nodded her head.

Twilight spoke again, “Just… promise me one thing ok, never use more than two at any one time. Unless your life or the life of someone else is in danger, ok?”

Night nodded again.

“Why do you want her to hold back, Twi?” Rainbow asked, confusion written on her face.

“Rainbow… I dispersed two-thirds of the energy from that attack before it hit.”

“Wait… that was only… one-third of what that blast could have done?”

It was Twilight’s turn to nod her head.

Rainbow turned and looked at her daughter, who was only that much more shaken by the news. “That… that’s… that’s awesome!” Rainbow flew around her daughter in ever-increasing circle, Twilight just smirked, any chance Rainbow had to show her pride in her kids she took to like a cat to milk. “I can’t believe how powerful you are!”

“Mom… please…” Night looked seasick from the sudden activity.

“Oh, sorry.” Rainbow said sheepishly as she landed on the ground next to her daughter, wrapping a wing around her much larger frame.

“Umm, what about Ataxia?” Night asked, “Did… did I kill her.” Night could not sense her friend, although she had never been the best at sensing others.

Twilight looked over at the crater, it was massive, too massive to peer down into. She could send Rainbow to go look but she decided against that idea. If Ataxia was still alive, she did not want her wife in such close proximity without the room she needed to maneuver.

Twilight reached out with her magic, going deep into the hole, she felt for anything, any signs of life at all.

There was nothing… nothing living down there. She closed her eyes and sighed. ‘Dammit,’ Twilight thought to herself, she had no choice but to break the bad news to her daughter. “Night… I… I ne-“

They both felt it; chaos magic coalesced around the crater, all around the ambient magic of the word seeped down, down to the corpse lying at the very bottom. “What the?” Night asked.

“I have no idea,” Twilight replied. She sent her magic energy back down into the hole, that’s when she felt it. It was… it is… Ataxia. “It’s Ataxia, she’s… she’s coming back to life.”

“Told you she did that before!” Rainbow proclaimed with a smile on her face. “I bet you didn’t believe me either!”

“Yes Rainbow, you were right.” Twilight said with a sly grin on her face.

“Heck Yeah! Chalk one up in the Rainbow is right column!” Rainbow began spinning in air. She loved this part, being able to add a tick mark to her side of the board. It almost made her forget that even if every one of her tick marks were worth ten of Twilight’s, she would still be grossly outnumbered.

“Ahh… mom… she’s… she’s getting up.” The fear in Night’s voice was self-evident to both of her parents.

Rainbow landed next to her wife. “Doesn’t matter, we got Twi here. Transform her back Twi. I’m looking forward to hearing what the hell happened to her.” A sly grin crossed Rainbow’s face as she watched the huge dragacorn began pull itself out of the hole.

“Yeah, ok, here goes.” Twilight focused her considerable magical power upon the circle, this spell… it would take all of her concentration to work. Changing forms was easy enough, simple enough to do on a willing subject too. However, changing the form of somepony… some dragon that was unwilling? On top of that it would be a dragon that was a powerful magic user in her own right. This would be (yet another) for the history books.

“Rainbow, if she tries casting anything I need you to interrupt it.” Twilight said as she closed her eyes.

“On it, you can count on me.” Rainbow said with a smirk. The mare got down low and readied her hind legs for a kick off. Never once taking her eyes off of Ataxia’s horn while she waited for her wife to end this.

“I never doubted it Rainbow.” Twilight smiled. She felt the power build up inside of her. It had been a while since she last had needed to call on this power, the full power anyway, but it came back all the same. She could feel it, the power she had from Gaia… the power of life and magic itself. It came back to her, as if it had always been there, as if it had merely been waiting for her beck and call.

She could use this power to do anything she wanted. With her knowledge and skill this power could be harnessed for any purpose she put her mind to. All Twilight had to do is call on it and it would come.

Rainbow and Night watched as magic purple energy surrounded Twilight. She lifted in the air, propelled not by wings but by pure magic power, power further amplified by the enhancement circle she cast earlier. Her eyes shot open, the purple hue of her pupils gone, replaced with nothing more than the pure white of a pearl.

Twilight’s wings shot out in both directions, magical energy radiated off of them in purple waves. Rainbow and Night watched as she raised a hoof and pointed it directly at the dragacorn, whom just now was dragging her bulk out of the hole.

Twilight stared at her, it was easy; it was so easy to direct just a small portion of her will against Ataxia. She could make her do anything, anything she wanted to. She shook that thought from her head; she just wanted to help Ataxia, nothing more.

“Transform back.” Twilight said the words. Rainbow and Night shuddered as her voice came out several octaves under her normal tone.

Nothing happened.

Twilight fell out of the sky and landed on all four hooves. The shock that nothing was occurring causing her to lose hold of her magical grip.

“Ah, Twi? Any time now would be good.” Rainbow asked, never taking her eyes off of the large creature that continued to drag its bulk out of the hole.

“Rainbow… something’s wrong.” Twilight said, she tried to re-grasp the power, power that was so easy to see just seconds before.

“Not funny Twi.”

“Rainbow it’s… it’s not a joke, something’s wrong with me. I need a minute to figure this out.”

Rainbow did a double take on Twilight’s expression; the worry she saw written there said it all, it said something was wrong with her. “Horseapples.” Rainbow spoke aloud. “Night, help your mom, I’ll keep Ataxia pinned to the ground as long as I can.” Rainbow took off, curses flying out under her breath. She remembered just how quicker and dangerous Ataxia was the last time she came back from the dead. Part of Rainbow knew that she would be even more dangerous now.

“Mom…. What can I do?” Night asked, her eyes glued to Twilight.

“Just give me a minute. I need to concentrate.” Twilight began to focus inward, even without the power she had from Gaia, her own personal reserves were nothing to laugh at. Alicorns naturally were very gifted in most forms of magic. It was their birthright after all.

Her mind began to process the information her magic sent her, and as with everything Twilight did, she did so in the form of a checklist checking off each item as she verified that there was no issue with it:

‘Normal magic flow, check

Horn, check

Brain, check

Eyes, check

Nervous system, check

Heart, check

Lungs, check

Kidneys, check

Hooves, check

Legs, check

Fetus, check

Liver, check

Stomach, check

Col- ‘

‘Wait… what?’

Twilight caught herself; something had been off on that list, something she had not been expecting. ‘Fetus?’ Twilight scanned her uterus three times, then another three times just to be sure. She confirmed it more times than she cared to count.

It was true. Growing inside of her was a colt, one who seemed to nullify any attempt Twilight made to figure out how it came to be. Her magic seemed to stop as soon as it made contact with the colt. Even still, based on its size she could estimate that she was about five weeks along.

“I’m… I’m pregnant.” Twilight said softly.

“What… what did you say, mom?” Night asked, she could not hear her mother over the sound of Rainbow fighting Ataxia in the background.

“Night… I’m… I’m pregnant!” Twilight said a little louder than she intended too.

Night’s jaw hit the floor. She wanted to ask question of just how that was possible, of what in the world could have caused that… if Twilight had… cheated? No she dismissed that last one off hoof. Her parents loved each other far too much for that. Still, she had questions, lots of questions but all that came out was a loud grunt.

“It’s… It’s a colt. About five weeks now, He’s… he’s somehow nullifying the majority of my magic… I… I’d have to run some tests but I think he’s the reason why I can’t use Gaia’s power.”

Night’s mind caught onto most of that statement, she was about to have a brother… one who seemed to be able to nullify most of her mom’s power at that, while he wasn’t even born yet? What… how is that possible?

Although another thing came to mind, one more item her mom had said. ‘About five weeks…’ She did the math, ran the numbers a hundred times in her head. ‘Five weeks… five week… that was when Ataxia and I had our fight…’

“It’s my fault…” Night said softly.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, unsure if she had heard her daughter correctly.

Before Night could answer, a gold meteorite shot between them. Plowing itself in the dirt at speeds neither of them could ever hope to match. It embedded itself several hooves back, causing both mares to jump up in shock.

“Rainbow!” Twilight yelled as she ran to her wife. Night turned the other way; she knew that if something like that occurred to Rainbow it meant Ataxia got the upper hoof on her. That knowledge… the knowledge that her best friend in the world could do something like that to her mom… it sparked something in the mare. “You… You dare hurt my mom?!” Night yelled at the approaching dragacorn, who even now was flexing her newly regrown wings. “You dare!” She snapped… it no longer mattered that this creature was her best friend. She could only concentrate on the fact that her mom… that Rainbow was hurt… that this creature had… killed her mom.

"You… you hurt my mom…."

Her mom told her to promise not to use more than two, not unless somepony’s life was on the line, As far as Night was concerned, this qualified as a ponies life on the line. Night recast three enhancement circles, aiming directly for Ataxia and fired off a blast. She did not care if these ended the mare or not, no one hurts her family.

Ataxia caught the blast in her upper chest. The energy three times as powerful as the last time. Her body had adapted, changed from her last death to evolve past the point of being able to be killed the same way again. As such, her scales held back the energy, for a second or two.

Yet even it could not stop this much power. The dragacorn screamed in pain as her entire upper half was disintegrated in a second. The bottom part of her collapsed on the ground, a small tremor accompanying its fall. The energy continued on, vaporizing everything in its path, forever.

“No one hurts my family.” Night said with a tear in her eye. She turned around and saw Twilight peeling away the wings from around Rainbow’s form. It had failed to dawn on Night, had she aimed slightly lower, there would have been nothing left of Ataxia. She would have ended her friend once and for all.

“Rainbow! Rainbow answer me, dammit!” Twilight yelled as loud as she could. Night started crying in earnest as she ran to help her mom; she could not feel Rainbow’s life energy.

“MOM!!!” Night yelled as she began work on the other wing. Trying in vain to pull it back with all her might. hoping against hope that Rainbow was alright.

“The screaming… it’s… it’s not helping, girls.” The voice was tiny, small, but it was there. Twilight visibly relaxed.

“Rainbow, don’t ever, ever, ever scare me like that again.”

“It’s not my fault.” Rainbow looked up, her entire left half crushed under the impact with Ataxia. She rewrapped a wing around it, letting the ambient magical energy from her wing begin the work of healing her.

“Yeah, then whose fault is it?” Twilight asked with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

“Somepony said she was pregnant. Sorry if that was a little distracting.” Rainbow replied as she glared at her wife with a disbelieving look on her face.

“Oh, yeah, that…”

‘I love that sheepish look Twilight gets at times like these.’ Rainbow thought.

“Yeah, that Twi. We're gonna talk about that as soon as we deal with the other issue.”

“She’s down, for now at least.” Night commented, she pointed a hoof towards where the body lay, white magic already begun to surround it, regenerating what was lost in the attack.

Twilight looked at her daughter, then to her wife, then to Ataxia, and at last to the new star that was in the night sky. It was only ten hooves to the left of the one she made all those years ago when she stopped the Grim Reaper from taking Rainbow’s soul. “If we keep making new stars in the sky the astrologers are going to be pissed.” Twilight said with a smile.

“The whoma what now?” Rainbow asked.

“Astrologers, the ponies that watch the sky… never mind I’ll explain later. Until then I have a plan.”

“That’s what I love about you, Sparklebutt.”

“Rainbow! You said you wouldn’t call me that around others.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“Why does she call you Sparklebutt?” Night asked with an inquisitive look on her face.

“Don’t worry about it.” Twilight hoped the blush on her face was not as big as it felt, it was.

“Look, I can’t access my magic as is, but… I think I have a solution, at least temporary. Night I need you to cast one of your enhancement rituals over Ataxia. I think I can slow down her regeneration but I need your power to make it last any real amount of time.”

“Ok… but mom… I... I’ve never really tested them before, it was just something I did one time.”

Twilight placed a hoof on her daughter’s head. “I know you're worried about hurting her, and I promise I won’t let anything permanent happen to her. I want her back too but first we have to find a way to reach her; that means we need time. Time we don’t have if she keeps getting back up at the rate she has. I need you to trust me, ok?”

“Ok. I do trust you.” Night felt a weight removed from her chest. ‘Twilight has a plan,’ that was all she needed to feel better. She took off, heading right for her friend’s corpse.

“Rainbow, you gonna be alright for a second?”

“Yeah, yeah, it will take more than this to keep me out of the fight.” She tried to get back up, only to end up back on her back. “Ok, it will take more than this to keep me out of the fight for longer than a few minutes anyway.” Twilight laughed at that. “What if it… what if it doesn’t work?” Rainbow asked, a serious expression overtook her face.

“I have a plan B… Although Night may hate me for it. Don’t worry about me though; I’ll be back. Consider it a promise.” Twilight smiled and kissed her wife on the forehead before leaving.

“Stay safe, Egghead. It’s not just you I’m worried about.” Rainbow gestured her good hoof down at Twilight’s stomach.

Twilight placed a hoof on her stomach and smiled. “Count on it, and don’t think for a second you’re off the hook for that Sparklebutt comment.”

Rainbow’s smile faded as she watched her wife fly off. “Horseapples…”

‘Oh well, I know how to make it up to her, after all, a pregnant Sparklebutt is a horny Sparklebutt.’ Rainbow’s smile returned as she refreshed her memory on all the different things Twilight enjoyed when she was pregnant with Night. It was quite the list.

……………………….

Night could barely look at the body… the body of her friend. It made her sick to her stomach to know that those remains were, was, is all that is left of Ataxia. What was worse, the fact that she was the one who caused it. She had caused all that damage using magic she did not fully understand.

And she was about to do it again. It did not matter that it was to help her mom, she did not want to hurt her friend like this, it was not right. Not in any sense of the word. ‘Must we use such destructive power to save those we love?’ She did not have an answer to that question.

“You ready, Night?” Twilight asked as she flew up to her daughter.

“Mom… are… are you sure she will be ok?”

“I’m sure, but we need to hurry.” Twilight said as she looked down at the rapidly regenerating corpse.

“Ok… I’m ready.” Night proceeded to cast the circle, it was… strange to knowingly do it, when she did it before it was more reflex, simply following orders, or to save somepony she loved, to end a threat. Now? Now she knew what they were capable of and it was fully premeditated.

That made it worse, a lot worse.

“Ok, it’s done.” Night said with a whimper.

Twilight looked down, her daughter did good work. Of course, she wanted time to study exactly how this circle did what they did and how Night had become so proficient in their creation but that would all have to wait until this had passed, and her new little bundle of trouble was born so she could have full access to her magic again. “Ok, here goes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Step one, reduce her healing to a crawl.” Twilight reached out with her alicorn magic and surrounded Ataxia’s body with it, she could feel the chaos magic of the mare hard at work, it was… changing her structure, enhancing it, and augmenting it. The earlier theory was true; every time they put her down she would come back stronger, tougher, and faster. Until they could no longer put her down, it was a grim realization to say the least. It confirmed everything Twilight was hoping against hope would not be true. Yet it was, all of it.

Twilight worked her magic to slow the process down, what would have been completed in minutes, now took hours. Of course, with Night’s magic circle that time was augmented to days, weeks, she dared hope months before it was all said and done.

She had hoped that with Night’s circle, she might still be able to change Ataxia back, but it was too raw… too unfocused for such a delicate spell. It would take months of training to get it right. Sadly, that was time they just did not have.

“What’s step two?” Night asked.

Twilight looked at her, a guilty expression on her face. “Night… I’m sorry; step two won’t work. She’s too powerful for that.” Her magic scan confirmed her worst fear. “I have no choice.”

“What… what does that mean?” Night asked, a sickening fear in her gut.

“I have to trap her somewhere she can’t do any damage. I have to send her to the moon.”

“What? No!” Night yelled. Memories of her conversations with Luna began coming to Night's mind. Of the hell Luna went through trapped on the moon for a thousand years by herself and what it was like. Stories she had only told Night.

“I’m sorry.” Twilight cast the spell, her magic began pooling around the dragacorn’s body, and under any other circumstances one alicorn’s power was insufficient for this spell. While Twilight could normally do it thanks to Gaia’s power, that wellspring was being blocked. However, with Night’s enhancement ritual in place she had more than enough power.

The power blasted off, on a direct course for the moon.

“NO! I won't let this happen!” Night screamed out, as she unconsciously focused all her energy on the magic sending her friend away, forever.

Twilight’s eyes grew wide in shock as the magic imploded before it broke orbit, of the body… of Ataxia there was no sign.

“Night… what did you do?”

Night knew what happened; yet she did not know how it had occurred. “I teleported her way. With her regeneration impeded by what you did, I would say we have two weeks to come up with a way to help her.”

The look of utter betrayal in Night’s eyes was heartbreaking for Twilight to look at.

Author's Notes:

By the way, if you got a 'Doomsday' vibe from Ataxia, that was what I was going for :)

Now 'why' she is like this and what it will mean... that will be explained later.