Twilight stared blankly at General Rivers' body for a moment, a rather detached part of her wondering why there wasn't all that much blood. Then she remembered that they were technically under attack.

"What did you do that for?" she shouted at the black armoured figure that was looking at its crossbow in confusion up on the battlements above the main entrance to the castle. Twilight facehoofed internally at just how that question sounded, even to her.

If it was a dull question, Pearl didn't show it. "Hmm? Oh, I wasn't aiming for him." She raised her crossbow into a firing position and aimed along it, "I guess the sights on this must be out. I was actually aiming for the pegasus."

There was a squeak as Summer ducked behind Luna. "Why always me?" she whined.

"Because you're a pegasus darling, accept it." Pearl dropped the crossbow and folded her forelegs on the battlement, "It doesn't really matter anyway, since death is the fate of all traitors, and yadda yadda yadda..." Pearl held a hoof up to where her mouth was and yawned, but how fake it might have been was hard to tell. She dropped the hoof again and pointed across the square, "Like them."

She pointed at the gallows at the far side of the square. After Rivers' unfortunate demise Twilight hadn't really paid much attention to anything but Pearl, and never saw that the gallows were occupied. Four ponies were hanging there, two earth ponies and two unicorns, a mare and stallion of each. Twilight immediately recognised the unicorn stallion as Nightlight, who lost the mare he loved at that very spot months ago.

"Mash!" Fleur cried out, recognising all the ponies from the Prance resistance.

Twilight felt sick. She couldn't formulate a response towards it apart from thinking that at least Nightlight could be with the one he loved now, which was a horrible thing to think. Then the yellow and grey earth pony mare kicked slightly.

They were still alive.

Twilight jumped into action with a cry, her magic slicing through the ropes and catching the ponies as they fell. She laid them out side by side, the two earth ponies gasping in ragged breaths, while the two unicorns were having a bit more trouble. Nightlight was doing his best, but the pink unicorn mare was still.

"We need to clear their airways," Octavia commanded as she rushed to Nightlight's side, Summer going to the pink unicorn's.

"At once," said Luna. Her magic focused around the mouths of the two unicorns before expanding down their throats, making a clear passage for air to travel through. It was probably uncomfortable as hell, but the two ponies weren't in any position to argue. Nightlight launched into a coughing fit, gasping in lungful's of air, but the pink unicorn remained still.

"Come on Sweetheart," Mash croaked, "fight!"

"She's still alive," said Luna. "Her heart's still beating, but it's weak. If somepony gets a healing device I can save her, but she's going to need somepony to help her breath until then." Twilight took off, but stopped as Luna shouted after her. "Not you. You need to take care of her." Luna pointed at Pearl, who was now slumped on the battlements.

Octavia looked up from her ministrations on Nightlight, "Summer! You're faster than anypony running." Summer hesitated for a second, "Go! I'll take care of them!" Summer nodded and ran a bit before wobbling into the air.

"Why would you do this?" Fleur cried up at Pearl, tears streaming down her face.

Pearl rolled her eyes, "Oh please, stop acting like you don't expect this stuff from me. And if you're about to go into a big blaming yourself thing for getting them found out I suggest you save it. We knew about them long before you even came back to Prance."

"You did?" Fleur said weakly, her confusion evident.

"Of course we did," Pearl said matter-of-factly. "The fact was that they were feeding ponies throughout a food shortage, meaning that the rabble were less inclined to riot and all that. In all honesty, they were doing us a favour."

"Then why capture them now?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I was planning to have it so they were dead but still warm by the time you got here, so you'd be all 'Oh no! These ponies we recognise, we were too late to save them!' when in actual fact I was timing it exactly for that. It appears I miscalculated though." Pearl shrugged, "Seems all my plans are turning to shit today. Did you like my gift by the way? I can tell Trixie did."

Twilight narrowed her eyes at Pearl, "What gift?"

"The berserkers. Took quite the effort to get that set up. Fly amanita doesn't grow on trees you know, let alone the other stuff that went into it. Okay, some of it grows on trees, but those trees aren't exactly common."

"You really did drug your own ponies?"

Pearl nodded happily, "Oh yes. Told them it would give them the strength to win the battle when you came. Too bad I could only make so much."

Twilight almost couldn't believe it, but then thought about who it was she was talking to, and totally could. "You didn't help them win anything! You just turned them into beasts!"

"Oh please, you think I don't know that?" Pearl pushed off the battlement and paced back and forth as she spoke. "I was sent here to hold the city at all costs. Basically I had permission to fight as dirty as possible. The thing is, I know we couldn't beat you and hold the city. Between your magic and pegasi, you're just... better than us, so I made a different plan." Pearl paused, and held it until she sighed, "You're supposed to ask 'what plan Pearl?' Do none of you possess any sense of drama?"

Twilight grit her teeth and growled, "What plan Pearl?"

"I'm so glad you asked." Pearl retook her spot leaning over the battlements, "I've come to the conclusion that we can't win in a fair fight, and even unfair fights aren't always a good bet as Puddingarde and Whiplash showed. So, I came up with a plan that made your victory so costly you never recovered. The trebuchets were supposed to decimate your forces, and then we were supposed to whittle you down further while you tried to open the gate, before destroying you completely on the defences we set up, along with the berserkers. Even if you won you were still severely weakened."

"So weak we would never be able to beat High Rock?"

"Exactly! Except you somehow blew up the trebuchets and defences, and came through the wall, fucking up most of my plans before I even got going. I tried to compensate, but it was already too late. Then that coward Rivers surrendered along with an entire third of my forces." Pearl sighed, then brightened up, "Still, that was only one part of a two part plan."

"What's the other part?" Trixie asked suspiciously.

"Simple! Cut the head off the snake! And I get my revenge, all at the same time." She clapped her hooves together excitedly, "It's the perfect plan."

"Seriously?" The filly sniggered, "Twilight can't die."

Pearl cocked her head slightly, " Really? Then I'll have to find something else to do with her then. Maybe make her into a cute little wall decoration. Or perhaps the kids might like a pet they can take apart without having it die."

Fleur stomped a hoof as Twilight shuddered, "Those same kids that are about to become orphans? What about them Pearl? Don't you want to live for them?"

"Of course I do!" Pearl snapped, showing a rare flash of anger. "But do you really think I have a place in the country you're building? I'm a monster according to you Fleur. I'm not going to beat about the bush about it either because I am a monster, and I like it. I don't want to watch my children grow up weak like they will in your Mareitania, and I very much doubt you'd let me see it happen as you'd probably execute me anyway!" She pointed at Twilight and Trixie, "Add to that the fact that those two killed the love of my life! So yes, I'm going to keep going so that even if I lose and die, my kids at least know their mother went down fighting!"

"You're mad."

"And also increasingly impatient. Here's what's going to happen now. You Twilight, and you Trixie, are going to strip off all your weapons and armour and enter the castle. From there you'll proceed through the castle until you get to me. First one to get to me has the privilege of killing me. Or at least trying to."

Trixie snirked, "And why would we agree to do that exactly?"

Pearl clapped an armoured hoof to her forehead, "I knew I was forgetting something. Come here you two." She waved back behind her, and slowly two mares shuffled into view, one blue, the other a light brown, linked at the neck by two collars chained to each other. Pearl smirked to herself as Fleur gasped, "So you do know them. I wasn't totally sure. Not sure why you'd want to know two incestuous freaks like these though. Disgusting."

"They're step sisters!" Fleur shook her head, surprised at herself for saying that. "You let them go!" she shouted, glancing back to see Octavia watching out of the corner of her eye.

Pearl wrapped a hoof around the neck of Sapphire, the blue mare unmoving as Pearl put her weight on her. Beside her Velvet did her best to hold back tears. "I will Fleur, in good time. You see, these aren't the only ponies I have here. There are plenty more innocent ponies in here at my mercy. However, if you two agree to enter the castle I will let them all go, totally unharmed. If not, I will start killing them, slowly, and agonisingly, until I run out. Then I'll start throwing the bodies out over the battlements reminding you that you're awful ponies for letting them die. The choice is yours entirely."

"Why should we believe you?" Twilight asked.

"Have I ever lied to you?" Pearl said sweetly.

"Yes," Fleur said bluntly.

"I wasn't talking to you sweety. I honestly have little interest in killing them, or them," Pearl pointed at the four ponies she tried to hang. "The only reason they'll be dead is because you didn't come in here to stop me from killing them." Pearl released her hold from Sapphire, dropping back to the ground. "I can see that you're hard ponies to convince, so how about a goodwill gesture? You can have these two back for nothing."

In the space of a second Pearl grabbed Sapphire under the belly and flipped her forwards over the battlement, still connected to Velvet by the chain, who screamed as she strained against the weight put on her. Thankfully it wasn't for long as Twilight took Sapphire's weight and lifted them both off the wall, breaking their collars to free them.

"Are you alright?" Fleur asked them once they were free.

Velvet wrapped her legs around Sapphire and sobbed while the blue mare flexed her neck. "We will be." She looked to Twilight, "She's not making it up. There must be at least fifty other ponies in there, including our maid Peach Blossom. I have no doubt she'll kill them all if you don't do what she asks."

Twilight turned back to Pearl, then glanced at Trixie, the unicorn nodding once. "Fine, you win."

"Excellent! You have ten minutes to remove all your weapons and armour. I'll be waiting." Pearl turned back from the wall and disappeared out of sight.

Fleur frowned with worry at Twilight, "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course not, but if it saves those ponies I don't think we have a choice." Twilight began stripping her armour off, then paused, "Of course, if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them."

Fleur shook her head, "Not one I'm afraid."

"I do," said Trixie as she removed her own armour, each piece disappearing into its pocket dimension. "We're going to go in there, fool her into thinking we obeyed her demands, then I'm going to put my armour back on so Trixie doesn't die, and you're going to kill her with Swordy. Simple."

"I suppose that works."

Twilight finished taking her armour off and trotted over to where Luna was using the healing device on the unicorn Sweetheart. The mare was still unconscious, but did at least appear to be breathing unaided, so the prognosis seemed hopeful. "Did you hear all that?" she asked Luna.

"I did, and it seems you have little choice to me."

"Any advice?"

"Some. How do the youngsters put it these days?" Luna tapped a hoof to her chin as she thought, "Ah yes! Kick her ass I believe is the right term, although I never understood the hatred towards donkeys in that phrase." Twilight looked at Luna, unsure as to whether she meant that. "While your magic may be useless against her, you are both faster and stronger. You are more than just a unicorn now Twilight, remember that. Honestly, I worry more for Trixie should she find Pearl first."

"Depends what she meant by finding her first." Twilight watched Trixie take off the rest of her armour, looking strangely exposed as she stood there. Twilight shook her head free of the thought that Trixie was in danger, "Trixie 'll be fine. She's going to put her armour back on once we're inside."

"Very good. I wish you luck then, both of you."

An alicorn and a unicorn stood side by side before the entrance to the castle, both feeling oddly naked despite nudity being their usual way of being.

"Are you nervous?" Twilight asked.

"Nervous? Moi? Why would the Great and Powerful Trixie be nervous of entering into a castle to fight a madmare wearing armour impervious to magic. Sounds like no reason to be nervous to me."

"Yeah, I'm nervous too." Twilight smiled slightly as Trixie scoffed at her. "We don't know what's going to happen in there, so be careful, and take it slow. If the first pony to find her has to fight her it should probably be me."

"You're damned right it should be you," Trixie agreed. "I wished looks could kill, because that's all I'll have against her. Stupid cheating alicorns not needing magic to kick ass."

"Thank you for doing this."

Trixie turned to Twilight, her face stern, "Excuse me? Are you suggesting Trixie would just let those ponies die? Evil dark magic Trixie is a monster that would let all those ponies die to save her own skin? Is that what you're saying?"

"Not at all," Twilight said in what was admittedly half a lie. "It's just that this is a lot to ask of anypony, and I'm glad you didn't hesitate to step up."

"Yes... well... I may yet have cause to regret this if we lose. Now come along, time's wasting."

They entered the castle, staying close to each other. Through the entrance was a small hall that led to a raised section at the end where Pearl was standing in front of a mass of ponies.

"That's far enough," Pearl's voice echoed. "About time you got here. Much longer and I was going to start flaying somepony just to entertain myself, which is such a terribly messy business."

"Yeah, yeah," Trixie groaned. "You're a crazy torturer, we get it. You got us here, so how about you let those ponies go?"

"Don't rush me. First I will require you to step through the doorways on the left and right sides of the room. I put quite a lot of effort into this, so don't you dare ruin it for me. Step through the doors and I shall release the ponies."

Twilight and Trixie looked at the two doorways, one to their right and one to their left. Both had a heavy metal door attached to them. Trixie looked back to Twilight and swallowed nervously. She hadn't thought they'd be split up quite so thoroughly.

"You'll be fine Trixie," Twilight said to her, doing her best to hide her own nerves. "See you at the end."

Twilight went right and walked through the doorway, the metal door slamming shut just behind her. There was a small window in the door which allowed her to see a soldier locking it. She caught sight of Trixie through the window of her door.

"We've done what you asked Pearl, now let them go."

"Yes, yes... don't get your tail in a knot." Twilight waited, and a few moments later she heard hoof beats on the stone floor as the group of ponies fled through the exit as fast as they could, said exit being pulled closed and locked behind them.

"There, they're all free, just as I said. Now it's just you, me, and the hundred or so soldiers I have in here. Oh sorry, did I not mention that before?" Pearl tittered with a fake laugh, "Oops. Oh well. Better get started on your way through the castle. I'll be waiting!"

Twilight and Trixie looked at each other. Both were thinking that it probably wouldn't be too much trouble to tear the doors down and do it their own way, but there was still the possibility that Pearl still had captives.

Trixie highlighted her door with magic and looked questioningly at Twilight. Twilight shook her head and gestured towards the rest of the castle, hoping Trixie would take the hint. Trixie sighing and nodding suggested she did.

Twilight moved away from the door and started walking up the corridor she'd been left in. Along the length of it along the right side were doors, but whether she was meant to go through them was left a mystery. Some of them were sealed shut, while others were left empty with their doors removed. The fact that four soldiers fired at her through the first empty one she crossed made it clear what those were for. Unfortunately for them she was far too paranoid to move without being ready to defend herself with a shield.

She didn't kill them though. Blasted them with magic, and wounded them with a dozen painful cuts and broken bones certainly, but if there were as many soldiers in here as Pearl claimed, that was a hundred dead soldiers just to get one pony. Twilight really didn't think that a pony like Pearl deserved that level of sacrifice from her soldiers, so she was going to avoid killing them if at all possible.

The feral sounding cry from further down the corridor made if pretty obvious that it wasn't always going to be possible. She stepped back out of the room leaving the quartet of soldiers to groan and curse, and found herself confronted with a dozen berserkers bearing down on her.

She filled the corridor with a shield, keeping it strong as the berserkers crashed into it. They pounded their hooves on the translucent purple wall, but none of them could get through. It also gave Twilight a chance to have a look at them, and she shuddered at what she saw. The wild eyes, foaming at the mouth... they were barely ponies any more.

Already the berserkers at the back started fighting as they jostled each other to try and get her first, while growing frustrated that they couldn't get to her at all, and Twilight could only look away and try not to listen as the rest of them were dragged into the fight and literally tore each other apart. Everything was a weapon as far as these ponies were concerned, their teeth, their hooves, the floor, the walls... each other...

The gruesome sounds Twilight was forced to hear gradually stopped, and she looked back to find that only of then had survived the skirmish.

"Face me!" he cried, slamming his hooves on the shield. "Stop hiding and face me! I'll fucking kill you!"

Swordy appeared behind him, and using the anatomical accuracy that only a pony like Twilight could really possess, she slipped the blade through the pony's ribs and into his heart. The pony gasped and slid down to the floor. Twilight didn't really want to kill them, but what Pearl had done to them was no way to live.

Trixie cursed as Twilight gestured towards the castle and walked off. Just typical of a pony like Twilight to want to play by the rules, especially since it now meant that Trixie had to. Kind of anyway. One of the rules was severely broken as Trixie spent a couple of minutes assembling her armour around herself. None too soon either as dozen berserkers raced around the corner at the far end of the corridor, screaming with fury as they charged at her.

Trixie wasn't impressed. She coated the floor of the corridor before her with short spikes of crystal, each only a few inches long. By the time they reached her none of them were even capable of standing, let alone fighting, and those still living could only snap their teeth at her as she finished them off and walked over the bodies.

She would've said something snappy, but it seemed like a waste of effort when none of them were able to hear it. She shrugged, "You've been a wonderful audience," she said, "but Trixie's needed elsewhere."

Turns out there were ponies that could hear her as the first doorway she passed a quartet of ponies fired crossbows at her, the arrows bouncing off her armour like they were throwing sticks at her.

"Ow," she muttered. They might not have pierced anything, but they still felt like she was getting punched. She glared at the suddenly nervous soldiers, "Do you mind?"

"Get her!" The soldiers drew their swords and stumbled as they suddenly found their hooves glued to the floor with crystals, forcing them to stand and watch as Trixie killed them one by one by stabbing them with a length of crystal until only a lone mare remained.

"Do you want to die?" Trixie asked sweetly.

"No!" the mare begged tearfully. Hearing her fellows cries of pain and terror as they were butchered had been as much as she could take. "I'll do anything! Please!"

"Anything hmm?" A dozen naughty ideas crossed Trixie's mind, but Trixie quickly caught herself and forced those thoughts away. Instead she held out her hoof towards the mare.

"Kiss it, beg for your life, and call me Mistress Trixie."

The mare hesitated, but slowly and shakily reached out to gently kiss Trixie's proffered hoof, "Please Mistress Trixie, please d-don't kill me. I'm begging you, please! I don't want to die..." Tears of humiliation joined her tears of fear.

"And are you my humble servant?"

I am! I a-a-a-m!" the mare wailed.

Trixie smiled and patted the mare on her head, "Very good. You have pleased your mistress, and for that you may live. I'll be leaving you here though, to think about what you did."

"What? No!" the mare struggled against her bonds, "Please don't leave me here!"

"Au revoir my dear." Trixie left the room, smiling to herself. It felt good to spare somepony.

Twilight stopped as she felt something thin press up against her fetlock. She stepped back and crouched down, finding a thin wire stretching across the corridor, it's colour blending in with the stone of the floor to be almost invisible unless you were actually looking for it. Twilight crawled back a bit and triggered the wire with her magic. A split second later a spring loaded blade swung into the corridor from above, pointing down at the floor from the middle of the ceiling, a gap in the wood hiding it until it was triggered. If Twilight had kept going it would've landed on her neck.

"Great, so now there's booby traps. Hold on..." The berserkers had come down this way, and Twilight really doubted they had the finesse to avoid the traps, which meant that somepony had to have loaded them after they passed.

Twilight followed the end of the wire, seeing that it went through the wall. A couple of meters on the other side of it was a door that was locked. Twilight faced her rear to the door and bucked as hard as she could, the door flying open as the lock and hinges failed to resist her strength. Within the room behind was a soldier, wide-eyed at the fact that a six inch thick door had just been bucked down by a mare shorter than he was. A mare that was now looking at him with curiosity.

"How many other traps are there?" Twilight asked. She snatched his sword out of its scabbard and jammed it through the ceiling, getting rewarded with a shout of alarm from whoever was in the room above. "I asked you a question."

"A-a-a few," the soldier gibbered. "I was only meant to load t-this one after-"

"I don't care what you were meant to do." Twilight grabbed the stallion in her magic and dragged him out into the corridor, setting him in front of her. "Walk," she commanded.

"B-but-"

"Now. Since you know where the traps are it should be easy for you to avoid them, shouldn't it."

"But-"

"Walk, or so help me I'll carry you in front of me where you'll have no chance of avoiding them." She prodded him on the rear with her magic, and the soldier started moving, for about ten meters.

"There's a trap here."

"I don't see any wires or anything."

"There isn't one." He pointed at a hole in the ceiling, "Somepony's supposed to drop acid on you when you walk underneath."

"Acid? Really?" Twilight shivered as her imagination filled in just what that might feel like. Both she and the soldier edged around the hole, but nothing came out of it.

"They probably heard us," the soldier explained after Twilight glared at him.

"Just keep going." Progress was reasonably slow after that. While the soldier was complying, there was still plenty of traps to dodge, deactivate, or just outright avoid, not to mention the ambushes from archers, and another attack from berserkers. Twilight could only hope Trixie was still okay.

Trixie hummed to herself as she trotted along the corridor, crystals creeping along the walls and ceiling a few meters ahead of her. A sword had sprung down and tried to behead her, making her very thankful for her armour, even if it still left her neck aching. After that she decided that the best way to avoid the traps was to circumvent the issue altogether.

What made it even more fun was that none of the soldiers in the rooms could tell she was doing it, and more than once she heard muffled cursing as their traps failed to activate. Even more amusing was when the second group of berserkers had come for her. Not because she did anything different, but it was nice to break up the monotony.

Trixie was starting to wonder what the deal with all this was though. While she had expected there to be soldiers, she hadn't expected there to be traps and the like. It was like they were dealing with some badly written villain from some trashy novel rather than a pony that had masterminded some of the worst things to happen to the rebellion over the duration of the war. If Trixie were to hazard a guess, she'd say that Pearl was actually afraid of them getting to her.

Trixie stepped over the body of the latest pony to throw themselves at her in an attempt to kill her, or at least slow her down, and made it to the end of the corridor. A spiral staircase led up to the next floor, and Trixie carefully ascended it, keeping a wary eye out for traps and soldiers.

At the top was two doors, one open, and one sealed. The sealed one faced back in the direction she'd just came from, and likely led to another corridor. Behind the open door was a corner, restricting her from seeing what was actually there, but since it was open it was obviously the way she was meant to go.

It only made going the other way all the more tempting.

Still, adhering to the rules seemed to be the thing to do, so with only minor reluctance she went through the open door, turned the corner, and found herself in a totally empty room that was strangely lined in metal. Across the room opposite the door she had just entered was another door, already sealed shut. Trixie was about to ask what was going on when the door behind her slammed shut, locking her in and revealing Pearl behind it.

"Hello Trixie."

"Uh-oh."

The soldier accompanying Twilight cocked an ear as the sound of a heavy door slamming echoed down the stairway he was leading Twilight up. A faint grin formed on his face and he stopped, turning to Twilight.

"It would seem your friend got there first."

"What? No!" Twilight pushed past him, racing up the stairs and taking the open pathway only to find it blocked by a heavy metal door. She slammed her hooves up on it, trying to open it, but it didn't even move. "Trixie!" she shouted through the small window.

"Twilight!" Trixie's face appeared in the window, "I think I'm in trouble!"

"You were meant to go slow! I was meant to get there first!"

Twilight froze as the sound of chuckling came from the same room as Trixie, and Twilight turned her head enough to see its source, the black armoured form of Pearl lounging against the wall behind Trixie.

"Actually it didn't matter since this was rigged from the start. Even if you got here first you wouldn't have got through that door."

"What?"

"I wanted Trixie in here with me. I want her to die under my hooves because you Twilight, aren't as easy to kill as her, even if she did cheat and bring armour. As for you, I have something fun planned for you. All the soldiers still alive in here are now coming for you, and I assure you there's quite a few more than a hundred in here."

Twilight looked behind her, her imagination supplying the sight of hundreds of soldiers coming for her.

"So the question is, Princess," Pearl continued, "can you beat that many soldiers? And can you do it fast enough to save Trixie? Don't worry, I'll go as slow as I can."

"No! Trixie!"

"Forget about me Twilight! Just get out of here!"

"Never! I'm not leaving you here to die!"

"I meant to get help you dimwit!" Trixie scowled at Twilight, "I'm not that altruistic! But I guess that wouldn't help, so fight Twilight, fight like you've never fought before. I'll be waiting, hopefully still with a pulse." Trixie pushed away from the window and squared up to Pearl, "If you think I'm going down easy, you've got another thing coming."

Twilight wasn't given the time to worry about Trixie as the first soldier came around the corner swinging his sword down at her. She grabbed the sword in her magic and wrenched it out of his mouth as she stabbed up under him into his chest with Swordy. The soldier went down, and with both swords floating in her magic she stepped out onto the top of the stairs.

The other door at the top of the stairs was open now, and beyond it she could see dozens upon dozens of soldiers, if not hundreds, each one waiting for their chance at her. She didn't care though. She wasn't even mad. Right now there was little difference to her between ten soldiers and a thousand as they were between her and saving Trixie.

And the last thing they expected was for her to charge them.

Twilight rammed into them, a shield pushing the first soldiers aside as she squeezed in among them. The two swords twirled and spun around her as they cut and thrust at the soldiers nearest to her. She ducked as a soldier swung his sword in an arc over her head, then blasted him with magic, the power of the spell tossing him into the ponies behind him who were unprepared for the weight of a pony flying towards them.

Before Twilight knew it the area around her was clear, the bodies of a dozen soldiers being the nearest things to her. The floor and her hooves were slick with their blood, and she took care as she stepped over the fallen, dodging to the right as a soldier ran at her. She ran her borrowed weapon across his neck using his own momentum and pushed him aside as more soldiers came for her. It was going to be a busy few minutes.

"If you think I'm going down easy, you've got another thing coming," Trixie growled, keeping her head low and her horn pointed at Pearl as she sidestepped around the room, keeping Pearl in front of her at all times.

"Like I expected anything less from you. I wouldn't say we're all that different Trixie. We both have our goals, and we're both driven to completing those goals at any cost. Luckily for me though, one of those goals is killing you."

"You really like the sound of your own voice, don't you."

"How could I not? I like the way the helmet makes my voice echo a bit, I must admit. Why do I get the feeling I've said that before?" Pearl lowered herself into a fighting stance and scraped her hoof on the metal floor, a few sparks jumping off her armour. "Doesn't matter. I hope you're ready for this Trixie Lulamoon, because this is going to hurt, like it did for your family."

"What?" Trixie jumped to the side as Pearl ran for her, the earth pony's hooves squealing on the metal floor. "What do you know about my family?"

"Please don't run. It's boring when you run." Pearl stumbled as a chunk of crystal smashed into her side, the runes of her armour glowing red as the dark material crumbled off her. "You know, it's funny how I flinch even when I know it won't hurt me."

"How did you know my family!?" Trixie screeched.

"Oh alright, you've twisted my leg so I'll tell you. I was barely a teenager when they were brought into High Rock after their failed attempt to escape the country. My father had been given orders to extract as much information from them as he could. Your father, Hat-trick, was to be my first solo attempt at an interrogation."

"Shut up. You're lying."

"You should've heard him scream as I pulled his teeth. Seen the way he squirmed as I slowly chipped his horn off centimetre by centimetre." Pearl chuckled to herself, "You never forget your first time. He was loud too. Louder than your mother by a long way. What was her name again?"

"Radiance!"

"Ah yes! It wasn't too hard to get her to talk being pregnant and all. All we had to do was threaten her foals and she sang like a nightingale. We were able to capture quite a few members of Pierre with the information she gave us. She even told us about you, but you were long gone by then. Imagine my joy when I learnt you had come back, giving me a chance to get one of those that got away."

"And then I killed your husband," Trixie said proudly. Two could play at this game as far as she was concerned. "Even though I wouldn't call that justice for murdering my entire family."

"Wasn't my decision," Pearl said dismissively. "Shame I missed it though. I bet they smelled sweet as they burned."

"Just like your husband did as we cooked him inside his armour?"

Pearl lowered her stance further, and when she spoke her voice was tense. "Touché Trixie Lulamoon, touché."

Trixie scrambled out of the way and fired blast after blast of dark magic at Pearl until her armour lit up the room with an eerie red glow. She tried to make a crystal barrier between them, but all she made was a small bulge in the metal floor while being rewarded with the sensation of having a hiccup in her brain.

Pearl chuckled, a sound that was starting to get on Trixie's nerves. "You like the decor? I know how you unicorns have trouble with metal, at least in large amounts. Thought I'd skew the odds even further in my favour."

"I'm really starting to understand why everypony hates you so much," Trixie growled, edging around the sides of the room. Truthfully, Trixie was scared. Her already short list of options was growing ever shorter, and if Pearl got a hold of her it was over. She pulled at the metal around the room, but she could only make it bend slightly.

"What's the matter Trixie? You seem a little concerned. Is all that power you have utterly wasted here?" Trixie cringed as her rear met the corner of the room, and cursed at herself for letting herself get cornered like she did. "Seems to me that after all you've done, your power is now little more than an illusion."

Illusions! Trixie wanted to kick herself for forgetting about the spell most tied into her talent. She grinned suddenly, "Very poor choice of words." Her horn blazed with her normal pink magic, and two illusions of herself split off from her, one running left and another straight at Pearl, while Trixie herself ran to the right.

Pearl swiped a hoof at the illusion that ran straight at her, the construct disintegrating as it made contact with her armour. "Oh very clever, trying to fool me with a little trick. The thing is Trixie, I only have to be lucky once. You have to be lucky every time. Are you feeling lucky?"

"Reasonably," a quartet of Trixie's said from around the room. "It's going to be funny watching you running about trying and failing to catch anything more than thin air." Trixie stood still as Pearl ran for the illusion in the corner to her left, and laughed she went straight through it and hit the wall. "Too bad your helmet doesn't let you see through magic too."

"Let's see how much you'll be laughing once I break your legs." Peal turned on the spot, trying to study the illusions for a flaw that would give the real Trixie away, but couldn't find one. Each one moved at the same time and in the same way, in perfect symmetry of each other. Each one had the same voice, same hoof steps, same shine from the light on her armour. Wait...

"I think you're forgetting something Trixie, besides the fact that you can't beat me."

"Don't think so. You know I'm only buying time until Twilight gets back."

"Humour me." Pearl kept turning until she found the Trixie with the shine on her armour that fit her actual location, and stopped when she thought she'd found it. "The shine on your armour gives you away. Guess that's what you get for cheating and bringing it."

The four Trixie's looked down at themselves, "Shit." Trixie's hooves slid on the metal floor as she tried to avoid the oncoming Pearl. She had almost escaped when Pearl knocked her back legs out, sending her sprawling onto the floor. Trixie kicked out with her back left leg, trying to keep Pearl from jumping on her, and was surprised when her leg was caught in a grip of iron.

"Gotcha." Before Trixie could muster so much as a spark of magic to try and free herself, Pearl swung her rear around so she was on her back facing away from Trixie and braced her back legs against Trixie's flank and pulled until Trixie's knee dislocated with a horrible pop. As Trixie's screams filled the room with music, Pearl kicked Trixie in the stomach from underneath, winding her, and giving Pearl the time needed to grab Trixie's other back leg and pull the joint out.

Trixie's mouth locked open in a silent scream as she tried to both scream with pain and inhale at the same time, an issue that only became worse as Pearl stood and kicked her in the ribs, winding her further. It took several attempts to suck in even a tiny breath that she wasted on screaming further.

Pearl smiled proudly as she stood and prodded the wounds on Trixie's face, reopening them and watching as Trixie's tears mixed with the blood that seeped out as she lifted the flap of flesh from the bite mark. She smiled more as Trixie tried to smack her hooves away as the unicorn writhed in agony.

"Normally I'd say something witty now, but I'm actually all out. It's probably because I haven't had enough sleep lately. I will soon though."

"Yeah," Trixie wheezed through her pain. She tried to pull herself up, but gave up as everything hurt too much. She slumped onto her side and looked up at Pearl, "When Twilight kills you."

Pearl shrugged, "Perhaps. We'll have to see how she did against all those soldiers first."

Trixie started laughing, but stopped and clutched her ribs as the action also hurt. "You don't get it, do you? Twilight can't die. Even if you kill her a hundred times, she'll keep coming back, and she'll get you eventually."

Pearl snorted a laugh and grinned at Trixie, although the gesture was wasted as Trixie couldn't see it. "You think I don't know that? She's apparently not the first alicorn we've got on record as not being able to die."

"What?"

"The thing is, an alicorn can still be stopped. I could make her life constant agony for every day that I have left on this world if I wanted. All I have to do is pop an inhibitor on that horn, bind those wings and otherwise restrain her, and she's helpless. In fact, unless she manages to kill all those soldiers, that's exactly what I'm planning to do."

"After you kill me I suppose?"

Pearl walked around Trixie, kicking her legs on the way, making her yell with pain. "Oh, I'm not going to kill you yet. Don't think that means I won't kill you at all, but if there's something better than having Twilight know she failed to save you, it's killing you in front of her when she can't do a single thing to stop me."

Trixie rolled her eyes and laid her head against the cool metal floor, "I'd really love to know what your daddy did to you at night to make you this way."

"That's easy. He let me get a good night's sleep because I was his little angel."

It never occurred to Twilight that she could be scary. At least not in the sense that ponies would run from her for their lives, much like they would any pony doing what she was. It wasn't an image she could give herself as she's always been dear sweet dorky Twilight as far as she was concerned, even if her time spent in Mareitania had changed her.

But now she was stood in a hallway, surrounded by the bodies of ponies she'd killed, two blades floating by her sides. She was covered in blood, some of it hers as blood seeped from a dozen cuts and nicks across her body. Even then, if you were to ask one of the soldiers, the scariest part was her eyes. They radiated a cold fury that said that I can do this all day if necessary, but my friend's in trouble, and you're in my way.

Twilight ran towards the row of four soldiers before her, a blast of magic hitting the two middlemost soldiers, giving her an opening to sweep both her swords up, cutting open the neck of the soldier on her left, and outright decapitating the soldier on her right with Swordy. She turned and bucked, turning the muzzle of the soldier now behind her to jelly, all while pointing her swords backwards and thrusting, stabbing the two soldiers next to the one she kicked. She turned back just in time to catch a blade on a shield, grabbing the soldier's head in her magic and yanking it forwards and down against his own stance, breaking his neck in the process.

She walked over the bodies, leaving the one she'd bucked to struggle to breath through a ruined nose and broken jaw. He'd live so long as he left her alone.

Twilight had no idea how many soldiers she had killed here now, and frankly hadn't been counting since she didn't care right now, and wouldn't want to know anyway. The fact was though that the number remaining was a significant amount less than when she started, and they were terrified as she approached them. She never noticed that they didn't have anywhere to run to.

"Surrender," she said. It was said as neither a question or an order, but stated as an option for them. It was one they gladly took too as weapons clattered to the floor.

"Down the stairs and outside." Twilight stood aside as they nervously made their way past her, each one going as fast as they could while cautiously stepping over the bodies of their fallen comrades.

A scream echoed down the stone walled hallway, a scream that sounded a lot like Trixie. Twilight ran out into the mass of soldiers, pushing and shoving her way through them getting to Trixie was suddenly a lot more important. The soldiers pressed to the sides of the hallway to try and get out of her way, but there was still too many, and the ceiling was too low to effectively fly over them.

"Move!" Twilight yelled as a shorter scream came from ahead. A mare beside her shrieked as she accidentally ran Swordy along her side, the blade cutting through armour and grazing the skin beneath.

Twilight pushed her aside with her magic, and proceeded to do the same for the rest of the soldiers as she tried to get to Trixie. Her horn was really starting to ache at this point, but she pushed past the pain and kept going right up until she was clear of them. She ran to the door to the room where Trixie had been fighting Pearl, and slammed her forehooves up against it as she stood on two legs to look through the window.

"Trixie!"

"She's fine," said Pearl. She was sat beside Trixie as the unicorn panted with her teeth bared from the pain, her eyes desperately fixed on Twilight.

"Let her go!"

"Well that depends on you," Pearl purred, "doesn't it." Pearl stood and walked over to the door to look Twilight in the eye, her hips swaying with every step. "I didn't want to disappoint you by having her dead before you had a chance to save her. Of course this all depended on whether you survived all those ponies attacking you-"

"A lot of them gave up." Twilight almost felt satisfaction from seeing Pearl slump slightly.

"Good help is so hard to find."

"It's over Pearl. We both know you can't kill me, so let Trixie go and I'll make it quick."

Pearl threw her head back and laughed, "As incentive goes, I must say I've heard better." She pushed away from the door and sauntered back over to Trixie, "Besides, you do realise I want to kill Trixie almost as much as I want to kill you right? I just thought I'd do the nice thing and let you say goodbye first."

Pearl reared up and prepared to slam her hooves down on Trixie. She winked at Twilight and brought her hooves down, only to hit a dense purple shield that had popped up in the way.

"Oh come on!" Pearl shouted as Twilight cried from the pain of having the runes on Pearl's armour press up against the shield. Her already overtaxed horn burned both hot and cold as Pearl kept trying to break through. "You can't keep me out forever Princess!"

And she couldn't. Twilight knew she couldn't. But she could hopefully buy the time she needed to do something else. She turned and bucked at the door as hard as she could. It gave slightly so she tried again and again, screaming each time as her horn felt like it could explode, and her hooves splinter from kicking the heavy metal door, even as it bent and deformed from her efforts.

Her estimations of how much time she could buy with her shield seemed to be on the generous side as her horn flickered. Another solid blow from Pearl would be enough to kill it entirely, and it did. Trixie caught the blow on her forelegs, trying desperately to live long enough for Twilight to break down the door, but she didn't have the strength to block an earth pony in heavy armour for very long.

Twilight kicked one last time, and the bolt holding the door shut gave up its fight against the inevitable. The door scraped on the floor, and Twilight shoved it as hard as she could to get it open enough to squeeze through. Her wing caught on the doorframe, and she wrenched it out of place as she struggled through. It was too late though.

Pearl smacked Trixie across the face, dazing her, and giving Pearl a chance to raise her hooves and slam them down onto Trixie's chest. The cracking of ribs echoed around the room, moments before the clang of hoof striking armour joined it as Twilight bucked Pearl across the room.

Magic proof though the armour might be, it didn't seem to be able to withstand the strength an angry alicorn could hold in her hooves. It bent around the attack, and broke the bindings holding it on. Chunks of her chest armour scattered across the floor as Pearl slid up against the wall, gasping for breath. She tried to stand, but Twilight was on her instantly, bucking and slamming her hooves down on Pearl, battering the armour until it bent completely or broke off.

"You killed her! Why? Why did you do this?" Twilight screamed as she kept striking the broken mare over and over again. "Why!?"

Pearl wheezed horribly, and trails of blood oozed out of the mouthpiece of her helmet. Twilight tore it off with her hooves to have a proper look at the one pony she truly wanted to kill. The pony that had just killed Trixie. Twilight was aghast to find that even through the beating she had just received, and the agony she had to be in, Pearl was smiling.

"Because I can." Pearl coughed, and spat blood onto the floor. "I hope Equestria burns once-" Twilight never got to hear why Equestria might burn as a shard of dark crystal stabbed into Pearl's exposed chest, ending her life.

Twilight jumped back and turned to find Trixie looking at her, her entire body trembling with the effort it took just to do that. "Trixie?"

A sticky string of blood dribbled from Trixie's mouth as she tried to speak, "Last time you got talky," she gurgled, "you died." She closed her eyes and slumped over, her chest wheezing before going still.

"Trixie!"

Author's Notes:

I'll admit now that killing Pearl was difficult, at least not without making it too quick. I'm sure some of you are disappointed by the lack of sheer destruction, but that kind of thing wasn't exactly available to her anyway. In fact I had no preconceived plans for it, and I think it shows a little. Oh well, she's dead now.