The beam bounced off, lancing upwards and vaporizing a chunk of the ceiling.

Through the door, Apple Bloom screamed and ran, shouting for Big Mac as she fled the house. Wide-eyed, Applejack backed away as well, opening the door behind her and slowly retreating into the next room. Neither alicorn took any notice of these events. They had eyes only for each other, gazes locked across the little room. Twilight was breathing heavily, almost panting with the exertion. Bits of ceiling plaster, ashes and sawdust rained down on her from above, and after a moment, the shattered remains of a chair landed on the table beside her. The strange mare was calm, and still, but she wasn’t smiling. Her face had turned down into a hard frown, and her ears had pulled back.

“Can’t say I enjoyed that,” she finally spoke, quieter than she had before. “You know these moments are coming, but you forget... all the details. You forget just how it stung. And you want to make it better. Soften the blow. But there’s nothing you can do to avoid it.”

She looked down at her cider, and finished it with one long sip, placing the mug back on the table. “I know that you hate me right now. You hate me more than anything. But you know why we end up this way, kid? Because when you have a chance to... change this. You realize that changing it means killing ponies. That the war I’ve handed you isn’t one you have to fight. You can walk away from it at any time. You can be the mare you want to be. Because you get to live forever, screw everypony else.”

The strange mare looked up at the ceiling, watching the smouldering hole. “But that’s not us. Not ever. So you do fight it. And you win. But the war changes you. And one day you realize that you’re not the pony you were. That you’ve turned into me and... well. That’s not a happy day. But we come to terms with it. With the help of our friends.” She let out a humorless half-laugh, but the sound died after a time. The strange mare’s ears folded back, and the stared at Twilight in silence.

“They never abandon us,” she finally said. After a moment, she sniffled, and shifted her tail unsteadily. “So you know, it’s not so bad.”

A faint whine filled the air, and lightning crackled over the strange mare’s skin. She looked down as white light surrounded her, a whine gradually building as the energy of her spell reversed itself.

“But if you don’t like...” She paused. “If you don’t like what I am, kid? Then change it. It’s your future. You make it with your actions. You... decide who you wanna be. If what I am disgusts you? Fight against it. Try to fix it.”

Slowly, the trace of a smile returned to her face. “I did when I was your age.”

The whine rose in intensity, growing, building as the magical flows pulled back the way they had come. Until finally, in a brilliant flash of light, future-Twilight vanished.