It had all started so calmly. From the east the Armies of Dawn and the Chimeron Legion had marched side by side into the heart of Equestria, banners whipping against the darkness, the sound of their hooves thundering across the plains. From the west another thundering Horde joined them, banners darker than twilight, the Cult of the Moon sheathed in shadow and the soft glow of their crescent moon standard. The three armies turned North to gather beneath the looming mountains upon which nestled once noble Canterlot. Before them gathered the Children of Twilight whom swarmed those dread peaks, as well as the hulking diamond dogs and cerberi who comprised the Dogs of War. The opposing armies seemed fairly evenly matched, though all knew that would change as soon as the first soldiers fell to the undead. But to everypony's surprise, as they drew closer, a third faction presented itself. They came from out of the forests in ones and twos until a great throng that rivaled the size of either of the other two armies had taken the field. None were garbed in the armor of warriors, nor did they seem particularly enchanted as the armies of Twilight clearly were, instead they appeared as simple pony folk. Under a white banner came their leaders, a trio of children.

It was a small blessing that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had been there, lest things might have been much worse than they were. As it was, when Zinsu appeared before them, skull painted upon his face and flanked by two fillies both immediately sergeants recognized him and moved closer to hear what was going on. Lady Selene was their representing the Sisters, General Corona representing the Dawn, as well as Praetor Romulus, a snake tailed wolf chimera who was in command of the Legions. They had gathered to discuss their strategy when the zebra made his appearance. “Greetings to you on this day of war. We bring re-enforcements to you though we are hoof sore.” Another, the gray filly with amber eyes and ginger mane spoke next. “We want to help, but are very tired. May we rest here awhile among you? The way from Sunny Town was long and dark.” The third and last spoke then. “Yeah, it sure would be neighborly of ya’ll if you’d be kind enough to extend your hospitality!”

“This battlefield is no place for foals or civilians,” spoke General Corona sternly. But before he could continue, the two Crusaders drew close. “Applebloom!?” Scootaloo raised the visor on her helm, eyes wide in disbelief. Sweetie Belle stood beside her, the same look of shock clearly etched on her face. “Do you know this filly?” intoned Lady Selene, “Is she a friend of yours?” Sergeant Belle spoke without taking her eyes off of the apparition before her. “Yes my lady, but from long, long ago, when we were small. It’s impossible that she could still be so young. Applebloom, is it really you?” The little yellow filly with the red hair looked uncomfortable, “Um...do you mean me? I don’t know what you’re talking about, who’s Applebloom?”

By then Scootaloo was flying around her, looking at the filly from every angle. “You are from the looks of you... Or at least you look exactly like Applebloom the last time we saw her. Even your flank is blank.” At that the features of the filly with the sunset colored eyes darkened. “There was no other way...they wouldn’t have accepted me if I’d gotten my cutie mark. But now they protect me. From the Twilight...from Applejack...from everything!” That drew odd looks from everyone but Praetor Romulus. “What do you mean? Who are you talking about little one?” The wolf chimera leaned down. “The shadow folk, for you see, they draw their power from the earth. Their's is a power from before this world witnessed magics birth.” Zinsu’s eyes were glowing a deep crimson. The assembled generals stepped back as the three foals began to change before their eyes. Bone and sinew of shadow took the place of flesh as crimson flames erupted from their eyes. Little Zinsu’s stripes glowed a ghostly white, the same milky shade the skull painted over his face now shimmered. “You are all to blame for the state this world is in. You will be punished equally for your shared sin.”

It was not the start to the battle either side had expected. The blank flanked ponies, who seemed so innocent and weary before, transformed into monsters of darkness that rivaled the Children of Twilight before the eyes of all. Jibbering madly, they began to attack. At first many were converted, all the creatures needed to do to make you join their ranks was touch you. It was the Dawn that drove them back, using the skills the Crusaders had refined against the Infected in the Everfree Forest. Keeping them at a distance and dismembering them was tricky, but with the combined power of the Sisters and the Dawn it was manageable. Unfortunatley by then the Children of Twilight surged among them, laughing as they joined the chaos. Lances were useless against them, they just kept giggling as they slid their dead bodies down the length of the frightened soldiers shafts...biting great chunks out of any unprotected flesh. Apparently immune to the touch of the Blanks, the undead fell to tearing each other apart as well, in incredibly grizzly fashion. The skirmish spread like wildfire until the entirety of all six armies were engaged.

“Applebloom, what did they do to you?” Cried Scootaloo as she backed away from her one time friend. The little filly moved slowly toward her, smiling sweetly though her face was naught but shadow and corruption. “Oh Scoot, don’t be such a chicken! Bein' dead don’t hurt none, at least no more than it would if’n I or Pinkie Pie had gotten ahold of ya while we lived!” The two stood in a bubble of carnage as war raged. “Oh I can’t begin to tell ya all the fillies we sacrificed. Tortured, cooked, and eaten...that ritual was so tedious. I can't believe that I thought that would help me get my cutie mark!" Her eyes flash deep crimson, her teeth seemed to sharpen as a half rotted tongue passed over her lips. "Want to know a secret Scoot? We shoulda never tried to get those cutie marks. They’re not a good thing. They’re a curse! But it’ll be alright now, I’ll protect ya. Even if you do have a mark I’ll make it so no pony can ever use it against you...” A wave of sound, a song loud and long slammed into the little shadow beast suddenly. The magic bombarding her caused Applebloom's form to shake apart, her shadowy flesh falling from her bones as she melted into the earth.

Sergeant Belle eyed Scootaloo. “I’ve had quiet enough of reunions with old friends that want to kill us, I don’t know about you." A pair of crusaders flanked her, lances at the ready to defend the unicorn. "Didn’t you say you were going to make the Twilight Queen pay?” The Sergeant Major was clearly shaken, but her friends words brought her back to herself. Smiling, Scootaloo lowered the visor of her helm, readied her own lance, and spread her wings. “Give my regards to your sister!” Saying that, with one massive pulse of her wings she launched herself into the air to join the fray. Sweetie Belle pawed the earth where the shade of Applebloom had fallen. Eyes blazing with anger she charged into battle to do just as her friend had asked.

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Smoke swirls over the battlefield, twisting and turning, blooming into complex shapes and geometrical patterns as stray magic flew in flashes of color and explosions of power. The noise is constant and furious. The grunts and groans of the living and dying mixed with the sound of blades cleaving flesh, claws rending, hooves trampling, and the high laughter of the undead. Ever shifting, ever changing, there were no battle lines to speak of...all given over to pure chaos. One moment the Soldiers of the Dawn press their attack, their sharpened howling spear points charging deep into the heart of the slavering diamond dogs, only moments later to find themselves surrounded by giant three headed hounds, fodder for dog food. Another moment the laughing Children of the Twilight dance and prance among the armies of the Chimeron Empire, ripping them to pieces, only to have shadows come alive around them and cut them into bloody chunks so small that their laughter blessedly dies. In their place lurks the pregnant silence of shadows inhabited by swift death brought by the blades of the Cult of the Moon.

Other shadows, those of the damned, moved among all taking whom they could. Those that did not rise as Children of the Twilight rose instead as children of shadow and death, screaming, weeping, and whispering dark treasons of the mind and soul. The Blanks made a disturbing distraction for those already staring death in the face. Unicorns of the Dawn and Moon alike did what they could to stay them, as did the Chimeron kelpies, but there magics were hindered by the constant advances of the armies of Twilight. High above it all, the skies were a riot of colors. From the twisting spires of Canterlot obscene amounts of raw magic lit the firmament in royal purples and deep blues. A swarm of dragons descended upon the palace, only to be repelled by the magically enhanced familiar of the Queen herself, the giant purple dragon whose green flames mixing with their red and yellow fire, lending a rainbow sheen to the sky above. Against this backdrop pegasus and winged chimera warred with those Shadowbolt’s who remained loyal to the cause of the Twilight. Storm clouds roared, adding lightning and piercing winds to the mix, these firmly in control of the Wonderbolt’s as they directed natures wrath at their enemies. No rain fell from those horrid skies, save that of blood and bodies as the slain fell to the roiling battlefield below.

War had come to Equestria, a war to end all wars. Theia moved through the chaos like a fish through water, slicing through foes and aiding allies as she plunged into the heart of the enemy lines. When she had made her report to Lady Selene, they had both agreed that she must take the field. In order for Theia to complete her mission, they had to draw out the Lieutenant that had set her on this path to begin with. That was why they had marched in force to Canterlot rather than try to infiltrate it more stealthily, they could only hope to find War in the heart of this final battle. She saw allies drift in and out of her field of vision. Gytha griffin, niece of the Emperor of Chimeron, swept low over the battlefield picking up diamond dogs and dropping them howling to their deaths. In a tight knot, a group of Dawns-light Crusaders protected Sergeant Belle as she turned her devastating songs to decimate any Children of Twilight or Blanks that approached them. The new enemies seemed to have the same vulnerabilities as the Infected which was only a very small blessing given their huge, ever growing numbers and how they moved so quickly, darting like shadows over the ground.

Shadows, fortunately, warred on Theia’s side as well. It was good to see the Sisters at their work. Many had been training for this war for decades, though it was originally thought they would be fighting against, not with, the Dawn. They moved fluidly, individual streams coming together to form a river of death, so that when Theia’s blades bit into a massive Dog of War, seven other shadows collocated with her attacks rending the beast to shreds before it could so much as whimper. There was a kind of terrifying freedom here, and for a time Theia almost lost herself to the crimson rage of battle. That was when she saw her, just a glimpse at first, a blood red unicorn wading through the madness. Then she heard the whirring of blades above the discordant shouts of those fighting and dying. Unlike those around her, Rarity seemed perfectly poised and in control, her black armor immaculate and inset with glowing blood diamonds and rubies. A wide, clear circle of churned mud and blood lay about her, her regrown horn glowing brightly as arcs of crimson death laid waste to all. Any foolish enough to wander into this circle, friend or foe, was immediately cut down without the least glance. As those baleful, glowing scarlet eyes lit upon Theia, the pony who had been named War smiled as graciously as a lady at tea time.

“Why Theia, darling, it’s so good to see you again! I had rather worried that one of these little beasts had already had the pleasure of dispatching you. Oh, but I should never have doubted you...after all, you’re a fighter! Shall we dance?” All at once the whirring of blades stopped, thirteen blades of multi-colored quartz crystals spread to either side of the unicorn like the wings of death. Magic pulsed from Theia as well as she drew a black sword from her pack, her stub of a horn shimmering with concentrated magic. Without uttering a word, the one eyed assassin launched herself at her opponent. Blade sang off crystal as blow after vicious blow Theia parried. Dodging as best she could, Theia flipped over one crystal blade as it slammed into the mud at her feet, shifting to her shadow form and diving at War, intent on removing the pretty head from the undead Lieutenants shoulders. Rarity had seen this technique before, however, and compensated by slamming all of her crystals in front of Theia, creating a magical barrier that would not let so much as a shadow pass. With a pulse of her magic, War rebuffed Theia, disrupting her spell and making her tangible again.

“Are you just a one trick pony Theia? I must say I’m disappointed. For the pony that killed three of my dearest friends you’re surprisingly weak.” With that the crystals flew into the air again, sending a spray of mud and blood into Theia’s eyes, blinding her. The crystals tore into her flesh as she tried to roll away from her enemy, her own bleeding wounds making the ground even more treacherous as fresh cuts and gashes bloomed along her cream colored body. “Look at you writhing in that filth like a worm. Was it a worm that hung Famine? That burned away Pestilence? That conquered Death? Why won't you get on your hooves and FIGHT!” The last word was a rather unlady-like roar as Rarity combined the crystal shards into one massive sword and brought them down for a killing blow. A wave of sound tour across the battlefield, vibrating the crystals and causing them to break apart again, forming a cage around Theia's prone form. Both Theia and War turned as from the mist of war stepped Sergeant Belle, mane perfectly styled, all too much like her sisters, her emerald eyes cold.

“Theia, I believe you and the Sergeant Major have some business with the Twilight Queen. Be a dear and go about your business. My sister and I have something we need to discuss.” Theia took the moments respite to recover, rising to her hooves. Though she had been wounded in many places, none seemed too severe to keep going. “Sergeant Belle.. .I know you said when the time came you wanted to deal with your sister. But if she isn’t put down there’s no way we can hope to defeat the Twilight Queen.” At that Rarity chuckled gently, her quiet little laugh rising into a wild guffaw. “Oh! Oh that is too good! Let me guess, Applejack told you that didn’t she? Oh that pony would say anything if she thought it meant being free from this so called ‘curse’!” As war raged on all sides of the three unicorns, a look of shock spread across Theia’s face. “You mean to say she lied?”

“Oh don't be so naive darling. I’m sure she hoped it was true, but how do you think she even got the idea in her head? She was an earth pony, sweetling, what do they know of magic? Oh to be sure, the Twilight Queen is more powerful with her lieutenants by her side, but that does not make her invincible! Why, who do you think it has been that’s even been guiding you to kill us off, one by one?” Theia reeled as Rarity went on, her crystal swords rising one by one as her words drove home. “You’ve been a pawn of the Queen ever since that day in the Chimeron Canyon... Indeed, possibly longer than that! Why else would I lend you my sword when you fought your long lost ‘friend’ Moonbolt? The fact of the matter is you only have one more pony to kill, but three choices in who she could be." The crystals began to spin around Theia. "Kill me and the Queen wins,. Kill the Queen and I win. Or you can just lay down your life here and kill yourself so that no one wins. One of these choices will save the world, while the other two will surely damn it. I wonder if you can guess which is which?” Another harsh song filled the air, shattering Rarity’s crystal blades to nothing but dust. As both Theia and Rarity shielded their eyes, Sergeant Belle roared.

“You ignored me enough as a child sister,” spoke Sweetie Belle coldly, her composure slipping as rage flashed in her emerald eyes. “I will not have you ignore me as the adult that’s about to slay you!” Sergeant Belle stalked forward, horn glowing as she sang a song that opened wounds weeping with thick black blood all along War’s flanks. She sang her next words “Who do you think you are, coming back from the grave? Who do you think you are, making my friend your slave!? You’re time is long done and past, though you were the first, you’ll now be the last!” Sweetie Belle’s song ripped Rarity’s flesh and rent her black armor, cracking it and sending a hairline fracture creeping up Rarity’s horn. Eyes blazing, War turned from Theia. “Such an annoyance! Just as always." Raw and blood curdling hatred emanated from Rarity, "You were always in the way or under foot, ruining everything I ever did. Mother and father should have let me drown you as a babe when that horrible voice of yours wailed and wailed all night keeping us all awake! Well I will silence you now!” The swirling rainbow hued crystal mist solidified into a jagged spike...beneath Sergeant Belle. The crystal rose sharply, impaling the unicorn through her guts and ending her song with a gurgling scream. She fell transfixed by the crystal shard. The rest of swirling cloud of dust that surrounded the three solidified into a single massive crimson sword. War grit her bloody teeth as she turned back to her original prey, glowing blade poised to strike Theia down as well.

“Siblings...I swear they exist only to torment us. Hah... Thinking on that, tell me Theia, would you like to know who has your eye? I imagine Fluttershy already told you who took it, but I bet you’ll never guess who has it still.” A dull hum filled Theia’s ears. She had seen friends fall before, but what this creature had just done to her own blood, as casually as swatting a fly. The daughter of the moon didn’t care about her eye or the Twilight Queens machinations. All she knew was that this Rarity, this War, had to die. “STOP IGNORING ME!” The howl from Sweetie Belle’s blood flecked lips shocked both Theia and Rarity. “I WILL NOT, WILL NOT, DIE AS I HAVE LIVED! YOU WILL KNOW SERGEANT BELLE! YOU WILL REMEMBER ME!” Theia felt the vibrations in her bones before she heard the low notes. The earth, the very air vibrated violently as Sweetie Belle’s voice climbed in pitch growing higher and louder as she went. Blood gushed from the wound in her belly as the crystal spear vibrated in her guts, but still she sang on. Seeing what was coming, Theia shift into her shadow form. Rarity was not so lucky.

The explosion sent not just shards of gem stone, but metal and bone as well, as Sergeant Belle cut loose with a banshee howl. The quartz buried in her guts shattered to shards that filled her belly and sprayed her sister, much as the gems embedded in War’s armor exploded as well. Her sonic assault rent Rarity to so much bloody meat, leaving both sisters panting, broken and barely alive in the mud. Theia was struck deaf. Both unicorns horns had shattered, leaving them powerless to do anything but struggle vainly to rise. Segeant Belle with her stomach a horror show of crystalline carnage, Rarity missing her lower body from her waist down. Even as Theia watched the sisters, so alike in look and personality, struggled towards one another dragging their entrails behind them. Even though Theia’s hearing was slowly coming back, she couldn’t hear what they were saying...but there lips moved animatedly, pain mirrored in one anothers faces. The lines of battle were shifting again, and both Sergeant and Lieutenant quickly disappeared beneath the hooves and paws of warriors with more pressing matters than those dying beneath them. If they were trampled to death or died of their wounds, Theia would never know. Such is the way of war.

Shaken and injured, Theia realized with a sick shock that her mission was at last complete. The sacrifice of yet another friend meant that now they might have a chance against the Queen of Twilight. Unless, as War had implied, it was all a lie. Theia's one eyed gaze turned her to Canterlot Castle. She wasn’t done yet. Theia had to make sure that Rarity's warning did not come to pass. To save this world and stop all this senseless killing, she had to be the dagger in the dark one more time. It was time to end this, once and for all.

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High above, the war in the sky had fared better for the combined might of the armies of Dawn and Moon. With the aid of winged Chimeron legionnaires the Shadowbolt’s had fallen one by one until the cravens had broken and fled. Scootaloo and Gytha worked as a powerful team, both diving into clusters of the enemy on the ground with explosive force, ripping them to shreds before rising again into the sky. With aerial superiority on their side it would only be a matter of time before the Twilight must at last succumb. Even on the ground Scootaloo could see the fighting was beginning to turn in their favor. Lady Selene, the matriarch of the Cult of the Moon, burned away all who opposed her with powerful magic the likes of which the Sergeant Major had never seen. Her own commander, General Corona, fought bravely below, many an undead monstrosity impaled on the lances that bristled around him. Even the Praetor of the Legion fought fiercely, wolf mouth snapping and tearing at the living and the dead as his snake headed tail lashed out and pumped them full of poison.

Scootaloo was ready to whoop with joy in their inevitable victory when something caught her eye on the distant battlefield below. One section of earth had become so slick with blood as to be dyed red. In that wide circle many corpses lay, some horribly burned, but most merely dismembered. Looking closer she saw what had given her unconscious mind pause. It was her...her only friend that had stayed by her side through all this madness and pain. Sweetie Belle lay among the dead, a hole punched clean through her. The Crusader's eyes misted with tears. But wait...was that movement she saw? Did she yet live? Eschewing the battle proper, Scootaloo dived to her friends side, landing roughly and slipping in the mud that was soaked with her friends life blood. Closer, she could see the signs of the struggle that had ended her. Sergeant Belle’s broken sister lay within inches, the sisters outstretched hooves barely touching. Removing her helmet, Scootaloo rested her head against Sweetie Belle’s chest, listening vainly for the slightest thump of a heart beat.

“You stupid pony. You weren’t supposed to die...not you.” The tears flowed freely now. Unbidden, the Crusader found herself rolling her friend on her side. The wound was worse in her belly than her back, a stinking hole that Scootaloo couldn’t look at without almost retching. “Why couldn’t you have been more careful Belle?” As she wept, a shadow fell across her friends dead form. The Sergeant Major stood and whirled wary of attack. Before her stood the creature that had once been Zinsu, his eyes casting an unearthly glow. “Why do you mourn her with your warriors tears? You should know that she is at long last beyond her fears.” From the blood stained earth all around Scootaloo the shadowy skeletal Blanks rose in slow motion, Applebloom’s shade among them.

“I tried to warn ya Scoot. This is what happens to all the ponies that are bound by magic. It’s a curse I tell ya, a curse that drives ya mad and makes you hurt the ones ya love! You have to believe me Scoot...there’s only one way to break this cycle...” The ring of shadow folk closed in around the Sergeant Major, a hungry look in their glowing crimson eyes. “Let us protect you.” Scootaloo didn’t know what to believe anymore, but she knew one thing for certain deep down. Sweetie Belle died doing what she wanted to do...there had been bad blood between herself and her sister even before the coming of Twilight. If her friend could do that, she wasn’t about to give up and hide in the shadows with these dead ponies. Gritting her teeth, Scootaloo leapt into the air, leaving the babbling Blanks far below. Without looking back she flew straight for Canterlot Castle.

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Wading through the battlefield took time and energy Theia was finding in short supply. Whatever Rarity had done to interfere with Theia’s magic, the pony found she could only shift to shadow for brief bursts at a time before her horn would start to ache as if it would split in half. Further, the wounds she had received fighting the unicorn made her movements stiff and halting. Many times she almost succumbed to the Children of the Twilight, but fortunately the chaos of the battle was such she could always find an opportunity to slip away. For once Theia was thankful for the mercurial attention span of those of Twilight, for with so much prey around they found it hard to focus on one injured pony when there were so many more to play with. The thought sickened Theia as she glanced down from the mountain hold fast that was Canterlot. She could see all over the battlefield the maimed and ruined bodies of her allies, but there were many of the enemy who also would not rise again. This was only a very small comfort.

She was close now. Towering above her, the violet and green dragon of the Queen of Twilight roared. Fortunately he still warred with his smaller brethren, their flames heating the air to baking and lighting Equestria for miles around. As Theia climbed the last few steps to the castle gates the imposing portcullis opened ponderously. Distrusting this, Theia shifted into shadow, ignoring the pain coming from her stunted horn. She slipped inside, wary of her surroundings. Souring columns rose in pristine glory and all around her were plush carpets, tapestries, and stained glass depicting great battles of old. Theia didn’t know what she had expected, but not the absolutely perfect condition of the castle. There were no guards to speak of, indeed there were no ponies around at all that she could see. In the distance thin strains of music could barely be heard over the dull roar of the battle below. Shifting back to tangibility, Theia wandered down the long winding halls. Her hooves clopped loudly over the polished marble floors but were completely muffled when she came to the thick carpeting.

This was not what she had expected at all. Had the Queen dispatched all her subjects to the battlefield? Where were her defenders? She carried on, moving closer and closer to the source of the music that was slowly drowning out the sounds of war. It was a light, haunting tune on piano that fit perfectly with the empty halls but still seemed out of place, almost out of tune. At last she came to a hallway that seemed different from the others. While the other halls were decorated with stained glass that let light in, this hallway seemed to be decorated with a much older mosaic with only arrow slit windows to provide any kind of illumination. The tale this mosaic told was hard to follow. Some sort of disaster, followed by a great battle. Giant armored ponies seemed to fight at the beck and call of a winged pegasus, but the enemy was illusive, some strange amalgamation of darkness and suffering. The mosaic was crumbling and badly damaged in parts, the first signs of decay Theia had seen in the castle, though this did not seem recent. She walked on. The armored giants had risen into the sky, their master apparently replaced by two winged pegasi, one bright as day the other dark as midnight. It seemed to be some sort of creation myth involving the pony sisters, but she had never heard of such a story before.

At the end of the hall, the mosaic was badly damaged, many of its tiles smashed to a thin layer of dust that lined the floor. All she could make out was a massive depiction of the moon and ponies of all shapes and sizes gazing up at it with looks almost of longing. Theia might have pondered this longer, but she had more pressing matters than history to attend to. The source of the music was close now, she hoped the Twilight Queen would be as well. Sticking to the shadows, Theia crept through a wide archway that let out onto a high balcony that overlooked the valley below. She found the source of the music, a half rotted Child of Twilight dressed in suit and tails. So focused on his work as to be enraptured, lost to the rest of the world, the undeads hooves worked madly over the keys. But Theia immediately realized he was not important... for gazing over the balcony's edge was none other than the Twilight Queen herself. Theia had not seen her this close in Cloudsdale. Her every muscle looked wrong, out of place on her tall skeleton frame, as if the form beneath merely wore the flesh above as some obscene after thought. As the Queen turned, Theia could see how bits of her shifted painfully across her frame, cracks and veins of raw magic sparking and shuddering between the exposed flesh and bone. The worst was the gaping rent in her chest that displayed the black lump that passed for her heart, sheathed in crackling magic that pulsed duly, spilling a thin dribble of dark liquid down her chest. Her eyes glowed fiercely beneath her crown of unicorn horns, each a different color and length than the other, set in sharp relief against her mane that swirled and danced like living darkness. She looked much less a Queen and more a horrible jest of a monster. Yet when she spoke it was with all the regal tones and courtesies one would expect from a monarch.

“Ah, at last you arrive. I must say I’m a bit disappointed in your progress. I imagined you would have been here sooner.” Her lips pulled back from teeth too large for her mouth as she spoke. “Tell me, did it trouble you to murder so many to stand before me?” Theia glared at the Twilight Queen, at the wrongness that she represented. The very air around her seemed to shimmer and twist in shapes the eyes were not meant to see, the mind not meant to comprehend. “Did it trouble you when you turned your friends into abominations and enslaved this world?” At that the Twilight Queen laughed, a horrible ugly sight as jaws too large for the face they held parted wide, ripping fresh rents in the sides of her dead face, artificially extending her smile. “No, it troubled me not at all. I had faith that you...or someone like you would stand before me, even as you do now. The last piece of the puzzle, the final sacrament, the blind traveler of the wheel. You have no idea how long I have waited for this day. For this very hour." She stepped away from the balcony edge and beckoned Theia with one cracked hoof, "Look out upon the field of battle and tell me what you see!”

Unbidden, Theia’s single eye glanced over the scene below. It was hard to judge distance from here, but she could see by the fire and flashes of magic the dead and dying screaming silently while those still living or undead thrashed about wildly. “I see only the chaos and strife you have sown. But I also see you’re end, Queen of Twilight.” Theia drew her black sword and dropped into her fighting stance, bones creaking with the effort. The Twilight Queen merely smiled. “Then perhaps you have not gazed long enough. It is not defeat you see below you, but victory. Here...allow me to tidy the field somewhat so your poor blind eye can be opened. SPIKE!” From high above, the queens massive dragon curled its long sinuous neck down, a passing blue dragon strafing the side of his face. Maw opening wide, Spike snapped the smaller dragon from the sky by its neck, breaking it and tossing it aside to smash down the side of the mountain below. The Queen smiled, pleased. “Spike, please be a dear and get rid of all these noisy mortals.” The enchanted dragons glowing eyes blinked and it turned its head to the battlefield. Opening his blood slicked maw a torrent of emerald flame surged down the mountainside. The fire just kept coming and coming until the entire valley was filled with churning flame that reached high into the sky, engulfing all and sundry. As it dissipated, nothing was left, only charred and shattered corpses littered the battlefield. Yet beneath them...it was faint from this far away, but Theia was high enough that once she’d recovered from the shock of the Twilight Queen’s merciless attack she saw immediately what “her majesty” had intended for her to see before.

Etched deep into the furrows and trenches of the valley bellow were runes and sigils of a spell so massive that Theia could not comprehend it. Blood from those who had fallen in battle filled every last crevice, inking the runes in crimson. The pulsing, pounding emanations of the spell were the pain Theia had felt in her horn. It was this spell that was interfering with her magic, not Rarity’s attack or any kind of battle fatigue! But what could a spellwork so massive possibly be for? Movement drew her eye from the scene below to one unfolding above. In the twilit sky, the Wonderbolt's storms and the smoke of dragon fire cleared away to reveal a sight both wondrous and terrible. The moon grew...it was already full, but it grew brighter and brighter still. No that was wrong. The moon was actually getting bigger, getting closer! “What have you done!?” The Twilight Queen howled with lady-like laughter and even her familiar chuckled in deep resonate tones. “Why my dear Theia, I have set right a terrible wrong! It won’t be long now. At last the blind traveler shall walk the path of blood and at its end...paradise! It’s the future that awaits you my dear, the future and your past!”

Theia had heard enough of her madness. If all her friends and allies were dead, their sacrifices would be in vain if she allowed the Twilight Queen to go ahead with whatever fiendish plan she had devised. She only had one shot at this with that horrible behemoth of a dragon leering overhead. Shifting, Theia stepped into the realm of shadow, intending to phase out only long enough to remove the Queens ugly head from her shoulders and await the death that she was sure would follow from the fangs or flames of her dragon. As soon as she shifted, she knew something was wrong. In the realm of shadows, she had always been alone unless other daughters of the moon were near. She was not alone now.

Before her stood a creature that at first went well beyond her imagining. Towering over Theia, a graceful creature composed of more stars than she had ever seen in the deepest night sky gazed upon her. Her wings were sweeping nebula of many colors beyond the dreaming of mortal minds, her many horns cosmic rays that twisted and flared like the blazing corona of a supernova, and her very mane shimmered with dark energy that was more than darkness but the very firmament of the cosmos, the very fabric of space and time. The word ‘galaxy’ rose unbidden in Theia’s mind and as she thought it, she knew it was true. She was looking at a galaxy in the shape of a pony...a creature filled with more power, more life and more knowledge than she had ever known in her life. At the beings heart, much like the heart of all galaxies, there spun a black hole. The stars that composed the ponies body were steadily being drawn into that swirling dark maelstrom, but instead of consuming herself, power surged from that endless void. Theia could feel it pulling her in as well. The stars...every last star in the ‘sky’ that was the Twilight Queen’s true self gazed upon her in judgement. The Queen's voice a sussurous of silence in her head.

“Theia...I remember when that name was mine, so long ago. What did they think to accomplish naming you for me? Did they expect lenience? Forgiveness? Did they expect me to show you any kind of mercy simply because they had the audacity to name a weak little abomination like you for me? Theia. You can keep that name, I don’t need it anymore. But I will take from you, my blind traveler, as your sisters have taken from you. Until you have nothing...else...to give...”

Those wings of light enveloped Theia then and a pain both sharp and soothing spread through her form. Ever last shred of her being felt as though it was melting away. One by one the stardust that composed Theia’s shadow form winked out...swallowed by that gaping black hole in the Twilight Queen's chest. In the material realm, the one eyed assassins body fell limp, her sword clattering to the cobbles as she slowly slid into unconsciousness. Her flank was now as blank as her mind. As her vision fades to black, the Children of the Twilight gathered around her, and the last thing she saw were their cruel smiles. Above the now quiet battlefield the moon grows large and red, flames gathering around it as it draws nearer, its light staining the blue of twilight a deep bleeding red. The world holds its breath as the dead laugh.