Author's Notes:

Sorry I didn't post sooner, I was so tired.

Warning ahead, this one is the thickest paragraphs of the chapter of all. Truth be told this chapter and the previous one, were originally the same chapter, but it got too long, so I separated them.

They worked together for years after that. He guarded her with everything he had. Truth be told he had actually been sent in to spy on her. Not by Father, but by somepony else. The idea was that since she was the closest to Father and Mother, besides Prince Nexus Star, she would be the most involved with their plans.

But as time went on, he found himself protecting her no matter what the cost. For some reason, he felt a connection to her. He didn’t know what it was or why. It was like being in great sorrow when seeing her in any pain.

Soon three years into working with each other, came the day when she was charged with a dangerous mission. The mission was so dangerous that she had to work with the most powerful and eldest of the heirs to the throne, Princess Burning Star. The mare had a wild temperament to her. She could barely be trusted and yet there were stories about how she use to be so kind.

Flash didn’t trust her at all, but he kept close for Twilight’s sake. He found himself only wishing for Twilight’s safety no matter what.

******

They left as soon as possible. The mission was to find Princess Celestia. They searched for a full year until they finally tracked her down to the Castle of the Two Sisters. They arrived there with a few soldiers by their side.

“In here is where she is hiding?” questioned Burning Star.

“Yes, according to the facts I found in the libraries,” answered Twilight.

“Good. I can’t wait to end this. She will pay for all the lies she’s told.”

Flash didn’t comment. He knew what they would encounter when they got in there.

The three made their way inside with the soldiers behind them. Twilight didn’t know why her eldest sister had such a hatred for the Princess, nor did she care to ask. Their mission was to bring in Princess Celestia for questioning.

They made their way through the main hall. In there could be seen two thrones. Twilight looked and thought, ‘This must have been where it happened. This is where Mother became who she is today.’ They could hear arguing in a nearby room. They sneaked their way to it.

Inside could be seen a creature in a cloak and the Princess. Twilight looked to see Princess Celestia. She looked weakened, she wore a torn dress. She was too skinny. She probably hadn’t got much time for eating or resting since she left after Mother and Father took over. She looked pitiful. Twilight almost felt sorry for her.

The two continued to argue.

“I don’t know where they are,” the one in the cloak said.

“We have to find them and quickly,” Celestia answered back.

As they argued, the group of soldiers got into place. Suddenly one of the soldiers made a noise and the one in the cloak turned. “They’re here.” He waved his cane at them, casting a spell. Meanwhile, Celestia ran down the hallway. As the soldiers did battle with the one in the cloak, Twilight, Flash and Burning Star went after her.

They chased her down the hallway into a room. Once there, she turned back and launched an attack at them. They dodged. They surrounded her. A moment passed as they waited for the right time to strike.

Burning Star made the first move. She jumped at her. She knocked her back with a powerful magical blast. She then looked at Twilight and Flash. “Please let me go. You don’t know what she is planning.”

“No, we are to bring you in.”

“I’m sorry." She looked sorrowful.

She launched a powerful magical attack. It was too fast for Twilight to dodge. Flash looked and in that moment time stopped. “Time out.”

A lone figure covered in bright light walked through the battle. He walked over to Flash and then looked at Celestia. “I’m so sorry this has to end this way.” He then turned back to Flash. Then he reached his hand into Flash’s chest. "It’s time. You will only have monetary control of this speed, so use it wisely."

He pulled his hand out and walked away until he was out of the castle. “Now I leave it to fate. Time in.”

Suddenly time moved forward again and Flash moved at such speeds that he knocked Twilight out of the way. However, he didn’t move out of the way himself. Twilight looked up to see Flash get hit head on by the attack. It knocked him to the ground. She stood up and looked in horror. For some reason, she felt a twist in her heart. She then turned in utter rage as dark magic seeped from her eyes. In that moment she spoke. “Bow.”

As soon as Celestia caught sight of Twilight's eyes, she found herself being pulled down as space was being bent around her. Twilight didn’t know how she was doing this at all. Soon Burning Star walked up to Celestia.

Celestia first looked at Twilight. “I knew I was right about you. You are her.” Then she looked at Burning Star. “I’m sorry I lied to you, but some secrets must be kept.” Tears started to poured from her eyes. “Please, don’t do this.”

“No.” She lifted her trident that she wielded. “This is where it ends.”

In that moment Twilight's eyes widened in horror as Burning Star stabbed Celestia with the trident right through the heart. In that moment Celestia was gone. “Burning Star, what have you done?”

Burning Star did not answer. Instead, she started to let out a snicker which turned to laughter. Which turned into psychotic wails as she lifted the trident and continued to stab the body over and over. It finally turned to tears of sorrow. She cried aloud as she continued to stab.

Twilight saw this and walked over. Seeing her sister in tears she tried wrapping her arms around her, hoping this would calm her down. But before she could, a bright light shot from Celestia's body.

******

Two months later she found herself in a hospital bed. She seemed to be fine though she couldn't remember much of what happened. She lifted her head and sat up. She found Flash asleep in a chair beside her. He looked so cute all halfway out of the chair leaning back. He was wearing a blue shirt and green pants. He had his helmet still on and some armor.

She leaned over and poked him on the gut. She blushed a bit as she had just noticed how sculpted his gut felt. They had been running around so much that she never took time to ‘examine’ him. She started to poke harder. He didn’t even notice while being in such a deep sleep. She soon found herself accidentally feeling up his six pack. She pulled her hand back quickly as she saw him move slightly.

After which she laid back into her bed. She was annoyed with herself. Why would she do such a thing? Sure, she had gotten to know him somewhat well over theses four years, but she could never picture him in that way. She began twirling her fingers in her mane as she looked up at the ceiling. She hadn’t yet notice that Flash woke up when she started to poke at him before. But he, of course, didn't say anything and simply enjoyed seeing the blush on her face. He would have laughed too if it wasn’t for the fact his chest was still somewhat bruised from Celestia’s attack. Instead, he hid his own blush under his helmet.

After a few minutes, Twilight sat back up. She looked at him again. She still hadn’t noticed that he was awake. Seeing her lean back in, he acted like waking up. He stretched and yawned. She pulled back and looked forward. “Hello Princess, I see you're awake.”

She looked back at him in confusion. “What did you say?”

“Oh that’s right you were still asleep when you're title was given. From now by order of your Mother, you're to be call by your new title, Princess Fallen Star.” He lifted his hand and pointed to the door. Hanging from the door was a new set of armor. It was very reminiscent of Father’s armor, but her’s was purple and had her emblem on it. “I even received new armor myself, though I haven't put it on yet.”

“What happen, Flash?”

“Well let’s.” He didn’t catch to what she meant. Or maybe he was trying to dodge it. “You missed my promotion to Captain. Oh and there was an attack on Night Fright’s laboratory. We have to check that out later.” He still wasn’t catching on, or maybe he simply was not ready to answer her yet. She was slowly getting annoyed. “Oh, and Dark Armor and Duchess Cadenza are going on their second honeymoon. Something about visiting Yakyakistan. Oh and--”

“NO I MEAN WHAT HAPPEN AT THE CASTLE?” she yelled in annoyance as for some reason tears started to pool in her eyes and she didn’t know why.

“You don’t remember still, do you?” he answered. He looked down. “I had hoped you wouldn’t ask about it. But you used Father’s Glare spell.”

“Glare spell?”

“Yeah from what I heard, it’s a spell only a few can use. So far you are the tenth creature in all of history who has shown signs you can use such a spell. From what I could gather, you used the dark magic form of the Glare. That allowed you to bend the space around an enemy.”

“Yes, I know how dark magic works, but who did I use it on?”

He kept trying to dodge answering her. He tried to bring up something else. But it didn’t stop her from finally yelling. “Just tell me, who did I use the spell on?!?!?!”

He tried to hide the tears in his own eyes as he finally said it. “Celestia. You used it on Celestia. And then…. And then Burning Star killed her.”

Twilight’s head dropped to her lap as tears started to fall. Though it had been Burning Star that had done the deed, it had been her that had held Celestia down. Flash saw the tears. He leaned over and sat onto the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Go on, just let it out.” She lifted her head and screamed. Afterward, she turned and pushed her face into his chest. He pulled her in close as she began to hit at him in anger. Anger at herself.

She barely got around much after that. Just moping in her room all day and night. It was terrible. It was absolutely painful. Flash tried whatever he could to get her pass through the grief, but nothing worked. She felt simply awful and so did he. He was blaming himself just as much as she was blaming herself. His mission was to slow down their plans. Not help in speeding them up. With Celestia, dead all rebellion ended. Fancy Pants, the leader of the current rebels was eventually found and executed. Fortunately his wife, Fleur De Lis was never found.

Twilight continued to wallow in remorse for several days until the unexpected happened. It was something nopony expected at all.

******

Flash was walking down the hallway to Twilight’s room. He had hoped she would be getting a little better after a while. As he walked he happen to notice that somepony else was walking the opposite direction. It was Prince Nexus Star. He seemed annoyed. The two walked past each other when he decided to turn and look at him. “Flash, is it?”

“Yes,” he answered as he stopped walking. He turned towards the prince. “What is it? What do you want?”

“You know you're the reason she is like this.” Flash got confused by what Nexus Star said. “Here she has pulled the Glare, one of the most powerful spells of all time and she is in tears because she helped kill somepony. How pitiful. And all because she gotten emotionally attached to her guardian.”

Flash’s eyes narrowed on him. “And that’s a problem how?”

“Simple. You're too weak to be a possible candidate. And she is too weak to be thinking that.” Nexus Star smirked as he mocked him.

“What do you mean by that?” Flash asked. He had no idea to what Nexus Star was referring to, but he still took a stance. He would not allow the prince to dare insult Twilight. He was going to defend her honor.

“Oh you want to fight me?” he questioned.

Flash didn’t answer. Though if he were to fight him, it would turn into an uneven match with the fact the Nexus Star didn’t have his gauntlets with him. Still, he wouldn’t let his guard down. The prince smirked. “So this is how it is going to go? You think you have the advantage just because I don’t have my gauntlets with me.” He took his own stance.

Flash knew it was set now. He had to fight him. Though he thought it not wise to embarrass the prince, so he decided not to use the new speed he had gained. Nexus Star stepped forward with the first attack. A simple fist. It was easy to catch.

He caught the attack with his hand and didn’t even flinch. A moment past and there was nothing else. Suddenly Flash felt extreme pain in the hand that he had caught the attack with. He pulled back and the pain stopped. He looked at his hand curiously. There was not a scratch on it. Yet it had felt like he had just been stabbed in the hand.

“What’s wrong?” Nexus Star asked. “You look confused. Let me put it simply, my hands are truly my most powerful weapons. Whether I use them to make new weapons with the Pie Family, I use them in my gauntlets, or I use them to make moves on my wife’s luxurious body. They always seem to be the best at what I want.”

He took his hand and held in a flat form and sent another attack at Flash. This attack was too quick for Flash and he wasn’t able to catch it as it hit him in the left shoulder. Suddenly the shoulder went completely numb. And with it, all control of his left arm was gone. He looked to what was happening. “Oh, what's wrong? Still confused?” Nexus Star stepped to the side and then jabbed him in the gut. Suddenly he began to puke uncontrollably. “You see I have found out while doing, shall we say ‘special things’ with my lovely wife, that I can do a lot to the body of any creature. I think it’s connected to my cutie mark being a barcode, my talent being that I can break locks.” He kicked him in the gut just right and the puking stopped.

“Now at first I thought I could just break locks on doors. But it turns out that lock can be a very versatile word. For instance, did you know that our body pain centers and pleasure centers are covered with several forms of locks?” Flash got up and charged right at him at full speed, but the prince jabbed him in the leg. He soon found his body once again in agony as he fell down to his knees. “All I need to do is to hit you in the right spot and I can give you excruciating pain. Though I could give you pleasure too,” he joked the last part. “However I usually save that tactic for when I feel like satisfying my wife.”

The prince then leaned down. “Another thing I have found out about the body is that bones have their own forms of locks.” Flash’s eyes widened, but before he could react, Nexus Star jabbed him several times in the chest. His ribs were cracking with each jab. The jabs continued all over his body.

Flash soon fell to the ground with his body was torn up. Nexus Star walked away in triumph. “Well looks like I win this round. Come back any time you want a rematch.”

******

Twilight sat in her room. She was still angry with herself. She didn’t want this. She wanted to work alongside Father and Mother in cleansing this world of its evils. She didn’t want to be an executioner. All she wanted to do was sit in her room forever.

Soon a knock could be heard. “Go away,” she moped. There was another knock. “Leave me alone.” Then one more. “I said GO AWAY.” Then there was silence. A moment pass and then one final knock. She got up. Whoever they were, they weren't listening. She walked over to the door. She grabbed the doorknob. She twisted the doorknob and open the door. “Look I don’t want to be bothered.”

She looked to see nopony at all. She felt a pull on her leg. She looked to see Flash covered in bruises and broken bones. “Flash!”

She quickly dragged him into the room. “Who did this?”

“Nex….us Sta...r.” he could barely get out a coherent word. But what he gave was all she needed.

“Big Brother? Why would he do this?” She saw him quickly fading. “No don’t you dare die on me. I’ll get you to the hospital.”

“No… take… to…. ‘F’.”

Her eyes widened. “You know ‘F’.”

He couldn’t answer any more as he lost consciousness.

<Flashback over>

******

“I don’t how, but soon afterward she was able to find ‘F’ and he nursed me back to health. After that, she and I formed the Dark Rebels.”

Twilight stood there thinking. Sure she had heard everything he had said. She even shed a few tears during the story. But something in the story had hit her. An idea she just had to try. She walked over to the edge of her cell and called out to the guards.

“What are you doing?” asked Discord.

“I’m going to make an alliance.”

******

Meanwhile, miles away in the skies above the great wall that separated the Empire from what was left of Equestria was a strange looking massive airship. Standing on the walls could be seen Princess Dead Star. She looked annoyed at the airship above her. Soon a giant hologram was sent down from the ship. The image was the face of Prince Nexus Star.

“Brother, what is the meaning of this? Why have you brought the Andross here?”

“Simple little sister, I am here to clean up your mess. Twilight has been out of your hands for days now.”

“But the Great and Powerful Trixie can handle things herself. The Shadowbolts have been conducting a thorough search of the grounds.”

“That’s your problem. You’re searching and not finding. Therefore, I am taking command.” The hologram disappeared before she could argue back. She walked off in annoyance, back to her tower. Upon arriving though she received an unexpected message.

Meanwhile, on the ship could be seen several amounts of highly advance technology. Several pilots could be seen at several stations. And at the center of it all was Prince Nexus Star. He wore a long, slim, button up red-violet velvet coat and green pants. He didn’t have his gauntlets out, although it was assumed he had them nearby. “Okay, let’s get moving.”

The ship flew forward. They got past the wall and soon flew over the crater where the original Twilight had died. “Hmm, this crater was a magnificent grave for you. Looks like I will have to make another later. Captain Moonchaser, do you see anything?”

“Yes, I see a group of ponies in the ruins of Cloudsdale.”

“Alright then, we have our first stop.”

******