Refusal

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony, nor am I profiting off this literary venture.

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From this perspective, sitting atop the school, watching two groups play keep away with the Element of Magic was almost amusing.

Almost.

Twilight Sparkle and the human counterparts of her friends against Sunset Shimmer, Snips and Snails.

The boys really did have the worst luck. It seemed as though they were destined to be flunkies.

Or else had an adolescent attraction to powerful female figures.

Hadn't the Equestrian versions of them done something or other with that one showmare?

Spike couldn't quite recall, the details buried deep in his memories.

And Sunset Shimmer just got her hands on the Element of Magic.

His opening act was almost here, he just had to wait for the curtain to rise...

Maybe it was just a trick of the light, but he could swear he saw her crying before the light turned blinding.

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"This is gonna be so cool!" One of the two idiots said from behind Twilight. Snips she thought, though it could have just as easily been Snails.

This was wrong! Everything was going wrong!

Sunset Shimmer had the crown, the Element of Magic had gone some kind of haywire and now Sunset was a dozen feet tall and red and powerful!

Sunset looked down, her attention drawn by the panicking students who'd come out of the school at the commotion.

She landed, lighter on her feet than she should have been and stepped towards them.

"I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight, just to get my hands on this crown!" She leaned forward, magic lighting in her palms.

"Let me guess, three right?" She stood up, her height impressive and towering above the person who'd interrupted.

Thorn. Twilight wasn't sure how he'd gotten up on the portal without her noticing. He was just sitting on the stone saddle, legs crossed like he was wholly unconcerned about the demon menacing dozens of teenagers.

He was wearing something different tonight though. Heavy denim jeans and he had a light green sweater under his purple hoodie. Drastically thicker, heavier clothes than what she'd seen him wearing before.

Twilight noticed something, though.

He wasn't wearing his eyepatch.

"Thorn. I'd been hoping you'd turn up! I've got something I wanted to show you!" Sunset raised her hands, about to make a grasping motion over him before finding that, as she had obstructed her own vision, he had disappeared.

"All things considered, maybe you should keep it to yourself." She whirled around at his voice, finding him sitting, his stance unchanged, on the steps of the school.

"I'd thought you had magic, knew you were toying with me! Snips! Snails! Get him!" Her peons barely made it as high up as her waist, their change almost certainly cosmetic.

"Really? I'm kind of insulted. Not about sending your boys after me." Twilight caught sight of the minute distortion in the air as he moved, now on Sunset's shoulder. "But their fashion sense. Seriously. A top hat needs a tux."

"Finally! He gets it!" Rainbow Dash, Applejack and herself all glanced at Rarity who turned bright red under their attention. "What? Someone had to say it."

"Enough!" The demon released a flash of magic, blinding everybody for a moment. "I told you, Thorn. When I saw you again, I was going to pull every little secret out of you! Did you think I was joking?!"

Twilight blinked away the dots in her vision until the world came back into focus.

Thorn was standing in front of her, between her friends and Sunset Shimmer, cohorts included.

This close, with the light of the moon at her back, she could make out crimson scales slowly creeping up along his back.

"I'd kind of hoped, yeah." He thrust out both hands, a sickly green aura covering them.

Sunset lunged, claws ready.

She slammed into Snips and Snails, both pulled through the air and into each other to block her path.

Sunset pulled herself back up, stepping on one of the boys as she raised her hand, bubbling black fire coalescing within. She slammed it down, flames raining on the spot where he'd been.

"You know, you don't have to do this." Twilight looked around frantically, finally finding Thorn had reappeared almost ten feet to the left of where he'd been standing.

He smiled though. His hands had grown scaled and clawed, his mouth full of razor sharp fangs and he smiled.

Twilight didn't know why it looked so familiar.

"I will not be denied my place!" She lunged forward, her claws digging through cement. "You won't stop my ambitions!"

She failed to duck as Snails, the boy she hadn't stepped on, was thrown at her back.

"What ambitions? What place would Equestria have for a magic-addled freak like you?" His hair was looking more and more like spines instead of anything that would appear atop a human.

Sunset Shimmer released a wordless howl of rage at his taunt.

Crimson scales, green spines and slitted eyes?

But dragons couldn't use magic!

"Twilight, your buddy on over there seems to have things in hand. Reckon we oughtta get on?" Applejack asked her.

She could.

They should.

But this was as much her fight, she couldn't let him do this alone!

"My ambition? I want Equestria! I'd planned to have my own teenage army behind me, mindless and obedient. With them, I'll take my place as Princess of Equestria!" Sunset laughed, twisted and mad.

"No, I won't let you! We won't let you!" Twilight stood defiant, her friends growing confident behind her.

"I know exactly what you want, Sunset. To drag mindless, innocent children into a war, throw away their lives like meat to show you were never an adequate student, to keep feeding your grudge! I'll stop you here if I have to! You won't get past me!" He'd finally raised his voice, drawing Sunset back into her death glare. She raised her arms once more, flames glowing bright orange.

Her left hand jerked away from the incomplete magic, the spell fizzling away harmlessly. Her right did the same, before both hands were forced across her chest and kept her bound in green magic.

"We won't let you do that to our world, our friends!" Rainbow Dash stepped forward, the rest behind her. Together they all lined up next to Twilight.

"How precious! You think some parlor tricks can stop me?" Her hands broke free, wiping away a tear as she laughed at them. "That your friendship matters?"

Magic pooled between her hands, glowing and growing into a sphere. Unlike before, it launched on its own without an exagerated wind up, straight at the girls.

They huddled together, pressing close and trembling in fear. As their arms wrapped around each other, they felt a spark.

A gentle warmth instead of an inferno of pain.

Thorn stood in front of them, his clothing in tatters and much of what lay beneath bared to them.

Scales.

Rows upon rows of scales.

"Thorn..." She didn't know what to say. The pink aura obscuring everything didn't help, but she knew what needed to be done. "Thank you."

"You! Sunset Shimmer, you don't understand Harmony! You don't understand friendship!" Thorn disappeared again as she began speaking, grabbing a hold of Sunset Shimmer's arms and straining to keep her still when the shock broke.

"The magic in my element, it recognized the elements that helped create it!" A wisp broke from the crown and joined the light show surrounding the girls, raising them into the air.

"Honesty! Kindness! Loyalty! Laughter and Generosity! Together they make a power greater than you can imagine, a power you cannot control!" The light died away to reveal the girls, all wearing new outfits, all bearing the physical traits of their counterparts in Equestria. They joined hands, all together in the air as magic glowed in a literal rainbow of colors.

"You might have my crown, but you cannot control it! Because you lack a magic you don't understand, here and in Equestria! You lack the magic of Friendship!" The power surrounded the demoness, the dragon strained to his limit to keep her from escaping.

"It is the only magic that can truly unite us all!" The magic brightened, blinding everyone as the girls descended, momentarily drained.

Getting back up took a few seconds. She... felt so drained, like she'd tried to keep pace with Applejack or Rainbow Dash. It wasn't until she felt Spike licking her cheek that she pulled up enough energy to sit up.

The rest of the girls were right behind her when she did though. Next to them, still smoking, had formed a massive crater.

And at its center lay Sunset Shimmer, worn, haggard and very much so alone.

Author's Notes:

Who's going to try killing a dragon with fire?
Seriously?