Twilight slammed her hooves onto the table as the spoon was levitated to her mouth. “Nooo! Yuck.”

Sombra sighed. “Twilight, if you don’t eat this then you can’t have dessert.”

“Wha? Nooo!” Twilight wailed.

“Let me try, dear.” Nightmare smiled, taking the spoon in her magic. Suddenly the spoon decided to do a few flips before gliding towards Twilight’s muzzle. “Here comes the airplane…”

Twilight gasped, clapping her hooves. She giggled a little and leant into the ‘airplane’, swallowing its cargo happily.

Sombra sighed with relief as Nightmare levitated another spoon with a small bit of pudding on the end. Twilight reacted immediately, straining in her foal-chair to reach the spoon. Nightmare giggled as Twilight grasped the spoon in her tiny hooves and stuffed the end with pudding in her mouth.

Twilight panted as she reached out a hoof, pressing it down in front of her. Her next hoof landed next to it. Another followed quickly, then another and she was standing somewhere else. She had walked! She looked up at her parents, who looked back lovingly. She giggled and threw two hooves into the air, only to fall suddenly on her rump.

She pouted grumpily as she hit the ground. It took a surprising amount of effort to stand again, let alone take another step. But the tiny alicorn was determined. After a half hour of trying, she had walked from her cot – now without the barred walls – all the way to the door. When she reached the door, her parents scooped her up, nuzzling her lovingly. She giggled and tried to pull away, only to be enveloped in a big family hug.

“Now Twilight, you have to promise to stay still, okay?” Sombra told her.

“Okay daddy!” Twilight smiled as her parents’ horns glowed. A beam of magic shot out from both of them, joining both horns with the smaller pony’s. Twilight gasped as a jolt of pain ran up her horn. She fought the urge to squeal and run away, determined to keep her promise. She whimpered as her horn unwillingly released its own magic.

The filly squealed as her world went black.

“There are currently four alicorns aside from you, Twily.” Nightmare explained. “I am one of them – I raise the moon each night and cover Equestria in the glorious, cool night.”

Twilight nodded, her magic absentmindedly scribbling down notes on the piece of paper before her.

“Two of the others are Princess Cadence, the alicorn of love, and her daughter Flurry Heart. They’re not too much to worry about now.” Nightmare paused, her eyes clouding with sadness. “And, finally, there is the evil Celestia. She raises the sun each day and gives Equestria horrid, burning sunlight. She sends other ponies to fight her battles and never tries to solve any problems. But as soon as your father and I tried to take Equestria from her tyrannical rule, she sends all of her army to try and stop us!”

“She’s a very bad pony!” Twilight huffed childishly.

“Yes, Twilight.” Nightmare sighed. “Yes she is.”

Twilight grunted as her horn flared with magic. She could feel the weight of the guard as if she was physically carrying him. She groaned with pain as magic streamed from her horn, pushing the young pony backwards. The pressure on her head was almost unbearable.

She screamed suddenly as her magic exploded, surrounding her entire body with her aura. She was lifted into the air as her magic flooded the room. The guard she was levitating flailed fearfully as the overpowered magic surrounded him. He gave a terrifying shriek as his body was crushed under the pressure of the young alicorn’s magic.

Twilight felt tears streaming from her eyes as the full power of an alicorn erupted from her horn, sending pain jolting through her entire body. She screamed pointlessly as her own body began to be crushed by the sheer pressure.

A blue aura suddenly surrounded Twilight, forcing away the magic attempting to forcefully return to its vessel. The aura grasped Twilight and with a bright flash, the young alicorn was gone, leaving only the crushed guard’s body behind.

Twilight groaned and opened her eyes slowly. Her parents were lying in front of her, seeming to only just have woken up. They were inside the room she’d passed out in when she was three. She looked around, confused, before turning to check her body.

She was still herself – a tall purple alicorn with long streaked hair, sparkling with magic. Her large wings flared as she stood, ruffling a few feathers. She ran a small bit of magic through her long horn to ensure its functionality before stepping forwards and helping her parents to their hooves.

“Heh…” Sombra smiled, looking Twilight up and down. “It worked.”

Nightmare nodded. “In which case…”

“So, Twilight. You ready for your first day of training?” Sombra asked.

Twilight grinned evilly. “You mean so that I can fight the war with that tyrant Celestia?”

“Indeed.”

Twilight jumped nimbly aside, easily chopping the spear in half with a slash of her sword. The alicorn turned on her forehooves as she landed, flicking her head and sending her sword flying straight into the guard’s side. The batpony shrieked in pain as blood gushed from his side, staining the blade.

Twilight winced and turned away, refusing to watch the last moments of one of her father’s personal guards. Ever since her magic surge had killed her own guard, she’d blocked out all other deaths. Even during her training.

“No, Twilight!” Sombra growled. “You mustn’t look away during a death!”

“B-but father!”

“If you look away from a death, you waste precious seconds and expose yourself to attacks!” the dark unicorn snarled.

The alicorn growled a little, running her tongue across her fangs. She turned to the next guard, wrenching her sword from his fallen comrade with a sickening squelch. The guard’s eyes widened with fear. This guard was one of her mother’s; a batpony and, according to records, had a large family at home. Perfect. Bucking perfect!

She flashed an evil grin, sure to show her fangs as much as she could. The sword floating beside her swivelled in the air before pointing directly at the batpony’s chest. The guard looked away sadly, yet Twilight didn’t hesitate. The sword plunged deep into the poor guard’s chest, forcing a scream of agony from his lips. Twilight panted heavily, but forced herself to keep watching as she snatched the blade from the guard’s chest. The batpony was still convulsing on the ground when his companion’s foreleg separated from his body.

The alicorn didn’t even watch as she flung the sword at the final guard. She heard his scream and knew she’d hit her mark. The four ponies on the ground were twitching weakly as the life left their bodies. She faced away from the bodies and her father, only then allowing herself to shed her tears.

“Much better, dear.” Sombra chuckled, his magic covering the corpses.

“Anything t-to stop that tyrant.” Twilight breathed, flicking her tail.

“Well, I’m sure your chance to fight will come very–”

Sombra was cut off by the door opening with a bang. A tired purple batpony guard – one of Twilight’s own – was panting heavily, his wings twitching.

“King Sombra!” he gasped. “Celestia’s army has begun an attack on our eastern territory!”

The dark unicorn hissed with anger. “Seems the chance will be now.” He shook his head angrily before teleporting from the room.

“Thank you, Comet Trail.” Twilight glanced at the guard gratefully before teleporting away herself, reaching out with her magic to follow her father.

The alicorn emerged atop a large cliff, taken by surprise as she was shoved roughly behind a rock.

“Stay down until I signal you, okay?” Sombra ordered.

Twilight nodded in surprise. Sombra flashed a small smile and dropped a set of armour beside his daughter before fleeing.

The alicorn made sure to stay concealed as she adorned the armour. It was relatively simple – gold plated back, head and flank guards with flexible metal kneepads and shiny golden horseshoes that came up at the front to protect her forelegs. Next to the armour was a sword. Not her tacky training sword, but a real weapon. Polished steel with a golden handle, adorned with purple star-shaped jewels that resembled her cutie mark.

The only bad thing about this day was that it was a day. When her parents won this war, Equestria would never have to suffer through another second of sunlight – except for the farms. They could only function with sunlight, sadly.

Twilight grinned, flashing her fangs as she peered from behind the rock. The field below the cliff was in chaos. Dark coloured batponies were fighting valiantly against an army of pure white stallions with blue manes. Twilight snorted angrily – Celestia even forced her army to look the exact same!

However, two ponies on the battlefield drew her attention.

The first was her father, now wearing his black armour, dotted with red gems. He was striking down Celestia’s army effortlessly, each slash of his sword taking out at least two ponies as once.

The other was a bright blue pegasus with beautiful prismatic hair. She was decorated with gold and silver armour that clung to her tightly, the only loose pieces being on her legs and wings, which had flexible plates across them, dotted with spikes. Hanging from her neck was a golden pendant with a shining red lightning bolt at her throat. The pegasus wielded a long, slim sword with a handle especially fashioned for use with the mouth. The blue pony used it expertly, felling batponies easily, although Twilight noticed that none of her attacks were fatal.

Perfect! Not only did Celestia force Equestria through long, harsh days; force her armies to be no longer unique and put herself above everypony else, but she also told her armies to spare ponies to make herself look better!

Twilight growled with anger, fixing her eyes on her father. The signal had to be soon. She froze as her father stumbled slightly. One of Celestia’s army had slashed a deep cut across the dark unicorn’s hindleg. Sombra’s horn began to glow, sending a single red spark flying at Twilight. The spark was the signal. She knew it.

With a war cry, the purple alicorn leapt from the cliff, dropping straight into the thick of the fight.