Chapter 13: Casualties

The siren of Ponyville howled through the night, waking everypony present. That could just mean one thing, Celestia was about to attack. In less than two minutes the leader’s were awake and ready to fight.

Twilight vanished into the shadows, appearing behind one of their own scouts, he was watching the enemy army through a telescope, “Report.”

“Lady S-Sparkle,” Obvious hesitation and a trace of fear could be heard in his voice. “Across the river in the east, a division consisting of heavily armored infantry is moving towards the wall. I’m counting around two hundred of them, their leaders are a griffon in light armor and a pony with a long white coat and red, spiky hair.”

“Lightly armored griffon… Does he have a scar over his left eye?”

“Yes, Lady Sparkle.”

“Ugh… Taka, the griffon kingdom’s best and most aggressive general. The other one, is even worse I fear. Law, one of Celestia’s best generals. She sure is desperate.”

“That is not everything, a division of about a quarter of their size is moving in the west end of the hills. Most of them seem to be equipped with strange googles, something I’ve never seen before. Also there are cannons, a lot of them.”

“Their leaders?” Twilight wouldn’t admit it, but she feared the answer. Their defenses would have a hard time against two generals.

“Two mares, one is dressed in a complex looking outfit, wearing the same strange googles, and another one dressed in a blue suit, same coat as Law.” He finished reporting his observations.

The lavender mare appeared in their commando tent, there was no time to lose. “Alright guys, listen up! Their trying to flank us, Queen of Saddle Arabia and Mistral are leading a cannoneer group up at the hills in the west, Luna and Rarity, you will deal with them, don’t let them lure you out. Stay in the city and defend, that is everything we have to do. Pinkie, Silent and myself will defend the west gate, Law and Taka, General of the Griffon Kingdom will await us there.”

Flare rubbed his hooves together in excitement, “Finally, a worthy challenge.”

Pinkie Pie just nodded, she certainly wasn’t as depressed as before, but took these situations a lot more serious. Her mane went straight, a good sign for a fight, but a terrible sign for her friends.

Luna gave Twilight a nod, “Prithee be careful.”

“You too, good luck everypony. We will win this!”

Two hundred and fifty of Celestia’s, Taka’s and Himiko’s elite, against legendary Twilight Sparkle, her friends and about a hundred rebels. Twilight was confident, with her mind, magic and Yoru she could win everything.

“Aim at their wall, north-northeast,” Himiko ordered their cannoneers, in total they had ten of the best and highly developed cannons there was in most likely the entire world and forty high class Equestrian cannons. Her division certainly knew how to use them, their accuracy for under eight hundred meter shots was about one hundred percent. This, were merely two hundred meters.

All of them aimed at the enchanted wall, they surely won’t suspect the consequences of the enchantments, “Cannons one to three… Fire!”

A thunderous explosion emitted from the west of Ponyville, three cannons fired in perfect unison. Normally nothing could withstand this firepower… only as they touched the thick stone walls, the three fiery steel balls just… ricocheted off of the wall. They flew towards the cannons again, in nearly the same speed.

“Enchantments, how clever,” Mistral said, she pointed a hoof at the projectiles and stopped them mid air. They were nothing but three ice balls as they touched the ground. The general turned to face Himiko, “Any idea how to get past that?”

“We just don’t fire at their walls, we bombard them. Let steel and fire rain upon our foes!”

Her division gave a loud battle cry and all fifty of the cannoneers started to turn their cannons upwards. They would function as an aerial distraction. Only a minute later, the first steel balls flew towards the conquered city, looking like flaming meteors.

Rarity and Luna gave their best to defend the city, crystallized the projectiles, slashed them in half, dissolved them into their basic components. The problem were their numbers, they couldn’t rest even for a minute. Neither Luna nor Rarity had any idea how the east end of Ponyville was doing so far.

“Luna! Two balls, twenty meters north!” the seamstress shouted. Although they only started firing those nasty cannonballs ten minutes ago, sweat was already forming on her forehead. Rarity simply wasn’t used to this kind of exercise.

The blue alicorn fired a wave of telekinesis against one of them, letting it collide with the other, producing a ridiculously strong explosion in the air. “Good eyes, Miss Rarity.”

“Oh please, we’ve been through alot together, have we not?”

“Indeed, let’s keep going, Rarity,” Luna said, a small smile on her face. Even in this situation she could find joy from Twilight and her friends, forgetting the war, the nightmare… her sister, for just a moment.

Law and Taka crossed the river and neared the east wall, stopping roughly one hundred meters away from it.

“Why are we stopping?” asked a soldier, nothing of his actual body could be seen, the stallion was entirely covered with thick steel plate armor, even his face.

“Watch and learn, soldier,” Law picked up a small rock in his magic. He just threw it between them and the wall. As soon as it touched the ground, a vibrant green explosion could be seen. Big enough to shred half of the soldiers into little pieces. The colour indicated either poison or something similar… the whole battlefield was full of mines.

“S-sir? How are we gonna get past that?”

Take stepped forth, “As he said, watch and learn.” He pulled a small, yellow gem out of his armor’s pocket, it fizzled with energy. He cracked it with his claw and threw it into the minefield. Nothing happened for a few moments, suddenly lightning struck the field, seemingly formed out of thin air.

The electrical energy coursed through the earth, disarming the mines, the only real weakness of this spell. Taka was a better General than Twilight had expected. “Basic rules of making war, never run into an open field without a plan.”

As soon as he finished his sentence a cannon ball flew straight at him, the fiery general barely had time to burn it into a crispy ball of ash. Several of the rebel thestrals fired at them, killing several soldiers. Their cannons lacked, by far, the immense precision and firepower of Himiko’s, but were sufficient to kill even a heavily armored pony.

Ten of their division were already reduced to tiny shreds of flesh and armor, the stallion had to think of something.

Twilight and Pinkie watched the hail of cannonballs flying towards their pathetic enemies. Oddly enough, Silent had vanished, leaving those two alone. Pinkie looked down the massive stone wall, she didn’t like this at all, the pink mare wished that Celestia would just give up. So many innocent ponies could be spared, on the other hoof, if she looked at Twilight, the former student almost… enjoyed killing.

Pinkie Pie watched the fight, or rather the execution, with a neutral expression, her cut-straight hair gave away her feelings though, “Another hoof-full of ponies dying in this war… Twilight… did you plan this, was all this… part of your plan?”

The lavender unicorn sat on the edge of the wall, as if she wanted to jump down, her gaze was locked at the horizon, at the endless twilight sky, “No… I would have ended it the day Luna told me the story, if Morning Blaze hadn’t stopped me. You don’t know what I felt… Celestia was my idol, like a second mother, to find out that I’ve been nothing but a weapon...a tool for her…”

Pinkie never really thought about Twilight’s motives, she just assumed that Celestia deserved it, but that was just… sad. It wasn’t really justifying the death of hundreds of ponies, but there was no way back now. Maybe Pinkie could at least prevent civilian casualties. She wouldn’t kill anypony either, just… just if it was one hundred percent unavoidable.

The usually energetic mare heard metal scrape against stone, she turned her head to see Twilight, casually cutting the top stone of the wall into tiny pebbles, “Uh… Twilight? What are you doing?”

“Waiting for the right moment,” The lavender mare replied. She really enjoyed playing little mind games from time to time. A strange behaviour considering her enemy, the princess bitch of manipulation herself…

Law and Taka approached the wall, despite the hail of projectiles, they had to get through, at all cost. The price was not a small one though, nearly thirty of their soldiers were already dead. Only twenty, painfully long meters divided them from their goal, a doable goal… until Twilight ‘The Deathbringer’ Sparkle, decided it would be a good idea to intervene.

Her impact shattered the ground around her, her blade was lodged into the dirt next to her, for ‘extra’ dramatic effect. A simple air manipulation prevented any damage to her legs. Another spell created ominous dark mist around her, intimidation and pride were the first step to victory. A lesson Morning Blaze taught her…

“Well hello, long time no see, Law,” She turned her head to face the griffon, Twilight could practically feel his hatred towards her, “And you, must be Taka.” Her sword slid out of the ground effortlessly, the, by now legendary blade Yoru, faced its new opponents. Two top tier generals… worthy opponents indeed.

The former magical student felt the temperature rising, Law was known for his fiery temper. Twilight chuckled shorty, this comparison was ridiculously accurate. Despite the situation she was completely calm, maybe a bit excited, this would be good.

Law stepped forth, his body radiating heat, “Surrender and face justice, or else this entire town will be slaughtered!”

Priceless reaction, she couldn’t hold back another insane laughter, it had been hard to keep this under control lately, “You think… hehehe… you think I’d care if this city burned down? Reduced to nothing, but ash? Besides, it’s not like you could beat me. Come on, call for aid, get your immortal bitch out here, challenge me!”

He charged at her, the mare’s insults wouldn’t be forgiven. His left forehoof turned into semi-liquid lava, pointing straight at her while screaming his furious battle cry. The target of his wrath looked at him, her expression was almost… bored.

As the fiery stallion almost reached her, a large, pitch-black sign appeared under him, it consisted of a large circle, filled with lines in a strange, seemingly random pattern. Every line had its own line of unknown runes with it. Needle-thin tendrils of black were wrapped around Law’s entire body, they had been invisible, until she activated her trap. Her horn flashed briefly, the spell causing a dark purple shockwave to emanate from her body. As it passed over the stallion, he nearly tripped, the general felt that his magic pool was almost completely drained, his forehoof turned back to normal.

“What have you done, you sick criminal?!” The stallion practically spat on her, if he had any power left to move his muscles.

“Oh, let’s not start with petty insults, Law. Do you think I’m a fool? That I just approach one of Celestia’s highest ranking soldiers without a plan? You disappoint me, really. I knew that you had this twisted sense of honor and respect, so I just needed a void trap placed at the right position and a small insult towards Celestia.”

Taka crossed the distance between them faster than Twilight’s eyes could follow. She was barely able to react in time, his claws clashed against her blade, some of his energy got sucked into the blade, the spell it held syncing with the very core of the darkness. The sheer force of the impact let her slide several meters backwards.

She did not even have to keep track of his other claw, he lunged at her again, grazing her right cheek, barely even touching her skin, it still left a gash of considerable depth alongside the entirety of the mare’s left face. The lavender unicorn winced, her eyes flashing black for a moment, her entire thoughts only circled around how to kill this damn griffon.

His next move was wind magic, only produced through his immense physical wing strength. Although her blade blocked most of the harmful wind, it still felt like thousands of tiny blades slowly cutting into her flesh. Soon her entire body was covered with tiny, bloody cuts, it was thrilling, it had been quite some time since her enemies survived more than a few seconds. She carefully thought about her plan, her fur almost completely soaked in her own blood, giving it an ominous crimson colour.

His obvious advantage was speed, an ability very similar to a certain blue pegasus. The solution? Movement tracking weaponry. A good portion of her magic conjured a simple, yet very effective darkness spell. Her former mentor had taught it to her, Twilight had modified it to make it even better. Vortex Spears, or in her case, needles, countless tiny, black-as-night projectiles, able to follow their target indefinitely.

He had tiny traces of her blood on his claws from the attack, enough for the spell to track him. Taka’s eyes went wide as he saw the projectiles flying towards him. The griffon really was one of the fastest ponies Twilight had ever seen, loopings, roles, complex air maneuvers, all done in a fraction of a second. It still wasn’t enough, some of the tiny needles had already lodged themselves deep into his flesh, slowly draining his innate magic.

After about two minutes his frantic flapping became slower and slower, his dodge maneuvers, sloppier and without any technique. Finally the general came to a stop, right before a failed attempt to attack the rebel leader one last time, and the only thing Law could do, was watch how their plan failed. Prevented by a single, insane mare. Meanwhile countless cannon balls still decimated their numbers around Twilight, giving her some free space.

Beads of sweat rolled down Twilight’s forehead, if he had hit her again, that would have been it. These spears consumed an insane amount of energy, and the painful injury on her face didn’t make it any more bearable. She looked at the two powerless generals, barely able to stay conscious. Suddenly, a low chuckle rang through the air. It wasn’t Twilight’s…

She couldn’t take it anymore, the last few weeks had been a constant nightmare. Three of her best friends were now her sworn enemies, one was in a coma, likely never waking up again and the other was missing altogether.

Applejack was always up for a challenge, when life threw her onto the ground, she rose and tried harder. Giving up was not an option for the tough country mare. However, this wasn’t some sort of challenge anymore, when she failed, she would die, never seeing any of her friends ever again. Worst of all was, that it would likely be one of her former friends to end AJ’s life.

After her encounter with Dawn Comet, she didn’t do much else, wandering around the outskirts of Canterlot, through the fields below the mountain capital. The scars of Twilight and Morning Blaze’s magical training were still visible, charred patches of earth, deep rifts in the dirt, and craters of the countless magical explosions. All of that was unknown for the earth pony mare. Even if she had knowledge over it, her mind was simply too preoccupied with the not so recent events.

She racked her brain, time and time again, there had to be a way to undo all of this. Clearly her friends must have been under the influence of Nightmare Moon. After their most recent behaviour, Applejack wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. It was almost like they were doing that out of their free will. If that was, indeed, the case, then all hope was lost for her.

Applejack had enough… the constant twilight sky, the forthcoming war with the ‘rebels’. She could never bring herself to hurt another pony, the fact that Rarity and even Pinkie Pie had seemingly no aversion to it, shocked her. Returning to Ponyville was not an option either… she couldn’t bear to be judged for her failure… the country mare loved her family, but right now, this was her problem, not theirs.

Only half an hour later, she was ready to leave… wherever the road would take her, at least until this war was over. The orange mare chuckled sadly, the whole situation was pretty ironic, the last time she had left her home, led to the discovery of her true talent, being a farmer, staying with her family. Now Applejack was leaving that behind, because she feared for her own petty life…

Equipped with just the very basics, her stetson, a canteen full of water and a saddlebag with some food and some things to survive in the wilderness, she decided to leave everything behind… at least for a while. Since the train was still off limits for civilians, AJ decided to use the north route down the mountain, the only other path besides the tracks, normally the mountains were pretty steep, but this path was relatively safe.

To her surprise, somepony was already waiting for her, leaning against a lone tree, just outside the high wall, crimson hair, yellow coat, it was the mare who worked for the princess, Morning Blaze was her name. Her eyes were solely focused on Applejack.

She approached the captain, “Ya lookin’ for me pardner? Morning Blaze, right?”

Blaze ignored the questions and cycled the confused mare slowly, “I’ve seen ponies like you, time and time again, pretending to be loyal... pretending to care. Such is the conceit of the self-proclaimed heroes. But in the end, you all lack the stomach. Fearing the consequences your actions might bring upon yourself…”

“Hey! Stop with your fancy riddle talk. What do ya want from me?!” The orange earth pony asked, half of those fancy words didn’t make any sense to her.

“You want me to speak clearly? Alright. You are abandoning everything you love, literally dooming the entire kingdom, worst of all, you’re leaving your friends behind… Say, Applejack, can you look at yourself in the mirror?”

“Hah! You’re talkin’ about honor, loyalty, but right now ya are here, accusin’ me and not out there, chasin’ Twi and the others,” Morning Blaze looked to the ground, apparently in shame. “Ah can’t deal with this, okay? All those poor ponies dyin’ out there...Not even the princess could stop this mad Nightmare Moon, why should I even try?!”

The captain thought about AJ’s words, they weren’t completely wrong… “Yes… I’ve made mistakes, if I had watched Twilight more carefully, maybe this whole war could’ve been prevented altogether. Still… we have to try, the life of thousands is at risk, I can’t even imagine what would happen if Nightmare Moon could do as she pleases…”

“Then please! Go and die in this pointless war! Twi isn’t controlled by this wicked criminal, ya know? She’s enjoyin’ it too much, all of them have killed at least of few poor souls…”

Applejack walked past her, beginning her long climb down the mountain. Leaving a sad and speechless Captain of the Equestrian Military...

Twilight stood before the two, near unconscious generals, as this laughter filled the air around her. Not like the insane laughter of Luna, nor an evil laughter of someone who’s plan worked out perfectly, no, it was laughter of genuine enjoyment.

In a giant poof of smoke, a pony appeared, his coat hidden under a dirty lab coat, floating besides him, the strangest creature Twilight has ever seen. The body of a snake, a goat hoof, a dragon claw, two different wings fluttering at its back, it was total chaos.

The creature laughed again, “Oh this is so much fun! Equestria was never so full of chaos in millenia! Commendable job, Twilight Sparkle. Allow me to introduce this small partnership. I am Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony incarnated, and this very loyal pony is…”

The dark-white, almost gray furred stallion spoke up, “I am Dr. Specter, leader of the Archmages, a pleasure to make your acquaint—”

Before he could speak further Twilight cleared her throat, magic cutting of Specter’s windpipe, “I don’t know why you decided to interrupt me, nor do I care. If you’re the leader of the Archmages, you serve Celestia, enough of a reason to kill you.”

Discord snapped with his dragon claw, Specter was free of Twilight’s grip and gasped for air, falling to his knees. The spirit cleared his throat and said, “Now, now, we should listen to what he wants to say, won’t we, Miss Sparkle?”

The lavender unicorn glared daggers at him, “Fine, you have two minutes before I disintegrate you.”

The gray unicorn spoke, his voice sounding ragged and broken, “I… don’t serve… Celestia anymore. We want to… make a proposal…”

With another snap of his finger Discord created some kind of office, Twilight was sitting in a comfy chair, wearing a really expensive looking suit. Behind the desk, like two employees asking their boss for something, Discord and Specter sat, each wearing their normal attire which was a really vague statement for the spirit of chaos.

Specter cleared his throat, “In return for high position in your new government, I, Specter, Leader of the Archmages, and Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, will assist the leader of the rebels, Twilight Sparkle, in every way she deems necessary.”

Twilight replied calmly, ignoring the fact that they weren’t in the war-torn battlefield before Ponyville anymore, “Why would I do that? I know what you are Discord, and you as well Specter. The spirit of chaos would never submit to somepony voluntarily. Also, how did you escape Celestia’s stone prison? I know for a fact that it should negate all of your powers.”

The draconequus cocked his head, “Ah yes, you see, Specter freed me, as simple as that. The stone prison itself is rather weak, the only difficulty is to find a pony who’d help me voluntarily, Specter learned as much about me as he could and decided to help me. He is a pony who picks his allies very carefully, I respect that. So we struck a deal, he gave me freedom, and in return I promised him a high position in this new world. I was sealed in stone, and my powers were sealed away, that much is true, but I’m still the spirit of chaos. If there is chaos in Equestria, I can ‘see’ or at least sense it. And you, my dear Twilight Sparkle, plunged the entire land into a truly chaotic state, it’s almost like the first Equestrian War.” He briefly drifted off into sweet memories of the first time he caused so much havoc in this land.

Discord cleared his throat and continued, “Anyways, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, in return for my loyalty, you would allow me to spread a little bit of chaos around Equestria. Without harmony, there is no chaos and vice versa. The point is, they can’t exist without the other. So you, will allow me to balance the chaos and harmony throughout the land, this would make me your balance guardian.”

“What would stop you from betraying me? Then you would not have to balance chaos and harmony. As for you, Specter, if you swear a magical oath to me, you, and your Archmages can help me. In exchange you will keep your position as Leader of the Archmages and a new job as the Administrator of the Royal Treasury.” Twilight stated, she knew what kind of pony Specter was. Greedy and selfish, the perfect way to keep him loyal, were simple promises.

Discord replied calmly, “Yes, while it is true that I could do that, I have no intentions to actually do it. Not everything is solved through violence, dear Twilight. Why start another war to kill thousands of innocent ponies, when I could strike deal with you, to ensure that I get my fair share.”

Before Twilight could start arguing, Specter charged his horn and bowed, “I, Specter, Leader of the Archmages, do solemnly swear myself to you.” The oath was completed, he had to stay loyal, in return for his promised positions…

“Discord, you will swear too.”

“What? Do you not trust my word? Fine,” He snapped with all of his available claws, hooves etc, “I, Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, promise to assist you, in exchange for the upholding of said deal.”

Twilight laughed, insanity rang through her very being, her goal was so very near now… or was it her goal? This strange feeling occurred to her for quite a while now, “Specter, you and I will speak about some of the insider information you can give me later, for now, just return to Canterlot and pretend like nothing happened, one of your Archmages will stay with us at all times, so that we can keep contact.”

The office disappeared and they were back at the battlefield again, Taka and Law were gone, and their entire company with them. Specter replied, “As you wish, Twilight Sparkle.” He teleported away, leaving her alone with Discord, well alone with him and the still ongoing battle.

“I know you can appear whenever you want, when the time comes, I will summon you, now begone.”

Before he disappeared he kept a dead serious expression, “Be careful Twilight Sparkle, insanity is a force not to be trifled with. Keep your will strong, and stay at your path. May the chaos guide your way.” Then he was gone, a final laughter filling the air.

The lavender mare stood alone on this side of the field, a sad expression on her face. Even though she got two powerful new allies, it felt… almost wrong. She melted into the shadows and appeared next to Pinkie again.

The pink mare gave her an over enthusiastic hug, “Ohmygosh! I thought you were gone forever! What happened?”

“That’s a story for after the battle....”

A slow and steady beeping sound disturbed her dangerous slumber. She tried to move her forehooves, the reaction was minimal, slight pressure and pain, nothing else. One careful eye wanted to explore the situation, a searing white light, directly above the drowsy mare forced her to shut it again. She groaned, her voice sounded broken, like if she hadn’t used it in weeks.

This seemed to catch the attention of another living being. She could make out some quiet sounds, “...ash… get… doctor…” A warm hoof, at least that’s what she thought it would be, touched her forehoof, feeling the temperature. It was so nice and soft, enough to better her weird situation a bit.

The noise was much clearer now, “Miss Rainbow Dash… Miss Dash, can you hear me?” Barely visible, the mare in question moved her head up and down, a splitting headache washed over her. It felt like a million jackhammers nagging at her concentration. She tried to open her eyes again, luckily an unknown mare was leaning over her, stopping the light from blinding her.

Dash tried to speak with her broken voice, “...Can I… get some… water, please?” This mare was apparently working here, wherever ‘here’ was, she jumped up and came back with a fresh glass of water in less than twenty seconds.

With a little effort, the light blue pegasus could sip on the water, the best one she drank in years, or at least in that situation, “Thank you.”

“Good to see you awake again, Miss Dash,” The mare answered, as if some kind of miracle just happened.

Suddenly everything came back to her, Canterlot, Pinkie’s execution, Twilight, more specifically her massive sword, Fluttershy… “How… How long was I gone?”

“About three weeks, our best doctors were treating you each and every night, you never woke up though. Slowly we were starting to lose faith, but you made it. Your earth pony friend will be pleased.”

Rainbow looked up, staring into the nurse’s eyes, “A-Applejack was here?”

“Why yes, she was. Just two days ago, she also spoke with the stallion next to you, but left rather suddenly.”

She turned her head as much as possible, it was a vibrant yellow stallion with an almost white mane. He was staring into the large hall of the hospital, deeply sunken into thoughts. Dash cleared her throat and asked, “You’re that one general of Celestia, aren’t you?”

Dawn seemed to be startled for a moment, before his expression changed into a more friendly one, “Oh, you’re awake, I’m glad. And yes, I’m Dawn Comet… General of Celestia’s Army.”

“What happened after I… blacked out?” It still hurt, not really in a physical, but in an emotional way.

“The best way to describe it, is annihilation, nopony could match their strength, this Twilight Sparkle… she was a whirlwind of death. They rescued Pinkamena and tricked us with a massive immobilization rune, they used an ally as bait, he currently is under detention.”

“What about Fluttershy? Is she okay?” The bold pegasus was genuinely concerned. It was her childhood friend after all.

“They haven’t found her yet, but reliable sources report that she isn’t even in Equestria anymore. If she is still... alive,” He looked very depressed after the last statement. These last weeks had been nagging at his loyalty, many things went wrong under Celestia.

Rainbow Dash lifted herself off of the bed, fluttering with her wings, her entire body burned like tartarus, but she couldn’t falter. Especially the injury in her abdomen felt like it was pierced by a thousand red, hot knives. “Twilight and Nightmare Moon… will… pay for this!”

He looked at his bed, avoiding her angry gaze, “Don’t even try… More than four thousand of our best soldiers, brave mares and stallions… lost against four rebels, four! Not even Celestia herself could best Nightmare Moon!”

She limped over to his bed and punched him in the face, “...pathetic. You… are… pathetic. I won’t just stand… on the sidelines… while these insane criminals slaughter innocent ponies. I don’t leave Equestria hanging!”

Comet grabbed her forehoof, ignoring the pain on the entire right side of his face, “It’s a suicide mission, look at you! You can barely stand! What do you expect? That the Deathbringer shows any mercy?”

The light-blue mare winced, a sharp pain washed over her body, standing up became more difficult by the second, “Don’t… call her that! She’s just a… normal pony. I will… imprison and save her from her own… sins, if it’s the last thing… I’ll do!”

She half limped, half dragged herself across the long, sterile hallway, a few nurses tried to stop her, to no avail. Her emotions got the better of her, and there was just one goal, Twilight Sparkle. All of her friends were either turned against her, dead, or deeply depressed, all thanks to this mare, “You will… pay for this, Twilight Sparkle!”