Chapter 15: End of the Line

It had taken a while for Twilight to get ready for the new ‘day’, Discord’s words had a heavy impact on her. He practically offered her the world, in exchange for nearly nothing! That couldn’t be real, she had read about the draconequus, the spirit of chaos would never help another creature unless it would turn out in his favor at the end. Care and a good plan were imperative for this.

She decided that a talk with Luna was long overdue, since the attacks, they were slowly becoming more and more distanced, a grave mistake in a group like this. Twilight asked around the inner city, where the moon goddess may be, the few rebels that were left after Celestia’s backstab told her that Luna had been sitting on a hill in the west of Ponyville, all by herself.

A quick shadow travel solved the problem of distance, she quietly approached the alicorn. The pose she was sitting in, her expression... eyes closed, mouth in a completely neutral position, her unmoving aura of confidence, Luna looked like she could sit there until the end of time, literally. Her serenity didn’t falter for even a moment as she noticed her old friend, “Twilight, we’re glad to see thee.” For a moment her modern Equestrian slipped, it was really interesting how their language had changed over the course of multiple millennia.

Twilight’s nervous expression relaxed slightly, her most valuable friend seemed to be ok— No! One of her best friends, not most valuable! These thoughts began to creep into her mind lately, it hadn’t concerned her, until now, “H-hey, it’s nice to see you too. I was a bit worried, the few rebels told me that your were sitting here all on your own.”

Her eyes opened slowly, and her face showed a deep frown, “I had to recover… from the tragic loss of our dear followers. My connections to the thestrals is deeper than you might think… I felt every cry of agony… every stab with those poisonous daggers, it was terrible. Normally, I only feel it until they die, but I’ve had this twisting pain for a while now… It’s more like a slow pain of torture, mixed with this extreme despair.”

The lavender mare considered her next words carefully, “Do you… Do you know where this feeling is? Can you use your connection with it? Because… all of your bat ponies are here, except one... “

Luna’s eyes widened, she knew exactly what Twilight meant, “Yes… it’s still hurt, its overall condition must be terrible! There is only one city in that direction… Canterlot.”

“Hah! I knew it, Silver Night is still alive! Maybe there is a way to save him after all, we owe him so much. Without his sacrifice in the Battle of Canterlot, we wouldn’t have escaped without another major loss.”

The blue alicorn closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the last days had been… nerve wracking to say the least, “Indeed, we do have to thank him, the strongest of my children. It may not be the most reasonable idea… but I’ll return him into my protection, alone.”

“L-luna, you can’t be serious! Your presence would instantly alert Celestia, and with her… all guards in a one hundred kilometer radius,” Twilight tried to reason with her. It was true though, they owed Silver and it pained her to know he was still alive and most likely being tortured to get answers.

Her eyes wandered into the night sky, thinking about her children always made her melancholic, “He is special, you know? His blood is… unique, Silver’s ancestors were the first ponies who joined me voluntarily. They became the very first Thestrals, a newly formed race, blessed with some of my blood… my power. Only a hoof-full of them survived the first big Equestrian War, they were smarter, stronger and more talented than any of my children, one couple in particular…”

After a few silent moments Luna continued, “Shimmering Nightfall and Winter Crescent, their will had been strong… oh so strong, their loyalty did not falter for even one moment, not even as they faced Celestia. I don’t want to bring back these painful memories, so I will summarize it. Nightfall... was personally executed by my sister herself, for crimes against the crown and treason, only with my help Winter could flee, it happened mere minutes before my own banishment. What I did not know at the time, was that she beared a child. Their lineage became weaker over the thousands of years, due to them breeding with other races, but even now, he has a very strong and special aura.”

Twilight slowly nodded, sucking in the tale of the Thestrals, “I had no idea, well… I did not even know that Thestrals existed just a few weeks ago. So, Silver Night is a distant descendant of Nightfall and Winter. I’ve never heard of them either, it’s really sad, now that I think about it.”

A quiet chuckle came from the alicorn, “That’s not surprising, my sister did everything she could, to expunge every last detail about me and my children from history.”

“Sir Valiant Ironheart, first general of Celestia’s army, Ace Longshot, the best cannoneer in Equestria’s history, his skills were unmatched, legendary even beyond the borders of Equestria, Astrallius, legends say that he alone defeated the rampant void spirits of the east and founded the Archmages to protect our land. Every last pony in Equestria knows these names, many legendary heroes were born throughout Equestria’s history, that stopped almost entirely after you were… banished to the moon. Celestia got paranoid, I’m sure she dreaded the day that one hero would find out about her past sins and bring justice upon her, and we will be those heroes.”

That brought a faint smile upon Luna’s lips, more pleasant memories flashed into her mind, “Astrallius, he was quite the charmer, even more so than Star Swirl, unfortunately his work had always been his top priority. Anyways… my decision is final. I already lost so many of my children, he will survive.” It was funny, in a way, so many of her subjects passed away, so many friends died of age, or other means. It had never been a problem, except when it came to her ‘children’, it always hurt her when they died or were killed. Quite literally, it felt like a red-hot knife, piercing into her immortal heart.

Twilight considered her available answers, to her frustration, she had none. Even though this decision didn’t make the least amount of sense, she could understand it, “Go ahead. I will manage things around her until you’re back.”

“You have my thanks… Twilight,” Luna rose to her hooves and got herself ready for a journey through the shadows.

“Luna!”

She turned around one last time, “Yes, what is on your mind?”

“Prithee be careful... I could not bear to see you captured, or worse…” Twilight said with a depressed expression. First time in weeks since she really felt genuine emotions, maybe not everything was lost for her.

“Do not fret, dear friend. I will return soon, and Silver will accompany me.”

The pain she felt was incredible, not once in her life had she felt anything as intense as that. The light-blue pegasus winced yet again while barely holding herself together. The trip to Ponyville had taken her an hour top, but now she already travelled for a whole day. It hadn’t passed her without any marks though, Rainbow Dash was pale, barely conscious all the time, and the bloodied bandages around her chest were leaving a dripping trail of crimson behind her.

‘Fortunately’, her path towards literal tartarus was almost over, the mare could already spot the now proud standing watch tower on top of the building that should have been the town hall. Seeing her once beautiful new home town like that broke her heart, the heavy cobblestone walls around it, the tiny guards in the distance, wearing only light armor and the overall look of destruction around the city made her want to kick something.

Rainbow actually never noticed how good her eyesight was, sure, the mare had fast reactions, but the town was almost thousand meters away from her and she could make out an astoundingly number of details. Even the smallest craters in the distance were as clear as day for her, that wasn’t the reason she was here though. Revenge… revenge and peace for Equestria… those were her goals.

She was ripped out of her thoughts as something touched her shoulder from behind, instantly the mare jumped forward, almost hitting her head on a nearby tree. Before she could injure herself further though, two white hooves caught her, it was wearing a set of purple-coloured steel boots, framed with a faint golden shimmer.

“Woah! Close one. You gotta be more considerate of your surroundings, Rainbow Dash,” A masculine voice stated. It sounded kind of familiar. She looked up and saw the same purple-coloured steel plate armor with a golden frame. The white-coated stallion’s blue, short hair was disheveled and he looked like he didn’t sleep for a while.

As her mind registered who just caught her, Rainbow’s eyes widened, “Captain Armor? What… what are you doing here?”

“At first… well, I wanted to bring you back to Canterlot. Morning Blaze followed your trail, but she needed assistance. Now that I’ve seen Ponyville though… I’m not so sure, my sister… she’s killing herself with that. Maybe it’s too late to save her, but… I’d damn myself if I couldn’t say I tried.”

Dash’s heart slumped, of course… she was certainly not the only pony suffering from this, in an emotional way at least, “W-where is Morning Blaze? If you want to he—”

She fell onto her knees, the journey with this injury had drained her power almost completely. Shining instantly supported her with his hooves, “Hey, hey! Rainbow! Stay calm, we will figure this out, together with Blaze… but for now, just rest. It is unlikely that they will leave the city to patrol around and they can’t sense us here if we don’t use magic.”

A short, weak nod signaled her agreement, he laid her down carefully, she desperately needed some rest. Blaze would be there soon, the things he didn’t take into account, were the Archmages and the mercenaries unfortunately. It was only a matter of time before their little hideout would be discovered.

Rainbow groaned shortly as uneasy slumber came to an end. Her entire chest and abdomen felt like they were being pierced by a hundred red-hot knives. A really odd metaphor as she thought about it in her still drowsy mind, then a second later that thought got annihilated by another wave of mind-numbing pain.

The sky was in the same state as it had always been, well, for the past few weak at least. Morning Blaze sat next to her, alongside Captain Armor, they both had worry written deeply into their faces.

She managed to gave them a weak smile, “You guys… should really chill down… I’m totally ready to kick some rebel asses.”

The two captain shook their heads in unison, a clear statement that she was once again, not awesome enough to even convince to ponies she barely knew. Blaze spoke up, sadness and despair hidden deep in her voice, “You aren’t… you never were, all of your former friends… would not hesitate for even a moment to finish you off. Shining and I have a plan… listen carefully, it might just be crazy enough to have a chance of working.”

Shining Armor continued her slightly awkward attempt to explain that they were pretty much screwed, “We all together couldn’t even hope to get past Twilight and her friends to kill Nightmare Moon. We will voluntarily get captured and—”

The bold pegasus tried to jump onto her hooves, only to fall back with a cry of pain, “You… you… want to do what?! Are you insane?”

“Do you remember what I just said? Let him finish,” Blaze replied in an unusual snappy tone.

The white stallion cleared his throat and continued, “Ahem… as I just said, we will get captured and ask them to take us to Twilight. They’ve surely become arrogant enough to actually do it… then we will try to talk to her… my little Twily is somewhere in there… I’m sure of it. We can’t take any of them in combat… so that’s our only hope, Celestia’s attempt will fail sooner or later. She is not willing to hurt Twilight and neither am I, that’s why it’ll all fail…”

Just as Rainbow Dash was about to reply, a bright light blinded her momentarily, one flash after the other until ten blurry creatures had silently surrounded them. Her vision returned back to normal and she saw her ambushers, ten unicorns, all wearing the same brilliant white robe decorated with an eclipsed sun, the symbol of the archmages.

One of them stepped forwards, it was the one ordered to stay with Twilight and her troops in case they needed them, the situation got extremely bad for the three of them, even if they did not know it at the time. He spoke up in a deep, scratchy voice, “I hope we aren’t interrupting something.”

Blaze squinted heavily, until all the blank spots in her vision vanished, “Wait… these robes, you all are archmages, aren’t you? Phew, thank goodness, I thought we had been captured way too early.”

A faint smile could be seen from under the white hood, “Unfortunately it’s too soon to cheer, Captain Blaze.” He gave his partner around them a signal with his hoof and all of their horns began to glow in unison. Both Blaze and Shining had no chance to react, they got paralyzed by some weird chaos spell.

“What is the meaning of this?! You serve Celestia! The circle of the Archmages has served her for more than thousand years now unless somepony…” She gasped, some details of the big mystery that this whole war was got pieced together. “Specter.”

The speaker gave her a short laugh, “Take them to Lady Twilight.” The three of them got encased in all kind of magical grasps, slowly they approached the city. This situation got worse indeed, now they couldn’t even trust their own soldiers. Worst of all was that they now knew a secret, a secret that Twilight would likely not want revealed yet, meaning that an escape got so much more unlikely again.

Fluttershy had enough of this land, enough of this damned weather and enough of slaying demons. The last three days had been a constant struggle to survive under these harsh conditions. They ran out of vegetarian food too, the last crispy lettuce leaf disappeared into her hungry mouth. Another very serious problem in this freezing hell, no plants survived the cold, and the meat Rost cooked smelled more delicious every time…

The two of them sat in yet another quickly ‘built’ igloo, to protect them against the worst winds. A small fire warmed them up, reviving their spirits and bringing new hope alongside the quiet crackling sounds the flickering flame produced. They both looked at the fire in comfortable silence, Rost eating the last remains of another poor creature he used as food. The scent of well-cooked steak permeated the air, Fluttershy’s stomach growled loudly, enough for the brown stallion to notice it.

He stopped eating and spoke up, “Are you sure that you don’t want to try eating meat? Our journey isn’t over yet and we need all the strength we can get.”

The timid yellow pegasus blushed slightly, embarrassed by her own hunger, “N-no, I’ll be f-fine.” Another growling noise came from her tummy, she winced slightly.

“Oh come on! You’re barely holding up, what’s the problem? You certainly had no problem killing those ice demons earlier today, either you kill, or get killed. It’s just the way things are around here, and that’s why we eat meat.”

Fluttershy looked distressed, she could never bring herself to eat another creature, even if it is dead, but she could understand Rost’s point, “B-but… the demons attacked us first, i-it was self-defence.”

“And eating meat is self-preservation!” He exclaimed, the stallion’s irritation grew visibly. Rost needed her help, and wouldn’t just watch her slowly die in this hell. A small steel knife was enough to cut off a piece of the delicious-smelling steak, then he offered her the impaled food.

Time seemed to slow down again, Fluttershy had nowhere to run. Slowly… oh so slowly, but surely her front hooves grabbed the knife with the meat on it, the smell filled her senses even more. Seconds passed with her staring at the still steaming flesh, nothing could bring the shy mare to move. Fluttershy’s stomach growled again, that was enough to trigger an insane hunger from deep within her.

Rost watched the timid mare staring at this simple piece of meat, what worried him was her expression, this… hunger, a completely emotionless expression and completely empty eyes only focused on the food.

Her mind seemingly shut down, the meat came closer and closer to her waiting mouth. After what felt like another eternity, an unbelievable taste filled her, she went faster and faster, devouring more of this divine taste. At the time Fluttershy was finished, her eyes were wide open, bloodshot and her pupils were reduced to pinpricks. A broad smile adorned the pegasus’ face, the bliss of eating meat. She wondered why she hesitated in the first place.

“Um… Fluttershy?” Rost asked after watching the strange scene. Not once had he seen anypony getting this excited about a piece of meat. Maybe she had been really, really hungry.

This familiar voice snapped her out of it, the smile vanishing and tears threatening to fall from her still bloodshot eyes, “I-I-I… it was just…” Words failed her again, nothing would, or could justify what she had just done. It was a crime to eat meat, it was against nature… at least that was what everypony told young Fluttershy.

The stallion got closer to her and wrapped one front hoof around the unstable mare, “It’s okay… We need to survive out here… I need you to be okay, you hear?”

Fluttershy was at the verge of another mental breakdown, the soothing words of Rost helped a bit, but things were far from being ‘okay’.

Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Twilight… I need you here...

The leader of the rebels sat on the roof of Ponyville’s new watchtower, her front legs supporting her weary head. At least nopony would disturb her up there, the last months had been crazy for her. Twilight’s entire worldview had been turned upside down, on more than one occasion.

A little break once in awhile was necessary to sort out her next plans, and more importantly, her emotions. The fact that her mentor had been the greatest threat to all of Equestria was still kind of surreal. The land would be a better place without her, that would satisfy her hunger for revenge and help build a new, more efficient government. Maybe with the lavender mare and Luna on the top, maybe not, leading a country didn’t sound very appealing, but if that is what it takes, then so be it.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, a little group of ponies were approaching the northern gate of the city, ten ponies in brilliant white robes, and they were carrying three other ponies in their magical grasps. Adding the archmages to her rebellion really paid out, she didn’t trust Specter at all, but he was worth it. A devilish smile adorned her face, just like she predicted it, sooner or later they would realize that a direct confrontation with her, the ‘Deathbringer’, would be futile. As they came closer to the gates, the lavender mare could make out some details, rainbow hair and a light-blue coat, the first one was without a doubt Rainbow Dash, that stupid pegasus did not know when to stop. Yellow coat, crimson hair with a streak of sunlight, her new ‘old’ mentor, Blaze’s sense of justice really was strange. The last of the bunch was a purely white coated stallion with a blue, short mane, her dear brother. Perfect.

The Archmages reached the town square with their prisoners after another short walk. Rainbow struggled the most in her magical paralysis, “Get me out of here! I want a fair fight, you bastards!” Blaze and Shining Armor just watched the infuriated mare, they were waiting for somepony special.

Right on queue, Twilight jumped down the tower, making sure to create visible cracks in the concrete ground of the town square. It was purely for fun and intimidation, the fall had been totally safe, thanks to her chaos magic. The mare let out a small giggle and gave her new guests a cocky smile, “New guests for me to play with? How generous of Celestia and they’re so very special too!” A small pause followed, the only sounds were the occasional giggles from the lavender unicorn, and the sounds of resistance from Rainbow Dash.

“My misguided brother, my mentor and practically a walking corpse, it’ll be so much fun breaking you,” The lurking insanity showed for just a moment, in the form of another long and creepy laughter.

The same archmage as before cleared his throat and spoke to his new mistress, “Lady Twilight, we found them in the western hills, just like you predicted. What should we do with them?”

She stared right at him, still a unnaturally wide smile on her face, “Well done, Captain Winterlight. Drop the paralysis spells, they won’t harm me. After that you’re all dismissed, I want that nopony disturbs our little conversation here.”

Shining, Blaze and Rainbow fell to the ground a second later, Winterlight bowed shortly and vanished alongside his other comrades. Her three ‘guests’ got up pretty quickly, even Dash, their angry stares would worry even the bravest soldier, but not the once so socially anxious lavender mare.

“So, what brings you to my humble, little town? I’m sure that Celestia only sent her bravest warriors to deliver this fatal blow to the very heart of the rebellion,” Twilight mocked.

Morning Blaze grit her teeth in anger, Twilight’s stupid mind games had exactly the expected effect on her, “Twilight… there is one thing, that I will never forgive anypony… and that is to insult the princess.”

“Oh? I’m so very sorry, dear mentor. It was not my intention at all, to offend that WHORE of a princess, just using her name is the biggest insult to anypony with a little bit of intelligence,” She waited for the moment where Blaze would explode.

Everypony present could literally watch her face redden, anger boiled deep down inside of her, but she kept quiet. The princess would want it that way, her dear student is most likely controlled by some ancient evil creature that needs to be destroyed. If that creature is Nightmare Moon didn’t matter in the least, she would eliminate every threat that opposed her in order to make the princess’ life a little bit easier.

Rainbow Dash jumped in and took the words right out of the yellow mare’s mouth, “What the hay is wrong with you, Twilight?! Just look around! That evil Nightmare Moon bitch is just playing games with you! We barely knew each other when it happened, but you just can’t be that cruel all of a sudden!”

The lavender mare stood right next to her in a fraction of a second, suddenly caressing Rainbow’s cheek with her right forehoof. Now was a good time to test a new, less bloody, but equally efficient way to gain new followers, even though she had never done it herself. The pegasus only saw a tiny bit of lavender fur since she didn’t dare to move. Despite the incredibly strange situation, she couldn’t prevent a slight blush forming on her face, “W-what the hell, T-Twilight?! Go away!”

Twilight practically purred into her ear, her voice a little bit deeper and... older than usual, “Mhmm, so tense. Wouldn’t it be easier to just let go? Give up and join me, we’ll all be together again~ All of your friends can live together~” She chuckled inside of her head, could it be that easy? Luna taught her that seduction was another very efficient way of defeating an opponent. The chaos energy was like a guide for her, whispering just the right words inside of her head, maybe it was Luna, but it worked either way. “I know where she is, Dashie~ I didn’t kill her.”

An invisible wall of force separated the rest of the group from them, combined with a simple sound-proof spell they were all alone. She began to stroke through the polychromatic mare’s hair with the other hoof. More and more of the corrupting energy flowed right into the confused pegasus. Meanwhile Rainbow could just stare into the distance like in a trance, her arousal growing stronger by the second, “You… didn’t? N-no… I’ve… seen her disappear. There’s… only one pony you could mean… Fluttershy...”

“Indeed. Hehe, she’s brave, oh so brave~ But she needs you, Rainbow. Sooner or later she’ll return, and then she’ll need you~ Guide her towards a better life, a life of happiness. All of you under my protection~”

Rainbow gasped, the lavender mare didn’t stop touching and caressing her for even a moment. The words of her silver tongue flowed like sweet honey, making the pegasus dizzy, “I… I… could never… never.... b-betray Equestria…”

Again the lavender unicorn could only chuckle quietly, “You wouldn’t betray Equestria at all, Dashie~ We’ll just free the land of this awful tyranny and bring real peace and harmony to the ponies willing to listen.”

A faint smell of arousal hit her nose, she’d never thought that she would experience it in such an unusual way. Certainly something she could get used to, it reminded her of the soothing spring rain and the smell of freshly produced clouds. Twilight never showed any interest in love or sexual intercourse, like she called it. She saw it in a whole new light since Luna opened all the possibilities to her, chaos magic really was amazing.

Meanwhile Blaze and Shining Armor hammered against the force field, throwing dozens of spells at it, but Shining’s little sister had been getting stronger and stronger.

“Damn… this thing’s unbreakable,” Blaze said while leaning against it. Before she could say anything further blood rushed into her face, forming a vigorous blush. An accidental glance at the moaning blue mare’s behinds was enough, her folds were already glistening with a thin layer of arousal, a certain clear liquid almost dripping onto the ground.

Shining tried his hardest not to look at his sister, corrupting an innocent pony with very questionable consent. He just couldn’t believe the whole situation. His preparations were nearly ready though, Twilight may be strong, but nopony could beat him in terms of barrier magic.

Twilight went all in and kissed the almost controlled pegasus, their tongues dancing around and trying to dominate each other. Of course she got out on top, dominating Rainbow’s tongue and freely exploring her mouth. Both moaned into their respective partner.

After what felt like an eternity, Twilight ended the kiss, a trail of saliva still connecting them. A heavy blush had formed on her face too, this was way too enjoyable to abandon the concept, “Mhm~ You’re a good kisser, dear Rainbow.” She offered her the hoof that was in the light-blue mare’s hair just a moment ago, “Come on~ Join me and we can continue this in total peace and freedom. The princess, your duties, let it all fade into nothing, just focus on the lust, it can be like this for all eternity~”

Before the very confused and aroused pegasus could answer, the force field shattered, alongside the sound-proof spell. Simultaneously Twilight got trapped on the strongest barrier spell Shining Armor knew, it would take a while and considerable amounts of magic to get out of it, even for her. The only thing she said was, with a slight frown on her face, “A shame.”

The yellow mare pulled Rainbow closer to them, ignoring the still very strong smell of arousal around her, “You okay, Rainbow?”

She was completely lost, her thoughts and emotions went on a wild rollercoaster ride. It had been the best feeling since forever, and Twilight’s voice sounded so… convincing, “Huh? ... What… is going on?”

Meanwhile Twilight’s mind was already working on destroying the force field, just a little bit longer. It didn’t upset her in the least that they interrupted their little ‘conversation’, the former student had filled the pegasus with enough seductive chaos magic to corrupt even the strongest of wills. She’d come to her again, sooner or later. She couldn’t help but laugh loudly, “Now what? You’re still trapped in Ponyville, and you know, I’m not alone.”

She unleashed a magical whistle, loud enough to be heard throughout the entire town, the signal her friends and allies had been waiting for. Rarity and PInkie arrived first, both trying to keep a neutral expression, not so easy after watching Twilight ‘go at it’ from a nearby roof. After them five of the remaining ten of Flare’s rebels joined them and two bat ponies. The numbers still concerned Twilight, way lower than she had hoped, but she got a report just this morning that Flare would survive the poison, but he couldn’t fight for quite some time.

They slowly surrounded the little group, and as they were done, Twilight destroyed the force field with a sound that resembled a thousand glass windows shattering at the same time. Rainbow slowly got out of the lust induced haze, her eyes widened even further as she saw two of her old friends standing next to the lavender mare.

Only the strongest of emotions can get anypony to do the unthinkable, actions that would rather be sealed away, far far away from ponydom. Law, the fierce general of Celestia’s Armies, was filled with one of those emotions, anger.

Since he and Taka woke up in the hospital, after their disgraceful attempt to conquer Ponyville, this burning, unyielding hatred clouded his mind. His injuries weren’t that severe, after his elemental powers began to work again, almost all wounds, scratches and bruises faded in mere moments. His temporary partner though, had not been as lucky as himself, almost his entire inert magic was gone, and several bad wounds littered the feathered body. This feeling though, this shameful loss Law received, that was getting to him badly. Not even Gryphon General was that angry, and he was the one losing many of his best elite soldiers.

He simply couldn’t let it go, that mare had mocked him. If she had wanted it, Law would’ve been dead days, maybe weeks ago. Now many of his companions were dead, victims of this madness, and he? The young stallion was on his way towards Princess Celestia’s court, this would not be forgiven.

Half an hour later the giant doors of the courtroom were once again opened forcefully, this twilight sky seemed to bring out the worst in her subjects. Celestia had been dealing with more and more angered ponies from all around her kingdom. Her… student’s troops were certainly not slacking off, they seem to cause havoc in every major town now, even right at her doorstep.

Her expression remained calm and collect as Law stormed into the hall, his eyes burning with an uncanny fire she had not seen in quite some time, “General Law, good to see y—”

“You have to give me more troops! This act of terrorism can not be forgiven, we have to deliver our rightful justice to these criminals!” The stallion interrupted her, right now titles and royalty meant nothing for him, only vengeance.

Celestia had heard about what terrible events had taken place in Ponyville once again, two of her generals and two of the best military experts in the entire world had been defeated by Twilight, her sister and the Nightmare that always accompanied them. Specter had been the first one to report it to her, he seemed to be unusually calm at the time, but then again he was a mystery, even to her.

“I can’t allow you to wander into another suicide mission, our resources are limited, especially in these difficult times of war. Well thought-out actions are imperative against an opponent like Nightmare Moon.”

“And Twilight Sparkle! We can’t allow this criminal to live for even a moment longer! She has to be stopped permanently”

Suddenly the princess’ expression shifted, showing an unusual coldness, “I’d be very, very careful with your next words, Law.” The temperature rose significantly around her, the edges of the expensive wall carpets already slightly on fire. “Nopony is allowed to eliminate her, this order was very clear, right from the beginning. Capture Twilight, that is the only thing you’re allowed to do. New troops will be assigned tomorrow, now get out of my sight!”

He watched her in fear, the tips of her wing feathers were bruning, giving her the look of a newly reborn phoenix. Only a thousand times more dangerous, the flames in her eyes could even burn the strongest of his fire spell. Law gulped and nodded shortly, “Y-yes, princess.”

The revenge would come soon enough, but for now, he’d rest and plan his next course of actions.

“R-Rarity? P-Pinkie Pie? You’re here…” Rainbow said after a while, now that the strange haze was mostly gone. She still couldn’t look at Twilight without blood rushing to her cheeks though. They had certainly changed, maybe not for somepony that didn’t know them, but the bold pegasus did notice. Pinkie wasn’t as hyper as before, an aura of seriousness hung over her and Rarity wore some kind of small crystal necklace, it fit well with her mane colour, but it looked so… wrong, almost evil.

The fashion designer gave her a faint smile, but then frowned ever so slightly, “Yes, indeed, and you are too, unfortunately.” Three long, spear-like crystals formed in the air directly above her, it would be quick and sudden death should she try anything. It was not her plan to kill one of her former friends… but if she was a threat, then it had to be done.

Calmy Twilight laid one forehoof on the white mare’s shoulder and said, in a suddenly very soft voice, “There won’t be a need for that, Rarity. We have use for them.”

“If you say so, just be careful, darling,” The seamstress stated while dissolving her crystal spears. Rainbow surely wouldn’t attack her anymore, even Rarity could feel the massive amounts of chaos energy within the bold pegasus’ body. Watching the act had been… interesting, she wondered if Twilight would give her the same treatment one day. Being in a war didn’t mean losing all joy in life, at least not for her.

Pinkie’s eyes narrowed as her gaze fixated on Morning Blaze, the merciless kicks and punches had not been forgotten, even though it seemed so long ago now. The usually so happy mare knew exactly what they had to do… oh she knew it perfectly well. Celestia had to pay, the guilt of hundreds if not thousands of dead ponies laid solely on her shoulders. Twilight and Luna were the tools of this mass murder, they certainly weren’t innocent themselves, but this was justice in its purest form. For that, Pinkie respected them as allies, but the time with them also made her appreciate them as true friends, especially after the Nightmare of Canterlot.

Once again the lavender mare’s eyes shifted between her friends. The pink earth pony had a burning desire in her eyes, she knew this better than anypony, the fire for vengeance blazed in them, almost consuming her rational thoughts. A gentle and sudden hug interrupted this fire, if only for a moment, Twilight had to make sure that her friends stayed sane and happy.

Before she let go, two short, whispered sentences were enough to calm her down, “We can quench this burning desire of yours. The time will come soon, and then... they will pay.” Pinkie looked deeply into the lavender mare’s eyes and nodded shortly.

After her two upset friends were tended to, she spoke to the other group of former friends and family, “Well, your options are fairly limited, are they not? Join me, or rot in a cell for the rest of your lives.” Twilight looked into her brother’s, despair filled, eyes, a short pang of guilt shot through her heart, it took her only a second to regain that cocky smile of hers, “I suppose there is a third option, you could just end your life right here. You have thirty seconds to decide~”

Shining Armor and Blaze stared at the former student in disbelief, only Rainbow looked directly at her, every fiber of her being wanted to just go over to her and be happy. The mare’s mind was at war with itself, common sense suggested that this was just a trap, a cheap way to eliminate her as a threat, but Rainbow’s emotions just wanted to go back to this never-ending happiness.

Enough was enough, the yellow mare drew her weapon of choice, a flaming rapier, forged with her extreme magical expertise, “Twilight, if you have any sanity left in you… spare these two, and fight an honorable duel with me. No rules, the winner… will kill the loser.”

A smirk was all she got as an answer, Twilight summoned her trusted weapon and rammed it into the ground, this way she could lazily lean against it, intimidation and pride, everything she needed for this to work out, “A noble sacrifice indeed, Morning Blaze. Tell me… do you fear death?”

“...” Blaze just growled shortly, enough of an answer for her opponent.

“Where would the difference be, huh? I can kill you all now… except dear Dashie over there,” She winked at the still confused pegasus. “Or we have a one minute duel which will end in my favor, and after you’re dead, my treacherous brother will follow soon after.”

The white stallion still couldn’t believe his own ears, “Tw-Twilight… W-why would you do this? Mom and Dad are worried to death… you haven’t been at home for months, this war was… was just a series of very, very bad decisions… come home to your family, to your B.B.B.F.F…”

Twilight chuckled, then shook her head slowly, “Oh Shining Armor… dear… dear brother, unyielding knight of my sworn nemesis, my feelings for allies of that tyrant are all but gone. I simply can not stop now... many of her allies have fallen victim to my vengeance, but I’m far, far from done. Soon every kingdom in this world shall unite under our power, this will be Celestia’s doom. The gryphons, the Saddle Arabians, the Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs, Donkeys, it does not matter at all, as long as they’re loyal to us, they will be spared, not her though, she passed the point of mercy two millennia ago.”

He just hung his head after that, the captain of the royal guard did certainly not intend to die here, but his sister could kill them with a single hit, so escaping wasn’t really going to work either.

One silent shadow travel later, Twilight was standing in the midst of the despaired group, “I believe your time is up! Now, what will it be?” Shining and Blaze stepped back slightly, not wanting to be near her, only Rainbow did nothing again, just staring into these wonderful, yet terrifying eyes of their captor.

The two captain summoned their weapons and crossed them towards her. They exclaimed their answer in perfect unison, “We would never betray the princess! Only we can save you now.”

Rainbow walked towards Twilight, like in trance, only those few, precious steps divided them. By the time she was mere inches away from the lavender unicorn, her face had gained a rich shade of crimson. The rebellion leader’s eyes widened shortly due to what happened next, the bold pegasus kissed her deeply, their tongues swirling around in each others mouth. That was what she wanted, this lust… this happy feeling. Dash didn’t even remember why she wanted to oppose her new lover in the first place. Lover… that was a funny word, one Rainbow thought she would never use.

After they parted she went right at Twilight’s side, a strong blush still on her face and a faint smile on her lips. Her heart began to flutter as the lavender mare nuzzled her affectionately and she took the opportunity to slightly lean against her, feeling the warmth of her coat.

Twilight began to smile too, but not due to her new ‘lover's’ actions, no, just because the chaos energy had worked so perfectly. This strangely corrupting part of the chaos magic was dangerous, she could get addicted to it if she wasn’t careful, but it was worth it, oh so worth it. One of the most loyal ponies in Equestria, corrupted to love the very being that she hated mere hours before their meeting.

“See? I knew that at least one pony had some common sense left, isn’t that right, Dashie?” Twilight asked mockingly, she spoke out the last word in the most alluring voice she could manage.

“Yeah, of course... Twilight. Come on guys, living here with her wouldn’t be so bad! I’m sure she can... keep all of us happy,” Rainbow replied enthusiastically. Finally the fog was gone, and she could think clearly again. Why hadn’t she noticed sooner? The lavender mare was absolutely gorgeous, and not evil at all, like she thought earlier, now the pegasus knew that Twilight was in the right.

The two captains went into their combat stances. Morning held her flaming sword high, ready to end this once and for all, and so did Shining, the flawless magical saber shimmered under the dimly lit twilight sky.

Before any of her friends could ready themselves, Twilight held her right front hoof out, signalling them to stop, “I will do this alone, you’ll all make sure that nopony disturbs my little training session.” She grinned at kissed Rainbow on the cheek, making her blush furiously again. “And you’ll wait for me right with the girls. We want to finish our little game from earlier, don’t we?”

The blue pegasus nodded and flew over to her new old friends. Having Twilight as a wonderful lover, and being reunited with at least some of her old friends? This truly was eternal bliss.

The famous weapon began to move, hovering at Twilight’s side, ready for more victims. The blade was only ever as skilled as their master, and the lavender mare had plenty of talent to offer. Two dead captains of Celestia’s army surely were good news for every enemy the damned princess had, they were lurking in the shadows, just waiting for the right opportunity.

“So, this is your final decision?” The former student asked, half expecting, half hoping for it. This was the end of the line for her, nopony would dare to oppose Twilight anymore. Not Celestia, nor her army, she’d win this without a second thought!

Blaze nodded, “We will stop you, Twilight. You will wake up in the dungeons of Canterlot, then you and the princess can have a long, long talk.” Shining Armor didn’t comment, he just erected a barrier around him, if they’d use their advantages, not even Twilight could defeat two skilled warriors.

Their opponent smiled, a flash of her horn announced the start of this fight. Blaze felt the energy around her shifting and rolled preemptively to her right, this quick reaction saved her life, a black, gaping maw opened below her, countless jagged teeth tried to bite a good chunk out of her sleek body. As soon as it appeared, it dissolved again, void creatures could only materialize for a very short time, at least if the caster doesn't want to fall unconscious for a few hours.

The yellow mare used her superior speed and went into combat, she exchanged a series of lightning fast strikes with her former student. “Ugh, scratch superior speed. How did she become that good?” she thought to herself. Armor was assisting her with strong barriers and shield in the right moment to give her time to breath, opening Twilight up, or saving Blaze from harm.

It was quite annoying to fight against two skilled opponents, but she had plenty of tricks up her sleeve. The lavender mare stepped forward quickly and used the momentum to do a powerful overhead strike, the air seemed to be cut where she swung, white cracks began to form in the air itself, another seemingly impossible thing that just happened. As they reached their maximum, a powerful shockwave was unleashed from the rift, sending both Blaze and Shining flying.

She shadow traveled right to their location once again. Yoru flew towards Shining’s head, who was still trying to get up, the sword was intercepted by a much smaller, flaming blade. Twilight felt like this situation had happened so often in the past few months. Their blades were still held in this impressive deadlock, magical forces beyond comprehension were put behind it, “I will enjoy breaking you once this fight is done!”

Suddenly the lavender mare ended the sword fight, jumping back and breathing out a torrent of black flames. Her former mentor screamed in surprise, both her forelegs got burned severely, chaos flames had a much higher temperature than normal fire.

Before Twilight could enjoy it properly, a swarm of semi-transparent daggers flew towards her, she could deflect most of them pretty easily. Just as she cut the last one in two, her brother came out of nowhere and plunged his sword into her left front leg, he’d used the daggers as a distraction.

She yelped in surprise as the saber pinned her to the ground, even the mare’s magic wavered shortly, it was hard to keep concentration like that. No blood came out of the wound, the sword was sealing it up tightly, she still couldn’t really move though. Shining leaned down and said, “This is it, Twily. Just give up.”

A short growl was everything he got, chaos magic gathered quickly in her body, and the lavender horn began to glow black. Shining realized his mistake too late and was thrown through the air once again. The cause was a massive explosion, by overcharging her horn with chaos magic, luckily it wasn’t very dangerous, but she couldn’t do it again for some time. That meant she had to be more careful.

The impact nearly knocked him out, and a searing, hot pain was pulsing through his forehead. Shining tried to focus raw magic into his horn, The only thing that came though, was another wave of head-splitting pain. He cried out as fresh blood poured out of the wounds on his head. Then the stallion saw what made almost him faint again, the bloody, and broken tip of his horn.

The captain didn’t find the strength to get up anymore, the fight was over for him. A horn could take months to regrow, if it did at all. In some cases the injury is too severe for the horn to fix itself, the nightmare of every unicorn. Morning Blaze tried to support her comrade, but nearly tripped due to the searing pain in her forehooves, “Argh… Twilight, how could you do this… to your family?!”

“My family? This…” She pointed her still bloody forehoof at the other rebels, at Pinkie, Rainbow and Rarity to be exact. “This, is my family, they support me more no matter what. You’re way is wrong! Celestia has to be stopped, and if anypony stands in my way… they have to pay the price.”

Another shadow travel brought her directly next to Blaze, giving her enough time to kick the female captain into her side as hard as she could. A miniature shock wave followed, the sheer amounts of uncontrollable darkness in the air would be enough to blow up the entire town. Her former mentor flew backwards several meters, tumbling through the dirt.

“Curse you… and your rotten… darkness,” were her last words before Blaze fell unconscious. Twilight had some plans up and ready for her, oh it would be delightful.

Slowly she turned around, giving Shining Armor her best ‘insane’ grin. The chaos all around her began to whisper into her ear again, “...kill him. Kill him! Kill him! Kill, kill kill kill! KILL! KILL! KILL YOUR BROTHER!” Another small giggle at first, but it quickly grew into a literal onslaught of insanity. The Nightmare pushed Twilight harder and harder, it became worse every time she had to use this power.

Fear was written all over his face, this was not a rescue mission anymore, this was a slaughter. He still couldn’t get up, his hooves didn’t seem to get the grave nature of their situation, so he crawled backwards. Slowly, ever so slowly Twilight came closer, her sword raised high into the air. Then finally, she reached him, smiling down at him.

“Hey Shining, your head will be a great gift for the princess,” The dark energy was still shouting inside her head, there was nothing Twilight could do to stop it, so she went along, another dead pony or not… where was the difference?

“Tw-Twi-Twilight, w-we can t-talk about this! Don’t do something… y-you would regret later!” The white stallion stammered anxiously. He was a proud warrior… but the mere thought of being yet another victim of his blood-crazed sister? In his fear, Shining didn’t notice the giant, razor-sharp blade vanishing.

She came closer, closer… closer, her right front hoof began to caress his cheek, this was the end. Twilight moved a bit so she was facing his ear, and whispered the last words he’d ever hear, “Good night, big brother.”

In the next second Yoru’s sharp blade decapitated the stallion cleanly. Everything went silent in the small town of Ponyville, only the dull thud of his head impacting with the ground, and the fountain of crimson liquid, gave any indication of life, or to be exact, the lacking of it. Maybe somepony could find a certain hint of irony in this, but in that exact moment silent tears fell from the leader of the rebels.