It was wrong to hate such a day. With the sun beaming down on the earth and its inhabitants and only a few clouds to decorate an otherwise blue sky, how could anyone do so? Yet, as Twilight Sparkle stared into the eyes of her fifth world-breaking adversary, she found herself wishing desperately for a bleaker day. The bright and clear atmosphere simply didn't blend with the growing weight in her chest and the storm in her mind. It didn't suit that pleasant, ghastly smile her opponent wore. The only purpose of such a day was to remind her how unaware the world was of the battle for its fate.
Maybe if she had the rest of her friends with her, she would've felt better. They were always close to her in such times of peril, when an enemy threatened the balance. They were the key, the instrumental factor in beating back the evil. But there was none but a helpless Spike, who could only cling to her and lend his words. As comforting as it was to know that there was still someone beside her, it did little to quell her despair. It did nothing to turn the tables on her enemy and gain the victory she was so desperately leaping for. With or without them, the only thing she could do in this never-ending loop was delay the inevitable.
The most terrifying factor in this scenario was that Starlight, despite her obvious signs of lunacy, was perfectly normal. She was even more normal than Twilight, being the unicorn that the princess herself had been. It was both her magic and mind that had put Twilight into this loop, always keeping her one step behind. Because of it, she was unable to stop every intervention in Rainbow's fateful race. Each and every failure sent her into the subsequent future, each one bleaker and more hopeless than the one that came before it. Although she was trying to cling on to the fact that her friends and family were waiting for her on the other side, the repeated failures and the glimpses of the future were taking a toll on her spirit.
This was what Starlight Glimmer, a simple unicorn, was able to do to her.
"Twilight!"
The sudden cry from Spike aroused her sinking soul just in time for her to see a ray of turquoise rush her down. Her heart leaped and, in reflex, she projected a forward magic shield and intercepted the blast before it could connect with her face. It wore at her defenses for only a second before dissipating, and she immediately dispelled the shield afterwards. She only barely took note of Spike's nervous laughter. "Talk about close!" He remarked. "For a moment there, I was starting to think that you were gonna let her hit us."
In her current state of mind, it was hard for her to tell if he was joking or not.
"And you're still holding on?" The witch taunted, her screech ringing in Twilight's ears. She was standing on a cloud not too far away from Twilight and Spike's; far enough for Spike to be able to whisper to Twilight without being heard, but close enough for that smug look to still be seen clearly enough. "Don't you get it yet? Every time you appear, I'll just be one step ahead of you, already stopping the Rainboom. No matter how many times you come back, I'll already be here! The only thing you can do now is keel over and save yourself the embarrassment!"
A shot of fury coursed through Twilight's bloodstream. Her teeth grit, her lips curled and her head raised up for her eyes to give Starlight a withering glare. She didn't have to look to know Spike was giving her the very same look. But despite seeing just how they felt about the current situation, Starlight only smirked at them. "Yeah, I can guess that by this point, you're pretty frustrated." She continued, pointing a hoof at them. The smirk was briefly replaced by a scowl and a glare of her own. "Now you know what it feels like. When you and your friends took away what I built, took away my happiness and turned my own village against me, I felt angry. Helpless! All that work and effort undone within the span of a few days! You ruined me, Twilight! Just like you're trying to ruin me now!"
These last few words were accompanied by a rise of volume, and she paused to take a few breaths. Upon completing them, that wicked smile returned. The triumph in her eyes blended with the clear extent of her insanity. "But I won't let you do that." She hissed. "I won't let you have this. I'm going to make sure that the connection between you and those friends of yours isn't established, even if it means I have to do this for all of eternity!"
"Do you even realize what you're saying?!" Twilight demanded, swinging a hoof. "By stopping the Rainboom, you're dooming all of Equestria!"
Starlight's smirk immediately curved into a sneer, her brow raised in incredulity. "You can't be serious! Telling me that just because none of you got to be friends means that everything is doomed? Try another lie, and maybe I'll be more gullible to that instead!"
"It's the truth-" Twilight had to cut herself off once she saw Starlight briefly rear up on her hind legs, her horn charging with turquoise magic. Her own horn charged in response, conjuring another shield that dissolved a direct hit. But even as both energies faded away, her teeth pressed together to the feeling of them about to shatter. It was beginning to feel as if she was speaking to a brick wall - a brick wall that was impossible to bring down, no matter how much she wanted to.
"I don't want to hear it, Princess Perfect!" Starlight snarled, swiftly turning her attention to the filly of interest. Another ray was shot in her direction, earning a startled yelp as she was knocked out of the sky. On cue, the wormhole leading to whatever horrid fate that had befallen the world opened up over Twilight's head. She felt Spike clinging onto her while she attempted to cling onto the cloud, a desperate effort to defy Starlight's banishment. Even through the wind whistling loudly in her ears, she could still hear that angry and triumphant voice. "Just make things easier on both of us and disappear forever!"
"Man, somepony should not be this hard to talk to!" Spike's voice groaned.
"She may not want to listen to me." Twilight declared, spreading her wings out. She could feel her grip on the cloud slipping, but at this point, it was no longer relevant. All she was focused on is the blurry image of Starlight Glimmer. Her muscles tensed, and she lowered herself to a posture ready to pounce. She would only have one shot before the wormhole won its battle, and she had no clue if the next time afterwards would throw her in an environment that simply couldn't be survived in. But she had to try. "But maybe if she sees it for herself, she'll change her tune! Hang on, Spike!"
She leaped. The wormhole's gravity immediately grabbed her, trying to throw her into its gaping maw. But in the first few seconds, it could gain no purchase. As she came closer to Starlight, she could see shock and bewilderment - something that she took a bittersweet satisfaction in seeing. She did not allow this fleeting pleasure to gain hold of her. Barely taking note of her enemy's horn glowing again, she raised her front legs up and caught the unicorn in a bear hug. Gravity won, pulling Twilight towards the wormhole with her capture.
"What are you doing?! Let me go!" Starlight protested, her hooves pushing against Twilight's chest in a vain attempt to free herself. But the princess's grip was too strong, and they were approaching the wormhole far too quickly. She could only squirm and yell in that hold as they passed through the maw and into the space beyond. Through it all, Twilight kept her eyes closed and her grip as constant as the one Spike had on her own person. Although she did her best in remaining calm, she was mentally praying that this last attempt to convince the demon to repent would succeed.
If it failed, they would not be too far behind the world in its death throes.
A rush of cold air.
Pain shooting through the side she landed on as she hit the earth.
A loss of air as Starlight kicked her in the underbelly.
She was forced to relinquish her hold in the face of such sensations, barely registering Spike's own involuntary release. She tumbled across the ground, managing to roll to a stop on her belly. Her body was braced against the ground, but the momentary lack of wind kept her from rising to a stand. It didn't keep her from locking her gaze onto Starlight as she leaped up to her hooves. She was met with a glare, and once again, she took a small satisfaction in seeing that smug countenance destroyed.
"You have some nerve-!" Starlight snarled, her horn glowing a tell-tale turquoise. But it lasted only for a second before she finally registered her surroundings. The magic receded, and she took her attention away from Twilight to look around. Her face was one of shock and fearful confusion, prompting Twilight to make her own observations of the warped environment.
There was no environment - or at least, not one with anything salvageable. The ground couldn't even be called earth more than it could be called a land of ashes, rock and charcoal. A constant, stirred parts of it into a never-ending dance of minor dust storms. There was no foliage, and what few trees that could be seen were nothing more than black husks of withering bark. The sky was colored with an unnatural black and brown, with neither the sun or moon visible. For the briefest of moments, Twilight wondered if the celestial bodies had been destroyed here.
"Twilight?" Spike's concerned voice came to her ears, his claw placed on her wither. She broke her gaze away from Starlight and looked at him, taking in his worry. It was enough to briefly soothe her anger. "That was a rough tumble. You all right?"
"I'm fine, Spike." Twilight assured him, giving him a small smile and a pat on his comforting hand before she pushed herself up to her hooves. "You?"
Much to her amusement, the little dragon puffed up his chest and brought his fist against it. "What, are you kidding? It'll take much more than a fall like that to break through these scales!" He boasted, his grin widening when he saw and heard her giggle. She was glad that even in this situation, he was still able to keep her spirits up.
"What is this?!" Starlight's demand almost brought them back down again. When Twilight turned to face her, she was once again regarded with a nasty glare. But this time, there was a hint of fear. "What did you do?!"
"I didn't do anything."Twilight retorted, glowering. "This is your doing, Starlight. Every time you've managed to stop the Rainboom from happening, this is where I get sent. Each and every time I get pulled here, what I see is always worse than the one before it. This is the future you create when you stop our connection. This is the world that's going to be."
"I-I don't believe you!" Starlight's defiance was betrayed by the shake in her voice and her gaze. "This has to be some sort of trick of yours!"
"Face it, Starlight!" Twilight yelled, releasing the full extent of her heat. The vicious bite of her tone caused Starlight to recoil and take a few steps back. "What you're doing here goes beyond Cutie Marks! Yes, I know it's hard to believe that my friends and I are so important to Equestria. Even I haven't the slightest idea. But it's a fact, and just like other things that I can't explain, I have to live with it. Without the bond between us, this is what's going to happen! Look at it, Starlight. Look at it really hard, because this is what you're striving to make!"
Judging from the blank look Starlight suddenly gave, Twilight could safely say her words struck a nerve. She watched as the unicorn slowly turned herself away, her tail facing her. The head of purple and aqua slowly turned this way and that, just enough so that Twilight couldn't make out the expression. Whatever she was feeling couldn't possibly be the confidence expressed through the fighting; that was the important thing.
"You can't possibly be proud of this." Twilight continued, her volume and tone lowered but the heat still high. "You keep going on about how I've taken everything from you. But if you keep going on like this, you're going to end up doing that yourself!" The anger considerably regressed, and her tone started to sound a little bit more pleading. "I'm sorry if what we did ruined your life. But anything has to be better than this! If we end this here, a future like this won't have to come to pass!"
After that, there was only the whistling of the wind. Starlight had stopped moving, but her tail was still turned towards Twilight. Despite her apprehension insisting that she pressure the unicorn, she remained quiet and patient. The lunatic had fallen below the surface, allowing reason to come shining through. The last thing she wanted was to say the wrong thing, do the wrong action and end up pushing her back into that deranged fog she had snuggled so comfortably into. Spike's claw came to rest against her withers again; he must've seen her anxiety.
"You're saying that I'll be the one to cause this?" Starlight's voice was quiet and almost monotone. "Everypony and everything will be dead because of my actions? This will be the world I'll create?"
Taking it as a sign of understanding, Twilight found herself smiling for the first time in their confrontation. It was a weak smile, but one that conveyed her relief nonetheless. She took a few steps forward, starting an approach. "Yes. But it doesn't have to be this way. All you have to do is-"
So down her guard was that she didn't anticipate the sharp turn of Starlight's head. She didn't anticipate a turquoise ray shooting past her form. But by the time her mind caught up to the present, the first thing she properly register was Spike's pained scream. She reflexively spun to face him, her face contorting in horror at what she saw.
She would only lay eyes on it for a moment. But her eyes took in cracks in Spike's body, cracks comparable to broken glass. Wisps of green fire spit from these cracks, increasing as the rifts grew larger. He thrashed and writhed, his screaming rising to an eldritch pitch. The moment it reached its highest was when his body exploded into a small nova of flame, with pieces of him converted into flying embers that shattered near Twilight's hooves. In the following second, she was frozen with horror and disbelief.
And then, the second ray. It caught her by the horn when she twisted back around in an attempt to counter-attack. An unbearable wave of agony seared through her skull, ripping away any sense she had of the world around her. She tumbled to the ground, screaming and thrashing against the ashes. As one of her hooves pressed against her forehead, she felt multiple, jagged edges in the place of a singular, pointed tip. Starlight's attack had not simply halted her magic; it had shattered her horn. Fear accompanied the pain, increasing when she felt hooves pin her front legs beside her and a body hovering just over her own. As best as she could, she opened her eyes to look at her assailant.
The witch's lips were pulled back in a grin that simply shouldn't have existed in such a place. She stared down at Twilight with beady eyes that never blinked, as if never wanting to tear away from what was to take place. It brought about a mixture of emotion within Twilight; anger, fright, wonder and despair. All of which was projected with a single word that managed to escape her shaking lips.
"...Why?"
"Why?" The demon repeated, as if the inquiry was a pointless one. "I've realized the most wonderful thing. Here in this world, there's nothing. There are no Cutie Marks, no talents, nopony being better than anypony else! Here, everypony is finally equal just like I wanted! The only ones left now are you and me!" As she spoke, her tone became more dominated by an unbridled glee. "I'll erase you first, and then I'll erase myself! Then we'll all be equal, Twilight!"
Twilight wasn't sure what was hitting her harder - the agony of her broken and sparking horn, or the absolute mind-twisting lunacy of the demon's words. She met the opposing beady-eyed stare with one of her own, shaking her head in her disbelief. "Y...you're insane..." She croaked.
The demon merely tilted her head up to the desolate sky and laughed - a sound that didn't quite express mirth. "Say what you want!" She taunted, lowering her head back down and holding Twilight with that soul-curdling gaze. "It's you I can thank. You were so nice as to show this to me. You were so kind as to tell me it was by my hoof that it happened. You should consider this a kindness. I'd go first, but then you'd be left here all by yourself! It'd be the perfect revenge, knowing that you'd be left to rot here for the rest of your life. But what kind of gratitude would that be showing?"
Her eyes began to glow along with her horn, and she slowly leveled the tip near Twilight's head. Fear gripped the alicorn's heart, and she desperately tried to struggle. Images flashed through her head; images of her friends, family, her home and the present that was waiting for her. She shut her eyes in a vain effort to keep the tears from falling, sobs escaping her throat. All of the confidence in defeating Starlight and returning home had been crushed into the ashes that surrounded her. The only future that awaited her was death in a place that never should've existed, and those that knew her could only ponder her existence.
"Thank you, Twilight." Starlight said softly. "For this gift, I'll make sure you feel these last moments."
It was the last thing Twilight's mind would comprehend.