My Little Pony: Through Space and Time

by Magic Step

Dark Wings

"Come in."

Princess Rarity cautiously opened the door. She stared at Princess Twilight warily for a moment. "I... didn't knock."

"I could tell you were there," said Princess Twilight, not looking up from the papers she was filing. "Give me some credit, Rare-rare."

Princess Rarity giggled nervously.

For a while, the only sound was the scratching of Princess Twilight's quill on the paper.

"Did you want to tell me something?" said Princess Twilight.

Princess Rarity blinked at her innocently. "You mean to say you can't read my mind?"

"Don't give me that, Rarity," said Princess Twilight. "Is this something important?"

"Yes," said Princess Rarity. "It's about Fluttershy."

Princess Twilight sighed heavily. "Look, I want to get our past selves home and then talk about this, okay?"

"Oh, sure," said Princess Rarity. "Let's just leave our friend as a statue for a few days. It can't matter too much. She'll only be slightly crazy when this ordeal is over and will only slightly resemble that little crazed pony who died yesterday. Twilight, this isn't a dictatorship! Since when could you dole out punishments without consulting me?"

Princess Twilight whirled around. "I can't believe you're doubting my judgment! I thought you were okay with the way I was running the kingdom!"

"Fluttershy is our friend," Princess Rarity said. "Friends talk with their friends about issues! They don't just storm in and say 'I don't like your attitude, have fun as a statue!'"

"You- you ungrateful-" Princess Twilight telekinetically slammed Princess Rarity into the wall. "You little wretch! I am the pony who makes the decisions! I am the one who saved Equestria! I am the one who stopped the Time Guardians! I am the one who fuels all your pet projects to make sure you have your subjects' love! I am the one you rely on for your well-being! I am the one who has held the bearers of the elements together all these years!"

"You aren't holding us together! You're driving us apart!" Princess Rarity growled. "It was your fault that Applejack could no longer trust any of us anymore! It was your fault she left the city! It was your fault she's now a wanted criminal because overreaction is your only reaction! It was your fault Dashie lost her dream of being in the Wonderbolts! It was your fault Diane Pie started taking that... toxic chemical you call medicine!"

"What about Fluttershy?" Princess Twilight said. "You seem to want to blame me for all my friends' ills. Do you want to blame me for what happened to her? Do you want to blame me for her disillusionment?"

"You certainly did nothing to help her!" Princess Rarity shouted. "You should have been their to comfort her, to restore her faith in equinity! Instead, you ignored her pain and told her to work fixing your... pet dragon's in-bred illness!"

"Don't you dare drag Spike into this!" Princess Twilight screamed, slamming Princess Rarity against the wall a few more times. "Don't. You. Dare."

"Except it isn't in-bred," said Princess Rarity. "It's environmental. So who's to say Spike isn't just suffering all the pain you should be feeling for turning us against each other?"

Pause. "What?"

"Spike wasn't born with his illness," Princess Rarity said. "Spike must be getting sick from his environment. The Spike from the past showed the same symptoms as the Spike in the present, so if age isn't connected with the illness, mustn't it be something... else that's causing him to get sick?"

Princess Twilight didn't say anything. Her eyes darted around the room, and a look of horror crept across her face.

"Sparkie?" said Princess Rarity.

In a burst of light, Princess Twilight vanished.

Princess Twilight found herself standing on a rocky ledge overlooking Canterlot. The wind played with her hair, blowing it around her face and legs.

The princess sat down, her heart pounding.

"It... you didn't..."

She paused.

"Why would you break your word?" she said. "I did everything you wanted me to do. I gave you all the Time Guardians, as many Apple family members as I could find, the magic of every unicorn in Equestria... I passed all the laws you told me to, arrested everypony you wanted... you said you would keep my friends together, and I thought you were doing that... and you told me you'd keep Spike alive." She took a deep breath. "Tell me. Tell me the truth. Were you really curing Spike...? Or were you just... not letting the full force of your pestilence affect him?"

Really, Twilight. Why this sudden doubt? All because of some silly thing Rarity was guessing about? She isn't even a scientist like you are. She doesn't understand everything. It was always you who had control of the situation. Always you who were in control...

"No!" Princess Twilight shouted. "It was never me, was it? It was always you! You manipulated me by threatening to take away the things I value most! You've made me hurt so many ponies... so many ponies..." She squeezed her eyes shut, and tears ran down her cheeks. "B-but not any more," she whispered. Her eyes flew open. "Not any more!" She shouted. "I won't listen to you! I won't obey you! I c-can live without Spike." She angrily brushed her tears away. "Let's face it, he's so sick that h-he'd be better of d-dead anyway. Nopony would kn-now the d-difference at this point." She sucked her breath in through her teeth. "But I can't live like this. You're destroying me, m-my friends, my family..." Tears welled up in her eyes again. "But now it's over. Go away. I don't want you anymore! Go!"

She conjured up a mirror in front of her and glared at her reflection.

"I'm waiting!" she shouted.

For a moment, nothing happened. She just stood there, glaring at herself, quivering with rage.

Oh, really, Twilight. Did you think it was that easy? That I'd go away quietly just because you asked politely?

"I'm not asking, I'm telling!" Twilight shouted.

You are so cute, you know that? Touching, really, this act of resistance. But I can't allow it.

Princess Twilight's wings flickered, then burst into deep purple flames. These flames spread over Princess Twilight's body, turning them the same dark color.

Princess Twilight's head was the last to be consumed. She stared in horror at her reflection and screamed.

A minute later, nopony would have been able to tell the Princess from the Hunter. Her body was covered with flowing purple flames, which occasionally parted to reveal the dark skin underneath. Her horn gleamed violet, and her wings were twin tongues of flame.

The pony who used to be Princess Twilight Sparkle surveyed Canterlot from her ledge. Then she dove down upon the city, grinning with delight as it approached its prey.