Chapter 13: Fury of the Immortal Sun

Light fills Rainbow Dash’s eyes.

Her first thought, an oddly tranquil, even calming thought, is that it must be the light a pony supposedly sees when they die. But that thought is dashed aside in only a moment. One would expect a light like that to be serene, calming, calling you to a peaceful afterlife.

This light is no such thing. It rages, with an incandescent force hotter than an erupting volcano. It burns with an intensity which tells Rainbow Dash that she is, indeed, alive. Its magic bleeds into the air, a distant sense of gentleness buried beneath a mountain of crimson rage. All Rainbow Dash can do is cower in place, the agony of her cracked ribs all but forgotten, taking in the sight as her eyes steadily strain to make out the scene before her.

What had moments ago been a cloaked pony bearing down on her, knife in hoof, is now ... Nothing, not even a wet spot on the ground. In fact, even the ground they had been standing on is missing, replaced by a smoldering crater still glowing a dull red from the heat of impact. And within that crater...

Rainbow Dash’s heart catches in her throat as her eyes are drawn hypnotically to the source of the blinding light, unable to shut them despite how it stings, like staring into the sun. Standing there is a ... Thing, which can only be described as equine in the vaguest of terms. White coat blazing with heavenly fire, mane and tail glowing a bright amber like the fiercest of flames, and wings of pure light spread wide. Indeed, it resembles less a pony, and more a living star in the vague shape of a pony, the magic within unable to be constrained within the boundaries of its form. As though its body is merely a vessel, a container, for a being far more than mere flesh residing within.

Even to a pegasus largely unschooled in the ways of magic, its easy to feel the weight of the entities presence. It feels like light itself, like the sun in a desert sky, like pain and sorrow and anger and fear all congealed into one, great and terrible in equal measure. She feels it with her whole being, in every fiber and cell of her body, enveloping her very soul in supernatural dread and reverence. Yet for all the weight of the things presence, Rainbow Dash finds to her immense relief that it is not fixated on her but rather on the remaining assassins.

The earth pony assassin leaps at Rainbow Dash in a last ditch effort, face every bit as dispassionate as she’d started. Moving with preternatural speed, the wings of the Entity above Rainbow Dash swing in a great arc, and like a white-hot blade slicing through butter the attacker is bisected right down the middle, smiting their body to ash and smoke with an earth-shattering sound like thunder.

Is that ... Celestia? Rainbow Dash’s jaw hangs open in disbelief, fear, and awe. It’s almost impossible to recognize that living embodiment of the sun’s fury as she is now.

Of the remaining assassins, the one nearest the alley bolts for it, while another bites down on something, falling to the ground almost intantly. The former does not make it far; A searing ray of golden flame sweeps across the plaza, cutting a deep rift in the cobblestone and up the side of the wall with altogether unnecessary force, scourging the flesh of the unfortunate pony from the bone.

That leaves only one remaining, the pegasus who had attempted to cut Rainbow dash down the middle. With the ability to fly, it had taken him a fraction of a second to decide whether to chomp down on his pill of attempt an escape. That fraction of a second was too long. As he tries to bite down on the pill to end his life, Celestia’s gaze falls upon him, the alicorn’s horn lighting up with a deep amber light. Even as his jaw struggles to close, the overwhelming telekinetic might of an alicorn’s raw magic envelops it and yanks it open, far wider than it was ever meant to, snapping the jawbone like a twig. A moan of agony erupts from the pegasus, as the telekinetic aura envelops his entire frame, dragging him to the ground and pinning him in place as blood drips from his mouth.

“YOU COME TO MY HOME AND ATTACK MY PRIZED PUPILS, BLAMELESS AND INNOCENT FILLIES BOTH, AND EXPECT TO ESCAPE THAT EASILY? YOU MAY DIE WHEN I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO DIE.”

The words resound with a force far more than physical, sweeping through the rock and thundering through the trees, every syllable steeped in divine might. Even Rainbow Dash can feel the innate magic echoing in the words, the very fabric of reality shuddering with each syllable. And yet, for all the power and force within it, the voice is still undeniably that of Celestia, elegant and regal even in this moment of twisted fury.

Beside Rainbow Dash, Twilight falls down to her haunches, eyes wide, tears beginning to fill the fillies eyes. Even Rainbow Dash, for all her bravado, cannot help but cower and whimper in terror, covering her face with both her forehooves.

The sound of the filly’s terror reaches Celestia through the haze of retributive bloodlust, and as the vibrant form of the alicorn turns her head back to her two students, badly bruised and beaten both by their ordeal, Celestia’s rationality begins to return. The anger that fills the surrounding air begins to subside, giving way to sorrow and remorse, as the light shining unbound from within the alicorn princess retreats back inside the flesh that serves as its vessel. Her mane glows like cinders dwindling, as it fades slowly back to the soft pastel colors of the rainbow, until at last the sight before the two fillies returns to the Celestia they know.