Eloquence screamed as he died.

I expected little else from him. He was one of those unicorns that thought a flight of stairs was a physical challenge and spent most of his life working on his reputation, or his mane. What he’d foreseen happening I had no idea. Perhaps he’d hoped to secure some fragment of the Nightmare’s power for his family.

“Pitiful,” Nightmare said, with a toss of her ethereal head. She turned to me next. Dark power rushed over me, tearing at my wings, driving daggers into my eyes and burning deep in my soul. “So, what do you wish, little pony?”

“Swiftwing.” I had to shout over the screams. Of the six who started the ritual, only two still stood, though Rapier Wit had yet to stop howling in blind agony. “My name is Swiftwing.”

Nightmare smiled a fanged smile, spreading her wings as her presence redoubled, almost driving me to my knees. “Cute. Now, why did you dare summon me. Do you wish for power, little pony? Or perhaps you want to be a princess? Did somepony wrong you, or is this all just a quest for riches?”

I opened my mouth to speak, when Rapier began a fresh round of anguished screams. With a contemptuous kick, Nightmare silenced him forever. Trying to ignore another spreading pool of blood I began again. “I want to be the fastest pegasus in Equestria.”

For a moment Nightmare just stared. Then she threw back her head and howled with laughter. Lightning roared in the sky above, wild and untamed as the ancient alicorn of madness and darkness spat on my dreams.

I ground a hoof against the flagstones, setting myself against the torrent of magic and malice. “SHUT-UP!”

For a moment it actually worked, the Nightmare stopped her infernal sniggering and regarded me with a cocked brow. “You dare...”

“Yes, I dare!” I bellowed. “I want nothing from this world but to be the best. From the moment I first laid eyes on the Rainboom there has been nothing else in my life. I am going to be the fastest pegasus if it kills me.”

The Nightmare smiled. “Over the millennia my ponies have called on me for many things, but you Swiftwing, have managed to find the most petty and inane reason imaginable.”

River Song died in that moment, her last breath a whimper of pain and she slumped to the floor, staring out with sightless eyes. The world seemed to fall away beneath me as the dark alicorn focused her full ire down upon me. It burned and froze and tore at my soul as if I’d ended up trapped in a lightning storm.

“Die, little pony.”

My head hit the floor. My knees had folded, though I couldn’t say when. A strangled squeak escaped my throat. It would have been so easy to lay down then, to give up and fade away.

“No.”

My muscles screaming, I dragged myself to my hooves. I hadn’t given up when they’d kicked me out of flight school. I hadn’t given up when not a single racing team had even considered me for their lineup. I hadn’t given up when even the Weather Service had refused me, saying I was too weak a flyer. I hadn’t given up Rainbow Dash, my idol, laughed me out of her office.

There are many ponies who’d die for their dream.

I refused to. What difference was there between death at the Nightmare’s hooves and death by obscurity? None at all as far as I could see. There was no choice but victory.

“Oh, well that is interesting.” The Nightmare seemed taken aback for a moment. Smiling like a cat she leaned down and touched her horn to my head.

The world vanished into a maelstrom of agony. It lasted for just an eyeblink and then I found myself stood alone in the ruins of the old castle. The ritual had ended, five bodies lay cooling on the flagstones but I had survived. I spread my wings, feeling the new-found strength in them. A single flap took me almost to the ceiling and I fought down the urge to cheer. With those wings, I was finally the fastest pony in Equestria.

“Not quite.” The Nightmare’s voice echoed through my mind. “There’s still one pony that stands in your way. You have to kill Rainbow Dash.”

I grinned. Now that was something I could do with no regrets.