//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Shadows of the Sun // by theamberfox //------------------------------// Shadows of the Sun By theamberfox Chapter 12 “The orb will take several hours to charge completely, but we shouldn’t let that stop us from starting the riot right away.” Thunderhorn announced. The old, grey pony had just finished explaining the bulk of their plan to the large crowd of ponies around him and they were now standing attentively beside a large table. Levitating a small piece of charcoal in the air beside him, Thunderhorn was crudely marking locations on the map and attempting to illustrate the finer details of their strategy. “Their numbers have been significantly reduced by the war and the few that remain are ill-equipped and ill-trained, so we should face little in the way of resistance.” he continued. “Vortex and I have even discovered that some of the guards are in fact, young colts.” This new understanding sparked a series of nervous expressions and loud murmurs around the table. “Calm yourselves, everyone.” the old unicorn intervened. “Just be careful. That’s all I’m trying to say. If you can, don’t hurt any of the guards. Just tie them up and get them out of our way. We don’t want to hurt anyone if we don’t have to. “Now, we need to decide who is going where. First and foremost, I need nine capable unicorns that can help prepare the crystalline orb.” Rarity poked her head through the dense crowd and turned to Thunderhorn with a hopeful expression. “If it’s at all possible, Lord Thunderhorn, I would like to help you charge the artefact.” she said. “I would much rather avoid having to harm anyone.” “Of course, Miss Rarity.” the grey unicorn nodded. “I assume you know both the teleportation spell and the magic transfer spell?” “Well actually…” “Really?” he interrupted, staring doubtfully at the very tired looking unicorn. “Nearly every unicorn in the nobility knows-” He stopped abruptly when he realized that Rarity wasn’t a member of the nobility. And while every single noble unicorn went to a dedicated magic school and were taught many complicated spells in their youth, the unicorn in front of him probably never even had the opportunity to learn. Because the mare was so well-mannered and graceful, the general tended to forget about this small and unfortunately important detail. Ashamed, Rarity frowned, “I’m sorry, Lord Thunderhorn.” “That’s quite alright, Miss Rarity.” the old stallion replied curtly. “Perhaps when we’re done with all of this, I will find the time to teach you.” The white unicorn smiled back at him. “Back to the point.” Thunderhorn announced. “I need nine capable unicorns that know both the teleportation spell and the magic transfer spell to help me fill the orb. If it means anything at all, the job won’t put you in any real danger.” Soon enough, several unicorns made their way to the table and approached the general, each affirming that they were willing and competent enough to help him with the orb. The general, however, suspected that their reasons were more to avoid the fighting than because they were actually accomplished magic users. It was a fact he would just have to live with. He didn’t have time to be picky. “Good. Now the rest of you will split into two separate contingents.” Thunderhorn explained, directing their attention towards the map. “The first will set the supply depots on the west wing of the government quarter ablaze.” He quickly circled the area in question with the piece of charcoal, leaving a dark ring on the map. “This will draw out a large portion of the royal army still garrisoned in the city barracks.” He promptly circled the location of the barracks. “When they arrive, you should be able to use snares and other traps to catch them by surprise and keep them from getting harmed. “The second contingent will assault the barracks shortly after the diversion has begun. When their central base of operations is in jeopardy, they should realize that they’re fighting a losing battle and call for help from Princess Celestia.” “What about Princess Luna?” Vortex asked bluntly, the dark blue pegasus standing across the table from the general. “Are we sure she’s not going to try and stop us?” “At this point, we can only hope that she won’t interfere.” replied Goldenroot, who was standing beside the general. “I don’t know what we can possibly do if she tries to stop us.” Thunderhorn grit his teeth, “If we have to, and only if we absolutely have to, we might be able to use the orb on her as well. We’ve come too far and there’s too much at stake to just give up now.” The pale green stallion remained silent, giving the unicorn a worried glance before directing his attention back to the map. “Vortex, I want you leading the group that will attack the supply depots. Goldenroot, you’ll lead the group that will hit the barracks.” “Hold on, general!” Vortex interrupted. “This is a life or death situation. I want to go with Goldenroot. I need to… protect him from danger…” Vortex smiled and turned her amber eyes to stare at Goldenroot, the stallion blushing slightly and smiling back. “Fine.” Thunderhorn complied. “But we need someone that can lead the group that will create the diversion.” “I think I’m more than capable of keeping a few restless ponies in line.” the barkeep offered, pushing his way to the front of the group. “Let me do it.” “Good enough.” the general said, ignoring the barkeep’s confidence. “Meet the others at the royal barracks when you can.” “Alright then. You lot!” the barkeep announced, motioning to the ponies on one side of the room. “You’re coming with me.” The barkeep stepped to the door with nearly forty ponies in tow. Stopping once he reached the doorway, he turned around and glared at the old unicorn that was currently immersed in the map on the table. “I expect you to take care of my tavern, Thunderhorn.” he said firmly. “We may be starting a riot, but I don’t want to see this thing falling to pieces when I come back.” Not bothering to wait for a reply, he swung open the door and rushed into the early morning air. It was just about one in the morning now, with the moon sitting high in the starry heavens above and the sun still hidden far below the horizon. “Miss Rarity!” Thunderhorn called loudly, trying to make his words clear over the rumbling of hooves as the last of the ponies headed out the door. The white unicorn’s head promptly turned in his direction. “Can you go with them?” he asked. “I won’t ask you to participate in any of the fighting, I know that’s asking too much from you, but we need to try to keep an eye on them. I’m not certain how they’ll react once the fires start.” “I’ll do my best.” Rarity replied, nodding quickly. She started towards the door, but stopped and turned around, fixating her gaze on the three former council members still standing around the table. “Before I leave…” she said, trailing off as she waited for their full attention. The three ponies shifted their eyes from the map lying on the table to the elegant white unicorn. “If anything should go wrong…” she continued with clear hesitation. “Please just come back here in one piece. I don’t want anything to happen to any of us. We’ve made it this far, we may still be able to stop Princess Celestia even if this plan fails.” “I’m not going to let anyone screw this up now, Rarity.” Vortex smirked. “I would’ve thought you’d have more confidence in me by now.” Rarity smiled apprehensively before turning around and hurrying out the door, trying to catch up with the group that was following the bartender. “You’re still too brash for your own good, Vortex.” Thunderhorn scoffed as the door closed behind the unicorn. “Sometimes that’s all it takes to get the job done, Thunderhorn.” “Just take me seriously for once, you arrogant fool!” Thunderhorn scorned, furrowing his brow. “I’m not joking around. Just be careful out there and we won’t have to attend your funeral.” The dark blue pegasus’ normally abrasive nature melted away and she lowered her gaze to floor, simply nodding in acknowledgement. “Just make sure the orb works, Thunderhorn.” Goldenroot said. “When the rest of us are done with the dirty work, we’re going to need that thing.” As if sparking some memory, the old unicorn pulled the book out of his bag and slammed it down on the table, opening it to the page with the detailed instructions about the crystalline orb. “I’ll figure it out.” he said, staring into the book. “Now get out there and stop wasting time.” Goldenroot turned to the pegasus beside him, her eyes hidden under her light blue hair as she just gazed down at the floor. Leaning in close, he whispered something into her ear. She smiled brightly and turned to face him as he pulled away, her amber eyes sparkling as they met his. Softly biting down on her own lip, she desperately tried to stop herself from laughing, the amusing reaction leaving a grin on the stallion’s face as he cranked his head around to face the crowd of ponies behind him. “Okay everyone, let’s move out!” he shouted, trying to hide his smile. Her joyful nature restored, the blue mare flew out the door with the pale green stallion following close behind. The rest of the group followed after and soon enough, the only ones left in the room were Thunderhorn and nine other unicorns that moved slowly up to the table to look at the general in anticipation. “So what do you want us to do exactly?” a purple pony asked, trying to attract the old stallion’s attention. Thunderhorn pulled the small crystal sphere out of his bag and set it on the table in front of him. The artefact continued to glow with a weak orange light as it rolled across the surface and eventually came to a slow stop in the center of the table. “It’s quite simple, really.” he explained. “The orb stores magical energy, so all we need to do is fill it with the magic of the spell that we intend to use on the princess. The magical prison below the castle is designed so that anyone can enter by any means they wish, but they can only exit if someone on the outside frees them using the release spell, so we only have to use the teleportation spell to imprison her inside the cell. “Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering how exactly we’re supposed to store our magic inside the orb.” Thunderhorn concentrated for a moment, his horn slowly becoming enveloped in a dim yellow light. “First, prepare the teleportation spell like you normally would, but don’t envision a destination so that the magic lingers around your horn.” Concentrating once again, a darker yellow light formed around his horn. It snaked and weaved its way around his horn until it reached the very tip and shone with a bright luminescence. “Second, begin to prepare the magic transfer spell while keeping your teleportation spell steady. When both are prepared…” The darker yellow light started to form into a little ball on the end of his horn with magic lingering around his horn slowly absorbing into it. After the light around his horn had been completely captured within the ball, it lifted into the air and rapidly shot into the crystal orb. The orange light around the orb dissipated into the air and the dim blue light from the teleportation spell took its place. “…just launch it into the orb.” Thunderhorn continued. “It now holds one concentration of the spell. We can always use the dimension spell to measure the amount of concentrations inside the orb at any time, so we never have to guess. “Now, if he were to properly prepare himself, a normal unicorn could block the force of about five concentrations. A powerful unicorn could block the force of about ten. The most powerful unicorn to have been recorded in history could probably block about twenty.” “Then what do you need us for?” a yellow unicorn snapped at him. “Because in this book, the princess recorded that she was able to withstand one hundred concentrations with ease.” Thunderhorn admitted. The unicorns around the table gasped and glanced at one another with fearful expressions. How could they possibly stand a chance at defeating such a powerful creature? “At five hundred concentrations, she seems to have suffered some difficulty, but she could still withstand the blow.” he continued. “She writes, ‘Only when the crystalline orb held over one thousand concentrations of magical potential, could we no longer withstand its full force.’ “With some occasional rest and food, I believe that I am capable of filling the orb with three hundred concentrations before I completely exhaust myself. I don’t expect any of you to do the same, nor do I expect you to completely exhaust yourself, but if we can all put in one hundred concentrations, then that should be enough. After all, we should be able to catch the princess by surprise and she won’t be able to properly block the impact.” “What if we accidentally fill the orb with a different spell?” a light blue unicorn asked politely. “Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that.” he sighed, realizing how disastrous it would be to have all their work ruined by one wrong move. “Now that the orb is filled with one kind of spell, it can only accept that one spell. Unless the proper erasing spell is used, all other magic that we try to transfer into the orb will be rejected immediately. So although you may have wasted some energy, it won’t corrupt any of the magic previously stored inside the orb. Thunderhorn paused for a moment and glared slowly around the room. “Now, you can eat, drink and rest as much as you need to, but stay away from the alcohol.” he lectured. “It inhibits your magical ability and we can’t afford to do that now, especially when most of you have already had more than your fair share of booze.” Some of the unicorns rolled their eyes, while others simply nodded. After this acknowledgement, they started to focus their magic, bright coloured lights forming around their own horns as they prepared to fill the orb. ~ “What do you think?” Goldenroot asked, turning to look at the pegasus lying on the ground beside him. “Has something gone wrong? Should we just attack the barracks by ourselves and forget about the diversion?” Goldenroot was sitting against the wall of a dark alleyway with a clear view of both the entrance to the barracks and the general direction in which he had expected the fires to start. So late into the fall season, it was starting to get cold and the dark blue pegasus had snuggled up close beside him, simply dozing away. And while he didn’t think it was especially cold out, he was happy to have her so close by. “They’ll figure it out.” she replied softly, keeping her eyes closed and repositioning herself closer against the stallion. Goldenroot just smiled at her and turned back to watch the view from the alleyway. Contrary to the muted reactions of these two ponies, the group they had dragged from their joyful revelry and into the middle of an all-out war were not quite so composed. They had been sitting outside the entrance to the royal barracks for more than an hour now, hiding in the shadows and simply waiting for the signal to begin their assault. They had pestered the pale green stallion infrequently at first, asking him how long it was going to take and what he expected to happen, but their questioning had grown from a simple anxiety to an irritating impatience. They had demanded to know what was going on and were even threatening to leave, but Goldenroot was carefully holding them back, promising them it would only be a moment longer when, in fact, he wasn’t at all sure when or even if something was going to happen. “Listen, Goldenroot.” a crimson mare with a bright orange and pale red mane said, the irritation in her voice reaching its maximum. “Everyone has agreed that either we go in there now and forget about the others or we’re leaving. And don’t try to stop us by claiming that they’re only going to be a moment longer because we know that’s not the truth. We’ve been out here-” “Fire!” a voice bellowed from near the barracks. “There’s fire in the stock holds!” “I was actually beginning to wonder if we’d be able to stall you long enough.” Vortex said, leisurely rising to her hooves and gazing off in the direction of the fire. The flames, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, were immense. Thick smoke billowed into the air above the roaring, bright red inferno that was spreading quickly across the horizon as guards poured out of the barracks and rushed in the direction of the fire. “Looks like I don’t have to worry about that anymore.” she continued as she stretched her muscles. “Alright everyone.” Goldenroot said, trying to keep his voice down as he rose to his hooves and walked around the group. “This is what we were waiting for, but we need to wait a little longer. Wait until all of the guards that were sent to fight the fire are out of view and then we’ll rush in there and take care of the stragglers. “Remember, we don’t want to hurt anyone if we can avoid it. Try to get them to surrender and we’ll tie them up and get them out of the way.” The ponies that still lingered around the alleyway rose to their hooves, gathering the bags they had left lying around the path and slowly moving closer to the barracks. One-by-one, they counted the soldiers that passed by, first in a steady stream and then in a dwindling trickle. Altogether, they counted only twenty-five soldiers rushing out to extinguish the massive flames spreading over the stockpiles. Subduing those few soldiers would be an easy task for the ponies in the other group that had most likely set up enough traps to catch the first ten or fifteen soldiers without any effort at all, but it was disconcerting to the ponies waiting in the alleyway. Did this mean they would have to deal with more soldiers than they were capable of handling? “Wait for my mark.” Vortex said enthusiastically, pushing off the ground and bolting into the air above the alleyway. The pegasus paused, her place in the sky giving her a perfect view of the compound below. The royal barracks was actually a collection of buildings, but most were small, nondescript storehouses or training grounds for the soldiers. The main structure, however, was easily the largest and most important of the bunch and one of the few buildings in the government quarter that had a significant amount of character to it. Pushed tightly against the towering stone wall that encompassed the entire compound, it faintly resembled the royal palace, with several attractive towers, windows, and balconies decorating the exterior. And at the base of the building, was a cluster of bushes and flowers placed in an appealing fashion around the large, wooden doors at the entrance. Having never suffered a full scale war on the capital, the original architects had obviously never realized the foolishness of placing structural weaknesses and arbitrary decorations on what was supposed to be seen and used as a fortress. On the contrary, the enormous wall and intimidating brass gate were constructed with a much more modern design and seemed to suggest that the building was never intended to be used as a barracks. But if that was true, and the building was essentially just a substitute, then why was such a critical part of the city ignored during its construction? “Try and keep up, Goldenroot!” she yelled, turning her attention back to the ponies beneath her. Beating her wings against the air, she propelled herself forward. Focusing her gaze on a single guard that stood distracted on a precarious balcony, she pushed harder against the air and sent herself soaring faster towards him. His gaze absorbed in the fiery inferno on the horizon, he didn’t even seem to notice the pegasus as she sped towards him with her hooves extended in front of her as she prepared for the point of impact. Colliding into the soldier, she wrapped her forelegs around him tightly and sent the both of them tumbling over the railing. While the soldier screamed his lungs out and the two neared ever closer to the ground below, the pegasus smiled and swerved upwards at the last second, grazing the short bushes and changing her direction towards Goldenroot and the mob of ponies that were swarming out of the alleyway. Sailing over the stone wall and giving the wailing pony a light toss, she dropped him into the mob as they rushed to the huge, brass gate. The guard’s expression went from absolute terror to one of bewilderment as he landed securely in the exact center of the group. His eyes darted around the crowd, which was almost as surprised as he was, before he cowered to the floor, holding his hooves over his head protectively. “Please don’t hurt me!” he cried out. “I’m not even a real soldier!” “I can’t tie knots!” Vortex declared, circling around the group once and speeding back towards the building. One of the unicorns in the crowd quickly wound a length of rope around each of the guard’s legs while the others ran hastily past him and towards the open gate of the compound. The two armoured ponies, one a red pegasus and the other a yellow unicorn, standing at the entrance panicked and hurried inside, pushing against either side of the metal gate as they tried to close it before they were swept away by the assailants. But as soon as they had begun to close the gate, Vortex flew over the wall and dove straight towards one of the guards, landing forcefully on top of the yellow unicorn and sending the stallion crashing to the ground, with parts of his armour flying in every direction. The red pegasus that had been pushing the other side of the gate closed stopped as soon as she heard the terrible racket and glanced from the dark blue pegasus standing triumphantly over her unconscious comrade to the fast approaching mob of angry ponies. Turning away from the assailants, she took off from the ground and started towards the open balcony. A smile formed on Vortex’s face as she pushed off the body of the stallion below her and pursued the fleeing soldier. Catching the pegasus high in the air above, Vortex grappled onto her, trying to mimic her actions from earlier and swoop back down to toss the alarmed soldier into the mob so they could subdue her. Unfortunately, this mare was one of the few remaining trained soldiers in the city and she was far more alert and agile than the pony she had tackled before. The soldier shifted her weight and sent them both careening into the open balcony, the two pegasi immediately breaking free from each other as they landed on the solid, marble floor and slid to the opposite ends of the small, sparsely decorated room. Colliding with the wall, both pegasi leapt to their feet, crouching into an aggressive posture and glaring at each other with a passionate determination. But as Vortex watched the pony on the other side of the room, trying to predict her movements, she began to realize that she recognized this strange, red pegasus. It was someone she had known very well, but hadn’t seen for a long time. “How come you didn’t leave to fight in the war?” Vortex asked, smiling at the mare across from her. “All the good soldiers did.” “Someone had to stick around to keep you punks in line.” the red pegasus retorted. “I can’t believe you’re actually behind all of this!” The red pegasus darted towards Vortex, trying to catch her off guard, but she just jumped out of the way, leaping over her head, pushing off the wall and flying to the other side of the room. “You just don’t understand the whole story.” the blue pegasus countered. “And even if I told you, I’m not sure you would be willing to believe me.” “Try me.” the pony across the room retaliated. The red pegasus, leapt forward and kicked forcefully at a chair in front of her, sending it flying in Vortex’s direction. The blue mare just barely managed to avoid the chair, landing on the balcony as it shattered against the wall. “Prance and the council weren’t trying to overthrow Celestia.” Vortex hastily blurted. “One of our members, and only one, was working with Prance to worsen the drought, but they were only trying to get the commoners involved in the council again and establish trade routes with Prance. “It’s really not as sinister as the princess makes it out to be and it’s definitely not something that’s worth going to war over.” “What happened to you, Vortex?” the soldier asked sincerely, jumping back against the wall. “I voted for you because I believed in what you stood for. You said that you were going to help the youth of Equestria, the ponies that always got the short end of the stick. And when you actually got elected, I was so happy for you. I was so happy for our country. I thought things were finally going to change, but… but then all this happened and now... now you’re a liar and a fool just like everyone else in the council.” “I know what Celestia told you and I understand why you believe her, but it’s not the truth.” the blue mare retorted. “I swear, I’m being honest with you, Shock Wave. There’s something going on behind the royal curtain that you don’t know about.” “Then why won’t you tell me!?” Shock Wave shouted. Vortex charged at the mare, desperate to get Shock Wave to listen to her. The red pegasus simply ducked to the right as she flew by, but Vortex planted her hooves on the far wall and pushed off, coming straight back towards her from the opposite direction. This time, however, she caught the red pegasus by surprise and the two of them slammed into the ground. “I’m trying to tell you! Just listen to me!” Vortex shouted, pinning the red mare to the floor. “Celestia isn’t the same princess. She’s different now. Something has happened to her and now she’s completely lost her mind. We’re only trying to help.” “We used to be friends, Vortex.” Shock Wave said, once again ignoring everything Vortex had said to her. “You taught me how to fly and I taught you how to fight. Then you let this council crap get to your head and you forgot all about me. You acted like I never even existed! You were the only friend I ever had, Vortex, how could you just leave me alone like that!?” Shock Wave used her hind legs to throw Vortex off her and back onto the balcony. The two pegasi jumped to their hooves simultaneously, crouching back down and glaring at each other. “I… I never forgot about you, Shock Wave.” Vortex replied, lowering the volume of her voice. “There was just so much that I had to deal with… You weren’t the only one that thought I was going to make a difference. But when I discovered that no one would even listen to me, I… just kind of gave up. I couldn’t bear to face you, let you know how much of a failure I’d been. I’m sorry, Shock Wave.” “Of all the ponies I know, hell, of all the ponies in the world, you’re the last one I’d ever believe would just give up.” the red pegasus scoffed. “But things are different now.” Vortex insisted. “I am making a difference. Things are going to finally change around here. And when this is all done with, I’m going to make sure that no one gets the short end of the stick ever again. But until that happens, you just have to trust me. Please, Shock Wave.” Vortex lowered her guard and focused intently on the red pegasus still crouching in front of her. She didn’t want to fight her friend. She didn’t want to hurt her, but Shock Wave didn’t seem to want to listen to her and she was running out of options. “You were always one to put on a great act, Vortex.” Shock Wave said calmly. “You could make anyone believe whatever you wanted them to. But I know you too well. I know you’re lying to me and I won’t just let you overthrow the government so that you can continue to fill this country with your hideous lies!” The red pegasus soared towards the balcony, appearing as if she were going to tackle Vortex. The blue mare ducked to avoid the charge, but Shock Wave found her friend’s movements too easily predictable. She flared her wings out to stop her forward momentum and kicked at the blue mare with a hind leg, hitting one of Vortex's forelegs and sending her tumbling off the balcony. Like all of the soldiers in the royal guard, Shock Wave's hooves were adorned with thick, steel cleats and the blow to Vortex's leg was devastating. But the determined mare fought through the pain, gritting her teeth and flapping her wings fervently to slow her descent. Catching a passing glance of her injured leg as she levitated in the air just below the balcony, Vortex could see that it was hanging from her body like the limb of a rag doll. She merely pushed the grotesque image out her mind and turned her gaze back towards the balcony, trying to find the red pegasus that had just seemed to disappear out of sight. As Vortex scanned the area by the balcony, Shock Wave approached her from the complete opposite direction. She had taught Vortex how to fight and she wasn’t about to be bested by her student. She moved quickly and without mercy, her eyes filled with an intense hatred. Vortex had betrayed her, lied to her and left her all alone. Now she had suddenly reappeared in the middle of an intense riot, trying to destroy everything she was sworn to protect, and she expected uncompromising trust and forgiveness and from her? That wasn’t something the red pegasus was willing to give, not now. And as her hooves connected with the back of the blue mare’s head with a deafening crack, Shock Wave sacrificed the only friend she ever had. “Vortex!” Goldenroot shouted in horror, breaking free from the mob below. But he could only watch as the beautiful blue pegasus fell through the air and into the bushes below, the brittle branches snapping violently under her weight and leaving her broken body lying amongst the crushed yellow daisies in the flowerbed. Shock Wave just observed the scene from the air above, turning her gaze from the disfigured pegasus in the bushes below to the fast approaching mob of angry nobles, there’s too many, even for me. The barracks is lost. With those final few thoughts replacing all remorse she had for her fallen friend, the red pegasus took off towards the royal palace. She may not be able to stop them, but she knew someone who could. “Vortex!” Goldenroot called again, his eyes clouding as he ignored the ponies around him and ran to the pegasus. The magnificent torrent of water on her flank, the fantastic vortex that the pale green stallion had watched so intently, so long ago, was barely visible through the ruined foliage, a thin stream of red liquid beginning at her flank and navigating its way down through the soil before finally dripping onto the stone floor at the stallion’s hooves. ~ Setting up the traps to ensnare the guards that would be lured into their ambush was the easy part. It had only taken an exceptionally large amount of rope, and an hour later they had enough snares and nets set up to capture at least twenty soldiers. And although they expected more than that, the remainder could be dealt with using more conventional means. No, the hard part of their assignment was actually getting the fires started. Igniting a fire seemed like a reasonably simple task, but starting a fire that was large enough to attract the attention of the majority of the soldiers in the royal barracks had taken quite a bit more of their effort. But after eventually discovering that one of the storehouses was filled to the brim with highly flammable oil, they lost all doubt that any fire they created wouldn’t be big enough for their purposes. When they were finally ready, they spread the oil over a dozen of the buildings and mere seconds after the oil was ignited, the storehouses erupted into a massive inferno. Shortly after the fires had started, a heavy, black smoke filled the air around the ponies. And though the smoke masked the ponies hiding in the shadows and waiting to ambush the unsuspecting guards, it made the usually simple task of breathing an exhausting effort. “I said keep your head down!” the pale orange unicorn barked, pushing on the top of Rarity’s head and forcing her to ground. She knew that he was only trying to help, but the barkeep was far from gentle and he drove the white unicorn’s head into the stones below, causing her to bite down hard on her lip. Her teeth cut deep into the soft tissue and a trickle of blood started to fill her mouth. “Breathing in too much of this stuff is going to kill you.” the barkeep insisted, not bothering to cast even a passing glance at the unicorn he had just injured. Lying on her stomach, Rarity moaned, closing her eyes and moving her hooves to her injured lip, the crimson blood staining her brilliant white coat. Upon opening her eyes again, she noticed the dark red stains on her hooves and gasped in shock, only causing her to choke on the blood still pooling inside her mouth. “I think they’re coming.” the barkeep said quietly, continuing to ignore the white unicorn even as she coughed violently on the floor beside him. “Get ready to spring the traps.” Sure enough, several ponies came into view on the edge of the horizon, their golden armour shining like beacons as they ran through the dark smoke. A few of the ponies had fire hoses slung around their backs, but all of them were completely ignorant of what was about to happen to them as they just rushed blindly into the center of the ambush. “Now!” the barkeep yelled at the top of his lungs. “Do it now!” Rarity had stopped coughing only long enough to look up and catch a glimpse of the resulting mayhem. The ponies hiding amongst the burning buildings pulled on the long lengths of rope leading out of their hiding places and several nets jumped off the ground, trapping several of the confused guards and pulling them into the air above. Confused, the few guards that weren’t already trapped ran around wildly and stumbled into the snares, the rope tightening around their legs, lifting them up and dangling them helplessly beside their companions. With most of the guards now trapped, the mob of nobles rushed out of their hiding places and charged out to meet the few remaining soldiers. The frightened guards, obviously unprepared to deal with the large gang of angry nobles, threw down whatever they were carrying and lowered themselves to the ground, pleading for mercy. “Tie them up!” the barkeep roared, his powerful voice clear over the commotion. “Quickly now!” The nobles did as instructed and hogtied the panicked soldiers. Once their legs were fastened together, the ponies rushed around the scene and started lowering the nets and snares, tying up the guards as soon as they touched the ground. Some of them offered resistance, especially the unicorns who managed to use their magic to throw some of the nobles to the ground or free some of the previously tied up soldiers, but after the barkeep knocked them unconscious with a strange mist, the rest seemed willing to comply with their captors and lay motionless on the ground. “Well that was a lot easier than I thought it would be.” the barkeep admitted, wiping his brow while still trying to keep his head low, under the dark cloud of smoke. Realizing that it was probably safe for her to approach, Rarity pushed herself off the ground and stumbled towards the group, still holding one hoof to her wounded mouth. “I’m glad that no one was hurt.” Rarity smiled faintly before starting to cough again. “Speak for yourself!” the pale orange stallion blurted, finally noticing how severely he had injured the mare. “My apologies, Rarity. I guess I got too caught up in the moment. Are you alright?” “No, not really.” she admitted with a faintly humorous tone, trying to hide her incredible pain. “Well, I may be a barkeep, but that’s also part of the reason I managed to learn so much about healing split lips.” he smirked, his horn lighting up with a dull orange light. “I only wish I had known this before I got this nasty scar on my own lip.” The light from his horn spread to the mare’s injury, the magic weaving itself around the wound and slowly repairing the damaged tissue. Rarity lowered her hoof as the pain subsided and the bleeding suddenly stopped, honestly surprised that he had done such a good job. “Oh my!” she said in shock, moving her tongue around her perfectly healed lip. “Thank you…” She drifted off when she realized that she didn’t even know the stallion’s name. “Firewater.” he smiled, noticing her hesitation. “You really do live up to your title, miss. I can’t honestly say that many ponies I’ve met would thank me for healing a wound that I was responsible for opening… Sorry I can’t do anything about the stains on your coat.” “Well!?” a dark red pegasus yelled, startling the two as she walked over to the two unicorns and interrupted their conversation. “They’re all tied up. What are we supposed to do now?” “Oh, well now we need to put the fires out.” Rarity answered with a smile. “And after the fires are out, we’ll take these guards and meet the others at the barracks and then… well I suppose then you could all go home.” “Go home!?” another of the nobles, a yellow unicorn, scoffed. “So that’s it!? We served you’re purpose and we’re just done now?” The yellow unicorn’s belligerence had attracted the interest of the entire group and now they were all standing around, listening to them bicker. “Well no, not yet. We haven’t put the fires out.” Rarity replied, stating the obvious. “And I really do suggest we do that sometime soon before they spread.” “That’s a terrible idea.” a blue pony muttered. “We’re trying to get the princesses’ attention, are we not? We should let the fires burn. The worse we make the situation, the faster she’ll come back.” Several of the ponies in the group nodded their head and expressed their agreement with the blue pony. “That’s absolutely correct!” the yellow unicorn added vehemently. “In fact, we should be out their getting more of the city involved in the riot.” “Don’t be stupid!” Firewater scorned. “We’re not starting a war. We’ve done our part and we need to put these fires out. Do you really want to just let them burn? What if they burn your house down? What will you do then? Blame me?” “The fires are not going to burn our houses down.” the dark red pegasus said, “The winds are blowing towards the common quarter. And who honestly cares if a few of the commoners’ houses burn down. The government always pays for it all anyway.” “Please, everyone calm down…” Rarity tried to intervene. “It’s the middle of the damned night! There are ponies sleeping in those houses!” the barkeep yelled, ignoring the white unicorn. “They’ll get caught in the fires and die if we don’t stop the flames!” “Not if we move the riot to the common quarter.” the blue pony said. “No pony can sleep through a riot. We’ll just get a few more of the nobles from around the city involved and…” “There are young fillies and colts in those houses!” the barkeep argued, his voice growing louder. “Don’t you realize everyone else left to fight in the war? The only ones still in the common quarter are the old, the young and the helpless. They can’t even fight back!” “Perfect!” the yellow unicorn said. “Then no one will get hurt. They’ll all just abandon their homes and run away.” Panicking, Rarity began to realize that she had become isolated from the dispute and that nobles were about to do exactly the opposite of what she wanted. They were going to let the fires continue burning and spread the riot further into the city. She was supposed to prevent this kind of thing from happening, but she felt so useless. They just kept bickering and arguing and the quarrel was becoming more one sided by the second. “Are you insane!?” Firewater shouted, reaching out with his magic and grabbing hold of the yellow pony, attempting to use aggression to make his point. But he was too forceful and his magic knocked the yellow pony to the ground, making the group explode into a flurry of activity. The dark red pegasus landed her hoof squarely into the side of the Firewater’s head and sent him flying to the ground, while the blue pony helped the yellow unicorn back to her feet, the rest of the group simply arguing amongst one another. “Please, everyone stop!” Rarity cried out, trying to calm everyone down. “You can’t just burn down those ponies’ homes. It’s not right! It’s not fair!” Rarity rushed into the middle of the crowd and tried to push the dark red pegasus out of the way as he approached the injured bartender. But as soon as she touched her, the pegasus shoved her out of the way and she fell to the ground. “This is the only way.” the dark red pegasus said, glaring between the bartender clutching his head and the white unicorn hopelessly staring back at her. “We can’t afford to stop now, not while the princess is still waging a war in Prance and ponies are still dying. We need to get her attention and stop the fighting now. A life is always worth more than a few simple houses. “Everyone who wants this plan to actually work, come with me! We’re going to the common quarter, but not before we round up a few more ponies to help us.” “No! You can’t do this! Rarity shouted at the dark red pegasus as she tried to get back up. The pegasus planted her foot softly on top of the unicorn’s stomach to stop her from getting up, “Don’t try to stop us. I don’t want to have to hurt you.” With that final comment, most of the ponies left, leaving the two unicorns on the ground and a sparse few other ponies behind to watch as they went off to start a full-scale war in Canterlot. And as they finally disappeared out of her sight, the white unicorn began to realize how incredibly ironic it was. They had wanted this to happen since the very beginning. It was all part of the plan. They had wanted things to get a little out of control, but now that it was finally happening, she didn’t want to be part of it anymore. She just wanted them all to stop and the whole thing to end before anyone got hurt. “I’m sorry, Rarity. I couldn’t stop them.” Firewater said. The barkeep rose to his hooves and then reached out to help the white unicorn up. After pulling the mare up, he turned to face the small gathering of ponies that had chosen not to leave. “To everyone else, thank you for staying.” he continued. “I’m glad that we still have a few level heads left in this world.” The ponies just stared at him with concerned expressions, worried that they wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop the chaos that would soon consume the entire city. “Rarity, I want you to go find Thunderhorn at my bar.” Firewater continued. “Tell him what happened and make sure he’s alright. Who knows what they might do now. They may even try to take the orb from him. “The rest of us will take the soldiers and meet the group that attacked the barracks. We can’t just leave them behind or they’ll die from the smoke.” “What about the fire?” Rarity asked, glancing towards the towering inferno and thick, black smoke that was quickly starting to spread to the small buildings beside the storehouses. “We can’t stop it now. We don’t have enough ponies to extinguish a fire of that magnitude.” “But…” “Just go find Thunderhorn!” he said, raising his voice. “The rest of you, find some wagons. We need to get these soldiers to the barracks!” Rarity flashed a nervous look at the barkeep before turning around and running off, leaving the ponies behind her as she ran to warn the old general before things took another turn for the worse. ~ Basking in the glow of the bright moonlight and carefully hiding amongst the small rocky outcropping that sat just a short distance away from the city’s walls, they waited for the precise moment to strike, the moment when they would all be too distracted to react and save their palace, and their king, from an ambush. Celestia stood in the exact center of the group with the twelve pegasi hugging close against the scattered boulders on either side of her. Being on nearly the opposite side of the city, they were some distance from the main gate and the worst of the fighting, but they had no difficulty hearing the conflict. What they heard most clearly was not the clashing of armour or the barbaric grunting as the two sides cascaded into each other, but the absolute terror that was overflowing over the stone walls of the city. Celestia knew that their assault on the front gate had to be convincing or Prance would immediately recognize it as a diversion, so the sounds of cannonballs soaring over the city and demolishing the buildings in their path, the blood-curdling screams of ponies as they tried to escape the catastrophe, the high-pitched wailing of infants as they cried out for their lost parents and the loud, commanding voices of the army officials as they tried to keep it all under control was very real and utterly horrifying. The princess lifted the small canteen of water off her neck and slowly revolved the lid until it popped off, gently clinking as it landed on the rocks below her. Closing her eyes and lifting the canteen to her mouth, she let the cool water gently trickle past her trembling lips and down her throat. As the steady stream subsided and the last of the water dripped onto her tongue, she tossed the receptacle away and onto the grass, spreading out her wings and glancing at the soldiers on either side of her. The pegasi took quick note of her action and, eyes darting to one another, they followed suit, stretching their wings and dropping their bags to the ground. Beating her wings against the air, the princess took off from the ground and emerged out from behind the rocky outcropping with the twelve other pegasi emulating her actions as they lifted into the air. And with one strong push, the winged ponies soared as one towards the black spire in the absolute center of the city. Soon enough, it will all be over, the alicorn thought as she turned her head to observe the chaos below. If the sounds they heard from outside the castle walls were any indication of the horror beneath them, she would have been prepared for the sight beneath her, but nothing could truly prepare her for what she saw. In her impressively long life, she had never seen such carnage, such destruction, and such overwhelming fear in the hearts of the ponies that she could not honestly say were so very different from her own. The old and the young, the brave and the cowardly, every one of them seemed to cower amongst the wreckage. The only ones who had nothing to be afraid of were the ones who had already paid the ultimate price. Why did it have to come to this? She asked herself, pulling her eyes away from the ground. What did I do wrong? “Princess!” Swift Wing cried out. “Look, it’s the western battalion and they seem to be at full strength.” She wanted to be happy, to feel relieved that the ponies in the western detachment were seemingly unharmed, but the horror on the ground below starved her from those feelings. As long as she knew that so many, even the ones she was supposed to hate, were suffering such an unbearable fate, she could feel no joy from seeing these soldiers appear on the horizon to the west. But as the obsidian tower filled her view, she was given little time to contemplate her thoughts. She had instructed the team to start from the bottom and work their way up. It was not the most efficient method, but it was thorough and they couldn’t afford to overlook the king if he happened to be hiding somewhere in the palace. Her horn glowing with a bright yellow light, the windows near the base of the tower cracked and shattered, the fractures of glass shooting into the building and shredding the silver-armoured guards that were standing in the way. Rearranging their formation behind the princess, the pegasi soared through the windows and dropped onto the floor with a thunderous boom. The four guards that had been inside the main room had been torn to pieces by the glass and their bodies littered the floor in a pool of blood. The two guards that had managed to survive the barrage of shrapnel dragged themselves along the floor. They whimpered in pain and pleaded for mercy in their native tongue before they had their helmets kicked off and their lives viciously ended by one of the pegasi. “Colonel Swift Wing, I want you to take your five soldiers and sweep the lower floor!” Celestia ordered, indifferent to the grotesque condition of the room and the swift brutality of the ponies around her. “If you find Pierre, leave him alive if possible and wait until we return. After you’re finished, stop any of their reinforcements from pursuing us up the tower.” “You heard the princess!” the dark green pegasus shouted. “You three take the west wing, we’ll take the east wing. Meet back here when you’re done.” The princess pushed off the floor and then up the staircase with the six pegasi following in behind her in groups of two. The few guards that came rushing down the staircase were caught by surprise and Celestia hurled them over the railing and down the center of the tower or out one of the windows, their screams resonating in her eardrums as they helplessly tried to cling to the air around them and save themselves from their imminent demise. As they reached the top of each set of stairs, Celestia would order a group of the pegasi to split off and secure the floor before climbing the rest of the staircase and meeting her at the top of the tower. It was strange, when she ordered them around the tower she referred to them all by name. She had taken the time to learn their names, Silver Cloud, Raindrops, Wind Whistler, Soarin, Lightning, and Purple Haze, but she didn’t really know anything about them as individuals. They had all been fairly significant ponies at one point or another, but she couldn’t seem to remember why. Was she really so jaded that she had forgotten everything about them but their ultimately arbitrary names? When the last two had, although reluctantly so, left her to continue up to the last floor on her own, she reached the great iron doors on the top floor and came face-to-face with two strangely familiar figures. These two, however, she remembered for their defining characteristics and not their names. The first was a yellow pegasus that lowered herself, crouching down and preparing to hurl her full weight at the princess while the second, an old unicorn with a fading orange coat, stepped back, his horn shining with a dazzling crimson light. They were ready for a fight, but the princess just stopped in front of them with an almost paralyzing stare focused on the ponies in front of her. “Who… who are you?” she demanded, turning her gaze to stare directly at the yellow pegasus. Her short orange hair was almost entirely hidden beneath her silver helmet and her light blue eyes reflected the light like sapphires in the cold room. She was exactly how her student had described her to be, every little description had been flawlessly accurate, so then why was she alive? “You mean you don’t remember us?” she asked with an aggressive tone as she relaxed slightly. Even her voice was exactly how the princess had imagined it to be. “You’re supposed to be dead.” the alicorn said, her hooves trembling as she looked back and forth between the two ponies. “Why aren’t you dead!?” “Dead!?” she asked in disbelief. “Why would you possibly think that?” “I think she was trying to have us assassinated, Catherine.” Daniel said, maintaining his hostile attitude towards the princess. “That’s probably who that Twilight Sparkle character was. She must have been an assassin!” The princess stepped back, her legs shaking violently beneath her, “What..?” “No, no, Daniel.” Catherine intervened, relaxing completely as she watched the princess. “Something’s not right about this. I think she honestly doesn’t know what’s going on, do you princess?” The princess just shook her head slowly. “Do you remember who we are?” Catherine asked. “You’re the mare that helped my student… Twilight.” Celestia replied. “Princess Celestia.” the pegasus responded. “I’ve never met anyone named Twilight.” “No, you’re lying to me!” the princess stuttered. “You’re trying to trick me!” “I swear to you, princess!” Catherine replied quickly. “I’m not lying to you. I’ve never met your student. I was one of the ponies that accompanied King Pierre on his journey to your palace several months ago, the other was Daniel. Perhaps you’ve mistaken us with some other ponies?” Celestia’s horned flared up with a powerful yellow light, far brighter than the one still encircling Daniel’s horn. Her eyes burned brightly with the same yellow light, glaring at the two ponies as she slowly drew closer to them. “No, you’re lying!” Celestia shouted angrily. “You know that you’ve failed. You know that your plans to take over Equestria have been trampled on and now you’re trying to weasel your way out of your punishment!” “Princess, please!” Catherine screamed back, the pegasus backing away, now completely overcome by the terrifying figure approaching her. “That’s not true! I’m not trying to trick you! I’m telling the truth!” “I won’t let you hurt her!” Daniel cried out. The old unicorn fired a bolt of magic at the princess, but she simply teleported out of its path, letting the powerful magic fly past her and demolish the wall behind, the stones crumbling and cracking as the building started to tumble to one side. “You can suffer the same grim fate that you so maliciously intended for my poor, innocent student, you horrible old menace.” Celestia said, turning to glare at the unicorn that was just recovering from the spectacular magical blast he had unleashed. The princess reached out and wrapped her magic around Daniel tightly, squeezing the pony and making it difficult for him to breathe. With one swift motion, she snapped the horn off his head and dropped it to the floor, the pony screaming in agony as he watched the horn slowly roll across the floor towards the staircase. As the horn tumbled off the ledge, the unicorn vanished and reappeared outside the tower, his faded orange figure barely visible from the large hole in the wall as he was released from the princess’ grasp. The broken horn gently clinked against the stairs as it picked up speed. “Daniel!” Catherine cried out, her eye’s turning to the hole in the wall as she watched the pony start to fall down to the ground. Meanwhile, the wall had begun to completely collapse and the ceiling above shifted in its place, startling the yellow pegasi and causing her to stumble and fall to the floor, her helmet falling off and tumbling out of the opening in the wall. The princess, realizing that she had to do something before the ceiling came crashing down around them, started to rearrange the bricks on the wall of the tower, moving them from around the room to repair the hole and stabilize the tower. The horn’s gentle clinking had grown softer and more distant as it disappeared down the stairwell. Turning her attention away from the hastily repaired wall, the princess just stared at the yellow pegasus sobbing on the ground, her beautiful orange mane now perfectly visible with her helmet gone. Her horn’s glow disappeared, and with it, the passionate fury in her eyes. “I’m… I’m sorry, Catherine.” Celestia said softly. The pegasus didn’t bother to look up or say anything back to the princess as the tears continued to pour down her face. As she sobbed on the ground, she was carefully wrapped in the princess’ magic before vanishing from her place against the wall, the yellow glow that had taken over the alicorn’s horn dissolving in the air and eventually fading away completely. I think that Swift Wing and the guards at the base of the tower will be able to deal with one grieving soldier, she thought, closing her eyes and breathing the air into her lungs deeply. Opening her eyes, she turned to the set of black iron doors ahead of her. The entrance was locked, so the princess wrapped her magic around it and pulled on the massive set of doors, the stone cracking and complaining as it was finally ripped out of its frame. Gently leaning the door against the wall, she looked into the room. Inside was a single pony, sitting and watching her from a desk at the far end of the room. “Princess Celestia.” Pierre said calmly. “I don’t suppose you’d mind knocking next time? It might save us both some trouble.” “You’re awfully composed for a pony that’s on his last leg.” Celestia remarked, walking through the opening. “Don’t you fear your judgement?” “I failed my country and I failed every single pony that lives within it.” the ruby red pony with the white mane replied. “I cannot fear the punishment I rightly deserve.” ~ “Lord Thunderhorn?” Rarity called out, throwing open the door to the tavern and looking around the room for the old stallion. Stepping inside, her eyes moved around the seemingly empty room. In the center was the large wooden table that they had all gathered around before leaving to perform their specific roles, the familiar crystal orb now glowing with a bright blue intensity on top. Lying on the floor beside the table was the old general, completely motionless on the ground. “Thunderhorn!” she screamed, running to his side and leaning in close beside him. “Ugh…” he groaned, slowly opening his eyes to stare directly at the white unicorn. “Rarity?” “Are you alright, Lord Thunderhorn?” she asked. “What happened to you?” “Those sorry, good for nothing drunks just left!” he said, gradually getting up off the floor. “There’s some kind of commotion going on outside and they got all worried and left me alone. Do you know anything about that?” The general turned his gaze down towards the white unicorn’s hooves, noticing the obscene amount of blood staining her coat. “I’m sorry-” Rarity said reluctantly before getting cut off. “Rarity, what happened to you!?” the general blurted out. “You’re covered in blood!” “The riot got a little out of control.” she admitted, keeping her tone. “I couldn’t stop them. They wouldn’t help us put the fires out and now they’re heading to the common quarter, trying to start a larger riot.” “Well it looks like you put up a good fight.” the general mocked, leaning in closer to look at the blood spattering her hooves and face. Rarity sighed and lifted a hoof, turning it over in front of her and inspecting the damage to her perfect white coat, “It’s okay. I’m not hurt.” “Don’t worry so much about the riot. It’s not your fault that they ran off. Adrenaline and booze do weird things to a pony’s sense of right and wrong.” the old unicorn said. “And I’m sorry that I put such a heavy burden on you, Rarity. I guess I had just really hoped that we would have been able to control them. You should not have to feel responsible for their failures.” “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt…” Rarity said glumly. “Look, as long as we’re making a fuss, we’re making progress. We can only hope that things will take care of themselves when the princess arrives.” the grey stallion said. “And although I had to put a little more effort into charging the orb after those drunks left, I still managed to completely fill it, before passing out. So let’s go meet the others at the barracks, but first we should clean that blood off you so you don’t scare anyone on the way over there.” Rarity simply laughed at the idea, but when they got to the bathroom and she had a chance to get a good look at herself in the mirror, she almost cried. Thunderhorn, who had exhausted himself the most from charging the crystalline orb, looked bad. His old age seemed to finally be catching up with him and he could hardly stand on his own, but Rarity looked considerably worse. Her eyes were a horrible, piercing red colour with blue mascara bleeding down her face; her hair, a tangled rat’s nest, dangling along her blood and soot stained coat in a lifeless heap. Once the absolute epitome of beauty, she was now a truly grotesque and almost painful sight to behold. As she tried to wash herself off and hold back her tears, she wondered how it was even possible for things to just completely fall apart like they had. It had been only a little longer than a day, but she looked more terrible than she could have ever imagined. Even when she had fought off Nightmare Moon and Discord, she hadn’t looked this bad. So what was so different about their situation now? What was happening to her and the country she lived in? ________________________________________________________________________ Author’s notes: Hello everyone! This time I know I’m repeating myself. Sorry it took so long for the new chapter to come out. I had to do some major revisions, my editor was busier than normal, and I had it to wait for it to go through two prereaders. In the end, it took about a week longer than I expected. On a better note, the next chapter should be out fairly soon. Why? Well, it’s actually almost finished already. I essentially wrote both chapters at once because I had originally intended to accomplish a lot more in this chapter. However, it quickly went from about 30 pages to 45 (more than double the usual and quadruple the first few) and my editor and I decided that it would be best to cut it in half and give you one section first while I finish working on the other. I would like to take the time to thank my editor, Specter Von Baren, as well as my two prereaders, StyxD and a friend of mine that will be left unnamed at the moment. (Because I don’t know what he wants to be referred to as…) Some of you may know him as the guy who worked on that impressive Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney crossover. (I believe it’s titled “Turnabout Storm”.) I know for sure that he did the voices for Phoenix and, I believe, a few of the other characters, but I think he also did a significant amount of work on the graphics. Anyway… Thanks to all of you. You really helped me improve this chapter and turn it into something really quite spectacular. I’m sure I would be in some kind of metaphorical ditch somewhere without your help. And as always, if you have any questions or comments about the story, you can reach me at my email: admin@theamberfox.ca I’ll also be keeping a close eye on the comments below the story. ________________________________________________________________________ Disclaimer: “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and its derivatives are the sole intellectual property of Hasbro©. I do not have, nor claim to have, the rights to the intellectual property that this story is based on.