Beacon in the Shadows
or
Cheerilee’s a Paladin
Chapter 11: Through the Fire and the Flames
By: DigitDaemon
~~~~~
Braeburn steadied himself against the next break in the ramparts, and with a deep breath, fired again. That was his thirtieth kill in half as many minutes. The pegasi running resupply runs were have difficulty keeping him stocked with ammunition. He took another shot at the swarms of ponies and constructs below, and scored another hit, this time, it was one of the unicorns that were tirelessly funnelling The Children of the Night’s army from the rocky hills below up to the city. The marksman was about to take another shot when his attention was interrupted by the sound of wings behind him.
Lieutenant Flurry Wing gave Braeburn a salute, “Sir, your presence is requested by the princesses in the war room.”
Braeburn gave her an exasperated sigh, “And how am I supposed to get there? It’s almost a twenty minute trip from here.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, Celestia will be taking care of that in... Four, three, two, one.”
Braeburn vision blurred as he was torn across the fabric of space time, before abruptly landing beside Captain Shining Armor in the war room.
Celestia’s horn dimmed and then flickered out, “Sorry for the abrupt change of scenery, but there is an issue of the utmost importance to cover.”
Braeburn rubbed his eyes and waited a second for the ringing in his ears to stop, “Eh, I’m fine. What’s going on?”
Celestia turned to her sister and gave a nod.
“Dost thou recall the book that thou brought with thee to Canterlot?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“It contains most disturbing news. The demon energy that our enemy hath made use of comes from their leader, the one that is called Silvered Tongue.”
“He’s a demon?”
“Neigh, but he hath done a horrible thing. He summoned the demon of lies and currently traps the demon within his own body.”
Braeburn looked at the lunar princess in confusion, “So, do you want me to go stop him myself?”
“Also neigh. ‘Twood be too dangerous. His power now may rival that of even mine and my sister’s. We wish to draw him out in battle.”
Celestia cut in, “Indeed, we plan to feign a retreat to the walls of the castle, and then use the arcane cannons to level the walls of the city, trapping the forces already here, inside.”
“Can’t their unicorns just teleport inside?”
“Yes, that is where you come in, along with the archer squadron. We need you to pin down their forces by take out the unicorn sorcerers. Perhaps it will be enough to draw out their heathen leader. If not, the Wyverns arriving from behind will force him to take refuge inside the city walls regardless.”
Braeburn nodded in acknowledgement.
“I need you, Captain, to prepare your force to retreat, as well as alert General Turncoat of the plan.”
Shining Armor saluted. “I will soon join in the battle.”
Luna stepped forward, “As will I.”
Celestia shook her head softly, “No Luna, not yet.”
“But sister, hath you forgotten that of the two of us it is I that--”
“Dear sister, though I appreciate your concern, it is better if in the end we do not have to show all our cards, than tipping our hoof too early.”
Luna pondered her sisters words for a moment, “Very well. I shall wait within the Sanctuary.”
“Then it is decided.”
With another flash of magic and rush of space around him, Braeburn was once again sitting on the rampart wall.
~~~~~
Cheerilee lay collapsed in the center of Onyx’s gravity well. Her vision was fading from the blood pooling in her hoofs. Her head pounded, and she could no longer feel her muscle’s fatigue. She painstakingly managed to shift her head so she could speak.
“I...I can’t go...further,” she managed to force out before her eyes closed.
“Good, now stand.”
Cheerilee didn’t move.
“I said, Stand!”
The paladin’s eyes shot back open.
“Good, I was afraid you had given up, now do as I say and stand.”
Cheerilee tried to voice her inability to do so but she lacked the energy.
“What are you waiting for?”
Realising that the only way to get him to be quiet was to do as he said, Cheerilee shakily got to her hooves.
“You can’t go on...Is that right? You were crawling across to get to this point, yet here you are now, standing on all four hooves.”
Cheerilee looked down at the floor. The gravity well wasn’t any weaker, she could still feel it tugging her down, but she was, for the moment, stronger. Cheerilee carefully walked the rest of the way across the gravity well and past Onyx Loadstone, before collapsing in exhaustion.
Onyx walked up to the semi conscious mare. “I can’t have you going out to fight like this, please excuse me but this next part is going to be a bit...intimate.”
Cheerilee could barely hear the stallion’s words, let alone understand what he meant. That however, changed when suddenly she felt new energy flowing through her. It was as if something immaterial was pressing itself up against her, and it felt wonderful. The fuschia mare laid still, letting out small grunts and sighs of euphoria, as her own strength replenished itself from this foreign source. When the process finally ended, not fully conscious yet of the world around her, Cheerilee let out a whimper of sadness.
“Wake Paladin, we still have much to do.”
The high from what she had just experience finally faded from the mare and she shook off the last remnants of disorientation.
“What was that?”
Onyx actually blushed a bit at the question, “That was my soul, feeding into yours. It is not something normally done except between the closest of ponies, but in my many years, I have found other uses for such an act.”
Cheerilee’s mouth formed a small circle in understanding and her cheeks grew red as well.
“But come, as I said, we still have much to do.”
~~~~~
The princess’s plan had yet to bear fruit as Silvered Tongue remained hidden. The secondary purpose of the false retreat had worked fairly well however. With only scattered resistance inside the city walls, the day guards now had the opportunity to switch out with the night guards and get some rest.
Illiesia had returned almost an hour ago to announce that the wyvern army would be ready to begin their assault in an hour and a half. This meant the Braeburn got the first chance he had had all night to eat. A problem he attacked with gusto, especially since the royal chef had stayed behind to provide food.
The guard’s mess hall had been transformed into a sort of gourmet soup kitchen. A long line of guards and other essential castle staff snaked it’s way across the floor. The gunslinger watched with idle amusement as small bickering matches broke out in the line. Having eaten already and simply resting his tired hooves, it wasn’t something he had to deal with.
Another fifteen minutes of relaxation over, Braeburn returned to his post on the castle wall, and he didn’t have to wait long for the action to start. The Coal tribe began by firing their long range cannons over the tops of the nearby mountains, and into the rebels camped below Canterlot. They then followed up by making runs over the camp and dropping all kind of bombs and rockets into the surviving fighters.
Braeburn didn’t have to wait much longer before unicorns began to appear on the city’s own terrace, but he held his fire as he had been ordered to do. As the clusters of soldiers swelled, earth ponies and pegasi joined the unicorns on the terrace. Then finally the army stopped growing and it was apparent that the original rebel army had been torn to threads, not even a fraction of it’s original size.
Suddenly, Celestia’s voice rang out over the shattered army, “Children of the Night, you have made a grave mistake in turning yourselves against Equestria. However, I am willing to forgive anypony who surrendered themselves now and approaches the castle unarmed. Do not fear the reactions of your comrades, for if anypony tries to stop somepony else who wishes to save their own life, they will feel the full extent of this great nation’s wrath.”
Braeburn watched patiently as groups of ponies broke off from the horde of battle weary fighters and approached the castle gates. After about fifteen minutes, they stopped surrendering and all was silent again, until once more Celestia’s voice rang out.
“Does anypony wish to represent your interest?”
Suddenly a circle formed in the mass of ponies, and standing in the center was a large silver stallion with blue runes and line of power scattered all across his body. Braeburn raised his rifle up and took aim. Finally, we can end this.
A single shot left the barrel of his gun and struck dead center in the unicorn chest...at least it would have, except its course was interrupted by a wall of solid invisible magic.
“Hiding behind your guards Celestia?” Silvered Tongue’s voice was heard just as loud as Celestia’s had, “Why don’t you come and face me yourself, you damned tyrant?”
Cheers rose up from the crowd around the rogue sorcerer, but immediately died down as the princess of the Sun stepped out of the open castle gate, adorned in golden armor. As she began the short journey to face Silvered Tongue, the Sun rose up from the horizon as if to mark her progress. When finally, the yellow sphere was positioned behind it’s counterpart the moon. Celestia’s mane was no longer the blues and pinks of sunrise, but a more ominous combination of purples and oranges.
Very softly this time, Celestia spoke out against the leader of the failed revolution, “Murderer, kidnapper, liar, and fiend...It would be my pleasure to end you personally.”
~~~~~
It had started as a relatively quiet day in ponyville, that had all changed however, when the attack on Canterlot had begun. The local residents had no trouble seeing the city on the mountain or the exchange of fire between the capital city and the army below. By the time the Sun was eclipsed in the sky, a kind of quiet panic had overtaken the city. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the elements of harmony had seemingly gone missing. A fear that Shadow Fetters had worked tirelessly to put to rest, but nopony really wanted to be told everything was fine, panicking was sort of a unofficial town sport.
Berry Punch and Symphony’s house had taken on a kind of pregnant silence. Berry knew that Cheerilee would soon be a part of the fighting in Canterlot, if she was wasn’t already. Symphony however, did not understand what exactly was happening, but the worried look on her aunt’s face and the vague answers she got when she asked about her mother, told her that something was going on.
In order to get her mind off of what was happening, Symphony had been outside playing with three of the other fillies from school. They had even made her the fourth Ponyville Cutie Mark Crusader. But even though the other three’s sisters were gone, they had still finally been called away to go to bed. Now the little pegasus filly was idly bouncing a small, blue, rubber ball against the wall and trying her best to catch it. Just as she thought she was finally going to get it, a shout from behind distracted her and broke her concentration.
Symphony turned and saw three large ponies stood in her way. There was a red earth pony, a blue unicorn, and a blue pegasus stallion. They stood in a delta formation with the pegasus in the front.
“So, you’re the little filly that took out our train?”
Symphony just gulped and backed up against the wall, not knowing what they were talking about.
“Boss says we have to kill you now...and your aunt. Don’t worry though, I have a lot of respect for somepony so brave, so I’ll make your death quick and painless.”
The pegasus nodded to the unicorn, and after a short delay, a bolt of pitch black energy shot towards Symphony. The filly screamed as it sped towards her and then cut her off; the impact causing an explosion of dark energies, partially burning the side of the house and leaving it obscured in smoke.
The pegasus once again turned to address the unicorn, “Think you might have put a bit too much into that one, Piper.”
The unicorn just shrugged and turned to walk away.;
“Aw, leaving already?” came a young female voice from within the cloud of smoke. “But we haven’t even gotten to play.”
The pegasus turned just in time to see a dark green blur leap from the smoke. He reached to grab his dagger, but found the sheath empty. Turning he had just enough time to see his unicorn partner get stabbed through the ribs and die, the body falling away to reveal the assailant. It was a young pegasus mare with a dark green coat covered in black markings. As the two made eye contact, Symphony’s eyes changed from golden to blood red.
The pegasus only just managed to get his hooves up in time to block the blade. and after a quick struggle managed to get a hold of Symphony’s hoof. They pushed back and forth, but as time went on Symphony’s strength began to fade. Just as the dagger was about to be forced against her own neck, she bucked the pegasus stallion above her in between the legs and he fell right onto the now upturned blade.
As Symphony struggled out from under the body, the blood lust drained away from her. The small bit of magic from the arcane bolt was wearing off quickly, and she now was only as big as a ten year old child. She turned and came face to face with the red earth pony.
“You’re going to pay for killing them.”
Symphony tried to run but he caught her back hoof and sent her sprawling.
“I’m going to enjoy this” he said with a sadistic smile.
*crash*
The earth pony looked down at the shards of glass around his feet and winced as another glass bottle sailed into the back of his head. He turned and found a dark purple mare standing ten feet away.
“That trick might work in a bar, against drunks, but you’re going to have to do better than that if you want to stop me.” He said as he started to pull out his own dagger.
Berry Punch gave him a solid glare, “It’s not the glass, it’s what’s in the glass.”
The earth pony stallion took a strong sniff, “Cheap vodka?”
“Indeed.” Berry punch pulled a long thin object out of the box in her hoof and slid it against the side. The match sparked and sputtered to life.
The earth ponies eyes went wide in terror and without a second thought he turned and ran. As he passed The Golden Oaks Library, a shadow dropped down from the second story and landed squarely on the red pony’s back. The would be assassin was pulled into a roll and by the time his body was vertical again, his life was over.
Shadow Fetter stood up off of the dead pony and gave Berry Punch a single nod, before walking back towards the library, wiping off the bloody kitchen knife with his wing.
~~~~~
Silvered Tongue cringed as another beam of solar energy impacted his shield. So far he was able to evenly match Celestia’s power level, the problem however was that her mana reserves were literally as large as the sun itself, and he was at about half of his own.
Celestia had been slowly making progress on SIlvered Tongue’s shield, but she was afraid that he would just run when he realised he could not win. Time to set up plan B.
“The darkness in your own heart has made you weak sorcerer. I will see that you are never able to hurt Equestria or my sister again.”
Silvered Tongue cringed as another solar flare accentuated the determination in the solar princesses voice. I can’t win this fight, I need an advantage...Of course, If I take out the weaker link, the whole chain will fall.
Silvered Tongue gave Celestia a smirk, “Speaking of your sister, it’s a shame she couldn’t join the fun. Too scared that I’ll take away the moon from her again?”
Celestia answered with another bolt of energy.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Silvered Tongue fired the death mark spell he had been charging for several minutes now. The black sigil flew forward, and as all the previous had, disintegrated in the dense magic cloud around the princess.
“My sister is not afraid of you, but you will never reach her sanctuary.”
“How poetic of you, please don’t go anywhere.” Silvered Tongue sneered, and then vanished.
He’s all your sis, make it count
~~~~~
Luna paced back and forth across the plainly decorated hall. She had been wait for hours as the sound of fighting had died down. When the Sun rose up in eclipse, she was sure that it meant the her sister was now fighting the rogue sorcerer, but all she could do is wait and worry. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the soft sound of teleportation and the smell of arcane particles in the air.
Luna turned to face the sudden intruder and found the cause of all her worrying standing on the other side of the hall. She gave him a sullen glance, “Is she dead?”
“You sister fought well, but I am truly the strongest. She died fighting if it means anything to you.”
Luna’s frown turned into a bright grin, “Truly, you must speak in jest. One as ‘strong’ as you certainly must know of the connection my sister and I share.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“Why did you lie? To gain the upper hoof, for the same reason, I asked.”
Silvered Tongue scowled at the younger princess. “Enough talk.”
“Of course.”
Before Luna could react, a massive lance of arcane energy shot across the room and into her, sending up a cloud of debri in it’s wake.
“A few minutes rest before I tell Celestia the bad news probably won’t hurt” Silvered Tongue spoke out loud to himself.”
“Leaving so soon my little criminal?” a smooth feminine voice said from behind the settling dust.
Silvered Tongue whipped around to find a large, pitch black alicorn standing in the crater that Princess Luna had previously occupied.
“So suprised?”
“You should be dead,” the sorcerer accused.
“Should I now? You were unable to win against my sister. What on earth made you think,” Nightmare Moon scrutinised her enemy and then let out small chuckle, “Let me get this straight, you actually thought that Celly was stronger than me?”
“But, she’s-”
“Bigger? Perhaps normally. Older? Not by much. Let me tell you something, the spell my sister used to exile me those many eons before, it is not hard to cast by any means. Sure, it takes a large amount of energy, but the sun has more than enough. So why do you think she needed the Elements of Harmony? I’ll tell you why, because my sister may have beaten me at everything from chess to royal debate, but there is one thing she has never been able to beat me at, by her self, Combat.”
Nightmare Moon rose up on on her back legs and with a thunderous strike to the ground, the roof of the sanctuary crumbled above them. After the dust cleared, the stars and the solar eclipse showed brightly down upon where the two ponies stood.
Silvered Tongue was frozen in shock by what he had just seen, “But..But how...I” He continued to mutter to himself, even as he saw the magic gathering around the dark mare’s horn.
“Die!”
I guess it is death after all. That army of yours will make a great first meal.
Silvered Tongue screamed as the column of Lunar energy tore through his body, overloading his nervous system and stopping his heart. His misery was short lived however, as the energies soon fried his mind.