Heart under Blade stood guard outside Celestia’s bedroom door on Earth. She hated how the armor of a Royal Guard made her look. The lovely blood red mane she had been so proud of was a tacky uninspired blue; her fur was the same color which did help mitigate her ire. The armor made the mare’s appearance into a stallion, something else she didn’t like about her assignment.
Her mind kept shifted to her foalhood, there wasn’t much to do when standing guard.
Heart under Blade compared the design on the floor to the one in the book. The ancient letters scrawled onto the wooden floor, the geometric shapes inside a circle, a stuffed toy bird sitting above it all. Her father watched, making sure the lines were good enough to not destroy the house. He was a large stallion with a sprig of what he called parsley as a cutie mark.
“What are you making?” Hem Lock wiped away an errant line that would have given all the thaumaturgical energy an escape.
“Flutter.” She positioned the birdie better. “I want her to fly.”
“Where’d you get that idea sweetie?” He fluffed the unicorn’s mane. Both her parents were earth ponies, but they had a family history of dealing with magic.
“A voice told me to.” Heart under Blade moved a lock of blood red hair from her eyes. She placed her hooves on either side of the seal and suffused energy into it, the black lightning worked its way over the toy. The bird flapped and lifted off the ground before exploding in a ball of stuffing and feathers once she moved her hooves.
Hem Lock’s flank hit the ground. “You have a bright future ahead of you sweetie. It was years before your mom even attempted something like that.”
“She did stuff like this?”
“Of course. When she gets home from her assignment you can see what her special talent is.”
Heart under Blade stared ahead, eyes moving down the hallway, waiting for the first signs. She had been designated as the Speaker for her people as a filly; she was the first in generations that could hear His glorious voice. The one to help orchestrate his plans, even if she was never privileged enough to know her impact.
The Changelings were attacking, one crashed in front of her only to receive a spear to the abdomen, green goop leaked from the wound as it collapsed. The spear came back out with a shlurp. Her fellow guards were running around scared.
“Stupid foals!” She roared. “This is what we trained for!” Heart under Blade tossed off her armor, black lines crossed her flanks, an ancient sigil and sign of her duty. These creatures looked familiar He had said her job was to stop them.
Another guard was cornered by three changelings, he was holding his own but more were coming, Quick Strike kept two at bay while the third moved around to flank.
Heart threw the spear and charged. One stuck to the wall by a spear while Quick took out the other two.
She hated the guards, but one day this job would be over and she could move on to the next one.
Her most important job so far had been to sneak into Celestia’s personal library and steal an old tome to place it on a certain doorstep and give it a slight enchantment to make sure it was read. Somehow she had failed, the rift it created was supposed to engulf the whole town and take out enough of the Elements that they would never pose a threat again. It failed, yet her lord was wise, he always had another plan. She was allowed to take a peace offering to the Changeling Horde, a perfected disguise spell, but that too had failed. Again, her lord didn’t blame or punish Heart under Blade, instead he gave her more tasks, ones that required the help of her family.
“What’s in the box?” Quick Strike asked, poking the package between them. She would never dare challenge an earth pony, let alone that quick of a one, not when her magic was the archaic type that required preparation.
“I wanted to surprise Celestia with a special gift later. It will do wonders for her tension.”
“Can I take a peek?” He tried to lift the yellow box lid, but the red ribbon kept it sealed.
“No. That will ruin the surprise.” Her heart raced, waiting for the clock to click down. Her mother had designed the specialty box, it would arm itself after her death and ignite at the first sign of magic and target its caster. A truly beautiful creation, a literal work of art with its three stage attack.
Heart under Blade levitated up a bag of cookies from under her armor, a parting gift from her father the herbalogist. “Would you like one? They are made with Sika Sake.”
Quick Strike grabbed the treat. He stared and salivated at the creation before looking back to the mare. “How can you afford that stuff??? The import fees alone…”
It was true, a most expensive drink costing at least five hundred bits a bottle. “It was a gift from father after his latest trip.”
“Wow!” He took a small bite and savored it.
“No need to be delicate.” She giggled. “I have plenty more.” She had nothing against the stallion, it was just her duty.
He took the rest of the cookie in a single bite, a small grin spread across his lips as his hooves wavered. “Theesh are goo.” He Quick Shot mumbled. The stallion shook his head.
Now should come the twinging headache. She moved up next to the earth pony, rested his weight against her as he fell to the floor. His breathing slowed, he convulsed once then stopped moving. Heart under Blade put her ear up to his chest, there was no heartbeat, everything was going as planned.
The unicorn moved back to her own guard position, pulled out a single cookie for herself and put the bag back under her armor. The sweet smell tickled her nose, the best of ingredients for her last meal. She rested the cookie on the marble floor and lowered her head.
“We pray for the eternal darkness. Come and rule your world.” She prayed. “We who have follow since time immemorial. Who hid when the Sun and Moon took power.”
‘You shall be remembered and revered as the greatest acolyte young one.’ His deep voice resounded through her body, she twisted under the pleasure. ‘You will return at the appointed time, to fight beside me.’
“Thank you my lord.” Heart under Blade worked to contain her glee. She ate the cookie in one bite.
It truly was a masterful creation, cyanide worked into its batter, she welcomed the flow as her body shut down and death welcomed her. She knew what her lord said, but she could never be so lucky as to join him, or even see his glorious plan come to fruition.
***
It didn't matter if the alicorn lived or died, either way would further his plans. The Solar Princess was just a means to an end. Either she would start the war, her sister would start the war with her death, or a human would do just fine. Added to that he had taken one element out, the most troublesome one for his plans. The first thing too die in war was generosity. But that was merely the first he needed out of the way.
It didn't even matter who started it so long as it followed a certain path. If this didn't work there were always other plans in play, other things that could be revealed. Let it leak to reporters that the United Kingdom's prime minister had a private zoo that housed at least one unicorn. Or the growing market in certain 'rural' countries for unicorn horns on the belief they could make one smarter. There were always more ways. Always.
He would get revenge on the progeny of those who took his body and imprisoned him as a cloud of black smoke eons before.