“You got a monster-defeating cutie mark? That’s so radical!” The other two Cutie Mark Crusaders had been awoken early before school by Sweetie, and they had gathered at their clubhouse to discuss the mark before the day’s classes. Scootaloo was very interested in the mark itself, while the more cerebral Apple Bloom had taken interest in the book Sweetie had learned from in her quest.
“A… Technical History of Ahr Ciel?” Appleboom flipped through the book. “Ah can barely read this at all. But… it’s interesting. These crystal diagrams remind me of Pinkie’s sister’s presentation on rock farming a bit. Ah’ll bet that ah could build this thing here.”
Sweetie Belle turned to see what her friend was pointing to. “Love… Seed? Sounds like the kind of book Rarity shoos me away from. It looks like a big ‘ol hunk of crystal and metal.”
Apple Bloom nodded. “But… it’s a seed. The Apple Family’s always been good with seeds and plants, even if they ain’t apples. Ah’ll bet you could make a smaller one, and grow it into a bigger one.” She grabbed a pencil with her mouth, flicked a sheet of paper off a stack with her hooves, and began to diagram out the process.
“But… but…” Sweetie Belle looked at the diagram. “Where will you get the crystal for it? And those metals? They look really expensive.”
“Filthy Rich promised to do a favor for me after that incident with his daughter.” The fact that Apple Bloom wasn’t referring to Diamond Tiara by name indicated that wound was still raw. Sweetie wouldn’t press it.
“If… you think he’ll help you, that’d be great. I got my cutie mark with a little help from this book, although mostly with Mir’s help.”
“Mir?” Scootaloo looked at her in confusion.
“She’s a pony from a long way away who’s staying with my sister. She’s strange, but she fought that monster for me, and she helped me get my cutie mark. She’s as good as family in my book.”
“That’s pretty cool alright. I wonder if she could help me get my cutie mark.”
Sweetie Belle tapped her chin in thought. “Maybe. She knew some pretty crazy martial arts moves.” Sweetie’s expression turned a little sheepish. “I, uh, only had my eyes open a little, but I saw her block bolts of magic with her bare forelegs.”
Scootaloo leaned into Sweetie’s face, a massive grin forming. “Wicked.”
“Huh, Ah think there’s somethin like that in the book.” All eyes turned to Applebloom. There was a diagram of two-legged figures, and they appeared to be blocking some kind of beam attacks.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really, really wish I could read that.” Scootaloo glared down at the pages. The secrets were right there.
“Ah think it says you need a Reyva… Revytail…. Singer to provide something called ‘Harmonics’ that ya manipulate to somehow cancel out the enemy attacks. They use the word ‘waveform’ a lot.”
That was about the point where Mir’s duel with Twilight blew up the library, giving Ponyville it’s 29th school-closing emergency of the year.
In theory, Croix had faced worse odds. In practice, this was probably the stickiest situation he’d ever been in. Having a second blocking axis from a second Reyvateil-Vanguard pair really, really helped deal with crowds, and there were at least thirty ponies surrounding them.
“Surrounded” wasn’t really a word he wanted to deal with, it was pretty hard to deal with attacks from a full 180° arc, and with 360° coverage they could potentially overwhelm him like this. Reyvateils would usually start their song from a position where they could only be attacked from one side, or as far away from the enemy as they could manage, but this was a pretty bad scenario.
The guards that surrounded him were mostly pegasi, armed with blades in their wings and claws on their forehooves. He’d probably have to block multiple hits per pony, making things even more difficult. If they generated attacks faster than he could generate blocks, it’d be all over no matter how good his timing was.
“Envelop them!” The Pegasus with the fanciest crest shouted an order, and they took to the air, attempting to surround them in three dimensions.
Croix couldn’t do something about it, but Mir could. OK, I’ve distorted space before. Doesn’t take much… there we go! The ball of green energy hovering over her flared.
The room seemed to tilt wildly. Celestia’s wings snapped open in surprise, and Red Cell beside her intensified the harshness of her glare. When the pegasi shook their heads and recovered, they found themselves clumped up above and behind the throne, while Mir and Croix had repositioned near the exit from the throne room. (1)
Too bad we can’t go further. At least they can’t come at us from more than a 180° arc without opening that door behind me. Mir melted the locks inside the doors. Now once we get to them, we can bash them open and leg it. Unfortunately, it’s quite difficult to put oneself into an intense emotional state one just left, so the song she’d just used was closed off for a bit. Yeah, that one. A new song began; a humanoid form appeared over her, wrapped in the fetal position in a sphere of crackling purple lightning and dark energy.
Good choice, Mir! Croix glared at the pegasi at the other end of the room. “Come and get us!” He waved the forehoof with his lance in an attempt at the beckoning gesture.
The guards seemed to have caught his meaning. With a cry of “Charge!” from the leader, the pegasi hurled themselves towards Croix while the unicorns rushed forward, firing blasts of magic.
These guys have no idea what they’re getting into. The magical blasts were fast but not fast enough, easy to see coming and deflect. More importantly, the innate difference in the speed of the pegasi meant that they had formed a long string of attackers as they charged the length of the room.
Ching! Each in turn tried to slam into Croix, but bounced off like rubber and careened into the walls, windows, and each other, their confused expressions becoming fixed when the impact stunned them.
The leader managed to get in two forehoof claw attacks and one wingblade before Croix knocked him away, but all three were perfectly blocked.
The unicorns that had accompanied the pegasi had, unfortunately for them, also obeyed the order to charge. Three of them had been knocked out by deflected Pegasus projectiles, and the remaining two were easily dropped with the flat side of Croix’s lance.
Celestia knew the reputation of the Royal Guard had suffered in the aftermath of recent crises, but this was astonishing. Or perhaps some trick is at play here I’ve never seen before. There’s no spell I know of that lets one bounce opponents like that. The ‘ching!’ sound that each one made as it hit seems significant, however. She narrowed her eyes. Watch and observe, then strike.
Red Cell was rather more affected by the dismal results of the engagement, her face becoming red and puffy. “Those worthless sacks of crap! Thirty to two and they just fall over their own hooves? How could this be happening? How?”
Celestia placed one of her wings over her subordinate. “I believe there is some novel defense in play that is difficult to discern.”
The unicorn batted the wing off with a forehoof and a “don’t do that again” glare. Comfort was demeaning to her. “That weird spell the unicorn is doing looks like a shield, but it hasn’t triggered yet. There’s…” Red Cell strained her senses. “...some sort of field radiating from her. It’s… big. I’m not sure what it does though.”
“Perhaps I should attempt to dispel it.” Celestia turned to face the end of the room and lit her horn. The “failsafe” spell is universally the best general-purpose dispel. I can just barely dispel Discord’s magic with it in a small radius, and there are none stronger. Her horn glowed with a bright yellow light as she concentrated.
Croix turned to face the Princess, bracing himself to receive whatever spell she was preparing.
Celestia took a deep breath, then fired. The ray of brilliant yellow magic blazed forth.
The failsafe spell had gathered its name from its extreme reliability. Unless the caster of the target spell was vastly stronger than the caster of the failsafe spell, it would immediately be ended without any kind of destabilizing effects. Unfortunately for Celestia, “strength” in this case meant the maximum energy of the waves, which was set by the power of the Orgel of Origins. It would be impossible for Celestia to come close to the maximum energy of such a construct. Only a fully-healthy Will of the Planet or some similarly fearsome entity could do so.
Thus, the ray petered out against the Harmonic field. Croix gave it a raised eyebrow. Huh, the attack was too feeble to even land? Or was it an attack at all? I can’t sense it coming.
Any further analysis he would have wished to make was stopped cold by a tremendous racket approaching from one of the side corridors.
A cannon pulled by four ponies, two earth ponies up front, followed by two unicorns, came around the corner. Overhead flew two pegasi. These ponies didn’t wear the bright gold armor of the Royal Guard, but instead a green and brown, more practical-looking armor. The cannon itself was mounted on a metal frame that seemed to give it the ability to fire in any direction, including straight up. (2)
Red Cell grinned ear to ear as they came in. One of her first acts as Captain of the Royal Guard was to create an exchange program between the Royal Guard and the EUP. And now, nobody would question her wisdom in requesting an anti-dragon cannon team or two.
The unicorns unhitched themselves from the cannon with their magic, then did the same for the earth ponies while the pegasi hovered protectively over them, carefully watching Croix and Mir.
Celestia, sensing the intensification of the conflict, teleported out the incapacitated guards. She considered trying to teleport the two intruders apart, but decided not to. If they can block the failsafe spell, they can block a teleport.
The earth ponies grasped cranks in their mouths, and the gun barrel wobbled as they unlimbered it.
Oh hell no. As the earth ponies began to rotate the cannon’s barrel, Croix aimed his lance dead at them, then depressed the firing stud for the machine gun.
As the barrel spun up, an orange dome sprung up over the cannon and its six ponies. Bullets ricocheted up and off into the walls of the throne room. Celestia raised a golden shield over herself and Red Cell to block ricochets.
Dammit. Croix immediately released pressure on the firing stud, but the damage was done. He’d used up almost half the ammunition loaded into the lance, and while it had modified itself to allow him to fire in pony form, there was no way he could reload it in the middle of combat as a pony.
Then the gun fired. Croix was slightly distracted by his self-pity over the whole “trying to reload with hooves” thing, and only managed a partial block. Crump! Then the shell exploded right against him. All the stained glass windows on that half of the throne room blew out.
Red Cell’s grin grew impossibly wider as she stared at the smoke cloud obscuring the opposite side of the room. Then her expression turned to dismay as the smoke was parted by the flap of Croix’s hovering wings.
Dark energy formed a spherical shield around himself and a second one around Mir.
“Hey Croix, make sure you fully block those things.”
“Sorry, thanks for the save.” One perk of being Mir’s vanguard was that after a while the entire concept of hearing damage seemed to have given up.
Red Cell stomped her forehoof and turned to yell at the gun crew. “Fire again! Keep firing!”
A second shot sailed downrange, but this time Croix was ready for it. Ching!
The roar of the explosion had an odd sound to it, but odder was the way it seemed to swirl around the target (and the secondary target behind him), this time not even obscuring them for a moment.
Celestia narrowed her eyes and began to think. That reminds me of something.
“They’ve got some kind of defense! Load armor piercing!”
Another shot. Another “Ching!” Another failure to harm the assassins.
Red Cell perked up as she heard a noise from the opposite side of the hall. Her other anti-dragon cannon team was racing up the opposite passageway towards the throne room. Where one fails, will two prevail? Let’s hope so.
Oh hell, not another one of those. Ching! Croix blocked a fourth shot (this one aimed at Mir directly) and swung his lance-gun over while the first crew reloaded. I may not be able to hit them directly, but let’s see them stop this. Wait for the timing aaaaaand… Now! Croix fired the rest of his ammo, not at the ponies, but at the ceiling timbers in front of them. Slabs of stone crashed to the ground, directly on the cannon. The pony’s shield tried to stop them, but the weight was too much for the unicorns, and the cannon was smashed.
Mir swapped her song out for a different one, then fired. An immense humanoid figure appeared over her, kicking a skull at the still-intact cannon. Waves of heat blasted forth from it, cracking the shield and sending the ponies scurrying away. The humanoid figure then swooped in and cut the cannon to pieces.
“We’re leaving. Thank you for your time.” Croix made ready to grab Mir and exit the area. Surely they’ve gotten the message by now?
“Surrender or die!” Red Cell stepped from her vantage point and began to stalk down the hall towards the pair.
“I think you mean ‘halt in the name of the law’ there.” Red Cell ignored Celestia’s remark, fixed on her target.
She approached head down until she reached the halfway point of the room. At that point, she lifted her head slightly and ignited her horn. The leather bandoleer opened, and five obsidian-black darts levitated out. They began to orbit in a circle in front of her.
“You know what they say about wanting something done right.” The first of the darts shot forward, followed by another a moment later, then the remaining three simultaneously. The first two sped towards Croix, while the others closed in on Mir.
“I think she’s awake.” Twilight could hear an echo-y male voice. She blinked her eyes open, but all she could see were vague, brown blurs. What had happened? She tried to remember. There was a changeling, and…
“Changeling!” Twilight attempted to stand on all fours, but her back right leg wasn’t quite with the program and she began to tip over to the right. A yellow aura caught her.
She blinked her eyes a few times and turned towards the source of the magic. Although he was still a bit blurry, she could make out the yellow coat and gray mane of Doctor Myelin, neurologist at Ponyville’s hospital. She’d last seen him when an anvil landed on her head.
“Princess, please don’t move too fast. Alicorns can apparently recover from a great deal, but not instantly.” He took a step forward to look at the side of her head. “Whatever happened hit you pretty hard, but the effects should fade in a few hours. You got pretty lucky.” He paused a moment. “Or maybe it’s that Alicorn magic. There aren’t a lot of medical studies on them.”
“Well, we’re all ok and that’s the good news.” Twilight turned towards the sound of Rainbow’s voice. The pegasus had bandages on her neck and wing root, but was standing and looked confident enough. Behind her, Applejack sat on the floor with a head bandage.
“Ah’m sad it had to come to this.” Applejack looked at a spot somewhere below and to the left of Twilight. “If we could have talked about this calmly, I think we could avoid all… this.”
Twilight looked up at the sky above her, the broken edges of the tree framing her view. What had once been the upper story of the library, where she lived, was now completely gone. That… whatever it was’s blast had destroyed it. Destroyed it all.
The tree’s roots still lived, so it was possible earth pony magic might save it. The books on the lower floor had survived. But her personal collection, her dresses, her memorabilia, all her personal effects, they were all gone.
As was, she realized with a sinking feeling, the crystalline box the Tree of Harmony had given her.
“Did the doc miss something wrong with your head? Those crazies are nothing but danger.” Rainbow Dash had turned around to face Applejack, her words practically growling out with frustration. “They smacked me down, they smacked you down, they blew up Twilight’s house, they smacked Twilight down, and the unicorn one admitted to killing Sunset Shimmer. They’re bad, and it’s our duty as heroes to take them out.”
“If they’re so bad, why’re we still alive?” Rainbow blanched a moment at Applejack’s retort. They were totally at the mercy of the unknown duo, but their foes had left no injury that wasn’t recoverable.
“Ma...maybe it’s all part of a sinister plan?” Rainbow looked away, no longer meeting Applejack’s eyes. Applejack considered that a win, smiling softly.
“Ah’m thinkin this is some kind of misunderstanding. We’ll see if Rarity can meet with them again, get them calmed down enough.”
“Still.” Twilight looked back at Applejack, trying to corral her thoughts. “We should send a letter to The Princess.”
Twilight’s friends didn’t need to ask which one she meant. Celestia would always be “The Princess” to Twilight. “Uh, sugarcube, Spike’s still not back. He stayed with Pinkie at the hospital.”
“Maybe you should go there and let him know you’re ok. He heard something happened to you and he’s probably worried,” the doctor broke in.
“I’m surprised he stayed with Pinkie rather than come back to see me.”
“Well,” the doctor rubbed his hoof against the ground, “we’re holding Pinkie for observation. We have no idea what’s wrong with her. Her personality seems far more subdued than normal, and her energy level was below average, even for a normal pony.”
Twilight filed the information away for later. Right now her priority was dealing with the… let’s call them “attackers” ...that had done all this. “I’ll tell Celestia in person.” She nodded, and spread her wings.
“No!” Shouted the doctor. “You’re absolutely not cleared for flying yet!”
Twilight turned to him. “This is a national emergency. The hospital’s on the other end of Ponyville, and as the pegasus flies it’s not that much further to Canterlot. I assure you, as an Alicorn I recover far more rapidly than any other patient you’ve had.
“If you recall the battle of Coltsborough in 221, Princess Celestia sustained a far more serious head injury and resumed flying and spellcasting within a half hour. How long have I been out?”
“About… forty five minutes.”
“Then I’m good to go.” The doctor’s expression indicated that he wanted to make a retort, something along the lines of “that’s Princess Celestia, not you,” but Twilight was sick of ponies thinking of her as the least Princess. She was an Alicorn Princess, and she could handle things. Ok, I lost a fight here, but it’s not like Princess Celestia has never lost any fights. Certainly not that I’ve been present for at my brother’s wedding.
She spun around to face away from everypony. When she didn’t feel dizzy, she smiled. Let’s do this. She bent all four of her legs, lept up, and took a flap. And then she was off and away.
Croix intersected the path of all five darts with a seemingly-impossible backwards arcing swoop. A chorus of “ching” sounds filled the hall as the darts were flung back and into the wall or floor.
Mir had resumed into a new song, this one her healing song magic, in case Croix or her took any hits. Not quite as good as preventing them outright, but better than nothing. I can always swap it out for a red magic if I need it.
The darts hovered back over to Red Cell, who stood in the center of the hall. They began to orbit a point directly in front of her, the plane of the orbit facing her enemies, and the points likewise facing them.
Red Cell’s tail swished and flicked as she tried to size up her approach. It’s not like he’s using a shield or something. He just bumps into it with his armor and it makes a sound and bounces away. It doesn’t make any sense. But they started out by flinging the pegasi backwards somehow, and he did concentrate on trying to destroy the cannons. Whatever he’s got, it’s not invincible.
I just have to find out what the weakness is. Perhaps it requires careful timing?
The darts shot forward. As Croix tensed himself for their approach, he noticed that they weren’t advancing steadily, but were lurching, accelerating and decelerating. Trying to make things hard on me. Still, it doesn’t matter what path it takes or how fast it goes. It will only arrive at one moment.
Croix closed his eyes, concentrating all his attention onto the inner sense he had for the harmonic field. Now. He surged forward, knocking aside two darts with his lance, and three more with a wind blast from his wings. The familiar sound echoed, stacked on top of itself five times.
The hell. Red Cell glared at her darts as they returned to circling in front of her. Maybe I was varying all of them at the same time. Or maybe I need more power. Well, let’s go with plan A first. These are expensive.
The darts shot towards the roof of the chamber, than forwards. When they reached a position over Mir, they each shot towards the walls and then downward, trying to envelop the defense and come at her in a circle.
Block all this.
Croix couldn’t. He knocked down four of them, but one of them slammed into Mir’s ribcage.
“Hurgh!” Mir’s song hiccuped as she staggered from the piercing impact. The harmobody suit she wore absorbed most of the force, but it still pierced into her lung. Magic imbued into the dart surged outward, trying to find mitochondria to destroy, but came up empty against the artificial Reyvateil. Then the healing spell triggered. Tissue regenerated with such force that the dagger plopped out onto the floor next to her.
Red Cell stared with shock at the total failure of such a good hit to impede the assassins. The hell? That’s an enchanted obsidian dart. She’s wearing a fabric bodysuit. She should be dead.
Croix reacted to her surprise-induced inattention to stomp on the dart with an armored hoof, smashing it to bits. A second dart nearby was smashed with the tip of the lance before Red Cell realized what he was doing and levitated the remaining three darts back to herself.
Dammit! These cost a fortune! Red Cell considered as her three remaining darts returned to orbit in front of her.
Well, I guess it’s time to try power. She concentrated power into one of the remaining three darts. It began to radiate a black and red aura as she strained to fill the dart.
After a few moments, it was ready. Her enemies down the hall continued to regard her with watchful gaze, but she wasn’t worried. The glow of the dart gave her face a red cast, and made her eyes seem to flare red as she grinned maliciously. “Catch.”
The dart shot forward like a rocket. The broad portion of Croix’s spear moved in front of it at the last second. Ching. The dart bounced off, tumbling upwards into the ceiling. Croix darted backwards as marble debris from the floor above slammed into the spot where he was standing. A second slab fell towards Mir, who couldn’t move quickly while singing, but Croix could block that. A tap with the lance, a “Ching” sound, and the slab changed direction in mid air to smash through the shattered remains of a window and land outside.
Red Cell simply stared in horror. How can I be so weak?
“Red Cell, back away. That is an order. I shall handle this.”
Celestia marched down the hall like a furious swan. (3)
Twilight glided through the air towards Canterlot. It seemed close enough, but what she had forgotten was that it was almost as far away up as it was across. I need a few more minutes before I can try to finish gaining altitude.
Off to the right she saw a speck of orange. A turn of her head revealed a pegasus flying up from the Everfree Forest towards her. A pegasus wearing guard armor, no less. That’s Flash Sentry. I haven’t seen him since the night I came back through the mirror. Let’s see what he’s here for.
She banked towards him, keeping her wings in a gliding posture. After a couple minutes, Flash came past her, wheeled, and flew alongside. “Princess Twilight! You… you don’t look ok.”
It was certainly true she didn’t. Ash covered the fur the doctor hadn’t cleaned to get a better look at her, there were some bandages covering the scrapes she’d gotten when her head was slammed through the floorboards. Also, her flying was probably distinctly below par.
“Yeah. I…” Her head went down slightly. “...lost a fight.”
“Well…” Flash looked away from her. “...any fight you can fly away from can’t be all bad.”
“I… I don’t know what to do. Other than alert Princess Celestia, I guess. I really wanted to solve this on my own, prove I’m capable of doing things without her.”
“Doing things without her?” Flash’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked back at her.
“Yeah, it feels weird for me to say it. Ever since I’ve become a princess, I’ve been uncertain how I should relate to Celestia. Even beforehand, I accused her of being crazy when she wanted to reform Discord!”
“Well, that sounded crazy to everypony else. You’re just the pony who said it.”
“But… I never had the courage to say something like that before.”
“Well, it did sound crazy. Maybe she wants you to stand on your own, make your own decisions. Even fight your own battles when necessary.”
“But…” Twilight looked down at the ground below her. “...I couldn’t fight this battle on my own. Even with Applejack and Rainbow helping me, I got completely trashed in my own home. It got its top floor blown clear off. And I’m starting to think this might have been my fault for escalating it.”
“Pfft. Anybody who knocks you down in your own home has a lot to answer for. In any case, as far as being unable to fight your own battles, I think I can help you with that.”
“Oh?” Twilight’s head turned towards him, confusion visible all over it. “What does that mean?”
“I’ve got something for you. It’s a power amplifier made by Princess Luna.” With deft use of teeth and tongue, he reached into a bag on top of his armor and pulled out a sphere of pure dark purple. “It’s for you.”
Twilight slowed down, as did Flash, until they were hovering in place facing one another. “For me?”
Flash nodded. “I’ve been instructed to bring it to you right away. Highest priority. Dangerous things are going on, and Equestria will need you in tip-top shape for what’s to come. Since you haven’t figured out how to open the box yet…” Twilight’s face flickered with horror before she raised a mask of calm over it. She didn’t think Flash noticed it, but it was noticed. “Take it.” He held it out in his forehooves.
“How does it work?”
“It’s quite simple. Just press it against yourself. It’ll pop and the essence will merge into your magic. It’s a form of old metamagic that only Celestia and Luna still remember, but it won’t harm you in any way.”
“Metamagic.” Twilight had known of the school from her time as Celestia’s pupil, but it was not something with a large body of material for study. Even the magic-suppressing rings used to restrain criminal or mentally ill unicorns didn’t technically use it.
More important than a chance to experience a nearly forgotten field of magic, was the opportunity to stand on her own. I want this. I do want this. “Thank you.”
Princess Twilight’s reddish-purple aura wrapped around the sphere, taking it from Flash. The sensation of Princess Luna's magic washed over her, confirming his statement that it had been created by her. She pressed it to her nose. After a moment of contact, it popped, enveloping her in its energy.
Celestia and Croix stared each other down as she stalked closer. Despite hovering above the ground, Croix’s eye level was only barely above Celestia’s.
Am I really sure I want to do this? I know that the smoke cloud looked like that, but if I’m wrong I’m right in stabbing range.
Well, if I’m wrong but I do this right, I’ll be inside lance stabbing range. He’ll have to fight me using his natural strength. And probably lose, unless he has a trick up his sleeve I haven’t seen yet. Very well, I am definitely doing this. I cannot back out now.
“This is your last warning. Surrender immediately and you will be treated fairly.”
“I think I’d rather come back later.” Mir didn’t want to deal with this right now. If she was right, in another few hours Luna would be on duty and she could try to get her instead.
“Very well.” Princess Celestia bent her forelegs and bounded into the air, catching herself with a small flap right above Croix’s eye level.
OK, she’s coming at me. Just watch the timing, we beat her, we can leave. They’ve got nowhere else to escalate to.
Princess Celestia began to move closer slowly. Unlike the rush of the pegasi guards, the scurry of the cannon crews, or the determined march of Red Cell, her movement forward was oddly languid and relaxed.
Is this some kind of ploy?
Celestia moved closer to Croix. Time seemed to stretch out as each wingbeat seemed to be moving her less and less.
What’s going on here?
Celestia was almost within reach. Croix still hadn’t picked up on his instinctual signal to block.
Should I try to stab her? Nobody’s ever tried this before? Is she even attacking?
Celestia gained altitude, and flew over Croix with her legs spread to either side of him, then began to drift down.
She’s trying something! Wait for the moment, then block. But where is it?
Celestia’s body closed in on Croix. Closer. Closer. But moving more slowly each moment.
Run? Block? What? Crap!
Croix’s confusion lasted just long enough. With a gentleness that made it almost impossible to feel, Celestia brushed her barrel and legs against his back and sides.
It felt almost gentle and motherly, but the context made Croix panic. His enemy had enveloped him, and he’d never received any impulse to block!
He needed to–
Celestia had been greatly concerned by her singularity during the thousand years her sister was gone. She’d been worried that without a partner to fight alongside, her enemies could subdue her in battle or ambush. Thus, she’d taken some time to learn the secret fighting styles of her world’s peoples. Now, she employed the Couatl style from the deep rainforests South of Auhizotl’s domain.
Constriction.
Celestia could feel Croix’s heartbeat through her legs, and she was preparing a synchronized assault of her own.
With no space between Celestia and him, the attack came without warning. One moment Croix was thinking about escaping from his predicament, the next blackness.
“CROIX!!!!!!!” Mir could sense his heartbeat cease. She… she got him.
Mir didn’t have any illusions she could win this fight at the moment. Celestia still held Croix in her legs, and even if she ran, she couldn’t take him with her. The healing spells she knew wouldn’t help with a heart injury, only surgical intervention or a grathmeld device could. She wouldn’t be able to revive him…
...before...
...it was too late.
Damn her to hell! Mir could live on, but only by abandoning Croix. And what kind of life was that anyway? Without love, without someone who you could share your real self with?
The pony princess had taken that away, but in doing so she had given her the most powerful weapon she’d ever had.
Rage.
The healing song dispersed and was replaced by a shimmering, vibrating ball of energy. And Celestia realized she might have gone for the wrong target.
Tower Connection, also known as “Ar Tonelico” when you weren’t worried about confusing it with the tower it was named after, was different than virtually every other spell used by Reyvateils. Most of the time, the tower would send energy that would take a form dictated by the emotions of the user.
In this case, it was reversed. The emotions were sent to the tower, and it reacted according to the wishes of the user. Although it really only had one way to react, so you had to make sure it was suitable to the occasion.
A giant beam of deadly energy. Technically several beams that seemed to be one beam from a distance, but the difference was usually academic.
Mir felt that a giant beam of deadly energy was entirely appropriate.
“Mir! What the hell just happened!”
Moments ago Shurelia had been drinking tea with her friends. It was nice to do something calm with people you cared about before dealing with the next crazy crisis. And the only way there wouldn’t be a next crazy crisis was if they failed to deal with one and it killed them all.
Now the teacup Shurelia was holding was sitting on the lap of the brown-haired woman sitting opposite of her, and the tea itself was all over the front of her dress.
Lyner had quickly moved to Shurelia’s side and grabbed her, as she crouched into the fetal position.
“Mir! No! Mir!” Shurelia felt what the tower felt. And Mir had dumped her rage and grief into it.
Everything around them started shaking as the energy beam emitter a couple hundred feet below them powered up and began to fire.
“Mir’s… something… I think…” Shurelia straightened up, tears in her eyes.
“I think someone just killed Croix.”
>>>Warning. You are within the danger close radius of this action. Are you sure you wish to proceed?<<< YES!
Mir didn’t really care if she lived or died. She just wanted to make sure Celestia died too.
Celestia, for her part sensed the change in magic, and knew something was happening. Unfortunately, her positioning for her zero amplitude grab maneuver had left her back to the unicorn of the pair.
Dammit I don’t have any time to run around use the tail ok! Celestia’s tail lashed out, grabbing hold of MIr.
Waveguides established, selecting aiming mirror 04.
Mir was dragged off her hooves, limbs flailing, then smashed into the marble floor headfirst.
>>>FIRING<<<
Celestia could tell she hadn’t done enough damage to knock out her target. She lifted Mir and prepared to slam her into the floor on the other side.
Back on Ar Ciel, the beam shot out from the tower at a nearly horizontal angle towards a great mirror in orbit over the planet. The beam collected briefly on the mirror, then bounced back, almost but not quite aimed at the tower, but rather at a spot a mere hundred miles to the North of it.
Mir hit the ground again, and this time was unable to hold onto consciousness.
>>>Warning! Critical waveguide loss<<<
The waveguides held the beams more or less together. It didn’t take much energy to do so, but it did take some. As they crossed through the portal, they were knocked very slightly out of alignment.
Coming in at a horizontal angle as they were, seven of the eight sub-beams missed hitting any solid part of the planet whatsoever.
The last one struck Mount Canter. Back in the bad old days of the First Age, the energy weapon on Ar Tonelico had been designed to blast its way straight through the planet, then explode as it exited in the heart of the enemy’s civilization. This turned out to be a bad idea for a variety of reasons.
The sun’s brightness was briefly eclipsed as the beam made contact with the peak, vaporizing its way through. A few seconds after that, the annular confinement of the energy ended, resulting in a huge explosion that was thankfully too high in the air to hurt anyone directly.
Celestia, however, could feel the power she had just narrowly escaped. If that hit me… I would be dead. No question.
She set down the fallen pegasus, and rubbed the tips of her wings together. Unfortunately, they don’t really have non-lethal construction techniques, so here’s hoping you don’t have any brain damage from this. She spread her wings apart, and touched them to the sides of his barrel. There was a popping sound and the smell of ozone, but then his barrel heaved and he coughed. I think he’s going to make it. Time to get things back in order.
Celestia looked up again. In front of her, Red Cell and an entire battalion of Guards stood anxiously. “I am victorious, my little ponies. Have a medical team check them out, then place them in the dungeon under maximum restraints.
“Twilight! You’re back.” Rainbow Dash trotted up to her friend in the remains of the library. Around the area sat their friends, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie (although her hair was oddly straight), Fluttershy, and Spike.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash. I’ve received important information. Equestria is in grave peril. I need each of you to take one of these.” Five purple spheres levitated out of her saddlebag, gripped in her aura.
“None for me, thank you. I don’t need a… whatever that is.”
“Very well Fluttershy, we’ll let you have one later if you need it.” Twilight’s smile was almost shark-like.
“What… are those anyway?” Applejack examined the one offered to her closely.
“They’re power amplifiers created by Luna. They amplify a pony’s innate magic, and I’ve been instructed to make sure each of you have one of those.”