After a disaster hits Equestria, the few living ponies struggle to survive. Spearheaded by a pair of alicorns a group of survivors manage to thrive, but questions still remain as everypony tries to make sense of what happened.
5 years ago, apocalypse struck Equestria, killing almost everypony. Now, only a few survivors remain, managing to get by in their fortress, which remains undisturbed by the evil presence that still lurks in the ruins of the once proud world. Morningrise and Night Flash, two alicorns, lead a group that includes members of the royal family as they all struggle to be able to piece together their once thriving world. Check Deviantart under ChivalrythePegasus to learn more about the survivors as well as interesting little tidbits and hints as to what is going to come :)
Hi, I'm Morningrise. And I know what you're thinking, and I'll have you know that I will not be narrarating. I'm just here to give you some explanations. Five years ago, demonic creatures invaded Equestria. None of us really know where they came from, or at least none of us care to tell. I lead a group of survivors, and we have managed to thrive in our home. I have to admit, this has risen my curiosity, and it has often gotten the best of me, as it does now. I personally sent and accompanied a group to a nearby city, out of curiosity and intrigue...
"Anything?". Morningrise spoke. The alicorn stood with a deep slouch, from years of stress. His coat was of a solemn gray, and his mane of a dark black.
"Not that I can see, but the city certainly has some potential.". An earth pony responded. Immediately the voice was heavy with accent, like that of a pony who had grown up in the country her whole life.
"Of?" Morningrise responded.
"Survivors of course." The earth pony responded, turning to look at Morningrise. "You know we could always just go back, after all, I don't necessarily feel comfortable out in the open like this."
"I'm aware of the risk," Morningrise responded. "I just have to know if there are really others. I'm sorry, Timberhitch, you're just plain overruled, the Council agreed this was best. If you don't want to enter the city, you can..."
"Wait out here?! Not a chance. With those... things travelling around here I don't wanna be alone out here. If y'all go, I'm going.". Timberhitch responded. She shook a bit when she said things, whatever she spoke of, she was certainly terrified of them.
"Okay, then I'll call the others". Morningrise turned and whistled, as two pegasi flew out from behind a rock, followed by another carrying a pale green unicorn. The two landed first, their armor clanging upon landing on the ground. The stallion was a dark blue, and the mare a light maroon. The stallion bore a scar which spanned the length of his snout, and what hair that was visible from his mane and tail were light grey. His eyes were a dark purple, counteracting the ice blue eyes and mane of his counterpart. Unlike her counterpart, she had a much more petite figure, which was a shock compared to the physical power she had. The two were obviously well acquainted, as they wore similar armor colors and landed and walked in a very coordinated manner, although both sets of armor were heavily worn, from years of disrepair and combat. The stallion spoke first, in a rusty yet firm voice. "What's the sit rep?"
"Small city, decent probability of life. Doesn't seem too ransacked." Timberhitch spoke, her eyes returned to the looking glass as the other pegasus landed, placing the unicorn on the ground. She spoke in a very soft voice, almost to the point that it was inaudible.
"Then can we get this over with, or are the mighty Chivalry and Virtue too scared?". The unicorn whispered. The unicorn had a light green body, with a light pink mane. She seemed to be used to speaking in a whisper, almost like she never spoke out of that tone.
"Oh, haha Echo. Maybe you should speak up.". Virtue responded, to which everypony laughed.
"Seriously, can we go though?" The pegasus spoke. Up close, a scar was visible over his right eye, at least the portion not covered by his helmet. His body language showed a great deal of impatience, almost nervous anticipation.
"Calm down, Sparta" Chivalry spoke. "That's for Morningrise to decide."
"Ready when you are." Morningrise said, turning back to the city and bringing out his wings. He looked back, seeing the others do the same.
The group took to the sky, flying to avoid any potential conflicts. Chivalry and Virtue took point, watching over the two ponies carrying their allies. Quickly, they arrived, landing just inside the city limits. Immediately, something seemed amiss. Unlike the other cities, there were fresh tracks of something. The tracks looked almost like those of pegasi. Chivalry and Virtue were diverted by this, quickly examining the prints and noticing two separate pairs, one with a simple, but panicked, gait, and the other with some strange ambiguous pattern. Chivalry spoke first.
"Morningrise, sign of a struggle. Not sure if demon or somepny that was just very unlucky." Now, they began to see some fresh blood off to the side. Everypony cringed as they looked at the signs that pointed to greater loss of life.
"Then track it, if you can." Excitement ran through Morningrise's veins, the joy, and danger, of discovery, brought him back.
"Are you sure? This could lead to trouble." Virtue responded.
"Yes, we have to know." The group scattered, trying to track the source of the struggle. Sparta got out of earshot, and mumbled quietly to himself. "More like you need to know."
Chivalry and Virtue walked down a street, quickly finding more signs of a struggle. They saw the droplets of blood intensified, becoming extremely more frequent as they proceeded, as well as damage to nearby buildings, appearing to be from some sort of weapon being swung. They worked quickly, finding the struggle signs ending at a door. He signaled to Virtue, who approached the door, she spoke under her breath, swaying back and forth. Sparta stood almost directly behind the two, with the blade atop his helmet ready to attack anything that exited the house.
"1,2,3!". She barreled her shoulder into the door, which gave almost immediately. Virtue jumped hoof first inside, weapon ready to strike at whim. Inside, the room seemed empty, until she noticed two pegasi cowering in the corner. She took some of her guard down, analyzing the situation. One had a severely wounded wing, which had been patched up to the best of the other's ability. She noticed that it had not really worked, as blood slowly dripped from it as his counterpart tried his best to try to patch it back up again. They looked surprised, but happy to see others. The wounded one tried to muster a smile, but instead had only a grimace of pain.
"Is everypony okay?" Virtue spoke, to which the unwounded one looked up.
"We're better now, but my brother is hurt very badly, some of those things got him." The other one spoke, very shaky in his voice.
"That would explain the struggle signs," Chivalry spoke, walking in to help him up "what's his name?"
"His name is Anteros," the pegasus began, "and I'm Starfury."
"Well, Starfury, Virtue and I will get your brother out of here, and Morningrise, Timberhitch, and Echo here will take you there." Chivalry spoke, pointing to the group outside. Starfury nodded, although he was very tense as the pegasi approached the two, finally giving in and letting them take Anteros. Chivalry walked Anteros outside, as the light blinded Anteros, causing him to groan in pain, as Sparta returned from his cycle around the city.
"What In Celestia's name...?". Sparta began, interrupted by Chivalry's response, as Chivalry gradually became much more intent on getting the Pegasus back to a safe area where he could find the proper medical attention.
"No time, Virtue get my six!" Chivalry and Virtue flew off, and Sparta turned to the others.
" Well, does somepony care to explain? Because it seems a little strange that somepiny can escape from these things." Sparta immediately had become suspicious, as he kept a distance from the other Pegasus that he had noticed walking out into the light.
"Well, this is all an extraordinary circumstance" Morningrise began, quite optimistic to have somepony new after all of their search. Sparta shook his head, looking at the Pegasus.
"Or maybe this mysterious somepony isn't who he claims to be."
"Sparta, are you suggesting that he is a saboteur?" Morningrise began, as the situation quickly began to erupt.
"I'm no saboteur!" Starfury quickly refuted, as an arguement broke out, quickly getting out of hand. Echo tried to diffuse the situation, but was unable to calm the two.
"guys?". Nopony could hear her as Morningrise tried as well to keep the situation under control.
"Seriously, guys?" Still nothing. The arguing got louder, building up anger in Echo, until she finally broke into a shout.
"STOP!!!". A soundwave exploded from Echo's position, collapsing several buildings and making Starfury stumble. A silence ensued, followed by a roar in the distance. Morningrise turned to the sound, and began to gain a degree of rush, trying to urge the group onward, as everypony began to look at Echo in amazement. The unicorn smiled, as she basked in the attention of everypony.
"That's better, now can we deal with this elsewhere, especially since they probably just found us.". Echo returned to a whisper. Morningrise agreed, along with everypony else, as the group quickly took to the skies. Sparta and echo flew ahead, as Morningrise strayed back to speak with Starfury.
" Don't let him bother you, he's a tad... xenophobic" Morningrise spoke sincerely, trying to find some sort of compensation for Starfury's treatment
"You don't say. I never noticed.". Starfury's sarcasm was biting. Finally, the base came within sight. Starfury's eyes widened in awe as he could see the details of the complex. The main portion of the building was enclosed by a wall, which had a massive roof, which formed a dome. Offset from the top, a tower was visible, with a single light flowing out of the tower.
"Here?" Starfury managed to ask, looking at the sprawling complex.
"Yep, home sweet home. Seclusion". The two landed, the ground giving a bit, but not enough for them to slosh down into the dirt. It was evident that it had recently rained, almost as if it were a flash rainstorm. Morningrise approached the massive door, which was opened, with Virtue standing at the door. She seemed antsy, almost to the point of panic. Morningrise trotted over, the light sloshing of moisture present with every step. Virtue spoke quickly, as Morningrise did not even have the time to initiate the conversation.
"Morningrise, we have a problem. Anteros's wounds reopened and he's not doing too well." Virtue said, urging them to follow and running inside, Starfury and Morningrise following intently, stopping at a room where the pegasus lay bleeding. Chivalry spoke.
"I tried my best to hinder the bleeding but the wound was too large." Chivalry immediately stood away from the body, as Anteros began to lose more and more blood. Morningrise nodded and then dropped his head, concentrating heavily. A ray of light exited his horn, as the wound sealed and the light lifted Anteros to hid feet. Everypony stood in awe as Anteros began to smile, and open his eyes. Anteros descended to the floor, shocked to still be alive. He looked to Morningrise, bowing his head. Morningrise began to sway, as pain began to course through his body, the stress from the spell wreaking havoc on his body. Everypony around him had not noticed, but Morningrise stumbled a bit, hiding it by placing his hoof down firmly on the ground like he was shifting his weight. With a great deal of struggle, Morningrise managed a nod, as the pegasus spoke.
"Thank you, noble Alicorn." The sound echoed in his head until he shook it, mustering a response. "Think nothing of it.". the group slowly dispersed, as Morningrise was left alone. He began to shake his head when the room emptied, as he had not noticed the alicorn in the corner. She stood in the darkness, blending in. After sitting for some time, cursing quietly at himself, the alicorn finally exited the shadow, shocking Morningrise, and speaking. "Is everything okay, Morningrise?"
The second time knocked him out of thought, as he shook his head vertically, trying to make sense of how the alicorn had gotten there.
"Yes, I am quite alright, just thing all of today's drama got to me." Morningrise responded, the concerned eyes of the alicorn not leaving Morningrise.
"You don't look okay... should I get Aluna or Vela to come...?" The alicorn began, quickly interrupted by Morningrise.
"No, I insist, I am quite..." Morningrise began as he walked forward but was suddenly stopped by a throbbing pain in his head.
"Here, let me..." The alicorn began, intercepted before she could get out to go get somepony else by Morningrise's persistence.
"No, I really insist. I am fine. I appreciate the concern, its just all of the thrill of the new people we have found. There are actually others."
"Whatever you say, Morningrise, but you are still the most stubborn alicorn I have ever met." The alicorn said, walking out of the room calmly and with a regal stride. Morningrise turned, looking to the alicorn.
"And the politically correct term, Night Flash, is Ornery." Morningrise said, getting a chuckle out of the alicorn.
"At least you still have your humor..." Night Flash responded, as Morningrise turned and talked under his breath, sighing.
"If only it were just me being stubborn" He said, cringing again in pain.
Meanwhile, Chivalry stood in the foyer, greeting the two pegasi who had only just met the survivors.
"So, do you have any questions about Seclusion?" He said, getting a confused look from the two pegasi.
"Seclusion?" Starfury responded, getting a nod in return from Chivalry.
"Yes. Seclusion is what we have named this place. It was surveyed by Timberhitch and built by everypony you see here today." Chivalry said, pointing to many ponies walking around, including Timberhitch, who nodded back to Chivalry.
"Howdy, y'all already know me, right?" She said, getting only a quiet nod from the two. Finally, Starfury broke the silence. "So what was up with that one Pegasus?"
"Who, Sparta? That's my brother, when I left to join the palaponies, like Virtue, I left my family behind."
"Why would you ever do that?" Anteros responded.
"We had our reasons. When I was a colt, I remember my home town was overrun by the griffons. Everypony could do nothing but watch them destroy everything we held dear. That is, except for the palaponies. They came in and stood against the monsters hoof to hoof, and defeated them. Since then, it was always my dream to be a palapony. Virtue on the other hand, all she has told me personally is that her father was a general and that she wanted to make him proud, since she didn't get to see him often. Other than that, I am not really sure." Chivalry explained, getting an understanding look from Starfury and Anteros.
"But then who all did Virtue leave behind?" Starfury asked, as Chivarly stood pondering.
"You know, I never really asked, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to just ask. Here, shes on guard at the front gate." Chivalry said, as he and the two pegasi ran out of the foyer towards the entrance, running into Virtue.
"Hey, everypony. Something wrong?" She said, looking at the group.
"No, just curious though. You told me about your father..." "Yes, General Lightningstrike" Virtue nodded, bringing back memories of the strong willed Pegasus that she had known from the wartime glories.
"And that you left your mother to join the palaponiees..."
"Yes..." Virtue began to look confused as to the probing of already known material.
"But did you leave anypony else?" Finally a look of understanding came to Virtue's face.
"Well yes, two sisters, but I don't see how..." Virtue began, interrupted by Chivalry
"Well then, maybe, just maybe, we have got a trip to take..." Chivalry said, looking to the sky. It was night, but it was too difficult to tell any real night or day, as the sky now just sat at a dull gray that got either brighter or darker with time. The four pegasi flew northward, as Chivalry turned to Virtue.
"Are you sure this is the direction of the city?" He could see a nod from Virtue in the darkness. Then again, it was always dark now.
"Yes, but I am pretty sure it's long gone, after all, we went..." Virtue began, quickly silenced when the walls of a city appeared in the distance.
"I don't suppose this is it." Chivalry said, as even in the distance, the frantic movement of pegasi could be seen. The group sped up, arriving at the walls quickly. As they landed, a Pegasus quickly flew up.
"Oh, thank celestia we have some backup... We have been found out and our shroud has been... wait, is that you, Virtue?" The Pegasus said.
"Wait, no way, is that you Arc?" Virtue said, surprised.
"Virtue! We have missed you. I have got so much to tell you." Arc said, delighted.
"That can wait, do you know about my mother? Is she okay?" Virtue inquired, getting a sad look from her friend.
"I'm sorry, Virtue. We lost her several moons back." Arc said solemly, pushing her muzzle towards Virtue's flank, struggling to drive the memories out of her mind.
"And what of my sisters?" Virtue said. Arc went to speak, but was interrupted by a loud roar.
"No time, we must think of something now." Arc quickly urged. Chivalry turned to the Pegasus.
"Do you have a leader?" Chivalry said, looking around at the panic and chaos with a relatively calm composure. After all, this was his usual.
"Yes, Justice is her name, I will take you to her now." Arc responded, as she flew off, followed by Chivalry. Meanwhile, Virtue flew down to the guard, followed by Starfury and Anteros and greeted them.
"Okay, I will be taking command of this unit, I need a perimeter set up now, and scouts on the closing enemy distance..."
Arc and Chivalry landed in front of a large building that somewhat resembled a palace. Arc turned to Chivalry, and spoke softly.
"Justice dwells in here. She is expecting you." Arc said, to which Chivalry looked confused, then simply managed a nod, as he pushed the palace doors open. Inside, the makeshift palace was ragged, the banners of the old hierarchies torn and burned to mere shreds of what they once were. At the end of the long corridor of an entry room there stood a single Pegasus, clad in full plate armor. Chivalry approached slowly, stopping several feet behind the Pegasus.
"Justice?" Chivalry said, inquiring softly to show respect and solemnness.
"Hiya!" A hyper-active voice responded, somewhat startling Chivalry.
"Are you Justice?"
"That's what they call me, well us." She said, confusing Chivalry even further.
"Us?" Chivalry looked around, trying to see any other ponies.
"Yeah, me and Balthazar and Random and Chance and momma Credence!" Finally, it hit Chivalry that Justice had Multiple personalities.
"Well, my friends and I have come here..." Chivalry began, interrupted by a booming voice coming from Justice, along with a sudden eye color change.
"To find Virtue's sisters. I knew you would be here, and you will find them before this city falls." Justice said, to which Chivalry bowed respectfully.
"Well, that is also something I wanted to bring up. I think this city cannot stand against these creatures. I believe our only option is to retreat. And we do have a fortress which could house any survivors."
"That sound like the right thing to do. I'm not a good fighter anyway, and there aren't many of us here to fight anyway. Now Random..." Justice said, after yet another eye color change.
"Well, if you would allow me, I would gladly like to take over the operations and evacuation."
"Why I would be honored. After all, Balthazar told me you are a great general, or he said you would be.. eh, details aren't important." Chivalry looked confused again, then shook it away, bowing.
"Thank you, Justice."
"Oh, Sweetie, it's nothing. And you can just call me Credence."
Outside, what few survivors were left gathered at the entrance to the makeshift palace. Mumbling went through the small group, as guards scrambled to the walls to defend them to the best of their abilities. Chivalry walked out with Justice, immediately running into Virtue on the outside.
"Are these...?" Chivalry asked, looking to the group
"All of the citizens here. there's Flow and Breeze, Mara, Shine, Glimmer, and Teal." Virtue said, to which Chivalry looked on.
"Is this it?" Chivalry said, to which Virtue began to nod, but was interrupted by the nudging of two more pegasi from the crowd. Virtue was shocked, immediately recognizing the two. "Hope? Jolt?"
"Sister!" The two responded as they ran to each other. They began to embrace, but were quickly interrupted by a loud booming.
"Virtue, they've breached the walls!" One of the guards yelled, trying his best to hold off enemies.
"Quickly, begin the evacuation."
At Seclusion, Morningrise looked frantically from room to room, searching for Virtue and Chivalry. He walked into the meditation room, finding Aluna and Vela.
"I do not wish to interrupt you..." Morningrise began
"Please..." Aluna began
"... Go ahead" Vela finished. "Have you seen Chivalry or Virtue?" Morningrise looked around the meditation room, as it was not uncommon for the two to spend time meditating.
"Not since..."
"... Hours ago." Again Aluna and Vela spoke in tandem
"Well, do you know anywhere I can find them?" Morningrise began to look more and more concerned, as nightfall was known for the high activity of various creatures, none of which Morningrise wished to encounter.
"Try the..."
"...Foyer" The two nodded at the same time.
Morningrise nodded, quickly walking out of the room and into the foyer. Immediately, he noticed the door to the outside was wide open, what little light there was shining into Seclusion. Morningrise quickly pulled Lionessa to the side, trying to piece together what was happeneing.
"Where are Chivalry and Virtue?" Panic filled Morningrise's expression.
"I have no clue. First I hear something about Virtue's sisters, then nothing.." Lionessa responded.
"And you didn't stop them?" Morningrise responded, putting Lionessa into a defensive spot.
"I figured they had already checked with you.. I am as shocked as you are right now!" She responded. Morningrise sighed, then walked to the doorway. He looked outside, sighing.
"I hope they are okay... They need to be okay." Morningrise looked outside, shivering at the thought of what was happening out there...
Chaos erupted from the city as the guard tried to control the creatures. Anteros and Starfury began the evacuation, as Chivalry, Virtue, Justice, and Hope lingered to hold the enemies back. Virtue yelled back to Hope, who was using bandages to wrap wounds in the midst of the brawl.
"Hope, get out of here! It's too dangerous!"
"Never! My job is to heal the guard, and by Celestia, I'm going to do it!" Hope responded. Virtue responded again.
"No, It is too dangerous, you have to get out of here."
"Sister, you left me once, I am not letting it happen again."
Virtue looked to Hope, and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry okay... being a palapony meant a lot to me, and I know I wasn't there for you, and I can't fix the past, but I can make sure the future is different."
Hope turned to look to Virtue, and smiled, a single tear travelling down her face. "That was all I ever needed to hear."
The Pegasus walked towards Virtue, intercepted by a creature, who sunk its claws into Hope's neck. Hope fell to the ground limp, quickly followed by Virtue running to her position, quickly dispatching the enemy. Virtue held the frail Pegasus, tearing up.
"We're gonna get you out of here Hope."
"I don't doubt it, just like I never doubted you... cough... you remember the story mom would tell us when we were young?"
"Hope, don't..." Virtue tried to stop Hope.
"The one about the little Pegasus that ran away, trying to find the perfect place, but returned home, and discovered that after thinking that the perfect place never existed, that she always had it at home?"
"Save your strength Hope..."
"That Pegasus was you Virtue, that's how I knew you would always return... cough... Welcome home, Sister." Hope lost consciousness, as Virtue yelled to Chivalry then flied off to get Hope back as quickly as possible. Chivalry turned to Justice, who was fighting beside Arc.
"It's time to evacuate." Chivalry began, putting his hoof on Justice's shoulder
"That's a negative, Chivalry, it is time for you to evacuate. I am going to stay" The eyes of Justice again had changed. The guard to the left of Justice shook his head.
"No, Captain, you have served us enough, you need to go to fight another day. We will hold them off. It has been an honor, Captain." The guard saluted, to which Justice nodded, then returned a salute.
"Indeed, it has been an honor." Justice responded, as the three pegasi flew out of the fight, flying as quickly as possible to catch back up to the group. As they caught up, Chivalry tried to assist Virtue, but was stopped. She looked to him.
"No, this is my responsibility." The group continued flying, the pegasi carrying the unicorns and earth ponies, as Seclusion became within sight. Morningrise stood at the entrance.
"What in Celestia's name were you thinking? Do you realize..." Morningrise began, quickly silenced by the bleeding pony in Virtue's arms, specifically the runed markings that resembled those used by unicorns, which confused Morningrise.
"Morningrise, can you heal her? Morningrise....MORNINGRISE!" Virtue said, eventually stunning Morningrise out of his thought.
"Yes, I will." Morningrise responded, as Virtue layed the body of her sister to the ground. Morningrise concentrated, speaking the words of a powerful healing spell, as the strain became stronger and stronger on Morningrise as finally the spell went off, cascading light onto the body. The spell lifted the body, healing the wound and releasing light everywhere, stunning everypony in the area. Finally, Hope regained consciousness, immediately looking to Morningrise and bowing.
"I am forever in your debt, noble alicorn." Hope said, to which Morningrise could not hear. Everything became blurred to Morningrise, as he became gradually more and more dizzy, as Virtue ran to him.
"Thank you Morningrise, wait, you don't look so good... are you okay Morningrise? Chivalry, something's wrong." Virtue said, blurred more and more by Morningrises mind as a vile laughter began to erupt in his head.
"Give him some space, he may be claustrophobic" Hope said, to which Virtue said something back, but Morningrise could not make out. Now, all he could hear was a deep, evil voice.
"Not so tough or strong now, are you Mister Morningrise. How are you any leader if you are so weak? Where's your faith?" The voice taunted, as Morningrise tried to shut his eyes to try to calm himself. Suddenly, he felt his body give, with a sudden thud. "Are you okay, Morningrise?"
I had hoped that it would not come down to this. I had hoped that they would not see me for my flaws, that they would not see my weaknesses, my frailties. Especially in a situation like this. I never told them the truth, it would have torn us apart...
"Morning....rise.....Morning...rise... Morningrise!" The blur of words finally became clear to Morningrise as his eyes began to open and he slowly became more aware of his surroundings. He was in his chambers, and directly in front of him were Chivalry and Virtue. Virtue was much closer, trying to get the attention of Morningrise.
"Oh, Morningrise, thank Celestia you're okay!" Virtue said, looking to the still dazed alicorn.
"Wha...What happened?" Morningrise began to stand up, but was stopped by Chivalry.
"You still need to regain your strength, we thought we lost you. Saving Hope must have taken your energy out of you." Chivalry said, putting a firm hoof on Morningrise's haunch. Morningrise looked to Chivalry, and nodded.
"Wait, Hope?" Morningrise began, looking to Virtue this time for a response. She nodded, looking to Morningrise with a thankful gaze.
"Yes, my sister. You saved her life. She, no we, owe you our gratefulness." She said, looking to the still resting alicorn.
"Well, it's just what I do, no need to thank me for what I have done, it is simply a matter of courtesy." Morningrise responded wittingly.
"Well I am glad to see you've still got your sarcasm, Celestia knows that's the most important thing to us here." Chivalry responded, getting a laugh out of the other 2 ponies. The laughter was interrupted by a knocking at the door.
"That's strange, I thought I specifically ordered no visitors until you were completely recuperated." Chivalry said, trotting slowly over to the door. Now that his helm was off, his hair was visible, glowing a reflective silver that would shine in the light. Virtue's hair also was visible, showing a light blue color, significantly longer than Chivalry's. Chivalry looked into the keyhole, then turned to Virtue.
"It's Hope, I'm here to check on Morningrise." The noise from the other side of the door sounded before Chivalry could tell Virtue. The two looked at each other, then Virtue spoke.
"Go ahead and let her in." She said, immediately receiving a nod from Chivalry. He trotted back to the door, biting the handle and opening the door. Immediately, Morningrise noticed the runed markings running up and down her body. Hope walked in and bowed to Morningrise.
"Hello, noble alicorn." She said, keeping her head bowed purely out of respect. Morningrise stood from the ground and lifted her head.
"There is no reason for such formalities, just call me Morningrise" He said, the two sharing a good laugh before Hope turned to the others, who were as concerned about the rune markings as Hope was.
"As you can see, Morningrise and I have a lot to figure out about this, so if you don't mind..." Hope said, getting a nod from Chivalry and Virtue.
"We understand, you two try to get this figured out and let us know what's going on." Chivalry said, walking with Virtue out of the room. The door shut, and Morningrise immediately turned to Hope, smirking.
"This isn't about the runes is it?"
Chivalry and Virtue entered the foyer, bringing the new survivor pegasi to the door.
"Now, we will show you the patrol routes, we need as much watch on this place as we can." Chivalry began, dividing up the group into two smaller groups, and assigning one to himself and one to Virtue. They took the groups around the patrol areas, passing the mountain ranges and chasms that surrounded Seclusion. They brought the groups around, meeting at the middle. Suddenly, Chivalry stopped, looking out into the distance. The others did not notice and nearly shot by him. They screeched to a stop, looking at the solemn Pegasus.
"Oh no....."
Morningrise looked to Hope, who was standing right next to him.
"Was it really that obvious that the runes weren't what I needed from you?" Hope said, looking to the alicorn. He looked back at her, immediately realizing that she knew of his affliction.
"How do you know of my... my" Morningrise began, Hope immediately interrupting.
"Demonic Possession... Textbook." She slid a book out from her satchel. "You know, you have quite a bit of reading time when you can't go past your city's walls." Morningrise sighed, his haunches drooping and his ears dropping. He looked back at her.
"It was years before all of this happened. When I was a student under my teacher, I dabbled in nearly everything, and I saw a book. A book very similar to the one sitting here." He nudged the book back towards Hope. "The book had an evil incantation." Morningrise began, levitating the book and opening it. A skull appeared in shadow in front of the book. "I read a sentence, and before I knew what I had done, it was too late. Since then, we have been too preoccupied with our survival and I have been too weary of telling others to get my affliction banished." The book abruptly shut, the look of fear in Hope's face dissipating quickly. She shook out of her shock, nodding.
"Well, now you have got me." Hope said, nudging Morningrise on the haunch, managing to force a smile out of Morningrise. Then, he turned to her, serious.
"You must promise to tell this to nopony, not even Virtue." Morningrise immediately said, getting a nod out of Hope.
"I swear on the name of my father, Lightningstrike." Hope said, getting a confident look out of Morningrise. The two began to walk out of the door, stopped by Chivalry busting through the same door.
"Morningrise, we have a problem."
Outside, the sky was beginning to become dark again. In the very distance, the fires of evil creatures could be seen. Chivalry trotted to Morningrise, giving his report.
"They are quickly closing, we don't have much choices, we definitely don't have the capabilities to fight them yet." Chivalry said, getting no response from Morningrise, who was still deep in thought. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he spoke.
"I need all of the Unicorns on me now." Morningrise said. The group of unicorns huddled around Morningrise, as he spoke commandingly.
"I need you all to channel your energy into my spell, together we can drive them back." Morningrise got a rallying cry from the unicorns, as he dropped his head. The spell began, the other unicorns putting their all into the spell, but to no avail. Morningrise pushed himself harder and harder, just not quite enough magic.... just not strong enough. He began to think of his teacher, his friends, his life, then, a spurt of magic. A massive bubble erupted from the source, making a shroud around Seclusion, concealing it completely. The enemies stopped, the unicorns wavered, but kept their footing. The enemies turned.
"They're leaving!" Chivalry shouted, a cheer coming from the pegasi and everypony standing around. But Morningrise simply stood there. Unknown to anypony else, he had lost. It had taken over.
It has overcame me. I can't control anymore. It controls me, it's strangling grasp preventing me from lashing out, from warning my friends. It is too late. I have failed everypony. What kind of leader am I if I can't even solve my own problems? Twilight warned me of troubles before I left the castle, why didn't I listen? Why couldn't I do the right thing? I don't deserve to be their leader. I never deserved to be her student. I never deserved anything...
Hope walked up to the staggering group, immediately looking to Morningrise. Something was different about him, his body didn't hunch, he was no longer battered and bruised. He stood much taller, and she noticed a slight glint from time to time in his eyes. She spoke softly. "So, what exactly did that do?"
"Oh, that? Just a little, uh, concealment spell. It will keep us shrouded for about a week." Morningrise said, looking back to Hope instead of staring in the distance.
"Well, apparently it works. What's next?" Hope said, still trying to figure out what had changed to make all of this happen.
"Well, there's always more large scale scouting..." Morningrise suggested, looking again to the distance.
"Large scale? Like to what extent?" Hope responded, looking into the distance as well."
"Like to the more populated cities, Ponyville, Manehattan, even maybe Canterlot." Morningrise responded, getting a shocked look out of Hope's face.
"Isn't that a tad dangerous?" Hope asked, getting an immediate nod from Morningrise.
"Yes, but it is the risk we have to take. We need to find more survivors." Morningrise replied, looking back again to the distance.
"Should I tell the others?" Hope began, Morningrise immediately shaking his head in disapproval.
"No, it would raise too much concern. It is really best that only the ones we send know." Morningrise responded, the confused remark remaining on Hope's face. Finally, she mustered a nod.
"As you wish, Noble Alicorn." Hope said, not getting the usual response from Morningrise, raising her suspicion. She walked out of the area, entering back into the complex, followed by many other ponies, with the exception of Timberhitch, Aluna, and Virtue. He stopped them, pulling them over to the side to converse with them.
"Ah, just the ponies I was looking for..." Morningrise continued off to the side, Virtue breaking inside real quick after saying something to Morningrise.
Chivalry walked alone in the foyer, all of the other ponies scattered back to their quarters when Virtue came in through the front door. She flew to him, saying something as she landed.
"Hey Chivalry" She said, retracting her wings as she landed gracefully.
"Yes, Virtue?" He responded, taking his eyes off of the various decorations that littered the room. She stood for a second, pensive, then spoke.
"I probably shouldn't say this, but I will be gone on a scouting mission that Morningrise has me on, so if you don't see me that's why." Virtue said, getting an understanding nod from Chivalry.
"I understand. Best of luck to you on your search." He said, meaning every word he said. "I must go attend to some pending matters now." He said, turning his back.
"And Chivalry?" Virtue said, trying to say something of importance to Chivalry. He turned and met eyes with her. Immediately she froze, unable to tell him what she truly was going to say.
"Thanks for helping me find my family." She managed to say, kicking herself inside for not telling him what she had intended to tell him.
"No problem, I will talk to you later." Chivalry said, getting an understanding nod from Virtue. When he left the room, she spoke to herself.
"Why can't you just tell him, Virtue? Just do it!" She said, startled by an almost immediate response by Echo, walking from the shadows.
"Tell him what?" She whispered, Virtue turning around and looking to her.
"Where did you come from!? What are you doing eavesdropping anyway?" Virtue responded, relatively annoyed by Echo's intrusion.
"I wasn't eavesdropping, honest! I've been trying to get your attention for a couple of minutes!" Echo said truthfully. Virtue sighed, looking to Echo.
"It's not you, it's just I've went through a lot the last day or so. I'm just tired." She responded, looking to Echo. Echo nodded, looking back.
"Well, Morningrise is still looking for you. Some kind of scouting thingy I guess." Echo responded, causing Virtue to remember and dash out of the bulding.
Morningrise, Aluna, and Timberhitch stood outside of the complex, looking back to see Virtue fly back in.
"Sorry I left, I just had to talk to Chivalry for a second." Virtue said, getting an expectant look from Morningrise. Finally, he spoke.
"Did you tell him about this." He said. Virtue thought for a time, then shook her head.
"No, just had to thank him for finding my family." She said, getting a suspicious look from Morningrise that dissipated rather quickly. He turned to everypony.
"You will be scouting out Ponyville today, a high population city with a high probability of survivors...."
Chivalry walked into Hope's room, seeing her deep in study of a mysterious book. He looked at her for a bit, but Hope either did not notice his presence or did not care to acknowledge it. He stood there for a minute more, still no response. Finally, he spoke.
"Settling in okay?" Chivalry said, getting a response but not a look from Hope.
"Yes." She seemed to be deeply concentrated in the book. He tried to get her attention again, beginning to speak, but getting interrupted by Hope again.
"Did you notice anything different about Morningrise? His posture, his actions." She said, getting a confused look from Chivalry.
"Yeah, I guess, why?" He said, looking at Hope confused.
"Well, you see, I think I may know why that is..." She said, looking to Chivalry finally from her book. He stared back, still somewhat confused.
"And that is?" He responded. Hope went to respond, but stopped. She knew something, something that Chivalry did not, and that she promised not to disclose.
"Well I can't tell you." Hope said.
"Well why not?" Chivalry responded, as Hope slowly began to cave. Somepony else had to be told, she couldn't make this decision on her own.
"What if I were to tell you that there was something seriously wrong with Morningrise?" Hope began, getting the same look from Chivalry.
"From how you are acting, that seems to be the case. Just tell me." Hope began to crack, letting out a sigh.
"He made me promise not to tell, but somepony else has to be told, I can't decide how to proceed on my own...."
Chivalry now looked at Hope as she finished explaining.
"So he is possessed by a demon? And you think it has done what?" Chivalry said, trying to make sure he indeed heard what he thought he had heard. Hope nodded.
"A demon from a textbook, may have been planted there, may just be random chance, but I am pretty sure it has taken him over now, he does not respond to anything that he usually responds and not in the same manner.
"And this isn't routine? He never responds the same." Chivalry said, getting a concerned stare from Hope. She shook her head.
"But this is different. This is basic stuff that he responds consistently. And I saw something in his stare.... Something evil. You have to trust me, if not on my word on my sister's. There is something wrong here Chivalry, and I cannot fix it alone."
Morningrise walked into the study, seeing Chivalry standing there.
"Whats going on?" Chivalry said, looking to Morningrise and noticing those points Hope had pointed out.
"Nothing, just sent out a scouting party." He responded, looking almost arrogant to Chivalry.
"To where exactly?" Chivalry asked, probing further into the situation.
"Nowhere major, just Ponyville..." He began, interrupted by Chivalry.
"Nowhere major?! That's suicide!" Chivalry said, the arrogant look on Morningrise's face persisting. He chuckled, and looked to Chivalry.
"Suicide? Suicide is staying put. We need to do something or we are sitting ducks." He looked at Chivalry again, and Chivalry finally broke his rouse.
"Don't play innocent, heathen!" Morningrise laughed, looking at Chivalry. His voice was much deeper, and his eyes began to fill, glowing a mixture of black and green.
"I figured that you would find out sooner or later, but the damage has already been done. Your little friends are doomed." The creature finally manifested itself, exiting Morningrise's body, his body falling limp to the ground.
"And I figured you'd be smarter than simply exposing yourself.... Hope, now!" Chivalry shouted ducking a fist swing as Hope bashed through the door, uttering a series of words, freezing the demon in place.
"Raise, power of the light, Alicorn of justice!" Hope said, her eyes glowing bright white as her runes glowed, releasing a giant angelic spirit, which stood towering over the shadow.
"It... It can't be!!!" The shadow yelled, cowering in fear of the towering spirit.
"But it is, and you will pay!" The spirit casted a light ray through the shadow, causing it to slowly disintegrate, the shadow managing a sentence before it completely evaporated.
"I fear not.... for SHE has already claimed what she desires...." it said, as the spirit also dissipated, leaving Hope slowly fluttering to the ground. When her hooves touched the ground, she snapped out of the trance, nearly falling over. Chivalry checked Hope, then ran to Morningrise. He began to stand, and spoke.
"What... Happened?" He mustered, noticing Hope and Chivalry standing next to him.
"The demon took control of you, we had to get it out of you and destroy it." Hope said, as Chivalry interjected, looking concerned at Morningrise.
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" He said, a sigh coming from Morningrise in response, his body still weak from the possession.
"I... I feared that you all would not except me. That you all would hate, or worse, fear me." Morningrise said, getting a shake of the head from Chivalry.
"Morningrise, we accept you no matter what imperfections you have, it is what makes us us. Everypony has their flaws. I mean, I even don't like to admit my flaws, but they are things that are there. But we are your friends, Morningrise, nothing could ever change that, and we would like nothing more than to be there for you." Chivalry looked to Morningrise as he smiled.
"Now, I will give you a moment to collect yourself. I will tell the others what has happened." Chivalry left the room, leaving only Hope and Morningrise.
"You must be so glad to have your body back... wait, something is troubling you, more than just your secret. What is it?" Hope said, noticing the look on Morningrise's face.
"Its nothing..." Morningrise began, trying to avoid the subject. Hope kept probing.
"No, it's something... tell me." Hope said again, getting a shake of the head from Morningrise.
"I just don't know..." Morningrise said, again trying to dodge the situation.
"Don't be like that Morningrise, you know, just tell me." Hope said, as Mornignrise sighed.
"It's just, It's just life... I don't know what it is anymore... I have tried so hard to please everypony, to do what is best for them, even before myself, yet, I have brought eveypony else into this. Now, life isn't just an odd concept for me, life is an odd concept for us now. We must spend every waking hour fighting, struggling to stay alive, yet we readily accept death peacefully. For me, keeping my faith is a similar struggle. I fight and fight for these ponies, to keep us alive and well, but we are met with nothing but pain, suffering, and misfortune. I try my best, but it is difficult to say that all is well when this is all we are met with. I just... I just don't know anymore. Why, with all of my power and the best of intentions, can everything be well? Why can't I help these ponies make everything well? Why can't I help? I just don't know why I should believe anymore." Hope, taking a deep breath, looking Morningrise in the eyes.
"Do you remember being taught what faith was? When you were told that it was believing in Celestia and Luna, and that all would be well with faith? To be honest, faith is way different. Faith is not a warm weather, happy day concept. Faith was built for troubling days, the days when you feel you cannot do anything, and for when you truly cannot. Faith was built for leaders and commoners alike, Morningrise. Now those ponies need a leader. They need you, Morningrise, you. They need you to stand, believe, and do. They would not have made it this far were it not for you. They love you Morningrise, and the least you owe them is to believe, if not for yourself, for them." Hope finished, waiting to get a response from Morningrise. He did not speak, but took shallower and shallower breaths. She could not see his face, but knew he was crying. Finally he lifted his head, tears filling his face. He sobbed, managing a smile as he looked to Hope.
"I... I had never thought.... that a Pegasus would show me all of this." He said, smiling and attempting to remove the tear marks from his face.
"You'd be surprised, after all, what Pegasus uses magic?" She said, smirking as her runes glowed and she levitated an item.
"How, how?" Morningrise began as Hope spoke.
"This was because of you, when you saved me your power put runes into my body, now I can use them as a conduit for magic. You know that book does provide some pretty useful information. They almost look like Justice and Teal's." Hope said as Morningrise began to stop crying. He looked out of the doorway, as he saw Chivalry comforting Vela.
"What is going on?" He said, as Hope began to shake her head.
"Oh, no... When that thing had possession of you, it send Aluna Virtue and Timberhitch on a scout mission to Ponyville." Hope said, getting a shocked look from Morningrise.
"Ponyville? That's suicide! I wouldn't even go there myself!" Morningrise said, getting a nod from Hope.
"Yes I know, that's how I figured out that creature had taken over." Hope said as Vela walked in, tears still covering her face.
It has been a week since they took Aluna, a week since they took a step too far. Since then, everypony has been on the lookout to try to find her. According to Timberhitch and Virtue, they didn't kill her at the time, she was dragged away. I don't know what has caused this change in these creatures, last time we had encountered these, things, they were a mindless mob, they did nothing but kill. This has vexed me to no end. Nothing that I can think of adds up to this. There's no explanation for how they've become so organized. Hope has said some things to me about what that demon said before he was destroyed, something about a she. Whatever it means, it may just be that reason we've been working for...
Morningrise stood at the town center of Ponyville, with Virtue and Chivalry standing by him, around him, everypony searched houses, searched everything for signs. Morningrise, for the first time, stood normally, his afflictions, his burden, had been removed, he was finally him again. He stood triumphant, even, looking into the distance. Vela approached, looking to Morningrise, then to Chivalry and Virtue. She looked normal at first, but began to tear up, she wimpered the same sentence.
"Nothing... still nothing." She said as tears continued to run down Vela's face. Morningrise lifted her head, looking her in the eye.
"We will find her. I promise you." Morningrise said, looking to the unicorn, who slowly began to stop crying, mustering a nod. She smiled, and thanked him, as she walked back to the group, continuing to assist the search. Morningrise turned to Chivalry, serious.
"Continue the search sweeps, I want every area of this city scoured. They took her somewhere, I want to know where." Morningrise said, Chivalry nodding and signaling to Virtue as the two flew off further into the city. Morningrise began to walk, checking the progress of the scouts. He passed Sparta, who almost immediately stopped him as he passed.
"Did I hear what I thought I just heard? Are we really wasting MORE of our time on this?" Sparta said, looking at Morningrise with a disgusted scowl.
"Wasting? We are using our time to try to rescue Aluna, not wasting it." Morningrise responded, the scowl still lingering on Sparta's face.
"Maybe it isn't a waste of your time, but it wastes mine." Sparta said, to which Morningrise fired back immediately, with an angered look.
"Just the fact that you say that disgusts me. This is the pony that would lay he life down on the line for you, and you won't do the same?" Morningrise responded, to which Sparta rolled his eyes and turned away, saying one last rude response in passing.
"Whatever you say, Morningrise." Morningrise sighed, turning away and returning to the other ponies to assist in the search.
"He'll never change."
Aluna awoke to nearly pure darkness, with the only light from the room coming from the other corner from a dull torch. She startled, looking around, seeing nothing. She tried to walk forward, but was stopped almost immediately from the grate of a cage.
"What in Celestia's name?" Aluna used a spell, creating a small light, which revealed the surroundings within a couple of feet of her. She could not see much further than this, which marked the edge of her cage. She was trapped. She thought for a second, then tried a fire spell. As it charged, the cage glowed, as a shadowy voice boomed from deeper in the cave.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you..." The voice said, as the cage shocked Aluna. The same voice laughed, the sound echoing through the cave.
"You really expect to escape? That's actually quite funny." The voice said, as Aluna's ears dropped in confusion.
"Let me out of here, and I'll show you funny!" Aluna responded, getting another echo of laughter.
"In due time, anxious little unicorn, In due time... Until then, keep your pretty little self there." The laughter echoed a third time, eventually disappearing. Aluna sighed, seeing nothing further than the cage door.
"Why so grim?" Another voice sounded, startling Aluna. she looked around, still not seeing anything.
"Hello?" She said, looking around again.
"Oh, yeah you can't really see us can you?" The voice said, getting a shake of the head from Aluna. Afterwards, a loud smack sounded, making another light, revealing the figure of two earth ponies.
"Greetings." The two figures were stallions, lightly armored and in the image of each other. They must have been brothers.
"And you are?" The second figure spoke, definitely with a more definite voice.
"I'm Aluna."
"Wait, THE Aluna? Half of the Crystal Empire's star sorceresses?" The second voice spoke again, the face becoming more lit as he put his muzzle forward. A scar was visible on the left side of his muzzle, a blade wound. Aluna nodded, looking at the shadows.
"And you are?" Aluna answered, looking to the two figures. They nudged each other, and then the first one spoke.
"I'm Blitz. And this is Lancelot." The two figures became fully visible now, as Lancelot lit another torch. Blitz had grey fur with red eyes, and Lancelot Silver-white with blue eyes. Both had Black hair that was medium to long sized. She looked at the two of them, seeing that they were brothers. She felt somewhat strange, not being able to actually greet them closer with a shake of the hoof or a cordial greeting. Long distance just wasn't her thing.
"Well, do you have any idea where we are?" Aluna said, getting a shrug from both of them.
"I'm not sure, but when they drug us kicking and screaming into here, it was some mountain, we were fighting enemies near Canterlot." Something struck Aluna's curiosity. She thought hard, and tried what she had always done to communicate with Vela. She thought harder, trying to send a message to Vela.
"Vela, if you can hear this, they have us in the mountains near Canterlot..."
The group found nothing from the whole day, as Vela began to walk off disappointed. Sat down, her haunches dropping in frustration. She looked up, seeing nothing, then dropped her head.
"What will I do without her?" She said, not being afraid to say it with eveypony else away. Then she heard something. She looked around, there wasn't anypony around... again, this time stronger. Then a third time, this time it was clear, she thought she was crazy, but she recognized the voice. It was Aluna.
"Vela, if you can hear this..." She was too shocked, she couldn't believe it. Then finally after a few more tedious seconds, she mustered a response.
"Aluna, you're alive!" She thought back at her, as she stood up. The excitement could not be contained.
"She's alive... She's alive!!!!" She ran back to the others, talking to Morningrise.
"Morningrise, you won't believe what's happened..."
Aluna looked around, still not being able to find any signs of the exact location they were in. Blitz and Lancelot where sleeping, but Aluna couldn't sleep. All the anxiety from everything had gotten to her. She thought about Vela, and how she had found her. He looked over to the cage, trying to get Blitz or Lancelot's attention.
"Blitz... Lancelot..." Aluna said, trying to get one of them to wake up.
"Huh...Wha?" The two said, groaning and beginning to wake up.
"Vela said they're coming... I'm not sure when, but you need to be awake when they get here. We will need to get out as soon as possible." Aluna said, getting a confused look, then a laugh out of the two.
"Aluna, go back to sleep, we are stuck here, that's just how it's going to be." Blitz said, getting an incoherent nod from Lancelot. The two went back to sleep, and Aluna sighed. "They'll see." She thought. " I hope they'll see."
Morningrise stood in the path, everypony huddled around him. He spoke clearly, and stood with pride.
"Everypony, Aluna is alive!" Muttering and murmuring erupted from the group. Could this really be true? "They have her near canterlot, we must move now before they move her." The muttering grew louder, as Morningrise tried to control the crowd. Chivalry stood forward.
"How will we approach this? Should we just try to sneak by?" Chivalry spoke, getting a shake of the head from Morningrise.
"They will be expecting that, we need to catch them off guard." Morningrise said, getting a curious look from Chivalry.
"And how will we do that?"
Aluna woke still in the cage, sighing. Just another day. Trapped, locked in hell. Stuck here. The thought disgusted her. She rose anyway, as there wasn't much that she could do about it. She looked over, as Blitz and Lancelot were already up.
"Wakey Wakey." Blitz said, looking to Aluna with a grim stare.
"Your friends are in quite a pickle." Lancelot said, as the deep voice echoed through the cave again.
"They will be mine now too." Laughter erupted again, filling Aluna with rage. She bashed her haunch into the cage, bucked it, no budge. She sighed, sitting down. Now the voice had a figure, standing in the other end of the room with an orb.
"They all will be mine....." The sound echoed as Aluna sighed, thinking something to Vela.
It is all my fault. I have led my friends to their deaths, all for me. I should have been more careful, I should have known better, but stupid, stupid me. Now, everypony, Virtue, Morningrise, Vela, my sister, all will die. What have I done, What have I done? It's all my fault...
Aluna could do nothing to stop the figure from executing her evil plan. She sent panicked messages to Vela, trying to convey what they were about to march into.
"Vela! You need to get out of there! They are coming..."
Vela stood next to Morningrise as the group walked, keeping close to be able to communicate what Aluna knew and saw. Shared minds do have their advantages, after all. Ahead of them were only a few ponies, consisting of Chivalry, Virtue and Hope. Chivalry and Virtue had their helmets on, which had become at home on the heads of the pegasi from the years of being constantly ready for the worst. Hope, on the other hand, was unarmored, fiddling around with her newfound powers via the runes on her body. She giggled on an off as she would toss a rock or a stick further up the road and do it again, occasionally losing the exact item and using another one in lieu of looking further for it. Everypony else followed behind Morningrise, like lambs, shy, scared. Many did not even speak, just trotted along to the march of their leader. This was not out of the ordinary, after all, he was the decision maker. The walk continued, until Vela stopped, hearing a ringing in her head.
"...Vela! You need to get out of there! They are coming! Don't let her get you." Vela recognized Aluna's voice, thinking quietly to herself. "They? Her? What are you talking about?" Vela thought back, disrupting the stream of ponies behind her. Morningrise took notice, looking to Vela.
"Vela, is everything okay?" Morningrise said, trying to snap Vela out of her trance-like state.
"Wha... Oh, yes I am fine." Vela began, looking up and seeing something in the distance. "What in Celestia's name is that?" Morningrise strained to look forward, as now even the front runners had stopped and turned around to see what was going on. Morningrise saw a strange consistency, a group of some sort. He looked to Chivalry, who was still in the front.
"Do you have any idea what that is? Please don't tell me..." Morningrise said as he began to make out more of the details of the giant unidentified grouping. Chivalry turned towards the grouping, then looked back. Shock filled his face. Morningrise knew what it was, it was them.
Aluna looked around, watching the figure continuing to look at the orb. She was an alicorn, from what she could see, her wings were extracted, and she used magic to hold the orb. The orb would occasionally rotate, and Aluna could make out faintly a path of some sorts. The figure would occasionally glance over her shoulder, or at least it seemed like she did, it was fairly hard to tell when you are surrounded by darkness. Aluna could only stand and watch as the figure moved in closer and closer to her friends' demise.
"Take up defensive positions, I need anypony that is armored in the front! We need to hold our ground or they will chase us down." Morningrise barked out as everypony scrambled into a mass of pure chaos. Chivalry and Virtue stood at the front, used to the chaos of battle. Lionessa scrambled to the front, concentrating heavily as she shifted forms into that of a bear, manifested through the emotion of the moment. Sparta jumped to the front of the line, smirking confidently. The four formed a line the length of the road, blocking off passage further down. The creatures approached, their red scales and eyes of pure black being visible as they got within fighting range of the front line. Immediately, with the contact of the wall of demonic creatures, the front line braced their back hooves, digging into the ground. Still, they slid back nearly a foot. The onslaught continued, the front line dispatching anything within sight and eveypony else trying to help as much as they could. Some braced up against the line, trying to help them push back, while others even flung whatever they could see around at the mob. Again, a crash of enemies, the line fell further back. Morningrise stood directly behind the line, focusing beams of light into the mass, disintegrating the creatures from the pure light, which destroyed the dark, evil soul within them. He looked up to Hope, who had figured out how to use her rune markings to channel healing magic.
"Amazing what you can do when your unimpeded." He said, as Hope nodded in agreement. He turned again to the line, seeing the wave of enemies move in again.
"Brace yourselves!"
Aluna began to get fidgety. She had to do something, she had to figure something out. She looked between the two earth ponies and the figure, trying to discern something she could do to help. Lancelot and Blitz had nothing to offer, however, and she began to focus on the figure. She had to distract her, she had to buy time.
"Why do you want us anyway? What is your problem with everypony?" Aluna said, getting a laugh from the figure.
"I don't believe that is not your business. Maybe you should stick to what you know, nothing." The figure laughed again, making Aluna more irate.
"And what do you know about us then?" Aluna said, as the figure tensed up. It stood for a bit, then turned to face her. The shadow's face still was not visible, but the tone of voice told all of the emotion, anger, hatred, rage.
"I know that you all have interfered with me for the last time!" She flung something across the room. Aluna cringed, and then the figure laughed. "How brave are you now, in your little cage? Or are you scared?" The shadow looked at her as she began to lunge at her end of the cage to no avail. The figure laughed another time.
"What are you going to do, breathe at me?" Aluna looked at the figure, then sighed, turning away. The figure continued to look at her, and spoke. "That's what I thought."
On the frontlines, Chivalry and the others fought tooth and claw to hold their ground, but they were losing it fast. Lionessa grabbed nearby demons and smashed them together, tearing at them with her massive claws, while the others were much more overwhelmed. Chivalry looked back to Morningrise, yelling to him.
"We've got to do something, get everypony else out of here, we will get out when you get them back." Chivalry said, as a demon jumped onto his back. He immediately jumped, bucking the creature off and using the blade on his helm to finish the creature off.
"That's a negative, if we leave, you guys are done for." Morningrise said, continuing to use the beam of light, instead focusing it on the wounds of his allies to heal them.
"Morningrise, we can't hold any longer, we have to break..." Chivalry said as one of the creatures again fixed onto his back. He bucked, but could not get the creature off, as it had gripped his ears with its grisly claws. He began to fight harder, finally resorting to taking to the air. He flew in circles and loops, trying everything he could to shake the creature off of him, to no avail. The creature gripped harder, as Chivalry began to become more irritated.
"Bugger... won't let go..." Chivalry said as Morningrise tried to hit the creature, but missing the fast-moving target. Chivalry began to strafe the enemy formation, as the creature still kept its grip. Then, the creature kicked Chivalry in the flank. He flinched, losing control as he approached a giant orb. It glowed green, and was huge. There was no avoiding it. Chivalry looked, and spoke under his breath. "Oh no..."
Aluna turned back to the figure, trying to discern more details about the figure. It was an alicorn, she knew, and a mare, judging by the voice. She also noticed that her wings looked strange, she couldn't exactly figure out how, but they were different, she swore it. Other than that, she could not figure out much. The figure spoke.
"Hmm.. maybe I shall keep you alive, you will make a fine servant with a little bit of training, maybe I can even house train you." The voice echoed another laugh, the sound sickened Aluna.
"I am NO servant, especially not to you." Aluna said, as the sickening laugh erupted again. The repetition had begun to disturb her.
"So much fight in you, I like that. But that will change, I WILL break you." The figure said, approaching the cage. The face of the figure became visible, finally after so much looking. Her pelt was pure black, and her eyes an ice blue. She had an evil smirk on her face, as she looked at the defiant unicorn. Aluna let her get closer, in face to face distance. The smile remained on the alicorn's face, as Aluna smirked back. She took her head back and spit on the alicorn, causing her to recoil in shock, and then turning, wiping off the spit from her face. She started angrily, but then looked calmly, speaking in a demeaning tone.
"Now that's not very royal, now is it? Where's your manners?" The alicorn spoke, the grin remaining on Aluna's face.
"Sorry, I only use manners with those who extend the courtesy to me." Aluna responded, as the Alicorn gasped, then spoke in an offended tone.
"I'm not being polite? I have invited you into my home, given you a nice little room, even kept you here rather than disposing of you. I'll show you rude." The alicorn spoke, casting a lightning spell on the cage, electrocuting Aluna, as she half fell to the ground, panting as she struggled to stay on her hooves. The voice laughed.
"How do you like my courtesy now?"
Chivalry ducked his head as he collided with the giant green orb. On impact, the orb gave way, shattering into a series of pieces as Chivalry crashed to the ground. Immediately, the creatures stopped fighting, turned, and ran away. Everypony from the frontlines to the back ranks stood confused, trying to piece together what had happened, with the exception of Virtue, Morningrise, and Hope, who ran to Chivalry, who was beginning to pick himself up off of the ground. Virtue and Hope reached him first, helping him up as he shook his head and looked around for his helmet, which had fallen off in the crash.
"Chivalry are you okay?" Virtue said, as Chivalry turned to her.
"Yeah, but a whole lot of good that helmet did, thing didn't even stay on." Chivalry said, still trying to piece together where he exactly was now in relation to before. He had heard the creatures running past him, but had not known why or how. "What happened?" Chivalry finally mustered a question, as things began to become more clear.
"You know, Chivalry, I really have no clue... but it certainly worked." Morningrise said as the last glint of the demonic creatures disappeared in the distance.
"So now what? After those buggers wreaked all that havoc, everypony is probably too stressed and tired to march."
"We can stay put, but those things will be back. We may not be able to stay here." Hope said, looking the direction that the creatures left.
"We don't have much of a choice... We drove them away for now, here is where we will have to set up camp, We are less than one day out of Canterlot, we can set up here and strike tomorrow." Morningrise responded, getting a nod from Hope.
"I understand, I'll gather the others and help set up camp." Hope said, bowing to Morningrise then turning to the others and gathering them. Now, only Morningrise, Chivalry, and Virtue remained.
"So, should I tell her or not?" Morningrise said, getting a confused look from both of the pegasi.
"Tell her what?" Virtue asked, as Morningrise began to explain.
"About Canterlot, about our past, about my teacher." Morningrise explained, getting a shrug from both Chivalry and Virtue.
"Honestly, it is all up to you. If you want to tell her, that is your business. I will go help her set up, will take my mind off of all of this." Chivalry said, trotting off to help pitch a tent. Morningrise, with Virtue left, turned to her, speaking softly so as to stay in confidence.
"And you need to decide whether or not to tell him." Morningrise spoke, shocking Virtue.
"Wait, how did you?" Virtue began, interrupted by Morningrise.
"What I don't tell many is that I can read the minds of almost everypony,. One of the perks of being taught by the great Twilight Sparkle. Anyway, since the invasion day so many years ago, I have sensed him on your mind quite a bit. You need to tell him your feelings, it will be the only way to get it off of your mind." Morningrise finished, as Virtue sighed.
"I just can't find the right time to tell him. Any time I think I do somepony interferes or something happens, it just seems like the world is against it." Virtue responded, her head dropped in frustration.
"While the world may seem to be against it, Virtue, you don't need to fight the world to do it. If you wait too long, he may be gone. Today is perfect proof of that." Morningrise responded, as Virtue mustered a nod.
"I understand." Virtue responded, putting nothing more into her response than the two words. Morningrise nodded, then walked away, boding her farewell and walking to the others, leaving Virtue by herself, as she looked to the cloud covered sky. She spoke, as if the sky were somepony that could understand her.
"But nothing ever changes, like you. Daytime, cloudy, Nighttime, cloudy, everything, cloudy. I can't even tell the difference half of the time. Why should anything else change, if the sky does not even budge from it's constant state, suspended in a state of cloud cover. What would it change? We would still be struggling for our lives, we will still be dealing with certain death at every turn. What would it change?"
Aluna stood in her cage, again defiant as the alicorn figure looked at one of the demonic creatures.
"You, failed? You, FAILED!?" The alicorn put out her wings, startling the small creature as it fell back.
"You are Clawers, you don't fail. You do as I say." The alicorn continued on her rant as the creature tried to speak.
"But, Mistress, the orb..." The creature spoke, as the alicorn continued to dominate the discussion.
"What of the orb?" The alicorn spoke, intimidating the creature even more.
"It was... destroyed." The Clawer mustered, still in fear of the towering alicorn.
"DESTROYED?! DESTROYED?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN DESTROYED?!" The alicorn spoke again.
"Mistress Sylvandras, we had no...." The creature spoke, again scared back down by the alicorn.
"HOW DARE YOU SAY MY NAME, YOU SNIVELING FOOL!" The alicorn said, as the Clawer trembled in fear.
"I'm sorry, Mistress." The Clawer said, as Sylvandras's wings retracted, and she pointed her hoof deeper in the cave. She spoke with the same level of anger, but with less volume.
"You make me sick, get out of my sight. If they step one hoof into Canterlot, I will have your head. They will find nothing there, so help you." The Clawer scurried out of the area, which was much more lit then prior. Now, she could see this Sylvandras pony from much further away. Sylvandras turned, looking at Aluna.
"No matter, we will proceed as planned. Soon, all will be revealed. Sylvandras laughed, dispersing into a cloud of shadow and swirling deeper into the cave. Aluna looked around, seeing more details from the area. The area of the cave was much to the likeness of a room, with wooden walls, and even a table with some food on it. She imagined that it was for them. Her stomach grumbled. "No food in forever..." She thought to herself and sighed. Upon further examining the room, she also saw a chest along with several strange orbs that sat outside of the chest. They weren't like the orb that Sylvandras had used earlier, they glowed different colors, and were clear besides some floating mist inside of the orb. She saw very little else around, besides the occasional crack on the ground or mouse scurrying across the rough ground. She noticed the cage was about 2 feet off of the ground, and dangled from a chain. Somehow, with such a precarious way to hold the cage up, it remained fairly well in place, contrary to what somepony would expect. Blitz and Lancelot had made themselves busy, bored by the banter between Sylvandras and the Clawer. They took no notice of Aluna's inspection of the surroundings, Lancelot yawning and laying down and Blitz knocking a small rock around inside of her cage. The lack of action tired Aluna, too, as she yawned and began to lie down, Sylvandras's concern for Canterlot vexing Aluna's thought process. Then, as she went to fall asleep, that sickening laughter began to flow through the cave, followed by one statement, in a confident tone.
"They are coming for you, right into my domain..."
Canterlot. Where it all began, five years ago. So many memories, so much terror that day. And we could do nothing but watch, watch our city, our lives being destroyed in front of our very eyes. What are we to do? We could have done nothing. But now, we can stand. Now, we can fight. Now, we march...
Timberhitch approached the mouth of a massive cave system, which was located in the particular region that had been described to her by what information she could piece together. Behind her, Chivalry and Virtue led a group which also included Echo, Night Flash, and Arc. Vela had decided to stay back, as the thought of confronting whoever had taken her sister sickened her to the core with grief and rage. Chivalry approached Timberhitch, talking softly to maintain a relative silence.
"Is this the one?"
"I reckon, it's the only one in the area that I can see. And trust me, I know this area." Timberhitch responded, getting a nod from Chivalry as he turned to the others.
"Alright everypony," He began in a light tone "this is where we have calculated Aluna to be. I want everypony to watch their backs and be ready for anything, they'll be expecting us." Chivalry said, as everypony began to head inside, except for Arc, who appeared to be deep in thought. Night Flash took notice, and approached the young Pegasus. She spoke softly, trying not to draw attention from the others.
"Something is troubling you, young one. What is it?" The alicorn spoke, standing tall, her purple and black tinted mane being apparent even in the "night" that had very little difference from the day, the clouds masking the true time and the true portion of the day. Arc shook her head, looking up to the towering figure.
"That's just it... nothing, I have done nothing." Arc shook her head, a saddened look on her face.
"You have done, nothing?" Night Flash responded, trying to make sense of the sudden confiding and expression from Arc, who sighed.
"Yes. Everypony else has learned something new, or done something amazing since we came under you and Morningrise's care. Hope and my sister learned magic... They're pegasi, if that's not amazing I don't know what is. Glimmer and Shine have made themselves excellent lookouts. Jolt is already an amazing Pegasus. But me... I'm just me. There's nothing special I have done, besides being dead weight." Arc looked down at her hooves, unable to look Night Flash in her eyes. Finally, she mustered a sentence, one that she had not even been certain if she meant or not. "I think it's best for me to leave so I'm not a burden." Night Flash looked at the Pegasus, beginning to sense the true feelings of doubt and guilt. She looked down to the Pegasus, and spoke softly.
"Raise your head young one. There is no need for such talk, this is your home, and we are your family. We would never dream that you are a burden to us. We would not be the same if you were to leave. There will come a time when everything will become clear. You have a destiny. Just because you have yet to discover it doesn't mean it isn't there. You have shown amazing progress over a few weeks, just because it has not manifested itself completely yet does not mean that you haven't already made great progress. There is much potential in you, Arc, I can feel it. You will do great things." Night Flash finished, as Arc tensed up.
"You, you actually know that?" Arc said, her head rising in hope and optimism. Her ears no longer drooped, perked up in interest as to Night Flash's response. Night Flash looked into Arc's eyes, removing any doubt that Arc had ever had about her future. Night Flash nodded, speaking in a slightly louder tone.
"I know it. We alicorns know a tad more about everypony than you think." Night Flash said, winking at Arc, as Arc smiled, any sign of her fears gone. She walked to Night Flash, digging her muzzle into the front right flank of Night Flash.
"Thank you, Night Flash." Arc said, the smile still not disappearing from her face as the two returned to the group which had already been engaged in the exploration of the cave. Chivalry stood in a large room, which had appeared to be untouched by anypony. He looked around, rather confused by Timberhitch's judgment of Aluna's present location. He looked up, seeing nothing in particular as well. He spoke lightly still, chuckling.
"Well, Timberhitch, I don't see Aluna popping out of thin air." Chivalry said, as Timberhitch rolled her eyes at him in response.
"This is the only place I found with the information y'all gave to me. Just because I survey for a livin' doesn't mean that I can do it without the least bit of good information" Timberhitch fired back, the two laughing it out like a brother and sister. Virtue began to diverge from the group, seeing a small glint further off in the cave. Everypony else was distracted in discussion, finally noticing Virtue's adventuring when it was too late. Virtue took a step too far, hitting a panel on the ground. It immediately began to glow, releasing a mist of darkness around the button. Virtue flinched, as the panel began to slide, the darkness flooding further out of the panel. Virtue began to panic, turning and running back to the others. Night Flash stood unwavered, as everypony else began to fall backwards. She smirked, looking at the shadow that slowly approached.
"Heh, simple shadow magic, piece of cake." Night Flash said, concentrating and releasing a wave of magic, destroying the shadow as it began to reach the ground around everypony. The shadow completely disappeared, revealing a small pathway leading downward. Chivalry laughed, looking over to Timberhitch.
"I think I owe you an apology..."
Aluna awoke to a grinding sound echoing from the direction opposite to the pathway further into the cave. The sound was a grinding, slowly driving her insane as it resounded for a minute or so. Then, silence ensued. Aluna's ears perked up, as she tried to discern what that sound could have been. Finally, she heard a strange sound. It sounded like, like a laugh. She was certain of that, but it couldn't be. It wasn't the sickening cackle that she had become so disgusted with. It was, it was somepony. She was sure of it. Excitement began to tense up her body, as she tried to get Blitz and Lancelot's attention and wake them up. It was.... it was.... it was Chivalry.
The group descended down the staircase, delving further into the complex. Echo stood at the back and Night Flash at the front, using magic to create a light. Chivalry and Virtue stood directly behind Night Flash, followed by Timberhitch and Arc. They descended further, wandering into a large room that was empty. They looked around, noticing only one door. Between them and the door was a rather long corridor of pillars, depicting events in Equestria's history from the story of Nightmare Moon to the Chronicles of Discord. How these were even created baffled even Night Flash, let alone how they got down into the secret complex. The pillars were carved, finally reaching a last one. The pillar silenced everypony, depicting the fall of Canterlot. All of this had been planned.
Aluna began to try to fight her excitement, as the shadowy figure by the name of Sylvandras walked into the room. She had a certain smirk on her face, depicting a sense of victory over the unicorn. She spoke in an arrogant tone.
"Your friends are scared to face me. They hide from me, they have betrayed you." She spoke, as Blitz and Lancelot began to finally stir from their sleep.
"My friends would never desert me! I think you are scared to admit your days are numbered!" The sickening cackle resounded again, making Aluna cringe slightly. Sylvandras looked down upon the unicorn.
"My days? My days? I control the days, you have no power. You and your friends have no power. I rule all!"
Chivalry and the others shook themselves from the depiction, finally managing to get to the door. Chivalry was first to approach, putting a firm hoof on the door. The door began to give almost immediately, as Chivalry slowly pushed outward and walked into the next room. This room was darker, and winded into a bigger portion of the room, in which he heard some noise. He stepped forward, stopped by a maddening shout.
"I rule all!" The voice echoed further into the complex, as Chivalry turned to the others, motioning for them to follow. He approached the curve, seeing that the path turned into a room. He peeked over into the room, seeing the outline of three cages, as well as a shadowy figure. He turned to the others, nodding to try to convey that they had indeed found Aluna. It had to be her in one of those cages. It had to be.
Sylvandras approached the cage much closer, looking down upon the unicorn.
"You really don't know how much power I have do you?" Sylvandras spoke, getting a defiant response from Aluna.
"I know you're not as powerful as you perceive" Aluna responded, getting a laugh from Sylvandras again.
"Naïve unicorn... Poor, naïve unicorn. You really don't understand the predicament you are in, do you? I have you, and when I get your little friends, I will be able to see my vision through- the full destruction of equestria." Sylvandras explained, shocking Aluna. Finally, Chivalry could wait no longer, emerging from the tunnel.
"That's where your wrong, vile scourge. You cannot overcome the combined power of our family." Chivalry emerged, followed by Virtue and Arc. Sylvandras laughed, turning to face the three.
"Ah, young Chivalry, I have been expecting you. Too bad it is for your demise..."
"You seem to be mistaken. We are not here for my demise." The palapony responded, as Sylvandras looked at the group again.
"You really expect to be able to defeat me with just three of you? That's funny." Sylvandras said, unleashing the sick laugh again.
"Not three, six." Chivalry said, as Timberhitch, Echo, and Night Flash emerged from the path. Sylvandras looked at the group, and smiled.
"No matter, now I have seven prisoners instead of four." Sylvandras said, as she began to cast a spell, shadow wrapping around her horn. Chivalry charged to intervene, putting all possible force into getting to her before she could cast. He got within melee range as she casted the spell, hitting Chivalry at point blank range and flinging him several feet back and against a wall. the figure laughed, as Night Flash approached the injured Chivalry, who was unconscious. Rage filled her expression, as she turned to face the alicorn.
"You....You, hurt, my, friend!!" Night Flash's eyes glowed purple, as she began to be surrounded by shadow, which stood in a column and spread across the floor. The alicorn saw the power immediately, and began to flee further into the complex, turning at the doorway before she did so. She shouted, calling for her minions.
"Clawers!!! Do not let them escape!" She shouted, fleeing from the shadow. As she left, Night Flash's eyes stopped glowing and she descended to the ground, everypony else trying to make sense of what had happened. The shadow had corroded the cages, breaking them open as Aluna landed on the ground safely, while Blitz and Lancelot, still lying down, landed roughly, as they still were in shock of Night Flash's power. Night Flash realized what she had done, and began to apologize, until Aluna spoke first.
"That....was....awesome!!! I didn't know you could do that!" Aluna said in delight, as Night Flash began to smile, realizing that she had not scared anypony, besides maybe Blitz or Lancelot. Echo walked around the room, looking at the decorations and trying to salvage anything, noticing a golden glint behind one of the cages. She walked to it, seeing the latch of an old chest, decayed in much the same way as the cage. She opened the chest, discovering a series of orbs, many of them looking rather similar, but smaller in scale, to the orbs which they had seen on the battlefield. She began to look deeper, until a roar erupted from further inside the cave. They were coming.
"We need to get moving, before those things get here. Fortunately, thanks to Night Flash, they have been scared away for some time." Aluna said, looking to the direction from which everypony had came. Night Flash went to oppose, but was shocked to see Chivalry standing again.
"Chivalry, you're okay!" Night Flash said, as the Pegasus dusted himself off and nodded.
"It will take more than a spell to kill me." Chivalry said, wiping a bit of blood off of his face and falling back into rank with everypony else. Echo quickly shut the chest, using magic to lift it off of the ground and bring it with them. They would need to be studied later, when she had more time. The group ran from the main room, Blitz and Lancelot making enough sense of what was happening to follow the group towards the exit. They exited the corridor, coming to the first big room. Echo turned around, seeing Clawers everywhere approaching up the tunnel.
"uh, guys" Echo whispered, but everypony was busy running.
"guys...." Everypony still could not hear. Echo sighed, lifting her head.
"desperate times call for desperate measures...." Echo said, as she planted her hooves and let out a loud scream. The scream shook the cave, dropping boulders on the pathway to further in the complex, as everypony else had already reached the exit. Echo ran quickly to the entrance, as boulders began to pile up at the entrance. She gulped, then leaped onto the pile, quickly scaling up the series of boulders. Almost there... almost there. She jumped one last time, landing on the top rock as she looked down, frozen in fear. The drop was several stories, and everypony else was trying to hold off Clawers that had gotten outside. She looked around, not seeing much choice. She gulped again, resorting to jumping off of the rock as the mouth of the cave closed. She was in free fall, as she quickly began to panic. Her life events began to run through her mind, especially the fall of Canterlot. She curled up, ready to accept her fate. She waited, waited, waited, but never hit the ground. She opened one of her eyes, seeing clouds fly by quickly as she looked up to see Starfury. He looked down at Echo and smiled.
"We heard a commotion, so we came to investigate. Good thing we did." Echo looked over and saw Anteros, who was carrying Blitz. Everypony else was grouped up behind them, the pegasi carrying the earth ponies and unicorns. They flew for a few minutes, as everypony laughed and generally had a good time for the first time in weeks. They had their family back.
The group landed at the camp to an expectant Morningrise, who stood beside Hope and Teal. They landed, as Morningrise turned to the two earth ponies.
"Who are you?" He said, getting a quick response from Lancelot, explaining their names. Morningrise nodded, as he began to analyze their motives, realizing they were of good disposition. He looked to Aluna, speaking with a much more friendly voice.
"I hope your internment was not too strenuous." Morningrise said, getting a quick response out of Aluna.
"Eh, it was hard, but I made it through. Where is my sister?" Aluna spoke, more concerned about seeing her sister.
"In the tent over there, it is best you go see her now." Morningrise said, as Aluna looked across the series of tents. She dashed to the tent that Morningrise specified, getting to the entrance and slowly piercing the doorway to see if Vela was truly in the tent. Inside the tent, Vela did sit, meditating deeply, to the point that she had not been disturbed by the rustling of Aluna opening the tent entrance and walking in. Finally, after Vela began to come out of meditation, Aluna spoke.
"Did you... miss me?" Immediately Vela froze, a state of shock on her face. Could it really be? She turned around slowly, meeting eyes with her sister, as all she could do was tear up. She managed to get to her feet, as Aluna walked to her. Vela's face was covered in tears, as she finally mustered a sentence.
"I thought you had, you had died." She said, burying her muzzle into the flank of Aluna, as Aluna began to feel emotional as well.
"I thought I was going to die too. There is much I must tell you. You and Morningrise, of this enemy of ours. Of Sylvandras." Vela kept her muzzle dug into Aluna's flank, as Vela finally mustered one more sentence.
The center of the camp was busy with everypony, who were eager to see Aluna. She exited the tent, greeted by cheers and hearty welcomes all around. Aluna blushed, not exactly used to all of the attention, especially since the fall of Canterlot. She bowed humbly, then turned to Chivalry and the others who had rescued her.
"Mares and gentlecolts, it is not I who deserves the applause, it is those who risked their lives to save me, those that came and fought with our enemy. Because of all this, our enemy has not just a face, but a name. She is an alicorn, she goes by the name Sylvandras, and she controls the creatures we fight against. She is the cause of the problems." Immediately, an unsettling murmur went through the crowd, silenced by Morningrise, who began to approach the Unicorn, speaking softly.
"Well, we can discuss our next approach when we arrive home. Until then," Morningrise began, almost immediately interrupted by Aluna.
"Home? No! She said something about Canterlot, about keeping us out. There has to be something there if she wants us out of there that badly." Aluna said, getting a concerned look from even Morningrise now, as the murmur began to erupt louder and louder.
"Canterlot? There's too much danger involved in that, I'm afraid we cannot afford to risk that." Morningrise responded, shivering as he remembered the destruction of his home.
"But you have to trust me, there's something there, I just don't know what. Please Morningrise, you have to." Morningrise looked to Aluna, beginning to analyze her motives, realizing that she truly heard what Sylvandras had said, and that Aluna had full belief in it. He closed his eyes, then sighed. He turned around, looking in the direction of Canterlot, raising his head and opening his eyes.
"Then we march in the morning." An enormous uproar exploded from the crowd, spearheaded by Sparta. He trotted to Morningrise, speaking almost immediately.
"You can't be serious. We have been everywhere fighting to try to find anything out, what makes you think that risking our lives again will do any good?" The Pegasus said, as Morningrise kept his back turned. He spoke back to the Pegasus, but did not ever meet eyes with the scarred warrior.
"Because we risk our lives going home the same. If we begin to head home, we could be ambushed and killed just as easily. If there's something in Canterlot, by Celestia we will find it." Morningrise responded, as Sparta begin to become more and more upset.
" But they are expecting us at Canterlot, you can't really..." Sparta began, immediately interrupted by Morningrise.
"Would they not also be expecting us at home if we retreat?" Morningrise responded as Sparta began to recede from the conversation. Morningrise still did not turn back to the others, fixated on the direction to Canterlot. Night Flash went amid the group, speaking to everypony.
"You heard him, let's get moving. Get some shut eye, because there's no sleep till Canterlot!" Everypony began to stop murmuring, most of the negative emotion replaced by excitement and anticipation. Gradually, everypony scattered, returning to their respective tents, with the exception of Aluna Vela and Echo, who trotted over to Morningrise. Echo spoke first, trying to present her findings.
"Um, Morningrise?" Echo whispered.
"Yes?" Morningrise responded, now turning back to the others, snapped out of his fixated trance.
"We found these in the cave that Aluna was trapped in," Echo began, opening the chest and pulling out an orb. "We think that they are..." Echo tried to finish, immediately talked over by Morningrise, who had a surprised reaction to the empty orbs.
"They are spellbinder orbs. We can trap spells in them to be used later for the same, or even a stronger effect. These were in the same cave?" Morningrise responded, getting a nod from Aluna and Echo. His look went to concern, continuing to examine the orbs.
"Then we are dealing with quite an opponent, not everypony gets to even see these, let alone possess any. But they are rather simple to use..." Morningrise began, immediately snapped into an idea.
"I think we may have a solution to our number problem..."
Morning struck early, everypony yawning and rolling themselves up to their hooves. Chivalry and Virtue were up first, as they were much more the morning ponies compared to everypony else. Morningrise exited from his tent, calling Chivalry and Virtue to his side. He addressed Chivalry first, looking to the further tents in which a few ponies were still sleeping.
"I need you to get everypony up, get them here quickly so that we don't have to spend so much time organizing everypony." Morningrise spoke, getting a quick nod from Chivalry as he flew off to accomplish his task. After Chivalry left, he turned his attention to Virtue. He looked to her, speaking with urgency in his voice.
"I need you to get everypony organized as such," Morningrise said, handing Virtue a list "it is crucial that everypony is organized like this, including the reserves." Virtue looked confused at Morningrise.
"Reserves? Do we really have the numbers for reserves?" Virtue said, getting a quick nod from Morningrise, who saw the doubt in Virtue's eyes.
"Just trust me."
Everypony lined up into groups, as Morningrise addressed them before the march. Four groups stood each numbering about four, and the rest, mostly pegasi, stood in a mass to the side. Morningrise was in his ceremonial armor, which glowed white and gold as he stood there.
"Today, we fight for not only our lives, there is something much greater at stake. Our enemy, Sylvandras, has hidden something behind the legendary walls of Canterlot. Regardless of what that may be, we are going to find out. I have sorted you into groups, designated Heavy, Spellslinger, Marksman, and my personal command group, as well as another squad or two of whom know what their job is. Does anypony have any questions." Monringrise finished, as a silence of understanding fell the room, followed by Justice, in the spellslinger group, raising her hoof and jumping. Her eyes glowed a light pink, a symbol of her personality fallacy. Morningrise nodded, as Justice asked her question.
"Ooh, ooh, can we throw books at them? Books hurt, one time, I tripped over a book, and...." Justice began, stopped by Morningrise.
"No, there will be no books." Morningrise said, as Justice dropped her head in sadness.
Everypony marched forward down the path, getting a few miles outside of Canterlot now with still no contact.
"It's too quiet, Timberhitch, status." Morningrise said, as Timberhitch looked through a looking glass further down the road.
"Still noth...Wait, what's that?" TImberhitch said, shocked as she pulled the looking glass from her eye and turned to Morningrise. She mustered a sentence. "Oh, no......." She repeated several times, as Morningrise quickly began to bark commands to the squads, lining them up with Heavy at the front. He shouted more commands as the enemies became within sight.
"Get into formation, stand your ground." Morningrise shouted as Heavy squad lined up 3 wide, consisting of Lionessa, Blitz, and Lancelot. Lionessa turned into a bear, taking up the majority of the road again as the wave crashed nearly seven wide. The line shoved back, as Blitz and Lancelot planted their hooves into the ground. The mass crashed again, moving the group another couple of feet.
"Hold!" Morningrise yelled, as Blitz spoke back, panicked.
"We can't, there are too many of them." He spoke as the line fell back a couple of feet again.
"Hold..." Morningrise spoke again, as the panic of Blitz rose again. The unicorns threw what spells they could into the masses, as Timberhitch and the other pegasi began using whatever was handy to hit the masses. Blitz turned this time, putting his back into the enemy mass and pushing backwards, trying to halt the advance.
"We can't Morningrise, we can't." Blitz said, struggling to stay on his hooves. The line crashed again, this time pushing the brunt of the enemy force into the road, where to either side forest blocked their flanks, finally, Morningrise turned to Vela.
"Vela, now!" Morningrise spoke, as Vela quickly told Aluna mentally that it was time, getting no response. Vela looked to Morningrise, not sure what to tell him. He sighed, turning to the group and continued firing spells into the mass. Now the complete army of the enemy, including the control orbs, were in the box of a path. The group gave up hope, thinking that they had been abandoned by their allies. Lancelot now turned, doing the same to Blitz and shouting to Morningrise.
"We're done for!" He shouted, straining to hold his ground. Morningrise sighed, dropping his head. He had failed them. But what he did not see is the swooping line of pegasi coming in from the left flank, as mass chaos erupted from the enemy ranks. Morningrise's ears perked, as he heard a shout.
"Did somepony call in air support?" Aluna yelled, carrying the same orbs, that glowed different colors. She threw them at the enemy, as spells busted through the enemy lines. Blitz and Lancelot fell over as the enemies in front of them fell or fled, as the first sweep was replaced by a second one, of all pegasi carrying the bombs. Of the four original control orbs, only one remained, as the second wave of pegasi ran out of ammo. Finally, the third sweep came through, destroying and scattering the remnants of the enemy. What few were left ran in terror, as they had before. Blitz and Lancelot picked themselves off of the ground, looking to Morningrise with a large deal of confusion.
"What in Celestia's name was that?" Blitz asked, getting laughter from Morningrise followed by a happy response.
"That, that was air support."
The group moved on, focused on their goal. Morningrise walked next to Hope, who began to quickly make small talk with the alicorn.
"So, you said something about having a mentor." Hope said, as Morningrise turned and looked to the Pegasus with a lifted brow.
"I don't recall ever saying such a thing to you, but yes, I did." He responded, getting a quick apology that he dismissed with a laugh.
"But everypony refuses to tell me who it is." Hope responded, as Morningrise began to understand why Hope was asking such questions.
"So you intend to pry from me my secrets?" Morningrise responded, as Hope mustered a nod.
"If it isn't too much of an imposition."
"Not at all, I actually intended to tell you one day, when the time was right, for it will come as a shock to you." Morningrise said, as Hope shrugged it off confidently.
"Try me."
"My teacher, who taught me all that I show you, was Twilight Sparkle." Immediately Hope was baffled in pure awe.
"Wait, wait, wait, THE Twilight Sparkle? The PRINCESS Twilight Sparkle?" Hope stood, with enormously wide eyes. Morningrise smiled, then nodded.
"And you didn't tell me sooner? For Celestia's sake, she was my idol!" Hope said, as Morningrise began to laugh at the sheer surprise from Hope.
"I figured you would have had such a response." Morningrise said, rolling his eyes as Hope continued to gush in excitement.
"Yeah, but why didn't you tell me sooner?" Hope asked, as Morningrise responded nearly immediately.
"For I did not want you to see me as Morningrise, Twilight Sparkle's student, I wanted you to see me as I am. As me." Morningrise said, as Hope began to calm.
"But Morningrise, it does not matter if you are a pauper or Celestia herself, it doesn't matter where you come from, you are still you." Hope said, as Morningrise smiled. The time he had to share this with Hope relieved some stress and doubt as to Hope's true feeling of trust in Morningrise, and had reinstated some pride in the aging alicorn. The discussion had also taken a considerable amount of time, as Canterlot quickly fell within sight on the horizon. The group approached the gates of the once proud city, which now barely stayed on their hinges. Morningrise took a deep breath, and then opened the door. He trotted in, seeing the structures that had once stood proud and defiant against nature, now being overrun by vines and moisture, causing major damage to many of the stone structures, including the wall, which at one time had been famed as impenetrable and indestructible. Now, it was a heap of decaying stone. Morningrise found himself in the town center, the entourage of ponies following him at a distance. He looked around the center, seeing all of the buildings he once called home. He then looked to the castle. He stared at the castle, in a deep trance.
Now, memories barraged Morningrise as he approached to door to the palace. Memories flashed through his mind, the sights, the sounds of the chaos. He froze, unable to even speak as the nightmare ran through his head. Aluna, Vela, and Echo walked to him, noticing the strange trance he was in.
"Morningrise, is everything okay?" Vela said, looking to the still figure. No response. She looked to the others, who just shrugged in confusion. She took a breath, and tried again.
"Morningrise, is..."
"This was the last place. The last place I saw Twilight." Morningrise said, as Vela began to bow out of the conversation.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to bring up bad..." Vela said, as Morningrise moved his head from its stationary position.
"It's quite alright. After she told us to leave, to save ourselves she said something to me..." The voice ran through his head, vivid as day, as he spoke them to the others.
"Morningrise, remember, above all, be true to yourself. You have great power inside of you, you simply need to unlock it." Morningrise reopened his eyes. He had not even realized that they had been shut, as he looked around and attempted to shake off the memories. He looked to the others, then looked to the door.
"Best not waste our time out here." Morningrise said, as he cautiously approached the door, examining the doors, which appeared to have been damaged to some extent, not to the same form of damage to the others. This looked like a break-in. Something wanted in here.
The main foyer of the palace was ransacked, the beautiful tapestries that once dangled proudly from the rafters now lay tattered and shredded, some on the ground, some managing to hold on by the little strength that it had left. Morningrise had more memories in here, which were stronger. He wasn't paralyzed this time though, as he managed a slow trot through the foyer, seeing the destruction firsthand in detail. Voices ran through his head as he saw the shattered panes of glass that had one proudly bore the images of her teacher, as well as many of the once proud ponies of equestria.
"There's something wrong, I cant put my hoof on it, but it's not good." Twilight's voice began to ring inside of his mind.
"Morningrise, you have to listen carefully. You need to get everypony out of here, something bad has happened. The elements have failed." Suddenly, Morningrise was placed into the scene. He saw a much younger self, and was shocked at the pride and strength he once had. He went to intervene, but everypony was unresponsive to anything he had managed to say. The younger Morningrise looked to Twilight, and spoke.
"But Twilight, we can't just leave you..."
"No, you must, it is for the good of Equestria. Just promise me you will take care of Aluna and Vela." The young Morningrise looked in confusion.
"Aluna? Vela?"
"They are the daughters of Cadance and Shining Armor. Weeks ago they came here in secret just hours after we lost contact with the Crystal Empire. Celestia and Luna went to investigate, and buy us some time." The words shocked Morningrise still, even after years. Celestia and Luna could only "buy time". Finally, the young Morningrise nodded, as a young Chivalry brought in the two unicorns. They were almost perfectly identical, with the exception of their hair, each adopting the opposite order of colors than the other. Both sported grey coats, and had green and black manes. Aluna seemed much more confident, as Vela was a tad further behind. Morningrise chuckled to himself.
"If only they were still like that now." He said, as he was interrupted by Aluna standing behind him.
"Who were still like what?" Aluna said, suddenly knocking Morningrise out of his trance, as he scrambled to get an answer, finally just making and excuse.
"Oh, nothing." Aluna looked confused at him, then shrugged it off. The group continued, approaching the end of the massive foyer. It was there that he saw a glint, a group of them, lying on the ground. He approached them, and saw with a awe in his eyes. There, on the ground, lay four necklaces, two-thirds of the fabled artifacts of harmony.
In the city, everypony roamed, exploring the run-down city. Chivalry roamed the streets, noticing the sudden shutting of a door. He grabbed Starfury, who was trotting by, and signaled for him to follow. He approached the door, hearing a light murmur of conversation, that suddenly stopped. He looked to Starfury, then signaled that he was going to open the door. He took a breath, and then with a mighty push, bashed his hooves into the door, knocking the door open, as two unicorns came out, attacking Chivalry. The first one was male, and jumped high at Chivalry. Quickly reacting, Chivalry ducked, turning around and seeing him land on his side, as Starfury ran to him and pinned him to the ground.
"I'm not here..." Turning, Chivalry was met with a blade of floating stone, as he turned the blade of his helm to meet it, as he slid a few feet then planted, being unmovable.
"...To hurt you." The two met eyes, the unicorn immediately noticing a Pegasus and not the gruesome creatures that they had been used fight. The blade dissipated, forming a set of armor that flowed fluidly around the unicorn. She looked at Starfury, who almost immediately let the male unicorn up. Chivalry turned to the female again, inquisitive.
"How are you guys still here? Canterlot fell years ago." The unicorn shivered when confronted with the fall of Canterlot, as she tried to push away bad memories.
"We were not in Canterlot when this all happened, but returned moons later in search of food, to no avail. My aunt Puresoul had to provide sustenance for all of us, including her three children. She did this by pure force of will. Weeks ago, she fell ill and died. Since then, we have had to resort to scavenging what we can." The unicorn spoke as three fillies came out of the house. One was green, one red, and one blue. Chivalry looked to the older unicorn, speaking to her again.
"I see. It must have taken a good deal of power for her to do that." The unicorn nodded, as Chivalry saw the pure intent in her eyes. She nodded, speaking in a melancholy tone.
"She was great.... We will miss her." The male approached her as she dug her muzzle into his flank. The male turned to Chivalry, and spoke.
"I am Staggershock, my sister here is Splice, and the little ones are Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald." The male unicorn explained, as the three fillies walked closer to the group, and the green one, which Chivalry figured to be Emerald, began to cry too. Finally, Chivalry spoke after he allowed the group to let their emotions be released for a time.
"We have a place that you can stay. Come with us." Chivalry said, pointing in the direction from which he came. Initially, the group seemed weary, but upon seeing a much bigger group of ponies, they decided to follow.
Virtue was walking through the military quarter of Canterlot, which had been developed shortly after the griffon war broke out. This was her home for so many years, and she walked about the barracks that she used to parade about, proud in her once shining and new armor. She walked up to a building, marked with a small sign. It read a short, simple line of text. "Barracks, Lightbringer Squad- Celestia's Finest" She sighed, remembering the days of her old squad. She, too, was brought back to the fateful day. Hope approached her, Virtue still entranced by the now rotting sign. She spoke softly, but with enough volume to get Virtue's attention.
"Virtue?" Hope said. Virtue was immediately thrown out of her thought, turning to her sister.
"Yes?" Virtue responded, as Hope took in a breath and then exhaled. She looked to Virtue, speaking ever so softly.
"The day we lost mom, she told me something. She made me promise to tell you if you ever came back, so I have to tell you." Hope began, Virtue stunned, pure emotion running through her veins. Hope took a deep breath, and spoke, remembering what she could of what her mom had said so many moons ago.
"She wanted me to tell you that she is proud of you. That even though you have our dad's thick skull and you have your stubborn moments, that you also got his wisdom, his commitment, his pure heart. He is just as proud of you as mom is. And they both love you very much." Hope began to be overcome with emotion too now, as Hope began to cry. Hope dug her muzzle into Virtue's, as she spoke in a muffled voice.
"I miss her, Virtue."
"Me too, Hope."
Morningrise examined the pile of artifacts that now littered the floor like trash. In the pile, he discerned that the artifacts were those of the elements of Honesty Laughter Kindness and Loyalty. Each lay intact, with the exception of the emblem of the cutie mark of each respective element, which had been almost completely shattered, only a few shards still remaining in the slot where the once elaborate jewels were. Out of all this, that of the Elements of Magic and Generosity were missing, causing a rush of excitement in Morningrise. Perhaps his mentor was still alive. He noticed immediately behind the elements there was a path of destruction, heading for a side room that was in a hallway. He walked down the hall, the portraits, like in the foyer, were tattered and damaged. Finally, they reached the door. The door, like the entrance, had signs of forced entry. Morningrise began to become more and more excited, as he opened the door.
The room was enormous, housing a laboratory. He weaved through the tables and apparatuses that littered the ground, the tread of creatures further jumbling the chaos of the laboratory. He walked towards the back, noticing a strange journal on a desk. He picked it up, seeing the cutie mark of Twilight Sparkle on it. He shoved it into his bag, then turned his attention to his right, seeing a window. The window was open, which was rather uncommon for a closed laboratory. Morningrise walked to the door, examining it. The door had not appear to have been forcibly opened, and no damage was visible on it. Then, looking into the glass window, he saw a glint of light reflecting in his vision. He turned around, as his heart sank through the floor. There, on the ground, lay the last two artifacts, shattered. The others found him fixated on the last two artifacts, as he spoke one sentence.
"She's gone."
Chivalry stood in the town square, as everypony began to report in. He took counts, noticing that he was missing Virtue, Hope, and Arc, who he had sent out on a patrol to check nearby for any creatures. The lack of Arc unnerved Chivalry, as the others took no notice of her absence. Finally, Arc flew in, moving so quickly she slid a few feet and nearly fell over. Chivalry looked to her, as she was too winded to speak. She struggled, as Chivalry urged her to take deep breaths. Finally, Arc spoke.
"They're coming."
Morningrise's head faced the ground, as he continued to be fixated on the last two artifacts. All of the work, all of the sacrifice, for nothing. Aluna approached Morningrise and tried to comfort him. She spoke softly, trying to be solemn.
"She was a great pony, Morningrise." She spoke, as Morningrise still refrained from speaking. He looked up, meeting eyes with Vela. Sorrow riddled his eyes, his world destroyed. He finally broke his silence, again only speaking one sentence.
"All of this, for nothing."
"It's not for nothing, the others may have found something."
Morningrise did not respond. Aluna went to his side, nudging him forward as he walked, still saddened and unresponsive. He exited the castle, into chaos.
"What in Celestia's name?" Morningrise mustered, trying to seem normal in front of the others. Everypony was rushing around, trying to scramble together and get everypony out of the city. Chivalry walked to Morningrise, and spoke with a panicked look on his face, which Morningrise had not seen since that day so many years ago. Everypony began to look to Morningrise, their leader. It was what they had always done. Finally, the words came through to Morningrise.
They knew we would be coming. They planned for us to come here. She planned for us to come here. And I was too caught up in trying to chase a lost cause to know any better. What kind of leader am I? Getting possessed by a demon, letting Aluna get captured, and now this? Yet through all of that they still trust me. They believe in me. It's a strange feeling. How can they trust me? With all of this? I don't come from anywhere special, I mean I don't even know who my parents are...
Morningrise finally managed a command as he began to piece together how he had been so gullible.
"Begin full retreat, get everypony out of here." Morningrise barked, as pegasi began to pick up the earth ponies and unicorns. Virtue looked around, realizing that there were some missing ponies.
"Wait, Blitz! Lancelot!" She yelled, turning and fleeing further into the city, as Morningrise was unable to stop her. Arc and Teal remained, as Arc approached the three fillies who had been left behind. They stood under Splice, as she reluctantly allowed Arc to approach and pick the fillies up.
"I'll get them back to Seclusion." Arc said, getting a hesitant, but sure, nod from Splice. Teal walked to Arc, trying to pick up one of the fillies as well. Immediately, Arc rejected her offer, urging her in the direction that Virtue had traveled.
"You go help her, I've got this." Arc said, getting a very concerned glare from Teal.
"Are you sure? That's gonna be pretty difficult." Teal said, as Arc nodded.
"I must. Now go help Virtue get Blitz and Lancelot out." Teal nodded, immediately flying off to find Virtue. Splice looked to Arc, who extended a hoof. Splice reached, until a violent bellow shook the foundation of Canterlot. A nearby building toppled, splitting the two from each other. Splice shouted over the debris, with urgency in her words.
"Get them out of here! I'll be fine." Splice said, as Arc tried to oppose, but was unable to even reach Splice. She flew off, trying her best to keep up with the others.
Virtue entered a large open area, seeing Blitz and Lancelot. She flew over, speaking to the two.
"We need to get out of here, guys. They're..." Virtue began, immediately interrupted by Blitz and Lancelot.
"No, you have to get out of here. We will just slow you down. Get everypony else out of here." Virtue shook her head, refusing his proposition.
"We leave nopony behind. That means you two too." Virtue said, as Blitz met Virtues glare with a stern stare. He spoke, saying the same thing, as Teal flew in, staying silent to avoid complicating the conversation.
"We will just slow you down. Get out of here, we will hold them off as long as we can." Virtue looked at the two, with much concern in her gaze.
"Are you sure about this?" She said, meeting a nod from the two.
"Buying time is our specialty, just don't you forget about us." Blitz said, as Virtue nodded. The terrace shook, hearing a loud bellow, as Virtue spoke a last word of solace.
"You shall never be forgotten. May you find glory in the fight." Virtue said, as she began to fly away with Teal, hearing Lancelot respond almost immediately afterwards.
"We won't be finding any glory where we're going." Lancelot said, turning to meet the gaze of an enormous creature. He nudged his brother, chuckling lightheartedly.
"Well, not like we planned to go, but it will have to do."
Virtue returned to the doorway to Canterlot, as Morningrise stood, waiting for the two. He spoke of pure concern as they approached.
"Where are Blitz and Lancelot?" Virtue responded with only a shake of the head. Morningrise paused for a second, then spoke.
"Evacuate now." The group began to ascend, hearing the shout of a unicorn.
"Uh, a little help here?" Splice spoke, still concealed from behind the wreckage. Morningrise urged the others to return, as he flew to pick her up. As he approached, an arrow flew in, planting itself into his armor, causing a gaping hole in the shiny carapace. He shrugged it off, flying to Splice, who extended her hoof almost immediately. Morningrise picked her up, as she spoke in a grateful tone.
"Thank you, I would have certainly died back there if it weren't for you." She spoke, as Morningrise flew faster to try to catch up with the others. Meanwhile, Splice concentrated, creating a beam of heat, which welded the armor back shut.
"That's some talent you've got there." Morningrise said, as Splice shrugged.
"It comes handy in a pinch." She responded, chuckling as Morningrise joined in as well. Then, she stopped, looking around.
"Did you, hear that?" Splice said, as Morningrise, Virtue, and Teal began to look confused. They had started to gain up to Arc, as well as Chivalry and Starfury. Chivalry was first to respond, still confused.
"Hear what?" He said, as she tensed up again.
"Oh, no..." Splice said, as everypony began to look at her.
"What?" Chivalry said, as he turned and was met with a large group of clawers with wings.
"They can fly now!?" Starfury said, as everypony now began to take notice of the mass of enemies behind the group. Morningrise quickly barked orders, managing to get a small defense wall together.
"Hold the line! We need to protect the evacuation groups." Morningrise shouted as everypony not carrying anypony formed a mass, protecting the rear flank of the group. Chivalry took the front of the formation, making a small arrow, which helped to better protect the front. Morningrise turned his attention to the evacuation teams, specifically Arc. He went to her, speaking urgently.
"Here, let me..." Morningrise said, seeing the obvious strain on Arc's face as she tried to keep pace carrying the fillies. She shook her head, looking to Morningrise.
"I've got it." Arc responded, as Morningrise tried to oppose but saw her determination in her eyes. He nodded, turning his attention back to the formation protecting the rear. The clawers crashed into the wall, as the wall pushed back. Chivalry yelled commands, trying to keep the group in formation.
"Hold your ground. Don't push, just hold. If we lose this formation, they will pick us off like flies." The second wave hit, as the group again knocked the wave off. The sky began to get darker, as what little light that was present had now begun to be covered by the growing mass of Clawers. They began to get close in on Seclusion, as the third wave hit. The line broke on the far flank, as a pair of clawers broke through. Morningrise intercepted the first, but did not notice the second in the shadow. It flew to Arc, sinking a blade into her flank. Morningrise dispatched the one he was fighting, immediately confronted by a yelp of pain by Arc. He turned, firing a bolt of light through the creature, as it erupted from the inside out, exploding into shards of red flesh which flew everywhere at the instant of explosion. The darkness clouded Morningrise's vision, as he tried desperately to locate Arc. Arc saw Seclusion in the distance, as she swerved, desperately trying to keep the fillies calm and keep from crashing into the ground. She strained, as blood began to pour out of the wound now. She saw the doorway as everything began to completely blur. Her eyes strained, then shut. All she heard were the screams of the fillies followed by an abrupt thud. Morningrise heard the crash, as the others did. Chivalry shouted to the wall, trying to get them under control and into the base. The crawlers had began to retreat, although some remained, trying to claim another of the survivors. Virtue broke formation, flying as quickly as she could to the site, seeing that Aluna and Vela had caught the fillies and removed them from the premises. Virtue turned to the group in the air, shouting with as much force as she had left.
"I need help down here!" She managed to shout, getting the attention of Chivalry. Morningrise had created a massive light ward, providing visibility to the nearby areas. She went to Teal, pushing her back inside as she tried to run to her sister, meanwhile yelling to the wall of soldiers to fall back into the fortress. Chivalry and Virtue, dragging Arc into the building, were immediately followed by the wall of soldiers, who fought with all of their might to shut the door and bar it. Mornignrise ran to Arc, Teal directly behind him.
"Where all are you hurt?" Morningrise said, the armor concealing the true location of the wound, although the general area was apparent by the steady flow of blood from under the armor. Arc coughed, then smiled to Morningrise.
"Nowhere." Morningrise did not smile, only spoke again.
"I'm serious Arc, where are you hurt?" Morningrise now tried to remove the armor plating by her flank, as she slapped away her hoof.
"And I'm serious, Morningrise, I'm not hurt. In fact, I've never felt better." Arc spoke, coughing again. Teal began to try to coax a true response out of Arc, tears running down her face.
"Sister..."
"Don't you sister me. I'm the older one here, and don't you forget it. Now I mean it I'm fine." Arc said, as Morningrise nodded.
"But she only speaks for your well being." Morningrise said, getting a laugh from Arc, followed by a cough, some blood coming out in the process.
"I think I know about my well being. And I think I know when there's nothing you can do. Now I tell you again. I am not hurt." Morningrise said nothing only nodding. He walked out of the room, as Teal began to try to talk Arc out of her stance.
"Arc, you can't leave me. Not today." Teal said, as she began to cry even more now.
"Oh, I promise I'll never leave you. In fact, I will be with you even more now." Arc looked to Teal, as Teal began to panic, looking immediately to Hope.
"Why aren't you helping!?" Teal spoke, her voice shaky. Hope looked to Teal, then down at the ground.
"We just can't. It's a matter of fact. You cannot save the life of somepony who does not wish to live. It is both a code of many of us, as well as a form of last respect. Teal looked around the room, getting nothing but blank stares of sorrow and depression, some crying, others too scared to even make a noise. Morningrise had stopped at the corner of the room, not yet leaving further into the complex.
"You will never be forgotten, Arc. That is more than can be said for most of us." Morningrise said, as Hope quickly tried to catch up to Morningrise, as he went down one of the corridors towards his quarters. Arc turned to Night Flash, as she stood over her. Arc spoke, as she coughed again.
"You know, Night Flash, you were right. I did do a great thing. I'm just glad you were there to tell me that I would. Thank you, Night Flash, Thank..." Arc said, as Night Flash quieted the young Pegasus.
"Shh... save your strength for when you walk with Celestia." Night Flash said, as Arc managed to smile through all of the pain.
"Thank you... Everypony." Arc's eyes slowly closed, as her life force ceased and she fell limp. Teal began to sob, as she hugged the body of her sister.
"Goodbye...sister."
Hope finally caught up to Morningrise, trying to speak through her exhaustion.
"What's wrong?" She mustered, as Morningrise froze, slowly turning to face her.
"What's wrong? Nothing. Besides, you know, losing Arc, Blitz, Lancelot, and learning that my teacher, and any chance of ever figuring out what is going on, to be completely destroyed and nonexistent." Morningrise responded, as Hope tried to cheer him up.
"But we know who we are fighting now."
"Goody, we know that we are fighting somepony that I've never heard of, you've never heard of. How does that help, or even constitute the loss of life?"
"But there is also the gain, we got Splice, Staggershock, the fillies..." Hope responded, as Morningrise shrugged.
"So we traded some lives for others. How is that fair? All that does is make me feel responsible for all of this." Frustration began to get to Hope, as she tried desperately to find some upside to all of this. Finally, she hit a breakthrough.
"You are not responsible though. Just because you are a leader doesn't mean you choose what somepony decides to do with their life. You merely try to suggest. The leader that decides for others is an oppressive one. We just need to learn to move on, to persevere. If our ancestors made it through 2 Wars with the Griffons, and an evil Discord, we can handle some crazy alicorn." Morningrise laughed, as Hope began to chuckle too now. He brought his head back up, mustering a slight smile.
"I suppose you're right." Morningrise said, as Hope began to urge him back into the foyer.
"Come on, let's get back to everypony else." Hope said, as Morningrise went back into the foyer, confronted nearly immediately by Justice, who was in the prophetic Balthazar personality.
"Morningrise, I have a message for you." Justice spoke, getting a confused look accompanied by a nod from Morningrise.
"Shoot."
Justice began to float, her eyes glowing bright white. Her voice spoke in a tone that shocked Morningrise. He knew that voice, he knew it from anywhere. It was Twilight.
"When the Elements of Harmony fail and the world collapses, there will arise a new set of Elements, Crucial to the survival of the world. You will know them by the following..." Justice's voice began to change, going back and forth from the voices of different ponies, identity unknown, but gender nearly definite.
"On the darkest night, a Beacon of Light." A mare's voice spoke confidently.
"Simple of Divine, a Wise Mind." A second mare's voice spoke, this time much more softly.
"From the end to the start, a Loving Heart." Another mare's voice spoke, in the very middle of the other two in volume and spoke as confidently as the first.
"Never giving in, a Brave Whim." A Last mare's voice spoke, the loudest of the four.
"Giving all to everypony, a sacrificing heart." A stallion's voice spoke, with a rusty, almost grizzly, voice.
"A leader, pure in heart, and vigilant over everypony." A last stallion's voice spoke, which stopped Morningrie in shock. Justice descended to the ground as Morningrise darted out of the room, quickly followed by Hope. Chivalry helped Justice to her hooves, as everypony tried to make sense of what just happened. Virtue looked around, noticing almost immediately that Teal had left the room. She went down the hallway, following it to her room, as she knocked twice. No answer. Knocked again. This time, a depressed voice responded.
"Go away..." The voice spoke, as Virtue opened the door. Teal was curled on her bed, the pillow covering her head. Virtue approached, as Teal spoke again.
"I said go away." Teal spoke, as Virtue shook her head.
"It will take more than that to get me away. Now tell me, what's wrong?" Teal groaned, and then sat up, removing the pillow from her face.
"Hm... I wonder, maybe its that my sister just died and there was nothing I could have done to stop it. Or maybe worse, there was something and I didn't do it." Teal groaned again and then curled back up, covering her head again. "I just don't know." Virtue sighed, and then approached Teal.
"She did a great thing, and she chose to do it. There was nothing you can do, but now there is something you can do." She picked her head up, looking at Virtue.
"There is?" Virtue nodded.
"Yes, don't you ever forget her. If you do that, she will never leave your mind. Just remember, she is with Celestia now, and she will always be here for us." Virtue said as Teal groaned again. Virtue walked to the doorway, speaking softly.
"If you need me, I will be in my room." She left the room, as Teal slowly began to sob again.
Hope knocked on the door to Morningrise's study, frantically trying to get him to open the door.
"Morningrise!"
"Not now Hope!" Morningrise sat behind his desk, frantically scribbling down the prophecy that had been given to him by Balthazar. He studied it over and over, zoning out Hope at the door. He began to write something down, but then shook his head and crumpled the paper, muttering a simple no. This process went on for minutes onto hours, as frustration grew exponentially. He finally gave up, walking over to meditate. Initially, he calmed, his mind going through the usual calming visions that he used all of the time when meditating. Then, the day's events began to run through his mind. Particularly, all he could see was Arc, bleeding, saying over and over that she was not hurt.
"I'm fine, I'm not hurt. I'm...." It drilled through his mind as he tried to maintain his composure, with no success. Finally, he was overcame with stress, as he felt a slip from his mind followed by a large amount of stress removed from his mind.
Chivalry stood outside, as Hope volunteered to be the second guard of the night. They stood very close to the door, as they were uneasy because of the day's events. Hope turned to Chivalry, as she looked to him for guidance.
"Is something wrong with Morningrise?" Hope said, as chivalry shrugged.
"I suppose, but how would you feel if your role model were found to be dead after you clinged to the hope of her being still alive?" Hope nodded, understanding Chivary's point as she began to speak, but was astonished by a giant pillar of light flooding out of the top of Seclusion. Chivalry managed to speak, looking up at the massive tower of light.
"What in Celestia's name?"
Morningrise fell out of his meditation, as he noticed that his satchel had been knocked to the ground, the book which he grabbed in canterlot spilling out of the satchel. He approached it, moving it to the desk. It opened slowly, the strain of the aged pages evident by the crackling. The writing of the pages became almost immediately recognized by Morningrise, by the title Dear Princess Celestia, at the top of all of them. They were loosely packed at the front of the book, followed by a series of diary entries from some time after she had stopped writing the letters to Celestia. He read through them, laughing at some of the letters and how they had somewhat reminded him of his childhood mischief. Then, as he read through the diary entries, more and more troubling things became apparent. Finally, towards the end of the diary, on the last page with writing, was a frantically written letter. The text was written slowly at first, but then had a feverish pace at the end, abruptly ending. He read it quietly out loud to himself. "Dear anypony who is reading this,
If you are reading this, the worst has happened. Even with the best of intentions we have been unable to prevent the imminent disaster. We have failed you. The only thing I know about the threat is that they are controlled. By who, or how, I cannot tell you. All I know is that Celestia told me that eventually light would find its place again, and balance would eventually cast away the shadow and evil of this world. This she told me as she went to buy time for the evacuation. If you read this, know that Celestia has full faith that you are those that will redeem this world from the destruction it faces. You alone can save the world. Know also that.... "
Morninrise read, as it stopped there. He turned the page. Nothing. He examined the page, as there was a huge amount of space at the bottom. He examined the text again, as it sounded even more grim the second time. He dropped his head, as he began to cry again. A tear hit the page, as it began to slowly soak into the page. Suddenly, the page began to glow lightly, as at the bottom words began to be written in ink. Morningrise opened his eyes, seeing the handwriting and knowing it by heart.
"It can't be..." He said, as at the bottom a small sentence was written out.
"You are not alone" Morningrise read out as he heard a small noise from behind him. He turned, meeting gaze with the winged purple alicorn whose handwriting he had known for nearly all of his life, as well as a white unicorn with a purple mane, who he recognized as Rarity.