You have heard the tale of Evening Star and Sharp Sword, but now we must hear of the tale of Willow Leaf, the most recent reincarnation of the soulmated mare who isn't quite what she seems.
Evening Star, Sharp Sword, two names that will live forever in the books of history, so long as Luna and Masao continued to keep them there, one was a mare that was Masao's first lover, the second was her reincarnation, and both were close friends and confidants to Princess Luna who later became the wife to Masao Darkheart, the Lunar Knight, now time has brought us to the future of Equestria, a future where its peaceful existence is about to come to an end, the War of Stars is about to begin, and with it, Masao will learn who had been pulling his strings ever since he landed on Equis, and he will learn just how he ended up there, and why...
Crossover with Warhammer 40k (sortof);Human in Equestria;Human/pony romance;mentions of mane(not a misspell I did that on purpose) character deaths;possibly graphic scenes involving war;Crossover reference with several sci-fi games/movies/shows
Post Common Era Chapter One/Pre-War of Stars Chapter One: Willow Leaf
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter One/Pre-War of Stars Chapter One: Willow Leaf
“I guess, thank you for the story, but I really don’t understand why you are telling me this” said a green mare with a darker green mane and tail and with red eyes as a human with red hair, untouched by the ravages of time which made discerning his age impossible, his eyes, once green in the long almost forgotten past, now were red, with the former whites of his eyes a sickly green. His skin was pale white, having spent more time in the dark of night and indoors rather than the light of day. This human had just finished telling her about the history of Evening Star and Sharp Sword, two mares that she had no clue ever existed, let alone played such a pivotal role in Equestrian history. The human in question was none other than Ser Masao Darkheart, Prince-Consort to Princess Luna and royal protector of the thrones of Canterlot, with all the authorities given to that of the Princesses themselves.
“Because, Willow Leaf, I believe you are the mare I have been looking for after all these years…”
“No, not possible! I am not some four thousand year old mare!” argued Willow Leaf as she shot up and started to back away, Prince-Consort Masao Darkheart was not known for throwing out stuff like that, every few centuries it would get out that he was still looking and a few families hoping to get in good with the royal family would bring their daughters in hopes that Masao would claim them to be his own. But to be approached by him? In all her years she had never heard of it.
“No, that title belongs to me” said a dark blue Alicorn as she walked into the room and sitting next to her husband, their wedding had been a grand affair, much to their displeasure, having wanted a small ceremony, with only friends and family, but they had forgotten how large the Apple family was. The elderly Applejack, who was still as spry as ever at the time had joked that the wedding was so far long in coming she was surprised that it took them so long.
“Princess! I am sorry! Prince Masao said I was some reincarnated mare! Please don’t—”
“What is it with ponies and assuming that we will punish them for saying things?” asked Luna as she trotted up to the cowering mare and nuzzled her, “Are you sure she is Sharp Sword? Are you sure that she is the mare we have been looking for?” asked Luna in a voice that suggested hope, hope for a friendship to be renewed, hope for her husband and lover to be reunited with his first love once more, and hope that finally after all these years, that they would finally be wed.
“I am sure, but, understand Willow Leaf, if you are not sure, if you don’t want to be a part of our lives, we will understand, we will let you be, you’ll never hear from us again” said Masao as Luna sat down on her haunches and a large smile grew on her lips as she looked at Willow Leaf.
“C-can I… Can I think about this?”
“Of course I understand that this is quite a lot to take in all at once. Take your time, we aren’t expecting an answer anytime soon, but, I would prefer it if you stayed in the castle, we won’t keep you here against your will, if you wish to leave so be it, but it would probably be safer if you remained” said Luna slightly rambling, much to Masao’s amusement.
“Th-thank you princess” said the green mare before she shot out of the castle stopping only once she had gotten far away and was soon lost in the streets of Canterlot, now a city of lights and sounds, a technological marvel, standing alongside the ancient architecture it was easy to lose any one tailing you in its twisting and winding streets, the Solar and Lunar Guard however were also similarly upgraded, no longer did they carry spears or even the old revolvers, now they carried more advanced weaponry, the Solar Pegasus guard that flew over her was wielding what the Prince-Consort called a bolter, joking that it looked like a gun from a video game he used to play. Slipping down into an alleyway, Willow Leaf sighed as she pulled a bag that she had been carrying on her in front of her, inside the bag were items that did not belong to her, but rather the original reason as to why she was in the palace, a set of jewelry known as the Elements of Harmony, not the real ones of course as everyone knew that the real ones were sitting in the Tree of Harmony which was under guard at all times to protect it from thieves like herself. However these Elements of Harmony were a gift from Discord using the essence of the tree to give them form, they didn’t have any power by themselves, but if a alicorn—or unicorn she hoped—cast the right spell, they would cast a beautiful light that covered all of Equestria in a beautiful rainbow, the best part for her however was not that, as she was an earth pony, was that they were worth a fortune, and she would be set for life, if she found the right buyer.
- - -
“What do you mean a fake?” she asked in surprise and the fence she was at simply shook his head and responded as if he was talking to a foal of limited understanding.
“I mean, they aren’t the real jewels, seriously, are you thick in the head?” Willow Leaf huffed at that and whipped around and walked away hitting him with her tail. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going? You still owe me some money, especially since you got me out here thinking that you got the Elements of Harmony. Seriously what if this were a trap huh?”
“I’d be surprised if it weren’t” said a burly unicorn stallion as he walked into the light, his job was to protect his employer, who at the moment was the fence.
“It’s not a trap! I had them, I swear! I even used that authenticator spell gem you gave me! Something must have happened between then and now!” said Willow Leaf and a purple and black oval appeared behind her, mere moments later, Masao and Princess Luna walked through it, Princess Luna wearing a customized cybersuit made for her wings.
Cybersuits were an innovation that Princess Twilight Sparkle invented, it magnified the magic of a unicorn, or alicorn several fold, it was never really recorded by how much as she only ever made twelve, as well as the custom ones for her fellow princesses, herself, and a even farther customized one for Masao. Luna’s was a medium blue with darker blue circuit lines running across it, Masao’s a white with black circuit lines. On Luna’s head was a set of tech goggles, with one eye pulled down and the other folded up, Masao had forgone the tech goggles for a helm made of alumice, a cross between aluminum and wrought iron, all the strength of wrought iron and at the weight of aluminum.
“Well, I was hoping you wouldn’t be here, Willow Leaf, I was hoping that it was a coincidence that you had visited the castle on the same day the gems were taken. But I guess it was for naught…”
Post Common Era Chapter Two/ Pre-War of Stars Chapter Two: Thieves Have a Price, Is Mine is to Marry You?
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Two/ Pre-War of Stars Chapter Two: Thieves Pay a Price, Is Mine is to Marry You?
Masao stood there, a bolter in his hand, ready to fire at the first misstep of any of the ponies there, Luna however had a look of sadness on her face, and that sadness cut into Willow Leaf’s heart, she didn’t understand why, after all she was just some pony who lived in the castle, a pony she never gave a thought to, except when she read the gossip PADDs. So why did it hurt so much to see the mare in emotional turmoil.
“I don’t know what you have on her, but you will release her”
“Wait are these really the real Elements of Harmony?” asked Willow and Masao nodded and the mare rounded on the fence, “You lying sack of shit! You were going o turn me in! Or otherwise buy them off me for practically nothing!”
“I don’t know what is more insulting, the fact we were robbed, or the fact that the robber was almost robbed” stated Luna and Masao chuckled as two Lunar guard lighted beside the duo, equipped in their battlesaddles as Masao called them, which was quickly adopted by the bat ponies, were a twin set of bolters. “Take them in my little ponies, if either of the males resist, kill them, they attempted treason via robbery, we will handle the mare, we have business to finish with her” the bat ponies nodded and with very little prompting the two stallions were herded through the busy streets, after the unicorn stallion had its magic blocked with a set of anti-magic cuffs.
- - -
“Please, I don’t want to go to prison!” said Willow Leaf as she was shepherded through the portal that Luna and Masao had originally came through. As soon as she was through her voice fell silent as she found herself in the presence of the two other Alicorn Princesses of Equestria, the fourth alicorn of Equis was actually the ruler of the city-state called the The Crystal Empire so she was not a ruler of Equestria.
“So she was there… Pity” said Celestia her looks as unchanging as ever, Twilight’s looks however had changed. Where her hair once laid flat, it now seemed to move as if flowing through water, or a breeze only it could feel, just like the other two alicorns manes.
“Hey Celly!” said a familiar voice and Celestia sighed as Discord’s head popped up from the ground and Willow nearly scrambled back through the portal as Masao and Luna stepped through.
“Hey Discord, what are you up to?” asked Masao nonchalantly as he walked up to Willow and placed a comforting hand on her back.
“Oh not much, I was just out and about, and I find a soul thread that, Oh you already found her! Good! I was worried that she would be in some serious trouble! I mean she did steal the—”
“We know Discord” interrupted Luna as she tried to herd her fellow princesses out of the room as Masao turned to Willow.
“How much you have changed… You used to be captain of the Lunar Guard, now you are the thief who managed to steal the Elements of Harmony, a feat to be proud of to be sure, but you could be so much more” said Masao with a smile and a nod, the security on the Elements of Harmony was extensive, the fact she managed to get away with the gems and nearly fence them off was a testament to her skill, skill that could be put to use for good, if she had the right mind for it.
“Well sorry I don’t live up to your expectations of your dream mare—” Masao chuckled softly at her comment.
“I’m sorry it is just funny that you would say that when technically Luna is my dream mare dreams are so much more fun anyway”
“EWW! I did NOT need to know that!” said Willow Leaf as she backed away from the human shaking her head trying to clear it of the image that had shoved itself into her mind’s eye.
“Now who’s mind is in the gutter?” teased Masao before a serious expression took over his face. “And no, you’d never live up to any expectations, other than greatness, and trust me you have, that feat you pulled off is one of the best done by any thief in the past four hundred years.”
“So what is it going to cost me? Huh? Are you going to force me to marry you now? Is that my only way to avoid prison?”
“Far from, I was hoping we could use your skills, you once served the crown, and now it has need of you once again” said Masao and the green mare looked at him her eyes narrow before she motioned for him to continue, “Your skills are top notch, to be honest only a dark mage could best you in getting in and out without detection, I only found you because I was looking for the soul that pinged mine”
“I am no unicorn, so I don't know how—”
“I am getting to that Willow Leaf, you have skills I have use for, even if you will not accept my hand, then perhaps I can offer you a job that will still put you in the lap of luxury as I had planned before, but this time…”
- - -
“Sister, what do you plan on doing? That mare reminds me of Evening Star for sure, but even if it is her, she broke the law—”
“So? She is our friend! Celestia, if we can not forgive our friends than what can we do?” asked Twilight as she sat straight beside her former teacher, Twilight became the first royal to officially practice dark magic alongside light magic, starting a branch of mage that followed her namesake, Twilight Mages. No twilight mage could equal a pure light or dark mage in their respective fields but because of their versatility, they were the perfect ones to apprehend any mage that betrayed the crown. Twilight was also still the Princess of Friendship, and had, with the occasional help of any of her fellow rulers, or sometimes by herself, had forged many an alliance and peace treaty with races that otherwise would have had no use with the ponies of Equestria…
“She still needs to—”
“No sister, she is my closest friend and I will not have you lock her up just because we could not catch her before she committed a crime, perhaps she became a thief because she had no choice? You know as well as I that there are still parts of Canterlot that are impoverished and where our ponies live in squalor!” said Luna as she stamped her hooves against the ground as the mare in question walked into the room followed by Masao who had a grin on his face. “Willow Leaf… Are you OK?” asked the Lunar Princess as Masao walked around the green mare and stood beside his wife.
“You had something you wanted to say, something you wouldn’t tell just me, so go on.”
“You mentioned that you wanted me part of your lives, does that mean I would have to marry you immediately? Or does that mean you would have a proper relationship with me?” asked Willow Leaf and Masao was honestly surprised he had not expected that, he expected her to bargain for her freedom, not, in her words, trade one pair of shackles for another.
“That is entirely up to you, I would prefer to just get the marriage over with, but—”
“What I mean is that thieves all have their price, is mine to marry you?”
Post Common Era Chapter Three/Pre-War of Stars Chapter Three: Home Street
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Three/Pre-War of Stars Chapter Three: Home Street
“What I mean is that thieves all have their price, is mine to marry you?” asked a cautious Willow Leaf and Masao clenched his teeth.
“If all you want is to be left alone you can walk out that door, we will never bother you again, we won’t even charge you for the theft, you can go on your way, but remember our door will always be open to you, and so is the offer to be a part of your life, but the four of us not charging you with a crime is a one time deal, if you get in anymore trouble, you are on your own, we can’t be bailing you out every time” said Celestia and Masao gave a grateful nod which Celesta gave one in return. At that Willow Leaf stood up and headed for the door.
“Thank you for not putting me in prison, but I have a hard time believing that I am some reincarnated mare. I’m leaving” said Willow Leaf as she trotted out of the room where she was stopped a little ways down the hall by two ponies in uniform, dark blue uniforms with the emblem of the Equestrian Strategic Information Service on their lapels.
“Celestia may have washed her hooves but we haven’t” said Masao as he and Luna strode up to the mare, “If you ever need anything, just let us know, we have been trying to find you forever, and I don’t relish the prospect of losing you again. ESIS will see you home safely, if you’ll let them.” Luna nodded, Masao had long since taken command of ESIS in hopes of finding the mare in front of him a long time ago, but as fate would have it he as the one to find her as she stole from the crown.
“Thanks but no thanks, I rather not have a stalker, even one who could get away with it” said Willow Leaf and she trotted down the hallway before disappearing around the corner.
“I know that it is her, so why is she doing this?”
“Sir, what are your orders? Do you want us to follow her?” and Masao shook his head even as Luna nodded surprising the blue mare.
“But Masao, love, what—”
“I have a feeling that she’ll be OK, no use in earning her ire by having ESIS tail her now, besides, if she does need anything, she knows where to find us”
- - -
Willow Leaf walked down the path to the castle gates when a bat pony mare in full uniform lighted on the ground in front of her.
“So you’re the mare that has the Grand Elder in a mess, pathetic. just some earth pony, and worse a thief” said the mare scoffing at the thought that the Grand Elder’s soulmated mare would be reincarnated into something that was the lowest of the low, and not even one of the noble earth ponies, that she would have been able to swallow, even if it would sicken her, but a lowly thief.
“Glad to see someone keeping that racism alive, way to go” deadpanned the earth pony mare before she sidestepped the bat pony whose red eyes flashed dangerously as she lunged out to attack Willow Leaf who dodged deftly out of the way, her forelegs up in the air, unfazed by the sudden change in her momentum she brought her forelegs down hard intending on ending the fight right there, she missed as the bat pony pulled back and was now on her hind legs like Willow Leaf had been but a moment before. Willow Leaf, allowing the momentum she had built to bring her own hind legs into the air twisted around gracefully and bucked the bat pony mare in the face knocking her out. “Seriously can’t even take on a lowly mud pony?” she taunted the unconscious mare before continuing down the path…
- - -
Rushing down an alleyway, Willow Leaf stopped only when a group of foals called her name, stopping to to wave at them one of the foals walked up to her, it was a young filly and asked if she any food for them this time, foals they didn’t judge, they knew what she was doing was wrong, but it fed them so was it really wrong? Willow gave a sad smile and moved to shake her head when she thought about Masao’s offer…
- - -
“If you ever need anything, just let us know…”
- - -
Should she really use his feelings for this Sharp Sword to feed the foals? Was it a noble gesture? Sure, was it right? … She couldn’t answer that but…
“Miss Willow Leaf?” asked the filly and that is what helped her make up her mind. This prince wanted her? Well he could, so long as the foals were taken care of. Turning on her hoof, Willow Leaf almost didn’t stop when she heard the filly cry, having been caught up in her thoughts, but hearing the filling cry her name, asking if she did something wrong she whipped around and wrapped the foal up in a hug to comfort her…
- - -
“... I’m telling you! Prince-Consort Masao said I could—” argued Willow Leaf to the guard at the palace gates and the guard refused to budge.
“I’ve heard that before, you will have to wait until—”
“What is going on here?” asked a bat pony stallion as he strode up to the gate, had she not been so set on seeing Masao and Princess Luna she would have notice how the guard seemed to tremble a little.
“Who are you?” asked Willow Leaf and the bat pony chuckled.
“I am Keeper Two, ESIS, is there something wrong?” asked the bat pony and Willow Leaf huffed at the stallion.
“I would say, I had an audience with the night couple earlier, and I remembered something I needed to tell him. I know you respect them, so tell him, ‘Willow Leaf says yes’ He should know what that means”
“I will pass along the message, was there anything else?” asked the bat pony stallion, unbeknownst to the mare, Masao was already on his way to the palace gate, having heard her comment over the comm systems.
“I’ll wait for him right here”
“Now see here—!”
“That is fine, he’ll be here shortly” said the stallion and the guardspony looked worried, if she had been telling the truth then…
“You said yes” said Masao as he walked up and Willow Leaf frowned at the human.
“It will cost you, there are some foals that need help, if you help them, I’ll marry you” Masao chuckled and for a moment Willow Leaf bristled, how dare he! she was—
“I’ll help, because you asked, not to marry you. I’ll do one better, you, guard, go with Willow Leaf, and Shadow Step, you three are to invite the foals to stay here if they have no parents, and even if they do, you are to offer the parents a place to stay as well” said Masao surprising the mare before she scowled at him.
“Are they going to be glorified hostages? No one does something like this without expecting something in return” Masao frowned at her, how he wished he had found her when she was younger, if only to have protected her from having to learn through the streets.
“I expect nothing, you said yes, and even if that was only to get my attention, I would still help you, and these foals, whether Celestia likes it or not, no system is perfect, and there are those that get lost in the cracks.”
“I don’t want your pretty lies, the fact you are going to help them is enough for me” and with that Willow Leaf left closely followed by Shadow Step, AKA Keeper Two, and the guardspony.
“I wasn’t lying, I would never lie to you, I never could…”
Post Common Era Chapter Four/Pre-War of Stars Chapter Four: An Attack From Home/Hearing Voices Again
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Four/Pre-War of Stars Chapter Four: An Attack From Home/Hearing Voices Again
“His highness might not care if you are rude, but I do, never once has he let a poor pony suffer if he hears about it, and he can only do so much without emptying the palace coffers, which is the one thing he doesn’t have the authority to do without the princesses approval, not that he wouldn’t emotionally, but Princess Twilight has usually played the voice of logic in those instances. the royal coffers would never be able to fund feeding all the poor in Equestria. His highness doing this is not something to be taken lightly—and you are not even listening to me are you?” asked Shadow Step as Willow Leaf was currently hugging a few foals telling them the good news, they were going to be safe, they were going to be living in the palace!
“Wow Miss Willow Leaf! How’d you manage that?” asked a young colt and the mare gave a sad smile, she wasn’t going to tell them that it cost her her freedom so far as she was concerned.
“Miss Willow Leaf is going to be Princess Willow Leaf, his highness Masao Darkheart asked for her hoof in marriage” said Shadow Step and the fillies all went starry eyed while the colts expressions varied from sadness to happiness. Willow Leaf on the other hand scowled at the bat pony who just ignored her, deciding that the foals were far more interesting and he was right a few of them had managed to strip the guardspony of his ceremonial blade, without the stallion realizing it, and Keeper Two nodded these children had a great future to look forward to especially if any of them wanted to join ESIS, he was sure that the Grand Elder would be happy to have such skill under his command.
- - -
Upon reaching the palace, having kept the foals together only through Shadow Step’s training, and the foals’ love for Willow Leaf, they met Princess Celestia who had been touring the grounds, she beamed quite widely when her eyes caught sight of the foals and even wider when she realized who they were with.
“I should have known my sister as correct, I take it these foals are the reasons as to why you stole the Elements of Harmony jewels?” asked the solar princess and Willow Leaf nodded curtly but did nothing to stop the foals from running up to the princess who took precious care to play with them.
“Your highness, your sister’s husband has offered these children refuge here in the palace” said Shadow Step and Celestia took a look at him trying to place his face.
“And you are?”
“Keeper Two, Equestrian Strategic Information Service, at your service, your highness”
“Ah yes, Masao’s spies… I would prefer it if you didn’t converse with me, regardless of what Masao and my sister have said, I see little reason for a spy group in Equestria” said the princess as Masao chose that moment to walk up to the group.
“Better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them” he challenged the solar princess and she scoffed before her expression softened at the sight of the foals once again.
“Come little ones I am sure Miss Willow Leaf and Prince Masao have a lot to talk about” said the princess as she led them to the gardens Willow Leaf biting her lip almost bursting to say that she wasn’t going to be separated from them, but she remembered her deal.
“So when is it happening?”
“When is what happening?” asked Masao and the green earth pony mare glared at him, “OH! The wedding? When you actually want to marry me for me, and not as payment for services rendered”
“So you are—”
“You know what, just stop it, I am helping these foals out of the goodness of my heart, and I would regardless whether it was you or somepony else that pointed out their plight to me. You need to stop being so cynical!” said Masao as he whipped around and started to walk off.
“Sorry” mumbled Willow Leaf making Masao stop not understanding her.
“What was that?” he asked turning to face her.
“I said, ‘sorry’ alright? Normally ponies don’t care one way or another about what happens to some random kid who lives on the street, I know most of the ponies I saw growing up didn’t” Masao nodded before sitting on the grass, much to the surprise of the earth pony.
“I suppose it can seem that way, but everypony that has come to the night court have always asked the same thing, ‘please help those poor foals’ and we try to, not all of them trust us. It doesn’t help that the ones we do help never go back to tell their friends that they are fine, that we helped them find a home safe and sound. Though I believe that is because that they don’t want to be reminded of where they came from, a pity really, because your past is what makes you, you, and to pretend that past didn’t happen is to pretend that you aren’t who you are today” said Masao much to the surprise of the green mare she plopped down on her rear and thought about what he said.
- - -
So she thought about it, over the course of several years and whether she liked it or not she grew closer to the human, his good moods were infectious when he played with the foals, but sometimes she caught him looking at them longingly as if he wanted some of his own.
“Masao… I…”
- - -
“No Keeper Two, you are not recruiting them”
“With all due respect, Miss Willow Leaf, that is not your decision”
“No but it mine”
- - -
“Now pronounce you—wait what is—” there was a whirring noise as Prince Masao stood presiding over the ceremony of one of the foal who were getting married.
“EVERYBODY DOWN!” said a unicorn as he used his magic to knock Masao over and knock the two young ponies away from each other as a missile burst through the window, which exploded as soon as it hit the ground, but the explosion was contained as four magic bubbles wrapped around it, one being a dark purple one, one a lavender, one golden, and one that was light blue, it burst through the first two, but was significantly weakened by the time it made it to the third one which held it before bursting from the remaining strength of the explosion, Masao growled angrily at the interruption and vowed that he was going to get to the bottom of it, and ordered the ESIS agent that was nearby to take the remains of the missile to his office and await further orders.
Masao walked out of the ceremony hall with a determined look on his face, he was going to find out who launched that attack, and then he was going to make them regret it, to tartarus with what this voice was saying, there was only so much he was willing to accept, and a Chaos God of Change talking to him was one of the things he was not…
Upon reaching his office inside of ESIS headquarters he picked up a piece of wreckage that survived the explosion and going wide eyed threw it away, there was no way! No way in hell! Using dark magic to cautiously levitate it back to him he looked at it once more…
There was no doubt, it was, but why? Why would they just up and attack? let alone how did they get here? For on the shard was a picture of a flag, a flag Masao had not seen in several millennia, since before he ended up in Equestria…
Post Common Era Chapter Five/War of Stars Chapter One: Strike While The Iron is Hot
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Five/War of Stars Chapter One: Strike While The Iron is Hot
“Are you sure, love? Maybe this voice is making you see things” said Luna as Masao showed her the fragment.
“Then you tell me, do you see a flag with fifty white stars on a field of blue and thirteen stripes, seven red and six white?” Luna did not answer, she merely put the fragment down and wrapped the human in a hug, as did Willow Leaf, from what she could guess, Masao felt betrayed. She then did something that she never did before, she kissed him lightly. When she pulled away Masao and Luna stared at her in shock.
“What? He looked like he needed it, and you didn’t seem willing to give him one…” Willow Leaf trailed off as a blush started to form on her face before she took a steadying breath, only for Masao to kiss her, tears rolling down his face, not from sadness, but rather from joy. the mare pushed him away and sputtered.
“N-now d-don’t s-st-start k-kissing me!” she stuttered while one could see a bright red blush under her fur before rushing off down the hall. What was wrong with her? She wasn’t one to get all flustered! But damn… That kiss…
Shaking her head clear of the thoughts Willow Leaf trotted down the hall to the room in which the bride and bridegroom were staying, after the day before it was decided that they would postpone the wedding until the ceremony room was fixed up. Had it really been fifteen years? fifteen years and not once had Masao lied to her, perhaps she should… No not yet, but she did want to give him something…
- - -
“I don’t know why you are coming to me, I am the Princess of Friendship, not the Princess of Love, that’s… That’s Cadence” said Twilight as Willow Leaf scoffed at her.
“What is love if not a different kind of friendship?” she challenged the mare who glared at her. who started to dig through her dresser pulling out a small light blue gem cut in the same shape as one of Rarity’s diamonds, followed by a small orange gem the shape of an apple, and another gem and then another, each one the color and shape of the cutie mark of the corresponding pony and she channeled a little dark magic through them and at first nothing happened before there was a whoosh of wind as five ghostly figures appeared.
“Hey girls, I am sorry to bother you, but we found Sharp Sword’s reincarnation! She wants advice” said Twilight in a voice somewhere between happy and sad, happy that Willow Leaf was finally accepting who she was, and to see her friends again, sad because she knew her friends weren’t there, they never would be, they were all dead, all except her teachers, her old foalsitter, and Luna. A tear rolled down her cheek as she reached out with a hoof to touch the phantoms but it went straight through them. For a moment Willow Leaf thought that there was something seriously wrong with the Princess of Friendship when the one that would have been Rarity spoke up.
“Oh darling! It’s been too long! How have you been?” Willow Leaf took a step back, this was dark magic! But the princess just used it, and Masao only ever uses dark magic. “Oh don’t worry about that, Twilight usually summons us when she needs help on something big, but this is the first time she has summoned us to help with such a basic friendship problem and for someone we know! How have you been Sharp Sword? Oh I guess you don’t go by that name anymore…”
“I-I’m Willow Leaf”
“Ah’ll be, that sounds like an earth pony name! Did you come back as a good old earth pony?” asked Applejack and Willow Leaf bit her lip as she nodded
“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie! I’d throw you a party, but I’m kinda dead… Wow that is such a downer…”
“Pinkie Pie…” said Twilight with a sad smile before shaking herself. “Willow Leaf wanted our help with getting a gift for Masao. He got some really bad news recently, something that could mean war if he is right, but Willow Leaf want to get him something to take his mind off of it, if only for a little while”
- - -
“Princess Luna?” asked a nervous green mare, in the end she got the advice she was looking for, but it wasn’t what she was hoping for, now she was dressed in lingerie in the night couple’s room and was beet red under her fur, luckily for her no one was in the room, unluckily, that meant that she had to wait for Masao to get to the room…
- - -
“Ã̖̑͠f̷͕̟̻̪͎͐ͯţ̖̺̤̾e̥͓͕̲̗͇̓ͣͫͪ͝ṛ̷̖̟̮̲ͤ̾͛͆ ̍̾͋͗a̶̘̜͎͛l̢̻̝̺̭͙̩͆̐l̑͒̈̔̃ͩ͑͏͎̖̩̻ ̵̖͇̯̗ͪͨ͂̇͊̑ͩţ̹͈͙͛̊͆h͚̩̉̀ỉ̥̣͎̺̌ͩ̉̋͝s̼̱̲͙̤͖ͦ̉͋ ̛̬̤͊͒ͯt͒̑̌̓̎͛i̸̯̤ͬͤ̉̈́̒m̅̓̽̌͌̿̀eͯ͘ ̝̘̏ͤ̈́ͪ̐̊ͣo̮͚̜̮͓͕̺ͣ́f̋̀ͪ̂̒̃ͩ̀ ̰͔̬̩̜͛ͧ͑m͎̰͓̦͆͛̊͞e̵ͯ̎̾̏ ̯̤̺̅͊͂́̇́ģ̯̪͋͊ü̠̘͎̘̋̃̽̋͋͟ị̧̊ͯd̂̒̅ĩ̪͎͕̻̳ͯ͋ͭ͒̈̍n͕̤̓̃̃͊̂̓g̙̲̟̩̬̿ ̭̪̙̭̪̹͓ͯ̅͝y̰͗̎̆̊̓̍o̜̯͓̔͛ͥ̐͛u̲̗̫̠̟̫ͩ̎̃ͅ ̛̅̓ͣ̒ͪͮy̾͋ͮ̽ͤ͆́͏̘͉̞̠̫͓ͅǫ̘̘̞̰̩̣̉͋̍̍̈̏ûͥ̊̚ ̹̖̖͎̠̉t̞̮͓̺̲̽͛̓͌e̫̰̮̬̬̍̐ĺ̈l̴͊̈̓͆ͯ̽̀ ̩͓͚͗͊̑̈̀m̟̬̹̲̓̔͋̐e̴̤̘̳̣̞̝͉ͧ̊ͣ͑ͯ̓ ̖ͩ͊̆̚͟ỵ̨oͭ́̃͟u̱̦̱ ̪ͫͨͦ̕d̻͖̊͜o̝͍̥̗̗ͯͩ̉ͫ͌ͤn͕̟̦̱̻͇͓̿̈́́́́'̫͉͚̰̭͇̀ͪ̒̅̄ͫ̒ṭ̺͓̇̂̄̀ ̶w͚̣̫a͕̫̾̄͛̚n͕̠̈͘tͥ̒ ̴͖̊̏̽ͅm͉̈́ͅy̓ ̣̮͉̖̻͇͆͌ͯhe̽͒̓̅̆͐l̯͗̎͛͞p̢̍?̭̬̮̪͕͑̾ ̳̮͎̤ͥ̽̈̑͒͒A̯̦̼̭͐r͚̭̬̺̻ͅe̤͓ͣͩ́̌̆̆ ̞̮̍y̶̜̖̗̜ͧ͑̔̎́̌̆o̵̦̲̺͔͉̺͒̀͆͂u̫̠̬̺̬̱͕ͨ̎̄̇ ̪̹̪t̩̰ͥh̨̭̼̺̩̀ͪ͊̔a̯̹ͪͭ̔ͨ̚t̼̱̰̹ͦ̎ ̧͍̱̳̣͇̞ͤ͂̿ͬ̏͐̚ͅp̗̗̌ͦ̉͌ͅr̖̥̫i҉̘d͔̖̦͈̝͙̽̎́e̸͍̫͇̝̗ͩͧ̉f̹̯͔͎̼̲ͮ̑̈u̘̹͇̰͙̙̺͑̿̔̊̔̓l̷͉͕?̶̝͕̟̮̫̥̟̃̎” asked Tzeentch and Masao silently glared into space hoping that the god of chaos would take the hint, no such luck as he continued,
“You aren’t just the Chaos god of change, you are also called the deceiver, and I am not foolish enough to trust you at your word when you don’t benefit directly by you telling the truth” said Masao as he opened the door to his room, any thoughts of continuing the conversation disappeared along with any coherent thought when he saw Willow Leaf laying on the bed in a very provocative manner.
- - -
“I can’t believe I did that!” said Willow Leaf, as she took a shower washing off the recent activities she had just partook in when Masao slipped into the shower and kissed her behind her ear, sending a shudder down her spine right to her groin. Oh she was going to regret telling him about that, but for now. Twirling around and pushing the human against the wall of the shower with her fore hooves she pressed her lips to his and began that timeless dance anew…
- - -
“You did what?” asked Masao as he stood in Twilight’s room, he had caught the tail end of her most recent meeting with the old Elements.
“I miss them, so much it hurts” said Twilight and Masao groaned, dark magic was one thing but messing with the dead, even with their permission, was a bit too much.
“Now don’t be too hard on her sugarcube”
“Applejack, if I wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it, the dead are supposed to remain that way”
- - -
“Sir, it’s time to move out, the missile failed, the abominations still live” said a soldier in ceramic plated armor, no doubt to stop the bolts from the alien weaponry.
“Understood private” said the man standing up and preparing to leave when he saw the private hadn’t left he regarded the man silently for a moment. “Something else, private?”
“Sir there have been reports of a human in the city of abominations, if initial reports are to believed he is currently in a relationship with—” the man didn’t finish as a bolter bolt shot through his skull and out the other side as several pegasi, unicorn and earth ponies swarmed the area intent on capture, but were not too fussed if they killed the humans, they had orders after all, they were to survive
Post Common Era Chapter Six/War of Stars Chapter Two: An Attack At Home
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Six/War of Stars Chapter Two: An Attack At Home
The human grunted as he was thrown into a room with a thud before he was levitated right ways up and Masao walked in with two ESIS officers at his side.
“Tell me, has the human race finished fighting themselves over petty things?” asked the immortal as he pulled the bag off of the soldier’s head.
“Private George Smith, Serial Number—”
“I don’t have time for this, I am not bound by the Geneva Convention soldier, and unlike Celestia, I am not adverse to far more distasteful ways of obtaining information. Though I will admit I would prefer not to use them. Besides I do believe the information I want won’t affect your troop movements anymore than if you don’t tell us”
- - -
“Shoot them down! They’re only beasts!”
“For Equestria!”
- - -
Masao just stared at the soldier who glared at him as the two ESIS agents, on a unicorn, the other a pegasus, were busy attaching what, to the soldier, seemed to be electrodes.
“It would be so much easier if you would talk, all I want to know is why the US felt the need to not only attack a peaceful species, but do so without a formal declar—nevermind they haven’t declared war since World War II from what I remember”
“Why would we declare war on a bunch of animals?” asked the soldier and Masao frowned, wasn’t it obvious? they aren’t a ‘bunch of animals’ they were highly intelligent alien species, so far as the human race was concerned, “I mean some of them have these hideous mutations like this one-” the soldier motioned to the pegasus, “-I mean no horse should have wings, pegasus don’t exist”
“Pegasi” corrected Masao before sighing, “It seems to me you have been lied to, these ponies” said Masao stressing the word ‘ponies,’ “are highly intelligent, I have been here for several millennia, and—”
“Not possible, no human lives to be a thousand, not even in the fiction that the group that called themselves christian, whatever they were, read”
“Ah, yes, the Holy Bible, according to that the oldest recorded living man lived to be nine hundred ninety-eight years of age. That aside, I have had some serious help in living as long as I have, I am Prince Masao Darkheart, one of four rulers of Equestria, the country that you have attacked, I am also a the head of ESIS, the Equestrian equivalent of the CIA, though in my opinion, far more effective. So tell me, what has changed in the last several years, last thing I remember we, that is to say the US, was still fighting in the middle-east”
- - -
“That bucking fool!” said Masao as he and the two ESIS agents left the room, a private by the name of Windy Shears had burst in to report that there was an attack on a human camp, ordered by a fool of a captain, Foolish Luck. Masao’s eyes seemed to pour out dark magic as he had ripped the table that had literally been built into the room off the floor, the soldier had clammed up after that, saying that there was no way he was talking to a psyker, another call back to a video game he used to play. That was fine, he had gotten the information he needed, now he needed to get suited up, he was going to take this fight to… But he couldn’t he promised Luna he wouldn’t go fighting anymore, not since they got married…
- - -
Willow Leaf sat in her room watching some old television show on the holoviewer when Luna walked in her face carefully neutral.
“I heard about your little adventure in our room, Willow Leaf” said Luna and Willow Leaf swallowed, she hadn’t talked to Luna about her gift to Masao, hopefully she wasn’t going to die. Luna’s face then broke into a large grin, “So tell me, what made you change your mind?” Willow Leaf groaned, she was not looking forwards to this conversation…
- - -
Willow Leaf was walking down the hall, she had just gotten away from the princess of the night, Luna, it seems, was bound and determined to make her pass out from too much blood to her head. she didn’t like that at all…
Suddenly there was the sound of boots, not unlike Masao’s running down the hall, there were multiple of them, all at the same time, so she fell back into her old routine, she hid, and hid very well she did, and she saw a half a dozen human troops rushing through the hall.
“Sir, something doesn’t feel right after those first guards I was sure we’d run into more, but we haven’t, it’s almost too easy.” said one of the humans though he got no answer as Masao turned the corner and his eyes flashed angrily.
“You come into my home, you have killed my guards, and now you have the audacity to disturb the night?” said Masao as the very wind seemed to wrap around him something that alerted Luna to the predicament as she teleported herself right beside him and her eyes narrowed.
“It seems we have some uninvited guests, love”
“Indeed” said Masao as he picked up the cylinder from his side and activated it causing a beam of light to raise out of it, “If any of you have any knowledge of old Earth cinema, you might know what this is” and with that he lunged forwards only to disappear and reappear behind them before cutting down the commanding officer.
“You have one chance to stand down—” Masao threw up a dark portal just in time for several bullets to fly through it and out into the wall beside him. “Then your choice is made” at that Luna flew into the middle of them and with a burst of light knocked them all into the walls or down the hall.
“You attacked my husband, now feel the fury of the night!” with that Luna used her magic to summon waves of light and darkness to trample the surviving humans nearly killing them as Masao used his dark magic to grab one and hold him in the air with telekinetic magic.
“You are coming with me, I have some questions” said the dark mage before leaving as his wife continued to thrash the remaining humans within an inch of their lives. It was only after Luna had calmed down that Willow Leaf crawled out of hiding.
“Oh! Willow Leaf! Are you alright?” asked the night princess and Willow Leaf just stared in shock at the devastation the princess had caused, and at that moment several of the palace guards ran up to the princess and the earth pony.
“Mi’ ladies are you alright?” asked a bat pony and Luna nodded, Willow Leaf following her example…
- - -
“So you thought you could attack my home did you?” asked Masao before tossing the human into a chair, a rather comfortable one, but she didn’t care at the moment.
“Why are you fighting with these creatures?” challenged the captured human and Masao stopped mid-rant and smiled at her.
“Now that is a question that I can answer”
- - -
“I want those humans locked in the dungeons, strip them of everything except their undergarments! I don’t want to risk them escaping” snarled Luna as she then used her magic to slam the humans against a wall once more for good measure.
Post Common Era Chapter Seven/War of Stars Chapter Three: Learning of the Stars
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Seven/War of Stars Chapter Three: Learning of the Stars
Masao stood there in the room awe struck as this soldier seemed to be more concerned with the fact that he was fighting alongside the ponies rather than the fact that he could do magic.
“Seriously, you aren’t even going to ask about the magic?”
“What? I have seen magic before, and at best that was telekinesis and even that isn’t mag-” Masao caused a ball of black lightning to form in his hand, “Interesting, though I fail to see how that matters, one of the men you killed was a powerful pyromancer, I will say that it does remind me of the Umbra Magus of my home”
“Umbra Magus? as in Shadow Magician? Well that is close, I am a dark mage, a tenebrosus magus if I remember my latin correctly” said Masao and the soldier looked impressed.
“Not many can claim to have conquered the dark magicks, most can only claim shadow magic. but I do not believe that is why you have me locked up, to brag about your skill” said the soldier and Masao nodded before frowning and motioned for the unicorn guard in the room to step out when they argued Masao informed them that he was not unprotected, that he didn’t need Crepusculo Magus, or Twilight Mages and the unicorns bristled but gave a bow and left all the same.
“Now tell me what you know about psykers”
- - -
Luna began to subtly tease Willow Leaf over her ‘reward’ to Masao, and the earth pony started to get annoyed, so annoyed that she warned the alicorn that if she didn’t stop she would make sure Masao didn’t get any from either of them, one way or another. which made the blue alicorn laugh, before kissing Willow Leaf on the cheek causing the earth pony to nearly stumble at the sudden act.
“W-wha—”
“You are going to be my herd sister after all, I may as well treat you like one” that made Willow Leaf blush heavily and she nearly walked into Masao who stepped around the corner, the soldier with whom he had captured now walking beside him, Princess Luna bristled, figuring that Masao was in danger, but when Masao and the soldier noticed them, the soldier bowed, both hands to her sides. So there was no physical weapon being used…
“I wish to apologize for my teams behaviour, when we had heard that you and yours were housing an enemy combatant, we assumed that you had allied with the Terran Empire, it seems we have brought war to your world, and we, of the United Earth Coalition will wish to make amends, as soon as they get my report” said the soldier, Luna for her part scowled, war had nearly tore Equestria apart in the past and now war had been brought to her home by—no she was not going to blame Masao, he was as angry as her when he found out who attacked them. “I also wish to apologize for the missile that started all of this, it was set for the Normian/United front, when it punched a hole revealing this world.” That did it, Luna was about to attack when Masao put a wall between all of them, sighing he motioned for the human soldier to continue even as Luna glared at her husband, oh he was sleeping on the couch tonight! “The missile was launched to attack a Normia Fount target when something happened with their shields, we believe that Terran saboteurs damaged it causing a rift that allowed passage to this world, not unlike like the Rift of 2014 in which I believe your… Sorry I still feel weird saying it, you do look alike like the ponies from our world—”
“Get on with it” said Masao gritting his teeth, he knew he was going to pay for not letting Luna attack her but right now they needed the full story. A story that he, himself, did not have the information to tell. that and the fact they were standing in the hallway talking with what could still be classified as talking with an enemy soldier.
“Sorry, anyway, I believe that your husband fell through the Rift of 2014, this rift is what led us to discovering thousands of new worlds, but it seems that until recently there was not enough tech to power the rift when it ended up here the first time not allowing us to make it here. Your husband, however must have been one of the thirty-five thousand people that disappeared when the rift first opened.” Luna’s frown deepened, Was it purely luck that Masao had ended up here on Equis? Or had fate intervened, and she failed to take it by the reins when she had the chance the first time? Shaking her head, Luna cleared it of any negative thoughts and turned around on the spot and headed for her room.
“Masao, you are on the couch” she called before turning the corner to her room and Masao sighed knowing that was going to happen. Willow Leaf for her part looked at the two humans in confusion as the entire conversation made her head spin.
“So you’re saying that he,” Willow Leaf pointed to Masao with her hoof, “Came from your world” her hoof moved to point at the other human, “And now you are going to try to fix it?” she finished.
“Well that is the—”
“No. Just no, he’s ours, I am not letting you take our Masao away, even if he came from your world, he’s ours now, he had lived here for millennia, he’s married our princess for Fraust’s sake! And I have been trying to marry him for over three lifetimes—!” yelled Willow Leaf and she suddenly went red at her exclamation. “I mean… Um…”
“I don’t intend on making him leave, but he may have to, if command orders it—”
“Now see here, I am all fine and good with you contacting your command, but they will not be giving me orders, I am a ruler here, and I do not recognize their authority, not over me, and certainly not over my subjects, if they wish to have a dialog with us, we can exchange ambassadors or something, but we are not going to be walked over as you intend on making it sound, all it took was two people to wipe out your entire team, and neither myself, nor my wife are the strongest magus around, there are several non-alicorn magus that could possibly beat us if they set their minds to it, of course that means facing down the entire Canterlot guard as well as Luna’s sister and her sister’s and my former student as well” said Masao and the soldier reeled back as if struck, this human was refusing to come home? It wasn’t unheard of but… It wasn’t a very popular option, still, if Masao was right then trying to force a confrontation would end badly, they were already at war with several enemies, they needed allies, not more enemies…
- - -
“You know, you don’t have sleep on the couch in my room” flirted Willow Leaf after they left the soldier in a room,they had placed guards on all accesses, meaning the human couldn’t escape, which impressed the human but she also had mentioned that she was curious on the status of her team, were they really dead as she feared, or… After Masao promised to let her know as soon as he found out they had left the human to sleep the rest of the night away, which leads back to Willow Leaf flirting with Masao and Masao glanced at her.
“If you want to get married, we can, I told you, I have been waiting to marry you since I found out who you were” said Masao and Willow Leaf nodded a blush growing on her cheeks, sure she had said that she wanted to marry him, but to actually do it frightened her, sleeping with him was one thing, but if she married him that would mean that she was accepting him as her lover and confidant forever…
“Well do you want to spend tonight with me or not?” she asked trying to change the subject and Masao frowned at her, her could see that she wasn’t all that comfortable talking about marriage yet, but it had been fifteen years, surely she felt something? Of course she did, otherwise she would not be trying to ‘bed him’ as it were, from what he remembered she did not bed anyone she didn’t like, or had no feelings for, and they were few and far between the stallions she liked, that she had bedded. Masao just nodded, and off they went, but as it turned out, they didn’t get much sleep, or rather, they were too busy to sleep at first…
- - -
“I’ll marry you” said Willow Leaf the next morning and Masao snuggled close to her and kissed her, “I mean it, set the date, I want to be able to say that you are mine”
Post Common Era Chapter Eight/War of Stars Chapter Four: Old Arguments/Light Hearted Fun
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Eight/War of Stars Chapter Four: Old Arguments/Light Hearted Fun
Marriage… Masao knew how it was to get married, he had done it before, he had been on both sides of the podium, the one performing the ceremony and the one getting married, but never in his life did he think that he would actually finally get married to the first mare that he loved, even if she was not the same mare from before, she was still his Evening Star, still his Sharp Sword, and now she was going to be his Willow Leaf. But first thing was first, Masao and a few of ESIS walked up and escorted the UEC soldier to a radio room that had been readied for her to start sending her message, the human was surprised at the level of tech in the room, some of it was so advanced she didn’t know what to do with it…
“Sergeant Greelo reporting in to UEC headquarters, over” said the earth soldier and Masao smiled as they started to receive a response. This was going to be the start of a great alliance, if he could help make it happen.
“This is UEC Headquarters please give your GDO”
“Seriously? Garage Door Opener?” asked Masao and the soldier gave a sigh before putting the code in manually.
“GDO confirmed, what is the problem? Is your team alright?”
“We are alright, but in our infinite wisdom we got ourselves captured by the indigenous people. They are not allied with the enemy as we feared, but we did just step on their toes” said the UEC soldier and there was silence for a moment…
- - -
“So now we have a meeting with one of their commanding officers to negotiate the peaceful exchange of their soldiers” said Masao as he leaned back in his seat, with him were the three princesses of Equestria, and the surviving members of the team sent to… ascertain the likelihood of an alliance between the Terran Empire and the people of this world, and Willow Leaf…
“So these are more humans?” asked Twilight in an almost downtrodden voice, “Are you going back with—”
“No, I am not, in fact I have a wedding to plan” said Masao and one of the soldiers nearly choked at the statement.
“They’re just—”
“Private, they are one of the dominate species of this world, and in a way he ceased being human millennia ago” said Sergeant Greelo and Masao glanced at her before his eyes glowed and the doors opened to reveal several of the foals that now lived in the castle the foals chuckled nervously as they had been caught listening in on the conversation.
“Kids, what have we told you about this? Some topics are not for your ears, even after you become adults” said Willow Leaf as she got up and shepherded the foals elsewhere.
“Private, I would appreciate it, if you would think for a moment, if you lived your entire life alone, and then ended up in a place where everything was all about friendship and care for your neighbor. Wouldn’t you fall in love quickly?”
“With the place, sure, but not with some animal” the sergeant looked at Masao worriedly before the prince chuckled which grew into a full belly laugh.
“I haven’t had this argument in millennia! Alright private! Can they say yes or no to a sexual relationship?” asked Masao and the private looked at him in confusion but answered regardless.
“They can answer yes or no—”
“So they can give consent to sex?”
“I don’t know where you are going with this”
“Simple, ever hear of the Harkness Test?” asked Masao much to the surprise of the humans there only one of them had heard of “Doctor Who” and they didn’t even know what the Harkness Test was Masao groaned, “Of course… Anyway, the Harkness test can be simplified as a test to determine if you can have sex with a person, or persons within a species, ‘is it of sexual maturity for its species?’ in this case, we will use my wife, princess Luna, so yes she is, ‘can it talk or otherwise communicate?’ Hey love, can you talk?” asked Masao and Luna glared at him playfully.
“Why, no I can not, I am obviously not talking to you right now”
“and then there is, ‘does it have human intelligence, or greater?’ well the fact that most of the inventions were not even influenced by me I would have to say that they have human or greater intelligence” said Masao and the private seemed to to look on in shock at Masao’s comments.
“Th-that doesn’t mean you can—”
“And why wouldn’t I be allowed to marry her? I am a citizen, nay, a ruler of this grand principality, a four way ruling party”
“Even if you are, you are already married! How can you talk so easily about marrying someone else in front of your wife!” countered the private, thinking that he had beaten Masao at his own game and Masao laughed as Willow Leaf walked back in with a sigh and as she walked right by Masao he twirled around and kissed her full on the lips right in plain view of Luna and the private before speaking up.
“Because polygamy is legal here, first off, in fact it is encouraged due to the skewed gender ratio of three females to one male, and then of course you have the gay community who further skew the numbers” said Luna speaking up as she stood up and walked around the table to give Willow a hug and kiss Masao on the cheek, “Now if you excuse me, I have to go freshen up before the meeting with your commanding officers, it would not due for the head of the military to be in such a disarray!”
“Wait, you’re not the head of the military? than when do you do?” asked the private and the sergeant shushed him as Masao chuckled.
“I am the head of our intelligence network, ESIS, I know just about everything there is to know about this world, and even a few things a few diplomats would prefer I did not know” said Masao and the private shut up at that, apparently Masao had a lot of pull and was not just a figurehead as the private had feared.
“Good, I was worried that—” Masao chuckled as he waved away the privates explanation.
“I don’t need to know the reason that you were asking, for all I care you were asking so you could get more information, if not the alternative is not something that will help when it comes time to return you to your commanding officers. I wouldn’t care about how much power I have, only in how I wield that power, if I did not have as many responsibilities, I would have infiltrated your forces”
“Come now, Masao, you needn’t get all upset,” said Celestia and Masao chuckled, nodding in agreement. “but he is right, he probably would have infiltrated your forces and done some irreparable damage to your forces, had this not come to pass”
“It doesn’t hurt to try and make friends though, so I am glad that we didn’t have to do that” said Twilight as she levitated a fork over to poke Masao who knocked it away.
“You are acting like a child again” he teased and she pouted in response before smirking.
“Didn’t you say ‘what's the point in being all grown up f you can not act like a child sometimes?’ Masao?” and Masao laughed at her response...
Post Common Era Chapter Nine/War of Stars Chapter Five: A Chaotic Message
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Nine/War of Stars Chapter Five: A Chaotic Message
Masao stood alongside his wife, behind him stood the team of humans as in a jeep, which surprised Masao, drove up a man in full camouflage fatigues and Masao groaned before looking back at the other humans.
“Tell me that he isn’t your commanding officer, cause he is making you look like idiots” said Masao and the sergeant chuckled shaking his head, “Good”
“Hello, I was told to gather up the squad, and tell you not to resist, ‘cause we have snip—” there were the retorts of sniper rifles going off and then in the sounds of a scuffle over the radios as Masao grinned.
“This is Cypher two and Cypher ten, enemy snipers removed from this plane of existence”
“Next time you attempt to threaten my wife, make sure you have the snipers that can do it, now we can try this again, I want to see your commanding officers or there is no way these soldiers are going home, but now in addition, I want the fool who thought it would be a good idea to cross us” said Masao in a cheerful voice as suddenly the entire group disappeared with a burst of darkness until Masao was left. “Also, inform your commanding officers, they better not have snipers hiding next time, or we will kill your men” said Masao his voice going from cheery to deathly calm in a matter of seconds indicating his displeasure before he was encompassed by darkness and disappeared as it faded away.
- - -
“I swear, I knew nothing about their plans!” said the sergeant as soon as Masao walked into the room where the soldiers were being kept and Masao sighed shaking his head.
“I don’t doubt that you didn’t, hence why they are getting one more chance to get you and your team back alive, should they attempt to double cross us again however, I am sorry, but we will not be speaking again” said Masao and the sergeant swallowed as the implications of what Masao said washed over her mind, the UEC had one more chance, and if they blew it, they were dead…
- - -
“I don’t see why you should give them a second chance, love, they already prove themselves to be untrustworthy, and—”
“Did they? Or did they prove themselves scared of losing their soldiers? Luna, if you were in their place, and you didn’t know how the other side would react, say they had a team of ours instead of us having a team of theirs, wouldn’t you have done the same thing? Against my recommendation?” asked Masao and the princess sighed as she nodded, she didn’t like it when he proved her wrong, as rare as it was, but he was right.
“I get it, love, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it”
- - -
“Why should we listen to them Sarg? They are our captors! We should be—”
“Finding a way to escape? Not likely human” said a pegasus that walked into the room where the private and Sergeant were arguing, “As it stands you have a better chance to die that way, Prince Masao wants to have an alliance with you people, even though I see it as stupid, better to just lock the portal and kill off the rest of you, but then the prince is human so he probably wants to think the best of you rats”
“That is enough cypher ten” said Masao as he walked into the room and the pegasus gritted his teeth but said nothing, this human had been a loyal subject of Equestria for several millennia, there was no way he was going to ruin it now. “Now, I understand that you are thinking to escape, go ahead, but there are over seventeen hundred guards between here and the gates, and then you have the populous, try as I may to prevent news from getting out, the servants have already told their families about the attack on the castle, you would be lucky to get out of the city. No, it is better you remain as our guests until we return you to your CO” said Masao and the private sneered at him and was about to make a comment when the sergeant nodded and thanked him for the warning. The private however wasn’t deterred and attacked Masao only to be grabbed and thrown back by Masao’s dark magic. “If you think taking a hostage will work, you are sorely mistaken, every one of the ponies that have been taking care of you are all members of ESIS and are trained in all manners of self defense and will kill you before you could use them as hostages”
- - -
“Discord” said Masao as he knocked on the door to the chaos spirit’s room and the next thing he knew he was hanging upside down as the draconequus held him up by his leg.
“Oh, it’s you, can’t you see I am trying to find Fluttershy? I refuse to believe that—”
“Discord, if you want to talk to Fluttershy, then you need to talk with Twilight, she… She is practicing necromancy, but that is not what I am here to talk to you about, I need you to clear something up for me” said Masao and the chaos spirit released the human who landed on a pile of pillows that Discord had just summoned beneath him.
“Well, then speak, then I am going to prove you wrong! I loved her and—”
“Ah, dad, so you finally deemed it appropriate to come to me about that voice in your head, Masao? Can I ask what took you so long?” asked Discord and Masao‘s eyes shrunk to pinpricks Discord was a child of one of the gods of Chaos from Warhammer 40k? NOPE! Just nope! “Before you get all freaked out, yes he is Tzeentch, and no, he doesn’t want, or need you to follow him, he—”
“I know all about Tzeentch and Nurgle, I was a bit of a nerd back on Earth, I know that Tzeentch and Nurgle were not evil per-say, they were more for lack of better terms Chaotic Neutral, though Tzeentch wasn’t one to gift immortality so readily” said Masao and Discord chuckled but Tzeentch spoke up.
“O̴f cóurse I ͞a̴m͟ ̷n͠o̴t,͡ ͜b͝ut ͢Nurg͞le ҉a̧n͏d͠ ̕I̷ bo͢th͝ want̕ed ̵to͞ p̵ro̢t͢ęct͢ ̀D͜is̀cor̨d͢ ̛f̡rom̀ ̶t҉hi͞s̡, ͘we ̢k͟n̷ew ͠th̡is͢ w͢as̢ ́co̢miǹg͢, só ̸ẃh̸e̵n yóu t̕ook͘ ̵tha̸t̕ ̡gam͞bl̕e, ̷which,̢ ͟by ͜t͟h̢é ̡way, you ͞wou̢ĺd̛ ̡h̴ave ͝lo͘st, i͢f it͠ wer͟en̴'̴t̸ for͝ ̶us̴, y̸ou͘ ̛w͜oúld͏ ̀ha̛ve d͝ìe͏d͏ a ͝l͏on͠g t̴ime ҉ag͠ơ.̀ ̨N̛úrgl͏e a̴lw͘a͜ys di͏d͘ l̶i̸k͜e his ̢nep̢h͟e̶ẃ, ̷Kh͝oŕn̛e ͡a͠l̴so t̵hrew in t́he̸ a̵b̀ili̵t̢y͡ t͜o̸ l̡e͟a̧rn͘ ho͏w to̕ k̵ill e̸a̸s̶i͝er̕, ͘hȩ fi̡g̀u̸re̡d if you͡ wȩre ́going ̵to̵ ̧ki̸ll ̸a͠n̴y̧w̷a̵y,̶ then͠ he͜ ͟w͟as͠ ̧go͜in҉g̀ ͝t̷o ̕b͝en̛e̵f̡it̨” Masao gritted his teeth as the voice suddenly grew more clear, it hurt a little but it was no worse than a standard headache, but then he did a double-take.
“Wait! You knew I would come across my species again?!” asked Masao and Discord tsked at the immortal human before snapping and cause the pillows to disappear and Masao tumbled to the ground, Masao then stood up and dusted himself off while glaring at Discord.
“N̨o̸w, n͜ow̧, n͝o ̢ki̡l̵l͜iņg͝ ͝my so͜n, not ͟u͡n̶l҉es͡s͢ ͜h͘e ͜d̀oe̵s͜ ̡sòmet͜hi͝ng t͞o de҉şer̨v̕e i̛t̴, the͝n by a͠ll̛ ̷m̴e͜ans,͟ k͡i͡l͠l ͡hi͞m͠,̕ he'l̶l͞ ̶jus͞t ̧ćome͘ ̀b͝a͡ck anyway” Masao deadpanned at Tzeentch’s nonchalant manner of giving him permission to kill his own son.
“So then Tzeentch, if you want your son safe, does that mean you will send some daemons and/or Chaos Space Marines?”
“N̷o̶҉̕͟͜”
“Great… Wait! You never answered my first question!” all he got in response was a laugh as Discord decided now was a good time to float off and bother the princess of friendship, he was going to prove Masao wrong if it was the last thing he did…
Post Common Era Chapter Ten/War of Stars Chapter Six: Warnings and Deals
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Ten/War of Stars Chapter Six: Warnings and Deals
“I don’t care! Your plan not only failed, but now has put our people in danger! We are going to do things his way, and you are going to be handed over to him for whatever judgement he deems fit! And heaven help you if you cause us to lose a single life thanks to your stupidity” said a general as he verbally throttled a subordinate that had suggested that they attempt to force things to go their way, the subordinate, a young human male simply grumbled silently, but not silently enough because in the next moment the general glared at him and ordered two MPs to escort him to the stockade, with orders to not let him out of their sights…
- - -
“This is UEC Command to the host of our men”
“Ah, about time, I was starting to worry if I should just grant citizenship to your men, rather than let them languish in the palace any longer”
“… Indeed… We are ready to try again if you are”
“Good, make no mistake, this is your last chance, if you screw up, they are dead, I am forgiving to a point, but I will be damned if I let Equestria get stomped on because you think you are superior to it because you happen to be human. Over and out” said Masao before closing the channel and turning to see the sergeant who looked at him in shock. “Don’t look at me like that, I know the human race, I don’t like having to resort to base threats, there are far more effective ways to control a populace, but with my fellow humans, I have to remind you that we are not the best of all species.”
- - -
“Ah, I take it you are the one I talked to on the radio?” asked Masao as the general walked up, behind him was a APC, or Armored Personnel Carrier and rather than be worried as two obviously human MPs walked up with a soldier in bonds Masao nodded appreciatively.
“This was the man who suggested we try to out maneuver you, as you asked he is yours to do with—”
“I said to bring him, I didn’t say I would take him captive” said Masao before his eyes flashed and there was a sudden ‘cloud’ of darkness as the team appeared along with Masao’s wife and fiancee who was arguing with Luna.
“I told you, you don’t—Oh… Hello Masao, I…” said Willow Leaf her face heating up as she blushed in embarrassment, she wasn’t supposed to be there and Masao seemed to glare at her for a moment but when she blinked the look was one of concern. It was unnerving that she wasn’t sure if he had actually glared at her.
“Are you alright, Willow Leaf? I didn’t intend on teleporting you as well. Do you want me to send you back?”
“Y-yes” she said her nerves getting the best of her again, but she shook her head, “No, I’ll stay” she said steeling her resolve and Masao nodded before returning attention to the general.
“I apologize, allow me to introduce my wife, Princess Luna, and my fiancee, Willow Leaf, they will watching over the proceedings, to assure that you do nothing to jeopardize the lives of your men. I honestly would hate to have to go through with my threat” said Masao and the general nodded before Masao motioned for the soldiers to go on over, “There, was that so hard? We could have finished this so simply the first time had you,” Masao glared at the bound soldier, “not decided to try to threaten my wife” as soon as the last soldier got behind the general the general breathed a sigh of relief.
“Why did you want me the first time? If you were going to give them to us without wanting anything in return?” asked the General and Masao chuckled in response as a couple ESIS agents walked out and took their places alongside Masao.
“Why, my dear general, we are going to talk about the possibility of a peace treaty, if not an outright alliance” said Masao and the general was gobsmacked at the prince’s declaration as with another flash of his eyes, Masao frowned. “It seems that my sister-in-law is busy, perhaps my former student?” Masao mumbled and there was a swirl of darkness as Twilight Sparkle appeared out of no where.
“Hey, Masao, you are acting like Discord again” Masao chuckled in embarrassment as the purple alicorn sighed, “Now what is—OH! More humans! Are these the ones you were talking about? The ones you wanted to befriend?”
- - -
It took a matter of hours but soon there was a rough draft for a treaty between the two people, the general stated point blank that he could bring it to the people in charge, but as far as he was concerned it was reasonable, even if he didn’t like some of it.
“And what exactly don’t you like about it?” asked Masao and the general sighed before he scrolled the screen to the part that stated they could not demand Masao to return to Earth.
“I don’t like this, because it is sure to piss off a few council members, the general consensus is that all humans belong on Earth, under the command of the UEC, and as the sergeant has said, we need allies not more enemies, you already proved a willingness to kill our men the last time we went against you, I would hate to see what would happen if we drew your anger. If your wife is the head of the military, and you are the head of intelligence, heaven help us if we harmed any of the ones you love”
“That part is non-negotiable, that better be made well known, I am not going to be forced back to Earth, I love it here on Equis, in a few days time we are sending ponies to the moon for a colonization effort, the Minotaurs have accepted our peace bargain, the Changelings have gone underground, but I have a feeling that humans have the ability to see them. The Crystal Empire is our ally, the Gryphon Republic is as staunch an ally as the Gryphon Kingdom had been. If they were to force me to return to Earth, there will be war on a global scale, the Minotaurs love war and don’t care who they fight, or who they fight alongside but they are not ones to violated deals.” said Masao as Luna nodded along with Willow Leaf.
“May I asked a question about something you had said?” Masao nodded, “You said this mare is your wife, does that mean—”
“Yes I have slept with her, if that is something that bothers you then I am sorry, but I will not lie about my relationship with my wife” said Masao and the general nodded but said nothing as he picked up the proposed treaty.
“I will take this to the council, but don’t expect them to be happy, several of them are staunch traditionalist, and believe that humans should be with humanoids at the barest minimum”
- - -
“Is he mad!? Sleeping with some animal!?”
“With all due respect council, those animals took out two of our best snipers, and one of our best infiltration teams apparently without trying, I would advise against provoking this Masao Darkheart”
“Very much so” said a pony as he walked out of the shadows startling the council members as well as the general. “I was sent here as an ambassador, as well as to ensure you do not harm Equis through purposeful actions.” said the pony, the pony was a stallion, with blue fur and a darker blue mane, his cutie mark was that of a scroll rolled up, however one of his eyes had been replaced with a cybernetic implant, it’s red glow piercing the darkness of the room, the council members, who were shrouded in shadow, stiffened as they were scanned. “I am Minder Three, Equestrian Strategic Information Service, and I will be your diplomat for the duration of this meeting”
Post Common Era Chapter Eleven/War of Stars Chapter Seven: Training Brings Pain
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Eleven/War of Stars Chapter Seven: Training Brings Pain
“How dare you!?” said a council member as Minder Three turned his head to look at her, she was a little on the chubby side, but not overly so, simply a little over fed, in Minder Three’s mind anyway but he scoffed at her question.
“Prince Masao ordered me to ensure that you do not order someone to force him back, and I will do my job, I specialize at diplomacy, but don’t think that I only know peaceful diplomacy. I have forced the minotaurs to surrender under threat of annihilation, and I am not above doing that here, miss” the general was in shock this pony had somehow snuck in without any of the guards knowing, let alone waiting for the perfect moment to show himself…
- - -
“Ah, hello Earth Council, I am surprised that you saw fit to contact us so quickly, I take it you have something you wish to discuss?” asked Masao in a cheerful voice, he had been called out of bed to deal with an ‘emergency’ of sorts apparently his diplomat decided it was foolish enough to sneak his way into the council chambers still if anyone could fix it Minder Three could, he just wanted to prove something, or at least that is what Masao believed.
“You are to return to Earth or we will—”
“Let me stop you there, I am not going to return to Earth, and nothing you say or do will change that in good way, Equis is my home, anyone I may have known is long dead. Minder Three I know you are listening in, you are not to infiltrate the council chambers again without expressed orders” said Masao before he sighed and continued, “I don’t miss Earth, I don’t care if you are destroyed or not, but know this, if you harm one Equestrian in some misguided attempt to force me to return there will be war.” for a moment or two there was silence before a different voice spoke up.
“I apologize for my esteemed colleague’s short sightedness, I would like to ask that we put all of this behind us and discuss perhaps a visit at the very least, I assure you, if you wish to leave you can, but we insist that you come back to Earth if only to finalize an alliance between our two people, you can bring your wife if you so choose—”
“If you wish to finalize an alliance we will do it here, where I can be a hundred percent certain that you will not go back on your word and attempt to force me to stay, which will end badly to say the least”
- - -
“Oh my! Mistress Willow Leaf! We have to get you fitted for a dress!” said a bat pony mare in a maid’s uniform after she heard the news about Willow Leaf asking Masao to marry her.
“I’m fine! I have time—”
“There is no time to waste! Mistress needs to get her dress!”
“Seriously I know you are better had a better education than this” said Willow Leaf and the maid pouted as she sat on her haunches.
“Why do you do this? I like playing the part of an under-educated maid, several of the nobles like it too” said the bat pony with a light blush on her cheeks and Willow Leaf rolled her eyes at the mare admitting to a less than wholesome reason behind her acting.
“Seriously? You know what forget I said anything! I am going to the training fields, maybe I can get some practice in, I have to keep limber especially if I want to have some fun tonight” said the green earth pony playing the game that the maid was playing.
“Well then mistress, I will let you be, mayhap you run into the prince and he sweeps you off your hooves once more” Willow Leaf glared at the retreating back of the maid who was cackling while she left making Willow Leaf all the more annoyed before she left in her own direction, one heading for the training fields.
- - -
The training fields had not changed all that much over the millennia, it still held several grass and dirt rinks, but as times have changed so did the places where the guard needed to train so there were also stone and metal rinks and a couple areas where one could practice their firearms and firing from under cover while being shot at by lasers set at low power as not to cause any serious damage, but would give a jolt that would definitely inform you that you had been hit. This was where Willow Leaf was, no she didn’t fire a bolter or any other form of firearm, no, she was practicing her skills at hiding, and she was doing quite well, the auto targeter for the laser never picked her up, and she set it to search for unarmed targets. Creeping along she kept her body in hiding by stretching it around openings, it had been a long time since she had done this exercise, mostly because she had been otherwise busy with her, now fiance, Masao. Speaking of whom, she blushed as she remembered him visiting her one night and bringing a small black box, when she opened it, there was a necklace inside, a necklace with the hornring she had worn before her second death hanging on it—the hornring he had proposed to her with—he had kept it and had since gave it to her. While at the moment she wasn’t wearing it—not wanting to be given away by the clinking of the jewelry—she did wear it most of the time, and she was always happy when she looked down and saw it. Soon she made it to the auto-targeter’s domain, a ‘no-pony’s land,’ this close the lasers could do some harm, still not enough to cause worry, but enough that it would really hurt. This part would rely on her gymnastics and speed to get through, if she made it to the auto-targeter, she would have won her little challenge, if not, she was going to be sore tonight when Luna all but drags her to a late night dress shop. She took a step and then took off running, dodging, rolling, and jumping, and was just about to tap the shut off when her hoof was hit by one of the lasers, it really did hurt! She whimpered as another laser barrel came to bare and just before it fired it shut down, not only it, but all the electronics shut down. Limping her way out she was surrounded by several guards who immediately took her to the throne room where Celestia and Twilight were already waiting. There was an explosion, somewhere in the castle, not a few seconds after they got word via the Unicorn powered radios, around Masao’s location…
- - -
“Kill the psyker!” said a human firing a gun at Masao who was hiding behind a flowerpot, a very large one thankfully
“For the prince and princesses!” said a purple pegasus stallion as he opened fire on the intruders.
“No. By darkness BURN!” said Masao as he threw a blue fireball at the humans who scattered right into the line of fire, for a moment allowing the stallion to take three of the eight down.
“This is Watcher Four, to Prince Darkheart, do you copy?”
“I’m a little busy at the moment, it seems that the Terran Empire is attempting to either kidnap me, or retrieve their lost soldier” he managed to say as he lifted a suit of armor with his dark magic and threw it at the humans who blew it apart.
- - -
“This is Watcher Four to Princess Luna, do you copy?”
“What is it Watcher Four, did you find my husband?”
“I did, ma’am but at the moment he needs help” said the pony and Willow Leaf overheard and putting the pain in her hoof to the back of her mind she raced out of there, weaving in and out of the guards that caught sight of her before she disappeared down a passageway…
Post Common Era Chapter Twelve/War of Stars Chapter Eight: The Wedding is Getting Close
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Twelve/War of Stars Chapter Eight: The Wedding is Getting Close
Masao was pinned down by enemy fire, in his own home to say he was upset would be an understatement, he didn’t even have his bolter on him, all he had was his magic, and that wasn’t doing him any—
“Shoot it! It’s just a damned—ugh!” there was a thump followed by several more. There was no more weapon’s fire, however Masao was not going to risk getting shot to—
“Leaving the fighting to your mare? If that how you do things, Masao? Because if so I am going to have to start training more.” called Willow Leaf panting heavily she was really out of shape, she was going to practi— “CELESTIA DAMN IT!” she suddenly cried as she dropped down, the adrenaline that had been rushing through her system, allowing her to ignore the pain in her hoof finally running out she collapsed in pain just as Masao rushed over to her.
“You foolish, foolish mare, what in tartarus did I do to deserve you?” he said as he hugged her close, the sweat coming off of her wetting his shirt, thankfully there was no blood. Masao ordered the pegasus to round up some guards to take the enemy combatants into custody. Upon the arrival of the guards Masao, who had, until that moment, been focusing his magic to keep the humans unconscious released the magic, luckily none of them awoke, they were stripped of all military hardware. The pain from her hoof far worse then before made her pass out, not being used to that sort of pain any longer having led a soft life for the last several years. Now that there was no enemy fire, Masao was able to concentrate well enough to port him and Willow Leaf to the throne room surprising the trio of alicorns there.
- - -
“She was foolish! She could have—”
“If she hadn’t shown up when she did, I could have been dead or worse! I am not letting you take out your anger at the Terrans out on her! If anything the fact she did that without thinking shows she cares,” said Masao and Luna looked hurt before Masao continued, not noticing Luna’s hurt look, “she had the best chance of getting to me, and not getting stopped enroute. You, however would have been stopped several times and would have been too late even with your teleporting magic, that would have been pointless in the middle of a firefight” at the end of Masao’s tirade Luna sighed, he was right, Willow Leaf did have the best chance at the time to get to him before anything happened, and she did, and she fought on a wounded hoof, that same wounded hoof that would, once the adrenaline wore off, would knock her out as she made it worse with her acrobatics, gymnastics, and martial arts.
“You’re right, love, I can not be upset at her for following her heart…”
“Following my what now?” asked Willow Leaf as she pushed herself up, the surface she was laying on was extremely soft, and there was a rhythmic beeping in the background.
“Ah I see my patient is finally awake now!” said the doctor as he checked in on the room before deciding to check on Willow Leaf’s hoof, “The Prince and princesses were worried about you, young filly. You managed to break your front ankle, no doubt from one of your training exercises, and then going off to save the prince. Tsk tsk tsk. You could have died, though I doubt that would have stopped you”
“I broke my ankle?” Willow Leaf asked and the doctor nodded before motioning for the nurse to come in and check on everything else.
“If everything checks out you can be on your way home before breakfast, we just needed you awake so we could perform the procedure on your ankle” said the doctor before she levitated a small cylinder over and a red light flashed out of it on to the broken ankle, mending the bone. “That should do it, please let us know if it starts acting up again, sometimes these bone menders don’t work as well as the old tried and true methods of casting the bone”
“Th-thank you” said Willow Leaf as she attempted to stand only to be pushed back down on the bed by a concerned Masao, “Wh-what?”
“You need some rest, I know these devices are supposed to heal the broken bones are good, but I rather you rest up before leaving” said Masao and the doctor rolled her eyes before leaving the room. Masao leaned over the railing of the bed and gave the mare a light kiss on the lips. “Thank you for risking your neck, I owe you” Willow Leaf smiled lightly and moved her hooves around the human’s neck and pulled him close almost unbalancing Masao.
“You have done so much for me, so much I owe you,” whispered Willow Leaf before she released Masao and forced herself back into a sitting position, “but I am not staying in bed, I need to get that damnable dress”
“The dress can wait, you—”
“I’m getting married come tartarus or high water. Imagine that, I am excited about getting married”
- - -
The next couple of days were busy, an ambassador from the United Earth Coalition arrived at the palace seeking an audience with Masao thinking that he was the head of the diplomacy aspect and Masao did meet with them, if only to inform him that in fact it was Princess Twilight Sparkle that handled the diplomacy part of the princedom. There was also the the fact that both Luna and Willow Leaf had just stopped sleeping with him, telling him he will get enough to sate him for a lifetime come the wedding night, but as days turned to weeks Masao was starting to get a little on edge…
- - -
Today was the day, Masao was more than a little frazzled from being cut off, but nevertheless he was happy, there he was standing in the suit that Rarity had made him so long ago, speak of the devil and she shall appear, a purple gem was on the floor, Masao leaned down to pick it up when suddenly the gem glowed and the silhouette of Rarity appeared.
“”Darling! Oh it is good to see you! You haven’t stopped by since that disastrous meeting last when you learned that Twilight was summoning us, by the way, I am so happy you decided to wear the suit I made you, but it is so last century! you need something new! I would help but…”
“You’re kinda dead” said Masao as Twilight walked in, her horn glowing as she powered the spell, “Twilight, it is good to see you, I know we haven’t talked to each other in a while—”
“You told me that you were disappointed in me! You said that I was abusing my friends’ trust!” argued Twilight and Masao flinched
“Really Twilight!” admonished Rarity and it was Twilight’s turn to flinch, being scolded by her dead friend, “Your teacher is trying to apologize! He doesn’t need you to attack him”
“Rarity! He keeps telling me he’s disappointed in me, that I am violating the natural order of things!”
“He isn’t wrong, we’re dead, Twilight, are we not?” asked Rarity and Twilight flinched at her friend’s reply, “I have been dead for a millennia at the least!” Twilight started to tear up and both Masao and Rarity looked at her sadly before there was a sigh.
“Do you want me to stop summoning you?” asked Twilight and Masao cleared his throat. “What do you want?”
Post Common Era Chapter Thirteen/War of Stars Chapter Nine: The Wedding/Human Ingenuity
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
OK a slight warning, there is a block of text that is mostly there as a brief overview of the past two stories, you'll know it when you see it, while I do not suggest skipping it as it is actually there to enhance the story, if you want you can skip it.
Oh and I couldn't think of a wedding dress for Luna so please if you can think of one I would be mighty grateful
Post Common Era Chapter Thirteen/War of Stars Chapter Nine: The Wedding/Human Ingenuity
“What do you want?”
“What I want is a little respect, especially on my wedding day!” said Masao his expression a firm glare as Rarity facehoofed at Twilight’s comment. “I was going to ask if you wanted to bring your friends to the wedding, I may not like what you are doing, keeping them from their eternal rest, but they don’t seem to care so I haven’t told Celestia about—”
“You don’t need to tell me, I already know. Twilight came forwards a while ago when one of the servants walked in on her talking with her friends” said Celestia much to Masao’s surprise, “I talked to Cadance, she told me to wish you well, and that she wishes she was here for your wedding, but she has her own problems, apparently the Terran Empire tried to attack them, they failed spectacularly, the Crystal—On second thought, we will talk tomorrow, I’m sorry—”
“I know, I’m not getting a honeymoon, now if you three ladies will excuse me, I have an altar to get to, speaking of which, Celestia, seeing as Cadance can’t make it, do you think you can perform the ceremony?”
“Go, I will be up there long before your young bride is” at that Masao started to make his way to the altar, the ceremony room was similar to the one Cadance had used for her wedding, walking mostly from memory Masao’s thoughts went places he didn’t like, places he was sure that Cadance’s mind had gone to at least once during Shining Armor’s life.
‘Young… That is the operative word isn’t it for us immortals… Everypony is always just passing through our lives… My God, my God hath thou truly forsaken me? I only followed my heart…’ thought Masao when a familiar, but very unwelcome voice spoke up
Standing by the altar, Masao was surprised to see the UEC delegate in the audience he glanced at the human with a frown,
‘He had better not make a scene’ thought Masao as Twilight spread her five gems in front of some chairs, ‘Twilight’s necromancy is going to cause a stir, not just amongst the nobles, she is going to be either vilified or they will come in droves asking her to raise their loved ones from the dead’ he thought before just before the music started, as soon as it did, Twilight started channeling her spell, Applejack and Rarity were the first two to appear, but after that the music that signified the approach of the soon to be Princess Willow Leaf and Masao’s eyes moved to the beauty that was his future wife, who was being walked down the aisle by Luna who had a small smile on her face, the dress Luna wore was the one that Rarity had made her for her wedding…
- - -
“You’re beautiful”
“I know, but you shouldn’t have eyes for me today, today is all about her” said Luna as she side stepped and released a glamour from Willow Leaf, her dress was ivory white, and hugged her figure until it got to her flanks and then it flared out a bit, the intricate design on the chest was inlaid with pearls and diamonds, yet none of these gems were overbearing in a way to take away from the natural beauty of Willow Leaf, but rather to enhance it.
“Well what do you think? I didn’t get all dressed up for my sake” said Willow Leaf as she trotted in a circle in place, giving Masao the full look.
“My word! I couldn’t do better!” said Rarity from the crowd bringing attention to them and Masao groaned, but the amount of people who started talking were very few in comparison to how many he had feared. For now, Twilight was safe.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the binding of these three souls, my sister, my friend, and their soulmated lover as one herd, I have watched these three throughout the millennia, when first Masao arrived on Equis, he did not seek to be in a relationship beyond that of friendship with the mare Evening Star—” said Celestia and with her magic she conjured an image of the bat pony Evening Star in full regalia, while she had never been formally adopted into the royal family she was as good as one after Masao started a relationship with her. “—as their relationship grew so did the distance between me and my sister, as you all well know Masao fought alongside my sister in what is known as the Lunar Rebellion, but through all this, he managed to keep a relationship with Evening Star who remained loyal to the crown. At the end of the Rebellion, Masao showed his loyalty when the evil mare known as Nightmare Moon came into being—” She conjured, this time, the scene of Masao restraining Nightmare Moon as the Elements of Harmony, the real ones, fired at the dark duo. “—for years I knew not where, at the time, Ser Masao, had gone, nor did I know where my closest remaining friend, Evening Star had gone, she having left to search for her lover. Little did I know, that she found her lover and lived the remainder of her life as his lover and confidant, though they did not marry, they were closer than any married couple until the day she died. Fast forwards to her next life, it was not Ser Masao who found her, but rather, me—” she conjured an image of Sharp Sword, standing with all the pride of a soldier. “—Sharp Sword was an enemy combatant, part of a group that refused to surrender when Nightmare Moon had fallen, the Lunar Remnants, when she attempted, under orders, to have me assassinated, she failed, but I knew when I met her who she really was, my soul knew her, I had her pardoned and gave her a room in the castle, but the nobles of the time thought it better to forbid her access to the city, so rather than betray me, for showing her mercy, she formed a group to fight the Lunar Remnants as well as another extremist group that thought themselves more knowledgeable than myself, the Day’s Legion. So it went for a few years until Ser Masao returned from the Gryphon Kingdom, a clan of bat ponies in tow, the same bat ponies that later formed the Lunar Guard, they were attacked by both the Lunar Remnants and the Day’s Legion, and were saved by both Ser Masao’s mastery of dark magic and the arrival of Sharp Sword. Over the course of their travels the duo fell in love all over again, neither of them knowing that the other was their soulmate. Over the course of the next few years they learned that who they were, especially Sharp Sword. When Nightmare Moon returned, they fought alongside Princess Twilight and saved my sister from her clutches. Over the next few years, Ser Masao and Sharp Sword renewed their friendship with my sister. Within two years of my sister’s return, she and Ser Masao fell for each other, and rather than be jealous, as some mares can be, Sharp Sword pushed them together, hoping that maybe they could spend the rest of her life together, and they did. Still they did not marry, but for all intents and purposes Ser Masao was now a Prince-consort, having been in a lasting relationship with my sister, sadly it was not until after Sharp Sword fell against the centaur known as Tirek that Masao finally did marry my sister, and was made a full prince—” there were some tears flowing down Celestia’s face before she smiled weakly looking at Willow Leaf and nuzzled her for a little strength. “This time it was not myself that found her, but rather, Prince Masao, and I can not be any prouder, the mare known as Willow Leaf, who stands before you is Evening Star, is Sharp Sword, and is Willow Leaf, she is the soulmated mare that Masao first fell in love with all those centuries back. So I ask, are there any here who protest this union? Are there any who believe this union is in vain?” There was silence and just before Celestia continued the delegate from the UEC stood up and Masao all but glared at the human, but he simply cleared his throat.
“From what you told us, Prince Masao has lived for millennia, something no human on Earth has done, even for all of our technical advancements for all of our Medical advancements, but yet not only has he done this, he also has found love here. Do I object? No I don’t” said the human oblivious to Masao’s glare, but at the human’s exclamation, several nobles spoke up in an attempt to keep the royalty pure when the human spoke up once more. “I do not see the problem, if Prince Masao and the princesses all can tell who is the reincarnation of this Willow Leaf, then what are you worried about, for all intents and purposes, she is also immortal, maybe not in the technical sense, but her soul never crosses the etherium.” At that the nobles fell silent, their only defense ruined by the one human they hoped would stop this union.
“While this was not what I was expecting, shall we get on with the wedding?”
“Yes, yes. Do you, Willow Leaf, take Prince Masao as your husband to have and to hold from now until death? Do you promise to remain true, through sickness and health, through pain and sorrow, through richness and happiness?” asked Celestia and Willow Leaf smiled at Masao as tears started to well up in her eyes, for so long had she wanted this, and she didn’t even know it until just this moment.
“I do”
“Do you, Prince Masao Darkheart, take Willow Leaf as your wife, to have and to hold until death? Do you promise to remain true, through sickness and health, through pain and sorrow, through richness and happiness?” Masao smiled and answered with no hesitation.
“I do”
“Do you, Princess Luna, accept Willow Leaf as your herd-sister? To share your mate with her, to comfort her in her sadness, and share in her joy? Do you accept her as your equal?” It was here that the whole room held their breath, no one believed that Princess Luna would say no, but there was always the possibility and it was that possibility that scared them, or in the case of the nobles, filled them with hope.
“I do”
“Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you three as a single herd, and I now pronounce you, Princess Willow Leaf. Congratulations” as soon as Celestia finished there was cheering, a new princess had been crowned, and from what the princess had said, their beloved prince had finally married the mare he had loved throughout the ages. the celebration went on for several days, at least for the common folk, for Masao, he celebrated with Willow Leaf all night, secreting her away early in the night, as early as he could without seeming rude, however Princess Luna remained quiet with a small knowing smile on her face as she sipped her wine even as many ponies asked her where the rest of her herd was…
- - -
“Council I would have to object to any plans to forcefully remove the prince, I was at the wedding, and the amount of love for this prince is astounding, if we were to kidnap him, all we would do is alienate them, even if we were to make it seem that the Terran Empire did the kidnapping, they would be leery about accepting an alliance with us. From what I have learned, it is not Princess Twilight, the mare in charge of their diplomacy, but rather Prince Masao who is pushing for an alliance with us, and despite the current friction between them, she is doing so for him.” said the delegate from the wedding, he had truly seen how loved the prince was, as well as any of the royal family.
“Troubling,, but unavoidable, I suppose we will leave him be, tell me, how does the process of an alliance go?”
“To be honest, it is going over as smoothly as it can with the former demands, can I assume that I can take it off the table?”
“Yes, and offer reparations for the trouble we have caused, anything you think they could use, from what intel we have gathered from our spies in the Terran Empire, even their slightly less advanced allies in the Crystal Empire managed to beat back an entire company of their best soldiers with little losses on their side. It’s time we made allies against our enemies”
Post Common Era Chapter Fourteen/War of Stars Chapter Ten: The Crystal Empire/Princess Mi Amore Cadenza
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Fourteen/War of Stars Chapter Ten: The Crystal Empire/Princess Mi Amore Cadenza
“So you are telling me that you have to leave for the Empire? Why?” asked Willow Leaf as she sat up on the bed in their room, she had been sleeping enjoying the warmth of the bed until Masao walked in and roused her from her sleep and informed her he was going to be heading for the Crystal Empire rolling his eyes he pressed his lips against hers and for a moment she was lost in the kiss before she place a hoof on his chest and slowly pushed him away. “Why?”
“I told you in case you wanted to go with me, after all you haven’t actually met Cadence yet, and I would like to have at least one of my wives go with me. Wives… Never in a million years did I think I’d actually be able to say that” said Masao and Willow Leaf gave a soft smile before leaning over and kissing him lightly on the cheek.
“Of course I’ll go with you, and for the record, I never thought I would call you my husband willingly”
- - -
While there was a more leisurely transport that they could have taken, the urgency of the matter demanded they take used the teleporter system, developed by Princess Twilight to model after the unicorn transportation spell, it got the recipients from point A to point B in nanoseconds, the old problem was that unlike the transportation spell, it involved a lot of power, and thus was limited to emergencies only. So as soon as they got to the teleporter, Masao was ‘assaulted’ by paperwork, the amount of power needed to transport two people instead of one was negligible, at least compared to sending one at all, so he was able to get away with stating that it was simpler this way rather than sending her via transport, and he himself via teleporter, that and if it never got used how were they supposed to work out the bugs?
“Sign here, and here, and initial here, date here, thank you Prince Masao, you and your wife can get on the transporter pads now” said a gruff unicorn stallion and Masao nodded and motioned to Willow Leaf who walked over and took a place beside him before getting a worried look.
“Are you sure this is—” there was a flash of light and sound as they disappeared from the area…
- - -
“—safe?” asked Willow Leaf before she took stock of her new surroundings, where most of Canterlot was now metal and stone, the Crystal Empire remained mostly crystal, as was their Transporter Room, “That was odd, I could have sworn—”
“We were just in Canterlot, but the teleporter system is still in it’s infancy compared to some of our tech, but it works like it should” said Masao as he stepped off the transporter pad and motioned for Willow Leaf to do the same, and she did only for the pads to fill up with a couple suitcases that Masao leaned down to grab. “I suggest we go to the throne room and introduce ourselves, it isn’t polite to just wander the castle of a foreign country, even if that country is your ally”
“Fine” huffed Willow Leaf good naturedly, and anyone could see she was pretending to be insulted especially with the smile on her face which only grew as Masao leaned down and kissed her. Leaving the transporter room Masao lead Willow Leaf through the maze that was the Crystal Empire’s castle stopping every so often to explain an obscure bit of history that Willow Leaf never heard about. Even here, Masao was well known, as when a guardspony saw them rather than stop them, he gave a bow and continued on his way. Upon reaching the throne room Masao stopped at the door.
“Last Chance to back out if you want to, love, after we go in, I have no doubts that Cadence will barrage you with questions and advice” said Masao the doors were still closed and Cadence had no idea they were there, at least so far as Masao knew.
“I’m fine, now, as those Withers Shankspur actors say, ‘Once more, into the breach’” said Willow Leaf and Masao grinned at her as with one hand he pushed open the door…
- - -
Time had not been kind to the Princess of Love’s heart, first the death of her husband, expected but still heart wrenching, followed by the the deaths of her children years later. She didn’t even have grandchildren as they had refused to get married and have kids thinking themselves immortal, but when she heard about Sharp Sword’s reincarnation she rejoiced, mayhap her husband was reincarnated as well? Besides, a love so strong it crosses the stretches of time was something that always brought a smile to her face even in her darkest days, so when the door opened and revealed Masao and his new wife Cadence shot out of the throne and hugged the both of them giving her congratulations and her well wishes.
“It is good to see you too, Cadence, how have you been?” asked Masao as the pink alicorn pulled away from him and latched on to his bride. Willow Leaf felt comfort coming from the hug and she leaned into it hugging the alicorn back which brought a smile to both Masao’s and Cadence’s faces.
“I am getting better every day, and it always does my heart good when I find a couple in love such as yourselves” said Cadance and suddenly deep down in Willow Leaf she felt the urge to hug Cadence all the tighter, which she did and the alicorn felt tears well up in her eyes as Willow Leaf attempted to comfort her…
- - -
A little bit later Masao Willow Leaf and Cadence were sitting in the dining hall, eating a small meal of daisy sandwiches for the ponies, and ham and cheese for the human, surprised at the access of meat, Masao asked only to be informed that a gryphon delegation had been visiting not all that long ago, accepting that answer with a nod Masao continued to eat the sandwich.
“I’m sorry to ask this, but how did you know that Willow Leaf was Sharp Sword?” asked Cadence and Masao grimaced, something that did not go unnoticed by the earth pony mare, nor by the alicorn, who was quick to try and offer apologies as she reached over and hugged the mare again.
“No, no, don’t worry about it, it’s one of those things you just know deep in your heart and soul, even then there is no guarantee that you will be able to continue your relationship with them.” said Masao as he glanced at Willow Leaf, who had just pulled away from Cadence, a slight blush on her cheeks as she remembered how she flat out refused to believe she was the reincarnation of somepony dead millennia ago, to be honest she still didn’t believe it, but she did know she had fallen for the prince and if that was what he needed to think to stay with her, so be it.
“Y-yeah… So Cadence, do you feel any better? I mean… Um…”
“I’m fine, Willow Leaf, thank you for being concerned” said Cadence as she nuzzled the mare once more before sitting down with a sigh. “I take it this isn’t a social call, otherwise you would have let me know sooner than this that you were on your way” Masao nodded in agreement as he pulled a datapad out of his vestments.
“You’re correct, Cadence. We heard about the attack, and I decided it would be a good idea to check on you, after all you remain one of Equestria’s most staunch allies.”
“Tsk tsk! On your honeymoon? You should be ravishing this beautiful mare until she can’t walk straight!” said Cadence causing both Masao and Willow Leaf to blush heavily, more so Willow Leaf, unaccustomed to the Princess of Love’s behaviour.
“P-Princess!” said Willow Leaf scandalized only for the pink mare to giggle into her hoof.
“Ah it does me good to see a mare so much in love with her mate. Don’t get me wrong—”
“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!” said a guard rushing in, “There are humans enroute to the city!” all thoughts of a friendly visit disappeared as Masao started to march his way towards the throne room door only to be picked up by Cadence’s magic and placed on the floor on his butt, not helping his image any.
“No, you stay here, you just got married, and you are not going to risk your life carelessly so soon afterwards”
“Oh but you will? Might I remind you princess, that you are needed to rule the Crystal Empire” said Masao harshly, putting emphasis on the title of ‘princess.’
“I won’t die, these humans haven’t seen my magic in combat yet, they have been kept back through the might of the guard so far” at that Cadence walked out of the throne room and Masao stood up from the position Cadence had left him in and went after her intent on making sure she didn’t do anything stupid. Meanwhile Willow Leaf frowned, it seemed no matter where she went she was in the way, perhaps it was time she showed her husband, the thought she was married sent a shiver down her back, how useful she could be...
Post Common Era Chapter Fifteen/War of Stars Chapter Eleven: Cadence and Willow Leaf Have a Talk
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Fifteen/War of Stars Chapter Eleven: Cadence and Willow Leaf Have a Talk
Sneaking through the castle was easy, insultingly so, Willow Leaf thought as she crept towards the entrance, while she didn’t use any firearms she was still one of the best thieves to ever live, having been the only thief to have stolen the Elements of Harmony and almost having sold them, no other thief has made it even half as close, and to be a thief you had to know how to defend yourself, some thieves used firearms, true, but Willow Leaf? Oh she was one of the most agile and most determined mares, she learned hoof to hoof combat because she would rather risk leaving a witness alive than to kill someone, but she knew how to do it, and now as the time to prove it. All these thoughts ran through her head as she snuck out of the castle and made her way to the city edge, just as the first shells hit the shield.
“Miss, this is no place for a civilian” said a guard as he attempted to push her away but Willow Leaf just glared at him and with a well place blow knocked him on his rump dazed for a little bit, just long enough for her to sneak farther into the border line and as soon as she was there she saw…
- - -
“FIRE!” said a human in a ceramic plate armor, the bolter shots hit and bounced off of them as they seemed glow a dark eerie light.
“Let these fools fall to Terra!” said a human as he threw a frag grenade at the Crystal Heart’s shield only for it to bounce off and explode causing no damage…
- - -
“Miss, you are not saf—”
“I am Princess Willow Leaf of Equestria! I am probably also the only one that could possibly in in there and take care of those fools without getting shot” snapped Willow Leaf and the guardspony nickered in response before frowning
“You could be Princess Celestia for all I care, you are not going over there, if you really are Princess Willow, I would be a fool to let you through, your husband would have my head!” at that Willow Leaf grumbled but said nothing as she was lead away from the battlefield, but as soon as they took their eyes off her for a second she was gone once more and this time she snuck past the barrier, and kept close to the trees that had since grown close to the Crystal Empire.
“What’s that?” asked a terran soldier and Willow froze as a couple soldiers walked right by her, not noticing her, as soon as their backs were to her she sprung into action taking them out quickly and efficiently. As soon as the two soldiers were down, their helmets rolling away Willow took a deep breath, she knew instinctively that either she killed them now, or they could jeopardise her escape. Taking another deep breath Willow Leaf stood up on her hind legs ready to bring her full weight down on the skulls of the two soldiers when there was a whomp sound and Masao appeared in front of her. Willow Leaf froze, standing on her hind legs, ready to end the lives of the two humans beneath her, Masao just stared at her in shock, as the look in Willow Leaf’s eyes was one of fear, fear that Masao would look at her differently, that he wouldn’t love her, because she was about to kill a human without—
“Don’t do it Willow, don’t stain your hooves, not with their blood” said Masao as he shook himself out of his shock and walked over and held her close, her standing on her hind legs giving her some height…
- - -
“You need to go back”
“No, I don’t, if I go back you’re just going to finish what I started”
“If you finish what you started you will have blood on your hooves, something I know you never had before, it isn’t something that just washes away with a little soap and water!”
“So! You’ve killed! And if you are right so did I in a past life! I want to help! I have the skill to help!”
- - -
The two humans that Willow Leaf had knocked out were currently locked in the dungeon of the Crystal Empire’s castle while Willow Leaf and Masao refused to talk to one another. Masao, because he did not want to say something he would regret, Willow Leaf, because she wanted to prove she could be useful and not just a pretty face…
- - -
“You and your people are foolish, attacking Equestria’s allies like this” said Masao as he slammed the Terran warrior against the wall of the cell with his magic, and held the other by the throat with his hand. “You and yours nearly caused my wife to bloody her hooves on the likes of you, now tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you? Tell me why I shouldn’t go out there and destroy every single one of you?”
“Because, why should you do something you stopped me from doing?” said Willow Leaf as she stepped out of the shadows of the room, not in the cell , but in the room proper.
“You shouldn’t have their lives mar your soul, you are still pure, in this lifetime”
“So what?! If I really am the reincarnation of Sharp Sword then I am not really clean of blood anyway!” said Willow Leaf as she rounded on him before glaring at the Terran soldiers that started to chuckle, “I am not above letting him kill you two, for all intents and purposes I should have killed you in the first place” at that Masao gritted his teeth as his grip tightened on the two enemy soldiers.
“Love, while I would like to work out our issues, at the moment, I have to deal with an immediate threat to the Crystal Empire”
“Fine! But when can we?” asked Willow Leaf her annoyance at being placed on the back burner evident.
“Tonight if you are dead set on talking about it”
- - -
Willow Leaf made her way back to the throne room, with how things were progressing at the border of the shield, she was surprised to see everypony cool and collected, even the civilians that popped in to have some issues dealt with remained calm, and when she got to the throne room she was surprised when Princess Cadence sent everypony in the room besides her out, as she got closer to the princess one could see a frown on her lips.
“You could have died” of all the things Willow Leaf expected, that was not one of them. “I think that is what is the scariest thing that Masao is dealing with. He loves you almost as much as he loves the foals he has all but adopted since you moved into the castle. You know he is the Grand Elder of a bat pony clan? Or Thestrals as they are sometimes called? Masao knows that you are capable, hell he knows you probably could have walked away from killing those two down in the dungeon, but it isn’t something he wants to think about. If you had not seen him, if you had killed them without hesitation, do you think you would be arguing right now?”
“But—”
“No buts, I am more than sure that all he cares about is you being alive, even if you had killed them, he could have forgiven you, not that he would have needed to other than to sooth your soul after you realized what you did. From what I have gathered you never killed anyone before, and while we are at war, we don’t like our ponies to kill anyone, it’s inevitable but still not something we like” said Cadence as she sat on the throne, the pink alicorn sighed and looked far closer to her actual age for a moment. “Do you think it is easy on us? Loving a mortal? Especially mortals who rush off headlong into danger to impress us or prove themselves worthy of us? Do you know I used to be married to Princess Twilight’s brother?” asked Cadence, not trusting herself to speak at the moment, Willow Leaf simply nodded, “Do you know that he nearly died trying to protect me from a foalish mare who thought it best to rid the Crystal Empire of an immortal ruler? Do you know that he died months later when, for all his training, his body, old and tired as it was, decided to quit? Do you know how close I was to letting the Nightmare take over? All so I wouldn’t have to feel the pain of his passing.” At the mention of ‘the Nightmare’ Willow Leaf gave a confused look. “It was Masao who got me out of my funk, for a while I pined after him like a love sick puppy, knowing time would never ravage him. After he turned me down, I thought I would force him to love me with my spell, but all that happened was that he married Luna faster, and disappeared for several years. When he returned I vowed that I would do anything to make him happy, although I didn’t love him like that anymore, I owed him for saving my people and myself, from myself. So what should I do with the wife who thinks she can run off into a warzone without thinking of how her husband will react as soon as he finds out?” ask Cadence at the end of her little history lesson and Willow Leaf frowned at her and moved to speak up. “No. No talking, you will listen. I know you wanted to prove you aren’t worthless, but you should know that Masao never believed you to be worthless, he hates it when you put yourself in danger just to prove yourself worthy, or prove that you are useful. Willow Leaf, Masao loves you and knows you aren’t worthless, so stop trying to risk your life just to please him, you aren’t pleasing him you are hurting him”
“I’m not doing it to please him, I’m doing it for myself, I love Masao, but I have to know that I am not going to be worthless, I’m still young, and I want to be useful, whether to him or to Equestria and her allies”
“You don’t have to you—”
“I know I don’t have to, that’s kind of the point! I want to”
Post Common Era Chapter Sixteen/War of Stars Chapter Twelve: Battle of The Crystal Empire
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Sixteen/War of Stars Chapter Twelve: Battle of The Crystal Empire
War never changes, that was something that Masao knew instinctively even as Willow Leaf fought him to be able to serve on the front lines, and the more he strove to curb her desire to fight, the more it became apparent that she was going to fight with or without his approval and that scared him, perhaps it was time he took a page from his past and trained with her…
- - -
“Again”
“Give me a moment”
BANG!
“I said, again, you are the one so intent on going off to fight a war best left to soldiers, and I will not let you die out there”
“So you’ll kill me in here? Tell me how does that make any sense?” asked Willow Leaf as she laid on the ground panting, had she known that accepting Masao’s conditions to go off and fight would end up like this she would have never agreed to his training, although, she would admit getting to see him shirtless was a boon in and of itself.
ZAP!
She was jolted out of her daydream by a shot from a training laser that the Crystal Empire’s guards used in, obviously, training themselves how to handle a firefight, grumbling she forced herself onto her hooves and as Masao took aim, she darted for cover, barely making it before Masao pulled the trigger, the shot hitting right where her rear left hoof had been not a half second before.
“Is hiding all you are good for? If you want to prove you are able to go out—” started Masao before Willow Leaf attacked him using her more agile body to buck at him from odd angles, and not just buck she’d punch at him as well all the while he would weave around the punches and kicks with little care thanks to his years of training. He also uses a training rod, a pole the same length as his lasersword, or lightsaber as he affectionately called it and used it to swing at her, most of his strikes missed, Willow Leaf was getting better. “Good! Trust your instincts, they will serve you better than some set rules of engagement” Masao managed to say after a particularly close kick aimed at his chest…
- - -
Several days have passed since Masao had started training Willow Leaf and to his surprise she got better faster than he would have thought possible, although occasionally he would end their sessions early and rush Willow Leaf and himself to their room after seeing her pull something that was very much arousing, though normally it was only after seeing it a lot and usually only after telling her that it was unfair of her to use her body to win like that, as most humans would not be swayed by her attractiveness. He was not ashamed to admit that while he was trying to keep her alive, he did enjoy the night time ‘sessions’ they had as, ever since they worked out their issues with her fighting, they continued their honeymoon as best as they could between training and Masao keeping an eye on the situation. It wasn’t until Masao asked her why she wanted to fight that shook him.
“Because, these humans aren’t just seeking to force their opinions on us, they will take you away”
- - -
“So now after all this time you are finally dropping that issue? Why?” asked Twilight as she looked at the ambassador and sighed, “What is it you want in return?” she asked, she had long learned never to expect a demand to be removed from the table without something else being brought up.
“We would like to ask forgiveness for trying to force this down your throat”
“I don’t believe that for a second”
- - -
Another attack, this time Willow Leaf left Masao after telling him where she was going, he didn’t like it, but let her go, only he intended to follow after her. She wouldn’t like it, but better her be upset rather than dead.
Shots were being fired from inside the shield, the Terran Empire humans continued to attack, but this time with greater efficiency having found a way through the shields protecting the Crystal Empire. With skill both trained by Masao and from her years as a thief Willow Leaf managed to sneak through the worst of it and get right into the enemy’s main base of operations in that section of the fight and she let loose…
- - -
“Simple minded fool” said Masao as he threw the human away, since he revealed himself on the field the humans seemed to focus their attacks on him, luckily their small arms fire was inaccurate as hell, and their heavy weapons specialists were otherwise occupied with the earth becoming a swamp out from under them as Masao caused all the water in the air to condense into the earth, causing a uniquely dry, muddy, swamp. With a wave of his hand the earth suddenly hardened and the heavy weapons that were dipped into the swamp were stuck in the earth, almost as if they were in hardened clay. “Burn”
- - -
Willow Leaf was weaving in and out of the attacks being used by the humans as she bucked and punched them, her agile body proving to be a beneficial against the less agile bodies of the Terran Empire humans. She stood up on her hind legs dodging a human that leaped at her and brought her hooves down straight on the human’s spine snapping it in half, severing the spinal cord. Not letting her momentum go she let herself end up standing on her forehooves only and leaped backwards her rear hooves hitting and pulverizing another soldier’s chest through the armor he wore. Willow had stopped thinking and was just moving, she knew that if she stopped she was dead…
- - -
“Burn” said Masao as he threw a green fireball at the humans that continued to attack, even as the Crystal Empire forces pushed them back Masao had started to portal around, having routed the enemy he could focus on harassing them. as they closed on the enemy power base there were corpses of humans all around and a tired Willow Leaf now panting and unable to continue fighting. As soon as he saw her panting and growling at the Terrans who were beginning to surround her. He portaled to her and tore open a portal underneath Willow Leaf causing her to fall down on to the ground behind the forces while he opened fire on the Terrans…
- - -
“You should head back to the city, princess” said a crystal empire soldier as she stayed near Willow Leaf who kept glancing at the battle field worried for her husband when it suddenly hit her, she killed. Intellectually she knew it should have hit her harder than it was, because all she felt was a slight twinge of guilt at ending the lives of those humans, worriedly she thought about how she would feel if she killed Masao and suddenly she felt sick, as if someone had kicked her in the gut before proceeding to rip them out. She then thought of killing ponies and nothing happened except when she thought about her foals and she felt just as sick as when she thought of Masao.
Shaking her head clear of thoughts she stumbled towards the battle only for the crystal soldier to guide her back to the palace she didn’t argue...
Post Common Era Chapter Seventeen/War of Stars Chapter Thirteen: Willow Leaf Gains Favor
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Seventeen/War of Stars Chapter Thirteen: Willow Leaf Gains Favor
Masao walked in to the palace throne room staggering slightly, leaning on a crutch he made his way to Willow Leaf who just glanced at him before rushing to hug the Equestrian human, upon reaching him Masao fell to a knee and caught Willow Leaf who hugged the human crying. The battle, knowing that she could have died, knowing that Masao could have died shook her, far more than the deaths she had caused.
“She finally understands what you went through” said Cadence as she trotted up to the pair, Willow’s tears wetting and stinging some of his wounds but he held her close as Cadence tutted about casting healing spells as she glared as a couple of her own soldiers that glared at the human as they carried their own wounded to the hospital that was situated in the palace, it seemed that some of her forces didn’t like the fact that a human was loose in the palace…
- - -
“I think it is time for you to go, some of my soldiers have been talking about ridding us of a spy, and I think they meant you” said Cadence and Masao frowned at her, surely she had more control over her forces than this? “Don’t give me that, Masao, you should have known things were going to get like this when we started getting attacked by humans” said the princess as Masao shifted uncomfortably at her comment. They were waiting for Willow Leaf before they started to eat the meal set out for them by the chef.
“Can’t they tell that he is the same Masao that has been here since before Luna’s fall?” asked Willow Leaf as she walked into the dining hall, she had heard them talking, and it upset her.
“They don’t care, all they see is another human, and we were attacked by humans. They only see his existence as a threat” came Cadence’s answer which made a fire glow in Willow Leaf’s eyes as she snarled, she felt an anger that wasn’t entirely her own, but at the same time was all hers, they dare threaten her mate? The fire in her eyes dimmed a bit when Masao placed a hand on her head and looked at her with worry, she shook her head and smiled at him.
“I’m fine, love” said Willow Leaf but part of her worried about the amount of anger that pulsed through her at that moment. It wasn’t natural, or maybe they were right, and she was the re—she shook her body as she rid herself of that thought process, she was her own mare.
“If you are sure… Now if I could impose an idea, lets just eat, maybe things will look better on a full stomach” said Masao as he sat down in front of a platter of meat, the meat was going to go bad had it not been cooked that morning so he offered to take it off their hands. Upon taking a bite of food Masao suddenly turned green and rushed off, both Cadence and Willow Leaf looked after him worried but it was Willow Leaf who took it upon herself to find out what was wrong and took a bite of his food, the grain and vegetables were fine, so she steeled herself and her stomach as she leaned in to take a bite of the meat when the smell hit her, it was subtle, but just enough that she reared away in shock. With a harsh glare at Cadence she ran off in search of her mate.
“What is wrong with—?” she asked before she sniffed his food, just like Willow Leaf she found nothing wrong with the non-meat portions of the meal but as soon as she got to the meat she too reared back, but only because she recognized it, poison joke, not topically it isn’t dangerous at all, but taken internally it can cause some serious harm, something even the most incompetent chef would know and she intended to find out why her chef was trying to poison a visiting dignitary.
- - -
When Cadence got to the kitchens she saw Willow Leaf had already been there, the chef was being held against the wall by the mare’s fore hoof as she stood on her hind legs.
“WHY!? Why would you try to poison my mate?” asked Willow Leaf her voice going deathly calm, there was still a fire in her eyes, that much was evident by how the chef was acting, but the stallion couldn’t get his legs under him to kick out at the mare.
“WILLOW LEAF!” shouted Cadence as she walked in and with her magic separated the duo.
“Oh, hello Cadence, am I hurting your ponies?” asked Willow Leaf calmly, but anyone could see the raging inferno in her eyes. She was out for blood, and she was going to get it.
“Don’t you have a mate to check up on?” asked the pink alicorn as she took a step forwards, she continued to hold the two apart when her words clicked in the furious mare’s mind she frowned at Cadence.
“Fine, but don’t think this is over” with that the green mare walked out of the room and, with a slam, shut the door.
“I thank you princess that crazy—”
“You aren’t out of the woods yet, and if you want me to even think about protecting you, you are going to explain why poison joke ended up in Prince Masao’s food”
- - -
Masao was in the gardens throwing up, he knew that there were bathrooms, but his body refused to make it, he was lucky to make it into the garden before it rejected the food he ate violently. This was the scene that Willow Leaf walked in on, Masao bent over throwing up. Walking up to the human she sat down beside him and as he got ahold of himself the mare smiled weakly at him.
“Are you alright?” asked the mare and Masao sighed, he never had thrown up like that before but he smiled in return.
“I’ll be alright”
- - -
“I don’t care, we’re leaving, if your people want us gone, we are going to leave” said Masao standing in front of Cadence’s throne, as Cadence attempted to talk Masao into staying despite the attack on him.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know that one of my—”
“I know you didn’t, we both know you didn’t” said Willow Leaf as she sat in front of the pink alicorn, gone was all of that rage that she had, she was calm and thinking clearly once again.
It was clearer, but that didn’t help, something told her that this was something to worry about.
“Masao… I’m hearing voices”
“What kind of voices?” asked Masao hesitantly and Willow Leaf shook her head unsure how to explain it, meanwhile Cadence looked at the duo in concern, as they completely ignored her when she asked what was wrong.
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Eighteen/War of Star Chapter Fourteen: Chaos Gods
Spending the ride explaining who Khorne was, as well as who Tzeentch was, was not what Masao had in mind for for the train ride back to Canterlot, there was a lot of jeering coming from the crystal ponies as Masao held his head high as he made his way to the station, only stopping once when he was hit by an over ripened fruit, he only stopped to wipe the fruit and fruit juice from his face before continuing on, Willow Leaf felt a bloodlust come over her again as she scanned the crowd for where the offending fruit originated.
“Don’t worry about it, love, let these ponies be upset at me, if that is what they need to feel better about themselves then so be it”
“I’ll call you what I want!” Masao looked at Willow Leaf as he wondered if this was how others felt, being on the outside not hearing the other side of the conversation.
“If y̶o͜u w҉an̶t I c͠óuld͘ ͞key you ͟in̸, ̕ìf̕ ̕y̶ou w̵ant”
“And what would that cost?” asked Masao and Tzeentch chuckled in his head
“Willow Leaf, you are touched by a chaotic creature, we need to make sure it isn’t corrupting you” said Luna as she walked with Willow Leaf and Masao, she fully intended on having Discord performing a quick check up on the mare who was stubbornly refusing to be checked out.
“Why haven’t you done that to Masao then?” asked Willow Leaf and Masao sighed before stepping in front of her, turning around and stopping, causing the group to stop in their tracks.
“As I told you when I told you about your previous lives, humans are chaotic and harmonious all at once. It isn’t likely for me to become unbalanced just by talking to a god of chaos”
“While I am surprised that you have been talking to one, I shouldn’t be it would explain that voice you heard all those years ago” said Luna before she started walking down the path once more. Following after her Willow Leaf scowled.
“What about what happened at the Crystal Empire? You aren’t blind, I know you’ve seen the pickets demanding we get reparations for what happened to Masao, You seriously can’t be just dumping this on Princess Twilight, are you?”
“And what, pray tell do you think I should do? Twilight will be pissed enough as it is without me trying to take her job.” said Luna rounding on her herd-sister before Masao clipped them over the ears stopping their arguments cold.
“There is nothing you can do, I am the head of intelligence, Luna is the head of the military, and you haven’t figured your trade. It isn’t up to us to decide how to handle this situation, and the moment it does become up to us will be a bleak day indeed. For that will mean Celestia and Twilight are either dead or likewise indisposed.” clarified Masao and for a moment it seemed like Willow didn’t care, and the truth of the matter was, she didn’t. All she cared about was the fact Masao was attacked by those that dared called themselves allies.
- - -
“Not going to happen” said Twilight as Willow Leaf talked to her, more like demanded that she do something. “Besides the fact that it would be abuse of centuries of friendship, I am not going to help you with a personal vendetta”
“It’s beyond personal Princess Twilight, they attempted to poison Masao, my husband all because he was human” said Willow Leaf and the purple alicorn looked at her with pity, but she had to be firm.
“I understand that, but I can’t punish them for being scared, why do you think Masao didn’t attack them? He certainly has enough spies to do some serious damage, but instead he has done all he could to strengthen them against attack”
“Well now, is uncle Khorne bothering you that much?” asked a little draconequus as he floated by sipping on a tiny glass of chocolate milk. He startled Willow Leaf such that she whinnied and reared back before kicking out and catching the draconequus by surprise. Discord slammed into the wall and reverted to regular size with little Fluttershy’s flying around his head before he shook his head to clear it. “Well I haven’t been bucked like that since before AJ passed, kudos. Anyway I came here because I heard my uncle was continuously proposing to someone”
“B-but I am married!”
“Hmm? Oh that’s right you’re that human’s mate, glad to see your soul survived Tirek, not many of them did.” said Discord before he started to float around again.
“What’re you talking about? Look you’ve got to get your uncle or what ever Khorne is to stop, I’m a married mare”
“Oh! You think that he is proposing for marriage? HAHA! Sorry but Uncle Nurgle may have gotten an Eldar Goddess to stay with him, but Uncle Khorne isn’t one for love. No what he wants is your soul”
“Please, I just want to be left alone. All I wanted was to marry Masao and—”
“Look, Leafy, my uncle sees something in you worth preserving, something he isn’t usually big on. He’s normally the kill everything he sees type of god. So if he is offering you immortality, even without you killing someone to earn it, I’d take it”
- - -
“Masao tainted his soul for immortality before, maybe it’s time I did the same…”
Post Common Era Chapter Nineteen/War of Stars Chapter Fifteen: Corruption
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Nineteen/War of Stars Chapter Fifteen: Corruption
Masao sat in front of a worried Princess Celestia, she had heard about the attempt on Masao’s life and was worried that her ponies would try to attack their long time allies, she was also worried about Willow Leaf, if the news she heard was to believed, Willow Leaf was communicating with a god of chaos.
“There is nothing I can do about this, we have to trust her not to fall to chaos” said Masao as he avoided mentioning that he had been talking with a god of chaos for a long time now…
“Will you let me live my life in peace? Will you let me love Masao and be with him until the end of his days? If so I will give you the lives of all the foes I slay”
“D҉o̷n͝҉̴e̸͞”
- - -
“Well, this is interesting, last time a pony willing served chaos was when I was in control of Equestria” said Discord as he floated in on a pink cloud Willow Leaf was standing over a black eight pointed star burnt into the ground panting.
“Oh shut up” said Willow Leaf as she looked at the draconequus, her eyes now bloodshot from the pain of having her soul itself branded with the mark of Chaos.
“Now why should I do that, if anything you fall under my command, what being a servant of Chaos on Equis. So what should I—”
“I serve Khorne, and my heart, I will never serve you Daemon”
- - -
“You did what?” asked Masao as he swallowed, he was used to hearing the promises of a chaos god and ignoring it, but to learn that one of the mares he loved had just given herself over to a set of beings that reveled in bloodshed and in chaos itself. While granted it wasn’t illegal as Celestia encouraged freedom of religion, Masao was worried that Khorne would ask her to kill the citizens of Equestria or…
“I am now a servant of Khorne, sort of, he will let me live my life in peace, as long as I give him the lives of the ones I kill in combat” said Willow Leaf calmly she had spent the last few hours thinking of how to defend herself from Masao’s line of questioning.
“You know he can demand you to kill anypony in his name! I told you everything I knew about him! He is the only Chaos god besides Slaanesh that is purely evil! So why would you tie yourself to him?”
“For you, you said you corrupted your soul for immortality, and I don’t want you to go through the loss of a loved one again! You said, you lost me twice before, well now I can’t die. And no he can’t, that was part of the deal, he leaves me alone and the ones that I kill go to him”
“So what is it? The ones you kill in combat? Or the ones you kill period?” challenged Masao but what happened surprised him, he expected her to either get upset and attack him, or for her to run off, instead she just asked him a simple question.
“Does it matter?”
- - -
“by darkness done, by light undone, by light done, by darkness undone, push and pull, pull and push, GRAVITY” said a dark mage her horn glowing with a black green light as she summoned a gravity field that pulled her opponent away, her eyes were cerulean and her fur was light blue and her mane and tail a bright pink, on her back was a cloak reminiscent of Trixie’s except it was black rather than purple.
What made her unique was the fact she was blind, evident by the sunglasses she always wore.
“Why don’t you BURN!” she suddenly said as her opponent threw a magic bolt at her, she was one of the top mages that were taught in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, she also was one of four students in her entire year that chose to practice dark magic, the others chose to stay within the confines of light magic, she scoffed at her former classmates, she knew real power and she didn’t hesitate to use her magic to attack the foolish Twilight mage that thought it could face her on equal grounds, she had a personal mission and that was to be the best dark mage in the world, and that meant doing things that the law would never permit. Though she counted her good graces that the royals hadn’t taken an interest in her, as she would never had… No she probably would be stronger had she been taken an interest on, but then she would have to move on after she learned everything there was for Prince Masao had to teach.
“Feel the lightning creep!” that was all the warning she got before a bolt of lightning struck her quickly erected shield. She extended her magic field to ‘see’ farther and noticed another mage near by, and she grabbed the twilight mage with her telekinesis and threw her into a wall before she teleported out of the area, her magic field granting her some semblance of barings…
- - -
“I object!” Minder Three scowled at a council member. What did this pompous windbag want now? He had dealt with them for several months now. While, yes, they had dropped their request nay, their demand, for Prince Masao to return to Earth but when he had mentioned their magic, something the soldiers could have cared less about, the council started to demand unicorns for their forces, something about controlling the very forces of nature, funny seeing as it was pegasi that controlled the weather.
“What is it this time?”
“You told us that you could get us unicorns, and now you are saying that—”
“First off I never said I would get you unicorn, all I said was that I would attempt to talk to Princess Luna about a military exchange program, and she said she was fine with it, as I was saying”
- - -
She finally stopped teleporting as she came to a familiar wall, it was the wall that separated the royal family from the rest of Canterlot, with a slight spell she change her pink mane and tail with a light blue one and her fur to a darker shade before she snuck in and made her way to the maid quarters and getting into her uniform.
“Hey! Shadow Eyes!” said her fellow maid, making her jump, “Oh! Sorry! I forgot you can’t see…” putting on a fake smile Shadow Eyes turned around and ‘looked’ at the offending party.
“That wasn’t nice Ivory Wings”
“Yeah… Sorry…” said Ivory Wings, like her name implied she was ivory color her mane and tail included, Shadow Eyes started to head to her day job as it was called cleaning when Ivory Wings spoke up again startling her once again. “OH! Prince Masao said when you showed up to let you know he wanted to see you, he didn’t say what”
“Thanks, I’ll head there right away” No she wasn’t she wasn’t going to risk running into the Prince of Dark Mages, so she rushed her way out only to walk right into the very man she was trying to avoid.
“Ah, Shadow Eyes, I was looking for you, the Princesses and I would like a word with you”
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty/War of Stars Chapter Sixteen: Apprentices
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty/War of Stars Chapter Sixteen: Apprentices
“Ah, Shadow Eyes, I was looking for you, the Princesses and I would like a word with you” said Masao as he picked up the mare he had bumped into, knocking her to the ground. He had been looking for for the past month, something about her worried him…
- - -
“How could he say that! I did this for him!” snarled Willow Leaf in their room she was ‘confined to quarters’ until Masao could figure out how to undo what she did to herself, Masao had told her he couldn’t even look at her after she had asked that stupid question. Of course it mattered! A life was a life! Princess Luna glanced at her as she grabbed a couple scrolls she had kept in stasis.
“You know I understand where he is coming from, I didn’t want to corrupt him just so I could have a friend for all eternity, and look how that turned out? Him and I are now married” said Luna stopping at the door, “Don’t worry, he’ll come around, I obviously did”
- - -
“I remember a Shadow Eyes coming through my school years ago” said Celestia as she commented on the currently dark blue mare in front of them who shifted uncomfortably, she could feel their gazes on her, even if she couldn’t see them.
“I-I d-did g-go to y-your sch-school Princess”
“Finally a grain of truth from the mare” said Masao and the three princesses glared at him. “What? You know I have never been one to beat around the bush, except that for that one time” said Masao with a wink towards Luna who scowled at him, a blush growing on her cheeks.
“W-what d-do y-you m-mean?” this time the stutter was real, her eyes wide, even if she couldn’t see anything this type of reaction was actually instinct.
“Oh come on, I am the head of the Equestrian Strategic Information Service, did you really think you could hide the fact you are an unlicensed dark mage in our own palace? I mean I will give you props this is the first time we were actually able to corner you, but we knew for a while that there was a pony using dark magic illegally in Canterlot Castle” Shadow eyes narrowed her unseeing eyes at the quartet of magic users.
“And you think that you have me captured then?” Masao chuckled before snapping his fingers not unlike Discord, using the dark magic he controlled to unravel her disguise, her mane and tail changed back to its natural bright pink and her fur returned to its light blue coloring.
“I am the most learned dark mage in the world, not even those in the underworld can compare, and we are offering a deal, take it or leave it. It’s been several years since I had an apprentice, you show promise, lasting this long without getting caught, and getting as powerful as you are, I dare say in pure power I would have a hard time matching you, but I have what you lack, experience, four millennia worth of experience”
“And if I refuse?”
“Simple, you have your magic sealed and you are tried for illegal dark magic use”
“Not leaving me much of a choice are you?” snarked Shadow Eyes and Masao chuckled darkly as he shook his head.
“Truth is, Shadow Eyes, you are a danger, one I would rather temper into a fine instrument that uses her power to serve ponies, rather then a blunt club that uses her power to take and destroy all that comes across her path”
“You won’t be alone in your apprenticeship, Golden Daisy and Dream Seer will be glad to have a mare their own age to talk to, and Sunrise Lily would appreciate the challenge” said Celestia and Shadow Eyes gritted her teeth, she remembered those names, the best of the best, Golden Daisy was Twilight’s apprentice, her yellow fur was bright as all get out, and her red and orange mane and tail annoyed her, even more was the cutie mark she had, a yin-yang symbol.
Sunrise Lily was Celestia’s new apprentice, was green with white and silver mane and tail, her cutie mark was sun, not like Celestia’s but the same basic outline of Sunset Shimmer’s minus the inner line work.
Dream Seer was a deep purple mare with two toned blue mane and tail, and her cutie mark was that of a half closed eye.
Those three ponies had gotten the honor of being picked by the princesses to be apprentices, and she was passed over, that was part of the reason she struck out on her own.
“I take it you are still sore that I didn’t pick an apprentice that year or the next few” said Masao calmly and Shadow Eyes glared at him her unseeing eyes seeming to zero in on him thanks to her magic field she knew where he was. She broke.
“I waited! I did everything! I was the top of my class! I was the best of the best! And All you cared about was finding some mare! I wanted to learn from the best! My teachers all told me I was a shoe in for apprenticeship!” cried Shadow Eyes tears welling up in her eyes as her sunglasses fell from her face, “I got better than any dark mage in your corps, all to have a chance to be trained by you! And not only did you pass me by then, now you act like you are doing me a favor! You and I both know you can’t beat me!”
“Wrong, you are undisciplined, true you have more raw talent than any of my dark mages, but you don’t have the experience, nor the will to beat me, for all the mischief you have caused you have never killed anyone. Myself on the other hand, I am human, we are violent creatures by default, and while I am not dangerous to the populous of Equis, if I feel threatened, or if I feel my loved ones are threatened, I end that threat permanently. I am no Celestia, nor am I Luna or Twilight” said Masao as his eyes brimmed with power kept under the surface Luna spoke up interjecting.
“What he is trying to say is that unlike us, he knew he is a tough man to please, he had mentioned you when he visited the school, if you didn’t know the only mare he had taken as an apprentice was Twilight Sparkle, and she ended her apprenticeship after she learned how much of a task master he could be, he doesn’t like to tolerate slipups, he knows the happen—”
“—but he also knows what happens when a mare gets corrupted, he’s had to, in his words ‘put down’ a few of his own promising dark mages because they crossed lines for no other reason than to cause pain” said Twilight as she looked down remembering how one of her own Twilight mages had to be taken out because she started killing ponies for no reason other than ‘it was fun’ Twilight shuddered.
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-one/War of Stars Chapter Seventeen: Bits of Time
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Also sorry for the lateness of this chapter, I actually forgot to post it
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-one/War of Stars Chapter Seventeen: Bits of Time
“So this is where I am staying?” asked Shadow Eyes as she eyed the room, it was comfortable, she had cleaned in here a few times, but it never had been used, now she knew why, when she accepted to be Prince Masao’s apprentice she didn’t realize she was going to be getting a room in the castle, this was going to take some getting used to…
- - -
“You said you did this for me… Why would you think that I would want you to hurt yourself for me?”
“You wouldn’t want me to, but if I didn’t do this I would die eventually, I don’t want you to go through the pain of losing me” said Willow Leaf defensively as she glared at Masao, hurt obvious in her voice.
- - -
“And these are your fellow apprentices” said Masao as he motioned towards the three mares who were studying Dream Seer looked up in surprise, Prince Masao had an apprentice now?
“Wow! I know you! You were the top of the dark magic classes!” she said to Shadow Eyes and the mare in question shifted uncomfortably at the attention she suddenly gained because as soon as Dream Seer spoke up Golden Daisy and Sunrise Lily looked up and stared at Shadow Eyes.
“Now you three, I am sure the princesses gave you enough work that you don’t have time to stare at my apprentice, or would you rather see how upset they will be because you didn’t finish?” asked Masao and the trio went back to work. Masao turned to Shadow Eyes and smiled, “Dream Seer is a good mare, she doesn’t mean to cause you any uncomfort.”
“Then why did she?” challenged Shadow Eyes and Masao chuckled, he would have to get on to her about being so confrontational with him sooner or later, but for now…
“She has known me for a while, my wife is her teacher as you should know, so at least the two of you will spend a lot of time together”
- - -
“Sweetie, you can’t be upset at her, this is no different than what you did for me” said Luna as she got herself ready for bed, stopping only to give Masao a kiss on the cheek.
“It is on a whole other level compared to what I had done! I corrupted my soul, she sold hers, hell if it had been Nurgle or Tzeentch I would not be so upset!”
“Good, but you leave yourself open when you focus too much on power, sometimes a quick— Masao shot a blast of dark magic at Shadow Eyes who dodged it a look of surprise on her face, “—blast is better than an overpowering attack” Masao was doing his best to show her that she was not as good as she was saying, and it was working. Every dark spell she used was powerful, yes, but she was spending too much time on powering it up, something he used to do before Tirek.
- - -
“It’s so awesome that you accepted Prince Masao’s offer! I saw how skilled you were in school, you deserve this!” said Dream Seer in her upbeat attitude and Shadow Eyes smiled weakly attempting not to be rude.
“Dream Seer you are supposed to be practicing your dream magic!” said Luna and Dream Seer giggled in embarrassment before getting right to it.
- - -
“So you want to sent troops to Equestria? Why?” asked Minder Three his eye narrow and the council sat comfortably as one spoke up while another one just grumbled about not liking this idea.
“Because if you are going to be sending troops here for us to use, then it is only proper that we do the same”
- - -
Masao kissed Willow Leaf hard, the mare was surprised but did not complain as she returned the kiss eagerly. She missed this so much, he had all but banished her from the bed when he learned what she had done, it was almost as if he took the fact he was the one in control of the relationship in stride.
“I haven’t forgiven you, but I need you” he whispered as he pulled away slightly and Willow Leaf pushed away.
“I don’t want empty sex, Masao, I want you so much, but I—”
“I still love you Willow, I love you so much that it hurts that you did this to yourself, and there is nothing I can do to save you from an eternity of servitude. I don’t—” he was silenced by a kiss Willow Leaf who had tears in her eyes, all the pain she had felt over the past few weeks, weeks full of arguments and fight, poured out.
“How do you think I felt?” asked Luna as she stood at the doorway behind Masao, “You corrupted your very soul for what? Immortality? Just so you could be with me longer? You and I both saw how that went, you lost Evening Star, and from what I heard you were in mourning for several years, almost until I returned. Now she decides she isn’t going to put you through that again, perhaps it is time you forgave her like I did all those millennia ago?” So he did, he forgave her all night, Luna joining them in bed feelings long held in check by anger and hurt released, and they slept well into the next day…
- - -
“Ah I was waiting for you Shadow Eyes” said Masao as he sat behind his desk, Shadow Eyes walking in groggy and tired, “I heard about last night” the mare flinched, “I have no problem with it myself, but be careful when you broach the topic with Luna, it is her personal student after all”
“It was just a one time thing” said Shadow Eyes looking away blushing deeply and Masao nodded before standing.
“As long as that was understood between you and Dream Seer, that’s fine, if not, you had better explain it to her, I don’t need that mare pining after you if all it was to you was a fling”
“You aren’t my—”
“I am your teacher, and she is the student of my wife, anything that affects you two affects me. So it does matter”
“Yes master” Masao quirked an eyebrow before shaking his head.
“Anyway, you are one of the best in combat magic I have trained in a long time, but now it’s time that you learned how to use it in a combat situation, the soldiers that the UEC sent will be aiding us in this” said Masao and as he mentioned them the team that he had captured, minus one private that filed for early rotation out due to conflicting opinions with his commanding officer, stepped into the room
“Sergeant Greelo reporting” said the sarg and Masao nodded before sighing slightly.
“I know this isn’t what you signed up to do, Ms. Greelo—”
“Sergeant, please, I earned my rank”
“Sorry, Sergeant, but our forces need to know how to fight humans because of the Terrans and I will not risk my own apprentice so she can learn how to defend herself against the Terrans in actual combat”
“You think they can keep up?” asked Shadow Eyes a smirk growing on her face and Masao chuckled as he levitated the mare over to the group of humans.
“I am more than certain they will give you a run for your bits, now go, all of you”
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-two/War of Stars Chapter Eighteen: Training And Foolishness
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
I will be unable to print out the story for Bronycon, but if you do happen to see me there, let me know. I would be happy to talk with you, it'd be nice to meet someone who read my story
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-two/War of Stars Chapter Eighteen: Training And Foolishness
Loud, that was the word Shadow Eyes would use to describe the training these humans were putting her through, she was no slouch in combat, as evident by the amount of twilight mages she had beaten, but going against a group of beings that were trained in actual combat? Masao was also tossing spells at her and she would have to either deflect them or dodge them, blocking them outright would give away her position as well blind her as he shield cut off her ‘sight.’
Using a standard stunning spell she ‘killed’ another member of her opponents, or so she thought as he stood up and forming a ball of fire in his hand, he threw it at the mare who had no choice than to block it at that close range, now she was effectively blind, oh she could ‘see’ where the fireball hit, and the next several, but no farther so she risked a teleport ending up in the air about ten feet behind a wall she ran in the air for a moment before she fell, her glasses falling and breaking. Pity, those were her favorite. She ripped the wall up and threw it in the general direction of the pyromancer and the human forced a wall of fire up to attempt to melt it, but only served to superheat the stone and was saved by Shadow Eyes throwing a shield between him and the stone that pelted the shield harmlessly. after that the pyromancer raised his hands up and walked out of the training room, he knew when he was beat.
While Shadow Eyes saved the human Masao was sneaking up behind her, intending on attacking her when he noticed she was focusing her magic on something and listening he heard the telltale plink of things hitting a shield. he stood to his full height and gave a shrill whistle signaling the end of the run, the whistle surprised Shadow Eyes to the point she dropped the shield that protected the human, not knowing he had already left, and the remaining bricks slammed into the ground.
“I saw what you did, good job” said Masao and she faced him she had a couple tears in her eyes, never had she taken a life, and right now she believed that she had did just that. “What’s wrong?” Masao asked not knowing this.
“I think I just killed him”
“Hey is that pyromancer guy of yours alright?” yelled Masao as he made his way towards where the bricks had crashed, to see if maybe he needed to perform a healing spell.
“Who? Fred? Yeah he’s alright, he left saying he was done, something about too much power to beat” said Greelo as she walked over her rifle in her hands.
“Oh good, Shadow Eyes thought she might had killed him”
“She could have, with that attack” said one of the other soldiers evidently not happy that Shadow Eyes had used something entirely deadly in a training match.
“I’m sorry your feelings were hurt, but she acted just as you would expect in a training match between mages, she knew that her attack wouldn’t be stopped by his fire wall so she protected him herself. If anything you should be thanking her, she did a good job” said Masao in a carefully levelled voice Greelo caught on and nodded, it was thanks to Shadow Eyes’ quick thinking that they didn’t need to sound off for some replacement after a training accident.
“Shadow Eyes, come here” said Masao and the mare walked over her head hanging, she hadn’t heard Greelo’s comment. “Chin up, you did good, he’s alright after you saved his ass, he left before I whistled, so he’s alive and kicking.”
- - -
Masao stood at the door to his room, just beyond it he saw his wives talking about their days, and something pained his heart, as one of the foals that Willow Leaf had gone out to ‘adopt’ ran in and nuzzled the mare saying goodnight to the trio, Willow Leaf still went out into the poorer parts of town and ‘adopted’ children that needed care, it was the right thing to do, whether or not Khorne liked it or not.
“Loves” said Masao suddenly and Luna and Willow Leaf looked up,the foal also looking at the human, “How would you all feel if I told you I wanted a foal that was our own? Adoption or otherwise?” Willow Leaf looked down at the foal and nuzzled her before sending her off to bed.
“Why bring this up now?” asked Luna as she sat on her haunches, she was honestly curious and Masao sighed as he looked longingly at the retreating back of the foal.
“I always wanted a family, and while I love you two more than anything in the world, I want children. Children I won’t feel guilty calling my own”
- - -
“Ah so good of you to come Shadow Eyes, I was waiting for you” said Masao as he stood up from his chair, Willow Leaf pouting slightly, she had wanted to spend more time with him. “This is my wife Willow Leaf, and she will be aiding in your close combat, because you and I both know that we can’t rely on our magicks for combat all the time, and I want you to be able to defend yourself even if you get your magic blocked”
- - -
“You are an annoyance, why don’t you just leave?” asked Sunrise and Shadow Eyes glared in her general direction and opened her mouth to say something when Celestia walked in from behind a wall, a frown on her face.
“Sunrise! That was rude of you!”
“But princess, she shouldn’t even be here! She’s nothing more than a—”
“Nothing more than a what?” asked Celestia the frown on her face growing, “Do I need to get Prince Masao in here? After all he is also a dark mage, and he has been teaching her everything he knows”
“That explains it” mumbled Sunrise, but she spoke louder with her next sentence, “That doesn’t mean she should have the same level of accessibility as the rest of us”
“Excuse me, I’m right here, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t treat me like some second rate mage, I’m just as good as you, if not better!” said Shadow Eyes as she narrowed her eyes at the unicorn. Masao who had been walking by stopped at the door frowning.
“Is there something wrong Celestia? I know my apprentice is a little bit of high maintenance but she’s a good student”
“It’s not your student I am having trouble with Masao, but mine, she seems to think she is better than your student” said the white alicorn and Masao frowned heavily before walking into the room.
“Is that so, would you mind if I took care of this then?” he asked and Celestia thought about it, while Sunrise looked worried, Masao was not one to suffer fools lightly, especially fools that attacked, in one way or another, those closest to him.
“What is it you plan to do?” asked Celestia and Masao grinned at her and she gave a weak smile back, “A small training match, hopefully to rid her of this superiority complex she has”
“Oh… OK then, Sunrise you are to accompany Prince Masao and follow his instruction, if I find out you disobeyed him you will be punished by me and I will not be as lenient as he is being”
“Lenient? You give me far too much credit, there is nothing lenient about what I am trying to do”
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-three/War of Stars Chapter Nineteen: Caught With Their Pants Down
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Well I got back from Bronycon alright, no one found me, for which I am sad, but I managed to have a great time!
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-three/War of Stars Chapter Nineteen: Caught With Their Pants Down
Sunrise was being supported by Shadow Eyes, who was not doing much better, the mares were both battered up pretty good by the time that Masao called the match, the only rule? No killing, at the beginning it looked like that Shadow Eyes would beat Sunrise Lily handedly and in the end she did, but the stubborn mare seemed determined beat Shadow Eyes even when she knew she was out gunned. Masao led the two mares to the infirmary where the two were taken in by the two healers there to take care of their injuries even though they were minor in comparison to what the healers were used to. Still the prince was given a talking to for letting them get injured at all. Rolling his eyes he walked into the room with his student getting a physical.
“Prince! You shou—” started a nurse she was about to push him out when he spoke up.
“So, how did it feel?” Shadow Eyes grinned as she turned to him, the scratches on her face from where one of Sunrise’s spells exploded evident.
“She’s a great opponent! I wouldn’t mind going against her again” Masao nodded taking Shadow Eyes like of combat in stride, after all it wouldn’t look good if the nurse realized that he didn’t know about it in the first place.
“I know that feeling, that rush of adrenaline that gives you that high feeling, just don’t get used to it, tomorrow you are going back to theory of spells, some of the spell work you did was sloppy and I know for a fact they were covered before”
“Prince Masao, I know she is your student, but if you wouldn’t mind, I need to work on her now”
“Ah, yes, of course, I will be outside waiting” said Masao before he walked out of the room, where Sunrise Lily was waiting a frown grew on his lips as he walked over sat next to her, she flinched. “You two nearly tore down the training room”
“I’m sorry, and I am sorry that I disrespected your decision to take her as your student, she is… I guess worthy is the word I am looking for…” Masao chuckled at her causing Sunrise to look at him in surprise.
“She said she liked sparring against you, and you held your own against a mage that has more combat experience than yourself, you should be proud of that achievement.” said Masao and a small blush grew on her cheeks as she refused to look at him. “I will talk to Celestia, if you show this much of an aptitude towards combat without any combat training, than it would be wise to have you trained before you grow bored with her way of teaching.”
“But I—”
“I know you will grow bored with her training eventually, you obviously had fun, fighting my apprentice that is, and I would prefer that you two work together, instead of clashing like you had been before now. a fault of both mine and Celestia’s she is training a damned good light mage, and part of being a light mage means having some contempt for the dark magicks in a sense. Myself however, I am teaching a dark mage, and that means a seclusion from the light magicks, but I could see something growing between you two, a friendship that could rival that of the Elements themselves, I can see that between all four of you” said Masao and Sunrise shifted uncomfortably at Masao’s comment.
- - -
Months passed and soon there was a friendship between the four students of princesses and prince. True to his word, Masao talked to Celestia about training Sunrise in combat, at first the solar princess flat out refused stating that there was no need for such a thing, but as the battles with the Terrans grew closer, something only known to the royals, she eventually gave in. Soon months turned into years and on more than one occasion did Masao walk in on his student in a compromising position with one of the other apprentices, though Shadow Eyes maintained that she was not in a relationship with any of them, Masao knew better, he eventually cornered his student and forced her to admit that she was in a relationship with Sunrise, one that had started not long after their first match something that had Masao chuckling before mentioning that she should end it, especially if it was only a fling. The blind unicorn did her best to glare at Masao, who was unaffected by her and she huffed as she trotted away.
Over the course of the years Masao and Willow Leaf grew close once again, there were still moment where being a servant of Khorne got in the way and she nearly lost herself to bloodlust before the Chaos God would just stop out of no where and Willow Leaf soon gained a reputation for being on a hair trigger, no one ever got hurt. It continued like this for a while before Masao growing tired of Khorne’s interruptions interfered with his time with his wives and he demanded that Tzeentch put him in touch with the Blood God. Never before had Khorne been likened to his youngest brother/sister Slaanesh and he grumbled and threatened, but vowed not to bother Willow Leaf again, outside of combat.
It was like this for a while until the day that the Terrans actively invaded Canterlot…
- - -
“Pathetic really” said Shadow Eyes as she ‘looked’ at a terran who had dropped a smoke bomb, a simple filtering spell kept her from gagging, and the smoke did nothing to block her ‘sight,’ “I am blind anyway, so this is nothing, burn!” said the mare and the Terran caught fire in a green flame that burned straight through his armor, the light from the fire showing his position and the other ponies in the area killed him before the flames could…
- - -
Willow Leaf twist and turned as she ended the life of yet another terran, she never stopped while she was dancing this dance of death, because Khorne told her if she stopped she would die, and Masao would not have her to hold any longer. It was cruel, but true as where ever she had been not moments before a dibit appeared from a sniper shot, she was moving in such a random manner that she was safe from him predicting where she would end up…
- - -
“Rest now, all will be fine” said Dream Seer as she walked into the hall that over a dozen terrans had occupied, and all at once they fell to the ground asleep. As soon as they were down several guardsponies ran through and disarmed them and handcuffed them behind their backs…
- - -
“Freeze!” said a terran as pointed his gun at Golden Daisy who looked at him bored.
“Really? That is such a simple spell” she said and suddenly the soldier was a block of ice that now blocked the entire hallway and she trotted away to look for her teacher, surely she could give her a harder test…
- - -
“Heal!” said Sunrise as she healed a downed pegasus who had been shot in the wing, normally such shots were deadly but since she was a class A healer she was able to save him before she turned around and threw a suit of armor down towards the terrans that were firing at her position. “This is getting annoying”
- - -
The quartet of mares finally made it to the throne room where they saw a burly terran throw the by now Captain Greelo back only for Masao to catch her in a dark purple aura.
“You psyker, it’s time for you to die” said the man and Masao rolled his eyes before he stood to his full height and all his magic went wild. Before anyone else could do anything, he threw the man back threw the heavy doors, nearly crushing the students. However before he could do anything else an ice spear, a bolt of lightning, a bolt of dark magic, and a sphere of pure magic all crashed into the terran.
“Well, that’s a bit anti-climatic” said Masao as he walked over and checked for a pulse, finding none he nodded before he threw and arm out and black bolts of lightning flew off right between Dream Seer and Golden Daisy and struck a terran that was sneaking up behind them. “I think it’s time to go on the offensive, Shadow Eyes, I want you to—” Masao looked at the mare and saw she was staring at him in shock, she had never seen him in combat, he was calmer than she was feeling, “Calm yourself Shadow, you can break down after we repel the terrans” said Masao and Shadow Eyes took a shaky breath and nodded.
“Yes Prince” just then a voice came over the comms, a very familiar voice to Masao.
“This is Minder Three, do you require assistance my liege?”
“Took you long enough, do you happen to have more troops? They managed to catch us with our pants down”
“The UEC has come through this time”
“Good, The princesses and I are in the throne room with our students, come get us after everything calms down, you know the signal”
- - -
UEC troops patrolled the streets as several pegasi flew back into the city, nervously landing they noticed how some of the troops waved at them smiling…
“Welcome back, though you are a little late to the party, your royalty is safe” said one of the human females as she smirked motioning them off the landing strip as more pegasi came in for a landing…
- - -
Shadow Eyes stood looking off into the distance as Masao and Sunrise walked over.
“Prince Masao told me that soldier wasn’t the first life you took today” said Sunrise and Shadow flinched as the mare put a hoof on her shoulder and looked at Masao silently asking him something. Catching on to what she meant, Masao excused himself and left the two mares there alone…
- - -
“I think it was time you came to Earth” said a general and before Masao could respond he continued, “Minder Three was able to get me to send these troops by appealing to my sense of honor, but the council will want a thank you in person, even if they had nothing to do with it” Masao frowned but nodded. “Now don’t worry, even if it costs me my job, I’ll make sure you get back home after you thank the council. It wouldn’t be right for them to go back on their word after all”
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-four/War of Stars Chapter Twenty: Earth Part One/The Invasion Continues to Haunt
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
I apologize in advance for some of my chapter
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-four/War of Stars Chapter Twenty: Earth Part One/The Invasion Continues to Haunt
Earth certainly had changed from the last time Masao had been there, the oceans were pristine blue again off the coasts of Florida, and the air around Los Angeles was smog free, if Masao had not been fighting he would never had guessed that the UEC was at war, beside him was his wives and his student, Celestia couldn’t join them, but sent her student with them to represent her, much to Shadow Eyes relief as she leaned against the mare for comfort and security. Masao looked at his student worriedly, she still attended his lessons, but she was very fidgety around him, looking at him nervously until he suddenly stopped.
“The rest of you move on ahead, I want to talk to Shadow Eyes” Luna gave him a look before nodding, Willow Leaf moved to go but Masao spoke up, “Love, I could use your help, for once being an agent of Khorne might be useful” Willow Leaf nodded and sat down on her haunches while the humans looked on Luna gathering the her sister’s student and walking a ways off, just out of earshot. “What is wrong Shadow? You haven’t been yourself lately, is it—”
“You killed those men, you killed them without a second thought” said Shadow Eyes, her body quaking in fear, she didn’t know how her teacher would take her exclamation, and it worried her, no it scared her.
“Yes I did, however they weren’t the first thinking beings I have killed, I have lived millennia, and I have been at war before, I have killed ponies, I have killed gryphons, I have killed even dragons, all to protect Equestria, I know you are no fool, Shadow, those terrans would have killed us given the chance, what I did, what you did saved us”
“I am a killer” said Willow Leaf getting Shadow Eyes’ attention and the blind mare turned to her in surprise, “I didn’t used to be, but I made a pact with a god that requires me to kill, in exchange I get to live indefinitely. I never take the life of an innocent. It’s something you learn to live with, the fact that you took a life, it may come back and haunt you every now and again but it was something you had to do”
“But I didn’t have to kill that terran that you threw Prince…” said Shadow Eyes and Masao sighed before dropping to a knee and putting a hand on her head.
“What was the thought going through your head then?”
“I had to stop him before he could kill you or someone else” said Shadow Eyes quietly, the humans were starting to look at them suspiciously and Masao nodded his eyes closed.
“And killing him was the only way?” asked Masao and Shadow Eyes flinched as she looked away but Masao was still looking at her in a comforting manner. It took a few moments and Shadow Eyes’ sightless gaze hardened and she turned to Masao.
“He was dead either way, you told me that if someone threatens what you hold dear you take care of them, permanently” at that Masao nodded, no matter what, that much was true. However, did that mean that she had to take his life herself? Masao asked Shadow Eyes such and she bristled.
“I want you to remember this feeling, you chose to end that terran’s life. Whether or not he was going to die regardless, you were the one that ended it. For that, I a proud of you, you chose to stop someone from harming someone you cared about.” Shadow Eyes stood there in shock as Masao stood up and patted her back before looking at the humans still staring at them. “I would prefer, if you would get on with your day, I am not here because I want to be, so I am not very happy”
- - -
“Princess Luna, do you think that the prince will be able to help Shadow Eyes?” asked Sunrise Lily and Luna clenched her jaw, she knew she was being foolish, Shadow Eyes was a filly-fooler, and her husband was happily married to herself and Willow Leaf, but part of her was jealous of the mare’s grasp on her husband’s attention, to add on to her foolishness, the mare in question was in a relationship with the mare she was currently watching over, her sister’s student, Sunrise Lily.
“I’m sure my husband will do everything in his power to help her” she said though her posture stated that she was tense to the young mare.
“Is everything alright princess? Did I do something wrong?” Luna looked at the mare and gave a weak smile and shook her head.
“No, you did nothing, I guess, even after years of Masao being the loyal husband he has been, I still sometimes feel like the jealous wife.” said Luna and Sunrise looked at the princess surprised, she had no idea that Luna felt like that, and about her marefriend, one on hoof she felt flattered that the princess considered her marefriend a threat, on the other she felt ashamed at her for not saying something sooner.
“I promise, princess, Shadow Eyes won’t attempt to take your husband away from you”
“I know, she is in a relationship with you after all” said Luna turning her head to the mare who stopped suddenly, Sunrise thought they had hid it well! Princess Celestia didn’t even notice a drop in her studies! How— “Shadow Eyes isn’t particularly adept at checking the area when she is about to kiss you, young Sunrise, and Celestia herself was amazed at how much you got done even while seeing my husband’s student. Masao was surprised at how hard Shadow Eyes took to the defensive course recently before the invasion” the green mare blushed heavily knowing that they were not so secret as she thought. “That isn’t even mentioning the last time Masao took her on a training trip he heard her—” Luna cleared her throat and looked around buying herself some time, “—relieving herself moaning your name”
“I say!”
“Perhaps you should not listen in on conversation that are not yours” said Luna suddenly as she rounded on a human who had been listening in on the conversation
“Maybe you shouldn’t have those kinds of conversations out in the open, love” said Masao as he walked up, Shadow Eyes and Willow Leaf behind him, Shadow Eyes seemed far better than before, however she was surprised when Sunrise walked up to her and nuzzled her affectionately, in full view of her teacher, and the princesses.
“I take it you don’t want to hide it anymore, my sunshine?” Shadow Eyes partly whispered and Sunrise kissed her cheek before nodding knowing that with her magic field she could ‘see’ her answer.
“Glad to see that you two are going to stop hiding it, it was getting annoying pretending to be busy when you two started to kiss or something.” teased Masao before he sighed and took in the city they were in for the first time, it was pristine, the towering buildings of white metal and clear glass reminded him of the Earth from Star Trek, the grass beautiful and green, the sky a crystal blue with nary a cloud in the sky while the occasional jet flew overhead. All in all, a world he would have loved to be a part of if he didn’t know the war that was going on almost behind the scenes…
- - -
As the group made it to their hotel rooms they were met by Minder Three who bowed at the presence of the prince and the two princesses.
“Please stand, I know you have some news for us Minder Three”
“Yes, I do, my liege. The council was surprised by your announcement that you were coming to Earth, a few of them wanted to try to set some traps here so that you would be stuck here after the official thank you had been given” said the earth pony and Masao nodded assuming as much…
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-five/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-one: Earth Part Two, A Pathetic Attempt
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-five/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-one: Earth Part Two, A Pathetic Attempt
“Yes, I do, my liege. The council was surprised by your announcement that you were coming to Earth, a few of them wanted to try to set some traps here so that you would be stuck here after the official thank you had been given” said the earth pony and Masao nodded assuming as much.
“And what did the rest think of their plans?” asked Masao as he looked out the window in their sixteenth story hotel room, he currently was with Princess Luna, and Willow Leaf…
- - -
Shadow Eyes and Sunrise Lily were in awe at their room, they were surprised at the amount of tech the human’s seemed to have, it was different in comparison to the technology that the ponies had, they used screens instead of holoviewers for watching things, but they did have from what the system that utilized holograms, but instead of actual people they were artificial intelligence, and they could touch them. The two mares however decided to revel in the fact they were no longer hiding their relationship, as they cuddled there was a knock at their door…
- - -
“Ah, Shadow Eyes, nice of you and your marefriend to join us” said Masao as Celestia’s gaze suddenly zeroed in on Sunrise Lily who was suddenly bashful scuffing the ground not meeting her teacher’s gaze.
“I see… I trust you are being kind to one another?” asked the solar princess over the comms and Sunrise looked at the princess in shock, she hadn’t expected her teacher to be alright with her hiding the relationship, be fine with the relationship, sure, but with the hiding?
“We are princess” said Sunrise and Celestia nodded a small smile on her face before she turned to Masao and Luna and resumed talking about the current state of affairs on Equis.
“I’m sure that the Crystal Empire will calm themselves soon.”
“My Sunshine, I think we should—”
“Don’t think about leaving, you two, we are almost done, and then we are going to be heading for the Council’s chambers” said Willow Leaf an apologetic smile on her face, Shadow Eyes blushed lightly as she pointedly kept from facing Willow Leaf…
- - -
“Good you are all here. Personally, prince, I would thank them and leave as soon as it is acceptable to do so, some of the council, IE the ones that were trying to think of a way to get you to stay, are planning something”
“Should I worry about Shadow Eyes and Sunrise Lily?” asked Masao as he straightened his collar and Minder Three clenched his jaw as he realized that the two mares were prime targets to force Masao to stay.
“Don’t worry about them, love, we’ll keep them out of trouble” said Luna as she used her magic to fix what Masao had messed up. “Now just worry about doing your part so we can go home”
- - -
“Presenting, his highness, Prince Masao Darkheart, Prince of Equestria, and his wives, Princess Luna, and Princess Willow Leaf.” stated a crier and Masao rolled his eyes as he walked into the Council’s building, it reminded him, at least the inside, of the Federation Council’s building from Star Trek, frowning a bit he walked further when the crier spoke up again, “Presenting Shadow Eyes, student of Prince Masao, and Sunrise Lily, student of Princess Celestia, not accompanying.” Masao’s frown grew, it made sense that they knew who he was, and who his wives were, he had not exactly been secretive about that, but he did not reveal the fact Sunrise was the student of Celestia’s. Someone had been talking, or they had their rooms bugged, something he figured was likely a given that they had never been to Earth before.
“How did they know I was Celestia’s student?” asked Sunrise quietly and Masao grimaced as she nuzzled Shadow Eyes for comfort, the mare felt uncomfortable with the fact something that they had not personally revealed was known to them, allies or not, though they were not allies yet.
“They likely have their own spies on Equis now” said Masao as he hung back to talk with the two lovers and Shadow Eyes tilted her head in confusion.
“Why would they have spies on Equis? Isn’t Equestria their ally?” asked the dark mage and Masao sighed and motioned for Willow Leaf and Luna to move ahead and save them a few seats, this could take a while…
Masao tried to explain the fact that though they had sent aid to them when they were invaded, they were not, in fact allied with the humans of the UEC, though Masao and Twilight were working towards that goal, and that the UEC now had an embassy in Equestria, there was still a long way to go before they could reasonably say they were truly allied with the humans, not that their actions would say anything less.
“So they are going to ally with us, right? I mean they have their forces in our capital city!” said Shadow Eyes and Sunrise shifted uncomfortably while Masao regarded them a small smile on his lips.
“I certainly hope so”
- - -
“Greetings Prince Masao, nice of you to finally grace our world with your presence” said a portly woman and Masao blinked lazily at her tone, which her tone suggested that he thought himself better than the rest of them. Masao and Luna were in a room surrounded by ‘the council’ and the council was enshadowed as not to give away their faces.
“Hello, I guess it is nice to be here, though I will admit I would rather be home working with the restoration efforts” said Masao, he prefered to work with soldiers there was no niceties to be dealt with and no hoops to jump through.
“What my husband means is he is thankful to be here” said Luna as she glared at Masao who sighed in response, but nodded.
“I am thankful that you haven’t tried anything yet, that is true, Minder Three told me about how some of you had plans to try and force me to stay” said Masao before Luna could stop him and she facehoofed, Masao seemed bound and determined to cause an incident. The council members shifted uncomfortably at the accusation but didn’t dispute it which was cause for concern, didn’t they know that forcing him to stay would kill any goodwill that they had built with Equestria?
- - -
“Would the pretty horse—”
“We’re ponies, and no thank you, we are fine” said Shadow Eyes as she brushed off a seedy looking man, the man had been trying to sell them rather attractive looking wares, however Minder Three had been very explicit about the fact they shouldn’t buy from anyone on the streets, especially not without him present to verify whether the vendor was legit.
“Are you sure? I am sure I have something that would suit your tastes” said the man as he held up a necklace that seemed to be made for her species and Shadow Eyes gave him a deadpanned look, clearly not amused.
“Listen, I am blind, so you showing me things isn’t going to help” she said and she heard the clink of something almost being put into her saddlebag only for her to use her magic to place it back on the vendor's table. “Blind does not mean I can not hear. Now if you will excuse me, I have to be going, my marefriend is waiting for me” said the annoyed mare as she trotted off the vendor gritted his teeth, such a simple job foiled? Seriously? All he had to do was get her arrested, and then the council could bargain for this Prince Masao to stay!
“I saw what you did, bad form, especially towards visiting dignitaries, and I assume you don’t have a license to peddle these wares” said an MP who was under the orders of one General Harmon, the same general that promised to get Prince Masao home, and considering the Council Building was a strategic military location, the MPs had jurisdiction. At least according the the UEC charter…
- - -
“I’m sorry that my colleagues seem to feel it is necessary to force you to stay longer than necessary. You came here for a reason, and I, for one, would rather we get that done” said a lean man as he sat back in his chair, he had been one of the few that had been vocal against forcing humans to return to Earth with the exceptions of a few rare cases...
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-six/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-two: Earth Part Three/Betrayal?
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-six/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-two: Earth Part Three/Betrayal?
“I’m sorry that my colleagues seem to feel it is necessary to force you to stay longer than necessary. You came here for a reason, and I, for one, would rather we get that done” said a council member and Masao nodded in thanks as he cleared his throat…
- - -
“I said, no, what part of that do you not understand?” asked Sunrise Lily as a couple pegasi flirted with her, these ponies were part of the exchange program that the two governments were part of.
“Ah come on, I’m sure—”
“I am sure the student of Celestia told you no, and if that isn’t enough perhaps me telling you no will make a difference” said Shadow Eyes as she walked up to the mare calmly as the pegasi scoffed.
“and who are you?”
“Oh, no one, just Prince Masao’s student, and her marefriend” said Shadow Eyes calmly as she nuzzled Sunrise Lily who in turned kissed her lightly, and the pegasi seemed unsure, if this mare was telling the truth they were wasting their time hitting on her, not only was she a filly-fooler, she was taken, and to upset one would be upsetting their beloved rulers…
- - -
“So, you are going to leave after seeing how we have bettered Earth?” asked the portly council woman from earlier and Masao nodded calmly, even as the woman started to shake.
“My home hasn’t been Earth for millennia, and that isn’t going to change now” said Masao as he turned towards the door, “It was nice seeing Earth no longer the cesspool it was when I left, but I don’t think I’ll be coming back.”
“I’m sure you will…” whispered the portly woman though she simply smiled when Luna glared at her, her ears picking up what the woman had said…
- - -
“Minder Three, where is my student and her marefriend?” asked Masao as he walked out of the council’s chambers and the stallion sighed as he lead them to a group of pegasi stallions that were looking longingly at his student her marefriend.
“Really now? I sincerely hope they told you they were gay” said Masao as he walked up and put a hand on the two mare’s heads and roughed up their manes.
“PRINCE MASAO!” said the stallions as the suddenly landed and bowed and as soon as they saw the other princesses they bowed to them as well. “We are sorry that we bothered your student!” said the lead stallion and Masao chuckled.
“‘It is no crime for a beautiful girl being attracted to other women, it is just a damned shame’” said Masao as he shook his head and his student ‘looked’ at him with an upset look and he chuckled, “It means that it isn’t fair to males when a beautiful female is attracted to other females but there is nothing wrong with it either” Luna looked at him curiously for a moment before he leaned over and kissed the lunar princess lightly on the lips. “I mean we can live with it, but it doesn’t make it any easier when the mare of our dreams comes out and says she’s gay. Sure we congratulate her and wish her well, but it is still like a knife to the gut at times. Especially when we had put so much time into her, sometimes ignoring other mares while in pursuit of a mare we would never had gotten” It was at that that the mares looked at Masao in surprise, had he once wasted his time on a mare that was gay before?
“Well I did tell them I wasn’t interested” defended Sunrise and Masao chuckled before roughing up her mane again, much like a father or uncle would to a foal whose behaviour was cute.
“For some males that is just a challenge, though I am curious as to why you stayed here after you told them that, after all, you could have just left them be after they didn’t stop badgering you” said Masao while Luna and Willow Leaf remained quiet, apparently they were either letting Masao deal with it, or letting him dig his own grave, one of the two.
“I was waiting for Shadow Eyes, I told her I would be over here and I thought it would be rude of me to leave without letting my marefriend know where I was, and then she goes off and defends me” huffed Sunrise Lily good naturedly and Shadow Eyes bumped her with her rear. The stallions, who had long since gotten up from bowing stared longingly at the pair of mares. “Eyes off my marefriend” said Sunrise as she got in front of her and stood there protectively. At first Masao thought it was because of the stallions, but looking past them there was a human eyeballing the pair and Masao rolled his eyes as he led his group back to the hotel…
- - -
The next day, Masao sat in the hotel room thinking, Sunrise had told him that the human she yelled at had been following Shadow Eyes for some time and that could mean many things, the least dangerous being that the human was trying to pluck up the courage to ask her something, anything really, the most dangerous would be an agent of the Terrans or of the UEC planning on using her against Equestria or even Equis in general. That did not bode well for the millennia old human. That much was obvious as his wives walked into the hotel room after going for a swim in a pool that the holodeck room created for them.
“Something on your mind love?” asked the two mares and Masao grinned at them, seeing the water trickle down their fur was oddly attractive to him as he stood and with a quick gesture pulled the two mares close and kissed them lightly.
“I’m just thinking about the situation with Sunrise getting all defensive over her marefriend yesterday”
“Why? It shouldn’t surprise you all that much, you know how some mares get when they feel their mates are in danger” said Luna and Masao shook his head, it wasn’t that…
“No, I think she was on to something. They haven’t left their rooms since, and from what Sunrise told me, that human had been following them, and last time I walked outside of the hotel I saw him across the street, either he is attracted to my student, in which case he is out of luck, or he is poorly trained in espionage" in which case he pitied the man.
- - -
“Sunshine, we can’t stay in here all day again” said Shadow Eyes, while she trusted Sunrise’s instincts, she wanted to get out of the room there was only so much they could do, and she didn’t think having ‘fun’ was on that list of acceptable things to do in a hotel room, well… Maybe it was, but she wanted to get out first.
“Prince Masao told me he saw that human outside again!” said Sunrise her teeth bared and Shadow rolled her eyes and nuzzled the worried mare.
“At least let us go to the, what did they call it, holodeck suite?” there was a knock at their door, and for a moment Sunrise was ready to blast the door, her hackles raised.
“It’s me, Shadow Eyes, your teacher” said the muffled voice of the dark mage prince and Sunrise trotted over to the door and used the scanner to review it was in fact Masao so she unlocked the door and let the human in. “Ah good, both of you are here, listen, there was another attack on Canterlot, this time it was repelled faster, but I think we overstayed our welcome” said the immortal and Sunrise nodded Shadow Eyes on the other hand frowned, something wasn’t right here… “Don’t worry about your things, I’ll have one of the pegasi pick them up, we need to go, now” Shadow narrowed her eyes and suddenly blasted Masao…
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-seven/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-three: Earth Part Four, An Escape Nearly Foiled
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-seven/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-three: Earth Part Four, An Escape Nearly Foiled
Shadow Eyes blasted Masao back the sound travelled quickly as she stood in front of her mare friend her unseeing eyes narrowed at the human, as he stood up the he wavered, literally, it seemed almost as if a holoemitter almost gave out.
“What the hell, Shadow Eyes?” asked Masao as Sunrise narrowed her eyes, that waver in his looks… That wasn’t right…
- - -
Luna and Willow Leaf were talking to each other something about getting Masao a gift, when they heard the blast rushing out of their room, they saw Shadow Eyes and Sunrise Lily glaring at… Was that their husband?
- - -
“Hell? I haven’t heard of that before, who are you? You aren’t my teacher!” said Shadow Eyes her horn glowing black and green as she channeled dark magic again, only for that human that had been stalking them to walk up and with a well placed grab and twist pulled a wire out of Masao’s neck, wait… What? The image of Masao wavered and flickered as if it—the image of Masao was replaced with a robot.
“Sorry about this, but I must insist that you gather your loved ones quickly, some of the council see it wise to rescinded on their word. General Harmon sent me” said the man and Willow Leaf nodded before she trotted off to get Masao who was there within moments Willow Leaf calmly trotting behind him.
“So, I was right that you have horrid espionage skills” said Masao with a frown on his face, the hallway was getting cramped with all of them in the area.
“While I would like to discuss my apparent lack of skill with you, we don’t have much longer before this hall is filled with troops that possibly not loyal to the general” at that Masao nodded and they made their way to the entrance where there was a trio of vehicles sitting out front, MPs filing out as soon as they stepped out of the building.
“The sun is shining hard today” said the man that had taken care of the robotic agent.
“Don’t worry the forecast is cloudy” said the lead MP who ordered his men to stand down. “We don’t have long, the ones on the council pulling these strings to get you out safely are currently being held up, but General Harmon said to get you out and that we will, have any of you rode in an UEC hover APC? No? Well then here is a quick overview, if we say we are going down, likelihood is that we are going down, and not by our own power, so brace for impact, other than that, just stay seated and stay quiet” Willow Leaf and the ponies nodded while Masao frown and opened a dark portal intending on just walking through when a bullet flew past him causing him to lose concentration, when he looked up he saw the MPs under cover as were his wives, his student, and her marefriend. Growling slightly Masao took aim with a finger and let loose a bolt of dark magic lightning which flew and struck the side of a building that the enemy was firing from, soon he noticed that it wasn’t actually bullets being fired at them but tranquilizers, he only noticed because he managed to catch the sight of one before it crashed into the earth.
“I think it is time we get on board” said Masao calmly as he caught several of the tranqs in a telekinetic field and threw them back at the soldiers that were attempting to capture them. The students were the first ones into the APC, as they buckled into the seats Masao’s wives were next, followed finally by Masao himself, ‘This isn’t as bad as I thought’, there was the occasional ping of something hitting the side of the APC near the front, almost as if… ‘They’re trying to tranq the driver!’ Masao thought his eyes wide as a tranquilizer dart made it through the slit that made up the passenger side window and stuck the driver with a grunt. Thinking fast Masao tore the wheel out of the driver’s hands with magic, and held it steady as he literally drove from the back seat, the APC started to rapidly gain speed as the soldier’s heavy boot pushed down on the gas pedal weaving through the streets Masao was relieved of his job as a second soldier muttered an apology to the driver before kicking him out of the APC where the soldier survived the tumble to the earth and the skidding to a stop sliding up to a building, sealing the window with the blast shades, the soldier got them to the portal house, a large two structured building that held the portal between the worlds open between it, almost like an eye itself.
“I hope you are worth all of this, the council seems bound and determined to force you to stay” said the soldier as a few soldiers armed with rifles walked up to the APC and knocked on the window.
“Open the blast shades, that’s an order” said a voice and Masao readied himself to make a portal of dark magic, the portal itself.
“Do it, if things go south I need to get my family out of here, but I’ll be back for you.” whispered Masao and the soldier nodded before pressing the button causing the APC’s blast shades wit retract.
“The sun is shining hard today” said the soldier hoping that these were soldiers loyal to the general.
“I don’t care soldier, you know that regs prohibit the blast shades anywhere but in combat zones, you and your passen—” Masao didn’t hear the rest because he forced a portal open underneath them and the soldier that was in the APC and they fell in front of the Portal Between Worlds or the PBW, and being used to portaling around Masao recovered first and gave a shrill whistle that caught the attention of the ponies on the other side of the portal and they rushed through.
“Cover our escape, only fire if fired upon, some of the council is trying to go back on their word” said Masao and the four ponies, a unicorn, an earth pony, and two pegasi took places that maximized their ability to protect the royal family and the apprentices, as well as have the least amount of distance from the PBW for their own escape. No sooner did they get into position did shots begin to be fired upon the royal family, as soon as the first shot was fired, all hell broke loose...
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-eight/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-four: To Be A God
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-eight/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-four: To Be A God
Twilight stood in front of the human soldier that had aided Masao in getting back to Equis, at current there were demands that they return the “criminal” that assaulted several soldiers before retreating across the portal. Of course they would not say that the reason for it happening was the council trying to go back on their word concerning the Prince of Equestria. As it stood Twilight was torn, on one hoof the soldier saved her former teacher, on the other, it would help relations with the UEC…
- - -
Masao and Luna were fencing with their old broadswords, the human’s blade crossed with the lunar princess’s own.
“Your guard is a little slow” said Luna as she parried his clumsy counter. Masao grunted before twisting around swinging the sword around with him as he leapt towards her she barely blocked the attack when she felt flames burn below her seconds before she leapt away as a pillar of flames erupted where she had stood not a moment before…
This was the sight that Willow Leaf walked in on she froze seeing her herd mates fighting one another, the spells that were being thrown were scary powerful, even as an earth pony she knew that, she could feel the power radiating off of them at the moment. Fire and lightning were thrown across the room with reckless abandon. bolts of pure magic and darkness were tossed with little care, and it scared her, she was actually shivering, this was a battle of gods, when they met in the middle of their chosen battlefield, their blades would spark as they raced against the other…
How long Willow Leaf stood there she had no idea, all she knew is that one moment she was alone, the next, Shadow Eyes was standing beside her her magic field taking in the whole scene in awe, for the first time since she had become a dark mage, she understood how outclassed she was compared to the royal family, she finally understood and it scared her. This was her teacher, a venerable god amongst ponies, so was her friend’s teacher, Princess Luna. Before she just believed they were just very powerful beings, but this… She turned to Willow Leaf, this mare had the heart of her teacher, and for once she pitied the mare. Suddenly she shot up a shield as a magic bolt flew past the dueling pair and almost hit Willow Leaf and herself, she fell to her knees as the power of the bolt nearly broke through the shield, the feedback was astounding, it was crippling, was this the power of the gods? Struggling to keep on her hooves the mare suddenly felt a blast of pure dark magic hit the shield and he knees buckled under the sheer force of the magical blast and for a second she literally saw white as the pain shot across her visual cortex, damaged though it was…
Willow Leaf was frozen in shock, she could feel the magic in the air, she could taste it. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Shadow Eyes, she watched the mare buckle under the strain of the stray bolts from the two dueling gods.
Sweating lightly from the workout Masao glanced back door to the training room looking for Luna when he noticed the shield being cast by his student, he frowned as he walked towards the shield and placed a hand on it. The moment his hand touched the shield he heard his student cry in pain as the shield shattered and the student lay on the ground panting as tears flowed down her face, red tinted tears, hearing the sound of a crack of lightning fly towards him he erected a shield of his magic deflecting the spell away quickly. Luna landed on the other side of the shield intending on striking at him as soon as the shield was down.
“Hold, love, it seems my student and Willow Leaf stumbled upon our training match” said Masao and Luna nodded as she lowered her sword. Lowering the shield he watched Luna trotted up and checked on the student as he himself put a hand on Willow Leaf to check on her and she jumped and suddenly bowed to him.
“I am so sorry my lord, I am not worthy of your love, the love of a—” Masao pressed his lips to hers silencing her.
“You are every bit my equal, Willow Leaf,” Willow Leaf shook her head, there was no way she was equal to a god! “do you think I am a god?” a nod, “I am not, neither is Luna, nor the other princesses”
“B-b-but, all that power… Surely you must be gods!” argued Willow Leaf and Masao shook his head before picking up the mare, standing her on her four hooves.
“I can still die and no god can die, as for the power I use, given enough time Shadow Eyes will be just as powerful-” Willow shook her head with her eyes closed tightly her face scrunched up as she denied Masao’s words…
While Masao was dealing with Willo, Luna was caring for Shadow Eyes, the power behind the stray bolts were extremely powerful and she was surprised that the mare passed out in front of her had the power to block one, let alone two bolts of their pure magic. However she was not surprised to find the mare on her side passed out crying blood tinged tears. This mare defended a mare she didn’t know all that well, when she could have protected herself but instead. Luna nodded to herself and levitated the unconscious mare to the barracks clinic, careful not to bump her on anything…
- - -
“I am no god, Willow Leaf.” said Masao for the seventh time since as he forced her to her feet, she had seen fit to bow to him again. She truly believed that she was in a relationship with a god, and it scared her. “You are a princess, you bow to no one not pony or anyone at all”
“I never met anyone that powerful, there is no way you are not a god!”
“If I am a god, why am I fallible? Why can I not raise the fallen innocents of our people? If I am a god why can’t I stop this war that has broken out amongst my kind? I am human I am no god, I will never be a god, I am not the Almighty, and I not wish to be, let him handle all that I have enough troubles learning about the deaths of Equestria’s children, or the follies they make”
“But—”
“No buts! I am no god! I don’t have any wish to be and I am mortal, ageless but mortal! This is why Luna and I don’t let others see us practice like that!”
- - -
Groaning and opening her eyes, Shadow Eyes quickly realized she was not laying on the floor in the training room anymore, if the softness she was feeling beneath her was anything to go by, her thoughts were interrupted by Luna clearing her throat causing her to turn her unseeing eyes towards the sound.
“Ah, good you are awake, it seems that you stumbled on Prince Masao’s and my secret, and you nearly paid the price, you are extremely powerful for a unicorn, I haven’t seen the like since Princess Twilight”
“So it’s true she used to be a unicorn? I didn’t believe that was true!” said Shadow Eyes as she propped herself up. Luna smiled softly as she nuzzled the mare surprising the her. “P-Princess!” said the mare and Luna chuckled.
“I am glad you lived, you know Masao sees you almost as a daughter, he would hate for anything to happen to you, and I understand how he feels” said the ageless mare and Shadow Eyes blushed at the affection.
“Why don’t you use your abilities to defend yourself?” she suddenly asked Luna who froze momentarily surprised at the question. with a dry chuckle she gave a sagely nod.
“Because, as powerful as we are, we can’t be everywhere at once. We aren’t gods, and if ponies saw how powerful we are, they would start worshiping us again. Expecting us to always save them, even when we can’t…”
“But some ponies still worship you” pointed out Shadow Eyes and Luna nodded her head sadly as she reached over with a hoof, a cloth laying in it as she wiped it across the mare who was sweating heavily, her magic was completely drained, and it sapped at her strength she couldn’t even cast a magic field so she could see…
- - -
“But…”
“No, I am no god, Willow Leaf, sure if heavens forbid something happens to Celestia or Luna I can take one of their places, that is only from centuries of training, not godhood” said Masao fervently and his wife looked at him her eyes quivering, as if she was scared to keep looking at him, for fear of retribution. “Did I ever ask for worship? Have I changed from the man I was fifteen years ago and the man I am now? Am I different from the person you viewed me as, just because I am some power?” at Masao’s question Willow Leaf sighed, as usual, her husband was right, it felt wrong, she felt like he was worthy of worship, all of the immortal ones were, she may have been ageless thanks to her oath with Khorne, but… No, he was right…
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-nine/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-five: Admissions
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Twenty-nine/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-five: Admissions
Shadow Eyes felt vulnerable without her magic, she couldn’t see, and she…
“Shadow Eyes, watch yourself!” said Sunrise Lily as she pushed the mare out of the way of a rather rude stallion who wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and barreled down the hallway. Sunrise shot a glare at the stallion as she leaned against her marefriend she slowly led her down the hall to her own room, it would be a while before her marefriend’s magic would be replenished to a point that she could use her magic field to see again, and she said she would take care of Shadow Eyes…
- - -
After Shadow Eyes had been made comfortable, there was a knock at Sunrise’s door and she excused herself from the bed, trotting up to the door, she looked at the screen that let her see who was on the other side of the door, revealing it to be Prince Masao.
“One moment, your highness” said Sunrise as she opened the door, “Is there something I can help you with?”
“I heard my student is here, and I wanted to check on her” Sunrise was quiet, part of her knew he was going to want to do that, but another part of her wanted to send him away, she wanted to be alone with her marefriend. “Look I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I do need to see her” with a sigh the mare stood to the side and let him in.
“She’s in my room, please don’t take too long, she needs her rest, her magic—”
“Yes I know, I owe her my wife’s life, I just need to talk to her.” Sunrise nodded and led him into the bedroom part of her suite, where Shadow Eyes was laying in the bed. Masao walked up to the bed and remained quiet waiting to be announced but after Shadow’s remark he could not resist.
“Did you send them away love?” asked Shadow Eyes not hearing Masao walking beside her marefriend.
“Actually—” started Sunrise
“I am glad to see that you are starting to feel better, I was worried that you would have changed from that near death experience” interrupted Masao, a smile in his voice as well as on his lips and the mare in the bed froze in shock.
“Prince! I am sorry! I—”
“I owe you, you saved my wife’s life with your shield. If anything I should apologize for letting you come into danger in the first place” said Masao and his student was quiet, Princess Luna had explained to her that they were not gods already, so she knew that there was no way that they knew that she had been there until Masao had stumbled upon them. In truth, he had saved them she would not have been able to block another blast of magic, and now she was without magic or her version of sight for an indefinite amount of time…
“We should have hit the alert key, I didn’t realize someone was in there until I ‘saw’ your wife, and after I noticed your combat I—” Shadow Eyes stopped and took a shuddering breath.
“That will be you one day, if you stick with my teachings there will be none that can stand against you, and heaven help the ones that earn your ire then” said Masao with pride.
“I froze, I nearly got her and I killed because I was in awe of the power I felt”
“But you didn’t, and that is all that matters. I am proud to call you my student, and I am proud to be able to teach you what I know” said Masao before he ruffled her mane causing her to jump slightly at the unexpected touch, Sunrise glared at the prince for touching her marefriend as he did but he either didn’t care, or he didn’t notice as he stood straight and sighed. “Rest up, I want you back to peak condition as soon as possible, I am going to teach you a few spells I invented after the advent of the dark magic classes being added to the Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns’ curriculum, spells I intended to only teach to someone who deserved them” Masao turned around and headed towards the door, he stopped at the door and sighed, “I’m glad you are okay, Shadow Eyes, I don’t know what I would do if you had gotten seriously hurt from Luna’s and my sparring session. You are dear to me” with that, Masao left the room and the suite in a stunned silence, however for Shadow Eyes it was a warm silence, Luna was right! He did care about her. Well she was going to prove herself worthy of that fatherly affection, even if it killed her!
“Was Luna right to worry? Is he falling—”
“What? NO!” said Shadow Eyes her unseeing eyes wide at the proposed question
“But… But he said that you were dear to him!” said a worried Sunrise, if Masao truly wanted to get in between Shadow Eyes and her there was nothing she could do, there was—
“He’s like a father to me, my sunshine, and I, like a daughter to him” said Shadow Eyes as she rolled her eyes at her freaking out marefriend the mare in question looked at Shadow Eyes hard knowing that the mare would not be able to see her do so. “What? I know you are staring at me Sunrise, I can feel your eyes on me. Tell me what is wrong”
- - -
It took a month, a month of Masao visiting, her spending busy nights with Sunrise, both helping her with her own homework, and night without any homework were very heated so she got very little sleep. but Shadow Eyes was back on her feet and able to cast spells once again, the two blasts of magic she took had drained her magic completely and she barely had enough to live on as her magic tried to replenished itself, however she now felt better than ever, almost as if she could cast even more spells than before…
“Well you should be able to, having your magic drained like that gives your body only two options, one give up and stop producing magic, and be forced to live like a Saddle Arabian horse, or your mana regeneration as I call it grows exponentially” said Masao when Shadow Eyes mentioned it to him and she shrugged her shoulders before trotting beside him and pressed against him affectionately and he messed her mane.
“Prince… I um… Iseeyouasafatherfigure” Masao nodded and got down on a knee and hugged the mare tightly.
“I see you as the daughter I will never be able to have, that is part of the reason I feel such pride in you.” Shadow Eyes turned her face towards him as he pulled away, and he could see tears welling up in her eyes and he pulled her into another hug, which she returned. Though she never mentioned it, her father never was around, not his fault, seeing as he had died in an accident when she was young. Masao’s presence was something she had grown to look forward to being in.
Getting up Masao cleared his throat and motioned for them to continue on down the hallway towards the training rooms, when they got there Shadow Eyes used her magic field to scan the room as she started to shake slightly at the sight of the room.
“Steady, Shadow Eyes, steady” said Masao placing a hand on her back in and effort to calm the young mare. Reassured, Shadow Eyes stepped into the very training room where she had saved Willow Leaf from being vaporized, looking around she noticed there were a few changes there were items that had nothing to do with training as far as she knew. “I plan on starting to teach you how to maximize your magical blasts first, something simple before we get into the difficult part of learning entirely new spells” a ghost of a smile grew on Shadow Eyes’ face as she took her place across from her teacher, no, from her father…
Post Common Era Chapter Thirty/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-six: End of The War
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Post Common Era Chapter Thirty/War of Stars Chapter Twenty-six: End of The War
It was years afterwards, the war had grown bloody for the people of Equis, then came the break that they had been looking for, the Terrans foolishly forgot to close a portal to their world. Shadow Eyes and her friends had grown into fine mares. Shadow Eyes had married Sunrise, She had asked Masao to do something that he never thought he’d ever be able to do, he gave her away at the wedding, it filled him with such pride and love to see the mare he had adopted as his own grow into a mare that was powerful in her own right, and a beautiful mare herself. Sunrise had grown into a mare that any pony would have wanted to be with, not that her mate didn’t have her own admirers. Sunrise was a powerful mare in her own right, there were none that could match her when it came to healing spells or that of light based combat spells. Golden Daisy was as anti-social as ever, but she had her own group of admirers that she admonished daily, stating that she was not looking for a relationship, now or ever. Dream Seer was without equal amongst the dreams walkers and only Luna herself could outshine her in the dream world. Dream Seer was the only one of the mares to have a new person wake up beside her every so often, she said it was because she wanted to share her love with everybody. Nobody argued with her, because she was not ‘an easy lay’ no she was very loving and the ones she laid with all hoped to be the one that would be her one and only, both stallion and mare…
- - -
“Dad!” said Shadow Eyes admonishing the human who chuckled, he had been teasing the couple again, but all too soon the mood changed from playful to serious and Shadow Eyes noticed the shift in the atmosphere of the room. “Is something wrong dad?” and Masao gave a grim smile before motioning for her to take a seat beside her mate. Luna was there as well, as were several of her generals and a couple high ranking officials from ESIS. Last but not least there were high ranking soldiers from the UEC there.
“We have a portal to Terra” said Masao and the room erupted into shouts…
- - -
Shadow Eyes was sitting in hers and Sunrise’s room, Masao had forbidden her from joining the combat, for fear for her life, Willow Leaf came by to visit her, also stopped from joining the group either. A party of over three hundred thousand soldiers, human and pony, all wearing and wielding the best that Equestria had to offer, bolters that been customized for Prince Masao’s use were passed out to the humans, while pegasi and bat ponies tightened their battlesaddles on their backs and the earth ponies did the same as they readied themselves for combat, Only the unicorns did not have battlesaddles as they carried their weapons in this magic, all of them had ‘bottomless bags’ for ammo, the battlesaddles were auto-fed but the other weapons had to be hand or hoof fed their clips or mags. They marched through the portal…
- - -
“He could die!” argued Willow Leaf as she was stopped by Shadow Eyes’ magic as it formed a barrier in the doorway preventing her from leaving the room.
“I’m worried about dad too, Willow Leaf, but you don’t see me getting ready to storm the ready center” said the blue and pink mare, Willow Leaf scowled at Shadow Eyes obviously about to make a comment when she spoke up again, “We need to wait for the battle to start, after that, if you really want, we can sneak in”
- - -
The portal was unlike any portal that Masao had used before, he could feel the very voice in his head grow stronger the moment he stepped through it was almost as if he had just stepped into the actual universe that the Warhammer 40k games stories came from. However that did not stop him as he ordered his troops forwards.
“Prép͟a͡rȩ ͘you͝r͢self,͜ t͞h̨i̶s ͜is i̕t, i͘f̢ ͠y̴ou҉ fail͞ ̧he̷re͢, ͢aĺl͠ of ̧Equi͢s̴ ̴f͟a͟l̶ls͟, I a̵m su̴re yo̷u͠ don't͢ ͢wa̛n̸t th͟a̷t” said Tzeentch and Masao gritted his teeth before ordering the attack. This was it, this battle would decide the outcome of the war they had the forces to push in and destroy the Terrans so long as they were not repulsed, they may only be committing a small force for setting up a beach head, but…
- - -
Shots flew back and forth between the two forces, Masao threw waves of dark magic at the Terrans they were effectively at a stalema—Just as Masao started to think that they were at a stalemate, several Terrans fell down dead, and a fresh set of spells flew off out from the portal where stood an angry Shadow Eyes, black and green magic circled around her as she shot blast after blast at the Terrans, in the group of Terrans that had attempted to sneak closer was Willow Leaf, killing the Terrans without a thought in the world other than surviving.
It was not long before Masao caught sight of the two ponies and rather than get upset, though he was, he ordered the advancement of the troops. With the added power of the two ponies, one a powerhouse of magic, and the other able to get in close to the enemy they were able to push back the Terrans and soon established a beachhead with which they would launch their attacks right on the humans of Terra…
- - -
“YOU IDIOTS! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!” yelled Masao as he gripped his head as tears rolled down his face, his adoptive daughter and his wife had foolishly joined in the battle and now he had gotten ahold of them and was going to make sure they knew how stupid their interference was, even if it won them the battle…
- - -
Soon after the battle, advanced scouts went out to survey how to set up the future battles when there was a noticeable drop in Terran activity, what they did not know was that the Terrans were watching them, deciding on what to do. However it was too late for the Terrans no matter what they did at this point, the amount of troops at the beachhead made any sort of direct assault and the psykers there made a stealthy approach impossible, so far as they knew.
It was several months of hard fought battles, the drop in Terran activity did not mean the Terrans were not active, just that they were better at hiding it. Hide it they did, as the ponies and humans of the UEC and Equestria alliance made their way closer to the capital of Terra Masao got more more uneasy, he was unable to send his student back, nor was he able to convince his wife to return to the safety of Equis. Soon however he was glad he had not as Shadow Eyes was the first to ‘see’ them, a cloud of shadow cloaking their advance, but the sudden barrage sent from the powerful unicorn alerted the rather large group to the dangers hidden in the cloud. As the ones hidden in the cloud fell, the cloud grew less thick and as soon as the barrage was finished there was only dust and corpses in the path of them.
“I suppose that this is only the beginning” murmured Masao as he walked in the rear of the group, alongside Shadow Eyes and his wife. Shadow Eyes was barely breathing heavily from her magical exertion…
- - -
There were several battles between where they were and the capital, after the failed attack with the dark clouds they resorted to plain out attacking and ambushes, none worked, not with Masao and Shadow Eyes there overpowering the enemy forces. Soon, relatively speaking, they made it to the capital, and as soon as they did, Masao felt a force he had hoped not to feel, how he hoped to be wrong…
- - -
“Greetings my fellow humans! Welcome to Terra, Capital of the Imperium! It seems to me you foolishly believed that the guardsmen were the only ones that guard this planet” Masao cursed at the voice.
“HALT!” Masao ordered and his forced stopped moving forwards, and he made his way to the front of the group.
“I would speak to your leader” said the voice and Masao made it to the front just as the voice did.
“I am here, speak, or shall we cross blades, Emperor? I do not bow to a tyrant, I did not on Earth, I will not today”
- - -
Masao grumbled a bit when he was invited into the giant palace, he knew it was probably a bad decision, but until their reinforcements arrived they were doomed to lose…
“Welcome, you who have fought my forces on this fortress planet to the gates of the palace itself”
- - -
Shadow Eyes shuffled in place as she waited for her father to return from the palace when Willow Leaf screamed in pain and suddenly attacked the terran forces a look of pure rage on her face. Battle had been joined…
- - -
Masao turned his head and spat out a wad of blood and spittle as he peeled himself out of the wall. Upon hearing the sounds of battle outside he grimaced but grinned never the less as he forced himself up to his full height.
“You call yourself the Emperor of Mankind? Well I deny you! Just as I deny the UEC!”
“Pathetic, I was lenient, I thought you would rather know the strength of your new emperor, you will serve!” said the Emperor and Masao threw a ball of black lightning at the Emperor who deflected it without a thought…
- - -
“I’ll have your emperor’s head!” shrieked Willow Leaf as she danced with far deadlier grace than she ever had before, while Shadow Eyes, who was far less graceful, supplanted that lack of grace with pure brute force.
“Willow Leaf!” shouted the blind mare grabbing the mare and yanking her behind the line, “What is wrong? Why have you gone off—”
“Their liar of a leader attacked Masao!” she yelled as she fought to get free and slake her bloodlust, to make them pay for their emperor’s folly…
- - -
Close to four hundred million troops were making their way to the capital of Terra that they made the ground shake with their approach, dragons, Minotaurs, Gryphons, ponies, and humans, all moving towards ending this conflict once and for all, little did they know that the battle was already in the throes of combat…
- - -
Masao shot a blast of dark magic at the emperor as there was banging on the door, obviously the fight was noticed.
“Attacking me was the worst thing you could have done, I am soul tied to a mare out there” he said his eyes closed a smirk growing on his face…
- - -
The reinforcements made it just as the tide was turning in favor of the Terrans. Yet several Terrans were falling at any given moment, always getting closer to the large doors of the fortress, and near the rear of the joint forces was Shadow Eyes tears flowing from her eyes as she sent wave after wave of dark magic, killing or maiming the Terrans. with the sounds of over a million feet pounding upon the earth, the UEC and Equis forces charged into the fray, the sudden charge turning the tide once more, this time in favor of the joint forces. Within moments they had beaten back the Terrans and were at the large doors separating them from the prince. Willow Leaf pounded on the door and was attempting to move it when Shadow Eyes pushed her away with her magic. Bracing herself, Shadow Eyes began to channel a large amount of magic and with one gigantic blast, which pushed the young mare back with the force of it, the doors separating the forces from Masao and the Emperor blew apart.
- - -
“It seems that your forces have beaten mine, how does it feel chaos spawn? To know you have aided in the destruction of the only bastion of order in this multiverse?” asked the Emperor and a bloody and heavily beaten Masao choked out a laugh.
“You,” Masao hacked a bit, “you don’t know Equestria, you don’t know the UEC, we may not see eye to eye on many things, but Chaos will never reign so long as we live”
“Too bad you won’t get to see if this is true” said the Emperor as he moved to kill the unaging human when he was struck in the back by spells and bolter bolts and bullets, all managing to pierce his armor as Masao’s Eyes glowed green.
“Even if I die, I am taking you with me Emperor” snarled Masao before he was stabbed by the Emperor, who did his best to kill the man before him, before he died...
Thanks to Deadinlight for beta-reading and helping me edit
Epilogue: Legends
Shadow Eyes stood up from her place in the circle, the college aged students, all in awe of the story just told. At the door to the room was Sunrise Lily and their stallion friend with whom Shadow Eyes had a foal with.
“Wait! Whatever happened to the Prince? Did he die?” asked a young male human and Shadow Eyes smiled at him and shook her head.
“He is alive and well, but it cost him, no longer can he use magic, he is still unaging, but his magic has since left him from his wounds” said the blind Mare before she started once more towards the door.
“How do we know if this story is true?” asked a young female pony and this time it was Sunrise who smiled.
“That is the beauty of a legend, you don’t know what is true and what isn’t. It’s up to you to figure it out…”
