A New Perspective Ch. 18
Night had fallen in Ponyville, and the team rebuilding the cottage were forced to call it a day. Still, they had managed an impressive feat, with nearly the entire second story finished, and the lower level already having some of the polish applied to it. As Fluttershy left the construction area, she had an ever growing feeling of joy rising in her chest, knowing that she would soon have a home again.
The rest of the day had been wonderful, with the break that she and Applejack had taken being the high point. It was encouraging to see the entire town working together on a single project, and everywhere they went they were greeted with a wave and a smile. She had taken Rarity up on her offer of a makeover, and the two had even convinced Applejack to have a hooficure with them.
Overall, it had been a wonderful day, the first that she had had in quite a while. She was happy to be greeted by her animal friends when she made her way back to her tent, with Angel running up to meet her.
"Hello there Angel," she cooed to the bunny. "Did you have a good day without me?"
Angel gave a quick nod before pointing back to the tent, trying to convey some message.
"What is it? Do you need more food? Are you sick?"
Losing his patience, the rabbit just shoved her through the tent flaps, where she found an unexpected sight.
The tent was still in perfect order, but the mirror she had kept by her bedroll was flaring with a brilliant blue light. The only time it shone was when she was checking on Evan, so this naturally had her confused. Walking over to it, she gazed into its depths, and was shocked by what she saw.
The mirror still showed Evan, but there were many things different. He was in an arena of some sort, fighting a mare she had never seen before, and ponies were cheering from the stands. Even though she wanted to, she couldn't tear herself away from the mirror, and watched in horror. Fluttershy cringed when he got hit, and even worse when he kicked her in the jaw.
Fluttershy could hardly understand what she was seeing. Evan had always been such a nice pony, what would make him get into a situation like this? He seemed to be enjoying himself too, which sent shivers of fear down her spine.
She let out a sigh of relief when the fighting died down, and Evan and the other mare started talking. Judging from the green mare's expression, though, it looked like she was insulting him. They talked for a while, until something happened that made Fluttershy nearly faint.
The view in the mirror was suddenly washed out with a furious white light, one that Fluttershy had to shield her eyes from. When it died down the arena was illuminated with energy, and Evan was crackling with arcane electricity, his eyes now a flaming white. The sight nearly made Fluttershy throw down the mirror in disbelief, as she had heard of this before.
When Rainbow Dash had visited her in the hospital, she told her everything that had happened after the cult turned the torture spell on her. The blue pegasus mentioned in particular about how Evan had transformed, turned into a more powerful version of himself, one that flowed with magic and had white eyes.
She hadn't believed it at first, refused to believe it. Not even Twilight could pull something like that off. And yet, seeing what she was seeing in the mirror, she was forced to accept it as fact. There was something different about him, something that he had never told her. She continued to watch the mirror, if only out of morbid curiosity more than anything else.
He stomped over the the mare, who was cowering on the ground, and gave her a single kick to the chest, one that sent her flying through the wall of the arena. He seemed prepared to finish off the green mare when his head suddenly snapped to one side. Then without warning, he powered down, taking time to go up into the now nearly empty stands. Fluttershy dropped the mirror, unable to cope with what she was watching.
Dropping to the ground, she let her thoughts run wild. Where was he? Why was he fighting that mare? What happened to make him change? These thoughts whirled inside Fluttershy's mind like a swarm of bats, and try though she might, she could not beat them back. Fluttershy felt like she was about to cry from this revelation, the tears already welling up in her eyes.
As the tears started to fall, her mind snapped into focus as one thought pervaded her mind; would Evan want her to do this?
No, no he wouldn't.
Gathering her resolve, and taking to heart what Applejack had said earlier in the day, Fluttershy forced herself up off of the ground, drying her eyes as she did so. She was not going to cry, she was not going to sit and mope. She was going to go out there and find out what was going on.
"Angel," she called to her rabbit friend. He poked his head in through the flaps, ears perked.
"I need you to look after all the other animals for me. I'm going back out, and I'm not sure if I'll be back for a while. I need you to be a good boy, and make sure that all the animals are taken care of. Can you do that for me?"
With a quick salute, Angel turned and went back outside, chittering to the other animals as he went. After taking a moment to preen an out of place feather, Fluttershy took off towards town hall, where the mayor and Twilight were overseeing the construction now that the hall itself was rebuilt.
As was par for the course these days, ponies were going to and from the building, even at the hour that it was. A few stopped and stared as she strode confidently up to the doors, but none paid her much more attention. Taking a deep breath, she opened the doors and walked in.
"Twilight," she called out, trying to find her friend. "Twilight, are you here?"
"If your looking for Twilight, she's in the back with the mayor," answered Lyra, the mint green unicorn pointing to a single door on the far end of town hall. "She looked pretty frazzled about something though, so I'd watch my step."
"Thanks Lyra, I'll keep that in mind." The door to the back room was cracked slightly, and through it Fluttershy could swear that she heard raised voices. The door gave a loud creak as she poked her head through, causing Twilight to turn, as well as a pony she certainly wasn't expecting to see; Princess Luna. She was covered in armor from head to hoof, although most of it was battered and dirty.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing here?" asked Twilight, obviously embarrassed at having been discovered. "I thought you were still working on the cottage." The bags under Twilight's eyes betrayed the lack of sleep she had been getting, and she looked even worse than when she was nearly late on her friendship report earlier that year.
"Oh, I was just wondering if you could maybe see if Celestia could tell me where they took Evan, but now I'm wondering why Princess Luna is here."
"Uh, she just decided to drop by for a little visit, see how things are going and, you know... just stuff."
"Twilight, it's not nice to lie," replied Fluttershy, cocking an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know, but it was worth a shot. Princess, why don't you explain," she said, turning to the regent of the moon. Luna took a step forward, her stance showing how much worry and anxiety she had built up in her.
"Are you alright, you highness?"
"I wish I could say that I was, but as you said yourself, it isn't nice to lie. I wish I could say that I was here under more felicitous circumstances, but it would be better just to tell the truth."
"And what is the truth?" asked Fluttershy, an expression of worry growing on her face.
"Canterlot is about to fall to an, as of right now, unknown enemy. They attacked without warning and without mercy, and the great city is burning tonight."
"Oh my goodness! How bad is it?"
"They breached the city within minutes of the initial attack, and nearly overran the royal guard. It was only through my sister's quick thinking that I was able to get this message out to you, and even then I had to fight my way out of Canterlot. We fear that Ponyville is the next target."
"What makes you say that?" Fluttershy was hoping that this had something to do with the cult, as it could be grounds for letting Evan back into the country.
"For a few weeks, there have been strong magic signatures coming from the town, and we have reason to believe that it is not only connected to the creatures that attacked Canterlot, but also to the cult that our mutual friend mentioned."
"Why would you think that this is connected to the cult that Evan mentioned?"
"Through the telepathic link that Celestia and I share, she informed me that there a several ponies in the city who match his description of the cultists, and that they seem to be commanding the creatures. Now, all of this is simply preliminary evidence, and we will need much mor-"
"Princess," interjected Twilight, "if you don't mind me asking, but could you show us what these things were that attacked the city? We might be able to better defend ourselves if we know what we're up against."
"Of course, but I must warn you that this is not for the faint of heart," she answered, the swirls on her horn lighting up with navy blue magic. A large blank screen projected from her horn and was thrown up on the far wall.
"I will replay for you the memory of the attack as best as I can recall, but there may be an error or two due to the trauma of the situation. Twilight, could you get the door and the lights? I wouldn't want to cause a panic."
"Certainly," she said, shutting the door and putting up a soundproof barrier as the lights dimmed. Fluttershy was shaking a little, afraid of what she was about to see. As the lights finally extinguished, Luna began to play the memory.
The memory played from Luna's point of view, with her staring down at a map of Equestria. Celestia was in the room with her, as well as several extremely important looking guard ponies. Unfortunately there was no sound, no doubt the error she was referring to, so Fluttershy and Twilight couldn't hear what was being said.
Fluttershy visibly jumped when a navy armored pony came bursting into the room, her armor badly damaged. She said a few things which prompted all of the mares and stallions, the princesses included, to run from the room. They entered the castle courtyards and were met with a scene of chaos, bolts of magic flying as hordes of shadow descended on the alabaster city.
The view point shook as Luna ducked her head in the memory, a bolt of magic whizzing past her. It was at that moment that the sound in the memory kicked on. The sounds of screaming and flying magic were nearly deafening after the silence, and Twilight was even folding her ears down.
"Sister, what do we do?!" shouted Luna over the din. "There's simply too many of them!"
"I'll stay here with the guard and try to hold them off, but I need you to go to Ponyville and warn the town. I'm certain that the influx of magic from that area is related to this, and we need to be certain that the towns folk are prepared."
"But Tia, surely you would need me to-"
"There's no time! GO!!" Twilight nearly fainted when she saw her mentor dive into the fight, magic broadsword gleaming in the light as she waded through the hordes. The view point aimed to the sky as Luna took off, only to be body slammed back down before she got a hundred feet away.
As her eyes refocused, the memory's view was brought to bear on one of the creatures, who wasted no time in pinning her to the ground. It cocked its head slightly, and then released a deafening howl. A howl Fluttershy nearly ran from the room from, not because of the volume, but because of what it revealed. The bleached white, misshapen skull, the blood red pupils surrounded by an all consuming black. It was truly the stuff of nightmares.
Luna paused the memory on the creatures face, just to let the enormity of what they were facing sink in.
"A-and th-th-THAT'S what you're f-fighting?" stammered Fluttershy, her shaking so bad that she could barely form words.
"As much as it grieves me to say it, yes."
"But I still have one question," said Twilight as she rubbed Fluttershy's back to try and calm her down. "What are these things? Are they like zombie ponies, or are they something else entirely?"
"We still don't know exactly, and we haven't been given a chance to study them thoroughly. Every one we defeat disappears into a cloud of smoke and magic, so we don't have a live specimen to study. What they reminded me most of are the changelings, creatures I am all too familiar with."
"You mean they are like those things that tried to kill my brother at his wedding?" asked Twilight, resentment heavy in her voice.
"Well, yes and no. While they appear to be like the changelings in their apparent hive mind behavior, they are far more primitive than those creatures, and they seem to have one overriding directive: destruction."
"And th-they're c-coming here?" asked Fluttershy as she got back to her hooves.
"If our suspicions are to be believed, then yes. I know that this is already a trying enough time for you, but you must prepare yourselves for a possible siege."
"I am sorry that I have to be the bearer of bad news, but that is how it has to be."
"It's alright, your highness," answered Twilight as Luna turned the memory off and Twilight flicked the lights back on. "We would have found out soon enough anyway. Still, I do want to know how we're going to tell everypony else about this without causing a panic. They've been through so much already, I'm afraid that this may be the straw that breaks the camel's back."
"It isn't going to be easy, that's for certain. We should probably start by telling Ivory Scroll. She'll have some idea of how to break it to them gently. After that, who knows? It'll be up to the townsfolk after that. Still, you are a hardy bunch, I'm certain that you'll pull through."
"Thank you, princess. If you'll excuse me, I need to go find the mayor. She'll probably be in her tent by now, though. Ivory was always the in bed at six type," added Twilight with a chuckle as she undid the lock and soundproofing spell on the door. "Have a good evening, such as it is."
The door shut with a resounding thud, leaving Luna and Fluttershy alone in the back room, surrounded by shelves and shelves of cold, unfeeling books and scrolls. Luna sat back on her haunches and rubbed a hoof along the bridge of her nose, trying to compartmentalize everything she had witnessed that day.
"Are you alright, your highness," asked Fluttershy.
"Please, just call me Luna. After the day I've had, I could do with a little less formality. You know, for all of the good Twilight exemplifies, she cannot relax for the life of her. Always going around, worrying over every little thing, needing everything to be perfect whenever sister visits town. It isn't healthy."
"Don't I know it," answered Fluttershy as she sat down next to the princess of the night.
"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't be talking about Twilight behind her back. It's just that it's been a... a very rough day, I guess you could say."
"Why's that?"
"Well, aside from the attack, I've been having some trouble being separated from Celestia. Ever since I came back, I've barely left her side, but now I'm on the whole other end of Equestria while she's fighting for the survival of the country. It makes me nervous, that's what I'm really getting at."
"I know the feeling. The last three months have been pretty bad for me too, ever since Evan was banished. I had barely left my tent until this morning, and even then it was because I wanted to see how my cottage was coming along."
"I am sorry for your loss, but Twilight tells me that he gave you the mirror that I gave him, just so you wouldn't be so lonely."
"You heard right."
"He really is an upstanding stallion, despite what others may say about him. You should be so fortunate to have known him as closely as you did."
"What have others been saying about him," asked Fluttershy as she turned to face Luna.
"There are some in the government who believe he got his just desserts, saying that he brought all of this on himself, to the detriment of those around him. Just the usual naysayers, but there are troubling words nonetheless. Even the few that supported him in the Senate think he really had all of this coming to him, especially after they heard about the fire."
Fluttershy let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head at the absurdity of it all. "Some ponies just never learn, are never willing to concede."
"Well, I personally can acknowledge that he has made mistakes, and pretty big ones at that, but what makes him different is that he's willing to atone for them, to right what he has wronged. It takes a strong pony to be able to fess up, to admit you made a mistake and do what it takes to fix it."
"Yeah, it does," Fluttershy replied, lowering her head as she chose what to say next. "Um, prin- I mean, Luna, speaking of admitting you made a mistake, I wanted to ask, I mean, if you're okay with it, that is..."
"Fluttershy, you needn't be so nervous around me. I'm a mare just like any other. What is it that you want to know?"
"Well, since this attack has been linked to the cult, and it seems to be going badly for you, I was wondering if maybe you could ask Celestia to let Evan back in the country. I mean, if that's alright with you."
"Hmm... well, this certainly would fit the terms of his re-admittance quite nicely, and you, Rainbow Dash, and him are the only ones with any real experience against this cult. The only hard part will be tracking him down. We did place a magical marker on him, but it only works within a two mile radius of where he is, so we'd have to go out to the wilds to find him."
"But I couldn't possibly ask you to leave your home to do so, not at this critical hour." Luna began pacing the room, muttering to herself as she tried to formulate a plan.
So lost was she in thought that she didn't notice that Fluttershy and gotten up and was heading for the door until she was half-way through it.
"Fluttershy, where are you going?"
"To get my things together. We can't rightly go out into the wilds beyond Equestria without supplies, can we?"
"Fluttershy, you don't have to go. In fact, you probably shouldn't, all things considered. The town is about to be hit hard, and they'll certainly need your medical expertise."
"What do you think they have Nurse Redheart and everypony from Ponyville Urgent Care for? Luna, I'm not going to argue on this. I'm going with you, so you can either choose to accept now or accept later."
"Fluttershy, you have no idea how dangerous it is out there!" continued Luna, trying desperately to convince Fluttershy to get off of this manic course of action. "There are all sorts of fearsome creatures, even the landscape could prove to be your doom. You would be safer here, and furthermo-"
"Luna," Fluttershy interrupted softly, "I know you are trying to look out for me. It's practically your job as one of the Royal Sisters to take care of everypony under your rule, but there are some things that you can't control, not even with all your power. One of those is a pony's free will, the choice over whether they will or won't do something for somepony else, even if they have to put themselves in harm's way to do so."
Luna sighed in resignation, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to dissuade Fluttershy. "Very well. If you are so dead set on coming with me, then I will not stop you. I would, however, warn you to be cautious. While I haven't been outside of Equestria since before I was imprisoned on the moon, I do know that it is a place that is not to be trifled with."
"Thank you for the advice, and I'll be sure to remember it. If you want, you can stay at my tent tonight, and then we can get everything ready in the morning before we explain to the town what's going on."
"It sounds like a plan," answered Luna before a field of magic enveloped her, rendering her invisible to the naked eye. Fluttershy jumped a little when Luna suddenly disappeared.
"Luna, where are you?" she called out, swatting her hoof through the air.
"Careful, Fluttershy, you nearly hit me in the eye," answered the moon princess, who was now only a few inches away from Fluttershy, judging by her volume.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it was sort of my fault. I should have told you about this. I don't want anypony seeing me until tomorrow, so I whipped up this invisibility spell before I came here. I hope you don't mind."
"Oh, um, not at all. Just be sure to tell me when to hold a door for you."
Luna chuckled softly to herself as she and Fluttershy left the back room, the weak laughter doing little to disguise from the two of them the fact that these already difficult days were about to get a lot harder.
<===============>
The dew dripped down through the pine needles and landed with a soft pitter patter on the canvas roof of the hospital. There was only one other pony in there besides me, and the doctor I had blown off the previous day made sure that we were as far apart as he could get us. Considering last nights events, I didn't blame him.
After the match I stumbled through the camp back to the hospital, Silver Rush still slung across me like a rag doll. I could feel her broken ribs through her chest, and silently prayed as I walked that she was alright, thinking about her more than my own injuries. And trust me, my injuries were pretty bad, all things considered.
When I transformed, my neck grew too big for the stitches that I had been sewn up with, causing the wound to split open and bleed anew. In addition to that, that hot stinging on top of my right ear had been because Silver had hacked off the top third of it, and even those wounds paled in comparison to the numerous cuts, scrapes, and bruises that covered and crisscrossed my body.
The two of us were a couple of wrecks, but I still worried more for her than for myself. While I was sure that her goading was what made me change, I felt horrible about what I did to her, to Hazelnut, and to this community in general.
All these thoughts buzzed in my head, but there was still the one that drowned them all out, like a bell tower ringing in my head. One question that had been niggling at the back of my mind like a rabid dog nipping at your hooves; what am I?
It was now readily apparent that I am not just a simple pegasus. Even after everything that I had been through, I had always tried to hang onto that one hope that all of the misfortune that had befallen me was just that, misfortune. Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing, talking to the wrong ponies. Even after my first transformation I had tried to shake it off, just ignore the problem until it went away.
But now... now things are different. I had seriously injured, maybe even killed, another pony. If everything else about this place was like the draconian contraband policies, then they were probably going to burn me at the stake for what I did.
I stared up at the canvas roof, the unfeeling material indifferent to my suffering. I felt like I wanted to pause the world, just make it all stop until I could sort everything out. Was it too much to ask for just a little peace of mind?
"Hey, you," came a gruff voice from the entrance. Tilting my head ever so slightly, lest I tear my stitches again, I was met by a familiar red stallion, although his expression was anything but friendly.
"Oh, hey Gale," I muttered, trying not to make eye contact. "What do you need?"
"Get up," he snapped, any facade of sympathy crumbling to dust.
"What?"
"Did I stutter? I said GET UP!"
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up," I answered, pulling the IV out of my hoof and getting out of the bed. It was only when I put weight on them that I realized just how sore I really was, but I persevered nonetheless. We walked outside into the early morning air, the sun having only barely started to rise.
"What's got your mane in a tangle?" I asked, trying to ease the tension a bit. No such luck there, but it was worth a shot.
"Do you really have to ask?" he answered, his voice barely masking his anger. "What do you think I'm mad about!? You nearly killed our best fighter, and now your probably going to bring all sorts of hurt down on us. I don't trust magic, be it regular unicorn or otherwise, but what you did was unheard of. The elders are going to chew you out, and I'm going to smile as they do so."
"Gale, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of this. I didn't mean to bring all of this on you and yours, but mainly I'm sorry for what I did to Si-"
"Just shut up and keep walking," he grumbled. His interruption threw me off a bit, but it was understandable given the circumstances. We spent the rest of the trip in sullen silence until we approached the temple that dominated this ramshackle village.
"Get climbing," he ordered, gesturing to the monumental set of stairs that led to the top of the temple. He stalked off before I could try to apologize again, so I simply started climbing. I had pulled a muscle with the amount of flying I had done last night, and I didn't want to risk anything happening to my wings again.
While it at first seemed an easy enough task, just climbing a set of stone steps, it soon turned into an arduous grind. My knees popped with every step after the first ten or so, and I was winded after getting halfway up the bloody things. I had to practically drag myself up the last three steps, collapsing in a gasping, wheezing heap when I finally reached the top.
After taking a few minutes to catch my breath I took a good look at the temple that was standing before me. It was impressive, to say the least. Intricate stonework, several statues and figurines along the roof, and a large stone door inlaid with spectacular jewels. The carving on the door seemed familiar somehow, and it was only upon closer examination that I found out why.
The night before, after I had delivered Silver to the hospital, I went back to the arena and asked for my necklace back. They were more than happy to give it up, although I think they did so more out of fear than any sense of justice. I had made a personal note to not take it off again, and I hadn't.
Carefully pulling the golden amulet out from my cloak I held it up next to the door. The arrangement of the jewels, the concentric circles, even the coloration. It matched the necklace perfectly, except that the door didn't start glowing like my necklace did.
I almost dropped it in surprise when it happened. The trinket hadn't emitted its soft blue glow since Twilight had examined it all those months ago, but it was now as the doors to the temple swung open. A cold musty draft blew out the doors, ruffling the edges of my cloak.
"Please, come in," said a soft matronly voice. "We've been expecting you."
A chill ran down my spine as the voice echoed off the forest, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I put the necklace back on and entered. The doors slammed shut behind me when I walked over the threshold, and torches sprang to life on both sides of the wide hallway.
My hoof steps were hesitant, but even with the care I was taking every clop rang off the walls at least ten times before fading. The torches thankfully provided light and warmth, but they seemed to be following me. As I would pass by one set, they would extinguish themselves as the next ignited.
The hallway wasn't too long, and ended in a circular antechamber. Torches lit up along the walls, revealing six figures standing in the center, split off into three groups of two. Even with all the torches I could only make out their silhouettes, though.
"H-hello," I called out as I strained to see who I was talking to through the dim light.
"Welcome," answered a smooth baritone voice. "We have long awaited your arrival."
"Well, thank you, but could you do something about the lighting. I can barely see you."
"Oh excuse me," came another female voice from across the room. "I thought that this would be sufficient. One moment," she added as her horn lit up with teal magic, causing all of the torches to glow brighter, as well as illuminating a chandelier above us. With the light turned up, I could finally make out who I was looking at.
Before me stood six ponies, three stallions and three mares. Two were pegasi, two were unicorns, and two were earth ponies, and each group had both genders.
While they were all distinct, they shared a few common features. For one, they all looked surprisingly young for ponies that the villagers referred to as "elders". They were probably three or four years older than Cheerilee, who herself was barely a year into adulthood. In addition to that, they all had steel grey eyes.
The unicorn pair consisted of the mare who turned the lights up and a stallion that stood a good head taller than her. Her mane and tail were a deep fuchsia color and her coat was only a few shades darker than Fluttershy's. The stallion's own mane and tail were as gray as his eyes, and he kept them slicked back, while his coat was a deep blue.
The earth pony mare was a bright red, nearly pink color, with a cotton candy blue mane and tail, the former of which was done up in a tight bun. The stallion was of a strong stock, built a little like Big Macintosh. His mane and tail were midnight blue, nearly black, and his coat was as white as driven snow.
Finally, the pegasi were probably the most equal when it came to size, each coming up to the unicorn stallion's chin. The pegasus mare's hair was a shocking purple, with a coat of brilliant green. The stallion was her inverse, with bright green hair and a light purple coat. Something told me that the two of them were related.
"Oh, much better, thank you," I said. Thinking better of it, I got down on one knee to show some modicum of respect to them.
"Rise," ordered the matronly voice that first bade me to enter, now revealed to belong to the earth mare. "You need not show us such reverence. If anything, it is we who should be bowing to you."
"Excuse me?" I asked. Why should they bow to me? I'm nopony, while they are obviously the well respected and much loved leaders of this ragtag community.
"Don't sound so confused," answered the unicorn stallion in his soothing baritone voice. "Being one of such importance to Equestria's future, you should be used to being treated with respect."
"I'm sorry sir, but you are going to have to clue me in. I'm just a pegasus from Ponyville, not whatever you think I am."
"Do you mean to tell us that you don't know who you are?" asked the pegasus mare, confusion on her face. "Oh, I KNEW that he was the wrong one!" she said, turning to the other pegasus.
"Now now, we don't know that for certain. You," he asked, turning to face me, "you have something with you, do you not? A necklace or amulet, something like that?"
"Well, just this," I answered, taking out the necklace, "but it was just a gift from a friend."
If they hadn't wanted to look like fools in front of me, I bet their jaws would have hit the floor if their expressions were anything to go off of. Each of them looked stunned, but they still kept some semblance of grace.
"Now do you think he's the real one?" asked the unicorn mare indignantly to the pegasus mare.
"Look, you keep going on and on about whether I'm 'the real one' or not, but I need some answers here," I interrupted. "Now, what is it that you think I am?"
"A force of change," answered the earth stallion, his deep voice reverberating off of the stone walls. "Either one for good or evil, that is your choice."
"I'm sorry, but you are going to have to be more specific," I said, starting to get fed up with all of the cryptic wording that these six were using.
"Well, it would be best to start at the beginning, I suppose," said the unicorn mare. "Many eons ago, when Celestia and Luna were just starting their rule, even before the Nightmare Moon incident, we were the six ponies chosen to wield the Elements of Harmony."
"Wait, wait wait wait," I interrupted, "before we go any further, I just want to say two things. One, if you were there when Celestia and Luna had just started their rule, then that would make you..."
"Approximately 1,294 years old," answered the pegasus stallion
"Wow. You sure as hay don't look it."
"Just one of the many benefits of being a Bearer. When the Elements chose us, they grafted some of their power onto us, and blessed us with the long life that is normally only attributed to alicorns, such as the princesses."
"Okay, that answered my second question. Please, continue," I added, now thoroughly intrigued.
"For the longest time, we were the will of the princesses," continued the unicorn mare. "Whenever there was unrest or warfare in Equestria, we were sent in to be the cleansing force. We were even the ones that were forced to banish fair Luna after she was corrupted by Nightmare Moon, although that particular detail has been omitted from most texts you will read on the subject. For security and morale reasons, of course."
"For centuries, this arrangement worked beautifully. Then, one day about 850 years ago, a new threat arose, one that had not been seen before in Equestria. It came from nowhere, and struck these lands without mercy or remorse. We simply called it 'The Shadow' for lack of a better term, and we fought valiantly against it for the better part of fifty years.
"But the old methods weren't working," interjected the unicorn stallion. "Every time we attempted to use the Elements on it, it simply blew off our attacks like they were nothing."
"Just when all hope seemed lost, Celestia devised a brilliant, if risky, solution. What we needed was a unifying force, a catalyst to make the Elements stronger by one hundred fold. Thus began the largest, and most secretive project ever attempted by pony kind, only known as 'Project Unity'."
"And what exactly was this 'Project Unity' supposed to do exactly?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.
"To put it in laypony's terms, it was meant to create an artifact that could utilize and amplify the powers of the Elements of Harmony. While not the creation of a seventh Element per se, it worked off of the same principles as the other Elements."
"You see, each of the Elements works because they draw power from a different aspect of what makes a friendship and keeps it strong, namely Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Laughter, while using the spark of Magic as a binder to keep them held together. As such, the ponies chosen to wield them must be able to exemplify the various Elements in their purest form."
"And the catch was?"
"The catch was that all friendships over time will start to drift apart as the ponies involved meet new ponies and have different experiences, and so was the case with the Elements. As time wore on, the power that the six of us put into the Elements waned as our friendship grew stale, and it was believed that The Shadow drained the Elements of even more power, thus rendering them ineffective."
"And so Project Unity was meant to keep the power of the Elements strong by refocusing and strengthening the ties of the friendship that powered them," I deduced.
"Precisely," answered the unicorn mare. "The Unifier worked alongside the Element of Magic to help strengthen the bonds that focused the powers of the other five, as well as amplifying the power of the other Elements through sheer magical willpower. After careful study of the six Elements, and many painstaking months of enchanting and conjuring, we were finally able to create an amulet that would do just that. But there was one minor issue; we could not find a pony to wield it."
"Simply put, if finding ponies to bear the six Elements was like trying to find a needle in a haystack," continued the pegasus stallion, "Then finding a pony to wield the Unifier, which required a pony who exemplified every Element in their personality, would be like trying to find a hay in a needle stack."
"We scoured the lands for years trying to find just the right pony while the war against The Shadow raged on. As it became abundantly clear that no such pony alive existed that could bear the brunt of the Unifier, the princess was forced to take drastic measures. By taking a small portion of power from the Elements, as well as the unifying force of the Unifier, she..." He trailed off, staring at the floor as he carefully chose his next words.
"What?" I asked. "What did she do?"
"Are you sure we should tell him this," asked the earth mare, eyes glinting with worry. "He's already been through so much."
"It is for the best," replied the pegasus stallion, "and it would be better that he found out from us than from some other, less reputable source."
"What is it? What did Celestia do?" I was practically pleading with them at this point, both anxious and afraid of what their answer was going to be.
"She... she created you," answered the pegasus stallion.
<===============>
Princess Celestia wandered through the streets of Ponyville, musing to herself as the Royal Guard did their duty and prepared the town for the inevitable siege.
Canterlot had fallen the previous week to the horde, and the cultists had set themselves up in the alabaster city. No doubt they were plotting their next attack even as the townsponies prepared for the onslaught that was to follow. Still, the sun princess knew that the most that could be done was to simply hold them back.
Luna and Fluttershy had left days ago to try and find the pegasus that had been banished, as they felt he could be the one to stop all of this. Before they left, Luna herself had appeared before the town and tried to break the news to them, with mixed results. More than a few ponies had panicked, and it was only through her sister's quick thinking that a riot hadn't broken out.
From what Twilight Sparkle had told her, once the townsfolk had calmed down they immediately got to work preparing the town for a siege, even going so far as to ignore the major reconstruction that still needed to be done in the town as a whole. Their reasoning behind it was that if they didn't fortify now, it wouldn't matter if they had finished rebuilding or not when the creatures in Canterlot wiped them out.
Pragmatic thinking though it was, it still left Celestia a bit disquieted by their sudden urge to fight, whether it was well justified or not. It wasn't helped at all by the fact that if she hadn't banished Evan in the first place, all of this might have been avoided.
These thoughts had haunted the sun princess' mind since she had arrived in town with the dregs of the Royal Guard, consisting of both her own troops and those of her sister's troops that hadn't been killed defending the capital. While they were merely a shadow of their former glory they were welcomed all the same, some of the more able bodied mares and stallions in town having joined their ranks in the days that followed their arrival.
"Your majesty, if I could have a word," came a voice from behind, snapping the sun princess out of her recollections. Celestia turned to find a familiar face, one that she was happy to see.
"Hello Shining Armor, how are you doing? Does the guard around your sister and her friends need to be changed again?"
"No, their fine, and they are still wearing the Elements of Harmony on their persons. No, I actually came to ask a couple of questions, if that would be alright."
"Of course. Anything to keep my mind busy."
"Well, both of these came from Twily, but she felt it would be better if I asked you. First, she wanted to know what happened to Cadence when the city was attacked, and I was kind of worried myself. After all the hassle we went through at the wedding, we don't want to lose her."
"Don't worry," reassured Celestia, "She's fine. The unicorn guards you had protecting the house teleported her away when the fighting broke out. If I'm not mistaken, she was sent to stay with the governor of Las Pegasus."
"That's a relief. That city is on the whole other end of Equestria, so at least whatever these things are won't get to her for a long time."
"As long as you are assured that she is safe where she is from those monsters, then we will not have her moved," replied Celestia. "What was your other question?"
"It was actually about the creatures that attacked Canterlot. I'll understand if you don't know what they are, but I would like to know if you do. Surely in your millennium as ruler, you would have come across them once before at least."
Celestia turned away, shutting her eyes tight as the memories came flooding back. Memories that she thought she had hidden away long ago, never to be remembered.
"Shining, I'm afraid that these are creatures I am all too familiar with."
"What do you mean?"
"Many eons ago, maybe 150 years or so after the Nightmare Moon Incident, a threat was made on Equestria. A sinister force that we only called The Shadow attacked without warning, sending ponies young and old, weak and strong, running for their lives. Upon realizing that unless more direct action was taken the kingdom would be overrun, I was forced to make some... drastic decisions, to ensure the survival of Equestria. I have reason to believe that the same creatures that attacked so long ago may be the same that took Canterlot."
"I see," said Shining, furrowing his brow."If I could ask, your majesty, but what do you mean by drastic actions?"
"I..." She faltered, fumbled with her words as Shining Armor's question dug into her.
"I would rather not speak of it, if it's alright with you," she hastily said. "It was a long, long time ago, and despite the time gap, I have still not quite forgiven myself for what I did."
"I understand princess. I'll go tell Twilight the good news about Cadence, as well as what you said about The Shadow. Hopefully that'll keep her busy for a bit, cause she's been really anxious since Luna's announcement. It'll help her if she has something to think about while she's all cooped up."
"Anyway, you have a good afternoon," he added before turning back down the road towards town hall.
"And you as well." Celestia turned away from her guard captain and continued down the cobblestone streets.
Shining's questions had hit very hard, and the regent of the sun was still thinking about the answers she had given. 'Drastic actions' she had said; it sounded as if she was speaking of some military strategy. She knew in her own mind that those 'drastic actions' had had much further implications.
She had played God, created life out of bits of magic from the Elements of Harmony and the Unifier. She had made a pony to serve as her war machine, as a weapon, and nothing more than that.
She had been ashamed of what she had done, ashamed that she had warped a poor pony into being nothing more than a tool, and as a result had every single recording of the war against The Shadow and its after effects stricken from all public records. It had taken generations for the facts of the war to pass into myth and legend, but by the end of it only she knew the whole truth.
And she knew exactly who the pony that she created was.
She could remember his features clear as day, even after all these centuries; his grey coat, his hazel eyes, the mane of brown and crimson. Every detail had been burned into her mind when she had cast the spell, and not even centuries of rule had dulled it. His name had been different all those years ago, but now he was the pegasus known by the name of Evan. And she had banished him, if only for his own protection.
Celestia stared out to the edge of town, watching as the sun sank lower on the horizon. Soon it would be Luna's time to raise the moon and fill the night with her wonderful constellations. The sun princess smiled a bit as the thought of one of Luna's beautiful nights came to mind. She could always do things with the nighttime sky that made it into a work of art, unlike Celestia's millennium of butchering her sister's craft.
The regent of the sun drank in this fleeting moment of peace, letting it caress her troubled mind and soothe her fractured nerves. The events of the week and dwelling on her past sins had taken its toll, and Shining Armor's questions had nearly sent her over the edge. Yet something as simple as a pastoral sunset was enough to make her forget, at least for a minute, about the tumultuous circumstances that she once again found herself in.
Sighing softly, Celestia turned around and set a course for the guard's Forward Operating Base. This upcoming battle wasn't going to plan itself, after all.