The rest of the day seemed to pass in a blur for the young colt, who found himself wondering what the hurry was. As promised, Mrs. Pie dismissed her class two hours earlier than normal, the class having been unusually focused. Shadow stopped as he heard his name get called out. Turning around, he saw Mrs. Pie gesture for him to come to her desk, “I’ll be quick since I know you want to get out of here,” she said, smiling to put the young colt at ease. “I was doing some grading last night and noticed that your grades in magic class are rather impressive.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Pie.”
“Anyways, I thought you might enjoy something challenging for a change.” With this, she reached under her desk and set a rather thick book down in front of the lone student. “I found this book in the library a while back, and I thought you might find it interesting.”
Gently lifting the old book, Shadow looked at the cover, the words Advanced Magical Principles and Theories by Silver Star embossed in gold dully shining back at him. Letting the book hover in front of him, he slowly leafed through the pages. As he did, he realized that this book wasn’t just old; it was ancient, if the worm holes and faded writing were any indication.
“This book is over seven hundred years old. It’s a copy of the original, which was sadly lost long ago. The librarian wasn’t happy when I told him who I wanted to check it out for.” She held up a hoof to forestall her student’s protests of innocence, “After I assured him that nothing would happen to the book, he suggested the spell on page 81 for you to try. He said it didn’t look too difficult, but I’m not a unicorn, so I wouldn’t know. I just figured you might find this interesting.”
Shadow turned to the suggested page. If this is simple, what in Tartarus does he think difficult is?!? Shadow thought as he looked over the spell. The circle looked simple enough to construct, though the energy requirements and complexities the text hinted at left him wondering if he could do it. The mare leaned forward, smiling as the colt got the hint and leaned closer. “The librarian also bet me ten silvers that you couldn’t do the spell. With any other student, I would have agreed, but knowing your grades, I took his bet. Don’t worry if this is too advanced for you to do Shadow, but if you can do it, I’ll split the winnings in half with you.” Watching her young student gently set the book in his saddle bag, she nodded towards the door. “You should get going; Star Gazer is probably waiting for you outside.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Pie,” Shadow said, nodding his thanks as he left.
“Just bring it back on Monday.”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied, disappearing around the corner a second later.
The earth pony smiled as her student bounded out the door. Yet, the smile did not last. As soon as the sound of Shadow’s hooves faded, Mrs. Pie collapsed into the seat behind her desk. For a while, she sat there, staring at the desk in the back where Shadow sat, knowing that it would be less one student come Monday.
Traitorthe voice in the back of her mind slowly exhaled. He trusts you, looks up to you, and this is how you respond? If anypony had been looking, they would have seen the teacher slowly slump in her chair. You’re not fit to teach.
Leave me alone. I’m only doing what’s necessary. She retorted weakly, trying to recall the conversation she and the mayor had had a week earlier. His evidence had been compelling. She had tried to deny the photos at first, saying that the dark blob Star Gazer was flying with could be anything, a bird or a piece of dirt on the lens. At that, he produced the final picture, an image of Shadow standing in his back yard, wings outstretched, seeming to enjoy a good stretch. She didn’t know how Shutter Speed had gotten the pictures, and didn’t want to know.
After that, the meeting had turned decidedly darker. They had argued, but she had to eventually acknowledge what her student was. At that, the mayor revealed the book she had just given Shadow and explained what he wanted the teacher to do. She had been appalled by it at first and refused. “You’re a teacher right? Do you teach your students history? Sombra murdered his entire family trying to become an alicorn. Have you taught your students about Star Trail? How many died before she ascended? After? We’re still recovering from her! How many have died at the hooves of alicorns? Thousands; and those are the ones we know of!”
“What about Luna?” She retorted.
“She’s dead thanks to her sister. The simple fact is Mrs. Pie, we can’t take the chance.” The teacher hung her head, knowing that she had little choice.
Standing up, Honey Pie grabbed her saddle bags. The room had suddenly become too small and she didn’t feel like staying. Checking the straps one last time as she walked out the front, she turned to lock the front door. As she started to head for town, she could hear the laughter and squeals of delight of the town’s fillies and colts. Not wanting to spread her bad mood to her young foal, the young teacher decided to wander, letting her hooves go where they wanted.
As she walked, Mrs. Pie could still hear the voice in her mind calling her a traitor, a coward, occasionally calling her worse. As much as she tried, she couldn’t stop agreeing with the voice. It was right. Everything it called her was true, and if she was to be honest, it was holding back. She didn’t know how long she had been wandering, it could have been twenty minutes or two hours for all she cared, but the earth pony teacher eventually found herself standing before the town hall’s stone steps. Coming back to reality, Mrs. Pie looked around, taking stock of where she had ended up. Frowning, she climbed the steps of the wood and stone structure. Walking down the slowly darkening hall, Honey Pie stopped at the large oak doors at the end. Sighing, she knocked a couple of times; gently opening the doors when she heard somepony inside call out. Across the room, she could see the mayor, a white-maned grey earth pony whose face was starting to show its age, sitting behind his desk. Looking up, he smiled at the school teacher.
“Mrs. Pie, welcome, please come in.” The older pony stood up, his current guest following suit. “Can I get you anything? Water?”
“No thanks.”
The mayor slowly sat back down, “What can I do for you?”
Mrs. Pie slowly entered, taking a chair that the mayor gestured to. “I need to see those pictures again.”
“Still got doubts?” He asked as he unlocked one of the desk’s wooden drawers.
“He’s one of my favorite students. Of course I do.”
Not saying anything, the mayor spread the photos out in front of her. They were all there, all saying the same thing. “It’s interesting that you should show up, Mrs. Pie. Shutter Speed and I were just talking about some interesting images he took this morning up at White Head.” Next to her, the yellow and blue Pegasus pushed an envelope in front of her. Tipping it upside down, a half dozen photographs spilled out across the desk. Most were of the artistic variety that the pegasus was well known for across the island. One image stood out among the rest. On it she could see Shadow, hovering in mid-air, surrounded by a shield and a number of snowballs. Looking closely, she noticed that his eyes seemed to glow.
“Were the glowing eyes your idea?” She asked the photographer, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.
“Unlike some ponies I could name, I don’t need to manipulate my images.” He responded huffily. “What you see is what I saw.”
“Does this settle your doubts?” The mayor asked; stepping in before the conversation could get out of hoof. The young teacher nodded “Good. Did you give him the book?”
“And pointed him to the spell like you told me to” She answered as she stood.
“Will he try it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You did the right thing.”
“I hope you’re right, because Luna have mercy on all of us if you’re wrong.” Closing the door behind her, she fled the claustrophobic hallway for the town square. Outside, she stood in the sun, her eyes closed as she let its light warm her fur, though the warmth didn’t seem to go much deeper than that. Around her, she could hear the sounds of everyday life, the sound of wagon wheels on the stone streets, the squeal of a young filly, ponies talking. Around the square, she could hear the sound of hammers on wood as ponies erected booths and rides for the next day’s celebrations, while others hung flags and banners that bore their fallen Princess’ mark. Around her, life went on, unaware of the mayor’s plan or her reluctant role in it. Not quite ready to go home, she looked around, her gaze eventually settling on a tavern a block away. It wasn’t her usual place, but she didn’t feel like going someplace where somepony she knew might see her and want to talk. Groaning, she trudged down the steps heading for the small, unassuming building with the stone façade. She needed a drink.
Shadow could hardly contain himself as he walked down the school’s front steps. Smiling, he stopped at the bottom, enjoying the sun’s warmth as he took a deep breath, trying to decide what to do with the unexpected extra two hours of freedom. Coming up empty, the young colt looked around for a certain energetic pegasus, who was nowhere to be seen. Looking up to the school’s roof, he saw his sister sunning herself on the roof, her wings spread out to get as much sun as possible. Whistling to get her attention, his sister cracked an eye, looking down at her brother. Yawning, she slowly stood, taking her time if only to annoy her brother before leaping off the edge. Shadow ducked his head as Star zipped overhead, her tail barely brushing his horn, before she pulled up and came back around to land next to him. Though simple, the maneuver was a reminder to Shadow of just how different he and his sister were when it came to flying. Even though he could have pulled the same maneuver, both ponies knew he never would have been able to bank as hard or as crisply as Star. “So, what did the teacher want?” She asked as they turned to leave.
“She just wanted to give me a book on magic.”
“So, she didn’t find out about… you know.” His sister asked, looking around as if to see if anypony could overhear them.
“About what?”
His sister winced. “Needs work, but keep at it and they might believe you.”
Shadow shook his head, not knowing what his twin was talking about, but fairly certain that she was trying to pull something on him. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Enjoy the day, that’s what!” She replied, jumping in excitement at the situation, “Gale Force, Iris and I were planning on flying around the valley; you?”
“Probably stop by dad’s shop and do some reading.” He could hear his sister blow a raspberry at this.
“We get out of class early for the first time ever, and you want to spend that free time reading? Are you sure we’re twins?”
“What can I say; our ancestor’s diary is getting good.” He looked over to see her roll her eyes at this.
“Whatever. This isn’t Equestria, so you are perfectly free to waste your time anyway you want.” She paused a second to look up at the open sky. “Could you take my bags with you?”
“Forget it. Just stop by mom’s stand and leave them with her.” Without a second thought, his sister crouched, launching herself into the air a second later. Staggering under the sudden blast of wind, Shadow looked up to see his sister’s form quickly shrink into the distance. Smiling, he picked up the pace slightly as he headed into town. On a whim, he turned down a shaded alley, a shortcut he had taken before to get to his dad’s shop.
Perhaps it was the beautiful weather or the fact he was out early, but whatever the case was, Shadow failed to notice the larger colt peel off from the crowd and enter the alley a few second behind him. Halfway down the shortcut, Shadow saw a larger pony enter the alley ahead. It took him a few seconds, but the young disguised alicorn felt something sink inside when he recognized the pony ahead of him. Before he could react, Shadow felt something grab his tail and yank on it, violently pulling him off his hooves and dragging him across the filthy pavement. Shadow felt himself get ripped off the ground, his back slamming into a building’s wall a split second later. As his vision cleared, he found himself looking into the green eyes of Honeycrisp’s older brother.
Shadow groaned. “What do you want?” He wanted to add a few colorful descriptions of the young stallion to the question, but figured he didn’t want to add to what was coming.
“I’ll be brief, and make this easy for you to understand half-breed. Stay the fuck away from my sister. Understand?”
“What did I do?” Shadow gasped as he tried to breathe, his back hooves dangling off the ground.
“I saw you talking to her earlier today.”
“She approached me first.”
“Shut it, you little bastard and get this into your half-breed mind: stay away from her. I don’t want you to talk to her again, got it?”
“Yes.” He gasped in reply, his ears ringing from the lack of air.
“Good.” Shadow was too focused on trying to breathe to see the older pony’s hoof connect with his gut. Falling to the ground, Shadow tried to curl into a ball while gasping for air. “And just so you don’t forget…” Shadow didn’t get a chance to react before the older colt’s kick connected with the younger colt’s chest. Wheezing, Shadow finally managed to curl into a ball as Honeycrisp’s brother and his friend spat on him, kicking dirt in his face as they turned to leave.
Shadow lay there for a few minutes, trying to get his breathing under control and wincing as his ribs painfully protested every lungful of air. Fighting back the tears that threatened to escape, Shadow slowly forced himself to stand. Once on his hooves, the young colt leaned against the nearby wall for support for a few moments before he began walking again. It felt like hours, but within a few minutes, Shadow found himself in front of his father’s store, the simple beaker shaped sign above the door telling everypony where they could find the town’s potions master.
Pushing on the door, Shadow tried to slink in, but the bell above the door ruined any chance he had. Hearing his dad coming, Shadow managed to suppress the groan that threatened to escape and add to his pain. Looking up, he saw his father walk out of the back room, only to stop at the sight of his son.
“How many?” He asked as his horn lit up. Behind him, Shadow could hear the open sign flip around before his hooves left the ground.
“Two.” Shadow replied as his dad levitated him over the counter. Closing his eyes, the young colt let himself hang there as he felt the weight of his bags disappear.
“Who?” Silver Maple asked as he gently laid his son down on a mattress in the back.
“Honeycrisp’s brother and a friend of his.” Shadow said, sighing as he felt the cool mattress beneath. “I was too busy to ask the other ass’s name, and he didn’t offer it.” Opening his eyes, he could see his father’s horn gently glow. A sudden sense of warmth pervaded the young alicorn’s body a second later as his dad look him over with his spell.
Sighing, the older unicorn turned to a nearby shelf, pouring one of the nearby jars into a cup. “Except for a few bruised ribs, everything inside is alright, though you’re going to be tender for a few days.” He said as he lowered the cup to his son, who drained it without a second thought. “This will help with the pain, though I’ll whip something up for the ribs when we get home.”
“Thanks” Shadow said, offering the cup back to his dad. Already, he could feel the pain starting to fade.
Setting the cup aside, Silver Maple sat as he gently rubbed his son’s back. “So, how was school?”
Later that night, Shadow stared at the crackling fireplace, the rest of his family having retreated to their rooms long ago. Watching the flames dance, Shadow felt a few tears slowly roll down his cheek. Why? Why did they have to treat him like that? Why did everypony seem to hate him and his sister? They had never done anything to anypony, and yet they were treated like freaks. Sniffing, he wiped the few tears away. Shadow knew the answer to those questions, but it still didn’t satisfy him. Sighing, the colt looked at the small pile of books next to him.
A few minutes after they had gotten home, Shadow’s dad had come up from the basement carrying a book and a slightly steaming cup in his magic. As he drank his dad’s brew which had tasted faintly of chocolate, the black-maned grey unicorn set a thick dull blue book down on his son’s lap. Setting the cup aside, Shadow had felt his heart all but stop at the sight of the book. He ignored the name etched into the book’s cover, instead staring in awe at how the light from the nearby window struck the cover’s facets. “Is this what I think it is?” He asked, barely able to form the words as his hoof gently stroked the book’s cool cover.
“This” his father had said “is the completediary of Summer Breeze in its original crystal cover.” The world seemed to disappear as his father’s words slowly sank in. He had known about this book his entire life, but he had always thought that it was at the museum in Dragon’s Bay, along with the only other crystal bound book on the island. This book was his family’s single greatest possession, having been carefully preserved and passed down for generations. “I got this from my mom when I was about your age, and I think you’re now old enough to have it.” Shadow didn’t know what to say. What could he say? With a promise to show him the spells to preserve it, the older unicorn left to go meet the mares walking up the trail outside.
Lifting the book with his horn, Shadow gently wrapped his vest around the ancient text before setting it in one of his saddle bags, along with his school version. Grabbing the final book in the pile, Shadow carefully set it down, before opening it to the page his teacher had mentioned. Looking at the spell, Shadow grabbed a small piece of chalk from the mantle above the fireplace and began to draw the circle from the book. It took him nearly an hour in the firelight to copy the casting circle. Once he was sure he had copied it perfectly, the young colt moved to the center of the drawing on the floor. Reading the instructions one last time, Shadow gently placed the book down next to him.
Closing his eyes, he took a few slow deep breaths. When he was ready, Shadow started to channel power to his horn. In his mind, he could see the magical threads as he created them, slowly growing and splitting as he poured more magic into the attempt. Slowly he could see the threads starting to connect, to branch out and connect to even more threads. As he continued, Shadow could feel himself starting to tire; beads of sweat began to roll down his face as he pushed on. He had never pushed himself this hard before, never having need to use this much magic at once. Nearing his limits, Shadow slowly began to sense a new source of magical energy inside him. If he was sensing things correctly, this new pool of magic dwarfed his current amount more than he thought possible. Was this part of the spell? Mentally shrugging, the young colt reached for the new source.
As he did, Shadow could feel his grip on the spell start to loosen. Before he could stop it, the threads of magic he had woven snapped like a bowstring, shattering the spell and sending him staggering into the couch behind him, his mind searing in agony at the backlash. Blinking several times to clear his vision, Shadow shook his head to clear it, instantly regretting the move as the room began to spin. Testing his horn once the room stopped spinning, Shadow tried a simple light spell. A few small sparks spat out of his horn, before dying altogether.
“Great” He muttered as grabbed his saddle bags. Gently placing the ancient book with the others, he glanced at the small fire. Normally he’d put it out with a simple shield spell, but since that wasn’t an option, his only other choice was to use some water from outside. Thinking it over, he decided to let the fire burn itself out, since it was too small to do much else, and he wasn’t in the mood to go out into the dark woods alone; especially if he wouldn’t be able to see where he was going. Yawning, he slowly climbed the stairs to his room, his bed calling to him like a siren with the promise of sweet oblivion. Placing his bags on the floor, Shadow slowly crawled into the open bed, feeling his body shutting down for the night as he did so. Laying his head on the pillow, the young colt closed his eyes, and was asleep seconds later.
Slowly the hours passed as the night wore on. In the living room, the fire slowly shrank until nothing but glowing coals remained, occasionally lit by a few stubborn tongues of flame. Slowly a bright orange flame grew from one of the embers. Small at first, the orange tongue of fire rose higher and higher. Once it was a few inches tall, a pair of black eyes opened up, taking in the surroundings. Seeing the room was empty, the flame began to grow bigger. Soon, a pair of arms sprouted from the flame, clawed hands opening and closing moments later. Grabbing the charred log behind it, the flame pulled itself up, legs sprouting from the flame’s body as it did.
Satisfied that the area was deserted, the small creature muttered something. Seconds later, several dozen more flames began to grow from the coals. Running across the open stone hearth, the flame paused for the others to join it, the wooden floor beneath it slowly turning black under the heat. As it looked around, the creature glanced down, noticing the chalk line in front of it. Waving to the others, he pointed at the floor and a small circle of flames soon lit the room, all staring at the circle before them. Gesturing to the other flames, the creatures quickly fanned out across the room. Their footprints slowly growing as the floor caught fire.
Shadow wasn’t sure at first what was going on. He had been having another flying dream, until something started shaking him. It took his sleep besotted mind a few seconds to recognize his room in the dark. Next to him, he could barely make out his sister who was shaking him again.
“What do you want?” He groaned as he tried to turn over and go back to sleep.
“I smell smoke.”
“It was just a dream. Go back to sleep Star.”
“Shadow, please, I’m not fooling around.” She said, shaking him even rougher than before.
Shadow had half a mind to yell at her, to tell her to go back to bed and stay there. As he turned to give his sister a piece of his mind, he stopped. Something on her moon lit face telling him that she wasn’t just scared, but terrified. Taking a deep breath he froze, a shiver racing down his spine and across his body.
He smelled it too.
Scrambling out of bed, he walked the dozen paces to the door, his heart hammering in his chest. Opening the door with his hoof, he was greeted by a blast of smoke. Stumbling back, he felt his lungs heave as the smoke billowed up from below. Looking through the doorway again, he saw flames racing across the floor and up the stairs “Star, run!” He yelled, slamming the door shut as the flames reached the top of the stairs.
Turning, he raced for his bed. Reaching his saddle bags, he heard the door explode behind him. Looking behind him, the flames roared from the open door, the floor and walls quickly catching fire. Grabbing his bags with his mouth, Shadow bolted for the open window as the flames raced past him, engulfing the room around him. Gritting his teeth against the searing heat, Shadow threw himself through the wall of flames and the open window, biting back a scream as he felt his skin burn. Diving sharply then banking, the young alicorn landed inside the tree line, a cry of pain escaping as the burns on his legs protested the sudden landing. Without taking his eyes off of his burning home, the young alicorn ignited his horn, tightening the strap around him. A quick check told him that nearly everything he cared about had made it out safe with him. Looking around, the colt felt the world around him come to a screeching halt as he looked around, suddenly noticing that he was alone. Where’s Star?!
From the flames roaring out of the window he had just leaped from, Shadow heard a scream. The scream was one of pure agony. No. He had never heard a pony make a sound like that, but he knew without a shred of doubt who was making that sound “STAR!” Shadow screamed his sister’s name at the top of his lungs, his throat raw as he charged his burning home. Leaping into the air, the colt’s wings tore into the air as his horn glowed. Ahead of him, the golden wall of magic glowed, the normally clear shield quickly going opaque as it tried to cope with the intense heat. With every beat of his wings, the young alicorn could hear the screams of his twin. Angling to throw himself into the wall of flames that had consumed the window of his former bedroom, Shadow saw his shield crack from the strain of the heat, before shattering completely a heartbeat later. Unprepared, the young colt was thrown away from the raging inferno. Barely catching himself in time, he managed to tuck in his wings before he hit the ground, going limp as his mom had taught him as he rolled across the open ground.
Forcing himself to his hooves, the alicorn stood in shock as he watched his home burn. Other than the sound of wood snapping and popping in the heat and the roar of the flames, the world was silent.
“MOM!” Shadow screamed, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath “Dad!” Hearing no reply, the young pony felt his rear legs give out. Barely noticing as his back end hit the ground, he felt the first tears streak down his face as he barely whispered a final name “Star.”
Slowly looking around, Shadow could see that the entire clearing was bathed in an orange glow, the shadows of the trees and surrounding forest dancing in the light of the flames. Hearing a loud crack, Shadow scrambled back as the roof of his home collapsed, sending sparks shooting into the air. Following the main beam’s fall from where he sat, the colt’s eyes settled on the rock wall that formed the basement’s back wall.
Originally, the basement’s four walls had been formed by the small rise it had been dug into. Shortly after the fiasco that had been his eighth birthday, his father Silver Maple had proposed digging out the part that formed the basement’s back wall and replacing it with stone. He had never seen his mom so angry before when his father had admitted that he had suggested it was so he could store some of his more potent, and less stable, potions and ingredients there. His mother had been steadfastly against the idea, only relenting once her husband changed the design. Shadow had spent the rest of the summer helping his dad excavate and rebuild the wall in a way that would allow it to blow out if something set off the stuff inside. After getting his cutie mark a year later, the colt had added a number of shield spells to the barrels stored there.
Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Shadow forced himself to his hooves. “Why do you have to store this stuff here?” the colt recalled asking his father as they dug. “Why can’t we just dig another storage cave?”
“Because I can’t let these freeze;” The stallion looked over at his son “If they froze, they’d be useless, and I can’t store this stuff at the shop because it might get too hot there.”
“What would happen if it got too hot?”
The stallion had a far-away look in his eyes as he stared at the house “Boom.”
The single word ricocheted around Shadow’s head. Feeling the sudden tension squeeze his heart until it felt like it would explode, the colt turned; his horn ablaze. As he started to run, Shadow thought he heard something in the basement shatter. Whether or not he heard something suddenly became the least of the colt’s concerns as the stone wall erupted, blasting wood and stone shrapnel at him and the surrounding forest.
The blast slammed into Shadow’s shield, tearing through it like had never even existed. Faster than he could blink, Shadow was torn off his hooves and hurled into the forest. Unable to control his flight, Shadow spun through the air, his mind barely grasping what had just happened. Before he could react, the ground rose up to slap the young alicorn from the air. He couldn’t stop himself as he rolled and tumbled across the unforgiving ground. Then a tree appeared, and Shadow knew only darkness.
Celestia glanced at the scroll that hovered before her, trying to remember the name of the silver tongued son-of-Discord who had convinced her to accept those changes to the tax system 200 years earlier. Eyeing the crackling glow of her fireplace, she idly wondered how long it would take for the scroll to become ash. Sighing at the pleasant, although sadly impossible to accomplish thought, she looked it over one last time before signing it, mentally noting to start working on tax reform, even if the result meant slightly less paperwork and a little more sanity; especially if it meant less paperwork.
Levitating another scroll, she began reading it, though it didn't take long for her to start hoping that a letter from Twilight would appear; coalescing from a green flame to gently land on her desk, a nice evening treat she had looked forward to that had become all too rare since her student's coronation the previous year. Taking a long look at the jeweled night sky, Celestia slowly turned back to the task at hoof, knowing that it could not be avoided.
In a small, rarely used fireplace that few visitors noticed, a few light tendrils of smoke began to waft up from the dust covered logs that lay inside. A minute later, a small green flame burst into existence. As it grew, a pair of eyes slowly opened, allowing their owner to check the surroundings. Satisfied, the flame grew taller, forming a neck and body, followed by a pair of arms and then a pair of legs. Taking a second quick look, the creature climbed to the top of the log pile, wondering why it always seemed more difficult every time he visited.
Beyond the fireplace, the being could see the princess, who clearly looked bored with whatever she was reading. Leaning back for a moment, the creature snapped a small twig from a nearby log, both of which quickly burst into green flames as he ate and allowed himself a moment to relax and enjoy the sweet flavor of well dried Maple. As the twig's ash slowly drifted to the floor, he watched the princess sign the scroll before placing it on a small pile of others.
Before she could grab another scroll, Celestia heard something clear its throat before calling out her name. Turning to her left, she saw the child-sized creature sitting on the slowly incinerating pile of wood, looking intently at her. A smile slowly formed as she recognized the creature in the raging fireplace. "General, it's been too long."
"Celestia, we need to talk." It replied seriously, its tone brooking no argument.
"What about, General?"
"Our treaty."
"What about it?" She asked, a lump slowly forming in her chest. Nothing good ever happened when the treaty was mentioned.
"It’s been broken and our attack is underway."