//------------------------------// // Canto I: Ceremony // Story: Relentless // by Shinzakura //------------------------------// The phaeton carrying Twilight Sparkle raced above the snowy lands that bordered the Crystal Empire. From the looks on the faces of the pegasi pulling the carriage, they were sober and determined and moving as fast as possible, even to the point of exhaustion. That alone told the young alicorn that something was afoot...as if the sudden carriage arriving at her castle wasn’t off-putting enough. Turning to the pony in the seat next to her, she asked, “Do you know what the request was, Flash?” To her surprise, the recently-promoted corporal in the Crystal Guard was stony-faced and had been silent for most of the trip. She didn’t know him well, but if he was anything like his counterpart in Sunset Shimmer’s world, he was a normally easygoing stallion who was ill at ease judging by the stern visage on his face now. He was the very picture of military bearing in his dress uniform instead of his normal barding – another sign something was wrong. “Sorry, Princess,” he told her after a second. “Flash, you know you can just call me Twilight,” she said in a friendly tone, if for no other reason than to get him to relax. It didn’t work. Giving her the ghost of a smile, he said, “Normally, I would, your highness. But the Prince has told us that we are to be on our highest military bearing, even for those we consider friends. The situation demands it, he told us.” “Well, that would explain why he asked me to wear my regalia,” Twilight commented. At the moment, she had them in a small case she brought along with her – she usually abstained from wearing hers, as she felt that as the Princess of Friendship and Magic, such markers of station needlessly separated her from the common pony. But even she knew decorum and if her brother stated she’d need them, she’d put them on when it was time. As the snows gave way to the grassy fields that indicated the beginning of the area protected by the Crystal Heart, the phaeton banked to the left, heading not straight towards the Imperial City but instead towards the west of the empire and the smaller towns there. The phaeton headed on its new course, leaving the comfortable warmth and cosmopolitan friendliness of the Imperial City behind, the spire of the Crystal Palace shrinking into the distance until it was barely visible. “We’re not heading to the Crystal Palace?” Twilight inquired. “No, your highness,” Flash replied. “We’re meeting Prince Shining in a smaller town in the west, a place known as Snow Quartz.” Sometime later, as Celestia’s sun headed towards its rendezvous with the horizon, was when they arrived at Snow Quartz. The town clearly had its name for two reasons: One, that it was at the far western edge of the Crystal Heart’s protection and thus bordered the snowy lands; and that the city was filled with sizable juts of milky quartz, the white crystal spars as large as trees and giving the town a seasonal, alpine feel. The phaeton landed, coming to ground amongst a full platoon of Crystal Honor Guards, all dressed in highly-polished barding. Many of the crystal ponies that lived in the quartz-dotted town milled from a respectful distance, wondering what the hubbub was about. As Twilight, now wearing her regalia, stepped off the carriage, she found herself in front of the platoon as they came to attention, and at the other end, Shining Armor, resplendent in his own dress uniform. “Hello, Twily,” he said softly. “I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but...maybe you’ll have some time after this to visit us in the City. Cady would love to see you again.” Twilight noted that her brother’s enthusiasm for seeing her again, though sincere, was far more muted than normal. “What’s going on, Shiny?” Twilight asked, though taking her cue from him and lowering her tone. “You are the last of the princesses to arrive. Cady was here yesterday, and before her Celestia, then Luna. When Cady happened to mention you in light of what happened two weeks ago, she was desperate to meet you.” Shining’s eyes took on a strange cast as he added, “She said...she wouldn’t die until she met you.” “Wouldn’t die? Who? I hope you don’t mean Cady,” Twilight asked. “No, she’s fine. As for the answer to that mystery, you’ll find out shortly.” Without explaining further, Shining walked on towards a house made out of wood and stone, a far different construct in a land where homes were hewn straight out of the crystal that dotted the land. As they approached the house, Twilight noticed two things. The first was a huge copy of Celestia’s cutie mark, adorning the wall as a massive plaque, all done in yellow and red gold. The other was above the ornately-designed door, on its frame: words in the old tongue emblazoned in the purest silver. EXALTA NOLI TIMERE, RESPICIT SUPER NOS AMORE SOLEM “Be not afraid, for the sun looks down with love,” Twilight read, voicing the words aloud. “I’m glad you can read that, because I was stumped,” Shining admitted. “This is a Celestine home, isn’t it?” Twilight asked, and Shining nodded. The Celestine Order was a leftover from the dark times immediately after Nightmare Moon’s banishment. While the Order were technically guards like the greater EUP force and Celestia’s personal Solar Guard, they were hardly seen as such: once, they were templars, paladins, knights who fought the darkest of evils that Equestria faced. Though greatly diminished since their founding, the Celestines were mostly focused on charitable works and were nowadays seen as Celestia’s priesthood…though that was something that vexed her greatly, she’d told Twilight once. During that same conversation, Celestia admitted that it had been a good thing that the Order had undergone a major transformation, else they would have attempted to slay Luna upon her return – and might have even succeeded. As Celestia’s student, Twilight – and Sunset before her – were nominally members of the Order themselves, though Twilight never had anything to do with them, and most likely neither did her predecessor and friend. As if on cue, the door opened, revealing a unicorn in the brightest of barding; all was polished to its luminescent fullest, from the champron helmet in the unicorn’s grasp, to the flanchards protecting his sides. The barding was covered with caparisons, the brilliant-white cloth bearing the symbol of the Order: Celestia’s sun in yellow and red with crossed swords behind it. He was armed, both with a sword to his right flank and a crossbow to his left. If anything, his armor was far more suited for war than the guards behind her – and he looked ready to jump into one at a moment’s notice. “Greetings, my princess,” the unicorn bowed with a flourish, his dapper jade-green-and-silver mustache almost jovial despite the situation, his eyes bright with a smile. “I am De Payens, Grand Master of the Order. And I must admit it is an honor to have you with us, though I must apologize: had I known that one of our own had ascended, I would have requested your presence immediately after Her Divine Majesty.” Twilight thought better about mentioning Celestia’s distaste for being referred to as divine, and simply said, “Thank you, Sir De Payens.” Twilight’s atypical thought pattern kicked in and she commented, “Though I must admit that your name is unusual for a pony.” De Payens chuckled. “Such is the way of the Order. Upon joining, we take names not of the norm, to remind us that we must always be representative of the Divine Other. In my case, my name is old Prench for a mostly-forgotten village that was instrumental to the Unicornia war effort during the Era of the Warring Tribes. As for my birth name, I shan’t trouble you with that, as it is irrelevant to who I am now. “But enough of myself,” he said, opening the door. “We are here to say farewell to a legend.” Twilight walked into the house, and gazed at the walls, all covered in various trophies and monuments to a warrior unlike any other. On a stand by the wall was the barding of a pony, well-kept and ready for use in an instant. On the walls were various weapons of war, and the lavender alicorn had no doubt that they too were able to be wielded within need. She looked at Shining, and to see the look of awe on his face was more than enough; her brother had always strived to be a military stallion others could look up to, so to see him able to do the same was impressive. But what sort of life has this pony led if they were ready for war in an instant? Twilight wondered. De Payens called over two more members of the Order, both dressed as he: one a fierce pegasus with shifty eyes, the other a gentle-seeming earth mare whose size easily matched that of Big Macintosh. “My prince and princess, may I introduce you to two more of the Order: this is Sant-Audomar, Master of our garrison in the Badlands; and Montbard, Master of our garrison in the Eastern Steppes.” Both nodded wordlessly, offering greetings. It was then that a door in the far room opened, revealing another earth mare, this one of more normal size and dressed in the normal habit and scapular of the Order. She wore no weapons, but instead was adorned with a brassard signifying her as being in the medical profession. Clearing her throat briefly, she spoke , “Beg your pardon, my lords and lady, as well as to your highnesses, but the Sunlit Blade is awake.” “Good,” De Payens said. “Then we shall all go in.” “Except, my lord, she wishes to speak with ‘the Battlemaiden Princess’, as she claimed, and her only.” Looking at Twilight, the cleric said, “I believe that is you, my princess.” “Me? I’m no battlemaiden,” Twilight exclaimed. “Don’t tell yourself short, Twily,” Shining commented. He thought about what she said for a second before asking, “Unless you’re referring to the ‘maiden’ part – is there something I should know?” “No, Shiny, I still meet that qualification,” Twilight drolled. “It’s just….” “Understandable, my princess,” Montbard spoke; her voice sounded much like Fluttershy’s, though with a brogue characteristic of Scoltland, a vale north of Trottingham. “Mares such as we often prefer to be seen as ladies, not as warriors. Even still, I have had the honor of seeing you in battle against foes, and you are quite formidable.” “Thanks. I think,” Twilight said. “Well, here I go,” she announced, passing the cleric and walking in. The room was a bedroom, illuminated by the orange hue of candlelight. In the center of the room was a bed, surrounded by two more mares wearing the Celestine habit, as well as medical brassards. And on the bed, swaddled in blankets and a quilt, was a pegasus mare as old as Granny Smith, though where the Apple matron exuded quiet authority, this mare radiated a hard, worn life. Her fur was the color of faded paper, her mane almost shock-white but still showing faded pinks and blues of the colors it must have been in a bygone age. Her eyes were closed and her breath was soft, as if she were dozing. “I hear you, my princess.” The mare opened up two blood-red eyes, then fixed them in turn on each of her caretakers. “You may leave. This is only for her highness’ ears.” The two healers looked uncertain until Twilight said in soothing tones, “I have medical and pharmaceutical training. She’ll be fine until we need you again.” As the two departed, the mare said to Twilight, “I doubt I will see them again. Today, I draw my last breath, and I have only held on to tell you of my failure, my princess.” “Failure? I don’t understand.” “You need not understand failure, my princess, for you have known success where I could not. You have conquered, where I found myself lacking. And I requested your presence, though being unworthy, if only to beg your forgiveness before I pass on.” “Forgiveness? For what?” “For being unworthy of my name: the Sunlit Blade. I am that, for I was thought to be the fiercest warrior within its ranks. But in truth, I look at myself in the mirror and see the old mare I've become. An old mare whose shame will haunt me until my last breath, I swear it.” To Twilight’s surprise, the Sunlit Blade sat up, and took Twilight’s forelegs in hers. “I beseech thee, my princess: Please hear my tale! Please forgive this old nag for her failure!” “I’m sure there is nothing to forgive,” Twilight told the Sunlit Blade, “but I will hear your tale.” “Thank you,” the aged mare said, leaning back into her bed. “For ages, I have been called by the name I use: the Sunlit Blade. It has been so long since anypony has called me by my birth name, I scarcely recall what it was. Maybe I no longer deserve that name, because it was that of a foolish, innocent filly who no longer lives and whose remnants are just me. “This is the tale that I must tell, even to my eternal shame, and it is to my greater shame that I must tell it to you, my princess – you who have done what I could not. “This is the tale of how I unleashed evil unto the world.”