Battle raged on.
The hardy orange hooves of Applejack were learning that pony bones were a lot easier to kick loose than the trunks of apple trees. But like the orchard, they seemed surround her for miles.
Montague blasted away with spells of her own while Milvio had quickly recovered from Hed’Kika’s strike and was lashing out wildly at every foe with beak and talon.
All around friends and foes clashed, hoof-on-hoof, blade-on-blade.
As a mighty hoof connected with a mercenary’s jaw, Applejack suddenly shut her eyes tight.
There was blood on her face.
She could taste it on her lips.
Had it come from the mercenary she’d just kicked? One of his comrades? One of hers?
She could feel her mind becoming foggy. It wasn’t something she was used to. As all her friends knew, she was a straightforward, forthright and, above all, honest mare. She could remember various points in her life when she’d been so confused and unsure of herself but only through fatigue or confusion.
A terrible thought hit the back of her mind as she continued grappling with the foe.
Was this how Cascadius fought? Attrition and confusion?
Regardless of how many lives were lost?
Something cracked against the side of her face.
The world span, her ears were ringing a monotonous, metallic whine.
Had she dropped her hat?
There came a deafening rattle from above. Screams from the side of the city where the mercenaries swarmed rang out.
“My lady!” Montague’s voice cut through the ringing “On your hooves, quickly!”
“Where...” the Bearer of Honesty mumbled, finding her voice “The...rattlin’...”
“Up there. Don’t worry, they’re ours.” Montague yelled over the din, pointing to the rooftops.
Stallions in bronze and scarlet armour were firing off hails of shard from small, silver many-barrelled cannons, spinning wildly as they reloaded.
“Boulettan Crackleshot Cannons.” the officer explained “They’re sure to thin the herd.”
As they rained down their sharp metal pellets, mercenaries fell here and there, clutching at their wounds or lying still. In the time bided for them, the Equestrian Guard rallied and set up a shield wall.
She looked up again.
One of the gunners was looking at her through a dark visor.
C-c-c-crack!
Applejack’s forelegs gave way, her entire body nearly falling flat on the ground as she clutched a bleeding gash across her cheek. Panting hoarsely to avoid screaming, she struggled to find her hooves.
The Crackleshot was firing too close.
“Cease fire!” Montague’s yell could barely be heard over the racket as she herself clutched a bloody shoulder.
She could practically feel her pupils shrink as the cannon whirred into life again, primed on her.
It was too close.
Pow!
The Crackleshot Cannon fell swiftly to earth, smashing onto the cobblestones. The visored gunner that had wielded it followed suit, though the visor was pretty much gone, along with most of his head.
Applejack and Montague spun round from where they’d heard the shot pierce the cacophony.
Beside Hed’Kika’s unconscious body, a strange mare swathed in Saddle Arabian cloth that obscured all but the shadow of her eyes had appeared. Her hood was turned up slightly, suggesting she was a unicorn, but no sign of her colours could be seen. Applejack noticed she was depositing a smoking sniper rifle across a belt slung across her back.
Around her was bronze-coloured mist, tell-tale signs of recent teleportation and, as he grabbed hold of Hed’Kika’s ear, her horn lit up and rings of brass-coloured light encircled the pair of them.
The mare gave a mocking salute as they disappeared.
Behind them, a blaring horn went off from somewhere around the city.
The mercenaries stopped in their tracks and the ones closest to the fighting collectively threw down spherical objects.
Cloudy jets of coloured smoke filled the air as the foes made their escape, scurrying like vermin into the alleyway network they’d likely memorised before the attack.
As the noise subsided slightly, the guard took a moment to gather themselves and collect the dead.
“Dang it!” the farm-pony cursed adjusted her hat “Ah gotta’ find the girls. This whole rotten city’s takin’ years off my life.”
*
Twilight’s eyes fixed themselves on the eerie pegasus clambering atop the arching rooftop. Coyly, almost playfully, Corax stood to his full height and hopped down the enormous drop, his great black and white wings slowing his fall enough for him to land perfectly fine as graceful as any ballerina. He bowed and behind her, trapped between two waves of guard, Almogavar and his crew clapped obligingly.
Corax spoke to his new royal adversary in his effete, impeccably polite manner.
“Good morrow to thee, merry ladies.” he cooed “How goes this hurly-burly? To be sure, thine grace be unwounded.”
“Stop this.” Twilight interrupted him, her eyes blazing, trying to keep her voice calm but firm, suitably ‘princess-like’ “This is wrong, you should see that! You’re killing hundreds for no reason whatsoever!”
“Not so.” Corax shrugged with a smile that would have been soothing on any other face “Tis a gift.”
“A gift?! It’s murder!”
“Murder?!” he melodramatically clutched his chest “Thou art a deft and vicious thing to wound me so. I be’est no murderer so crass and savage.”
“Then what do you call this?!”
Corax looked about the carnage, his face as innocent as a choircolt.
“Theatre, dear mare.” he waved a hoof about him.
“Have you such little respect for life?!” Rarity barked.
“Not at all, fair Miss Rarity. Life is glorious!” He drew his rapier and pressed it to his chest “And so it is my duty, as a warrior bold and a muse inspired to ensure that death is every bit as glorious still!” He sighed “Tis the greatest pity when a pony is born into this wondrous world and does naught but while away their days until their last. Nay...To die in battle, against Corax the Bloody Bard...'Tis a death that shall be remembered. Etched into mural fine and mourned lackaday by the widows and orphans. Do you not agree that is so much more...dramatic?”
“You’re insane!”
“As are many artistic minds.”
“Enough!” Twilight spread her wings out formidably “It’s pretty clear you won’t listen to reason so I’ll talk on the bottom line here. Your troops are surrounded. Stand down and you’ll be treated fairly. This is a time-limited offer.”
In front of Rarity, Almogavar the one-eyed zebra titled his head with intrigue, no sign of fear on his face.
Corax gave a small snort through his nostrils and smiled.
“Nay, child. That die is long since cast.” He reached into his long black cloak and retrieved something.
A horn. A long, twisting goat’s horn, dark grey and flecked with puce. The butt of it had been carved into a ring set of spines, like a leech’s jaw. Cradling it almost lovingly, he spoke again.
“Sound trumpets. Let our bloody colours wave. And either victory or else a grave.”
“Stop it! Just stop it!” Twilight yelled “Can’t you see this for what it is?”
“And pray, what is it?”
“It’s evil! This is evil! All the tricks, all the killing, the lives you’re taking! Can’t you see that?!” Twilight screamed, fighting to get through to her opponent’s mind, if it were at all possible.
Corax gave a lilting chuckle and held the horn in one hoof before him.
“No pony means evil but the devil...and we shall know him by his horns.”
Before anypony could blink, he’d done something disturbing.
He'd stabbed himself in the side of the head with the butt of the horn, the teeth digging into his scalp.
His milky, mint-green eyes went blank. His face and neck twisted and creaked as he slowly, like a puppet pulled on strings, stood on his hind legs, his wings spread to their full length, the tips arching into the air. His blank eyes then went crimson, as if filling up with blood.
Taken aback, Rarity saw Almogavar give her a smirk and speak in a sardonic manner.
“Now would be a good time to run.”
Twilight felt her mane blow back as Corax opened his mouth. From his throat erupted a great guttural howl. Echoing through the city, Twilight could feel her eardrums shaking in her skull as she fought to keep her hooves steady.
“Hold position!” Blizzard Wind fought to be heard over the echo.
“What...” Rarity’s head swam as she tried to form sentences properly “What was that?”
Corax stumbled, his head bowing, as the horn attached to his scalp fell loose, the gash at the side of his head Rarity noticed before bleeding down his face. The deranged pegasus looked up with his usual green eyes and smiled.
“Twas the Headstone Horn, dear madam. The beckoning hollerer of my ghoulish brethren.”
A chill ran down Rarity’s neck as she worked things out in her mind.
“Twilight...” she called out.
“Ghouls?” the alicorn asked Corax, seemingly deaf to her friend’s call.
“Be you not aware, most clue’ed muse?” Corax chuckled, his tongue lolling out and licking the side of his face as a trickle of his own blood ran down his cheek “So like th’eerie Wendigoes, Ghouls are born from tumultuous umbrage and mordant spite, such so oft’ the final thoughts of those slain in the broils of battle...” His eyes appeared to light up as he grinned.
“And be I so blessed with fortune that old Boulea saw so much bloodshed?!”
The scream he’d given before seemed to resonate from the ground.
And before Twilight could blink, the roads and sidewalks had cracked open like eggshells and dozens of scrabbling, slavering, undead freaks had shot out of the ground.
“Defensive positions!” Blizzard yelled “Hold the line, you sons of nags!”
Twilight reared on her hind legs, her horn blazing every shade of violet as she prepared a shielding spell bolstered by holy flame to burn away any ghoul that approached.
As her magic filled her mind, she became deaf to Rarity’s frantic yells.
Or the hiss of a crystalline blade from Almogavar’s belt.
As the pierce of pale quartz shot into her shoulder, an eruption of broken focus went off in her head. Twilight fell forward, the shield dissipating mid-summon. Almogavar drew his halberd, raised it high and rallied his fellows.
Before Rarity could aid her treasured friend, one of the mercenaries threw a cluster of bombs that burst into a noxious green flame before her. Frantically brushing embers out of her face, Rarity called out Twilight’s name again and again as Blizzard and his crew tried to fight the blaze.
As the ghouls fell upon the guards, Threadbare grabbed the alicorn by the mane and threw her into the throng as mercenaries of all kinds set upon her. Corax swooped over the ghoul swarm and drew his rapier before the princess, grinning like a foal with free reign over a toy store. Finding her focus, Twilight dodged the swing of Threadbare’s blade, catching him with a hoof to the side of his face. With a grunt, the stitched-together pony stepped back, the alicorn casting a spell upon her hoof to make the next punch really count.
The next moment, she gave a shriek as Corax’s rapier dived into the shoulder-flesh below her wing and was drawn out just as quickly. Before she could even clutch at the wound, Threadbare has regained his balance and brought his free foreleg up, delivering a vicious uppercut to the alicorn.
Twilight’s head spun. She managed to cast a flash-bang charm for a moment as she found her hooves. She found herself drawing them back just as quickly as Khopesh, the tattooed thug from earlier, slashed at her foreleg with his sickle-blade. To ensure none attacked her from behind, Twilight flapped her wings hard while on the ground, measuring how close the surrounding foes were on the air. As she reared up and kicked Khopesh across the face, the mercenary crouched down.
Like an arrow shot from his bow, with a cry of ‘Huzzah!’, Corax vaulted over Khopesh and struck out with his rapier. Twilight barely dodged his lightning-fast thrusts, the last one she felt cutting across her ear. Before she could fight him off, Khopesh stood up and used himself as a jumping board, launching Corax into the air before throwing down a small clay bomb that burst into a metallic flash in Twilight’s eyes. Blinded, she could do nothing as the butt of Almogavar’s polearm slammed with force into the back of her head.
As the ground rushed up to meet her, it dawned on her.
The mercenaries were fighting with not just tricks and guile.
They were using teamwork...
Friendship.
It shamed her to admit to being so insular but she’d never once expected the Magic of Friendship to apply to, for lack of a better word, ’The Bad Guys’.
The feel of the cold steel edge pressing against her neck shut her thoughts off.
She heard them.
“We got her...” Khopesh said shakily, disbelief in his voice “We got her...”
“Hreeeeeeee.” Threadbare hissed, cradling his blade.
“So we did.” Almogavar laughed triumphantly, a hoof on the alicorn’s back. “How d’you like that, prissy?!”
As her vision was regained, Twilight saw the serene smile of Corax, joined by the edge of his blade just before jugular.
“Fare thee well, princess.” he said as a normal pony would say ‘Ta-ta for now’.
His grip tightened on the blade.
Everything warped and rippled, like the world suddenly trapped itself in a many-faceted gem.
A sonorous wail like the cry of a peacock filled the air. The hooves of the mercenaries shook, they fell from their quarry and stared as Rarity leapt through the fire, burning blue flame in her eyes.
Throwing her head towards the sky she let loose another booming contralto cry, louder and longer.
Rings of glassy flare flowed out like a pebble dropped into a crystal-clear pond, each one shooting forth with a pounding thrum. Corax, Almogavar, Threadbare, Khopesh and all the other mercenaries were blown back across the street and the ghouls scrambled away from their prey, clutching the sides of their heads and balling up into foetal positions until they slowly faded to nothing.
Rarity’s blazing eyes bore into the foe as she bellowed with ten voices at once.
“BEGONE!”
Almogavar found his hooves, glanced to his fellows and nodded.
“I believe we’ve done all we can here, folks.” he growled “Abort!”
Corax stood on his hind legs as his fellows departed.
He gave an impressed smile.
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” he chuckled “Thou art a maid of most remark, O Rarity fair.”
“I said begone!” the seamstress growled, the streaks of flame steadily dying in her eyes.
“Aye, my lady.” the pegasus bowed and took to wing with one last discourse.
“If we do meet again, why then we shall smile. If not, why then, this parting was well made.”
And with a flick of his wings, he disappeared into the alleys on the wing, spinning and twirling in flight.
As Twilight made a stumbling return to full consciousness, she checked on Rarity with astonishment. Her friend was sitting on her haunches, breathing heavily, her mane hanging low with exertion.
“Oh dear...” the seamstress gasped “That was...rather wearing.”
“Rarity, that...that...Where did you learn that?!” Twilight exclaimed as she clasped Rarity’s shoulders “That’s like...advanced defensive magic! Have you been taking classes?!”
“Twilight dear, do you...do you think we could talk about this after we’ve gotten back home?”
“Oh...yeah, sure.” The alicorn laughed nervously.
“Your highness.” The blue mare Rarity had helped before approached and bowed. Turning to the guards, Twilight took note of the wounded, now healed quite substantially after Rarity’s spell. Though she counted at least half a dozen dead.
Feeling certain there was something in her throat, Twilight nodded and spoke grimly.
“Secure the area. If we can pursue them, do so at a distance. We have reinforcements underway. The city will soon be protected. You’ve done very well, officer...”
“Sergeant Odessa, your highness.”
“I’ll escort you, ma’am.” Blizzard said, loading up his revolving crossbow, his scorched wing tips twitching.
“Thank you.” Twilight rested Rarity’s lolling head on her shoulder “Come on, Rarity. You’ve done enough for one day. Spike must be missing us.”
*
Fluttershy could practically feel her heart thundering against her chest as she cantered down the streets.
How ironic, she thought, that the battle was raging all across the city but she couldn’t find it anywhere.
Taking to the skies would help but that would just leave her completely in the open for the sharpshooter or any other.
But were the others okay? That was the question ringing loudest in her mind.
She could at least speed up on the wing.
Taking off she flew down the streets gracefully, catching the feel of a sudden gust as she turned a corner.
“Eep!”
Thwump!
Pegasus and griffon fell in a heap as Gilda looked up, shook her head and spat feathers.
“Damn it! What the...”
At the sight of the notorious ruffian that had reduced her to tears some time ago, Fluttershy gave a startled squeak.
“I’m sorry, Gilda! I’m sorry I flew into you! Please don’t yell at me!”
“What? Oh, it’s you.” With her avian front legs, Gilda grabbed hold of the dainty little pegasus and got her to her hooves “You wanna’ get outta’ here. This place ain’t safe.”
“You...you’re not with them, are you?
“What?! No!” Gilda shook Fluttershy firmly by the cheek “Get it together, Butters, I’m on your side!”
Fluttershy blinked.
“Flutters.” she mumbled “My friends call me ‘Flutters’, not Butters.”
“Well, whatever it is, I think this clucker’s about to call you ‘dead’.”
Fluttershy’s green eyes widened with terror as a ruddy-coated pegasus with a missing eye, a gold tooth and a machete hovered in the air in front of them. He grinned menacingly, his gold tooth twinkling slightly.
“...‘Ello...” Bloodhound chuckled.
To Fluttershy’s astonishment, Gilda reared up and shielded her, hissing at the mercenary before her.
“Back off, buddy!” she bellowed “I got two pairs of talons, two pairs of paws, a sharp beak and harsh language and I’m not afraid to use any of ‘em! You come any closer, I'll find whatever ponies use to make their eggs and rip yours clean off!”
There was a pause.
Then Bloodhound nonchalantly drew a bolter.
Gilda’s face fell.
“Well...Shoot.” she cursed.
“With pleasure.” Bloodhound sneered as she cocked the bolter.
Cling!
With a metallic screech, the mercenary found it knocked out his hoof as a crossbow bolt found its mark upon its barrel. Its wielder snarled.
“Alright, who did that?!”
“Oi! Flank-wipe!”
The full, formidable figure of Colonel Peregrine dived into battle, putting away a crossbow and drawing the largest battle-axe Fluttershy had ever seen.
Gilda, however, had seen larger but she didn’t let that bother her. For the moment, the axe was on their side and that was what mattered.
Peregrine and Bloodhound clashed in mid-air. Bloodhound held his machete firm, his free hoof pressed against the flat edge of his blade to hold it against the battle-axe’s force.
“Right...” Peregrine barked in his authoritative tone “Now that we’ve established you’re nothing special, I want you to listen good. I am Colonel Rameses G. Peregrine of Her Majesty’s Royal Guard and by the authority invested in me by the Princesses of Equestria and her domains, I want you cowardly scum out of this city! And I want you out now!”
Bloodhound answered with a roar as machete and battle-axe clashed, their wielders circling around each other in aerial dance of death, further and further into the sky till they disappeared into the clouds.
“...cool.” Gilda mumbled.
“PULLET!”
A shrill cry came from a rooftop as an imposing golden-brown male eagle-griffon glared at them imperiously. Behind him, a slighter griffon with deep-blue feathers, a parrot’s beak and a panther hind piped up.
“Ye alright there, Gilda lass?” he spoke with a soft Trottish accent.
“Quiet!” The larger griffon snapped as Gilda scowled and bowed her head slightly.
“I’m alright, Hyacinth,” she said to the parrot-headed griffon before turning to the eagle “Milvio.”
“Lord Milvio!” he snarled “We shall return to our roostings then address the drudges of this dung-heap, immediately! Snap to it, pullet, do not delay! You too, psitacci!” he glared at the blue parrot-griffon before taking to the wing.
“Um...” Fluttershy mumbled “What do we ‘pull’, exactly?”
“No, no, pullet. I’m a pullet, half-pullet anyway. It’s a griffon thing.” she shrugged, spreading her wings “I gotta’ go. Smell ya’ later”
“Wait!”
Fluttershy gripped Gilda’s shoulder in a panic as she drew her gaze away from the battle.
“Where are the girls?!” she asked fearfully “Where’s Rainbow?! You must know!”
“We got separated.” Gilda glanced around “I think she went toward the ‘Restricted Zone’.”
“Okay.” The Bearer of Kindness looked around nervously “Can I help in any way?”
“I think the best thing you can do is find some way to contact your friends and keep together.”
Fluttershy, remembering what she’d meant to do from the start before all this madness, checked the communicator.
It was glowing again.
“Oh! Oh thank goodness!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she brushed her hoof against it and spoke “Girls! Are you there?”
*
Wind billowed through a mane of seven colours.
The skyscrapers of Boulette blurred into a great glass labyrinth as Rainbow Dash swooped and weaved her way across the cityscape, the most capable flyers among the mercenary strike team in hot pursuit.
With a cocky smile and a wry glint in her crimson eyes, the headstrong young pegasus was in her element.
She was only sorry Dumb-Bell, Hoops and Score weren’t here to see this.
Behind her, pegasi, griffons and even one or two more exotic fliers were in pursuit. Here and there, she would make a sharp turn or pull back a sign or window.
Hearing them smack against the obstacle and scream a curse as they fell was really quite satisfying.
Her communicator clip had been fastened to her ear just in case, and sure enough, the gentle sound of her oldest and dearest friend softly sounded.
“Girls, are you okay? Please answer, I’m so worried!”
“Flutters?” Rainbow called above the din of the rushing wind “I’m okay. I made some new friends.”
“Those bucking wings are coming off when we catch up, shorty!” One of the mercenaries yelled behind her.
“See, we’re getting on just fine!” the Bearer of Loyalty chuckled “How did you get the communicators working again?”
“That would be me.” a higher-pitched, chirpier voice interrupted. Pinkie Pie.
“Hi Flutters, Hi Dashie! Me and Lolli got ‘em souped up again. One of those meanies was trying to shut them down but we showed him what for!”
“Nice one, Pinkie. The others okay?”
“Hi girls. I’m with Rarity, afraid she’s a bit worn-out but we’re not too hurt.” Twilight spoke.
“Well, ah’m trying to chase down those varmints but this whole city’s a maze. Ah hope they ain’t in the Restricted Zone.”
“No problem, AJ. That’s where most of our guards are. On that note...” Rainbow Dash caught sight of the towers conjoining the great gates of the Restricted Zone.
Her wings tilting downwards, she dived towards the towers as Lieutenant Jupiter stood up and grimly surveyed the oncoming foe. Raising his mace high, he bellowed out a command.
“All Guns! Open Fire!”
Equestrian guard atop the towers powered up crystal-charged machinery. Trident-shaped arrays span like helicopter blades as lightning crackled and snarled. With an almighty buzz, Lightning Fork Cannons shot forth a chain of debilitating voltage.
The mercenaries caught in the line of fire convulsed in mid-air, open-mouthed and wide-eyed before steadily tumbling to earth, smoking slightly, where Sergeant Volvic and auxiliaries surrounded them with high shields and electric tridents.
Their leader, a blue-grey griffon with the head of a Majesty Crowned Pidgeon, glanced around, thought a moment and threw down her pair of swords, bowing her head in surrender. She was joined by her fellows as the guard cuffed them.
“Sweet.” Rainbow said breathlessly as she gathered herself.
“Very well done, Miss Dash.” Jupiter said with admiration “We’ll take this filth to confinement. The authorities have demanded any prisoner is interrogated with every sanctioned force. You should head back and find the Bearers. The Colonel will address all figures of influence once the city is deemed secure.”
“Thanks, Jupe. You ponies done good.” She smiled as she flicked the communicator “Don’t wait up, girls. I’ll see you at our place.”
*
It was getting on for mid-evening when the Bearers of Harmony reconvened outside the suite. The building itself had been relatively unscathed but the guard had doubled and all staff wore looks of worry. Rainbow found Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy in the main hall, Lafayette and Blizzard Wind accompanying them. The unicorn and alicorn rested against each other while the pegasus practically flew into Rainbow’s forehooves.
“Oh Dashie, I was so worried!” Fluttershy gasped “I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you, I’m sorry I couldn’t find you, I’m sorry-”
“Hey, hey! Slow down, Flutters. It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong.” She looked up “Where are the others?”
“They’ll be arriving shortly.” Twilight said sleepily.
Sure enough, the door swung open as Applejack and Montague entered followed up by Pinkie Pie and Lolli Beats, both mares bouncing jubilantly.
“Who da mares?!” they cried out, striking a pose.
There was a pause.
Twilight raised one eyebrow.
“Yeah, let’s never say that again.” Lolli mumbled as Montague listened into a receiver and spoke up.
“Okay team. That was Jupiter. The Colonel fought off who we think was the ringleader of the encroachers but he’s pretty bloodied up and is requesting all officers report to HQ immediately. All aggressors have left the zone. Reinforcements to arrive in o’ two-hundred hours.”
“Right.” Blizzard Wind placed his helm over his bandaged forehead and bowed.
“Thank you, Bearers of Harmony, this city is saved in no small thanks to you.”
“You’re very welcome, noble officers.” Twilight said sagely “You’ve done Equestria proud.”
As the guards departed and the six friends headed up the stairs, Rainbow paused as he fully caught sight of Fluttershy’s face and the injuries it had sustained.
The bruised eye, the cracked lip, the gash across her cheek.
Rainbow’s voice grew quiet and slightly shaky, her eyes wide and blank with contained fury.
“Shy, who did this?” she whispered “Who hurt you?”
“I-I-It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt anymore, I promise. I’m...I’m just glad you’re okay. I...” As her breath quickened, staring into Rainbow’s concerned eyes, Fluttershy’s head fell into her friend’s shoulder as she covered the bruised side of her face and gently cried.
“I’m sorry.” she whimpered “I didn’t want to cry when the...guards were around. I didn’t want them to worry.”
“It’s okay...” Rainbow gently brushed her friend’s mane with her forehoof as she whispered soothingly, almost motherly “It’s okay. It’s all over now. I’m sure Angel’ll make you feel better. I bet he’s missed you.”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy.” Twilight said, unlocking the door to their room “We’ve got through today and tomorrow we head back home. There’s nothing more to...”
She stopped as the six mares looked into their room.
The remains of a dirty bomb kit lay sprawled about the room. Pieces of shattered ceramic vase lay scattered next to a bedside table. Several bed-sheets had been pulled from the beds. One of the sliding glass doors on the balcony was slightly cracked.
And in the centre of the room, a dragon hatchling and a white rabbit were tying two Boulettan officers, one dark-red, one light-green, to two opposite chairs with the twisted-up bedsheets, balled-up pillowcases stuffed in their mouths as gags.
The two creatures turned to the stunned mares and gave awkward smiles.
“Er...hey.” Spike mumbled “Yeah...funny story.”
*
The butler was very close to ruining his coat-tails when he beheld the full form of Princess Celestia upon the front porch of the stately Invitro Hall.
He let her in without a word.
Princess Celestia gazed around.
She had only visited Invitro Hall twice.
Once so long ago it seemed like ancient history. Indeed, it was ancient history to many, back when Laurelore ruled Equestria and the gifted artist, Count Diaphanous Glass and his beguiling Lady Hour ruled Invitro Hall. They were there to have their likeness encapsulated in magnificent stained glass that to this day decorated the royal palace.
The second time hadn’t been all that long ago. It had been at the wedding of old Count Stained and the late Countess Cylindrica.
Cylindrica had once served as Celestia’s lady-in-waiting, beside the future Chairmare, Petticoat, Fancy Pants’s mother. She’d been such a happy mare with so many stories about her goofy young colt-friend.
Like so many, she drifted away from Celestia as her mortal life cycled on.
Though she remembered the worried letters she’d sent. Letters about how rarely her daughter, Magnifying, smiled or laughed with the family. How she said such nasty things about ponies and how she made those opinions known in such troubling ways.
How she’d find her in the garden...doing things to small creatures.
One of the last letters told a sordid tale of a skinned rabbit found hidden in little Looking Glass’s pillowcase. Nopony knew how it got there but Cylindrica had her suspicions, though it shamed her, and they only grew after she’d heard the laughter from the other daughter’s room.
A child’s laughter. The first time she’d heard it from her.
Celestia’s eyes flickered with a jasmine and amber flame with the memory.
Everything the Glass family had once stood for, all the love they’d had for each other and for Equestria, all destroyed by the spite and hatred of a single member of them, their memory forever tainted.
And even that wasn’t enough for her.
Finding Countess Magnifying Glass wasn’t hard. One simply had to follow the smell of alcohol.
As she neared the smoking-room, two fish-faced young mares, one fat, one thin, stood in front of her.
Monocular and Binocular pouted childishly before their princess.
“You took your time!” Monocular sneered “It’s disgraceful the way the Glass family have been treated!”
“We’ve been humiliated by common ponies and our concerns neglected!” Binocular scoffed “That’s what mother says anyway!”
“And we are entitled to our dead daddy’s inheritance. Its high past the date that the courts can hold onto it! We want it now!”
“Yes! And our share of the glass trade stocks! And our cut from stupid old Irregular’s wages! And our-”
A gilded hoof slammed upon the ceramic floor, leaving a generous crack. As her eyes and mane cracked and blazed. her voice echoed almost demonically through just one word.
“Move.”
Monocular and Binocular blinked, their faces long with terrified grimaces.
Steadily, they shuffled sideways out of her way, scuttling up the stairs and barricading themselves in their rooms.
Walking slowly and almost silently, Princess Celestia found the Countess.
She was hunched over the fireplace in an armchair, a poker in her hoof brushing through the fireplace. She turned slightly, the face of the once-formidable aristocrat twisting in intrigue as she eyed the Princess.
“Why, Princess Celestia.” she said, not hiding her sneer “How very nice of you to pay a visit to our humble home. Shall I show you around? You really get a head of the place when you’ve stuck inside it for seven damn years!”
“You got off lightly, Mrs Glass. I thought so from the beginning and now I’ve never been more certain of it.”
“Countess!” the old mare hissed.
“’Mrs’ Glass will do just fine.” Celestia paced forward “I’ve come to talk. Do not think me completely ignorant. I know what you’ve done...What you are.”
There was a pause. Two very powerful mares looked into each other’s eyes predatorily.
Countess Glass rose from her armchair as a corpse would rise from the grave.
Celestia felt disturbed at the sight of her. Yet she couldn’t help but feel it was befitting.
The grotesque, horrifying creature Magnifying Glass had always been inside was now at the surface for all to see.
“You’ve come to negotiate?” the side of Magnifying Glass’s cracked lips twisted in sick amusement.
“Yes and no.” Celestia stood to her full height, at least a full foot and a half taller than the Countess and spoke in her Princess voice.
Unlike Luna’s thunderous bellow, Celestia’s voice was calm but firm, assuring listeners that they would put up with no hint of dissent and needing very little to let them imagine the consequences of trying her patience.
Alone, in a quiet room, it was more frightening than a hundred Nightmare Moons.
“Where is Cascadius?”
There was another pause.
The Countess blinked four times in swift succession.
Then she gave a sickly smile and strangulated snigger.
“You’re asking for my help now?”
“No.” Celestia replied “I’m demanding it.”
“Demand?” the Countess’s eye twitched “You...demand to me?”
“I do. And if you have a shred of sense, you’ll comply.”
“You...” The old mare’s face contorted between amusement and insult “Do you really imagine that I’m afraid of you?”
“Do you really imagine I can’t make you afraid of me?”
The Countess took a deep breath, raising one eyebrow arrogantly.
“...’your highness’...We are both figures of power. There’s only one key difference. I know how to use that power. You do not. Nor have you ever wanted to. And power is like a password or a secret door. We have to use it as often as we can...or we forget it’s there.”
“Abusing power is not testament to strength.”
“Ha!” The Countess tossed her head with a chuckle “You’re starting to sound just like my father. I always found that phrase so amusing, ‘Abuse of power’. Only ponies like him...and you...could see power as some kind of terrible, addictive substance you need to steer clear of. It must be some kind of defence mechanism...to hide the fact that you’re just scared.”
This time, Celestia raised an eyebrow.
“Are we?”
“Dear Princess, let me enlighten you on something. Since the financial crisis some two dozen years ago, you and your family have had...surprisingly little power in Canterlot. And the reason for that is that you don’t understand power. And you always fear what that you don’t understand.”
“I have seen what the lust for power does to others.”
“What, from your sister? Who’s to say power did that to her?” Magnifying Glass cocked a smug smile “Who’s to say she wasn’t just a bad pony from the start? Why not? That’s what they said about me.”
One could practically hear the teeth of Celestia grinding against each other from behind her tight lips.
“I looked into your finances.” she said emotionlessly “I unravelled the web.”
“Impressed?”
The Princess closed her eyes a moment and replied.
“I wondered for years...since the beginning...why did nopony in this city raise a hoof to stop you? Therein I found the answer.” she sighed “When you sent your father to the mental wards, you took over the debts everypony once owed him. You threw his generosity back in their faces and set up a city-wide blackmailing scheme. Everypony of note would let you have your way or they’d lose everything.”
“Well, obviously discretion doesn’t do wonders if you want to prove something.” the Countess shrugged “It was enough for all my father’s associates to understand things would be very different now. But a certain Chairmare wasn’t very smitten with the idea.” she shook her head “I’m afraid I didn’t like her attitude at all. What happened next ensured there’d no misunderstandings among the elite.”
She leaned in forward, her yellow eyes like pools of sulphur, her voice like the growls of a hungry scavenger.
“That’s...real...power.”
Celestia scowled.
“Have you any shred of regret?”
“No. Does that surprise you?”
“As we speak, hundreds could be losing their lives thanks to the monsters you believed you could command.”
“Thousands, I should think...or rather, hope.”
“Why?” Celestia shook her head “Why do you hope that? What do you gain from this slaughter?!”
“Satisfaction of a point well-made.” The Countess answered without pausing “You denied me my authority, in my family, in the court, in Canterlot. This is what happens when ponies deny me something. I’ve spent my whole life demonstrating the dangers of such an action.”
Celestia’s eyes flickered again as she spoke bitterly.
“You are a poisonous, hateful old hag without a heart.”
The Countess tilted her head and replied.
“And you’re a spoiled, brainless, little pay-ride with no knowledge of the world you believe you rule.” She gave a smirk “We can continue this all day and you can either carry on with this ridiculous ‘ever-so-princessly’ false tranquillity or grunt, hiss and snarl in a frenzy but the end result is the same...” She held out a forehoof and smiled with discoloured teeth and wide yellow eyes in a way she must have thought looked triumphant.
“You can’t touch me.”
Princess Celestia placed a hoof on Magnifying Glass’s shoulder.
The Countess’s smile faded. Her face became blank, staring at the hoof at her shoulder.
Celestia stepped forward, causing the Countess to shuffle back in her grip.
The alicorn could practically hear the quickening heart-beat of the mare before her.
"Magnifying Glass..." Celestia said with a tone of utter tranquillity, her face relaxed, utterly at peace "Do you know why I choose not to act on the power you criticize me for not using? It's because...I believe that a ruler should show self-control, solve problems through reason and compassion, give before taking and build a better world through it...and many others believe that as well. Luna says that I ought to be the elder sister, thinking first and making decision based on logic and fair judgement. Cadence says that ponies look for a ruler they can look up to. Fancy Pants says that the key to keeping focussed is self-awareness and composure. And Laurelore...she taught me so much. And I try. I want you to know that I really do try to live up to their expectations...but..." she took a step forward.
"When I think of the Bearers...Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and my dear apprentice, Twilight Sparkle...who, without them, I would not have the strength to rule this kingdom...threatened with death, forced to witness the worst side of conflict by those who spit on the ideals of harmony..."
She took another step.
"And when I think I think of Fancy Pants who I have watched grow into a gallant and selfless stallion who has improved every good pony’s life since he acquired his cutie mark...and remember the pain and heartbreak and tragic loss he suffered at the hooves of your family...and the two wondrously kind and giving ponies taken from this world in the same way..."
Another step.
"And little Derpy Doo who is so precious to all of us that there are times we believe she was Bonnycorn's gift to life itself...and every day she’s spent helping others and doing all she should to look after her friends, her town, and her truly magical family...and I think of how many years she dealt with your coldness and abuse, the torment she suffered because of your pomposity and spite...what it could have done to her if she hadn't come to Ponyville..."
Another step.
"And Ponyville itself, so beautiful and peaceful...filled with every kind of pony and so welcoming to those outside...how it has changed for the better with the help of so many good ponies, devoted to the ideals of harmony, how many friendships have been made and flourished in that town...and I think of it ground to dust and its ponies separated from each other, brought down to nothing simply because you wished it so...When I think of that...and all others who’ve suffered in this mad cycle...all because of you..."
She briefly looked round the room and inhaled deeply.
"That’s...when...I...get...MAD!"
With a brazen clang, Celestia’s gilded hoof smashed like a sledgehammer into the side of Countess Magnifying Glass’s face. The old mare sailed across the smoking-room and crashed into a chest of drawers, lying in a heap, clutching her cheek with pained gasps.
She found herself lifted up by her collar as Celestia’s blazing eyes bore into her own.
“Where’s Cascadius?” she asked again.
The Countess squawked with pain and fury.
“Argh...Oh...You Plot!”
She found herself flying across the room again, slamming into the side of the wall.
She was grabbed again before she hit the ground.
“Where is he hiding?”
“I...” the Countess gasped “I don’t know!”
The world rushed in circles for Magnifying Glass as Celestia swung her into the coffee table, smashing it to pieces. The alicorn towered over her.
“Where did you find him? Who did he direct you to? What did he tell you?!”
“Please!” The Countess held up shaking forehooves “He didn’t tell me anything!”
“YOU LIE!” Celestia roared as the Countess was hauled in the air, shoved against the hard stone above the fireplace and pressed, slowly.
“Tell me what he told you...” the alicorn demanded “Tell me now!”
“Please...I...I don’t...” The Countess screamed as she felt the sides of her skull nearly squashing in on themselves as magic from one side and hard stone on the other trapped her head in mid-air “He never told me anything, I swear...I never asked...I told him to do anything...he did it. He always did it until...”
“Until he took control.” Celestia shook her head “Pathetic.”
The glow around her horn dissipated and the Countess fell to the floor, gasping for air, nursing bruises and staunching gashes, her horn glowing crimson as she slowly healed herself, unmoving.
“You believed you could command him like a pet when the leash you believed was yours never existed to begin with.” The Princess spat “Well, let me assure you. There are far worse things to fear than Cascadius.”
The Countess glowered at her, her bruises dark and angry.
“What makes you think I fear him?!” she hissed.
“Countess...” Celestia sighed “If I fear him, the Bearers fear him and the Doctor fears him...WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU DON’T?!"
Magnifying Glass flinched, bowing her head, staring at the floor obligingly until the danger passed.
“You’re useless. To them, to me, to all.” Celestia said with contempt “If nothing else, I’ve shown you how much power you actually have this night. The horde you brought to our gates has already begun its slaughter but we will defeat them, I can assure you of that. And when we do, you will have nothing left to hide behind. Know that the rules of Royal Equestria are very different in times of war. When your house arrest ends, you’d better hope you’re a fast runner and a light sleeper. Because when this war you wrought is ended, you will stand trial for every crime the records your pet sent me reveal you to have committed. And once you are found guilty of high treason, which you very much will be...” She let the silence seep a moment before turning towards the door, two final words ending her visit.
“...you’ll hang.”
When Celestia slammed the door behind her, the mural depicting the Banishment of the Bonnycorn shattered, falling to so many pieces on the floor, it was practically powderised.
Silence reigned Invitro Hall.
The Countess sat in the armchair a while, turning back towards the fireplace as her wounds healed.
Her horn occupied, her hooves slowly reached out and clasped the poker, still resting in the burning wood.
It was red hot.
She stared at it, looking deep into the burning metal, seeing her niece crying, screaming, hooves raised in a plea for mercy.
‘Fsssh!’
The poker toppled over and fell back into the burning logs.
The Countess was quiet.
She’d seen her niece, weeping and fearful, just as she needed her to be.
She’d been so close.
Her hooves had reached out to grab at nothing.
Her neck had craned forward where she’d bitten thin air.
With blank, dead eyes, Countess Magnifying Glass slowly retrieved the red-hot poker and stood up, corpse-like. Small, faint hisses came from when she looked down the poker and droplets of her drool evaporated on the searing surface.
Step by step, her body swaying morbidly, she walked to the vacant great hall where just before the staircase, the great portrait of her sister and her family stood in paint.
A smiling baby Irregular sat happily between her adoring parents. One of her eyes pointed towards the end of the staircase.
Looking at her.
Mocking her.
‘Drrrong...’
The Countess’s ears pricked as she froze.
The bells of Canterlot, built into the New Arch of Unity after the Crystal War, sounding the end of the old hour and the beginning of the new one.
‘Drrrong...’
It was seven-at-night.
The Countess inhaled deeply.
Her eye twitched.
‘Drrrong...’
She exhaled deeply and spoke, not knowing whether it was out loud or in her head.
“Ring on...”
The poker raised before the portrait.
‘Drrrong...’
“For births that lead to early deaths...”
‘Drrrong...’
“For marriages made in hell...”
‘Drrrong...’
“And for the coming in of every year that brings this accursed world closer to its end...”
‘Drrrong...’
The final toll blotted out the hissing tear and the hellish crackle as the poker plunged itself into baby Irregular’s eye. The smiling face twisted and blackened as the portrait caught fire, the flames eating away at the happy family whose painted likeness had always mocked and disgusted Invitro Hall’s owner since its creation.
Staring motionless as the painting burned, Magnifying Glass sighed.
“Would that it had come...before tonight.”