Never Lucky

by Ferris the 1st


Chapter 34: In the Dying of the Light...

Flames licked across the outer wall of Equestria's capital and even from here, I could see the surge of guardsponies rushing to the scene. Standing beside the resting form of the solar princess, I watched in horror as the fire rose in the wake of the explosion that had sparked them.

The horror intensified as the air above Canterlot shimmered and parted like a veil of water around the prows of airships. I gaped at them, realizing that there must have been at least twenty of them and all of them bore a flag with a black sun. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! There was no way that Sunslayer had that many supporters!

As if she were reading my mind, Celestia spoke, “Equestria's enemies are often eager to flock to a banner against us... Sunslayer has been a patient foe and now he moves for the checkmate. No doubt he had called in all of his allies,” she gestured toward the airships, floating on giant balloons reinforced with steel, “I recognize the build of those ships. They were originally part of the Storm King's attack.”

I took in that information with a gulp. I'd only heard bits and pieces about the Storm King and his occupation of Canterlot. At the time, said king hadn't been thorough in bringing every little village under his control, so I'd only seen the effects from afar. Still, that didn't bode well. It was also disturbing that he had access to magic that could hide that many ships at once.

Movement beside me told me that Celestia had risen, but it was the sudden flash of magic that startled me. I tried to look at her, but I found my body unresponsive. I panicked, trying to shift at all, but unable to move an inch. While I freaked out internally, her voice entered my ears, “I'm sorry, Lucky, but I need you to stay quiet and out of sight for this... and I can't trust you not to do something foolish...” Another flash of magic before golden magic surrounded me and moved me to a corner of the room. Straining my eyes as best I could, I noticed that I couldn't see my body anymore.

Minutes ticked by as I began to hear the sounds of mass hysteria closing in. More explosions rocked the air and a deep thrum of an airship crept up to the tower. From my position, I watched as Celestia opened a portion of the massive window in front of her before stepping back.

A white-feathered gryphon wearing his signature mask landed in the room a moment later. Sunslayer and Celestia stared at one another while the former place his pilfered polearm perpendicular to the ground and leaned on it. Celestia's gaze briefly shot to the weapon with a disgusted look before her face changed to one of reserved disappointment.

Sunslayer was the first to break the...relative silence against the din of fear outside, “I expected more from you, Celestia. For all the stories that caution against stirring your wrath, here you stand, alone and unmoving. Your rigid pacifism is set to crumble around you and still you refuse to bring your power to bare?”

Celestia's reply was cold and sharp, “Would you have me burn away everything? Fire is not something to resort to, Sunslayer. If you are not careful, you will find yourself burned and even if you manage to avoid that, fire is insidious. Yes, perhaps I could bring the wrath of the sun down upon you and your allies... but my own subjects would be destroyed as well...”

“Acceptable casualties,” Sunslayer retorted, making me wish I could bristle, “according to legend, you were not so reserved a thousand years ago. You have grown soft, your highness, and now your past returns to haunt you...”

“Yes,” the princess intoned with a pointed look at the Reach of Sol, “it does. Listen to me, Sunslayer. I have walked the path that you find yourself on. I once thought myself above it all with the power I wielded and let my pride blind me. It nearly cost me everything...”

“Nothing that you could not afford to lose,” the gryphon snarked, “you could have ruled the world, Celestia. Bent it to your design and forced your harmony upon it. All you would have had to do was sacrifice a few pawns. They call you the great chess-master; surely you understand the concept?”

“But those pawns you sacrifice have the potential to be much more. To rid yourself of all your pawns weakens you far more than you could possibly imagine.” Celestia allowed herself a small smirk.

“Enough,” thundered Sunslayer as he unfurled his wings aggressively, “I did not come here to trade barbs with a living relic! If you will stand by your foolish ideals so stubbornly, then know this: I still have some of your ponies as prisoners. Surrender your magic to me, or I shall turn them into nothing but glassed earth just as I did with the bumbling foal who was kind enough to retrieve the spear for me!”

Silence reigned for a long moment between them and I quietly encouraged Celestia to blast Sunslayer with all the magic she had. If he wanted it so bad, give it to him the most violent way possible. Of course, if she'd done that, she wouldn't have been our beloved princess. I watched in horror as Celestia gave a short nod and lowered her head to offer her horn to Sunslayer, whom eagerly pressed the tip of his weapon to it.

A spark passed between the two and I watched Sunslayer burst into flame. I wanted to whoop, thinking that the crazy gryphon had just been given the most literal lessons in playing with fire. Then he started to laugh within the fire while Celestia collapsed limply to the floor. Her cutie mark was gone.

The fire swirled around Sunslayer, charring the floor beneath him and causing me to sweat a bit from the proximity. Slowly, it pulled in toward the gryphon, dying down until it closed in around his form fully. Fire continued to flick off of his stretched wings and a crown of flames danced across his skull. Meanwhile, the Reach of Sol glowed with a radiant light.

“I knew you were powerful, princess,” Sunslayer admired between laughs, “but this is... everything I could ever need and more. This whole retched world will kneel before me or burn! I will do what you could not and finish off the greatest threats this world has ever known!”

His laughter was turning more and more crazed as admired his new fiery look. Celestia was struggling just to lift her head, but the expression on her face was... pity? She looked upon the sun-powered bird-cat and weakly told him, “This is your last chance, Sunslayer. Don't do this.”

“You're in no position to making demands of me princess,” Sunslayer gloated as he turned toward the window, “and I'm going to make sure that they all know it. With all the power you've claimed over the years, not even your precious sister, your naive student, or your boorish niece can stop me! They will all burn for your sins!”

With that said, he dove from the window in a flurry of feathers. As his laughter faded into the distance, I found my body returning to my control even as my form shimmered back into existence. I rushed to the fallen princess and gently helped her back to her hooves.

“Why,” I demanded in a mixture of fear and rage, “why did you give up your magic!?” I couldn't help it. It was like watching the world fall apart at my hooves and knowing that it was my fault. I should have just chucked the damn thing into the lava when I had the chance. Now there was a loose-canon wielding the magic of an alicorn in a fancy stick!

Celestia turned her face to me, looking far more tired than she had a second ago. She smiled at me, “For the same reason that you couldn't sacrifice Martial. And because I trust in you Lucky.”

“Trust in me!? This is all my fault and I'm not going to be able to fight him! Especially not when he's all flamey like that! What could you possibly trust me to do!?”

Her smile took on a devious look and I found myself thinking about how misplaced it was in the current situation. Lifting one hoof, she hooked it around my shoulders and said, “To blunder your way to victory.” With that, Princess Celestia, alicorn of the sun, and wise ruler of Equestria... pushed me out the window. Between not expecting it and the fact that I looked like a foal next to her, it didn't take much effort.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKK!” was the only sound I could come up with as I fell. The fall wasn't a long one before I struck another unsuspecting form. Fire crackled on either side of me as I slammed into Sunslayer from the swoop he'd been going into to reach the airship hovering below the tower.

He grunted in surprise as my sudden weight threw him to one side and sent both of us crashing through the glass of another window. Rolling as a pair across the floor, I unintentionally introduced Sunslayer to the staircase from earlier. We must have looked utterly rediculous going heads over tails as we bounced down the steps.

After a small eternity of the world spinning, we finally crashed into the open hallway. Groaning and cursing at every motion, I stood up and the action was mirrored by the other living creature in the room. Oh, he was livid. The angry gryphon whirled on me in a fury, “Who dares to-,” he stopped short, beak parted in disbelief, “You!?”

Me,” I shouted back in a knee-jerk reaction, throwing my hooves up “surprised? So am I!” It was about this point that I realized that Mr. Flamey was a little less... on fire now. The empty space in his talons made my eyes widen as I looked around. Unfortunately, the Spear of Fiery Doom was missing currently.

The saber at his side wasn't. He drew it in a flash, his eyes twitching behind his mask, “What does it take to kill you!?” he snarled at me, his feathers puffing up a bit.

“You know, at this point, I'm not sure,” I answered in the sort of fear that makes you say stupid things, “but I'll be sure to let you know when I figure it out.”

“Oh, no,” he growled as he started stalking toward me, “this time we're going to find out together. This time I am going to finish the job and carve you to pieces! Then I'm going to set those pieces on fire, lock them in separate anti-magic boxes, and bury you in segments across the world.”

“That sounds like a lot of effort. Maybe we could just not?” The shrill avian cry of wrath I received in return told me that he wasn't against that sort of effort....