//------------------------------// // Chapter 46 // Story: The Tome of Faust // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// The fighting was as thick as it was fierce. With most of the ground forces lacking the mobility he was used to, Hurricane found himself unable to move his soldiers effectively. Ponies were dropping by exhaustion and dying from spells while the Knight’s heavy charges pushed the Legionnaires back again and again. Over the past five hours, the swelled and lulled, each side taking short breaks as they pushed forward the reserves to give the soldiers a minute to rest. Still, Commander Hurricane did not have a hopeful outlook. The Knights and their continuous charges had decimated his troops, the heavy infantry units trampling his Legionnaires every time they took the field. He looked up from the unicorn he just finished dispatching, barely in time to see the Knights forming up for another charge. It would take a miracle to survive this. He raised his sword, bellowing out the order for a charge when two faint crashes of thunder rolled behind him. “We are Forever Free!” Baron Jet rand into the cave, panting as his bodyguard held off the guard behind him. He knew the earth pony would hold off the guard for as long as he could, but he’d have to be quick if he was going to find… A pony was waiting for him. A unicorn, both hooded a cloaked, stood just in front of a massive, crystalline tree. Leaf-like bulbs hung from the branches, glowing softly in the darkness, and cutting the figure of the pony in front of the Baron in sharp contrast. He stood at the base of the trunk, staring straight at the cave entrance. “Wait,” the Baron said. “I know you. You’re Ghost; you’re the assassin.” The unicorn shook his head. “I am Mouse. I am no one important.” “I don’t care what you call yourself,” the Baron said. “You’re the assassin I hired! I gave you all the money you needed! All I asked you to do was not to interfere!” Mouse said nothing. “What kind of assassin are you?” the Baron asked. “I asked you to bring this country down, and here you are, helping them!” Mouse said nothing. “Did they pay you more than I did? Is that it? Because if it’s a matter of money, I will triple what they’re paying you.” Mouse shook his head. “They’re not paying me.” “They’re not paying you?” he asked, scandalized. “You’re doing this for free? You’re just doing this because you want to?” “I have to,” Mouse replied. “Why? Because your precious little kingdom is so perfect? Because you all get to live in harmony? Do you have to stand here, against me, to be some kind of hero? This country is doomed! This ridiculous idea will never last. It needs the power of Unicornia to back it if it has any chance at all! You’re not going to make it without us! Your society is not going to make it!” “No, I’m not a hero,” Mouse said. “I never will be. But you’re not here to help us, either.” The Baron blinked for a moment. “You’re not here to help Equestria. You want to, in your own way,” Mouse said. “You want to make Equestria the puppet state of Unicornia. You’re going to write Princess Gold as the founder that helped make Equestria, before having it turn its army to help her take the throne. You want to send Equestria and her soldiers to your war, before turning us into your servants.” “You...you read the Tome, didn’t you?” The Baron said. “I did,” Mouse said. “I know why you’re here. I even know why you’re really here.” The Baron frowned. “What do you mean?” “You hate Equestria,” Mouse said. “You want to send our soldiers to their death so that you can get your revenge.” “Revenge? Revenge for what?” “Your mother,” Mouse answered simply, “and your younger brother.” “I have no brother,” Baron Jet scowled. “Not one you ever met,” Mouse said. “No, twenty-three years ago, your mother and father, in an attempt to incite the Equestrians to join the Golden Revolutionaries, started a riot. They were arrested and thrown into the prisons beneath Canterlot. There, your mother gave birth to your younger brother, who had to be left behind when your parents escaped.” “Alright, enough!” Baron Jet said. “You’ve made your point. I’m not here to be the hero either. But, if your country has any hope of surviving you are going to have to—” “Twenty-three years ago, I was born in the Canterlot prisons, to a Baron and his wife, just a few weeks before they escaped to Unicornia,” Mouse said. The Baron said nothing. “You...you’re bluffing,” he said finally. “It doesn’t matter if I am or not, does it?” Mouse asked. “Because I’m still standing here against you, and you’re still standing against me.” “Then why tell me?” Jet asked. “Why tell me if it doesn’t matter?” “Because I’m tired,” Mouse said. “I’m tired of killing, tired of stealing, tired of sneaking, tired of everything that I’ve been doing since I’ve left that prison. I’m tired, and I can at least hope that you’ll stop right now if I tell you.” Mouse sighed, before drawing his knives, the sickle-like blades shining in the light of the tree. “Though we both know that’s not the case, is it?” The Baron frowned, before pulling his own blade free of its scabbard. “No, no, it’s not.” The two began to circle each other, and Mouse’s mind wandered back to the lessons that Demon ran him through all those months ago. “Remember your range, and be aware of theirs. Once you have something that works, make it work for you as many times as you can. Move toward the enemy’s back so that you can control the battle.” The Baron definitely should have a greater range. The sword was longer than either of his knives, but Mouse already tried to wear the Baron out. With any luck, the Baron would not be able to extend his telekinetic range far enough to take the advantage. Mouse, meanwhile, was fresh. He could expend more energy on using his own telekinesis. Keeping this in mind, Mouse took one more second to breathe before he struck. He sent one of the knives flying across the cave, and the Baron parried it with a single, efficient action. Even as he slapped the knife to the side, he was already moving, closing the distance with a few loping strides, before swinging his own blade, which Mouse only barely caught with his other knife. And so the dance began. Baron Jet’s movements were quick and practiced. His years' worth of training shone through with every cut, parry, and riposte. His smooth footwork left little for Mouse to take capitalize on. Still, Mouse’s knives and his telekinetic range made a spinning wall of death that barely managed to keep the Baron at bay. “Once you have something that works, make it work for you as many times as you can.” Mouse tried to find something that he could use, and already he had an idea forming in his head. As soon as he had something he could work with, he could begin to take control of the fight, even for just a minute, and that would be enough. The Baron thrust his blade forward, and Mouse took his chance. As the sword shot forward, Mouse leaped back but kept his knives close to the sword. The beat, one that seemed to last for a minute to Mouse, stretched on before he made his move. One of the knives, with its magic-eating blade, shot around, cutting across the handle of the sword, and ate the magical grip, causing the weapon to fall. The Baron’s composure broke for a second, as he scrambled for the blade, catching it before it hit the ground, but not before Mouse’s second knife slashed at the Baron’s neck. Jet just managed to save his life, the point of the knife grazing his fur, but Mouse already sent the message. You cannot thrust at me. The Baron growled and took the challenge. He brought his blade around before thrusting again. Mouse answered back, with cutting off the Baron’s magic, even as the Baron recovered, faster this time, and raising the blade to block the strike Mouse was going to make. Except Mouse punched the Baron in the face instead. As the Baron reeled, be backed up to make space between the two. Mouse stood ready, his knives prepared to rip into the Baron, but for now, he had control of the fight, and that’s where Demon would want him to be. The Baron leveled his blade again, before he slowly leveled his sword, and charged once more. The fight began again, the Baron trying new attacks and swings to try and seize back the control of the battle, frustrated that Mouse could take it so easily with the help of magical weapons. Mouse, meanwhile, tested these new strikes, prodding them for weaknesses he could exploit. He had something that worked, and he had to use it until it didn’t work anymore, and hopefully, the Baron would die before then. However, it quickly became clear that the Baron was not going to let Mouse capitalize on this much longer. He kept his swings short and swift, changing his style entirely from the graceful motions to quick, stunted movements. The shorter moves meant that Jet could recover faster from any time that Mouse took his magic away. Still, it did give Mouse the edge he needed. Now limited, the Baron was on equal footing, and Mouse could force the unicorn where he wanted. Though with his new strategy, the Baron was already starting to adapt. Baron Jet rushed forward again, swinging for Mouse’s neck. The thief caught the blade in one of his daggers, while the other went to cut the baron’s magic free. As the knife flew forward, the baron dropped his hoof down onto it, pinning the dagger to the ground. Mouse had just enough time to blink, before the sword spun around the blade, and bit deep. Mouse went spinning under the blow, the cut burning deep into his side as blood covered the roots of the great crystal tree. Honestly, that was probably the only reason he still breathed. He staggered a second before falling to the floor. “It doesn’t matter,” the Baron said, worn out by the choppy movements Mouse forced him to follow, “if you’re my brother.” He exhaled in a long, exhausted breath. “It doesn’t matter, because you’re standing in my way.” Mouse coughed. Jet walked over to him before casting a quick spell. His horn rang with magic before his eyes flashed, and his gaze fell back on Mouse. “You have the book on you, don’t you?” Mouse said nothing, before rolling the smaller stallion over, rubbing his wound in the dirt of the cave. “You fool,” Jet said, pulling the Tome from Mouse’s magical bag. “Did you think you were going to be the hero in this story? That you were going to stop me from destroying your home?” Mouse said nothing. The baron stood before the tree and opened the book. The pages flipped open, moving as though a great wind blew through before it began to float on its own, sitting just before the tree. “Hear me, Fate!” The Baron commanded as the ritual began its work. “Listen to my words!” The five, colored gems in the tree’s branches, possibly some kind of fruit, began to glow and shine, before shafts of light shot out of them, all pointing straight toward the book. “Obey me, Time, and submit yourself!” The wind that flipped through the pages began to howl, whipping past the baron. “I command that you are rewritten! I demand that your works be redone! Obey my wishes, and bend to my desires!” The book shook as the Baron made his demands, and the pages flipped back, filling with words of the past when Princess Platinum was first born. “I wish for Princess Platinum to be erased from existence, instead give her fate to Princess Gold, that she might instead rule Equestria and take back the throne that was hers!” Lightning struck from inside the cave, arcing off the walls as pure magical power thrummed against the walls. The Baron found himself squinting as the light around him became too bright to see through before a long, ghostly hoof appeared. It reached out, slowly, pointing down to the open page, ready to rewrite history itself. “This world will obey my demands!” the Baron cried before a cutting edge plunged into his back. He turned to see one of the crescent daggers plunged into his back, held there by the magical aura of the thief, who stood on his shaking legs, blood pouring out of his side. “No, I’m not the hero. I’m a footnote in history. I’m just an assassin that killed a nobody noble.” The Baron blinked, before he fell to the ground, dead. “Just like you said, Demon. Get behind them,” Mouse said, “it works every time…” The Tome still floated before him, crackling with energy, and the spectral hoof waited for its orders. He stood there, staring at it for a long second. All of history sat before him now, and at its forefront was his life. He could see the words that marked his birth and childhood in front of him, and, more importantly, the winds of fate itself were listening to him. He could change it all right now if he wanted, he could finally have the simple life he wanted. He could finally just relax and leave this all behind. He could live as a noble, with his parents in Unicornia and never have to worry about any of this. He stared at the arm for a second, before calling out. “Hear me, Fate. Listen to my words.” Fate was listening. Mouse could take it back. Honestly, he could. He could leave this to some other poor schmuck, but if that pony was missing a nail, then the soldier would be lost, and then the battle, then the war. Besides, did it matter now that he already won? It wasn’t really a choice. He could go back and make all of this struggle null and void. He could let someone else deal with it, but now that he won, trying to change it now would only give whoever would take his place to have the chance to fail. No, it really wasn’t a choice. But honestly, right now, he didn’t care anymore. “Keep everything as you wrote it; change nothing.” The hoof retracted, and the book closed shut before the cave exploded in light. “Forever Free! Forever Free!” the call went up. The Unicornian Knights charged again, trampling the Legionnaires and scattering the others as they tried to get out of the way. There was only one pony that stood in the way. Commander Hurricane himself, balancing on his hind legs as the Knights charged, his sword up in defense, screaming at the oncoming charge. He shouted, defying them to take him down, daring them to trample him. And then a streak of white, golden light landed in front of him. The knights went flying as Celestia landed in the middle of the battlefield. Luna landed beside her, and the pair glared out over the soldiers. Not a single pony moved as the two goddesses stared them down. Celestia glanced across the field, before turning back to Luna, who looked up at her with pleading eyes. The elder sighed before speaking aloud. “Let it now be known, I, Celestia, and my sister, Luna, shall now watch over the country of Equestria. There will be no further bloodshed today.” Both forces looked at her, mouths agape before Celestia sighed again. “Go, Lulu,” she said. “Go chase after that guard you saw. I’ll take care of everypony else.” Luna nodded before she shot back into the air, heading back to the ravine just outside of their Castle. When they left earlier, she swore she saw a pony; the guard Mouse had brought with him when he came to the castle a second time. She crossed the forest beneath her quickly, before she found herself staring down the ravine. At the bottom, her keen eye picked out the form of Golden, slowly making her way toward the castle. Luna landed beside her, and the guard looked up. “Luna, your holiness, please! I need you to take me to the Castle; Mouse might be in danger!” The lunar princess wasted no time; she grabbed the wounded pony and took her to the cave. They entered, both of them, with Golden limping behind, only to find the Tree of Harmony standing alone. There was not a body, nor a bloodstain through the entire room. “He came here?” Luna asked. “He said he had to stop the Baron here, and he crossed the bridge before I managed to stop him. They should both be here,” Golden replied. Luna searched the chamber, while Golden approached the tree. Luna checked the branches, the corners, the far walls, everything, but she could find no sign of Mouse anywhere. “Nothing, I’ve found nothing.” Golden sighed. “Then I guess we’ll just have to keep looking.”