I was thoroughly enjoying sky-dancing with Rainbow Dash as Marklestia. While my lightning talent as a stallion now matched or even exceeded that in my mare body, only my Celestial form could keep up with the Element of Loyalty. We still delighted in times like these which had become rarer due to how complicated and busy both our careers had gotten.
Today, though, we had an ulterior motive. I defy Grogar or anyone else to keep up with us, let alone eavesdrop, while we were rocketing through the sky and pirouetting in our spontaneous dance. It was a virtual certainty that we were able to exchange information and orders without being overheard.
My next stop after we had parted ways was one of the backup mirror portal rooms. I dropped my invisibility spell only after landing in front of the cave entrance in the Everfree and venturing inside. With reasonable confidence that my location was unknown, I switched back to being a stallion and stepped into the anthro world. This portal was not the same one that Rarity and I used to take on anthro forms, so I was still my regular alicorn self when I emerged. My destination today was the Canterlot Throne Room where I hoped to have an unscheduled meeting with the local Princess Celestia.
I had never met this version of the Alicorn of the Sun although the Diarchs were aware of us. So far, we had only dealt with their Princess Twilight Sparkle who had taken it upon herself to be the liaison between our worlds. What I needed went a bit beyond friendly relations, so she accompanied me to the capital to ensure a meeting would happen. The Mark Wells of this world had described this Celestia to me and, if anything, he had been restrained in his description of her voluptuous appearance. She was conspicuously more so than my own anthro Marklestia form, and that’s saying something! Aside from the familiar regalia that our alicorn wore, she was just as nude as every other pony. The thing that bemused me was how little I was turned on by the sight. I could only assume that I was so thoroughly ponified that I found quadrupedal mares sexier now, except for a certain Element of Generosity.
Stop thinking those thoughts, Mark. Now’s definitely not the time!
We had a relatively short meeting and Celestia agreed to discuss my request for aid with her sister and let me know in what ways they could contribute to our defense. I had come prepared with a detailed report that they could review at leisure. Meanwhile, I hastened to return to my dimension before my absence was noted.
On the way out of the Throne Room, I ran into my counterpart and we shared a fist-to-hoof bump. As we walked back to my portal, Anthromark explained that Celestia and Luna had basically conscripted him, much to his Trixie's displeasure. He strategized the future of his Equestria by evaluating new technologies from different dimensions. Anthromark also filled the role that Shining Armor and I teamed up to do in my realm: dragging the military into the modern age. He promised to look over my report with the diarchs and pass on any novel strategies they could devise.
I stepped through the portal mirror and emerged not into Canterlot Castle but Discord’s War Room instead. After a moment’s disorientation, I realized that I wasn’t the only one there. Twilight was seated at the table along with a couple of other familiar faces.
“See, Path? Proof positive that anypony can be an alicorn if they try,” the griffon said.
I grinned as I trotted up to them. “Sure, Free Agent, but you wouldn’t believe the crap you have to go through to earn a horn.”
The griffon rolled his eyes. “Don’t I know it!”
What? Never mind – I could hear that story later.
I turned to his earth pony companion and hoof-bumped him. “Hi, Long Path. I didn’t expect Twilight to drag you here.”
He gave me a lopsided smile. “She didn’t. A certain draconequus of our acquaintance had a paw in this.”
“No big surprise there. So, has Twilight finished filling you in yet?”
“Yes, and I can tell you that House Path will be fully behind your efforts to defend Equestria against Grogar. Helping in situations like yours is virtually our mission statement. We’ll start organizing our resources immediately. However, in the meantime, I suggest hooking you up with our technology expert, Techbird. In light of what has happened to your Celestia and Luna, they will need something to make up for the loss of their powers.”
“I thought that they would be contributing only with their experience and previous knowledge of Grogar’s methods.”
Free let out a cawing laugh. “You really think those two will sit back and let you do all the fighting?”
I thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Good point. What did you have in mind?”
Path said, “Techbird built my power armor. It’s so good that I can even fly, and it has been proven in battle. I figure that if she can make something that good for a magicless pony like me, she shouldn’t have any problem doing the same for the Royal Sisters too.”
I frowned. “That sounds pretty awesome, but will she have the time to do it? We figure that Grogar must be pretty close to making his big move.”
“You haven’t seen Techbird in action. With the full resources of House Path at her disposal, she can accomplish near miracles.”
“She’s scary good,” agreed Free.
“I’ll second that,” said Twilight, but not the one sitting next to me. I turned to see a second purple alicorn entering the room flanked by a griffoness with purple plumage. They were followed by Celestia and Luna. The former’s pink mane was the only way I could be reasonably sure that these were our alicorns and not from the House Path dimension.
I smiled and said, “Welcome, Twilight and Roseclaw, to the Discordian War Room. Did you mean to come here or did you get re-routed like us?”
The new lavender alicorn nodded to her counterpart and replied, “I was taking the place of your realm’s Twilight to make it less obvious that she was absent while negotiating with my herdmates. I had intended to bring Celestia and Luna to meet Techbird to get a jump start on preparations but ended up here instead.” She looked around. “Interesting décor.”
“I’ll tell you about its inspiration some other time.” I just wouldn’t mention the titular lunatic who was the central character of the movie … or the cautionary tale about nuclear annihilation. Yeah, I had eventually recalled Dr. Strangelove. I looked back to Path. “So, regarding armor for our Royal Sisters – a fait accompli?”
The grey pony shrugged. “You said yourself that time was short.”
“No argument. Sparkles is quite capable of deciding things without me. Anything else you need to know before I head back? I don’t want my absence to be noticed.”
Free Agent answered, “Nah.” He waved at my Twilight. “This attractive mare has been pretty thorough.”
“Good. Then perhaps one of them can fill us in,” came another very familiar voice.
I turned to see Trixie entering in the company of a crystal changeling queen. From the voidless mane and tail, I could tell that this one was our friend Chryssy and not Grogar’s ally.
Unless… ugh! Never mind. I trusted that Trixie vetted her thoroughly.
Unless… argh! This was going to drive me crazy! Fine. I trusted that Discord had a handle on the situation and that my universe’s Chrysalis was smart enough not to walk into the Lion’s Den twice… this time with zero chance of backup or timely escape.
A little forewarning would have been useful because Free, Path, and one of the Twilights all immediately leaped out of their chairs and prepared for action.
“Stand down, guys,” I said, stepping between our guests. “She’s on our side.”
My wife said, “Princess Chryssy and Trixie were just heading to the palace gardens for afternoon tea, but the door seems to have led here instead.”
“There’s a lot of that going around today,” Twilight Path said drolly as she resumed her seat.
I gave Chryssy a welcoming hug before turning to our House Path allies. “Friends, I’d like you to meet Chryssy, wife of Shining Armor and Cadance, and Princess of the Crystal Kingdom.”
Free Agent started guffawing, holding onto his chair to stay upright. Unfortunately for him, the griffon did not count on the chair having wheels and he went ass over beak. Long Path’s expression shifted to a wry grin. “I can’t wait to tell our Shining and Cadance about this.”
Chryssy smiled. “Been there, done that with these ponies already.” She hugged our Twilight with one wing. “It never grows old.”
My co-ruler returned the hug. “Well, it seems you were brought here to get acquainted as well as informed, so I’ll leave you to it. I need to get back to Canterlot.”
“Oh, no need to rush!” exclaimed Discord as he emerged from the glowing map of Equestria closest to the huge table. He wore a maid’s outfit and pushed a tea cart laden with sandwich platters. And when I say laden, I meant a mountain. The poor cart was groaning under the weight of the edibles. “I spent all afternoon preparing snacks!” he whined in a faux female voice.
“You know I have to get back before I’m missed,” I said.
Discord booped me on the nose. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head. I passed on word that you wanted Diadem to pretend she was you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And if they note the absence of my right-hoof mare?”
“Another changeling is impersonating her. There’s not a shortage, you know?”
I blinked for a moment. “Why not just get that changeling to impersonate me then?”
“That would be too simple. Honestly, you should know me better than that!”
Silly me. Oh well… “I suppose I could stay and chat for a bit then.”
“Tut! We still have a few more guests to invite. Be a good chap and fetch them.”
Discord looked at me expectantly. Although I had no idea whom he meant, I figured just standing there waiting for hints wasn’t going to achieve anything. Therefore, I headed for the door. It wasn’t a complete surprise that I emerged into a portal mirror room rather than Discord’s living room. One look at the Royal Guard stationed there was enough to tell me that I wasn’t in my universe. She recognized me and saluted, her full set of plate mail clanging as she sprung to attention.
“Welcome, Prince Wells. I was not told to expect you.”
“Thanks, Sergeant.” What was his… her name again? Why could I never remember it? “Actually, this was unplanned. Are the Princes available?”
“The afternoon session of Day Court has not yet begun, sir. I foresee no problems getting an audience. I will assign Corporal Pansy to accompany you.” A burly stallion stepped forth.
“Much obliged.”
We headed to the Throne Room. There were some startled looks from several of the nobles and citizens that we passed. After all, the Mark Wells of this universe was a mare and hadn’t become an alicorn the last I heard. It was my turn to be thrown for a loop when we arrived and I saw Prince Luna and Prince Celestia in conversation with Prince Cadance and Princess Shining Armor. Celestia noticed me immediately and started smiling.
“Welcome, Prince Wells. I suspect you are the answer to our perplexing situation.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. What situation would that be?”
Cadance was the one to reply. “Shiny and I received a summons to Canterlot from the Diarchy. When we got here though, neither Uncle Celestia nor Uncle Luna knew anything about it.”
I nodded. “Sounds like our Discord had a hoof in this. He has been expediting some meetings due to our current crisis. I’m supposed to bring some of you along for a conference. Oh, and sandwiches,” I added.
Shining lifted one of her eyebrows. “Sandwiches?” she asked in a sweet contralto voice.
“Don’t knock 'em 'til you try 'em – Discord makes a mean one. Who knew that chives and garlic would go so well with cucumber?”
I took my leave from the strategy session as soon as I could. While Diadem might be able to do a fair imitation of me due to her familiarity, she did not have my authority to act if an emergency occurred. At least one of us Triarchs needed to be present.
I did not return alone though. Prince Cadance asked to visit his counterpart upon hearing how close to giving birth she was. Maybe I should have insisted he refrain but the Prince pointed out that we regularly had guests from the other worlds. Stopping all visitors would be almost as suspicious as an influx of them. I couldn’t counter that argument, so here we were.
“I suppose you had better call me Mi Amore Cadenza to help prevent confusion while I'm visiting your dimension,” the alicorn stallion told me.
So, I left Prince Cadenza and Princess Cadance gushing over the incipient arrival. My life is weird.
To be honest, I’m astonished that we got as much time to prepare as we did. We could only speculate on why Grogar didn’t attack us immediately after stealing Celestia and Luna’s magic. We didn’t waste our reprieve though, and none of us got a full night’s rest for several days. It was almost a relief when the goat made his move at last. The first we knew that we were in trouble was when I tried to visit the House Path dimension to coordinate the posting of several squads of the House’s finest warriors led by their Warmaster, General Warfist.
I moved to step through the portal mirror as I had done so many times before, only to bash my snout painfully on its surface. A few quick tests showed that all the portals were non-functional. I sent Penny to find Twilight while I attempted to re-open them. Crimson Boulder remained to watch my back while I was distracted. It did not take long for this dimension’s expert on portals to turn up and throw a diagnostic spell at them. She wandered between several mirrors, stopping the longest at the full-length unenchanted mirror just inside the entrance to the room. That one was only used by new arrivals to check their appearance before entering the castle proper. Her expression hardened and she faced me with a deeply puzzled frown.
“Lay it on me, Sparkles – are we bucked?”
“The portals are still functioning but the interdimensional fabric has been disrupted and their link to their counterparts broken. I just tried opening a new portal to the House Path dimension but that is blocked as well. I don’t know how that was achieved, but until that disruption is stopped, we have no access to any of the other worlds. Thank Celestia that the daggerscale portals operate on a different system and still work. I opened a new one on the way over to make sure.”
I suspected this was one of the reasons why Grogar had not attacked as yet – it had taken him some time to craft a spell to cut us off from our allies. I wondered how quickly he, or more likely Cozy, had caught onto our efforts. It did not matter – our enemy had dealt us another blow.
I opened my wings and hovered off the floor. I said, “Privacy?”
Twilight flapped her wings once and drifted in front of me. She closed her eyes and a silver bubble of magic appeared between us. It rapidly expanded, passing through our bodies. Both of us pulled in our wings as much as possible and moved together until we nearly touched. In seconds, the two of us floated inside a mirror-like sphere. The distorted reflections of ourselves were a bit distracting so I focused on Twilight’s face.
My co-ruler smiled as she opened her eyes again. “Until Grogar guesses the shield frequencies, it should be safe to talk. At least a couple of minutes.”
That gave me time. I smirked. “So how often have you and Thorax stepped away for a bit of ‘alone time’ this way?”
The alicorn sputtered and blushed. She punched me with a hoof. “Behave… and don’t get any ideas! I’m only this close to you by necessity, Mister.”
I chuckled before getting serious. “We still have access to other dimensions through Discord’s pocket universe, don’t we?”
Twilight frowned and looked down. Her eyes were unfocused. “I don’t… I don’t think so. His realm can only be accessed from ours. That means it inherits the same restrictions.”
“Are you sure?”
There was a flash of light and the silvery surface of the sphere was replaced with adjacent white rectangles that shrunk in size toward the top and bottom. Each sign wrote out in blue text “SORRY… TEMPORARILY OUT OF SERVICE.”
I blinked. “How did—”
Twilight smiled. “I used Fluttershy’s anthro fashion measurements for the shield frequency values. I discussed this with Discord a while ago. Anything else?”
“We’ve got to mobilize at once! Grogar could strike at any moment.”
“But we don’t have even half the forces we planned to use to defend ourselves!”
“No, but we’re still better off than we were a few days ago and we have to make the most of that. Right now though, time is of the essence!”
Twilight dispelled the shield and we dropped to the floor. The rest of what we had to do couldn’t be hidden from Grogar’s sight.
I rubbed my hoof through my mane. A gentle breeze brought the scent of pine needles from the forest at the base of Canterlot Mountain. Short-cropped grass covered the flat meadow for a couple of miles in each direction. The demonstration was supposed to take place at noon, after which Trixie and I could go back to presiding over the afternoon session of Day Court. Instead, I listened to Twilight, Crispberry, Moon Dancer, and three changeling scientists argue about what was holding up the experiment this time. State transitions, equivalency vectors, transmutation barriers, and other terms went in one of my ears and out the other.
Crimson and Penumbra shared a few words and drifted apart. At least they had something to do, namely guarding me. A dozen changeling guards formed a ring around the noisy scientists at the center of the field, serving as Twilight’s protection detail. My co-ruler chose to rotate out her bodyguards often enough that I seldom recognized who she brought with her.
Trixie jabbed me in the side. “Tell Miss Sparkle that we will not wait any longer. Trixie will return to Canterlot if she is not ready now.”
I rubbed my barrel. Even without earth pony strength, my wife knew where to poke to get my attention. “Yes, your worshipfulness.” She gave me a roll of the eyes and a grin. Yep, I’ll call that a win.
“Lab coat!” yelled Moon Dancer as I approached.
The nearest changeling scientist took off her suspiciously thick lab coat and helped me put it on. Once I fastened the top button, the weight of the armor plates lessened as the spells kicked in. Everything now had a lime green tinge thanks to the personal protection field that hugged my skin. After Trixie and I had our heart-to-heart chat with Twilight, the purple mare had completely revamped her approach to safety. Everyone in attendance today had to wear goggles at all times – even the soldiers stationed fifty yards away. Twilight’s procedures also emphasized rigorous adherence to checklists rather than ‘science on the wing’ as Trixie called it.
Twilight fluttered her wings in excitement – prattling on and on about staying within acceptable limits and something being ten digits after the decimal place.
I raised a hoof to get her attention. “Trixie and I need to leave.”
Twilight waved her clipboard. “We’re finally ready! Just stand outside the white circle, please!”
I frowned at the red pen writing on her checklist. “You are all certain that the test will be safe?”
Moon Dancer smiled. “Absolutely! A simple matter of tuning the yield profile. We tripled the thickness of the shell after the last test to maximize safety in transport. Only today did we realize the internal pressure wave wouldn’t be sufficient to rupture the surface.”
Crispberry said, “Fortunately, such a simple problem had a trivial solution. Increase the pressure wave by a factor of three. Twilight and I were smart enough to make the accelerant tunable, so we’re good to go!”
Twilight and the other three scientists nodded their heads. One of the changelings said, “If you would follow me, sir.”
Reluctantly, I joined Moon Dancer and the three changeling scientists gathered twenty feet away from Crispberry and Twilight. Fifty feet beyond them, Trixie tried to start a conversation with Sergeant Thunderbolt, her bodyguard. I still had never met a soldier more dedicated to soldiering at the expense of anything else, like personality. My wife would be more likely to get a casual conversation from her slippers. Yes, I said that for a reason and yes, it had to do with Discord’s pranks.
Crispberry loaded the oversized crossbow with a hoof-sized metallic sphere. The front end of the weapon rested on a solid tripod while the stock dove into the ground at a thirty-degree angle. The crossbow was already cocked and a densely woven rectangle of fabric loosely cradled the projectile. Curiously, the metal ball gave off a clear ringing sound when it settled into place. I looked downrange to see a cage perhaps two hundred yards away. Fluttershy convinced a snake inside to volunteer for today’s experiment. According to the butter-yellow mare, ‘Dimples’ didn’t care where he was, so long as he was allowed to sleep. In return, Twilight promised to bring back the snake as soon as the demonstration was over.
Crispberry placed his hoof next to the crossbow. “Ready to release the trigger lock.”
Twilight's horn glowed for several seconds as she looked over every part of the crossbow. She glanced down at her checklist. “Release trigger lock.”
The changeling inventor moved his hoof. “Trigger lock released. Confirm?”
Another pause. “Confirmed. Verify the target zone is clear.”
“Target zone is clear.”
Crispberry crouched. “Ready to fire.”
“Fire!”
THHHHHWUMPPPP!
Crispberry and Twilight had their attention directed at the target area. I had not seen one of these crossbows in action so my focus was on the mechanism. That’s why I noticed the silver sphere falling off the near side of the barrel track. I tried to yell a warning at the same time I fired up my horn. By the time that half-second was over, it was too late.
With a loud tinkling sound, the sphere broke and a wave of white magic spread out in all directions. I raised my shield but the magic passed right through. Belatedly, I remembered that this weapon could only be countered with a modified shield spell that was just as new.
I saw the color washing out of Twilight and Crispberry’s bodies, leaving a dull gray behind. Past them, Trixie teleported away just before the wave reached Thunderbolt.
I felt my every movement stop and heard a cracking sound seeming to come from everywhere. My peripheral vision showed my ashen gray muzzle and horn. I could still see and hear, which matched Twilight’s description of how the petrification effect would be perceived.
With a flash, Trixie stood next to Thunderbolt. “NO!” She teleported directly in front of me, her eyes wide as saucers. “NO!”
A pegasus guardspony landed behind her. “Your Highness! What are your orders?”
“I… I…” My wife’s voice shook as she brought a hoof up to her mouth.
The stallion frowned. “Princess Trixie!”
She tore her eyes away from me and looked back to where Twilight. The Element of Magic was frozen in stone – her eyes and mouth opened wide in shock. Trixie said, “I… Only Twilight, Moon Dancer, and the changeling scientists knew how to reverse the petrification. Now they are all…” She turned to face the guardspony. “Go to her castle. Talk to the rest of her lab workers and bring one back with the counter-agent.”
The pegasus nodded and jumped into the air with a mighty thrust of his wings. His body folded in on itself with a sickening thunk and blood filled the air. His form sailed over my head.
Fifty yards away, the Storm King’s armored form strode out of a familiar portal. His right arm pointed to spots behind me and the blur of some projectile shot out again and again from above his wrist. Each time, I saw his fist tighten, I heard screams or the sound of breaking stone.
Behind the yeti and to both sides, a dozen portals opened, disgorging monstrous creatures, only some of which I recognized. Behind the first rank, more fearsome beasts moved forward to exit from the same cave system I had seen before.
“NO!” yelled Trixie. She raised a large shield that must have covered me, Moon Dancer, and the three changeling scientists. As Grogar and Tirek marched out of the portal behind the Storm King, the yeti shifted his aim and two blurs hit the top of Trixie’s shield in quick succession. The second blow shattered it and my wife collapsed in pain, grabbing her skull in her hooves.
The Storm King’s amplified laughter rang out. “Good! Good! Now to finish what I should have done months ago.” His arm pointed directly at Twilight.
“Wait!” yelled Trixie as she struggled to stand up.
The yeti didn’t. His arm fist tightened but nothing else happened. After a pause, he tried again with the same lack of effect. The visored helmet rotated to look down at Grogar, now standing with Chrysalis on the Storm King’s left while Cozy Glow and Tirek placed themselves on the yeti’s right. Cozy Glow was in full adult-sized alicorn form again and Chrysalis stood a foot taller than I remembered. The red-coated centaur loomed over all the others at twice the height of the enhanced changeling queen. The Bewitching Bell hung from the gold loop on the old goat’s collar. That answered where Celestia and Luna’s magic had gone.
My wife looked around the field in all directions, her face pale. I could only surmise that we were surrounded by monsters on all sides. In front of me, I recognized a tatzlwurm, a bugbear, two chimeras, several timber wolves, and an ursa minor. Mixed in with them were enormous black spiders, an orange-furred primate the size of the Storm King, a pink crustacean of some sort, and what looked like pill bugs the size of a wagon. Those were just the monsters I could adequately describe… there were many more that I couldn’t. Celestia and Luna told us one of Grogar’s titles was “King of Monsters.” He was certainly living up to that title. Because I could do nothing more than watch, I saw the last of the portals shrink and disappear behind the horde of beasts.
Crimson Boulder, Penumbra, and a pair of changeling guards rushed to form a defensive wall between Grogar and us although I was certain it was a futile effort. Nevertheless, my wife glared defiantly at our enemies and spat out through clenched teeth. “What do you want?”
The old ram smiled. “The unconditional surrender of Equestria, Your Highness. You have five seconds to comply.”
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