I quickly followed behind the two alicorn sisters as they marched through the castle. Guards were running back and forth in the hallways, like chickens with their heads cut off. They had no idea what had just gone on, and no idea what they should do right now. Celestia and Luna marched through the chaos, with the singular purpose of reaching whatever destination they were headed to.
It looked like the two had taken quite a beating during the fight that I had witnessed, Luna more than her sister. As I walked behind them though, I could swear that their wounds were healing at a miraculous rate. Before, Luna had been struggling just to stand, but now she hurried through the halls as if it were just another day.
We finally reached a very ornate white door that had two pegasus guards stationed outside. Unlike most of the guards that I had seen in the castle so far, these two wore white armor, and their manes were blue. At our approach the two guards looked up at Celestia and awaited her orders.
“I hope that you have escorted Twilight Sparkle to my chambers, Sure Step.” Celestia looked the guard on the right, which was a unicorn.
“Oh course Princess,” he said with a bow. “Will you need anything else from us?”
“Yes if you would kindly see to organizing the guards for relief effort. I am sure that the citizens of Canterlot will need some help, I don’t know how much destruction has been caused,” she said before turning to the other guard. “I will need you to send word to all of our units stationed throughout Equestria, Swift Wing. We need all of our strength gathered in Canterlot immediately.” Swift Wing flew off to relay the message, and Sure Step saluted before he also took his leave.
Celestia used her magic to open the doors, and walked into the room. Luna followed closely behind her, leaving me standing out in the hall not knowing what to do. Since I hadn’t been told to stay outside, I decided that I might as well follow them inside.
I thought that my guest room at the castle had been extravagant, but this one took the cake. It then cut up the cake and sold the slices at an outrageous price so that it would have enough money to buy three more cakes.
The room was half the size of the castle throne room, and much more decorated. The bed that sat in the very center of the room was gigantic, and was covered with an unprecedented amount of throw pillows. Almost every wall was painted with different scenes ranging from a fierce battle between ponies and wolves, to a smiling family enjoying a meal.
The furniture was also over the top, and varnished so well that they would put a mirror to shame. I didn’t get to see what the closet looked like, but I imagined that it would be roughly the size that the room was. If my sister’s closet was anything to go by that is.
Twilight had been sitting on the bed reading a book from one of the many bookcases when we arrived. As we entered she looked up from her book, and proceeded to run to Celestia. The two embraced for a moment before Twilight stepped back.
“What was that Princess? I know that it wasn’t just an ordinary earthquake or else you wouldn’t have sent me to be escorted to your room.” She really could figure things out quickly.
“It seems that somepony has broken free of their prison. Why can nopony just stay locked away where they belong?” The last part was probably not meant to be spoken aloud.
“Is Discord free again?” Twilight seemed to be really scared by that thought.
“No, I am afraid that this is much worse than Discord,” Celestia said looking away from her student.
“Don’t worry Princess. I will get the girls and together with the Elements of Harmony we will beat whoever it is,” Twilight tried to assure her mentor.
“No Twilight, the Elements of Harmony will not save us this time. I am afraid that with Porosis’ release war may come to Equestria.” That was a revelation that I wasn’t exactly prepared for. I had been questioning how it seemed that Equestria had never had a war before, but now it was going to actually happen? Be careful what you wish for.
“First thing is first,” Celestia continued. “Luna will you take Twilight down to the caves beneath the castle to see just how he broke out of his prison?”
“Of course,” Luna turned to Twilight. “Come with me please, Twilight Sparkle.” With that the two proceeded out of the room closing the doors behind them. I was left alone in the room with Celestia.
Celestia stood facing away for me for what felt like a long time, but was probably nothing more than a few seconds. Faster than I could even imagine she rounded on me. Her eyes were a bright red, and her mane was on fire. I could not even begin to imagine a more terrifying sight.
“What do you know about this human?” she shrieked as she backed me up against a wall. I honestly did not know what she wanted me to say since I couldn’t say anything.
“Did you have something to do with this?” I shook my head as quickly as I possibly could. “You expect me to believe that you show up in my land, and then suddenly everypony starts breaking out of their prisons? Do I look stupid to you or something?” I was sure at that point that she was going to burn me alive.
Unable to physically back away from her anymore I sank to the floor where I could cower easier. It might have been a slightly unmanly thing for me to do, but I didn’t have much of a better option. Celestia towered over me, and continued to stare down at my quaking form.
She sighed, and then as suddenly as it started, she was no longer on fire. She turned away from me and walked over to her bed where she laid down. I slowly picked myself up off the floor, careful not to make any sudden movements.
“I know you probably didn’t have anything to do with this.” She sighed again, and rested her head against a pillow. “You must understand that I am responsible for the safety of everypony in Equestria. Now two very dangerous creatures have gotten out of their prisons in the space of a week.” I pulled a chair from one of the desks and took a seat in it.
“I don’t trust you.” Her gaze once again hardened. “You have come from somewhere I do not know, and all of this has happened since then. You are connected to this somehow, but it seems that you didn’t cause it intentionally. Until I can find something to do with you, you will remain in the castle where we can keep an eye on you. Do you understand?” I nodded.
“Very good. Now there are a couple of things I need to speak with you about.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
Luna and Twilight walked through the caverns beneath Canterlot. Twilight had been to the caves before, but this part of the underground she had never seen before. Luna appeared to know where she was going though, so Twilight was content just to follow her.
“Are we almost there Princess?” Twilight asked.
Luna turned back to face the young unicorn, her face accented by the blue light coming from her horn. “It is not far now, Twilight Sparkle.”
The two continued to walk through the dark tunnel. The path ahead showed them the way they needed to head, and it glowed wherever Luna’s light struck it. As they descended deeper into the mountain, pools of water formed at the bottom of the cave just off the side of the path.
“It seems that the water has started to get in,” Luna said, trying to make small talk.
“What exactly happened outside, Princess? I know that Princess Celestia said that somepony had broken out of a prison. Who is this Porosis? I have never heard or read about them anywhere.” Twilight wasn’t exceptionally good with small talk.
Luna sighed. “Porosis is somepony that was locked away deep within this mountain thousands of years ago. His power rivals even that of Discord, and he has no respect for life. He doesn’t see ponies as living beings, but merely as constructs created to do his bidding.”
“So then that earthquake before was…”
“Yes, that was him literally breaking through the earth to free himself. I don’t know how we will stop him this time.” Luna kept her gaze forwards.
“But you stopped him in that past right? That is why he ended up sealed away down here right?” Twilight asked, hope creeping into her voice.
“It was not me or Celestia who stopped him before. It was Discord that imprisoned him here. He was the only one that was ever able to stand up to him. He turned him into a diamond, no doubt he was trying to be ironic.” The path of light ended in front of them as Luna finished speaking. “It seems that we have arrived.”
Luna looked ahead into the massive space that the cavern opened into. In front of here she could see a figure lying on the ground motionless. She held up a wing to stop Twilight’s advance.
“Allow me to go first, Twilight. I need to make sure that the room is safe.” Without hearing Twilight’s protest Luna continued into the room.
As she approached she was able to tell that the creature lying dead on the floor in front of her was an alicorn. She had never encountered a black alicorn before. To her knowledge there were only a handful of alicorns that even existed, and she knew each of them. She continued to scan the rest of the room, but was unable to find anything else in the cavern.
Luna looked back to where Twilight was waiting patiently. “It is safe to come over, Twilight Sparkle, but I am not sure that you would want to.”
Without heading Luna’s warning Twilight made her way into the room. When she was close enough to see the corpse that rested at Luna’s hooves she stopped dead in her tracks. She continued to stare at the black alicorn for a long while before she cautiously began to approach again.
“Did he. Did he…” Twilight tried to ask, but couldn’t choke the words out.
“Kill him? Yes, it would seem that after being released Porosis repaid his savior handsomely.” Luna looked away from the body towards the magic runes that were still faintly glowing on the ground.
“Worry not about this unfortunate soul, Twilight Sparkle. I believe I was asked to bring you here so that you could figure out how somepony was able to release Porosis in the first place.” Luna caught Twilight attention, and motioned towards the runes on the ground.
Happy to be distracted, Twilight walked away from the body, and began to circle the faintly glowing runes. Using her magic Twilight would occasionally pick one of the purple inscriptions up off the ground and study it before placing it back. She continued to study the writing for some time, while Luna stood by silently watching.
“This is extremely complex, Princess,” Twilight finally said after several minutes. “I think that I only know what half of these runes even mean, and can only venture a guess as to the rest. Whoever put these here knew exactly what they were doing.” Twilight glared at the runes for a few more minutes before continuing.
“How could they have known that he was here?” Twilight addressed her question to Luna who simply shrugged in response.
“I do not know, Twilight Sparkle. Many things have changed since my banishment. That question would probably be best addressed to my sister.”
Twilight nodded and turned her attention once again to the magic that littered the ground. “We need to get rid of these quickly. So much magic being expelled in a single area will have very negative effects if the runes are allowed to linger.” Luna nodded in agreement, and as her horn began to glow, the magic writing began to float into the air. At once all of the runes slammed into the ground completely disappearing in a puff of smoke.
“I think that it is best we leave this place.” Luna turned, and began to walk back along the path they had entered through. Twilight found the dead alicorn on the ground drawing her gaze. With much effort she looked away and quickly hurried behind the princess, and exited the chamber.
____________________________________________________________________________
Luckily I was sitting in a chair when Celestia finished speaking. Had I not been I would have likely fainted or tried to run from the room again. Celestia had barred the entrance the last time I had tried to make my escape. So now I was trapped in the bedroom of an insanely powerful alicorn that wanted me to fight a war for her.
“Do you understand what I have said?” she asked, already knowing that I did. I nodded to humor her.
“Do you accept the terms?” At this however, I gave a very enthusiastic no.
“You will help fend off this threat that you have inadvertently caused, and in return I will not imprison you! How could you disagree with such a generous offer?” she shouted ay me. Normally I don’t think that Celestia would be so easily enraged, but we had been at this for well over an hour. With me unable to communicate with her adequately I think that her patience was wearing thin.
“Why wont you help us?” Her demeanor changed drastically. No longer was she an angry dictator; now she looked defeated. It looked as though she knew that this fight was already over, and she would lose.
It is not like I didn’t want to help. They seemed like the definite good guys in all of this. I had seen how Porosis looked first hand, and he had no hesitation in killing innocent bystanders. The problem was that I was also an innocent bystander in all of this. I hadn’t released the bad guy to wreck havoc on the land. I couldn’t even help if I wanted to.
I had no weapons to fight a god with. Everyone keeps telling me that I am a powerful human with godlike powers, but all I can do is play a little music. Honestly, I had no idea what I could do to help in the least.
There was a knocking at the doors, and Celestia unraveled the magic keeping them sealed. “Come in.,” she said to whomever was standing on the other side, and the doors quickly slid open. Twilight and Luna made their way back into the room.
“The situation is even more dire that we had first suspected,” Luna spoke as she walked into the room. After sensing the tension in the room however, she stopped and glared at me.
“It is alright, Luna. Please continue,” Celestia said to her sister as she sat up.
“Right.” Her gaze lingered on you a few more moments before she began again. “It seems that somepony has actually released Porosis from his bonds. A black alicorn that I have never seen before was found dead at the site. I suspect that he was the one to release Porosis.”
“Was this alicorn made or born?” Celestia’s question seemed odd to me, but then again I didn’t understand the context.
“I found no indication of the former,” Luna replied, being overly cryptic.
“Then I also have no idea of who this alicorn is. There has only been one black alicorn that I have ever come across, and I think we both know who that was.” More cryptic speech, maybe they didn’t want me to know what they were talking about.
“Yes, I think we both do.”
I looked away from the two sisters, and their coded conversation, to Twilight who was nodding along behind Luna. Apparently, she also knew exactly what they were talking about, or at least understood most of it. Which of course, left me as being the odd man out once again. I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms behind my head, deciding not to care anymore.
Their conversation continued for a while, the two alicorns exchanging information in a way as to not let anyone know exactly what they were saying. It had been a very interesting week, that was for sure. I was sucked into a world that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend, and I have been placed in the middle of this huge conflict.
Not all parts of my time here had been bad though. Actually, the vast majority of the time that I had spent in Equestria was rather enjoyable. Sure being beaten up by a dragon lady had been a low point in this adventure, but lows are what make the highs so awesome. It looked like the future was very uncertain though, and soon a lot of bad things would be happening. I just hoped that I would be gone by the time that this whole war thing broke out.
“No the portal isn’t opening again. At least not the way that I want it to,” Twilight replied to the princess’ question, which pulled me from my ruminations. Were they talking about me now?
“What do you mean that it won’t open how you want it to?” Celestia asked, standing from the bed.
“Well whenever I try to open the portal once again I can manage to hold it open for a short time, but I can’t locate the right dimensional frequency. I kept trying all yesterday to get it to work the way it had when I first brought him here, but it just wont.” Twilight looked to me. “I am sorry, but I don’t think that I will be able to send you home.”
That was definitely not good. If I had to make a list of things that I didn’t want to hear today, coming in at number two would be Celestia asking me to fight a super powerful god that I had no chance against. At the top of the list would be Twilight telling me that I was stuck here with no way to get home.
“Do not worry. We will work hard and find a way to get you back to where you came from.” I cant be sure, but probably me burying my face in my hands and sulking, is what tipped Luna off to my dismay at the news that had just been handed to me.
Well there it was. I now had no way to get home, and was being asked to fight a war for the princess. I didn’t really see a whole lot of options in front of me at that point. On one hand, I could choose to opt out of any of the fighting and just hang out around the palace. In all honesty that didn’t seem like such a bad option to me. On the other hand, I could help out the princess, and see just how strong I actually was. Maybe if I helped enough they would work hard to find a way to get me back to Earth. It was really the only option that I had.
I lifted my face from my hands and noticed that Celestia and Luna had returned to their conversation. Twilight looked like something was really eating her, maybe the fact that she had stranded me here. Was I really supposed to help these three defeat a super powerful enemy? Well… I always said that I would try anything once.
____________________________________________________________________________
There was shouting throughout the room as the representatives of the tribes bickered. Usually they were able to keep their cool, and get along well enough to govern the nation, but with the news that the seers had passed to them the situation had quickly devolved. The session had begun calmly enough around mid afternoon, but as the sun set the fighting began.
The room itself was very large; made to host the twelve representatives and their entourages, who had all been sent out of the room as soon as the fighting had started. Two stone columns were erected behind each of the zebra representatives displaying the banners of their respective tribes. The magnificent circular stone table, that sat between them all, held a map of their territory. Sconces lined the walls illuminating the room in the soft glow of flame.
The nation was by no means unevolved or underdeveloped, and if they had wished it electric lights could have easily been integrated. They had chosen however, to keep the meeting room exactly how it was when the first time that the twelve tribes had come together to create their nation.
Lightning flashed outside as the storm hit its peak. What had started as a light drizzle in the afternoon had, much like the temperaments of the zebras in the room, quickly grown more furious.
Two zebras were currently being pulled off one another as their argument nearly came to blows. Seeing that the situation was about to take a turn for the worse, one of the younger representatives tried to bring order back to the meeting.
”This is enough!” he yelled over the arguments that still continued. “Can we not speak civilly?” His question went unheard as the zebras continued to bicker. He sighed, knowing that there was only a slim chance to regain control of the situation. “If we continue along this path then we will all surely die!” That had managed to get their attention.
“You dare threaten us young one?” an elderly zebra got out of his seat and turned towards who had spoken. The rest of the room fell quiet at this. “Xeroth, you have been a member of this committee for less than a year. I cannot believe that you have the gall to say something like that.”
“I am not threatening anyone, Zabro. If this information if to be believed then we must come together, not fall apart. If Porosis had truly risen…”
“There is no proof that such a thing has happened. Moreover there is no proof the he ever existed in the first place,” another elderly zebra quickly said cutting of Xeroth.
“Wrong! We have many records all through history of his existence. If he has risen then we are all surly doomed,” a rather portly zebra said quickly reigniting the arguments that had recently been stopped.
“Brothers! Brothers!” Xeroth yelled getting their attentions once again. “If this information is to be believed then we cannot do what we are doing now. If we decide that he does not exist, and choose to ignore this then we will be wholly unprepared if he does arrive. On the other hoof, if we spread word of what the seers have brought to us we will cause a mass panic. We must find a way to deal with this potential threat together.” Confident that he had gotten through to his fellow committee members he took his seat, and turned to address Zabro.
“Being the eldest among all of us here you must have dealt with threats before. I would seek your council on how we should precede forwards from here.”
The elderly stallion thought for a long time before he spoke. “If the tales are to be believed, the last time that Porosis reigned he sent all of zebra kind to war so that he could eliminate all life on the planet. If it is true that he has risen then we have no choice but to oppose him.”
“None can oppose me.” All heads in the room snapped to where the elder god stood watching the committee. It was unclear of how long he had been standing there, but now that they saw him no one was able to look away.
“I created you. I showed you how to build, and how to think. I taught you to speak and to read, but here you now sit discussing how you should stand against me using the very tools that I gave you. The very lives that I gave you.” His stare bored into each of the zebras at the table, as he looked them over. His face was stoic and his expression unmoving as he spoke.
“We bow to no god!” Zabro announced, moving in front of the god.
Porosis allowed an extreme amount of emotion to reach his face, he quirked an eyebrow. He gazed down at the zebra that thought he could defy him, and placed a hoof beneath his chin. The movement was so quick and fluid that Zabro didn’t even realize it had happened.
“You are very old for your kind. Perhaps, you think that this means you have gained some wisdom over the years, but allow me to rid you of this illusion. The entire span of your life, and that of your entire race is but the blink of an eye to me. I do not wish to tolerate your existence any longer.” It was so fast that no one even realized what happened until it was already over.
One moment the councilor had been standing before Porosis, and the next he was gone. A hole in the wall was left in the wake of Zabro, as he was thrown from the room. On the far side of the city a building began to collapse as an object tore through it. Porosis cast his gaze over the eleven committee members that remained in the room.
“You will bow to me.” It was not a demand or a question that left his lips, but a simple and undeniable fact.
One by one the members left their seats and kneeled before their god. Xeroth was the last one that remained standing. Eventually he too fell to his knees before the might of Porosis. What could a mere mortal hope to accomplish before such power?
____________________________________________________________________________
Days had passed as guards rallied to the capitol from all over the nation. At first their numbers seemed high, but as the days went on fewer and fewer came to Canterlot. Celestia, sat in her throne reading a recent report that had made its way to her from the frontier. Swift Wing, a faithful servant of hers, stood fidgeting in front of the Goddess of the Sun.
“Is this true, Swift Wing?” Celestia asked her guard as she looked up from the scroll in front of her.
“I am afraid that it is, Princess. Reports have been streaming in from our lookouts along the border. It seems that the zebras are mounting a force along the border. Likely preparing for an invasion.” Swift Wing replied.
Celestia sighed as she let the paper fall onto a stack of scrolls that rested beside her. All the news that had been coming in over the last few days had been distressing, but this was the first obvious sign that a war was coming; a war that Celestia would give anything to avoid.
“What are the reported numbers of the zebras along the border?” Celestia closed her eyes hoping that not many had already bowed to Porosis.
“Rough estimates put the number at ten thousand, but it is projected that the number will double within three days.” Swift Wing looked away from the princess, knowing what this information meant.
“How many of our own forces have we managed to gather in Canterlot?” Celestia opened her eyes once again to look at the guard in front of her.
Swift Wing looked to his hooves unable to meet his princess’ gaze. “We are barely five thousand strong, Princess.” He replied after a moment.
Celestia took in the information for a long while before she finally laid back fully into her seat. By the end of the week they would be outnumbered four to one. It was likely that Porosis had already subjugated the entire country, and was marching as many as possible into battle.
Her guards were far better trained than the enemy was likely to be, but they were not soldiers. Yes they had discipline, and that was very important for battle, but only a few among them had any real combat experience. It had been little over a thousand years since Equestria had seen a real war.
If all of this information was accurate then recruitment would need to begin immediately. With the zebras poised to attack already it was unlikely that there would be enough time to even train a strong fighting force before half of the country was gone.
Porosis wasn’t fighting to capture land or territory. He was fighting a war of extermination, and if he managed to take half of Equestria that meant he would take half of the population as well.
Celestia and Luna both knew that they were no match for him in combat. They had just barely survived their last confrontation with him, and he was in a weakened state at the time. The Elements of Harmony were also of no use to her in this upcoming confrontation. The more that Celestia took in the facts of the situation the more bleak it looked. A sound just outside of the doors pulled Celestia from her depressing musings.
“It seems that I have another guest, Swift Wing. That will be all for now. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.” The pegasus guard bowed, and then turned to make his exit.
As he walked back to the doors they opened, and admitted an anxious looking Twilight into the throne room. The guard gave her a slight bow as he passed, which Twilight was to distracted to return. The doors closed behind him as he exited, leaving Celestia and Twilight in the room alone.
“Princess, I just heard some awful rumors from one of the guards. Is it true that Zebrica is going to invade us?” Twilight looked up to her mentor, hoping her worries to be laid to rest.
Celestia considered telling Twilight a lie for a moment, but she knew that it wouldn’t do any good in the long run. “It would seem that is what will happen.”
“Why would they do that, Princess? Our relations with the zebras have been very good for a long time. Why would they just invade us out of nowhere like this?”
“Because… they have no choice.” Celestia allowed the words to hang in the air for a long while before she continued. “Porosis has seized control of the government, and is forcing them to fight his war. He is likely killing any that dare not go along with his plans.”
“But…” Twilight paused a moment, “why would he do this?” Twilight summoned more conviction. “Why would he do these things, Princess? I just don’t understand it.” Twilight hung her head.
Celestia got up from her throne and quickly walked over to her student. She embraced the young mare trying to somehow console her. Equestria and its citizens were just far too unprepared for what was to come. A thousand years of peace unfortunately had this effect on a country.
“It isn’t anything logical, Twilight.” Celestia pulled away from her student that she could look up at her. “He only has one purpose in life, and that is to bring order. He feels that all things in the world must be put in a certain place. He hates life because of how chaotic it is, and wants to end it all. He will restart an ancient war, and we are just his first targets.
“If he defeats us then he will probably go after the griffons next. After that he will move onto the dragons until one by one he has erased all sentient life from the planet. From there it will be a simple matter of destroying the zebras, and finishing off the plants and animals. In his mind the perfect world is a barren wasteland where nothing changes.
“That is why we are fighting against him. That is why we will have to fight against the zebras, even though they are not willing participants in any of this. That is why many innocents will die in the coming days. So that he can realize his dream of a perfect world.” Celestia spat out the last sentence with all the contempt she could muster.
“But he wont right, Princess? We will stop him,” Twilight asked, hopefully looking up to her mentor.
Celestia paused another moment, far longer than she should have. “Of course we will stop him, Twilight Sparkle. We will always stop him.” She gave her student another small hug before breaking the embrace and walking back to her throne.
She looked back to Twilight again after she had seated herself. Twilight was still young, far to young to be pulled into something as awful as war. Celestia had kept such a thing from happening for a very long time, but it looked like the cycle would begin again.
The last time such a thing had happened she had a lot more help. There were more people fighting the one that would claim himself king of this world that they had created. Porosis had lost in the end, but it was not at her hooves. Her number of allies was dwindling as of late. It was unlikely that the griffons would come to Equestria’s aide in this. The dragons were likewise not going to bother defending others. She was actually surprised that Empress had not crashed into her palace again, threatening to demolish it in retribution for allowing Porosis to escape.
The mare in front of her shuffled nervously as Celestia observed her. Yes, she was far too young for this. Even with Twilight being the most gifted unicorn that she had seen for several centuries, Celestia seriously doubted that she could turn her into a warrior in the time that they had.
Many innocents were going to die on both sides. The zebras were being forced to fight a war against their own will, and Equestria had to defend itself. There was only one pony in this entire thing that actually had malicious intent. Porosis had to be stopped at all cost.
Twilight bowed to the princess and turned to leave the room. Her motion caught Celestia’s eye, and she stopped her from leaving by standing once again.
“Twilight, I need you to contact your friends, and have them come to Canterlot right away.”
“Okay, but can I ask why, Princess?” Twilight asked turning back to face the white alicorn.
“I fear that we may need the Elements of Harmony in the near future,” Celestia answered looking away from Twilight.
“But I thought you said that the elements wouldn’t work on Porosis.” Twilight took a hesitant step towards the princess.”
“No,” Celestia said looking down to her student once again, “they will not.”