//------------------------------// // Act I - Chapter 23- Under the Mask // Story: The Alicorn Warrior // by iAmSiNnEr //------------------------------// The Alicorn Warrior Written by iAmSiNnEr Edited by no one because Stinium is reviewing and I'm lazy to find someone else Chapter 23 - Under the Mask The moon shone over the silent town, shadows gathered in almost every corner. Twilight relished the shadows. Contrary to popular belief, she did not perform her best in the open. She definitely was not at her best when hundreds, perhaps thousands of creatures were watching her in the arena.  In the darkness, she was in her element. It was partially why they called her the “Sneaky Sparkle”. Nopony, or creature had their eyes trained on her. Nothing could see her.  Slinking through the darkness, she glanced back at her house. I should be back before they wake up.  My mana’s not full, she scowled, her lips curling in an expression of distaste and disgust. What can I do to regain some?  Scanning through her active spells, her brow furrowed. Her wards, the protection spells over her vital organs, and the subspace were all needed. What else - Ah. The illusion spell.  Fine. She arched her head back, and shuddered as the familiar feeling of a spell dispelling spread throughout her body. Slinking up to a nearby window, she looked at herself in a reflective surface without the illusion spell for the first time in four years.  A jagged scar ran down her left eye, the eye itself glowing slightly due to a constant ward on it to keep the exposed, unhealable, tissue uninfected. Damn that bastard, she scowled at her reflection. Several small scars could also be seen on her throat, but they were mostly hidden by the shadow her chin cast across her chest and throat. Her eyes locked onto the angry red scar on her left eye. Even after years, she could not yet find a counter to the poison that the sword had been imbued with. The enchantents on the sword had made it no better, making sure that every medical remedy did not work on the scar. Only her most potent healing spells had made some leeway, and even those only saving her from losing her eye.  No matter for now, she decided. I have my patrols to do. Hard Line had once asked why she preferred to sleep less than two hours at a time. She never gave him a straight answer. But the truth? She preferred never to slip into REM sleep, and let her consciousness float away from her body to dream. Or rather, have a nightmare. The first few days she allowed herself to dream, she saw their eyes. Haunting her, accusing her. And yet, Luna never came. She had the same nightmare, one night after another, and the Guardian of Dreams never came. Once two weeks passed, she refused to go to sleep long enough for the nightmare to come. The few times she did, she always woke up in cold sweat. She could never forget. How could she? It was never in the nature of ponies to kill, harm, or maim. Or rather, that nature had been erased. Slowly blown away by the winds of time. But even the deepest, buried instincts could be brought out once there was a need to. Once she had spent a month in the arena, she could start to feel it. The call to fight, the power flowing behind the three main leylines that augmented her magic. Unicorn, Earth Pony, Pegasus. All three had buried roots, originating from thousands of years ago. The three tribes had once clashed. History blurred the details, made it more mild, but Twilight understood once the instincts had started flowing in.  The innocent nature of Earth Pony magic had been a facade. Manipulating nature, breaking rocks with unbelievable strength? A general would have utilized these skills without hesitation. Vines, called upon to strangle or immobilize their enemies would be essential to a tide of a battle. Enough Earth Ponies could cause an earthquake.  Pegasi had no inkling of what they could do. Manipulating weather was only the tip of the iceberg, and creating a tornado to funnel water upwards was only the beginning. Rainbow Dash had once said she could summon lightning if she tried. At the time, Twilight thought she was boasting, that her ideas had been from a comic book of sorts. It was the contrary. How many times had Twilight utilized the skills of pegasi to disable griffons? Pegasi commanded the skies and weather, bending them to their bidding. A pegasus who was knowledgeable and skilled enough could set hellfire upon their enemies. Pegasus leylines flowed with power. Augmented with lightning, a well-placed pegasus could cause havoc to any army. The last tribe. Ponies thought Unicorns were the strongest, being able to cast spells at will. Twilight now knew that to be false. Unicorns were more skilled, more versatile, yes, but they had never the brute mana force to face off against the other two tribes. For what could Unicorns do if an Earth Pony opened a fissure to swallow them? What could a horn do against a powerful storm? Unicorns needed their mana to even face off to the other two tribes. They had limitations, and those limitations held them back. Pegasi and Earth Ponies could call upon their abilities at will, held back only by their physical limits. And even those limits could be pushed past. Unicorns, however, were only as powerful as the size of their mana wells.  Sure, mana wells could expand. But how much? Twilight knew that her own had only increased by barely three-quarters from when she was a filly. It was only when she became an alicorn her magic had been increased tenfold. The Earth Ponies and Pegasi had so much wasted potential. Her alarms pulled her back to the present. Months ago, she had set magical alarms everywhere to warn her of a potential sandworm attack, and several had just triggered. Most likely the desert predators coming in to take advantage. Sandworms had incredible magical sensitivity, compensating for their lack of sight, hearing, or smell. They most likely had sensed that her magical aura was weaker, not as encompassing as before, and they wanted a buffet. Twilight snarled as her tripwire spell three hundred metres away from the town triggered. They thought her weak, and they wanted a feast. Well, she’d show them. She promised the residents when they moved in she’d protect them. She wouldn’t break that promise, not now. Even when she was weak. One hundred metres and closing in. Twilight flapped her wings, and ascended into the air. Looking off into the distance, she saw the mound of sand moving towards the town. With an almighty bellow, she let loose a fireball, turning the sand it slammed into to glass. With a screech, a sandworm burst through the glass, mouth open wide. Twilight dived, pulling the first item she could feel out from her subspace. To her surprise, Alpha emerged. The scythe glinted in the weak moonlight, the power flowing along its edges. There was no time for hesitation. As soon as Alpha was fully out of the subspace, Twilight sliced it along the sandworm’s side, causing it to screech in pain and turn to try and eat her. That was a mistake. As it opened its mouth wide to swallow her, Twilight redirected Alpha’s blade to point at the throat. Concentrating, a ray of light blasted from its tip and into the sandworm’s throat, ripping through its soft insides. The sandworm roared as its insides burned. Within seconds, it fell to the ground, flames licking hungrily from the inside.  Twilight examined Alpha. As much as she loathed to admit it, she had missed its familiar weight. She used to take Alpha out on most of her patrols, electing to leave its twin, Omega, behind. Eventually, she had stopped bringing Alpha out, due to her being uncomfortable at how powerful it was.  But she could feel Alpha. She felt Alpha’s joy of finally reuniting with her mistress once again, her magic once again melding with the alicorn’s own. Twilight had never intended for Alpha to be able to have a consciousness, but alicorn magic had its own ways of acting. Alpha could not speak, but Twilight could feel her emotions.  “I won’t trap you away again,” Twilight whispered. “Will you grant me your strength again?” The scythe pulsed out a brilliant white light, and Twilight smiled in relief. She had need of Alpha’s strength for the days ahead, for she did not know yet what they would face back in Equestria.  The ground rumbled. Twilight sighed as she raised Alpha into a battle-ready stance. For more sandworms were coming. They had felt their brother’s fall, and they wanted blood. Brandishing Alpha, she cried out a battle cry. “Come! We are not afraid!”