//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 - The Future // Story: Twilight Sparkle's Majesty // by Apple Bottoms //------------------------------// Queen Majesty landed in a hellscape of fire and ruin.  The first sense that came to her was smell, even before her eyes could register what was happening in front of her. It smelled like ash and smoke, so acrid it stung her nostrils, and she lifted a hoof to try and wipe away the clinging smell.  “Majesty!”  Majesty whirled, and found herself facing Twilight Sparkle, her face dark with ash, tear-streaked.  “Little princess!” Majesty dropped to her knees and touched her face before she could quite register what she was doing. “I found you!”  “You - you found me! How did you do that?” Twilight Sparkle blinked up at her owlishly. “Are you a - descendant?”  “No, it’s me; I came through the magic mirror,” Majesty explained, and lowered her horn to her manacles, giving them a light nudge. No dice; they glowed angrily and remained in place. “Where are we? Where did I come through?”  “Well, we’re … I think we’re in the Dream Castle.”  Majesty lifted her head sharply.  They were up high, in a ruined building that was missing a wall; the world they looked out upon was dark, stained red from the smoke and ash that choked them. There were no rolling green fields, no flowers, no bushwoolies rolling merrily to their dens; not even any trees that had once been dog-beasts. There were ruins of houses and shops, stretching in long, ragged lines to the horizon, smoking in some places, barely standing in others. There were banners, every so often, a blinding green against the red sky.  “This cannot be Dream Valley,” Majesty whispered, slowly taking in the sight, “and this cannot be Dream Castle.”  Twilight Sparkle touched her shoulder and turned her; she looked at the place she had appeared from, and there stood the magic mirror, covered in spiderwebbed cracks. She could see one remaining window, in the crumbling walls of their prison; it had a thin, tall shape, perfect for magic archers to fire out of. The walls were ash-grey, and streaked from a fire that must have ravaged it; but even in her sleep, Majesty would have recognized her home.  “I’m sorry, Majesty,” Twilight Sparkle whispered, her voice thick once more. “It’s -”  The roar came again in the background. Sharp, high, grating, like the scream of horn on horn in battle, even more terrible than the first time she had heard it. Majesty scrambled to her hooves, and Twilight Sparkle curled in on herself, trying to hide behind a tattered piece of tapestry as she furiously tugged at her manacles. From the horizon, her enemy approached.  It was massive; taller than Dream Castle, taller than anything Queen Majesty had ever seen. It lumbered slowly, heavily; at a great distance, it almost appeared to be a pony. It was like a Gizmonk creation, once she watched it move; twitchy, and blocky, with joints that were straining under this great creation’s massive weight. It was painted red, with glassy, unseeing eyes, and a great mouth painted in a rictus of rage. White, sharp teeth; it truly looked like a monster had come to destroy Dream Valley at last.  “PONIES OF SLEEPY VALLEY!” it roared, in a voice that didn’t sound very monstrous at all. Behind the echo and the grinding of the metal gears, it sounded like something far more whiny than a demonic giant pony. “YOU HAVE BEEN FREED FROM YOUR UNICORN OVERLORDS AT LAST! PRAISE EMPEROR SPROUT!”  “Unicorn overlords?” Majesty frowned, her white nostrils flaring in a sneer.  “It’s - I only could speak to a few ponies before they found me!” Twilight Sparkle struggled to explain, pressing into the stone wall of the ruined Dream Castle. “I was looking for a princess - but they don’t have a princess, they have some kind of - emperor? Somepony told me he was emperor, and I should praise Emperor Sprout, but a unicorn told me he was a monster metal stallion coming to enslave us all - and then guards grabbed us both, and put us in these chains!”  Majesty nodded, considering the scene, and turned to consider Twilight Sparkle. “Alright. I think I’ve got the sense of it.”  “You - you do?”  “Hold these out for me, there’s a good pony.” Majesty instructed her gently, and lowered her horn to the enchanted manacles once more.  “Get off of my friend, you little metal creep,  You’re getting drowsy - fall fast asleep!”  Twilight Sparkle gasped as the manacles seemed to snore, and after a moment of lip-smacking from invisible lips, they rolled off of her hooves and landed on the floor.  “What spell was that?”  “I just made it up.”  “Made it up?!”  “It’s a lot to explain; suffice it to say, we didn’t use magic the same way you do, back in the - well, I guess it isn’t now, is it? We’re in the future - the far future.” Majesty frowned, puzzling it out.  “Are you going to have a time-travelling meltdown?” Twilight Sparkle asked cautiously. “It’s not a great time for it, but I understand that time-travel can be a big -”  “No, I think I’ve got it figured out. I’m a simple mare, little princess: I see my enemy, I blast it.” Majesty offered her a feral grin, and pointed herself towards the massive pony approaching on the horizon.  “You bl - Queen Majesty! There’s ponies inside of that thing!” Twilight Sparkle gasped.  “What - really?” Majesty scowled fiercely. “It ate ponies? I’ll blast it twice as hard.”  “No! It’s a - well, it’s a - it’s a machine! It’s like a - oh, what did you have back then?!” Twilight Sparkle thought out loud frantically, and on the horizon, the massive pony turned towards them.  “HEY! WHAT ARE YOU UNICORNS DOING OUT OF LOCKDOWN? I WON’T LET YOU USE YOUR MIND-CONTROL POWERS ON ME!” And the massive creature began its slow, inexhaustible walk towards them.  “It’s like a - like a fort!”  “A fort.”  “Or a castle!! It’s like - it’s like a big building,” Twilight Sparkle was speaking very rapidly now, and each step the monster took made her go faster, “with ponies inside of it, making it walk. Walk towards us right now. It’s not alive, it’s - but it’s got ponies inside of it to control it! We should - Queen Majesty we need to get out of here right now!”  “I see. So it’s like a castle - like my castle.” Queen Majesty was as cool as ever, and as Twilight Sparkle sped up, she seemed to slow down, setting her hooves in place. “But my castle came down.”  “Yes and we have to -”  “So that means their castle can come down, too.” Majesty turned to look at Twilight sharply. “Right?”  “Well, I … I suppose so,” Twilight offered shakily.  “Good. Little princess, I think this is what you and I might have been meant to do.”  “You - what? Really?”  “Because what I see in front of me is a big, ugly monster, ready to get blasted; and I see a whole group of ponies who are going to need someone good at friendship to pull them to safety.” Queen Majesty gave her a quick up-down. “Plus, I bet flying wouldn’t hurt any.”  Twilight Sparkle’s fear faded, replaced with a small, rapidly-growing grin. “I bet it would, huh?”  “It’s up to you now, little princess; I’ll trust you to do your part. I’ll do mine the best I know how,” Majesty offered her a toothy grin, and pointed her horn at the empty air where her curved staircase had once stood.  “Rainbow, guide my hoofsteps once more,  Help me banish this rogue from Ponyland’s moor!”  A rainbow, pastel and glittering, sprung up before Majesty; she leapt upon it and slid neatly to the ground. Behind her she could hear Twilight Sparkle’s hoofbeats clattering as she followed, but she didn’t have time to listen to her marveling at the spell; she was already taking off at a gallop towards her enemy.  The massive creature had sighted her glittery rainbow, which stood out in the ashy and reddened landscape; it turned to intercept her, but the emperor’s guards got to her first, clad in metal helmets with a strange, pointy horn on top. It reminded her a bit of a lollipop, if a lollipop could flash like a candle flame.  “Halt! In the name of Emperor Sprout!”  “They’re just ponies; they don’t know any better,  Pull them to safety, until there’s a change in the weather.”  The earth pony patrol were scooped up in the pastel, glittering rainbow, and carried off of the battlefield as they screamed with one terrified voice. They’d be fine, Majesty reminded herself; she had bigger bushwoolies to shave.  The massive metal creature - more like a suit of armor, the closer she got to it, hollowed-out behind the eyes and teeth - continued to plod towards her, and as she got closer, she could see that its hooves had wheels, so that it was able to roll along with each step. It was faster than it looked; soon, it was close enough that she could read the insignia spray-painted across its massive front. It seemed to be an acronym … but a particularly graceless one.  G - GIVE U - UNICORNS  N - NO MERCY!  D - DEFEND A - ARE HOME M - MARETIME BAY! “Is that supposed to be ‘our’’?” Majesty hummed to herself, and felt her heart skip a beat as two bright-red beams of light suddenly focused on her. The glowing eyes of the armor had sighted her!  “HALT, UNICORN SCUM!” the same whiny voice from before commanded, enraged despite the whine. “YOUR MIND CONTROL POWERS WON’T WORK ON MY BEAUTIFUL SPROUT-BOT 2.0; HE’S MADE OF ENCHANTED UNITONIUM!”  “Not a thing,” Majesty muttered.  “YOUR FOOLISH BRIDLEWOOD WOO-WOO WON’T WORK ON ME!! NOW, IF YOU SURRENDER QUIETLY… I’LL ONLY STOMP YOU A FEW TIMES, HAW HAW!”  “Right,” Majesty frowned. She considered the massive creature - a suit of armor, it seemed to be, but with much smaller ponies inside of it - and took a few steps back.  “DON’T TRY TO RUN AWAY, LITTLE UNICORN! IT’S USELESS!”  “Just getting a better angle,” Majesty said, half to herself, but it seemed that the whiny stallion inside of the armor could hear her.  “Did she just call me an angel?”  “Instead of magic, give me simple rope,  I’m going to cut this monster down, dope by dope!”  A rope appeared from the end of her horn, and she caught one end in her teeth as her magic shot the other end at the robot; it looped, around and around, and held fast around the robot-pony’s muzzle.  “H-HEY! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! MAGIC ISN’T SUPPOSED TO WORK ON THIS!”  “I did ask for a regular rope,” Majesty replied through gritted teeth as she swung herself into the air. There were a few terrifying moments where she seemed to hang in midair (what she wouldn’t give for a pair of wings just then!), then she landed, hard, on the creature’s metal back. Her bad knees cried out, but held.  “THAT’S NOT FAIR, THAT’S NOT FAIR!”  Majesty didn’t know a lot about this castle-but-not creation; but if it was like armor, it had weak points. And those weak points would be where the armor connected, and she had to assume that this lumbering monster would be the same. As the monster tried to twist its head back around upon itself, Majesty dove downward, horn first, and began slashing at the joint on the front left shoulder. With her powerful front hooves, she began kicking and digging, seeking out the weak, rubbery connections beneath the metal.  “STOP THAT, I NEED THAT LEG! THAT’S MY FAVORITE LEG!”  Something wet and viscous splashed her face - black, thank the stars, and she wiped her eyes clear before she went back to slashing. Once the leg started to stutter, she planted her front legs on the shoulder, and her back hooves between the seam of the joint she had just ripped wide.  “STOP! I COMMAND AS YOUR EMPEROR!”  With a high, keening battle-whinny, Majesty kicked out her hind legs, and scrambled back onto the monster as its leg sheared off. Her battle-whinny was completely overridden by the scream the metal made as it disconnected, and with a mighty crash, the robot’s leg smashed into the ground far below. More of the black, viscous liquid began to pool around the lost limb as it gushed as feverishly as if it were from an open wound. A very dirty pony clambered out of a little door, and galloped to safety.  “GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD! WE STILL HAVE THREE MORE GOOD - HEY!”  Faster than the first time, now that she knew where to cut, Majesty sheared off a second leg from the metal monstrosity, crashing into what had once been a grocery store. It was a hind leg this time, on the opposite side, and with a terrible, bone-shaking groaning, the armor began to collapse. Beneath them, several ponies bailed out of the legs, scrambling to safety; Majesty could only watch from her precarious perch on the monster’s back.  “MOMMY!! MOMMY, I’M SORRYYYYYYYY!” wailed the whiny stallion. Majesty decided that life was severely unfair if that was going to be the last thing she heard.  “I heard someone needed an alicorn rescue!” came a familiar voice, and with a sharp grip around her middle, Majesty felt herself lifted into the air.  “Twilight!”  “Oof, I should call you big princess, you’re heavy!” Twilight Sparkle groaned, her wings flapping feverishly as they glided down to a ruined street.  “You came just in the nick of time!” Majesty praised her, grinning at her from under a face full of oil.  “Oh - you, uh, got a little - you know what, it’s fine,” Twilight Sparkle decided suddenly, waving off her concern. “I thought I heard my Princess of Friendship powers buzzing! I knew it was time to stage a rescue!”  Majesty laughed, and regretted it only a little; the black slick did not taste good. “You were the most spectacular Princess of Friendship I have ever seen, and that’s not just because you were the only one I’ve ever seen.”  Twilight Sparkle laughed, and opened her mouth to say something else, but something interrupted her - a massive squeal of metal as the robo-pony’s mouth opened, revealing a much-smaller, much more rumpled-looking red pony. He climbed out, sniveling and crying, and tripped, landing on his face on the cobblestones below.  “Great. One last problem to solve,” Majesty growled, and took off at a trot, her horn glowing.  “One last bug to squash, get ready to flee,  Turn this little stallion into -”  “Majesty, stop!”  Majesty skidded to a shuddering halt when Twilight Sparkle ran in front of her; if she hadn’t left enough leeway, her three bum knees would have bowled her right over. “Twilight! He’s - he’s the bad guy! That’s the Emperor! The whole monster looks like him!”  “I know!” Twilight shouted, and kept herself between the still-whining stallion and the queen. “And - and he’s a pony! He’s just a pony!”  “He destroyed Dream Valley! Look at this place!” Majesty shouted, gesturing with her horn to the rubble around them, and the shell-shocked ponies who were slowly coming to circle their fallen leader. A few of them slipped off metal helmets, kicking them aside guiltily. “It’s been destroyed!”  “I know!” Twilight agreed, and stood in silence for a moment, realizing that the group was waiting to hear her next words with bated breath. “But … look at him. Look at us.”  Majesty looked down at the red stallion; he wasn’t much older than them, but he was pretty scrawny, and the little buttons and ribbons on his collar were all askew from where he’d fallen out of his monster. His cheeks were tear-stained, and snot dribbled down his chin; even his straw-yellow bouffant looked positively deflated.  “He’s not a threat to us, Majesty. This isn’t a glorious battle anymore. We won the battle. He’s just - the result.” Twilight Sparkle was frowning, trying to puzzle out her feelings. “What you did was - was incredible, Majesty. But once you turned the dog-beasts into saplings… did you chop the saplings down, too?”  Majesty frowned at the analogy. “Of course not.”  “He’s not a dog-beast. He’s - he’s a sapling. He’s just a dumb little pony,” Twilight Sparkle snapped, gesturing at the sniveling red stallion, “who got a taste of power, and went crazy with it. I wish I could say that he was the first pony I’ve met like this, but he’s not.”  Majesty’s ears snapped back. “The future sounds like a rough place.”  “It is! It is. But - the past is rough, too. I didn’t know how you handled it, if I’m being completely honest. Dog-beasts, and lava monsters, and Gizmos!”  “Gizmonks.”  “It’s all too much! It’s too much heartache, and war, and battle for me.” Twilight Sparkle sighed, and frowned at Majesty. “I think it’s too much for you, too.” Majesty frowned at her sharply, and her ears flattened out. “You presume much, Princess Twilight. And you presume too much about him; if a pony is bad, then they will receive the same treatment as any Gizmonk.”  “I will not allow you, Princess Majesty.” Twilight Sparkle squared herself off in front of Majesty; it surprised her, to see her own tactics reflected back at her. Her horn glowed; in reply, Majesty’s glowed. “I don’t want to fight you!” “Maybe I do.” “Not every battle can be solved with blasting!” Princess Twilight Sparkle was still trying to talk her way out of it, and Majesty didn’t like it; she especially didn’t like how much sense it was making.  “You say that this is too much for you; but it is not too much for me,” Majesty said coldly, and took a step forward, coming close enough to Twilight Sparkle that she could feel her breath huffing against her own coat. “Being a ruler means making the hard decisions. Even if the hard decisions mean doing something that seems wrong to those who can’t understand the burdens of power.” Around them, the circle of earth ponies took a few steps back.  “If you will not help me,” Majesty ground out, and pushed past Twilight Sparkle, “then I ask only that you do not get in my way.” She stepped closer to the little red stallion; he was still sniveling, and as she approached, he curled up into a ball, shielding his head.  Only a few inches from her hoof, something sharp and bright blasted; the radiant heat made her jerk her hoof back. Majesty twisted, and came face to face with Princess Twilight Sparkle, her horn still smoking.  “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight began, her voice firm, commanding; a royal voice if Majesty had ever heard one. “And I am the Princess of Friendship. I will not let you do this.” “Very well,” Majesty reared into the air, whinnying out her battle scream.  “Rainbow, I call upon your aid; Gather Twilight Sparkle and -”  Majesty’s song was cut off sharply with a powerful blast of magic, knocking her off her hooves. It had been years since any other unicorn had challenged her; she had forgotten how painful those first few blasts were. Her snow-white coat was streaked with ash as she scrambled to her hooves, huffing out an angry breath.  “Your weakness is your speed,” Twilight Sparkle called to her, frowning; she was conflicted. Majesty could see the thrill of battle in her gaze, as much as she tried to deny it. “You take too long casting your big spells.”  Majesty whipped her head back, and sent another magical rope at Twilight Sparkle; Twilight tried to dodge, but it caught her hind legs, and she struggled in the dirt for a moment. “And your weakness is you think too much!” Majesty called, and twirled her horn; the blast of her magic met Twilight Sparkle’s halfway, and the pair sparked violently as they connected. Majesty might have felt more guilty if the neighborhood hadn't already been decimated.  Twilight Sparkle soon freed herself from the rope, and Majesty shot another at her; this one she dodged, then blasted with a burst of her own magic. The pair darted through the ruined neighborhood, blasting at one another; for all that it was dangerous, and very serious, Majesty couldn’t pretend that she didn’t enjoy the thrill of it all. Majesty landed a few hits; Twilight Sparkle did the same. Neither stayed down for long, but Majesty could feel the hits taking their toll on her sore body. Even Twilight Sparkle, less battle-worn than her, seemed to be feeling it, slowing down as she darted behind half-fallen walls and bits of rubble to shield herself.  Majesty surprised Twilight as she rounded a corner, and she tackled the smaller princess, using her superior size to pin her to the ground. She huffed out an exhausted breath, then lifted her head; her horn glowed, but her spell-song died on her lips.  “You can’t do it, can you?”  Majesty glared at her.  “I’m your friend, Majesty,” Twilight Sparkle spoke quietly, even as she panted a little. She was dirty and ash-streaked, just like Majesty; she was as tired as she was. “I’m not some faceless dog-beast. But to someone, that red pony is a friend, too. He’s not a monster. He’s just a pony who made a mistake - just like me. Just like you.” Majesty panted down at her for a moment, long enough that she could stop panting; finally, she pulled away with an angry growl, stomping a few steps away. Her head swum, and not only from the fresh blast that still burned on her flank.  “You’re brave, Majesty; but bravery is not fighting for the sake of fighting. It is not suffering in silence. It’s not brave to keep your friends away when you’re hurting.”  Majesty’s mane twitched uncomfortably; she tried to shake off the dust from her coat, refusing to meet Twilight Sparkle’s gaze.  “Your friends love you. They might not be able to understand everything, but they can understand parts of it. It’s not brave to be crushed under the burden of your loss; it’s actually braver,” Twilight Sparkle’s brows lifted, as if she was just realizing it as she said it, “to share your burden with others, and to share your heart.”  “Aww,” said one pony watching from an abandoned apartment, and another pony stuffed his hoof in his mouth to silence him.  “That pony made a mistake; it doesn’t mean he should be destroyed for it,” Twilight Sparkle said softly, watching Majesty. “If you made mistakes, it doesn’t mean you ought to be, either.”  Majesty’s head jerked up sharply, and considered Twilight Sparkle for a long time. At last, she gave her head a small, jerky nod. “Well spoken,” she said at last, her voice a little tangled in her throat. “I can see why they made you Princess of Friendship. You - you know your stuff.” Majesty gave an obliging little chuckle. “And not a bad spell caster, either.” “I do love to research,” Twilight smiled, and spread her wings. “Now; how about we go home?”  “Will they be able to handle him?” Majesty asked, considering the crowd as they gradually crept closer, and the sniveling red stallion still cowering in the shadow of his colossus.  “Is Mommy gonna be mad?” the red pony asked, before a much burlier stallion with a badge hefted him over his shoulder.  “Don’t worry, ladies; I’ve got him from here.”  “Very good. Now, hold on tight; this spell might be a little tricky with two of us,” Twilight Sparkle instructed Majesty, but before she could lift Majesty into the air, Majesty summoned a rainbow with a twirl of her horn, and she took off into the air, galloping along its glittery length.  “Two of us? That’s just double the magic! It’ll be twice as easy.” Majesty called over her shoulder, and the pair took off, racing into a black portal which swallowed them up, vanishing in a dark, liquid swirl.