Flame Dancer waited patiently beside Captain Candice, Knight Dash and Seneschal Emerald. As only a mere faithful and dedicated to Celestia and not Twilight, a part of her felt very small in such vaunted company.
When she set out with Noble Guide’s caravan, she never would’ve imagined she would be standing here, now.
Twilight looked serene as she gazed out over the horizon at the world lit by the last hour of sunlight. Her aura carefully cleaned and stored her painting supplies. The canvas beside her held a captivated landscape half twisted with blight, half pristine and untouched. All the tools of her craft dealt with, she turned her attention to the actual canvas. She tilted it, the light caught just so on the paint, and for a moment, the screaming faces of griffons appeared in the mottled shading of the pigment.
In a flash of magenta, all trace of the painting and its creation vanished. As the Twilight Princess turned to face them her ponies shifted from calm and relaxed. She stood tall and regal, her wings slightly mantled and horn high. “My Captain, you have command of the mercenaries. Protect our allies.”
Candice nodded and took off to gather the forces. The image of military professionalism.
“My Knight, I am charging you to support her efforts, I expect the sky to be your uncontested domain.”
Rainbow saluted, her eyes blazing with hard purpose, even as the cocky smirk she wore for Wounderbolt posters sat on her muzzle.
“Sun Sworn Flame Dancer, you are not truly ours to command, but you know your duty. We trust you to perform it.”
Flame Dancer bowed reverently. She praised Celestia for her etiquette lessons, which was the only thing that stopped her from cheering like a little filly. Twilight may not be the radiant Princess Celestia, but she was her student raised to divinity by her will.
Twilight’s eyes met Emerald’s for a moment. The tall, dark mare simply nodded and made her way below decks.
“Now, I have an appointment to keep.” Magenta flame rippled along Princess Twilight's mane. Her regal features shifted into a far too pleased smirk as she advanced upon the airships railing and poor corrupted souls below.
A shudder went down Dancer’s spine, from horn point to tail tip, at just the thought of being the focus of even an Alicorn's displeasure, let alone subject to that malevolent gleam in Twilight’s eyes.
As the Alicorn effortlessly mounted the railing, she spread her wings wide. She perched there for a long moment, then just allowed herself to pitch forward and fall. The world around her distorted as if she was nothing but a desert marriage, and then she was simply gone.
Alicorns are our devine protectors. Woe is to any that earn their just wrath. Flame Dancer lowered her head and whispered a brief prayer to Celestia to accept their souls into her warm embrace.
“Ah, why does she get all the fun?” The brash and brave Knight Rainbow Dash said, returning to her endless hover.
Flame Dancer spent a few more seconds honouring those whose suffering was about to end before she looked up to the prismatic maned mare. “She is your Princess, the divine you have chosen to follow. Is it being her will, not enough reason?”
Humour and scorn faded into something softer and more honest in Rainbow’s magenta eyes. “You really mean that, don't you?”
“I do. You are pledged to the Twilight Princess, and so you are hers in all things, in all ways.”
Rainbow alighted, and her eyes travelled over each of the lavender feathers that marked her as Twilight’s as her hoof subconsciously rested upon the blessed blade attached to her foreleg.
“Those of us that are called to serve the Goddesses.”
“Twilight isn't a…”
“She heals the incurable.” Dancer pointedly stared at Rainbow’s right wing. “She walks sheathed in the power to alter the world to her will, and she can raise up her chosen to beyond mortal hights.” The warm and content smile matched the joy in Dancer's heart. “You are blessed to be her Chosen, doubly so to be one of the first.”
Complex thoughts shifted behind Rainbow’s intense eyes.
“I am honoured to be in the presence of one worthy of being Twilight’s Holy Knight.”
Pride and something deeper stirred in Rainbow’s gaze.
Dancer softly smiled and rested her hoof on her withers. “Rejoice in what you have gained, and strive always to be worthy of her.”
Rainbow’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. A moment later, she nodded, ruby hard resolve crystallising in her keen eyes.
The airship creaked and groaned as it altered course. Flame Dancer looked once more at the patch of blighted forest, once pristine wilderness twisted into some grand mockery of a tower. Despite how terrible it was, their was no denying the brilliance of whatever warlock had caused this. Her eyes moved to the horizon in the direction of travel. The griffons upahead were not the ponies she thought she would be saving, but they still deserved to be saved.
She closed her eyes and rested her hoof upon the necklace that bore Celestia’s Devine Mark. Please, lend me the strength to do you will.