//------------------------------// // XXX. Mt. Kali'gryph / Central Equestria. June, 1252. // Story: Equestria: Total War // by emkajii //------------------------------// Mt. Kali'gryph, Kingdom of Gryphonia. June, 1252. Dust swirled in the sparse shafts of light illuminating the enormous, spartan chamber. The former Zebra ambassador to Equestria bowed low before the Gryphon King. "Your Dreadful Majesty," he intoned, his front legs splayed, his head resting on the ground, "Most High and Most Powerful, Rightful Lord and Sovereign of the North, whose name I am not worthy to know. This humble zebra comes to Your Glory in a spirit of ancestral brotherhood." "Lord Bakora," the ancient gryphon wheezed, "this breach of our standing arrangement is unexpected. Ambassador Radako is the one and only zebra I have decided to allow into my innermost circle. In this time of great struggle, I do not understand why the Sublime Council has chosen to replace her with a zebra that has been an...intimate of the Pony Queen." "Your Dreadful Majesty," Bakora replied, head still against the ground, "I have indeed been posted in the court of Canterlot, and have always had the interests of my people and my tribe as my one, singular, and only priority. The Sublime Council of the Zebra Tribes has seen fit to reassign me to Your Glory's court." The Gryphon King raised an eyebrow in amusement. "So the zebras presume to dictate to me who I may and may not confer with. And tell me, zebra, what if I tell you that I will have no zebra but Radako in my presence?" "Then, Your Dreadful Majesty, the diplomatic relationship between the Crown of Gryphonia and the Sublime Council of the Zebra Tribes will be at an end. Lady Radako has been recalled to Punda-Milia, and will not be reassigned for further duties until she stands trial before the Elder Circle of the Council. If Your Dreadful Majesty refuses to speak with me, then he refuses to speak with the Tribes." "Ah...so that is how it is," the king said as he leaned back in his simple throne. "My zebra confidant has been recalled and put on trial. I have been given a member of the Pony Queen's court instead. This is certainly a shift in our relationship, ambassador. May I ask what has prompted such a change?" The ambassador rose to his feet and looked the Gryphon King in the eye. The king cocked his head at the breach of protocol. The Zebra suppressed a snort. "You lied to us." --- North of Everfree Forest, Equestria. June, 1252. The six ponies sat around the campfire, watching the tongues of flame twist and tumble. "She can't be serious," Rarity said. "She's...she's the Princess, for sanity's sake. The Princess can't die." "I don't see why not," Twilight Sparkle replied, her voice dead. "She's a pony. She doesn't get sick or get old, but she's still a pony." "But...but she simply can't, Twilight darling! How could we go on?" Rarity stared at the flame, rather than looking at the pony she was talking to. "The same way we go on now, I guess. Only...only I guess we have to do what she does, too. I don't really know how that would work. At all. But...I mean, we can't be princesses. Can we? But Celestia said we would take over if she died. That must mean she trusts that we'd be able to take over, right?" A glimmer of hope crept into her eyes. Applejack looked around at her friends. She bit her lip, wondering if she should talk. She teetered on the edge of speaking, wrangling with herself, for a silent minute. Finally, she released her fear and spoke up: "Twi'. I took over runnin' Sweet Apple Acres when I was practically still a filly. I wasn't ready for that any more'n I was ready to win a flyin' competition, but Granny Smith told me she believed in me. She knew I was probably gonna mess up somethin' awful--and now 'n' then I sure as heck did--but she also knew she didn't have much choice in the matter. So she said she had faith in me, 'cause believin' in myself might help me do a better job. And darn it if it didn't work." "Gals," she continued, "We ain't ready to lead a country. Shoot, we ain't even ready to do what we're doin' now. But it ain't about whether we're ready. It's about whether we're gonna step up and do it even if everythin' we know is tellin' us we can't. So, no. Princess Celestia don't think we can take over nothin', 'cause everythin' she knows is tellin' her we can't, too. But we might have to, and if and when the apples all fall to the ground, well, we gotta try to pick 'em up even if we can't do it." Rainbow Dash crossed her front legs and looked at the ground. "Thanks for the inspirational words, AJ," she muttered. "No wonder your soldiers are always so brave." "Darn it," Applejack replied, smacking a front hoof against the ground. "That ain't fair, Dash. Yeah, okay, maybe I ain't been the greatest pony in the world at knowin' when to tell who what. Maybe ol' Applejack's just too dang simple to know how to empty the heads of a hundred ponies for their own good. Maybe you can't trust me to calm scared ponies down. But the way I look at it, it ain't no responsibility of mine to empty your head. We ain't soldiers who just gotta stand still and do what they're told. We gotta lead. And you can't lead if you're hidin' from the truth." Applejack's mouth and eyes were twitching. She was holding back anger. Or tears. Or both. Rainbow Dash glanced around the fire. She had regretted her comment immediately after saying it, and was now praying nobody turned the same level of scrutiny on her past actions. They never brought up each other's failures, and she knew hers were worse than anypony else's. Her heart raced as the silence mounted. Her muscles tightened. Surely, somepony would bring up that she wasn't one to talk. Somepony would say it. They must all be thinking it. Eventually Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat. Dash's breath stopped. Her heart stopped, too. "You're right, AJ. Yeah. You're right." Twilight spoke sadly, her little shadow of hope gone. Dash's body relaxed. "She doesn't think we can do it. And we probably can't. But if she dies...well...then we'll have to do it somehow. We might as well get used to the fact." They all sighed. A tear ran down Pinkie Pie's face. "Um, if I can say something," Fluttershy said in her soft half-whisper, "I just wanted to say you're all really brave ponies. This is a really big thing you're dealing with. I wish I were that brave." They blinked in confusion. "Fluttershy, dear," Rarity said, "the Princess did not exclude you. You are also expected to lead Equestria...um. In the unlikely event of her death, of course." "Well," she said matter-of-factly, "she didn't mean it. She was just including me to make me feel included. And even if she did mean it, I'm not really dealing with it that well. I'm not--oh, what's the word--I'm not accepting it. I'm just showing up and pretending I do. I'm not brave like you." "That's what bravery is, Fluttershy," Applejack said, in a tone of voice bordering between conciliatory and frustrated. "You don't have to pretend it ain't bad or that you're okay with it. You just have to show up and do what you got to do even though you're dyin' on the inside." "Well, uh...I don't know if I'll keep doing that. Um, you know, doing that forever. I don't think I can." "You ain't plannin' on bailin' on your friends again." Applejack didn't phrase it as a question. "I know you ain't." "No, of course not!" The pegasus seemed shocked by the suggestion. "I could never do that again!" "Well," the farm pony shrugged. "Then you'll keep on doin' what you got to do, alongside us, 'cause doin' that and runnin' away are the only two options any of us got." "Oh." She lowered her head. Her hair fell in front of her face. "I see. So...so does that make me a brave pony too?" "Yes," Twilight Sparkle said, with little emotion behind the words. They stared at the fire. Behind them, Celestia approached. --- Mount Kali'gryph, Kingdom of Gryphonia The king chuckled, in a voice sounding more like dry coughing than laughter. "Watch yourself, zebra. No matter how hot-blooded you may be at this moment, surely your Council does not wish to tie its fate to a demonic Queen in exile and her cross-eyed bandit princess." "We do not want war. We want an explanation for the deception." "For a nation that doesn't want war, you certainly are striking a presumptuous drumbeat. Recalling my trusted Radako without consulting me? Sending in her place a zebra from the Pony Queen's court--who has come to accuse me of deception, no less? Be mindful of your station, savanna beast, lest we decide our ancestral homeland should be ours again." "Our actions are unexceptional in the face of an exceptional situation. I understand your reliance on her judgment and perspective in matters regarding our mutual relationship, but Lady Radako is implicated in this affair as well. She cannot very well investigate a situation she had a hand in creating. I was the diplomatic agent located most closely to your kingdom. Once the situation is resolved, we may then return to the status quo." The king ground his beak in contemplation, then spoke. "This...may require some time, ambassador. I will give you unrestricted access to my internal communications regarding recent events. Please, come with me. We may speak in the Room of Records." He rose to his feet with a surprising quickness, and began walking towards the exit of the hall without another word. After he passed the ambassador, the zebra turned and followed the king silently. --- North of Everfree Forest, Equestria. June, 1252. "I understand you are upset by this news, my little ponies." Celestia spoke softly, but the ponies still jumped at the sound of her voice. "My rule has been the one thing ponies could rely on for far, far longer than any of you can trace your family histories. But all things pass in time. I did not always rule ponies. I will not always rule ponies. And if I die, then I die glad that my rule has largely been a peaceful one, and I die with earnest hope for the future you will shape." "But...but Princess," Twilight said. "I don't understand. None of us do. Why can't you...just...I don't know. Go somewhere? Have us fight her? Fight her yourself? I don't know! Something! Please!" Celestia shook her head. "My death is not assured, Twilight Sparkle. I have no desire to die. I will do everything in my power to live. I am very old, very powerful, and very persuasive, and Screwball is unpredictable in many ways. It is very possible that I will live. But it is also possible that she will kill me--it may even be likely--and fleeing or sending others in my stead would only change the place and time of our confrontation. When you have lived over a thousand years, Twilight Sparkle, it is not worth sending hundreds or thousands of ponies to oblivion simply to extend your life by a few days." "But why do we have to take over?! Why not Luna? I don't understand. Why are you leaving us?" "Twilight Sparkle, Luna stood alongside me during both imprisonments of Discord. I am not certain what Screwball's motivation is, but whatever it is, it would almost certainly apply to Luna as well. Better she stand with me again than wait for Screwball to seek her individually. Besides..." Her voice softened to a near whisper. "She is my sister. We are very, very close. Closer than any ponies that have ever lived, and in ways you cannot comprehend. She could no more let me die than your left hoof could let your right hoof die." Celestia shook her head. Her flowing mane was unaffected by the motion. She resumed a voice of quiet command. "You must accept the possibility of my death. Arguing will not change it. Begging will not change it. You must accept it and keep moving forward, in the hopes that I will live, but with the understanding that you may be called on to take my place." Twilight began to cry. Her red, stinging eyes again flooded with tears, though she had shed so many already. "I don't want you to die. I need you. I don't know what I'd do without you." Celestia smiled down as she walked over to the little unicorn. "Twilight Sparkle. Oh, Twilight Sparkle. My faithful student. The greatest of all my proteges. A pony with unlimited potential and unlimited devotion. The first with the ability to surpass her master. The first to watch the world crumble before her eyes. And, just possibly, the first to be free of me." Celestia nuzzled her student. Twilight wept into Celestia's fur. "There is something deeply poetic in it. A teacher is supposed to prepare the next generation to be greater than she was. But yet when I teach, my students grow old and die in my shadow. Now that I finally have a student with the potential to be greater than me...heh. I find she may, indeed, be the next generation. Such a blessing. Such a bitter blessing." The others watched in discomfort. --- Mt. Kali'gryph, Kingdom of Gryphonia "The first thing you must understand, Ambassador Bakora, is that the Pony Queen is a demon, and I do not exaggerate. She has ruled for over a thousand years, and with each year she has gotten better at ruling. There is now very little she does not control in her realm. From her tower in Canterlot she sees everything the sun touches. With limitless cunning and patience she creates endlessly intricate plans. In one way or another, she shapes the life of every pony--and for many ponies the level of control is shocking. The lives of those closest to her are orchestrated with unerring precision, to the extent that they are more puppets than persons--" "--I am well aware of Celestia's influence over her realm, though I do think--" The zebra attempted to interject. The king ignored it. "--This is the pony way of doing things. Everything must be controlled. Nothing must live on its own. It is regimented. It is lifeless. It is a waking death. And, sadly, it is enormously effective. Whether we talk of farmers or of traders, a pony outproduces his counterparts. I admit that the Pony Queen is not an expansionist by character--but yet because of her, pony lands expand without limit. If she is not stopped, the entire world in all its splendor and beauty will become a garden run by ponies, and in the great pony garden all other races will become dependent on ponies for their existence. She must die. Only by killing her can ponies be made to abandon their control of nature. Only by killing her we return ponykind to the community of races living among nature rather than enslaving it. Only by killing her can we safeguard our lands from slow but inevitable conquest by ponies. Her death is not a means by which we hope to win this war. Her death is the only acceptable outcome of this war." "Your Dreadful Majesty," the zebra replied, "you promised an explanation of why you lied to the Sublime Council repeatedly. Explaining that you wish to kill the Pony Que--Princess Celestia does not tell us anything we did not already know. You told us that the Occultation was a purely defensive relic--an ancestral treasure of your family--and that you wished it only to defend yourself against a phantom scheme of Celestia's. Our historians agreed with your analysis about the relic. But yet you gave it to a pony who has used it to launch a campaign of random murder--one apparently aimed at eventually killing Celestia." "I did not lie," the king responded testily. "This war is fundamentally defensive. Everything I do in this war is defensive. Assassinating the Pony Queen is a legitimate defense of Gryphonia." Bakora didn't bother concealing his disappointment. "I will give you another chance, Your Dreadful Majesty. Again: you informed us that you wanted a Gryphonic relic to defend yourself against Celestia's magic. We assisted your agents in recovering it. And the result has been the creation of a murderously insane god. And again: the issue is not that you want to kill Celestia. The issue is that you unleashed an unstoppable killer in our lands after promising you wanted only a defensive tool." "I could not possibly have forseen that particular outcome," the king said, nearly shouting. "Yes, I did plan to assassinate the Pony Queen. No, I did not plan for Screwball to become so dangerous." "...then why, might I ask, did you send the pony with your agents? Why, if not for her to get the Occultation? Why, if not for her to become that--that dark goddess?" "She told me I should," the king growled, as if it explained anything. --- North of Everfree Forest, Equestria. June, 1252. Celestia took a step backwards, and Twilight sat down reluctantly. The princess looked at the six ponies in turn. "You are all capable of growing into such responsibility," she said. "I have full faith that you will. You will learn to lead. And you will learn, again, how to work together. And your first opportunity for both has come." "We are, as you must be aware, two days' march away from a point where we might launch an attack on a gryphon army encampment. Given the recent redeployment of the Gryphonic forces--for which we must thank General Hooves' Army of Northern Equestria--a victory would give us a clear path towards Canterlot. Once we arrive at Canterlot, I will turn control of the army over to Field Marshal Sparkle. Luna and I will then begin preparing for Screwball. I expect that you six will begin gathering your strength to prepare to re-enter the war in full." "But, Your Majesty," Applejack said. "That hardly makes any sense. Er, if you pardon my tone, Your Majesty. But won't the gryphons come after us--after you--if we go to Canterlot? We couldn't possibly hold them all off. Isn't that why we stayed away in the first place?" Rarity chuckled. "Come now, Col. Apple. If any of the gryphons were to move towards Canterlot, they would be leaving the Army of Northern Equestria in their rear and directly across their supply line. They would be open to attack, and they would be unable to feed themselves. It would be suicide. They may want to come after us, but they can't." She thought for a second, then shook her mane lightly. "Though I cannot believe I am about to say this, it seems that we are going to be acting under the presumption that Derpy Hooves will keep us safe." "Indeed," Celestia replied. "Quite perceptive, Col. Rarity. I am truly impressed with how well you six have mastered your fields of study, especially given how limited your opportunities for practice have been. I expect you will each be demonstrating this level of strategic competence when planning the campaign that will take us to Canterlot." "Does...um...does that mean we're taking over now, Princess? That we're--" "--yes, Twilight," Celestia interrupted. "I have a small affair I must attend to, and will not be present over the next two days. Luna, of course, will be present, but she and I are in agreement that you six require experience more than you require advice." "You're just tellin' us like that?!" Applejack spat out. "Er, Your Majesty, of course. But there've been a bunch of sudden spurs to the flank over the past few days. It ain't like you to just keep springin' this kinda news on us. I mean, first ya told us we gotta move out, then that you might die, and now that you're just up and leavin' on us. This whole thing is stranger 'n a five-legged frog...sigh. Your Majesty." "It's all right, Applejack, that kind of formality is unnecessary in private." Celestia said with a fleeting smile, before resuming her serious demeanor. "And I apologize for the rate at which I have been...accelerating your development. I truly do. But events often move more quickly than one expects, and in directions one had hoped they would not. If you have questions, Luna can answer them. If you need advice, you may advise each other. I will return shortly." The Princess turned to her student. "Well, then. You're in command." Twilight looked around in bewilderment. "Wait--what? Princess? ...Just like that? That's it? No...nothing special?" "We'll do a proper ceremony in Canterlot," Celestia said in a hushed voice. "But most ceremonies are just for appearances anyway, and there's no time right now." Twilight stared. "Um...thank you?" A white hoof tapped impatiently on the ground. "Take command." "Oh! I..I am ready to relieve you, Your Majesty," Twilight offered. "I am ready to be relieved," Celestia said firmly. "I...relieve you? Your Majesty?" The words felt strange leaving her mouth. Just words. Words that tumbled out and vanished into the night. Words that meant nothing to her, yet words that transferred a burden she was only beginning to understand. "I stand relieved. You have command of the army, Field Marshal." Celestia saluted. Twilight returned the salute with an unsure hoof. And the Princess turned away, the firelight flashing in her flowing mane. She extended her wings, closed her eyes, and--with a brilliant flash of light--disappeared into the night. The six ponies sat, eyes wide with confusion, bodies rigid with shock.