“Welcome to New Canterlot,” Little Cobb announced with faked ostentation, presenting the unassuming view with a grandiose sweep of his leg.
Before the sisters spread a vast, if sparse, farming village; encircled by a monolithic wall of stripped tree trunks, bolted together to form a solid wall—far too high and straight for anything without wings to overcome. The scene was reminiscent of the illustration of pre-calamity Ponydale that Celestia remembered, besides the wall, mixed with a slew of basic military fixtures and tents. Ponies wandered the crop fields as far as the eye could see, farmers and soldiers alike, all busying themselves with their various daily tasks. One might almost forget the state of the world outside these high walls, were it not for the astral anomaly hanging high above their heads.
Aside from the implied residents of Haysead Swamp, this settlement was shaping up to be the most populated location they’ve visited so far. All these ponies; all individuals with their own lives, their own loves and hates, their own stories, just like theirs… It boggled the mind to consider the toll this invasion had taken on each and every one of them. A cursory scan suggested most of the ponies living here were terran, and it dawned on the unicorn that they had seen very few of the other pony races on their journey. Why was that? Were terran simply more numerous and spread out, or were pegasi and unicorns that much more useful on the front line?
“Right this way,” the stallion resumed, satisfied they had taken in the squalor long enough.
The trio followed a well-trodden and muddy path around the outskirts of the town, forged by years of innumerable hoofprints. A few ponies passed them on the short walk; some ignoring them, others staring at Luna as they passed. The path spread out as they reached a small encampment of tents. Vegetables roasted on an open fire pit, as a particularly imposing red-and-white striped pavilion loomed ahead of them, standing out among the others as a place of import.
“Is the Commander in?” their escort asked, saluting one of the two similarly-armoured soldiers standing guard at the pavilion's closed flap.
The guard nodded, remaining stony-faced.
“Legionnaire Cobb, sir. You have visitors,” he called to the Commander within, standing to attention.
“Visitors?” a gruff voice replied, leaving a healthy pause before continuing. “Come.”
Little Cobb looked back at the sisters and motioned for them to follow, before lifting the waxed canvas aside and entering. The princesses shared an apprehensive glance before Celestia lifted the heavy tarp with her magic, and the pair followed him in. Within the pavilion was what might be described as a ‘war room’, featuring a large, wooden table in its centre, upon which lay a map of the local area, and numerous marker pieces. Thick, flickering candles lit the enclosed tent with an orange glow, as a lone stallion stood proud on the other side of the table, his bronze armour glimmering gold in the firelight.
Like most of the soldiers they had seen so far, this white unicorn was surprisingly well-built, and suffered from no lack of scars. His helmet sat defiantly on the war-table, revealing the thick pleather straps that covered his right eye, and a severe burn scar across his left cheek, which affected the growth of his stubble. A short blue mane lay flat against his frown-creased forehead, while a bushy goatee hid his lips, leaving only one, weary eye to tell his warrior’s tale.
“These two mares asked to see you by name, sir,” Little Cobb reported, standing to attention in the corner of the room.
“Oh did they now?” the Commander mused, looking the pair over from afar. “And to what do I owe the pleasure? Looking to join the Royal Legion?”
“Is it- Is it really you?” Luna asked as she stepped forward, her eyes struggling to adjust to the dim candlelight within.
“If you are looking for Commander Ustiarius of the Royal Legion’s Light Brigade, then I am he, yes.”
“Really?” Celestia asked again, beginning to walk toward him.
Little Cobb stepped forward to block her approach, but the Commander held out his hoof, allowing her to come. Celestia rounded the table, with Luna sticking close behind.
“Or perhaps you’re Loyalists, seeking my head on a pike in the name of Discord?” the old stallion joked dryly. Any unicorn with ill intent would have attacked from afar, if that was their goal—and these two had very ‘unicorn’ physiques.
The white mare approached him, coming so close that he could see the lines in her pale pink eyes. Those large, intelligent eyes… Why did he feel like he’d seen them before?
“You know, it’s common courtesy to introduce yourself before approaching somepony in their home,” he warned, looking down at her unflinchingly. “Did your parents not teach you manners?”
“I didn’t know my parents—not really,” the elder sister answered without hesitation, remaining uncomfortably close. “The closest thing we had was our uncle; Starswirl.”
His eye widened and all pretence dropped as he heard this; years of stoic defensiveness eroded like sand on a beach.
“Star- … Uncle- …”
Every piece of the puzzle slotted together as soon as the picture was revealed to him. Two mares, sisters; the elder, white with a pink mane; the younger, dusky-blue with a light-blue mane. They had only spent half a moment together, but how could he ever forget the night that Canterlot fell? Those days were scarred into his mind as vividly as the last sight of his missing eye. No pony on Terra would have called that old goat Starswirl ‘uncle’, except…
“Princess… Celestia,” he whispered in disbelief. “Princess Luna… But he said-”
Little Cobb frowned, having never seen his Commander react like this before. What had they said to him? It wasn’t unusual for a trickle of new recruits to seek out the Royal Legion like this, but none had ever asked for the Commander by name before. Were they informants? Dissenters from Discord’s cult? He had no reason to doubt the little one was what they had called an ‘alicorn’, but as for what that meant for them…
“So it is you,” Celestia confirmed aloud, stepping back to a more comfortable distance. “I never would have guessed we’d find you here. Not like this.”
“H-Hello,” Luna offered in a meek voice, undoubtedly intimidated by his gruff appearance. “My name’s Luna, n-nice to meet…”
Ustiarius’ eye turned to the small filly, whose voice collapsed the moment he looked down on her. Even in shock, the large, armour-clad stallion cut a fierce silhouette in the trembling candlelight.
“Luna… Baby Luna… How you’ve grown up,” he mumbled in astonishment. “But- But that was decades ago.” He looked back at Celestia. “You can’t possibly be this young.”
“We’ve been getting that a lot,” the unicorn scoffed. “You can thank Discord for that, for the most part.”
“Discord… Starswirl said he’d lost you; that the Princesses had fallen.”
“And we might have stayed that way, if it wasn’t for Luna.”
The elder sister stepped aside in a rare showing of deference, allowing the torchlight to better illuminate Luna’s wings. If the Commander’s eye could have opened any more than it already was, it might have fallen out.
“My—”
The veteran soldier was rendered speechless. He turned to the table and placed his hooves upon it, staring blankly at the map as he processed this new information.
“This… This could turn the war in our favour. With an alicorn on our side, we could… not just win, but end this living nightmare for good! If she possesses but a scrap of the power the King had… There’s a chance, if used correctly, with the right strategy…”
Celestia looked to Luna, who stood paralysed with wide-eyed dread; clearly not ready for the sole responsibility of saving Equestria. She wouldn’t have to do it alone. Soon.
“Before that,” Celestia interrupted, keen to refocus the stallion. “Perhaps you could give us a little background on what’s going on here? We need all the help we can get before confronting Discord.”
“‘Confronting Discord’… Hah! I never thought I’d live to see the day.” He turned back to the sisters with anunfittingly warm smile on his face; the first time he had smiled in… a very long while. “Very well, let’s continue this outside. This room is a thing of the past; now, we speak of the future!”
Ustiarius walked past the girls with an almost giddy chuckle, shedding light into the room as he passed under the tent flap. The sisters looked at each other in bemusement before following him out, with Little Cobb in tow.
Exiting the pavilion and returning to the relatively brighter twilight, the group began a slow clockwise walk around the outskirts of the village, following a path around the inner wall. The brisk farmyard air was surprisingly refreshing, despite the inescapable odour of fresh manure; likely due to their proximity to the snow-topped Highland mountain range. Ustiarius began his introduction as the group passed the large wooden gate they had just entered through.
“New Canterlot. I’ve lived here for some thirty years now, since that day; longer than I ever lived in ‘Old’ Canterlot,” he snorted grimly. “Our youngest Legionnaires have only ever known this place. For them, there never was an Equestria; only‘Discordia’.” He spat the name out like venom on his tongue before sighing. “When Canterlot fell, so did the legend of the alicorn. To foals these days, alicorns are no more real than the windigos of yore—a bedtime tale meant to warm the cold reality of our lives. Aren’t many of us who actually saw one with our own eyes left to tell the tale. I suppose you experienced as much getting here?”
The sisters looked at each other as they thought back. It was true, only the oldest ponies they met seemed to recognise Luna as an alicorn, except Sweet Blossom and her granny’s stories. For the most part, young-adult ponies that even noticed Luna were more confused than awestruck.
“Anyway, unlike its grand namesake, New Canterlot was only ever a frontier-town-turned-fort, overrun by Changelings during the Great Griffon War. Though it was eventually reclaimed, there wasn’t much use for a settlement so far from the capital, so only a hoofful of guards remained to maintain the watchtower, just in case they returned.”
Ustiarius pointed to a high wooden tower on the south side, which could clearly see over the massive walls in all directions. The watchtower showed signs of damage and repairs, but did stand out as one of the older constructs in the sparse village.
“Lucky for us, the Lowland Forest is made up of a special kind of ever-wet tree; if you passed through there, you’ll know how damp it is. The pegasi keep the air moist, but without that wood to absorb it, we would have been burnt to a crisp as soon as the dragons arrived. I don’t know why it works, but I thank the earth it does.”
“Why dragons?” Luna asked, having finally built up the courage to speak again.
“I ask myself that every day,” he sighed, shaking his head. “You’d have to ask Discord; there never were dragons in these parts before, until he turned up. Dunno if he has a pact with them or what, but a whole gild have taken up residence in those mountains. It’s all we can do to keep them from turning what’s left of Equestria into a moat of lava around his corrupted castle.”
“Dragons shouldn’t be outside the Dragonlands. They’re territorial beasts, and famously reclusive,” Celestia interjected, recalling the specific page from Starswirl’s Encyclopedia Beastaria.
“Were that the case! All I know is the world’s gone to Tartarus since that monster showed up. Do you think this is how I imagined my life at your age? Fighting dragons in a musky farm-shack?” Ustiarius grunted, looking away in spite. “We’ve been so busycounteringthese cursèd oversized lizards, that we’re no closer to dealing with the root of the problem than when we started!”
“Kinda sounds like a hydra,” Luna casually observed.
Ustiarius scoffed. “Don’t give him any ideas. Last thing we need is more long-necks to deal with.”
“How are you even able to fight dragons?” Celestia asked, not realising the explicit insult it carried.
“With difficulty,” he dryly quipped; too old and tired to take offence from such small missteps. “Discord probably expected the whole lot of ‘em to swoop down on us at once—drown us in a sea of fire. Thankfully, the dragons seemed more interested in finding new lairs in the mountains, giving us the staggering we needed to survive. They’re as predictable as the sun and the moon, you know.” He looked up, as if forgetting the state of their twilight sky. “Oh, uh, I guess that phrase doesn’t hold up any more. My point is, they sleep for very specific amounts of time. It varies between colour, size, and how much gold they’ve hoarded; but we’ve learned when each one wakes up, so we can be there to put them back to sleep again.”
Ustiarius pointed his armoured hoof towards one of the closer mountains, where the black speck of a cave was barely visible to the naked eye. The sisters followed his line of sight as they continued to walk around the town’s outskirts.
“That one up there,” he continued. “Twenty-one days. We learned the closest ones first, of course. Leave them awake too long and they’ll start working together, so it’s all about keeping them isolated and spread out, time-wise.”
“Wow, you’ve really got ‘survival’ down here, huh?” Luna marvelled, surprised by the intelligence hidden beneath the warrior’s harsh exterior.
“Unfortunately,” he huffed. “It wasn’t by choice, I can assure you. Dragons aren’t even the worst of our problems.Thatdark day Discord turned our world topsy-turvy, he brought with him one of Equestria’s oldest enemies: Tirek, the centaur prince. Those who survived, fled the castle—just like us—but He wasn’t far behind. Tirek laid waste to Canterlot Town, which is likely the only reason he didn’t catch up to us, and end our tale prematurely.
“Not many lived to warn others of what happened that day,” he sighed, “but I was unfortunate enough to see it with my own two… eyeswhen I returned. I galloped back from South Sea Post as fast as I could, just in time to be at Ponydale when He showed up. Gives me chills just thinking about it, even now; that hulking red beast, carving up the land with his vicious magic; chasing down defenceless farmers as he gleefully sucked the very life from their bodies, as if feeding from them; laughing like a lunatic the entire time… Ponies are like playthings to him—dolls to be tossed around—or maybe apples, whose cores are flung to the side once eaten.” He sneered, scowling into the middle-distance. “Dragons are tame in comparison.”
Luna shuddered at the mental imagery. She had learned about Tirek from Starswirl, of course, but a clinical description was nothing like the emotional account of a survivor.
“For whatever reason, I survived while others fell—twice. Perhaps it was dumb luck; perhaps it was these.” He looked down at the well-worn Royal Guard armour on his hooves, and subconsciously felt the red cloak shifting against his back. “I led the surviving farmers west, into the forest for shelter. Sooner or later, we ended up here. Once word got out of a Resistance, others have joined us in dribs and drabs ever since.”
A period of silence lapsed as he became lost in the past, having experienced many, many things since that fateful day. Drawn back to the present, Ustiarius began to repeatedly glance back at the sisters, trying not to be noticed as he inspected them in more detail.
“How- Uh… How much do you remember?”
His glances were far from subtle, particularly given his loss of eyesight on Luna’s side; but the sisters had become accustomed to strange looks on their journey. Celestia merely raised an eyebrow to the question.
“Of Canterlot?”
“Any of it.”
The elder sister took a deep breath, exhaling as she looked across the crop fields. Much like the muddy path they currently walked, these memories were well-trodden, yet hard to decipher. Luna merely watched her own hooves, having nothing to remember.
“Not much before the house,” Celestia began, having never shared these recollections with anypony but her sister before. “I remember stone walls. A long dinner table. Stories. Starswirl. Running. Waking up in a moving cart, and feeling the crisp woodland air on my face for the first time. I remember the sense of freedom for the first time in my life, and it being stripped away just as quickly. The rest… The rest is all in that house. That—” She clenched her teeth, suppressing more savoury words. “—house.”
“Do you… remember me?” he posed tentatively.
“Only through Starswirl. Sorry. I remember he wasn’t the one pulling the cart, but that’s it, really. He spoke fondly of you, though, which is why we’ve been looking for you.”
The soldier snorted, smirking as he shook his head. “He did, did he?”
As brief as the encounter had been, those days following Discord’s arrival were burnt into the ex-guardspony’s memory like they were last week. ‘Uncle Oosty’ was the closest he had ever come to having a family of his own, and they didn’t even remember him.
Celestia continued to give a brief account of their time trapped in the hyperbolic time bubble, Luna’s ascension after their loss to Discord, and the journey from Macintosh Fort to Haysead swamp to Ponehenge; all leading up to this moment.
“That explains your ages, I suppose,” Ustiarius mused, pretending to understand. “So for you, it actually was last week.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Celestia replied, thinking back on their long journey. “It took us something like a month to get here by hoof, not to mention the twelve years we spent trapped in that house; hardly ‘last week’.”
“I see… We may not be locked in here, but ‘trapped’ seems pretty accurate. We’ve been fighting off these dragons for so long it’s become somewhat monotonous; but leave for a day, and we can all kiss Equestria goodbye.”
“When was the last attack?” Luna asked meekly, pulled between her curiosity and intimidation.
“Yesterday, actually; a brown’s cave up north. Pegasopolis should be back any time now.”
“Pegasopolis,” Luna repeated in wonder, reminded of how excited she was to see it.
“I get how pegasi could hold their own against dragons, barely,” Celestia began. “But how do all the terrans help?”
“‘Terrans’,” he scoffed. “Been a while since I heard that word. Well, you’d be surprised what numbers alone can achieve. Besides, the Light Brigade isn’t about fighting head-on—clue’s in the name. We scout, flank, ambush, and swarm them when they’re downed. Wings aren’t everything, and ground ponies can’t be beat when it comes to raw strength. The facts don’t lie; we’re still here, and those dragons are snoozing off their last beating, waiting for their next.”
“But you’re a unicorn! Why don’t you have a team of spellcasters to shoot them out of the sky?”
“‘Spellcasters’? You really were brought up by Starswirl, weren’t you?” He shook his head disparagingly. “With Canterlot Town in ruins, who do you think is teaching the unicorns spells? We get by with the few unicorns who had training, but most of us can barely lift a quill, myself included.” He sighed, looking up to the mountains. “No, it’s not about what you are any more, it’s about what you can do. I bet you wouldn’t expect unicorns to be in the Nephophytes, but there are! Can’t shoot a fireball, but they can soar around as good as any pegasus. It’s terrifying to watch, if I’m honest, but I’ve seen Blazing Glory keep up with Shooting Star herself!”
“Nephophytes?” Luna asked, head cocked.
“Pegasopolis’ all-pegasus defence force,” Celestia answered for him. “Or they used to be, anyway.”
“Right. I guess things have changed a lot around here since your last history lesson. Here’s the short version: the Resistance is more formally known as the Royal Legion, and has three distinct parts. The Nephophytes maintain their role as Pegasopolis’ aerial defence force, taking in the few surviving Valkyries and pegasi Royal Guard. I lead the Light Brigade, which is a mixture of ground pony Guard, refugee farmers from Ponyvale who took up the lance, and weak flyers who still want to fight. The rest are civilians; ponies who work the fields, rear foals, and give us a home to come back to. Without one, the other two fail.”
“I can see why everypony calls you the last bastion of resistance against Discord,” Celestia mused.
“We fight for what was, what is, and what could be again.”
Ustiarius stopped walking as he looked up to the sky in thought, his tattered red cape fluttering in the breeze.
“I’m sorry for what happened to Starswirl,” he finally spoke. “You must have been close after all those years together. Family.”
“We were,” Celestia replied quickly, surprising even herself. “We… were.”
“Never had time for one, myself, what with the end of the world and all. Didn’t stop others, luckily, or there wouldn’t be as many of us left, but… I kept thinking about you two. When Starswirl came here to re-”
“Starswirl came here?” Luna interrupted, surprising him with her volume.
“Yes. He came looking for members to join his group to stand against Discord. By all accounts, they did a pretty good job while they lasted. Ponies started calling it the dawn of a new era, naming them ‘The Pillars of Equestria’, for holding up everything that we stood for before the fall. He asked me to join, but… I couldn’t. My place is here. I was just a Legionnaire back then, but I knew I couldn’t risk not coming back. The Pillars might have been the vanguard, but without somepony to defend what they were fighting for…”
Ustiarius shook his head, looking down to the ground, once again asking himself if he had made the right choice.
“He took one of our best fliers instead; Flash Magnus. Can’t believe they all-” He scoffed, shaking off the dark thoughts in favour of his aged cynicism. “News of hope spreads fast; news of despair, even faster. In the end, who knows if they did more good than harm. Hopelessness is a powerful weapon, and I think Discord knows that all too well. That’s probably why he let them form in the first place; give us hope just to snatch it away…”
He huffed as he began to walk again, noticing a pegasus slowly descending from the sky to land just outside his war-tent.
“Looks like they’re almost here. Let’s wrap this up.”
Having walked around the majority of the walled town, there wasn’t a faster route back than to complete the circuit. Just ahead of them began the only cluster of buildings in New Canterlot, where all the ground ponies lived; a ramshackle mass of wooden planks, fabrics, and repairs. It wasn’t too dissimilar from Haysead Swamp, though scored points for not hanging over a fetid bayou.
“So, how did you become Commander?” Celestia asked as the number of ambient ponies steadily increased, forcing her to dodge around them to keep up.
Ustiarius strode confidently forward, cutting a path through the civilians like a plough. He was not an especially tall stallion—boosted a little by his hoof armour—but radiated a commanding presence that stood him out from the masses. The few greetings he received spoke a lot to the respect he had earned in this community as their protector.
“Time and hard graft, I suppose,” he answered. “Don’t get it wrong, though; I’m not the ‘boss’ here, I only lead the Light Brigade. Commander Ironhead leads the Nephophytes, and—” He loudly sighed, rolling his eye. “—Mayor Stargazer oversees the settlement.”
“‘Mayor Stargazer?’” the sisters asked in unison.
“With a reaction like that, I take it you know him. Trust me, he was not my first pick either; but in times of crisis, ponies seem to like being told what to do, and he was willing to do that in spades. Oh, thank you.” Ustiarius took the fresh carrot offered to him by a passing farmer, which he gladly bit into before continuing to talk. “So, how do you know the old windbag?”
“Uncle Starswirl mentioned him pretty often,” Luna replied.
“They had something of a rivalry, though I think it was fairly one-sided,” Celestia added.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. I recall he had some choice words with Starswirl when he visited, and seemed more affected by his passing than most. Don’t feel sorry for him, though; he won’t hesitate to remind you who’s in charge of this little scrap of the world, given the chance. I’m shocked his cutie mark isn’t in politics, because he can talk your ear off over nothing.”
Passing into the depths of New Canterlot’s meagre residential district, the sights and smells became almost indistinguishable from Haysead Swamp, besides the mud under hoof. It was a rickety slum at its core, with mud-splattered plank walls, drying laundry on any available ledge, and never far from a coughing pony or crying foal. Considering the majority of the walled settlement was airy fields, this change in atmosphere was stark to say the least.
Ustiarius could sense the sisters’ discomfort without needing to look back; it was the same reaction most new arrivals had, after all.
“It’s now how I would run things, that’s for sure, but you can’t criticise the results. Every pony has a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs, and it hasn’t fallen to pieces yet; so who am I to judge?”
“They seem to like you,” Luna observed, noticing the respectful distance and occasional bows he was receiving.
“Any respect is earned, I assure you. They keep me hale and hearty, I keep the dragons off their crops. We’re all equals here, regardless of titles—though some tend to forget this fact.”
The group of four passed by a remarkably well-constructed house as he said this, from the top of which seemed to sprout a rather unsafe looking, wooden telescope. The red banners and block lettering over the door made no secret that this was Mayor Stargazer’s home, with very strict visiting hours posted beside it.
“That hardly seems fair,” Luna sneered at the audacity amidst the squalor.
“You might think that, but like I said, we work on an honour system here. The carpenters wouldn’t have built it if they didn’t think they owed him something, and he’s earned his right to stay thus far.”
“Is this what Canterlot was like?” she asked, running up to his side for the answer.
“Hah! No. Canterlot was a place of history and beauty. Stone walls, turrets and towers, paved streets, proper shops and bakeries… By Elysium I miss the bakeries.”
Ustiarius smiled to himself as he thought back to the good—and not so good—times. He looked down at the little alicorn to judge her reaction, only to find her silent and sullen. Of course, she had only been an infant when they escaped the Palace.
“I suppose you… don’t remember any of that.”
She shook her head, not taking her eyes off the ground.
Ustiarius grunted despondently, before noticing the attention they hadattracted behind them. A small crowd had begun to follow after the alicorn, murmuring to themselves while keeping just behind the flustered Little Cobb. But why would they follow them? Then he suddenly realised; he had rarely ever been bowed to on his frequent walks around town before—they weren’t bowing for him, but for her, the alicorn princess.
“Huh… I suppose you get this quite a lot,” he teased.
“N- No, not really,” she stammered, blushing as she looked back at the growing crowd.
“We’ve been trying to stay incognito,” Celestia snapped, thinly veiling her jealousy before dropping to a more serious tone. “Haysead Swamp was destroyed just because we stopped there; we might have already brought doom upon you all.”
“‘Doom’?” he scoffed. “We’ve survived doom for near three decades. If Discord wanted us gone, I’m sure he could do it with a single snap of his talons. No, we’re his playthings. Trust me, this is no undercover operation; he knows exactly what we’re doing, and delights in watching us scurry around against our inevitable demise.”
As the group and their entourage exited the mound of housing, a parade of colourful war-tents came into view just ahead, having made a full circle of the camp.
“Starswirl said it best,” Ustiarius continued. “He wouldn’t have any fun if there weren't any ponies to torture, so our time isn’t up until he gets bored with us. Put on a good show, and you get to live.”
“That’s a pretty grim outlook on life,” Celestia stated. “And that didn’t stop him from destroying Haysead on a whim.”
“It’s realistic. Sorry to burst your bubble, Princess, but survival is just the suffering between the beginning and the end. We’ve weathered his whims for this long, and we’ll keep on surviving until one of us is defeated.”
The procession cornered a line of tents to reveal the familiar fire pit from before, and the Commander’s larger war-tent beside it.
“I have no delusions of heroism,” Ustiarius continued, coming to a stop. “I’m not a one-pony army, but I don’t plan on stopping until I see the Royal Standard flying from Canterlot Palace once again, either. So long as a single one of us remains standing, the Rebellion stands strong, and more will join. Discord could make us all disappear in the blink of an eye, but he will never crush our spirit. We are the Royal Legion, and we shall take back what is ours.”
His chest swelled as he stewed in his own pride, deflating once he noticed the somewhat sceptical princesses looking at him with quizzical eyebrows raised.
“Uh, yes, anyway; if you’ll excuse me, I need to be debriefed on yesterday’s operation. Would you mind waiting out here? Warm yourselves by the fire, and I’ll arrange some accommodation for you afterwards. I’m sure you must be tired.”
“Yes, thank you,” Luna agreed, making her way to the large fireside logs.
“Keep an eye on these two, please, Legionnaire Cobb,” the stallion ordered, before ducking under the entrance to his striped pavilion.
The princesses can’t have been left waiting for more than ten minutes, but the stares of the gathering crowd made it feel twice that. Little Cobb did what he could to afford them some breathing room, but there was only so much one soldier could do, even with the assistance of the two tent guards. A few civilians slipped through their perimeter, with one offering Luna a hoof-sewn quilt, and another passing them a basket of freshly smoked vegetables.
“Wow, these ponies are so nice!” Luna marvelled, not waiting to take a hearty bite out of a still-warm sweet potato.
Celestia only rolled her eyes, very aware that none of these gifts were being offered to her. She was just some unicorn, after all.
“Okay, will do, Commander,” a female voice called clearly from the pavilion’s flap, just before exiting.
Celestia’s angst and jaw dropped as she made eye-contact with the emerging pegasus. Though she was now wearing the light pleather strapping of a Royal Legion Nephophyte, her face was unmistakable.
“Summer Twinkle?!” she shrieked, forming a small clearing around her.
“Celestia?! And Luna!” The older mare’s shock quickly turned to joy as she bound over, embracing the pair in a hug. “What are you two doing here?!”
“I should ask you that!” Celestia uncharacteristically babbled, feeling her face heat up. “I thought you said you didn’t come up to Central Equestria?”
“I didn’t,” Summer Twinkle began, taking a step back to beam at them. “But meeting you two showed me what a fool I was being. I was so afraid of what was happening in the world, that I blinded myself with routine; a safe bubble that wouldn’t burst so long as I didn’t change anything. But that’s not how the world works, is it? Losing myself in magic artefacts and dangerous adventures… None of that matters if the ponies you’re doing it for have bigger problems! So, I joined the Legion!”
Summer Twinkle’s smile was entirely unlike the brave and dashing explorer they had met in the Temple of Chicomoztoc. As an ageing explorer, she had begun to doubt her capacity for derring-do; an insecurity that was exacerbated by her helplessness in the face of Discord’s tyrannical reign. She continued to write manuscripts abouther adventures, righting minor, changeable wrongs; but who would read them when regular ponies were living worse horrors every day? Her adventures had become escapism, not for readers, but for herself.
However, the Summer Twinkle that stood before them now was filled with a youthful energy she hadn’t felt in a very long time. She had purpose; pride; and was no longer running away from what she feared, but toward it. This was the bravest adventure of her life, and she wasn’t writing it down—she was living it.
“So, you’re a soldier now?” Luna asked, far more confused by this development than her starstruck sister.
“Well, sort of. I haven’t been here long, so I’m acting as a liaison between Pegasopolis and New Canterlot for now—a glorified mailmare, really. But you should have seen the looks on their faces when I showed them what I can do! They said they’d never seen a mare my age with such stamina and agility!” she chuckled proudly. “I’m not complaining, though; I’m happy to do anything that makes another pony’s life a little easier. Maybe in a few weeks I’ll be on the front lines, beating off dragons left and right, just like the old days!”
Luna chuckled along with her awkwardly, not sure how to handle the mare’s newfound enthusiasm.
“B- But what about your books?” Celestia asked, barely containing the building pressure of her excitement and concern.
“I never thought I would say this, but I’ve never been more inspired!” she gushed, to Celestia’s relief. “No more boring old biographies for revenue, though—oh no—I want to write a fantasy story!”
And just as quickly, her heart sank. No more ‘Summer Twinkle and’s?
“How come?” Luna asked plainly, not nearly as invested as her sister.
“Have you seen the housing over there?” Summer Twinkle motioned to the residential slums. “It’s cramped, drab, and there’s precious little for the foals to do. I want to give them a world of whimsy to get lost in; far, far away from our miserable little slap of mud. I want to fill those little minds with dreams of clear blue skies, crackling fireplaces, and a life without fear or peril… I want to give them giant snails and rainbow clouds, talking monkeys andliving armour, orange water and purple grass-!” She stopped herself with a laugh. “Sorry. I’ve taken liberties with my writing now and then, but I’ve never allowed my imagination to take over like this. I had no idea I had so many ideas!”
“So… no more adventures?” Celestia asked dejectedly.
“That dependswhat you mean by adventures, I suppose. There won’t be any more ‘Summer Twinkle’, but I promise there are equally captivating stories that can be told without fighting and liberating relics. Flying carts! Singing fish! Friendly ghosts! Lightning in a bottle!Oh, I really need to write these ideas down!”
“No more… Summer Twinkle…” Celestia went limp,looking as devastated as she had when learning about Starswirl’s passing.
“Hey, cheer up,” Luna offered with a nudge. “Maybe she’ll let you see her old manuscripts? Then you’d have those adventures all to yourself.”
Celestia’s head snapped up, her eyes wide and hungry with desire. Summer Twinkle laughed, waving her hoof.
“Sure, be my guest. I left all that stuff in my old cottage; if you can find it, it’s yours. Though don’t expect any Ponitzer Prize-winning writing; it wasn’t published for a reason. Anyway, I should get back to Pegasopolis.” She turned to leave. “Oh, look, it’s cresting the mountain now.”
The sisters stood off their fireside log as they gazed up at the mountain range ahead of them. What could have been any other cloud continued to grow in size as it slid from behind the Highlands; their mouths opening in awe as it appeared. Larger and larger, the emerging cloud revealed its colossal form, topped with the faint specks of columns and pediments, and trailing rainbow waterfalls from its sides.
“It’s… beautiful,” Luna whispered. Celestia could only nod in agreement.
“Wait ‘til you see it up close!” Summer gushed, before looking at Celestia. “Or- Uh- Closer, anyway.”
Celestia huffed, tired of her inadequacies always being spotlighted. She was well aware that only pegasi could walk on clouds, and alicorns by extension. She’d levitate herself up there, just to prove she can! When did ponies start looking down on unicorns, anyway?
“I was away for so long, I forgot how beautiful it really is,” Summer Twinkle continued. “And being alone for so long… Ah, but I’ve talked your ears off already, and I need to report back to Commander Ironhead. You two take care, alright? Are you sticking around? I’m sure I’ll see you again either way.”
“A few days, probably,” Celestia answered.
Summer smiled and nodded, turning and spreading her strong, tan wings for takeoff.
“Oh, wait! Um, Ms. Twinkle?” Luna anxiously asked, stepping toward the pegasus.
“Yes?”
“Um, I’ve been needing somepony to teach me how to fly since I got these things,” she admitted, spreading her own wings limply as she kicked the dirt. “Do- Do you think you could teach me? Later. If you’re not too busy.”
“Oh, sweetie, I’d love to, but-” Summer Twinkle tightened her lips in thought. “Well, I could show you the basics; but if you need somepony to teach you how to really fly, I can’t think of a better choice than Lieutenant Shooting Star. She trains all the Nephophytes—recruits and veterans alike—and she’s been doing it almost her whole life. That’s your mare.”
“Wow, and you think she’d agree to train me, too?”
“An alicorn princess? Who in their right mind would refuse! I’ll let her know you’re here, so stick around, okay?”
“Okay! Thanks!” Luna beamed, leaving Celestia to roll her eyes in contempt.
With a smirk and loose salute, Summer Twinkle beat her wings and shot vertically into the sky like an arrow, redirecting a second burst toward the slowly approaching city in the clouds. The sisters watched as she glided into the distance, still recovering from the unexpected meeting.
“I don’t think this could have gone any better, do you?” Luna asked her sister with a smile.
Celestia merely grumbled in reply, feeling a migraine coming on from the increasingly rowdy onlookers still swarming around them. The sooner they got their training and left, the better.