//------------------------------// // Cavalry // Story: Legends Never Die: Friendship is Magic // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Sunny was amazed at how calmly Twilight’s friends took the news that they were going to be heading to the future in a few short minutes. Twilight dismissed them with the instructions to meet at the Castle of the Two Sisters in less than half an hour, and they all dispersed relatively quickly, with nothing but a few quiet murmurs amongst them to give any indication to what they might really be feeling. “Spike, go tell Starlight what’s going on,” Twilight instructed her dragon assistant. “I want her to stay here and look after everyone in case the wolves come back. And send a message to Canterlot, too.” The dragon saluted and flew out the door. “Sunny,” Twilight then called to the earth pony. “Could I… talk to you for a moment?” “Um…” Sunny glanced nervously at Sprout beside her, and he shrugged. “Go ahead. I’ll wait here,” he said reassuringly, taking a step back. Sunny nodded and followed Twilight out of the room, but Sprout wasn’t the reason she was worried. She was about to have a conversation with her incredible ancestor, only this time, she knew who she was - or, at least, she did partially. The entire truth was pushing at Sunny’s mind, bursting to come out, and she wanted to tell Twilight more than anything. But at the same time, she wasn’t very familiar with time-travel, and she was terrified of what the consequences could be of that. Twilight led Sunny through the palace to her library. Sunny found that she wasn’t quite as lost as she might have thought, and remembered exploring the ruins of this same castle so long ago with her friends, though she supposed that was still decades from right then. As soon as the library’s large doors closed behind them, Twilight started talking. “Okay, look. Sunny, I’m going to be completely honest with you: this is really risky. I’m not an expert in time-travel by any means, but I have seen what can happen when even one event in the timeline is altered. You say that the rip in the sky is a time portal that leads to the future. So that means that when we go through, there are two possibilities. “One one hoof, everything could be completely different and not as you remembered at all. You wouldn’t really exist anymore in the sense that you have a place that you come from - you would be outside the timeline. Your friends probably wouldn’t know you, and a whole bunch of other problems that they have to deal with. And the only way to fix it would be to go back in time again and stop Grogar from ever sending the shadow wolves here, and that should set the timeline right.” Sunny gulped. She remembered a time when her friends really had forgotten her, and it had been the worst thing in the entire world. Nothing that she had gone through had been harder than that - except when the Legion of Doom controlled her with the mind link. She desperately hoped that something like that would never happen again. “And the second one?” Twilight sighed. “On the other hoof, everything would be the same as you remember it. It would still be the same timeline that you came from, which would mean that all of this-” She gestured around with her hoof “-was supposed to happen. And I think we should hope for that option. But… that raises another big risk.” “What?” “If… if one of us… doesn’t make it back,” Twilight said with difficulty, “then… it could destroy the whole timeline, and everything would change. It’s a big risk,, but I guess you should have the last say. Do you want us to come help you?” Sunny was silent. Inside, she was thinking that, if somehow Twilight Sparkle fell while fighting Grogar, then she, Sunny, wouldn’t exist. That would mean that magic would probably never return, which would mean that the Legion of Doom would never be released from their stone prison, which also meant that whatever caused Grogar to be released wouldn’t happen, either, which meant that it would be impossible for Twilight to fall fighting him in the first place… It made Sunny’s head hurt just thinking about it. “If you’re willing to help,” Sunny said, meeting her ancestor’s eyes, “then I will accept. And I promise you, you and your friends are going to come back here. We’re going to defeat Grogar, and when we do, we’re going to celebrate with the most epic party ever.” The corner of Twilight’s mouth twitched upward in a smile. “Pinkie Pie would like that.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Sunny, you have to understand, time travel is delicate. One slight misstep could alter the entire timeline. If we’re going to get this right… I need you to tell me everything.” “Oh…” Sunny felt panic flare in her chest. “I really don’t know if I should-” “And you probably shouldn’t,” Twilight agreed. “But… this might just be my Twilighting acting up, but I want to make sure I get things right - that I don’t mess things up back here, and…” She took a deep breath. “But also, if we’re going to do this, then I need to know what exactly I’m getting into. I trust you, Sunny - please trust me.” Sunny studied the pony in front of her. It was the face of a pony she had always known without knowing it. Of course, her cutie mark and her likeness had all been engraved in Sunny’s childhood, but as she looked into Twilight’s eyes, she realized that the legendary alicorn had the same eyes as her father. And there were slight things in her expression that Sunny recognized, too, and she realized that was because she saw the same thing on her face whenever she looked in the mirror. Sunny took a deep breath and let it out slowly. And she told her everything. Misty felt like her brain was about to be overwhelmed. All around her were strange creatures that she never could have imagined, but she knew instantly that they were all Sunny’s friends. The story that Sunny had told her right before their friends were taken by the wolves ran through Misty’s head, and she remembered that Sunny had befriended hippogriffs, changelings, yaks, buffalo, griffons, other dragons, and Crystal ponies - and she also remembered hearing about another alicorn, who had been suspended in time for over a century. Even so, seeing all of them in front of her was enough to send her mind reeling. “Cozy!” the alicorn called over her shoulder in a strained voice. “Get the circle ready!” A wolf slammed itself against her shield, and she had to turn her focus back to keeping them at bay. The little pegasus foal, Cozy Glow, nodded and looked questioningly at Misty. Misty knew what she wanted and shifted her hooves uncomfortably. She looked down at the bag in her arms, the one that held the Elements of Harmony that Sunny had wanted so desperately for her to find. She didn’t want to give them up, not to anypony, but from what she understood, they needed the Elements to form a magic circle, whatever that was, to protect them from the shadow wolves. Misty took a deep breath and held the bag up to Cozy Glow. The foal’s eyes widened, and she took the bag reverently in her hooves. There was a look in her eyes that Misty couldn’t quite interpret, but she reasoned that perhaps this pony wasn’t used to ponies trusting her so much. Cozy Glow flew down into the air station to set up the magic circle as the wolves tried once again to break past the alicorn’s shield. “I can’t… hold it… much… longer!” she gasped, sweat pouring down her face as she struggled to even remain upright. Without stopping to think, Misty pushed through the group of creatures surrounding the alicorn and stood next to her, lighting up her own horn as she did so. “Here,” she said, “let me help.” Misty had only recently realized her own magic, but she had grown powerful as she practiced with it. There was always a sense of wonder in the other unicorns’ eyes as Misty had mastered the basics in a relatively short amount of time, and she gathered that it had taken them much longer than she had. Now, she put all her skills to the test as she poured her magic into the shield at the entrance to the hallway. Bright purple mingled with the sunshine yellow, and the next time the wolves tried to break through, they seemed surprised, even a little worried, when the magic barrier didn’t give. The alicorn’s breathing began to come easier, and she looked at Misty with eyes that were much older than she appeared. Her expression was so intelligent that Misty could practically see her brain working to figure out the situation. Misty got the feeling that there would be much less to tell her once this whole thing was over, which was both a relief and a bit of a worry for her. She wondered how much the alicorn had already guessed about her. “Thanks,” she said softly. Misty nodded. “You’re welcome.” The number of ponies in the hallway was diminishing quickly, and soon the last group - which was all the other creatures - was shoving themselves into the basket and lowering themselves into the air station. “Do you think this magic circle thing will work?” Misty asked. The alicorn shrugged. “Who can say? I’ve never heard of them, so they must be very ancient magic. But it’s our only hope.” Not our only hope. “Maybe Sunny will come back.” The other pony flinched and looked down. Something had sparked in her eyes in that moment, but Misty hadn’t caught what it was. “Yeah. Maybe.” “Flurry!” Cozy Glow flew up out of the hole, out of breath. “It’s ready! I just need someone to connect them-” “On three,” Flurry muttered under her breath so that only Misty could hear. “One… two…” The wolves slammed themselves against the shield again. “Three!” Flurry’s horn winked out, Misty’s a second behind her. The alicorn spread her wings and yanked Misty along behind her as she dashed down the hallway and down the opening with Cozy Glow right behind them. As soon as they were through, Flurry used her magic to slam the grate over the opening to seal it shut, but, of course, the wolves would be able to get through it. Misty felt her heart lodge itself in her throat as the alicorn carried her down to the floor, set her down, and then took up a position above the large group of ponies and creatures. She lit up her horn and sent a magic blast to the floor next to a golden crown a few inches from Misty’s hooves. Misty yelped and danced back a step, nearly running into the strange-looking unicorn with a pronged horn. “Watch it,” he hissed, real flames curling off of his horn. Flurry’s beam drew a circle around them, connecting the Elements of Harmony that were placed at regular intervals in the air station. As soon as the circle was completed, it glowed bright white between the Elements, and a shimmering dome appeared over the group for a moment before it disappeared. “It’s done,” Flurry gasped, nearly collapsing to the ground. She looked at Cozy Glow. “I hope this works…” “It won’t,” boomed a new voice, this one deep and ancient and powerful. Everyone gasped and looked around wildly for the speaker. Finally, they saw the massive grate above them crackle with bright lightning and explode into dust that rained down on them. A huge creature leaped out of the hole and landed with a thud on the floor of the air station. It was a massive ram with shaggy blue fur and massive horns that curled around the sides of his face and pulsed with magic, lightning crackling up and down them. His eyes were menacing, glowing with malice and intense power. He took a step toward them, and everyone stepped back. “Grogar,” Cozy Glow whispered in a terrified, awed voice. Shadow wolves began to pour in from above and surround the circle. They stayed outside the line that Flurry had drawn with her magic, but that didn’t make the ponies inside feel any less uneasy. The ancient ram glowered at one of the Elements of Harmony in front of him and sniffed. “Magic circles. They always think that will save them. Perfect unity and harmony at all points.” He snorted. “Even if they did have some power once… this one is incomplete.” Grogar smirked as his wolves snarled and all took a step forward - across the line. “What?” Cozy’s eyes widened, and she shook her head, muttering, “No, no, no…” Flurry Heart nodded to her friends, and the creatures all adopted equally grim looks as they took their places between the ponies and the wolves. “But this doesn’t make any sense!” Cozy was saying. “It worked before… The circle can’t be incomplete…” She trailed off, muttering to herself. The wolves were slowly advancing. One of them picked up one of the Elements of Harmony in its paw and began to hand it to Grogar, and Misty panicked. She lit up her horn, and all five of the Elements suddenly soared to her, out of harm’s way. The magic circle flickered and died. “You put up a good fight,” Grogar told them, seeming to enjoy the panic on their faces. “I will admit, you survived longer than I would have thought. But it’s time to give up now.” The wolves all snarled in unison, their eyes pulsing with power. Misty felt one of them staring at her, and the moment she locked eyes with it, she could feel her consciousness slipping away… “We will never give up,” she dimly heard Flurry say. Grogar laughed. “You’ve run out of allies, little pony. You have no more friends left. Anyone who could have helped you is gone.” “Not completely,” called a different voice, this one perfectly, wonderfully familiar, and every single creature in the station, pony and wolf alike, turned to stare at the speaker. Where a stained glass window of a pink star once stood, now was an opening filled with glorious sunlight. And hovering in front of the sun, glowing like she was made from its light, was a pony with golden wings and a brilliant golden horn. And below her, at the edge of the air station, were seven other ponies. “Cavalry’s here!” Pinkie Pie yelled.