Chapter Eleven
Castle of Dawn Ruins
City of Dawn
“You guys escaped!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Did Nightmare Moon not see you?” Twilight asked.
I took another breath before continuing. “Like I said, there’s been a change of plans. I’m glad you all came to rescue us, plus it makes it that much easier to tell you all this. I’ve made a deal with Luna- one that works well for everyone. She wasn’t sure what side anyone was on now- and I’ve explained to her what the world has become. She’ll leave our town be, and likely the rest of Equestria, provided I help explain to everyone she isn’t the enemy.”
“What do you mean, she isn’t the enemy?” Twilight asked. “She even said she was going to overthrow the Princess right to our faces!”
“Yes, that’s true. But she was able to explain further without you interrupting. All she wants is to get her off the throne- she has no intention of touching any of the citizenry or taking the throne afterward.”
“And that makes it okay in your eyes?!” She shouted. “Why would you think we would allow her to stage a rebellion like that, do you think we can just let that slide?!” Several among the crowd chose not to move with her, but a few did cast in their voices. “Nightmare Moon must be stopped! We’ll protect the throne with our lives!”
She gave more emphasis to Luna’s title, I suppose because she noticed I hadn’t used it once, and once again several of the people standing in the crowd agreed. One of the mercenaries raised their voice: “I can’t speak for anyone else, but it’s a profitable world as it is. Far as I’m concerned, Celestia can keep her precious throne, us soldiers of fortune can pick up the slack for her troops, and everyone’s happy.” The rest of the mercenaries agreed.
“You know why you have so much work in this world?” I argued. “Have you ever seen the royal soldiers addressing an actual problem? All they end up doing is buffing up the queens own defenses! She’s taken people straight from our villages to train involuntarily, even children! How can you abide by that?!”
“That’s not true!” Twilight countered. “You know there are more monsters in this world than we can handle already, and the royal soldiers are kept hard at work with them! Of course some of them are stationed at the castle- there has to be someone to protect the Queen! And plenty of troops are volunteers- we only draft soldiers when there aren’t enough to hold us afloat.”
“Are you going to stand against us, Twilight? You can deny the truth to yourself all you like, but dissent will grow. Plenty of people already oppose the Queen, and more will follow. Celestia will fall.”
Just as I finished speaking, a blast of darkness collided with the ground between us from behind. I spun, and saw Luna clutching her head in pain. “I’m... I’m sorry... She’s... Agh!” She threw her arms and head back, then brought her gaze to bear a moment later, eyes glowing red.
“Rgh, coward!” I shouted. I don’t know how, but I think I get it. This whole mess was Celestia’s plan all along. “Why don’t you get out here and fight us yourself!”
Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all jumped forward to join us, and the five of us that fought all drew our weapons. Either to fight her and protect Celestia, or to prevent the Queen from destroying her from a distance and protect Luna, we all knew one goal- take her alive.
A golden light enveloped the team as we all readied for battle, and when it cleared, it was obvious the Elements had finally kicked in. I now wore a gold sheath criss-crossing my original leather one across my back, and in my left hand was a gold broadsword identical to my normal steel one. I spun both experimentally- The weight was the same as well, but the power behind the new weapon was obvious.
I looked at the others, and saw they had been similarly re-equipped- none of the others dual-wielded their weapons like I did, but switched to the upgrades entirely. They all had each acquired a piece of gold armor- AJ now wore a shoulder-guard across her left arm, Rarity a chest plate, Pinkie a pair of bucklers, and Twilight (She had obtained a gold tome for a weapon, though I’d never seen her need one to cast spells) and a gold tiara. Fluttershy received no weapon, but now wore a light helmet.
“The rest of you- let us handle this!” Twilight called back to the crowd.
“Only until you start losing.” Mac responded. “Then she’s mine.” Mac could clearly see what was truly happening- and I wouldn’t get in his way for the world. If anyone deserved a shot at Celestia more than me, it would be him.
I led the charge, flying at her at full speed, a blur of flailing silver and gold. Her dark sword rose to block each slice with lightning-fast reflexes. While she was occupied with me, AJ ran up and delivered a devastating slash with her new axe across her legs. She buckled for half a second, then threw herself backward and righted herself with a backflip- handstand type move.
Twilight and Rarity both charged a large spell- a huge fireball and a blinding sphere of light, and sent them both spiraling towards her at once. She was able to spin away from the brunt of the blast, but they exploded as they contacted each other, and she was sent reeling into the air in the aftershock.
Pinkie called my name, and in one glance I could tell what she planned. I nodded, she ran forward, and as she reached me, I caught her foot in my hands and launched her into the air. She pulled her lance behind her head, and she drifted towards the Princess, almost as though in slow-motion. As she brought down her spear, she seemed to vanish for a moment, then appeared behind her and delivered several lightning fast hits. Then another series, and another.
Soon it seemed as though there were two of her flying about, one glowing with light and one barely visible against the night sky. The two collided where she had started, and her powerful strike at last connected with Luna, sending her crashing to the ground.
Twilight ran forward, standing directly between everyone and the Royal. She threw out her arms dramatically, and shouted back: “One last attack, everyone! Give me your strength!” Rarity was first to comply, sending a burst of light her way, which she caught in her left hand. Pinkie sent over a swirling mass of light and dark, and as Twilight caught it, both her arms glowed, one white, one black. AJ simply threw her axe, though it glowed with an orange radiance, and Twilight reached and grabbed it with her right hand.
From Fluttershy’s direction, a ball of light glowing not so much with radiance, but sound- like a small bell giving off a mighty chime. Twilight caught this in her right hand, matching up with Rarity’s offering. I was last, and decided to power up my gold sword with a wind spell and toss it her way. She caught it in her left hand, and now, glowing with energy, ran full speed towards Luna. She jumped and, focusing the whole attack on one crushing attack, brought down both weapons.
Luna was once again launched into the air, sword dropped, armor falling off in chunks. I was quick to cast a weak wind spell, easing her to the ground. Her unarmored form was a great deal less intimidating- She wore normal clothes, had long, unkempt dark violet hair, and appeared to actually be a few years younger than any of us. She was severely weakened, but alive- breaths came to her in ragged gasps for a minute after she was lowered to the ground.
Weapons retrieved and sheathed, magics dispelled, and threat ended, the six of us walked over to the small form that had been our ‘enemy.’ This is what we were truly meant to be afraid of? This poor little girl? You’re pathetic, Celestia. Truly pathetic. I didn’t voice these thoughts- Twilight had likely let our previous argument slip her mind in the heat of battle, and the last thing I needed was her informing Celestia of my hatred, which would inevitably lead to her keeping a much tighter grip on our town.
“What’re we gonna do now?” Applejack asked quietly.
Twilight let out a small gasp. “Look!” She pointed skyward, where a small white form could be seen arcing down towards us. In my head, I swore appropriately. As if on cue.
“Sorry, kid.” I murmured, stepping back from Luna. It’s out of my hands now. Damn, and we were so close to finally gaining some ground. Well... I guess not. It all makes sense now- those soldiers from before, Luna being possessed... This was a farce to begin with.
I did my best to remain inconspicuous as the figure landed. Clad in unmistakable white armor, white sword identical in shape to Luna’s, she approached the group, who bowed in varying amounts of honor and common sense. Swallowing my pride, I followed suite.
Celestia bid us to rise.
We all stood, and she moved over to her rejected sister. “Well, it would seem you broke your seal a bit earlier than expected, Luna.”
She coughed and pulled herself to her feet. She also knew that to argue now would be fatal and pointless, I could tell. She remained silent.
“One thousand years may have been a bit of a stretch to begin with, however. Perhaps this was enough. You were young then, and have had much time to consider both of our actions. I can only hope that you’ve seen the light- that the things you accused me of were well intended, and what I did, I did for the survival of our country.”
She shook slightly, halfway between a cough and a noise of disgust. “Yes.” She lied. “I’ve realized the folly of my actions. Please, I beg that you forgive me. I was under the power of darkness, I had little strength of my own to resist.”
“Of course.” Celestia responded. To the eyes of those like Twilight, it must have seemed a heartwarming reunion, but I could see past that. Both parties were putting on their best game face and acting their parts, putting on a nice play for the people. She helped Luna off her feet and, sheathing her weapon and lifting Luna’s with one hand, turned to us.
“I must thank you, heroes. Without you, the whole kingdom would have been engulfed in war once again.” It was getting increasingly difficult to remain silent, but I managed. “I feel it would be best to continue to entrust the Elements to you, in the case something else should occur.”
She looked to each of us in turn, smiling at her little weapon Twilight admirably, and nodding friendlily to each of us. When her eyes settled on me, she stopped for a moment, seeming to recognize something about me. Playing along, I gave my best impression of his smile, sincere, but with a hint of crazy.
And as I looked at her, I knew she saw it. She did her best to hide it, but I could see recognition in her eyes. For a moment, she saw him in my face, and I knew she knew exactly who I was. She squinted slightly, brought back up her smile, and nodded to me, accepting my silent gambit.
Not even AJ could have seen it. It was between me and her.
“I’ll take my sister back to Eclipse, and return to her crown. Our kingdom can be whole once again. Thank you again, heroes.” She took her sisters hand, who looked back to me one final time. I nodded to her knowingly. We’d have another chance someday- And I wouldn’t let Celestia win again. She smiled and nodded to me, the only one she’d met who had been with her full force.
The two took off for home, and sighing silently, I joined the others in doing the same. This isn’t over, dearest Queen. This has only just begun.