//------------------------------// // Players Convene // Story: Dusk's Dangerous Game // by Airstream //------------------------------// The night sky overhead was speckled with a thousand thousand stars, a tapestry of light and shadow that was awesome in both its scale and detail. A crescent moon hung in the sky, providing little light, but the stars themselves burned with such intensity that it was as if the celestial body was full and bright. The sun had set an hour ago, and the Apple farm was silent and still, slumbering in preparation for work the next day. That is, most of the farm was quiet. Where it bordered the Everfree Forest, near a collapsed section of fence, three mares waited nervously to see if their invitation would be accepted. They had done as promised, and left the Elements that they wielded behind, as a gesture of good faith, and now they waited on a friend that they had not seen in years to appear, and speak with them. They could only hope she would find it in herself to be forgiving, and to listen to what they had to say. “Are you sure that they would have delivered that message?” Fluttershy asked nervously, shifting from hoof to hoof. “Don’t worry, sugarcube, she has the message. And she’s had plenty of time to get out here, I know it.” Applejack said, scanning the trees. “She’s probably being careful, is all. I can’t blame her.” Pinkie Pie was silent, trying to use her Pinkie Sense to see if there was anypony nearby. She had gotten something earlier, something big, or maybe a lot of somethings, moving through the trees, but she had lost it. She still had the occasional shiver or twitch, indicating that something was indeed nearby, and so they had refused to let their guard down. “We probably should have been more specific.” Fluttershy said. “Sweet Apple Acres has a lot of land bordering the Everfree, and we didn’t say when she should be here.” It was at this that Pinkie spoke. “She’s here, I just know it. But she won’t come out for some reason.” Applejack sighed. “Well, what the hay are we supposed to be doin’?” Pinkie took a deep breath. “Hey! Twilight! You can come out, don’t worry! We won’t hurt you!” she called, her voice echoing into the distance, shattering the peace of the night. Applejack jumped on top of her, shoving her face down into the dirt. “Are you bucking insane?” she whispered furiously, looking around for other ponies. “What if somepony heard that?” Pinkie spat out a mouthful of dirt. “That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” she said, as Applejack picked herself up, allowing the pink pony to rise. “We need Twilight to hear where we are.” “But we also don’t need the rest of Ponyville knowing that we are trying to contact Twilight Sparkle! That’s a great way to get arrested and dragged up the mountain.” Applejack said. “And when Twilight wants to come out, well, she will.” Fluttershy pointed one hoof. “Um, Applejack? Pinkie? I think it worked…” Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked to the trees, planting their hooves defensively as they scanned for Twilight Sparkle. They didn’t have to look very hard. A single pony stood at the edge of the forest, watching them. That pony looked nothing like their friend, however. It was imposing, threatening, and the air around it fairly hummed with power, which even in the darkness rippled off of it in waves of shimmering force. The unicorn was clad entirely in white armor, giving it a fearsome, warlike appearance, and wore a helm made of the same material, with a hole for its horn, which glowed with a dark purple aura. A beaten mask of silver, etched with sharp, jagged teeth, covered the rest of its face. Thinking they had been betrayed, each of them began to run. Before Applejack and Pinkie Pie could do much more than attempt to shift their weight, however, the very earth they stood on shot up around each of their legs, effectively trapping them in a stone sleeve that, no matter how hard they struggled, remained obdurate and unyielding. Fluttershy attempted to spread her wings and fly, but before she could do more than jump, a bolt of silent lightning sailed through the air, and the yellow Pegasus’s wings, and indeed all of her extremities, locked into place. The earth surged around her hooves as well. A clear dome of force manifested around the captured trio, and the armored pony calmly trotted forward, its armored hooves strangely silent against the ground. It moved as if it was not wearing armor at all, and Pinkie Pie got the sense that whatever this…thing was, it was angry with them. At last the warrior pony stood in front of them, inside of the bubble, regarding them all calmly. Applejack struggled to free herself before slumping in her bonds, defeated. “Well, you got us dead to rights, whoever you are. What now?” The pony regarded them silently, and then moved forward, placing one hoof under the orange farmpony’s chin, gazing into her eyes. They held eye contact for an eternal moment, before the warrior moved to Pinkie Pie, who stared at it without prompting, meeting its gaze levelly. Lastly, the armor clad pony moved to Fluttershy, who, in a moment of bravery, attempted to use the Stare in order to cow the pony. Her ice blue eyes widened, and she spoke very clearly and concisely, her words low and threatening. “Let us go. Now.” The pony rocked back on its hooves for a brief moment, seemingly transfixed, before coming to its senses. It gave a low chuckle, before simply walking away, standing in front of the three of them. It lifted one hoof to its head, disengaging the mask and letting it fall to the ground. As Twilight Sparkle lifted the helm off of her head, she spoke. “I must say, I’m a little disappointed. I gave you even odds of recognizing me.” Applejack’s eyes widened. “Twilight! Thank Celestia, we thought y’all were here to kill us.” “The night is young.” Twilight said lightly. “I’m not exactly feeling charitable right now.” The Earth pony lowered her head. “What in tarnation is that supposed to mean? We just want to talk!” She stopped speaking immediately as the earth around her legs crept up further, reaching her chest. “Just want to talk? Like the last time you wanted to talk? Back in the Tower at Canterlot?” “That was different!” Pinkie Pie said. “Please, Twilight, you gotta believe us!” Twilight laughed. It was not the light, joyful laugh that they had known for so long. It was laden with bitterness, and utterly without pity or empathy. “I’ve lost all trust in any of you. I said something very similar a few years back, remember?” she asked, and her horn glowed brightly before a beam of light shot towards the ground, spreading into a pool of color, which resolved itself into a very familiar scene. Six ponies were arranged in a circle, one broken, bleeding and bruised, chains hanging from her sides as she struggled to stay on her hooves. The five others were closing in, as she begged and pleaded for them to hear her. “I-you're not the ponies I knew. I don't know any of you, anymore. And that breaks my heart. I'm not asking anymore, I'm begging. You have to listen to me! I can prove it if you just give me a chance!” the wounded one said. A unicorn with a coat of alabaster looked her in the eyes. “We wish we could, darling. But Rainbow Dash is making sense for once, and not you.” A harsh clanging noise echoed through the night air, as the three captured ponies looked on in horror at their transgression against a friend. The recording continued. “And now we have to end this.” Applejack looked on in shame as a representation of Princess Celestia appeared as well, directly behind their friend, who was nearly on her knees; whether in supplication or exhaustion it was hard to tell. The representation of her spoke. “Thank goodness you showed up when you did, Princess. We couldn't have stalled her much longer.” The three watched as Twilight Sparkle was brought down at last. As she was carried outside, and Celestia began her transportation spell to the tower, Twilight dispelled the energy for the illusion spell. She spoke, her voice quiet. “It hardly seems different to me. One party begging to be heard, another rendering judgment. Here, however, is where you and I have our differences. I’m going to listen to you speak, and then I will let you go on your way unmolested.” Fluttershy spoke quietly. “We made a mistake, Twilight. And we’re sorry for it, but we’re trying to make amends for it.” Pinkie Pie nodded. “All we want is to talk to you, Twilight. To see you.” Twilight looked at them both. “Well, you’ve got your wish. What did you want to talk about?” Applejack sighed. “Well, what do y’all know about life here in Ponyville? You’ve got ponies watchin’ Fluttershy, so we know we’re being watched.” Twilight thought briefly. “Let’s see…I know that you are expecting another foal, Applejack, and that despite the fire in your orchard, you have posted a net gain of sixty-eight percent increase in profits over the year. You’re doing well selling excess fruit to Canterlot, and your cider and hard cider are extremely popular among the gentry in the capital. I believe you’ve been contracted to provide some for the Winter Solstice Celebration Ball. Applebloom just completed training with the Regulars, and though she does not yet know where she’s being stationed, I have it on good authority that she will likely be sent to Red Rock Junction to strengthen the Garrison there. She’s assigned to a shock brigade, the illustrious 418th Rough Riders.” Applejack attempted to speak, but was cut off. “Pinkie Pie, your bakery is doing well, and you are thinking about opening up a second shop, possibly in Trottingham, despite the heavy taxation rate there. I’d go for it, they could use a bit of happiness there. Your foal starts school next year. She’s beautiful.” Pinkie Pie nodded thankfully. “How did you know what she looked like?” Twilight allowed her lips to curl, so slightly and briefly it might not have happened at all. “I visited on her first birthday. I laid a blessing, too. One unicorn to another. Now, Fluttershy, you’ve not done much, but you and Applejack have been spending quite a bit more time together than normal.” Fluttershy tugged at her hooves a bit. “Yes.” She said simply. “Well, allow me to extrapolate based on the evidence I see in front of me. You all are meeting me on the edge of town, alone, in the dead of night, without the Elements you chose to bear. You have no soldiers, no backup of any kind. You are here minus Rarity, and Rainbow Dash is nowhere to be found, at least as far as you know. When Pinkie spoke up, she was silenced, which means that you don’t want anypony else finding out you’re here. Am I on track so far?” The three trapped mares nodded. Twilight continued. “And you want to talk. Not only this, you’ve captured my soldiers. Instead of turning them in or killing them, you chose to clean them up and send them back to me unharmed, for which I thank you. It is because of this that I agreed to come alone. Had you harmed them, we would still have talked, but…it would have been on far less friendly terms.” Applejack snorted. “And this is friendly?” Twilight chuckled again. “No. Friendly talks are reserved for those I consider friends. This is me being both cordial and cautious. I’ve said my piece. You know what I know about you. What did you want to tell me?” “We want you to come to the table with Celestia, Twilight.” Fluttershy said. “We want you both to negotiate a solution to the end of the war, one that will stop the fighting.” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. “We’d be there, too. As a neutral party, to help you both come to an accord.” Twilight looked at the three ponies she had once knew so well, studying their faces in complete silence. Her expression slowly turned from one of wary confusion into amusement, and from there into outright mirth. “Wait…so you think that I’m fighting Celestia to the death because neither of us wants to negotiate?” she said, visibly restraining herself from laughing, “It ain’t no laughing matter, Twilight!” Applejack said. “Ponies are dying, gettin’ hurt on account of this war!” Twilight’s mirth vanished. “You think I don’t know that?” she said, staring into the deep green eyes of her friend. “You think I’m unaware of the cost, the lives being taken because of this conflict? Last week I personally stood over the freshly dug graves of three dozen fighters, who fell because I had made the wrong call and sent them into an obvious trap. I talked with their families, too. I know that feeling too well, by this point. And you know what? It could have been far worse. It will get far worse. You think Whitetail was bad? You think Red Rock was bad? I committed less than a quarter of the ponies under my command to those. Celestia committed even less.” “And we want to bring the war to an end before it gets worse! So no more families have to lose their loved ones, no more graves have to be dug!” Applejack said. “Twilight, Applebloom is in the Regulars! She’s ready to fight and die because of this conflict, doesn’t that bother you?” Pinkie asked. “I can’t let it bother me. I’m trying to bring Celestia to negotiate, but her ultimatum is always the same. I am to surrender completely, to let my armies be disbanded, and to retake the mantle of Magic when she deems me fit. And Applebloom is a grown mare, she has made her own choices.” Applejack lunged forward. “Now listen here-“ she was cut off as rock crept up her chest and sides, squeezing gently, threatening to crush her if she got rough. “No, you listen. You had your chance for peace. You could have helped me, all of you. But you chose to side with Celestia, and now I can no longer count you among ponies I trust.” “But that’s just the thing!” Pinkie said. “I don’t know if we did side with Celestia.” Twilight’s gaze locked on to her like a hawk spying a particularly slow meal. “Explain.” Pinkie Pie sighed in relief as the rock crept down Applejack’s chest, allowing the Earth pony to breathe more easily. “We all thought Celestia was in the right, Twilight. All of us. But recently, it’s been like waking up from a dream. We were in the middle of thinking one way, and suddenly we’re thinking another way and nothing makes sense. And now that we all are thinking this way, we are starting to notice…things.” Applejack nodded. “When Celestia came to town, we noticed that other ponies behaved differently. Not just nervous, or anything like that. But…different. Everypony got this real dopey grin on their faces.” Twilight was silent for a moment. “I am giving you one chance. When did you notice this happening?” “After the Summer Sun Celebration, for both of us.” Applejack said. Fluttershy nodded. “Mine was around then, too.” The armor clad unicorn looked each of them in the faces, checking them for falsities. “If I had not experienced the same thing, I’d call that the most ridiculous lie I’d heard from any of you.” Pinkie shook her head. “Not a lie, Twilight. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight’s head snapped around, checking the position of the moon. “A messenger will be by to let you know when we can discuss this further. I will meet you then. But I swear, if you play me false…” “I know, I know. They’ll find us in pieces, right?” Applejack said. Twilight settled her helm back on her head, snapping the mask of teeth back over her face. She smiled, though it was hidden. “Don’t be ridiculous, Applejack. We’ll find you, even if you try and run, and when we catch you? I personally guarantee they will never find you.” And with that, Twilight Sparkle left her onetime friends behind, twisting the shadows around her. When her friends could see once more, she was gone, vanished into the night.