//------------------------------// // A long, long lost relative // Story: Fierce // by InkSparrow //------------------------------// Still here, still you, and I hope you will forgive me. You, with the same eyes seem to come back to ask me about me." “You should not be that reckless” “And you should be more understanding about this. We are only going to parley.” “Yes, your better guards are going to speak as well?” Both of the alicorns looked each other in the eye. His mane was purple; his coat was of a deep dark blue, shining as it was made of stardust. His wings, mane and tail floated like ethereal. On the other hand, she was white, her coat reflecting light made her look like she was on fire, especially on her legs: splendid crimson fire. Her hooves and mane shared colors with the sunset and the midnight at the same time. Even their sole existence seemed surreal, his body looked like the Universe itself; hers was like heaven. Her crown was of the brightest gold and his was of the most beautiful platinum. The air was very tense. He was standing there; ready to go away from her Queen. “You know how they act” He said “I cannot risk battling them alone.” “Then do not go, my love” She spoke, stepping forward. There were others next to her husband. Other alicorns. They were armored, prepared for war. They were the best soldiers and the bravest warriors in the entire world. The world they almost ruled. There were terrible enemies near the edge of the Earth, with an almost unlimited power. The almost gods, the Draconequi. They threatened their peace, being embodiments of chaos and disorder. And the alicorn King wanted to finish them off, if they went extinct, no one would ever be menace to the ponies. But the Queen had another opinion. “Let them understand we can all live in peace in this world.” “They will never do that, Galaxia” His voice became sterner. “They will never comprehend, not even the meaning of ‘peace’. But yes, I will try.” “Cosmos…” “And if that fails.” There was an eternal silence after that. “Cosmos… What if you…” “I will not” “Mother?” A worried voice behind the Queen said. There was a little filly, a coat of the purest white with a cute pink mane floating behind her head. “Where is father going?” The King turned to her daughter and crouched, looking her in the eye. He smiled, trying to calm her. “I have to go, Celestia. I have some King stuff to do. I will be back soon.” “You promise?” “Of course, my dear” He stood up and looked at her Queen “I promise.” He, followed by her elite force, flew up high, towards the horizon. They were gone in a few seconds. The Queen and the Princess gazed up to the sky, pretending the King had changed his mind and returned home, with her family. Then, a firm voice interrupted the moment. “Oh, I hope he returns soon.” Everything went dark the moment Celestia turned her head. That voice. That horrible voice. She hated it even before she knew what hate was. There he was, but she couldn’t see him anymore. It was all darkness and cold. “My dear brother.” “Empress!” “Sister!” The white alicorn was flabbergasted. It was not that night which came to her mind, but another memory. The last time she saw her father. It was the creepy voice of that pony what ruined that moment. The voice of her uncle. Celestia and Luna’s uncle. “Maqyas” She whipered. “How impolite from you, Little Tia!” The pony in the sphere answered with a teasing voice. “Sister! Who… who is this?!” Luna asked her, trying not to be frightened. Celestia didn’t try to attack or response in any way to that strange figure on the green screen of the device, other than stare into the void of her memories. “Maqyas is his name” She kept her sight pointing to the horizon “He is… Our father’s brother.” “It’s a shame you call me just like that. ‘Maqyas’. I’m not somepony you knew. I’m your uncle!” The sphere approached the Empress. A smile could be seen on Maqyas’s muzzle. “You should show some respect.” “Why are you alive?” Celestia asked. There was concern and anger in her voice. Luna was pretty insecure about her supposed uncle. She didn’t remember him. Then again, she could barely remember his parents. They had died a long ago; she was just a little filly back then. But what Maqyas said… The night when her mother died. Even if that ‘uncle’ was dangerous or threatening, she wanted to know something about that day. Everypony else was silent. Both aerial forces were ready for attack at the orders of their respective leaders. “I bet I know what’s in the mind of each of your subjects” The sphere floated back and turned around so all the ponies in the crowd could see him “I mean… OUR subjects. Why has your not-so-lovely Celestia hidden a relative to her own ponies? Why is there a member of the original Royal Family still alive and not ruling you like it should be? Well, I’ll answer that…” “You are not our ruler. Celestia is the current leader of…” Twilight dared to say, but Maqyas interrumpted her. “Of what? Equestria? Hah! Equestria does not exist anymore. My dear nieces have destroyed it. They have torn it to pieces and separated you. Is this your so called Ruler?” “She hasn’t done such thing.” An orange-coated pony said, lifting her head and showing her face beneath her hat. “Oh, really? Then… are you part of one nation? Or two?” “Stop this” Luna stepped forward “I’m not letting you speak to my people until you explain what this is all about.” “Oh… I’m glad my Little Luna has grown up…” She was about to answer ‘I’m not your little…’ but she didn’t. She wanted to hear what Maqyas wanted to say. “Ok, ok. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell all of you how your former Queen met her end. Your father, little princesses, was very… temperamental. Very rude. Very powerful. On the other hand, your mother, that beautiful Galaxia…” Celestia grinded her teeth when she heard that. “She was pretty kind. She was calmed all the time. All she wanted was peace. My brother… Oh, my brother! He was such an idiot…” “Don’t speak like that, please” Nopony knew Celestia was able to hate, but she was. She hated Maqyas’s voice, she had always did. Even when she barely remembered him. “Could you please let me finish?” The sphere looked down to the Empress. She spoke nothing more “Thank you. Anyways, Cosmos, my brother, your King, had… aggressive ideas about the Kingdom. He wanted to join forces with any other country and unite every living being into one sole realm. But what if they didn’t want to join? If diplomacy failed, he would, obviously, make them join. By force! By fear! By magic!” Maqyas seemed to enjoy the sight of confused ponies, the sight of worrying ponies. The sight of despair and fear, which were gaining ground in the crowd. The sphere kept circling around the crowd and even around the two standing alicorns and her forces “But then… there was her. “Your Queen didn’t want any of that. She wanted a peaceful place with peaceful neighbors of other peaceful kingdoms. Cosmos disagreed with her for so long… But she changed his mind at the end. He gave up to his wife and forgot about his onw plans. And how did the things come out? Terrible! They didn’t become more powerful, they became a small nation instead! WE did! I tried to convince my brother to embrace what we both thought could be the right choice. But I failed miserably. He went to face the only race that could equalize the power of the alicorns of the young Equestria.” A quick image flew through Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s mind. A strange creature with almost unlimited power. Celestia already had that creature in her head. “Draconequi” The sphere came back to where the Solar Empress was standing. “Cosmos didn’t want to share the same life with such crazy creatures so he went on a mission. He went, along with his Elite force, to exterminate every Draconequus!” “So that’s the reason Discord’s the last one of ‘em!” Applejack whispered to Twilight. She didn’t know what to think. “Apparently the King didn’t do what he meant to do…” “As you might know, just one of that powerful race survived. Nevertheless, the King died in that battle. A large group of alicorns shared his fate. So, he didn’t just make a species go extinct. He almost got his own species extinct!” “And that’s why there aren’t much alicorns out there…” The Mayor thought. “Then, everything went to waste.” Maqyas’s voice turned even creepier “I should’ve been the One Ruler of Equestria. But that stupid Galaxia decided she could ‘heal the world’ instead!” “What do you want, then?!” a stallion from the crowd said in despair. The sphere began floating higher each time, at a low pace. “When I tried to take what was MINE. YOUR Queen intervened. YOUR Queen stopped me. She left me weak and hurt and barely alive. At the cost of her own life.” “Sister! Did that… did that actually happened?!” Luna asked Celestia. She nodded slowly as the dark one gasped. “That night… Little Princess Celestia went really hard on me. She punished me for doing something I rightfully deserved! She threw me into the deepest place in this earth!” “Tartarus…” Candlespark whispered. Twilight look at her out of the corner of her eye: She thought the same thing. It was him what that mythological beast Cerberus was guarding originally? “But do not worry, my ponies!” The mocking tone in which he was speaking was annoying and creeping out everyone “I have come again to claim what is mine! And some sort of ordering the chaos my cute nieces have turned Equestria into.” The crowd couldn’t believe what Maqyas what saying. They didn’t know who he really was. It was some pony who appeared in a metal ball! How could they submit to him? Somepony laughed. “This land is not yours” Celestia spoke. As she did, the air felt clearer and a warm breeze caressed all those standing in the crowd, calming them. “Nor are these ponies. You were imprisoned for one reason. You don’t care about anypony else but you. ” She hit the ground with her white and golden hoof. The earth shook and an amber aura oozed from her. Her imposing magic was enough to freeze an opponent in sight. “You cannot be their ruler” But Maqyas was not a normal opponent. “Please, Little Tia. Do you honestly think you’re going to intimidate me?” The sphere floated until almost touched Celestia’s muzzle and stood still, not yielding at all “I’ve been in the darkest places thanks to you. Thanks to my brother and his lovely wife.” Nopony dared to make a single sound while the two of them stared each other. “Whether you want it or not, Equestria will come back to where it belongs. In my hooves!” The earth shook again. But it was not the calming magic of Celestia trying to conquer the enemy. It was something physical from beneath the surface. Some ponies ran away, other stepped back but stood nearby. The floor under the monument cracked. “Nonetheless… I still have some adjustments to do to my stuff, so… Let’s meet three months from here, OK, Little Tia?” “What are you talking about?” Luna wanted to catch that metal sphere and crush it with her hooves, but before she could do anything, four metal sharp end points emerged from the ground. The sphere floated until it was right above them. “Think of this as an advance of what is coming soon.” The points, with just half meter long, were shot to the floating device, fitting in the lines that adorned it. There were wires connecting the sphere with something underground. “Be ready. Or not. I’ll crush you anyway. Bye bye” The image of Maqyas faded, there was a dark green circle on the screen instead, simulating an eye. And with a powerful roar, the ground exploded. A huge black bulk, as high as a house, came from beneath the dirt floor: it looked like a mechanical headless mole; two thick, long arms ended in four sharp grey claws. A pair of short legs supported the entire machine, which exuded steams as a result of its moving. Though the body and the arms of the mechanism were protected by some sort of black metal cape, the legs and the joints seemed built from old tubes and wires. The sphere Maqyas was transmitting from attached itself, aided by the metal points, to the center of the bulk, like a face —or a heart. “Empress!” The captain of the Wonderbolts reacted, taking position. The whole team followed her. But before they could do anything, the apparent robot shot its left arm against Celestia, trapping her between its claws. The arm was still attached to the body by thick chains; the bang dragged the alicorn far from her sister, making her crash against a house. “Sister!” Just after Luna had turned to see the place Celestia crashed, the robot hit her with its right arm, sending her through the air several meters away. At once, the Wonderbolts and the Shadowbolts took off while the robot retrieved its arm. Before war, the Wonderbolts were no effective offensive force: they were a mere acrobatic group. But their loyalty made them take part of the battle, they, with the help of the Magical Engineers, became a powerful air force, crucial during the war. The unicorns members of the Engineering Units developed what was called “Air Friction Suit”: when a pegasus with that suit reaches certain acceleration, the fabric would ignite, creating a flaming magic field around the pegasus. This field, in contact with the target, would explode, dealing great damage to the target and thrusting the pegasus upwards without harming him. There were some pegasi whose gear was different from the common AFS; they wore a much specialized suit. Rainbow Dash was one of them, whose suit, the AFS-R5 —the only Air Friction Suit crafted by Twilight Sparkle—, was especially design to make the most of the energy released in a Sonic Rain-boom as useful offensive magic. The cyan pegasus could handle the explosion in such way she could decrease the affected area, creating an even greater and more destructive blast behind her. Spitfire wore her AFS-B1, which made bigger explosions than the rest of the suits. The first one attacking the mechanical bulk was Spitfire, hitting it right above the sphere in its front. The impact seemed not to hurt it, but it made it lean backwards. The four remaining Wonderbolts (there were just five in the Ceremony because… It was a Ceremony, nothing bad or dangerous should happen.). Rainbow Dash hit it right in the sphere; Fire Streak and Fleetfoot aimed each one to its arms, and Lightning Streak tried to take the robot down by hitting it on its legs. The robot tottered, but, regaining balance, it still attacked the flying pegasi, though they were too fast for it. The Shadowbolts had a similar gear: their “Casting Suit”, designed by Rarity —so they were actually pretty fashionable—. With small controls near the muzzle, the pegasi could create several spells to attack an enemy or defend themselves: the common Casting Suit had “memory” for three spells, the majority of the users chose an offensive spell, a defensive one and a tactic one, though some picked only offensive ones to give everything in battle. Its magic was not nearly as powerful as the explosions caused by the Wonderbolts’ Air Friction Suit, but it had a wider variety of uses. The four Shadowbolts flew around the robot. “The legs! Try to take that thing down!” The leader of Luna’s air army, a stallion with a dark red mane, shouted to the others. Two of the others dove, activating their suits and casting a bright purple tangle of magic ropes. When they grazed the robot’s legs, the purple ropes attached to the mechanical limbs, tying up and tightening by themselves. The leader and the remaining Shadowbolt charged to the front of their enemy, casting a violet aura around themselves and crashing against it. With a dark energy blast, the robot finally fell, but before the pegasi could cheer for their victory, a metallic sound made the machine vibrate. Its arms and legs suddenly turned around, turning its rear part into its frontal part. It stood with its claws on the ground and rose again. “What? It…” The Shadowbolts’ leader began, but the robot hit him in a blink. It was pretty fast, it just hadn’t showed that to its enemies. With a single swing of its strong arm, the machine took down Lightning Streak, Fleetfoot and a pegasus from the Shadowbolts, a mare with green mane called Hazy Dusk. It lifted up its other arm to hit Rainbow Dash, but a purple aura surrounded the limb. “The sphere!” Twilight Sparkle said, containing the attack. There were a lot of ponies ready to jump in the battle and try to help as much as they could “Maybe if you detach the sphere, the whole thing will stop!” The robot tried to smash the unicorn with its free arm, but an orange flash took her out of its reach. “Mah back!” Applejack screamed, rolling on the ground “Mah buckin’ back!” “I… I’m sorry, Applejack” Twilight apologized, standing up and helping her stand up. The rest of the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash, Spitfire and Fire Streak, as well as the Shadowbolts, a black coated stallion called Starry Mantle and the former Wonderbolt Lightning Dust, surrounded the robot and attacked the round device, which was now at the rear of the machine. The combined force of all the pegasi cracked the surface of the sphere and tilted the enemy forward. It roared and charged unto the ponies standing in front of it, the ones prepared to fight as well, but it was forced to stop once more. This time, it was a golden aura. “Luna!” Celestia had stood up from amongst the house debris and now walked towards the robot. Here sole presence shook the ground again; there was definitely anger in her face. Her left wing seemed broken and it was amply bleeding “Take it out now! The material which it is made of is magic-resistant!” The Lunar Leader appeared from the distance, her horn glowing with a dark colored magic. The sphere abruptly vibrated as it was taken with the night alicorn’s magic. It made a popping sound when it was extracted. Luna cut the wires off, separating the device from the whole of the robot. Nonetheless, the huge machine was still working. It turned around to charge again against the alicorns. “There!” Rainbow Dash said, diving into the robot’s back. She grasped the point Twilight Said. The sphere could be a core, a center from which the robot took its energy, or something like that. The moment the machine turned around, she saw a green shining figure through the hole the sphere was in before. The cyan pegasus struck the hole, damaging the shining figure with the blast. The attack made the robot fall. “That’s it! It has… something inside! We need to destroy it!” “Or take it out too.” The Mayor said. Applejack was standing again, but her legs shuddered. “It’s too narrow for a pony to reach it!” “I’ll do it, lift me up!” The pegasus took the unicorn; they were right behind the robot in a blink. Twilight surrounded the shining piece, which it was now sparkling violently. She felt her energy was leaving her body, her life abandoning her. “The material is magic-resistant” She thought, just as Celestia had said. Even though, she pulled the object with all of her strength. The robot was just about to turn again, with an arm ready to crush her into the ground along with the Wonderbolt supporting her. The core was taken out. There was an explosion coming from the center of the robot, through the hole the sphere was in. The limbs froze an instant and then the whole machine fell to the ground, this time remaining immobile. Even then, the ponies stood still, waiting for a surprise attack. “It’s done” The Empress said with a sigh. Her and Luna’s subjects gather around very carefully “But this is just how it starts. My Little Ponies…” A tear went across her face. “I’m so sorry my past reached all of you in such a terrible way. I’m… so sorry.” She fell to her knees. She had lost a lot of blood. “Sister!” Luna trotted to her side, softly placing her horn over the wound on her wing. It magically began healing. “I… I’m fine. Is everypony else ok?” Ponyville doctors and nurses were already taking care of the fallen pegasi. Fortunately, they had just minor wounds. “Pri… Empress.” Twilight Sparkle approached the alicorn with a concerned face “What are we going to do now?” Silence ruled the place during a whole minute. A lot of things came to the white alicorn’s mind. Her mother dying right in front of her. A Draconequus lying in front of her, wounded and beat. A whole Empire disappearing. The evil taking over her loved sister. She thought of the dangers she had faced. She thought of the dangers her student and her friends had faced. She thought of war. The war that had destroyed her country, her land, her ponies. The war that, once again, was hanging over her. There was no other answer, no other position to take. There was no peace with the enemy, no truce, no ceasefire. With Maqyas, there was only one way to go. “We fight.”