//------------------------------// // Final Chances, Final Glories. These Are The Things, That Make Good Stories. // Story: When The World Bets Against You // by Tie RoamingHooves //------------------------------// Celestia tried with everything she had, but it wasn’t enough. The purple body sailed down the street and tumbled over the ground with sickening thuds and crunches before sliding to a stop. The sun goddess put up a monumental effort to regain control of her actions but even with the might of a star, it was futile. She couldn’t help herself. Princess Celestia started to laugh. She laughed because of the humor of the situation as well as in horror of it. She laughed at herself and at everything else while at the same time it was for no reason at all. She laughed but tears streaked down her face in stark contrast. Those tears were actually a silent plea for help. The alicorn’s mind had converged on itself at the moment she had sent Twilight’s body, and with it the human controlling it, flying down the street. Every last bit of information in her mind been torn loose and thrown into a flurry of raw thoughts and random memories. The things that made up the pony she was were subsequently mixed into the other bits of information that swirled around within her. This information began to condense and gradually pile up forming an entirely different being. Somewhere, the things that made up the alicorn that had ruled Equestria since it’s formation remained, locked away, but not powerless. What little of Celestia was that was left had recognized this for what it actually was. Luna had described the the events leading up to her transformation Nightmare Moon once during a late night. While what she described was vague and hard to grasp, it reflected the current situation perfectly. Just before she drowned in her mind, Princess Celestia had seen to it that her magic remained inert. Whatever she was to become would undoubtedly endanger the lives of others. Her final act, was not to fight the thing that was consuming her, but instead was to give her little ponies a fighting chance in the long run. With her magic unused, Celestia was left an open target for a short period of time during the minute it took for her mind to fully succumb to the nightmare. The human response to her actions, however, had been immediate. And while being a goddess with the power of the star in which she controlled, she was immortal only by the statutes of longevity, not invulnerability. Blood pooled on ground below her. The remaining fragment of the old Celestia would have smiled if she were in control of her body. Even though Shining Armour managed to shield her, the time it had taken him to do so was enough to allow the humans to do considerable damage. Somehow though, a weak smile did make its way to the alicorn's face. A smile in the midst of a maelstrom of flying lead, arcane magic, and sand kicked up by the impact of both the former and latter. Shining Armour couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “... and that’s the only reason we took these actions. Please understand that if the world and lives of countless other weren’t in peril we would have taken a more diplomatic route to solve this problem. But time is short and I must ask that you release Ashley Sebelius so she can perform her tasks.” So there it was. The truth laid bare. The horrible, horrible truth. The stallion had harmed his little sister after all. The princess had convinced him that the biped was using the art of deception by using loved ones against him. He had been convinced by a few words and a memory the princess shared with him to validate her reasons for distrusting the human. He’d put her judgement over his own and Twilight had suffered because of his decisions. Again. The unicorn gave everything to keep himself from crying right there. Held his poker face with intense effort but his body told a different story as he trembled. He bit his lower lip to aid in his efforts to keep a hold of himself. Although he put on a strong face, a tear broke free prompting others to follow. Shining Armor stood at attention with a determined look but silently shed tears all the while. What had he done? If he had paid attention to anything around him, he would have caught the events leading up to the absolute last thing he could have possibly expected to happen. Time slowed to a crawl as Shining Armour swiveled his head. One moment a purple unicorn had been standing there but was half down the road in the next. He picked out every little detail as he observed in the situation unfold in slow motion. The purple form hit the ground with enough force to become airborne once more. The white stallion shuddered. Once more the horned mare hit the ground. He shuddered. Again. And again. And again. Time faded back to its normal pace as the living projectile finally slid to a halt. Then came laughter. Pained, manic, laughter... those erie howls from the alicorn punctuated the gates of tartarus opening to rain down upon them. For what it’s worth, Shining Armour had dealt with everything quite well so far. An impressive feat, considering recent events. But a pony’s mind can only handle so much. He simply couldn’t process nor grasp the situation he was in anymore. And he didn’t. After registering the unicorns mind failing, his body took over and acted purely out of reflex and placed a shield around himself and the princess. Protecting her had became an instinct akin to breathing over his years of service. Even when the captain’s mind had finally given out, he still performed his duty. From within the shield, Captain Shining Armour numbly observed the scene unfold around him. He watched the flashes of the humans weapons as the launched tiny, but deadly, projectiles into whatever they were trained upon, namely the shield the stallion held up. Each time the metal bits impacted the barrier, it would ripple and crackle. The rate of fire the humans produced made it so it looked as if purple electricity was arcing across its surface. Suddenly one of the bipeds produced a tube and knelt on one of its legs. In a burst of white smoke an object was launched out and rapidly closed the distance. The ground rumbled and fire washed around the spherical shield in stunning explosion that reduced his hearing to only pick up a high pitched ring. The smoke cleared and he noticed what fire wasn’t directed towards the shield was going past him. The unicorns among the equine defenders were the only ones able to offer any kind of effective resistance. Horns ablaze, the horned ponies fired beams of raw and dangerous magic. A simple combat spell really as the magic is coalesced to point of reaching temperatures able to melt metal. Winged, and earthbound counterparts only drew fire away from their magic able comrades. Projectiles and magic flew between opposite sides of the street. For the hooved combatants, it was a fight for survival. They ground suddenly felt moist under Shining’s right forehoof. The stallion absentmindedly lifted his hoof up to inspect it. It was covered in blood. He looked over himself and found that he was losing some of the red fluid himself from a hole in his armor’s chestplate, however, the blood on his right hoof did not belong to him. The armored unicorn blinked. Shining Armour snapped his head to the right. His eyes fell upon Princess Celestia lying on her side in a pool of her own blood. He white coat had been stained red in many places as she bleed from wounds she’d received as a consequence of her actions. Although the alicorn was convulsing slightly, there was a weak smile on her face as she stared off into space with unfocused eyes. Looking between his bloody hoof and the downed princess repeatedly, it took him a few moments to put two and two together to make twenty-two. His hoof started to shake. At that moment, every bit of sadness; every bit of pain, loss, hurt, and anger; both for himself and for what happened to those around them surged forward and found release in the form of a defiant yell of anguish and rage as his magic failed and his shield crumbled. “I’d do anything for you, kid. If anypony ever laid a hoof on you, they’ll have to answer to me. I’d chase them through tartarus if I had to.” “I know that. But it doesn’t explain why you want to join the Royal Guard! We’ll see each other less than we already do with my studies and all. Don’t you care?” A slightly younger version of myself looked up to my older brother. The stallion placed a comforting hoof on my head and smiled sincerely. “Of course I do, kiddo, but that’s why I want to join the guard.” He paused a moment before continuing. “Remember the time you had came home crying after those older colts had hurt you and taken your things?” The white unicorn looked away reminiscing and didn’t wait for an answer. “I couldn’t stand the fact that you’d been hurt and I wasn’t there to protect you. In fact, I was supposed to walk you home that night but because I was so stupid and irresponsible, I didn’t think for one second that you could have needed me so I decided to go out with friends instead. I wasn’t there for you when I should have been.That’s wh-” “Just stop it with that whole “I wasn’t there to protect you” bit. It wasn’t your fault. So you made a bad choice; you didn’t or couldn’t have known that was going to happen. Don’t blame yourself.” “You never let me finish. That’s not the only reason I have for doing this. It’s a main part of it but there’s more. It was my fault that you’d gotten hurt. I wasn’t there to protect you when I should have. That’s why I want to join the Royal Guard. I joined so I can protect ponies when they can’t protect themselves. I also joined because I need to be a bit more disciplined. You know dad was always nagging me about how I lacked it. Over time, I began to understand what he meant by that.” “So you thought the only place for you to go was the guard?!” “I’ve thought about this decision for a long time. It’s just something I need to do, Twilight. I’ve already enlisted so there’s really no turning back now. I ship out to Fort Stalliongrad tomorrow morning. I’ll make sure to see a soon as I get back from basic training. It’ll be the first thing I do.” The younger me looked down and tried to hide the sadness in her voice. “How long will you be gone?” “About seven months. I’ll be back just before you thirteenth birthday.” “Just stay safe.” “I will. I think I can take what they have to throw at me. Look, I need to get out of here and get things ready for tomorrow. I’ll try and stop by before I get on the train. Alright?” “I’ll miss you... And I’m gonna kick your armor plated flank if you forget about my birthday when you get back.” “I wouldn’t dream of it, little sis.” I still remember that day. He’d told mom and dad already and they both were ok with it. The last one he told was me. I missed him at first but I got over it quickly. Just another memory my mind decided to play through. Every memory my mind has played keeps pointing me towards the ever growing possibility that I could be wrong. It was at this point that I realized I had been dreaming these memories. The darkness the existed between each memory gave way to dimmed light and ambient sound. Funny, I don’t remember falling asleep but that didn’t really matter. I was sore, cold, and uncomfortable. Upon opening my eyes, I found myself on the floor of what looked to be an empty barn of some sort. Vegetation grew through cracks in its stone foundation and light spilled through holes in the aged and unmaintained wood of the structure. It was empty for the most part besides a few rusty tools hanging on hooks in the wall. The armored pegasus from yesterday was sitting boredly at the entrance of the structure. Her helmet rested on on the ground which revealed her head. Free of the helmet’s enchantment, her coat from her neck up wasn’t the default white of most of the pegasi guard. Her coat was hot pink, a common color. The mare’s short and wavy mane however was a golden blonde. Not rare to see on a pony but it was a little uncommon. She hasn’t noticed that I’ve woken up yet so it gives me a little time to think. Should I even risk trying to trust the ponies who are claiming to help me? Could this be real? My mind screamed yes. It would be nice to have somepony to lean on for a change. But is it truly worth it? A train sat at Ponyville’s heavily guarded train station in idle as its many passengers boarded. The train itself was not of Equestrian origin but was made by the humans who boarded it. It’s destination: Canterlot. Just before it left the station, a pair of dropships flew to the cliffside city as well to pave the way for the locomotive to arrive without complications.