//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Aftershocks // Story: Old Wounds // by Martian //------------------------------//         The smoke was thick and acrid, burning her nose and lungs, stealing her air, making her cough.  Broad white wings pounded at the air, an effort of will bringing a swirl of magic-borne wind through the air about her, clearing away the black and grey mists, and revealing a scene from the reddest hells.         Black crystals, jagged and vile, towered over the land, reaching towards the sky, glittering with black malevolence.  The land, once green and verdant and alive, now scorched and brown and dead, made red by the struggling sun on the horizon, filtering through the ash and smoke of a war long waged.         The fires raged across the land, swallowing what had once been vibrant orchards and vineyards, now poisoned by corruption.  Even their smoke had become toxic...         “Harpies!”         The shout of warning wrenched her about, and she looked up into the cloud of... things.  Pony-sized, pony shaped, but their bodies were black and oily, segmented like the carapace of an insect.  They shrieked as they dove, the sound grating to the ears: worse than knives on a chalkboard.         “Aspidai forward!  Pila at the ready!”         Wings sounded in the air all about her, the rattle of armour and shields loud as a thunderstorm, but blunted by the terrible cries descending upon them.  Pegasi clad all in gleaming bronze close to her flanks, great round shields held before them with one hoof, the other holding ready a spear, points glittering with terrible sharpness.         “My Regent, be ready!”  A pony at her right hoof, strong and lean and cradling a poleaxe with both hooves. Her armour was cracked and broken in places, a line of crimson running down her pale blue throat, one eye swollen shut beneath a viciously dented visor: all the result of a skirmish only moments before.           Celestia looked back up to the closing horrors, a frown crossing her elegant, smoke-stained face.  Her tall horn began to gleam, her body flexing as she willed her wings to loft her just that little bit higher than the wall of shields and ponies before her.  Magic electrified her nerves, made her skin tingle all over as she dredge forth the power not of mere mortality but that of the sun itself.  The tingle gave way to warmth, then heat, then to the burning brilliance of the solar furnace rising above the horizon.           The flare lanced into the swarm of Harpies, raking through their bodies like a blade cutting through water, but they did not die as ponies would.  Their bodies did not burn or split, but instead shattered; breaking into pieces where the light struck them.  They fell screaming as loudly as they had in life, but for every Harpy Celestia struck down, there was another to fill the rank.  They fell towards the phalanx, heedless of the pila flung into their midst, to slam into the ranked shields like a force of nature.  They raked at wood and bronze and flesh alike with hooves made strange and jagged like broken glass, their shrieks unceasing, even for breath.         The pegasi before her fought hard, snarling through grit teeth as they used shields and hooves in unison to sunder their foes in the swirling maelstrom of the aerial battle.  Celestia herself was not a forgotten force; where she could, she scythed down the twisted creatures with her magic, doing what she could to keep her defenders safe, but even with all her might there were bodies clad all in bronze that were falling from the sky...         No, no more...         A harpy forced its way through the line, black jaws wide in its eyeless head, teeth of silvery crystal dripping with crimson.  Celestia smashed a hoof into that mouth, the beautiful gold plating chipping away from her solleret to show the cold, dull iron beneath.  A second hoof sent fractures crazing all across the thing’s darkly shining hide, and a third smote it from the sky, sending it tumbling down to meet the earth below.         Her breaths were coming in gulps, sweat sticking to her beneath the gilded armour she wore, but there was no time to be tired.  She caught another harpy as it tried to rake at the flanks of one struggling pegasus, blasting it apart with an effort of will, though all for naught; the pegasus screamed as her shield was sundered by the creature she was facing.  It latched onto her body with all four limbs and dragged her from the sky, heedless of its own survival.         Please, no more...         Light glittered off the blade of the axe as it was swung, catching a harpy in the shoulder as it reached for Celestia, hacking the crystalline limbs from the trunk and just as quickly reversing to shatter the entirety of the body.  The pale blue pegasus flew close to Celestia, grimacing through a split lip.  Her helmet had been lost in those handful of seconds, and her eye looked little better for it.  Dozens of fresh scratches showed on the opposite side of a face that had been handsome only hours before.         “Regent!” the pony shouted, her voice carrying over the cacophony, “Your sister-”  A hoof raised, pointing.  Celestia turned her head upwards, and saw the flitting, half-visible darting through the clouds of roiling black smoke.         The night ponies fell upon the harpies like thunderbolts from a clear sky, slamming into them with star-iron shod hooves and dashing them to the earth below to the cheers of their bronze-clad brethren.         Dark wings swept the air before her; a pony all in gleaming metal, the living embodiment of the merciless night and the nameless dreads that dwell within it...         No... not merciless.  She is Luna here, not the Nightmare...”         Luna, armoured in shining silver: noble and beautiful.  “Sister!” the Night’s Princess cried,  “You must hear me!”  But her voice was distant, faint somehow...         "Regent!”  The axe-pony at Celestia’s side had a voice like a storm.  She was pointing a mailed hoof down to the earth and to the ponies advancing thereon, across the dying grass and smoke and flames.  Without wings, they could not engage the harpies that harried them from the sky, but for every earth pony armed and armoured there was a unicorn, and they cast shields above the heads of their comrades and sent bolts of scintillating colour into the air to swat harpies from the sky, even as their cousins fought through the ground-borne monstrosities the usurper had created.         It was not the steadily advancing tide of bronze that drew Celestia’s eye, but the heaving of the earth before those solid ranks.  Black crystal towers swayed and cracked and collapsed as something stirred beneath the tortured ground.         The world seem to draw in a breath, everything going silent as great cracks fissured across the heaving earth, and forth from the depths came a great gaping maw, wider across than a dozen ponies standing nose to tail and lined with horrid teeth.  Its body was segmented like a centipede’s, but legless; instead from its ugly brown body, all in jagged lines, grew thousands black shards of crystal that flexed and heaved as it levered itself ever upwards from the ground.  The bravery and experience in the ponies before it showed as they arrayed themselves hurriedly into ranks, and gleaming shields of energy flashed into existence before them.           Time was standing still, and all Celestia could do was watch as the behemoth slowly turned its great head towards those shining ranks of brave ponies.  A low, awful groan came from it, filling the entirety of the world... and then it’s whole body heaved, and it spat a spray of murderous shards into those ranks.  The magical shields flashed as the crystals scattered and chipped across their surfaces, but they held strong... at least, until the wyrm began to sing.         The song of the chorus wyrm began as the low, awful groan, but it rose in pitch within seconds, becoming a howl, then a shriek, then a mind-rending scream that jammed jagged aural spikes right into one’s ears and into the brain.  Pegasi began to scream and falter in the sky all around Celestia, the princess herself grabbing at her helmeted head to try and drown out that terrible sound, but nothing could block it out.  It hurt like nothing else could hurt, made stars flash in front of her eyes, made her legs go numb...         And then it spat again.  Shards of corrupted black crystal raked into the tortured ranks of the ponies before it... while the unicorns amongst them were powerless to defend their comrades.         Ponies fell by the dozens, screaming in agony, unheard under the dreadful song of the chorus wyrm.         Sister!         She turned to Luna, tried to grab at her sister and shout to her, but her words were swallowed by the world-filling noise.  She thrust a hoof at the creature below, tried to pull her sister with her to go and help her ponies, but was hit on the shoulder by another hoof.  She looked into the grimacing face of Aithon, still clinging grimly to her poleaxe, her pale ears flattered to her head, blood trickling from one into her yellow mane.           ‘Go!’ she mouthed, pointing with the tip of her axe to the great crystal spire at the center of the corrupted city.           The skies were cleared; night ponies were struggling with the last of the harpies, bravely giving their worth even under the agony of the song.  An ugly purple light was glittering at the top of that tower, at its heart a familiar emerald fire that she had known so well...         ‘Go!’ the silent shout again, and another shove.  Celestia reached out with a hoof, tried to hold Aithon back, tried to keep her safe, but the brave pegasus pulled away before she could reach her.  The captain of the Solar Guard raised her axe above her head and bellowed with all her might, and mighty indeed were her lungs for not even the song of the wyrm could drown her out.         “For love!  For light!”         All around Aithon, silent cries of answer went up.  Hooves and shields and lances flashed, and as one creature two dozen pegasi clad all in shining bronze dove from the sky onto their prey.         She saw the wyrm rake them, saw brave pegasi fall, saw a shining axe slip from lifeless hooves... and saw the wyrm collapse as the remaining lances were driven deep into its flesh.         Celestia!  Sister, hear me!         Tears burned in her eyes as she wrenched them away from the sight, as she and sister bent their wings to converge upon the tower, upon the traitor therein.         The harpy struck her from below.         Her breath stuck in her throat as she felt those awful jaws close onto one leg, as she felt jagged limbs rend and tear at the thin armour protecting her belly.  She felt her wings break, felt the earth rushing up to meet her, heard the dreadful laughter sounding in her ears.         No... no, this is not how it was!  No!         Luna was there, not clad in silver armour but only crowned and crested, reaching out with delicately shod hooves, her face contorted with effort.  Celestia reached out to her even as the darkness filled her vision...         “Sister!”         The grass was cool beneath her.   Damp... smelling sweetly of a late night rain fallen only moments before.           She was laying on her side, her wings folded tightly to her, neck stretched out upon the soft earth, tickled by a few curled blades of long grass that rippled a little with the slightest movement.         There was a body pressed tightly to hers, hooves about her neck, clinging... Shaking. Barely a whisper, “Sister, please...” “Shhh...” Celestia lifted herself slightly from the soft grass, unfolding a wing and circling it about the smaller frame of Luna, holding her close.  “I’m here, it’s okay.”         “It’s not okay,” Luna shuddered a little, and Celestia could feel warm tears against her neck.  “You were so deep in that dream, I couldn’t reach you...”         “You did reach me, little sister.  I saw you there, you came for me and I knew...”         Luna let out a small sigh, followed by a sniffle.  She shifted a bit, releasing her clinging grip around Celestia’s neck to brush the back of a hoof across her face.  “No you didn’t, Tia.  Believe me when I say that I know dreams a little better than you do...”         Celestia had to concede that point.  She let the silence fall, though did not pull away from her sister, instead holding her, still hidden beneath the soft snowy down of her wings; a protective canopy that the younger had always so loved.  Soft eyes turned to look out over the world, and found what she had first thought to be the castle garden to actually be a broad, endless plain that stretched to every horizon.  The grass flowed and wavered as if kissed by a nightly breeze, through the air did not stir.         Delicate lights danced amidst the countless blades, lighting them as if from within, drifting along with the ghostly wind in rippling tides that mimicked the swirl of the ocean.  Above, the sky was barren of clouds or moon, instead decorated with the perfection of the night, of countless stars painted across the depths of a deep blue canvas in great swirling waves that glowed with such colour and light.         Luna’s realm, halfway between the dream world and the waking; a place of peace and gentle repose, of quiet solitude for a pony that had always preferred her own company to that of others.         “Your night is beautiful, little sister,” Celestia murmured, and smiled when she felt the younger pony shift a little beneath her wings.         “Thank you...”         There was no time in this place, not as there was in dreams or in the waking world, but it did pass all the same, in its own way.  Celestia watched the rippling glow of the spectral grass, watched the swirl of grand galaxies far above in their ageless dance, closed her eyes and listened to the slow, steady breathing of Luna pressed close to her side.         After minutes, hours, or centuries, Luna stirred and gently pushed aside Celestia’s protective wing, drawing her head out into the sweet, cool air, to be met with a fond nuzzle from her older sister, gratefully returned.         They lay there together, watching the endless night in gentle silence, eyes tracing the paths of falling stars as they arched across the entire length of this world.         “I’ve never experienced such a dream before, Tia... nothing so deep, so powerful...”         “You might think that old memories fade in time, and they do in a way, but in others they become stronger.”  Celestia thought on that a moment, “Think of it perhaps as an oak tree.  It will grow and become verdant, alive and well while green, but eventually that grandeur will fade.  It will cease to grow, the leaves will fall away, bits and pieces will fall off here and there... but sometimes there will be a part of it left, or it will have grown in just such a place that instead of growing weak, those parts will harden and toughen, and become as firm a part of the landscape as a mountain.  Axes will go blunt and bounce off before they can cut it, nations will rise and fall around it, and all the while it will remain: unchanged and unwilling to ever give up its place.         “The roots go deep sometimes... and the siege of the Empire was one such time.”         “I remember Aithon falling...”         Celestia nodded slowly, remembering that time very well, though any tears she had to shed for the brave captain had long since fallen.  “Aithon fell, as did hundreds of other brave ponies.  Not in vain, though it did not feel so at the time...”         A snarling face, mad with power, “If I go, I shall take them with me!  They are mine: my crystal ponies!”         Luna let out a slow breath, head bowing just a little.  Celestia eyed her a moment, then huffed and gave her sister a little nip on the ear, earning a startled yelp from the younger pony.         “Hey!”         “Don’t dwell on it,” Celestia said, a playful smile showing.  “It happened a very long time ago, even if it doesn’t seem that way for you.  The Empire has returned, and it is thriving and happy.  Remember that over all else.”         “So I’m not allowed to be melancholy over such tragedies?”         “Not while I am around, no.”         Luna huffed and rolled her eyes, growing sulky.  “You are impossible.”         “So I have been told, and often on a daily basis.”         A moment of silence, eventually broken by a little giggle.  A few seconds more and both ponies were laughing.         The galaxies turned, not caring about such trifling things.         “I suppose it is my fault for this,” said Luna eventually, after the two had calmed down.         “Mmn?”         “Yesterday, I had told Twilight a little about Konabos, after she had asked me of him.”         “Oh, that is not your fault; I was actually hoping she would.”                  “So she had said.  Had I known it would have sparked such awful dreams for you though, sister, I might have been more careful in choosing what I told her...”         “Would you like to know just what she asked me about, sister?”         “What do you mean?”         Celestia shifted her weight a little on the ethereal ground, settling with her belly touching the soft, ghostly grass, with Luna tucked in beside her, beneath her wing.  “You want to blame yourself or Twilight for my nightmare, but neither of you is to blame.         “Twilight simply asked me about that young pony, and I told her what I remembered: when he stole that Solar Cohort’s helmet, of the grand feast when he horrified that wretch Farsi.  I even told her about that one filly he had found feelings for; Late Rose, and how it was her love for flowers that turned him to gardening.         “The evening was spent remembering all those good things that I had sorely missed, sister.  I cannot thank Twilight enough, nor you for helping her understand just that little bit more about him.”         Luna felt the start of tears forming in her eyes, and she tried her best to stifle them, though she did feel one curl down her cheek.           “Truly,” Celestia continued, smiling softly and nuzzling the younger pony, “Thank you.”         They stayed that way for a time, simply appreciating the other’s embrace, but eventually Luna’s voice broke the stillness.  “I can do more for you, sister...”         “Mmn?”         “I can guide you, through your dreams.  You do not always have to watch the terror and the loss...”         “Those are a part of some of those memories, sister...”         “Yes, Tia... but you don’t always have to visit the pain.  I can help you.”         “How?”         Some incredibly evil little demon was tugging at her ear.         “Mother!”         “Mmn...”         “Get up!  You’re going to be late!”         “A princess is never late, young stallion, nor is she early: she rises precisely when she means to...”         “Uh huh...” The voice did not sound entirely convinced.  Celestia opened one bleary eye and peered suspiciously at her tormentor. He was small in stature, and maybe a bit pudgy, but his coat glittered like diamond dust in the soft light of the waning moon. He also made a noise something like a squeal when Celestia caught him with one languid leg and dragged him down into her warm bed, to be cuddled despite his feeble and half-hearted protestations. So the sun rose a little late that day; it didn't matter near so much as the smile on the little pony's face. ---