“Dresden, would you be a dear and pass me my knives?” Rarity asked as she wound two leather straps around her chest and forelegs.
“Huh? Oh, yeah sure,” I mumbled and directed my magic to seize Rarity’s diamond knives off a nearby crate and floated them over to her.
She grabbed the knives out off the air and began sliding them into the harness she just put on. “Thank you. Now if only we could do something about that dreadful racket,” She said with a disdainful glance down the hall to the balcony overlooking the barracks sparing room.
Rainbow Dash, along with three other pegasi scouts, had only been gone for about an hour, but in that short time, we had collected together a truly impressive number of fighters. These earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi were being funneled through the barracks in large groups so they could be geared and brought up to speed, as fast as possible. After these ponies were fully equipped and given a short rundown, Luna and Michael directed them into the castle courtyard, making room for the next group of soldiers.
I wasn’t entirely sure of our numbers, but Pinkie had really outdone herself in spreading word to every battle ready pony Canterlot had to offer. I looked down and shook my head in disbelief at my own pink embroidered invitation that had managed to work its way under the crack of my door.
You are invited to help Princess Luna!
The Princess is leaving to go help protect Equestria and rescue her sister. She needs your help to do this and will be very grateful to all of her helpers. Must be willing to wear some form of armor and use some form of weaponry.
RSVP at the Canterlot Castle barracks.
P.S. Princess Luna is not Nightmare Moon.
I sighed and diverted my attention back to Rarity, my ears twitching every now and then at the clang of metal from below. “Don’t complain. More noise means more soldiers, which means we’re less likely to be hugged to death by those super friendly vampires,” I pointed out, my voice practically dripping with sarcasm.
Rarity rolled her eyes and tossed her mane about as she settled her robe, “Oh by all means Mr. Dresden, please don’t sugarcoat it for us.”
A smirk played across my muzzle, “For the sake of my own nerves, as well as yours, I’ll stick with my version. It’s nicer and more optimistic.”
“I like optimistic,” Fluttershy muttered just as she finished fastening the last strap on her medic’s coat. “Optimistic feels more comfortable.”
Rarity rolled her eyes at us, but couldn’t quite hide the small smile at the corner of her mouth. Applejack stepped forward before Rarity could offer a response. She raised a heavily armored hoof and set her own pink invitation on the nearby crate I had just vacated of Rarity’s knives.
“Where is Pinkie anyway?” asked Applejack, one of her eyebrows disappearing underneath her ram horned helmet. “She still out rounding up ponies?”
I craned my head around and watched as a group of fifty or so soldiers marched out of the sparring room, only to immediately be replaced by another fifty. Luna stood tall in front of them and gave them the same informative speech she’d prepared for the others. The ponies all watched with expressions ranging from stern seriousness to mild nervousness.
“From the looks of things, I’d say she’s already gotten the word out to almost everypony she can,” I commented.
The door to Twilight’s room flew open as its owner hurriedly strode out of it, and over to sit with us at the end of the hall nearest the sparring chamber. She was already garbed in her deep purple overcoat and levitated a small spell book in front of her face. Her eyes were darting across her book and she frowned deeply, clearly trying to process whatever she was reading.
“Pinkie’s probably on her way now,” Twilight muttered absentmindedly. “How long do you think until Rainbow gets back?”
“I don’t know, but we’re ready when she does,” called a familiar voice from the stairs at the opposite end of the hallway.
Feeling a smile stretch across my features, I turned on the spot to face the stairs. Michael, Silent Night, and Pinkie Pie were calmly strolling over towards the remainder of my team and I. Upon making eye contact with her friends, Pinkie bounced over and embraced the four present in a big hug, albeit with a little less energy than her usual level of pep. Michael gave me a solemn, yet reassuring smile and strode over to clap a hoof on my back.
Silent stood a few feet apart from the group, looking at us with a certain amount of amusement. “Like I was saying, the Princess is wrapping up speaking with the last few groups now. This one,” Silent said with a nod towards Pinkie, “managed to get one of her invitations into the hooves of just about every fit pony in Canterlot.”
His vagueness wasn’t missed on me. I shot Michael a sidelong glance and quirked an eyebrow in a silent question. He got my meaning at once.
“We have around a thousand armed and armored ponies at our disposal,” Michael said in a deep carrying voice. Both of my eyebrows battled for real-estate as they shot up into my mane. I couldn’t quite believe the Canterlot had that many soldiers ready to go at a moment’s notice. Noticing the shocked expression on my face, Michael’s expression changed somewhat to a slight distaste as his tone likewise shifted, “The vast majority of these are trained soldiers and guards, but there are several barely trained recruits and even a couple of civilian volunteers scattered among the ranks.”
That news disturbed me. Given the circumstances, I had no issues using trained military to help fight the Red King. The soldiers were prepared for battle and all the risks it entailed, and the Red King was just too damned powerful to challenge any other way. What I didn’t like was putting those without the necessary experience, in danger. An untrained recruit, or a civilian, adds an element of risk to any combat scenario. Would they manage to keep a cool, level head and do what they were assigned, or would they freak out and head for the hills at the first look at a vampire’s claws? There was really only one way to find out, and I didn’t like the potential consequences it could have.
I peered around at Pinkie and shot her a scrutinizing glare. Pinkie noted my gaze and released her friends from the imprisoning hug that she had held them in since she arrived, her armor or interconnecting plates clinked as she did so. “I needed to invite them, Harry,” she deadpanned as though that had been the obvious thing to do. “If they didn’t come, then something really bad would happen. I just know it.”
Well… damn.
There wasn’t much I could say to that. Pinkie’s reassurances didn’t make me like using civilians any more, but her loosely controlled ability to detect the near future meant she probably had a better idea of what we needed than I did. I’d be an idiot to casually dismiss Pinkie’s input, however broken, disjointed, and ill-defined it was.
“As comforting as that is,” Silent noted, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm, “I’ve already spoken with the different captains and even Princess Luna on the subject. We’ve agreed that the less trained ponies will be assigned to more passive rolls, carrying a few extra supplies, extracting wounded soldiers, that sort of thing.”
“Thank you, I’d rather not have to worry about too many innocent being harmed,” Michael said with a bright smile for the battle scarred pegasus scout. His gaze then shifted back to me and he took a small step back for a more casual talk, taking great care that the portion of Amoracchius sticking up out of its sheath didn’t accidentally stab anypony. “But he was correct, Harry. The last of the ponies are being armored up as we speak, and we’ll be ready to march immediately after. All we need is a destination.”
I opened my maw to finally get a word in, but was immediately cut off by the pink party mare. “Don’t you worry about that!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Dashie will be back any second now, just you wait. Then we can show that meanie Red King what for!”
Did she just use baby talk to describe, what will likely be, a very bloody battle?
As though summoned by Pinkie’s supernatural amount of energy and cheerfulness, several loud clunks resounded from the distant patio/landing zone that lay just around the corner at the absolute end of the hallway. Several more similar clangs sounded as, what sounded like several ponies, charged down the hallway towards the stairs. Within seconds four pegasi, all wearing a combination of thick linen and chainmail, came within sight of us and paused in their mad gallop to see who we were.
One particular cyan coated pegasus mare took several steps forward and placed the small metal framework she held in her mouth onto the floor. The little vial of blood hanging in the middle of the frame swung wildly as she did so. “Oh thank Celestia, it’s good to see you guys,” Rainbow Dash cried out, her breath was ragged with exertion. “I think we may have our work cut out for us.”
“Did you find where Celestia is?” I asked immediately.
Rainbow nodded her head vigorously and craned around to pull a rolled up map from the saddlebag on her back. Rainbow moved forward to spread the map out on the small crate we were crowded around, and began smoothing it out.
Michael turned to peer at the three pegasi that were left standing without anything to do. “Head downstairs and tell Luna of your return, arm yourselves with whatever you need for battle, then find your assigned units out in the castle courtyard.”
The pegasi scouts snapped to attention as they each saluted Michael, turned on the spot, and vanished down the nearby stairs. Twilight levitated over a pencil, which Rainbow seized in her teeth just after she finished spreading out her map of Equestria and ensured it wouldn’t it roll closed on her. Just as Rainbow was about to set pencil to paper, a surge of energy flooded over my senses, and a bright flash of dark blue light permeated the hallway. Princess Luna appeared out of her teleportation spell and spun around until her eyes landed on us.
“Rainbow Dash, you have returned!” Luna exclaimed and hurried to stand next to, and over, us. Luna’s wide hopeful eyes never lost track of the rainbow maned pegasus, or the pencil that was frozen in the air over the map. “Did you find her? Did you find my sister?”
“Mhmm,” was Rainbow’s reply through the pencil.
She leaned her head down and drew a small circle off to the side of the map. After she drew away I could see that the circle was around a small structure located a couple of miles in the woods further back from Life Drinker’s lab. It was extremely out of the way and surrounded by very thick woods on all sides, but if the map was accurate, there was a sizeable clearing directly in front of the structure in question.
“Oh, how cruel fate can be,” Luna whispered once she got a good look at the location Rainbow had indicated. Luna’s expression became withdrawn and seemed to be at war with itself over trying so show fury or sorrow, and settled on a little of both.
I quirked an eyebrow at the demigod, “You know what this place is?”
Instead of Luna, Twilight stepped forward and peered at the map, her eyes unfocused as she struggled to remember some fact. “I think I know this,” Twilight muttered and cast an uncertain look up at the princess. “Isn’t that…?”
“Yes,” Luna finished with a nod of her head. “That is the shrine to Nightmare Moon.”
“What?” everypony present, except Twilight, shouted at Luna.
Twilight made a hushing gesture with her forelegs at us before visibly switching into lecture mode. “I read about it in a few of my old history books. After Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon, several of her supporters were still in Equestria.”
“Whether they were compelled by my mental magic or if they held genuine desire to follow my example, I’m not sure. But after my banishment, several ponies banded together and acted against Celestia, calling her a tyrannical dictator. They named themselves the Lunar Republic, and they didn’t last too long without Nightmare Moon to guide them.” Luna hung her head in shame. “That shrine was the site of my betrayal to Celestia, the spot where I refused to lower my moon.”
“It’s fitting I suppose, using Nightmare Moon’s symbol to dampen Celestia’s spirit even more,” I muttered aloud. Everypony gave me varying looks of irritation at that comment. “Well if you’re going to do the whole evil bastard thing, you might as well be thorough.”
“That’s not it, Princess,” Rainbow Dash cut in. “We did a few circles over the area just to be sure, and we saw a bit of movement. We didn’t specifically see any vampires, but a lot of the trees around the clearing there were rustling around. There’s got to be a lot of somethings moving around in there.” Rainbow shifted her hoof to point at the forest between us and the shrine. “But the weird thing is, even though we saw movement around this shrine thing, we couldn’t see anything in any of the other parts of the forest.”
I chewed on my lower lip as I considered that one for a moment. “Of course they’re not running around, they don’t need to,” I automatically spouted as a brainwave hit me. “They already have what they were after.”
“This doesn’t matter. We have the strength we need to challenge him, and we have our destination. We will march and Equestria will finally be rid of this evil.” said Michael, ever the confident warrior. I sometimes had to wonder if Michael’s “job” gave him a false sense of security. Michael and Silent simultaneously moved towards the stairs leading down, “We’ll give the order to march immediately, Ma’am.”
“Please do,” Luna responded. “We’ll meet up with you en route. There are a few things we still need to grab here.”
Luna watched as the two heavily armored ponies descended the stairs and began barking orders. Shortly after, the sound of several stomping hooves could be heard moving around below us. The princess peered around at us over her back and silently motioned her hoof for us to follow her, heaving a short sigh as she did so. My team and I all shared a quick glance between each other before we simultaneously rose from our respective seats and followed after Luna. We silently trotted down the hallway until the eight of us stood on the same balcony that Rainbow landed on in the first place.
The view was something I’m pretty sure I never would’ve even dreamed of, much less seen back in my world. Huge numbers of ponies in varying levels of armor were organizing into ordered groups and began marching in large squares out of the castle’s gates. Groups of between fifty to a hundred armored ponies marched from the main gates and headed for Canterlot’s central street. Aside from the copious amount of razor tipped spears hanging above their heads, each group flew several brightly colored flags that bore Equestria’s symbol of the royal sisters on them. Far above all our heads, several of the military’s pegasi flew in holding patterns over the soldiers. While there were many pegasi in the air, I could see that the majority of them were marching on the ground with the others, conserving their energy for later.
“As much as I detest what we are about to do,” Luna murmured as we looked over the impressive sight of her army, “I cannot deny that this is an awe-inspiring sight. I sometimes forget what Equestria is capable of, if pushed to our breaking point.”
“That’s one thing we share at least,” I commented dryly. Luna gave me a sidelong glance with a single raised eyebrow. “The inhabitants of my world are capable of a lot of things if pushed too far as well, and most of them aren’t good.” I looked past the city into the twinkling night sky, “The only difference is you’re just finding your breaking point after such a long peace, my world’s practically been living on that point for most of my adult life.”
Twilight stepped up beside me and brushed her side against mine, “Well then let’s do what we have to, to get our peace back. Then maybe you can find what a calmer life can be like.”
“Indeed,” Luna said, drawing our attention back to her. She turned around and peered sternly over us all. “This whole thing has escalated well beyond anything I’ve expected, and well beyond anything you’ve been exposed too.” I had the distinct impression that last comment was directed more at Twilight and her friends, instead of me. “Please, just remain strong for a little while longer.”
“Of course, Princess,” Applejack said immediately. “Celestia needs us. For everything she’s done to lead us and teach us, the least we can do is help her when she needs us most.” The others immediately began nodding and mumbled their approval with Applejack’s words.
Upon seeing this, Luna’s stern mask cracked and a weary smile spread across her face. “Thank you, thank you all very much,” she muttered, her eyes actually beginning to water a bit. She paused to wipe at her face with a foreleg and reassert some self-control. “Now, I’m sure you all have a few last minute supplies to grab, and I advise that you do so.” Luna’s wings flared out around her and lifted her into the air as she swung them down. “I need to don my own equipment. Meet me on this balcony in ten minutes and I’ll teleport us all to meet with Mr. Carpenter immediately after,” she said as she hovered about a foot over our heads.
Luna turned in the sky and streaked off, rounding around one of the castle’s many towers and out of sight. In the awkward silence that followed, I shifted and sat on my haunches at the balcony’s edge. I nervously began fidgeting with my thick brown overcoat, reassuring myself that all the connections were in place and it wouldn’t slip off. Once I had done that, my hoof found its way over my mother’s silver pentacle amulet, and I just held it for a moment while I stared out over the orders of ponies that were still marching out of the city.
In the middle of a fight or some other kind of conflict, I had always been able to take my adrenaline and use it to keep my brain on task, but it’s a different story out of combat. In the time immediately before or after a conflict, my nerves usually get the better of me and I have to fight to keep my heart from beating into my throat. After a fight, I just have to pull myself together until the excess adrenaline drains from my system. If I have time to anticipate the danger, that adrenaline just keeps building and refuses to leave me alone. As I looked down over the several rows of armored ponies, I could feel adrenaline beginning to flood into me and demand my immediate action to a problem that hadn’t occurred yet.
“You okay?” asked Twilight, who just moved forward to sit opposite me on the balcony.
I snapped out of my haze and took stock of my surroundings again. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had each found a seat near the arch leading back into the castle, and were busy checking over their equipment. Pinkie’s teeth were busily pulling at a loose buckle somewhere on the harness for Applejack’s heavy barding. Further down the hall, Rainbow, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all heading back to their respective rooms, presumably to get some last minute supplies.
“I’m fine,” I muttered back, and offered a small grin to help alleviate her worries. “The stress is just starting to wear on me, that’s all. It’s nothing I haven’t been through before.”
Twilight gave me a warm smile and nudged against me slightly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will turn out alright.” Her horn glowed as she picked something up out of a pocket from her overcoat, and levitated it over to me. “Here, you left this in the library. I figured you were going to want it back.”
I smirked as I realized I had forgotten the one piece of equipment my horn hadn’t replaced. I took my silver and ruby banded shield charm from Twilight’s telekinetic grip and slipped it over the end of my horn.
“Thanks,” I said while using a hoof to tap it down into a snug fit on my horn. “I need to make a shield charm that’s a bit more comfortable to wear.” A small chuckle came to me as I tried to think of something to diffuse my tension. “Hey Twilight, I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen Luna in any kind of armor before?”
Twilight smiled and leaned back on her haunches, “No I haven’t. I don’t think she’s been in any kind of real combat since her banishment.”
I chuckled as I tried to imagine Luna’s possible equipment. “If she’s anything like her sister, she’ll probably wear something unnecessarily flashy, like that golden armor you could see from space.”
We just sat there and laughed together at Luna’s expense for a few minutes. I wouldn’t have ever dared say that in front of the demigod herself, but with all that was going on, I needed something to laugh at, and I think Twilight did too. Besides, I dare you to find a tactical advantage of golden armor over good old-fashioned plated steel.
I consider myself a very lucky man that Luna didn’t overhear what I said about her sister’s armor.
As we marched through a much looser collection of trees than the ones leading to the Life Drinker’s lab, I got a good view of what the Moon Goddess saw fit to wear into battle. Over almost every part of her body, Luna wore what looked like sculpted sheets of darkened ice. Her back, neck, head, all four legs, and even the bony edge of her wings were all covered in a thick sheet of ice that conformed to her body. Whereas Celestia’s armor of choice was exceedingly bright, much like her coat, Luna’s ice seemed to blend in with her fur, and even her surroundings to some degree. If I angled my head just right, and took great care to not be noticed looking up from beneath her lest awkward things be said, it’d be extremely difficult to pinpoint the outline separating her body from the night sky. I wasn’t sure about the protection capabilities of compacted ice, but if that armor was created and maintained through her magic, then I doubted it’d be likely to break anytime soon. Not only that, but Luna practically radiated cold energy. The very air around her was cold enough that I could see my breath turning to fog as it escaped my muzzle.
Luna marched a few feet in front of us with a confident stride that somehow never caused her armor pieces to clink together. I leaned my head down to Twilight, who was marching right next to me, and whispered into her ear, “Just so we’re clear, you did ‘cure’ Nightmare Moon right?”
“I assure you, I am no longer afflicted by that madness,” Luna said without turning her head around. “My coat would be much darker if I was, and you’d likely be dead or imprisoned somewhere.”
Twilight said nothing instead she rolled her eyes at me as I clamped my mouth shut. Damn, good ears.
Michael walked next to Luna, his eyes scanning the surrounding trees for any signs of hostile movement. Amoracchius, sitting on his side in its sheath, gave off a faint glow, offering us a much needed light source in the dark of the forest. The rest of my group, even Rainbow, all marched on the ground around Twilight and I. The nine of us formed a fairly broad circle with Luna and Michael in the lead, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow on the sides, Rarity and Fluttershy in the rear, and with Twilight and I in the center.
All around us marched the complete force of military prowess that Canterlot had to offer. On either side of our circle, and for a few hundred feet behind us, large numbers of ponies marched in tightly packed squares. The most heavily armored ponies made up the borders of the squares, their spear tips waving slightly above them and their gleaming armor on proud display. The centers of the squares were made up of the lighter armored ponies. Several crossbow armed pegasi in lightweight gear and medics kept pace behind their personal walls of Equestrian steel.
The trees we marched through were thin enough that the soldiers and volunteers could move ahead with little difficulty, and only had to break formation to maneuver around the occasional large bundle of trees. As thinly occupied as the ground was, the treetops above branched out impossibly wide and obscured most of the night sky.
“Ma’am,” Michael spoke up. His ears twitched at every sound they picked up, and his eyes were more focused on the treetops than the path he walked. “I feel an… unease. I believe we are being watched.”
Luna’s body immediately tensed and her eyes shifted around the treetops above us. “I’d be surprised if they haven’t been watching us since the moment we set hoof in these trees,” she muttered aloud, her horn began glowing as she charged some spell. “We are getting close to our destination though.” Luna’s gaze shifted from the treetops back down to Twilight and the her friends, “Bearers of the Elements, I believe it is past time for you all to earn that title again.”
Luna’s horn flashed a bright blue as a surge of similar magic coalesced in the air in front of her. In the blink of an eye, and with a second flash of blue light, five golden jeweled amulets and one ornate tiara popped into existence in front of Luna. The sudden appearance of the jewelry immediately drew the eyes of Twilight, her friends, and more than a few of the soldiers around us.
“The Elements of Harmony!” exclaimed Rarity, her mouth practically drooling as she looked at the ornate jewelry. “I was hoping we would get to use these again.”
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the floating amulets and tiara held jewels that matched the different colors and shapes of the cutie marks of the mares around me. Aside from the obvious visual connection, those ‘Elements’ radiated extremely powerful energy that drew my attention like a fly to honey. Most every kind of potent magic or magical artifact I’d ever come in close contact with, felt like I was standing next to extremely powerful live wires; the hairs on my body would stand on end and I’d be acutely aware of how close to potential pain I was. These ‘Elements’ gave me that same feeling of being near powerful magic, but delivered it in a way I hadn’t really encountered very often. The jewelry radiated warmth and calmness to everything around them, much in the same way Michael and Amoracchius did. I could actually feel the apprehension for the coming battle easing away just by being near them. They did indeed match the description of what I knew about the Elements of Harmony.
“I’m unsure as to specifically how the Elements will react to these creatures, but now is not the time for half measures,” Luna said as the Elements floated over to their respective owners.
Twilight smiled as the tiara hovered in front of her face, “Thank you, Princess. This will definitely give us the edge we need.”
As the tiara and the necklaces neared their respective owners, several warning bells started going off in the back of my head. Something about the base nature of the Elements of Harmony, how they’re meant to be used, and the situation we were in just didn’t sit right with me. When in doubt, always listen to your gut.
“Wait!” I shouted before any of the Bearers could properly put on their Elements. They paused in their motions and each gave me confused looks, though not pausing in their marching. Luna and Michael shot me perplexed looks as well, Luna’s magical grip still firmly around the Elements. I ignored them all and scrunched my nose as I tried to figure out why my instincts were yelling at me.
“Harry, what is it?” Fluttershy squeaked from behind me.
I didn’t answer immediately, choosing instead to shoot Twilight a quick glance before I spoke. “These Elements, after you use them, there’s a nasty cool down period right?”
“Uh, well yeah,” Twilight said matter-of-factly. “You don’t just get to channel as much energy as the Elements of Harmony have, without some kind of backlash. If we were to use them repeatedly, without at least a couple of hours break, then our bodies would become severely damaged.”
Applejack craned her head around to peer at us over her back, “Really? The Elements of Harmony could actually hurt us, even if we’re using them against somepony like the Red King?”
Twilight hesitantly nodded her head, “Yes they can, but only if we use them incorrectly. Their base purpose is to dispel darkness with harmony, but power is still power, and our bodies can only handle so much in a short amount of time.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard, we’ve done it before with Nightmare Moon and Discord,” Rainbow chided, still casting her eyes around above us. “We just need to make sure we hit him the first time.”
“No,” I interrupted. “You are not using them at all.” I ignored the collective shocked glares of the various mares and shifted my gaze until I was looking up intently at one of the original Bearers of the Elements. “Luna, do you think you could you use the Elements?”
Rainbow actually pivoted around mid-step and butted her head against mine. “Her!? Why her? We’re the Bearers of the Elements, not Luna.”
“Ms. Dash, please,” Luna said, gesturing at Rainbow to calm down. Rainbow grunted at me and reluctantly backed off. “As blunt as she was, Ms. Dash is correct. I am not connected to the Elements in the same way as the Bearers are, and truth be told, Celestia and I never really were. The Elements require six friends that exhibit the individual traits the Elements represent,” Luna explained while ducking her head under a particularly low hanging tree branch. “Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to use them to their full potential.”
“But can you use them?” I pressed on. “Can you get nothing from them at all?”
Luna hesitated and frowned, clearly lost in thought. “In theory, I could,” she muttered after several moments. “After all, my sister used them all in order to gain the power necessary to fight Nightmare Moon. I could do the same thing and wield the Elements against the Red King, but at best I’d get a boost in my power reserves instead of unlocking their full potential.”
“So why would you want her to use them?” Rarity piped up. “If we use them, we can end this whole mess much faster.”
I shook my head violently in response, “No, if you use them, you’ll be targeted and killed or captured long before you manage to pose a significant threat.” A long silence followed my statement where all six of the Bearers, and even Luna stopped marching to stare perplexed at me. I sighed before I started explaining myself. “From what you’ve told me before, the Elements of Harmony are widely known and respected icons, if not because of the princesses then because of you six,” I said with a sweeping gesture at my team. “There’s no way the Red King hasn’t heard about them and their power. If you go into a fight with one of the Elements, then you’re painting a massive target on yourself. I’d bet good money that the Red King told his vampires to focus on anypony seen wearing one of the Elements.”
Twilight and her friends exchanged several uncertain glances at that. Luna frowned at me and drew the Elements a little closer to her, her eyes danced around in her head as she tried to find a flaw with my logic. As we just stood there gawking at each other, Michael and the rest of our considerable force pressed on without us. The different lines of soldiers sidestepped around us as they marched by, giving the eight of us a wide birth.
“Do you really think so?” Twilight broke the silence. “Do you really think the Red King would use the Elements against us?” Twilight, and most of her friends for that matter, bore expressions that suggested they couldn’t quite believe the Elements of Harmony could be used to endanger those they were supposed to protect.
I inhaled through clenched teeth and nodded, “Yes, because it’s what I’d do.” Several of the mares gave me odd looks with more than a few quirked eyebrows.
“And if the Red King got a hold one or more of the Elements, he might not even need Celestia,” Twilight muttered, her face becoming increasingly distraught. “Depending on how his draining spell works, he might be able to just absorb the Elements’ power without the need to break a conscious mind.”
Twilight sighed and shook her head, “I hate to admit it, but he’s right. We’re too vulnerable to risk that happening.”
“You are,” Luna interjected, “but I’m a significantly harder target to take.”
I nodded furiously at Luna, “Exactly. If Luna has the Elements, it’ll draw attention away from us, and will still enable us to have their power in play.”
“Anypony ever tell you, that working with you is tough on the nerves?” Applejack said with a slight chuckle.
I grinned widely, “It has been said before, yes.”
“Well what are we all waiting around here for?” Pinkie chirped, bouncing in place as she spoke. “Let’s get going! The other ponies are leaving us behind!”
At those words, I was brought back to the reality of where we were standing and realized that almost two thirds of our marching force had passed by us. All of the mares, besides Pinkie, gave surprised starts when they too realized this, and immediately rushed to make their way back to the front of the column. I made to follow after the retreating bushel of deep purple that was Twilight’s tail, but was stopped by a midnight blue hoof covered in a thick layer of black ice.
“Dresden, I would have a word with you,” Luna said in an authoritative tone, but took care to prevent it from being a direct command.
Twilight noticed I wasn’t following and turned a confused eye back towards me. I waved a hoof and motioned for her to continue on. She did, albeit unwillingly, turn her back to me and rejoined her friends.
Luna’s eyes tracked Twilight as she raced past her soldiers, and sighed heavily once Twilight was out of easy earshot. “Dresden, the magnitude of what we are about to do is unlike anything Equestria has faced before.”
Luna turned her gaze down over me; her piercing eyes and intimidating presence practically cemented my hooves into the forest floor. At that moment, I was uncomfortably reminded that the being before me was an age old immortal that had power to seriously threaten most of the nastier things I’ve come across.
“With what is at risk here, I… I must put the continued safety of my little ponies before all else,” she said, her voice failing her for a brief moment. “The Red King cannot win, Dresden. Whatever else happens, he cannot win. That is why I have decided, that if he proves too powerful and we fail, then I must take even more drastic measures. I will invoke my, as you call it, Death Curse.”
My jaw abruptly tried to tunnel its way down to the planet’s core. I just couldn’t quite believe I had heard those words come out of the princess’s mouth, not only because I didn’t want to envision an Equestria without Luna, but also because I had a hard time comprehending the sheer amount of raw destructive power she’d proposed. When any magic user uses their Death Curse, it allows to the wizard in question to tap into power that magnifies their abilities several times over; but the kind of power Luna might be able to bring to bear, was truly frightening to consider.
I’m no pushover when it comes to pure magical muscle. Several years of beating back, or at least surviving, multiple very nasty things trying to tear me to bloody little pieces have given me a lot of experience in combat magic. That, on top of a natural deep well of energy, means that I am very good at making things that try to threaten me, die. If I were to take my natural reserves of energy, my experience, and then amplify that with my Death Curse into a single massive blast, the resulting burst of magic would probably be enough to level multiple city blocks.
Luna was on a different level entirely. As a demigod, Luna’s power was, quite literally, indefinable. She had the power and skills necessary to cause a physical transformation that gave night vision to the entirety of Canterlot, and hold that transformation for several long minutes. If Luna chose to use her life to amplify the powers of a demigod even further, then she could probably make Celestia’s second sun look like a little firecracker. With that power at her disposal, the Red King would certainly be eradicated, no matter what defenses he’d made; although, there’d likely be no way to control that much energy either. If she was forced into that action, not only would Luna and the Red King die, but so would Twilight, Michael, the rest of the Bearers, and pretty much every single living thing for several miles. Luna’s Death Curse was her failsafe plan.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, my voice wavering slightly at the prospect that my life could be ended by my allies just as easily as my enemies.
Luna leaned forward a little and lowered her voice so that she was a little hard to make out over the sound of the thundering hooves all around us, “Because you need to understand what’s at risk. The Bearers may have fought and drawn blood, but they‘re still new to all of this. Don’t forget who watched over you after you collapsed in the middle of a class. I’ve seen inside your mind, Dresden. You’ve been fighting for most of your life, and are at your most ferocious when at your most desperate. I need all of my ponies to fight with every bit of ferocity they have.” Luna’s eyes narrowed until it looked as though she were glaring at me with an intense fury, “One way or another, this all ends tonight.”
“Princess!” shouted a gruff male voice from somewhere above us. As one, Luna and I pivoted to face a lightly armored pegasus scout that was rushing towards us over the heads of the marching ponies. “Princess, Commander, we’ve reached the clearing in front of Nightmare Moon’s shrine.”
“Thank you, scout. You may return to your post,” Luna responded. The pegasus nodded and immediately soared off to the front of the column, leaving behind a few dark brown feathers in his wake. “You should return to the front as well. Your friends will be wanting your presence very soon.” The Elements of Harmony, which Luna was still holding in her magical grip, floated over to her as she started to put them on. The five amulets fell awkwardly over each other around her neck, and the tiara fitted itself just behind Luna’s horn. “I’ll take to the sky and give you all as much protection as my powers, and the Elements, will allow. The majority of the fighting should come down to the main body of our force. Steel yourself, Dresden.”
With that said, Luna flared her wings out above her, and brought them down hard. A massive rush of wind signaled her departure, and she was suddenly in the sky above the soldiers before I could get in another word. Immediately after she hit the open air, a couple dozen dark colored pegasi leapt from scattered positions amongst the soldiers, and moved to hover all around the princess. Luna’s personal guard were garbed in much darker colored armor than their standard military counterparts. It was very fitting, considering that their lighter barding allowed them a freer range of movement and could easily allow them to adopt stealth tactics if they needed too.
I sighed, pivoted around on the spot, and galloped madly towards the front of our group. Several armored ponies shot me questioning looks as I rushed past them. Shortly after beginning my gallop, the trees thinned and eventually faded away entirely, and I was suddenly faced with several hundred meters worth of flat grassland. For whatever reason, my immediate instinctive reaction was to note that this was amazing grazing land, with long and lush fields of clean grass. I fought back that slightly disturbing urge and forced myself to focus more on the coming hours, and less on the fact that my stomach was starting to grumble.
The edges of the clearing were difficult to make out in the dark of the night, only the trees I had just come from were easily identifiable. I ignored all that and continued moving forward. In short order, I was once again standing amongst my friends, with Twilight at my side, and Michael and the rest of the Bearers forming a protective ring around us.
“You were talking with Princess Luna for a while. What’d she want?” Twilight asked tentatively.
“Uh…” I bit my lip as I hesitated for a brief moment. “Let’s call it a motivational speech.”
“Really?” Applejack piped up, peering around her shoulder as she did so. “No offense to the princess, but Luna never really struck me as a motivational speaker.”
No argument here.
“The p-princess is nervous?” Fluttershy squeaked. “B-but if she’s scared, then... then...”
“Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy,” Pinkie chirped, her armor clanking only slightly as she bounced along. “Your old Auntie Pinkie won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“Well said, Ms. Pie,” Michael chuckled, his smile actually reaching far enough on the side of his head, that I could see it without him needing to look around. “So long as you remain vigilant, good will always find a way to overcome.”
“As comforting as your endless supplies of benediction are, shouldn’t we be focusing more on the impending violence?” I commented with a small smirk.
“The ‘impending violence’ may be a bit sooner than you think. Look.” Rainbow squinted off into the distance and pointed a hoof ahead of her.
We each followed where her hoof was pointing, and tried to focus on the darkness at the edge of our vision. After squinting my eyes, I could barely make out the vague outlines of five ponies in the distance; any distinguishing markings were lost in the shadows. Silence swept over us as we slowed our brisk marching pace down to a slow trot, and then we stopped entirely.
Michael, Applejack, and Pinkie stood in a line nearest the vague shapes that had begun to move out of the shadows. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight and I stood in a small semicircle behind them and shot hate filled glares forward; well, everypony except Fluttershy anyway. On either side of us, and coming up behind us, scores upon scores of gruff armed and armored ponies marched and fell in formation, coming to a stop even with Michael. Just from my peripheral vision, I could see several hundred weapons being readied for what was to come. Spears were pointed ahead, short swords were drawn, crossbows were being loaded, and they all gleamed with a razor’s edge.
“I’m glad to see you received our master’s invitation. Personally, I had my doubts and thought that Luna wouldn’t be looking hard enough, but I guess I was wrong,” cried an extremely raspy voice that originated from the forms ahead. Its owner stepped forward and into easy view, revealing the black leathery skin and white pointed teeth of a Red Court vampire. “You brought quite the entourage, but I’m afraid your proper king is only accepting one guest at a time for the moment.”
“Release Celestia, vampire,” Michael shouted back, his voice becoming the very deep and threatening baritone that was almost the polar opposite of his usual jovial manner. “Release her, and surrender yourselves to the princesses. Enough blood has been spilled, and we do not want anymore to be shed.”
The speaking vampire’s smile grew very wide, showing off nearly every one of his pointed teeth. “Tempting, but no thank you. I don’t really feel like going back to serving under those two ‘princesses’ again. They’re too… weak, for my tastes.”
Several low growls emanated from various soldiers all around us, and more bits of Equestrian steel glinted in the moonlight. “Do not mistake mercy for weakness, Chuckles,” I shouted from behind Michael. “We’re more than happy to take her back over your burning corpses.”
The vampire raised a single claw and waved it back and forth in an almost joking manner, “I’d advise against that.”
As he spoke, several other dark forms stepped out of the shadows to reveal themselves. Several shapes solidified and emerged from the shadows in front of us, and from the trees around us. Countless vampires began streaming out of the trees on the edges of the clearing to either side. Pointed white teeth and glistening black eyes advanced on us from three different angles, and stopped a couple of hundred feet away. A veritable sea of nasty had us covered from our front and sides.
Typical predator tactics, if they’re not sneaking around to try and slit our throats, they appear as big and as scary as possible. I craned my head around to look back at my own flood of thick Equestrian steel that was still pouring out of the forest we had come from. Above us, I dimly noted a thick cloud of impenetrable shadows. I could feel an immense and familiar power emanating from that cloud. I don’t care how intimidating the vampires think they are, I’ve got a literal immortal watching over me. Even if this does go south, it’ll be one hell of show.
The vampire that had been speaking thus far took several more steps forward, “I’ll repeat myself for the sake of the slow. We will not surrender, and you may not take our property. You are welcome to negotiate with your king, however. Maybe he will listen to his subjects’ pleas.” He somehow managed to smile even wider. “One at a time, please.”
Wow… That’s such a trap, it’s not even a trap. I think I’m going to enjoy bucking that smug smile off his face.
Evidently Twilight was thinking along those same lines. “You honestly believe we’d let you sacrifice us to your master?” she shouted from beside me.
“You can step aside and give us Princess Celestia back, or we can take her from you,” Rainbow Dash added, her wings began beating the air as she was lifted off the ground.
“Then we are at an impasse.” The vampire turned his attention towards the ponies immediately behind us, and raised his voice so that he could be easily heard by all of them. “Unless you’ve come to pledge yourself, and become subservient to your king, then I’m afraid your lives are forfeit and will become little more than food. What is your answer?”
Normally, there’s no way I’d miss such an easy opportunity, but Michael beat me to the proverbial punch, with as much fanfare as the holy knight could muster.
Michael stomped a hoof into the ground and snarled at the encircling vampires. “Enough! I will not allow this farce to continue any further!” Michael took several steps forward, putting him solidly at the front of our army. Across his back, Amoracchius began to glow with a pale white light. “You are demons, corrupters and defilers of innocence! You are pretenders of power and followers of a false God, and a tyrant king!” Amoracchius pulsed with more and more light, the more he spoke. The exposed half of Amoracchius pointed threateningly at the vampires before him. “If you refuse to seek penance, then you will receive retribution. On this night, you will answer for your sins. Now face Judgment Almighty!”
Michael craned his head back and seized Amoracchius. The moment his teeth clamped on that handle, the dull glowing light that had been steadily growing, practically exploded outward. The vampires howled in pain and rage as the beacon of light that was Michael charged forward, intent on every form of mayhem his holy weapon was capable of.
Immediately behind him, were the thundering hooves of almost a thousand armed and very angry ponies, myself included. If a small earthquake were to happen, I don’t think we would’ve noticed. The rhythmic pounding of so many hooves was enough to create a shockwave that shook the very trees at the edge of the clearing.
Scores of pegasi leapt into the air above us, darkening the night sky even further with their large wings. Rainbow abruptly disappeared from our side as she joined the other pegasi in the sky. The air immediately in front of, and around the ponies nearest the vampires began to shimmer and coalesce into large planes of transparent energy of varying colors. I dimly noted that several of the unicorns around us, had their horns ignited as they either maintained their shields, or readied a magical attack.
Time seemed to slow as we charged forward, and the vampires did the same, after shaking off the initial shock Michael caused anyway. In the adrenaline infused rush, I could almost count every hair on Applejack’s tail right in front of me. Beyond her, I watched, in great detail, the vampires as they moved toward us. Long sharp claws dug deep furrows in the ground below them. Large bat like wing stretched out above them, and several vampire pegasi launched themselves into the air when those wings came down.
I bellowed a feral battle cry that was lost among all the others around me, and readied my own magic strike. Beside me, Twilight did the exact same. Her eyes flashed with an intense anger and the air around her thrummed with powerful energy. Her mouth hung open in a roar of challenge as she galloped towards the creatures responsible for her parents’ death.
In mere moments, Michael’s blade made contact with the lead speaking vampire, and sliced almost clean through it. The vampire shrieked as it fell thrashing to the ground, silver-white fire spreading from the points of contact with Amoracchius. I felt a brief pang of jealousy at not being the one to permanently wipe that smile off his face. That feeling was completely forgotten as the fallen vampire’s comrades merely leapt over him, to get at us. Less than a second later, the main body of the Equestrian military collided with the Red Court vampires, and all hell broke loose.