//------------------------------// // Chapter Twelve: A Painful Past // Story: Battle Ready // by D101 Reviews //------------------------------// Chapter Twelve: A painful Past "You're the Prince of Warhorse?" Twilight repeated, shocked. "Aye," Battle said quietly. Twilight blanched before she began to gush incoherently: "Okay when I said you were charming I meant in kind of a big brother way it's not like I actually have a crush on you or anyth-" "Twilight. It's cool," Battle said, resting a hand on her knee, smiling gently. Twilight blushed. Battle's smiled broadened. "S-so," Twilight stammered. "Why are you in Equestria?" Battle's expression darkened slightly at this as he looked back at the sky. He seemed to be wrestling with some internal debate. "You said you'd answer my questions," Twilight pressed. "I did didn't I?" Battle sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and grimaced. "Shame Twilight. That's what brought me here. I was ashamed to consider myself a prince... no, I am ashamed to consider myself a warrior, let alone a prince." "What happened?" Twilight asked. "I lost Twilight," Battle said quietly. "You said yourself the eldest child of the King is treated as Commander of his armies. I was my father's Commander. It was my duty to lead his armies into war." He hung his head low. "And I lost. We lost. So what if our enemy was defeated? It was no victory. I could barely look at my subjects after that out of my own shame." "Battle, explain to me what happened," Twilight demanded. "You're not making any sense." Battle sucked in a deep breath and raised his head. "I'll start at the beginning," Battle said quietly. "So allow me to tell you a story." "You said you'd tell me what happened," Twilight reminded. "I will," Battle said. "But for you to understand fully Twilight... I have to start right at the beginning. So, I'm going to have to ask you don't interrupt me. Until after I explain things to you." Twilight nodded slowly, moving so as to get comfortable. She had always enjoyed being read a story ever since she was a little filly, and even though this was her friend telling her one, she was already hanging off of Battle's every word. "Many, many thousands of years ago, there were seven, powerful pony warriors, who lived on an island nation in the heart of the ocean," Battle said softly. "Because of their precarious positioning, the warrior ponies quickly became the island's voice of reason and driving force. They raised an army, though small in number, strong in will. With strength matched by no other army on the planet, the warrior ponies led their army to war, to conquer new lands to better suit their needs. And for a time, this is what they did. Only taking the land that was needed for them, their reputation spreading quickly though the lands around them..." Battle closed his eyes as he was lost in the familiar tale. "But their time of peace was soon lost. The seven warriors feared their own mortality above all things, and craved more lands to conquer, and more time to enjoy them. They found tomes of dark magic, even then considered ancient and forbidden. With this dark knowledge in hand, they turned their magic on themselves in a desperate bid to live forever..." Battle hung his head. "And they succeeded," he breathed. "But at such a cost. The darkness of the magic brought their darkest defects to light and cultivated them, until the darkness within each of their hearts consumed each and everyone of them from within, twisting their forms, their nature their very destinies into distorted shadows of their former selves. To fit their new identities, the warriors changed their names, and in turn gave their new names to the seven deadly sins we now know today in the religion Cantertholisism." "Pride, gluttony, sloth, lust, greed, envy and wrath," Twilight recited easily. Battle nodded before continuing. "They called themselves The Sins and their metamorphosis had made them much more powerful. So powerful they no longer needed armies to conquer nations. They abandoned their principles, their honor, everything they had once worked to create. They spread out across the world, searching for lands to conquer. But the armies they abandoned did not sit idly. They discovered magic to combat the enchantments The Sins had used upon themselves. They took it upon themselves to fight The Sins, as it was they who allowed them to rise to power. One by one, using the magic they had found, the warriors defeated each of the seven Sins and entombed them in the seven lands they had made their homes, sealing them forever in tombs of great and powerful enchantments. Vowing to never again let the horror of the Sins be repeated, the army returned to the first land they had conquered and began to prepare." Battle finished his tale and looked at Twilight. "And then what?" she whispered. "They waited," Battle said simply. He pinched his nose. "The story I just told you was the tale of how Warhorse was founded. The story of the Sins is not just an old pony's tale, it's the fundamental history of my people. The Sins are real Twilight and nopony outside Warhorse has ever been told the founding story of our nation." "Why not?" "Because we gave rise to the Sins and their powers. It is our duty to protect the rest of the world from their evils as it is our fault they are there." Twilight knew best than to argue with Battle's logic. How could his generation be to blame for something that had happened thousands of years ago? "What happened?" Twilight asked. Battle closed his eyes and hugged his knees. "Wrath escaped." The two words hung like ice in the air. "Two years ago we received word of strange weather patterns in the North," Battle explained. "It didn't take long to figure out that somehow the Sin was breaking free of the enchantments that had kept him imprisoned for thousands of years. For the first part their was shock, then their was action." "You were sent to stop him?" "Damn straight. Me and an army ten-thousand strong," Battle said, a small smile of pride of his face. Tears welled in his eyes as he smile and head fell. "I alone came back from that battle," he whispered. "I had been sent to lead those ponies... and I had forced them too hard on the journey. They were weak when the time came. I was ill fit to be a Commander. I led those warriors to their deaths..." He looked at Twilight glumly. "My shame Twilight, is that I survived." Twilight looked aghast. "Surely that's a good thing? At least you're alive!" she reminded him. "Alive, yes... but I don't deserve to be. Those other ponies, the ones who died because of my stupidity, they deserve to live." "I'm not listening to this. Give me one reason why it would be better if you were dead and they were alive?" "You mean asides the thousands of families that didn't have to mourn the loss of a love one?" "Well... yes." "They died for nothing Twilight, that reason enough?" Battle spat. "Wrath has been unleashed once more and this time he's going after the one pony he hates above all others." "Who?" "Me. Wrath sees my survival from our last encounter as a personal insult to what little honor he has. That's why this is happening to Ponyville! That's why the dead are being possessed. He's doing to get to me and he's hurting the people I care about in the process." He glared at Twilight. "That's why I should be dead. No one else would have to suffer if I had died that day." He hung his head low. "I'm not fit to be called a Commander." "That's not what Dagger Swift seemed to think," Twilight blurted out before she could stop herself. Battle's head snapped upright. "What?" "Last night," Twilight said softly. "I had a dream. A pegasus called Dagger Swift referred to you as his Commander." Battle looked at her and smiled sadly. "That idiot always was loyal to the end." "He was your second in command?" Twilight asked. "He was one of my three Majors," Battle explained. "Major Dagger Swift, he helped organize the pegasus ponies of the army. Major Clear Shot, she was my unicorn adviser. And Major Bombardment, he was my go-to guy for the earth-ponies." "Major Bombardment?" Twilight triggered. "I always called him Bomb-B," Battle smiled. "Good ponies... all of them were to be honest." "You were there prince though," Twilight reminded. "I was there comrade first, prince second," Battle said in response. "I even slept in the barracks with them. I left being all nice and warm to Tactical." "That's why you were laughing," Twilight said in realization. "Tactical's your sister." "Unfortunately," Battle grumbled. "She keeps complaining to me about how she should be heir to the throne. To which I respond, get on the battlefield first, then we'll see about the throne." Twilight laughed and Battle smiled.Twilight rested her head on Battle's shoulder. "You don't have to go through this alone you know," Twilight mumbled sleepily. "You have friends remember?" Battle smiled and closed his eyes. The two remained there for a while, content to sit. When Twilight fell asleep on Battle's shoulder, he thought it best he carry her home. No point in letting his friend catch cold.