//------------------------------// // Requests Can Be Made // Story: The Real War // by Overwhelming Light //------------------------------// The Real War “Requests can be made.” “What do you need Carella?” Celestia asked sternly. “I need... help.” Carella hung her head. Celestia raised an eyebrow and lowered Carella to the floor. “Now Carella what exactly do you need help with.” “I need to get some things back. Very very important.” “If I assist you in the retrieval of your items, will you give us the information you know about the archive attack?” Celestia stared intently at her waiting for the answer. “Yes. Of course. But I must warn you, the items I need are not just any items. They are special.” Celestia then looked at Bent and I. “Will you two help her?” “US?” Bent and I exclaimed in unison. “How could we even help her? What if its dangerous? I am but a rookie and Bent is still injured!” I was shocked. How could she want to send us? Why not send in professionals to deal with this problem. Celestia walked over to Bent and touched his forehead with her horn. A dull gold glow covered Bent's head and he gasped slightly. A few seconds later she pulled back and smiled at him. “Thank you Princess.” Bent took off the wraps he had had on his head. There were no signs of scarring or anything he looked totally fine. “But still. Princess, how do you expect us to achieve this task?” I didn’t think I could do this. The self doubt train had arrived on time. “Do not worry. Bent is a veteran, and Light took out three other stallions by his lonesome. I think you should be fine. If you do ever get into trouble, we will be able to communicate.” Took me a second, but I realized Celestia wasn’t calming me, she was talking to Carella. “How would we be able to communicate?” Carella asked curiously. “I will put a spell on the five of us that will allow easy communication through magic.” Twilight said proudly with a smile. Twilight quickly conjured a lavender sphere in the center of the five of us. She slowly began rotating the sphere. Faster and faster the sphere turned, lavender lightning began shooting out of the sphere. As the ball of light spun faster the more it looked unstable. Finally the ball burst and purple mist blew everywhere. I coughed as the purple mist began going inside my mouth. I couldn’t blow it away, it would just come back. So I opened my mouth and the mist flew inside and disappeared. As the mist cleared I could tell everyone had done the same thing for the most part. Bent, Carella and I, all had our mouths wide opened. Celestia and Twilight giggled slightly. I laughed sarcastically and closed my mouth. Bent and Carella did the same. “So how does this communication stuff work?” I asked while coughing out some purple mist. “The communication magic works with keywords, each pony has a keyword, when you say the said pony's keyword you will communicate with them. Such as Celestia's keyword is Mother Bird. Celestia if you would?” “No problem.” Celestia disappeared in a flash of light. “Mother Bird can you hear me?” Twilight said in a deep voice right before she giggled. A few seconds passed and Twilight smiled happily. “Celestia said she can hear me rather well. If you say 'Goddesses Above' you can communicate with everypony. Go ahead, somepony try it!” “Goddesses Above, anyone there?...” I said quietly. “I can hear you Light.” Bent replied. “Hey Twilight, when we talk to each other do we have to say the keyword over and over again.” “No of course not! There is a reply time, you only need to begin the conversation with the keyword.” Twilight explained. “Oh okay, well that is convenient.” Bent said. Celestia reappeared into the room with a flash of light and a small smile. She began whispering to Twilight. I turned to Bent to see he was talking to Carella. “...will try to help you the best we can. We will get back what you need.” Bent said with pride. “I hope so, but there many things we need to do.” Carella said sadly. “Like what?” I asked jumping into the conversation. “Well first off we need to figure out a way to get you two into the Zebra Lands up north. Not to be rude but you two are not zebras.” Carella said blankly. “Hmm could we just hop the fence or whatever it is?” I thought aloud. “The Zebra Lands are composed of many tribes, each has a section of the land. The tribes are always at war so the borders are always guarded with warriors.” Carella said as if we should have known. “Maybe Twilight or Celestia has a spell that could help us?...” Bent replied. Ironically Celestia and Twilight were walking towards us. “Bent, Light. We have any idea on how you can cross the borders in the Zebra Lands.” Twilight said happily. “Celestia and I believe we could place an enchantment on your gear when you leave so when needed you can appear to be a zebra.” “Beware the enchantment is only temporary and it has a cool down time.” Celestia added. “Light, Bent we need to get you two prepped to leave as soon as possible.” Twilight said. “Please go with one of my personal guards.” She gestured toward a nearby window. When I looked at the window, I was about to explain that nothing was there until I noticed a slight shimmer. The window pane appeared ripple and move, until an outline of a mare was showing. The mare moved forward and was fully exposed. She was a dark blue mare with a baby blue mane, she was wearing sleek black armour. “Hazel, please outfit these two with standard TG Armour.” Twilight stated. “As you wish Princess.” Came the raspy voice of Hazel. “Come with me please.” “We will be back in a few Carella.” Bent said before joining me behind Hazel. As we followed Hazel out of the room, I asked Bent a question that had been bothering me. “Bent do you think we should tell someone at the organization we are leaving?” “I'm sure they already know.” Bent said matter-of-factly. I sighed and thought about what Carella's items could possibly be. Money maybe? No. Maybe it's an heirloom? I doubt it. We reached a large wooden door with no door handle. Hazel, I had just realized was a unicorn. She walked forward and placed her horn against the door and began to draw a diagram. Anywhere she passed over with her horn would draw a blue line. She slowly and carefully drew an arcane symbol. After she had finished the ancient symbol, the door opened to a small hardwood room. The room had approximately twenty lockers each with a number on it. “Light, grab the gear from locker 17. Bent, grab the gear from locker 8. They should fit.” Hazel said thoughtfully. I nodded and trotted over to the respective locker, inside the metal locker multiple sets of different colored armour were hung up, each looked like it had a purpose. I choose a black with dull white rimming set of cloth and metal armor that had many pockets and two sheaths for edged weapons. The armour overall was composed of an under suit of cloth armour that was slightly armoured and an over suit of metal armour that allowed the most possible agility while still maintaining max protection with little weight. I returned to Hazel, helmet in hoof, feeling pretty cool. I saw Bent walking back over with this large tank-like black armour. He had many many sheaths and other equipment slots that made him look massive. “You guys don't look too bad, the armour is of my own design with help from Princess Twilight Sparkle of course. Now please follow me, we need to arm you.” Hazel stated with pride. As we followed Hazel back outside Bent looked over to me. “I look sooo much better than you.” He whispered and winked at me. I laughed at him. “Where are you two going?” Hazel asked. I had not been paying attention, Hazel had stopped just outside the door. We assumed we were going somewhere else but apparently she has something else in mind. Hazel turned around and closed the door, the symbol on the door faded away back into the wood. Bent looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Hazel lit up her horn and slowly began drawing another arcane symbol on the wall it took the shape of a warped longsword. Once again the door opened and we stepped into.... the same room. “Hazel we are in the same room.” I said curiously. “Check out the lockers.” Hazel said slightly irritated. I raised an eyebrow and walked over to locker 17. I opened the metal door and looked in to see a whole load of swords, daggers and weapons of all sizes. I smiled and grabbed a black short sword with a black and gold hilt. I put it into my sheathe after I twirled it for a bit. The next thing I grabbed was a white bow with white and gold arrows. I strung the bow around me and grabbed a small knife and sheathed it. Bent whistled and I looked behind me to see him with a longsword in his sheath and two short swords on his back. Bent smirked and stood on his hind legs to strike a pose. I laughed and Hazel rolled her eyes. “We should get back to the throne room.” Hazel said sounding bored. “Okay.” Bent and I said slightly after each other. We followed Hazel back up to the throne room. “Carella you simply must tell me how you got here in the first place.” Twilight asked curiously. Being a princess certainly didn’t change her search for knowledge. “Zebras have always had potions, they are primarily used for medicine but some new potions have been tested and are used for teleportation, it is not nearly as accurate as unicorn magic but it gets you there or close to there.” Carella replied. “Ah I see, after you retrieve your items, you need to let me examine some!” Twilight exclaimed happily. Celestia chuckled and turned to us. “Now that you are prepared you must prepare your minds.” “What do you mean princess?” I asked confusedly. “You must get your rest, tomorrow will be stressful.” Carella said plainly. Celestia nodded as Carella spoke. That's when I really noticed that the sun was beginning to set. Bent and I had had a really long day, we needed to get our rest. Carella, Celestia, Twilight all waved to us as we left the room. We waved back and smiled. Carella decided to leave shortly after, disappearing into yet another yellow light and mist. Twilight, after watching Light and Bent leave, turned to Celestia. “Are you sure about this Princess?” “Do not worry, I have faith in them.” Celestia said.