Sunrise
Celestia let out a long sigh as she glanced up at her sister’s moon. Two months. She couldn’t be gone for a few weeks without all of Equestria falling apart. It had been several hours since she’d finally awoken from Luna’s spell. The news she’d received from Luna, in addition to Twilight’s story about her fight, was most troubling.
Thinking of Twilight, she was quite pleased to hear how easily her protégé had dealt with a large group of attacking ponies. It was a little concerning how easily the purple pony had adjusted to combat, but she supposed it couldn’t be helped. Their minds had been intermingling for seven weeks, leading to each of them absorbing some mental traits from the other. Naturally, Celestia’s immortal mind had made a more significant impression on the fledgling awareness of her beloved student.
While she regretted the loss of the unicorn’s innocence in this manner, she couldn’t help but be grateful that the young pony would not have to deal with as much of the trauma suffered by those new to warfare. Hopefully, Twilight would not have to take many lives. The solar princess knew full well that pretending that there would never be any deaths was nothing more than an exercise in futility. She could try to keep Twilight from the battlefield, but her most faithful student would never be willing to let other ponies be hurt when she could help them.
Celestia trotted out the door, making her way to the kitchens. She glanced up at her student’s room, where she knew the purple unicorn and her cyan friend were fast asleep. She smiled as she continued on her quest. Those reports could wait until she had some cake.
Twilight glared at the collection of military ponies in front of her, focusing especially on the one currently speaking. General Stalwart Strength was effectively the pony in charge of all of the Earth Ponies in the Equestrian military, a counterpart to Ironhoof Thunderstorm, the traitor leading the pegasus uprising.
Most of them were displeased by her presence, but Princess Celestia had not only allowed her entry, but commanded it, so they couldn’t do a thing about it. Twilight wasn’t sure what, exactly, the Princess wanted, but she was quite happy that the alicorn wasn’t going to try and shut her away. She wanted to help.
Twilight was well aware of just how different she was from the average unicorn now. She had more power than she knew what to do with, and abilities that had never been recorded in any book she’d ever read. Even Celestia hadn’t seen anything like them before. She was going to use those powers to help Equestria.
What’s more, her body was significantly stronger now. The substantial changes had been as a result of her new abilities. Her body had been altered to be a better conduit for her powers. The spontaneous growth, however, was a bit unpleasant for the lavender mare. Twilight had never been a particularly graceful pony, but now she could easily be defined as clumsy. It would be a while before she could adjust to her new physique. It would, unfortunately, be even longer before Rainbow stopped teasing her about tripping over her own hooves.
She turned her attention back to the conversation at hand, still wondering why the Princess had told her it was so important for her attend.
“- and you ruined the element of surprise that your presence would give us by just burning away the cloud layer!” Stalwart finished. He was only about average size for an earth pony, but his intimidating presence made up for it. He was a camouflage green color, with an almost metallic grey mane. His cutie mark was of a broadsword, matching the one on his back. He had a scar across his brow, with another jagged scar running down the side of his head from it.
Twilight barely managed to hold herself back. How dare this bastard speak like that to Celestia? She restrained her temper, forcing it down. As she did, the tiny motes of light that had gathered to her horn began to dissipate. Unfortunately, with magic as potent as Twilight’s now was, the lavender mare needed to keep a tight control of her emotions. It was bad enough that, without intense concentration, her horn shattered most things it touched. It was a probably a good thing that Celestia had spent plenty of time teaching her to control her emotions in the past few weeks.
Celestia didn’t even acknowledge the agitated tone of the general. “Firstly, I had little idea that we were at war. Secondly, even had I known, I would have done the exact same thing. It would not have been the first time that my presence ended a war. As for my student, she is here for a very important reason.” The white alicorn turned to look directly at her.
“Twilight Sparkle is hereby named the Solar Champion. From this day forth, she shall be my personal emissary, bearing my authority and acting in my name.” Celestia declared proudly, her gaze shifting to the others in the meeting, as if daring them to question her.
For an instant, Twilight began to panic. With Celestia’s training, however, she managed to calm herself down and think about the situation rationally.
Being a princess’ Champion was one of the biggest honors in Equestria. There was never more than one Solar or Lunar Champion at a time. Originally, that’s pretty much all it was. It was a title given by Celestia or Luna to their most trusted mortal. It gave them a few perks, but generally few responsibilities. Then came Luna’s banishment. Celestia, for all of her power, could not be in two places at once, so she needed ponies she could trust to do major tasks and to make important decisions. Being named Champion became a huge responsibility, but the power of the position rose accordingly. A pony would become one of the most powerful in all of Equestria by gaining the position.
In essence, besides the noble title and the history, it wasn’t all that different to her current position. Celestia had sent her to deal with all kinds of problems in the past. This was basically just making that official and giving her some authority. She focused her gaze on Celestia and spotted the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. It had been another test of her self control then.
“I accept.” Twilight finally stated aloud. She was understandably overwhelmed still by the appointment. “I will do my utmost to honor this prestigious position and you, Princess Celestia.”
“I accept your pledge, Twilight Sparkle. May you do honor to the Celestial Throne.” Celestia responded formally, before addressing the others in the room. “Before we move on, I would like to request that you each send me a few of your best soldiers for Twilight’s Escort. You have until sunset tomorrow to present me your suggestions.”
The gathered ponies grumbled a bit in quiet annoyance, but gave their agreements. They knew better than to argue with the princess when she did something like this. Stalwart, opened his mouth to say something, but looked at Twilight and thought better of it. Twilight’s loyalty to Celestia was very well known, as was the princess’ protectiveness towards her student.
“If it pleases the princess, I’ll give our report now.” One of two unicorns sitting together spoke up. They were identical, save for the different cutie marks. Electric blue in color, with bright yellow manes, they were Roaring Gale and Striking Storm. The twins worked together to serve as Stalwart’s counterpoint, directing the unicorns of the Equestrian military. Gale, the elder, was generally considered the one in charge, but Storm had a killer tactical mind. Their names and cutie marks were related to their magical abilities.
They were both elementals, meaning they had a strong affinity to one or more branches of elemental magic. It limited them in several ways, but it also gave them access to great destructive power. Gale, with his whirlwind cutie mark, commanded the air itself. Storm, on the other hoof, bore a lightning bolt mark, and commanded the sub-element of lightning, a fusion of air and fire. Interestingly enough, Storm wasn’t really able to use either component, just their combination.
At Celestia’s nod, Gale proceeded. “The black clouds that lingered after the Princess’ dispersal of the great veil are seemingly immune to even my wind magic. My brother’s lightning magic also had no effect. They repel small projectiles as well, responding only to proportionate force to the cloud’s size. The only unicorns who have had any success in eliminating them have been those capable of long range telekinetic attacks. Unfortunately, we have very few artillery ponies at this stage.”
The black clouds had apparently been moving beneath the cover of the cloud veil. Thunderbolt’s plan, whatever it had been, had failed.
“Um… I saw those clouds at Ponyville.” Twilight responded hesitantly. “My friend, Rainbow Dash, dispersed them relatively easily, as they respond to pegasus magic normally. I was able to project a bolt of pegasus magic that destroyed them easily enough. Unfortunately,” She continued as Gale opened his mouth eagerly. “That ability is unique to me and defies accepted magical theory. I don’t dare attempt any sort of tests to replicate it, as it would be impossible to work on anything but live ponies.” She paused to let that thought sink in.
A pony’s magic was part of their very being. In addition to the natural magics that are common to all ponies, such as the cutie mark, pony bodies are literally built to channel specific types of magic. Unicorns have horns made of super-dense alicorn, capable of channeling massive amounts of controlled magic. The bones of pegasus wings are also made of alicorn, albeit a much lighter version. It allows them to fly, while a small amount of the substance runs through their other bones, allowing them to manipulate weather. Similarly, earth ponies have skeletons almost half composed of alicorn. It is denser than the alicorn of pegasi, but not even a fraction as potent as that of a unicorn.
Changing the magical makeup of another pony would practically guarantee. The absolute best case scenario would be a horrific mutation, as the magic inherent to all ponies would destroy them in an attempt to correct their structure. Ponies in the past had tried it and been declared mad scientists or murderers for their actions.
Twilight continued a moment later. “However, I have begun learning the art of enchanting, and I hope to be able to produce something that will enable us to deal with the black clouds at some point in the near future.”
“Why are we so worried about these clouds, anyway?” Stalwart demanded. “It’s not as if they’re causing any problems right now?”
“The clouds are filled with liquid rainbow. Enough of the stuff to destroy a good portion of the castle.” Gale explained.
“Wait a sec. Liquid rainbow? I’ve seen that used as house hold decorations! Hell, I’ve seen ponies using it as a condiment before.” Stalwart refuted.
“There are two states of liquid rainbow.” Twilight lectured. “The first, the kind you’ve seen before, is refined, or stable. It is completely inert, almost harmless. As you said, ponies could drink it with no harm besides a little heat. In its raw state, however, liquid rainbow is enormously volatile. It detonates violently with even the slightest provocation. The explosive yield is significantly higher than almost all conventional explosives, regardless of size.”
“Huh. Sounds interesting.” Stalwart mused.
“Moving on.” A pony spoke up, startling Twilight. She’d barely noticed the black coated unicorn until now. She had an equally black mane, leaving only the whites of her eyes and her gold cutie mark standing out from the darkness she was seated in. The mark was an eye over a golden triangle. Twilight remembered who this was: Keen Mind, the head of Celestia’s Intelligence Agency (officially the Equestrian Intelligence Agency, but CIA rolls off the tongue so much better than EIA).
“One of my agents spotted at least four different Griffons inside of Cloudsdale.” She reported matter-of-factly. “Unfortunately, we do not yet know the details of their meeting, as we were unable to get any sort of listening spell onto any of them.” She paused. “There are also some very recent rumors of unicorns going missing, though my ponies are not entirely sure on the veracity of those claims.”
Celestia frowned. “I want you to look into that immediately. Also, I would like you to assign an appropriate liaison for Twilight’s new Escort as well.”
“As you wish.” Keen Mind bowed her head to the princess.
“As for my department, Princess Luna’s been doing a damn fine job keeping Canterlot under wraps. Even after losing most of our pegasi, we’re still managing to cover enough ground to do our job.” That was Steady Stride, an earth pony who coordinated the defenses of most major cities. He led the various city guards. A light brown color, he wore a standard guard helmet that matched his cutie mark. Apparently, he hadn’t been seen without it in years. Stride was one of the fastest earth ponies alive, able to keep pace with the average pegasi while still having more strength than most earth ponies.
“After what happened to Manehattan, it looks like the common pony has decided to do something to help. We have a lot of ponies searching for survivors beneath the wreckage. I’ve assigned a couple of guards to protect them and stop looters. Otherwise, the only real thing I have to report is that a lot of officials are complaining about the reduced guard. Everypony wants more ponies to protect them, but I just don’t have enough to support them. We’ve been working on increasing recruitment, but…” He shrugged.
“Why don’t you just coordinate with the actual military? Just get them to post a unit or two at the towns that are in the most danger?” Twilight asked, curious. “I mean, it’ll probably be more effective than just marching them to wherever they’re needed, since, if the pegasi attack, they’ll be doing it so fast that we probably couldn’t get anyone there before they got away.”
Stride looked at her closely, making Twilight shrink back into her seat, feeling a bit like Fluttershy for some reason. Stride wasn’t particularly big, but he could certainly be intimidating.
Finally, he leaned back and smirked. “I like the way you think.” He turned to examine Gale, Storm, and Steel. “Well?”
Gale and Steel looked at one another, having a silent debate. “It’s a good plan. It’ll take a bit to figure out which divisions would be best, but there shouldn’t be a problem with assigning a few units to help out. I take it you can get us a garrison in each city?”
Stride grinned. “It shouldn’t be a problem.”
[
Celestia beamed at Twilight as the meeting came to a close. “That was very well done, Twilight. I’m quite impressed at how you handled yourself.”
The lavender mare blushed as she followed the princess from the room. “Thank you, princess.” She paused. “So, what was with the sudden appointment? Couldn’t you have warned me first?”
Celestia smirked at the young pony. “I could have.” She agreed. “But you’re so cute when you get all surprised.” She cooed, making Twilight blush again.
“Princess!” Twilight practically whined.
“Fine, fine.” Celestia capitulated. “To be honest, I had always planned on this. I was going to give you another year or so, then offer the position to you. However, with this war, I don’t have that option anymore. You are the strongest unicorn alive… No, you are the single most magically powerful pony in Equestria.” She held up a hoof to forestall Twilight’s rebuttal. “We discussed this before. You can, with relative ease, cast a spell stronger than anything I can produce normally. Spells far more potent than anything in my sister’s arsenal as well. In terms of actual magical casting, you exceed every other pony ever born.”
Twilight tried to argue. “But I… There’s no way…”
“Twilight…” Celestia placed a hoof on her shoulder. “It doesn’t help anyone for you to deny your abilities. You can do things no other pony can. You are the Element of Magic and there is a reason for that. I know you want to help other ponies, my faithful student. If you embrace your abilities, you can do so much more. You can do anything your heart desires.” Celestia looked proudly at the lavender unicorn. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. To be happy.”
Twilight was rendered speechless by the heartfelt emotions in Celestia’s words. Her mouth opened and closed, but nothing emerged.
“So… Solar Champion, huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. The two had met up for lunch after Twilight’s meeting. Twilight had wasted no time informing the pegasus of what had occurred.
“She just sprang it on me in the middle of a really important meeting.” Twilight complained to her friend. “It’s a huge honor, and I’m flattered, but did she really have to surprise me like that?”
Rainbow shrugged. “So, what kinds of things are you going to be expected to do?”
Twilight tilted her head as she considered the question. “Well, anything Celestia needs, I guess. Same as usual, but a bit more formalized, with a lot more power. Considering we’re at war and my… above average power, I expect I’ll be sent to a lot of battlefields. It’s tradition for a Champion to have an Escort, basically a set of personal bodyguards or companions. Generally, they’re handpicked, or just volunteers from the royal guard, but when Celestia asks for the top military officials to send some of their best to work for me… Well, there are only so many reasons that I’d need highly trained soldiers.”
“Huh. Where do I sign up?”
“What?!” Twilight was surprised. “I mean, I was going to ask you… but, seriously?”
“Element of Loyalty, remember, egghead?” Rainbow jabbed Twilight accusingly with her hoof. “Did you really think I’d let you go out into a battlefield without me?”
Twilight’s expression quickly twisted into a brilliant smile. She wrapped her hooves around Rainbow. “Thank you so much!” Twilight cried, not noticing the heavy blush on Rainbow’s cheeks.
“N-no problem, Twi.” Rainbow replied, pulling away from Twilight’s embrace. “By the way, we need to come up with a better name than ‘Twilight’s Escort’.”
“Why? What’s wrong… Oh.” Twilight’s face lit up as the negative connotations of the phrase hit her.
They ate in a companionable atmosphere for a while, making small talk. Eventually, something that Twilight had told her made Rainbow speak up.
“So, you said that you’ve got a lot more power than the average unicorn, right? Just how much are we talking about?”
Twilight hesitated for a moment. “A lot, Rainbow. I have more raw power than I know what to do with. I have more unicorn magic than the princesses themselves. Not to mention… after that,” She paused to figure out the correct word. “Coma, I can do things no other unicorn should be able to do. Things that shouldn’t be possible according to the laws of magic! Things like generate and manipulate pegasus and earth pony magic.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in. “It shouldn’t be possible, Rainbow! I… I don’t know what happened to me!” She gestured at her body with one hoof. “I mean, look at me! Just one look and you can tell that I’m a freak!”
Rainbow watched as her friend got increasingly hysteric. “Twilight! Just stop for a second.” Rainbow shuddered as Twilight’s faintly glowing eyes glared at her for the interruption. The pegasus forced herself to press on. “Stop beating yourself up.” The cyan mare commanded. “All that stuff you can do? It sounds awesome! You’ve got a ton of power, you’ve got a stronger body, and you’ve got superpowers. None of those sound like bad things, Twi. It’s a little outside the norm, yeah. But remember, we’re the Elements of Harmony! Six ponies who can use a bunch of magical jewelry to defeat gods! That isn’t normal, is it? Being different from everybody else isn’t a bad thing, Twilight. It’s what makes you special.”
Twilight listened to Rainbows rejoinder, feeling her fear drain away. The other pony was right. “I… You’re right, Rainbow. I guess I was getting a bit too worked up about it.” She examined the other pony. “That speech was positively profound, by the way.”
Rainbow grumbled a bit before brightening. “Come on, Twi. I seem to remember you finally agreeing to join me for physical training, to get used to that new body of yours.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Sure, sure. Let’s get this over with.”
As the two ponies left towards the outdoor training grounds, Rainbow voiced a question. “So, you said you can use pegasus magic, right? Does that mean I need to give you flight lessons.” She was doing a rather poor job at concealing the eagerness in her voice.
Twilight chuckled. “No, not quite. I don’t have the proper wings or body structure to actually fly. Who knows, though? I mean, my body alters itself as necessary now, so I can do things like use earth pony strength. Maybe one day I’ll be able to grow wings.” It was only an absent thought, but at seeing Rainbow’s excitement, Twilight made an offer. “Alright, if I ever do gain the ability to fly, I promise that I’ll let you teach me to fly.”
“Yes!” Rainbow did a quick backflip in midair. “So, you said you can do a bunch of stuff that breaks the laws of magic, but you only mentioned one…”
Twilight nodded. “Well…”
Two days later, Twilight and Rainbow were waiting in the new set of quarters they’d been assigned. As the Solar Champion, Twilight had been given a much bigger room, as well as several more for her Escort. Celestia had made her decisions, and Twilight was waiting on their arrival now.
The first pony to enter the room was, interestingly enough, a crystal pony. He was a black unicorn with a stark white mane. His cutie mark was an empty circle, which Twilight found a bit odd.
“Greetings Champion Twilight. I am Silent Shade.” He introduced himself. “Keen Mind has instructed me that I am completely at your disposal.”
“Thank you for coming.” Twilight replied.
“I didn’t have much choice.” Shade admitted. “All the same, I do look forward to working for you.”
“So, what do you do?” Rainbow asked, curious.
“Covert Ops.” Shade declared. “I specialize in information acquisition and target removal.”
“Sounds pretty cool. What’s the cutie mark mean?”
“It represents my special ability.” A moment later, Shade faded from view completely. “I can bend light around my body, rendering myself invisible.”
The door swung open. “Reporting for duty!” A cheerful voice called out. Dull purple in color, with a fiery red mane, the unicorn sauntered into the room as if he owned it. His cutie mark was a blue eye. He wore a red cloak that matched the color of his mane.
“I’m Arcane Gaze. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He introduced himself.
Something about this pony struck Twilight the wrong way. “So you were the pony spying on us from the hallway?”
The pony seemed to lose his swagger, fumbling his step. “W-wha? No! Why would I-?”
“Don’t bother lying.” Twilight shrugged. “I can sort of read the emotions of anyone using magic around me.” She’d experimented a bit after the battle in Ponyville. It was easiest with unicorns, since their magic was shaped with thought. She could get a good sense of their minds with a single spell, even reading thoughts if she tried hard enough. With pegasi, she could get flashes of emotion every time they flapped their wings or touched a cloud. Earth ponies were much harder. She got the barest sense of their current emotional state, but only when they were doing something. It was sometimes annoying, but the sense wasn’t strong enough to actually distract her, and it really helped her out when she was fighting those pegasi.
As she finished her statement Shade cancelled his spell, restraining Gaze from behind.
“Would you like me to deal with him?”
“Not just yet. I’m going to operate under the assumption that you were just waiting for your turn and that Celestia sent you, since I didn’t sense any malevolence in your mind.” She decided to leave out the other sensation she got from the little perv for now. “Clearly you left for a moment, as your spell faded and returned just as Shade demonstrated his spell.”
“Y-yes, ma’am. Th-that’s exactly what I was doing. I’m sorry.” When Shade released him, he pulled out a pair of glasses from a pocket on his cloak, donning them. “As I said, I’m Arcane Gaze, sent to join your Escort. My vision is horrible far away, but I can reverse it with a spell, allowing me to project my sight as well. When I do, I can also project my spells, allowing me to be a long range attacker.”
Rainbow glared at him. “I don’t like anyone spying on me, but your abilities sound useful. I think we’ll keep you for now. Don’t you dare do it again.”
“Yes ma’am!” The pony saluted.
Twilight sighed. “Take a seat. Might as well have everyone meet each other. ”
Two earth ponies entered the room together, both clad in full armor. “I am Rock Quarry.” The first, yellow, with a brown mane, said. His cutie mark was a collection of broken stones. He bore a spear on his back
“And I’m Ironhammer. We’re here to join your Escort, Champion Twilight.” He was brown, with a blue mane. On his back was a massive sledgehammer that was rather similar to his cutie mark.
“Thank you very much.” Twilight said with a smile. The two seemed rather reliable. “I look forward to working with you.”
“Well, this seems like one big party.” A new voice declared from the still open doorway. She was a snow white pegasus, with a two toned grey mane. Her cutie mark was a silvery snowflake. She was a bit bulkier than most pegasi. She wore leather armor that would do very little, if anything, to hinder her mobility.
“I’m Winterjet.” She proclaimed . “General Stride assigned me to your Escort this morning. So, boss lady, looks like I’ll be working under you.” She didn’t sound very pleased about it.
“Yes. We’ll be working together for some time, so I hope we can all get along.” Twilight agreed. “In any case, this is Rainbow Dash. She’s my best friend, and she’ll be the leader of this group. Welcome to the Twilight Brigade.”