//------------------------------// // Shining Return // Story: Twilight of Equestria // by Aeondragon //------------------------------// Shining Return Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire and captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, looked around in a brief pause in the fight. It was the biggest battle he’d fought in a very long time. Carnage was everywhere and it was depressing to watch. The peace of Equestria was gone, replaced with a bloody civil war. He took a moment to dispatch a low-flying pegasus with a bolt of magic that struck the other pony's wing. He’d thrown up a shield large enough to encompass the entirety of his force at the first sign of an attack, when dark grey clouds began to gather above them. Almost four hundred ponies shielded beneath his strongest barrier. It would have been enough to defend against even the mightiest storm. A wild flurry of magical bolts saved a pair of crystal ponies from a group of pegasi, giving them time to regroup. Unfortunately, the attacking pegasi had sent a huge number of smaller black clouds through the shield. Ignoring his magic completely, the clouds made contact with the ground, unleashing their contents. Dozens of ponies had been hurt, if not killed, by those attacks. He had been forced to release the barrier, as a much smaller cloud had nearly made contact with him. It had been fairly simple to trace the cloud’s trajectory back to its origin. As it turned out, he knew his attacker well. Indeed, he’d once considered her a friend. But it was obvious that Spitfire was leading this attack. She’d joined this traitorous insurrection, so she was an enemy, nothing more. He turned back to the fight and prepared another spell. A shield managed to catch one of the Wonderbolts who had accompanied Spitfire, slamming her into the ground with tremendous force. “Liya, watch out!” he barked as a blue unicorn, one of the few ponies he trusted to watch his back, was about to be attacked from behind. One of her three floating swords disengaged from its previous enemy, managing to wound the approaching pegasus. Shining released a quick bolt of light that knocked away the pegasus who had tried to take advantage. He exchanged nods with the blue pony, before glancing back at a certain carriage. Unlike the others, which held weapons, munitions, food, or other such materials, this one held a VIP. Luckily, it had been missed in the initial attack. He hurried towards it, planning as he did. They'd managed to take out most of the attackers, but that wasn't saying much when you were outnumbering them 400 to 250. At least a fifth of Shining's own ponies were either dead or too hurt to move. About half of the remainder was hurt enough to make fighting difficult. Almost all of them would need time to rest and heal. The storm had picked up now. Before long, they’d have to deal with lightning. He needed to set up another shield before that could happen. Unfortunately, his magical reserves weren’t infinite. He might be able to set up one more that could encompass his group. It would drain him, however, and he wasn’t sure how long he could last under a concentrated barrage from a storm like the one above them. Nevertheless, he sent out orders to have those ponies that could still move to form up around the carriage. Now that the storm had built up to its full power, many of the pegasi had pulled away to take advantage of their aerial firepower. That meant he had a limited window of opportunity. It was a gamble, but at this point, it was pretty much all he had left. Once he’d managed to gather enough of his forces, he nodded at one of two groups of unicorns. They unleashed a flurry of light at three of the fallen carriages. The result was the contents of the containers being hurled in every direction. A second group of unicorns used their telekinesis to direct the debris, knocking the attacking pegasi away. Once the enemies were clear of the area, Shining quickly cast the strongest shield spell he could. He slumped onto his side as the spell took effect, a shimmering opaque field blocking the view of the enemies. He closed his eyes as he remembered the unconscious or dead ponies he’d been forced to leave outside the barrier. He could only hope that help would arrive in time. --Two hours earlier-- “-and furthermore, there are countless pegasi who have been working overtime with little compensation in order to make up for the traitors’ absence! We will most certainly not be rewarding their loyalty with extra taxes or this disgusting idea of ‘pegasus police’!” A grey coated pegasus with a two-toned black and white mane declared. There was some grumbling from a few of the most biased unicorn nobles, but Evening Dew, one of Canterlot’s relatively few pegasus nobles, had made his point, and the anti-pegasus proposals had lost their support. Twilight sighed in a mixture of relief and annoyance. The idea of punishing pegasi for the actions of the traitors made little sense. It wasn’t like it would do anything but hurt ponies that were still loyal anyway. That being said, there were enough idiot nobles (Blueblood, in particular, came to mind) for her to be worried that such a law might still pass. Of course, Celestia would veto such a thing, but it was good to avoid having to do so. The princesses hated using their power in such a dictatorial manner, but would if it were necessary. Twilight shook her head. She wasn’t really a fan of politics. She’d rather just go back to her research, but she needed to be there. Being the Solar Champion meant that she now had a position of political power, one directly linked to the princess. If going to these stupid meetings meant helping Celestia, then she’d go to every single one. Fortunately, it seemed that the meeting had come to a close. Twilight left the room with everyone else, looking forward to a nice relaxing evening of magical research. Rainbow Dash grumbled as she trotted down the hallway. So much for a group training session. Silent Shade seemed rather unwilling to do anything more than follow orders, which was both helpful and annoying, as the pony listened to orders she gave but was unable to improvise or do anything further. She had a bit of a hard time trusting Gaze, as he seemed way too much like a voyeur for her liking. The two earth pony soldiers stuck together, rarely speaking with any of the other members except when necessary. The soldiers were rather closed off, especially when dealing with her or Winterjet. Speaking of the other pegasus, she seemed to be somewhat resentful of working under Twilight, let alone taking orders from Rainbow. It was rather understandable, considering how much younger the cyan mare was, but it was still annoying. They were much more organized around Twilight, but Rainbow could tell that they were only acting in such a manner because of Twilight’s position. The cyan mare really wanted them to work as a proper team. As the bearer of Loyalty, she found it a bit galling that a group she was in charge of didn’t have much of her element to speak of. Unfortunately, Rainbow didn’t really know how to solve the problem she was dealing with. The only real leadership experience Rainbow had was from leading the weather team in Ponyville, but that hadn’t been much work at all, as she pretty much spent most of her time napping or with her friends. She could singlehoofedly clear the sky in ten seconds flat, so she didn’t really have to deal with the rest of the team outside of major disasters and weather from the Everfree. Everyone in town knew of her skills and she’d earned her position, so she’d never really had to establish much group cohesion. She glanced out a window and was immediately drawn from her thoughts. Without a second’s hesitation, she shot out the window, barely taking the time to open it. Making sure to keep her speed below Rainboom levels so as not to damage Canterlot, she caught the falling pegasus before it could hit the ground. “H-help!” He gasped out. Her eyes, like those of all pegasi, were exceptionally keen, so she had been able to pick out the colors of the Crystal Empire on the pegasus’ armor even from the palace. “We’re under attack!” The pegasus continued with barely a breath. “We need help now!” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she lifted other pony up. “Hold on tight.” She ordered before flying back to the palace, still carrying the other pegasus. Rainbow barely took the time to knock once before throwing open the door to Twilight’s room. The lavender mare had somehow managed to turn the simple bedroom into a combination library/laboratory. She was currently tinkering with what looked like a bracer. It was about a hoof and a half in length and had a single large gemstone mounted on it. That was all she had time to see before speaking. “Twi, we’ve got to move!” She called. “Your brother is under attack by a bunch of pegasi!” By the time Rainbow completed her sentence, Twilight had already gathered everything she might need and was heading out the door. “What the hay are you waiting for, Rainbow?” Twilight demanded. “That isn’t good enough!” Twilight retorted. “Well, without enough pegasi, we just don’t have the ability to field ponies as fast as we’d like. I stand by my estimate of half an hour. Even if we had more, it would still be twenty minutes with pegasi at full speed.” Stalwart Strength glared at her. “None of us like it, but we’re moving as fast as we can.” “I don’t have time for this.” Twilight snarled back, her horn glowing. She vanished in an instant, reappearing in the training grounds outside, where the members of her brigade had gathered. “Alright. Long story short, they’re going to take about half an hour to get there. I’m not willing to wait that long. Shining Armor and the crystal ponies need help and I can give it to them. Obviously, we’re going to be heavily outnumbered. The best estimate of the one scout who made it is about sixty pegasus enemies. I’m not going to order any of you to come along, and there’s no time for debate.” She took a deep breath as her horn began to glow. “Now come over here and place a hoof on my back or go join up with the normal army.” She closed her eyes as she cast her mind out. She’d already surveyed the maps of the ambush zone, so she had a good idea of the area. She used her magical senses to pick an area that would allow her to survey the battlefield from a nearby hill. To her slight surprise, she had six hooves on her back. “We’re going now.” She declared. With that, violet light radiated from her horn, slowly growing to encompass all of them. It was crackling angrily, blazing brightly enough that she could see it even with her eyes closed. Once all seven ponies were within the swirling magical field, she unleashed the spell and they vanished with a blinding flash. The seven ponies rematerialized on the hill Twilight had selected. They saw a huge collection of storm clouds raining lightning upon a huge dome of light. Twilight instantly recognized it as her brother’s shield. To the lavender mare’s new senses, the opaque barrier might as well have been glass. She surveyed the field, examining the area. There were a number of hurt ponies littering the battlefield. She could tell from the presence of magic which ones were still alive. With that in mind, her horn began to glow. “Wait for the signal.” She ordered. “What signal?” Gaze asked, confused. “You’ll know.” She told them, vanishing with barely a purple flicker. To his dying day, Shining Armor would deny that he yelped like a little filly when his little sister appeared right in front of him, her horn blazing. She was significantly different from the last time he saw her, but it was definitely still Twilight. “Twily?” He asked in surprise. “Wait a sec, Shiney.” She ordered with surprising authority. The violet light engulfing her horn seemed to explode into the ground, a field of light expanding along it. Shining was knocked back by the sheer force of Twilight’s casting, the spell almost knocking him off his hooves. He could only watch in amazement as ponies were shaken to the ground as the field of energy passed beneath them. What had happened to his dear little sister? Rainbow was getting antsy already. Why did she let Twilight just ditch her like that? She glanced at the attacking pegasi and barely managed to hold back a snarl when she saw a flaming trail behind one of the pegasi. It was Spitfire, one of her personal heroes. How could the captain of the Wonderbolts do something like this? Her glare was drawn away by one of the other ponies. She looked back at the dome to see a violet shape spreading along the ground. It was an enormous six pointed star, one that encompassed almost the entire battlefield even before one counted the points of the star. There was a series of resounding cracks that shook the ground. To the amazement of everypony watching, the ground rose up. Along each of the points of the star, a piece of the ground was ripped from the earth, curling towards the center of the shape. Above the shield of Shining Armor, a second, much larger, dome was being built. Rainbow was gaping as she watched Twilight’s magic construct the enormous earthen barrier. Her friend really was amazing. Once the dome was complete, Twilight appeared atop it and spoke to their enemies. The cyan pegasus, on the other hoof, narrowed her eyes as she glared at the sky. If Twilight was going to do all of this, then Rainbow could do no less. She couldn’t make shields or teleport. What she could do… No, what she was going to do was make sure that Spitfire didn’t disgrace the name of the Wonderbolts anymore. If she could take out the leader, then the others would be disorganized. It would probably bring an end to the whole battle. For the first time in her life, Rainbow Dash prepared herself to kill a pony she had once known and looked up to. “Alright, Shiney.” Twilight sighed in relief as the spell finished. It was not easy to move that much stone around. It wasn’t just that it was a draining spell, it was also incredibly difficult to actually get the spell to work. She had basically used telekinesis to just move the earth. “You should be safe here. You’re too drained to fight and a lot of your ponies are hurt.” “Twilight, what are you talking about? Where do you think you’re going?” “I’m going back out there.” She declared. “I can’t let them get away with this.” “Twilight?” Shining was shocked at the way she was talking. “Princess Celestia named me her Solar Champion. That means that I have a duty to the ponies of Equestria. I’m going to go and teach those traitors just what it means to turn against our country.” “Twilight, I…” He closed his eyes, unable to believe what he was about to say. “I suppose I can’t say anything against wanting to serve your country. Just… Just be safe, ok? And good luck.” Twilight smiled at him. “Thanks BBBFF.” She said as a brief purple flash replaced her body. She reappeared atop the dome, conjuring a protective shield around herself to block lightning. “I am Twilight Sparkle, Solar Champion of Equestria.” She declared, amplifying her voice with a quick spell. “You have ambushed an ally of Equestria and inflicted grievous wounds upon them. This is your one and final chance. Surrender now and we will not be forced to harm you.” The only response she received was an attempt to overwhelm her shield with lightning. Her eyes narrowed in response. “So be it.” She hissed, her horn ablaze. Concentrating her power, she unleashed a beam of light into the air. The beam split apart into innumerable bolts of light that tore the storm apart. She shook her head. Using that many extremely high power spells in quick succession took its toll, even for her. Regardless, it had the effect she wanted, scattering the pegasi. She took a deep breath as she drew in ambient magical energy to restore herself before joining the battle. “If I had to guess, that’s the signal.” Rainbow remarked, a little surprised by the incredible effect of Twilight’s spell, but not allowing it to slow her down. She glanced at the rest of the Twilight Brigade to see that Gaze seemed to be staring off into space, while the others had moved towards the battle. She waved a hoof in front of the unicorn’s eyes, earning no reaction whatsoever. She realized that he was using his projection ability, so he probably couldn’t even hear her. She took to the air, shooting towards a certain group of blue-suited pegasi. She unleashed her Sonic Rainboom once she was close enough for it to affect them. Her hooves drove into one of the pegasi, as Spitfire dodged out of the way. She forced her regret away as she turned towards one of the other Wonderbolts. She delivered a lightning fast series of blows that left him reeling. She tackled him while he was stunned, breaking their attempted encirclement. She shot towards the ground for a good distance before releasing the pegasus and turning back. Unfortunately, Spitfire was already on her. With blazing hooves, the older mare struck her. Rainbow did her best to block or avoid the strikes, to little avail. She couldn't help but grunt as she took a flaming hoof to the gut. "You could have been one of us, Dash!" The other mare snarled. "One of the greatest Wonderbolts in history. Now? Now you'll be nothing more than one more pegasus traitor." "Buck you!" Rainbow snarled. Despite her bravado, she was still getting her flank kicked. She tapped into her bracelet and released a bit more than half of the stored energy. A blast of rainbow light knocked the attacking pegasus away. Unfortunately, it didn't do much more than give her a moment to catch her breath. Two Wonderbolts shot towards Spitfire, knocking her back through the Rainboom at Dash. The yellow pegasus slammed into Rainbow, blazing hooves first. She did a quick backflip, leaving a flaming trail behind her. She then kicked the cyan mare through the trail. Rainbow screamed as she passed through the flaming wall, the pain from her back hurting just as much. The bearer of Loyalty plummeted towards the ground like a falling star. (AN: I was so tempted to end it here. But I wouldn’t do that to you guys.) In the skies above, the battle was going relatively well for the Twilight Brigade. Winterjet's frost-coated wings proved to be quite effective weapons against the pegasi. She was remarkably agile, and skilled enough to outmaneuver most of the pegasi. Arcane Gaze, for all his stumbling and awkwardness in normal life, proved to be rather ruthless, bolts of magic sending pegasi falling to their deaths. The two earth ponies were able to at least harry the pegasi with ranged weapons. Rock Quarry proved remarkably adept at hurling stones, able to get large rocks fairly close to lower-flying pegasi. Ironhammer was able to send smaller stones high into the air with his hammer, though only in a straight line. Silent Shade was invisible, striking down those who got close enough. His range was rather short, but anypony that got close enough fell to his magic or small blade. Twilight joined the fight not long after her team, releasing devastating bursts of power that could remove several ponies, should they get close enough. She was easily able to predict where they would dodge, and slim beams of light sent them falling to the ground. Unlike her soldiers, she laced a pair of spells into all of her attacks that would slow their fall and keep them unconscious. She spotted the signature blue jumpsuit of the Wonderbolts on a pegasus and fired off a storm of small energy bolts. As expected of an elite soldier, the pony managed to evade them all. Unfortunately for him, Twilight had expected that. The bolts remained in the air around him. A moment later, they discharged their energy. It was impossible to dodge, as she’d effectively turned the air around him into her weapon. The pony fell hard, saved from a grisly fate only by Twilight’s mercy. Twilight turned away from the battle when she felt Rainbow's signature move. She managed to find her friend immediately and was shocked by what she saw. To her horror, she saw her friend falling from the sky, trailing flames and obviously burnt. "Rainbow!" The lavender mare cried in horror, her horn igniting with power. Violet tendrils of radiance lashed around her long horn, stretching down to scorch the earthen dome beneath her. "Rainbow!" Someone called out. They were calling for her. But it would be so easy to just keep her eyes closed. She was so tired... Couldn’t she just nap for a bit? But she knew that voice. She knew the one it belonged to. And there was no way she’d leave Twilight. The cyan mare's eyes snapped open and she spread her burnt wings, suppressing the pain. She managed to catch the wind and broke out of her free-fall. Spitfire had turned away, heading to join her comrades. Rainbow winced as she activated her bracelet, utilizing every last ounce of power she could muster. It was going to hurt a lot in the morning, but this was her only chance. With all the power of one of her Rainbooms directed behind her, Rainbow shot like an arrow, slamming into the older pegasus. Spitfire howled in pain at the collision. Rainbow used the opportunity to turn away, realizing that her final attack had failed. “You should have stayed down.” The yellow mare spat, a bit of blood leaving her mouth. She reared back, flames engulfing her. She was still coated in flames as she flew towards the cyan pony. A lavender flash of light interrupted her charge. Spitfire hurled herself to the side, narrowly avoiding a beam of light as wide as she was tall. “Get the buck away from my friend.” Twilight growled, her head down. She was somehow floating in the air. Her horn was still glowing, despite pointing towards the ground. Twilight barely needed to twitch to send a swarm of magical bolts at the Wonderbolt. Despite the ease with which she could attack, Twilight knew she wouldn’t last long in a mid-air battle. Regardless of her skills, the other pony was faster and better trained. By converting a significant portion of her power into pegasus magic, she could use it to float, resisting gravity in the same fashion that all pegasi did. Of course, without the appropriate wings and body structure, there was no way she could actually fly. She was basically using her horn like a rocket, holding herself in the air by sheer force of will. Like a top balancing, she knew that a single mistake would send her tumbling to the ground. If she had more time, she could cast something like the Flutterwing spell, but it was a difficult spell even under controlled conditions, and it was far too easy to disrupt for use in battle. “Tch.” Spitfire cursed, seeing Rainbow behind Twilight. Even scorched to the bone and exhausted, the cyan pegasus was still willing to fight. “Fine. You win this round.” The yellow pegasus turned around and flew towards the main body of the battle. Before long, the remaining pegasi were retreating. Twilight sighed in relief as she grabbed her hurt friend and teleported them both to the ground. She waited until the pegasi were gone before reaching out with her magic to release the earth dome. It wasn’t long before she heard a voice call out. “Twilight!” Her eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face at the sight of a sprinting purple dragon. “Spike!” She wrapped her hooves around the young dragon. “It’s so good to see you!” “Rainbow, darling, what have you done to yourself?” A horrified Rarity gasped as she stared at her burnt friend. Twilight had conjured a soft stretcher for the pegasus to sleep on. “Rarity!” Twilight was quite pleased to see her friend. “I’m really happy to see you’re safe, but please keep it down. Rainbow needs to rest. She’s been hurt pretty bad.” “What happened to her?” The bearer of Generosity asked, still horrified by the wounds on her friend. “She was fighting against Spitfire. You know, the captain of the Wonderbolts?” Twilight sighed. “Rainbow got hurt pretty badly.” Rarity shook her head. “I still can’t believe that we’re at war with ourselves.” “It’s gotten pretty bad.” Twilight agreed. “I can only hope that this ends soon, but I get the feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better.” “Speaking of better, what have you done to yourself, Twilight? You look amazing!” Rarity gaped, having finally gotten a good look at the lavender mare. “I…” The blushing mare shrugged helplessly. “I still don’t really know. It’s something to do with the Element of Magic, I think.” “Well…” Twilight trailed off as she turned around. Coming from Canterlot was a huge number of ponies. The reinforcements had finally arrived. “Well, now they show up.” Twilight grumbled.