//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: MLP: Starswirl of Solaris 
// by Evident Disaster 
//------------------------------//

CH9: The Entropy of the Heart

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3 Months later…

Location: North Equestria- Marington- ELA Headquarters- 'The Anvil'

To the far Northern plains of Equestria in the mountainous regions of Marington, stood a single fortress of onyx and obsidian constructed atop of the once active volcano Black Maw. The fortress was as intimidating as it was impressive, hundreds of meters high, and kilometres in length, it was a sight to behold for old archaeologists and old historians.

But for those of the ELA, this was their hold, their new home amongst the desolate mountains of the North; it was also essential in the war against Queen Nightmare and her Night Guard. The fortress was built originally over a thousand years ago, during the war against another foe called the Trolls of Grey.

The ancient enemy once had the ability to use magic and had an affinity for using their abilities to hunt and track Equestrians across vast distances; the fort was constructed out of special magically infused onyx and obsidian to conceal the location from the Trolls. The fort was abandoned after the war ended, but was used again, but that time it was used by Celestia when the Nightmare War began.

Celestia ordered her warriors to reconvene at the old fort to use as a base of operations when Nightmare Moon began her war, it was a place perfectly concealed and Nightmare had known it was harder than any other castle or fort in the kingdom to attack. Which worked for Celestia in terms of attrition, Nightmare back then didn't have as many supporters, and her ranks were mainly made from magically created golems which hadn't had the capacity to learn from mistakes.

Nightmare's armies had failed to capture the fort over a dozen times, and helped Celestia buy time to mount a desperate counteroffensive which ultimately forced Nightmare back to Everfree Castle where the war ended. It was then Celestia decided to have the fort preserved, and garrisoned by a small troupe of guards to ensure that one day when either Nightmare or something worse came to rise, they'd be prepared.

But in the time gone by, the ancient fort became more of a site of historical significance rather than a guard station, many scholars and archaeologists came to the fort to study the old Equestrian army's history and the legacy of much of the magical weaponry constructed back in the day. Needless to say, the facility was quite a mess when the ELA had begun its mass exodus from Equestria.

The fortress buzzed with life once more, its dark stone hallways echoed with chatter of warriors, the sounds of swords clashing in unison in practice drills, troops speaking of times spent in their service. And amongst this, Shining Armour listened, carefully as the echoes of his warriors prepared for the coming storm.

The first major engagement had passed only a month ago near Manehatten, something of which was a victory for the ELA, he recalled how gruelling that engagement was, having to battle former comrades and the waves and waves of soulless golems. But thankfully most of the Royal Guard, Local Guard and such had all defected to his side when the exodus began.

Though there were a few familiar faces amidst the forces of Nightmare, Manehatten was opened up by the ELA, enough time for people to flee the city and join the ELA in its mass migration to the North. But the battle had been costly, a full battalion had been lost and a number of wounded had to be brought back.

There was also the fact that Nightmare had brought forth her new warriors, clad in Moonstone Armour, the Night Reavers had made their debut, tearing into the ranks of the ELA, and Shining had a hard time trying to bring one of them down. He hoped that Nightmare hadn't recruited any more or this was going to turn from a war of attrition into a gruelling death match.

The former Captain of the Royal Equestrian Guard stood in his spot watching into the great basin of the mountain the fort stood within, his mind going over the past few months. The situation down south had gotten worse, it seemed that the Night Guard had targeted the clans of roaming Buffalo and nearly wiped out 2 major clans, one being the Strongheart clan and the other being Foremind.

Foremind was a clan consisting of buffalo with great wisdom and accumulated knowledge of the land, not to mention they had the largest number of Shamans and tome crafters. Their abilities to use the elements of Earth in battle were quite well known throughout the southern lands of Equestria. And Strongheart had the largest force of warriors to date, their clans protected large reserves of land in the southern lands, granting them to have a much larger clan.

From what the Appleossans informed him, the situation had gone awry when Nightmare dispatched a full battalion to hunt down a member of the Apple Family, Braeburn and a few others, they had begun a rebellion and lead attacks against trains from mining operations in the south carrying tons of raw iron and copper ore, not to mention there was a few carrying Moonstone.

Nightmare's patience had grown thin and sent her forces against Braeburn en masse; it led to the battle of Highnoon in which the buffalo clans had gotten involved. With this open act of opposition, Nightmare summoned as much of her reserves and sent them into annihilating the clans, which would have succeeded if the ELA hadn't dispatched Spitfire's elite RAF squadrons to even the playing field.

Even so, the battle had nearly cost the buffalo two clans of great significance and the ELA support from the south. At the moment Braeburn and his band had gone to ground with the buffalo and were awaiting their next major plan to hinder Nightmare's control in the south. This was good news all in all, but there was something that bugged Shining.

In the past month he had been hearing of strange occurrences between Starswirl and Twilight, from what he could get from spies in the village, the two have been having a bit of a fall out. He wondered as to why, but he couldn't put his hoof on it, as he thought over his last encounter with his sister, his chest hurt, seeing her acting like that.

Her eyes burned of something rather than just hatred, it was a feeling of malice, true and absolute, but then there was something else, something that just wasn't right. He couldn't figure it out, but it bothered him, not to mention Twilight's daughter Starswirl who he recalled had called him 'brother'. He felt confused, but something told him there was more going on with Starswirl than met the eye.

He asked his spies to keep him in the loop with what was going on in the village, for now he had other concerns, mainly the focus of Nightmare Moon's operations in the east of Equestria, from what he was told there was something major brewing along the coast of Newport. He had a few observers set out last week, but they had yet to report.

He was beginning to worry about what was going on. It was then he heard the subtle knock at his door followed by the call of his personal attendant. "Enter." He told them as he turned his head back into his personal quarters.

The door opened up as a young colt entered into the office, he was no more than 10, but Shining recalled his name. "Pipsqueak, how've you been?" He asked the young colt.

The boy had a parchment in mouth but managed to reply. "Good sir!" Well it sounded more like a strangled chicken with a pillow over its head, but it was enough.

The colt put the parchment on his table and saluted before exiting the room, the young boy had more on his plate to deal with than just dealing with sending messages across the fort. As the door closed, Shining turned his attention to the parchment which was now on his table.

He pulled up his chair, a magenta coloured cushioned arm chair, he managed to sit, but his under armour made the chair creak from the weight. Shining didn't bother to get out of armour since there was still another round of checks to make later, he'd rather not have to spend 5 minutes getting strapped in again.

He made a quick observation of the parchment and checked the seal, it was a blue wax insignia of a hawk, he immediately knew it as Spitfire's RAF symbol and he pulled open the parchment and began to read its contents. And he honestly couldn't believe what he was reading, it had only been the first paragraph but he could already tell that the situation was far worse than he thought.

[Parchment]

As of the 14th day of the Seventh Month, we have managed to recover our observation teams from the north of Newport and the west, each observation team has informed me of what has been occurring at the sea side city. From what had been gathered, Nightmare's forces are currently amassing a large number of workers in the docks to begin construction on a number of ships.

Not sailing ships, but large airships, from what could be determined it seemed about 3 dozen ships are currently under construction, 6 of those being constructed are large dreadnought sized vessels. The observation teams have also noted a number of the constructs are not just using enchanted balloons for travel, but instead they are being made with arcane engines and enchanted crystals.

From what the observation teams determined, the first few airships will be completed within the month, the larger vessels will take a while longer, but Nightmare has been bringing in more of her golems to supplement the work force, at the moment the current total of workers number of 3000.

As commander of the RAF, I must recommend we take immediate action while we can; the airships in their current state are vulnerable to attack. Taking any longer may put our forces in the skies in jeopardy. This is merely a recommendation; however I strongly feel we do something prior to the launch of Nightmare's fleet.

[End]

Shining felt the weight of his command beginning to weigh down, looks like Nightmare was trying a new strategy, if what he read was right, then she was trying to gain air superiority, needlessly to say, she already had a number of air capable fliers in her ranks, but then again the RAF was made of Equestria's best fliers, along with the most experienced.

She was trying to level the battle in the skies with more arcane methods rather than going up in a straight up fight, impressive, but also worrying. Shining could tell that fleet wasn't just made for dealing with the fight in the skies, but also it was intended as a means of moving Nightmare's armies across the high and treacherous terrain of the northern mountains.

She intended to use them to besiege the fort whilst her forces on the ground moved into place to assault the fortress, but of course from what he read on the movement of Nightmare's armies, there was only a division within a fair distance between the mountain and the fort, it would take quite some time to mobilise them.

Shining realised that he had to make a move, sooner rather than later.

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Location: Unknown

Spike could hear the rustle of bushes as he waited for another Night Guard patrol to move past, he didn't need to wait long since the patrols in the Whitefall region had been stretched particularly thin in the past month or so. It seemed Nightmare had prioritised the threat from the ELA and the rebel factions ahead of anything else so it lessened up on other small cells to operate.

Once the sounds of hoofsteps had gone and the clanking of armour had gotten distant, he made his move, pulling himself from the underbrush on the side of the dirt road; he carefully began to follow the road ahead to the town. He knew that this was probably outright reckless of him since he knew that Night Guard had better night vision than him.

But he had to risk it since the girls needed his help; he cursed his luck when this war began. Nothing but near disaster had befallen the CMC when he brought them to Whitefall to hide them from the Nightwatch which were now scouring Ponyville for the sisters of the Elements. He recalled that nearly tearful departure months ago.

The girls having to be forced to cut ties with their sisters and close friends to continue to hide and fight, the CMC had begun their own little escapade in the time since the start of the war. The first one being the major reason for them ending up as fugitives. The start of all of this was when the girls snuck aboard a cart of supplies inbound for the mines on the outskirts of Ponyville.

It seemed that the girls had gotten into a heap of trouble when they managed to accidently cause a major catastrophe for Nightmare's work force and her plans, a large cavern packed with arcanite crystals had gone off in a spectacular display of fireworks caused by the CMC, the details were sketchy since the girls really didn't want to get into trouble. But it was enough to have them get out of harm's way before Nightmare had their heads.

Whatever the cavern packed with arcanite crystals were, it had been a major thorn in Nightmare's side, and it was enough for her to warrant an arrest for the girls, Spike who had also sort of been involved had no choice but to take them to the safety of the outer regions of Equestria where they'd be less likely to be discovered.

Since their departure, the girls had been having the time of their lives, if you could believe it, and Spike was having migraine after migraine since. They caused more trouble and chaos than Pinkie Pie hyped on coffee, and there was an incident in regards to that particular substance. Spike couldn't figure out what was worse, having to deal with Twilight of Malice or dealing with the CMC.

Applebloom had taken to learning the art of engineering by taking apart whatever she saw and then building it into whatever she needed, it was good at least for the most part, she caused an unbelievable mess the first time she tried to build an auto catapult, it turned into a giant jackhammer.

Also there seemed to be a hazardous amount of explosives which she mysteriously acquired in their travels, she packs most of it into her magically enchanted duffle bag, which weighed virtually nothing, of course she has 3 and her engineering harness which she scrounged off some poor sod that was blasted by the mining explosion back in Ponyville Quarry.

Sweetie Belle had taken to learning magic in the most haphazard fashion, something Spike has learnt firsthand since she turned him older, her spell was meant to provide a protective bubble instead it created a temporal field which altered his age by a few years. He was slightly older and taller now, but had more prominent scales not to mention he had a lot more physical strength added.

Nonetheless Sweetie's skill in magic had been improving along with her skills as a bard, she carried an enchanted lyre and violin with her, one being able to put ponies to sleep and the other capable of sending magical sound waves which were sharp, and capable of cutting everything to shreds. Of course she had been hesitant on using such an instrument in real combat, she had seen the bloody mess created by the violin and it frightened her.

As for Scootaloo, she was getting quite fast with her flying, her abilities had improved in the time they'd spent getting to Whitefall, but also there was the fact that she had some help from him in that regard and also one strange poet named Zecora. The zebra alchemist had joined them from Ponyville when Nightmare's guards had begun to scour the forest for rebels, but also begin construction on Nightmare's new city.

Scootaloo got into speeding around quite well, but also the use of her speed made her a capable thief, she had gotten good at pickpocketing guards and other ponies whilst on their travels. She managed to snatch Spike's watch with Rarity's picture in the front cover more than once. He figured that she had a likable skill in being a kleptomaniac. But the aspiration to become a great flier still hadn't died in her heart since they departed from Ponyville.

But there was one more thing that Scoot's had to go with her flying; Zecora had been providing her with a special potion she called the Rainbow's Essence, it was a specially designed potion created to give the user tremendous amounts of power in flight, enough to blast a possible Sonic Rainboom or two. As much as that seemed awesome, there were side effects, Zecora surmised that the effects might cause extreme fatigue after use, which would make them vulnerable after they used it, but the benefits outweighed the risks in Scoot's opinion.

Spike honestly had no idea why he trusted that zebra with handling so much with the girls, but then again he really didn't have much of a choice, he didn't exactly have any caretakers with him or nurses. He hated it when it boiled down to him and Zecroa having to save the girls from their escapades.

Spike stopped as he reached earshot of rushing water, he was very close to the town entrance, he pulled himself back into the dense growth of the forest and began to slowly head towards the sound of rushing water. It didn't take long for him to get within visual range of the entrance; he could see where a cobblestone path picked up right after the dirt road ended.

A bridge stood at where the cobblestone began, it was at least four times the size of Ponyville's bridge, and stood much higher, its length was impressive as it had a support beam in the middle constructed upon a pillar of obsidian, it was an impressive sight. However the town wasn't called Whitefall for nothing, the rushing waters of a massive waterfall nearby made this town known.

The waterfall was a hundred feet high and had a length wide enough to fit the length of Ponyville inside, it channelled down into single massive stream which ran below the bridge, this stream carved its way in a semi-circle path around the town and split into a dozen smaller but intense streams and rapids which parted across the length of the area.

Whitefall was created upon the remains of a small mountain which had been carved out by the rushing waters of the waterfall some centuries ago; the townsfolk in their original settlement had built the town but discovered an amazing find amidst their settlement. They made the discovery of a rare material known as whitebrime, a material used in artisan work which was incredibly expensive and difficult to find.

After nearly a century of digging and mining, the quarry finally ran dry, the town however became wealthy and well inhabited, and the town was more a cultural vacation spot of interest than anything else. How Spike knew of all of this? Well Star helped him look for a book on the regions further away from Ponyville to the west, this was what he figured would be the best place to hide the girls.

It was an inconspicuous town which had a history of being popular place for tourists to travel to so not many people would be able to tell who the girls were since they'd just look like travellers. But then again, there was always the off chance something bad might happen, like what was going on right now.

Due to a slip up on the girls behalf, one of the locals had reported seeing the girls not far from the town, Spike had planned to intercept the message and silence the watchpony but sadly it hadn't gone well and there was a small inquisition of ponies under the command of someone named Trixie on their way to the town.

He hated leaving town so soon, but there really wasn't much of an option, once the Nightwatch were on their trails there was no way to tell how long it might take to lose them again. It was best to play it safe and get going early, but with the guards out now, that was easier said than done. He had to be quick in getting the girls out of town…

However it seemed fate had another thing in store for Spike, before he could make a move he heard the distant flapping of wings, he looked up. His heart paused as a carriage with the symbol of the Nightwatch arrived, he immediately began to worry, the Nightwatch had arrived early. If anyone was nearby they'd have heard the dragon swear profusely.

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Elsewhere…

The dripping sound of water was something that calmed her, she couldn't tell why, maybe a sentimental feeling of nature, rain? She wasn't sure, but it did calm her thoughts, it wasn't until the feeling of water fell onto her face that her eyes cracked open. Her vision was initially blurry from waking up so abruptly.

As she turned her head to the side, she remembered where she was, the inner dungeon of her sister's castle. Celestia felt her headache as she tried to focus, she knew that she was still feeling the buzz of the alcohol in her system, she felt dry in her mouth. As she came to look around the empty chamber, she noted that an undetermined amount of time had passed since she had been imprisoned.

Her magic felt weak as ever, but something felt different, she looked around herself, bottles of cherry wine and pillows lay in a wide arc. She noted that there was an absence of guards, but a tray of food sat on a table nearby it had a glass of water with it. She tried to focus on the cup and lifted it magically.

She brought the cup to her dry lips and began to down the content; it didn't take long for her to sate her thirst. She put the cup back gently with her magic and laid her head down once more upon the soft pillow. However she finally noticed something different, the water drip had been coming from above.

She turned her head upwards and found the source, at the height of the chamber the lamp in her room was illuminated by a magical light stone which was chained to the top, water was dripping in from there. She couldn't figure out why… Was there a leak in the surface above? She couldn't put her hoof on it, but the room was sealed tight, so why was there water leaking in?

It then hit her like a sack of bricks, she turned to face the transparent glass like walls of her prison, and the feeling of magic had gone from them. 'What is this? Did someone remove the spells?' She pressed a hoof onto the hinged glass door of her prison and pushed forwards. It didn't take much effort, but the door swung open.

The first time in a while she could step out of her prison, but what caught her attention was the odd sound of silence, there was no sound of guards, the thrum of ponies walking around. Something that was now highly disconcerting, she pushed forwards from her prison and exited into the darkened antechamber.

The cold floor was there to meet her hooves, and for the first time in months she stopped and looked up and began to laugh.

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