Chapter 25
The Last Dawn
Pt.2
The candles were burning away, their flames casting dancing shadows on the cold walls of the round chamber. The silence in the War Room was deafening; the table was packed with ponies. Blink sat, as always, next to Luna, yet on the other side of the Princess’ two seats were now free, instead of one. The ponies that were present would sneak a glance at the empty seat, all wondering the same questions. The reunited army council was stunned by the news, and Luna was darting her eyes from one pony to the other, seeking some sort of unspoken answer.
“He could have just- I don’t know . . . why would he do such a stupid thing?” one of them asked. “Our General of the Armies . . . gone; dead for all we know-”
“He has not perished!” Luna broke out.
“Dead or not, this is treason,” Dark Shine’s tongue slithered from one side of the table.
Blink shot a deathly glare to the one accusing his soon to be brother-in-law, the air around him dropping in temperature.
“A very small battalion; two, probably three hundred stallions; most of them ponies he directly commanded when he was Captain of the Royal Guard. This was done in great secrecy, and we only found out of this by hearsay,” another high ranking officer said.
“Do we know anything else about their current whereabouts?”
“They must have arrived at Tartarus by now. Same is to be said about the main changeling swarm,” Luna spoke. “Now we can only hope he knew what he was doing. What other news do we have?”
After a heavy moment of silence, Spitfire was the one to speak first. “Your Highness, we managed to gather fifteen thousand more pegasi. We now have almost forty thousand ready, all gathered on Cloudsdale. The city is relocating to a safer location as we speak.”
“Any other supplements?”
“We have some forces coming from up north. They managed to sneak past the changeling lines without being detected, though the report is unclear as to how,” Iron Hooves reported.
“That is good. How do we look on casualties so far?”
“Minimal, your highness. Most villages and towns in the changeling swarms’ path were evacuated. Ponies took to the forests and mountains where they would be safe. The swarms seem to be heading straight towards Canterlot now. Gryphons are flying from the east and now we have more reports about the minotaurs coming from south-west. They’re all closing in on us.”
“It'll be hard to call this a war. It'll be over in one battle,” Spitfire murmured, more to herself.
“How many days?”
“Two. Three if we’re lucky,” Iron Hooves estimated.
“Have we considered all possibilities? We have entire divisions on each side of the continent,” Blink asked.
“They’ve been ordered to move towards us, and small battles with enemy troops left behind have already taken place. Their armies are sandwiched between us and them, but even so, we are greatly outnumbered. We have to wait for all changelings, gryphons and minotaurs to strike before we can order the outer troops to move in. If we don’t time it properly, one of our sides will be devastated, and then the other will have the same fate.”
“Meeting adjourned,” Luna interrupted them. “We’ll resume it as soon as we get more information from our eyes out in the kingdom.”
The room was filled by the sound of chairs dragged across the floor as all the ponies stood up to salute. “Training session, first thing in the morning,” the Princess briefly told Blink as she left. He nodded in understanding then left as well, making his way towards one of the castle’s towers.
As soon as he opened the door to Twilight’s old room, the unicorn rushed to him, trapping him into a powerful embrace. It has been less than a couple of days since the night he proposed to her, yet they’ve only talked to each other but a few times ever since.
“Twilight, we need to talk.”
She raised her tearing eyes to him briefly before burying his face into his neck. “Shining left me a letter.”
Blink’s heart sunk in his chest. “Twilight . . . I didn’t know he would do this. We just found out as well.”
She looked him in the eyes. “I don’t want you to go.”
He stood silent.
“I said I don’t want you out there! It’s bad enough as it is, and I couldn’t convince Rainbow to stay with us either.”
Blink began to shake his head. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I can’t. I have to do this.”
“No you don’t!” she yelled, tears flowing down her face. “This isn’t even your kingdom!”
He felt a pang in his chest, her words cutting deep. Yet he knew she would say just about anything for him to stay with her. There wasn’t a thing in the entire world that he wouldn’t have wanted more than that, but to him that was simply not a possibility.
“We are outnumbered Twilight, I can’t stay in this castle while thousands die to defend it. My friends will be out there, fighting. Pearl, Chaser, even Rainbow Dash.”
“I can talk with Princess Luna and have all of you exempt. And you can still help from a safer place; Blink, please . . . I don’t want to lose you. It’s hard as it is knowing that Shining might be-” She sat down on the floor, her legs too shaky to hold her. Twilight’s eyes wandered around as she raised a hoof at her trembling lips.
“I’m going to be safe, Twilight. I promise. I don’t want to do this as much as you do, but-”
“Lies! You want to fight, you want to kill!” Twilight face was now scrunched in anger, her eyes red from the tears and pain. “Admit it!”
It hurt him to hear that, not because the words were said in anger and spite, but because somewhere behind them, behind the thin veil of meaning, Twilight’s words were true.
“I have to do this . . .” he simply said, his eyes avoiding hers. “I hope you can understand, but there’s nothing you can do to change my mind.”
The tremor in her eyes was enough to figure out the pain she felt. “But we’re . . . together, Blink. As- as mare and stallion,” she stammered, desperately trying to find something that would make him stay.
“I know. That’s why I’m doing it,” he added with a pained smile then did the hardest thing he had done in his life: he turned away, and without giving her another look, Blink left the room, leaving Twilight alone in her dismay.
He barely made it to the bottom of the tower, before smashing a hoof in a wall. “Fuck it! Fuck it . . .” he muttered, trying to calm himself. “It’s okay, she’ll be safe . . . it’s all that matters. It doesn’t- ohh god, what have I done . . .” he said with a lost gaze, trying to convince himself that he did the right thing back there.
“Blink . . . Blink, are you okay, mate?” a familiar voice brought him back to reality. Chaser was standing in an archway nearby, looking somewhat worried.
“I’m fine,” he said with a fake smile, clearing his voice.
“Yeah, nice try. What happened?”
Blink went past him, and Chaser followed him. “Nothing just . . . marriage problems, I guess,” he said dejectedly, trying to pass a light chuckle. “Don’t worry about it though, you all right?”
“Yeap, shoulder’s perfect now and they just let me go from the castle’s infirmary ward. Now I was looking for ya. Nice Captain uniform you got there. How did you manage that again?”
“Luna appointed me, but more to give me a seat in the War Room.”
“Ohh, someone’s important now. So, how we doin’? Heard there are three nations coming down on Canterlot in a few days and our General left the capital last night with a division.”
“Yeah, Shining went rogue with a bunch of his old guards, have no idea how he’s going to face an entire swarm like that. He really didn’t like the idea of leaving Tartarus to fall in Changeling hooves. I don’t know what to do Chase, Twilight is devastated and I just- I don’t know how to handle everything.”
“Well mate, first thing’s first: you need to stop feeling bad for yourself, and remember that we’re all in this together. I know you Blink. You’re strong, but you just don’t know it; and I’m not talking only about magic here. Look, I’ve been ordered to remain in the castle for now, been promoted to Royal Guard Officer after the Gala attack, so I I’ll see you around, okay?”
Blink nodded. “Yeah, I guess I’ll see you around. Thanks, by the way.”
“Don’t mention it . . . Captain,” he added, throwing a salute in a comically manner before he went on his way.
*** *** ***
The night came, all too soon. Blink was sitting at the top of one of the castle watch towers, overlooking the entire city. From there he could see the mountain, the only one that dared to rise above the imposing castle behind him. Under the old peaks, a city of hundreds of thousands stretched wide, protected by an outer stone wall as old as the castle itself.
The capital, as the blue stallion watching over it, was sleepless. Thousands still worked feverishly to provide for the upcoming conflict, smoke trails rising from blacksmiths, factories and workshops around the city. High above in the skies, several tens of kilometers away, a large blob of clouds harbored another major city. Cloudsdale had stopped its approach on the capital so that the pegasi could rest for the night undisturbed. Even so, the floating city’s lights leaked though the clouds, shadows shifting as the base clouds moved around, restless in the night’s breeze.
Blink watched stoically as the moon raised above the distant line. His eyes pinned the horizon, wondering how far the enemy was from them. His heart leaped every time his eyes thought they saw something. An approaching set of wings beat made his ears flicker towards the source of the sound. The corner of his mouth twitched towards a slight smile as a purple dragon landed several feet in front of him, on the watchtower’s edge. He approached the stallion and quietly sat next to him on the stone bench.
“How’s Ponyville? Is Ruby okay?” Blink was the first to exchange words.
Spike watched the breathtaking view, eyes darting across the land and skies in front of him. “She’s fine. Everyone back home is fine. I arrived here a few hours ago, found out about Shining, also talked with Twilight and the rest.”
The night’s relative silence settled as the dragon paused, as if expecting Blink to say something regarding that. He didn’t keep him waiting too long. “I fucked up, Spike. Really bad.”
“I know,” Spike replied, not a tinge of anger in his voice. “And I would have doused you in flames by now if you hadn’t done it with a good reason.”
“So you understand?”
“Well, strangely enough, I can relate. Ruby was quite . . . angry when I sent her home.”
Blink stared wide-eyed at the dragon next to him. “You what?”
A pained smile formed on Spike’s face. “I told her I wanted her to stay in Ponyville, since I knew from one of the guards that our town is not in relative danger. She refused, saying that she wanted to help in the war and then I just- I just told her off. Said that she isn’t welcomed on my territory anymore. So she flew back home, to the Dragon Lands.”
“I’m sorry, Spike,” Blink said in genuine understanding. Spike simply nodded, trying to hold back his feelings. The stallion rested a hoof on his shoulder. “I know it’s hard, but it’s also for the best. Come on now, move your ass back inside the castle and watch over Twilight for me. Can you do that?”
“Yeah, guess I can. See you tomorrow?”
“I’ll be around, yeah. Good night, Spike.”
“Good night, Blink.”
The drake stood up, approached the edge of the tower and gave Blink one last look over the shoulder before jumping off. His wings caught the mountain’s breeze as he slowly glided down into the castle’s court, several hundred feet away.
Blink turned his head back towards the view in front of him, thoughts slipping away at the upcoming events. He threw a night guard cloak over his back. The autumn’s wind was getting colder with every passing day. Just as he was about to light up a torch from a rack nearby, the sound of hoofsteps made their way to his ears. He would have dismissed it as just a guard doing his round on the castle wall if it wasn’t for the distinct lack of armor’s clinking noises.
He inched closer towards the edge of the tower, craning his neck to see who it was on the wall beneath. It didn’t come as a surprise when he saw Luna simply standing there, staring at the capital basking in her moon’s light, her mane waving in the cold wind. But then a guard came from an archway on the wall, and stopped next to her.
“My Princess . . .” he said in a somewhat familiar voice, without even bowing.
Blink focused his eyes on the night guard, ready to teleport next to them and deal with him at the earliest signs of a threat. Luna however turned to the eerie guard and smiled lovingly, making Blink raise an eyebrow in confusion.
“Somewhere up there,” the guard said, pointing to a few clouds close above them, “is where we first met. I still remember that night, Luna. You looked beautiful, as you do now, my Princess.”
Blink’s jaw dropped. Princess Luna, having relationships with a guard? It all seemed so odd to him, an immortal alicorn pursuing a love interest with an ordinary pony was something Blink couldn’t have imagined. His mind worked feverishly, trying to figure out who the unknown stallion was. The guard’s helmet helped preserve his identity, however the familiar voice irked him greatly.
Luna draped her large wing over the guard’s back, and only then Blink noticed he was a pegasus, the Princess’s large feathers putting the stallion’s to shame. All the pieces started falling into place inside Blink’s head, yet the realization came just a moment after the guard removed his helmet. As the two lovers below softly pressed their lips against each other’s, Blink recalled a certain pegasus’s words as they stared at the night sky back in the Flatlands.
“I always wanted to meet her one day, ever since I found out she returned a few years ago.”
Blink stood there dumbstruck, watching as his best friend share a deep kiss the very Princess he served. He slowly returned to the stone bench, the initial shock fading away as loneliness replaced it. Deep inside, he genuinely felt happy for Chaser, but he couldn’t shake the sadness that came with his current predicament.
He pulled the cloak tighter around himself, steam gushing out his nostrils in the cold night air. “So that’s why he’s so fucking happy every time she’s around,” he huffed into the night, and despite all that was happening around him, a grin found its way on his face.
*** *** ***
Twilight walked alone along the Hall of Heroes, a long corridor riddled with large, white statues of old heroes of the kingdom. She remembered with heavy heart the days when, as a small filly, would roam the corridors and rooms of the castle, but the place she would love spending the most time -second to the library- was that particular hall.
Her eyes went over the life-size statues, their names imbedded in her memory. ‘Greyhound the Brave’, a courageous earth stallion that fought against the manticore packs way before Celestia and Luna revealed themselves to the ponies of those lands. Further down the hall the statue of ‘Silver Thought’ rested peacefully, a mare that even in present times was considered the greatest chemist to have ever lived.
Like them, many other dusty, white statues captured the figures of the greatest images of Equestria’s history. Eventually Twilight reached the end of the Hall of Heroes, and looked up to one particular pony statue. ‘Starswirl the Bearded’ posed bravely as one of the greatest wizards in pony history.
Twilight ran her hoof over the statue’s name plate, wiping the thin film of dust that had settled. There were no more cleaners ever since the Gala attack, just soldiers. She sighed, and left the hall in search of Princess Luna. She had come to realise that she’d fought for Equestria so many times before, and that should not be a moment to start making exceptions. Twilight wanted to help somehow, and Luna seemed to be the perfect pony to talk about it.
As she passed several other statues, ones that depicted ordinary guards and were an often sight in the rest of the castle, her eye caught a familiar glimpse. She turned and galloped down the sunlit corridor, darting her head in every direction once she reached a crossway.
“It can’t be . . . she hasn’t been here in almost a year,” she murmured to herself, rubbing her eyes. The stress was probably making her see things. Yet somehow, she caught the same glimpse through a large, tall window, into the floor right below and opposite to hers.
Twilight rushed through a staircase nearby and cantered into the wing of the castle that held the royal bedchambers. She halted near a large oak door, which was half-opened, sun rays sipping through and casting a bright spot on corridor’s stone floor. Her horn threw a spark, and a scroll puffed into existence, dropping on the sunlit part of the floor. The moment she noticed the seal on the message, she stepped inside, ignoring the message completely.
Her once pristine coat was dirty and damp, the royal garments were long gone and her silhouette was much thinner than she remembered. Yet the look in her eyes as she turned her head from the large window was warm and compassionate, the same as it always was.
Twilight ran to her mentor, hugging her chest while tears starting flowing down her already damp cheeks. “Princess Celestia . . .”
“Twilight, my dear, dear student . . .” Celestia whispered softly, draping a hoof around Twilight’s neck.
*** *** ***
A large golden shield bashed against his side, sending the stallion to the ground. Blink quickly raised to his hooves, eyes scanning the ponies in front of him.
A semicircle of stands formed an open-air arena, yet there were but a few attendants, which numbered, among other high-ranked military personnel, Luna, Rarity and a guard Blink recognized as Chaser, standing at a socially safe distance from the Princess.
A couple of pegasi charged at Blink, and he managed to avoid them in the last moment by blinking away. His recently mastered spell provided instant short-ranged teleportation, however, after a few dozen times he’d used that spell to dodge incoming attacks, his magic was already beginning to wear out.
The visor of his armor was annoying him, and the weight of the entire ensemble was not helping either. The heavy chainmail coat that stood between his fur and the actual armor pieces was hard to ignore, as it limited his movements and drained his stamina with every step he took.
His lungs burned for fresh air, heart pumping faster than an engine. An earth stallion swung his sword at him from the side, but Blink managed to grab it with his magic, throw it away, and then bash the attacker with an invisible magic blast.
He’d been at it for almost an hour. The exercise was organized specially for him, and it focused mainly on crowd control. Over three hundred soldiers were amassed for that drill, and a hundred of them had already been taken out of battle by the Deathbearer. No hard hits were swung from either side, yet there was a fair share of broken bones and flying teeth up until that point.
A large earth soldier charged at the tired unicorn, planting his hind legs into the ground and swinging a heavy sword at Blink. For a fleeting moment, the memory of a lovely noon was everything that crossed Blink’s mind.
“This, this is very weird,” Blink murmured from under his shades, lazily glancing at a book he was floating over his head.
“What’s weird?” came Twilight’s voice as she raised her head from atop his shoulder, the calm summer breeze rustling a few strands of her mane. She placed her own book that she was reading atop a saddlebag.
The stallion kept watching his book as he spun it slowly in the air, the blue glow around it shifting from corner to corner. “The less surface I hold, the bigger the lift force has to be to keep it afloat. That’s weird.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, a light chuckle leaving her lips. “Actually, it’s the same magical lifting force, you just have to concentrate it on a smaller surface, thus the illusion of it being harder to lift. I see Luna isn’t teaching you a lot of magic theory, is she?” the mare added with a playful jab.
Blink raised his head from the ground, taking in a deep breath and stretching his forehooves. He glanced at the lake and small house nearby, feeling a slight remorse for not living in that house anymore. It mattered not however, since he was still able to spend quality time with Twilight at their usual date spot by the lake.
“Blink?”
“Uhuh, yeah. Sorry about that, phased out for a bit there. Anyway, I was wondering: what would happen if you increase the magical force while decreasing the contact surface?”
“But . . . that seems like a very inefficient way of moving an object.”
“Yes, moving. But I was thinking about destroying it.”
Twilight rolled her eyes again. “Well, that is exactly what’s going to happen if you change those two parameters as you said: a ruined book. Imagine applying a lift force enough to move a few hundred grams on just a group of molecules.”
“Exactly. Or better, a thin barrier of magic with a pulling force that increases exponentially the closer an object is to it.”
“I’ll never know why you don’t use all that thinking to learn useful spells.”
“Hey, you never know when you might need it!”
Twilight shook her head, then slowly settled back into the stallion’s embrace, resting her head across his shoulder.
His horn surged with magic, time seemingly grinding to a halt as his eyes pinned the rapidly approaching sword. Bitter anger was everything that brought out the last drops of magic from within.
“It’s all for you, Twilight . . .”
The sword came bearing down, aimed directly at his shoulder. Mid-air, however, it hit a barely visible magic barrier, causing a burst of sand-like particles to emerge on the other side of it. The sword passed through the magic field, disintegrating itself under the tremendous forces.
The attacking stallion lost the momentum of his heavy weapon, and fell face first onto the training ground’s floor. He got up in a heart-beat, noticing he was no longer holding the entire sword in his hoof, but only the handle with a tiny part of the blade’s base still there.
Blink’s eyes started to hurt, as the pair of small magic-born lenses began to fade. His head was spinning and the tip of his horn was spitting blue sparks of residue.
In the first row of the stages, the Princess did not look too glad as she watched the exercise. Blink’s front knee buckled, and he fell against the arena’s dusty ground. A group of unicorns that were about to attack him with a rain of fire bolts stopped in the middle of their spell-cast, the fiery spheres fizzing away into the air.
The ruthless drill, the constant attacks from a multitude of enemies and especially the heavy armor had taken their toll on the midnight blue stallion. He raised his hoof as to halt the entire thing, however that proved to be a mistake. A dark bolt of magic blasted into his side, sending him tumbling across the arena. All the soldiers stared silently at the attacker, as she approached Blink with hurried steps, a thin strand of smoke coming from her horn.
“Thine enemy shall not ponder to give you rest. Dismissed!” Luna yelled at the rest, and the entire arena began emptying.
Blink got up, teeth gritted from pain and anger. “This thing is too fucking heavy,” he spat, throwing the helmet from his head. “And they’re too many. I can’t handle all of them without using more magic.”
“If thou uses more energy, thou shall also perish sooner, when the last drop of magic will flee from your body.”
“I can use my Night-”
“Thou shall do no such thing!” Luna’s voice boomed. “I would rather lose the battle than the entire world to your dark side.”
“If I may, Princess?” a more suave voice came from behind the alicorn. Rarity smiled sheepishly as he approached the two. “I wanted to see how he moves in combat so I can adjust the piece for him, but given how restrictive and rather heavy the entire thing is, I think I can come up with a better alternative. I’m a bit unsure about the availability of the materials though.”
“Do it, I will see to it that you have everything you need,” Luna said, and the white unicorn left to the castle in a hurry.
The Princess then leaned forward, grabbed Blink by the shoulder and helped him up. She floated the helmet from the ground and handed it to the worn-out stallion. “You must focus at all times, Captain Blink. I know of your fighting skills but today your mind was not in this arena.”
“I wonder what makes you think that?” he asked sarcastically.
“I am aware of your disagreements with Twilight, but you can not let that affect you, not when we are so close to the biggest conflict this kingdom has seen in centuries. It may sound harsh, but tis the truth: there are more important things at this moment that thy little ruckus.”
“I understand, Princess,” the stallion muttered, brushing the dust of his armor.
“Let us return to the castle. There is little we can do at this time regarding your training but I trust that you will bring out thine best in the fields of battle.”
“On the battlefield, you mean.”
“Tis’ what I said.”
Blink rolled his eyes, joining Luna in the short walk from the training grounds to the castle.
*** *** ***
An ear-piercing, obnoxious racket filled the metal hallway of the barracks at the dead-end of Hangar 1. Ponies came out of the small bunk rooms, their hoofsteps running against the grilled floor adding more to the rumpus. At the exit of the crew’s sleeping quarters stood Pearl, wearing a hearty grin while bashing two pots against each other.
Once all twelve stallions were out and standing in the hallway, he threw the pots away. “Come on ya lazy bastards, we’re late for chow.”
“Glad some things never change, Captain,” a tall unicorn with a chipped horn said, leaving the quarters first on his way to the canteen. The others followed suit, rubbing their hangover out of their eyes.
“I don’t think it was such a good idea to drink last night,” Silver said as he walked alongside Pearl.
“It was a bloody fine night, I’ll tell ya that, greenhorn.”
“That was over ten years ago, I’ve been a guard ever since, you know that from last night.”
“I’d be lucky if I remember any of yer or the boys’ stories from last night. Still, it’s nice to have the old crew back. Well, most of it.”
The two of them joined their crew in the hangars’ canteen, all sitting at one of the five large tables placed on a rock plateau overseeing the hangar’s interior from the mountain’s heart.
“Looks that those pansies still don’t have eyes for the likes of us,” one earth stallion said with a mouthful of potato salad, returning a spiteful glance at a nearby table seated by young pegasi wearing blue uniforms and matching army bonnets.
“To hell with ‘em! They’re just jealous that we did a better job than their daddies,” the tall unicorn with chipped horn said, food flying from his mouth as he spoke.
“Calm down Tiny, we’re in this war together,” Silver urged, digging into his food.
Soon after that, the entire canteen stood up to attention as Spitfire landed nearby, flanked by two other high-ranked pegasi officials.
“At ease!” came her loud order, and she headed towards Pearl’s table. “Captain Pearl, take your stallions and follow me to Hangar 1.”
The ponies at the table got up, muttering protests under their breaths, some of them snatching some food for the road, while others devoured the content of their plates as they rose from their seats in a hurry to follow the fiery General.
“You and your crew are slackers. But luckily for you, you’re the oldest, most experienced active slackers in the Zepp Force. And tomorrow I’m expecting the best out of you, do I make myself clear, Captain?”
“Yes ma’am,” Pearl replied while walking alongside her, his crew following in their steps.
After going through a service tunnel, they were back to their respective hangar, but that time they were on the service platform of their zeppelin, situated at the bottom of the large pony-made cave. Tens of workers and engineers were swarming on and around the zeppelin’s closed basket, hammering, drilling and moving equipment. Two metal arms branched out of the basket mid-section, holding a pair of engines but only one had a brand new eight-foot tall propeller attached to it, the other one lying on the ground nearby. On the side, one could barely make out the name of the ship, the paint almost being almost entirely peeled off.
Spitfire raised an eyebrow, then turned to the white captain. “Celestia’s Pearl? This zeppelin was never white to begin with.”
The Captain and his entire crew behind him held devious grins on their rough faces. “Well pardon me General Spitfire, but have you ever seen Celestia’s pearl to know of its color?” Pearl asked, refraining from bursting into a laugh.
Spitfire’s mouth hung opened for a few seconds but as she narrowed her eyes at the white stallion, the pegasus quickly remembered her priorities. “You and your crew are to be ready for battle by tomorrow. The hangar’s master engineer over here is going to explain all the technical details regarding your air ship. And no more drinking tonight, we’re at war for Celestia’s sake!”
She then turned away from the stallions and took flight, followed by her subordinates.
“Well someone needs to get that stick out of her fine rump, and I know just the thing that’ll help,” one stallion said, playfully jabbing the engineer with a hoof, sporting a mile-wide grin.
“I don’t know about that gentlemen, but uhh- yes, your ship is-”
“Lay it out straight doc, how bad is she?” Pearl asked, picking up a piece that looked as if it came from one of the engines, then throwing it away over his shoulder.
“Well, she needs a lot of work. The basket is pretty old and the walls’ metal core is rusting away. I also noticed when I first went in that it was originally an open, low hanging basket.”
“Ye’r right about that, doc. Crank Shot, up ‘n center!” Pearl shouted at his crew, and a short unicorn stood out of the group. “This horny grease monkey did all the work on Celestia’s Pearl. Even soldered the basket shut and taped it to the balloon, for more speed and agility.”
“I see,” the engineer said, thoughtfully. “We had to re-weld the piece but it should be fine now, don’t really have time for a proper conversion, I’m afraid. Now, about the engines: they were dead. Replaced most internals, had to adjust and put together many pieces just to make them fit into those two ancient things. They’re the largest I’ve ever seen, I’m surprised the arms held being pulled by them with all that torque.”
Followed by the crew and their captain, the engineer walked along the platform, going through a small archway and outside of the hangar, on an exterior platform. There, a large balloon spanning at least a hundred feet across was slowly being filled up, huge canisters hooked up to it.
“The old one was in too bad of a shape, so here’s the new balloon. Again, we had to use the largest we had just so it can lift the whole basket once it’s fitted. Similar to the other ones however, the material for your balloon was enchanted by Archmage Dark Shine himself to repel exterior forces. Don’t rely on that however, it won’t last too long under concentrated attacks.”
As he spoke, the sun was slowly blocked away by a front of clouds, and one by one, the crew members raised their heads and stared at the sight above them. Dark layers of clouds advanced high up in the skies, putting the huge mountain to shame. The light levels lowered and lowered, the day turning into a late evening. The stallions continued to stare as the fast moving cloud layer revealed its end, which brought the realization of what it truly was.
Spread across the edge of the cloud base were over twenty spinning propellers, each roughly the size of one of their zeppelins. The blades slowed down, eventually coming to a stop, and banks of clouds extended out to the side, slowing down the floating city. Thousands of pegasi flew in and out of the clouds, looking like flies from the ground.
“Cloudsdale’s been ordered to re-locate behind the capital’s mountains, it’s the first time in decades they had to move out of their normal drift path. Anyway, back to your zepp,” the engineer said, noticing an approaching flocks of pegasi workers. They came down lowering large crates over onto the platform, over a dozen of them carrying each box.
The engineer grabbed a crowbar and pried open the side of the closest crate. “And this is another reason why your ship needed a larger, stronger balloon.”
Pearl let out a whistle as he ran a hoof along the large cannon inside the shipment container. “These are bigger than the ones I’ve seen on pirate ships at sea.” He then craned his neck and saw seven more crates stacked behind that one.
The engineer’s smile matched the captain’s enthusiasm. “Eight 42-pounder, fast reloading cannons. Largest ever built; we pulled them out of a museum for you guys. All the other zeppelins are fitted with 34-pounders.”
The crew burst into celebratory cheers, taking joy in their recently-confirmed weapon supremacy. The Captain snapped the whistle from the engineer’s neck and blew it loud, calming everyone down.
“Now then, open up this one too,” he advised, pointing at a slightly smaller crate with labels reading ‘Danger’ and ‘Extremely Fragile’. The engineer pony complied and as the side of the crate fell against the platform’s floor, everyone from the crew hustled to see the content.
The box contained hundreds of cannonballs resting on racks stacked on top of each other as well as several other smaller boxes at the bottom. Tiny took one such crate in his magic grasp, eagerly pulling it out. His chipped horn however made him use more magic than intended and he ended up spilling the content on the entire platform, much to Pearl’s annoyment.
“What the bloody hell are these?” one crew stallion asked, running a hoof through the layer of hundreds of large bullets littering the floor.
“This,” the engineer said, picking one of them up and showing it to everyone, “is ammo for something we’ll be getting by the end of the day from the city.”
The entire crew stared at it, the amazement on their faces fading into an eagerness one would normally see on foal’s faces when they opened up Hearth’s Warming Eve’s presents.
*** *** ***
The silence in the royal study was palpable. Twilight raised her eyes to her mentor as she fiddled with a large chest, floating it in the middle of the room next to them.
“So, how is she now?”
“The doctors said she will recover. I’m just happy that she made it,” Celestia responded, referring to Early Shimmer. “She’s resting in the royal medical ward right now, but hasn’t woken up yet.”
She opened the chest, the settled dust rising in the air. “Obviously it will need to be adjusted for you, but I am sure it will fit nicely. Twilight, I must say this again: are you sure you want to do this?” Celestia asked after taking a long look over the content.
“Yes, Princess, I am sure. I fought for Equestria in the past, this won’t be any different.”
The door opened slowly, revealing a multi-colored-maned pegasus. Twilight’s face brightened at the sight of her friend, who opened the door wider to reveal four other mares behind her. They all looked tired and stressed, Rarity having several dark spots on her otherwise pristine white coat.
“Oh my, you’re really back, Princess!” Fluttershy gasped, raising her hooves to her mouth.
“It is true, my little ponies. And I’m sorry for having to leave everyone in the first place. Those were very troubled times for me . . .”
The mares gathered around the alicorn ruler, and Celestia could do nothing to resist their warm, friendly group hug. Some of them however showed reluctance, namely Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Celestia somewhat understood Dash’s behavior, based on the military grades she wore on her flight uniform, but Applejack’s palpable sorrow was troubling her greatly.
“Applejack,” Celestia spoke, approaching the farm pony and laying a hoof over her shoulder, “I’ve heard about Big Mac, but other than relieving him of his duty, there is little that can be done to stop him.”
“It’s all because of this damn war,” she eventually spoke, eyes touched by a slight tremor. “He won’t even consider not fighting. The same with this hard-head over here.”
“Even so, there is another reason why we all came here,” Dash retorted. “Some of us will be fighting in this war, one way or another, and don’t think I don’t know about your plan, Applejack.”
The earth pony said nothing. “What plan?” Twilight asked.
“We’re going to be near the battlefield,” Fluttershy said, much to everyone’s surprise. “Applejack and I will help the injured ponies out. She wanted to be as close to Big Mac as she can, and I do too . . .”
“In that case, I will not stand here while you two are risking your lives like that,” Rarity affirmed.
“I don’t mean to be rude Rarity, but treating injuries isn’t as easy as it sounds,” Fluttershy said meekly. “I have a lot experience with animals and so does Applejack-”
“Fluttershy this is ridiculous!” Dash exclaimed, interrupting her. “It will be hell out there, and you of all ponies want to go into that?”
“Girls please, let’s not fight,” Twilight said, trying to calm everyone else before things would escalate. “If- if they want to go, then I guess they can go.”
Dash’s face dropped. “What? How can you support this, Twilight? You know very well that-”
“Because I’ll be there too. If Fluttershy and Applejack want to come and help the injured, I can’t tell them that they can’t because I understand why they are doing it. We all have ponies we care for which are about to face who-knows what very soon. And because of the bonds we share with them, making these kind of decisions is . . . understandable.” Her ear twitched a bit as she talked, feeling the slight weight of her engagement earing. “I believe however that Rarity and Pinkie Pie should stay here, in the city,” Twilight continued, turning towards the two ponies.
“You two can help much more here than you could on the war field. Rarity, I know you’ve been working the last days without resting, adjusting and improving armor sets for our soldiers and I also know that you, Pinkie Pie, have been cooking in the canteens for the new recruits ever since this whole thing started. While I have no idea how you managed to make enough food for thousands of ponies every day, I know for certain that we will need all that help in the following days as well.”
“So, that’s it? We’re all going our different ways?”
“No Rainbow Dash, we will all do our best to help Equestria face another danger, just like we always did. And we will never be separated, because our friendship is stronger than mere distance. I know this might be scary girls, but this time, this danger we face is much bigger than us, and we have to work with others to pull through it.”
“Wait just a minute,” Pinkie interrupted, pulling a small box from behind her, snapping it open in the air so that five necklaces and a small crown would land on everyone’s necks, and Twilight’s head. “Why don’t we use these? If we made Discord and Nightmare Moon go away, we can probably use them to help us!”
Before anyone could ask how she had the Elements with her the whole time, Celestia intervened: “I’m afraid the Elements of Harmony will not help us. You see, they were bestowed upon me and my sister so that we could use them to restore balance into this world. The presence of the spirit of Chaos and my sister’s Nightmare were things that disrupted this balance, and that’s why you were able to use them to defeat them. This war however is not an imbalance of such kind, but merely an attempt made by some of the species to restore natural order on this planet.”
“So, that’s a no, then?”
“Yes Pinkie, that’s a no,” Dash said with a groan, removing her necklace and tossing it back in the box. Just then, a loud knock was heard from the already opened door.
“Yes?” Celestia invited the guard in.
“Your majesty,” he said, taking a low bow. “It’s actually about you, ma’am,” he then turned to Rainbow Dash.
“Me? They already want me back up? Spitfire said I could take the day off!”
“No ma’am, it’s not that. I’ve been sent for you from the main gate. Canterlot’s main gate. They said someone by the name of Little Strongheart wants to speak with you.”
“It can’t be,” Rainbow murmured, dashing out the door.
“Also, your highness,” the guarding turned to Celestia, “I was told that your presence was required as well.”
The ponies looked at each other before leaving the study and making their way outside the castle. They took a chariot to the city’s gates, followed closely by a contingency of royal guards. As they went traveled the city, the heads of every pony would turn, and happy cheers were heard coming from everyone once they saw the returned Princess among them in those times. Celestia however couldn’t feel but worse about her absence, especially since she hadn’t even spoken to her sister yet.
Arriving at the gates, she stepped off, followed the five mares. Dash was already there, having a lively conversation with a large buffalo, guards littering the place.
“Guys, do you remember her?” Rainbow asked, turning to her friends.
“How could I forget? That was the best apple-pie fight I had in forever! Wowzye, Little Strongheart, you’re not that little anymore!” Pinkie exclaimed, somehow having climbed up on her old buffalo friend, looking in her eyes from above her head.
“Pinkie! Can’t say I miss your musical, but I’m glad to see you too.” She then saw the Princess and took a bow as best as she could.
“Princess Celestia, news of your departure was not a happy one for our tribe last year. I am glad to see you returned as well as to see you for the first time ever, it is truly an honor.”
“The pleasure is mine, Strongheart. If I may, why did you come to our capital, surely you must have heard about the impending war?”
“We did, your majesty, that’s why we are here.”
“We?” Twilight asked, looking behind her, yet failing to see anyone else but guards and other ponies going in and out of the city.
“Yes, we,” Strongheart repeated, heading out towards the gates. The six Elements bearers and Celestia followed her curiously, a thick tail of guards keeping close behind them. As they stepped outside the city walls, they all noticed a large group of buffaloes waiting outside. From the group, a particularly large one stepped out, he too taking a slow bow at the sight of the Princess.
“It’s good to see so many familiar faces and I’m glad you are all well. Princess Celestia, a happy day indeed to have you back among us. Ughh, forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself: I am Chief Thunderhooves, Great Chief of all the buffalo tribes across the dry lands. We came to answer the call of help made by your sister, Princess Luna; I brought one hundred of our tribes’ strongest males to fight by your side, because even if ponies usually don’t live together with buffalo, we are still Equestrians, and it is our duty to protect it as well.”
“Chief Thunderhooves, it’s an honor to meet you,” the alicorn said with a short bow of her head. “While I am not in charge of organizing our troops, I want to thank you on behalf of everyone for your help.” She then turned to the nearest guard. “Please see to it that Chief Thunderhooves and his buffalos are accommodated within our city, and notify the generals and my sister about their arrival.”
The guard saluted and at Thunderhooves’ command, the entire buffalo herd proceeded to follow the guard, into the city.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to fight with us too?” Dash asked Strongheart.
“Why not? By the looks of things, you are going to fight as well,” she said, pointing a hoof at dash’s uniform and military grades. “We’re all in this together after all, right?”
Dash’s mouth hung open as she failed to find a proper argument. “Yeah, I guess we are. Thanks for the help, Strongheart.”
“No worries, Rainbow Dash, see ya later, okay?” the happy buffalo girl said, joining the chief.
As Celestia was about to step into the carriage, a group of guards landed nearby. From within their ranks, Cadence stepped out.
“Celestia!” she exclaimed, rushing to the white alicorn.
“My dear Cadence, I’ve heard about Shining from Twilight; I’m so sorry about what happened,” Celestia said, embracing the smaller alicorn, which returned the hug immediately, her eyes tearing up. “I’m sure he is all right however, he would never leave you or Emerald like that.”
“I- I know he wouldn’t. Ohh auntie, I’ve missed you so much! I searched for you at the castle when I heard about your return then came here after you. Are you okay, where were you all this time?”
“I’m fine Cadence, don’t worry about me.”
“Your Highnesses, I’m sorry to interrupt but I think you need to see this.”
A distant noise of marching soldiers coming from the front gates became louder and louder, making everyone stop in their tracks and turn their heads towards the capital entrance.
“Princess Celestia!” a deep voice was heard from behind them.
Coming out of a war chariot were General Dark Shine and Iron Hooves. They immediately took a bow in front of the Princess. “It’s good to have you back in times like these, your Highness,” Iron Hooves spoke, but his attention was soon caught by the increasing noise coming from the gates. “It has to be the troop core from the North that made it through the changeling swarms.”
Soon enough, the first lines of soldiers came through the gates, marching in perfect sync. All of them were fully armored earth stallions and sported banners of the Crystal Empire. They continued their march into the city, their seemingly endless numbers coming to an end only after a few minutes.
“This is impossible, they couldn’t have sneaked past the changelings in such numbers, those creatures can feel ponies from miles!” Dark Shine said from behind the Earth pony General.
The entire block of soldiers came to a sudden stop as soon as the last line of them was within the city’s walls. Their formation stretched for hundreds of feet and filled up the main road going into the capital.
“Who is your commander?” Iron Hooves asked, stepping towards them. Neither of the thousands of ponies in the formation bulged. The Earth General turned his head back, his eyes landing on Cadence.
She hesitantly took a few slow steps towards them. “I’m not sure who they are . . . the Crystal Empire doesn’t have that many soldiers.”
The entire brigade of armored stallions snapped to attention in perfect unison, then turned ninety degrees to face their Princess. A single banner pony took a step forwards, ignoring Iron Hooves and only looking at Cadence. He smashed a hoof against his chest piece, the gesture repeated a second later by the thousands behind him. He then took his helmet off, making everyone’s eyes widen in amazement. Everyone’s, but Celestia’s, who simply approached her nice.
“Cadence, these are not real ponies. It is why the changelings didn’t feel their presence.”
Cadence’s mind worked relentless, eyes darting from her aunt to the troops in front of her. Soon enough, a distant memory from her fillyhood resurfaced.
“The legends of the Crystal Guardians? It can’t be true!” she said in a low voice. “It was just a tale you told me when I was young, I . . . I never saw them in the Crystal Empire!”
“Do you remember how the legend went?” Celestia asked, looking into Cadence’s eyes.
“The crystal warriors sleep an endless sleep in the depths of the caverns underneath the Crystal Palace, and awake only to protect their beloved ruler in times of need,” Cadence murmured, recalling the old tale she heard from her aunt as a filly. “But I don’t get it, why didn’t they come out when we fought Sombra all those years ago?”
“Well, if I recall correctly, you became their Princess after you saved the kingdom from Sombra’s darkness.”
“Sounds like a weird technicality to consider, if you ask me,” Twilight chimed in, taking a closer look at the Crystal Guardian standing at attention. “But they do seem to be made out of pure crystal, and there’s a strong magic presence in each of them,” she added, her horn glowing slightly as she scanned the banner pony. “So, they don’t speak?”
“It is said that they don’t talk nor feel; their purpose is simply to serve their Princess in dire times. Their origins alone are unknown, some ponies think they are the ones that built the Crystal Empire and protected it as it grew with life,” Cadence continued recalling the legend.
“This will be a great addition to our ground troops, Princess Cadence,” Iron Hooves said, sizing up the brigade.
“You are right, but . . . I can’t be the one leading them into battle.” She turned to her soldiers, her decision already made. “Crystal Guardians! We thank you for your invaluable help in the brink of war. The Crystal Empire, and Equestria itself is forever in your debt. However, I will have to ask you to answer to General Iron Hooves from now on, as he is a much better strategist than I am.”
The soldiers snapped their hooves again, the loud sound of their armors echoing throughout the city entrance’s square.
“Thank you, Princess Cadence, this will help us greatly in the ground war,” the general said with a salute. He then cantered off to the front of the block of solider. The brigade turned ninety degrees again, facing the inner city, and started marching in place as they waited for Iron Hooves to take the lead.
When the large earth stallion reached the front row, the soldiers started advancing, following their new commander. “Now where in Celestia’s beard am I going to put these?” he asked himself, looking over his shoulder and across the thousands of Crystal Guardians marching behind him.
*** *** ***
“This here is one damned contraption!” Pearl exclaimed excitedly, looking at the smoking twin barrels mounted in a nest recently welded underneath the front of ‘Celestia’s Pearl’. “They’re like revolvers, but bloody faster, and bigger!”
“You’re damn right they are,” Blink approved, looking happily at the result of his close collaboration with the royal blacksmiths and engineers in the past days. “Sadly only five of these will be made in time, had a talk with Spitfire and decided we should put them on the zeppelins.”
“You’re a fine mate, Blink. I mean, Captain Blink,” he said with a laugh, throwing a casual salute in the air.
“Whatever, Pearl; just don’t get yourself killed, okay?”
A couple of loud shots made the unicorn jump in place, his tail finding refuge between his legs. He snapped back at the MG nest sticking out of the zeppelin’s basket, throwing an angry look at the pony behind the triggers.
“Crank Shot, get out of that thing!” Pearl yelled at his crew member.
“Sorry skipper, muh hoof slipped!”
“God damn it . . .” Blink muttered with a frown, “anyway, I’ll see you later, Pearl. Have to go check on my armor and some other things.”
“Hey Blink,” Pearl said before the unicorn could teleport out, “be honest to me, how we doin’?”
Blink hesitated for a couple of seconds, then took a few steps on the outer platform of Hangar 1, nearing the edge before sitting down. Pearl approached the blue stallion, and sat next to him. Blink was staring at the skies above, watching the breath-taking spectacle that was Cloudsdale basked in the early moonlight.
“We’re . . . better than we were a few days ago. Got some help today from the buffalo tribes and about five thousand Crystal soldiers arrived as well. You should see those guys, they’re made out of pure crystal.”
“Ah’ heard of them; scary thing that is, I’ll be honest. But what happened to that Shining Armor guy that left with his soldiers to fight the changelings? Did he won?”
At the mention of his brother-in-law, Blink’s eyes dropped, his brow immediately betraying a hidden pain. “No one knows this yet, but we got word a few hours ago that- ohhh shit . . .”
He raised his front hooves, sinking his head into them. Perl hesitantly rested a hoof over his shoulder, feeling the sorrow his friend was going through.
“Nothing is actually confirmed, but the main changeling swarm was spotted leaving the Death Valley near Tartarus this morning. I don’t even know how to tell Twilight about it.”
“He’s probably made it, ya never know,” Pearl said, trying to lift his spirits up a bit. “After all, he-”
“Wait, you hear that?” Blink asked all of a sudden, standing up. In the background, apart from the noises coming from the workers doing the final preparations on the zeppelins, a low, deep horn rang into the clear night. In front of them, high above the low clouds, tens of flashes of light blinked from several cloud towers across Cloudsdale.
A loud upheaval erupted from the hangars behind them, chief technicians barking orders at the rest of the workers, who broke into a rush to finish their jobs as soon as possible. Before Blink or Pearl could say or do anything, multiple sirens triggered from the other side of the mountain. Soon enough, the Iron Hangars’ own alarm erupted, its crescendo making Blink’s heart freeze in his chest.
“I need to go-”
“Well bloody go already! Look up for me when we’re going to be out there, okay?” Peal then raised his hoof in an honest military salute. Blink did the same, his horn engulfing him in a blue sphere of magic.
On the other side of the mountain, the unicorn appeared on one of the castle’s high walls that faced the lands below the capital. His heart thumped madly in his chest, and his thoughts during those hard moments immediately went to Twilight.
“She’s safe, she’s safe here,” he kept telling himself, however his eyes could not leave the sight in front of him. The moon’s light was stronger than usual, and many of the things that would have been hidden by the night became visible to the naked eye.
Only the barely distinguishable shapes of two approaching birds were able to distract the unicorn. One of them, a dark one, came gliding down and landed on the wall’s high edge in front of Blink. Her companion, a familiar looking owl, flew over his head and entered the castle through a balcony window.
“Raven, you’re here,” he whispered to his bird, rising a hoof for her to jump on. He immediately noticed his limb was shaking pretty bad, and took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts. Raven cawed loudly at him. “You’re right buddy, I should be strong.” Canterlot’s sirens however were louder than they’ve been in centuries.
His eyes fixated in the distance again, where the horizon painted blurry red lights on the left side, most likely torches belonging to the enemy ground troops. On the right side, a distant mountain joining the earth and sky was slowly covered with flying dots of light, too far away to even tell who was behind them. In the center, spread in three wide groups, thousands upon thousands of pair of wings and glossy bodies reflected the moon’s white light.
“I don’t need to see through your eyes to know that there is something stirring out there . . . as much as I’m stirring in here.”
Blink’s jaw clenched at the distant sound of his own voice, coming from deep within the dark corners of his mind.
End of Chapter 25