//------------------------------// // chapter 23 // Story: Twilight Then, Twilight now // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Chapter 23- now... As the evening sun set over the camp, ponies and people alike set up their tents and started their fires, just beyond the shadow of Canterlot mountain. While Firefly and Medley prepared the evening meals, Thundercloud and Ice Crystal came in for a landing, after their perimeter patrol had ended. "Hey, you big lug!" Firefly called to her husband. "Get you flank over here, and get some of this soup while it's still hot!" She spooned out a dish of soup from the large kettle, holding the ladle in her mouth. "Wait, you cooked it?" Thundercloud asked, looking around nervously. "Ummm, I don't think I'm hungry, dear." "HEY!" The angry mare snorted. "I did NOT spend an hour over this freakin' pot, just so you could go grab something unhealthy from the mess hall!" She flew up and stared him in the eye. "Now sit down and EAT!" He sat down and stared unhappily at the soup, while Firefly looked on. "Still seems a little too hot to me." Thundercloud whinnied in desperation. "Why don't we go up for a flight above the camp, and I'll eat it when we get back?" Firefly narrowed her eyes at him, and he gulped. "Are you trying to get me angry, you stubborn stallion?" At the same time, Ice Crystal Landed next to his wife, who set a Hay and cheese club sandwich in front of him. "Eat up, dearest." Medley told him, as he sat down to eat. "Thank you, m'love." He gently nuzzled her in gratitude. As he ate his meal, the two of them noticed the drama going on between the other two Pegasus. "Why does she do that to him?" Ice Crystal asked. "Couldn't she leave the torture to the enemy?" "Now that's not fair!" Medley whinnied in protest. "Firefly doesn't get to see him that often, she only wanted to do something nice for him!" "Couldn't she do something that didn't involved food preparation?" Ice Crystal asked nervously. "The last time she cooked for her family, Baby Firefly was in the clinic for three days with food poisoning." "I still wish you wouldn't be so harsh on her, Icy!" She whinnied. "Now, why don't you finish that up, and we'll go for a flight together!" "Great! I've been wanting to try that latest duet you've been working on for the two of us!" Ice Crystal smiled. "We can sing as we fly!" Ice Crystal quickly his sandwich, and he and Medley left. After they were out of earshot, Thundercloud quickly began devouring the soup. "Mmm! This stuff is so delicious! Thanks so much, babe!" He downed the entire bowl in a few gulps. "I don't get why you want our daughter and I to pretend your cooking's so horrible! You're make the best soups and sandwiches in Dream Castle!" "I don't want other ponies thinking I'm goin' all domestic and soft." She told Thundercloud, as he licked and nuzzled her. "I got a tough tomboy reputation to uphold!" At the same time, Glory and Fireball were sitting near one of the fires, talking to Bow Tie and Sunburst. "So how's Baby Glory doing in school?" Bow Tie asked. "I've heard there were some behavior problems." "Nothing we can't handle." Glory reassured her. "I'm sure some of Sundance's complaints about her behavior are... obviously exaggerated." "I wish I could say the same for Baby Bow Tie." Sunburst sighed. "I wish we could even get her to sit down and eat her vegetables sometimes." "Were she a colt, I'd recommend Fort Rainbow Dash Military academy." Fireball boasted. "It did wonders for me!" "Yeah, that's just what we need, Mr. 'by the book' soldier!." Sunburst chuckled. "Another stick in the mud pony!" "Well, you seem to have the role of the herd's sarcastic stallion covered." Fireball snapped back. "Even though your supposed to be our demolitions expert... though how that ties to your cutie mark is beyond me." "The sun poking out from behind the clouds symbolizes the burst my explosives make, though clearly your too dense to get that!" Sunburst snorted at the other stallion. "But I wonder, how does a fireball on your flank stand for you being a general? It's seems more like the cutie mark a pyromaniac would have, I would say." "It symbolizes the burning passion of my devotion to my duty!" Fireball got up in his face. "Just as Thundercloud's cloud represents his unmatched flying skill as our unit's aerial scout, or Ice crystal's crystal stands for his soothing our wounds as the army's field medic." The two stallions snorted at each other, and stamped their hooves in challenge. "Whoa! Hold it, you two!" Bow Tie told them. "Save it for the enemy!" "Stand down, soldier, now!" Glory warned. "Or your flank's on the couch for a month!" The two stallions glared at each other, as their wives each gave a sigh of relief. "Well, now that we got the testosterone under control here." Bow Tie said. "Who wants some tea?" Applejack and Lighting were walking outside amongst the tents, when they saw the near- argument that almost broke out between the two stallions. "Wow, can you believe those two?" Applejack said in disbelief. "No offense, but I'll never understand why those stallions are always angry all the time!" "Fireball and Sunburst have been at each others throats, ever since we mountain boy ponies were all foals." Lighting sighed. "It's hard to believe I've been friends with both of them, for so long." "Somethin' wrong, Lightning?" AJ asked, feeling his sadness in her mind. "It's still really unbelievable that your the original Applejack... and that you're over a thousand years old." Lightning looked down. "I must seem like a little child to your eyes." The orange earth mare sighed. She knew this conversation had been coming, ever since she told Lightning the truth about who she was the other night. "Lightning, I don't think any less of ya because of our age difference. I'm still the same mare you fell in love with." He looked up at her. "Can... can you still do the voice... and the accent?" AJ sighed, and cleared her throat. "This what y'all lookin fer, Lightnin'? The rough n' tumble cowgirl from the ol' stories a Equestria?" She let out a cough, before her voice returned to it's non-accented raspy twang. "Oh buck, it hurts my throat to do that anymore." "All those years, when I was growing up at mountaintop castle... I use to have a crush on the legendary Applejack." The stallion shook his mane. "The cute filly on the tapestry, who always liked going on adventures, and hated frilly stuff. I always dreamed of growing up, and getting a mare like her." "So you married a lookalike with the same name." AJ's ears drooped. "You fell in love with the image of a mare, instead of the mare herself." "No, AJ.That was a childhood crush." The stallion shook his mane. "I married the mare you are now- the nasally, clumsy pony who picks apples in the Dream Castle courtyard."He nuzzled her. "That's the mare I love." "Awwww, you're a sweetheart Lightning!" She licked his orange coat. "It's no wonder I waited a thousand years fall in love!" Lightning let himself enjoy her grooming him for a few minutes, before speaking up. "Much as I like doing this, I do have some armor that needs tempering before the battle tomorrow." Applejack rolled her eyes- this is what she gets for marrying the Dream Valley blacksmith! "Ill come with you to the smithy, and help you heat up the forge." He smiled, and the two of them trotted off towards the other side of the camp. It was much to everybody's surprise, then, that a lone figure trotted came out of the darkness. He trotted his way into camp, causing many ponies to drop whatever they were doing, and stare in shock. "Y-you..." Lightning said, dumbfounded. "I can't believe you showed up here!" "About time you showed up." Sunburst replied with a grin. "Where is Twilight?" The figure asked matter-of factly. "In the main tent ahead, Sir." Fireball replied with a salute. "And I must say sir, she been waiting for you for an exceptionally long time!" ... "Baroness Firehooves? You have a visitor." "Yes, who is it?" Twilight looked up from the maps of the Equestria Valley she was pouring over. "I'm kind of busy right now." "Too busy to speak to me?" A blue unicorn with a brown mane, whirlwind cutie mark, and thick black glasses stepped through the door. "I guess I could always go, and come back when you're not so busy?" "T-Tornado?" Twilight Shine said in shock. "TORNADO!" The pink mare rushed forward, and embraced the unicorn scholar, nearly knocking him off his hooves. Tears streamed down her face, as she held her husband tightly. "How- how did you get here?!?" She asked, finally pulling away. "I heard you were busy on a mission for the queen!" "When I was at King Scorpan's court, I heard that you were here with the army." He told her, smiling. "I galloped here as soon as I could." "It's been so long since I've seen you, Tornado." She nuzzled him. "I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be with you again!" "I missed you, too, my love." He held her. "Tell me, how have you and Ember been?" "Oh, she's been doing well in school, and I've been keeping up on my spell casting lessons." She looked at him with a grin. "I've learned so much since I last saw you, Tornado." "I'm sure you have." The scholar pony replied, adjusting his glasses. "I haven't had time to go over any of the spell books the Moochick gave me to read." "That's not good, dear." Twilight whinnied. "You really should keep up on your spell casting. The moochick was right to be worried you would fall behind in your studies!" "I know.. it's just things have been very hectic at King Scorpan's court." The blue unicorn sighed. "A few of the human nobles, did not want to get involved in the war against Tirek." "What?!?" The pink unicorn asked incredulously. "Did they already forget that he helped rescue their king from Tirek's clutches in the first place?" "That's how I was able to win them over, though it does seem humans have very short attention spans, at times." Tornado shook his mane. "I've heard you been having fun, too." "I'd hardly call it fun, Tornado." Twilight rolled her eyes. "I started off a few days ago, wanting to unlock the secret of the fall of Equestria. And here I end up getting involved in a time-spanning crisis, that could bring about the pony apocalypse. So yeah, hasn't been easy for me, either." "Will make it through this together, Twilight. We always have." He nuzzled her reassuringly. "Ever since you first stumbled across me in the Dream Castle library that day, I always felt there was something special about you." "Speaking of your work at the castle, you really need to finish up your assignment at King Scorpan's court, and come home." She telekenetically folded up the map she had been looking at, and stuck it away in a trunk. "The library and the archives are starting to look like a wreck, and I can only fill in for you for so long." "But there's more to it than that, isn't there?" Tornado asked, sensing the pain she was trying to hide. "I know every well you've been volunteering for all of those assignments to foreign courts that the queen has been sending you on." Twilight closed her eyes, and shook her head. "You've been gone for weeks... even months... at a time. Don't you want to see Ember grown up?" Twilight's ears drooped, and she bit her lip. "Don't you want to spend time with me?" "Twilight, no! That's not it at all!" Tornado whinnied defensively. "It's just... all of the other Stallions are in the military, and they get to travel all over the place. I'm always stuck in my library, and I wanted to get out, and see more of the world." "You could've asked the queen to let Ember and I go with you." Twilight snorted. "You're not the only one tired of being cooped up all the time." "I know, Twilight, and I'm really, really sorry." The mountain boy pony licked the side of her face. "I'll never leave you to feel neglected and alone again!" "Better not." She replied, her mood staring to improve. She then looked, and noticed his satchel was full of books and papers. "My, but you're loaded down with a lot of work there." "Yeah, I'm so burdened with my writings, I even have to carry them with me." He motioned towards the satchel he was wearing. "My latest historical treatise on the economic activity of ancient Phillydelphia is here in my bag, and I've barely had any time to work on it!" "Here, let me help you." She levitated one of the books out of his satchel. "I can go over the treatise with you, get you caught up..." "Twilight." Tornado closed the book with his hoof, and looked into her soft eyes. "We haven't seen each other in nearly five months, and we're going into a battle tomorrow that we may not survive." he levitated his glasses off of his face. "Is reading what we really want to be doing right now?" Twilight Shine looked back at him, smiling mischievously. "Well, it is getting rather late... I guess we could save the books for tomorrow..." Tornado Firehooves took his wife into his hooves,and two ponies kissed. Twilight magically put out the candle on the table, making the whole tent go dark. .... "Master, the Ponies are on our doorstep! We must strike now!" Katrina was kneeling before the dark lord's throne, urging him to take action against the army gathered below. But Tirek was not one to be rushed, and did everything in his own time... according to his own plans. "Patience, Katrina!" He told the cat woman. "The ponies' doom shall come soon enough! I have already assembled a legion of Minotaurs to deal with them at sunrise!" "The Minotaurs? You're sending them out to face the ponies?" Katrina slowly smiled. "The foolish equines will be expecting the Troggle hoards, they won't know what hit them!" "Indeed." Triek growled. "Did you not think I had this planned to the utmost, absolute last detail, Katrina?" "Of Course, my lord!" Katrina bowed again. "But what of the Troggles, and the other goblin tribes at your command?" "Even as we speak, my goblin armies are moving against the Royal Paradise and Bright Valley!" The large centaur bellowed. "Before the sun sets tomorrow, all of Ponyland shall be mine!" As the Minotaur Corps marshaled in the courtyard below, the Dark Lord's wicked laughter echoed throughout the Canterlot palace, an ominous omen of the bloodshed to come....