Hearth's Warming Evil

by Tortfeasor

A Long Way From Home

Disclaimer: *This disclaimer accompanied by a musical score* I don’t own My Little Pony.

As she trudged through the snow, Twilight Sparkle couldn't help thinking about Soarin’s words to her when she’d gone into Dirtville the night of the first riot. There were an awful lot of earth ponies in New Unicornia who wouldn't care about the consequences, they’d consider taking her with them well worth whatever came their way afterwards. What they’d think about taking Rarity with them…

Twilight had never particularly feared earth ponies, feared what might happen if she met the wrong earth pony at the wrong time yes, but not the tribe as a whole. Being surrounded by three hundred earth ponies with only two other unicorns and two pegasi, however, was pushing her serenity on the matter to the breaking point. And she wasn't particularly sure of Fluttershy’s abilities, or Lyra’s willingness to defend herself if it came to it.

No, Twilight forced the thoughts out of her head through sheer willpower. The few earth ponies she’d spoken to had been almost pathetically glad to get out of Platinum City, and more than a few of them had thanked her almost disturbingly profusely for setting it all up. Yet again, Twilight found herself dwelling on the unpleasant question of how bad had unicorns made things in Dirtville for such a dirty, emaciated bunch of ponies to be falling over themselves to brave the cold and wilds for a chance to escape.

“I don’t like any of y’all unicorns.” Applejack, unlike the bulk of her fellow earth ponies, was profusely grateful for nothing, and she was not going to let pass the opportunity to make that fact abundantly clear to Rarity. “That sorceress of yours did me a good turn a few weeks ago, and that’s pretty much my list of good things that have come from unicorns. I can hardly write my name because y’all won’t let us set up any schools, I can’t work on an apple farm, which is my special talent by the way, because y’all have mountains of paperwork for an earth pony to do anything, my little sister can’t go outside to play because y’all don’t give two hoots if our streets are safe, my ma and pa died of a sickness that any unicorn could’ve gotten cured in two shakes of a hoof, but not an earth pony! So, yeah, I guess what I’m sayin Yer Highness is that I’m one subject who does not approve of what you’re doin with the place. And I’ll thank you very much to note that everything I said happened long before this Sombra varmint took over.”

Twilight had no idea how Applejack was still able to muster such energy. They’d run straight through the night to catch up with the band of ponies going to Ponyville. Twilight had long since been reduced to putting one hoof in front of the other. Magic, coherent thought, everything above movement was out of the question as far as she was concerned.

Rarity was handling the situation far better than Twilight could have, of course Rarity had the advantage of not being exhausted unto collapse. “Ms. Applejack, I’m quite grateful for your assistance, doubly so considering the circumstances. But I feel compelled to ask why you aren't simply laying low somewhere in the hopes that Sombra and I will lead the unicorns to our mutually inflicted destruction?”

Applejack let out a deep breath that steamed in the cold before replying. “I think I've made it pretty clear that I’m not a fan, but as bad as you are, Sombra is a million times worse. You neglect us, except when you’re putting more walls between earth ponies and a decent living. Bad as things were before Sombra they've gotten a lot worse since he came. He doesn't think he had a good day unless he came up with some new way to grind our noses in the dirt and take more of what little we have away from us. Some times I think he’d be perfectly happy in a New Unicornia without earth ponies, and I think he’d be perfectly happy to send us all on our way.”

“Well,” Rarity said with considerable equanimity. “I don’t suppose it’s the ringing endorsement I was hoping for, but it’s always nice to know that one could do worse. Although, I suppose I owe you my thanks. I have far too many fawning courtiers who only tell me what they think I want to hear. Being told what one is doing wrong can be worth its weight in bits in the palace.”

“Um, you’re welcome?” Twilight didn’t think that Applejack had quite expected to be thanked after pouring out a lifetime of resentment to the unicorn she and many other earth ponies regarded as a prime symbol of their oppression.

“Twilight?” Twilight was too tired to even jump at the surprise of Lyra suddenly speaking right behind her. “You don’t think Sombra would actually do that, do you? Kill all the earth ponies in New Unicornia I mean. He couldn't possibly be that crazy.”

“I don’t know.” Twilight rubbed at eyes dry from lack of sleep. “It would be a disaster if he did. Most ponies don’t know this, but Clover the Clever and Princess Platinum didn’t just use some incredible spell to seal the Wendigoes and give us summer, they boosted their magic with the life energy from Chancellor Puddinghead and Smart Cookie. What’s been keeping that seal up for the past few thousand years, though, is the unity, however strained and uneven, between the three tribes. If Sombra takes the earth ponies out of the equation I’m worried that we’d find ourselves in a never ending winter.”

“Used their life energy?” Lyra sounded ready to vomit into the snow. “How could they?”

“Desperation, I guess.” Twilight dearly regretted leaving Clover’s journal behind. She had so many more questions it might have answered. “Life energy is a disturbing, but incredibly powerful source of magical energy. If you collected enough of it there’s practically nothing you… couldn't… That’s it!”

“That’s what?” Bon Bon, who had been silently walking beside Lyra, asked.

“That’s what Sombra is doing!” Twilight felt a rush of excitement wash away her fatigue. “I fought him in the palace before fleeing Platinum City, and he was using some sort of magic I don’t understand at all. Not to mention that none of my spells seemed to do more than annoy him. Bon Bon, have you ever heard of any earth ponies coming out of a penal colony?”

“Of course not.” Bon Bon looked as though she’d rather forget those places even existed. “If things weren't so bad do you think I’d have been able to get three hundred earth ponies to leave Platinum City at literally a moments notice?”

“I know, I know.” Twilight barreled on, having caught the attention of the ponies nearby. “Think about it though, that’s an awful lot of ponies Sombra is killing. That’s an unbelievable amount of life energy he could be drawing his way if he’s worked out how to. When I fought him, he kept going on about Celestia and Luna, and how they wouldn't stop him this time.”

“That’s what he was shouting about when he came for Sweetie Belle and myself.” Rarity interjected herself into the conversation. “But what does it mean?”

“It means he’s crazy for one.” Twilight had no doubt of that. “Everyone knows that Celestia and Luna are just old ponies tales. But even if Sombra believing in two mythical Goddesses is as crazy as… I don’t know, believing in humans, what matters is that he’s acting on it. He said that he wanted to become the God of ponykind. I don’t know if Sombra can actually pull that off, but the life energy he’s been stealing has definitely given him powers beyond any normal pony. At this point I think you’d pretty much have to be a Goddess like Celestia or Luna to defeat him.”

Twilight heard Lyra taking a deep breath behind her. Right, she suddenly remembered Bon Bon saying earlier to avoid any mention of humans or other pony legends as that could easily set Lyra off on a rant that would end up as an hour or more of her life that she would never get back. However, before Lyra could launch into a furious tirade the air was split by the blood-chilling sound of a pegasus warhorn. Sombra had found them.

Twilight was well aware that earth ponies were far from helpless. Her own experiences during the riots were an object lesson in that fact. This particular bunch, however, was tired, hungry, unarmed, and had been hoof-picked by Lyra and Bon Bon to be as peaceful as possible in order to give the best first impression. They would be nothing more than target practice for a hardened squad of pegasus guards with orders to leave only bodies.

Their only advantage was that it was a fairly small group, no more than a dozen, who had found them. And, with luck, the still falling snow would mute the warhorn enough that any other nearby groups wouldn't hear it and come to their aid.

Deadly, trained professionals, the pegasus guards loyal to Sombra banked over and dove on them. Twilight watched as they unhooked, unlimbered, unsheathed, and unstrung a rather varied assortment of weapons.

“Rarity, Lyra!” Twilight shouted to the two other unicorns. “Get over here, I need to use your magic.”

Linking unicorn magic had several advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage was that none of the linked unicorns could use the full extent of their magical power. On the other hoof, and much more relevant to Twilight’s situation, it allowed the leading unicorn to seamlessly blend what power was available.

Twilight reached out, grabbed Rarity and Lyra’s magic, and started weaving a spell. The pegasus guards would do their worst damage in their initial cycle of dives. They would streak through a group at top speed, swinging their weapons with abandon to cause as much death and panic as possible. If the group scattered, they were all dead. Twilight’s spell suddenly had the pegasus guards struggling as though they were flying through molasses.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted. "Get up there while they’re distracted and see if you can thin their numbers.”

Rainbow Dash took off with a burst of snow. Twilight watched, still holding her spell, as two glinting objects appeared in Rainbow Dash’s hooves. The attacking pegasus guards were mired in a formation that normally would have allowed them to spread chaos. Unfortunately, for them at least, that same formation allowed Rainbow Dash to speed between two of the guards. Spurts of red, and the way they suddenly plummeted to the ground no longer under the effects of Twilight’s spell, said that their attackers were down to ten.

Unfortunately, for Twilight Sparkle, the guards then figured out that her spell didn’t prevent them from flying backwards. She let the spell lapse, no sense in wasting Rarity and Lyra’s magical energy. The pegasus guards circled back to reassess what was suddenly a target with teeth of its own.

“Twilight,” Rarity spoke so softly it was nearly a whisper. “I think we’d be better served if we all split up. They don’t have any unicorns with them, and we have three.”

“Two,” Twilight noted with disdain towards herself. “After fighting Sombra, then his guards, and then not sleeping at all, the only reason I can use any magic is because I’m drawing it from you two.”

“And I don’t think I’d be much use on my own.” Lyra stuck out a hoof for attention. “I have pretty much zero defense training. About all I can do is play sad music at them and hope it makes them feel bad about themselves.”

“Well,” Rarity abruptly broke off from the link. “You two should be able to work together, and I think it’s high time I gave everyone a lesson in just how helpless I really am.”

“Kill the rebel princess and the blood traitor!” Apparently Rainbow Dash hadn't gotten the commander. And while they’d been formulating their own strategy the pegasus guards had been coming up with theirs.

The good news was that the pegasus guards seemed content to ignore the mass of refugees for the time being. The bad news was that they seemed to have focused all their efforts on killing Rarity and, for no reason Twilight could immediately grasp, Lyra.

Twilight shortly thereafter discovered, much to her dismay, that Lyra possessed nowhere near the kind of magical power she was accustomed to working with. That the act of linking reduced the magic available to her even further did exactly nothing to help their situation. Twilight’s first few confident spells directed at the attacking pegasus guards quickly turned into a desperate attempt to keep their insides…. well, inside.

Much to Twilight’s surprise, it was Pinkie Pie of all ponies who came to their rescue. The bubbly, pink pony hadn't seemed to have a mean bone in her body when Twilight first met her. And, rather disturbingly so, Pinkie Pie still didn’t seem that put out by the group of ponies trying to kill them.

“You’re a mean pony, and you need a time-out!” Pinkie Pie sounded more like she was handling an upset foal instead of landing on a pegasus guard’s neck with a sickening crunch that reduced their attackers to nine.

Up above, Twilight heard the clash of metal on metal and looked to see Rainbow Dash occupying two more pegasus guards. A quick glance showed Rarity, and, surprisingly enough, Applejack, holding their own against four pegasus guards. Twilight and Lyra had been holding off four guards of their own until their attackers were abruptly reduced by Pinkie Pie’s entry.

For the first time, Twilight began to think they might just have a chance. They were outnumbered not quite two to one, true. But they had two unicorns to the guard’s none. And Twilight was beginning to learn how to operate under the constraints of Lyra’s reduced magical abilities.

Of course that was the moment everything started going wrong. Applejack was unleashing a rage she’d waited her whole life to vent. But she was tired, even for an earth pony, and she was a rank amateur going up against ponies who trained day in and day out at the art of killing.

Twilight had watched the guards practice in the palace courtyards more times than she could count. One of the most common kills for an axe wielding pony was to use the haft of their axe to trip up an opponent, and then swing the axe around into the exposed chest, throat, or wherever the guard felt like delivering the killing blow. By the ornamentation on the axe, Twilight could tell that Applejack had run afoul of the commander of the pegasus guards. He couldn't possibly mess up such a basic move, and he didn’t.

At least, until Rarity tore the axe from his mouth with a pulse of magic that startled even Twilight Sparkle. The commander seemed so shocked when he turned to look at Rarity that he apparently didn’t even notice the blood seeping from his mouth as a result of several of his teeth making the journey along with the axe.

“You brutes have killed more than enough of my subjects!” Twilight had never seen such a killing glare in Rarity’s eyes. She wondered, not without some fear, just how deadly Rarity could have been had she dedicated herself to grimmer arts. “I’ll not let you lay your filthy, evil hooves on one more innocent pony!”

The pegasus commander shouted something. Twilight assumed it was an order for all his subordinates to concentrate on Rarity. What came forth, however, was a spurt of blood as he found out he was missing several teeth. That distraction was all Rarity needed to open his throat halfway to the back of his neck with his, rather her axe. The pegasus commander collapsed onto a very surprised Applejack and started staining her and the surrounding snow the color of fresh spilt blood.

Lyra looked at Twilight in the hopes that their remaining eight attackers would lose heart at the death of their commander. Twilight knew better, pegasus guards were trained to get angry in such circumstances.

The three guards trying to kill Lyra all had swords in their mouths, and they leapt towards them as one. With a much better handle on her limits, Twilight funneled Lyra’s magic into compressing the snow in front of the center guard into ice, or, more specifically, a spear of ice.

Unlike the hapless unicorn Twilight had used the same trick on the previous night, the pegasus guard had wings to fly away with. However, he also had compatriots close enough on either side that his wings couldn't unfurl completely. He did manage to slow his fall somewhat. It proved enough to ensure that the spear of ice didn’t completely impale him. He probably found that scant comfort as blood began to run down the ice towards the ground and his eyes dulled.

Even before the impaled guard had stopped twitching, a body fell with a heavy thump that shattered the icicle. Twilight, Lyra, and the pegasus guards jumped back in surprise as they realized the body was that of yet another guard missing several organs vital to life, courtesy of Rainbow Dash.

Six attackers left, Twilight thought as she looked to see Rarity outnumbering her attackers one to three. They’d all underestimated what the Crown Princess of New Unicornia was capable of. Twilight was glad that her lesson in that fact, unlike the pegasus guards, would not prove her last.

Six quickly fell to five as Pinkie Pie came out from wherever she’d disappeared to with the same cord of bailing wire she’d had when Twilight and Lyra had visited Bon Bon’s shop. Unlike that encounter, Pinkie Pie proved just how deadly such an ordinary item could prove in the right hooves.

Almost before Pinkie Pie’s unaware opponent had stopped futilely kicking his rear left hoof, Applejack reduced their attackers to four. The pegasus guards had clearly thought her out of action, and Applejack used that advantage to exact a terminal revenge. Applejack had come off an apple farm where, as she proudly boasted, she had bucked apple trees. A lifetime of building those muscles allowed her to kick a tossed up rock hard enough that it fatally embedded itself into the skull of its luckless target.

Rarity completed a trifecta of disaster for the pegasus guards when, using the distraction of the last guard as his companion dropped dead without a sound, she buried her appropriated axe to the hilt in his head.

Even outnumbered and in a clearly hopeless situation the remaining three pegasus guards fought with professional grimness. In another world, Twilight could have respected them for that. In the world in which she lived, Twilight just wanted them dead.

Twilight got her wish. The last pegasus guard met her end as Rainbow Dash opened her nearly from neck to haunches with a taunt about being on the wrong end of talent versus raw genius. Breath steaming in the cold, Twilight cast her eyes all around her waiting for a reinforcing group of pegasus guards to dive on them. Those reinforcements never came, the snow must have muffled the warhorn of the group that spotted them.

“Oh my goodness!” Applejack, already struggling to stay upright, was bowled over by Fluttershy, who was showing more gusto than Twilight had ever imagined she had. “Just stay still Applejack. You've lost a lot of blood, but if I can staunch the flow and you take it very easy for awhile you should make it.”

“Relax sugarcube,” Applejack said with considerable equanimity for a pony in her situation. “This ain't mine, well most of it ain't mine. He’s the one who lost ‘a lot of blood.’”

Applejack somehow managed to free a hoof to point in the general direction of the dead pegasus guards, in particular the commander who had met his end bleeding all over her. Fluttershy looked where Applejack was pointing, and immediately started dry heaving into the snow.

“Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash flew over to her friend as fast as she'd flown to save their lives. “Look at me Fluttershy, deep breaths, come on, I don’t wanna carry you the rest of the way. You still with me? Good, now come on, none of us are hurt too badly and you don’t need to see this.”

Twilight had been rather impressed with Rainbow Dash’s abilities during the fight. It was clear that if she’d advanced on her ability alone, Rainbow Dash would have been a member of the Royal Guards years ago. It must have taken a deep and abiding loyalty to stick by Fluttershy for as long as she had. Not that it was particularly Fluttershy’s fault. She was far too kind and gentle a pony for the world she lived in.

“Guess I owe you a pretty big apology.” Applejack had stumbled back to her hooves and dragged herself, not quite literally, over to Rarity. “I haven’t given you any reason to stick your neck out for me, and that was pretty gutsy what you did back there. I ain't sayin I’m a fan yet mind you, but maybe, just maybe you aren't all hot air.”

“Well,” Rarity twirled the blood covered axe in front of her. “It seemed appropriate somehow to use their own weapons against such monstrous ponies. I meant it when I said I wouldn't allow Sombra to kill any more innocent ponies, and I certainly wasn't about to let his thugs kill a pony worth a hundred of them. Besides, this has all proven very enlightening. We were outnumbered, ill-equipped, and poorly trained in comparison. But, by having all three tribes working in unison we were able to win with only minor injuries on our part. If we make it through all this I do believe I’ll have a great deal of thinking to do about a great many things.”

The refugee earth ponies had gone some distance from the fight, nearly half a mile, but they had little difficulty following so many tracks back to the main body.

“Lyra!” Bon Bon, who appeared to be corralling a number of ponies, started running towards them as soon as they came into view. “Are you okay, you didn’t get hurt or anything did you?”

“I’m fine.” Lyra slouched against Bon Bon as though the other pony were the only thing holding her up. “Exhausted is all, I don’t think I've used that much magic in such a short time in… well, ever.”

“Sorry, I’m just used to having a bit more magic at my disposal normally and it took me awhile to get used to using your magic.” Twilight sent an apologetic look at Lyra. Then, seeing how casually Lyra leaned against Bon Bon, Twilight had a eureka moment. “That’s it! That’s why Sombra told those guards to go after Rarity and you!”

“That’s what?” Lyra took a few shaky steps away from Bon Bon. “I still don’t get why Sombra thinks I’m such a threat.”

“Her,” Twilight pointed a hoof at Bon Bon.

“Me?” Bon Bon asked in utter confusion. “Me what?”

Fatigue forgotten, Twilight started pouring out words. “Whatever Sombra intends for the earth ponies he needs to whip unicorns and pegasi into a frenzy of hatred against them. You two are the single best argument against everything he stands for. Imagine, a unicorn and an earth pony becoming friends and ending up better for it. Lyra, you saw how we held off all those guards by working together, unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony. Your friendship is more dangerous than any army we could ever raise against Sombra.”

Lyra and Bon Bon both took some time to digest Twilight’s words. When they did, Lyra threw a hoof over Bon Bon’s shoulders. “Still totally worth it.”

“Yep.” Bon Bon leaned easily into Lyra.

Twilight decided to leave the two to their newfound sense of power in search of something that needed her attention, or just a place to collapse and close her eyes. Bon Bon had apparently done a top-notch job at getting the group of earth ponies to move in unison and stay organized. Twilight could think of several unicorns with very inflated opinions of themselves who couldn't have done as well.

“Hi Twilight!” Twilight snapped up to see Pinkie Pie surrounded by a group of ponies with smiles on their faces. “I’m just trying to make sure everyone keeps warm with some good old cheer. You look like you could use a good cheering up!”

“Just tired.” That was certainly true enough, Twilight wistfully admitted. “I’ll rest when we get to Ponyville. It shouldn’t be too much farther. Keep up the good work though.”

Twilight stifled yet another yawn as she walked away. Pinkie Pie was definitely an odd pony, but Twilight found it increasingly difficult to not like a pony who measured the success of a day by how many smiles and laughs she got out of other ponies.

“Twilight.” Twilight nearly tumbled to the ground as she turned around to see Rarity walking up to her, followed by Rainbow Dash. “I had a most disturbing realization. If Sombra’s ponies were able to catch up to us, is it that hard to think that a squad or several squads of fast flying pegasi might have reached Ponyville before us, told your brother of my untimely ‘demise,’ and be waiting to jump us as we approach?”

Twilight muttered a number of curses that literally steamed the air. This was her job, she was supposed to have Rarity’s back and she’d done nothing about such an obvious danger.

“Don’t worry about it Twilight.” Rarity had no trouble following her thoughts. “You’re exhausted for one, and you’re handling more than any one pony should ever have to deal with. I've already taken the liberty of preparing a letter to your brother explaining that I’m quite alive, and that any envoys Sombra has sent his way should be treated as the traitors they are. Rainbow Dash has agreed to fly ahead and present it to him. I was hoping you might be able to add something of yours to help convince him that Rainbow Dash is who she says she is.”

Twilight started running through her tired brain for anything she had on her that Shining Armor would know had come directly from her. She closed her eyes to better think, and immediately snapped them open as she felt sleep descending. Her stumble did, however, provide an answer to her conundrum.

“Ms. Smartypants!” Twilight swung her saddlebags around with her hooves to fish for her old toy. “It was a toy I had when I was a foal. I’d meant to leave it with Sweetie Belle when I hid her, but I forgot in all the chaos. My brother should definitely recognize this.”

Rainbow Dash stuffed the old doll into a standard issue pegasus guard satchel, crisply saluted, and rocketed into the air trailing a vortex of snow that slowly drifted apart.