//------------------------------// // Shattered // Story: TiM: Best of Intentions, Worst of Results // by Twidashforever //------------------------------// Ruins of Ponyville As Prince Radiant Star ran forward he examined the battle with a critical eye. They were holding, but only because of the pegasi. The unicorns and earth ponies were contributing nothing of significant value, and if he wanted to help Firestar, he would have to fix that. Fortunately, he had an ace up his hoof for just this sort of occasion, a little spell he and Dayspring Gleam developed together as a way to dramatically increase one's power. It was a spell even more powerful than Twilight’s enhancement ritual. “Squads seven through nine, on me!” “Squads two through four, hold your fire until my signal!” “Squad twelve, you know what to do!” Instantly the catapults stopped firing, each reloaded and waited for his command. Three squads of unicorns formed up around him. While they were not as well trained as Commander Firestar’s troops, Radiant was no slouch in the art of war. He drilled these ponies ruthlessly for just this situation. The individual squads formed up three abreast and three deep, with their sergeant in front of the pack. Individually their magic would not make a dent in such a creature; however, they were not fighting it as individuals. Only an alicorn had any hopes of that and even then, the chances of success were slim to none. This formation was his and his alone. It was the result of hundreds of hours’ worth of work. The three squads spread around him, each an equal distance from both Prince Radiant and each other. An individual unicorn has no chance of taking down a Titan; however, with their powers focused on one there was more than a chance. He knew they could succeed. Each member of each squad focused their raw magical power to the tip of their horns. They concentrated on creating the strongest magic they could. Then they shot that magic at the sergeants in front. These ponies are hoof picked by Radiant. They had to be, as this was the critical stage of the attack. These ponies had to amplify the magic energy they received and pass it along to the focal point, to Radiant himself. If one of them failed, if one of them was slightly late, the whole plan would fail. That was not a concern for Radiant; their training paid off. All three squads succeeded in their task, as he knew they would. The sergeants of each squad amplified the power and passed it to him as planned; he received the energy from all three squads at the same time. He now possessed the power of twenty-seven battle ready unicorns amplified threefold. For a brief moment, Prince Radiant Star of the Crystal Empire knew what it was to have the power of an alicorn. However, he was not done. Radiant amplified that power several times. Using his power to focus and condense it. Every second he held onto it was another times the power would grow. In practice, he could hold it for five seconds. That was his limit to do it safely; eight seconds would cause it to backfire and seven seconds would kill him. He knew that seven would ensure victory: Even If it did cost him his life, at least it would end this, he would finally one up his dad and he would go down in the history books as the pony that slew a Titan.. A team of Crystal Pegasi cleared his firing path. They waited until just the right moment to do so. His shot was clear, but his body fought against this much magic, every fiber of his form screamed at him to let it go. To take the shot before the energy cascaded out of control. Two seconds He held still. This was not about the battle anymore; this was the total fulfillment of his lifelong purpose. Three seconds He thought about what he was doing this for, for all the families in Equestria that counted on them to succeed. Four seconds He thought about his mom, about his aunt. The ponies that performed such actions on a daily basis. He thought about his dad, and the sacrifice he made. How could he do any less? Five seconds Something caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her, he saw Firestar flying in the distance, and he thought about how she would feel if he died. Six seconds He took the shot. The energy Radiant Star released cascaded from his horn in a brilliant spectacle of blinding light. His aim was true; the energy shot out and struck the Titan dead center in its chest. The rock that made up its chest around the impact zone disintegrated. The Titan's upper half was completely covered by a cloud of smoke. The pegasi immediately disengaged. It was too dangerous for them to stay put. The catapults released soon after. Their target was the spot hit by Radiant’s attack. While he could not see if they landed on target, he had faith that their training paid off. The Titan fell on its back, in a parody of Hyperion’s fall several months earlier. Radiant collapsed on his stomach. He put everything he had into that one attack. While he did not hold it for the full seven seconds he thought it would take, it seemed to get the job done all the same. The stallion could no longer stand, however, for the briefest instant; with a glance to the sky, he thought he saw the commander smile at him. It was gone in less than a second, but for Radiant, it was all the thanks he would ever need. The squads let out a loud cheer as they ran to their prince, he looked up in gratitude at them. Then the cheering suddenly stopped. He glanced around as they all froze in their tracks. “What going on?” They were all staring in the direction of the Titan; Radiant turned and watched it. Red energy coalescing around it; soon its entire body was covered in a very powerful magic and the Titan got back to his feet. “Horseapples.” ………………………………… Commander Firestar ordered her soldiers back in. The pegasi immediately reformed their squadrons and begin again. Something was wrong this time, Firestar’s gut was telling her as such. Her instinct proved true. Almost too late, Firestar called off the attack at the last possible second. Red magic energy shot out of the Titan, striking out at the pegasi on their attack vector. Her quick thinking saved lives, but it was not able to save all of them. Three squads were stuck down before they could evade the energy. Most of those ponies fell from the sky, dead before they hit the ground. In order to save as many as they could, several squads swooped down to catch their fallen comrades. One of those squads hit was close to Firestar. Directly in the path of the Titan’s fist. At his current speed, she could see the pony would not make it. For Firestar, it was not a conscious choice: She did not stop to think, she did not stop to consider, and she did not weigh the pros and cons. Her life was far more valuable than that of a front line soldiers, she mattered, and her death could cost them the war. However, none of these things mattered to her. A soldier needed her help and she was in position to offer that help, that was all that mattered. Commander Firestar left her formation and flew straight down to him, the large fist a consistent ticking clock of what awaited them both if she was too slow. The pegasus was unconscious; he did not even see the blow coming. He did not have to, but she did, and that is what mattered. Firestar knew her squad was right behind her, but in a game of milliseconds, they would be far too late to matter. She reached the pegasus and pushed him out of the way just in time to avoid the fist. For a brief second, she smiled; He was safe; she made it in time to save them both. That illusion shattered when she felt the impact on her back legs. Her torso was just far enough to avoid a direct hit. However, her back legs were not. The force of the blow crushed every bone in her rear legs and flung her to the ground at a speed that was only possible by a certain rainbow mane princess. Her squad fared worse; they were directly in the path of the blow. One last thought crossed her mind before blacking out. ‘Radiant, I forgive you, and I'm sorry I said that.’ ………… Ataxia sped through the story as fast as she could, there was too much at stake to tell every single detail, however, if she did not tell enough then Cadance would not believe any of it. “And that’s what happened, now can we go?” “I don’t believe it.” ‘Bucking hell.’ “What? Why not?” “Well for starters, I have never heard of dragons following anypony, and I have certainly never heard of a dragacorn. I don’t know how you know all these details but I am not letting you get one hoof closer.” “Princess Cadance, you should let her go.” Cadance’s gaze never left the dragacorn while she was telling her tail, but at that deep familiar voice, she looked to her left. A huge purple dragon approached at top speed. On it rode an alicorn and a griffin, all three of which she recognized. “Cadance let Ataxia get to her mission.” She looked back to the dragacorn, shock evident on her face.. “It is you?” “I told you that, and yes we brought backup.” Ataxia pointed a claw in the direction Spike was coming from, even from this distance she could make out a veritable swarm of dragons on their way. “So then, Twilight is in trouble?” “Yes.” “Why didn’t you say so? Let’s go!” Ataxia mumbled under her breath, “I did.” Cadance pause in flight and let Ataxia take the lead; before following her, Cadance turned and shouted back to the group. “Night, Spike, I’ll leave the Titan to you guys.” Intellectually, Spike knew his group had the easy job, however, that was a hard pill to swallow when he looked over to the combat currently taking place. He changed directions to head towards the Titan; there was no need to inform the dragons behind them. They could not miss it with if their eyes were closed. …………………… Radiant thought he was dreaming, in many ways, he wished he were. He watched as out of nowhere hundreds of dragons descended on the Titan and unless he was mistaken, there were several griffins in the melee as well. He rubbed his eyes for the third time; it was too good to be true. Whatever, whoever brought these dragons here did so at just the right time. He would give them a bucking medal when this was all over. While it was a much-needed respite for his army, it was for naught. He could already see the dragons falling from the sky due to the red energy. While they gave as well as they got, the Titan was healing; the dragons were not. His forces made good use of the time: the unicorns and earth ponies took this time to take a breather, and the pegasi pulled back, getting those wounded to triage stations. He tried to get back to work, even if he fully exhausted himself, there were still ways he could help. Anypony could apply bandages or set broken bones. However, something pulled at him, something that did not seem right to the prince. It finally dawned on him just what was wrong. “Where’s Firestar?” He scanned the skies several times, watching for where she would be the most needed, where somepony like her would always be. He could not see her anywhere. Panicking, the prince forgot himself and began running across the battlefield. One thought played through his head on repeat. ‘Firestar, please, please be ok. I'm so sorry.’ ……………………………… “Princess Luna am I seeing that or is it a dream? Please say it’s a dream.” “Tis’ no dream Prince Dawn, our heart soars with the possibility of this challenge! Come; let us join the battle posthaste!” Bright Dawn face-hoofed; he should have expected that. Princess Luna had a reputation for her night patrols around Equestria. It seemed the Princess of the Night could not get a good day's sleep without several fights under her belt. It was only logical that she would see something this big and threatening as yet another challenge to overcome. “Whatever you say, princess.” He did not know how, but he had a feeling that just like everything else that happened in the last few months, this was somehow Twilight’s fault. Luna sped forward, ecstatic over this opportunity. She shot out a magical blast at the Titan, one strong enough to topple it yet again. Luna expertly aimed it between several of the attacking dragons that immediately flew off as to not get in her way. However, the red energy around the Titan intercepted the blast from her horn and nullified it seconds before impact. The Titan turned from the others; much like an animal under the eyes of a predator, it sensed that this was the biggest threat. This new threat would require all of its concentration. The Titan held the dragons and griffins at bay with the red magic energy granted to him from Tartarus. “We see you will not go down easy. Very well! Let us engage in a rousing game of hooficuffs!” Dawn made a mental checklist and added to it: ‘Inform Luna of the proper usage of the term hooficuffs.’ To his surprise, Princess Luna conjured a huge spectral magical hoof and hit the Titan in the face with it. The Titan fell to the ground again; as red magical energy gathered around its head, healing its wounds. Dawn removed that item from the checklist and added two items of his own: ‘Never underestimate the power of an alicorn,’ and ‘Never get on Princess Luna’s bad side.’ ………………… “Are we there yet?” “I thought you said you weren’t going to ask that?” “I thought you were fast.” “That’s it.” Rainbow tripled her speed in a second; nopony, not even her wife, implies that Rainbow Dash is anything other than fast. After three sonic rainbooms; she could see Canterlot Mountain in the distance. What disturbed her though was the sight of another mountain near the remains of Ponyville. Twilight was expecting the sudden increase in speed; as such she cast a binding spell to her and Rainbow. It prevented her from falling off after she goaded her wife into pushing herself. Their journey took them to the other side of the world. It was little wonder the flight back had taken awhile; (Awhile being relative in this situation, two hours to fly several thousand miles was damn quick by most ponies’ books.) Rainbow interrupted her thoughts. “Ah, Twi. I think we might be late to the party.” Twilight stared directly ahead and saw the threat instantly. The Titan was already walking. Twilight looked beyond it, she could also sense several strong magical pressures on their way to combat it. None of them would be enough. It was imperative now more than ever that they finish this. To do that Rainbow and Twilight had to get to Tartarus as fast as Rainbow could fly. “Hey Rainbow, if you can get us home in the next ten seconds I will let you pick our next game.” Six seconds later the two arrived on the doorstep. Even with the spell keeping her bound to Rainbow, Twilight had to pry her hoofs from around her wife's neck. Quick thinking on her part caused her to remove the air in front of them before they broke any more sonic barriers, ensuring that the Titan would not be alerted to their presence by sudden appearance of several more sonic rainbooms in a row. She canceled the holding spell and fell to the ground with a loud thud. ‘It seems that a pony can get air legs as well as sea legs.’ Twilight thought. Rainbow offered to help her to her hooves, yet Twilight waved her away. She would do this on her own. “You ok, Twi?” “Yeah, I will be, just give me a minute.” Rainbow glanced over to the walking mountain, the dragons were on their way to engage the Titan now, and she could easily see that a minute might be asking too much. Though as far as she was concerned, Twi could take a year if she wanted to. One thing did strike her odd though, the Titan seemed to have magical red energy coursing over his body. Rainbow swore she had seen that energy before, and it was not from a Titan. Rainbow dismissed that thought as Twilight finally tried standing again. When her wife was able to get on her own hooves, Rainbow walked over to her and wrapped a wing around her. Twilight looked at Rainbow and kissed her cheek. “Thanks.” “After all this time Twi, you know no thanks are necessary.” “It still doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it.” “Whatever you say, princess.” “You’re a princess too, you know.” “Na, I'm more of a royal concubine.” She said with a smile on her face. “You mean a royal pain in my ass.” “Oh, don’t worry; I'll be that too, later tonight.” “I don’t think so! Last time I couldn’t sit right for a week.” “Hey, you said I get to pick the game.” Rainbow smiled as a look of dread passed over Twilight’s face. She squeezed her wife tighter and walked them to the door. Whatever they were planning to do to each other will have to wait for tonight; as right now, they still had a mission to accomplish. As Rainbow reached her other wing out to open the door, they both jumped as a huge red pony stood on the other side. “Tartarus!” Rainbow and Twilight both yelled the God’s name in union. “Welcome back, I take it you found the sickle.” Rainbow was still unsure if they could trust him. “Maybe, how do you know?” “Because I can sense it on you.” “Before we give it to you, how do we know we can trust you?” Twilight asked. “Well, I did save your life after all, besides do we really have time for twenty questions? After all, your friends are in danger.” He gestured a hoof to the Titan fight going on. Twilight could feel the power coming from the monstrosity. It was familiar to what she could remember down in Tartarus, yet different. However, she could not afford to think about it right now, he was right, every second they spent talking is another second their friends spend fighting. Yet something struck her as odd about what the God said. “What do you mean you saved my life?” “When that one,” he nodded at Rainbow. “Decided to take a few million trips around the world, her shockwave would have killed you. I took steps to ensure that did not happen.” “The shield that protected me from the debris, that was your doing?” “Got it in one.” “Wait, what?” Rainbow stared at her wife with renewed interest. “I was under the Titan when you hit it, the shock wave should have killed me, but somepony cast a shield around me.” “And that was you?” Rainbow questioned the God. “Yes.” “So you were there?” “Yes.” “Why the buck didn’t you help!” “We've been over this before Rainbow; I'm in enough trouble with the others for the little I have done. Now do you want keep asking dumb questions or actually take care of that.” The Titan looming in the distance served as an explanation point to his comment. Rainbow pulled the sickle out from her pack. While she would not let Twi carry it for her own safety, Rainbow did not take any chances with her own. They wrapped the blade in several layers of cloth to ensure there would be no accidents on the way. Rainbow held it up with one wing and turned it around to examine it. ‘What’s the big deal about this anyway? Just feels like a dumb blade.’ She flipped it over and passed it to Tartarus. Tartarus looked it over in his hoofs, giving off small grunts of approval. “So that’s it, right?” “Yes, this is the artifact my sister forged, of that there is no doubt.” “It still works, right?” Twilight asked the God. “Yes, this will destroy the essence of anything it touches. You two did well.” “So it will kill the Titan? It will kill Cronus?” Rainbow asked. 
 “Easily, however there is a much greater target that it needs to take care of first.” “What? Who?” Rainbow’s brow shot up at this news, what threat could be more dangerous than a Titan? “Gaia.” Tartarus smirked at her. What few ponies know about Rainbow Dash is that her speed is not the only impressive thing in her arsenal. Even before her new wings, she was one of the fastest ponies alive. That sort of speed is worthless without the reactions to back it up. Without that, mountains or flocks of birds are more important and dangerous than what the destination is. Rainbow was not only fast; she had the reactions for it as well. This increased exponentially when she received Twilight’s gift under the Crystal Palace. With just a glance, she could count a bee’s wing beats. For the most part, she was completely unaware of it; these reactions were instinctual, unless she was paying attention. Rainbow was paying attention to Tartarus; that is why it came as a surprise when her face was suddenly wet on her left side. Her vision tinted red from whatever liquid now covered her eye, whatever it was, it stung her, a lot. Rainbow shut that eye to prevent further irritation. It was then she registered that Tartarus no longer had the sickle in his hoof. Rainbow turned and looked at Twilight with confusion written on her face. Her jaw dropped, she found out where the sickle was. Her wife, Twilight Sparkle, still had that expression of deep concentration on her face that Rainbow learned to love over the years. However, Twilight’s knees could no longer support the weight of her body and she collapsed to the ground. Cronus’s sickle, the god weapon, was sticking out of her neck. The blood began pooling down into the dirt from the entrance and exit wounds it created. Several hooves beyond her, Rainbow’s subconscious registered two new figures coming in: One of them was an alicorn princess, the other she had never seen before, and they were both shouting something. However, for Rainbow Dash, she could no longer hear anything over the pounding of her heart. The rest of the world disappeared to the mare. The only thing that existed was the love of her life, lying in the dirt, murdered by a god weapon that destroyed the essence of whatever it touched. She did manage to whisper one word before collapsing by her wife’s corpse, it just so happened to be the same word that the two newcomers were shouting. “No.”