//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18: Against All Odds 
// Story: One of these Days 
// by Wrabbit 
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ONE OF THESE DAYS



Chapter 18: Against All Odds



~121 Aevum Illuminationis~

The sun rose over the glade, beaming down its gentle rays of warmth and dispelling the chill from the previous night. Dew sparkled on the grass like tiny jewels before evaporating, leaving the plants refreshed. A tiny stream wended its way through the glade, burbling over the rocks before crashing over a small fall and creating a mist that caught the rays of the sun, forming a rainbow.

The pastoral scene was being thoroughly enjoyed by the small animals that came out of their burrows to graze and refresh themselves after an enjoyable night's rest. Their enjoyment was interrupted by  the arrival of two large ponies, one white as the driven snow, the other that same lovely shade as the night sky. They lightly touched down on the grass, hardly bending a single blade of grass beneath their gleaming, shod hooves. Their beatific smiles reassured the animals, whom had started to seek cover, but accepted their presence as they would each other. 

“Art thou certs this is the place, Luna?” Celestia asked.

Luna nodded with a melancholic smile. “Aye, 'Tia, t'is cert. Mine dreams art as truthful as thy prophesies. We needst only-” Luna never finished her sentence, as she tripped over a rock in the stream, falling into it with a great splash.

“Lulu!” Celestia shouted as she ran to her sister's side, but slowed when she saw the young mare was unhurt. The blue mare looked up at her, her mane soaked thoroughly and hanging limply from her, though it made a valiant attempt at blowing in its celestial breeze. Several wet leaves clung to her coat and mane, and a sheepish grin adorned her mouth.

So silly was the sight, that the two of them broke out into gales of laughter, a sound they had not made in almost a century since their sister's passing. Celestia sat heavily on her rump and pointed st her youngest sister, but was taken by surprise as Luna sent a wave of water splashing at her mocking elder. Not one to take this assault sitting down, Celestia jumped into the water and splashed back. This of course, was only the opening shots of a splash war that left both sides soaked and panting heavily, but smiling and feeling lighter than they had in a long, long time.

When both had enough, the sat back, lounging in the water which barely came up high enough to wet their sides. The stream carried their manes and tails downstream, slowly waving them like banners as they laid on their backs, watching the puffy, white clouds above scud across the azure sky.

As usual, the younger was first to break the companionable silence. “It hath been o'erlong since we hath laughed so, 'Tia.”

“Aye,” Celestia replied simply.

“Do... dost thou thinkest these artifacts art the way to revive Twilight?” Luna asked, almost afraid to voice the fear that she knew they both held, for fear of making it a reality.

Celestia turned her head to look at her little sister, and noted not just the fear in her voice, but also the concern plain on her face. She missed the more innocent time of their youth where she and Twilight could shelter her from the harsher aspects of reality. She was taken by a stabbing pain in her chest as she remembered the past and what they had lost. Please, just give me this thing, just one more time. “I'm sure of it, Lulu.”

Luna wriggled side to side, a pained look on her face. “As much as I trust thy word, I cannot.. I... I cannot believe how much this rock doth poke at mine back!” She leaped up and looked at the offending stone. Her anger evaporated instantly into shock and joy. She picked up the rough sphere in her forehooves and held it up for Celestia's inspection. “We hath found it! The first Element of Harmony!”

Looking the stone over, Celestia smiled as she traced the triangle etched into the surface. For the first time since Twilight's sacrifice, she felt renewed hope for the future.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2015 Aevum Illuminationis~

Looking around to orient herself, Paladin consulted the crude map she had acquired in the minotaur town. Judging by the landmarks, she believed that they were near their goal, if the giant skull drawn over a certain peak was any indication. Even from here, they could see enormous opening of the cave that was Nightmare's lair. There was something off about the whole situation, but she was having trouble putting a hoof on it. It took Ricochet's keen observational skills to identify what was wrong.

“Shouldn'a there be more dragons around here?”

Paladin mentally facehoofed. It was only natural to expect to see a lot of dragons this deep in their territory, but not one scale had been seen. Of course! This close to their leader, there should be swarms of dragons, but I haven't seen one since just after we left the caves! Coughing into a hoof to gather everypony's attention, she said, “Well, I can't say this is totally unexpected. She holds all the cards, save one. Things are likely to get even more ugly than they have been so far. Once we enter Nightmare's lair, we'll be on her home turf, with whatever advantages she's managed to conjure up, with all this time to prepare. I wouldn't blame any of you if you wanted to turn around and head back home, because with odds like these, I wouldn't give us a snowball's chance in Tartarus of walking away unscathed. If any of you want to turn back, now's your absolute last chance to do so.”

Ricochet gruffly slapped a hoof over the unicorn's shoulder and laughed. “Pally, do ye nae understand by noo? We came with ye this far, we're nae gonna abandon ye noo.”

“I told you once already. I'm not letting you out of my sight, Missy,” Silver Belle said, giving her a kiss on her sandy cheek. With a smile she added, “I believe I speak for the rest of us when I say that we are with you.”

“Let's do it!” Ricochet cried out.

“Amen,” added Awesomeshine.

“Slow and easy,” Silver Script chimed in.

“All the way!” Kitten said gleefully.

“To the hilt,” Knightengale added.

Paladin had to resist the urge to sniff or wipe away the tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she looked to the mountain looming just a few miles away and said, “Then let's go put an end to this nightmare.”

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

The approach to the mountaintop lair was nerve wracking despite the lack of dragons. In fact, to most of the ponies there, the lack was somehow even more disconcerting than if the sky had been filled with them. At least with a visible threat, they would have some idea of with what they were dealing. The unknown was a powerful inducement to fear, since it could literally be anything.

The land somehow seemed even more desolate the closer they got to the mountain. Here, nothing but lichen grew on the underside of rocks; not even tough tumbleweed or cacti could be seen anywhere. The clouds were no thicker or darker here, but an undeniable chill blanketed the normally dry, hot land. By the time they had reached halfway up the mountain, their breath fogged in the air despite it not being quite cold enough for condensation.

“W-w-w-what's going on? W-w-w-why is it so cold here?” Kitten Caboodle asked through chattering teeth.

“I suspect it has something to do with our foe's presence,” Silver Script answered. “Certain powerful creatures can affect their surroundings like this. We must exercise extreme caution from here on out, since this appears to be the case.”

They continued their approach in silence, reaching the ledge with the massive cave opening which led deeper into the heart of the mountain. They were shocked to find two enormous, yet strangely posed dragon statues flanking the entrance. Rather than guarding poses, or something fierce, they appeared to have been surprised. Their eyes were wide, and their postures implied that they were guarding, but something shocking had happened to them. The ponies passed them by, casting a wary eye on them as they went.

The cavern itself was lit by torches as large as a pony that were hung from sconces easily twenty hooves from the ground. The floor and walls were only roughly worked as if the architect gave up after a while, deciding that it was just not worth the effort. There were only a few rooms branching off the corridor, and most of them appeared to be strangely empty. The few that weren't contained trophies taken as spoils. Most were of the mundane sort; a gilded carriage here, a waterclock there, a scattering of jewels displayed in cases, but there were much more gruesome things as well. A manticore skin rug welcomed the visitors to one room, and one wall had a display of horns, wings, and hooves taken from ponies and arranged in a fan-like pattern.

The seven ponies quickly moved on, wishing they could forget the grisly sight. At the end of the hallway, they came upon an enormous double door over thirty hooves tall and fifteen wide. It was covered in brass with runes etched into the surface. Silver Script walked up to it, carefully examining the runes and muttering to herself.

“Can you open it safely?” Awesomeshine asked in a whisper.

The scholar nodded, still inspecting the structure as she donned her peytral and shoes. “I can. I was just making sure that the magical traps she placed upon it are disarmed. It seems she was expecting us.” With a casual touch, the door swung open silently, leaving enough space for them to walk in two at a time.

Paladin took a deep breath, and walked in with Ricochet at her side. The others followed, entering a huge room. It was similar in construction to the rest of the lair, but another passage at the far end was blocked off by an obvious red field of energy. Instead of a single titanic dragon, six, pony-sized dragons met them. They appeared unconcerned about the number of opponents, being casually dismissive of the equines.

When the last pony entered, the door closed behind her and one of the dragons stood. “Finally. It took you all long enough to get here. We even made it as easy for you as we could. I'd start introductions, but you all aren't going to live long enough for it to matter, so why don't we get right to it?” she said aloofly.

Paladin rose to her hind legs and popped her wands out of her gauntlets, while Ricochet did the same with her bow, nocking an arrow, and the rest assumed aggressive postures. “Fine by me. The sooner we kick your butts, the sooner we can go home,” the sandy unicorn agreed.

The rest of the dragons stood, allowing the ponies to get a good look at them. There seemed to be a mixture of breeds present, no two of which were the same. They took to the wing, utilizing their superior maneuverability to their advantage.

Whispering quietly, Paladin said, “Concentrate your attacks on one dragon at a time. It'll be easier to take them down one at a time than separately. Follow my lead, and don't stay clumped together, but don't stray too far.” She decided to start with the smallest, hoping that he would be the easiest to bring down. She fired a series of weak blasts to get him dodging her rather than pay attention to the others.

The other ponies spread themselves out a little so that they would not present an inviting target for the dragons' breath weapons as they launched their attacks. Kitten had to resort to throwing rocks that she found on the ground while Silver Belle and Awesomeshine fired stinging blasts of energy from their horns. They had learned the spell from Paladin over the course of their journey, but lacked the practice or inclination to turn them into deadly attacks. Knightengale let loose an ultrasonic scream that disoriented everyone in the cavern, but was especially effective against the flying dragons.

The most effective were Ricochet and surprisingly, Silver Script. While the former peppered the dragon with her lethal volleys of arrows, the latter had pulled out her own wand from her saddlebag and fired a lightning bolt, scorching the surprised wyrm and sending him crashing into a wall, where he slumped into a pile and didn't rise again. Everyone looked at her in surprise, even her comrades, to which she just shrugged and took aim at another dragon.

Seeing that the deadliest among them was the magically armed earth pony, the dragons all converged on her, ignoring the rest, much to their regret. With all the attention on the scholar, Paladin was freed up to take the offensive instead of just a mere distraction. Instead of firing many smaller blasts, she held both wands at one dragon that the others were all shooting at and charged up a bigger blast. Setting her legs far apart to brace herself, she let loose a shot that still made her shift her weight from the recoil. The resulting shot slammed into another dragon, bouncing the lizard off the ceiling to land on the ground far away.

At this, the remaining four dragons scattered, but only momentarily. Out of the ponies' deadly range, they looked to one another and nodded. As one, they came at the ponies, whom had foolishly gathered close enough for their breath weapons to hit multiple targets. They flew in, heedless of the projectiles flung at them, some with lethal accuracy. They breathed as one, all seven ponies taking damage from at least one of them. A combination of fire, cold, lightning, and a cloud of acid enveloped the screaming victims. When the energy had dissipated enough to see, Kitten and Silver Belle were down, and all but Silver Script were hurt and trying to shrug off the pain. The unhurt scholar carefully aimed her wand and loosed another lightning bolt from it, striking a dragon with results similar to before.

It took Ricochet a moment to find any usable arrows in her quiver, but she quickly fired them, hitting the wings on two more, grounding them. Knightengale took this opportunity to go on the offensive, chasing down the remaining flier. Catching up to him, she let loose a disorienting shriek, so befuddling him that he flew straight into the wall at full speed as he tried to escape her. Awesomeshine channeled her magic into healing them, suffusing the area around them with a golden glow. Unfortunately, spreading her magic thus always weakened its effect, diminishing the result, which was further diminishing the healing done. Sadly, this depleted almost all of her energies, causing her to collapse at Silver Script's shod hooves.

The two grounded dragons charged the group, closing to melee range faster than any of the ponies thought possible. Ricochet and Paladin stepped up to meet them head on. Out of ammunition and knowing that a bow was all but useless in melee anyway, Ricochet turned around and bucked at one of the dragons, hearing a satisfying CRACK as hooves met jaw.

Paladin fired two bolts before the serpent was literally upon her. Grappling forelimbs pinned the wands away harmlessly while a tail wrapped itself around her barrel and wings beat at her head. The dragon tried to bite her as well, but the trained warrior was too quick, moving her head so that he only snapped down on air instead of pony flesh. The two of them thrashed around on the ground, biting, kicking and clawing, neither giving ground, neither gaining it.

Silver Script tried to get a bead on one of the remaining dragons, but both were too close to her comrades. She opted to go for a less devastating, but more accurate attack and switched out her wand for another. She grunted out the command word, and five bolts of energy streaked out, unerringly striking the dragon struggling with Paladin, which shrieked out in agony. Paladin took full advantage of the offered opening, and pointed her horn at his chest. The energy she shot out was wild and less focused than what normally came out of her wands, but at this range was no less effective. The dragon flew off to roughly skid to a halt many hooves away. 

Ricochet had grappled her opponent, and was trying to put him to sleep in a hold designed to cut off his air. He was helped into unconsciousness by Silver Script firing another volley of missiles into his chest. He slumped to the ground limply and the earth pony released him with a sigh of relief. “Thank ye,” she said with a nod.

Silver Script merely nodded and looked around the room. Laying eyes on the red wall of energy, she said, “We'd best tend to our wounded and see what we can find over there.”

A sudden flash of light accompanied by a hurricane force wind blew everyone, pony and dragon alike, against the walls, stunning those still conscious. Nightmare stood there in her full glory, her head nearly brushing the ceiling and her wings spread out to emphasize her stature. “That wilt be unnecessary, little one,” she purred with a throaty growl.

Paladin was the first to recover her wits and stood, ignoring a trickle of blood running down her face. “Nightmare... we've come for what belongs to us.” Though she was terrified to be facing her down without the princesses, she was proud to note that her voice was strong and clear, without a hint of fear.

With a condescending smile, she pulled out the gems imprisoning the alicorns and said, “Dost thou meanest these,” with her other claw, she produced the Elements of Harmony, “or these?”

The unicorn looked at her in confusion. “Th- wait, what are those gems?” Even as weak as they were, she could feel some sort of connection with the gems, even as she felt something from the Elements. It hit her then. These are the gems Brimfrost was talking about!

“These?” Nightmare asked, holding up the gems dismissively. “Why, they art nothing less than the imprisoned essences of thy beloved princesses.”

Horror gripped the ponies' hearts like a vice made of ice. They knew that what she said was true, for they could finally recognize the feeling the gems elicited in them. Surprisingly, it was Silver Belle who strode forth and demanded in a clear voice, “Release them this instant, you monster!”

Nightmare smirked as she closed her paw, hiding the gems from their sight. “I think not, little one. If thou wishest to have them return'd, then thou must maketh me do so.”

With a scream of defiance, seven ponies charged her, those able to attack at a range doing so as they went. Nightmare merely laughed at their paltry assault, not even bothering to try to get out of the way. Instead, she swept a wing the size of a ship's sail in front of her, brushing all the ponies aside in a single gesture.

“Fools, the lot of thee,” she scolded. “As if thy pitiful attacks couldst harm a wyrm such as I. I hath defied death itself, returning from the nether realm that I may possess one of mine own kin to walk amongst the living once more! Thou thinkest I wouldst fall to such pitiful attempts as this? Fools twice damn'd!”

The Element that Silver Script had been carrying since they first discovered them rolled out of her saddlebag, coming to a stop in front of Paladin's nose, forcing her eyes to focus on it. The stone touched her nose, and the unicorn was struck by an epiphany so sublime, she wondered how it had not occurred to her before. Weakly rising to her hooves, she placed one on it and glared at the dragon triumphantly. “Fools we may be, but we're smart enough to recognize providence when it smacks us in the nose. We need not attack you directly, not when we have the Elements of Harmony!”

Nightmare's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Thou speakest nonsense, pony. I am in possession of the Elements, not thee. Thou canst not utilize what thou doth not possess.”

“Wrong, wyrm,” Paladin retorted, standing up straight. “I had thought that we needed to bring the Elements to the princesses, when all we needed to do was to bring them to you, though the journey was just as important, for without becoming a harmonious team as we have, we would never have fully realized their true potential! Without Ricochet's honesty telling us the things we didn't want to hear, we might never have faced the grimmest facts” One of the stones in Nightmare's paw flew over to the archer, enveloping her neck in a blindingly bright white light.

Paladin was far from finished, however. “It was Awesomeshine's kindness that lead us to her truest friend, who was essential in our search for the Elements!” Another stone flew from the dragon's paw before she could close it and enveloped her neck as well with light.

“Kitten Caboodle's constant morale boosting kept us all from losing hope when the despair threatened to consume us all!” A flash of light squeezed out of the spaces in Nightmare's closed paw and appeared around the tinker's neck.

Swallowing hard, Paladin continued, with the hardest part. “Without Knightengale's generous forgiveness for all but abandoning Ricochet, we would have never pulled together like we have.” Another flash of light despite Nightmare squeezing as hard as she could let her know that the last Element had escaped her grasp and appeared around the aganippe's neck.

Silver Belle came forward to stand next to her lover and boldly proclaimed, “And it was because of Paladin's loyalty that this quest even started! Without her, it would never have happened!” The stone beneath the sandy unicorn's hoof floated up to her neck with a bright light.

Nightmare sneered at them with derision. “Thou thinkest that to be enough to harm me? These trinkets cannot do the slightest harm to me!”

This time, it was Silver Script's turn to come forward. “Ah, but that's not the end. The most reclusive among us; the one who had the least reason to trust, has become the staunchest ally through all these travails. Were it not for those trials, I have learned of the most powerful magic of all, that of friendship.” From nowhere, a light began to glow on the scholar's brow, and all six of them floated into the air as the lights around them continued to brighten, bathing the entire cavern with its radiance.

The lights around the five ponies' necks flashed brighter then dimmed to reveal necklaces bearing the wearer's cutie mark, while the light on Silver Script's brow turned into a crown whose jewel was hers. A double helix rainbow burst forth from the group of ponies and wrapped around the horrified dragon, whom could only stand there in terrified fascination as it formed a tornado of light around her once more.

“No... No! NO! NNNOOOOOO!” she screamed and tried to burst past the prismatic wall, but saw her body begin to disintegrate upon touching it. Motes of light which once had been her body floated way, much to her terror. In a blind panic, Nightmare threw herself bodily at the closing wall, hastening the effect. Within seconds, the enormous great wyrm was gone, and in her place lay a tiny dragoness, no bigger than a hatchling.

The rainbow of energy dissipated, and the seven ponies gathered around the still figure. “Is she okay?” Awesomeshine asked timidly.

“I suspect she wilt be fine, though she wilt ne'er again host a being like Nightmare.”

The ponies whirled around to find Celestia and Luna walking towards them. Though they hid their physical weakness well, their manes told another story, as they hung limply in simple tresses of hair, rather than their normal, ethereal nimbi. 

The ponies all bowed deeply, but Celestia laid a gentle hoof on Paladin's shoulder and smiled. “Rise my Little Ponies. Thou hast earned our eternal gratitude and respect this day.”

Paladin rose, her eyes shining with happiness. “Your Highness! Are you both alright? We had heard-”

“Be still, little one,” Luna said gently. “We art fine, or at least, we wilt be once we've had a chance to rest and regain our strength.”

“Indeed,” Celestia agreed with a nod. “Let us retire to Equus. We hath much to do, yet, primary amongst those is alerting our ponies that the war hast ended!” she said with a tired smile.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)
~2016 Aevum Illuminationis~

Proudly trotting through the rebuilt walls of the palace, Paladin admired the new construction, just completed so recently, the mortar was still setting. She was proud of those walls. It had taken hours of arguing with the Ministers of Finance that they were entirely necessary for the princess' protection. She had even managed to convince them to commission Silver Script to oversee the enchanting, though that was hardly an achievement; no one was foalish enough to counter the princesses' personal student when it came to matters of magic.

The unicorn opened the door to the princesses' private study, where they were currently being waited on by Silver Belle, whom gave her a sly wink, and instructing their student on the intricacies of alicorn magic, a closely guarded state secret. The earth pony looked up from her book and nodded to the bodyguard. “I take it you're delivering a message that 'Shine will be unable to join us for lunch again,” the scholar stated, rather than asked.

With a nod, Paladin said, “Afraid so. Last I saw, she was elbows-deep in orphans, feeding them their lunches.” One of the sadder effects of the recent war were the surplus of orphaned foals, needing somepony to care for them. While there were plenty of adults (many of whom had lost their own children to the conflict) willing to take them in, there were only so many available homes, leading to the founding (and subsequent overcrowding) of orphanages, one of which was run by Awesomeshine and Kitten.

Theirs was actually one of the most overcrowded, due to the fact that the kindhearted unicorn could never turn one away. Luckily, Kitten was almost always able to find room for them, and if she couldn't, judicious application of a wheedling tone from Awesomeshine to Silver Script always resulted in another addition to the building magically appearing overnight. The scholar shook her head, but couldn't find it in her heart to even be disappointed that they would miss yet another meal together. As she often said, she would never stand in the way of what the unicorn wanted. “Very well, then,” she said simply and returned to her tome.

Luna and Celestia looked to one another and smiled, before quickly schooling their expression into carefully bland benevolence. “Silver Script, I doth believe thou hast gotten rather pallid of late. We suggest thou goeth outside and breathe in the fresh air and smell the roses,” Celestia said.

Without even looking up from her book, Silver Script waved her off dismissively, in a manner that would shock and dismay anypony who saw it. “No, thank you. There's too much to do here. I have three reports to write by the end of the week, a proposal to strengthen the palace wards to finish by tomorrow, and a batch of my newest version of arcanofigulate to watch over. It's at a very finicky stage right now.” The other four ponies raised their eyebrows at this and looked at each other in surprise.

(\ /)
( . .)
*(“)(“)

“Ye knoo, ye're the anly poony to get away with talking to the princesses like tha?” Ricochet said casually as they walked through the streets of Equus. She nodded to ponies as they passed, reveling in the attention her new armor garnered. Ever since the war, only a few personal bodyguards to the princesses had survived, most throwing their lives away in useless attacks against the dragons, and her sudden re-enlistment and promotion might have raised a few eyebrows, but given the lack of ponies available to fill the empty slots, no one raised anything more than eyebrows.

“Not to mention the only one brave or stupid enough to do it in the first place,” Knightengale added as she suppressed a chuckle at the earth pony's expense.

Silver Script merely trotted alongside them as they made their way to Awesomeshine's orphanage. “Believe it or not, they have told me on multiple occasions to treat them as normal ponies when not in formal settings, and that is how I intend to act. They appreciate not being treated like porcelain dolls.”

Knightengale shook her head in amusement. “There's a difference in treating them like regular ponies and disrespect, you know. In the end, they're still your teachers and your rulers if nothing else.” She waited for some sort of response from the reclusive mare, but when nothing more was forthcoming, she decided to move on. “So are you all going to the club tonight?”

Ricochet pulled her close and gave her a quick nuzzle. “O'carse! Like I'd miss ye singing, love!”

“I believe 'Shine mentioned something about going to a club tonight,” Silver Script replied with a nod. “I take it then, that the owner is still having trouble finding talent to take over for you?”

“Actually,” the aganippe answered with a sly grin, “he wants me to start singing full time and only do bouncing in between sets. Pays good for it too.”

The group finally arrived in front of the orphanage, where an ecstatic Awesomeshine came bounding out of the yard where the foals were playing. She ran up to Silver Script, enveloping her in a great hug and kissed her full on the lips. “We all missed you here, Sil! The little ones bugged us all week to get you to finish the story you started.”

A deeply blushing Silver Script pulled her head back, but made no move to escape the hug. “I was here just yesterday, 'Shine. I sincerely doubt they've been 'bugging you all week'.”

“Whatever, whatever. Come on! The tykes have been anxious to see their Auntie Silver again!” Awesomeshine pulled her by a foreleg into the yard where they were immediately swarmed by foals looking for attention from the two mares. The group herded themselves over to the shade of a tree where they sat, the two adults at the center and leaning on one another, with the youngsters surrounding them. Kitten Caboodle came out pushing a cart filled with glasses of lemonade for all and smiled as she saw Silver Script begin the story where she had last left off.

With the merest ghost of a smile, Silver Script began. “The inscrutable alicorn Twilight knew that only one course of action truly lay open to her. If her ponies were to survive, she would have to make the ultimate sacrifice for the ponies whom she loved, and loved her in return. It was a grim duty, but she knew that only she could accomplish this duty of the heart...”

~Owari~