“On your hooves, soldier. You’ve been drafted into a war.”
He couldn’t move. Fear paralyzed his body, and the magic gripped around his neck didn’t help matters. He’s strong for a colt. Damn strong. A bit of sleeping magic will make him stop struggling. He’s strong. Damn strong.
“Sleep tight, my ward.”
]Heavy eyes turned their blurred vision towards me. Sleep overtook his form quickly. Falling. Falling. Through the sleep, he managed to ask
“What the hell’s a ward?”
“Shut up! I’ll do the talking!”
Heavy eyes closed to darkness. Darkness of stallion’s minds and hearts. Darkness that has fallen over Maretropolis. Heavy eyes closed to the darkness.
You poor boy. You poor little bastard. When you wake up you’ll be in hell. A hell like the one you left. Hell. Or the next best thing.
I love being the Celestia damned Matterhorn.
I look at his limp form in my grasp. So limp. So weak. What am I doing to this kid? They say I’m too powerful. Powerful enough to rival gods. Powerful enough to rival Princesses. Damn strong. Too strong.
They have no idea.
Be brave. Be brave.
My eyes opened. Opened to light. Opened to hope. Caverns of crystals surround my form. Looming. Glistening. The air cold. Bitter. Cold as the loneliness that gripped my heart. Cold.
“The world needs heroes. Heroes that aren’t afraid to do what’s necessary. What needs to be done.”
She stood before a bank of crystal monitors, watching all of Maretropolis.
“It’s no secret that, like you, when I was young my parents died, leaving me alone. I guess you could say I was always alone. Smartest mare in the world, they called me. Yet, in reality, I felt stupid. Unable to relate to other ponies.”
She picked me up in her magic, and it felt warm. Warm as a mother’s embrace, yet warm as the fires of Tartarus.
“As time wore on, I learned that just because everypony expects something of you, doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen.”
She turned and looked me in the eye. Right in the eye. And beneath the veil of aloofness and indifference, I could see sadness. Sadness of failure. Sadness of betrayal.
“But that doesn’t stop them from expecting, and you don’t want to let them down.”
Her gaze hardened in determination.
“With great power comes great responsibility, my ward. You, like others before you, are a means to an end. They say my power has made me... detached... from ponykind. They turned from expecting me to save them, to fear I’ll destroy them.”
She turned back to the monitors. Maretropolis was safe and clean. Free from the rot and corruption that once plagued it. Forced smiles on their faces not from joy of safety, but fear of punishment.
“Look upon my works and despair...”
“What do you want with me?”
Her stare returned my way, hard as granite. Every word she spoke like broken glass ripping its way from her throat.
“To show them they have nothing to fear. That if you can accept me, so can they. Don’t let me befall the same isolated fate of Celestia.”
“So you want me to help you... make friends?”