//------------------------------// // The Storm Breaks // Story: Winter Storm // by Snake Staff //------------------------------// Celestia Something is wrong. I can feel it. I am not Discord, with his innate, intuitive, and frustratingly inexplicable connection to magic itself. His senses in this area far exceed my own – which is why it was he I sent after Tirek all those years ago. My own passive divination abilities are limited to the occasional premonition. Once in a while this takes the form of a vision of past, present, or possible future, but most of the time, as now, it is just a vague and worrying sense of something being off in some manner. I take these seriously, even though I have no control over if or when they happen. Most of the time, my magical nudges are triggered in direct response to serious threat to my life or reign. I like to believe they are a gift from the gods even greater than I, nudging me onwards to completing my life’s purpose. But in truth, I have never been able to discern the true nature of this power. I have, however, learned to trust it – particularly since my visions played an irreplaceable part in leading me to Twilight Sparkle and restoring Luna to me. Without my guiding visions and feelings, I would never have risked Equestria’s safety on a longshot plan to redeem Nightmare Moon as I did. So when I am suddenly overcome by an inexplicable feeling of wrongness and an image of the Crystal Empire flashes briefly in my mind, I pay attention. I am in my personal study when the premonition strikes, going over our national budget and attempting to see what resources I can afford to assign to (once again) cleaning up after mortals’ messes. Budgetary figures, projected casualty counts, sympathetic local organizations my servants can work with – everything I could need to try and prepare for the care of the wounded, the crippled, the homeless, and of course the widows and orphans that will be generated by this fool Gryphus-Prance War. To help others where we can is the duty and honor of our nation. And it generates international goodwill to boot. I put that aside for now. No sense in ignoring my own senses. “Protocol?” I ring for my hoofservant, the seventh generation of his family to occupy that role. What can I say? I like continuity. When Proper Protocol comes at speed, as ever, I nod to acknowledge it before continuing. “Would you kindly fetch my scrying bowl, and then find my sister? Tell her that I’ve had a bad feeling. She will know what that means.” “Of course, your highness,” he answers. “Thank you,” I nod again. “Please, be quick about it.” The middle-aged stallion takes one stiff, formal bow before departing on my errand. The door closes behind him. Now I- “Do not bother.” I spin around, eyes wide and magic flowing into my horn. Who could possibly have snuck into my chamber? This is one of the most heavily enchanted places in the world, with more wards than most ponies even know exist, there’s no- Then I see him. King Sombra - flickering and insubstantial, yes, but unmistakably him. My eyes narrow. “You are dead.” “The reports of that, I am told, have been greatly exaggerated.” I switch my vision into that of the Aether, leaving the physical world behind. I recognize the matrices of the magical energies producing the image of the king immediately – I designed the spell myself, after all. “You are using my spell. That’s how you’ve gotten past the wards,” I declare, lowering my magic just slightly. The thing before me is a mere image, incapable of enacting any sort of harm. The spell creating the illusion of Sombra is one I designed in secrecy around a century ago and entrusted only to my highest level agents and spies. It is meant to form an untraceable means of direct contact with me from deep cover, bypassing any conventional defenses or wards. My trusted servants are sworn never to reveal it to others, but if this is truly the tyrant of the Crystal Empire returned to life I do not doubt he could torture it from one of them. “Perhaps. Perhaps not.” “What do you want?” To gloat, obviously. His type always do. Encouraging them to do so often provides helpful information. “Why, merely to announce my return to sovereignty over the Crystal Empire,” he says in a mock innocent tone, before grinning. “Your pawns fell easily enough. You really must be making anypony an alicorn these days.” My heart skips a beat. I suspected, but I didn’t want it to be true. “My niece and nephew?” “What do you think?” he smirks darkly. “And it would seem that once again one of your princesses has… lost her way.” No… Twilight is powerful, intelligent, the best mare I’ve ever trained… surely he couldn’t have… Another illusion joins that of Sombra. This one is Twilight Sparkle – beaten, bloody, and broken. Her wings are utterly plucked of plumage, her mane is a singed ruin, her legs are bent at several unnatural angles, and her whole body is covered in cuts, bruises, and burns. She’s held in the air by magical chains, the occasion moan the only sign she’s still conscious. I grit my teeth and make a silent vow: if even half of this is true, somepony is going to pay. Sombra’s smirk is suddenly gone, replaced by an intense stare. “Listen to me, Celestia! I do not care about your politics! I do not care about your nation! I only live to see you die!” The illusory Twilight is flung to the ground before Sombra, and black lighting crackles on his horn. My student – my daughter, in all but blood – is engulfed in the dark magic. Her heartrending wails echo throughout my chamber as she writhes helplessly under the assault. Her skeleton – hideously broken in too many places to count – appears and disappears at random. Her coat, mane, and even skin catch fire, and all she can do is scream out her agony. The stallion staring down at her grins feverishly, almost manically, at the sight. Sombra, you are going to die. The brutal scene goes on for almost half a minute, until at length my pupil can take no more. She collapses into merciful unconsciousness and ceases movement altogether. Sombra, no longer able to take amusement in her suffering, loses his smile. He ceases his spell and looks up to meet my gaze head on once more. “But,” he says, grin returning and eyes widening. “Death will not come so easily for Princess Twilight. I will make her suffer endlessly, because I know that is more painful for you all!” He throws back his head. “Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA!” With a last bark of laughter, Sombra’s image, along with that of Twilight, vanishes from my study. I am alone again. Outside, I remain, as I must, the calm and collected princess of the sun. Inside? I’m seething. Cadence and Shining Armor? Yes, we’ve had our disagreements, but to hear of them being callously slaughtered, for no greater purpose than to slake the bloodlust of a madpony… they deserved better. Even if this is their fault – for how else could Sombra have been drawn back into the world of the living – they still didn’t deserve what befell them. They will be avenged, I swear it. And even worse, Twilight… my little Twilight Sparkle… is in the hooves of that… that… demon. The thought of somepony hurting her makes my blood boil. To hear of her being tortured… to see her being tortured, just to spite me… Suffice to say that by time my servant returns with my sister and my scrying bowl, the sun outside is burning an angry red. “He’s baiting us, Tia,” Luna says. I snort. “Of course he is. He wants us to come charging right into his lair and whatever surprises he has waiting for us.” The two of us are standing around a small marble pillar, on top of which rests an unadorned silver bowl full of water. Short, flat, wide, and unassuming, few know that it is a device I’ve spent hundreds of hours enchanting to give me a god’s eye view of almost any place I wish to see. Right now, its focus is on the Crystal Empire. The Imperial City is, for lack of a better way to describe it, utterly frozen over. Every building, street, wall, tree, and road is coated with a thick layer of ice. From the Imperial Palace to lowliest of homes, nothing has been spared. Looking closely, I can make out individual ponies caught in the process of trying to flee, to hide, or to fight. One guardspony I can see was in the process of shooting his crossbow when he was frozen, the bolt frozen a scant few feet from his weapon. Most of the citizens’ faces are terror or grim determination, and it is very easy to see why. Soaring above the city in seemingly random patterns are more windigoes than I have seen in one place in a dozen centuries – since my last visit to the Lost Continent. To the best of my ability to count, they number at least one hundred of the ice spirits. Enough to overwhelm all but the greatest of armies in minutes. Certainly enough to overtake the Crystal Empire if its guardian alicorns were dealt with and the Crystal Heart drained of its power. Of the Imperial Palace itself I can see nothing but the exterior, numerous wards – some of them old, others recent and darker – preventing even my device from peering inside. But I have no doubt that is where the king will be, if this truly is Sombra returned. His ego would demand no less. “The question is, Lulu,” I continue, after a long pause. “Can we afford to not take the bait?” Luna rubs her hoof along her chin. “What are you suggesting?” “If he spoke truly, then we have already lost two members of our family.” Luna nods sadly. “’Tis most likely that he did.” I grimace. We both remember what happened to Elysium. “That leaves only ourselves and Twilight among our number. And the longer we take to affect a rescue, the more likely it is he shall grow bored and kill her.” “If he has not already,” Luna points out. “’Twould be in his character to make such a cruel jest at our expense.” I shake my head. “I would have felt, I’m sure of it.” “Are you?” Luna looks at me sadly. “Are you truly certain of that, Tia? Or is that just what you desire to believe?” “I…” … No, what am I doing? Twilight Sparkle has been with me nearly her entire life. Our bond is strong. Surely I couldn’t fail to know it if she were dead. Surely not. “I would know it,” I answer resolutely. Luna sighs. “Then I will trust you.” I smile, a little sadly. “Thank you, Lulu. That means a great deal.” A tiny smile tugs at the corner of my sister’s own mouth. “You are most welcome.” We embrace, just for a moment. A few tears drip down my cheeks. But when we pull apart again, a second later, I am once again all business. “So,” Luna continues. “If you are certain Twilight Sparkle yet lives, the question becomes how can we save her before she is killed, while also protecting Equestria and the Crystal Empire as best we are able?” She looks down at the vision in the scrying bowl. “Do you think we should mobilize?” I consider it for a time. Our army would be a very useful asset to have against this new threat, but… Eventually, I shake my head. “No. Not entirely. Our ponies could guard Equestria’s borders and assist in the evacuation of the outer reaches of the Empire, but to attack the Imperial City?” I glance down at the bowl again. “The losses – to our own as well as the crystal ponies – would be appalling. Thousands, at the very least. Probably more.” And of course there’s the fact that such a move would take days to execute, even under forced march conditions. Days in which Sombra could decide to kill Twilight and put her head on a stake before we even arrive. Whereas the two of us could be there in a matter of hours. “But if we don’t use the military to fight him…” Luna trails off, her meaning obvious. “Then it’s up to the two of us,” I finish her sentence. Luna looks a little paler under her dark fur. “I don’t know, Tia,” she looks into the scrying bowl again. “That many windigoes, in addition to whatever dark sorcery Sombra can conjure?” She swallows. “That is a very tall order, even for us. Are you certain we can accomplish this alone?” “I will not continence the loss of innocent life where it can be avoided.” “But if we should perish instead…” she swallows slightly. “Who shall be left to protect Equestria?” “We will not,” I answer in a firm tone. “We shall prevail. As we did at Gorgur Pass.” The Battle of Gorgur Pass occurred twenty-seven centuries ago, pitting just the two of us against a mercenary army of over thirty thousand determined to sack the city where we then resided. We slew hundreds and put the rest to route in a single hour. Luna’s wings twitch slightly. “Are you certain, Tia? Walking into this trap… are we strong enough without the Elements of Harmony?” “I am certain,” I declare, putting aside my own reservations. I must be the stronger, older sister. For Lulu’s sake. “We shall destroy this pretender king and all his works, rescue our fellow, and avenge our family.” The two of us lock eyes, pink and blue. I reach out a hoof. “Are you with me, sister?” “I…” she hesitates, but then her face hardens. She grasps my hoof. “I am with you. I trust you, Tia.” I allow a smile to touch my features. “I am glad to hear it.” We embrace once more, sister to sister, this time for much longer. Soon, though, we are on our way to Royal Armory, to issue orders to the Equestrian Armed Forces, and more importantly to retrieve our own combat gear. Armor that has not needed to be used in centuries is pulled from its prominent place at the symbolic center of the vault. As our attendants ready our bodies for the battle to come, I fortify my mind with righteous anger. It is time that this upstart “king” learns that there is but one great plan. There is only one design which shall govern all things. Mine.