//------------------------------// // 4. Rallying and reassurance // Story: Love Hungry // by helmet of salvation //------------------------------// The siege of the Crystal Empire lasted for several days. Conventional pony weaponry was of no use against the dragon: no arrow nor spear nor grappling hook would pierce his armoured hide, he could smash their catapults and trebuchets to kindling with ease, and as for flaming ammunition ... he was a creature who could bask in lava without flinching. Normally when dealing with such a threat, the ponies would goad their enemy into giving chase so as to lead them into a trap. Yet this dragon was not interested in the royal guards. They were a nuisance, an obstacle for the real prize. Until reinforcements from neighbouring locations could be mobilised, all the guards could do was harass him and distract him from his remorseless attack on the barrier. Unicorns charged in from all sides, fired their energy bolts at him and galloped away. Pegasus squadrons shocked the dragon with bolts of lightning and battered him with localised ice storms. And Celestia constantly soared back and forth, launching her laser-like beam at him. For his part, the dragon flew with remarkable speed in all directions, belching tremendous flames, snorting out great clouds of dark smoke to disorient his assailants and sweeping his colossal tail at any ponies who tried to surprise him from behind. His scales, particularly on his back and sides, were highly resistant to the ponies' attacks. Only Celestia was able to cause him any real pain, so she tended to attract most of his attentions. The pegasus divisions found themselves working overtime to clear the smoke and put out fires, reducing their capacity to weaponise the weather, which the dragon could fly above in any case. And any chance the dragon got, he took to inflict more damage on the forcefield; a number of times he was even able to draw the ponies' fire onto the barrier, prompting his loud, mocking laughter. Sensing the strain from the other side of the barrier, the reptile's confidence grew with every passing moment. In the throne room of the imperial palace, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza—Cadance—silently read a history book while drinking from a crystalline trough of cool, fresh water and grazing on a platter of crystal berry confections and hay that crystal pony volunteers had brought to keep the royal couple's strength up. Prince Shining Armor hadn't eaten much, though. He paced the room agitatedly, stopping several times to look grimly at the siege through a telescope. Cadance watched her beloved with concern. She knew what his thoughts were well before he vocalised them. "I should be out there." "Come away, Shining. You have to concentrate. And eat something." "The royal guards are getting hammered. I'm their captain. They need me." "The crystal ponies need you. I need you. You know I can't maintain this forcefield on my own for long. You're the only one who can reinforce it." "Convenient," Shining Armor replied bitterly. "So I get to stay in my comfy palace with my beautiful, adoring wife and eat muffins while my stallions are putting their lives on the line. What kind of example is that to set them?" "And what kind of example will you set them by abandoning your post?" The slender alicorn rose from her lounge and marched purposefully towards her muscular, white-coated husband. "It won't be too 'comfy' in here, or anywhere else in the Crystal Empire, if that dragon breaks through our forcefield. All your stallions' fighting and sacrifice will have been for nothing. You must not let your pride interfere with your duty, Shining Armor. Now stand your ground and focus." The blue-maned unicorn's face softened in silent concession and the pair united in a long, warm, tight nuzzle, drawing inner strength from each other's deep, unfailing, consummate love and magically radiating that strength to both the crystal ponies and the protective shield that surrounded them. * * * Despite the uncertainty as to when the royal couple would arrive to dispatch the changelings, morale in Ponyville was on the rise. The prospect of waking up one day to find their loved ones replaced by parasitic strangers brought home to the townsponies just how precious their relationships were, and they embraced Twilight Sparkle's advice on identifying any impostors. Families spent more quality time together. Friends and couples talked and listened more. Ponies reminisced about times past and shared their dreams for the future. The more they thought about the many different aspects of one another's personalities, the more they appreciated and cherished those aspects. The joy of friendship permeating the town was palpable, and nopony gave any reason to doubt their identity. Nopony except one. Through the cloud of steam rising from the hot coals in the sauna, Rarity looked with uncertainty at Fluttershy. The primrose pegasus was far from talkative by nature but she always engaged with the words her friends spoke, and her weekly spa treatment invariably drew her out of her usual shyness. Today, though, she seemed a thousand miles away, showing no sign of comfort, much less enjoyment, and barely reacting to Rarity's delightful anecdotes. Even the one about that fabulous witticism she made to Upper Crust at the Canterlot Gallery's mixed media exhibit opening last week. "Fluttershy, is something bothering you?" "Oh, um, nothing. It's fine," she murmured unconvincingly, keeping her eyes averted. "'Fine'? Whenever you say things are 'fine' it means they are certainly not. Come now, you know you can tell me." Fluttershy's discomfort increased. She wrang her forehooves together and her voice became quicker and even more delicate than usual. "There's, um, nothing wrong. Really. I can't say." Still averting her eyes, she nonetheless felt Rarity looking intently at her. Her resistance began to evaporate like the steam that enveloped them both. "No. I mustn't gossip about my friends." "Gossip——?" With a super-pony effort, Rarity tempered her basest instincts and suppressed her sense of excitement. "I shall be the soul of discretion. Now what is troubling you?" Reluctantly, Fluttershy turned in anguish and guilt to her unicorn friend. "It's Twilight. I ... don't think she's been herself lately." "Oh, of course not, darling. Twilight hasn't been herself for days now." Rarity telekinetically drizzled a ladleful of water onto the coals, generating more steam with a satisfying hiss. "I, um, oh, you noticed?" "How could I fail to? Remember my dinner party the other night? She scarcely said a word, her smiles were the fakest I've ever seen, and she very cordially and civilly, in front of the whole party, volunteered her oh so 'constructive' opinion that I'd used too much coconut cream in the eggplant curry!" "It was just the teeniest bit bland." Fluttershy hurriedly added, "But I didn't want to say anything". "Precisely. You were a guest in my home, not a customer or critic in a restaurant, and you behaved accordingly. Oh, she apologised afterwards. The poor thing was mortified. The point is, one can hardly blame her for not being her usual self. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance were the only pony friends Twilight had before she moved to Ponyville, and Princess Celestia has been her personal mentor since her foalhood. The three of them were a huge part of her formative years. Now they are holding the fort against a fully grown fire-breathing you-know-what. It's only natural that she'll be a little on edge." "Oh. That makes sense." Fluttershy's relief turned to a renewed sense of guilt. "And there I was worried she might have been a changeling. Oh, how could I not have realised she'd be stressed? How could I have thought the worst of her? I feel so ashamed." She cowered on the wooden bench and covered her eyes with her front pasterns. "The only thing that should make you ashamed is carrying your worries around inside you instead of sharing them with a good friend. You know better than that, especially with the threat of changelings being around." "You're right. I'm so sorry. I was just afraid you'd think I was bad-mouthing another good friend." "Fluttershy, dear heart, you may speak to me about anything except country music or contact sports. And don't worry about Twilight. We just need to be there for her and help her get through this difficult time. Her true self will shine through in the end." * * * "UUUURRRGGH! WILL you QUIT that PACING?! I'm trying to read here." "Sorry Twilight," Spike bleated, nervously dovetailing the digits of his forefeet. "I can't help it. We haven't heard from Princess Celestia in days. What if something's happened to her? What if the Crystal Empire has fallen? What if there's nopony left to tell us?" "If you're that worried, why not just send a letter to Princess Celestia yourself and ask her what the situation is?" "Yeah!" Spike excitedly picked up a quill and started to look for an inkwell, only to freeze in alarm. "No! What if my letter arrives just as she's about to execute a difficult spell or manoeuvre at a crucial time? I could throw off her concentration and lose the battle for them! The whole empire could fall because of me!" Twilight groaned in exasperation again. "Well, what do you want from me?" "I dunno. Help me stop worrying. Teach me how to be detached like you." "'Detached'?" Twilight shot an affronted glare at her assistant. "I am not detached. I have just as much reason to be concerned as you. More, if anything. I just know from long and painful experience that worry doesn't accomplish anything. Here, try this. Breathe in." The alicorn closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, gently and deeply, drawing her forehoof up to her chest. "And out." She sighed an exhalation, lowering her forehoof. The action brought an involuntary smile to Twilight's muzzle. It was the first sincere smile Spike had seen on her since they had first heard about the siege of the Crystal Empire. He decided it must be worth a try, and followed Twilight's actions as best he could: "Breathe in, and out". "Okay, would you care to try it again without the fire this time?" The smile had well and truly left Twilight's now blackened, smouldering face. "Uh, heh-heh, sorry." Spike retried with a greater degree of control, then spent a few of seconds assessing his physical and emotional states. "You know, I do feel kinda relaxed now." "Works every time. I learned it from Princess Cadance." "Princess Cadance?" Spike's body seized up, his eyes like saucers. "As in 'defending the Crystal Empire from a humongous rampaging dragon' Princess Cadance?" Twilight cocked her head. "No, as in 'cleaning out Dodge Junction's public outhouses' Princess Cadance, you dawnhorse*. What difference does that make?" Spike cringed. Although Twilight had hardly been averse to using sarcasm in the past, he felt her gibes had recently become more and more caustic, and indifferent to his mood. "Now I won't be able to use that technique without thinking of the siege." "Well, what about that counting-to-ten trick you told me about? The one you used at the Equestria Games." Spike froze again. "The Equestria Games? That were held in the Crystal Empire? As in the 'under attack from a humongous rampaging dragon' Crystal Empire?" "Oh, forget it." "That's what I'm trying to do," whined Spike. Twilight resisted the urge to scream. "You just need to do something to take your mind off it. I know, I'd arranged to have a flying session with Rainbow Dash today but I won't be able to make it. I'm too busy. Go tell her, will you?" "Okay," sighed Spike resignedly. "Where were you going to meet her?" "I don't know. My calendar's around somewhere. It should be written down there." Spike fished Twilight's calendar out of its drawer, scanned it for the day's appointments, and dropped it with a yelp of fear. "You were supposed to meet her twenty minutes ago!" "Twenty minutes?" exclaimed Twilight. "I must have lost track of time. Well, don't just stand there. Go tell her." With a strong sense of impending dread, trying to come up with an explanation as to how the most organised pony in town could miss an appointment without knowing at least hours in advance, Spike swallowed heavily and began to walk gingerly out of the throne room. "Move it! She's been waiting long enough, don't you think?" As the whimpering young dragon rushed from the castle, Twilight teleported to the bathroom to clean up her face then returned to her reading. A short while later, an appalling thought struck her. "Twenty minutes? I kept Rainbow Dash waiting twenty minutes? She is going to be fighting mad. And I sent poor Spike to face her?" Frustrated, she slammed her face into the open pages of her book. "Ow. I'll have to beg his forgiveness when he gets back." She didn't. * "Dawnhorse" was the colloquial name given to a fox-sized, hyrax-like creature whose fossilised remains had been found in some of Equestria's palaeontological digs. Its discovery triggered the postulation, soon to become widespread within biological circles, that all equine animals in Equestria had descended from a pair of such creatures. The hypothesis did not win universal acceptance, though. Several scholars dismissed it as pointless, unverifiable conjecture: they maintained that the ancestors of all equines would have looked equine and that the unfortunate dawnhorses had simply become extinct. Nevertheless, the expression "dawnhorse" survived in popular pony parlance as a particularly insulting term for a boorish or dim-witted pony.