The Prince

by BronyWriter


Aftermath

"Prince Antares, what would you like for us to do now?"

I blinked at the question. In truth, not a single thought flitted through my mind. Between the wound from the Nightmare Weapon and the fact that I didn't have a scrap of magic left in me at the moment, I found it difficult to think about anything. My gaze flicked over the battlefield, where the medical corps were looking through the destruction to find the wounded. Another group of ponies got to work collecting the dead. I stared at a stallion who couldn't have been more than twenty, who picked up the body of a mare roughly his age and put her on his back. Outside of the fatal wound on her side, she looked like she could be sleeping.

An image flashed in my mind of those two ponies moving through the streets of Baltimare. They were a couple who were finishing up a long, fun day. The mare had fallen asleep on her coltfriend's back, content with the knowledge that she was the happiest mare in the world. Maybe they'd both be smiling.

I blinked and returned to reality. The two probably didn't even know each other, nor would they ever. I stared into the face of the mare and tried to fully realize that she was dead, not just sleeping. I couldn't really.

"Prince Antares?"

I tore my gaze away from the two of them and looked back at Commander Rapids. I took a slow, deliberate breath and took my helmet off.

"The medics and cleanup crews are already dealing with our dead and wounded. If you could gather a group to check on the minotaur casualties, I'd appreciate that. Those that are wounded but can move, start gathering them together. We have a P.O.W camp that we'll be transporting them to soon. If they can't move, we'll have medics look them over before sending them to the camp. If they're on death's door... do what needs to be done."

"Y-yes, Prince Antares," Commander Rapids said, slowly backing away. "And what counts as 'on death's door'?"

"I'll leave that up to you."

"Yes, Prince Antares."

Commander Rapids took to the air and flew in the direction of some survivors. I stood up, making sure to keep my weight on the side opposite my injury. No doubt Celestia would freak out when she heard that I'd been hit by another one, not to mention the guilt that Luna would feel. I looked out into the vast expanse of bodies before me and, to my surprise, I saw a pony walking alone among the minotaur corpses. I frowned and took a few steps forward to see who it was. He didn't have any armor on, nor did he wear any markings that identified him as a medic. I tried to recall if I'd seen him walking from our side, but couldn't.

Before I could ponder the issue any further, the pony turned around to face me. My stomach clenched when I recognized him. Death himself stood among the bodies I had created. He made eye contact with me and gave me a little grin and wave before continuing his walk through the battlefield. My jaw clenched, but of all of the beings I wanted to interact with, he was next to last on my list. I made a noise of disgust before making my way back to my tent.

* * * *

"Now hold still, Prince Antares. You're going to be just fine."

I stared blankly at the top of my tent as a pair of medics cleaned my wound. I didn't move when they began dabbing at it, even though it did hurt a little bit. My armor was back on its stand, immaculate except for the large gash on the left shoulder. The Nightmare Weapon I'd taken from Johland leaned against the stand. I didn't have the next clue of what I'd do with it. Luna would probably want to take it so that she could destroy it.

Although, now that I thought about it, I'd never actually seen her destroy one. Heck, I don't think I've ever heard her talk about destroying the ones she gets. I just assumed she did. Maybe it's just because of how much it hurts her that they exist at all, so she'd rather not talk about it.

Although to be fair, and I'd certainly not say it to her face, the fact that Nightmare Weapons exist has hurt me more than anypony in Equestria. I seriously cannot adequately describe the amount of pain they cause me. The closest thing that I can relate it to was a kidney stone I had once. Even that isn't quite severe enough.

My eye twitches as the medic presses more sterilizing alcohol against my injury. Other than that, I don't show any indication that it hurts. The medic puts the bloody cloth she's been using to clean my wound in a bowl that she sets aside. She picked up a long roll of bandages and begins wrapping them around my shoulder. Great. I can't imagine how long I'll be out of commission with this. Certainly not as long as when Sinosis scored a direct hit on me, but if the minotaurs attacked again tomorrow, I'd probably not be able to get up to fight them. That could cause all sorts of problems.

Having said that, after the beating we gave them, I don't foresee them actually feeling up to attacking us again. I hadn't received the casualty reports quite yet, but from everything that I heard, they suffered more fatalities by far. Not that we walked away completely unscathed. There would still be thousands of grieving families from this battle alone.

My tent flap flew open and, to my surprise, Celestia ran in, followed closely by Luna. I opened my mouth to ask her what the heck she was doing right at the front lines, but she stopped that by forcefully pressing her lips to mine.

"How are you feeling? Are you hurt too badly?" She whipped her head around to stare the medics down. "How bad is it? How long will it take for him to recover?"

"For Celestia's sake, Celestia, calm down," I said as I nuzzled her leg. "It's just a scratch, honest."

"I'd rather not take that risk." Celestia sat down next to my cot and took my hoof in her own. "And I truly doubt it's little more than a scratch."

"Celestia, just relax. Try not to get too worked up, if not for my sake then for the sake of our foal, alright?" The medics finished wrapping up my shoulder and, once they'd put all of their medical supplies back in their bags, they bowed to us and backed out of the tent.

"So how are you truly, Antares?" Luna asked, sitting down next to her sister.

"Well, I'm pretty much drained of my magic." I tried to pick up Reginald, but only succeeded in producing blue sparks. "I guess between the wound and creating and maintaining half a dozen large fire tornadoes, it makes some sense that I'd be drained."

Celestia lit her horn and began her own scan of my body. She must have found something she didn't like, because she grimaced. "You have dark magic festering in the wound." She began pouring her own magic into me. "I doubt that you'll be able to completely recharge your magic until that is taken care of."

Luna nodded and lit her own horn, mixing her magic with Celestia's. As they worked, I felt the pain in my shoulder slowly start to fade away until it was only a dull ache. I hadn't really been fully aware of everything going on the last time I'd gotten hit with a Nightmare Weapon, instead focusing more on thoughts such as "ow, ow, ow, holy me this hurts."

Content that they'd stemmed the flow of dark magic into me, Celestia and Luna powered their horns down. "You should be able to re-charge your magic now, though I think that will take several days, if not a few weeks," Celestia said. "You cannot take to the field again until you are fully re-charged. If you were hit with a Nightmare Weapon again while you were not at full strength, the consequences would be severe."

"Also it hurts like a son of a bitch."

I glanced over at Luna to gauge her reaction to that little quip. The back of my mind told me that it might be a bit insensitive, given Luna's extreme regret over creating them in the first place. She didn't look hurt by it. That doesn't mean that she wasn't, though. I made a note to be a little more careful about Nightmare Weapon jokes.

Still, it did hurt a lot.

In lieu of an answer, Luna walked over to the Nightmare Weapon I had in my tent. She ignited her horn and picked it up before teleporting it away, presumably to her room. Fair enough. I didn't really want it around either.

"So what now?" I asked. "I can't see the minotaurs attacking soon, not after the survivors telling stories of what we can do. A lot of them are going to dislike the idea of trying to attack us now if they think they're going to die horribly."

"Agreed," Celestia said. "I think it might be prudent to test the waters a little with some diplomacy. We can talk to some of their leaders to get an idea of exactly what they are thinking. Some may want to open up talks to end the war."

"And if they do?" I ask. "What are we going to be asking for?"

"I am unsure," Celestia admitted. "I think it would be best if Purgle was removed from power. That must be the end game of this entire war. Otherwise he will merely regather his strength and attack once more. They suffered severe casualties yesterday, enough that there might be a split in opinion with their soldiers."

"We can only hope," Luna said. "Perhaps if we are lucky, they will depose Purgle themselves just to end the war."

"I think we might need another battle or two before that happens," I admitted. "If they think that every time they enter Equestria they will be met with brutal death, they're going to not want to come into Equestria anymore." I gently sat up, doing my best to ignore the dull pain in my shoulder. "I think we could feasibly assassinate Purgle now, if we can find him. There should be enough unease in his camp that doing so wouldn't create a martyr out of him."

"Perhaps, though I feel that it is too early to tell," Luna said. "You have only won one battle. There is still much to do."

* * * *

Ninety thousand.

Ninety thousand minotaurs had died or were captured during the last battle. Almost a fifth of their entire army. I was surprised that Purgle had the sense to not send his entire army after us in one go. I suppose that something in the back of his mind told him to send out a test force just in case we could actually back up what we were saying. Well, I think he realized that we could.

That still left us with roughly four hundred thousand minotaurs who wanted us dead, and leaders that had a better idea of what they were up against. I had to admit that if he sent his entire army after us, I wasn't completely sure we could win that battle; at least, not without significant casualties. They'd probably burn a large portion of Equestria before we finally managed to beat them back. Just the first battle had severely tested our forces.

And destroyed some of it.

While it didn't compare to the minotaur losses, our army suffered fourteen thousand casualties. Nine thousand dead, and five thousand wounded. Granted those wounds ranged from missing limbs all the way to cuts that needed stitches, so some of them might be able to take the field again. Meanwhile, Luna would be taking my place at the front. We told the troops that I was completely fine and I was needed back in Canterlot to deal with the griffins once and for all. A half truth. Emperor Cromwell did seem to be getting things under control.

For now.

We did have ponies taking pictures of the carnage to use as propaganda against the griffins. Once the average griffin saw what we'd do to them if they tried to get near us, Cromwell would start losing control again.

I walked out of my tent alongside Celestia and Luna and surveyed the battered army before me. The euphoria of a major victory had all but died down by that point. Many of them were walking around with blank expressions on their faces. It made sense. They'd just seen some major destruction, and I'm sure each of them knew that it could of been them that died. I'm positive that most of them lost friends.

As we walked through the camp, many of them bowed to us. Some didn't. Some merely poked at food or ignored us in lieu of hushed conversations with each other. Some just stared at the ground. My heart leaped when I passed by a tent and saw Cheerilee inside, though she didn't look up. She didn't even blink. She just stared at the ground, her armor half off and her crossbow laying a few feet away from her. I realized then that the mare I knew in Ponyville who found joy in teaching foals was gone. Maybe she'd come back someday. I'd do everything for her that I could to make sure that happened. For now, the mare looking at nothing in particular with a thousand yard stare didn't even look like Cheerilee.

We passed a group of zebras, one of them Grina, who were sitting in a circle with their heads bowed and humming what I presumed to be a song of mourning and beating their chests in time with the music. A few had some rather nasty cuts that they didn't acknowledge. A nearby group of buffalo were stomping the ground while one that looked like a chieftain sung in his native language. A row of weapons lay before them and, after a moment, one buffalo moved up to them and began setting them on fire with a blue powder I didn't recognize. The weapons burned blue, but the fire didn't spread beyond the weapons. The chieftain's singing grew louder as the powder reduced the weapons to ash as the fire burned out.

"This war will end soon, I feel," Celestia said, looking sadly at the buffalo. "I truly do believe that."

"Yeah," I muttered. "One way or another."

We reached the chariot Celestia and Luna had arrived in. Celestia stepped in first while I took Luna's spot. Luna stood on her hind legs, propping herself up on the chariot, and leaned in to talk to Celestia. They had some whispered conversation for a few moments that I didn't hear before they nuzzled each other. Luna went back down on all fours and smiled at me before walking back into the camp. Celestia gave the signal to the ponies pulling the chariot, who then took to the air.

"It feels wrong, you know?" I said as I watched the camp grow smaller as we got farther away. "I should be out there with my ponies."

"Withdrawing in the state you are in is not a sign of weakness, Antares," Celestia said, putting a hoof on my foreleg. "You barely have enough magic in you to lift your food. You are in no condition to fight."

"There are thousands of ponies out there who have never used magic to fight," I countered. "They're still fighting."

"Yes, but they haven't been injured as you have been. All of the wounded are leaving the camp. It does not do anypony any good if the wounded fight. If you try to fight and you are slain or captured, what then? Our forces are shaken up enough without having to see one of us killed. Luna will handle things just fine while we are gone." She smiled at me and began rubbing my leg. "And you will not be gone for long, I feel. Just long enough to recover. Then you will lead our ponies to victory once more."

"Yeah." I scooted next to her and leaned my head on her shoulder. She wrapped her wing around me, which warmed me up a little bit. We stayed like that for the entire trip back to Baltimare.

* * * *

We touched down outside of my palace as several ponies rushed to meet me, Tulip among them. I gave her a slight nod, and she moved to trot alongside me.

"Prince Antares, I am delighted to see that you are well."

"Well enough, Miss Tulip," I said. "I also saw your husband today. He's doing fine."

Tulip let out a huge sigh of relief, and I even saw tears brimming in her eyes. "Antares be praised," she whispered. I don't think she meant for me to hear that, but I did.

"How did the battle go?" Tulip continued after a few more moments. "Did we lose a lot of ponies?"

"All things considered, no," I said. "We won, and I think they're going to hesitate a bit before attacking again, which will work to our advantage, obviously. It'll give us time to recover and think up some more plans."

"I'm happy to hear it, Prince Antares," Tulip said as we entered my palace. "Speaking of, I found the Flim Flam brothers for you. I've given them a room in the palace while they waited for you to return."

"Good. I'll speak to them today, then. They have skills that I want."

"Yes, Prince Antares. I have also been holding court for you. I have a list of things for you to attend to, but I can certainly do anything you desire if you wish for me to do so."

"You're holding court for me." I said flatly. "I didn't ask for you to do that."

"I know, Prince Antares," Tulip said, blushing. "It's just that ponies kept showing up to ask for stuff and... well, one thing led to another so I just decided to hold court until you got back. It's okay, I had some of my clansponies around in case things got out of hoof."

Oh me dammit. I knew it was a mistake to leave some of the southern ponies here. I really needed to get them to the front. I made a note to start moving the rest of them out tomorrow.

"Tulip, you are to never do that again, do you understand me?" I said, trying to keep the fury out of my voice. "If I wish for you to hold court in my absence, I will tell you to do so." I glared down at her. "Should you do that again, I will give your job to Time Keeper completely, is that understood?"

"Yes, Prince Antares," Tulip said, her head low and her tail between her legs. "I just... thought that it would help you out, you know? You're my god, and... and I want to make sure things run smoothly over in your house."

"Tulip..." My eye twitched, and I would have absolutely blown up at her if it weren't for Celestia putting a hoof on my back. I calmed down a little and took a few deep breaths to center myself. In hindsight, I didn't know what the deal was. I mean, yeah, she overstepped her authority. A lot. Usually I'm better about not letting my annoyance get to me. She wouldn't do it again. I took another few deep breaths before continuing.

"We'll talk later. For now, all I can say is that you're worrying me. At the end of the day, I'm just a pony who's as flawed as you are. I appreciate your devotion, but there are times to tone it down."

Geez, she looked like I'd slapped her once I said that.

Tulip, Celestia and I entered my throne room, where we found Kathyrine sitting on the floor in front of Ara and Veritas. It looked like they were playing peek-a-boo.

"Where's Auntie Katy?" Kathyrine covered up her face with her claws before pulling them away after a few seconds. "Here I am!" The twins giggled and clapped their hooves together.

"Auntie Katy?" I said, raising an eyebrow as I walked over to them. "That's new."

"Well, I'm around enough that they really like me," Kathyrine said with a shrug.

"I suggested it actually," Tulip said, sitting next to her foals with an obviously forced smile on her face. She picked up Ara and held him close. Really close, like she was using him for emotional support. Ara must have sensed this, because he nuzzled his mother's chest while Veritas happily crawled up to me. I draped my wing over her back and ruffled her mane.

"Actually, I'm glad you're here, Kathyrine." I said. "We've been wanting to talk to you."

Kathyrine's smile fell and she slowly nodded. "Yeah, I've been wanting to talk to you guys, too."

"Well, no sense wasting the day about it, then," I said, getting to my hooves. Veritas made a noise of displeasure, which made Tulip use her magic to draw her into a hug. I gave Veritas a comforting smile. "I'll be back soon, Veritas. I just need to talk to... er... Auntie Katy for a little bit."

The three of us left the room, going into one of my conference rooms before we started talking. I put a sound spell around the room before sitting down at the table. I really needed to look into making sound spells a permanent addition to the conference rooms.

"So," I began, taking a seat. "I think it's time we--"

"I want you to get me back in Griffonia to kick that bastard off of my throne."

"Talked about that," I finished. "Yeah, we'll definitely help you with that."

"He's been on too long. Every day he's alive is an insult to my dad's memory." Kathyrine glowered and tapped on the table. "I want him gone. I don't even care if I fight him and it kills us both. I want him dead."

"As do we," Celestia said. "We will do everything in our power to make sure he is removed from office with minimal loss of life."

"Sounds like the way you'd go about things," Kathyrine grumbled. "Just help me get there, and I'll take care of the rest. You won't have to worry about griffins fighting you guys anymore. Maybe we can be allies after I take power. The least I can do for you, I guess."

"Well, it'll be up to you as empress," Celestia admitted. "Though I feel that an alliance between our nations would be mutually beneficial."

"Like I said: just get me on the throne, and I'll take care of the rest from there."

And so we began forming a plan.

* * * *

It was night before we finished talking. Celestia went back to her palace not long afterwards. She offered to stay with me, but the ponies in Canterlot needed her, especially once we started telling ponies that they'd lost their loved ones. Heck, since I was going to be in Baltimare for that, ponies would be looking to me to help them.

I dragged myself into my room and sealed the door behind me. I didn't want to be bothered for anything short of news that the griffins were attacking.

I just about reached my bed when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw my laptop resting on one of the tables in the room. It had been there for as long as I had lived in Baltimare, but now that I thought about it, I didn't really do anything with it. I laid down on my bed and floated it over to me. Its batteries were dead, so I charged it with my magic and turned it on.

I have to say, opening my laptop again made me flash back a little to the time when I first ascended. Back when I was still TD and this job was being more or less thrust upon me, whether I liked it or not. I quietly exhaled and floated a pen and my headphones over to me. I plugged the headphones in and put the earbuds in my ears. I used the pen to open up the music folder before clicking the first song in the playlist.

I put a pillow under my head and closed my eyes, letting the music of my home world wash over me. Anything to forget my troubles for a little while.