Scootaloo - 22nd of Midsummer ‘15 EoH - High NoonScootaloo - 22nd of Midsummer ‘15 EoH - High Noon
“What!” Lily exclaimed, one ear standing upright, the other drooped, one eye larger than the other, and tail lifted straight up.
This wasn’t your average everyday confusion, this was Advanced Confusion. With a dash of panic on top.
“Hey, can you hear me?” I asked, frowning.
I waved a hoof in front of Lily, flinching as I noticed no reaction to my movement. It made sense that’ he’d panic. There was a lot to take in, but now was most definitely not a good time to lock up like this! What should I do?
“Citizens of Ponyville,” Twilight’s voice said, echoing through the streets as whatever spell she used delivered her message, “a small force of trained soldiers has besieged our community. Please return to your homes and remain there until an all clear has been sounded. Military and law enforcement personnel are to move to the wall tops as quickly as possible. Special forces, please meet at rally point Delta. I apologize for the inconvenience, this shouldn’t take long.”
The tables around me were slowly emptying as ponies grumbling headed for home, or to the walls in the case of a few guards. Nopony liked it when a ‘disaster’ interrupted their afternoon, and if Twilight was asking people to remain in their homes, that meant she was treating this as a serious threat.
Not that I didn’t think an army attacking the town wasn’t serious, but it did make me wonder what I was supposed to do. I had volunteered to help defend Ponyville, and Twilight had to know what had happened to me by now… But nopony had told me anything!
Did I count as a military pony? Should I go to the wall? Did I count as special forces? If so, where was point whatever-she-said?
Worst of all, what do I do with Lily? He was sitting there still, fortunately not looking like he had a stroke, but none the less quite still. Was he to go home? Would Twilight want him at her side to heal her if she got hurt?
“Buck it! I’ll go ask her,” I declared, thumping a hoof against the table in irritation. “Come on, hon. I’m not going to leave you in the streets. Please snap out of it…”
Lily’s right ear twitched slightly. Shaking my head, I walked around behind him to pick him up and fly, and froze half way around. Had his green eye tracked my movement around him?
Ah whatever Scoots, you're stressed, and even if it did, it probably just meant he was snapping out of the funk.
I stretched out my wings, hopped into the air, and wrapped my forelegs under his shoulders. Expecting him to be heavy, I pushed down with all my might, only to zip upwards and smack my back against the canvas roof!
“Oof! Heh… Right, stronger now,” I muttered to myself.
Blushing lightly at my mistake I zipped out from under the roof, circled around to get altitude, and made a beeline for Twilight’s palace. She had to be there, with my moms and the rest of her friends. There was time to come up with a plan, and that’s where she would do it.
As i approached the halfway point, Lily twitched. A second later she yelped!
“Ahh! Falli- No, wait, flying!” He sputtered.
Twisting in my grip he looked back towards me. “Why are we-”
“Danger, army, siege, asking Twilight what to do,” I summarized.
“Okay,” he sighed, “hold on, did you mention you became a-”
“Let’s talk about that when we don’t have to worry about danger, okay?” I asked, tucking my wings in to safely swoop through and open window on the palace’s third floor.
“Yeah… That’s probably for the best,” Lily decided as we swooped into what I guessed must be Spike’s room.
Gently letting Lily go, I dropped to the floor myself and quickly rushed for the door. “Come on, if this is Spike’s room, then the map room is close by and that’s where Twilight will be.”
I heard his hoofsteps as he ran to keep up with my fast pace. A pace which surprisingly didn’t make me feel any real exhaustion. Is this what distance sprinter’s felt like?
“I take it we’re asking how we can help?” Lily asked as we turned right, the entrance to the map room now within view.
“Right!” I agreed.
Two guards in silver armor flanked the double doors. They looked up as our pounding hooves reached them, immediately readying halberds, but relaxing them a moment later.
The guard on the right opened the doors for us with a pulse of lavender magic. “Go! You’ll miss the briefing!” She called urgently.
“Both of them?” Her companion asked.
“Yeah I think so… Buck it, both of you, in, now!” The first ordered as we zipped between them into the massive geode-like room.
Unlike most of the palace, Twilight had never redecorated the map room. It felt like you were inside of a crystal in a way both awe inspiring and unsettling. In the center of the room stood the Map, ringed by the six thrones. And as I had suspected all six of their owners were here, but nopony was sitting.
Dash was busily hovering behind AJ, who leaned on the map table as it projected an image of the army outside of Ponyville. Pinkie bounced from hoof to hoof as she sort of made circuits around the table. Rarity was busy pointing out something on the map, which Fluttershy and Twilight were leaning down to inspect…
Twilight’s ears perked as the two of us entered. Looking up a half second later she flashed from startled to relieved. “Oh thank goodness! The last thing we need right now is for the palace to be breached. Girls, since everyone is here now, we need to finish up out plan. We have two minutes.”
Dash turned around. “So let’s see who we’ve been waiting f- Scoots!?” Dash sputtered as her eyes locked onto me.
“Yes, Scootaloo,” Twilight confirmed.
“Wait just a darn minute!” AJ protested. “She might be speedy now, but there aint way for her to contribute here! Maybe one day, with some training, but the six of us are a team. We can’t let an inexperienced pony tag along with us on a whim, Twi! Er no offense meant Sugarcube…”
“Agreed!” Rarity said, sounding a little stunned. “I sort of understand having the doctor there at least stay near us, but why Scootaloo of all ponies?”
Twilight sighed. “Celestia’s orders. Scootaloo accompanies us and covers our rear. I assure you that she can be of help. Right, Scootaloo?”
I nodded firmly. “Yes. Mom, mom,” I said looking into my mothers’ concerned faces. “I’m really, really good at lightning now. So-”
“Maybe you are, but we can’t just let you tag along!” Dash protested turning around almost too fast to see. “ Twilight, seriously-”
“Dash, AJ. She goes with us. End of discussion. We simply do not have time to explain to you why she’s perfectly safe and why she can help.” Twilight said firmly.
“I promise I’ll tell you everything as soon as this is over with okay?” I said, giving AJ a pleading look. “I really want to help, and I can.”
“But-” AJ protested along with Dash.
“Don’t worry, she’ll be alright!” Pinkie exclaimed, sproinging up between my mom's to give them both side hugs. “See? No tremblies in the shoulders! No CMC getting in danger today.”
Dash groaned and ran a hoof over her face. “Ugh… Fine. I’ll trust the Pinkie Sense. But you need to stay out of the thick of things!” Dash ordered all momishly, pointing a hoof at me firmly.
“She will be quite out of the way,” Twilight said firmly. “Scootaloo, I want you to remain in the air and drive off anything moving towards us. You’ll also need to hit any spells or projectiles headed our way with enough power to destroy them. It takes six seconds for us to channel our Rainbow Forms, during which we are basically defenseless… The ambient magic shorts out any active spells I have on us.”
Before I could ask any questions, Twilight’s horn flashed, and a silver peytral appeared in a flash of magic in front of me. The armor was very simply designed, little more than shaped metal with a small section magically colored to bear my cutiemark in the spot which would be in the center of my barrel.
“Put that on,” Twilight ordered. “Sorry it’s ugly. We’ll get you better armor soon. That’s all I had in your size.”
“Oh come on!” Dash protested. “My girl is going into battle and all she gets is some chest armor?”
“It’s got a level four shield charm on it,” Twilight continued, ignoring mom. “Dodge any big spells sent your way but don’t sweat arrows and other projectiles. If it suddenly gets cold, it’s almost out of energy. So dodge everything you can after that point. But if you have to take a hit to cover us while we’re channeling, you’ll be alright.”
“... Dang it Twilight!” Dash protested again. “I’m trying to mom responsibly!”
“Okay,” I said, picking the armor up in my hooves and puzzling at how exactly it was supposed to-
“Like this, Sugarcube,” Aj said calmly as she walked over and buckled the armor into place for me.
“Thanks mom,” I said half embarrassed, but half happily.
It felt great to finally get to join them in protecting everypony!
“I take it you would like me to stay out of the way und heal anypony who Scootaloo might fail to protect?” Lily asked in a eerily calm voice.
Twilight nodded and walked around the map to point at the large square mass of black and red clad soldiers. “Yes. While we should be able to defeat them in open combat like this, I will give them one chance to resolve this diplomatically… After all their leader gave us fifteen minutes. They may be willing to talk.
“I expect it’s really just a trap, so I want you ready to heal anypony who gets hurt if it is. The eight of us will teleport in right here. You can see this clear area at the base of the wall… The lone pony standing out of rank with the other is probable the leader. That’s where we are going.
“The six of us will appear in a wedge formation with me at the front. Scootaloo, you will appear mid air, get ready to hover. Lily, how far is your healing magic’s range?”
Lily coughed in embarrassment. “About five meters tops…”
Twilight winced. “I wanted you on the walltop… But you’ll be appearing behind our wedge formation. Can you protect yourself?”
“I know a few shield spells,” Lily said with a sigh. “Und most of my piercings are enchanted defensively. If we are attacked, do you want me to try und help? Or am I strictly to heal?”
“Please keep an eye on us and heal. Only attack if you must,” Twilight ordered.
I looked around the room. Everypony had a determined look on their face except for Lily, who just looked nervous. I didn’t know how I looked. Happy? Proud? Afraid? All of those things?
A small movement caught my eye and drew it to Dash’s face. She gave me a wink and a proud grin, then quickly went back to looking determined and focused the nanosecond AJ turned to look in response to my look.
“Okay, is everypony ready?” Twilight asked. “I believe our time is almost up.”
“Um, actually,” Fluttershy asked, “I forgot if we are using plan three or seven…”
“Seven,” Twilight clarified.
“Okay!” Fluttershy said, sighing in relief. “I wasn’t sure if I could do three today.”
“You’ll be fine Darling. Talk, villainous person dismisses peaceful resolution, Rainbow Magic. Just like the last thirty times,” Rarity chuckled.
“Wait, this has happened thirty times!?” Lily asked in shock.
“We can discuss Ponyville’s frequent odd emergencies later,” Twilight said, giving him a grin. “For now, let’s end this one. Teleporting in three, two, one-”
I didn’t see even a spark of magic. The purplish crystal room blinked into an open patch of sky as if I had never been indoors! I dropped straight down, falling more than a few meters before managing to get my wings open and dropping into a hover.
Heart racing from the sudden fall, I looked around me. The sandy outer wall of Ponyville was to my right. The massive thirty meter high wall was about half its height below me, it’s top almost entirely filled with a loose assortment of Lunar Guards and Royal Guard who were doing their best to get good firing positions set up in case the Elements of Harmony failed.
It had happened a few times. It was always good to be prepared.
To my left the Everfree forest stretched out for as far as anypony could see, merging with the frost topped mountains behind it. Three hundred yards from the wall, on the edge of the Everfree, stretching out for almost all of my vision was the enemy. A sea of red cloaks, speckled with bits of black and flashes of silver, upon which a small forest of spear-like golden banner holder things seemed to float.
Each of the…things, held up a single banner, a gray rectangle of cloth with golden tassels at each corner, bordered in a blue sawtooth pattern, with a crimson upside down triangle in the center. I felt my heart skip a beat. This was a proper army. Not bandits, or Diamond Dogs, or even an ambitious but ragged rogue griffon squadron.
No, this was a real, fully equipped army of trained warriors. Not one single pony amongst them moved at all, but held prefect formations and uniform posture. Even a pony like me who didn’t know a motherbucking thing about the military could see that they knew everything about warfare.
I gulped nervously, wings fluttering a bit faster as nervous tension started to bubble up in my chest. I quickly turned to look down, remembering my job and putting all of my attention on the Elements.
Or at least, I tried too…
The six of them stood firmly in a v shape, with Twilight at its point, a mere ten steps away from the lone green cloaked pony who Twilight believed to be their leader. He stole almost all of my attention instantly.
The deep forest green cloak was perhaps the single most plane garment I had ever seen anypony where. I could see the patterns and embroidery on the soldiers red cloaks, it was clear these ponies put care into their uniforms. Yet his cloak was a simple uniform, plane green cloth, adorned only with a simple brass chain to keep it secured around his shoulders.
The armor on the other hoof…
His armor was so black that I swore it was making the area around him darker! It was like looking into a hole in the world. The armor was so dark that I couldn’t see any details at all in it, only the edges of the sculpted plates, and I was a pegasus! Other ponies probably couldn’t even tell that it was armor. He probably looked like a cloak covering a pony shaped hole in the world!
I had about four seconds to take this in before the armored pony bowed to Twilight. It was a simple bow, like the kind a martial artist would give to an opponent they saw as equal in a Kung-Fu movie. Twilight and everypony else took a step back in shock at the slight bow, and then a second as he spoke in a voice that sounded like he was speaking from beneath molten metal, but with enough force for the sound to make it through!
“Princess Sparkle, I am glad you have chosen to meet with me. I had believed you would choose to engage before we had a chance to speak,” he rumbled.
Twilight said something in reply, but her words didn’t carry nearly as well as the leader’s did. I dropped a few meters down to try and hear Twilight’s side of the conversation.
“I am called Sacred Shadow,” he rumbled in answer to her question I didn’t hear. “As your forces have captured some of our classified information, I assume you know of the leader of our organization?”
Twilight nodded. “I do. And I know that he never leaves your home base. We also know of your plan to deceive us into thinking you are no more by attacking us here. Your plan will not work, if you surrender now, I will allow you and your forces to be given trial as a foreign military rather than terrorists.”
“I do not know enough of your legal system to know if this is a boon or not,” Sacred rumbled. “But it is meaningless. I can not surrender so long as my heart declares our cause to be just.”
“Then why talk to me?” Twilight asked. “Why ditch the element of surprise if you are going to fight no matter what?”
“I have within my head the knowledge of all who held my position before me,” Sacred informed in a simpler tone. “I could tell you of a million different times we have tested a new soldier, armor, weapons, and spells. If there is one thing I know to be unshakably good it is testing things to prove their mettle.
“Not once in any memory can I recall an Oldest Brother who tested Father's word. If we are to discard that which is inferior, and rightly so, why do we not do this with values and ideologies? For all of my life I have been told Father's Will is the ultimate truth, and I would put that claim to the test today.”
Oh… Oh that was going to get really bad, wasn't it?
As I winced, Twilight asked very calmly. “I take it that by ‘fair fight’ you literally meant you want to fight me in a duel?”
“I do,” Sacred confirmed. “You are the champion of your master, as I am the champion of mine. It stands to reason that if Father's Will is indeed superior to Celestia’s designs then his ultimate warrior will be able to defeat Celestia’s own.
“As long as there is the possibility that what I believe is right, I will fight. But I will not be as foolish as F- foolhardy in my actions. Agree to the duel and fight me on your own, and if you slay me or disable me, my forces will stand down or self-terminate at their discretion. If you refuse, then conventional tactics will resolve this dispute.”
I frowned in thought, that was an interesting slip of the tongue there… What might that mean?
“I can’t think that your soldiers would agree to that,” Twilight said bitterly.
“All who stand before you have agreed to abide by the outcome of this dule. Those who did not now nourish the forest. Those who refuse to change when presented with the truth do not deserve to live,” Sacred said casually.
Twilight stood silent for several moments. The tension in the air was practically visible as she asked. “What would the terms of this dule be?”
“Dodge any attack you are able to dodge. Take it seriously, no fooling around. Do not hold back. Keep fighting until I am no longer living, or able to do battle,” Sacred announced eerily calm.
“You realize you don’t have a chance in Tartarus… Right?” Twilight asked flaring her wings open widely.
“Yeah!” Dash jeered. “She the Alicorn of Magic!”
“Don't’ be deceived by appearances. In ancient days, there were mages far more powerful than she and I,” Sacred said, head turning to face my mom.
“What proof can you give me that your soldiers will stand down after I defeat you?” Twilight asked.
“Twilight!” Rarity objected instantly. “You’re not going to agree to this, are you?”
“I am. Because it will save lives,” Twilight said calmly.
“If you are already going to agree, what need is there for proof of my honor?” Sacred asked.
I bit my lip, that was actually a pretty good question.
Twilight seemed to agree. “Fair enough. I’ll fight you on one condition. No destructive spell is to be cast which could destroy Ponyville should it miss it’s target.”
Sacred armor creaked as he tilted his head to one side. “Er, why would that be a concern?”
Twilight blinked twice. “Um… So the innocent civilians living there are not injured if the wall’s shields are overwhelmed. So ponies do not die.”
“Y-you can’t just grow more warriors?” Sacred asked, voice carrying a baffled tone.
“We can’t,” Twilight said, one eyebrow raised.
“If I may,” Lily said timidly. “Equestria doesn't possess the arcana or technology to clone organisms. All of it’s population are naturally born. All here are unique individuals.”
“Oh!” Sacred exclaimed in an extremely odd tone. “Then we are agreed. The town is to be kept out of the line of fire. This field shall be our arena. Would you care to cast any ward spells upon yourself before we begin?”
I suddenly felt the urge to gain significantly more altitude and began flying upwards.
From my new vantage point a good two hundred meters above the field I watched as Twilight and Sacred moved apart from one another to stand in the center of the field. The two stood still for a while, Sacred simply watching as Twilight’s horn flashed and glowed as she readied several dozen spells.
Just as I began to wonder when Sacred would order his soldiers to vaporize Twilight’s component molecules while she wasn’t paying attention, Twilight stopped and shouted, “I’m ready. Are you?”
Sacred’s cloak billowed in an unseen wind. A nonexistent wind in fact, I sensed nothing causing the cloth to flutter and wave. In one fluid motion Sacred reared up, crossed his forelegs over his chest, and without any visible glow of a flight spell began to hover a few meters above the ground! A pale gold glow oozed between his armor’s joints highlighting the edges of every last plate as if lava had flowed between them.
I could feel waves of power radiating off of the unicorn as faint lines of smoke drifted up from each glowing line in a few sickly tendrils.
“Yes. Let us learn which ideology is superior, and which is to be discarded,” Sacred said solemnly.
I gulped nervously, and turned to look over at Dash, worried she might do something dumb… I never got the chance to see her. A blinding flash eclipsed the ground below, whiting out everything under the sky for a few seconds.
The duel had begun.
Above the Hearth, Everfree Forest, Equestria - 22nd of Midsummer ‘15 EoH - Afternoon
Princess Celestia stood at the foot of a tree, her golden armor shining like the sun even in the dim light at the forest floor. Her sister stood beside her, her own armor sparkling like the night sky as the two stared silently at the mouth of a cave which jutted up from the side of a hill like a burial mound.
A third pony sat to their left. The Great and Powerful Trixie calmly meditating, her star spangled cape drawn around her for warmth. Even at noon, beneath the thick forest canopy it was surprisingly cold.
“Are you certain this cave is an entrance?” Celestia asked, a bitter tone clinging to her words.
“Trixie is certain. We are above the very heart of the Hearth. Trixie’s Father should be far below Trixie’s very spot.” Trixie insisted fearfully.
“You’ll be perfectly fine, Trixie,” Luna soothed.
“Fear is not logical, princess,” Trixie returned with a sigh.
“No, at least, not always. But it can be banished through force of will,” Luna replied.
“I’m very certain the two of us are more than a match for your former master,” Celestia said, leaning forward to peer into the cave’s mouth. “If you are worried about your former comrades escaping… My soldiers will be able to hold the perimeter.”
“Trixie still thinks they should have accompanied us… Six scouts and three heavy hitters will not be enough to take the Hearth,” Trixie protested.
“We are not taking the Hearth,” Celestia reminded. “We are destroying it.”
“Trixie knows, she meant take as in ‘take on’,” Trixie said, shuffling a hoof nervously.
A patch of light shimmered just in front of the cave mouth! The three ponies jumped into combat stances, relaxing as Luna's Knights emerged from the cave, the shimmer simply being their invisibility spell breaking down.
“Is this the right spot?” Princess Luna asked, giving Lyra a hopeful look.
The minty mare nodded, a look of pure hatred and disgust on her face. “Yeah… Pretty sure this is over the middle…”
“What did you see?” Celestia asked, eyes narrowing.
“We… found out where the foals the monsters kidnapped went,” Octavia said quietly.
“Is there any chance of rescue?” Celestia asked, pleading with her tone for the answer to be ‘yes’.
“I… I…” Lyra started. “I did the right thing.”
Luna’s eyes opened wide at her tone. “Trixie… I never asked you what they did with them… What does he do?”
“Tissue samples from non-clones are needed to introduce genetic stability,” Trixie said, ears falling sadly.
“There were three survivors…” Vinyl informed. “Meep portaled them to Canterlot. She’s with them right now.”
“Do you mean to tell me,” Celestia growled, “that this monster had his brainwashed minions cut apart children!?”
Trixie scrambled backwards as Celestia’s mane began to smoulder. “Trixie didn’t know ponies were born until well after she left! Most of us think everypony is grown like we are, and as we do not value our own lives, Trixies assume ponies also do not value their own. Father has Trixie’s sisters convinced it’s no more evil than cutting carrots for a salad… If Trixie had any idea while she still was with them she would have tried to do something!”
“I believe you...” Celestia said darkly.
Luna flinched. “Girls… I think it’s time for us to leave.”
“Luna, shield this area,” Celestia growled. “When I am done here, we will proceed to Ponyville.”
“His creations do not know any better than to do as they do,” Luna said in an attempt to calm her enraged sister even the slightest degree.
“Trixie is telling the truth. I’ve had a lie detecting spell on her since the beginning. They truly can not question his commands… With few exceptions. So to them we will show mercy should they surrender,” Celestia agreed. “The true evil here is Father, and I will end it now.”
Luna nodded. “Very well. I’ll shield the area. Everypony, gather near me.”
“Trixie objects! We should back her up in any assault, especially if-”
“The air, is about to be on fire,” Celestia explained.
The seven ponies quickly gathered around Luna, and vanished as the Princess of the Night teleported them far from the forest shrouded cave.
Celestia closed her eyes, clenching her teeth as she fought down the all consuming rage. The ancient alicorn had very few things which could drive her to the breaking point left, having meditated for millennia to perfect her control over her own emotions. Intentional harm to a foal was one point she refused to prevent from enraging her.
A few heartbeats later and the dim light turned blue as a massive dome shield stretched over the forest. Celestia gave Luna few more seconds, knowing that if all of her sister’s power was not put into the shield, there would be problems. Though Celestia hated pushing her sister to such extremes so soon after her full power had returned post-banishment, it was needed.
Doing her best to prevent her range from impacting her magic, Celestia began to pick at the arcane threads which warded the world from her. One by one they fell away, until nothing more than Celestia’s iron will held her power at bay. And then it didn’t.
Outside the shield, the sun in the sky dimmed, and Luna screamed. The blue of her magic washed out as blinding white light shot through the shield’s edges! Plants touching the shield’s edge steamed, blackened, and burst into flame! Guards shouted in panic, doing their best to contain the fires, or stumbling about, blinded by the light of the sun.
The light vanished. Luna collapsed. Her shield shattered as if it were made from glass, a great wind dragging the shards inwards towards the center. Each shard dissolving into nothingness. The sun slowly returned to its normal brightness, the minute of unnatural twilight ending as quickly as it came.
Where a forest glade stood, a circular pit remained. A hole in the earth which could swallow a small city whole. Molten stone flowed down the edges of the new depression in the earth. Chunks of glass poked up from the flowing stone, smoking as waves of searing heat escaped the devastated area.
“Sooo…” Lyra said slowly. “That’s why we haven’t had a major war in a thousand years…”
Luna coughed and staggered to her hooves, groaning, the throbbing pain in her skull almost disabling. “That… never… gets… easier…” She groaned.
As her knights shook themselves from their shock, the Alicorn of the Sun appeared in a flash of white light, a charred but intact skull gripped in her magic, a single speck of red light flickering dimly in one of it’s sockets.
“Luna, are you alright?” Celestia asked, her voice returned to it’s normal kind and calm nature.
“Same as…the other times,” Luna moaned.
Celestia gently hugged her sister to her chest. “I’ll take over your duties for a few weeks. You can, go home and rest up after this is all over.”
Luna nodded gratefully, returning her sisters hug and looking at the equine skull within her sister’s grip curiously. “Is that… How did it not… vaporize?”
“I don’t know. But we will soon, as well as this demon's history,” Celestia vowed. “The enemy is no more, and my power is once again contained. As soon as everypony here is treated for wasting sickness, we march for Ponyville.”