Chapter 15: Maneheart
It was a dry summer's day in a certain young pegasus colt's hometown of Fillydelphia, and he had been practicing his flying all day, dreaming of someday becoming a great athlete. He performed loop-de-loops, tried tight turns, and perfectly executed complex maneuvers that he couldn't have named if his life depended on it. The sky, he felt, was where he most belonged.
He soon grew bored of these diversions, and set out to find some greater challenge—which he found in a flock of birds flying overhead.
As he flew towards them, they scattered, darting about quickly as he'd hoped they would. He picked out the fastest one and chased after it, giving the tiny creature all of his focus as it zipped through the sky. He was just slightly faster than the bird, and managed to catch up with it, but as he tried to pluck it from the air, it deftly dropped out of his reach, diving towards the ground. Diving after it, he steeled himself, determined not to miss a second time.
He didn't.
He grabbed the bird a split-second before crashing into the ground, hooves first, and was alarmed to hear a sickening crunch. Numb with shock, he lifted his hooves to his face and stared blankly at the remains of the helpless creature whose life he had just extinguished. It had happened so quickly, and it had been so easy…
Suddenly he heard several gasps and a scream behind him, and clumsily attempted to hide the bird behind a nearby rock. However, as he furtively looked around, he saw a crowd looking not at the bird, but at his flank. Twisting around to see it himself, he got a terrible sinking feeling in his stomach. The confused mess of voices around him didn't make matters any easier:
"That can't be real, can it?"
"What does it mean? Surely it doesn't mean that…"
"Why is his cutie mark a skull?"
…
Soarin' snapped out of his reverie as he heard hoofsteps approaching him from behind. He had been standing atop the highest balcony in Canterlot, watching the sun set.
"Hey, Spitfire," he said without turning around.
"Hey. Is something on your mind?"
"Do you think… this is really what we should be doing? Killing, I mean."
She shrugged. "What choice do we have? You're not thinking of standing up to the princess, are you?"
"No… I guess not."
She stood next to him and gazed down upon Ponyville. "It must be wonderful to be them," she said dreamily. "Did you know it's impossible to die from an illness while you're inside the barrier?"
"Who told you that?"
"I don't know, some prince. They all look the same to me. The point is, to anypony who doesn't know how things really work, Equestria must seem like a utopia."
He nodded silently. Then, suddenly, he asked "Do you ever wonder if things might change someday? If we'll be allowed to just be athletes?"
"We are, sometimes."
"You know what I mean. Imagine if we never had to fight again… Celestia could even change our cutie marks, so we wouldn't have to hide them everywhere we went."
"There's no use dwelling on a dream that's never going to come true, Soarin'."
"Sure there is. Dreaming is what keeps me going from day to day. You should try it sometime."
Just as the sun finished passing over the horizon, they noticed somepony careening towards them through the air.
"That's not…?" muttered Spitfire, squinting. He skidded as he landed on the balcony before collapsing sideways, panting.
"Blizzard?" asked Soarin', rushing to help him up.
"I was—scouting the pigs' defenses—lost—her"—
"Whoa, slow down," urged Spitfire. "You've been gone for days!"
They took him inside and offered him some water. Once he'd emptied an entire jug, he explained what had happened:
"I was in Sustria, on my way to one of the pig's cities with the intention of scouting their defenses, when one of them spotted me from the road. I killed it before it could alert the others, but then I turned around and noticed somepony behind me."
"What?" interjected Soarin'.
"She was that pony from Cloudsdale… you know, on the young side, blue, with rainbow hair."
Spitfire's stomach sank. "That… sounds like Rainbow Dash."
"Yeah, that was her name. I chased after her, across the northwest Sustrian border and into the wilderness, but she used her—her Sonic Rainboom to get away. I tried to track her down, but it was useless. She's still out there somewhere, and she knows our secret."
Spitfire thought of how Rainbow Dash had saved her and her teammates' lives in Cloudsdale, and how overjoyed she'd been to meet her heroes at the Gala. The thought that a pony who had once held such admiration for the Wonderbolts had been forced to fly for her life from one of them disgusted her.
"Well?" Blizzard prompted after a few seconds. "Shouldn't we organize a search for her?"
"I'm not sure this is as much of a problem as you think it is," said Soarin' slowly. "After all, what reason does anypony have to actually believe her? For that matter, if her Sonic Rainboom carried her far enough to escape you, it'll probably be some time before she finds her way back to Equestria."
"But"—Blizzard lowered his voice—"but how will Princess Celestia react if word reaches her? I don't know about you two, but I'd rather not take that chance."
Spitfire barely managed to conceal a shiver as she considered the prospecting of hunting down Rainbow Dash. There was nothing she could possibly say to the young pegasus, it seemed, that would redeem herself or her fellow Wonderbolts—and that was assuming there was a chance to talk to her at all before she was dragged off to the Princess.
…
Meanwhile, Princess Luna was leading Twilight and friends (along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders) to the hidden town. The fillies seemed tremendously curious about the alicorn, but too shy to say anything to her.
"Princess Luna?" asked Twilight. "What are we going to do after we arrive at the hidden town?"
"Well… I'll introduce you to some of the residents, and find a place for you all to stay."
"…and after that?"
Twilight became suddenly uncomfortable as Luna eyed her strangely, as if sizing her up.
"I guess there's no point hiding the truth from you," she finally said. "You see, I originally founded the hidden town with the hopes of one day freeing Equestria's citizens from Celestia's web of deception—for lack of a better phrase. However, I had little hope that my dream would be realized for many generations."
"Not long after the last Grand Galloping Gala, however, Celestia was telling me about how you had saved her life, and how much your magic had grown." In spite of everything, Twilight felt a warm surge of pride. "She mentioned off-hoof that you had vanquished an Ursa Minor, and naturally it gave me quite a start to think that a unicorn could accomplish such a feat."
"It's… well, you know, it's not like it was an Ursa Major, or anything," Twilight managed, blushing.
"You don't understand," said Luna, looking at her seriously. "In the days of the alicorns, it was considered common knowledge that if anypony encountered a hostile creature of that size and strength, the only possible solution was to summon an alicorn. There has literally never been a unicorn powerful enough to defeat an Ursa Minor."
Somehow, the commendation was so great that Twilight felt scared by it. "I'm sure it was—I mean, that couldn't mean"—
"It's no use being humble, Twilight," chided Princess Luna. "There's something extremely unusual about you, and neither Celestia nor I know what causes it."
Twilight pondered the enormity of this realization. "So… wait, you're saying you need me to"—
"to continue to hone your raw magical power," said Luna, "until you stand a chance of overthrowing Celestia."
"Is that even possible?"
"Well, we won't very well know unless we try, now, will we?"
"I… I guess not, but…" She still wasn't positive she wanted to side with Luna, but she didn't dare admit it.
"I know I'm asking a lot of you, in more ways than one," said Luna, "but you're the best hope Equestria has, and there's no one else I could ask. If your power continues to grow exponentially, as Celestia tells me it has, then just maybe you'll have a bargaining chip that we can use to set the ponies of Equestria free."
"Well… I guess getting better at magic is something I'd like to do anyway…"
"Excellent!" Luna smiled. "You know, it just occurred to me that we'll probably be best served if I teleport us the rest of the way… gather in close, everypony…"
As they followed her instruction, she focused her magical energies, and a bright light grew around them. Twilight felt herself rushing through space in a vague, disconnected way before landing back on solid ground, stumbling a bit.
Looking around, they first noticed several unfamiliar ponies gathered around them, staring. They were in a town of log buildings, connected by rough dirt roads and surrounded by dense tall grass and thick woods beyond. There were gently sloping meadows which served perhaps as backyards, interspersed with numerous small, square gardens. A single stream, bridged at a few points, entered the town from one side of the woods, meandered roughly through its middle, passing through a waterwheel on the way, and left through the opposite side woods. The entire place gave off an air of being subdued or contained in some way, as though the ponies had shied away from making their buildings too tall or too colorful.
"Everypony," announced Princess Luna to the growing crowd around them, "allow me to welcome our honored guests. They have come here from Equestria after learning some of Princess Celestia's terrible secrets, and I would like you all to treat them with the utmost respect, as I believe they will be instrumental to forming our first real resistance against her."
A murmur broke out amidst the crowd at these words. Luna led Twilight and company to the lodge they'd be staying in, and the town's citizens watched their guests with intense curiosity as they watched their guests disappear into the building.
"Now, I've instructed a few of the town's residents to keep you well stocked with food and anything else you might need," explained Princess Luna. As she showed each of them their rooms, it dawned on Twilight just how long they might be here. As long as the royal guards were on the lookout for them, going back to Equestria simply wouldn't be an option.
…
"Isn't this exciting?" Scootaloo asked her friends once the princess had wished them luck and left. "Here we are, adventuring to a new place… we're bound to get our cutie marks here!" They were strolling along the tree-line, examining the town as they circled it.
"Hey, yeah!" chimed in Sweetie Belle as they unpacked their saddlebags. "We pretty much tried everything in Ponyville, so maybe we're supposed to find our special talents somewhere else!"
"There's one problem, though," said Applebloom. The others looked at her, confused. "Lotsa' ponies in this town don't even have cutie marks. Didn't y'all notice?"
"Wait, really?" asked Scootaloo. She squinted at the crowds watching her from near the edge of town. "How are we supposed to get our cutie marks if even the adults don't have them?"
Sweetie Belle sighed. "Well, look on the bright side: at least we won't be the only blank flanks around here."
…
Meanwhile, Twilight and her friends were in a room down the hall, discussing their situation.
"Those ponies were looking at us funny," said Pinkie Pie nervously. "What do you think they thought of us?"
"Maybe they were just confused when Princess Luna said we could help defeat Princess Celestia," suggested Rarity. "After all, she never explained how, she just sort of said it and then took us here."
"I'm sure they'll be friendly once we get to know them," said Twilight. Just then, a knock came at the door downstairs. They all answered it and saw a brown unicorn stallion with beige hair.
"My name is Perseus," he said in a slightly airy voice. "May I ask which one of you is Twilight Sparkle?"
"I am," said Twilight, stepping forward.
"Princess Luna has requested that, during your stay here in Maneheart, I instruct you in certain branches of magic that are… well, mostly unheard of in Equestria—if that sounds agreeable, that is."
Twilight looked to her friends as if to ask for advice, but they had none. "If that's what Princess Luna thinks is best," said Twilight, "then I gladly accept."
"Excellent—come with me, if you please."
She was worried that Perseus would lead her past throngs of staring ponies, but for whatever reason, there were few of them outside. He escorted her down a narrow, sparse trail that led behind the lodge, a few yards into the woods and to small clearing which housed a platform of wooden planks with a decorative arch over it. Stones were arranged around it in a roughly circular formation.
"I suppose you're wondering why I don't have a cutie mark," he said, eyeing hers.
"Well, I…"
"It's quite alright. You see, cutie marks are unique to Equestria—they are the result of one of many of Princess Celestia's enchantments, intended to prevent unemployment and maintain a complacent lower class. However, in some cases, they can also create many unpredictable possibilities depending on what they identify as a pony's special talent, which I suspect may have something to do with your immense wells of magical energy." Twilight blushed.
"Not having a cutie mark myself," he went on, "I am not limited to a particular field of magic; nor, however, do I particularly excel in any of them. Princess Luna believes that since your special talent is magic, you should have no trouble mastering spells that will be useful in combat."
Perseus's horn glowed, and a rock to her left began to levitate. "I'd like to see for myself how capable you are. Try to force this rock back into the woods while I try to force it forward, towards the trail."
She watched it hover forward, almost passing her before she responded by pressing lightly on it with her magic. As she applied more force, so did Perseus, and soon she found that she was beginning to strain herself ever so slightly. At first, his expression appeared untroubled, and she absently wondered if he might be more powerful than she was. As she continued to apply greater telekinetic force to the rock, however, his knees buckled, and his jaw clenched. Finally, he gave up, and the rock shot into the woods with a loud crack.
"Good, good," he said as he caught his breath. "Now, tell me: do you know how to conjure a fireball?" She shook her head. "Well, then at least I've got something to teach you, haven't I?"
He spent an hour or two drilling her on the subtle processes required for various kinds of attack magic and watching her carefully as she practiced the spells. He seemed continually amazed by her raw ability, though he didn't hesitate to correct small technical mistakes. Eventually, the gradual expenditure of her magical reserves began to wear her out. Noticing this, he suggested that she get some rest, and so they headed back down the trail, parting in front of the lodge.
"Twilight!" greeted Pinkie Pie as soon as she was through the door. She, Rarity and Fluttershy were playing cards on a table in the corner. "What kind of magic did he teach you, huh?"
"Fire, gravity, explosions…" Twilight listed off categories sluggishly, only realizing how exhausted she was as she struggled to articulate her experience. Giving up, she asked, "Did they bring food yet?"
"Yes, and how," replied Rarity. "It's all down in the kitchen, to your left… such a selection of salads I've never seen; I'm amazed they could grow so many different fruits and vegetables in one town. When Princess Luna called us 'honored guests', she quite meant it, it seems."
"No pastries, though," shrugged Pinkie Pie.
As Twilight ate, not bothering to carry her food out of the kitchen first, she wondered where all of this would lead. Would she really be forced to fight Princess Celestia? Just what was she guilty of, anyway, and how was it connected to the grisly tale Princess Luna had told them, or to the massacre in Sustria? What would happen to her and her friends—and all of Equestria, for that matter—when this business was through?
These questions and others continued to pester her as she lay in a strange bed that night, next to a softly snoring Pinkie Pie. Her fatigue caught up with her, however, and before her mind was at peace, a deep sleep took her completely by surprise.