• Published 21st May 2013
  • 23,618 Views, 902 Comments

My Two Most Faithful Students - Flaeirye



Twilight changes Star Swirl's time spell to travel back to the past once more. She ends up in the Pre-Equestrian era and unwittingly saves two fillies in the process. Little did she know what teaching them magic can do for the fate of Equestria.

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Chapter 12 - At The Unending Dark

Carrot dashed, hooves burning and breath ragged, back to the house of the Cakes where his relatives and their two filly friends waited. A bad feeling clutched at his heart, an uncertain atmosphere that told him something was going on and every second wasted could have been that final second to save whoever might be in trouble.

Unicorn scouts popped out one by one to stop him, but Carrot's sharpened senses allowed him to avoid their shots. He zigzagged his way through anypony who stood in his way, not even stopping for a moment to knock any of them out.

Dread fell on his heart. From the distance, he spotted smoke rising into the sky high above. The scene of the Cake's house burned bright in the war-torn city, wooden beams falling apart and turned into crackling charcoals.

Twilight was right about the danger. A heavy lump stuck on his throat, but he forged forwards towards the searing flames only hoping for the best.

"Pa!" A familiar voice came from behind. A great relief washed over him, and tears welled up in his eyes. "You're ba—"

Carrot gave the little colt a bear hug. Ginger was safe, and that was all that mattered to him. He glanced at the back, and the Cake family, despite being worse for the wear, was all there safe and sound.

"What happened here? everypony alright?" Carrot asked everyone present, only to be met with hesitation.

"We're okay," Ginger spoke first, "But Celeste and Selene… well, they put up a fight, but she and her sister got captured."

"Cookie!" Butter cried as the sight of the burning house reflected on her teary eyes, "Our prized sure-win cake, it's gone!"

"There is no contest, Butter, it's also gone." Cookie held her head to suppress the incoming headache, when she noticed her uncle returned without the unicorn. "Where's Twilight?"

"She'll be here," Carrot replied. "Where'd they take your two friends?"

Cookie pointed into the distance, where he spotted a gray unicorn walking away with both Celeste and Selene held captive inside a floating magical bubble, tagged along by a yellow magi behind them. The magi ordered her units to regroup back together with the captain, as the plundering soldiers fell back with all the food in store.

It was finally over. After getting what they came for, it was time to break through the gate once more. The screams for help inside that bubble reached Carrot, making him flinch.

"Aren't we gonna do something?" Ginger begged his father, wanting to repay his friends for trying to save them earlier.

But Carrot didn't budge. "There's nothing. Nothing we can do at all."

"We got to! We just got to! She tried her best to fight the scary unicorn, after all! She helped us escape! She saved us, pa! We can't just leave them!"

Carrot stared at the figures of the receding unicorns far away. What good would rescuing them do anyways? They were unicorns after all, and the unicorns responsible for the war in this town and his home village, Trote. Rather than not being his concern, shouldn't he be glad that they were taken away? Any normal earth pony would think this away.

But something twitched in his heart, watching those two fillies far away.

What did it mean to be an earth pony? A unicorn?

Why, instead of those two fillies, did he see himself in that magical bubble? Rejected by those around him, because he was different.

Was he really going to reject the cries of two innocent ponies, all because they were unicorns?

"…Ginger, stay here," Carrot said to his kid. He stomped his hoof forward on the ground, a step closer to the escaping unicorns.

"Wait wait wait, you're not going to face those unicorns, are you!?" Mr. Cake screamed. It was an insane choice that didn't fit his normally levelheaded brother. "That's crazy! You're gonna get yourself in major trouble!"

Carrot turned his head back one last time. "I think our Old Bum would do the same thing for us, brother."

Mr. Cake understood that once Carrot became this way, there was no use stopping him. Berry wanted more than anything to stop him, but Carrot went on galloping without another word. All she could do was hold her tears back and wish for her love's safety.

---

Carrot charged towards the high knight in a mad dash. The robed magi, Serene, noticed his presence and quickly casted her spell. Carrot felt his weight being pulled up by a strong force of magic, but he could only grab a stray piece of nearby debris before freely floating in midair.

Aura Gleam stopped and noticed the commotion from behind, and to his surprise found some random earth pony. He'd expect that rogue unicorn to pop out, but some earth pony trying to rescue a unicorn was simply preposterous. And here he was purposefully walking slowly to bait that purple unicorn to show up, since he couldn't sense her presence due to that magic-distorting crystal.

Aura Gleam nodded at Serene and returned to walking, not wasting a single second to watch the pony's demise.

Carrot struggled hard against the unicorn's levitation, flailing around much to Serene's annoyance. Noticing she was about to cast another spell, Carrot snapped. He spun himself midair, gaining momentum while holding the debris tight, and shot it straight at the unicorn! Serene's shield was a bit too late as the projectile struck her head hard. She crumpled to the ground, releasing Carrot from the levitation and back to the hard reassuring ground.

"Come here and fight me!" he shouted at the captain. Aura Gleam looked back, and was surprised to find Serene knocked out. It was quite a rebellious act, and any other day he wouldn't allow this mad earth pony to live. But he felt generous today after the operation's huge success despite its many roadblocks.

"I'm going to give you a chance to run," said the high knight. "You must be proud being able to knock a high ranking unicorn down, right? You've blown off that anger of yours, and in deference to your skill, I'll give you a chance to live."

"Let 'em two go.'" Carrot stood firm.

Aura could not help but glance at his captives, and back at the crazy pony. "These two? What do these two have to do with you?"

"I don't know," the brown stallion replied. He paused—he really didn't know—but he kept on going. "I don't know. But one thing's for sure: you destroyed my home, you destroyed my brother's home, and your taking fillies that ain’t yours. I don't know why, but what I do know is that I won't have it!"

Aura raised an eyebrow. This pony had no clue at all, and it took him all he had to not burst out laughing. Was he serious in challenging him?

"It's not a fair fight, but I'll take what I have. We both know you're nothing without your fancy magic," Carrot taunted.

Aura Gleam dispelled the magical force field, letting his units take hold of the two fillies. He stepped forward, the soldiers stepping back while dragging along their unconscious comrade to give the two of them space. None of them even raised a voice to stop this commotion; they were all too aware of their captain's personality, after all.

"I have beaten over a hundred pathetic whelps like you in my time at the Academy," threatened the high knight, "don't think I'll even go easy on you."

Carrot was silent. Somehow, he felt he couldn't win this fight.

But then again, he already chose to save those fillies, despite this fight not really being his. Why was that purple unicorn taking so long? Shouldn't she be here by now? Realistically, all he could do was stall this scary-looking unicorn until that mare arrives. He felt cold sweat running down his forehead. Stare returned stare, none of the other willing to back down.

Carrot took an offensive stance. He charged, closing the distance in a blink, and shot an earth-shattering buck at the unicorn. Aura blocked the strike with two hooves, dragging his hooves through the ground from the kick's sheer strength. Carrot chained a flip kick but was dodged in a hair's breadth. Carrot kept dishing out punches and kicks unceasingly, but none of them could pass through Aura's sharpened battle sense. And before Carrot knew it, the unicorn caught his hoof. Aura pinned that hoof down and struck the unprepared earth pony with a strong hook, throwing him to the ground.

Carrot rubbed his burning jaw. He took all that he had to stand back up, taking his time in thinking of a way out. The unicorn snapped to action, charging at a blinding speed. Carrot reflexively dodged and flung some dirt straight at the unicorn's eyes. That moment of darkness was all Carrot needed to strike back at Aura with a strong buck!

Aura Gleam hit the ground hard. Everypony had their jaws wide open, from the bystanders who gathered to watch the commotion, and more especially the troops. Celeste and Selene cheered at this unexpected blow. Nopony has ever landed a blow on their captain before. Aura stood back up with a shake of his head, wiping the dirt away from his eyes.

Now that his enemy was using tricks, all bets were off.

He finally regaining his vision, only to be met by a charging attack from Carrot. Aura countered with a beam, dodged once again. The earth pony grabbed a wagon wheel lying down and threw it at the unicorn, only to be smashed into pieces by a strong punch.

But it was merely a distraction, as Carrot emerged from behind Aura Gleam and attacked with his strongest buck yet.

"—You fool."

Aura Gleam simply shifted his weight, avoiding the kick at a dangerous distance. In a single beat, he stepped back and blew the earth pony away with a buck that shook the entire place.

Carrot flew back, smashing into a wagon with a missing wheel.

With all his strength, he shakily crawled out of the wagon dragging his injured body on the ground, but Aura Gleam planted a rigid hoof on the earth pony's back and forced him down. He leaned near him and whispered, "Any last words?"

"Yeah, you cheated."

He pushed him harder to the ground. "We all have our own advantage. A pity, you don't even know how to use yours." Aura Gleam's horn shone with an eerie glow, burning heat gathering on the tip—

Howl.

The crying howl of the hounds interrupted the high knight. He looked back to his troops, who were also baffled by this sudden interruption. Nopony knew what was going on—nopony but Carrot. For him, it was a shining ray of hope in the middle of darkness. It was the twilight after an unending night.

"What's going on?" shouted Aura Gleam to his confused soldiers.

The unicorns scanned their surroundings, just as curious as their commander, when a rampaging gemhound lunged at a poor unsuspecting foot soldier. The rest of the troops quickly shot back to new sudden threat, when even more hounds flooded the area. Beams and claws clashed in a chaotic battlefield, and Aura Gleam was left stunned by this new development. These mad creatures were supposed to be their leverage!

"I-Impossible!"

"They got a new master now," Carrot said with a laugh.

Aura Gleam snapped, and slammed the earth pony into a broken wagon.

The two sister's screamed as the hounds passed right in front of them. The high knight turned his attention to the noise. He ran to the fillies but stopped -- his senses tingled. He felt a great magical energy, heading straight at him from above!

Scanning the roofs and buildings, he spotted a great purple beam striking from above. A snappy magical shield absorbed the initial impact, but the power of the beam proved far too strong and blasted him out from where he stood.

Shaking off the ashes and smoke, he found the figure of that rogue unicorn, landing on the ground with an aura of magenta, along with two well-behaved gem hounds by her side.

"Twilight!" "Mommy!"

Celeste and Selene rejoiced upon seeing Twilight coming to their rescue.

Aura Gleam was puzzled by what Selene' called her. He couldn't understand why the little pony called that rogue pony her "mommy". Nevertheless, he now had Twilight's full attention. He got up to his knees and gathered offensive spells in his mind. He didn't have a lot of spells, but he was the best at what he had.

He felt a ping from his magic sense, warning him that facing this purple unicorn wasn't going to be easy.

"Leave them alone," Twilight warned him for the last time.

Aura Gleam ignored her. Instead, he wanted to see just how powerful this unicorn was. There was no way for a formidable magic user like him could lose to some stray unicorn. "You're not the one giving orders here."

The two gem hounds charged towards him. He ducked away from the first hound and dodged the second attack. The hounds proved to be agile, kicking back against the ground and charged at him again -- only to be met with Aura Gleam's magic of spreading flames that sent them running away.

Twilight wasted no time and fired another beam. Aura quickly raised a barrier but it shattered on impact.

He watched as the pieces of barrier magic flew past him -- no simple magic could do that. Each of her blast must contain energies far beyond normal. He conjured the remnants of the barrier and converted them into bright yellow sparks and circled them around him, and struck the ground with magic. The sparks seeped below the earth and transformed into a slithering slinking flame charging towards Twilight.

She was quick, and a force field surrounded her just before the flames could hit her. A great explosion erupted and shook the entire place. The two sisters watching far in the sidelines in fear and shock.

A short burst of wind cleared out the smoke, revealing Twilight unharmed. She tugged her horn upwards, like a fisherpony hunting for the greatest catch.

Aura Gleam made a stance and prepared for the worst.

One, two, and all the other gems that the unicorns initially threw shook and was grasped in a familiar magenta hue. Gems all around them, surrounding them, floated up to the sky and showered the land with a beautiful rain of colors. Everypony, even Aura Gleam, had mouths agape from this scenery.

It wouldn't last. Just like before, Twilight sent the gems back down in a barrage, concentrated on the high knight. Aura snapped awake and quickly dodged the hailstorm of colors, taking his time to charge up his magic. When his horn finally glowed its brightest. a great shockwave burst from him, knocking back every single gem in the sky. Jewels rained on these two duelist. Aura held his head in pain, suffering the recoil from that powerful spell.

Twilight wasn't finished. She channeled more magic into her horn -- but found herself unable to move. Aura's magic held her, slamming her to the ground -- which was stopped as Twilight snapped away his levitation and landed herself gently. Not another moment and Aura fired another beam at Twilight, only to be stopped yet again by her shield.

"Ahh!"

Twilight's attention turned to the noise -- the two sisters screamed as they were chased around by unicorn soldiers. Twilight leapt aside and fired tracking beams. These magical projections zigzagged around Aura Gleam and towards the soldiers. Her magic struck them and froze them in place.

It was too late when Aura noticed the ice shards that formed on his hooves that immobilized him as well. Twilight took this chance to run towards her fillies--

"Look out!" Celeste shouted.

Twilight looked back and found an incoming fireball her way. Without hesitation, she cast a force field that stood strong against the explosion.

Remnants of the flames spread out from the blast, setting the surrounding area aflame, some even splashed near Selene's hoof.

Twilight made sure they were both safe, and focused back on Aura Gleam who just broke free from his icy hooves.

"You're strong," the high knight complemented, "who taught you such powerful abilities?"

Twilight smiled. "Friendship."

That was stupid; what did friendship have to do with sorcery?

The high knight ignored her words and formed a stance, prepared to fire another spell, but it was too late; Twilight lifted him up with her levitation. He tried to break free, fighting back the great force of magic. With no way to counterattack, he was completely enveloped inside Twilight's magical bubble.

"Give it up, it's over," Twilight said.

Aura Gleam stood with anger. He looked around him, seeing his troops overwhelmed by the hounds. On the other side, earth pony combatants drove away the remains of his forces.

The battle was over.

Despite all this, he refused to surrender.

"Never will I give in to a scoundrel like you. Do you really think I would let you go just like that? No. This is a formidable crime. And rest assured, I'll deliver unto you the worst punishment you will ever know."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"That won't happen." Celeste stepped in beside her. "You are the worst father of all! You tortured us to learn and used us for your own benefit! We hope you disappear forever!"

“Oh please, I'm only doing this for the sake of our kind.”

“No! You're only doing this for yourself!” she snapped back.

The high knight fell quiet. Twilight's mind could not believe what it just heard. She couldn't possibly mean that Aura Gleam is the father of these two sisters? Her two students?

When all was said and done, Twilight's bubble faded away into thin air. Aura Gleam fell down to the dirt hard. Unicorns who kept firing beam at the gem hounds, found their leader down on the ground, gave up and released their weapons from levitation.

"We... won? We won!"

Sounds of earth pony cries erupted from every corner of Southern Earth. Earth Pony soldiers climbed on top of the rubble, archers positioned at the rooftops, and quickly the earth pony army surrounded the invaders. Aura Gleam caught sight of the secretariat, standing proud on the town hall tower.

Ruby leaned on the wall with a tired but satisfied sigh. Marks and bruises on her body showed evidence of her fight against the high knight earlier. Nopony knew how she survived. Beside the mare was her invention, a golden tripod that looked like a telescope clamped to the balcony. Embedded on it was a glowing crystal; the crystal that prevented teleportation. She took it away, and replaced it with a new crystal, the one that totally nullified unicorn magic. A wave of amplified energy covered the entire city. Her work finally done, she allowed her fatigue to take her over as she fell to the wooden floor.

Earth ponies surrounded the scattered unicorns, who suddenly found their magic rendered useless, including the area where the great battle between Twilight and Aura Gleam took place. Gem hounds suddenly stayed at ease, lost in thought as to where they were, although they still growled on anypony who came near them.

Twilight was shocked at this sudden loss of magic. She thought back on her conversation with the secretariat; it looked like her research has paid its worth. Aura watched his troops surrender one by one when a charcoal stallion emerged from the squad of earth pony guards.

The chancellor watched the high knight's downfall and the strangely familiar purple pony who stood guard. He faintly remembered that mare didn't have a horn before. So it was her, he surmised. He turned his attention towards the groveling unicorn on the grounds.

“Not so superior now without your magic,” said Greyhooves. “Look at you, all nothing, nothing but a helpless lump.”

Aura Gleam got up on his shaking knees. “You look brave walking under the protection of your precious stone. Bask in your glory for now. We'll come back, and when we do, there won't be any crystal to rely on.”

He secretly took out a shimmering blue jewel from his pocket armor, out of the view of everypony.

“No, you won't.” Greyhooves said. “Aura Gleam, you're the first commander who led your brethren to infiltrate an earth village. This is quite a mark in history you've made. And so history will take you too.”

He gave out a cold command to his soldiers: “Kill them.”

Twilight was shocked. Kill? What was this crazy pony talking about? "N-no, what are you--"

“This isn't over,” the high knight said, glancing over to Twilight.

Before anyone could react, Aura Gleam crushed the blue stone he held. Blue magic sparks broke out from its shell, flying around the air. A shining light wrapped all the captured and injured unicorn soldiers, and burst away from the city.

“Cursed magic,” said Greyhooves.

“Sir,” one of the guards reported as his units brought three unicorns who didn't teleport away: Twilight, Celeste and Selene. “What do you want us to do with them?”

The chancellor stared at the purple unicorn and the awfully familiar fillies. The two sisters hid behind Twilight, hoping that she could win against the earth ponies even without magic.

“Put those two fugitives in prison. Make sure this time, they won't escape.” Greyhooves turned to the purple unicorn with a harsh glare. “You on the other hoof, will die.”

His guards pointed their spears at Twilight.

“What?!” shouted the two sisters.

“Wait!”

An orange filly came running and slid into the scene. She slipped below the earth pony guards and stood before the purple unicorn, slamming a hoof on the ground. “I said wait!”

Guards broke into murmurs. What was this little filly doing, protecting a unicorn? Even the chancellor was baffled at this event “Get out of the way, citizen. Can't you see that she's a unicorn, who brought our enemies into our home?”

“I know, but is this really necessary? She saved us all by defeating that evil fancy unicorn who wrecked the entire town, AND also gave you reinforcements by controlling those gem hounds!” Cookie leaned to one of the guards and whispered, “It was my plan by the way.” She zoomed back to her previous position. “All I'm saying is, you don't need to do this.”

The chancellor couldn't understand. He stood still, processing whatever she just said.

“Cookie!” Mr. Cake shouted from behind the soldiers, "get back here this instant!”

“Sweetie, this is none of our concern. Please let the chancellor handle this situation,” Mrs. Cake added.

“But--”

“Gem hounds!” shouted one of the earth ponies.

The remaining gem hounds emerged behind the chancellor who immediately moved out of the way. The creatures approached the purple pony with threatening looks. The guards that encircled Twilight broke out of formation afraid.

“Dogs helped horn pony. Horn pony pays. Dogs wants gems,” the hound forced himself to pony words, raising his right claw.

“O-Of course,” Twilight nodded at his request. “Thank you for your assistance, Help yourselves with the gems.”

After that, all the gem hounds dispersed, grabbing all the gems that the unicorns threw as an initial attack. A resident earlier who hoarded a lot of gems refused to give them back to the hound, only to whimper as the creature growled at him and forced him to surrender his precious gems.

The orange filly looked at Twilight, curious.

“I can't control them, so I made a bargain instead,” Twilight answered with a sheepish smile.

“Eh, that's okay,” Cookie shrugged.

The chancellor finally spoke. “This doesn't change anything. Am I just going to pardon all this trouble you've caused? You're the exact reason why those cruel unicorns came to our place!”

“Not to object,” Butter objected, appearing beside the chancellor, “but these three unicorns are not like the others.”

“And why are you fillies protecting her?" Greyhooves scoffed. "This kind of matter is too complicated for you to understand. Especially you, little one.”

“Hey, I'm a big po--”

Mr. Cake scooped his filly and placed her on his back. “A thousand pardons, your chancellorship. I don't know why they're acting like this.”

“Because--”

Everypony turned their heads to the brown stallion who had finally recovered from his injuries. His young colt and his spouse supported him to stand up.

“My family believed in her,” he continued. “I know a thing about unicorns and their cruelty--I've seen my home razed to the ground by them. But if there's one thing I also know, it's that right there, unicorn she might be, is also a good pony.”

“Uh, brother. Best not to argue with the chancellor. Things would be more-”

“And how can you tell they won't come back?” Greyhooves interrupted with an angry tone.

“Then let them come. We fought against them together and won, and we can do it again. I allowed her to stay.” Everypony around was shocked by the stallion's statement. “And I'm sticking to what I said.”

Mr. Cake almost fainted. “What are you doing?! Don't you know who you're dealing with--”

“So you have chosen to stand up for them, instead of your fellow earth ponies?”

"No, I'm standing up for my family."

“...So be it.” Greyhooves heaved out a sigh, and stepped back. “Twilight, was it? You are free to leave this place. But from this day forth, you are forbidden to return here, forever.”

He looked back at Carrot “And since you like them so much, you're going to take their place instead. Guards, take him away.”

“What?!” the Cakes were surprised.

“But chancellor, he didn't mean--” Mr. Cake couldn't finish his complains as the guards pointed their spears at him.

“Somepony needs to take on the responsibility for this disaster. If your brother made his decision, then it's his decision!” the chancellor replied.

“Wait, this isn't right. You can't just do that!” Twilight shouted. “He told me to leave many times before but I was too stubborn. This was honestly my fault and I should be the one who will take the blame-- not him.”

“Twilight?” Celeste whispered.

The purple unicorn could not be stopped. “I didn't mean to bring you any trouble. Me and my fillies were only trying to find a place to stay for the winter. And the kindness you showed us, I'll always be grateful for it! But seeing what happened, all this fighting, made me think this was one of my many mistakes. And I apologize for it.”

She looked at Carrot, who glared at him. “But he has done nothing wrong! So please don't involve him in my mistakes.”

“Your words mean nothing! You're not an earth pony, nor do you belong here!” Greyhooves shut Twilight out. “Now get out of my sight. I have a whole village to restore.”

He turned and walked away.

Twilight lowered her head. Guilt burdened her back. She looked at her fillies, who were holding both of her hooves. Everypony around started to drift off to their houses as little flakes of snow began drifting down across the entire city.

This was a symbol of hatred coming from each of the residence as they sneered at the purple pony, leaving Twilight at the unending dark.

Winter had finally begun.

Author's Note:

Drinking 12 coffee is dangerous to your health.
Not even Starlight's empathy cocoa. Trust me. :pinkiesick: