The End of Days

by InfiniteBrony

Prologue

The bitter frozen wind battered harshly against Celestia as if to hurl her from the ice-slick stone ledge on which she stood. Carried on the icy gales was the acrid stench of blood and metallic screech of the clashing of steel from the war-torn valley below. A vigorous shudder rippled through her form and her pure white feathers ruffled agitatedly against her side, whether from cold or disgusted horror she was unsure. From her elevated vantage she had a perfect view of the slaughter playing out before her.

The enemy forces had launched their assault in the heart of winter, when they days were short and the nights were long, and Celestia was at her weakest, all in an effort to gain whatever small advantage they could against the army protected by The Last Children Of Alicornia. Fortunately for her little ponies, in their efforts to circumvent her own power, they had all but forgotten about her little sister. Using her own Lunar powers, she had managed to shroud the entire valley in a blizzard, freezing everything and beleaguering the enemy army as it marched.

Now, as the fighting raged, the valley’s floor was slick and footing treacherous, the ground covered in ice and a slushy pink amalgam of blood and snow, thick and churned restlessly by thousands of hooves, paws and claws alike. Icy winds battered and buffeted fiercely anyone foolish enough to attempt to take to the skies. Helpfully, this prevented enemy gryphons from gaining any sort of air superiority, even if it was a bit of a double-edged blade, grounding both her own pegasai and Nightmare’s thestrials as well. It also forced her troops to deal with the enemy’s hulking minotaurs face to face, something that cost them dearly, the great beasts typically felling nearly a half-score of soldiers apiece in close combat at a time before finally being taken down, usually at the fangs of one of Chrysalis’s Behemoth caste of changelings. At the very least, the frozen ground prevented the diamond dogs from tunneling and attacking from beneath their very hooves. Still, the fight did not go so well for them. Even with her unicorns and Anggreu’s Shamans supplementing their strongest soldiers and doing their best to hold back the tide of claws and steel with their strongest magics, there was only so much that could be done against an enemy force thrice the size of their own. The enemy lines were advancing, slowly but surely, through her forces and towards the frozen path up the mountain. Death for everypony in the valley was almost all but assured. Victory for her enemy was not a matter of if, but of when.

Thankfully, they did not need to defeat the enemy army. All they needed to do was hold off the enemy for as long possible, to buy Celestia and the others the time they needed to finish what they came here for. After that, all of this, all the fighting and war, all the death and destruction, would be over – one way or another. A soft white cloud of mist puffed from Celestia’s nostrils as she sighed. It did not sit well with her to risk the future of all ponykind and all the others beside in a desperate gambit at the behest of ancient stallion long since dead millennia hence, no matter how wise and powerful he had been. Though, there was little choice to be had at this point.

Casting her gaze about the carnage before her, her eyes alighted on a pony she vaguely recognized from the town of Ponyville, a small village from near the base of the mountain that bore Canterlot and famous for housing this generation’s Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. He was a tan coated earth pony stallion, with a chocolate brown mane and tail, and though she could not see it from where she stood she knew he bore a mark of three horseshoes on his flank.

He wore the bright golden barding of her own personal Vanguard, and seemed to wield his spear with practiced and deadly efficiency. His face was painted in lines of harsh scarlet as he was briefly drenched in the flowing lifeblood of a gryphon as he rushed over and pulled his spear from its neck, having just cast it like a javelin in order to save the life of one of Mi Amore Cadenza’s Crystal Knights that had slipped on the snow. Though sickened by its context, Celestia’s heart couldn’t help but give a small thrill at the sight of such an act of friendship and camaraderie, even amidst the horrors of battle.

After taking a brief moment to dust themselves off and clasp hooves, the two ponies dashed back into the fray side by side. Together, they became a terror on the battlefield, slashing and stabbing unceasingly with spear and sword, hacking away limbs and ripping open great wounds in flesh. They cut a short swath across their section of the battlefield, felling any who stood before them, and slaying no less than a dozen enemy soldiers apiece, before the bedlam of battle swept them up, and quicker than they could notice they had drifted too far away from friendly lines.

Their luck, it would seem, had run out. A minotaur found them just as they became aware of their dire situation. The great hulking beast attacked without warning, its massive ax taking off the head of the Crystal Knight before he even had time to lift his sword and defend himself. That was all the forewarning the Vanguard needed however, and the minotaur’s second swing missed its mark, instead scoring a deep gouge in the golden barding, and her Vanguard’s counterattack managing to leave a deep gash in the beast’s fore-arm.

For several minutes the two of them continued the dance of strike and counter, thrust and repose, miraculously neither of them managing to gain the upper hand. Celestia watch the fight closely, her heart leaping every time the pony managed to narrowly dodge an ax swing or deliver a slice or prod with his spear, hoping silently for her elite guardsman’s victory. All too soon though, both combatants seemed to tire, their bodies sagging heavily and sporting a good many bleeding wounds and bruises. Panting heavily, they both charged towards each other, weapons raised in perhaps their final gambit. There was a great spray of blood as they clashed, and for a brief moment, there was only stillness… before the minotaur fell to its knees and collapsed on its side, the spear impaled clear through its neck.

Celestia felt her heart give another thrill at her little pony’s victory, a tiny smile touching her lips. The smile disappeared almost immediately, as the Vanguard turned around again and she saw him. He managed to take a few steps towards friendly lines and some semblance of safety before falling and lying perfectly still, the minotaur’s ax buried deep within his chest.

Celestia felt another tear fall from her eye, trailing down one of the twin crimson streaks that now permanently marred her features.

The soft crunch of snow and subtle clack of metal on ice announced the approach of another towards her from the tunnel that lead to the ledge on which she stood. The treading of hooves stopped a scant few feet from her before a soft voice spoke up, cutting through the howling gale with no need for volume. “Sister, we are almost ready,” the voice of Princess Luna spoke. “It is nearly time.”

Celestia tore her gaze away from the battle playing out below and looked towards the horizon where the sun hung, dyeing all the sky a blood red as it set perpetually and leaked crimson streaks through the air. Nodding once, she turned and walked away, not once looking back. As she wordlessly headed for the heart of the mountain the bitter winds tore the moisture from her face, tainting the virgin snow of the mountaintop with drops of scarlet.

Comments

[shadowflame2000]

im a bit confused who is at war with who here?