Lost in a New World

by KingBrony

Twilight 2 - Attack

"Do you have a name picked out yet?" Twilight asked her fellow princess. Cadence looked worn from carrying a kingdom on her shoulders, and a baby in her belly. Even then, Cadence always managed to form a smile. The two of them walked along a balcony overlooking the Crystal Empire. As they spoke, Twilight glanced out onto the kingdom below. It looked as radiant as ever, completely casting a shadow over the rest of the world, the world Twilight knew was no more.

Cadence tilted her head to one side. "...I haven't really had time to sit and think about it. There's just so much to do, I've sometimes forgotten he or she was in here!" The princess's figure did not leave any indication that she was carrying a baby. In fact, Twilight believed that Cadence looked as great as she did before the world ended. Princess Cadence continued, "Tonight, I'll talk with Shining Armor about it. I promise."

The girls made their way into the throne room, talking about the current state of affairs. Guards lined the carpeted pathway to the glistening throne. They all straightened up as the princesses entered. Twilight looked around for the pony Flash Sentry, but didn't see him here.

"Any reports from your patrol?" Princess Cadence asked as she huffed over to the throne and sat down. Twilight knew that carrying a baby inside takes a lot of energy, and Cadence was more than deserving of it.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, your highness," one guard spoke up. "However...there is something you should know."

Twilight could tell that there was some tension in the air.

Another guard spoke up. "...You see, we noticed it was getting a little...hotter around here lately. I really don't mean to impose, but the sun seems to be shifted slightly north."

Princess Cadence nodded. "Now that you mention it, it does feel warmer than usual here, and I mean compared to before the...well, you know." The silence in the room didn't lessen the tension at all. The purple princess turned to look out the window. The sun stood high in the sky, although she did notice it indeed was little off track from what she was used to. She felt the warmth take hold of her body as if it weren't there before.

Warmer...!

Without another word, Twilight rushed out of the room. She galloped down the many stairs, turning sharply at every corner. Down and down she went, faster than she had ever moved before. She looked down and noticed that she had stopped using her legs and instead began to fly.
Guards flew in and out of sight like blurs. Twilight was lucky she didn't hit anypony on her way to...

Come on, don't tell me...The princess whispered to herself as she made her way down to the lowest level.

The prison.

Knocking the door wide open, Twilight startled the guard on duty, who couldn't process what was happening right in front of him. Twilight stopped a moment in order to catch her breath.

"What's going on!?" The guard asked her, confused. Twilight took a deep breath, exhaled, and then explained that she needed to get by. The guard moved without any hesitation.

Twilight entered the dark room and turned to look at the cell. There he stood - the captive Sleipnir. Twilight noticed he looked a lot healthier and more active now - the mark on his flank was glowing. His eyes were full of life, and a smile stretched across his face. When he noticed her, he began to laugh. The princess quickly cast the language spell.

"What's so funny!?" Twilight shouted at him, trying to sound intimidating. The Sleipnir did not flinch, however, and simply laughed harder.

"They're...coming," Were the only words he said before he began to laugh again. Twilight's heart sank. Does this mean...

Before she could react, the Sleipnir's flank began to glow once more as the shape changed to another rune. A red aura appeared around the being, culminating into a laser beam that nearly missed Twilight. After jumping to the side, Twilight immediately canceled the translating spell and fired a laser back, but the Sleipnir jumped forward through the now-broken bars. The guard from outside rushed in to see what the commotion was, only to be hit by another laser beam coming from the escaped prisoner.

Twilight focused her magic to create a barrier surrounding the Sleipnir as he tried to jump through the doorway. He hit the side of the barrier with a thud, shook his head, and said something to himself. The rune on his flank changed yet again, and in an instant, the Sleipnir appeared on the other side of the barrier, running past the injured guard and out of the dungeon. The princess wanted to follow, but she didn't want to leave the guard behind, so she instead rushed to his aid.

He lay there in pain, screaming in response to his wound. A hole right through his shoulder bled profusely, prompting the princess to tear some cloth off of the guard's uniform and push it against the wound.

"It will be okay!" Twilight reassured him.

His only response was, "Get him, princess."

Twilight nodded and rushed out of the dungeon in pursuit. Making her way into the grand foyer, she shouted out. "Prisoner escape!" Her voice echoed throughout the room, bouncing off of the fine crystal walls. Twilight turned to look all over, but could find no trace of the Sleipnir that escaped. With a heavy sigh, she rushed outside.

Words could not express what Twilight saw outside of the castle. A dark, grey cloud hung over the Crystal Empire, buzzing and swirling in multiple directions. Multiple figures dropped from the cloud and descended on the land below. Beams of light shot to and from the cloud, and screams of terror filled the air. The Sleipnir were upon them.

"Run into the castle!" Twilight tried to shout to the frenzied citizens of the Crystal Empire. They darted in all directions, with some trying to take shelter in their own homes. A few hundred Sleipnir rained onto the land, dragging the unicorns around and pushing the others away. Guards poured out of the castle to join those who had already begun fighting in the streets. Twilight took to the skies to join her fellow defenders. She shot beams of light out at the attackers, hitting a few out of the sky, teleporting to dodge any return fire. The princess landed on a nearby rooftop after a few minutes, exhausted from the extensive amount of magic and flying she had to do at the same time.

A silver light began to fly towards her. Twilight teleported a few feet away to avoid collision. It was a Sleipnir with a scar going across its face and down to its body. The rune on her flank looked similar, Twilight noticed, to the others who were flying around as well. The Sleipnir spoke to itself, and then the symbol quickly changed. The princess fired a beam, directly hitting the target. However, the beam bounced off and shot back right at Twilight. With a gasp, she moved to the side.

Reflection spell? Twilight thought to herself as the Sleipnir mare stood there with a sinister grin on her face. She knew that if she tried to fire anything that the mare would just reflect it back, so attacking with brute force was not an option. The rune on her flank remained the same, letting Twilight know that the Sleipnir could seem to only have one ability ready at a time, and that it would take a second to change it to something else. Just then, an idea popped into the princess's head.

She darted forward, shooting more lasers at the mare. As expected, she continued to reflect them. Twilight dodged the returning lasers and continued to fly straight towards the mare. Realizing she wasn't stopping, the Sleipnir flinched as Twilight came within inches of her. At that moment, Twilight teleported, disappearing from the mare's point of view. Startled at what happened, the mare looked to the left and right to see where her foe had gone. Twilight re-appeared right behind the mare, grabbed onto her back, and Teleported again. This time, the mare went with her.

Twilight and the mare appeared together as the princess released the Sleipnir. The ground had disappeared from beneath her hooves, as Twilight had teleported them 100 feet in the air. The mare screamed as she fell to the earth. Twilight noticed the rune on the Sleipnir's flank change, signifying that she was about to fly. Seeing the opportunity, Twilight fired a strong laser right at the Sleipnir, hitting her square in the back. Knocked unconscious, the Sleipnir plummeted to the earth, crashing into the ground with a deafening thud.

The princess panted, staring down at where the Sleipnir had landed. There was no doubt: she was dead. Twilight's heart raced as she realized that she had just killed somepony. I...I had to do it...they're attacking us! She thought to herself, justifying the murder. If she didn't do anything - if they didn't fight back - they would die. That was the way of the new world. Twilight descended back down to the chaos below.

"Attack them when their flanks glow!" Twilight shouted at the guards in her area. They nodded and waited for the opportunity to strike. The Sleipnir continued to attack, but anypony who tried to change their rune was immediately attacked by the guards. Those who had the flying rune began to hesitate as they changed, while those who had switched were unable to change back without fear of being attacked, although they were strong enough with whatever power they had. Twilight flew over the houses, looking for anypony out of place. Some Sleipnir got in her way, trying to tackle the mare at the same time. Twilight teleported in response, causing the Sleipnir to crash into each other, before continuing on towards the castle.

Ponies were trying to cram into the castle as guards fended off the Sleipnir that tired to pick at them. Twilight fired more lasers, hitting a few out of the sky. "It will be okay!" She shouted to the ponies as they cried and screamed. A loud, shrill scream came from inside the castle. Twilight could immediately recognize that it was the voice of princess Cadence. She flew up onto the balcony above and flew into the castle.

"Cadence!" Twilight yelled. She was met with a scream coming from her bedroom. Twilight flew through the hall and into the room. A single guard stood here, protecting the princess. She sat on the bed, breathing heavily and screaming.

"The baby's coming!" She yelled at Twilight.

Of all the times, it had to be now!?

"Where's my brother!?" Twilight asked.

"He went to fight against the Sleipnir," Cadence winced, feeling the baby coming any moment now. "He didn't want me to fight with a baby inside me, so he appointed this guard to watch over us as he went to help the others. I went into labor soon after he left."

"Okay, okay!" Twilight panted in response, looking around for something to assist the laboring princess. She turned to look at the guard. "Guard this room with your life." He nodded and left the room, leaving Twilight alone with Cadence. She pulled some blankets from the bed and lay them beside the other princess, then went to fetch towels from the nearby dresser. She used her magic to close the single window looking into this room, hoping that nopony would barge in at this delicate time.

After all the preparations were complete, Twilight approached the birthing princess. "Are you ready? We're going to have to do this now!" Cadence nodded.

"Push!"

"Push!"

Screaming.

"You can do this!"

More screaming.

"Cadence!"

Don't alert them that we are here.

"I see the head!"

New life. If only the girls could see this.

"Almost done!"

Crying, to add to the screaming.

Princess Cadence screamed with all of her might as her child was born. Twilight felt time stop as she stared down at her niece. It was an Alicorn, with huge wings and a horn. She cried and screamed as Twilight wrapped the blankets around her, cleaning her off with the towels. If it were any other time, she would have felt such glee to see her niece being born, but now was not the time to rejoice. Cadence looked exhausted as she lay there attached to the bed. Twilight could not move her out of the room even if she tried. The new mother looked at her daughter and began to cry.

"You will have to stay here," Twilight said to her, listening for any movement outside of the room. Cadence nodded.

"There, there," She said tearfully as she cradled her newborn, offering her milk to it. The foal's cries dampened and stopped as it drank, returning the room to a silent state.

"I really don't want to leave you here like this..." Twilight said, but Cadence looked up at her. Cadence looked exhausted - rightfully so - but she held onto her child tightly. Nopony, not even the kings themselves, would be able to disturb this scene.

"Go protect our ponies." Was all she said. "We will be alright here."

Giving a slight smile, Twilight nodded and turned to leave the room.

The grand foyer of the castle was filled with ponies trying to flee into the dungeons. The crystal labyrinth below the castle was well-suited as a hideout from the attack. Twilight did her best to guide the ponies while assuring them that everything would be okay. She saw fillies and colts, mares and elderly enter and descend. She didn't know how many of them had lost somepony today...no, she thought to herself. She didn't want to think about that now. She needed to look strong in front of her subjects.

This is all our fault, Twilight knew that she and Cadence should have perfected their sun and moon magic, as moving the sun too close to the Crystal Empire prompted this attack.

"Don't worry, princess." Twilight looked up to see a filly staring at her. "I believe in you!" Her statement was met with agreement from nearby ponies. They all knew that Twilight had helped save the kingdom from plenty of enemies in the past, and while this was much more gruesome and dangerous, she had always found a way to get through it. If only I could...that's it! Twilight knew what she needed to do.