Chapter Two
Celestia sat down, stunned, as she watched the ambassador go. She had long known of the plight of the zebras - the amount of food and other necessities she had sent to Zebrica every year out-massed every other Equestrian export combined. But no one had ever told her she was the cause! True, she'd been more than a little single-minded in the war against Nightmare Moon, but even when that was long over, she had no idea of the damage ... that she had to accept she'd done. It made sense, and that was the worst part.
"Princess!" a guard whispered urgently. "Should we stop him?" He repeated his question twice, more insistently, before Celestia finally pulled herself out of her thoughts and shook her head.
"No, we - "
"Princess!" cried another of the Royal Guard, flying into court at a speed Celestia hadn't thought possible for a pegasus in full armor. He only stopped by slamming straight into the steps below the throne. "They're attacking! The zebras have entered the city and they're killing everypony! The Guard is being scrambled, but until they arrive, the civilians are defenseless!"
"How many?" Celestia demanded, her old instincts kicking her into action.
"About two hundred, n-no idea where they came from," the pegasus said, starting to pant. It wasn't until then that she noticed his injuries - including a spear whose broken shaft protruded from his belly.
"Get this stallion to the castle infirmary!" she ordered the two guards who were still in only ceremonial attire. She knew it was useless - the guard was already at death's door, and he'd probably expire before even reaching the doctors, but the gesture had to be made. "Crier, send my chariot to retrieve Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance from the Crystal Empire, and my sister's to bring the Element Bearers from Ponyville. The rest of you: Court is dismissed until further notice. Guardsponies, execute contingency delta. And I expect to see the military houses making use of their training to defend the ponies of Canterlot. Including the poor, nephew." She hissed the last word at Blueblood before teleporting herself straight to the outer gates of Canterlot. She wasn't going to waste any further time that could be spent defending her people, and she would not let this be like another Changeling attack, no matter how well that had ended for all involved.
Arriving on the parapet over the gate, Celestia was greeted by screams and bloodshed. Bodies littered the street below, including a few of the Guard and a leather-armored zebra. Fighting hadn't been contained there for long. Though she wished to fly down and take a few minutes to mourn the dead, she had to harden her heart and move deeper into the merchant district that made up the streets nearest the gate. Every moment wasted was another of her little ponies she'd never see again.
As she flew, the Princess soon spotted fighting, and landed on the roof of a nearby fireworks shop. Six zebras were fighting a small group of Royal Guards, and only one of the guardsponies was still standing. With the zebras closing in for the kill, Celestia enveloped the surprised stallion in a glowing shield. She'd have to maintain the spell to keep him protected, but that was no longer necessary - the zebras had all turned their attention to her. And they quickly melted beneath rays of intense sunlight cast by her horn. One of them managed to throw something bright, before she became a blackened, steaming puddle...
The world exploded.
Celestia was airborne, her wings flopping in a panic. Then the ground came up and hit her in the face, at the same time as the thought struck her that she could have chosen to stand on a store that wasn't basically a bomb. She was lucky - no other zebras were around to take advantage of her temporary vulnerability. A few moments, and she was steady enough to rise and walk, though her left wing felt painfully broken. She'd have to get a splint when this battle was over.
A few similar encounters brought her to the end of a street, where four zebras had cornered a small group of earth ponies and unicorns. She quickly teleported herself to stand between them and, through the throbbing in her sagging wing, gave the startled attackers a smile that practically dripped venom. Without giving them a warning - the last time she'd fought a war, speaking for effect during a battle had ended badly - she shut her eyes and cast an explosion of light from her horn. She stepped aside before opening them again, allowing the blinded attackers to collide with each other where she'd stood, before knocking each out with a rear hoof to the head. The ponies she'd come to protect were blinded and terrified as well, but it would wear off shortly. She had no time to stop and reassure them, trotting quickly across another intersection in search of more invaders.
Green fire flashed in Celestia's face, and she jumped several steps back before seeing it trail off into smoke, then condense into a letter sent by Spike.
"This had better be urgent," she muttered.
It was. Heavily inked over the singed page of a book was a simple message:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Twi berserk. Ponyville burning.
HELP!
Your faithful subject,
-Spike
Celestia snorted furiously. Of course. It was no wonder the zebras had scattered in the city; they were trying to delay her, and worse, it had worked. No sane enemy had ever attacked Canterlot directly. She teleported herself back to the castle, and stormed into Luna's dark bedchamber. She was no longer needed on the streets of Canterlot, anyway; the Royal Guard would have had the time to fully mobilize and strike back already.
"Sister!" she shouted, trotting up to the royal bed. The lump of blankets, feathers, and flowing stars didn't move. I don't have time for this, Celestia thought, and poured magic into her words, an enchantment known to others as the Royal Canterlot Voice.
"Princess Luna Artemis Somnium, awaken at once!" she roared over the bed. It had its desired effect - the younger princess jumped nearly to the ceiling, flailing as she remained tangled in blankets and fell back to the mattress. Celestia didn't even give her time to extract her head from the mess.
"Zebrica has declared war. I need your help immediately. Ponyville is being destroyed!"
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p.s. As this is as much a writing exercise as anything else, please feel welcome to critique (constructively)!
Blessed excrements!
You call THIS a "writing exercise"?
I'd call it hours of work, dedication and something else relevant!!!
Have a like and fav, you deserved them!
This song played in my head when I read that:
You know that feeling when your on top of the world feeling like you could write circles around almost everyone... I don't have that anymore...
So did Twi go rage ad accidentally destroy Ponyville, or did the Zebras destroy Ponyville, and that made Twi go rage?
3286449
Next chapter!
3286100>>3286045
I don't know what to say, beyond "I'm flattered." Thank you?
3286799
Can't wait.
>shooting sunlight from a horn
>Melting, not incinerating
>taking the time to write out "Your Faithful Subject" when the town is being attacked.
>impyling that Luna wasn't awoken as soon as the Zebras invaded.
Artemis is the rule 63 name for Luna so that's a crap reference.
3287703 3287673
First, thank you for your comments! Now, to respond to your points:
Sun: Anansi didn't say the sun burned things. He said "spirits of fire."
One, Zebra lore is usually handled as very spiritual and complex and derived primarily from oral tradition, which is a fanon I generally accept.
Two, this story uses a headcanon that should be edited in Soon, as it'd be stronger that way than if I just explained in the comments.
Artemis: I know it's her R63 name as well, and I don't really care, particularly as it is used as a middle name here. Sorry? (That it's her male version's name is actually rather funny, since the origin of Artemis is in ancient Greek religion as a female deity, and is cloned in Roman religion as the goddess Diana as well.)
Luna not awake yet: She completely missed the Changeling invasion too, for whatever reason. No surprise here.
Your Faithful Subject: It's a character thing. Not everything the characters say or write is going to be the best possible way they could have addressed the situation. "Dear Princess Celestia" is equally unnecessary. However, this has been the format of every letter Spike has ever written or taken dictation for. It's not completely unreasonable to believe that he would continue to follow the "Dear Princess Celestia: Message. Your adjective noun, Name" form even in distress - perhaps especially in distress, which is when people tend to fall back on what they know best.
Melting: It's a matter thing. Every kind of matter has four states: Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. The basic state of a mammal such as a human or pony is "solid, filled with liquid." Put one on the surface of a star and you go from solid/liquid to 100% plasma extremely quickly. In this case, the heat of Celestia's spell is enough to render liquid the solid part of a living creature. It is also sufficient to render gaseous some of the liquid of a living creature, hence the bubbling.
SCIENCE!
3288218 I can accept your first two explanations, but not the melting thing. If they got hit with such an intense light then they'd turn to ash f the light was so hot it melted them instantly
3288369
Actually, it doesn't fit in the story at the moment, so here it is.
Headcanon: Equestria is not the only place to harbor magical life - the Sun has its own population of fiery beings. This has precedent - in the comics (which are at least partially canon), the Moon has its own inhabitants (see the Nightmare arc).
Celestia, facing the near-extermination of ponykind at the hooves of Nightmare Moon and the moon creatures, drew the sun close primarily to allow passage between it and Equestria. While she was able to keep her new army of fire creatures more or less under control, she was unaware that the creatures also crossed into Zebrica and, lacking anything to control them, wrought havoc. It took the zebras decades, and far too many bargains with powerful and not-entirely-benevolent entities, to stave off extinction and contain what few sun-creatures were left. Some of these creatures are still alive; see the example of the Zebra city of Roam still being on fire.
Hopefully this is still enjoyable. If not, remember it's just a headcanon, and not my only one, at that. I think I have a dozen different headcanons on the rivalry between Celestia and Nightmare Moon alone...