Futile Efforts
I stood there looking up at the massive double doors that separated us from the outside world, or to be more specific, Winters army. I sat down blowing on my bubble pipe and adjusting my fez. I was surrounded by my entourage of guards. Smart Cookie stood to my left trying and failing to look intimidating as her body shook in fear. Cadence was on my right still holding up the barrier. Sunburst was directly behind me having replaced her usual spear with a dangerous looking halberd. I looked over the checklist Twilight had provided me one last time. Since telling her my plan her attitude toward me had changed considerably. She, like many others, believed me to be nothing more than a simple prankster. But apparently after watching me take control of the empire as we got this trap set up, she had come to realize that I was actually pretty bright, I just don’t like to show it.
That and I wasn’t an evil monster hell bent on taking her brothers place, corrupting Cadence, and then attempting a total take over of Equestria.
I looked down the list one last time, blowing bubbles from my pipe as I mentally checking things off in my head. The materials had been gathered. The traps had been set. The ponies had been informed and taken their positions. Everything was as it should be. Nearly everypony still left agreed to help my high risk high reward plan. Truthfully, this plan didn’t have much chance of working but it was all we had. If it failed, we were dead. If we did nothing, we were dead. If it succeeded though, at least some of us would get out alive. And some is always better than none.
After affirming for the final time that everything was in place I took a few steps forward before turning around and looking at the small crowd of ponies that were with me. They would be with me for what would be the hardest part of the trap.
Pissing off Winter.
Now I know you’re thinking that that’s going to be so easy, but it’s really not. I don’t know what’s wrong with Winter, but his minds been addled by something and I’m not sure what, probably this ‘mother’ person. Whatever it is it’s severely affected the way he interacts with the world making him far more proficient than he would normally be. He’s not going to monologue… much. He’s not going to gloat. He’s here to kill us all, kidnap the princesses, take this kingdom for his own and he’s going to choose the most effective method of doing that possible.
For my plan to work though I need to lure him to a specific room, and right now he’s far too calculating to fall for a ploy as simple as leading him to the ballroom. That meant I had to take away that cold reasoning of his. And anger is the third leading cause of bad decision making next to alcohol and young fillies enacting the power of D’aww to get what they want. Since I couldn’t exactly invite Winter in to sit down and have a few drinks and I wasn’t about to risk the lives of innocent children in such a way, that left us to have to try to shove the hardest, sharpest, and most jagged stick we could fine up Winters ass. A task that, as I stated earlier, was easier said than done.
But if I had learned anything in this past month, it was this. You can’t make everypony happy…
But you can always, always, ALWAYS annoy them to the point of legitimately considering murdering you. A point I was always happy to reach with anypony I didn’t like.
So to this end I was going to have to pull out all the stops. Nothing would be sacred, everything would be permitted. The dirtiest jokes, the most inappropriate of gestures, I’d even gotten permission to use the very best jokes I had on Candy’s rear if I thought it would work.
And so here I was standing in front of the door ready to piss off Winter. I was even dressed for the part, with a nice red fez on my head and a toy pipe that blew bubbles which I had acquired for the pure purpose of reinforcing the fact that I honestly didn’t give a buck about how he felt to anything any of us said. Some of my guards had even joined in on the fun, putting on fake mustaches and goofy hats and other weird baubles, including Cadence, who had a pot on her head.
I had even heard talk that Willow had put on an erotic nurses saddle just to show her support. Which while it caused quite a stir among most ponies who didn’t know her, honestly didn’t surprise me. It WAS Willow after all. She wasn’t fighting of course. She was with Princess Twilight and all the ponies who were either too injured, too scared, or too young to fight. The infirmary had been heavily enchanted so that it would be difficult to locate unless you knew what you were looking for. Any of the Windigos who saw it would see nothing but an empty hallway unless they actually bothered to look and try to find what was inside. And we planned on keeping them too busy for that.
If push came to shove and all else failed and everything fell apart, Twilight had orders to take everypony in the infirmary and try to get them out using the chaos as cover for their escape. I prayed to Faust it wouldn’t come to that.
I looked up at the giant imposing stone doors one final time. I took in a deep breath, closing my eyes as the air filled my lungs before letting it out in a long sigh. I held the checklist up and burned it, the signal to all those behind me that it was time. They formed up, absolutely not ready to take on the whatever was coming at us, but more than willing to do so nonetheless. With fierce determination in my eyes I pushed the stone doors open and stood on the crystal steps that led down to the crystal paved streets. A few yards ahead of me was Cadences blue barrier and a few yards behind that stood Winter and his army. As I stared Winter down I blew a few bubbles out of my pipe before pulling it out and saying the words that would bind my fate and maybe even go down in history.
“Ello King Snowbutt! I’m baaaaaaaaaaack!”
***
“…”
“Oh cheer up Rade!” Cadence said as she zapped another Windigo with her magic. I just continued running, not bothering to respond. Smart Cookie tried to put on a small smile as she ducked under another windigos attack. Not that I cared… that mare had stolen my thunder.
“I said I was sorry! How was I supposed to know that would work?!” I just grimaced as I jumped up and smashed a windigo into the ground. Half an hour. The guards and I had spent half an hour yelling out every insult under the sun at Winter and nothing had worked. Tartarus he never even blinked. He just stood there regardless of what we said or how inappropriate we got. We called him names, made rude gestures, discussed religion and politics, everything that would normally make a pony go on a frenzied rampage was thrown at him and it had no effect.
Then all of a sudden Smart Cookie, who had been cowering in fear nearly the entire time and hadn’t spoken once, managed to squeak out calling Winters mom fat. And APPARENTLY that was the tipping point! My very best material is tossed aside like it was nothing, but Cooks all but WHISPERS an insult, and suddenly Winters sole purpose in life is our total annihilation.
Yes. I know. It’s petty. But annoying people was practically the closest thing I had to a special talent! I am not a happy pony at the moment. Regardless though I guess I don’t really have the room or time to complain seeing as how I’m being chased through the halls by hundreds of Windigos.
Of course, this is exactly what I wanted.
The moment Winter shattered the barrier everypony that was with me splintered off into different directions, all of them separated into different groups of two and three. This was stage two of my plan: Divide and Capture. Extensive research into windigos found that so long as their leader was strong enough, they wouldn’t die. At least, not very easily. Killing any windigo is hard due to their natural regenerative ability, killing them when they have a leader as powerful as Winter is just downright impossible.
However in any battle the goal isn’t necessarily to kill your opponent. No, the true goal is to simply make it so THEY can’t kill YOU and do it the quickest, easiest way possible. Normally the quickest and easiest way is to kill them first, but in this case that wasn’t an option. What WAS an option however, was capturing them. Windigos may be able to reform after every strike, but if you take what you break and shove it in something too small for them to reform in, they’ll get stuck and won’t be able to fight back.
That’s what we were heading to do now. As we turned a corner I heard the satisfying sound of multiple windigos exploding into clouds of snow as they failed to make the turn, relieving some of the pressure that was chasing us. It wasn’t much of a reprieve though, as more quickly took their place and the ones that did crumble wouldn’t stay down for long.
As I looked ahead I could see a small glowing pink light in the rafters. Completely unnoticeable if you didn’t know where to look. I smiled as I turned my head to both Cadence and Smart Cookie respectively. Cadence nodded in return, the pot on her head, shifting around awkwardly as we ran. Cooks just looked terrified, sucking on the bubble pipe I’d given her like it was a pacifier. The hall was coming to an end, branching off to the left and right. Cadence, Smart Cookie, and I skid to a stop and turned quickly towards the incoming windigos. As predicted they were so surprised by our action that they stopped in their tracks, rather than swarming me.
Just as planned.
With a big smile on my face, I pulled my red and blue spectacles out of the pouch I had around my neck and placed them on my eyes. Looking over the crowd of snowy demons, I uttered the special code word we had made specifically for this moment.
“Allons-y!”
Doors all along the corridor opened up revealing dozens of ponies holding small gems. With a war cry they each threw their respective gems as hard as they could into the crowd of unsuspecting windigos where they fell seemingly harmlessly on the ground. The windigos looked around confused, some of them even poking the gems to see if they’d do anything.
As quickly as the doors had opened they’d closed back up. The windigos all looked back to me, staring in confusion at the smug look on my face. I adjusted my fez, gave them a quick wink and then used the trigger word.
“Geronimo.”
Each of the many red gems suddenly flashed orange a few times before a exploding with incredible force, scorching everything in the hall. The pink light from before suddenly shone bright as Smart Cookie, Cadence and I watched safely from behind a pretty pink force field, courtesy of our resident undetermined prince. I watched as the flames died down, leaving nothing but black soot and a huge pile of snow from the group of windigos. The doors opened again, this time the ponies charging out with bags and boxes as they quickly shoveled the snow inside. Guards had taken up position at the other end of the hall as they watched for more windigos, and Cadence was blasting away any that managed to reform. After a good minute or so we began to hear wing beats and whistling wind in the distance. Everypony packed up what they had, threw them into the empty rooms, and took off to the next destination. When the hall was clear I took some of the remaining fire rubies, waited for it to get full of a few more windigos, before tossing them all down the and activating them, buying extra time.
Candy, Cooks, and I continued this process over and over for what seemed like an eternity. And we weren’t the only ones. Checkpoints had been made all over the palace, where ponies sat in waiting. Then some of the other guards that had been with me originally would come through, shout the code words, and the next thing you know BOOM! Windigo pieces everywhere! Of course this method was a bit obvious so it didn’t take them long to figure out what we were doing, though by that time we’d easily cut down a third of their forces. Far more than what I was expecting. I was secretly happy Cooks said what she did, as the effects were showing. Winter was charging his troops blindly through the halls of the palace. Not caring how many he lost nor paying attention to where he sent them. Hurray for blind fury!
Next up was stage three which I came to call ‘Moths to a Flame’. After that all that was left was stage four. Stage three required far less ponies, and so as instructed most of the citizens and the weaker guards left their posts, their jobs complete, and took the special ‘safe’ routes to the infirmary. These routes were covered by Shining’s shield spells, allowing them to slip in and out of the different rooms and halls with relative ease as they made their way. As we rounded another corner we came upon one of these groups and I said my hasty yet reluctant goodbyes to both Cadence and Smart Cookie. Cooks earlier injuries may have been minor, but they had still taken a bit of a toll on her body and the painkillers had likely worn off hours ago. She might have been fit for stage one, but she wasn’t in good enough condition for stage two. And besides, I’m pretty sure she’d reached the limit of her courage. As for Cadence, I needed her with Twilight to help in case we needed to evacuate. If things were going to go wrong, this would be where they would.
So far all we’d been doing was running about dealing as much damage as possible. Now we had to do something completely different. We had to lead them to the ballroom. As I was running I was approached by my new partner, Sunburst, who in turn had been chased by a very large number of windigos.
My legs burned and my breathing was labored as we sped around another corner, but I didn’t put any thought into it. I was being chased, running for my life as I dodged and parried attack after attack from my wintry adversaries. As we rounded yet another corner to yet another hall I saw exactly what I wanted to see. A slick and shiny liquid substance puddled on the halls floor. Looking around some more I found that there were old buckets and boxes scattered about near the exit of the hall. To the windigos it looked like nothing more than piles of debris. But to me it was it was a very crucial target. reached into a bag given to me by one of the civilians and pulled out another fire ruby. Sunburst and I picked up our speed and slid through the halls exit where I then dropped the ruby before continuing down another path. Saying the magic word held my breath as I heard the explosion, never bothering to look behind me. No it was more important to look up at this moment. Good thing I did to as I had just barely enough time to dodge a falling crystal shard three times as big as me. This was the grand plan of stage three. The windigos chase us deeper and deeper into the heart of the palace where the ballroom is located, this in turn pulls the main force further and further away from the infirmary which sits at the castles western most edge. Allowing them more time to escape if need be. While that’s happening though we’re using oil and other large amounts of incendiaries and explosives to bring down entire sections of the palace. Collapsing entire halls and rooms to cut and forcing all of the remaining windigos to a single solitary place. Great for my plan, but it’s also a deadly double edged sword.
Every route we destroy to keep them going where we want, is one less route for us to use to escape. Essentially if you don’t make it to the ballroom, then you simply just don’t make it.
But I didn’t have time to think about that. My only concern was sticking as close to my predetermined route as I could, bringing down as many structures as possible on the way. Though I know it was only mintues of running, it felt like days, even years, as my heart beat faster and faster in my chest. As we turned the final corner my eyes met a lovely sight. The large double doors of the ball room. Sunburst and I looked at each other, nodded, and put on one final burst of speed as we crashed our way through the doors, dropping all of our remaining fire rubies in crates located right outside the entrance. Had I not been expecting it, the sight inside would have terrified me.
Hundreds of windigos sat patiently on the rooms outermost edges. Some spun lazily in the air, whipping up small flurries with each flap of their wings, others reclined on what was left of the once great golden chandelier, now a pile of twisted metal on the floor. I cringed inwardly when I looked at the center of the room. Three guards, all pegasi, two mares and a stallion, were all that had made it. They were all missing their helmets which just so happened to be the piece that made them all look alike. The two mares were probably twins, definitely sisters at least and one of them was passed out and being held by the other. Most likely from her wounds. The stallions armor suggested that he was banged up pretty bad, but the stallion himself held his posture in a perfect defense stance in front of the two girls, his wings flared teeth barred in a snarl. Sunburst and I walked over to him and the two mares before finally stopping to rest. Windigos were still pouring into the room and Winter himself had yet to arrive so we had at least a little bit of time.
I looked over the three pegasi guards who’d come all this way and figured, hey, if we’re going to do this, might as well know who these brave souls are. “So… who are you three?”
The stallion was the one to answer. “I’m Lieutenant Thunderlane sir. This is Cloudchaser, and the pony she’s holding is her twin sister Flitter.” Ah so they are twins.
“It’s nice to meet you all. I must commend you Thunderlane. You’re quite noble to stand so defensively in front of those girls.” He blushed a bit at the compliment while Cloudchaser just snickered.
“He better be defensive! Flitter and I didn’t marry a weakling!” My eyes widened in surprise at this.
“You’re a herd?”
“Yes sir.” Thunderlane replied. “We knew each other ever since we were children. Cloudchaser and Flitter grew up in the orphanage in my town. We were good friends back then but shortly after my younger brother was born my parents died and we ended up in the orphanage alongside them. After that we all worked together to take care of my brother Rumble. To be honest he sees me less as a sibling and more as a father and to him Flitter and Cloudchaser are his mothers, not that we have any issue with that.” He said with a smile.
“Good, good. I hope we make it out of this alive somehow. I’ll… do my best to get you back to him.” The two nodded their heads at me. We sat a while longer in silence before Cloudchser suddenly spoke up.
“Master Radiance.”
“Call me Rade, Cloudchaser. If this isn’t the best time to be informal I don’t know when is.”
“Alright. Rade then. I have to ask, just who are you? Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to be rude or anything but… nopony knows anything about you. You just showed up one day after losing your horn when princess Cadence crashed into you. After that you were all over the news because of your famous Discord worthy pranks. When I got here I thought I was going to meet a complete goofball. But you’re… you’re nothing like that. Crazy ponies can’t take charge of an empire at the drop of a hat with no prior experience of any kind. Crazy ponies can’t command an entire military force comprised of modern and out of date soldiers and use them effectively. Crazy ponies can’t single hoofedly convince an entire city to help them fight a guerilla war. And most of all, crazy ponies don’t WIN.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at her comment. The more you looked at it, the less it made sense I had to admit.
“Cloudchaser, as much as I hate to admit it, I’m just as lost as you are. What they say in the papers is, sadly, the truth. I honestly don’t know who I am. Sometimes I don’t even feel like I know WHAT I am. It’s all I can do to just to live my life one day after another. And if you’re looking for an explanation on how I’ve done everything I’ve done in the past twenty four hours, I’m afraid you’re going to have to look elsewhere because the only answer I can really give you is that I was there. When all hell was breaking loose I noticed that nopony else had any idea what to do. Well I did. I had ideas I mean. Thoughts, plans, ways out. So I took initiative. I told ponies my plans and made sure they went through with them. To be honest, there wasn’t much more to it than that. In my personal opinion, I wound up in charge today not because I had any idea as to what I was doing, but because I had any ideas AT ALL.” Cloudchaser looked down for a moment as if pondering my words.
“Huh, when you put it like that dealing with a crisis doesn’t seem so hard. You just have to think fast.”
“Pretty much.”
After that we continued to sit in silence. Cloudchaser and Thunderlane were fawning over their fallen herd mate, while Sunburst and I sat back to back, watching the windigos intently. I grabbed the pouch around my neck, feeling the two small jars inside. My plan A and plan B. This was the final stage of my operation. We’d come as far as we were going to go. If I didn’t stop them here, there was nothing we could do. It was all over and the crystal empire was doomed.
“Rade,” Sunburst called. I turned my head a bit, swiveling my ears to hear her better. “Do you think we’re going to get out of this alive?” Thunderlane and Cloudchaser both looked at me expectantly, until Flitter suddenly began to stir tearing their attention away from me.
“Honestly Sunburst, I have no idea. I hope so.”
“Tch, hoping is pointless. The only thing that matter is results. Honestly, I think we’re going to die. Plain and simple.”
“Well I won’t say I disagree, but I definitely don’t agree either. I’m not going to give up hope that someway somehow we’re going to make it out of this alive.” I paused to think for a moment. “Hey Sunburst?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve heard that you’ve always been a loner in the guard. That you never talk to anypony, especially about your past. Now I don’t mean to pry, but this could very well be your last chance to talk about it. I’m all ears if you want me to be.” I looked to my left to find that the mare known as flitter was now completely conscious. Good for her. If we died here, then it only feels appropriate that they should die together as a family. At least they had that.
Me? All I had was my few tiny memories and this years winner of the optimism award.
“Hmph… tell you what Rade. We get out of this alive, I’ll tell you my whole life story. How’s that sound?” I smiled.
“Sounds perfect Sunburst. Might I ask why though?”
“… two reasons. The first is that I’ve never lost a bet so now we’re practically guaranteed to die. The second… well you’ll understand that IF you hear my life story.”
“Heh, make that WHEN.” I joked, eliciting a chuckle from the both of us. That was the last of our conversations. The herd next to us kept chattering about something, but I didn’t bother to listen. This was their personal time, perhaps their last. It wouldn’t be right for me to eavesdrop. Instead I thought back to my life, what little of it I could remember. One month. That’s it. Just one month worth of memories and a few weird dreams. As I looked back on my relatively short life, a smile came to my face. Yes it was short, but it was also quite happy. Plenty of smiles, lots of laughs. All in all, not so bad. Short and sweet.
I looked down at my hooves and noticed something buried in the snow. Shifting the ice around I picked up the strange object, only to realize it was a shard of the crystal heart. There were dozens of these little shards scattered throughout the whole room as they’re crucial to my back up plan. Realizing this shard was particularly smaller than the rest I decided to pocket it for myself, placing it in the pouch around my neck. If my plan didn’t work with the other shards, this one wouldn’t make a difference anyway.
I was cut from my wonderings as something moved in the corner of my eye. As I looked to the entrance of the doorway, I noticed the Winters black ice creeping up the sides of the walls. Soon his heavy hoof steps began to reverberate through the room. Sunburst and I both turned to face the doorway, while Thunderlane stood defensively in front of Cloudchaser and Flitter.
When he entered I couldn’t say I was too surprised to find his demeanor had changed back into the stoic uncaring void it was before. “You’ve been a real thorn in my side, unicorn.”
“Screw you, Snowbutt.”
“Still defying me with useless words? I don’t know if you’re brave or stupid. Not that I care. It makes no difference to me. You’ll be dead soon either way. I know you’re trying to evacuate what’s left of the crystal empire. It’s not going to work.”
“Perhaps, but I have hope in my heart that it will, so maybe I’ll get lucky.”
“Hope? Hope will get you nowhere unicorn. Only results mean anything in this world.” Sunburst elbowed me in the ribs.
“Told ya.”
“Yeah yeah whatever. Look just hold still so I can beat you and we can all go on our merry way. Me back to a peaceful life of pranking in the palace, and you to eternal damnation in Tartarus. Sound good?” Once again I got that deep throaty moan that that monster seemed to call laughing.
“You? Beat me? How exactly do you plan on doing that. I have an army!”
“And I have a fez!” I said, drawing myself up to full height.
“A fez? Are you even trying to take this seriously?” I made a mock gasp at the accusation.
“How DARE you?! A fez is ALWAYS a serious topic. And whenever I have a fez on, all talk immediately becomes serious, even if it isn’t. Because that’s what fez’s do, make things serious. Get with the program Winter. Seriously.” Winter rolled his eyes at me in annoyance. Or at least I think he did. Kind of hard to tell when he doesn’t have any pupils.
“Ugh, I can’t believe YOU’RE the pony that’s causing me such a headache.”
“And I can’t believe you’re still allowed to walk around in public with that ugly face of yours!”
“Tell me is this the extent of your plan? To lead us into this ballroom?”
“To be honest this is actually my plan B. I was hoping it wouldn’t have to reach this point.”
“Oh really? Then what was your plan A?” I snickered.
“To insult you so badly you pissed yourself and went crying home to your mommy like a three year old!” I laughed. Sure, this guy could kill me in an instant, but it’s so much more fun to laugh in the face of death than cower before it.
“Arrogant little-! ENOUGH! I tire of this childish banter. Do you have any last words?”
“A few. Namely that I have no intention of losing today, due to this!” I rummaged around in the pouch around my neck before pulling out a strange bottle with a small orb of yellow light inside. I held it up for winter to see, not that he cared.
“What’s this? A fairy? I’ll give you credit, catching one isn’t easy.” I smirked. He had no idea.
“Let’s have a little history lesson.” Groaning sounded through the entire room as windigo and pony alike voiced their disgust of learning. “Oh come on this is the fun type of history lesson! There’s explosions!” And now there’s excited murmuring. Ah explosions. You just can’t go wrong with explosions.
“Good, now that I have everyone’s attention. Tell me Winter one thousand years ago there was a period of time where all cultural and technological advancement ground to a halt due to a hundred years of constant war and oppression of various species. This period, later dubbed the Dark Century, saw events such as Discord, Nightmare Moon, Sombra, Tirek, YOU, and the mass breakout of demons from Tartarus, just to name a few. All of you descended upon the world and began to wreak havoc one after another. You did so much damage that there are hardly any remaining written records and the few creatures still alive from that time either refuse to speak about it or are so mentally traumatized they can’t remember anything. Even Celestia and Luna can’t remember anything other than the moments they defeated their foes. Heck there’s even evidence saying that the world was far more advanced and that the one we’re living in now is actually POST-APOCALYPTIC. So congratulations Winter you destroyed the world.” Of course that little comment would put a smile on his face.
“I know this. I was there after all. What’s your point?”
“My point happens to deal with everything that happened during that century, and the measures ponies took to protect themselves. The legends say that back then Celestia and Luna were the only guiding lights in a world filled with darkness. They led massive armies that consisted of much more than just ponies. Every race known to us stood under their banner and fought the oppression. Systematically crushing one tyrant after another. And when you manage feats like that, that leaves no room for mistakes. So in the event that they should die, the alicorn siblings decided they needed to leave a way for their charges to protect themselves, and so with the assistance of a unicorn whose name is lost to history, the princesses devised a way of storing their most powerful techniques inside of small containers so that their precious people would have a weapon should something ever happen. Or at least that’s how the legends go. The princesses swear that no such pony ever existed. But I digress.”
“Like all things in the Dark Century these weapons were of course forgotten until they were rediscovered some two hundred years ago. Realizing that such a weapon was no longer necessary, the princesses and rulers of other nations began a global search and destroy mission, eliminating all copies of the powerful devices.”
“I see. I never knew this during the war. Tell me though, what’s the point in rambling about a weapon that no longer exists?” I couldn’t help but chuckle. If the poor fool only knew!
“Oh you’ll see in a moment. Now a little known fact is that not just anyone had access to these weapons. They were carefully hidden away from the prying eyes of enemies. Few knew of their existence, fewer still their location, and only a small hoof full knew how to get them. Aside from Luna and Celestia, there are only two alive who would know the location of any of these weapons. One is the ancient dragon Seathe, and the other is a nurse pony here in the crystal empire known as Willow and she just happens to be a good personal friend of mine.”
“Again, what’s your point? Knowing the location of weapons that don’t exist can’t help you.” I let a large grin and an ominous laugh escape my throat. Was I being melodramatic? Yes. But with all I’ve done today I’ve earned that right!
“On the contrary Winter! I think it shall! You’re forgetting the most crucial piece of information so far! This-” I gestured to everything around us. “Is the Crystal Empire! A country that vanished a thousand years ago during the Dark Century! They weren’t here for the search and destroy mission two hundred years ago!” I have to say, watching the gears turn in Winters head was truthfully a sight to behold. His eyes darted from me to the lit up bottle in my head several times before it clicked. His ethereal eyes widened in fear as he suddenly realized the predicament he was in.
“Go my children! Stop him! Don’t let him open that bottle!”
“IT’S TOO LATE SNOWBUTT!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I stood on my hind legs as I lifted the bottle overtop my head before throwing it to the ground with as much force as I could muster. The light went off like a flash bang, completely filling my vision and blinding me. When I could finally see again I looked up to behold a beautiful sight. Circles and patterns of light filled the sky above me, forming rings of runes that cast a gentle golden glow upon the room. In the center of the circles was a single glowing orb about the size of a pony. Tendrils of light twirled around, dangling from the runic rings. I could feel the powerful magic that had been absorbed into the spell. The sheer volume of it would have been suffocating for most ponies, but I was a bit on the higher side of things so it didn’t bother me. Nonetheless it was impressive.
But the spell was incomplete. This particular spell needed a target, or else the power would simply fade with no action to be taken. After all, that’s what made this spell so special. Even with all its powers, it was incapable of friendly fire. It would hit the assigned target with all of it’s might, and nothing else. With that knowledge I threw a hoof in the air for extra flair and said “Target: Windigos. Fire Celestia’s ultimate technique!”
“DAWN HAMMER!”
The orb of light that sat in the center of the rings began to glow bright as it shot down towards the ground. The beam soon grew in size as time seemed to slow down. Though it was a brief instant, it felt like I could see everything clearly. The beam consumed everything in the room. The windigos tried desperately to fight their fate, whipping up the harshest storms to form walls of ice as makeshift shields, but it was to no avail. The beam cut straight through their efforts like it was nothing. I could hear faintly hear Winter crying out in anguish somewhere in the background but I didn’t have enough time to look back before my vision was once again consumed in bright light. After what felt like an eternity the light died down and I was able to look around once more. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight.
The room was empty, save for piles of fresh snow that used to be windigos. So far as I could see though none of them were regenerating. Or at least, not at a speed that they would be an issue anytime soon. Smiling I looked over to the other ponies in the room. Their cheerful faces staring right back at mine. We had done it! We-
“This… is not… over!” I froze. That voice… he couldn’t have. Slowly I turned my head and grit my teeth at the thing standing before me. There he was, the Windigo king. Still standing tall, though maybe standing isn’t the right word. Aside from his head, part of his torso, and his first two forelegs most of his black snowy body was still deformed and regenerating.
“Did you really believe… that a little toy like that… could kill ME?! I am Winter! The windigo KING! I have not taken that title for simple pleasantries like the late Sombra! I am a true King! One of power unmatched in this world! Nations rise and fall at MY command! Your precious princesses attack is nothing but a PARLOR TRICK in comparison to me!” he roared. To be honest I wasn’t entirely surprised by this turn of events. I had accepted the fact that this could very well be a possibility. That’s why I had my plan B. Still though, I wish I could have avoided using it.
“Still, I admire your tenacity unicorn. Few could have resisted me for as long as you have, and fewer still could have left my body in such a state. Let me hear your name, for you have been a truly worthy opponent.”
“Heh, guess it couldn’t hurt to tell you. My name’s Glorious Radiance. I’m Princess Cadence’s consort.” Something strange happened then. Winter started looking me up and down, as though he was trying to find something on me. Suddenly his eyes popped wide open and an almost… manic grin appeared on his face. He started laughing, but it wasn’t the calm chuckle I’d heard earlier. This laughter was boisterous and loud. The sheer strength of his voice alone sending shockwaves through the room.
“Glorious Radiance?! THE Glorious Radiance?! No wonder I’ve had so much trouble! I’d expect nothing less from you! No horn! No magic! Obviously no memories as well and you STILL manage to back me into a corner! HA! And to think, it is none other than I who will finally bring you down! ME! Destroying the one whom the goddess herself would flee from if faced in battle! Oh this is grand! This is absolutely perfect! Once I’ve crushed you my reign will be guaranteed! No one will stand against the one who defeated the almighty Glorious Radiance! Mother was right! I’ve followed her instructions to the letter and now I’ll have everything I’ve ever dreamed of!” I stood there staring in shock. King Winter… knew me? More than that, he was talking like defeating me was some kind of huge accomplishment. I wasn’t sure before but I knew now beyond a shadow of a doubt. This guy was completely insane. He was just really good at hiding it. I’ll admit, I’ve noticed that I have a bigger skill set and more magic than your average pony. I won’t lie I was definitely on the leader board for most powerful creatures in Equestria. But from what I could gauge of myself, I was somewhere around maybe the top fifty. Certainly nothing that this guy would be concerned about.
I’m nothing for a true King to be concerned about.
Still though, no matter how crazy he is I have to stop him, no matter the cost. I rummaged around in the pouch on my neck before grasping the final jar inside. I cast a single long look at the crystal heart fragment I had put in the pouch, a smile crossing my lips as a sense of peace washed over me. I turned my head to the other ponies in the room. The windigos we thought destroyed were finally beginning to regenerate, albeit much more slowly due to the state their leader was in. Sunburst, Thunderlane, Flitter, and Cloudchaser all looked at me with sad smiles. Together they nodded their heads. They knew what was coming, and they were ready. I nodded my head in return and closed my eyes as I took in a deep breath. When I opened them again I mustered up the fiercest look that I could manage as I turned back to the reforming king.
“Don’t count me down and out just yet Winter! I’ve still got one more trick left up my sleeve!” Winter barred his teeth in a snarl as he shot me a death glare. He was just a little over half reformed now so he still didn’t have the power to stop what was coming.
“Of course you do. You’re Glorious Radiance. You never give up hope no matter how bleak it gets. You're endless optimism is disgusting.”
“Heh, thanks for the compliment. As thanks I’ll give you a little explanation as to how this is going to end.” I held the final bottle up for him to see. The warmth of the orange flames trapped inside flowing through my hoof and spreading to the rest of me. “Magically enhanced Phoenix fire fueled by the power of positive emotions. Normally it’s used for helping ailing dragons who have found themselves injured or sick while in the tundra. So naturally it made sense that my good friend Willow would have a jar of it, since she’s the head nurse in the empires infirmary. Unfortunately for us, it’s only helpful for dragons. It sets any other living thing that gets near it ablaze!” At that moment I heard Sunburst shout ‘Geronimo’ and the fire rubies we’d set in the crates outside the door went off causing a cave in and blocking the only exit. I knew that somewhere out there the ponies in the infirmary had heard the explosion and were beginning to evacuate.
“So what? Flames like those could never grow hot enough to kill me or my children. All it would do is leave them half melted as the flames and regeneration are just would be working at the same speed. All we have to do is wait until it runs out of enough fuel to keep itself going. Which won’t be long since it will burn you too.” At that I couldn’t help but crack a smile.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Snowbutt. Take a look around the floor and tell me what you see?” Winter glared at me before doing as I said and scanning the ground. It took him a moment but his eyes finally caught on to what I was talking about. He reached down with one of his four reformed hooves and picked up a small piece of the shattered crystal heart. He turned it over in his hooves as he inspected it, obviously unsure of what it was.
“Wondering what it is Snowbutt? Heh, it’s the shattered pieces of the Crystal Heart! There are dozens of chunks scattered throughout the room and while they may not be able to absorb emotions anymore, they’ve still got enough love energy stored inside of them to keep this fire burning for years!”
“The only exits been sealed Winter and once I break this open you’ll be stuck in your current state, unable to muster enough power to break out! You and your windigos will just keep on burning until the princesses figure out what to do with you and who knows how long that could take! This is it Snowbutt! THIS IS OUR TOMB!” With those words I chucked the glass jar right at Winter face. He roared in pain as a fireball exploded around him, consuming his entire being. As the flames touched the living snow that made up the bodies of the other windigos the fire spread, quickly consuming the entire room as it slowly made it’s way to me and my companions. Winter began to thrash about as he roared in a mix of anguish and fury. I didn’t bother to pay attention to any of his remarks though. Honestly I didn’t care. All I knew was that it was over. I didn’t have to worry about anything else.
I had won.
I turned back to my companions. Shooting a grin their way as the fire raged on, eating everything in its path and filling the rooms with terrible screams. We all looked at each other with smiles on our faces. We were going to die, but that was okay. Because these deaths of ours wouldn’t be in vain. Of course that’s when I noticed something I wasn’t expecting. Far off on the other side of the room I could see a small pink circle that was obviously made of magic. It was slow, but the circle soon began to expand, opening in the center as it formed a ring just about the size of a pony. My look turned to one of confusion and curiosity, and soon the pegasi guards that were with me followed my gaze as well. Then a flash of light appeared in the ring center, and I gasped.
It was a portal. On the other side I could see Twilight and Cadence standing next to a none other that Shining armor as they poured all of their energy into a spell. Behind them was a huge crowd of ponies cheering and screaming as they waved their hooves in the air beckoning us forward. For a moment I was too shocked to think. They… they were saving us. I looked over to the others to find them stuck in shock as well.
“WE CAN’T HOLD THIS OPEN ALL DAY YOU KNOW!” Shinings sudden voice snapped me out of my reverie and got me back into action.
“COME ON GUYS! MOVE!” They just stared at me. “NOW DAMNIT!” That brought them to their senses and in a flash we had all shot towards the portal as quickly as possible. Sunburst took wing, grabbing the injured mare called Flitter and slinging her over her shoulder as she flew the both of them through the portal. Thunderlane and Cloudchaser quickly followed suit, flying as fast as they could and getting out of the room in record time.
All that left was me and it wasn’t looking good for me. I don’t know why but it seemed that my body decided that this was the time to let all of the running I’d done today take it’s toll. I pushed my very hardest breaking my body past limits it really didn’t want to. My breathing was hard and fast, my muscles screamed in agony begging me to stop. But I couldn’t, not now. Not yet.
It was times like these when I really envied pegasi and earth ponies. Sure everyones like ‘you can do anything with magic’ and yeah, you know what, that’s more or less true. Magic is potentially limitless in its possibilities. But you pop an inhibitor ring on or break off their horn and instantly you’re completely useless. And the fact that unicorn bodies are naturally very frail doesn’t help in the slightest.
In the end my wishing was pointless as I dashed through the portal right as it closed, falling and rolling across the ground before coming to a stop. I laid there panting trying desperately to catch my breath when I was suddenly assaulted from multiple sides by hugs from both Cooks and Candy.
“I can’t believe it Rade!” Candy shouted. “We did it! YOU did it! The crystal empire is saved and it’s all thanks to you!”
“I’m so happy you’re alive!” Cooks cried. I mean actually cried. The adorable little thing was shedding more tears than I thought possible as she jumped up and down squealing in delight. And she wasn’t alone. A crowd filled with thousands of ponies suddenly started screaming in joy as they congratulated and thanked me. They just kept going on and on about how I was their hero and yadda yadda yadda. As for me? I just wanted to breathe again.
“Cooks. Candy. Can’t. Breathe.” They both let go of me causing me to fall painfully on my butt.
“Whoops… sorry Rade.” Cadence said smiling sheepishly.
“It’s alright Candy. You just saved my life after all. I can hardly complain about a hug after you did something like that for me.” That put a smile on her face, which of course made me smile too.
“Actually Rade, it wasn’t me. Well I mean, I helped, but the one who cast and maintained the spell was him.” She said, and pointed her hoof over to Shining Armor, who was currently chatting it up with his sister Twilight. As I looked at him our eyes met and he began walking over to me. The whole crowd went silent as he stood in front of me, extending a hoof to help me up. One I took rather reluctantly.
“Radiance.” he said as I got on my hooves.
“Armor.” I replied. We continued to just stand there for a while, looking into each others eyes and trying to read what the other was thinking. But it was to no avail. Finally I decided to break the silence. While the feeling in my gut still said I shouldn’t trust him, there was no denying the evidence laid before me. This was Shining Armor, no doubt about it. And it was this very same Shining Armor that had just saved my life. So after taking a deep breath and letting out a long sigh, I did what I had to do and apologized.
“I’ll be honest when I say that for some reason I still feel like you’re an imposter. But I can’t refute the evidence placed in front of me stating otherwise just because of a gut feeling. Your story checks out, you’ve been nothing but cooperative since you arrived, and you’ve even helped save and protect the people of the crystal empire. I’m sorry for ever doubting you Prince Shining.” I said with a humble and reluctant bow. He smiled motioning for me to stand as he replied.
“Thank you. And you are not alone. I must apologize as well.”
“Whatever for?”
“For proving you right.” His words confused me, until I felt the sudden pain my chest. I barely managed to recognize the sound of screaming nearby as I looked down. A ghostly pink and black blade made of twisted magic sat skewered through my abdomen. I looked up, gazing directly back into Shinings eyes. He grinned devilishly and I was filled with an overwhelming sense of dread. His eyes went wide, his pupils shrinking down as a gleam of madness seamed to suddenly spark within them.
“SHINING!” Twilight shouted. “What are you doing?!”
That’s when Shining’s eyes changed color. The usual sparkling blue had been replaced by a deep blood red with slit pupils. The surrounding his eyes was the deep green coloration with wisps of magic pouring out the sides like tears. Those eyes, those were the eyes of a pony possessed by dark magic. Shining began cackling like a madman, his voice changing to a deep base. He left off a blast of magic from his horn, and suspending me in the air as he ripped a crevice in the ground so deep I couldn’t see the bottom. With another burst of magic, every unicorn in the room along with Cadence and Twilight quickly found their horns covered in dark black crystals. The other guards didn’t fair much better, their wings and hooves being quickly incapacitated by black crystal monstrosities that shot out of the ground and either outright killed them or left them too wounded to fight back.
“Well well well. Look what the cat dragged in.” he said. “It if isn’t Glorious Radiance. Tell me, do you recognize me?”
“You… you’re Sombra.” I croaked. I couldn’t believe this. Was this actually happening? Had I really beaten one tyrant, only to be brought down by another? This was wrong. This was so, so wrong! Had everything I’d done really been for nothing?!
“Hahaha! Very good! At least somepony recognizes me!”
“But… but how? The… serum. Your disguise… should have…”
“Oh ho ho. Come now, surely you can figure it out Rade. You always were the smarter one. Surely you can see that I AM indeed the REAL Shining Armor.” Oh. OH! I see now. The whole situation clicked into place then and there.
“Shining he… he died didn’t he? And you… you took his body… and made it your own. Veritaserum… is a potion. It only has… a physical effect. It forced your body to tell the truth but not your soul. You were able to lie… because your body… wasn’t lying. All you had to do… was access… the memories… stored in Shining’s brain… and you had all the information you needed… for a convincing… story. You bastard! You’re nothing but a… walking corpse!”
Sombra began to clap his hooves as he laughed. “Well done! Well done indeed! It’s nice to see your mind hasn’t dulled in the slightest. You’re quite right and now here I am! Returned in the flesh with a body of my own! When I came back before my powers were limited because I was little more than a specter, now though I’m back to my full strength! And with the added power I get from this young lads body, I have more than enough power to complete my mission.”
“M-mission?” Sombra smiled sadistically.
“Yes, the mission given to me by mother.” There it was again. Mother. I don’t know who this mother person is but she must be powerful if she’s managed to get control over not just Winter but Sombra as well. “She knew that Winter might fail, so she sent me here in secret to make sure things go… smoothly. And I assure you, I have no intention of making the same mistake as Winter. The reason he lost is because he didn’t eliminate you the first chance he had. But unlike him I know who you are and I am more than well aware of what you are capable of… brother.” I heard gasps ring through the crowd and my own eyes widened in shock. I knew I had had a dream about that but… to hear the real Sombra say that…
“I’m… I’m not your brother!” he just chuckled.
“You’re right. By blood we’re not related. But we were once inseparable to the point that’s what we considered ourselves to be. However those days have long since passed for me and you can’t even remember them so it matters not.” I jerked as he removed the blade from my chest, blood trickling out of the wound and staining my fur.
“DAMN YOU SOMBRA!” I heard a shrill voice cry. I mustered up what little strength I could trying to turn my head towards the noise to find Willow charging at Sombra full speed. Sombra just looked at her, smirking as he dodged one of her kicks. She wasn’t deterred though and continued to harass Sombra with every move in her arsenal. It was plain to see that she held nothing back and bared no expense in her fury. I have to say I was impressed. She was incredibly fast and each of her movements were perfectly precise. Had Sombra been a normal opponent, she would have easily crushed him.
But Sombra isn’t your normal opponent.
“My mother! My father! All of my friends! You took away everypony I loved!” she screamed as she tried to land a kick to his head. Sombra just held up his right fore hoof though, his leg not even shaking from as he held off her strong earth pony legs.
“My my, what’s the matter Willow? You mad? Ha! Fine then, if you miss your folks so much I’ll just send you to them!” He shouted before grabbing onto her leg and slinging her through the air… and straight at me. Willow hit me hard in the chest, and barely managed to grab hold of my suspended form. She just held onto me as we hung in midair, my blood staining her pure white coat.
“Huh, I thought for sure that would knock her out. Looks like it only dazed her. Her head must have gained in thickness these past one thousand years. Well, it’s been fun, but I’m afraid our time is up. I have to go release Winter from that insufferable trap you put him in and then proceed with killing every pony here in the Crystal Empire. Goodbye brother. I hope you rest well.” As he finished saying that he released the magical grip he had on me letting my broken body fall into the black abyss. I held on to Willow as tightly as I could. I had already lost a large amount of blood, and my consciousness was beginning to slip away from me. I had a pretty good feeling I wasn’t going to make it, but if I was right then underneath the palace is the crystal caverns that the empire is famous fore, if my body could cushion the blow, then Willow might just get out of this alive and that’s all that really mattered to me at that point. As the gap above closed up and the light faded away, the last thing I remember before blacking out was the horrid sound of a bugs buzzing wings.
I'm going to take a guess and say this is all of you right now.
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I'm going to mark this as a read later, but as I do I want to quote a favorite Fictional character of mine.
"I find myself largely clueless about why mortal women do what they do. It will take a wiser man than me to understand what’s in a fae woman’s mind." Harry Dresden.
Of course I would switch Fae with Immortal Goddess.
Yeah... having a (one, singular, no more no less) goddess as a lover would be trouble enough. There is tales of Goddesses getting tired of their lovers, or wanting to test their love, or a dozen other things, and all of these things usually end up putting that poor individual in traction.
No thank you. I'll take the mortal kind. At least then I only have to worry about what weapons are crafted by mortal hands, or in this case hooves.
Except for Pinkie Pie... She's scarier than an entire collection of goddesses.
.....wow. By grey....
4668439
Agreed that pink meanece is dangerous
The Doctor Who reference level is over 9,000!!!!!
Next chapter enter Chrisalis.
A Sombra plush. Brilliant, just brilliant.
..I got an idea that there is gonna be a twist. A twist in the form of Chrysalis.
I'm not sure what to make of this story. The story has nothing to do with the description which hurts it a bit but it is inherently entertaining and has interesting characters. Think you could fix the description to be more in line with the actual plot of the story?
4668761 Well the thing about it is that the story IS about being in a herd with the four princesses. It just takes a LONG time for that to happen. I don't like stories with rushed romances so I'm introducing each of the love interests one at a time alongside all of this crazy stuff that happens throughout his life. The romance won't properly start until the end of the next 3 chapters or so. At which point I guess you could say the first "Arc" will be done and he'll officially end up in a relationship with Cadence and will start getting to know and eventually falling in love with the other princesses. Just be patient. Romantic hijinks will come in time I swear.
4668793
Ok thanks. I'm enjoying the story thoroughly, it's just a little confusing when I read the description and get something else. :P I'm guessing more of his back story will be revealed along the way?
4668845 Oh most certainly. Think of each princess as an Arc. There are Five arcs in total. With the end of each arc will come a major reveal. Arc 1 is Cadence, Arc 2 is Twilight, I haven't decided who comes next after her but I'll deal with that when I get there. Once Arc4 is done Arc5 will be the big culmination where everything comes together and clicks into place.
Well... that's the plan anyways.
Dang it! Thoae were my thoughts exactly!
Oi, so Radiance is a gorram ASSASSIN now?!
This story just keeps getting better and better.
...oh buck ME, wrong word: assassinATED.
Daaaaaaayum.
I was actually hoping for the permanent death of Winter, he's annoying... Fighting him again and again will get old really fast.
Also, Chryssallis? My guess is she will help stop Sombra and whatever the other lackey the "Mother" has because if the ponies die, so will her entire race. Or she help them because she have a sort of personal vendetta against them which could still be tied to the first reason. And, she has beenw atching them from the dark after the invasion and now rise again.
Great story! Keep up the update rate haha.
Hmm.
Hey! I know what the buzzing is! It's the Changelings coming to save the day! (I think)
And this is the point upon where a large arsenal of thermonuclear weapons would come in handy.
Because when you can't beat them, nuke them. Amirite?
6226974
Wasn't it "If you can't beat em' kill them all off with a genetic plague and then drop a thermonuclear device on them"??
(We have a Hulk.) "We Have a Pinkie Pie."