04. Twilight's Arrival
ALICORN
by Aldea Donder
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasbro, Inc.
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CHAPTER FOUR
Twilight’s Arrival
Originally Published 4/1/2012
Wednesday morning was well underway in Lower Canterlot.
The streets were crowded with ponies of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Ponies pushing past one another in throngs, scurrying and scrambling to get from here to there. Rising above it all, the deafening pulse of the city: street vendors barking out prices, news colts shouting headlines from the latest issue of the Canterlot Sun, and the creak-and-clatter of wagons, wagons, wagons.
Folks tripped over each other as they went about their daily business, running their errands, tending their shops. Racing on their way to work, to school. To the bakeries and markets to buy food for their families.
Grim Gull was one such pony, traipsing through the merchant stalls in Atlas Plaza. Her eyes darted about, looking for lunch.
Looking for a patsy.
The onset of years had not been kind to her. Shriveled and gray, she seemed likely to blow away with the slightest gust. The townsfolk looked on her pityingly as she went by, but she didn’t mind. If age and infirmity helped her leverage the merchants for a better deal, so much the better!
Speaking of which, here was her mark. A produce merchant. One of those hoity-toity monocled gits from up on the hill, posh and unsympathetic. He would do nicely.
She opened the negotiation with a grin, wide and toothless. “How much for a bushel of apples, dearie?”
The merchant took one look at her and flinched. “Eighteen bits for a bushel,” he said, looking down his nose at her.
“EIGHTEEN BITS!” she shouted, drawing glances from the nearby crowd. “CELESTIA ABOVE! Where do you get off charging EIGHTEEN BITS for ONE BUSHEL? In my day, we had a word for that—HIGHWAY ROBBERY! Mercy me! Don’t you know we got KIDS TO FEED?”
Right on cue, a little yellow filly slinked between the old mare’s legs and put her hooves up on the counter. “Gramma, is it time to eat yet?”
“No, child, but don’t you worry your little head. Your grandmother’s working it out with the greedy salespony right now.” She gave the filly a pat before turning her smoldering eyes back on the merchant. “You see there? My granddaughter’s hungry! Are you going to tell her she can’t eat today over a measly eighteen bits? For SHAME, sir! For SHAME!”
“Now, wait just a minute—”
“SEE HERE, sir! I don’t know what kind of SLEAZY OPERATION you run here, or what sort of ROBBER BARON you think you are, but EIGHTEEN BITS for ONE BUSHEL is madness! We got KIDS TO FEED! Have you no SCRUPLES, sir? Have you no DECENCY?”
“Look, lady, I got kids to feed, too!”
“Oh, so YOUR kids are more important than OUR kids? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
And the quarrel went on.
Meanwhile, high on the northern bluff stood the clock tower, majestic and proud. Its elegant walls and trimmings of silver and white gold marked it among the grandest structures in the city. As the sun neared its zenith in the azure sky, it caught the light and shined like a pearl, a brilliant counterpoint to Canterlot Castle on the southern rise.
The minute hand joined its partner at the twelve. It was high noon.
The gears came to life, shaking off the dust of the last hour. The mechanism griped and grumbled and groaned, the hammer pulled back on the great bronze bell, and finally—
CLANG… CLANG… CLANG…
The toll of the hour rose above the street noise. Above the shuffling and the clickity-clack of wagon wheels as they skipped across the cobblestones. Above the birdsong. Above the breeze.
But not above Grim Gull’s screeching tirade. She was relentless, and she was drawing quite a crowd.
“Is he really charging that much for a bushel of apples?”
“There’s no way a pony in her condition can afford to pay so much.”
“She’s got a filly to feed, too!”
“Disgraceful!”
Said filly was rapidly growing bored with today’s shakedown. Every one of them was more of the same. Put your hooves on the countertop, make a pouty face, and whine about how hungry you are. Then sit back and wait for the ship to come in. It was boooooring.
With a sigh, she cast her gaze to the horizon.
CLANG… CLANG… CLANG…
“Gramma! Gramma!”
Annoyance flashed on Grim Gull’s face. “What is it, Sunrise? You know I’m in the middle of something here!”
“There’s a pony up there!” the filly exclaimed.
“Up where, child?”
The filly pointed off in the distance. “There! In the sky!”
“Don’t be silly, Sunrise. Pegasi fly around in the sky all the time.”
“Yeah, but she’s really fast, and she’s got a horn! I’ve never seen—”
“Hush now, child. I’m conducting business.” She gave the filly a scoot, then turned back to her quarry. “Now then, AS I was saying…”
CLANG… CLANG… CLANG…
“Look, you shriveled old prune! You win, okay? I’m bleeding customers here.”
Grim Gull pursed her lips. “How much for the bushel, then?”
“I can come down… a little. Best I can do is fourteen.”
“FOURTEEN? FOURTEEN BITS for ONE BUSHEL? Why, in MY day—”
“TEN! TEN! Just take the apples and get away from my stall!”
Grim Gull smirked. She levitated the coins onto the counter, then magically hoisted a bushel. “Thank you for your patronage. I’ll be sure to tell all my friends what a pushover you are.”
The merchant muttered something unpleasant.
Grim Gull beamed down at sunrise. “Now, child, what are you saying?”
CLANG… CLANG… CLA—
KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
SOUND! COLOR! The heavens exploded in a million hues, and ponies all over the place screamed and ran!
Grim Gull swept her granddaughter behind the fruit cart, spilling her hard-won apples all across the street. She cursed. “What in the blazes—?”
Sunrise wriggled out from her gramma’s protective grasp. “Look!”
Grim Gull followed the filly’s gaze—and gasped. It was an alicorn! A little alicorn, the color of the sky, slicing through the air with the spectrum at her back and a daredevil grin on her face—
KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
As the sky shattered again into a myriad of reds, blues, greens, yellows, and every other color imaginable, the shockwave from the first blast rippled outward and joined the second, creating a kaleidoscopic firestorm over the rooftops. The earthbound denizens looked up in awe.
The alicorn blasted out of the heart of the aurora, threading her way through an obstacle course of chimneys and spires before doing three laps around the clock tower and blasting back into the sky, a blazing band of color following her the whole way.
A blazing band of color… and about fifty members of the Royal Guard.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Rainbow felt ALIVE.
THIS was what she was made for. THIS. Soaring high, racing the wind, being completely and totally AWESOME. How had she managed to go five whole days without THIS?
A DOUBLE RAINBOOM. And she pulled it off like it was nothing!
She could TASTE the adrenaline. Her wings hurt, but it was the good kind of hurt. The kind that comes from breaking your limits. Her lungs were on fire and her face was covered with sweat, but otherwise, she felt GREAT. She could probably even pull off a third sonic rainboom.
Her face twisted into a manic grin.
A third sonic rainboom.
It was INSANE! She’d never dreamed of doing three in a row before! But the idea was intoxicating. There was no stopping her now. She had to go for it. She had to try.
She twitched her primaries. “Wonderbolts, here I come!”
“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.”
Rainbow glanced over her shoulder in mild surprise.
Huh. She’d planned on having another minute and a half before the peanut gallery showed up. Guess they were really on the ball today.
There was a swarm of angry pegasi behind her, but she only had eyes for one of them. A familiar white stallion in radical golden armor, flying at the head of the pack.
“Well, look who it is! Captain Jerkwad, right?”
She twisted around in mid-air so she was flying backwards, casually crossing her legs and folding her arms behind her head, all the while maintaining forward velocity, staying just out of Tristar’s reach.
Captain Tristar growled and flapped twice as hard. He was rewarded with a burst of speed, but Rainbow just opened her wings and caught the air, drifting lazily up and away.
“Nice day for flying, isn’t it?”
“GET. BACK. HERE.”
“Why? So your goons can pounce and drag me back to that stuffy old castle? Hmm, lemme think.” She tapped her chin. “Nah.”
“YOU WERE INSTRUCTED TO REMAIN ON CASTLE GROUNDS. YOUR DEFIANCE IS A DIRECT DISOBEDIENCE TO THE WILL OF HER MAJESTY, PRINCESS CELES—”
“Listen, pal! I’m Rainbow Dash! The awesomest pony in Equestria! Nopony orders me around. Least of all, you.” Her brow furrowed. “Come to think of it, I’m, like, a princess or something. Shouldn’t I be the one giving you orders?”
Tristar’s eyes blazed with rage. “I WOULD SOONER PLUCK EVERY LAST FEATHER FROM MY OWN TWO WINGS THAN TAKE AN ORDER FROM A SNIVELING LITTLE—”
“Sheesh. You don’t gotta be so dramatic about it.”
“THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!”
“Like I said, buddy, I don’t take orders too well. That’s part of the reason why they hated me so much back in flight school.”
She flipped back around and spread her forehooves out in front of her. With a glance overshoulder, she gave Tristar a sly wink.
“I showed them in the end, though, didn’t I?”
Tristar lunged, but she zipped away before he could catch her, pitching down into another one of her trademark Rainbow Dash death spirals. The streets, lawns, and rooftops of Lower Canterlot zoomed up to meet her, blurring together in a mishmash of green and white. Then the world somersaulted back into focus as she leveled out, skirting above the teeming masses, a funnel of angry pegasi hot on her hooves.
The air roared in her ears as she swooped through the monumental archways, corkscrewed up one glimmering white spire and down the next, blitzed beneath bridges with zero regard for their perilous narrows. She took ninety-degree turns at a hundred miles an hour, crowing with laughter at the lateral g’s. Celestia, how she’d missed this!
She emerged into the wide expanse of Atlas Plaza, buzzing right overtop the canopied market. The guards spilled out behind her, chasing her past fountains and statues and vendor stalls. Past one stall, in particular, where Grim Gull and her granddaughter looked on in amazement.
An enormous grin split Sunrise’s face. “She’s incredible!”
One of her pursuers lunged at her, forcing her to dip down into the gawping crowd to evade him. As she rocketed forward, inches above the flagstones, she almost bowled over one stallion—a sharp-eyed unicorn with a press pass jammed in the ribbon of his slate-gray fedora, recently arrived in Canterlot on the nine-o’clock train.
Recovering quickly, he fumbled for his camera. So it was true after all! He’d had his suspicions, but he hadn’t expected the story to fall into his lap quite this easily. Maybe he should outsource to the Royal Guard more often. They certainly brought new meaning to the phrase chasing a lead.
The guards kept up their pursuit through the market, fanning out to block all avenues of escape. Rainbow sneered and doubled back into the Manor District, but she was met by Tristar and five of his henchmen. He sprang at her, and she barely managed to slip away. But now the guards were pouring onto the boulevard, cutting off all hope of retreat. She scanned the area wildly—
There! An open window! She made a break for it.
Prince Blueblood was just sitting down to lunch when a polychromatic blur blasted through the window and out into the hall, upending his table, getting kelp salad and milkweed simply everywhere.
He was even more bewildered when a legion of angry guards piled in after her, toppling the rest of the furniture, smashing the china, knocking priceless works of art from the walls. The fearless prince hid underneath a tablecloth until the sound and fury had passed, only then peeking out to gander at the trail of destruction that stretched from one end of his house to the other, ending at the window of his newly-demolished bedroom.
Blueblood gasped in horror. “Good heavens!”
The window opened onto the freedom of the clear blue sky. Rainbow smirked. With the guards bottlenecked back in that mansion, she was home free.
She tucked her wings and dived, skimming along the gables of a white marble compound, zigzagging past parapet after parapet. At the end of the rooftop, she took a hundred-foot plunge to the grounds below, where unicorns young and old were milling about.
“Time for a victory lap!”
She swooped low and circled the building, knocking over at least one bearded old codger in a flurry of papers. As she flew past the massive front doors, the sun flashed upon a little gold plaque, highlighting its engraved lettering, though she was going far too fast to read it:
PRINCESS CELESTIA’S
SCHOOL FOR GIFTED UNICORNS
SAGE WHITEHOOF, HEADMASTER
FOUNDED IN ETERNAL MEMORY
OF ATLAS, KING OF EQUESTRIA
A.D. 142
High above, at the top of the tallest tower, a pair of intelligent silver eyes gazed down upon the school and the rainbow-hued blur zooming a circuit around it. Sage Whitehoof smiled. Then, with a glance at the old grandfather clock ticking away in the corner of his office, he disappeared in a flash of light.
Rainbow was wrapping up her third lap when Tristar came at her like a bolt out of the blue, flanked by a dozen other pegasi, with the entirety of the Royal Guard’s aerial regiment bringing up the rear. She dodged easily and resumed her hooves-behind-head posture.
“What’s up, Cap’n? Thought I lost you back there.”
An enormous vein bulged in Tristar’s forehead. He grit his teeth, red in the face. “YOU’RE A MENACE TO SOCIETY!”
Rainbow took a second to ponder that. “Yeah, they told me that back in flight school too.”
“I’LL GIVE YOU ONE LAST CHANCE TO SURRENDER YOURSELF AND COME QUIETLY. AS MUCH AS I’D ENJOY DRAGGING YOUR FLANK BACK TO CANTERLOT CASTLE IN A NET, I STRONGLY ADVISE YOU TO LAND RIGHT NOW.”
“Sure thing, buddy. I’ll come quietly. No problem!”
With that, Rainbow blasted back into the sky, leaving Tristar and the rest of the guards to eat her dust. She shot them a wicked grin. “But you’ve gotta catch me first!”
Tristar swore and took off after her.
Nothing could out-decibel Rainbow’s cackling laughter as she caught the air under her wings, riding high on thermals and adrenaline. Enough city flying! It was time to show these jokers was speed really was!
She set her sights on the western horizon, adjusting course to take her out over the Equestrian countryside. If these morons had a hard time keeping up with her on the streets, just wait until they got a load of what she was capable of out in the open!
But as Rainbow flew, she caught sight of something strange. In the distance, coming up fast on her left. A purple dot, floating in midair.
No, wait. Not a purple dot. A purple hot-air balloon.
A very familiar purple hot air balloon, with a very familiar purple unicorn sitting in the basket.
Rainbow slammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt. “Twilight! What are you doing here?”
“Rainbow! What—”
“Unidentified flying object is within range of the princess!”
“Take it down! Take it down!”
Rainbow’s eyes went wide. “Oh, crap!”
She barely had time to dodge out of the way before a javelin of pegasi went through the balloon and blew out the other side. Another three or four squadrons followed their lead, zeroing in on the huge, purple target and rupturing it from every conceivable angle.
Hot air spewed from the puncture points in squealing geysers. As the balloon began plummeting to the ground thousands of feet below, Twilight rushed to the side of the basket. “RAINBOOOOOW—ACK!”
Tristar had plucked her nimbly from the dying aircraft. He threw Rainbow a murderous look as he hovered in place, his hooves hooked under the flailing unicorn’s armpits. Below them, the balloon fell away, a great purple blob writhing in its death throes as it careened toward the forested blue foothills, disappearing down and back and out of sight.
Rainbow fumed to see her friend held captive in the big, dumb jerk’s clutches. “Let her go!” she demanded.
“Surrender yourself and come quietly!” Tristar countered.
“I said, LET HER GO!”
“Rainbow, I r-really don’t think that’s a good idea!” said Twilight. She looked green in the gills, her eyes glued on the long, looooong drop below her.
A growl rose in Rainbow’s throat. Snarling, she threw herself at Tristar like a linebacker, and he had barely enough time to dodge back out of the way of her blitz. She whooshed past him so fast, she sent him spinning—and Twilight, who only a second ago had been dangling, now found herself seated astride Rainbow’s back as the two of them whizzed earthward.
Twilight felt her stomach drop out from under her like a plunging elevator. Panicked, she held on for dear life, barely even aware of the silvery mach cone that was rapidly narrowing around them.
“RAINBOW DASH! What in the WORLD is going on?!”
“Twilight,” Rainbow choked out. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Well, I wasn’t exactly planning on—AHH!” Twilight shrieked as Rainbow suddenly dodged right, and an armored pegasus shot past them.
“GIVE UP! YOU CAN’T ESCAPE!” Tristar screamed.
Rainbow’s face screwed up with annoyance. “Hey, Twilight.”
“What?”
“You know a spell to conjure a pair of ear plugs?”
Twilight looked startled. “No. Why?”
“Oh well. Don’t try to cover your ears. Probably better to hang on.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide. “What are you going to—?!”
Rainbow launched into another aerial nosedive and the whole world went vertical, the treetops rushing up to meet them like coniferous spears. Twilight’s lips pulled taut against her cheeks as she kicked and screamed and held on for everything she was worth. “RAAAAAINBOOOOOOOOOO—”
KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The explosion made playthings out of the guards, lifting them up and tossing them, scattering them far and wide across the sky. By the time Tristar and his men got their bearings, Rainbow and Twilight were already long gone, sailing back toward the mountain on a beam of light.
Rainbow’s psychotic laughter echoed through the valley.
Twilight, on the other hoof, was not as enthusiastic about their situation.
“RAINBOOOOOW! THIS IS INSAAAAANE!”
“I KNOW! ISN’T IT GREAT?”
“NOOOOOOOOOO!”
“A TRIPLE RAINBOOM!” Rainbow whooped. “I AM SO COOOOOL!”
They orbited the mountain twice before Rainbow ran out the mileage on her sonic rainboom and began to decelerate. She made a perfect three-point landing on a rather unremarkable cliff.
It wasn’t Canterlot, but Twilight was just glad to have the solid ground under her hooves again. The second they landed, she collapsed and hugged the gravelly soil, gasping for air.
“THANK CELESTIA! I thought we were going to DIE!”
“Oh, come on, Twi! I totally had your back the whole time!” Rainbow cracked her neck from side to side. “You really think I’d let you fall? That would make me, like, the most un-awesome pony ever!”
“UN-AWESOME ISN’T A WORD!” Twilight yelled. “And there isn’t anything AWESOME about ANY of this!”
She approached the edge of the cliff and looked down over the valley, wincing at the sight of a purple wreckage impaled on some pine trees in the distance. She moaned. “My balloon is ruined!”
Rainbow shrugged. “You can fix it, right?”
“No! I can’t fix it! It’s destroyed! There’s no way I’ll ever be able to—”
“Hey, I hate to interrupt, but we’ve got more important things on our plate.” Rainbow pointed at the vivid trail she’d left behind, which shot off the ledge and curled around the mountain—a byproduct of the sonic rainboom. “There ain’t no pot of gold at the end of this thing, you know. Those guards are gonna come for us, and they’ve got one heck of a trail of breadcrumbs to follow.”
Twilight blinked. “Right… The guards… I forgot.”
“There’s a secret door here somewhere,” said Rainbow as she walked along the mountainside, tracing the various stones and crevices with her hoof. “It’s made to look exactly like the rest of the mountain. I’m guessing it’s magic, because they had a unicorn with ’em to open it when they ‘escorted’ me into the castle this way a week ago…”
She stopped in front of a familiar boulder. A smirk crossed her face.
“Here it is!” she called over her shoulder. “Open ’er up, Twi!”
Rainbow allowed her smirk to widen to a self-satisfied grin. With Twilight on the job, they were practically home free! No way was some dumb rock gonna stand between them and escape. Any second now, she would do some bonkers unicorn magic stuff, the boulder would roll out of the way, and they would make their super awesome getaway through the underground.
…Aaaaany second now.
Rainbow tapped her hoof. “Yo, Twilight, what’s the deal?”
She turned around to admonish her friend, but a narrow-eyed glare from the unicorn stopped her dead in her tracks.
“Why were the guards chasing you in the first place?” Twilight couldn’t keep the suspicion out of her voice.
Rainbow bristled. “Because they’re a bunch of jerks, that’s why!”
“What did you do, Rainbow?”
“Nothing! I just went out for a mid-morning flight, that’s all!”
Twilight stared at her, unimpressed.
“And, um, I might have said some unflattering things about the captain of the guard’s mother,” Rainbow admitted, rubbing the back of her neck uncomfortably. “But that’s not the point! Look, this door isn’t gonna open by itself, so give it the open sesame, already!”
Twilight heaved an exasperated sigh. Lowering her horn to the stone, she set herself to the task of probing the complex weave of mana that wrapped around the hidden door, pulling ever so slightly on the mystical threads in a cautious bid to unwind them.
“How long’s this gonna take, Twi?”
“Shh!”
“But those guys are gonna be here any minute!”
“Quiet! I’m working!”
The spellwork fabric rippled in the arcane wind, a million silver-gold tendrils of light against a velvet backdrop. Twilight methodically worked her way across it, straightening the weave here and there, searching for a hole, a fray, an opening of any kind.
It was then that the guards appeared along a distant ridge, cascading over the lip of the mountain in a constant, gushing stream, their dazzling armor flashing in the sunlight.
Rainbow took a step back. “Twilight…”
“I can’t get it! There’s a locking enchantment! If we were on the other side of the door, I might be able to do something with it, but the magic is designed to be impervious from the outside!”
Still the guards came, dozens at a time, surging from beyond the peak and following the rainboom’s trail. Rainbow eyed the approaching horde anxiously, ticking down a silent countdown in her head.
Forty-five seconds out… Forty… Thirty-five…
“TWILIGHT!”
The urgency in Rainbow’s voice struck an ominous tone. Twilight redoubled her efforts, working as fast as she could, even though deep down, she knew it was probably hopeless—
Then she felt something go twang in her mind.
She stared ahead in horror. “Oh no.”
“What? What is it? What’s wrong?” asked Rainbow.
“I… I tripped a ward.”
Rainbow glanced rapidly back and forth between her somber friend and the guards, who were twenty seconds out now and closing fast. “You tripped a ward? What’s that even mean?”
“An alarm. I tripped an alarm,” Twilight groaned. “Meaning if there’s anypony guarding the other side of this door, they’ve been—”
They heard the sound of rock scraping against rock. The boulder slid out of the way to reveal four huge, hulking unicorns standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the cavern on the other side.
“—alerted,” Twilight finished with a wince.
One of the unicorns stepped forward. “Halt! Who trespasses?”
“Nopony! Nopony at all!” said Rainbow, backing away. “We were just, uh, out for a picnic, me and my gal pal here, here on this nice, scenic cliff, and uh…”
“And then I saw this incredible boulder of yours!” Twilight chimed in. “We were just packing up to leave when I noticed it. I decided to bring it back home for my rock collection.”
Rainbow’s face lit up. “Yeah! Her rock collection! Twilight here is all about her rock collection. She loves it. Can’t get enough of it. Actually, I’m a pretty big rock fan myself. You know, Aerosteed, Van Haylen—”
Twilight facehoofed.
“—So you see, fellas, this is really all just one big misunderstanding. Hey, no harm done though, right? We’ll just be on our way…”
“SEIZE THEM!” Tristar yelled, swooping down from above with a hundred guards at his back. “SEIZE THEM NOW!”
The Royal Guard arrived at last. Pegasi rained down like a hail of spears, and all Rainbow could do was gape up at them, her back against the edge of the cliff. At the same time, all four unicorns came charging out of the tunnel, kicking up clouds of dust with their massive hooves—
Twilight edged back, inches from the drop-off. Her mind went blank.
Before she even knew what she was doing, she grabbed onto Rainbow and closed her eyes. In a brilliant flash of light, the two of them disappeared right out from under Tristar’s grasp—
—and reappeared in the yawning maw of the cave.
Twilight stumbled about in a daze. “Did I… teleport?”
“CLOSE THE DOOR!” Rainbow yelled. “CLOSE IT! CLOSE IT!”
Sweat beaded on Twilight’s forehead as she shut her eyes again.
Her scarlet aura gripped the boulder and dragged it back to its proper place in front of the cavern entrance. In a panic, Tristar ran to the door, reaching out for them in vain.
“COME BACK HERE! YOU WON’T GET AWAY WITH THI—”
The rumble-thud of the boulder cut off his sentence quite abruptly, and then Rainbow and Twilight were all alone in the dark tunnel.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
“The Warrens.”
Twilight swiveled her head to gander at the place in bewilderment, though there wasn’t a lot to see in the narrow confines and gloomy torchlight. They had taken a few minutes to catch their breath. Now, they faced out again into the long, dark, twisting unknown.
“That’s what Luna called ’em, anyway,” Rainbow continued. “Buncha creepy-looking tunnels dug into the mountain. There are hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe. It’s like a ginormous ant hill. When they brought me in from Ponyville, this is the route we took. Luna led me straight to a secret door that connected to Celestia’s office.”
Twilight looked perplexed. “I practically grew up at the castle. I spent more time there as a filly than half the members of the Royal Guard. But I never read or heard anything about a subterranean network.”
“Subterrane-what? Oh boy, here comes that headache again…”
“Do you think you can take us back to that secret door?”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. “Uh, maybe?”
Twilight fixed her with a lidded stare. “Maybe? I thought you just said Luna led you straight there. If it’s a straight shot, what’s the problem?”
“Well, it wasn’t straight-straight…”
“Come on. Let’s get going,” Twilight said, clamping down on her burgeoning annoyance. “The locking enchantment I put on that boulder isn’t going to hold forever. You lead the way.”
With that, the two of them embarked down the shadowy passage, the little alicorn navigating the winding maze with all its twists and turns while Twilight fell into an easy step beside her.
The silence that followed went unbroken for some time. Twilight turned her attention back to their surroundings, examining the primitive glyphs engraved in the rock next to every side passage they walked by. She surveyed the tunnels themselves with scholastic interest, although there wasn’t much of them to see. The corridors faded into a narrow darkness, the meager torchlight swallowed up into the bowels of the mountain.
“This place really is ancient,” she mumbled after a few minutes. “There isn’t any artistry or artisanship here to speak of. Not like the rest of Canterlot. In fact, these excavations probably predate Canterlot by quite some time.”
“Yeah?”
“I recognize the inscriptions on some of these side chambers. They’re dates, but they don’t appear to use the modern format. Look, the years etched on this slab refer to the previous age, before Princess Celestia’s reign—see? That puts the construction of these tunnels before the War of Night Eternal. Probably around the time of the Migrations.”
“Why would anypony write a bunch of dates all over the walls?”
The unicorn paused. “I’m not sure, but I think they’re dates of death.”
“Oh, jeeze,” Rainbow said, suppressing a shudder. “Hey, Twi, do me a favor, will you? If you see any skeletons lying around, don’t tell me. I really don’t want to know about it!”
Twilight paled. “There are ponies entombed here? These aren’t just tunnels, then. They’re catacombs. That’s… really creepy.”
“Yeah, I know! I said the same thing to Luna!”
Twilight was by no means a superstitious pony, but she found herself inching closer to Rainbow Dash nevertheless. The darkness that wrapped around them seemed suddenly palpable; the silence, save for the click of their hooves against the rough-hewn floor, an ominous threat. As they crept through the labyrinth, she was all too aware how completely alone they were, wandering in this abyss with a million tons of rock suspended right above them.
Another silence passed between them, so long and fraught, it could’ve filled at least two or three eternities.
At length, Twilight asked, “So… How much farther is it?”
Rainbow grimaced. “Erm. About that…”
“What?”
“I… uh… sorta forgot which way to go. I got lost a few minutes ago.”
“You what?!”
“Hey! Don’t blame me! It’s dark, and all these tunnels look the same!”
Twilight bit down on the urge to slam her head against a wall. “You could’ve said something before! How are we going to find our way out? These passages could run for miles!”
“What is this, Everypony-Pick-On-Dash Day or something?”
“When you claim to know the way to a secret door and then you get us lost, I’d say you have it coming!”
“I didn’t claim to know anything! You’re the one who told me to lead the way, remember? Look, I’m doing the best I can here!”
“You’re doing the best you can?” Twilight repeated incredulously. “Rainbow, you’re the one who got us into this mess in the first place!”
“Hey, I saved you from the guards!”
“After they destroyed my hot air balloon!”
“How was I supposed to know they were gonna destroy your balloon, huh? I didn’t tell them to do that! And anyway, who was there to make the awesome, death-defying save when they grabbed you and tried to haul you in? I was, that’s who!” Rainbow skewered her with a pointed look. “I still haven’t heard a ‘thank you’ for that, by the way.”
“Thank you? FOR WHAT? I’d be on the ground in Canterlot right now if you hadn’t baited them into a chase! What good did you actually think was going to come from disobeying them?”
“Look, I’m real sorry your hot air balloon got destroyed, okay? I’m sorry you aren’t in Canterlot right now, and I’m sorry you’re stuck in this cave with me, and I’m sorry I’m not perfect like you. Happy?”
Twilight had about three or four retorts waiting in the wings, but Rainbow’s sudden abdication of the argument put her off-balance. “I—”
“Let’s just keep on going, okay? These caves have gotta end somewhere, and ‘somewhere’ is a whole lot better than here. We’ll stay on a straight path. Have a little faith in me, huh?”
They forged ahead through the solemn darkness, and several more minutes went by with barely a word uttered between them. Still, Twilight felt uneasy in these forsaken, sunless depths, and her ears stood on end to pick up any muffled grunt or growl, any rattle of distant footsteps, any noise at all that could signify a threat lurking in the vast unknown all around them.
As their spelunking dragged on, and she didn’t hear anything that gave her pause, and no monsters or predators jumped out to attack them, the edge came off her apprehensions. Twilight’s temper gradually cooled along with her anxiety, and her thoughts, naturally enough, turned inward.
She considered Rainbow Dash, walking beside and slightly out front of her, bravery in her every step, ready to face down whatever perils the mountain had in store for them. Intrepidly beating a path through the shadows, even if she had no idea how to get where she was going. It all ran so counter to Twilight’s own instincts, and to what Twilight would have done.
Twilight, whose way it was to stop, and think, and never press on without a plan, without a direction already in her mind. All her life, Twilight had never been without a direction: from the moment she set out to learn magic at an early age, every decision was carefully calculated to bring her one step closer to her goals.
But Rainbow wasn’t like that.
Twilight was cautious and deliberate. Rainbow was impulsive, headstrong, spontaneous. Twilight was regimented, ruled by priority sheets and timetables and checklists and plans, always with her eye on the prize and the path in front of her. Rainbow… Rainbow was freedom.
Of her five closest friends, Rainbow Dash was probably most her opposite—except, perhaps, for Pinkie Pie, whose eccentricities Twilight had long given up on trying to decipher. The others were less of a mystery to her: Applejack’s work ethic was all too familiar; Fluttershy’s introversion mirrored her own; Rarity was a fellow unicorn, and Twilight saw a lot of herself in the fashionista’s ambition and dedication to her craft.
Rainbow was an amazing pony and an amazing friend, but there were times, like now, when Twilight found her difficult to understand and relate to.
Twilight was bookish; Rainbow was athletic.
Twilight was reserved; Rainbow was outgoing.
Twilight was thought; Rainbow was action.
Rainbow wasn’t a unicorn. She was a child of a totally different universe, a pegasus all her life. Until last Sunday morning, when she’d grown her horn.
And then, there was that!
Twilight flinched to have to recall it. The memory of Rainbow Dash draped across that hospital bed, crying out in anguish, crying out for her mother. How uselessly she’d hovered over her, wanting to do anything to help. The bitter sting of defeat when her magic wasn’t up to the task.
Then Princess Celestia had come, and with her, the revelation. And despite herself, for she knew she shouldn’t—Twilight had felt a mild sort of restlessness ever since that day. Not hostility or turmoil, nor anything even bordering them, but a… kind of vague uneasiness.
It made her feel guilty even to admit it. She understood how badly this had affected Rainbow. As long as she lived, she would never forget the heartbreak of watching her fall apart in that cemetery, of seeing her beg her mom and dad for understanding, for forgiveness. Still, the whole situation resonated strangely in Twilight. Rainbow being an alicorn, Rainbow being related to Princess Celestia… It was something Twilight had never calculated for.
A strange knot had settled in her gut. A knot that drew tighter the more she thought about it. A knot she didn’t have a name for.
Twilight sighed and shook her head. She shouldn’t be thinking these useless thoughts. Rainbow was amazing, fearless, mischievous, playful, steadfast, loyal, cool. She needed Rainbow, and Rainbow needed her. After everything that had happened, Rainbow needed every one of her friends, and as much compassion and support as her friends could ever give her.
Her hot air balloon was just a thing. It could be replaced. And this journey through the depths of the mountain, just another adventure. A stupid, pointless, impulsive, irresponsible adventure that Rainbow had dragged her into, but still an adventure to share with a friend.
Her conscience gnawed at her until at last, she picked the conversation back up. “I’m… I’m sorry, Rainbow. You’re right. Arguing isn’t going to get us out of here any faster. I guess the stress was getting to me… I shouldn’t have been so vituperative with you.”
“Vi-tooper-what? Man, sometimes I think you make these words up.”
“Vituperative. You know. Mean. Angry. Belligerent.”
Rainbow’s lips pulled back into a half-smile.
“Egghead.”
“Having a good vocabulary does not make me an egghead!”
“Whatever you say,” Rainbow laughed, shaking her head. “I really am sorry about dragging you into the thing with the guards, though. I promise I’ll get us out of here. Not exactly sure how yet, but I will.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Junior Speed Scout’s honor.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well, now I’m reassured.”
“Y’know, you haven’t mentioned yet what you were doing out in that hot air balloon in the first place,” Rainbow pointed out. “It’s not like you to make a trip to Canterlot out of the blue.”
“I’m not exactly sure, myself. Yesterday morning, Spike received a letter from the Academy. It didn’t have any details, but it requested my presence in Canterlot as soon as possible.”
“When you say, ‘the Academy,’ you mean Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Yadda-Yaddas, right?”
Twilight nodded. “Unicorns, and yes. I graduated last year, not long before we defeated Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia bade me stay in Ponyvillle to study the magic of friendship.”
“Maybe it’s a class reunion! I remember when my flight school had their one-year. Gilda and I totally crashed that thing.”
“I don’t think so. The request was pretty formal. ‘Miss Twilight Sparkle, your honored presence is requested in the court of Her Majesty, Princess Celestia, at your earliest convenience, but no later than such-and-such a date. Please make all appropriate arrangements to ensure your safe and timely arrival.’ ”
“Weird. Maybe it’s a surprise class reunion?”
“Unless they put Pinkie Pie in charge of alumni get-togethers and didn’t tell me, I doubt it,” Twilight chuckled.
“Well, no matter what the reason is, it’s awesome you’re here! I was about to go brain-dead from boredom sitting around this place. Hey, what’s the haps back in Ponyville? What have I missed?”
Twilight did her best to bring her up to speed. Quills and Sofas just got in a really nice shipment of designer quills, though they were currently sold out on sofas. Octavia was headlining a concert over in Hoofington next week, and she was excited to be the marquee performance. No, Ponyville hadn’t been felled by any wildfires since Derpy had taken a position on the weather team, or blizzards, or earthquakes.
“You know, earthquakes aren’t technically even a weather event,” Twilight felt it necessary to point out.
“Shut up, Twi!”
It seemed Cheerilee was out of town visiting family, so Lyra Heartstrings was filling in as substitute teacher in her absence. Twilight had already had to have three chats with her about the curriculum.
“Not that anthropology junk again!”
Oh. And the Cutie Mark Crusaders had blown the roof off Sugarcube Corner. That happened too.
“They did what?”
“Apparently, Pinkie Pie was trying to perfect a new cupcake recipe. She was looking for something with some extra zip, so she added a pinch of nitroglycerin to the batch…”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yep. Sounds like Pinkie.”
“She persuaded Applebloom to come over and help her out with the baking, but then Scootaloo decided to show up. One thing led to another, and they got into a… rather explosive food fight.”
“And that sounds like Scoots! Leave it to Ponyville’s new awesomest pony to blow something up her first week on the job. Wonder if she’s trying to beat my record? I tell ya, Twi, that kid’s got style!”
“Thankfully, nopony was hurt. The Cakes aren’t too happy, though.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet!” Rainbow laughed. “So where was the third crusader while all this was going down?”
“Sweetie Belle? She’s off on vacation with her mom and dad. Believe it or not, they actually brought her with them for a change instead of springing foalsitting duty on Rarity.”
“I’m sure Rarity was thrilled about that!”
Twilight smirked. “Actually, I think she misses having her around. She keeps dragging herself around Ponyville, moping about how she’s ‘lost her dear, sweet sister, and her inspiration along with her!’ ”
Rainbow raised a dramatic hoof to her brow and did her best impression. “Oh, Sweetie Belle! Dear, sweet Sweetie Belle! How my heart pines for your company! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is—”
“—the worst! Possible! Thing!” Rainbow and Twilight finished together. They broke into a fit of giggles.
“I know it sounds like a lot, but really, it’s just been another run-of-the-mill week over in Ponyville,” Twilight said. “So in a sense, you haven’t actually missed all… that… much? Rainbow? What are you doing?”
Rainbow had stopped walking. She stood motionless, her head cocked, with a quizzical expression on her face.
“Uh, Equestria to Rainbow Dash? Why did you sto—?”
Rainbow clamped a hoof over Twilight’s mouth. “Shh!”
Only then, in the tomblike silence, did she hear it. From beyond the wall, the muffled sounds of voices holding a conversation.
Twilight’s eyes swept across the stone brick wall. “Mmmmpf!”
Rainbow unplugged her hoof from Twilight’s muzzle. “What?”
“Over there!” said Twilight. “There’s a chink in the wall!”
Sure enough, a pair of eyeholes had been filed out of the stone, and a feeble light seeped through from the chamber on the other side. Twilight and Rainbow shared a glance before creeping up on the secret lookout.
Rainbow didn’t waste any time. She immediately peered through.
“What are you doing?” whispered Twilight. “They might see you!”
“It’s Celestia!”
That was all it took for Twilight to throw caution to the wind and shove up against Rainbow, putting her eye to the remaining vantage.
On the other side of the wall was Canterlot Castle. Which room of the castle, she couldn’t say; the shadowy cobblestone expanse resembled a dungeon more than any of the opulent quarters she had inhabited throughout her tutelage. But she recognized it anyway from the banners that adorned the walls, and from the royal crests hanging prominently.
And indeed, there was Princess Celestia, sitting at the head of a grand table. Even through the tiny cleft in the rock, she struck an imposing figure, her mane billowing majestically in defiance of the still, earthen air.
“Hey! It’s that guy! Sage what’s-his-name!” Rainbow whispered.
Twilight’s eyes doubled in size at the sight of the silver-haired unicorn seated on Princess Celestia’s right. She sucked in her breath. “That’s Sage Whitehoof! My old headmaster!”
At least twenty other figures occupied chairs around the table, though many had their backs turned so Twilight couldn’t see them. The ones she could catch a glimpse of held themselves so rigidly, they seemed more like carved totems than ponies, with bodies inanimate and faces grim and shadow-lit. Of the ponies she could make out, Twilight didn’t recognize any of them, nor did she know them by their voices, though their quiet conversation filtered through the cracks and reached her in subdued tones:
“…will have the full cooperation of the Manehatten Police Department in this operation. As of this morning, we’ve briefed the police chiefs and deputy police chiefs in all five boroughs, and we have uniformed officers on standby for rapid response throughout the city.”
“Your department’s cooperation is appreciated, Commissioner,” said Sage. He gestured to the others at the table. “As do we appreciate the efforts of everypony here. When a manticore threatens, it’s all hooves on deck.”
Celestia nodded. “The Crown thanks you all for your assistance.”
“I only wish we knew where this manticore was going to strike,” spoke a new voice. “Princess Celestia, I think we’d all feel a great deal more confident if you could give us a hint about the whereabouts. I don’t doubt your information, but the specifics are a bit hazy.”
“Like spearing sea serpents in muddy waters,” another pony muttered.
“If we discover any further details, you’ll be the first to know them,” said Sage. “Our plan, at this time, is to monitor the situation closely from a central location and be ready to act at a moment’s notice. Mayor Fairmane will have our sincere thanks for the latitude.”
Rainbow gave Twilight an odd look. “What are they talking about?”
Twilight frowned and didn’t reply.
Celestia spoke again, “Since I returned bearing this dire news, my sister has been working tirelessly with our unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony captains of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor—”
“That’s my brother!” Twilight gasped.
“—Daedalus Tristar, and Vigil Solemn, to ensure the Guard’s integration in the planning and execution of this operation. She’s volunteered to speak to you all this morning on the Crown’s capabilities.”
Princess Celestia cast her eyes down the length of the table. At the far end, a shadow stirred, and the darkness sloughed off to reveal the somber face of the princess of the moon.
Twilight stifled a gasp. “It’s Luna!”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow, looking on grimly. “It sure is.”
She was seated so far away, it was difficult to hear her. Twilight and Rainbow leaned in close and put their ears to the gaps, listening intently as Luna cleared her throat and said—
“If either one of you so much as twitches, I will gut you like a fish.”
Of course, it hadn’t been Luna who’d uttered those words.
It was Tristar. The blood ran cold in Rainbow’s veins to hear that oily voice behind her, breathing spiders and meal worms down her neck again. Twilight’s muscles bunched as well.
He circled them like a cat around its quarry, forcing them to back away from the wall. The cavernous gloom of the tunnels did little to mask his pulsating rage.
“You!” Rainbow exclaimed. “How did you find us down here?”
There was fury simmering in Tristar’s amethyst eyes as he leered over her. Even through the white of his coat, his face was visibly reddened, like an overripe tomato ready to pop.
“Diligence, cleverness, and good judgment,” he answered. “Things, I’m sure, you know nothing about.”
Rainbow glanced up and down the length of the corridor. A pair of guards stood side-by-side down either avenue, blocking any chance of escape. She played for time. “You didn’t take a hint when we left you stranded on the other side of that big, bad boulder? Man, you’re something else. I bet you’d tail me all the way to the gates of Tartarus if it meant you got a chance to step on my freedom!”
“If it meant keeping you in line,” Tristar growled.
“You say that, but I’m pretty sure you’re just hard up, and you’ve got a thing for harassing innocent, good-natured ponies!”
“Good-natured?”
His scornful laughter rang in their ears.
“Believe me, I know what good-natured looks like,” he said, “and I know what a disappointment looks like. You are unquestionably one of them.”
Rainbow bristled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You would actually try to convince me of your good nature? After this foalish stunt of yours? Tell me, how many times is it you’ve gone out of your way to evade your guard protectors with a sonic rainboom? Three? Four?”
“Er… Well…”
“You would plead your good nature to me after this very morning, when you called my mother a—a dirty cockatrice sucker?”
Twilight looked aghast. “Rainbow Miriam Dash! You didn’t!”
Rainbow shot her a look. “Seriously, Twi? You’re gonna take his side?”
She jabbed her hoof at Tristar.
“You’re a bully,” Rainbow spat. “That’s all you are. Just a big, overgrown bully! I know what your kind is like—I’ve known a lot of bullies in my life, and you fit the mold to a tee!”
“And I know what your kind is like.”
Every word out of Tristar’s mouth dripped with loathing and contempt. He advanced on her, closing the distance and forcing her back until she pressed up against the cold, unyielding stone. His chin tilted down to meet her defiant glare with one of his own, eye to eye.
“My kind?” Rainbow breathed back.
“Your kind doesn’t know respect. Respect for the natural order of things, and for knowing your place. I knew you’d make a mockery of yourself from the day I saw you. You have such a lifelong skill at it, after all. All you’ve done is proven me right.”
Twilight rushed to Rainbow’s side, glaring her disapproval up at the captain. “Excuse me! You are not allowed to talk to her like that. Rainbow Dash is my friend. And she’s your princess too, need I remind you!”
“Princess?” Tristar snorted. “Being a princess takes dignity and grace. All I see in front of me is a pretender. An immature little nestling who never figured out how to grow up.”
Rainbow’s wings twitched. “You two-faced son of a mule! You had it out for me from day one!”
“Oh, trust me, you’ve been an embarrassment since long before then!”
She tried to shove him back, but he expertly intercepted her hoof, and now she was grappling against him, writhing, twisting, trying to break free, to wriggle out from under his steel grip. He signaled the guards, who began to close in on either side, and all Twilight could do was look on helplessly.
“Today, of all days…” he growled. “You had to pick today, the eve of disaster, for your miserable game of tag!”
Suddenly, Tristar’s head jerked, as if punched. Rainbow had spat in his face.
He lost it.
“You GUTTER TRASH HOODLUM!”
Rainbow flailed against him. “GUTTER TRASH?”
“You’re a charlatan with wings and a horn! A CHARLATAN! That’s all you’ve EVER been! You strut into Canterlot like you own the place, disrupt the way of things, and make a farce out of traditions that predate you by a thousand years! I see right through you, you little urchin! There’s nothing even remotely pegasus ABOUT you! What the hell do you know about honor, sacrifice, or loyalty to a higher cause?”
“I know more about loyalty than you EVER will!” said Rainbow.
Tristar gave a curt laugh. “Why? Because one day, a necklace appeared on you which was inscribed with the word?
“Your loyalty is a JOKE! Loyalty to oneself, to one’s own ambitions… SELFISH! CONTEMPTIBLE! You aren’t SPECIAL! You’re just a pathetic little dropout who wasn’t good enough for Cloudsdale, who tucked tail and ran when she couldn’t pull off the boom!
“And YOU have the NERVE to spit on ME? You stupid, smug, inconsequential little hotshot! The bastard child of an EARTH PONY, no less! It’s no surprise how you turned out, given the pair of lowlifes Celestia picked to rear you—”
Something went SNAP! inside Rainbow’s head. She kicked off the rock wall, her whole body twisted, Tristar’s grip on her slipped, and then she was flying at him, teeth bared, arms windmilling. One of her hooves caught him in the chin, he staggered back, and she would have landed a second blow if the guards hadn’t swept in from behind just then and seized her. Her back arched as she tried to lunge at him again, even as they held her fast, murder glittering in those bright, pink eyes, ready to tear Tristar limb from limb—
“LET ME GO!” she snarled, struggling in vain.
Tristar touched his face. He glowered at the sight of the crimson blood that came off on his hoof. “Savage!”
A red haze bled in from the corners of Rainbow’s vision as she pulled against her captors, trying to break free—
The other pair of guards appeared beside her bearing Twilight between them, carrying the unicorn with her hooves off the ground. She looked none too happy about the situation.
“Well, Rainbow, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into,” she said.
Rainbow stared back at her in shock. “ME? What did I do THIS time?”
“The same thing you did LAST time! You’re so irresponsible!”
“I am NOT irresponsible!”
“YOU ARE! You treat this like it’s all some kind of stupid game to you! Like provoking the Royal Guard and leading them on a chase through Canterlot isn’t a foalish, immature thing to do! We haven’t been in a predicament like this since that one time when the princess asked us to kick out that dragon!”
“Man, you are FULL OF IT! Some friend you are!”
“I said, we haven’t been in a predicament like this since the princess asked us to KICK OUT that dragon!” She gave Rainbow a pointed look.
Rainbow opened her mouth to deliver a stinging rebuke, but then Twilight’s meaning sunk in. She stared back at her in confusion.
Tristar signaled his underlings with a toss of his head. “Let’s go.”
One of them gave her a push, and then the guards began to haul them back down the tunnel. Tristar took point, with Twilight still beside her.
“Or that one time when we fought Nightmare Moon in the Everfree Forest, at that old castle in the woods,” Twilight continued. “Remember when we lit the spark and got the Elements to work? The light was so bright, you had to CLOSE YOUR EYES.”
Rainbow steeled herself and gave Twilight a nigh-imperceptible nod.
“You’re such a JERK, Twilight! I can’t believe I was ever DUMB ENOUGH to think you were ACTUALLY my friend!”
“I can’t believe it either! I hated your guts from the DAY I MET YOU!”
“Yeah, well, SAME HERE!”
“YOU WONDERBOLTS WANNABE!”
“YOU VI-TOOPER-TIVE EGGHEAD!”
“RAINBOW!”
“WHAT?”
“NOW!”
Rainbow closed her eyes milliseconds before the light exploded from the tip of Twilight’s horn, filling the tunnel with a blinding radiance. The guards cried out, their grip went slack, and she kicked out with her hind legs the moment the opportunity presented itself, catching the left one in the chest and the right one in the shoulder, causing them to teeter and fall over backward.
Seconds later, the white glow subsided, and she cracked one eye open to find the tunnel back to its customary darkness. Twilight had already incapacitated her own pair of guards. That just left Tristar.
“YOU LITTLE DEMONS! HOW DARE YOU! WHEN I GET YOU, I—”
“TWILIGHT! TELEPORT US OUT OF HERE!”
Twilight ran over, placed her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, and concentrated with all her might. But then—
“NOT THIS TIME! I WON’T LET YOU GET AWAY!”
Tristar lunged at them, tackled them, broke Twilight’s concentration and her grip, and all three of them went hurtling into the eyehole wall. The old masonry groaned in protest, then gave way.
His hooves suddenly without purchase, Tristar grabbed onto the first thing he could find, which just so happened to be Rainbow Dash. Rainbow snarled and twisted in midair, sinking her teeth into the base of his neck. Tristar howled in pain. Then, in a flurry of dust and rock, they all went through the wall.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
“What the—?!”
“Dear me!”
“By Starswirl’s Beard!”
“Good heavens!”
Shouts went up from the meeting-goers at the table as the wall at the back of the room exploded outward, and a trio of ponies came crashing through. They landed together in a pile of stone, spent mortar, and tangled limbs.
Twilight hit the ground, and the air went out of her lungs. Lying on her back in a gasping daze, she could only stare up at the ceiling through rapidly blinking eyes and wait for the world to stop spinning.
Then Princess Celestia appeared above her, gazing down in shocked, open-mouthed consternation. Twilight’s mortification went up several notches, and her heart joined her stomach in its nauseating, flip-flopping theatrics.
“What in the WORLD is going on here?” the princess demanded.
Rainbow and Tristar ceased rolling around on the ground attempting to kill each other, both at the same time glancing up at Celestia. Rainbow spat out the mouthful of Tristar’s flesh she’d been clamping down on. She wiped her lips clean of the blood.
Tristar staggered to his hooves, falling into a bow. “P-Princess Celestia,” he said. “I—I’m sorry. You caught me by surprise.”
Celestia frowned. “It would seem to be the other way around.”
“Twily?!”
Twilight looked up in a daze. The room was full of serious-looking ponies, most of them dressed in uniform or otherwise formally attired, and every last one of them gawping at the odd spectacle. But none of them looked more horrified than Shining Armor. The brawny, sapphire-maned unicorn had jumped out of his chair, three places down from her old headmaster, who was also regarding her curiously from behind his wire-rimmed glasses.
She groaned and lowered her head back into the pile of dust and rubble. Was it possible for her to feel any more embarrassed?
The droning murmur of several conversations had grown in the background. Sage Whitehoof clicked a gavel for attention.
“Fillies and gentlecolts! In light of the interruption, I propose we recess for half an hour. Please adjourn to the antechamber through the doors at the back of the room. Feel free to take your operational briefs with you for further review, but remember, documents marked confidential are NOT to be brought outside castle walls! We’ll reconvene at one o’clock!”
A grumble went up from the gathered ponies, and then the room filled with the shuffling of papers, the scrape of chairs sliding in, and the click of hooves on the cobblestones. Shining Armor rushed over straight away to help his sister off the floor, pulling her up onto her hooves and secure against his chest.
“Twily, are you okay? What are you doing here?”
Twilight craned her neck to give him a wavering smile. “Oh, you know, just thought I would… drop in… while I was in the neighborhood! After receiving an academic summons! Eh-heh-heh…”
“Well, you sure haven’t forgotten how to make an entrance!”
Shining Armor squeezed her in a big bear hug. Twilight’s face was still warm and redder than Applejack’s finest produce, but wrapped in those familiar hooves, she felt her anxiety start to quell. “Thanks, B.B.B.F.F.”
“No problem, little sis.”
Meanwhile, Celestia’s expression could only be described as guarded as she offered Rainbow Dash a helping hoof up.
Rainbow’s distrustful eyes flickered between the white foreleg and the lousy, double-crossing princess it was attached to. She would’ve ignored Celestia and gotten back up herself, and indeed, she tried to—but after having her bell rung going through three inches of stonework, she couldn’t seem to find her footing on the loose debris, and her wings were too caked with dust to provide much in the way of lift.
Hesitantly, reluctantly, she held out a sky-blue hoof. Celestia clasped it and helped her off the ground. No sooner had she stood up again than an enormous white wing raised around her, shielding her from the view of passers-by as the meeting’s attendants shambled out.
She knew they were all staring. A few words reached her, in whispered tones:
“Was that… an alicorn?”
“Another one?”
“It’s covered in dirt!”
Her ears flattened.
As soon as the last pony had gone, and the huge, reinforced wooden doors creaked and slammed shut, the white wing disappeared from around Rainbow. Celestia traipsed across the room to join Luna in front of the newly made hole in the wall. The four other guards whom Rainbow and Twilight had managed to escape peered out from the crumbling passageway, each one bowing low as the princess approached.
Celestia stuck her head in and peered down the shadowy corridor. “Another remnant of the old underground?”
“Looks like it,” said Luna. “Probably an offshoot service access they dug out when they were building this wing of the castle.”
“Did you have any idea this was here?”
Luna shook her head. “There are so many tunnels. I know the major routes through the mountain, but this one is unfamiliar to me. It’s possible it was just lost to time. We use this room so infrequently…”
Celestia frowned. “See that it’s filled. It’s a security risk.”
Now she wheeled around and bore down on Tristar again, her face flushed with righteous anger.
“Explain yourself,” she demanded.
Tristar winced. Behind the princess, Sage Whitehoof was still seated at the table, extracting an obvious schadenfreude from the guard captain’s discomfort as he looked on with a mocking little smile.
“On behalf of myself and my subordinates, I offer you my humblest apologies, Your Majesty. We didn’t intend to cause distress, and we certainly didn’t intend to crash the meeting. In fact—” He spoke his next words through gritted teeth. “—it was my intention to be on time for this appointment. And I would’ve been, if we hadn’t been waylaid.”
“Waylaid? How?”
“Princess Luna charged me with young Rainbow Dash’s protection. That was to be my topmost priority, to the exclusion of all else. I only had her safety in mind. I didn’t wish to see her come to harm.”
“You’re a JACKASS and a LIAR!” Rainbow shouted.
“Please. One at a time,” said Celestia, holding up a hoof. She looked back at Tristar. “Go on with your story.”
“Princess Luna gave an order that Rainbow Dash—”
“Princess Rainbow Dash,” Celestia firmly reminded.
Tristar stiffened, ever so slightly. “Princess Luna gave an order that Princess Rainbow Dash was to remain on the castle grounds, for her own safeguard and security. This morning, she deliberately flouted that order when she led us on an aerial chase through Lower Canterlot, culminating in three sonic rainbooms performed in clear view of the populace. Followed by an extensive combing of the Warrens when she and Miss Sparkle purposely evaded us at the rear-facing cliffside entrance…”
Twilight cringed to hear Tristar’s unflattering description of the events; the morning’s antics laid bare. “Oh, Rainbow…” she mumbled.
Celestia looked stricken.
She began to pace the floor, her mask of composure slipping as worry sank its hooks into her. After a long, uncomfortable silence, she stopped and glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Is this true?”
“You’re DAMN RIGHT it is!” Rainbow said. “You’ve had me locked up in this stupid castle for almost a week! I can’t see my friends, I can’t get a decent meal, I’m not even allowed to FLY! You might as well chop my wings off if this is how it’s gonna be!”
A sliver of regret ripped through to join the apprehension on Celestia’s face, but she but she buried it quickly enough. After a brief pause, she looked to her sister. “Luna, do you have anything to add?”
Luna inclined her head. “I did ask her not to leave the castle. At the time, it seemed like the most sensible thing.”
Celestia nodded grimly. Now her gaze dipped to Twilight.
“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. Please, forgive me for being inattentive. Are you well? You aren’t hurt, are you?”
“I’m all right, Princess,” Twilight answered, prying herself out from under her brother’s protective hooves. As many humiliations as she’d already borne today, she wasn’t in any mood to let herself be coddled in front of her oldest mentor and teacher.
“I’m gladdened to hear it. Please, forgive me for your rude reception. I hadn’t intended your welcoming back to Canterlot to be so inglorious. But now, I must ask you as well: do you have anything to add?”
Twilight hesitated.
Her eyes snapped to Tristar, recalling all the deplorable things the captain had said minutes ago in the gloom of the tunnels. The absence of dignity, respect, and professionalism in his bearing toward Rainbow Dash, who was his charge. It was misconduct, it didn’t deserve to go unpunished.
“YOU GUTTER TRASH HOODLUM!”—His words echoed in her memory. Twilight’s expression hardened. She opened her mouth to speak—
“Shut up, Twi,” Rainbow cut her off.
Twilight stumbled, momentarily at a loss for words. “But…”
“I can fight my own battles,” Rainbow said.
She spared Tristar one more black, hateful scowl. Then she glowered up at Celestia, daring the princess to challenge her.
The truth about what had happened caught in Twilight’s throat. She was torn. She wondered if she ought to go along with Rainbow in this, or if she should let Tristar’s abuses be known.
She had been the one who’d dragged the Royal Guard into Rainbow’s life in the first place, hadn’t she? The message she’d sent to Canterlot a week ago, when the armored stallions were going door to door looking for the missing princess. Then, the day after. Her promise to Luna in Fluttershy’s back yard. Ambushing Rainbow Dash out among the graves. Convincing her to come here, to subject herself to all of this.
Guilt was tugging at the strings of her convictions. Applejack was leaning in the shadows at the back of the room, chewing her wheat and shaking her head, telling her to leave well enough alone.
“…No, Princess Celestia,” Twilight said slowly. “Nothing else to add.”
Celestia glanced back and forth between them. She sighed.
“Princess, if I may chime in?” Sage spoke up from the table.
“Yes?”
“Captain Tristar raises a valid point, and Princess Luna’s judgment was sound. Under the circumstances, it’s risky for Princess Rainbow Dash—or Miss Sparkle, for that matter—to go adventuring without escort.”
Twilight looked at her old headmaster. He met her violet eyes with his silver ones, and he smiled at her with the same warm, reassuring smile she had always known him for. In that moment, it was like she was a little filly again, back in one of his classes. She tried to hide her blush.
He saw through her, of course. He always saw through her.
But he refrained from comment. Eyes twinkling, he looked at Celestia and continued, “That being said, Your Majesty, there are other solutions worthy of your consideration.”
Celestia stared at him “What are you suggesting?”
“Hope is never lost, Princess. Even though chaos may break down our walls and leave us in disarray… From the ashes that remain, hope itself may yet take wing and blaze again with glory renewed.”
He gave the princess a knowing look.
Realization dawned on Celestia. For the briefest instant, her face lit up. Then her budding grin disappeared, whisked away to wherever it is princess smiles go when they deign to look intimidating.
“Captain Tristar,” she said, slipping back into regal authority mode.
Tristar dipped his head. “Your Majesty.”
“I find your actions this morning to be without merit. Rainbow Dash’s will is her own, and as a princess of this realm, she is subservient to nopony—not to me, not to my sister, and certainly not to you and the Royal Guard.”
The fury and indignation rolled off Tristar in waves. “I… see.”
“Therefore, I decree that Princess Rainbow Dash is free to do as she wishes, and to come and go from Canterlot Castle as it pleases her.”
“BOOM! In your FACE!” Rainbow pumped her hoof in the air.
Luna looked troubled. “Tia… The nobility… The press…”
“Three sonic rainbooms and a high-profile chase through Canterlot. What’s done is done, Luna.” Celestia’s voice was adamant, but the midnight in her eyes betrayed her own unspoken reservations.
“Tia—”
“What’s done is done.”
Now she flashed her ire back at Tristar:
“Captain, there will be no reprimand against you or your deputies, but I find your judgment in this matter to be questionable at best. Engaging in any sort of pursuit through the city is likely to have contributed to an even greater spectacle. Moreover, I take no amount of solace in seeing my personal student and one of her good friends explode out of a wall.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. My apologies once again,” said Tristar.
“You are hereby relieved of all protection duties. Dedicate yourself to making preparations against the Ascendancy, Captain Tristar. Henceforth, they are to be your first concern, to the exclusion of all else.”
“With gratitude, Your Majesty.”
“You can begin by elaborating on the Royal Guard’s operational capabilities for our guests when the meeting reconvenes in…” Celestia glanced over at Sage. “How long, Professor Whitehoof?”
“Twenty minutes,” the old unicorn said.
“Twenty minutes,” Celestia affirmed. “Until then, dismissed.”
Tristar beckoned his underlings out of the split-open tunnel, and the room filled again with the scrape and scuffle of hooves. Twilight took advantage of the momentary commotion to question her brother: “Shining Armor, what’s going on? What’s this meeting all about?”
Shining Armor gave her a rueful smile. “Sorry, Twily. Can’t talk about that. Classified operations. Very hush-hush.”
“I’m Princess Celestia’s protégé, the Bearer of Magic, and your sister. I think I have a right to be kept in the loop!”
“Believe me, I wish I could. Hey, don’t sweat it, though! This threat’s, like, way below your pay grade. You and your friends, just keep an eye out for any more thousand-year-old evil godheads that are about to get sprung on us. Leave the riffraff to us.”
“So there is a threat,” Twilight said flatly.
“You didn’t hear it from me. Seriously, don’t worry about it! Your big bro’s got this one under control. Since when have I ever screwed anything up, eh?”
Twilight looked at him skeptically. “Do I need to make a list?”
“Oh, jeeze! Not again with the lists! Forget I said anything!”
“Let’s see… There’s the time you flew my kite into a roc’s next… And the time you decided an Ogres and Oubliettes convention would be a great place to take a first date…”
“True love is rolling a critical save after a natural one, Twily. And anyway, it all worked out in the end!”
“Cadence never got a false impression of what a complete and total dork you are, that’s for sure.”
He punched her playfully in the shoulder, and she giggled and swatted him right back.
“Doofus.”
“Nerd.”
“It’s good seeing you again, big bro.”
“You too, little sis.”
Rainbow Dash stood alone and apart, observing from a measured distance the reunion between Twilight and her brother. Her victory over Tristar achieved, her freedom from house arrest assured, her natural instinct might have been to crack open the cider and find somepony to celebrate with. But something told her to hang back; to let Twilight have this moment.
So she waited and watched with a small, wistful smile on her face. Up until a few days ago, Rainbow hadn’t known the first thing about the unicorn’s family, but seeing how easily she and her brother talked, it was only more obvious how blessed Twilight was, and how lucky—to have a sibling who loved her and rushed to protect her, and a mother and father, and so many other ponies in her life who cared. It was an aspect of Twilight that just wasn’t conspicuous back in Ponyville, where the day-to-day drudgery and occasional adventures rarely gave revelation into the complex tapestry of who she was other than ‘crazy good at magic’ and ‘neurotic librarian.’
It was a good thing, Rainbow decided, that Twilight had so many ponies in her corner; that she had that network of support, and bonds of love to go along with the friendship. That she wasn’t all alone.
As she quietly mulled over these things, Celestia finished exchanging some final words with Luna and Sage. Now the princess drew across the room to stand just out of the corner of Rainbow’s eye. Not quite close enough to be next to her, exactly, but near enough to be heard.
“Now,” she spoke softly. “Please, tell me, Rainbow Dash. Are you all right?”
Rainbow shot her a sidelong glance. “You didn’t seem too curious a minute ago when you asked Twilight and not me.”
Celestia was silent for a moment. “It didn’t seem like a cool idea, at the time, to question your awesomeness in a public forum.”
Despite herself and despite her grudge, Rainbow snorted.
Several more seconds went by. At length, she tipped her head toward Tristar, who had taken a seat at the long conference table and was rifling through some papers. Doing his best impression of a normal, well-adjusted pony, whose blood definitely wasn’t boiling in his veins right now.
“What’s gonna happen to him?” she asked.
“Nothing will happen to him. Nothing can happen to him. Not without due cause,” said Celestia.
Rainbow felt the unfathomable magenta gaze of the goddess upon her.
“Rainbow, if there’s anything you’re holding back… That you don’t feel like you can tell me…”
“What? You gonna get the hoof screws and drag it out of me?”
Celestia hesitated again. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to face your struggles alone.”
“That’s real funny, coming from you.” Rainbow’s eyes hurled another blazing javelin of anger her way. “When were you ever there to face them with me? Give me a break. Don’t go pretending like you actually care about me.”
“I do care. I know you don’t believe me, but I do. All I want is to see you happy, and safe, and fulfilled. If I really cared so little about you, would I have given you back your freedom to fly?”
Rainbow made a face. “Thanks for that,” she grudgingly acknowledged.
“I wish the circumstances were better. When I invited you to Canterlot that day in the hospital, I didn’t have in mind for you to be a prisoner here. Goodness knows, this place is enough of a cage already; chopping off your wings is the last thing I wish to do. But you have to realize, these are dangerous times. Not since the return of Nightmare Moon has there been such a…”
Celestia stopped herself short.
“Please, for your own sake, don’t abuse this liberty. Exercise caution and sound judgment. No more flights of fancy through the city. And please, for my sake, if you wish to go flying, wait until this evening before you do. I’ll come find you as soon as I’m finished here.”
Rainbow gazed up at her inscrutably. “This evening?”
“This evening,” Celestia said with a nod.
“All right.” Rainbow rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck from side to side, stretching out her feathers. “I’ve had my wings clipped for close to a week now. Guess it’s no big deal being grounded for a few more hours. Guess I can catch up with Twilight some more, or something…”
“And Rainbow… If there’s ever anything you want to talk to me about…”
Rainbow scowled. She threw a glare across the room at Tristar, then looked determinedly away.
“I don’t need you,” she said. “Not for anything.”
As the clock ran down on the thirty-minute recess, a growing chatter from beyond the doors in back made it clear ponies were congregating, ready to come back in. Shining Armor clicked his tongue.
“Almost time to start this shindig up again. I probably ought to go.” He peered at Tristar from across the room. “Gotta go pull that lunkhead’s hooves out of the fire one more time, anyway.”
“Dinner tonight?” Twilight asked.
“Can’t. Sorry.” Shining Armor looked apologetic. “I’ll be on a train headed out east. Gimme a rain check. By this time Sunday, I should be back in town. Then we can hang, and I can spill the beans on everything.”
Twilight sighed. “All right. I forgive you for being lame in the line of duty.”
“Thanks, Twily. Love ya.”
“Love you too! Stay safe!”
He gave her a wink, and then she watched with a feeble smile as he strolled across the room, away, and away, and away. As she stood and watched him go, she reached out her hoof, struck, for one strange, fleeting moment, by the notion to stop him; to say something more to him.
But he was already gone, cantering over to the conference table, where Tristar sat with a perpetual scowl glued to his face. She heard her brother’s voice carry back, light with razzing mirth: “Jeeze, Daedalus! You really stuck your hoof in it this time, didn’t you…?”
Rainbow Dash approached beside her, followed by Princess Celestia.
“It pains me to do it, but I’m afraid I have to ask you both to leave,” Celestia said. “This meeting was not meant for your ears. If you wait outside, Domo will be along shortly to lead you back to the upper halls of the castle.”
“Thank you, Princess. We’ll leave you to your meeting,” replied Twilight. “I’m sorry if we caused a disturbance.”
Celestia smiled. “A little shake-up can be a welcome thing sometimes. Even so, this is an affair of state, and I would ask you to refrain from further attempts to eavesdrop.”
“We will, Your Majesty,” said Twilight. “Isn’t that right, Rainbow?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.”
“It’s good to see you again, my student. I’m sure you have many questions for me. We’ll talk later. For now… Welcome home.”
With that, Rainbow and Twilight departed up a flight of stairs, through still another ancient wooden door. They heard the meeting-goers trickling back in behind them, and Sage’s voice, rising above the din.
“Come, one and all! Take your seats! Take your seats! Once again, we beg for your discretion, for look at what just now has come to pass. Even if you confide only in your closest and most trusted associates, who among you can say what ears might not be listening from the shadows…?”
The door swung shut with a slam.
Once again, Twilight and Rainbow found themselves all alone in a gloomy underground corridor. The only light emanated from a funereal procession of candles ensconced on the walls—walls which themselves seemed to press in on them, suffocating every last gasp of oxygen and happiness. The only things that marked this place as being a part of the castle and not the tunnels they had just come from were the royal tapestries, although even these were a sad sight, caked with dust and insect-chewed.
Rainbow gave Twilight an odd look. “What the heck was all that about?”
Affixed to the door was a little brass plaque, smudged and tarnished with age. Twilight’s face hardened as she squinted up at it, and in the flickering torchlight, read the inscription:
WAR ROOM
SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM
“I don’t know,” she said. “But I intend to find out.”
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Well, technically, Celestia and Luna can, as the elder relatives, order her around.
*sees an updated update*
*sh**s thyself*
Tripped or tipped?
With Rainbow's speed, she could quickly outpace the guard after a sonic rainboom.
"a"
"Twilight's", the last person who was focused on was Rainbow Dash so the sentence starts out with the reader thinking it is Rainbow's conscience and not Twilight's.
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They could, but that usually requires respect. And Rainbow does not respect Celestia anymore. With how this have been setup, I do not expect Rainbow to be lovey-dovey with Celestia anytime soon. I think Rainbow is rightfully angry, Celestia basically had chosen never to tell her; that is until Rainbow grew a horn. I feel that is pretty low of Celestia, that attention is warranted by being something. As it stands, I see Rainbow and Celestia possibly being able to talk, maybe build some sort of friendship through this, but Celestia will never be Rainbow's mother. She gave up that right long ago.
wow i never expected to see a update to this story
i was sure its was canceled
but now with a new update im more thas happy to founds again and read this again
im really happy to see this story updae because its actually the thing thas send me in the brony community back in 2012 when i read this (not sure if it the same story or a remake) on devianart
p.s i know my english is bad
I really wish Celestia heard what Tristar said about Rainbow being an earth pony's bastard child, among other things. I can't imagine him being in charge of anything every again.
Ok, seriously Celestia, how the heck is she supposed to know that these are "dangerous times" if you don't tell her anything!?
And Tristar's noble born right? Case that's the only way I imagine an overzealous bully like him got to be a captain under Celestia's rule. Can you imagine if Dash had strayed close to, say, an airship instead of just Twilight's baloon?
ROYAL GUARD DESTROYS AIRSHIP, ALL HANDS LOST!
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Leaving aside his prejudices, Tristar is stupid, incompetent, immature, comfrontational (insulting and degrading his ruler's friggin only daughter?!
) ... to insane levels. A flat character with no real purpose but to antagonize Dash.
That quote at the end That's something like if you wish for peace prepare for war That's a quote from the movie The Punisher
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It's much older than that and that particular phrasing is so uncommon that the only mention of it on the Wikipedia page is a tiny footnote in the references list. The preferred phrasing is Si vis pacem, para bellum.
Despite him being an ass, i like Tristar. He was just doing his job and Rainbow was going out of her way to antagonize him.
Well, this is where I get off. I really wanted to like this because you are doing some very interesting things with Rainbow which more than make up for the OOCness of Celestia required to set it up and the painfully generic and completely unnecessary evil cult you threw in, but the way you handled Tristar has totally killed my interest in the story. I was willing to accept him being an ass and assaulting Rainbow earlier due to his position and the fact that Celestia had explicitly mentioned having the guards take Rainbow by force, but the fact that he threatened to kill Rainbow and Twilight, assaulted both of them, and tried to kill Twilight in this chapter without any repercussions is just impossible to accept. Even if he could use his noble rank and the excuse of believing he was following orders to get out of the threats and assaults, there is no way he can realistically get away with the attempted murder. He should have been discharged from the guard and thrown in jail for that, yet he is allowed to get away with it because you forced the characters to ignore it in multiple conversations with Celestia despite the fact that Rainbow was talking to another character about it between the two conversations and Celestia explicitly asking them to tell her what happened. That is just inexcusable railroading and completely kills my immersion in this story so I have to give it a thumbs down for that.
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Seems to be a common complaint.
On some level, it's intriguing to me how so many folks take issue with the "balloon incident." It's actually part of what I consider to be a comedy scene—namely, the completely over-the-top and and slapstick chase through Canterlot. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I thought everyone would have a lot of fun reading it too. Here's how I envisioned the reader reactions going:
Ooh! A double rainboom! Cool!
Blueblood's mansion just got trashed! Ha ha, what a prick, he deserved it!
Oh, cool, there's that academy Twilight always yaks on about!
The hot air balloon that shows up in the intro of every single show gets destroyed! Irony!
Witty banter on the cliffside! Pulse-pounding action! Hair-raising close call! Awesome!
But a lot of people seem to get hung up on the balloon getting taken out.
Really, the scene was written very much in the mindframe of the cartoon. Characters fall from lofty heights all the time in the show, and it never amounts to anything—someone always catches them, it's played for laughs and forgotten five seconds later. In my head, I always figured if Rainbow hadn't caught Twilight, then Tristar one of the other guards would have. But the interpretation a lot of people had is that Tristar tried to have Twilight killed. Oy.
Furthermore, with regard to Tristar: he's intended to piss people off and be an unlikable character. He's the Severus Snape, who exists to be a grumpy curmudgeon and add another dimension of misery to the main character's experience. And I don't think it's the case that I've railroaded the characters into glossing over what happened; rather, I think it's the case that Rainbow isn't a tattletale, she fights her own battles, and she isn't about to go running to anypony for help—least of all, to Celestia, of all ponies.
Regarding the painfully generic and completely unnecessary evil cult I threw in—I disagree here as well. Well, at the very least, I'll agree on the "painfully generic" part—although I have to point out, the fic is so old that at the time these early chapters were written, Past Sins hadn't even been published yet, and evil cults weren't really a trope yet in MLP. Nowadays, it probably does read as painfully generic. But is it unnecessary? No, there I'll definitely disagree. The simple fact is that you haven't read far enough, and I haven't written far enough, for its significance to be clear. But rest assured, as someone who has the whole plot and backstory dancing in his head, the Ascendancy of the Night is very important.
But all that aside, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your comment. It's never encouraging to see a thumbs down, because it means the fic will find fewer readers in the future... but criticism is always appreciated, and I'd rather hear from someone why they didn't like the story than have no feedback at all. I'd like to think I could turn that thumbs down into a thumbs up if only you stuck with this fic long enough to see where I'm going. But if you decide otherwise, just know that I think your opinion is meaningful and I commend you for expressing it.
you horrible person for making this reference:
6316125 Tristar ordered an assault on an Element of Harmony. That is nothing less than high treason for compromising Equestria's best line of defense. I would consider him lucky if all he got was court-martialed, especially since he doesn't know who the Elements are (a critical failure in his knowledge of Equestrian defenses) and doesn't show any regret for his actions.
No fighting in the war room!
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I do not see how the scene could possibly be read that way.
I am glad the situation bothered me enough that I found it necessary to read the comments before moving on to the next chapter, for otherwise, the expectation of more fallout of some kind from the event would certainly have distracted me from what will actually be in the story.
This really feels like they would ´force her to love Celestia and don't allow her to fly which she can do, because she knows how to fly.
I had to laugh a bit picturing what a 'secret' eyehole would look like for pony eyes. Somehow I think I would notice two holes in the wall larger than grapefruits.
Sheesh, and I thought Blueblood was bad in the snobbery department...
7737692 probably not that large though maybe pupil-size, also I assume that the cartoony, caricatured portrayal of ponies is rather inaccurate.
Is this an anthro universe?
Because the dialogue and character movements imply this and honestly I would prefer that as to me it makes the most sense.
But it's fine if it isn't it's your story.
The operative term there is "in my day". In her day, EVERYTHING was cheaper.
And let's not forget the fact that 18 bits is just $2.25 (yes, a bit was a real form of currency, and I know it's value).
If it's a "measly 18 bits", then why can't she pay it? In fact, she called it "measly" just after calling it "highway robbery".
If he lowered the price for her kids, wouldn't that suggest that she things her kids are better than his kids?
Does Equestria have reddit? Because this later belongs on r/EntitledParents. It even comes close to r/ChoosingBeggars... but not close enough. Oh lord, I just pictured a pony version of a Karen.
YES! That is so satisfying. Granted, he still lost 8 bits in that transaction. But still. If I were him, I would've dropped it down only to 12 bits (not 10), and then give her a 2/3 bushel. In other words, I'd r/MaliciousCompliance her. (Is it obvious yet that I'm reading this chapter right after watching an rSlash video?)
Too bad Rarity wasn't there to see it.
Three ponies out of town on the same week? I find it a little suspicious. Then again, I could just be a little paranoid and finding patterns where there are none. Coincidences do exist after all.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know this is fishy (no pun intended) and that that's the intent. But even from the start, I was suspicious of him. Then again, it could also subvert expectations and prove that he's just a jerk... but I doubt that.
So let's break this down:
"Your kind doesn't know respect. Respect for the natural order of things"
What natural order of things? Please elaborate.
"and for knowing your place"
From where I'm standing, Rainbow Dash is an alicorn princess. So the "natural order of things", assuming it's nothing more than a social construct, says that Rainbow Dash's place is above Tristar in the "natural order of things".
"I knew you'd make a mockery of yourself from the day I saw you. You have a lifelong skill at it, after all. All you've done is proven me right."
A mockery huh? Is he talking about when she extended her hoof for a hoofshake in greeting when she first met him? Or was it when she was worthy enough to bear 1/6 of the Elements of Harmony? Or does it go deeper? Did he know her in flight school and she somehow embarrassed him? Or is this a racist thing? Her father was an earth pony after all, so does he think he's above her simply because of her earth pony side? Or is it simply because she's only a 1/2 alicorn? Oh wait, she's only a 1/4 alicorn, meaning that Celestia was only 1/2 alicorn. So if being a pureblood alicorn is the issue... Well, you have two other alicorns that you're not pointing your hoof at.
Perhaps I should read on before I start psychoanalyzing him.
I gotta give you credit, Aldea Donder. It takes a great writer to make you as viscerally furious at a fictional character that you make me of Tristar. Everything he has said is completely wrong. So let's break it down:
It took as many as 3 ponies (assuming you include Celestia) to convince her to go to Canterlot. She wasn't informed of anything. Not the detour, despite asking (seriously, all he had to do was to explain that that was a "backdoor" into the castle), not the fact that she was going to be more or less a prisoner there, not about any traditions, nothing. She was raised as, and believed she was a pegasus for 17 years. So that's a 'No True Scotsman' fallacy. She's the Element of Loyalty, which itself is a "higher cause". She helped save the world more than once, and freed Luna from the Nightmare. I'd call that pretty honorable. And let's not forget that she specifically fought for Fluttershy's honor as a filly. In fact, she got her cutie mark during that event. And she lost her parents, so she knows sacrifice. And when she grew that appendage out of her head, her entire identity was sacrificed. Her entire livelihood was sacrificed. It's bizarre that Tristar has actually made more false claims than he made claims.
I think there are 6,687 readers who had something go SNAP! in their heads at that moment as well.
*presses play on a tape recorder*
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Really? Tristar is one of the most popular characters in this story. He's probably most people's favorite! I've legitimately never seen a reader express any amount of hostility or outrage toward him.
Pretty strange reaction, but I guess everyone brings a different perspective. 
In all seriousness, I've enjoyed reading your comments on each chapter so far. You'll find out more about Tristar's reasons in time.
One of these days, I need to get around to revising Chapter Five... It's pretty weak. There's a lot I could do to make it better.
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I agree with KingCocoon's statement.
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Oh, I know. My response was in jest. I've had scores of readers tell me Tristar is the MOST hated character they've ever read about in a story, EVER.
If you look back through the comments on this fic, people talking about how reprehensible Tristar is probably makes up a good 5% to 10% of all the comments.
I hope you've enjoyed the story so far!
I have to say, Rainbow is a bitch these past chapters. I do hope she gets better.
And to me,Tristar is a good Captain, he been dealt with bad wing. Force to deal with the big bitch herself, and how nopony on her side. Away better Captain then Shiny ever was.
Aaaanother amazing chapter, you know im starting to wonder if there was a rewrite after i read this last time cause a lot of this is stuff i don't remember at all. Not that i complain, i cherish the chance to read my favourite fic with new eyes<3
God you know for just a moment I thougt that hey maybe Tristar isn't that bad. I mean, jackass sure but i like to assume the best of ponies and its not like Rainbow makes herself an easy pony to get along with. Aaaand then he stepped in the salad by being just the absolute fucking worst, holy shit dude I think you got some racism in your classisism! I'm 100% for Rainbow beating the shit out of him (also Rainbow biting a chunk out of his neck, fuck yeah omnivore pegasi, i support cannibalism when its lesbians doing it), Celestia reprimanding him was so satisfying and im only sad that Rainbow wouldn't let Twilight talk about how much of an absolute asshole he is so Tia could banish him to the fucking moon! or demote him at least, i mean i get Rainbow's reasoning and it's very in character even if it's frustrating but girl a guy with those kinds of views should not be in charge of the army!
Oh and speaking of, flawed characters my beloved, i love how you wrote Rainbow and Twilight with both tension but also genuine friendship and love, like they are both flawed and the particular circumstances means that their flaws are interracting in a bad way (RD is generally stressed and in a bad mood so she lashes out, Twilight i've talked about before) but aaaah it feels very for lack of a better word human, like im a bit upset at Rainbow for not being more understanding of Twilight's anger over all the fuckery but also feels very in character that she's not really thinking about any of that right now and iiiiiiiih good writing i love<3<3<3 Love the part in the tunnels where Twilight remarks on the differences and similarities between them and also that Twilight initially understands why Tristar is pissed and then the moment he starts getting classisist she immediately sides with Rainbow instead because fwiends i love them
And Shining Armor being cool big brother and Twilight poking fun at him and overall them being buddies and aaaaaaah i love their relationship you wrote them super cute and siblinglike and aaaaaaaaaaaah good and i also love that their happy family realtionship is such a sharp contrast with Celestia and Rainbow's much more messy and contentious one (especially that part where Shining offers Twilight a hoof and they're clearly happy to see each other and poke a bit of fun, while Celestia does the same with Rainbow but is much more nervous and Rainbow only takes it because she doesn't have a choice and narrative parallels and contrasts my beloved)
Oh also looooooore I love learning about equestria's history through these little tidbits, like Atlas coming up again and more lore about him at the moment i think my theory is that he's Celestia and Luna's dad since we already had it hinted that Celly and Lulu are just half alicorn, als the migrations are the founding of Equestria right?
oh and the plot thickens