Chapter 42: Alliances
"Twilight. Twiliiight....Twilight!"
The Bearer of Magic woke up with a shout. The action almost sent her flying off the bed she rested on. Her eyes darted across the room before finally settling on Rarity, who was sitting in a chair uncomfortably close to the bed. Her arms and legs were cross. Her left index finger thumped impatiently on her right arm. Her expression was neither angry nor sad. It was frozen in a state stoic harshness. Twilight returned the cold stare with a cheerful smile. She soon grimaced from the aches she received the other night.
"Are you still unwell from those 'thugs'?" Rarity asked in the same mood as her face.
"Definitely. They shook me up pretty good." Twilight answered with a laugh.
"How dreadful."
"Was that sarcasm?" Twilight asked upon Rarity's reply.
"That's up for interpretation."
"Then it was. Why did you wake me up? The sun isn't even up yet. Has something happened?" Twilight began to panic.
"Be calm, I simply wished to speak with you. I did not feel like waiting until Celestia's Sun rose above the mountain. Don't worry about Spike, he is up and speaking with Lyra. He had his rest sure enough."
"Alright? What is it?"
"It's about you, darling." She said simply.
Twilight blinked. The abruptness in Rarity's voice made her feel unsettled. She decided not to question the usual "why" and held her tongue. The Bearer of Generosity's sapphire eyes went unmoving, keeping their focus on Twilight's bruised face. The finger tapped louder on the white silk sleeve.
"How...Why did you let some ruffians rough you up?" Her face barely moved as she spoke.
"They ambushed me, remember? I didn't see them coming." Twilight answered.
"The great Bearer of Magic got battered by some untrained and inexperienced ruffians. It's..."
"I was deep in thought." Twilight replied quickly. "If I was on my toes, they would not have laid a hand on me. It was my mistake."
Rarity finally released Twilight from her stare. "Alright, I'll believe that. Now my second question. Why were you out there?"
"I told you, I was on a walk to clear my head. After Ponyville, the Brotherhood has been very stressed. I needed some time to think without all this," She gestured to the room. "Noise."
"I've never seen you do such a thing before. Well, not without writing it on your schedule."
"You looked at my schedule?" Twilight growled.
"Yes, Spike gave it to me. That boy is always willing to help me. It's rather adorable. Anyway, you have not been following your schedule, going off on these 'walks' at night and being ungodly late when returning. We have the protocol, the one you established, that said that Assassins can only leave on untold personal matters for at most, 3 hours. For any longer time, they must report their absence to a Bearer or Den Master. You went without telling anyone, and you were gone 7 hours both times. Does a walk need 7 hours?"
Twilight sighed. "I guess there's no point in keeping it a secret. I went to the Grand Royal Palace."
"For heaven's what?"
"To watch the Two Sisters. Empress Luna is the only one left there as Celestia went to the Labyrinth Isles those 2 weeks ago. She's up to something. I see her walking and talking in her sleep. Almost fighting with the air. I think she's fighting in her dreams."
"So Luna is insane, it doesn't surprise me. You should know this by living with her."
"Yes, I did live with her. I never saw her do this type of magic before. I..."
Rarity pointed a finger at her. "Ha, you are finally talking about your princess background. You never told me why you kept that a secret..."
"Because I grew up with Sunset Shimmer!" Twilight barked. The suddenness made Rarity lurch back.
"Oh...I see why..." Rarity mumbled.
"Yeah. If anyone else knew, they would think I still cared for her. That was then, before either of us knew about the Templar and Assassins. I just did not want to arouse any unnecessary suspicion. I'm sorry I gave you so much stress."
Rarity waved off the apology. "Don't be, darling. I should not have been so nosy. Please continue."
"That's all I had to report. I kept my spying secret in case you disapproved. I guess I predicted your reactions wrongly."
"I understand. Maybe I'll accompany you on your next trip? I haven't been able to get out much since...Well since Octavia's execution. I was so confused by your princess title, I got carried away in trying to pry such private matters out of you."
Twilight reached out and patted Rarity on the shoulder. The Bearer of Generosity stood up from her chair slowly. A smile was on her lips for the first time that morning. Twilight removed the covers from that kept her pinned to the bed. As Rarity scooted the chair back to the table it was originally at, she grimaced at the rising Bearer.
"Darling, you must do something about that hair. It's truly horrifying." She commented.
"Heh, why? I just put a hood over it anyway."
Rarity rolled her eyes. She gave one last wave before leaving the Bearer of Magic alone. Once she left, Twilight flopped back on her bed with a sigh of relief. Her eyes stared at the dark ceiling. The odd rays of light were slowly lighting her room.
"That was close."
"Very."
"I can't keep this up forever. I must confront the issue. I must get this plan going. It must start today."
Twilight yawned sleepily. With her lack of sleep the past days, she could barely keep her eyes open. She soon found herself leaning on the corner of a stone building. The Canterlot sun had just risen over the mountain. She did not care for that though. She was focused on simply not falling asleep.
"People...Watch the people..." She mumbled.
Equestria was diving into winter. The frigid cold had not arrived yet, but the slow and tedious process for winter had commenced. Food was stocked and stored. People bought more fabrics and heavier clothes. The process was certainly not sudden or abrupt. Fall always seemed the longest season of the year. Winter had Hearth's Warming and other holidays. Fall had nothing. Well, except for Nightmare Night, but that's only for the superstitious folk, Twilight thought.
"I wonder if it's warm in Baltimare." She said to herself.
She pushed herself off the stone wall and stretched. She had been waiting long enough. She took a deep breath and let the Element control her eyes. The world faded into a dark blue aura. She looked all around for any spies. Once she detected none, she regained her true vision. No Assassins followed her from the Den. She knew Rarity was not hiding as she would detect Generosity. She took a exhaled deeply, her breath was visible in the cold air.
Twilight turned and entered a lone alley. The air there was much colder than anywhere else. Her teeth started to chatter as she went deeper into the alley. Without a natural heart, Twilight felt frigid in the plummeting temperatures. She silently cursed at her Element for not helping her body create heat.
"You can make fire you know..."
"Oh yeah..."
She lifted her heart and summoned an arcanic purple flame in her palm. To her disappointment, the false fire was not as warm as she hoped it would be. Even steam would have been better, she thought. She made the flame more intense, but it wasn't worth the effort. She ceased her magic and instead placed her hands in her armpits.
"Getting a bit chilly Bearer?" A voice uttered mockingly behind her.
Twilight turned around. The voice came from a female Assassin. This Assassin wore icy blue robes. Her weapons consisted of an elaborate sword, throwing hatchets in her dark blue sashes, a pistol on her hip, and a blunderbuss on her back. Not to mention her white hidden blades. Her face was behind a blue mask. The mask depicted the toothy grin of a dragon. Her eyes also appeared like that of a slit-eyed reptile. The only skin exposed was her neck, which was pale and seemed covered in thin frost.
"Indeed." Twilight shivered. "Do you know why I'm here?"
"I've been 'dead' for the past half year. So I guess that finally ends? I missed talking to people. Eh, I really don't care about them. I just guess that's the reason."
"Yes, it's time for this plan to take action. Tell Sunset that I'm ready. It's time to send Captain Gilda to the Isles."
The Assassin waved that off. "Yeah yeah, but what about me?"
Twilight sighed. "I guess you can come out now. Just don't draw attention to yourself. I know you don't care about our plans, but you better follow them. Now listen, after you tell Sunset, I need you to go to Ponyville. Since you're an Assassin, they'll let you in. Stop them from rebuilding the place. You are allowed to fight any Assassins in your way, except the Bearer of Honesty. Only fight if necessary, be discreet. Do not die or be identified. If you are questioned, answer that you're an Assassin. If you are attacked, make them believe you're an Imperial agent. Got that? Alright, you can go." The Assassin started to leave, but Twilight huffed. "Wait. Hold on, also tell Sunset to meet me at the Slumbering Drake Inn. And one last thing, don't fail."
"Don't worry Bearer," The Assassin said as she formed a icicle in her hand. "I'll freeze them in their tracks!"
"An ice joke, seriously?" Twilight deadpanned.
"I thought it would be cool....OH! I didn't mean that to be a pun. I just...I had the last three months working on them. Come on, don't be so cold-hearted!"
Twilight slammed her palm in her face. "Just go...."
The Assassin fell silent and walked away. Her tracks let small piles of snow on the cobblestone. Twilight sighed in relief as the temperature rose with the masked Assassin's departure. She took a deep breath and walked the opposite way of the Assassin. She felt her Element pulsing steadily.
"She really needs to chill with that all that frost magic."
"Don't you start..."
"Sorry, that joke was too cool for you."
"This was the best place for us to meet? Kind of..."
"Don't worry Sunset, I know where my Brothers are. They aren't here. The question is, do you know where yours are?"
"I only brought my most loyal here. Their outside."
"Sit down."
Sunset did as Twilight asked. The inn was completely empty. The Templar was hesitant about putting her hands anywhere since the whole place was nothing more than a pile of dust and dirt. Having spent most of life with Royalty, she was disgusted thoroughly. Twilight, who never had problems with filth, raised a brow at her.
"What's the matter?"
"You know what's the matter. Next time, I'm picking the meeting place."
"What's wrong with this place? It's private and out of the way. That's the best part of East Canterlot: no one here to listen in your conversations."
"Indeed but...It's filthy. I mean, is that a dead rat in the corner?"
They both looked at a hairy lump in a dark corner. Twilight squinted at it and it was a dead rat. The Bearer slowly turned her head back to face the Templar.
"I see your point now."
"Well, the less time we're here, the better. Why did you send ol' Ice Prick to see me?"
"Rarity is onto us. She is watching me now. I feel that we cannot delay. We must start the process of unification. I already sent 'Ice Prick' to tell Gilda to strike. I feel that Octavia is sailing with the Bearer of Loyalty. With Gilda, we will take care of two birds with one stone. I just hope Gilda gives us the Element and not keep it for herself."
Sunset leaned back. "She won't. I chose her for this for the very reason that she can be trusted. Unlike other Templars..."
"You mean Spitfire?"
The Templar nodded. "She is my favorite creation, but also my most hated. Her thirst for cleansing the Brotherhood has gone too far. She won't see the beauty of our plan. She would never work with Assassins. I'm not sure about Soarin or Fleetfoot. Hmph, I'm running low on Templars I can trust."
"I am too. I can only hope that Rarity would see the sides. This war has gone on for too long. Now the Brotherhood is filled with ones like Octavia: impulsive, bigoted, and far too curious. She wasn't like this a year ago. She was my favorite Den Master, now....my most hated. She was going to be the one to get the Element of Loyalty too..." Twilight frowned.
Sunset shook her head. "After my test, she couldn't use it. Her Loyalty should of outweighed my questions."
"You should have never asked her! I kept them ignorant for a reason. If they could not see the flaws with the Bearers, they could not disobey them when the Order and Brotherhood merge. The Bearers tell them what to do and they follow. As it should be. You should have never gave Octavia the Truth."
"It worked with Spitfire. I told her of the shards, the Elements, about how Celestia and Luna are Bearers themselves. She gave herself to me, but revenge was more important to her. Did you know she tried to steal a shard from the Two Sisters? That's where she met Octavia's friend."
"What? What shard did she want?"
"A child of Chaos: the shard Wrath. The shard is larger than the others, thus it is more powerful than even ours. I don't know what it does though. I punished her for such an action by sending her to Baltimare."
"Why Baltimare?"
"I wanted her to go into the Labyrinth Isles and find the Temple of Tirek. She was...well is supposed to return with the Tirek's shard of Pride. If she did that, her crime will be forgiven."
"You know Discord watches the place everyday?" Twilight reminded Sunset.
"Yes, Chaos loves to be around Absolute Order, I know. But the possibility of her not returning doesn't bother me. Like ol' Ice Prick, I'm quite Apathetic towards it."
"I didn't mean that. I meant that she would become a Survivor of Chaos. You know, like the Bearer of Loyalty."
"I doubt it. One must be exceptional and determined to survive pure Chaos being put in your body. It won't happen, trust me." Her eyes widened. "Wait, the Bearer is a Survivor of Chaos? I thought she was a Bearer of Harmony?"
"That's why we must rid her. She has no Loyalty to the Brotherhood. Her Loyalty lies with Chaos. She can only be trouble for us and the Empire. It will be a public service to kill her. I mean, you look what she did to Baltimare. All that was for Discord."
Sunset nodded slowly. "I see."
Twilight stood up and walked over to the window. The myriad of cobwebs and hollowed insects on the window kept her at bay. Sunset remained sitting, tapping her fingers in order on the dusty round table. The Templar and the Assassin gave into their thoughts and remained silent. They had only gotten so far through careful planning. Anyone of lesser minds could not have have accomplished what they had. All they needed now was to finish it.
Sunset became impatient with the silence and drummed her fingers louder. "So, who is next on our list? We could use another agent like that...that Miss Frosty. What shards would like to use next?"
"Who do we have available?" Twilight turned around.
"Those two former Assassins from Appleloosa. The Royal Guard apprehended them a week ago. They're brother and sister. Can't remember their names."
"Noteworthy and Amethyst?" Twilight suggested.
"Yeah, that's them. They don't believe in our plan like that girl did. They seem..."
Twilight interrupted. "Leave that to me. I told them if they continued in this war, they would be killed as traitors. They wanted to rid Den Master Braeburn in Appleloosa. If they follow us, we let them live. Give them shards."
"Which ones?" Sunset asked with a grin.
"Noteworthy is impulsive, but quite reasonable. He was the second-in-command in Appleloosa. He never gives up and his tasks. However, he loves to point out faults in others. Give him Doubt. It's the closest to him we got. Amethyst...She's a sweet girl, bit protective of her brother. What do we have like that?"
Sunset shrugged. "Faith?"
"Faith...Faith...the shard of Faith...I guess it could work. I'm sure she has faith in her brother. She has followed him all this way, so it would make sense. Though Faith is powerful. We should wait before giving a shard like that to a young girl. Give Noteworthy Doubt and we shall wait and see if his sister complies with us. We should also have a backup plan if Noteworthy doesn't see our plan."
"Sounds good, Twilight. Oh, one last thing, how is Braeburn?"
"Still obsessed with killing every Templar out there. Why?"
"Well, there are still some more radical Templar that could be axed off. He did well in killing that awful General Silverstar. There are a couple of rowdy Templar in Manehatten that I would like dead."
"Braeburn is in Dodge Junction. He left Ponyville a couple of days ago. Making him travel that far would be too much. I could send Rarity. The distance is halved and it would be nice to rid her for now. I'll send her up there. Who are these Templar?"
"One is named Suri Poloman. She has an assistant named Coco Pommel. I don't believe they will aid us. All they are going to do is spread a false image of the Order with their lies and deceit."
"And we should silence them, got it."
Sunset stood up. "Thank you Twilight. Without your Assassins, this plan could never work. Now we should be parting ways. See you soon."
The Templar briskly exited the inn without a look back. The Bearer of Magic remained inside and watched her friend depart. Through the window, she saw the Templar soldiers bow to Sunset before escorting her away. Twilight felt her Element pulsing again.
"Should we go?"
"Yes. Let's tell Rarity of her new assignment."
"Spits! Calm down!"
Spitfire threw a chair across the room in anger, disgust, frustration, and aggravating disappointment. The other Templar in the room stood back in silence. Some of the soldiers cowered behind the few upright pieces of furniture. Some had left the hideout completely in fear of their furious captain. The only one who dared to defile the sound of breaking wood and glass was Soarin, who followed Spitfire wherever she went.
"Spits, ya acting ridiculous!"
"Shut your lips, Soarin! We lost Fleet! Damn us. Damn us all we lost Fleet! We ran off without her like selfish fiends." Spitfire buried her head in her hands.
Soarin grabbed her shoulders. "Yeah, we did. But making yourself a fool is not going to get her back or make this situation any better. We are wasting time here. We gotta go get her back ourselves."
"That is if she's still alive..."
"She is. Trust me, she is."
"How do you know?" Spitfire lifted her head.
Soarin faltered. "I...I jus' do."
Spitfire grumbled before righting a chair to sit in it. They ran away. Ran away with their tails between their legs like cowards. It would have been far better to die fighting. I could have done it, she thought.
"We could have beaten them." She concluded.
Soarin shook his head. "No we couldn't. That Vinyl is using a shard, I know it. I smacked her several times but never harmed her. She came back from the dead also. She took a shard from the Sisters, I just know it."
"Do we have to take a shard too? I fear those things. They corrupt your mind. They use you for their own benefits."
"Heh, there could be a shard of Honor." Soarin joked.
Spitfire only shook her head in response. The Templar soldiers rose from their hiding spots. Seeing that their leader had stopped raising Hell, they gathered around her. She looked at each of them. Most were stoic and emotionless, a few had worried expressions, and one or two raised a questioning eyebrow to her. They were all good men, she thought. They needed a strong and capable leader. She sighed in her thoughts. She was that leader. Lady Shimmer had appointed her this position in the Templar ranks. She had done so for a reason.
"Where are the brothers?" She asked calmly.
"Here they are M'am." A soldier brought Flim and Flam into the room.
"Bring 'em here." She said in her still calm and almost soothing voice.
The soldier did as she asked. The brothers were forced into their knees in front of her. They were not bound, but were kept in place by a pair of muskets. Spitfire waved off the guns with a hand. Flim and Flam began to panic.
"We didn't mean anything by it, m'lady." Flim squeaked.
"Nothing at all. We were...just having a joke, that's all." Flam followed up.
"Shut up. Both of you. I'm going to make this simple. Let us buy your ship, The Maiden, or else we take it."
"You mean take and kill us!" They both said simultaneously.
Spitfire shook her head. "No. I won't kill anyone not involved with the Brotherhood. Your lives aren't in danger. Your property is."
"How are you sure they aren't with the Brotherhood?" A soldier asked.
"The Brotherhood would not deal with such scum. They have many faults, but they do not cheat the innocent out of money."
The brothers glanced at each other. Their mutual staring lasted a couple of odd and awkward seconds. It was like they were communicating through telepathy. They finally returned their gaze to Spitfire.
"You may buy it." They said.
"Of course that would be your choice. When given the choice, you choose money over sense. Like the Assassins choosing war over peace. Let them have their money and then release them. We have our ship. We need nothing else."
"Oh thank you m'lady." Flim cheered.
"Don't thank me. Thank Fleet." She told him.
She leaned back in her chair. Soarin leaned closer her. She whispered to him. "We're going after them, those bastards. And when we meet them, they all die."
~
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Wow, Twilight is playing games with her supposed "friends", so I wonder why in the modern setting any of the elements would deal with magic after this little stunt. I bet Twilight cannot see that her shard is not to different from Rainbows as in she cannot see that she also may be unworthy because of it. So how long till Twilight's plan goes off the rails and she cannot do anything about it as it falls a apart around her?
5647511 Well, we'll wait and see. Since she's Twilight, I'm sure she's thought about everything.....hopefully?
I feel like things are going to fall apart very quickly, soon. And when it does? The only one with a definite win in their books would be Discord.
...doubt, Faith hmmm I wonder
5649125 Pfft.
Three days of reading and I read the whole thing. And it was good. Cannot wait to see where this goes!
5658211 Wow, thanks a bunch. I couldn't keep focused on one thing for that long.
I'm surprised Loyalty's still on speaking terms with Magic, considering it seems that this generation of Bearers was the last if the Elements are still taking their form. Rainbow is not gonna like whatever Twilight has planned, I imagine. And again, the Elements are currently taking the form of these Bearers as they appear to Yearling, but Loyalty still seems rather cheerful. Well, I guess I'll just have to see.