Chapter 5 - The Weighing of the Hearts
Twilight’s eyes opened slowly as she rolled onto her back with a groan to stare at the clean, white ceiling. Her body was stiff from oversleeping and protested the attempt. She did that from time to time. She’d push herself really hard for a few days, then let herself fall into bed for nearly another.
Though, she couldn’t quite remember the last time she’d felt so sore.
Twilight let out a yawn and sat up in bed. She inhaled sharply through clenched teeth as her weight shifted and something jabbed into her left flank painfully. She leaned to the other side and ran a hoof under herself, wondering what she’d sat on, but found nothing. The bed was old and sagged in the middle from years of bearing the weight of countless cadets, so she had half-expected to maybe find a spring poking up through a hole in the mattress.
“No…” she muttered as something about that train of thought struck her as odd. “No, this is wrong…”
She looked around her sparsely decorated dormitory, unable to shake the feeling that something was out of place. The pile of unfinished books from the academy library was piled high at the foot of her bed, and her academy dress uniform hung from a coat hook near the door. The big red alarm clock – a present from Spike for her ninth birthday – ticked away on her nightstand next to a half empty glass of water. The window was open, and the thin curtains billowed softly over her writing desk from a light breeze that filled her room with the familiar scent of cut grass from the campus’ freshly manicured lawns.
Nothing seemed wrong.
The harder she thought, the sharper the pain across her hip felt. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to think of what it could be.
Twilight rolled out of bed and the pain was immediately forgotten as the clock began to ring. The little hammer sticking out the top of the mechanism was flinging violently from side to side, striking the bells and drawing her attention.
“Ah, is that the time!?” she asked of the blaring alarm clock.
The ringing ceased as she slammed a hoof down on the clock, turning off the alarm before running out the door. She didn’t even bother grab her books or check her appearance with the mirror in her nightstand before dashing into the dormitory hall.
She galloped at full speed down the wide hallways of the female dormitories and through the doors leading into the stairwell. The fillies’ dorms were on the highest floor of the three-story building, with the colts’ on the floor below. The common rooms, reception, and mess hall were on the lowest floor.
She descended the stairs two steps at a time, reaching the ground floor quickly, and stepped into the hallway leading to the Magical Demonstration Lecture Hall.
She blinked. Wasn’t this supposed to be the lobby?
The pain she’d felt while in bed returned, milder this time, but still quite uncomfortable. She ignored it and took in her surroundings.
She was in the Commander Hurricane Building, the largest of the class buildings. To her left was a long bank of windows that overlooked the courtyard where the fountain with a huge statue of the Commander herself stood vigil over the school. To her right was the display case, filled with trophies the school had won for the various athletics and academic achievements by alums.
Twilight glanced over her shoulder and realized with a start that the stairs were gone. In their place was another hallway, leading off further into the building.
Why were there were no other students around? These hallways were always packed.
No, she thought as she absentmindedly shook away the cramp in her hind leg. It made sense that they’d be empty. She was late. Of course everypony else was in class.
She made her way to the end of the hallway and entered the classroom.
The Magical Demonstration Lecture Hall – informally known throughout the school as ‘The Unicorn Room’ – was the largest classroom at the academy. It was nearly the size of the gymnasium, with an enormous presentation floor and stadium seating.
Here, the unicorn students were given instruction on ways to hone their battle magic, which necessitated a large room, filled with hidden safeguards and magical protections. The school spared no effort in maintaining the safety of the students and faculty when it came to battle magic being wielded by young unicorns.
Despite the safety precautions, the room was not without its battle scars. All around the room were scorch marks and broken ceiling tiles where a stray spell had gotten away from a cadet. Every year the little blemishes would vanish over the summer break, only to be replaced by new ones over the course of the coming semesters.
She had expected to be greeted by Professor Heavyhitter, a burly unicorn stallion who had retired from his position as a Tesserarius in the Guard to take a post teaching battle magic to the next generation of soldiers. Instead she found herself face to face with a young stallion with a brilliantly white coat and handsome blue mane. He was awkwardly thin, in that way that young stallions were when they weren’t quite done growing into their bodies, but still impressively large.
“Hey, Twily!” he greeted with a smile of pearly-white teeth. “You’re late! I thought you said you were always first to class!”
She stepped forward in confusion. “Shiny? What are you doing here?”
Her brother laughed. “I told you already, the princess arranged for me to come down and give a demonstration to your class on proper shield casting technique.”
“A magic demonstration?” she asked.
It did seem familiar. She remembered something about this… but when had it been?
“That’s right,” he said, laughing again. “I just put up a shield, like this,” he explained as a simple bubble shield sprang into life around him, “and I let the whole class try to break it. This way they can see that even the simplest spell can be powerful as long as you understand proper fundamentals.”
That’s right, she thought. Shining Armor had sent her word of his plans an entire week ahead of his arrival. He’d been so excited that he’d be visiting that he’d spilled the beans about the whole thing in his letter.
“Right…” she said slowly. The pain in her leg throbbed slightly, just at the edge of her senses. “Right, I remember this…”
“Of course you do, silly filly!” he guffawed. “I wrote about it in my letter!”
The pain in Twilight’s leg spiked, like a hot knife slicing away at her flank. She turned her head and examined herself. There was nothing there. No burns, no cuts, nothing – just a bare patch of lavender hair where her Cutie Mark would go when she finally discovered her talent.
The invisible knife cut at her again and a fresh wave of pain brought more questions. She was a blank flank? No, she’d had her Cutie Mark for years. She’d had it for over a decade. She’d been nine when she got it, and now she was nearing twenty.
And why was her brother laughing so much? Her oldest brother was always so serious, so occupied with his studies. Spike was the jokester of their family, and Shining Armor never laughed that often, or that loudly… when had been the last time she’d heard him laugh at all?
“Are you going to stand there staring at your flank all day or are you going to take your turn?” Shining asked with a chuckle from within his bubble shield.
Voices began shouting at her from all directions. She looked into the seats and saw a packed house. At least a hundred students were seated and stomping their hooves, shouting encouragement at her.
“Go on, Twilight! You can do it!”
“Show him what you’ve got!”
“You can’t do any worse than we did!”
Their voices came together, slowly unifying into a chant of her name as they cheered for her to step forward.
She walked to the center of the room, the pain in her leg forgotten as the cheering washed over her in waves. She felt very small, nervous. Every step made her feel less confident. The encouraging words of her classmates were having the opposite effect on her.
She hated being at the front of a classroom. From the safety of a seat, even front row and center, she could confidently answer any question she was given, but that was with the other students behind her, where she couldn’t see them. At the front of the class she could see every individual pony in the room, their eyes all on her. She could practically hear their thoughts – half of them expecting her to do what they couldn’t, and the other half judging her and waiting to watch her fail.
Shining Armor was completely indifferent to her discomfort. He sat on his haunches, watching her with a look of smug amusement from within his bubble.
Twilight took her position on trembling legs and sized up her opponent. The shield was strong, she knew that much just by looking at it. He’d done everything flawlessly, the way he always did. It shimmered the same familiar pale-pink as her own magic, but that did nothing to ease the daunting fact that this was her brother’s magic.
Shining Armor was the personal protégé to Princess Celestia. He was one of the most promising, gifted, and powerful magical scholars in all of Equestria.
And she was supposed to break one of his shields? She was expected to break the shield of a stallion who had earned his Cutie Mark for successfully creating a self-sustaining shielding spell so efficient that it could theoretically surround the entire city of Canterlot with only minimal upkeep?
She’d received word from him a week early, she’d known his plans for the demonstration and she’d spent the entire week studying, racking her brain and losing sleep as she drafted a plan of attack. Twilight had fretted and worried and poured every ounce of herself into finding a way to break that shield, but it had all been fruitless.
Twilight bit her lip nervously, trying to shut out the demanding cheers of her classmates as she searched in vain for a weakness in the seemingly impenetrable defense. Her heart was racing and sweat was pouring down her body like she’d run a hundred laps with a full kit in her saddelbags.
“What’re you waiting for?” he asked, still grinning in amusement.
Twilight licked her lips dryly and narrowed her eyes in concentration. She prodded the shield with her magic a few times, testing its rigidity. A small lance of condensed magic – just strong enough to test the waters – struck the bubble and dissipated along its surface harmlessly.
“You can’t break it,” he commented. “Any magic suffused with the intent to harm is filtered out by the spell, and as for physical force? The harder you press on the shield, the stronger it gets. That’s why this simple shield is so effective.”
Her eyes widened in recognition. He was right. The bubble shield spell was one of the most basic battle magics a unicorn could learn, and it was wildly effective so long as you had the strength to power it.
Simplicity was its strength, but at that moment she realized that it was also its weakness. It could prevent physical force from passing the membrane of the spell, and also protected against any attack-oriented magic, but what about non-attack magic?
Twilight lit her horn and gathered power. She cast her spell, and the pink bubble darkened as a second shield came to life around Shining, within the perimeter of his defense. She concentrated on expanding the shield, pushing against the figurative underbelly of her brother’s protection.
Her face screwed up with effort, pouring every ounce of her will and focus into expanding the shield. Her heart beat like a machine, pounding in her chest so hard it felt like it would burst at any moment.
The bubble was expanding. She could feel her shield pushing against Shining’s. He was resisting, flooding magic into the spell to try and hold it together. Shining Armor was strong, but Twilight had the advantage. She was exploiting a fundamental weakness in the basic formula, so the energy efficiency of her casting more than made up for the difference in talent.
But just because she had an advantage didn’t mean he wasn’t putting up a fight. Shields were his forte, and he had vastly more experience and training in the subject.
She needed more magic. She needed more power. Twilight reached deep into herself, groping for every teensy ounce of magic she had in her and dumping it into the casting.
Twilight wanted this. She wanted to beat her brother. Just once in her life she wanted to be better than him.
Power welled up inside her body, bursting forth from some untapped reserve she never knew she had. It surged through her horn painfully, and all around her the cheers turned to gasps.
There was a loud pop, like a balloon bursting from being overfilled, and all at once the power left her. She trembled where she stood, sweat pouring down her in rivulets and pooling around her hooves on the hardwood floor.
She’d done it. This was it.
This was the day she’d gotten her Cutie Mark – the day she’d realized that Magic itself was the thing she was best at.
She looked over her shoulder, turning her flank to examine the starburst pattern that her achievement had earned her that day.
But there was nothing. Her flank was blank as the day she was born, and once again the pain of a wound she couldn’t see – in the very spot where her Cutie Mark should have been – overtook her.
This wasn’t right. This wasn’t how this went at all.
“Oh, it’s right, Twily,” Shining Armor guffawed from the other side of the room.
He was smiling at her with a grin too wide to be his, with teeth just a shade too sharp to belong to a pony. It was a predatory grin, the kind a wild beast got when it was moving in for the kill on a wounded prey animal. He reached up and tapped at the intact bubble shield, and a fresh snicker of laughter oozed from between his teeth.
“You really thought you could beat me?” he asked with cruel delight.
“I did beat you,” she panted as she struggled to stay standing. Her body felt so tired. “I beat you and I got my Cutie Mark.”
The shield around Shining Armor burst with a flaccid little pop as he stepped closer.
“Oh? Is that right?” He scratched his chin and puckered his lips. “I suppose you’re right. It did happen more like this, didn’t it?”
Shining Armor stomped his hoof and the room changed around them. She and Shining were now off to the side of the room. They looked on as ethereal copies of themselves stood center stage and played out the events of that day as they actually happened.
Twilight watched as the younger version of herself experienced one of the rarest phenomena in the magical world: a magical surge. It was strange to see herself as a young filly, eyes glowing pure white with temporarily limitless power, her horn surrounded by multiple layers of energy.
The other Shining’s bubble popped and the surge ended. The room was silent for a few moments, save for the ragged panting of the smaller Twilight, until somepony in the back stood and shouted: “Look! She got her Cutie Mark!”
The students, and even her professor, rushed forward to congratulate the filly on both her performance and on achieving one of life’s great milestones. They flooded onto the demonstration floor and surrounded her, patting her on the back and shoving one another to try and get a good look at what her mark was.
In the excitement, Shining Armor quietly made for the door, his face an unreadable mask as he slipped into the hallway without notice.
“I look pretty down, huh?” the version of Shining Armor standing next to her asked.
“What?” she asked in surprise.
“How could I not be?” Shining Armor asked. “I’m the great Shining Armor. I’m personal student to Princess Celestia. I’ve studied my ass off since I was six years old trying to become the finest magical scholar in Equestria… and my kid sister beat me at the thing I’m best at.”
“Shut up,” Twilight snapped. Her hind legs buckled under her, the pain across her flank bringing her to her knees. “Shut up. That’s not true. You were… he was proud of me! He told me himself!”
The Shining Armor at her side fell to the ground and began rolling around, clutching his belly and cackling with delight.
“Really!? You believed me when I said that!?” He began laughing even harder, tears falling from his eyes.
“It’s true!”
His mocking laughter died slowly as he rose to his hooves. He shook his head in pitying disbelief. “Twily, Twily, Twily, poor delusional little Twily…”
“Don’t call me that,” she growled. “You’re not Shining Armor. You’re not my brother.”
“Not your brother?” he repeated with feigned hurt in his voice. He brought a hoof to his chest and scoffed as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Twily, I’m as real as any of your memories of Shining Armor.”
Twilight struggled to her hooves and stared the faux-Shining down. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Because you need context,” he chuckled. He stepped closer, his eyes alight with cruel mischief as he closed the distance between them to mere inches. “You needed to see this to understand why your life is pointless.”
Twilight recoiled in disgust. The smell of his breath was horrid, like the musty stench of death and decay.
She’d had enough.
Twilight wheeled around and shifted her weight forward as she brought up her hind legs. She kicked as hard she could, aiming her strike for his chin. In unarmed combat classes, the same kick had knocked out stallions twice her size and thrice her weight.
Just as she was about to make contact, the thing vanished. She dropped low, her eyes darting about looking for where it had disappeared to. At some point, without her realizing it, the classroom had vanished. She was surrounded by darkness on all sides, and she was alone.
Twilight felt her left side blossom with pain, followed a split second later by the crack of her ribs shattering. The force of the impact sent her skidding across the ground. The floor was smooth and cold, like glass, and it squealed shrilly as she slid into the void.
Every breath was agony. Back in First-Aid training, she’d learned that injuries to the ribs were some of the most painful. The constant expansion and contraction of the respiratory system put pressure on the damaged bones, turning the most basic life-sustaining act into agony.
The ethereal Shining Armor strode out of the nothingness, his face no longer containing that grotesque mirth. Gone was the lanky teenaged colt. He was now fully grown, looking just as he had when she’d seen him months ago at her graduation from the military academy. He cut a fairly intimidating figure, stalking towards her from the darkness. The life of a scholar was fairly sedentary by nature, but he always made time to keep himself in shape and watch what he ate.
He approached and laid a hoof onto her flank, pressing down and grinding painfully into her flesh.
She focused her magic, trying to shove him away with a hard telekinetic push, but the magic refused to gather. Even more clearly than the pain he was causing her, she felt emptiness – a hollow feeling like something integral to her very being was missing.
“You think that day was a happy one?” he asked coldly. His voice had darkened to match their surroundings, becoming a distorted imitation of her brother’s pleasantly raspy tenor. “That was the day it all went wrong for you, you stupid girl.”
He lifted his hoof to reveal that Twilight’s Cutie Mark had returned.
“Do you know what a Cutie Mark is?” he asked. “It’s a sign, a guide. It’s not just a cutesy little picture that shows what your special talent is. It helps ponies find their destinies, their true callings in life.”
Twilight sucked in shallow, rapid little breaths, and tried to stand, but a kick to her face had her seeing stars. When her vision cleared again the faux-Shining was leaning down, staring into her face without emotion. His mouth hung open just enough to let his hot, fetid breath wash over her.
“A carpenter might have a saw or a hammer,” he further explained. “A blacksmith might have an anvil. A librarian might have a book. Tell me, Twilight, what does your Cutie Mark mean?”
“M-Magic,” she panted. Ponies were always asking her what her Cutie Mark meant, and the answer always came without thought.
“What does that mean?”
Twilight’s heart seized in her chest at his question. Something in the way he asked it resonated inside her, and it made her stock reply seem cheap and hollow – insufficient.
“What a big thing to have a destiny for,” the thing commented airily. “And what do you have to show for it? You’re a foalsitter for a spoiled little princess that chased off after a stray puppy. She shook her ass in your face and batted her eyelashes, and you ran headlong into a situation that you knew you had no business involving yourself in. That weakness got a good stallion killed.”
She followed with her eyes as the thing began to slowly pace around her, looking down on her disdainfully. A note of disgust had tainted its mask of indifference. Its once pure-white coat had become blackened and sooty. It looked filthy, and every time it opened its mouth to speak she could see the color of its gray, rotted teeth.
“Something went wrong in your life. You’re not where you were meant to be, and you know it. Deep down inside your heart, in the place that nopony else can see, you’ve always thought you deserved better. You’ve always resented me for my success. It’s okay to admit it to yourself. You’ve sat up at night fantasizing about what it would’ve been like to be in my place, because you think you’re better than me.”
Twilight closed her eyes, trying to drown out the pain from her broken ribs and the ache in her heart. She knew the thing was wrong, she just knew, but she couldn’t think of a word to say against its accusations. Was that what was really in her heart? Was something so ugly hidden so deeply inside herself that she couldn’t even see it?
“Let me tell you something, Twily,” it rasped into her ear. “You’re not better than me. Even if our situations had been reversed, and I had joined the Guard, I would be better at it than you will ever be. This situation you’re in right now? It would’ve never happened to me. And do you want to know why?”
The thing leaned in closer, and though she couldn’t see it, she could hear the smile in its voice.
“If I’d have been on that ship with Cadance, I wouldn’t have been up on the deck crying and bitching to Sky Chaser that night,” it croaked, adding a wheezing sort of laughter. It stuck out its tongue, licking her ear and leaving behind a thick, slimy trail of saliva. “Unlike you, I wouldn’t have been too much of a coward to tell Cadance that I wanted her. I’d have been down in her cabin, showing her what kind of stallion I am. That filthy mutt would’ve died in the desert while I rode that princess you love so much the whole way to Saddle Arabia. What better place to protect her than from her own bed?”
Twilight was disgusted. She was angry. She wanted to stand up, to beat the horrible thing with her bare hooves… but she couldn’t. She could feel the darkness closing in on her, sapping her will to fight. The more she let go of her instinct to struggle, the better she felt. The pain and the sorrow faded into the background, slowly disappearing as a sort of peace – the peace of nothingness – draped over her like a shroud.
“Everything you’ve ever done has been based in fear, Twilight Sparkle,” the creature explained softly. “And your greatest fear? It’s that you’ll never know what your Cutie Mark means – that you’ll never know what Magic really is.”
It reached down and stroked her mane gently, exactly the way her mother used to when she was a filly and ran to her parents’ bed after having a nightmare. “Fear is the pain of living. Fear of death, fear of the unknown, fear of failure. Give up your life and find peace, little child. This is your truest destiny.”
The final grains of her awareness fell away, and she found herself in that moment that exists as the last of the mind’s conscious thoughts separated the waking world from the dreaming. As she drifted away she could hear something distant, so faint that she almost missed it in her hurry to leave her pain behind.
Somepony was sobbing.
“Twilight…”
Pain seared across her flank again, sharp and clear. Her eyes opened and she looked to her flank, where her Cutie Mark was marred by a long, bleeding gash. She grit her teeth and concentrated on the pain, on the fear she felt. She felt alert and clearheaded for the first time since the dream had begun – and she knew for certain now that this was a dream.
Anubis was trying to use her fears to subdue her, to make death seem like an appealing alternative – an escape from fear. In her moment of clarity, however, she realized that the thing she feared above all else was that she’d let her friends down when they needed her most. She couldn’t let herself be taken, not here, not now. She had to put her own comfort aside to protect them.
That’s what it meant to be a guard.
“You’re right,” she stated simply. She got up from the ground, the searing pain on her hip fueling her will to stand. “Pain and fear… they’re a part of life, but that’s not a bad thing. Feeling these things lets us know we’re alive, and when we overcome them we grow, we become strong.”
Twilight reached out for her magic, and this time it came to her. Her horn glowed brightly in the darkness as she stared down the manifestation of Anubis’ curse.
“I don’t care about destiny, or what I’m supposed to be,” she snarled. “I like being a guard. I love it. I don’t know what my Cutie Mark is meant to mean, but I know what I choose for it to mean.”
Thoughts of her friends and family filled her heart with warmth, pushing back the freezing tendrils of Anubis’ spell.
“Love brings living creatures together – it creates harmony,” Cadance had explained only days before on the bridge of the airship. “It’s magic, Twilight…”
She remembered her brothers showing off magic tricks to her as a filly. Despite the dire nature of the confrontation, she nearly laughed aloud at a memory of Spike setting the living room curtains ablaze. He’d been trying to show off a technique he’d figured out that allowed him to change the color of his flames, but still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of it. It had been scary at first, but in the end even their parents had laughed about it.
“There is ‘magic’ in all things, Twilight Sparkle,” Basenji had lectured as they sat in Dingo’s tent, blissfully unaware of the horrors they were moments away from unleashing. “As all things have magic, through magic all things are connected. Even dogs and ponies are connected through the Ways…”
Twilight thought of Princess Celestia, and the Summer Sun Celebration held in the year she turned seven. Her father had been arguing for weeks with their neighbor over something trivial – somepony cutting somepony else’s hedges or the like – and they had taken every opportunity to argue. When they bumped into one another at the ceremony, she thought a hoof-fight would break out. Then, as Princess Celestia took the stage, spread her wings, and lifted the sun, that moment of perfect beauty and harmony put their pettiness into perspective and ended their little feud.
“I know what Magic is,” Twilight declared. “Magic brings us together. It binds all living things, and it makes us better than when it found us. That’s what I want to do. I want to use my magic to help others, and to help them to be better than they were before they met me.”
She raised her head, puffing out her chest as she shouted: “I am Decurion Twilight Sparkle of the Canterlot Regiment of the Royal Guard! Cutie Mark or no Cutie Mark, I will choose my own Way!”
The energy in her horn dispersed with a blinding flash, washing away the terrible thing and the surrounding darkness with it. Twilight found herself standing in a field of tall grass. In the far distance she could see Canterlot and the mountain range the magnificent city was built into.
“Hell of a show you put on, missy. Heard ya from all the way on the other side, I did.”
Twilight spun around, her heart jumping into her throat as Sky Chaser chuckled at her. He sucked happily at his pipe, wisps of smoke rising from the corners of his mouth as he smiled at her, his grin reaching from ear to ear.
“Another one?” she asked, her anger rising as she deduced that the thing that had impersonated her brother had taken the form of her recently departed friend.
“Throttle it back, missy,” Sky Chaser said with a gentle laugh. “This stallion’s the genuine article.”
“You died,” Twilight said bluntly.
“Aye, that I did,” the old earth pony sighed. “Didn’t see that coming, truth be told. Knew it’d be spiders that got me in the end, though…”
“Basenji had mentioned that the divide between the realm of sleep and the land of the dead was thin,” Twilight said. “Is that what this is?”
“That’d be the long and short of it,” he said with a nod. “Wasn’t an easy trip, mind you. Didn’t have much of a choice, though.”
“What do you mean?”
Sky Chaser’s eyes went hard. “You have to send him back.”
Twilight blinked. “Send who back?”
“Anubis,” he explained. “I don’t know all the details, but he’s some sort of big-wig on the other side of the street. There’s other big muckity-mucks trying to keep it together, but without Anubis the inmates are in charge of the funny-farm over there.”
“He didn’t seem all that interested in going back when he gave me this,” Twilight said with a scoff as she turned to show off the wet gash across her flank.
“He probably ain’t in his right mind, from what I’m told,” Sky Chaser explained. “He’s a creature born of the other side, he don’t belong in the world of the living. Something’s keeping him there, and they want you to do something about it.”
“Why me?”
“Why not you?”
There was a moment of silence between the two. A gentle breeze swept across them, rustling the grass and catching the smoke rising from Sky Chaser’s pipe.
“I’m sorry I failed you…” Twilight said sadly.
“Ya didn’t,” Sky Chaser said as he sat heavily on the ground and stroked his bushy black beard. “Wasn’t your fault, and it certainly wasn’t Her Ladyship’s fault. I’m trusting you to assure her of that. It was just bad luck, is all.”
“But if I’d just been more attentive…” she started to protest. Her point died before she even made it as she realized how flimsy her argument was.
“No more of that,” he told her as he raised a hoof. “I backed every call you made, and I’m still backing you, from the other side, no less. Just take my word.”
“Even still, I am sorry, I want you to know that.”
“I know,” he said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. “You’re a good girl, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Twilight, I’m so sorry…”
Twilight and Sky Chaser looked to the sky as they heard what was clearly Cadance’s voice drifting in on the winds.
“Sounds like Her Ladyship needs you, Decurion,” Sky Chaser said, his voice tense with concern.
“Can you help me get to her?”
Sky Chaser tugged at his beard, extra thick little puffs of smoke rising as he considered it. “Not with that dream-whammy on Her Ladyship, no,” he said apologetically. “I was only able to intrude on your dream because you had the fortitude to resist him on your own. Tough lass though she may be, I don’t know that Her Ladyship has your mettle for the like of this.”
“What can I do then?” Twilight asked quickly, panic rising in her voice.
“What you were already going to do,” Sky Chaser explained. “Send the Old Mutt home and it’ll break the curse.”
“Got it,” Twilight said with a nod.
“Better be off, then,” Sky Chaser told her. He plucked the pipe from between his lips and tapped it lightly against a half-buried rock, extinguishing the flames before returning the implement to his breast pocket. “Not polite to keep such a beautiful lady waiting.”
Twilight sprinted forward suddenly, rushing up to the old stallion and throwing her arms around him. She squeezed tightly, burying her face into his shoulder and breathing in the scent of orange-flavored smoke that had long ago seeped into the fibers of his pea coat.
“I’m going to miss you,” she said, her voice cracking as she spoke.
“Aye…” he replied as he returned the hug. “Didn’t know you long, but I reckon you were a friend worth having… and I’m sorry if my teasing made things awkward between you and Her Ladyship.”
Twilight pulled away from the hug, wiping away tears as she shook her head. “It’s okay, I think we’re going to be fine… provided we get out of this alive, that is.”
“You’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I get the feeling I won’t see either of you again for a very, very long time, and nothing would give me more joy than for that to be true.”
Twilight stood at attention and brought her hoof up in salute. Sky Chaser snapped to and mirrored the sign of respect.
“Goodbye, Captain.”
“Good luck, Decurion.”
Twilight lowered her hoof and disappeared in a flash of light.
* * *
As consciousness returned to her, Twilight realized that the pain she’d felt in the dream was nothing to what her physical body was feeling. She bit her lip to hold in a cry of agony as her body demanded that she stay where she was and let it go back to sleep.
The pain was good, she kept telling herself. Just like in the dream, the pain meant she was still alive. She opened her eyes with enormous effort and looked for her target.
Anubis was still seated on his throne, his head rolling limply from side to side as he stared at the ceiling and muttered to himself. He lifted his head and looked at her with those awful golden eyes. The otherworldly glow they’d held earlier had dimmed, guttering like a candle on the verge of going out. He stared at her without seeming to notice she was there, just as he had when she’d first entered the room.
His gaze began to twitch erratically, searching around, tracking something that only he could see. A flash of insight struck her, and all at once she realized what she was seeing.
He was dreaming.
Sky Chaser was right. Anubis wasn’t in his right mind. Whether it was a case of this realm’s magic affecting his mind, or something brought about by the method that bound him to Dingo’s body, it didn’t matter. This was her chance. He was too powerful to fight head on, especially in her condition, but if she could strike him down while he was unawares, then he would be freed from the mortal flesh he was bound to and could return to the other side.
She tried to stand, but her body refused her command. She crawled closer to the wall, leaning her weight against it to take some of the pressure off of her bad knee. The cut along her left flank was burning as she moved, and she almost laughed at the fact that both of her rear legs were now injured.
With great effort, Twilight managed to stand.
The dagger she’d hurled at him had disappeared, likely tossed somewhere into the piles of treasure lining the walls. She looked around for something, anything, that she could use as a weapon.
Embedded in the wall behind her was the discus that Anubis had thrown at her. It was the very thing that had scored the oozing gash across her Cutie Mark. It was a reasonably sharp weapon, and it would do the trick nicely.
Twilight stepped away from the wall and turned to grip the metal ring with her teeth. She pulled hard and nearly fell as the disc slid free with surprising ease.
She summoned her power for one final attack, wrapping the disc between her teeth in the faint glow of her magic.
Twilight nearly dropped the object the moment it came into contact with her spell. It began to vibrate, humming slightly as a result of some sort of magical feedback. In her head she could hear the booming sound of heavy drumming, and the air around her rumbled with the thrum of magic that she had begun to associate with Basenji’s exotic spellcasting.
She was running on less than fumes, but the disc seemed to be weightless as she released it. The thing had been a bit heavier than her daggers when she’d held it between her teeth, but the feedback she was feeling from the spell was telling her that the object was nearly weightless.
Twilight set aside her natural curiosity about the phenomenon, just this once. She had a job to do.
She set the disc to spinning as she rounded on the diamond dog that had formerly been her friend’s brother. It was regrettable, but this was the only way.
Anubis’ head had rolled back again, exposing his throat. Just as she was taking aim and preparing to end it, the golden pendant around his neck caught her eye.
It was a simple golden bauble, with an enormous ruby set in the center. There were dozens of necklaces just like it littering the room. In fact, there were three or four necklaces even nicer than that one sitting right next to the throne.
But something in the way it reflected the firelight of the braziers told her it was something special. Her gut was telling her that this was her real target.
“Gut’s gotten me this far,” she muttered to herself as she adjusted her aim.
She flung her weapon, aiming straight for the oversized ruby. The discus whizzed and squealed as it sliced through the air with the speed of cannon-fire. When it struck the jewel there was a crack like the sound of thunder, and a fierce wind filled the room, threatening to blow out the fires.
Twilight shielded her eyes as dust was kicked into the air. The wind roared angrily, sounding for a moment like the cry of some great wolf howling at the sky. Underneath the rumbling wail of the wind was the sharp clatter of metal clinking against stone. Gold coins and loose gemstones were being swept up in the winds, rolling across the floor and flinging against the walls.
She didn’t dare to lift her head until the winds had died down and she was no longer being pelted by golden hail.
With a start, she realized she was being watched. The diamond dog on the throne was looking at her with curious brown eyes, half-lidded with weariness. He looked haggard, but otherwise unaffected by the ordeal.
“You’re Dingo?”
The dog just tilted his head to the side and simply stared at her in apparently fascinated silence.
“Your brother’s outside,” she said simply as she limped towards the door.
The words felt strangely inappropriate, and almost immediately she regretted them. After the ordeal she’d just undergone she felt like maybe the occasion deserved a little more poetry than that.
She decided that in the end it didn’t matter what she said. She was just glad that it was over, and for the life of her she didn’t think she could have come up with anything more appropriate if she’d spent a lifetime puzzling it out. Spike had always been the poet in the family, the one with that romantic streak in him. He would’ve known what to say.
The moment she stepped through the doorway she was thrust back into total darkness. Her heart skipped a beat in terror as she realized she was without the protection of a fire, but the moment passed as she remembered that the curse had been lifted.
She cast an illumination spell, barely strong enough to qualify as a child’s night light, but the puny spell still managed to push back the darkness. It was all the proof she needed that Anubis’ influence was gone from this world.
Twilight made her way through the temple, casting a look backwards at the pitter-patter of padded steps to see that Dingo was indeed following. The cursed necklace was still around his neck, the jewel cracked and blackened by the sudden release of whatever magic was holding the spirit of Anubis bound to this world.
Curiously, Dingo was holding the discus weapon between his teeth as he plodded along after her. It reminded her idly of a pet dog playing fetch – she’d thrown it, and now he was bringing it back.
She continued her painful march back to the courtyard, and dread filled her as she realized that she didn’t hear any drumming.
Had she made it in time to save Cadance?
Twilight hustled a little quicker, hobbling at a stuttered quarter-trot until she could see the outlines of Cadance and Basenji in the light of their torch. As she got closer, her friends took notice of her approach and stood.
Cadance was running towards her, horn alight with an illumination spell bright enough to hurt Twilight’s eyes. Basenji was limping along behind her on three legs, his drum bouncing at his side with every step.
They were safe.
Relief washed over the poor soldier, and by the time her friends were close enough to notice the guest she had in tow, she’d already collapsed in exhaustion and fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.
* * *
Twilight hurt. That was all there was to it. There was nowhere she could point to as a source of the pain, no exact locations of her discomfort that she could create a list of – the sensation of injury she felt was too large for specifics. Her entire body had become a mass of pain in the shape of a pony.
Her eyes had been opened for a good long while before she realized she was staring at a wooden ceiling. An overhead electric fan rotated with hypnotic lethargy, casting a large shadow on the ceiling from whatever ground-level light source was in the room.
It was just a shadow, she tried to convince herself. Nevertheless, she kept a wary eye on it for a few more minutes – just in case.
She sat up, every joint in her body creaking and popping with the movement, every torn and tired tendon and muscle resisting use. Twilight wondered to herself if maybe this was what it was like to be an old pony. Her grandmother had been a slow riser, sometimes taking ten or fifteen minutes just to summon the courage to get out of bed.
The silken sheets that had been draped over her slid away with a pleasant whisper against her coat, and she almost lied back down just so she could feel the comforting sensation of the sheets falling away again. The mattress moved as something at the foot of the bed stirred.
Cadance was curled up atop the covers, presumably awoken by Twilight’s weight shifting on the mattress. They were both lying on what Twilight now recognized as the biggest bed she’d ever slept in. They were in some sort of suite, with expensive looking antique furniture and Spursian rugs everywhere. It was certainly a step up from her quarters aboard Sky Chaser’s ship.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out, but judging from the décor and the faint whine of propeller engines, the Saddle Arabians had pulled through and rescued them.
The bed shook violently and a fraction of a moment later she felt herself wrapped up in a hug so tight it made her a little light-headed. Cadance had buried her face into Twilight’s shoulder and begun sobbing.
“I-I was so s-scared that you wouldn’t w-wake up…” Cadance managed to stutter out between sobs.
It was unbecoming of a guard to let herself be embraced by her princess in this manner, and Twilight couldn’t have cared less. She wiggled out of Cadance’s embrace enough to scoot herself backwards, the silken bedding making the painful act a little easier, and propped herself against the headboard. Cadance followed her, pressing her face to Twilight’s chest and continuing to vent her emotions.
They stayed that way for a while, with Cadance bawling into Twilight’s chest, soaking her coat with tears and snot. At some point while comforting her princess, Twilight had begun crying as well.
So much had happened in such a short period of time, and to finally be free of the curse was such a relief that Twilight felt as though she’d been unearthed after being buried alive. Twilight couldn’t bring herself to so fully embrace catharsis the way Cadance had. Maybe she was just too tired for it, or maybe the gravity of what they’d escaped still hadn’t fully hit her. Either way, the silent tears rolling down her face were release enough to be comforting for now.
After some time, Cadance’s tears slowed to a trickle. Twilight stroked her princess’ back soothingly, watching with amusement as the older girl hiccupped like a foal after a crying fit. Twilight nearly chuckled as she realized that they would look rather silly if anypony walked in on them, with the alicorn curled up like a child in the embrace of a smaller mare.
“How long have I been out?” Twilight asked.
“Two days,” Cadance answered with a final hiccup. “We’re about two more from Canterlot at current speed.”
Cadance sniffed loudly and sat up, running the back of her hoof across her nose like an ill-mannered tomboy. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked sheepishly.
Twilight looked at the mess on her chest and chuckled. “It’s fine, you couldn’t help it. When you cry, excess tears enter the nasolacrimal duct and drain into the nasal passages, causing your nose to run. It’s honestly more tears than mucus… and I probably need a bath anyway.”
Cadance flashed a watery smile as her horn lit up. The sound of splashing water brought Twilight’s attention to a large bowl sitting next to Cadance’s crown on the bureau near the bed. A big, fluffy sponge was ringing itself out under Cadance’s command and floated over to dab at the mess she’d made of Twilight’s coat.
Twilight’s cheeks began burning as the realization struck that she might’ve already had a bath without knowing.
“I’m not sorry about this,” Cadance explained as she finished cleaning Twilight and dumped the sponge back into the bowl. “Well… I am, but, this wasn’t what I was sorry for a second ago…”
Cadance reached out and pulled Twilight’s hoof closer, stroking it tenderly as she chewed her lip. Fresh tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over.
“It’s all my fault,” she said. “If I hadn’t been so selfish, then our lives would’ve never been in danger. You would’ve never gotten hurt! Sky Chaser wouldn’t have died!”
Twilight pulled the other girl back into an embrace and shushed her gently.
“Don’t ever be sorry for trying to do the right thing.” Twilight pressed her cheek against the top of Cadance’s head, breathing in the pleasant smell of sweat and the lingering sweetness of shampoo as she nuzzled the distraught princess. After spending two days building up a sweat from marching across the desert and battling nightmares in an ancient, stuffy crypt, the smell of the other mare was absolute heaven.
“It all worked out in the end,” she continued. “We lived, and we even brought back Basenji’s brother.”
“But we didn’t all live… Sky Chaser died…” Cadance protested.
“He doesn’t hold it against you, and he doesn’t think you should hold it against yourself.”
Cadance pulled away, shaking her head and rubbing her hooves together abashedly. “You can’t know that.”
Twilight considered pulling her back into the hug, just so she could bury her face back into the other girl’s mane, but a second thought on it made her blush at how creepy that sounded in her head so she decided against it.
“When I went to go fight Anubis,” she began to explain, “he knocked me out. I ended up in a nightmare, but I was able to fight it off. When it was over Sky Chaser was there with me in the dream.”
Cadance’s eyes went wide, and it took her a moment to process this information before she could ask, “How’s that possible?”
“Remember when Basenji was saying that his ancestors were able to talk to them through their dreams? Seems that it’s not something diamond dogs have the monopoly on.”
Cadance sat there, staring at Twilight in shock until she finally managed to give a whispered, “Wow…”
“You think you’re surprised?” Twilight snickered. “Imagine what it was like for me to have that old grump just appearing in the middle of my dream like that. Anyway, he said I should make sure you knew not to blame yourself for what happened. I don’t think he’s happy about how things turned out, but he’s not bitter. It was just bad luck.”
Cadance flopped over, laying her head down on the humongous, fluffy pillow next to Twilight as she stared at the ceiling in obvious contemplation.
Twilight yawned and began working some of the kinks out of her body from where she sat. The bed was much softer than anything she’d ever had before, and while she was sure it was luxurious beyond the dreams of a commoner, the lack of support was making her miss the stiff government-issue mattress in her quarters back at the barracks. Maybe it was the throbbing, full-body pain she was experiencing that was hampering her ability to enjoy the doubtlessly expensive bed, but she was beginning to suspect that she was strictly a firm-mattress girl.
The silk sheets were definitely nice though, and she resolved to spend her next paycheck – provided it didn’t end up being her last paycheck – on a set for herself. That seemed like a good investment.
“How’d you do it…?”
Twilight looked up from the sheets as the material spilled smoothly between her hooves, and hummed curiously at the bed’s other occupant. “Hm? How’d I do what?”
“The dream,” Cadance said. “How’d you manage to shake off the dream curse? When I went under, I saw…” Cadance hesitated, shooting a furtive glance at Twilight out the corner of her eye before quickly looking away again. “…I saw somepony who told me horrible things…”
Twilight turned towards Cadance, inhaling sharply as the shift in position put pressure on the wound across her flank. Cadance made to get up, but Twilight waved her down with a smile and gingerly wiggled herself into a comfortable posture.
“What kind of horrible things?” Twilight gently urged.
“Things that I was afraid of,” Cadance replied timidly. “She said that Sky Chaser’s death was my fault, that I’d never live up to everypony’s expectations, that I’d never do anything that ever made a difference…”
Cadance shot one last glance at Twilight and rolled over, turning her back to the other girl. “She also said that… that even though I’m the Princess of Love, I’d die without ever knowing what love really is…”
Fear had become something of a brother to Twilight in the last few days. That time had been spent in a state of near-perpetual terror, and she knew it had been the same for Cadance and Basenji. Twilight felt that she was personally acquainted with fear well enough at this point to recognize it when she heard it in another pony’s voice. Twilight’s heart began to ache at how thickly fear laced the other girl’s words, and it gave her a pretty good idea of how close Cadance had come to the worst possible outcome of her confrontation with her tormentor.
“I almost didn’t beat it,” Twilight admitted with a sigh. “I saw Shining Armor in my dream, and he was pushing all the right buttons to hurt me. I wanted to give in, to let myself go. In fact, I did let go…”
Twilight took a deep breath, letting her head fall back against the headboard as she watched the ceiling fan spin silently. She could feel the bed move as Cadance rolled over again.
“But then I heard your voice,” she continued. “I don’t know how, but I heard you crying, calling my name from somewhere far away…”
Twilight felt her hoof being taken again as Cadance pulled it to her chest and hugged it tightly enough that Twilight could feel the other girl’s heartbeat.
“You saved my life, Cadance,” Twilight told her as a matter of fact. “First with that shield when that thing threw a chunk of stone at me, and then again when you called to me in my dream.”
“I was saying your name,” Cadance said with a sniffle. “In my dream, you were the pony that was taunting me. You must’ve heard my voice through our connection.”
Twilight blinked. “Connection?”
“The crush.”
Twilight sputtered in surprise. She reflexively tried to pull her arm free of Cadance’s grasp, but it was pinned to the other girl’s chest by that ridiculous alicorn strength.
“What crush!?” Twilight asked, her face aglow with an embarrassed flush.
“The one you’ve had since that first day we met, silly,” Cadance said with a soft, musical chuckle. “Don’t pretend. I’m the Princess of Love, remember? Didn’t I mention a few times that I could sense the emotional states of others? Did you think you were exempt from that?”
“M-maybe…” Twilight stuttered, feeling silly even as she said it.
Twilight felt the grip on her hoof loosen as Cadance sat up. The princess gently touched her chin, turning her head so they could face each other.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” Cadance soothed. “Everypony has crushes. They’re the most common type of love there is. In a pony’s life she might have a dozen, a hundred, a thousand crushes. A crush is the smallest, briefest kind of love, but that brevity makes it strong. A crush burns hot, intense like a spark, and like a spark it can be nurtured into a great big roaring fire that lasts for as long as it’s fed.”
Cadance reached up and brushed away a strand of hair from Twilight’s face.
“Crushes are the Love of Infinite Possibilities. It’s a fork in the road that can completely change the direction of a pony’s life. Most times, we ignore these detours, and leave them behind as we continue on our way. Other times, if we’re brave or curious enough, we follow them in the hopes that the choice we’ve made takes us somewhere more beautiful than where we were heading before.”
Twilight’s entire body began to tingle with electric excitement. A deep scarlet flush had filled Cadance’s cheeks, matching her own. It was quite a sight, to see the living embodiment of all things Love blushing like a school-filly, and in that moment Twilight knew that she’d never forget the sight of it.
“The crush you felt… and the one that was growing in me as I watched how hard you worked trying to take care of everyone… created a connection between us, and that kind of connection can cross any divide.”
They sat there for a while, staring into one another’s eyes, each waiting for the other to do something. The moment stretched on, becoming tense and awkward as neither of them dared to make the first move.
“Or at least that’s my theory on it!” Cadance shouted nervously. She released Twilight’s hoof and turned away, toying frantically with her own hair.
Twilight groaned painfully, letting her head fall back with a loud thunk against the headboard. She had conquered a supernatural manifestation of fear conjured by a Death God, but she was too spooked to kiss a pretty girl? The irony of it would’ve been funny if it weren’t so damned vexing.
“So like…” Cadance began cautiously. “Like in the old storybooks and stuff, whenever a princess gets saved by her knight, she always grants him – or her – a favor, right? I was thinking, like, maybe my favor could be to take you on a date, or like, if you prefer it I could let you take me?”
Twilight’s eyes went wide at the offer.
“I know what you’re going to say!” Cadance added, her words gushing out of her. “You’re going to say that it’s improper for a guard to date a princess! But to that I say that I would like to cite precedent on the matter! Now, I don’t know if you know this, but the original Royal Guard—”
“Let’s do it,” Twilight said quickly, eager to make up for the opportunity she’d just lost.
“—was made up of Aunt Celestia’s potential suitors! I don’t know if she ever actually entertained romance with any of them, she never gave me a straight answer on that, but…” Cadance blinked. “Wait, did you just agree?”
Twilight smirked wryly. “Let’s give it a try. I don’t know if I’m good enough for you or anything like that, but I get the feeling that if I said no Sky Chaser would spend the rest of his afterlife haunting me.”
Cadance nodded almost violently, the grin on her face as wide and bright as any Twilight had ever seen. “Yes! Yes, you should definitely date me in order to avoid ghostly reprisal! That is the correct choice!”
“We’re probably going to have to hold off on that date, though,” Twilight added seriously. “We still need to find out what’s going on back home. If something’s happened to Princess Celestia, then we might be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
“Oh!” Cadance cried out, slapping a hoof on the bed excitedly. “Oh, it completely slipped my mind! When Basenji and I dragged you out of the cave, the sun had risen again! We still don’t know what happened that kept Aunt Celestia from raising it before – we can find out the specifics once we get home – but whatever it was it seems like it’s over already.”
It took a few moments for Twilight to metaphorically pick her jaw up off the ground. “Oh…” was all she could say.
At least that was one less thing to worry about.
“Where is Basenji, anyway?” Twilight asked. “I don’t imagine he’s on the ship with us headed for Canterlot.”
“No, the Saddle Arabians sent him home on another airship at my request,” Cadance answered with a shake of her head. “I pulled some strings and got them to leave a contingency of guards to take care of the Necropolis until Basenji could arrange for his pack to secure the city for themselves.”
“That’s good,” Twilight sighed, relieved in the knowledge that her new friend was also on his way home. “I might not like the place, but it’s an important archaeological discovery for diamond dogs. That place has meaning for them, so I’m sure they’ll send somedog qualified to oversee its study right away.”
The sound of the bureau opening drew her attention, and she watched as a cloth bundle levitated out of an opened drawer, suspended from the knot by the blue aura of Cadance’s magic.
“He left this for you,” Cadance explained as she set the package on the bed. “Be careful. I don’t know what this thing is, but touching it with my magic does weird things.”
“Weird things?” Twilight asked as the cloth bundle fell between them on the bed.
“Yeah,” Cadance said with a frown. “I tried to levitate it, but I couldn’t lift it, and trying gave me a really bad headache for a few minutes.”
Twilight reached for the package, her curiosity now greatly piqued, but stopped as she felt a cramp in her gut. A burbling noise from deep inside Twilight reminded her of the MRE that had been her last meal. The pre-packaged meals had remarkable shelf-life, and were chock full of calories, but nopony would ever accuse them of being even remotely digestible.
Cadance snickered in amusement as she pointed to one of the two doors in the room. “We’ve got a private bath,” she explained.
Twilight threw off the covers and hobbled painfully to the door.
“I’ll take a peek in the galley and see if I can talk the chef into making us some breakfast,” Cadance called as the other girl hurried away.
A few minutes later, Twilight had finished her business and headed straight back to bed. She felt better, but she definitely didn’t feel well. Her empty stomach was now angry with hunger, demanding sustenance, but it would have to be patient until Cadance came back with their meal.
She crawled back onto the bed, her joints still stiff as she carefully pulled herself onto the high mattress. It occurred to her that the bed was probably this large to accommodate an average Saddle Arabian frame, which meant that it was designed with somepony as large as Princess Celestia in mind.
With tremendous effort, Twilight was able to settle back into her place on the bed. The indentation she’d left in the plush mattress was still warm, and slightly damp with sweat.
She reached her hooves for the gift that Basenji had left her and immediately felt the familiar shape of the discus. She undid the knot with a tug of magic, revealing the item in question along with a plain white envelope with her name written in surprisingly elegant lettering.
She set the letter aside and picked up the ring between her hooves. She hadn’t gotten a good look at it back in the throne room, but now that she had time to look it over she realized it was quite a beautiful piece of metalcraft.
It was a simple ring, about the diameter of a large dinner plate. The outside of the ring was flattened into a bladed edge, though time had worn away much of the sharpness it may have once had. Here and there were little nicks and gouges in the steel, showing that the discus had seen some action even before she’d gotten her hooves on it. The ring was clearly old, but curiously the steel was free of tarnish or rust.
Along the surface was some sort of embedded design that she thought was decorative at first blush, but the more she looked at it, the more it seemed like writing. There was more of the same on the reverse side, but no matter how she turned her head it just looked like gibberish.
She chewed her lip thoughtfully. Cadance had said that she couldn’t levitate the ring, but Twilight had not only been able to levitate it back in the throne room, it had been nearly effortless to do so.
She lit her horn, just brushing the thing with the barest touch of her magic, and the response from the ring was immediate. Again she could hear the hum and the tattoo of distant drumming, though it was far less pronounced than it had been the first time she’d experienced it. She fed more magic into the spell, lifting the ring without strain.
“Very curious,” Twilight muttered to herself as she set the ring down.
She picked up the envelope and removed the letter inside.
Friend Twilight Sparkle,
It is my hope that this letter reaches you in health, as Friend Cadance and I have been greatly worried for your recovery. I also hope that this missive is pleasing to read. It is my seventh attempt at such, for I wish my words to be plain and clear to you.
The debt I and my pack owe to you is eternal, and can never be repaid. Should you ever require our aid, you have only need to ask. From this day until the final, you are a Sister to all dogs of my pack.
Dingo is well, though he has not spoken a word since following us out of the Necropolis. The Old Dogs speak to us and give us wisdom, and I believe he may have learned some great Truth – something which he must never speak. Regardless, my joy is boundless to have my brother alive. It is strange to feel this joy while also feeling so great a sorrow for the loss of so many dogs, as well as that of Friend Sky Chaser.
The item I have left with this missive is known as a chakram. I do not know why, but Dingo insisted that you have it, and I have agreed. Please consider it the first meager payment of our Unpayable Debt.
The chakram is an ancient weapon of dogs, though this knowledge I only know from songs. The art of properly wielding such a device has been lost to time, so its usage has fallen out of favor. The script it bears is intriguing, and holds no resemblance to anything I have ever seen before. I have made rubbings of it, and will take them to my father, as he may know more. Furthermore, the chakram itself seems to react strangely to the Ways. Would that I could have had more time to study such a wondrous thing, but soon the ships will be departing.
I have studied the amulet that Dingo wore. Once again, I have only old songs to draw wisdom from, but I believe it to be a device for sealing powerful spirits. Dingo has said nothing, and you are infirmed, so I may only speculate that Great Anubis had been sealed within. Was Dingo vessel to Great Anubis? Judging from the damage it sustained, my beliefs regarding the nature of his silence, and the fact that he alone survived, it would seem so.
This troubles me greatly. Great Anubis, angered or not, would never have lured the others to the Necropolis only to bind his power in such a way. And the amulet would never have held him indefinitely. The question is thus raised: Who, or what, would have wished to have Great Anubis temporarily bound to mortal flesh? What benefit would they have reaped by such a plot? I fear this may not be the last of our troubles.
Finally, a personal observation, and a piece of advice. It would seem that Friend Cadance is greatly taken with you. When you fell unconscious, she bore you upon her back, refusing my help and insisting that she carry you alone. She cares much for you, and I suggest you cherish her affections.
May your heart beat for all time,
Basenji
Twilight skimmed the letter a few more times, paying especially close attention to Basenji’s theory about a mysterious third-party, and studiously ignoring the embarrassing final paragraph with each reread. The idea that there was another player in this game hadn’t crossed her mind until now, but now that it was in her head, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was right on the money. She’d been killing herself trying to find what she thought was the final piece of the puzzle of why things had happened the way they had, but it seemed like there were still pieces missing.
And if Twilight hated anything, it was an unfinished puzzle.
It was a problem for another day. She folded the letter and stuffed it back into the envelope with a sigh.
Her hoof brushed against the cold metal of the discus – the ‘chakram’, Basenji had called it – and she reached for it with her magic. Once more she felt the hum and heard the drums. It was pleasant, warm even. The first time it had been startlingly loud, and the second it was less so. Now, the beating of the drums had faded into the background. It was still present, but only noticeable if she searched for it, like the beating of her own heart. She felt a connection with it that seemed to strengthen with every application of magic, and it filled her with a sense that the chakram was actually hers. That it really belonged to her.
She spun the ring lazily on the tip of her hoof. It was just another piece of the puzzle, as far as she was concerned.
The door opened and Cadance walked in, pushing along a service cart piled with silver serving trays.
“Room service!” she announced cheerfully as she levitated a domed cover off one of the serving trays to reveal a stack of pancakes as big as her head. She blinked in surprise as she saw Twilight toying with the thing Basenji had left her. “Hey! How are you doing that?”
Twilight looked at Cadance, then looked at the chakram as it continued to spin on her hooftip, then looked back to Cadance.
“You know what?” she asked with a laugh. “I got no idea.”
* * *
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More chapters for the book throne!
I DEMAND MORE
Yes! "This Arc" Huzzah! And oooh, fun with ranged weapon for pain and xena'ing.
I love this story.
More Twiguard in the future equals a watch and my continued support for you, King of Beggars.
It's almost over?
Oh well, it was a good read
Am definitely excited
And next they learn about Nighmare moon returns... Just another piece of the puzzle.
i really liked this story this chapter and i do hope for more. ^_^
Warrior Princess Twilight! I like.
Very well done. Really enjoyed this chapter.
5649884
suggests there's gonna be more... Hopefully alot more
also: Magic weapon get.
5649992 The true evil lies behind these meager gods like Nightmare Moon and Anubis. The elements of harmony were only a setback!
I like it, please write more.
Ooooooh awesome :D
I respectfully put in a request for more!
great chapter
Really awesome chapter! You have me lost in the catharsis of the climax's end and the anticipation of what is to come. I personally can't wait to find out how Luna was redeemed. Or Celestia's reaction to what Cadence and Twilight were up to.
Or the budding romance.
5649884
Tis not!
whoa whooooa fimfiction just because this chapter put the story back on the front page does NOT mean you don't have to notify me of said chapter
5650062 Best day ever!
I'm liking this version of Twilight! I would like to know how things change in the future as a result of this twist! Does this mean that she will be sister to an Alicorn Prince?
YOU BETTER FREAKING HOPE THERE IS MORE
OR
I. WILL. FIND. YOU!!!!
Now who would gain from having the god of death indisposed, someone that was dead perhaps and maybe the same being was also responsible for Nightmare Moon, to keep Celestia occupied.
The Plot thickens, i await the next chapter and the revelations it might contain.
"And then Warrior Princess Twilight Sparkle threw her mighty chakram at Dark Stallion, and..."
"I'm not a Princess, Pinkie..."
This is a damn good story and I look forward to any sequels that follow.
When it first started, I thought Anubis was manipulating Twilight to make her break the shield protecting Cadence and Basenji. Thankfully it didn't go that way. This AU is looking pretty interesting, of course I like that late 19th century feel. If only I could get my friends interested in a RPG set in that era.
In no uncertain turn must I point out that this IS BY FAR ONE OF THE GREATEST STORIES I HAVE EVER READ. And on another note I have to say I told you so!!! The story grew just like I said it would. I want to keep reading and reading till the very end of the time line, I just can't get enough and I know everypony else feels the same way. The characters have so much depth and really feel genuine that I can believe this is a true alternate cannon. To not continue this story would be a crime against all pony and human kind alike. I cannot give this story enough praise and I will stop trying at this point. I cannot wait for the next installment.
Another fantastic chapter. I look forward to the next!
I'm probably going to end up being wrong, but here's my guess on this universe's Elements of Harmony (which hopefully Twilight and Cadence will find out about in the next chapter):
Magic- Shining Armor (obviously!)
Honesty- Big Macintosh
Loyalty- Applejack
Laughter- Rainbow Dash
Generosity- Thunderlane
Kindness- Lyra
This is Grade-A meme material right here, minus that grammar mishap.
I won't lie, I wasn't expecting Sky Chaser to come back in any way, shape, or form. I knew someone needed to die to illustrate exactly what was at stake, and Sky Chaser was the only viable choice of the four characters. Too often it's the case that side characters who get killed off never leave a lasting impact on the story, so seeing Sky Chaser come back to reassure Twilight was a refreshing surprise. Props to you good sir/madam.
I eagerly await the epilogue, as well as more TwiGuard afterwards.
5650535 i think its the same main cast except with shining instead of twilight i would like to see a cantorlot wedding in this universe though thatd be interesting
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5650062
Whoops!
I'm aware of more to come, I actually meant that I was sad that this arc was coming to an end 
Sorry for any confusion
5650833
Ah. sorry dude.
Quite excellent. I will gladly read as many chapters of this as you feel inclined to write. Also, I love the way the chapter name connects the story with Egyptian mythology.
You are a wise and kind king to gift us with a story such as this.
5650837 No worries
THAT IS AMAZING!!!
The battle was epic! Also, you made Twilight Sparkle something new!!! She isn't a copy paste of Shining Armor!! :D
The Twilight and Cadence won me over too. Oh my!
Thank you for deciding to continue. I'm so excited to join you on your journey.
May you guide us to only glory!
signed,
honeyhoneyhoney
I'd never considered this particular ship before I found this fic, but the way you've handled it?
i.imgur.com/2ktlHq0.jpg
I really like this story hope to read more soon
5650535
I just HAVE to say this..... your user name is right!
I love this story there should be more stories that have Twilight as a Royal Guard
hope more soon love this
I always feel a little sad when stories stop at a point like the end of this chapter. I need to know how it wraps up...all those little threads...
In short, gotta have dem epilogs.
I adore this interpretation of Twilight and Cadence. It's so often you see those "good" ol cardboard cutouts and let's be frank, those are boring. To have flat characters bloom out in new directions like this is a delight. Sky Chaser and Basenji were just as great. Drum magics mmmm...
If there's more stories to come then I'm on board and buckled in, fire when ready. And that's enough mixed metaphors in one sentence I think.
OMG.
I look forward to the day you make that story where the characters from canon and your story collide.
*sighs wistfully* Of course... if it ever happens. At least we can dream. :3
....Would be hilarious to see Cadence's reaction.
I think one of my favorite aspects of this story is that it's not just a simple role reversal, but is actually a complete, stand-alone story that hinges on that critical difference in the role reversal, and then explores how else the world may be different because of it.
As others have said the impressive thing about this story is that you've taken the idea of Twilight Sparkle as a royal guard and played it out with sincerity. There were the threads of more familiar things placed at the beginning, her obsession with books, her desire to solve puzzles, her ability to work out complex problems that required lots of details, her savant like talent with magic, but you also wove through that her rigid discipline, her skill with combat, and her desire to protect the people who mattered. I didn't realize how well this was combined until the scene here where Twilight confronts Anubis in the Dreamtime and it is the combination of Magic and Duty that makes her who she is, and makes her markedly different than cannon Twilight. I find it to be a very compelling alloy.
I liked the presentation of Diamond Dog culture (even with the hints of the "Vanishing Native" trope) as something richer than presented in the show, and would enjoy seeing more of this explored, both the Old Ways of the drummers and the contemporary Dogs of today. Basenji was a fun, well-rounded character. It would be nice to see him and Dingo again.
Remaining pertinent questions of course are:
1.) How are the events in the Necropolis tied to the events of Nightmare Moon's return?
2.) Who and/or what bound Anubis to this mortal realm and why?
3.) What exactly is the nature and history of the chakram now in Twlight Sparkle's possession?
4.) Why is it Hers?
5.) Who resolved Nightmare Moon's return and how?
6.) Is Luna back?
7.) What is Shining Armor's Way?
I'm eager for the epilogue and glad to see more TwiGuard in the future.
Edit/PS: I have a headcannon as to how this story was created in your head. You were thinking about what would happen if Twilight and Shining Armor switched their roles in life. Serendipitously, "Dog Days Are Over" by Florence and the Machine was playing at this exact moment. Or maybe your were just listening to the album Lungs in its entirety.
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I consider this to be one of the core principles of good fanfiction. Make one change of any intensity, let that change ripple, consider what is altered, and then write about the effects with sincerity and fearlessness.
5651732
I believe the exact same thing when trying someone's "interpretation" of carne asada.
The return for that is usually indigestion, though, so fan fiction is the safer bet all around.
I'd like to read more Twiguard ,yes. I really liked this story =)
.... and now Twi will be called Xena in my head for the rest of the story. she'll get the full title once she inevitably marries Cadence.
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You know, funny enough. In the Fimfic chat, a friend and I have had a running joke going about writing a Kamen Rider Decade crossover. In it a version of Twilight is travelling across the multiverse and screwing with different timelines in order to destroy the universe. In such a story Guard Twi and canon Twi would definitely meet up to battle Twicade.
This is also the fault of Twicade.
The story's coming to a end? Ah that's a shame, usually i have nothing but respect for authors who wish to end their projects when they feel its right, (not that i don't respect yours) but I felt like this story had so much more potential to expand. Well either way, very much enjoyed the journey it was a fun and interesting ride.