• Published 16th Aug 2015
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Twilight's Twinlight - Autum Breeze



After his sudden death on his way to school due to an idiot driver, Ken Williams wakes up to find himself as a strange quadruped with wings and a horn.

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Chapter 18

Chapter 18

___________________________________________________________

“Very well. You are dismissed, Cornell,” Celestia nodded.

The brown armour clad stallion before her nodded back, saluting, before walking out of the tent, leaving the Alicorn alone.

The white pony heaved a heavy sigh, looking over the reports.

Sombra’s forces had been pushed back from the eastern border, but it come with heavy casualties.

When will this pointless war end? she thought gloomily, glancing to a portrait of herself and Luna. It was from the Summer Sun Celebration last year, the day Luna had returned to Equestria. Nightmare Moon had tried, but she was inexperienced with the new world and it had given Celestia enough time to corner her in magical runic circles, freeing her sister.

That day felt like eons ego now. This war had barely gone a year and it already felt like it had gone longer than she had been separated from her sister.

“Your Highness?” Celestia looked up to see one of the soldiers. “Admiral Sparkle to see you, Ma’am. Along with some… odd guests.”

Celestia arched an eyebrow. Why would Admiral Sparkle come to their base? And why no prior message? And who could these guests be?

“Send her in,” she replied, putting away the reports and composing herself.

A few moments later, a lavender unicorn walked in. her left eye was white, a large scar going in a diagonal line across it. Patches of her fur were permanently black and she walked with a slight limp to her left hind legs.

The unicorn saluted. “Princess.”

Celestia nodded. “Admiral. To what do I owe this sudden visit?”

The Admiral frowned. “A very perplexing situation, Your Highness. Just yesterday I received word from Ponyville of a trio whom aided in the capture of a Changeling who was posing as Break Away of the fifteenth battalion.”

Celestia stood a little more attentive at that. A Changeling? They had been quiet for quite some time. They had tried infiltrating the army?

“However, it is the trio that aided in the Changeling’s capture who are more of interest, Princess,” Admiral Sparkle continued. “They… well, it might honestly be easier if you meet them yourself. They’re in tent twenty-two. We thought it better not to have them walking through camp yet until we can clear some things up. Sargent Shimmer is currently with them.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed slightly. This sounded odd.

She got up and followed Admiral Sparkle out of her tent, nodding to each of her soldiers as she passed them by. Arriving at the tent, she entered to see a curtain between the entrance and the main interior. Behind the curtain she could see the silhouettes of two ponies.

She moved to walk forward, but Admiral Sparkle held out a foreleg, a puzzled look on her face. “You’ll want to brace yourself, Princess. It’s… odd, to put it lightly.”

The Alicorn cocked an eyebrow, but nodded, taking a deep breath and bracing herself… but even with the warning, there was no way in Equestria she was the least bit prepared for what she saw.

Passing through the curtain, loud voices reached her ears, indicating a silencing spell had been placed over the curtain to prevent the ponies from within being heard.

“I don’t care, Ken! You know I have more magical prowess than any of those unicorns. Spike’s chances are far better if I go with the mages!” said a voice she had just heard next to her.

“Twilight, I understand your frustrations, believe me! But we need to speak with Celestia before we do anything else. Until then, we have to trust that the mages will take good care of him. From the sounds of this Sunburst, his magical skills may be lacking, but his knowledge is invaluable,” an identical voice argued back.

It was what her eyes saw, however, that held the Alicorn in place, her heart leaping into her chest.

Before her stood two lavender mares, identical to the Admiral… save several key differences. Neither sported the injures of the Admiral… and both were Alicorns. Not only that, one had a mane styled in a very far too familiar to the ruler of the sun.

The two mares argued a few moments more, before the one on the left seemed to take notice of her and gasped, “Princess Celestia?!”

The other turned and Celestia’s eyes widened as their eyes met.

“Celestia,” the second said, standing up. “We have much we need to speak of. If you would please —”

She cut herself off as Celestia cast a quick spell, before the taller mare’s eyes watered and she ran to the other, holding her in a close embrace.

“I… um… Okay,” the second mare sounded very taken aback, if also with a confused quiver in her voice as she did her best to wrap her own forelegs around the larger pony. “Not… quite the reaction I was expecting.”

___________________________________________________________

“And that’s our tale, Princess,” Twilight finishes our tale.

It’s several minutes after our… surprising introduction to the Celestia of this timeline.

What’s odd is, when she hugged me like that, as shocking as it was, I was left beyond confused as I not only felt odd being hugged by her like that, I also felt an overwhelming warmth in my heart, as if an ache had been there for a long time and it had suddenly vanished.

What in the world has Starlight’s meddling with the timeline does to my emotions? They’re all over the place now!

Celestia oddly seemed a bit depressed as we told our tale, as if something she’d been hoping for had been denied to her, though she didn’t say what. She didn’t even acknowledge when questioned about it by Twilight’s unicorn double.

“So, in your timeline, Cadance did not lose to King Sombra, but won?” said double asks, looking stunned.

I nod, before frowning. “And, honestly, I think I know why. There’s a key thing that was missing from the Empire in this timeline that ours had that yours did not.”

“My son, Spike,” Twilight says, causing her other self to looked stunned.

“I’m a mother in your time?” she asks, looking flabbergasted. “Who’s the stallion I ended up with?”

I shake my head. “My sister has not settled down with anypony. She hatched Spike all on her own.”

That causes an eyebrow to raise on the lavender unicorn. “Hatched? Since when do foals “hatch”?”

Twilight shakes her head. “Spike isn’t a pony. He’s a dragon. He was the dragon in the egg from the test for Celestia’s school.”

There’s a pause, before the unicorn’s eyes widen. “That egg was actually ALIVE?!”

I nod. “However, that is neither here nor there at the moment.” I look to the white pony. “Celestia, while this is not our own timeline, we cannot leave you fighting this war when there’s a chance to stop it.”

At this, the other unicorn scoffs. To think the Sunset of this timeline returned and joined the fight to save the land she’d originally intended to conquer. “Stop it? You two? You may very be Alicorn versions of the Admiral, but I hardly see how we can just end this war like that,” she makes a snapping sound with her hoof… I still do not understand pony biology, even after all this time.

Twilight frowns. “We’re not saying we can end it all at once. We’re saying we can help. As stated, Ken and I are both Alicorns and both with a talent for magic. I may not have much experience with actual fighting beyond my battle with Tirek, but my magical skills can be put to use and Ken comes from a world far more acquainted with war. I’m pretty sure she’d know more about than you do, Admiral.”

“Besides, we have to stay for three months and a few weeks so Spike can be thawed out of the Changeling sap and recover. Til then, we’re at Equestria’s service.”

Sunset Shimmer snorts. “Unless you can help us figure out a way to restrain Sombra or lead us to the Crystal Heart, there’s no way you could help.”

Twilight smirks. “As a matter of fact, regarding the latter, we can.”

“And the restraining?” the Admiral asks, cocking an eyebrow.

“Well, that one I’m not so sure of,” I admit, frowning.

“Wait a moment,” Celestia blinks, looking to me. “This Starlight Glimmer, has she come to our timeline as well?”

I pause, before shrugging. “It’s honestly hard to say. It would make sense, but I don’t know for sure. For all we know, she could still be in the past, unaware of what she’s caused.”

“And you said you first encountered this Starlight Glimmer was in a village, yes?” the taller pony asked.

I nod. “Yes.”

“How exactly could she have managed to seal all those Cutie Marks in a simple vault?” she inquires. “Surely it was more than just something carved into stone.”

“Well, I guess the stones in that cave might’ve had some magical properties,” Twilight says, scratching her chin. “But, I fail to see how this has any reference to now, Princess.”

“Wait.” Sunset’s eyes are wide. “She used the stones to hold Cutie Marks?” The yellow unicorn looks to the lavender one, who’s eyes also widen with understanding.

“Um, care to fill those of us who don’t speak “not speaking” on what you’re getting at here?” I ask, waving a hoof in the air. “How is Starlight using the stones to hold Cutie Marks in any way supposed to help stop a mad tyrant like King Sombra?”

“Is it possible this Starlight Glimmer could still be in that village in this timeline?” Sunset asks unicorn Twilight.

“It’s possible,” she nods, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “If she did indeed come out of the time vortex upon the alteration to the timeline, it is possible she did so back in her village. If our Alicorn counterpart didn’t exist in this timeline to go stop her there, there’s a chance the village hasn’t changed. She could still be there…”

“And so could the stones,” Celestia nods, before looking to Twilight. “Princess Twilight, I must ask you to relay all the details of the location of this Starlight Glimmer’s village to Sergeant Shimmer. You may very well have given us the edge we may need to turn the tide of this war.”

“WOULD SOMEPONY START MAKING SENSE ALREADY?!” I boom in the RCV, breathing heavily.

The taller Alicorn and two unicorns look to me, puzzled.

“What do you mean?” Twilight’s double asks.

“What do I mean?” I feel my eye twitch. “What do you mean? None of you have actually explained anything to us! What does Starlight’s village have to do with this? How can stones from the cave she held the Cutie Marks in be of any importance? How could it in any way turn the tide of the war? Start making sense, ponies!”

There’s silence for several moments, before Celestia blinks, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. “Oh… uh, yes. We… didn’t explain to you, did we?” She shakes her head, giving a sheepish smile. “My apologies. Many of us have gotten used to thinking on the same wavelength and we forget for a moment you have not.”

“Decidedly not,” Twilight backs me up. “I’m just as confused as Ken. Just what do you need Starlight’s village for? We don’t need her to cast the spell for myself, Ken and Spike to send us back to the past again to stop her from causing this timeline again. We have the scroll and either Ken or myself can easily cast it, no problem. So, why do we need Starlight?”

“Aside from the fact that any powerful unicorn would aid in the war,” Sunset says firmly, “we can use those cave against Sombra.”

Twilight and I look to each other, then back at the yellow mare, eyebrows raised.

“I’m failing to get your meaning, Sunset,” I say bluntly.

“Sombra has no Cutie Mark,” Admiral Sparkle says triumphantly.

There’s a pause.

“Come again?” Twilight says flatly.

“Through our spies and several rescued Crystal Ponies, we learned of a journal Sombra kept in the castle,” the Admiral says in a matter-of-fact tone, very reminiscent of a Twilight Lecture. “Though it cost him his life, a unicorn was able to sneak inside the castle and found the room where Sombra kept the journal. He got the information he learned from the journal to us.”

“Until now, we’d assumed it was a failed mission,” Sunset continues, a grin spreading across her lips. “Now, though? The information he gave us, plus what you have provided, may very have given us just what we need to get one over on that bastard!”

“Still clueless as to what you’re getting at over here,” I say in an annoyed tone.

“In the journal, Sombra wrote how he has no actual Cutie Mark,” Celestia says, looking firmly, yet gratefully at me. “His Cutie Mark is the darkness itself. In a sense, he is his Cutie Mark.”

“I still don’t understand why stones that could hold Cutie Marks back would be of any use against…” Twilight trails off, her eyes widening, “a pony who IS his Cutie Mark.”

I blink, frowning as I try going over everything they’ve been saying… before it clicks and I gasp. “No way! You don’t mean to say…”

“If we can lure Sombra into that cave, we can trap him in there, just as Starlight Glimmer held all her town’s Cutie Marks prisoner,” the Admiral nods. “If the stone was strong enough to hold the entire town and Princess Twilight’s own Cutie Mark, provided it’s empty of any others, it should hold Sombra back, no problem.”

“By Celestia… that’s insane!” I look to Twilight, who looks equally stunned. “Starlight herself was the key to fixing the problem she caused all along? That’s just… just…”

“Ironic,” Sunset smirks. “Now, all we need is you to give us the coordinates of her village and we can come up with a plan to lure Sombra there.”

___________________________________________________________

“Good thing I convinced Twilight to remain back with the mages helping Spike,” I say, looking over the ridge before me. “I don’t think she’d able to handle this.”

I am currently clad in armour like the rest of the soldiers, only mine has been given a more purple tint to differ it. Behind me is a mass of ponies, at least two hundred of them.

Below the ridge is a large barracks of Sombra’s forces.

“If what you and my sister’s Alicorn double have told us about this Starlight Glimmer are anything to go by, she is the reason Sombra’s forces have yet to advance beyond this point,” the white unicorn stallion standing next to me says, shifting his weight on his metal leg.

I nod, looking over the army below us, then to the sky, my eyes narrowed.

A few moments later, a cyan mare with a short-cut rainbow mane, a scar over her right eye, a chunk missing from her right ear and her right wing replaced with a metal one comes down from very high up and lands before us.

“Aerial recognisance complete, Ma’am,” she says, saluting. “About fifty soldiers. Sombra mustn’t care too much about this area.”

“He must not realize just how important it is yet,” Captain Shining Armour looks to me.

I nod. “Considering the reports I’ve read of the fights up til now, fighting all of Equestria is taking up a lot of his focus. He’s been relying on information from what he remembers of the past to get as far as he has. Likely he’s only heard of this place as an area that refuses to surrender. He has no idea how powerful Starlight Glimmer is, nor the treasure which she unknowingly possesses.”

“So, how will we attack, Your Highness?” Sergeant Dash looks to me.

I frown, rubbing my chin. “They likely won’t expect a daylight assault. Sombra is all about darkness, so his soldiers likely have means of seeing in the dark. We’d be at more of a disadvantage if we attack them at night.” I look to Shining. “Tell the troops we’ll be attacking in half an hour. Non lethal. I want no more lives being lost because of this war and want to minimize as much as we can.”

The stallion nods. “Understood.” He turns and heads over to tell them all.

“From what I hear, you come from a timeline where war isn’t a thing anymore,” Rainbow Dash looks to me with a cocked eyebrow. “How’re you so at ease about planning an attack?”

I remain silent, before looking to her. “To be perfectly honest with you, Rainbow Dash? I haven’t a clue.” I frown down at the ridge. “I know I’ve never fought in a war before, yet this feels familiar to me. As if I have done something similar before. The reason I feel at ease? I somehow know this is not as bad as it could be.”

Though, considering how bad human wars get, that latter idea makes sense. No way could this war against Sombra get as bad as the ones humans have had with each other over the years.

There’s no such thing as a magical nuclear bomb.

Then again, if this war rages on too long, that could very well become a possibility.

“I just hope you know what you’re talking about, ponies,” I murmur, looking in the direction of Starlight’s village, a place I have not been since I first arrived in the Equestria of the original timeline.

Author's Note:

So, i had an extra day off, so decided to use it to give you all a little extra something to tide you over until i can really get back to this on thursday.

Next chapter, Ken confronts Starlight... and gets quite the surprise.

So, why does Ken feel like she's been in a war before, when she knows she never fought in one as a human?

How will she fair in battle now? How do they plan on dealing with Sombra? And will Spike awaken to find something different about the two mares he arrived with?

You'll have to wait and see either this thursday or friday.

Til then, i hope you enjoyed this little dive into the Sombraverse and, til next time, later everybody