The Master Stroke
“Get a second heavy combat team scrambling to Ponyville, now!” Shadow-Walker barked, standing over Redsmith’s shoulder. On the main viewer was Prince Shining Armour in full battle armour and a fully charged horn, firing shots that impacted upon and cracked a green shield. Beyond that, a series of golden and coppery shots flew back and forth originating from outside the viewscreen’s area.
“Yes sir!” answered the operating tech as a scrolling list of dossiers appears on the wall in front of him. Highlighting a unicorn stallion’s face, Redsmith continued searching through the list.
Stall Lynn stepped forward. “Comrade Walker, wait. Check the surrounding area first.”
The president hit a few buttons on the central desk by the crystal ball. On the main screen appeared an exterior shot of Twilight’s Castle. There was something moving. She tapped another button, and the video paused. The image zoomed in on one of the moving things. Firing up her horn, Stall Lynn’s magic adjusted the colour on the screen. The figure in focus, without a doubt, was Fleetfoot, in her wingsuit. Further back in the image were two of Princess Luna’s bat-winged guards. The image zoomed out. There were easily two dozen aerial ponies circling the castle.
“Oh...ooh,” muttered Shadow-Walker, looking a little sheepish. “Never mind on the second combat team.”
The president laid her robe and regalia upon the central chair. Her cutie mark was a stone mason’s hammer and a farmer’s sickle crossed perpendicular in an X. “We shall have to hope Comrade Fields and Comrade Noon can hold on for a moment.”
“Ma’am, where are you going?” Shadow-Walker asked as she stepped toward lift doors.
President Lynn’s horn lit up and revealed a hidden panel. Lifting its lid, she tapped a few buttons. A faint aquamarine-ish coloured circle appeared on the floor, not much wider than a large pony. She stepped into its middle as she said, “To see to it they succeed.”
“Ma’am, are you sure?” Shadow-Walker asked with trepidation.
She curtly said, “We cannot allow any of the Shards to fall into the enemy’s hooves no matter what; they are dangerous enough without enemy analysis.”
“Of course.”
“Comrade Walker, you are to oversee Relocation Order Beta. Carry it out upon execution of The Master Stroke,” said the president. The room fell silent at her command. She looked across the ponies there, all of whom watched her intently. Somberly she continued, “If the worst is to come, you are to assume command of the Order and oversee its operations. Make sure The New Dawn comes.”
“As you wish, Madam President,” said Shadow-Walker with a heavy breath of anxiety. The president disappeared with a soft pop. He moved her regalia from the chair and set it on the desk, then plopped into the chair while shaking his head and holding it. He pulled out a bottle with a transparent cyan fluid and took a trio of gulps straight from it.
In a slightly queasy voice, Redsmith asked, “No tonic, just gin, sir?”
“Yeah. It’s one of those kinds of moments,” Shadow-Walker said as he set the bottle down. His entire face scrunched as he stuck out his tongue. “Eugh...that’s really not good straight....”
“Sir, what’s wrong?”
Shadow-Walker chuckled in disbelief. He shook his head, gave the bottle a hard look, and said, “Did you hear the tone in her voice?”
Redsmith blinked. “Yes...why? What are you getting at?”
“Redsmith, my good sir,” Shadow-Walker began with denial in his voice, “it sounds like she thinks she’s not coming back. I think she just named me President.”
Fallow Fields leapt to the side as magenta blast shattered his shield and smashed a chunk of the wall into rubble. Shining Armour advanced on him as his barding turned away coppery pulses that came from the side. A grinding noise sounded from The Green Shard pressing into compact shield over Twilight Sparkle’s unconscious body. A heavily burned Lyra fired lightning bolts at Fallow Fields a moment too late, as he had brought up another heavy spherical shield. Against the far wall lay High Noon’s hat with part of it missing and still smoldering. The director glared at her, snarling, “I knew we should have stopped that train!”
“By ‘stop,’ you mean ‘destroy,’ don’t you?” she snapped. Something off-white appeared in the pupils of her eyes momentarily.
“So what?” Fallow Fields dismissively answered.
Shining Armour fired off another barrage into Fallow Fields’ shield, causing cracking again. Two glowing white orbs, no bigger than a shooter marble, revolved around Lyra’s horn as it powered up. She barked, “There were hundreds of others aboard!”
“Again, so what?”
Shining Armour spat, “‘So what!?’ You’re actually asking ‘so what’ to that!? You’re a monster!”
“And you’re unfit to lead, if you can’t make the hard decisions and sacrifices necessary for the continuing peace and prosperity of this country!” Fallow Fields fired back. The aura around The Green Shard intensified, as did the grinding sound. Noise of something slowly splintering echoed as the kite shield over Twilight started to spider web like a rock hitting a window.
High Noon intercepted one of Shining Armour’s blasts, but missed two others, as he said, “He’s raht ‘n y’all know it.”
“Terrorism isn’t sacrifice; it’s mass-murder!” Shining Armour growled as his shots made another of Fallow Fields’ shields go to pieces.
Mr. Fields put up another spherical shield. From the front pocket of his suit coat he pulled out a vial with some pearlescent fluid in it, which he downed. The prince shattered that new shield with a single blast. Fallow Fields promptly raised another, which took some more hits easily. He rolled his eyes and said, “You ponies sure love to throw that ‘terrorism’ word around. If you could hear yourself talk!”
Lyra cast her oddly-charged spell. The pulse traveled slower, still with the small balls circling it and a low rumble as it traveled. Scoffing, she shouted, “I don’t know about you, Shining, but I’ve about had enough this!”
“What’re ye tryin’ tuh say?” High Noon asked. He jumped and rolled away as Lyra’s spell burst, which created spiky ice bursting out radially, centred on where he was. The very edge of the ice spikes stuck him in the back of his hind legs shallowly. He took cover again, casting a wound-sealing spell over where she got him.
“I’m sick this, I’m sick of you, and I’m sick of him! I’m ending this in a minute or less!” Lyra snapped. Most of her pupil filled with something in the same off-white. Her face shifted to horrified shock as she muttered under her breath, “My Celestia, Moon Dancer, what book are you in, and why does Twilight even keep that?”
High Noon fired on Shining Armour again, but the prince easily blocked his shots. He mockingly shouted, “The odds’re even; makes that some bold talk, ‘specially from bald dahke!”
Lyra’s eyes shot wide, then her face slowly melted into unbridled rage with a quaking jaw, twitching lower eyelid, and curling lip. “...charge your horn, you son of a bitch!!”
Lyra stepped out into the open as a tertiary aura coalesced around her horn, sparks freely flying. High Noon also stepped out, his own horn in a similar state. “Fahne, have it yer way....”
Thick rays of copper and gold struck each other head-on in the middle of the room. The chamber shook. Multicoloured sparks sailed from the point of impact. High Noon grunted as he squinted. Lyra growled, then roared. The golden beam began pushing back the copper, then quickly overpowered it entirely. Lyra’s spell struck High Noon. He disappeared in a burst of steam and a loud bang as bones fell to the floor where he stood. No blood, no flesh, no organs, just a full set of dry bones were left behind with some fine metallic dust drifting in the air’s eddies. Lyra gasped as she wearily panted, falling to the floor. She yelped and held her side in a spot between healed patches. Her eyes turned toward Bon-Bon, still laying there in chemical slumber, and started crawling her way.
Shining Armour, who had been watching, turned back to Fallow Fields. He unleashed another volley, saying, “Give up! You stand alone!”
“Incorrect.”
Fallow Fields, Shining Armour, and Lyra all turned to the centre doorway to see an elderly unicorn mare, red with a yellow mane and tail, enter. Her horn was already charged. A pulse left it and headed towards Twilight, but was intercepted by one from Lyra. Around The Green Shard the telekinetic aura changed from a green one to a yellow. Fallow Fields simply looked floored. Shining Armour struck while the director stood in his stupor, the heavy shot leaving Mr. Fields as a smashed lump where the wall met the floor. Lyra forced herself back to her feet as she blocked two more shots from the elder mare. Stall Lynn smirked as Shining Armour turned around. Another pulse fired. Lyra tried to block it with one of her own, but the yellow spell swerved and avoided the counterspell. Shining Armour also attempted to stop it to the same effect. The yellow pulse struck Shining Armour’s kite shield over Twilight, which flashed white once and disappeared. Laughing, Stall Lynn shouted, “And so it begins! It will be a dark night indeed, but we will have The New Dawn for ponykind at last, and those who remain will finally know freedom!”
As she spoke, The Green Shard descended and touched Twilight’s belly. It immediately glowed, and a white-ish flow with green edges splashed upward from where it touched, almost like upwelling water. Twilight’s body stiffened.
In the situation room, everypony clapped and cheered loudly at the top of their lungs. The main viewer showed the image of The Green Shard and Twilight, as the crystal slowly sank into the watery effect between it and the princess. Hugs went all around, even a few kisses, as the celebratory atmosphere swelled. Shadow-Walker smiled broadly as he walked in front of the viewscreen. The image cut away as he motioned for everypony to simmer down. The cheers and applause diffused with no sense of urgency. Shadow-Walker’s smile remained as they finally quieted down. He announced, “As much as we’d all love to party right now, myself included, we have an order to carry out. Relocation Order Beta is a go! That’s fifteen minutes! Once we’re to the Fillydelphia Safe House, drinks are on me!”
Laughter and cheers filled the room again as ponies busied themselves, hastily packing things around them. Shadow-Walker took out the red-striped card key, and tapped a few buttons on the main desk. A slot opened. He stuck in the card key and removed it. Everypony ignored the klaxon as a timer showed a fifteen minute countdown.
Shining Armour grunted and growled, with his horn charged to a quaternary aura and a magenta glow around The Green Shard. Sweat poured down his face. Lyra hobbled toward Stall Lynn with her own horn powering up. The president continued to laugh. “It’s no use! You’re too late! Try as you might, you cannot slow it down!”
A quarter of The Green Shard had disappeared, and it continued its slow descent. Lyra stood in the face of the cackling Stall Lynn and glowered. She growled, “Give me a reason I shouldn’t kill you right now!”
“Because, Ms. Heartstrings,” began the president, “it won’t make a difference. The outcome won’t change, what’s to come won’t change, and we will all have our freedom! All you’ll get is another life on your hooves.”
Lyra looked down, then struck Stall Lynn across the face. Even as the old mare hit the floor, she still laughed. “Go ahead! Pour your derision, your hatred, and your malice on me! The future still refuses to change!”
Lyra snapped, “Fine! I’ll tie your ass up, and when the authorities get here, they’ll—”
Stall Lynn laughed again, cutting off Lyra’s threat. She blinked at the elder mare, then demanded, “What’s so damn funny!?”
“Ms. Heartstrings, once that thing is in her, it’ll take control. Do you really think any of us are getting out of here alive?” Stall Lynn asked with a smile. Lyra went agape, blinking quickly. The president cackled, “And it’ll be perfect! Several Wonderbolts including one of her inner circle, former government agents, members of The Order of Eleven, a few concerned citizens, and even her brother, all teamed together and tried to stop Twilight Sparkle when she went mad, and they all died for it! And then she’ll do the same to the Wonderbolts and Lunar Aerial Guard outside the castle!”
Two-thirds of The Green Shard were gone. Lyra fell back on her haunches, staring vacantly at nothing in particular. Stall Lynn got up, still jovial and snickering. She stood in Lyra’s face, and sweetly said, “And then, everypony will see what we’ve known for years: there should be no one ruler, but the ponies themselves. Why? An individual can easily become corrupted. Luna threatened eternal night. Mi Amore Cadenza can control love, and through that she could selectively breed us all as she sees fit. Celestia plays nice when everypony plays by her rules, but turns absolutely ruthless when she is disobeyed; just ask Luna. You’re about to see Twilight Sparkle for what she’d be in time, once she follows studies down roads she should’ve left alone. You know just as well as I do she’d horde all the books she could and will read them, even those with a hidden darkness within. Then there’s Flurry Heart: that little filly shattered an artifact from an infantile screaming fit! What’s she gonna do when she reaches The Terrible Twos and Threes? What will she be when she’s older?”
“Clearly you don’t know my wife at all, if you think that’s how she thinks, or what she does, or even her power! She awakens love that’s already there whether it’s latent, sleeping, or in remiss; she doesn’t just make two random ponies fall in love!” Shining Armour snapped as he ran over. “And don’t dare assume my little filly will be some vindictive monster like you who never received her parents’ love!”
“Will she know her parents’ love, since they’ll both be dead before she reaches age one?” Stall Lynn said snidely, grinning wickedly.
Roaring, Shining Armour reared up and stomped on Stall Lynn’s shoulder. She fell to the floor again with a splintering sound. The president yelped. She agonized and blinked, but looked up, and chuckled again. Lyra and Shining Armour turned to see the tip of The Green Shard sink into the upwelling light source, which, too, sank into Twilight. They stepped away from Stall Lynn. The room had become silent again. Shining Armour stared at his sister with worry. Lyra look to her, then at Shining Armour, and back to her school friend. There was no movement except for the breathing those still living.
Twilight stirred, but remained laying on her back with closed eyes. There was a bright flash of light, and part of reality near Twilight bent as if it were folded, leaving an opening into a black nothing. Through the gap stepped Discord, slamming it back in place behind him to the sound of a door closing. He was not smiling, not laughing. Nothing in his demeanor gave even a hint of mirth. Everything about Discord, his face, movements, tone, all conveyed heavy worry and anxiety. He stood over Twilight, scratching his chin as he muttered, “What did they do to you?”
“You! What are you doing here!?” demanded Shining Armour, advancing on the draconequus.
Discord did not even look at the approaching prince. “You forgot, I can sense changes in the balance of magic. Something just happened here, something big, and something not good. Out of concern for my friend here, I came to check on her. It’s not a problem that I’m friends with your sister, is it?”
Shining Armour glared at Discord and said nothing. Discord sighed, “Well, don’t get your knickers in a twist over this.”
Yelping, the prince looked at himself. His armour had been replaced with knotted-up frilly undergarments, all too tightly around. Stall Lynn snickered. Lyra just stared at him in confusion.
“Discord!! This really isn’t the time!” Shining Armour hollered.
The Spirit of Chaos scoffed, “Oh geez, you’re no fun at all.”
In a flash Shining Armour’s barding returned to normal. Twilight moaned, “Uuhhhh....”
They all turned their attention to the rousing princess. Twilight Sparkle flopped around, gasping desperately. Her eyes remained closed. With a flap she rolled onto her side towards Bon-Bon. Shining Armour cautiously walked forward as she rolled the other way onto her other side. She grunted, “Ugh-a-a....”
Twilight got a hoof on the ground. With another push her wings, she finally got her belly side down. Stiffly she pulled her hooves underneath of her and set them all to the floor. She groaned and snorted as she gingerly pushed up with her limbs, and staggered. Her head remained low as she got herself back to standing, breathing hard.
“Twily?” Shining Armour cautiously asked.
Twilight did not answer. She continued to breathe heavily with a heaving chest and hanging her head with closed eyes. She began to straighten her legs. Discord’s neck stretched out, appearing and splashing as though it were a thin fluid. His head sidled alongside of Shining Armour’s. Discord said, “Maybe you should ask her for a glass of water.”
Shining Armour merely growled in response. Twilight’s breathing slowly slowed and came under control. She sighed, long and relieved. As she slowly brought her head up, eyes still closed, Discord began, “Twilight...do you need a glass of...”
Her eyes opened. They were green where they should have been white. She sneered angrily as her horn charged up, and shot a thin ray into the floor off to one side.
“...wa–” Discord started to say, but was cut off as the floor erupted into a dragon’s fist that decked him. It had burst forth whence Twilight’s spell struck the floor, punching only once but at an impossibly fast speed. This fist was of the same material as the floor and as big as a stagecoach on each side. Discord flew backwards, rapidly spinning. He flopped and rolled across the floor, coming to a stop in front of Lyra. He lay unmoving, mouth and eyes open. His red pupils had changed shape, one becoming a “K,” and the other an “O.”
“Shut up...,” Twilight growled in a voice that did not entirely sound like herself. The fist crumbled and turned back into the floor, leaving no trace it ever existed.
Shining Armour backed off half a step. “Twily...what’s wrong?”
A hard punch from her right forehoof connected with his jaw cleanly as Twilight closed the distance in a flash. Shining Armour staggered and fell down. She muttered, “You too.”
Twilight flared out her wings as she marched straight toward Stall Lynn, ignoring Lyra altogether. The elder mare coughed and chuckled in unison. Shining Armour shook his head in a daze as his sister stopped in front of the president. The princess, still sounding not completely of herself, jeered, “What a fool you are, thinking I would obey you and your plans.”
“For such a rebel, you sure have seen to it that everything fell together per my design. I knew you’d make a foolish assault on the princesses at the Ponyville stormball game, and planned around it. I knew right where your missing quarter would resurface, and was there to recover it. I knew which princess would be the wisest to put under your control, and now you possess her. And I know once you reassemble yourself, you would destroy the others of your own accord,” said Stall Lynn with a defiant smile. She coughed heavily, and spat out a chunk of phlegm.
Twilight openly laughed much deeper than her natural voice would normally. “And there’s where you’re mistaken. After I reassemble myself, I will abandon this weak puppet and return to the hand of my master. Then, we will destroy all the princesses, all at the same time if we must, and then we will rule over this world. Your feeble attempt at democracy paved the road for our worldwide totalitarian empire. The irony is delicious.”
“How do you expect to reassemble yourself if you don’t know where the other shards are?” asked the president. She snickered and coughed again. “We know where five of the others are, but there are no clues left about the whereabouts of The Violet Shard.”
“You don’t know where my violet part is. I, however, do,” Twilight answered with a sneer. She charged up her horn again. A spell’s beam drilled a hole through Stall Lynn’s neck, who gasped and gurgled, struggling to keep her head up and failed. Twilight turned away from her, and as an afterthought said, “Oh, I also heard everything you said about how I’d kill everypony in here. Wrong again. It’s a waste of material to kill several able-bodied slaves: the stallion and the dragon for my master’s works, and the mares for my master’s pleasure. You, however, are neither able-bodied nor able-minded, and thus of no use. Feel the pain, and die.”
Twilight blasted a hole through the side of the castle, flying off in a flash. Lyra was knocked down from the gust. She gasped hard, and struggled to get back to her feet. She looked at Bon-Bon again, who still lay in the same place. Stall Lynn coughed up blood. Shining Armour gave Lyra a shoulder to lean on as they started toward the president. Many other footfalls echoed. In through the door ran Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts, carrying a book. From a flash on the book jumped out Moon Dancer. The six gathered around Stall Lynn, who wheezed and gasped with every breath. Shining Armour looked at the others and irritably said, “You all are here too? Where were you when things got crazy in here?”
Minuette said, “We were in the library looking through Twilight’s evocation books, and sending to Lyra how to cast those spells.”
Shining Armour was unamused. “None of you thought to lend a hoof more directly?”
“None of us are warriors, Shining,” said Twinkleshine. “We just aren’t. We use our magic for our lines of work; our trades don’t call for battle spells.”
Lemon Hearts said, “But we know enough to do other things, like saving Lyra from that burning airship, waking her from that sleeping gas, and healing her burns as quickly as we could.”
Stall Lynn choked and coughed up another gob of blood. She muttered, “How lovely of you all.”
Shining Armour held the dying president up. He snarled, “What the hell was that thing you put in my sister!?”
Stall Lynn’s eyes went out of focus. She murmured, “Nothing you can stop...nothing you’d be wise to pursue or fight...but know this...it is ancient, it is powerful, and it is evil...it has been stopped before...and we have the very thing...that did it then....”
Shining Armour opened his mouth to speak, but the president’s eyes opened wide as she twitched. Then she went limp as the air eased out of her lungs. Her limbs flopped as Shining Armour set her back down. He snorted. Looking around at the five younger mares, he ordered, “Help me get the survivors to the hospital. Not Ponyville’s, but Canterlot General; they’ll need state-of-the-art facilities. You know the address?”
They stared vacantly, except Lyra, who limped as quickly as she could toward Bon-Bon. Shining Armour looked across them again, then barked, “Rainbow Dash is nearly dead, Lyra needs to be seen at a proper burn unit, Bon-Bon and Starlight should be detoxed, and that’s the only hospital that has any chance of helping Spike or Discord! Move!”
Lyra teleported out with Bon-Bon as the other four mares scrambled around the wounded, and one by one teleported away with them. Spitfire landed in the hole and saluted as Shining Armour walked up to her, speaking inaudibly. Soarin’ and Fleetfoot soon landed after. Spitfire shrieked, holding her head. She collapsed in tears. Her two lieutenants attempted to console her, while the prince also teleported away from The Castle of Friendship.
The iron door labeled “Magic Dampening Chamber” swung open as the alarm blared. A timer showed less than twenty seconds. Shadow-Walker stepped into the dark room that buzzed with strange magical fields. On a pedestal was a lockbox with runes on it, bolted down upon its pillar. He punched a few buttons on the pedestal itself. A card key slot rotated outwardly into plain sight. Shadow-Walker stuffed the red key into the slot, and the lockbox popped open. Something covered by an off-white square of coarse cotton sat in the middle. A new alarm sounded. Shadow-Walker looked up to see the timer had reached all zeroes. Explosions sounded somewhere below. He picked up the object in its rough cloth cover. Looking around, he saw a dark corner. He walked over toward those shadows, backed into them, and disappeared.
Along an empty street of a rougher part of town, Shadow-Walker emerged, walking out under a streetlamp. He looked at the cotton-wrapped object, and began unwrapping it. He stopped after a moment, staring at it. He muttered, “They said it’s ‘ancient,’ but that might not be a strong enough word. How old is this thing?”
“Don’t know, mate, but I’m sure I can find somepony who’ll pay handsomely for whatever it is,” jeered some voice.
A pony with facial scars and tattoos stepped into the light, with a knife out. Shadow-Walker saw him and backed up. He followed, but found Shadow-Walker had disappeared after he stepped out of the light. The thug looked around confused. Shadow-Walker reappeared on the other side of the streetlamp’s lighting. He quickly moved in and snapped the thug’s neck. Looking around, Shadow-Walker backed out of the lit circle again.
The new president reappeared along a different road, in a far wealthier neighborhood. He walked along the road, turned a corner, and found North Station. Shadow-Walker booked a ticket for Fillydelphia and hopped aboard the next train, along with many others from HQ. He walked through the cars to the sleeping car, and his assigned berth. The train started moving as he sat down. Reaching into his coat’s inner pocket, Shadow-Walker pulled out the object. He set it down on the small table. Peeling back the rough cotton, Shadow-Walker took a hard, intensely interested look at what lay within. The object on a thin gold chain was old, simple, battered, and chipped. It was a large ruby-red heart-shaped locket.
...to be concluded....
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That was the most brutal, bloodiest fight that Twilight and her friends had faced in all of Equestria.
Casualties:
Twilight's group: Rainbow Dash (critically injured by Deep Plough), Spike (knocked out by a possessed Bon-Bon), Starlight Glimmer (collapsed when struck with a slumber pellet), and Stormbringer (High Noon killed him in silence)
Order of the 11:
Fireballer and Lynn (both are blasted by Princess Twilight in the neck), Deep Plough (burnt to a crisp by Spike's dragon fire), Blitzstrum (Rainbow Dash broke his neck), High Noon (disintegrated by Lyra's most powerful spells), and Fallow Fields (knocked out by one of Shinning Armour's combat spells).
I hope they'll find a way to save Twilight before she gets more worse out of an evil possession.
So, a report for the last three chapters... Man, you really know how to make contrasts, going from a nice and cozy airship trip to this heck of a bloody naturalistic action sequence. Very well done! And the amount of plot twists is fascinating. I didn't expect Spike nor Discord to intervene, but I have to say, both were spot on. The only part I found a little hard to follow was Bon-Bon's inner dialogue.
Especially in this chapter, I noticed some typos and missing words, but nothing too serious. Due to the sheer chapter length, I also resigned on making a list of them.
A small recurring issue I noticed is your use of comma or full stop after ellipsis (...). The ellipsis is a stand-alone punctuation mark and thus should be followed only by space at most.
8322438
Ah. Sorry about the typos and missing words; those’ll be the death of me. I’m trying to find a way to section off some time to go back through this and Part 1, to eliminate those and points that could using a little rewording/curing remaining L.U.S.
In regards to ellipses...might have been the age of m’ educators on that one. Seems I learned the old way. I was taught that ellipses go in place of words, whether clipping in quotes or implied regular speech. Thus, in the way I was instructed, regular punctuation would still apply as if those words remained (commas before the end of a quotation, a full stop [or “period” in the American dialect] at the end of a sentence). Many bracket the first letter of a sentence that follows an ellipsis; I do not.