Return of the Mare

by Victoria

Part IV - Chapter 22: The Last Stand

CHAPTER 22 – The Last Stand

Doctor Shade couldn’t sleep that night.

He’d had a knot in the pit of his stomach since the warden’s visit earlier. Usually, the warden wasn’t very talkative, but when he’d delivered the evening meal to Shade’s cell, the pony had dropped a phrase that had made Shade strongly suspect that something bad was about to happen.

“Enjoy your food, pal,” the pony said gloomily. “It may be your last...”

Shade asked what he’d meant, but the warden had refused to elaborate and just left, leaving the Doctor alone. Shade cursed inside — he hated being kept in the dark like that. At least he had Sketchy, the pegasus who’d helped him to save Fleur, to throw his guesses at. Him and a soldier that had been captured by Sundae and friends, but the latter was the quiet type. Both of them shared neighboring cells with the Doctor.

“What do you think the warden meant?” Shade asked Sketchy.

The pegasus shrugged. “Maybe they want to execute you, bastard.”

Shade frowned, ignoring the insolent tone of his ex-subordinate. He would have gotten mad before, but he’d gotten used to his jabs by now. And he couldn’t blame the pony for feeling that way; after all, the disaster that had happened was Shade’s responsibility, as he’d slowly come to realize. He’d been too blind and arrogant to see it before, but after spending a week in a place where you had nothing to do but think, Shade had had kind of an epiphany.

But as for Sketchy’s words, he doubted that was the case. No matter how much Celestia blamed him, he knew the Princess would keep her word. Shade had honored his part of the deal and she wouldn’t break hers. She was predictable this way. It had to be—

A loud hum from upstairs broke his train of thought, but at least now he understood what the guard had meant. The palace was obviously suffering a massive attack and judging by the warden’s grim words, he didn’t believe they were going to fare well against it.

Shade agitatedly jumped on his hooves and punched the bars of his cage. “Let me out!”

“I doubt that will work,” Sketchy said with deep skepticism in his voice.

However, Shade ignored him, continuing to pound on the metal. His thoughts were with his Fleur. Shade had been told she was recovering fast, but he hadn’t seen her since he’d brought the mare here. He had to see her, even if it was for one last time before his death.

He had to get out!

***

Our army was on its way to Canterlot. Of course, most of the ponies were new recruits just learning how to fight, but our numbers were pretty impressive. Clipper had gathered everypony he could for the task.

“Do you think this will be enough against Tenebris?” Marcus asked.

“I don’t know, Marcus,” I answered with a sigh. “We may beat her army, but she’s pretty strong by herself. I would feel much more confident if Starlight came back with the Void Stone already.”

We continued in silence, as I considered our chances. Even though we still didn’t have the Stone, I agreed with Clipper’s decision to move out. The scouts he had sent to other cities had reported that Tenebris was summoning all the ponies loyal to her to Canterlot. We couldn’t allow her to unite with her allies.

“Even without the Stone, we still have a solid chance,” Ruby said at some point. “Twilight got the Crystal Army to come and help us. As for Tenebris, even she won’t be able to hold out against the four alicorns at once.”

“The consequences of that could be disastrous, darling,” Rarity shuddered. “The mountains were crumbling when Twilight fought Lord Tirek; imagine if such a battle happened in a city like Canterlot!”

Ruby cringed and drooped her ears. “I know, but if it’s the only way...”

“Starlight will be back with the Stone,” I stated, forcing my voice to sound assured. “There will be no need for some big magical battle.”

Everypony fell silent after my words. Our quick pace didn’t predispose us to much talking, as everypony was busy trying to keep up. Canterlot Mountain was already on the horizon, but I knew that we still had a lot of ground to cover. By my estimates, we wouldn’t be arriving earlier than two or three days from now.

Our journey could have been much faster and more comfortable if the train was still working, but as it turned out, the bridges between Canterlot and Manehattan had been burned. Quite literally, in fact. We knew that Tenebris had been behind that diversion.

I perked up my ears when a horn sang from ahead of us. It was the signal to stop for the night. As soon as it sounded, everypony hurried to set up a camp. I levitated my heavy saddlebags off of my back and finally stretched my body like a cat.

The soldiers were putting up the large barrack tents, where dozens of ponies could sleep at once, but we didn’t have to do that. Thanks to Rarity, each pony in our little group had their own personal tent — a gift from her. As nice as it was, I hadn’t had the chance to use mine yet.

Ruby was sharing hers with me.

***

“We won’t get there in time,” Commander Blade said, swishing her tail from side to side.

Clipper, who appeared to be made of stone for all the emotions he was showing, simply nodded in agreement. My friends and I were present at the meeting that he was having with Blade and Daring Do. It was happening early in the morning and the topic we were discussing wasn’t pleasant.

A spy from Canterlot had returned bearing heavy news — Tenebris was about to attack the Palace. She’d gathered enough ponies by her side to break through the shield and crush any resistance on her way. Even the Princesses were in danger.

“No, we won’t,” Clipper confirmed. “That’s why I’m taking most of our pegasi and flying there at top speed.”

Everypony looked at him incredulously and I could understand their feelings very well. Our whole army barely matched Tenebris’ own numbers. Splitting it was pure suicide. What was Clipper thinking?!

Daring Do flared her wings, frowning.

“You can’t face Tenebris on your own, Clip,” she argued. “Not without the Stone.”

“But I do have it,” the pegasus said. “Starlight came back a few hours ago.”

I leaned forward in excitement after hearing the news. If Starlight was really back with the Stone, it changed everything. Clipper could ambush Tenebris while wielding the Stone and she would be helpless to stop him.

Of course, a lot of Clipper’s pegasi would die in that attack because Tenebris had a lot of soldiers that would outnumber and outmatch Clipper’s. But it wasn’t a high price to pay compared to some alternatives.

“I refuse to split our forces,” Daring Do stated, challenging Clipper with a look, “What you want to do is suicide.”

“Clipper, I’m sorry, but I have to agree with her,” Blade added. “Something might go wrong and the rest of us won’t be there to help.”

Clipper looked at both mares in turn and seeing that they wouldn’t budge, he shook his head in disappointment.

“You’re under my command,” he then said. “I am being polite by listening to your advice, but I don’t have to follow it.”

Rarity coughed and he glared at her. “Agent Clipper, please. I admire your bravery, but you have to admit that your plan is foolhardy,” she wavered slightly under the pegasus’ heavy gaze, but continued, “Surely, the Princesses can take care of themselves just fine and I am sure they’d be smart enough to escape through the secret path if it came to that.”

“The problem is, they can’t,” Clipper said. “The secret path has been found and destroyed. Nopony can escape, not even the Princesses.”

Everypony was shocked by the revelation. I looked at Clipper, feeling like an icy ball was rolling inside my guts. The situation hadn’t seemed as grave when I’d thought there was a way for the Princesses to escape, but now...

“But... what if you fail to save them?” I asked.

“I won’t.”

***

Clipper flapped his wings steadily, keeping his pace slow enough for the other pegasi to keep up. It was a little frustrating when he was in a hurry, but he knew that even his slowest pegasus was still faster than his speediest ground-bound pony. In just two hours, they’d covered the distance they would have spent days walking on hoof, having just arrived in Canterlot.

Tenebris had started her assault already.

Clipper observed from a distance as the great magical dome was flickering in all colors of the rainbow, while being hit by hundreds of spells at once. None seemed to have broken through so far, but all the attacks were concentrated roughly on one spot. As powerful as the alicorns were, Clipper realized that shield wouldn’t be holding out for long.

However, that wasn’t his immediate problem. A small group of pegasi patrolling the sky had noticed them and was hastily retreating. They shouldn’t be allowed to escape.

“Take them out,” he yelled to his sub-commanders that were following him in flight.

Clipper set an example by rushing forward, quickly catching up with the rebels. He didn’t need to look back to know the others were following right behind. It was only a matter of minutes until they’d quickly overwhelm the enemy.

Without even trying to give them a chance to surrender, Clipper engaged them, stabbing the nearest one in his exposed wing. The pegasus yelled and went down, while his comrades suffered the same fate from Clipper’s other soldiers.

“Don’t,” Clipper stopped one of his pegasi, as he tried to catch a falling rebel.

The soldier gave him a pained look, but obeyed the order. Before anypony else had noticed them, Clipper flew up to hide behind the large cloud and waited for the rest to join him. When everypony had finally settled on the cloud, he looked at his officers.

“Any losses?” he asked them.

“We almost lost Feather, but he was caught before he hit the ground,” one of the officers said. “He won’t be flying for a while.”

It seemed to have been the only serious injury in the short clash, so Clipper nodded in satisfaction. Taking out a group of rebel scum while suffering no losses themselves was a good thing.

“Good job,” he commended the officers. “Now I want you to sweep around the city and clear the enemy from the skies.”

After a short discussion, the officers nodded and relayed the orders to the soldiers. The force split up in two and went around Canterlot Mountain in opposite directions, while Clipper stayed on the cloud and prepared to wait.

As much as he wanted to join his ponies, he had a job to do that was just as important. From his cloud, Clipper could see the city below and he carefully examined the enemy’s disposition. Their main force had gathered on the streets adjacent to the palace, ready to storm it as soon as the shield had fallen.

Hundreds of unicorns were standing on the roofs, firing bursts of magic at the shield, while dozens of pegasi were hovering above. There were quite a lot of them — approximately similar numbers to his own; and being airborne, they could pose a serious threat. The good news was that nopony had yet seemed to acknowledge Clipper’s presence.

However, Clipper had no intention of fighting any of them, if that could be avoided. His main goal was to kill Tenebris. After that, clearing out the rebels would be a piece of cake. The problem was that he couldn’t see the self-proclaimed Queen among the enemy. If she was there, she wasn’t using her powers to help take down the shield, as Clipper had hoped.

After half an hour, his officers reported that their job was done. Clipper was pleased to have his force reunited, but he was getting restless, as Tenebris still hadn’t made an appearance. He had his usual impassive expression on his face, but inside the waiting was torturing him.

“Here it comes,” somepony said and Clipper perked up his ears at the loud cracking sound.

He looked at the shield — it flickered in and out of existence. With a final puff it finally dissipated and Tenebris’ forces eagerly rushed forward like a wave. Clipper narrowed his eyes, trying to distinguish the Queen herself.

“Em... Should we help? The Princesses could be in trouble,” one of his officers asked.

Clipper flickered his ear, but otherwise ignored it, being focused on the task at hoof. However, the officer just repeated the question and would likely keep bothering him until he got an answer.

“We will help the Princesses by killing Tenebris,” Clipper said, touching the Void Stone on his neck.

The thing itself was quite small after all the trouble it had taken to acquire it. As Starlight had explained, it sucked all the magic around it, except for the natural magic in a pony’s body. That was why he could still fly while wearing it. It was fixed to a collar, so he wouldn’t lose it in a fight.

“It may be too late by then!” exclaimed the other officer.

The pegasi around them began to murmur. It wasn’t easy for them to sit idly by, while watching the Royal Palace being under a massive attack. A tiniest frown appeared on Clipper’s face as he considered the situation.

Tenebris would likely come for the Princesses to finish them off, so being there when it happened was his best chance to fight her, rather than trying to find her on his own.

“Okay,” he nodded, having decided on his course of action. “We will get into the Palace, secure the exit and protect it until the Princesses are evacuated. We’ll kill any rebel standing in our way and if anypony sees Tenebris, report back to me immediately. Killing her is the key to victory.”

He waited a few minutes until everypony was ready.

“Follow my lead.”

He took off like an arrow, aiming at the Palace. A hundred of his loyal pegasi followed behind him as one. The ponies on the ground were too busy trying to break into the palace itself, but those pegasi which were in the air had noticed a rapidly approaching enemy.

Clipper snarled in joy as he dived at them like a hawk.

The pegasi’s armor had one weak point — wings. It didn’t matter that their armor was enchanted; the wings were always left vulnerable. His opponent barely had the time to react as Clipper shot past him, slicing his wing clean off in the process.

The rebel went down spinning with a panicked scream, but Clipper was already focused on the next one. The enemy thrust a spear at him which he easily avoided. Then Clipper grabbed the spear out of his hooves and, twisting in the air, threw it right back with such a force that it pierced even through the armor.

As the battle raged on around him, he managed to take down a few more rebels until he suddenly found none. He looked around, hovering in the air, and saw what was left of them retreating. Glancing down, Clipper started counting his losses.

Dozens of broken pony forms laid scattered on the pavement below and not all of them were from the enemy. Quite a few of his own had perished in the short battle. The numbers were heavily in his favor, but only because they had managed to take the enemy by surprise.

“They’re going to reorganize and come back,” he informed his officers. “Let’s get inside.”

However, getting inside proved to be more difficult than Clipper had anticipated. The windows were sturdier than they’d looked and simply refused to break. It took the combined effort of two pegasi accelerating and crushing their hooves at the glass at the same time to even put a crack in it. But after dozens of hits like that, even that glass broke.

Clipper went first and landed inside an empty palace corridor. One by one, the others slipped inside to join him, while he was waiting patiently for his full force to assemble. When they did, he ordered a few to remain here and guard the exit, while he and the rest went in the direction where the Throne Room would be.

“Remember, Tenebris is the priority,” Clipper threw on the way. “If you see her, take her down.”

The group raced through the empty corridors. Clipper skillfully avoided hitting pieces of furniture as he flew, but he heard thumps and crashes behind him as some of his ponies weren’t so lucky. Sometimes, they would encounter small groups of enemies, but those were swiftly taken care of with minimal losses.

The Throne Room was close. Clipper knew the Palace perfectly from his time in the Royal Guard, so he was able to navigate through it, taking the most direct route to his destination. As they got closer, he could hear the sounds of battle ahead.

“You go forward and engage the enemy,” Clipper ordered to his subordinates, while taking two dozen ponies to follow him in the other direction.

He led the troops into a side corridor, intending to come around and strike the enemy from behind. Judging by the sounds, it was a big group, so he needed every advantage to minimize the losses.

Soon, he ran into the enemy.

They suddenly appeared from behind the corner and Clipper hurried forward, hoping to hurt them before they knew what was happening. A hostile unicorn smiled, pointing his horn at the approaching enemy, but nothing happened.

Clipper smiled back.

Magic simply couldn’t work in a hundred-foot radius around him, thanks to the Void Stone. The unicorn opened his eyes wide in surprise the moment before Clipper took his head off. The group was mostly unicorns, so they didn’t offer much of a resistance as the others from Clipper’s group crashed into them, slicing them with ease.

After the fight was over, Clipper examined his dead opponents. Only one unicorn had been wearing the enchanted armor, while the others just had some old weapons and basic protection. They were probably the new recruits who had joined Tenebris for empty promises of a better life.

Clipper shook his head in disappointment. He’d had no joy in killing them, but they had chosen that path themselves.

“We got lucky,” Clipper explained to the others. “Our next encounter won’t be so easy, so be ready.”

He got nods of understanding in return.

A few minutes later, he heard the battle nearby intensifying — his main force had joined the fight. It was the perfect opportunity to hit the enemy’s rear. Clipper hurried forward and soon he was in a large foyer, adjacent to the Throne Room.

All the action was happening on the opposite side from him, near the doors to the Throne Room itself. It was pure chaos out there, but he could see that the enemy was having trouble holding their own against his pegasus force and the Royal Guards, who were defending the entrance.

“Keep close to me,” he threw at his followers, as he rushed to help his allies.

Somepony noticed his advance and shot a spell, but it dissipated as soon as it got into the Stone’s radius. Clipper grinned in satisfaction, but a bolt grazing off his chest armor washed off his grin. He cleared all the distracting thoughts out of his head and concentrated on the enemy.

One move of his wing and he leaned right to avoid a spear thrown in his direction. It was a foolish move of his opponent, leaving him without a weapon. Clipper chose him as his first target. He landed on the floor before him and, using his momentum, crashed into the enemy with his hooves.

The unfortunate pony was thrown backwards and before he could recover, Clipper flapped his wings and jumped on top of him. The pony was wearing armor, but it didn’t help him much when Clipper lunged his sword at the unprotected spot on his neck.

“Die!” somepony screamed.

He saw a movement in his peripheral vision and barely avoided an attack intact, though it severed the binding on the side that was holding his chest plate. He turned to face an opponent only to see him falling on the floor, stabbed by somepony else. Clipper threw himself forward, finishing the pony off with a swing of his sword.

He took a moment to dispatch the now useless armor plate and resumed the fighting. The battle raged on for what seemed like forever. Clipper took down a few more opponents, leaving none alive. He got some wounds himself, but he ignored them for the time being.

Soon, it had finally ended.

Clipper looked around and saw no enemy left standing. It was a brutal fight and a lot of his own comrades were now lying on the ground among the rebels. From what he could see, he had lost about one fifth of their whole force in this battle, but the enemy had lost much, much more, so it was a good exchange.

“Thank you for your help,” a pony in a bloody Royal Guard’s armor approached him.

It took Clipper a few seconds to realize that his armor looked too fancy for the pony to be a simple guard. It was probably the Captain himself. In the next moment, he recognized the Captain as Blueblood. Clipper shook his head to clear his thoughts — it was harder to think for some reason.

“Welcome,” Clipper answered and coughed.

He felt like he’d just caught the heaviest flu. It was getting hard to even stand, so he sat on his haunches, coughing again. The pegasus looked on his hoof, realizing that he’d just coughed blood.

“That’s not good,” the Captain stated, pointing at his chest. “Let’s get you into the Throne Room.”

Clipper glanced down, seeing a bolt sticking out of his chest. Blood was staining his blue coat around the exit point. He frowned. He hadn’t felt it when it had happened, but now it was beginning to hurt. His vision was getting blurry.

Slowly, he removed his collar with the Stone and gave it to the Captain.

“This is the Void Stone. It blocks magic. Use it against Tenebris,” he said before his mind went blank.

***

The door to the Throne Room opened.

Princess Celestia raised herself straight on her throne, putting on a stern expression. She was ready to unleash what magic she had left on the intruders, but relaxed when Captain Blueblood entered instead.

Despite her grim expectations, her nephew had survived and she was happy to see him again, even if it was only a temporary respite. The Captain looked roughed up in his bloodstained armor, but otherwise didn’t appear to have any serious injuries.

Other ponies followed behind him, carrying the wounded. Celestia recognized a blue pegasus she hadn’t been expecting to see among them.

“Agent Clipper!” she exclaimed in surprise, rising off her throne. “What happened to him?”

She chided herself inside for such a foolish question. He had obviously been wounded in the battle, while trying to save her. She gave a nod to Blueblood when he confirmed exactly that and looked at the others, assessing their condition.

Many of her Royal Guards were walking on their own despite the wounds, but plenty of them had to be carried because of their grave injuries. Celestia’s heart had an injury of its own from watching her ponies suffer. She couldn’t help but throw an angry gaze at the root of their problems — Doctor Shade.

The stallion was sitting in the corner of the Throne Room, consoling his marefriend Fleur. Everypony still left in the Palace was now here, though most of them had left through the tunnels before they had been destroyed.

Two of Shade’s ex-subordinates who had been in the cells with him were now fighting alongside the Guard, preferring to take this option, rather than be executed for treason. Shade had wanted to take that option himself, but Celestia refused to grant it.

As the medics began to tend to the wounded, Captain Blueblood approached the throne and bowed his head. The Princess regarded him with her full attention.

“You did well, Captain,” she stated.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Though if it weren’t for those pegasi, we would have failed,” Blueblood said grimly. “And this is not over yet. It’s only a matter of time until the other rebels get here.”

“I see. The situation is grave indeed.”

Luna, who had appeared to be sleeping beside the throne a moment ago, raised her head. “It is time to face Tenebris in battle, sister. At least we’ll die with honor instead of hiding here like rats.”

Celestia shook her head, examining Luna. Her younger sister looked like she would break even from a harsh word. Even her mane was limp on her head instead of flowing in eternal wind. Celestia felt like Luna looked — the last few weeks had been hard for both of them.

“I’m afraid that’s not an option any longer, Luna,” she said. “But perhaps the arrival of Clipper and his pegasi means something.”

She glanced at the wounded agent and then regarded his followers. All of them were pegasi, which explained how they had gotten to the Palace past Tenebris’ forces.

“He gave me this,” Blueblood said, showing a collar with what looked to be a gem stone. “He said it blocks any magic around it.”

Celestia widened her eyes. It was the Void Stone! That meant that Sundae and her friends had succeeded in their mission. Though it was useless at the moment, since Tenebris wasn’t even close.

“Get this out of here, you imbecile!” one of the medics nearby yelled in frustration. “I need my magic to help the wounded.”

The Captain called one of his ponies and ordered him to take the Stone to the foyer. As soon as he had left, the medic nodded in satisfaction and began casting spells on his patient.

“We came here to evacuate you, Your Majesty,” one of the pegasi said, approaching. “It was Clipper’s last order... We have an army a few days out, but without you both—” he looked at Celestia and Luna in turn, “—It is useless.”

“An army?” Captain Blueblood asked in surprise.

The pegasus nodded. “Yes. Clipper was the one who brought us together.”

“I see. I’ll make sure Agent Clipper gets a reward when this is over,” Celestia said.

“I’m afraid it’ll be postmortem, Your Majesty,” the medic who was trying to save Clipper said. “He’s dead.”

The pegasus looked crestfallen at the news. Celestia put on a stony expression and nodded solemnly, thanking the medic for his attempt. Then she turned to the others.

“We must not let his death be in vain,” Celestia said, standing up. “Let’s begin the evacuation at once. My sister and I can fly by ourselves, but those who can’t will have to be carried by your pegasi. We’re not leaving anypony behind.”

Luna stirred, but didn’t correct her sister — she knew Celestia was right. As much as she hated running from the battle, it was the only sensible thing to do in this situation. The Palace may be lost, but not the war.

“We may not win this battle, Luna, but we can survive to fight another day,” Celestia said, having noticed her sister’s reluctance.

“Very well,” Luna agreed.

The next moment a pegasus from outside burst into the room, panting.

“They’re coming!”

***

Tenebris was listening to the newest reports in the manor’s office, which had become the base of operations for her. A pegasus talking before her was hiding his fear well, but his true emotions weren’t a secret for somepony like the Queen.

“So you’re saying that a whole bunch of the damn pegasi slipped past your patrols and sneaked into the Palace?” Tenebris summarized his report, frowning. Her displeasure was evident to the pony.

Insect, the pony in question, wilted his ears, while trying to hold his gaze focused straight forward. He had regretted his earlier decision to swear loyalty to Tenebris, despite the fact that he had clearly picked the winning side. His old boss Spider, however harsh he may have been when facing a failure, would never have frozen a pony bearing bad news to death like Tenebris had been prone to doing lately.

Insect felt the temperature in the room dropping dramatically and gulped, expecting the same fate to be thrust upon him.

“They didn’t just slip past us – they killed my patrols!” Insect explained, trying to ignore his own shivering. “They weren’t prepared for a serious assault.”

“And why weren’t they?” Tenebris asked, pressing the pegasus wings with her magic. “Didn’t you know the loyalists were coming to Canterlot?”

Insect shifted his wings and twitched when one of his feathers was plucked out. “I did, but I had no idea they’d split their army and send the pegasi ahead.”

Tenebris forcefully spread his wings apart, lifting him off the ground; she seriously considered tearing them off like she would do to a real insect.

“Maybe I should find somepony better for the job,” Tenebris said coldly. She pulled on his wings, making Insect yelp in pain. “I will demote you to commanding earth ponies from now on. You won’t be needing your wings for that.”

A horrified expression appeared on Insect’s face. He liked making other ponies suffer, but this was the first time he’d been experiencing the same emotions his victims had usually felt.

He wasn’t enjoying it.

“No, please! I will go for them personally!” he yelled in panic, trying to fold his wings back. “I’ll bring you their heads!”

Tenebris pondered his offer for a while, still holding Insect in the air, and then finally put him back on the floor.

“I’m nothing if not generous. Consider this your last chance. If even one of them escapes, you know what will happen.”

***

Celestia’s hooves clopped on the stairs of the long stairwell, though their sound was drawn out by hundreds of other hooves. Their procession was climbing to the top of the tower of the Royal Observatory.

“We will reclaim the palace soon, my sister,” Celestia tried to console Luna.

The Princess of the Night hung her head low, but she perked up slightly at her sister’s promise. She glanced at Celestia and saw a hidden pain in her eyes. Not physical, but emotional pain.

“Of course, sister,” Luna answered, trying to believe in what she said.

Soon, they’d reached the top floor. Ignoring the big telescope, they went straight to the balcony. Its doors were broken off their hinges. A rebel pegasus standing there took off as soon as he saw the approaching loyalists. They needed to act fast.

“Secure the air, make sure there are no pursuers,” Captain Blueblood, who’d assumed control over their forces, ordered and a large part of the pegasi rushed forward to do just that. The others waited inside, checking the Observatory in case of any hidden enemies. A few minutes later the pegasi reported that the skies were clear.

“This is our chance,” Blueblood said and turned to the Princesses. “You’ll go first, Your Majesties. The rest of us would follow shortly.”

“Of course, Captain,” Celestia nodded.

She walked out onto the balcony and took a deep breath of fresh air. It did wonders for clearing her head. The alicorn spread her magnificent white wings and wiggled them for a bit — it had been a while since she had used them the last time. Luna had had much more practice with her night strolls, though, so she was already hovering beside her sister, looking at her impatiently.

“We will fly east to join our main force, Your Majesties” one of the pegasi announced. “It’s just a few hours of flight, nothing hard.”

Celestia and Luna both nodded at the same time.

Bending her knees, Celestia gave a mighty flap, rising into the air; Luna following close. Dozens of pegasi took a protective sphere formation around them, keeping their eye on any potential threat.

Almost all of them were carrying somepony else on their back, so their maneuverability was rather limited. It was compensated by the fact that their riders could use their magic to take out any rebel foolish enough to get close.

The rest of the pegasi remained on the balcony to intercept any potential pursuer, while the last of the ground bound ponies climbed on their backs. When the main formation had gotten far enough from the palace, they followed.

***

Insect raced through the Palace corridors like a madpony. Even his pegasi were barely keeping up, while the ground ponies were hopelessly behind. Insect didn’t care about that — he was late as it was.

Soon, he had reached the Throne Room and his heart fell. Dozens of bodies were covering the bloody floor before the entrance. Not all of them were dead; some were still stirring and groaning in pain, but that wasn’t what had truly upset Insect.

The Throne Room was empty!

Well, maybe empty was not the right word, considering it was full of rebels too busy looting to pay him any attention. A few ambitious ones were even trying to hack the throne itself into movable pieces. But the Princesses and her followers were obviously missing.

“What in Tartarus are you doing here?!” Insect roared, finally getting all the attention in the room. “You were supposed to be killing or capturing the remaining loyalists!”

“Buck yourself, featherbrain,” somepony cursed.

Insect snapped his glare at the insolent brat. The mare was an earth pony. Just like the rest of the ponies in the room, Insect suddenly noticed. He could sense their hostility towards him and took an involuntary step back.

“Whatever,” Insect waved his hoof and left.

The earth ponies in their army were becoming angry and even Insect couldn’t blame them. Tenebris treated them like trash, even the ones who served her loyally. Pegasi were treated slightly better, not to mention unicorns, and that fact created a lot of tension between the three tribes.

Insect saw the tracks on the once clean floor. Only a blind pony could miss where the enemy had gone. He waited until his ponies had caught up, and together they followed the tracks through the corridors, until they got to the stairwell.

They had climbed about half the distance, when Insect stopped and hit a wall in frustration. It was time to stop fooling himself — he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise to Tenebris. There was nothing Insect could do to prevent the Princesses from escaping.

The loyalists were as good as gone.

Making a snap decision, he turned to the few of his soldiers that had been able to keep up with him so far.

“I’m deserting,” Insect announced. He saw shock in the soldiers’ faces. “If you have any brains left, you’ll go with me. Maybe we’ll become a band or whatever. Tenebris would kill us for failing her.”

The soldiers exchanged glances, but nopony spoke up. Insect sighed and shook his head in disappointment. He’d hoped at least one of them would take up his offer.

“Sure, I guess...” a lone soldier finally nodded. “To be honest, I was kind of thinking of that myself.”

His words broke a dam and soon the rest joined in hard agreement. Insect flashed a thin grin.

“I knew I could count on you.”

***

I put one hoof after the other, deep in thought. I was sick of talking because all the talk eventually turned to the inevitable battle ahead. It was one of those times that I missed the human world, where I could just listen to some music on my headphones.

There was a similar technology in Equestria, of course, but it was pretty expensive and not everypony could afford it. It wasn’t even a technology in the human sense of the word, since it was based on magic.

“Stop brooding, Sunny,” Ruby suddenly poked me on my side. “Cheer up.”

I gave her a reassuring smile, but remained silent — it was easier said than done. My thoughts returned to Clipper again. His whole plan had seemed very risky, though I knew it was necessary to save the Princesses. I just hoped the price wouldn’t be too high.

Excited voices sounded from ahead and I saw ponies looking and pointing at the sky. I looked up myself and saw it too — dozens of tiny dots were approaching us. I wasn’t celebrating just yet, since it could very well be the enemy, but then I smiled in relief when I saw two recognizable figures among them.

The white and dark-blue alicorns.

My smile sagged a little when the group finally landed and I saw the Princesses close up. Saying that they looked exhausted would be an understatement. But at least they were alive and unharmed as far as I could tell. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for Clipper.

I watched with dread as some pegasus lowered his lifeless body onto the ground. Daring Do and Commander Blade hurried towards him and practically assaulted the poor pony, demanding to know what had happened.

“He’s dead,” he simply said and fell silent.

My friends and I approached them, while the rest of the army was busy setting up a camp. It was obvious we wouldn’t be moving anywhere for now until the situation got sorted out.

“He fought well,” a familiar voice said.

I turned to see a white unicorn in the Royal Guard’s armor. I barely recognized Blueblood under all that dirt and blood. It was a stark contrast to his appearance at our previous encounter.

“How did it happen?” Blade asked quietly.

Blueblood sighed.

“He saved our lives and the Princesses, but he was wounded in battle,” he said. “Our medic did the best he could, but...”

“I understand. Thank you.”

“At least the Stone is intact,” Starlight noted, pointing at the artifact on the neck of the pegasus who had brought Clipper’s body.

Everypony stared at her agape.

“What?” Starlight lowered her ears, looking from one to another in panic. “Did I say something wrong?”

“I’ll explain to you later, darling,” Rarity said.

“I guess he didn’t get the chance to use it against Tenebris?” I asked Blueblood.

The Captain shook his head and recounted exactly what had happened. Not only was Canterlot completely lost now, but Tenebris was still alive. Against all reason, I hoped that maybe Clipper had died while fighting the self-imposed Queen, but it turned out she hadn’t even bothered to show up.

“I guess we should talk with the Princesses now.”

***

Tenebris was livid.

Since Insect had disappeared, she had vaporized his second-in-command who had been foolish enough to bring her the news. Her army, such as it was, had succeeded in taking the Palace, meaning that the whole city was solely under her control. But while they’d been too busy looting the palace, the Princesses had escaped!

It was only a matter of time before they struck back. Tenebris knew that the loyalists had gathered a sizable force that was approaching Canterlot. Of course, most of them had no real experience, but it didn’t make her feel any better, considering her own army had the same problem.

“How far away are our reinforcements?” she asked a shaking pegasus before her, the new commander of her air force.

“They’re close, Your Majesty Queen Ma’am!” the pegasus roared, making Tenebris’ ears flex backwards.

“How close? And be quiet.”

The pegasus bulged his eyes at the Queen, biting his lip. Tenebris waited a few more seconds, but it didn’t look like he would say anything. She furrowed her eyebrows.

“What? Answer me at once!”

The pony flinched and then opened and closed his mouth.

“You told me to be quiet,” he whispered.

He recoiled when Tenebris screamed in rage, reared up and dropped her front hooves on the table, splitting it in half. She glanced at it as if surprised herself, and then turned her attention to the source of her annoyance.

“Your life depends on how you answer my next question,” Tenebris told him with icy calmness, which was jarring after her fit of rage. “How long would it take for our reinforcements to arrive in Canterlot?”

“Two days,” the pony said hastily. “One if they hurry.”

Tenebris nodded in satisfaction. That was acceptable.

“Find somepony fast to carry my orders to them.”

When she had learned that the loyalists were getting their act together on the east coast and gathering their forces in Manehattan, Tenebris had realized that it was time to end Celestia and Luna, who were still defying her in the Palace.

Her messengers had flown to every city the rebels controlled and had ordered them to send half of their forces directly under her command here, to Canterlot.

Plenty of them had dared to ignore her orders.

Those who had would be punished later, of course, but with those who had answered she would have enough forces to crush her enemies. Unfortunately, that didn’t take the Crystal Army, which had been seen leaving the Crystal Empire a couple of days ago, into account. That was why she needed to defeat them in turn. The timing would be tricky, but possible.

That damned Twilight Sparkle had succeeded in convincing the Crystal Empire to help Equestria, not that Tenebris had had any hopes for the opposite. The disturbance there hadn’t been planned by her or the Doctor, but it had been a welcome distraction that had delayed her enemies.

“Make sure that nopony else sneaks up on us,” Tenebris finally said, dismissing the pegasus in front of her. The speed at which he vanished could rival that of the best athletes in her old kingdom.

Tenebris sighed and called another pony into her office. Ruling was much harder than she remembered.

***

Our little procession approached the command tent occupied by the Princesses. I briefly noticed that Rarity and Captain Blueblood were keeping to opposite sides, which wasn’t surprising, knowing their history with each other.

The Captain saluted to two Royal Guardsponies who were standing by the entrance. While their armor wasn’t as impervious as I’d been used to seeing, the dents only gave them a tougher appearance. They returned the salute and let us pass.

“Your Majesties,” Rarity reverenced as soon as she walked into the tent.

The rest and I bowed clumsily. Celestia was sitting on her haunches by the table with a big map laid out, while Luna was simply lying nearby. Both looked exhausted, especially Princess Celestia, but her eyes were firm.

“My little ponies,” Celestia greeted us. “And Marcus, of course. I’m glad to see you’re okay and have successfully achieved your goal of getting the Void Stone.”

“Yeah...” Ruby sighed, lowering her ears. “A whole lot of good it did for Clipper.”

“If it weren’t for Clipper and his ponies, we wouldn’t be standing here,” Captain Blueblood said sternly.

“I’m not arguing with that,” Ruby answered, casting her eyes down. “It’s just...”

Ruby waved her hoof, looking for the right word, but failing. She sighed and shook her head in dismay.

“This whole situation sucks.”

“It may not be as bad as it seems, my pony,” Celestia intervened. “Tenebris may have Canterlot for now, but she doesn’t have enough support, even among her own followers. We’ll trap her in the city and find a way to deal with her without endangering the citizens within.”

“That’s what Clipper had wanted to do,” Commander Blade pointed out.

Everypony fell silent for a while, not knowing what to say. First, we’d lost Detective Seeker, now it was Clipper. Though I hadn’t exactly been friends with either of them, their deaths weighed heavily on me. At least Lyra had recovered from her injury. Speaking of her...

“Where is Lyra?” I asked Celestia. “Is she with you?”

The Princess turned her attention to me.

“I’m afraid not. I couldn’t endanger the lives of my servants in the Palace, so I ordered them to leave through the secret passages and hide in the city. Your friend Lyra left as well. Only the ones who have given an oath to protect me refused to leave, however much I tried to persuade them not to waste their life in vain,” Celestia flickered a glance at the Captain.

The pony in question smiled tiredly. “Serving the Princesses — and my dear aunt — is in no way a waste of my life, I’d say. And I know what I’m saying because I’ve wasted quite a lot of it on doing things I’m not proud of.”

Blueblood glanced at Rarity as he said that.

“Don’t worry, dear, I’m not holding a grudge,” Rarity smiled, though it seemed slightly forced. “The past is the past.”

“I think we are getting sidetracked, everypony,” Princess Luna voiced, lifting her head. Everypony turned to her. “We have gathered here to discuss our plan of defeating Tenebris. As you can see, my sister and I are in no condition to fight her at the moment and even if we were, we’d prefer not to do it in the city itself. I suggest we lure Tenebris out into the open instead of laying siege to Canterlot.”

“Yes, it may actually be wiser than what I offered, Luna,” Princess Celestia tilted her head. “But she seems very careful as of late. She may just send her army to deal with us, while remaining in Canterlot.”

The discussion continued for quite some time. I was just sitting and listening to it without offering any input, as wiser ponies were considering our course of action, but it went on and on and they still couldn’t choose the best one.

Suddenly, Marcus cleared his throat. Everypony ignored him at first, but then he stood up, approached the table and cleared his throat again.

“I’ve got an idea,” he said as they finally looked at him.

“Speak, human,” Princess Luna waved a hoof.

“Well, you were talking about infiltration, ambush and such, but why not try some negotiations?”

“Have you gone mad?” Blade blurted out.

The others mirrored her reaction and even I stared at Marcus incredulously, asking the same question inside my head as the commander. Everypony got quiet when Princess Celestia raised her hoof. She looked at a worried Marcus and invited him to continue.

“Em, I was just thinking, it wouldn’t hurt, right?” Marcus shrugged. “You ponies like to talk things out, so why not try it with her? She must know that she’s losing. The worst that could happen is that she refuses.”

“As much as I would like the idea of settling it peacefully, I’m afraid that Tenebris wouldn’t accept such an outcome,” Celestia shook her head solemnly. “Some negotiations were attempted the first time she invaded Equestria. She killed the ambassadors because they weren’t unicorns, claiming it to be an elaborate insult to her honor.”

“The human’s idea has its merits, sister, if only as a distraction,” Luna noted, scratching her chin. “Tenebris doesn’t know about the Void Stone. We can offer her a meeting on neutral ground. I have no doubt she would use that opportunity to strike at us, but instead we’d surprise her first.”

Everypony jumped at the suggestion. It was certainly better than everything else they’d thought of so far, so in the end most agreed to go with this plan. There was just one issue left — who would convey the message to the fake Queen.

“It has to be a unicorn,” Blueblood said. “I’ll take it upon myself to do it.”

“You command the Royal Guard, Captain,” Celestia retorted. “You’re needed here.”

“I am skilled in diplomacy and I am of royal blood, so I’m best suited to approach Tenebris,” he argued. “Besides, there isn’t really much left for me to command.”

The arguing continued for a little while, until Blueblood had finally convinced the Princess of his decision. After that, Starlight was asked to explain the properties of the Void Stone in detail to better prepare the ambush.

It was going to be a long meeting.

***

“Sunny, wake up,” I heard a familiar voice talking right into my ear.

I folded it down and slowly opened my eyes. It was dark, but I heard somepony breathing very close to me. The last thing I remembered was Princess Celestia saying something, but then... Had I dozed off somehow?

It sure seemed like it.

I realized that I was on my back, so I stirred and tried to turn on my belly, but my tail had gotten stuck under something.

“Quit moving like that,” Ruby complained.

“I want to go outside,” I said firmly, feeling a pressure building up in my lower belly.

“But I just got comfy!” Ruby said and put her head on my chest to emphasize that. At any other time, I would have enjoyed that, but right now I had another rather pressing concern.

“I really need to go,” I repeated. “Go outside.”

“Oh, sorry then.” Ruby hastily moved, allowing me to release my tail and crawl outside.

A fresh wind blew through my coat and I shuddered involuntarily. It was night, but I could see light on the horizon, suggesting that morning was near.

I galloped forward, looking around for the toilet. I didn’t need to go far, thankfully. The camp may be pretty chaotic in its organization, but that particular part had been set up quite well. In fact, the toilets had been dug up first thing, before even setting up the tents.

There was no line, so I quickly did my business, but as I was about to leave, I bumped into somepony. I murmured an apology and trotted away; some thought scratching at the side of my mind. Suddenly, I stopped and did a double take. The pony I’d bumped into reminded me of...

“Sundae, what a lovely meeting,” Doctor Shade said.

I gasped and took a step back, summoning my magic to blast the escaping criminal before me, but in the light of my magic, I saw another pony standing near him. A Royal Guardspony.

“Relax, filly, he’s under my watch,” the guardspony in question said.

“Yes, I’m afraid I am,” Shade confirmed. “Anyway, I’ve heard of your victory in Fillydelphia. Quite impressive, although the details are misty. How did you pull it off?”

“It’s none of your business,” I cut and turned around to leave.

“Wait...”

I stopped and looked back reluctantly.

“It’s rather fortunate that we’ve met, actually. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on what I’ve done, so I want to apologize for trying to kill you, Sundae,” Shade said quietly. I had to locate my ears towards him to hear anything, though I could hardly believe them. “You’ve always had potential. Truth be told, I was hoping that you’d survive when we threw you into the portal. It would have been easy to just kill you outright, but I guess I couldn’t bring myself to do it. You were a threat to my plans and I had to do something, though now I wish I’d failed.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I said, shaking my head.

The Doctor’s apology was something totally unexpected for me and I wasn’t sure if it was sincere or not, even though my trustful nature told me to believe in it.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me, Sundae,” Shade shrugged. “I’d just been wanting to say this for a long time and I couldn’t waste this opportunity.”

“Okay,” I nodded, still struggling to accept Shade’s words. “I-I’ll think about it.”

***

Canterlot Mountain was towering over us. The rebel scouts could be seen observing our army building a fortified camp from afar, so our presence wasn’t exactly a secret for Tenebris.

Captain Blueblood had already set out for his mission. His armor had been cleaned and polished, somewhat restoring its former glory, and he was carrying a white flag. The unicorn was alone, not wishing to put anypony else at risk. For all we knew, Tenebris’ soldiers would simply kill our envoy on sight.

After half an hour of torturous suspense, a pegasus who had been observing Blueblood’s advance from the clouds landed excitedly. “They let him in!”

Princess Celestia nodded calmly, showing no surprise.

She was standing with the rest of us outside, though without her sister this time. Since it was daytime, Luna was asleep and it had been Celestia’s decision not to disturb her for such an event. I personally thought that Luna would be upset to be excluded, but I kept my opinion to myself.

“Everything is now in the prince’s hooves,” Rarity said, shaking her head. “I have to admit, my first impression of him was quite poor, but I’m glad to see that he has a good side as well.”

Another hour had passed since Blueblood had first entered Canterlot.

We had some breakfast while we waited. After that, Ruby and I separated from the rest and simply strolled around the camp, chatting about things unrelated to the current events. We both needed a little distraction.

While we were talking, I observed the work still going on around us. The busy ponies were cutting down the trees and digging up trenches around the camp, securing it in case Tenebris attacked. The unicorns were casting their spells and drawing defensive runes on the ground under the guidance of the Royal Guard’s unicorns.

I didn’t know if anything would be useful against Tenebris herself, but I was sure that her army would have a hard time breaking through.

“What are you thinking about?” Ruby asked, nuzzling my side.

I smiled, turning my attention back to her. “Wondering if our army is strong enough to deal with Tenebris.”

Ruby scrunched her muzzle and shrugged. Obviously, she had no answer for my question. I doubt anypony did, not even Tenebris herself — otherwise, she would have attacked us already.

“I don’t want to worry about that for now, Sunny,” Ruby said in the end. “Let’s just enjoy a few moments of peace together while we can.”

Having said that, Ruby nuzzled my cheek gently. Without thinking, I turned my head, catching her lips with my own. She returned the kiss eagerly.

***

“Tenebris has accepted the offer,” Blueblood announced.

The Captain had returned just ten minutes ago. He didn’t even need to say anything — it was obvious from his slightly smug expression that he was bearing good news.

A cheer sounded in the command tent as he shared that piece of news. Princess Luna joined in too, even though she was a little grumpy that nopony had woken her up to see the Captain leave, as I had predicted. Commander Blade, however, wasn’t as jovial as the rest.

“We shouldn’t celebrate prematurely,” she said. “Usually, if the enemy does what you want, it means that they’re planning something nasty for us.”

“Well, that was the idea, darling,” Rarity smirked. “We wanted to lure her out.”

“I believe we must give the negotiations a chance first,” Princess Celestia said.

Everypony in the room looked at her agape, but she was the Princess, so nopony said anything rash. However, Luna wasn’t held back by the same restrictions.

“What are you saying, sister?” Luna narrowed her eyes. “Tenebris is a vile creature. Her words are empty. Negotiating with her is a waste of time!”

“I agree with that statement, dear sister, but we are unlike her,” Celestia shook her head. “We cannot break the sanctity of parley to ambush her. It would damage Equestria’s reputation for centuries.”

“What good will our reputation do if Tenebris wins?” Luna flared her wings angrily, giving her sister a look of annoyance.

Celestia just sighed. “We have to think about the future, Luna. We will strike back when Tenebris breaks the promise, but we cannot do it first.”

Luna seemed to calm down a little when she heard that.

“You know, no one has to know what really happened—” Commander Blade began, but Celestia snapped a stare at her and she shut up.

“We will not step on that road again,” the Princess said, keeping her eyes on the Commander. The mare nodded hastily.

I briefly wondered what Celestia had meant by again, but that was for another time. However, I silently promised myself to hit the history books to find out if she was referring to something.

“Fine, we’ll do as you say, Princess,” Luna grumbled. “Now, let us discuss the safety measures I would like to take...”

The discussion continued well into the afternoon, until everypony was satisfied with the plan. Tenebris was going to meet with us on an empty stretch of road between our camp and Canterlot. The road could be seen from our side and hers, so it was difficult to prepare some kind of ambush without anypony noticing.

What Tenebris wouldn’t expect was the Void Stone.

Since Clipper was dead, somepony else had to carry the Stone instead. That pony should be skilled in melee combat and be able to deliver it fast. Obviously, our choice fell on Daring Do.

Just in case something went wrong, Luna was staying back at the camp. The Night Princess had argued with that decision, but had to accept its logic in the end. Celestia was going to be accompanied by Blueblood, Starlight, Rarity and me, besides a dozen of our best unicorn melee fighters, as their magic would be useless. It wasn’t perfect, but Tenebris’ condition was to avoid the two other tribes on the meeting, so all my other friends had to stay out.

“Why do you have to go, Sunny?” Ruby frowned. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m used to danger,” I retorted. “Besides, it’s what Tenebris wanted.”

It was true, in fact. One of her conditions was to have Starlight and me present on that meeting. That was highly suspicious of Tenebris, but we had to play along, even though we knew she likely wanted to get rid of the ponies she hated in one fell swoop. It’s not like we weren’t planning the same.

Daring Do was going to hide far from the meeting and arrive at the signal. Our job was to hold Tenebris off until the Void Stone blocked her magic, and then deal with her afterwards. It sounded pretty simple in theory, but it was Tenebris we were dealing with, so I was sure it wouldn’t be easy.

The negotiations had been scheduled to be right after sundown, and the rest of the day was dragging incredibly slowly for my tastes. I was sitting by the campfire and looking into the flames, hoping for them to calm my anxiousness. I always hated waiting for something, especially something as important as this.

“You’re not going,” Ruby stated firmly, settling by my side.

I gave my marefriend a stern gaze. She didn’t budge.

“Yes, I am. I have to,” I told her.

“Then I’m going with you.” Ruby sounded uncompromising.

I shook my head and tried to ignore Ruby’s wilted ears. I knew she was worried about me — I would be too in her place — but there was no other way.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “Princess Celestia and a whole bunch of powerful ponies will be there.”

“Princess Celestia is exhausted and Tenebris eats simple ponies like us for breakfast,” Ruby countered. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

I embraced my marefriend in a hug because I didn’t have anything else to say. Especially since I knew myself how risky it was. We let the hug go on for quite a while, until we finally disentangled.

“Just don’t play the hero,” Ruby said.

I simply nodded.

***

The time for the meeting was finally upon us.

Our party had gathered at the camp’s border, raring to go. My friends who were staying back were here to see me out. We didn’t say goodbye because I wasn’t supposed to be gone for long. Besides, it would be tempting fate. I simply gave them one last glance before turning away.

“Be careful, sister,” Princess Luna said to Celestia.

The other Princess nodded. After that, Celestia walked ahead and the rest of us followed, while Ruby watched us go. I even made her promise that she wouldn’t try to follow me.

It didn’t take our procession long to reach the place. It was a simple stretch of road at the side of the mountain; the only significance it had was a white flag on a pole that Blueblood had planted earlier.

“I don’t like it,” I said, swiveling my ears around. “I feel like she’s up to something.”

“Well, of course she is,” Rarity rolled her eyes. “What else would you expect from an evil Queen?”

“She’ll be in for a surprise herself,” Starlight smirked. “This Stone is really cool. Even Tenebris won’t be able to surpass its power.”

I remembered what Starlight had already told me about the Stone and frowned.

“But we’ll have to keep it close to her for it to have any effect,” I reminded her, but she just waved her hoof dismissively.

“Whatever spell she casts won’t have any effect within the Stone’s radius, either,” Starlight said. “She could unleash a bucking tornado at us and we’d barely feel a breeze.”

My mood slightly improved after that. The only downside to complete magic protection was the inability to use it ourselves, but that was why our soldiers were prepared for melee combat. Tenebris would be at a heavy disadvantage.

After a few minutes of waiting, we finally saw our enemies. Tenebris herself was stepping proudly in the lead, with a group of ponies behind her. Their numbers were the same as ours as per the condition of the meeting and all of them were unicorns as well.

As they approached, I tensed up when I recognized Morning Bright by her side. I should have known that damn unicorn would be here. He noticed me as well and I exchanged a deadly glare with him, until returning my full attention back to Tenebris.

“Tenebris,” Princess Celestia greeted the mare with a barely noticeable nod.

The two of them stood before each other in silence. Tenebris wasn’t larger than an ordinary unicorn, but her white glowing eyes spoke volumes about her real power. She had faced off against the two princesses at once and come out unscathed! Granted, the princesses were holding back to avoid damaging the city, but the fact that Tenebris was powerful was undeniable.

She wore a golden tiara on her head that was probably supposed to represent her “royal status”, but otherwise she looked the same as at our last encounter, though maybe a little more grumpy. If such an expression could even be used for somepony like her.

“Celestia,” Tenebris answered with a sneer. “Have you come here to discuss your surrender?”

The Princess shook her head, unperturbed. “I’m afraid not. Even you should know that you’re not going to win. However, if you lay down your weapons without a fight, I’m willing to consider simply ending your life rather than sending you back to Tartarus. I’m sure you don’t want to spend another eternity in it.”

I was expecting Tenebris to get mad, but she simply laughed at that offer. Celestia looked at her with a serene expression until the other mare calmed down.

“Is that so?” Tenebris smirked. “Are you willing to do whatever it takes to avoid any bloodshed?”

“Yes. The lives of my ponies are precious to me.”

Tenebris’ eyes flared dangerously as she grinned.

“Would you give me their lives—” Tenebris pointed her hoof at me and my friends, “—if that was the condition of my capitulation? Surely, the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few.”

I felt my fur stand on end at Tenebris’ full attention. I looked at Celestia’s unreadable face, awaiting her answer with trepidation. I knew that the Princess wouldn’t go for that, but there was no way to be sure.

“Don’t take me for a fool, Tenebris,” she finally said and I sighed in relief. “I would never trade the lives of my friends for your empty promises. If that’s all you have, then our negotiations are pointless.”

“Fine, let’s get serious,” Tenebris waved her hoof dismissively. “If I were to surrender, I’d need...”

The self-imposed Queen proceeded to list a number of conditions upon which she would surrender. Some of her conditions were quite reasonable. However, I listened to them with a mix of relief and anxiety. It didn’t matter how reasonable she sounded — Tenebris just never struck me as the surrendering type.

When Tenebris was done, it was Celestia’s turn to talk. The Princess denied some of the things that Tenebris had demanded, but agreed to the rest. The two talked to each other for some time and even I started to believe that Tenebris was being serious.

Suddenly, I saw a flicker of light.

I glanced back and saw flashes of fire from the direction of our camp. It was too dark to see what was happening, but it looked like there was some fighting going on. I snapped my attention back to Tenebris to see her smug expression.

“Ready to surrender now?” she said, her horn ablaze.

***

It was night, but Ruby was sitting by the campfire with Marcus. Nopony in the camp had even considered sleeping. Even if they had, Ruby was far too worried to simply go to bed. Her marefriend and her friends were risking their lives, while all she could do was fret.

“Don’t worry, Marcus, they can stand up for themselves,” Ruby said more for her own comfort.

“Yeah,” the man answered. “How long have they been out there already?”

Ruby shrugged. “About an hour, probably. I’m— ”

“What’s this?” Marcus interrupted her.

Before Ruby could get angry, she heard a noise too. Somepony screamed and the camp around them began to move. Ruby jumped on her hooves too, feeling glad that she hadn’t removed her light armor for the night.

“Something’s wrong,” she threw at Marcus and trotted towards the sound.

Marcus hurried after her, drawing his sword.

Soon it became apparent that the camp was under attack. The sounds of fighting could be heard from around them and Ruby saw flashes of spells from a few directions at once. The soldiers were running around frantically, without any clear organization or indication as to where they were going.

“Stay close to me,” Ruby said to Marcus and the man nodded grimly.

Together they rushed to join the defenders. Thanks to the moon and the constant spell discharges, they could see the enemy clearly. They were moving in a solid group through the camp, setting the tents on fire and cutting down the lone soldiers that got in their way.

“Get down,” Ruby yelled, seeing a movement above.

Ignoring her, Marcus thrust his sword forward, impaling a flying attacker. Both of them fell down, but after just a moment Marcus had gotten up, no worse for the wear, while his opponent was gasping on the ground with a gaping wound in his chest.

“Everypony, come to me!” somepony yelled from behind them.

Ruby and Marcus exchanged glances and ran towards the voice, as well as most of the other soldiers in the vicinity. The source of the voice was a large earth pony wielding an axe. He had amassed quite a number of loyalists around himself.

“Let’s show those fools!” he yelled, pointing his axe at the approaching enemy.

He set an example by galloping straight towards them first. The rest – including Ruby and Marcus – followed him without hesitation, inspired by his bravery. The earth pony crashed right into the enemy’s midst, throwing a few lesser ponies on the ground.

Before their comrades could swarm him with their numbers, the loyalists joined the mix. Ruby personally slashed her weapon at the pony who’d almost dealt a blow to the axe-wielding warrior. The pony jumped back, unhurt thanks to his armor and went to another opponent, while Ruby defended against somepony else.

While Ruby was busy, Marcus was balancing between life and death. His height wasn’t to his advantage in this battle, quite the opposite. He was taller, yes, but it didn’t make him stronger than an average earth pony and he was just as vulnerable to their sharp weapons.

Marcus kicked a pony who tried to ram his groin in the face and followed with a sword attack, leaving a deep cut in the pony’s foreleg. Before he could finish him off, he took a magical missile to his chest and fell to the ground, cringing in pain.

Rolling to avoid a counter-attack from his wounded opponent, he stabbed him on his side. The pony yelled and Marcus promptly ended their quick encounter with a hit to the head. There was no time to catch a breath, however, as another spell hit the ground under his legs.

The grass beneath him was set on fire, but Marcus stomped on the fire to kill it before it spread and turned to face the pesky unicorn. The mare looked weary from the two spells she’d already tried, but she charged at him nonetheless, lowering her horn menacingly.

What a crazy mare.

Marcus allowed her to get closer and then stepped aside, kicking her flank. She lost her balance, falling to the ground and rolling a few times. The unicorn began to get up, lighting up her horn at the same time, but Marcus jumped closer and kicked it with his boot.

He remembered from Sundae how sensitive a horn could be, especially while using magic, but the result exceeded his wildest expectations, as the mare fell back to the ground, wailing in pain and holding her poor horn. Marcus couldn’t bring himself to kill off a wounded enemy, so instead he hit her in the head with the hilt of his sword, rendering her unconscious.

The man wiped his brow and looked around in despair, taking a moment to assess his surroundings. All around the fighting was raging – blows were being exchanged and ponies were falling down either dead or wounded. He couldn’t see Ruby at the first glance, but he hoped she wasn’t among those who had fallen.

Sundae would be mad at him otherwise.

***

“It’s a trap!” somepony realized, but that was really just stating the obvious at this point.

Tenebris’ followers showered us with a torrent of spells. Everypony but Celestia and Starlight were thrown back like rag dolls, while the two somehow raised a shield to protect themselves. I landed a few meters backwards, as a strong smell of burnt hair hit my nostrils. When I looked down, I noticed my breastplate was white-hot.

Casting a cooling spell on it, I jumped back on my hooves and looked for Rarity. I gasped when I saw her on the ground, rushing to her motionless body. Putting an ear to her chest, I made sure she was breathing, and then turned my attention to the raging battle.

Thanks to Celestia and Starlight taking the bulk of the enemy’s rage, our own fighters had had a little time to recover. They were each engaged in a magical duel with their opponent, while the Princess struggled to keep Tenebris occupied.

Before I could join them, however, I was abruptly lifted up and then smashed back to the ground. Something cracked and a sharp pain pierced my barrel. Holding back a groan, I attempted to get up, but some force kept me from moving.

“Stay down, Sundae,” Morning Bright said.

I ignored his words and struggled to overcome his magical grip, but to no avail.

“I didn’t finish my job the last time,” Bright continued. “You were supposed to die.”

As soon as the words left his lips, the pressure increased tenfold. The air was squeezed out of my lungs, making it impossible to breathe. I gasped for oxygen and my vision became spotty, while I tried to gather some of my magic in a desperate attempt to escape.

I felt like a bug under his hoof.

“Leave her alone,” Rarity’s voice demanded.

I was barely remaining conscious at this point and just as I was on the verge of fainting, the pressure was suddenly gone.

“What?” Bright asked in surprise.

My vision had returned enough to see a white hoof connecting to his muzzle and sending him sprawling on the ground.

“You’re not as arrogant without your magic, are you?” Rarity smirked, stomping at him while he tried to get up.

Groaning, I lifted myself up, ignoring the pain all over my body. It wasn’t as bad as when I’d been hit by Starlight’s spell, so I guess that was good. I looked at the battle — the situation had changed dramatically once the Void Stone had come into play.

Tenebris’ unicorns were caught with their pants down, figuratively speaking, and our own ponies went into the offensive. One by one the rebels fell, not being ready for a melee engagement, but for some reason our weapons weren’t having any effect on Tenebris herself.

Despite her followers lying dead or wounded, she was just standing there, completely ignoring her surroundings.

“I believe it’s my turn to offer you to surrender,” Celestia said with a hint of amusement.

Tenebris’ eyes sparked, rapidly changing their color to a bright blue. A strong wave of cold emanated from her, sending chills along my spine. The ponies took a step back when the mare began growing in size.

I watched it happen in silent shock. Tenebris couldn’t be using magic. That was impossible!

“WE ARE FINALLY FREE,” Tenebris bawled.

I flattened my ears, leaning back. Everypony looked at the mare in shock. Daring Do, who was hovering above with the Void Stone, was shaking it wildly, as if hoping to make it work.

“You ponies are still bickering among themselves,” she continued. “We’re going to enjoy a glorious feast!”

“Who are you?” Princess Celestia asked, flaring her wings and taking a step forward.

“We are the windigo.”

***

Ruby was tired.

She didn’t know how long the battle had lasted, but it had felt like hours. The mare was bleeding from countless small cuts, and her foreleg was badly bruised, which made holding her sword a literal pain. At least it was over...

What was left of the rebel’s initial group had finally broken down and run away, leaving behind dozens of dead and wounded comrades. Ruby looked around and her heart clenched — the loyalists hadn’t come out unscathed either. In the bright light of the burning tents, she saw plenty of their own ponies on the ground, including the earth pony with the axe.

It was a terrible sight, but more terrible was that try as she might, she couldn’t find Marcus anywhere. Ruby hoped he hadn’t been one of the casualties, but she couldn’t dismiss the possibility.

“Are you okay?” Marcus’ voice startled her from behind.

Ruby turned to the man, startled, but then relaxed. After she assured Marcus that she was fine, she examined his own condition. The human had his clothes torn and the armor almost ruined, but it had served its purpose by saving him from any life-threatening injuries.

“This is not over yet,” Ruby said, pointing to the side where sounds of battle could still be heard. She addressed everypony nearby, “Follow me, we must help them.”

***

I stared at Tenebris dumbfounded. The others shared my reaction; even her own allies — those who were still alive anyway — were backing off from the crazy mare as her whole body was covered by a layer of ice in a matter of seconds.

“You’re not welcome here, fiend,” Princess Celestia spoke sternly, though I heard a panicked note in her voice. “Go back to the frozen north.”

Tenebris roared in laughter. While she was having fun, everypony gathered behind Celestia, unsure of what to do. Daring Do was still hovering above us with the Stone, but it didn’t seem to affect the creature. It casually lit up its horn, turning towards us threateningly.

“Get the Stone out of here!” Starlight yelled to Daring Do and the mare raced as if the demons of Tartarus were chasing her.

With our magic restored, everypony launched their attacks at the windigo. Even I gathered enough strength for a simple blast. Spells of different colors and purposes rained upon the beast, but were easily deflected off its icy exterior.

Then Celestia herself finally joined the effort. A golden ray of pure energy erupted from her long horn, blinding in its brightness, and struck the mountain side directly above the monster. Large chunks of rock were knocked off by the power of that strike, falling on her in an avalanche.

The creature glanced up at the last moment before getting crushed under tons of rubble. I was sure that nopony could have survived something like that, but it wasn’t a simple pony we were dealing with. Celestia flapped her wings, soaring into the air above the rocks.

“Get back, ponies,” she yelled to us and we rushed to follow her order.

I stopped only when I had decided I’d gotten far enough, looking back just in time to see Celestia casting something fierce. A grand wall of flame descended on the road below. It wasn’t a simple fire; I could feel the heat from it even from afar. Even the rocks themselves were melting!

Soon, the Princess was done and landed near us. She was sullen and could barely stand — the spell had taken a lot out of her, especially since she’d had no time to recover after her last magical exhaustion. But it had gotten the job done.

Tenebris was finally—

An infernal howl hollered from behind. A ghost-like horse came right through the melted rock under which Tenebris had been buried and floated into the sky. I could sense the temperature dropping dramatically; the moon above became covered with clouds.

“This is not good,” Starlight commented.

I barely heard her, half-deafened by the windigo’s roar, but I wholeheartedly agreed with her statement. Tenebris may be dead, but the situation had become much more complicated with the ancient monster roaming free and only getting stronger the more we fought each other.

To make matters worse, I saw the rebels marching down the road from Canterlot, likely unaware that their Queen had been defeated.

“We need to get back to the camp and organize a defense,” Captain Blueblood said.

After he uttered those words, we turned around and galloped away from the approaching enemy, while the snow was slowly covering the ground around us. I ran on a par with the others, despite my traumas, likely because of the adrenaline. I dreaded what I would feel later after torturing my body like that, but it was necessary for there to be any later at all.

I could see the camp burning even from afar. The battle there was still in progress and I asked myself an interesting question — who were they fighting if Tenebris’ army was just coming down the mountain? And how in Equestria could we stop them all?

Both of those questions were crucially important, but it was up to ponies like Celestia and Blueblood to answer them, while all I could do was to follow their orders.

As we got closer to the camp, we passed a number of beaten rebels in full retreat. They scrambled away at our sight, until Blueblood pinned one down with his magic and held the pony down until we had all approached. The pony whimpered when he saw the Princess herself, desperately struggling to get out, but Blueblood’s magic was too strong for him.

“Answer me honestly, pony, who are those traitors attacking my loyal army?” Celestia asked, looking at the rebel like dirt under her hoof.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t want to do it! I wanted to escape...” the pony cried out, but Celestia waved off her hoof, cutting him off.

“I need an answer now.”

“W-well, I’m from Whinny,” the pony said hastily, tears in his eyes. “Tenebris gave an order to send half of what we had to Canterlot, and a few days ago we joined up with the others from different cities. Then yesterday she sent a message telling us that we should gallop here to attack the loyalist’s — I mean, your — army here...”

“I see,” Celestia said. She cast a spell that put the pony to sleep and turned to us.

“I’m afraid we’re going to lose this battle,” she said grimly. “We must retreat again and save what we can.”

Captain Blueblood nodded in silent agreement.

***

A loud howl from the mountain’s direction startled everypony — loyalists and rebels alike — enough to stop the fighting for a moment, but after it had passed, the battle resumed with new strength.

Ruby and Marcus had met Sturdy in the midst of the chaos and now all three were fighting side by side with Commander Blade herself. Every loyalist still at the camp had gathered around the command tent, repelling attack after attack. The ponies were tired, but no one was thinking about surrender, not when Princess Luna herself was fighting alongside them.

If it hadn’t been for her example, the loyalists would have been overwhelmed a long time ago, but even the alicorn wasn’t invincible. That was painfully obvious by a few bloody gashes staining Luna’s dark-blue coat, and though the Princess was doing a good job of ignoring them, Ruby knew how hard that must have been.

“We’re done for,” Marcus stated during a small respite between the attacks.

The man was swaying, barely able to stand. Ruby herself fell on the ground, panting. Even her earth pony stamina had its limits and she was very close to exceeding them. Despite that, she shook her head in stubborn denial; snow dropping from her mane.

“I don’t think so,” Ruby said. “We’re going to win for sure.”

She didn’t believe her own words, but she had said them anyway. If there was a choice to die fighting or curled up in fear, the choice was obvious.

“Here they come again...” Sturdy announced and the battle resumed once again.

As usual, Ruby got right in the thick of it, along with Sturdy and an unfamiliar Royal Guard. The changeling was a powerful fighter and they had been standing together against the rebels for the few previous attacks, saving each other’s lives more than she could count.

When a trio of ponies rushed at them, a unicorn in their midst launched a fire projectile, which was met by a rock that Sturdy levitated in its way. The projectile blew up, throwing the rock backwards.

Ruby widened her eyes and ducked. The rock shot over her head and she heard it meeting something metal. She threw a quick glance, noticing the guard had lost his helmet and froze in shock.

“Doctor Shade!?”

The earth stallion grinned madly and suddenly leaped at her. Ruby flinched in fear, but the stallion jumped over her and tackled the enemy, who was about to slice the distracted mare in half.

Ruby shook her head, forcing herself to ignore Shade. He was fighting on her side and she couldn’t allow herself any more distractions when any mistake could cost her life. The life that her sworn enemy had just saved!

Jumping on her hooves, Ruby joined him in battle, but a sudden explosion behind her sent the mare flying forward. The last thing she remembered before falling into darkness was hitting the earth with a great force.

***

My hooves were freezing.

We were at the camp’s fortified border, but all the action had moved close to the center. I gazed at the burned tents and dead ponies, trying to be detached. I feared that one of my friends or Ruby herself may have been lying among the fallen, but it was far too dark to distinguish anything but general shapes.

Even Princess Celestia couldn’t keep her ears up upon seeing such carnage. It lasted a few seconds, until her shock was replaced by an expression of rage, as she stomped her hoof at the ground.

“Those rebels won’t get away with what they’ve done to my ponies,” she said with a fire in her eyes. Although that might have just been a reflection...

“My Princess, you can’t take them on alone— ”

Celestia interrupted Captain Blueblood with a sharp wave of her hoof.

“I know what I can or cannot do,” she scolded him. “We— ”

A thunderous roar sounded from the sky. Everypony looked up, fearing the worst, and gaped. Instead of the windigo, a certain purple alicorn was hovering high above the camp, illuminated by the bright light coming off her horn. She lowered a blowing horn from her lips.

“Twilight...” Celestia whispered, though I could see that much myself.

“Everypony, cease your pointless fighting!” Twilight demanded, her voice magnified tenfold. “Your so-called Queen Tenebris has been vanquished and you can’t hope to defeat the Crystal Army that I brought with me without her. I don’t want to use it — enough blood has been spilled already — but I would have to if you refuse. But know that if you do, it would reinforce our true enemies — the windigos. You may think it’s just some old mare’s tale, but just look around. The land is already covered in snow! So lay down your weapons immediately. You must stop this before it’s too late!”

Everything became quiet and still after that, only the snow continued its impassive fall.

“Nice speech, darling,” Rarity smiled, though I doubt Twilight could hear her.

“Do you think it worked?” Starlight asked, swiveling her ears to catch any suspicious sounds.

I shrugged, feeling nervous inside. “Seems that way.”

We moved towards the center carefully. Though there weren’t any sounds of battle anymore, the air was filled with the groans and screams of the wounded. I steeled my heart and ignored the noise, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to help anypony at the moment.

Soon, we finally saw the loyalists. I exhaled in relief when I noticed the tall figure of Marcus among them — he had survived the battle!

Everypony who could move was tending to the wounded, though I noticed the loyalists were being given the priority. I understood that completely. A large group of rebels were standing at some distance, but all of them were unarmed and looked pretty beat both morally and physically.

I trotted to meet my friend, while looking around for any signs of Ruby.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I murmured, hugging his torso. He gently patted me on my head in return. “Have you seen Ruby?”

“I saw her about five minutes ago,” he said with a shrug and glanced around.

We went searching for Ruby together and it didn’t take long to finally find her. My heart sank into my hooves when I saw my marefriend...

“No!” I exclaimed, galloping towards an azure pony lying on the ground.

There was barely anything left of her armor, but that wasn’t the worst part. Her whole body was covered in blood. Somepony was already busy applying a tourniquet to her badly injured hind leg, so I clung to the hope that she was still alive.

“Is she alive?” I shot Sturdy a question, who stood nearby, looking lost.

He gave me a helpless look and shrugged, but the pony who was tending to her answered instead.

“For now,” a suspiciously familiar voice said. “Though I’m the wrong kind of doctor, to be sure.”

Shade threw a short glance at me and returned to his work. I didn’t attack him, despite my instincts screaming at me to do so — the Doctor appeared to be doing his best. Besides, I wasn’t about to bet Ruby’s life on my extremely limited medical skills.

“I’m sorry, Sunny,” Marcus said.

“She’s going to be fine,” I snapped back. “Earth ponies are tough.”

Marcus didn’t answer.

***

A couple of days had passed since our “victory”.

It wasn’t complete, though. Even though Tenebris was dead, the windigo were still out there, as well as Morning Bright. The latter had assumed control of Tenebris’ army and barricaded himself in Canterlot with whatever troops had remained. With the Crystal Army by our side, we could take it by force at any moment, but the Princesses were hoping to avoid the bloodshed, since enough of it had been spilled already.

Besides, the windigo would only grow more powerful by feeding on all the disharmony. While their influence was limited, it remained cold and cloudy, despite the weather pegasi’s best efforts, though it hadn’t been a complete failure — the snow had thankfully melted.

I, however, had other things that were keeping my mind occupied. My dear Ruby remained unconscious, even though I’d been promised she would recover eventually. I couldn’t ask for more, since the healers were being stretched pretty thin already, with hundreds of wounded from both sides.

“She’s going to be fine,” Starlight said, joining me by the campfire.

I grunted something in response.

Getting up, I stretched my limbs, cringing from dozens of bruises. I had probably cracked some bones, but I hadn’t had them checked by anypony — the others needed help much more than I did.

It was time to return to Ruby. My friends had convinced me to spend some time outside of the medical tent and so I had, but every minute apart from my injured marefriend made me anxious. Starlight followed me back without a word.

I nodded to the two crystal ponies guarding the entrance and walked inside, making a straight line to Ruby’s cot. Despite having seen it before, a lump appeared in my throat when my eyes fell on Ruby’s wounds. A bandaged stump was where her hip used to be...

“It could have been worse,” Starlight said, touching my shoulder with a hoof.

“Yeah.”

If it hadn’t been for Doctor Shade, Ruby would have died before any help could have arrived. His actions hadn’t changed his ultimate punishment — he and his marefriend would be banished from Equestria for life — but it had changed my opinion about him. I even believed in his earlier apology now.

I lowered myself by Ruby’s cot and prepared to wait as long as it would take for her to wake up, with Starlight settling by my side to keep me company. This time we didn’t have to wait for long.

Ruby stirred and I switched my full attention to her. I held my breath involuntarily, as if it could somehow disrupt her awakening, watching the mare slowly open her eyes. She blinked a few times and then looked around in confusion.

I put on my best smile, so it would be the first thing she saw.

“Did we win?” Ruby asked in a weak voice.

I bobbed my head and leaned forward to gently squeeze her around the neck, making sure not to cause her any discomfort or, Celestia forbid, pain. Ruby put her own forelegs around mine, pulling me closer and planting a kiss on my cheek.

“I was afraid I’d lost you when I heard that roar from the mountain,” she whispered. “What was that by the way?”

Pulling out from the hug, I exchanged glances with Starlight and began retelling Ruby the events that had taken place after I’d left the camp. I’d just gotten to my encounter with Morning Bright, when I stopped, unsure. Should I really bother Ruby with the details after she’d just—

“And then that bastard slammed her into the ground,” Starlight continued for me, trying to be helpful. “It was pretty rough.”

Ruby gasped, appalled. I gave Starlight a stern glare and she had the modesty to look sheepish. I continued the story, trying to ignore Ruby’s worried look.

“The windigo in Tenebris?!” Ruby exclaimed when I got to that part.

“Exactly!” Starlight cut in before I could answer. “That’s why she was so powerful. She had somehow harnessed their power inside of herself— ”

“— But the Void Stone messed it all up and they got free,” I said. “It’s a good thing they’re weakened, otherwise we’d be facing a blizzard here instead of some light snowfall.”

When I’d finally finished my story, Ruby still didn’t seem to realize that she was missing a limb, but it was only a matter of time until she did. It would be better if I broke the news to her gently, but I couldn’t quite choose the right words.

I couldn’t just say “By the way, you’re a three-legged pony now,” right? As I was scrambling for words, Ruby began to stir in her bed, as if planning to get up, so I put a hoof on her shoulder to stop her. She looked at me in surprise.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” I asked carefully.

Ruby thought for a moment and answered, “Well, I saw Doctor Shade fighting along with me and then some blast, I think. Though I’m pretty sure that was some hallucination. I mean, Shade saving my life... Crazy, isn’t it?”

I shook my head, smiling thinly. “Not a hallucination, dear. He did save your life. If it hadn’t been for him, you’d have lost much more than just a leg.”

It took a few seconds for my words to register, but when they did, Ruby’s face changed to a grimace of shock. She frantically checked her forelegs and not finding anything wrong with them finally looked down. She lifted her stump to get a better look.

“Oh my gosh...”

“I’m so sorry,” I said in a trembling voice and embraced the mare in a hug.

***

I remained with Ruby for the rest of the day, distracting her from brooding too much. My other friends visited from time to time, sharing the latest news on the progress of the ultimatum that the Princesses had given to Morning Bright.

The ultimatum was ending tomorrow morning, but so far Bright had showed no reaction, which was bothersome. If he and his ponies refused to lay down their weapons, then they’d face the most severe of punishments after Canterlot was reclaimed by force.

They were fools if they didn’t realize that.

“They did it!” Starlight burst into the tranquility of our medical tent like a hurricane.

“Did what?” I asked automatically. “You mean the ultimatum?”

“Yes! The rebels have attacked Morning Bright and he has escaped! Canterlot is officially ours now.”

Cheers sounded from all over the tent from the other injured soldiers who’d heard the announcement. Ruby and I were cheering too, while Starlight approached us to have a more private conversation.

“What about the windigos?” I asked the most important question and Starlight frowned.

“Well, Twilight has devised a theory on how to drive them away,” she said with a shrug. “Something about the Fire of Friendship...”

“I see.”

I, like everypony else, knew the legend behind Hearth’s Warming. Though I had always assumed that the windigos were just a story element, a metaphor, but I guess they were more real than I’d given them credit for. In any case, the creatures had been defeated by the Fire of Friendship that had sparked from three friends from different tribes, united by one goal.

That was how Equestria had been made.

“How’s Twilight is planning to recreate something like that?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“She didn’t share that with me, but there’s going to be a big ceremony tomorrow morning, so she must know what she’s doing,” explained Starlight. “At first, I thought they’d use the Elements, but Twilight said it’s going to be something else.”

We spent some more time trying to deduce what Twilight was going to do, when Marcus and Sturdy joined us. The discussion continued with new energy — the wildest theories were shared, from song-singing to a mass orgy that Marcus joked they’d do.

“Get it? The Fire of Friendship,” Marcus tried to explain, his face as red as a tomato, “And there’s nothing hotter than an orgy, right? I mean—” he continued his futile attempt, only digging himself deeper.

Everypony gave Marcus a long look and he finally stopped talking. I couldn’t help but giggle at his ashamed face and soon the others joined in. Even Marcus flickered a smile. In the back of my mind, I recalled my earlier thoughts — Marcus really needed a girlfriend.

***

The wounded were transferred to Canterlot Hospital by the next morning. The place was terribly understaffed, but the ponies that used to work there were sure to return after the government had regained control of the capital. For now, it was just the Crystal Army’s medics and volunteers helping the injured.

I stayed with Ruby, while the rest of my friends were getting ready for Twilight’s ceremony. As much as she wanted to, Ruby couldn’t move yet, though it hadn’t stopped her from trying to get up. Unfortunately, the missing leg wasn’t her only problem — countless minor wounds and some major blood loss had left her in a weak condition.

“Too bad Bright has escaped,” Ruby said. “I was going to wipe his muzzle on the floor for what he did to you.”

I shrugged, trying to suppress a grimace of pain from my shoulder. “It’s not that bad. And I’m sure he’ll be caught eventually.”

“Yeah, but not by me...”

Ruby threw a meaningful glance at her leg and I flattened my ears. It was hard seeing her like that, but losing a leg wasn’t the end of the world. Surely, there were prostheses and it wasn’t like she had lost one of the forelegs that she used for manipulating stuff.

“It’ll be okay,” I reassured her.

Suddenly, something caught my attention outside. I trotted to the window, gaping at what was happening before my eyes. A giant burning heart was floating above the city. It was transparent at first — I was able to see the gray clouds through it — but was slowly becoming more real. The purple flames burned brightly, illuminating the whole city in their mysterious light.

“What’s happening?” Ruby asked worriedly from her bed.

I turned around, realizing that Ruby couldn’t see anything. Without much of a thought, I grabbed the mare with my magic and levitated her near me. She yelped, but fell silent when she had seen the heart for herself.

“Twilight really did it,” I smiled, a feeling of warmth spreading inside. “It’s the Fire of Friendship.”

Ruby and I — and likely everypony in Canterlot — were watching the Heart grow stronger, supported by every pony in the city. The clouds were burning before its flame and I could swear I saw the ghostly shapes of the windigo, writhing in agony high above.

The Heart was pleasant to look at and we gazed at it in admiration long after the last traces of the windigo had vanished, until eventually the Heart began to fade away. I sighed and finally tore my stare off of it, turning to Ruby.

“I guess it’s really over now.”

***

An hour later, a loud noise ruthlessly ended my nap. I jerked and turned to the door, barely having the time to brace for the impact, as a pink furry creature tackled me, trying to squish my body in her firm grip.

“Easy, Pinkie, she’s hurt,” Starlight’s voice sounded from somewhere and the grip on me eased.

“Sorry,” Pinkie giggled, nuzzling my cheek. “I just missed Sunny.”

After that, she lifted me on my legs and I finally took a deep breath, looking at Twilight, Marcus, Sturdy and the girls walking into the room. After exchanging our greetings, we settled on the floor near Ruby’s bed.

“Well, spill it out!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as soon as we had. “Can’t wait to hear it.”

I glanced at her in surprise.

“She wants to hear about our adventures, darling,” Rarity explained Rainbow’s intentions for me. “She was bothering Starlight and me all day about that.”

“Yeah, I wish I’d gone with you, Rares,” Rainbow said, as she hovered into the air in agitation, ignoring Twilight’s stare. “I bet it was much more awesome than the Crystal Empire. I mean, all we did there was some boring talking and stuff!”

“Aw, what about my party?” Pinkie pouted, lowering her ears. “I thought you liked it...”

“I did, I did! It was one of the best things there, to be honest,” Rainbow assured her hastily, invoking a relieved smile from the pink mare.

“Well, I think we did a great job in the Crystal Empire,” Twilight pointed out, looking offended. “Though it doesn’t diminish your achievements, of course.”

Having said that, Twilight flashed a smile to my friends and me, which I happily returned.

“Well, if you really want to know, then okay, I guess,” I nodded to Rainbow and then turned to Twilight. “But first, tell me, did your ceremony work? Are the windigo really gone?”

Twilight gave me a nod, her ears perking up in excitement.

“Oh, yes. They’ve been banished for sure. You see, I did some research into the Hearth’s Warming story when we were doing a play about it, and the Fire of Friendship seemed very similar to the Crystal Heart. Perhaps this is how the Crystal Heart had come to be in the first place! Anyway, I studied the Heart in depth and got some ideas on how to channel ponies’ emotions myself. Though I’d never had the opportunity to test it before today, it worked great.”

“Strong emotions fuel the magic...” Starlight murmured.

Rainbow waved her hoof impatiently. “Okay, now that you know all that, will you get on with the story?”

“Certainly,” I said and took a deep breath. “Well, the first big problem happened in a village a day’s walk from Canterlot...”

Author's Note:

It is the last chapter excluding a short epilogue to wrap up some things. You may remind me in the comments to make sure I'll mention some issue I forgot in the epilogue.

Comments

[PurpleSmart2]

It's time for a DEATH BATTLEEEEE!

[Vortex Clipper]

Well ended, indeed. Great job, my friend.

[PurpleSmart2]

9472261
It's not quite the end. There's still an epilogue coming.