Chapter 4 - Duality
Twilight stood at the bow of the ship watching the sea before her with tired eyes. It had been several weeks and there was little to see but after spending so many centuries around so few peo-ponies her tolerance for them had been significantly diminished. ‘I wonder how you can deal with the amount of crap that people are throwing.’ A voice said causing Twilight to smile.
"Hello Dawn, I wondered when you would wake up." Twilight said quietly.
"Sorry for my absence sis but when we left the void I was knocked out." Dawn said apologetically. ‘Woke up earlier today.’
Twilight smiled. "Well, if you want to stretch you can." Twilight said with a yawn. "You can take over for a while, I need a break." She said as she closed her eyes.
For a moment it looked as of the Alicorn had fallen asleep on her feet but slowly her mane and tail darkened to an almost black color as her coat did the same becoming an extremely dark purple. As Twilight reopened her eyes the pupils became dagger like and the irises darkened. The Mare shuddered as magenta fire ran down her wings and the morphed into a more draconic form and with a wet plat the armor ripped out of her body and slid into place. "Oh, that feels better." She sighed however her voice was a mix of hers and Twilights and she immediately put a hand over her mouth. "Twilight go to sleep!" She hissed out at the mare who giggled.
‘Ok, I will.’ Twilight replied. ‘Still it feels good to be back in the armor.’ She said as she drifted off again, after a moment of silence Dawn felt Twilight finally fall asleep.
Dawn looked up at the sky with a small smile. "To see the stars, to feel the breeze, it's wonderful." She sighed. "I see why Twilight loves the world so much; it has so much to offer." She said quietly as she leaned against the railing and closed her eyes a small smile on her face.
Captain Moon sighed as she walked through the ship looking for Empress Twilight, she had searched all the below deck areas so that meant she was somewhere above deck. With a sigh she climbed up the stairs and looked around only to spot a mare at the bow of the ship. Captain Moon approached calmly however as she drew closer she realized that the mare was not someone from the ship but strapped to her back was the Empresses sword, the Kitsune narrowed her eyes and quietly drew her sword before advancing on the intruder. As she approached she leapt forward and pressed the blade to the intruders’ throat. "Don't move thief." She said in a cold voice causing the mare she trapped to chuckle.
"Well done Captain Moon, not many can sneak up on us." The Mare said calmly before she quickly ducked out of the Kitsune’s grip and spun away from her strike. "Train a few more centuries and I believe you might be able to actually hold us. I would ask you to stand down, please." She said calmly.
Captain Moon narrowed her eyes. "Where did you get that sword?" She hissed. "Where is Empress Sparkle?"
The Mare paused for a moment before she relaxed. "Ah, I see." She said before bowing. "My apologies Captain Moon; Twilight's unharmed I promise, after all it would be hard to harm myself." She said with a smile.
The kitsune looked at the mare confused before looking closer at the mare and realized that aside from her darker main and coat she was indeed almost identical to the Empress. "I... what's going on?" She asked confused however she did not lower her weapon.
The Mare smiled warmly as she approached the kitsune. "Don’t worry little fox, I am Twilight, or perhaps a better way to put it is I'm her darker side." The Twilight look alike alike sighed. "All Alicorn have two sides to them; there is their base ‘light side’ and then there is their ‘dark side’. These two sides are appropriately names Angelic and Demonic."
"That doesn't explain who you are." Victory said as she slowly lowered her sword bit kept it drawn.
The Dark Alicorn nodded. "When Twilight trained with the original elements, the Masters, she was given the armor worn by the Element of Betrayal."
Victory's eyes widened. "The Berserker Armor!" She gasped in shock and the mare nodded.
"Yes, when she was given this armor her dark side was released as the armor bonded with her and in this process the dark spirit in the armor was not only bound and tamed by Twilight but was reborn as something new." The Mare smiled as she turned back to look out upon the sea. "I was remade into Twilights dark side; you could say I'm Twilights sister in a sense." She said.
Victory watched the mare for a moment before sheathing her blade. "Forgive my rudeness; I was not made aware of your presence." She said as she bowed.
"No, no bowing to me." The mare said as she glared at the mare. "I don't like that; Twilight doesn't either but still..." She trailed off in thought before shrugging. "You don't need to bow." She said with a smile.
Victory nodded confused. "So what are you doing?" She asked. "I doubt Twilight would simply let you roam free."
The Mare laughed however it wasn’t cruel like Victory expected, rather it sounded like chimes being moved by the wind. "Yes she lets me roam free." She said as she turned to the captain while leaning on the railing. "You see, unlike Luna's dark side which manifests as Nightmare Moon and was born from jealousy or Celestias’ who would rid the world of all she sees as 'evil', I simply wish to live life." The Mare explained with a sad smile. "Twilight and I are very similar in our goals and desires, we simply want to learn and be left in peace. No wars, no politics, no saving the world; all we want is to find a place where we can live a peaceful life, not free of responsibility but a place where we can live without the need to fight."
Victory looked at the mare confused. "So why become Empress of the Harmony Empire and if you are so similar then what makes you her dark side?" She asked.
The Mare nodded. "The Harmony Empire is perhaps the only place that we can find peace, if we remained in Equestria then Twilight would be forbidden to use her power at best or be locked away and seen as a villain and imprisoned by Celestia for all eternity." The Mare explained. "As for what makes me different, well... let's just say I'm not the nice one." She said with a chuckle. "Twilight is merciful while my way of things is what one would call an eye for an eye mentality, where Twilight grants mercy I grant vengeance. Think of it this way, together we represent the Alicorn of Harmony, a mix between order and Chaos. Twilight is the order to my Chaos and I in turn am the Chaos to her order, we are two sides of a single coin."
Victory nodded. "I see..." She said slowly. "So do you have a name or are you nameless?" She asked.
The Mare smiled. "I am Dawn Flare." She said with pride.
Victory nodded. "If I may ask, why are you out here?" She asked as she approached Dawn and looked out at sea.
Dawn turned back to look out as well and smiled. "Do you mean out of Twilight or out here on deck?"
The Kitsune thought for a minute before shrugging. "Both I guess."
Dawn smiled. "Twilight spent three and a half millennia in the Void; there aren't a lot of ponies and other creatures there." Dawn explained as her eyes turned sad. "Honestly Twilight has been taught how to lead, fight and battle for so long I feel like it's all she can do any more. Give her an army and she will lead them to victory, give her a kingdom and she will lead it into a golden age but give her friends or family and she will be completely lost on what to do."
Victory nodded. "She seems somewhat distant to us and normally is meditating or training.” she said with a sighed. “She reminds me of Queen Artoria."
Dawn looked at Victory, a thoughtful look on her face. "I've heard that name before..." She said in thought.
Victory chuckled. "You should have, she was responsible for the creation of the Element of Generosity."
Dawns eyes widened. "Oh yes!" She said surprised. "Queen Artoria Pendragon was one of the four leaders of the Harmony Empire; she dealt with the military and was known as the Queen who never lost a war." Dawn chuckled as memories of a forgotten time passed through her mind. "Wasn't she called the Alicorn of the Steel due to her skills with the blade and abilities to control any metal?"
Victory nodded. "She was perhaps the greatest military leader in the history of our planet, if there ever was an Alicorn of War then it would have been her." Victory sighed. "To think Twilight was trained by her, it is a dream of every warrior of the Empire." She said in a dreamy voice.
Dawn frowned. "Someday I hope you see who Twilight was before she became what she is now." She as she looked out at the sky.
Victory's smile faded and she turned to Dawn. "What was she like when you met her?" She asked.
Dawn smiled sadly. "I met her toward the end of her training so I'll admit I don't know what she was really like but from the fragments I saw shine through she was once friendly, kind, maybe even happy." she said sadly. "Her training hardened her and the isolation made her a bit apathetic to others. When I was first given a body we were divided into two beings and told to work together, she helped me a lot early on and we fought together, blead together. We became like sisters but even during that time it was as if her very personality was being stripped away and replaced with a stranger." Dawn shivered as she sat down and watched the sea. "I’ve had a lot of masters in my time as the Berserk Armor but out of all of them I have only truly respected or even cared for two, my former master Guts and then Twilight who I see as a sister, to have someone I care about be twisted before my eyes and unable to do anything is... soul crushing."
Victory listened quietly to the dark Alicorn spoke and nodded. "I've seen it before." She said causing Dawn to look up angrily however before she could speak the Kitsune raised her hand. "I had a brother once, Astral Moon, he was perhaps the best guard to have come from the empire and I include myself in that. He was a prodigy of battle and military action, his skills bordered on the level of precognition, he out classed everyone around him and out stripped me by a wide margin but over the years he changed. Like you and Twilight I was forced to watch as my brother was twisted form a loving and caring dog into what I could only call a shell of his former self." Victory sighed and leaned heavily on the railing of the boat. "We never got along well, I was the second rate always one step behind and he was the prodigy killing machine that didn't care but even still I loved him. Then one day all that tension boiled over and we had a fight, things were said that should never have been said. I told him that unless he took a long look at what he became then he was no longer my brother, only a stranger wearing my brother’s skin. The very next day he was sent on a mission to the lands of the Frozen North, he vanished without a trace. We never found a body but I know he's still out there somewhere, someone like him wouldn't- no, couldn't be done in by a little cold weather." Victory turned to Dawn. "No matter what, make sure you and Twilight don’t follow that path." Victory straightened up and headed back to the stairs walked below deck leaving the dark Alicorn to the solitude of her thoughts.
Dawn looked up to the stars and closed her eyes. "Don't worry Captain, I made a promise to shoulder Twilights burden when it became too much. I won’t abandon my sister, not when for the first time I have someone who I can truly care about." She said.
Queen Astrid stood looking over the ocean as her troops prepared the boats for departure, as always at her side stood her wife Queen Rayla stood. Rayla breathe deeply with a smile. “Ah, the air is so salty but it smells so nice!” She said excitedly. “I forgot how beautiful the ocean is.”
Astrid smiled. “I’m glad you approve.” She said as she turned and looked over the troops. “Once we set out across the ocean we will be on it for a while, we’ll need to go arum the Griffon Isles as not to disturb them. I just hope we don’t run into any Sirens along the way, they’re a pain in the ass.”
Rayla smiled and placed a hand on her wife’s’ shoulders. “We’ll be fine love, now let’s go prepare, oh this is so exciting!”
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YAY!!! ANOTHER CHAPTER.... KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK ... LOVING THE STORY
Heavy foreshadowing.
Interesting way to introduce us to Twilight's evil twin
Ok, what's the story behind Astrid and Rayal? I fail to see any significance to their involvement. Equestria's army has abandoned it, the lunar and solar guard are at war, the thestrals and Luna are leaving and Celestia has become the pet of a demon that wants twilight dead. How do the new queens factor in?
Is this statement correct? In chapter 2 the ship's captain said it'd be a week at best.
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The story is about more than Twilight or even Equestria. Just as I involved other races in the previous story I'm doing the same in this one, Queens Astrid and Rayal are going to be one of the few new races and nations that I will be adding into this series. I can't give much a way because I want; it to be a surprise.
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The Captain was giving a best case scenario, sadly the trip took longer than they expected. This was something pretty common during the early days of sea travel when there was no GPS or massive motors to propel ships. Back then ships relied on the wind to move them and the stars to guide them, this means that some trips even though it was planed to be only a few weeks often became months or longer. That's why ships in the old days caried a huge amount of preserved food, encase something went wrong or their trip delayed .
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Eh, I can dig it.
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ok it just felt kind of shoehorned in, thats all. still an interesting story though
Nasuverse confirmed!
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update?
Where did chapter 5 go???
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It was teaser for the upcoming chapters and was only up for 1 hour. I may repost it at a later date but for now it will be lost to the annals of time.
But don't worry, the real chapter 5 will be out soon.
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Drat, I guess work is more of a pain for these kinds of things than I thought. Oh well, I'll just have to wait like everyone else.