Twilight Daylight: Psera, The Legend of Legends

by thedarktome

Chapter 66 - Fight To Dawn Pt. 1

The smell of burning iron. The fumes of smoke. The burning of fabric. Twilight could detect it all through the searing pain she felt in her face. A pain she's never felt before in her life overshadowed by the ringing in her ears. It was hot and burning through her fur and skin underneath.

Since she wasn't able to open her right, she opened her left eye and gazed around. Red littered her throne. The room. Blood. A bomb. An explosion. It was a suicide trip. That Zebra just became a suicide bomber.

She could barely make out the screaming of the Pserateps and the cannon fire going on around her. But she could definitely see it. Once again, Psera had been invaded from directly underneath their noses.

"Queen Arcadia, we have to move!!" She looked up into the blurry faces of Worn Weather and Silver Sword dragging her and Madun across the floor with their own squad. But the other Elite Guards?

They were open-firing on the citizens trying to escape. A barricade had been setup by the Guards watching outside. After the bomb went off in the room, they rushed inside and slaughtered the ones who weren't dead.

While she was being pulled towards the back of the thrones, Twilight gasped and shouted, "NOOOO!!!"

She saw them all fall. She saw all the blood fly from their bodies and paint their floors red. She saw the lifeless forms of innocent ponies hit the floor before she was pulled behind cover out of sight. She saw a takeover in the worst way possible.

They managed to get on this side too through the rear entrance, but the Elite Guards had gotten to them before they could enter.

Lieutenant Worn looked into Twilight's traumatized face and announced, "The Queen has a burn on her face!!" That's what that was?!! "The King was hit by two strays, we need a med team here now!!"

Madun!! Her husband, where was her husband?! Twilight scanned her space and saw them bring Madun out of harm's way. His outfit had been painted with blood. His or any of the dead out there, she wasn't sure. She herself had been sprayed with red all over her front, but not as bad as him. Oh Stars above, why?

She crawled over to him and shouted, "Madun!! Madun, wake up baby, wake up!!"

His hoof found hers before a stream of magic flew through the solid backs of their thrones above them. He was hit. How, she didn't see. He took deep breaths and ordered through strained teeth, "Get to safety. Now. Find D-Dawn—"

"You're coming with me!!" She interrupted. "There's no way I'm leaving you!"

"MADUN!!" Merry raced over with Gardeen and Molten Ice. All eyes scared and trained on Madun bleeding out like the rest of the innocent ponies. On the way over, Molten swiveled around and dance with her wings through the air to send knives flying. Fighting back and providing cover.

Merry slid over and grabbed Madun's free hoof. "You're gonna be okay, alright?! You're gonna be okay!!" Their guards were doing an excellent job providing cover from the Zebras. They had taken over a majority of the Castle's guards and were using their weaponry against them. Sparks of magic were flying through the air. Pinning them down behind their rapidly shredding thrones.

But Madun was still dying. He was critically wounded.

"Twilight..." Twilight focused back on Madun with just one eye. He wasn't looking too good and they had no medical supplies. The Guards were doing what they could by applying pressure to the wounds. But they needed those supplies. Madun reached up and pulled Twilight down to kiss her one final time. Among all the dirt, fire, pain, blood and gore he would show his love at least once more.

He let her go and smiled. "Get Dawn... Back..." He said. Then said nothing more. Or moved. His eyes stilled and his body ran cold. Blood pooled on the floor underneath them.

"Madun!!!... MADUN!!!" Twilight shouted. She wrapped Madun's body in her aura and tried a rejuvenation spell. A resuscitation spell. A shocking spell to at least get his heart pumping! But nothing was working!

Soldiers streamed in through the rear entrance and shouted, "Medic and Evac!! Medic and Evac!!" A large group flanked the golden thrones and laid fire to the Zebras shooting on the other side. Then grabbed the royals and tugged them towards the door still firing. The Zebras were good, but they weren't trained like the Elite. The reinforcements had arrived. But they were too late.

Once they were out of sight and thoroughly protected by Arcadian Elite and Elite, they went to work on healing. Gardeen had a severely burned right rear hoof, Molten had possibly a few feathers missing, and Merry, Blazing, and the twins were back here when everything went to Mahnurka. Twilight, Madun, and Gardeen got the worst so far.

Twilight attempted to get to Madun, but the Guard held her back. They had him on the far side of the room doing what they could to revive him. "Madun!!" She shouted. "Madun, wake up baby, wake up!"

"Your highness, you have to calm down!!" Worn shouted. While one Guard held her still, he cracked open a jar of burn ointment and started applying it to her face. It burned. A lot.

She seethed and cried out. "I know, I know, I'm sorry," Worn apologized. "But we can't risk an infection. Are you injured anywhere else?"

Twilight looked past him at the soldiers taking their helmets off across from her. Around the still bloody body of her husband. King Shimmering Madun... Was dead. Assassinated. Twilight slowly shook her bandaged head and answered, "Just my heart."

Buck. Lieutenant Worn stomped his hoof and rose once more. They just lost the king. "We need to secure them to the Code Base now!"

The Code Base?! Twilight stopped crying and stood up with Gardeen as a guest to her support. "No, we need to find Dawn!" She argued.

"We'll let the Guard handle it, your safety is my priority!—"

"The Guard has been compromised! And they've clearly taken control of the Castle's command center! My baby is out there and we have to find her! Odega!"

Odega burst into a fiery existence around them and saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

"I need your help getting us to the front of the castle!" She requested. Twilight created a portal and jumped through to the other side wearing her armor and helmet. Well she threw the latter off, she could barely see as it is. She moved her sword to be positioned on her back instead of her side. "The Zebras have Dawn and taken hold of the castle. We don't have a lot of time. And Dawn is... Teleporting or something all over the place."

"They're Runes!" Odega jumped into the air and flashed into a small Phoenix that took residence on Twilight's back. "They're using old runes from the old days. There are none back here, but there are plenty all over the castle."

Runes? Twilight whipped around to Molten and repeated, "Runes all over the castle you say?"

Molten groaned and hopped onto her hooves from her son's lifeless body. "Now is not the time!!" Molten shouted. "We have to stay focused!!"

"I warned you, Molten!" Twilight jumped over to her and shouted. "I warned you that there was danger! I warned you that there was something in the air! That we should've gotten rid of that Stripe when we had the chance! But no, 'I was paranoid,' 'I was too tired,' 'I needed my rest!' Now my husband is dead, I saw a room full of at least one hundred of my innocent civilians get turned to holed crackers, my daughter's been taken hostage, and one of the first friends I've ever made here just blew up in my face! So I will not be silent today!!"

Despite Molten's potential retort, Twilight turned to Worn Weather and ordered, "Let's get my daughter back and then take refuge at Safe Haven. It's the only safe space we have." Then without further say-so stopped at the corner leading to the hallway out there behind soldiers taking point. "Now let's move."

They heard the Queen. Blades and weapons were out. Wing cannons ready to fire. They moved into the darkened hallway with the light and lasers dancing through the air. At the very end of this service hall leading to Queen Arcadia's office, three soldiers were clearing a path. Well attempting to anyway.

Worn Weather shouted on approach, "We have the Queen! What's the status?"

One of the soldiers looked back in and answered, "We're pinned down sir! They're sending heavy fire!" Lines of magic flew past their hiding spot and dented the wall. An attack that forced them to step back.

Well now wasn't the time to be trapped. Twilight unsheathed her sword with her magic and ordered, "Stay behind me!" Then ran out into the fire and quickly put up a magical wall to shield off the whole hallway from side to side. She could see all the Zebras ridding of their disguises. Eight aiming at her but hitting the wall instead. Everyone followed behind her and yelled a war cry before the wall pushed the Zebras off their hooves and into the table decorating the hall behind them. One sword swing later and two zebras were decapitated. These monsters killed her husband and kidnapped her daughter.

They were going to die today.

She turned around and bucked one into a vase with a loud crash and slugged another one in front of her across the muzzle. Her sword was brought around and sunk into his chest before impaling her horn into the final one standing behind her.

"Take cover!" A guard shouted. He pointed down the hall to a terrifying sight.

A zebra was running for them yelling. That was never a good sign. Twilight wrapped them in an Aura and threw them as far back as she could. Then ducked once more into her hallway before they exploded.

The lights flickered and the world around them vibrated. Worn looked out and silently cursed.

"They still have bombers," he growled. "They could be anywhere."

He turned back to the team with a small smile. "But there is some good news. I hear fighting down the hall. That means there are reinforcements attempting to enter the castle. If we get there in time, we can box them in and take hold of the Castle once more."

"Good, but let's keep the Block Chatter quiet," Twilight suggested. "There's no telling who's really who. Let's move. Odega, light our path." Odega jumped out from behind Twilight and ran out there first. Followed by Worn, Silver Sword, then Twilight and everyone else. Gardeen was on the back of Molten trying to stay awake but Twilight could easily tell she needed to pass out.

"Gardeen baby, go to sleep okay?" She urgently cooed. Gardeen locked tired eyes on her. "Everything's going to be fine when you wake again, okay?"

Gardeen slowly shook her head and replied through her fatigue, "No... No it won't." Then let her eyes drift close before they encountered even more Zebras.

But that response rang loud again in Twilight's mind over and over. It won't be fine. Her husband was killed along with many others in cold blood. And her daughter was kidnapped from the very castle they were supposed to be safe in.

Twilight fired shot after shot of her own magic in anger to the Zebra barricade up ahead near the foyer. Using the weapons of the dead guards. She dodged past then teleported behind them. And ended the fight by sweeping her long wing underneath their hooves.

"Knock them out," she ordered. "They hold valuable information." Then provided cover by sending a stream of magic towards the Zebras rushing to them down the hall in the form of a constant beam. They had to duck into the different rooms up ahead and fire from the doors.

"For the smile of Narmeelah!!" They cheered. Oh yeah, they held very valuable information.

---

The military had been scrambled. Dawn could hear the sounds of battle from the back of this Zebra she was riding on surrounded by her escorts, the alarms ringing through the air. The PDS had been activated, a code black. She could hear the Guard zipping through the air as fast as the speed of Light. Breaking the sound barrier repeatedly before she and these Zebras would once again jump through those big symbols on the ground. Those big colorful symbols that would flash her vision and take her all the way to another city.

They did this for so long. So many times that it was starting to annoy. Dawn turned into First Light at the stomp of a hoof and tore the gag to shreds in her mouth. She couldn't do much if any movement. But she could at least move her mouth and whatever was in it. Along with her eyes and ears.

"Mother is going to kill you!" She shouted.

Mahreeo looked to her back for a moment then to the eight escorts running behind her. They held faces of confusion mainly at how she continued to get that gag off rather than what she said. Either way, her warning was ignored and they bounded through another portal to where they needed to be. Lavender. According to the texts, the point of sacrifice was where the sun meets the ground. Or in other words, where the gold underneath Psera peeked out at them.

The rune was on a gold boulder near the sea. At the cliffs in Lavender. This was where the mission would get dangerous.

They ducked underneath an artillery pod at a parking station and kept their eyes on the massive movement of Pserateps taking to the sky and spreading out to different cities. And those were a lot of soldiers.

The sky practically turned dark with their different colored fatigues and weaponry. Shooting into the air with a destination for Cop. First Light and Dawn tried to yell out, but they had gagged her again. How many ropes did they have on them?!

---

The fight for the Castle and Psera was getting intense. The Military had setup defense posts outside the castle and trained large weapons on the entire building. The bullets and magic flying through the air were shattering windows, chipping away at the grandeur of the historical castle.

It wasn't long before Twilight and the rest of the survivors from the Throne Room made it to the foyer's staircase panting and gasping for air, sweating up a hurricane. Twilight's armor had multiple blood splatters on the surface from many sword swings. Twilight will definitely be cherishing these final gifts from Madun. Always and forever. She could still feel the marriage ring on her chest. Pressing against her fur like a constant reminder that her husband would forever be with her.

After pushing through another hall they ducked into a convenient war room and waited for a report about defenses and tactics. They had finally arrived at the field-wide walkway overlooking the Castle's grand foyer. The fighting here was at its zenith. The Pserateps had switched from magic to their deadlier weapons. Good, their Queen wouldn't have it any other way.

Twilight peeked out from underneath Worn Weather and Silver Sword, eyeing the Zebras' setup. They had more than enough cells to provide cover for hours. Stable material to provide protection from the metal Psera's military had switched to in exchange of magic. But what was most noticeable were the four glowing circles behind their defense line.

Twilight ducked back around the corner and shouted over the fire power, "Portal Runes! Active and powerful! That explains why Dawn's position is all over the country right now and how they got into the castle!"

Molten peeked out and silently sworn. "How did we not see these earlier?!"

"They're ancient!" Twilight answered. She could tell by the way they moved and flashed. They were weak and unstable, but still powered enough to still work. "Those date back many many years! So old they were almost faded away entirely. More than likely from Zebrica's first invasion! With those they can hop anywhere all over the continent. But in order for them to work, they need to create a connecting Rune Portal!"

Worn grumbled something about stupid magic tricks and asked, "How do we destroy them?!"

"We have to erase one end! Cover me, I have a plan!" Then she stuck out her protected horn and fired at the Zebras. Of course they would notice the magic flying at them from the right. At least five Zebras were down before they returned fire.

Silver Sword grabbed Twilight and pulled her back behind cover before they could hit her and commented, "I don't think that was a good plan, your highness!"

"No, that's what I want them to do! Odega, burn them from the front while I erase the Runes from behind!" Then Twilight teleported away before anyone could say anything.

Odega could do nothing but obey. That impulsive Queen needed her support. And she swore to always deliver. She sighed and ran out from behind the corner like a ball of fire. Streaming straight to the Zebras. The shots of magic flew through her harmlessly and hit whatever was behind her. Twilight reappeared on the other side of the walkway and ran straight for the Zebras. Using one wing, she flipped them one after the other over the railing while the other was wiping away the runes like dust on a surface.

Zebras were being launched out from behind their cover out into sight of the soldiers below when even more Guards ran out of the stacked floors. Cheering and shooting. Twilight looked over the edge and held up her sword. Glowing with magic. "CAPTURE AND APPREHEND!!" She shouted. "THEY HOLD ANSWERS!!"

"The Queen's alive!!"

"All hail Queen Arcadia!!"

Queen Arcadia responded by jabbing her sword to the ceiling. Then turned to Worn Weather and the rest approaching.

"We have to get to my daughter!!" She shouted. "Start searching the entire country, they have Dawn!! Have the PDS Obelisk triangulated immediately to scan for a level of negative five for her magical signature."

Worn Weather and Silver Sword nodded obediently. Then with a grab of her hooves glided her down from the third floor to the military below taking in the Zebras.

Thankfully Bold Shoulder was among them. Upon recognition he shouted, "My Queen!" Then ran over and saluted. "We have forty in custody and scanning for Dawn as ordered! We have to get you to Rayray immediately!!"

They surrounded Queen Arcadia and the rest of the surviving Royal Family, and quickly ushered her outside the doors into Celestia's sun. The cool atmosphere of fall was quickly approaching. When she first imagined coming out of the castle for the first time in a month, she wasn't expecting it to be because the castle had been taken over, her husband was killed, and her home was no longer safe.

A long thick Chariot quickly landed and slowed to a stop at the bottom of the stairs with escorts covering their flanks. They led them towards the doors and quickly pushed Queen Arcadia inside with Molten, Merry, Blazing, the screaming twins, and Gardeen with the Queen.

Twilight quickly placed Gardeen's head in her lap when Odega landed on her own. Then held on when they took off into the air. They were shot at harmlessly by Zebra taking the castle's roof before zooming out of their sight with a full escort team of forty.

Twilight looked back down to her castle—the head of beauty and power—in horror at the fight still raging until they sped over the mountain range. Oh stars above, Madun was...

Twilight held her breath, squeezed her eyes shut and covered her mouth to keep the tears from falling. Now was not the time to cry. They still had Dawn. When she's finally holding her daughter that's when they could both cry together.

"Arcadia!!" Odega landed on Gardeen's chest and pointed a wing towards the left. "Dawn! I sense her, it's a constant signal! She's in Lavender with nine Zebras running for the cliffs!!"

As stupid as that was, Zebras were known for blending in. And they were going to get away with her filly. No way in Tartarus that was going to happen. Arcadia placed a soft kiss on Gardeen's forehead then set her head on the seat's cushioning. She needed to rest like she herself should. But Twilight couldn't at this time.

Arcadia looked to Odega and ordered, "Follow me!!" Then jumped out the chariot and zoomed for Lavender.

Silver Sword gasped and quickly followed with ten on Queen Arcadia's tail.

He shouted, "Your highness, we have to get you to safety!!" She didn't listen and instead unsheathed her sword and pointed forward.

"She's in Lavender with more Zebras!! Kill on sight!!" They already took her husband, they weren't taking her daughter.

Comments

[Ratmandango]

Not gonna lie, this chapter got me real angry, but hey, you delivered on your promise.

[XzareAce]

hmm, I was expecting more Arcadia Rage fire, portal Jumping, and what we saw back with the fight with Mahloo and Marloo (a.k.a The wrath of a Deity of magic smiting down the zebras for daring to Kill her husband, ponies, and laying their hands on Fresh dawn) but this is cool

btw i have a feeling fresh dawn will try to bring Madun back to life

[XzareAce]

well in response after the invasion fails I foresee a storm hitting, continent-wide. cloudy and a chance of Railer ones, and a thick marine layer of anti-magic fields.

[PrincessLaLa]

Hmm I expected more angry Twilighting but ol' well.

[SoggyGuy]

9926678
Sounds like a report for bad weather

[Dieadmirer]

If I'm going to be honest right now I.AM.PISSED.OFF
But at the same time this is a thrill!